A French with counter-play for White

Just lately my club chess has gone from 'very average' to 'catastrophic' to 'downright diabolical' all in the space of about a month! This evening I turned up for my game, mindful that another loss would make me have serious doubts about whether or not I ought to take up tiddly-winks instead ...?

I want to reach 130 Bcf by the end of the season but the fact is, I need to play a lot better than I have been to get anywhere near it ... In my game this evening I was faced with the French. My opponent cleverly managed to trade off his bad light squared Bishop by playing it to a6 early on ... After that I got into a tactically sharpish position (for me) and overlooked a simple enough combination from my opponent allowing him to win a pawn. My head went down - another loss maybe?

I think it should have been a loss for me, but I've always said that you have to cling on to any glimmer of hope you might have ... It is best to remain poker faced when you're losing, advisable not to show your emotions - I.e. shaking of head, grimacing, snorting, whimpering, maniacal laughter - there all off limits! My opponent went on to win the exchange (nothing much I could do about that, 'snort') but bizarrely, he only had a Queen in play with two passive rooks and my Knight was destined for a greater future on b5 ...

Incredibly, my opponent seemed to overlook the safety of his King and presented me with a chance for counter-play ... In the final position it looked like a draw by repetition was probably the best option for him, and when he offered it I practically bit his arm off !!!

(I found out after the game that my opponent was graded almost 300 Elo points above me at 1848 Elo. It paid me in grading points not to give up the fight!)

As usual, any comments welcome ...

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Bd3 b6 5. e5 Ba6 6. Qg4 g6 7. Nf3 Bxd3 8. cxd3 h5 9. Qg3 Nh6 10. Bg5 Nf5 11. Qf4 Nxd4 12. Bxe7 Nxf3 13. gxf3 Qxe7 14. Qa4+ Qd7 15. Qf4 c5 16. Qf6 Rg8 17. Rg1 a6 18. a4 Qe7 19. Qf4 Nc6 20. Ne2 Qc7 21. d4 Nb4 22. Qd2 a5 23. Rc1 c4 24. Kf1 Qe7 25. Nc3 Qh4 26. Nb5 Kd7 27. Rg2 Nd3 28. Rc3 Nf4 29. b3 Nxg2 30. Kxg2 f6 31. exf6 Qxf6 32. bxc4 Rac8 33. c5 bxc5 34. dxc5 Qe5 35. f4 Qe4+ 36. f3 Qxa4 37. Nd4 Ke7 38. Qe3 Qd7 39. c6 Qd6 40. Nb5 Qb4 41. Nd4 0.5-0.5

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Chesscentric

Myself and a colleague have recently completed the development of a new free online chess server:

   http://www.chesscentric.org

Visit the above site to register and view Chess Tactics Puzzles, Videos, Game of the Month and play chess online.  Look forward to seeing you all on there ... !

An emphatic win with a breathtaking rook sac!

My favourite game of late is between an old chess colleague of mine, Steve Milford and a player from his local league who is at least 10 or 15 BCF grading points above him. The opening is E60 — King's Indian: 3.g3. This is a very emphatic win for Steve with a breath-taking Rook sac on move 29! He kindly agreed to annotate this game for us ... Enjoy!

As usual, any comments welcome ...

