T74 Playoffs: Round 3

fireball battles opponent to a draw in final Championship game. 

fireball (1601) - Zugzwanged (1731)

Result: 1/2-1/2

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2017.11.17

[...] 1.e4 e6 2.¤f3 c5 3.d4 Transforming into a Smith-Morra Gambit - my favorite opening! 3...cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.¤xc3 ¤c6 6.¥c4 d6 7.O-O ¥e7 8.£e2 ¤f6 9.¦d1 e5 10.b4 If he takes it ... 10...¥g4 If he takes it this allows... (10...¤xb4 11.¤xe5) 11.a3 ¤d4 12.¥b5 ¤d7 13.£d3 ¤xf3 14.gxf3 ¥e6 15.¤d5 White recovers Gambit pawn here 15...O-O Or if.. (15...¥xd5 16.£xd5 a6 17.¥c4 O-O 18.£xb7 a5 19.bxa5 ¤c5 20.£b4 ¦xa5) 16.¤xe7 £xe7 17.£xd6 £xd6 18.¦xd6 ¤b6 19.¥e3 ¤c4 20.¥xc4 Here is a line I missed.... White grabs a pawn here. (20.¦xe6 ¤xe3 21.¦xe5 ¤c2 22.¦a2 ¤d4 23.¢g2 ¦ad8 24.¥e2 a6) 20...¥xc4 21.¢g2 ¥b3 22.¦d7 b6 23.¦c1 ¦fd8 24.¦xd8 ¦xd8 White playing for a draw, as per posted results that was needed for U1600 win. 25.¦c7 ¦a8 26.¢f1 ¢f8 27.f4 exf4 28.¥xf4 b5 29.f3 ¥c4 30.¢f2 a5 31.¥d6 ¢e8 32.bxa5 ¦xa5 33.¥b4 This avoids Black's rook coming in to annoy White's King and pretty well locks down the draw. 33...¦a8 34.¦c6 ¢d7 35.¦d6 ¢e8 36.h4 ¦d8 37.¦xd8 ¢xd8 38.¢e3 ¢d7 39.e5 ¢e6 40.f4 ¢f5 Hoping to get Qg4 41.¢f3 ¥d5 42.¢g3 ¥e6 43.¥f8 g6 44.¥b4 f6 45.exf6 ¢xf6 46.¥d6 ¢f5 47.¥e7 ¢e4 48.¥b4 ¥f5

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T74 Playoffs: Round 3

Nealbruce wins deciding game in final Championship round! 

nealbruce (1697) - pokerram (1498)

Result: 1-0

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2017.11.17

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.c3 ¤f6 3.e5 ¤d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 ¤c6 6.¤f3 d6 7.¥c4 ¤b6 8.¥b3 dxe5 9.dxe5 ¥g4 10.¥xf7 ¢xf7 11.¤g5 White is ahead here 11...¢g8 12.£xg4 ¤d4 13.O-O h5 14.£e4 £d5 15.¤c3 £xe4 16.¤gxe4 g6 17.¥f4 (17.b3 ¦d8 18.¥e3 ¥h6 19.¥xh6 ¦xh6) 17...¤e6 18.¥e3 ¤c4 19.¥c1 ¤xe5 20.¦d1 ¢f7 21.¤g5 ¤xg5 22.¥xg5 ¥g7 23.¦ac1 ¦hd8 24.¤d5 Back to even here... 24...¥f6 25.¥xf6 exf6 26.f4 ¤c6 27.¤c7 ¦ac8 28.¦xd8 ¦xd8 29.¤b5 a6 30.¤c3 ¦d2 31.b3 ¤b4 32.¤e4 ¦d7 33.a3 ¤c6 34.¢f2 ¤e7 35.g3 b6 36.¢e2 ¤f5 37.b4 ¤d4 38.¢f2 ¤f5 39.¦c6 ¦d3 40.¦xf6 ¢g7 41.¦xb6 White with advantage after pawn grab 41...¦xa3 42.¤c5 a5 43.bxa5 ¦xa5 44.¦b7 ¢f6 45.¤d7 ¢g7 46.¤e5 ¢g8 47.¤xg6 ¦a2 48.¢g1 ¤e3 49.¤h4 ¤g4 50.h3 ¤f6 51.¦b5 ¦a1 52.¢g2 ¦a2 53.¢g1 ¦a1 54.¢h2 ¦a2 55.¤g2 ¢g7 56.g4? This loses a pawn.. 56...hxg4 57.hxg4 ¤xg4 58.¢g3 ¤f6 59.f5 ¤e4 60.¢f4 ¤c3 61.¦b7 ¢f6 62.¦b6 ¢f7 63.¤e3 ¤e2 64.¢g5 ¤g3 65.¦b7 ¢g8?? This loses outright for Black, Computer predicts mate in 15, not easily seen for us non-computers though! 66.¢g6 ¦a8 67.f6 ¤e4 68.¦g7 ¢f8 69.¦h7? Rh7 allows a draw, but it is not simple. Couple of mating lines for White...

