FC Chess Tournament 4

[anvi]

Ok, guys, the 4th Forum Community Chess Tournament shall begin.

Six players have signed up, and we will be having a round-robin tournament this time.  There will be five rounds, so every player will face every other player once.

I have established the following seating for the participants.

1. anvi
2. Oakvale
3. Minion of Midas
4. Senator Bore
5. A Person
6. homelycooking

According to standard round-robin rules, the pairings for the first round are as follows.

anvi (W) vs homelycooking (B)
Oakvale (W) vs. A Person (B)
Minion of Midas (W) vs. Senator Bore (B)

Players, please begin your games on GameKnot, with the White players sending challenges to the players of the Black pieces.  Please set the time controls for 2 days per move.  Please notify me by pm should you need to request a time-out at some point in the game and the other player has already agreed to it.  Once your games are underway, please post links to them on this thread, so others may follow them.

As always, good luck, gentlemen!

[minionofmidas]

http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=20176247&rnd=23617

[anvi]

Bumping, primarily so we can get the Oakvale-Person game started and its link posted here.
Thanks.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Bumping, primarily so we can get the Oakvale-Person game started and its link posted here.
Thanks.

http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=20177631

[anvi]

While we watch the first-round games progress, I found this fun little interlude on Youtube yesterday.  It's a tribute, set to appropriate music, of the most compelling chess rivalry of modern times.  Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, players with diametrically opposed styles, personalities and even political commitments, played competitive games for thirty years.  In the five world championship tournaments they played with one another, they accumulated a final score of 21 wins for Kasparov, 19 wins for Karpov and 104 draws!  More evenly-matched champions would indeed be hard to find in the history of chess.  This collage of footage features some typical, epic stareoffs between the players at about 2:20 and good blitz-chess footage at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvcxzGnVQWI

[Oakvale]

The game between me and A Person aka cabbagestems has ended 1-0. A Person made an unfortunate blunder which led to a mate-in-1.

Oakvale (W) vs Cabbagestems (B)

1.   e4   e5
2.   f4   exf4
3.   Nf3   Nc6
4.   d4   d5
5.   exd5   Qxd5
6.   Bxf4   g6
7.   Nc3   Qe6+
8.   Be2   Bg7
9.   d5   Qf5
10.   Bxc7   Nge7
11.   dxc6   bxc6
12.   Qd8#   

1-0

[anvi]

As I said in the OP, my analyses of the games in this tournament will be far less extensive than in previous ones.  But I hope a few notes might still be helpful.  The foremost reason for Black's unnecessarily quick defeat here was obviously not paying enough attention to immediate threats.  But, more fundamentally, Black chose an opening series of moves that produced tardy and uncoordinated development of his pieces, which, as we've seen in previous tournaments, can be suicidal against 1. e4.

Oakvale (W) vs A Person (B)
King's Gambit Accepted

1.   e4   e5
2.   f4   exf4
3.   Nf3   Nc6

Black choses a rather unpromising line of the King's Gambit Accepted.  The whole purpose of the opening for White is to sacrifice a pawn so he can open lines to Black's King.  So, it's better for Black to develop his Kingside forces quickly, usually giving the pawn back just so that he can catch up in development.  Developing the queenside pieces first in this line almost always proves to be too slow.

4.   d4   d5
5.   exd5   Qxd5
6.   Bxf4   g6?

Black doesn't pay heed to his hanging c7-pawn, and his game unravels quickly.  Again, Black must develop his kingside forces, either by 6...Bd6 or the interesting 6...Bg4?!  

7.   Nc3?   

White lets Black off the hook, as Black can now parry and save the pawn at the same time with 7...Qa5 followed by the rapid development of his kingside.  Simply taking the free pawn he is being offered seems to be, at the moment, unproblematic enough.

                Qe6+
8.   Be2   Bg7
9.   d5   Qf5
10.   Bxc7   Nge7??

