Uncommon Chess Openings Blog

Started playing again.....

2009-03-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

Since leaving Milwaukee in October, I was totally out of over-the-board play...almost 5 months. Some players meet in a local library on Saturdays but nothing like SWCC or Waukesha clubs. Only 4-5 people come here and they mainly play quick unrated games. During this I was playing in Correspondence chess, winning a few Walter Muir events to keep my chess brain active.

Realized, no matter how much I like chess, with a tough profession in IT and a family to maintain, I won't be able to play the whole weekend in tournaments. So the only option was to go for shorter time control with one day events. I do not do well in 60 mins or less but had no choice.

So started playing in G/60 events in Marshall Chess Club in New York. They have this every alternate weeks. So far I played 3 events (28-Feb, 14-Mar & 28-Feb). Scored 3/4, 3/4 and 2.5/4 in these and go the under 2000 prize in all 3 occasions. The rating jumped from recent low of 1944 to 1955-1969-1974.

Overall playing okay, still far from my best but getting there. Will publish the games in coming days.

No matter what, I am still missing the folks & culture of SWCC.

Badger Open - Finished 3-way second place with 4/5 points

2008-09-21T19:43:00.001-07:00

Played in Badger Open, this weekend. Finished 3-way second place with 4/5 points and won the class A prize solely. The only loss was against David Jin in rd 2 where I couldn't find right moves in time pressure in an highly unclear material up position. The loss cost me net 7 points even though I won 4 other games.

Paul Fricano won the even clear first with 4.5/5. Congratulations to Paul ! Garvin won the Class B as clear first. Thanks a lot to Ashish, Gregory Reese and others for offereing a chance to play in Milwaukee after a long time. Very well organized. It deserved even higher participation. Games from the event to follow.

Link to the results

http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200809218591-12916036

Won First Correspondence Tournament 6-0

2008-09-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

I started playing correspondence chess this summer. The first tournament was Walter Muir (08WM16). Played following players two games each. I won the event 6-0.

Christopher A. Bastin
White: Slav defense, Bg4 variation
Black: Nimzo-Indian, Samisch variation
Patrick A. Walsh
White: Trompowsky, Ne4-d5 variation
Black: Bogo-Indian, Nbd2 variation
Daniel L. Johnson
White: Trompowsky, Unusual (Nc6) variation
Black: Ruy Lopez, Anti-Marshall variation

Overall I really liked it. I could play Ruy Lopez from black side after a long time ! I used to play e5 to e4 when I started playing chess (before moving to Sicilian). I actually played the variations I play over the board. The best thing is I could analyze some positions for days which is different from normal tournaments. I hope when these positions will come up in live events, I would make use of this experience.

In summary, Corr chess is more like searching the truth in the position. If you love chess and like analysing the position, bringing the deep secrets out, Correspondence chess is the way to go. Following are the games from the event.

Roychoudhury,Souvik - Walsh,Patrick
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 d5 4.e3 e6 5.Bd3 b6 6.Bxe4 dxe4 7.Nc3 f5?! [7...Bb7 8.Qg4; 7...Bb4 8.Qg4 0-0 9.Bh6 Qf6 10.Qxe4] 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qh3 Nc6 [9...Bd6 10.0-0-0 Bxf4 11.exf4 0-0 12.Qe3 Nd7 13.f3 Bb7 14.fxe4 fxe4 15.Nh3 Nf6 16.Ng5 Qe7 17.h4 (17.Ncxe4 Bxe4 18.Nxe4 Nd5 19.Qg3 Nxf4 20.Rhe1) 17...h6 18.Ngxe4 Bxe4 19.Nxe4 Nd5] 10.0-0-0 Ba6 11.d5

exd5 12.Nxd5
1-0

Walsh,Patrick - Roychoudhury,Souvik
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.c4 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 b6 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Bxd2 h6 7.g3 Bb7 8.Bg2 0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.Qc2 Nbd7 11.e4 Bxe4 12.Qc3 c5
0-1

Roychoudhury,Souvik - Bastin,Christopher
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Qb3 Qc7 6.Ne5 Bh5 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.Bd2 Nc6 9.Na3 e6 [9...Nxe5 10.dxe5 Nd7 (10...Qxe5 11.Qxb7 Rd8 (11...Rb8 12.Bb5+) 12.Nb5+-; 11.Rc1 Qb6 (11...Qd8 12.Qxb7; 11...Qb8 12.Nb5) 12.Nb5+-] 10.Rc1 Bd6 11.Nb5 Qd8

12.Nxd6+ Qxd6 13.Qxb7 0-0 14.Nxc6 Nd7 15.Bb4
1-0

Bastin,Christopher - Roychoudhury,Souvik
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.Bg5 Qa5 7.Qb3 [7.Qd3 cxd4 (7...Ne4 8.Bd2) 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Qxd4 e5] 7...cxd4 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Qb4 Nc6 10.Qxa5 Nxa5 11.cxd4 b6 12.e4 Bb7 13.Bd3 f5 14.f3 fxe4 15.fxe4 f5

16.Nf3 fxe4 17.Bxe4 Bxe4 18.0-0 Bxf3 19.Rxf3 Nxc4 20.Rc3 d5 21.Ra2 Kd7 22.Kf1 Raf8+ 23.Ke1 Rf4 24.Rd3 Rhf8 25.Kd1 Rf1+ 26.Kc2 R8f2+ 27.Kb3 Rb1+
0-1

Roychoudhury,Souvik - Johnson,Daniel
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Nc6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e4 Be7 5.Qd2 b6 6.Nf3 Bb7 7.d5 exd5 8.exd5 Nb4 9.0-0-0 [9.Bc4 0-0 10.0-0] 9...Nbxd5 10.Nxd5 Nxd5 11.Bc4 Nf6 [11...Bxg5 12.Nxg5 Nf6; 11...h6] 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 [12...gxf6 13.Qh6] 13.Rhe1+ Be7 14.Qg5 Kf8 15.Qf5 d5 16.Bxd5 Bxd5 17.Rxd5 Bd6 18.Ne5 f6 19.Nd7+ Kf7 20.Qe6+ Kg6 21.Ne5+

1-0

Johnson,Daniel - Roychoudhury,Souvik
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.h3 Na5 9.d3 0-0 10.Nc3 Bb7

11.Bd2 Nxb3 12.axb3 c5 13.Ne2 Nh5 14.Ng3 Nxg3 15.fxg3 f5 16.exf5 Rxf5 17.Rf1 Qb6 18.Kh2 Raf8 19.Rb1 d5 20.Be3 Bd6 [20...Qe6 21.Qe2 e4 22.dxe4 dxe4 23.Nd2 Bd6; 20...e4 21.dxe4 (21.Nd2 Rxf1 22.Nxf1 d4 23.Bg1 e3) 21...dxe4 22.Nd2 Qe6 (22...Qg6 23.Bf4 h5 24.Qe2 h4) 23.Qe2 Bd6 24.Rxf5 Rxf5 25.Rf1; 20...Qe6 21.Qe2 (21.Nd2 Rxf1 22.Nxf1 d4 23.Bg1 e4 24.dxe4) 21...e4 22.dxe4 dxe4 23.Nd2 Bd6 24.Rxf5 Rxf5 25.Rf1 Rxf1 26.Nxf1] 21.Qe2 Qc7 22.Nh4 Rxf1 23.Rxf1 Rxf1 24.Qxf1 d4 25.Bd2 [25.Bf2 e4 26.Nf5 (26.dxe4 Bxe4) ] 25...e4 26.Nf5 Bf8 27.Bf4 Qf7 28.g4 g6 29.Ng3 exd3 30.cxd3 Qxb3 31.Qe2 Qf7 32.Bd2 c4 33.dxc4 bxc4 34.Be1 d3 35.Qd2 Qd5 36.Nf1 Bb4
0-1

The new Kid in town

2008-08-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

We are blessed with a baby boy on 19-Aug (Tuesday) morning at 8:54 am. He weighs 8 lbs and measures 20 inches. His good name is "Souriddha"..... (pronounce like sou-rid-dha) and nick name is "Titas". Boy and his mom are both doing well.

Chess is a CRUEL game !

2008-08-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

Albert Einstein once said, he never liked Chess because it is a Cruel Game. You play good-better-best moves for 3 hours, outplay your opponent and then make one error; just one error and you lose. There is no credit that the 30-40 moves before the error, you played so well.
Compare that with say Football. You play better 3 quarters and scored a lot of points. Nobody can take back those points from you. Alas, Chess is a different sport.

I still love it. Love it and Hate it. That it does not pay back for all the hard work before and during the game, so often. Following are some of my recent games where I was winning clearly and then came the villain move and I had to go back empty handed, with a lot of emotional pain along with.

This is against Erik Santarious (2220) in Midwest team championship. I had a fotress and with draw secured. Bu I saced a piece as I wanted to win. And was winning as well. Simple Ne3+ followed by cxb4 and then Bxd5 (if needed) wins clearly. I saw that, thought for 10 mins and do not know why, played fxg6. Now my pawns on kingside are broken and lost their mobility. Erik blocked them and then in my time trouble won.

Against William Williams (2200) from a closed position, I outplayed him and got a winning position. g5 traps the Rook.. Ne5 will be answered by de when his Queen is attacked. After Rh3, Bg4 wins the exchange with the threat of mate. I saw it when I played earlier Bf3+ but when the moment came, I just played Rg5 and then lost due to in time trouble. I would have crossed 2000 if I would have won this game.

