2006 Feb. Toledo Swiss- R4

Prong,C (1798) - Clinton ,J (1133)
2006 February Toledo Swiss, 2.11.2006
King's Gambit Accepted: Schallop Defense [C34]

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e5 Ne4
The book line has the knight going to h5.
5.d3 Ng5 6.Bxf4 Nxf3+ 7.Qxf3
This has to be better for white. Black has played 6 moves and only has spaces on e7 and g8 to show for it. Meanwhile, white has developed two pieces and gotten two pawn moves in.
7...Nc6 8.c3
Preventing further advance of the c6 knight.
8...Bc5
This move simply encourages white to strengthen his pawn structure by allowing white do so with tempo.
9.d4 Bb6 10.Bc4 0-0 11.Qg3 Qe8??
Black is now going to be forced to give up the exchange because he didn't anticipate the mate threat after Bh6.
12.Bh6 g6 13.Bxf8 Qxf8 14.Rf1
I didn't want to castle here because it would have created a pin of the d4 pawn. I figured I would still have time to castle queenside if I needed to.
14...d6?
This gives away another pawn.
15.Rxf7 Qh6 16.Nd2
Protecting the bishop on c4, preventing Qc1+ and preparing to castle queenside if necessary.
16...Na5

17.Qf4
Trading queens is definitely playable, but whtie had better, namely 17. Rd7+ Nxc4 18. Rd8+ Kf7 19. Nxc4
17...Qxf4 18.Rxf4+ Nxc4 19.Nxc4 dxe5 20.dxe5
I chose to play for the passed pawn because of the open files that were going to allow my king o support the advance of the pawn.
20...Bc5 21.Rd1 Be6 22.b3
The idea was that after Bxc4 white would play Rxc4. However, white has allowed black counterplay if black plays
22. ... Re8. 22...b5 23.Na5 b4
This just gives the pawn away. After cxb4, the pawn is defended by the rook on f4. So the bishop is displaced from c5.
24.c4
I didn't look at the position long enough to realize I could take the pawn. I think I impulsively didn't like the look of cxb4 because of the bishop fork of the a5 knight and the king on e1.
24...Bb6 25.Nc6 Be3 26.Rf3
This move is playable even though it allows the skewer of the rooks by Bg4. White can trade answer Rxe3 and on Bxd1, white plays Kxd1 having gained two bishops for the rook.
26...Bg5 27.h3
To prevent the aforementioned skewer.
27...Bh4+ 28.Ke2 Bc8?
Playing a5 would have saved the b4 pawn.
29.Nxb4 Bb7 30.Nd5 Re8 31.Re3 Bg5 32.Re4 c6 33.Nc3 c5
This is a positional mistake that allows the knight right back into the game.
34.Nd5 Bxd5
This exchange is bad because it gives white a connected pair of passed pawns, surrenders the bishop pair, and neutralizes the pressure along the a8-h1 diagonal. 35.cxd5 Bf6 36.d6 Bd8 37.e6 Bb6 38.e7 Kf7
A wasted tempo, but black has nothing anyway.
39.Rf1+ Kg8 40.d7 1-0

2006 Feb. Toledo Swiss- R3

Mowery,E (1146) - Prong,C (1798)
2006 February Toledo Swiss, 2.11.2006
English Opening [A13]

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e3 c5 4.d4 Nc6 5.g3 Nf6 6.Bg2
White must exhage the c-pawn before moving the bishop to g2.
6...Be7
Even in the opening one must pay attention because changing the move order will sometimes hang pieces.
7.Nf3
Again the c pawn hangs.
7...0-0 8.0-0 dxc4
Finally, I go up a pawn.
9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Qe2 Qd3
I wasn't terribly excited about trading the queens off to gain a pawn on d3. I didn't think I would be able to hold it, yet I was ahead a pawn and it would not be catastrophic if I gave the pawn back.
11.Nd2
This was a blessing. I felt fairly confident that I could hold the c4 pawn.
11...Qxe2 12.Nxe2 Na5
The only problem with trying to hold the c4 pawn is that it will take awhile for black to get his rooks and light squared bishop active.
13.b3 cxb3 14.axb3 Bb4
This threatens to win the b3 pawn after the exchange on d2. Furthermore, Nxb3 will fork the d2 and a1 squares.
15.Nd4
Black could ill afford to lose the b3 pawn and yield a connected passed pair of queenside pawns to black.
15...e5 16.Ra4 Bc3 17.Nb5
This knight forks the c3 bishop, the a7 pawn and the c7 square, which would be uncomfortable for black.
17...Bxd2 18.Bxd2 Nxb3 19.Bb4
White had to be thinking that black would play Rd8, but the white rooks are susceptible to a bishop fork.


