Bloomington Normal Chess Club

2021 Club Games Online Viewer

Club member Joseph Alford collects games for the club and then annotates them. (Thanks Joseph!) Below are all the games presented in a PGN viewer format. There’s also a separate page with the PGN files as downloads for 2021.

December, 2021 games:

[Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/mNI0vcqK"] [Date "2021.12.27"] [Round "?"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C51"] [WhiteElo "1125"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "95"] [EventDate "2021.12.06"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 {The Evans Gambit was popular in Morphy’s time. Not so much now.} Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. O-O d6 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 Bb6 9. Nc3 Bg4 10. Bxf7+ {There is no justification for this sacrifice.} Kxf7 11. Nd5 Nxd4 {Fritz says that’s a blunder. Black needs Bd4} 12. Nxb6 Nxf3+ 13. gxf3 Bh3 {Another blunder, says Fritz. Black is looking for a quick mate and is giving up too much for that chance. Black should take the knight.} 14. Qb3+ {Fritz says Black should take the rook. Now White should play Be6 with advantage.} Kf8 15. Nxa8 Qf6 {I was feeling pretty good now. I’m down a rook, but both of Black’s rooks are attacked and I am threatening Qg6+ leading to mate. White has a good response.} 16. f4 {Suddenly I’m the one in trouble. Qa1; Qh3 or Qg6+; Qg3 In either case I am down a piece.} Bxf1 17. Bb2 Bc4 18. Qc2 Qg6+ 19. Kh1 d5 {Fritz says Qf7. I did not yet realize how much trouble I’m in.} 20. Rg1 {Better to play Qf7 and give up queen for rook and bishop, leaving rook and two minor pieces against queen and one minor.} Qc6 21. Bxg7+ Kf7 22. Bxh8 dxe4 {I still think I’m attacking. This is resignable. Ne7 or Kf7 are also bad.} 23. Rg7+ Kf8 24. Rg2 {Bad only because Rc7 is so much better.} Ne7 25. Qc3 e3 {Trying to open attacking lines, but even winning the rook leaves me a piece down.} 26. fxe3 Qd5 {Qe4 or Qf3 would be better. for example, Qf3; Qc4 Qd1+; Rg1 Qf3+ with a draw.} 27. Qf6+ Qf7 {Because Ke8 loses to a knight fork.} 28. Qxf7+ Kxf7 29. Rg7+ Kf8 30. Nxc7 Bxa2 31. Rxh7 Bb1 32. Rxe7 {Well played! Black’s connected passed pawns are easily stopped by White’s extra piece.} Kxe7 33. Nd5+ Kd6 34. Nc3 Bd3 35. Bd4 a5 36. Kg1 b5 37. h4 b4 38. Na4 Bc2 39. Nc5 a4 40. h5 a3 41. h6 Bh7 {Else White plays e4 and the h-pawn queens.} 42. e4 Ke7 43. f5 Kf7 44. Kf2 Ke7 45. Ke3 Kd6 46. Ne6 b3 47. Bc5+ Ke5 48. Bxa3 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/pQgzHo3i"] [Date "2021.12.20"] [Round "3"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C51"] [WhiteElo "1125"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "128"] [EventDate "2021.12.06"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 {The Evans Gambit. Not quite sound, but the old saying is that All gambits are sound over the board.} Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. d4 {0-0 first. The point of the gambit is to get better development. That doesn’t happen here.} exd4 7. cxd4 Bb4+ {That’s why you castle first.} 8. Nbd2 {Fritz says Bd2 is equal. White has a pawn worth of development.} Nf6 {Fritz suggests Bc3, but then Bf7+ Kf7; Qb3+ recovers the pawn} 9. O-O O-O 10. e5 d5 11. exf6 dxc4 12. Nxc4 {fg first. The c-pawn isn’t going anywhere.} Qxf6 13. Bg5 Qg6 14. d5 Be7 15. h4 Bxg5 16. hxg5 Ne7 17. Nce5 {Black could now win a pawn with Qd6. White needed Re1 or Rc1} Qe4 18. d6 cxd6 19. Qxd6 Nf5 20. Qc7 Nh4 21. Nxh4 Qxh4 22. Nf3 Qh5 23. Qg3 {Fritz again calls for activating a rook (either) to d1.} Bg4 24. Ne5 Be6 25. f4 Rac8 26. Rf2 Rfd8 27. f5 Rd1+ 28. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 29. Rf1 Qd4+ 30. Kh2 Bxa2 31. f6 g6 32. Nf3 Qd8 33. Qh3 Be6 34. Qh6 Qf8 35. Nd4 Qxh6+ 36. gxh6 Bd5 37. Rf2 Kf8 38. Nb5 a6 39. Nd4 b5 40. Nc2 a5 41. Ne3 Be6 42. Rd2 b4 43. Rd6 a4 44. Nd5 Bxd5 45. Rxd5 Rb8 46. Kg3 b3 47. Ra5 b2 48. Rxa4 b1=Q 49. Rf4 Qe1+ 50. Kh2 Rb3 51. Rf3 Rxf3 52. gxf3 Qh4+ 53. Kg2 Qxf6 54. Kg3 g5 55. Kg2 Qxh6 56. Kg3 Qh4+ 57. Kg2 h5 58. Kf1 Qg3 59. Ke2 h4 60. f4 gxf4 61. Kf1 h3 {But not f3 which is stalemate!} 62. Ke2 h2 63. Kf1 h1=Q+ 64. Ke2 Qe3# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/htikzm9P"] [Date "2021.12.21"] [Round "3"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1125"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2021.12.20"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Nc3 {After c4 c6 Black has compensation for his pawn in the backward White d-pawn.} Nxd5 4. Bc4 c6 5. Nf3 e6 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. d4 Nd7 9. Qe2 N5f6 {Wrong knight. Now White sacrifices to win.} 10. Bxe6 Re8 {If fe; Qe6+ Kh8; Qe7 Re8; Qd8. Fritz likes Bd6 with some play for Black along the e-file.} 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. Qe6+ {Very good, but Fritz points out Ng5+ when Kg8 is met with Qe6+ with a mating attack. And Kf8 is met with Ne6+ winning the queen.} Kf8 13. Ng5 Ne5 {Startling, to say the least. Further, Qe5 loses to Bd6 because of the back rank mate. Actually, loses may be a bit strong. Qe5 Bd6; Nh7+ Kg8 (NxN; QxR+ wins or Kf7; Ng5+ with a draw) Kg8; Nf6+ and White should win. Life is so much easier with unlimited time.} 14. Qb3 {I like that move. It maintains the mate threat and the attack on the knight. Also, Qd4 is met with Re5. Fritz has totally different idea: de Be6; Ne6+ recovering the queen} Nd5 {Ouch. My mate is cut off and my knight is attacked. Steven suggested RxN. It is not a good idea to suggest moves to your opponent, especially good moves.} 15. Rxe5 Bd6 16. Nxd5 Bxe5 17. Nb6 {The rook attack is nothing. White also threatens mate on f7 and Qe7 is met with Nh7+ mate!} Qc7 18. Nxh7+ {White must be wary of Bh2+ followed by Re1+ mate!} Ke7 19. Bg5+ {Here comes the cavalry} Kd6 20. dxe5+ Rxe5 21. Rd1+ Kc5 22. Nxa8 {Steven pointed out Na4+ mate} Be6 23. Qc3+ Kb5 24. Nxc7+ Kb6 25. Na8+ Kb5 26. Qxe5+ Ka6 27. Qxe6 g6 28. Qc4+ Ka5 29. Rd3 {Bd2+ is mate} b5 30. Ra3# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/ooIZ781o"] [Date "2021.12.13"] [Round "2"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B44"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1125"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2021.12.06"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 a6 7. N5c3 Nf6 8. Be2 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Be3 Bd7 11. Nd2 Rc8 12. Rc1 {This is why I don’t like the Sicilian Defense. White has a better grip on the center and better placement for his pieces.} Ne5 13. f4 Ng6 14. e5 {Over the next few move White manages to destroy his powerful center and lose two pawns. h3 or Nf3. Fritz prefers Qb3 or Na4} dxe5 15. fxe5 Nxe5 16. Nde4 {Wrong knight and there goes a second pawn} Nxc4 17. Nxf6+ Bxf6 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. Qd3 {Qe2 White is already looking for a sacrifice on f6 followed by a queen check on Q3. Fritz says do the sacrifice now while the black queen is tied to the bishop. Rf6 gf; b3 (to allow Qg4+) Rc6; Bh6 f5 (preventing Qg5+) and Bf8 which just did not look like enough to me.} b5 {Bb5 Black, 2 pawns up, wants trades.} 20. Rcd1 {Again, Fritz likes the immediate Rf6 Qf6; Qd7} Bc6 21. Qe2 Qc7 22. Rd3 {g4 is covered, so White looks for a check on g3} Rc8 {Bc3 would be good or Be4. Fritz also likes b4. White is in very bad shape.} 23. Rxf6 {Too late for this sacrifice, says Fritz.} gxf6 24. Bh6 Qe5 {Game losing mistake. Kh8 would allow the rook to cover the g-file protecting g7 and attacking g2} 25. Rg3+ Kh8 {Black must sacrifice queen for rook} 26. Bg7+ Kg8 27. Bxf6+ Kf8 {Last chance for QxR} 28. Bxe5 {It occured to me while doing these notes that Qe5 would be a lot better. Fritz agrees.} Ke7 29. Rg4 {When ahead, trade. Actually, Qf2 is better.} f6 30. Rxc4 {Certainly good enough, though Fritz suggests that Rg7+ is faster.} bxc4 31. Bd4 Bd7 32. Nd5+ Kf7 33. Qh5+ Kf8 34. Nxf6 Bb5 35. Qxh7 Rc6 36. Nd7+ Ke8 37. Ne5 Rd6 38. Bc5 Rd1+ 39. Kf2 Rd2+ 40. Ke1 Rxb2 41. Qe7# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/YOH3xU15"] [Date "2021.12.07"] [Round "1"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Thompson, Kevin, kevthompson97"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B13"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "114"] [EventDate "2021.12/06"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 dxc4 5. Bxc4 Nf6 6. Nf3 Bg4 {This allows a little trick that I used just last week.} 7. Bxf7+ {Note that Ne5 (threatening mate) is not better after Qa5+} Kxf7 8. Ne5+ Ke8 9. Nxg4 Nc6 10. Be3 {Fritz prefers to simplify the position with Nf6+ first} Qa5+ 11. Qd2 {I did not realize until I was making these notes that this drops a piece! Nc3 is better} Nxg4 12. O-O Qxd2 13. Nxd2 e6 14. h3 Nxe3 15. fxe3 Bb4 16. Nf3 h6 17. a3 Ba5 18. b4 Bb6 19. Rad1 {I want to move the knight, but then Black plays Nd4; ed Bd4+ picking off the rook} Rf8 20. b5 {overly aggressive. White gets what he wants, but is left with a position full of targets.