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I really do like chess, but despite playing years of it I've never gotten good. Is there any online resources anyone can recommend, worth reading, that can improve my game? How should I go about dragging myself up a few levels, study openings? Do mating problems? Lastly, is just playing a whole ton of games useful? I enjoy that the most, but I wonder if I should be doing 'homework' first.
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Feb 8, 2014 12:03
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Anybody wanna play drunk chess on ICC?
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Feb 9, 2014 05:30
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Tony Montana posted:I really do like chess, but despite playing years of it I've never gotten good. Personally, I've been taking a chess engine and letting it do it's analysis thing for a few seconds while hiding the recommended move lines it spits out. I think about what move I want to do and then when I'm sure I want to take the move, I compare to the computer and see what it says. Then I think about why it came up with that set of moves and how it's better than mine. Also, thechesswebsite on youtube has a pretty good list of traps, general tactics, gambits, that sort of thing. The speaker goes into how to avoid those traps and such if they get used on you, and I've been finding it useful.
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Feb 12, 2014 05:25
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Tony Montana posted:I really do like chess, but despite playing years of it I've never gotten good. "My System" by Aron Nimzowitsch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLrNC9Rskww "Reassess Your Chess" by Jeremy Silman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTQAMEm7MF8 And watching blitz with commentary by Chesstrainer and Chessnetwork on youtube I'm up to 1500 on chess.com and improving my blitz game.
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Feb 12, 2014 06:47
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Vogler posted:I made a $500 bet that I would beat a friend in a bo5. I think I have an edge but I would still like to prepare - the first game is on Monday. I am on FICS as Lasaronen and my rating is around 1400. So far I got one win and one draw (draws don't count). I found out he is rubbish in the end game (he keeps his king passive and one time he blundered by weakening his pawn chain) so my strategy will be to just trade off every chance I get.
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Feb 12, 2014 22:36
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I have a copy of Chessmaster 11 and a lot of free time. I don't know anything about chess other than how the pieces move and how funny the animations were in Battle Chess 2000. Where do I begin?
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Feb 15, 2014 07:11
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Play. Alot. Chess.com owns. Go there and make an account and you'll see, playing against people is great and I've made a number of friends. Then just keep playing. Your brain will start to think in terms of the pieces and you'll start noticing things you didn't before. Eventually you'll learn and opening or two because you want something more interesting to do. On Chess.com there are two videos you should watch. http://www.chess.com/video/player/everything-you-need-to-know-the-opening http://www.chess.com/video/player/everything-you-need-to-know-tactics--strategy They are very high level and fantastic. Straight away you're ahead of a ton of people that don't understand what you're trying to do rather than just move pieces around. I really can't get over Chess.com, I had BattleChess on my Amgia and played in a Chess club when I was in highschool. I've done Chess on computers a lot and Chess.com is what you'd always dreamed it could be. It's every feature any Chess program had along with perfect online play and so many members that I've never waited for a game. Chess.com is the reason I'm still playing and looking forward to a couple of games each day.
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Feb 15, 2014 13:11
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The only minor downside to Chess.com is that there aren't that many people who play Standard time controls, and those that do are cheating half the time. While blitz and bullet is fun I believe that the majority of chess improvement comes from games that take longer than 15 mins. However, their Chess Mentor software is excellent.
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Feb 15, 2014 16:31
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singe posted:The only minor downside to Chess.com is that there aren't that many people who play Standard time controls, and those that do are cheating half the time. While blitz and bullet is fun I believe that the majority of chess improvement comes from games that take longer than 15 mins. However, their Chess Mentor software is excellent. You mean the 30 minute option? I'm playing 15/10 now all the time and I reckon it's perfect. It's standard and not blitz, you've got plenty of time to think once you've been playing for a while and get used to the patterns of thought. It's also a little restricted so you can get in and get out within 20-30 minutes usually, makes it perfect for slotting in a game here and there. Do you mean in the 30 minute games people use chess software to tell them what to move? yeah ok, but it's not a big deal surely because who cares about rating and I only play online so when I meet friends and people across a real board I'm ready to roll. Playing a computer or a person is still all practice and if they beat you because they used a computer you're the one actually benefiting from the higher level practice and they're just a sad scrub that can never join a real chess club or got to a real tournament because it's not really them playing. One of the amazing things about Chess.com (there are so many, how many training videos of high quality for instance) is the ability to instantly go back through the moves of a game. When something happens and I get caught, while my opponent is thinking about his next move I just click back through the last couple and see again how I got caught. This is so powerful for training as in real chess you cant say 'um hang on, can I just go back a couple of moves and see the positioning again? I want to see if I had another option or this idea of mine would have worked'. By the end of the game where you can do whatever you want, you've forgotten the positioning and even between you can have a hard time recreating the board at a certain point for training purposes.
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Feb 15, 2014 16:42
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Yea 15|10 is fine. It just gets frustrating after awhile when you manage to get a great position and your opponent turns on an engine and plays best moves for the rest of the game, and you either flag because you have to figure it out or make minor mistakes over several moves and draw/lose. I've never really felt that playing computers has helped my chess, it's more of a tool for analysis. I'm probably just biased because I like ICC so much more than Chess.com where I get decent games at the 45 45 time control. singe fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Feb 15, 2014 |
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Feb 15, 2014 17:00
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I'm probably a lot lower rank than you so I'm not running into these kind of people. I'll check out ICC though if I start encountering this. edit: ICC isn't free? Tony Montana fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Feb 15, 2014 |
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Feb 15, 2014 17:01
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Tony Montana posted:I really do like chess, but despite playing years of it I've never gotten good. Oh hey! Chess thread! It's been a while. I forget who said it but, "Studying openings is fun. Studying the endgame is necessary." Don't get bogged down in any one particular opening. For starters it's best to get an overview of a bunch of different openings and get an understanding of the basic ideas behind them. Soon enough you'll get a feel for which suit you and your style best and then you can delve deeper. As far as going the problem route, I liked the basic diagram with 'white to move' or 'black to move' as the only information. Instead of always looking for a mate, you'll start seeing tactics for things like picking up material or finding nice forcing lines that lead to mate or material gain. One of my fave books for that was "Winning Chess Tactics Illustrated" edited by I. A. Horowitz. I'm pretty sure there's a pdf of it somewhere on the net. edit: Here it is: http://pastebin.com/DpGaf61a dee eight fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Feb 15, 2014 |
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Feb 15, 2014 21:22
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Tony Montana posted:Play. Alot. When I saw how big their video library was I dropped the  to get access to the video lessons. I like that I can press a button and be playing on my phone immediately even if I don't really know what I'm doing yet.
