Canadian Chess Open 2012 - Lessons Learned

After a (very) long break, I played in a major swiss chess tournament – Canadian Chess Open 2012 in Victoria. I scored only 50%, which is not too great given that all of my opponents were rated lower than myself. Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed playing after such a long break. Here is what I re-learned about competitive chess yet again:

1. Studying chess at home cannot replace regular tournament practice. Practical chess strength needs constant feeding by playing in tournaments
2. Opening preparation in large Swiss Events plays a major role. Everyone does it these days! Catch opponent unaware is more important than finding a hole in their old repertoire (they will play something new to surprise you anyway, so you should not expect them to walk the same path as in previous games). This was often an issue for me, where in 3-4 games my opponents served me with opening surprises, or simply remembered established theory better than I did
3. Opening repertoire must allow for variety, both to avoid getting surprised, and also to be more flexible and work around opponent’s weak spots
4. Getting enough sleep, food, fresh air before the games is quite essential for maintaining concentration during the games
5. The tension of a big slow time controls event cannot be compared to a blitz game online, and not even to an unrated rapid one-day Sunday tournament
6. Modern time controls don’t allow you to get flagged due to increments, but you only have a chance to think deep a couple of times during the game – choose those moments wisely. Ideally you don’t have to take those deep thinking sessions right out of the opening
7. Many players avoid mainline theory in favour of choosing lines that they are familiar with. Here is what those guys played against me in this tournament:
   As White:
   1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d3
   1.f4
   1.g3
   As Black: 1. e4 b6
8. There are a lot of young chess players in BC who need to be watched out for!
9. One can lose a lot of rating points in a tournament, and still enjoy the experience!
10. Victoria chess organizers take running events very seriously, and want to create the best environment for competitive chess

The King’s Gambit by Paul Hoffman - Book Review

When King’s Gambit by Paul Hoffman came out in 2007, I was anxious to get a copy as soon as possible. It had good reviews, and in addition I actually had met Paul Hoffman at a dinner in Toronto in 2004, at the closing ceremony for the Canadian Chess Championship. The book is meant to appeal to both readers who know little about chess, and to experienced chess players. I enjoyed the read quite a bit. It provided insider details on the top chess players – Kasparov, Susan Polgar, Joel Lautier, Nigel Short, and others, but also gave more details about the lives of players whom I had actually met at the board – Pascal Charbonneau and Jack Yoos.

Paul’s love for the game shines throughout the book. An chess amateur’s description of the sense of happiness of winning a good game that only chess players are familiar with – make the book stand out.

You will enjoy this book if you have ever

• dreamt to be a grandmaster
• admired a fellow chess player’s personal achievement
• wanted to learn about Garry Kasparov’s restaurant manners
• prepared for your tournament opponents by spying their ICC game history

Reading “King’s Gambit” I remembered watching Pascal Charbonneau’s dramatic win last round at the Canadian Closed Championship in 2002:

Charbonneau – Cummings, 2002
White to move. Black had just moved the bishop away from guarding g7, how can this be exploited?

Chess This Weekend at Lansdowne Centre – Richmond, BC

I thought I should re-post this note from the BCCF bulletin that I received today:

The BC chess community needs your help. Securing places to play chess is a challenge. We have found a potential sponsor in Colliers International. They manage hundreds of commercial properties throughout the province and have offered us a trial opportunity. We can use vacant store space at Lansdowne Centre in Richmond to hold a chess event next weekend. It is short notice but we are accepting the challenge. Attached are the notices for a Sat/Sun adult open event for strong players and a Sunday only K-12 tournament for beginners and first time tournament players.

In addition to the tournament there will be chess happening all day in the public courtyard of the mall with large sets, lessons, simuls and bug house games. The mall administration will be watching closely to see if people show an interest in chess. If they see a good response they will invite us back and expand the program. We need lots of people to play in the tournament and visit the public activities to make this a success.