} Ne7 21. Ne5 Rxf1+ 22. Kxf1 Nd5 {e3 and c3 are both trouble spots} 23. Nc4 Rc8 {losing a piece. The bishop should retreat} 24. Nd6+ Kd7 {This allows White to take the bishop with check later} 25. Nxc8 Nxe3+ {Fritz says Kc8 leaves Black with two pieces against rook and pawn.} 26. Ke2 Nxd1 27. Nxb6+ axb6 28. Kxd1 Kd6 29. Kd2 Kd5 30. Kd3 g5 {g6 to keep the White king out} 31. g3 e5 32. dxe5 Kxe5 33. Ke3 Kd5 34. a4 {The Black king will have to take 4 moves to capture the pawns and a 5th move to get out of the way and then 5 moves to queen. In 10 moves I can queen also.} Kc4 35. Ke4 Kb4 36. Kf5 Kxa4 37. Kg6 Kxb5 38. Kxh6 Kc5 39. Kxg5 b5 40. h4 (40. Kf4 {Fritz says this should also just draw} b4 41. Ke3 Kc4 42. h4 Kc3 {The point of the line – Black’s king has to step onto the diagonal and get checked. But it’s still a draw} 43. h5 b3 44. h6 b2 45. h7 b1=Q 46. h8=Q+ Kb3) 40... b4 41. h5 b3 42. h6 b2 43. h7 b1=Q 44. h8=Q Qc1+ 45. Kg4 Qc4+ 46. Kg5 Qd5+ 47. Kf4 Qd4+ 48. Qxd4+ Kxd4 49. g4 b5 {With Kd5 Black can attempt to blockade the White pawn, but lines similar to the last note arise and the game is still drawn.} 50. g5 b4 51. g6 b3 52. g7 b2 53. g8=Q b1=Q 54. Qd8+ Kc3 55. Qc8+ Kd2 56. Qd7+ Qd3 57. Qxd3+ Kxd3 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/SD5y6JKg"] [Date "2021.12.07"] [Round "1"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1837"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2021.12/06"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 e5 {Fritz claims, I believe correctly, that d5 is the best move here.} 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 d6 {A little too passive. Now Black’s king gets stuck in the center. Fritz says trade on c3 or d4} 7. dxe5 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 dxe5 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. Bb5 {My original plan was Bg5+ f6; 000+ and then Be3 with development.} f6 11. Ba3 Nge7 12. O-O Kc7 13. Rfd1 Be6 14. Bd6+ Kb6 15. Be2 a6 16. Rab1+ {Off my game tonight. Fritz shows Be7 Ne7; Re6+} Ka7 17. Bc5+ Kb8 {The point is to keep Black’s rook blocked in.} 18. Rb2 Nc8 19. Rdb1 Na5 20. Bb6 {Fritz prefers Bb4 Nc6; Bf8 when the mate threat wins some pawns.} Nxb6 21. Rxb6 Bxa2 22. Ra1 Bc4 23. Kf1 {Avoiding back rank mates and bringing the king to the defense.} Bxe2+ 24. Kxe2 Nc4 25. Rb4 Rc8 26. Rab1 Rc7 27. Nd2 Nxd2 28. Kxd2 Ka7 29. f3 b5 30. R1b3 Rd8+ 31. Ke2 Rcd7 32. Rb2 Rd1 33. c4 bxc4 34. Rxc4 Ra1 {Rooks belong behind passed pawns. Also, Black’s pawns are now vulnerable. Either rook should move to d7.} 35. Rc7+ {White now has the advantage.} Ka8 36. Rxg7 {Rbb7 is a draw, but I am still hoping for a mistake.} a5 37. Rbb7 {That secures the draw.} a4 38. Ra7+ Kb8 39. Rab7+ Kc8 40. Rbc7+ {Rgc7 is mate} Kb8 41. Rb7+ Ka8 42. Ra7+ Kb8 43. Rgb7+ Kc8 44. Rc7+ Kb8 45. Rcb7+ Kc8 46. Rxh7 a3 {Kb8 is still drawn} 47. Ra8# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

November, 2021 Games:

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/N5tKkGSJ"] [Date "2021.11.29"] [Round "5"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1837"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2021.11.29"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] {I played two simuls, once giving each player black and then giving each player white. These are the best of the 4 games.} 1. e4 d5 {I don’t like this opening. Black does not get enough center.} 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd8 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bxf7+ {Here’s a neat trick that everyone needs to know. When is a pin not a pin?} Kxf7 7. Ne5+ Kg8 8. Nxg4 Nc6 9. O-O h5 10. Nxf6+ exf6 11. d3 Bd6 12. Ne4 {How can I lose this game? Only by a direct attack on the king, so let’s remove Black’s best attacker.} Be5 13. c3 f5 {That pawn was protecting g5. Fritz suggests Rb8 or Qd5 to protect b7 from a queen fork} 14. Ng5 Qd7 15. d4 Bd6 16. Qb3+ Kf8 17. Ne6+ Ke8 18. Re1 Ne7 19. Nxg7+ Kd8 20. Ne6+ Kc8 21. Nc5 {Threatening b7 and the queen} Bxc5 22. dxc5 c6 23. Bg5 Rh7 24. Rad1 Qc7 25. Qe6+ Kb8 26. Rd7 Qc8 27. Qd6+ Qc7 28. Qxc7# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/NVm19jxc"] [Date "2021.11.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "1602"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] [TimeControl "3600+5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 Ng4 {I remembered that d5 was best, but I could not remember the follow-up after ef dc; fg} 7. cxd4 Bb4+ 8. Bd2 Bxd2+ 9. Nbxd2 d5 10. Bb5 O-O 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. h3 Nh6 13. O-O f6 14. Rc1 Bd7 15. a4 {Why? I expected ef followed by Ne5} fxe5 16. Nxe5 Rf6 17. Nxd7 Qxd7 18. Nf3 Nf7 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 Rg6 21. Qb3 Re8 22. f4 Qf5 23. g4 {I may have just over-extended} Qe4 24. Qc2 {Fritz does not like this move. He wants f5 followed as soon as possible by e6. If Black trades queens, then White’s rooks pile up on the c-pawns.} Qd4+ 25. Kg2 Rge6 26. Rcd1 Qb6 {Qb4 is better because of the possibility of a check on e4} 27. b3 {Too passive. Now Black counter-attacks.} g5 28. Qf5 {And now too aggressive. Fritz shows equality after either fg Re5; Rd2 or immediately Rd2} gxf4 29. Rxf4 Qxb3 30. Rdf1 {Rd2 and Re1 were both better, but in both cases Black is still better. Note that Black cannot take on e5 with the rook because of the perpetual check Qf7+ Kh8; Qf6+. Now the queen can take on e5} Qb2+ 31. Kg3 Qxe5 32. Qf7+ { White gets a check for his two pawns.} Kh8 33. R1f3 d4 34. Kg2 d3 35. Rf5 Qe2+ 36. Kg3 Qe1+ 37. Kg2 d2 38. Qxh7+ Kxh7 39. Rh5+ Kg6 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/Eap8SmnM"] [Date "2021.11.23"] [Round "4"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Bafna, Mihir, MBafna"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "1862"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2021.11,01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. exd6 Qxd6 8. Nc3 {White would be happy with a knight trade that would reinforce d4.} Bg4 9. Bc4 Nb6 {I thought e6 was much better. Fritz agrees} 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Ng5+ Ke8 12. Qxg4 Nxd4 13. O-O {White has better pawns and a safer king.} h5 {That does not improve Black’s position. Fritz is OK with h6 or Qd7} 14. Qf4 Qf6 { Black woould be happy with this queen trade which unsplits his pawns and drives away the enemy knight. Fritz says just trade on f4} 15. Rd1 e5 16. Qe4 Be7 17. Be3 Rd8 18. Qxb7 {Why not? White has good development, better pawns and (now) an extra pawn.} Nc4 {An attack on the g5 knight. Fritz says White can answer with Nd5} 19. Nge4 {I did not consider Nd5, first choice for Fritz. I did consider Bd4, the second choice. This move allows Black to get out of most of the trouble with Qb6} Qe6 20. Bxd4 exd4 21. Qb5+ Kf8 22. Nc5 Qe5 { pinning the knight is the right idea, but the queen needs to be on f5 to cover d7} 23. Nd7+ {I was surprised when he resigned. He gets both knights for his rook. I missed the fact that then I check on c8 and pick off his other rook.} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/931quChP"] [Date "2021.11.23"] [Round "4"] [White "Bafna, Mihir, MBafna"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C77"] [WhiteElo "1862"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2021.11,01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 {I’m always surprised to see that Fritz does not like this move. I find it hard to play against, partly because I like Black’s positions after 0-0 Nxe4} Bc5 {Fritz doesn’t like this move either, prefering b5 or be7.} 6. c3 {Black does recover the pawn after Bc6 dc; Ne5 Qe7; f4 Bd6} b5 7. Bc2 d6 8. a4 Rb8 {Fritz suggests b4 or Bd7. I’ve played both, but I prefer this.} 9. d3 {The Spanish torture is not a quick fight for the center. This allows White to bring up the second knight through d2 and f1 to either g3 or e3} h6 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Nf1 Ng4 12. Ne3 Nxe3 13. fxe3 Bg4 14. O-O d5 15. exd5 Qxd5 16. Kh1 e4 {I was proud of this move. White was threatening to drive me out of the center. By sacrificing a pawn I destroyed his center and blocked off this king-side attack} 17. dxe4 Qh5 18. h3 {There is no threat here since the pawn is pinned. The more Fritz thought about this move, the worse it looked, but Fritz suggested ab or Rd1, either helping much.} Ne5 19. Rf2 Nxf3 {Fritz says Bf3 is much stronger.} 20. gxf3 Qxh3+ 21. Kg1 Qg3+ 22. Kh1 Qh3+ 23. Kg1 Bh5 24. Bd2 {Way too slow. Fritz likes Qf1 or ab} Rb6 {Bringing the rook to the king-side looks really good, but Fritz prefers ba with the rook threatening b2} 25. Raf1 {e5 would activate the White bishop, says Fritz} bxa4 26. Rh2 Qg3+ 27. Rg2 Qd6 {Not worried about b4 since I can capture in passing.