ROUND 1 UPDATE!!!
Ok, so in the first round I was playing another kid who was around 13-14, and was rated about 1280. Here's the game:
I have to go play my second round now. Bye!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Michigan Open Day 1
I finally made it to Troy, Michigan! As I said before, I had to wake up this morning at 5:00, (which is probably normal for most of you, but not for me.) and quickly take a shower, get dressed, and all that other stuff.
Anyways, we made it to the hotel right at the beginning of registration, registered, and checked into our hotel. Right now, my mother is out looking for her keys because she managed to lose them already. : /
I'm just chillin' on the hotel bed right now, planning on getting some extra sleep right before the tournament. :)
I will hopefully update this post later, (after the first round) but for now I have to go sleep. Here's a picture of me at the MET hotel.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Michigan Open CONSTANT coverage!?
Ok, so here's the deal:
For this year's Michigan Open, I want to make things a little more fun. :)
During the Michigan Open , I will be giving updates (hopefully) after every round! And whenever I feel like posting. This will include games, puzzles, comments, pictures (hopefully), and more. So... If you are interested, keep a watch on my blog, and feel free to make a comment if you'd like. :)
I am SO tired, but SO excited! I have to wake up at like 5:00 tomrrow, (I've been waking up at like 10:00 for the past couple of weeks. O_O) so I have to go get some sleep. I went out shopping for some peanuts and crackers and stuff tonight, also. :)
I hope I do well. I think I have pretty good chances of winning, since I am near the top of my section. (1725 in the U1800 section.)
More later, I have to sleep now.
For this year's Michigan Open, I want to make things a little more fun. :)
During the Michigan Open , I will be giving updates (hopefully) after every round! And whenever I feel like posting. This will include games, puzzles, comments, pictures (hopefully), and more. So... If you are interested, keep a watch on my blog, and feel free to make a comment if you'd like. :)
I am SO tired, but SO excited! I have to wake up at like 5:00 tomrrow, (I've been waking up at like 10:00 for the past couple of weeks. O_O) so I have to go get some sleep. I went out shopping for some peanuts and crackers and stuff tonight, also. :)
I hope I do well. I think I have pretty good chances of winning, since I am near the top of my section. (1725 in the U1800 section.)
More later, I have to sleep now.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Replayable Games!
Hello everybody! Again, I have not posted for a long time, but, now that I have an EASY way to make my games replayayble, you can look forward to posts every other week!
It is SO simple and quick to create. Here is an example of what it looks like:
The buttons are a little small and confusing, but that shouldn't be a huge deal.
I still am very thankfull for Tim Clark's help, but I think this is just so much quicker.
The problem with Tim Clark's replayable games idea is that it takes such a long time to post. There are so many steps, and it is hard (for me) to do.
Thanks to my friend Mukund Rao from chesskid.com for teaching me how to do this! It is very helpful for posting games in a flash whenever you need too.
Here are the steps for doing this on a blogger. The steps are similar for posting on any other website.
POSTING REPLAYABLE GAMES ON YOUR BLOG!:
1) Go onto either chess.com or chesskid.com. (For this walkthrough, I will be using chesskid.com, but it shouldn't be any different for chess.com
2) Either go to where you would post a comment in a forum, or where you would send a private message to somebody.
3) Click on the tool in the top left corner that looks like a chesboard.
4) Create a GAME. I think it only works with games. Go through all of the steps BUT DON'T CLICK SUBMIT!
5) On the final step (the step where it previews the final result.) there should be a button that says 'share' to the right the chessboard. Click on it
6) Copy the text given.
7) Now, you may submit the game. In fact, you have to submit the game in order for this to work. That is one downside. Otherwise, it will not have an adress.
8) Go into your blog, and change the settings to HTML, and under options, Interpret typed HTML.
9) Paste the text into the HTML
10) Now, when you preview the page, (or just go back to compose.) you should see your game in a replayable format.
That is how you can easily post replayable chess games into your blog. Hope this helps!
It is SO simple and quick to create. Here is an example of what it looks like:
The buttons are a little small and confusing, but that shouldn't be a huge deal.
I still am very thankfull for Tim Clark's help, but I think this is just so much quicker.
The problem with Tim Clark's replayable games idea is that it takes such a long time to post. There are so many steps, and it is hard (for me) to do.
Thanks to my friend Mukund Rao from chesskid.com for teaching me how to do this! It is very helpful for posting games in a flash whenever you need too.
Here are the steps for doing this on a blogger. The steps are similar for posting on any other website.
POSTING REPLAYABLE GAMES ON YOUR BLOG!:
1) Go onto either chess.com or chesskid.com. (For this walkthrough, I will be using chesskid.com, but it shouldn't be any different for chess.com
2) Either go to where you would post a comment in a forum, or where you would send a private message to somebody.
3) Click on the tool in the top left corner that looks like a chesboard.
4) Create a GAME. I think it only works with games. Go through all of the steps BUT DON'T CLICK SUBMIT!
5) On the final step (the step where it previews the final result.) there should be a button that says 'share' to the right the chessboard. Click on it
6) Copy the text given.
7) Now, you may submit the game. In fact, you have to submit the game in order for this to work. That is one downside. Otherwise, it will not have an adress.
8) Go into your blog, and change the settings to HTML, and under options, Interpret typed HTML.
9) Paste the text into the HTML
10) Now, when you preview the page, (or just go back to compose.) you should see your game in a replayable format.
That is how you can easily post replayable chess games into your blog. Hope this helps!
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
2012 National Elementary Championships
Hello everybody this is my report for the Nationals in Nashville, TN. But before I start, I would like to apologize for not posting in a while. Believe it or not, I have been working on this article for a long time. Actually, not exactly the blog part of it... what I have been doing is trying to figure out how to use HTML JavaScript Replay from chess base (or fritz 12). For those of you who don't know, this will make the games I share replayable or animated, so that you don't have to take out your chess boards. Thank you to Tim Clark for teaching me how. Anyways, we left thursday at around noon after I got done with my half day at school. (due to tulip time, something people from holland would know about.) We now drove a very boring road trip 9 hours to a small town right outside of Nashville to our hotel. We chose not to stay at the tournament hotel during the days that I was not playing due to expenses.
The next morning, we got ready, ate breakfast, and drove 15 minutes into Nashville at our hotel. After we entered the building, what I saw was amazing! Amazing plants, waterfalls, and gardens all over the place, along with fountains and beutiful paths and scenery. I was stunned the entire time, staring at the beuty that was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I will upload some pictures later so you can see what I saw. We had 3 hours to spare before the first round, so we walked around and looked at the tournament rooms and scenery. I was very nervous and was very emotional (both because of stress and because of the amazingness off the entire thing- I wasn't sure exactly what I felt.) We did not have a hotel room to put our luggage into and rest. We walked around until the opening ceremony.
The playing room was magnificent, and nice looking. After walking to my board, I saw two different objects lying on top of our chess boards. One was a notebook with a cover showing "Elementary Naationals in Nashville." This you could also write the notation in for all of your games. The other was a slip of paper that both players had to write their name and school on, and afterwards sign their signature, and record the result.
In the first round, I was black against Michael Innes, rated 1042. He played the advanced variation against the caro-cann that I decided on playing this tournament against 1.e4, and I mixed the Bf5 idea and the c5 break, fighting for the center. I got a quick advantage, and won a pawn fairly quickly on. My opponent then chose the wrong move with his knight to get out of attack, and let me trap his knight. He had a nice escape to avoid losing alot of material, but still lost another pawn. A couple moves later, I had a simple tactic and won a rook due to his uncastled king in the center being vulnerable to checks. I won fairly easily after that.
After the game is finished, you must raise your hand for a tournament director to come over, sign the sheet with the result, and take the sheet away.
