Zabbura's Chess

Acimutal vs Zabbura

2011-11-11T00:57:00.001-05:00

I played like a kid and made silly mistakes.
Tried to get the act together and tried a few tricks.
In the end, it was too late.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5
pretty standard Nimzo Indian

9. Bd3 and why did I play ..Qg6 ? I can't even recall.
It wasn't to dangerous and not likely something that I should be afraid of.
I knew f3 could be countered with ..dxc4
But when White actually played 10. f3 , I was disoriented and played ..Qh5 ??
I wonder why.

Nothing much to be achieved over the next few moves.
A fatal mistake on move 23. ..Be6 but luckily White did not see 24. Nd4

White blundered twice with 24. c5? Bb3 and 25. Qd2? (Qc1 is better) and I'm back in the game.
My mistake was on move 28. .. Bf7 but I guess it's so hard to find .. Bc4
Even with my strong pieces - Knight, Bishop and Rook guarding the squares, White found my weakness g7 square and exploited it.
29. Nxf5 Rfe8 30. Nxg7 Re3 31. Nf5 Re6

Nothing much I could really do after that.

mythling vs zabbura2002 : Aug 14 2011

2011-08-28T01:48:00.004-04:00

This was my first game on chess.com after months of hiatus.
I was having some difficulties in life and my wife was pregnant - hence the limited time to play.
My son was born in June and now that he's 2 months old, I have some time to play again.
You could tell how rusty I was by replying the game.

8. ..Bf5 (this gave advantage to White after 9. Ng5 e6 10. e4!

9. white gave tempo to Black after this move a3?

14. after ..c6 both chances are almost equal. White has more room to play but Black's pawn structure is better. However, both White's Bishops are not active.

Unfortunately for White, he/she blundered with 15.Rb1??

The game continued but there's nothing White could do..

zabbura2002 vs. oneboothy

2011-02-05T20:11:00.000-05:00

This game was so bad I was ashamed to look into it again.
But we amateur always makes bad moves and how we recovers from that is a true test of mental strength.

7. Qf3?? i saw the Re1 line and wanted to give it a test, sacrificing a Bishop on the 8th move.

I tried piling up problem to Black with Nc3, Ba3, Rb1 but the answers were strong.
I almost lost hope but then Black played 19. ..Bf5+ and I'm back in the game.

20. Qxf5 was not the strongest reply though. I think better was 20. Kb3 Rd3+ 21. Qxd3 Bxd3 22. Rxe7+ Kxe7 23. Re1+ Kf6 24. cxb6 where Black needs to choose either axb6 and White keeps the Knight, or 24. ..Kxg5 25. bxa7 Ra8 26. Re7

The rest were just technical because the game is quite equal.
Then suddenly Black blundered with 29. f4?? and the game was in White's hand.

Zabbura2002 vs dvas

2011-01-31T15:18:00.000-05:00

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

Zabbura2002 vs IggyNuk

2011-01-26T16:09:00.004-05:00

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.

Rest Day at Wijk

2011-01-24T13:02:00.002-05:00

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

TATAsteel Chess Round 5 - update

2011-01-20T12:29:00.008-05:00

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

2011-01-20T12:00:00.002-05:00

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.

Carlsen lost no Anish Giri

2011-01-17T17:58:00.002-05:00

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.

Spud2k10 vs Zabbura2002 (Game 3)

2010-12-23T14:15:00.001-05:00

This was by far the most difficult game I had with Spud2k10
The calculations were detail and at one occasion, had I made the wrong move, I will be checkmated.
Spud2k10 said I won the game, although I doubt it.
I can't see the continuation to win it yet.
Let me know if you've anything that I have missed.

Spud2k10 vs Zabbura2002 (Game 4)

2010-12-22T17:17:00.000-05:00

I was so tired theses days and could not concentrate too much on the games.
This game could have gone either way - unless the Queen is off the board sooner.
Spud2k10 was nice enough to give the game my way.

5. Nc3
at this point we talked about the 7 moves mate where White sacrificed its Queen. Won't work here since Black has Knight on f6. I've forgotten about the moves but found it on chessgames.com

9. .. c6
I was thinking of Qb6 attacking b2 and f2 at some point.

12. .. Bxd4
In the end I didn't execute the plan by playing ..Nxd4;Nxd4 Bxd4
There must be a reason for that in my calculation. I couldn't figure it out now.

21. Kg2
It feels like playing a computer. A very good move from Spud2k10
The main idea is to connect the Rooks.

23. Rhe1 ?
I think this move is questionable. White still has a lot to play.

25. Re2
Freeing up the Queen to move.

25. .. Kh8
I ponder upon this move for a while. I was looking at Qa6 winning pawn on a2.
However Qb3+ will save both the pawn and the Rook. I was hoping White did not see it.

28. Qe3 ??
White will lose another pawn because of this.

29. Kg1
Do you think Black can win after this?

Zabbura2002 vs Niel49

2010-12-21T15:01:00.002-05:00

This game was played at the same time I was playing Spud2k10
It runs a little bit faster and less complicated.
I idea was ok but I think the Black's center was not well guarded and the Queen was out of sync with the rest of the team.

I'll provide some input maybe later.
Feel free to kibitz

----

7. .. Qa5+ ?
for me, there's no strong motive here. Black's pawn has lined up on b5-d7 and Queen will have to return to d8 to go back into the game.

11. Be6 ??
suicide move

20. cxb4
Run Forest Run

22. Qxf7
freeing up space for Queen fork

22. .. Nde5?
Seems like form is not necessary anymore

23. .. Qxa6
Kb8 is the only real chance.

Spud2k10 vs Zabbura2002 (Game 2)

2010-12-20T14:03:00.002-05:00

I had fun playing with Spud2k10 because he/she has about the same strength as myself.
Our openings are OK, not too great but not too bad either.
Both players were cautious in the middle game.
I love closed games because it makes me think harder and comes up with creative plays.
I won the first and the 2nd game (as below)
We are playing right now for the 3rd game and I almost got checkmated but I survived so far.
The calculation need to be precise. I'm not even sure how precise I am so far, but at least I'm not lost yet. We are equal on pieces and have came down to K+R+N+pawns.

I will try to play the game into one of the chess engines after the game finished later.
I'm using Vektor3 on my Mac. That's the only chess software that I have.
It's not so powerful, but not too bad either.
We can check slightly obvious mistakes and key moves from there.

In the game below, I missed a winner on move 27...Nxe2+. I have looked at the move 3 times but thought that the King can still protect the Rook, while it actually can't.
The continuation will be 28. Kh1 or Kh2 and 28...Rxf1 will end the game.

It was still hard for White to save the game, because it can either take my Bishop and lost it's own Bishop or save his/her light-color Bishop and play against my light-color Bishop plus a Knight, where all my pawns are on dark-color squares and his/her pawns are all on the light-color squares.

One of the key moves, I think was 18.exf5 where I think 0-0 or Kd2 looks better to me.
And then definitely 23.Bxf1? The rook has to be taken with the Queen.
See on move 25, Black has to move the Bishop back and place the Queen on f1 anyway, losing 2 full tempo.

Spud2k10 vs Zabbura2002

2010-12-17T15:51:00.003-05:00

This was the game that I mentioned yesterday.
It was a close game, almost equal, but I think white had more advantage at some point.
A few bad moves and the game was mine - not with a very clear win though.

