After some break (I didn’t post my last OTB game from 2 weeks ago since, though won, I played too bad and was ashamed to publish it), I am posting the game I played this Sunday, regular G/90.
My opponent was a boy, rated 200+ lower, I had a win against him before. So I played French, third time. It’s probably good that I can try it against lower rated opponents, where I can compensate later for my opening/transition to middlegame mistakes, being still able to win/draw and getting a valuable experience at the same time. I should admit they all played decent opening lines, as opposed to freaking FICS, where 25% play C00, i.e. something like 1.e4 e6 2. Nf3, 30% Exchange, and another 25% – Advanced variation. My opponents followed the Canadian (and general) OTB stats with 3. Nc3 being the most popular, followed by 3. Nd2.
OK, here is the game.
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 a6 6. Nf3 c5 7. Ne2 Nc6 8. c3
8. … cxd4 9. cxd4 f6 10. Nc3 Be7 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O fxe5 13. fxe5 Nb6 14. Be3 Nc4 – it was tempting to get a bishop pair, but later in the game I realized it wasn’t a good idea – leaving e4 square undefended.
15. Bxc4 dxc4 16. Ne4 b5 17. a3 Rb8 18. Qc2 h6 19. Nfd2 Qb6? I miss here 19. … Nxd4, also it allows 20. Nf6+! Bxf6 21. exf6 Qd8 22. fxg7 Kxg7 23. Qe4 Bd7 24. Qg4+ Kh7 25. Qh5 Rf6 26. Ne4 Rg6 – with Crafty’s estimate – 2.03. Accepting sacrifice - 20. … gxf6 leads to checkmate – 21. Qg6+ Kh8 22. Qxh6+ Kg8 23. Qg6+ Kh8 24. Rf3 fxe5 25. Rh3+ Bh4 26. Rxh4#
20. Rxf8+ Bxf8 21. Rf1? Nxe5
22. dxe5 Qxe3+ 23. Kh1 Bb7 – the “bad” French bishop becomes a very good one.
24. Rf3?? Bxe4! White resigned (because of losing a piece or getting checkmate after 25. Nxe4 Qe1+ ).
June 2, 2009 at 12:51 am
Good game,i think you are to hard on yourself.
A win is a win yes we all like to win in style,but the reailty of it is that happens 1 in 50 games.If we are lucky.
In your game the c8 bishop only makes 2 moves,but what great second move.
You said the “bad” French bishop becomes a very good one.It became a game winner.Wide open a8-h1 diagional why cant i get bishops like this.
This is where a bishop is better than a knight with open lines like that the attack options are great.
The other bishop also had good open line options.If you had needed it.
You are playing good very good solid chess,
and getting results.
June 2, 2009 at 1:12 am
The Nd7-b6-c4 maneuver was fantastic except for one thing, and that is sometimes people will play b3 (should), and that knight is stuck there on b6, blocking the b-pawn. That is why I usually play b5.
OTH, it does give your other knight the b4 square and a better c-file, but that is often the sort of trade-off that White will give. So, I dunno honestly, but if White doesn’t play b3, it is all sunshine, smiles, and happy-days.
I’ve always wondered about things like that, which move is better, but it sucks if you did get a knight to b4, and it were like Jack Horner in the corner, doing little there. I’ve had that happen before, it’s like a wasted piece if it doensn’t fit into a coordinated plan.
June 2, 2009 at 1:20 am
To have any realistic chance, I think he needed to keep a knight on f3, rook should be on e-file, not f-file. It became a house of cards, and you are the type of player that has no trouble spotting houses of cards.
June 2, 2009 at 10:30 am
chessx – thanks. Running the game through computer usually spoils euphoria or makes non-satisfaction much worse, but there is always another game and, hopefully, you learn from your mistakes. Yeah, winning is important too, I agree. You are right about the bishop. I had a good feeling putting it on b7, though didn’t know it will work so well.
linuxguy – yeah, b5 was absolutely necessary. Nb4, right, then Crafty suggests Nd3. Still, I kind of don’t like white knight on e4, though exchange gets me also, as chessx noticed, “wide open a8-h1 diagonal” for the bishop. I don’t know. The French, as I found, seriously tests your positional/tactical/memory skills at every move, strange, I kind of like it.