Practically anything is better, 10...Nb4 foremost among them.  There is no reason, at any rate, to simply surrender the piece just to avoid allowing White to have a passed d-pawn, since this pawn can be successfully blockaded by Black's other forces, and, eventually, perhaps won outright.

11.   dxc6   bxc6??

Obviously, 11...Nxc6 is obligatory at this point, and even though White is clearly winning, he'll still have to fight for it after the correct defense.

12.   Qd8#   
1-0

[homelycooking]

How did I miss entering into this tournament? Ah well, these games are fun to observe anyhow.

[anvi]

Yeah h-c, I was surprised you didn't sign up.  But, if you'd still like to join, one way would be for you to take the 6th seat in the tournament, and, since the first round is still in progress, you and I would play a first round game now.  The seating placement doesn't really matter, it's for organizational purposes only, since everyone plays everyone once in a round-robin tournament anyway.  Let me know if you'd like to join.

But I will only go forward with this if all the other players agree.  Guys, if homelycooking joins in, the tournament will still be only five rounds, just no one will get a bye and will have to play in every round.  I'll leave it up to you.  Does anyone have any objections to homelycooking jumping in, or would it be ok with you?

[minionofmidas]

Come on in!

[anvi]

I'll wait for one more day.  If I don't hear any objections form the other players, I'll change the OP and plug homelycooking in the 6th seat in the tournament and send him a game challenge.  Hopefully we will be able to move the game along at a good pace if that happens, since one game in the first round is already completed.

[anvi]

Having heard no objection from the players, I am plugging homelycooking into the 6th pairing spot in our tournament (see revised OP) and sending him a game challenge for our first-round match.

[homelycooking]

Hey, thanks for letting me in, Anvi! I'm ready to play.

[anvi]

Welcome to FC4, h-c! 

anvi vs. homelycooking

http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=20229454&rnd=78125

[anvi]

The game between homelycooking and me has come to a conclusion.  Thanks for the game, h-c!  A little slip-up on move 7 and a decisive one on move 11, but it was an interesting position at the beginning!  Four rounds remain--fight on, man!

anvi v. homelycooking
Sicilian Defense -- Moscow Attack

1.    e4     c5

homely plays my favorite response to 1. e4, the sharp, counter-attacking Sicilian.  Maybe he wants to find out what I play against it for future reference too!

2.   Nf3     d6
3.   Bb5+

I'm not going to give too much of my opening intentions away--and there are several good lines White can choose from against the Sicilian.  But, as the main weakness of the Sicilian Defense is that its counterplay takes time to develop, the lines I follow against it as White are designed either to jump on it early or effectively restrict its arsenal of freeing moves.  Whether the Moscow Attack takes the first route or the second depends on Black's response to this check.

3.             Nd7

This move generally leads to very sharp play that allows White a dangerous kingside attack.

4.    d4      Nf6
5.  O-O    Nxe4
6.  Re1      Nf6

Giving the pawn back immediately is the book move in this variation because attempting to hold on to it with 6...f5 ends up not working after 7. Ng5.  Try the continuation out and see for yourself! 

7.  dxc5      a6?!

This loses a pawn immediately, but I give it the notation "?!" (dubious but interesting) for a reason.  The book continuation after White's 7th is 7...dxc5 8. Bc4 e6 9. Ng5 Be7 and now White can generate a formidably tricky kingside attack and gain a pronounced initiative with either 10. Nxf6 or 10. Bxe6.  This move sidesteps these dangerous lines at the cost of a pawn and gives Black the chance, if the position is handled correctly, to unwind his forces from their presently cramped state.