} 28. Bc1 a3 {Blunder. a5 would prepare this move. Fritz liked Qc6 or Qe6} 29. b4 a2 30. Ba3 a1=Q {Premature. Qe5 or Qf6 holding the threat of queening} 31. Rxa1 Qf6 32. bxc5 Bxf3 {Black has a lot of threats. White has more. Rbb8 is better.} 33. cxb6 {Why give up the queen? e5} Bxe2 34. Bxf8 {Ouch. Missed that one.} Qxc3 35. Bxg7 {And that guards the rook. } Qxe3+ 36. Kh2 Qf4+ 37. Kh3 Qf3+ 38. Rg3 Bf1+ {Fritz is now showing this as equal, obviously expecting a draw by perpetual check.} 39. Rxf1 Qxf1+ 40. Rg2 Qf3+ 41. Kh2 Qf4+ 42. Kh1 Qf1+ 43. Rg1 {played a bit too fast.} Qh3# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/EyOXXdvV"] [Date "2021.11.09"] [Round "2"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C77"] [WhiteElo "1837"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "40"] [EventDate "2021.11.08"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 Bc5 6. O-O d6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. c3 Bg4 12. Ne3 f5 {Fritz is not impressed. Black trades a bishop for a knight, doubles his pawns, and leaves b2 vulnerable. Black sees the coming attack on f2.} 13. Nxg4 fxg4 14. Ne1 Qh4 15. g3 {3 attacks on f2 must be met. Fritz suggests Qe2 or d4.} Qh3 16. Ng2 {White must break the attack on f2. d4 An attack on the flank can often be derailed by vigorous action in the center.} Rf6 17. Qb3+ {White wins a piece, but the cost on the home front is severe. White could try to trade off the attack with Ne3 threatening Qg4} Kh7 18. Qxb7 Raf8 19. Qxc6 Rxf2 20. Rxf2 Rxf2 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/rDXb4TpW"] [Date "2021.11.09"] [Round "3"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C00"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1125"] [PlyCount "129"] [EventDate "2021.11.08"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 b6 3. c4 Bb7 4. Nc3 d5 {Ne7 first} 5. cxd5 exd5 6. exd5 Bd6 {To maintain material equality, Black must trade a bishop for the knight. Bb4 loses a bishop to Qa4+} 7. Qg4 {Premature, though it is the second choice for Fritz. Bc4 keeps Black tied up while White castles. Fritz likes Bb5+ making headway towards castling.} g6 8. Bd3 Nf6 9. Qe2+ Qe7 10. Bc4 O-O 11. Bg5 Nbd7 12. Qxe7 Bxe7 13. Nge2 Rfe8 14. O-O a6 15. f4 {Why are you trying to do something, asks Fritz. You have a pawn and the center. Just bring up more pieces. White has visions of rooks on the open file and the bishop aimed at f7} Ng4 16. Bxe7 Rxe7 17. Bb3 Ne3 18. Rf3 Nf6 19. Ng3 {The extra pawn cannot be saved and Black is already threatening action with bishop and knight against g2. White procedes with his attack along the f-file} Nexd5 20. f5 Nb4 21. Rf2 {Fritz suggests fg Bf3; gf+ Kf8; gf. I did not care for that line.} g5 {That was a shock. White has no attack. Now all the pawns look bad.} 22. a3 Nd3 23. Rd2 Nf4 24. Rc1 Rd8 25. Na4 {Fishing. White is losing a pawn without compensation.} N6d5 {Fritz calls this a blunder because Black had much better moves. h5 or c5 or Ng2} 26. Nc3 Ne3 27. d5 {Desperation. The attack on g2 gets really painful.} Nexd5 {Fritz says winning the pawn is not the right move. He likes Rde8 or Kg7 (to avoid the check next move). White makes good use of pins for the rest of this game.} 28. Rcd1 c6 29. Nge4 Kf8 {Avoiding a check which puts a fifth attacker on d5, but white plays Nf6 anyway. Fritz would have played Re5} 30. Nf6 {Fritz says take the pawn. If White captures on d5 then Black captures with the second knight and then plays Rd7 to pin whatever piece recaptures.} Re5 {Kg7 to try to force the line in the previous note.} 31. Ncxd5 cxd5 32. Nxh7+ Ke8 33. Nxg5 Rxf5 34. Rf2 Rd6 35. g3 Rxg5 36. Rxf4 Re5 37. Rfd4 Ke7 38. Rf4 Re2 39. Rf2 Re3 40. Ba2 f6 41. Rc2 Kd7 42. Rdc1 Bc6 43. Rc3 Rxc3 44. Rxc3 {Fritz prefers bc which stops Black’s pawn cold and leaves White with an outside passed pawn.} d4 45. Rd3 Bb5 46. Rd2 {Fritz suggests f5 which gives the Black king access to the king-side.} d3 {Premature. The pawn can be supported twice. It can be attacked 3 times.} 47. Bb1 {Kf2 is better since White cannot take the pawn until his rook is protected.} Ke6 48. Kf2 Ke5 49. Ke3 Kf5 50. Bxd3+ Bxd3 51. Rxd3 Re6+ 52. Kf3 Kg5 53. h4+ Kf5 54. g4+ Kg6 55. Kf4 a5 56. h5+ Kf7 57. Rd7+ Ke8 58. Rb7 a4 59. Kf5 Rd6 60. h6 Kf8 61. h7 Rd5+ 62. Ke6 Re5+ 63. Kxf6 Rf5+ 64. Kxf5 Ke8 65. h8=Q# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/5zi8fkfE"] [Date "2021.11.07"] [Round "1"] [White "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C57"] [WhiteElo "1602"] [BlackElo "1837"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2021.11.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nd4 6. c3 b5 7. cxd4 bxc4 8. Nc3 {Black shows the problems with this move. de would be better.} exd4 9. Nb5 d3 {A mean-looking little move, but Fritz claims Black is even better after either Qe7+ or Nd5} 10. Qf3 {Time to 0-0, says Fritz} Bg4 11. Qe3+ Be7 {Not Qe7; Nc7+} 12. b3 O-O 13. h3 {White does not have time for threats. Now Nd5; Qe4 Bg5; Qg4 Qe8+ picks off a piece} Re8 14. O-O Nxd5 {Be2 was also good} 15. Qe4 {Note the threat on h7} Bxg5 16. Qxg4 c3 {Bf6 first} 17. Nxc3 Nf4 18. g3 Ne2+ 19. Nxe2 dxe2 20. Re1 Bxd2 {Fritz says Bf6. Now White can play Bb2 (mate threat)} 21. Rxe2 Rxe2 {Black could chase the rook on a1. Fritz gives Qf6; Rb1 Re2; Qe2 Qf5; Ra1 Bc3} 22. Qxe2 Bc3 {Again, Qf6 is better} 23. Bb2 Bxb2 24. Qxb2 a5 25. a4 c5 26. Kg2 Qd5+ 27. Kh2 Rb8 28. Re1 f6 29. Re3 Kf7 30. Qc3 Rb4 31. Rd3 Rd4 32. Rxd4 cxd4 33. Qc7+ {Qd3 combines attack and defense} Kg6 34. h4 d3 35. Qf4 d2 {h5 and White cannot stop the pawn and also protect b3. h5 prevents Qg4+ followed by Qd1} 36. Qg4+ Kf7 37. Qd1 h5 38. Kg1 g6 39. Kf1 Ke6 40. Ke2 f5 41. Qxd2 Qxb3 42. Qxa5 Qc4+ 43. Kf3 {White, with the extra pawn, gets careless.} Qe4# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/w6PW8TnV"] [Date "2021.11.07"] [Round "1"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Black "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B12"] [WhiteElo "1837"] [BlackElo "1602"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2021.11.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 e6 {The problem with the Caro-Kann is that Black’s knight is blocked in. The problem with the French Defense is that Black’s bishop is blocked in. This move order blocks in both. Black frequently plays Bf5 here.} 4. Nf3 Bd7 5. c4 c5 {This should lose a pawn to dc Bc5; cd ed; Qd5. Fritz suggests dc when White is left with a backward pawn on an open file.} 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O {Fritz is unhappy with both players for ignoring the center.} Nxd4 8. Nxd4 cxd4 9. cxd5 Qa5 10. dxe6 fxe6 {Be6 Why bust up the pawns?} 11. Bf4 {Defending instead of attacking. Qh5+ followed by Bg5+} g5 12. Qh5+ {Black’s move was bad. The proof is Bg5 Qe5; Qh5+. Fritz disagrees: Qh5+ Kd8; Qf7 Ne7; Bg5 is killing} Kd8 13. Bxg5+ Be7 14. Bxe7+ {Often trades help the defender. Fritz says Nd2} Nxe7 15. f4 Qb6 16. Rf2 Nd5 17. Na3 Rf8 18. Nc4 Qb4 19. Qg5+ Kc7 20. Rc1 Rac8 {Clearly not seeing White’s reply. Fritz suggests Bc6} 21. Nd6+ Kb8 22. Rxc8+ {Nc8} Bxc8 23. Rc2 Qe1+ {Black says, hey, I’m still in the game.} 24. Bf1 Ne3 25. Rf2 Bd7 {d3 leaves White gasping for breath.} 26. Qe7 {Fritz says Qg7 keeps the Black rook out.} Rg8 27. g3 Bc6 {Nf1; Rf1 Rg3+; hg Qg3+; Kh1 Bc6} 28. Qxe6 Nxf1 {First Bd5} 29. Qxg8+ Kc7 30. Qxh7+ Kb6 31. Nc4+ Kc5 32. Rxf1 Qe2 33. Rf2 {Now Black can draw by Qe1+; Rf1 Qe2. White could still win with b4+ throwing away the knight for a rook check.} Qxc4 {Played too fast.} 34. Rc2 d3 35. Qxd3 Bd5 36. Rxc4+ Bxc4 37. Qc3 b5 38. b3 a5 39. bxc4 b4 40. Qd3 b3 41. axb3 a4 42. bxa4 Kb4 43. e6 Ka5 44. e7 Kb4 45. e8=Q Kc5 46. Qb5# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/dtyJsEju"] [Date "2021.11.07"] [Round "1"] [White "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B06"] [WhiteElo "1602"] [BlackElo "1837"] [PlyCount "26"] [EventDate "2021.11.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 g6 2. f4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Be2 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. d3 Nbd7 {c5 would transpose into a Sicilian with a reasonable grip on the center.} 7. Be3 {This results in trading the bishop (useful for attacking) for a knight that can be easily replaced. The logical move is 0-0 with king-side attack.} Ng4 8. Qd2 Nxe3 9. Qxe3 Nf6 10. f5 {And this just drops a pawn. Again, 0-0 is the best move} gxf5 11. exf5 Bxf5 12. Ng5 {Where’s he going all by himself? 0-0} d5 13. O-O-O {Both Black bishops are aimed at the queen-side. White wants to castle on the king-side. Of course, he should deal with the fork first.} d4 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/l8X5B7tw"] [Date "2021.11.02"] [Round "1"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C77"] [WhiteElo "1837"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2021.11.