Playing for Derbyshire

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

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

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...

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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