A Sloppy Chess Game

I recently played a game of online chess against a guy in the Netherlands that I thought was interesting despite a good deal of sloppiness. I managed to screw up less often and was able to finish with a sneak attack that actually worked. Anyway, here are the highlights of the game. I'm Black, and he's White.

The game started off fairly in a standard fashion until I messed up my position after move 9, which led my opponent to make a strong move... 10. Bxf7+. The Crafty engine approves of this move and I'm pretty much entering into a world of hurt. Crafty says I should have just taken the bishop (resulting in +1.95) as my line was inferior (resulting in +2.96). Either way, I'm in a bit of trouble.

Now, he makes a large mistake by moving his Queen. This allows me to take the bishop, and things are looking a bit better for me. However, I'm still in a bad spot. After some exchanges, we wind up in the following position, which according to the engine isn't so bad (+0.70).

I then manage to screw up with 15. ... Be6, which leads to an interesting spot where he forces a material imbalance at move 17. There's no decision here, and we proceed with a Queen + Rook + 6 Pawns vs 2 Rooks + Bishop + Knight + 4 Pawns. Such an imbalance usually makes for an interesting game.

We end up trading off rooks, and I am presented with the following position where I can even the game out. Too bad I suck, and fail to make the right move (21. ... d5 -- the engine puts us at +0.00 following that correct move). I remember I wasn't super worried about the pawn forking my pieces, because I figured I could threaten his Queen with my Knight. But, I overlooked the fact that if he proceeded to fork me and take my Bishop, it would also put me in check giving his Queen an escape. Lucky for me, my opponent didn't take advantage of this.

After a bit more play, I am able to pull the wool over his eyes and pull out a victory. He started to advance his h-pawn, and I was able to trick my opponent by making a move that looked like I was working on stopping it. But, what I had actually done was threatened to mate him on the next move. He fell for it; it's a mistake that only a human could make. Had I not gotten lucky, I think the game ends in a draw, but who knows.


Here's the game and all of its sloppiness in its entirety.

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2009.02.21"]
[EndDate "2009.02.24"]
[White "Some Dutch Player"]
[Black "BruteForce"]
[WhiteRating "1420"]
[BlackRating "1616"]
[WhiteELO "1420"]
[BlackELO "1616"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Ng1f3 Nb8c6 4. Bf1c4 d6 5. O-O Bc8g4 6. Nb1c3 Ng8f6 7. d4 a6 8. Bc1xf4 Bf8e7 9. e5 Nf6d7 10. Bc4xf7 Ke8f8 11. Qd1d3 Kf8xf7 12. exd6 cxd6 13. Nf3g5 Be7xg5 14. Bf4xg5 Nd7f6 15. Nc3d5 Bg4e6 16. Nd5xf6 gxf6 17. Bg5xf6 Qd8xf6 18. Rf1xf6 Kf7xf6 19. Ra1f1 Kf6e7 20. Rf1e1 Ke7d7 21. a3 Ra8e8 22. Qd3d2 Be6d5 23. Re1xe8 Rh8xe8 24. b3 Re8e4 25. Qd2g5 Re4xd4 26. Qg5g7 Kd7c8 27. Qg7xh7 Kc8b8 28. h4 Nc6e5 29. h5 Kb8a7 30. h6 Ne5g4 31. Qh7g7 Rd4d1 0-1

Neat Forced Mate

I finished a game this morning, and I thought this was a straightforward, yet neat, forced mate. So, I'm posting it here. Maybe you'll think the same about it. Anyway, it looked pretty to me. Enjoy.

White to move. Mate in 3.

Interesting Chess Game

I just played what I felt was an interesting game of chess. I'm not qualified to make that judgment, but I suppose what's deemed interesting is subjective. The game was clean as far as I'm concerned, as neither of us made any obvious blunders.

Throughout the game we were fairly even. Despite the evenness of the game, I really felt that there was a lot going on, and the tension was high. There was a lot of play in both of us as the game went on. Obviously, as the game progressed, we both missed out on some opportunities to eke out a small gain here and there. Adding up all of the small missed opportunities surely cost one of us the game. However, there was no obvious death blow that was missed.

Ultimately, the game ended in a draw, but I was generally pleased with how it all played out. In the end, I was trailing slightly, but managed to play it to a draw. I am sure it's clear to anyone who actually plays well that our endgames need some work. But, without further ado, here are a few snapshots from the game.

