Let the Games Begin (CFC Tourny '06)!

[Darth_Pugwash]

Sleep is for the weak?

 

[Taliesin]

That's as may be, but if so, duffer's play must be for the strong. I've already thrown away a whole bishop earlier today-- I was lucky enough that it didn't cost me the game-- and a more serious mistake is inevitable if I soldier on without some shuteye.

 

[Blazer6]

I would like someone to take my place as my handicap is giving me too much trouble.

 

[Narz]

I would like someone to take my place as my handicap is giving me too much trouble.

Are you sure you are wanting to drop out? I will already have to replace greenpeace and Cuivienen hasn't made a move yet.

Play on if you can but let me know if you really, really, really want to drop out.

 

[Confusion]

Confusion 0-1 kryszcztov
in 7 moves

Still missing Cuivienen (White)...

bahh, i was careless

 

[kryszcztov]

bahh, i was careless

Don't worry, we have all made our very stupid mistakes, once or twice... or so many times ! But one thing : this type of gaming is suited for avoiding such mistakes, because you have all the time in the world (ie. 3 days ) to make your move, so there is no hurry. If we were playing games with 2 or 3 hours per player, I think I would already be in danger in some of them (after a dozen of moves or less).

 

[IglooDame]

And for all those that assumed I was dead after playing a few moves Sunday then disappearing... Not dead, just having a tough time with work again. I'll put in my moves ASAP, if I haven't expired the 3-day clock yet.

 

[kryszcztov]

@ Tomoyo : It seems I was never able to recover from "giving" you my pawn in e4 at the beginning of the game, despite often believing I could trick you into losing one piece (is that how we call them in English, everything but pawns ?), eg. my 18. c5 followed by my 22. Qf7 (I thought your 21. ... fxe2 was not smart, but I was wrong). I think I should blame it on that lost pawn in e4 then, what do you think ? The thing is, I don't know if I went off of the tracks after 3 moves, since I decided not to open a chess book during the games (and I'm no opening expert ). But I have to congratulate you for transforming my middle game into a nightmare by always choosing the right move. I spent countless hours on this game, trying dozens of deep analysis. Not enough to beat you in the end. I hope we meet again.

 

[Tomoyo]

I had to look at this game for lengths of time for certain moves, and the middlegame was actually very uncomfortable. My mindset was just "stop any threats, trade piece, hope for an endgame up one pawn". In the end, I think that the reason it came out the way it did was because you never managed to destroy my e4 pawn. I believe that you could have captured it with 7. g4 Bg6 8. h4 h6 9. Bg2, though I'm not sure how the resulting position would play. I thought 15. Nxg6 was a mistake, since the knight was a much better placed piece than my locked-in bishop, and by moving my c7 pawn to b6, you weren't able to play g3-g4 to undermine the support for the e4 pawn. In the end, everything revolved around the e5 pawn, so if you played a different opening, I think you'd've been okay. Then again, what do I know, I thought I was gonna get punished eventually for taking the e5 pawn.

But I have to congratulate you for transforming my middle game into a nightmare by always choosing the right move. I spent countless hours on this game, trying dozens of deep analysis. Not enough to beat you in the end. I hope we meet again.

So that was why you were "on" and moving, but not against me.

I hope we meet again, too. That game was very fun.

(Btw, a piece is indeed anything other than a pawn, though most of the time, it refers to a minor piece (Bishop or Knight))

 

[kryszcztov]

@ Cuivienen : I was one piece up, yes, but quite not at ease at this point. By resigning, you held off some weight of my shoulder, as I hate dealing with those tricky finals. To be honest, I was still unsure of how to deal with it. As for the beginning, I don't know if my 7. ... Bxf3 was a good move or not ; I think it was (but was it a killer move or not ? if yes, then where did you blunder ? same as against Tomoyo, I don't know this opening !), but I can't say I explored all the possibilities for White afterwards. Your 11. Ke3 really left me wondering what you had in mind ! I can't explain it, and it made my life easier by trading back my pawn-up for your knight.

 

[Cuivienen]

11. Ke3 was, of course, the blunder; I had on my mind to start focusing all of my pieces, King included, on the center. Once the Queens were gone, especially with you underdeveloped, having the King in the open would have been fine and probably beneficial. 7. ... Bxf3 was good, but I wouldn't call it a defining moment in the game. I just mucked up my counter to the Slav, a very modern opening I'm not familiar with at all.

By the time we reached the endgame, I had lost. Even though I was down only a knight for a pawn, you had my King cut off from the queenside and it was only a matter of time before I would be forced to surrender my rook to stop a pawn from promoting. I suppose I could have kept playing and hoped for you to mess up, but I don't think that's very honorable.

My flurry of trades was an attempt to clear things up and hopefully get a couple of pawns back. I only managed one pawn, though. I had hoped to be able to use some extra pawns to force you to give up the knight for them and eventually draw. No luck.


@Tomoyo: I actually thought you had won the game until you played 33. Bf1. That move allowed me to get a solid strike on your e3 bishop and force its capture. You were probably afraid of 33. ... Rg2+, but I really would have had no follow-up to that.

 

[kryszcztov]

I had to look at this game for lengths of time for certain moves, and the middlegame was actually very uncomfortable. My mindset was just "stop any threats, trade piece, hope for an endgame up one pawn".

And I was there thinking you were deciding your moves in 2 minutes, like if it was easy, where I was carefully exploring every possibility up to 5 or 10 moves... Good to know you're human too.