8.   Bxd7+    Bxd7
9.   dxc5       e6
10.  Nc3       Qb6
11.  Bf4      O-O-O?

This move, intended to help Black complete his development, gets him in over his head immediately.  Black's next move should be either ...Rd8 or ...Bc6, which will enable him to increase pressure on the White d-pawn and make his pieces more active, and a complicated struggle lies ahead.  When down material, it's precisely increasing the complexity of such positions that can give the player who is in the deficit a fighting chance.  This move invites White's developed forces to charge into the Black position on the basis of a number of tactical threats generated by the mighty Knights ability to fork pieces in different directions.  Bishops and Knights are both worth 3 units of force in chess, and most chess books will tell you that, due to its long range, Bishops are in the abstract a little better than Knights.  But I'll take a Knight deep in the opponent's ranks over a Bishop on an open diagonal most of the time, and its bewildering power when placed effectively is why.

12.   Ne5      Bd6?

Better is the passive 12...Be8 13. Qf3 Bxd6 14. Nc4 Qb4 15. Nxd6+ Rxd6 16 Bxd6 Qxd6 which, though it leaves Black more material down, allows him to live.  Black's text move, ignoring terrifying Knight forks on c4 and e4 to follow, precipitates an unstoppable onslaught that will leave him lost.  I've suffered enough miserable loses myself playing the Sicilian to learn one of its most important lessons; if Black doesn't react quickly and accurately with this otherwise most promising defense, White can route him with shocking speed.

13.    Nc4      Qc5?
14.   Nxd6+   Kb8
15.   Nde4+   Qc7
16.   Bxc7+   Kxc7
17.   Nxf6      Bc6
18.   Qh5       gxf6
19.   Qxf7+    Rd7
20.   Qxe6    Black Resigns

1-0

[anvi]

The game between Lewis and bore has come to a conclusion, an exciting one.

http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=20176247&rnd=23617

My commentary follows, and then I'll put up rankings and pairings for round 2 in the next post.

Minion of Midas vs. Senator Bore
Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense

Bore meets Midas' ambitious Ruy Lopez opening with a standard line of the Berlin Defense, any number of variations of which hold out the promise of solid play for Black.  However, a slightly unsound deviation by bore on move 11 gives White the chance to gain a positional advantage.   A somewhat unusual early tradeoff of all the minor pieces, however, leads to an endgame that is decided by whose heavies get into play first.  White builds up a clearly winning position, only, as a result of some inaccurate endgame play, to let it slip multiple times before finding an optically spectacular win in the end.  I dwell on the endgame inaccuracies here only because I think it's important for players to study rudimentary endgame tactics.

1.   e4        e5
2.  Nf3      Nc6
3.  Bb5     Nf6
4.  O-O      d6
5.    d4     exd4
6.  Nxd4    Bd7
7,  Bxc6   Nxc6
8.  Nxc6    bxc6
9.   Re1     Be7
10. Nc3     O-O
11.   b3      c5

Here, bore departs from standard book continuations.  Not an error, per se, but a less than positionally sound move.  Though Black has doubled-pawns on the c-file, they are at the moment actually an asset, since they are not vulnerable and particularly since Black's c6-pawn prevents the White Queen's Knight from advancing to or controlling central territory.  Black's text move cedes control of the d5 square, and could enable White to either establish his Knight there or, if Black trades it off, to set up a light-square bind with his Queen on the same square.  The simple 11...Re8 would have enabled Black to maintain a perfectly solid and level position.

12.  Bb2    Rb8

Black begins to make unmeaningful moves, lacking a coherent plan.  The Rook on b8 exerts no pressure on White's position; Rooks work best on half-open or fully open files.  I would as Black consider, since he has another pawn on the c-file anyway, 12...c6 to reestablish control of the d5 square.  White now rightly pounces on it.

13.   Nd5     Nxd5
14.    ed

Double-edged.  This move does have the advantage of opening the e-file, which White can make decisive use of much later in the game.  But in the immediate situation, the move is anti-positional.  This pawn-recapture prevents White from exerting pressure on the d-file with his Queen, which would make the Black cluster of pawns on c5, d6 and c7 rigid and inflexible, a static weakness that could become a major long-term factor in a persistent White advantage.  14. Qxd5 would have achieved this, plus the aforementioned light-square bind. 

