The 'psychology' of moving rook to b5 on move 6!

I had one of my first games in the Berkshire League back in October 2013. This was a Center Counter - my opponent had probably never faced 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.b4 Qxb4 5.Rb1 Qa5 6.Rb5!? (Note: if Black holds on to the pawn in the endgame then he's probably won). Unfortunately for my opponent, he spent something like 15-20 minutes trying to decipher moves 5 and 6 which was simple scare tactics - a psychological ploy, nothing hidden and no more complicated than that! This is pretty much how the game continued ... I would play a move and my opponent would grace me by taking excessive chunks of valuable clock time (no doubt in this game his indecisiveness cost him).

Poor time-management is not uncommon, but it is one of those foibles that has to be stamped out to be in for a shout at club-level. Blitz is a useful exercise in training the brain to think quickly, especially in an endgame melee. This game boiled down to a simple tactic that allowed me to win a pinned Knight and take advantage of my opponent's poor time-keeping!

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Center Counter

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. b4 Qxb4 5. Rb1 Qa5 6. Rb5 Qa6 7. d4 Qd6 8. g3 Nf6 9. Bg2 c6 10. Rb1 e6 11. Bf4 Qd8 12. Bxb8 Rxb8 13. Bxc6+ Bd7 14. Bg2 Qc7 15. Nge2 Be7 16. O-O O-O 17. Qd3 a6 18. a4 Rfd8 19. R1b3 Rdc8 20. Rfb1 Bc6 21. Bxc6 Qxc6 22. Rb6 Qd7 23. a5 Bd8 24. R6b3 Bxa5 25. Nd1 Bd8 26. c4 Qc6 27. Ne3 b6 28. Ra1 a5 29. Nc3 Be7 30. Qb1 Bb4 31. d5 exd5 32. cxd5 Qd7 33. Qd3 Bxc3 34. Rxc3 Rxc3 35. Qxc3 Nxd5 36. Qd4 Qe7 37. Qxd5 Qf6 38. Rd1 1-0

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

Hanging piece leads to a simple win ...

My first game of the 2013-2014 season saw me up against someone with very little match experience, so not too much to write about here. I am recording the game because it was my first gift of the season in the Berkshire league and will be instructive for juniors!

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Sicilian

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bc4 Nxe4 6. f3 Nf6 7. c3 e6 8. O-O Bd7 9. b3 d5 10. Qe2 dxc4 11. bxc4 Be7 12. g4 h6 13. Be3 Nc6 14. Qb2 Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Qc7 16. Nd2 b6 17. Rf2 Rc8 18. Qb3 Bc5 19. Re2 Bxd4+ 20. cxd4 O-O 21. Rc1 Qf4 22. c5 Qxd4+ 23. Rf2 bxc5 24. Qb7 a5 25. Nb3 Qe3 26. Qa6 a4 27. Nd2 Rb8 28. Qc4 Rfc8 29. Rc2 Nd5 30. a3 Nf4 31. Qf1 Bb5 32. Nc4 Bxc4 33. Rxc4 Rb2 34. Rxf4 Rxf2 35. Re4 Rxf1+ 36. Kxf1 Qxf3+ 37. Ke1 Qxe4+ 38. Kd2 Rd8+ 39. Kc3 Qd3+ 40. Kb2 Rb8+ 41. Ka2 Qc2 42. Ka1 Qb2 0-1

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