In my second round, I was white against Sidharth Natham, rated 975. I was surprised to be playing a lower rated opponent after winning my first round, but that is how the pairings work. He played declined against my queen's gambit, and set up a triangle defense. I broke open the center, which is common as white in the queens gambit, and my opponent responded incorrectly and lost a pawn. Later, I tried to complicate things by creating a pin and that didn't work because he made a good move to complicate things himself. I then, made a mistake, but was able to find the move to save myself, and later won an easy R+P engame a pawn up after trading off all the other pieces.
In the third round, I was black against Anthony Nguyen, rated 1913. I was excited, but also nervous to be playing such strong player. White played 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5!? d5 3.Bxf6!? and definately got me out of book quickly. The game continued normally and after I tried a couple of plans, we trade off some more pieces. I almost trapped his queen, but I realized I couldn't and traded queens. He then got the initiative, but I defended well and we traded into a drawn R+P engame, and we drew.
In the fourth round, I was white against Emmanuel Carter, rated 1749. He played an opening that I am unfamilliar with, and I won a pawn and loved my position. Then I just played around because I didn't find a plan, and payed for my carelessness. He then attacked me, and I defended, but Lost my pawn back. I lost the game later after more careless play, in a game that after the first 15 moves I thought I was fine. In such a strong tournament like this, I have to go into every game with a fighting attitude, and I am sad to say that I didn't do that this round.
In the fifth round, I was black against Rahul Reddy, rated 1251. I again played the caro-cann and he played the old exchange line. We traded alot of the pieces early on, which made it hard for me to find a plan. Later after more trades, I grabbed the only open file and thought that I was winning and for sure had an easy game. I did not take advantage of the file that I had, and lost the advantage. Later, he threatened to trade queens, and I declined, but the best option was to accept into an even endgame and hope for the best. My opponent annoyed me with his queen, and he later made 2 moves of a possible 3 move repetition, but on the last move broke it with a pawn move. I now braced myself, and we traded off all the pawns on the queenside, a definite draw. In the completely drawn Q+B+P endgame, he blundered his queen for a bishop in time pressure. I won, but the win was not satisfying.
In the sixth round, I was White against Spencer Ha, rated 1833. Black played the orthodox defense against my queen's gambit, and I got a slightly better position. Black forced some trades, and in the endgame in a N+P endgame, we agreed to a draw.
In the last game, I was White (yes!) against Lazar Vilotijevic, rated 1946. Black played the king's Indian defense nicely, and I closed the center. I then castled queenside to mix it up, but black transitioned his attack to the queenside. I had to make a weird pawn move around my king to stop pawn breaks that open files, and after he made a move to open the C-file this gave him a backwards pawn on the D-file, and I found a nice move to take advantage of that. I thought it just won 2 pawns, but black played for a line where he sacifices his queen and 2 pawns for a rook and 2 pieces.This unballanced the game, but when he offered a draw after his entire position was defended, I accepted after thinking for about 15 minutes.
Overall I got 4.5/7. If I had gotten another half point, I would have gotten a trophy. Here are all of my games:
Innes,M (1042) - Posthuma,J (1632) [B12]
2012 Elementary Nationals (1),
(Notes by Joshua and Fritz)
1.e4 c6 Something different and safe 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nf3 Qb6!? I don't know what that move was for. It ties down white's dark bishop, but doesn't have any other job. 6.g3 c5 7.Nb5?! Fritz - 7.dxc5!? Bxc5 8.Na4 Bxf2+ 9.Ke2 Qa6+ 10.Kxf2 Qxa4 11.Nd4= This knight has no path, so white wastes a tempo after I force the knight back. 7...a6 8.Nc3 Nc6 Threatening a pawn. Forced at this point is 9.Ne2, but after 9. ...Be4, I'm loving my position. 9.dxc5 might work out o.k., but again, after retaking with my Bishop, my position is fine. Also, my opponent wouldn't have a good way to meet my other threat of Nb4. 9.a3 Defending the b4 square. 9...cxd4 10.Na4 This is likely best, though I'm already winning. I thought I could trap his knight, and I can, but my opponent has a nice escape. 10...Qa5+ 11.c3 Fritz - 11.Bd2 Qc7 12.b3-+ b5 12.Nc5! A good find. 12...Bxc5 13.b4 Qc7 With threats against e5, and keeping my queen out of the way of pawn attacks when the bishop is taken. 14.bxc5 dxc3 15.Bd3?! Bxd3 16.Qxd3 Nxe5 17.Qxc3 This is actually a blunder, even though it looks like a pawn winning move. Since the pawn is now cleared, the long a1-h8 diagonal is opened up... 17...Nxf3+ 18.Qxf3 Qe5+ Winning a rook. 19.Qe3 Qxa1 20.0-0 Ne7 21.Re1 Qf6 22.Qe2 Nc6 The knight is well positioned here, controlling my weak dark squares. 23.Bb2 Nd4 Forcing a trade. I have a couple of check threats here if white doesn't trade that can win me material. 24.Bxd4 Qxd4 25.Rc1 0-0 26.c6 Rac8 27.c7 This is his last (and best) try, but a rook up, the pawn just gets overpowered. 27...Qb6 28.Qe5 Rfe8 29.Kg2 Re7 30.h4 Rexc7 31.Rxc7? He cannot afford that trade. 31...Qxc7 Trying to see if he would make another trade with me. 32.Qxc7? And he definately cannot afford that trade. With queens off, he has nothing left to fight with. 32...Rxc7 33.Kh3 h5 34.Kg2 Rc3 35.Kf1 Rxa3 36.Ke2 Kh7 37.Kd2 Kg6 38.Kc2 Kf5 39.Kd2 Ke4 40.g4 hxg4 41.h5 Rf3 42.h6 gxh6 43.Ke2 g3 44.fxg3 Rxg3 45.Kf2 Ra3 46.Kg2 Kf4 47.Kf2 Ra2+ 48.Ke1 Ke3 49.Kf1 Rb2 50.Kg1 Kf3 51.Kh1 Kg3 52.Kg1 Rb1# 0-1
Poshtuma,J (1632) - Jeyapra Natham,S (975) [D46]
2012 National Elementary Championship (2),
(Notes by Joshua)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 Nf6 is common first, possibly followed with Bg4 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bd6 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e4 Opening up the center, and activating my dark squared bishop. 8...e5?! Drops a pawn. 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.exd5 exd4 11.Nxd4 Ne5 12.Bc2 Bg4 13.f3 Bh5 14.Nf5 Bc5+ 15.Kh1 Re8 16.Bg5 Nc4 A nice move. Attacking b2 and the e3 square. I did not find the best defense. 17.Qc1?! Bg6 A great move. 18.Ne4 I had thought about black's threats whitch were hard to stop, and thought I would be losing material not matter what. There likely was a way to stop the threats, but I just didn't see it at the time, so I decided to try to make things complicated. [ 18.h3 Bxf5 19.Bxf5 Be3! 20.Bxe3 ( 20.Bxf6 Bxc1 21.Bxd8 Bxb2) 20...Nxe3;
