Share your games!

From my own memory. I was black.

1. e4, Nf6 2. e5, Nd5 3. d4, d6 4. c4, Nb6 5. f4, dxe, 6. fxe, Nc6 7. Nf3, Bg4 8. Be3, e6 9. Be2, BxN 10. gxB, Qh4+ 11. Bf2, Qf4 12. Nc3, 0-0-0 13. Qd2, QxQ+, 14. KxQ, Nxd.

It went down hill from there and proves what not to do as white. Despite the bishop pair, white's pawn position is busted and black is active. Though the exchange variation without the four pawns is good for white imo. Would need to do more study on it.
 
Why you should castle!

[Event "W. Orange Fall Swiss"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.11.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tony Norris"]
[Black "Steve Moctecuma"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Alapin's variation (2.c3)"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nc6 3. d4 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 b6 6. O-O Bb7 7. Re1 Be7 8. Nbd2
d6 9. Qe2 Nd7 10. d5 exd5 11. exd5 Nce5 12. Nxe5 Nxe5 13. Bb5+ Nd7 14. Nc4 Bxd5
15. Nxd6+ Kf8 16. Nf5 Bf6 17. Bf4 a6 18. Bd6+ Kg8 19. Bxd7 Qxd7 20. Qg4 Bg5
21. Nh6+ 1-0
 
A bit sloppy on both sides but it was a fairly quick (G-45) game & my third in the quad after losing to two Masters.

I included some alternative lines I found with Fritz (in parentheses).

[Event "Rahway Quads"]
[Site "Chessmates"]
[Date "2012.01.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Camejo, Maurico"]
[Black "Norris, Tony"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2023"]
[BlackElo "1955"]
[Annotator "Norris,Tony"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. Bc4 Bg7 4. f4 Nc6 5. e5 d6 6. exd6 exd6 7. Qe2+ Nge7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. O-O Bg4 10. Nd5 Re8 11. Ne3 Nf5 12. Qd3 (12. Bxf7+ Kxf7 13. Ng5+ Kg8 (13... Qxg5 14. Qc4+) 14. Qxg4) 12... Bxf3 13. Rxf3 (13. Nxf5 Be2 14. Bxf7+ Kxf7 15. Qd5+ Kf8) 13... Nfd4 14. Bd5 (14. Rh3 Nb4 15. Qf1 d5 16. c3 dxc4 17. cxb4 cxb4 18. Qxc4 Re4 19. Qf1 Rxf4) 14... Nb4 15.
Qc4 Nxf3+ (15... b5 16. Bxf7+ Kf8 17. Qf1 Kxf7) 16. Bxf3 Qe7 17. c3 Nc6 18. d3
Nd4 19. cxd4 Bxd4 20. Be4 Kg7 21. g4 f5 (21... Qh4 22. Bd2 Rxe4 23. dxe4 Qxg4+
24. Kf2 Qxf4+ 25. Ke2 Qxe4) 22. gxf5 gxf5 23. Bxf5 (23. Qxd4+ cxd4 24. Nxf5+
Kf6 25. Nxe7 Rxe7) 23... Bxe3+ 24. Kh1 Bd4 25. Bd2 Qe2 26. Qd5 Qxd2 27. Qxb7+
Kf6 (27... Kg8 28. Qxh7+ Kf8 29. Rg1 Bxg1 (29... Re1 30. Qh6+ Ke8 31. Qh5+ Kd8
32. Qh4+ Kc7 33. Qxe1 Qxe1 34. Rxe1) 30. Qh8+ Kf7 31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Qh8+ Kf7 33.
Qh7+) 28. Qxh7 Re1+ 29. Rxe1 Qxe1+ 30. Kg2 Qf2+ 31. Kh3 Qf3+ 0-1
 
I may make a YouTube vid of that game at some point because it was so tactical (with quite a few missed opportunities). I may make vids of the whole quad (as I did before), my two losses were instructive as well.
 
White's opening play seems a bit weak to me but maybe I just don't understand the opening, very nice win though.

I have been on a break for a year or two chess-wise. I just started playing some games again. Can't say it's going that well so far but at least I have this one win so far. This is from the third round of the Swedish division 3. We lost the match 1.5 to 6.5 but they did have a massive ELO advantage of 423 per board on average. I managed to win the one point for our team.

I didn't play great but then again neither did he. We both missed 22...Qf7 apparently winning a pawn for black.