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Feb 16, 2014 06:51
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I just played a really fun, chaotic game in the ICC 5-pool: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 Ne4 3. Nbd2 Nxd2 4. Bxd2 d5 5. e3 Bg4 6. Be2 Nc6 7. O-O g6 8. c4 Bg7 9. cxd5 Qxd5 10. h3 Bf5 11. Nh4 O-O-O 12. Nxf5 gxf5 13. Bf3 Qd6 14. Qa4 e5 15. d5 Nb8 16. Qxa7 e4 17. Be2 Rhg8 18. Bc4 Be5 19. Rac1 Qg6 20. g4 fxg4 21. h4 g3 22. f4 Qg4 23. Kg2 Qxh4 24. Rh1 Qg4 25. Rcf1 c6 26. fxe5 Rxd5 27. Bc3 Rd3 28. Rxf7  Black to move and mate in 7. 28...Qe2+ 29. Kh3 Qh5+ 30. Kg2 Qxh1+ 31. Kxh1 g2+ 32. Kg1 Rd1+ 33. Bf1 gxf1=Q+ 34. Kh2 Qh1#
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Feb 16, 2014 22:01
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Well I finally had a game where I didn't feel like I was making random moves at the beginning and according to Chessmaster's analysis engine kept it roughly even through 10 moves before going totally clueless on move 11, apparently recovering, and then tossing it away around move 17 after I miss a queen being able to penetrate my position from across the board and panic trying to get it out  The computer seems to be very good at showing bad moves and what you should have done instead, anyway. I tried to apply the principles from the videos and articles I read but my vision is not the best.If you're curious: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d6 4.Bc4 h6 5.O-O Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.d4 exd4 8.Qxd4 Bxf3 9.gxf3 Be7 10.Bf4 O-O 11.e5 dxe5 12.Qxe5 Bd6 13.Qe3 Bxf4 14.Qxf4 Nc6 15.Rad1 Qc8 16.Rfe1 Qxh3 17.Qh2 xf3 18.Rd3 Qg4+ 19.Kh1 Qxc4 20.Qh3 Ng4 21.Re4 Qxd3 22.Qxd3 Nxf2+ 23.Kg2 Nxd3 24.cxd3 Rfe8 25.a3 Rxe4 26.dxe4 Nd4 27.Kf2 Re8 28.Ke3 c5 29.Nb5 Nxb5 0-1 e: Jesus, the computer says 28% of the total moves in this 30-move game I just played were blunders. At multiple points the opponent went from dominating to his position completely compromised with one move but I didn't see it and did the same thing myself. 
Luigi Thirty fucked around with this message at 09:46 on Feb 18, 2014 |
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Feb 17, 2014 08:45
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Chess.com is the go-to place for playing online? The OP mentions freechess and ICC for this, referencing chess.com for correspondence, but all you guys are talking about is chess.com. So it certainly seems like the go-to place.
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Feb 24, 2014 00:16
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ICC wasn't free when I looked, Chess.com you can start out for free and it's just fine. I'm new and don't know the others, but Chess.com I ranted about above and I think it's great. Perhaps at higher levels it's not so good, but I'm sub 1000 and very happy with it. Luigi, are you really getting benefit out of the computer analysis? I just can't be bothered with it and prefer to play games, doing my own analysis at key junctions but just going back through the moves and having a good look without being hurried by a waiting opponent. If you think it's really helping you, I'd like to know.
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Feb 24, 2014 00:40
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I guess? It confirms that moves I think are bad when I'm making them but can't find the right move are, in fact, bad moves and suggests better moves. But my chess.com rating is like 700 so I did win a game earlier when some guy ragequit (chat messages and everything) after he hung both his bishops 12 moves into the game. Who ragequits internet chess? Luigi Thirty fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 20:27
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I did just today. This loving Indian guy would check my king, I'd move out of the way, and he'd check again, so I'd move back, and he'd check again in the same place. Then I'd do some small variation and he'd check the same way. He was doing totally nothing, just being so frustrating and if it was a real game I would have looked across the board and said 'are you for real?, would you mind not being a dick?'. But being the Internet I just told him in chat he was playing like an idiot and as he persisted I just resigned and went and did something more useful with my life.
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Feb 25, 2014 20:36
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Tony Montana posted:I did just today. This loving Indian guy would check my king, I'd move out of the way, and he'd check again, so I'd move back, and he'd check again in the same place. Then I'd do some small variation and he'd check the same way. He was doing totally nothing, just being so frustrating and if it was a real game I would have looked across the board and said 'are you for real?, would you mind not being a dick?'. But being the Internet I just told him in chat he was playing like an idiot and as he persisted I just resigned and went and did something more useful with my life. You were the dick here. If you reach the same position three times (threefold repetition), you can claim a draw, click the offer draw button and its over.
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Feb 25, 2014 20:51
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Ok, next time I'll do that and I know. He was still playing like a dick.
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Feb 25, 2014 20:54
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Tony Montana posted:He was still playing like a dick. Playing like a dick can get you all the way up to World Champion.
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Feb 25, 2014 20:58
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Tony Montana posted:Ok, next time I'll do that and I know. He was still playing like a dick. Maybe, but isn't the point of chess to win? He might be playing like a dick, but he's a winning dick apparently.
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Feb 25, 2014 21:04
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Years ago I won against a guy from some chess club, he said he lost because he couldn't find any strategy in my playstyle. There was none, I finished him off with pawns turned queens, or whatever that is called.
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Feb 25, 2014 21:50
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Tony Montana posted:Ok, next time I'll do that and I know. He was still playing like a dick.
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Feb 25, 2014 22:06
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Rorac posted:Maybe, but isn't the point of chess to win? He might be playing like a dick, but he's a winning dick apparently. Sometimes your best option is to play for the draw. Heck, sometimes the best way to play for a win is to play for a draw!
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Feb 26, 2014 00:16
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I sometimes play for drawish positions against higher rated opponents, they tend to try to avoid the draw which may on occasion let me get a better position.
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Feb 26, 2014 00:56
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singe posted:I sometimes play for drawish positions against higher rated opponents, they tend to try to avoid the draw which may on occasion let me get a better position. I used to often play Petroff's as black against higher rated opponents until I discovered MacLeod's defense. MacLeod's is weird and turtle-ish but it's good for frustrating aggressive players.
