New Club Season Starts

Posted on October 1st, 2011 by Richard

The new chess club match season has started. As a prelude to this 2 weeks ago I played in the minor Thetford RapidPlay chess tournament.

I didn’t have a good tournament & ended with only 21/2-6. I played a couple of good games and a couple of bad games and a couple of average games. One game I played poorly in was a Scotch Steinitz opening where I got in a mess as I mixed opening ideas and this has convinced me to look again at Scotch Steinitz (Qh4) opening again and at least try to understand and be confident in the mainline variation of this.

The photos here show Chris & Bob playing at Thetford too. Many thanks to Kevin Moore for organising the Thetford RapidPlay with the Dutch players from Spikenjisse.

Since Thetford I have played  a long play game in our BuryStEdmunds Suffolk team vs Ipswich. I played French Defence and lost!  I am determined now to play the French Defence better!

So I still have lots of work to do to improve my chess play. Here though is my chess video of a recent game of mine vs chess engine Numpty0.7pr. This was a Petrovs Nimzowitsch attack variation white win:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28WL3K0Vg80&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

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Overdue post! Matches vs Numpty

Posted on July 28th, 2011 by Richard

Well it appears quite sometime since my last post!
I have still been playing chess since my last post with mixed success.
I am disappointed my 5 min blitz rating still remains lower than I want.
My opening play is generally reasonable though there are parts that still need study but I feel it is my middle and endgame I have to do better with and also I need to play more quickly!

Anyway I will try & put more effort into understanding the mid & end games. Meanwhile I keep sparring away with my favourite & great chess engine Numpty. When I play the Scotch opening Numpty often plays the Malanuik variation Bb4+. This can then transpose into other variations depending how play goes. I still haven’t mastered this opening variation as white & usually Numpty beats me in this variation.

My favourite white opening against Numpty remains the g4 Bayonet variation of the Advance CaroKann. I have found some areas that Numpty doesn’t like in this variation & it has been interesting playing this against Numpty.

Here then are x2 recent games vs Numpty. First a win for me in the CaroKann g4 Bayonet var & then a win for Numpty in the Scotch Malanuik variation (transposed to Tartakower var). Enjoy…

Game1: RPD vs Numpty CaroKann adv g4 bayonet var 1-0

[pgn parameter=value height=500 autoplayMode=none]
[Event “Computer chess game”]
[Site “RICHARD-PC”]
[Date “2011.07.28”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Richard”]
[Black “Numpty_07pr”]
[Result “1-0”]
[BlackElo “2000”]
[ECO “B12”]
[Opening “Caro-Kann”]
[Time “08:31:58”]
[Variation “Advance, 4.Nf3 e6”]
[WhiteElo “2400”]
[TimeControl “300”]
[Termination “normal”]
[PlyCount “59”]
[WhiteType “human”]
[BlackType “program”]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. g4 Be4 5. Nf3 Nh6 6. Bxh6
gxh6 7. Nbd2 Qb6 8. Nb3 e6 9. Bg2 Rg8 10. h3 Qb4+ 11.
c3 Qb6 12. Nh4 Bxg2 13. Nxg2 a5
14. a4 c5 15. O-O c4 16. Nd2 Qxb2 17. Rb1 Qxc3 18. Rxb7
Qxd4 19. Qe2 Nc6 20. Nf3 Qe4 21. Ne3 Bb4 22. Rb6 Nxe5
23. Nxe5 Qxe5 24. f4 Qd4 25. Rb7 Bc5
26. Rf3 Qa1+ 27. Kh2 Bxe3 28. Qxe3 Qxa4 29. Qc5 Rxg4
30. Qe7# 1-0 [/pgn]

