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Showing posts from April, 2008

If I followed this blog more closely...

... I'd have been better prepared for this Opponent, as one of my fellow bloggers reported his game against him earlier in the season. In my last post, I complained that my games were too often spoiled by blunders. This game certainly wasn't error-free (I doubt I've ever played a game where I would be happy to repeat every single move, much less one that was objectively without error), but both players avoided anything too grotesque - and I'm beginning to think that that's half the battle. As Black, I mixed up my opening lines and was probably rather worse for a while - White's two bishops had me worried. The curious 21. Kf1, though, allowed me to exchange some pieces, after which I was presumably better due to the weakness on c3. (Sadly the game was late to finish and I didn't get a chance to ask Opponent for his thoughts. 21. Kf1 looks to me like the sort of move you play when you're not sure what to do, but maybe he had something concrete in mind...

ATTACKING TO EARLY

I played the following game recently against George Monk MNJones - G M Monk NCL B Barking v Old Elizabethans played 10.04.2008 at Barking 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 c5 4.c3 cxd4 5.exd4 d5 6.Bd3 Bg7 7.Qc2 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Ne5 Nxe5 10.dxe5 Ng4 11.f4 Qb6+ 12.Kh1 Ne3 13.Bxe3 Qxe3 14.Qe2 Qb6 15.Qf2 Qxf2 16.Rxf2 f6 17.exf6 Rxf6 18.Nd2 e5 19.g3 e4 20.Nxe4 dxe4 21.Bxe4 Rb8 22.Rd2 Be6 23.a3 Kf7 24.Kg2 Ke7 25.Re1 b5 26.Bc6 Kf7 27.Bd7 Rb6 28.Red1 Bb3 29.Re1 Rbd6 30.Be8+ Kf8 31.Rxd6 Rxd6 32.Bxb5 Rd2+ 33.Re2 Rxe2+ 34.Bxe2 Ke7 35.Bd3 Kd6 36.Kf3 Kc5 37.g4 Bd5+ 38.Ke3 a5 39.Kf2 1/2-1/2 Comments Too anxious to attack I played 9 Ne5 Too anxious to develop I played 18 Nd2 when King G1 was much better I had overlooked e5 and the consequences However after my knight sacrifice on move 20 I had two extra pawns and I think a postional advantage Winning a further pawn on move 32 I settled for a draw but I wonder whether I should have pursed a win ?

Letsplaychess.com presents P.Kemp vs M.Jones

This was a major Scalp for Barnet chess club's Team Captain Mike Jones ECF 115 against Hertfordshire League's No.1 team - Royston Chess club Mike played against a player more than 50 ECF points higher - Paul Kemp, rated about ECF 175. All this playing Black and with a near 20 minute time odds!

Chess Party on Saturday! :)

This invitation extends to members of Barnet chess club or Blog readers of our site who happen to be in London on Satuday, and fancy a few games of blitz chess: Chessworld London Social April 2008 Hi All Message from Ockendon, the London social event organiser follows: When is the London Social? On Saturday, 19th April, from 11.30 a.m. to 5.45 p.m. A restaurant has also been booked for 6.00 p.m., for those members who wish to go on to a meal after the social (see below). (For anyone who can’t make this one - and for those who can! - there will be another London Social on Saturday, 30th August. Details of this will be posted at a later date.) Where is the social? This year we are trying a new venue, the Walgrave Arms, 40-42 Brendon Street, Marylebone W1H 5HE. Click here for details: Wargrave Arms pub details This pub is already used regularly by the Kings Head Chess Club, and Kingscrusher has checked it out; click here for his pictures: Venue pictures The Walgrave Arms is within easy re...

J.Hodgson vs T.Gavriel

Match against Ilford chess club. Had a good position until Bxc3?? which was very antipositional.

Another week, another game

Approaching the end of the season, I'm beginning to look for patterns and conclusions. Maybe there aren't really any to be found, but it's fun to try. We've still a few games left, so I'll be thinking more about this when we're done; meanwhile this game exemplifies a couple of repeated themes: My games include a lot of blunders (not all of them mine) Very few games are completely, or even mostly, satisfying The two are related, of course. Losing feels rubbish; and even winning isn't that great if the game wasn't good. Put like that, it almost sounds as though I'm not enjoying my chess. That's not the case at all. Probably I should set myself a second end-season task of trying to figure out what I like about the game, and write something about that too.

N.Syed vs T.Gavriel

This was board 3 for the match against Wanstead chess club. It was played on Monday 31st March - we managed to beat Wanstead by a whopping 5.5 to 0.5!