Spoiler :
[Event "Swedish Division 3"]
[Site "http://www.schack.se/"]
[Date "2011.12.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Jan Persson"]
[Black "Per Sundelius"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1656"]
[BlackElo "2009"]

1. e4 e6 2. b3 d5 3. Bb2 dxe4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Qe2 Be7 6. Nxe4 Nxe4 7. Qxe4 Bf6 8. c3 O-O 9. Nf3 Nd7 10. Bd3 g6 11. Bc2 c5 12. h4 Bg7 13. O-O-O Nf6 14.
Qe2 Qa5 15. Kb1 b5 16. Ne5 Qc7 17. Ng4 Nxg4 18. Qxg4 e5 19. Qe2 c4 20. h5 Be6 21. hxg6 fxg6 22. Rh2 Bf5 23. Rdh1 Bxc2+ 24. Kxc2 h6 25. f3 Rad8 26.
Rh4 Rf4 27. g3 Rxh4 28. Rxh4 cxb3+ 29. axb3 Qc6 30. Qe4 Qd6 31. d3 g5 32. Rh1 Qc5 33. Qe2 Rd7 34. g4 Rf7 35. Rd1 Qc6 36. Rf1 a5 37. Qe4 Qc7 38. Qd5
Qb6 39. Kd2 Qb7 40. Qxb7 Rxb7 41. Ra1 a4 42. bxa4 bxa4 43. Bc1 Ra7 44. Ba3 Kf7 45. Ke3 Ke6 46. Ke4 Ra6 47. Rb1 Bf6 48. Rb5 Rc6 49. c4 Ra6 50. Rb7 Bd8
51. Rh7 Bf6 52. c5 Ra8 53. c6 Ra6 54. Rc7 Rb6 55. Rc8 Be7 56. Re8 Rxc6 57. Rxe7+ Kf6 58. Ra7 Rc2 59. Ke3 e4 60. Kxe4 Re2+ 61. Kd4 h5 62. Ra6+ Kf7 63.
gxh5 Rh2 64. h6 Rh4+ 65. Ke3 Kg8 66. Bb2 Kh7 67. Bg7 Rb4 68. d4 Rb3+ 69. Ke4 a3 70. d5 g4 71. fxg4 Rb4+ 72. Kf5 Rb5 73. Ke6 Rb4 74. Rxa3 Rxg4 75.
Rd3 Rg6+ 76. Kd7 Rg5 77. d6 Rf5 78. Ke6 Rf1 79. d7 Re1+ 80. Kd5 Re7 81. d8=Q 1-0

(Copy and paste the text to a PGN Viewer)
 
Geez, that guy just didn't want to give up! Nice win Panz! I've always wanted to play 2. b3 against the French but have never been brave enough.
 
Geez, that guy just didn't want to give up! Nice win Panz! I've always wanted to play 2. b3 against the French but have never been brave enough.

Yeah, maybe I should have mentioned that we both had something like 2-3 minutes left in the end so with a 350 ELO point advantage I would also have played on hoping for a miracle with the time.

This was the first time I tried this opening having discarded the King's Indian Attack since it has given me little but passive positions so far. Rather than learn massive mainline French variations (I have also given up the French as black) I prefer this line that seems to be just fine. I don't think any particular bravery is needed as you get the pawn back in almost all lines with a fine position. And if he manages to hang on to the pawn somehow you get excellent compensation for it. The main point is of course that most black players are out of theory after only two moves.

Whenever I play black though I seem to do very badly. If I ever get any time on my hands I think I will take a look at your favourite, it's the accelerated dragon right? I have played various other Sicilians but there as in most other black openings I've tried my main problem is that I usually get positions where it's a race to attack the King, usually white castles long and no matter what openings I play or what I do his attack always succeeds while my attack always fail. You'd think that after playing for over 25 years that I would have stumbled on a successful attack just once by accident but not so. Maybe I just have to resign myself to playing 1. e4 e5. It's the one opening I have never played (as black) so far.
 
A bit sloppy on both sides but it was a fairly quick (G-45) game & my third in the quad after losing to two Masters.

I included some alternative lines I found with Fritz (in parentheses).