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Feb 26, 2014 01:31
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Yea, I dabbled in the hippo for a bit and didn't really like that sitting and waiting aspect of it. I'm doing terrible in my current tournament 1.5/5.0 (of 9) pretty much losing every game in the opening with black. I guess that's what happens when you decide to randomly change your repertoire (switched to the french, but I'm sticking with it).
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Feb 27, 2014 05:50
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singe posted:Yea, I dabbled in the hippo for a bit and didn't really like that sitting and waiting aspect of it.
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Feb 27, 2014 06:05
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I guess you're probably right. I was playing against some tough opponents (a FM and a NM) and they just knew way more French theory than me, even the random uncommon sideline I played. Against the FM even though I won both central pawns he was able to get a dark square blockade with his pieces and positionally crush me after 50 moves.
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Feb 27, 2014 14:48
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The sitting and waiting part is fun if you enjoy watching your opponent squirm while racking his or her brain. The most common post game reaction to MacLeod's was something along the lines of "WTF was that? Did you find it in a moldy crypt* or did Satan himself give it to you?" *I found two pages of analysis by Spassky in an early 70s Chess Digest. It's just obscure enough to be my cup of tea.
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Feb 28, 2014 01:23
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So guys, should I buy ChessBase and if so what package? I've just started playing in a club, have had a paid chess.com memberships for a couple of years and gotten som benefits out of that, but I think I should start analyzing some annotated games and wondering if ChessBase access is worth it.
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Mar 2, 2014 21:56
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I am in Reykjavik for the tournament. The opening bar night was good, with a very funny opening introduction from the organizers. Who takes a first round bye is going to determine whether I play Naidistch or an unrated.
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Mar 3, 2014 20:34
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porkface on chess.com I need lessons.
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Mar 9, 2014 06:57
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Guys guys does anyone have any recommendations for a semi-nice chess set to keep at home plus one semi-nice travel set (preferably wood with magnets)? I bought a limited edition DGT 2010 in red and black the other day 
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Mar 12, 2014 19:34
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I really like my travel set link. Although it's not wooden magnetic pieces, it's really convenient and has a low footprint. I use it mainly for analysis while working through books when I'm travelling.
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Mar 12, 2014 21:16
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Spug posted:Guys guys does anyone have any recommendations for a semi-nice chess set to keep at home plus one semi-nice travel set (preferably wood with magnets)? I'd help you out but I really don't need to buy several chess sets right now. I love looking at chess sets 
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Mar 13, 2014 11:29
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As I’ve posted about both here and in the SAS thread, this year I decided to trek to the Reykjavik Open with a few friends. My overall score was okay - +4 -3 =0 to finish slightly ahead of where I started – although my play suffered badly as fatigue set in for rounds 7-10. To that point, though, I was playing pretty well and managed a (front page news!) upset in round 1. While I will be focusing on my games, I’ll also try to fill in a little bit of detail about the tournament more generally. It was held in the music hall and conference centre known as the Harpa, had a few side events, and a slightly awkward visit by Garry Kasparov. Iceland itself is quite nice and, despite the (allegedly uncommonly) bad weather was quite picturesque. [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.04"] [Round "1"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "2700"] [ECO "B59"] [WhiteElo "2055"] As I posted above, I knew from the prereg list that I would be right around the middle of the table so whether I played right up or right down would depend on just who took a bye in the first round. As it happens, I got quite lucky. Instead of worrying about a game that I was certainly going to lose, I decided to just enjoy myself. The top four boards were on an elevated stage, set up with cameras for webcasts, and equipped with very comfortable chairs. Instead of leaning over the board, agonizing, I decided to instead recline, occasionally spin, and spend most of my time looking out over the playing hall lording my elevated position over the plebians who would never know such luxury. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 d6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Be2 e5 I was incredibly relieved when I saw this move on the board. Looking at his game history I was expecting 6…g6, where I didn’t really understand how to play the position. As it happens I have quite a bit of experience in the 6…e5 line against good players (although nowhere near 2700, of course) so I had a very good idea of what I wanted to do, and what to avoid. 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Bg5 O-O 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.Nd5 Bg5 11.Bg4 This is an innovation of my own, I think. The idea is simple: I want to deny my opponent the bishop pair that I’ve just surrendered myself. There is an added benefit here in that if black now develops the bishop to its natural square, e6 (which my opponent did), then white gets to capture and leave black with three pawn islands and doubled e-pawns. While black’s strong centre means that this isn’t a critical weakness, it’s still a long-term weakness that will never go away. 11…Be6 12.O-O Rc8 What I’ve faced here several times before is 12…Qd7 13.Bxe6 fxe6 (Qxe6 14.Nc7) 14.Qg4! and white is doing fine. 13.c3 Ne7!? This surprised me, but I guess just shows GM principle. I’m used to black trying to use the knight along the queenside but here he is more interested in getting rid of white’s strong knight. 