19...Bd7 20.Bxf8 Bxb5 21.Rb4 Bxf1
With the two pawn advantage, black just continues to reade off material.
22.Bxf1 Nd2
I should have jumped at the opportunity to rid my opponent of the bishop pair by playing Rxf8 or Kxf8
23.Be7 Nxf1 24.Kxf1 b6
Nd5 with the fork of the bishop and rook was tempting, but I was going to give up the b-pawn to force an exhange. I figured the two pawn advantage was enough to win. 25.Bxf6 gxf6 26.Ke2 Rd8
This move keeps the king away from my baby queens on a7 and b6.
27.e4 Rd6 28.h4 a6 29.Ke3 b5
One step close to the promised land. With things secure on the queenside, I decided to lock things down on the kingside before proceeding with the coronation.
30.f4 Kg7 31.h5 Kh6 32.g4 Rb6
Preparing a5.
33.f5?
A terrible mistake. This alongs the black king access to the g5 square and forces the white king further from the queenside queening squares.
33...Kg5 34.Kf3 a5
Only a matter of time now that the pawns are rolling.
35.Rb1 b4
The passed pawn must be stopped.
36.Rd1 b3 37.Kg3 b2 38.Rd8 Rb3+ 39.Kg2 Kxg4
Not accurate, but good enough in this position. b1/Q was best.
40.Rg8+ Kxh5 0-1

2006 Feb. Toledo Swiss- R2

Prong,C (1798) - Rhee,W (1884)
2006 February Toledo Swiss, 2.11.2006
Sicilian Defense: Sveshnikov Variation [B33]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5
Forced.
8.exd5 Nb8
GM Neil McDonald gives this move an exclamation mark.
9.c4 Be7 10.Be3
The book indicates that Be2 is the usual move at this point. Furthermore, this bishop will be driven away soon with f5-f4.
10...0-0 11.Be2 a6 12.Nc3 f5
White will sometimes meet this with f2 and Be3, with the idea of parking the bishop on f2 if he gets the chance.
13.0-0 f4 14.Bd2
I am sure Bc1 was better because I wind up spending two tempi trying to maneuver my light squared bishop onto the b1-g7 diagonal. Bd3 would have been the immediate response if the bishop had withdrawn to c1. This begs the question, why did the dark squared bishop get developed to e3 to begin with. If white is going to play this, then he needs to plan to play f3 and shelted the bishop on f2.
14...Bf5 15.Bf3 Nd7
Note that Bd3 would have been met with Be2.
16.Be4 Qe8
Surely this move was played to develop the queen to g6.
17.Re1 g6
This is curious, and seems to conflict with the move Qe8 played just one move earlier. The queen is now blocked in and has no impact on the game whatosever.
18.Rc1 Nc5
With an eye on a potential rook fork on d3.
19.Bxf5 gxf5 20.Qe2 Qg6
After Qg6 my eye was immediately drawn to the unprotected bishop on e7. Bxf4 doesn't quite work because of exf4 Qxe7 and Nd3 forking the white rooks.
21.b4
My goal was to drive the knight away from c5, so that I could play the combination to win the bishop on e7.
21...f3
This tactic enables black to play e4 with tempo and simultaneously give the knight an advanced support point, namely the critical d3 square.
22.Qxf3
White is forced to capture the pawn.
22...e4 23.Qh3
This was necessary to keep the g-file accessible for the rook on e1. Otherwise, white will not be able to prevent black from winning the exchange.
23...Nd3


24.Re3 Bg5
This skewer really changes nothing. The rook can still take control of the g-file and this will open up a discovered attack on the g5 bishop.
25.Rg3 f4??
I was certain Will was going to play h6, but f4 seals his fate.
26.Rxg5! Qxg5 27.Nxe4 Qg6 28.Qxd3
The point behind the temporatry sacrifice exchange.
28...f3 29.g3 Rae8 30.Re1 Qf5
This allows Bh6, but I didn't realize that the black response Qh3 produces a forced mate after Nxf6 Rxf6 Rxe8+ to follow and then mate in 3.
31.Re3 Qg6 32.h4
I played this to prevent simple back rank mates.
32...Re5 33.Ng5
Bc3 was stronger.
33...Ref5
Black doesn't want to trade off pieces.
34.Bc3
This stalemates the black king.
34...Qh5 35.Qd4
Threatening mate.
35...R8f6 36.Qe4
Discovered attack on the f6 rook.
36...Rf7 37.Qe8+
Avoiding cashing in too early with Nxf7 allows white to win the queen.
37...Rf8 38.Qxh5 1-0

2006 Feb. Toledo Swiss- R1

Prong,C (1798) - Bidwell,J (2200)
2006 February Toledo Swiss, 2.11.2006
Pirc Defense [B07]

