Upcoming stars of the Insane Ravings:
as Black vs. Shaun Sweitzer, who completely dismantles my game with a strong attacking performance as White.
as Black vs. Marty Lower, who definitely reviews his openings.
as White vs. Tom Kuhn, a dangerous fighter in any situation.
as Black vs. Richard Jensen; when I'm over-the-board against him, it seems subjectively like he doesn't make mistakes.
as White vs. Pejman Sagart; even when you're considerably stronger than your opponent, it's bad luck to spot him 80 minutes in a Game/90 match.
Next, yet another loss to the strong Rich Jensen. [Event "2007 Summer Swiss"] [Site "San Diego Chess Club"] [Date "2007.7.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Jensen, Richard"] [Black "Anderson, Caley"] [Opening "Queen's Pawn Game"] [Annotator "Anderson, Caley"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Bf5 {My weakness is my opening book. Does it show?} 3. c3 Nf6 4. Qb3 b6?! {Qc8 does just as well without creating weaknesses} 5. h3 h6 6. Bf4 e6 7. e3 c5?? {Wrong. Welcome to light square hell.} 8. Bxb8! Qxb8 9. Bb5+ Nd7?? {Kd8 is far more resilient.} 10. Bc6? c4? {White should instead kill Black with 10. Ne5!!, leaving Black short of just about any viable defense. The best idea for Black was to accept the loss of the exchange and play Bd6, which prevents Ne5.} 11. Qa4?! b5 {Qb5 seems better, as b5 is not an option.} 12. Bxb5 Qc7? {Surprisingly, Kd8 was the right move for Black. 12...Kd8 13. Bxd7 Qxb2 14. O-O Qxa1 looks dangerous for Black, but amazingly, he can hang on against whatever White throws at him.} 13. Ne5! Rd8 14. Nxd7 Rxd7 15. Bxd7+ Qxd7 16. Qxd7 Kxd7 {At the end of the bleeding, Black is down a pawn and the exchange, but look at the position- Black still has pretty good drawing chances considering the drastic material diference. Black still has the two bishops, and it will take a long time for White's rooks to be activated.} 17. O-O Bd3 18. Re1 Be7 19. Nd2 Rb8 20. b4 a6 21. e4 Bg5 22. Nf3 Bxe4 23. Nxg5 hxg5 {Black trades in one of the two bishops for a pawn.} 24. f3 Bd3 25. Kf2 Kd6 26. Re3 Bc2 27. Rae1 Re8 {White intends to attack the weak g-pawn. This will force f6, thus weakening the e-pawn, thus all the e-file business.} 28. Kg3 f6 29. h4 gxh4+ 30. Kxh4 Rh8+ {30...g6! was strong.} 31. Kg3 Re8 32. Rh1 e5! {Suddenly Black makes it known that there is danger in this position for White.} 33. Rh4 Kd7 34. Re2 Bd3 35. Rd2 e4?! {Black blows it. The right move was 35...g5!!, forcing the White rook off the fourth rank.} 36. Rh5 Kc6?! {Black is still in this game, but 26...e3 makes things very tricky indeed for White.} 37. fxe4 Bxe4?! {Better was dxe4, creating a more dangerous passed pawn.} 38. Re2 Kb5?? {And now, thinks Black, I'll just walk over and attack the White Queenside pawns with my King. The right idea, but g6 is needed first to beat back the White rook. Instead, Black's carelessness leads to...} 39. Rxd5+ Ka4?? {Black thinks he is lost if his rook comes off the board, but this ensures defeat with absolute certainty.} 40. Ra5 mate 1-0 {Quite a shame. This was a very interesting endgame that I fouled up; I wish I had the opportunity of revisiting it.}
ReplyDeleteHey Caley, 2 ...Bf5 is fine actually, that is a strong move, there is nothing wrong with it at all. Personally, I would play 2...c6 before 3...Bf5 to help avoid the stuff that happened in our game, but even the bishop move on the second move is OK if you don't play ...c5 before castling. If White doesn't play 2 c4 on the second move, 2...Bf5 is one of the best moves, Soelberg and Grazian play it a lot with decent success. One of the reasons I understand early Queenside play is because I studied the Cambridge Springs Defense, now everyone I told plays the exchange variation of the QGD against me lol. Rich
ReplyDeleteHeh. Yeah, non QG-variation of 1. d4 d5 are something I need to work on, usually I'm just hoping to be able to play the Slav against 1. d4. The eventual ...c5 was obviously bad and where things went really sour. I thought at the time "well, let's eat some space." But oh well. It led to one of the more fascinating games I've ever played; that endgame really was a heater. So yes. Queen's pawn stuff. That and my Caro-Kann as White; Bob quite literally schooled me as Black in that opening last week. -Caley
