Clint Prong's Chess Blog

July Pride and Points Tournament

2008-07-14T20:24:00.002-04:00

Mike Carrel (founder of the Carrel Chess Club) hosted a 5 round G/30 tournament Saturday, July 12th. The tournament was the second monthly action tournament for the Carrel Chess Club.

Here are some random observations:

1. 20 people showed up on a Saturday when there was a competing tournament in Toledo
2. Of the 20 players who played on 7/12/08, 8 were new to tournament play at CCC
3. 11 players ratings increased an average of 62.8 points each
4. 8 players ratings decreases an average of 36.8 points each
5. The 19 players gained an average of 21 points each
6. 1 player played his first tournament

Congratulations to the top 2 ratings gainers (both gained over 100 points)!
1. Alan Sun gained 341 points!
2. Mandy Lu gained 171 points

Alan Sun broke the CCC record of points gained in a single tournament. The old record had been set by John Zhang with 300 points at the June 28th Action.

Mandy Lu has gained over 100 points in both tournaments, and has now gained 325 points in 15 calendar days! Also, she is the only 2 time member of the 100 point club.

The complete 100 point club is:
1. Alan Sun 341 pts 7/12/2008
2. John Zhang 300 pts 6/28/2008
3. Jacob Schneider 188 pts 6/28/2008
4. Mandy Lu 171 pts 7/12/2008
5. Mandy Lu 154 pts 6/28/2008
6. Rodney Dison 141 pts 6/28/2008

Of note: The cumulative ratings gain from this tournament was 400 points, which lagged behind the 449 total points gained by the field in the 6/28/08 tournament.

June Pride and Points Tournament

2008-06-29T16:13:00.008-04:00

Mike Carrel (founder of the Carrel Chess Club) and I teamed up to run a 5 round G/30 tournament yesterday, June 28th. The tournament was the christening tournament for the Carrel Chess Club in its new permanent location.

Here are some of the highlights as I see them:

1. 28 people showed up for the inaugural tourney
2. We were only 15m behind schedule in spite of a printer problem
3. In the top section:
--- 9 player ratings increased with an average gain of 43 pts each
--- only 5 players ratings dropped with an average loss of 36.8 pts each
4. In the bottom section:
--- 7 players played their first rated tournament (average rating 324)
--- 3 players ratings increased an average of 214 pts each
--- 4 players ratings decreased an average of 23 pts each
--- 1 player graduated from provisional

Congratulations to the 4 biggest ratings winners (all of them were up over 100 points):
1. John Zhang gained 300 points!
2. Jacob Schneider gained 188 points
3. Mandy Lu gained 154 points
4. Rodney Dison gained 141 points

Additional congratulations to:
1. Manmohan Das for winning the open section with 4.5/5
2. John Zhang for winning the U700 section with 4/5!
3. Joy Chen for the biggest upset of the day. Joy won her first game in spite of a deficit of 537 rating points!

Snow Day Chess: Part 3

2008-03-05T15:51:00.004-05:00

This position came up in a 5 minute game I played today. I missed the winning combination. Black to move and win.

Snow Day Chess: Part 2

2008-03-05T11:20:00.003-05:00

In this position I was black and had worked my opponent into a corner. At this point I I had mate in 4. I played the first 2 moves right, and then botched the mate in 2 and lost in the end.

Snow Day Chess

2008-03-05T08:52:00.002-05:00

Since my school had a snow today, I had the day off and decided to get in some chess games this morning. This position came up in a 5 minute game, where I was black. It is black to move and mate in 4.

I missed the mate in 4, and instead found mate in 5.

2007 MCA Class A Championships- R1

2007-08-18T12:19:00.000-04:00

Prong,C (1840) - Jarosz,S (1959)
2007 MCA Class Championships (1), 13.01.2007
Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation [B80]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6
This is the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defense. I had recently decided to stop playing the Keres Attack because I had not been scoring well with it, but I hadn't found time to learn another line yet.
6.Be3 Be7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 a6 9.Bc4
Typically this bishop is placed on d3, but on c4 the bishop will have to retreat after Qc7.
9...0-0 10.0-0-0 Qc7
In typical Sicilian fashion kings are castled on opposite sides of the board. Black typically attacks with queenside pawns, meanwhile white attacks with a kingside pawn storm.
11.Bb3 b5 12.g4 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Nd7 14.h4 Nc5 15.g5 Bb7 16.h5 Nxb3+ 17.axb3 Rac8 18.Rdg1
White needs to tear open a line on the kingside and should probably wait to bring the second rook to the kingside. Playing h6 forces g6, which weakens the dark squares around the black king. Then Bf6 practically forces black to trade bishops and allows white to open the g-file with gxf6.
18...e5 19.Be3 d5
Threatening a pawn fork on d4.

20.exd5
Nxd5 was correct here, and white maintains a slight edge.
20...Bb4
This is the move that white overlooked. The c3 knight is attacked 3 times now, but defended only twice.
21.Kb1
White really doesn't have time for this. The best defense to your opponent's attack is frequently counterattack. Therefore, g6 is correct, as it forces open lines in front of the black king. White would then have compensation for his pawn defecit. 21...Bxc3 22.bxc3 Qxc3
White is about to go down a pawn. Therefore, I followed the axiom of not trading pieces when behind, and thereby chose to keep the queens on the board. 23.Rh2 Bxd5 24.Qxd5 Qxe3 25.Rhg2 Rfd8 26.Qb7
White is still trying to find ways to keep the queens on the board in hopes for finding drawing chances.
26...Rb8 27.Qc6 Rdc8 28.Qd6 Qxf3 29.Qxe5 Re8
Black determined that taking the h5 pawn was dangerous while the white queen was on the b8-h2 diagonal, as Rh2 and Rgh1 might come next.
30.Qd6 Rbd8 31.Qc7 Rc8
Qxh5 winning another pawn or Rd1+ followed by a rook trade or Qxh5 are both preferable here.
32.Qh2 a5 33.g6 fxg6 34.hxg6 h6 35.Rf2 Qe4 36.Qd6 a4 37.Qd7 axb3 38.Qf7+ Kh8 39.Qxb3 Re6 40.Rgf1 Rxg6
Qxg6 and black is two pawns up with every chance of winning. Black was under 10 minutes left on his clock when he played this horrible blunder.

41.Rf8+ Rxf8 42.Rxf8+ 1-0

2007 MCA Class A Championships

2007-08-04T07:45:00.000-04:00

This was the last big event I played, so I have been very inactive this year. Hopefully, I will find time to study and regain the energy and drive to resume my pursuit of moving through Class A on to Expert. My rating descended 2 points from 1840 to 1838 after scoring 2/5 with wins over Stan Jarosz and Zoran Stojanovski. I was disappointed in my score. I was hoping for a plus score, but -1 isn't that bad since this was my first chance to play in a Class A event.

Metro League 2006- R2

2006-11-12T00:24:00.000-05:00

Prong,C (1852) - Dishman,M
2006-2007 Metro Chess League (2),
All the King's Men, Warren, 10.27.2006
King's Gambit Accepted [C34]

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Nc6
To quote GM Gallagher, "This move has never really caught on, probably because it does little to address black's problems.
4.d4 Bb4+?
This can't be good since it allows white to build his pawn chain with tempo. Black should try d5, and then on exd5 he plays Qxd5 and has himself developed a piece with tempo.
5.c3 Ba5 6.a4
A cute trap that I should have resisted playing. White is hoping to get in b4 and then a5 where blacks dark squared bishop is trapped. The simple Bxf4 is probably best for white.
6...Nf6 7.e5
White continues to build his pawn chain with tempo.
7...Nd5 8.Bc4
White tries to keep black busy so that he can work in his trap.
8...Ne3 9.Bxe3 fxe3 10.b4 Nxb4
Black will get two pawns for the knight (three pawns if you count white's gambit pawn) and leave white with a fractured pawn structure. In addition, black will have only one piece developed.
11.cxb4 Bxb4+
Fritz rates it equal, but as I heard Ben Finegold say once, "A piece is worth a million pawns."
12.Ke2 Blocking the advanced pawn.
12...d5?