My opponent, playing White, is rated 1464 on RHP. I'm Black with a 1527 rating on that site.

Here's the first snapshot. Note that the board is from Black's perspective so notation is flipped. After White makes move 32, the chess engine estimates that we are dead even.


I move Rb2 seven moves later, and the battle is definitely on. Pieces are about to be cleared off the board. The computer still puts us completely even at this juncture.


Now, we're 50 moves into the game, and I push pawn to f5. The situation is precarious looking at this point. Despite this, we're still pretty even. And, to think that we're only two-thirds of the way through the game.


We get to the final position below after a lot of end game maneuvering. I think it was in the end game where we both missed a good number of chances to take the lead, or preserve one that we'd obtained, whichever the case may be. Finally, at this point, I think it became clear that neither of us was going to win. So, I offered a draw and he accepted it. The computer agrees that this is indeed a drawn position. There you have it... a draw after an intense 72 moves.


I think there's a lot of neat stuff that went on in this game that could not be captured by these four positions. If you're interested in chess, I encourage you to take a look at the full game yourself. The full game can be found below.

Here's the PGN:

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2008.09.11"]
[EndDate "2008.09.17"]
[White "MyOpponent"]
[Black "BruteForce"]
[WhiteRating "1464"]
[BlackRating "1527"]
[WhiteELO "1464"]
[BlackELO "1527"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. d4 d5 2. c3 Ng8f6 3. Nb1d2 Nb8c6 4. e3 e5 5. Bf1e2 e4 6. f3 Bc8f5 7. f4 Qd8d7 8. h3 Bf8d6 9. Nd2f1 Nc6a5 10. Nf1g3 Na5c4 11. Be2xc4 dxc4 12. Ng3xf5 Qd7xf5 13. Qd1a4 Nf6d7 14. Qa4xc4 O-O 15. Bc1d2 a6 16. O-O-O c5 17. Ng1e2 b5 18. Qc4b3 c4 19. Qb3c2 Nd7b6 20. g4 Qf5d5 21. Ne2g3 Rf8e8 22. Bd2e1 Qd5c6 23. Rh1h2 Nb6d5 24. Rh2e2 Nd5b6 25. Ng3f5 a5 26. Kc1d2 b4 27. Rd1b1 bxc3 28. bxc3 Bd6a3 29. Kd2d1 g6 30. Nf5g3 Ra8b8 31. Be1d2 a4 32. Re2e1 Ba3e7 33. Re1f1 Be7h4 34. Ng3e2 a3 35. Ne2c1 Nb6a4 36. Kd1e2 Na4b2 37. Rf1g1 Bh4f6 38. Rg1g2 Nb2d3 39. Ke2f1 Rb8b2 40. Rb1xb2 axb2 41. Nc1xd3 exd3 42. Qc2xb2 Qc6f3 43. Kf1g1 Qf3xh3 44. g5 Bf6g7 45. Qb2c1 h6 46. Qc1e1 f6 47. gxh6 Bg7xh6 48. Rg2xg6 Kg8f7 49. Qe1g3 Qh3h5 50. Rg6g4 f5 51. Rg4h4 Qh5d1 52. Qg3e1 Re8g8 53. Kg1f2 Qd1xe1 54. Bd2xe1 Rg8g6 55. Rh4h2 Rg6a6 56. Kf2f3 Bh6f8 57. e4 fxe4 58. Kf3e3 Ra6b6 59. f5 Bf8d6 60. Rh2g2 Rb6b1 61. Be1d2 Rb1b2 62. Ke3xe4 Rb2xa2 63. Ke4e3 Bd6f8 64. Rg2g6 Ra2a7 65. Ke3f4 Ra7e7 66. Rg6e6 Re7xe6 67. fxe6 Kf7xe6 68. Kf4e4 Bf8d6 69. d5 Ke6f6 70. Ke4d4 Kf6f5 71. Kd4xc4 Kf5e4 72. Bd2h6 Bd6e5 1/2-1/2

A Close Chess Game

I've been in a game against a 1450 rated (on RedHotPawn) for the past week or so, and finally the game ended today. I felt it was a really hard fought match, and generally the game was clean. Looking at the game again, I was lucky to have pulled out a win. The game was fairly long too, as his resignation came after 51 moves.

