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!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
April Calvin
At the April Calvin this month, 9 others came out to battle. I did not know this before, but Antowine changed the format back to 4 rounds and G45. It is also only $10 to enter now. (Not to mention the free pizza.) My mother drove Adam Dehollander and I tothe tournament, hoping enough people would show up to be able to play.
The turnout was actually not bad, but Antowine did combine the sections.
In the first round, I got paired against Adam. I was black, and played a Queen's Indian. White made a few mistakes, and missed a couple of pins, and I ended up winning.
In the second round, I was playing Dennis Bailey. We had played before at the 2011 Michigan Open, and he was black in that game as well as this one. In our game before, he played the Slav, and waited to castle until I castled. After I castled kingside, he decided to try for an attack, and castle queenside and then storm my position. Even though I won a piece for a pawn, his attack was to strong and he ended up winning. I learned from that game, and didn't let the same thing happen twice. In our game now, he played the Slav, but I waited and developed on the queenside and made him castle to either side to know what to do next. Castling is usually safe, but is also very committal, and something you can not easily undo. Our game went on to be a draw in a same color B+P endgame.
In the third round, I was playing Bill Ignasiak as black. I tried to surprise him in the Sicilian by playing 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6. This surprised him, but since I did not study up on the theory behind the move, I got a slightly worse position and an Isolated pawn. That isolated pawn later got pinned and captured. He was now up a pawn, and in a better position. Later, I got in time pressure in an already bad position and ended up losing.
In the last round, I was playing Duane Croel, the top player, and lost after taking back a piece with the wrong pawn and exposing my king and queen on a newly created open file.
Overall, only 1.5/4.0, but I will have many chances in the near future to make up for that. ; )
One last thing before I finish. Today, I looked around on the USCF site, uschess.org, and discovered this.
All the way at the bottom (98) but I am still very excited about making the list.
I hope everybody had a great Easter and/or Spring Break! I met with family members on Sunday to eat food, talk, and play sports.
That is it for now, but I'll be writing again in the next week. Adios!
The turnout was actually not bad, but Antowine did combine the sections.
In the first round, I got paired against Adam. I was black, and played a Queen's Indian. White made a few mistakes, and missed a couple of pins, and I ended up winning.
In the second round, I was playing Dennis Bailey. We had played before at the 2011 Michigan Open, and he was black in that game as well as this one. In our game before, he played the Slav, and waited to castle until I castled. After I castled kingside, he decided to try for an attack, and castle queenside and then storm my position. Even though I won a piece for a pawn, his attack was to strong and he ended up winning. I learned from that game, and didn't let the same thing happen twice. In our game now, he played the Slav, but I waited and developed on the queenside and made him castle to either side to know what to do next. Castling is usually safe, but is also very committal, and something you can not easily undo. Our game went on to be a draw in a same color B+P endgame.
In the third round, I was playing Bill Ignasiak as black. I tried to surprise him in the Sicilian by playing 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6. This surprised him, but since I did not study up on the theory behind the move, I got a slightly worse position and an Isolated pawn. That isolated pawn later got pinned and captured. He was now up a pawn, and in a better position. Later, I got in time pressure in an already bad position and ended up losing.
In the last round, I was playing Duane Croel, the top player, and lost after taking back a piece with the wrong pawn and exposing my king and queen on a newly created open file.
Overall, only 1.5/4.0, but I will have many chances in the near future to make up for that. ; )
One last thing before I finish. Today, I looked around on the USCF site, uschess.org, and discovered this.
All the way at the bottom (98) but I am still very excited about making the list.
I hope everybody had a great Easter and/or Spring Break! I met with family members on Sunday to eat food, talk, and play sports.
That is it for now, but I'll be writing again in the next week. Adios!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Junior Championships!!! Part 2
6 days after the Michigan Junior championships, I played in our club's annual tournament Called the Holland Junior Open. My parents ran this tournament for the second year in a row. The night before the tournament, I was up until 11:00 helping my parents enter final pre-registrants, look up ratings, etc. My mom accidentally didn't save work she had been doing for the tournament for 2 full days, and it took her a long time to get it back, and was very stressed. After that long night was over, I went to bed. It feels like I barely even crawled into bed, and my alarm clock blared the net morning at 5:45. I was still exhausted, but there was so much work for me and my parents to do yet at home, and setting up at the tournament site. I think my sleep deprivation was the main reason for my poor play at the tournament.
Before I talk about the tournament itself, I think there is a simple way to improve my chess play. Sleep! Everybody needs sleep, especially 11 year old kids right before the day of a big chess tournament. I think with more sleep, I won't want to fall asleep at the board, and I will be able to concentrate and think through variations. So my goal for myself for the next couple of months will to be to get at least 9.5 hours of sleep the night before any tournaments.
Now on to the tournament. In the first round, I was playing my friend from the Holland chess club, Adam. Adam originally signed up for the unrated section, but my parents asked him to play up because otherwise we wouldn't have an even amount of players. I won the game, but overall Adam played well.
In the second round, I was playing another friend of mine from the Holland chess club, Andrew. Andrew is a quickly rising chess competitor, and definitely showed it in our game. I played a line in the french that I had played against him before at our chess club, and liked for me, but played it very poorly. Andrew took the initiative at the perfect time, forcing my pieces into the corner. With not enough space to maneuver, Andrew crushed me in a very amazing way, and ended up mating my king.
In the third round, I was playing Chirag Rudrangi from grand rapids. Our moms are friends, and so I knew it would be a very interesting game. Chirag kept the game even for almost the entire game, and got me in time pressure for the third time today. Thankfully, I was able to force his rook away from the defense of one of his pawns, winning it, and later won his rook in a fork.
In the fourth round, I was facing Joshua Vander Meulen. This junior from spring lake has been climbing rather quickly in recent tournaments, breaking 1,000 with this tournament. In our game, it was relatively equal for the beginning, but Joshua got me in time pressure fairly early on. I snatched a couple of pawns, and ended up checkmating him with only 3 seconds to spare.
In the last round, I was playing Isaac Zylstra. He was the highest rated player in the event, and won the tournament last year. In our game, I was black, and he played the english. I played 1. ...e5, and after 2.Nc3, 2. ...c5, with a solid, stonewall like structure. The game was equal almost the entire way through, but he ended up getting a slight edge in in a rook and pawn endgame. After I made a calculating mistake with pawn trades, I was left 1 pawn down, and in a worse position. Later, I made another mistake, allowing him to grab another one of my pawns. Now, being 2 pawns up, I could still hang on... maybe... but with only 3 seconds left, I couldn't, and lost on time while thinking in a deep position.
