Sunday, July 27, 2008

July TNT Round 3

Swift - Van Wyk 0-1
An interesting battle until White falters with 24. Nd4 when Bxf6 was required.

Rutter- Kernetsky 1-0
Myron uncharacteristically blunders into a fork.

Lauritson - Arie Wasserman 1-0
White exploits Black's opening. 10...b5 was required with chances to survive.

Mundwiler - Aaron Green DRAW
Another interesting battle. I was curious about a couple of moves that Black rejected.
20...f4 is strong but perhaps double-edged, but 22...Qe5+ is strong and obvious.(and again on move 23)

Letain - Bince 0-1
7. de5 would have blunted Black's black squared bishop for some time.
12. g3 was preferable to Ke2. 20. a4 allows White to defend. 21. Nxb5 loses immediately,Qxb5 does not lead to immediate doom.

Charter- Trueman 1-0
Black loses a pawn with 17...Nb8, and another soon after.

Goodman - Sauddin 1-0
Black should have played 18 or 19... Qh3. 19...d3 provides White with some counterplay which he eventually converts.

Klokow - Wiebe 1-0
21...d5 leads to White's winning 22.Nh5 as the N on f6 is now pinned against the Q on b6.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Anti- Draw Rules Poll

At the AY Memorial blog

I have removed the previous post with the comments.
Let's move forward and decide which rule to use

Monday, July 21, 2008

July TNT Round 2

Vincent - Charter 1-0
White slowly maneouvres to win a pawn. There is an interesting continuation 28...Nf5 that only a compuer could find.

Aaron Green - Lauritson DRAW
The game reduced to an opposite colour bishop ending. Aaron's results can no longer be considered upsets.

Bince - Swift 0-1

White had a strong continuation available in 13. Bc2 g6 14. Qe4 threatening the rook on a8 and 15. Qh4. And a bit later 16. Qe4 would have won material. Nontheless, White is a piece up and Black has no counterplay until he rejects 48. Bg6 in favour of 48. f5. White must must have distraught and/or in time trouble to play 53. Bxe8 when instead 53.Nb4 provides serious resistance.

Arie Wasserman - Rutter DRAW
15. c3 is a nice finesse, but he doesn't play 16.Bxd4 which wins a pawn, but he wins it a few moves later anyway. Black drops another pawn with 23... Kf7. White ends up with what may be a winning advantage in the rook and pawn ending; 29. f4 would have stopped a lot of Black's defensive chances . The ending with f and h pawns is a theoretical draw.

Kernetsky - Campbell 1-0
Black lost an exchange and had trouble drumming up counterplay.

Wiebe - Letain DRAW
8...Neg4 would have been interesting, with ideas of Nxe4.
The immediate 18...Rg6, with White's queen unable to get back to the king's defence, would have been decisive. 20...h5 would have kept up the pressure. Black settles for perpetual check, but 25...Re8 looks winning, but it is difficult to calculate to the end.

Van Wyk - Klokow 1-0
Black may have been able to hold the draw with 28...Rxd2 29. Bxd2 Rf2.
33...Rg8 also keeps the game alive

Pang- Mundwiler 0-1
White may be able to hold with accurate defence starting around move 30, but it would have been very difficult.

Mandusic - Goodman 0-1
13. b4 ?? was the critical error.

Leor Wasserman - Saudin 0-1
White missed Black's 29...Rh2+ shot. Simply 29. Bxd4 wins a pawn.

Lorne Gibbons - Trueman 0-1
The ambitious 15. Nxg6 ? gets refuted.

Chess Workshop for Juniors

Chess Workshop for Juniors

University of Winnipeg
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 -Friday, August 8, 2008
9:00am - 3:30pm

Principal Instructor: David Ross, International Chess Master from Mississippi

There will be two sections:

* Intermediate - $145 - Lorne Gibbons, Tournament Director, Manitoba Chess Association
Players should know all of the rules and, preferably, have some tournament experience.

* Advanced - $185 -
Players must have a Chess & Math Rating close to or above 1000. (David Ross, International Chess Master)

Space is limited in both sections so please register early to avoid disappointment!

For more information or to register call Jim Green at 275-1835 or by email: the_cool_greens@shaw.ca.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - July 19, 2008

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - July 19, 2008 from the Winnipeg Free Press

White to mate in 3 (Dobbs)

The king currently has one move - Kxd6 and we also have to keep in mind that Black has a couple of check if White allows it.

