1.Nf3 I play all sorts of things against 1.Nf3 but I doubt whether I will repeat this variation again. I feel white had strong attack during move 11 around. I was wishing to change the colors. Having the kings Indian defense background, with one tempo down on a sharp variation - man, I was sweating ! Lucky that I could keep myself cal between move 9 to 18 and eventually won the game thanks to opponents few mistakes. 1...Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c5 4.0-0 Nc6 5.d3 e5!? 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.e4 d4!? 8.Nc4
A pure Kings Indian defense with colors reversed position. 8...Qc7 9.Nh4 [9.a4] 9...0-0 10.f4
I was thinking white has big advantage here, may be winning. Was very worried that I might lose due to over aggressive play. [10.a4] 10...b5 11.Na3?! Ba6 12.g4?! Ne8 13.g5?! f6?! 14.Nf5!? fxg5 15.fxg5 Nd6 16.Ng3!? g6 17.Bd2 b4 18.Nb1
White's knight moved Nb1-d2-c4-a3-b1 as if it was not developed at all. This un-development, due to not playing a4 stopping b5, cost the game to white. 18...Nf7 19.h4 Bc8 [19...h6 I was playing for the following line when I played g6. But then realized Qg4 given white advantage. 20.gxh6 Bxh4 21.Qg4+/-] 20.c3?! Weakens d3 20...dxc3 21.bxc3 Ba6! I moved B back from a6 just few moves back. Was not easy to overcome psychological barrier to put it back again. But this was indded the best move in this position and won the game for me. 22.Be3? [22.Rf3 Followed by Bf1 to defend d3] 22...Rad8 23.c4? Loosed c-pawn also due to pin. 23...Bxc4 24.Qe1 Bxd3 25.Rf2 Nd4! Strong move forcing more exchange and one more pawn to the center. Black will now have 4 connected pawns in the center ! 26.Bxd4 exd4 27.Rd2 c4 28.Bf1 Bxf1 29.Nxf1 Ne5! 30.Nh2 d3 Clears the g1-a7 diagonal with dangerous threats by black bishop 31.Kg2 Bc5 32.a3 Bd4 0-1
Till I lose a game for over aggression, I will say "Fortune favors the brave" !
1.e4 e6 I had a lot og games in Sicilian dragon with Robin. Now I am trying to play other openings also to get wider chess experience and understanding.
2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6 
Called Guimard variation as pointed out by Robin in the previous blog comments 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd7 6.c3 f6
This is a key position to explain the idea of the variation. White has played Nd2 blocking his bishop. If knight moves to (say) b3, it will be much inferior placed than Nc3 if white wants to play the exchange variation type of position later on with e4xd5. If not what he will do with the e4 pawn ? It is attacked by d5 pawn and Nf6. If white plays Bd3, black will play Nb4. So the only option is to play e5. Then Black will play f6 and attack the front of the chain. When he played Nc6, blocking the c7 pawn, he has abandoned his idea to play c5 attacking the base of the chain. But he saved a tempo and that he can use now to play e5. Later on c7 pawn can be used to support the d5 pawn with c6. This is the idea for Guimard. 7.exf6 Qxf6 Key move. Black plays Qf6 to increase his control on e5. Nd7 also supports later e5. This is different from 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nd7 variation 8.Nb3 Wanted to develop the bishop on c1 but a direct Bd3/Be2 was better (I think) 8...Bd6 Keep on building pressure on e5 square. The bishop may also be useful later on for a kingside attack. 9.Bg5 Developing with tempo but I was happy to see this move. This forces black to play Qf7 which protects the d5 pawn and allows black to play e5 now. Otherwise black had to play Nb6 to defend it and the knight might have been wrongly placed. Qf7 could allow Ng5. 9...Qf7 10.Be2 0-0 11.0-0 e5 
