The everything CHESS thread

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

It'd be really fun to try to put something together for an OTB tourney at a microbrewery or something over the summer. Not sure how many people live in/are able to easily travel to Calgary though (I live in Kelowna but I'm back out there every couple weeks to visit people in the summer)

I'd be in for sure, particularly if some of you had enough of the offerings at the brewery so I might have a chance!

Seriously though, this is a great idea!

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Agreed — awesome idea. Let’s make it happen!

[FireGilbert]

Lost to Superfraggle again! Can anyone beat him?

First game I played very safe and he eventually ground me down until my brain broke. 2nd game I was move aggressive and got destroyed by tactics. Well played! I will be studying your opening lines to prepare for next time.

[Superfraggle]

Unfortunately, the answer is yes. I am very beatable. Second place in both of the previous two tournaments to two different people. I'm sure if we had met in the final instead of the opening round, you would have been the third different winner to crush my hopes and dreams.

Good games!

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Lost to Superfraggle again! Can anyone beat him?

First game I played very safe and he eventually ground me down until my brain broke. 2nd game I was move aggressive and got destroyed by tactics. Well played! I will be studying your opening lines to prepare for next time.

Superfraggle is very tough. I think I’m 2 - 3 against him, and the wins were hard to grind out. I had a similar experience in our last tournament—lost a long and close game, and then in game 2 got blown up by tactics.

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Superfraggle is very tough. I think I’m 2 - 3 against him, and the wins were hard to grind out. I had a similar experience in our last tournament—lost a long and close game, and then in game 2 got blown up by tactics.

Plus one stalemate! We've been very evenly matched. Very fun.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Last night, mrkajz44 and I finished a long and draining game, with some huge swings in the advantage over 50 moves. A real grind: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/...169?tab=review

I had the white pieces. The game opened with a Caro-Kann from black, and we played the advance variation with 1. e4, c6, 2. d4, d5, 3. e5, Bf5, where black develops the light square bishop to sit outside of what usually becomes a semi-Slav pawn structure with a pawn on e6.

Now I have a weapon against Bf5 that I’m sort of proud of. It’s to play 4. h4, which has the sneaky idea of trapping the bishop if black plays a number of very natural looking moves. So in this game we had 4.h4, e6, 5. g4, and then the bishop is on the run: 5. … Be4, 6. f3, and the bishop is trapped.

So I’ll admit, at that point I thought I was looking at an easy win. But… BOY was I wrong.

The problem with this position for white is although you win the bishop for a pawn, your pawns on the king side are very committed (you basically cannot castle king side anymore), and you’ve spent a bunch of time pushing pawns in the opening, neglecting development on the king side.

So my opponent let me capture the bishop on e4, but found the sneaky resource 6.Be7, which is a move I underestimated. After 7. fxe4, Black played 7. … Bxh4+, and suddenly it dawned on me that I might have a problem. 8. Rxh4 loses the exchange to Qxh4+, and the king still has to move somewhere, and now I’ve lost castling rights and my king is ridiculously exposed due to the overextended pawns on the king side. So I was forced to play Ke2, (basically a delayed bongcloud) which is a very ugly square for the king. At that point I was convinced I had blundered somehow and that I was probably losing. We ended up with a position where Black had a very annoying bishop on h4, a passed protected pawn on e4, and my king is preventing my queen from developing.

Now, it turns out stockfish isn’t scared by that at all. It assesses the position at +4 for white, I guess on the basis that white is up a piece for two pawns and can somehow move the king out of danger with Kd2, Kc1 or something like that, I guess.

Suffice it to say I didn’t play the position as accurately as stockfish might have liked, but nevertheless ended up with a position on move 24 in which stockfish says white is better despite the fact that the king is on e3 and way out in the open. I tried to mount an attack on the king side with some queen and rook batteries, and I played 24. Nf4, with what I thought was a very clever idea: Nxg6, which wins a pawn because the pawn on h7 is tactically pinned (black cannot take back because 24. … hxg6 loses a rook after Rxh8, Rxh8, Qxh8). It was all looking good, as long as my opponent didn’t see that tactic.

Reader, he saw it. Black calmly played Rg8, adding a defender to g6, and the plan no longer works. I persisted with this idea adding an attacker with 25. Rh6, and what followed was some weird maneuvering where both sides tried to point absolutely all of their pieces at black’s pawn on g6.

On move 28 I had another clever idea. Except it turns out I should stop having those, probably—this one got me into a lot of trouble.

My idea was to push my e pawn with 28. e6, with the sneaky idea of opening the h2-b8 diagonal, and then try to sneak my queen into the other side of the board while all of black’s major pieces are stuck defending g6.

