My CZ Games

[jstainer]

A couple things to keep in mind as I post these.

I'm not a very good player and am only recently getting back into the game. I live in a place that has no chess club, with the closest one to me being a 90 minute drive. So I am relying on Correspondence and longer FICS games to help me work on my playing. Not ideal, but it will have to do.

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.12.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "TheStainer"]
[Black "JoeHolmok"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1615P"] - Provisional for now, this was my first slow game in some time.
[BlackElo "1598"]
[ECO "D46"]
[Opening "Semi-Slav"]
[Variation "Bogoljubow, 7.O-O"]
[TimeControl Game in 30]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 6. c4 c6 7. Bd2 Be7 8.
Nc3 Nbd7 9. Bd3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nb6 11. Bd3 Nbd5 12. a3 Qc7 13. O-O O-O-O 14. Rfc1 Rdf8 15. b4 Kb8 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. b5 c5 18. dxc5 Bxc5 19. e4 Qb6 20.exd5 Nd7 21. Qf5 Qf6 22. Qxf6 Nxf6 23. Rxc5 {JoeHolmok resigns} 1-0

I'll give some of my own thoughts on it later today when I get home.

[Rudel]

(01-04-2010 03:06 AM)jstainer Wrote:  A couple things to keep in mind as I post these.

I'm not a very good player and am only recently getting back into the game. I live in a place that has no chess club, with the closest one to me being a 90 minute drive. So I am relying on Correspondence and longer FICS games to help me work on my playing. Not ideal, but it will have to do.

Thanks for posting! This game is viewable here.

A few minor comments you might want to consider:
i) In chapter 6 I suggest that after Black takes on f3 like this, White should always get a good game by liquidating the center unless Black responds very aggressively with an immediate 6...c5. I think you could have pushed e4 earlier [say, move 14 or maybe even before then.]

ii) If you already know you are going to play Bd2, I would recommend Nc3 first to stop Black from playing a very early ...Ne4, which might end up letting his position look reasonable...which we would hate.

iii) I would be interested in knowing your thoughts when you were contemplating move 19. Were you just considering the cheap pin, or was there something more? I only ask because 19.Bb4 looks like a reasonable way of continuing the pressure.

Best,
David

[jstainer]

Thanks for the comments! I've only briefly looked at most of the chapters, and spent a bit more time on a couple others. Chapter 6 was one of those that I have really only looked at the first few bits so this was certainly new territory for me. Now that I have played it I am going to take a closer look at how to tackle this sort of position if I should encounter it again. Looking over the game again, an earlier e4 seems like it would have been in order, but I got a little distracted by things like seeing his Q/K on a semi open file and wanting to zip my rook over there!

In regards to point ii, I totally agree. In fact, during the game, I was worried about Ne4 after I played Bd2. It was an improvement duly noted for next time.

Castling on the queenside seemed very risky for my opponent in the game, particularly with my pawns ready to start walking up the board.

On move 14 I had a hard time deciding which rook to move over and I still don't know if I moved the right one. E4 was probably better than either rook move anyways.

19. Bb4 would have been the best move I think. I got a little too focused on tactics on the h2-b8 diagonal and didn't really consider that move at all. An oversight to be sure.

Overall I think I played decently, but move order really seems important playing this opening. Not a bad thing, but certainly something I need to be more aware of when playing it as I am sure my moves would have cost me against a stronger player.

[jstainer]

I am trying to commit to playing 2-3 longer games a week. Tonight I just happened to be given white once again.