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 Nf6
3. Nc3 d5
4. exd5 Nxd5
5. Nxd5 Qxd5
6. d3 c4
7. Be3
7. ..cxd {I think this was a bad move because I let the bishops to team up}
8. Bxd3 e5
9. c4
9. ..Bb4+ {White could not protect the King because Bishop on d3 would be unprotected}
10. Kf1 Qe6
11. Qa4+ Nc6
12. a3
12. ..Be7 {I decided to move the game to the White's King side}
13. Re1 Bd7
14. Be4 {I was more worried of the attack on e5 but White has just blocked it with it's own Bishop, so I should be ok for now}
14. ..Nd4
15. Qd1 Nxf3
16. gxf? {I think white has a stronger attack after 16. Qxf3 Qxc4+ 17. Re2}
I have 2 options at this point, whether to swing the Queen to the King side with ..Qh3+ or not. I figured, since White has an exit point of Ke2, while my Queen has to come back to e6 to still be in the game, it's not a good decision}
16. ..Qxc4+
17. Bd3 Bh3+
18. Ke2 { White can't play Kg1 because ..Qe6, ..e5 setting up for ..Qg6+}
18. ..Qc6
19. Qb3 O-O
20. Rhg1 Be6
21. Qd1 Rfd8
22. Qc1 Qxc1
23. Rxc1 Bf6
24. Rc2 b6
25. Be4 Bd5
26. Bxd5 Rxd5
27. Rd2 Rxd2+
28. Bxd2 e4
29. b3 Re8
30. fxe4 Rxe4+
31. Be3 h6
32. f3 Rh4
33. Rg2 Be5
Enjoy the rest of the game, where liquidation took place and 34. f4? gave the game away for White.
34. ..Bxf4
35. Bxf4 Rxf4
0-1

Zabbura2002 vs Kiethm5150

2010-12-16T15:33:00.001-05:00

Yesterday's game was a French.
I used to play French and English a lot before, but still not an expert when it comes to tricks and zaps. The game I played didn't last long because of mistake by Black.
I'm still waiting for the next move right now.
Shouldn't be a problem winning this one.

I still have 2 games with different players, and one of them is quite strong.
I'm struggling right now against 2 very strong Bishops in the middle of the board.

Blumpkinmurder vs zabbura2002

2010-12-14T21:12:00.000-05:00

Another game today on chess with friends and another win.
It was a good practice. Maybe I should play in tournaments again. I was playing Black.

Zabbura2002 vs Lola246

2010-12-14T15:28:00.002-05:00

I played another game in Chess with Friends.
I had white. Black chose to play Alekhine Defense (1.ef Nf6)
and I invited him to play Scandinavian Variation - which I am not at all familiar lol.
(2. Nc3 d5)
Scandinavian variation is quite strong for Black especially when Black starts advancing both Knights.
The game is not over yet, but i'm having an advantage because Black simply follows what I had in mind.

6. .. Bb4+ ? (no reason for attacking. Black should be more concern about defense on the King side.I figured, the bishop was advanced because Black wanted to castle right after)

7. c3 Be7
8. Qg3! (if Black did not see the obvious plan, he/she will castle now)
8. .. 0-0 ?? (and it did)

Chess Jokes - Dec 3

2010-12-03T10:33:00.002-05:00

If you often play at a tournament, I think you would understand this ;)

“How many people at a chess tournament does it take to change a lightbulb ?

“Nine.
One to complain about the lighting levels,
one to say he thinks the lighting is OK,
one to suggest someone calls the arbiter,
one to go and call the arbiter,
one to reminisce about lighting levels at the 1947 tournament at Hastings,
one to complain about the disturbance the others are causing,
both arbiters, and
one to say he thought the lighting was better before they changed the lightbulb.”

Blunder berbalas blunder

2010-11-11T18:57:00.001-05:00

Haha this game is not something that I'm really proud of.
Seems like I still have tendency to make small mistakes/blunders that would cost me.
Sigh..

Here's the game.. enjoy

[Result "*"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qf6 3. Nc3 Bc5

Oh I was insulted by the f2 attack ;p

4. Nd5 Qd6
5. Bc4 Nf6 6. d4

I like the complication.. bring it on!

6... Bxd4 7. Nxd4 Nxd5 8.
Nb5 Qc5 9. Qxd5 Qxd5 10. Nxc7+

[10. Bxd5 c6 11. Nc7+ Kd8 12. Nxa8 cxd5
This is ok for White. Even though I will lost B+N at the expense of the R. I still have an extra B. Black has the center in contro though.
]

10... Kd8 11. Nxd5 Na6 12. Bg5+

I can make it simple by castling or take the Knight. Useless though since it's inactive anyway.

12... f6 13. Nxf6??

blunder blunder. I was thinking of quick trick using discover check even though i know he/she will not take the knight

13... h6 14. Nxd7+ Kxd7 15. O-O-O+ Ke8??

big blunder. Can only play ..Kc7 or c6

16. Rd8# *

Clever Dog ? (chess jokes)

2010-11-11T15:12:00.004-05:00

In a park people come across a man playing chess against a dog.
They are astonished and say:
"What a clever dog!"

But the man protests:
"No, no, he isn't that clever. I'm leading by three games to one!"

Thank you Chess Odyssey!

2010-11-10T15:51:00.002-05:00

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ilham from 2010 Chess Odyssey for enlightening me with the website where I can generate my game and publish it to be replayed on my blog.
I can put more games there now so that I can look at it again later.. maybe even 20-30 years from now.

The method that I use is as below:

1. Download Chesspad: http://www.wmlsoftware.com/chesspad2.html

2. Replay my game there.

3. Click Ctrl + C to copy the moves in PGN

4. Paste it here: http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-uploader.php

5. Add details, and click Convert!

6. Copy and paste the iframe to blog post.

Voila!

Blunder in Sicilian Defense

2010-11-10T15:07:00.002-05:00

I've got lucky today while playing on Chess with Friends
As usual, I don't know who's the player, don't know what's the rating,
and thus don't know what trick does he or she has up his/her sleeves.

1.e5 c6 2. Nf3

and then
2. ..f6 is unusual but i played the normal 3.d4
4. ..Qa5+ is normal for someone who would like to test the opponent's strength

I can play Bd2 or c3 or Nc3 or even Qd2 if I'm lazy to think further.
Queen exchange would leave me OK since I can control the center and I don't have to take with my King and I can still develop further from there.

I don't know how could I miss the simple trick Qb6-b2 to take the Rook but I recovered back with a few simple maneuvers - and thanks to his/her mistake 8. ..d3 the Queen is safely captured with the cost of 2 pawns, 1 Rook and 1 Bishop.

I will offer him/her draw in the next move because this is not a game I would be proud of even if I win. Simple blunders like this should be avoided at any cost.

vs. Surfside6 on iPhone

2010-11-09T11:56:00.001-05:00

I love this App.
I can play with friends or whoever is there to play.
And I can play for a lengthy time - meaning I can play even though I don't have much time to spend in a day.

Here's the link

Or you can click on the logo below:

Recently I played against Surfside6. Not sure who he or she is.
It's fun!
I started to play on Friday when I downloaded the App and finished it early this morning.
I woke up at around 6 and saw that he/she played a wrong move and checkmated him/her.
It's a lost position anyway.

If you are reading this, please comment on any bad moves made.
I think there must be a lot.
I was playing black.

Chigorin Tournament

2010-11-02T13:42:00.001-04:00

Chigorin Memorial tournament is taking place right now in St Petesburg.
I was always hoping that there will be a tournament which require the participants to use the same opening bearing a legend's name.

For example, players have to use Chigorin Defense (d4 d5; c4 Nc6)

or any of the Chigorin's variation, for example in Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5
7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d6 9 h3 Na5 10 Bc2 c5 11 d4 Qc7 12 Nbd2 cxd4 13 cxd4

Simpler variations would be:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O d6 5. d4 Nd7

There are some other openings too:

French
1. e4 e6 2. Qe2
or
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. exf6

Dutch
1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 c6

Petrov
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Re1

Queen's Gambit
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 Bd6

It's hard to achieve in a huge tournament though.
Maybe a Round-robin of 6 people would be a nice number.

More study of the openings will be developed throughout the tournament.

All draw positions might also be the result of it though.
Hehehe

Chessgames 011110

2010-11-01T17:49:00.000-04:00

Even though in the USA the date should be 110110, it looks nice writing it down as 011110.
The puzzle on Chessgames today takes some time than the usual 10-15 sec to figure out.
One can see the right attack right away though, only that it might takes some time to figure out that the continuation will work out.

Check it out for yourself.

Magical Square

2010-11-01T12:20:00.001-04:00

I haven't been updating my chess blog for a while, but that does mean that I left the chess world already. I kept following up with the progress of the wonder kid (you-know-who) and kept myself updated with the Malaysian team's performance.