Again from Midwest team championship. Frist round against Yeng (1800). My team lost as I lost. If I would have won, we would have won (Sorry Parker, Paul, Cardenas). I outplayed my opponent in Nimzo India defense. Wanted to play Ra8 to exchange and simplify. But suddenly the flash buld (wrong one) was fired and I played c4 to avoid any check on light squared only to see Nf5 with Rg7 threat wins a Rook. Still I was very much on the game as his Bishop was bad, I have a pawn for exchange and all prospects to get through the closed queenside. But there followed the aftershock and lost as I opened the kingside to get back teh exchange.

Latest one. Against Paul Fricano (1968) in ongoing SWCC club championship. I have a clear winning position. I planned to play Bc5 pinning the Knight, ensuring exchange of one (or more) pieces and then safely getting home with 2 connected, unobstructed pawns on queenside. But suddenly my hand went for Rook and I played Rxc3 to allow his Queen back to game. It was still okay and I got the following position

Just needed to play Qc8 and black still wins. But It was not to be this way. Played exf and some more errors in time toruble cost me the game which I felt I played better 98 mins but the last 2 mins shadowed the same. One consolation is Paul didn't lose the pawn, he saced it. So in one way, he deserved the same.

Recent loss from Waukesh tournament against Ivan Wijetunga (1830). I do not think I will lose another game again with 2 pawns up and exchange up position ! Have you ever done anything similar ? Black is winning and it does not need any expert analysis. When I went for this position, i planned c5 to free the Bishop. In case of dxc Rc8 or Qa3 gets the pawn back. When the position came, I felt Rc8 is even better. Bxc4 is met by Na3 when one pair of pieces exchanged leaving white not much stuff to justify an attacke for still pawn down and exchange down position. I saw castle allows Ng5 etc for a kingiside attack. White had nothing at this position and giving him something was meaningless, especially when black had some many options. But I still castle and do not still know why.

But an exchange and pawn is a lot of material. So I still had teh chance. I could still have played c5 or even the dumb Bc8 to avoid the Nxe6 sac. But I played Nd6 - Second Blunder .He took on g6 and saced on e6. It was still an equal position but I managed to lose.

Finally this one also from the nightmareish team tournament where I lost 3 game in 5 round, all from winning position. His queen is overloaded, defending both d5 Rook and G4 Bishop. Simple g6 followed by Rxd5 gets the piece. This way I get an escape route for my King. I thought for a while but again for unknown reasons, play Rxd5 directly. Won the piece but he had mate threats and eventually in time trouble I managed to lose.

Whom, if not me or God, shall I blame for this ? May be nobody. This is the name of the game. Chess is indeed a Cruel game.

I know it must have happended to all of you. Do share your thoughts....

Tromp against Veech - Close escape

2008-07-26T05:52:00.000-07:00

I could have lost the game ! Missed a knight fork and had terribly bad position - passive and underdeveloped. I was committed to try my best. My young opponent played a very good game and missed his chance narrowly. Well played Veech !

Following is the link to the game in JavaScript window (you can play through the game)

http://www.geocities.com/saubhikr/veech.htm

Roychoudhury,Souvik (1976) - Veech,John (1813) [A45]

SWCC Club Championship, Hales Corner (3.3), 24.07.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 The most common response 3.Bf4 c5 Sharpest variation....can be said the main line 4.f3 Qa5+ 5.c3 Nf6 6.Nd2 I liked to play d5 here which is a complex, tactical game and have won a convincing game again Fricano on this line. But against a young player, wanted to play positionally. 6...cxd4 7.Nb3 Qb6 8.Qxd4 cxd is just bad. White's kingside is cluttered and black gets a free game 8...Nc6 9.Qxb6 axb6 10.Nd4 e5 11.Nxc6 exf4 12.Nd4 This is all theory and we played it within 1 min. One funny point is if you put this position to Fritz or Rybk, it wl show aslight advantage to black. I must repeat white has NO ADVANTAGE in Tromp. Then why do I play this ? I play this because the positions are complex enough and one can play for win. My 70+% score in Tromp is because I played the middle gamm better than my opponent. When they were better (like Amanov, Santarious), I lost. 12...d5 Few other common response here are Nd5 (which I feel best) and Bc5. d5 is also comon. It frees the c8 Bishop and stops white's Nh3 move. 13.e3!?

Not a pawn sac as white will get this back in two moves 13...fxe3 Ke2 is the main move. But over the board I felt Bb5+ with a tempo is better as a later Ne2 does not block the bishop.Plus exchanging pieces will help white to exploit the Black's bad pawn structure in end game. I mised the point. 14.Bb5+?! Bd7 15.Ke2 Bc5 16.Bxd7+ Kxd7 17.Kxe3 Rhe8+ 18.Kd3 Bxd4!? I was shocked to see this move. Black has a bad pawn structure which is compensated by his better development and having the good bishop. But this move made me think for a long as my King in center can be subjected to a lot of attack. Plus I have to waste a tempo to play Kd3 to develop my knight on best square e2. 19.Kxd4 [19.cxd4 Shredder thinks this is better. Because black has bad queenside pawns and white can play Ne2-Nc3 and then either play for Rc1-c7 (after Nb5 or attack the d5 square. I felt I can not win this unless black really playes bad. ] 19...Kd6 [19...Re7 I was really worried about this move and this made me think for almost 15 mins to evaluate the subsequent position. 20.Kd3 Rae8 21.Rd1! This is the key defense. 21...Re1 22.Kd2 R1e3 23.Kc1 (23.Kc2 Re1 24.Kd2 R1e3 White can not free the knight.) 23...Kc6 24.Nh3 Nh5 25.Rd4 Position is still equal but black with bad pawn stucture has more to worry.; 19...Nh5 20.g3 This variation is also good as it weakens the f3 pawn.] 20.Kd3 This is the catch. If I would not have played Bb5+, I had controll on e2 square and could have pplayed Ne2. Now I had to waste a tempo to play that. This is why Bb5+ check is not played. Black bishop had no good square as after Bf5+ Kd3, I can kick it with Nd4 and then exchange it favorably with Bd3. 20...Nd7 21.b3?? Too clever and outright blunder ! I was afraid that after Ne2, black can play Ne5+ followed by Nc4+ and get a good position. This was a profilactic move move to stop that. I missed one point. [21.Kd2! This was the right profilactic move in anticipation on Ne5 or Nc5.] 21...Nc5+

Here I planned Kd2 followed by Nd2. But suddenly saw that I am losing an exchange and a pawn and the game by a knight fork on b3 !! The a1 rook is undefended. 22.Kc2 Black is clearly winning here. Fritz assessment is black is 3 pawns up ! HOWEVER, I recently realizzed that I generally did not lose games with just one blunder. I always had another shot and when I lost, I lost for the second blunder. I was committed to apply that lesson and try hard and wait for my chance. 22...b5? Unnecessary waste of time. Ra3 wins easily. 23.b4 I was desparate to complicate the position 23...Nd7? Na4 attacking c3 is much simpler. Black gave few tempo to white. Black has slight advantage only now. 24.Kd2? Counter favor. Kd1 was better as on d2, white gets into the knight check from c4. Black has again clear plus 24...Ne5 25.Ne2 Nc4+ 26.Kd1 Ne3+ 27.Kd2 Nc2!! I saw it is coming few moves back but could do nothing to stop it. If Veech played very well in this game. Excellent move.

28.Nd4!? White sacs the exchange but stays in the game as he will get the b5 pawn back and has a fortress in center. Maaaaay beee some complication can bring him back to the game. [28.Kxc2 Rxe2+ 29.Kb3 Rxg2 Black is a pawn up and white has nothing to show in return. Passive and bad.; 28.Rac1 Rxa2 29.Rxc2 Rxc2+ 30.Kxc2 Rxe2+ 31.Kd3 Rxg2-+] 28...Nxd4?! Too smart [28...Nxa1 29.Nxb5+ Kd7 30.Rxa1 Re6 Black should have played this line. Soften the kingside and open the lines for rook.] 29.cxd4 Ra3 I personally felt Rc8-c4 is better 30.Rhc1 Though now I see black is still clearly better but at this point I was much relieved over the board 30...Ree3 31.Rc5 I was thinking I am getting the b5 pawn back. I missed something. 31...Rad3+?! [31...b6! My rook will be trapped if I take on b5 ! neither of us saw it over the board.] 32.Kc2 Rxd4 33.Rxb5 Re2+ 34.Kc3 Rc4+ 35.Kd3 I was thinking Kb3-followed by Rd1 to get the d-pawn but black will take on king side pawns and win 35...Rxg2 36.Rxb7 White is very close to being saved here. Rook endings are easier to defend for losing side. 36...Rxh2?! Rf4 defending the f7 while attacking the f3 was better. 37.Rxf7 I was thinking whether to play a4-a5 trying to get the pawns first. They say, in Rook ending the activity is more important than material. But today I had enough for trying subtle moves. Played simple. Actually a4-a5 or b5 ideas loses as black will also roll with h5-h4 and might get some mating attack for the cut off king with f5-f4. 37...Rxb4 38.Rxg7

Here I offered draw. a, c, f, h pawns dow not win rook endgame. So I realized I had no chance to win unless he blunders big time. I had just 20 mins vs 60 misn for Veech. With equal pawn and free passer to each, draw is the likely solution. And who knows that better than Veech who just offered a lecture that evening on Rook Endgames. After a short thought, he accepted. I saved from a close defeat! 1/2-1/2

SWCC Championship - Colle from black side against Pokoroski

2008-07-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

Following is the analysis of my last round win against Jeff Pokorsoski. I played for fun, took a a lot of risk and won eventually. My opponent played very solid but allowed himself to go to time trouble when he made a few bad moves to loose. Anyway, good game.