So, overall, I got 3/5. This was a poor performance for me, and I lost 31 rating points. (1609) It was a good learning experiance, though. I learned 2 important things.
1) Sleep before big chess tournaments is very important.
2) Taking your time in a G30 time control is not wise.
Even though the tournament did not go great for me, it helped me to see some important things to change in the future.
My next report will probably be on the April Calvin, if I go, or else the Vandenberg Cup. Look forward to an article on one of those tournaments soon, too.
Before I talk about the tournament itself, I think there is a simple way to improve my chess play. Sleep! Everybody needs sleep, especially 11 year old kids right before the day of a big chess tournament. I think with more sleep, I won't want to fall asleep at the board, and I will be able to concentrate and think through variations. So my goal for myself for the next couple of months will to be to get at least 9.5 hours of sleep the night before any tournaments.
Now on to the tournament. In the first round, I was playing my friend from the Holland chess club, Adam. Adam originally signed up for the unrated section, but my parents asked him to play up because otherwise we wouldn't have an even amount of players. I won the game, but overall Adam played well.
In the second round, I was playing another friend of mine from the Holland chess club, Andrew. Andrew is a quickly rising chess competitor, and definitely showed it in our game. I played a line in the french that I had played against him before at our chess club, and liked for me, but played it very poorly. Andrew took the initiative at the perfect time, forcing my pieces into the corner. With not enough space to maneuver, Andrew crushed me in a very amazing way, and ended up mating my king.
In the third round, I was playing Chirag Rudrangi from grand rapids. Our moms are friends, and so I knew it would be a very interesting game. Chirag kept the game even for almost the entire game, and got me in time pressure for the third time today. Thankfully, I was able to force his rook away from the defense of one of his pawns, winning it, and later won his rook in a fork.
In the fourth round, I was facing Joshua Vander Meulen. This junior from spring lake has been climbing rather quickly in recent tournaments, breaking 1,000 with this tournament. In our game, it was relatively equal for the beginning, but Joshua got me in time pressure fairly early on. I snatched a couple of pawns, and ended up checkmating him with only 3 seconds to spare.
In the last round, I was playing Isaac Zylstra. He was the highest rated player in the event, and won the tournament last year. In our game, I was black, and he played the english. I played 1. ...e5, and after 2.Nc3, 2. ...c5, with a solid, stonewall like structure. The game was equal almost the entire way through, but he ended up getting a slight edge in in a rook and pawn endgame. After I made a calculating mistake with pawn trades, I was left 1 pawn down, and in a worse position. Later, I made another mistake, allowing him to grab another one of my pawns. Now, being 2 pawns up, I could still hang on... maybe... but with only 3 seconds left, I couldn't, and lost on time while thinking in a deep position.
So, overall, I got 3/5. This was a poor performance for me, and I lost 31 rating points. (1609) It was a good learning experiance, though. I learned 2 important things.
1) Sleep before big chess tournaments is very important.
2) Taking your time in a G30 time control is not wise.
Even though the tournament did not go great for me, it helped me to see some important things to change in the future.
My next report will probably be on the April Calvin, if I go, or else the Vandenberg Cup. Look forward to an article on one of those tournaments soon, too.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Junior Championships!!!
On March 18, I played in the K-8 Championship section of the Michigan Juior Championships is MSU. It was a fun tournament to play in, and the competition was very tough.
On March 17, me and my dad traveled out to MSU after our end of the year party was done for our chess club. We went a day early for me and my dad (mostly my dad) to pass out flyers for our chess tournament, the 2012 Holland Junior Open, that would occur on March 24. While my dad passed out flyers, I watched the games go on for the elementary championships. I was mostly focusing on the top rated player in the elementery group, Ben Li. He was on the top board in 3 or more rounds, and was rated 1690 at the tournament! He ended up later to win the elementary section.
Walking around outside was very chaotic, considering that it was Saint Patrick's day... next to Michigan State University. There were many college kids outside going a little crazy... so we went back in fairly quickly.
Later in the afernoon, around 4:00 P.M., we headed to my cousin/uncle/aunt's house for the night, who live in Lansing. I needed to prepare for a big day.
The next morning, we headed off to the tournament aria, which was not to far away. Before I knew it, I was playing the first round. I won the first 2 rounds against kids rated about 1000. In the third round... well... remember who I said won the elementary section the day before? Ben Li? He was my opponent. In the game I got a fairly equal opening in the queen's gambit as white. That advantage faded fairly quickly when he his pieces actively attacked my first rank. He soon got 2 pieces for my rook. I hung on for a while, but he later trapped my rook, and won the exchange, making him a piece up. After that it didn't take much for him to win.
In the fourth round, I was facing a kid named Andrew Alson. Once, a long time ago, when we were 6, we played a game at an Okemos unrated tournament. I had a slight advantage. On misake, he dropped his bishop on the floor, but put it back on the wrong square. My dad caught this, but I didn't. It should have been easy to spot, because he had 2 bishops, and now they were both on the same color. Unfortunately, I didn't see it, and it gave him a WAY better position, which looked weird to me, but since I didn't say anything, he won.
We had played a couple of games since, which I did not win any. This is the first time we would face off in a rated game, and I felt it was a good rivalry game. The game was very boring for almost the entire thing. At one point on about move 20, he made a mistake and let me fork his queen and rook, and I won the exchange. Until move 30, not a single pawn was traded. He offered 2 draws, which I declined because, up the exchange, if I could make a breakthrough with my pawns, I could use my advantage. Figuring out a plan took a long time though... a little to much time because I take a long time to figure out plans. I got my breakthrough, but only had about 5 minutes after that to finish the game. As usually, I got down to a couple of seconds before winning with a nice tactic and mate.
Going into the last round, I had 3/4. I was hoping to win the last round, but knew I would face a tough opponent, and it would be tough to win. When the pairing were up, and I saw my opponent, a had to double check- I mean triple check- to make sure I saw it right. I was playing Michael Chen. Yes, I was sure now. The game started, and I was white. We played a Nimzovich where black plays 4. ...Ba6. The position was fairly equal, though he had a slight edge. I will show the game notation below. I made a few silly mistakes because I was nervous, but in the end got a draw by agreement/3 move rep.