[Event "Rahway Quads"]
[Site "Chessmates"]
[Date "2012.01.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Camejo, Maurico"]
[Black "Norris, Tony"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2023"]
[BlackElo "1955"]
[Annotator "Norris,Tony"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. Bc4 Bg7 4. f4 Nc6 5. e5 d6 6. exd6 exd6 7. Qe2+ Nge7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. O-O Bg4 10. Nd5 Re8 11. Ne3 Nf5 12. Qd3 (12. Bxf7+ Kxf7 13. Ng5+ Kg8 (13... Qxg5 14. Qc4+) 14. Qxg4) 12... Bxf3 13. Rxf3 (13. Nxf5 Be2 14. Bxf7+ Kxf7 15. Qd5+ Kf8) 13... Nfd4 14. Bd5 (14. Rh3 Nb4 15. Qf1 d5 16. c3 dxc4 17. cxb4 cxb4 18. Qxc4 Re4 19. Qf1 Rxf4) 14... Nb4 15.
Qc4 Nxf3+ (15... b5 16. Bxf7+ Kf8 17. Qf1 Kxf7) 16. Bxf3 Qe7 17. c3 Nc6 18. d3
Nd4 19. cxd4 Bxd4 20. Be4 Kg7 21. g4 f5 (21... Qh4 22. Bd2 Rxe4 23. dxe4 Qxg4+
24. Kf2 Qxf4+ 25. Ke2 Qxe4) 22. gxf5 gxf5 23. Bxf5 (23. Qxd4+ cxd4 24. Nxf5+
Kf6 25. Nxe7 Rxe7) 23... Bxe3+ 24. Kh1 Bd4 25. Bd2 Qe2 26. Qd5 Qxd2 27. Qxb7+
Kf6 (27... Kg8 28. Qxh7+ Kf8 29. Rg1 Bxg1 (29... Re1 30. Qh6+ Ke8 31. Qh5+ Kd8
32. Qh4+ Kc7 33. Qxe1 Qxe1 34. Rxe1) 30. Qh8+ Kf7 31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Qh8+ Kf7 33.
Qh7+) 28. Qxh7 Re1+ 29. Rxe1 Qxe1+ 30. Kg2 Qf2+ 31. Kh3 Qf3+ 0-1
Sloppy indeed. I can't really understand how a person with +2000 rating can play like this. It seems to me that 9...d5 just wins.
After that you both made some inaccuracies and after you won the exchange the game is over.
I may make a YouTube vid of that game at some point because it was so tactical (with quite a few missed opportunities). I may make vids of the whole quad (as I did before), my two losses were instructive as well.
Please do. But in that case try to love your computer a bit less and focus instead on explaining the strategy of the opening and the plans you chose.
By far more interesting.

Yeah, maybe I should have mentioned that we both had something like 2-3 minutes left in the end so with a 350 ELO point advantage I would also have played on hoping for a miracle with the time.

This was the first time I tried this opening having discarded the King's Indian Attack since it has given me little but passive positions so far. Rather than learn massive mainline French variations (I have also given up the French as black) I prefer this line that seems to be just fine. I don't think any particular bravery is needed as you get the pawn back in almost all lines with a fine position. And if he manages to hang on to the pawn somehow you get excellent compensation for it. The main point is of course that most black players are out of theory after only two moves.

Whenever I play black though I seem to do very badly. If I ever get any time on my hands I think I will take a look at your favourite, it's the accelerated dragon right? I have played various other Sicilians but there as in most other black openings I've tried my main problem is that I usually get positions where it's a race to attack the King, usually white castles long and no matter what openings I play or what I do his attack always succeeds while my attack always fail. You'd think that after playing for over 25 years that I would have stumbled on a successful attack just once by accident but not so. Maybe I just have to resign myself to playing 1. e4 e5. It's the one opening I have never played (as black) so far.
If you end up with passive positions in the KIA you are doing something fundamentally wrong. In that opening you should typically get a kingside attack. Of course you run the risk to get your queen side overrun, but what is the problem with that if you mate your opponent's king?
As for chosing an opening, I can only repeat that Iam sceptical to the Sicilian. It is just to complicated and time demanding.. Focusing on some off beat lines in open games might be an idea.
As for your game, I haven't had time to look at it. But 8.c3 seems wet; 8.d4 must be better. Black had a good position until he unwisely decided to exchange queens. After that you played well. Congratulations with beating a player rated so far above you. I rarely do that.
 
Sloppy indeed. I can't really understand how a person with +2000 rating can play like this. It seems to me that 9...d5 just wins.
After that you both made some inaccuracies and after you won the exchange the game is over.
Yeah, he's very weak in the openings, I considered d5 but sometimes I have a weakness for the principle of development (getting pieces out as fast as possible).

