Haunted Knight Chess Blog

Spondon club championship v Bert Loomes

2011-02-23T18:27:00.003Z

Last night I had a long 71 move match against Bert Loomes (117 ECF) in the Spondon club championship. I got into very bad time trouble towards the end, throwing away what looked like a winning position and losing. I haven't had time trouble this bad for a while, so not sure if it was me playing too slowly, or if it was just that this match was a lot longer than my average matches. Anyway, there's a lot I can learn from this match and I hope it helps me to improve.

He played the french defence, with a fianchetto on the queenside. It looks like once he castled queenside, I should have started pushing my queenside pawns forward a lot quicker, and been a lot more aggressive. Instead I concentrated on trying to defend his kingside attack, when counter-attack would have been better.

I miscalculated 36.Ne3 above, for some reason I didn't even notice it was being attacked by a pawn until I put the piece down. But luckily for me it was actually the best move, as the pawn was also defending his rook. He missed the knight fork on the next move leaving me up the exchange.

Around this time I started running out of time. Giving up my knight was a mistake. His h-pawn was an annoyance I couldn't figure out how to stop. Maybe I should have offered a draw around this time, but I guess it's better to play it out and learn from it.

The game was still winnable towards the end, but I missed most of the best moves, don't know if I would have played better with more time. With perhaps a few more minutes I might have realised I should have pushed my a-pawn to promotion.

Martin Gibson

2011-02-15T21:52:00.002Z

Had a nice win in the Spondon club championship tonight against Martin Gibson (63 ECF). Interesting game which was even until I managed to break through on his kingside, and a nice mate to finish it.

Warwickshire Chess Congress 2011

2011-02-13T17:53:00.002Z

12/02/11:

Round 1:

Had a very pleasing win against Paul Williams (99) with black. It felt like I got my focus back 100% on the game for the first time since my break.

He played 2.f4 after 1.d4 Nf6. Haven't seen this before, but decided to carry on with the Kings Indian defence. It was looking very drawish in the middlegame.

I was happy when he played 19.Bxe4, as it looked to me (and I may be wrong), that it left him with a bad bishop that was blocked by all his pawns. And also left me with the bishop pair on a board that was opening up.

I liked my bishop on e4 and was hoping something would come out of the theoretically good position. I've been reading up on positional strategy recently which I think will improve my game and make it less dependent on tactics.

I managed to get a passed pawn, then supported it with another passed pawn. I was surprised he didn't try to sacrifice his remaining bishop at the end to stop the pawns.

Round 2:

Lost with white against ungraded junior Aaron Vitarana. I started playing too fast in the opening and didn't even consider 7.Bxf7 until after I'd castled. I was playing speculative moves without taking the time to analyse them deeply.

26.Nxe5 was the big mistake. I calculated I'd win a pawn, but didn't visualise the back rank mate threat. Taking with the bishop first would have been ok.

Round 3:

Lost with black against Gabor Csepregi (116). He played well and deserved the win. Towards the end he forced me to give up my Queen for a rook. So it was Queen and 4 pawns versus Rook and 4 pawns. I realise it's a winning position for him, but didn't see any reason to resign immediately until he showed he could convert it.

After his last move, I was studying the position, and could tell it was lost, but was just checking if there was anything left I could try. I was just about to resign when my elderly Russian sounding opponent started to speak to me.

"I think it is about time for you to give up. Why are you playing on now? We have a long journey home, what is the point in playing any longer?"

I felt it was very bad manners of him to speak to me at all during a game, and even worse to suggest I should resign. I have every right to use all my time to play on as long as I want. I felt furious inside, and no longer wanted to continue the game, and as I was about to resign in any case, I toppled my king, quickly shook his hand and left. I have nothing to gain out of getting into an argument with an old man.

Anyway, it was a good game apart from that. He had an interesting opening against the Kings Indian. It came down to Queen and 2 rooks each, and he had a big attack which forced me on the defensive. By move 34 I only had a minute on my clock to reach the time control of 36 moves. I quickly went for a couple of checks, but unfortunately this was the error that allowed my Queen to be trapped to prevent mate. A shame it had to end on such a sour note.

13/02/2011:

Round 4:

Lost with white against Christine Constable (102). I thought I'd got my knight into a good position on d6, but it proved to be my undoing. She did well to convert the extra minor piece into a win. I was hoping to take all her pawns and leave her with bishop and knight mate but it didn't work out.

Round 5:

Won my final game with black against Anthony Taylor (92). On move 13 he looked to be winning a rook and pawn for a knight and bishop, but for some reason he didn't take the rook, leaving me a knight up for a pawn. Move 17 he blundered his bishop, so I thought being up two minor pieces would leave me plain sailing. But he mounted a good attack on my King, which had me very worried. I should have released my rook on a8 much sooner. Eventually though he resigned when he'd have to exchange Queens to stop mate leaving me up a rook and bishop.

Stockport Rapidplay 2011

2011-02-07T06:23:00.004Z

Yesterday was my first time at Stockport. 127 players had entered when I checked on arrival, with more late entries afterwards. Think it must be biggest turnout I've played in.

Round 1:

Black against Stuart Hamilton (ECF grade 67) from Rhyl. He played an offbeat opening, Nf3, d3 etc. Quite even until I got a passed pawn which he had to spend a lot of time defending. Eventually he had to try bringing his King across so I gave up the pawn and took a pawn from the other side. Luckily for me, him taking my pawn allowed a fork of king against his rook. He moved the pieces to play it, then realised the error and tried putting the pieces back and moving something else instead. I said to him we're playing touch move, and he admitted defeat.

Round 2:

Lost with black against junior Jennifer Neil (92). Scandinavian defence. She took a long time over her moves, and was very short on time at the end. I had about 20mins left. She played well to set up a mating attack which I just couldn't stop.

Jennifer kindly allowed me to take a photo of her scoresheet, so was able to go over the game (I don't keep score in rapid games due to time trouble).

The big mistake on my part was 17...g5 allowing the mating attack.

Round 3:

Things went from bad to worse when I lost with white against ungraded Gary Jones. Two knights defence. Was up a pawn from the opening, then up the exchange when skewered king against rook. Then somehow towards the end I threw away a rook, and he had a pawn advantage in bishop endgame. Was hoping he might run out of time and blunder but he played well.

Round 4:

Played terrible as black against Derek Marsden (93). Started 1. e4 d5 2. e5 c5 3. c4 e6 4. Nf3 Nc6. Didn't like the position. Got a couple of pawns lead but then he pinned my knight against the king and piled everything onto the knight. Should probably have castled earlier. He got a mating threat which meant I'd have to give up Queen for rook so resigned.

Round 5:

Easy win with white against ungraded junior A.S. Tathare.

Round 6:

Another easy win with white against Angie Howe (UG). She played a weird Scandinavian: 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qe5+. I played 4. Nge2 but looks like the book move is Be7. Anyway I chased the Queen around a bit while developing pieces and eventually it went back to it's starting position. I was slightly hampered in the game due to a stomach ache, but just played sensible moves and capitalised on mistakes.

So I ended up with 3 wins and 3 losses, which probably sounds better than the poor performance I gave. Need to cut out silly mistakes.

Spectrum Dudley Chess Congress 2011

2011-01-30T20:08:00.001Z

29/01/2011

Round 1:

Got off to a disappointing start in my first trip to Dudley. All games are 36 moves in 90mins, then clocks back 15mins to finish. I was white against Stuart Calderbank (Grade 99). He played the Pirc defence. The first major mistake was 15.Rb1, allowing the Queen to fork the pawns on a2 and d3.

The next move I played was even worse because for some reason I hadn't even spotted the d3 pawn being attacked. I think my break from chess has left a lot of rustiness. It was a very frustrating game where I felt always on the defensive. The final mistake was 35.Bc4, overlooking Rxc4, bxc4, Rxb1.

Round 2:

Accepted a draw as black against Paul Broderick (102). Tried to get an attack going but nothing came of it. Draw probably fair result.

Round 3:

Another draw, this time against Maria Gonzalez (93) who plays for Hackney. She started off with 1...e6 which looked like a french, but it changed into something else (something like a hedgehog?). I offered a draw after my 37th move, which she declined. We finally agreed a draw after my 62nd move. I possibly missed a difficult win towards the end, but I was very low on time so happy with the draw.

30/01/2011

Round 4:

Lost with black against Peter Kearns (100). Scandinavian defence with 2.e5. 13...g5 was a mistake that I didn't visualise properly, should have played Nh4. When the g-file opened, I didn't notice the Queen looking down the b1-h7 diagonal until it was too late.

Round 5:

Last round was another draw as white against blind player Voldi Gailans (88). It was a two knights defence. Enjoyable game even though I was on the defensive for most of it. I couldn't see a way of winning the Queen and 3 pawns versus Queen and 1 pawn endgame, so accepted the draw.

Nice venue and run well as always by Spectrum chess. Bit disappointed with end result of 3 draws and 2 losses, but I think I was playing some strong players. Will hopefully return next year.

Nottingham Rapidplay 2011

2011-01-23T19:49:00.002Z

I played my first competitive matches for over seven months today at the Nottingham Rapidplay. Ended up with four wins and two losses, pretty good seeing how rusty I was.

Entered Minor section as Rapidplay grade of 104 is under the 110 limit (my standard grade this year is 115). Games are 30mins each.

Round 1:
Won with black against junior Andrew Fergusson (grade 68). 1.d4 opening, played Kings Indian defence. After exchanges had bishop pair against knight and bishop. Became a pawn up after exchanging one of the bishops. Went to opposite coloured bishops with rook and about 6 pawns to 4 after forking bishop and pawn. Then pinned his bishop to king with rook. Promoted pawn to Queen and he resigned shortly after.

Round 2:
Lost with white against Matthew Wilson (ungraded - looked too good to be in minor section). He played french defense. He was up a pawn after I pushed e pawn too far. Then got up another pawn after attacking with knight and setting up a bishop-queen diagonal attack. Then I miscalculated to throw away rook when trying to get something out of nothing.

Round 3:
Lost with black against Joshua Field (58). He opened with the English 1.c4 but it transposed into a 1.d4 kings indian. Again I was vulnerable to attacking knight which won a pawn after threatening forks. Lost another pawn after more pressure, then resigned after sacrificing bishop to stop promotion, but couldn't stop another pawn.

Round 4:
Won with white against junior Russell O'Brien (92 rapid, 107 standard). Sicilian opening. Won a bishop for pawn in middle game after pushing f pawn and leaving bishop trapped nowhere to go. Swapped off pieces, got a bit scary with my king protected by just one pawn and open f and g files, but managed to get queen and rook in line forcing checkmate at the opposing end.

Round 5:
Won with black against junior Jonah Willow (UG). Scandinavian defence. He blundered a knight in middle game. I got a few pawns but then blundered knight back. Was bishop endgame with me having more pawns. He had to sacrifice his bishop to stop me promoting. Then it was a race to promote other pawns, but I could just stop his with my remaining bishop. Practiced my Queen v King ending.

Round 6:
Won with white against Ronald Watson (107). He played a Qd6 Scandinavian which I didn't have much of a clue how to play against. Got a good middle game though and broke through when attacked Queen with knight, meaning he had to move it leaving a nice rook and king fork. Struggled a bit when got towards end game with time running short. Eventually sacrificed two rooks for rook and bishop, leaving up a few pawns in pawn endgame. He couldn't stop me promoting one of the two flanks of pawns so won with 1min 30secs to spare.

Oh dear

2009-10-20T21:38:00.001+01:00

Sorry Pete but I couldn't resist putting this game up, I doubt I'll get an easier game against you than this :)

DeanMaddenvPeterBrace.pgn

Draw against Nathan

2009-09-16T05:56:00.002+01:00

My run of good form continued into the game against Nathan last night. I played quite well until the end game where I made my bishop bad and let him get his strong knight in. However he had to sacrifice the knight after it was trapped, and I was up a bishop for two pawns. But he had much the better position.

After a bit of maneuvering we got to a repeating position where he offered a draw. It looked pretty drawish so I accepted. However after analysing with the computer it looks like he was way ahead and could get the bishop back for free if he just took with the c rook. I don't know how we both missed that!

DeanMaddenvNathanAtkins.pgn

First place!

2009-09-14T05:13:00.006+01:00

I don't know how I managed it but I won both games on Sunday, making me outright winner with five wins out of five and £150. First time I've ever won anything! Both were tough long games with the last one lasting 3hrs 55mins. Was exhausted at the end.

One thing I've learnt from the experience is that I'm suited to open unbalanced tactical positions, I felt I was able to calculate more deeply, and when I realised a threat wasn't really a threat I could concentrate on launching better attacks. Also a fair amount of luck went my way.

DeanMaddenvKeithHodgson.pgn

First game was against Keith Hodgson from Bramhall. He played the Petroff defence which I've had very little experience playing against. Thankfully I remembered the moves I wanted to play, in the past I've really blocked myself in.

However he was better out of the opening with a strong knight. But this simplified down and on move 32 I offered a draw, as it was a very even endgame and I thought if anyone was going to win it was him. Luckily for me he turned it down!

So it worked out to be 7 pawns against 7 pawns. 43...d4 is where he made the mistake and over-committed a pawn allowing my king to get in between them. This meant I was a pawn up.

In the position above I played Kb5 but a much easier win would have been Kd6, where he wouldn't be able to stop my e pawn. I initially miscalculated and thought the a pawn had less moves to make to promote by pushing the g pawn as well, but realised he could promote his e pawn at the same time. But luckily my king had the much better position to block his pawn where as mine was unhindered. So he soon resigned.

RichardCantliffvDeanMadden.pgn

Final round was against Richard Cantliff from Fenton. I was hoping an easy short game as was already quite tired. I knew that a draw would make me outright winner, with a loss still giving me a share of 1st prize.

For the third time I faced 1.d4, this time he played what he told me afterwards was the four pawns attack, something I'd never encountered before. But he told me the crucial thing he forgot was Kh1 as f4 exposes the castled king.

A big miscalculation by me was 21...Nxb4 and I thought it had cost me the game. I overlooked that Nb2 would protect both minor pieces from my queen. But he made a bigger mistake and put his rook there instead, allowing Qc5 checking his exposed king and winning a knight and pawns.

In the position below I was sure there was a mate somewhere but couldn't figure it out.

There was actually a mate in 5: 34... Rh1+ 35. Kg3 Nh5+ 36. Kh4 Bf6+ 37. Qg5 hxg5+ 38. Kg4 Qf4#.

I lost the momentum and it simplified down but I still had the advantage. He was by now very short of time, I just played what I thought were sensible moves until his clock ran out. I might have struggled to convert the win otherwise!

A very pleasing overall result, beyond anything I'd imagined.

Leek Congress day 2

2009-09-12T18:04:00.003+01:00

Had a great day at the Leek congress, won both my games so am now on 3 out of 3, with two more games to come tomorrow. A score of 3 is already my best ever result in a tournament.

Second round game was against fellow Spondon member Louise, I felt sorry for her as she blundered early on, and didn't get any chance to fight back.

DeanMaddenvLouiseBrace_0.pgn

Round 3 was against Ray Thomas from Market Drayton. Managed to get it into another open tactical game, and have been calculating well in this tournament. Ray offered a draw after 16 moves but I turned it down as wanted to go for the win.

RayThomasvDeanMadden.pgn

It was the most even game so far, I managed to get a pawn up but couldn't protect it so had to give it back. I managed to activate my remaining rook before his, and because of the back rank threat he played h3, realising when he let go of the piece that the square was attacked with my knight leading to mate. If not for that it was looking very drawish.

Wish me luck for the next two games tomorrow!

Grzybowski

2009-09-12T08:12:00.002+01:00

Had a great win to start off the Leek congress, played the highest rated player in our section, 112 ECF compared to my 83. And to make it even better, he had a surname I can't pronounce so feels like I've beaten a Russian GM.

KarolGrzybowskivDeanMadden.pgn

I seemed to outplay him tactically, very surprising. We played with digital clocks, 2 hrs each for entire game. I've rarely played with them but unlike most people in English chess I think they're great. You know exactly what time you have left, don't have to bend over to try to work out what you've got left and then only have a rough idea. And I don't trust the accuracy of the mechanical clocks, clubs seem to have kept them for decades, and don't need to worry that it's not wound up.

I was up the exchange on move 16. I was surprised when he played 23.f5, not sure if he missed 23...Qxb5 or if it was a miscalculated last throw of the dice.

So I was up two rooks for a bishop. But Queens were still on the board so had to be careful he couldn't perpetually check me. After I forced the exchange of Queens it was over.

Two games today then two tomorrow. Good start but plenty still to do.

New season

2009-09-08T22:11:00.002+01:00

First match of the season tonight was against Ian Gregory in the Spondon club championship. Predictably I got smashed, I never seem to know what to do when the opponent throws their pawns forward. Any advice on what I could have done better would be appreciated.

DeanMaddenvIanGregory.pgn

Derbyshire Individual tournament

2009-09-02T10:01:00.003+01:00

Just a quick plug that I'm the new controller of the Derbyshire Individual tournament which runs over the league season as a seven round swiss. More details at http://www.derbyshirechess.org.uk/

In other news, I'm still playing chess but not much blogging. Tend to twitter more these days. Just sent my entry form off for the Leek Congress over the weekend of 11th-13th Sep.

Notts Congress Rd4&5

2009-05-01T20:44:00.007+01:00

Sunday was a bad day for me after a good first day. I threw away round 4 with a mistake on move 8, miscalculating the resulting position from some trades. I missed a chance to get back into it by not playing Rxd4 below.

PeterMellorvDeanMadden.pgn

Round 5 was the most frustrating game for me. I was ahead but threw it away by not visualising properly.

I was happy that I spotted 11.Ncxe5 below (11...Bxc5 12. Nxe5 Qxe5 13. Bc3 skewers the Queen to the rook). Fritz says 11. Ba5 is even better.

In the position below I played 33 Nxg6. For some reason I thought him taking with the Queen would leave his Rook undefended. Obviously didn't think it through.

Shortly afterwards he put me out of my misery.

DeanMaddenvRonaldWatson.pgn

Notts Congress Rd3

2009-05-01T20:00:00.000+01:00

Round 3 of the Nottingham congress I played Sean McDonald. He played the Pirc defense and I tried to play a symmetrical Kings Indian Attack against it. His big mistake was missing the Knight fork on move 33. I got into deep time trouble in this game, and stopped taking score with a few minutes left, it ended up with King and Rook versus King when he resigned with me having a minute or two left. Move 54 was the one that sealed it for me.

DeanMaddenvSeanMcDonald.pgn

Nottingham Congress 2009

2009-04-25T17:27:00.002+01:00

I'm playing in the minor section of the Nottingham Congress, lost the first game but didn't play too badly. The mistake in the end was deciding to exchange the knight for the bishop. Could maybe have hung on for the draw if I hadn't done that. Second game was a bit too easy, against an ungraded player who I don't think has encountered the Fried Liver before. Games:

MichaelZhangvDeanMadden.pgn

DeanMaddenvArjunNehra.pgn

Mick Orridge - RIP

2009-04-08T05:47:00.002+01:00

I was saddened to hear last night that Mick Orridge, a local player, had passed away on Saturday. He was a genuinely nice guy, and I'll miss him a lot.

I've been told he had been diagnosed with cancer late on in the last few months. He was always energetic and full of life, much more so than a lot of people younger than him.

This season was his first as chairman of Spondon chess club, he'll be missed by everyone.

His funeral is on Friday 17th April 2009 at 1:15pm at Derby crematorium. He wished for donations to be made to Macmillan Cancer Support instead of flowers.

Derbyshire Individual Rd.2

2008-11-19T19:46:00.004Z

I played Harry Ratner in the Derbyshire Individual championship Tuesday night.

DeanMaddenvHarryRatner.pgn

I didn't enjoy the game very much, and misplayed the opening. I should have played 7.Nc3. He launched a good attack on my queenside, and I didn't get much of an attack going towards his kingside which was my aim.

When I was starting to hate the position, I tried opening it up and making it quite sharp. But it didn't really phase him and Harry deserved the win. Hopefully one of these days I'll beat him, but I say that everytime!

The main tactical mistake was in the position below. I played d4, it's one of those moves where you realise the mistake as soon as you let go of the piece, but for whatever reason it didn't register when thinking about it before touching the piece.

This weekend should be fun, it's the Spectrum Chess Derbyshire congress.

English Chess Forum

2008-10-26T07:38:00.002Z

Just a quick note to let people know that the English Chess Forum has had to move location to http://www.ecforum.org.uk/. It was originally the English Chess Federation official forum, but the ECF has decided to disassociate itself with it, blaming it for losing sponsors. Looks more like they don't want freedom of expression to me. Anyway, the ECF has removed any links to it, but I'd recommend the forum to all English players as a good way of debating issues and keeping up to date with the latest news and politics.

Leicester Congress 2008

2008-10-25T19:36:00.000+01:00

I played in the amateur (u80ECF) section of the Leicester congress over the weekend of 10-12th October. Better late than never, here's how I got on.

Unusually for this time of year, we had some very bright and sunny days. The venue unfortunately had no blinds or curtains in the smallish hall we played in, meaning a lot of players were looking directly into the sun in the afternoon games. This was a bit of a let down as the venue for last years congress was much better and bigger.

Anyway I ended on 2/5, with four draws and one loss out of the five games. Too many draws, and I feel like I had good winning chances in most of the games including the loss. But I was happy to play in some good competitive games and a few of them went to interesting end games.

DeanMaddenvRichardGreenwood.pgn

Game 1 on Friday night was against Richard Greenwood (69ECF) of Northampton. It got down to a Queen and Rook endgame, and I felt he had a stronger position. I had a chance of perpetual check and took it, as he had a mating threat on f2. However it looks like I could have played Re2 and have better chances.

