Chess Chats

aschultz · March 23, 2023, 1:53am

In which game, Mattison-Nimzowitsch or Kupferstich-Andreassen? In the Nimzowitsch game, the retreat leaves white with nothing to do.

Anyway, here I came to post a cool short game, and you posted one even shorter, which, wow!

I ran across this in the free Chessable Vienna Game course. I wanted to share it before I forgot it. Apparently there’s a reason Levy Rozman yammers on about how good the Vienna is!

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. f4 exf4 4. d4 Qh4+ 5. Ke2
5. ...Bb6 6. Nf3 Qe7 7. Bxf4 d5 8. Kf2!
8. ...dxe4 9. Nxe4! Qxe4?

Moving your king two times in the first eight moves? Crazy! But … Black’s wasted time, too.

critical position

Solution: 10. Bb5+ Kd8 11. Re1 Qxf4 12. Re8#. Yes, Black could’ve avoided mate with ruinous material loss, but that’s no fun.

ramstrong · March 23, 2023, 7:53am

The 28. Nc8 windmill Kupferstich-Andreassen. The knight went back to previous square at the end.

ramstrong · March 23, 2023, 9:52am

Although it didn’t happen that way, it totally could.

I think Ng5 blunder is due to finger failure, rather than genuine blunder. Kudos for keep playing and let me have a great game.

aschultz · March 25, 2023, 10:29pm

Ooh, I see now. Yeah, I bet that’s just a “Hey, this move can’t hurt before time control” sort of move.

Another chessable game below, this the first entry from the 1. Nc3 course:

1.Nc3 f5?! 2.e4 fxe4 3.d3 exd3 4.Bxd3 Nf6 5.Bg5 e6 6.Ne4 Be7 7.Nxf6+ gxf6?? (Bxf6 and Black maybe has a slight disadvantage) 8.Qh5+ Kf8 9.Bh6+ Kg8 10.Qg4+ Kf7 11.Qg7+ Ke8 12.Qg6+ hxg6 13.Bxg6#

Now White could’ve played 12. Bg6+, too, but as chess commentator Mr. Dodgy said, “that would be a crime against chess!” An amusing dance by the queen.

the final position

ramstrong · March 30, 2023, 2:03pm

So, it’s my anniversary at chess.com, and I played this game. I was really happy about it since early game review said no blunder, mistake, and inaccuracy. But then I got a different character and he gave me one inaccuracy. Do you agree that this is an inaccuracy?

At least, it leads to a brilliant move. 90.3%

Pebblerubble · March 30, 2023, 4:19pm

Edit: I think the following is wrong because I misinterpreted the infos in the picture. Sorry.

I think it is because of 11. … Nxf2. Then you have to move the king to save the queen (and bishop). I think this can be considered an inaccuracy. So yes.

Edit: I wish I were at your level and had your problems. I have concentration problems in real matches (in contrast to chess problems).

ramstrong · April 1, 2023, 11:42pm

In the spirit that Anish Giri becomes CEO of chess.com, I may as well make the announcement that following the steps of Anna Botez, I will change my career to that of a professional chess player!

Look forward to exciting games such as these:

King Ping Pong:

Giving Bishop odds

Be sure to subscribe to my future chess pro channel, where I happily engage in the very clever Bong opening and Botez gambit!

Edit: Just to be sure, that was April Fools post. But the games are real.

aschultz · April 2, 2023, 11:16am

Haha! I only caught this one:

Against Vaiti, I noticed the computer gave …f5 as a better move than what your opponent played. That’s right, but it’s a tough move to find I’d guess for a 1500 or even 1800. Your move put pressure on your opponent.

Nh4 takes its eye off e5 for a bit, so …f5 exf6 ep nxf6 means the hole on e5 can’t be occupied as quickly. And White doesn’t have the firepower for an immediate (sound) attack.

In the game, your opponent didn’t react quickly, and you rightly and impressively brutalized them!