14.               Bf6
15.   Rb1

An oddly passive move by White that gives away what was left of his initiative.  He can keep the initiative--which essentially means the choice of what direction to steer the game toward--by initiating the trade himself with 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16 Qd2 followed by centralizing his own Rooks and piling his pieces on the open e-file more quickly than Black can get there.

15.             Bxb2
16.  Rxb2   Qf6
17.  Rb1     h6?

In a somewhat unusual position, the minor pieces have all been traded off from the board, leaving only the heavies and pawns to contest the battle.  Obviously, the player who is the quickest at activating his heavy pieces to effective squares will garner the advantage.  But, on top of that, the player who best takes care of his pawn position will be in better stead.  Black's Rook on b8 is actually now, ironically, an asset, as he can put pressure on White's pawns and liquidate his own queenside pawn weaknesses with moves like ...a5 and ...a4.  Black does not quite understand the demands of the endgame.

18.   Qd3       Qh4?

This move threatens nothing, and allows White to choose to either dominate the e-file with 19. Re4 followed by Rbe1 or infiltrate the Black queenside with his Queen in order, as above, to create threats against Black's pawns there.

19,   g3         Qg5
20.   h4         Qg4
21.   Qa6

This targets Black's brittle queenside pawns.  However, since Black has abandoned the defense of e7 with his Queen, White can send his Rook there immediately with 21. Re7, perhaps a stronger move than the text.

21.                  Ra8?

Far too passive.  Black can launch a fascinating and effective counterattacking plan with 21...f5!, targeting White's g-pwan and King!

22.   Qb7          Rfc8?

The simple 22...Qd7 is a much more solid defense.  Black is slowly backing into quicksand.

23.    Re7          Qg6
24.    Rc1          Qf6?

Black still has a chance to do what the endgame in this position demands, namely activate his heavies.  24...f5 25. Rxc7 Re8 and Black is still putting up a feisty resistance.  In fact, after the c-pawn falls on the next move, 25...Re8 or even 26...Re8 are still better choices for Black, and in the case of the latter, is his best chance to produce counter-threats and save the game.

25.   Rxc7       Rxc7?
26.   Qxc7       Qb2?

This move not only loses material, but allows White enough heavy-piece access to his position to make Black's cause a lost one.  This is the game's decisive moment, but Black, grabbing material a bit too quickly in what follows, is inattentive to White's easy winning maneuver.

27.   Re1         Qxc2
28.   Qxd6       Qxa2?

This misplaces the Queen and allows White to control the squares that will lead to a pawn promotion.  Black must get his own King off the back rank and protect his a-Rook in order to avoid all the perils of White's passed-d-pawn march.

29.   Qxc5??

White, with an immediately winning move on hand which he only gets around to on the next try, loses the thread for a moment and hands Black a marvelous chance to erect a last-minute blockade.  29....Qd2 30. Re7 Qd1+ 31. Kg2 Rd8 looks to me, at first glance, like a save!

29.                  Qxb3?
30.   Qc6

The winner!  This Queen move cuts Black's Queen off from defending, and controls the e8-square, where White can support the promotion of his d-pawn with his Rook.  Black will thus lose a Rook for White's promoted d-pawn, and the rest will be easy.

30.                    Rf8
31.   d6             Qb4
32.   Kf1            a5
33.    d7            Qb3
34.   Qc7?

Having set up a winning position, White does not not know how to win it the quickest.  Quite unfortunate.  I had been for some time now been expecting the climactic 34. Re8 and Black is utterly lost.  What can he do?  34...Qd1+ 35. Kg2 Qxd7 (nothing else prevents the pawn from queening) 36. Qxd7 g6 37. Rxf8+ Kxf8 38. Qd8+ Kg7 39. Qxa5 and it's all over but the cryin'.  White is still winning outright after the text move, as Black will lose the Rook for the promoted pawn, but Black, with his Queen now still safely on the board, can drag out the game for a long time if he wants.  Some very rudimentary endgame study, which is easy to master with the smaller number of pieces on the board that endgames feature, can save a player lots of time and headaches.

