We're back!

Let's take another shot at this after some time off to pursue other hobbies. No Fritz at the moment, but Crafty is around

[Event "ICC"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]

[Date "2010.05.30"]

[White "fabuzel"]

[Black "KyleMayhugh"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "1257"]

[BlackElo "1284"]

[ECO "B30"]

[Opening "Sicilian defense"]

[TimeControl "1380+12"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6

d6 is considered the proper follow-up here. Learning these openings one move at a time

3. c3 Nf6 4. d3 b6

Crafty hates b6, which feels like a logical move to me. It creates the opportunity to fianchetto the bishop, which would be a key part of attacking the middle through the queenside. 4. ... e5 is the appropriate move here, apparently. That gives parity with a slight edge to black. As played, White is estimated up almost half a pawn.

5. Be2 Bb7

6. Nbd2 g6 7. e5 Nd5 8. c4 Nf4

8. c4 puts it back to a parity, crafty preferring Nc4. The e-pawn starts to look really vulnerable and I want to pressure it if I can. I also have the option of winning the bishop-pair advantage with his bishop pinned in and en prise to my knight. This feels like a real beginner opening for both sides, with so many moves and so little development.

9. O-O Qc7 10. Ne4 Nxe5

11. Nxe5 Qxe5 12. Bxf4 Qxf4

Pawn is won, but white's superior development is worrisome.

13. Bf3 Bxe4 14. dxe4 Bg7

Development feels a little better now, and we're starting to thin the board. A one-pawn edge is too little to nurse home at my level, but I'm going to try to not make mistakes.

15. g3 Qc7

16. Qd2 O-O 17. Rfd1 Rad8 18. a4 e6 19. Ra3 Qe5 20. b3 Qd4

Crafty wants me to play the break here and open up the position with 20. ... f5. I really wanted to keep things simple, though.

21. Ra2 Qxd2 22. Raxd2 Bd4 23. b4 h5 24. bxc5 bxc5 25. h4 Rb8

26. g4 hxg4 27. Bxg4 Rb4 28. h5 Rxc4 29. hxg6 fxg6 30. Ra2 Rb8

Rf4 was better for black here. But the game is basically over.

31. Be2 Rcb4 32. e5 Rb2 33. Rxb2 Rxb2 34. Kf1 Ra2 35. Rc1 Rxa4

36. Rxc5

0-1

Standard game, Sept. 24, 2009

Still need to quit dropping points against computers in blitz play. Somehow, against human opponents, I feel forced to take it more seriously.

The opponent here did a very nice job of introducing complexities into this one and almost had me several times. It really forced me to take my time in a few key spots, and I was glad for it.

[Event "ICC"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]

[Date "2009.09.25"]

[White "*mackey"]

[Black "*KyleMayhugh"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "0"]

[BlackElo "0"]

[TimeControl "120+12"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 d6 4. dxe5 dxe5

This is the classic Philidor defense, more or less, and I'm glad I worked my way through it because this opening was causing me all sorts of fits.

5. Bd2 Bb4

If he trades the bishops, I take the queen first and deny him castling. Not a big deal, but with a central file already open, it's a worthwhile advantage.

6. c3 Ba5 7. b4 Bb6 8. Bb5 Bd7 9. O-O Nge7 10. Bg5 f6

11. Bh4 a6 12. Bxc6 Bxc6

Now I have the bishop-pair advantage, but I've put off castling for an uncomfortable amount of time. I have three developed pieces vs. two, but he has some nice space on the queenside and has already castled. Wait, does the castled rook count as developed? Then it's 3-3.

13. Qb3 Bxe4

I couldn't see if he was trying anything tricky by hanging this pawn. I thought awhile before just taking it.

14. Nfd2 Bd5

I thought seriously here abotu Bxb1, throwing away the bishop pair but trading down. But really, that would be throwing away an advantage and a developed piece for an undeveloped one. I'm also really worried about my queen sitting on an open file with no diagonal escape routes, just begging to be attacked by a rook.