PeterBracevDeanMadden.pgn

Game 2 on Saturday morning was against fellow Spondon player Peter Brace, I was hoping they might keep players from the same club apart. It was pretty much a fair draw with no big mistakes by either of us.

DeanMaddenvColinRoss.pgn

My sole loss was against Colin Ross (73ECF) of Littlethorpe, who apparently reads this blog, so I can't saying anything nasty about him :).

In the position above, Colin chose to sacrifice his knight by taking g4, which looks to probably be a mistake, although he does get 2 pawns and opens up my king. As the pieces were traded off he got a passed pawn on the h-file which caused me a lot of trouble.

In the position above I threw the game away by playing Qxg3, totally miscalculating that h1Q, Bxh1 leaves my Queen undefended. Qf8+ would have given me possible winning chances.

LucaszKacprzakvDeanMadden.pgn

The Sunday morning game against Lucas had a massively tactical opening, so I thought it'd be over quick, but it dragged out into a long game and I had little time left on my clock at the end.

It worked into a Queen, Rook and more pawns versus Queen and 2 Knights. I should really have won this game, but didn't kill him off.

DeanMaddenvDorothyBlampied.pgn

The last game against Dorothy was bit of a non-event. I was very uncomfortable with the sun in my face, and was very thankful to accept a draw offer after 20 moves.

Chess blindness

2008-09-17T19:49:00.004+01:00

Last night I had a nice game against Howard Bradbury in the club championship, another long game where I hung on for a while but was gradually outplayed towards the end when he launched his attacks. I'm not too disappointed as I can see myself improving and learning from these types of games. I'm holding on for much longer in games and making less mistakes. These sorts of games will give me experience and hopefully I can improve my mid to end game technique.

HowardBradburyvDeanMadden.pgn

I allowed too many of his pieces to assemble around my king and on move 29 had to sacrifice rook for knight due to a mating threat.

On move 39 I had the position below. For the life of me I have no idea why I played Ne5, can't remember what I was thinking at all. Must have been a moment of chess blindness. If I would have played Nf6, Fritz thinks I'm back in the game. His rook is close to getting trapped and the e4 pawn is the only thing defending it.

Leek Congress rd 4&5

2008-09-15T18:37:00.005+01:00

I had a much more enjoyable day on Sunday at the Leek Congress (not sure why we in England call tournaments congresses). Even though I lost both games, they were good and competitive against stronger players with lots for me to learn.

The first game was against Alan Millward (95ECF) who plays for Macclesfield. We had a long analysis of the game afterwards, and I learnt a lot when he explained things he was thinking during the game.

DeanMaddenvAlanPMillward.pgn

He started off playing the Scandinavian but then fianchettoed kingside which I hadn't seen before. On move 20 he blundered his rook for a bishop, but I didn't have a massive advantage with him having the bishop pair.

I think one of my weakness is trying to form a plan for launching an attack. More experienced players tend to sense at the right moment when to start throwing pawns forward towards the enemy king, whereas I tend to play more passively and wait for things to happen. Anyone have any ideas on how I can improve this?

For example in this game, for ten or so moves, Fritz is screaming at me to play h4, h5, but the thought never occurred to me as I naturally think it will weaken my own king?

In the position below I blundered my rook back to even up the game by playing Qc1 leaving me open for Bh6. I tend to overlook bishop tactics quite often I've noticed, whereas I always check for knights. Something I need to actively think about I guess.

After this I was hoping for a draw, so in the position below I exchanged the knight with the bishop to simplify down. But this was a mistake as the knight in this position is stronger, and exchanging leaves his rook with the open file. It's nice to get to this stage of a game and have to think about it though!

He kept control of the open file and gradually squeezed my position until I was running out of moves and just moving the king back and forth. After swapping queens, my rook was stuck defending the b2 pawn and he could bring his king out to attack the pawns on the other side.

Final game was against Paul Clapham (82ECF) who plays for nearby Newcastle Under Lyme.

PaulJClaphamvDeanMadden.pgn

I rattled off the first 13 moves very quickly whereas he took a lot of time. But after completing the development I was trying to think of a plan of attack, whereas I should probably have had a bit more patience in this case and tried to control the centre.

I think the position below is where I started to go wrong. I moved the king to a8, but this was boxing it in and leaving it without anywhere to escape whereas moving it to e.g. c7 would have made it more active and less easily trapped. Also my light-squared bishop was particularly useless in this game, I'm not sure how I could have got it more involved.

He then picked the right moment to launch his pawns at my king, supported by his rooks, and my king was trapped in the firing line. I made it worse by hemming in the king with more pieces, until his attack was a winning one.

A brief circles update, the chess workbook section has been put on hold for the time being due to other things occurring. But I've been ploughing away at Chess Tactics server on and off.

Leek Congress

2008-09-13T18:04:00.003+01:00

Round one of the Leek congress last night was against Nicholas McLean, graded 96ECF.

DeanMaddenvNicholasMcLean.pgn

I played the Moller attack against him but got confused when he played 7...Bxc3, as most people play Nxe4. On move 9 I should have played d5 instead of castling. It was one of the rare games where it was pretty much lost in the opening, I never got into the game and not much more to say about it.

I turned up for round two this morning and was paired against John Fenby, then with 2 minutes to go they announced some repairings. When I looked at the board I was the odd one out without an opponent. I'm pretty annoyed because there was at least one person who turned up at the venue to enter just 10 minutes before the start of the round, and just happened to be a member of the organisers club, then he gets a game but someone like me who applied a couple of weeks ago doesn't get a game.

So anyways I had to kill four hours, and then turned up for round 3 against a 13yr old called Adam S Arshad.

AdamSArshadvDeanMadden.pgn

To be honest he didn't seem to be much interested in playing, not recording his moves, and offering a draw after about 10 moves.

Move 14 I was a Queen up, and just played sensibly until he resigned.

Hopefully I'll have some more interesting games tomorrow!

New season

2008-09-12T07:00:00.000+01:00

A new season in English chess started for me Tuesday night. I played Ted Pye in the Spondon club championship, a competition that runs throughout the season, an all play all for the members of the club. I counted about 18 people who turned up.

I've had many interesting games against Ted, usually wildly tactical. He was one of the first people I played when I joined a couple of years ago. He used to slaughter me all the time, but the games are more even now and I've managed to beat him once or twice. His ECF grade is about the same as mine, but he has a lot more playing experience and so outplays me in positions that I'm not used to. Luckily for me, he makes tactical mistakes, which I sometimes do and sometimes don't spot, and he doesn't always capitalise on my mistakes. He tends to make very open positions where lots of tactics crop up, I've noticed he tends to get frustrated in closed positions and throws pawns forward to open it up.

TedPyevDeanMadden.pgn

So anyway, this was a typical game. I made a mistake so that he had a material advantage, he made a mistake to allow me to have the advantage, he then had the advantage after another mistake, and finally mated me. Lots of things to go over. The good thing is I have lots of things to think about and try and learn from the game.

He played 2. Bd3 against my Scandinavian, a move I hadn't seen before and which I think he just makes up as he plays it. I thought about taking the pawn, but wasn't sure how it would play out so decided on developing my pieces.

The game got difficult for me when I played 22...Kg7 below. This allowed him to play Ng5, attacking the h7 pawn with his rook. I then played Qg8, allowing him to force a trade of my Queen for his rook and knight.

In the position below he played Qg1, but this allowed me to play Bf4+, also attacking his rook. He was able to then fork the rooks with his bishop, but for some reason decided not to take one.

However after this I was getting tired and didn't know how I was supposed to force a win with rooks and a knight versus a queen.

I then made the fatal error of playing Be5 below, not noticing he can fork king and rook on e3. Hen then ended it with a nice mate.

This weekend I'll be playing in the Leek congress, one game on Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday, each 2 hours per player long. I'm not sure if there will be relatively weaker players like myself so don't know if I'll expect to pick up any points. Looking forward to it anyway.

BLundering against BLoomes

2008-08-27T20:04:00.005+01:00

Last night I played the final club championship game of the season against Bert Loomes. When I've previously played against him with white he used to play the Philidor, but this time he played the French defence, with some moves that totally threw me. I was lost very early on.

When he played 4...Ba6, I just carried on playing the standard Kings Indian Attack, but in this case I should have altered the plan, playing Be2 so that I could castle safely.

In the position below, I miscalculated and played Bf1, overlooking that taking back with the Knight leaves me unable to castle. I could have in fact trapped his bishop by playing b4 followed by e5.

I then blundered by moving my Queen instead of taking back the bishop, thinking I'd discovered a way out of the mess.

DeanMaddenvBertLoomes_0.pgn

Peter Brace

2008-08-13T19:55:00.004+01:00

I played Peter Brace for the first time yesterday. It was an okayish game but I was pretty disappointed with myself for never really getting any advantage in it. I was impressed with how Peter managed to usually pick the right move and didn't appear to make any major mistakes. The big mistake was from me when I allowed my knight to run out of escape squares.

I attempted to play the closed Sicilian as white for the second time, but soon forgot what I was supposed to be doing. I decided to give up my fianchettoed bishop to give him doubled pawns. Still not sure whether it was the right thing to do as it left him with the bishop pair and I had weakened pawns on the kingside.

I made a mistake in the position below:

I played b3 without thinking about how it lines up the Queen and a1 rook for a skewer. It's little things like that what I need to consider more, I tend to not think about them, that and making sure my pieces always have adequate escape squares.

The e4 knight was then trapped when attacked by a pawn, and once moved he could execute the skewer.

I played on for a bit since I still had two rooks, but Peter played accurately enough to force the win.

DeanMaddenvPeteBrace.pgn

Before the game, Ian had me, Martin and Bert playing some weird team game where if you take a piece from your opponent, you can give it to your partner for his board. So lots of silly positions arose.

Smashed

2008-07-31T20:46:00.002+01:00

Tuesday night I got smashed against the strongest regular player at the club, Ian Gregory, in a club championship game. It was an interesting game where I made an unsound sacrifice, but I was never really in the game and it was good to see how he gradually built up his attack with massive control of the centre files.

IanGregoryvDeanMadden.pgn

There's a good post on the Boylston Chess Club Weblog, which sort of sums up why I am enjoying OTB chess much more than Internet chess. Something else I've found is that it helps to get rid of any other nagging worries and stress, because you're just totally engrossed in the board for a couple of hours.

Improve your chess

2008-07-28T20:54:00.002+01:00

Tom Chivers at Streatham & Brixton Chess Club blog has written a series of great articles documenting how he has improved his chess strength in one season by 23 ECF points after being at the same level for a number of years. Some of it is probably somewhat above my current level, but there are plenty of interesting bits to think about:

http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2008/07/improve-your-chess-i-why-coach-others.html

http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2008/07/improve-your-chess-ii-vice-and-advice.html

http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2008/07/improve-your-chess-iii-simulation-not.html

http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2008/07/improve-your-chess-iv-read-rowson.html

Gary Davison

2008-07-23T18:28:00.007+01:00

8th and final round of the Spondon Summer Open was against Gary Davison. I was originally paired with Stuart Tabberer, but we got repaired after playing a few moves so that Gary could play someone he hadn't already played. In the position below I played 9...Nxd3, but better would have been Nfd7, attacking the loose knight and also threatening Nc5.

The main turning point of the game was the position below:

I'd just played 11...h6, and instead of moving the knight he played h4, sacrificing the knight for an open h-file for his rook. But he wasn't able to take advantage of it so was probably unsound.

Gary spent a long time thinking about move 16, probably about 20mins. So he then had about 15mins left for the 14 moves left until the time control. I just carried on taking my time to find the right moves, and let him bother about the time. I created a very strong attack, and on move 25 with a couple of minutes left he dropped his queen.

Very pleasing end to a good tournament for me: 3wins, 1 draw and 3 losses. Much better than 1 win and 1 draw from 8 last year.

GaryDavisonvDeanMadden.pgn

New grade: 56

2008-07-21T07:23:00.003+01:00

I'm pleased with my new ECF grade of 56, an increase of 10 points. So I've improved a bit.

Field	Value	Description
Ref	269843C	Grading reference
Name	Madden, Dean	Name of player, surname first
Sex	M
Age		Juniors only, Age on September 1st of current season
Club(s)	Spondon Derbyshire CA	Club(s) player is listed for
Nation		Nationality code
FIDE		FIDE code

Standard
Category	A	Category A-E
Grade	56	Current Standard grade (amended version, if appropriate)
	56	Standard grade (original unamended)
Games	39	Standard games played, latest season
	39	Standard games counted (total)

Rapid
Category	E	Category A-E or X
Grade	63	Current Rapid grade (amended version, if appropriate)
	63	Rapid grade (original unamended)
Games	6	Rapid games played, latest season
	12	Rapid games counted (total)

Grade history

Date	Cat	Standard	Cat	Rapid
July 2008	A	56	E	63
Jan 2008 RP
July 2007	E	46

Here's the complete list for Spondon:

Ref	Name	Category	Grade	Last Year	Cat	Rapid	Last Year
111035E	Gamble, Raymond J	A	152	152
231082L	Gregory, Ian	B	149	142
210967A	Makinson, Paul A	D	138	137
107427B	Brown, David J	A	132	147			157
164809D	Carter, Mark AK	C	131	127
166596A	Sands, J Graham	D	115	114
187429K	Sheldon, Philip	B	113	98
116587C	Pace, Graham J	B	103	105
233557J	Bradbury, Howard	B	100	90
253102B	Wright, Nigel	C	100	97	D	106
265846L	Atkins, Nathan	A	99	101	D	95
107075H	Bowes, Getting T	D	97	92
107186F	Bramley, Douglas	A	93	91
268242E	Hickling, Richard P	C	92	84
114581C	Loomes, Herbert TT	B	81	94
116506K	Orridge, MJ	B	76	71
117666D	Ratner, Harry AJ	B	75	78
231470J	Davison, Gary	C	67	77
265349H	Tabberer, Stuart	C	59	61
269843C	Madden, Dean	A	56	46	E	63
274208B	Brace, Peter	E	56
265866F	Pye, Ted	C	55	55
265851D	Gibson, Martin	B	52	55
264243J	Pacitto, Joseph A	C	33	38	D	37	37

24 Record(s) Found

Round 7 versus Bert

2008-07-19T16:32:00.006+01:00

In round 7 last Tuesday I was initially scheduled to play Harry Ratner, but since he didn't appear, organiser Bert Loomes took his place instead. It was a very interesting game, which I could probably spend hours analysing. It was very tight at the start, but then burst open with lots of tactical opportunities. I would have been happy with the draw initially, as I think I've always lost to him previously, but should really have won the game with the chances I had.

He played the Philidor defence, which looks to me as somewhat defensive for black, and blocks his own pieces in. So I tried to play positive and attacking, developing my pieces to good squares. It looks like I should have taken his pawn on e5 early on, as it would make the pawn that he takes back with very vulnerable. Below is the position before my 13th move.

I struggled for a while to come up with any ideas. I thought about Nh4, but saw that he could play Nxe4 leaving a discovered attack on h4. So I dismissed it, thought about other stuff, reconsidered Nh4, and played it forgetting what I'd only just thought about!

I was very lucky in that white is actually attacking the d6 pawn with his knight if black takes the h4 knight, which then leads to a fork of king and b7 bishop. He actually played 14...Bxd5 leaving the position below.

I rightly spotted Ba5 which attacks both the queen and d5 bishop, leading to a great position, even though the h4 knight is still undefended. When he played Nb6, I should have just taken it as I would still have the same advantage. But I picked the moves in the wrong order, and played Qxd5 instead. I was lucky in that he took back with his bishop after we swapped queens, as it lead to the position below:

I can now play Bxb5 because of the undefended rook. After he then moved his king, I missed the obvious bishop fork on c6, I was too worried about moving the h4 knight to safety. After that I threw away more of my advantage by not playing simply and safely, looking for tactics where there weren't any.

I managed to keep a pawn advantage going into a rook endgame, but didn't really have any strategy on how to force a win. I was trying to push a passed pawn, but he was able to defend against it easily. I should have got my king involved more, but kept putting it off. We swapped off rooks and it was a very drawish 2 pawns each endgame. I offered a draw in the position below but he wanted to play on.

He played e3, which was in fact a big blunder but I didn't take advantage of it. I played Kf1 to stop his pawn, but the possible winning move would have been f4, as I could still take his pawn later, and would have a pawn advantage. There would still be plenty of work to do, but would have had better chances.

Anyway I ended up with pawn against king, but had no chance of winning due to losing the opposition.

DeanMaddenvBertLoomes.pgn

Terry Pearson

2008-07-12T13:38:00.003+01:00

Tuesday night I played Terry Pearson (rated 124 ECF) in the 6th (out of 8) round of the Spondon Summer Open. I had a decent position up to the 17th move when he'd just played Be3:

I played Rxe4, figuring I'd have the advantage when I could take back his bishop with my bishop. But I didn't calculate any further ahead than that, missing where he could play Bxb6 threatening my queen and attacking my now undefended bishop on e4. A better move in the position above would have been Bxe4, he could have taken my rook but I would be able to win another minor piece.

After this he proved the superiority of two rooks against a rook and minor piece, and finished me off nicely.

TerryPearsonvDeanMadden.pgn

Round 5 win

2008-07-02T12:26:00.007+01:00

Last night I played Louise for the first time in a long time control game. My idea was to play the closed Sicilian against her, but as is typical for my memory, I forgot move 3 was supposed to be g3, not d3. This didn't seem to make much difference to the game, and I suppose shows that learning openings is a waste of time for me and I might as well play any old move that develops or helps strengthen my position to get to an evenish middlegame.

By move 14, I'd just played Na4, and Louise had a much better position with a strong pawn centre and better placed pieces. But I think she pushed a bit too much by playing c4. This gave me a nice square for the Knight on c5, and weakened the pawn structure. She pushed the same pawn again which left me a pawn up. Shortly after I won another pawn.

The big mistake, easy to make, was playing Nd7 above. This allowed me to take the knight for free due to the discovered check from the Queen. Shortly after I skewered her Queen to pick up the rook for a bishop and she resigned on move 30.

I'm sure she'll have better luck next time, and is already much better than I was after only playing for a few months.

John Powell

2008-06-17T21:27:00.012+01:00

This evening I won against John Powell in Round 3 of the Spondon Summer Open. A bit of a strange game, where I was never really comfortable but managed to make the most of the strange opening and capitalised on my opponents mistakes.

[Event "Spondon Summer Open"]
[Date "2008.06.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "John Powell"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]

1. e4 b6 2. d3 Bb7 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 e6 5. Bg2 Nge7 6. O-O Ng6 7. Nc3 Be7 8. Bd2 d6 9. Re1 h5 10. h4 Nce5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Bf4 Ng6 13. Be3 Qd7 14. Bf3 Ne5 15. Bxh5 g6 16. Be2 Qd8 17. d4 Nd7 18. Bf3 Bxh4 19. gxh4 Qxh4 20. Kf1 Nf6 21. Ke2 Nxe4 22. Nxe4 Bxe4 23. Rh1 Bxf3+ 24. Kxf3 Qxh1+ 25. Qxh1 Rxh1 26. Rxh1 O-O-O 27. Rh7 Rd7 28. Rh8+ Kb7 29. Bg5 e5 30. Rd8 Kc6 1-0

He played 1...b6 which I can't remember playing against before, not sure if it's even got a name.

On move 15 I won a pawn, but I had a scare on move 18 when he sacrificed his bishop by taking my pawn on h4 and I was worried he had a mating attack:

But luckily my king had space and time to escape. We then came down to a rook, bishop and 5 pawns versus rook and seven pawns endgame. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to force a win.

Above I'd just played 30.Rd8, he then played Kc6 and I said I'll move the clocks back for the time control. He suggested a draw which I declined, then as I was picking up the clock he realised his mistake and resigned. I could play d5+ which gives me the rook. I hadn't noticed it yet as was concentrating on the clocks, so who knows if I would have actually played it? A strange end to the game.

