Jerry's Chess Blog

Game 45 45 (45 minute increment) at ICC

2009-02-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to Chickencross at the fics chess server who schooled me in B vs N endings:

Please let me know if you have more annotations, or if my annotations are incorrect:

[Event "ICC 45 45"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.02.02"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Opponent"]
[Black "Graham"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1741"]
[BlackElo "1702"]
[Opening "Owen defense"]
[ECO "B00"]
[NIC "VO.01"]
[Time "10:59:11"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]

1. e4 b6
2. d4 Bb7
3. Nc3 e6
4. a3 d5
5. exd5 exd5
6. Nf3 Nf6
7. Bg5 Be7
8. Bb5+ c6
9. Bd3 h6
10. Bh4 Nbd7
11. O-O Nf8?
12. Re1 Ne6?
13. Bf5 Bc8?
14. Ne5 Bd7 (the pawn may be impossible to defend)
15. Nxd7 Qxd7
16. Qe2 O-O? (this will lead to the loss of the c-pawn)
17. Bxe6 fxe6
18. Qxe6+ Qxe6
19. Rxe6 Rae8
20. Rae1 (white should take the pawn while he can) Bd8
21. Bxf6 Rxe6
22. Rxe6 Rxf6
23. Rxf6 Bxf6
24. Ne2 Kf7
25. c3 Ke6
26. g4 Kd6
27. f4 c5
28. Kf2 Bh4+ (I don't want his king getting to g3)
29. Kf3 Kc6
30. f5 Bf6
31. Ke3 Kb5
32. b3 (his advancing his q-side pawns makes them easier to attack. He
probably needs to bring back his king while he still can)
c4
33. a4+ Ka5
34. b4+ Kxa4
35. Nf4 Bg5
36. h4 Bxh4
37. Nxd5 Kb3 (here he is lost, because he cannot hold the c-pawn and prevent
the a-pawn from queening at the same time. If he tries to advance his own
pawn, he will probably lose his knight and the c-pawn.)
38. Ke4 Bd8
39. Ke5 a5
40. bxa5 bxa5
41. Ke6 a4 42. Kf7 a3
43. Nb4 {White resigns} 0-1

My conclusions

2008-12-27T17:36:00.000-08:00

Lief Pressman and Adam Maltese played me a few one-minute games today, and I do mean played me. Here's what I learnt I think:

Strong players know way more constellations. There are several ways to learn constellations:
a) listen to a stronger player
b) watch a stronger player
c) read something written by a stronger player
d) generalize (but with caution)
e) use logic, as time permits, to determine which generalizations apply

Am I right?

Chess In the Schools

2008-10-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I haven't been around in awhile. It looks like I might be doing some coaching for Chess In The Schools. I used to teach college, but I've never taught kids before. If anyone has any interesting advice for a beginner, please let me know. - Jerry

Hehir - Graham

2008-09-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

Last week I posted the picture of Mike Hehir playing Larry Tamarkin. Then this week I had to play Hehir in the Thursday Night tournament. Here is the game or at least part of it.

[Event "Thursday Night Tournament"][Site "Marshall Chess Club"][Date "2008.09.25"][Round "3"][White "Hehir"][Black "Graham"][Result "1-0"] [Opening "Old Indian defense"] [ECO "A53"] [NIC "QP.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nf3 Nbd7 4. Nc3 c5 5. d5 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O a6 9. Ne1 Ne8 10. a4 e5 11. f4 exf4 12. Bxf4 Bd4+ 13. Kh1 Ne5 14. Nf3Nxf3 15. Bxf3 f6 16. Bh6 Ng7 17. Ra3 Be5 18. Ne2 b5 19. b3 Qe8 20. Nf4!( diagram) g5? (loses the exchange; maybe bxc should be played, to open the b file and avoid losing a queenside pawn) 21. Nh5 Nxh5 22. Bxf8 Kxf8 23. axb5 eventually Mike game the exchange back, but I was not able to get the queenside pawn back, so he traded some of the pieces off and went into a won endgame.