Black has equalized. All major chess programs agree in their assessment (0.00). 12.dxe5 I was not sure with which knight I should recapture on e5. Nd7-e5 was natural as that frees the c8 bishop. But I was not sure of the future of Nc6 if white doesn't take on e5. 12...Ncxe5 Now I can play c6 to support the d5 and can playNd7-f6 to go for kingside attack. 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Nd4 Very good move by Robin ! The knight on d4, as I realized later on, was an extremely strong piece. It was covering all white squares in my position and I had to look for a lot of tactics going forward. 14...c6!? Wanted to play safely but now I think it was not necessary. I was thinking I would get some attack on kingside. But a better idea was to use the queenside majority and try to make a passed pawn there with c5-d4 etc supported by Bd7-c6. White has 3-2 majority in kingside but with so many pieces on board he can not dare to move his g & f panws. Bc6 can also be used for kingside attack. 15.Bh4!? Shredder marks it as a bad move sjhowing =+ 0.34 for black after this move but I felt its an interesting idea. This is usual in Tarrasch French but I missed it here. 15...Bd7 16.Rc1!? I didn't see this candidate move with the idea of opening the g8-a2 diagonal where my queen and king are present. Good idea by Robin. Its different that both Rybka and Shredder now shows good advantage for black. Over the board this type of moves (which changes the course of the game) are difficult to face. 16...Be8?! Bad move. see the variation for alternative. I had lot of holes in my position and must look for exchanging the bishop which will damage the pawn structure. Also this makes the h3-c8 diagonal very weak for black. [16...Ng6 17.Bg3 Bf4!
Missed this move. I was thinking I had to take on g3 and then he takes fg opening the f-file and with Be8 was preparing a feeling square for the queen. If white takes on f4, The knight queen combination supported by the Bd7 and Rf8 will be dangerous for white. 18.Ra1 c5 19.Nf3 Bf5 Black gets the initiative. White is passive here. Well, may be an expert of master would have seen all these. I am not yet there !] 17.Bg3
Won't believe but I was actually planning to play Qc7 here. That was the idea for the Bd7-e8 move. Almost played it. Then sudddenly realized Ne6 forks queen and Rook. Saved a clear loss ! Upto this I think I used only 10 mins on clock compared to 45 mins by Robin and was in pseudo feeling that I have an advantage. I actually underestimated the strength of the Nd4. 17...Qd7? Outright blunder ! I was very shaky at this point and was fearing following variation. Was lucky Robin didn't play it. Rd8 or may be Bd7 back or Qf6 might have been better. 18.Re1?! [18.f4!
18...Ng6 (18...Nc4 19.Bg4 Qe7 20.Re1 Qf6 21.b3 Nb6 22.Ne6 Rf7 23.Qc2 With a lot of attack. ) 19.Bg4 Qe7 20.Re1 Qf6 21.Re6 Qd8 22.f5 Strong attack. May be winning over the board. suddenly all the white pieces come to life and black becomes passive. Lucky I am that nothing like this happened. ] 18...Bf7 19.Bxe5? I was so happy to see this !! It saved the game for me. 19...Bxe5 20.Bg4 Now the e6 is covered, Bg4 has no big threat. 20...Qc7 21.Nf3 The question was whether to play Bd6 aspiring kingside attack or Bf6 with a strong black diagonal. Settled for teh later as with so less pieces on board, kingside attack was not much likely. The black bishop can put a lot of pressure of white's kingside. I know from dragon experience. 21...Bf6 22.Be6 Liquidating. 