tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13459940697511580212024-03-12T20:25:35.651-07:00Humanity and ChessChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-90827828360157089472011-08-15T04:27:00.000-07:002011-08-15T04:47:39.755-07:00Dragon Slayer in China!!Hello everyone,
<br />
<br />Its been a wild last few months! I'm still in China, specifically the city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province. I had actually gotten to play a good amount of chess games with some other westerners that live in my dorm. There were three college students during summer term who had played club chess to some extent. Two of them would be in about the 1400 range and another in about the 1500-1600 range. I went a combined 10-3 against them in long, casual games.
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<br />I finally came across a local group of players though. I'm not sure if they are directly affiliated with the Chengdu Chess Club but I know several of the players are regulars there. They were playing outside of a small noodle shop about half a mile from my dorms. I showed interest and one of the younger boys asked me if I knew how to play. I said yes and that I enjoyed playing. I was disregarded by the older players as they were concentrating on their games. The boy told me about a casual tournament at People's Park and I said I'd like to check it out.
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<br />It was more like the Reno Chess Club Swiss tourneys but it was outside in the blistering heat! It was all for fun but there weren't any push overs. I think I was the weakest player there in fact. I got crushed in my first two games and was able to take advantage of a blunder in my third game to keep from castling queenside (0-0-0) = )
<br />
<br />In the first game I had white and I got abused in a French Tarrasch by a player who was probably expert or higher, I couldn't ask much chess lingo as he spoke no English and my Chinese doesn't have that type of vocabulary yet. The second game I got crushed in a Queen's Indian Defense by a very strong player (no idea what to say for rating strength). The third game my ego was a little bruised and I faced off with a 9 year-old boy. He actually knew enough English to hold a pretty good conversation. Where are you from, what music do you like and so forth. He has a FIDE rating which he claimed 1849, I believe his name was Wang Peng, but not totally sure.
<br />
<br />Anyways I was able to play my line in the dragon and he made some moves which are standard in other Dragon lines, that just don't work against the line I play and I got him into trouble quickly, and then he started making bad moves. 1 of 3 ain't good but I played above my head all day!
<br />
<br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="450"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=eeeeee&dark=777777&border=ffffff&bordertext=0&headerbackground=ffffff&headerforeground=0&mtbackground=ffffff&scrollbar=0&pgndata=[Event "Chengdu Friendly"] [Site "People’s park"] [Date "2011.8.13"] [Round "3"] [White "Chris Harrington USCF 1620"] [Black "Wang Peng(?) FIDE 1849"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c5 {I was happy to see this as I was hoping for an attacking game. I had been obliterated in a hopelessly constricted French in the morning round.} 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 { Little Chinese kid playing the Dragon, the nerves started setting in a bit.} 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Be2 Nc6 8. Qd2 {My opponent had been moving lightning fast and now he sat for about seven minutes as if he’d never seen this before. Maybe he thought I mixed up systems and that it was a mistake to the Classical Dragon’s 7...0-0.} 8... Nxd4 9. Bxd4 O-O 10. O-O-O { Mainline} 10... Bd7 {?! I felt this was a mistake. As the mainline 10...Be6 is quite direct and takes advantage of the Nxd4 trade by occupying a stronger diagonal with plans to team up with other pieces for a coordinated king hunt.} (10... Be6 11. Kb1 Qa5 12. a3 Rfc8 13. h4 $5 13... b5 $5 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Nd5 Qa4 $1 16. Nxf6%2B {[%eval 23,12,Rybka 3]} 16... exf6 17. Bd3 { Probably equal.}) 11. h4 b5 {!? Probably not best. But was interesting to play against over the board as I wondered if the open files and bishop pair were going to be able to give me trouble.} 12. Bxb5 {?! I wasn’t sure if this was good and the computer thinks it gives black some good play for the pawn.} (12. h5 $1 12... b4 13. Nd5 {! Looks weird to me but it begins the attack.} 13... Nxe4 14. Qe3 {! I wouldn’t have seen this most-likely.} 14... e5 $1 15. hxg6 Nf6 16. Nxf6%2B Bxf6 17. gxf7%2B Rxf7 18. Qg3%2B Rg7 19. Qb3%2B Kh8 20. Be3 { White has created a mess and he stands better for it.}) 12... Bxb5 13. Nxb5 Nxe4 14. Qe3 Bxd4 15. Nxd4 Nc5 {?? A mistake as it should lead to material gain and a shattered kingside for black, but I didn’t immediately take advantage of it.} 16. h5 $2 (16. Nc6 $1 16... Qd7 17. Nxe7%2B Kg7 18. h5 Qe6 19. h6%2B Kh8 20. Rhe1 Qxe3%2B 21. Rxe3 Nb7 22. b3) 16... Qa5 {?? This happens quite often in the Dragon. Even strong players will make several big mistakes.} 17. Nc6 (17. hxg6 $3 17... fxg6 18. Nc6 Qc7 19. Nxe7%2B Kg7 20. Qd4%2B Kf7 21. Nd5) 17... Qxa2 18. Nxe7%2B Kh8 19. Qd4%2B f6 20. Nxg6%2B hxg6 21. hxg6%2B Kg7 22. Rh7%2B $1 22... Kxg6 23. Qg4%2B {Black resigns-mate in 2}'/></object></div> *ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-84074445859309249472011-03-11T22:41:00.000-08:002011-03-11T23:01:09.758-08:00Game one victory!!Quick update for those that care. I dueled my way to a victory with the white pieces in round one of the Western Class Championships. My opponent sported a French Defense-Fort Knox variation. I took my time and felt good about the game. When my opponent(1717)resigned he refused to shake hands because he was disgusted with himself.<br /><br />Kinda weird guy but whatever...I'm a happy camper!!<br /><br />Here is the game:<br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="500"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=cccccc&dark=777777&border=0&bordertext=cccccc&headerbackground=0&headerforeground=ffffff&mtbackground=cccccc&pgndata=[White "Chris Harrington 1613"] [Black "Jeff C. Andersen 1717"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8. Qe2 Bxe4 9. Bxe4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 c6 11. c3 Bd6 12. Bg5 Nf6 13. Qh4 Be7 14. Rfe1 Nd5 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Qe4 O-O 17. Rad1 Rad8 18. Ne5 Nf6 19. Qc2 Rd6 20. Qa4 a6 21. Qb4 Qc7 22. Rd3 Nd7 23. Nxd7 Rxd7 24. Re5 Qxe5 25. dxe5 Rxd3 26. Kf1 Rd7 27. Ke2 Rfd8 28. c4 Rd2%2B 29. Qxd2 Rxd2%2B 30. Kxd2 c5 31. Kc3 Kf8 32. b4 cxb4%2B 33. Kxb4 Ke8 34. Kc5 Kd7 35. Kb6 Kc8 36. c5 Kb8 37. c6 bxc6 38. Kxc6 Kc8 39. Kb6 Kd7 40. Kb7 a5 41. Kb6 a4 42. a3 f6 43. Kb5 h5 44. Kxa4 Kc6 45. Kb4 fxe5 46. Kc4 g5 47. Kd3 Kd5 48. a4 *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-70547653969111466012011-03-11T12:07:00.000-08:002011-03-11T12:09:13.100-08:00Western Class ChampionshipsJust checked into the Renaissance Agoura Hills Hotel for the Western Class Championships. The hotel itself is very nice and the quality of the room is more than I could have expected at the Chess price that they offered!<br /><br />I should have a game tonight in the B section. Hope this thing starts off ok...ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-62439088953239886342011-03-07T18:42:00.000-08:002011-03-07T18:44:12.125-08:00The win that wasn't<div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="500"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=eeeeee&dark=777777&border=ffffff&bordertext=0&headerbackground=ffffff&headerforeground=0&mtbackground=ffffff&scrollbar=0&pgndata= [White "David Sheryka 1900"] [Black "Chris Harrington 1613"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 {!? the start of an anti-Grand Prix line I like.} 3. f4 b5 4. Nf3 Bb7 5. d3 e6 6. Be2 d5 {?! I forced this thru prematurely. After white exchanges on d5 there is a tension which puts allot of pressure on black to be accurate as he finishes development.} (6... Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Be3 Nf6 9. h3 d5 { And now I can play d5.}) 7. exd5 exd5 8. O-O Nf6 9. d4 { A good move from White. Pushing the pawn again seems to waste time in principle but the concrete situation dictates that pushing the pawn to d4 puts pressure on black’s undeveloped position and gives white several diffeent ways to create an IQP if he so chooses.} 9... Nbd7 10. Kh1 {?! A bit too cautious, Black has even chances now.} 10... Ne4 {?! I didn’t think I could accept the IQP with this position. I didn’t have good attacking chances and my king was still in the open. This move attempts to stick a knight into the center and back him up with his buddy going to f6, if he gets exchanged then I may take with the e-pawn to control the light squares in White’s camp.} (10... Bd6 11. Be3 O-O 12. Ne5 Re8 $13) 11. Be3 Qb6 $6 (11... Be7 12. a4 $1 12... Nxc3 13. bxc3 bxa4 14. c4 dxc4 15. Bxc4 O-O 16. Qd3 Qc7 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Bxc5 Qxc5 19. Rxa4 { I would prefer Black here as his two bishops and heavy pieces are going to have better coordination in the immediate future.}) 12. Ne5 Ndf6 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. c4 {! Energetic pawn move by White. Black’s position is slowly getting worse.} 14... Rd8 {?? This should have lost for tactical reasons demonstrated in the following notes.} 15. dxc5 $4 (15. cxb5 $1 15... a5 16. Nc4 Qe6 17. Nxa5 Qb6 18. Nxb7 Qxb7 19. b6 {! Black is getting crushed.}) 15... Bxc5 16. Bxc5 Qxc5 17. Qc2 O-O 18. Rad1 Nd5 {! It took Rybka longer than usual to find this tactic which gives Black a slight advantage, and more if White isn’t careful.} 19. Qxe4 {? My opponent misevaluated the outcome of these exchanges cause this should have been the losing mistake.} 19... Ne3 $1 20. Qxb7 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Nxd1 22. Bxd1 Qf2 {! This move is actually the point of Ne3 and the danger cast from Nd5.} 23. h3 Qe1%2B {?? Much better is Qf1%2B to pick off the f-pawn as well as the Bishop.} (23... Qf1%2B 24. Kh2 Qxf4%2B 25. Kh1 Qxe5) 24. Kh2 Qxd1 25. c5 Qd4 26. Qe7 Qxf4%2B 27. Kh1 Qf6 {?? Not trusting my instincts I try to trade off the pressure and lose.} (27... Qc1%2B 28. Kh2 Qd2 29. Nd7 Rc8 30. Ne5 Qf4%2B 31. Kh1 Qf6 $1) 28. Qxf8%2B $1 28... Kxf8 29. Nd7%2B Ke7 30. Nxf6 gxf6 31. b4 { White wins. } *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-69649253387593114642011-02-21T18:52:00.001-08:002011-02-21T18:52:47.005-08:00Blunderfest<div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="500"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=cccccc&dark=777777&border=0&bordertext=cccccc&headerbackground=0&headerforeground=ffffff&mtbackground=cccccc&pgndata=[White "Chris Harrington 1613"] [Black "Ryan Van Reken 1875"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] 1. e4 d5 {A surpise. There was quite a bit of cat and mouse involved in my opponent’s opening choice. He didn’t want to play his Dragon because I had beat him in about 20 moves in our last meeting. He thought, that I thought he would play the Pirc since I looked over a game where he played it against Mauricio a few weeks prior. He said he put some preparation into this line just for this game, which I was impressed by.} 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 {I was aware of this being a somewhat trendy line in the Scandinavian Defense. I’ve never really looked at it so this is pretty much where the game starts for me.} 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bc4 (5. g3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Qb4 7. a3 $1 7... Qxb2 $6 8. Nb5 Bg4 $1 9. f3 O-O-O 10. Rb1 Qa2 11. fxg4 e5 12. Rb3 $1 12... exf4 13. Nc3 Qxb3 14. cxb3 Bxa3 15. Bh3 Rxd4 16. Qc2 Re8%2B 17. Nge2 f3 18. g5%2B Nd7 19. O-O $1 19... fxe2 20. Nxe2 { An extremely bizarre and fascinating computer line!}) 5... a6 6. Nf3 b5 $6 (6... Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. Qe2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O-O 10. g4 $5 10... Bg6 11. O-O-O { White still looks a bit better due to development and spacial advantages.}) 7. Bb3 { Bd3 and Be2 are also options. In the game I felt like this would just be losing time since I could have placed the bishop there, out of harm’s way to begin with. } 7... e6 (7... Bb7 8. O-O c5 {!? This would have been interesting as well.}) 8. O-O Bb7 9. Re1 (9. d5 {This is the move my opponent was worried about. He said he would have preferred Be7 otherwise. I think Bb7 is fine, and d5 isn’t a good option yet as I can still develop and target the uncastled king position.} 9... c5 {! Neither of us looked at this, but it apparently equalizes for Black.