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

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.

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

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.

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.

Spud2k10 vs Zabbura2002 (Game 3)

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)

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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.”

Clever Dog ? (chess jokes)

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!

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

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

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

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