69.¦f7 ¢e8

69...¢g8 70.¤d5 ¤g5 71.¤e7 ¢h8 72.¦g7 ¦e8 73.f7 ¦d8 74.¦g8 ¦xg8 75.fxg8=£#

70.¦e7 ¢f8 71.¦xe4

69...¤xf6 Computer sees a draw 70.¦h8 ¤g8 71.¤f5 ¦a6 72.¢g5 ¢f7 73.¦h7 ¢f8 74.¦b7 ¦a8 75.¤d6 ¤e7 76.¢f6 ¤d5 77.¢e5 ¤e7 78.¢e6 ¤g6 79.¢f6 ¤e7?? Black blunders the piece - White wins now, but it is not simple (79...¦d8 80.¢xg6 (80.¤f7 ¦e8) 80...¦xd6) 80.¦xe7 ¦d8 81.¢e6 ¦a8 82.¤f5 ¦a6 83.¤d6 ¦a1 84.¦b7 ¦e1 85.¢f6 ¦f1 86.¤f5 ¦e1 87.¦b8 ¦e8 88.¦b7 ¦e1 89.¦f7 ¢e8 90.¤d6 ¢d8 91.¤f5 ¢e8 92.¦a7 ¦d1 93.¢e6 ¦e1 94.¢d5 ¦d1 95.¤d4 ¦h1 96.¢d6 ¦h6 97.¤e6 And that was the winning move! Good work by White!

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T74 Playoffs: Round 3

Insan996 wins first game in final Championship round! Wild Caro-Kann variation ruled!

GOTW winner! Here is write up from Megasus!

Another Caro-Kann defense ; site says this is a (fantasy) Tartakower, but it really goes down a totally different path. ChessTempo has this as the Maroczy var, denoted by 3. p-f3.. and not the Maroczy Gambit, since dxe4 is declined until move 17 !.. Even odds on either winning or a draw, until move 5 ; B-d3 puts it at 66% draw chances, with no winning chances for W..The line narrows to one response, at move 6 ; Black goes out of system first as his response to B-f4 should have been p-f6. N-d7, and we're OOB... p-e5 for Black ; then W Should have taken the N on h6. But he stopped to pressure Q first, with B-g5. That pushed Q-b6, which was forcing W to protect b2 in some way. W didn't, thinking he would be able to grab the h8 R after BxN BxB QxB, on h6. Making it ok to lose his a1 R. But R-f8 for Black, saves his, and now W's Qside is  compromised.... The Game is basically lost from here, as the extra R for Black plus his white B, 2nd N and Q begin to take  their toll on Qside and the middle. White Q is pushed off to h column, to avoid a Q trade, so it is mostly out of the mix in the middle. Black is able to open up e column next, and W has little defense after the fR comes over to e8 to control it. W has  attacking moves, but nothing of consequence that can slow Black's roll enough. Black wins all the trades inhte middle,  overwhelming it. A 2nd decline by W of a Q Trade, leads to the White K getting separated from his pieces left, and the  mating sequence... 

bookseller (1672) - Insan996 (1704)