22...Bxe6 Could have played Re8 keeping control on e-file but was worried about Bf7 Kf7 variation when white can check with Ng5+, Qh5. Felt little unclear. The move played was not worse. 23.Rxe6 Rae8 Can allow the control on e-file. Had to contest. 24.Qe2 Qd7 25.Re1 Rxe6 26.Qxe6+ Qxe6 27.Rxe6 Re6 attacks the c6 pawn and was preventing me to play b5. I was planning to attack the white's queenside pawns in black square. 27...Kf7 28.Re2 Was confused how to play ! Exchange rooks and then play g6-Bg7-Bh6 and then Bc1 ? Takes a lot of time. Need to discuss this with a strong player. 28...a5 wanted to play a4-a3 softening the queenside. 29.a4 Now what ? b5 isolates the d5 pawn which is too risky in king endgame. was thinking Rb8-b5 with the idea of capturing with rook and attack b2 and then continue with a4-a5 threat. 29...Rd8 30.Kf1 d4!? When I played this I felt it makes it dead drawn but now I see Rybka is showing slight advantage for black. The key is black has not weakened his kingside pawns. White needs to play g4-g5, f4-f5-f6 to generate a passer. 31.cxd4 Bxd4 At this position I was worried of Rd2 exchanging the Rooks. 32.Nxd4 [32.Rd2 Bf6 33.Rxd8 Bxd8 34.Ke2 Slight advantage to black but draw is the likely outcome] 32...Rxd4 I was very happy here. Felt I have advantage in the game at last ! 33.b3 Was considering three candidate moves. Rd1 exchanging rooks, b5 attacking the a4 pawn and if he exchanges, get a winning position (however not sure of Rc2 type of counter attacks) and Rb4. Seems the last was the best practical try. 33...Rd1+ 34.Re1 Rxe1+ 35.Kxe1 Ke6 Here I felt my advanced King and no weakness on kingside should win the game for me. Once saw a game of Kasparov where he won similar ending taking advantage of his advanced king. 36.Kd2 Ke5 37.Kc3? 
This is the one I mentioned as blunder in my blog. Rybka assess the position after Ke4 as -+1.21. This move was played with the idea (I guess b4) and I believed in that with out calculating. Do not know with 20 mins on my clock I didn't play the natural Ke4 !!!! 37...b5? I ruined my only chance in the game ! after b5, I'll not be able to play the c5-c4 idea as b5 hangs. [37...Ke4
38.Kc4 (38.b4? axb4+ 39.Kxb4 Kd4 c6 pawn queens.) 38...b6 39.Kc3 (39.h3 h6 40.h4 h5) 39...b5 40.h4 h5 41.Kc2 bxa4 42.bxa4 Kd4 43.f3 c5 44.Kd2 c4 45.g4 g6 46.gxh5 gxh5 47.f4 (47.Ke2 c3 Wins for black) 47...Ke4 48.Kc3 Kxf4 49.Kxc4 Kg4 50.Kb5 Kxh4 51.Kxa5 Kg5 52.Kb6 h4 53.a5 h3 54.a6 h2 55.a7 h1Q 56.Kc7 Qa8 Black loses by just one tempo] 38.Kd3 Kd5 39.h4 Ke5 40.Ke3 h5 41.f3?
Another blunder. In fact both Robin and I saw the idea but we missed a few moves. Later cardenas also showed the same but all of us missed the winning path. Simple Kd3 draws. 41...Kd5 ? [41...bxa4! 42.bxa4 c5! 43.Kd3 Kf4 44.Kc4 Kg3 45.Kb5
I saw this position during analysis and felt white do not need to take the c5 pawn and can play Ka5. But black can play c4 taking the tempo back. 45...c4 (45...Kxg2? 46.Kxa5 White wins) 46.Kxc4 Kxh4 (46...Kxg2 47.Kb5 Draws) 47.Kb5 Kg3 48.Kxa5 Kxg2 49.Kb6 h4 50.a5 h3 51.a6 h2 52.a7 h1Q 53.a8Q Qh6+ 54.Kc7 Qf4+ 55.Kd7 Qxf3
Is this a winning ending for black or white gets the perpetual ?] 42.Kd3 Kc5 43.Kc3 Kd5 44.Kd3 Ke5 45.Ke3 Again could have played bxa but didn't see all these. I wish I could calculate little better and take this game longer.......... 1/2-1/2
Allen won the position in style with following moves. Actually Parker resigned after Bg8 check.
1.Rxg6 Rxf4 2.Bg8+ Kh8 3.Rh6+ Rh7 4.Rxh7#
ICICLE Swiss started at South West Chess Club with a strong field. See the link to SWCC at links section of this blog. We meet on Thursday evening at the Hales Corner town hall (more details in the SWCC website).