Click the following link to play through the game

http://www.geocities.com/saubhikr/pokorski.htm

Pokorski,Jeff (1652) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1976) [A45]

SWCC Club Championship Waukesh (2.4), 17.07.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.e3?! c5!?

2.e3 was premature and discloses white plan too early. Colle is ineffective against g6 set up. I should have played 2....g6 here. 3.Bd3 d5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bg4 c4 followed by Bf5/Bg4 was also good. I wanted to keep the tension in the center. 6.h3 Bxf3 [6...Bh5 I was afraid in this case white can take the c5 pawn and keep the same. Analyzed for some time but I was wrong in my assessment. 7.dxc5 e5 8.g4 Bg6 9.Bb5 This is the move I was worried 9...Bxc5 10.Nxe5 0-0 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bxc6 Rc8 13.Bb5 Ne4

Black is down a pawn but fully developed. White's queenside is jammed and not developed. His kingside is loose due to extended pawn moves. Queen can jump to h4, pawn breaks line h5 or f5, bringing Rooks to action, sac on f2/e3 - black has a lot of play. Actually black has an advantage here.] 7.Qxf3 e6 [7...e5 I wanted to play this move but felt it would simplify things for white. May be a6 was a better profileactic move. 8.dxe5 Nxe5 9.Bb5+ Nc6 10.c4=] 8.0-0 a6 Too clever...playing for tempo so that if white takes on c5, I can take in one move. a6 is an useful move stopping Bb5/Nb5 and weakness of b6 can not be exploited given the current position. I was also thinking of cxd but that would allow white to play Bc1 first before developing the Knight on d2. 9.Nd2 Now ehite plans to take on c5 and play e4 when he can take with Knight. He has a Bishop pair with no weakness. It would be very difficult for black to extract win. 9...cxd4?! Bad move as it hands over a good structure to White. I took a risk to sharpen the game. What is my plan to win if I play the right move like Bd6 ? Here I have changed the structure to match Queen's gambit exchange variation and can play for minority attack. Since Knight is blocking the Bishop on c1, I'll be able to play Bd6 and h6 to ensure C1 bishop does not get a good square. But mu assessment was wrong as I found later. 10.exd4 cxd is bad as Bc1 will be locked and black will be the first to use the c-file. 10...Bd6 11.Re1 Here I realized something. I was thinking th Knight had no good squares but it can now go to f1-g3-h5. White has two bishops and open diagonals. The rook can be lifted. This is like Caro Kann exchange variation. This types of positions I play a lot and know there are a lot of attack white can generate. 11...0-0 12.Bc2!? Too blant. 12...Qc7?! I was also equally crude. The threat was to play Nd4 when c2 Bishop is hangling. later I realized white can also get a pawn by intermediate Bxh7+. I should have played for counterplay before white completes his development through b5-b4 [12...e5 This was found to be best move considerinbg the counterplay black gets in return of the isolated pawn. Saw a recent game by Eugene Perelstyne like this. 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Qd1 Re8 I was not comfortable to go for this. Not my strength.] 13.Nb3! Missed this move ! This little move defends d4, opens up Bc1 and keeps the queenside tight. I was also worried about Nc5 followed by b4 to close the queenside. 13...Rfc8 Here I realized that h6 to stop Bg5 allows white to sac the Bishop. Thought he can not do that immediately. It also makes difficult to play a later imminent g6 when white plays Qd3 as h6 will be loose. The purpose of my move was to respond Qd3 with Nb4! when I get the powerful c2 Bishop and can safely got for minority attack. 14.Bg5! White is clear better here. If I get this position, 60-70% chance I would win. 14...Be7 15.Bf4 Bd6 16.Bg5 Claer he is happy with draw. But I can not. So I took a big risk here. 16...Nd7! I would defend from trenches. This avoids exchanging one piece. I plan to play Nf8 later. This also controls e5 & c5. Just see, I have no piece in my kingside and everything is jammed on queenside. But I knew I could bring them back quickly and some of them can controlling kingside from distance. I was also thinking of Ne8 when it covers g7 square and can be activated via Nd6. This also keeps 7th rank free for Queen to cover the key kingside squares. But somehow I felt Nd7 is a better defensive move. 17.Qd3 g6 Blunts the d3 Bishop. Nf8 would locked the knight for protection. 18.Rac1! I liked this move as now my Nb4 trick does not work! 18...b5 [18...Bf4 I thought for this move or after intermediate Bh2+. This forces exschange of the Bishop but I was not sure whose Bishop was better. All my pawns were on light squares and this bishop was defending the dark squares. Plus exchanging on f4 white gets a tempo to play Re3-f3 and may be Qd2-f4/h6 etc. I felt I should start my counterplay quickly.] 19.h4! Good move. This position with g4 begs for this move. 19...b4 20.h5 Nf8?! I was afraid of hxg followed by Re6 sac. Last week only I lost a game to Ivan from a clear winning position by missing the Ne6 sac. [20...bxc3 21.hxg6 hxg6 22.Rxe6

22...Bh2+ 23.Kh1 Nf8! 24.Rxc6 (24.Re2 cxb2 25.Rb1 Nb4 26.Qh3 Re8!!-/+ A lot of analysis still needs to be done.) ] 21.Qh3 Bf4 Now it is clear that Bf6 is a big threat with Queen aiming the h8 and I must exchange this powerful Bishop before it is too late (say allows him to sac the exchange) 22.Bxf4 [22.hxg6? Bxg5 23.gxh7+ Kh8 24.Qg4 Qf4 25.Qh5 bxc3 26.bxc3 Qf6-/+] 22...Qxf4 23.hxg6 hxg6 I thought for a long for Ng6 but that isolates my pawns and the Knight remains pinned to h7. White still has an advantage. 24.g3 Aiming as Kg2 followed by Rh1. 24...Qf6 The Queen defends the kingside very well and can not be forced out from her trench (f6 or g7). 25.Kg2 bxc3 26.bxc3 After a long forced moves, I got a breathing time. Thought for a long here. e5 was one idea and same is Rb8. Recently I lost a few games by trying to be over aggressive. Today I wanted to play like Petrosian and win through accurate defense. I felt I must move the Nc6 to open the Rc8 to c3 pawn. After all the key is to have a counterplay. I can't just defend and win. White has not sacrificed anything (yet). 26...Nb8 Not the best move but practical choice. The knight heading to d7 controlling the c5 square in case white plays Nc5 to block the c-file. But this is too slow. 27.Rh1? At last the blunder comes. I was hoping for a false step from my opponent from a long time. He was taking a lot of time but was playing solid. Here He had less than 10 mins. But I think Bb1 first to keep the c3 pawn was better. Position is again becomes unclear. 27...Rxc3! I thought for a long time here as white has a strong threat of Bg6 when my Rc3 is undefended. But eventually I saw I could defend the position. 28.f4 Prevents the Qf3+ [28.Bxg6? Qf3+! Black queen abandones the kingisde to get counterplay. Leaves the defensive duty to the brave knight on f8 alone. All other move loses. 29.Kg1 Rxc1+ 30.Nxc1 Nxg6 was better but I planned this move. 30...fxg6 31.Qh8+ Kf7 32.Rh7+ Ke8 Nh7 was better but in the trees analysis I was this move though really risky but wins. I am sure I would have played otherwise when the position would have come on board.] 28...Rc4 Qg7 was better but somehow I was anxious to not keep my Rook loose for long. 29.Rh2? Bad move. Nd2 was better. [29.Nd2 Rxd4? White gets a tempo on Nf3. Rc8 was better. 30.Nf3] 29...Nc6 I was anxious to develop my queenside and here I needed to bring the knight back on c6 toi attack the d4. Note c6 is a loose square but my opponent was in time trouble and I wanted to complicate things more for him. 30.Nd2 Here I felt Nd2-Nf3-Ng5 is a strong concept. May be white could have gone for this earlier. 30...Rxd4 White gets a tempo on Nf3. Rc3 was better. 31.Nf3 Rc4 32.Ne5 Bad move again as it losses a pawn and opens the f-file for Queen. White lost a tempo on Rh which allowed me to play Nc6. If he would have gone for Nd2 straight away, Ne5 could have been a strong move. 32...Nxe5 33.fxe5 Qxe5 34.Bxg6 Allows mate with 1 sec on clock. 34...Qe2+ 35.Kg1 Rxc1+ 0-1 MATE

Upcoming Waukesh Club Tournaments

2008-06-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

Following are upcoming Waukesh Club Tournaments. I'll play some of them. Exact plan depends on my next kid who is due in late August.

Spring Swiss (G/90): Jun 4 to Jun 25 >> Playing (1.5/2) with one bye
Team Tournament (G/90): July 2 to Sep 3 >> Will play
Summer Action (G/29): Sep 10 to Sep 17>> Will not
Summer Swiss (G/90): Sep 24 to Oct 15 >> Depends

Waukesha Spring Swiss - Started with a win

2008-06-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Playing in a tournament after almost one month gap. Wanted to play a long game so that "engines start running again" and long game it was (60 moves). I played pretty average, finding second best moves but anyway managing to win. My opponent (Gregory Reese Senior - 1346 rated) played well, didn't make any blunder but did miss his chance in the early middle game where I played a few "not so good" moves.

