My first T4545 game: a WIN!

This afternoon I played my first Team4545 league game. It was a well-fought game. My opponent and I were well-matched, but I managed to pull out the win. Here’s the PGN:

[Event "ICC 45 45"]
[Date "2008.01.27"]
[White "fuzzface"]
[Black "PeteyDaddy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "Queen's pawn game"]
[ECO "A45"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Bg5 O-O 5. c3 d6 6. Qd2 c5 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8.
e3 e5 9. Ne2 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nc6 11. O-O exd4 12. exd4 d5 13. Nbc3 Be6 14. a3
a5 15. Rad1 Bg5 16. f4 Bf6 17. Qc2 Rb8 18. Qb3 b5 19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Bxd5 Qb6
21. Bxc6 Qxc6 22. Qc3 Qxc3 23. Nxc3 b4 24. Nd5 Kg7 25. Nxf6 Kxf6 26. a4 b3
27. Rd3 Rb4 28. Rfd1 Rd8 29. d5 Rd6 30. Rd4 Rb8 31. R1d3 h5 32. Rc3 Ke7 33.
Rc5 Rb4 34. Rxb4 axb4 35. a5 Ra6 36. Rb5 Kd7 37. Rxb4 Rxa5 38. Rb7+ Kd6 39.
Rxb3 Rxd5 40. Rb7 Ke6 41. b4 Rd1+ 42. Kg2 Rd2+ 43. Kh3 f6 44. b5 g5 45. Rb6+
Kf5 46. Rxf6+ Kxf6 47. fxg5+ Kxg5 48. b6 Rb2 49. b7 Rxb7 50. Kg2 Rb2+ 51.
Kh3 Rb3 52. Kg2 Kg4 53. h3+ Kg5 54. Kf2 Kf6 55. Kg2 Ke5 56. h4 Rb4 57. Kf3
Rg4 58. Kf2 Ke4 59. Kg2 Ke3 60. Kh3 Kf2 61. Kh2 Rxg3 62. Kh1 Rg4 63. Kh2
Rxh4# {White checkmated} 0-1

It looked like he would be able to push his pawn on the queenside, but I pushed my pawns on the kingside and managed to get him into a mating pattern at move 44. Well, he did have one out. He could choose to lose his rook instead. I figured that he would resign, since being down a rook so late in the game is a nearly insurmountable disadvantage. However, he chose to battle it out until the very end. It took me a bit, but I was able to get the mate.

This was a huge win for me, and for my team. As a result, the Patzer Boyz pulled out a draw against a team with much stronger ratings. Go Boyz!

I really enjoyed the 45 45 time controls – I didn’t feel rushed (most of the time) and as a result was able to think more deeply about each move. The game took about 2 1/2 hours to play. Finding time for such games is really tough, which makes them a luxury for me. It’s something that I can look forward to each week.

I’ll take a little while to savor this win, and then I’ll start preparing for next week.

Good Luck, fellow Patzer Boyz!

T36, Round 1 of the Team 45 45 League Tournament starts tonight, and the Patzer Boyz are in the hizzouse!

Good luck to my fellow teammates: Wang, Chessaholic, and seldredg. Let’s play some good chess, and have some fun!

Bobby Fischer is Dead

Does anyone else find it ironic that he died at age 64?

I certainly didn’t like the man, but I know that I wouldn’t be playing chess today if it wasn’t for him. Chess would probably be just another board game on store shelves, next to Parcheesi and Monopoly. Tournaments would be few and far between. The USCF would be non-existent.

I appreciate what his accomplishments did for chess in this country and around the world. So long, Bobby.

Marathon of Crap

OK, I just played a zillion games of chess, in order to obtain a non-provisional rating on ICC. I did this so that I could compete as one of the Patzer Boyz in the next Team 45 45 League tournament.

I played a lot of chess. More specifically, I played a lot of bad chess. My rating currently stands at 1090. Ugh. After plunging to 912 right outta the gates, I managed to win/draw a few to bring it up to 1181, before a slew of losses that brought me back down to my current state.

My last two games were the worst. In one of the games, I was dragging my Queen across the board to take the opposing Queen. However, my finger left the mouse button one square short. I tried to take back the obvious slip, but my opponent chomped down on my free Queen. I resigned, and immediately re-challenged, because I was pissed. For such an obvious error, I would have granted a takeback in such a situation, since it wasn’t a tourney game or anything. Oh well.

So I was out for blood in my next game, and I would have had it too, if I wasn’t such an idiot. Here’s the game:

[Event "ICC 15 5"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2008.01.14"]
[White "PeteyDaddy"]
[Black "LuckyGuyThatEarnsRatingPointsFromMyStupidity"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1090"]
[BlackElo "1212"]
[Opening "Réti: King's Indian attack (Barcza system)"]
[ECO "A07"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c5 4. O-O e6 5. d3 Bd6 6. Nbd2 Nc6 7. e4 dxe4 8.
dxe4 O-O 9. b3 b6 10. Bb2 e5 11. Nc4 Nxe4 12. Nfxe5 Bxe5 13. Nxe5 Qf6 14.
Bxe4 Bb7 15. Bxc6 Bxc6 16. Rb1 Rad8 17. Nxc6 Rxd1 18. Rfxd1 Qxc6 {White
resigns} 0-1

At move 17, I had calculated the combination. I would take the Bishop at c6, then he would take my Queen, then I would take his Queen with my Bishop, and we would probably then trade Rooks. This would leave me up a Knight, a formidable advantage so late in the game.

