Game 45 45 (45 minute increment) at ICC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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