Game 2: Scotch Malanuik var (transposed to Tartakower var) 0-1

[pgn parameter=value height=500 autoplayMode=none]
[Event “Computer chess game”]
[Site “RICHARD-PC”]
[Date “2011.07.28”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Richard”]
[Black “Numpty_07pr”]
[Result “0-1”]
[BlackElo “2000”]
[ECO “C45”]
[Opening “Scotch”]
[Time “08:09:38”]
[Variation “Tartakower Variation”]
[WhiteElo “2400”]
[TimeControl “300”]
[Termination “normal”]
[PlyCount “62”]
[WhiteType “human”]
[BlackType “program”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bb4+ 5. c3 Bc5 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Nd2
Qf6 8. Nf3 Qg6 9. Qd3 Nf6 10. e5 Ng4
11. Qxg6 Bxf2+ 12. Ke2 hxg6 13. h3 Bg3 14. Nd4 Nxe5
15. Bg5 O-O 16. Nf3 Ba6+ 17. Kd2
Nxf3+ 18. gxf3 Bb7 19. h4 c5 20. Bg2 d5 21. Raf1 Rae8
22. Bh3 Ba6 23. Rfg1 Bd6 24. Bd7 Re2+
25. Kc1 Rf2 26. Bc6 Rb8 27. Bxd5 Rbxb2 28. Be3 Rfc2+ 29. Kd1 Bd3 30. Be4 Rb1+ 31. Bc1
Rbxc1# 0-1
[/pgn]

Tags: chess, Chess game, my chess games
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Mixed post:-Rapidplay and SCID software!!

Posted on November 25th, 2010 by Richard

I have played 2 rapidplay club matches over the last week.
Format is G30 as White & Black against the same opponent.
I quite enjoy that format overall in contrast to other players who seem to prefer longer play games.

Results? In the first match I lost both games & in the second match I won both games! All very topsy turvy!!!
Here below I show 1 loss and 1 win. The games were definitely not good with many poor moves and missed opportunities for both sides but especially from my side! I have room for considerable improvement and I will try and learn from my mistakes & so try to improve!

Game 1-Colle vs English defence opening!
I am black and should have played 16…. Nxg3 but I didn’t and then the White bishops were strong and I made a blunder with my knight at the end & I resigned!
[pgn height=500 automove=none]
[Event “Bury A vs B-Rapidplay”]
[Site “BSE CC MH”]
[Date “2010.11.18”]
[Round “Board 4”]
[White “AN”]
[Black “ME”]
[Result “1-0”]

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 b6 3. e3 Bb7 4. Nbd2 Nf6 5. Bd3 c5 6. b3 cxd4 7. exd4 Bb4
8. O-O O-O 9. Bb2 Bxd2 10. Nxd2 Nc6 11. a3 Ne7 12. Re1 Ng6 13. Nf3 Nd5 14.
Be4 f5 15. Bd3 Ndf4 16. Bc4 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Qg5 18. Qg3 Qxg3 19. hxg3 Nh5 20.
d5 Rae8 21. dxe6 dxe6 22. Bxe6+ Kh8 23. Bc4 f4 24. gxf4 Nhxf4 25. Rxe8 Rxe8
26. Rd1 Ne5 27. Bxe5{Black resigns}
1-0
[/pgn]

Next game: French Defence (I am black and make a big mistake at the start but White does not finish me off and later I get a chance and white makes a blunder giving mate!)
[pgn height=500 automove=none]
[Event “Bury vs Ipswich_Rapidplay”]
[Site “IpswichCC”]
[Date “2010.11.23”]
[Round “Board 4”]
[White “AN”]
[Black “ME”]
[Result “0-1”]

1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 c5 4. exd5 exd5 5. d3 d4 6. Ne4 Nd7 7. Bf4 Ngf6
8. Nd6+ Bxd6 9. Bxd6 b6 10. Qe2+ Ne5 11. Qxe5+ Be6 12. Ng5 Qd7 13. Nxe6
fxe6 14. O-O-O Kf7 15. Re1 Rhe8 16. Be2 a5 17. g4 a4 18. g5 Nd5 19. Rhg1 g6
20. Rg3 b5 21. Rh3 Kg8 22. Bf3 c4 23. dxc4 bxc4 24. Re4 a3 25. Reh4 axb2+
26. Kxb2 Qb7+ 27. Kc1 Rxa2 28. Qxd4 Rea8 29. Kd2 Qb4+ 30. Ke2 Rxc2+ 31. Kf1
Rc1+ 32. Kg2 Qe1 33. Rg3 Qf1#
0-1
[/pgn]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

SCID chess database & game play software

I have mainly done my computing on PC’s running MSWindows (XP or Vista) and a long while ago I installed SCID chess database. I didn’t really use it much as I also had Fritz9 and ChessBase Light and found these easier to use.

However I recently added Ubuntu10.04 to my son’s old Vista computer which now dual boots. I am enjoying the Linux type computing with Ubuntu and I added SCID to Ubuntu to try it again but I cannot get it to play a game with any installed engine (Stockfish Toga or Crafty).