13.Qb3
White continues to find ways to develop and thereby gains tempo or material. 13...Ba5 14.Bxd5
White regains one of his lost pawns.
14...0-0 15.Na3 Bd2 16.Nc2 Bg4 17.Bxb7
Now white has regained a second pawn
17...Rb8 18.Qd5 Qe7 19.Rab1 Be6 20.Qe4 g6?
This move is probably unnecessary. It would have been better to keep improving the position. i.e. c5 and black is making threats to win the Bb7.
21.Nxe3 Bf5
Black needlessly gives away another pawn here.
22.Nxf5? gxf5 23.Qxf5 Bh6 24.Qh5 Bg7
I wanted the black bishop here so that the queen would not protect h7 when black moved the f-pawn.
25.Be4 f5 26.Bd5+ Kh8 27.Ng5 Bxe5
I totally missed this move, but as it turns out... it didn't matter anyway.
28.Nf7+ Rxf7 29.Rxb8+ Kg7 30.Qxf7+
Ending any hopes black had of winning material with a discovered check. 30...Qxf7 31.Bxf7 1-0

2006 Apr. Toledo Swiss- R4

2006-05-18T00:57:00.000-04:00

Hyslop,N (1648) - Prong,C (1904)
2006 April Toledo Swiss, 4.8.2006
Spanish Opening: Bogolyubov Variation [C91]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.Re1 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bg4 This is the Spanish Bogolyubov variation
10.d5 Na5 11.Bc2 h6
I was out of book at this point. The book move was c6.
12.b3
The aim of the move is to take away c4 from the a5 knight. At the same time though, this seriously cramps the white light squared bishop, which was already bad due to the d4 pawn.
12...Bh5 13.h3 Qc8 14.Kh2 Nb7 15.b4
While this move does hamper the b7 knight, it also creates a weakness on c3.
15...a5 16.a3 axb4 17.cxb4
Black really had no way to get at the c3 pawn immediately, so instead he turned to opening lines for his rook.
17...c5 18.dxc6 Qxc6
The contrast between white's rooks and queen couldn't be any greater. The black queen is active on both an open file and diagonal. Both of whites rooks are defensively postured, meanwhile the black rooks stand ready to fire down the half open a-file or the open c-file.

19.Bb2 Qb6
I considered Bxf3 because the queen cannot recapture on f3. Therefore, the white king's pawn shield would be shattered.
20.Qe2 Nd8 21.Nbd2 Ne6
The once useless knight on a5 has been redeployed and now stands poised to jump to either d4 or f4.
22.g3 Rfc8 23.Bb3 Ng5
This move forces another pawn move in front of the white king.
24.g4 Nxf3+ 25.Qxf3 Bg6 26.Rac1 Nh7
The knight prepares to move forward to g5.
27.h4?
An oversight on the part of the white player. He missed the bishop perched on e7 controlling the h4 square.
27...Bxh4 28.Qg2?
White could have prevented the immediate loss of the f2 pawn with Rxc8+ or Kg2. 28...Bxf2 29.Rf1 Be3 30.Rcd1 Ng5 31.Bd5 Ra7 32.Nf3?
White gives away another pawn. Nb3 or Nb1 would have been better.
32...Bf4+ White has seen enough carnage and resigns. 0-1

2006 Toledo May Swiss

2006-05-17T13:21:00.000-04:00

I took a carload of players down to Toledo for the May Swiss, since I can't afford the $70 entry fee that Ed Mandell charged for his 2 day tournament this weekend. The other players with me either had the same complaint about the cost, or they were unavailable for 2 day of chess. Anyhow, the tournament is rated already.

I scored 2/4 with wins against Michiganians Scott Rogers and Loren Schwiebert, winning with white and then black respectively in the first two rounds. I lost games 3 and 4 to Paul Maginley with white and then John Gattinger with black. Incidentally, I missed tactics in both games that allowed me to get checkmated. I will post those games before too long with annotations.

The other guys with me were: Al Foord 2/4 +0, Loren Schwiebert 2/4 -17, and my brother Paul Prong 2/4 +90. My brother played 4 people rated at least 200 points above him in each game and scored magnificently against tough competition. This brings his rating up to 1324, and more in line with his actual skill level.

Finally, it seems my scoresheet is not accurate enough to reconstruct my April game against Nathaniel Bromberg. This is only the 2nd time in 231 USCF rated games that this has happened to me. If I am able to get a hold of his scoresheet, then I will post the game with annotations at a later date.

2006 Apr. Toledo Swiss- R3

2006-05-16T00:34:00.000-04:00

Prong,C (1901) - Carter,A (1836)
2006 April Toledo Swiss, 4.8.2006
Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation [B12]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Nd7 6.0-0 Ne7 7.c3 c5 8.Be3
Benjamin played 8. dxc5 against Seirawan in the 1991 US Championships. MCO scores that line +-
8...Nc6 9.a3 c4 10.Nbd2 b5 11.b4 a5 12.Re1 a4
I must admit, I really didn't expect Ashley to close off the queenside. However, her plan is now clear. She intends to castle queenside and shelter her king behind that wall of pawns.
13.Nf1 Be7 14.Ng3 Bg6 15.h3 Qc7 16.Qd2 0-0-0 17.Bf4 h6
I was now seeking a plan. Ashley's king was safely locked away on the queenside. I needed to get my rooks into the game, however there were no open files. Therefore, I decided to temprarily move my king to h2, bring the king back to the queenside by hand, and then march my kingside pawns up the board with the rooks behind them. This is a very slow developing plan, but in a closed position like this there is much more time for positional maneuvering than in open games.
18.Kh2 Rdg8 19.Rh1 Bd8 20.Kg1 Ne7
At this point I realize that I have to consider the possibility that the e7 knight is coming to the f5. At that point, I expected that the knights would be traded off. 21.h4 Nf5 22.Kf1 Nxg3+ 23.Bxg3
With the capture by the bishop on g3 I maintained a solid kinside pawn structure, although if my king was more secure, then I probably would have looked to open the f-file.
23...Bh5 24.Ke1 Be7 25.Ng1 Bxe2 26.Kxe2
With the king perched on e2, I finally have room to bring my a1 rook over to the kingside and join in the impending attack. 26...g6 27.Bf4 h5 28.Nf3 Nf8 29.Bg5 Bxg5 30.Nxg5 Qe7?
This loses a pawn. Nh7 would have held.
31.Qf4 Kd7 32.Nxf7 Rh7 33.Nd6 Kc6 34.Rh3 Nd7 35.Qg5
In retrospect, I don't like this idea. After hxg5 there is no place for the white king to penetrate the black position.

Now the white king has no entry point into the black position.
35...Qxg5 36.hxg5 Rhg7 37.Rah1
I think Rg1 was more accurate as it lends support to the pushing and trading of the doubled g2 pawn.
37...Nb6 38.Rf3 Nc8 39.Nxc8 Rxc8 40.Rf6 Kd7 41.Kf3
The king belonged on e3 if I was going to move it as I needed to push both the f-pawn and g-paw. So on f3 it is in the way.
41...Rh8 42.Rh4 Ke7 43.Kf4 Rhg8 44.g4 hxg4 45.Kxg4 Re8 46.Rh2 Reg8 47.Rf3 Kd7 48.Rh6 Ke7 49.Rfh3 Kf7 50.Kg3 Kf8 51.Kh4 Kf7 52.Kg4 Kf8 53.Rf3+ Ke7 54.Rf4 Kd7 55.Kg3 Ke7 56.f3 Kd7 57.Rfh4 Ke7 58.Rh8 Kf7 59.Rf4+ Ke7 60.Rh6 Kd7
I allowed this draw with about 2 minutes left on my clock. However, with time white may still be able to play for a win. The idea would be to play Rf6 and then move the white king off the g-file. Next, white would play f4 and sacrifice the f-pawn on f5. This would open up play for a rook battery for white along the 6th rank.
½-½