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 {Fritz insists this is a bad move, but I find it hard to play against. Fritz likes 0-0 or d4} Bc5 {A general rule is that when White guards e4 then Black must guard e5. Thus b5 so that the knight guards e5 or d6} 6. c3 O-O 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8. Nxe5 Bd6 9. d4 Re8 10. Bf4 Ng4 {I expected NxN BxB. White finds a better move. Fritz suggests chipping away at White’s center with c5.} 11. Nd3 Bxf4 12. Nxf4 Qg5 13. Nd3 {It turns out g3 is better.} Nf6 14. f3 Nxe4 {I get at least two pawns and lots of development for this valiant knight.} 15. Nd2 {if fe then Bg4; Qd2 Re4+ with a winning (?) attack.} Nd6 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. fxe4 Bg4 18. Qxg4 {Now Qd2 loses the queen after Re4+. Fritz shows Qc2 Re4+; Kf1 Re2} Qxg4 19. O-O Rxe4 {Well, that’s rather pitiful. Of course, Qe4.} 20. Nf2 Qe2 {he might play Rae allowing Qe1} 21. Nxe4 Qxe4 22. Rae1 Qd5 23. b3 {Orion, watching, said two targets are better than one. Yes, a3 was better with a rook on the second rank protecting b2} Qa5 24. Rf3 Qxa2 25. Rfe3 g6 26. b4 a5 27. Re7 axb4 28. cxb4 Qc4 29. Rxc7 Qxd4+ 30. Kh1 Qxb4 31. Rce7 Qxe7 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/8TSK3zWb"] [Date "2021.11.02"] [Round "1"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Black "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B12"] [WhiteElo "1837"] [BlackElo "1602"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2021.11.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 {there was a great deal of discussion at this point about the best move for White. 3 e5 is an attempt to maintain a powerful center and take away the best square from Black’s knight. 3 ed cd is also common and perfectly good. I usually follow up with c4, the Panov Botvinnik attack, a queen-side opening. By far the most common is 3 Nc3 de; Ne4 Bf5; Ng3 Bg6 with active play for both parties.} Bf5 4. Nf3 c5 {Chess is mostly pattern recognition. I have been in this position before. I tried this and it did not work. This move loses a pawn. White replies dc Qa5+; Nc3 Qc5 and with Qd5 White is up a pawn.} 5. Bb5+ Nc6 6. dxc5 a6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8. Nd4 Qa5+ {Black realized immediately that White could now win a piece with Bd2. White did not notice} 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. Nb3 Qc7 11. Bf4 e6 12. O-O g6 13. Re1 Bg7 14. Qd2 Ne7 15. Nd4 Qa5 16. Ne4 {Black’s queen is attacked. White is a pawn up with a solid center and is happy to trade queens.} Qxd2 17. Nd6+ {a nice little touch, sticking a pin in Black’s king.} Kf8 18. Bxd2 f6 {This should lose the e-pawn, but Black has no good moves} 19. exf6 Bxf6 20. Bh6+ Bg7 21. Bxg7+ Kxg7 22. b4 {Ne6+ was another free pawn} Nf5 23. N4xf5+ exf5 {If gf5 then Nf5+ followed by Re7+} 24. Re7+ Kf6 25. Rxd7 Rhe8 {Perhaps he meant d8?} 26. Nxe8+ Rxe8 27. Rxh7 Re2 28. c3 Rc2 29. Rh3 Ke5 30. Re3+ Kf4 31. a4 g5 32. g3+ Kg4 33. Kg2 f4 34. Rf3 Re2 35. gxf4 gxf4 36. h3+ Kf5 37. a5 Ke4 38. h4 Rd2 39. Rh1 Kf5 40. h5 Kg5 41. h6 Kg6 42. h7 Kg7 43. h8=Q+ Kg6 44. Qg8+ Kf5 45. Rh5+ Ke4 46. Qe6# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

October, 2021 games:

[Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/zcTwHBqp"] [Date "2021.10.18"] [Round "3"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1125"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2021.10.04"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {a6 is most common here, but Nf6 is perfectly sound.} 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 {I was surprised to find that Fritz prefers either Re1 or Qe2.} d5 {And here Fritz prefers either a6 or my favorite ed} 6. dxe5 Be6 {Every move is a surprise for me. Here Fritz likes a6 or Bg4.} 7. Nd4 Qd7 {I agreed with this move (and all of Black’s previous moves) at the time, but it appears Bd7 is preferable. After White’s reply, Black loses a piece.} 8. f3 Nc5 {Bc5 is more active, but Black still loses a piece.} 9. b4 Na6 10. Nxc6 Nxb4 11. Nxb4 {Fritz says Nd4 c6; Be2} Qxb5 12. Nd3 Be7 13. Be3 c5 14. Nd2 d4 15. Bf4 g5 16. Bg3 O-O {inconsistent. Fritz says keep him on the run with either c4 or h5} 17. Rb1 Qc6 18. Ne4 {If I win then the a-pawn is a sacrifice. If I lose, then it was a mistake.} b6 {Very solid, but Fritz says Kiss the elephant with Ba2.} 19. Qd2 h6 20. Rbe1 {protecting the knight and thus allowing f4. Fritz still wants to do something about the a-pawn.} Bxa2 21. f4 f6 22. fxg5 {Fritz says ef. The e-pawn is in the way, so trade it and free e5 for the knight. He also prefers Nf6+ to this move.} fxg5 23. Nf6+ Bxf6 24. exf6 Bd5 {Rf6 asks White to prove he has an attack that was worth the sacrifice of two pawns. Now White’s pieces come crashing through.} 25. Ne5 Qb7 26. Ng6 Rf7 27. h4 Be4 28. Ne7+ Kh7 29. hxg5 Rxe7 30. fxe7 Qxe7 31. Qe2 Re8 32. Qh5 Qxg5 33. Qxe8 Qxg3 34. Qxe4+ Kg8 35. Qe6+ Kh7 36. Rf7+ Kh8 37. Qe8+ Qg8 38. Rf8 Qxf8 39. Qxf8+ Kh7 40. Qf7+ Kh8 41. Re8# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/qNy6RefO"] [Date "2021.10.18"] [Round "3"] [White "Newman, Steven"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A04"] [WhiteElo "1125"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "108"] [EventDate "2021.10.04"] 1. Nf3 Nc6 2. b3 {That gives Black too much center. e5 e5 would transpose into normal king pawn lines which is what Black proposed with Nc6. d4 d5 would give a queen-pawn game where Black’s knight is possibly mis-placed.} e5 3. Bb2 {e4 is equality. Now Black grabs the center.} e4 4. Nd4 Nxd4 5. Bxd4 c5 6. Be3 d5 7. d3 Nf6 8. c3 Bd6 9. Nd2 {Fritz says now is the time to trade in the center. Instead, White’s center gets blocked by unhealthy pawns.} Ng4 10. dxe4 Nxe3 11. fxe3 dxe4 {Very bad. Even though I set up the quick mate with Bd6, I missed it when the time came. Qh4+; g3 Bg3+; hg Qg3+ is mate} 12. Nxe4 Qh4+ 13. Nf2 Qe7 {Bg3 does not work. hg and the rook is defended. Bh2 seemed to tied up my only developed pieces} 14. Qc1 O-O 15. g3 Re8 16. Nd1 b5 17. Bg2 Bb7 18. Bxb7 Qxb7 19. O-O Re6 20. Rf3 Rae8 21. Nf2 Qe7 22. e4 Rf6 23. Qe3 c4 {Black is a pawn down but White’s position is so bad that Fritz is showing a Black advantage. Black should sit on the position with a6, but White is gradually freeing his position, so Black goes after the weak e-pawns.} 24. Rxf6 Bc5 {A little too tricky, says Fritz who suggests Qg5 as a response} 25. Qf3 Bxf2+ 26. Kxf2 gxf6 27. bxc4 {Rd1. The advantage is now with White. He cannot hold the extra pawn, but his king is closer to the action.} bxc4 28. a4 {Again, Rd1. Black cannot win the e-pawn after Qe4; Qe4 Re4; Rd4 and White’s king cleans up} Qxe4 {This should lose. I got lucky.} 29. Qxe4 Rxe4 30. Rb1 Re7 31. a5 {Hoping to get in a6 and Rb7, but the move is an error. Fritz points out Rb8+ Kg7; Rc8 and one of Black’s pawns will fall.} Re5 32. Rb4 Rxa5 33. Rxc4 Rf5+ 34. Ke1 a5 35. Rc8+ Kg7 36. Ra8 Rd5 {It is important to keep the king from supporting the pawn. Black’s king is useless at the moment.} 37. c4 Rc5 38. Kd2 Rxc4 39. Rxa5 Kg6 40. Kd3 Rc1 41. e4 Rd1+ 42. Ke2 Rb1 43. h3 Rb2+ 44. Kf3 Rb3+ 45. Kf4 Rb1 46. Kg4 Rb4 47. Kf4 h5 48. g4 hxg4 49. hxg4 Rb1 50. Rf5 Rf1+ 51. Kg3 Rg1+ 52. Kf4 Rf1+ 53. Kg3 Rg1+ 54. Kf4 Rf1+ 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "zxprodigyx simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/VoRfqwDm"] [Date "2021.10.11"] [Round "2"] [White "Frank, Cole, zxprodigyx"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "1807"] [BlackElo "1837"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2021.10.11"] [TimeControl "G/30; 60"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 exd4 6. Re1 Qe7 {d5 is correct. Then Nd4 Bd6; Nc6 Bh2+; Kh2 Qh4+ is a draw by perpetual check. Interestingly, Fritz likes f5 at move 6, giving Nd4 Nd4; Qd4 c6 with a smaller advantage to White.} 7. Nxd4 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 f5 9. Nc3 {Piling up on the pinned piece is the right idea, but the wrong piece. f3 is correct. Fritz counts the two moves as almost equal.} c5 {But this costs a piece. Fritz likes Kd8 or Qf6; Ne4 fe4 (not Qd4; Nd6+ Kd8; Re8++) Qe4+} 10. Qd5 Qe6 {Both players miss (as did I) Qe6+. The pawn is pinned.} 11. Qd3 a6 12. Nxe4 axb5 {Fritz says take the knight and black gets rook, knight, and bishop for the queen. Of course, the resulting position is still totally lost.} 13. Nd6+ Bxd6 14. Qd1 {Re6+ followed by Qd6} Bxh2+ {Qe1+; Qe1+ Kf7 leaves Black with 2 rooks and 2 bishops against White’s Q, R, and B. Fritz likes Be5; f4 d6; fe de with a modest advantage for White.} 15. Kxh2 Qxe1 16. Qxe1+ Kf7 17. Bg5 Re8 18. Qc3 d6 19. Rd1 Re6 20. Qb3 b4 21. Rxd6 Ra6 22. Rxa6 bxa6 23. Qd5 Kg6 24. Qxc5 Kxg5 25. Qxc8 Rh6+ 26. Kg1 Rf6 27. Qb7 Kg6 28. Qxb4 h5 29. Qh4 f4 30. c4 Kh6 31. Qxf6+ {Black cannot stop the pawn} gxf6 32. c5 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "zxprodigyx simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/S3KpZm2T"] [Date "2021.10.11"] [Round "2"] [White "Frank, Cole, zxprodigyx"] [Black "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1807"] [BlackElo "1602"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2021.10.11"] [TimeControl "G/30; 60"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d3 {passive. Fritz prefers Nc3 or d4.