So I had it calculated out, but what do I do on move 18? I take his Rook instead of his Queen. What. the. hell.

I think this clearly illustrates why I shouldn’t play quickly.

But I have my non-provisional rating. woo. hoo.

The Obligatory post for the New Year

In which I outline my chesstastic goals for 2008.

I hereby declare 2008 to be my Year of Chess. (Oooo… sounds official, don’t it?)

What this means is that I plan to make chess a priority when it comes to my spare time. I often think that I have too many interests for my own good, and the result is that I am fairly average in many things, instead of really getting good at one or two. For 2008, I’m going to put chess in the forefront, in the spotlight, in the front row seats. I’m really gonna give this chess thing the ol’ college try.

More specifically, I have the following goals for my chess in 2008:

Play in some rated games OTB against real live humans – my current USCF rating is 1178. I played my last rated game in 1992. 19-friggin-92! San Diego has an excellent chess club that meets every week, and has Saturday tournaments every month. I’d like to start getting down to the club on a semi-regular basis.

Play in a weekend tournament – in addition to playing rated games OTB at the local chess club, I’d like to play in a multi-round weekend tournament. The excitement, the cutthroat competition, the sheer pageantry of it all!

Improve my level of play – duh. Obviously, I’d like to improve my game. I’m going to measure my improvement via my USCF rating and my ICC ratings. How will I improve? Well, I will continue to work through my large stack of unread chess books, but to really improve, I’d like to…

Learn how to analyze my games, and the games of others – After I play a game, I may play back the moves, but I really don’t know how to analyze a game to determine which moves were good, which ones were bad, etc. I’d like to learn how to analyze a game both with and without the assistance of a chess computer.

These are the goals that I can think of at this point. I’d love to be able to meet all of them in 2008.

Here’s to a great year of chess!

Clawing my way outta the basement

After my brilliant 0-5 start on ICC, I’ve managed to dig my fingernails in and gain a bit of a hold for the time being. After sliding to a rating of 912 (912?!?!) I managed to win my last two games. My last game was against a 1305, and I totally pulled a checkmate outta my ass to win. My rating is now back in the 4-digit range – at 1099.

Here’s the game that I pulled outta my butt.

[Event "ICC 10 12"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2008.01.04"]
[Round "-"]
[White "PeteyDaddy"]
[Black "catamaran1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "993"]
[BlackElo "1305"]
[Opening "Réti opening"]
[ECO "A04"]
[NIC "QP.11"]
[Time "21:06:56"]
[TimeControl "600+12"]

1. Nf3 Nc6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Bf5 4. O-O e6 5. d3 Bc5 6. Nbd2 Nf6 7. b3 O-O 8.
Bb2 h6 9. e4 dxe4 10. dxe4 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. Qxd8 Raxd8 13. c4 a6 14.
Rad1 Rxd1 15. Rxd1 Rd8 16. Rxd8+ Nxd8 17. Ne5 Bb1 18. a3 a5 19. Nd7 Bd6 20.
c5 Be7 21. b4 axb4 22. axb4 c6 23. Bd4 f6 24. Bf1 Kf7 25. h4 Be4 26. Nb6 e5
27. Be3 Ke6 28. Nc4 Kd5 29. Nd2 Ne6 30. Bc4# {Black checkmated} 1-0

I think I came out of the opening down a pawn, and so my opponent was quite happy to trade pieces with me for a bit. Yes, let’s get those pesky Rooks and Queens out of the way. He managed to lock his Bishop in, while mine were still fairly mobile, but he started jockeying for position. I cast about desperately for a plan. Since this game was 10 12 time controls, I felt rushed, so I started just trying not to do anything stupid.

Then he brought his King into play. I’m still not quite sure why – I guess he wanted to have an extra attacker to help push his pawns up the board, but with my knight and both bishops still on the board, he was asking for trouble.

After I made my 29th move, I saw it. Checkmate. It didn’t look like your standard mate, but nonetheless it was there, illuminated by a beam of warm sunshine.

He didn’t notice it… Checkmate. Whew!

I’ve still got 13 rated standard games to play so I can register for the Team 45 45 tourney as one of the Patzer Boyz. Gotta get busy!

2008 Championship on RHP

I woke up this morning to a slew of emails. The 2008 championship has begun on Red Hot Pawn, and so I have sixteen new games starting today, against players from all over the world. Woo hoo! Lovin’ it!

What a way to kick off my Year of Chess! I’ll write more on that in a day or two. We took the kids to Legoland today, so I’m too pooped to write.