Stockfish immediately sees the problem. This move really weakens the pawn chain in the Center, and it doesn’t only open a path for white’s queen—it opens a path for black’s queen too, which is now pointed straight at the white pawn on d4. Now, that pawn is defended, so it’s all good right? Not…. really. Its only defender is the king, and any number of pawn pushes will chase the king away.

I then played b3, trying to create some pawn advances on the queen side. That’s apparently a blunder, because stockfish says it loses the queen, after a difficult-to-find sequence that neither player saw.

But then I blundered again: I played 30. Kd2 to try to get my king to a safer position and away from annoying pawn checks, forgetting that the king was the only defender of the d4 pawn, which in turn defended the knight on c5. So that move doesn’t just lose a pawn: it loses a pawn AND a knight, after 30. … Qxd4+, 31. Kc1 (Nd3 was better, apparently), and Qxc5.

It dawned on me then that I was probably losing. And now stockfish agrees: the position is almost -4 for black.

I spent the rest of the game trying to find some counterplay, but knowing I would be lucky to find a draw. It seemed like I had found that on move 39, winning the a pawn and then trading queens down to what I hoped was a decent endgame. Trading queens was another blunder: stockfish says white is better if it avoids the queen trade, and chases the queen away with Re2 instead.

Both players had some minor inaccuracies after that but found the right moves to secure a drawn endgame, where both sides had a rook and 3 pawns. Mrkajz44 offered a draw on move 50, and I accepted—somewhat relieved not to have lost if I’m being honest.

Crazy game.

[mrkajz44]

Agree - that was quite the game. I tried to make the best out of blundering my bishop early and thought things were looking okay after our bishop trade at move 13. I also thought your king looked exposed and I would be able to take advantage. Alas, I wasn't able to really do so and felt like I was back on my heels most of the moves after that even after making my monster pawn chain. That battle for the g6 pawn was all that mattered for a while and I was certain I was going to end up losing it as you had the extra knight.

I did recognize that the pawn push to e6 on move 28 was going to be helpful in the end, but I couldn't see how to capitalize on it right away. The "missed win" on the queen was a pretty outrageous sequence, though reviewing the game did help me understand that giving up the pawn was a good play as I could grab the d4 pawn and fork the knight and castle, PLUS it opened up the f file that I could use as my rooks where currently just jammed in the corner. I did have the idea of pushing that pawn for several moves, but always thought I needed it covered before I made the play.

The Kd2 move I was able to capitalize on, though I think I got greedy trying to checkmate you with 31...e3. I think that was my last move before bed and I was hopeful you'd wake up in the morning and overlook the mate in one if you didn't move your king. Stockfish didn't hate that, but I felt foolish for even trying it and it likely helped be my undoing as I spent too much effort trying to defend it later (33...e2 didn't help my cause either).

The end game was interesting and it showed how rusty I am with it (it seems lots of guys like to resign as opposed to playing out a losing position in hopes of turning it around). The queen trade seemed like a blessing where I was up two pawns, several that were passed and we both had too rooks. Stockfish agreed, but I was unable to convert. I'll have to brush up on those end games for sure!

Given the way it started with me blundering the bishop, I know I should be happy with the draw, but I definitely felt like I missed an opportunity there in the end game.

What a fun game though! And we have another one on deck.

(Also, how do you guys play so fast?? I sometimes take several minutes figuring out my plays so apologies if anyone feels like I'm playing slow. Just can't play too many back to back moves when it takes me 10 minutes to play the moves in my two or three games)

[mrkajz44]

Also, on the live chess meet-up idea let me know how I can help organize or something. I do a lot of events at work, so I have some practice doing that and I'd be more than happy to get that idea off the ground. It's probably best if we just pick a date now and then hopefully everyone can commit to it early.

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Also, on the live chess meet-up idea let me know how I can help organize or something. I do a lot of events at work, so I have some practice doing that and I'd be more than happy to get that idea off the ground. It's probably best if we just pick a date now and then hopefully everyone can commit to it early.

I'm pretty flexible in my travel, would prefer a Saturday but can make any day work really. It might be fun to do it during stampede? Incase some more out of towners are inclined to be in the area around that time, would likely be pretty quiet in the outlying neighborhoods at the time so a pub/brewery might like the idea of promoting/hosting a small chess tournament open to anyone interested, if anyone has some connections they'd want to strike up a convo with?

[Slava]

I don't think that I know of any pub in particular, but I can't imagine them being keen on hosting a chess tournament during the Stampede! I guess stranger things have happened, but that sounds like a long shot.

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don't think that I know of any pub in particular, but I can't imagine them being keen on hosting a chess tournament during the Stampede! I guess stranger things have happened, but that sounds like a long shot.