So let's try 1. b8(Q) Rxd6+ 2. Ke7 is stalemate !
2. Kc7 Rd7 3. Kxd7 mate
2. Kc7 Rd4 3. Qe8 mate
2. Kc7 Rd8 3. Kxd8 mate

1. b8(Q) Rxd8+ 2. Kxd8 is stalemate
2. Nxd8 Kf5 and I can't mate

So that appears to be the end of 1.b8(Q)

Let's try 1. d7 Re8 2. dxe8(Q) Kd6 3. Qd4 mate but other Black moves stymie White.

I tried 1. b1(B) to try to avoid the stalemate but it is the diagonal coverage that creates the pin above, so that didn't help.

I then tried putting some (several) chess engines on it...they ALL said mate in 4 ! I contacted Cecil who indicated 1. b8(N) ! So what do the engines say now ? Oh, it's a mate in 2 after the first move ! If you have an engine that finds 1. b8(N) unprompted, let me know.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

July TNT Round 1

Goodman - Vincent 0-1
Trevor extends his undefeated string to 183 games (ok, it just seems that long).
White had to develop action on the king side with 17. f4 to stay in the game, but Black owns the queenside regardless.

Mundwiler - Arie Wasserman 0-1
Big upset ! 6.d4 appears to be a novelty, and not a good one. It wasn't over yet, but 16. Ba3 ? allowing16... Ne3 was the beginning of the end.
I thought 29...Kf6 would have been a bit more precise (the position looked like one of Cecil's Saturday puzzles), but Arie's 29...Rxh3 is better (not that it really matters at that point).

Letain - Kernetsky DRAW
A half-upset.

Lauritson - Leor Wasserman 1-0
Here is a Saturday puzzle for you.


If play continues 21. Bxf8 Rxf8, it is mate in 8 after 22. Qh6. White decided instead to win a pawn with the natural 21. Qxf7

Trueman- Bince 0-1
White missed a chance with 43. Re7+ Kf8 44. Rcd8 winning either the c or e pawn.
However as play progressed, Black simplified to an easily won Knight vs. bishop ending.

Rutter - Pang 1-0
Black drops a pawn after 16...b6, with no compensation and he is probably lost at this point as the d pawn falls also. But he fights back and after White does not play the crushing 25. Qf4, he had a chance to survive with 25...Ncd6. But White sees 26. Qf4 and Black has to sacrifice a piece to live for a while.

Swift - Wiebe 1-0
Another upset, although Ryne has been done this before. What's more, he made the opposite colour bishop ending look easy. I will have to look at this ending again when I have more time.

Charter - Andusic 1-0
Bennet returns.

Sauddin - Aaron Green 0-1
White is doing fine until he abandon his e pawn for a speculative attack. Note that the unplayed 27...Rxd2 is possible and White does not mate after 28. Rh3 Qd6.
In the game, if 31. Kf1 , black still has to demonstrate how he will win.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - July 5, 2008

Cecil's Saturday Puzzle - July 5, 2008 from the Winnipeg Free Press

White to move and mate in three (Wurzburg)

Looks like it should be easy, but I had much difficulty with it. Of course, almost anything mates, but not in three. I tried Kd3, Kc2, bishop moves - nothing worked in time. So I must confess I put the engine on it.

1. Rf5 ! with lots of nice lines
1...Ka2 2. Ra5+ Kb1 3. Qf5 mate
1...Kc2 2. Rb5 Bd2 3. Qb2 mate
1...Ba3 2. Rf1+ Ka2 3. Qxf7 mate

Very nice. I was fooled into thinking the mate would be at close range.



Thursday, July 3, 2008

Notre Dame de Lourdes active

A great success by all accounts ! Was this the best attended Manitoba tournament outside Winnipeg ever ?

2nd Annual ChessNuts Open in Fargo

Our friend Brian Thompson from Fargo has announced that there will be a follow up to the first ChessNuts Open ! Mark October 17-19 on your calendar. For details see http://www.ndchessnut.com/
There were eight or so Manitobans in attendance last year, and I would expect there will be at least that many this year.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Is Garry reviewing my game ?

I hope not !

http://fpawn.blogspot.com/2008/06/calchess-fide-rated-juniors.html


As readers of the blog will recall, I played young Daniel Naroditsky in Las Vegas 3 weeks ago.

July TNT does not start until July 8

Just a reminder