British Championships Training - Wellington College

On Thursday 25th and Friday 26th July Wellington College will run mini matches in preparation for the British Chess Championships. The games will take place on both afternoons and will be a 4 hour session, 1 white and 1 black against the same opponent. Games will be ECF graded but not FIDE rated. ECF Head Coach GM Nick Pert will also be on hand to go through games with players after they have finished. All players are welcome to register an interest via email in order to try and find an opponent, there are only 14 spaces available. On Saturday 27th July GM Nick Pert and IM Yang-Fan Zhou will be running a training day at Wellington College from 10am. There will be 2 groups, an over 150 grade group and a 100-150 grade group. There will be another training day on 19th October.

Photos of previous events can be seen here:
http://johnupham.smugmug.com/Chess/Wellington-College

Chess Tactics Magnus Carlsen Decoded

I have just downloaded a fantastic, up to date tactics book for my Kindle.  It features the most recent wins of Magnus Carlsen and demonstrates the tactical levers he used to achieve them!  This ebook features over 50 games, many of which are contests between Carlsen and Aronian, Carlsen and Nakamura and Carlsen and Anand.

If I remember correctly, the book is VERY reasonably priced at under £5.  It is written by Mijail Bogdanov, who has himself annotated the games.  I appreciate this guide, because:

a) There is no exhaustive analysis.
b) There are loads of tactical positions to analyse.
c) I can learn from these positions.
d) Entire games are included, so openings can also be examined.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tactics-Magnus-Carlsen-Decoded-ebook/dp/B00AXVC9VO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369647109&sr=8-1&keywords=magnus+carlsen+decoded

It is worth noting however, that the book should probably have been edited more thoroughly as the English is a little stunted / awkward in places, but I didn't buy the book to appreciate English grammar!

I love the book and I'm tackling just one game per day, which should be sufficient for me.  Thoroughly recommended.

Blitz - mate in 9!?

Blitz is fine, but not when you lose in 9 moves as my opponent did! I tried to lead the game in to From's gambit but he pushed his pawn on?

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Bird's Opening

1. f4 e5 2. f5 Nf6 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 d5 5. g4 Nxg4 6. d3 e3 7. Bxe3 Nxe3 8. Qd2 Qxg5 9. h4 Qg3# 0-1

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Chess: You MUST stay alert!

In my last club game, my opponent gifted me with a huge blunder! I think he was guilty of one major fault. He had one and only one plan in mind and he was intent on sticking to it regardless of anything else ... In fact he became so blinkered by his plan that he left a piece hanging and I cleaned up.

After making some horrible opening faux-pas (moving same pawn twice - what was I thinking?), I made an effort to concentrate and then he blundered by playing 12.g3?, therefore the game is not at all noteworthy. The technique I used to keep him from using the open d-file for either of his Rooks was correct though!

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Sicilian Defence (B53)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 e6? 9. O-O-O e5 10. Qc4 Qe7 preventing Nxe5 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. g3 Qxf3 13. Rhf1 a6 14. Rd3 Qf6 15. f4 Be7 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. Qxd5 Rab8 18. Rdf3 O-O 19. fxe5 Qxe5 20. Qxe5 dxe5 21. Rd3 Rfd8 22. Rdf3 f6 23. a3 Rd7 24. b4 b5 25. Kb2 Rd4 26. Re1 Rc8 27. Kb3 Rd2 28. Rc3 Rxc3 29. Kxc3 Rd4 30. Kb3 Kf7 31. c3 Rd2 32. h4 Ke6 33. a4 Bd8 34. a5 Bc7 35. Re3 Bb8 36. c4 bxc4 37. Kxc4 Ba7 38. Rd3 Rxd3 39. Kxd3 Kd6 40. Kc4 Kc6 41. h5 g6 42. hxg6 hxg6 43. g4 Bd4 44. b5+ axb5+ 45. Kb4 Bc5+ 46. Kb3 Kb7 0-1

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

White wins against Philidor's Defence

During my latest club match I was fortunate that my opponent went to sleep and allowed me to win the exchange easily. On the other hand they had to take a very defensive stance throughout the entire game after playing Philidor's Defence as Black. Just when I thought it might get a little 'stalematey', I realised that all I had to to was break open the pawns around the enemy King. This is more of a strategic aim than a tactical one ... However as you can see from the game it proved quite effective!!

Like in a boxing match when you inflict a flesh wound, the opponent becomes a little intimidated and this is when they are at their most vulnerable ... When they start to lose their balance you can knock them out! I wasn't obliged to write the moves down due to being within my last 5 minutes, but I managed to Queen my 'a' pawn and eventually checkmate my opponent with just over 1 minute to spare ...

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Philidor's Defence

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nc6 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bc4 f6 7. O-O Bd6 8. Nc3 Nge7 9. Be3 a6 10. a3 Bg4 11. Nd2 h6 12. Nb3 b6 13. f3 Bh5 14. Rad1 Kd7 15. Nd2 Rhf8 16. Ba2 g5 17. Nc4 Rab8 18. Nxd6 cxd6 19. Na4 Nc8 20. h3 Bg6 21. Rd2 f5 22. exf5 Bxf5 23. Rfd1 Rf6 24. c3 Nc6e7 25. Bb1 Bxb1 I wanted to exchange Blacks best piece 26. Rxb1 Kc6 in an attempt to trap the knight! 27. c4 Nf5 28. Bf2 h5 29. Nc3 h4 30. Nd5! Re6? 31. b4 b5 32. Rc1 right on the money and as I planned it! 32...  bxc4 33. Rxc4+ Kd7 34. Nc7 Ke7? opponent loses concentration here 35. Nxe6 Kxe6 36. Rdc2 Nce7 37. Rc7 Nd5 38. Ra7 Nfe3 39. Bxe3 Nxe3 40. Rc1 d5 41. Rxa6+ Kf5 42. Rc1c6 Kf4 43. Rf6+ Nf5 44. Kf2 Rd8 45. Rf7 e4 46. Raf6 e3+ 47. Ke2 Kg3 48. Rxf5 d4 49. Rxg5+ Kh2 50. Re7 1-0

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/