We need everyone in the chess community to help however they can. Come and play in one of the tournaments if you can. If you can’t play in a tournament drop in for some social chess on the public boards, or just check out the action and have some fun. We need the chess community to stand up and be counted. What you do next weekend could change the face of BC Chess forever. It could lead to giant chess sets in a mall near you. So come and play, have some fun and help out BC Chess at the same time.

Email Ken at ChessBC@shaw.ca to help, or for more information -

To register and to find out more information go to http://www.bcjuniorchess.com/calendar/?entry=3&display=month

Chess Endgames – Passed Pawns Must Be Pushed

Passed pawns in the endgame are more powerful than in the middlegame. With few pieces left on the board, they can be supported by their own king and tie up entire opponent’s army. As usual, it takes a bit of experience to sense that a pawn is especially dangerous in a given situation. Feel free to skip to the last diagram in this post to see the full power of passed pawns.

Jiganchine – Black, BC – Washington scholastic match, 1999

Black to move.

My opponent did not find anything better than repeat the position after 41… Kf6 42. Rb6+ Kf5 43. Rb7 Kg6 44. Rb6+ Kg5 45. Rb7 Kf6 1/2-1/2
At the time I took it for granted that rook endgame with minimal material advantage ended as a draw. However, looking at this position with the fresh eye, draws attention to the fact that White’s king is very badly placed. It is completely cut off from the center of the board, so Black should take advantage of it: 41… d4!

  On top of White’s king being badly placed, Black king protects the squares on the ‘d’ file from the White rook, so White has great difficulties stopping this pawn. I analyzed two options – both are losing for White.

a) 42. Rxg7 d3 43. Rg8 Kd5 44. Rd8+ Kc4 45. Rd7 Kc3 46. Rc7+ Kd4 47.Rxh7 d2 48. Rd7+ Ke3 49. h4 Ra4

 Black is winning: the White king is cut off along 4th rank,White has to sacrifice the rook for 'd' pawn

trying to stop the pawn immediately does not help either:
b) 42. Rb8 d3 43.Rd8 d2 44. h4 h5 

 White is in some kind of amazing zugzwang. Either his king has to leave the ‘g’ file, making e5-e4 break possible, or the rook has to go to d3, which turns out also problematic.
45. Kh2 e4! 46. fxe4 Ke5 47. Kg3 Kxe4 –+ Black king advances to support the pawn
45. Kf2? d1=Q+
45. Rd3 This is the only square for the rook on the ‘d’ file, but here comes: 45… e4!! 46. fxe4 Ra3!!

Black wins as he is going to get a new queen. The triumph of the passed pawn!

Why did my opponent not consider this advance of the pawn, and why did I overlook it in whatever analysis I did after the game? The power of material must be so strong in player’s heads, that giving up even a pawn often does not occur to many players.

Keres Memorial 2010 games - with Videos

Keres Memorial 2010 was held last weekend in Richmond, British Columbia. While last year I wrote up a summary with diagrams, this time I instead captured fresh impressions of my games into several Youtube videos:

Round 2 game - A complex middlegame in the Sicilian Dragon, with Black throwing multiple sacrifices at my position to keep his initiative going. This turns out to be an effective strategy in time trouble! Part 2 shows how the game concluded.
 

Round 3 game - White sacrificed the d4 pawn in the well known variation of the French Defence. In return he gets faster development, and soon - the material advantage. A fairly simple and somewhat instructive game (I say “simple”, but of course just like any game - took a lot of effort over the board).
 

The last round game where both players needed to win. Black's king was a bit more exposed and that allowed me to create an unexpected attack. Black overlooked a very unexpected defensive resource and soon had to resign because his queenside collapsed, and dark squares around his king were catastrophically weak.

PS. My Youtube channel now has 40 chess-related videos, feel free to watch more clips and subscribe :-)

Sacrifice on April Fool’s day

Black to move
r4rk1/pbq2pp1/7p/1B6/3pP3/6b1/PPP1Q1P1/R1B2R1K b - - 0 22

This game was a decisive one in a BC CYCC (Canadian youth championship) qualifier of 2000, played on April 1st. Playing with the Black pieces, I missed a very nice way to wrap up this game. What strikes you about this position? Material is even, but White’s queenside is still undeveloped. White’s king is weak, and those dark squares will be really hard to cover up. If only I could transfer a heavy piece to the kingside, that would be decisive, but the e4 pawn is on the way, and Rae8-e4-h4 also seems not possible yet because e8 is covered. If …a6, then Bd3 and e4 is better protected.