15. c4 Bf7

16. Qa4+ Qd7

I thought for sure he'd take the trade here, with the king sitting in the middle of that open file. I figured I'd actually want the king that much further out, and then I'd try to force a few trades and enter the endgame.

17. b5 O-O 18. c5 Bxc5

Again, the tricky pawn.

19. Ne4 Bd4

Ne4 threatens a tricky little knight-fork. Bxf6 gxf6; Nxf6+, forking the queen.

20. Nbc3 axb5

21. Qd1 Rfd8

Yet another attempt to set up a discovered attack on the queen, this time getting the rook on the d-file, getting my queen out of the way, and then Bxf2+. A queen and pawn for a rook and bishop is a tricky gain, though, and i might not want it if I wasn't already ahead.

22. Bxf6 Qc6

Okay, the plan is unfurled. I'm not falling for it, and I've actually got a good counter-plan. Thanks, Dan Heisman, for reminding me repeatedly (through your columns) to check my opponents' threats and be ready to meet them.

If he follows this line: Bxe7 Bxc3; Bxd8 Bxa1; Qxa1 Rxd8, the exchange ends up even and I'm still up two pawns, with the initiative as he's forced to move his knight, and my rook already on the open central file with his queen all the way in the corner, costing him a tempo. Not a !!! situation or anything, but good enough for me to maintain my advantage and now with a much simpler board.

I have a feeling Fritz is gonna rip us both a new one in this complicated position when it gets done with its analysis.

23. Qf3 Bxc3

This move surprised me. I don't feel bad for missing it, because it didn't create any new threats, per se, and that's what I'm supposed to be watching for. It just made things even more complicated.

There may be a capturing sequence here that wins him material, but I looked hard and didn't see it. Almost no matter how I could see it going down, we ended up the same as before with a much simpler board.

24. Nxc3 Qxf3

Mistake, as far as I can tell, on his part, but an understandable one. His only real sequence for him is the one described in the note on 22, he needs to ignore everythinge else and just let each bishop do the dirty work.

25. gxf3 gxf6

As is, I come out of the exchange up a bishop in addition to the two pawns from earlier.

From here, it's just patience and careful play.

26. Kg2 Kf8 27. Ne4 Nd5 28. Nc5 b6 29. Ne4 Bg6 30. Nd2 Ke7

31. Rfb1 Bxb1 32. Nxb1 Nf4+ 33. Kg3 Rg8+ 34. Kh4 Rad8 35. Nc3 Ng2+

36. Kh5 Rd4 37. Ne4 f5 38. Rc1 fxe4 39. Rxc7+ Rd7 40. Rc3 exf3

41. Rxf3 Nf4+ 42. Kh4 Rd4 43. Ra3 Ng2+ 44. Kh3 Rh4#

0-1

New rating: 1332

Standard game 4, Sept. 23, 2009

Nothing spectacular here. I went through a '10 computer losses in 15 minutes' phase because I was hungry and dropped my rating down below 1300 for the first time in awhile, almost down below 1200. Food prevailed and I got most of it back, then found a higher-rated human opponent.

I won, and I liked this win. It was nothing spectacular: he made a small counting error on a complicated exchange and went down a pawn, and I was able to nurse that pawn to victory.

Fritz is taking forever, but it's amazing. You can get it to tell you in words what it's trying to say, it'll give you simple English like "XXX must be considered" or "White gets more space" or "xxx is the best way to fight back," along with full opening analysis and references to master games with the same opening, and suggested alternative lines.

[Event "ICC"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]

[Date "2009.09.24"]

[White "Atzur"]

[Black "KyleMayhugh"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "1541"]

[BlackElo "1337"]

[ECO "C70"]

[Opening "Ruy Lopez"]

[Variation "Classical defense deferred"]

[TimeControl "1800+10"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bc5 5. c3 Nf6

6. Bc2 d6

I'm no expert or anything, but I feel like I have a decent grasp on my defense against the Ruy Lopez, mostly thanks to some ICC videos I'd watched.