} 10. dxc6 Nxc6 { =}) 9... Be7 10. Ne5 (10. Ng5 { With the same idea as Ne5 but can’t be targeted for trade by Black’s b8 knight coming to d7.} 10... c5 11. Nxf7 $1 11... Kxf7 12. Rxe6 Qxe6 13. Bxe6%2B Kxe6 14. dxc5 Bxc5 15. Qe2%2B Kf7 16. Nxb5 $3 16... axb5 17. Qxb5 Bxf2%2B $1 18. Kxf2 Bd5 19. c4 { That’s some fun stuff right there!}) 10... Nd5 {? the first real mistake of the game. I didn’t consider this move. I was looking at 10...0-0 and 10...Nbd7.} (10... O-O 11. Nxf7 Rxf7 12. Bxe6 Nc6 13. Bxf7%2B Kxf7 14. Ne2 Re8 {I was planning to play this in the game if he had castled and we looked at it after the game and both of us thought that White was better. I disagree with Rybka that this is even. I think with people this is easier for White to handle.}) 11. Ne4 $1 11... Qb6 12. f4 {? I wasn’t sure what to play here. I considered a4 and c3 as well.} (12. Bg5 $1 12... Nd7 13. Bxe7 Kxe7 14. Nxf7 $1 14... Kxf7 15. Ng5%2B Kg8 16. Rxe6 Qxe6 17. Nxe6 N7f6 18. Nxc7 Rd8) 12... Nd7 13. Nxd7 Kxd7 14. c3 Rad8 15. Ng5 Bxg5 16. fxg5 Kc8 17. Rf1 Rdf8 18. Qh5 (18. a4 b4 19. c4 Ne7 20. a5 Qc6 21. Qe2 Nf5 22. d5 $5 22... Qc5%2B 23. Qf2 Qxf2%2B 24. Rxf2 Nd4 25. Bd1 exd5 26. Be3 Ne6 27. cxd5 Bxd5 28. Bg4 f5 29. gxf6 Rxf6 30. Rxf6 gxf6 31. Rd1 $36) 18... f6 19. Kh1 Qc6 20. Qe2 Rf7 {?! This one is a little misplaced but not necessarily bad.} 21. Bd2 Rhf8 22. Rae1 Re8 {?! The coordination of black’s rooks is a bit awkward and White is again close to/if not winning.} 23. Qh5 {?! Premature. Bc2 would get the bishop onto the h7 pawn and slowly use the maneuvering might of the queen and bishops to make life tough for Black.} 23... Nf4 {?? Ryan was already in some pretty big time trouble here. After he made this move he had 7 minutes to make the time control and their is quite a bit going on, on the board. At first I thought I was dead, and then I say that d5 was a refutation of black’s aggression.} 24. d5 $1 24... Nxd5 25. Qxf7 Nf4 $2 26. Qxe8%2B $2 (26. Rf3 $1 26... Nxg2 27. Rxe6 Rxe6 28. Qxe6%2B Qxe6 29. Bxe6%2B Kd8 30. gxf6 $1 30... gxf6 31. Kxg2) 26... Qxe8 27. Bxf4 e5 28. gxf6 Qc6 29. Rf2 gxf6 (29... exf4 {?? Of course not this because of promotion.} 30. fxg7 Kb8 31. g8=Q%2B) 30. Bg5 {?? My worst move in over a year of chess! I was moving fast and had a mental breakdown. I thought, for some reason that after the rook check that he would have to block with his queen, not seeing the simple king d7.} (30. Bh6) 30... fxg5 31. Rf8%2B Kd7 32. Rd1%2B Ke7 33. Rf7%2B Ke8 34. Rd2 Qe4 {Looks like Black has the upper hand here but its really drawish since my rooks, bishop and c3 pawn cover the necessary squares.} 35. Rdf2 Qb1%2B 36. Rf1 Qxb2 { Now its either perpetual check or white gets a pretty checkmate, check it out.} 37. Rf8%2B Kd7 38. R8f7%2B $1 (38. R1f7%2B {?? this would be a horrible mistake. White has to force black into his other attackers.}) 38... Ke8 { In case you’re wondering why black doesn’t keep escaping forward with his king, I included the forced mate that would take place.} (38... Kc6 {?? Mate in 3} 39. R1f6%2B Kc5 $7 40. Rxc7%2B Bc6 41. Rcxc6#) 39. Rf8%2B { Draw} *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-2373633449579091672011-02-14T19:49:00.000-08:002011-02-14T19:52:04.426-08:00Everything with a beginning has an end...Well my eight-game unbeaten streak was snapped on Thursday night by Matt Herald. I was on the Black side of a French Advance and had created a great position and began moving too fast, not looking at my opponent's options and got into trouble resembling my trouble at the Far West Open last year.<br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="500"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=cccccc&dark=777777&border=0&bordertext=cccccc&headerbackground=0&headerforeground=ffffff&mtbackground=cccccc&pgndata=[White "Matt Herald"] [Black "Chris Harrington"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 { French Defense-Advance Variation} 3... c5 4. Bb5%2B {?! This move allows Black two good continuation. He can play Bd7 and trade White’s good bishop for the French "problem bishop" or Nc6 because after 5 Nf3 Qb6 Black is gaining tempo unless White wants to trade on c6 giving Black the ideal French pawn center.} (4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 f6 $5 7. Bd3 fxe5 8. dxe5 c4 {!? Looks like an interesting position where both sides have good chances.}) 4... Nc6 (4... Bd7 5. Bxd7%2B Nxd7 6. Nf3 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Bc5 8. Qd3 f6 $1 9. Bf4 Qb6 10. O-O Ne7 $5 11. exf6 gxf6 12. Qb3 $5 12... Qc6 13. Be3 e5 { and Black had a central advantage in T. Barnes-Sporn}) 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Nc3 {! Develops a piece and maintains the tension of the position.} 6... cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8. Bxc6 bxc6 { For those that don’t play the French the b-pawn recapture is a goal of Black’s whenever the bishop is misplaced at b5. In essence White has traded a bishop and d-pawn for Black’s knight and b-pawn.} 9. O-O c5 10. Nf3 Ne7 { Ok so Black’s opening has been a success. He maintains the bishop-pair, has more pawns in the center and has more than equalized. White, for his part, has gotten through a slight-inaccuracy in the opening with a very playable position. he has options to expand on the queenside with moves like a4 or b3, he can alos play it slow with moves like Re1.} 11. h4 {?! My opponent was really happy with this move, but its not that helpful. He may have thought my knight was coming to g6 and wanted to be able to hit it with tempo after h5. But Black was always planning to go to f5. Reason being, to support the eventual pawn march in the center and to close off the b1-h7 diagonal from any later queen penetration on the kingside.} 11... d4 {?! d4 is premature. As noted by several in the post-game Black can continue to develop and leave White guessing on his intentions in the center.} (11... Nf5 12. h5 {!? Trying to make h4 useful.} 12... h6 13. g4 Ne7 14. Qe2 Nc6 $1 15. Rd1 Be7 16. Nb5 O-O 17. c4 $1 17... d4 18. g5 hxg5 19. Bxg5 a6 20. Bxe7 Nxe7 21. Nd6 Nf5 $17) 12. Ne4 Bc6 $4 (12... Nf5 13. Re1 Bc6 { Now I can play Bc6!} 14. Qd3 Qb7 15. b3 Be7) 13. Nd6%2B Kd7 14. Nxf7 Rg8 15. Qd3 Nf5 16. N7g5 h6 17. g4 {? So even after Black’s big error he still made it back to an equal position.} 17... Bxf3 $4 (17... c4 $1 18. Qxc4 hxg5 19. gxf5 Bxf3 20. Bxg5 Bd5 21. fxe6%2B Qxe6 22. Qa4%2B Bc6 23. Qxd4%2B Qd5 24. c3 Bc5 25. Qd1 Qxd1 26. Rfxd1%2B Ke6 { Would have been tense but Rybka says Black is a bit better.}) 18. Qxf3 Be7 19. gxf5 $2 19... hxg5 20. fxe6%2B Kxe6 $6 21. Qg4%2B Kd5 { The rest isn’t relevant as white went on to win pretty quickly after this.} *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-4590866812105898742011-02-09T15:09:00.000-08:002011-02-09T15:10:08.633-08:008 Game Unbeaten Streak!<div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="500"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=f4f4fF&dark=0072b9&bordertext=494949&headerforeground=ffffff&mtforeground=000000&mtvariations=FF0000&mtmainline=000000&mtbackground=ffffff&pgndata=[White "Chris Harrington"] [Black "Eddie Von Engeln"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 a6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 d6 6. Bd3 {This allows a transposition into a position where I don’t like the bishop on d3. Be3 allows me to keep with my repertoire.} (6. Be3 Nf6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10. O-O-O Bb7 11. h4 b4 { With an even fight.}) 6... Nf6 7. Be3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 Nbd7 10. f4 {With the idea of g4 and a king-side pawn storm.} 10... e5 $6 (10... h6 11. Qf3 Nc5 12. Qg3 $5 12... Nxd3 13. cxd3 Kh8 14. f5 { Black should hold but white has the initiative.}) 11. Nf5 Nc5 {? Clearly some panic by black in the last two moves.} (11... exf4 12. Bxf4 Re8 13. Nxe7%2B Qxe7 14. Qf2 {!? Black can fight from this position a bit easier than the game’s continuation.}) 12. Bxc5 dxc5 13. fxe5 Nd7 14. Nd5 {! White has a crushing advantage.} 14... Kh8 {?! Bg5 leads to interesting complications but black is already lost.} 15. Nfxe7 Nxe5 16. Nxc8 Rxc8 17. c4 {!? The idea is that my knight is fantastic and playing c4 means that if black wants to trade it off he will be giving me a connected passed pawn, and I’m still up a piece.} 17... a5 18. Rf2 Qd6 19. Raf1 Rce8 20. Bc2 {The idea is Ba4, Bb5 and a4, locking down the queen-side and observing the strong a4-e8 diagonal.} 20... Qd7 {and black resigned mentioning "I’m down a piece and can’t do anything."} *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-14742528250306573092011-02-04T15:40:00.001-08:002011-02-04T15:40:43.040-08:00A little Anthropology for ya...Neandertals and Endurance Running<br /><br />Endurance running has been cited since the 1980’s as a possible explanation for the modern human body plan. Past studies have focused on the running abilities of species such as Homo ergaster and Homo sapiens, with little or no mention of other species or genera. Currently in press in the Journal of Human Evolution is a discussion of Neandertal running capabilities.<br /><br />The authors observed the length of the calcaneal tuber of the foot, which correlates with how far the Achilles tendon will stretch during movement. For this study measurements were taken of both Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis. Species with short calcaneal tubers stretch their Achilles tendons to a greater degree, which is then returned in the form of elastic energy. Species with long tubers stretch the Achilles tendon less and therefore have a lower return of elastic energy.<br /><br />White Line: Calcaneus tuber length. Red Line: Achilles tendon moment. Correlation between the two values. Photo from Raichlen et al.<br /><br />Simply put, a species with shorter calcaneal tubers will use less energy when running. Anatomically modern humans have been found to have short tubers, while longer ones are found on Neandertal remains. According to the authors, this variation has significant behavioral implications.<br /><br />Unlike modern humans, the storage of less elastic energy in Neandertals would have made running less efficient. However, Neandertals were not necessarily at a disadvantage in the colder climates they are often said to have inhabited. It is more likely that running over long distances would have been energetically costly to them, without having huge benefits.<br /><br />Long distance running would prove beneficial in warmer climates where animals are prone to hyperventilate when chased. Modern humans would have benefitted from endurance running because it would have aided in capturing prey. The same model does not necessarily apply in colder climates. A runner could chase an animal all day in low temperatures and never have the animal succumb to heat stress or hyperventilation. It is for this reason argued that the ability to run long distances would not have been as evolutionarily valuable to Homo neanderthalensis.<br /><br />Discussing endurance running provides fascinating insight into human evolution. While the ability to run long distances can be very revealing about evolutionary history, lack of endurance can be as well.<br /><br />By Matt Magnani<br /><br />Raichlen, D.A., Armstrong, H., Lieberman, D.E. (2011). “Calcaneus length determines running economy: Implications for endurance running performance in modern humans and Neandertals.” The Journal of Human Evolution. Article in Press.ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-82681695002875066352011-01-26T19:22:00.000-08:002011-01-26T19:23:02.782-08:006 game unbeaten streak<div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=f4f4fF&dark=0072b9&bordertext=494949&headerforeground=ffffff&mtforeground=000000&mtvariations=FF0000&mtmainline=000000&mtbackground=ffffff&pgndata= [White "Mauricio Amaya"] [Black "Chris Harrington"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 {!? As I know Mauricio likes to play the Grand Prix Attack I employ this useful pawn push which should lead to positions which don’t resemble GP Attacks or lead to open sicilians that I’m familiar with.^13 ^10 } {^13 ^10 } 3. Nf3 {Declining a GPA setup, which would have entailed the usual 3. f4} (3. f4 b5 4. Nf3 Bb7 5. d3 e6 6. g3 d5 {and black can claim an equal game with a position very different from most GPA.}) 3... d6 {Inviting white to play an open sicilian with 4.d4 leading to Najdorf variations.} (3... b5 4. d4 e6 {!? Keeping an O’Kelly flavor and stirring the pot a little as well.}) 4. Bc4 b5 5. Be2 (5. Bd5 Ra7 6. a3 e6 7. Ba2 Bb7 8. d4 Nf6 9. d5 e5 {This was another option which is a bizarre set-up as far for a Sicilian.}) 5... Nf6 { 5...Bb7 was the other consideration.} 6. d3 {There isn’t a good reason not to push through with d4.} 6... e6 7. e5 $5 7... Nfd7 {?! After spending 8-9 minutes thinking I ended up playing the weakest reply.