22… Rae8!! I really wish it had occurred to me to play this move, since if White accepts the sacrifice, he really has no chance of defending.
23. Bxe8?! Rxe8 Arguably – the bishop was a more valuable piece than any one Black’s rooks.

  White to  move. There is no defence: all Black pieces are in the game – he had no use for both rooks in this attack anyway.

23. Bd3 f5 is more resilient, but Black now Black is attacking for free, and also should win:

  White to move. Black wins here as well.

The blog is really turning into the listing of my missed opportunities in 10 year old games. A real sign that my playing strength has not changed much since then (but computers got a hell lot stronger and now show me all these tricks that I did not realize at the time …)

Game in the viewer:

BC Active Championship 2010 – poisoned pawns and blunders

A couple of weeks ago I participated in the BC Active Championship, which was won by Vicente Lee, second year in a row. I lost to speed chess maestros Vicente Lee and Mayo Fuentebella, but going into the last round still had a chance for the 4th place prize. After a complicated opening, my opponent cracked in mutual time pressure:
Jiganchine – Villavieja, Vancouver 2010, Round 9

Black to move What’s wrong with taking on h6?
Loose pieces drop off, and the pawn cost Black a 100 dollars (4th prize) as his rooks became unprotected: 27 …. Qxh6?? 28. Re8+ Rxe8 29. Qxe8+ Kg7 30. Qe5+

1:0

Before that, I was lucky in round 5 in a similar way:
Bellanger – Jiganchine, Vancouver 2010, Round 5

In a difficult position,  Black setup the trap with 1… Nd6.
Can White take on h4?
That cost him the game as the treacherous knights found their victim: 2. Rxh4?? Rxh4 3.Rxh4 Nef5+! and Black won.

Black ends up with an extra piece.

And in the first round I came up with a big blunder of my own, but opponent did not take advantage of it:

Caluza – Jiganchine, Vancouver 2010, Round 1
For a bizarre reason I decided to chase away the bishop with 14…h6?

White to move

The simplest now was 15. Bxh6! the point being that 15… gxh6?! 16 Qg4 + leaves White with an extra pawn.

Black has more resilient defence, but still would remain worse, and I had totally overlooked my hanging knight on d7 when playing h6. Another example to illustrate John Nunn's LPDO principle: Loose pieces drop off (explained in Nunn's "Secrets of Practical Chess"). In the game my opponent instead played 15. Qg4? and lost the game after some adventures. Speed chess is an odd hybrid where you have a bit of time to think about planning and strategy, but often end up winning and losing because of one move threats.

Opposite Coloured Bishops – part 12

(14) Moore Harry - Herder D
1994 BC Closed (6), 1994

How are the opposite coloured bishop endgames affected when also one pair of rooks is on the board? A very important idea is that the stronger side can sacrifice the exchange in order to break through the blockade. This is very logical, as by giving up a rook for a bishop, we eliminate the drawish factor of the position - opposite colour bishops. 33...Bd5 White is suffering from weakness of light squares around his king, with potential back rank problems. This, in addition to Black's extra pawn is more than decisive. 34.exf6 Kxf6 35.a3 a4 36.h3 [36.Rc1 ! ? 36...Bc4 37.f3 -1.22 37...b5 38.Ba5 Rc6 39.Rd1 Be2] 36...Rc2 37.Bb4 h5 38.Ba5 Kf5 39.Bb4 Rb2 Diagram

40.Re3? Of course, it was necessary to prevent Rxb4. Then Black would have to transfer his king to b3 or a2, with the idea of still sacrificing the exchange on a3. The complex of weak light squares on the kingside would make it very hard for the White king or rook to prevent this invasion. [40.Bd6 ! ? 40...g4 -1.22 (40...Be4 ? 41.g4+; 40...Kf6 ? 41.Be5+) ] 40...g4 41.h4 Rb1+ Diagram