I loved this game too much to leave it behind.
However, at this point of time, I'm just too far behind.

Anyway, I read an article today on the chess world of Kasparov and Karpov.
Looking at their game in 1990 (20 years ago from today) I was stunned at how complex is the game and when the writer starts writing about the 'magical square'. See below:

I just could not understand how the mind of Kasparov works.
How did he see such a thing? Was it really in his mind?
Did he really see that the square will work?
Or was it just his instinct based on his experience and calculation?

Until someone develop such an instinct, it's hard to say that someone can bypass Kasparov's ability. He's getting older and the memory might run him down.
I think he did the right thing to resign early and show the world how good he IS just by coaching someone who, later on, becomes the world no. 1 (Carlsen).

A big blunder!

2007-12-20T17:53:00.001-05:00

He was there and I didn't know!!!

http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4337

Candidate Finals

2007-06-06T12:37:00.000-04:00

Grischuk vs. Rublevsky attracted my attention the most.

http://chessbase.com/news/2007/elista/games/cand07.htm

I think starting from move 17. Rae1! Rublevsky had misread the move and played Nd7?
Grischuk might be smiling when he played 18. Nxd5! and made Rublevsky suffered till the end.

Virginia open result

2007-02-03T01:46:00.000-05:00

I played in the amateur section of the Virginia open.

IM Larry Kaufman won the Open section.
I won the U1200 section with 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 loses.
I've got the Best Performance Award for the Amateur section since I played people 1400 and above throughout the tournament and beat 2 of them.
My performance was around 1527 and I managed a 118 points increase from my last rating.

Next tournament: 7th Annual Millenium Chess Festival (March 2-4) in Virginia Beach, VA. Some GM's were scheduled to come.

Washington DC

2007-01-06T07:59:00.000-05:00

I'm moving to Washington DC.
Does anyone know any chess club around there?

Almost done!

2006-12-17T06:52:00.000-05:00

I'm almost done with my final papers to be submitted, which also means I'm almost done with my undergraduate study! I'm happy since I can no move on to another stage of my life but at the same time I'm a little sad since I will be leaving this place that has a lot of memories for me. I am going back to Malaysia early January 2007.

Anyway, I have been able to play in the monthly tournament on the ICC - which is my first tournament there. I played in the U1500 category, just to test the water. I think I will try to play in the Open section soon if I have time (and good internet connection) to do so in Malaysia. The result was great. I've got the 2nd place, tied with Sirlock - both 3/4 points. I was 'unlucky' to have a forfeit win in the first game since the opponent did not show up. I lost the second game though against Seldreg, mostly because I was attending an online meeting at the same time and did not concentrate well on the game. I've actually forgotten about the tournament and scheduled for the meeting to take place at that time. My mistake.

I managed to get back on course and won the next two games and get a 1320 provisional rating. I need to play another game before I can make the rating official. I have no time to play right now though since I have another paper to write and another website to be created before Dec 20.

Here is the link to the ICC website

On another note, I talked to a friend yesterday, who has not been playing chess for a long time already, and we agreed to try to play at least once every week. Maybe we can start tomorrow my bro! (if you are reading this). I'll message you when I wake up. I need to get some sleep since I have been staying up all night to finish analysing a recycling survey I've created for my final Professional Communication paper.

No time to update yet

2006-12-05T10:04:00.000-05:00

I have not been able to update this blog recently since I have been too busy with classes and papers before the final day of my class as an undergrad student which should be on Friday this week. Wow.. after 4 hard years..

I'll have a few presentations during the final exam week, which starts early next week. Then I'll be done with everything. I hope I can concentrate more on chess after that - and especially when I return home to Malaysia soon.

2nd game

2006-11-29T02:38:00.000-05:00

Gilalva invited me to play another rated game. 30 10. I'm Black.

20. Rh4? No real threat.

27...b5? blunder. Rab8 is better.

30. Re1? I think Rxa7 is okay.

I think I am losing until 31. Bxd5?

White didn't handle the end game well even though there are a lot of times left.

ICC 60 0 tournament round 4

2006-11-29T01:55:00.000-05:00

I lost one game in the tournament. I was at the 3rd spot before the game with 2.0 points. Thea leader has 3.0 and the other guy with 2.5 points. I can share the 2nd place if the 2.5 guy lost. There might be a few more people with 3/4 points.

19. Be7 is more interesting. 19...Rxd2 20. Rxd2 Ne4 21. Rd8+

20. Rd4? I don't really like it, but I moved it as well.

21. Rd2? blunder. Luckily Black didn't see Ne4!

21...Bcx4? lost a piece.

22...Ne8? Black has no idea where to go. Bxb7 is waiting. 22...Be6 might be another choice.

28. Be6? Actually this is not a good choice after 28...Rxd6 29. Rxd6 Rxd6 30. Rxd6 Ke7 31. Rd5 Kxe6

Has Man crumbled?

2006-11-27T18:59:00.000-05:00

Kramnik lost his game today.

In the reality, it was an equal game and he has proven that Man still has a great chance in defeating a Machine. He played the game very well, just like yesterday, and just need to trade the Queen in order to have a great possibility to win.

But maybe because he thought too much on that, he overlooked a mate!
A mate in one!
Did he lose his concentration? Did he think too much on some other variations?

Chess is not just a tactical game. Not just a theoretical or positional game either. Chess combines all aspect of lives - concentration and physical fitness are included as well. Chess in a holistic game.

For me, man has not crumbled, but Kramnik has proven that Man is still the greatest creation of God; and that Man is not perfect and does have weakness. For that reason,

I love chess!!

Another Blitz

2006-11-22T20:45:00.000-05:00

A lot of mistakes as well here.
Comment as you like.

Almost missed it

2006-11-22T20:20:00.000-05:00

13. Rxe5? I was expecting that he will play Rd8 since it's a blitz game and one has to think fast. I will then play Bg5, well that's the plan. Better was Qxe5 maintaining the one piece advantage.

He did play Rd8 so I played Bg5 - but then this is actually a blunder. If Black takes the Bishop, I will just lose it freely and Black will also have an active game as well.
For example, 14...Qxg5 15. Qc3 or 15. Rxg5 Rxd4 16. Nc3

14...Rxd4 he didn't see it. So mate.

A mini game on WGN

2006-11-16T01:13:00.000-05:00

White tried a queen attack which didn't work well for him/her.
A few blunder happened soon afterwards with a simple win for Black.
Please comment on the opening and the game itself.

ICC Blitz

2006-11-08T00:20:00.000-05:00

I played an unrated blitz just now while waiting my opponent for the monthly tournament on the ICC.

I did so many mistakesin a fairly easy game.

5...Bc5?

13...Ne7? 14. Bg3? (I should have played Bxf7 here)

17...Bxc3?? 18. Rxe3? (since I have decided to trade my rook for a bishop and a knight, i didn't even think that my rook is actually saved)

19...Re8?? 20. Qf5? (Why why whyyy? Qxg6 and Black might consider resigning immediately)

I still didn't see Queen takes knight for the next few moves until it was too late to do that.

21...c5? (not right)

I don't have to comment on the ending since there were far too many mistakes that i should not do.

Wiki on Malaysian Chess Community

2006-11-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

Go to this link!!!!

Gila Chess made a very great effort in promoting chess to Malaysian.
I think there are a lot of Malaysian chess enthusiast out there.
However, we don't communicate with each other very well.
I have at least 3 friends whom I know very well that they are good players. However, I never heard their names in the Malaysian chess community, mainly because they are hiding themselves somewhere.
I think with the existence of wiki, we'll be able to make chess even more popular in Malaysia - and to Malaysian who are not currently residing in Malaysia as well.

Anyway, please add some more links HERE so that we'll be able to give you a visit anytime soon!
If there's anyone who need help in creating a website or blog or anything, just leave me a message. I'll be very happy to help you.

CCL Game 3

2006-10-30T15:39:00.000-05:00

It was game day again for me yesterday.
I was playing against another UIUC player.
Higher rated than me (uscf 1700++) of course everyone is higher rated than me since i have not been playing in many tournaments due to budget constrain and no means of transportation.