Overall, the tournament went very well for me, and I finished with 3.5/5.0 My rating went up 7 points. (1640) Here are two of my games:
Andrew Alson - Joshua Posthuma
1320 1633
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 b6 7.Nf3 Bb7 8.g3 d6 9.Bg2 Nbd7 10.0-0 h6 11.Bf4 Nh5 12.e3 Nxf4 13.exf4 Nf6 14.Rfe1 Re8 15.Rad1 Qc8 16.Rd2? White's first mistake, losing the exchange. 16. ...Ne4! 17.Rxe4 Bxe4 18.Qe3 Bb7 19.Qd3 Qd8 20.Qc2 Qf6 21.Qc3 c5 22.Rd3 Rad8 23.Qd2 Qe7 24.b3 a6 25.a4 Here he asked me for a draw, but I declined beccause I was still up and exchange. I think white was trying to show me that the position is to closed for progress, so I had to find a way to break through. 25. ...a5 26.Re3 Qf6 27.Rd3 Qe7 28.Re3 Qc7 29.h3 Bxf3 30.Bxf3 Up to this point, it is move 30, and there has not been a single pawn trade... 30. ...cxd4 31.Qxd4 Qc5 32.Qd2 Rd7 33.Kg2 Rde7 34.Rd3 Rd8 35.h4 Qc7 36.Qe2 e5 37.fxe5 Rxe5 38.Qb2 Qe7 I got in time pressure quickly in this game, because I took a long time to formulate a plan for breaking through. With my new open file, and later creating an open H file, I was able to take advantage of my material advantage.
0-1
Joshua Posthuma - Michael Chen
1633 2053
1.d4 In this entire game I was shaking with nervousness. Michael Chen is one of the best junior players in Michigan, and is very strong. In fact, he was the strongest player I played in a tournament when I played this game. Despite my couple of mistakes, I was able to get a draw. 1. ...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Be7 6.Bg2 c6 7.0-0 0-0 8.b3 d5 9.Nbd2 Nbd7 10.Bb2 Rc8 11.e3 c5 12.Rac1 b5 13.Qd3 cxd4 14.exd4 bxc4 15.bxc4 dxc4 16.Qe2 (16.Qc3? Nd5 17.Qc2 c3!) 16. ...Qb6 17.Bc3 Nd5 18.Nb1 Bb4 19.Rfd1 Nxc3 20.Nxc3 Nf6 21.Ne5 Rfd8 22.Qe3 Bb7 23.Bxb7 Qxb7 24.Rb1 Qe7 25.Qf3 Nd5 26.Nxd5 exd5 27.Rxb4?! As I noted at the beginning, the nervousness got to me and a made a mistake. I was expecting a philidor's legacy checkmate on f7, before noticing that black could simply take my queen with hs king, and win easily. The move wasn't bad, but my plan behind it was and it wrecked my confidence. 27. ...Qxb4 28.Qxf7+ Kh8 29.Qxa7 (29.Qg8+?? Rxg8?? 30.Nf7#) (29.Qg8+?? Kxg8! Kind of hard to miss...) 29. ...Rf8 30.Qd7 c3 31.Ng6+ (31.Nf7+ Kg8 32.Qe6 g6 (32. ...c2?? White to move and mate in 3: 33.Nh6+ Kh8 34.Qg8+! Rxg8 35.Nf7+) 33.Nd6+) 31. ...hxg6 (33.Nxc8) 32.Qh3+ Kg8 33.Qe6+ And perpetual check will occur if black doesn't sacrifice. (33. ...Rf7 34.Qxc8+ Rf8 35.Qe6+ Rf7 36.Qc8+ Qf8 Rxf8 38.Rc1 and this is an easy draw for white.
.5/.5
Overall that tournament went weel. Look forward to a review of the 2012 Holland Junior Open tomorrow.
On March 17, me and my dad traveled out to MSU after our end of the year party was done for our chess club. We went a day early for me and my dad (mostly my dad) to pass out flyers for our chess tournament, the 2012 Holland Junior Open, that would occur on March 24. While my dad passed out flyers, I watched the games go on for the elementary championships. I was mostly focusing on the top rated player in the elementery group, Ben Li. He was on the top board in 3 or more rounds, and was rated 1690 at the tournament! He ended up later to win the elementary section.
Walking around outside was very chaotic, considering that it was Saint Patrick's day... next to Michigan State University. There were many college kids outside going a little crazy... so we went back in fairly quickly.
Later in the afernoon, around 4:00 P.M., we headed to my cousin/uncle/aunt's house for the night, who live in Lansing. I needed to prepare for a big day.
The next morning, we headed off to the tournament aria, which was not to far away. Before I knew it, I was playing the first round. I won the first 2 rounds against kids rated about 1000. In the third round... well... remember who I said won the elementary section the day before? Ben Li? He was my opponent. In the game I got a fairly equal opening in the queen's gambit as white. That advantage faded fairly quickly when he his pieces actively attacked my first rank. He soon got 2 pieces for my rook. I hung on for a while, but he later trapped my rook, and won the exchange, making him a piece up. After that it didn't take much for him to win.
In the fourth round, I was facing a kid named Andrew Alson. Once, a long time ago, when we were 6, we played a game at an Okemos unrated tournament. I had a slight advantage. On misake, he dropped his bishop on the floor, but put it back on the wrong square. My dad caught this, but I didn't. It should have been easy to spot, because he had 2 bishops, and now they were both on the same color. Unfortunately, I didn't see it, and it gave him a WAY better position, which looked weird to me, but since I didn't say anything, he won.
We had played a couple of games since, which I did not win any. This is the first time we would face off in a rated game, and I felt it was a good rivalry game. The game was very boring for almost the entire thing. At one point on about move 20, he made a mistake and let me fork his queen and rook, and I won the exchange. Until move 30, not a single pawn was traded. He offered 2 draws, which I declined because, up the exchange, if I could make a breakthrough with my pawns, I could use my advantage. Figuring out a plan took a long time though... a little to much time because I take a long time to figure out plans. I got my breakthrough, but only had about 5 minutes after that to finish the game. As usually, I got down to a couple of seconds before winning with a nice tactic and mate.