Hehir - Tamarkin 25 years ago

2008-09-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of Mike Hehir and Larry Tamarkin playing at the Manhattan Chess Club about 25 years ago. The game below is probably not the same one in the picture above. Quotes are from Larry Tamarkin:

"This is probably the game which I won rather brilliantly by seeing that my queen wasn't really hanging in the middle game complications arising after move 19."

Hehir,Mike - Tamarkin,Larry S
Manhattan Chess Club Ch. (4), 1989

1.d4 d6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.f3 e5 5.d5 e4 6.g4 Bg6 7.g5 Nh5 8.fxe4 Be7 9.Nf3 Nd7 10.Rg1 0-0 11.Bh3 Re8 12.Qd4 Bf8 13.Bd2 c5 14.Qf2 Bxe4 15.Nxe4 Rxe4 16.Bf5 Re8 17.Bxh7+ Kxh7 18.g6+ Kh8 19.Ng5 Ne5! 20.Nxf7+ Kg8 21.Nxe5 Rxe5 22.Qf7+ Kh8 23.0-0-0 Qh4 24.Rdf1 Be7 25.Rg5 Qxc4+ 26.Kb1 Qe4+ 27.Ka1 Qh4 28.Rxe5 dxe5 29.Be1 Qg5 30.Bd2 Qxd2 31.Qxe7 Nf6 32.a3 Qg5 33.Rf3 Qxg6 34.Rh3+ Nh7 35.d6 Qf6 36.Qxb7 Rd8 37.Rd3 c4 38.Rd1 c3 39.bxc3 e4 40.Rd4 Qf1+ 41.Kb2 Qxe2+ 42.Kb3 Nf6 43.d7 Qg4 44.Qxa7 Qe6+ 45.c4 Rxd7 46.Rxd7 Nxd7 47.Qa8+ Kh7 48.Qd5 Qxd5 49.cxd5 Kg6 50.Kc3 Kf5 51.Kd2 Ke5 52.h4 Kxd5 53.Ke3 Ke5 54.h5 Nb6 55.Ke2 Kd4 56.Kf2 Kd3 57.Ke1 e3 58.Kd1 Nd5 59.a4 Nb4 60.a5 e2+ 0-1

"The game is of course typical of 2 young average strength guys (Probably around 1800 level) battling it out in NY chess in the 1980's.

However I was already 33 in 1989 - (Damn!)."

Please click on the link below to post your comments!

Magulis Game

2008-09-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am still a little under the weather from bronchitis. But it was very good to see Boris Privman back from his kidney transplant. The last two tournaments I have gotten too many opponents who are overwhelming, but in this game, Larry gave me some suggestions that I think are valid.

[Event "Thursday Night Tournament"][Site "Marshall Chess Club"][Date "2008.09.18"]
[Round "2"][White "Margulis"][Black "Graham"][Result "1-0"] [Opening "Queen's pawn game"] [ECO "A46"] [NIC "QP.06"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 Bg4 5. O-O Nbd7 6. c4 e5 (this is a move I was not happy with in retrospect) 7. Nc3 Be7 8.d5 c5 (Larry says I should not play c5 at all. I need to take on f3) .9. Ne1 h6 10. f3 Bh5 11. Nd3 O-O 12. Rb1 Rb8 13. e4 Nh7? (this defeats the purpose of h6, which was to make a square for the bishop to escape to) 14. a3 Bg5 15.Qe2 Qe7 16. Be3 a6?! (I probably need to take on e3 before the bishop moves away) 17. Bf2 b5 18. b3 (diagram) Qd8? (and white wins a piece).

More chessplayers in the news

2008-09-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

Marshall Member Eric Dinallo has been in the news over the last week.
for example:
"On AIG, Dinallo Goes Against Ex-Boss Spitzer"
And Ylon Schwartz (pictured above) is in the NY Post

Player sitting to the right is Jerry Simon's cousin

2008-09-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

In reference to my previous post: Mark Gerstl has identified the player sitting to the right of Jerry Simon is his cousin, Ronny, who beat Petrosian in the simul. Thanks Mark! If any of you are able to identify anyone else in the picture, or even guess, please post it by pressing the comment button under my post or someone else's post. To get a better copy of the picture to print out, go to http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=16149 and click on the picture. Unfortunately even if you enlarge the picture, some of the faces can't be seen too well.