Sometimes the engine rates a strong move that forces an opponent to see a tricky defense as not so great or “?!” – that shouldn’t take away the pride we feel in a game well organized and planned and played. The computer can’t determine that. In this case it’s tricky to see that, indeed, Black could’ve done enough to threaten …e5 after exf6 to keep White’s advantage at a minimum. And if White kept things closed, Black is still defending, but White’s attack will be trickier to conduct.

aschultz · April 2, 2023, 11:22am

Oh! Speaking of Anish Giri, let’s look at a game of his. The beginning is boring, but the ending … trust me, it’s really, really cool. One wonders how far he saw ahead.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. d4 Bb7 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d5 e6 8. Nc3 exd5
9. cxd5 Re8 10. Re1 c6 11. e4 d6 12. Bf4 cxd5 13. exd5 Rxe1+ 14. Qxe1 Na6 15. Nd4 Qd7
16. Rd1 Nc7 17. Nc2 Rc8 18. Qe2 Nh5 19. Bg5 Bxc3 20. bxc3 Nb5 21. Re1 Nxc3 22. Qd2 Bxd5
23. Bxd5 Nxd5 24. Qxd5 Rxc2 25. Re7 Rc1+ 26. Kg2 Qc6 27. Qxc6 Rxc6 28. Rxa7 Kg7
29. Be3 Nf6 30. Bd4 b5 31. Ra5 Rc4 32. Ba1 Rc1 33. Bb2 Rc5 34. a4 bxa4 35. Rxc5 dxc5
36. f4 a3 37. Ba1 1-0

final position

What is going on? Well, Giri just moves his bishop on the diagonal until it gobbles the pawns, then Black is in zugzwang. If his pawn weren’t at f4, Black could play …g5, but as it is, Black can’t move the king without losing the knight. …h6 h4 keeps the pressure.

aschultz · April 4, 2023, 1:48pm

So I found yet another neat miniature on chessable, studying the free Two Knights course: https://www.chessable.com/two-knights-defense/course/18646/

Bakosz-Toth, 2011, Two Knights

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.d3

White tries to hold onto the pawn. Let’s see how it goes!

6. ... h6 7.Nf3 e4 8.Qe2 Nxc4 9.dxc4 Bc5 10.O-O O-O 11.Nfd2 Bg4 12.Qe1

So far so good, right? Right?

12. ... Qd7 13.Nb3 Bf3 14.Bf4 Qg4 15.Bg3 Nh5 16.Nxc5 Nf4 17.Nd2 Qh3

Also, before it’s too late, I wanted to alert everyone also to a very funny April Fool’s joke beyond Anish Giri being CEO of Chess.com. The chess puzzle for 4/1 was, well, interesting.

The one after turns out to seem impossible, but it’s rather clever and challenging.

The answer to the April Fools’ puzzle? It’s impossible in the sense that White has no way to avoid checkmating Black.

Daily puzzles are saved for the current week starting Monday and the previous week, so everyone has a bit of time.

ramstrong · April 4, 2023, 2:35pm

I solved both puzzles. The hints lies in the spaces ahead of the pawns.

ramstrong · April 4, 2023, 3:16pm

I usually play 3+2 games, but I’ve had a string of good games recently, and I was looking into paying mode. I accidentally challenged someone whose 10 min games I was watching. I did win it, so no complain! Very interesting to see both pawns marched up the board to promotion.

The final position features Black to Mate in 4. He resigned before I can make the moves.

ramstrong · April 7, 2023, 2:30am

In this game, both of us played very fast, as if to prove that we’re the faster player!

Although the computer evaluated me as better since I grabbed those pawns, this is the move that lets me know I’m definitely winning. Considering the big jump on the evaluation, I consider the move a mistake, rather than good.

The computer have strange modifications lately. I noticed 3 instances where the computer was wrong! The latest updates has annoying “missed” tactics a lot more than usual. I’m feeling very down as the result.

Pebblerubble · April 8, 2023, 5:44pm

But that’s part of the fun. An AI with ELO 900 and something makes big mistakes. [Edit: a human opponent with 900, too.]

My ELO is around 900 and I won against a 1500 AI. I was very proud until I saw the analysis. The AI could have checkmated me. Maybe that’s a bit similar to your situation.

aschultz · April 8, 2023, 6:23pm

Yeah, the AIs for the bots on, say, chess.com are really weird. Sometimes they’ll play brilliantly and other times they’ll let you trade into a dead-lost endgame. Isabel (1600) seems particularly guilty of this.

But you can see it with Nelson, too. If you know how to refute his attacks, he can start doing nothing quickly.

With people there are going to be swings, too, based on relative endgame/middlegame/opening strengths. And if someone is fooled into an opening they don’t know by transposition, you can often knock 300-400 points off their ratings.

