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[Panzar75]

Ever heard of striking while the iron is hot? Tactics are on your side with 19. g6 which largely disappear if you do not act on it. Take another look at your line and see if you don't have something good after his Rg7.

Well, the computer tells me you have nothing special going on after Qd7 but I'm not good enough to verify that. In any case, it's better than what happened in the game.

 

[civiijkw]

Ever heard of striking while the iron is hot? Tactics are on your side with 19. g6 which largely disappear if you do not act on it. Take another look at your line and see if you don't have something good after his Rg7.

Well, the computer tells me you have nothing special going on after Qd7 but I'm not good enough to verify that. In any case, it's better than what happened in the game.

As I said initially, I overlooked his Nc5-d3-f4-g6 "offered sacrifice" maneuver. I was figuring that 20. g6 with the rooks doubled on the h-file would be even more devastating than 19. g6 without the doubled rooks.

I've won games by going for even more pressure before pulling the trigger and at the time I figured this was another one of those. My most memorable example was from a league play-off match almost two decades back where I was continuing a squeeze with a planned material win a few moves down the road and my opponent immediately sac'd an exchange in a futile effort to relieve the pressure. Looking over it later on I realized I'd been blind to one of my own threats and had ALREADY achieved a maximum squeeze.

 

[DaveShack]

I'm 0-2 against col now. Here's an example of how to get overwhelmed as white in the dragon when black has a better plan.

 

[Narz]

Don't feel bad, I'm something like 0-9 against col.

 

[WhiteEagle22]

I'm 0-2 against col. I hope to one day turn that around.

 

[col]

I'm 0-2 against col now. Here's an example of how to get overwhelmed as white in the dragon when black has a better plan.

It was an intersting game. Black sacs the b pawn for a lasting initiative in spite of the queens coming off. Chris Ward's book on the dragon gives a real feel for how to play this kind of endgame. I'm not sure I found the best lines. The knight sac was a bit flashy. I think the key move was f5 making a passed pawn on the king side. Threats on both sides of the board is always key when you have bishop v knight and equally so with rook and bishop v rook and knight,. You have to make mobility count.

Its one of those games where white does nothing much worng but just drifts into a losing position.

 

[col]

Don't feel bad, I'm something like 0-9 against col.

Been a close run thing a few times though

I've lost every time I've played Wolfster

http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=18179252

 

[Narz]

Yeah, one game we had on queenalice where you played the Grand Prix with Bc4 I felt pretty good with until the endgame where I self-destructed.

Re : your game, 11. h5 just feels so risky to me. I'd be terrified to play it personally even though it might be theoretically sound!

 

[col]

I was experimenting in a new line following a master game that black won.

I got the move order wrong when Wolfster improved ona GM's line ... and got chewed. (I need to wait for h4 before playing h5! - you learn the hard way)

He's scary - he beat me without me knowing where I went wrong.

 

[Tomoyo]

In this Civil War team match game I went from a middlegame where I felt like I had the advantage, to an even/losing game after 21. ... Bxc3?, then slipped up and lost a pawn and went into a knight endgame.

But knight endgames are so uh, hard. So things happened and my opponent resigned right before I was gonna offer him a draw? Anyone have any idea why?

 

[Narz]

At first I though I saw something for you but... no, I don't know why he resigned. Looks like a draw, all he has to do is take the advanced pawn & sac his knight for the other one.

 

[Narz]

As I promised luce (aka : Richard Cribb), I am going to self-analyze my next few games & post them instead of right away sending them off to chess.com's silicon monster to assess for me (besides, Panzar's engine is way better ).

My last game was a loss against the up & coming Grujic (not sure how he found me to challenge me but he did & now he's on the team ), he's strong (though I noticed he missed the fastest mate in another of his games) and I imagine he'll get up to around 2200 at least in time.