} 8. Bg5 Qc7 9. exd6 Bxd6 10. Ne4 Bb7 {and black is fully equal.} 11. Nxd6%2B Qxd6 12. Qd2 {!? As my opponent left pretty quickly after the game, I wasn’t able to ask him what he was thinking here, I can’t imagine he was considering queenside castling with the black pawns already expanded on that side. I can only assume this move was to facilitate the repositioning of his bishop wich is pointing at nothing right now.} 12... O-O 13. O-O Nc6 14. Bf4 {This speeds along black’s plan to advance his nice e-pawn.} 14... e5 15. Bg3 Rfe8 (15... f5 $1 16. h3 f4 17. Bh2 Nd4 18. Qd1 Qg6 {This line would have put black in firm control of the dark-squares with a huge spatial advantage.}) 16. c3 {A nice move which takes away the advanced point d4 from my knight.} 16... Qg6 {?! Another weak move. I felt my queen was misplaced and my pieces were in each others way. The other move i considered was Rad8 which is much better and brings the last piece into battle. } 17. Rae1 f6 {?! Shoring up e4 even though its unnecassary.} 18. Bd1 Nf8 19. Nh4 Qf7 20. Bb3 Ne6 (20... c4 21. dxc4 bxc4 22. Ba4 Red8 23. Qe2 Ne7) 21. Nf5 Rad8 {At this point I really liked my position. My development finally looks good, i have a really nice bind on the weak d-pawn and I have a good chance to bring my knights to good outposts.} 22. Qc2 Na5 $1 23. Bxe6 Qxe6 24. Ne3 Nc6 25. b3 Rd7 26. Re2 Red8 27. Rd1 b4 28. c4 $4 (28. f3 Na7 29. cxb4 cxb4 30. Qc5 Nb5 31. Qxb4 Rxd3) 28... Nd4 29. Qb2 Nxe2%2B 30. Qxe2 Rd4 {? Premature, i was anxious to create the 3-piece battery} (30... e4 $5 31. Nf1 Qc6 32. Ne3 Rxd3) 31. f3 Qd7 $1 32. Ra1 Rxd3 33. Nd5 Rxd5 {? giving back the exchange is still winning but it looks like you don’t have to do it quite yet.} (33... Rd4 34. Bf2 Bxd5 $1 35. Bxd4 Bxf3 $1 36. Qf2 Qxd4 37. Qxd4 Rxd4 38. gxf3 a5 {I didn’t see the tactical oppourtunity which would have resulted in a simple 2 pawn up endgame.}) 34. cxd5 Qxd5 35. Bf2 a5 36. Qb5 {after this move I began to panic, I thought I was gonna lose all my queenside pawns because of the strong bishop and deep queen position.} 36... Rc8 37. Rc1 Kf7 {?! ugh, watching for potential back rank penetration and trying to get in position for an endgame, c4 would have been fantastic, a move later when i play it, its a drawing move.} 38. Qxa5 c4 $2 (38... e4 $1 39. Qb5 exf3 40. Rxc5 Rxc5 41. Bxc5 f2%2B 42. Kxf2 Qd2%2B 43. Kf1 Qxg2%2B 44. Ke1 Qh1%2B 45. Qf1 Qe4%2B)(38... Qd2 39. Re1 Qd6 40. Qb5 Ba6 41. Qa5 c4 42. bxc4 Rxc4) 39. Qxb4 cxb3 40. Rxc8 Qd1%2B 41. Qe1 Qxe1%2B 42. Bxe1 Bxc8 43. axb3 Ke6 44. Kf2 Kd5 45. Ke3 Ba6 46. g3 g6 47. Bc3 f5 48. f4 e4 49. Bd2 {Draw agreed} *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-51054446098512875192011-01-16T17:24:00.000-08:002011-01-16T17:30:00.239-08:004 in a row!Ok so in my last post I aid two in a row but I forgot that I won my last game at the Nevada State Championships so that makes 4 wins in a row. Anything to keep up the motivation. Here is my first round game of the Club Championship Qualifier against James Mann.<br /><br />I missed an easy recapture in the opening that would have ensured a big advantage and then we both worked on positioning our pieces and pawns towards central clarity.<br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="450"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=cccccc&dark=777777&border=0&bordertext=cccccc&headerbackground=0&headerforeground=ffffff&mtbackground=cccccc&pgndata=[Event "Club Championship Qualifier"] [Site "Reno Chess Club"] [Round "1"] [White "Chris Harrington 1618"] [Black "James Mann 1512"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Ruy Lopez-Berlin Defense} 4. Qe2 {I’ve also reached the standard mainline position against Grant Fleming shown below.} (4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8%2B Kxd8 9. Rd1%2B Ke8 10. b3 $14) 4... d6 (4... Bc5 5. c3 $1 5... O-O 6. d3 h6 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8. Nxe5 Re8 {Its unclear, but black has decent compensation for the pawn as seen in C.Harrington v. Udit Iyengar Far West Open 2010}) 5. d3 {Not my kind of a move, and passive to boot!} (5. d4 $1 5... exd4 $6 6. e5 $1 6... dxe5 7. Nxe5 Bb4%2B $6 8. c3 O-O 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. cxb4 Re8 11. O-O Nd5 12. Nd2 Bd7 13. Ndf3 f6 14. Bg5 {!! }$40) 5... Bd7 6. c3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Rd1 a6 9. Ba4 Nd4 {? Here is where I let my game get muddied. I had seen this idea ever since he castled, as Bxd7 no longer comes with check for me. But I failed to take my time and play the simple recapture cxd4. Instead I immediately snapped off knight takes d4 thinking that I needed the knight to block his bishop after it captures on a4.} 10. Nxd4 $2 (10. cxd4 Bxa4 11. b3 Bb5 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Bb2 Nd7 14. a4 Bc6 15. d4 {I like d4 here so as to open up the board for my soon to be more active pieces.}) 10... Bxa4 11. Nb3 Re8 12. Bg5 b6 {This isn’t so bad but its hard to see that it was needed with development still looming.} 13. N1d2 c5 14. Re1 {My idea is already clear. i want to set a knight on f5 and back it up with his partner on e3. Therefore the rook move, while not best, did play a role in my idea.} 14... Bc6 15. Nf1 {Hoping to get to e3.} 15... h6 {Rybka also suggests the central break d5.} 16. Bh4 g5 {Bizarre but not entirely bad as the king enjoys relative safety due to the closed nature of the game.} 17. Bg3 Bf8 {I think this is the beginning of a bad plan. The bishop was potentially going to become active as this central tension threatens to resolve but making it a Tall-Pawn on g7 leaves my bad bishop as potentially attacking the center with his potentially defending the center/staring at granite.} 18. Ne3 Bd7 19. Nd2 Bg7 20. Ndc4 Be6 21. Rad1 b5 22. Nd2 Qd7 {Bulking up on the c8-h3 diagonal, blunting the knight’s hope of reaching the advance point f5.} 23. h3 {Now my idea is h3-Bh2-Ndf1-Ngf5.} 23... Kh8 (23... g4 $5 24. Nxg4 Nxg4 25. hxg4 Bxg4 26. f3 Be6 27. Bh4 Qc7 {This line would igve more potential open-lines and pawn breaks and black has a practical chance to exploit his bishop-pair.}) 24. b3 {Relieving the hanging pawn on a2 and preparing for a possible c4 if the situation becomes condusive.} 24... Ng8 25. Bh2 Ne7 26. Ndf1 f5 27. exf5 Nxf5 28. Nxf5 Bxf5 29. Ne3 Be6 {During the game, my assessment of the position was that black was a little better. He has the bishop-pair and the game is opening up. The e6 bishop is a beast, and dominates my knight. Rybka thinks its pretty even (%2B0.09 for white)} 30. Qd2 Rad8 31. Nc2 Bd5 32. c4 Bc6 33. Ne3 Qf7 34. Ng4 {I know my knight has seemed like a wandering fool for allot of this game but I was having trouble coming up with a plan for the last few moves.} 34... Bd7 35. Re2 Qg6 36. Rde1 $6 36... Bf5 37. Rd1 {and now the bishop should retreat to d7 and it will be hard for white to ever make any progress =} 37... Bxg4 $6 38. hxg4 {Giving up the good bishop for a horse with no name.} 38... d5 39. cxb5 $1 39... axb5 40. Qa5 {After being bottled up for 40 moves, white finally has good play!} 40... Qc6 {?! This doesn’t work for tactical reasons that are demonstrated by my next move.} (40... Rb8 41. Rde1 Qd6 42. Qc3 d4 43. Qa5 {Black has lots of accessable pawn weaknesses and white will still have a good time playing actively.}) 41. Bxe5 {This is actually possible because the back rank is weak. The e8 rook is overloaded and the bishop is pinned to the king.} 41... Ra8 42. Bxg7%2B Kxg7 43. Qd2 Rxe2 44. Qxe2 Re8 45. Qd2 Qe6 {This is ill advised as it leads to a clear win for white.} 46. f3 {?! White’s queen is asleep at the switch better was} (46. Qc3%2B $1 46... d4 47. Qxc5 Qxg4 48. Rc1 Qd7 49. a4 $1 49... bxa4 50. bxa4 {and the pawn is immune for the time being on account of Qc7%2B}) 46... Qe3%2B {? I knew that this would be great for white. Black needs to keep his queen to help with defense and to try to cause me headaches. This leads to an outside passer.} 47. Qxe3 Rxe3 48. Kf2 d4 49. a4 $1 49... Re6 50. Rc1 {!? Of course there are several good options but this is best as it maximizes white’s advantages. It maintains the tension of the outside passer and works on black’s other weak pawns.} 50... bxa4 51. bxa4 Ra6 52. Rxc5 Rxa4 53. Rc4 {After this move I expected the rook to give chase to my king, not go quietly into the night.} 53... Rxc4 54. dxc4 Kf6 55. Ke2 Ke5 56. g3 {This doesn’t allow for any king penetration and gets ready to make another passed pawn.} 56... Kd6 57. Kd3 Kc5 58. f4 {and black resigns} *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-65724617549220383552011-01-08T13:14:00.000-08:002011-01-08T13:17:45.004-08:00Two in a rowThis one will be short and sweet. I followed up last week's victory with another win as White against a Caro-Kahn defense/Classical variation. Aside from two bad moves my game was pretty solid and I was aware of what I was doing with my minor pieces, whether my moves were right or wrong I was at least debating mentally, the merits of a move and how it could make my knights and bishops good/bad.<br /><br />I ended up purposefully creating a bad bishop to weaken the enemy king position in this game and it worked out well. Enjoy!<br /><br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="250%" height="500"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=f4f4fF&dark=0072b9&bordertext=494949&headerforeground=ffffff&mtforeground=000000&mtvariations=FF0000&mtmainline=000000&mtbackground=ffffff&pgndata= [White "Chris Harrington"] [Black "Norm Wyatt"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 {Caro-Kahn defense/Classical variation} 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bf4 Ngf6 12. O-O-O {Still theoretical, black will began deviating slightly and the game takes on its own flavor.} 12... Nd5 {A novelty as far as I can tell. During the game it seemed like d2 was the only good square for my bishop but I didn’t look deep enough into the position. I saw that 13.Be5 could be met by f6 and left it at that. But f6 would actually be a mistake since it allows Qg6%2B forcing the black king to e7 where he would be vulnerable as well as getting in the way of his piece development.} 13. Bd2 N7f6 {After another knight move by black it appears white has an advantage because of his development and lack of pressure on his position from black.} 14. Ne5 Qc7 {?! Its not at all clear that the queen needs to be on c7. In fact there is a case for Qa5 where its more active and starts putting together some king pressure on white.} 15. Ne4 {c4 was my other consideration but I felt this knight move would stop Bd6 and would lead to a trade of a good black knight for a weaker black one and the temporary evacuation of d5.} 15... Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Nf6 17. Qe2 O-O-O 18. Rhe1 {? Kind of sad but I didn’t realize I hung the d-pawn till after I got home. i was actually already considering the Ba5 nonsense that I end up playing next move and over-looked the free pawn.} 18... Bd6 {? Maybe my opponent missed the pawn as well. Or possibly he wanted to finish up his development.} (18... Rxd4 19. Bc3 Rxd1%2B 20. Rxd1 Nd5 21. Ba5 Qxa5 22. Nxf7 Rg8 23. Qxe6%2B Kc7 24. Nxh6 $1 24... Rh8 25. Qe5%2B Kb6 26. Nf7 Rg8 {Long-winded but the position is playable for white if he can navigate through those tactics.}) 19. Ba5 {? Disappointing, I was hoping this works, but it doesn’t.} 19... b6 $4 (19... Qxa5 20. Nxf7 Qxa2 21. Qxe6%2B Qxe6 22. Rxe6 Bf4%2B 23. Kb1 Rde8 {This line would have finished me off pretty quickly.}) 20. Bd2 Bxe5 21. dxe5 Nd7 22. f4 Rde8 {Not needed. black needs to generate some activity and get some of his pieces doing something other than passive defense.} 23. Qg4 Rhg8 24. Bb4 {Accepting a bad bishop in return for open diagonals to penetrate the king position.} 24... c5 25. Bc3 g5 26. hxg6 Rxg6 27. Qf3 Re7 {?! Ok so obviously this is a dud. In the postmortem, considerable energy was spent trying to make Reg8 work. Which lead to some fantastic lines to be considered.} (27... Reg8 28. Rd6 Rg3 29. Qe4 Nb8 30. f5 $1 30... R3g4 31. Qf3 Rg3 32. Qf1 Qe7 33. fxe6 fxe6 34. Qf6 $1 34... Re8 35. Re2 Nd7 36. Qxh6 Qg5%2B 37. Qxg5 Rxg5 {The going is tough but white has a clear advantage.}) 28. Rd6 Rg8 $4 29. Rc6 {Black resigned.} * '/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-53348474480771051552011-01-04T19:28:00.000-08:002011-01-04T19:55:14.019-08:00On a night like this...On Thursday I returned to action at the Reno Chess Club ad was able to swindle a victory from an utterly hopeless position. I had remembered several posts on the blog “Soapstone’s Studio” espousing the joys of a swindle, so while my position was becoming more and more hopeless I tried to think about; what if he messes up and I can take the game? I looked back over some of the blog entries and I kind of got inspired for a detective narrative.