2006 Apr. Toledo Swiss- R1

2006-05-14T22:52:00.000-04:00

Prong,C (1903) - Amarasinghe,P (1287)
2006 April Toledo Swiss, 4.8.2006
King's Gambit Accepted: Schallop Defense [C34]

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5
This move deviates from the book line, which is Nh5 (a position deemed equal).
5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3
From b3 the white bishop temporarily dominates the b6 knight.
6...Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.d4 d5 9.Qd3
White should probably have played Bxf4.
9...c5 10.c4?
White drops a pawn with this line. After dxc5 white can maintain equality.
10...dxc4 11.Bxc4 Nxc4 12.Qxc4 Be6
An excellent idea. Black develops with tempo, and takes a nice lead in development to accompany his lead in material.
13.d5 Qxd5 14.Qxf4 Nc6
Black spots a weakness and piles on attackers against the e5 pawn.
15.Nc3 Qc4 16.Qg3
Black is only a pawn ahead, and I can probably get the pawn back later. Still the old mantra is to trade pawns when you are behind, and pieces when you are ahead. So i decline the exchange of queens.
16...Qg4 17.Qf2 Nd4
An intriguing idea was f6 threatening to unleash a rook down the f-file against the queen.
18.Nxd4 Qxd4 19.Be3
Black is succeeding in trading off pieces, and now he adds another pawn to his lead as I choose to decline another offer to exchange queens. White could have held onto the pawn with either Bf4 or Qe3.
19...Qxe5 20.Rfe1 Rfd8
Black can igonre the potential discovered attack on his queen for now. 21.Rac1 b6 22.b3 Qf6 23.Qe2
The battery Qe2 sets up a potential discovered battery attack down the e-file 23...Qg6 24.Qf3 Rab8 25.Nb5 Bd5 26.Qh3 a6
Black has left a piece unprotected. That signals an alert to look for combinations. 27.Bf4
Black has to calculate carefully now. He can hold his lead with Bg5 or Be6.

27...axb5
However, he could not afford to take the knight on b5. White will not only equalize now, but take a small lead.
28.Bxb8 Be6 29.Qg3 Qxg3 30.Bxg3
White is now up an exchange for a pawn.
30...Rd2 31.Bc7 Rxa2 32.Bxb6 Rb2 33.Bxc5 Bg5 34.Be3 Bxe3+ 35.Rxe3 g6 36.Rc5 Rxb3 37.Rxb3 Bxb3 38.Rxb5
White has miscalculated. He still holds a slight lead, but black will be able to build a fortress. The key in this position is that the bishop will be able to protect the black pawns because they are all on the light squares. Furthermore, the rook has no entry points into the black position.
38...Be6 39.Kf2 h5 40.Ke3 Kg7 41.Kf4 Kf6 42.h3 Bc4 43.Rb6+ Be6 44.Ra6 Kg7 45.Ke5 Bc4 46.Ra7 Bf1 47.Ra2 Bc4 48.Rf2 Bb3 49.Kd6 Bc4 50.Ke7 Be6 51.Rf4 Bd5 52.g3 Be6 53.g4 hxg4 54.hxg4 Bd5 55.g5 Be6 56.Rd4 Bb3 57.Rd6 Bc4 58.Rf6 Bd5 59.Kd6 Bc4 60.Ke7 Bd5 61.Rd6 Bc4 62.Rc6 Bd5 63.Rd6 Bc4 64.Rb6 Bd5 65.Kd6 Be6 66.Ke5 Bc4 ½-½

K-12 Championship Final Standings

2006-04-23T22:06:00.000-04:00

2006 K-12 Championship Final Standings for Michigan Players
21 KAHN, AARON E 11 MIBERK MI 2177 5.5
51 WILDER, DEREK 12 MID002 MI 1711 5
67 CARTER, ASHLEY 10 MIMONR MI 1836 4.5
96 RAMAKRISHNAN, KALYA 12 MIMONR MI 1251 4.5
100 CANTY III, JAMES 12 MIBATE MI 1823 4
166 WILLIAMS, MARCUS 11 MIMURR MI 1615 3.5
186 PAULOVICH, GERALD KEVIN 12 MIMONR MI 1591 3.5
204 SMELCER, COLLIN 9 MIMONR MI 1261 3.5
221 CHAUDHURY, ISTHIER 11 MIE001 MI 1526 3
259 HOFFMAN, THOMAS 10 MIMONR MI 1275 3

Tactics from Derek Wilder

2006-04-23T21:51:00.000-04:00

Derek Wilder (1711) played a sensational tournament at the National K-12 Championships finishing with 5/7. This is a position from his 7th round game against Daniel Rohde (1891). Here Derek is white and black is about to play Rf5 trapping the white queen. How did Derek save this position?

BND match vs. Eli Rogers

2006-04-22T01:06:00.000-04:00

Rogers,E - Prong,C (1904) [C57]
Brand New Day Cafe, 04.20.2006
Two Knight's Defense: Ulvestad Variation [C57]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 b5 6.Nxf7?
Clearly white had better options. Surprisingly, Bf1 is the book response here. 6...Kxf7 7.dxc6+ bxc4
For the knight sacrifice, white has gotten 2 pawns. Furthermore, he has fractured the black queenside pawn structure and destroyed black's hope of castling. However, the pawn on c6 is not long for this game, and the lead that black has in development will not be going away anytime soon.
8.0-0 Qd5 9.Nc3 Qxc6 10.d3 cxd3 11.cxd3
Forced. On Qxd3 comes Ba6 with a skewer of the white queen and rook. I struggled with this move. I knew I wanted to develop a bishop, but finally I decided that Bc5 was stronger because it pinned the f2 pawn.
11...Bc5 12.h3 Bb7 13.Ne4
Taking the e4 knight looked scaryto me because after dxe4 the black king is exposed and the white queen has access to the d-file, in addition to the b3, f3 and h5 squares for potential checks.
13...Rad8
Pinning the d3 pawn, and causing the knight on e4 to become unprotected.
14.Ng5+ Ke7 15.Nf3 Rhe8 16.Bg5 Kf8 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.fxe3 Ba6
Now on Rc1 black plays Qb6, and will threaten the fork of the b2 and e3 pawns, in addition to winning the d3 pawn.
19.Ng5 Kg8
I looked at Bxd3, and it looked very good. However, I decided to get my king tucked away and play it safe, since I was ahead.
20.Rc1 Qb6 21.Re1 Rxd3 22.Qa4 Rxe3 23.Kh1 Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Qb5
Since black is up a piece and a pawn it is time to trade off the queens, which should remove most of the drawing chances that white might find.
25.Qa3 Qc6
This move has two purposes. On the surface it seems like it is simply an attempt to control the h1-a8 diagonal and pin the g2 pawn to the king. While that is true, it also has the added benefit of helping to control the square directly in front of the passed pawn. White now hits e4 2 times and gains control of the square so that the e pawn may be pushed one stepped closer to the promised land.
26.Nf3 e4
I wanted to play this move right away, but it is improtant to examine what you give up when you remove a piece from one square to move it to another. In this case I relinquished control of the d4 square. I decided this wasn't critical because I could move my queen to d6 with a gain of tempo, since white probably did not want to trade queens.
27.Nd4 Qd6 28.Qa4 e3 29.Nf5 Qd3
Protecting both the pawn on e3 and the bishop on a6. Furthermore, the queen attacks the knight on f5.
30.Nd4 Re4 31.Rd1

Rxd4
Temporarily giving back some material, but this is inconsequential since black will promote his pawn, and win the game.
32.Qxd4 Qxd4 33.Rxd4 e2

With no hope of stopping the pawn from queening. 0-1

Black to move: Mate in 4

2006-04-21T00:51:00.000-04:00

This position comes from a G15 OTB game I played today. Can you find the combination?