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The house of cards – good comparison. A bunch of pieces together could be not good. I remember, I played with 1950 rated guy and he sacrificed his queen right in the middle of my pieces group, then forked me and I was without a knight. Maybe I somehow remembered it on Sunday
June 4, 2009 at 4:39 am
RP – You “should” be over 1600 blitz on FICS and 1800 standard. Not advising you to waste time caring about it, just making a statement.
I played through a few of your blitz game losses. In every game you lost you were up a pawn except for the lightening game, and were at least even in that one. Every game there was a winning endgame move that you didn’t make, or a saving move.
You’ve got amazing instincts of self-preservation, yet blitz obviously does not reward the endgame.
I feel bad that you outclass your opponents up through the middle-game, and then the endgame becomes a question of who can blitz better. Tragicomedy, and yet as always in blitz, you are just a move away from the win at some point, an endgame move, even if the rest of the games shines by itself.
June 4, 2009 at 11:49 am
linuxguy – thanks, I am flattered
. Seriously, subtracting all series of stupid losses after 4 hours of sleep, my standard, yes, should be around 1800, but my blitz probably is not higher than 1500. Yes, I can beat 1500s and 1400s, but you should be consistent, play fast and solid.
. The endgame is a matter of time and technique, don’t think the latter is particularly good, though almost nobody impressed me in that field (in the middlegame – essentially more, some guys played really well).
About middlegame and endgame you are right. It spoils me all my French stats
I am really bored with these FICS openings – Philidor and other stuff, which I will never play OTB, annoys me a lot. Maybe I should play higher rated, start from 1400 ( now my seek is 1300-1500, though occasionally I click some 1200s).
June 4, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I will play anything OTB that I blitz with, unless I am only intentionally trying something out. But like you say about blitz, you are “supposed to” do this and that, so that already defeats the purpose somewhat of playing different chess than standard/OTB.
It’s interesting that there seems to be different things that we each excel at. You are far better than me at moving quickly, prepare well (I’m improving/trying to there), most likely better than me at closed positions.
Now my mind turns to software or coming up with some system to categorically improve. I definitely want to start codifying opening moves to the Scotch that I can drill-through, things that I’ve learned from experience, which move to play.
June 5, 2009 at 4:26 am
@ Linuxguy
It has nothing to do with the amount of knowlegde but all with implementing this knowlegde into your thoughtproces, way you play chess.
Which means that the best player isn’t the one who knows the most about chess (theory, middlegame, endgame, trics and traps, …) but the player who best implements all the chess stuff (s)he has learned into his chess play.
June 5, 2009 at 10:27 am
linuxguy – thanks. I think you are better in calculating and board vision. Regarding openings – for now I am just storing them in different folders, like C89, C11, etc. It would be good to have some kind of program to have something like opening trees, with different variations. I tried a bit, didn’t find anything good. It should be, though, something. If you find something (preferably free), please, let me know.
chesstiger – yes, implementation is the key. You can read a lot of stuff, try something blitz or in correspondence, but unless you do it OTB … So, ideally you should work on your OTB play, every time not just playing the game, but trying to execute your time management, opening, calculation, board vision, etc. ideas.
June 7, 2009 at 3:12 am
Rollingpawns – Wow, thanks for the compliment; I don’t think I’m really better than you are at either one. I think, like anyone else, I’m good at certain types of positions, particularly fluid middle-games that are rich in attack/counter-attack possibilities. In some opening lines, it does seem like there is “one true way” and if you don’t know it, you get lost, particularly for me as White in the Scotch.
I am interested in writing my own program, but for now I decided to buy Chess Assistant. Whoah, just installed it, this is the best chess program evuh.
It has everything I was looking for in the Scotch analysis and sidelines. Sheesh, I had been reduced to relying on Crafty’s little DB and the Crafty engine. This one has Shredder, so another point of view, I suppose.
I just won another tournament. hehe. Clear first. I guess I’ll blog about it now.