Fatigue is also a factor. I can just miss stuff when I’m tired, a lot of wins of material or even checkmates I would probably pick up on. I’ve learned not to play when tired!

And sometimes it can just be hard to adjust to a weird change in fortune, even in your favor.

Oh. Hey. How about a game? From GM Gawain Jones’s King’s Indian course… I’m really impressed by his writing style.

https://www.chessable.com/short-sweet-jones-s-king-s-indian-defense/course/81522/

Well, two games actually. He shows what can happen if White tries to play too slowly. Okay, White kind of slipped up big-time, but it’s not like their blunders were super-obvious.

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 O-O 5.Bg2 c5 6.c4 d6
7.d4 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.dxc5 Nf4 11.Bxg7 Nxg2+
12.Kf1 Nh4 13.Bxf8 Bh3+ 14.Kg1 Nxf3+ 15.exf3 Ne5 16.Qe2 Qd4

Apparently it’s mate in 5!

end position 1

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.b4 Bg7 4.Bb2 O-O 5.g3 Nc6 6.a3 e5 7.Nxe5 Nxe5
8.Bxe5 Re8 9.Bb2 d5 10.cxd5 Qxd5 11.Rg1 Qh5 12.h3 Bxh3 13.Rh1 Qf3 14.Rxh3 Ng4

end position 2

No mate here but he notes White can’t stop Qxf2. d3 Qxf2 kd2 Bxb2 is just miserable.

Pebblerubble · April 8, 2023, 6:39pm

Same here, but also when in intuition/rush mode. Then I play unconcentrated, not carefully analyzing the board.

ramstrong · April 8, 2023, 10:31pm

I really should stop playing when I lose, and keep playing when I win. Alas, I’m doing the total opposite.

aschultz · April 10, 2023, 11:31pm

Don’t know who’s following the world championship match, but man, Nepo trucked Ding Liren with the black pieces in game 2! Just like when he had black in the Candidates: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2289183

My trawling through free chessable courses brought me to two other games. One is actually a funny draw!

First, from Wesley So’s e4 course:

https://www.chessable.com/course/59857

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Bxd7 5. c4 Nf6

The game is half over. How could it be? Looks kinda boring…

6. c3 Qg4?! 7. O-O Nxe4? 8. Qb3! Nxc3 9. Qxb7 Qe4 10. Qc8#

This is similar to the infamous Englund Gambit trap…

1. d4 e5 2. de Qe7 3. Bf4 Qb4+ 4. Bd2 Qxb2 5. Bc3?? Bb4! 6. Qd2?? Bxc3 7. Qxc3?? Qc1#

But amusingly both queens go pawn hunting! (Incidentally, gambiting the pawn back is okay, but I recommend 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nc3 Nxe5 5. Nxd5! which is one of the first things I looked up on a chess engine on my phone.

As for the draw? It’s from Peter Svidler’s Gruenfeld course. Svidler knows the Gruenfeld, and he’s really gregarious, and the result was a really likeable absorbing course. The Gruenfeld is known for sharp lines that peter (heh) out to tactical draws if both sides know their theory very well.

https://www.chessable.com/course/70030

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 e5 5.Nxe5 O-O 6.Nf3 Re8
7.d3 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bd2 Bg4 10.Qb3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Na6 12.Be2 Nc5
13.Qc4 b6 14.Ng5 Bxe2 15.Nxf7 Rxe4 16.Nh6+ Kh8 17.Nf7+ Kg8 18.Nh6+ Kh8

It feels like White could maybe have a knockout blow, and maybe should’ve (smothered mate only works with a rook next to the king, not a queen,) but goodness, what a clever move …Rxe4 is! And what a mess at the end, with pieces seemingly hanging everywhere!

final position

ramstrong · April 11, 2023, 3:35am

I’m surprised the final position doesn’t end at 19. QxR NxQ 20 Nf7+ Kg8 21 NxQ RxN 22 KxB

Unless I’m missing something?

aschultz · April 11, 2023, 4:09am

21. ... Rxd8 isn’t as strong as …Bxd3, where white’s pieces need a lot of untangling, and the c-pawn could fall. Computers give the position as equal (Ne6 Bh8) but after, say, Rc1, Bc4 wins material, and the two passed q-side pawns are really dangerous. But yes, there is a lot of play left if either player wants a win! Black seems a bit more likely, though.