ChessBase Problem 2 Spoiler

See the comments section of this post for the Solution to ChessBase 2011 Christmas Puzzle Challene no. 2.

chessbase christmas puzzles

http://www.chessbase.com/puzzle/christmas2011/chr11-02.htm

compared to years past, this one is a very, very easy starting puzzle.

ChessBase Puzzle Challenge

interesting tactical positions from the Euro Rapid champs:

http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7783

Closed Sicilian, game 3

[White "nmpdk"]

[Black "Storchnoi"]

[Opening "Sicilian: closed"]

ICC 5-min pool

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nge2 d6 6. d3 e6 7. Be3 Rb8 8.

Qd2 b6 9. O-O Nd4 10. Rac1 Ne7 11. Bh6 Nxe2+ 12. Nxe2 Bxb2

Black won a pawn but cost himself a lot of tempo. 11. Bh6 was probably a mistake- for example 11. h3 0-0 and then 12. Bh6 does not allow the Nxe2 trick to win b2. Still, white's extra tempo and black's inability to castle should give some advantage.

13. Rb1 Bf6 14.c3

Extra tempo? Active moves in the center.

...Ng8 15. Be3 Bg7 16. d4 Ne7 17. dxc5 dxc5 18. Qxd8+ Kxd8 19. Bxc5

The extra moves resulted in winning back the pawn with a better position.

...Ba6 20. Rfd1+ Ke8 21. Nd4 Rc8 22. Bb4 Bc4 23. a4 f6 24. Nb5 Bxb5 25. axb5 Kf7 26.

Rd7 Rhe8 27. Ra1 Rcd8 28. Raxa7 Rxd7 29. Rxd7 Bf8 30. h4 h6 31. Rb7 g5 32.

hxg5 hxg5 33. Bf3 Kg6 34. Rxb6 Nc8 35. Rb8 Bxb4 36. cxb4 e5 37. b6 Kf7 38.

Bh5+ {Black resigns} 1-0

Closed Sicilian, game 2

nmpdk [2059]
wanderingpawn2 [1932]
ICC 5-min pool


1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. Nge2 Bg4

an interesting move, but not strong.

6. f3 Bh5


so, how do we take advantage of this strange Bishop sortie? by exploiting the lack of squares the bishop has to use.

7. d3 e6 8. Nf4 Be7 9. h4

with the idea of g4 and h5, trapping the bishop.

...e5 10. Nfd5

of course we won't trade for the bad piece on h5.

...Bg6 11. Nxf6+ Bxf6 12. h5 Bxh5 13. Rxh5 g6 14. Rh1
h5 15. Be3 Nd4 16. Nd5 Bg7 17. c3 Qa5 18. b4 cxb4 19. cxd4 b3+ 20. Bd2 Qb5
21. Nc7+

a final mistake.

{Black resigns} 1-0

I have decided to start playing my students' openings

...on ICC.

First up: closed Sicilian.

[White "nmpdk" (2064)]
[Black "Nicademus" (2002)]
[5-min pool]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nge2 Nf6 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 e6 8.
Be3 b6 9. h3 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 exd5 12. Nf4 d4 13. Bxc6 dxe3 14.
Bxa8 exf2+ 15. Rxf2 Bxb2 16. Bg2 Bxa1 17. Qxa1 Re8 18. Nd5 {Black resigns}
1-0

how not to play the king's gambit

[White "chessproking"]
[Black "nmpdk"]
[WhiteElo "1973"]
[BlackElo "2165"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 h6 4. h4 Nf6 5. e5 Nh5 6. Nd4 Ng3 7. Rh2 Bc5 8.
Nb3 Bg1 9. Rh3 d6 10. Rxg3 fxg3 11. Qg4 Bxg4 {White resigns} 0-1

yikes. 5. e5 was the first mistake, the knight eyes the g3 square after 4. h4.

Upcoming supergroup in January will be three sections:

K-1st grade
800-1200
1300+

If between 1200 and 1300 contact me for group designation.

[White "nmpdk"] [Black "Astigmatist"] [Result "1-0"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. g3 Be6 6. Qa4 Qd7 7. Bg2 O-O-O 8.
O-O Kb8 9. Bg5 Be7 10. Bxe7 Ngxe7 11. Nbd2 Ng6 12. Nb3 Ngxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5
14. Qb4 b6 15. Nc5 Qd6 16. Na6+ Kc8 17. c5 Qe7 18. Rac1 Bd5 19. cxb6 Qxb4
20. Rxc7# {Black checkmated} 1-0

Nice miniature, ending in mate.

SFEA Update, Tournament Attendance Schedule

Please note! The SFEA Lecture Series (Lecture 3) has been moved from January 15th to January 22nd. The location (Northbridge Baptist Church) and time (6pm) remain the same.

The reason for the change is so that we do not overlap with the Decatur chess tournament which will be held January 15th. As a result, I plan to play in the Decatur event.

Also, I will make an appearance this Saturday, January 8th, and the TCCC Scholastic tournament here in Bloomington-Normal. I will be passing out signup fliers for my upcoming Super Group January 16th.