Post by jericho121 on Nov 1, 2009 16:23:43 GMT -5
League 45/45 edition: Winter 2009
Section: U1600
Division: Mojave
Team: STC – the Deuce
Round: #1
After almost 3 weeks of waiting, finally the Winter edition of the Chess League 45/45 has commenced. With everyone keen to test their new opening lines and chess ideas, we enter Round 1. New round, new expectations, new hope… Let’s begin.
Below I provide annotations and commentary to the 4 games played in Round 1, prepared with Chessbase (Fritz 6 engine). Keep in mind that I’m not an expert, so if you disagree with any part of the commentary, please post. I hope to see some comments, especially regarding your own games. So share your thinking process from the game. I will cover the games in a chronological order of when they took place in order to maintain the spirit of the moment and illustrate how things unfolded.
Game#1 -- Board#4 (jericho121)
This was my game, jericho121, on board#4. A very bad game with lots of blunders from my side, where I desperately defended after an error in the opening and further two major blunders in the middle game. Surprisingly, my opponent’s play was somewhat erratic and at some point he either lost his patience or got largely distracted and blundered back, followed by a cheap back rank mate.
So it was a strange game. A game won, yet I know that I happen to loose much better positions. It was not a sort of a quality you would expect from an opponent rated 1693. I didn’t earn this win. Still, I was somewhat glad, because it was my first official win after a long time and I needed this win to boost my poor “chess” morale. I sort of consider this win to be an “accrued” one. Also a point for the team doesn’t hurt. To cut it short, a win is a win and let’s move on. See for yourself.
Cumulative team score: 1-0
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.10.30"]
[White "Berke"]
[Black "jericho121"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1693"]
[BlackElo "1509"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Opening "Pirc"]
[Variation "Holmov system"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]
1. e4 d6 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Be3 O-O 6. Nf3 e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qe2 Nfd7 9. Rd1 Nc6 10. Bc5 Re8 11. Be3 a6 12. Ng5 Rf8 13. Nf3 Ne7 14. O-O b5 15. Bd5 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Bb7 17. b3 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 c6 19. Rd6 Qc7 20. Rfd1 Rfd8 21. Qd2 Bf6 22. Rxd7 Rxd7 23. Qxd7 Rd8 24. Qxd8+ Bxd8 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxe5 Qd1# 0-1
Game#2 -- Board#2 (musk6868)
Shortly after, musk’s game took place (board#2). Everyone was anxious to see musk in action, as he was new on the roster. I watched this game in awe, totally blasted with how well he handled the Ruy Lopez, exchange variation from Black pieces point of view. Musk performed a beautiful and consistent attack and maintained a superior position throughout the game. His game was very harmonious and logical. Unfortunately at some point his attack faded, I couldn’t believe how. It wasn’t losing, but with a move or two, he lost some advantage and seemed to struggle to finish his attack with this last final blast. And then happened the worst… We don’t know if it was a mouse slip or just a terrible blunder, but he blundered his Queen. Game ended. Too bad, as he didn’t deserve it and a bit of a disappointment to blow a beautiful game like this. Oh well, it happens to all of us sometimes. See below.
Cumulative team score: 1-1
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.10.31"]
[White "jmm843"]
[Black "musk6868"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1524"]
[BlackElo "1677"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 d6 5. h3 a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 c5 9. d3 Rb8 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Bb7 12. c4 O-O 13. b3 c6 14. dxc6 Bxc6 15. Bb2 Qd7 16. Nd2 f5 17. f3 Bh4 18. Rf1 Rf6 19. Qe2 Re8 20. Rad1 Rg6 21. Kh1 Qb7 22. a3 Bg5 23. Rf2 e4 24. dxe4 fxe4 25. Nxe4 Bh4 26. Rff1 Qb4 27. axb4 1-0
The last two games took place the same day, yet they were of a completely different nature. There was only 1 hour difference between the time when they commenced, so I was worried that I would have to watch both in parallel. How ironic…
Game#3 -- Board#3 (GadsHill)
Game#3 was played by GadsHill and it’s probably a game he would like to forget about quickly. The whole thing lasted for 25 minutes with both players playing very quickly, almost blitz-like. No idea why... Soon after the opening GadsHill carelessly blundered a pawn with a much worse game, actually leading to a loss of another pawn. And it was only the beginning of the downfall of this game. After a couple of moves he blundered a piece and lost a passed pawn, so all he could do was resign with a shocking 51 minutes on the clock! You don’t believe it? See below.