! probably White missed this intermediate check. 42.Re1 Rxb4 ! 43.axb4 a3 Diagram

now the pawn gets to a2 44.Kf1 Bc4+ 45.Kg2 a2 46.Rc1 b6 47.Ra1 Bd5+ 48.Kf1 Ke4 49.Ke2 Bc4+ 50.Kd2 Kf3 51.Ke1 [51.Kc3 Bd5 52.Rf1 Ke2] 51...b5 52.Rd1 Diagram

White does not let the black king to 'b2'. Dave Herder opens the 'second front'. 52...e5 53.Ra1 e4! 54.Rc1 Bd3 Threatening Bb1 55.Ra1 Bb1 56.Kf1 e3 Diagram

Very elegant play by the BC master! 0-1

December Open in New Westminster, BC

Information from http://juniorchess.ca/events.html, the organizers would like to spread the word out:
December Open
Dec 5-6, 2009 - Sat.-Sun.
Location: Sprott Shaw College, (map)
1176 8th Ave. New Westminster, BC (Second floor)
Prizes: $250 Guaranteed first place. Rest based on entries.
Time Control: G90 Total game time 3 hours.
Format: 5 Round Swiss.
Round Times: Saturday 9:30, 1:00 and 5:00 or ASAP, Sunday 9:30 and 1:00
Half Point byes are available by request before the close of registration.
Entry Fee: $35 includes BCCF membership fee CFC Regular rated. CFC membership required.
Preregister Online or by emailing the information on entry form to ChessBC@shaw.ca, then check in on site Saturday between 8:30 to 9:00 am.
On site registration closes at 9:00 am. If you arrive onsite after 9:00 go to the late registration desk.
Tournament Flyer
Register Online

Most Complicated Pawn Endgame I Ever Played

I usually do not post very detailed analysis on this blog since
a) complicated analysis is not always necessary to illustrate an idea
b) who has time to read chess complex analysis on the Internet
c) lengthy variations often contain errors and are wrong anyway

In this pawn endgame from one of my games from 2000 BC Active Championship – complex analysis is required, but ideally the result of such an analysis is not a myriad of variations, but rather a collection of themes and ideas that serve the purpose of finding the truth – evaluation of each given position that occurred during the game. I suggest that you look at the ideas first, and only if you`re interested – look at the more detailed analysis.

 Black to move, initial position
Who is better here? During the game, I felt that White ought to be better (even winning) because White would create two disconnected passed pawns – one on the kingside, and one on the queenside. Black king would not be able to stop both, while White king can safely block the ‘e’ and ‘f’ pawns. Things are a LOT more complicated however, because Black has several counterattacking ideas:
1) Black can have pawn breakthrough on the queenside to create his own passed pawn, before White gets his ‘h’ pawn going.
Imagine after 34...e4! 35.Kd2 f4 36.a4 Kd7 37.b4 Creating a passed pawn like this does not work since central pawns are too far advanced, and g and h pawns are not going anywhere, so Black king can stop the a pawn

Black to move - 37...b5!! –+ This idea reminded me of the game Adams – Lutz from Endgame Secrets by Lutz.

2) Black can activate the king to support central pawns
Again, imagine a hypothetical position after 34. Kd7  35. a4 e4 36. b4 axb4 37. cxb4 f4 38. h4 Ke639. a5 Kf5 40. b5 f3 41. Kd2
Black to move 41… Kg4!! 42. a6 f2 43. Ke2 Kg3 44. axb7 Kg2 45. b8=Q f1=Q+ 46. Kd2 Qd3+ 47. Kc1 e3 –+
But not 41... Kf4? 42. a6 f2 43. axb7 f1=Q 44. b8=Q+ with a draw since White queens with check. Mark Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual has several similar positions. I remembered from his book that it is advantageous to  have the pawns advanced as far as possible – in that case when the king supports the pawns, they are a lot more dangerous. For the same reason, it is better for White to play Kd3, sooner rather than later. Already here we can see that in this endgame – every tempo may count.