Please do. But in that case try to love your computer a bit less and focus instead on explaining the strategy of the opening and the plans you chose.
By far more interesting.
Yeah I'll definitely describe my thought process but I do think the computer is useful for pointing out tactical flaws within plans. Even much higher level games than my own will occasionally have one or both sides experiencing tactical oversight. I figure this is my only chance to ever beat a very high rated player 2400+ (who may have his guard down to some extent playing me or be in a rush to finish me off).
 
Yeah, he's very weak in the openings, I considered d5 but sometimes I have a weakness for the principle of development (getting pieces out as fast as possible).
If he is that weak in the opening his whole understanding of chess leaves much to be desired. It makes one speculate on the merits of rating system, especially national ones not least compared with each other.
That "weakness" of yours, which you share with quite a few probably has more than one reason but is probably routine play combined with insufficient understanding of this type of position. Have you studied the variation or do you just play it?

Yeah I'll definitely describe my thought process but I do think the computer is useful for pointing out tactical flaws within plans. Even much higher level games than my own will occasionally have one or both sides experiencing tactical oversight. I figure this is my only chance to ever beat a very high rated player 2400+ (who may have his guard down to some extent playing me or be in a rush to finish me off).
Probably. I never found a computer useful for this purpose. I think they are even counter-productive in most cases but nevermind that.
As for your last sentence, you might be right. Then again, there are some 2400 + players that are not that intimidating when you look twice...
 
I do agree I have a weakness on knowing exactly when to push in the center, which is why I prefer open games to semi-closed positions. I have a couple of books on pawn structure & pawn play in the middlegame but haven't cracked them yet. I guess I find the subject kind of intimidating.

Funny about ratings, I have a much better score over the last year against 2000-2100's than 1800's. Go figure.
 
If you end up with passive positions in the KIA you are doing something fundamentally wrong...

8.c3 seems wet; 8.d4 must be better. Black had a good position until he unwisely decided to exchange queens. After that you played well. Congratulations with beating a player rated so far above you. I rarely do that.

You're probably right about me doing things wrong, that is not uncommon. You're also right about d4 of course. It's the move I wanted to play but I was worried about c5 followed by Nc6 and d4 starts looking a bit weak. I guess the right plan is 0-0-0 removing the pin and getting the rook on the d-file but with my long history of failing opposite side castling positions and being 350 points lower rated I was planning 0-0 at the time (though I changed my mind on that a few moves later).
 
I do agree I have a weakness on knowing exactly when to push in the center, which is why I prefer open games to semi-closed positions. I have a couple of books on pawn structure & pawn play in the middlegame but haven't cracked them yet. I guess I find the subject kind of intimidating.
If you feel more at home in open positions, then why do you play the Sicilian?
I don't know what books you might have, and as there is indeed a lot of garbage available that should never have been printed I hope they are useful. But in any case, there are certain types of middle game you really should be familiar with, and most of all those that the openings you play lead into.

Funny about ratings, I have a much better score over the last year against 2000-2100's than 1800's. Go figure.
Actually I don't care about rating. Lasker didn't have any.

You're probably right about me doing things wrong, that is not uncommon. You're also right about d4 of course. It's the move I wanted to play but I was worried about c5 followed by Nc6 and d4 starts looking a bit weak. I guess the right plan is 0-0-0 removing the pin and getting the rook on the d-file but with my long history of failing opposite side castling positions and being 350 points lower rated I was planning 0-0 at the time (though I changed my mind on that a few moves later).
Actually I think you are quite a good player and your activity is highly appreciated. I should really post more myself but recently I played very little and none of my games are any good for different reasons.
The plan you outline for Black above fails to impress me. You have a space advantage and the better development, why then should you be afraid of an opening of the position?
Also, it takes a brave if not foolhardy Black player to castle short, so you shouldn't fear opposite castling too much. White's attack is simply easier and quicker.
Instead a typical game might develop like Tartakower - Lillienthal, Stockholm 1937: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1461614 which is the same variation with a slightly differen move order.
White emerged out of the opening with a small, useful advantage, but Black managed by tenacious defence to draw. It is games like this which always made me prefer 3...Nf6 after which I don't see much problems for Black.
 
First round of our club championship I get to play our best player who did decently in the recent Gibraltar tournament winning against a 2400 player and drawing another. I have never gotten a playable position out of the opening against him but this time I did. Of course I blundered a piece towards the end which almost made me cry at the time but at least the game was highly interesting until then. It was a 60 minute game with a 30 second increment per move. I had some 8 minutes left when I blundered the piece so I have no excuse really.