I had a Black against Reti. I used to play Reti before so i know some of the variations although not in depth.
This guy went for a quick knockout using one of the sharpest line in accepted variation with 4. Ng5. I was prepared for something like 4. Na3 but not for this line. Furthermore, I have been staying up last night preparing for anything against 1. d4.

5...e5 is that a novelty? hehe.. i'm not that good to declare that it's a novetly.
I was afraid of the knight actually and want to get rid of it as soon as possible.
5...e6 is of course another option but then 6. Nxf7 and I couldn't castle anymore.

8. Qf3 !? he scared me once again with another unexpected move.I was expecting 8. d3 and dcthe next move. I think 8...Nc6 is interesting with the idea of Nb4.

12. Bxd5? I think bxd5 is more interesting. 12...Nb4 =

White offered a draw a few moves later and I accepted since anything can happen in that position.

CCL Game 2

2006-10-30T15:23:00.000-05:00

I have white against an unrated player in my second game.
A quick search has given me some information that he is currently the president of the chess club in his college.
It's actually a university but we used to call it college in the US.
Anyway, playing an unrated player is risky since if unlucky, he/she could be a very good player or if lucky, he/she maybe just an average player.

Here is my second game.
I had a blunder 11. Be5 but maybe he didn't see through the continuation.
He made 3 consecutive blunders 13...Nd5, 14...Ke7 and 15...Ne7
I also missed a mate in 2 on move 18 (if you want to find the mate) and almost made Black struggle longer on move 22.

Collegiate Chess League 2006

2006-10-30T15:04:00.000-05:00

I am playing for the Case Western Reserve University in a tournament since 3 weeks ago.
I played a uscf 2000++ player from uiuc in my first game as black. I had a promising start, deviated from symmetrical english as soon as possible, had a blocked center but then blundered a few times especially with 28...b3 ? when 28...a3 -/+.
Games with some annotation is available here

Why you should learn chess!

2006-10-27T08:56:00.000-04:00

From Susan Polgar's blog:

Today, I visited the Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center (Department of Radiology and Psychology - Center for Neurology and Behavior) in New York. I met with Dr. Joy Hirsch (Professor of Psychology and Functional Neuroradiology and Director of fMRI Research Center).

She spent several hours conducting and analyzing various fMRI tests with my brain using state of the art technology. The finding was fascinating! The results clearly showed that when I analyze chess positions, both my right and left brain were functioning in full force. This finding decisively confirms that chess as an activity connects the right and left side of the brain.

Every step was documented. The full results and video will be included in the major film for National Geographic next year. This will be an amazing film for chess!

source: http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-break-through.html

College Chess League Round 1

2006-10-16T18:45:00.000-04:00

I player a 2047 USCF player in my first match of the CCL 2006.
I haven't played in a tournament for a long time, thus my rating is very low at 1099 only.
I do play everyday though either on the internet or against the Kasparov Chessmate on my Mac.
Hence, I think my rating does not display my actual level.
But anyway, since my rating is low, I have to be paired with a higher rated player and furthermore, I have to play Black.

He played an English, and I was planning to play symmetrical but when he played 3. g3 I figured out I might just go into his trap since he's an experienced player. Thus I played 3. .. d6 rather then the more popular e6 or symmetrical with g6. I totally deviated from the opening book (or principal) when I replied Qd7 to his 4. Bg7. I think it might have made him over-confident because he played some weird moves too.

I think I played the middle game rather well but then I blundered twice!! I think that's why I need a lot more experience. I was considering a pawn move of either b3 or a3. b3 looked bolder, so I choose a3 when the reality is if I play b3 instead, I can temporarily sacrifice a knight and will probably be able to get a Rook for the exchange - if I played it right. The worst is when we are almost equal, with the center was blocked, I was considering a knight move for a long time. Then I tried to look at the Bishop-Knight exchange, which I'm pretty sure is not as good as the knight move. I was ready to move the knight, when suddenly I moved the Bishop instead! I guess maybe because that's the last command I've put in my head. I dont know!! I'm still figuring out why I did that.

Any explanation? Or same experience?

Anyway, I handled the end game very very bad and thus I lost.
I'm happy with the performance though.
At least I know I can play a higher level opponent with more preparation and tournament experience.

The problem is of course: I don't have money

Kramnik the Unified World Champion

2006-10-13T12:20:00.000-04:00

I'll just write a few sentences about it.
I've been following the games at a few places.
First on the official website.
Then it went down, so I followed Susan's commentaries in her blog.
Then I followed it on ICC using Mac's Chessic, which is neat.
I love game 3 and 4 the most.
Got a few predictions right.
But i'm not as fast as Susan to blog them out.
I've got Rb7+! too!!
But I didn't know that it will lead to Topalov's resignation right after the move.
I thought Topa might want to struggle a little bit more, but then, it's definite the best continuation.

sign off
-zabbura-

Testing...

2006-10-11T08:44:00.000-04:00

I played a 10 minute Blitz just now so that I can try
the chess publisher recommended by Gila Chess
Thanks a lot!

Game 10

2006-10-08T08:42:00.000-04:00

Another Catalan today. Kramnik White.
[moves in square brackets are my predictions]

[19. .. Nf6]
19. .. Nf6 (got it right this time)

20. Nxb5 Ba6

21. a4 Ne4 (didn't get a chance to predict)
[22. Rac1 Qe8]
I think both Rac1 and Rdc1 is good. Moving the a-Rook will give white some attacking nerve even though it will leave the pawn on a4 without a defender for awhile.

22. Rdc1 Qe8 (White should use the open c-file for progress. He should also think about something to do with the knight on e5 which is very strong.
[23. Rc7 Bd8 24. Rc2]
in order to double on the c-file later.

23. Rc7 Bd8
[24. Rc2 f6 25. Nc3 Bxb5 26. axb5 Qxb5]

24. Ra7 (I have also thought of this line to double the rook on the a-file but i think it's draw-ish. For example, Bxb5 25. axb5 Qxb5 26. Qxb5 Rxb5 27. Nc6 Rxb2 28. Nxd8 Rxd8 29. R1xa5.)

24. ... f6 (I like 25. Nd7 now forking black's rook although white will actually lose one with 25. .. Rf7 26. Nxb6 Rxa7)
[25. Nd7 Rf7 26. Nxb6 Rax7 27. Nxd5 Rd7] I think Topalov has another plan since f6 is inviting Nd7. Black's rook and bishop are not active for the time being.
--Even Kramnik thought that Topalov might have some tricks here. The truth: a horrible blunder.

25. Nd7 Rf7 26. Nxb6 Rax7 27. Nxd5 Rd7 (exactly... i like white so far. Seems to be going into an imbalance game. White's a-pawn is of utmost important now.)
[28. Qc4 Qf7]

28. Ndc3 (I think this move is too defensive in an attacking position)

28. ... Rxd4 (White can play 29. f3 Bb6 30. Kg2 Nd6 31. Qxe8+ Nxe8 )
-- Susan Polgar also suggested either f3 or Re1 here and pointed out that this is another blunder.

29. Re1 f5 (Topalov made a few quick moves. Kramnik has 18 minutes for about 10 moves in a complicated position. Just like yesterday. Will he blunders again?)
[30. f3]

30. Qc2 (!)(Rook has to move and then white can play f3)

30. ... Rb4 31. Nd5 Rxb5 32. axb5 Qxb5 33. Nc7 (Oh my God... hmm another imbalance game.. will it favors Topalov again? I think Black will try to trade Queens now. The Bishop pair will be strong.)
--i don't even know that the game should be over by now.. all GM's knew like 6 moves ago..poor me..

33. ... Qc4 (thought so.. White doesn't want to trade)

34. Qd1 Bxc7
[Qd7!]
--A few GMs said that White should have traded Queens and can already do that here. However, I think Kramnik was afraid of the bishops pair.