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2010.01.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "TheStainer"]
[Black "Thryge"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo 1800ishP (still provisional)]
[BlackElo "1728"]
[ECO "D11"]
[Opening "Slav"]
[Variation "4.e3 Bg4"]
[TimeControl "Game in 40"]


1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 c6 4. c4 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 (so I was unsure how to proceed from here and was expecting Bxf3. After looking at the game tonight I wonder if just developing normally with Nc3 would have been better and just ignore the pin for now. 6. g4 Bg6 7. Ne5 Bxb1 (thought this was an odd move giving up the bishop in that manner. Letting me take on g6 and retaking with h pawn seemed more logical.) 8. Rxb1 Nbd7 9. Qb3 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 11. cxd5 Nxe5 12. dxc6 (was a little worried that my King was still sitting in the middle of the board as everything was opening up) Qa5+ (big error but then I completely miss the best move!) 13. Qc3 (just silly on my part. 13. Bd2 Nf3+ 14. Ke2 is just totally winning. I thought that 14 ... Qxc3+ was going to cause me troubles, but obviously I can capture the knight and then black has no answer for my Queen invading b7. A blatant error on my part and a big reason why I have been working hard on tactics every day.) Qxc3 (Qd5 is much better) 14. bxc3 bxc6 15. Bg2 e6 (Both my opponent and myself missed the 0-0-0 move that would have saved him a couple times in this game, particularly at the end) 16. f4 Nd3+ 17. Kd2 (again I miss 0-0-0 which would have forced my King back to e2 where I should have moved it right away) Nxc1 (not sure why he played this except that perhaps he meant to castle long first and this was just a complete brain fart) {Thryge resigns}
1-0

All in all I didn't like where the game went based on my response to 5...Bh5

Any suggestions on how to play from this point would be helpful. Simply keeping on with my development looks like it is probably best.

[Rudel]

(01-04-2010 01:48 PM)jstainer Wrote:  I am trying to commit to playing 2-3 longer games a week. Tonight I just happened to be given white once again.

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2010.01.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "TheStainer"]
[Black "Thryge"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo 1800ishP (still provisional)]
[BlackElo "1728"]
[ECO "D11"]
[Opening "Slav"]
[Variation "4.e3 Bg4"]
[TimeControl "Game in 40"]


1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 c6 4. c4 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 (so I was unsure how to proceed from here and was expecting Bxf3. After looking at the game tonight I wonder if just developing normally with Nc3 would have been better and just ignore the pin for now. 6. g4 Bg6 7. Ne5 Bxb1 (thought this was an odd move giving up the bishop in that manner. Letting me take on g6 and retaking with h pawn seemed more logical.) 8. Rxb1 Nbd7 9. Qb3 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 11. cxd5 Nxe5 12. dxc6 (was a little worried that my King was still sitting in the middle of the board as everything was opening up) Qa5+ (big error but then I completely miss the best move!) 13. Qc3 (just silly on my part. 13. Bd2 Nf3+ 14. Ke2 is just totally winning. I thought that 14 ... Qxc3+ was going to cause me troubles, but obviously I can capture the knight and then black has no answer for my Queen invading b7. A blatant error on my part and a big reason why I have been working hard on tactics every day.) Qxc3 (Qd5 is much better) 14. bxc3 bxc6 15. Bg2 e6 (Both my opponent and myself missed the 0-0-0 move that would have saved him a couple times in this game, particularly at the end) 16. f4 Nd3+ 17. Kd2 (again I miss 0-0-0 which would have forced my King back to e2 where I should have moved it right away) Nxc1 (not sure why he played this except that perhaps he meant to castle long first and this was just a complete brain fart) {Thryge resigns}
1-0

All in all I didn't like where the game went based on my response to 5...Bh5

Any suggestions on how to play from this point would be helpful. Simply keeping on with my development looks like it is probably best.

We've discussed this a bit in this thread, for whatever it is worth.

[jstainer]

Great thanks, I'll check it out!

---

Just had an email chess game wrap up after several weeks of playing. This was the sort of game I had envisioned when I started playing the opening and it was fun to see it all come together.