Waukesha Spring Swiss has drawn 26 players and following players are with 1 point after first round

Williams, Souvik, Kohlenberg, Coons, Iva, Ryan, Krause, Hetzell, Anderson, Hartig, G Reese Junior, Ruel, Lawrence

Here is my game....a Colle - fitting to my blog

Reese, Sr,Gregory (1346) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1985) [D05]Waukesh Spring Swiss Waukesh (1.2), 04.06.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5 4.Bd3 d5 5.b3 Nc6

6.c3 Bd6 7.Na3 cxd4 8.exd4 Qa5 9.Nb5 Bb8 10.b4 Qd8 11.0-0 Ne4 12.Qc2 a6 13.Na3 f5 14.Re1 0-0 15.Nb1 Bd7 [15...e5] 16.a4 Bd6 17.Ba3 Qc7 18.b5 axb5 19.Bxb5 Rfc8 20.Bxd6 Qxd6 21.Qd3 Nb8 22.Bxd7 Nxd7 23.Rc1 Rc4 24.a5 Qc7 25.Nfd2 Rc6 26.Nxe4 fxe4 27.Qb5 Rca6 28.Nd2 Rxa5 29.Qb2 Rxa1 30.Rxa1 Rxa1+ 31.Qxa1 h6 32.Nf1 Nb6 33.Qa5 Qc6 34.Ne3 Na4 35.Nd1 Qc4

36.Ne3 Qb3 37.Qb4 Qxb4 38.cxb4 Nc3 39.f3 exf3 40.gxf3 Ne2+ 41.Kf2 Nxd4 42.Nd1 Kf7 43.Nc3 Kf6 44.Ke3 Nf5+ 45.Kd3 Kg5 46.Ne2 e5 47.b5 Nd6 48.Nc3 d4 49.Ne4+ Nxe4 50.Kxe4 h5 51.b6 Kh4 52.f4 exf4 53.Kxf4 Kh3 54.Ke4 Kxh2 55.Kxd4 Kg3 56.Kd5 h4 57.Kd6 h3 58.Kc7 h2 59.Kxb7 h1Q+ 0-1

Back to 1985 - My highest rating

2008-05-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

Waukesha event is rated...I gained 24 points to reach 1985.

http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200805140671.1-12916036

I was 1985 on December last year (2007) after SWCC HOLIDAY LEFTOVER SWISS (WI) and also on May 2006 after M ROHLAND MEMORIAL/WI CLOSED C (WI). The funny thing is in the last 3 years I have moved between 1935 to 1985. Wish one day I will break into upper limits beyond the 1985 !

Link to my rated tournaments

http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlTnmtHst.php?12916036

At last beat Coons in mainline Slav !! 5/6 in Waukesha championship.

2008-05-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

I lost 2 games trying to win from drawn positions and drew 2 more against Coons in the mainline of Slav in last 1.5 years. Last time time I had white against him, I played 1.Nf3 2.b3 and won. Incidentally our first game (3 years back) was also a mainline slav which I won. This time was planning 1.a3 but then just before the game he was mentioning how much he prepared the Slav lines for this game and I couldn't resist me from taking the challenge and played the mainline. Typically he plays 20 moves from his memory but here i could take him out of main line. Got a double edged position and then won the game with two bishops. It feels good ! It confirms the belief that if you can play the middle game and ending better, it doesn't matter if you come out of the opening with no advantage.

Williams leading the tourney with 6/7. Both i and Sasha have a chance to catch him with a score 5/6. And next round (last game) we are playing each other. Lets see what happens !

Won with Tango! - 4/5 in Waukesha Championship

2008-04-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

I won against Stanley Garvin yesterday from the black side of Tango! opening (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6). I have 4/5 score in Tango with only loss against Williams from an advantageous position in time trouble (instead of winning the exchange, I blundered mine with 20 secs in the clock).

I'll play Coons next week and then the potential decider with Sasha on the week following. If I win both the games, I'll at least jointly win the Waukesha Club Championship. Easier said than done considering what Sasha is playing off late and avoiding Coon's 30 move home preparation in Slav! I need to play something really unusual against Coons. Last time I played 1.b3 and won. Any suggestion for this time ?

Win against Ivan - Original opening play or simply a bluff that worked ?

2008-04-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Roychoudhury,Souvik (1961) - Wijetunga,Ivan (1823) [D00]

Waukesha Championship Waukesha (5.3), 16.04.2008

Click here to play over the game

1.d4 c6 2.e3 Wanted to play somehing different so that Ivan can not use his slav experience against me and has to play a middlegame position not known before. 2...d5 3.Bd3 Nf6 4.Nd2 Diagram

The night before, I watched the Bill Pascall video on playing creatively in your game where he played 1.d4 d5 2.a3 and won later as his opponent could not solve the new types of position. I wanted to try the same rule here. 4...Bg4 5.f3 Bh5 6.Ne2 Well an original position indeed. You may call it provocative but I felt I have better middle game chance than my opponent and chess is after all a fun sports. It does feel good to play new things (especially if you win !). 6...e6 Diagram

I was expcting Nbd7-e5 when I planned to play c4 7.Nf4 Bg6 8.Nxg6 hxg6 A critical moment. I got two bishops but black now has open h-file for his rook. I like knight more. So recently I am forcing myself to play the bishop games more and watching a lot of videos/games to make better use of two bishops. I felt its a good chance for me here. 9.Qe2 May be c4 was better 9...Bd6 10.f4 Modern chess is more of concrete variation than general theory. I watched a Topalov vs Kramnik game where Topa had dark square bishop but he still played e3-f4-g4/g5 etc with all pawns on dark square. Here black is objectively better as his pawns ar in the light square and Bishop is of dark square. But I have good center control and two bishops. The computer did prefer whiete here. 10...Nbd7 11.Nf3!? I think c4 might be better. 11...c5 12.c3 c4 13.Bc2 I somewhat liked this position though it may seem black is doing alright. White is cramped but has a lot if venom in teh coiled spring. 13...b5 14.Ng5! Diagram

Idea is to play e4 and after dxe, capture with the knight. 14...Nh7 I saw the mobve and felt the best. However black could play Qe7 and have a solid position. I think Ivan was thinking he had advantage. 15.Nxh7 Rxh7 16.e4! I get the break, my dark square bishop is back in the game. 16...Nb6!? Qh4+-Qh5 keeps the balance. 17.a4! Diagram

I love this move. For the first time in the game, I have advantage. Black was playing well, but I kept on posing the new issues and eventually get the return. White is threatening the a5. The odd looking Qe2 move played earlier is showing the strength - pinning the King and attackign eh c4 pawn. 17...bxa4 [17...Nxa4 18.exd5+-] 18.exd5 Nxd5 19.Bxa4+ The position has opened up for my bishops and his king is caught in the center. 19...Kf8 20.0-0 [20.Qxc4 Nxf4 21.g3 Nd5 22.0-0 Rxh2 23.Qd3+/-] 20...Qh4 21.g3 Qh5 22.Qxh5 Rxh5 23.Bc6 The a7 pawn is now lost. 23...Rc8 24.Bxd5 Rxd5 [24...exd5 I was actually thinking Ivan will play this line. 25.Rxa7 Re8 26.h4+/- (Initially I didn't see the idea on how to stop the Re8-Re2 and wa splanninjg h4 but then planned to the Bd2-Re1 idea missing that after Re1 he can play Rhh2! May be when the position would come I could see it and stop the blunder ! 26.Bd2 Re2 27.Re1 Rhxh2-/+) ] 25.Rxa7 Rb5 26.Kg2 Rc7?! Not sure exchanging the rooks was a good idea. 27.Rxc7 Bxc7 Okay, we reached a same color bishop where all my pawns are on the same color of my bishop. The bishop has not moved yet and most part of the game was locked by e3-f4 chain. Its a poetic justice that this piece delivers the winning blow for white. 28.Kf3 Ke7 29.h4 Gaining space on the kingside and putting a pawn on h5 and freeing my bishop was the idea. But I think simple King to c2, Bd2, Rb1 and b3 might be easier. 29...Bb6 30.Re1 Kd6 31.g4 Bd8 32.Re5! Diagram

I spent good amount of time on this move, this moves anothert pawn to dark square but I was right in my plan. 32...Rd5 I didn't see this candidate move....not sure why. I was thinking if he move his rook, I will play Rc5 and get the c4 pawn for the h4 pawn and the win with the queenside passers. [32...Rxe5 33.fxe5+ Kd5 34.Bg5!! f6 (34...Bxg5 35.hxg5+- Black is in Zugzwang and must move his king back when white will play Ke4-d5 and win easily.) 35.exf6 gxf6 36.Be3 f5 37.g5 e5 38.h5 e4+ 39.Kg3+-] 33.h5?! [33.g5! was better] 33...gxh5 34.gxh5 Bf6 35.Rxd5+ Kxd5 Diagram

I was planning the b3 followed by Ke3-c4 idea but was not sure what is the best piece set up for that. So played some random moves while thinking. 36.Bd2 Be7 37.Be1 Bf6 38.Bg3 Be7 39.Ke3 f5 40.Be1 Bd8 41.Kf3 Kc6 42.Ke3 Kd5 43.Kf3 Kc6 44.Bf2 Kd5 45.Bg3 Be7 46.Ke3 Bd8 47.Be1 Be7 48.Bf2 Bd8 49.b3 Diagram

