My new chess video series/playlist at YouTube..”My game of the week”

Posted on June 1st, 2014 by Richard

My game of the week

I have created a new YouTube chess video playlist at my rpdatutube YouTube chess account. It is called “My game of the week” and the first video shows a French Advanced Wade variation win for me as black. The video is shown below:

I like the French defence as both White and Black. Notable GM’s that have played the French defence are GM Nimzovitch, GM Korchnoi, GM Botvinnik, GM Morozevich, GM Akobian, GM Uhlmann to name just a few!

Bobby Fischer did not play the French defence as black. He preferred the Sicilian defence as black. With white against the French he almost always played 3.Nc3 leading to the Classical or Winawer variations but he did not have his normal success rate against the French as in his other openings.

Rating increase based on the French

Many of my games are French defence ones and as I have to improve my rating, I need to play the French defence better! So I look forward to great games with the French defence and even the French Exchange (which I vow not to play as White if I possibly can! It is the most dull variation in the rich French defence system!).

Enjoy your chess over this next week and I hope to have another chess video next week….

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I don’t believe it!

Posted on November 15th, 2012 by Richard

Wow it appears to be just over a year since my last post here!
If blog posting was a chess game I would have lost on time ages ago! I must have been doing too many other things (I have even started a football blog following Ipswich Town FC-bet there aren’t many of those around these days! Surprisingly I have kept it regularly updated-see the sidebar for a link to it).

So what can I report on my chess front?
My chess playing has taken a step back over the last season. I played some poorish games in my club play and lost too many and sadly I felt I could get not enough support to help me improve. So I took the decision not to join the chess club for this new season. I feel I get much more enjoyment playing blitz chess online and playing chess programs on the computer as OTB in the club. Actually I haven’t played that much chess on the computer. I did treat myself to Chess Position Trainer (CPT) and started to practice with it but I have not used it in many weeks. I still would like to improve my online blitz rating and did have a good game against a 1350 player today but the game was drawn just as I was about to deliver mate! (at least I didn’t lose). I have actually been doing more chess programming recently and have started blog posts about this ( see Chess Programming page on nav/menu-EDIT-I have just noticed this page is not working fully & I will need to adjust my WordPress theme files to fix this). I have also done a couple more chess videos (see them at my Youtube video page rpdatutube).

I did play a rapidplay tournament a while ago- the Thetford RapidPlay and did better than last year with 3/6 in the Minor section. I had x2 wins x2 draws and x2 losses-consistently mediocre!

ThetfordRapidPlayChess_150912

Finally I have recently had a good contact with another chess blogger Chris- he runs a fine chess site called Chess Musings. We have swapped links-see the link to his blog on the sidebar links.
Well of course I hope to do more regular posts on all aspects of chess here but for now happy chessing all! 🙂

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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]

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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....)

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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!

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Must improve my ratings-Blitz & OTB

Posted on October 28th, 2010 by Richard

My 2 current chess goals are to improve my Blitz rating and my OTB rating.

I want to get my 5min blitz rating to over 1400(currently is 1200) and my OTB BCF rating to over 100. Both should be possible if I can spend some time playing and studying!

Here is a blitz game I won today.

Alekhine defence B02-I am playing White:

[pgn height=500 autosavenone]

[Event “rated blitz match”]
[Site “Free Internet Chess Server”]
[Date “2010.10.28”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Me”]
[Black “NN”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “1139”]
[BlackElo “1287”]
[ECO “B02”]
[TimeControl “300”]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. b3 d6 4. Bb2 dxe5 5. Bxe5 Nc6 6. Bb2 e6 7. Bb5 Bd7 8.
Nf3 a6 9. Bc4 b5 10. Be2 Nf4 11. O-O Nxe2+ 12. Qxe2 Bc5 13. Nc3 O-O 14. Ne4
Bb6 15. Nfg5 Ne7 16. Qh5 h6 17. Nf6+ gxf6 18. Qxh6 fxg5 19. Qg7# {Black
checkmated} 1-0

 [/pgn]

I enjoyed the successful kingside attack finishing with mate!

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Written by: Richard