Cumulative team score: 1-2
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.11.01"]
[White "GadsHill"]
[Black "dscvdchk"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1553"]
[BlackElo "1638"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bf4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 dxc4 7. Qa4+ c6 8. Qxc4 Bg7 9. Nf3 Be6 10. Qb4 Qb6 11. Qxb6 axb6 12. a3 Nd7 13. e4 c5 14. Bb5 O-O 15. O-O Nf6 16. Rfe1 Rfc8 17. d5 Bd7 18. a4 Bxb5 19. axb5 Rxa1 20. Rxa1 Nxe4 21. Ra7 Nxc3 22. Rxb7 Ne2+ 23. Kf1 Nxf4 24. Rxb6 Nxd5 25. Ra6 Rb8 0-1
Game#4 -- Board#1 (Avemaria)
And so the top board would decide the outcome of the round. With a possible win the round could end up with a draw. Any other result would be a loss. With such statistics, Avemaria approached the game playing White pieces. This game was of a different nature than any of the previous games. It was a well played, careful one. Almost like a good bottle of wine.
Ave played c3 variation of the Sicilian (Alapin variation), probably to avoid the main lines of the open Sicilian. His opponent chose a less popular 2…Nf6 sub-line. Both sides seemed to have felt in their elements and were probably familiar with the opening theory. C3 variation usually leads to IQP positions, so it’s probably not recommended to people who don’t like these kind of positions, where White is on the look-out for an active play with the pieces.
White managed to achieve a slight advantage after the opening and continued with an active attack, while Black was rather tied to defense. Such a tedious struggle lasted for 21 moves, after which Black blundered an exchange. This must have felt bad from the psychological point of view, because soon Black –discouraged with a terrible error- was a victim of a “downward spiral” effect and continued with a fantastic blunder of 2 pawns.
Game continued for another 21 moves with both sides making semi-optimal moves and when White slowly, but surely solidified the advantage. Black didn’t do much more other than just sit and wait for the inevitable. Yet still White missed few chances of a much faster forced win. See below.
Cumulative team score: 2-2 (round ended with a tie)
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.11.01"]
[White "AVEMARIA"]
[Black "Salvatore"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1712"]
[BlackElo "1663"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bc4 e6 6. Bxd5 exd5 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4 d6 9. O-O Be7 10. Nc3 Be6 11. Bf4 dxe5 12. Nxe5 O-O 13. Nb5 a6 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Nc7 Ra7 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Qg4 Qd7 18. Be5 Bf6 19. Rae1 Rb7 20. b3 Rb4 21. Qe2 Qa7 22. Bd6 Rbb8 23. Bxb8 Qxb8 24. Qxe6+ Kh8 25. Qxc6 Rd8 26. Qc3 Rc8 27. Qe3 h6 28. Qe6 Rd8 29. Rd1 Rd6 30. Qf5 Qg8 31. Rfe1 Rd8 32. g3 Rf8 33. Qe6 Qh7 34. Qxd5 Rd8 35. Qe4 Qg8 36. d5 Bc3 37. Re3 Ba5 38. Red3 Re8 39. Qd4 Qf8 40. d6 Rb8 41. d7 Bb6 42. Qxb6 1-0
Summary
A very nice win by Avemaria after a wise and careful play, offset by 3 very bad games full of blunders. Jericho’s game was won mostly by luck. Musk is to be commended for elegant handling of an attack in the Ruy Lopez. A draw for the team in Round#1 and a good start of the season. Way to go in the next ones.