Spoiler My analysis :

[Event "Online Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[White "Grujic"]
[Black "Narz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "1 in 3 days"]
[Termination "Grujic won by resignation"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 4.cxd5 exd5

[I figured opening my c8 bishop was more of a priority than two central pawns]

5.Nc3 Bf5 6.Bf4 Qb6 7.Na4 Qa5+ 8.Nd2 Nf6 9.a3 Nh5 10.b4 Qd8
11.Bxb8 Rxb8 12.e3 Nf6 13.Qb3 Bd6

[development phase]

14.Bd3 Bg6 15.O-O Qc7 16.g3 O-O

[I was resistant to castling, wanting to concoct some glorious king-side attack but I didn't see how to begin ]

17.Rac1 a6 18.Nc5 Rfe8

[that knight on c5 was from now on a bane of my existence]

19.Rfe1 Ne4 20.Bxe4 dxe4
21.Nc4 Bh5 22.Nxd6 Qxd6 23.Rc2 Bf3

[might look strong but white can defend, I consider Bg4 to swing to h3 but then white can just play Kg2. I didn't want to admit it to myself but I white white is already better with the strongly placed knight.]

24.Qc4 h5

[wasn't sure what else to do here]

25.Qf1 h4 26.Qh3 hxg3 27.fxg3 b6??

[from here it all falls apart, I complete went blind on white's sharp reply Nd7 thinking only about how bad it was for white to take the a-pawn, from here my game self-destructs, I suspect after b6 was game was already dead lost against any strong opponent]

28.Nd7 Rb7

[I had many moves here but none of them were particularly good, I could have resigned right here but that's not my style and I thought I might be able to survive to an endgame only a pawn down.

29.Ne5 Rc7 30.Rec1 Rec8

[time for tactics, can you see the combination? I saw it but didn't see it all the way thru & deemed myself ok until he made the move anyway & then I saw I was screwed, scroll down for the next move]
















31.Rxc6! Rxc6 32.Qxc8+! Rxc8 33.Rxc8+ Qf8

[if Kh7 then Rh8+ KxR and royal fork at f7]

34.Rxf8+ Kxf8 35.Nd7+ Ke7 36.Nxb6 Kd6 37.Na4 Be2 38.Nc3 Bd3 39.Kf2 Ke6 40.a4 f5
41.g4

[I'm down too many pawns, no way to avoid a loss anymore]

1-0

 

[WhiteEagle22]

I hope DaveShack is enjoying "chase the rook" in our game.

Edit: Congrats DaveShack for beating me!

 

[Panzar75]

My last game was a loss against the up & coming Grujic

Well, if it hadn't been for b6 allowing that tactical disaster you had a decent game going. (And, yes, it's quite lost after that move.)

Spoiler :

I was resistant to castling, wanting to concoct some glorious king-side attack but I didn't see how to begin

I don't know about a glorious kingside attack... the best I can come up with is 17...Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Qd7 to be followed by Qh3.

wasn't sure what else to do here

The computer likes you position and suggest guarding your b-pawn with something like Qe7 or Re7 so that you can centralize your other rook.

 

[WhiteEagle22]

I'm waiting for comments about the future of Chess Talk. Be sure to listen to the latest episode and tell what your thoughts are!

 

[Narz]

Thanks for the feedback Panz.

Just won this game (on time ) against a buddy of mine from another forum who I got to join. Short game, not too much to say, I'm sure I could have made slightly better moves but I was happy with my position by the end & imagine I had an advantage worth at least a pawn there.

I told him about the vacation feature but I guess he didn't have time to set it up.

Edit : looks like my opponent (and I) missed Qg4+ twice which would have given him an edge.

 

[Narz]

Won against my highest rated opponent yet.

Narz vs. Warrior103

I knew him from Live Chess (blitz) and I knew he played very unusual & dubious openings so I was surprised to see his Correspondence rating so high. He beat me two of three (IIRC) in blitz but I figured I could take him if I had time to think.

He played the same blitz-type of moves & already by move eight I had him in a very awkward spot. I didn't expect him to play 8. Ng5? I thought he'd try to save the piece with c4 or maybe Bc4 though in the long run I don't think either of them do save it.

After taking the material & running & try my best just to play solid chess & survive 'till the endgame. I'm sure I didn't make all the right moves but fortunately neither did my opponent.