BND match vs. Bob Mayer

2006-04-20T00:21:00.000-04:00

Mayer,B (1045) - Prong,C (1798)
Brand New Day Cafe, 03.09.2006
Sicilian Defense: Closed Variation [B23]

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5
g3 and f4 seem to be the more common book lines for white. NCO does list Bb5 as an intersting sideline.
3...a6
Nd4 was the accurate response I didn't find.
4.Bxc6 bxc6
I captured towards the center in hopes of opening the center later with d5 and undoubling my c-pawns.
5.Nf3 e6 6.b3 d5 7.e5 Ne7 8.Ba3 Ng6 9.g3 Be7 10.h4
White is hoping to force the knight back to the eighth rank.
10...Qc7 11.Qe2 0-0?
While not losing material straight away, this seemingly logical move allows white to kick the g6 knight to h8, a horrible post for a knight.
12.Na4 Qa5 13.Qe3
h5 is still a better choice. It forces the retreat of the g6 knight to h8, and nearly stables the poor horse there permanently.
13...d4 14.Qe4 Bb7 15.h5 Nh8 16.0-0-0?
Missed tactic here. Nxd4 cxd4 allows white to win a pawn after Bxe7.
16...Rfe8 17.Nxc5
A terrible blunder.
17...Qxa3+ 18.Kb1

Bxc5
A positional error. The black bishop was controlling the critical g5 square. Now black will have to defend a fierce white attack.
19.Ng5 g6 20.hxg6 Nxg6 21.Nxh7
White gains tempo with Rxh7, because he needs to lift the h1 rook anyway to gain space for Rdh1. Sure the knight fork on f6 is good if white can get it in, but there is truly no chance that a good player will not find an adequate defense for that. 21...Kg7 22.Nf6 Rh8 23.Nh5+ Kf8
Black now has the option of fleeing with his king to the queenside if need be.
24.d3 Rd8
Preparing Bb4 followed by Bc3 and Qb2#
25.f4 Bb4 26.c3 dxc3 27.Rc1??
Qe2, Qg2 and Rh2 all allow white to play a few more moves.
27...Qb2# 0-1

2006 April Toledo Swiss

2006-04-09T00:30:00.000-04:00

There was a good turn out today. There were 24 players in all, and a total of 5 in class A. Will Rhee shared first place with 3.5/4, and I shared the Class A Prize with John Gattinger and Ashley Carter, as we all score 3/4. I played Ashley to a draw, although I was up a pawn. I'm certain there was a way to win the game before I traded off queens. I will analyze the game sometime this week and post my analysis.

Rapid Tactics

2006-04-04T02:10:00.000-04:00

I was playing white in this 5 minute game. It is black to move. He plays b6. How did I take advantage?

Missed Tactic from Mayer-Prong 3/2/06

2006-03-25T00:26:00.000-05:00

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?

Carrel Chess Club- 3/23/2006

2006-03-24T03:14:00.000-05:00

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.

Carrel Chess Club

2006-03-23T00:41:00.000-05:00

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.

BND match vs Sanjay Sharma

2006-03-20T23:25:00.000-05:00

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

BND match vs Joseph Moceri

2006-03-19T02:03:00.000-05:00

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

Lack of Posts

2006-03-18T00:52:00.000-05:00

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.

2006 Feb. Toledo Swiss- R4

2006-02-20T00:50:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-18T01:58:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-17T01:31:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-16T02:14:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-13T12:47:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-12T22:27:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-12T00:40:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-11T00:46:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-10T01:20:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-08T17:38:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-02-08T00:53:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-06T03:02:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-05T00:51:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-03T00:22:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-01T10:28:00.000-05:00

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.

Metro League R4

2006-01-31T23:33:00.000-05:00

Ho,R (2019) - Prong,C (1786)
2005-2006 Metro Chess League
All the King's Men, Warren, 12.16.2005
Three Knights' Game [C46]

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Nxe5 Nxe5 5.d4 Bxd4
This is a mistake. Bd6 is answered by dxe5 and Bxe5 follows. The difference is that black has not centralized white's queen for him.
6.Qxd4 Qf6
This gives away a tempo. d6 is the right move. White should answer with Nb5 and force black to choose to defend the fork on c7 or the knight on e5. Black cannot will not be able to play Kd8 because of Qc5 with a mate threat on f8 and a pawn capture threatened with check on c7.
7.Be3 c6
Fritz suggests that black's best move was to withdraw the knight to c6 and offer an exchange of queens. I must admit that I considered the move, but I wanted to prevent the c3 knight from taking advantage of the weakness on c7.
8.Be2 Ne7
The problem with this move, as I discovered after playing it, was that the knight really has nowhere to advance to. After Ng6 comes f4 and the e5 knight is lost, or so it appeared to me at the table. However, I failed to realize that the knight on g6 would help the queen double team the f4 pawn. Therefore, white would have to play g3 to prepare f4 giving black options.
9.0–0–0 0–0 10.h4 h6?
Black has survived a nearly disastrous opening and has yielded only positional concessions to this point. After 11. f4, black play N5g6 and is forced to part with a pawn after 12. Qxf6 gxf6 13. Bxh6
11.g4
This move is second best, but Randy is following his strategic plan of opening a file on the kingside.
11...d5
Black is trying dwsperately to get more pieces into the game and is willing to sacrifice the d-pawn to achieve this end.
12.g5
White realizes the d-pawn isn't going anywhere and therefore he takes time to open a path to the black king.
12...hxg5 13.hxg5 Qd6 14.exd5 Nf5 15.Qe4 Nxe3??

A blunder that only a novice should make!
16.Qh7# 0-1

BND match vs Walt Carrara

2006-01-30T23:08:00.000-05:00

Carrara,W (1648) - Prong,C (1786)
Brand New Day Cafe, 1.26.2006
French Defense: Advance Variation [C02]

1.e4 e6
Not sure what possessed me to play the French Defense. This was the first time in 110 USCF rated games as black that I played the French Defense.
2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5
Walt chooses the Advance Variation, which happens to be the line I know best as white.
4.c3 Nc6 5.Bb5
Nf3 is the main line. After, Bb5 if white chooses to exchange the light squared bishop he frequently has difficulty because of his weakness on the light squares, and the vulnerable a6-f1 diagonal.
5...Nge7
Bd7 was also possible here. I played the knight first because if white exchanges, then I will be a tempo closer to castling. Further, the light squared bishop wouldn't be active on c6 anyhow.
6.Nf3 Bd7 7.dxc5
I really didn't expect this. I thought O-O was most likely. Anyhow, White gains the upper hand if black plays anything except Nxe5. Note: the feature in this position that makes this tactic possible is the undefended bishop on b5.