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 ( 5... d5 Would be the Grunfeld defence -fianchetto variation. 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Nc3 Nb6 8. Bf4 for example. ) 6. O-O c5 This took me by surprise a little to be honest. Its a perfectly good move but I had only considered ...Nbd7 and ...Nc6 7. Nc3 7. d5 is also fine here but I wanted to keep a little tension in the position. 7...  a6 Again I had been looking at ...Nc6 which might lead to a line like.... ( 7... Nc6 8. d5 Na5 9. Nd2 e5 10. e4 = This is probably about equal: I have more space in the centre but my pieces are a little cramped and black has the option to play on the kingside with an eventual ...f5 or on the queenside with. ..a6 ...Rb8 and ...b5 etc. ) 8. Bg5!? The usual move as Fritz tells me is 8.dxc5. For example... ( 8. dxc5 dxc5 9. Be3 Qxd1 10. Rfxd1 b6 11. Ne5 +/- and white is doing well here. My Bg5 move was simply aimed at getting another piece out and hopefully making my opponent think about a plan with Qd2 and Bh6. ) 8...  Nbd7 9. Rc1 Rb8 10. Qd2 Qa5?! Black continues to play on the queenside but this move is a slight mistake. The queen is now a little exposed and allows a theme which is common in other openings such as the Sicilian Dragon. 11. Nd5! This hits the queen and the e7 pawn and forces the queen to return to d8. White has effectively been allowed to play Nd5 for free. 11...  Qd8 ( 11... Qxd2? 12. Nxe7+ Kh8 13. Nxd2 cxd4 14. Bf4 Ne5 15. c5 With a big advantage to white. ) 12. dxc5 Nxd5 13. cxd5 Nxc5 14. Nd4!? Fritz doesnt agree but I like this move as the knight stops any ...b5 ideas and takes up a good position in the centre of the board. ( 14. Be3 Ne4 15. Qb4 Is still good for White ) 14...  Qb6 15. Rfd1 15. b4! is stronger but my move is still ok. ( 15. b4 Nd7 16. Be3 Qd8 17. Rfd1 +/- ) 15...  Re8 16. Be3 a5 17. Nb3 Qb4? At the time I thought Id just be winning a pawn....but there would still be a lot of work to do...and plenty of chances for me to almost blow it! 17...Nxb3 was a move I looked at for Black but I liked my chances after... ( 17... Nxb3 18. Bxb6 Nxd2 19. Rxd2 ) 18. Nxa5? The wrong pawn! The way to play was... ( 18. Nxc5 dxc5 19. Rxc5 Qxb2 20. Qxb2 Bxb2 21. Rxa5 +- ) 18...  Qb5? Im let off the hook but... ( 18... Qxb2! 19. Bxc5 Qxd2 20. Rxd2 dxc5 21. Rxc5 Bf5 22. Nb3 still looks better for White ) 19. Bxc5 dxc5 20. Nc4 Qa6 Hitting the a2 pawn and potentially the e2 pawn about which I totally forgot 21. b3 Ra8 22. d6!? I thought I had an advantage in terms of my active pieces so I wanted to open up the position before my opponent could get fully developed and utilise his 2 bishops. 22...  exd6 23. Nxd6 Rxe2 This would not have been possible without the Queen on a6 as mentioned earlier. Question is: would I have gone in for this plan with d6 had I remembered about the e2 pawn? Im honestly not sure.....it suddenly looks a little scary for White with a rook on the 2nd. 24. Qf4 Be6? This looks like a perfectly logical move - it develops a piece and defends f7. But is also has a major drawback.... 25. Bxb7 The b7 pawn is no longer protected. 25...  Qxa2 26. Bxa8 Qxa8 27. Rxc5 Bh3 I was suddenly a bit worried here as my light sqaures look very weak and the Rook is still on e2 gazing menacingly at my king position. Whilst it may be pretty comforting to see in the post-mortem that Fritz gives this position as over +4 for White Fritz is never there when you need it most......!! 28. Qxf7+ Kh8 I took about 20 mins over my next move. 29. Qd5 would keep a huge advange stop the mate on g2 and defend all the weak squares in my camp....but I had a rush of blood to the head and saw something rather pretty! 29. Rc8+!? A blockading sacrifice with the idea of opening up the 8th rank to my pieces. 29...  Bxc8 Id totally missed this!! A couple of minutes after I saw that... ( 29... Qxc8 30. Nxc8 Bxc8 31. Rd8+ Wins ) 30. Ne8 Threatening mate on g7. 30...  Bh6? This loses quickly but I almost had a panic attack when I saw that Black could in fact play... ( 30... Qb7 Id totally missed this!! A couple of minutes after I saw that... 31. Nc7 Is still winning due to the threat of Rd8. More by luck that judgement Im afraid - so I cant feel too smug about my Rc8 idea. Lets hope that fortune continues to favour the brave (or reckless!) ) ( 30... Bc3 31. Qf8# ) 31. Nf6! This was the whole idea of the rook sacrifice so Im glad to have been able to play this. There is no defence to both the mate threats (Qxh7# and Qg8#) 1-0

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I made a right 'Royal Hash' of it !!

Hi All
I made a right 'Royal Hash' of my club game last night. I was confused after only a few moves into the game and totally unsure of what plan to use to get any advantage? My opponent is a very solid player and often plays the same d4 system as White, which appears to be a difficult nut to crack ... The issue for me in this game was that I got the opening wrong, and the question is, what should I have done instead?

I think, had I not fianchetoed my bishop, my opponent would have played the Colle System. I remember looking at this with a colleague and I think I need to confront the Colle System with the Zuckertort variation but I couldn't remember how any of this should go? I will look on YouTube, particularly at the following video ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h61lwP_shzw

Anyway, this latest game wasn't a Colle but more of a Pirc with 4..d6. I'll be ready with an anti-Colle system next time, instead of the confused set of opening moves that I played last night ... Let's hope he doesn't play 1.e4 next time I play him !!