Allen Becker, Ferguson, David Cardenas, Paul Fricano, Anthony Parker all won their games. I couldn't convert a clearly winning middle game position due to tremendous resistance by Andrew Grochowski and could only manage to draw. This was two consecutive tournaments where I was paired against Andrew in the first round.
More details to follow.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 Colle System 3...c5 4.c3 This move characterizes the Colle-Koltanowski system. White 'over-protects' the d4 pawn, makes a hole in c2 where Queen or Bishop (in case of c4) can drop in and also avoids future Nc6-Nb4 moves. The other variety is Colle-Zukertort where back plays b3 to fianchetto the dark square bishop and sometimes plays c4. Derek played this variation against me in the Team tournament and I managed to win the game after a tough fight. 4...d5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.0-0 b6 7.Nbd2 This position is the ciritical tabya for Colle. White's idea is to play e4 to free the dark squared bishop and allow heavy pieces to use e-file to generate a king side attack. There are two ways he can do so, either play Qe2/Re1 & direct e4 and accept isolated Queens pawn if blacks exchanges on d4. Alternatively, white first plays dxc5 and then only plays e4. 7...cxd4?! A bad move; rather a bad idea ! This is the only advantage of playing uncommon variations. I would have hardly played an out-of-book (and bad) 7th move in Nimzo-Indian ! Black should have played Bd6 or Be7 and keep the tension in center. Black's idea in Colle is to watch out for white's e4 followed by e5 idea. Sometimes black plays e5 himself to stop this threat - this opens up the diagonal for his own light squared bishop while blocking that of his opponents. This premature exchange in center makes white's life easy. 8.exd4 Bd6 9.Re1 Qc7 One of the key idas white has is to play Ne5, followed by f4. It also clears the third rank for the potential Rook lift (Re3/f3 and then Rh3/g3). Concentration of more pieces around black king creates potential for a kingside attack. It is not easy to remove this Knight once it arrives there as after Ne5, de5 or fe5 removes the important f6 Knight which allows Bh7 sacricfice etc. So I tried preventing this move with Bd6 & Qc7 10.Nf1 Frees black squar bishop. Also good was Qe2 and then Ne5. 10...h6 Stops Bg5. Since my dark square bishop is not defending the f6 Knight (say from e7), it was important precaution. Now white's dark square bishop really lacks good squares. 11.h3?! Wastage of time. Qe2-Ne5 should have been played. Ng4 wasn't a threat as white can simply play h3 with tempo. Now black equalizes. 11...0-0 12.Be3 Na5?! Again a bad move & again a bad idea. It allows Ne5 which I was stopping so long. But what should I have played here ? lets spend a minute. White is perfectly developed but there is no immediate threat. Black's light square bishop is bad and is locked in by his own pawns (f7,e6,d5) which are not likely to move. So better was to plan for exchanging this for white's bishop/knight by playing a5-Ba6. But then what ? Look carefully, the pawn structure is similar to Queen's gambit declined exchange variation with colors reversed. So the natural idea should have been to go for minority attack with a5-b5-b4. 13.Ne5! Nc4 14.Nxc4? Bxc4 should have been played. Now white loses the strong e5 Knight and also a tempo to remove the attacked Bishop. Blacks is slightly better now. 14...dxc4 15.Be2 Bb7 16.Bf3 Bd5 I was planning to play Qb7 to force the exchange of light squared bishops when I would have much better minor pieces. 17.Bxd5 Nxd5 18.Qg4 Threatening Bh6. 18...Kh8 19.Qh4 Again threatening Bh6 with the idea of perpetual. 