7...Nxe5 8.Bxd7+ Nxd7
It seems like black has a much better position now. White has doubled pawns on the c-file and no pawns in the center. Black on the other hand, has a solid pawn structure and his two center pawns control important squares in the sweet center of the board. 9.0-0?
This loses a pawn. Walt didn't notice that he needed to protect the c5 pawn with either b4 or Be3.
9...Nxc5 10.Be3 Nf5
Rather than retreat whe c5 knight black continues to develop. Now if Bxc5, then Bxc5 and black has gained a tempo toward completing his development.
11.Bd4 Be7
Black continues to develop.
12.Be5 0-0 13.Nd4 Nxd4
I really couldn't find a good home for the knight on f5, so I exchanged here. The best option I had was probably Nd6-Nde4. However, I wanted this outpost for th c5 knight. Regardless, I didn't want my pawn structure weakened, and I realized that no matter how white responded I would be able to play f6 to drive the bishop back or Bf6 to exchange the bishops.
14.Qxd4 f6
I wasn't afraid to weaken the light squares around my king with white's light-squared bishop off the board already.
15.Bg3 Qb6 16.b4
This move leaves a backward pawn on the half-open c-file. Black will use this as a target later. In the meantime, he gets to offer to trade off the queens and then he can bear down on the c3 weakness.
16...Na4
One piece now targets the c3 pawn.
17.Qd1 Qc6
Now 2 pieces attack the c3 pawn, and only 1 defends. White has to protect the pawn now or risk losing it.
18.Bf4 Nxc3
Black takes advantage of white's weakness. However, the pawn is going anywhere, Black should take a move to play e5. This advances a pawn, removes a key weakness in the black pawn structure, and threatens the white bishop. However, I didn't want to have to invent ways of winning the pawn later when it could be done now. Bonus: black now has a connected passer.
19.Nxc3 Qxc3 20.Bd2
Re1 trying to counterattack is probably a better idea. Black is down material, and when you are down material it is usually a good idea to trade off pawns. Furthermore, if black relinquishes the e-pawn, then white can turn black's passed d-pawn into a target.
20...Qd4 21.Qe1 e5 22.Bc3
Not certain I like this move, even though GM Fritz thinks it is best. The black plan has to be to push pawns until the passer promotes. The black queen was blocking the advance of the passed pawn. After this move, the queen will have to move allowing d4. For the record, I like a3 better for white here.
22...Qc4 23.a3 Rac8
Taking firm control of the c-file and doubling up on the white bishop.
24.Bd2 Qb3 25.Qe3 Qxe3 26.Bxe3
The queen exhange plays into black's hands. The threat of the pawn chain looms larger with each pair of pieces that are traded off the board.
26...d4 27.Bd2 Rc2
This allows black to double his rooks on the c-file with tempo.
28.Rfd1 Rfc8 29.Kf1 a6 30.Rac1 f5
I played f5 to give my bishop the f6 square. Furthermore, i need to get my pawns off the dark squares to transform my bad bishop into a good bishop.
31.Rxc2 Rxc2 32.Ke1 Kf7 33.Rc1 Rxc1+ 34.Bxc1 Bf6 35.f3 Ke6
The king is headed to b3.
36.Kd2 Kd5 37.Bb2 e4 38.f4 Kc4 39.g3 Kb3 40.Bc1
White relinquishes the fight for the long diagonal.
40...b5
This move probably wasn't necessary, but I was looking to get things locked up on the queenside before continuing my effort to promote the d-pawn.
41.h3 d3
Notice the power of the f6 bishop now that the diagonal is free of pawns.
42.g4 Bc3+ 43.Ke3
Now it is all over. The king had to protect the bishop and keep the black king out of c2.
43...Kc2 44.gxf5 Kxc1 45.Kxe4 0-1

2006 Class Championship R5

2006-01-29T20:51:00.000-05:00

Prong,C (1786) - Beckwith ,S (1792)
2006 Michigan Class Championship, 1.15.2006
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Varition [B99]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0-0-0 Nbd7
This was the third USCF rated game that I had played with these first 9 moves. I lost the first 2 games, both of which were played in 2005, to Randall Brooks and Derek Wilder.
10.g4 b5
This was the last book move I remembered.
11.Bg2
Bxf6 is the book move according to both MCO and NCO. Fritz scores this move similarly to the book line though.
11...Bb7 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.g5 Nd7
This is the same theme that is seen in the book line. After the exchange on f6, white pushes the g-pawn with a gain of tempo sending the black knight back to where it came from.
14.h4 I wanted to continue my attack and after b4 I figured I could safely defend the e4 pawn with the knight by redeploying it to g3. The other move worth consideration was a3 to prevent black's next move.
14...b4 15.Nce2 Rc8 16.Rd2
One of the benefits to developing the light squared bishop to d3 is that it makes Rd2 unnecessary.This probably isn't a bad move overall though. The 2nd rank is free of pawns on the kingside, so the rook will have some freedom to roam after Ng3 and a bishop move.
16...Nc5 17.Qe3
This move was nearly forced. If white plans to recapture on e4 with the knight, then it will be pinned to the queen.
17...Qb8
The idea here is obvious. Black plans to move the queen to a8 and put pressure down the a8-h1 diagonal. However, white will be able to prophylactically protect a third time before black even gets the queen to a8. Furthermore, white can continue protecting the pawn with his rooks.
18.Ng3 a5 19.f5
Black won't be able to take the pawn because after exf5 come exf5 with a pin of the bishop to the king. With the king still in the center and on an open file that would be a recipe for disaster.
19...Rc7 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.Bh3
After creating three pawn islands for black, white now sets his sights on attacking those weaknesses.
21...Bc8 22.Nh5?
This was clearly an error. I needed to play Rf1 before Nh5 to trap the king in the center.
22...0-0 23.Nb3 a4 Qb6
would have allowed black to achieve the same result, except that the queens would be off the board. In the current position the white queen is far better placed than the black due to her level of activity in the center of the board.
24.Nxc5 Rxc5 25.Nf4
White doubles up on the e6 pawn.
25...Re5
The only way that black can protect the pawn.
26.Nd3 Rb5 27.Nf4 Re5 28.Nd3 Rb5
Here black offered a draw, and clearly white can achieve this on the board anyhow. I only needed a draw for first place, but I had won every game in the tournament so far and I thought the black pieces did not look very coordinated or well posted. The experts and masters agreed with Fritz that black has the better position though. Even so, you never win a game by accepting a draw.
29.Rf2 Bd7 30.Rhf1 Rxf2 31.Qxf2
White has already made considerable progress. He has gained control over the f-file. Further, he now threatens the unprotected bishop on e7 with Qf7+ followed by Qxe7. 31...Qf8
At first glance the queen looks better placed on f8 than e8. The queen is purely defensive on e8, while on f8 she offers an exchange.
32.Nf4
White now prepares to ambush the black queen with a discovered attack. Qa7 is also a viable option because of the fork of the bishop on d7 and the pawn on a4.
32...Qc8??
Black perceives a threat to the e6 pawn but misses the tactics in the position. 33.Nd5!
White exposes the weakness of the f7 square. If black takes the knight with the e-pawn, then Bxe7 wins, as it forks the queen and rook. The queen cannot retake because of Qf7+ Kg8 Qf8+ Bxf8 Rxf8#
33...Qf8 34.Qe2 Qd8

35.Bxe6+!!
Not only does this remove the e-pawn attack on the d5 knight, but it checks the king. The problem is after Bxe6 come Qxb5 winning the exchange and a pawn. 1-0

