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Posted by ccmcacollister
goclub.org

9/28/2008
09:03:03

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Subject: Some blitz play

Message:
A decent blitz Chess game, from the Ghost of Christmas' Past }8-)
Still around but just slowed down to 3 minute Chess ...
1. e4 d5
2. exd5 Nf6
3. c4 c6
4. dxc6 Nxc6
5. Nc3 e5
6. d3 Qb6
7. Nge2 Bc5
8. f3 Bf2+
9. Kd2 O-O
10. Kc2 Bf5
11. g4 Bxd3+
12. Qxd3 Nb4+
13. Kd2 Rad8
14. Qxd8 Rxd8+
15. Nd5 Nfxd5
16. cxd5 Qe3+
17. Kd1 Rxd5+

I'd been planning just 11...Rd8, then found myself pondering that ultimate Chessplayer
Question (Which Science can Never answer without accusations of metaphysics ... does that
make Chess a "Sport". owww I hear the anguished outcry already. Ok, I'll settle for "Art", or
maybe "Religion" !? :)

"WHY ??!?" Uh, well because it There. um No? Okay how about just Bxd3 since it seems to win
in every line. Strangely after the first 1000 of these Scandi-things I've never SEEN this arise.
Has it not been there? Or have I been blind and this Is the great Epiphany? YES, that's it. I feel
very gestaltic today. Then again, Percodan also does that. Well I'll leave it to the reader to
decide. (By which of course I mean Ionadowman and doctor_knight ! Thx for remembering
Doc !! .... I feel like I've been to my own wake and didnt even have to ....well you know :)

OH, Chess. OK .... If Qxd3 see game or of course Kxd3 then the house still tumbles to Rd8 and
it doesnt matter so much which one, but in tactical situations I generally prefer to use the
Rook who's capture would not Check me ... if it could be capture. So its a matter of principle
on the choice, I think.
So at the end Mate chances abound. To take a Bd2 or even Qe1# if that opens up. And so was
actually pondering "Really which mate WOULD look best there" and probably would have run
out my last minute deciding ... but he was asking the same Question, and it was his move. So
he timed instead. Just another case where Luck pays better than skill ~! }8-)

Please post you blitz games. OR even otb if 30 or 90 minutes is Feeling like Blitz lately. I get
that too. I call it Monday morning ...


Posted by ionadowman
goclub.org

9/28/2008
15:20:56

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It seems that 11.g4...

Message:
... is the losing mistake, but White's position by then was already looking pretty dismal. But 11...Bxd3+ is a crusher.

Hi Craig! How are you doing these days? I thought you had gone off to hibernate or something.

Was this a "book" line up until White's 11th? If so, I don't go a bundle on 7.Nge2. Was there anything against a "normal" move like 7.Nf3.

Would I be churlish in pointing out a quicker mate at move 15? It goes 15...Qe3+ 16.Kd1 Qd3+ 17.Bd2 Qc2#. But the thing with Blitz games, you don't look for the quickest; you look for what works. Nice miniature, Craig!

Cheers,
Ion



Posted by ionadowman
goclub.org

9/28/2008
15:39:04

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Before disappearing over the horizon....

Message:
... I just thought I'd check out the projected 11...Rad8. Of course it's not as decisive as the immediate 11...Bxd3+! but... well, have a look.

b

11...Rad8!? 12.gxf5 Rxd3+! 13.Qxd3 (13.Kxd3?? is mate in 2) 13...Nb4+
14.Kd2 Rd8! 15.Qxd8 (or 15.Nd5) 15...Qxd8+ 16.Nd5 Nfxd5 17.cxd5?! Qxd5+
18.Kc3 Be1+ 19.Bd2 Bxd2#.
Not as forcing as Craig's line, but the thing has a certain ... something ...
Cheers,
Ion
———
Spirited chess battle a draw for Kramnik, Aronian — The six-game chess match between Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik and Armenian GM Levon Aronian that wrapped up in Zurich on Sunday proved unexpectedly entertaining. The world’s No. 2 and No. 3 chess players, evenly matched and theoretically armed to the teeth, showed a refreshing willingness to mix it up and take risks before settling for a 3-3 tie after Kramnik just missed a win in Sunday’s final round. After a stunning loss with White in Game 1, Kramnik bounced back with a strong performance in Game 3, goading Aronian into a speculative queen sacrifice and navigating the ensuing complications with aplomb. Kramnik’s Four Knights Scotch was an inspired opening choice, and after the kings castled on opposite wings, White got ...
Posted by ccmcacollister
goclub.org