Game in ChessFlash format:

Spondon Chess Club. Results
Summer Open Championship.2008

Round 1
Archer Barry W ½ - ½ Atkins Nathan
Heelan David W 1½ - 0 Bowes Getting T
Williams David ½ - ½ Gregory Ian
Hartley Dean M 1½ - 0 Sheldon Phillip
Brown David 1½ - 0 Bradbury Howard
Burke Steve 1½ - 0 Bramely Doug
Loomes Herbert 0 – 1½ Pace Graham
Smith Phil 1½ - 0 Madden Dean
Hickling Richard 1½ - 0 Orridge Mick
Davison Gary 0 -1½ Pye Ted
Tabberer Stuart ½ - ½ Gibson Martin
Somers Malcolm 0 – 1½ Brace Peter
Crawley John 1½ - 0 Brace Louise
Kirk Colin 1½ - 0 Hill Fred

Round 2
Crawley John 0 – 1½ Burke Steve
Brace Louise 1½ - 0 Bradbury Howard
Brace Peter 1½ - 0 Smith Phil
Praeson Terry 1½ - 0 Davison Gary
Gibson Martin 0 – 1½ Williams David
Ratner Harry 0 – 1½ Somers Malcolm
Gregory Ian 1½ - 0 Archer Barry W
Pye Ted 1½ - 0 Hickling Richard
Atkins Nathan 1½ - 0 Tabberer Stuart
Pace Graham 0 – 1½ Hartley Dean M
Kirk Colin 0 – 1½ Heelan David W
Orridge Mick 1½ - 0 Sheldon Phillip
Bramely Doug ½ - ½ Bowes Getting T

Round 3
Bowes Getting T 1½ - Gibson Martin
Burke Steve ½ - ½ Gregory Ian
Heelan David W 1½ - 0 Brace Peter
Hartley Dean M 1½ - 0 Pye Ted
Williams David ½ - ½ Atkins Nathan
Hickling Richard 1½ - 0 Crawley John
Somers Malcolm 0 – 1½ Orridge Mick
Smith Phil 0 – 1½ Praeson Terry
Brace Louise 0 – 1½ Kirk Colin
Tabberer Stuart 0 – 1½ Bramely Doug
Madden Dean 1½ - 0 Powell John
Davison Gary 0 – 1½ O’Flannagan Paul
Bradbury Howard 1½ v 0 Ratner Harry
Sheldon Phillip ½ - ½ Loomes Herbert

Gregory Ian 2½
Madden Dean 1½
Archer Barry W ½
Gibson Martin ½
Heelan David W 4½
Somers Malcolm 1½
Brace Louise 1½
Brace Peter 3
Tabberer Stuart ½
Atkins Nathan 2½
Hartley Dean M 4½
Bowes Getting T 2
Kirk Colin 3
Smith Phil 1½
Bradbury Howard 1½
Hill Fred 0
Pye Ted 3

Burke Steve 3½
Hickling Richard 3
Williams David 2½
Pace Graham 1½
Sheldon Phillip ½
Bramely Doug 2
Crawley John 1½
Orridge Mick 3
Davison Gary 0
Loomes Herbert ½
Ratner Harry 0
Pearson Terry 3
O’Flannagan Paul H 1½
Powell John 0

Dave Brown - Rest in Peace

2008-06-14T21:56:00.003+01:00

I've just read the very sad news that a local player called Dave Brown died last Monday. He played most Tuesdays at Spondon, as well as for Long Eaton chess club. He was a great player who always played with a smile and was very kind and helpful. A sad loss.

It was reported in the Notts News newsletter:

Dave Brown†
Geoff Gibson sends the sad and unexpected news that Long
Eaton’s Dave Brown has died. He writes:
Dave passed away at home [on Monday 9 June] following his
return from cycling to Long Eaton – he had planned to go
further, but changed his mind and returned home – perhaps
he had a premonition of what was coming?
It seems he had a heart attack on his settee and passed as
he had lived – a quiet, dignified man, a little eccentric but
much-loved by all who knew him.
His wife said he has requested no funeral, but the family will
hold a wake in his honour – details to be advised. His only
request was that a beech tree be planted in his memory.
And I’ll just add this: Dave was one of the tiny handful of
players who seemed to treat winning and losing exactly the
same. Whether resigning or accepting his opponent’s
resignation, Dave always had a smile on his face. He will be
missed.

Spondon Summer Open Round 1

2008-06-04T14:33:00.024+01:00

Last night was the first round of the Spondon Summer Open, an 8 round swiss tournament that runs during the off-season summer break and attracts players from other local clubs that close over the summer.

[Event "Spondon Summer Open"]
[Date "2008.06.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Phil Smith"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Qf3 Qxf3 4. Nxf3 Nf6 5. h3 Bf5 6. d3 Nc6 7. c3 O-O-O 8. d4 g6 9. Ng5 Be6 10. Nxe6 fxe6 11. Bc4 e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Be2 Bg7 14. Be3 Kb8 15. O-O Nd5 16. Bd4 Rhg8 17. Bxe5 Bxe5 18. Bf3 Nf4 19. Na3 Nd3 20. Rab1 Rgf8 21. Nc4 Bf6 22. Na5 c6 23. Bxc6 bxc6 24. Nxc6+ Ka8 25. Nxd8 Rxd8 26. Rfd1 e5 27. g3 e4 28. Kf1 Kb7 29. Ke2 Bg5 30. f3 exf3+ 31. Kxf3 Ne5+ 32. Ke4 Re8 33. Kd5 Kc7 34. Re1 Bf6 35. Rbd1 Bg7 36. b4 Rd8+ 37. Kc5 Bf8+ 38. Kb5 Rb8+ 39. Ka4 Nc4 40. Kb3 Na5+ 41. Ka4 Nc4 42. Kb3 Na5+ 43. Kc2 Nc4 44. Rd4 Na3+ 45. Kb2 Nb5 46. Rc4+ Kb6 47. Re6+ Bd6 48. a4 1-0

I played Phil Smith, the same opponent I played in Round 1 last year. I managed a draw then, but last night played as black against him for the first time and lost.

He played an unusual 3rd move of Qf3, I was a bit worried how to defend against it so just exchanged queens.

My 8th move was a mistake, I played g6 above, allowing his knight to move to g5, attacking f7. This weakened the pawn structure.

By move 22 he'd taken a rook and 2 pawns for a knight and a bishop. I thought I'd blundered to allow him to do this, but Fritz still gives me the advantage. However I think you need a lot of skill to co-ordinate and prove that two minor pieces are better than a rook.

I was desperate to keep my rook on the board and tried to keep the bishop and knight active, and did quite well for a while.

The big move I missed was at move 38 above. I'd just been checking and chasing his king around, so automatically played Bf8+, i.e. as Bobby Fischer said: 'Patzer sees check, patzer gives check'.

I should have played Nd3+ instead, winning a rook for a knight. His rooks then forced the advantage and I resigned on move 48 below.

I'm on holiday for round 2 next week, so will hopefully do better in round 3!

Update:

Here's the game in the ChessFlash application, see ChessFlash.com for more details.

Crumbled by Bramley

2008-05-14T20:26:00.007+01:00

I played Doug Bramley in the club championship last night, an enjoyable interesting game, but I was on the back foot for most of it.

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2007/08"]
[Date "2008.05.13"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Doug Bramley"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C00"]

1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 dxe4 5. dxe4 Bc5 6. h3 O-O 7. Bd3 h6 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Re1 e5 10. Nc4 Re8 11. Bd2 a6 12. Ne3 Ba7 13. Nf5 Nc5 14. N3h4 Bxf5 15. Nxf5 Nxd3 16. cxd3 Qxd3 17. Bxh6 Qxd1 18. Raxd1 gxh6 19. Nxh6+ Kg7 20. Nf5+ Kf8 21. g4 Red8 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23. Re2 Rd7 24. Kg2 Ne8 25. Kg3 Ng7 26. Nh6 Ne6 27. f3 f6 28. h4 Kg7 29. Nf5+ Kh7 30. Rg2 Rd3 31. Rh2 Be3 32. Re2 Bf4+ 33. Kg2 Nd4 34. Nxd4 Rxd4 35. Rc2 Rd2+ 36. Rxd2 Bxd2 37. Kh3 c5 38. h5 b5 39. Kg2 b4 40. b3 Kg7 41. Kf1 Kf7 42. Ke2 Bf4 43. Kd3 Ke6 44. Kc4 Kd6 45. Kd3 Kc6 46. Kc4 Bg5 47. Kd3 Kb5 48. Kc2 a5 49. Kb2 c4 50. a4+ bxa3+ 51. Kxa3 c3 0-1

It was the first time I'd played him as white, he played the French. I'd just been reading about the best way to play Kings Indian Attack against different openings a couple of days ago, but foolishly skipped the French section as hadn't played against it in ages, doh!

Above is what I was looking at on move 6, he's just played the bishop to c5. I was now worried about him playing Ng4 and taking on f2, so played the weak h3. Better would have been to move the bishop then castle. Letting him take the rook for two pieces would have been ok.

Later on I had chances to push to e5, but left it too late, this left me with a weaker position.

By move 14 above I'd decide on the plan of action to attack his kingside, no matter if it was viable or not (it wasn't). So instead of defending the e4 pawn decided on a fruitless attack.

By move 17 above, I'd realised I'd messed up so decide to take a punt (i.e. make it worse) and sacrifice the bishop to h6. A better move would have been Nxg7 as taking it would have allowed me a discovered attack on his Queen.

I played on as I had 4 pawns against 2 on the kingside but his extra bishop was too strong and I never got anywhere. I certainly learned a lot from the endgame, i.e. how to win it from his side.

I've been reading Silmans Endgame book recently and am trying to digest the Lucena and Philidor positions, so will probably have a post on them soon.

GM Nigel Davies has been blogging recently at Tigerchess, interesting stuff. However I think he's gone a bit overboard in the stuff he's been writing about regarding a post at the Streatham & Brixton blog. Amusing comments here.

There's also been a lot of aggravation going on at English Chess Federation forum, after a number of board members resigned recently.

Jamboree 2008

2008-05-09T11:26:00.002+01:00

Last night was the Derby League end of season Jamboree. It's a four round quick play team competition. My first one was last year and I ended on zero. This time I ended up with one win and three losses so by my calculations I'll win every game in 2011.

The games were initially scheduled for 20mins each but were cut down to 15mins due to traffic problems causing delays for some players. I enjoyed the event, but am still quite poor at playing quickly. I either play too fast and blunder, or play too slow and run out of time.

First game was against Mick Orridge, he broke through my kingside very quickly and I was thinking I might lose within the first couple of minutes. But I managed to hang on and had a healthy lead in time. But then when he noticed he was behind on time he played faster and I started hesitating. He had a much stronger position, and eventually my flag fell when I'd ran out of ideas.

Game 2 was against someone who plays for Derby & Mickleover but I can't remember his name. This was one where I played too quickly and blundered early on. He played fast but very accurate.

I got my sole win against Barry Lings in round 3. We got down to an evenish endgame with him having about 8mins left and me 1min. I was able to promote a pawn and luckily stumbled into a mating position with about 10 seconds left.

Round 4 I lost to a girl! Only kidding Pete & Louise if you read this. I was a piece up early on, but shortly afterwards I gave a piece away too and we came to an evenish rook and pawns endgame. However I'd been playing much slower so didn't have much time left. I'm sure we both made loads of mistakes in the endgame, but she played better and when the dust cleared she had forced me to exchange rooks and had an unreachable passed pawn.

The Rolls Royce venue was great and I hope we play there again. Will post the full results here when the hardworking Bert sends them out.

Update:

Jamboree 2008
At Rolls Royce Chess Club (Nightingale Hall)
Thursday May 8th 2008

Open
CHESTERFIELD (A) 12½ Winner
BREADSALL (A) 10½
BELPER (A) 10
DERBY/MICK (A) 6½
ROLLS ROYCE (A) 4½
SPONDON (A) 4

Minor
SPONDON (B) 11 Winner
DERBY/MICK (B) 8
ROLLS ROYCE (B) 7
SPONDON (D) 6½
SPONDON (C) 4½

Bert Loomes, Phil Smith and myself played for Spondon D; Gary Davison, Martin Gibson, and Pete & Louise Brace played for Spondon C; Spondon B were Doug Bramley, Mick Orridge, Phil Sheldon and Graham Pace; Spondon A were Ian Gregory, Mark Carter, Howard Bradbury and Richard Hickling (from what I can remember).

The Spondon Summer Open (an 8 round swiss) starts in June, very much looking forward to it.

Last round of Derbyshire Individual

2008-05-07T19:27:00.008+01:00

I played Barry Archer last night, and got a draw in a very enjoyable game. That leaves my final score out of the 7 rounds standing at 4 draws and 3 losses. Doesn't sound great, but seeing as I was easily the lowest ranked player in the 16 entrants, I'm more than happy with it, as I was expecting to end on zero.

[Event "Derbyshire Individual 2007/08 Round 7"]
[Date "2008.05.06"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Barry Archer"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 c6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Be2 Bf5 7. Bd2 Qc7 8. O-O e6 9. Nh4 Bg6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. g3 Nbd7 12. Bf3 O-O-O 13. Re1 Qb6 14. Bc1 Nb8 15. Ne2 Bc5 16. c3 e5 17. b4 Be7 18. Qb3 e4 19. Bg2 Rhf8 20. Bg5 Rde8 21. Nf4 Bd6 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. Rxe4 Rxe4 24. Bxe4 Bxf4 25. gxf4 Qc7 26. f5 gxf5 27. Bxf5+ Kd8 28. c4 Qf4 29. Bc2 Rg8+ 30. Kf1 Qxh2 31. Rd1 Qh1+ 32. Ke2 Re8+ 33. Kd2 Qh6+ 34. Kc3 Re2 35. c5 Rxf2 36. Qxf7 Rf3+ 37. Kb2 Kc8 38. Re1 Re3 39. Bf5+ Kd8 40. Rxe3 Qxe3 41. Qxf6+ Qe7 42. Qxe7+ Kxe7 43. Kc3 b5 44. cxb6 axb6 45. Kc4 Kd6 46. a4 Kc7 47. b5 Kd6 48. bxc6 Nxc6 49. Be4 Na5+ 50. Kb5 Kc7 51. d5 Nb3 52. d6+ 1/2-1/2

Above, 9.Nh4 was a move I hadn't seen before in the Scandinavian. After a good think I chose the correct Bg6, as I figured that him taking the bishop would allow me to take back with the h-pawn and even though I had doubled pawns the open h-file for my rook would be worth it and would allow me a chance to castle longside and launch an attack on his kingside.

I overcommitted a bit in the early middle game, thinking I had more of an attack than was really justified, and left some weaknesses for him to exploit. By move 23 he was up a pawn, but was forced to weaken his kingside pawn structure in the process.

On move 29 I had the nice position above where I was able to harass his king and get a pawn back. But I let the attack fizzle out and again he exploited weaknesses and picked up another pawn, I was lucky he overlooked some more dangerous tactical opportunities.

By move 43, we reached the endgame position above, and I was expecting to lose. I just played on because I didn't particularly know how I would exploit it so was hoping to learn from his play.

The game ended when he played 52.d6 and offered a draw. This position is indeed a draw according to Fritz, but it looks like he threw it away with 51.d5.

Howards Way

2008-04-30T19:18:00.005+01:00

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:

CTS current rating

2008-04-29T06:23:00.005+01:00

I've decided on making Chess Tactics Server part of my official training, not sure on how I'll monitor it, but it's just something I enjoy doing now and then, it's very easy to just open it up and do a few problems. My current ratings etc are below. I don't think I'm really rated around 1163, but this just reflects the fact that I play quite slowly, if I can speed up a bit it will help my game I think.

Rating 1163
RD 57.4
Tries 829
Success 71.2 %
Highest rating 1181
Date of highest rating 2007-12-08 21:26:03
Latest action 2008-04-28 21:46:20

Looking back at some older posts, my rating is slowly rising, what I hope to get out of it is speed in recognising the basic motifs, whereas my circles training will focus on slightly more difficult problems.

Oct07:
Rating 1105
RD 51.1
Tries 583
Success 71.4 %
Highest rating 1146
Date of highest rating 2007-10-06 22:09:59
Latest action 2007-10-18 22:11:55

Aug07:
Rating 1100
RD 39.2
Tries 290
Success 70.7 %
Highest rating 1100
Date of highest rating 2007-08-12 12:09:55
Latest action 2007-08-12 12:09:55

Update: I've been on a bit of a roll and have got it up to 1215, hopefully this reflects the improvements I've made in my game in the last 6 months or so.

Getting back into the circles

2008-04-28T12:17:00.002+01:00

I'm about to continue with the circles, after I put it on hold for a couple of months. I'd got through 136 problems, with about 50% accuracy. So that seems as good enough a point to start on circle 2. I realise the classic way of doing the circles was to do the whole thousand problems in one go, but it seems the alternative way of doing mini-sets works quite good as well. So will see how quickly I can go through the 136 again, and how accurately, then decide on whether to do another circle of the same problems or try another set. As I'm doing the problems from a book, I tend to just do them on lunch breaks etc, when I'm on the pc at home I prefer to use Chess Tactics Server, which I think complements the circles well. Good luck to the fellow knights who have joined during my temporary hiatus.

Catching up with the blogs

2008-04-27T09:39:00.003+01:00

I'd taken a break from reading chess blogs for a while, but am now catching up with what I missed, thanks to Bloglines keeping a list of them. More bloggers are now posting video clips, analysing games and books etc. There are a bunch of good ones at Barnet Elizabethans Chess Club, and also BDK has posted reviews of all his books, starting here.

There's a good write-up of a players experiences playing in Moscow here, here and here.

Promotion

2008-04-26T07:09:00.003+01:00

Last night I played for Spondon 'D' in our last game of the season against West Notts 'C'. This was a crucial game to decide which of us would win a promotion place to Division 3. Luckily for us, two of our opponents didn't turn up, so we knew we were getting promotion after half an hour. Whether this will actually happen though is a bit confusing in that Spondon 'C' may well be swapping places with ourselves, so we might actually stay where we are.

[Event "Derby League Division 4"]
[Date "2008.04.25"]
[White "Michael Zhang, West Notts 'C'"]
[Black "Dean Madden, Spondon 'D'"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d3 c6 5. Bd2 Qc7 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Bf5 8. Nge2 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Nd4 Bg6 12. Be3 Nbd7 13. Qe2 Rfe8 14. Bf4 Qb6 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Qxe6+ Bf7 17. Qh3 Qxb2 18. Ne4 Rad8 19. Ng5 h6 20. Nxf7 Kxf7 21. Rab1 Qxc2 22. Rxb7 Bc5 23. Be3 Bxe3 24. fxe3 Qxd3 25. Bxc6 Rxe3 26. Rf1 Ke8 27. Bxd7+ Rxd7 28. Rb3 Qd4 29. Rxe3+ Qxe3+ 30. Kh1 Qe2 31. Qg2 Qxg2+ 32. Kxg2 Rd2+ 33. Rf2 Ne4 34. Rxd2 Nxd2 35. Kf2 Ke7 36. Ke3 Nf1+ 0-1

Anyway, I had a good win against Michael Zhang, graded 90. I played a pretty standard Scandinavian opening. On move 14 he'd just played Bf4.

I don't know why I missed e5, I didn't consider it at all, was too preoccupied with Qb6. After I played that he made his fatal mistake of playing Nxe6, I'm not sure exactly what he was aiming for, but it looks like he miscalculated the sacrifice.

There were some hairy moments after this but I eventually managed to force the extra knight advantage to a win. I concentrated on playing simple safe chess, as I'd learnt from experience that I could still throw it away with all the power that was still left on the board.

I was a bit nervous of what I'd need to do in a knight & pawns v pawns endgame, but needn't have worried.

Nottingham Congress 2008

2008-04-20T18:38:00.007+01:00

This weekend I played in the minor section of the Nottingham Congress. It was five rounds of 36 moves in 90mins plus 15mins to finish. I ended up with two wins and three losses, was hoping for a little bit more, but judging against my opponents grades I did better than would be expected.

I enjoyed the experience, they had to stop any more entries due to so many people entering, about 150. Round 1 I played against David Scorer, graded 92. I only lasted 23 moves.

[Event "Nottinghamshire Congress Minor 2008"]
[Date "2008.04.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "David Scorer"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E67"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O d6 5. d4 O-O 6. c4 Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. e4 Re8 10. Qc2 c6 11. b3 Qc7 12. Bb2 Nc5 13. Rad1 Nh5 14. b4 Na6 15. a3 f5 16. exf5 Bxf5 17. Qc1 e4 18. Nd4 Bxd4 19. Rxd4 Nf6 20. Qg5 Kg7 21. Nxe4 Bxe4 22. Rxe4 Rxe4 23. Qxf6+ 1-0

I could have hung on a bit longer if I'd played 21...Qe7 below.

Round two I played young Tobias Stables. Although he resigned after 11 moves, he had me worried early on after playing a move I hadn't seen before against the Fried Liver.

[Event "Nottinghamshire Congress Minor"]
[Date "2008.04.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Tobias Stables"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C57"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6. Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7. Ke3 Qh4 8. Qf3 d5 9. Bxd5 Bg4 10. Qxe4 Nd4 11. Qxe5+ 1-0

When he played 4...Bc5 (below), I had to do a lot of thinking as to whether to still play Nxf7 as I expected Bxf2+ afterwards which would lead to a wild game.

I rightly decided to play the move, and he indeed sacrificed his bishop. His big mistake was playing 9...Bg4 below, it's easy to overlook that the knight on e4 is no longer protected.

Round 3 I played Gary Hopkinson, graded 83.

[Event "Nottingham Congress 2008 Minor section"]
[Date "2008.04.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Gary Hopkinson"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. f3 h6 4. Bh4 Be7 5. e4 O-O 6. Bd3 d5 7. e5 Nfd7 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Qd2 Qh4+ 10. g3 Qe7 11. Nc3 a6 12. Nge2 Nc6 13. a3 b5 14. b4 Nb6 15. O-O Rd8 16. Qe3 Bb7 17. f4 Rd7 18. f5 f6 19. fxe6 Qxe6 20. Bf5 Qe7 21. Bxd7 Nxd7 22. Nxd5 1-0

He played the Trompowsky against my Kings Indian, something I remembered reading about but what I'd totally forgotten how to play against. I made it up and didn't do too bad in the opening. But by move 20 he'd skewered my queen against a rook and I resigned shortly after as the position was a mess.

Round 5 I had a good win against Dorothy Blampied, graded 57. I was very pleased with the Kings Indian Attack working for once like I intend it to. I had loads of pressure kingside and was able to get a few pawns advantage and convert it to a win.

[Event "Nottingham Congress 2008 Minor"]
[Date "2008.04.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Dorothy Blampied"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 e5 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 h6 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. Nh4 O-O 9. Nc4 Na5 10. Ne3 Re8 11. Nef5 Bf8 12. f4 Nc6 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. c3 b6 15. Qf3 Ba6 16. Nxh6+ gxh6 17. Qxf6 Qxf6 18. Rxf6 Re6 19. Rxe6 fxe6 20. c4 Nd4 21. Bd2 Kg7 22. Rf1 Rd8 23. Rf2 Bd6 24. Nf3 Rf8 25. Nxd4 Rxf2 26. Nxe6+ Kf6 27. Kxf2 Kxe6 28. Bxh6 Kf6 29. Be3 Bc8 30. h3 Kg6 31. g4 Be7 32. Kg3 Bg5 33. Bxg5 Kxg5 34. h4+ Kg6 35. Bh3 1-0

Round 6 I lost to junior Robert Bowler, who plays very fast but very well, graded 83. I tried the same thing as in the previous game, but the board got very tight and locked up. In the late middle game he played much better, and I couldn't do anything to stop him breaking through.