1.e4 d6 2.f4
This move is usually left for move 4. Instead white usually plays d4 here.
2...Nf6 3.Nc3 a6
If black plays g6 here, then he allows white to transpose into the Austrian Attack. 4.Nf3 The move d4 is still preferable.
4...b5 5.b4
Not a very attractive move. a3 wold also have prevented the pawn from attacking the c3 knight without creating as many weaknesses.
5...e6 6.Bb2 Bb7 7.d3
Surprisingly the usually awful Bd3 would not have been a poor choice here. It defends the e4 pawn, develops the light squared bishop and creates room for white to castle kingside. The usual drawback of Bd3 is that it block in the dark squared bishop, but since that bishop is already developed on b2... this isn't the same kind of problem. 7...d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 Qxd5 10.a3
To prevent Bxb4+.
10...Nd7 11.Be2 Bd6 12.Qd2
I decided to play Qd2 to lure the black queen to f5. I planned to protect the f-pawn with g3, but I was hoping to have time to castle queenside. Castling queenside was certainly not safe with the queen on d5 though.
12...Qf5 13.g3 e5 14.fxe5 Nxe5
I realized that black would have 3 pieces attacking my knight after the exchange on e5. However, the threat of Rf1 together with Qe3+ allowed me to play this line. 15.Rf1
While Rf1 is playable, much better was O-O allowing the king to escape from the center of the board. However, with the light squares weak on the kingside I was hesistant to place my king in that corner.
15...Qe6 16.Bxe5
Ng5 is even better. Black will play Qe7, then 17. Bxe5 Bxe5 18. Nxf7 and white is ahead.
16...Bxe5 17.Nxe5 Qxe5 18.d4 Qe6 19.Qf4 0-0
The material is equal, but the white position has more weaknesses. These include the backward c-pawn and the king in the center.
20.Kd2 Rad8 21.Bg4 Qb6 22.c3 c5 23.bxc5 Qxc5
Black has gained a half-open file, which he intends to make use of before white takes advantage of his passed pawn.
24.Rfe1 Qc4 25.Be2 Qb3 26.Reb1 Qd5 27.Rf1
White needs to play a4 trading off the isolated a-pawn.
27...Rc8 28.Bf3
White needed to play Bg4 to force the rook off the c-file. Furthermore, Bf3 loses material.
28...Qb3 29.Rac1 Bxf3 30.Rxf3 Qxa3 31.h4 b4 32.c4 Qa2+
Black should have just kept pushing the pawn.
33.Rc2 Qa5 34.Rb3 Rfe8 35.d5 Qc5 36.Rf3 f6 37.h5
White has no way to prevent black from pushing his connected passed pair, so he has to try and gain some counterplay.
37...Re5


A tricky fork, since the c4 pawn is pinned leaving the d5 pawn virtually undefended
38.h6 Rxd5+! 39.Rd3 Rf5
I thought Bidwell might trade off the rooks, but this move is stronger as it is played with a gain of tempo.
40.Qg4 Rf2+ 41.Kc1 Rxc2+ 42.Kxc2 Qxc4+
Black maintained the initiative by exchanging rooks in this manner, which proved better than the simple 39. Rxd3. Note that this takes black into a rook engame with a 3 pawn advantage.
43.Qxc4+ Rxc4+ 44.Kb3 Rc3+
Black realizes that with the rooks off the board there is no way that the white king can capture the outside passed pawn abd return to the kingside to prevent black from queening one of his pawns.
45.Rxc3 bxc3 46.Kxc3 gxh6 47.Kb4 Kg7 48.Ka5 Kg6 49.Kxa6 Kg5 50.Kb5 Kg4 51.Kc5 Kxg3 Finally comes a long overdue resignation. 0-1

Rating Correction

It seems that USCF ran a re-rate after placing recent tournaments in chronological order. As expected, this cost me some rating points. At the same time the Toledo February Swiss from this past Saturday was rated as well. The tournament report shows that I gained 8 points from that tournament, but because I had 17 unearned points factored into my rating... it would seem like I went down. My rating had been posted as 1904, which established a new floor of 1700 for me. However, after the re-rate my rating is 1898. Furthermore, there is no evidence to show why I have a floor of 1700 as my rating appears to have never crossed 1900. Not sure if this is intentional programming or just a glitch. Regarless, I plan to earn the other 2 rating points and cross 1900 legitamitely before too long.

BND match vs Walt Carrara 2/9/06

Prong,C (1798) - Carrara,W (1639)
Brand New Day Cafe, 02.09.2006
King's Gambit Accepted: Modern Defense [C36]