49...cxb3 50.Kd3 Ba5 51.Bh4! Diagram

Well this bishop is now a real powerhouse 51...Kd6 Funny thing is that Rybka can not see the strength of the Bf6 move at this point.. It evaluates this only as equal. White is clearly winning here which is immediately found by Shredder. [51...Kc6 In his excellent Blog site, Ivan mentioned this is drawing. However, what I feel is it is just an interesting position where with accurate play black may hold. However, in many lines it is very easy to go wrong for black. I can't guarantee I could hold this position against a player like Santarious with less than 1 min on my clock. 52.c4 (52.Bf6 gxf6 53.h6 e5 54.fxe5 fxe5 55.h7 e4+ 56.Kc4 b2 57.h8Q b1Q) 52...Bb4 53.c5 Kd7 (53...b2 54.Kc2 Bc3 55.Bf6 gxf6 56.h6 Bxd4 57.h7 Kxc5 White is winning here with +- 5.00 evaluation. It would have been fun to play this position.; 53...Kb5 54.Be7! Wins in all lines) 54.Bf6 gxf6 55.h6 e5 56.h7 e4+ 57.Kc4 b2 58.h8Q b1Q White has at least a perpetual and is safe inspite of being a pawn down. But with less than a minutes on the clock, black has to be careful. 59.Qg7+ Kd8 (59...Kc6 60.d5#; 59...Ke6 60.d5#) 60.Qxf6+ Kc7 Not an easy move to play as it allows Qb6 getting the piece back.(60...Ke8 61.Qe5+ Kd8 (61...Kf7 62.Qxf5++/-) 62.Qb8+ Kd7 63.Qb7+ Ke6 (63...Ke8 64.Qxb4 White pushes the black king to last rank and then takes the bishop back.) 64.d5+ (64.Qb6+ Kf7 65.Qxb4 Qd3+ 66.Kd5 e3 67.Qb7+) 64...Kf6 65.Qc6+ Kf7 66.Qe6+ Kg7 67.Qe7+ Kg8 68.Qg5+ Kh8 69.Qd8+ Kh7 70.Qe7+ Kg8 (70...Kh8 71.Qf8+ Kh7 72.Qxf5++/-) ) ] 52.Bf6 Diagram

52...b2 53.Kc2 b1Q+? [53...Bxc3 This is what I was expecting and informed Informed Ivan on our way back (we went in the same car). I saw teh d5 vreak but was not sure whethert it wins. 54.Bxg7 Ke7 55.h6 Kf7 56.Be5 Kg6 57.d5! Diagram

57...Bxe5 58.fxe5 exd5 59.e6+- Diagram

One pawn queens ! Quality not quantity is what matters !] 54.Kxb1 gxf6 55.h6 Bxc3 56.h7 Bxd4 57.h8Q e5 58.Qxf6+ Kd5 59.Qxf5 Kd6 60.Qg6+ Kd5 61.f5 e4 62.f6?! [62.Qe6+ Kc5 63.Qxe4 is easier] 62...e3 63.f7 e2 64.Qg3 Bc5 65.Qf3+ Kc4 66.Qxe2+ It was a good game. I wish to spend more time on the same color bishop ending and try to see whwther it is win for white in all variations ! 1-0

I score 72% in Trompowsky with 2022 rating performance

2008-04-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

I scored 72% in Trompowsky with 2022 rating performance. This is much better than any mainline opening, I bet. Lost only 6 games - 2 to Jeremy Lynch due to blundering pieces in pawn up winning positions, 1 to Santarious again by blunder in winning position, 2 clear losses to Allen Becker and 1 to IM Amanov. I do not expect anything better than this from any opening lines !! See the statistics below.

What do you think ? Inspired to give it a try ?

Good start (2-0-0) in Waukesha Club Championship

2008-04-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

I started with wins (with white) against Peter Velikanov (1900) and Raymond Hayes (2100). Two back to back wins against strong players gives good motivation. Next round I am playing with Williams with black. My game (with black) with Sasha (the only other undefeated player till now) is postponed till end.

The game with Peter (two weeks back) was a QGD and yesterday's game with Hays was Trompowsky. Now I have wins with Trompowsky against a master (Williams), three experts (Becker, Hayes, Fricano) and at least a dozen of Class A players (not including a draw with Ashish).

Coons beat Williams yesterday for a major upset. I was joking that he draws with 1100 and beats 2200 within a month ! Not an easy task !

Some important mements from the game with Hayes, all white to play....
In following position, Qd5 was an interesting plan

In following position, I played the Nd5 which was correct and winning. After ...Qxc6 bxc6...Re8, the critical move is Nc3.

Finally, in following position, Ng3 and if required then Rg1 wins easily. With 1.42 mins on clock I was for some reasons was not finding any move, played inaccurate Rh1 when Black could play Rc2 prolonging the struggle. But then Hayes made an illegal move which gave me 2 mins and I then manage to with that time, offering the rook and then allowing him to queen the b-pawn when my (c8=) queen forces a mate with Qd7+ ... Kh8 (same for Kh6), Qh7 mate.

Started Correspondence Chess !

2008-03-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

I started playing the correspondence chess ! Its 10 moves in 50 days. I am playing in a quad and two other tournaments will start soon. I have already won the 2 games, clearly winning one and pawn up with better position in another. Two other games just started. Must say..its fun. Everyday I come back from office and play one or two moves ! Enjoying it a lot !

Waukesha Club Championship - Started with a win

2008-03-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

I am playing in the Waukesha Club Championship. On last Wednesday, I played against Peter Velikanov with white, won a pawn in the opening as he missed a tactics and then used that pawn in the endgame to win the game.

I played very safe through out the game and missed a good tactic in the next move. White can play e4 here. Try to calculate the variations, its fun ......

Other results are Garvin vs Hayes draw, Ivan lost to Williams, Coons lost to Sasa. Next round I am playing Sasa with black.

What is the best move (1) ?

2008-03-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

From time to time, I will be publishing the positions from my games and will ask readers to suggest the best move. Here is the first one from the recently completed MCA Fide Futurity event against Leon Ding.

Black mishandled the exchange Slav position and stands clearly worse. I was very excited to see the move g4-g5 to win a pawn. But later while analyzing at home, realized that this is not the best move. Suggest what do you think is the best move in this position.

FIDE Round Robin June 7-8

2008-03-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

I saw in Chris' blog that the entry fee for this event is lowered to $50 for non-Fide players. Its a round robin where 2 non-Fide players play with 3 other Fide players. This means, if you can score 1 point from these three games, you will get a rating. I can't think of any better opportunity to get Fide rating. The only reason we won't get it will be, we didn't score 1 point and in that case I must say that we are not there yet !

I am surely playing in this !

http://mcafidetournaments.blogspot.com/2008/03/fide-round-robin-june-7-8-2008.html

FIDE Round Robin June 7 & 8, 2008
Format: 6-player round robin, 2 sections, 12 players total (Masters section & Experts/A/B players section) 3 games Saturday, 2 Sunday (The best part of a round robin is you will play everyone in your section and you will know what color you have against each opponent before the tournament begins)

Time Control: G/90 + 30 Sec increment
Players: 4 FIDE, 2 Non-FIDE per section
Entry: $30 FIDE players, $50 Non-FIDE players (+$25 deposit for all players)
Prizes: $150 each section, winner takes all

Analysis of Souvik v IM Mesgen Amanov Game

2008-03-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

Following link will replay my game with IM Mesgen Amanov from MCA Fide Futurity event. Amanov has played in Olympiad for Turkmenistan and is 2405 rated in Fide. He recently won the Winter open and also jointly won the MCA Fide Futurity event with IM Angelo Young.

http://www.geocities.com/saubhikr/souvikamanov.htm

Back in winning form !!

2008-03-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well, first thanks to all of you who gave me the support after my 32 point losing, 3 losses in 5 games performance in the team tournament. I almost thought of quitting ! I am happy that I didn't !

I scored 4/5 in the MCA Fide Futurity event on 8-9 March in Hales CCorner and gained back 17 points to reach 1961. The only loss was to IM Mesgen Amanov in a tough fought 45 move game where I lost my rook in a knight fork in a pawn down endgame while in time trouble.

None of the wins were a gift as I had to fight till 30-40 moves to earn it and though I missed moves but I also saw a lot of tactics - from both ends. I am happy that I continued to play...I really do love this this game of chess. Yes, I do !

Will put the games once done with the analysis.

If I can play Tromp against an IM and survive till 50 moves, it must be sound !

2008-03-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I played Mesgen Amanov in round 3 of MCA Fide Futurity event. I had white and I played Trompowski after 1.d4 Nf6. While analysisng I found he was the one who made the first slight inaccuracy. I saw white's move but somehow couldn't calculate till the end and settled for safer option where I had to literally defend for a long time. At the end, I had around 5 mins, exhausted with long calculation and missed a knight fork to lose my rook at move 45 and resigned. Will publish the game tonight.

Anybody from WI is playing in St. Louis this weekend ?

2008-03-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

Anybody from WI is playing in St. Louis this weekend ?

Feb. 29-Mar. 2 or Mar. 1-2 12th annual Mid-America Open GPP: 100

Didn's play in winter open, Will play in Fide tournament

2008-02-25T04:33:00.000-08:00

I am following the advice of strong players and decided not to play tournaments back to back weekends. So skipped the winter open. Used this time to analyze the games (read losses) from team tournaments. I was extremely unhappy on me for losing 3 games but now I feel, I played good games except a few misses. All these games were very rich and I could get some important lessons. I'll play in the Fide tournament on 8-9 March in Milwaukee.

Good Knight - Bad Bishop !

2008-02-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

Following was the position in Karpov-Kasparov match in 1985. Karpov won the game. Following link has the details.

http://www.chesscafe.com/chessok/chessok.htm

I had very similar position in team tournament against Gavin Mclanahan. Thought I could win, but just could not make it happen.