[Event "Nottingham Congress 2008 Minor"]
[Date "2008.04.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Robert Bowler"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. d3 Nf6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Re1 Qc7 9. c3 Ng4 10. h3 Nge5 11. Nf1 Nxf3+ 12. Qxf3 Bd7 13. Ne3 e6 14. Qe2 b5 15. Bd2 a5 16. Rab1 Rab8 17. f4 Rfe8 18. c4 b4 19. a3 Nd4 20. Qf2 b3 21. Bc3 a4 22. Nd1 Nc2 23. Rf1 Nd4 24. g4 Bc6 25. f5 exf5 26. exf5 Ne2+ 27. Kh1 Bxg2+ 28. Qxg2 Qb7 29. Qxb7 Rxb7 30. Kg2 Nxc3 31. Nxc3 Bxc3 32. bxc3 Re2+ 33. Rf2 Rbe7 34. Rbf1 R7e3 35. fxg6 fxg6 36. g5 Rxf2+ 37. Rxf2 Rxd3 38. Re2 Rxc3 39. Re8+ Kf7 40. Rb8 Rc2+ 41. Kf3 Rxc4 42. Rb7+ Ke6 0-1

David Brown

2008-03-26T20:11:00.005Z

My first post in a couple of months. I've decided to take a break from online chess for a while, as it was getting to be more of a chore, and less of an enjoyable experience. Other interests were also pulling me away. However I've still been playing over the board chess, which I tend to enjoy more.

Since I last wrote, I've played five rated games. I lost to David Heelan of Derby & Mickleover B in the Derbyshire Plate competition for Spondon C, a tough game for us. I had a nice win against Alan Chancellor of Derby & Mickleover C, also for Spondon C, this time in the league. I lost to Howard Bradbury in round 5 of the Derbyshire Individual Championship, and lost to John Wheatley for Spondon D against Foremarke B. The last game I had a lack of motivation, I guess I was at the bottom of a dip in interest.

Last night I played David Brown for the first time, in round 6 of the Derbyshire Individual. I was expecting to get smashed early on as he is much higher rated, but had a good game, and made him work hard for his win.

[Event "Derbyshire Individual 2007/08"]
[Date "2008.03.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "David Brown"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. d3 c6 6. Bd2 Qc7 7. Nge2 Bf5 8. Ng3 Bg6 9. Qf3 e6 10. Bf4 Bd6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Qe2 O-O-O 14. Rfe1 Rhe8 15. Nce4 Bxe4 16. dxe4 Ne5 17. Bb3 g5 18. Rad1 Qc7 19. Qe3 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 Rd8 21. c3 Rxd1+ 22. Bxd1 Nc4 23. Qe2 Ne5 24. b3 Kb8 25. Qe3 h6 26. h3 Qd7 27. Be2 b6 28. f4 Ng6 29. fxg5 hxg5 30. Qxg5 Qe7 31. Qe3 Nd7 32. Nf1 Nde5 33. Qd4 c5 34. Qd2 Kb7 35. Nh2 f6 36. Qh6 Qf7 37. Bh5 Qf8 38. Qh7+ Ne7 39. Nf3 Nd3 40. e5 Nxe5 41. Nxe5 fxe5 42. Qe4+ Nc6 43. Bf3 Qd6 44. h4 Kc7 45. Qxc6+ Qxc6 46. Bxc6 Kxc6 47. h5 1-0

When I play the Scandinavian against stronger opponents, I always tend to feel I'm going to get over-run in development, but usually as in this case I got a good position into the middle game:

Ian Gregory told me before the game that David is excellent in the endgame, so I was happy to get a relatively unbalanced position with my knights in the middle. What would have been best now would be to attack with my queen, e.g. Qc5, but I played more passively, too respectful of my opponent and worried of phantom weaknesses. I'm always surprised afterward to realise that I had the advantage in parts of the game, when during the game I feel I'm doing badly.

From around moves 27 to 36, I was quite short of time to meet the time control, this has become more of an issue of late in my game. I eventually reached move 36 with about 30 seconds left on the clock, but by then I was down a pawn. I'm trying to figure out what is causing my time trouble, I think a lot of it is hesitancy, worrying that I'm missing something. A lot of time I'll decide on a move, but then reconsider lots of other candidate moves before going back to the original move I'd decided on.

He forced off an exchange of the remaining pieces, and the resultant end position gave him an unstoppable passed pawn:

I suppose since more club members are reading the blog, I should hold back on any controversies. But I had a wry smile to myself when someone made a total en-prise blunder during an important game, 20 minutes or so after intentionally distracting me and my opponent during our important game. What goes around comes around?

Broke the drawing streak...

2008-02-01T04:46:00.000Z

...unfortunately I broke my five match drawing streak with a loss. I played for Spondon 'D' against Rolls Royce 'B', my opponent was G.R. Cooper, not sure whether he's called George, or Ron, or both.

As is the custom in my games, I was winning, up a pawn after he decided not to retake. But then in the dreaded endgame, I played moves without fully considering what he'll do next, he gets in behind the pieces and attacks the pawns, then I go from bad to worse and play recklessly to swing it from a win to a loss.

[Date "2008.01.29"]
[White "Dean Madden, Spondon D"]
[Black "G.R. Cooper, Rolls Royce B"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d3 h6 4. g3 e6 5. Bg2 b6 6. O-O Bd6 7. Re1 Bb7 8. e5 Bc7 9. Nbd2 Nge7 10. c3 Ng6 11. Nc4 d5 12. exd6 Bxd6 13. Nxd6+ Qxd6 14. d4 Nce7 15. dxc5 Qc7 16. cxb6 Qxb6 17. Qd4 Qxd4 18. Nxd4 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 O-O 20. f4 Rfd8 21. Be3 Rd5 22. Rad1 Rb8 23. Nb3 Rxd1 24. Rxd1 a6 25. Rd7 Nf5 26. Ba7 Rb5 27. Rd8+ Kh7 28. Rd2 Nfe7 29. c4 Rb4 30. Rc2 Rb7 31. Bf2 e5 32. fxe5 Nxe5 33. Nd2 Rc7 34. Bd4 Nd3 35. Kf1 Nb4 36. Be5 Rd7 37. Rc1 Rxd2 38. Rc3 Nxa2 39. Re3 Rxh2 40. Bxg7 Nf5 41. Re2 Nxg3+ 0-1

I was quite pleased with the opening, and had the better middle game position, his pieces were stuck in his own half not doing much.

Before move 28 I was in the position above and this is about the time I start to run out of ideas. All I'm thinking of is getting my rook on the last ranks, ok I've done that, now what? So then I'm thinking, ok, need to push that passed c-pawn. So I brought my rook back from it's trip up north to sit behind the c-pawn. Better would have been to get that bishop away from the side of the board and put it on c5.

Move 34 above is when I start moving without thinking, I allow his knight to encroach on my territory, then he forks rook and pawn on b4.

I should then have played simple defensive moves, but I was annoyed with myself for losing the pawn, so played recklessly and gave him a knight for free as well.

Stan Kirby

2008-01-24T19:16:00.000Z

Tuesday evening I had a very enjoyable game with Stan Kirby, the first time I've played him. It was round 4 of the Derbyshire Individual Championship. My standard OTB drawing streak is now at five. Of course since Stan's rating is 101, more than double my 46, I would have been happy with a draw beforehand. But I was very disappointed afterwards because I was up two pawns in the middle game, but then stupidly got my knight trapped as we went into the endgame. I think this partly due to lack of experience in endgames, and the fact that I've never really studied the endgame. So hopefully I'll give myself time to work on it.

[Event "Derbyshire Individual 2007/08"]
[Date "2008.01.22"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Stan Kirby"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 c6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 e6 9. O-O Bb4 10. Ne4 Nbd7 11. c3 Be7 12. Bd2 O-O-O 13. c4 Qb6 14. a4 Qxd4 15. Bc3 Ne5 16. Qxf6 Bxf6 17. Bxd4 Rxd4 18. Bc2 Nxc4 19. b3 Rxe4 20. Bxe4 Bxa1 21. Rxa1 Nd2 22. Bc2 g6 23. f3 f5 24. Kf2 Rd8 25. Rd1 Nxf3 26. Rxd8+ Kxd8 27. Kxf3 Ke7 28. Bd3 e5 29. Bc4 e4+ 30. Kf4 h6 31. b4 Kf6 32. g3 g5+ 33. Ke3 Ke5 34. b5 f4+ 35. gxf4+ gxf4+ 36. Kd2 Kd4 37. Bf1 e3+ 38. Ke2 Ke4 39. Bg2+ Ke5 40. bxc6 bxc6 41. Bxc6 Kf5 42. Kf3 Kg5 43. Bb5 Kf5 1/2-1/2

I was up a pawn on after 14 moves, when in the position below, Stan played a4, he said he completely overlooked me taking d4.

I spent a lot of time on move 15, and eventually found the correct Ne5 in the position below:

This is much better than retreating the Queen to b6 and maybe getting it trapped. Shortly after I was able to take his c-pawn.

We then traded down, and on the day I thought the position below was where I made my mistake:

I played Nd2, and then when he plays Bc2 there are no safe places for the knight to go. So I should have recognised that. But there is actually an escape route: push the c-pawn up to c5 then c4, he has to take it.

So anyway I lost the knight and it turned into an endgame of me with seven pawns against him with four pawns and a bishop. I tried my best to force the passed pawns forward, and advance my king towards his.

However at the position above, I totally overlooked that I could play c5, adding another pawn to the advance. This again cost me any winning chances. I would have spotted it if I'd spent more time I think.

We agreed a draw in the position below. However luckily for me, Fritz thinks white has winning chances.

He could have brought his bishop round and blocked off the king from defending the passed pawns as below:

He could then use his bishop to stop the king defending the other pawns. Interesting!

Nottingham Rapidplay 2008

2008-01-20T21:09:00.000Z

I had a great time today at the Nottingham Rapidplay 2008. I ended up with 3 points from the 6 games played, and was pleased with my performance. Round 1, I played white against Kim Gilbert (rated 94), who turned up about 10mins late for the 30mins game. I won in a time scramble, I'd offered a draw when we were both short of time and he had a better position but even material. He'd had a much stronger position throughout so very happy with the win.

Round 2 I was black against eventual winner of the minor section, Eric McKenna (72). I managed to get a perpetual check after being close to mated. So draw was a great result.

I lost to Jon Asbury (92) in round 3, was mated in a Kings Indian Defence. In Round 4 I beat young unrated George Seabridge.

I played Dorothy Blampied (79) for the first time in Round 5, I was down the exchange but managed to win it back, and agreed a draw offer when down a pawn.

Last round I lost to a nice mating combination that sacrificed a queen against William Preston (76).

Bobby Fischer - RIP

2008-01-18T13:00:00.000Z

Just heard the news that Bobby Fischer died. I hope people remember him for his chess, not necessarily for what happened in his latter years. Rest in Peace.

I've just noticed a good obituary by the Guardian newspaper here.

Threefold repetition

2008-01-16T19:34:00.000Z

Last night I had a bit of a silly game. For the first time ever, I drew a game due to threefold repetition. To be honest I wasn't in the mood that much for the game, what with it being my birthday and I was a bit drained after spending the afternoon walking round Sherwood Forest with the wife and dog. I was particularly annoyed with myself a couple of moves after move 13, when I realised I totally missed playing 13...b5 below:

The final position is below:

We both took turns moving our light bishops, and repeated the moves. We both thought for a long time before repeating the moves a second time. For my part, I just didn't want to give up that bishop which I felt would have weakened my kingside. Looking at the position I suppose I have a slight edge and should maybe have taken his bishop.

But then again, it's not bad to draw with black against a higher rated opponent. What is a bit concerning is the fact that I've drawn my last four standard OTB games, but again they've all been against higher rated opponents who I would have lost to a few months ago.

The game, for what it's worth, is below:

[Event "Derbyshire League"]
[Date "2008.01.15"]
[White "Ashton Alfred, West Nottingham 'C'"]
[Black "Dean Madden, Spondon 'D'"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. O-O Bf5 7. d3 e6 8. Bd2 Qc7 9. Nd4 Bg6 10. Re1 Qb6 11. Nb3 Nbd7 12. Na4 Qc7 13. g3 Ne5 14. Bf4 Bd6 15. Bxe5 Bxe5 16. d4 Bd6 17. Nc3 O-O 18. Bd3 Bh5 19. Be2 Bg6 20. Bd3 Bh5 21. Be2 Bg6 22. Bd3 1/2-1/2

When Harry met Dean

2008-01-09T19:17:00.000Z

Last night I played Harry Ratner in round 3 of the Derbyshire Individual tournament. We agreed a draw after my 38th move, plenty of pieces left but it looked very even and difficult to get an advantage. I'd appreciate any advice on what I could have done differently throughout the game.

I think in general I could have moved my queen about more to threaten his pieces and pawns. I think he had the advantage through most of the game with more active pieces, so I tried to keep the game tight and not leave anything unprotected. A few months ago I would have done something wreckless which allowed a tactic against me, but I think I'm learning to be more patient when under attack.

[Event "Derbyshire Individual 07/08"]
[Date "2008.01.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Harry Ratner"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A05"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 Nf6 4. d3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nbd2 Bd7 8. Nh4 Rc8 9. f4 b5 10. f5 Qb6 11. fxg6 hxg6 12. Ndf3 Bg4 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Nxf3 Nh5 15. Qe1 Ne5 16. g4 Nxf3+ 17. Rxf3 Nf6 18. Be3 Nd7 19. Rb1 Ne5 20. Rf2 Qc7 21. Bf4 e6 22. Bxe5 Bxe5 23. Rf3 c4 24. c3 cxd3 25. Rxd3 Rd8 26. Rbd1 Rd7 27. Kh1 Rh7 28. Rf3 Ke7 29. Bf1 a6 30. Rc1 Qb7 31. Qe2 Bg7 32. b3 Rc7 33. c4 Rc8 34. Qe1 bxc4 35. Bxc4 Rch8 36. Bf1 Rh4 37. Kg2 R8h7 38. Rd1 1/2-1/2

The final position is below:

Fritz threw up an interesting move I could have played in the last two moves: Qa5. This would have created below:

If he played Rc8, I could take the rook, he'd take back with the queen, then I could skewer king and rook with Qg5. If he plays Rxg4, I can fork queen and king with Rc7. Moving his queen first allows Rc7 followed by the other rook taking f7 and forcing a mate. Very interesting position and am not surprised I missed it.

Teamleague T35

2008-01-06T18:41:00.000Z

My first post of 2008... I haven't played much OTB chess recently, that should change on Tuesday though as I've got a Derbyshire Individual match against Harry Ratner. I have been quite busy on FICS, playing lots of games, but unfortunately my rating is still around the 1450 level. I've been asked to join the admin team at TeamLeague for T35, on the board and as a tournament director. I think I'll enjoy it, so am looking forward to it getting started. I'll again captain KnightRiders in the U1600 section. The OCL tournament is almost at a close, my team didn't do very well, and will probably finish bottom. Was disappointed with some noshows. I've also been playing in the 90-30 mamer tournament on fics, the first few rounds were frustrating due to noshows, but it has been enjoyable in the later rounds. I haven't done much recently regarding the circles, I do some problems now and again in the book but haven't added up my progress.

Playing for Derbyshire

2007-12-16T09:55:00.000Z

Yesterday I had a great honour in representing my home county of Derbyshire at chess. I played for the U125 side against the respective team from Leicestershire. It was played near Leicester, and I was very pleased when the captain Ron Harrison asked if I could play. Maybe it had something to do with me getting a draw against him a few weeks ago!

The format is 16 of us against 16 of them, each team ranked in grading order, with me obviously on board 16. They had a much stronger side, probably more so because of the difficulty in getting players for away games. So we were outgraded on every single board. My opponent was Stevan Preocanin, graded 92, double my 46. Time controls were 36 moves in an hour and a half, then clocks back 30 minutes to completion.

[Event "U125 County match"]
[Date "2007.12.15"]
[White "Stevan Preocanin, Leicestershire"]
[Black "Dean Madden, Derbyshire"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d3 c6 6. Be2 Bf5 7. O-O e6 8. Bf4 Nbd7 9. Rb1 Nh5 10. b4 Qb6 11. Be3 Qc7 12. Nd2 Nhf6 13. Nc4 b5 14. Na5 Bxb4 15. Rxb4 Qxa5 16. Qb1 O-O 17. Bf3 Ne5 18. Be2 Rfd8 19. Bc5 Rd7 20. d4 Ng6 21. Bf3 Rc8 22. Re1 a6 23. Qb3 Qc7 24. Ne4 a5 25. Nxf6+ gxf6 26. Bxc6 Qxc6 27. Rxb5 Nf4 28. f3 Qa8 29. c4 Nd3 30. Rf1 Nxc5 31. dxc5 Rdc7 32. Qa3 Ra7 33. Qc3 e5 34. Kf2 Bd7 35. Rb6 Rxc5 36. Rxf6 Qc8 37. Rc1 Rac7 38. Re1 Qe8 39. Re4 Kg7 40. Rb6 f6 41. f4 Bf5 42. Qg3+ Qg6 43. Qxg6+ Kxg6 44. Re3 exf4 45. Re8 Kf7 46. Ra8 Rxc4 47. Rxa5 Be6 48. Rbb5 Rc2+ 49. Kf3 Rxa2 50. Rxa2 Bxa2 51. Kxf4 Rd7 52. Rb2 Bd5 53. g3 Kg6 1/2-1/2

I would have been very pleased beforehand to get a draw, but the frustrating thing is I had a won endgame but basically had no idea how to force the win. We were the last board by a long margin to finish, we both had about 15mins left on our clocks. But after playing for over three and a half hours I wasn't able to think straight, almost throwing the bishop away for nothing. So since I had no idea how to force the win we agreed a draw. The added pressure of a crowd of people around the board also added to the anxiety and pressure, I should probably have just kept on playing simple moves to see what happened, but part of me wasn't sure if the position was already a certain draw and I was just wasting time. However afterwards people said I could possibly have forced a win, but it's very difficult. I guess this sort of endgame is where years of experience definitely come in handy!

I gather we lost the match overall, but I think we had a few wins which isn't bad. I'm pleased with my play overall, as getting to an endgame a bishop up is great. Not knowing what to do with it is the sad part. Any tips from more experienced players would be appreciated.

He blundered when he played b4 at move 10 above, but for the life of me I can't understand why I didn't see the simple Bxb4. I just presumed the pawn was protected and that I had to get my queen out of the way.

Thankfully I managed to snatch that same pawn on move 14 as it then removes the guard from the knight on a5.

I was able to trap his rook at move 24 by playing a5. He sacrificed his bishop to allow it to escape, so I was up a bishop for a pawn. However a better move above would have been Bxe4, swap off some material, and play a5 later.

At move 27 above, I was too preoccupied with creating a mating threat with the knight, when Bxc2 would have been much better.

I think for the rest of the game I played much too passively, just trying to keep my material advantage, not really exploit it.

On move 47 above, I had a forced mate in 4. I'd considered Rc2, but I couldn't see how to force a mate, so was more worried about him mating me and played defensively.

I've had Fritz play itself through the game as it finished, it is able to force mate after 86 moves, it seems the idea is to seperate the king from the pawns, and gradually push a pawn through.

Derbyshire Rapidplay 2007

2007-12-03T11:00:00.000Z

I had a very enjoyable time yesterday at the Derbyshire Rapidplay tournament, held at my home club Spondon. There was a good turnout, over 70 people. I turned up early, in case they needed help setting up etc. All the boards were already setup, so I was asked to man the table where people pay their entry fees and any late entries turn up. I felt so important :)

Because of the quick rate of play, 30mins each, most people including me didn't keep score. So my recollections may already be skewed. Round 1 I played Peter Ellis who used to play for Rolls-Royce but has been inactive the last few years. I was pretty dominant throughout, and was up a whole rook towards the end. But in time trouble I overlooked my weak back rank and was mated.

Round 2 I played my old foe from previous events, 11 year old Amy Milson. I luckily got a draw last time in Leicester. This time I played quite well and had a good attack going. She was able to defend against it initially and counterattack, but I'd damaged the defences a bit too much, with a nice Knight near her king. This led to mate.

Round 3 was against Barry Lings of Rolls Royce, who I lost to a couple of months ago in a league match. I won a pawn quite early on, can't remember much else from the game apart from that he forced a draw by repitition late on.

In round 4 I lost to Lloyd Clarke after I overlooked a bishop fork of queen and king.

Round 5 I finally beat Phil Smith after many times of trying, I was black for a change. It was close and could have gone either way but I managed to force my rooks through to his king.

The final game was against Neil Milson, Amy's father. This was an important game pyschologically for me, as I played him about 8 months ago in Rotherham and was absolutely decimated. This time I played infinitely better, and was proof to me that I'm progressing as a player. Sadly I could only get a draw, it was a rook and pawns ending with me having more pawns, but I just couldn't manage to promote a pawn or force him to swap rooks.

So final score of 3 out of 6: 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. It was nice to finish mid-table rather than towards the bottom as I have done previously.