7. h3 Be6

Fritz strongly recommends d5 here, and I was thinking about it, but I was wary of playing my break move before my pieces were developed.

8. d4 exd4 9. cxd4 Bb4+

I have no doubt that even a couple of weeks ago I would have missed what was happening here. Drive the bishop away, then play d5 and fork my pieces. 10. Bd2 Bxd2+

I did some real careful math on the possible ensuing exchanges, and I came up with Ne4 after e5 breaking up his bishop pair, and more importantly giving me a key tempo when he had to move his knight after dxe4, allowing me to take on d4 with either the queen or the knight, probably the queen.

11. Qxd2 d5 12. e5 Ne4 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Ng5 Qxd4

Which to take first, the queen or the knight? I decided to play the forcing move first and not let him wriggle away.

15. Nxe6 Qxd2+

16. Nxd2 fxe6 17. Nxe4 Nxe5

So here we are, having followed the exchange line I envisioned 19! ply ago and come out exactly where I thought we would. I'm amazed at what can happen if you think your exchanges out carefully, and quite proud of myself. If I could do this more frequently, I'd be a much better player. This needs to become a regular occurence, not a moment to cheer.

The opponent know's what he's doing and does a very good job of trying to make that pawn irrelevant, but it's a relatively simple position from here, which makes it easier on me.

18. O-O-O Ke7

I'd rather not castle and push my king too far from the center where he needs to be for the coming endgame, especially since opponent opportunistically castled queenside and grabbed the key file.

19. Rhe1 Rhd8 20. Rxd8 Rxd8

Here was a bit of serendipity. I hadn't planned on this, but I suspected he'd been planning to use the discovered attack on the knight when he moved his knight in a challenging manner. I was being careful not to put myself in a situation where he could win material from that tactic.

But without really planning it, the threat of Nd3+ kept that at bay and ended up forcing the exchanges I wanted anyway.

21. Nc5 Nd3+ 22. Nxd3 Rxd3 23. Kc2 Rd5

Now my priorities are two-fold, and it's something I've learned recently:

Second priority would be to get the rooks off the board in an exchange. That would have been first priority in the past, but now the first priority I know has to be to prevent him from getting a passed pawn that's out of reach of my pieces. Too often I've found myself exchanging off the last pieces and up a pawn or two, only to realize he's got a passed pawn that I can't catch.

24. Re2 c5 25. Kc3 b5

26. a3 Kd6

I've got the middle nice and clogged.

27. f4 Rd4 28. g3 a5 29. Re5 b4+

Very strong move gets his rook into the game.

30. axb4 axb4+

31. Kb3 Rd3+ 32. Kc4 Rxg3 33. Rxc5 Rxh3 34. Kxb4 Rh4 35. Rc4 Kd5

I thought pretty hard about this sequence, because the potential to mess it up was huge. My first inclination was to play e5, which would have lost the game immediately to fxe5+.

Moving my king closer to his rook and king felt scary, but I checked as close as I could and couldn't see any attacks generated from it, so I trusted myself.

36. Kb5 e5

37. Rc5+ Ke6 38. Rxe5+ Kf6

Temporarily giving up the pawn, but his king is too far away to support the f-pawn and it will fall.

39. Re4 Kf5 40. Re7 Rg4

41. Re5+ Kxf4

Doing some hardcore counting squares and moves in my head here. The decisive factor should be that his king is in the way of his pawn, and when he moves it out of the way, that should let me wing pawn get there first.

42. Re8 Rg5+ 43. Kc6 h5 44. Rh8 Kg4 45. b4 h4

46. b5 Rg6+ 47. Kb7 Rh6

If he plays Kc5 instead of Kb7 here, Fritz thinks he may have fought back and won with the more-advanced passed pawn.