In fact the following position was very close to Karpov's game. I wish....

My latest loss with Eric

2008-02-20T15:19:00.000-08:00

Following is my game with Eric in Team tournament. I saced a piece for 3 pawns (another Allen Becker inspiration), had a winning position and then just played badly to lose !

http://www.geocities.com/saubhikr/souvikvseric.htm

Following was the position just before Nf7 sac

Following was the position just before the blunder fxg. Ne3+ wins.

Catastrophe !!

2008-02-19T05:05:00.000-08:00

Catastrophe !! By all means !

I have lost 3 games, 2 to lower rated players. All from winning positions ! Drew with another lower rated player. Lost 32 points !!

Never in my life I lost 3 games in a tournament, never in my life I had such a poor outing ! I can't say I played badly as in the opening and middle games, I outplayed my opponents. But in the ending, the technique (calculating long variations consistently ) and lack of stamina let me fall apart.

Don't know what to say.....

Team Championship - Parker, Fricano, Cardenas & Souvik

2008-02-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

In Team Championship, I am playing in the team of Parker, Fricano and Cardenas. This a very good team to be a part of. However, all of us are so entertaining and unpredictable, I am expecting we will surely offer a lot of surprises. Following are our December 2007 rating.

ANTHONY LEE PARKER 1982 (Current 2009)

PAUL ROYAL FRICANO 1960 (Current 1939)

SOUVIK ROYCHOUDHURY 1936 (Current 1976)

DAVID R CARDENAS 1916 (Current 1930)

IM Mesgen Amanov will be in Milwaukee for chess camp

2008-02-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

IM Mesgen Amanov will be in Milwaukee for chess camp this Sunday. Ashish's academy is arranging this. Following link will give you more information.

http://www.vajachess.com/id5.html

Joseph Anthony Kellam (Unrated->1998) - A sensational pereformance

2008-02-04T04:53:00.000-08:00

Cardenas won another tournament in SWCC, this time game in 29, Winter Blitzzard III with 3/3. However, there is a joint winner, named Joseph Anthony Kellam who started the tournament as Unrated and finished with 3/3 with sensational 1998 end rating (quick) ! Only time will tell whether this is an exception or the rule. However, I wish him all the best. It seems that all the 6:00 pm training sessions and other initiatives of SWCC folks to draw new people to chess is paying off.

I had a funny tournament - arrived late and missed the first round, then blundered and lost second round and finally won the last round. No regret as this won't affect the main rating and I wanted to play chess for fun which I did.

Click here for the full details SWCC WINTER BLITZZARD III

Cardenas, Kellam 3.0
Geder, Fricano, Munoz, Sagunsky, Bruce 2.0
Souvik, Andrew, Zimmermann 1.5

Souvik vs Fricano (ICICLE Swiss) - A roller coaster game

2008-02-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

White is a pawn up but lost after simple d6! by black followed by Bxc4 (missed in the game)

Does the Bxh5 works ? (Actualy played in the game)

Link to Souvik vs Fricano (ICICLE Swiss)

Erik vs Souvik - The Endgame position

2008-01-30T20:24:00.000-08:00

Above is the position with Black to play...I misplayed it, showing why I am still a Class A player (with lack of endgame knowledge) and Erik won it like a Master he became ! Please suggest ....What should be the best play for black ?

Click here for the complete Game

My Rating Chart

2008-01-29T18:12:00.001-08:00

My Rating chart......So close to 2000 but still far away.....currently rated 1976...Need to work a lot on lot many things.....

Click the image for a larger view

What to play for Black ?

2008-01-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

After a long 30 move defense, I had arrived at this position as Black against Erik Santarius with black to move. I played Qxd4 which transformed into an equal rook ending which I manged to lose somehow. Chess engines (Rybka, Shredder) are giving contrasting, often changing assessments.

Can suggest the best move for black ? And what is your assessment of the position ?

Allen Becker won SWCC ICICLE Swiss with perfect score

2008-01-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

Allen beat Ferguson to finish a perfect 4/4 score and won the SWCC ICICLE Swiss. Congratulations Allen.

I beat Fricano in a up-down game which I would call Tromposwsky Defense (I was defending as white) to finish unbeaten 3/4.

More to follow....

Coons wins Waukesh Winter open

2008-01-24T04:15:00.000-08:00

I lost to Jim Coons yesterday after a careless pawn/piece sacrifice - missed a strong counter attack which eventually finished in mate. Missed a lot of move in between. It was a really weak play from my side. I must appreciate Coons for a well played game ! Congratulations Jim !

http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200801231441-12916036

SWCC ICICLE Swiss - Last round pairing (Tentative)

2008-01-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

The tentative pairings for Round 4 of the Icicle Swiss. I will play Fricano.

1. Becker, Allen J (3.0,2028) vs Ferguson, Wesley E (2.0,2021)
2. Parker, Anthony Lee (2.0,1979) vs Cardenas, David R (1.5,1913)
3. Roychoudhury, Souvik (2.0,1962) vs Fricano, Paul Royal (2.0,1945)
4. Veech, John (1.5,1338) vs Coons, James J (1.5,1910)
5. Grochowski, Andrew (1.0,1694) vs Sagunsky, David L (1.0,1723)

My chess calendar for 2008

2008-01-20T11:29:00.000-08:00

My chess calendar for 2008

Rest in Peace the "Chess Player" Fischer

2008-01-19T06:35:00.000-08:00

Lets pray for the "Chess Player" Fischer that may his soul rest in peace. Let's forget and forgive what he did and said outside the chessboard.

"My 60 Memorable Games"
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1007485

Bobby Fischer - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer

Quotes of Fischer with a lot of photos
http://www.bobby-fischer.net/bobby_fischer_quotes_1.htm

SWCC ICICLE Swiss - Becker beat Fricano to gain sole lead with 3/3

2008-01-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

Becker beat Fricano to gain sole lead with 3/3. Following are the results

1. Fricano, Paul Royal (2.0,1945) lost to Becker, Allen J (3.0,2028)
2. Cardenas, David R (1.5,1913) lost to Roychoudhury, Souvik (2.0,1962)
3. Ferguson, Wesley E (2.0,2021) beat Grochowski, Robin (1.0,1726)
4. Parker, Anthony Lee (2.0,1979) beat Paitrick, Derek R (1.0,1880)
5. Coons, James J (1.5,1910) beat Grochowski, Andrew (1.0,1694)
6. Veech, John (1.5,1338) drew Sagunsky, David L (1.0,1723)
1.0 Fogec, Thomas G (1.0,1665) BYE

Current Standing:
1. Becker 3.0

2. Ferguson 2.0
3. Parker 2.0
4. Souvik 2.0
5. Fricano 2.0

6. Coons 1.5
7. Cardenas 1.5
8. Veech 1.5

9. Sagunsky 1.0
10. Fogec 1.0

Waukesha Winter Open - Coons and Souvik leading with 3/3

2008-01-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

On the 3rd round of Waukesh Winter Open, there were no surprises. Jim Coons (black) beat Hetzel and I (white) beat M Lawrence to reach 3/3 score.

Young talent Gregory Reese Jr who started the round with 2/2, lost from the black side of Stonewall variation (where white played d4, e3, Bd3 and f4). Stonewall is a rare guest. Though I once saw Fricano playing it in a tournament.

Coons game was Panov-Botvinnik attack where black was up by two pawns in the king side and won the 4+1 vs 2+1 Rook ending.

Mine was a very uncommon variation where I got a good advantage with out much work (& credit). Played very average thinking I have already won it (a bad psychological problem). Kept on playing the second best moves and won the game thanks to opponents mistake. Other than the fact I didn't make any blunder, there was no credit for me to claim.

Second seeded Garvin also recovered from his last week's loss to win with white. He was 2 clear passed pawns up in the 3+2 vs 3 Rook-Pawn ending and won easily.

Next week I'll play Coons with Black to decide who wins the tournament. I have always played different moves against Coons' 1.Nf3 and won all games (except one 29 min game where I played mainline queen's gambit accepted). I have to think and come up with another new and uncommon move this time. Lets see.....Any suggestion ?

Kings Indian defense - colors reversed game

2008-01-13T16:05:00.000-08:00

Ruel,D (1417) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1962) [A08]

Waukesha Winter Swiss Waukesha (Round 2, Board 1), 09-Jan-2008

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" !

Analysis of Robin Grochowski vs Souvik Roychoudhury game (Really Interesting)

2008-01-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

(189) Grochowski,Robin (1750) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1984) [C04]

SWCC ICICLE Swiss Hales Corner (Round 2), 10-Jan-2008

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

SWCC ICICLE Swiss - Becker and Fricano are leading with 2/2

2008-01-11T05:31:00.000-08:00

Allen and Fricano are now leading the tournament with 2.0 points and will play each other next round. Both of them won yesterday with white. Fricano played Grand Prix attack and was the first to win the game (must be quick victory!) and Allen's was the longest (Pirc defense game). I drew a drawn position (!) where I got a sudden chance to win thanks to Robin's blunder but I was equally generous to return the offer. Will cover my game over the weekend. And yes, it was an uncommon opening ! Andrew is continuing his strong showing by drawing Cardenas. It was a wild Grunfeld defense game (very uncommon in USCF circuit !) and was a draw after a lot of ups & downs. Andrew will gain good rating points from his two draws against two class A players and we wish he himself makes it to Class A category soon.