[Event "O-3071"]
[Site "IECC"]
[Date "2009.12.14"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Stainer, Joel"]
[Black "Bearce, Harold"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D05"]
[Opening "Colle"]
[Variation "Rubinstein's Attack, 5...Nc6"]


1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 c5 5. b3 Be7 6. Bb2 Bd7 7. Nbd2 Nc6 8. O-O O-O 9. a3 cxd4 10. exd4 Rc8 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Ne8 13. f4 f6 14. Rf3 fxe5 15. Bxe5 Bd6 16. Rh3 Nf6 17. Kh1 Bxe5 18. fxe5 Ne8 19. Bxh7+ Kf7 20. Qh5+ 1-0

[jstainer]

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2010.01.07"]
[Round "?"]
[White "TheStainer"]
[White Rating 1900P Still Provisional]
[Black "ArkType 1726"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[TimeControl Game in 60]


1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 c5 5. b3 Nc6 6. Bb2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.a3 (Nbd2 followed by c4 would have been better, though I'm still uncertain how to proceed after 8. Nbd2 Nb4. I contemplated 9. Ne5.) Qb6 9. Nbd2 c4 (this was the move that I allowed with a3 on move 8) 10. Nxc4 (I am sure it is not as good as Be2, but at the time I was thinking that I could get my pawns rolling on the Queenside with this move and still keep my options open on the Kingside as well. After the game I felt like I needed to commit to the Queenside after making this exchange) dxc4 11. Bxc4 Rd8 12. Bd3 Nd5 13. Kh1 (preparing Ne5. This was a wasted move as I really needed to focus on preparing my pawns to starting marching up the board on the Queenside and this just wastes time. Again, not being able to commit to one play or the other seemed to be part of my undoing - along with some tactical miscalculations) h6 14. c4 Nf6 15. c5 Qc7 16. Qc2 Nd5 17. b4 Bf6 18. Rfc1 (should have pushed b5 before he can get in a6) a6 19. Qb3 e5 20. b5 (I had considered Bc4, and I still cannot figure out why I didn't do it. Would have been much better) axb5 21. Bxb5 e4 22. Nd2 Bf5 23. Nc4 Na5 24. Nxa5 Rxa5 25. Bc4 Qd7 26. Bc3 Nxc3 27. Qxc3 Ra4 28. Rcb1 Ra7 29. Rb6 Be6 30. Bxe6 fxe6 31. Qb3 Qd5 32. Qb4 Rc8 33. Rb1 Qa2 34. Rxb7 Qxa3 35. Qxa3 Rxa3 36. R7b6 Kf7 37. g3 Rca8 38. Kg2 Ra1 39. c6 (Giving up any last chance at making a game of it at this point. 39. Rb6+ would have been a good attempt) Rxb1 40. Rxb1 Rc8 41. Rb7+ Ke8 42. c7 Kd7 43. Kh3 Rxc7 44. Rxc7+ Kxc7 45. Kg4 Kd6 46. Kf4 Kd5 47. h3 h5 48. g4 hxg4 49. hxg4 Bh4 50. f3 g5# (My opponent was down to a minute on his clock and I 'might' have won on time had I not played right into his checkmate so nicely, but more likely he would have been able to convert his pawns and win anyways)
{TheStainer checkmated} 0-1

Spent some time checking out the Classical variation of the opening and trying to understand some ways to deal with this. An earlier c4 is clearly in order but still need to figure out a plan against a Nb4 by black as mentioned earlier.

[Rudel]

If you have "Zuke 'Em," you can find this line discussed in section 3.2 of chapter 5. I don't think c4 is needed in this variation, which is one of the most challenging for White to meet. I devote 8 pages to this particularly nettlesome version [where Black plays the classical variation with ...Nc6 and does not exchange pawns in the center, expand on the Q-side, or play his Queen out early.]

[jstainer]

I do have Zuke'Em and was looking in the wrong place in that chapter when trying to find information on this variation. Oops! I'll look again and see if I can find out where to improve. Thanks again.

[Rudel]

Hmm...this brings up a good point. Do you think it would be useful for me to have a little outline at the beginning of each chapter so people can easily find such things?

For example, for chapter 5, the outline would be something like:

5.1: The organizing principle---When can White play Ne5 ?

5.2: White should not play Ne5 when...
5.2.1 Black exchanges early
5.2.2 Black exchanges early (alternate line that allows Ne5 with creative play)
5.2.3 Black plays his Queen out early
5.2.4 Black expands early on the Q-side

5.3 Otherwise White can play Ne5
5.3.1 Case where Black plays ...Nbd7
5.3.2 Case where Black plays ...Nc6

Would something like this be useful or just take up space?