MCC Independence Day Swiss (Round 1)

A few months ago, a coworker of mine became aware of my interest in (obsession with) chess and asked me, half seriously and half jokingly "If I started to work on chess, how long until I start kicking your butt?"

An interesting question. I told him that if he put serious time into it that it wouldn't take all that long. A few months to a year, perhaps. I was able to sow the seeds of chess interest, and he soon went from a guy who just knew the rules to someone who was spending time doing tactics problems and starting to learn some of the strategic ideas. We also started playing casual games after work. In approximately 40 games he beat me three times.

When I returned to chess after my three month break I convinced him to come with me, so for the past 6 weeks he's been playing in the Tuesday night swiss games at the MetroWest Chess Club. He scored 1.5/4 in the first tournament, which isn't bad for your first serious chess. It took me 6 OTB games to score a single point...

On my advice he's been playing in the lower/mid section with me because the U1350, while technically the appropriate place for him, is so full of kids rated 500 that I feel you don't learn a whole lot. I knew there was a chance, if things worked out just right, that we might get paired up in the first round....and that is exactly what happened this month. He was ecstatic, I was not. First, he's given me a bit of trouble when I've been black lately, and second, I don't think I enjoy playing my friends in serious chess games. It's distracting to know your opponent, and it's hard to play mercilessly when you know and like the person across the board from you. He thought it was pretty awesome, and had once said that his goal was to beat me in a tournament game and that if he ever did he would retire from chess. Looks like he'll have to keep playing until our next matchup...

The game itself was ok. As usual I gave my opponent a chance to make my life really hard (a temporary piece sacrifice that lead to a two pawn advantage, but could instead have given him a chance to trap my queen). He missed the best continuation and after that I had a solid advantage. Still, I need to be more careful

Online replay version (with comments) here.

Dave Silverman (1074)    --    Steve Wollkind (1435)
MCC Independence Day Swiss  (1)   Natick, MA
2007.07.03     0-1     B01o

1.	e4	d5
2.	exd5	Qxd5

I had been playing the Nf6 version of the Scandinavian, but it hasn't worked out that well for me. I tended to get very sterile, equal positions where it was hard for me to find a good plan. The main line of the Qa5 variant seems much more dynamic to me. I was also happy to play differently here since my opponenent has seen my Nf6 Scandinavian 10 or 20 times in casual games.

3.	Nc3	Qa5
4.	d4	Nf6
5.	Nf3	c6
6.	Bc4	Bf5
7.	O-O (D)

Out of book for me, but clearly a logical continuation and one I feel I'm likely to see a lot. I think that unless a player is already familiar with the main line of the Qa5 Scandinavian, they're unlikely to castle on the queen side.

7.	...	e6
8.	Bf4	Nbd7
9.	Ne5	Nxe5
10.	Bxe5 (D)

10.

...

Be7

Qb4 looks interesting, but doesn't amount to much due to threats to trap the queen.

( 10...Qb4 11.Bd3 Bxd3 12.Qxd3 O-O-O 13.a3 Qe7 )

11.	a3	O-O
12.	b4 (D)

( 12.Re1 Qb6 = Brings us, via a different move order, to a sideline evaluated as equal by Emms' Scandinavian book. )

12.

...

Bxb4?!

In retrospect, a mistake. My thinking was that the undefended nature of both the bishop and knight would assure me the return of my piece after the temporary sacrifice of bishop for two pawns. The only queen move that would defend both pieces was impossible due to the other bishop on f5....

( 12...Qd8 )

13.

axb4

Qxb4 (D)

14.

Bd3?

A reasonable seeming move. Black will be up two pawns, but white can make sure that those two extra pawns are part of a tripled and isolated set. More on this idea later, but white here misses the best move: Qd2, which forces black to recapture on c4, and then white has some chances to trap the queen. I find traps difficult to see, and this one is a little tougher than most because the knight on f6 also must be traded before the trap can be sprung. I'm lucky white didn't see it, but I count this tactic a little hard to see.

( 14.Qd2 Qxc4 15.Bxf6 ( 15.Ra4 Ne4 ) 15...b5 )

14.	...	Qxc3
15.	Bxf5

Taking the knight first doesn't allow white to inflict tripled pawns.

( 15.Bxf6 Bxd3 16.cxd3 gxf6 )

15.	...	exf5
16.	Bxf6	gxf6 (D)

White has inflicted his tripled pawns, but I think it was a mistake. Surely, blacks two pawn advantage has been somewhat blunted, but the tripled pawns on the f file are controling a lot of space. Niether the e nor g files can be effectively used by white to invade. On top of this, the white c and d pawns are extremely weak. White will be hard pressed to effectively defend the d pawn.

17.

f4?

Failing to address the impending threat to the d pawn, and

17.	...	Rfd8
18.	Qf3

Again, I think white's chances dwindle as pieces come off the board here, so I'm happy to exchange.

18.	...	Qxf3
19.	Rxf3	Rxd4
20.	Ra5	Rd1+
21.	Rf1	Rxf1+
22.	Kxf1	Kf8

Kg7 may have been better, preventing a later Rxf6, but I wanted to be ready to head to the queenside with the king, and felt that if White took the time to go after those pawns I would be even better off.

23.

Rxf5

a5 (D)

The pawns are all conspiring against white getting his rook back to the defense.

24.

Rc5??

A blunder. It was going to be ugly in any case, but this made it much worse. White now has no possibile way to stop the a pawn.

( 24.Rxf6 a4 25.Rd6 a3 26.Rd1 a2 27.Ra1 Ke7 28.Ke2 Kd6 29.Kd2 Kd5 30.Kc3 (D)



This is perhaps better, but still lost for white. )

24.	...	a4
25.	Rc3	a3
26.	Rxa3	Rxa3
27.	g3	Ra2

0-1

Diagrams generated using Steve Eddins' Chess Imager http://www.eddins.net/steve/chess/chessimager