1. Becker, Allen J (2.0,2028) beat Parker, Anthony Lee (1.0,1979)
2. Fricano, Paul Royal (2.0,1945) beat Ferguson , Wesley E (1.0,2021)

3. Grochowski, Andrew (1.0,1694) drew Cardenas , David R (1.5,1913)
4. Grochowski, Robin (1.0,1726) drew Roychoudhury, Souvik (1.0,1962)

5. Sagunsky, David L (0.5,1723) drew Coons, James J (0.5,1910)
6. Paitrick, Derek R (1.0,1880) beat Fogec, Thomas G (0.0,1665)

Following was the position on the Becker - Parker game when my game was finished.

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#

Waukesh Winter Open - 1100 rated kid beat 1900 rated former expert

2008-01-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

In 2nd round of Waukesha Open, Stanley Garvin (1884) lost to Gregory Reese Jr (1146). Garvin was once rated in expert category (2013) and is coming back after a long gap. Garvin had black and was in severe time pressure. He sac-ed a pawn on queenside to get counterplay in kingside. However, the pawn reached 6th rank with threat of queening. He then blundered a few pawns. However, Gregory was also playing fast (though he had 29 mins) and allowed Queen-King skewer but Garvin's clock ran out of time (position below).

One point to note that Gregory played really well during this fast play. I feel with enough practice and coaching, he is definitely going to reach much higher rating. Is Gregory going to join our list of under 10 wonder kids ? Time will tell.

Results:
Souvik Roychoudhury (2) beat D Ruel (1)
Gregory Reese Jr (2) beat S Garvin (1)
J Coons (2) beat J Smith (1)
J Mading (1) lost to J Hetzel (2)
M Lawrence (2) beat J Rochlay (1)

Current standing (with 2 points)
1. Souvik (1962)
2. J Coons (1862)
3. J Hetzel (1697)
4. M Lawrence (1533)
5. Gregory Reese Jr (1146)

I played King's indian defense with colors reversed (means one tempo down) - a very risky decision. During the game I felt I was losing (being a kings indian player myself, was seeing a lot of white moves). However, nothing serious happened and I could close the king side and open up queenside to win the game. Will publish the game over the weekend.

Souvik - Andrew game analysis

2008-01-09T05:59:00.000-08:00

Following is the analysis of the interesting game between me and Andrew last weekend which ended in a draw.

Roychoudhury,Souvik (1984) - Grochowsky,Andrew (1700) [D35]

SWCC ICICLE Swiss Hales Corner (1.4), 03.01.2008

After the typical queen's gambit declined opening, we arrived at the following position

13.b4 Bb7 14.Qa4 May be a4-a5 here could have been better [14.Ne5 This could have been better. White can play Bh2-f4 type later if want.] 14...Bd6 15.Bxd6 [15.Ne5] 15...Qxd6 16.Rfc1 Rec8 17.Rc2 Ne6 18.Qb3 Rc7 19.Rbc1 Rac8 20.a4 a6 21.a5 b5

[21...c5 22.bxc5 bxc5 23.Qb6 Qe7 24.dxc5 Nxc5 25.Na4 Ne6 26.Rxc7 Rxc7 27.Rxc7 Qxc7 28.Bf5 Qxb6 29.axb6 Nd7 30.Nd4+/-] 22.Ne5?! [22.Bf5 Playing for the good knight bad bishop. white wants to exhange on e6 to bring one more pawn to the same color as bad black bishop. Then the c3 knight will go to c5 or e5 with a lot of pressure. The other knight can be exchanged for black's remaining knight. 22...g6 23.Bxe6 Qxe6 (23...fxe6 24.Ne5 Kg7 25.Ne2 Nd7 26.Qc3 Nxe5 27.dxe5 Qe7 Black's queenside is extremely vulnerable) ] 22...Ne8 [22...c5 I saw the move only after playing the Ne5 move. Didn't also see the Nb5 idea. 23.Nxb5 axb5 24.bxc5 Nxc5 25.Rxc5 Rxc5 26.Rxc5 Rxc5 27.dxc5 Qxe5 28.Qxb5+/=] 23.f4 Qe7 X-raying to the e3 pawn 24.Rf1 Nd8 25.Nd1 [25.Rf3 This was the better move to protect the e3.] 25...Nd6 26.f5 Qf6 27.Ng4

May be I could build more force with Rf2, Qc2 etc before Ng4. He can play h5 to stop that but that means opening another weakness in kingside. 27...Qg5 28.f6 h5 29.Nh2 gxf6 [29...g6 30.Qc3 Ne6 31.Qe1 build on pressure and then play g4.] 30.Rcf2 f5 [30...Ne6] 31.Bxf5 Nxf5 32.Rxf5 Qg6 33.Qc2 [33.Rf6 Stop pawn move to isolate all black pieces from kingside] 33...Ne6 34.Nf3?! [34.Qe2 Ng7 35.Rf6 Qh7 (35...Qb1 36.Nb2 Qh7 37.Nd3) 36.Qf3 Rf8 37.Qg3 Re7 38.Nf3] 34...Rf8 35.Ne5 Qh7 36.Qe2 Ng7 37.Rf6 Ne8 38.R6f4 Bc8 39.Rh4 [39.Nc3 Idea is to activate the Knight or open another front 39...f5 40.e4 dxe4 41.Nxe4+/-] 39...Ng7

40.g4? [40.Rf6 Be6 41.Nc3; 40.Rf6 Same concept. Keep the pwan at f7 so that black can not coordinate his pieces. Even Kh2 was better.] 40...f6

41.Nd3?! [41.Qf2 This prevents fe as Rf8 falls. Also defends the Rh4. Note Ne5 is stopping the Qg6 and Rf7 41...Ne6 42.Nf3 Rg7 43.Kh2 hxg4 44.Rxh7 g3+ 45.Qxg3 Rxg3 May look equal but white can play against the queenside pawns.] 41...Qg6 42.Kh2 hxg4 43.hxg4 Ne6 44.Rh1 Rh7 45.Rxh7 [45.Kg3] 45...Qxh7+ 46.Kg1 Qg6 47.N1f2 Rf7 48.Qf3 Qg7 49.Rh5 Rf8 50.Kg2 Rf7

1/2-1/2

2008-01-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

SWCC Icicle Swiss - Following is current standing (only upset was on board 4 where Andrew drew with me)

No. Name St Rate 1 Score

1. Becker, Allen J (1)........... WI 2028 W9 1.0
2. Ferguson, Wesley E (2)........ WI 2021 W10 1.0
3. Parker, Anthony Lee (3)....... WI 1979 W11 1.0
4. Fricano, Paul Royal (5)....... WI 1945 W12 1.0
5. Cardenas, David R (6)......... WI 1913 W13 1.0

6. Roychoudhury, Souvik (4)...... WI 1962 D8 0.5
7. Grochowski, Robin (9)......... WI 1726 -H- 0.5
8. Grochowski, Andrew (11)....... WI 1694 D6 0.5

9. Coons, James J (7)............ WI 1910 L1 0.0
10. Paitrick, Derek R (8)......... WI 1880 L2 0.0
11. Sagunsky, David L (10)........ WI 1723 L3 0.0
12. Fogec, Thomas G (12).......... WI 1665 L4 0.0
13. Veech, John (13).............. WI 1338 L5 0.0

SWCC Icicle Swiss -- SWCC Icicle Swiss - Reserve Cross Table, Page 1

No. Name St Rate 1 Score

1. Demler, John A (1)............ WI 1564 W6 1.0
2. Weissenburger, Brian (2)...... WI 1418 W7 1.0

3. Bruce, John (3)............... WI 1340 D5 0.5
4. Meyers, Lee D (6)............. IL 998 -H- 0.5
5. Neumann, Curt E (8)........... WI 860 D3 0.5

6. Zimmermann, Troy J (5)........ WI 1066 L1 0.0
7. Wang, Alexander (7)........... WI 958 L2 0.0

Following is the pairing for next round (subject to change)

Bd Scr White Scr Black02
1. Becker, Allen J (1.0,2028) vs Parker, Anthony Lee (1.0,1979)
2. Fricano, Paul Royal (1.0,1945) vs Ferguson , Wesley E (1.0,2021)
3. Grochowski, Andrew (0.5,1694) vs Cardenas , David R (1.0,1913)
4. Grochowski, Robin (0.5,1726) vs Roychoudhury, Souvik (0.5,1962)
5. Sagunsky, David L (0.0,1723) vs Coons, James J (0.0,1910)
6. Paitrick, Derek R (0.0,1880) vs Fogec, Thomas G (0.0,1665)
1.0 Veech, John (0.0,1338) BYE

Hanging Pawns (1) - Position

2008-01-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

I am currently going through the excellent book "Hanging Pawns" by GM Mikhalchishin. Not sure why this book didn't get the deserving the publicity for the concepts. It contains rich varieties of hanging pawn positions from real games. The only downside is that not all variations are covered in the book and not a lot of subjective/verbal explanation of key concepts there. But that's what we can complete with self study. I am analyzing one position a day and will share my analysis with the group. Day one I'll publish the position and next day I'll share the analysis. here goes the first one

(HP 1) Timman - Ljubojevic

Belgrade, 1987

- All major and minor pieces on the board. So attacking opportunities are there for black who holds hanging pawns.
- White will try to exchange a few pieces to neutralize this and taking it to ending where he may have advantage
- Black is threatening d4 attacking the knight on c3 and when it moves he can play Qa2 liquidating to equal position
- Alternatively threat is Qb4 attacking Bh4 and then c4 when b2 falls
- Black's d-pawn is little loose (consider white queen is x-raying this and Bh4 is x-raying unprotected Be7. Similar is c-pawn with x-ray attack by Rc1

- White has to act now.