18.b3!?] 18...Be7!? This is actually best. The position would be horrible for black after QxP if I played 19.Nxg7!, which I had missed during the game. [ 18...Qxd5 19.Nxg7] 19.Nxe7+ Happy to Trade 19...Qxe7 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.Bxg6 fxg6 22.Qxc4 fxg5 23.h3 Avoiding Back Rank Mate threats in case I wanted to challenge black's queen on the E file. 23...h5 24.Rfe1 Qd7 25.d6+ Kg7 26.Qc7 Forcing a queen trade. My past pawn is what holds me the win in this game. 26...Qxc7? Black wants to keep that past pawn as close to his king as possible, and as far back as possible. This move helps me, though he does have to be careful if he were to allow the trade in a different way. [ 26...Rad8?? 27.Qxd7+ Rxd7 28.Rxe8;
26...Red8?? 27.Re7+;
26...Qf7 27.d7] 27.dxc7 Rac8 28.Rxe8 Rxe8 29.Rc1 Rc8 This is a nice engame. My single passed pawn wins the game for me, but black can still fight on for a while. 30.Kg1 Kf6 Correct idea, but not followed up correctly. 31.Kf2 Ke7 [ 31...Ke5 Staying in the center for as long as possible is a better way to fight. 32.Rc5+ Kf6 ( 32...Kf4?? 33.g3#) ] 32.Ke3 Kd7 33.Ke4 Rxc7? Black cannot let me trade rooks now. 34.Rxc7+ Kxc7 35.Ke5 Kd7 36.Kf6 g4 37.fxg4 hxg4 38.hxg4 g5 39.Kxg5 Ke7 40.Kf5 Kf7 41.g5 Kg7 42.g6 Kg8 43.Kf6 Kf8 44.a4 a5 45.b3 b6 46.g3 [ 46.g4?! Would make some stalemating possibilities that I would have to avoid.] 46...Kg8 47.g7 Kh7 48.Kf7 Kh6 49.g8Q Kh5 50.Kf6 Kh6 51.Qg6# 1-0
Quan Nguyen ,A (1913) - Posthuma,J (1632) [D00]
2012 Elementary Nationals (3),
(Notes by Joshua)
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 This is a move I have not seen before. 2...d5 [ 2...e6] 3.Bxf6 gxf6 4.g3 Bf5 5.Bg2 c6 Making his fianchettoe'd bishop bite on granite. Also preventing 6.c4 6.e3 Nd7 7.Ne2 e6 8.Nd2 e5?! Now it seems pointless why I had to play e6 first. I changed my plans. 9.0-0 Nb6 Trying to minimize the impact of c4. 10.Rc1 Qd7 11.h4 Getting his pawn in front of the h3 square so that I don't get any attacks. 11...Bd6 12.c4 I was prepared for this move. 12...dxc4 13.Nxc4 Nxc4 14.Rxc4 Rd8 I had already made a plan about 5 moves ago to not castle to either side. 15.a3 Bc7 16.Qd2 Bh3 Threatening some simple tactics. 17.Rfc1 [ 17.Rd1 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Qd5+!] 17...Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Rg8 Thretening to meet some possible moves like 19.Qc3 with the nice fork 19. ...Qg4, because the h4 pawn is undefended. 19.Qc2 h7 is being attacked now. 19...Rg7 20.Qe4 f5 Possibly weakening. 21.Qf3 At this point I was looking to trap white's queen, but found no way. 21...Qd5!? 22.Qxd5 Rxd5 23.Rc5 Threatening Rxd5, winning a bishop. 23...f6 24.Rxd5 cxd5 25.Rc5 Rd7 26.Kf1 Kf7 27.Ke1 f4 To make progress. 28.gxf4 exf4 29.Nxf4 Bxf4 30.exf4 This R+P endgame is drawn with white's horrible pawn structure. Black likely should have played on. 30...Kg6 The h4 and/or f4 pawn will get captured. White asked for a draw, and I accepted, not liking my position after white intrudes with Rc8 ½-½
Pothuma,J (1632) - Carter,E (1749) [B07]
2012 National Elementary (4),
(Notes by Joshua)
This game was played badly by both sides, but I made the last mistake. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 [ 3.Bd3 This looks better if I want to transpose into familiar terrifitory.] 3...g6 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.h3 0-0 6.Nf3 c6 7.Be3 b5 8.Bb3 a5 Threatening a4, winning a piece. [ 8...b4! 9.Ne2 Nxe4] 9.a3 Bb7 Now b4 is again available. Time to do something about e4. 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5 Nd5 Drops a pawn. 12.Bxd5 cxd5 13.Nxb5 Nc6 14.Qd2 In the next couple of moves, I got very lazy, and payed for it greatly. 14...Qd7 15.Bh6 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Qxb5 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 [ 17...Qxb2 18.Nd7 Kxg7 19.0-0 Now black is faced with duel threats of Rfb1 and Nxf8] 18.Nd3 f6 19.0-0 This is more dangerous than I expected. 19...Rac8 20.Nf4 A bad Idea to attempt a simple fork like that. 20...Qc6 21.f3 e5 22.Nd3 Qxc2 23.Qxc2 Rxc2 24.Rac1 Rfc8 25.Rxc2 Rxc2 26.b4 axb4 27.Nxb4 Rc4 I'm losing now. 28.Rb1 d4 29.a4 e4 30.fxe4 Bxe4 31.Rb2 After this point, he pretty much plays every move correctly. I don't need any more comments. 31...d3 32.Na2 Rd4 33.Rd2 Rxa4 34.Nc3 Ra1+ 35.Kf2 f5 36.Ke3 Re1+ 37.Kf2 Rc1 38.Nxe4 fxe4 39.Ke3 Rc2 40.Rd1 Re2+ 41.Kd4 d2 42.Kc3 e3 43.Kd3 Re1 44.Kc2 Kf6 And black easily won. 0-1
Reddy,R (1251) - Posthuma,J (1632) [B13]
2012 Elementary Nationals (5),
(Notes by Joshua and Fritz)
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Caro-Can Old Exchnge Line. 5...Nf6 6.Bf4 e6 [ 6...Bg4] 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Re1 Re8 11.Nbd2 h6 Wanting to be able to move my f6 knight without any greek gift sacrifices. 12.Ne5 Nd7 13.Nxd7 Fritz - 13.f4!?+ Bxd7 14.Nf3 e5 Opening up the position and not letting white place his knight on e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Rxe5 17.Rxe5 Qxe5 18.Qd2 Sadly, there are not many pieces left on the board now to fight with. 18...Re8 I like black here, but I did not use my advantage of the open file, and soon realized how temporary my advantage actually was. 19.h3 Bc6 Lining up on the long diagonal to possibly attack g2 later. 20.Rd1 b5?! Preparing 21...d4, but white can easily stop this, and now I have a weak pawn, and a weak bishop. 21.Bf1 Kh8 22.Qd4 Qe7 I thought about 25 minutes on that move. 23.Rd3 Qb7 24.Re3 Rxe3 25.Qxe3 a5 26.Qc5 Kg8 White's queen becomes very annoying soon. 27.Kh2 Qb8+ Fritz - 27...Be8!? Using a checking tempo to bring my queen to a better spot. 28.g3 Qe8 29.Bg2 Qd7 30.Qb6 a4 31.Qb8+ Kh7 32.Qe5 Qe6 Hoping to trade off his annoying queen, and try to get something out of the B+P endgame. 33.f4 Good. Now, a queen trade would be bad for me. 33...Kg8 Fritz - 33...Qxe5 34.fxe5 Kg8= 34.Qb8+ Kh7 35.Qe5 Kg8 I was willing to allow 3 move repertition, but I should not have. I was lucky he declined. 36.b3 My bishop is just a big pawn, and white will now try to take advantage of that. 36...axb3 Fritz - 36...Qxe5 37.fxe5 a3 37.axb3 Qd7 38.Qb8+ Kh7 39.Qb6 Kg8 40.c4 bxc4 41.bxc4 Bb7 Saving myself... barely. 42.cxd5 Fritz - 42.Qa7+- and white could have gained the advantage. Bxd5 43.Qd4 At this point I got very frustrated, actually thinking he won my bishop. After I realized that I had a very simple defense, I asked him jokingly, "are you tired also?" to whitch he responded "yes." 43...Bc6 This obviously should be a draw, but I got lucky when white blundered horribly in a drawn position. 44.Bxc6?? Qxd4 White now resigned. This was a very unsatisfying win for me, because my opponent played as good as me if not better than me at some points, and deserved a draw for his great play. I got lucky, and did not feel good about it, but I will take it. 0-1
Posthuma,J (1632) - Ha,S (1833) [D60]
2012 National Elementary Championship (6), 13.04.2012