I ran the game through a chess engine, and the computer had us in a dead heat (+0.00) after his 27th move as White. Here's the position that was considered even by the analyzer.


My next move (27. ... Ne5) was deemed a mistake and quickly the computer upped my opponents chances a notch. But, he does not counter my threat properly (28. Nc3), and it would ultimately cost him the game. He overlooked the fact that my own queen is covered by my knight after I take his queen from the fork, which wins me a piece. The computer suggests 28. Kg1 or Kh1 as the correct plays that thwart my plans.


Below is the game in its entirety. I also have another game (against a 1550) that I will probably post up later on when it's done. I think I'm going to lose, but I'm not 100% convinced yet, so it's going to be at least a couple of days more probably.

1. b3 e5 2. Bc1b2 Nb8c6 3. e3 Ng8f6 4. a3 d5 5. Bf1b5 Qd8d6 6. Bb5xc6 bxc6 7. Ng1f3 Bc8g4 8. h3 Bg4xf3 9. Qd1xf3 Bf8e7 10. O-O O-O 11. d3 e4 12. dxe4 Nf6xe4 13. Qf3g4 Be7f6 14. Bb2xf6 Qd6xf6 15. Ra1a2 c5 16. c4 c6 17. Ra2c2 Ra8b8 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. f3 Ne4d6 20. Rc2xc5 Rb8xb3 21. Rc5xd5 Rb3xe3 22. Qg4d7 Nd6c4 23. Qd7xa7 Qf6e6 24. Rf1d1 Re3e1 25. Kg1h2 Re1xd1 26. Rd5xd1 Qe6e2 27. Qa7d4 Nc4e5 28. Nb1c3 Ne5xf3 29. Kh2g3 Nf3xd4 30. Nc3xe2 Nd4xe2 31. Kg3f3 Ne2c3 32. Rd1a1 Rf8a8 33. Ra1e1 g6 34. Re1a1 f5 35. h4 h5 36. Kf3f4 Kg8f7 37. Kf4e5 Ra8a4 38. g3 Kf7e7 39. Ra1e1 Ra4e4 40. Re1xe4 fxe4 41. Ke5d4 Nc3b5 42. Kd4xe4 Nb5xa3 43. Ke4f4 Ke7f6 44. g4 Na3c4 45. g5 Kf6f7 46. Kf4e4 Nc4d6 47. Ke4e5 Nd6f5 48. Ke5f4 Nf5xh4 49. Kf4e5 Nh4f5 50. Ke5f4 Kf7e6 51. Kf4f3 Ke6e5 0-1

Chess Position

It's been a while since I have made any post about chess. The weekly games with Jim stopped working out, and we've tried to get back to it, but so far it hasn't happened. I really want to start again, because he's taken the last 4 games from me.

Anyway, I still play a fair bit on RedHotPawn. I played a game recently that wasn't really all that interesting, except for the following position to think about. So, here's we are in the game after 10 moves. I'm White, and my opponent is a good 200 rating points below me on that site (~1325).


What's my best move?

The Pivotal Moment in a Game

Earlier today, Jim and I finished a good game of chess. It was a pretty tight match for most of the way despite his useless knight locked up on the edge of the board. Then, there came a point in the game where I could have found the best move and likely ended up victorious. Instead, I missed the move and continued to wallow in the land of mediocrity.

I'm black, and it's my turn to move. Here was my chance to take advantage of Jim's minor mistake of pushing his pawn to e5. It was only a mistake in hindsight, as I clearly did not capitalize and so it didn't hurt him one bit.


If you want to think about this more, stop reading... maybe click on the image, so you aren't distracted.

Okay, so after I had already lost, Jim sent me a message telling me he thought I had missed a good move here... Qxe5+. And, after thinking about it more, he was totally right. I also got additional confirmation of this using the analysis engine.

That's all for now.

Here's the entire game for anyone interested. I also missed a better move on 32 in a similar style as well, which led to a really bad spot and my loss.