48. Rxh6 gxh6 49. Kc7 h3 50. b6 h2

51. b7 h1=Q

Math and the extra pawn I've been nursing all game prevails. Fritz didn't give me a single question-mark all game, which is very cool.

52. b8=Q Qh2+

0-1

White resigns.

In other news, I watched a video on the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and am trying to work it into my repetoire, but so far no human has cooperated. I know it's not sound at the highest levels, but it might be fun to have something to give players at my level a hard time.

Standard game 3, Sept. 23, 2009

Nothing much to see in this game. Openings seem to be going all right, but I botched this one a little bit.

[Event "ICC"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]

[Date "2009.09.23"]

[White "jackson1754"]

[Black "KyleMayhugh"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "1361"]

[BlackElo "1355"]

[ECO "C45"]

[Opening "Scotch game"]

[TimeControl "1380+21"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nxd4 5. Qxd4 Nf6

6. Nc3 d6 7. Bg5 c5 8. Bxf6 Qxf6

Fritz gives 8.Qxf6 a ??. Why? Because of a ... wait for it ... c-c-c-counting error! I misread another exchange. 8. ... cxd6 9. Bxd8 9.dxc3. Wait, I'm not seeing what Fritz is seeing here.

9. Qxf6 gxf6

Wins the bishop pair.

10. Nd5 Rb8

11. Nxf6+ Ke7 12. Nd5+ Kd7 13. Be2 Bg7 14. Bg4+ Ke8 15. Bh5 Bxb2

Back to even on material, still an awkward position.

16. Rb1 Bd4 17. O-O Be6 18. Nc7+ Ke7 19. Nxe6 fxe6

The tide turned very subtlely. We have opposite colored bishops now, which should make things interesting. But I've got the queenside pawn majority, while his extra pawns are on the kingside and are needed to protect his king. I've got two open files pointing right as his king and rooks able to attack them, whereas his rooks are trapped behind his pawn structure and will need more moves to get around to anywhere good.

20. Bf3 b6

21. Rb3 Rbg8 22. c3 Be5 23. g3 h5 24. a4 h4 25. g4 Rg7

26. a5 bxa5 27. Rb7+ Kf6 28. Rxg7 Kxg7 29. Ra1 Bxc3 30. Ra3 Bb4

31. Rd3 Rd8 32. e5 d5 33. Bg2 c4 34. Rf3 c3 35. Rf6 Rc8

36. Rxe6 c2 37. Bxd5 c1=Q+ 38. Kg2 Rc3 39. Bf3 Rxf3

Decided to just go ahead and "lose" the exchange in order to simplify the board and get one of his remaining threats off the board. White resigns.

It's fun to be good enough to beat guys at ratings that would have floored me earlier, but I don't think this win represents much. I was mostly lucky to see the position sort of materialize from his advantage to mine.

0-1

Standard game 2, Sept. 23, 2009

Dropped about 30 rating points last night with one of my "I'm so tired I can't see straight but I'm sure I can beat this computer 500 points ahead of me without actually thinking about my moves, oops I took 10 losses in five minutes" sessions. It's like a poker player on tilt. As long as it doesn't hurt my regular gmae, I guess it doesn't hurt anything. Rating drops are temporary, skills are forever.

Nothing extremely special about this game. It's a classic piece-activity win with a nice tactical shot to finish it.

I've got a baby asleep on my shoulder so I can't check the opening book right now.

[Event "ICC"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]

[Date "2009.09.23"]

[White "Sandia"]

[Black "KyleMayhugh"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "1389"]

[BlackElo "1338"]

[ECO "C23"]

[Opening "Bishop's opening"]

[TimeControl "1800+10"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. d3 Bc5 4. Ne2 Qf6

Threatening that mate is a little silly, I think, but I really wanted to try putting on a little pressure for once as black.

5. f3 Nge7

6. Ng3 d6 7. Nh5 Qh4+ 8. Ng3 O-O 9. Nc3 Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6

11. Qe2 Nd4

Here's where the possibilities of tactics involving his king and queen and my knight and dark-squared bishop first came into play.