2006 Class Championship R4

2006-01-29T00:20:00.000-05:00

Aldrich,J (1757) - Prong,C (1786)
2006 Michigan Class Championship, 1.15.2006
Two Knight's Defense: Ulvestad Variation [C57]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 b5
Black's plan is to sacrifice a pawn for counterplay, development, and piece activity. Incidentally, this is the last book move. 6. Bf1 is the book move according to MCO. Fritz likes Nc3. After Bxb5 black wins 63% of the games in the Chessbase database.
6...Qxd5 Notice the difference in the positions. Despite moving first, white finds that he is behind in development and black has control of the center.
7.Qe2 I didn't consider this move, as I had never seen it played previously. The other possiblity for white is exchanging on c6.
7...Qxg2 8.Qf3
Qxe5 looked like the most playable move to me. It never occured to me that my opponent would allow me to equalize the material by trading queens.
8...Qxf3 9.Nxf3 Bd7 10.Nc3 Nd4
When I played this move I calculate the trade of bishops and knight, but I neglected to calculate that black would be able to win a pawn at the end of this variation. 11.Bxd7+ Nxd7 12.Nxd4 exd4 13.Nb5 0-0-0
I'm expecting to gain a tempo after Nxd4 and Ne5 because of the discovered attack on the knight.
14.Nxd4 Ne5 15.Nb3
This is another position where the positional differences are clear. Black has superior activity and decvelopment, but remains down a pawn. 15...Bd6
The threat is Nf3+ and then Nxh2.
16.f4
d3 is probably better here as it instantaneously gives the dark squared bishop some scope.
16...Ng6 17.d3 Nxf4 18.Bxf4 Bxf4 19.0-0 Be3+ 20.Kg2
After Kg2 I realized that black owns the only passed pawn on the board. Moreover, black needed to get his kingside pawns rolling before white managed to create a passed pawn of his own.
20...Rhf8
In preparation to push the pawn down the field.
21.Rae1
The darks squared bishop dominates the white knight while it controls the a7-g2 diagonal. However, after Bb6 white will probably play a4. Tactically the move was safe, but at the time I was afraid that my bishop would get trapped.
21...Bg5
Ironically Bg5 is probably the best move that black has available to him. I liked this move because it prevented entry to the 7th rank along the e-file (no reference to filing your taxes electronically intended here.
22.Nc5
This move temporarily freezes the f-pawn because of the potential fork on e6, where white will win an exchange.
22...h6 23.Rf3
My goal is to push the f-pawn, but the knight on c5 is preventing this. So I play my bishop to b4 (via d2) in order to drive the knight back. This will generate the time I need to start my pawns moving.
23...Bd2 24.Ref1 Bb4 25.Ne4 f6
I wanted to play f5, but white prevents this with his doubled rooks.
26.Ng3
The knight was obviously headed to f5 to attack the backward g-pawn.
26...Rd5
I wanted to eventually double my rooks on the e-file.
27.Nf5 Rf7 28.Rg3 Bf8 29.Ne3
White moves me to the e-file, just like I wanted.
29...Re5 30.Nc4 Re2+ 31.Rf2 Rxf2+ 32.Kxf2 g5
Now white has no way to prevent the f-pawn from advancing to the head of the pawn chain to take up residence on f4.
33.Rf3 Bd6
With pawns on both sides of the boards, white needs to trade off the minor pieces and head to an even rook endgame.
34.Kg2 f5 35.Ne3 f4
White has blockaded the passed pawn. Furthermore, white now sets out to prevent the rest of the pawn chain from moving forward and pushing the blockade out of the way. Note that the pin of the f-pawn means that that the attack on the white knight can be temporarily ignored.
36.h3 h5 37.Rf1 Bc5 38.Nc4 Rf5
Taking the e5 square away from the knight.
39.c3 Kd7 40.d4 Bd6
Black makes a mistake here in allowing white to trade off the minor pieces. I think Be7 was better because of the potential to play to h4 after the g4 pawn push.
41.Kf3 Rf8 42.Rg1 Rg8
Be7 was the correct way to protect the g5 pawn.
43.Nd2
White could have played 43.Nxd6 Kxd6 44. h4 g4+ 45. Kxf4 and white can hold on for a draw.
43...Ke6
The king is headed to f5 to help push the stalled black pawns.
44.Ne4 Kf5 45.Nf2
While this move was correct, it emphasizes the positional deficit that white now faces. Black now protects the g5 pawn with the king. This frees the rook to take control of the the only open file on the board.
45...Re8 46.Nd1
To prevent Re3+.
46...c5 47.d5 c4
I needed this pawn on a light square so that my bishop would have avenues to infiltrate the white position.
48.b4 Re5 49.Rg2 g4+!

The brilliance of the move is that black cannot safely recapture on g4 with the rook because after Re1 drives the white knight away from protecting the e3 square, then Re3+ will prevent the white king from protecting the rook on g4.
50.hxg4+ hxg4+ 51.Rxg4 Re1 52.Nb2 Re3+ 53.Kf2 Kxg4
The game is over after this. Black simply needs to mop up the mess and cash in the full point.
54.Nxc4 Rf3+
This intermezzo prevents white from gaining any material here. 55.Kg2 Rg3+ 56.Kf2 Bb8
57.d6 Rxc3 58.d7 Bc7 59.Ne5+
Bxe5 d8/Q and white is back in the game.
59...Kf5
After the knight leaves e5, there will be no protection for the d-pawn and black will win it momentarily.
60.Nf7 Rd3 61.a4 Rxd7 62.Nh6+ Kg5 63.Ng8 Kg6 64.b5 Kg7 65.a5 Kxg8 66.b6 axb6 67.axb6 Bxb6+ 68.Kf3 Be3 69.Ke2 Kf7 70.Kf3
White's flag had fallen, and I claimed a win on time. 0-1

I Got Fired Today

2006-01-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

You could see the train coming, and it finally got to where I was standing on the tracks today. I cleaned out my classroom between 4:00 and 4:45, and then I headed home. I rode up to the Metro Chess League with some friends from Garden City. So with all the excitement, I plan to push back my blog posts a day.

Planned Updates

2006-01-26T23:23:00.002-05:00

This weekend I plan to post the following updates:

Friday- Game 4 of the MCA Class Championship vs. Justin Aldrich
Saturday- Game 5 of the MCA Class Championship vs. Stan Beckwith
Sunday- My game from the Brand New Day Cafe month long vs. Walt Carrara
Monday- My December Metro Chess League match vs. expert Randy Ho
Tuesday- My January Metro Chess League match vs. expert Aaron Kahn

There are two tournaments taking place that I have interest in this weekend. The first is a 5 round action tournament in Warren at All The King's Men. The second is the Cardinal Open in Columbus, OH. It is a two-day affair with a total of 5 games. There is a 50% guaranteed prize fund. Here is the TLA as listed at USCF:

A Heritage Event!
Jan. 27-29 or 28-29 2006 Cardinal Open GPP: 30 Ohio
5SS, Five Sections 30/90, SD/1 2 day option rd 1 g/75. Holiday Inn Center, 175 East Town St., Columbus, Ohio 43215. Prizes: $5700 total, based on 110, 50% guaranteed. OPEN: $900-500-300 <2400 $200-100 <2200 $200-100 UNDER 2000: $500-250 UNDER 1800: $500-250 UNDER 1600: $500-250 UNDER 1400 & UNRATED: $500-250 <1200 $250-150. EF: $65 advance by January 25, $75 at the door. $20 less to players in the Under 1400 section. HOTEL: Holiday Inn Center, 175 East Town St., Columbus, Ohio 43215, 614-221-3281, $75 (reserve early as hotel might be sold out). 3-day Schedule: Reg ends Fri 7:15, rds Fri 8pm, Sat 1:30, 6:30, Sun 9:30, 3:00. 2-day Schedule: Reg ends Sat 10:15am, rds Sat 11am then merge with 3-day schedule. Advance Entries and Questions: OCA c/o Grant Perks, PO Box 9830, Columbus, Ohio 43209, gperks2@aol.com, 614-405-2128.

More on the 2005 MCA Action

2006-01-26T23:09:00.000-05:00

It looks like the 2005 MCA Action Championship is finally in the USCF system correctly, although there remains a small ratings glitch that will likely be corrected after the next rerate. To recap: the MCA Action was originally submitted for rating with only 5 rounds as the 6th round was apparently omitted from the rating report. As you may recall from a previous post, I gained 17 rating points taking me from 1865 to 1882 due to this error. Then the tournament was sent in again with all 6 rounds and rated a second time. This increased my rating from 1882 to 1891. It seems that USCF has now deleted the 5 round tournament from their database. However, my rating remains 1891, and I guess it will stay there until the March rerate ahead of the April rating supplement. However, I think I have already attained the 9 points that I need to make 1900 based on my current rating of 1891. This would allow me to move from a floor of 1600 to 1700. (A rating floor is the lowest rating that a player is allowed to have. This prevents players losing intentionally to gain entry into lower classes where they will dominate the field and win big prizes.)

Some questions remain, as I am not totally certain of how the USCF system works. The biggest question I have is this"

If I make 1900 and establish a floor of 1700, then will that floor be maintained even after the rerate indicates that I have not made 1900 yet?