Ron Harrison

2007-12-01T07:40:00.000Z

On Wednesday I drew against Ron Harrison in round 2 of the Derbyshire Individual championship, a great result for me considering he's rated 108 (about 1790 fide) compared to my 46 (apparently about 1480 fide, but think is inflated). We played in Belper and it was a long long game. It ended up with me having two pawns and a rook against his pawn and rook, but I couldn't figure out a way of winning so offered a draw instead of playing on in a tired state and maybe losing.

[Event "Derbyshire Individual Championship"]
[Date "2007.11.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ron S Harrison"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Bc4 c6 5. d3 Bf5 6. Bd2 Qc7 7. Qf3 e6 8. Nge2 Bd6 9. g4 Bg6 10. h4 h5 11. g5 Ne7 12. Nf4 Nd7 13. Nxg6 Nxg6 14. d4 Qb6 15. Ne4 Qxd4 16. Bc3 Nge5 17. Bxd4 Nxf3+ 18. Kd1 O-O 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Nxd6 b5 21. Be2 Nde5 22. Bxf3 Nxf3 23. Ne4 Rad8+ 24. Ke2 Nd4+ 25. Kf1 Nxc2 26. Rc1 Nd4 27. Rh3 Rc8 28. Rhc3 Rfd8 29. Ng3 Kg6 30. Ne2 Nxe2 31. Kxe2 Rd6 32. Rc5 a5 33. Rxb5 cxb5 34. Rxc8 Rd5 35. f3 Rd4 36. Rc5 Rxh4 37. Rxb5 Rh2+ 38. Kf1 h4 39. Kg1 Rc2 40. Rxa5 Rxb2 41. a4 Ra2 42. Ra7 Kxg5 43. Rxf7 Rxa4 44. Kg2 Rf4 45. Rg7+ Kh5 46. Rg8 1/2-1/2

It was an interesting game, swinging back and forth. The time controls for this tournament are 36 moves in an hour and a half, then add 30mins to completion. So plenty of time to really analyse each position.

I played a normal Scandinavian defence, until he started a kingside pawn push and I had to improvise a bit while still trying to catch up in development. Thankfully I just about managed to get to an evenish middlegame position.

Thankfully he missed Qe2 in the position below, he spotted it only after he played the wrong move.

This allowed me to keep the pawn advantage and simplify down a bit. Shortly after he played a nice bishop sacrifice to get the pawn back. What helped me after this was him having a wide open centralised king that couldn't castle, so I picked up another pawn.

Something I overlooked later on was Rxb5 below, I still have trouble getting myself to consider moves which appear to lose material initially, but obviously he could get another pawn out of it.

By move 34 below, I had started fatiguing. I wasn't really thinking on what the whole point now was. I needed to try and promote a pawn, and take away his pawns. His pawn on h4 is obviously weak and should have been the point of attack, but I just played defensively trying to guard my own pawns on the other side of the board.

Thankfully he gave me another chance to play Rd4, and I managed to create the passed pawn on h5. This gave him time to create his own passed pawn on a2, but I could easily get my rook behind it.

The final position is below. Fritz initially thinks I have a 1pawn advantage but after a few seconds thought agrees the game is drawn. I doubt there is much I could have done.

Tuesday of last week was the 3rd and 4th round of the Derbyshire Cup & Plate, two 30mins games. I again played for the C Team, had a nice win in the first game after reaching an evenish endgame but much more time left on my clock. Second game I blundered a knight after playing against a weird looking Scandinavian where he just kept attacking with the queen and not developing, but I played too quickly to really exploit it.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, the Derbyshire Rapidplay Tournament, six 30mins games in the U90 section at my home club.

Circles update:

I completed the first chapter of 'The Complete Chess Workout' with 58 out of the 100 correct. The next chapter is much more difficult, so far I've got 7 correct out of 21. But I'll still plow on as I'm enjoying them.

Breaking the slump...

2007-11-22T06:40:00.000Z

Tuesday night I broke my losing slump. I beat Stuart Tabberer in the club championship, a good win as he's graded 61ECF compared to my 46. I didn't really do anything wrong, I was up a pawn early on, got another pawn in the middle game, another towards the end, and used the 3 pawn advantage once the pieces were off the board.

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2007/08"]
[Date "2007.11.20"]
[White "Stuart Tabberer"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]

1. e4 d5 2. d4 dxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 exf3 5. Nxf3 Bg4 6. Be3 e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. Be2 Bb4 9. Bd2 O-O 10. O-O Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Qxd4+ 12. Kh1 c6 13. Be1 Qxd1 14. Nxd1 Bxe1 15. Rxe1 Nbd7 16. Ne3 Rad8 17. Nc4 Nc5 18. Rad1 Nd5 19. Bxd5 cxd5 20. Ne3 Ne4 21. Kg1 Rc8 22. c3 f5 23. Rc1 f4 24. Ng4 f3 25. Rf1 fxg2 26. Kxg2 Rxf1 27. Rxf1 Rf8 28. Rxf8+ Kxf8 29. Kf3 Nf6 30. Ne5 Ke7 31. b4 Kd6 32. Nf7+ Ke7 33. Ne5 Ne4 34. c4 Nd2+ 35. Ke3 Nxc4+ 36. Kd4 Nxe5 37. Kxe5 g5 38. a4 h5 0-1

Circles update:

So far I've completed 94 problems, with 54 correct. I've enjoyed doing these sorts of problems where you have to think for a few minutes and sometimes you're just looking to win a pawn. They seem more applicable to real games. I think I'm already benefitting from it, so looks good for the future.

Chess Blogs

2007-11-18T09:42:00.000Z

I thought I'd make a list of all the chess blogs I regularly read, all of which are much better than mine. So click away!

Streatham & Brixton Chess Club is a recent addition to my bloglines account, I'd been aware of it for a while, but the hilarious Scorebook Notes columns here, here and here got me hooked. Eagerly awaiting the next installments!

The British Chess Magazine blog is a collection of posts by John Saunders, the editor of the magazine, and very interesting and entertaining for us English readers. I have a similarly talented chess cat to his, although mine prefers the bishop.

Confessions of a chess novice is obviously the big daddy of the chess blogosphere, always getting the most comments, lots of interesting posts, and a good inspiration for newcomers.

Chess improvement, by DK-Transformation is one of the more zany and entertaining of the blogs, always with fascinating photography and a bordering on insane addiction to whatever he's currently interested in.

Hardcore pawnography has the most entertaining reports of tournaments he's entered, making you feel like you were there with him!

Blunderprone is always a good read, although sadly he hasn't as much time to dedicate to chess as previously.

Boylston Chess Club is a regularly updated blog, with some great posts now and again.

Castling Queen Side is one of the few chess blogs with a female author, and as such is great at communicating her ideas and feelings at the board.

The Daily Dirt is the number one news blog, and probably the most read and commented chess news blog around.

I always enjoy the posts on SonofPearl's blog, his sense of humour and humility strikes a chord with my own.

The award for most updated blog obviously goes to Susan Polgar, sadly a lot of it is just photos and copy n pastes from other sites, but definitely worth keeping up with.

A great local blog for me is that of West Nottingham Chess club, Ian Kingston does a great job of supporting chess in Nottinghamshire.

The Chess of Edwin Meyer has some entertaining posts, including his recent games in a simul tournament.

The current secretary of the Knights Errant is Samurai Chess, he has a very expressive writing style, although most of it is way over my head!

Chess Tyro has some nice posts, recently celebrating its first birthday. The Endgame Tactician has lots of informative endgame tips. Also hat-tips to SquirrelChess, Magnus Carlsen's dad, Phorku and Takchess.

Finally, the most entertaining yet totally incomprehensible blog has to be Team Tsubasa! Anyone who knows ReyFeroz on channel 101 of fics will know what I mean.

There will obviously be a lot more blogs I've yet to come across, so don't feel sad if you're not mentioned!

The seven circles...

2007-11-15T11:04:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone for the welcoming comments. I've done 40 problems so far with just 21 correct, and some are pretty tough. But of course they seem easy once you know the answer. Some of them I've got the first move right, but didn't calculate the correct 2nd move for example, so have ruled it incorrect.

The first chapter of the book is supposed to be a bit easier than later ones, so I think once it gets so that I'm getting a very low percentage correct, I'll redo the set from the start a few times to learn them all. It's been quite enjoyable so far anyway!

8th Sheffield Congress

2007-11-13T18:37:00.000Z

Over the weekend I played four games in Sheffield in the U100 section of the Spectrum Chess tournament. Unfortunately I lost all four, all my opponents had grades in the 80s compared to my 46. I was disappointed with the first two games because I was completely over-run in the openings, and played particularly badly. The last two were better, but again I made simple tactical mistakes.

[Event "Sheffield Congress 2007"]
[Date "2007.11.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Andrew J Smith"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 c6 5. d4 Bf5 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 e6 8. O-O Bb4 9. Bd2 Nd7 10. a3 Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Qc7 12. d5 Ngf6 13. dxe6 fxe6 14. Rfe1 Nc5 15. Qc4 b6 16. b4 b5 17. Qxc5 O-O-O 18. Rxe6 Rhe8 19. Rxc6 1-0

The first game on the Saturday morning was against Andrew J Smith, he basically destroyed my Scandinavian defence. I'd read the Andrew Martin book on the defence recently, and he said you should try to delay playing Nf6 as long as possible (not sure I understand why), so anyway for the first dozen moves, Fritz screams at me to play Nf6, which I will do in future.

Move 16 I give away my knight for no reason, then after he pins my queen to my king I give up. Terrible play.

[Event "Sheffield Congress 2007"]
[Date "2007.11.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Benjamin Hobson"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C58"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Be2 Nxd5 8. Nxf7 Kxf7 9. Bh5+ g6 10. Qf3+ Nf6 11. d3 gxh5 12. Bg5 Bg4 13. Bxf6 Bxf3 14. Bxd8 Rxd8 15. gxf3 Rg8 16. Nc3 Bh6 17. Nb5 a6 18. Nxc7 Rc8 19. Nd5 Rxc2 20. Rb1 Rg2 21. Ne3 Bxe3 22. fxe3 Rxb2 23. Rc1 Rxa2 24. Rd1 Rxh2 25. Rxh2 Rxh2 26. d4 Rh1+ 27. Ke2 Rxd1 28. Kxd1 exd4 29. exd4 h4 0-1

In the afternoon I played against Benjamin Hobson. He obviously knew the two knights defence much better than me, and outplayed me again in the opening. I unsoundly sacrificed my knight early on in what I thought would resemble some fried liver. Lightly grilled spam is a more a fit description I think.

The book move 7 should have been Qe2. Move 8 was the unsound sacrifice which I spent a lot of time trying to analyse, but just couldn't figure everything out. Anyway he defended correctly against it and for some strange reason I decided to give my bishop away as well.

[Event "8th Sheffield Congress"]
[Date "2007.11.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Michael Bolan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 c6 5. Nf3 Bf5 6. Bd2 Qc7 7. Bc4 Nf6 8. O-O e6 9. Re1 Be7 10. Nh4 Bg6 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. h3 Nbd7 13. b3 O-O-O 14. Ne4 Nxe4 15. Rxe4 Nf6 16. Bf4 Bd6 17. Bxd6 Qxd6 18. Re2 Qxd4 19. Qe1 Rd6 20. Rd1 Qxd1 21. Qxd1 Rxd1+ 22. Kh2 Ng4+ 23. Kg3 Nf6 24. Kh2 Rhd8 25. Bd3 Nd5 26. a4 Nf4 0-1

Saturday evening (all games were 1hr 30mins for 36 moves followed by 15mins to finish), I played as white against Michael Bolan's Scandinavian which I felt comfortable against. Move 20 was where I made the fatal mistake:

I thought that by playing Rd1, I would be scaring away his queen, but as soon as I put down the piece I realised it was a blunder and that he would win rook and queen for queen. I've done that a few times by simply not counting the captures.

Sunday morning was a bye. Sunday afternoon I played a long gruelling game against Alan Fraser, haven't analysed it yet, but it was the most enjoyable as I spent a lot of time thinking, but unfortunately I fatigued late on.

[Date "2007.11.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Alan Fraser"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 c6 5. Bc4 Nf6 6. Bd2 Qb6 7. Bc1 Bf5 8. Nf3 e6 9. a3 Be7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Re1 O-O-O 12. b4 Qc7 13. Ne2 Nb6 14. Bf4 Bd6 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Bb3 Ne4 17. c4 Qe7 18. Qc1 Nd7 19. Nf4 h6 20. Bc2 Ndf6 21. Nh4 g5 22. Nxf5 exf5 23. Ne2 Qc7 24. f3 Nd6 25. c5 Nde8 26. Bxf5+ Kb8 27. Qb2 Ng7 28. Bh3 Rhe8 29. d5 Qe5 30. Nc3 Qxe1+ 31. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 32. Kf2 Re7 33. dxc6 bxc6 34. b5 cxb5 35. Nxb5 Nge8 36. Nd6+ Ka8 37. Nxe8 Rdxe8 38. Qxf6 Re2+ 39. Kg3 Rc2 40. Qc6+ 1-0

I decided after this to re-focus on tactical training, hence the circles. I also bought the Nigel Davies book 'Gambiteer I' which I intend to use to help practice attacking tactical play in real games.

Knights Errant

2007-11-12T10:07:00.001Z

Over the weekend I played in a tournament in Sheffield and picked up a new book called 'The Complete Chess Workout' by Richard Palliser. It's a compilation of 1200 tactical problems, all from real games and most of them quite recent. So I thought this would be the ideal way for me to join the Knights Errant in the Seven Circles of Death.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, it's a technique of going through a set of about 1000 tactical problems seven times, each time with a shorter time period to complete the 'circle'. This is based on the techniques developed by Michael De La Maza in articles here and here. He improved 400 points in 400 days using the method and so it developed a cult following with some of the followers forming the Knights Errant blogging group to document their journey and help each other through the torture :). The idea behind it is that pattern recognition of the basic tactical motifs is of paramount importance in chess, and by doing the same set of problems seven times, this will fast track the process.

Anyway, I think this book will be a good way for me to do the circles, and so I've updated my sidebar to include the relevant Knightly links and will apply to join the cult right away. I'm not 100% sure on how I'll organize it, most likely just go through the 1200 puzzles all at once, then do the same again 6 more times. But some people have broken the circles down into sets of 200 or so. I guess I'll see how I'm feeling and how long it takes to get to the first 200. There can't be too long a time between circles or the pattern recognition could ware off, especially with my poor memory. Another thing is I won't be able to dedicate my life to the circles like De La Maza did, and I will still be playing regularly, not just training.

For the record, my current standard rating on FICS is 1454. So if I'm not rated 1854 on 16th December 2008 I am burning the book :)

Castello

2007-11-04T15:54:00.001Z

I played an online game against Castello and missed a winning combination below:

I thought hard about it, but couldn't find anything and took the bishop with the pawn to even the game up. But I totally missed the awesome Qa4. Probably because I was just concentrating on the centre. I didn't even think of moving my Queen in that direction. After that his best move is Kf8 allowing dxe7 winning the queen.

Game below:

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.11.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "deanmadden"]
[Black "castello"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1471"]
[BlackElo "1575"]
[ECO "B30"]
[TimeControl "3600"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. d3 Rb8 6. O-O e5 7. Nbd2 d6 8. Re1 Nf6 9. Nf1 h6 10. h4 Be7 11. N3h2 Nd4 12. c3 Nc6 13. f4 exf4 14. Bxf4 Ne5 15. Nf3 Nxf3+ 16. Bxf3 Nh7 17. e5 g5 18. exd6 gxf4 19. dxe7 Qd6 20. Kh2 fxg3+ 21. Nxg3 Rg8 22. Rg1 a6 23. Qe2 Qf4 24. Bxb7 Rxb7 25. Raf1 Qxh4+ 26. Kg2 Rxg3+ 27. Kf2 Rh3+ 28. Rg3 Qxg3# {deanmadden checkmated} 0-1

Our team has done well in the first five rounds of teamleague T34, finishing second even though we are the worst ratings wise:

Section U1600
Team Name	MP	GP	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6
RainbowWarriors16	3.0	12.0	2.0	1.0	4.0	3.0	2.0
KnightRiders	3.0	11.5	1.0	3.0	3.5	2.0	2.0
MonkeyClub1600	2.5	9.0	3.0	3.0	0.0	2.0	1.0*
AllGoodPeople_II	2.0	8.5	0.5	3.0	2.0	2.0	1.0*
WeRock	1.5	9.0	2.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0*
PoisonedPawns	1.0	7.0	3.5	1.0	0.5	1.0	1.0*

Round: 1

Section: U1600 - TDs: bLAZinFiRe

MonkeyClub1600		vs	KnightRiders
White	dstrout	1-0	jsswaheguru	Black
Black	boonen	1-0	sreeneni	White
White	AcuWill	1-0	schoorl	Black
Black	Introspection	0-1	deanmadden	White

Round: 2

KnightRiders		vs	WeRock
White	jsswaheguru	0-1	zcomcon	Black
Black	schoorl	i-o	ccaseiro	White
White	deanmadden	1-0	OldFlyer	Black
Black	manquer	1-0	stevelco	White

Round: 3

PoisonedPawns		vs	KnightRiders
White	petlya	0-1	Jasher	Black
Black	Berke	0-1	sreeneni	White
White	Niettajean	o-i	schoorl	Black
Black	SCUGrad	1/2-1/2	deanmadden	White

Round: 4

KnightRiders		vs	AllGoodPeople_II
White	jsswaheguru	0-1	twotowers	Black
Black	Jasher	1-0	tjraczko	White
White	schoorl	0-1	NikosGr	Black
Black	manquer	1-0	Dreadtower	White

Round: 5

RainbowWarriors1600		vs	KnightRiders
White	Krait	0-1	Jasher	Black
Black	NoiroP	1-0	sreeneni	White
White	pchesso	1-0	deanmadden	Black
Black	estepona	0-1	manquer	White

Ian Caithness

2007-11-03T15:54:00.000Z

Last Thursday I beat Ian Caithness for Spondon D against Lichfield B. He overlooked a pawn fork on the eighth move, so was up a knight for a pawn early on. I held this to the endgame and then got more material. I was lucky he didn't spot a tactical blunder in the middle game.

[Event "Derby & District League Division 4"]
[Date "2007.11.01"]
[White "Ian Caithness, Lichfield B"]
[Black "Dean Madden, Spondon D"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E60"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Qc2 d6 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 Re8 7. O-O e5 8. Bd2 e4 9. Be2 exf3 10. Bxf3 Nc6 11. Nc3 Bd7 12. a3 Rb8 13. h3 Ne7 14. Rfe1 c5 15. d5 b5 16. Be2 bxc4 17. Bxc4 Nc8 18. e4 Nb6 19. Be2 Re7 20. Bf4 Ne8 21. Bg5 Bf6 22. Bh6 Bxc3 23. bxc3 Ba4 24. Qd3 Qd7 25. Bf4 Bb5 26. Qf3 Bxe2 27. Qxe2 Nxd5
28. Bg3 Nxc3 29. Qc4 Nb5 30. f3 Ng7 31. Bf4 Qe6 32. Qxe6 Nxe6 33. Bh6 Ned4 34. Rab1 Rbb7 35. Rb2 Nxa3 36. Rxb7 Rxb7 37. f4 Rb1 38. Rxb1 Nxb1 39. Bg5 c4 40. Bf6 Ne2+ 41. Kf2 Nxf4 42. Kg3 Ne2+ 43. Kf3 Nc1 44. g4 c3 45. Be7 c2 46. Bxd6 Na2 47. Bf4 c1=Q 48. Bxc1 Nxc1 49. Kf4 a5 50. Kg5 Kg7 51. h4 a4 52. e5 a3 53. h5 a2 54. h6+ Kg8 55. Kf6 a1=Q 0-1

Last Tuesday at the chess club was a cup competition, two 30mins rapidplay games when I again played for Spondon C. Lost the first one but won the second.

I've entered the Spectrum Chess Sheffield Congress next weekend, it should be an enjoyable five games of chess.

Alan Chancellor

2007-10-25T08:18:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday, I played my first ever game for Spondon 'C'. I've only played for the D team before, but since the A & B team were also playing they were short of players so I was asked to play Board 4. I played Alan Chancellor of Derby & Mickleover 'C', he doesn't have a current grade as it looks like he took a break from chess, but he had grades between 1994 and 2006 over 100 with his last recorded grade being 128 (about 1890 fide). So I was happy to get a draw against him. Especially because I made a mistake in the middle game causing me to be two pawns down. I played well in the rook endgame to get a drawn position.

[Event "Derby & District League Division 3"]
[Date "2007.10.23"]
[White "Dean Madden, Spondon C"]
[Black "Alan Chancellor, Derby & Mickleover C"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B06"]

{B06: Modern Defence} 1. e4 g6 {I'd never seen this defence before, apparently it's the Modern defence. I decided to do what I do in most of these situations. Kings Indian attack!} 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. d3 d6 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 Qb6 6. c3 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Nd7 9. d4 Ngf6 10. Nd2 O-O 11. O-O Qc7 12. Re1 b5 13. a3 Rac8 14. Qd3 a6 15. f4 c5 16. Nf3 cxd4 17. cxd4 Nb6 18. b3 Qc3 19. Qxc3 Rxc3 20. Rb1 Rfc8 21. Bd2 Rc2

I don't think the position above is too bad for me. He's got his doubled rooks, but I've got a strong pawn centre, and Fritz gives me a slight advantage. Stupidly I now played Rec1. I just presumed that the central pawns were already covered and didn't check. I think it was just carelessness and the fact that I'd been distracted quite a few times earlier by a moron whose car broke down near where we play. He'd asked to borrow my mobile phone, but then gave my number to umpteen people who rang back wanting to speak to him.