I wonder if 13. ... b6 was optimal. I get rather intimidated by visions of advancing pawn masses & even though it wasn't a developing move I figure the more pawns I could keep on the queenside the better (I ended up losing this pawn anyway though).

I'm not sure his ultimate grabbing of this pawn served him though, he gave up his kingside defensive knight & his queen & rook were rather awkward stationed where they were.

Not sure 18. d4 and 19. b4 were optimal moves for him. They didn't free up his position really & weakened his pawns, IMO.

I went with 20. ... h5 because I had to get my king's rook active somehow. Despite the apparent pressure on my king white couldn't get his last two pieces into the game in time to get me.

After 22.Rc1 I started to get a bit nervous thinking maybe I'm screwed after all, I don't remember my exact thought process though, I took alot of notes over the course of the game but erased them to make room for new notes.

24.Qc6 : I did not see any viable mating attack after this move so I swapped.

26. b5 : uh-oh, I start worrying I'm dead again... I couldn't see what to do but play e5, at this point I figure I will be lucky to get out unscathed & make a draw & am annoyed at myself for letting a piece-up opening come to this.

27. a4? : Big time blunder, IMO. I could not take the pawn on a2 because of the threat up a rook check on the back rank followed by a bishop-check at b4 but now Rxa4 covers b4.

27.... Rxa4
28.Rc8+ Ke7
29.Rxf8 Kxf8
30.Rxd7 exd4

White swaps a rook for two pieces but I am still up the exchange.

33. Kf2

Here I make a comment that the game from here will be hard for either of us to win. White immediately offers me a draw. I politely decline though saying I want to play it out.

The next ten or so moves feature me winning white's potentially dangerous b-pawn & finally convincing white to swap rooks. White's bishop has been awkward the whole game.

47.d5?

White's final blunder, IMO. Looks like a natural move but after Ke4 & Rd5 the pawn is going nowhere & the king & rook are untouchable.

50. ... Rd3

My plan here was to chase the bishop again with Rd2 when it went to h2 and then block him completely out of the game with f4 when he went to g3.

Instead white played 51. Be5 leading to a winning king & pawn endgame. White made me play it out nearly to the end before finally resigning with mate a few moves away.

Can't say I played it perfectly & probably threw away my win a couple of times (at least against perfect play by white) but I enjoyed it very much & was happy to come away with the win.

 

[Panzar75]

Won against my highest rated opponent yet.
I knew him from Live Chess (blitz) and I knew he played very unusual & dubious openings...

I'd say, 3 moves into the game and the computer is already into negative numbers. In particular, 5. Qa4 is not the kind of move you get away with in a correspondance game.

He played the same blitz-type of moves & already by move eight I had him in a very awkward spot. I didn't expect him to play 8. Ng5? I thought he'd try to save the piece with c4 or maybe Bc4 though in the long run I don't think either of them do save it.

There is no saving the piece. After c4 simply Ra7 followed by axb5.

I wonder if 13. ... b6 was optimal. I get rather intimidated by visions of advancing pawn masses & even though it wasn't a developing move I figure the more pawns I could keep on the queenside the better (I ended up losing this pawn anyway though).

No, b6 was not optimal. First of all, would you believe 0-0-0 is among my computer's top moves? I wouldn't touch that move with a 10 foot pole attatched to another ten foot pole. The top choice is 13...Qe4 with the idea Qc6. After this move you get -2.09 from my computer (4/13 depth) while b6 is a mere -1.29 (3/12 depth).

I'm not sure his ultimate grabbing of this pawn served him though, he gave up his kingside defensive knight & his queen & rook were rather awkward stationed where they were.

According to the computer this was best play for him.

Not sure 18. d4 and 19. b4 were optimal moves for him. They didn't free up his position really & weakened his pawns, IMO.

It's funny, after his abysmal opening he played very well for the most part. d4 was the best move according to the computer. However b4 was one of the few bad moves he made. Computer likes Bd2 or pushing the a-pawn.

I went with 20. ... h5 because I had to get my king's rook active somehow. Despite the apparent pressure on my king white couldn't get his last two pieces into the game in time to get me.