Please suggest white's next move and lets do a trees analysis for the variations. I expect it would take 20-30 mins.

ICICLE Swiss started at South West Chess Club

2008-01-06T07:01:00.001-08:00

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.

An interesting Colle Game with study like endgame position

2008-01-03T14:47:00.000-08:00

In the following game, I was on the receiving side of Colle ! The game was played 2 years back but wanted to share the final position with the reader. here it goes.....

Patrick,Derek (1825) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1879) [D05]

SWCC April Showers Milwaukee (Round 4, Board 1), 28.04.2005

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

Playing in Tim Just's Winter Open XXII in Chicago on 5-6 Jan

2008-01-03T06:10:00.001-08:00

I'll be playing in Tim Just's Winter Open XXII in Chicago on 5-6 Jan. It's a 5 round event and Time control is 40/90, SD/30. If anybody else going from Milwaukee and want a ride, please let me know. Can spend 1 hr 45 mins drive talking about Chess !

There are 16 1900 players already pre-enrolled. Seems that it is going to be a tough event. See the link below

http://chessforlife.com/chess/winter08pre.html

Following is the details in the Illinois Chess Org's webpage (http://www.ilchess.org/events.htm)

January 5-6, 2008. Tim Just's Winter Open/Reserve XXII, 5SS, 40/90, SD/30. Site: Fairfield Inn & Suites, 645 W. North Avenue, Lombard, IL 60148, (630) 629-1500 / (630) 629-2957, $69 room rate until 12/23. $$ (4,000 b/125 pd players, $2000 guaranteed, Guaranteed $$$ increased to maximum as attendance increases!). 2 Sections: Open: open to all. Open Prizes: $$ 700-300-200; U2200, 300-150; U2000 $300-125; Unr. can win top three only. Reserve: open to U1800. Reserve Prizes: $500-300-150; U1600, $225-150; U1400. $200-100; U1200, 150-75; Unr = $75, Unr. qualify for Unr. Prize only. Both:, EF: $64 (add $10 if playing up from Reserve into Open section) with name, id, e-mail/phone, to current/renewing USCF if rec'd by 1/2; Both $80 at site 8-8:30 AM; $85 at site 8:30-8:45 AM; $10 to play up from Reserve to Open section. DISCOUNT EF: ICA members can deduct $5 off of the early or at the door EFs. Rds: 9-1:30-6; 10-2:30. Re-Entry $40 with ½ pt Bye round 1, Byes Rnds 1-4, unretractable rnd 5 at Registration, Bring sets, boards, clocks, none provided,. Ent: Tim Just, 37165 Willow, Gurnee, IL 60031 (847) 244-7954 before 6 PM. e-mail for info only (sorry, e-mail entries not available): timjust@chessforlife.com, Checks payable to Chess For Life, LLC, info and PayPal entries: http://chessforlife.com/chess/winter08.html NS, NC, W. Book Dealers: Checkmate Chess Supply & Toby Chess

Started Waukesha Winter Swiss with a win

2008-01-03T06:01:00.000-08:00

Started the Waukesha Winter Swiss with a win last night. It was very cold winter night approaching 4 degrees (F). Since Ivan is not playing, I'll cover this event (Ivan has been doing a very good job in covering the events and if he is playing, I'll not cover it in my blog). There were 17 players - I am the top seed followed by Gavin and Coons (both of them won last night).

Will put my game tomorrow. I had white against Reinolds Luzanne and was 2 pawns up by move 14 ! But managed to complicate things under time pressure. Once almost felt that I was losing (most of the audience thought that way). Though the Rybka evaluation was +8.93 !

Trompowsky videos at YouTube

2008-01-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

Following are the Trompowsky videos at YouTube

Trap in the 1...d5 Trompowsky

Jeffreys vs O'Donnel 2006 SMB Chess Club

Jeffreys vs Sale 2007 SMBCC Part 1

Jeffreys vs Sale 2007 SMBCC Part 2

Strange Blitz Game

Trompowsky Studies at jeremysilman.com

2008-01-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

Following are two interesting articles on Trompwsky in jeremysilman.com by Jeremy Silman and John Watson

http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_opng_anlys/040117_tromp.html

http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_opng_anlys/040124_tromp_2.html

New Trompowsky book is coming up

2008-01-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

Starting Out: The Trompowsky Attack

A new Trompowsky book is coming up in May 2008 by Richard Palliser . From Everyman Chess. It would be from their Starting out Series and will contain 192 pages.

http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Out-Trompowsky-Attack/dp/1857445627/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199226747&sr=8-4

Uncommon Chess Openings Blog

Started playing again.....

Badger Open - Finished 3-way second place with 4/5 points

Won First Correspondence Tournament 6-0

The new Kid in town

Chess is a CRUEL game !

Tromp against Veech - Close escape

Roychoudhury,Souvik (1976) - Veech,John (1813) [A45]SWCC Club Championship, Hales Corner (3.3), 24.07.2008

SWCC Championship - Colle from black side against Pokoroski

Pokorski,Jeff (1652) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1976) [A45]SWCC Club Championship Waukesh (2.4), 17.07.2008

Upcoming Waukesh Club Tournaments

Waukesha Spring Swiss - Started with a win

Back to 1985 - My highest rating

At last beat Coons in mainline Slav !! 5/6 in Waukesha championship.

Won with Tango! - 4/5 in Waukesha Championship

Win against Ivan - Original opening play or simply a bluff that worked ?

Roychoudhury,Souvik (1961) - Wijetunga,Ivan (1823) [D00]Waukesha Championship Waukesha (5.3), 16.04.2008

I score 72% in Trompowsky with 2022 rating performance

Good start (2-0-0) in Waukesha Club Championship

Started Correspondence Chess !

Waukesha Club Championship - Started with a win

What is the best move (1) ?

FIDE Round Robin June 7-8

Analysis of Souvik v IM Mesgen Amanov Game

Back in winning form !!

If I can play Tromp against an IM and survive till 50 moves, it must be sound !

Anybody from WI is playing in St. Louis this weekend ?

Didn's play in winter open, Will play in Fide tournament

Good Knight - Bad Bishop !

My latest loss with Eric

Catastrophe !!

Team Championship - Parker, Fricano, Cardenas & Souvik

IM Mesgen Amanov will be in Milwaukee for chess camp

Joseph Anthony Kellam (Unrated->1998) - A sensational pereformance

Souvik vs Fricano (ICICLE Swiss) - A roller coaster game

Erik vs Souvik - The Endgame position

My Rating Chart

What to play for Black ?

Allen Becker won SWCC ICICLE Swiss with perfect score

Coons wins Waukesh Winter open

SWCC ICICLE Swiss - Last round pairing (Tentative)

My chess calendar for 2008

Rest in Peace the "Chess Player" Fischer

SWCC ICICLE Swiss - Becker beat Fricano to gain sole lead with 3/3

Waukesha Winter Open - Coons and Souvik leading with 3/3

Kings Indian defense - colors reversed game

Ruel,D (1417) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1962) [A08]Waukesha Winter Swiss Waukesha (Round 2, Board 1), 09-Jan-2008

Analysis of Robin Grochowski vs Souvik Roychoudhury game (Really Interesting)

(189) Grochowski,Robin (1750) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1984) [C04]SWCC ICICLE Swiss Hales Corner (Round 2), 10-Jan-2008

SWCC ICICLE Swiss - Becker and Fricano are leading with 2/2

Waukesh Winter Open - 1100 rated kid beat 1900 rated former expert

Souvik - Andrew game analysis

Roychoudhury,Souvik (1984) - Grochowsky,Andrew (1700) [D35]SWCC ICICLE Swiss Hales Corner (1.4), 03.01.2008

Hanging Pawns (1) - Position

(HP 1) Timman - LjubojevicBelgrade, 1987

- White has to act now.

Please suggest white's next move and lets do a trees analysis for the variations. I expect it would take 20-30 mins.

ICICLE Swiss started at South West Chess Club

An interesting Colle Game with study like endgame position

Patrick,Derek (1825) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1879) [D05]SWCC April Showers Milwaukee (Round 4, Board 1), 28.04.2005

Playing in Tim Just's Winter Open XXII in Chicago on 5-6 Jan

Started Waukesha Winter Swiss with a win

Trompowsky videos at YouTube

Trompowsky Studies at jeremysilman.com

New Trompowsky book is coming up

Roychoudhury,Souvik (1976) - Veech,John (1813) [A45]

SWCC Club Championship, Hales Corner (3.3), 24.07.2008

Pokorski,Jeff (1652) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1976) [A45]

SWCC Club Championship Waukesh (2.4), 17.07.2008

Roychoudhury,Souvik (1961) - Wijetunga,Ivan (1823) [D00]

Waukesha Championship Waukesha (5.3), 16.04.2008

Ruel,D (1417) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1962) [A08]

Waukesha Winter Swiss Waukesha (Round 2, Board 1), 09-Jan-2008

(189) Grochowski,Robin (1750) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1984) [C04]

SWCC ICICLE Swiss Hales Corner (Round 2), 10-Jan-2008

Roychoudhury,Souvik (1984) - Grochowsky,Andrew (1700) [D35]

SWCC ICICLE Swiss Hales Corner (1.4), 03.01.2008

(HP 1) Timman - Ljubojevic

Belgrade, 1987

Patrick,Derek (1825) - Roychoudhury,Souvik (1879) [D05]

SWCC April Showers Milwaukee (Round 4, Board 1), 28.04.2005