12. Qd2 Ng6

Fritz suggests Rxf3 here, which would have been a good move.

13. 0-0 Nxf3+

Game over. The best thing about this move is that I patiently thought out all the permutations even though I was sure it was a winner.

14. Kh1 Nxd2

D-oh! Mate in one missed: Qxh2#. I still miss so much.

15. Bxd2 Rxf1+

16. Rxf1 Rf8 17. Rxf8+ Kxf8

White resigns

0-1

Standard game, Sept. 23, 2009

Did a fairly decent job of taking my time this game. Definitely some mistakes made, but I was actively looking for his threats all game and I think I did an okay job. The fact that I drew a 1443-rated player without luck or blunders is a great sign that I've improved, even with so very, very far to go.

I haven't been happy with Crafty's analysis, so I acquired some real analyzing power: Fritz 11. We'll see what it can do eventually, but I'm having trouble getting it to work for this game. Update: It's working, but it takes awhile and seems to be working backwards from the end to the beginning

[Event "ICC"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]

[Date "2009.09.23"]

[White "KyleMayhugh"]

[Black "dubltrubl"]

[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[WhiteElo "1366"]

[BlackElo "1443"]

[ECO "D85"]

[Opening "Grunfeld"]

[Variation "Exchange variation"]

[TimeControl "1800+10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nxd5 Qxd5

(5. e4 is the recommended move here, for the Grunfeld Exchange Variation, according to MCO.)

6. Nf3 Bg7 7. e3 O-O 8. Qc2 Bf5

Okay, I've had a lot of problems lately with taking the pawn in the opening and wishing I hadn't. Fundamental philosophical question: Should I make the move that is considered correct for this position, or the one that will make me, personally and right now, most likely to win? If I keep losing up a pawn but behind in development, should I still take the pawn because it's considered better? I'm going with yes. I'd rather not create new holes in my game by trying to cover up old ones when I could just fix the old ones.

I tried long and hard to figure out if he was threatening something here, but I didn't see anything.

Something I am getting from trying use Fritz: The first 15 ply, through 8. Qc2, were mirrored exactly in a game between two Experts (or Candidate Masters) at the 37th Chess Olmpiad in 2006. The game can be seen here:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1414257

Black's reply was 8. Qc2 c5 in that game, and black went on to win after exchanging his queen for several pieces.

9. Qxc7 Na6

Fritz recommends taking the e-pawn instead. 10. Bxa6 bxa6

The first move I wish I'd taken longer on. This was a minute-think piece push.

I'm thinking maybe Bc4 instead, or at the very least Qc4.

11. Qc5 Qxc5

I isolate the pawn and make it impossible to protect, but I also catch up a little in development. With him holding the bishop pair in powerful spots, I need to do something.

12. dxc5 Rfc8

Now I'm down a pawn, but the e-pawn looks very juicy right now and I think I can catch up.

13. O-O Rxc5

14. Bd2 Bxb2 15. Bb4 Bxa1

16. Bxc5 Bf6

I'm beginning to see the power of the bishop pair. His well-placed bishops are giving me all kinds of headaches, but my knight which is supposedly an equal piece to either of them is out of the action and several moves from doing anything useful.

17. Rd1 Rb8 18. g3 Rb1

I'm suspicious of that pawn he's offering me and really need to fix my back rank problems.

19. Rxb1 Bxb1 20. Bxa7 Bxa2

21. Nd4 Bxd4 22. exd4 e6

I think this was a big mistake on white's part. Up a pawn, you want to exchange down in general, but he lost the bishop pair, traded a dominating piece for a weak one, and found himself in the uberdrawish opposite-colored-bishops ending. The only big mistake I can see from him in this game.