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2008.03.16"]
[EndDate "2008.03.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jim"]
[Black "BruteForce"]
[WhiteRating "1476"]
[BlackRating "1488"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "4747605"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bc1f4 Nb8c6 3. Ng1f3 Ng8f6 4. c4 e6 5. a3 Bf8d6 6. Bf4g3 Nf6e4 7. c5 Bd6xg3 8. hxg3 g5 9. Nb1d2 h6 10. e3 Bc8d7 11. Bf1d3 g4 12. Nf3h4 h5 13. Nd2xe4 dxe4 14. Bd3xe4 Qd8f6 15. f3 O-O-O 16. b4 Nc6e7 17. Qd1e2 a6 18. a4 Ne7d5 19. Be4xd5 exd5 20. Rh1f1 Qf6h6 21. e4 dxe4 22. fxe4 Bd7e6 23. Qe2d3 Rh8e8 24. Rf1f4 Qh6g7 25. e5 Qg7g5 26. O-O-O Be6d7 27. Qd3b3 Re8e7 28. Kc1b2 Bd7e6 29. Qb3c3 Re7d7 30. b5 Rd7d5 31. bxa6 bxa6 32. c6 Qg5e7 33. Nh4f5 Qe7f8 34. Nf5e3 Rd5d7 35. cxd7 Kc8xd7 36. d5 1-0

Premature Resignation

So, I played a few games tonight against some Aussie on RedHotPawn. Here's a position from our final game. I am White, and I just pushed my pawn to c4 thinking I had won a piece. Then shortly after my move, I realized that Black had an escape, which probably hurts my position some. Can you see how Black escapes his current predicament without any loss of material?


Anyway, to my surprise, my opponent resigned. It seemed really premature, but I guess he was tired of playing me. I won our first game after obtaining an early material advantage, and I won our second game on a blunder. I can only assume that he was looking for reasons to give up, since his final message to me upon resignation was "not interested any more."

And, one final note... I'm at an even 1500 rating now on RHP after that last game.

Skating On Thin Ice

I recently finished a correspondence game with Jorge that I felt was interesting. I got up a rook early in the game as a result of a few misplays on Jorge's part, but even so, I was often in a dangerous spot. It really goes to show that I need to develop my pieces better, and also not overestimate the danger of certain threats, which causes me to play less aggressively.

I'll put up a few positions showing some dangerous spots, as well as the final position before his resignation. Basically, I was clearly ahead the entire game, except any oversight or slip-up, and I'm toast.

First, for those that prefer to just view the game, here's it is (Online PGN Viewer link):

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2008.02.16"]
[EndDate "2008.03.04"]
[White "BruteForceX"]
[Black "Jorge"]
[WhiteRating "1492"]
[BlackRating "1364"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "4622399"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qd8xd5 3. Nb1c3 Qd5a5 4. Ng1f3 e5 5. Bf1c4 Ng8f6 6. d3 Bc8g4 7. Bc1d2 Bf8b4 8. Qd1e2 O-O 9. O-O Nb8c6 10. Qe2e3 Ra8d8 11. a3 Bg4xf3 12. axb4 Qa5xb4 13. Nc3e4 Qb4xb2 14. Ne4xf6 gxf6 15. Qe3xf3 e4 16. Qf3xe4 Nc6e5 17. Bd2h6 Rd8d4 18. Qe4f5 Rd4g4 19. Bh6xf8 Kg8xf8 20. Ra1xa7 Qb2b6 21. Ra7a8 Kf8g7 22. Kg1h1 Qb6c6 23. f3 Rg4h4 24. Ra8a5 Ne5g6 25. c3 Qc6d6 26. g3 Qd6xg3 27. Ra5a2 Ng6f4 28. Rf1g1 Nf4e2 29. Ra2xe2 1-0

Okay, onto the game...

This position is right after 19. ... Kxf8. I'm up a full rook, and I'm feeling really good about my spot.


This is after 25. ... Qd6. I need to do something about the mate threat, and so I pushed my pawn to g3. I knew that his Queen could just take the pawn, because the h-pawn was pinned, but I figured I'd be okay to follow-up with Ra2. And, that's exactly what happened. In hindsight, the better move was pawn to h3, which effectively blocks out his rook completely. I guess I just like making things harder for myself.


Lucky for me, Jorge overlooked a pin of my own, and got himself in a bit of a pickle. Here's where he should have resigned (after 28. Rg1), as the game is clearly over. But, he fired one last shot at me with Ne2, setting up a trap that I did not fall for. And, after Rxe2, he resigned. I thought this game was full of precarious spots, and very tense. We both walked a really fine line, and I'm just glad I did not slip badly at any point.