Going into the last round, I had 3/4. I was hoping to win the last round, but knew I would face a tough opponent, and it would be tough to win. When the pairing were up, and I saw my opponent, a had to double check- I mean triple check- to make sure I saw it right. I was playing Michael Chen. Yes, I was sure now. The game started, and I was white. We played a Nimzovich where black plays 4. ...Ba6. The position was fairly equal, though he had a slight edge. I will show the game notation below. I made a few silly mistakes because I was nervous, but in the end got a draw by agreement/3 move rep.
Overall, the tournament went very well for me, and I finished with 3.5/5.0 My rating went up 7 points. (1640) Here are two of my games:
Andrew Alson - Joshua Posthuma
1320 1633
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 b6 7.Nf3 Bb7 8.g3 d6 9.Bg2 Nbd7 10.0-0 h6 11.Bf4 Nh5 12.e3 Nxf4 13.exf4 Nf6 14.Rfe1 Re8 15.Rad1 Qc8 16.Rd2? White's first mistake, losing the exchange. 16. ...Ne4! 17.Rxe4 Bxe4 18.Qe3 Bb7 19.Qd3 Qd8 20.Qc2 Qf6 21.Qc3 c5 22.Rd3 Rad8 23.Qd2 Qe7 24.b3 a6 25.a4 Here he asked me for a draw, but I declined beccause I was still up and exchange. I think white was trying to show me that the position is to closed for progress, so I had to find a way to break through. 25. ...a5 26.Re3 Qf6 27.Rd3 Qe7 28.Re3 Qc7 29.h3 Bxf3 30.Bxf3 Up to this point, it is move 30, and there has not been a single pawn trade... 30. ...cxd4 31.Qxd4 Qc5 32.Qd2 Rd7 33.Kg2 Rde7 34.Rd3 Rd8 35.h4 Qc7 36.Qe2 e5 37.fxe5 Rxe5 38.Qb2 Qe7 I got in time pressure quickly in this game, because I took a long time to formulate a plan for breaking through. With my new open file, and later creating an open H file, I was able to take advantage of my material advantage.
0-1
Joshua Posthuma - Michael Chen
1633 2053
1.d4 In this entire game I was shaking with nervousness. Michael Chen is one of the best junior players in Michigan, and is very strong. In fact, he was the strongest player I played in a tournament when I played this game. Despite my couple of mistakes, I was able to get a draw. 1. ...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Be7 6.Bg2 c6 7.0-0 0-0 8.b3 d5 9.Nbd2 Nbd7 10.Bb2 Rc8 11.e3 c5 12.Rac1 b5 13.Qd3 cxd4 14.exd4 bxc4 15.bxc4 dxc4 16.Qe2 (16.Qc3? Nd5 17.Qc2 c3!) 16. ...Qb6 17.Bc3 Nd5 18.Nb1 Bb4 19.Rfd1 Nxc3 20.Nxc3 Nf6 21.Ne5 Rfd8 22.Qe3 Bb7 23.Bxb7 Qxb7 24.Rb1 Qe7 25.Qf3 Nd5 26.Nxd5 exd5 27.Rxb4?! As I noted at the beginning, the nervousness got to me and a made a mistake. I was expecting a philidor's legacy checkmate on f7, before noticing that black could simply take my queen with hs king, and win easily. The move wasn't bad, but my plan behind it was and it wrecked my confidence. 27. ...Qxb4 28.Qxf7+ Kh8 29.Qxa7 (29.Qg8+?? Rxg8?? 30.Nf7#) (29.Qg8+?? Kxg8! Kind of hard to miss...) 29. ...Rf8 30.Qd7 c3 31.Ng6+ (31.Nf7+ Kg8 32.Qe6 g6 (32. ...c2?? White to move and mate in 3: 33.Nh6+ Kh8 34.Qg8+! Rxg8 35.Nf7+) 33.Nd6+) 31. ...hxg6 (33.Nxc8) 32.Qh3+ Kg8 33.Qe6+ And perpetual check will occur if black doesn't sacrifice. (33. ...Rf7 34.Qxc8+ Rf8 35.Qe6+ Rf7 36.Qc8+ Qf8 Rxf8 38.Rc1 and this is an easy draw for white.
.5/.5
Overall that tournament went weel. Look forward to a review of the 2012 Holland Junior Open tomorrow.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
February Aquinas
Hey Everybody! Today I went to a monthly chess tournament at Aquinas Chess Collage. I go to this tournament regularly, and it is very well organized. Thanks to the tournament director, Eugene Brumley for organizing such a fine event, and for Antowine Jordan from the Calvin Tournaments for assisting Eugene.
The tournament went very good for me, and I was happy for it. In my first round, I was playing my friend Bill Ignasiak as white again. He decided to play 1. ...d5 against my 1.d4, and so I headed into a queen's gambit, which he is not used to. He didn't get any advantage out of the opening, but I can't say the game went bad for him. Here's how it went:
Joshua Posthuma - Bill Ignasiak
1571 1565
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 h6 Black is aiming to stop white's bishop from coming to g5. 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e3 Be7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 c5 Gaining equality in the center. 8.b3 a6 9.Bb2 Nc6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.a3 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 13.exd4 IQP games... Atleast it means open files. Re8 14.Re1 b5 15.a4 Around now, I have about 5 minutes left (plus a 5 second delay), and my opponent had about 15. 15. ...b4 16.Ne2 Be6 17.Rc1 Qd7 18.Nf4 Bf3 19.f3 Bxd3 20.Nxd3 Bd6 21.Ne5 Qb7 22.Qd2 Rac8 23.Rxc8 Rxc8 24.Rc1 Rxc1+ 25.Qxc1 Qb8 26.Qc6 a5 27.a3 g6 28.Kg2 Kg7 29.Nd7 Qe8 30.Ne5 Qe7 31.Qb6 Bc7 32.Qc6 Qd8 33.Kf2 Ng8 34.Qd7 Forcing the queen trade. Now he either trades or loses a bishop or gets mated. At this point I have about 3 minutes and Bill About 6. 34. ...Nf6? A blunder missing the mate. White to move and mate in 2: 35.Qxf7+ Black Resigns. The checkmate would continue 35. ...Kh8 36.Nxg6#
1-0
The other two games went great for me also, and so I ended the tournament with 3/3. I won $10, and had a fun time. My rating climbed into B class, and I'm now rated 1633! Here are the rating crosstables, and also congradulatins to Adam DeHollander from our chess club who won his section. Even though he has only played chess for 2 months, he is climbing very quickly, and is very talented.