<br />So I hope you enjoy it, there are several homage’s to movies and books throughout. On a totally separate note, I so far really like Silman’s 4th edition of his classic How To Reassess Your Chess books.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1FwV7FrBc_29CbLG9xWU3vyCjLcET5KR16OmNQ7WbqFNAj3-aca1vP3uDbPlzT4y4P93d05QUG4G_dzhCUFaXGEDXF6qfJjT_LsRFs2av4JdVwCZaDWAfej9sPCnujYOqm7njQYlcvUQ/s1600/detective.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 174px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1FwV7FrBc_29CbLG9xWU3vyCjLcET5KR16OmNQ7WbqFNAj3-aca1vP3uDbPlzT4y4P93d05QUG4G_dzhCUFaXGEDXF6qfJjT_LsRFs2av4JdVwCZaDWAfej9sPCnujYOqm7njQYlcvUQ/s400/detective.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558541685784772930" /></a><br /><br />The rain was coming down hard as I walked down 4th street that night. I was down to my last dime and hoping that this business venture would be short and sweet. Things had been rough lately, jobs gone sour, informants with bad information; a few bullets may have even flown my way. I kept telling myself it was crazy being a P.I. but what else did I know how to do? Ah the hell with it, here’s the place.<br />I stepped into the Wrondel offices at a quarter to ten that night. The lighting was low and the lobby was quiet…too quiet. I walked up to the well-dressed receptionist “I’m looking for Mike Houser” I asked her, it came out almost as a whisper.<br />“I’m sorry sir, you will have to speak up”, she replied.<br />“I says, I’m looking for big Mike, Mike Houser”.<br />“Oh, third door on the right…stay to the right”, she said in a dismissive manner.<br />I heard this guy was a straight-shooter, Jersey boy. Rumors he did time in the Pen upstate, but he paid in cash and it wasn’t my policy to question the hands that fed me. I hesitated, and then pulled open the door.<br />“Ahh, I’ve been expecting you. I’ve heard allot about you. They say you used to do whatever it takes to solve a problem. In the Bronx they called you the Harrington Hammer,” the man said with a solid grin and an all-too penetrating stare.<br />“You’ve done your homework Mr. Houser. But that was a different life. Whiskey, women and rough-necking with my share of knuckle-heads has soured my palate to anything like the Bronx days,” I said calmly, wondering exactly what this man had in mind for me tonight.<br />“I’ll get to the point, as your time is as valuable as mind, no doubt. There’s a kid down on the eastside, goes by the name Matt Herald. He’s been outta the game for a spell, but he’s been cutting into my turf and I need you to do some recon for me. Take some pictures, eavesdrop some conversations. The word on the street is he may be talking a backdoor deal with the deputy mayor in an abandoned warehouse right by the Fisherman’s Whorf, tonight at midnight”.<br />“I trust you can still use those keen eyes and ears that have made you such a commodity in this…community,” he said.<br />I hesitated; I had a bad feeling about tonight. No moon in the sky, wet as a rainforest and I’m tracking a man I know nothing about. “This doesn’t smell right. It’s gonna cost you double, and I don’t take checks”, I finally answered.<br />“Deal!” he quickly quipped.<br />I shuttered a bit and left the office with a photo of my mark, and my wits.<br />I could smell the salt in the air as I approached the dark seaport. Wasn’t a soul in sight but I glanced a broken windowpane and a door slightly cracked open. This was the warehouse. I took a deep breath and stepped inside…<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1 d4 e6</span> As I slowly moved through the opening of this creepy building I began to hear a man’s voice.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2 c4 Nf6</span> As I circled the voice, he came into view. He was yelling at a beautiful woman in a business suit. I took my position behind some steel-drum barrels in a dark corner. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">3 Bg5 Bb4+</span> I took out my camera and began snapping photos. It sounded like the woman was being blackmailed and it now occurred to me, this was the deputy mayor.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">4 Nc3 h6 5 Bxf6!?</span> She spoke up and I clearly heard when she said “Mr. Herald if you think I’m going to make a deal with you, I’m afraid you’re wasting your time,” and as she finished speaking he slapped her across the face and laughed.<span style="font-weight:bold;"> 5…Qxf6</span> She slapped him back and began running in the direction of the door.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6 e3</span> Herald opened the door to his right and I spied several henchmen putting on black gloves and one sharpening a butcher knife.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6…c5 7 Nf3</span> I loaded my pistol without thinking and the men walked into the room.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">7…0-0 8 Be2 cxd4</span> The two gloved men grabbed the woman and I threw a stone through a large window across the warehouse.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">9 Qxd4</span> Herald drew his sidearm and cautiously investigated the noise.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">9…Bxc3</span> I quickly kicked over one of the heavy steel barrels and it began rolling towards a thug holding the mayor, and it struck the man with a thud. I stealthily ran into some shadows in an adjacent corner. The man’s knee appeared to be injured and he was writing with pain on the damp concrete.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">10 Bxc3 Qe7</span> Herald faced the woman, “You didn’t come alone did you?” He pointed the gun at her and she struggled fiercely, breaking the slippery hold of the remaining gloved thug.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">11 c5!?</span> Herald pulled the woman to the ground and shoved the steel drum over top of her, effectively ending her squirming for the time being.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">11…Nc6 12 Qd6 Qf6?! 13 Nd4</span> The gloved thug lifted a Tommy Gun from the table and stood in the middle of the room ready for action.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">13…Qg5 14 0-0 e5?! 15 Nb5 a6 16 Nc7 Ra7 17 Rab1</span> As my eyes began to adjust to the darkness I began to realize I was seriously outgunned and outmanned, and that it wasn’t as dark in here as I would have liked it to be. They were too close to the door for me to make an exit and I could see no possible way to fee the mayor.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">17…Qe7 18 Rfd1 f5 19 Bc4+ Kh8 20 Qg6 Rf6</span> As I went to put away my camera, I accidently leaned to hard against the barrel and it went tumbling over! It landed with a thud. The Tommy gun started spraying his heat in my direction as I ducked behind my cover. Then the others were shooting off smaller caliber shots, I was pinned down, returning fire just to keep them at bay.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">21 Qg3?!</span> One of the perks slowly backed up and he was now right under a load of boxes hoisted by rope. I kept that in mind and focused my attention on the Tommy Gun.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">21… Rf8 22 Rd6 Qd8?</span> I leaned out and finally had a good shot at the Tommy Gun, but he was gone? I couldn’t see him, I was a sitting duck!<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">23 Rg6?? F4?!</span> I began frantically shooting at the rope above the thug, I could barely see the line and was running low on ammo.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">24 Qg4??</span> A stroke of utter luck from above. Herald slipped in the sludge-puddle and dropped his gun. It slid close to the woman. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">24…d5!</span> I rolled out into the open and now had all three villains in range and none could get off a clean shot at me.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">25 Re6?? dxc4</span> All of a sudden the packages fell from their bindings and crushed the man, she had apparently gotten the weapon and shot the rope which I missed so many times.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">26 Rd1 Qxc7</span> I lined up my shot and sent the Tommy gun flying into the air and it landed on the ground with a clank, a moment later its user fell with his last breath.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">27 Rdd6 Bxe6 28 Qxe6 Qf7</span> I took out the final gloves henchman and we turned our gaze to the now solo Matt Herald.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">29 Qh3 fxe3 30 Qxe3 Raa8 31 h3 Rad8 32 a4</span> Herald ran out of bullets and began throwing old railroad spikes and bits of heavy metal at us. He was determined to fight to the very end!<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">32…Rxd6 33 cxd6 Rd8 34 Qc5 Qd7 35 Qxc4 Qxd6 36 g3 Qd5 37 Qg4 Qd1+</span> He made one last attempt at the door and then fell in exhaustion, Hands in the air and disappointment on his face.<br />“You really had me sweating Herald. What were you thinking, messing around in my town?”<br />“I had you man, I had you,” he said with strength in his voice.<br />“That you did, and now you know what it’s like to be swindled.”<br />I tied him up and gave a call to big Mike. He’d want to talk to herald personally. I then turned to the deputy mayor, that was some nice shooting there ma’am. You can back me up anytime”, I said with a coy smile. I turned and walked away.<br />“Handsome stranger, you ever considered a career in politics?” she yelled after me.<br />“That business is too rough and dirty for a man like me, take care ma’am.<br />As the sun rose over the harbor I felt alive and I had won…ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-10838546514109983872010-12-17T21:21:00.000-08:002010-12-17T22:20:59.711-08:00Sicilian Najdorf-English AttackHere is my second round game of the Nevada State Championships. I had the white pieces against young up and comer Oswaldo Rodriguez of Las Vegas. He parlayed a sharp line in the Sicilian Najdorf and as he floundered trying to achieve counter-play I was able to secure the victory.<br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="150%" height="500"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=f4f4fF&dark=0072b9&bordertext=494949&headerforeground=ffffff&mtforeground=000000&mtvariations=FF0000&mtmainline=000000&mtbackground=ffffff&pgndata=[Event "Nevada State Championship"] [Site "Tonopah"] [Round "2"] [White "Chris Harrington"] [Black "Oswaldo Rodriguez"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Nbd7 {This is pretty popular, instead of castling quickly with Be7, Black wants to get his queenside operations under way.} 9. Qd2 b5 10. O-O-O $5 (10. a4 $5 10... b4 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. exd5 Nb6 13. Bxb6 Qxb6 14. a5 Qb7 15. Bc4 Be7 16. Ra4 Rb8 {this line isrelatively well-trodden and White has a sort of sleazy draw with Qd3 here.}) 10... Be7 11. g4 h6 12. Kb1 Rc8 {!? This seemed flexible. I was thinking he’d play either Qc7 or Nb6 which gets the knight going.} 13. h4 Nb6 14. Bxb6 (14. a3 $5 14... Qc7 15. Nc1 $1 15... d5 16. Bxb6 Qxb6 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. exd5 Rd8 $1 19. c4 $5 19... O-O 20. Qc3 {Rybka likes White here by a small but persistent margin.}) 14... Qxb6 15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 Nd7 {After Nd7 I have my first real problem. i wasn’t sure where to put my light-square bishop. it seems like d3 is the best square but I was worried about the knight coming in to trade it off and getting those pawns rolling against my king. Since I want to play g5 but I need to connect my rooks.} 17. Bg2 Nc5 $6 (17... Rc4 18. Rde1 Nc5 19. Nxc5 Qxc5 20. c3 b4 {It’s still pretty equal but looks like Black’s having his fun first.}) 18. Na5 $1 18... g5 19. Nc6 b4 {?! After this move I was very confident I was way ahead. There doesn’t seem to be any real threat on my king, and his king is in a world of trouble.} (19... Bf6 $5 20. Rde1 Kd7 21. hxg5 hxg5 22. Rh5 $1 22... Rxh5 23. gxh5 Rh8 24. Bh3%2B Ke8 25. f4 $3 25... Rxh5 26. Bg4 Rh4 27. fxe5 dxe5 28. Nxe5 Kf8 29. d6 Bxe5 30. Qxg5 Qxd6 31. Qxh4) 20. Nxe7 Kxe7 21. hxg5 hxg5 22. Qxg5%2B Kd7 23. Qf5%2B Ke7 24. g5 $1 24... Rhf8 25. Rh7 {and White wins} *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-6517254276873255182010-09-27T16:04:00.000-07:002010-09-27T16:54:13.052-07:00Nevada Crusade<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1k1fS7WUrDzF5J7ZUFhtfay9YK4t-Izipd2Fda9KPEf-cemTNllnzLSGFe4-wdnXqveJ-M9XbSjpThgHF9UcXqptYfAou58X6RDywymj1awZBmkUUAmpmsQIlPadTYE-HLGRHrKkYAmg/s1600/siege+of+acre.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 287px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1k1fS7WUrDzF5J7ZUFhtfay9YK4t-Izipd2Fda9KPEf-cemTNllnzLSGFe4-wdnXqveJ-M9XbSjpThgHF9UcXqptYfAou58X6RDywymj1awZBmkUUAmpmsQIlPadTYE-HLGRHrKkYAmg/s400/siege+of+acre.