Section: U1600
Division: Mojave
Team: STC – the Deuce
Round: #1
After almost 3 weeks of waiting, finally the Winter edition of the Chess League 45/45 has commenced. With everyone keen to test their new opening lines and chess ideas, we enter Round 1. New round, new expectations, new hope… Let’s begin.
Below I provide annotations and commentary to the 4 games played in Round 1, prepared with Chessbase (Fritz 6 engine). Keep in mind that I’m not an expert, so if you disagree with any part of the commentary, please post. I hope to see some comments, especially regarding your own games. So share your thinking process from the game. I will cover the games in a chronological order of when they took place in order to maintain the spirit of the moment and illustrate how things unfolded.
Game#1 -- Board#4 (jericho121)
This was my game, jericho121, on board#4. A very bad game with lots of blunders from my side, where I desperately defended after an error in the opening and further two major blunders in the middle game. Surprisingly, my opponent’s play was somewhat erratic and at some point he either lost his patience or got largely distracted and blundered back, followed by a cheap back rank mate.
So it was a strange game. A game won, yet I know that I happen to loose much better positions. It was not a sort of a quality you would expect from an opponent rated 1693. I didn’t earn this win. Still, I was somewhat glad, because it was my first official win after a long time and I needed this win to boost my poor “chess” morale. I sort of consider this win to be an “accrued” one. Also a point for the team doesn’t hurt. To cut it short, a win is a win and let’s move on. See for yourself.
Cumulative team score: 1-0
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.10.30"]
[White "Berke"]
[Black "jericho121"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1693"]
[BlackElo "1509"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Opening "Pirc"]
[Variation "Holmov system"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]
1. e4 d6 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Be3 O-O 6. Nf3 e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qe2 Nfd7 9. Rd1 Nc6 10. Bc5 Re8 11. Be3 a6 12. Ng5 Rf8 13. Nf3 Ne7 14. O-O b5 15. Bd5 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Bb7 17. b3 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 c6 19. Rd6 Qc7 20. Rfd1 Rfd8 21. Qd2 Bf6 22. Rxd7 Rxd7 23. Qxd7 Rd8 24. Qxd8+ Bxd8 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxe5 Qd1# 0-1
Game#2 -- Board#2 (musk6868)
Shortly after, musk’s game took place (board#2). Everyone was anxious to see musk in action, as he was new on the roster. I watched this game in awe, totally blasted with how well he handled the Ruy Lopez, exchange variation from Black pieces point of view. Musk performed a beautiful and consistent attack and maintained a superior position throughout the game. His game was very harmonious and logical. Unfortunately at some point his attack faded, I couldn’t believe how. It wasn’t losing, but with a move or two, he lost some advantage and seemed to struggle to finish his attack with this last final blast. And then happened the worst… We don’t know if it was a mouse slip or just a terrible blunder, but he blundered his Queen. Game ended. Too bad, as he didn’t deserve it and a bit of a disappointment to blow a beautiful game like this. Oh well, it happens to all of us sometimes. See below.
Cumulative team score: 1-1
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.10.31"]
[White "jmm843"]
[Black "musk6868"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1524"]
[BlackElo "1677"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 d6 5. h3 a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 c5 9. d3 Rb8 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Bb7 12. c4 O-O 13. b3 c6 14. dxc6 Bxc6 15. Bb2 Qd7 16. Nd2 f5 17. f3 Bh4 18. Rf1 Rf6 19. Qe2 Re8 20. Rad1 Rg6 21. Kh1 Qb7 22. a3 Bg5 23. Rf2 e4 24. dxe4 fxe4 25. Nxe4 Bh4 26. Rff1 Qb4 27. axb4 1-0
The last two games took place the same day, yet they were of a completely different nature. There was only 1 hour difference between the time when they commenced, so I was worried that I would have to watch both in parallel. How ironic…
Game#3 -- Board#3 (GadsHill)
Game#3 was played by GadsHill and it’s probably a game he would like to forget about quickly. The whole thing lasted for 25 minutes with both players playing very quickly, almost blitz-like. No idea why... Soon after the opening GadsHill carelessly blundered a pawn with a much worse game, actually leading to a loss of another pawn. And it was only the beginning of the downfall of this game. After a couple of moves he blundered a piece and lost a passed pawn, so all he could do was resign with a shocking 51 minutes on the clock! You don’t believe it? See below.