Does anyone know how I can play against an engine using SCID? I will continue to try to do this but I am most grateful for any helpful instruction (of course I have followed a few links from Google search but no post has solved this for me yet). Does anyone reading this post use SCID? If so please let me know how to play against an engine with SCID-thanks!!

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< I am now aiming to get my FICS 5 min blitz rating to over 1400 by Christmas! (Currently my FICS 5 min rating is around 1200 and I feel if I can play more I can get it to over 1400-here goes....)

Tags: Chess game, Chess Openings, my chess games
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BSE Chess Congress 2010

Posted on November 1st, 2010 by Richard

Last weekend (30/31 Oct 2010) was the Bury St Edmunds Chess Congress in the

new  Apex function hall. There was a large entry of over 170 chess players.

BSE Chess Congress 2010 in the new Apex building

Anyway I played badly in my 4 matches in the Minor section only acheiving a draw with 3 losses so finishing with 1/5!

This was very disappointing to me. I played several openings:- French Exchange (as black)/Alekhines’s defence (as white)/Bird’s Opening (as black)/Nimzowitch defence (as white) and my favourite Scotch (as white).

There was a joint winner in the Open section-a tie between GM M Turner and GM N Pert

 Open Section

 Here is my only half reasonable reult-the draw I made in round2:

Alekhine’s defence-Draw agreed

[pgn height=500 automove=none]

[Event “Bury Chess Congress”]
[Site “BSE Apex”]
[Date “2010.10.30”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Me”]
[Black “NN”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. Nf3 e6 5. b3 d6 6. Bb2 Nc6 7. Be2 Bd7 8.
d4 Be7 9. Nc3 h6 10. O-O Rf8 11. Qd3 g6 12. Ne4 Nb4 13. Qd2 Bc6 14. Nf6+
Bxf6 15. exf6 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 Nc6 17. Bxc6+ bxc6 18. Qxh6 Qxf6 19. Qd2 Kd7
20. d5 Qf5 21. dxc6+ Ke7 22. Rac1 Qc5 23. Rfd1 Qxc6 24. Rc3 Rfd8 25. Rf3 e5
26. Qg5+ Kf8 27. Rh3 Ke8 28. Rh8+ Kd7 29. Rxd8+ Rxd8 30. f4 Kc8 31. fxe5
Qe8 32. exd6 Rxd6{Draw offered by black & agreed}
1/2-1/2

[/pgn] 

I was very disappointed with my play and results-in all games except round2 draw I blundered away good positions I had achieved. The only thing I can do with this is put it down to experience and try & learn some lessons from it and play better in my next matches! I do need to do 2 specific things:

1. Do not spend too much time on moves and then try to play too quickly to get to the time control.

2. Do not move too quickly and make blunders!

These are almost mutually dependant actions and overall I need to think more carefully about how I play each move and the whole game.

So I still have a lot to learn and a lot to improve to achieve my aim to play good chess and improve my rating!

Tags: Chess game, Chess Openings, Chess Tournaments, my chess games
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Catalan BogoIndian opening…pardon?!

Posted on October 4th, 2010 by Richard

I lost my last OTB game last week. I was black and white played 1.d4.
My main reply is 1….e6 and from then on there are a myriad of possibilities of openings depending on the next moves. I have had some coaching recently in the English opening but have not yet played it enough to know the variations.

In this game I lost and when I analysed the game with the computer engine (Crafty) it told me the opening was the Catalan BogoIndian.
The what???
The Catalan BogoIndian! (ever heard of it-ever played it?!).

Well I lost the game-I kept losing position gradually & somewhat lost interest in the game. Eventually I made a really poor move but I wasn’t really interested in playing by then!
Why don’t White players just stick to 1.e4? It would make life so much easier & a whole lot more fun! 1.d4 and 1.c4 should be banned (along with everything else except 1.e4!)!!

Now I am going to check out the Catalan BogoIndian defence & find out how this opening should be played!

