Black vs IM Voja 60 60 ICC simul 9.3.2012

I tried out a new line I had studied in my database. 11... Be6 instead of Bd7. The idea is to stop White from continuing to build an attack while keeping the bishop pair. Black's happy to consolidate into a Queenless middlegame at the expense of the damaged kingside pawn structure.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. This game clearly deserves good analysis, my pawn sac for activity and to cripple his Queenside pawns may not have been the best idea but I didn't know how to react to White's more obvious plan of Ne3-f5. White could have continued the game with 28. Rd6 and I'm not convinced I would have been able to hold on. I was offered a draw and after a couple of minutes of thinking I took it. Houdini evaluates it +=0.53.

I've been spending the best part of my day/most mental stamina on these simuls. While it has been a lot of fun, good for my chess and confidence in general, I need to be concentrating on other things. I also have a sizable backlog of games that I need to analyze, as you can tell from the previous blog posts. So I don't expect to play another simul for at least a week.

Thank you for reading, comments are always appreciated.

Black vs FM joejan (2088) 45 45 ICC simul 9.2.2012

A Berlin sideline. I have modeled my e5 openings after my friend Katar. His recommendation was 7... d6. The problem with 7... Nd6 is 8. Bg5!

I know enough to know that this is not a great position to be in against a titled player and I have certainly gone astray. Looking at it with Houdini 2gb, after 8...Be7, both 9. Bxe7 and 9. exd6 White looks great.

In the future, 7...d6 8. axb5 Nxe5 9. Re1 Be7 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. Qxd8+ Bxd8+ 12. Rxe5+ Be6.

11... Bf6 would have been more accurate. The problem is Nd4 coming with tempo because it overloads the defense of the bishop on e7. If 12. Nxf6 Qxf6 13. Bg5 Qxb2 or Qg6 is fine.

13. Black to move


I spent a lot of time in this position. I need to find good squares for my knight and bishop. I need to develop my rook to e8. I need to find a square for my Queen to connect the rooks. How best to go about it?

13... Re8 14. Bg5 h6 Bh4 15. Qe2 g5 16. Bg3 c5 17. Nf3 Be6 is a computer line. Seems awfully tempting to play with such steely resolve by thrusting for space and taking away squares, but I am not sure if it's practical for me.

13... Nf5 seems to be a more obvious choice that is better suited for my style. White does not want to exchange the pieces and this gives Black more space to develop (Qf6, Qh4, e6 now free for the bishop).

It's a very difficult ending to analyze. I don't think White should have allowed the Queen trade. 25. Qd7 would have kept life in the position and I am not sure I would have played this correctly.

28. Re4 and it's still a game. Black is better but White might still draw I think. 28... Nd8 is much stronger.

Anyway, my first victory in a simul against a titled player so I'm very happy.

Black vs IM Voja (2411) simul 60 60 ICC 9.1.2012

My tactics have really been letting me down recently. Bf5 was the correct move to equalize. I'm happy with the opening and the majority of the middle game. I thought Rb8 was a nice move and the computer agrees. I suppose I should start playing on chesstempo, a great tactics site, again.

Black vs IM Voja (2411) 8.30.2012 60 60 ICC

Absolutely brutal. Embarrassed to post this but that's okay. I saw moves like Be7, g6 and e4. Every single time I ended up choosing the wrong one. This has got to be the worst I've defended in a long time and every single bad move was punished by Voja. A great job by him just absolutely crushing me.

Super frustrated at the moment now.

Black vs IM Voja 8.24.2012 30 30 ICC simul

I accepted his draw, however, I probably had a winning endgame and I should have played on. Somehow I thought it was rude to not accept his draw :/ That kind of attitude has no place over the board and I need to learn how to have better self-esteem!

Black vs IM Voja (2411) ICC 60 60 simul 8.20.2012

Black vs IM MarticaFierro (2326) 8.14.2012 ICC 30 30

27... Rbe8 and offered a draw. Game drawn by mutual agreement.

White vs. Rooklifter (1903) 7.22.2012 ICC 20 5

This is a game I played on July 22 on the ICC against a person from the United States. Overall, I am happy with the quality of play. He made a huge blunder in the opening and I think I did a good job of capitalizing on his error. Unfortunately, I ran into some serious time trouble again. On top of that, I had some tactical inaccuracies. In the end, he did not use these opportunities to his advantage.

7. Na3 Nc6 8. Naxc4 would continue theory

11. White to play

11. e4 Nxe4? 12. Nxe4 Bd5 13. Na5 Bxb7 (13... Qb5? 14. Nc6 Bxc6 15. Nc3 Bxc6 16. Nc3!)
Unfortunately, I was only able to see until 13... Qb5 and I was unable to see the 14. Nc6 continuation so I chose what I thought was a safer approach.

17. White to play

17. Nb5? is a serious error after Rb8 18. Nxb8 Qxb8 19. Bc6 Bxc6
17. Rad1 is Houdini's first choice, developing the last piece and maintaining the tension. Second best is 17. Bxa8 Nxa8

22. White to play

22. a5?? Moves the Black knight to a better square.
Better plans:
22. Qe3 preparing a5 and Qxa7 advancing the passed A-pawn
23. dxe6 preparing an outpost on d5(?) with the same plan of a5 and Qxa7
22. Re2 preparing to double on the e-file

On move 26. I had 2:22 against 14:54 on the clock. I need to work on my mental tenacity because I could not believe I had blown such a huge lead and given him a knight posted on my 3rd rank. Obvious would have been 26. Rxd3!

27. Black to play (White offers a draw)

I had 1:46 on my clock and he had 14:36. Black rejected the draw
I was expecting 27... Bxc3 28. bxc3 Qxe4 29. Qxe4 Rxe4.
Although he is up a pawn, it is doubled and I will take his a-pawn after 30. Rd8+ Kg7 31. Ra8.


After 31... Re1+ 32. Kg2 Rc1 the 5 pawns on the a and c-files will be swapped off and the game is drawn.

A fun and exciting game. My opponent did a great job outplaying me in the later mid-game but ultimately over-extended and ended up losing. Unfortunately, he didn't have any interest in analyzing the game after it was over.

Comments are greatly appreciated.

Black vs. IM Turzo (2275) 7.16.2012 ICC 15 15

This is my first opportunity against a titled player. I did much better than I expected but ultimately his greater middle game and endgame skill were too much. Below are a few comments I've made in review.


18... h5 seemed natural to me. I wanted to resolve the kingside completely before I tried to undermine the center and open up the c-file. In the game I was concerned about:


18... Rac8 19. g4 Bd7 20. f5 c5 21. d5 (shown above). Not much space and I don't see a clear plan for Black.
Centralize the Queen and try to take advantage of the weak dark squares by White's king with Qe5?
Play b5 and try to undermine White's protection of the d5 pawn?


28... Turzo(IM): After Kf8 you could play Ke7 and have a fine position, your pieces are developed and preventing Rc7.

I was psychologically lost after I played Rc4 realizing I couldn't play Rec8 at the end of the first rook exchange because I'm losing the defender to Nxe6+.


I thought I was already lost here. 30... Ke7 definitely loses the game, but
30... Bxa2 recommended by my friend Ska. It seems to be the best move according to Houdini.
30... g6 and
30... Re7 also keep Black in the game.

White has an edge but maybe Black can draw since Black has good resources to protect the e4 and d7 pawns?


IM Turzo was a gentleman and I really enjoyed this game.

Comments are greatly appreciated.