Jerry Simon Picture

2008-09-10T15:59:00.001-07:00

A friend sent me the URL for this picture above: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=16149 that almost surely has a young Jerry Simon at the Petrosian Simul at Chess City. I think we can also see some other NYC players in this picture, or is it my imagination? Is the person to the right a young Jordan Auerbach? Other people who *may* be in this picture (let me know what you think) are Victor Montilla, Mark Meeres, Lloyd Kawamura, Rachel Crotto, Jerry Bernstein, Reva Thomas, and Stu Morden.

Links

2008-09-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

I was going to play at the Marshall today, but I had a terrible cold and didn't. This site http://web.jrn.columbia.edu/newmedia/2008/masters/chess/ has video interviews with Asa Hoffmann, Kassa Korley and several other New York players. It also has some footage shot at the Marshall. This USCF page http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8690/471/ is about Ylan Schwartz making the final table at WSOP.

Rohde Game

2008-09-06T15:31:00.001-07:00

This game was going well until I played 18.e5?

[Event "Thursday Night Tournament"][Site "Marshall Chess Club"][Date "2008.09.04"][Round "3"][White "Graham"][Black "Rohde"][Result "0-1"] [Opening "English opening"] [ECO "A30"] [NIC "EO.43"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 b6 4. e4 d6 5. h3 Bb7 6. d3 g6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. O-O Nc6 9. Be3 a6 10. a4 Nd7 11. Qd2 Nd4 12. Rae1 h6 13. Nh2 e6 14. Bd1 g5 15.Bxd4 Bxd4 16. Ne2 Bg7 17. f4 Qf6 (diagram) 18. e5? (maybe 18.Nc3) dxe5 19. Ng4 Qg6 20. fxe5 Nxe5 0-1

some ideas

2008-09-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been playing a little better. This is what has been working for me. It might work for other people more or less in the same age and rating group. I hope I don't sound too pedantic but I did used to be a teacher:

1. Motivation: Your whole life doesn't have to revolve around chess, but you have to have the motivation to put the necessary thought into each move, and you need to know what the motivation is.

2. Assumptions: Expressions like "the position plays itself" or the "move is obvious" may make sense for a grandmaster writing a book. The average player would be better off thinking more. I like what Fischer said better: "If you see a good move, look for a better move".

3. Mistakes: As much as some hate to acknowledge it, that is what the game is about. If someone is 400 points above you, they are unlikely to make a mistake that will let you win. If someone is 400 points below you, you still have to watch out. This is especially true if your opponent is a kid who started recently or who doesn't play otb often. Adults don't improve as fast and so tend to have more accurate ratings. Even if your opponent is accurately rated, you can make it easy for them by not playing your very best. If someone has a similar rating to you, yes, the game could be a battle of knowledge, but it is even more likely to be a contest of who blunders first. So you have to keep your focus and calculate more than they do.

4. Style: I find it very helpful to give alot of thought, especially at the beginning of the game, as to how I like to win games, and what kind of positions I like. It isn't always helpful to try to think about what some particular grandmaster would do or what a computer would do. I would say first think about the facts and logic of the particular position. Then if there is more than one good move, play the one you are most comfortable one rather than the one that is objectively best.

Please do post, what works for you or what doesn't work for you.

