Chess Net Etiquette II - The Sequel

Not been too active in the chess-o-sphere, with a pathetic cold lingering on and spoiling life in general !

However, the subject of this post relates to this where I commented on being censored for my "rudeness" of having 'Handshake' as my end-of-game message.

How would we cope in the replay ?  Would we shake and make up  ? Would there be a titantic struggle at the board as neither player gives in ?

Complete anti-climax, although I suppose a consistent approach.

No reply to game offers in the  forum, so I win by forfeit, never the best way, but at least the team gains a point !

In between, I lost my previous T4545 round.

No real excuses ( not even the cold ). We both had chances, I made a mistake, but worked my way out of it, then failed to capitalise on my opponent's mistake, overlooked the strong pawn advance and although I clearly remember calculating Rf2, I actually played Rf3, which put me back into difficulty !

Here I played what I thought was the clever Nd2, threatening the Queen. The simple Nxb2 would have been good, with Rxf8, followed by Qd2 or Nd1 and White is fine, if not a with an edge.

Nxb2 is better than my Nd2 ?!

This should have been Rf2. I thought it, I calculated it, but I played Rf3 ?  The brain works in unfortunate ways sometimes...

Rf2 gives an even game...Rf3 ?! does not 

Although I played on and defended like a trooper, I had to give up Bishop for pawn to prevent a queen promotion.
Rook, Knight and pawns vs Rook and pawns is not an easy endgame to lose, and my opponent played it well.

This week I am also in the U1800, as the team there is down its strongest player. I intend to play as best I can, but have no illusions as my opponent is consistently rated around 1800.

In local news....the first snow of the Winter arrived last night, and I am not surprised. It was bitterly cold walking home after food and drink at the local bar. Even a fine de Koninck could not keep from me the easterly wind that swept across the harbour  !

Time to settle down with Réti's best games and a chess board.....

Chess Net Etiquette

A strange occurrence...

After what can only be described as an interesting game, with some unusual and thought-provoking moves by my opponent, he allows a King/Queen knight fork on move 30, and, quite naturally, resigns.

No problem, I am looking forward to chatting about the game, but what happens...

Yes, I have an auto-reply of "Handshake", and this appears to upset him as my initial chat has the answer "I really don't like auto"handshake" wrecks the spirit of the gme YOU ARE CENSORED FOR RUDENESS "

What can I do but be polite in my message to him, despite his shouting at me !

I've heard of OTB chess etiquette incidents with the refusal to shake hands at the start of a game etc, but this is the equivalent of me offering a handshake OTB, and being refused : how would that make you feel ?

Well, we will see how the return match goes in a few weeks as it may be difficult to arrange if I am 'censored' ! Looking at his finger notes, I had to smile even more as his attitude did not reflect what he had written !

Here's the final position, move 30 from a slightly unusual Philidor...analysis later.

30...Nf3+ ....Eek ! Game over !

TeamLeague T4545 - T47 R1 : Scotch Bishops

A Scotch game : Four Knights variation, I'm White.

I won.

Why  ?

1) My opponent made at least 3 consecutive, weak moves with his bishops early in the game, losing time and giving up his dark-squared bishop anyway.
2) After his bishop was lost most of his immediate threats were gone
3) f4 is a great move to make at any stage of the game
4) I did some lucky preparation on the exact variation before the match
5) I had some good ideas from Nigel Davies and Tony Miles.
6) I'm a Grand Master in disguise.

Well, not all of those are true :)

Here's the game...

...Continue reading...

T9030 - Round 1 : Is the Caro-Kann exciting ?

A game in a new T9030 tournament last night : a win in a Queen-and-pawns endgame.

I'm not sure if it was my mood, or the Caro-Kann  opening, or the endgame or a combination, but it won't be high on my "most enjoyable games" list.

I don't often meet the Caro-Kann, and had not prepared anything, so was playing what I think are normal moves to develop and control the centre.

Black put his knights on g6 and b6, which seems a little unusual to me, but I don't think I exploited it properly, especially the g6-knight. I had ideas of exchanging Bishop for knight and breaking up Black's King-side, but instead opted for a quieter Queen-side attack.

11.c4 

 In retrospect, I should have both attacked sooner, and resolved the Bg4 issue first with h3, as effectively all my attack did was neutralise the Queen-side and allow Black to do the same on the King-side with Nh4 and a series of exchanges leaving a fairly drawish position ( although bishops of the same colour are not supposed to be a draw ? )

19. Rfd1

  

 Here, I have played Rfd1, instead of Rxc8. I felt that 19. Rxc8 Rxc8 20. Rc1 Rxc1 21. Bxc1 was probably a draw, and was trying to encourage Black to play Rxd1 instead. He didn't, but his Rc4 and subsequent exchanges gave me the c-pawn as a difficult target for an advantage.

27. Ke4

 I really think this should be a draw, but my opponent never offered one, and since eventually I won the c-pawn, and Black made a mistake when running out of moves, I tried, doggedly, to win the Queen-and-pawn endgame that arose, as I felt I was ahead.

33...h5 ? 34. g5 Black's Bishop will be trapped

 Next time I will offer the draw myself as it was a hard slog, and in fact checking this position ( EPD: 1Q6/K7/8/1P3k2/8/8/8/6q1 w - - ) when the two pawns were promoted, against online endgame tablebases, it is in fact a draw ! Maybe its lucky that I don't have these tables built into my head?!

I guessed the key was to exchange the queens, but that involves putting your queen in a position where it must be captured, ie interposing to stop a check, and giving a check at the same time : difficult !

Not sure if my opponent just gave in or I won, but after move 68 ( and 17 moves of painful Queen manoeuvring ) he resigned.
Interestingly, my clock was at about 20 minutes and his was 1 hour and 25. This time control certainly reduces mistakes, but may be a bit too long overall.....

68.Kc8 ...Black resigns

 I will either find ways to avoid the Caro-Kann or else I need a suggestion from readers on how to enliven it !

Looking forward to them.....

Réti Endgame Study 1 ( Solution )

Here's the solution to the first Reti Endgame Study that I published a few weeks ago !

Use the "Show Answer" button.

T9030 : Round 3

A good win in my latest Chess 9030 tournament game from a slightly different Philidor variation, and with what could be called a Queen sacrifice as part of it !

White varied in this Philidor game by playing an early a4 and omitting Re1 completely. In theory, ie in GM games, this will transpose back to mainlines, as Black doesn't really have much more than the usual c6, b6 etc and White's moves of Qe2 and Re1 are fairly standard as well.

However, this time I had a line that I experience in blitz quite a bit, but not often in standard.

...Continue reading...