} Bc5 4. Be3 {Fritz isn’t fond of this either. He prefers Ne5 or Be2} Bxe3 5. fxe3 d6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. h3 Nc6 8. Qd2 Be6 9. d4 h6 {ed; ed d5 Ignoring a fork is a game-losing mistake.} 10. d5 Bd7 11. dxc6 Bxc6 12. Bd3 Nh5 13. O-O-O Ng3 14. Rhg1 d5 {Black jumps feet first into disaster.} 15. exd5 Bxd5 16. Nxd5 Qxd5 17. Bh7+ Kxh7 18. Qxd5 Ne2+ 19. Kb1 Nxg1 20. Rxg1 Rad8 21. Qxe5 Rfe8 22. Qxc7 f6 23. a3 Rc8 24. Qxb7 Rcd8 25. Qxa7 Re6 26. Qa5 Rxe3 27. Qxd8 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/3eZHfxmI"] [Date "2021.10.04"] [Round "1"] [White "Smith, Jeff, UKWildcat"] [Black "Newman, Steve, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1837"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2021.10.04"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Bb5 {Is White really willing to trade bishop for knight? d4 would transpose into more usual Sicilian lines.} Qb6 {The queen is misplaced here. Notice how many times it gets chased. d6 would protect center squares. Fritz suggests Nd4 or Nge7} 5. Ba4 a6 6. O-O Be7 7. d3 Nf6 8. Be3 O-O {There’s that QNP that you are never supposed to take with your queen. Black’s move is safer. Fritz says, yum, free pawn.} 9. Bb3 Rd8 10. a3 Ng4 {A one-piece attack is not an attack. Black needs to get his pieces working together. Perhaps Qc7 and b5 and Bb7. Fritz suggests d5.} 11. Na4 {Black’s queen is in a bad position. Why chase it to a better position? Fritz says Bf4 and then chase the knight away.} Qa5 12. Bd2 Qc7 13. h3 Nf6 14. Be3 d6 15. Nc3 b6 16. Ba2 {Why? Qd2 and then activate the rook on a1} Bb7 {A logical developing move. Fritz says Black is enough better to break with d5.} 17. Re1 {Wrong rook. That rook is useful on f1 to support an eventual f4 push. Fritz likes Re1 as much as Qd2 which I think is a much better move.} Bf8 {Black needs to decide where to break. b5 or d5. This move does not support either break. h6 might be considered to keep the enemy pieces away. Fritz likes b5 or Rac} 18. Bg5 Ne5 {Black should admit his last was an error. Allowing the king-side to be busted open is very bad.} 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Nxe5 dxe5 {fe5 would make the defense easier.} 21. Qg4+ Bg7 22. Re3 Kh8 23. Rg3 Rg8 24. Qh5 b5 25. Rg4 f5 26. Rh4 h6 27. exf5 Qc6 {Black has a threat also} 28. f3 c4 {That costs a piece. ef is ugly, but necessary.} 29. f6 Raf8 {Too late. Bf8 meets Qh6+ Bh6; Rh6 mate} 30. fxg7+ Rxg7 31. Qxh6+ Rh7 32. Qxh7# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

September, 2021 games:

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/9INQO3rH"] [Date "2021.09.27"] [Round "4"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1602"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2021.09.27"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bc5 {Fritz claims equality after Bb4 (!). I think Nc6 is the proper move here.} 4. Bc4 {And here Fritz would grab the pawn. A pawn is worth a little trouble.} d6 5. d3 Be6 6. Bb3 O-O 7. Bg5 h6 8. Be3 {Mission accomplished. Black’s h6 is now a target. Fritz claims a slight plus for Black if he now trades both sets of bishops. I would be happy with the open files for attack and the extra pawn in the center.} Bb6 9. Qd2 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 {Black should not open an attacking line for White’s rooks. Be6} 11. gxf3 Bxe3 12. Qxe3 Nc6 13. Rg1 Nh5 {Kh7 and the knight should defend g7 from e8} 14. Qxh6 Qf6 15. Qxh5 Nd4 16. Rg3 Nxb3 17. axb3 g6 18. Nd5 Qh8 19. Ne7+ Kg7 20. Rxg6+ fxg6 21. Qxg6# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/hrpeb8ea"] [Date "2021.09.27"] [Round "4"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steve, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B14"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1837"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2021.09.06"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. Bg5 O-O 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 h6 10. Bh4 g5 {Chasing the bishop once is fine. The second chase leaves Black’s castle in a shambles.} 11. Bg3 Ne4 12. Qc1 Nc6 {Fritz says Qa5; Nd2 Qc3; Qc3 Nc3; Rc1 Ne4; Ne4 de; d5 favors White} 13. h4 Nxg3 14. fxg3 f6 15. hxg5 hxg5 16. Bd3 Rf7 17. Qc2 Qe7 18. Kd2 f5 19. cxd5 exd5 20. Rae1 Qf6 21. Re8+ Rf8 22. Rxf8+ Kxf8 23. Rh5 Ne7 {Fritz suggests g4 instead of just giving White the pawn.} 24. Nxg5 Qg6 {Qg7 or Ke8.} 25. g4 Kg7 26. Nf3 Qxg4 27. Rg5+ Qxg5+ 28. Nxg5 Bd7 29. Qd1 Kg6 30. Nh3 Rg8 31. Qf3 Kf6 32. Nf4 Bc6 33. Qe2 Bd7 34. Qe5+ Kf7 35. Nxd5 Rxg2+ 36. Ke1 Nc6 37. Qf6+ Kg8 38. Bxf5 Bxf5 39. Qxf5 Rg7 40. Nf6+ Kh8 41. Qh5+ Rh7 42. Qxh7# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/7yDal8N9"] [Date "2021.09.20"] [Round "3"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Black "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1837"] [BlackElo "1602"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2021.09.06"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d3 {passive. Fritz says d4 is playable. I play Nc3 here. The main line is Ne5 d6; Nf3 Ne4; Qe2 Qe7} Nc6 4. g3 {White adopts a solid position, but falls a bit behind in development.} Bc5 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O O-O 7. c3 Bg4 8. a4 {Threatening the bishop, so Black makes a retreat square.} a6 9. Nbd2 Qd7 10. Nc4 b5 11. Ne3 b4 12. Nc2 b3 13. Ne3 Rab8 14. Nd5 {Six moves to trade? At least take the bishop to get something out of the deal. Fritz shows White slightly ahead after Ng4, slightly behind after Nd5.} Nxd5 15. exd5 Na5 {Protecting b3, but the attack is on the other side of the board. Ne7 or even Nd8} 16. Be3 f6 {Fritz has this as second choice. I think the move is passive. Black wants an attack with f5 and a general pawn advance on the king-side.} 17. Qd2 Bh3 18. Bxc5 {White is better after Bh3 Qh3. The queen looks menacing, but it can’t attack by itself. After Black trades on g2 the Black queen has threats along the diagonal.} dxc5 19. c4 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Nb7 21. Ra3 Nd8 22. Qa5 Qf5 {Qd6 would protect everything for the moment, but there is no answer to Nd2 menacing b3} 23. Qc3 Nf7 24. Rxb3 Ng5 25. Nxg5 fxg5 26. Rxb8 Qf3+ 27. Kg1 Rxb8 28. Re1 {Qe5 The rook was busy protecting f2.} Rf8 29. Qd2 h5 30. Rxe5 {Do not ignore the opponent’s desperate last gasp. Qe3 to drive the queen away} h4 31. Rxg5 {Fritz suggested Re3 to drive the queen away.} h3 {White has 3 pawns. Black has a king.} 32. Kf1 Qg2+ {Qh1+ forces the king to e2 where it gets trampled by elephants Re8. Black has a different, idea} 33. Ke1 Qg1+ 34. Ke2 Rxf2+ 35. Ke3 Rf1+ 36. Ke4 Qd4# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/cOpdGdtB"] [Date "2021.09.20"] [Round "3"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1837"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2021.09.06"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 f5 {To take the center, but the cost is too great. Nf6 is most common. Qf6 protects against d4 but Black has difficulty developing.} 5. exf5 d5 6. Bb5 Bxf5 {Qf6 or Nge7, says Fritz.} 7. Nxe5 Qe7 8. O-O {Fritz likes the immediate d4 better.} O-O-O {Fritz prefers Qe5. I had planned to reply Re1 Be4; d3. I would probably have seen that d4 is better.} 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Ba6+ {Bc6 with Qa4 is probably faster. Nope, Fritz likes my move.} Kb8 {The king is much safer in the center with Kd7} 11. d4 Bb6 {Preventing Qb3+ with mate next} 12. a4 c5 13. a5 cxd4 14. axb6 cxb6 15. Bf4+ Ka8 16. Qa4 Qc5 17. Bd3 {I thought winning a piece was a good move. Fritz calls for b4 or cd. Note that Black cannot cede control of c6} a5 18. Bxf5 Ne7 19. cxd4 Qc4 20. Qxc4 dxc4 21. Be4+ Ka7 22. Nc3 Ka6 23. d5 Ng6 24. Bxg6 hxg6 25. Rfe1 Rhf8 26. g3 Rf7 27. Re6 Rdf8 28. Be3 g5 29. Rxb6+ Ka7 30. Rxa5# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "TPG"] [Site "The Proving Ground"] [Date "2021.09.17"] [Round "3"] [White "Alford, Joseph"] [Black "Cole, Frank"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B27"] [Annotator ",JosephOAlford"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2021.09.06"] [SourceDate "2021.09.17"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 d6 6. h3 {Fritz is not impressed with Black’s pin and suggests d4 or Re1. White’s first-move advantage is now very small.} Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. Bg5 {To provoke h6 giving White a target. Fritz is not impressed, suggesting Nbd2 or Re1. Black now has a slight edge.} h6 9. Be3 a5 {Fritz likes Na5 to remove White’s bishop.