In the end, I think that the reason it came out the way it did was because you never managed to destroy my e4 pawn. I believe that you could have captured it with 7. g4 Bg6 8. h4 h6 9. Bg2, though I'm not sure how the resulting position would play.

Hmm... Can't see any difference with my 7. g3, since I still attack e4 with my bishop, and you can still bring your bishop to b4 so as to fix the knight. But g4 prevents f5 for Black, even though I'd hate to trade a pawn from my pawn chain for your doubled pawn !

I thought 15. Nxg6 was a mistake, since the knight was a much better placed piece than my locked-in bishop,

I hesitated doing it, because of the reason you stated, but for some reason couldn't see my queen end up in f4, abandoning the queen side (where I expected your queen to knock in the end ). But indeed, once the knight is gone, I'm late refilling f4 and you take the opportunity to advance the position there... There was probably a better move, maybe a chess expert or program could give his/its thoughts ?

and by moving my c7 pawn to b6, you weren't able to play g3-g4 to undermine the support for the e4 pawn.

I don't know what you're talking about here. What c7 pawn to b6 ?

So that was why you were "on" and moving, but not against me.

I'll be honest with you ; our game for me was the hardest one of all (I still have to finish my game against Narz, but it obviously doesn't lead to such a headache as against you). So I always played the other games first when possible, and I even delayed some moves in ours, so as to have all the time I needed in one session, and I don't mention being in good form, awake, etc...

 

[Tomoyo]

Hmm... Can't see any difference with my 7. g3, since I still attack e4 with my bishop, and you can still bring your bishop to b4 so as to fix the knight. But g4 prevents f5 for Black, even though I'd hate to trade a pawn from my pawn chain for your doubled pawn !

7. g4 attacks my bishop, which forces me to waste a turn moving it. That extra move would have prevented me from defending the pawn with o-o and Rd8. You can get around the b4 pin by playing Nge2 followed by a3 and b4. And well, if you wanted the pawn back, you'd need to trade your pawn for my doubled pawn.

I don't know what you're talking about here. What c7 pawn to b6 ?

I don't know what I'm talking about either. Forget about what I said.

I'll be honest with you ; our game for me was the hardest one of all (I still have to finish my game against Narz, but it obviously doesn't lead to such a headache as against you). So I always played the other games first when possible, and I even delayed some moves in ours, so as to have all the time I needed in one session, and I don't mention being in good form, awake, etc...

Nice to know I posed such a challenge.

 

[kryszcztov]

Lurking through my opponents' other games, I have one question : what's that with Alekhine's defense ?? (1. e4 Nf6) I rarely saw this opening when I played chess at my chess club during my teenager years.

 

[Tomoyo]

@Tomoyo: I actually thought you had won the game until you played 33. Bf1. That move allowed me to get a solid strike on your e3 bishop and force its capture. You were probably afraid of 33. ... Rg2+, but I really would have had no follow-up to that.

Actually, I was afraid of 33. ... Qg6, followed by eventually Rxh6 and and Qg2. Playing 33. Qd2 Qg6 34. Bf1 Rg8 (threatening Qg3) 35. Bg7 Rxd1 is no good, and I don't see how I could do anything else. 33. Ra8+ Kd7 34. Rxg8 Qxg8 35. Qd2 Rxh3+ 36. Kxh3 Qg6# doesn't work. That was a move I spent a few hours contemplating.

@kryszcztov: I don't know, I've only played it once (and lost). I've played as white against it several times, and really, I don't see what's so special about it. A great deal of my opponents played 2. ... Ne4 3. d4 and eventually lost their knight. Then again, a great deal of those opponents weren't the best chess players in the world. My game against Cuivienen was the first time I've ever lost playing white in the Alekhine's.

EDIT: By the way, what exactly is the format of this tourney? I'm confused here.

 

[kryszcztov]

@ Narz : Too bad, I think both positions were roughly equal in the end, I had a pawn ready to go for promotion (pion passé in French, IIRC), but you had a nice chain on the king side that I lacked. The queen pinning + exchange : I had thought of it a few turns before (tonight), and saw it could lead to the pawn promoting if conditions were there. Of course I didn't specifically move my queen because you threatened it with 31. ... e4, but because 31. d6 gave me the green light to proceed on the following turn if... if you couldn't see it, but I was sure you would see it. I'm (once again, that's 3 times) relieved because I suck in finals, and I could have very well done the blunder myself. Your 34. ... c3 got me scared, and for one second I thought I had done a blunder as well. Thanks for the game. Hoping you will set up another tourney sooner than in one year.

 

[Narz]

Actually I'd like to set up a blitz chess tourny (which will go by a lot faster and we can get more games in) either later this year or early next.

I'm thinking maybe 10-minute games and double-round-robin (everyone plays everyone twice, one with each color) in two divisions instead of four.

Believe it or not I often play better in quicker games (though not 3 and 5 minute games) because I am able to force myself to maintain consistant focus. Not making excuses for my coorespondence losses of course, you and my other opponents played admirable.

 

[greenpeace]

Group 3 :
nc-1701 (nc_1701)
Elrohir (ThetrueElrohir)
punkbass
AlCosta
Godwynn
admiral-bell
[still looking for greenpeace]

What do you mean?

 

[Narz]

What do you mean?

Didn't you get my PM's?

 

[Bluemofia]

Replaced Alcosta; Challenged.