I'll have a post on my next tournament, the Michigan Junior Championships at MSU. Talking about Junior Championships, look on the Holland Chess website for the flyer of the Second annual Holland Junior Championships on the 24th.
The tournament went very good for me, and I was happy for it. In my first round, I was playing my friend Bill Ignasiak as white again. He decided to play 1. ...d5 against my 1.d4, and so I headed into a queen's gambit, which he is not used to. He didn't get any advantage out of the opening, but I can't say the game went bad for him. Here's how it went:
Joshua Posthuma - Bill Ignasiak
1571 1565
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 h6 Black is aiming to stop white's bishop from coming to g5. 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e3 Be7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 c5 Gaining equality in the center. 8.b3 a6 9.Bb2 Nc6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.a3 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 13.exd4 IQP games... Atleast it means open files. Re8 14.Re1 b5 15.a4 Around now, I have about 5 minutes left (plus a 5 second delay), and my opponent had about 15. 15. ...b4 16.Ne2 Be6 17.Rc1 Qd7 18.Nf4 Bf3 19.f3 Bxd3 20.Nxd3 Bd6 21.Ne5 Qb7 22.Qd2 Rac8 23.Rxc8 Rxc8 24.Rc1 Rxc1+ 25.Qxc1 Qb8 26.Qc6 a5 27.a3 g6 28.Kg2 Kg7 29.Nd7 Qe8 30.Ne5 Qe7 31.Qb6 Bc7 32.Qc6 Qd8 33.Kf2 Ng8 34.Qd7 Forcing the queen trade. Now he either trades or loses a bishop or gets mated. At this point I have about 3 minutes and Bill About 6. 34. ...Nf6? A blunder missing the mate. White to move and mate in 2: 35.Qxf7+ Black Resigns. The checkmate would continue 35. ...Kh8 36.Nxg6#
1-0
The other two games went great for me also, and so I ended the tournament with 3/3. I won $10, and had a fun time. My rating climbed into B class, and I'm now rated 1633! Here are the rating crosstables, and also congradulatins to Adam DeHollander from our chess club who won his section. Even though he has only played chess for 2 months, he is climbing very quickly, and is very talented.
I'll have a post on my next tournament, the Michigan Junior Championships at MSU. Talking about Junior Championships, look on the Holland Chess website for the flyer of the Second annual Holland Junior Championships on the 24th.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Exciting Christmas Present (A little late, I know!)
In Early January, our family including grandparents and cousins met together for Christmas. What we did was an invention by my aunt, 'secret santa.' The idea was that in November, we would draw the name of a relative out of a hat. Whoever's name we drew, we had to make or give a present to that person. You were not allowed to buy anything, forcing it to come completely from the heart. =D I drew my father's name, and made him a video on youtube for him about his life in the past, and how he has helped me in life, including a slideshow of different accomplishments in his past. Unfortunately, I added a Toby Mac song into the background when I was editing. Even though we owned the song, we didn't have permission for copywright, and the entire audio from the video was disabled. : ( After that, we didn't have time to fix it, and ended up needing my dad's help in order for us to download it and burn it onto a CD properly. Then my dad figured out that I drew his name. Even though that didn't go that great, the present I got was amazing, and my main reason for this post. 8~D
Little did I know, the person who drew my name was none other than my Uncle, Bruce Conroy! You must know that my Uncle is amazing at making things out of wood, and carving different designs. Less than a year before, my uncle and my cousin Isaac, who is 16, made me this chess board out of wood. For Christmas, he made a great wooden table for the chess board. He had my dad measure the chess board while I was away at school to make sure he had the right measurements for the table. Together it was an amazing gift!
Overall that Christmas went very well. Thank you Uncle Bruce for making me such an amazing gift that I will contiinue to use for years and years!
Little did I know, the person who drew my name was none other than my Uncle, Bruce Conroy! You must know that my Uncle is amazing at making things out of wood, and carving different designs. Less than a year before, my uncle and my cousin Isaac, who is 16, made me this chess board out of wood. For Christmas, he made a great wooden table for the chess board. He had my dad measure the chess board while I was away at school to make sure he had the right measurements for the table. Together it was an amazing gift!
Overall that Christmas went very well. Thank you Uncle Bruce for making me such an amazing gift that I will contiinue to use for years and years!
With his amazing talent, and knowing I love chess, he made me the perfect gift.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
practice makes perfect
Recently, I have been interested in top 100 lists. One main important list I hope to get onto is the National age 11 lists. My birthday is on June 5, and I'm eleven right now. My rating right now is 1571, and as you can see I need a 1640 rating to make it on. In order to make it on this list, I will need to not only play in more tournaments, but practice! Unless you practice, you won't improve. Right now I practice atleast 2 hours a day. Sometimes it can be over 7 hours! One problem I think I have is that I don't like reading books. : ( I think reading some books could teach me alot, but I just have to train myself to do it. When I was at Barnes and Noble one day I bought the Reasess Your Chess Workbook. Unfortunately, when I bought it, I didn't see that it was a workbook. That book and others like it have been good investments, and I think reading more books will help me alot. Another thing I should be working on is my tactics. Doing this will help me look for good moves. I am always looking for improvement, and to get better. This is why I named my blog 'Path to Promotion'. For now I will keep on training, and try my best to improve. Bye!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Michigan M/X and Class Championship Day 2
After getting to bed at about 1 a.m. Sunday morning, and waking up at 8, I was very tired.
In my fourth game, I was playing Kenneth Tack. This man had only played in 2 tournaments before, and only had a rating of about 1475. Ken was a very strong player though, and beat me in an interesting Knight and pawn engame using a nice forking tactic either winning my knight or promoting his pawn. Unfortunately, I don't have the game because I left it at our hotel... After the game, we went over it and saw where I went wrong. About Ken, he ended up in a 3 way tie for first in our "C" Section, and boosted his rating to 1700! Congradulations Ken, and thank you for a good game!
In the final round, I was white playing against a girl from ann arbor named Joy Chen. This girl was 11, just like me. It was very fun to play against a person my age and skill level. In this game, I got very lucky, and got a great attack right after the opening that she was unable to stop, unfortunately.