} 10. Na3 {This knight never gets to c2 to support d4. A better development was Nbd2} Nd7 11. Qd2 Kh7 12. Rad1 {d4 leaves White with a good grip on the center and a slightly better game.} Nde5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Bb3 a4 15. Bc2 {I was feeling pretty good with my bishop aimed at the enemy king.} f5 16. f4 {The next few moves fatally weaken White’s king-side. d4 was correct.} Nc6 17. exf5 {Activating Black’s pieces. d4 was correct} Bxf5 18. g4 Be6 19. d4 cxd4 20. Bxd4 {f5 first, says Fritz} Nxd4 21. cxd4 Qb6 22. Bb1 {White has weaknesses on b2, d4, and f4. This is much too passive. Qd3 was called for. Fritz likes Bg6+ Kg6;f5+ Bf5; Rf5 Rf5; gf+ Kh7} Bd5 23. f5 {This trades away all vestiges of White’s attack. Fritz likes Qd3 or Bg6+ when Kg6 meets Qd2+ followed by Qf5+ winning back the bishop.} gxf5 24. Rxf5 Rxf5 25. Bxf5+ Kh8 26. Bb1 Rf8 {Fritz prefers an immediate attack with e5} 27. Qd3 Bg8 {Black’s king is perfectly safe. White’s is not.} 28. Nc4 Qb4 29. b3 {I picked up the wrong pawn and played a3. Cole allowed me a take back. “This is a more interesting position.”} axb3 30. axb3 Rf4 {Good enough. I expected b5} 31. d5 {Qe3 is better, but White is still in trouble} Qc5+ 32. Kh2 Rd4 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/Q3LnUt0a"] [Date "2021.09.13"] [Round "2"] [White "kevthompson97"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D53"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2021.09.06"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Bxf6 {Trade when it improves your position. This improves Black’s position by deploying his bishop to a better diagonal. White should continue development with e3 or Nf3} Bxf6 6. e3 O-O 7. Nf3 b6 {I almost always play c6 here. Now c7 becomes weak. I wanted to put the bishop on the long diagonal.} 8. Qc2 Bb7 9. Bd3 h6 10. Ne2 {Heading for the king-side? Develop with 0-0 or c1 (Fritz says Rd1)} dxc4 11. Be4 {You can’t just give up material. Bc4 and if Bf3 then gf and White has an open file for attack.} Bxe4 {Fritz suggests Bd5 which I never considered.} 12. Qxe4 Nd7 {Fritz says Qd5} 13. O-O {I expected Qc6 to recover the c4 pawn.} c5 14. Rac1 cxd4 15. Nexd4 Nc5 16. Qc2 Nd3 17. Rcd1 Rc8 18. Nb5 {Somewhere here I expected b3 to undermine the Black knight, but there never seems to be a good time.} Qe7 19. Nc3 {There was a threat on b2} Rfd8 20. e4 Qb4 21. Rd2 {This allows Qb2 which is much stronger than Nb2 after which there is a constant pinning threat of Rb1} Nxb2 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23. e5 Bg5 {Fritz does not like this move. I was looking at Ng5 hg; Rb1 Rd1+ when Nd1 gives me a mate with Qe1+ and Rd1 trades off the pieces. Fritz says keep it simple with Be7; Rb1 Rd3} 24. h4 Bf4 {Still looking for a back-rank mate.} 25. g3 Rd3 26. gxf4 Qxc3 27. Qxc3 Rxc3 28. Rb1 Rxf3 29. Rxb2 Rxf4 30. Kg2 Rxh4 31. Kg3 c3 {Getting the rook behind the pawn where it belongs.} 32. Rc2 Rc4 33. Kf3 b5 34. Ke3 b4 35. Kd3 Rc7 36. f4 a5 37. Kd4 a4 38. Kd3 f6 39. exf6 gxf6 40. Ke4 b3 41. axb3 axb3 42. Rg2+ Kf7 43. Kd3 c2 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

August, 2021 games:

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/uOUb2BNL"] [Date "2021.08.30"] [Round "5"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steve, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C48"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1837"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Ne7 {Bc5 or d6. In the opening, every move should develop another piece. Fritz suggests Nd4 or Bd6, both attrocious moves.} 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Bc4 d5 7. exd5 cxd5 {Fritz suggests Ned5 to get rid of the piece that is blocking further development.} 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. Nxd7 Nxd7 10. Qf3 a6 11. Ba4 b5 12. Bb3 Nf6 13. O-O d4 {A measure of how bad this position is, Fritz suggests Qd7 and 000} 14. Ne4 Ned5 15. Nxf6+ Nxf6 16. Qc6+ Nd7 17. Qd5 {I thought the game was over, but bitterroot88 managed to hold on for quite a while.} Qc8 18. Qxf7+ Kd8 19. d3 h6 {Dealing with the immediate threat, but Black desperately needs development. Fritz suggests Qc5 or Bd6} 20. Bf4 {Cutting off the escape route. Fritz likes this, but says Re1 is even stronger.} g5 21. Bg3 {Fritz points out Be5 Ne5; Qf6+ but Black is trapped in the center and I don’t want to let him out.} Be7 22. Rfe1 Re8 {That loses immediately. Fritz suggests Bc5 or Bb4. I thought Qc5 was the best chance.} 23. Bd6 Bxd6 24. Rxe8+ Kc7 25. Rxc8+ Rxc8 26. Be6 Rd8 27. a4 b4 28. c3 bxc3 29. bxc3 dxc3 30. Rc1 Bb4 31. Bxd7 Rxd7 32. Qc4+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/M4ehny4d"] [Date "2021.08.30"] [Round "5"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1602"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bc4 d6 5. a3 Bxc3 6. dxc3 Bg4 7. h3 Be6 8. Qd3 Qe7 9. Bg5 Bxc4 10. Qxc4 Nc6 11. O-O-O O-O-O 12. Rhe1 h6 13. Be3 Na5 {Development. Rhe or Qe6} 14. Qa4 b6 15. b4 Qd7 {That just drops a piece. Fritz suggests Nb7 or Ne4; ba Nc3; Qg4+ Qd7; Qd7+ Rd7; Rd3} 16. Qxd7+ Nxd7 17. bxa5 g5 18. axb6 axb6 19. Kb2 Nc5 20. Bxc5 dxc5 21. Nxe5 Rhe8 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23. Nxf7 Rd2 24. e5 Kd7 25. e6+ Ke7 26. f3 {To cover f5 for the coming knight check } b5 27. Nxh6 Rxg2 28. Nf5+ Ke8 29. e7 Rd2 30. Ng7+ Kd7 31. e8=Q+ Kd6 32. Qe6# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford 2 simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/ZYeieWKj"] [Date "2021.08.31"] [Round "5"] [White "Newman, Steve, bitterroot88"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D30"] [WhiteElo "1837"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Bd3 a6 7. e4 {White should probably 0-0 first. He wants to retain the possibility of h4} dxc4 8. Bxc4 b5 9. Bb3 {Bd3 to protect e4} b4 10. e5 bxc3 11. exf6 cxb2 12. Bxb2 {During the game I thought this was the right move since Black wins a rook. Fritz shows fe ba/Q; ed/Q Rd8; Qc2 and White may trap the new Black queen.} Bxf6 13. O-O Bb7 14. Ne5 Nd7 15. f4 Nb6 16. Qd3 Nd5 17. Bc2 g6 18. Qg3 Ne7 19. f5 {Sacrificing a pawn to open attacking lines, but when the smoke clears White has no attack.} exf5 {Fritz likes Nf5 trading pieces to break the attack. The pieces get traded anyway.} 20. Bxf5 Nxf5 21. Rxf5 Bxe5 {Much stronger, says Fritz is Bh4; Qg4 Bc8} 22. dxe5 Be4 23. Rf6 Qd3 24. Raf1 {Qf2 with Rf1 to follow. White cannot allow the queen trade which leaves him with insufficient attacking material.} Qxg3 25. hxg3 Bd5 26. a3 Rfb8 27. Bd4 Rb3 28. Bc5 Rxg3 29. R1f2 Rc3 30. Bb4 Rc6 {Error. Now Rc6 Bc6; Rc2 leaves Black with a very small advantage.} 31. R6f4 Re8 32. Re2 Rc1+ 33. Kf2 c5 34. Bd2 Rc2 35. g4 { everything loses at this point} Bc4 36. Rxc4 Rxc4 37. Bh6 Rxg4 38. Kf3 Ra4 39. Re3 c4 40. Bf4 Rd8 41. Bg5 Rd3 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/SEqLaoyr"] [Date "2021.08.24"] [Round "4"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1602"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bc4 d6 5. O-O Be6 6. Bxe6 fxe6 7. d3 Bxc3 8. bxc3 O-O 9. Ng5 Qd7 10. f4 exf4 11. Bxf4 e5 12. Bd2 Nc6 13. Qe1 Ne7 14. Nf3 {heading for f5} h6 15. Qg3 Qg4 {Oh, that’s how he’s going to protect h6} 16. Qxg4 Nxg4 17. h3 Nf6 18. Nh4 Kh7 19. Rf2 Rf7 20. g4 g5 21. Nf5 Raf8 22. Raf1 Kg6 23. Be3 {I want to play d4 and when Black replies Ne4 I don’t want the bishop attacked, so I redeploy it with tempo.} b6 24. d4 {A little trap. Will he take the poisoned pawn? Fritz is not impressed with White’s plan, suggesting that Black has an edge after just Nc6} Nxe4 25. Nxe7+ Kh7 {I expected Re7; Rf8 Nc3} 26. Rxf7+ Rxf7 27. Rxf7+ Kh8 28. Ng6+ Kg8 29. Rxc7 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/0bKxmopP"] [Date "2021.08.24"] [Round "4"] [White "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "1602"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "28"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. b4 {That adds nothing to White’s attack. Bb5 would remove a defender from d4.} Bb6 {Fritz sneers at this passivity. He likes capturing on c4 which I considered or Bb4 which I did not and do not like.} 8. Nxd4 {That’s an error. Fritz still likes Bb5} Nxe5 {Not quite as good as dc4 or Nd4, but easier on Black’s nerves.} 9. Bb5+ c6 10. Ba4 O-O 11. Bg5 {0-0 is safer} h6 12. h4 {With the idea of hg; hg Ne4; Qh5 and a mating attack, but Fritz says this is the losing move.} Qe7 {Fritz says Black can take the bishop and survive or play Re8 forcing the bishop to retreat.