(Notes by Joshua)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 Queen's Gambit Declined Orthodox. 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 This is all standard play. 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 h6 8.Bh4 dxc4!? Breaking the tension in the center. [ 8...c5!?] 9.Bxc4 a6 10.a4 Preventing 10...b5 10...c5 This is correct, fighting for space. I don't want to take because the c5 square would be good for black's pieces. 11.0-0 Nh5!? I don't know is this is a good move. It puts the knight on the rim, and will lose tempo retreating. Forcing the trade though may be smart, as my bishop can cause trouble with possible pins. 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Rc1 Nhf6 14.Qe2 b6 Aiming to fianchetto the light squared bishop, but it weakens the a6 pawn witch could possibly be annoying if black wanted to move the a-file rook. 15.Rfd1 Bb7 16.Rd2 Something to do. I like my position and it is becoming hard for me to find ways to improve it. 16...Rfd8 17.Rcd1 a5 This move claims the b4 square, but leaves a big hole on b5, and the light squares are weak. This does get rid of threats against a6, though. 18.d5 Opening up the position, trying to make progress. 18...exd5 19.Nxd5 Nxd5 20.Bxd5 Bxd5 21.Rxd5 Nf6 22.R5d3 Trying not to give black the d-file. 22...Ne4 23.h3 Waiting and avoiding back rank possibilities. 23...Rd6 24.Qc2 Rad8 I now trade on the d-file, because black has challenged it enough. 25.Rxd6 Rxd6 26.Rxd6 Nxd6 Forced. 27.Qb3 I have a slight advantage here, but the game is very drawish. 27...Nc8 28.Qd5 Keeping the d-file from black. This did not work though. 28...Qd6 Signalling a trade into a N+P endgame. Avoiding the trade would give my opponent the initiative. 29.Qxd6 Nxd6 30.Nd2 Here my opponent asked for a draw, and I acepted. (slightly out of fear) My opponent said that I was better, and should have tried to attack th queenside, but thought it was an easy draw for black after c4, f5, and Kf7-e6-d5, because my king is to slow due to my knight getting in the way. ½-½
Posthuma,J (1632) - Vilotijevic,L (1946) [E90]
2012 National Elementary Nationals (7),
(Notes by Joshua and Fritz)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 White plays the Makaganov against black's King's Indian Defense. 6...Nc6 7.Be3 e5 8.d5 Closing up the center. 8...Ne7 9.Qd2 a5 Keeping b4 from white. 10.Bd3 Nd7 I thought this was to prepare f5. 11.Bh6 Getting rid of the fianchettoe'd bishop. 11...Nc5 12.Bc2 [ 12.0-0-0? Nxd3+ 13.Qxd3 Bxh6+] 12...b6 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.0-0-0?! Fritz - 14.0-0 f6 Castling on oposite sides, supposedly risky ans sharp, and I think my opponent can get a nice attack after this move. I'm pretty sure castling kingside would not be great either due to f5 and possibly f4, starting an attack on my kingside. 14...Ba6 Developing with threats. Also possibly supporting a b5 break. 15.Qe2 Qd7 Supporting b5. 16.g4 Trying to stop f5, which is not among black's priorities. Also possibly starting a kingside attack, which is probably to slow at this point. 16...Rfb8 Fritz - 16...a4 17.Kb1= Now b5 is a real threat opening up lines towards my king. 17.a4!? This looks bad, but actually defends against black's threats pretty well. 17...c6!? 18.dxc6 Opening the d-file and creating a backwards d-pawn on the semi open file. d6 is now weak for black, and white manages to find a good plan to take advantage of that. 18...Qxc6 19.Nb5 Threatening d6. 19...Rd8!? [ 19...Bxb5 20.axb5 And now black might create play by pushing the a-pawn and attacking white's backwards pawn on c4.( 20.cxb5 Would be bad due to the open C file, which my king is on. ) ] 20.Rxd6! This move destructs the defense of the e5 pawn, winning 2 pawns in the variations I looked at. 20...Rxd6 21.Nxe5! Now the queen cannot move to a spot that defends the rook due to white's nicely placed knights. 21...Bxb5! This interesting move that I failed to see trades into even material, but with a major inballance. 22.Nxc6 Bxc6 Saving the rook. I fell comfortable here, but knew that I had to trade black's rook pair to take away black's advantage. 23.b3 First, I must defend the unprotected pawns. 23...Rd4 24.f3 Fritz - 24.Rd1 Ne6= Rad8 25.Rd1 This move meets my goal of trading off black's rook pair. 25...Rxd1+ 26.Bxd1 Nd3+ 27.Kb1 Avoiding knight checks. 27...Be8 Defending blacks position from a distance. 28.Bc2 Nc5 Now black offered a draw and I accepted after thinking for 15 minutes. I was trying to see if there was a way for me to break through with my queen, but we both saw that after black moves Nc6 and possibly Rb8, there is not much for me to do. My 2 pawn advantage cannot be used because Nc6 and Rd4/d2 would attack my kingside pawns and I thought that black's many pieces would easily overpower my pawns. My horrible bishop did not help me either. ½-½
Alright, so those are my games from Nashville. Again, I apoligize for posting late, and I also apologize that you will have to wait until my next article (June Aquinas) to see all of the amazing pictures from this great event. Please feel free to post comments about my games, my blog, or anything you would like. I appreciate feedback. Bye!
The next morning, we got ready, ate breakfast, and drove 15 minutes into Nashville at our hotel. After we entered the building, what I saw was amazing! Amazing plants, waterfalls, and gardens all over the place, along with fountains and beutiful paths and scenery. I was stunned the entire time, staring at the beuty that was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I will upload some pictures later so you can see what I saw. We had 3 hours to spare before the first round, so we walked around and looked at the tournament rooms and scenery. I was very nervous and was very emotional (both because of stress and because of the amazingness off the entire thing- I wasn't sure exactly what I felt.) We did not have a hotel room to put our luggage into and rest. We walked around until the opening ceremony.
The playing room was magnificent, and nice looking. After walking to my board, I saw two different objects lying on top of our chess boards. One was a notebook with a cover showing "Elementary Naationals in Nashville." This you could also write the notation in for all of your games. The other was a slip of paper that both players had to write their name and school on, and afterwards sign their signature, and record the result.
In the first round, I was black against Michael Innes, rated 1042. He played the advanced variation against the caro-cann that I decided on playing this tournament against 1.e4, and I mixed the Bf5 idea and the c5 break, fighting for the center. I got a quick advantage, and won a pawn fairly quickly on. My opponent then chose the wrong move with his knight to get out of attack, and let me trap his knight. He had a nice escape to avoid losing alot of material, but still lost another pawn. A couple moves later, I had a simple tactic and won a rook due to his uncastled king in the center being vulnerable to checks. I won fairly easily after that.
After the game is finished, you must raise your hand for a tournament director to come over, sign the sheet with the result, and take the sheet away.
In my second round, I was white against Sidharth Natham, rated 975. I was surprised to be playing a lower rated opponent after winning my first round, but that is how the pairings work. He played declined against my queen's gambit, and set up a triangle defense. I broke open the center, which is common as white in the queens gambit, and my opponent responded incorrectly and lost a pawn. Later, I tried to complicate things by creating a pin and that didn't work because he made a good move to complicate things himself. I then, made a mistake, but was able to find the move to save myself, and later won an easy R+P engame a pawn up after trading off all the other pieces.