Cumulative team score: 1-2
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.11.01"]
[White "GadsHill"]
[Black "dscvdchk"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1553"]
[BlackElo "1638"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bf4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 dxc4 7. Qa4+ c6 8. Qxc4 Bg7 9. Nf3 Be6 10. Qb4 Qb6 11. Qxb6 axb6 12. a3 Nd7 13. e4 c5 14. Bb5 O-O 15. O-O Nf6 16. Rfe1 Rfc8 17. d5 Bd7 18. a4 Bxb5 19. axb5 Rxa1 20. Rxa1 Nxe4 21. Ra7 Nxc3 22. Rxb7 Ne2+ 23. Kf1 Nxf4 24. Rxb6 Nxd5 25. Ra6 Rb8 0-1
Game#4 -- Board#1 (Avemaria)
And so the top board would decide the outcome of the round. With a possible win the round could end up with a draw. Any other result would be a loss. With such statistics, Avemaria approached the game playing White pieces. This game was of a different nature than any of the previous games. It was a well played, careful one. Almost like a good bottle of wine.
Ave played c3 variation of the Sicilian (Alapin variation), probably to avoid the main lines of the open Sicilian. His opponent chose a less popular 2…Nf6 sub-line. Both sides seemed to have felt in their elements and were probably familiar with the opening theory. C3 variation usually leads to IQP positions, so it’s probably not recommended to people who don’t like these kind of positions, where White is on the look-out for an active play with the pieces.
White managed to achieve a slight advantage after the opening and continued with an active attack, while Black was rather tied to defense. Such a tedious struggle lasted for 21 moves, after which Black blundered an exchange. This must have felt bad from the psychological point of view, because soon Black –discouraged with a terrible error- was a victim of a “downward spiral” effect and continued with a fantastic blunder of 2 pawns.
Game continued for another 21 moves with both sides making semi-optimal moves and when White slowly, but surely solidified the advantage. Black didn’t do much more other than just sit and wait for the inevitable. Yet still White missed few chances of a much faster forced win. See below.
Cumulative team score: 2-2 (round ended with a tie)
[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.11.01"]
[White "AVEMARIA"]
[Black "Salvatore"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1712"]
[BlackElo "1663"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bc4 e6 6. Bxd5 exd5 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4 d6 9. O-O Be7 10. Nc3 Be6 11. Bf4 dxe5 12. Nxe5 O-O 13. Nb5 a6 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Nc7 Ra7 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Qg4 Qd7 18. Be5 Bf6 19. Rae1 Rb7 20. b3 Rb4 21. Qe2 Qa7 22. Bd6 Rbb8 23. Bxb8 Qxb8 24. Qxe6+ Kh8 25. Qxc6 Rd8 26. Qc3 Rc8 27. Qe3 h6 28. Qe6 Rd8 29. Rd1 Rd6 30. Qf5 Qg8 31. Rfe1 Rd8 32. g3 Rf8 33. Qe6 Qh7 34. Qxd5 Rd8 35. Qe4 Qg8 36. d5 Bc3 37. Re3 Ba5 38. Red3 Re8 39. Qd4 Qf8 40. d6 Rb8 41. d7 Bb6 42. Qxb6 1-0
Summary
A very nice win by Avemaria after a wise and careful play, offset by 3 very bad games full of blunders. Jericho’s game was won mostly by luck. Musk is to be commended for elegant handling of an attack in the Ruy Lopez. A draw for the team in Round#1 and a good start of the season. Way to go in the next ones.