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521735543136953906" /></a><br />On September 25th the Reno Chess Club began a crusade to return the Nevada State Championship trophy to its proper home in Reno. Battling the evil Las Vegas team, whom had guarded it viciously for 6 years.<br /><br />In 1187 the German emperor frederick Barbarossa with Phillip 2nd of France set forth to finance and lead a "crusade" to retake the Holy Lands from Saladin and his various allies.<br /><br />A year later the newly appointed king of England: Richard 1st "The Lion-Hearted" declared his allegiance to the endeavor-while much has been made of overriding religious sentiment in casual discussion of the Crusades- the true goal was Near-East riches, expanded trading routes, prestige and adventure.<br /><br />Barbarossa drowned during the voyage to the Holy Lands and Phillip would fail to stay away from France long enough to support the cursading campaign to a victorious conclusion. These factors did however lead to Richard 1st engaging in heroic efforts, enabling the Latin kingdom to survive another century, but even he could not retake Jerusalem alone. He and Saladin eventually settled on an uneasy truce.<br /><br />But before peace, there were gnarly and brutal military encounters...<br /><br />The siege of Acre- August 28th 1189<br /><br /><br />1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 <span style="font-weight:bold;">A small Christian force lead by Guy de Lusignan boldly lay siege to Acre.</span><br /><br />3 exd5 exd5-<span style="font-weight:bold;">Instead of investing in a strategic charge Lusignan harasses Acre from a distance. Launching rotten animal carcasses and fire bales into the stronghold by way of trebuchet.</span><br /><br />4c4 Bb4+ <span style="font-weight:bold;">A siege engineer launches a fire bale with great precision and scores a direct hit on the Muslim's main granary!<br /></span><br />5 Nc3 Bf5 6 Nf3 <span style="font-weight:bold;">A patrol of Muslim cavalry has completed their tasks and returning to the city are shocked by a besieged battle scene. They bring news of an incoming naval blockade of ships from Pisan and Genoa.<br /></span><br />6...Nf6 7 Bg5<span style="font-weight:bold;"> The cavalry patrol flanks the exposed siege engines.</span><br /><br />Qe7?! <span style="font-weight:bold;">Lusignan abandons his trebuchets in fear that the charging horsemen are scouts from Saladin's army.</span><br /><br />8 Be2 dxc4 9 0-0 0-0 10 Nd5! <span style="font-weight:bold;">Having smashed Lusignan's long-range artillery brave Islamic warriors charge, spears pointed into the heart of the crusading infantry. They converge in a tight double-file formation and then spread out as they close in on the enemy troops. This causes a great panic, Lusignan's troops are now disoriented and communication is very difficult.</span><br /><br />10...Qd6 11 Nxf6?! <span style="font-weight:bold;">Thinking that this small Christian force comprises Europe's entire attack, the cavalry plunge into the heart of the crusader cavalry, leading to the loss of many horsemen for both sides.</span><br /><br />11...gxf6 12 Bh6 Re8 13 Nh4 Bg6 14 Bxc4 Re4!? <span style="font-weight:bold;">The spirits of the men are lifted as Phillip 2nd joins the battle!</span><br /><br />15 Nxg6 hxg6 16 Qd3? <span style="font-weight:bold;">Acre sends out lightly-armoured skirmishers to finish off the invading troops with their quick moving formations and projectile weaponry.</span><br /><br />16...Qxd4! <span style="font-weight:bold;">Richard 1st The Lion-Hearted enters the battle with an unseen crossbow barrage, followed by heavy cavalry charges!</span><br /><br />17 Bxf7+?? <span style="font-weight:bold;">For fear of death the commander of Acre "blinks" and in a moment of panic he sends his troops on an all-out attack, Richard is in his cross-hairs! A great battle ensues.</span><br /><br />17...Kxf7 18 Qb5 Qb6?! 19 Qd5+ Re6 20 Be3 Qc6 21 Qb3 Na6?! <span style="font-weight:bold;">Phillip's forces are uncoordinated and are proving to be of little help in this battle. The horses are spooked and their riders are uneasy.</span><br /><br />22 Rac1 Qe8 23 Rc4 Be7 <span style="font-weight:bold;"> Richard regroups, calling out to his troops "Maintain formations, they wish to confuse you! draw on the strength of the True Cross! This shall be our finest hour!"</span><br /><br />24 Qxb4 Rb8 25 Qf3 Rxb2! <span style="font-weight:bold;">The gates of Acre have been breached by an English battering ram!</span><br /><br />26 Qh3 <span style="font-weight:bold;">The knights of Allah continue to pressure close to Richard. If they can kill the leader, victory will be theirs</span><br /><br />26...Bf6 27 Qh7+ Bg7 28 Rg4 g5??<span style="font-weight:bold;"> Richard's veteran bodyguards over pursue attacking forces and leave their king very vulnerable.</span><br /><br />29 Qh3?? <span style="font-weight:bold;">Acre's main division fails to exploit the tactical errors of the crusaders and fall back.</span><br /><br />29...Rb4 30 Rxb4 Nxb4 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Both sides are exhausted an begin to fight under the emerging moonlight, a chaste breeze saves many from heat-stroke.</span><br /><br />31. Qg4 Bf8?! <span style="font-weight:bold;">Phillip's last group of longbow men back up the royal position, no longer attacking the city. </span><br /><br />32 h4!? <span style="font-weight:bold;">The peasants and children are given knives and farming tools and forced to attack the vulnerable crusader kings.</span><br /><br />32...Nd5 33 hxg5 Nxe3 34 fxe3 Bg7?! <span style="font-weight:bold;">Phillip's men are close to deserting, they have had enough of this battle!</span><br /><br />35 Rf3 Rxe3?? <span style="font-weight:bold;">Lusignan's forces have breached the inner-courtyard but European leadership is under heavy duress. </span><br /><br />36 gxf6 Re1+ 37 Kf3 Qe2+ 38 Kg3 Qe5+ 39 Kf2 Qe2+ 40 Kg3 <span style="font-weight:bold;">All sides have paid heavily in this battle. Richard allows Muslims to retreat and abandon Acre as the Muslim forces stop just short of breaking through to him. He has taken the city, but at what cost? His victory may turn to defeat as Saladin's army is close and fully mobilized. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The blood that screams out from the now wet desert soil leaves Richard with his inner thoughts and justifications for this battle rattling around his skull. As he lay in bed, still in shock from the intensity of battle, he whispers to the shadows, or perhaps to God himself, "I wish not Saladin to be my Richard..."</span><br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="75%" height="450"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&dark=669922&mtbackground=ffffff&pgndata=[Event "Nevada State Championships"] [Site "Tonopah, NV"] [Date "2010,9,25"] [Round "1"] [White "Oswaldo Rodriguez 1634"] [Black "Chris Harrington 1580"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 {Every French player should love to see this move from White. White allows Black an equal game with normal development for his light-square bishop aka the problem child of the French;he also has an equal pawn stake in the center.} 3... exd5 4. c4 {White has better choices here. French guru John Watsonsays that "4...Bb4%2B casts into doubt the value of 4.c4 as a practical weapon" 4...Nf6 is also good and has the feel of a supped-up Nimzo-Indian for Black, as he no longer has to worry about an advancing e-pawn or the aforementioned bishop struggles.} (4. Nf3 Bd6 5. c4 c6 6. Nc3 Ne7 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 O-O 9. O-O Nd7 10. Re1 Nb6 11. Bb3 Nbd5) 4... Bb4%2B 5. Nc3 Bf5 {Here is a case where the maxim: knights before bishops holds its water. This move seems unwarranted in light of the lack of knowledge on White’s kingside development. During the game I had some worry about 6.Qb3 which x-rays the abandoned b-pawn, but at worst I can trade bishop for knight and than deal with the queen.} 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. Bg5 {Weak on a similar magnitude to my Bf5, White can more effectively play for kingside development starting with 7.Bd3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 where White can start pushing his IQP to launch an attack on Black’s camp.} 7... Qe7%2B {?! Wasn’t thinking clearly about the pins and pawn tension. I don’t have a good good explanation for not castling here.} 8. Be2 dxc4 9. O-O O-O 10. Nd5 {! A good move, but not for the reasons both of us saw in the game. The idea should be to reroute the knight to e3.} 10... Qd6 11. Nxf6%2B $6 (11. Ne3 Bg6 12. a3 Ba5 13. Nxc4 Qd5 14. Nfe5 Nbd7 15. Bf3 Ne4 16. Nxg6) 11... gxf6 12. Bh6 Re8 13. Nh4 Bg6 14. Bxc4 Re4 $5 15. Nxg6 hxg6 {White has nicely built an advantage.} 16. Qd3 $2 (16. Qf3 $1 16... f5 17. Bd3 Re8 18. Qxb7 Nc6 19. a3 Reb8 $1 20. Qa6) 16... Qxd4 $1{and a strange thing happened while I was thinking on my turn. My opponent left the playing hall for about 20 minutes. After about 10 minutes I went to use the restroom and he wasn’t in there either. After about another 10 minutes he returned, and make a speculative sacrifice.} 17. Bxf7%2B {?? A shock to say the least. he may have felt the pawn along with my underdevelopment and loose king gave him the compensation he needed to produce a strong initiative. Rybka thinks Black is better to the tune of %2B3.5 pawns.} 17... Kxf7 18. Qb5 Qb6 $6 19. Qd5%2B Re6 20. Be3 Qc6 21. Qb3 Na6 $6 (21... Bd6 22. Rac1 Qa6 $1) 22. Rac1 Qe8 23. Rc4 Be7 24. Qxb7 Rb8 25. Qf3 Rxb2 {! After the game we both thought this was too materialistic, but its actually quite good, as White doesn’t have an effective way to get to the king. } 26. Qh3 Bf8 27. Qh7%2B Bg7 28. Rg4 g5 {?? Hey genius, wrong pawn push, f5 forces White back and stops his attack cold.} 29. Qh3 {?? He may have been preparing Qf3 to threaten the transparent Rxg5 and protecting his bishop from possible exchange sacs.} 29... Rb4 30. Rxb4 Nxb4 31. Qg4 Bf8 $6 32. h4 $5 32... Nd5 33. hxg5 Nxe3 34. fxe3 Bg7 {?! Sweating under the pressure of time trouble and kingside dangers.} 35. Rf3 Rxe3 {?? Blowing any chance to win the game.} 36. gxf6 Re1%2B 37. Kf2 Qe2%2B 38. Kg3 Qe5%2B 39. Kf2 Qe2%2B 40. Kg3 {The position is drawn. we both had about two minutes on our clocks and Jerry said don’t push it if I don’t have the win.} *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-29480047261126784662010-07-30T16:08:00.000-07:002010-07-30T16:12:41.271-07:00First game back<div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="75%" height="500"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=cccccc&dark=777777&border=0&bordertext=cccccc&headerbackground=0&headerforeground=ffffff&mtbackground=cccccc&pgndata=[Event "side game"] [Site "Reno Chess Club"] [Date "2010.7.29"] [Round "n/a"] [White "Chris Harrington"] [Black "Hadi Soltani"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 g6 {This game starts out as a Pirc defense. Its not at all needed to study this type of opening. Any sensible development should give white a good middlegame.} 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 {Nc3 is much more popular, I was figuring on a possible transposition into open sicilian lines after an eventual Nf6 and c5.} 3... d6 4. Nc3 Nd7 {Odd, but but not that bad. I was thinking we’d see this 4...Nf6 line.} (4... Nf6 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Bxf3 {White has a nice center and the bishop pair.}) 5. Be3 e5 {!? I think we have transposed into a Philidor, and not a particularly promising one for black.} 6. Bc4 Ne7 {?? This should have lead to a quick win for white, but I was oblivious to the tactical lightning bolt 7.Bxf7%2B} (6... exd4 7. Bxd4 Ngf6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O) 7. Qd2 {?? Double QQs for missing the awesome sacrifice.} (7. Bxf7%2B $3 7... Kxf7 8. Ng5%2B Kg8 9. Ne6 Qe8 10. Nxc7 Qd8 11. Nxa8 {Occasionally these amazing sacs are available against the uncastled king.}) 7... O-O 8. O-O-O {Completing development and ready to engage the enemy!} 8... exd4 9. Bxd4 {My reasoning for recapturing with the bishop is to remove black’s best piece on g7 and to insure that any sort of c5 push wouldn’t tempo my knight.} 9... Nb6 10. Bb3 Be6 $6 (10... Bxd4 11. Nxd4 a5 12. a3 a4 13. Ba2 Nc6 14. Kb1 Nxd4 15. Qxd4 Qe7 {Rybka prefers this course of action from black. While white still maintains an advantage, black gets some counterplay.}) 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. h4 $5 12... Bg4 $2 (12... Bxb3 $1 13. axb3 h5 {and here white has to figure out whether to push on e5 or go on knight excursions with Ng5.}) 13. Qf4 {A bit frustrating here. 13. h5 was my gut feeling here but after ten minutes I kept seeing defenses for black. Qf4 is fine and holds a good advantage but if I had went with my gut I may have ended this game in a hurry.