So anyway, losing the e4 pawn meant there was no easy way to defend the d4 pawn either.

22. Rec1 Nxe4 23. Rd1 Nxd2 24. Rxd2 Rxd2 25. Nxd2 Bxd4+ 26. Kh2 Rc2 27. Rd1 e5 28. Nf3 Rc3 29. Nxd4 exd4 30. Rxd4 d5 31. Bxd5 Nxd5 32. Rxd5 Rxb3

At the point above I came up with the idea of playing a4, letting him take the pawn, but would then be able to wedge my rook in between his pawns and hopefully stop them queening. An important thing to do after this would be to give my king space to move up the board, so he wouldn't be able to check my king down to the first rank, giving him time to push his pawn and protect it with the rook.

The last few moves and the unusual looking end position is below. Fritz thinks the last few moves were a definite draw.

33. a4 bxa4 34. Ra5 a3 35. h4 Rb2+ 36. Kh3 a2 37. Rxa6 f5 38. Ra7 $2 Kf8 39. g4 fxg4+ 40. Kxg4 h6 41. h5 gxh5+ 42. Kxh5 Rh2+ 43. Kg6 Ke8 44. f5 h5 45. f6 Rg2+ 46. Kf5 h4 47. f7+ Kf8 1/2-1/2

Chess Improvement strategies

2007-10-21T11:05:00.000+01:00

I do this blog mainly for myself, as I've such a bad memory I wouldn't know if I'm improving or not. I'd get disheartened if I thought I was standing still (even if I was actually improving). And it helps to look back if you played someone before as to how the game went, what your thoughts were etc. It's a bonus if someone else gets any help or info from it.

As of late, I've tended to just comment on the blog for OTB games, not a lot of my FICS games.

I take a lot of my improvement strategy from the Novice Nook articles by Dan Heisman at Chess Cafe. You can download all his articles from the archive section.

He places a lot of emphasis on long time controls, and generally playing people slightly better than yourself, hence the reason I play in the U1600 section in Teamleague (and U1650 is the lowest in OCL).

Of course the main thing at the 1400 level is tactics, understanding and recognising the patterns, and the 'seeds of tactical destruction' as Heisman calls them.

As of late I've also been 'spectating' some of the teamleague games as they're being played, mostly involving higher rated players than myself. The big thing I get out of these is listening to the other spectators, usually 1900+, commentating on the game and potential moves and strategy. It's very helpful, and you can query things you don't understand. This has helped me appreciate things a lot more, and made me think about a lot of things I've overlooked. Especially to fight a lot more in the endgame, after seeing lots of fascinating rook endings.

I suppose what I should do more of in the future is looking over annotated master games, probably starting with Morphy.

I played in the FICS STC Saturday swiss yesterday, it's surprising how much 3 back to back games take out of you mentally, it reminded me of the few tournaments I've played in and suppose playing it regularly would help me to acclimatise myself to those types of situations. I played people slightly better than myself, lost the first two and won the final game.

Check out the fascinating game (for me anyway) on BDKs blog. I'll have to try out that opening!

Review

2007-10-19T06:52:00.000+01:00

I've been off work sick for a few days, so have been reflecting on my chess journey. According to FICS I've been a member since 28th July 2006 - about a year and a quarter. I didn't start playing regularly there until about November 2006. My provisional standard rating on 22nd November 2006 was 1277. I got my rating deviation below 80 on 1st January 2007 - 1307. My current rating is now 1487.

So that makes an increase of 210 in just under 11 months, or 180 in about 9 and a half. I doubt I can keep the same increase and am bound to plateau in a bit. But so far it's been a constant improvement. My short term goal is to break the 1500 barrier and stay there. Then hopefully this time next year I might be 1600.

As with my OTB chess, my strategy for the next year is to just play as much long time control chess as I can, gaining experience in different openings, and especially endgames. As important as playing, is analysing the games afterwards.

Since the new season started in September I've played 12 OTB rated games, giving me a provisional rating decrease from 46 to 42. But as I've been playing mainly stronger players I'm not too surprised and hope I'll pick up a few more wins in the latter half of the season. In the same period online I've played 26 standard games, increasing my rating from 1458 to 1487.

For future reference, here are my current stats on FICS and Chess Tactics Server:

rating RD win loss draw total best
Blitz 836 73.9 42 123 8 173 980 (27-Mar-2007)
Standard 1487 57.4 85 90 14 189 1487 (18-Oct-2007)
Lightning 1016 123.2 1 19 0 20

Total time online: 15 days, 14 hrs, 26 mins
% of life online: 3.5 (since Fri Jul 28, 00:30 PDT 2006)

Handle	deanmadden
Rating	1105
RD	51.1
Tries	583
Success	71.4 %
Highest rating	1146
Date of highest rating	2007-10-06 22:09:59
Latest action	2007-10-18 22:11:55

My CTS rating hasn't really changed since the last time I checked a couple of months ago. I think the problem from my point of view is that it expects you to answer so quickly. Maybe it will come with time. My FICS blitz rating continues to plummet, I don't play it too often though.

I had an interesting discussion about the blog with some people on FICS channel 101, the teamleague channel. I explained I prefer to write about my losses as they're more instructive, but people advised I should do an equal amount of wins and losses.

I've also had comments from a few people in OTB chess that they've read the blog after searching for their own names. Hopefully I don't write anything nasty and get into trouble like this!

Someone asked me what I use to practice tactics. I've tried various things which are all still ongoing. Books I'd recommend in rough order of preference are: Chess Tactics for Kids by Murray Chandler, Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seirawan and Learn Chess Tactics by John Nunn. Software I'd recommend trying are Chess Tactics for Beginners and Personal Chess Trainer. Good websites are Chess Tactics Explained and Chess Tactics Server. There are doubtlessly more I haven't come across yet.

Opera game

2007-10-13T10:25:00.000+01:00

Thursday I played my first round game against Phil Smith in the Derbyshire Individual Championship. I'd played Phil twice before so I knew he'd play the Philidor defence, so I did a bit of research into it and realised he was playing the opening moves to the famous Opera game!

So my first seven moves were the same as Morphy, and his first six the same as the Duke and Count. I was up a couple of pawns due to this, but unfortunately didn't play the rest of the game like Morphy!

[Event "Derbyshire Individual Championship"]
[Site "Rolls Royce"]
[Date "2007.10.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Phil Smith"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C41"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Bg4 4. dxe5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 Bd6 8. Bxf7+ Kf8 9. Qxb7 Nbd7 10. Bc4 Nc5 11. Qc6 Ncxe4 12. Nd2 Nc5 13. O-O Ke7 14. b4 Qd7 15. Qxd7+ Ncxd7 16. c3 Rhb8 17. Re1 Kf8 18. Ne4 Nxe4 19. Rxe4 Nf6 20. Re2 h6 21. Be3 Re8 22. Bb5 Re7 23. Bc6 Rd8 24. Bxa7 Nd7 25. Bxd7 Rexd7 26. Be3 Bxb4 27. h3 Bxc3 28. Bc5+ Kg8 29. Rc1 Rd1+ 30. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 31. Kh2 Kf7 32. Re3 Bd4 33. Bxd4 exd4 34. Rf3+ Ke6 35. a4 c5 36. Ra3 c4 37. a5 Rb1 38. a6 Rb8 39. a7 Ra8 40. Ra6+ Kd5 41. Ra5+ Kc6 42. Ra4 Kb5 43. Ra1 c3 44. Rb1+ Kc4 45. Rb8 Rxa7 46. Rc8+ Kd3 0-1

My problems came later on when I overlooked my weak back rank, and allowed him to get the two pawns back with what I thought was a mate threat. A simple h3 in a position like that below would have solved my problems

I didn't realise at the time, but I could have refuted his bishop sacrifice by taking it and at the position below, playing the un-natural looking Re1.

I am getting seriously fed up of being up in material only to lose in the late middle or end game!

Rats

2007-10-10T18:42:00.001+01:00

Last night I played Harry Ratner in the club championship. I played well up to the 30th move, and was up a pawn, but at the position below, I played Rgf8 which left me open for a bishop fork from d6. There were lots of other moves I could have made, but I was too stubbornly trying to defend the f7 pawn.

Below Harry missed a mate in 2: Nd7 Ka8 Rxc8. So I dragged it out another 20 moves to no success.

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2007/08"]
[Date "2007.10.09"]
[White "Harry Ratner"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Qa5 5. a3 c6 6. b4 Qc7 7. Bc4 Bf5 8. d3 e6 9. O-O Bd6 10. h3 Nbd7 11. b5 Ne5 12. Bb2 Nxc4 13. dxc4 O-O-O 14. Qe2 h6 15. Nd1 Be7 16. Ne3 Bh7 17. Be5 Qb6 18. bxc6 Qxc6 19. Nd4 Qe4 20. Nf3 Rhg8 21. Rfe1 Nd7 22. Bd4 Kb8 23. Bc3 Bc5 24. Bb4 Bxe3 25. Qxe3 Qxe3 26. Rxe3 Bxc2 27. Rc1 Bg6 28. Rd1 Nb6 29. Rc1 Rc8 30. Ne5 Rgf8 31. Nxg6 Nxc4 32. Nxf8 Nxe3 33. Rxc8+ Kxc8 34. fxe3 Kd8 35. Nh7 f6 36. Bf8 g5 37. Bxh6 Ke7 38. Kf2 a6 39. e4 b5 40. Ke3 a5 41. Kd3 e5 42. g4 Kf7 43. Bxg5 fxg5 44. Nxg5+ Kg6 45. Nf3 Kf6 46. h4 Ke6 47. h5 Kd6 48. h6 Kc5 49. Nxe5 b4 50. axb4+ axb4 51. h7 b3 52. Kc3 1-0

My first swindle

2007-10-06T09:14:00.000+01:00

My round 1 game against Introspection in T34 of teamleague, was the first time I can recall winning a longplay game were I was losing heavily and had considered resigning lots of times. On other days I would probably have resigned, but yesterday I stubbornly decided to make him force the win. Until the last move I was still expecting to lose, and was hoping against hope to snatch a draw. There were lots of people observing and commenting on the game (I am only able to read them once the game is finished), I really value the input of stronger players. Here's the game:

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.10.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "deanmadden"]
[Black "Introspection"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1456"]
[BlackElo "1404"]
[ECO "C54"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nxe4 8. O-O Bxc3 9. d5 Na5 10. bxc3 Nxc4 11. Re1 Nd6 12. Ng5 O-O 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Rxe4 d6 15. Qb3 Bf5 16. Rf4 Re8 17. Bb2 Qe7 18. Qd1 Bg6 19. c4 Qe2 20. Qxe2 Rxe2 21. Bd4 Rae8 22. Bc3 Rc2 23. Bd4 Rxc4 24. g3 f6 25. Bxa7 Rxf4 26. gxf4 b6 27. Kf1 Ra8 28. Bxb6 cxb6 29. Re1 Rxa2 30. Re6 b5 31. Rxd6 b4 32. Rd8+ Kf7 33. Rd7+ Ke8 34. Rb7 Be4 35. Rb8+ Kd7 36. Rxb4 Bxd5 37. Rd4 Ke6 38. Ke1 Ra1+ 39. Kd2 Rh1 40. Ke3 f5 41. h4 Rxh4 42. Rb4 Rh3+ 43. Kd4 g6 44. Rb6+ Kf7 45. Kxd5 Rf3 46. Rb7+ Kg8 47. Rb8+ Kg7 48. Rb7+ Kh6 49. Ke5 Rxf2 50. Rb3 Kh5 51. Rh3+ Kg4 52. Rxh7 Re2+ 53. Kf6 Kxf4 54. Kxg6 Rg2+ 55. Kf6 Rg5 56. Rh4+ Rg4 57. Rh5 Rg5 58. Rxg5 {Introspection resigns} 1-0

I played the Moller Attack and my first nine moves were from memory. The tenth was where I had to think for myself and things usually go wrong :)

Above the book move would have been Bd3, not bxc3 that I played. I guess I was scared off falling behind in material but in this sort of sharp opening the idea is to attack and develop quicker than the opponent.

At move 25 above, I stupidly gave my bishop away after already being down two pawns. I took his pawn on a7 but just didn't think he could obviously play b6 to trap my bishop. I've done this a few times before and just don't think about it. In this particular case there was a chance of saving it by playing Rc1 after the other rooks were exchanged and attacking his backward pawn.

Up to the point above, I was down a bishop and pawn, but he made a mistake and allowed me to play Rb6, forcing his king away from his bishop.

After my move 57 above, the position was a draw according to fritz as he wouldn't be able to promote his pawn. But he firstly offered a draw, he only had about 5mins left on his clock, then while I was thinking about it he played the only losing move Rg5 which let me take the rook for free. I feel sorry for my opponent! I guess the moral for me is to never give up and just play games out.

In other news...

I played Nathan Atkins on Tuesday in the Spondon club championship, I've never beaten him so was pleased to be up a pawn early on. But he tactically outplayed me although I held on for longer than I have done before. An enjoyable wide open (for him) game:

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2007/08"]
[Date "2007.10.02"]
[White "Nathan Atkins"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd2 c6 6. Bc4 Qc7 7. Nf3 Bf5 8. g3 e6 9. Bf4 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O Qb4 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Qxb2 14. a3 Qb6 15. Rfe1 Nbd7 16. d5 Nc5 17. Qd4 O-O-O 18. Rab1 Qa5 19. Ne5 Rhf8 20. d6 Ncd7 21. Nc4 Qc5 22. Qd3 g6 23. Na4 Qd5 24. Qc3 b5 25. Na5 bxa4 26. Nxc6 Nc5 27. Ne7+ Kd7 28. Nxd5 Nxd5 29. Qxc5 Rc8 30. Rb7+ Nc7 31. Rxc7+ Rxc7 32. Qxc7+ Ke8 33. d7+ Ke7 34. d8=Q# 1-0

For my own amusement, here's a record of all the comments in my teamleague game:

[Event "FICS standard game"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.10.05"]
[Time "18:00:12 GMT"]
[Round "-"]
[White "deanmadden"]
[Black "Introspection"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1456"]
[BlackElo "1404"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]
[GameId "837882"]