10/02/2008
15:19:18

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another mate sac motif

Message:
Pretty straight forward. What it the point in studying blitz play. Well becasue they are often ugly but the show stock attacks, standard mate sacs and motifs, etc like nothing else. Things that are jjust in the notes in the GM games and avoided as only being factors of move choice, unless there is a time scrammble.



ps Hi Ion, good to see you here. I will be back later and more talkative. Far from being a spoiler, I consider it great you found more since I am a truth seeker. Or was when i had the ambition :)

1262 vs me in 7 minute play1. e4 c6
2. Bc4 e6
3. Nc3 d5
4. Bd3 Nf6
5. Nf3 Qc7
6. e5 Nfd7
7. Qe2 b5
8. b3 b4
9. Nd1 Nb6
10. Bb2 N8d7
11. Ne3 Be7
12. h4 h6
13. g4 Bb7
14. O-O-O a5
15. a4 bxa3
16. Ba1 a4
17. Kb1 c5
18. Ka2 g6
19. Rb1 Bc6
20. c4 d4
21. Nd1 axb3+
22. Rxb3 Na4
23. Rxa3 Qb6
24. Nb2 O-O
25. Rb1 Nc3+
26. dxc3 Rxa3+
27. Kxa3 Ra8+
28. Na4 Rxa4#

Weird game huh. But I LIKED his play as it made me think as nothing was where I thoguth it would be. I hated my play. But I might of been a little out of it :) Ah but standard mates are bicycles my friends!


———
A World Title Match Without the Best Players — Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand will have to forget their recent struggles when they begin their chess match for the world title in Moscow a week from Thursday. Anand has been the world chess champion since 2007, and this will be his third defense of the title. But his recent play has dropped him to No. 4 in the World Chess Federation’s rankings. Gelfand, who won the right to challenge Anand in the Candidates’ Matches last year, is out of the top 20 entirely. (He is No. 22.) It is “the first time in the modern world chess championships’ history that the match between the legitimate champion and a legitimate candidate won’t be a fight for the title of the strongest chess player in the world,” Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion ...
Posted by ionadowman
goclub.org

10/03/2008
13:54:57

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Once learned, never forgotten...

Message:
... and often recognised at a distance, too. Sometimes you see the motif well ahead, then steer for it. Where in a normal game an alert player will have time to avoid the danger, in Blitz you often don't see it until the grille pattern has been imprinted on your ar- ... behind.

That was a pretty strange game, but I think Black was "in the lead" from quite early on. White's projected K-side pawn storm never got going...

It often happens that one side establishes an early initiative and then it's all one way traffic from then on. However hard the enemy struggles, and tries to keep the balance, one feels that the thing can end in only one way. The following wasn't a Blitz game, but it was a very fast time control: 15 minutes apiece.

White: IAD Black: LCT Caro-Kann Wellington, December 1982.
1.e4 c6
2.d4 d5
3.exd5 cxd5
4.c4 ... - Panov-Botvinnik Attack...
4...Nf6
5.c5!? ... - Gunderam Line. The game shows what this strategic decision is all about.
5...e6?!
6.b4 Be7
7.Nf3 0-0
8.b5 Qc7
9.Be3 Bd7
10.Nc3 b6?
11.c6 Bc8 - Who needs development when you can shut doen the enemy Q-side so comprehensively?
12.a4 Bb4
13.Qb3 Qd6
14.Bd3!? Ne4
15.Bxe4 dxe4
16.Ne5 a6
17.0-0 Bxc3
18.Qxc3 axb5
19.axb5 Rxa1
20.Rxa1 f6 - all these exchanges haven't relieved Black's position much. Material is still level, but Black has almost no play.
21.Nc4 Qd8
22.Ra7 e5
23.Bh6! ... - What I liked about finding this move was the complete shift of attention from the Q-side bind to a direct attack on the K-side. Black can not play 23...gxh6 owing to 24.Qg3+ Kh8 25.Qg7#. One of Craig's "standard mates", in a rather unusual setting. :)
23... Qxd4! - the best counter to a flank action is to strike in the centre!
24.Rxg7+ Kh8
25.Qxd4 exd4
26.Nd6 Be6
27.Re7 d3
28.Nxe4 Rd8
29.Nxf6 Bg8
30.Bg7#

Possibly Black could have sacrificed his way out of the bind early on, but even that poor option was eventually denied him. The poor old b8-knight never got to move for the entire game.