34.                   Qd3+
35.   Re2?

Instead, White still wins easily after either 35. Kg1 Rh7 36. Re8 and the Black Queen runs out of checks in a few moves, or after 35...Qb5 36. Re5 Qa4 37. d8-Q.  Black tries to force a perpetual check and doesn't quite have it, but in the process, he is able to place his Queen on a better defensive post that makes it slightly more difficult for White to win.

35.                   Qd1+
36.   Re1          Qd3+
37.   Kg2          Qd5+
38.   Kg1

At last, White finds the right square for his King.  But now, the win is a little more difficult to find if Black plays the position correctly.  It involves making the threat of queening the d-pawn through a recapture on e8 so powerful that Black either has to allow it, or give up his Rook for the pawn to prevent it.  But White has already missed this strategy many moves over., One possible variation; 38...Qa8 39. Qe5 Kh7 40. Qb5 Qb8 41. Qc6 Rd8 42. Re8 Qb1+ 43.  Kh2 Rxd7 44. Qxd7 and Black, out a Rook for a pawn, will slowly but surely die.  But can White find the plan?

38.                       f6

But Black makes it easy.  Once again, 39. Re8 wins on the spot.

39.   Qc8?!

Well, this nice-looking temporary Queen sacrifice works, but a lot more slowly if Black wants to drag out the game.  But Black puts up less than the most resistant defense, and White gets to finish it off prettily in the end.

39.                    Qf5?
40    Re8           Qb1+
41.   Kg2           Black Resigns

1-0

White will have two Queens, so Black gracefully concedes.  In any event, a pretty thrilling game.  Good fight, guys.

[anvi]

Standings

                              Round 1
1. anvi                         1
2. Oakvale                    1
3. Minion of Midas         1
4. Senator Bore             0
5. A Person                   0
6. homelycooking          0

Round 2 Pairings

Senator Bore (W) vs. homelycooking (B)
A Person (W) vs, Minion of Midas (B)
Oakvale (W) vs. anvi (B)

Once again, White players, please send challenges to the players of the Black pieces.  Set your games to the time control of 2 days per move.  Please post links to your games here once they've begun so others can follow them.

The fight continues, this and three more rounds to go!  Good luck!

[minionofmidas]

I didn't even see Re8 until I actually played it (that is to say, the fact that I could just play it with no heavy pieces exchanged before. I was quite relying on the rook's control of the file before that move of course.) Hence the need for all those little queenie steps.

[anvi]

HI, gentleman; this is your annoying tournament director asking if we can get our second-round games started and their links posted.

Senator Bore (W) vs. homelycooking (B)
A Person (W) vs, Minion of Midas (B)
Oakvale (W) vs. anvi (B)

Thanks!

[Oakvale]

Sorry anvi, must have missed this. Challenge sent.

[anvi]

No problem, Oakvale.  Our game is here:

http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=20288990

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=20285850

[bore]

http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=20290159&rnd=19012

[anvi]

The second round game between Oakvale and me has come to a conclusion, most of it played in a sort of a "speed-chess" format this morning.  I provide a brief analysis below.

Oakvale (W) vs. anvi (B)
English Opening, Three Knights System

1.   c4

A good choice by Oakvale.  I'm not too familiar with the English and have not played it in tournaments as either White or Black.  I do know in general that the opening tends to revolve around whether or not White can get control of the d5 square and launch a queenside march against his opponent.  So, the variations I looked at were ones that gave me a chance to both contest the d5 square as quickly as I could and transpose into an "Indian" type formation that I'm far more comfortable with against Queen's Pawn formations.  We end up taking the Three Knights System route.  Let's see what happens.