1.e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 2.Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 3.Bc4 {[%emt 0:00:04]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: go Intro!!}
Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 4.c3 {[%emt 0:00:02]
Nitreb(1269) whispers: Go Go Deanmadden!}
Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 5.d4 {[%emt 0:00:03]} exd4 {[%emt 0:00:10]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: go go go Intro!}
6.cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Bb4+ {[%emt 0:00:19]} 7.Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Nxe4 {[%emt 0:00:31]} 8.O-O {[%emt 0:00:03]} Bxc3 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 9.d5 {[%emt 0:00:08]
FlorinC(2236) whispers: hae?
FlorinC(2236) whispers: ich denke der spielt sonntag?!
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: hello all
derMandarin(2059) whispers: sharp stuff
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Hi Ros
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: :)
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Bf6 and Ne5 both score well
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Let me know if you'd rather I didn;t relay Chessbase data
twinders(1656) whispers: I like Ne5
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: I'm not sure this game will last long eough to worry about that DT (though my preference is for for no comp moves)
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Anand has a history of both, and Karpov used to play Ne5
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: I know Ros. I generally refrain from Comp. analysis
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: I meant opening reference material
twinders(1656) whispers: doesn't Ne5 win a piece?}
Na5 {[%emt 0:07:26]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Of 11 moves in my Chessbase database, that wasn't one of them
derMandarin(2059) whispers: hm, Intro should try and castle asap otherwise it could become messy
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Ne5 did not lose a piece by the way
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Ne5 and if Nxd5 then Bxd5 and if bxc3 then Nxd5}
10.bxc3 {[%emt 0:04:39]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: But this is now new territory
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: this now transposes back into the Ne5 line}
Nxc4 {[%emt 0:00:50]
twinders(1656) whispers: I don't see it DT. But now, white is down a piece with Nxc4
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: after NxB and Qd4
twinders(1656) whispers: Qd4 and Nd6 no worries}
11.Re1 {[%emt 0:01:04]
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: then Qxg7 Rf8 Bh6 looks worrying
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: That was the main line given by Chessbase twinders, with hundreds of games: maybe I;m missing something about it
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Ros seems familiar with this line though
derMandarin(2059) whispers: anything but f5 now ;)
twinders(1656) whispers: I see Ros.
twinders(1656) whispers: so does black give up the N with 0-0 or play f5 and try to save it?
derMandarin(2059) whispers: f5 would be a bad idea I think
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: It looks very risky
twinders(1656) whispers: perhaps Ncd6 now then?
derMandarin(2059) whispers: looks like it loses the queen
derMandarin(2059) whispers: after Bg5
twinders(1656) whispers: ah yes derM very true
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: I think I'd want to leave the c4 N blocking that pawn, and move Nf6, but is Bg5 a painful pin then
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: he can't move that knight
Nitreb(1269) whispers: Pinning the knight was tempting, but what about Qd4?
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Doh! :))
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: its pinned against the king
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Of course :)
derMandarin(2059) whispers: there is not much else besides Nd6 here, I'd say. I am not that familiar with this line though.
derMandarin(2059) whispers: maybe it is even better to just castle and do not hang on onto the piece but black has some lack in development
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: in these sharp lines it trying to hang onto material that get you into trouble
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Ncd6 and 0-0 are both scoring weel for black
derMandarin(2059) whispers: exactly. in the end it is very often a matter of personal choice and taste}
Nd6 {[%emt 0:06:44]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: But 0-0 has the higher rated players
derMandarin(2059) whispers: hehe, yesss. 0-0 ;)
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: We're now down to a tiny sample in the database - only 6 games
derMandarin(2059) whispers: well black just has to return the piece and get the king out of fire.
derMandarin(2059) whispers: any tries with f5 or similar stuff causes trouble
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: But Ng5 is the best: Steffan Neilsen 2124 vs. Torstein Bae 2269 Politiken Cup 2004 1-0}
12.Ng5 {[%emt 0:03:02]
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: Nd2 seems to be the move as it leave the way open for check if blackplays f5
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: The sample size is too small by far to be of significance of course
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Ng5 is nice :)
derMandarin(2059) whispers: well now f5 is ok for black
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Then Qh5+ loosens the Kside even further for black
twinders(1656) whispers: f5 but then white has f3 and the N still falls
derMandarin(2059) whispers: yeah but say... f5, f3, h6? how about that.
derMandarin(2059) whispers: very messy stuff
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Did I misread the players' names: is this Florin?
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: lol
twinders(1656) whispers: sharp lines for 1400 rated players
FlorinC(2236) whispers: :-)}
O-O {[%emt 0:04:33]
twinders(1656) whispers: so black stays content to remain a pawn up
Rosmerta(1766) whispers: as the FTl Mister Sharp what you your view on this line FlorinC?
twinders(1656) whispers: with K safety. :-)
derMandarin(2059) whispers: Florin despises moves like 0-0 and 0-0-0}
13.Nxe4 {[%emt 0:01:19]
FlorinC(2236) whispers: I just like this line and dont think, that black better here}
Nxe4 {[%emt 0:00:10]
FlorinC(2236) whispers: even one pawn up}
14.Rxe4 {[%emt 0:00:27]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: There we go - letting go of the knight was inevitable perhaps}
d6 {[%emt 0:00:37]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: so far these guys had one encounter which was won by dean
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: b6 and Bb7 for black's QB development?}
15.Qb3 {[%emt 0:02:56]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Or Bd7 and c7 perhaps
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Bd7 and c6 sorry
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: I guess that's wrecked the Bd7 c6 plan}
Bf5 {[%emt 0:02:58]} 16.Rf4 {[%emt 0:02:30]
squib(1857) whispers: r e8 you never know !!!!!
derMandarin(2059) whispers: hehe}
Re8 {[%emt 0:01:35]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: tricky Intrp, lol}
17.Bb2 {[%emt 0:01:00]
dstrout(1690) whispers: qc8 here for black?
rustic(0) whispers: qg5
FlorinC(2236) whispers: hey baby :-)
rustic(0) whispers: lol
FlorinC(2236) whispers: lol
KiranY(2014) whispers: what happened to your rating rustic?}
Qe7 {[%emt 0:02:22]
dstrout(1690) whispers: black is taking another shot at back rank mate
rustic(0) whispers: it got flattened out
squib(1857) whispers: this nmonkey is a tryer lol}
18.Qd1 {[%emt 0:01:17]
FlorinC(2236) whispers: the question is: why Bb2?
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Bc2 is a possibility
KiranY(2014) whispers: be3 would have been so much better
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Qg5 perhaps?
dstrout(1690) whispers: qe5?
Nitreb(1269) whispers: Qe2, exchange and then double the rooks?
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: the bishop is hanging
FlorinC(2236) whispers: for sure, kirany
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: I was thinking Qg5 Raway Be4
dstrout(1690) whispers: qe2 loses the black bishop
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: yeah qe2 lose the bishop!
Nitreb(1269) whispers: yes but the Bb2 will be hanging too
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Indeed
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: that bishop is useless
dstrout(1690) whispers: ...bc2 qxc2 leads to back rank mate, right?
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Bc2 maybe Qf1
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: But after Qe2 Qx Rx RxB Rxb, white will lose another pawn
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Maybe not
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: But it is a 7th. rank rook
FlorinC(2236) whispers: Qf6 and white have some troble
dstrout(1690) whispers: black could ...g6 to secure the bishop then qf2 to start exchanging pieces
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: anyway black is up a pawn
dstrout(1690) whispers: i meant qe2
FlorinC(2236) whispers: hmm
FlorinC(2236) whispers: why to change B?
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: I think black wins a pawn with Qg5 Raway Be4}
Bg6 {[%emt 0:06:00]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: No - it would have been Qg5 Rd4 and then Be4 and the pawn on d5 would have been adequately defended
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: c3 is a automatic move now
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: It would havestill opened up whites' K position a little though (g3 forced)}
19.c4 {[%emt 0:02:30]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Never mind - my visualisation is bad tonight}
Qe2 {[%emt 0:02:07]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Bh5 would have been fun
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Sorry folks - my brain isn;t working tonight - I'll be quiet :)}
20.Qxe2 {[%emt 0:02:02]} Rxe2 {[%emt 0:00:07]
squib(1857) whispers: well thats great for black
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Bd4 i would play}
21.Bd4 {[%emt 0:02:25]
KiranY(2014) whispers: bd4 rc2 be3 bd3?
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: then maybe Rf3 is needed....}
Rae8 {[%emt 0:01:28]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Maybe the direct approach is best ...
derMandarin(2059) whispers: go Intro go!!
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: only black can win from here
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: black has Rb1 the counterattack though...i mean white
KiranY(2014) whispers: be3 rc2 rd4..
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: hahaah rb1 Bxr}
22.Bc3 {[%emt 0:01:50]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: interesting move
derMandarin(2059) whispers: Rc2 and both rooks enter the second rank
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i don't understand the purpose of Bc3
boonen(1613) whispers: Rxa2?
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: It was a cumsy attempt to cover e1 I think
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: wow
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: *clumsy
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Rxa2!}
Rc2 {[%emt 0:01:25]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: Rxa2 Rxa2
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: no...the bishop is there
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Nice pacey :)
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Ack!}
23.Bd4 {[%emt 0:01:05]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: cash in?
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: No - double 7th. rankers Nimzo would say
derMandarin(2059) whispers: now Rxa2 works
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Rxc4 is also a possibility
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Hmm ... white's f4 rook is reducing the effectiveness of twin 7th. rankers though}
Rxc4 {[%emt 0:01:24]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: which is better?
FlorinC(2236) whispers: Bd3!
derMandarin(2059) whispers: yeah well...
KiranY(2014) whispers: he wants the d pawn as well i guess..}
24.g3 {[%emt 0:02:11]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: Be4 now
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Be4 Re1?
twinders(1656) whispers: why not Re2 first?
KiranY(2014) whispers: or re4
derMandarin(2059) whispers: Be4 Re1 Rxd4
derMandarin(2059) whispers: howevery, many moves work quiet well here
squib(1857) whispers: r e4 2 pawns up cant lose :)
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i think Kh8 is one move that doesn't work
derMandarin(2059) whispers: yeah of course
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i guess you can lose on time
derMandarin(2059) whispers: and Rc1+ ain't that good either of course}
f6 {[%emt 0:02:36]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: interesting...what is the purpose?
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Hmm - Bf7 -> Bxd5}
25.Bxa7 {[%emt 0:00:56]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: ??
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: the bishop is trapped is it?
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Rxr then b6?}
Rxf4 {[%emt 0:00:26]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: suicide chess}
26.gxf4 {[%emt 0:00:12]} b6 {[%emt 0:00:22]
squib(1857) whispers: 0-1 monkey power
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Is Intro aware of the b6 trap
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: He is
fernbap(1739) whispers: rc1
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: that's it....unless black resign
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: wahahah rc1....god
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Rc1 saves, yes}
27.Kf1 {[%emt 0:01:14]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: man....
derMandarin(2059) whispers: ouch
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: well thats it
fernbap(1739) whispers: oho
derMandarin(2059) whispers: good example for too quickly moved
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: hey is white better after rc1?
pollock(2045) whispers: why didnt play rc1 i dunno
KiranY(2014) whispers: they play openings well but not the game..whats the use :)}
Ra8 {[%emt 0:00:48]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i think black play quite well}
28.Bxb6 {[%emt 0:00:41]} cxb6 {[%emt 0:00:06]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: yeah, a strong positional game
derMandarin(2059) whispers: btw, nice to see so many spectactors here
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: yeah we have nothing to do}
29.Re1 {[%emt 0:00:43]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i think Bf7 the quiet move is enough}
Rxa2 {[%emt 0:04:23]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: finger note 9 of introspection}
30.Re6 {[%emt 0:00:42]} b5 {[%emt 0:01:45]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: go Intro go!!}
31.Rxd6 {[%emt 0:00:28]
squib(1857) whispers: kill intro kill}
b4 {[%emt 0:02:31]
dstrout(1690) whispers: go Intro!!}
32.Rd8+ {[%emt 0:01:40]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:26]
dstrout(1690) whispers: black has to give the g7 pawn if white pursues repetitive rook check
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: b3 and he's home and dry}
33.Rd7+ {[%emt 0:01:28]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Whoops - just back - thought it was black's move - sorry}
Ke8 {[%emt 0:00:55]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Rxg7 lose?
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Yes
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Rxg7 b3 and 0-1}
34.Rb7 {[%emt 0:00:49]} Be4 {[%emt 0:00:30]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: still a lot of work to do}
35.Rb8+ {[%emt 0:00:37]
squib(1857) whispers: throws dean a bannanna as a consolation prize}
Kd7 {[%emt 0:00:30]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Is this a monkey ploy to frustrate the opposition}
36.Rxb4 {[%emt 0:01:04]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Nah nah - I win - have a banana :p
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Rh1=
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Rh1+
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: And goodnight
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Ra1+ sorry}
Bxd5 {[%emt 0:02:10]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Aaargh!
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: No - I was wrong - again :(
squib(1857) whispers: lol}
37.Rd4 {[%emt 0:01:23]} Ke6 {[%emt 0:01:06]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: I do think black shuld have made more effort to keep the b pawn}
38.Ke1 {[%emt 0:00:57]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i think this lose a pawn at h2}
Ra1+ {[%emt 0:02:33]
dstrout(1690) whispers: how about ...Ra3 followed by ...Rh3?
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Ke2....Rh1...then h4 the final trick
derMandarin(2059) whispers: ouch
derMandarin(2059) whispers: this is evil!}
39.Kd2 {[%emt 0:00:43]} Rh1 {[%emt 0:00:40]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: here we go}
40.Ke3 {[%emt 0:00:44]} f5 {[%emt 0:01:10]} 41.h4 {[%emt 0:00:58]} Rxh4 {[%emt 0:00:52]} 42.Rb4 {[%emt 0:00:36]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: go Intro!!}
Rh3+ {[%emt 0:01:21]} 43.Kd4 {[%emt 0:00:23]
dstrout(1690) whispers: how about Rb3 here?
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i think Rf3 is more straight forward
derMandarin(2059) whispers: I would go for Be4
dstrout(1690) whispers: i am thinking Rb3 is chasing a rook swap, which is what black needs}
g6 {[%emt 0:02:33]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: oh my god}
44.Rb6+ {[%emt 0:00:23]
rustic(0) whispers: this was so unnecesqary
Introspection(1404) whispers: oops
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: anyone read introspection note 9?
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Yeah :)
derMandarin(2059) whispers: read his other notes too}
Kf7 {[%emt 0:01:32]
squib(1857) whispers: head butts his desk arrrgggghhhhhhhhhhh that hurt
Introspection(1404) whispers: Oh nevermind!
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: objeectively still winning}
45.Kxd5 {[%emt 0:00:31]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: Rf3}
Rf3 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 46.Rb7+ {[%emt 0:00:35]} Kg8 {[%emt 0:00:22]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: only chance is to checkmate black
squib(1857) whispers: its won for black his just doing it the monkey way :)}
47.Rb8+ {[%emt 0:01:00]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:09]
squib(1857) whispers: or should i say the hard way !!!}
48.Rb7+ {[%emt 0:00:10]} Kh6 {[%emt 0:00:09]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: yes!!
dstrout(1690) whispers: i'm new to MonkeyClub - are we obligated to make our games unnecessarily difficult?
stalebread(1583) whispers: white missed his chance}
49.Ke5 {[%emt 0:00:43]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: well....you shouldn't do that...you should just beat the opponent for good}
Rxf2 {[%emt 0:00:33]
squib(1857) whispers: dstrout he is just trying to make it intresting so we all enjoy watching lol
derMandarin(2059) whispers: yeah, it is like the same with squib and sacking at least two minor pieces each game ;)}
50.Rb3 {[%emt 0:00:58]
squib(1857) whispers: its what makes chess fun :)
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: if black is not careful he can checkmate the black king
squib(1857) whispers: lol
derMandarin(2059) whispers: Rh2 and Kh5 should be fine
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: again we need to read his note 9 lol}
Kh5 {[%emt 0:01:51]
stalebread(1583) whispers: oh no
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: its dangerous looking
derMandarin(2059) whispers: for white}
51.Rh3+ {[%emt 0:01:31]
squib(1857) whispers: its the twilight zone
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: lose another pawn..?
derMandarin(2059) whispers: trade a pawn
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: but win one back
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i think this is the wrong move
derMandarin(2059) whispers: well two connected passers, a king guarding those two pawns
derMandarin(2059) whispers: still a long way}
Kg4 {[%emt 0:01:13]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: he's making his life so difficult}
52.Rxh7 {[%emt 0:00:15]
squib(1857) whispers: its chess jim but not as we know it !!!
derMandarin(2059) whispers: Rxf4 now
derMandarin(2059) whispers: beam me up squibby!}
Re2+ {[%emt 0:00:21]
squib(1857) whispers: he he
derMandarin(2059) whispers: ouch
derMandarin(2059) whispers: not good}
53.Kf6 {[%emt 0:00:24]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: interesting
derMandarin(2059) whispers: now he lost a pawn
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: wow this is tough
derMandarin(2059) whispers: and this is tough to win now}
Kxf4 {[%emt 0:00:37]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: why is note 9 so true?
derMandarin(2059) whispers: why do you keep pointing at note 9?
squib(1857) whispers: self destuct countdown
squib(1857) whispers: :-B
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: is it a book draw?
derMandarin(2059) whispers: read note 9
derMandarin(2059) whispers: ;)
stalebread(1583) whispers: hey Intro you're making this too exciting - I've got to watch my heart
squib(1857) whispers: lol}
54.Kxg6 {[%emt 0:01:55]
derMandarin(2059) whispers: you are not the only one stale...
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: dean has nothing in his note 9}
Rg2+ {[%emt 0:00:45]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: dean should now offer him a draw}
55.Kf6 {[%emt 0:00:33]
squib(1857) whispers: intro has overdosed on bannanas
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: offer the draw dean!
WilkBardzoZly(1931) whispers: Kg4 not Rg2
WilkBardzoZly(1931) whispers: now Rh5 thread
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: Kg4 and we have a draw
rustic(0) whispers: only chance with giving check from c6}
Rg5 {[%emt 0:02:12]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i wonder if Rg7 is a draw king and pawn
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: doesn't look like it...
rustic(0) whispers: rh1 could be drw
derMandarin(2059) whispers: ok, this cannot be won now without the help of dean
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: 0:00 is crafty
WilkBardzoZly(1931) whispers: Rh4 Rg4 Rh5
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: man...}
56.Rh4+ {[%emt 0:01:58]
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Rg7 Rxg7 Kxg7 Kg3 Kf6 f4 and pawn is home ahead of K
stalebread(1583) whispers: only 5 and a half minutes left on blacks clock}
Rg4 {[%emt 0:00:38]
squib(1857) whispers: what a game 10 out of 10 for entertainment
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: i saw the board the other way round
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: 0 out of 10 for accuracy though
squib(1857) whispers: he he true}
57.Rh5 {[%emt 0:00:43]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: book draw
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: Therefore black has to play every 60 seconds
Introspection offers a draw.
stalebread(1583) whispers: draw
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: INdeed}
Rg5 {[%emt 0:01:08]
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: THIS IS LOST!
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA
derMandarin(2059) whispers: :(
Dreadtower(1387) whispers: INtro needs to be told abut the draw option on the draw command
deanmadden declines the draw request.
rustic(0) whispers: tsk
paceytallblack(1673) whispers: man this is amazing}
58.Rxg5 {[%emt 0:00:38]
stalebread(1583) whispers: Jeeesuus!
derMandarin(2059) whispers: unbelieveable}
{Introspection resigns} 1-0

Barry Lings

2007-09-30T09:58:00.000+01:00

I played my first game of the season in the Derby & District league on Thursday. I lost to Barry Lings of Rolls Royce 'B', in a quite dull game where he converted a pawn advantage. In the match, Mick Orridge got a good win so we weren't white-washed against a higher graded team. Full results:

444 ROLLS ROYCE (B) 3 SPONDON (D) 1
1 Boreham Michael D 0 Orridge Mick 71 1
2 Archer Barry W 101 1 Tabberer Stuart 61 0
3 Marshall Nigel 97 1 Gibson Martin 55 0
4 Lings Barry W 85 1 Madden Dean 46 0

The game:

[Event "Derbyshire League Division 4"]
[Date "2007.09.27"]
[White "Barry Lings, Rolls Royce B"]
[Black "Dean Madden, Spondon D"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E61"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 d6 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 Re8 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Rb1 e5 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. b3 e4 11. Nd2 Nc5 12. Bb2 Bf5 13. Nb5 a6 14. Nd4 Qd7 15. Nxf5 Qxf5 16. Qc2 Rad8 17. Rfd1 Nd3 18. Bxd3 exd3 19. Qc1 Ng4 20. Nf3 Bxb2 21. Rxb2 Ne5 22. Nxe5 Qxe5 23. Rbd2 Qe4 24. Qc3 Qe5 25. Qxe5 Rxe5 26. Rxd3 Rxd3 27. Rxd3 b5 28. Rd5 Rxd5 29. cxd5 Kf8 30. e4 Ke7 31. f3 Kd6 32. b4 f5 33. Kf2 fxe4 34. fxe4 c6 35. dxc6 Kxc6 36. Ke3 Kd6 37. Kd4 Ke6 38. Kc5 Ke5 39. Kb6 Kxe4 40. Kxa6 1-0

This morning I achieved a draw after being a pawn down in an STC Gauntlet game against higher rated twotowers:

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.09.30"]
[White "deanmadden"]
[Black "twotowers"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1456"]
[BlackElo "1683"]
[ECO "B00"]
[TimeControl "3600+15"]

1. e4 d6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Re1 e5 8. Nbd2 a5 9. Nf1 Nc5 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Ne3 c6 13. d4 exd4 14. Nc4 Bg4 15. h3 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Qxf3 17. Bxf3 Rfd8 18. Rad1 b5 19. Na3 Rac8 20. Nb1 Na4 21. b3 Nc3 22. Nxc3 dxc3 23. Bg4 Rb8 24. f4 c5 25. e5 dxe5 26. fxe5 h5 27. Bf3 Bh6 28. e6 fxe6 29. Rxe6 Kf7 30. Rxd8 Rxd8 31. Re5 Re8 32. Rxe8 Kxe8 33. Bc6+ Ke7 34. Bxb5 Be3+ 35. Kf1 g5 36. Ke2 Bd4 37. Kf3 h4 38. g4 Kd6 39. Ke4 Bg1 {Game drawn by mutual agreement} 1/2-1/2

I agreed a draw in an opposite colour bishop endgame. This gave me alltime high fics rating of 1463. This will probably decrease after the rematch tonight :)

Another loss in a winning position

2007-09-26T06:49:00.000+01:00

The latest recipient of me giving away matches for free was Ted Pye in the club championship. I was up a piece, but allowed myself to get checkmated. Arrgh!

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2007/08"]
[Date "2007.09.25"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Ted Pye"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 h6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Ne5 6. Nd2 Nf6 7. f3 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Bxd5 Qxd5 10. N2b3 Bd7 11. O-O c5 12. Ne2 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 c4 14. Nd2 Bb5 15. Nc3 Ba6 16. Re1 f6 17. f4 Bc5+ 18. Kh1 O-O 19. fxe5 Rae8 20. b3 b5 21. Bb2 fxe5 22. Rf1 Bb7 23. Rxf8+ Rxf8 24. Rf1 Rd8 25. Nde4 Bd4 26. Rd1 Rf8 27. Nd6 Ba8 28. Ndxb5 a6 29. Nxd4 exd4 30. Ne2 d3 31. cxd3 cxd3 32. Ng3 Rf2 33. Bc3 Rxg2 34. Nf1 Rg5# 0-1

Leicester Rounds 4 & 5

2007-09-24T06:23:00.000+01:00

I had a better day yesterday and enjoyed both games. First I beat Chris Fox with a Fried Liver opening. The opening gave me a pawn advantage after just a few moves, and this stayed the same until a pawn ending which I managed to convert to a win, even though my opponent assured me it was a draw. Gamesmanship or miscalculation? Not too sure. Anyway there were lots of points early on when I could have got more material but I didn't see them so will need to look more at the game.

[Event "Leicester Congress 2007 Amateur section"]
[Date "2007.09.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Chris Fox"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C57"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Qf3+ Ke6 8. Nc3 Nce7 9. Qg4+ Nf5 10. Bxd5+ Kf6 11. Ne4+ Ke7 12. Qg5+ Ke8 13. Qxd8+ Kxd8 14. d3 Be7 15. Bg5 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 Ke7 17. O-O h6 18. Nf3 c6 19. Be4 Kf6 20. Rfe1 Re8 21. g4 Nd6 22. h3 Bd7 23. Rad1 Re7 24. Nd2 Rf8 25. Rf1 Ref7 26. f4 g5 27. fxe5+ Kxe5 28. Nf3+ Ke6 29. Nd2 Rf4 30. Rde1 Rxf1+ 31. Rxf1 Rf4 32. Re1 Nxe4 33. Rxe4+ Rxe4 34. Nxe4 Ke5 35. Nc5 Be6 36. Nxe6 Kxe6 37. Kf2 Ke5 38. Ke3 Kd5 39. c4+ Ke5 40. d4+ Kd6 41. Ke4 Ke6 42. d5+ cxd5+ 43. cxd5+ Kd6 44. Kd4 b6 45. Ke4 a6 46. b4 a5 47. bxa5 bxa5 48. a4 1-0

Fifth and last game of the tournament was against 11 year old Amy Milson, a member of a very talented chess family. She was a pawn up early on, but I dug in and managed to scrape a draw after 68 very interesting moves. She'd offered a draw twice earlier, but I declined as although the positions were equal materially, there were lots of different things happening and I wanted to see it played out - win or lose. Overall a great experience for me and I hope to come back next year.

[Event "Leicester Congress 2007 Amateur section"]
[Date "2007.09.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Amy Milson"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 Nf6 4. d3 e5 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. O-O Be7 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Re1 Be6 9. Nf1 Qd7 10. Bg5 Ng4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Bh3 Nxf2 13. Kxf2 Bxh3 14. Ng1 Be6 15. Ne3 Nd4 16. Kg2 f5 17. c3 Nc6 18. Rf1 fxe4 19. dxe4 Qg5 20. Nd5 Bg4 21. Qc1 Qh5 22. Qe3 Rf7 23. Rxf7 Qxf7 24. Rf1 Qh5 25. Rf6 Rd8 26. h3 Bd1 27. g4 Qh4 28. Rf1 Ba4 29. Nf3 Qh6 30. Qxh6 gxh6 31. Nf6+ Kg7 32. Nh5+ Kh8 33. b3 Bb5 34. c4 Ba6 35. Nh4 b5 36. cxb5 Bxb5 37. Rf6 Bd3 38. Rxh6 Bxe4+ 39. Kg3 Nd4 40. Nf6 Kg7 41. g5 Bf5 42. Kh2 Bc2 43. Ng4 e4 44. Ne3 Bd3 45. Nhf5+ Nxf5 46. Nxf5+ Kg8 47. Nxd6 e3 48. Kg1 e2 49. Kf2 Rd7 50. Re6 Kg7 51. h4 a5 52. h5 Kg8 53. h6 Rd8 54. Nb7 Rf8+ 55. Rf6 Re8 56. Ke1 Bb1 57. a3 Ba2 58. Nxa5 Re3 59. Rf2 Bxb3 60. Rxe2 Rxe2+ 61. Kxe2 Ba4 62. Kd2 Kf7 63. Kc3 Kg6 64. Nb3 Kxg5 65. Nxc5 Bc6 66. a4 Bxa4 67. Nxa4 Kxh6 68. Nc5 1/2-1/2

Leicester rounds 2 & 3

2007-09-22T19:34:00.000+01:00

In round 2, I was paired against Joe Pacitto, but after waiting half an hour he didn't turn up. Disappointing since I would have stood a chance against him. So anyway I was repaired with someone much higher graded from the intermediate section. I tried a Kingside attack against his Sicilian, but it didn't come to much:

[Event "Leicester Congress 2007 Amateur"]
[Date "2007.09.22"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Grant Hammond"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 Nf6 4. d3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Nc6 8. Nbd2 Qc7 9. Nh4 e5 10. f4 exf4 11. gxf4 Bg4 12. Bf3 Bxf3 13. Ndxf3 Rfe8 14. f5 d5 15. fxg6 fxg6 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. c3 Qd7 18. Ng2 Rxe1+ 19. Qxe1 Re8 20. Qf2 Rf8 21. Bd2 Qg4 22. Qxc5 Qxf3 23. Re1 Qxd3 0-1

In round 3, I played Neil Roberts, the top seed in the group. I gained a two pawn advantage, but as usual for me I didn't convert it to the win. I couldn't stop his attack.

