But I feel bad about it since I really beat myself in the game I lost (You know it’s bad when you could have beat yourself. hehe). I lost 2 tempos against a 1900 players with a solid style. If I had played the move I was going to play I would have had those tempos, but instead messed up by making a “safe-looking” move, first. I should not have been intimidated, drats.

Against the 1954 player, I was lost because of his brilliant combo, but he decided not to exchange queens, and then I clawed out a win with the better late-middlegame/endgame technique.

Last game was against a guy, about 1526 (don’t know if that’s current, or if it is lower now). He lost the exchange, just missed seeing it, but he was at least fine if not better, and he resigned immediately, very, very early in the game, and then left.

My pre-tournament, current rating was about 1674, so I should be over 1700 now, but got very lucky in that first game. I even spent half an hour looking at a combo before I came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t work. Could have just as easily lost rating points, so I am sort of frustrated by my mistake, a tired mistake really, but objectively it turned out quite well.

Next time I play that guy I lost to, I am going to be so gunning for him it will be ridiculous. I should have lost to the guy I won against, and I really want to beat this guy I lost to. I’ve played him twice before, and he always goes for that tiny winning advantage that I stupidly hand over to him. It’s starting to piss me off. hahaha.

Mar28, Round1 – The game I won. Now I realize how awful we both played it. Ra2, instead of Rb1, would have given me a slight advantage (instead of a big one for him).

I am White:
http://chessflash.com/node/578

It takes me a long time to recreate these games, as I think I left my scorepad there, and my handwriting is so bad that I keep them all in short-term memory, and then play them out on a board in order to recreate it.

Round 2, I am Black
http://chessflash.com/node/579

I played this game like the tired scaredy-pants that I was. I was amazed at how much of my analyses was correct, and when it wasn’t it was because I was “taking his word for it”, that he played the right move. Shoot, he was right, I should have won the exchange (and the game). I did see the back-rank threat on the next move. Jeez, he missed all sorts of stuff and I was false defensive/afraid of my opponent.

The scary realization I’m shockingly coming to, is that I’m the one some of these players should be afraid to play, but didn’t realize it myself until just now. You could see it in the round 1 game how passive I started out, like a lamb waiting for the slaughter. hehe.

Round 3, I am White:
http://chessflash.com/node/580

Like I told him after the game, he should have played …Re8 with the …e5 push, and that I should have played Ne2 instead of Nf3 earlier, was playing over-aggressive instead. My opponent looked like he could barely keep his eyes open and had just turned his completely winning ending into a draw during the previous round, so I guess he was completely gassed. He actually beat me last time we played when I was gassed and blundered a rook to him. I was no where near that tired and easily won some blitz games afterward to someone else, and analyzed with some other players, etc.

The King’s Indian Attack is another time-honored way for White to play the French. Fischer played it for a while (but I think Bobby liked to mix up his opening choices as well), even against Petrosian in My 60 Memorable Games, if memory serves.

I felt inspired by Alekhine when I made this move, knowing that there is plenty of initiative going on for Black, despite the blocked in appearance. White’s knight is also hampered.

There were other winning moves at the end 28….NxB wins a rook. As my opponent said at the end, my only real weakness was on the clock, yes! 🙂

I talked with him after the game:
LinuxGuy: You never got a chance to get your game going, but particularly on your kingside, unwind that first perphaps before rook a-file ventures.
domvar: but i can’t
LinuxGuy: Nf3d2 and Nf1e3, I was looking at that during the game
domvar: yes and Ne3 d5
LinuxGuy: That looks nice, then Bb2 and c4
domvar: yes in my dream but you don’t let me play what i wanted
domvar: you want a revanche?
LinuxGuy: hehe, next time you would no prob. Rd1, then Nd5 yeah, I like your thinking

Nf3d2 is the hallmark of someone who knows about attacking from KIA formations, so it generally occurs to me nowdays.

Here is the game pertaining to the original post:

http://chessflash.com/node/571

Here is a game is from a time I played Domvar before. I remember I was half-falling asleep when I played this game. Instead, 24…Bb6 appears to win quickly for Black.

http://chessflash.com/node/570

The Open Sicilian is not harder to play than the Scotch Opening, IMO, although it may be broader.