} (13. h5 $1 13... gxh5 14. Ne2 $1 14... Nd7 15. Nfd4 $1 15... Bxe2 16. Qxe2 {This was beyond my calculation. So maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on myself.}) 13... Bxf3 14. Qxf3 {14.gxf3 was alos considered, more on the grounds of bringing another pawn towards the center for an eventual endgame.} 14... Nc6 15. Nd5 $6 (15. Qe3 h5 16. g4 Rh8 17. g5 $1 17... Qd7 18. f4 {and white is storming the ramparts}) 15... Ne5 16. Qc3 {!? Changing tact here, attempting to expolit pins and work against the enemy queenside.} 16... Nxd5 17. Bxd5 c6 18. Bb3 Qf6 {! A strong defensive square for the queen. } 19. Rd2 {I was actually not clear on my plan at this point. I knew I wanted to clamp down on the d-pawn but I also had ideas to wokr on the queenside pawns, there was still the h-pawn to worry about, and I actually didn’t like my king on c1 either.} 19... Rad8 20. h5 g5 $6 (20... Qf4 21. f3 b5 22. Kb1 c5 23. a3 a5 {! and black has good play.}) 21. h6%2B $5 21... Kh8 (21... Kg6 $2 22. Kb1 b5 23. Qh3 Qf4 24. f3 Kf6 25. Rhd1 Ke7 26. a4 $1) 22. Bc4 {?! A bit confused and spending too much time thinking. I was worried that the bishop might eventually get cut off and that I could redirect it to the a6-g1 diagonal.} 22... Rfe8 23. f3 a6 24. Kb1 Qf4 25. Rhd1 Qf6 26. a3 {The idea is to dump the h-pawn for black’s f-pawn which is no longer protected because of the knight pin and the queen’s capture.} 26... Qxh6 {? White has all the play now.} 27. Bxf7 Re7 28. Bc4 Qf6 29. Be2 Kg7 30. Qb4 c5 31. Qb6 Red7 32. b4 {!? Looks dangerous, but its not. As long as white controls c3 black cannot form any sort of pressure against white’s king.} 32... cxb4 33. axb4 Nc6 34. Rd3 {Covering c3.} 34... Ne5 35. Rd5 h5 36. Qd4 h4 37. c4 {Consistent but not yet appropriate.} 37... Kg6 38. Qd2 {This was to facilitate c5 without the pawn capture tempoing my queen.} 38... Kf7 39. f4 gxf4 40. Rf1 Ke7 41. Rxf4 Qh8 $2 (41... Qg7 42. Rf5 b6 43. Qd4 $1 43... Qg3 44. Ka2 $1 44... h3 45. gxh3 Qg6 46. Qxb6 {Still fails miserably for black.}) 42. Qe1 $2 (42. Rf5 {! Here is another frustrating moment, this is by far the best move, and I was looking at it for 6 minutes and dismissed it because I became to preoccupied with corraling the black pawn.}) 42... Ng6 $2 43. Rg4 Rg8 44. Qd2 (44. Rdg5 $1) 44... Ne5 {! White had fought hard for several hours and almost fifty moves, along the way maintaining a huge-to moderate advantage, and now its all gone.!} 45. Rxg8 Qxg8 46. Qf4 Qg3 47. Qxg3 hxg3 48. c5 Ke6 49. Kc2 {?! Now black is better.} 49... dxc5 50. Rxc5 Rf7 51. Rc3 {? Pathetic} 51... Rf2 52. Kd2 Rxg2 53. Ke3 Rh2 54. Rc1 Nc6 $2 (54... g2 55. Rg1 Ng6 56. Kd4 Nh4 57. Bc4%2B {Is hopeless for white.}) 55. b5 (55. Bxa6 g2 56. Kf2 {Something like this was found by Barry Brandt during the postmortem, holding out for white.}) 55... axb5 56. Bxb5 Ne5 57. Rg1 Rb2 58. Ba4 b5 $6 (58... g2 {This should finish me off, instead I think white has a drawn endgame, if not for my time scramble.}) 59. Bxb5 Rxb5 60. Rxg3 {The idea is that Soltani is a weak endgame player and I’m positive I can hold out for a draw against that knight, again my problem is I have around 6 minutes left.} 60... Nd7 61. Kf4 Rb4 62. Rg6%2B Kf7 63. Rg1 {Shredder tablebases confirm this position is indeed a simple draw. Unfortunately I stopped taking notation at this point being under five minutes of time left, and ran into a fork with about 4 minutes left. It was a fun game, draining and challenging for my first rated game since Easter Sunday...} *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-5016137073121610732010-06-14T19:39:00.000-07:002010-06-14T19:43:15.950-07:00Lost-Season One-Nice to get away from Chess for a bit and now that I've had time to sit back and think about Lost, I wanted to write a bit about it. I had a pretty lengthy conversation with one of my best friends who was disappointed about not getting the answers he felt entitled to. Most of the questions he still had were actually already answered on the show (maybe not to his/or others satisfaction). I was hesitant to put time into actually going over any of the answers since I've never felt that revealing them was a strength to the show, having mystery and developing characters, along with using unorthodox storyboard techniques were always Lost's strengths.<br /><br />So I thought I'd take a thoughtful look at the so-called Answers. Keep in mind that one of the main goals of the writers was always to leave lots of ambiguity for you and me to have opinions on the reality of the island and the characters.<br /><br />We'll take a look at the questions posed in Season One, first, and see where it leads us. But as was so perfectly inserted in the episode "Across the Sea" the woman caring for the Man in Black and Jacob cuts off endless questions with "Every answer will lead to more questions"; which is true of any type of knowledge, and in that way one of the more profound insertions of Season six, but getting down to business. Lots of my info is pulled from a collaboration of sources with the Lostpedia has a guide.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Why did the plane crash?</span> A good place to start. Not surprisingly, with everything going on with the plane crash and the new island struggles, the reason for the plane crashing was a bit of an after-thought until the force of the new show started to settle in.<br /><br /> On September 22, 2004, Desmond Hume, who had been maintaining the DHARMA Initiative's electromagnetic station on the Island for the past three years, failed to enter the Numbers into the computer in time after having accidentally killed Kelvin Inman. This resulted in a system failure and an electromagnetic buildup. Although Desmond eventually managed to reset the Swan's countdown, the electromagnetic force had been strong enough to pull down the plane and cause it to break apart in mid-air. Desmond wouldn't come to realize his role in the crash until more than two months later. We find all of this out in the episode "Live Together Die Alone, Part One"<br /><br />More interesting is that Jacob led these people(and the plane along with them) to the island as "candidates" to replace him as a protector of the island. Jacob didn't pick happy people; he picked people who lived a "lost" existence.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />What is the Smoke Monster and what is his nature/properties?</span> We find out near the end of the series that the so-called Smoke Monster is an evil remnant of a not so evil twin brother of Jacob. I will discuss the “Man in Black” as separate as I can from the Smoke Monster, as I consider them different characters. The Monster’s powers include the ability to turn into a cloud of smoke and have quite a devastating effect on the material around him. He has also shown the ability (as early as episode one) to take the form of those that have died, e.g. Christian Sheppard, John Locke, Alex Rousseau and even Richard Alpert’s dead wife. He also has been shown to have the interesting ability to see into the pasts of people he has met.<br /><br />I like to think that the Smoke Monster’s purpose is relative to whom perceives it. Since many characters seem to have come up with interesting ideas about what the monster is up to. For quite a while we are content with “the Others” point of view that the Monster is like a security system for the island. The Dharma initiative felt it was enough of a threat to create a system of sonic fences to control its movement. While it appears that Ben Linus can summon it by special technique in his small home in the Dharma camp he is quick to tell us that he thinks the Monster actually summons him.<br /><br />Ben and Mr. Eko feel that the Monster is a judge of sorts and that when he approaches people it can weigh whether the person deserves to die, as explained by Mr. Eko in Season 3’s “The Cost of Living”.<br />The Smoke Monster wants to leave the island and will stop at nothing to escape.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Why are there Polar Bears on this tropical island?</span> Starting in the episode “lockdown” we begin to understand that the Dharma initiative was testing exotic animals on the island, and actually modified them to be able to live in tropical climates. A fantastic teaser was shown in the episode “Confirmed Dead” where the Anthropologist Charlotte finds Polar Bear bones and collar with the insignia of the Hydra station. The Dharma folks used the Polar Bear to see what would happen when they spun the wheel, which indeed sends you to a spot in the Tunisian desert.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Who recorded the distress signal and why is it still repeating after 16 years? </span>The distress signal which we are presented with in the pilot episodes was created by Danielle Rousseau, a young scientist whom wrecked, along with friends on the island. It kept playing because she never got rescued.<br />What is the Black Rock (mentioned in the distress signal)? The Black Rock was a slave ship from the 1800s which was piloted by Magnus Hanso (an ancestor of the Dharma founder) taking prisoners/slaves including Ricardo (Richard) Alpert. A large tidal wave launched it towards the island where it destroyed the huge statue and came to rest deep within the islands interior.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Who were the skeletons that Jack and Kate found in the caves?</span> The skeletons which were found in the caves belonged to “the man in black” and the one called “mother”. She was the protector of the source before Jacob and was attempting, after murdering Jacob and the man in black’s mother (Claudia) to be there mother, raising one eventually to take over for her and protect the source.<br /><br />The man in black was disillusioned after he found out all the lies she had told him and that she had killed his real mother, he choose to live with the other people who crashed with his mother, many years prior. The man in black wasn’t evil, he wanted truth and to be free to see the world. He began working with the other people and found a way to harness the source, the eventual wheel, mother became upset and killed all the people and ruined they’re project. He soon after stabs mother and physically dies by Jacob’s hand, creating the monster.<br /><br />Jacob placed the bodies in the cave with the two stones.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />What is the purpose of the cable that Said finds leading into the ocean?</span> The cable, apparently lead from the dharma station “Flame” to other stations on the island. Sayid found a cable which lead to the “Looking Glass” station, which was an underwater station which helped guide the submarines and also served as a communications station.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Who are the Others?</span> The term “the Others” in Lost typically refers to the people whom conspired to kill the members of the Dharma initiative and control most of the island, for most of the show. The Others initially consist of Richard Alpert and any other people who are lead to the island by Jacob. It then included Benjamin Linus who lead the slaughter of the Dharma folks.<br />They then use the resources of Dharma to continue the objectives set form by Jacob.<br />What are the “whispers”? The whispers which would sometimes be heard by people on the island was a remnant of those that died on the island and weren’t able to move on. An example I found in Lostpedia was Libby whom would appear and also whisper, but was able to get through and be part of the spiritual reunion at the end of the show.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What do the “numbers” mean?</span> This is one of the more complex and debated issues so I will try to leave this simple so as to allow people to form their own opinion. The numbers do represent values of the Vanzetti Equation, which was released as a canonical experience in between seasons of Lost called “The Lost Experience”. There were in fact little details, especially with the numbers, and some higher ups in Dharma which the Lost experience provided extra info.<br /><br />Many Lost fans aren’t really aware of “The lost Experience” so aren’t especially pleased to know that there is quite a bit of canonic info outside of the actual syndicated show. <br /><br />As far as the show goes we know that the numbers represent different degrees which Jacob must turn his wheel to view the candidates, in his lighthouse. The whole idea of the Dharma initiative was actually to alter the numbers of the Vanzetti Equation, to change the course of the earth’s ultimate destruction.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What is the significance of the Hatch?