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d5
This move defines the Abbazia or Modern Defense to the King's Gambit Accepted. 4.exd5= Qxd5
This move is not recommended because it allows white to develop the knight to c3 with tempo.
5.Nc3 Qe6+
Now black forces white to develop another piece.
6.Be2 Bd6 7.0-0 Nc6
This is the first move I couldn't find documented in a book. Ne7 is the book continuation. This helps black move toward castling short, and it removes the threat of a pin of the queen along the e-file.
8.Bb5
White should have played Re1. There is more venom in that line. Also worth a look is d4. White doesn't need to move a piece he has already developed. He can finish his development first with d4 and then the c1 bishop is immediately active with an attack on the f4 pawn.
8...Qg6 9.Ne4
Once again white ignores standard opening theories moving a piece that is already developed. More accurate were d4 or Qe2+. Note that d4 threatens d5 and an attacked on the pinned knight on c6.
9...Nge7 10.d3
I really wasn't happy with this move. I wanted the d-pawn on d4. However, for soem reason I didn't want to part with the knight on e4. The only reason to play Ne4 in the first place would have to be to exchange it for the bishop on d6 and remove the key defender of the f4 pawn.
10...Bd7 11.c4?!
This move is horrible. The point was to try and trap the bishop on d6. However, it saddles me with a backward pawn and a bad bishop. Moreover, the trap of the d6 bishop is far from certain and the idea never comes to fruition. White has gone from leading in development to equality, and with more weaknesses than black... this position is clearly better for black.
11...0-0 12.Re1
White could have restored equality with 12. e5 Be5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Bxe7 Nxe7 15. Bxf4 getting the gambit pawn back
12...Bg4 13.Kh1
I was trying to deal with the knight coming to d4. However, simply playing d4 takes away both d4 and e5, which are the squares that the knight needs to attack f3. Kh1 does remove the pin along the g-file though.
13...Nd4-+ 14.Ba4?
I was looking to redeploy the bishop pn c2, but the knight on d4 will prevent any possibility of activity from the bishop there.
14...Nef5
Black could have further intensified the pressure on the f3 knight with Qh5.
15.Nxd6


Really no tactical advantage for white to play this move now. In fact, it allows a pretty little combination for black if he can force himself to ignore the knight on d6 for a few moves. 15. ...Ng3+ 16. Kg1 Nxf3+ 17. gxf3 and black has a tremendous attack.
15...Qxd6
This allows white to get some counterplay going.
16.Re4 Bxf3 17.gxf3
Opening the g-file was the idea behind Kh1. My log term plan is to place a bishop on b2 and either a queen or rook on g1 and force my opponent to defend g7.
17...Ne6 18.a3
Prepaing b4 to allow the bishop to come to b2.
18...Rad8-+ 19.Bc2 Ne7 Nfd4
threatens to remove the bishop on c2 allowing the pawn on d3 to be captured.
20.b4 Ng6 21.Bb2 c5 22.Qg1
So white has accomplished his plan of setting up the bishop on b2 and queen on g1 with a potential checkmate threat on g7.
22...Qe7
Note that cxb4 is met by axb4, and if Qxb4 then Ba3 skewers the queen and rook along the a3-f8 diagonal.
23.Bc3 b6 24.Rd1 Qg5 25.Qf2
White really doesn't want to exchange pieces while he is down a pawn.
25...Qh5 26.bxc5 Nxc5
Of the three ways that black can recapture on c5, this was the weakest. Qxc5 offers the exchange of queens, which white would presumably decline. However, if he tries to avoid the exchange, then the a3 pawn falls. Finally, the reason bxc5 is better is becasue black doesn't waste a tempo having to return the knight to the kingside. Furthermore, bxc5 doesn't give white the passed d-pawn like the text does.
27.Ree1 Ne6 28.d4
Passed pawns must be pushed!
28...Nh4 29.Be4 Rfe8
Black needs to bring another attacker against the f3 pawn, so Ng5 is the correct move. I thought that this was a blunder at the time, and it is a mistake that loses 2 tempi and 1 point of material. Black should still be able to hold a draw.
30.Bc6= Rf8 31.Bb4 Rc8
Black should have looked at the line 31. ...Rxd4 32. Rxd4 Nxd4 33. Qxd4 Nxf3 34. Qxf4 Nxe1.
32.Bxf8 Rxc6?
Nxf6 would have avoided the pawn fork on d5.
33.d5+- Rxc4
Rc8 would have protected the weak back rank.
34.dxe6 Kxf8??
Black has to accept the fact he is going to be down a awhole rook, and capture on e6. 35.e7+ Facing mate in 1 black resigns. 1-0

Toledo February Swiss

So everyone bailed out on me, and I drove down to Toledo by myself. I get there at about 10:20 and Jim Jagodzinski, the TD was in the process of taking me out of the pairings. So he put me back in and I asked him what time the tournament started, and he replied 10 o'clock. My bad! I thought the tournament started at 10:30. Anyhow, I was fortunate that the tournament got off to a late start. At least that is what I thought until I saw the pairings. The tournament was posted as a 2 section tournament, with the lower section being U1600. However, there weren't enough players for that. Instead, Jim ran 2 round of accelerated pairings. That yielded some very difficult matches early in the day.

