Wednesday 30 April 2008

Howards Way

Last night I played Howard in the club championship, I'd played him a few weeks ago with the same colours in the Derbyshire Individual, so was wishing I'd studied that game beforehand. He doesn't think much of the way I play against the Sicilian, but it's all I know really and I don't think it's unsound. Where I'm going wrong is more middle game planning & tactics as far as I can see so won't worry too much about the opening for now.

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2007/08"]
[Date "2008.04.29"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Howard Bradbury"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B50"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. g4 Bg6 7. d3 e5 8. O-O Be7 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. Bg5 Nd7 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. b3 f6 13. Qd2 O-O 14. Nb5 Nb6 15. a4 a6 16. Nc3 Bf7 17. Rfb1 d5 18. Rd1 Qc7 19. Rac1 dxe4 20. Nxe4 Rad8 21. Qc3 Rc8 22. Nfd2 Nbd5 23. Qb2 Nf4 24. Re1 Nxg2 25. Kxg2 Ng6 26. Kh2 Bd5 27. f3 f5 28. Ng3 fxg4 29. hxg4 Qe7 30. Rf1 Qh4+ 31. Kg2 Nf4+ 32. Kf2 Qh2+ 33. Ke3 Qxg3 34. c4 Bc6 35. Ne4 Bxe4 36. dxe4 Rcd8 37. Rcd1 Rxd1 38. Rxd1 Ng2+ 0-1


I'm quite pleased with how I played the first h of the game, I was thinking clearly and had lots of plans during the game instead of aimlessly moving about, and was recognising his threats.

By move 23 he had got a strong knight on f4 (below), I think this shows the power of controlling the centre.


This weakened my kingside greatly, and he was able to launch a big attack that picked up a knight and left me with the position below to which I resigned:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting.
I have always disliked playing against the Sicilian. I have no real idea why, but just had a mental block against it ! Maybe because I associate it with 'Master Play' and I was certain that Black knew what he was doing ?!

What is the line you use called ? It looks like something Karpov would play : solid and straightforward.

I checked it through and up to 6. g4 its a healthy plus to White according to Chess Assistant's CAP.

I tried the Alapin ( 2.c3 ) for a while, but didn't really understand it. These days ( after picking up a cheap "Beating The Sicilian 3" ) I am not so worried by it, as at my level, I'm not likely to meet a seriously booked up player !

I now play Nf3, d4, Nxd4 almost religiously ( with the occasional Qxd4 : not a Nunn move, but enjoyable )and seem to reach a middle game OK now, which is what I am after.

I seem to have lost the desire to immerse myself in openings these days, and just want to reach a position to play chess.

That said, although I am happy with the couple of Black openings I know ( not the Sicilian ! ), opening as White is still a problem for me. Bizarre, but I really prefer Black.

In your game, his knight was in a good position on f4, but he exchanged it straightaway ! Maybe better for him was Neg6 and an f-pawn advance to keep you under pressure ?

Regardless, good to see you blogging again.

Dean said...

Hi zwaartepaard, I play the Kings Indian attack against anything other than e5. It's a generic opening you can play against anything really, so don't need to remember anything :)

Thanks for reading, Dean

Anonymous said...

Hey Dean,

Thanks for the words of encouragement on my still new blog! By the way do you have an opinion on Shredder Classic 3 software? I had some bugginess problems with Fritz and had to get rid of it. I just bought the aforementioned Shredder program from their website and AM loving the way it operates and plays. Am I missing something? People don't seem to mention shredder that much.

Thanks again,

Tom G

Dean said...

Hi Tom, I read your posts about Shredder, I didn't realise that it had its own interface as I've only used the engine within the fritz program. At my level it doesn't really make any difference how powerful the engine is but if the shredder interface is better and easier then I'll take a look!

Dean