</span> The fascination of the Hatch was a spectacular part of the show. The hatch is where the release of electro-magnetism occurred and using the computer to type in “the numbers” one was supposed to stop a large build-up of E.M. The very popular character Desmond Hume was left in charge of this task.<br /><br />A very popular storyline revolves around whether the button pushing is real or a social experiment, and several characters disagree, often violently on what is the truth.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />What is the explanation for the so-called Hurley Bird?</span> This was never answered and actually when the question was posed to a producer of the show he declined to talk about this bird’s significance. For those that don’t remember, a huge bird flew by twice and says Hurley (even in the sub-titles). The resulting silence and lack of explanation has lead to intelligent speculation including the idea of “Altjira” an Australian Aboriginal God of the dreamworld, which just so happens to be a huge green bird! Interestingly, if you remove the l and the t you get ajira, which is the name of an Indian airline which the “Oceanic Six” take to get back to the island. <br /><br />Well that’s at least a good starting point. Those were a lot of the main questions from the first season (and many of them lasted deep into the series). Hopefully it can lead to some ideas on the show for people and I plan on listing some more ideas for other seasons, more for me than anyone else. I kind of enjoy going through the episodes and trying to figure stuff out.ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-82151814387596867472010-05-17T17:32:00.000-07:002010-05-17T17:35:21.266-07:00Far West Open Round 5....10 move than I loseI don't often drop a piece. In fact there have only been a handful of games in my chess career where i drop a piece, and this was one of them. On board one, the final day of the tournament with a chance for 1st place and some decent cash I went and blew the game inexplicably. Since the game is pretty short and pretty much all book till I lose I've added a bit of info on the opening choices for both sides. Enjoy.<br /><br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="450"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=cccccc&dark=777777&border=0&bordertext=cccccc&headerbackground=0&headerforeground=ffffff&mtbackground=cccccc&pgndata=[Event "Far West Open"] [Site "Sands Regency"] [Round "5"] [White "Chris Harrington"] [Black "Udit Iyengar"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 {ECO C77 Ruy Lopez-Morphy Defense-Mainline} 5. Qe2 $5 (5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Nbd2 {This is a position you should be aware of if you play 5.0-0. This is the most formidable line for white against the Open Lopez (5...Nxe4), there are many theoretical complications leading to this position so it would be wise to look over many master games featuring this line before playing "the book" as its hard to find some of the key moves over the board.}) 5... Bc5 {This line tends to lead to long-positional battles because white has a hard time playing d4 and black is going to have a hard time making any good pawn-breaks.} 6. c3 (6. d3 Nd4 7. Nxd4 Bxd4 8. c3 Ba7 {This line is a bit less promising for white, therefore playing c3 before d3 keeps black’s knight out of d4 and lessens the number of plans black can execute.}) 6... O-O 7. d3 h6 {Black sacrifices a pawn for rapid development and good attacking chances on the kingside. } 8. Bxc6 dxc6 9. Nxe5 Re8 10. O-O {?? There really isn’t much to explain here. I knew I needed to move my knight out of danger but was just looking at other options cause I was trying to keep myself in a pattern where I wasn’t moving really fast, and then without warning I grabbed the king and castled. My stomach began to stir and the blood rushed to my head as I saw immediately that I had just given away the piece.} (10. Nf3 Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. Be3 {This position has been reached several times in master play with a decent score for both sides.}) 10... Rxe5 {White resigns, note that the fork trick wont work after d4 than just simply Rxe4, exploiting my queen’s placement.} *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-37116274801970226022010-04-26T22:53:00.000-07:002010-04-26T22:57:30.820-07:00French Advance (or) another win to keep me interested...Here is my round one victory from the Far West Open. I started this tourney off pretty strong with 3.5/4 and then fell apart on day three when everything was on the line. This was a pretty straight-forward game against a French-Advance variation. My opponent made a few inaccuracies in the opening and I was able to exploit them and slowly improve my advantage.<br /><br /> Enjoy the game!<br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="400"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=eeeeee&dark=777777&border=ffffff&bordertext=0&headerbackground=ffffff&headerforeground=0&mtbackground=ffffff&scrollbar=0&pgndata=[Event "Far west Open"] [Site "Sands regency"] [Date "4/2/2010"] [Round "1"] [White "Bernard Spera"] [Black "Chris Harrington"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 {French Defence-Advance Variation} 3... c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Bb5 {?! This bishop development tends to be a mistake against the French Defence. Black can harass it and bait white to trade bishop for knight, not only leading to a two bishop advantage but also an advantageous pawn center.} (5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 {The critical mainline of the Advance Variation.} 6... Nh6 {!? Countering the slower a3 with a fast development. } 7. b4 (7. Bxh6 $2 7... Qxb2 8. Bc1 Qxa1 9. Qc2 c4 {Followed by Na5, Bd7 and Nb3})7... cxd4 8. cxd4 Nf5 9. Bb2) 5... Qb6 6. Bxc6%2B bxc6 {The onus for recapturing the pawn is simple. Black doubles his pawns, by doing so he has added another pawn to the c-file. It wont matter who breaks the tension in the center, either side capturing will benefit black. If white plays dxc5 then black will get development of his king bishop and will have an extra pawn exerting pressure on the center, if black captures cxd4 followed by cxd4, the move c5 will come in handy as black takes over the center.} 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 Ba6 {Another advantage of capturing with the b-pawn! Now black’s normally problematic bishop is aggressively placed on the deadly a6-f1 diagonal.} 9. O-O {?! I gave this position to Rybka and it made me hesitate about giving the last move a dubious designation. The computer thinks that white has reasonable compensation for the pawn. }$15 9... Bxe2 10. Qxe2 Qxd4 11. Rd1 Qb6 12. Be3 Bc5 13. Bxc5 Qxc5 14. Nc3 (14. Qg4 $5 14... g6 15. Nc3 Rb8 {I saw this line while waiting for my opponent to move and thought it might be a nice way for white to develop and initiate complications, but he was moving really fast and probably didn’t consider this one.}) 14... Ne7 15. Rac1 Qa5 16. b3 {! A good idea by my opponent. He wants to wedge his knight into the blockading square at c5. In this way making it hard for me to prove my advantage in the center.} 16... O-O 17. Na4 Rfd8 18. Nc5 Rab8 {This is the point where I felt we had entered the middle-game. We’ve both developed all of our pieces and the pawn center has clarified. My idea is to navigate my knight to a square which can challenge his c5-knight.} 19. g3 Qb5 20. Qc2 Ng6 {The knight plans to go g6, f8, d7 and now he does it with a tempo on the abandoned e-pawn.} 21. f4 Nf8 22. Nd3 Rb6 23. Nc5 {I take it my opponent couldn’t think of any constructive plan.} 23... Nd7 24. Na4 {?! Losing his hold on the c-file. The knight is left wanting on a4, and black’s pieces are starting to gain traction.} 24... Ra6 $1 25. Kg2 Rc8 26. Kh3 {?! Where is this lunatic king going?} 26... c5 $19 27. Nc3 Qb7 28. Ne2 {I believe this move was hoping for d4?? where black throws away the position due to pins, this is really transparent but I’ve made much larger blunders lately.} 28... Rac6 29. Kg4 {? Not quite sure what game this guy is playing, is his king trying to checkmate me?} 29... R6c7 {this move may look strange at first glance but I wasn’t sure of all the complications of pawn push and knight moving into attack my rook. SInce my opponent is moving his king around in lala land I thought I’d move my rook off of the possible target square of c6.} 30. Kh3 {Best} 30... c4 (30... d4 $1 31. Qd3 h6 32. Rd2 f6 33. exf6 Nxf6 34. Ng1 e5 $3 35. fxe5 Ne4 36. Re2 Ng5%2B 37. Kg4 Rf7 38. Qc4 $1 38... Re8 39. Rce1 Re6) 31. Nd4 cxb3 32. Qxb3 Qxb3 33. Nxb3 Rxc1 34. Rxc1 Rxc1 35. Nxc1 Kf8 36. Kg2 Ke7 37. Kf3 f6 38. Nd3 fxe5 39. fxe5 {Knight take would be an even easier win as black can trade off the last pieces and his center would be unstoppable.} 39... Kd8 40. Kf4 Kc7 41. Ke3 g5 $1 42. Kd4 Kc6 43. g4 $2 (43. Nb4%2B {Here is a line I was looking at in the game which looked scary to me.} 43... Kb5 44. Nxd5 exd5 45. e6 Nf6 46. Ke5 {and I wasn’t sure if this was going to be bad for me, but I thought for a while and determined that Ne8 would be ok} 46... Ne8 47. Kxd5 g4 48. e7 Kb4 49. Kc6 a5 {and obviously white can move his knight to g7 and sac when it becomes germane.}) 43... Kb5 44. h3 h6 45. Kc3 Ka4 46. Kb2 a6 47. a3 a5 48. Ka2 Kb5 49. Kb2 Kc4 50. Kc2 Kd4 51. a4 Nxe5 {White resigns} * '/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-41044640449640462282010-04-25T22:47:00.001-07:002010-04-25T22:51:50.488-07:00Bloody SicilianHere is another recent game in mind which has some resemblance to my last blog post. This was a second round victory for me at the recent Far West Open. I have white this time and I face a Sicilian defense. I get a pretty good lead in development, flounder for a little bit and then finally capitalize on my opponent's errors. Maybe posting a few of these wins of late can pep my ego back for playing over the board games, either way hope you enjoy the game and any questions or suggestions are welcome.<br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="450"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=cccccc&dark=777777&border=0&bordertext=cccccc&headerbackground=0&headerforeground=ffffff&mtbackground=cccccc&pgndata=[Far West Open] [Sands Regency] [Date "4/2/2010"] [Round "2"] [White "Chris Harrington"] [Black "Joanna Liu"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 {The Sicilian Scheveningen Variation. I’ve faced this line once and it was against lifetime-Master Terry Alsasua who crushed me pretty quickly.}{Garry Kasparov was a big supporter of this line where black plays a more compact structure but maintains his 2-1 pawn advantage in the center and opportunities to break with d5 or e5.} 6. g4 {The Keres Attack, considered to be White’s most aggressive response. White takes advantage of the fact that black’s light-square bishop is blocked by the e6 pawn and attempts to dislodge black’s only developed piece.} 6... Nc6 (6... h6 7. h4 Nc6 8. Rg1 d5 9. Bb5 Bd7 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 exd5 12. Qe2%2B Be7 13. Nf5 $1 13... Bxf5 14. gxf5 Kf8 $1 15. Be3 Qa5%2B {With a small advantage for white.}) 7. g5 Nd7 8. Be3 Be7 9. Rg1 {!? Perhaps the natural Qd2 or h4 may have been easier to play.} (9. Qd2 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 O-O 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. f4 Ng4 13. h4 $1 13... Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Bd7 15. h5) 9... Nde5 {During the game I wasn’t sure what the purpose of this move was. It seems that the black knight should bide his time on d7 and get another piece developed, perhaps black was having second thought about castling kingside and was trying to make room in the center or on the queen-side with Bd7, Qc7, and 0-0-0.} 10. f4 $1 10... Ng6 11. Qd2 (11. Nf3 Qa5 12. Qd2 O-O $5 13. O-O-O {Rybka’s line looks like a nice way to keep all the attacking pieces on the board and get things cracking on the kingside.}) 11... O-O {!? This move was surprising and interesting. A classical referendum is established, black feels her position is solid enough to resist white’s attack and white feels his lead in development and advanced pawn attack will lead to a winning advantage.} 12. O-O-O (12. Nxc6 $1{This move was my first consideration. I liked the idea of forcing black to compete down the b-file for counterplay and preempting the black knight’s eventual capture at d4, I reasoned against this and played queenside castle in an attempt to keep all pieces in play for possible attacks.} 12... bxc6 13. O-O-O Rb8 14. h4 $1 14... Qa5 $1 15. h5 Qb4 16. b3 Nh4 17. Be2 {White’s attack looks really strong. }) 12... a6 $2{This is just to leisurely. Black doesn’t seem to realize that she’s under tremendous fire on the kingside. Moves like a6 are too slow at this point, counterplay must be sharp.