Saturday, March 25, 2006

Missed Tactic from Mayer-Prong 3/2/06


This is a position from Mayer-Prong at BND Cafe on 3-2-06. White missed an opportunity to win material here. What should white have played?

Friday, March 24, 2006

Carrel Chess Club- 3/23/2006

The meeting was called to order just after 6PM. There were 8 members in attendance, and Mike got a call saying that Loren Schwiebert was on his way. So we played some G/5 skittles while we waited. My brother Paul made his inaugural appearance tonight. After winning 2/3 speed games, the Schwiebert's showed and we got started. I was paired with Joel Schwiebert and my brother was paired with Rodney (don't recall his last name). Anyhow, I received an e-mail this afternoon from Will Rhee informing me that he wouldn't be able to make it this evening. Paul and I both won our games. Not sure who the other winners were, and in fact I'm not 100% certain what the other pairings were. Anyhow, a good time was had by all. I will post my game complete with annotations soon.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Carrel Chess Club

Mike Carrel has been running the Carrel Chess Club on Thursday nights at 6PM at the Brand New Day Cafe in Canton, MI. The cafe is on the northwest corner of Cherry Hill and Lilley, right next door to a Subway.

Anyhow, most of the players are either D or E players, but the club is not terribly far from my house. Furthermore, Mike has been running a one game a week rated G45 "round robin" with whoever show up each week. The best part about the whole thing is that there is no cost for these games. Rated chess for free!

I took last week off and had dinner with my wife. The next day I found out that Mike had recruited Will Rhee, a fellow class A player, to come and give me a bit of a challenge. Unfortunately, I didn't realize Will was making the trek from Ann Arbor. However, I will be attending this week, March 23rd. Hopefully I will have an opportunity to play Will.

Monday, March 20, 2006

BND match vs Sanjay Sharma

Sharma,S (939) - Prong,C (1798)
Brand New Day Cafe, 03.02.2006
Queen's Gambit Declined: Tarrasch Defense [D32]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bf4
I hadn't studied up on this particular line of the Tarrasch Defense, but I managed to play the next book move anyhow.
6...Nf6 7.e3 Be7 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Rc1 a6 11.a4
This move created a potentially big hole on b3, if the queen ever deserted its protection of that square.
11...Bg4 12.Be2 dxc5
seems to be a more effective method of protecting the weakness on d4.
12...Rc8 13.Qd2
This removes the protection on the b3 square. dxc5 would have been preferable. 13...Na5
Now the c6 bishop heads for the hole on b3.
14.Ne5?? Nb3
White did not recognize the potential knight fork on b3, so black take immediate advantage.
15.Qd1 Bxe2
Clearly betted than Nxc1 Bxg4
16.Qxe2 cxd4
I was looking for potential ideas that would win more material than just the exchange. This intermezzo requires the response Sanjay played and still allows black to gain the exchange. Additionally, black opens the c-file for his rook.
17.exd4 Nxc1 18.Rxc1 Qb6 19.Rd1 Bd6 20.Qf3 Qb3
Qxb2 is probably a better option.
21.Rb1 Bb4
The b2 pawn is pinned, and thus would not be able to capture on c3 should black play Rxc3 or Bxc3. The bishop give black one extra attacker so that the queen cannot recapture on c3.
22.Bd2 Bxc3 23.Bxc3 Ne4??
This allows Qxf7. Better was Qxa4.
24.Rc1?? f6 25.Ng4 Nxc3 26.bxc3 Rxc3!
A beautiful mating combination!

27.Qxc3 Qxc3 28.Rxc3 Re1# 0-1

Sunday, March 19, 2006

BND match vs Joseph Moceri

Moceri,J (865) - Prong,C (1798)
Brand New Day Cafe, 02.16.2006
Sicilian Defense: Counter Attack Variation [B40]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bb5
This move begs black to play a6. Then the bishop has to retreat to e2.
3...a6 4.Ba4?


This move guarantees the loss of the bishop for a pawn or two.
4...b5 5.Bb3 c4 6.Nd4
You can't attack with just one piece. White needs to develop some other pieces. Castling, Nc3 and d3 are all better moves.
6...e5
Probably should have taken the bishop right away to prevent an isolated a-pawn. 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.d4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Bb7
Taking on d4 would have centralized the white queen. Now if white takes on c6, then black will have his bishop targeting the e4 pawn and controlling the long a8-h1 diagonal. The rule of thumb here is that when trading material... the person who captures last generally will gain tempo.
10.0-0 Qf6 11.c3 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 Qxd4 13.cxd4
In this case white doesn't really gain a tempo so much as a full pawn center. 13...cxb3 14.Re1
Chris didn't want to double his queenside pawns.
14...bxa2
However, I noticed that if the white rook was on a2, then it would have to waste a tempo to get back to an active square. This assumes that I was going to prevent him from any activity along the a-file.
15.Rxa2 Bb4 16.Re3 Rc8 17.Rc3?
Chris said he hadn't realized that he could play Nc3 and avoid the loss of the exchange. Clearly he was afraid of a possible back rank mate threat.
17...Bxc3 18.Nxc3 Ne7 19.Bf4 Ng6
Fritz likes the knight on c6 better because it hits the d4 pawn. However, I didn't like the fact that it blocked my bishop.
20.Be3 0-0 21.Ra1 Rfe8 22.f3
After this move I had difficulty recognizing what the correct plan was. I figured I would double the rooks on the c-file and then drive the knight away with b4. 22...Rc4 23.d5 b4
I really dont know why i didnt double the rooks first.
24.Na4 Bxd5
This is good, if not for the weakness of the b6 square.
25.Nb6 Be6 26.Rxa6
White needed to win back the exchange here with Nxc4.
26...Rc2 27.Na4 Ne5
I missed the idea of Nh4 forking the pawns on g2 and f3. Black will win one of them with this idea.
28.Ra7 Nd3 29.h3 Rec8 30.Nb6 Nxb2
This idea is clearly inferior to simply moving the rook. However, I saw the passed pawn on the b-file would queen on a dark square, and the bishop would be of no help in preventing the pawn from queening.
31.Nxc8 Rxc8 32.Rb7 b3 33.Kh2
I thought it was probably time for a king move, but the king has to move toward the passed pawn to help prevent promotion.
33...Nd1 34.Bd4 h6
Not a necessary prophylactic move, but it does prevent back rank mates. Furthermore, black has time.
35.f4 g6
I played this move to prevent the loss of the d-pawn and to allow the bishop to remain posted on e6.
36.Kg3 f5 37.exf5 gxf5 38.Kh4 Kh7 39.Kh5 Nc3 40.g4 Ne2 41.Bf6 fxg4 42.hxg4
Allowing a forced mate.
42...Rc1 43.g5 Rh1# 0-1

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Lack of Posts

Sadly it has been nearly a month since my last post here. I have had plenty of time to post, but I haven't been playing in tournaments. Therefore, I have lacked subject matter. This all corresponds with my lack of employment, which in turn has led to a lack of funds. Furthermore, the only work I have found has been teaching an ACT Prep class for Sylvan Learning Center in Novi. Unfortunately, the classes are on Saturdays, but will end at the closing of March. Hopefully, I will be employed again soon and be able to resume my chess activities.