} 13. Qh5 Nf3+ 14. Kf1 {I expected Kd1 Ng5; hg Bg4+} Qe1# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/vX80iZFn"] [Date "2021.08.24"] [Round "4"] [White "Erickson, Darren, LaughingVulcan"] [Black "Bafna, Mihir, MBafna"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "1336"] [BlackElo "1855"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {The bishop is not well placed here. Bc4 presses on d5 and f7} g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Ba4 Qa5+ 8. Nc3 {c3} Bxc3+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 Qxa4 11. f3 Nf6 12. b3 Qb5 13. O-O-O a5 14. a4 Qe5 15. Qd4 Qxd4 16. Rxd4 O-O 17. c4 Rb8 18. Kb2 c5 19. Rd3 d6 20. Re1 Bd7 21. h3 Bxa4 22. Ka3 Bd7 23. f4 Rb4 24. e5 Bf5 25. Rc3 Ne4 26. Rce3 Nd2 27. exd6 exd6 28. Re8 Rxb3+ 29. Ka4 Bd7+ 30. Kxa5 Bxe8 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Rated Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/nDhFRXpz"] [Date "2021.08.24"] [Round "4"] [White "Newman, Steve, bitterroot88"] [Black "Knapp, Daniel, trawglodyte"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1610"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 d6 4. d3 Nf6 5. Bg2 g6 6. c3 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nbd2 Bg4 9. Rb1 a5 10. a4 Qd7 11. Nc4 Rab8 12. Nb6 Qe6 13. Bg5 Bh3 14. Bxf6 {Trade when it improves your position. This improves Black’s position. Qd2 would be better.} Bxf6 15. Nd5 Bxg2 {White threatened Nf4} 16. Kxg2 Rfc8 17. h4 {Looking for a king-side attack? Qd2 first.} b6 18. Qd2 Qg4 19. Nh2 Qe6 20. b3 Bg7 21. Nf4 Qe5 22. Rbc1 e6 {Now the Queen caught in the center. Hindsight suggests h5 or Bh8, neither very appetizing.} 23. Ng4 Nd4 24. Qb2 Qxf4 25. gxf4 Nc6 26. Qd2 b5 27. f3 h5 28. Ne3 bxa4 29. bxa4 Bh6 30. Kg3 f5 31. exf5 gxf5 32. Nc4 e5 33. Kh3 Bxf4 34. Qg2+ Kf8 35. Rb1 {Nd6 followed by Nf5 invites the queen to the dance.} Ra8 36. Nxd6 {At least as good as Nb6 or Rg1} Rc7 37. Nxf5 Rf7 38. Qg6 Ne7 39. Nxe7 Rg7 {This does not work out well. Black should take the knight.} 40. Qf6+ Rf7 41. Ng6+ Kg8 42. Qh8# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "MBafna simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/TjKPe4DC"] [Date "2021.08.16"] [Round "3"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Black "Bafna, Mihir, MBafna"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1855"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2021.08.16"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. c3 {Sacrificing a pawn for development and control of the center. I’ve played this many times against experts with reasonable results. Fritz, of course, does not approve.} dxc3 5. Nxc3 d6 6. Bc4 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. Ng5 {This is not a blitz game. Black has plenty of time to find a good response. Qe2 with rooks coming to the center.} Ne5 9. Bb3 h6 10. Nf3 Bg4 11. Ba4+ Kf8 12. Nd5 Nxf3+ 13. gxf3 Bh3 14. Re1 Nf6 15. Nf4 Qc8 16. Rb1 g5 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. Qxd5 Be5 19. b4 {Way too slow. Be3 activating the rooks.} Be6 20. Qd2 {Losing an exchange, but Black threatened Ba2 winning the other rook.} Bc3 21. Qd1 Bxe1 22. Qxe1 Bxa2 23. Ra1 Be6 24. Bb2 Rg8 25. Rc1 Qd8 26. Qc3 {This lets Black trade off rooks. White cannot afford trades, but Qe3 with h4 to follow meets Qb6} Rc8 27. Qe3 Rxc1+ 28. Qxc1 Qc8 29. Qe3 Bd7 30. Bb3 {White can win a pawn by trading and capturing on a7 but the game is still lost} b6 31. Kh1 g4 32. f4 Bc6 33. f5 {Fritz suggests Kg1, but the game is still lost.} Qxf5 34. Qxh6+ Ke8 35. Qe3 Bxe4+ 36. Kg1 Bc6 37. Qg3 Qb1+ 38. Bc1 Qxc1+ 39. Bd1 Qxd1# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "MBafna simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/TjKPe4DC"] [Date "2021.08.16"] [Round "3"] [White "Bafna, Mihir, MBafna"] [Black "Frank, Cole, zxprodigyx"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B26"] [WhiteElo "1855"] [BlackElo "1807"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "2021.08.16"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 g6 5. d3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. h3 O-O 8. Qd2 Be6 9. Bh6 a6 10. Nge2 Rc8 11. h4 d5 12. h5 d4 13. Nd1 Ne5 {Fritz says, what attack? Bh6; Qh6 Nb4} 14. hxg6 fxg6 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Qh6+ Kf7 {Fritz says Kg8 is equal, but this slightly favors White} 17. Nf4 Qd6 {Fritz insists that White has no attack and claims equality after Qa5+ and a Black edge after Bg4. Now, however, White wins an exchange} 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 19. Bh3 Neg4 20. Qd2 Nxe4 {Not quite sound, says Fritz. Now White is ahead after Qe2 Nef6; Qe6+ Ke6; f3 or Bg4 Qg4; Rh7+ Kf6; de Qe4+ Qe2 Qe2+; Ke2} 21. dxe4 {But that’s a really bad blunder.} Qxe4+ 22. Qe2 Qxh1+ 23. Bf1 {Qf1 is much better} Nh2 24. b3 Nf3+ 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/R9SnswaY"] [Date "2021.08.16"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Result "1-0"] [UTCDate "2021.08.16"] [UTCTime "23:50:51"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1646"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "G/60; 10"] [ECO "C42"] [Opening "Russian Game: Three Knights Game"] [Termination "Normal"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bc4 d6 5. O-O h6 {White threatened Bg5 and Nd5, but this is too passive. Fritz suggests 0-0 or Bg4} 6. a3 Bc5 {If Bc3; dc Ne4; Bf7+ Kf7; Qd5+ recovers pawn and piece.} 7. d3 Nc6 8. Be3 Bb6 {If Be3 then fe and White has a solid center and an open file for attacking} 9. h3 O-O 10. Qd2 {threatening a dangerous sacrifice on h6. My Tuesday night group loves this sacrifice.} Be6 11. Nd5 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Bxd4 13. c3 c6 {One of the most common mistakes in chess – you attack mine so I’ll attack yours. But what if the piece you are attacking can trade itself away?} 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 15. cxd4 exd4 16. Bf4 d5 17. exd5 cxd5 18. Bb3 Rac8 19. Rae1 g5 {seriously weakening the king-side. I was expecting Qg6 and a king-side attack.} 20. Be5 Qf5 21. Bxd4 f6 {preventing Re5, but losing the bishop. The queen should have gone to g6 last move and should go there now.} 22. g4 Qg6 23. Rxe6 b6 24. Bxd5 Rcd8 25. Rxf6+ Kh7 26. Rxg6 Kxg6 27. Qe3 Rfe8 28. Be4+ Kf7 29. Qf3+ Ke6 30. Qf5+ Kd6 31. Qf6+ Kc7 32. Rc1+ Kb8 33. Be5+ Rxe5 34. Qxe5+ Rd6 35. Qxd6# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "TPG"] [Site "TPG"] [Date "2021.08.05"] [Round "2"] [White "Kumar, Prithiv"] [Black "Alford, Joseph"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D37"] [PlyCount "92"] [EventDate "2021.08.12"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 a6 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. a3 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. b4 Bb6 13. a4 Qc7 14. Nxb5 {Fritz is not impressed with this sacrifice. White hopes to get two pawns and two dangerous passed pawns for his knight. Fritz likes Bd2 or Qb3 for White} axb5 15. a5 Bxa5 {Fritz is also not impressed by this sacrifice, though he agrees that Black ends up better. He likes Qe7 or Rd8. Note that White’s rook is not yet protected} 16. bxa5 Rxa5 17. Ba3 {Fritz says trade rooks and attack the pawn with 4 pieces. I like Ba3, activating White’s entire army.} Rd8 18. Qb3 Bd5 19. Qb2 Qb7 20. Be7 {attacking both rooks at once} Rxa1 21. Bxd8 Rxf1+ 22. Kxf1 Nbd7 {White threatened Bf6. Fritz suggested Bf3; Bf3 Nd5. That did not look winnable.} 23. Qxb5 Qxb5 24. Bxb5 Nc5 {Willing to accept doubled pawns in return for breaking the bishop pair.} 25. Nd4 Nfe4 26. Ba5 Nb3 27. f3 {losing a pawn. There was no reason to not trade knights} Nxa5 28. fxe4 Bxe4 29. g3 Bd5 30. Kf2 e5 31. Nf5 Be6 32. e4 Nb3 33. Nh4 Nd4 34. Ba4 f6 35. Nf3 Nxf3 36. Kxf3 h5 37. Be8 Bf7 38. Bd7 Kf8 39. h3 Ke7 40. Bc8 {White should not allow the bishop trade. Pawn endings are the easiest endings.} Be6 41. Bxe6 Kxe6 42. g4 hxg4+ 43. Kxg4 g6 44. h4 f5+ 45. Kf3 Kf6 46. Ke3 Kg7 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "TPG"] [Site "TPG"] [Date "2021.08.12"] [Round "2"] [White "Alford, Joseph"] [Black "Bafna, Mihir"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B22"] [Annotator ",JosephOAlford"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2021.08.05"] [SourceDate "2021.08.12"] 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. cxd4 d5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Be2 O-O-O { Not falling for Bf3; Bf3 Qd4; Bc6+} 8. Be3 Qa5+ 9. Nc3 e6 10. Qb3 Nf6 11. h3 Bh5 12. O-O h6 13. Rac1 Kb8 14. Nb5 Qb4 {Error, says Fritz. He likes Ka8 or Nd5 } 15. Bf4+ Kc8 16. Nxa7+ Kd7 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. Ne5+ Ke8 19. Qxb4 {Fritz says Bh5 Nh5; Qf3 is even better} Bxb4 20. g4 Rxd4 21. Be3 Rd5 22. Rxc6 Rxe5 23. Rc8+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "TPG"] [Site "TPG"] [Date "2021.08.12"] [Round "2"] [White "Bafna, Mihir"] [Black "Alford, Joseph"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C86"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "2021.08.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 d6 {As soon as White guards e4, Black must guard e5. Fritz suggests two better ways: b5 or Be7; Bc6 dc; Ne5 Qd4 recovering the pawn.