14.Nxe7+ Qxe7 15.Qf3 Rcd8 16.Rfd1 g6 17.Bxe6 I was happen to leave my bishop on g4, so I wanted to wait until he played a concession (g6) to take. If I don’t take f5 is coming, and the game tilts in black’s favour significantly. 17…fxe6 18.Qe2 Bh4! GM move. Forcing white to play g3 leaves the f2 square weaker for when black moves his bishop around to the other diagonal. Around this time, some lady walked into the playing hall and began yelling “IS KASPAROV HERE?!?!” Sadly for her, and luckily for him, he was not. 19.g3 Bf6 20.Rd3 Qc7 21.Rad1 Be7 22.Qg4 Qc4  So in this position I’m not quite sure what to do, but I also know I’m okay. Eventually, I decide that I’m going to play Na5, forcing black’s Q back to c8. However, I first want to defend my 2-rank against tactics. For example, 23.Na5 Qxa2 24.Nxb7 Rb8 25.Nxd6 Rxb2 -+ 23.R1d2 Kg7 24.Na5 Qc8 25.b3 b5 My original plan had been to play c4, which would be really strong if not for the fact that my knight would be trapped. Pushing c4 would also open up the possibility of a damaging bishop fork on b4. Instead, I decide to create a weakness on the kingside, and then we both have to reorganize our pieces. Around this time Kasparov lady wandered over to board 1 and started asking Arkadij Naidistch (who was playing) where Kasparov was, and when he was going to arrive. Naiditsch looked at her confusedly, but didn’t answer. 26.h4 h5 27.Qe2 Rd7 28.b4 Rc7 29.Rc2 Qb8 30.a3 Rcc8 31.Rd1? I actually thought here for a while, calculating c4. I must have seen a ghost, because it’s actually just working here. Now the game turns around, and white passes the advantage to black for a while. 31…. Bd8 32.Nb3 Bb6 33.Qd3 d5 Black finally manages to push d5. However, I have enough experience in this sort of position to hold as an axiom to never take that pawn. Since black cannot productively either push or take on e4, white should never take unless they’re winning on the spot. 34.Kg2 Rc4 35.f3 dxe4? Black cannot take. Even though he wins a pawn, he has doubled and isolated pawns, his rook is out of position, and white’s queen is able to infiltrate. 36.fxe4 Rd8 37.Qf3 Rxd1 38.Qxd1 Rxe4 39.Qd7+?! Kh6? Apparently it is important for white to invert moves 39 and 40 as I played them, in case that black plays Kh8. As played, black can apparently survive with a draw in a way that is not possible after 39.Nc5!! Bxc5 40.Qd7+ Kh8 41.bxc5. However, black plays Kh6. According to Houdini, this move is simply losing. Unfortunately, to win the game, it requires white to play a total computer move that even having in front of me I cannot understand. 40.Nc5 Qa8 41.Kh2 Bxc5 42.bxc5 Qf8  Here I sat and thought for quite a while, looking for a coup de gras. The two candidate moves I had were Kg2 (played) and c6. According to the computer, the winning line is 43.c6 Rc4 44.Rg2!! I do not understand what Rg2 does, not even a little bit. I don’t ever push g4 in any of these computer lines. But apparently every line is decisive! After tanking again a few moves later just to guarantee that I wasn’t missing a win (at that point I wasn’t), I eventually just forced a perpetual and happily took my draw. 43.Kg2 Rc4 44.Rf2 Qxc5 45.Qd2+ Kg7 46.Qd7+ Kh6 47.Qd2+ 1/2-1/2 Chessbase said that my opponent must have just been tired from travelling from France, but given that he went on to completely dominate the tournament (clear first, 8.5/10) I’d say that he was playing well enough! For my efforts, I was rewarded a round 2 match up against a <1900 opponent. This was particularly welcome, as day 2 would feature rounds 2 and 3. Less spent in the morning, more left for the afternoon. [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.05"] [Round "2"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2055"] [ECO "B00"] [WhiteElo "1822"] Through this tournament I came to quite like the modern philidor quite a lot. In this game, my opponent played the opening horrifically and was practically lost quite quickly after shuffling her pieces around needlessly. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bd3 e5 4.dxe5?? dxe5 5.Bb5+? Nbd7 6.Nf3 c6 7.Bd3 Bc5 -+ 8.O-O O-O 9.Nc3 Re8 10.b3 Nf8 11.Bb2 Ng6 12.Ne2 Bg4 This isn’t a dream position from a book because no books would consider a game where white gave black this much. 13.Ng3 Nh5! 14.Kh1 Ngf4?! Played this move because I saw a ghost by double counting my bishop. 15.h3 Qf6!! 16.hxg4 Nxg3+ 17.fxg3 Qh6+ 18.Nh2 Bxd8 sadly doesn’t work, since that requires my bishop to persist after being captured on g4. Black is still better, but Nhf4 was much better. 15.h3 Nxd3 16.Qxd3?? Simply losing. Black now liquidates into an endgame up a pawn, and white has a garbage pawn structure. 16…Qxd3 17.cxd3 Bxf3 18.gxf3 Nf4 19.Rad1 Rad8 20.d4 Bxd4 21.Bxd4 Rxd4 22.Rxd4 exd4 23.Nf5 Rd8 24.Rd1 c5  At this point the fire alarm went off and everyone had to wander outside for about 45 minutes. This was probably not very king to my opponent, who had to marinate in this position during the break. At least she didn’t have to look at it, I guess. 25.Kh2 g6 26.Nh6+ Kg7 27.Ng4 h5 28.Ne5 Kf6 29.Nc4 b5 30.e5+ Ke6 31.Nd6 Rxd6 32.exd6 d3! 32…Kxd6 33.c4 and white has some life. 33.Kg3 g5 34.h4 f6 35.hxg5 fxg5 36.Kh2 c4 37.d7 Kxd7 38.bxc4 bxc4 0-1 I had a nice long afternoon to prepare for this game, which was welcome since I did have to look up the opening. While I’m not 100% on what I played towards the end of the opening, I think that things turned out pretty well and I would be happy to play this game over (without the critical mistake, of course). [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.05"] [Round "3"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2359"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "2055"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e5  HAY TWAN 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Qd8Just prodding to see if I would screw up and playing something like c3. My opponent was also a little bit late for the round so this recouped some time for him. 11.Bg5 Be7 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.c4 b4 14.Nc2 Rb8 15.b3 O-O 16.h4 I play h4 before g3 to keep his bishop off the good diagonal. 