[Event "85th Annual Western Mass & Conneticut Valley Championship"]
[Site "Holyoke Community College"]
[Date "2010.02.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Argetsinger, Sophie"]
[Black "Norris, Tony"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "1420"]
[BlackElo "1834"]
[Annotator "Norris,Tony"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6
5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O {
all book so far, that I've played dozens of times} 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. O-O {
was expecting e5 straight away} Nxe4 10. Nxe4 d5 11. Bb3 {was expecting Bd3
with about equality according to Fritz (white has better pawn structure after
she recaptures the pawn on e4, I have more open lines)} dxe4 12. c3 a5 {
with the idea of hitting the b3 bishop & breaking open the queenside pawns,
allowing my dark squared bishop topenetrate} 13. a4 {
weakening the queenside pawns} Ba6 {debated between this move first (Ba6) or
Rb8, Fritz prefers Rb8 (discourages the early exchange of queens I guess &
leaves the light squared bishop more options)} 14. Re1 Rb8 15. Rb1 $2 {
uh-oh combination coming!} Qxd1 16. Bxd1 {
bishop recapture was forced otherwise bishop is lost} Bxc3 $1 {
the rook has nowhere to run} 17. Re2 Bxe2 18. Bxe2 Rxb2 {
taking with rook forces more pieces off the board} 19. Rxb2 Bxb2 20. Bc5 Re8
21. Ba6 e5 22. Bb7 {
here I missed a forcing line where I win a piece starting with Rb8} Kg7 (22...
Rb8 23. Ba6 Bd4 24. Bxd4 Rb1+ 25. Bf1 exd4 {it's all over}) 23. g3 f5 {
Rb8 instead was still a good move} (23... Rb8 24. Ba6 Bd4 25. Bd6 Rb2) 24. Be3
Re6 25. Bc8 Rd6 26. Bc5 Rd1+ 27. Kg2 Bd4 {
white resigns, soon I will win the f-pawn & make a new queen} 0-1
[Event "85th Annual Western Mass & Conneticut Valley Championship"]
[Site "Holyoke Community College"]
[Date "2010.02.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Norris, Tony"]
[Black "Harris, Edward"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "1834"]
[BlackElo "1700"]
[Annotator "Norris,Tony"]
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nd7 {
I'd never seen this second move before (except maybe in blitz)} 3. f4 c5 4. Nf3
g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 e6 {
a bad move, Nb5 here would've made black's life very difficult} 7. Qd2 Ngf6 8.
O-O-O d5 {I should have played exd5 here & was kicking myself later in the
game for not doing so!} 9. e5 Ng4 10. Bg1 {a cowardly retreat, the bishop is
terrible anyway, I should have let it go for the free pawn} c4 11. Nb5 Bf8 12.
h3 a6 13. Nd6+ Bxd6 14. hxg4 {figured the open file might be useful} Be7 15.
Bf2 b5 16. Bh4 {my dark squared bishop is terrible so I force it off} Bb7 17.
Bxe7 Qxe7 18. c3 a5 19. b3 {Fritz no likely,
Fritz!} Bc6 20. Qc2 Nb6 21.
Kd2 b4 22. Be2 Kd7 23. Ke3 Bb5 24. Rh6 {
if I don't win that pawn & get some counterplay on the kingside I have nothing!
} Ba6 25. Rdh1 cxb3 26. Qxb3 Nc4+ 27. Kf2 bxc3 28. Qxc3 Rhc8 29. Qe1 {
Fritz thinks taking on h7 was ok here but better safe than sorry!!} Qa3 30.
Rxh7 Qe3+ {looks strong but I am fine here} 31. Kg3 Rf8 32. Bxc4 {
forces queen trade!
} Qxe1+ 33. Rxe1 dxc4 {Bxc4 would've been better,
attacking the a2 pawn, keeping the bishop more active} 34. Ng5 c3 35. Nxf7 c2 {
I am not worried about this pawn, the bishop cannot support the queening square
} 36. Nh8+ Kc8 37. Nxg6 {
here my time fell below 5-minutes, my opponent resigned about 10 moves later}
1-0
[Event "85th Annual Western Mass & Conneticut Valley Championship"]
[Site "Holyoke Community College"]
[Date "2010.02.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anderson, Jesse"]
[Black "Norris, Tony"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "1840"]
[BlackElo "1834"]
[Annotator "Norris,Tony"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 {
my all purpose waiting move against 2. Nf3} 3. Bg5 {
the ol' Francis Brady move, one move delayed} h6 {free kick!} 4. Bf4 Bf5 5. e3
Nf6 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 e6 8. O-O g5 9. Bxb8 {
surprising but not great, led to a more interesing game though
} Qxb8 10. c4
Bd6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Qf5 Ne4 {had to think about this move for some time to
make sure there was no way white could trap the knight on this square (for
example by Ne5, BxN, pxN and maybe b4 & f6, hitting the knight, but this
wouldn't work)} 13. Ne5 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Qc8 15. Qxc8+ {
if white doesn't exchange he loses time & I play Qe6 with a nice position} Rxc8
16. f3 Nc5 17. Nc3 b5 {
was kicking myself for not playing Nd3 instead, winning a pawn} 18. Rad1 h5 19.