Chess Puzzle

I saw this chess position/puzzle on some website earlier today. I thought it was pretty neat, and it's probably not that uncommon a situation. It took me a while to see the correct move. Hopefully, I'll get better at spotting these types of vulnerabilities in the future.

Anyway, here it is. It is White's turn to move... what's the best play here?

Wednesday Night Chess

Jim and I played 5 games tonight. I ended up winning 3 out of 5 games. The last 3 games were really quite good. Two of them, Jim came back from a losing position to win. Here's one where I made a psychological blunder. I am playing Black, and Jim just captured my Knight on f6.

I was so worried about the pawn and the threat of another capture with discovered check that I did not take the time to think through what would happen if I allowed it to happen. So, my move should have been Rxe1, and it turns out that if he takes the pawn on g7 with check, I could simply move my King to g8. As a result, I would remain in the lead with a fairly straightforward win. Instead, I blundered and took the pawn with my Rook, leading to disaster.

Now, here's a game I wound up winning as a result of a sneak attack. I am once again Black, and the game is fairly even at this point.

I decide to play a bit deceptively, and I move Bc6 to threaten his queen. But, that threat isn't all that scary. Jim can either move the Queen to safety, or he can take the Bishop with his Knight. But, my move was not much more than a ruse. The real threat is the mate in 2 that I am set up for with my latest move. Fortunately, Jim overlooked the real danger, and captured the Bishop with his Knight. The rest (all of 2 moves) is history.

Return To Poker and Obligatory Chess

Well, I have been on such a chess kick lately that I haven't had the urge to go play any cards. But, I know that I really should, because it is a gainful hobby. So, today was my return to the game. I went to play a session with Captain Kings, and it was fairly uneventful. I lost 30 bets in roughly 6 hours of 'boring' play.

I was card dead for most of the night. Except for some reason I got dealt AK five times (lost 4 times, and took down a small pot with a flop bet). I lost with AQ vs KK on a Q high board, and I also got jizzacked when 3 of us flopped flushes (one guy holding the nuts). What can I say? I never really got out of line, and I simply pissed my chips away slowly. But, I did go out with a bang... 3 losing hands in a row. I called it a night right after these took place, as it capped off a 2 1/2 hour stretch with zero pots won.

Hand #1

A8s, I limp after several limpers. Flop comes 876, rainbow with 1 spade. Checks to a guy that basically bets anything. I raise, then a decent player 3-bets it from the SB. I definitely have not not so good feeling about my hand at this point. Original bettor now caps it. Okay, he bets anything, but he doesn't re-raise without the goods. I lay down my ultra-vulnerable (if not already dead) TPTK. There is a lot of action, and the hands are finally revealed. Both of them flopped straights. The decent player had T9s, and the initial bettor had 54o.

Hand #2

I get dealt QQ on the very next hand. I raise a few limpers, and it's 6 of us to the flop for 2 bets apiece. The flop is AT3, and tight old guy bets right out into me. I contemplate a call, but see there are two others that are basically going to call him. I just go ahead and muck it. The turn is a 9, and the river is a blank. Some guy won with T9, and the tight guy flashed an Ace and mucks in disgust.

Hand #3

Then, I get another playable hand right away.. AJh. I raise a limper, and there's a cold caller. The blinds also call. 5 of us see a flop of A64. I bet and get a couple callers. The turn is a 5, and I get only one caller. The river is a 2, and I pay off the guy with 43o in the blind.

That's poker. Sometimes you play well, and you lose money. I think I played my B+/A- game, but the card gods frowned upon me.

Okay, well that's the poker update... I'll probably play again on Thursday. If I get brutalized again I might take a break from the game (again).

Now, for more chess. So, I played a game with Jim recently. I found a winning move when presented with the following position. It was a nice combination that results in the loss of his Queen. After my move, he saw what was going on, and immediately resigned. Crafty actually preferred a different move, but I'm not good enough to pass up a Queen trap.

Anyway, here's the position. It's my move as White after Jim pushed his pawn to g5.

More Chess...

Well, I've begun getting others back into playing chess again. My friend, Jim, and I used to play a lot, but then we stopped years ago around the time when we joined new companies, or something like that. Anyway, we decided to set aside some time each week to play a few games then go over them and run analysis software to learn a bit more. No idea if this is a good way to learn, but it's at least a fun way to go about it.