1.            Nf6
2.   Nc3     c5
3.   Nf3     d5

I have no desire to just sit back, make waiting moves and let White slowly cement his grip on d5, the main first idea behind the English.  So, I follow a line that lets me contest it right away.  Openings are not just arbitrary sets of moves--there are concrete ideas behind all of them that lead to typical patterns of middlegame play that various players are adept at.  The player of the Black pieces, suffering from a half-move tempo deficit as a result of White's privilege of making the first move in every game, can never, in my opinion, just sit around; he has to actively develop his own plans and make them happen as quickly as possible.

4.   cxd5   Nxd5
5.     d4

5.  Bg2 is much more common, and allows White to continue fighting for domination of d5 despite Black's early efforts.  This move enables me to transpose the position into a more "Indian" type formation, with my dark-squared Bishop fianchettoed on g7, which I have much more experience playing than standard positions in the English.  I was happy to see Oakvale make this move!

5.              g6
6.   dxc5

This effort to win a pawn, in the book variations, does not work out in the long run because the unit on c5 can't be adequately defended forever.  I now can take the contest into an endgame phase where I believe my development and piece activity will be slightly better, but White is, of course, still very much in the game.  The more common move, however, 6. e4 lets me play 6...Nxc3 7. bc Bg7, transposing into something very closely resembling a Grünfeld defense, which is one of my favorites against 1. d4 as Black.  Transposition in chess happens when players originally initiate a game in one opening, but follow an alternate move order which lands them in another opening.  It's quite common for players to try to force a transposition from an opening they don't like into an opening that they do like; but their opponents don't always cooperate by letting them do this.

6.               Nxc3
7.   Qxd8+  Kxd8
8.    bxc3    Bg7
9.    Bb2

This move has been played, but is probably not as good as 9. Nd4, which allows White to place a Knight in the center of the board and contest Black's queenside development.  The Bishop on b2 is here consigned to a purely defensive role, and now, it seems to me, Black has a slight but concrete advantage.

9.                 Kc7

We're already in an endgame, so the King can become an offensive piece too, even though we're only in this case on move 9!  In the present circumstances, the Black King here helps coordinate a piece development that targets the c5-pawn, as well as vacates the back rank so that Black can develop his Rook there should the file need to be contested at some point.

10.   e4         Nd7
11.   Ng5

I think White's best bet here, since he is presently in an endgame where he trails in development, is to simply let Black recapture the pawn on c5 and complete his own development, with moves like Bc4, O-O and centralizing the Rooks.  

11.                Nxc5
12.   Nxf7?

This overlooks how dangerous it is to let Black quickly mobilize his forces, given the fact that White's position is still in an undeveloped and defensive posture.  12.  Bc4 with the aforementioned development is still better.  Of course, I do say all the time that "chess is for greedy people," and it's true.  But one qualification of that principle is that, when you grab material, you have to make sure that you have the forces in place that are necessary to justify your thievery!  Grabbing material too quickly, before one's forces are adequately positioned, can be poison.  White now gets pretty much overrun because he does not yet have enough pieces mobilized to counteract Black's own piece activity.

12.                  Rf8
13.   Ng5         Na4
14.   O-O-O     Rxf2
15.   Rd2?      

White wants to eject Black's Rook from his second rank as quickly as possible, but this overlooks the fact that his own King is presently "overworked;" it is defending two pieces that are too far away from one another for both of them to remain under protection should one be captured.  Necessary at this point is 15. Ba1, but White will still lose as much as two pawns and find himself still behind in development after something like 15...Bg4 16. Rd5 h6 17. Na3 Rxa2 18. Kb1 Ra3 and the c3 pawn cannot be saved anymore.  White's test move, however, lands him in an immediately lost position.

15.                 Rxd2
16.   Kxb2      Nxb2
17.    Kc2        Na4
18.    Bc4         h6
19.   Ne6?       Bxe6
20.   Bxe6       Nxc3
21.   a3 and White Resigns

0-1

White will soon be down in change by a piece and two pawns and there is no good reason to continue.  Oakvale made a good choice of openings and played typically well for him.  But adequate development, even in an endgame where the powerful Queens are off the board, is always important on a chessboard.

[minionofmidas]

and bore beats the clock!