e4 {after this I missed the nice in-between move b4!} dxe4 20. Nxe4 Nxe4 21.
fxe4 Ke7 22. Rf6 c5 23. Kf2 c4 24. Ke2 g4 25. Rd5 b4 26. Rb5 Rb8 27. Rc5 Rhc8
28. Rxc8 Rxc8 29. Ra6 Rc7 {was a bit dissapointed to get to this equal looking
endgame after what I considered was a superior opening} 30. Kd2 h4 31. h3 g3 {
definitely not best, accroding to Fritz} 32. a3 c3+ 33. bxc3 bxc3+ 34. Kc2 Rc4
35. Rxa7+ Ke6 36. Rb7 Kxe5 37. Rxf7 Kxe4 38. Rf3 {I thought for a long time
about this next move. I figured I could move my rook anywhere along the
c-file and draw but I worried about the a-pawn marching. I also saw that if I
played Kd4 I gave white a chance to go astray, I calculated 12-moves deep here
& am proud of myself for that} Kd4 39. Rf4+ Kc5 40. Rxc4+ Kxc4 41. a4 Kb4 42.
a5 Kxa5 43. Kxc3 {all going according to play, however the game is a dead draw
if white plays correctly, he can simply block me out & it's game over (1-2 /
1-2)} Ka4 44. Kd4 Kb3 45. Ke4 {with Ke4 the game went from dead-draw to 0-1
but white doesn't realize it for one more move} Kc2 46. Kf4 Kd2 {white pauses
for a deep think but it's already too late, he shrugs & goes ahead with the
plan} 47. Kg4 Ke2 48. Kxh4 Kf2 49. Kg4 Kxg2 50. h4 Kh2 51. h5 g2 52. h6 g1=Q+
53. Kf5 Qg8 {the h-pawn is dead, white resigns} 0-1
[Event "85th Annual Western Mass & Conneticut Valley Championship"]
[Site "Holyoke Community College"]
[Date "2010.02.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Norris, Tony"]
[Black "Brancic, Alexsander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "1834"]
[BlackElo "1928"]
[Annotator "Norris,Tony"]
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7
5. Bc4 {I have a video on beating the Pirc that recommends a system with 5. h3
(preventing Ng4), Be3, Qd2 & maybe later Bc4 but I wanted to experiment.} O-O
6. Bg5 {again, an experimental move, I don't know the Pirc that well so I
wanted to get my opponent out of the book also} c6 7. a4 Qa5 8. Qd2 {wanted to
retain the possibility to castle either way but 0-0 would've been fine & maybe
a bit better here (retaining the possibility of Qe2)} Bg4 9. O-O {
go ahead, make my day!} Bxf3 10. gxf3 {my kingside pawns are messy but my king
is very safe. I love having a safe king!} e5 11. d5 {Fritz prefered I take the
pawn, locking in black's dark squared bishop & freeing my light squared one.}
c5 12. Kh1 {
a pretty transparent move, I'm going to attack on the kingside with the rooks}
Qc7 {not sure what the point of this was, coming back to the kingside I guess}
13. Rg1 Na6 {here Fritz likes f4, which I thought about for some time but
decided against because I didn't want black's bishop to get free, in
retrospect I'm not sure why I didn't just go with it though, I can trade off
black's bishop if need be} 14. Rg3 Nh5 15. Rh3 Qd7 16. Rh4 Nc7 17. Rg1 Kh8 18.
Bh6 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 f6 {the saving move (after which white retains just a small
edge) is Nf6, seems obvious now but in the heat of the moment my opponent
missed it & played the best of the remaining moves (the remaining terrible
moves) f6} 20. Rxg6 Nf4 21. Rxf6 Rxf6 22. Qxf6+ Qg7 {
black threatens mate if I move my queen so I take, happy with a two-pawn lead}
23. Qxg7+ Kxg7 24. Ne2 {trading material since I'm up material} Nxe2 25. Bxe2
Rf8 26. Kg2 Ne8 27. f4 {getting rid of poor doubled pawn} exf4 28. Kf3 Nf6 29.