19...Qd8 It was a big mental fight for me. I was trying to win this game (I would loose 4-5 point in case of a draw) and apparently Queens on the board will increase the chance of a result. However, here White's Queen was more active and more imporantly, in thr end game, I would have a much better chance due to better minor pieces. 20.Qxd8? White should have kept the Queens with Qh5/g4. 20...Rfxd8 Selecting which Rook to move is a very critical decision (and as I found we very often choose the wrong one). Here I moved the f-Rook as the other one will be required for b5-b4 push. 21.Rad1?! Not clear what was the idea. White should have played Nd2. 21...b5 22.Nd2 Rdc8 23.Ne4 Be7 24.g3 Kg8 25.a3 a5 26.Ra1 Ra6?! Too clever. Better was direct b4. 27.f4 f5?! 28.Nd2 g5?! Black looses the advantage. I was trying to play everywhere (queen side, king side and center) which was not possible (& practical). 29.Nf3 g4 30.hxg4 fxg4 31.Ne5 h5 Now white has slight advantage due to backward e6 pawn and open e & h files. My only hope (for the last few moves) was white's bishop was bad, restricted by his own pawn chains in the same color. But I had to exchange the Knight first. 32.Kg2? Kf2 was better as it also protects the e3 Bishop and frees R on e1. 32...Kg7 33.Bd2 Bd6 34.Rh1 Bxe5 35.fxe5 At last !! Just compare the Knight on d5 with poor Bishop on d2. Black is better again. I now needed to exchange the Rooks so that the difference in power becomes telling. 35...Kg6 36.Rhf1 Raa8 Another downside of incorrect 26th move (Ra6). I had to spend one more move to bring it back to where it was originally in. 37.Rf2 Rf8 38.Raf1 Rxf2+ 39.Rxf2 One pair gone but should I remove the other pair also ? I thought for a long time but couldn't crack the question. My rook was definitely better than white's and I could have used it for playing b4 thrust. But I felt in the absence of Rooks, my Knight is even more powerfull than the white Bishop. This also tells the difference in Chess understanding between a Class A player and a Master. How many times I have seen similar position where a GM clearly explained whether to exchange a piece or not. 39...Kg7 40.Kf1 Kg8 Rf8 can not be played due to the threat of Bh6 skewer. 41.Bg5?! This allows the rook exchange in favorable condition. Better was Ke2 with the idea of Rh2 & a tough defense. 41...Rf8 42.Rxf8+ Kxf8 Yes !! I felt that I have almost won the game (what a pity !). Black had clear advantage for having a much better Knight as compraed to White's dark squared Bishop. Note all Six (!) white pawns are on the same color of the Bishop. But what's next ? 43.Bd8! Forces a4 which temporarily stops the b4 break. should I have had the Rook on board to protect it and play b4 ? 43...a4 44.Kf2 For the next couple of moves Black could have played b4. But I had anly around 10 mins (may be a lot of time for others like Ashish but for me it was scary to go under 5 mins). I felt I would be able to win the g3 pawn or create a passer there. I forgot I am not a pawn up and ....wait few more moves. 44...Kf7 45.Bg5 Kg6 46.Bd2 Kf5 47.Ke2 Ne7 48.Be3 Ke4 49.Bg5 Nf5 50.Bh4 Now Black can play 50...Nxh4 51.gh and get the protected g pawn as passer - what I was hoping for. I got what I wanted only to realize that I better have not wanted that. Read the variation 50...Nh4 first. 50...Ne3 [50...Nxh4 51.gxh4 g3 I got the passer but then what ? I can't push it to become Queen as White's King is within the square to stop it. But is it not the case of overloaded piece ? White's King is protecting both the g pawn and stops black king from going to the queenside and grab all pawns. Sure it is !! But wait one more minute, can I really take my king to queenside. No ! as White has his own share of passed pawn and wins by playing d5 and push it to d8 (if black does not take it) or push e pawn to e8 if black takes on d5. In both the cases White queens first and wins. I sadly realized that Black's king is also overloaded !