16…a5 17.g3 g6  The line that I was least certain about, and least wanted to see. I now have to make a rather difficult decision. The position seems to cry out for white playing h5. However, doing so would involve a fairly major concession as I will probably never be able to castle, and my king will be vulnerable if I cannot win quickly. I end up deciding to go ahead with it since I can stick black with an isolated g-pawn, and an equally weak king that I think I can get at very well. 18.Bh3 Be6 19.h5 Bg7 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Nde3 Nd4 My original plan here had been to play 23.Qg4 and then defend the f2 pawn with Rh2. However, once Nd4 was on the board, I realized that Nf3+ would fork the rook on h2. I ended up deciding that lines starting with 23.Qg4 Nf3+ were too dire for me, although HIARCS actually says that I’m simply okay. I’m not too bothered, though, since I think that the line I played worked pretty well. 23.Nxd4 exd4 24.Ng4 Qg5  I tanked here for a long time, calculating the line 25.f4 Rxf4!?. For investing a rook, black gets an incredibly attack that I can’t quite find a way out of. I decided to play f4 anyways since I decided that since I couldn’t prove black’s attack conclusive, I would welcome him sacrificing a rook. In the event that the attack is unsound, I’m likely just winning. As it happens, the computer evaluates the attack as unsound but grants white only a 1.8 edge. While that is, theoretically, winning it means that black has a very forceful attack and white has little room for error. 25.f4 Qc5 26.Nh6+?? Bxh6 27.Rxh6 Kg7 28.Rh4 d3 Throughout the entire game, I had been considering the d3 push as a means of freeing the bishop. Since I had eliminated the bishop, I though that I could stop worrying about it. Unfortunately, with black’s queen on c5, there is now another diagonal that can be opened up, and now I’m just lost as black is going to pick up a few pawns with good initiative to boot. If I’m simply patient enough to play Qd3 before Nh6+, I maintain a small edge and am just fine going forward. 29.Kf1 Qd4 30.Rb1 Qxe4 31.Rb2 Rh8 32.Rbh2 Rxh4 33.Rxh4 Rh8 34.Rxh8 Kxh8 35.Qg4 Qh1+ 36.Kf2 d2 37.Qxg6 Qe1+ 38.Kg2 d1=Q 39.Qf6+ Kg8 40.Qg6+ Kf8 41.Qf6+ Ke8 42.Qg6+ Kd7 0-1 Unfortunately all of the perp ideas would require the board to be one square larger. Day 3 was tour day. A bus and a half of chess players were organized and then sent around Iceland to see [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.06"] [Round "4"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2055"] [ECO "C41"] [WhiteElo "2345"] Luckily for me, my first-round draw meant that despite losing in round 3 I got paired up again. This was another game that I played well in outside of one horrible mistake which threw things away. This game was one move away from being an easy draw, but I got cavalier and misevaluated one simple thing. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Re1 c6 8.a4 a5 9.Ba2 exd4 10.Qxd4 Correct is 10.Nxd4, and black now equalizes easily. I was weighing between Ng4 and Nc5, but the computer also gives 10…Ne4!? 11.Nxe4 dxe4 12.Qxe4 Ng4 13.Qf4 Bd6 and black recoups the pawn on h2. Nc5 11.Bg5?! Be6 12.e5 In the post-mortem I learned that my opponent had wanted to play around this move for a while, but it simply promises nothing and black is now at worst equal. All of white’s active pieces are about to disappear, and black will have control of the middle of the board. 12…dxe5 13.Qxe5 Nfd7 14.Qg3 Bxg5 15.Nxg5 Bxa2 16.Rxa2 h6 17.Nf3 Re8 18.Rxe8+ Qxe8 19.Ra1 Ne4 20.Nxe4 Qxe4 21.Qd6 Nf6 22.Qd2 Re8 23.b3  White has no attack, but also offers no weaknesses for black to target. All that’s left now if for black to play 23…Qe7 24.Re1 Qxd2 25.Rxe8+ Nxe8 26.Nxd2 Nd6 and to take the textbook-perfect draw. Unfortunately, I thought that if I exchanged on b4 I could place my knight on d5, control the centre of the board, and eventually capture on c2. Unfortunately this just doesn’t work, as my rook can’t get in and black can pick up b4 without much resistance. Interestingly, HIARCS says that the endgame is still better for black, but thematic evaluations of endgames is one point where I would emphatically not trust computers. 23…Qb4?? 24.Qxb4 axb4 25.Rd1 Nd5 26.Kf1 Kf8 27.Rd4 f5? Here I simply blundered after miscounting. I thought I couldn’t play 27…Ke7 on account of 28.Ne5 Kd6 29.Nxf7+, but 29…Kd6 just traps the knight. Black actually has a few other solid plans too (b6=>Rd8=>c5) but for some reason my mind wasn’t missed me and I didn’t see that f5 just hanged a pawn. Luckily for me I have experience playing lost endgames, so I still managed to make something of this, but from this point on the game is properly lost. 28.Nh4 Kf7 29.Nxf5 Kf6 30.Nd6 Re7 31.Nc4 g5 32.h4 Kg6 33.Nb2 Rf7 34.Kg1 Rf4 35.Rxf4 gxf4 This line is actually more aggressively losing from a technical standpoint, but it lets me cause trouble for him and creates the possibility of him screwing up. 36.Nd3 Kh5 37.Ne5 Kxh4 38.Nf7 After the game he said that he should have played a5 first, to stop me from defending the b7 pawn. The idea has merit but black has a surprising number of resources based around blockading the passed a-pawn, then pushing the kingside pawns to swap pawns and draw white’s king away, then making an end-run and white’s queenside pawns. I think that the game line, while much slower and giving black some impressive looking ideas, is actually the better route since it creates a queenside majority as white’s ultimate trump. 38…b6 39.Nxh6 Kg5 40.Nf7+ Kf5 41.Kf1 Ke4 42.Ke2 Kd4 43.Kd2 Nc3 44.Ng5 c5 45.Nf3+ Ke4 46.Ng1 Nb1+ 47.Ke1 c4 48.Ne2 cxb3 HIARCS actually quite likes 48…Na3 as a way to cause trouble, but white’s knight ends up trapped. Instead I played a line that gave me one last chance to slime, and made him fine one last winning move. 49.cxb3 Nc3 50.Nxc3+ bxc3 51.Ke2 Kd4 52.g4! f3+ 53.Kd1 Kd3 54.g5 c2+ 55.Kc1 Ke2 56.g6 Kxf2 57.g7 1-0 The position on move 52 is probably a good position for a book on pawn endgames, although that would require a pawn endgame book other than Karsten Müller’s and the world simply doesn’t need that. Friday was very welcome twice-over. Not only did I get the chance to sleep in, but I was paired very down against another 1800. I checked what she played and was ready to go ahead and play the usual King’s Indian Attack garbage that I’ve been throwing around for the past ~3 years. However this game and another later on have worked to convince me that I should get rid of it and go back to playing less Lawrence-Day-30-years-ago openings. [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.08"] [Round "5"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1830"] [ECO "C00"] [WhiteElo "2055"] I anticipated that she would pursue a hedgehog formation, and that’s what happened. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Qe2 a6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 Qc7 6.O-O d6 7.c3 Nf6 8.d4 b6 9.Bf4 Bb7 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.Rfd1 I had to spend quite a bit of time on this move, as it’s not entirely clear what to do with my pieces if she pushes e5. Rfd1 sets up a tactical shot that just wins. 11…e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.Nxe5! Nxe5 14.Nc4 Nfd7 15.Bh3 and white recoups the piece with both interest and initiative. 11…O-O 12.h4 Kh8 13.Nh2 It’s worth noting that my position isn’t actually good, and not something I should be satisfied with white. I play for it because I know the plans better than my opponent, and know the positions better than they do. After Nh2 black is soundly better, but my opponent does not know that. 13…e5 14.Bg5 Ng8? Simply bad. Liquidating the bishops leaves black with a big hole on d6. 15.Bxe7 Nxe7 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.Nc4 f5?  Black hangs a simple tactic, making white’s game much easier although not quite trivial. 18.Rxd7 Qxd7 19.Nxb6 Qc6 20.Nxa8 Bxa8 21.Rd1 Ng6 22.Nf1 Bb7 23.Ne3 fxe4 24.Nc4  I played Nc4 almost on instinct then regretted it immediately. Black has at her disposal the incredibly difficult tactical shot of Nf4?! While this move does not actually work (25.gxf4 exf4 26.Qg4 does the trick), black gains a furious attack in most lines so Nf4 is a terrifying move to realize you’ve overlooked. Luckily she played much more simply, allowing for an easy conclusion to the game. 24…Qf6 25.Nd6 Bc6 26.Nxe4 Bxe4 27.Bxe4 Ne7 28.Rd3 Qe6 29.a3 a5 30.Rf3 Rd8 31.Qb5 Qh3 32.Rd3 Rc8 33.Qxa5 Rf8 34.Qxc5 Qe6 35.b4 Rc8 36.Qa5 Ng6 37.Rd8+ 1-0 The people I was travelling with were really anxious to go out for Friday night, despite the next day’s round being moved up to 1PM. Unfortunately some of us took so long in the analysis room that we were unable to get out in time to make the pub trivia night, so we instead ended up wandering downtown to get some very (very) expensive drinks. Not so much was going on, though – apparently last call in Reykjavik is 5am so nobody was out at our prosaic midnight-to-1am slot. The shift from night round, with late night, to midday meant that I got less time than usual to prepare for my opponent. While he had no database games against the modern Philidor, from his games against the Pirc I inferred that he’d play 4.Nge2. This was somewhat concerning for me since I wasn’t so sure what to do in this line. Luckily, I figured out a clear plan that I think worked very well for me even though I didn’t execute it properly. For all the optimism this game enjoined, it was actually my last actually well-played game of the tournament. Fatigue caught up with me now, right around move 23. [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.08"] [Round "6"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "2055"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "2254"] In Nge2 lines white often looks to be aggressive on the kingside with pawn pushes and Ng3=>f5. My idea is to be faster on the queenside. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nge2 Nbd7 5.g3 b5!? More cheeky than effective – black gets the same position without the flash after 4…c6 since 5.a4 is met effectively with 5…Nbd7 6.g3 d5. 6.a3 c6 7.Bg2 Bb7 8.O-O Be7 I cross up black’s two ideas, and incidentally find myself a touch slow on the queenside. Correct is an immediate a5. 9.h3 a5 10.b3 O-O 11.Re1 Re8 I recognize that b3 is out of place so I commit to black’s second plan – withdraw the bishop and break with d5. However, due to the moves I committed to the queenside the central thrust isn’t as effective as it could be. 12.g4 b4 13.axb4 axb4 14.Rxa8 Bxa8 15.Na4 One of the central themes of the rest of the game is both players trying to play around their bad pieces – white’s a4 knight and black’s a8 bishop. While white’s knight is trapped, it is still fulfilling an important role by keeping black’s other bishop off of c5. Black’s bishop, meanwhile, can become deadly quickly if black gets his pawns out of the way. d5 16.Ng3 Bf8 17.dxe5 Nxe5 18.exd5 Nxd5 19.Nf5 Bb7 My knights dominate the centre of the board, so I decide to return my bishop to civilization. Better might have been to leave the bishop be and instead try to get a knight to f4 more quickly, although this way worked out pretty well too. 20.Bb2 Ng6 21.Rxe8 Qxe8 22.Bxd5 cxd5 23.Qd4?  Despite the intimidating move, white is largely threatless. Nh6+ does not work since black’s knight covers the a6 square (in analysis we found that the threat was also surprisingly toothless: without black’s defensive knight the line is still 24.Nh6+ Kh8 25.Nxf7+ Kg8 26.Nh6+ gxh6! 27.Qh8+ Kf7 and black escapes with an extra piece), and Nxg7 is both too slow and only a pawn. I sat here for a very long time, thinking what to do. The first move is obvious: Qe1+, activating the queen, is an obvious first move but the follow up is not clear. White’s knight prevents Nh4 which would otherwise be. There’s Bc8, chasing the knight, but I rejected it because I didn’t see anything concrete enough after 24.Ng3. However, black has 24…h5!! where either capture loses to 25…Nh5! I settled on the game line because it’s difficult for white to navigate, the intuitive line actually loses, and I thought that the endgame was better for me. Unfortunately I misevaluated the endgame, since white is able to target black’s lone b-pawn very quickly. 23…Qe1+ 24.Kh2 Ne5 25.Qe3 Qxe3 26.fxe3 26.Qxe3 d4!! 27.Nf4 Nf6+ 28.Kg3 g6 -+ My opponent said he didn’t even see 26…d4, and simply took back with the pawn to anchor the d4 square. f6 27.Kg3 g6 28.Nd4 Bd6 29.Kf2 Kf7 30.Bc1 Nd7 31.Bd2 Nc5 The computer says that black is better off pushing the kingside pawn majority, but everything seems drawish here. Black can’t hold the b-pawn, but white can’t evade reducing to an OCB endgame. 32.Nxc5 Bxc5 33.Ne2 f5 34.gxf5 gxf5 35.Nf4 d4 36.Nd3 dxe3+ 37.Bxe3 Be7 38.Bc5 Be4 39.Bxb4 Bxd3 40.Bxe7 Bxc2 41.Bd6 Bxb3 1/2-1/2 The next game is a real turd. Possibly the worst I’ve ever played. While we went out for drinks the night before – and stayed out later than the previous night – I don’t think that’s any excuse for how I played. I booked up well on my opponent but transposed moves. Fatigue must have set in for this game, that’s the only explanation as I more or less helpmated over 20 moves. It is only with great intestinal difficulty that I can review and annotate this game. [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.09"] [Round "7"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1800"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2055"] I know the opening my opponent plays, but generally try to avoid it because I think the games that come from it are stupid. I only played into it because the line he would have played had I avoided (accelerated dragon) is even dumber and stupider. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.f4? d5 Since black hasn’t yet played d6, white should play Be3 first. Instead, black can play f5 immediately. 9.exd5 exd5 10.Qf3 Bg4 11.Nxd5?! Pointlessly complicating the game. I should simply withdraw my queen to either g3 or, preferably, f2 since my opponent is horrifically bad at endgames in the way that only a book-obsessed junior can be. Nxd5 12.Qxg4 Bb4+?[/b] That square should be occupied by his knight. This also gives white a chance to fix his king. 13.Kf1 O-O 14.g3 Rad8 15.Kg2 a5 16.Qf3? All I have to do is play a4 myself, and black’s attack peters. 16… a4 17.Nd2?? Helpmating. And that’s not even the worst part of it. As I play this move, some flashes go off and I’m momentarily stunned. I look around and Garry Kasparov has arrived one day early and is walking through the tournament hall for a photo op. Since I’m playing at the aisle table, he has incidentally stopped by my game. I look up, and I swear he is looking at my game, smirking, and trying to stifle laughter. I hosed up so goddamn bad that Garry Kasparov laughed at my game. gently caress me. 17…Ne3+ 18.Kh3 Ne5 19.Qh5 Nxd3 20.cxd3 Rd5 0-1 After this game I stormed back to the flat, shaved and took a long shower, and then went to have some hákarl and Brennivin which I think qualifies as attempted suicide. Before the next round, Kasparov gave his official speech. It was clumsy, ineloquent, and incompetently plugged his campaign for FIDE president. My opponent, meanwhile, was elderly, hard of hearing, spoke no English, and wheezed heavily when he breathed. [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.10"] [Round "8"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2055"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "1895"] My friend had played him in an earlier round, and said that he my opponent had played well until having to defend. Accordingly, my plan was to attack furiously from the start. My opponent cooperated, and I made quick work of him. My attack wasn’t sound until the end, but as promised he was no good at defence. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bd3 e5 4.c3 Nc6 5.d5 Ne7 6.Bg5 Ng6 7.Ne2 Be7 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.Bb5+ My opponent wants to take queens off the board immediately, with 9…Bd7 10.Qa4. This isn’t a very ambitious plan, and he’s probably looking for only a draw. However, I’m not going to give him that. 9…Kf8!? 10.O-O h5!? 11.Nd2 h4 12.h3 Bg5 13.Nf3 Bf4 My pieces are actually horribly coordinated, with my bishop standing where my knight wants to be. I recognized this, but chose to play Bf4 because I didn’t want to give my opponent the chance to simplify after 13…Nf4, even if the line was better for black. 14.Kh1 Rh6 15.Bd3 Bd7 16.Re1 Qc8 17.Neg1 Ne7 18.Bf1 He withdraws everything to his king, letting me do what I want. 18…g5 19.Nh2 Bxh2 20.Kxh2 g4 21.hxg4 Bxg4 22.f3 Bd7 As is clear at this point, despite blowing up white’s pawn structure black can’t actually make progress without white cooperating. Luckily for me, he plays the perfect worst move, both giving black a tempo and eliminating the only pieces that could challenge the f4 hole. 23.Nh3? Bxh3 24.gxh3 Ng6 25.Bg2 Nf4 26.Qd2 Rg6 27.Rg1 Rg3 0-1  I was hoping for 28.Kh1 Rxh3+ 29.Bxh3 Qxh3+ 30.Qh2 Qxf3+ 31.Rg2 h3 so that I could end up on chessgames.com’s Tuesday puzzle or something. Oh well, at least I had a good “get off my loving board” game after round 7’s disaster, even if I didn’t play so well. The ninth round was another agonizing game, because I predicted exactly what my opponent was going to do, and went along with it anyway. I guess I was too tired to strategize at that point. I would end up in a trivially lost endgame, and would only be saved by the fact that he is a junior and thus plays endgames about as well as a fish can operate a forklift. [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.11"] [Round "9"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "1738"] [ECO "C00"] [WhiteElo "2055"] This game starts with him trying to copy an opening from a game I lost back in 2011 (I don’t have a whole lot of publically available games). I change things up by sacrificing two pawns completely without justification, and end up totally lost. If anything, I should have continued with my game, since my 2011 opponent sacrificed a pawn for a plan that my opponent could never, ever convert. This is also the game I referenced in round 5, the second garbage King’s Indian Attack game. 1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 c5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 g6 5.Na3 d6 He played d6 immediately, which was kind of a giveaway. Na3 is an incredibly rare move that just about nobody has seen before, and d6 is not the intuitive move. 6.c3 Bg7 7.Nc2 e5 8.Bg2 Nge7 9.O-O O-O 10.d4 cxd4 11.cxd4 Nxd4 12.Ncxd4 exd4 13.Rd1 Nc6 14.Rb1 Re8 15.b4 A completely reckless attack, just trying to make him sweat. He offered a draw with Re8 which I expected – he played next to me before and pelted his opponent with draw offers then too. 15…a6 16.a4 d5 17.b5 dxe4 18.bxc6 exf3 19.Qxf3 bxc6 20.Bb2 Bf5 He offers me a draw here as well. My position is loving horrible, but I sort of have to play on if he offers a draw because it means he doesn’t have a loving clue what he’s doing. 21.Rbc1 Be4 22.Qg4 Bxg2 23.Kxg2 Qd5+ 24.Kg1 c5  Seriously. Look at how loving lost I am. 25.Rd2 Rac8 26.a5 Qe4? I’m going to chalk this up as a strategic blunder on his part, because he blows at endgames and should never take the queens off. 27.Qxe4 Rxe4 28.f3 Ree8 29.Rc4 Bh6 30.f4 g5 31.Rdc2 d3 He starts to slip. While white should still be winning easily, he gives up the most permanent part of his advantage, the connected passers. Now he has to actually outplay me to win, even with his advantage, and that’s not going to go well for him. 32.Rd2 gxf4 33.Rxd3 Re3 34.Rd6! I get to counterattack, and now he has to defend. At this point I’m also starving hungry. If I had taken the time to go pick up a donut or something, I probably win this game. 34…Rb8 35.Bc3 Rb1+? 36.Kf2 Rc1?  And I have a win on board. Tragically I played this too quickly, taking the obvious line that seized the initiative. Had I not been so hungry I may have sat down and found a brilliancy for white that wins on the spot. 37.Rd8+ Bf8 38.Rxf4?! 