Ya I'm not really sure, I remember the NW being kind of dead during stampede weeks any time we went to a local

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

(Also, how do you guys play so fast?? I sometimes take several minutes figuring out my plays so apologies if anyone feels like I'm playing slow. Just can't play too many back to back moves when it takes me 10 minutes to play the moves in my two or three games)

I don't think you should worry about it. It's a daily tournament, so I don't think there is anything wrong with using the time we all agreed to.

We haven't played each other yet, but I think I would generally fall into the play fast category, and for me I think it's mostly due to most of the games I play being in the 10 minute format, so I'm not used to taking the time to think through more than one or two candidate lines at a time. Playing in these tournaments against people who take their time has been really good for me, as it forces me to take the time to explore more options on their turn.

[Scornfire]

If anything some of us need to slow down and think harder *cough* me *cough*

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

If anything some of us need to slow down and think harder *cough* me *cough*

And me… as my current game shows.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Too tired to post an analysis (might do it later if I get a chance), but I lost to mrkajz44 in our second game. Blundered a piece in the mid game, tried to find some counterplay but my opponent’s play in the mid and endgame was just too accurate. I played on longer than I had any right to, but resigned rather than be subjected to a pawn checkmate. Tough game.

[mrkajz44]

Well - how about I take a swing at it? I've really enjoyed your commentary, so it only feels fair to provide my own as well.

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/...231?tab=review

The game started with the Queen's Gambit Declined with both sides having their c and d pawns in the middle of the board. White played 6. Bg5 to set up a pin on the knight to the queen and this is where things diverged from the book.

One move 9, I played Nxd5 thinking I'd snag the middle of the board and lined up a check fork on c7 in the future, knowing I'd lose the pawn on b2 next move. I figured after moving my rook to b1, black's bishop would retreat. Instead, he played 10...Ba3 and lined up my other undefended pawn on c5. It took 7 more moves until it was taken, but it grated on me knowing that pawn was likely already dead.

After the queen check on 11....Qa5+, I figured I'd defend my king with my queen and hope black didn't want to trade queens. After some other move, I'd capture black's queen which would require a recapture by the knight, giving me the space for the check fork I was aiming for on c7. Instead, black traded queens immediately and then castled, ruining that plan.

I decided not to give up, playing 14. Nc7 hoping there would be some misplay by black which would win me material. The thought was that by pushing his rook to b8, the b7 pawn couldn't really capture anything without opening the rook up to a surprise attack from my rook on b1. Alas, this was easily seen and my plan did not arise to anything.

After black finally took my hanging pawn with 17...Bxc5, it became a maneuvering game to see if I could grab the somewhat open pawn on e6. Nothing much came for a few moves.

The big blow to black came with 19...Rf6, where he left the bishop on c5 to be captured by my knight for free. I think the thought there was that on 20....Rc8 black would have lined up my knight and bishop and therefore win one back, but I was able to maneuver around enough with the knight to constantly attack at least on of black's rooks, preventing a capture.

Things came to a head on 24. Rxd4 and a flurry of exchanges occurred ending with my knight forking both rooks with 26. Nf3. I thought that was so clever, but stockfish showed how wrong I was. The response 26. ..Rb5 would have threatened checkmate and I would have been left scrambling a bit. Not sure how that would have turned out (I think my biggest weakness around this point it the game is allowing back-rank checkmates, and here I was setting it up again). Luckily, black didn't see this either and I ended up grabbing one of the rooks.

After that, it was a bit of a formality. We danced a bit again and I found my big opportunity with 34. Rxg7, trapping black's king on the h rank. Mate would have soon followed.

All in all, another great game and honestly only one mistake from my competitor. I was sure this one was going to likely go down to the end game or end up a draw as the play was so balanced for so long.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Yeah I definitely did not see 26. … Rb5. That looks like an insane move that hangs both of black’s rooks, but as you point out white actually can’t take either of them due to back rank mate.

Stockfish is a savage.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Congratulations to Superfraggle and mrkajz44 for advancing in CalgaryPuck correspondence tournament no. 3! Should be an exciting head to head match for the championship.

As for the rest of us, are we doing another consolation bracket?

[FireGilbert]

Haha Chess.com throwing shade by not showing the tournament in my list because I've been eliminated.

Thanks for the fun tournament! Good games all. Big learning for me was on focus. Concentrating on a 20 minute rapid game is one thing, trying to concentrate on multiple games over multiple days is a whole different animal.

With 2 players battling for 1st place could we also arrange individual games for 3rd to 8th place? IFF, I think you finished 2nd in your pool so could play me for 3rd place?