Chess Tournament RB #4 Lurker Thread

[Gustaran]

MJW-Gustaran

Indeed, this time a game with no database access, books, DVDs or even the Chessbase interface. Come and see me blunder.

Indeed we are having a QGD exchange variation. The QGD is super solid, so I made sure I won't lose to an opening trap in the first 10 moves. If you are having trouble remembering opening lines for Blitz or OTB play sometimes it is enough to remember the setup:

Step 1: Put pawns on d5 and e6.
Step 2: Develop the Knight to f6 and the dark squared bishop to e7, then castle short.
Step 3: At some point you always play c6 IIRC.
Step 4: The b8 knight is usually transferred to the kingside via d7-f8, where it overprotects the sensitive h7 square. Note that if you enter a variation where you play h6, you usually don't play he knight to f8, because then there is no pawn on h7 that needs protection. The advantage of not playing h6 is that if White castles queenside his attack is slower and in some variations the f8 rook comes into play via e8-e6 and then h6.
Step 5: I will wait and see what MJW does. There are a few major plans for White in this position:

a) Play the knight to e2 and then organize a central break with f3 and e4.
b) Play the knight to f3 and start a minority attack with b2-b4 (maybe after Rb1)
c) Play the knight to f3 and then try to play e3-e4 at some point (maybe after Re1)
d) Castle queenside and start a kingside pawn storm.

This is only what I remember from the back of my head, luckily I play this variation as White myself, so I have some clue what's going on.

[darrelljs]

I'm playing a no database/ect. game with Gustaran.

As much as I'm enjoying my re-introduction to chess, I think going forward I am going to skip these tournaments and instead play 1-2 games at a time against people who agree not to use the databases. Trying to work through 9 moves in 15 minutes every morning is very frustrating and the databases make me feel like I'm missing a huge part of the game. I don't have any philosophical issue against them, I don't think its wrong to use them, I just find them un-fun.

Darrell

[pindicator]

Yeah darrell, I understand the frustration of having 9 games at once. There's no possible way I can give each game as good a showing as I would want to.

Gustaran v Pindicator

Well, so much for trying for activity against Gustaran. I missed Be3. Probably would have been better to play Rfc1 instead of retreating the bishop, or even swapping bishops, or maybe Rfc1 earlier, but I didn't want to trade off pieces. Now I've not only lost the initiative but the exchange as well. I hate it when I miss obvious moves.

I don't know why I'm so upset -- I knew this was likely a loss, so I haven't given 100% against Gustaran (not nearly as much effort as the last time we played, at least). I'm sure he'll be upset to hear that, but it's tournament strategy: with 9 concurrent games I can't possibly put 100% into every one. In previous tourneys I was stronger than a lot of the field and could just focus on Gustaran and maybe one or two other players. But here a lot of RB has gotten better and more of the stronger players have joined, so a lot of my games require full effort. Since Gustaran is someone that I only have low odds of scoring points against even with my best effort I've decided to put my focus elsewhere. Still, I was hoping to at least get a draw.

Note for future games: maybe I shouldn't play gambits if I'm aiming for a draw

MJW v Pindicator

This has gotten interesting fast. I think MJW counted on being able to trap my knight, but didn't see 21... Rb8 as a resource. White couldn't take the d-pawn because of Rd8 and then I'm skewering his knights. Instead he pushed his b-pawn and now I think I can get the knight support with my dark-square bishop. What I'm not certain about is if a5, c6, or even d3 should be my next move. a5 and c6 are both trying to undermine the knight, so that he cant march his king over to my knight in time. Here's what I'm seeing (but every time I post something like this there's something I've missed). d3 would be to encourage cxd3 and hem in the bishop even further than it already is.

With how his bishop and rook are still out of the game, it may not be game over even if he rounds up that knight.

[MJW (ya that one)]

Gustaran:

I'm using the Chess.com analysis broad for reasons I've PMed you. I just don't see the point of a 48 timer. I've not past my "book" yet so it hasn't helped me. I will be in 2 moves or so though.

[MJW (ya that one)]

Okay we've allowed to use analysis board.

I'm out of book now and I'm guessing 10. Nf3 is the move here as h3 would be a waste if I play to Ne2.
Edit: I used analysis board to show that ...ne4 doesn't work if you play that.

[zakalwe]

What I like about database access is that it allows me to practice other middle-game skills than "salvaging a hopelessly botched opening". I'd be open to playing without it in future games, so long as I am still allowed to research the openings that I face. (I.e., I can read about them on Wikipedia, watch videos about them, etc.) It's a bit of a slippery slope, but I think the place to draw the line should be that you cannot use a database to look up a specific position.

I am also fine with playing with database access, as it's educational in its own way, and escaping the book theory usually isn't all that hard, if you really want to. The databases can occasionally be misleading, too. Just because a grandmaster played one opening line one time and eventually won the end-game as white 40 moves later doesn't mean you cannot profitably choose that path as black. You don't know if the victory followed from an early positional advantage, or was simply due to an endgame mistake by his opponent.

One thing I've noticed is that it's very easy to mis-step just as you leave the book theory. Not just because you're leaving the beaten path, but also because you sometimes lack a full understanding of the position that you're in, if you've just been following the book moves without really understanding their motives.

[Gustaran]

Gustaran-pindicator

Hm, I wonder why pindicator sacrificed his rook? I find it unlikely that he missed a simple one move skewer like Be4.
I will probably have to give back one exchange for his passed pawn, but that still leaves me with a and b pawns to win the game. Maybe the b-pawn has to go as well, if I decide to activate my c1 bishop.
I think I am clearly better now, but I will certainly not underestimate his activity.

Jkaen-Gustaran

Wow, Jkaen playing really well this time, aside from letting me double his kingside pawns I can not find anything wrong with his play. Since my g-pawns are doubled as well, I must admit the most likely result is a draw. At the moment I don't think I have any advantage whatsoever. As a matter of fact I have to calculate if he is better after playing his knight to d6. I just hope for him he won't hang a piece.

MJW-Gustaran

MJW has major pressure along the b1-h7 diagonal. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember from a DVD that Black has a manouvre to trade light squared bishops: Play g6, and then hop the knight to g7 via e6. Then you are ready to play Bf5 and trade off White's strong bishop. I just have no clue if this was in this variation, it was somewhere in the QGD Exchange variation, though.

Gustaran-Rowain

I don't have any advantage in this game either. I will probably trade pawns with Bxb5 (notice the pin) should he attack my b4 pawn with Nc6. Other then that this seems completely equal and Rowain is not passive like last game either.

[Jkaen]

Jkaen v Gustaran

http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=83043826

Ok move 28 to play and I reach the point where I am stuck.

I wanted Nd6, but if I play it now I cant defend the past pawn I get

Other thought was Bg5, but that loses me my advanced pawn too

Bg3 followed by f4 just seems really slow and makes my bishop useless

Considering b4, but its a nothing move. will have to take a break and think

[darrelljs]

I will be camping Friday through Monday. I will have Internet access (according to the campsites home page) but will probably try and minimize the number of turns I play in that window, since it will be on my phone.

Darrell

[regoarrarr]

regoarrarr-jkaen
http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=82625962

Should be a very eminently winnable game (up queen to his rook) but I keep worrying about screwing it up. After my last move (35. Qf5+) I had a terrifying thought that I had allowed him to pin my queen to my king (not true on this move because he's in check).

I actually think that even if I traded off Queen to Rook that I would still win, as my king is in a better position, but I don't want to risk that.

Current plan is to move my king over to pick off those pawns while my queen holds the rook and king at bay