35. Qd7 h6 36. Qxc7 (I think White will push to trade Queens now.)

36. Qb4 37. Qb8+ Qxb8 (Plan succeded)

38. Bxb8 Nd2 39. Ra1 (white should be winning)

40. g5 f4 41. Nb3
[41. Ra3 Bc4 42. Bc7 ]

41. Ra3 Bc4 42. Bc7 (Black might want to start moving the King to the center)

42. ... g4 (reminds me of Game 8 but white should not have any problem this time)
[43. Bxa5]

43. Bxa5 Topalov resigned.

1-0

My longest game so far

2006-10-08T06:46:00.000-04:00

I've been playing Kasparov Chessmate on my G5 for some time now
My rating is now 1651. Not a good one.
I'm on level 12 and played 40 games so far in the Championship. More loses than wins especially in the Silvercup. I don't think I lost any game on Bronzecup - and that's good for me.

I just played a 174 moves game just now and that's the longest game for me so far against the software. I just couldn't finish it. We had different colored bishop and a passed pawn each. I tried a less popular Scandinavian variation. It's quite boring since the software always plays d5 as Black anytime I play e4.

Ops.. Game 10 is underway.. I'll have to continue later..

Game 9

2006-10-07T10:26:00.001-04:00

Topalov had white today.
I watched the game started with Slav defense and then I went to take a nap since I slept late last night. I am going for a volunteering activity at a nature center today at 11 am.

When I woke up just now, move 33 has just been played. So I decided to make predictions for the next moves. White seems to be having a slight advantage since Black is kinda cramp. I am following Susan Polgar's style of writing a prediction and commentaries here. So credit should be given to her.

I think Rf3 make sense here

34. Qa2 (White is creating an option for attack along the a-file or f-file. I like Ra8 but it will separate the rook from protecting the f-file if an attack is launched.)

34. .. Nb6 (Now I think either Ra1 or Rf3 and white can play either Rda1 or Rdf1 later.)

35. Rf3 (Since black played Nb6 before, I thought he might want to play Ra8 but then Re7 and then Rf8 seems promising to me although white have option to change direction to attack the a-file instead.)

35. .. Nf8 (A rather unexpected move to me. Looks bad as well. Kramnik is cramping his own position and the knight will not be able to be a good defender except to defend f8 square by playing Nh7 afterwards - which does not seem to necessary since the square under attack is f7. White should play Rdf1 and win now.)

36. Rdf1 (white is totally winning. Now black can play Re7 but he couldn't play Rf8 later since knight has filled up the space.)

36. .. Re7 (as predicted, but it's very hard to defend now.)

37. Be3 (A rather fast move and I wasn't able to predict first. I think Topa is securing the win and he doesn't have to worry since black need 2 tempi to move the knight away and defend the pawn with his other rook. So i think Nh7 is the only option now. Kramnik should have gone to the toilet before move 35.)

37. .. Nh7 (As predicted. White can take the f7 pawn now. Another win for Topalov. What a great attacker he is.)

38. Rxf7 (I don't know what is coming next but Kramnik might want to consider resigning now. I am predicting a few words about game 5 and the toilet issue affecting Kramnik's concentration we be uttered by his team. I said before that unless Topalov gave the game 5 back, he might not be considered as a tru champion by some people; but with this style of play, Kramnik needs to win game 10 or people won't even care about game 5 anymore since it could have been a Topalov game just as well.)

38. .. Nd5 (I'm not sure if that can help at all. Just blocking the Queen from joining the assault but the Queen can always join in later whenever 'she' wants to. N7f3 is my prediction.)

39. R7f3 (indeed. And it seems like Kramnik has resigned before the time control. He won't be able to do anything anyway even if he gets more time.)

1-0

Another infamous comeback from Topalov. I think he will be remembered as a late starter in the chess history.

Do you think white should isolate the g-pawn?

2006-10-05T10:21:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure. What do you think?

Anxious

2006-09-30T04:58:00.000-04:00

It's a little over 4:50 am over here in Cleveland.
2 hours and 10 minutes to the 5th or 6th game of the World Championship.
What a drama...
It was the most interesting drama unveiled at the world championship after Fisher's as far as i can remember.

I am also not siding on either Topa or Kramnik; or even FIDE. Just like Susan's view on it. I'd rather agree with regarding the matter - that the Appeal Committee has exceeded its authority or should I say crossed the line in making such an important decision.

Mr. Kirsan is coming back, shortening his trip to Russia since for him, this matter is much more important. I think a lot of people may understand that.

I'll be waiting impatiently.

Topa vs. Kramnik

2006-09-20T03:16:00.000-04:00

I'm counting days to the Topa-Kramnik match
which should be a sort of reunification match
to decide who's the ultimate World Champion between the two.

Who do you think will win?

My comment on mr. Quah's post

2006-09-15T10:43:00.000-04:00

http://ssquah.wordpress.com/2006/09/15/raising-the-game/

Dear Mr Quah,

It is with great interest I read your article and arguments above and I totally agree with your opinions especially regaring the doing away tournaments with cash prizes. We have been living for money in almost every aspects of our lives now. It won't help educating anyone if everything is done just for the pecuniary motives. We might still need to provide money prizes for big tournaments, but for a weekly or even monthly tournaments, that is not a necessity. In the US for example, people don't mind paying 5 dollars every week to play in a small Sunday tournament just to gain more experience and some rating (USCF) points.

Regarding the state organized tournaments, i think some states associations have stepped forward and did a well job in organizing tournaments. They should be applauded. At the same time, we also need to involve private companies that may have interest in sponsoring chess events. In this way, they will also help doing the promotion for us (read: chess).

Not just that, I wish that one day, the state government itself will be involved actively in chess events. We have seen how in other countries, the ministers or even the prime ministers always showed up to commence a chess tournament and such. Mr Kirsan and recently Wolfgang Schüssel are some names I can mention. Chess can also increase Malaysian tourism if the government get more involved in organizing an international chess tournament in Malaysia. I've been astounded when some people says, ''Malaysia have a chess tournaments? Really?'' especially when the person who uttered that is also a Malaysian.

Lastly, I think Malaysian chess players did not and still do not have enough opportunities to play international level chess. Even though a chess set might cost a person less than RM 20, joining a chess tournament especially the international level cost much more than that. That's also one of the main reasons we need more international chess tournament in Malaysia.

Parimarjan's Speech - the youngest GM right now (2nd in history)

2006-09-08T11:31:00.000-04:00

Respected Dignitaries on the dais, ladies and gentlemen,

At the outset, I would like to thank the Delhi Chess Association for their support and setting up this function, which I see as an opportunity to share with you all in a nutshell, my journey to the grandmaster title.

I have had an eventful voyage in my chess career since I started in 1998. From playing in my first tournament to addressing you all as a Grandmaster, I have had a fair share of success and failure. When I started playing chess, I had no idea of the masses of knowledge required to excel in the game. And now it just seems to get bigger and bigger. Though it has not yet dawned on me that I am a Grandmaster, I realise that I only stand on the first step of the long-winding, spiral staircase of my international career. I fully understand that many important challenges lie ahead and that this is only the first step towards greater goals.

Here I would like to make a specific mention of the year so far. Since the New Year Day, it has been a journey towards certain goals that I honestly did not perceive before. The International Master title and the first GM norm came in the space of a week, and in the very next tournament here in Delhi came the second Grandmaster norm. Honestly, I did not expect the second norm to follow so soon. But once I had two norms – I wanted to chase the third and the final one in a hurry. Thank god. I didn’t have to wait too long.

On this day I feel truly humbled by the love, affection and blessings of my family, well wishers and also those from the media, and those who wished me well without even knowing me.

My parents have played the most crucial role in developing and shaping my chess. When no sponsorship support was available, my parents made several sacrifices to keep me going. I can’t thank them enough.

Equally, I owe a lot to the constant support and encouragement of my coaches and sponsors.

I would like to start by thanking SEBI chairman Mr. M. Damodran. He is not only instrumental in helping my parents find sponsorship support for my chess, but also remains an encouraging guide to me.

My school Amity International, that has not only helped me in academics but also in my career. I sincerely thank the Founder President of Amity International Dr. Ashok Kumar Chauhan, the Chairperson Mrs. Amita Chauhan, and my school’s principal Mrs. Bharti Sharma, and all my teachers, and friends for helping me in my studies.

My idol, Vishwanathan Anand’s words of encouragement have always been very inspiring for me to strive hard. He is just the perfect idol for all of us aspiring youngsters.