BND match vs. Scott Rogers

2006-01-26T00:22:00.000-05:00

Rogers,S (1340) - Prong,C (1786)
Brand New Day Cafe, 1.19.2006
Spanish: Exchange Variation [C69]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 f6 6.d4
This is the last book move.
6...Bd6
The book line continues with Bg4. Bd6 is an error that hangs a pawn if white knows the tactics of the position.
7.dxe5 fxe5 8.Bg5
This is where white misses an opportunity to win a pawn. The accurate line is 8. Nxe5 and if Bxe5, then 9. Qh5+ picking off the bishop on e5 next.
8...Nf6 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.Qd3 Qe7
I played this move with an eye toward castling queenside and having a potential discovered attack on the queen.
11.Qe3
I figured at this point I could pick up a tempo or two by harassing the white queen.
11...Bc5
Forcing the queen to make a 3rd consecutive move.
12.Qd3 Rd8
And now forcing a 4th consecutive queen move. The lesson here is to always develop with tempo when possible. Those are like free moves.
13.Qe2 0-0
Now black is slightly better since his pieces are all developed and he has a higher degree of activity.
14.h3
At this point I realize that the white rook on f1 and the queen on e2 are on the same diagonal. I now make a plan to try and arrange a skewer clong the a6-f1 diagonal.
14...Bh5 15.g4
White helps me out since I want to move this bishop to c4 via f7 anyway.
15...Bf7 16.Rad1 Rde8
This move is passive, but it avoids trades and forces white to come up with a plan. While white seems to control the d-file, there are no entry points for the rook. Furthermore, neither knight seems to have prospects of moving up the board.
17.a3 b5
White's queenside pawn move is enough of a diversion for me to play b5 giving the light squared knight a support point for the skewer I had been planning.
18.b4
This move threatens to win a bishop.
18...Bc4
However, you can often counter a threat by making a bigger threat, and this particular skewer threatens to slay the white queen.
19.Qd2 Bxf1
White has two equally good possibilities here. I realized that I could continue to leave the c5 bishop en prise because I was making bigger threats. Black's other possibility is Rd8 threatening the white queen once again. I decided to play this move after taking the rook.
20.Kxf1 Rd8
Another free move as the rook returns to the open file with a gain of tempo.
21.Qe2 Rxd1+ 22.Qxd1 Rd8
This is another gain of tempo, and notice that I continue to ignore the apparently hanging bishop on c5.
23.Qe2 Bd4
Finally, it is time to get the bishop to safety as I have no more ways to gain tempo available to me.
24.Nd1 c5??
This move is horrible and simply loses the bishop. I realized this almost as soon as I pressed my clock, and hope that Scott wouldn't see it.
25.c3 h6
Trying to delay the inevitable loss of my bishop and hoping that my opponent blunders again soon.
26.Bc1 Bxc3
I have to get something for the bishop, and it seems a pawn is all I can get. 27.Nxc3 c6
I though about playing cxb4, but I really didn't want the c3 knight to move up the board.
28.bxc5 Qxc5 29.Bb2 a5 30.Nd1 b4 31.axb4 axb4
After the exchange of pawns, black now has a degree of compensation for the piece. I have connected passed pawns on the queenside.
32.Bxe5
But this is at the expense of my e-pawn allowing my opponent a passed center pawn. 32...Qb5?
I need to have played Qc1 and get my passed pawns rolling. Instead I offer my opponent to go into an endgame. When I played this move I think I thought that after Qxb5 I win a piece with the intermezzo Rxd1+ followed by cxb5. However, after Rxd1+, white will surely play Ke2 threatening the black rook, and black will lose the rook and the game.
33.Bxf6??
Unbelieveable! White has played his exchanges in the wrong order. Now black will have a huge advantage in the endgame.

33...Rxd1+!
Obviously the knight was hanging, since the white queen cannot capture due to the pin.
34.Ne1 gxf6 35.Qxb5 cxb5
The doubled b-pawns are a small price to pay for the exchange advantage and a winning endgame.
36.Ke2 Rd4 37.Ke3 b3
Black gets away wih this move, since white has no way to stop the pawn from queening if he takes the rook.
38.Nd3 Rc4 39.Kd2 b4 40.f3 Rc2+ 41.Kd1 Rh2 42.Kc1
This move was forced. After b2, white would have had to sacrifice the knight to prevent the pawn from scoring a touchdown.
42...Rxh3 43.Nxb4 Rxf3 44.Kb2 Rf4 45.Nd5
Excellent play by white here. He attacks the black rook, and begs him to take either of the two pawns. If that happens, then white wins the game after Nxf6+, and then white picks up the black rook as well.
45...Rf3
Black sees the trap, and comes up with a new plan: guard the f6 pawn and then go after the g4 pawn creating a passer on the h-file.
46.Ka3 Kf7
Phase 1: the pawn on f6 is guarded.
47.Kb2 Rg3 48.Nc3 Rxg4
Phase 2: the pawn on g4 is captured creating the passed h pawn.
49.Kxb3 h5 50.Kc4 h4 51.Kd3?
Nd1 or Kd4 keep the game going, although there isn't much hope for white anyhow. 51...Rg3+ 52.Kd4 Rxc3 0-1

2005 MCA Action- Revisited

2006-01-24T18:57:00.000-05:00

Every so often something like this happens. It seems that the error in the 2005 MCA ACtion Championship results was noticed. Furthermore, the results seem to have been resubmitted with the 6th round added in. However, the previous 5 round results have not been deleted. So in essence the first five round of the tournament count twice. In the past USCF has been notorious about not correcting such matters, and I am expecting that this mistake will not be corrected either. I gained 17 points from the 5 round tournament, but only 9 when it was posted as 6 rounds. My actual result is probably somewhere between the two, and I expect to be rated somewhere between 1875 and 1880 if this whole mess get corrected.

2006 Class Championship R3

2006-01-23T22:24:00.000-05:00

Prong,C (1786) - Fick,D (1692)
2006 Michigan Class Championship, 1.14.2006
Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack [B76]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 Bd7 10.g4
This is the last book move. Black would usually play Rc8 here.
10...Nxd4
This move has been tried 56 times according to Chessbase. White has dominated the games by winning 58%, while only losing 21%. It is worth noting that this move does not seem to have ever been played in GM games. However, at the class level we mortals must still find our way through the maze of lines and tactics to convert an opponent's opening positional concession into a full point. Many have lost their way along this path, and this is why we play the games out.
11.Bxd4 Be6 12.h4 Qa5 13.Kb1
White removes the king from the half open c-file.
13...Rfc8 14.a3 Rab8 15.h5
White is looking to open a file on the kingside.
15...b5 16.hxg6 hxg6
Mission accomplished. File open.
17.Qg5
I thought that Qg5, pinning the b5 pawn would freeze the black counterattack, while training another piece on the black king. However, a bigger threat can be mounted by capturing the knight on f6 and threatening to briong the queen to the h-file. White also has the option of Nd5, which threatens Nxe7+, winning a pawn.
17...Rxc3
This seems like a dubious speculative sacrifice. Black has mating chances, but will need black's cooperation to get checkmate.
18.Bxc3
Accepting the exchange sacrifice is the only reasonable move white has.
18...Nxe4
This second sacrifice was black's point. Black gets a pawn back if white plays BxQ, since black has NxQ. White can continue to trade off minor pieces for a bit longer, but he must be wary. The defense around his king is thinning.
19.fxe4
White really had no choice but to capture the knight, unless he wanted to trade off queens. With black holding an edge in piece activity this seemed more dangerous to me, so I captured the knight.
19...Bxc3

20.Qxe7
If white had recaptured on c3, then 20. ... Qxa3
would have led to mate if 21. Qc1, then 21. ... Qa2#. Otherwise, 21. ... Ba2+ 22. Ka1 Bb3+ 23. Kb1 Qa2+ 24. Kc1 Qxc2#. Ultimately, white must part with substantial amounts of material to hold the game. Rh2 is answered by Rb6, with mating threats coming on the a-file.
20...b4 21.Qxd6 bxa3??
Throwing the game away. Be5 is the best move with white answering by playing Qa6. There is still a lot of chess to be played after this.
22.Qxb8+ 1-0

2006 Class Championship R2

2006-01-22T17:14:00.000-05:00

Waller,A (1695) - Prong,C (1786)
2006 Michigan Class Championship, 1.14.2006
King's Gambit Accepted: Becker Defense [C34]

