schoorl

I had a nice win against schoorl, rated 1513. I played better than I usually do in the shorter 30mins games.

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.04.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "schoorl"]
[Black "deanmadden"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1513"]
[BlackElo "1346"]
[ECO "A05"]
[TimeControl "1800"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. d5 Re8 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 Nf8 11. h3 c6 12. Rc1 cxd5 13. cxd5 Qb6 14. b3 Bd7 15. a4 Rac8 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Bb5 Bxb5 18. Nxb5 Rxc1 19. Qxc1 a6 20. Nc7 Rc8 21. Qxh6 Rxc7 22. Rb1 Qb4 23. Nd2 Rc2 24. Rd1 Nd7 25. Nc4 Qxb3 26. Nxd6 Rxf2 27.
Rc1 Rc2 28. Rf1 Qg3 29. Nxf7 Qxg2# {schoorl checkmated} 0-1

rosselm

I'm back online at our new house. I had a game against a player rated 1502, and got a draw which I would have been happy with before the game, but I messed up so many chances to win. I even let a stalemate occur right at the end. Here's the game:

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.04.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "deanmadden"]
[Black "rosselm"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1342"]
[BlackElo "1502"]
[ECO "A04"]
[TimeControl "2700"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. d3 Nf6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. e4 b6 8.
Re1 e6 9. e5 Ng4 10. Nc4 Ba6 11. Bf4 Bh6 12. Qd2 Bg7 13. Bh3 Bxc4 14. dxc4
Ncxe5 15. Bxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 d6 17. Nd3 Re8 18. c3 Qc8 19. Bg2 Rb8 20. Rad1
Qa6 21. b3 Qa5 22. b4 Qa6 23. b5 Qc8 24. Nc1 Rd8 25. Qe3 a6 26. bxa6 Qxa6 27.
Bf1 Qa5 28. Rd3 e5 29. Red1 e4 30. Rxd6 Rxd6 31. Rxd6 Bf8 32. Rd7 Qa4 33.
Qxe4 Qxd7 34. Qd5 Qxd5 35. cxd5 Rd8 36. c4 Bh6 37. Nd3 Kf8 38. Bg2 Ra8 39. d6
Rxa2 40. d7 Ra1+ 41. Bf1 Ra8 42. Ne5 Ke7 43. Bh3 Bg7 44. Nc6+ Kf8 45. d8=Q+
Rxd8 46. Nxd8 Ke8 47. Nc6 f5 48. g4 fxg4 49. Bxg4 Kf7 50. Kg2 h5 51. Be2 Ke6
52. Kf3 Kd6 53. Nd8 Kd7 54. Nf7 Ke7 55. Ng5 Be5 56. h3 Bf6 57. Ne4 g5 58.
Nxf6 Kxf6 59. Ke4 Ke6 60. Bxh5 Kd6 61. f4 gxf4 62. Kxf4 Kc6 63. Be2 Kd6 64.
h4 Ke7 65. Kg5 Kf7 66. h5 Kg7 67. h6+ Kh7 68. Bd3+ Kh8 69. Kg6 b5 70. cxb5 c4
71. Bxc4 {Game drawn by stalemate} 1/2-1/2

My last move, instead of taking the pawn, I should have played h7, let him take my bishop, and would have had a mate by move 75: 71. h7 cxd3 72. b6 d2 73. b7 d1=Q 74. b8=Q+ Qd8 75. Qxd8#

Gregory

I played Ian Gregory in the club championship last night, he's rated 146, which is equivalent to 1980 FIDE. I lost in about 24 moves each. I haven't got internet access at home yet due to the house move, so can't post the pgn. I was white and he played the Centre Counter, or Scandinavian defence depending on what you know it as. It went something like 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nxd5 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 ...

I wasn't very comfortable playing against the opening and just tried to play the standard Kings Indian Attack against it. He put a bishop on g4, pinning my knight against the queen. I've been encountering this a lot and haven't been dealing with it. Fritz says I should have played h3 a lot earlier, but I was wary it was weakening the king protection. Instead I weakened my d3 pawn by playing c4, the idea was to release the queen but it made a mess of the position and he just piled on the pawns towards the pinned knight and broke through.

I haven't been playing online since last week due to no internet access. I tried playing chessmaster and fritz, but lost interest as it just isn't the same. Instead I've just been practicing tactics with 'Chess Tactics for Beginners' software and 'The mammoth book of chess'.

Default

We've been busy with our house move after getting the new keys last Thursday, so haven't had much time for chess. I did go to the club night yesterday, but had a very frustrating chessless evening. I was asked to play for the D Team against Derby & Mickleover 'D', but unfortunately my opponent failed to turn up. So I won by default. Everyone else had already paired up so I didn't have anyone to have a friendly with. This was the last match of the season so will stick to club championship matches and friendlies from now on.