Today the TATA group funds my expenditure. I am grateful to Air India for inducting me in their scholarship scheme. I would also like to thank Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Sports Authority of India for granting me scholarship for part of my training in the past couple of years. I thank Mr. Pradeep Jain, chairman Parsvnath group and Vice President of the All India Chess Federation for his contribution.

I would like to thank Mr. GB Joshi, for helping me develop my chess skills in my formative years, And my other coaches since then – Evgeny Vladimirov, Ruslan Sherbakov, Alexander Goloshchapov and Vishal Sareen. Recently I have also worked for short spans with Elizbar Ubilava, and Nigel Short. I also owe a lot to V.S. Negi, Updesh Sharma and D.S. Negi who have been a great help. And I am very grateful to Mr. Vaibhav Agashe – sports psychologist, who has helped me a lot in the psychological aspect of the game.

In the end I would like to mention Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhan who has been a consistent support for me for many years now and also Mr. Rakesh Rao who has guided me all through with his words of wisdom.

I thank you all ladies and gentleman. Hoping to meet your expectations the next time around.

Thanks a lot

credit: Chessbase.com

Dissapointed

2006-08-23T14:12:00.001-04:00

I was so dissapointed with Goldnboy14 on Yahoo Chess
His rating was 998 and he joined my table but then stood up after I have pressed the Start button.
Worried that I will lose some points, I try to cancel the game.
Suddenly Yahoo says that my rating dropped by 30 points!
I was stunned but when I checked at my game history, it says that I lost to this Goldnboy14.
I didn't even play against him!!

I told him about that (so that he won't do that to other people in the future) but he didn't even bothered to say sorry.
Maybe he's still new to Yahoo Chess but he played more games than me!

Never mind him.
I'll have to play some more games to increase my rating back since I lost some points last week. I lost badly in a game against a 17++ last week and it has shattered my confidence and concentration for a while. I lost a few more games
after that. I have regained some winning tempo today. Hopefully it will continue that way.

His Rating

My Rating

Kasparov and Karpov won!

2006-08-22T23:22:00.000-04:00

Ooo yeah...
I'll look at some of the games soon.

Kramnik won

2006-08-08T13:04:00.000-04:00

So Kramnik won Dortmund 2006.
That wasn't new.
Kramnik winning Dotmund also wasn't new.
Kramnik won against Leko - also wasn't new.
He is a great player indeed.

Kramnik winning a tournament after recovering from his health problem.
That's kind of new.
He displayed a great performance during Olympiad in Turin
...and again in Dortmund.

I guess he is preparing well enough for his matches against Topalov and Deep Fritz.
I hope to see some great games and not many short draws.

Dortmund 2006

2006-08-04T09:15:00.000-04:00

Now chessgames.com has moved its attention to Dortmund since Biel has finished with full of excitement. Dortmund has been a field where everyone was trying to draw early in the earlier stage. What is exactly the reason for a tournament if everyone goes there and plays opening moves that everyone has known of and then agreed for draw without even going into the middlegame where complications start? Are they planning to go back with the money they will get from the tournament just like that? I really hope that Dortmund will turn into something more instructive especially when games like Adams-Gelfand that has finished with 117 moves in 7 and 1/2 hours were being played.

Openings for today:
1. Leko-Aronian: Ruy Lopez/Exchange Variation
2. Kramnik-Adams: Petroff Defense
3. Naiditsch-Svidler: Ruy Lopez(Closed)/Zaitsev Variation
4. Eismont-Heinzel: Old Benoni Defense (!!)
5. Gelfand-Jobava: English -> turned into Sicilian/Maroczy Bind (!!)

Moro wins Biel 2006

2006-08-03T09:16:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Morozevich for clinching Biel 2006 with style. He won against everyone except for the wonder boy, Carlsen. Unfortunately, he drew his last game maybe because he was too tired. If not, he will be the only person in the tournament who never drawn any game. It has been an incredible tournament for Moro and now he has 3/3 record for Biel. At the same time, it was a great shame for Topalov's manager who labelled Moro as a coward before. What kind of coward player won a tournament with +7 -2 =1 (??)

I was hoping that some IM's or GM's - maybe Moro himself will annotate some of his (Moro) games from Biel 2006. Most of his games are very interesting and instructive.

Carlsen - Moro : 2-0

2006-07-31T13:23:00.000-04:00

Wow.. what a great game by both players.
Moro has shown a very deep understanding in chess.
However Carlsen, in his combative style, showed a deeper understanding of the game.
In the end it was Carlsen who won the glory after a major blunder by Moro.
It was a simple move Bg7 which has brought Moro's day to an end.
Had he played b4! instead, he would have won.
And had Carlsen missed the ... Bg4! , Moro would have win or at least survived in a game of Q+R+B vs R+R+B+B.

It was an impressive and instructive game which I and many other kibitzers in the chessgames.com enjoyed. Moro is still leading Biel 2006 with +5 -2 =0 in his try to make a 3/3 Biel title.

Moro vs. Carlsen - again

2006-07-31T09:43:00.000-04:00

Moro is playing Carlsen again in Biel today. He lost his first and only game to Carlsen in the tournament so far. Until this moment, Moro seems to be playing really well keeping Carlsen's Black Queen on the a-file without an active role. Moro is the only player without a draw in so far. It is a very impressive perfomance. I like Moro and Carlsen since they are both combative players who do not seek for short draws. Maybe when they are too tired but most of the time, no. Both players also like to look for interesting sacrifice especially in the middle game,having played strong opening.

They played an unusual line of Sicilian today with 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.Bxc3 dxc3. I believe it's the Rossolimo variation. Well that is not too unusual. It's just that the line has not been played much recently. Moro played 6.Bf4 which I believe is a novelty. They are in the 18th moves right now and Moro (White) has a strong attack on the Queen side. He has a good (but not solid) defense although he might not have to worry too much since Black will not be able to create a counter-attack for the time being. Carlsen (Black) has doubled his rook on the d-file but for the time being, they are defending and not attacking. They are good weapons for counter-attacking if Black manage to free it's Queen that is missing in action on the a-file.

Verdict: draw

Dortmund and Biel

2006-07-29T21:04:00.000-04:00

It's summer again when a lot of chess tournaments are taking place everywhere.
Biel will go into the second round tomorrow and Dortmund has started today.
I've been fascinated again and again with the games by Morozevich and also the wonder boy Carlsen.

In Dortmund, Leko won against Naiditsch in an interesting Catalan-Bogo Indian while Svidler won against Jobava who played not the strongest Grunfeld one can play.
Gelfand and Kramnik had a short draw without going into a complicated in a semi-slav game. Adams had to accept a draw against Aronian even though he was leading with 2 pawns in a closed Ruy Lopez game.

The chess world has also been shaken with the death of young Jessie Gilbert,19 a few days ago. I really hope that the mystery will be solved as soon as possible.

vs. Guest2420 on ICC

2006-07-17T16:28:00.000-04:00

I played a blitz on ICC today after a long time I haven't been able to play.
The game can be replayed here: http://taufiq.us/zabbura2002/guest2420.htm

1. d4 d5
2. Nf3 Nf6
3. Bf4 e6
4. e3 c5
5. c4 cxd4
6. Nxd4 Bb4+
7. Nc3 Bxc3+
8. bxc3 Qa5
9. Qb3 dxc4
10. Bxc4 Ne4
11. Rd1? Qxc3+? ( 11. … Nxc3 12. Bc7 )
12. Qxc3 Nxc3
13. Rc1 Ne4 ( 13. … Nd7 14. Rxc3 e5 )
14. Bb5+ Bd7
15. Rc8+ Ke7
16. Rxh8 a6
17. Bxd7 Kxd7
18. Bxb8 Black resigns

Been busy

2006-06-22T02:11:00.000-04:00

No new game at the moment since I have been pretty busy.
The summer classes have started and there are too many things to catch up.
I have never had much time during summer class since the classes are super-fast.
I am taking thermodynamics class, a digital lab class and 2 arabic courses this summer.
In addition to that, there are soccer matches every morning and afternoon to be watched.
Being a fanatic soccer fan and player, I could not miss a single match or else I'll feel that I have missed something on the particular day.