Here is the game:
[pgn height=500 initialHalfmove=16 autoplaymode=none][Event “CambsCC vs BSECC”]
[Site “Cambs”]
[Date “2010.09.30”]
[Round “Board4”]
[White “AN”]
[Black “ME”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “0”]
[BlackElo “0”]
[ECO “A40 Catalan BogoIndian”]
[TimeControl “0”]

1. d4 e6{crafty engine analysis} 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e4 Bb4 5. Bg5 e5 6. d5 Nd4 7. Ne2 Nxe2 8.
Bxe2 O-O 9. O-O Bxc3 10. bxc3 d6 11. f4 Re8 12. Bd3 h6 13. fxe5 hxg5 14. exf6
gxf6 15. Qf3 Kg7 16. Rf2 g4 17. Qf4 f5 18. exf5 Qf6 19. Qxg4+ Kf8 20. Qd4 Re5
21. c5 Bxf5 $2 {Crafty (score 6.22 at depth 8) thinks this is not a good
move-Crafty suggests: 21. … dxc5 22. Qxc5+ Qd6 23. Qd4 Qxd5 24. Qh4 b5
25. f6 Rh5 26. Qg3 Bd7 $18 (score 2.32 at depth 10)} 22. Bxf5 dxc5 23.
Qxc5+ Qe7 24. Qxe7+ Rxe7 25. Kf1 Kg7 26. Re1 Rxe1+ 27. Kxe1 Re8+ 28. Re2
Rxe2+ 29. Kxe2 Kf6 30. Be4 Ke5 31. Ke3 f5 32. Bf3 {Black resigns} 1-0
[/pgn]

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3 minute blitz chess

Posted on August 24th, 2010 by Richard

Earlier today I found my 15 yr old son on my computer playing chess 3 minute internet blitz. My son is a good player who has more or less given up regular time control chess but he plays a few 3 minute blitz games for fun.
I watched him win 3 games in a row before I asked to use my computer!

Here is the last game he played and won-very entertaining as both players were low on time:
CaroKann Opening
[pgn height=500 initialHalfmove=16 autoplaymode=none]
[Event “rated blitz match”]
[Site “Some Internet Chess Server”]
[Date “2010.08.24”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Chris”]
[Black “AN”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “1424”]
[BlackElo “1436”]
[ECO “B18”]
[TimeControl “180”]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. h4 e6 8.
h5 Be4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. c3 Nd7 11. Bd3 Nef6 12. Bg5 Nb6 13. Qc2 Bd6 14. O-O-O
Qc7 15. h6 Bf8 16. hxg7 Bxg7 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Rxh7 Rxh7 19. Bxh7 O-O-O 20.
g3 Kb8 21. Bd3 Ka8 22. Rh1 Qd6 23. Nd2 Qd5 24. Rh6 Qxa2 25. Rxf6 Rh8 26. Be4
Qa6 27. Qd3 Qa1+ 28. Kc2 Na4 29. Nc4 Rd8 30. Qd1 Qa2 31. Qd3 c5 32. Rxf7 cxd4
33. Rxb7 Nc5 34. Rb5+ Nxe4 35. Qxe4+ Rd5 36. Rxd5 exd5 37. Qxd5+ Kb8 38. Qxd4
Qa4+ 39. Kd3 Qc6 40. Qf4+ Ka8 41. Qf8+ Kb7 42. Qe7+ Ka6 43. f4 Qd5+ 44. Kc2
Qxc4 45. Qf6+ Kb7 46. g4 Qe2+ 47. Kb3 Qxg4 48. f5 a5 49. Qe7+ Ka6 50. f6 Kb5
51. f7 Qc4+ 52. Kc2 Qa4+ 53. Kd2 Qf4+ 54. Kc2 Qa4+ 55. Kd2 Qf4+ 56. Ke2 Qc4+
57. Kf2 Qf4+ 58. Kg2 Qf6 59. Qxf6 {AN forfeits on time} 1-0
[/pgn]

In contrast to that last week I had a bad time at chessclub in a decreasing time control tournament. I lost 4/5 games and forgot there was a final round 5 game & left the club!
I shall try and get some practice in against Numpty chess engine.

In regard to Numpty it is written in Basic (.bas) and about a week ago I tried to convert this to C code using BCX converter.
It didn’t work! I got an error message (I have forgotten now exactly what). The only trouble I have running Numpty is that it seems very memory hungry and I can have no other programs open & running when I use Numpty. This is inconvenient as I like to play after research/computer work and I like to keep my browser tabs and programs open mainly.
One day I hope to fix this in Numpty-then I can do more practice against Numpty chess engine!

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Written by: Richard