Rob and I and the Tarrasch

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I met up with Rob last night and we played a quick game in the Budapest and he was unfamiliar with it and I as able to get a piece up with a missed tactic. To his defense the man was tired out and his wife was going to have a baby the next day so... I don't take much stock in the game. But surprise someone with something new and they might not see what is coming! It is nice to be on the other side of that.

We decided to start looking at our defense to 1. d4 together since that is an area we can find common ground since I don't like anything that much that I am playing. So we started by looking at what he plays.



1.) d4 d6 2.) c4 d5 3.) Nc3 c5!?

The Tarrasch defense. My initial thought was that this is going to saddle black with an ICP position but we started looking at it. I had a hard time finding the line in NCO and didn't have my MCO with me so we looked at it together.

We came up with cxd and then cxd and spent quite some time trying to determine the right sequence of moves for White and finally arrived at Qa4+ as the key... after toying around with Qxd4 and seeing that checking makes things easier. Anyways the line ends up with Black a pawn down but ahead in development. I will look at the main lines another day specifically the Rubinstein variation.

Here is the analysis I worked out last night

A few example games in that line

This weeks chess goal

I am brainstorming.

Get down on paper my full Repertoire so I can see the gaps. Pick one gap and fill it for now. Repeat until my repertoire is at least playable. Then I can refine as I feel necessary.

For now I think I may continue playing the kid against the sicilian and exchange french... and for now I may just continue playing the caro-kahn. As white I am going to keep playing the Goring gambit.

Also this week I would like to do 25 tactical problems per day. Perhaps I will review one master game as well...

New Hight Chess tactic trainer

Handle jsobo Country United States Rating 1319 Current RD 20.9 Highest Rating 1320 Date of HR 2008 Dec, 28 - 18:11 Tries 919 Success 79.7 %

Latest action 2008 Dec, 28 - 18:13 Latest RD 20.9 State active Until 2009 Feb, 11 - 00:57 Pieces standard

Game analysis from yesterday

Here is a game I played and I knew what I should be doing and didn't listen to myself. I was kind of winging the opening. I play the black side of the caro-kahn and knew that I was to drive the bishop all the way the the corner but then didn't do it... DUH... and I let him exchange the bishop for no good reason.

The I then proceeded to build up an solid advantage according to fritz. I was planning to castle long and exert pressure up the F file but then ended up castling king side... ???? I really felt like I rushed and blundered on move 20 but in looking at the game I see there were plenty of places I let black equalize. After 17 moves I was 1.5 ahead according to fritz and then over the next 3 moves went from +- to -+ and then crumbled... on move 21! I got careless in the face of time trouble... If I would have castled kingside... looked at that rook push to the 7th rank more closely to see it was fruitless... and that bishop to d2 move was a stinker! oh well and here goes another test of a pgn viewer...

Chess Tacts Server (rating update 12-27-2008)

Handle jsobo Country United States Rating 1293 Current RD 26.9 Highest Rating 1318 Date of HR 2008 Dec, 22 - 21:13 Tries 744 Success 78.9 %

Latest action 2008 Dec, 28 - 05:46 Latest RD 26.9 State active Until 2009 Feb, 09 - 04:27 Pieces standard

Another test pgn post

Play online chess!

Test of another chess viewer

Danish Dynomite.

I got the book Danish Dynamite for Christmas. I really am looking forward to looking at some of my recent games in the Goring Gambit with the aide of this book. I also am interested in playing through the Scotch gambit section as I tend to like those move orders just a bit more. Of course I am very interested in the Danish Gambit. I am not really that excited about playing it but I think understanding the Danish would be very helpful in the Scotch or Goring.

Chess Tactics Server and more

I haven't blogged in quite a long time. I plan to make a few more blog posts in this up coming year about chess. On another note I hadn't played darts in a long time but threw a few sets on successive days and actually hit a 180...

anyways lately I am back into playing chess... I have been doing tactical puzzles at Chess Tactics Server. I really like the interface and the emphasis on speed. This is about pattern recognition... not as much about getting it correct... but rather getting it correct quickly. Recognizing tactical patterns quickly is the key to creating and avoiding tactical fireworks I believe.

Anyways with all the problems I have done in the past I thought the ending of this game was interesting...

White to move


I made the move Ne6 which according to Fritz happens to be the best move. The best move after that is for black to play to move one of the rooks and then allow the exchange sacrifice and queen trade and attempt to get his pawn majority going. White must attempt to move his king into activity (after dealing with the pesky pawn on the 2nd rank) and create mating threats.

But my opponent played Qe7??


Which allowed me to play Ng7# with a near smothered mate. The game overall was very sloppy but it was fun... That's the nature of blitz... at least at my level.

pgn/NearsmotheredMate.pgn