ReplyDeleteFinally found that Shaun Sweitzer game after a thorough clean-out of my car. [Event "2007 Reserve Championship"] [Site "San Diego Chess Club"] [Date "2007.4.4"] [Round "7"] [White "Anderson, Caley"] [Black "Sweitzer, Shaun"] [Result "0-1"] [Opening "Scandinavian Pytel-Wade"] [Annotator "Anderson, Caley"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 {I don't have a lot of experience with Scandinavians that don't involve 3...Qa5 or 2...Nf6} 4. d4 Nf6 5. g3?! Bg4 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6?! {Too slow. 7...Qb4! punishes White for his inaccurate opening play. 8. Rb1 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Nxd4} 8. Bg2 O-O-O 9. O-O e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Qxd6 Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Bxd6 13. Bg2 Bf5 14. Bg5 Bxc2 15. Bxf3 gxf3 {At the time, I thought this was a very significant accomplishment, worthy of the sacrifice of a pawn. It would have been even better, though, if prefaced with 15. Nd5.} 16. Be4 Bxe4 17. Nxe4 Be5 18. Rab1 Rhe8 19. b3 f5 20. Ng5 Bg7 {Taking the h-pawn now fails to f6.} 21. Nxf7 Rd2 22. a4 h6 23. Rfe1 R2e2 24. Rxe2 Rxe2 25. f4? Re7 {White should play Rd1, forcing some uncomfortable arrangements by Black for once, as mate is threatened. The text just loses a pawn.} 26. Ne5 Bxe5 27. fxe5 Rxe5 28. Rf1 Re3 29. b4 Rb3 30. Rf4 b6 31. Kg2 Ra3 32. b5 a5 33. Kh3 Kb7 34. Rc4 Rb3 35. Kh4?? Rb4 {Whoops. Forgot about that.} 36. Rf4 Rxf4 37. gxf4 c5 38. Kg3 Kc7 {White should resign; the passed pawn is as good as a win.} 39. Kf3 Kd6 40. Ke3 Kd5 41. Kd3 h5 42. h4 c4 43. Kc3 Kc5 44. Resigns
ReplyDelete[Event "2007 Summer Swiss"] [Site "San Diego Chess Club"] [Date "2007.8.1"] [Round "4"] [White "Anderson, Caley"] [Black "DeLeon, Alfredo"] [Result "0-1"] [Opening "French Tarrasch Open"] [Annotator "Anderson, Caley"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 {Bad opening choice by White. I have no idea how to play 3. Nd2 variations very well as White; perhaps I should have played the next few moves standing over on the other side of the board so that things would look more familiar.} 4. c3? cxd4! {4. Ngf3 or 4. exd5 are better choices for White.} 5. cxd4 dxe4 6. Nxe4 Nf6 {Whoops. That's a pretty awful pawn I have there.} 7. Bg5 Nbd7 8. Nxf6 Nxf6 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bxf6?? Qa5+ {An even better way to do it for Black is 10...Bb4+} 11. Qd2 Qxb5 12. a4 Qb6 13. a5 Qb5 14. d5? gxf6 {White just throws away a pawn. Ne2 should have been played long ago.} 15. Ne2 Bb4 16. Nc3 Qa6 17. O-O-O Rc8 18. dxe6 Bxe6 19. Rhe1 O-O 20. Re4 Qxa5 21. Re3 Qa1+ 22. Kc2 Qa4+ 23. Kc1 Bf5 24. Rg3+ Bg6 25. Rxg6+ hxg6 26. Qd4 Rxc3+ 27. bxc3 Rc8 28. Kd2?? Bxc3+ 29. Resigns {The only way to hang on for White was 28. Rd3, but even then 28. Rd3 Rxc3+ 29. Rxc3 Ba3+ 30. Rxa3 Qxd4 and White is dead.}
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to the insane ravings; compaints about the hiatus may be sent to the University of San Diego School of Law. [Event "2007 Summer Swiss"] [Site "San Diego Chess Club"] [Date "2007.8.15"] [Round "6"] [White "Anderson, Caley"] [Black "Defore, Bob"] [Result "0-1"] [Opening "Caro-Kann Bronstein-Larsen"] [Annotator "Anderson, Caley"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6 gxf6 {Already I'm out of my element here, I don't really know any book past 5. Nxf6} 6. Nf3 Bf5 7. Bd3 Nd7 8. Bxf5 Qa5+ 9. Bd2 Qxf5 10. Be3?! Rg8! {Nothing in particular wrong with White's move, but play is too slow. Black's Kingside play is strong, and White needed to do something somewhat more active.} 11. Rg1 O-O-O 12. Qe2 Bh6?? {Dropping a piece; after 13. Bxh6 Black simply has nothing.} 13. Bd2?? Bxd2+ 14. Qxd2 Qxf3! 15. gxf3?! Rxg1+ 16. Ke2 Rxa1 17. Qa5 Rg1 18. Qxa7 Rh1 19. Qa3 Re8 20. Qb3 e6 {White keeps probing, but Black has more than enough material to defend all his weaknesses.} 21. f4 Rxh2 22. Qg3 Rh1 23. Qg2?! Rb1 {Better for White was the direct Qg7} 24. b3 Rb2 25. Kd3 Rxa2 26. Qg7 Re7 27. Qxh7 Ra5 28. b4 Ra3+ 29. c3 Kc7 30. f3 Nb6 {30. f5! is probably White's best try} 31. Qh8? Nd5
ReplyDelete{White does not see the hanging pawn.} 32. Qf8 Rxc3+ 33. Ke4?? Re3 mate Nothing much to see here, just solid play by Bob and none from yours truly.
Missing my scoresheet for the 8-22-07 defeat at the hands of Rich Jensen, so to substitute, here's another defeat, this one at the hands of Erik Lotfi. [Event "2007 San Diego Shootout"] [Site "San Diego Chess Club"] [Date "2007.9.5"] [Round "3"] [White "Anderson, Caley"] [Black "Lotfi, Erik"] [Result "0-1"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez"] [Annotator "Anderson, Caley"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 h6 {Don't see that a lot in the Ruy Lopez.} 4. d3 Nf6 {Ooh, free pawn, thinks White.} 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nxe5 Bc5 7. O-O Bd6 8. Nc4? Bxh2+ {MUCH better for White is 8. Nf3} 9. Kxh2 Ng4+ 10. Kg1 Qh4 11. f3?? Qh2 mate. {White neglected to notice that f3 did not actually create any escape space. 11. Re1 would have made for an actual game of chess.}
ReplyDelete