So, we played 3 games tonight (15 minute). I basically got lucky in a few key spots, and managed to win two of them. The one that I lost, I resigned after I was put in a hopeless spot after some miscalculation.

Well, there was one game that was actually really good. It was close for most of the way (even the analysis software said so!). That is, until I blundered and allowed Jim to give my King a nasty check. Here's the position after that "game-winning" check (I think it's still a game-winning move despite the ultimate outcome of the game).


In the actual game, I moved Kf8, which incidentally leads to a forced mate with White playing Rd7 (there is a straightforward mating sequence for both g6 and Re7). Lucky for me, Jim did not see this, and I went on to win despite missing a forced mate myself later in the game. It's awesome being mediocre.

But, that's not what I wanted to share about this position. It turns out that even if I had not walked into the forced mate position, the checking play is so good that I will actually lose my Queen following a really slick combination. So, Black must move Ke7 to avoid immediate loss. White starts the deadly attack with Re6+. Here's the position after that move.


King takes the Rook, and Queen takes the Rook back with check. The only move is Kd5. And, the lovely finish is Qg8+, which wins Black's Queen via an eventual skewer. Pretty sweet... too bad neither of us were good enough to actually play the game out to see this awesomeness unfold. Haha.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and I really hope the two of us can keep it up. Maybe we will get better over time. I guess we'll see.

More Chess

Here are two positions from a couple recent games. One is from a normal game, and the other is from a speed game (5 minute). The speed one isn't really all that interesting, but it is a game where I am under a lot of time pressure, and proceed to choke horribly. The other one I thought was sort of cute, but not really all that impressive.

Okay, here's me playing the role of a choke artist. I am White, and I moved Qd7 to threaten mate at g7. My opponent (1560-rated Blitz player on FICS) 'blunders' by moving Rb7. I had expected him to push his pawn to f5, and instead of spending a little extra time to think about this and making the correct play, I panicked and retreated with Qd3. So, instead of having a relatively easy win (even with little time left), I ended up losing on time in a roughly even position five moves later. Blech, I suck!


Again, I'm White. It's my move, and I've got a nice combination from here, which leads to a huge material advantage (in 3 moves, worst case). I guess I'll leave it at that, but once you see it, I think you'll understand why I thought it was a little cute. I know a few of you have been IM'ing me about chess lately, which is great. And, some of you have already started playing again. I need to get better though... maybe, I'll start studying the game, but I really don't want a huge time suck on my hands.

More Chess -- Missed Mate

Well, I got my friend Womper to start playing again. We used to play a lot many years ago. Although he's a bit rusty, our games have produced a few complicated positions. Womper's not the only one that's a bit rusty though, as seen by this position from last night where I miss a forced mate.

I'm Black here, and it's my move. Post-game analysis concludes that I overlooked a Mate in 4. I'm posting the position here for anyone that wants to have a look. I'll post up the mating sequence as a comment in a few days if no one else does.

Some Chess

As many of you know I've been on a bit of a chess kick lately. I thought I'd share parts of two games I played recently. The first position isn't really all that interesting, except that it's an early game forced mate. My opponent missed the fact that I have a mate in 3, and so he did nothing to prevent it. The second position, however, is really a thing of beauty. Forgive me for tooting my own horn, but it's really rare for me to pull off such a combination.

I am White in both games. Oh, and just for those who are unfamiliar with chess notation... rows are denoted by numbers and columns are denoted by letters (order is from bottom to top and left to right, respectively, from White's view of the board).

Here is the mate in 3 position, only 13 moves into the game. Black has pushed his pawn to threaten the knight, but it guarantees White's victory. I won't say much more about it this one. Nothing too special, really. But, I thought it might be fun for those that don't really play too much to find the mating sequence.


This next one, I found a lot more interesting. And, maybe it is a lesson on why you shouldn't bring out your Queen too early. Some background... Black steals my pawn on b2, but he doesn't realize it is the start of a deadly combination. I follow with Rb1, which forces his Queen to a3 (the only safe spot for it). So, this is where we're at.


If you start looking a little bit deeper in this position, you will find that Black is in really bad shape. White has a strong move here. Knight to b5 is a huge winner. It is a sort of meta-fork. My Knight has forked Black's Queen as well as the threat of a King-Rook fork at c7.

