Sunday 27 February 2011

Budapest Endgame

I thought I'd put this Budapest Gambit game on the blog just so I can refer back to it! It was a blitz game - 7 minutes my opponent graded 1604 ELO. The endgame, I think favours me ... An example of a bad trade off in the middle game for White.












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

Friday 18 February 2011

1.Nh3 The (Paris) Amar Opening

I decided to have some fun last night and try an unorthodox chess opening: 1.Nh3, The Amar (Paris) Opening. I don't have much idea how the game should progress after 1.Nh3, but have found some interesting publications dating from the 1980's to refer to for ideas. Unconventional openings are known to be great for, if nothing else, their novelty value, and in this game, although he blundered, my opponent got over-confident early on and failed to develop his pieces. Sometimes, when a player is forced "out of their opening book" and forced to rely on their "Over the Board" skills they become intimidated...! Here is the game :-

1.Nh3 e5
2.g3 e4
3.Bg2 d5
4.c4 c6
5.O-O Bc5
6.d4 Be7
7.Nc3 Be6
8.cxd5 cxd5
9.Nf4 Bd6
10.Nxe6 fxe6
11.Qa4+ Nc6
12.Bh3 Qf6
13.Nb5 a6 (my opponent blunders ... )
14.Nxd6+ Ke7
15.Bf4 g5
16.Qa3 Kd7 (Simple tactic to win my opponents Queen if the Bishop is snatched!)
17.Be5 Nxe5
18.dxe5 Qxe5
19.Nf7 Qd4
20.Qd6+ Ke8
21.Qxe6+ Kf8
22.Nxg5 Nh6
23.Qxh6+ Ke7
24.Qe6+ Kd8
25.Qd7#

1-0


I intend to propose some better ideas for Black when facing this unusual opening in my next post on this Blog. As per usual, constructive comments are welcome.

For those interested in this opening here is a link.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Chess_Opening_Theory/1._Nh3/1...e5

Saturday 5 February 2011

Sveshnikov Trap #1

Following on from Steve's post on the subject of the Sveshnikov Sicillian, I thought I'd contribute a basic trap that Black can fall into.

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 e5 (this is a Svesh)
6. Nb5 d6
7. Bg5 a6
8. Na3 b5 (looking at springing a knight fork)
9. Bxf6 gxf6 (Better than Qxf6 Nd5, Qd8 etc.)
10.Nd5 f5 (dominating the centre)
11.c3 fxe4 (a greedy pawn grab?)

Here comes a neat little sacrifice for White in the Sveshnikov that can be played in this position ...

12.Bxb5 axb5
13.Nxb5

Black is now concerned about losing the exchange so moves the a8 Rook out of
the line of fire but alas, it's too late ...

14. .. Ra5
15.Nc7+ Kd7
16.Qg4+! f5 (the only move ...)
17.Qxf5#

A nice mate with Queen and two Knights!

Wednesday 2 February 2011

My Oponents

I do play chess a little bit at school at lunch time against my friends but I mostly play against a teacher called Mr Crew.He is grade 90 and he normally beats me but I have beat him once.He is a very good chess teacher and he teaches me stuff throughout the game when we are playing a game. Perhaps my dad should ask him to follow this chess blog.

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Sicilian Sveshnikov

Hi all,

It's been almost exactly a year since my last post here, so about time I got back into it I think.

I've been trying to learn the Sveshnikov for a while now, but never seem to encounter it over the board. My last game, however, gave me just the opportunity to try it out - against a higher rated player as well. Here goes:

White : N.N.
Black: S.M.

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 e5
6. Ndb5

This is the most common move. 6. Nb3 and 6.Nf3 are both met with 6...Bb4 with a solid game for black (so the books tell me), whilst 6. Nf5 is a tricky try best met with 6...d5! 7.exd5 Bxf5 8. dxc6 bxc6 9.Qf3 Qd7!. There is also Nde2...but thats another story...

6...d6

I have to stop the knight coming into d6.

7. Bg5 a6
8. Bxf6 gxf6

Although it might look natural to take on f6 with the queen, after 9. Nd5 the queen will have to move again. The double pawns really aren't too much of a problem, as I can use on of them to pressure e4, then play f5 again after the exchange. Or I could play f4 then the other f-pawn up behind it to get an attack rolling.

9. Na3

The poor placement of this knight vs the weakness of the d5 square in blacks camp is one of the defining features of the sveshnikov.

9...b5 (threatening b4 forking the knights)

10. Nd5 f5
11. Bd3 Be6
12. c3!?

This is interesting - but perfectly sound I think. I had expected the more usual 0-0 or Qh5 to played here.

12...Bxd5?

The moment I played this I realised it may be a mistake. As after....

13. exd5 Ne7

There is 14. Nxb5 and if 14...axb5, 15. Bxb5 wins the queen! However, I figured that maybe Rb8 or Bg7 would give me some decent play for the pawn - and in this sort of aggressive opening, the loss of a flank pawn is not really the end of the world. Either way, 12...Bg7 was the move to play!

14. c4?!

A relief!! I was surprised to see this move, as the c-pawn has now moved twice to get to a square it could have got to in one move.

14... e4
15. Be2 Bg7
16. Nc2!?

Offering a pawn. Having run it through Fritz, the pawn looks ok to capture. I suppose I am old fashioned (or just scared/nervous) and don't like to go pawn-grabbing in the opening.

16... 0-0

It's not perfect, but it can't be a disastous move either.

17. cxb5 axb5
18. a3

I was surprised by this one as well - the pawn is still on offer, and with my king a bit safer I can't help myself anymore. Note that 18. Bxb5 failes to 18...Qa5+

18... Bxg2
19. Rb1 Bc3+
20. Kf1

With the white king awkwardly placed and the h1 rook going nowhere just yet, I figure I'm doing ok.

20...f4

So I go into aggressive mode.

21. Bxb5 Kh8

I had wanted to play 21...Nf5, but the thought of 22. Qg4+ Ng7 23. g3 soon changed my mind on that one.

22. Qg4 Be5

22...f5 23. Qxf5 Nxd5 would also have been fine I think, but I suppose I didn't like the idea of pressure against the c3 bishop after a Rb3 later on.

23. Re1 Qc7
24. Qe2 Qc5!?

I like this move - it attacks the b4 bishop, the d5 pawn and keeps pressure on the c2 knight.

25. Nb4 Nf5
26. Bc6?

This looks like a mistake. Moving the bishop of the f1-a6 diagonal only weakens the king. 26. Ba6, however, looks pretty good and stops...

26...Rxa3
27. Qxe4 Nd4!

This move cuts off the queen from the b4 knight and, perhaps more importantly, the c4 square from where the queen can give a nasty check.

28. Rb1?

Protecting the knight, but black had to give up the exchange with Rxd4 here.

28...Qc4+ 0-1

White resigned due to...

29. Kg1 Ne2+ 30. Kf1 Ng3++ picking up the queen.

Or

29. Kd1 f5! trapping the queen.


Hope you found that interesting. Any questions/comments welcome.

Cheers

Steve