3) Black can blockade White pawns if they are advanced carelessly - This is what happened in the game, after 34… Kd7 35. b4? axb4 36. cxb4 b5!

  Now White will actually have to sacrifice a pawn with a4 to have any chances for counter play.
If Black is careless (and in our game he was), however, that breakthrough will be very effective:

 White to move 40.a4! bxa4 41.g6! hxg6 42.h6 Kf7 43.b5 f4 44.h7 Kg7 45.b6 f3 46.b7 f2 Diagram

 White to move 47.h8Q+ every tempo counts! Kxh8 48.b8Q+ +-

Now that I covered the themes of this endgame, and assuming you are still bearing with me, on to what actually happened in the game, which turned into a comedy of errors, as we were blasting off the last moves in SD time control.

Jiganchine,Roman - Remedios,Russell [B76] BC Active (2), 17.06.2000

34...Kd7?
it may be hard to evaluate this move precisely, but likely committing the king too early was a mistake. The core of the position seems to be that Black needs to advance his e and f pawns ASAP, and White should create passed pawns on kingside and queenside. The White pawns have not advanced far enough though, and Black manages to create his own queenside passer in many lines 34...e4! was correct, I believe Black is winning –+
35.b4? Now only black can play for a win. Correct was 35. Kd3! Ke6 (35...e4+ !?) 36.h4 on the kingside - White can create a passed pawn (or a threat of one), on the queenside - both sides can create a passed pawn if white plays a4 and b4, and Black breaks through with b5. So maybe makes sense to advance kingside pawns first? 36...Kf7 37.h5 Ke7 38.a4+- Diagram

White is winning since Black does not have time to bring central pawns into motion 38...f4 39.Ke4 Ke6 40.b4 f3 41.Kxf3 Kf5 42.bxa5 Kxg5 43.c4 Kxh5 44.c5 Kh4 45.a6+] 35...axb4 36.cxb4 b5 Diagram

during the game - here I realized that I made a mistake. the tables have turned, now White will have to create rescuing chances by the a4 break, but his king will have to guard the e and f pawns as well 37.h4 Ke6 Diagram

38.Kc3? 38.Kd3! definitely makes more sense, even though it could still be losing
38...Kd5??+- Diagram

Without good reason - the king goes too far away from the h pawn [38...f4 Diagram

and White king is too far from e4 39.h5 Kf5 40.g6 hxg6 41.h6 Kf6-+ 42.a4 f3 43.Kd3 bxa4 44.b5 f2!-+ Diagram

this is why it is better to have White king closer to the ‘f’ pawn before playing a4 45.Ke2 a3 46.h7 Kg7 47.h8Q+ Kxh8 48.b6 a2 49.b7 f1Q+ 50.Kxf1 a1Q+-+]
39.Kd3??-+ Diagram

this move should have lead to a loss.
[39.h5! was correct Ke6 Diagram

40.a4! bxa4 41.g6! hxg6 42.h6 Kf7 43.b5 f4 44.h7 Kg7 45.b6 f3 46.b7 f2 Diagram

47.h8Q+ Kxh8 48.b8Q+;

After 39.Kd3? Now black gives a few decisive checks, and the breakthrough is no longer possible, since Black's `a` pawn runs ahead, and my king is too far to stop it. 39...e4+ Black gains decisive tempo for advancing his pawns. 40.Kd2 f4 41.h5 Ke6 42.g6 hxg6 43.h6 Kf6 44.a4 bxa4 45.b5 a3 46.h7 Kg7 47.b6 Kxh7 48.b7 a2 49.b8Q a1Q 50.Qxf4 Qa5+-+]

All this did not matter, since we were both so short on time and confused about what was going on that we agreed to a draw: 1/2-1/2