Cheers,
Ion


———
Prisoners reaping benefits of chess — School chess programs are common. In New York alone, thousands of children are exposed to their benefits. Programs for adults are much rarer. I recently learned of an innovative program for adults in the Cook County jail in Chicago, where inmates are learning to play chess. According to an Associated Press story, “Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, known for making unusual moves in the name of justice, hopes that inmates can take what they learn from a game that rewards patience and problem-solving, and apply it to their lives.” “Thoughtless actions,” Dart said, “will hurt you while playing chess and more on the street.” I recall several conversations with a middle-school principal during the ’80s. Children who entered chess programs in his school were more punctual and less likely to be absent. Their behavior and grades improved. Because errors in chess are seen as an occasion for self-improvement, not ...
Posted by ionadowman
goclub.org

10/05/2008
13:41:13

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Endgames in Blitz play ...

Message:
One might imagine that endgame technique is at a premium in endgames, time running short and probably a lot of moves to play to realise the result. In the following Blitz (10-minute) game, played several years ago, Black (myself) had already flubbed several straightforward winning chances. For the bishop, White has 3 extra pawns - a nominal material parity:
w
Now White thought he had a chance of his own with the queens off:
47.Qxf6+!? gxf6!
Of course the King can't take, as the b-pawn just runs through to queen. Now White has two widely separated passers. How can Black stop them?
48.b6 Kd6
49.g7 Bh7
Now Black appears to have contained White's passers and threatens to round up at least one of them. How ought White to continue?
50.e4!? - by creating more passed pawns?
50...dxe4
Now White has 4 passed pawns, but he has called into existence two for Black!....
51.d5! ...
Rather neatly preserving the life of the b-pawn. Nor may Black take the d-pawn.
51...e3
52.Kc3! f5!
For the moment, White's pawns are stymied. Black can't win them, but neither can they advance. Black takes advantage of this to bring up support for his own passer.
53.Kd3 f4+
54.Ke2 Bg8
55.c4 ...
Now what? Black can make no progress with his pawns; the bishop bites on granite. Sometimes, to go forwards, you have to take a step back:
55...Kd7!
56.Kf3 Kc8!
57.Ke2 ...
Marking time. But White can not preserve his advance b-pawn. 57.d6 was no good owing to 57...Bxc4. Zugzwang!
57... Kb7
58.c5 Bxd5
59.Kd3 Bg8?!
Probably more accurate was ...Bf7. Black has now the better of it, insofar as having contained the White pawns, but still has to find a win with only a semi-mobile bishop.
60.Ke2 Kc6
61.Kd3 Bf7
62.Ke2 - What else/
62...Bxh5+!
63.Kf1 Bf7
Black's third passed pawn seals the deal. The White King can't stop them all, and he can use his own only as a distraction.
64,Ke2 h5
65.Kf3 h4
66.Ke2 h3
0-1 after a few more moves.

You don't need a whole lot of material on the board to live on the edge...
Cheers,
Ion
———
Levon Aronian aiming to close world chess ranking gap on Magnus Carlsen — At midday on Saturday the world Nos2 and 3, Levon Aronian and Vlad Kramnik, start the final round of their six-game chess match in Zurich. It will be broadcast free and live on the internet, with grandmaster and computer move-by-move running commentary, and its outcome will be crucial to the global chess rankings. When Aronian won the opening round with the black pieces he stoked up his challenge to Norway's golden boy, Magnus Carlsen, who became No1 at 18 in 2010. Carlsen has since become a brand name in Oslo where his company Magnuschess reported $1.5m yearly income, mainly from G-star men's clothing and other endorsements. Aronian himself is a national hero in Armenia, whose 2010 gold medal Chess Olympiad team flew ...