Round 1- White vs. Master John Bidwell (2200)
This was my second match vs. Bidwell, and I think I was white the other game too. John played a Pirc defense against my e4 opening, and the game was relatively even until I got in to some pretty serious time trouble. With less than a combined 3 mintes remaining on our 5 second delay G90 clocks, I resigned.
Overall Record- 0-1

Round 2- White vs. William Rhee (1884)
This was also my second opportunity to play Rhee. Last time I sacrificed an exchange needlessly and carelessly overlooked some winning opportunities before triumphing when Will succumbed to time pressure. Last time we met I was black and played a Tarrasch Defense against his Queen's Gambit. Today he played a Sveshnikov style Sicilian Defense against my e4 opening. I played the same line against Lineas Baze in Jackson a few months ago and wound up with a favorable position. Rhee varied early on from the line Baze played. After I player b4 attacking Will's knight, he found a tricky combination that lead to a series of attacks on my queen. This yielded a knight fork of my rooks. However, I responded accurately with a rook lift on the e-file threatening to pin his queen to his king. Then will played a skewer of my rook and bishop. I temporarily sacrifice the exchange as I calculated that I would also be able to collect a pawn and a knight for the rook. With two pieces for the rook I proceeded to defend carefully, and in the end Will resigned after hanging his queen. In all fairness, Will's clock may have expired at this point, and I think he was trying to play the first move he could find in 5 seconds or less.
Overall Record- 1-1

Round 3- Black vs. Earl Mowery (1146)
This was my first time playing Earl. He opened with the English, and I played the Tarrasch Defense. Earl fianchettoed his bishop light squared bishop on g2, but failed to exchange his c-pawn for my d-pawn before doing this. After castling I decided to capture the hanging c-pawn. He tried to get it back, but I forced an exchange of queens. Some tricky tactics in the middlegame wiped out Earl's remaining queenside pawns, and left me with a 6-4 pawn advantage in a rook endgame. I played this out accurately enough to convert into a win.
Overall Record- 2-1

Round 4- White vs. Jonathan Clinton
This was my first showdown with young Mr. Clinton, whom I expect will imrove very rapidly in the next few years. The opening was a King's Gambit Accepted. Jonathan played the Schallop Defense, but after exchanging knights and giving back the gambit pawn, Jonathan had nothing to show for his first 6 moves. My lead in development was cashed in when I threatened mate on g7, with a bishop on h6 and queen on g3. Jonathan was forced to give up the exchange. I managed to grab a pawn, exchange the queens and escape into an endgame where I had 2 rook and a knight against a rook and he bishop pair. Fortunately I had a couple of extra pawns. In the end, Jonathan exchanged a bishop for the knight and gave me a pair of connected passed pawns with rook sitting behind them. I pushed the pawns down the board for a victory.
Overall Record- 3-1

Oddly, this was enough to win my section, even though there were 2 other players in my section who had 2 points after 3 rounds. However, both of them withdrew, and I stuck around and got to take home the prize money.

David Allen managed a second round win against John Bidwell and agreed to a draw with Richard Shtivelband, and they tied for first with 3.5/4.

Next Few Updates

My next update will include analysis of my game against Walt Carrara at Brand New Day Cafe on February 9th. I won the match, but with more time I think Walt would have been able to press me for a win.

I am playing in Toledo later today, so I will have additional material to annotate for next week. The tournament is 4 games, and I will be playing in the open section.

Brand New Day Action

Over the course of the last several weeks Mike Carrel has been running a weekly event at the Brand New Day Cafe in Canton, MI on Cherry Hill and Lilley. There has been a consistent turn out of about 8 to 10 people each Thursday night starting at 6PM. We have been playing a G45 game each week. Here are the results through 2/9/06:


John Farley 4.5/5
Clint Prong 4/4
Walt Carrara 3.5/6
Robert Mayer 3/5
Scott Rogers 3/5
Michael Carrel 2/5
J.C. Moceri 2/5
Sanjay Sharma 2/6
Allan Foord 0/1
Victoria Carrel 0/3
Shawn Fairall 0/3

The posting of these games has temporarily taken my rating over 1900 for the first time. Though the USCF website reports an unofficial rating of 1904, there is a gap of 17 points where my rating jumped from 1865 to 1882. This is due to a tournament that was double rated. Therefore, I expect my rating to be around 1890 after the March rerate for the April supplement. Anyhow, it remains to be seen whether I have established a new floor of 1700 or not.

February Toledo Swiss

This may be my only tournament appearance this month since all the majority of tournaments listed on the MCA website for this month are scholastic in nature.

FEBRUARY 11 TOLEDO SWISS
Site: St. Anne Mercy Hospital 3404 W. Sylvania Ave. Toledo, Ohio 43623.
Format: 4SS, Rd 1 G/75, Rd 2-4 G/90
Sections: Open, U1600.
Entry Fee: $20 by 2/9, $25 at site
Schedule: Reg: 9-10 a.m., Rds: 10, 1, 4, 7.
Prizes: $360 b/20, OPEN: $100-50; A, B, C, D/Under $40, 1st U1600 $50. Accelerated pairings.
Entries to: James Jagodzinski, 3903 Hoiles Ave, Toledo, OH 43612
Contact: James Jagodzinski 419-478-3303.
email: James.Jagodzinski@us.pilkington.com.