[Event "Leicester Congress 2007 Amateur section"]
[Date "2007.09.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Neil Roberts"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. c3 dxe4 3. Qa4+ Nc6 4. Qxe4 Nf6 5. Qc2 e5 6. Be2 Bc5 (6... Qd5 7. Nf3 e4 8. Nd4) 7. b4 Bb6 8. a4 a5 (8... Nxb4 9. cxb4 Qd4 10. Nh3 Bxh3 11. O-O Qxa1) 9. b5 Ne7 10. Bf3 O-O 11. d3 Ng6 12. g3 Rb8 13. c4 Bd4 14. Ra3 Bg4 15. Bb2 Bc5 16. Rb3 Bxf3 17. Nxf3 Re8 18. O-O b6 19. Rd1 Ng4 20. Qe2 Nxf2 21. Rf1 Nxd3+ 22. Kg2 Nxb2 (22... Ngf4+ 23. gxf4 Nxf4+ 24. Kh1 Nxe2) 23. Qxb2 f6 24. Nc3 Bd4 25. Nxd4 Qxd4 26. Qe2 Red8 27. Rd1 Qc5 28. Ne4 Qe7 29. Rf1 Rd4 30. Rf2 Qe6 31. Rc3 Rbd8 32. c5 f5 33. Ng5 Qf6 34. Nf3 Rxa4 35. cxb6 cxb6 36. Rc6 Rd6 37. Rc8+ Rd8 38. Qc2 Rxc8 39. Qxc8+ Qf8 40. Qc6 Qf6 41. Qd5+ Kh8 42. Rc2 e4 43. Rc8+ Nf8 44. Ne5 g6 45. Nd7 Kg7 (45... Qb2+ 46. Kh3 Ra2 47. Rxf8+ Kg7 48. Qf7+ Kh6) 46. Nxf6 1-0

Even more annoying is that I missed the following chance to fork his king and queen:

Should have played any of the knights to f4, then when he takes it with the pawn, play the other knight to the same spot! I just didn't think far enough ahead when I saw the first knight would be taken with the pawn.

Hopefully I'll play better tomorrow.

Leicester Congress Round 1

2007-09-21T22:50:00.000+01:00

I lost to Phil Smith in the first round. Disappointed as it all came down to one mistake in the end game where I let him knight fork my king and a pawn. Ah well, four more games to go.

[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Phil Smith"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Bg4 4. dxe5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. Bc4 Nf6 8. c3 h6 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. Be3 b5 12. Bb3 Nc5 13. Nd2 O-O-O 14. Bc2 Be7 15. Nb3 Nxb3 16. axb3 Rxd1+ 17. Bxd1 c5 18. b4 Kb7 19. bxc5 Bxc5 20. Be2 a6 21. Rd1 Bxe3 22. Qxe3 Qc6 23. f3 Rc8 24. Qd3 Rc7 25. Qd6 Qxd6 26. Rxd6 Rd7 27. Rxd7+ Nxd7 28. Kf2 Nc5 29. Bd1 Nd3+ 30. Ke3 Nxb2 31. Bb3 f6 32. Kd2 Kb6 33. Kc2 Na4 34. Bxa4 bxa4 35. Kb2 Kc5 36. Ka3 Kc4 37. Kb2 a3+ 38. Kxa3 Kxc3 39. Ka4 Kd3 40. Ka5 Ke2 41. Kxa6 Kf2 42. g3 Kxf3 0-1

Grandmaster draw

2007-09-21T05:38:00.001+01:00

I had what reminded me of some of the early recent world championship games on Tuesday. I played Getting Bowes in the club championship.

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2007/08"]
[Date "2007.09.18"]
[White "Dean Madden"]
[Black "Getting Bowes"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d3 Nf6 4. Nbd2 g6 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nc6 8. Re1 Qc7 9. Nc4 Re8 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bd2 Kh7 12. c3 a6 13. d4 cxd4 14. cxd4 Bg4 15. d5 Nd4 16. Rc1 Nxf3+ 17. Bxf3 Bxf3 18. Qxf3 b5 19. Na5 Qd7 20. Nc6 e6 21. b3 Rac8 22. Bb4 Kg8 23. h4 1/2-1/2

Getting offered a draw after my 23rd move and I agreed. I was quite please with it as he's a much more experienced player than me. The position was difficult and I don't think I'd have much chance in and endgame with him. I was lucky early on in that he could have been up a pawn, but he must have overlooked it. The only issue that made me think twice though was that I was way ahead of time. But even if he just moved his king back and forth, I still couldn't figure a way of forcing through. Maybe if I had more experience I would have played on.

Tonight is the first game in the Leicester congress, then 2 on saturday and 2 on sunday. The entrants so far for my U80 section are:

Roberts, Neil	Ashby	75
Green, Conrad	Hassell	73
Smith, Phil	Rolls Royce	70
Green, Eliot	Hassell	69
Mackay, Ross	West Notts	60
Blampied, Dorothy	Nottinghamshire	57
Heath, Kenneth	Gambit	55
Milson, Amy	Louth	47
Madden, Dean	Spondon	46
Pacitto, Joseph	Ashfield	38
Holliday, Lucien	West Nottingham

I've played Joe Pacitto and Phil Smith in long games recently in the Spondon summer tournament, and have played Amy Milson once in the Nottingham Rapidplay.

I'm hoping to do better than what my ranking suggests. I need to concentrate on every move, and double-check for any blunders or tactics I'm presenting my opponents. Then if I get ahead on material, gradually grind down my opponent and exchange pieces. Easier said than done.

KnightRiders

2007-09-17T21:10:00.000+01:00

I decided to move up into the U1600 division for the next teamleague tournament. Since I didn't have a team, I thought I might as well create one, and hence the KnightRiders were born! I've currently got five players including myself. Am looking forward to my first tournament as a captain and will be pleased if I don't get any dropouts. The team so far is:

jsswaheguru 1575
sreeneni 1538
schoorl 1490
deanmadden 1456
Jasher 1557

New Season

2007-09-13T06:41:00.000+01:00

It's a new season in English chess, and I started it off with a win against Martin Gibson in the 2007/08 Spondon club championship:

[Event "Spondon Club Championship 2007/08"]
[Date "2007.09.11"]
[White "Martin Gibson"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. e5 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bd7 4. Bxc6 Bxc6 5. d4 e6 6. Nf3 Bb5 7. Nc3 Qd7 8. a4 Ba6 9. Rb1 Bb4 10. Ra1 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Qc6 12. Bb2 Qb6 13. Rb1 Qc6 14. Ra1 Ne7 15. Nh4 Bc4 16. Qd2 O-O 17. a5 Qb5 18. Ba3 Qxa5 19. Bxe7 Qxa1+ 20. Qd1 Qxd1+ 21. Kxd1 Rfe8 22. Bb4 a5 23. Ba3 Reb8 24. Kd2 b5 25. Bc5 a4 26. Ra1 Ra6 27. Bb4 Rba8 28. Ra3 f5 29. f4 c6 30. g3 h6 31. Nf3 R8a7 32. Ke3 g6 33. Nh4 g5 34. fxg5 hxg5 35. Nf3 Rg7 36. Kf2 f4 37. g4 Kf7 38. Ke1 Kg6 39. Kf2 Rh7 40. Ke1 Rh3 41. Kf2 Ra8 42. Be7 Rb8 43. Bxg5 Rxf3+ 44. Kxf3 Kxg5 45. Ra1 b4 46. Rxa4 bxc3 47. Ra3 Rh8 48. Ra7 Rh3+ 49. Kg2 Rd3 50. Rg7+ Kh4 51. g5 Rd2+ 52. Kf3 Be2+ 53. Kxf4 Rxc2 54. Rh7+ Bh5 55. g6 Rf2+ 56. Ke3 Rf3+ 57. Ke2 Rg3+ 58. Ke1 Rxg6 59. Rc7 Rg1+ 60. Kf2 c2 61. Rxc6 c1=Q 62. Rxc1 Rxc1 63. Ke3 Rc2 64. Kf4 Rf2+ 65. Ke3 Rf3+ 66. Kd2 Bg6 0-1

I was up the exchange after he miscalculated a series of captures, but then the game got very tight and difficult to force the advantage. It took 66 moves and 1hr 39mins out of the 1hr 45mins to force the win, was very relieved afterwards.

Since the last post, I've updated the Spondon chess club website with the last seasons review after the AGM. Mr Lauri Nelson donated 49 chess books to our club after contacting me on the website, a very nice gesture. I've worked on my endgame a bit with Silmans book, but still a long way to go. I've entered the Leicester Chess Congress over the weekend of 21st to 23rd September, my first longplay tournament, five games: 1 friday, 2 saturday and 2 sunday. Looking forward to it and expect to be knackered afterwards!

I'm currently playing in the online STC Gauntlet while teamleague takes a break. I enjoy playing in these organised competitions more than just logging on and playing any random player. My current FICS standard rating is 1445 after a recent high of 1458, I'll be happy while I tend to constantly improve like this.

End game weaknesses

2007-08-15T07:36:00.000+01:00

I've identified the endgame as the major weakness of my game at this point. I played four 15mins games last night in a pairs competition at Spondon Chess club. I won the first when my opponent, Malcolm Somers, thought his rook was defended by a pawn, but the pawn was pinned to his king by my bishop. So just took it, and managed to force mate later in the game.

Second game I played Philip Sheldon for the first time. It came down to an evenish pawns and kings endgame, but he broke through and queened a pawn. But after speaking to people afterwards, I could have defended his break-throughs with my king and broke through myself. But I just didn't see or understand it.

Third I played against Mick Orridge, and was a few pawns ahead, but he launched an attack on the king, and I didn't defend correctly, mainly because I didn't know how to.

Fourth game was another first against Sally McIntosh, got down to another very even rook and bishop endgame, but I didn't know what to do and she ended up pinning my bishop against the king.

So I want to work on my endgame, but not sure how to practically do it. I've got Silmans endgame book and will work through it, and have had a quick look through the Averbak (sp.) book. But I'm not sure if they'll help me in practical games.

I might try endgame exercises in Personal Chess Trainer and Chessmaster. I'm not really trying to learn mates with the various pieces, but what strategies to use in general.

Any tips from other bloggers would be appreciated.

I think I'll concentrate on the endgame for a while (but still keep sharp with Chess Tactics Server). I've got a basic opening repertoire now, and it gets me to evenish middle games. My tactical awareness is much better, and I try to develop all my pieces and get good outposts. But when it comes to the endgame I tend to be lost.

I've heard that the endgame is where experience most counts, so am not sure what I can do apart from keep losing winning positions and trying to learn from them. Or perhaps it's just that I'm not calculating correctly and identifying tactics properly when there are fewer pieces on the board.

Apparently the endgame is a lot about 'technique'. But how do I learn this?

Fried Liver Attack

2007-08-13T20:28:00.000+01:00

Won a teamleague game with the Fried Liver:

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.08.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "deanmadden"]
[Black "varunk"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1436"]
[BlackElo "1447"]
[ECO "C57"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Qf3+ Ke6 8. Nc3 Nd4 9. Bxd5+ Ke7 10. Qe4 Bf5 11. Qxe5+ Ne6 12. Qxf5 Qd7 13. Qxe6+ Qxe6+ 14. Bxe6 Kxe6 15. Nb5 Kd7 16. O-O a6 17. Nd4 Rd8 18. d3 Kc8 19. Ne6 Rd6 20. Nxf8 Rxf8 21. f3 Rg6 22. Bd2 Rf5 23. Rf2 h5 24. h3 Rb6 25. b3 g5 26. g4 hxg4 27. fxg4 Rxf2 28. Kxf2 Rf6+ 29. Kg2 Rc6 30. c3 Kd7 31. Rf1 Re6 32. Re1 Rd6 33. d4 c5 34. Be3 cxd4 35. cxd4 b5 36. Rd1 Re6 37. Bxg5 Re2+ 38. Kg3 Rxa2 {varunk resigns} 1-0

I even missed a mate in 2 after the 9th move:

I saw Qf7, and he has to move Kd6, but for whatever reason I only considered Nb5 which isn't any good. But Ne4 is mate!

Latest Stats

2007-08-12T11:04:00.000+01:00

Handle	deanmadden
Rating	1100
RD	39.2
Tries	290
Success	70.7 %
Highest rating	1100
Date of highest rating	2007-08-12 12:09:55
Latest action	2007-08-12 12:09:55
Country	United Kingdom
Pieces	standard

Finger of deanmadden:

On for: 2 secs Idle: 0 secs

rating RD win loss draw total best
Blitz 888 65.5 40 112 7 159 980 (27-Mar-2007)
Standard 1436 57.8 66 73 12 151 1436 (05-Aug-2007)
Lightning 1016 108.5 1 19 0 20

Total time online: 10 days, 20 hrs, 1 min
% of life online: 2.9 (since Fri Jul 28, 00:30 PDT 2006)

I've been spending more time on Chess Tactics Server, and it seems to be helping, I can now see tactics a lot quicker and constantly look for the signs. I think this will at least help my blitz rating improve, and will help me calculate the things worth calculating in the longer games.

I've added all the blogs I read to Bloglines, so can easily check the updated ones, I'll try and update my sidebar to include the ones I read.

I haven't played any standard fics games for a week, but aren't overly concerned as I know my game is still improving with the studying, and don't want to be one of those people who get a grade then hover around the same mark for twenty years. I hope to keep on improving year on year, even if by little amounts.

Graham Pace

2007-08-09T18:32:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday I played Graham Pace in a club championship match:

[Event "Spondon Championship 2006/07"]
[Date "2007.08.07"]
[White "Graham Pace"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. e4 e5 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. O-O Re8 10. Re1 Nc5 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. h3 Bd7 13. Nb3 Qe7 14. Bg5 Rad8 15. Qc1 Bb5 16. Nxc5 Qxc5 17. Be3 Qe7 18. Bh6 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 Qf8 20. Qxf8+ Kxf8 21. Rad1 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Be2 23. Re1 Bxf3 24. gxf3 Rd8 25. Re2 Nh5 26. h4 Nf4 27. Re1 Rd2 28. Bb3 Nd3 29. Rd1 Rxd1+ 30. Bxd1 Nxb2 31. Bb3 Kg7 32. Kf1 Nd3 33. Kg2 Nf4+ 34. Kg3 Ne2+ 35. Kg2 Nxc3 36. Kf1 f6 37. Kg2 a5 38. Kh3 a4 39. Be6 a3 40. Kg4 Kh6 41. Bb3 Kg7 42. h5 gxh5+ 43. Kxh5 h6 44. Kg4 c5 45. f4 exf4 46. Kxf4 b5 47. Be6 b4 48. Bc4 Na4 49. e5 fxe5+ 50. Kxe5 Nb6 51. Be6 c4 52. Kd4 c3 53. Bb3 h5 54. Kc5 h4 55. Kxb4 Nd5+ 56. Kxa3 h3 57. Bxd5 c2 58. Kb2 h2 59. Kxc2 1-0

I played Kings Indian defence and got to an even material but better positionally point by whites move 28:

I then played Nd3, but better would have been Rxd2, I think I was trying to be too clever and should have just played the obvious move.

I worked the position and after whites move 36 I got here:

At this point I wasn't really sure about how to finish off this winning position. The general idea was to obviously push up the a,b&c pawns but I just couldn't get the strategy right. I understand in rook endings you should get the rook behind the passed pawns, but had no idea what to do here.

Anyway the crucial point I went wrong was after whites move 47:

What now looks obvious to me is playing c4, but for some reason I played b4, keeping my pawns on the opposite colour to his bishop. Even after that I got to the position below on move 52:

I should have played b3 and then whatever he does, I queen the pawn.

I'd love to hear anyone's opinion on what my plans should have been. I've obviously fritzed it to death and know individual moves I could have played better, but am still in the dark a bit about the concepts.

I think what I should learn from it is to concentrate more on calculating the variations and taking more time to make sure I get it right.

Grades

2007-07-28T17:45:00.000+01:00

My ECF grade has been amended to 46 due to an error in that the Nottingham Rapidplay results were incorrectly stored as standard play games. Here are my current grades and it will be interesting to compare this time next year!

ECF:

Field	Value	Description
Ref	269843C	Grading reference
Name	Madden, Dean	Name of player, surname first
Sex	M
Age		Juniors only, Age on September 1st of current season
Club(s)	Spondon	Club(s) player is listed for
Nation		Nationality code
FIDE		FIDE code

Standard
Category	E	Category A-E
Grade	46	Current Standard grade (amended version, if appropriate)
	46	Standard grade (original unamended)
Games	13	Standard games played, latest season
	13	Standard games counted (total)

Rapid
Category		Category A-E or X
Grade		Current Rapid grade (amended version, if appropriate)
		Rapid grade (original unamended)
Games	6	Rapid games played, latest season
		Rapid games counted (total)

FICS:

Finger of deanmadden:

On for: 3 mins Idle: 0 secs

rating RD win loss draw total best
Blitz 865 64.4 37 110 7 154 980 (27-Mar-2007)
Standard 1397 56.5 60 71 12 143 1423 (10-Jun-2007)
Lightning 993 115.3 0 17 0 17

Total time online: 9 days, 18 hrs, 45 mins
% of life online: 2.7 (since Fri Jul 28, 00:30 PDT 2006)

Chess Tactics Server:

Handle	deanmadden
Rating	1080
RD	44.2
Tries	123
Success	68.3 %
Highest rating	1089
Date of highest rating	2007-07-22 18:58:33
Latest action	2007-07-28 15:45:22

British Championships

2007-07-28T09:51:00.000+01:00

I had another session with David Levens last night. It's usually half an hour of problems, then 15mins going through them, half an hour of theory (French Winawer again), then playing for 45mins. He's away for the next two weeks at the British Championships in Great Yarmouth.

My CTS Stats:

Handle	deanmadden
Rating	1068
RD	45.3
Tries	114
Success	66.7 %
Highest rating	1089
Date of highest rating	2007-07-22 18:58:33
Latest action	2007-07-28 09:56:49

Final round

2007-07-25T07:43:00.000+01:00

In the final round of the Spondon Summer Open 2007, I played probably the best active player in the club, Ian Gregory. I was supposed to play someone near the bottom but because both our opponents didn't turn up, I played and lost to Ian.

[Event "Spondon Summer Open 2007"]
[Date "2007.07.24"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ian Gregory"]
[Black "Dean Madden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bf5 6. O-O c6 7. Re1 e6 8. d3 Nbd7 9. Nd4 Bg4 10. f3 Bh5 11. Kh1 O-O-O 12. a3 Qc7 13. Bxe6 Bc5 14. Bxd7+ Rxd7 15. Nf5 g6 16. Ng3 Bd6 17. Nf1 g5 18. Bxg5 Nd5 19. Ne4 Rg8 20. c4 Ne7 21. Bh4 Be5 22. Nc5 Rd4 23. Bg3 Bxg3 24. Nxg3 Rxg3 25. hxg3 Qxg3 26. Re4 Rxe4 27. dxe4 1-0

Round 8

Steven J Burke 161 1½ - 0 Douglas Bramley 99

Mark Carter 123 0 – 1½ David J Brown 120

Mick Orridge 80 0 - 1½ David Williams 144

Barry W Archer 94 1½ - 0 Harry A J Ratner 70

Ian Gregory 146 1½ - 0 Dean Madden ug

Gethin T Bowes e80 ½ - ½ Herbert T Loomes 99

Nathan Atkins 94 1½ - 0 Gary Davison 80

Adrian Murfin e60 0 – 1½ Graham J Pace 95

Malcolm Somers 66 0 – 1½ Joseph A Pacitto e35

Ted Pye 48 0 – 1½ Phil Smith 75

Phillip Sheldon 97 1½ - 0 Howard Bradbury 84

R8 Total 6/8

Harry A J Ratner	70	0	5	5
Barry W Archer	94	1½	6	6	U110
Ian Gregory	146	1½	7	7
Dean Madden	ug	0	2	2
Gary Davison	80	0	4½	4½
Joseph A Pacitto	e35	1½	4½	4½
Howard Bradbury	84	0	2½	2½
Ted Pye	48	0	2½	2½
Gethin T Bowes	e80	½	6	6	U90
Phil Smith	75	1½	4½	4½
David J Brown	120	1½	8	8	2nd
Mark A K Carter	123	0	6½	6½
Richard Hilkling	e75	def	5	5
Douglas Bramley	99	0	6	6
Graham J Pace	95	1½	5	5
David Williams	144	1½	8	8	3rd
Maitreya Thakur	e120	bye	4	4
Steven J Burke	161	1½	10	9	1st
Phillip Sheldon	97	1½	5	5
Herbert T Loomes	99	½	7	7	U130
Mick Orridge	80	0	4½	4½
Martin J Gibson	46	bye	1	0
Malcolm Somers	66	0	3½	3½
Stuart Tabberer	61	bye	½	0
Adrian Murfin	e60	0	4½	4
Nathan Atkins	94	1½	6	5

Final standings:

Steven J Burke	161	9
David J Brown	120	8
David Williams	144	8
Ian Gregory	146	7
Herbert T Loomes	99	7
Mark A K Carter	123	6.5
Barry W Archer	94	6
Gethin T Bowes	e80	6
Douglas Bramley	99	6
Harry A J Ratner	70	5
Richard Hilkling	e75	5
Graham J Pace	95	5
Phillip Sheldon	97	5
Nathan Atkins	94	5
Gary Davison	80	4.5
Joseph A Pacitto	e35	4.5
Phil Smith	75	4.5
Mick Orridge	80	4.5
Maitreya Thakur	e120	4
Adrian Murfin	e60	4
Malcolm Somers	66	3.5
Howard Bradbury	84	2.5
Ted Pye	48	2.5
Dean Madden	ug	2

Chess Tactics server

2007-07-22T18:00:00.001+01:00

I've just started using Chess Tactics server, it's basically a website that serves up loads of tactical puzzles and rates you depending on how quickly and accurately you solve them. A good thing about the site compared to other applications is that the examples it uses look like they could come from real games. I've attempted 21 problems so far and have an elo rating of 1071. It will be interesting to see what it gets to if I keep practicing.