I have only supplied the moves up until the last 5 minutes each. I managed to lose the game in a time scramble, falling for a simple tactic that allowed my opponent to promote his pawn with check before I could promote my pawn. This proved to be decisive ...

As usual, any comments welcome ...

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. c3 d6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 c5 7. Nbd2 a6 8. O-O Nh5 9. Bg3 Nxg3 10. hxg3 Rb8 11. Rb1 b5 12. b4 c4 13. Bc2 f5 14. e4 fxe4 15. Nxe4 O-O 16. Re1 Nf6 17. Nxf6 Bxf6 18. Qd2 e6 19. Be4 Bb7? blundering a pawn, d5 may be better! 20. Bxb7 Rxb7 21. Rxe6 Ra7 22. a3 a5 23. Rbe1 axb4 24. axb4 Ra3 25. Qc1 Ra4 26. g4 Ra2 27. R6e2 seems over-cautious 27...  Rxe2 28. Rxe2 Qd7 29. g5 Bg7 30. Qe1 Kh8 31. Re7 Qg4 32. Re8 Qd7 33. Re7 Qg4 34. Qe6 Qf4 35. Qd7 Qc1+ 36. Kh2 Qf4+ 37. Kh3 Rg8 38. Qxb5 1-0

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A blog for anecdotes, openings and advice

For those improvers out there, the following blog is well worth a visit:

http://chess4real.com/ten-ways-to-get-free-chess-lessons-from-masters/

I stumbled upon it today and it's a real gem. It contains:        

  - Free Chess Downloads
  - Hardcore Chess Guides
  - Openings for Beginners
  - Videos
  - A top collection of chess links

Why not have a browse?

Chess is about winning tempi !!

For those players unsure of how to tackle a game of chess - try and see it as a battle for development and don't leave your pieces on squares where they can easily be attacked, especially the Queen ... In this model game, a Budapest declined, I gained no less than 6 tempi against my opponent's Queen. On Qc2 I suspected that my opponent was attempting an early Queen foray ... Having consulted my 'Chess Bible' recently - 'My System, Nimzowitsch', 'First Part - The Elements', 'Chapter 1', 'On the Center and Development', Page 4 - there is a section dedicated to gaining tempi, which is all I needed to be aware of to win this game comfortably.

As the onslaught ensued my opponent lost his concentration after my move 25. .. Nxd2+ but he was obviously "punch drunk" at this stage! He'd become befuddled by all the tactical possibilities at my disposal ...

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. d5 Bc5 4. Nc3 d6 5. Qc2 A premature Queen foray? 5...  O-O 6. Ne4 Bf5 gain of tempo(1) 7. Nxf6 Qxf6 gain of tempo(2) brings Queen into play 8. Qc3 Na6 tempo(3) threat is winning Queen! 9. a3 prevents Bb4 9...  Bd4 tempo(4) 10. Qf3 e4 tempo(5) 11. Qb3 Nc5 tempo(6) 12. Qa2 e3 13. fxe3 Be5 14. Nf3 Ne4 15. Nxe5 dxe5 16. Rg1 Qh4+ 17. g3 Qxh2 18. Rg2 Qh1 19. g4? Qh4+ 20. Kd1 Bxg4 21. Bd2 Qh1 22. Kc2 Bf5 23. b4? Ng3+ 24. Kb3 Nxf1 25. Rf2 Nxd2+ 26. Qxd2 Qxa1 27. Rxf5? Qb1+ wins Rook and game 0-1

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Castle Chess Interviews

What makes a chess player stronger?  There are a number of interviews with GM's IM's and FM's that have undertaken a great deal of study and practice to become stronger chess players ...!  Checkout the following website under the 'Chess Biographies' section ...  

http://www.chesscentric.org

New plan for 2013

I have a new plan for 2013 - "don't play too much (any) blitz - instead read 'My System' by Nimzowitsch, learn as much as possible from it ... then play more online after that ...." After reading just one chapter I was getting advantage out of the opening when playing online ... but playing online is a huge time waster and can be sole destroying - I have learnt to begin enjoying chess again and not get hung up about my ever decreasing / increasing grade ... this has led me to play much better chess to the extent that even my rivals have noticed that I'm becoming a stronger player as a result.  My new study regime has certainly helped!

Talking of chess enjoyment - I had time to attend the London Chess Classic in December and watch Anand draw with Carlsen. This means of course that Carlsen has attained the highest chess grade ever recorded by FIDE. I also saw Judit Polgar for the first time - On the whole it was a great day out !! (I even didn't by a new book!!???)

For me now in 2013, the key is "learning and enjoyment" NOT "paranoid grade chasing online" !!!!