Joshua Posthuma (1517) vs. Joy Chen (1475)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bb7 So Joy is a King's Indian player... 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 King's indian Makagonov. 6. ...Re8 7.Bd3 e6? Immediately when she picked up her E pawn, I thought she was playing e5, which makes more sense. This move is still fine if she plans on fianchettoing her light bishop. 8.Be3 Nc6 9.0-0 Bd7!? 10.Qd2 Rf8? She wasted a move moving the rook from f8 to e8, and then back to f8 again. What is her goal with this move? f5 is what I see. 11.Bh6 Ne8 12.Bxg7 Nxg7? This is a defensive mistake. This allows a good move on my part. Better would be Kxg7, defending the h6 square. 13.Qh6! This threatens Ng5 the next move and h7 cannot be guarded, and that would end in mate. She chooses the only defense. 13. ...Nh5 14.Ng5 Nf6 15.f4 preparing e5. 15. ...Re8. hehe and back to e8 it goes! =D This prevents checkmate on h7 after the knight is taken. 16.e5 breaking through... 16. ...Nxd4 Grabbing a pawn while he waits for white's next move. 17.exf6 Qxf6 18.Qxh7+ Kf8 19.Nce4 Bringing yet another piece into the attack! 19. ...Qg7 Black's bes move. I came to a big decision now. It would help me alot to just trade queens and try to win the game up a knight for a pawn, but I didn't know if I could continue the attack with Qh4, and try to still pull something out of it. I didn't want to pass an opportunity to trade queens, but I also wanted to go through with the attack, which I couldn't do without my queen. In the end, I decided to try to continue the attack, and to see if his queen was enough defense or not. 20.Qh4! Nf5 Black attacks my queen, trying to fight it back to the second rank and stop my attack. Luckily, I had seen how to come through with the attack after Nf5, and still win with my queen still on h4. My two knights proved very helpful in launching this attack. 21.Nh7+ Kg8 22.Nef6+ Kh8 23.Bxf5 exf5 And now, with a discovery lined up on the H file, I can finish it off.
White to move and mate in 2.
24.Ng5+ (Nf8+) 24. ...Qh6 25.Qxh6#
1-0
So overall, the tournament went very well for me. I got a total of 3.5/5, and boosted my rating up to 1571. 29 small points to B class!
Also, congradulations to Andrew Schremser from our Holland Chess Club who played in the E class championships, and tied for first with Rachael Tao. They both got 4/5. Andrew got $120 and a large trophy. Good job!
So that is how my tournament went at the Michigan Master Expert and Class Championship. Bye for right now!
-Joshua Posthuma
In my fourth game, I was playing Kenneth Tack. This man had only played in 2 tournaments before, and only had a rating of about 1475. Ken was a very strong player though, and beat me in an interesting Knight and pawn engame using a nice forking tactic either winning my knight or promoting his pawn. Unfortunately, I don't have the game because I left it at our hotel... After the game, we went over it and saw where I went wrong. About Ken, he ended up in a 3 way tie for first in our "C" Section, and boosted his rating to 1700! Congradulations Ken, and thank you for a good game!
In the final round, I was white playing against a girl from ann arbor named Joy Chen. This girl was 11, just like me. It was very fun to play against a person my age and skill level. In this game, I got very lucky, and got a great attack right after the opening that she was unable to stop, unfortunately.
Joshua Posthuma (1517) vs. Joy Chen (1475)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bb7 So Joy is a King's Indian player... 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 King's indian Makagonov. 6. ...Re8 7.Bd3 e6? Immediately when she picked up her E pawn, I thought she was playing e5, which makes more sense. This move is still fine if she plans on fianchettoing her light bishop. 8.Be3 Nc6 9.0-0 Bd7!? 10.Qd2 Rf8? She wasted a move moving the rook from f8 to e8, and then back to f8 again. What is her goal with this move? f5 is what I see. 11.Bh6 Ne8 12.Bxg7 Nxg7? This is a defensive mistake. This allows a good move on my part. Better would be Kxg7, defending the h6 square. 13.Qh6! This threatens Ng5 the next move and h7 cannot be guarded, and that would end in mate. She chooses the only defense. 13. ...Nh5 14.Ng5 Nf6 15.f4 preparing e5. 15. ...Re8. hehe and back to e8 it goes! =D This prevents checkmate on h7 after the knight is taken. 16.e5 breaking through... 16. ...Nxd4 Grabbing a pawn while he waits for white's next move. 17.exf6 Qxf6 18.Qxh7+ Kf8 19.Nce4 Bringing yet another piece into the attack! 19. ...Qg7 Black's bes move. I came to a big decision now. It would help me alot to just trade queens and try to win the game up a knight for a pawn, but I didn't know if I could continue the attack with Qh4, and try to still pull something out of it. I didn't want to pass an opportunity to trade queens, but I also wanted to go through with the attack, which I couldn't do without my queen. In the end, I decided to try to continue the attack, and to see if his queen was enough defense or not. 20.Qh4! Nf5 Black attacks my queen, trying to fight it back to the second rank and stop my attack. Luckily, I had seen how to come through with the attack after Nf5, and still win with my queen still on h4. My two knights proved very helpful in launching this attack. 21.Nh7+ Kg8 22.Nef6+ Kh8 23.Bxf5 exf5 And now, with a discovery lined up on the H file, I can finish it off.
White to move and mate in 2.
24.Ng5+ (Nf8+) 24. ...Qh6 25.Qxh6#
1-0
So overall, the tournament went very well for me. I got a total of 3.5/5, and boosted my rating up to 1571. 29 small points to B class!
Also, congradulations to Andrew Schremser from our Holland Chess Club who played in the E class championships, and tied for first with Rachael Tao. They both got 4/5. Andrew got $120 and a large trophy. Good job!
So that is how my tournament went at the Michigan Master Expert and Class Championship. Bye for right now!
-Joshua Posthuma
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Michigan M/X and Class Championship Day 1
In the first day, I played 3 rounds of chess. We woke up at 5:00 in the morning and left from Holland, MI to Lansing at shortly after 6:00. : ( We arrived shortly after 8:00, and checked in.