Question is, did I have a winning position or not? After looking at it with the computer I'm still not entirely sure what's going on. Coputer gives me a great evaluation but I'm not so sure it's that easy in practical play, especially with 8 minutes left on the clock.

After 11. Qd2 I was pretty happy with my position. Black can't keep his knight on d4 after Rd1 or 0-0-0. More importantly Bg5 is a threat and if the Queen moves I can win a pawn exchanging on d4. He didn't want a draw after Qh4+ Bf2 Qf6 Be3 so he just gave me the Queen for 2 pieces. This I had not expected.

I wasn't sure what to do which I guess shows looking at my moves. After 20...gxf5 I was a bit worried. He will attack my King with moves like f4, Rf6-h6/g6, Bf6-h4-g3 and maybe Kh8 and Rg8. I decided f4 would block his light squared bishop from attacking me and later make it possible to play either g3 or h3 depending on which was better. Also maybe the Rook on c1 could lend some help to the Kingside from the third rank.

All good things if it wasn't for the fact that there is a fork on e3 and therfore f4 loses material and probably the game. Question is, do I have a win here with best play or does he have enough compensation for the material. Also, since I usually don't find the best moves, do I have a win with only good play rather than best play? Computer isn't much help here since there are so many moves in most positions with roughly the same evaluation and I don't have a year to go through all the lines.

Spoiler :
[Event "Ervalla SS Club Championship"]
[Date "2012.02.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Jan Persson"]
[Black "Jan-Olov Lind"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1675"]
[BlackElo "2251"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Nge2 a6 8.
Nd5 e5 9. Nxf6+ Qxf6 10. d5 Nd4 11. Qd2 Nxe2 12. Bg5 Qxg5 13. Qxg5 Nd4 14.
Bd3 f6 15. Qd2 a5 16. O-O Bd7 17. Rac1 b6 18. Rf2 Rae8 19. Kh1 f5 20. exf5
gxf5 21. f4 e4 22. Re2 exd3 23. Rxe8 Rxe8 24. Re1 Re2 25. Rxe2 dxe2 26. Kg1
b5 27. b3 bxc4 28. bxc4 Ba4 29. Kf2 Bd1 30. Qe3 Kf8 31. Qd3 Bf6 32. Qb1 Nc2
33. Qb8+ Kg7 0-1

(Copy and paste the text to a pgn viewer.)
 
Is this the same Jan-Olov Lind who was a very strong player some 20 years ago? Pity you didn't pull it off, you must be better after winning the queen even if it seems to be anything but wasy to realize your advantage.
I will have a look at it and post some analyses later in the week. But I think a good plan for White would be to castle long and give back some material, e.g exchange a rook for the fearful octopus on d4, and then start an attack on the kingside.
By the way I have played this variation frequently since 1982 , but this is the first time ever I have seen 8.Nd5. Is it theory? In any case I think Black ought to play 8...e6 rather than 8...e5.
 
Yes, I'm sure you are thinking of the same guy. He's still pretty good but more often coaching juniors then playing himself.

I am an e4 player normally but I sometimes play the King's Indian as black against d4 and have had problems against this line with f3 so I figured I'd see what he plays against it. I had not seen 5...Nc6 before and didn't know what to do after that move.

I came up with 8. Nd5 over the board. Funnily enough he asked me the same question after the game, "is that theory?". I have no clue, I don't know any theory in this line. I had no grander ideas than to open the c3 square for the other knight so I could develop the bishop. Since Nf4 and Ng3 didn't look that hot to me I could not come up with another way to get the bishop out.
 
Ah, f4 what a tragedy. You'll beat some strong Masters sooner or later Panzar, its just a matter of time. I think your rating will be much higher if you are able to start playing more tournament chess.
 
But I think a good plan for White would be to castle long and give back some material, e.g exchange a rook for the fearful octopus on d4...

How about just ignoring the fork on c2?

After (for example) 14. Qe7 Nc2+ 15. Kd2 Nxa1 16. Bd3 Bh6+ 17. Kc3 (or Ke2)

... the Knight is trapped and lost (which means that you've succeeded in sacrificing an exchange to get rid of it, without giving Black a passed Pawn on d4) and the Pawn on c7 is indefensible.
 
That looks like a pretty good idea. If I had only known at the time how hard it would be for me to open lines for trades later on. Still, if any strong players have an idea if the actual position before the blunder is likely to win it would be interesting to know.
 
Top Bottom