You can't win if you resign!

Derderian,L (726) - Prong,C (1102)
2000 Bottom-Half Class Championships R2
Best Western, Ann Arbor, MI, 7.2.2000
Philidor Defense: Steinitz Variation [C41]

This is a game from my second tournament. It wound up being the the first one that was rated for me. I was playing in an unrated section, however one of the players had played some scholastic chess 7 years prior and obtained a rating of 528. Anyhow, I finished the tournament with 4.5/6, but with a rating of only 1103.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6
First and only Philidor Defense for me.
3.Bc4 Be7
In those days I was oblivious of many of the opening rules of thumb. Here I violated the knights before bishops rule. However, this is the correct move in the Steinitz Defense. The Lopez counter-gambit is 3. ...f5.
4.Nc3 f5
And here I violated a rule I teach all of my students these days, "No pawn moves in the opening aside from the d or e pawn, unless you have memorized a line from a book." The move f5 is not bad all by itself, but with the white light square bishop posted on c4 there wil be no kingside castle for a long time. Furthermore, a queenside castle is probably even farther off since there has been no queenside development.
5.d3 fxe4
Nc6 looks correct to me here. Black is behind in development, and all this pawn exchange does is open lines for the white queen.
6.dxe4 Bg4
Black could have fought for control of the d5 square by playing c6. Now he is in for a world of hurt.
7.Qd5 Nf6 8.Qf7+
White had his choice of which side to attack from. Qxb7 requires the black reply Nbd7 to avoid losing the a8 rook.
8...Kd7 9.h3 Rf8
I remember being afraid of playing Bxf3 because of how uncomfortable my king would be after Be6+.
10.Qxg7 Bh5 11.Ng5 Qe8 12.Nd5 Nxd5
My goal at this point was to trade resources and try to survive this onslaught. A better plan would have been to trade pawns, not pieces and in the meantime keep developing. So Nc6 would have assisted in the defense of the king far more than NxN. 13.Bxd5 c6
Not only did c6 take away the outpost on d5, but it also provided an escape square (b6) if I needed it later.
14.Be6+ Kd8 15.Nxh7 Rh8 16.Nf6 Bxf6 17.Qxf6+ Kc7 18.g4 Bg6 19.Qg7+ Kb6
Ugly move, but black has nothing else.
20.Be3+ c5 21.a4?
This move gives black a chance to regroup. White keeps the pressure on with O-O-O hitting the d6 weakness. Notice that the bishop on e6 is not hanging as long as the rook on h8 is only protected by the queen. Ultimately the idea of a4-Ra3-Rb3+ is too slow for the position.
21...Nc6?? Bxe4 attacking the rook gives black some initiative. Moreover, this would remove the d5 outpost. White probably responds with a5+, forcing Kc6, but then he has to deal with the attack on his rook. Unless, of course, he notices the skewer potential along the a4-e8 diagonal and play Bb3.
22.Bd5 a5 23.Ra3 Ka6??
Rh7 was black's only move.
24.Rb3 Rh7??
This is too late!

White to mate in 4. Can you find the combination Derderian missed?

25.Qf6?? One good blunder deserves another, however, it can be psychologically difficult for a player to ignore a threat to his queen. Bc4+ starts the mating combination. Can you find the rest of it?
25...Rd8 26.Rb5 Bf7 27.Bd2 Bxd5 28.exd5 Nb4
Both sides have played relatively accurately since the last blunder.
29.c3
White has a tremendous position. He should probably just trade off the knight for the bishop. Then he can take advantage of his connected passed pawns on the kingside. This move at the very least gives away a pawn.
29...Nxd5 30.Qf5 Rf7 31.Qd3 Nf4 32.Rxc5+??
A miraculous blunder! White has the game essentially won, yet now a small miscalculation costs him the game. Incidentally, black has forced mate in 8. 32...Nxd3+ 33.Ke2 Nxc5
Black captures a second piece thanks to the blunder on move 32. Ironically, this capture was not accurate, even though it leads to a relatively easy win for black 34.h4 Qxa4 35.g5
The move Qe4+ forking the king and rook had to be prevented. b4 or Be3 are two ways of doing that. Moving the rook is another.
35...Qe4+ 36.Be3 Qxh1 37.Bxc5 dxc5 38.g6 Qd1+ 39.Ke3 Qd3#
This was just one of the three ways that black could had checkmate in 1. 0-1

BND match vs Mike Carrel

Carrel,M (1119) - Prong,C (1798)
Brand New Day Cafe, 02.02.2006
Torre Attack [D03]