Naturally, Black would want to save his Queen and prevent the c7 fork on his next move. On first blush, Black's obvious move would be Queen to c5 (note that a5 will not work, because the Bishop on d2 now covers it once the Knight has moved). The Queen is now safe, and the fork threat has been mitigated, as c7 is now covered. But, it turns out that it's all a big disaster for Black. The c7 fork can't be prevented without the loss of the Queen. Here's what the position looks like now.


If you want to think about this a bit, here's your chance. Otherwise, here we go on to see the rest of this combination unfold.

I move the Bishop to e3, which threatens his Queen. The Queen's only escape is to retreat to c8. But, it does her no good. Knight forks the King and Queen by taking the pawn on d6. And, that's the end of it.

In the actual game, however, my opponent sees that the Queen's retreat is futile, and opts to just take my Bishop with his Queen. He resigned a few moves later.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this. I'll probably post up more positions in the future, so long as I'm still semi-obsessed with the game. I really did forget how much I liked the game, so I'm glad to have started playing again.

Quick Update and More Chess

I thought about this a bit and decided it was best for me to exit some of my positions and raise cash. But, I did add to an existing holding with some of the proceeds.

Sold International Game Technology (IGT) at around 40.
Sold Eastman Kodak (EK) today in the mid-19's.
Sold Fortune Brands (FO) a little under 69.

Added to Glatfelter (GLT) below 14.

Maybe I sold into a bottom in the making. But, I think I really did need to do some clean-up, and so now it is done.

Okay, back to some chess talk. Anyway, I ran the game I played against Jorge through the Crafty engine. And, the rook sacrifice was clearly not sound, as I suspected. After the wild move, Crafty estimated White as having more than a full rook advantage. But, then White blundered in a not so obvious way...

26. Re7. Crafty saw this as a blunder, and estimated that after this move the game was pretty much even.

Looking at what the engine had to say, the not-so-good move for White that allowed me eventual victory was playing 28. Qf3 instead of 28. Be2.

So, I would guess a large part of this was psychological... Yay, for playing human opponents.

Chess Victory

I'm going to first say that I'm not a good chess player, especially when considering those who take their chess seriously. Among the most casual of players, I do just fine. While I've never been officially rated, I have held my own against those in the 1400 range (C Class). And, I should say I haven't really played in a long time.

Anyway, I'm going to share this game with you all only because I played it (and won!) against a buddy of mine, Jorge... I've never really beat him before (I think there was a speed game or two where we played time odds and he lost on time), and we've played a lot. But, he went into chess retirement, and only recently started playing again.

So, about the game... I pretty much screwed up in this game, and it was really apparent at move 18. So, I went for my Hail Mary rook sacrifice, which somehow allowed me to win. The sacrifice probably wasn't sound, but I figured I had to take a shot... aka I pulled this victory straight out of my ass.

And, Jorge asked that I paste his comment here:

You can quote me on your blog: I came out of retirement to lose to [BruteForceX].

Without further ado, here is the game in PGN. You'll need a viewer if you're at all interested in the replay. Here's an online viewer that I found that works fine: Online PGN Viewer.

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2008.01.22"]
[White "Jorge"]
[Black "BruteForceX"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "4524013"]

1. f4 d5 2. b3 Ng8f6 3. Bc1b2 e6 4. Ng1f3 Nb8c6 5. e3 Bf8d6 6. Nb1c3 e5
7. Nc3b5 exf4 8. Bf1d3 Bc8g4 9. O-O a6 10. Nb5xd6 Qd8xd6 11. Qd1e1 O-O-O
12. Nf3g5 Qd6e7 13. Rf1xf4 Bg4h5 14. Qe1g3 Kc8b8 15. Ra1f1 d4 16. Ng5e4 Rh8g8
17. Bb2xd4 Nc6xd4 18. exd4 Kb8a8 19. c3 c6 20. Ne4xf6 gxf6 21. Qg3h4 Bh5e2
22. Rf4e4 Rg8xg2 23. Kg1xg2 Be2xf1 24. Kg2xf1 Qe7a3 25. Qh4xf6 Rd8g8
26. Re4e7 Qa3c1 27. Re7e1 Qc1xd2 28. Qf6f3 Qd2xh2 29. Qf3f2 Qh2h3
30. Kf1e2 Rg8g2 31. Qf2xg2 Qh3xg2 32. Ke2d1 Qg2xa2 33. Bd3c2 Qa2a5
34. c4 Qa5a1 0-1