A very complicated pawn endgame, in which both White and Black were taking turns in making decisive mistakes. The endgame was initially winning for Black, then tables turned several times, some variations lead to possible draw in queen endgames. When I looked at it the first time in 2007, I came to several wrong conclusions, and even now, after spending another few days on it – I am not sure of all evaluations! Pawn endgames are supposed to be simple …
You can replay it in the viewer with even more detailed analysis:

Positional Chess – Exploiting the Open File

This game, played 10 years ago still brings pleasant memories, and recollections of how easy it can be to a win a chess game if your opponent does not have a plan.
Lee – Jiganchine, 1999
 Black to Move

White played very passively in the Exchange Variation of the Slav Defence, and Black is in control. 26… Qc4! 27. Qxc4 dxc4! This transforms the advantage of an open file, into an advantage of a better pawn structure, where Black has a dangerous majority on the queenside. White’s queen was an important defender that was traded off, and White’s pawns on b2 and a3 now can be attacked by both Black bishop and rook.

Black is winning here already – due to the threat of c4-c3. Out of desperation my opponent played 28. Be5, dropping the f2 pawn and White Resigned a few moves later. Otherwise the game could have developed like this:

28. Kg1 c3! 29. bxc3 Rxc3

White can’t save the a3 pawn. 30.a4 bxa4 31. Rb8+ Kh7 32. Rb6 a3 33. Rxa6 Rc2 34. Kh2 a2 35. e4 Bb4 36. d5 Bc3 37. Ra7 exd5 38. exd5 a1=Q 39. Rxa1 Bxa1 -+

The position after 27… dxc4 however, reminds me of the Jurgis-Botvinnik, 1931

Black to move. The future world champion won beautifully by 1... Rc4!! 2. bxc4 Bc5 3. Kg2 Bxf2 4. Kxf2 b3 0-1

What if in my game against Jason Lee, Black also tried to win with 3 pawns and a bishop against the rook after the game move 28. Be5  ? The sac is completely unjustified, insane, but apparently Black might be able to hold a draw!

28... Rxb2 ?!?! 29. Rxb2 Bxa3
Just for fun, could Black sacrifice a rook?

  30. Rc2! a5 31. e4 a4 32. Kg3 f6 33. Bc7 Bf8 34. d5 a3 35. d6 b4 36. d7 Be7
Both sides have advanced their pawns, but Black has 3 of them!! They are so dangerous that White has to bail out with 37. Ba5!? b3
37. Ba5 b3 38. Bb4 bxc2 39. Bxe7 c1=Q 40. d8=Q+ Kh7 41.Qa5 e5 42. f3 c3 43. Bxa3 Qf4+ 44. Kf2 Qd2+ with a draw.

Replay the game in the viewer:

British Columbia Chess Championship 2009

Round robin tournaments are in my opinion more appropriate for improving one’s chess strength, compared to Swiss events or knockouts. In this post I will try to explain why. Round robins tend to have players of more balanced strength, and allow to prepare for your opponents well in advance, resulting in higher quality of games, and fewer accidental opening choices. Here are some lessons learned from a typical round robin tournament among players of average 2200 FIDE strength.

I competed in the 2009 BC Closed Championship last weekend. Thank you, Stephen, for running the tournament again, and providing the crosstable:

Last year I already wrote a summary of my games and tournament overview of 2008 championship. Back then I had 3 wins and 3 losses, only a single draw. This time I took a different path to the same result – 1 win, 1 loss and 5 draws, with a tie for the 3rd place yet again. In itself, regular participation in a tournament like this is definitely essential if I want to maintain and improve my chess level, so I am very glad I took part. Jack Yoos won convincingly, although he was clearly losing at one point in his game against Lucas in round 6, that game could have change the situation quite a bit. Dragoljub Milicevic was included at the last moment, but posted an awesome result. He now agrees to draws a lot more willingly than 10 years ago, but also is being practical about picking up points when opponents give him a chance. Tanraj Sohal showed a lot of potential for his age, I did not realize that he is only 12 years old.

