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Monday, January 31, 2011

Zabbura2002 vs dvas

After playing a few games with the same player, you will develop familiarity with their style and tend to adjust accordingly. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad.
In my case against dvas, there were a few moves that I think was risky and I might lose the winning advantage - but since I had some idea how he/she would reply, I played it anyway.
I will review the game later on.

It was a Queen Gambit declined, transposed to Marshall Defense and then to Slav Defense.
I am not fully familiar with all the variations, but I sort of know here and there.

I saw the move 6...Na6 7.Bxa4 bxa6 somewhere in recent game so I tried it just see where it would bring me. It was indeed strong, and with the pawn on c6 unprotected, it was much easier.

The queen was blocked from any action on the King side though. Luckily, I managed to bring it back to the first row (f1), grabbing a pawn on her way.

2nd blunder by Black by playing 15. e5 allowing me to get get the free knight.

On move 18, I think the strongest move would be Qb5 so that I can offer Queen exchange on e2. However, having played dvas 2 times before that, I knew he/she would take the pawn on d4, giving the White Queen free 'highway' to get back into the action on the King side.

22. Qxf6 I played this move too fast and was lucky that Black did not play ..Qxh1 because if not, all my work before would be undone and Black will have a much easier task. For example, 22...Qxh1 23.Rxh1 gxf6 or if 23.Qxd8 Qxd1+ 24.Kxd1 Rxd8

More review to follow.. I hope

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Zabbura2002 vs IggyNuk

Yeah it's been a while since I last post my game.
I haven't reviewed this game yet but I saw a couple of bad moves from me right away.
Especially after taking Black's Rook I was playing to carefree.
--
After replaying the game, I've found:
of course 6...Bxf3? and 7...Nxd5?? blunder
14.d3? I don't even know why did I play this move. Maybe I saw something? There was nothing on the board's move though.

28.f3 I was worried that if I play 28.Qxc5 Black plays 28...Ng4 even though actually that's a forced mate 29. Qc8+ Kh7 30. Qf5+ g6 31. Qxf7+ Kh8 32. Rc8#

The rest are just played according to Black's style of play and I just bait him/her to commit error. After 29...Qxf3 it's a mate in 2.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Rest Day at Wijk

Nothing to watch today from Wijk because it's a rest day.
I wonder if it's cold over there like it is here.
It's 8 degree Fahrenheit (equals to -13 degree celsius) over at my place.
I'm staying in the office. Maybe will just order delivery food for lunch.

It was a lot of fun to watch Wijk this year because a lot of young players are playing.
The thing about them is that, they are eager to explore and like to take the risk.
The older generations like Anand and Kramnik, played each other for too many times already and they knew already after the 16th or 17th moves, there is no win and they immediately settle for a draw. It's still useful for amateur or enthusiast like me to study their games for opening prep.

I was following Carlsen-Naka yesterday on chessdom's live online board (on this blog) and it was a lot of fun.
The obvious moves in the opening that I would have not played would be
9. g4
I would most probably castle (0-0) right away after Black casted.
Daniel King also mentioned that Black should have played 8. ..Be6 rather than ..0-0.
I think I would have too. Normally as Black, I would wait for White to castle before I decide to castle. Sometimes, I would wait for too long before castling - which is happening in a few of my games right now on Chess.com (which is causing me a lot of troubles).
But being an enthusiast, sometimes, I love the pressure of defending since it develops my defensive skills.

I also saw the Black's idea of Nc4,Na3+ but might have not played 18. Ka1
Maybe I would wait until Black actually plays ..Nc4 before moving the King - and normally it's already too late by then. And that's why I'm still at my stage right now (hehe!)

I think GM Navara sugested 24. Qf1 instead of Qg3 - and this was suggested by a chess engine and is very hard to be found by human on chess board. I thought, Kasparov or Kramnik might have found this - or if not, Fisher would. It was an interesting move indeed.

For me, I would reward 25. Bc1 as the move of the game because it solved White's problem right away. White can attack with full-force after that.

Even though I saw that 28. ..Qxd5 was wrong because it will limit the Queen's movement and it allows 29. Bxh6, I did not see the whole continuation and I wasn't sure that White can win because I thought he's a tempo behind because he still needs to play c3 to defend the Knight in d4 and this will give Black time to save his King. Turns out, White does not even have to defend the Knight.

For that reason, I applauded Carlsen from the seat of my comfy chair at my home, even though he could not hear it. At least if he stumbled upon this article somehow, he can still acknowledge it.

You can review the game below courtesy of Chess.com and Daniel's King analysis follows in 2 parts, courtesy of Playchess.com





Thursday, January 20, 2011

TATAsteel Chess Round 5 - update

LIVE GAME HERE: http://live.tatasteelchess.com/f3/

Anand sacrificed yet another piece against Smeets
43. .. Rxc5
it looks draw-ish unless Anand can convert the d-pawn to Queen
Black's Bishop needs to protect the a-pawn to keep White's Rook on a-file inactive for now.
At the same time, he needs to be careful of the White's c-pawn.

Smeets just played 48. c6
I think Black have to play ..Kd6 to avoid Rc5
But Anand played ..Kd8 instead.
Can't wait to see what's going to happen.

Smeets has 10 mins on his clock with 12 move moves before move 60.
--
after pondering upon it, I saw that White could not move the Rook on a-file
because Black will play ..Ba2+
Ka1 and now ..d2
--
Smeets is losing time.
Anand is going to win this.
--
Anand could not find the win.
Smeets defended very well.
He will reach the time control with another move.
The game should continue.
Rd5 does not look like a good move though.
Anand will play ..Rxc6.
White can only hope for a draw now.
--
Anand WON!
--
CARLSEN vs L' AMI

62. Bc1
I was thinking along the line of Bh6

Beautiful piece sacrifice from Anand

Anand defeated Wang Hao on Tuesday in a beautiful game.
If the games were played in amateur level tournament, i think the game will still be continued since there are still chance for a lot of blunders.
However, both players understood that there's no way Black could come back into the game.
Hence the resignation.



You can see commentary from Daniel King here for free.
I love it that they post it on YouTube so that everyone can benefit from it.
Not everyone have access to Playchess server for live commentary.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Carlsen lost no Anish Giri

When I saw the result, I was struck!
Then, when I looked at the number of moves made, my jaw dropped.
I think Carlsen underestimated Anish's excellent calculation.
We all knew how good Anish is in preparation. He had a photographic memory, I believe.

Maybe that's why Carlsen was looking for a novelty when he played 11. Qd2
It was a weird move. But major mistake is 19. Rd1

By the way, Anish's response of 14. a3 with cxd5 was awesome!

I'm still a Carlsen's fan though.
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