Make sure the young children are in bed. This game is for mature audiences only. The blunders are ghastly and gruesome.
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 4.e3 c5
This is the last book move.
5.dxc5
NCO recommends Nbd2.
5...Bxc5 6.c3 0-0 7.Bd3 Nc6 8.Qc2 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.Nbd2 e5
Threatening an obvious pawn fork on e4.
11.e4 Be6 12.0-0-0?
Defense can be a tricky business. Before one moves a piece he should determine what piece or pieces were being defended by it. It is important to evaluate how your defensive protection scheme will be impacted by your candidate move. This is doubly important when the candidate move is a castle because two pieces are being moved, which can result in devastating consequences if played too quickly. Here white ignores the weaknesses that are created on a2 and f2 by the queenside castle. 12...Bxf2 13.Rhf1 Be3 14.Nd4?
This is dangerous because it allows black to open the c-file, which provides black an access point to the king, not to mention the potential for an absolute pin of the queen to the king.
14...Nxd4 15.cxd4 Qg5 16.Kb1 Rac8 17.Nf3
After this move I thought long and hard about RxQ NxQ Rxg2. For some reason I declined to play this line thinking that I could probably obtain a larger advantage with the queens still on the board than I would get here. This was probably the right time to lock in my advantage and simplify a bit.
17...Qd8 18.Qa4 dxe4 19.Bxe4 Qb6?
In the text Mike gains a passed pawn, but the best way to play this position was to play Nxe5. Then white has firm control of the center of the board, even material, and active piece play.
20.d5
With the black pawn on e5 there is still some doubt as to who controls the center. Black will trade off the light squared bishop for the knight on f3, and remain a pawn up.
20...Bg4 21.h3
The line 21. Bh7+ Kxh7 22. Qxg4 probably should have been investigated here.
21...Bxf3 22.gxf3
This move seemed wrong to me. First, it breaks up the connected g and h pawns to isolate both pawns. Second, the open file that is created does not have a convenient access point for the rooks.
22...Bd4 23.Rd2 Rc5 24.f4
This move loses a pawn, but gains the compensation of a half open f-file and saddles black with doubled pawns on the f-file. I don't think the compensation warrants ditching the isolated pawn.
24...Be3 25.Rc2 exf4 26.Rxc5 Qxc5 27.Qd1 Rd8
I really wanted to play Rc8, but didn't spend an appropriate amount of time investigating the move. I think I discarded the move since the passed d-pawn was gettign close to the promised land.
28.Rh1
I wondered what Mike was up to with this move. I finally concluded that he was trying to play a contrived rook lift. I guess that the target square was g2. Somehow I missed the power that the rook would have on c2 and never even considered this threat.
28...Rd6 29.Rh2
Last chance for white to avoid losing material. Qb4 or Qc4 are possible, as is the luft making g6.
29...Rb6? 30.Rc2 Qf8
The only move that gives black a chance to play on.
31.d6 g6??
I can't believe I missed Rxd6 not only keeping black in the game, but allowing him to retain a material edge.
32.d7 Rd6


33.Qxd6!
Accurate tactical play by Carrel.
33...Qxd6 34.Rc8+ Kg7 35.d8Q Qxd8
Only move that doesn't lead to mate within 6 moves according to Fritz.
36.Rxd8
At this point I had to take time to re-evaluate the game. I had still had a 6-3 pawn advantage, despite trailing by a whole rook. My assets included a passed f-pawn and the benefit of opposite colored bishops. My first goal was to secure the queenside since black only had one kingside pawn, and connected pawns on the queenside. 36...b6 37.Kc2 a5 38.Kd1
Kd3 was preferable because the king is closer to the center of the board.
38...f5 39.Bf3
Currently the light squared bishop restrains the black f-pawn. To obtain the win white should target the pawns on the light squares, since the black bishop will not be able to protect them. Furthermore, as white has two pieces to coordinate he should be able to capture any pawns that are fized on white squares.
39...Kf6 40.Ke2 Kg5 41.Kf1 Kh4 42.Kg2
White has found a square where he can both protect the bishop on f3 and the pawn on h3, however, he failes to realize that he needs the bishop to work with the rook to eliminate teh enemy pawns.
42...Kg5
I missed my chance to make a break here.
43. ...g5 43. Rh8 g4 44. Rxh6+ Kg5 45. Rh8 gxf3+ 43.Rf8 Bc5 44.Rf7 Bd4 45.b3 Bc5 46.a4 Bb4 47.Rb7 Bc5 48.Rf7 Be3 49.Rf8 Bd4 50.Rd8 Bc5 51.Rh8 Bd4 52.Rg8 Bc5 53.Rh8 Bd4 54.Rh7 Bc5 55.h4+
I thought this was good for black. The h-pawn was helping to prevent the advance of my pawns, so I was happy to trade off the h-pawns.
55...Kxh4 56.Rxh6+ Kg5 57.Rh7 Bd4 58.Rd7 Bc5 59.Rd1 Kf6 60.Bb7 g5
Black has some chances now that his kingside pawns are in motion. White should still target the pawn on the light square. So Bc8 is the right move here.
61.Kf3 Be3 62.Rd6+ Ke5 63.Rg6 g4+ 64.Kg2 f3+ 65.Bxf3
I really wasn't expecting this, but I was now only down an exchange with compensation of an extra pawn.
65...gxf3+ 66.Kxf3 Bc5 67.Rg5 Kd4 68.Rxf5 Kc3 69.Rf6 Kxb3 70.Rxb6+??
Giving away any hopes of salvaging even a half point in this game.
70...Bxb6 0-1