Graham VS Miller

2008-08-31T19:35:00.000-07:00

[Saturday Tournament][Marshall Chess Club][Date "2008.08.31"][Round "3"][White "Graham"][Black "Miller"][Result "1/2-1/2"] [Opening "Réti opening"] [ECO "A30"] [NIC "QP.10"] [Time "22:29:39"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e4 d6 5. h3 Bg7 6. d3 O-O 7. Be2 a6 8. O-O (a4 was probably called for) b5 9. cxb5 axb5 10. Nxb5 Qb6 11. Nc3 Nc6 12. Rb1 Be6 13. a3 Rfb8 14. Qe1 Nd4 15. Ng5 Bd7 16. Kh2 Qc7 17. Bf4 Nh5? 18. Bxh5 gxh5 19. Nd5 Qd8 20. Qd1 Ne6 21. Qxh5 Nxg5 22. Qxg5 f6 23. Qg3 Kh8 24. Qh4 (maybe Nxe7 with the idea of Bxd6 and Bxb8) Be6 25. Nc3 Ra7 26. Bh6 Rab7 27. Nd1 Bb3 28. Ne3 Be6 29. Nd1 Bb3 30. Bxg7+ Kxg7 31. Qg4+ Kh8 32. Ne3 e6 33. f4 Rg7 34. Qe2 Rgb7 35. g4 (this is probably not good because it gives black chances of a pin along the ran. We were both getting low on time. We traded queens and I lost an exchange on b1. I later won the exchange back. I had a won endgame at one point, but I blundered into a draw.

Graham vs Weiner

2008-08-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

[Event "Thursday Night Tournament"][Site "Marshall Chess Club"][Date "2008.08.27"][Round "4"][White "Jerry Graham"][Black "Zachary Weiner"][Result "1-0"][Opening "Réti opening"] [ECO "A04"] [NIC "QP.11"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. h3 e5 5. e4 f5 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. Qe2 c5 8. O-O O-O 9. Bc2 Nc6 10. d3 Nd4 11. Nxd4 cxd4 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. cxd5 f4 14. Qf3 Rf6 15. g4 g5 16. Bd2 Kf7 17. Kg2 Rh6 18. Rh1 Bd7 19. Rac1 Bf6 20. Qe2 Qf8 21.f3 Re8 22. Bb3 Bd8 23. Be1 Qg7 24. Bf2 Rh8 25. Rh2 Rg6 26. Rch1 h5 27. Kf1 Be8 [diagram]

And here he was under 5 minutes and I stopped keeping score so I don't have the full score. I think he's alright here. So I am not sure of exactly what happened. This is the best that I can remember it. We traded light square bishops on c4. He brought his queen and other bishop to the queen side. That was his big mistake. I played b3. His h pawn was traded for my g pawn, I recaptured with my f pawn. I got in h4 and then g5. I then got in Qg4 and hxg4. I got in Qf5 which led to mate.

First Post

2008-08-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

Some of my friends will say there is nothing more nerdy than a chess blog. On the other hand, most of my best friends in life I met through chess.

I am envisioning this blog as being mostly about chess. Even though I have been playing for many years, I find myself enjoying playing much more than I used to. Hopefully my situation will allow me to continue to play at least once a week. I am thinking of posting my game with Zachary Weiner. It was a pretty close game until he blundered in time trouble.

As for what I am doing these days, I just finished my second masters degree. My health is fair. I walk at least 3 miles every day. I still get very tired alot during the day. I have a part-time job and am looking for a second part-time job. If you need a part-time employee (and have money to pay me with), let me know.

I am kind of tempted here to talk about Marshall club politics. I know I shouldn't publicly second guess the people who are actually running things, but I can't resist it. I apologize in advance. I'll pick something relatively mild to talk about:

A dues raise doesn't have the effect you might think. I did a study on this when there was an increase when Howard Prince became president. The people who leave as a result of an increase aren't the scruffy chess bums. We're the last ones to leave! It tends to get rid of the more solidly middle class people. What you have to fear is not those who walk with their mouths but those who talk with their feet.

The solidly middle class members would make a donation if you could give them a good reason. But people expect chess to be generally low-cost, and they see any dues increase as an offense. Its much better to document any repairs you have to make really well. Take out a mortgage if you have to. When the tenants' leases come up, bring them up to market. Go to the members and other participants and tell them exactly what you had to spend and why. Many people will feel honored to donate to the club if they know its for a legitimate reason.