In the first round, I (1517) was playing a man named Dan Holt (1405) as white. I had played Dan before at the Saint Joseph chess club. This game was very tough, and I questioned whether I could pull out even a draw. In the engame I messed up, and offered a draw, and of course he declined. Unbelievably, I was able to take advantage of a big mistake later, and ended up winning by 1 tempo. : ). Here is the game below:
Joshua Posthuma (1517) vs. Dan Holt (1405)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.e3 Be7 This is a common queen's gambit line called the Orthodox. 6.Bd3 0-0 7.Qc2 b6 8.a3 Bb7 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bd2 Rc8 11.0-0 Bd6? 12.Nb5! This is a good move attacking both d6 and a7. 12. ...a6 13.Nxd6 cxd6 The good thing about this trade for white is that it gives black two doubled isolated pawns, and white has a bishop vs. knight. 14.Qb3 Ne4 15.Rac1 b5 16.Rxc8 Qxc8 17.Ba5 Qc6 18.Qc2 Rc8 19.Rc1 Qxc2 20.Rxc2 Nb8 21.Rxc8+ Bxc8 22.Kf1 Nc6 23.Be1 Bg4 24.Nd2 Bf5 25.Ke2 g6 26.f3 Nxd2 27.Kxd2 Be6 (27.Bxf5? Nxf3! 28.gxf3 gxf5) 28.Kc2 Kf8 29.a4 bxa4 30.Bxa6 Bd7 31.b4 axb3 32.Kxb3 Ke7 33.Bg3 Na5+ 34.Kb4 Nc6+ 35.Kc3 f5 36.Bh4+ Ke6 37.Bb5 Na5 38.Bxd7 Kxd7 39.Kb4 Ne4 40.Bg5 Ke6 41.Kb5 Kd7 42.e4 Na3+ 43.Ka4 Nc2 44.exd5 Ne1 45.b4 Nxg2 46.f4 Nh4 47.Be3 Nf3 48.h3 h6 49.Kb4 g5 50.fxg5 hxg5 51.Kc3 f4 52.Bf2 Nh4 This was a very big mistake by my opponent, probably a blunder. This allows me to trade and win the f4 pawn, bringing me into a winning game. 53.Bxh4 gxh4 54.Kd3 Ke7 55.Ke4 Kf6 56.Kxf4 Kg6 57.Kg4 Kf6 58.Kxh4 And now I'm in a won game. The funny thing is, just about 20 moves earlier, I had offered a draw which he declined. Little did I know I would go on to win the game. 58. ...Kf5 59.Kh5 Ke4 60.Kg5 Kxd5 61.h4 Kxd4 62.h5 Ke5 63.h6 d5 64.h7 d4 65.h8=Q Ke4 66.Qh1+ Ke3 67.Qd1 d3 68.Kg4 Kd4 69.Kf3 Kc3 70.Ke3 And black resigned.
1-0
In the second round, I was playing my friend Bill Ignasiak on the white side of A king's indian. The game ended in a draw by three move repetition.
Joshua Posthuma (1517) vs. Bill Ignasiak (1556)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 c6 7.Bd3 Qc7 8.Be3 h6 An interesting move my opponent commonly plays to keep white's bishop out of h6. 9.Qc1 Kh7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Re1 e5 12.d5 a6 13.Qd2 c5 14.Rac1 Nb6 15.Red1 Bd7 16.Nc1 Nc8 17.f4 I was trying for a breakthrough of some sort. 17. ...exf4 18.Bxf4 Ne7 19.Nf3 Ne8 20.Re1 f6 21.Kh1 Nc8 22.Re3 Kh8 23.Rf7 g5 24.Bh2 Qd8 25.Ree1 Qe7 26.Qc2 Rd8 27.Na4 Bc8 28.Nb6 Qc7 29.Nxc8 Qxc8 30.a3 Qd7 31.Qd1 Rf7 32.Nd2 Bf8 33.Be2 Rg7 34.Bg4 Qe7 35.b3 a5 36.Nb1 Nc7 37.Nc3 b6 38.a4 Now for the three move repetition. 38. ...Qe8 39.Bh5 Qe7 40.Bg4 Qe8 41.Bh5 Draw agreed.
In the third round, I was playing a man named Daniel harper. This game was very good, and even all the way through, but my opponent got into severe time pressure when I still had about 45 minutes! With that time advantage, I was able to pull out a win.
Daniel Harper (1555) vs. Joshua Posthuma (1517)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 Making the game a Nimzo-Indian. 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 Transforming into a queen's gambit declined orthodox. The only difference is the Bb4. 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 cxd4 10.cxd4 Bd7 11.Bd2 Rc8 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Qb1 b6 14.Rc1 Re8 15.a4 h6 Allowing my knight to move away. 16.Re1?! Ne4 17.Ra2 Nxd2 18.Nxd2 Qf6 19.Rc2 g6!? 20.Rec1 Na5 21.Rc7 Rxc7 22.Rxc7 Bxa4 23.Rxa7 Qd6 24.h3 Rc8 25.g3 Bd7 26.Kg2 Kg7 27.Nf3 Rc7 28.Rxc7 Qxc7 29.Ne5 Be8 30.f4 Nc4 31.Qe1 Nxe5 32.fxe5 Bc6 33.Qf1 Qe7 34.h4 Qe6. Right now my opponent has 9 minutes and I have 47. 35.Qf3 Bb7 36.h5 Bc8 I have just been wasting my opponent's time while thinking of a plan by making waste moves. 37.hxg6 fxg6 38.Kg1 Bd7 39.Qf4 Bc8 40.Qf3 Bd7 41.Qf4 b5 Starting my plan. This will make him think even longer. 42.Qf1 Qb6 43.Qf4 b4 44.Qh4 Qe6 45.Qd8 Be8 46.Qc7+ Bf7 47.Qc5 Qh3 Storming in white's position. 48.Kf2 Qh2+ 49.Kf3 This is possibly dangerous... locking the king in the center. It is a way to save the pawn, though. 49. ...Qh1+ 50.Kf4? A big blunder. Black to move and mate in 3.
50. ...g5+ 51.Kg4 Qh5+ 52.Kf5 Qf3#
0-1
And so, that wraps up the first day of the tournament. I started off 2.5/3.0.... Not to bad! Look forward to the last 2 games tomorrow.