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 h6
I hadn't really had much luok with the Becker Defense to the King's Gambit, but I thought I would give it a try since my loss with it came against expert Manis Davidovich.
4.Bc4
I wasn't familiar with this response, since the book line is d4. When I went to look it up in MCO, I found that GM deFirmian neglects to write about the Becker Defense. Similarly, Nunn only includes one column for the Becker defense with d4 as the move to be played here by white. A footnote has b3 marked as interesting. Finally, I found a reference to the line that Waller plays in Gallagher's Winning with the King's Gambit. He states that Bc4 g5 leads to the classical defense.
4...d6 5.d3 g5 6.0-0 Bg7 7.Nc3 Ne7 8.Bd2 Nbc6
Black could ask for a better position out of the KGA. He has gained a pawn, and found homes for nearly all of his minor pieces. He will be able to finish his development and castle soon. Furthermore, the position, while ripe with tactical potential for white, is completely playable for black with the added bonus of the gambit pawn as an advantage.
9.g3
White has a lead in development, and he wants to open some lines to begin his attack. However, this move weakens all the light squares around the king and gives the black light squared bishop an opportunity to develop with tempo. Qe1 or Qe2 would have been preferable.
9...Bh3 10.Rf2 Ng6
In hindsight this move was clearly inaccurate. Black has an opportunity to dispense with the bishop on c4 that is causing tactical complications by playing Na5-Nxc4. 11.Ne2 fxg3
The line that I played was clearly inferior to 11. ...g4 12. Ne1 f3
12.hxg3 Nge5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Bc3 0-0 15.Bb3 Qd7 16.Nd4 Qg4
Rather than merely trade off pieces, black should continue to gain tempo with a move like Bg4 or Ng4.
17.Qxg4 Bxg4
Nxg4 gains tempo.
18.Nf5 Bxf5 19.Rxf5 Rae8 20.Raf1 Re7 21.a3 Ng4
Threat of Ne3 forking the rooks.
22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.R5f3 f6
Black will methodically seek to place all of his pieces on the dark squares, negating much of the threat of the white bishop.
24.c3 Kg6
This move was made because the idea Rd5, followed by d5 had occurred to me. Obviously, this is a mistake because it is a plan that takes much preparation, yet white has only to play d4 to prevent this. Now, if the whole point of the exrcise was to weaken the e4 pawn by forcing d3, then that would be another matter.
25.d4 Kg7
Recognizing my mistake and negating the threat of Bc2.
26.Bc2 c6 27.b4 c5 28.bxc5 dxc5 29.d5

A strategic mistake. White has moved the wrong pawn and now he has minimized the scope of his bishop by placing his pawns on the squares of the same color as his bishop. Furthermore, black will now have targets all over the board that his knight can attack.
29...Rd7 30.Rb1 b6
Another pawn leaves the dreaded white squares.
31.Rd1 Rd6 32.Kg2 Ne5
The black knight dominates the board. White's long-range pieces are blackaded by pawns, meanwhile the knight eyes squares and pieces on both sides of the board.
33.Rf2 Nc4 34.Ra1 Ne3+ 35.Kg1
The king had to move to f3 to help hold the position together. Now white loses a center pawn by force.
35...Nxc2 36.Rxc2 Re8 37.Rf2
Waller meant to put this rook on e2, but her didn't realize that he still drops a pawn to Rxd5 exd5 Rxe2.
37...Rxe4
White resigns. 0-1

2005 MCA Action Championship

2006-01-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

The results from the 2005 MCA Action Championship, held December 10th, were finally posted on the USCF website. I scored 4/6 in this event with losses to GM-elect Ben Finegold and expert Bradley Rogers. Curiously, the last round was omitted from the crosstable. Anyhow, my 4 out of 6 was good for an additional 17 rating points bringing my overall rating to 1882. It is worth noting that this event will be re-rated in late February or early March and placed in chronological order.

Fortunately, this event wasn't reported in time to make the February supplement, so I officially remain at 1798 until March 31. That gives me exactly 2 more months to rake in decent results in U1800 or Class B sections of tournaments.

Finally, I still have 4 tournaments that remain outstanding. I think I have already earned enough rating points in those 4 events to make 1890, so I am within shouting distance of my June 2006 rating goal of 1900.

2006 Class Championship R1

2006-01-21T13:29:00.000-05:00

Prong,C (1786) - Cottrell-Finegold,K (1660)
2006 Michigan Class Championship, 1.14.2006
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation [B98]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 0-0
This was the second time Kelly had played this against me in a month, and it is a move that is rarely played. Qc7 is the book line, but 0-0 is found over 100 times in the Chessbase database.
9.0-0-0
Nfd7 While Nbd7 is more common in miost Sicilian systems, it seems that Nfd7 seems to simply trade off some pieces.
10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.g4 Nc6 12.Nb3
At the MCA Action Championships I played Nxc6 to give me an extra tempo attacking on the kingside.
12...b5 13.e5 d5 14.Bd3 Bb7 15.Qh3 g6 16.Rhg1
In a similar position against Kelly in December I played g5, preventing f6, and got a strong attack down the h-file.
16...f6 17.exf6 Rxf6 18.Rde1 Nb4 19.f5 Nxd3+ 20.Qxd3 Nc5 21.Qd4 Ne4
Nxb3+ was better since black's e pawns are weak after Nxe4 dxe4. 22.Nxe4 dxe4 23.Nc5 Rd8 24.Qf2
I saw Qe5 Rd5, but missed the follow up Qb8+ Rf8 Qxb7 while at the table.
24...exf5 25.gxf5 Qf7?
The black rooks are on the same diagonal, so after Nxb7 Qxb7 the queen gets out of the way with tempo and gives white time to win a pawn.
26.Nxb7 Qxb7 27.Qh4 Qf7 28.fxg6 hxg6 29.Qxe4 Rdd6 30.b3 Rfe6 31.Qg4 Qf6 32.Kb1 Rxe1+ 33.Rxe1 Kg7 34.Qe4 Rd7 35.h4 Rd6
Rd4 wins back the pawn on h4
36.Rg1
My plan was to play h5 next winning trading off the pawn for its counterpart on g6.
36...Rd4

37.Rxg6+!!
Clearly my best move of the game. This move wins a second pawn, and trades off more material.
37...Kh7 38.Rxf6+ Rxe4 39.Rxa6 Rxh4 40.a3 Kg7 41.Rb6 Rh5 42.Kb2 Kf7 43.Kc3 Ke7 44.Kb4 Rh2 45.Rc6 Rh5 46.Rc5
Winning the last remaining black pawn.
46...Rh6 47.Kxb5 Kd7 48.a4 Rh8 49.a5 Ra8 50.b4 Kd6 51.c4 Rb8+ 52.Ka4 Ra8 53.Rh5 Rc8 54.Rh6+ Kc7 55.b5 Kb8 56.Kb4 Rc7 57.a6 Rc8 58.Rh7 Ka8 59.b6 Rb8 60.Ra7# 1-0

2006 Class Championships

2006-01-21T09:49:00.000-05:00

The 2006 Michigan Class Championship results were posted Monday. After scoring 5/5 and winning the Class B title, I was expecting a nice jump in rating. My previous high rating was 1815 after my 4/5 performance at the 2005 Bottom-Half Class Championships, which netted me the U1900 title. Anyhow, the results from Lansing easily bested my previous high, as USCF has calculated my current rating at 1865.

For 2005 my rating goals were to make 1700 by June and 1800 by December. I achieved the former goal in Toledo in February by scoring 3/4 with a lost to Gerard Jendras. My rating had landed at 1743 after this tournament. The latter goal was achieved with the aforementioned Bottom-Half result in June 2005, but I found that I was not able to sustain the 1800 rating. It was November before my rating resurfaced above 1800.

For 2006 my rating goals are to make 1900 by June and 2000 by December. These are lofty expectations, considering that in Ocotober of 2004 I was staring at a rating of 1562. However, I am hoping that I have neither plateaued nor peaked, and that I can continue scoring well in 2006.

Finally, I would like to credit master Fred Lindsay with helping me prepare for the 2005 Bottom-Half Class Championships and master Bill Calton for helping me prepare for the 2006 Class Championships.

In my next blog I will discuss one of my games from the Class B Championships played in Lansing on Jan 14-15.