Thursday, September 27, 2007

September TNT Round 4

Kaptsan - Schulz DRAW

Waldemar had a 1/2 point lead over the field, so needed only a draw to secure a piece of first place.
Aron pressed early, but Waldemar defended very well. Gradually black developed a small advantage; in the meantime Wie and Oberton drew, so the draw secured first place for Waldemar.

Oberton - Wie DRAW
Winawer French without Qg4 let to a blocked position where aggression by either side could backfire.

Gary Campbell - Boron 0-1

Albin Counter Gambit -- Up to 7. h3 they were following Alekhine - Lasker, St. Petersburg 1914. Lasker played 7...Bxf3 instead of the game's 7...Be6. My move is apparently the worst of several alternatives, and should be countered by 8.b4. Most of the pieces came off, and by move 22 it was a Rook and pawn endgame where Black stood better.

Kwiatek - Silva 1-0

Jordan sacrificed an exchange early, but Silva hung a knight with 34...Qe8, instead 34...Qf5 wins material.

Magnusson - Huyhn 1 -0

Who can stop the Magnusson express ? Saul finished with 3 to win the class prize.
Kaptsan, Boron, Oberton, Wie, and Kwiatek scored 3 to share second behind Schulz's 3.5

Tang - Rutter

Blair swapped two of his minors for a rook, but his remaining pieces were uncoordinated.
Ed finished it off with a nice move.

White to move


28. Ng6+


Khedkar - Greenberg DRAW

This game started out slow, but later generatedsome interesting positions/tactical possibilities.

From a fairly even position where nothing special was happening, Harley played the shocking 19...Nxh2



and after 20. Kxh2 Qh4+ 21. Kg1 Qxd4 22.Qxe8 Kh7 was down a full rook.


After 23. Be4 f5, Jay has to decide which piece to save. He played 24. Nb3 preserving the knight. However, there is an interesting resource, 24. Rad1 and if 24...Qxc5 25. Rd5 with all sorts of mating or material gain threats. If 25...Qb4 26. Rxf5 !


Anyway, Harley drummed up some counterplay and missed playing a shot that may have given him a favourable endgame.

After 30.Kf2
Harley could have won a pawn/or exchange with 30...Bxg3+

Green - Lipic 0-1

I thought Green had an overwhelming position, but apparently he lost it(the game) in time trouble

Monday, September 24, 2007

September TNT Round 3

Schulz - Silva 1-0

These guys maneouvred for 29 moves before any pawns or pieces came off !
This must be close to some sort of local record. And the first capture was piece sacrifice.

After 30. e6


Silva played 30...Bxe6

Silva eventually got back in the game, only to later blunder a mate in one.

Oberton -Kaptsan

Aron rolled out the Becker defense to the King's Gambit and provided young Daniel with a free lesson.

Liu - Khedkar

Liu had a large positional advantage, missed a killer blow (32. Rf8+ , followed by e5, let Jay back in the game, who then didn't find the most accurate defence, although it was difficult in any case.

Huynh - Tang DRAW

Lipic - Kwiatek 0-1

This game featured a rare From's Gambit in response to Stephen's Bird's Opening.
Lots of tactics, but the turning point appears to be 18. Bxb7+ which was unnecessary.

Reimer - Einarsson 0-1

The game score is readable up to move 21, and White has a slight advantage. If either player can supply the missing moves, it would be appreciated.

Gibson - Trueman 1-0

Trueman missed some chances for attack on the Queenside, Fred then found a simple, but effective move in the position below.



27. Qf6+

Monday, September 17, 2007

September TNT Round 2

In general, lots of strange chess !

However, I did discover some surprising moves with some silicon help.

Kaptsan - Liu DRAW

I thought Aron had some initiative, but he missed a quiet killer.

After Black played 28...Ke8 we arrive at the posititon below:


White to move...
Hint ...Where can the Black Queen safely move ?

Answer ...nowhere.

So the computer likes 29. Nb3 with the idea Nd2.
(The computer also likes 29. a4 but it results in a line that
is very complicated
and why bother when Nb3 is simple) Black is helpless !
However, Aron played 29. Nxc6

The game reduced to a R and pawns endgame and the players agreed to a draw
(although Aron indicated later that he should have played on).

Kwiatek - Oberton 0-1

Key moment:

Black has just played 10...Qb6, threatening the pawn on b2 and
indirectly d4 (Nxe4).






Jordan replied 11. Qd2 and subsequently lost the exchange. But 11.Nc2 is the
move as the b2 pawn is taboo.
As 11...Qxb2 is answered by 12.Na5

Silva - Boron 0-1

I (Boron) got fixated on a few ideas, leaked a few tempo here and there and
misjudged the relative value of my c pawn versus Silva' b pawn.
Plus I wanted to win. My last chance for equality was 33...Bxb6.
Silva played well throughout and ended by TNT undefeated streak at 13 games.
(I was curious, so I looked back and discovered that I had lost
only 2 of my last 26 TNT games up until this loss. But I had deserved
to lose at lose
at least another 6 of those !)

Khedkar - Green 1-0

By move 19, the boys were down to a double rook and pawns ending.
Jim pressed too hard to win and lost.

Einarsson - Magnusson 0-1

Ken had a decisive advantage until he threw it away with 15.Nxd5.
Perhaps he missed that Saul had 16...Bb4+ freeing the Queen,
or even one move earlier 15...Qa5+

Thursday, September 6, 2007

September TNT Round 1

When I left the University, I thought that there were good chances that at least one of the remaining 4 games would be drawn. I was wrong !

Green - Tang 1-0

White had a positional advantage through most of the game. I think Black could have achieved at least a draw with 50...Qxe5, but at this point the clock may have been a factor for the players. Given Ed's reluctance to play 54...Qxg7, I can only surmise that he was playing for the win. However, Jim was able to exchange Queens in a more favorable postion and was able to Queen his remaining pawn

Schulz - Campbell 1-0

From an equal position, Gary missed activating his pieces with 24...Bg4 and drifted into a difficult position a pawn down.


Huynh-Kaptsan 0-1

Oberton- Einarsson 1-0

Daniel with his King's Gambit had achieved a huge postional advantage and after 16...Qc8. The computer prefers 17. Bh6 over the game's Nxg4, although the game move is ok also.

Ken fought his way back to a Queen and pawn endgame a pawn down which provided drawing chances. After 39. Qc8+, Kf7 appears to hold the draw. Black is attacking the pawn on b4 and a and a back rank mate.
But the game continued 39...Kg7 40. Qc3+ followed by h3 and Daniel covered both threats, and won 10 moves later.


Lipic -Khedkar DRAW

This game had an interesting finish. As Waldemar said, "It's dejavu all over again !". (Referring to the game Raihman - Boron from the Yanofsky on Sunday) After 54. h7 Black has many ways to win. White's only chance is stalemate.


However, Black played 54...d1(Q) and the stalemate is set up. As Jay noted after the game, 54...d1(R) is good enough. (The comp also finds 54...Na5 mating in six moves)

Boron- Trueman 1-0

Evans - Rutter 0-1

Liu - Letain 1-0

I am not sure why Black sacrificed his knight on move 27. The ending was tough but resistance was possible.

Gibson - Kwiatek 0-1
I had problems with game score; perhaps one of the players could send us a revised score.

Silva - Magnusson 1-0

When I left the University I thought that Saul had a draw by repetition. I was curious to see the conclusion. However Alex indicates the game score had problems. So if either player can shed some light it would be appreciated.

Bye - Greenberg