52.Kf1 Kd3?? (52...Kf3?? 53.d5 g2+ 54.Kg1 exd5 55.e6 d4 56.e7 d3 57.e8Q d2 58.Qxh5+ Ke3 59.Qd1) 53.d5 Kc2 (53...exd5 54.e6) 54.dxe6 Kxb2 55.e7 Kxa3 56.e8Q] I felt I had everything. I had a dominating king, a better minor piece, better pawns, potential passer.....but where is the win. The only thing I didn't have was exactly what I wanted....time in clock so that I could think & calculate. 51.Be7? Had to play Bg5 51...Nc2? Missed the win.. I thought I'll get some sac on a3 or d4. I missed win could come through other roads. [51...Nd5 52.Bf8 (52.Bg5 Discussed at the end) 52...b4!! 53.Bxb4 a) 53.cxb4 c3 54.bxc3 Nxc3+ 55.Ke1 Nb5 56.Be7 Nxa3 57.Kd2 Nb5 wins; b) 53.axb4 Nxc3+! 54.Kd2 (54.bxc3? a3 and promotes) ; 53...h4!! 54.gxh4 g3 55.Bc5 Nf4+ 56.Kd2 Nd3 57.Ke2 g2 58.d5 Nxc5 59.Kf2 Kxd5 60.Kxg2 Kxe5 King stops h pawn and Knight gets the queenside pawns and black wins easily] 52.Bd8 Na1 53.Be7 Nb3 54.Bg5 Kf5 55.Be3 Ke4 56.Bg5 Na5 57.Bd8 Nc6 58.Bb6 Nb8 59.Bc7 Nd7 60.Bd8 Nf8 61.Bg5 Ng6 62.Bd2 Ne7? Missed again [62...h4! 63.gxh4 (63.Kf2? h3 Only 2 squares from queening and would tie down black king. Now white is loosing as I have got the passed pawn while keeping the Knight at d5 which can block white passer. So white king is overloaded but mine is not. I could take my king to queenside and digest white pawns.) ] 63.Be3? Bg5 was again the only move 63...Nd5? Return gift !! How many bad moves we exchanged till now ? [63...Nf5!
64.Bf2 (64.Bf4 h4! 65.Kf2 hxg3+ 66.Bxg3 Kd3 67.d5 exd5 68.e6 Kc2 69.Bh4 Kxb2 70.e7 Nxe7 71.Bxe7 Kxc3 White has many different ways to loose the ending.....my five small Dogs (pawns) were better than one mighty white Tiger (Bishop)...sometimes, size doesn't, rather number matters.)
64...h4! 65.gxh4 g3 66.Be1 (66.Bg1 Nxh4 67.Be3 g2 68.Bg1 Ng6 69.Kf2 (69.Bh2 Nf4+ 70.Kf2 Nd3+ 71.Kxg2 Nxb2) 69...Kd3 70.Kxg2 Kc2 71.Kf3 Kxb2 72.d5 exd5 73.Bd4 Kxa3 74.e6 Kb2 75.Kg4 a3 and queens) 66...Kf4 67.h5 Kg4 68.Bd2 Kxh5 69.Kf3 Kh4 70.Be1 Kh3 71.Kf4 g2 72.Bf2 Ne7 73.Bg1 Nd5+ 74.Kf3 b4 75.cxb4 Nxb4 76.Ke3 Nd5+ 77.Kf2 Nf4 78.Kf3 Nd3 79.Ke3 Kg4 80.d5 Kf5 81.d6 Nxe5 82.Kf2 Nd7 83.Kxg2 e5 84.Kf3 Ke6 85.Ke2 Kxd6 This is a winning ending for black.] 64.Bg5?
This was not the last blunder of the game. Black had one final blunder to make......settle for Draw !!!
This was the time to play the move I was trying for last 10-15 moves...... 64...-- [64...b4!!
I saw the move and did some calculation as well but was not sure to the fullest extent. I had only 5 mins and was leading the tournament (just won against Ashis)...so chicken out with the draw. I won the tournament but still feels only if I could win the gem of this ending !!
Black wins in all variations. Proposing you to analyze this position and let me know if black wins ! White Candidate moves are 65.Bd2; 65.cxb4; 65.axb4; 65.Kd2; 65.Kf2)
1/2-1/2