Black just played Qg6, from the square f6. From the diagram it’s White’s move. About the only really safe move for White here is the text move. After O-O, White could face a real sh*tstorm. In the diagram, the threats are Qxg and Qxe. Another featured move that could follow is Ne5, which attacks the loose bishop on c4, plus f3.

Do not easily believe what Crafty tells you. I have virtually always lost with Nb5 (after say Qxe or Ne5), even though Crafty would have you playing it like there is no tomorrow. Worse, it wins at the superGM level, but the complications are unbelievable, if Black plays it right, and probably White just outplays Black in the opening on those occasions. There are Nb5 moves at different spots, but in my experience it’s always turned out horrible wherever played in the move order.

For a while, I had good results with fianchettoing the bishop on g2, but a strong player will play …d5! which has obvious advantages, like hitting the bishop on e3.

Also, there are opening lines, theory, where White gives up a pawn to play Nb5 and then Black supposedly plays Kd8 (so is not castled). Don’t be fooled! Black will castle O-O immediately, while the Knight on b5 will be lost in outer space, trying to play Nxc7, Nd5, which never seems to work out well in reality, overall anyway. Probably have doubled e-pawns, and Black’s knights and rooks love to maneuver from above those doubled pawns like chimps in a forest, and crash down on White’s kingside.

Anyhow, it looks like Gulko really messes up here by playing Ng6 instead of …g6. Later he plays …g6 anyhow. Crafty liked …g6, but The King, liked Ng6. So basically, you can’t really trust computers in any case, without playing it out.

So there follows from the diagram. NxN, QxN (forced, to defend the bishop on c5) Bxf+ KxB Qh5+ Ng6(?) Qf5+! Kd8(?) QxB looks +- to me.

By the way, if you simply play O-O, Qxe, Nd2, giving up the pawn for the initiative, I really see getting nothing more out of it than a draw.

At the end of this game, Black plays d5, then White follows with Qa6+ Kf7, and Bg5+ winning the queen.

The Scotch – ECO C45

Another variation is …Ne5 Be2 THEN Qg6 O-O d5!, when oddly enough White plays Bh5, provoking Qxe, crazy, White can fetch at least a draw from that it seems, even though The King program thinks its better for Black. Hey, if Ehlvest can beat Beliavsky with it, then I should play it too. ;-D

I’ve got my TascBase Chess DB set up now. Wow, is it sweet. Has the FIDE ECO lines on it, as well as a bunch of games, at least 150,000 games, but I think it’s more than that, plenty. I bought this software like 10 years ago and then never really put it to any use.

This may be my last post for a while, need to get back to work (or finding some). ;-p

In this game, White blunders with 16.Bg5, but Black blunders back with 16. Rae8. After he played BxB, as soon as I played RxB I saw that he was going to play Qg5, and was kicking myself.

After the game, I thought that 16…Nc5 was the logical choice, as the queen can recapture the bishop and the knight bombs White’s light-bishop on d3 (which shows there isn’t much point in thinking that bishop is going to be much of a middle-game factor).

However, there is a winning shot I missed as Black, and Crafty has it as -2.42.

Game similar to Round 1

An act of God.

I won the tournament this weekend at the local chess club, all three rounds. Ratings of my opponents were 1872, 1787, and 1769.

This was after both winning a slow game online, and analyzing Chessx’s game for him. ;-D Same day, short nap.

My official rating at the beginning of the day was 1519, so now it is probably over 1600.

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3

Round 1 – analysis

As White, this first move took longer to find than practically all of the rest of the moves put together. In blitz, you’d probably just play it without a clue and still get it right. After White’s reply, Black is in deep trouble in either case. The tactical implications of a Queen getting shunted to the side are that the king loses a great defender/attacker.

Black responds with Ne7, as Bg5 is such a tough threat to meet after …Rc8 Rc1, when the threat is RxN followed by Ne7+, picking up the possible bishop on c6; I’ll calculate the exact details should it arise.

Black flinches here, playing f6, which leads to Ne6 fork, but it’s not hard to see the threat of Ng5, e6, and Nf7 trapping the queen, or winning the exchange and drawing his king onto the f-file, where Qa2+ should win another piece.

http://chessflash.com/node/533

Black to play and win:
(don’t look for it in the game, since I missed it, but found it afterward).
http://chessflash.com/node/530