Championship match v Bert

I played Bert Loomes in a club championship match last night. I was pleased with my performance because the mistakes were positional rather than tactical. The game is below and I'll hopefully analyse it deeper later. I'll try and stick to these longer games now (36 moves in 90 mins, then add 15mins to finish).

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2006/7"]
[Date "2007.04.10"]
[White "Bert Loomes"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E61"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6.Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O Re8 8. b4 e5 9. d5 c6 10. e4 cxd5 11. cxd5 b6 12. Nb5 Bf8 13.Bd3 a6 14. Nc3 b5 15. a4 bxa4 16. Nxa4 a5 17. Nb2 Bb7 18. b5 Nc5 19. Bg5 Bg7 20. Bc2 Qd7 21. Qe2 Rec8 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Na4 Nxa4 24. Bxa4 Qd8 25. h3 Bg7 26. Nd2 Ra7 27. Nc4 Ba8 28. b6 Rb7 29. Bc6 Re7 30. Bxa8 Rxa8 31. Rfb1 Rb7 32. Qe3 Rab8 33. Rxa5 Bf8 34. Rab5 Rc8 35. Na5 Rd7 36. Nc6 Qe8 37. b7 1-0

Reflections

I've been thinking about yesterday and I probably shouldn't be feeling too down. I've only been playing since August of last year, whereas most of the people I played yesterday have been playing for years. I think I just need time for some of the tactical motifs to really sink in and become second nature. Something else is telling me to ditch the openings I've been playing, and just stick to classical e4 openings etc.

I left when my last game finished, so I don't know if Johnny Nelson turned up for the prize giving, he wasn't mentioned on the night. Also, Michael Adams wasn't mentioned, all I heard about him was the £25 fee people had to pay to enter the simul with him. No thanks.

I'd say yesterday was definitely worth it though, and hopefully I'll stick with chess and in a few years time I'll come back to a tournament like this and get more than half a point. The only point I really started feeling depressed yesterday was in game 4, when I resigned after 14 moves, because move 15 would be mate! I couldn't believe I'd walked into it. Rounds 5 and 6 were both trounces when I had already lost my confidence.

Knightmare

I'm back from the Rotherham rapidplay tournament. I had a nightmare of a tournament, played six, lost 5 and drew 1. The other competitors were quite strong, much more so than the last tournament in Nottingham.

First match was against William Heyes from Skelmersdale. He has a rapidplay grade of 89, but standard grade of 121. I held my own for about 20 moves or so, but then he broke through. I wrote the moves for each game, but I seem to have messed this game up so can't reproduce it. I resigned after 25 moves according to the scoresheet.

Second match was against Jim Waddington from Bolton, who I lost to a couple of months ago in Nottingham. This was a frustrating match, I was on top, but let it slip and eventually agreed a draw when I was ahead on material slightly but only had 5mins left on clock whereas he had about 15mins. He is rated 78 in rapidplay. Unfortunately I seem to have screwed up the notation for this game as well.

Third game was against T Russell from Ashby who had estimated grade 88. I lost a rook but fought back and almost got a win. I missed a mate in 2 here:

Should have played Nd6, followed by Qxb7. Instead played Rh6. Here's the game in full, I'm white:

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nbd7 4. O-O e5 5. d3
Bc5 6. Nbd2 c6 7. e4 Qb6 8. Qe2 h5 9. h3 dxe4 10. dxe4 h4 11. Nxh4 Nh5 12. b3
Nxg3 13. Qf3 Nxf1 14. Kxf1 Rxh4 15. Nc4 Qa6 16. Qg3 Rh5 17. Qxg7 Nf8 18. Bh6
Bxh3 19. Bxh3 Rxh3 20. Kg2 Rxh6 21. Qxh6 Bd4 22. Nd6+ Kd7 23. Rh1 Ne6 24. Nxf7
Rg8+ 25. Kf3 Rf8 26. Qf6 c5 27. Rh7 Kc8 28. Qe7 Qc6 29. Ke2 Qxe4+ 30. Kd1 Qf3+
31. Kc1 Qf4+ 32. Kd1 Qf5 33. Rh6 Qxf7 34. Rxe6 Qxe7 35. Rxe7 Rxf2 36. Ke1 Rxc2

I will look at the other games later, and see if I can salvage anything from the notes of the earlier games.

Totally wiped off the board

An example of the previous post is the game I've just played, dropping my rating down to 1328. I played a Pirc defence and have got totally destroyed during the opening. Here's the game:

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.04.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "dencho"]
[Black "deanmadden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1490"]
[BlackElo "1334"]
[ECO "B00"]
[TimeControl "1800"]

1. e4 d6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. e5 dxe5 6. Nxe5 O-O 7. Bc4 e6 8. Bg5 Nbd7 9. Nxd7 Bxd7 10. Ne4 Re8 11. Qf3 Re7 12. Nxf6+ Kf8 13. Nxh7+ {deanmadden resigns} 1-0

Well what went wrong?