Rxf4 Re8 30. Bf1 Nd7 31. Kg3 Nf6 32. Kf3 Nh5 33. Rf5 Nf6 34. Rf4 Nh5 {
according to Fritz this is a three move repetition of position, but my
opponent didn't call it & I played Rg4+ breaking out. To keep in perspective I
was down to just 7 or 8 minutes at this point.} 35. Rg4+ Kh6 36. Bh3 Rf8+ 37.
Ke3 Nf6 38. Rf4 Kg5 39. Rf3 Re8 40. Be6 {it felt good to play this move, I
felt confident now that I would almost certainly win} Kg6 41. Rg3+ Kh6 42. f4
b6 43. e5 dxe5 44. fxe5 Nxd5+ 45. Bxd5 Rxe5+ 46. Be4 Rh5 47. h3 Re5 48. Kd3 Re7
49. Bf5 Re5 {my last few moves weren't optimal, nor were my next dozen or so &
I ended up losing a pawn. I was a bit angry that my opponent was not writing
down his moves (since my time hit about 10 minutes) but foolishly I did not
pause the clock or get a TD. After this move I dropped below 5min & within
twenty more I was down below a minute. Finally, after below below 30 seconds
for what seemed like twenty more moves (thank heavens for the time dleay) I
managed to queen a pawn & my opponent finally resigned! This was the last
game finished in round-4 and my most pivitol one (me & my opponent were the
only two undefeated players @ 3-0 each), once I won I needed only a draw in
the final round.} 1-0
[Event "85th Annual Western Mass & Conneticut Valley Championship"]
[Site "Holyoke Community College"]
[Date "2010.02.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Campbell, Robert"]
[Black "Norris, Tony"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A27"]
[WhiteElo "1900"]
[BlackElo "1834"]
[Annotator "Norris,Tony"]
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 f5 4. d4 e4 5.
d5 {with this move it's clear we're going to enter an early endgame, which is
fine with me.} exf3 6. dxc6 fxg2 7. cxd7+ Qxd7 8. Qxd7+ Bxd7 9. Bxg2 O-O-O 10.
Bg5 Be7 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. e3 Bc6 {
I liked white's bishop better than mine so I decide to trade.} 13. Bxc6 Nxc6
14. Ke2 Ne5 {instead of Ne5 Fritz prefers f4 which is interesting.} (14... f4
15. exf4 {there are quite a few lines from here that are slightly winning for
black according to Fritz, I'll just select a variation I think would be most
likely for a human to play} Nd4+ 16. Kf1 {
all other moves are bad, check them out for yourself} Rhf8 17. Nd5 c6 18. Rd1
Ne6 19. f5 {pawn can't be taken yet} Nf4 {exploiting the pin} 20. Ne7+ Kc7 21.
Re1 Rd2 22. Rg1 Rf7 23. Rg4 Nd3 {black is better}) 15. b3 c6 16. Rhg1 {
another interesting Fritz recommendation is Rd3 with a slight advantage to
black (-0.2)} Rd7 17. Rad1 Rhd8 18. Rxd7 Rxd7 19. Rg5 g6 20. Rg1 Kc7 21. h4
Rd2+ {Fritz doesn't disapprove of my line, neither does it dislike it, it
rated about 10 moves at almost exactly equal (all sort of drawish), I figured
this would be the best way to imbalcne the position in hope for an advantage.
True, a draw is all it takes for me to claim first, but better to get a
winning position, that way if I screw up it'll still be a draw
} 22. Kxd2
Nf3+ 23. Kd1 {In the game I thought Kd3 was the best move & Fritz agrees. An
active king is important!} Nxg1 24. f4 Nf3 25. Ke2 {A surprising move, I
expected h4, saccing the pawn but giving me doubled h-pawns} Nxh4 26. Kf2 h6 {
seems forced, to protect the knight after Kg3 with g5} 27. Kg3 g5 28. fxg5 hxg5
29. e4 Kd6 30. exf5 Nxf5+ 31. Kg4 Ke5 32. Kxg5 {I went astray here, seems the
best chance for a win is Ng3! threatening to trade knights. This was the last
& most significant pivitol moments of the game. Ah well, this is why it pays
to study endgames!} Ne3 33. Kg6 Kd4 34. Ne2+ Kd3 35. Nf4+ Kc3 36. Ne6 Kb2 37.
Nd8 Kxa2 38. Nxb7 Kxb3 39. Na5+ Kb4 40. Nxc6+ Kc5 {Not sure now why I played
Kc5 instead of Kxc4, either way it doesn't matter, here my opponent offered a
draw & I accepted. Not the most exciting or glamorous way to culminate a
tournament win but I'll take it, for now.
} 1/2-1/2