In the third round, I was black against Anthony Nguyen, rated 1913. I was excited, but also nervous to be playing such strong player. White played 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5!? d5 3.Bxf6!? and definately got me out of book quickly. The game continued normally and after I tried a couple of plans, we trade off some more pieces. I almost trapped his queen, but I realized I couldn't and traded queens. He then got the initiative, but I defended well and we traded into a drawn R+P engame, and we drew.
In the fourth round, I was white against Emmanuel Carter, rated 1749. He played an opening that I am unfamilliar with, and I won a pawn and loved my position. Then I just played around because I didn't find a plan, and payed for my carelessness. He then attacked me, and I defended, but Lost my pawn back. I lost the game later after more careless play, in a game that after the first 15 moves I thought I was fine. In such a strong tournament like this, I have to go into every game with a fighting attitude, and I am sad to say that I didn't do that this round.
In the fifth round, I was black against Rahul Reddy, rated 1251. I again played the caro-cann and he played the old exchange line. We traded alot of the pieces early on, which made it hard for me to find a plan. Later after more trades, I grabbed the only open file and thought that I was winning and for sure had an easy game. I did not take advantage of the file that I had, and lost the advantage. Later, he threatened to trade queens, and I declined, but the best option was to accept into an even endgame and hope for the best. My opponent annoyed me with his queen, and he later made 2 moves of a possible 3 move repetition, but on the last move broke it with a pawn move. I now braced myself, and we traded off all the pawns on the queenside, a definite draw. In the completely drawn Q+B+P endgame, he blundered his queen for a bishop in time pressure. I won, but the win was not satisfying.
In the sixth round, I was White against Spencer Ha, rated 1833. Black played the orthodox defense against my queen's gambit, and I got a slightly better position. Black forced some trades, and in the endgame in a N+P endgame, we agreed to a draw.
In the last game, I was White (yes!) against Lazar Vilotijevic, rated 1946. Black played the king's Indian defense nicely, and I closed the center. I then castled queenside to mix it up, but black transitioned his attack to the queenside. I had to make a weird pawn move around my king to stop pawn breaks that open files, and after he made a move to open the C-file this gave him a backwards pawn on the D-file, and I found a nice move to take advantage of that. I thought it just won 2 pawns, but black played for a line where he sacifices his queen and 2 pawns for a rook and 2 pieces.This unballanced the game, but when he offered a draw after his entire position was defended, I accepted after thinking for about 15 minutes.
Overall I got 4.5/7. If I had gotten another half point, I would have gotten a trophy. Here are all of my games:
Innes,M (1042) - Posthuma,J (1632) [B12]
2012 Elementary Nationals (1),
(Notes by Joshua and Fritz)
1.e4 c6 Something different and safe 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nf3 Qb6!? I don't know what that move was for. It ties down white's dark bishop, but doesn't have any other job. 6.g3 c5 7.Nb5?! Fritz - 7.dxc5!? Bxc5 8.Na4 Bxf2+ 9.Ke2 Qa6+ 10.Kxf2 Qxa4 11.Nd4= This knight has no path, so white wastes a tempo after I force the knight back. 7...a6 8.Nc3 Nc6 Threatening a pawn. Forced at this point is 9.Ne2, but after 9. ...Be4, I'm loving my position. 9.dxc5 might work out o.k., but again, after retaking with my Bishop, my position is fine. Also, my opponent wouldn't have a good way to meet my other threat of Nb4. 9.a3 Defending the b4 square. 9...cxd4 10.Na4 This is likely best, though I'm already winning. I thought I could trap his knight, and I can, but my opponent has a nice escape. 10...Qa5+ 11.c3 Fritz - 11.Bd2 Qc7 12.b3-+ b5 12.Nc5! A good find. 12...Bxc5 13.b4 Qc7 With threats against e5, and keeping my queen out of the way of pawn attacks when the bishop is taken. 14.bxc5 dxc3 15.Bd3?! Bxd3 16.Qxd3 Nxe5 17.Qxc3 This is actually a blunder, even though it looks like a pawn winning move. Since the pawn is now cleared, the long a1-h8 diagonal is opened up... 17...Nxf3+ 18.Qxf3 Qe5+ Winning a rook. 19.Qe3 Qxa1 20.0-0 Ne7 21.Re1 Qf6 22.Qe2 Nc6 The knight is well positioned here, controlling my weak dark squares. 23.Bb2 Nd4 Forcing a trade. I have a couple of check threats here if white doesn't trade that can win me material. 24.Bxd4 Qxd4 25.Rc1 0-0 26.c6 Rac8 27.c7 This is his last (and best) try, but a rook up, the pawn just gets overpowered. 27...Qb6 28.Qe5 Rfe8 29.Kg2 Re7 30.h4 Rexc7 31.Rxc7? He cannot afford that trade. 31...Qxc7 Trying to see if he would make another trade with me. 32.Qxc7? And he definately cannot afford that trade. With queens off, he has nothing left to fight with. 32...Rxc7 33.Kh3 h5 34.Kg2 Rc3 35.Kf1 Rxa3 36.Ke2 Kh7 37.Kd2 Kg6 38.Kc2 Kf5 39.Kd2 Ke4 40.g4 hxg4 41.h5 Rf3 42.h6 gxh6 43.Ke2 g3 44.fxg3 Rxg3 45.Kf2 Ra3 46.Kg2 Kf4 47.Kf2 Ra2+ 48.Ke1 Ke3 49.Kf1 Rb2 50.Kg1 Kf3 51.Kh1 Kg3 52.Kg1 Rb1# 0-1
Poshtuma,J (1632) - Jeyapra Natham,S (975) [D46]
2012 National Elementary Championship (2),
(Notes by Joshua)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 Nf6 is common first, possibly followed with Bg4 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bd6 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e4 Opening up the center, and activating my dark squared bishop. 8...e5?! Drops a pawn. 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.exd5 exd4 11.Nxd4 Ne5 12.Bc2 Bg4 13.f3 Bh5 14.Nf5 Bc5+ 15.Kh1 Re8 16.Bg5 Nc4 A nice move. Attacking b2 and the e3 square. I did not find the best defense. 17.Qc1?! Bg6 A great move. 18.Ne4 I had thought about black's threats whitch were hard to stop, and thought I would be losing material not matter what. There likely was a way to stop the threats, but I just didn't see it at the time, so I decided to try to make things complicated. [ 18.h3 Bxf5 19.Bxf5 Be3! 20.Bxe3 ( 20.Bxf6 Bxc1 21.Bxd8 Bxb2) 20...Nxe3;
18.b3!?] 18...Be7!? This is actually best. The position would be horrible for black after QxP if I played 19.Nxg7!, which I had missed during the game. [ 18...Qxd5 19.Nxg7] 19.Nxe7+ Happy to Trade 19...Qxe7 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.Bxg6 fxg6 22.Qxc4 fxg5 23.h3 Avoiding Back Rank Mate threats in case I wanted to challenge black's queen on the E file. 23...h5 24.Rfe1 Qd7 25.d6+ Kg7 26.Qc7 Forcing a queen trade. My past pawn is what holds me the win in this game. 26...Qxc7? Black wants to keep that past pawn as close to his king as possible, and as far back as possible. This move helps me, though he does have to be careful if he were to allow the trade in a different way. [ 26...Rad8?? 27.Qxd7+ Rxd7 28.Rxe8;
26...Red8?? 27.Re7+;