The computer would have gone with Qc2 making it harder for white to develop. And after a4 the computer calmly plays Bd6 with a sinister smile. What is white to do? a5 for example runs into Qc3! as does many other moves. Best try is to retreat the queen to f1 but now the pressure on black has evaporated. While I would have been a bit worried about white's a- and b-pawns the computer is not seemingly impressed giving black a healthy -1.65.

24.Qc6 : I did not see any viable mating attack after this move so I swapped.

If only you could see the evaluation numbers during the game. I think you would have looked a little harder. I also did not see anything too special before the computer told me there was something there. If you want to have another look first it's in a spoiler tag.

Spoiler :

After Qxc6 the evaluation is about -0.50, not bad but after 24. Rg6+! it jumps to a whopping -7.00. What is going on?

Spoiler :

25. Kf1 Qd3+ 26. Ke1 Be7 the quiet move is often the deadliest 27. Qh1 (all other moves are forced mate) Bh4+ 28. Kd1 Rf6 another relatively quite move and white is just dead lost. Rf1+ is the obvious threat and the evaluation is -10.00.

So, let's try 25. Kf2 instead. One way to go is 25...Rg2+ 26. Kf1 (26. Ke1 to hold on to the piece loses the rook instead; 26...Qh4+ 27. Kd1 Qf2 28. Qc3 Qf3+ 29. Kc2 Qxb7) Qxc6 27. Rxc6 Rxd2 obviously winning material advantage. The other way to go is similar to the line with Kf1; 25...Qd3 26. Ke1 Be7 27. Qh1 Bh4+ 28. Kd1 Rf6 this is the computer's choice by a small margin.

26. b5 : uh-oh, I start worrying I'm dead again... I couldn't see what to do but play e5, at this point I figure I will be lucky to get out unscathed & make a draw & am annoyed at myself for letting a piece-up opening come to this.

I know that feeling. e5 is the best move under the circomstances though, about -0.60 still.

27. a4? : Big time blunder, IMO. I could not take the pawn on a2 because of the threat up a rook check on the back rank followed by a bishop-check at b4 but now Rxa4 covers b4.

The computer ranks this move as #3 a mere tenth of a pawn behind the top choice (Rcc7 & Bc3).

33. Kf2

Here I make a comment that the game from here will be hard for either of us to win. White immediately offers me a draw. I politely decline though saying I want to play it out.

The next ten or so moves feature me winning white's potentially dangerous b-pawn & finally convincing white to swap rooks. White's bishop has been awkward the whole game.

Did you consider 33...Ra2+ 34. Ke2 Rb2, that's the computer's choice.

47.d5?

White's final blunder, IMO. Looks like a natural move but after Ke4 & Rd5 the pawn is going nowhere & the king & rook are untouchable.

The computer would play Kd5 (-1.60). d5 is around -2.00.

50. ... Rd3

My plan here was to chase the bishop again with Rd2 when it went to h2 and then block him completely out of the game with f4 when he went to g3.

More direct and stronger is Rd1 and pushing the f-pawn.

Instead white played 51. Be5 leading to a winning king & pawn endgame.

Was still best play for white.

Can't say I played it perfectly & probably threw away my win a couple of times (at least against perfect play by white) but I enjoyed it very much & was happy to come away with the win.

When can you ever say you played it perfectly? You were better for almost all of the game and was never in any risk of losing. You did miss the one clear win that was difficult to see but all in all you played very well.

 

[Narz]

Thank you Panzar. As always your insight (as well as ChessMaster's insight which you translate very well* is much appreciated! ).

I will look again very carefully at move 26 & get back to you.

Here's another game (a team game this time) I won. Pretty lackluster play by my opponent. Unlike the last one where my opponent has threats of counter play in this one I simply won a pawn, traded & won the game. I don't think he had a chance at any point in the game (besides the first 10 moves or so). I'm now above 2100 for the first time but I suspect that won't last long.

 

[WhiteEagle22]

It seems Labtec600 and I are having one h*** of an interesting game.