A few personal observations again:

- I had a bit more time to prepare the openings before the tournament, and was more careful about getting enough sleep throughout the tournament. My games were also shorter, so I was not as exhausted as last year. Last year’s preparation was also helpful since 4 of last year’s opponents played again this time, and obviously their opening repertoires have not changed all that much since then. Opening preparation for a tournament like this (opponents are known well in advance) is time consuming and sets the tone for each game. Although I thought I was reasonably well prepared in the opening - my opponents still managed to surprise me by their choice in the opening in nearly every game. Still, except for the games against Jack Yoos and Brian McLaren, I felt sufficiently familiar with the position that arose …

- I am not happy with my time management again. In a couple of games I had a good position in the end, but went for a draw by repetition because I had significantly less time than my opponents. What was worse, in two games I knew all the opening moves quite well, but still spent half an hour or more on those known moves. Roman, if you know the moves – just frigging play them!

- UBC is a pretty nice place! It was a longer daily commute for me than last year, but I still enjoyed the playing site quite a bit.

I also posted the video of my only win – game against Alfred Pechisker, and a nice combination I found analysing my endgame against Howard Wu. Another tactical idea I posted about – was found while preparing for a game against him.

How to Attack in Sicilian Scheveningen – video with analysis

What does your best chess game look like?

I’ve put a complete video on ChessVideos site: http://www.chessvideos.tv/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5940, and split it up into two parts for youtube since the most popular video sharing site has a limit of 10 minutes per clip: Part 1 and Part 2. Why put up this game? It was my only win in a tournament, and it turned out quite nice. The game could have concluded with a really spectacular finish if Black did not resign and continued to the bitter end:

White to move

23.Qf6!! would threat with Qg7x and Qf7x, so the only response is 23… Nxf6, but then 24. Nf6 is mate

Alfred still has a positive score in our personal encounters (that started in 1998), so of course him walking into my opening preparation was the main reason for such a disaster. Our games are always more fighting than my average game, so I am sure I'll have to prepare even harder for to survive our next battle.

Replay the game in the viewer with all variations:

Sharpen your Endgame Skills - Breakthrough in a Rook Endgame

Do you ever analyze your games with a computer and find really unusual hidden possibilities? It can be worth it sometimes!

  Black to move

I came across this curious position while analysing one of my games from a recent tournament. Black has the initiative, but in most lines White is active enough to trade off all the pawns. The d2 pawn is a strength and a weakness at the same time. Computer found a brilliant concept:

53… g3!! You can check yourself that taking on f2, or f5 is not quite sufficient.
The idea is to win control over the e3 square, so after 54. fxg3 Re3 + Black wins the rook.

 
The king has to stop attacking the d2 pawn, so after 55. Kc4 Re1 – Black wins the rook and is on time to collect White’s weak pawns. The d pawn proves to be a strength in this variation!

Click here to read more about rook endgames on my blog.

Quick win by Black in Panov attack – youtube video

I have been fairly busy preparing for a provincial championship, so I have not had much time for the blog in the last few weeks. But here is a video I made of one of my games from several years ago. It might be of interest for you if you play the Caro-Kann defence, or are interested in BC Chess scene in general. In this game Black quickly takes over initiative and attacks White king that got stuck in the center. A good example of why you don't want to neglect development. The game was wrapped up with a pseudo-queen sacrifice, but more important is Black’s 11th move, it’s fundamental for understanding Black’s initiative in this game.

 

Replay the game in the viewer:

Paul Keres Memorial 2002 – part 3 - combinations

To conclude posting extracts from my 7 year old En Passant article about this tournament, here are a few tactical positions:

(6) Leblanc,Paul - Spears,Nicholas [D02]
Keres mem 27th Vancouver (2.10), 18.05.2002

Black to move

16...Rh1+ 0-1

(7) Wu,Howard - Daswani,Ben [C09]
Keres mem 27th Vancouver (4.21), 19.05.2002

White to move

White is completely winning, but the finishing move is neat. 17.Qh5! 1-0

(8) Lee,Mau-Seng - Stanford,Mike [B45]
Keres mem 27th Vancouver (5.7), 19.05.2002

White played 25.Bd2 overlooking a queen sacrifice:
Black to move
25...Qxh2+ 0-1