26...Qf7 27.d7] 27.dxc7 Rac8 28.Rxe8 Rxe8 29.Rc1 Rc8 This is a nice engame. My single passed pawn wins the game for me, but black can still fight on for a while. 30.Kg1 Kf6 Correct idea, but not followed up correctly. 31.Kf2 Ke7 [ 31...Ke5 Staying in the center for as long as possible is a better way to fight. 32.Rc5+ Kf6 ( 32...Kf4?? 33.g3#) ] 32.Ke3 Kd7 33.Ke4 Rxc7? Black cannot let me trade rooks now. 34.Rxc7+ Kxc7 35.Ke5 Kd7 36.Kf6 g4 37.fxg4 hxg4 38.hxg4 g5 39.Kxg5 Ke7 40.Kf5 Kf7 41.g5 Kg7 42.g6 Kg8 43.Kf6 Kf8 44.a4 a5 45.b3 b6 46.g3 [ 46.g4?! Would make some stalemating possibilities that I would have to avoid.] 46...Kg8 47.g7 Kh7 48.Kf7 Kh6 49.g8Q Kh5 50.Kf6 Kh6 51.Qg6# 1-0
Quan Nguyen ,A (1913) - Posthuma,J (1632) [D00]
2012 Elementary Nationals (3),
(Notes by Joshua)
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 This is a move I have not seen before. 2...d5 [ 2...e6] 3.Bxf6 gxf6 4.g3 Bf5 5.Bg2 c6 Making his fianchettoe'd bishop bite on granite. Also preventing 6.c4 6.e3 Nd7 7.Ne2 e6 8.Nd2 e5?! Now it seems pointless why I had to play e6 first. I changed my plans. 9.0-0 Nb6 Trying to minimize the impact of c4. 10.Rc1 Qd7 11.h4 Getting his pawn in front of the h3 square so that I don't get any attacks. 11...Bd6 12.c4 I was prepared for this move. 12...dxc4 13.Nxc4 Nxc4 14.Rxc4 Rd8 I had already made a plan about 5 moves ago to not castle to either side. 15.a3 Bc7 16.Qd2 Bh3 Threatening some simple tactics. 17.Rfc1 [ 17.Rd1 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Qd5+!] 17...Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Rg8 Thretening to meet some possible moves like 19.Qc3 with the nice fork 19. ...Qg4, because the h4 pawn is undefended. 19.Qc2 h7 is being attacked now. 19...Rg7 20.Qe4 f5 Possibly weakening. 21.Qf3 At this point I was looking to trap white's queen, but found no way. 21...Qd5!? 22.Qxd5 Rxd5 23.Rc5 Threatening Rxd5, winning a bishop. 23...f6 24.Rxd5 cxd5 25.Rc5 Rd7 26.Kf1 Kf7 27.Ke1 f4 To make progress. 28.gxf4 exf4 29.Nxf4 Bxf4 30.exf4 This R+P endgame is drawn with white's horrible pawn structure. Black likely should have played on. 30...Kg6 The h4 and/or f4 pawn will get captured. White asked for a draw, and I accepted, not liking my position after white intrudes with Rc8 ½-½
Pothuma,J (1632) - Carter,E (1749) [B07]
2012 National Elementary (4),
(Notes by Joshua)
This game was played badly by both sides, but I made the last mistake. 1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 [ 3.Bd3 This looks better if I want to transpose into familiar terrifitory.] 3...g6 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.h3 0-0 6.Nf3 c6 7.Be3 b5 8.Bb3 a5 Threatening a4, winning a piece. [ 8...b4! 9.Ne2 Nxe4] 9.a3 Bb7 Now b4 is again available. Time to do something about e4. 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5 Nd5 Drops a pawn. 12.Bxd5 cxd5 13.Nxb5 Nc6 14.Qd2 In the next couple of moves, I got very lazy, and payed for it greatly. 14...Qd7 15.Bh6 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Qxb5 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 [ 17...Qxb2 18.Nd7 Kxg7 19.0-0 Now black is faced with duel threats of Rfb1 and Nxf8] 18.Nd3 f6 19.0-0 This is more dangerous than I expected. 19...Rac8 20.Nf4 A bad Idea to attempt a simple fork like that. 20...Qc6 21.f3 e5 22.Nd3 Qxc2 23.Qxc2 Rxc2 24.Rac1 Rfc8 25.Rxc2 Rxc2 26.b4 axb4 27.Nxb4 Rc4 I'm losing now. 28.Rb1 d4 29.a4 e4 30.fxe4 Bxe4 31.Rb2 After this point, he pretty much plays every move correctly. I don't need any more comments. 31...d3 32.Na2 Rd4 33.Rd2 Rxa4 34.Nc3 Ra1+ 35.Kf2 f5 36.Ke3 Re1+ 37.Kf2 Rc1 38.Nxe4 fxe4 39.Ke3 Rc2 40.Rd1 Re2+ 41.Kd4 d2 42.Kc3 e3 43.Kd3 Re1 44.Kc2 Kf6 And black easily won. 0-1
Reddy,R (1251) - Posthuma,J (1632) [B13]
2012 Elementary Nationals (5),
(Notes by Joshua and Fritz)
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Caro-Can Old Exchnge Line. 5...Nf6 6.Bf4 e6 [ 6...Bg4] 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Re1 Re8 11.Nbd2 h6 Wanting to be able to move my f6 knight without any greek gift sacrifices. 12.Ne5 Nd7 13.Nxd7 Fritz - 13.f4!?+ Bxd7 14.Nf3 e5 Opening up the position and not letting white place his knight on e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Rxe5 17.Rxe5 Qxe5 18.Qd2 Sadly, there are not many pieces left on the board now to fight with. 18...Re8 I like black here, but I did not use my advantage of the open file, and soon realized how temporary my advantage actually was. 19.h3 Bc6 Lining up on the long diagonal to possibly attack g2 later. 20.Rd1 b5?! Preparing 21...d4, but white can easily stop this, and now I have a weak pawn, and a weak bishop. 21.Bf1 Kh8 22.Qd4 Qe7 I thought about 25 minutes on that move. 23.Rd3 Qb7 24.Re3 Rxe3 25.Qxe3 a5 26.Qc5 Kg8 White's queen becomes very annoying soon. 27.Kh2 Qb8+ Fritz - 27...Be8!? Using a checking tempo to bring my queen to a better spot. 28.g3 Qe8 29.Bg2 Qd7 30.Qb6 a4 31.Qb8+ Kh7 32.Qe5 Qe6 Hoping to trade off his annoying queen, and try to get something out of the B+P endgame. 33.f4 Good. Now, a queen trade would be bad for me. 33...Kg8 Fritz - 33...Qxe5 34.fxe5 Kg8= 34.Qb8+ Kh7 35.Qe5 Kg8 I was willing to allow 3 move repertition, but I should not have. I was lucky he declined. 36.b3 My bishop is just a big pawn, and white will now try to take advantage of that. 36...axb3 Fritz - 36...Qxe5 37.fxe5 a3 37.axb3 Qd7 38.Qb8+ Kh7 39.Qb6 Kg8 40.c4 bxc4 41.bxc4 Bb7 Saving myself... barely. 42.cxd5 Fritz - 42.Qa7+- and white could have gained the advantage. Bxd5 43.Qd4 At this point I got very frustrated, actually thinking he won my bishop. After I realized that I had a very simple defense, I asked him jokingly, "are you tired also?" to whitch he responded "yes." 43...Bc6 This obviously should be a draw, but I got lucky when white blundered horribly in a drawn position. 44.Bxc6?? Qxd4 White now resigned. This was a very unsatisfying win for me, because my opponent played as good as me if not better than me at some points, and deserved a draw for his great play. I got lucky, and did not feel good about it, but I will take it. 0-1
Posthuma,J (1632) - Ha,S (1833) [D60]
2012 National Elementary Championship (6), 13.04.2012
(Notes by Joshua)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 Queen's Gambit Declined Orthodox. 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 This is all standard play. 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 h6 8.Bh4 dxc4!? Breaking the tension in the center. [ 8...c5!?] 9.Bxc4 a6 10.a4 Preventing 10...b5 10...c5 This is correct, fighting for space. I don't want to take because the c5 square would be good for black's pieces. 11.0-0 Nh5!? I don't know is this is a good move. It puts the knight on the rim, and will lose tempo retreating. Forcing the trade though may be smart, as my bishop can cause trouble with possible pins. 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Rc1 Nhf6 14.Qe2 b6 Aiming to fianchetto the light squared bishop, but it weakens the a6 pawn witch could possibly be annoying if black wanted to move the a-file rook. 15.Rfd1 Bb7 16.Rd2 Something to do. I like my position and it is becoming hard for me to find ways to improve it. 16...Rfd8 17.Rcd1 a5 This move claims the b4 square, but leaves a big hole on b5, and the light squares are weak. This does get rid of threats against a6, though. 18.d5 Opening up the position, trying to make progress. 18...exd5 19.Nxd5 Nxd5 20.Bxd5 Bxd5 21.Rxd5 Nf6 22.R5d3 Trying not to give black the d-file. 22...Ne4 23.h3 Waiting and avoiding back rank possibilities. 23...Rd6 24.Qc2 Rad8 I now trade on the d-file, because black has challenged it enough. 25.Rxd6 Rxd6 26.Rxd6 Nxd6 Forced. 27.Qb3 I have a slight advantage here, but the game is very drawish. 27...Nc8 28.Qd5 Keeping the d-file from black. This did not work though. 28...Qd6 Signalling a trade into a N+P endgame. Avoiding the trade would give my opponent the initiative. 29.Qxd6 Nxd6 30.Nd2 Here my opponent asked for a draw, and I acepted. (slightly out of fear) My opponent said that I was better, and should have tried to attack th queenside, but thought it was an easy draw for black after c4, f5, and Kf7-e6-d5, because my king is to slow due to my knight getting in the way. ½-½