Probably the first major mistake was after 7. Bc4:


I presumed I had to stop the threat of Bxf7 or Nxf7. So I played e6, but looking at it now I could have allowed the even trade, i.e. B+N for R+P. The move should have been Nfd7. But I would have been wary about leaving my king exposed like that.

Well anyway, the major mistake of the game was after 10. Ne4:


I was presuming I was adequately defended because I had the Knight covered by the bishop and my Queen. So I just carried on with developing the rook. But then he plays Qf3 and I haven't got enough defenders. I should have played Bc6, attacking his knight.

So anyway I hope I learn from this.

Slump

I've been on a bit of a slump the last few days, my rating on fics is now down to 1334 for standard games, i.e. for the 30mins each games I've been playing. I hope this doesn't continue to the tournament tomorrow.

Practice

I played three 30mins each games tonight on fics, as practice for Rotherham on Monday. I lost the 1st to a 1343 when it was an even end game, with Queens and pawns v Queens and pawns, and somehow managed to leave my Queen en prise while gobbling the pawns! Second game I won against a 1271 after he blundered his queen early on. The 3rd game was a draw against a 1409.

I've noticed I've tended to play better as black recently, whereas with white I'm not too good. My current repetoire as Black is Pirc v e4, and Kings Indian Defence against anything else. With white I've just been playing Kings Indian Attack all the time, but tend to get my pieces a bit squashed. I'm playing Nf3, g3, Bg2, 0-0, regardless of what black does. I'm wondering if I should put a central pawn forward earlier.

Last time I played rapidplay, like most other people, I didn't keep score due to the quick time controls. However I'm considering keeping score this time, because I think the benefits of being able to analyse the games afterwards will out-weigh the loss in time incurred writing them down.

Rotherham & South Yorkshire Rapidplay

I've decided to enter the rapidplay tournament on Easter Monday in Rotherham, it should be a good day. I've obviously entered the minor section, the games are all moves in 30mins, with matches starting at 10am and finishing at 5:40pm. There's also supposed to be a Simul exhibition with Michael Adams, world number 10, British number 1, in the evening. Prizes will be presented by former Cruiserweight world boxing champion Johnny Nelson.

This will probably cement me getting at least a rapidplay grade by the end of the season, but I don't think I'll have played enough long games to get a standard grade.

Game v Howard

Here's the game from yesterday. 21. Bc4 was the big blunder. Thankfully there were no major errors from me.

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2007"]
[Date "2007.04.03"]
[White "Howard Bradbury"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. c3 O-O 5. e3 d6 6.
Bd3 Nbd7 7. Nbd2 Re8 8. O-O e5 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Ne4 b6 11. Qc2 Bb7 12. Rad1 Qc8
13. Nfd2 Rb8 14. Nxf6+ Nxf6 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Ne4 Bg7 17. Bb5 Rd8 18. Rxd8+
Qxd8 19. Rd1 Qh4 20. Ng3 f5 21. Bc4+ Qxc4 22. b3 Qc6 23. f3 Re8 24. e4 fxe4 25.
Nxe4 Qe6 26. c4 Bxe4 27. Qxe4 c5 28. Qd5 Qxd5 29. cxd5 Bf8 30. d6 Rd8 31. d7
Kf7 32. Kf2 Ke6 33. f4 Rxd7 34. Rxd7 Kxd7 35. Kf3 exf4 36. Kxf4 Bd6+ 37. Kg5
Bxh2 38. Kf6 b5 0-1

Spondon Club Championship win

I won a game in the Spondon Club Championship for 2007 last night for the first time. I've previously played Nathan Atkins, Harry Ratner and Martin Gibson and lost. Last night I played Howard Bradbury with Black. It was quite a long game, started about 7:15pm and finished around 9:45pm.

I was very pleased with the win, as he is rated 84 and obviously much better than me. I played Kings Indian Defence and will post the game here with analysis when I get time. The big mistake on his part was when he blundered his bishop. I managed to keep this advantage and he resigned when it went down to King, Bishop and about five pawns against King and about three pawns.

The league season in Derbyshire will end in a few weeks. I'm disappointed not to have been picked very often for the 'D' team, whereas a couple of players have played regularly for both the 'C' and 'D' teams. Surely the point of a 'D' team is to give inexperienced players like me some experience? These players who play for both are obviously good enough for the 'C' team so I think they should only be picked for that team. Anyway rant over and I hope to play more next season.

I'm looking forward to the annual Spondon summer tournament, in which Spondon is one of the few teams not to take a summer break and so has an open tournament with long time controls for a few weeks. It'll be a good test to see if I can fare well.

I've decided not to enter the Nottinghamshire congress, as it conflicts with the completion date of our house move. I hope to enter more tournaments once the move is done.

teamleague

I'm hoping to get involved in the reforming FICS teamleague. It is in the re-beginning stages at the moment, but will hopefully materialize and will be fun to be in an online league. Especially since it is 45mins + 45 secs for every move, time control.