} (12... Nxd4 $1 13. Qxd4 Bd7 14. Be2 a6 15. Kb1) 13. Qf2 $2{A mistake. I wanted the queen to defend both f4 and h4, but this isn’t actually necessary and the queen was well-placed already.} (13. Nf3 b5 14. h4 Qa5 15. h5 b4 16. Nb1 Nh8 17. h6) 13... Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Qd7 {? } $18{White has a winning advantage.} (14... f6 $5 15. gxf6 Bxf6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 $1 17. Rxd6 Nxf4 18. Qb6 Ng6 19. Nd5 {! A complicated position, but maybe black can walk out of this one.}) 15. f5 exf5 16. Nd5 {?! A sub-optimal move, h4 has been a good response for sometime now and although I kept considering it, I managed to keep convincing myself that these other moves were better.} (16. h4 $1 16... fxe4 17. h5 e3 18. Qxe3 Nh4 19. Bd3 $1) 16... Qe6 $4 (16... Bd8 17. h4 Qe6 18. h5 {This should still be enough for white to win.}) 17. Nc7 {?! Missing the killer continuation Bc4} (17. Bc4 $1 17... Bd7 18. Nf6%2B $1 18... Bxf6 19. Bxe6 Bxd4 20. Bxf7%2B Rxf7 21. Qxd4) 17... Qxa2 18. Nxa8 Qa1%2B 19. Kd2 Qa5%2B 20. Bc3 Qd8 21. h4 {! Finally} 21... fxe4 22. Nb6 d5 $4 23. Nxc8 (23. Qd4 {Would have put this puppy away pretty quickly.}) 23... Qxc8 24. Bd4 $2 24... Qd8 25. Kc1 Re8 26. Bb6 Qd6 27. Be3 Rf8 $2 $1 28. Bg2 $2 28... f6 29. Bxe4 {! The last game I posted also had an example of a crushing Bxp move.} 29... fxg5 30. Bxd5%2B $1 30... Kh8 31. Qg3 Qxg3 32. Rxg3 gxh4 33. Rf3 Rb8 34. Rdf1 b5 35. Be4 Bf6 36. Bxg6 (36. Rxf6 $1 36... gxf6 37. Rxf6 Kg7 38. Rxa6 Re8 39. Bd4%2B) 36... hxg6 37. Rg1 g5 $4 38. Bxg5 Bxg5%2B 39. Rxg5 Kg8 40. Rh3 Kf7 41. Rxh4 Rg8 42. Rhg4 g6 43. b4 Kf6 44. Kb2 Kf7 45. Kb3 Kf6 46. c4 bxc4%2B 47. Kxc4 Kf7 48. Rxg6 $1 48... Rxg6 49. Rxg6 Kxg6 50. Kc5 Kf7 51. Kb6 {White went on to win the King and queen v. King ending.} * '/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-70346783346660059252010-04-21T18:58:00.000-07:002010-04-21T19:01:44.378-07:00Maybe I'll show some games...I was going to display a long grinding win I achieved against Soltani but it appears that I've botched the score sheet. So here is my game the next week against Harry Chrysanthou.<br /><br />I won this game rather quickly, but it may hold some value nonetheless.<br /><br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="100%" height="450"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=f4f4fF&dark=0072b9&bordertext=494949&headerforeground=ffffff&mtforeground=000000&mtvariations=FF0000&mtmainline=000000&mtbackground=ffffff&pgndata=[Event "Club Championship Qualifier"] [Site "Reno Chess Club"] [Date "4/13/2010"] [Round "11"] [White "Harry Chrysanthou"] [Black "Chris Harrington"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4{Its not so much that this move is bad. Its more a case that the queen doesn’t provide any help in the center this early in the game.} a6{Keeping the game in familiar territory in relation to my opening systems.} 4. Qd1?!{Bizarre,the queen wasn’t being threatened and it isn’t at all apparent that d1 is a good square for her. The queen will have to move so as to connect the rooks at some point in the near future.} d6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bg5 e6{Does this position look familiar? If you play Sicilians at all you should immediately notice that this is the mainline of the 6.Bg5 Najdorf, except instead of white having a strong knight on d4, he has that knight on g1, sitting undeveloped. Black does pretty well in that line and this is simply a much improved version of the mainline with black having a fantastic position.} 7. Qf3 Be7 8. Nh3{The awkward development of the queen has lead to the consideration of the awkward development of the knight. An attempt to get several pieces in attacking position but at the cost of harmony and time.} Nbd7 9. Bf4?! Qc7 10. Qg3 Nh5!?{A nice way to diffuse my opponents attack and claim the bishop-pair.} 11. Qg4 Nxf4 12. Qxf4{Black is already border-line winning.} O-O 13. Qf3 b5 14. Bd3 Ne5{Continuing with Bb7 was a major consideration here. But I came around to liking the idea of pushing the queen around a little more.} 15. Qe3 Nxd3%2B 16. Qxd3{So nine queen moves by move 16!} Bb7 17. f3 Bh4%2B(17...b4 18.Nd1 d5 19.exd5 Bxd5 20.Nhf2 Rfd8) 18. Kd2? (18. Nf2 b4 19. Ne2 d5 20. exd5 Rad8) 18... Bf6 19. Rad1 b4{Blacks attack is irresistible} 20. Nb1 Bxb2 21. Qb3 Bf6!?{Preserving the bishop-pair and keeping pressure on the black king position.} 22. Qxb4 Rab8 23. Kc1!?{Interesting, maybe walking into the fire though, possibly heading to the king-side would give better chances.} Rfc8 24. Qd2?? Bxe4! 25. Na3 Bb2%2B 26. Kb1 Bxa3%2B 27. Ka1 Bb2%2B 28. Kb1 Bxc2%2B 29. Qxc2 Qxc2# *'/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-17888271902448079922010-04-04T21:22:00.000-07:002010-04-04T21:31:17.268-07:00The end of the road...Well chess, I've come to a dead-end with you. I get much more agony from my blunder-prone loses than I do joy from my wins. Although I learn new skills I am still continuing to make the same mistakes that better players just don't make. Setting my ego aside I'm now pretty sure that I don't have the concentration abilities that others have. No matter whether I know how to play a position, opening or ending, I continue to not pay attention, play to fast and blow my games. I started off this tournament well winning my first three...but then I blew a clear win and didn't see a free piece in round four settling for a draw. Round five I am on board one with a shot to take first place and I proceeded to lose in about ten minutes...I won a pawn, then gave up a piece in amateur fashion. Game six I got into a losing position, fought hard and found a draw, then allowed a simple fork.<br /><br />I beat a guy in the third round who has won over 10 million dollars playing poker professionally. Which made me realize that I'm not where I want to be in life, others are playing this game as a leisure, it mostly feels like a chore for me now.<br /><br />Thanks for everyone who helped me get better but I think I'm done...ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-89599146146798587572010-04-04T15:36:00.000-07:002010-04-04T15:37:20.175-07:00How to lose a tourney in ten minutes...Spend two days fighting hard and playing decent chess only to throw it away with a careless move on board one with the tournament on the line. Sometimes I don't know why I play this game...ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-1601835086861149592010-03-24T18:47:00.000-07:002010-03-24T18:56:28.114-07:00Harrington v. Arteaga -learning RybkaI'm posting this game without my comments or analysis because i've been working with the Rybka Aquarium software and learning how to do some different things with it. I took this game which was pretty even throughout and ended in a draw. I then let Rybka do the analysis. He provided his own branches and opening variations which could have been played and gives an approximate evaluation of the position. He also gives his own ?! and ? where he feels appropriate.<br /><br />This was a Ruy Lopez-Steinitz defense. An opening that is solid for black but not so many winning chances when white plays safe, as I did. I thought it would be interesting to just post the Rybka analysis which will usually help me in my own search but in this case, since its new to me let's take alook at a purely mechanical view of the game. Once again, NONE of this analysis is by a human. Nor did I interfere or cut and paste in any way, this is a full Rybka study.<br /><br /><div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" width="250" height="400"><param name="movie" value="http://chessflash.com/releases/latest/ChessFlash.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value='orientation=V&tabmode=true&light=cccccc&dark=777777&border=0&bordertext=cccccc&headerbackground=0&headerforeground=ffffff&mtbackground=cccccc&pgndata=1. e4 e5 {[%t Val] 7} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {[%t Val] =} $14{/=}{%2B0.41 CAP} (3... a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O f6 6. d3 Bd6 7. Nh4 Ne7 8. Qh5%2B g6 {%2B0.18}) 4. d4 Bd7 5. Nc3 {[%t Val] } 5... Nf6 {[%t Val] =} 6. Bg5 {[%t Val] 9}{N} (6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Qxd8 Raxd8 11. Nxe5 Bb4 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. f3 h6 14. Be3 Rfe8 15. Rad1 Bxc3 16. bxc3 a6 17. Kf2 Nd7 18. Rd4 Ne5 19. Ra4 Ra8 20. Rb1 a5 21. Rb7 Rec8 22. Ke2 Kf8 23. f4 Nd7 24. e5 Ke7 25. g4 f6 {...1-0, Kasparov Garry 2770 - Freire R, Galicia 1991 Simultan})(6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Qd3 d5 8. Nxe5 dxe4 9. Qc4 Bd5 10. Qb5%2B c6 11. Qxb7 Rc8 12. Nxd5 Be7 13. Nxf6%2B gxf6 14. Nxc6 Qc7 15. Qxc7 Rxc7 16. Nxe7 Kxe7 17. c3 Rg8 18. g3 f5 19. Bf4 Rb7 20. O-O-O Rc8 21. d5 Kd7 22. Rd4 Rc5 23. Rhd1 Rcb5 24. b4 a5 25. a4 R5b6 {...1-0, Kasparov Garry 2815 - Wendling Jerome, Colmar 1998 Simultan}) 6... Be7 7. O-O O-O $2 (7... exd4 8. Nxd4 O-O {%2B0.18}) 8. dxe5 Nxe5 9. Nxe5 Bxb5 10. Nxb5 dxe5 11. Qe2 c6 12. Rfd1 Qb6 13. Bxf6 $6{[%t Val] 0} (13. Nd6 $5 13... h6 14. Be3 {%2B0.48}) 13... Bxf6 14. Nd6 Rad8 15. b3 Rd7 {[%t Val] 7} 16. Nc4 Qc7 17. Rxd7 Qxd7 18. Rd1 Qc7 19. Ne3 {[%t Val] 5} 19... g6 20. Ng4 Bg7 21. Qd3 h5 22. Ne3 Bf6 $6{[%t Val] @} (22... Bh6 $5 23. Qd7 Qxd7 24. Rxd7 Bxe3 25. fxe3 Rb8 26. Kf2 Kg7 27. Rc7 Kf6 28. Kf3 {%2B0.15}) 23. Qd7 Rc8 24. Kf1 {[%t Val] :} 24... b5 25. Ke2 Bg5 26. Qxc7 Rxc7 27. g3 {[%t Val] 6} 27... Kf8 28. h4 Be7 {[%t Val] 7} 29. c4 Ke8 30. cxb5 cxb5 31. Nd5 {[%t Val] 2} (31. Rd5 Rc5 32. b4 Rxd5 33. Nxd5 Kd7 34. Ke3 Bd8 35. f3 Kc6 36. a3 {%2B0.18}) 31... Rc2%2B 32. Rd2 Rxd2%2B 33. Kxd2 {[%t Clas] ^0 }{[%t Val] 2} * '/></object></div>ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-58450471896005319772010-03-11T17:01:00.000-08:002010-03-11T17:04:36.839-08:00SuprisedI'm suprised to have received several phone calls about my last post. Concerned players that didn't wanna see me miss out on playing, even though they respected my reasoning. I guess it's to my overall benefit to play the games that are remaining on my schedule. I'm not that consistant and over the board play is most-likely to help that. I still think that this whole process is unjust but I guess I need to let the people in power do what they want. Little guys like us never have a say in things like this anyway...ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1345994069751158021.post-25537974094658397612010-03-09T14:40:00.000-08:002010-03-09T14:53:30.043-08:00??<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkl5xtOY4ne2xVRUjrOZrqaPked0Gv9y-RAaEQ015aMO2OV_x3wYP_dH21CFEFXYgsyGzuWIs0JljAIxLuy8GTrZH1i8PxHRcRB4ZBbkTI5ghVzTVQpp8HfcDEHkwEjxXYb3r0Oj5Hbj4/s1600-h/we+will+not"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkl5xtOY4ne2xVRUjrOZrqaPked0Gv9y-RAaEQ015aMO2OV_x3wYP_dH21CFEFXYgsyGzuWIs0JljAIxLuy8GTrZH1i8PxHRcRB4ZBbkTI5ghVzTVQpp8HfcDEHkwEjxXYb3r0Oj5Hbj4/s400/we+will+not" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446771024979190418" /></a><br />So I think I'm done with this tournament for the Club Championship Qualification. Apparently one of the members of my qualification group, who also happens to be the Club President is being seeded into the finals without having to play a single game! The format which we all have been following consisted of two fairly-evenly matched groups where the top four scores for each group would move onto the next round.<br /><br />One member has been sick and missed his first six or seven matches. He assured us that he would make them up (like anyone of us would have to do in his situation) "even if he has to play 7 games in 7 nights" I believe those were his words. I have now found out that he doesn't in fact have to play any of these games and he is being seeded into the finals. As a rule, the club has generally seeded the previous reno club champion into the finals, this would be Edwin Straver whom is in fact already seeded into the finals.<br /><br />On top of this injustice, our group now will only get three members into the next round instead of the prescribed four. Someone whom played a good tournament is going to left out simply because one member is getting special treatment.<br /><br />Chess is supposed to be fun and the tournaments should be fair as possible. I rarely get involved with the politics of the club but this is one case where influence is giving an unfair advantage to another member, in full contrast to the prescribed rules which we all accepted when we set aside our thrusday nights for this tournament.<br /><br />I'm not blaming anyone for this mishap, I just can't conscientiously continue playing when the rules are so blatently being manipulated to the advantage of the select. This will probably(paradoxically) turn me into the bad guy, so be it...ChargingKinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120218284616627302noreply@blogger.com3