Metro League R5

Prong,C (1786) - Kahn,A (2174) [B96]
2005-2006 Metro Chess League
All the King's Men, Warren, 1.27.2006
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nc6 8.e5
Aaron said that Nxc6 is the main line here, but I was following a sideline played by Nunn vs. Gormally in 1998.
8...h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.fxg5 Nd5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.exd6
Here Nunn played e6 and deemed the position unclear. Fritz seems to think exd6 is best though.
12...Bxd6 13.Qd2
This is playable, but white yields the initiative. White keeps the initiative with 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Qd4 or 13. Qe2+ Kd7 14. O-O-O.
13...Qe7+


14.Be2 Qe4 15.Nf3
Notice how white's moves are all reactions to black. This is a clear indication that black now has the intiative. White yielded the initiative on move 13, and a strong player will not give it back.
15...Bg4
Bf4 maintains the pressure and keep white on the run.
16.Bg3
White is ahead a pawn and if he can neutralize the threat of the black attack, then he can settle in for a decent endgame. Here white offers to exchange dark-squared bishops. This is a product of black's inaccuracy on the previous move. If black chooses not to exchange, then he will have to relinquish the b8-h2 siagonal. 16...Bc5 17.Kd1
White seems to have time to play gxh6 here. The line would continue Be3 Qc3 Rxh6 and white would remain up a pawn.
17...Be3 18.Qd3 0-0-0 19.gxh6 f5 20.Re1 Rxh6 21.Nd2?
This is probably not losing all by itself, but it definitely is not a good move. At the table I also considered h3. After h3 Bh5, the move Nd2 looks a lot better. 21...Qxd3 22.cxd3 Bxe2+ 23.Rxe2 f4 24.Be1?
Bf2 is preferable because the rook is trapped on e2.
24...Nd4 25.Rc1+ Kb8 26.Rxe3
Unfortunately the sacrifice exchange is about the only playable move here.
26...fxe3 27.Bg3+ Ka8 28.Nf3 Nxf3 29.gxf3 d4
Excellent position for black with the passed pawn now being connected. 30.Be5 I gave this move 5 minutes, yet I still had close to 30 minutes left on my clock after playing this move. I probably should have taken more time here to come up with a more active plan.
30...Rd5 31.Rc8+ Ka7 32.Bg3 Rc6 33.Rxc6 bxc6 34.h4 Kb6 35.Bb8 Rh5 36.Bg3
Time after time white moves this bishop back and forth from and to g3 losing tempo. 36...Rf5 37.Ke2 Ra5
Meanwhile, black makes progress.
38.a3 Rb5
The rook is creating weaknesses in the white camp that neither the king nor the bishop will have time to guard.
39.b4 Rh5 40.f4 c5 41.Kf3 Rh8 42.f5
White has to try and get something going.
42...Re8 43.Be1
This really wasn't necessary. On the other hand h5 gives black something to think about.
43...c4 44.dxc4 d3 45.Bc3 d2 46.Ke2 Rd8 47.Bxd2 exd2 48.Kd1
Not much left for white to do. The black rook will quickly devour the isolated kingside pawns and then concentrate on the queenside pawns.
48...Rf8 49.Kxd2 Rxf5 50.Kc3 Rh5 51.c5+ Kc6 52.Kb3 Rxh4 53.Ka4??
Ending the game quickly.
53...Rh3 0-1

Weekend Update

I plan the following posts for this weekend:

My January Metro Chess League match vs. expert Aaron Kahn
My game from the Brand New Day Cafe month long vs. Mike Carrel

If I have time I will dig into the archives and pull out a game from when I was rated around 1100, and show another example of how games cannot be won by resigning.

Jackson Action

The three tournaments that I played in Jackson have finally been rated. However, they are rated out of order and it will be intersting to see what inserting those tournaments will do to my rating when all 12 of tournaments I have played since the end of August are place in chronological order.

Anyhow, as it stands the cumulative effect of the 3 Jackson Actions was 1 additional rating point bringing my overall rating to 1892. However, it is worth noting that my quick rating was over 300 points behind my regular rating and stood at 1650. It went up to 1701.

Also of not is the ecellent results of master Bill Calton who gained a total of 11 points from the 2 Jackson tournaments he played in, and his rating now stands at an all time high of 2311.