In the first round, I (1517) was playing a man named Dan Holt (1405) as white. I had played Dan before at the Saint Joseph chess club. This game was very tough, and I questioned whether I could pull out even a draw. In the engame I messed up, and offered a draw, and of course he declined. Unbelievably, I was able to take advantage of a big mistake later, and ended up winning by 1 tempo. : ). Here is the game below:
Joshua Posthuma (1517) vs. Dan Holt (1405)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.e3 Be7 This is a common queen's gambit line called the Orthodox. 6.Bd3 0-0 7.Qc2 b6 8.a3 Bb7 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bd2 Rc8 11.0-0 Bd6? 12.Nb5! This is a good move attacking both d6 and a7. 12. ...a6 13.Nxd6 cxd6 The good thing about this trade for white is that it gives black two doubled isolated pawns, and white has a bishop vs. knight. 14.Qb3 Ne4 15.Rac1 b5 16.Rxc8 Qxc8 17.Ba5 Qc6 18.Qc2 Rc8 19.Rc1 Qxc2 20.Rxc2 Nb8 21.Rxc8+ Bxc8 22.Kf1 Nc6 23.Be1 Bg4 24.Nd2 Bf5 25.Ke2 g6 26.f3 Nxd2 27.Kxd2 Be6 (27.Bxf5? Nxf3! 28.gxf3 gxf5) 28.Kc2 Kf8 29.a4 bxa4 30.Bxa6 Bd7 31.b4 axb3 32.Kxb3 Ke7 33.Bg3 Na5+ 34.Kb4 Nc6+ 35.Kc3 f5 36.Bh4+ Ke6 37.Bb5 Na5 38.Bxd7 Kxd7 39.Kb4 Ne4 40.Bg5 Ke6 41.Kb5 Kd7 42.e4 Na3+ 43.Ka4 Nc2 44.exd5 Ne1 45.b4 Nxg2 46.f4 Nh4 47.Be3 Nf3 48.h3 h6 49.Kb4 g5 50.fxg5 hxg5 51.Kc3 f4 52.Bf2 Nh4 This was a very big mistake by my opponent, probably a blunder. This allows me to trade and win the f4 pawn, bringing me into a winning game. 53.Bxh4 gxh4 54.Kd3 Ke7 55.Ke4 Kf6 56.Kxf4 Kg6 57.Kg4 Kf6 58.Kxh4 And now I'm in a won game. The funny thing is, just about 20 moves earlier, I had offered a draw which he declined. Little did I know I would go on to win the game. 58. ...Kf5 59.Kh5 Ke4 60.Kg5 Kxd5 61.h4 Kxd4 62.h5 Ke5 63.h6 d5 64.h7 d4 65.h8=Q Ke4 66.Qh1+ Ke3 67.Qd1 d3 68.Kg4 Kd4 69.Kf3 Kc3 70.Ke3 And black resigned.
1-0
In the second round, I was playing my friend Bill Ignasiak on the white side of A king's indian. The game ended in a draw by three move repetition.
Joshua Posthuma (1517) vs. Bill Ignasiak (1556)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 c6 7.Bd3 Qc7 8.Be3 h6 An interesting move my opponent commonly plays to keep white's bishop out of h6. 9.Qc1 Kh7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Re1 e5 12.d5 a6 13.Qd2 c5 14.Rac1 Nb6 15.Red1 Bd7 16.Nc1 Nc8 17.f4 I was trying for a breakthrough of some sort. 17. ...exf4 18.Bxf4 Ne7 19.Nf3 Ne8 20.Re1 f6 21.Kh1 Nc8 22.Re3 Kh8 23.Rf7 g5 24.Bh2 Qd8 25.Ree1 Qe7 26.Qc2 Rd8 27.Na4 Bc8 28.Nb6 Qc7 29.Nxc8 Qxc8 30.a3 Qd7 31.Qd1 Rf7 32.Nd2 Bf8 33.Be2 Rg7 34.Bg4 Qe7 35.b3 a5 36.Nb1 Nc7 37.Nc3 b6 38.a4 Now for the three move repetition. 38. ...Qe8 39.Bh5 Qe7 40.Bg4 Qe8 41.Bh5 Draw agreed.
In the third round, I was playing a man named Daniel harper. This game was very good, and even all the way through, but my opponent got into severe time pressure when I still had about 45 minutes! With that time advantage, I was able to pull out a win.
Daniel Harper (1555) vs. Joshua Posthuma (1517)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 Making the game a Nimzo-Indian. 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 Transforming into a queen's gambit declined orthodox. The only difference is the Bb4. 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 cxd4 10.cxd4 Bd7 11.Bd2 Rc8 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Qb1 b6 14.Rc1 Re8 15.a4 h6 Allowing my knight to move away. 16.Re1?! Ne4 17.Ra2 Nxd2 18.Nxd2 Qf6 19.Rc2 g6!? 20.Rec1 Na5 21.Rc7 Rxc7 22.Rxc7 Bxa4 23.Rxa7 Qd6 24.h3 Rc8 25.g3 Bd7 26.Kg2 Kg7 27.Nf3 Rc7 28.Rxc7 Qxc7 29.Ne5 Be8 30.f4 Nc4 31.Qe1 Nxe5 32.fxe5 Bc6 33.Qf1 Qe7 34.h4 Qe6. Right now my opponent has 9 minutes and I have 47. 35.Qf3 Bb7 36.h5 Bc8 I have just been wasting my opponent's time while thinking of a plan by making waste moves. 37.hxg6 fxg6 38.Kg1 Bd7 39.Qf4 Bc8 40.Qf3 Bd7 41.Qf4 b5 Starting my plan. This will make him think even longer. 42.Qf1 Qb6 43.Qf4 b4 44.Qh4 Qe6 45.Qd8 Be8 46.Qc7+ Bf7 47.Qc5 Qh3 Storming in white's position. 48.Kf2 Qh2+ 49.Kf3 This is possibly dangerous... locking the king in the center. It is a way to save the pawn, though. 49. ...Qh1+ 50.Kf4? A big blunder. Black to move and mate in 3.
50. ...g5+ 51.Kg4 Qh5+ 52.Kf5 Qf3#
0-1
And so, that wraps up the first day of the tournament. I started off 2.5/3.0.... Not to bad! Look forward to the last 2 games tomorrow.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Michigan Master Expert and Class Championship
I has been a long time since I have posted, but I felt like sharing that I will be playing in the Michigan M/X and Class tournament in lansing. Since my rating has climbed to the 1500's I will be playing in the top of the "C" section. If any of you are going to be playing, please inform me in the comments. Also, look forward to atleast one of my games from that tournament being posted on the site also.
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