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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Another video!- RPD vs Numpty Caro Kann g4 Bayonet variation

Posted on August 9th, 2011 by Richard

Today I had another success against Numpty_07 chess engine in my favourite White opening against Numpty-the CaroKann Advance g4 Bayonet variation.

I am posting a link here to my YouTube video of this game. Take a look at this game & compare it to my last video in my last post -again a game vs Numpty in the CaroKann Adv g4 Bayonet variation.

RPD vs Numpty:

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CaroKann Advance g4 Bayonet video vs Numpty engine

Posted on July 31st, 2011 by Richard

Hi
I have stated here how much I enjoy playing the CaroKann Advance Bayonet variation and I now have found several different lines that Numpty chess engine does not cope well with.
I must state though that overall Numpty is pretty good in this variation & I certainly do not win against Numpty all the time-do not worry Chris T if you have seen this!
Anyway I have put this latest variation in as a video made with MS ExpressionEncoder+Screencapture.
Enjoy:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2fVxo04MMs[/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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Written by: Richard

Happy New Chess Year!

Posted on December 31st, 2010 by Richard

On New Years Eve here is a match I won against Numpty (07) as White in the Scotch opening- Happy New Year to all chess players!

[pgn height=500 autosavenone]
[Event “Computer chess game”]

[Site “ubuntu”]

[Date “2010.12.31”]

[Round “?”]

[White “Me”]

[Black “Numpty_07pr”]

[Result “1-0”]

[BlackElo “2000”]

[ECO “C45”]

[Opening “Scotch”]

[Time “22:10:16”]

[Variation “Tartakower Variation”]

[WhiteElo “2400”]

[TimeControl “300”]

[Termination “normal”]

[PlyCount “67”]

[WhiteType “human”]

[BlackType “program”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Nd5 7. c4 Nb6

{(d5b6) 0.00/6 9} 8. b3 d6 {(d7d6) 0.00/6 9} 9. Bb2 dxe5 {(d6e5) 0.00/6 9}

10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 {(e8d8) 0.00/1 0} 11. Bxe5 Nd7 {(b6d7) 0.00/6 9} 12. Bg3 Bd6

{(c8b7) 0.00/6 8} 13. Bh4+ Ke8 {(d7f6) 0.00/7 8} 14. Nd2 Ne5 {(d7e5) 0.00/6

7} 15. Be2 Bg4 {(e5g6) 0.00/6 7} 16. Nf3 Nxf3+ {(e5f3) 0.00/6 6} 17. gxf3

Bb4+ {(d6b4) 0.00/6 7} 18. Kf1 Bh3+ {(g4h3) 0.00/6 7} 19. Kg1 c5 {(b4c3)

0.00/6 5} 20. Bg3 Rc8 {(a8c8) 0.00/6 6} 21. f4 Rd8 {(c8d8) 0.00/6 5} 22.

Bf3 Rd2 {(d8d2) 0.00/6 6} 23. Bg2 Bc3 {(h3e6) 0.00/6 6} 24. Rc1 Bb2 {(h3g2)

0.00/6 4} 25. Rb1 Bf5 {(h3e6) 0.00/6 4} 26. Rf1 Bd4 {(b2d4) 0.00/6 4} 27.

Bd5 Rxa2 {(d2a2) 0.00/6 4} 28. Kg2 Kf8 {(h8f8) 0.00/6 4} 29. Re1 Bc2

{(h7h5) 0.00/5 4} 30. f5 Bxf5 {(c2f5) 0.00/5 3} 31. Bxc7 Rxf2+ {(a2f2)

0.00/5 4} 32. Kg3 Rd2 {(h7h5) 0.00/5 4} 33. Bd6+ Kg8 {(f8g8) 0.00/1 0} 34.

Re8# 1-0

[/pgn]

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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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Written by: Richard