Posthuma,J (1632) - Vilotijevic,L (1946) [E90]
2012 National Elementary Nationals (7),
(Notes by Joshua and Fritz)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 White plays the Makaganov against black's King's Indian Defense. 6...Nc6 7.Be3 e5 8.d5 Closing up the center. 8...Ne7 9.Qd2 a5 Keeping b4 from white. 10.Bd3 Nd7 I thought this was to prepare f5. 11.Bh6 Getting rid of the fianchettoe'd bishop. 11...Nc5 12.Bc2 [ 12.0-0-0? Nxd3+ 13.Qxd3 Bxh6+] 12...b6 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.0-0-0?! Fritz - 14.0-0 f6 Castling on oposite sides, supposedly risky ans sharp, and I think my opponent can get a nice attack after this move. I'm pretty sure castling kingside would not be great either due to f5 and possibly f4, starting an attack on my kingside. 14...Ba6 Developing with threats. Also possibly supporting a b5 break. 15.Qe2 Qd7 Supporting b5. 16.g4 Trying to stop f5, which is not among black's priorities. Also possibly starting a kingside attack, which is probably to slow at this point. 16...Rfb8 Fritz - 16...a4 17.Kb1= Now b5 is a real threat opening up lines towards my king. 17.a4!? This looks bad, but actually defends against black's threats pretty well. 17...c6!? 18.dxc6 Opening the d-file and creating a backwards d-pawn on the semi open file. d6 is now weak for black, and white manages to find a good plan to take advantage of that. 18...Qxc6 19.Nb5 Threatening d6. 19...Rd8!? [ 19...Bxb5 20.axb5 And now black might create play by pushing the a-pawn and attacking white's backwards pawn on c4.( 20.cxb5 Would be bad due to the open C file, which my king is on. ) ] 20.Rxd6! This move destructs the defense of the e5 pawn, winning 2 pawns in the variations I looked at. 20...Rxd6 21.Nxe5! Now the queen cannot move to a spot that defends the rook due to white's nicely placed knights. 21...Bxb5! This interesting move that I failed to see trades into even material, but with a major inballance. 22.Nxc6 Bxc6 Saving the rook. I fell comfortable here, but knew that I had to trade black's rook pair to take away black's advantage. 23.b3 First, I must defend the unprotected pawns. 23...Rd4 24.f3 Fritz - 24.Rd1 Ne6= Rad8 25.Rd1 This move meets my goal of trading off black's rook pair. 25...Rxd1+ 26.Bxd1 Nd3+ 27.Kb1 Avoiding knight checks. 27...Be8 Defending blacks position from a distance. 28.Bc2 Nc5 Now black offered a draw and I accepted after thinking for 15 minutes. I was trying to see if there was a way for me to break through with my queen, but we both saw that after black moves Nc6 and possibly Rb8, there is not much for me to do. My 2 pawn advantage cannot be used because Nc6 and Rd4/d2 would attack my kingside pawns and I thought that black's many pieces would easily overpower my pawns. My horrible bishop did not help me either. ½-½
Alright, so those are my games from Nashville. Again, I apoligize for posting late, and I also apologize that you will have to wait until my next article (June Aquinas) to see all of the amazing pictures from this great event. Please feel free to post comments about my games, my blog, or anything you would like. I appreciate feedback. Bye!
Monday, April 30, 2012
National Chess
This is a new change in plans for my upcoming tournament schedule that I am very excited about.
For a while, me and my parents have been hoping to go to the 2012 Elementary Nationals in Nashville, TN.
We had to drop that dream because of financial difficulties. I was slightly upset, knowing that being in 6th grade, this would be the last year I could compete. But recently, I got an amazing present from my grandma Posthuma. Being aware of me wanting to go to the tournament, but knowing about our financial difficulties, she gave me and our family a great blessing: She donated money. She gave us a check to help pay for the expense of the tournament. It covered over half of our total costs, and made the trip possible. Sadly, we had to cancel our trip to the Great Lakes Open, but I am more excited about this tournament than Great Lakes.
I will be leaving at noon on Thursday, May 10, after our half day of school, to drive out 9 hours to a hotel close to the tournament site that is cheaper than at the actual tournament. We sleep there for the night so that we do not have to drive through the night, and head off to the tournament the next morning. Over the weekend, I will play 7 rounds in the tournament. Then we head back to the inexpensive hotel for the night, heading back the next morning.
I am definitely excited about this opportunity, and will no doubt have a post or two with all of my games when I am done.
For this tournament, since it will be the biggest thing I have done yet in my life, I need to play my top game, and apply all that I have learned, properly, and continuously. I must get a good amount of rest each day and before rounds, and will likely be exausted going into the following week, but it will be worth it.
Lastly, I recently learned that mt friend Izaac Zylstra has started a blog also! You can find it here, or on the westmichiganchess.com page.
For a while, me and my parents have been hoping to go to the 2012 Elementary Nationals in Nashville, TN.
We had to drop that dream because of financial difficulties. I was slightly upset, knowing that being in 6th grade, this would be the last year I could compete. But recently, I got an amazing present from my grandma Posthuma. Being aware of me wanting to go to the tournament, but knowing about our financial difficulties, she gave me and our family a great blessing: She donated money. She gave us a check to help pay for the expense of the tournament. It covered over half of our total costs, and made the trip possible. Sadly, we had to cancel our trip to the Great Lakes Open, but I am more excited about this tournament than Great Lakes.
I will be leaving at noon on Thursday, May 10, after our half day of school, to drive out 9 hours to a hotel close to the tournament site that is cheaper than at the actual tournament. We sleep there for the night so that we do not have to drive through the night, and head off to the tournament the next morning. Over the weekend, I will play 7 rounds in the tournament. Then we head back to the inexpensive hotel for the night, heading back the next morning.
I am definitely excited about this opportunity, and will no doubt have a post or two with all of my games when I am done.