38.Rxc5! does a couple of things. First of all, importantly, it maintains the same checkmating threat that the game line holds (39.Rg4+ Kh8 40.Rxf8#) but it also does two other things. One is that it gets rid of black’s other passer. Two, and critically, is that it creates the second and unanswerable threat of 39.Rxf8+ Kxf8 40.Rc8+ Ke7 41.Bb4+ which wins black’s rook on the c-file by discovered attack. If black attempts to create space for his king with 38…f6 then white as the immediate 39.Bb4!! and black is helpless. Game line, tragically, only equalizes although it does force black to make an only move. 38…Re6 39.Bd2 Rc2 40.Kf3 Rg6 41.Re4 Kg7 42.Ree8 Rd6 43.Bf4 Rxd8 44.Rxd8 Ra2 1/2-1/2 With the last draw offer I thought long and hard, since my opponent is obviously terrible with endgames. However, he’s going to pick up my a-pawn which is my only practical winning chance. Maybe had I not been so hungry I would’ve played on, perhaps trying to mate him on the kingside (45.Kg4 Be7 46.Re8 Bf6 47.Bd6) or maybe trying to protect my a-pawn, activate my king, and eventually snatch the a6 pawn (45.Bc7 c5 46.Bb6), but I was starving and I think it’s deeply suspicious to leave the board after a draw offer. I told myself that I at least have the last game to finish +1 and treat water ratingwise. Three of my flatmates didn’t even stay for the last round, preferring to take an earlier (and cheaper) flight home. My opponent was a dedicated 1.d4 player, which meant that I would not be playing a Philidor for the first time this tournament. However, my opponent didn’t always play 1.d4 the same way, so I spent most of my time preparing for an opening that he didn’t actually play. [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "Harpa, Reykjavik"] [Date "2014.03.12"] [Round "10"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2055"] [ECO "E11"] [WhiteElo "1756"] I was very ready to play a Nimzo-Indian, but he played 3.Nf3. He was young though not a junior, so I figure that he had looked up and prepared for the few database games where I played 3…c5 (I don’t think I have any public Nimzo games). I didn’t play the opening exceptionally well, but my opponent had to absolutely murder his clock to keep up. Eventually his time ran low and his play fell off a cliff. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.e3 O-O 6.Bd3 Re8 This is not a particularly effective way to play a Bogo-Indian, but it pursues the e5 pawn push that I want and it makes him think. 7.O-O Nc6 8.a3 Bf8 9.Nc3 e5 10.Qc2 d6 11.Nd5 g6 12.Bc3 I’m actually in quite a bit of trouble, more than the position suggests, since white is threatening a tactical idea around taking on f6 then e5. However, he’s already down to ~50 minutes and we only get another half hour and move 40. I played my next move not seeing his idea, and actually got quite worried. 12…Bg4 13.Nxf6+ Qxf6 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Be4 He thought for very long on Be4, likely to calculate 15.Nxe4 Nxe4 16.f4 Qb6 lines. Rightly, he rejected them. However, he now had ~25 minutes to get to move 40. 15…Bd6 16.Nd2 Qe7 17.c5 The idea is straightforward – take on c6 then fork the e5 and a5 pawns. It’s actually a decent idea – I’d rather not give him a passed but pawn it’s hard to win without the a-pawn, and a lot of lines can become drawish. On the other hand, he did sacrifice a pawn he can’t get back easily. I decide that, in time pressure, I should press him. Racing ideas forces him to try and think both offensively and defensively with very little time. Bxc5 18.Nc4 Qg5 19.Bxc6 bxc6 20.Qe4  White looks quite fine here, although it is possible for black to hold all the pawns. My goal is to keep the game going, to force him to play. My idea is to try and trade off my light square bishop for his knight, play e5, and point at his king. Luckily for me, he plays something unexpected and makes things even easier for me. He’s also under 10 minutes now. 20…Bd6 21.Kh1 Be2 22.Nxd6? cxd6 23.Rfe1 d5 24.Qc2 Black’s bad pawns are gone, are now constitute a very strong centre. The a-pawn is dropping, but that’s not going to matter. It takes white so long to disentangle, that black can do just about anything in the meantime. I didn’t play this next section that well, but like my round 8 game I just attacked directly and forced him to play defence when he didn’t have the skills to defend. 24…Bg4 25.Qa4 Bd7 26.Bxa5 e4 Missing the devastating Qf5! which both attacks the f2 pawn and threatens to win white’s bishop with 27…c5. 27.b4 Qf6 28.Ra2 Re5 29.Qd1 Rh5 30.Bc7 Rf5 31.Bg3 h5 32.Qd4 Qe7 33.Qc5 Qd8 Misplaying with my rook has actually returned the advantage to white. However, I still don’t want to trade queens because I am going to make him crack on the kingside. 34.h4 Kh7  Clearing room for Rg8, which I want as a follow-up to g5. He’s not lost yet, though. 35.Rc1 g5 36.hxg5 Qxg5 Now he is, though. White had to play Qd6 first, so that white could not take on g5 without hanging the bishop on d7. Now white is without effective counterplay. 37.Qd6 Be6 38.Qxc6 Rg8 39.Rg1 Qg4 40.Qd6 h4 41.Bf4 h3 42.g3 h2 0-1 Every line is mating. Also h4=>h3=>h2 is an incredibly satisfying way to end the game with so many pieces on the board. Despite believing I played well for the first 6 rounds, my results are (outside of round 1) really quite inauspicious. The highest-rated person I beat was only 1895! Despite my +1 score, my last 4 rounds were bad enough that I only end up gaining 1 rating point, too, which makes my claims that I believe I can play at 2300 strength seem kinda silly. Oh well. Right now, with everything so fresh, feeling sour over the end of the tournament dominates. However, that will fade, and my memories/stories are going to be pretty great. I drew a top-50 player! I made Garry Kasparov laugh (maybe, and for the wrong reasons)! People approached me on the street saying they saw me in the newspaper (on the front page!)! The closing ceremony was good fun, if somewhat absurd. Henrik Carlsen, Magnus’ dad, was called up to receive a portrait of his son. He gave a short, funny speech that I quite liked. “Over the years, my son has come here several times and taken a few rating points with him. This year I am happy to say that I returned them all with interest.” A few people whom I know scored well and received money, either section or overall. And, importantly, there was a sweet dinner spread with free alcohol. As always, I’m happy to answer any questions. Hopefully this post isn’t too absurdly long – I tried to include as many details and thoughts as I could even though I’m sure some things go left out.
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Mar 14, 2014 05:41
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That was a really good post. Makes me want to take up chess again despite having not played a non-internet game for several years now.
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Mar 17, 2014 21:55
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