Hopefully I'll be able to play at least one yahoo game with a 1500++ player this week.

new game

2006-06-08T00:52:00.000-04:00

1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 g6
3. Nc3 Bg7
4. h3 d5
5. c5 b6 ( black will have immediate advantage with 5. … 0–0 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. Qb3 b6 )
6. b4 0–0
7. Bf4 Re8 ( 7. … a5 should have been played earlier)
8. e3 a5
9. a3 axb4
10. axb4 Rxa1
11. Qxa1 bxc5 ( 11. … Nc6 better but I was worried that the b-pawn might be isolated soon)
12. bxc5 Nc6
13. Bb5 Bd7
14. Nge2 ( 14. Nf3 was better) 14. … Nb4 ( 14. … e5 15. Bg5 Nxd4 16. exd4 exd4 )
15. 0–0 Qc8 ( 15. … Bxb5 )
16. Qa7 ( 16. Bxd7 Qxd7 17. Qa5 Nc6 18. Qxc7 Qxc7 19. Bxc7 Rc8 20. Be5 Nxe5 21. dxe5 Nd7 ) 16. … c6
17. Ba6? Nxa6 ( 17. … Qxa6 )
18. Ra1 ( 18. Na4 Qa8 ( dangerous was 18. … Nb8 19. Nb6 Qd8 20. Bc7 and black lose the queen) 19. Qxa8 Rxa8 20. Nb6 ) 18. … Nb4
19. Qb6 Nd3
20. Bh2 Bxh3!? might be a premature attack but black is already a piece ahead
21. gxh3 Qxh3
22. Ng3? ( 22. Qxc6 ) 22. … Ng4
23. Qxc6?? ( last chance for defence was 23. Nf1 Nxh2 24. Nxh2 Nf4 25. exf4 Qxc3 26. Rb1 ) 23. … Qxh2+
24. Kf1 Qxf2#

Wrong decision

2006-06-03T22:38:00.000-04:00

It has been a wrong decision to slow down my preparation for the Midwest Games' chess tournament before. I was concentrating more on table tennis since I will be facing Saiful who I always know is a very talented player. I had lost some of my momentum because of neglecting my training.

I won my first game against Azman who played in 'Catur Merdeka' before, with a rook sacrifice for 2 bishops. I had to struggle a little bit before establishing the advantage.

In the second game, things were going fine and I had a small positional advantage before I lost my focus (mainly because I had just finished my table tennis game and was still sweating). I sacrificed a rook for 2 pawns for the center and positional advantage. It should be a temporary sacrifice but I oversighted that my queen is overloaded. I kept struggling for any chance of defense but lost the time (the time control was G/30)

It's very bad that the tournament used a knock-out system. I have to go back without a chess medal but fortunately I did well in my table-tennis games and bagged a gold and a bronze to bring home.

Turning the table..

2006-05-18T12:45:00.000-04:00

Kamsky drew against Etienne Bacrot,
Topa beat Anand; and
Svidler lost to Pono

It is a very exciting tournament indeed.
I think Sofia is the stepping stone of the changes in Super-GM tournament.
Before Sofia last year, there are a lot of short draws.
However, since Sofia last year did not allow any short draw, most GMs have learned to fight until the end
A lot of exciting middle games have surfaced since then.

I haven't had any chance to check on the games today except for Anand-Topa game
and I have been expecting Nxf3 since move 29.
It has later been played on move 31.
I wonder if my prediction is a premature move.

He won again

2006-05-17T14:58:00.000-04:00

Yiha.. Kamsky won again today...
So he has won against everyone but Topalov now
at the same time, Topa lost for the 2nd time, now to Peter Svidler
Topa played a very convincing game against Kamsky 2 days ago
I almost thought that Topa is coming back.. like he did before

Kamsky also won convincingly against Pono today
He played 35. Rc7 when Pono's Black Queen is on the 2nd row, which showed how he is always playing for a win, not just for a draw.
Svidler put Topa into zwigzwang in a very interesting end game

Anand is playing Topa again tomorrow
I hope there won't be a short draw

What's up with Kamsky

2006-05-15T11:57:00.000-04:00

So Mr. Kamsky is getting famous again.

People have been expecting him to show his true nature after a long silence.
Many people were stunned when his name suddenly appeared again in chess world.
He was actually very famous a little more than a decade ago
In his teen age, he had beaten a lot of big names such as Nigel Short, Ivanchuk, Anand, Shirov, Kramnik and even Mr. Kasparov (only onced though)
He was the youngest player ever to be rated in FIDE's world top ten in 1990.
However, he suddenly left the competitive chess world in 1995 to continue his study in medicine.

After 9 years, he came back in 2004 to do extremely well in his first competition.
He continued his excellent run and won more competitions after that.
Today, being the lowest rated among 6 players, he is leading in Sofia, in a Super-GM tournament with +3 -0 =1 after beating Anand 2 days ago. If he beats the world champion, Mr Topalov tomorrow, that might be his best result in the first round of a Super-GM tournament ever.

Good luck Gata Kamsky... I always love your games

-zabbura2002-

Badly beaten

2006-04-26T04:09:00.000-04:00

I've been badly beaten today...

1. e4 c5
2. Bc4 e6
3. Nf3 Nf6
4. Nc3 g6? ( 4. … d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. Qe2+ Be7 )
5. d4 cxd4? ( 5. … d5 6. exd5 exd5 7. Qe2+ Be7 8. Bb5+ Nbd7 9. dxc5 )
6. Nxd4 Bg7 ( 6. … Bb4 7. 0–0 d5 8. Bb5+ Bd7 )
7. 0–0 0–0
8. f4 d5
9. exd5 exd5
10. Bb3 a6? ( 10. … Nc6 )
11. Be3 Ng4
12. Qd2 Qh4?! ( 12. … Nxe3 13. Qxe3 Re8 14. Qf2 Nc6 )
13. g3 Qd8
14. Nxd5 Re8
15. Rae1 Nc6 ( 15. … Nxe3 16. Rxe3 Rxe3 17. Qxe3 Nc6 )
16. Nxc6 I was planning for( 16. h3?! Nxe3 17. Rxe3 Rxe3 18. Qxe3 Bxd4 )
16. … bxc6
17. Bb6 Qd7 ( 17. … Rxe1 18. Bxd8 Rxf1+ 19. Kxf1 cxd5 )
18. Rxe8+ Bf8
19. Rd8 Qb7
20. Qb4!! Black lost now.. but I think i'll just try a few more moves to see how long I can put some fight
20. … Qxb6+ desperate move
21. Qxb6 ( 21. Nxb6 c5 )
21. … Bb7
22. Ne7+ Kg7
23. Qd4+ Nf6
24. Rxa8 Bxa8
25. Re1! c5 ( 25. … h6 26. Qc4 Bxe7 27. Qxf7+ Kh8 )
26. Qc4 Bxe7
27. Qxf7+ Kh6
28. Rxe7 1-0