23. Kf1 Kf8 24. Ke2 Ke7 25. Ke3 Kd6

26. Kd3 Kd5 27. Kc3?? Bc4

This was a blunder from me, I believe. If he had responded with 27. ... Ke4, the game is probably over as he sneaks back there and rips apart my pawns. I realized it soon after I made the move. I'm playing for the draw down a pawn, I needed to try to maintain opposition and certainly not let his king sneak toward my pawns.

28. f3 Be2 29. f4 h5 30. Kd2 Bb5

31. Ke3 Bc6 32. Bc5 Kc4 33. Kd2 a5 34. Kc2 a4 35. Kb2 Bd5

36. Ka3 Kd3 37. h3 Ke3 38. Bb4 Kxd4 39. Kxa4 Ke4

Plan now is to use the bishop to protect the back of my pawns.

40. Bd2 Kf3

41. Be1 f6 42. Kb4 g5 43. fxg5 fxg5 44. Kc5 Kg2

45. h4 gxh4

46. gxh4 Kf3

Another huge moment: this exchange needed to happen on the h-file and not the g-file, or else my bishop wouldn't have had space to move away from the king's attacks and still protect the remaining pawn on that side.

From here, I believe the blockade is set and there was no way for him to win. I could be wrong though.

Fritz confirms that 42. ... h4 wins for black, most likely, but this move equalizes the game.

47. Kd4 Kf4 48. Bd2+ Kf5 49. Be1 Ba2 50. Bg3 Kg4

51. Be1 Bb1 52. Ke5 Bf5 53. Kd4 Kf3 54. Ke5 Bg4 55. Kd4 Ke2

56. Bg3 Kf3 57. Be1 Ke2 58. Bg3 Kf3 59. Be1

1/2-1/2

Standard game, Sept. 22, 2009

Nice to find a human opponent a little above me willing to play a slower time control, that's always what I'm looking for.

I think I did an okay job here despite the 22-move loss, but there were definitely some things to work on.

[Event "ICC"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]

[Date "2009.09.22"]

[White "barraq"]

[Black "KyleMayhugh"]

[Result "1-0"]

[WhiteElo "1501"]

[BlackElo "1366"]

[ECO "C41"]

[Opening "Philidor's defense"]

[TimeControl "1800+30"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6

I got my opening mixed up and was for some reason thinking that 2. ... Nc6 was wrong, when it's actually one of the most basic opening moves in the game.

3. Bc4 Nh6

My book response would have been Be7

4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bd7

6. Nc3 Nc6 7. O-O Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Qf6

And now my small opening mistakes have grown into a small problem: I'm way behind in development and he's got all kinds of well-placed, attacking pieces. His queen, knight and bishop are all in ideal squares for controlling the center, while my only two developed pieces are in more positions.

9. Qxf6 gxf6

I wanted the queen trade to get his queen off the attack and give myself time to regroup. I did know that it was dropping a pawn to Nd5, but I was okay with that.

10. Nd5 O-O-O

11. Nxf6 Bc6 12. Bxh6 Bxh6 13. Bxf7 Rhf8

Losing the second pawn really hurts. The only good news is that I've now got some better piece activity, with all four of my remaining pieces into the game and his two rooks still back on the back rank and behind pawns.

14. Be6+ Kb8 15. Ng4 Bg7

16. Bd5 Bd7

I need to avoid trades to not let him simplify.

17. Ne3 Bxb2

And here is the final mistake. I knew it'd put me into a sticky position after Rab1, but I just couldn't ignore the "loose" pawn. Better ideas were Be5, Rde8, Rf6. Maybe even something like Bb5, then try to trade the dark bishop for the knight on e3 and clearing out the f-file for an attack.

Game is completely lost from here.

18. Rab1 Bd4 19. Rxb7+ Kc8

Decided to let him play out the mate rather than resign.

20. Rfb1 Ba4

Crafty suggests Bb6 as a way to somewhat preserve the game here. I should have seen that.

21. Be6+ Bd7 22. Rb8#

1-0

New rating: 1366