For this tournament, since it will be the biggest thing I have done yet in my life, I need to play my top game, and apply all that I have learned, properly, and continuously. I must get a good amount of rest each day and before rounds, and will likely be exausted going into the following week, but it will be worth it.
Lastly, I recently learned that mt friend Izaac Zylstra has started a blog also! You can find it here, or on the westmichiganchess.com page.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
2012 Vandenburg Cup
The tournament on Sunday, April 15, was a tournament I was looking forward to for a while. The tournament was called the Vandemburg Cup, in memory of Mr. Vandenburg. I obviously am to young to remember or know Mr. Vandenburg, but the fact that they host a tournament in memory of him is awesome, and I thought I should play.
Before that day, on Saturday, Andy Catlin had invited me to come to play chess with him, Tony Nichols, and Ratko Bojanovic as a warm up for the tournament to get me prepared. It was a great experience and I was honored to go to play. I went into it not having high hopes for scoring anything, rather hoping that I would just play good chess games, learn, and have fun. And that I did. Andy set it up as a double match, so I play 2 of the 3 possible opponents 2 times each.
In the first round, I was playing Tony Nichols as white. It was a good game, where he got a slight advantage going into the middlegame, but then made an interesting move that I thought just dropped a pawn to a remove the defender tactic. Unfortunately, instead, he let me take the exchange for a pawn, but he gets alot of compensation for it... a little to much compensation. He ended up winning with a huge attack.
In the second round, I played him again as black. The game was even for the most part, until he made a knight sacrifice for 2 pawns. Unfortunately, afterwards, he tried to grab a third pawn, and lost his queen to a tactic. The game was a quick win from there.
My last 2 games against Andy Catlin were losses, as expected, but it was fun to help him make dinner when our game finished early. Overall that experience was great, and I learned alot.
On to Sunday:
My mom drove me out early in the Morning to stop by Bill Ignasiak's house to pick him up. After that, we continued onwards to Lansing, reaching our destination at 8:30, when registration starts. After waiting around for about 30 minutes, I suddenly saw several kids flood the room. 25 kids or so who looked like they were from Detroit, (and were) went into the room, all from one school in Detroit. This was their "warm up tournament" for going to Nationals in May. This largened the U1800 section that I was in by alot.
We finally started the first round, after being late by 45 minutes. I realized I was the second highest rated player in my section.
In the first round, I was playing one of the Detroit kids named Donald Dameron. Although being one of the clubs better players, I was able to grab a pawn from him using a nice tactic, and later win another pawn, and a bishop. The endgame was easy from there.
In the second round, I was playing Douglas Reist as Black. The game was even for the most part, but I later won a pawn, and was able to trade a pair of rooks. He tried to create counterplay with a pawnstorm on my king. It was frightening, but didn't work because I gave him a backwards pawn and he could not make progress without trading queens, which would also end his attack, which he did. I traded queens leaving me a pawn up and a rook and bishop vs. rook and knight. I was able to trade rooks bringing me into an endgame that was probably drawn, but a pawn up, and positioning my bishop, king and pawns correctly, I was able to create a passed pawn, and sacrifice it. I would get a piece exchange and a king positioning in front of his pawns, winning. I made this idea unavoidable unless he let me promote, which was worse. I won with little time left.
In the third round, I was playing Bill Ignasiak as White. He played a standard king's indian against me, closing up the center completely, and then trying for an attack on the kingside. The closed game went nowhere and his attack failed to work, so we agreed on a draw in an unprogressable game.
In the last round, I was playing Scott Faust as black. He played an English which transposed later into a queen's indian after I responded 1. ...Nf6. The game was even for the most part, very closed yet possibly sharp. Scott later looked like he was beinning an attack, but never broke through. Later he made a move that looked good, but actually just simply lost a pawn. After my knight blocked off any sacrifice he might have, I got away with queen winning knight fork after he touched his knight and then saw the fork. Being down a queen for a knight, his game fell apart, and he lost.
Overall, I got 3.5/4.0. Aaron Venia won the tournament with a perfect 4/4, and I lost on tiebreaks to another competetor with 3.5/4.0. Although I missed getting a cup because of bad tiebreaks, I did get $32, barely covering the entry fee, but had a great time and played some good games. I will have my games put up in a couple of days with notes. For now, bye!
Before that day, on Saturday, Andy Catlin had invited me to come to play chess with him, Tony Nichols, and Ratko Bojanovic as a warm up for the tournament to get me prepared. It was a great experience and I was honored to go to play. I went into it not having high hopes for scoring anything, rather hoping that I would just play good chess games, learn, and have fun. And that I did. Andy set it up as a double match, so I play 2 of the 3 possible opponents 2 times each.
In the first round, I was playing Tony Nichols as white. It was a good game, where he got a slight advantage going into the middlegame, but then made an interesting move that I thought just dropped a pawn to a remove the defender tactic. Unfortunately, instead, he let me take the exchange for a pawn, but he gets alot of compensation for it... a little to much compensation. He ended up winning with a huge attack.
In the second round, I played him again as black. The game was even for the most part, until he made a knight sacrifice for 2 pawns. Unfortunately, afterwards, he tried to grab a third pawn, and lost his queen to a tactic. The game was a quick win from there.
My last 2 games against Andy Catlin were losses, as expected, but it was fun to help him make dinner when our game finished early. Overall that experience was great, and I learned alot.
On to Sunday:
My mom drove me out early in the Morning to stop by Bill Ignasiak's house to pick him up. After that, we continued onwards to Lansing, reaching our destination at 8:30, when registration starts. After waiting around for about 30 minutes, I suddenly saw several kids flood the room. 25 kids or so who looked like they were from Detroit, (and were) went into the room, all from one school in Detroit. This was their "warm up tournament" for going to Nationals in May. This largened the U1800 section that I was in by alot.
We finally started the first round, after being late by 45 minutes. I realized I was the second highest rated player in my section.
In the first round, I was playing one of the Detroit kids named Donald Dameron. Although being one of the clubs better players, I was able to grab a pawn from him using a nice tactic, and later win another pawn, and a bishop. The endgame was easy from there.
In the second round, I was playing Douglas Reist as Black. The game was even for the most part, but I later won a pawn, and was able to trade a pair of rooks. He tried to create counterplay with a pawnstorm on my king. It was frightening, but didn't work because I gave him a backwards pawn and he could not make progress without trading queens, which would also end his attack, which he did. I traded queens leaving me a pawn up and a rook and bishop vs. rook and knight. I was able to trade rooks bringing me into an endgame that was probably drawn, but a pawn up, and positioning my bishop, king and pawns correctly, I was able to create a passed pawn, and sacrifice it. I would get a piece exchange and a king positioning in front of his pawns, winning. I made this idea unavoidable unless he let me promote, which was worse. I won with little time left.
In the third round, I was playing Bill Ignasiak as White. He played a standard king's indian against me, closing up the center completely, and then trying for an attack on the kingside. The closed game went nowhere and his attack failed to work, so we agreed on a draw in an unprogressable game.
In the last round, I was playing Scott Faust as black. He played an English which transposed later into a queen's indian after I responded 1. ...Nf6. The game was even for the most part, very closed yet possibly sharp. Scott later looked like he was beinning an attack, but never broke through. Later he made a move that looked good, but actually just simply lost a pawn. After my knight blocked off any sacrifice he might have, I got away with queen winning knight fork after he touched his knight and then saw the fork. Being down a queen for a knight, his game fell apart, and he lost.
Overall, I got 3.5/4.0. Aaron Venia won the tournament with a perfect 4/4, and I lost on tiebreaks to another competetor with 3.5/4.0. Although I missed getting a cup because of bad tiebreaks, I did get $32, barely covering the entry fee, but had a great time and played some good games. I will have my games put up in a couple of days with notes. For now, bye!
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