April 22

2006-04-22T18:14:00.000-04:00

1. e4 c5
2. f4 Nc6
3. a4? e5
4. Qf3? Nd4
5. Qd3 c4? ( 5. … d5 6. exd5 Qxd5 )
6. Qxc4 Qf6 ( 6. … d5
7. Qc3 ( 7. exd5 Bf5 ) ) 7. f5 Qh4+
8. g3?! Qxe4+
9. Ne2? ( 9. Kf2 Qxh1 10. Bg2 Qxh2 )
9. … Nxc2+ ( 9. … Nf3+ 10. Kd1 Qxc4 )

white resigns

Another Blitz

2006-04-17T15:21:00.000-04:00

[Event "?"]
[Site "ICC"]
[Date "2006.04.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "zabbura2002"]
[Black "Black"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 d5
2. c4 dxc4
3. e4 Nf6
4. Nc3 Bg4
5. Nf3 Nc6
6. d5 Na5
7. b4 cxb3
8. axb3 c6
9. b4 Bxf3
10. gxf3 Rc8
11. Rxa5 cxd5
12. Rxd5 Nxd5 ( Nd7 13. Bb5 Rc7 14. Bf4 Rxc3 )
13. Nxd5 $2 ( 13. Bb5+ Rc6 ) f6
14. Bb5+ ( 14. Bh3 Rc6 15. O-O
e6 16. Nf4 ) Kf7
15. f4 ( 15. Bd2 e6 16. Nf4 e5 17. Nd5 ) e6
16. Ne3 Bxb4+
17.Bd2 ( 17. Ke2 a6 18. Qb3 axb5 ) Qd4
18. O-O ( 18. f5 Bxd2+ 19. Qxd2 Qxd2+ 20. Kxd2 Rhd8+ 21. Ke2 exf5 ) Bxd2
19. f5 Bxe3
20. fxe6+ Ke7
21. fxe3 ( 21. Qh5 Bxf2+ 22. Rxf2 Rc1+ 23. Bf1 Kxe6 24. Qg4+ Kf7 25. Qg2 ) Qxe3+ 22. Rf2 Qg5+
23.Rg2 Qc5+
24. Rf2 Qxb5
25. Rb2 Qxb2
26. Qd7+ Kf8
27. Qf7# 1-0

April 14, ICC -4 (blitz 2/2)

2006-04-17T15:05:00.000-04:00

[Event "?"]
[Site "ICC"]
[Date "2006.04.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "zabbura2002"]
[Black "Black"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 e5
6. Nxc6 bxc6
7. Bg5 ( 7.
Bc4 {is more common} ) Bb4
8. Bc4 h6
9. Bh4 ( 9. Bxf6 {my usual choice} ) g5
10. Bg3 Qe7
11. O-O ( {I should have played the more aggresive} 11. Qe2 {or 11. Qd3 with a chance of castling Queen side} ) Bxc3
12. bxc3 Nxe4
13. Qf3 {a blunder as early as move 13?!} Nd2 {better was} ( d5 14. Bd3 Nd2 )
14. Bxe5 {both the Queen and Rook can still be saved with } ( 14. Bxf7+ Qxf7 15. Qe2
Nc4 {if} ( Nxf1 16. Qxe5+ ) ) Nxf3+
15. gxf3 O-O
16. Rfe1 Qc5
17. Bb3 d5
18. Rad1 Be6
19. c4 dxc4
20. Bd6 Qxd6 ( Qa5 21. Re5 Qd8 22. Ba4 Rc8 $17 )
21. Rxd6 cxb3
22. axb3 Rac8
23. Kg2 $2 ( 23. Ra1 Rc7 ) Rfe8
24. Ra1 c5
25. Rxa7 c4
26. b4 Rb8
27. c3 Red8
28. Rxd8+ Rxd8
29. b5 {basic endgame mistake} ( 29. h3 ) Rb8
30. Ra5 Bd7
31. b6 {desprate move, better was } ( 31. Ra6 Bxb5
32. Rxh6 ) Rxb6
32. Rc5 Be6
33. Kg3 ( 33. Re5 f5 34. Re1 ) Rb3
34. f4 Rxc3+
35. Kg2 gxf4 ( Bh3+ 36. Kg1 Rc1# ) { mate in 2}
36. h4 Rd3
37. f3 c3
38. Kf1 ( 38. Kf2 ) Re3 ( Rxf3+ )
39. Kf2 Ba2
40. Ra5 Bb1
41. Ra3 c2
42. Rxe3 ( 42. Ra8+ Kg7 43. Rc8 )
{White resigned} 0-1

April 14, ICC -3

2006-04-17T14:35:00.000-04:00

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 h6 4. Ne5 Bd6 5. Qh5 Nf6 6. Qxf7# Black checkmated

April 14, ICC -2

2006-04-17T14:34:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time since i played against English.. Symmetrical English might be the only English opening I know as Black since I watched zingkov used it before in Holland.

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 e6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Bf4 d5 7. Ne5 Nxd4 8. e3 Nf5 9. e4 d4 10. Bd3 dxc3 11. bxc3 Nh4 White resigns

April 14, ICC -1

2006-04-17T14:30:00.000-04:00

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 c6 5. e3 Bg7 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. Ne5 Unregistered player Black disconnected and forfeits 1-0

Chess jokes

2006-03-30T16:36:00.001-05:00

A chess master died - after a few days, a friend of his heard a voice; it was him!
"What's it like, where you are now," he asked.
"What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news."
"Tell me the good news first."
"Well, it's really heaven here. There are tournaments and blitz sessions going on all the time and Morphy, Alekhine, Lasker, Tal, Capablanca, Botvinnik, they're all here, and you can play them."
"Fantastic!" the friend said, "and what is the bad news?"
"YOU have Black against Capablanca on Saturday."

Black on ICC

2006-02-16T17:26:00.000-05:00

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Qxd4 Qxd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Bg4 8. f3 Bf5 9. Ne2 Ne7 10. g4 Bd3 11. Bd2 0–0 12. Bg2 Re8 13. f4 Nbc6 14. a3 Bxc3 15. bxc3 Rad8 16. Bf3 a5 17. Nc1 Bc4 18. Kf2 Ng6 19. Kg3 Nf8 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. f5 c5 22. Bf4 c6 23. Bc7 Rd7 24. Bxa5 cxd4 25. cxd4 Rxd4 26. Bb4 g6 27. f6 Re3+ 28. Kh4 Ree4 29. Be7? Rxg4+ 30. Kh3 Be6? (30. .. Ne6 31. Rg1 Ng5#) 31. Re1 Rge4+ White resigns

black vs Eric Gerson

2006-02-06T18:00:00.000-05:00

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 ( 4. d4 Qa5+ ) 4. … bxc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nf6 7. e5 Nd5 ( 7. … c5 8. Qh4 Nd5 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. 0–0 Ba6 11. Re1 ) 8. c4 Nb4 9. Qc3 Bb7 10. a3 Na6 11. Bg5 Be7 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. 0–0 0–0 14. b4 d5 15. exd6 e.p. Qxd6 16. c5 Qe7 17. Qb3 Nc7 18. Nc3 a5 19. Rad1 Rab8 20. Ne4 Nd5 21. Qc2 axb4 22. a4 Ba6 23. Rfe1 b3 24. Qb1? ( 24. Qb2 ) 24. … f5 25. Ned2 Nc3 26. Qb2 Nxd1 27. Rxd1 Rfd8 28. Nd4 Qf6 29. N2f3 ( 29. Nxc6 Qxb2 ) 29. … e5 30. Re1 exd4 31. Ne5 d3 0-1

white vs Danny

2006-02-06T17:39:00.000-05:00

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nc6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bxf6 gxf6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Nc3 e6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bb5 Qd6 10. Qb3 Be6 ( 10. … 0–0–0 ) 11. 0–0 0–0–0 12. Qa4 Ne7? ( 12. … Kb8 ) 13. Qxa7 Nc6 14. Bxc6 Qxc6 15. Rac1 Rg8 16. a4 Bh3 17. Nb5 Qd7?? 1-0

( 17. … Bxg2 18. Rfe1 Bh3+ ( 18. … Bxf3+ 19. Kf1 Bg2+ 20. Ke2 +– ) 19. Kh1 Bg2+ = )

black vs. Kevin DiTirro

2006-02-06T16:44:00.000-05:00

1. c4 d5 2. cxd5 Qxd5 3. e3 e5 4. Nc3 Qd8 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qe4 Nc6 ( 6. … Nf6 7. Qxb7 Nc6 ) 7. Bc4 Nf6 8. Qc2 Bc5 9. Rb1? 0–0 10. a3 a6 11. b4 Ba7 12. f4 exf4 13. exf4 Qe7+ 14. Nge2 Nd4! 15. Qb2 b5 16. 0–0?? Nxe2+ 17. Kh1 bxc4 18. Nxe2 Qxe2 0-1 (diagram)

then maybe 19. Rg1 Bxg1 20. d3 cxd3 21. Qxe2 dxe2 22. Bd2 Ne4 23. Be1

Starting

2006-01-31T23:37:00.000-05:00

I will start posting my games soon
and maybe analyzing them as well.
Please give comments.
And thanks in advance!