Result: 0-1

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2017.11.16

[...] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 g6 4.c3 ¥g7 5.¥d3 ¤h6 6.¥f4 ¤d7 7.£d2 e5 8.¥g5 £b6 9.¥xh6 ¥xh6 10.£xh6 Poison piece? Black is winning here! 10...£xb2 11.£g7 ¦f8 12.¤e2 £xa1 13.O-O £xa2 14.exd5 £xd5 15.¤d2 £e6 16.¥c4 £f6 17.£h6 exd4 18.¤e4 £e7 19.cxd4 ¤b6 20.¥d3 ¥e6 21.¤g5 O-O-O 22.¦c1 ¥d5 23.¤e4 f5 24.¤c5 Black is in control 24...¦fe8 25.¢f2 ¤d7 26.¤a4 £a3 27.¤ac3 ¤b6 28.£d2 ¤c4 29.£c2 White is done here 29...£b2 30.£d1 £d2 31.¥xc4 £e3 32.¢g3 ¥xc4 33.£a4 ¥xe2 34.¤xe2 £g5 35.¢h3 ¦xe2 36.¦xc6 ¢b8 37.¦a6 And it is over 37...f4 38.¦a5 £h6

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T74 Playoffs: Round 2

nealbruce dominates Game 1 of the second playoff round! Fantastic attack using all his pieces!

pokerram (1506) - nealbruce (1689)

Result: 0-1

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2017.11.10

[...] 1.¤f3 ¤f6 2.c4 c5 3.¤c3 ¤c6 4.e3 e6 5.d4 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.¥b5 a6 8.¥xc6 bxc6 9.O-O ¥d6 10.dxc5 ¥xc5 11.a3 O-O 12.b4 ¥d6 13.h3 ¥f5 14.¥b2 ¦e8 15.¦c1 ¦c8 16.¤a4 ¤e4 17.¤c5 ¤xc5 18.bxc5 ¥b8 19.£a4 ¥e4 20.£d1 £c7 Threatening mate on h2 after BxN 21.g3 ¦e6 22.£e2 This line helps to hold the fort for White, but White stays under considerable attack

22.¤g5 ¦g6 23.¤xe4 dxe4 24.£e2 £e7 25.¢h1 £e6 26.¢h2 Actually C sees mate coming up here as well... 26...¦h6 27.h4 ¦xh4 28.¢g1 £h3 29.f3 exf3 30.gxh4 £g3

22...¦g6 23.¥e5 ¥xf3!!24.£xa6 And exchanging Qs loses a piece for White (24.¥xc7 ¥xe2 25.¦fe1 ¥xc7) 24...£d7! And White will be mated

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T74 Playoffs

Insan996 prevails against the Nimzo-Indian defense!  This was another back and forth game ending with a very nice mate. 2-1 for Valar Morghulis - last game for this round  is Nov 6.

Insan996 (1688) - kutch (1589)

Result: 1-0

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2017.11.05

[...] 1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤f3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.¤c3 ¥b4 5.e3 ¥b7 6.¥e2 ¤e4 7.£c2 O-O 8.O-O ¥xc3 9.bxc3 Black Knight hangs on to an outpost on e4... 9...f5 10.a4 a5 11.¥a3 d6 12.¦ab1 ¤d7 13.¦fd1 ¦f6 14.c5 dxc5 15.dxc5 £e8 16.cxb6 ¤xb6 17.¥b5 ¥c6 18.c4 ¦g6? White is well up here 19.¤e5!19...¥xb5 20.¤xg6? Advantage swings to Black here - White needed just to take the B (20.cxb5 ¦h6 21.h3) 20...¥xa4 21.£d3 ¥xd1 (21...hxg6 Black would be ahead here ) 22.¤e7! And White's Knight is out of trouble! 22...¢f7 23.¦xd1 c5 24.f3! Black Knight is trapped! 24...¤f2 25.¢xf2 £xe7 26.¥b2 £h4 27.¢g1 £xc4 28.£d6 £b3?29.£c7 ¢g6 White moves in for the kill 30.£xg7 ¢h5 31.£xh7 ¢g5 32.h4#

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