} 6. O-O Be7 7. c3 O-O 8. d3 h6 9. Re1 Bd7 10. Nbd2 b5 11. Bc2 b4 12. Nf1 Bg4 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 d5 {Fritz says that loses a pawn. ed Qd5; Qd5 Nd5; Ba4 and the e-pawn falls} 15. Ng3 Bc5 16. Nf5 Kh7 {Stepping in front of the bishop. Kh8 was better} 17. exd5 Qxd5 18. Qxd5 Nxd5 19. d4 exd4 20. Nxd4+ {ouch. the check wins a piece.} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/vJbWaKL9"] [Date "2021.08.09"] [Round "2"] [White "UKWildcat"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C77"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 {As soon as White guards his e-pawn, Black must guard his own e-pawn. This can be done with b5 or with Bc5; Bc6 dc; Ne5 Bf2+; Kf2 Qd4+ and Qe5. d6 is passive.} 6. O-O Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. a3 Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 {wrong diagonal. This bishop will be traded off and Black’s other bishop is stuck behind his own pawns. Fritz disagrees giving Black a slight edge after Bf3; Qf3} 10. Be3 b5 11. Bb3 Nd4 12. Bxd4 exd4 13. Nd5 c6 14. Nf4 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Qc7 16. Qg3 Rac8 17. Rfe1 c5 18. Nd5 {Black would be happy with Be6 fe; Ne6 trading rook and pawn for knight and bishop.} Nxd5 19. Bxd5 {White’s bishop is outside the line of pawns. Black’s is behind his pawns.} c4 20. Re2 {protecting Black’s entry spot on c2} Kh8 {hoping to open an attacking line with f5 or to create a defensive spot on f6} 21. f4 f6 22. f5 {Permanent prison for the Black bishop.} Qb6 23. h4 Rc5 24. Be6 {Not allowing a sacrifice. The bishop’s stranglehold is too important.} a5 25. h5 {I had not seen this attack. I expected Rf1-f4 and then to the g or h file as appropriate.} Rd8 26. h6 Bf8 27. hxg7+ {Fritz says first Kf2 then trade on g7 and bring the rook to h1.} Bxg7 28. Kf2 Bh6 29. Rh1 Be3+ 30. Kf1 {looks like the king might be safer on f3, but Fritz likes it on the first rank} Qc7 31. Qh4 {Qg6 is much stronger. } Qg7 32. Rh3 {g4 or g3 to give the king an escape square} cxd3 33. cxd3 Rc1+ 34. Re1 Rc2 35. Rg3 Rf2+ 36. Kg1 Rf4+ {White resigned thinking he was losing his queen. Actually, R1e3 RxQ; RxQ KxR; Re2 is still playable} 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/1aypXPsm"] [Date "2021.08.10"] [Round "2"] [White "bitterroot88"] [Black "keyspleaseojo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1646"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Qe2 {Nc6 is better. This blocks in the bishop. Fritz notes that d4 is also playable.} Bc5 {Who’s guarding e5? Fritz suggests Nc6} 4. c3 d6 {Fritz prefers Qe7 with a small advantage to Black. He evaluates this as slightly better for White, but I like the idea of protecting e5 and activating the c8 bishop.} 5. a4 {attacking the bishop, but Black makes an escape route. Fritz does not approve of the following queen-side pawn moves. White gains space, but there is nothing over there to attack.} a6 6. b4 Ba7 7. d3 {h3, but Fritz is ok with this move.} Ng4 8. Be3 Nxe3 9. fxe3 Be6 10. d4 c6 {I thought this lost a pawn on e5, but Fritz did not complain so I looked deeper and found de de; Ne5 Qg5 recovering the pawn. It is worth noting, however, that Fritz prefers Nd7 to c6} 11. Qf2 O-O 12. Nbd2 f6 {That seemed rather passive to me. Fritz is now showing a White advantage again. Fritz prefers a5 or Nd7.} 13. Bd3 d5 14. h4 {Qh5 or 0-0. Fritz says there is no attack there and now Black is for choice.} Bf5 {imaginative, but ef e4; Ne4 ed; Be5 leaves White ahead in material} 15. Nh2 Be6 16. g4 Nd7 17. Ndf3 Bb6 {Black dances in the corner while White mounts a mating attack.} 18. Ke2 Kh8 19. Rag1 Ba7 20. h5 Qe7 21. Nh4 b5 {hoping to open lines on the queen-side since White has no pieces there.} 22. Nf5 Bxf5 {opening a deadly line of attack for the enemy. Fritz says just back the queen up to d8} 23. gxf5 {Fritz says, what deadly line of attack? Qf5 was correct. Now Black is for choice again.} Bb6 {The two black Bishops have contributed nothing to the defense which now falls apart. Black needed h6} 24. Nf3 {a5 first, but this is the right idea} a5 {If Black ever gets those queen-side lines open, he will have a good game. here, however, he misses de; Be4 ed} 25. Nh4 axb4 26. Ng6+ hxg6 27. hxg6+ Kg8 28. Qh4 Rf7 29. Qh8# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "kevthompson97 simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/6QlyHUOU"] [Date "2021.08.02"] [Round "1"] [White "Thompson, Kevin"] [Black "Berardi, Orion, eyspleaseojo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D93"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Ne4 {Not only losing a pawn, but also giving White an attack on c7. Black should have played c6. Fritz suggests either dc or c5.} 7. Nxd5 Na6 8. Bd3 Bf5 9. O-O c6 10. Nc3 {With advantage. Fritz suggests instead Be4 Be4; Nc3 Bf3; Qf3 with even more advantage. When ahead, trade.} Nxc3 11. bxc3 Bg4 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 f5 {Fritz does not like this, suggesting instead e5 . Note the hanging bishop on d3.} 14. Rab1 {Here Fritz suggests c5 when the rook and bishop harry Black’s knight.} Qa5 {Black has nothing to warrant removing the queen from the center. White can take more pawns than Black, starting with Rb7} 15. Be5 {This shifts the advantage to Black. After Be5; de Qc3 Black has multiple targets} Qxc3 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Rb3 Qa5 18. Rxb7 Nb4 19. Rxe7+ Rf7 20. Rxf7+ Kxf7 21. e4 Nxd3 22. Qxd3 fxe4 23. Qxe4 Rc8 24. Re1 Re8 {obviously playing too fast.} 25. Qxe8+ Kg7 26. Re7+ Kh6 27. Qf8+ Kh5 28. Re5+ Qxe5 29. dxe5 a5 30. e6 h6 31. e7 g5 32. g3 g4 33. e8=Q+ Kg5 34. Qfe7+ Kf5 35. Q8f7# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "kevthompson97 simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/0q2PGb0D"] [Date "2021.08.02"] [Round "1"] [White "Newman, Steve, bitterroot88"] [Black "Thompson, Kevin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D08"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2021.08.02"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. a3 Bc5 {This gives White a target: b4 forces the bishop back to e7. Ne7 was better. Black could try f6 hoping to bring the knight to f6} 6. Nbd2 Nh6 {Ugly move. The knight is poorly placed here. Bg4 or a5} 7. Ne4 b6 8. Bxh6 gxh6 9. Nf6+ Kf8 10. Qd2 Be6 11. Qxh6+ Ke7 12. b3 {b4 wins a piece, but White loses all 3 queen-side pawns.} Qf8 {Behind in material, Black should not be trying to trade queens. Also, this allows White to play Qh4 with a devastating discovered check (Qg5 is not as good)} 13. Qg5 h6 14. Nd5+ Kd7 15. Nf6+ Kc8 16. Qf4 h5 {Still intent on trading queens, Black misses Ba3 with a chance to start some attacking of his own.} 17. h4 {Qe4 Kb7; g3 threatens destruction along the long diagonal.} Qh6 18. Ng5 {Chase the king with Qe4 Kb7; b4} Be7 19. g3 {passive. Qf3} Nxe5 {A temporary sacrifice to remove a defender from f6.} 20. Bg2 c6 21. Qxe5 Bxf6 22. Qf4 {Passive. Qd6} d3 23. Rd1 Bc3+ 24. Kf1 dxe2+ 25. Kxe2 Bg4+ 26. f3 Re8+ 27. Kf2 Be6 28. Rd3 Bb2 29. Qd6 Kb7 30. f4 Rac8 31. Rhd1 Qg6 32. Be4 Bf5 33. Bxf5 Qxf5 34. a4 c5 {Rc7 gave a better chance to survive. Black is only one pawn behind.} 35. Qd7+ Qxd7 36. Rxd7+ Kc6 {Well, two pawns behind except that now the game ends abruptly. This was a 60 minute game, but both players were playing much faster than that.} 37. R1d6# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

July, 2021 games:

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/vvKdd95X"] [Date "2021.07.27"] [Round "4"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D66"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "2021.07.26"] [TimeControl "G/30; 5"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Rc1 c6 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. Bd3 h6 9. Bh4 Bb4 10. Ne5 {premature. 0-0 or Qc2} Qa5 {Black is slightly better after Ne5; de dc; Bc4 Qd1+; Rd1 Ne7} 11. a3 Bxc3+ 12. Rxc3 Ne4 {dc; Bc4 gives Ne4 more teeth. I was going to answer dc with Nd7} 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Nxd7 Bxd7 15. O-O Qf5 16. f3 g5 {This weakens the king-side. Fritz likes e5 or Rfe8} 17. fxe4 Qxe4 18. Bg3 f6 19. Qf3 Qg6 20. e4 Kg7 {Black needs to activate the bishop with either e5 or f5, says Fritz} 21. Bd6 Rf7 22. c5 Re8 23. g4 {Fritz does not approve. He suggests e5 or Rb3. I considered both and did not see them leading to advantage.} Bc8 24. b4 a6 25. Re3 Rh8 26. e5 f5 27. gxf5 Rxf5 28. Qg2 h5 29. Rxf5 {Fritz likes Be7 or Rg3, neither of which I considered.} exf5 30. e6 Bxe6 {White sacrificed a pawn for the skewer. Re8 was needed} 31. Be5+ Kh7 32. Bxh8 Kxh8 33. Qe2 Bd5 34. Re8+ Kh7 35. Qe7+ {Good enough, but Fritz says Qe5 is much stronger.} Qg7 36. Qxg7+ Kxg7 37. Re7+ Kf6 38. Rxb7 f4 39. Rb6 f3 40. Rxa6 g4 41. b5 h4 42. bxc6 {Advantage now shifts to Black. Fritz points out Rc6+. With the bishop off the board, White will queen and Black will not.} g3 43. c7+ Kg5 44. hxg3 hxg3 45. c8=Q f2+ 46. Kf1 Bc4+ 47. Kg2 f1=Q+ 48. Kxg3 Bxa6 {Qf4+; Kg2 Be4+; Kg1 Qg3+; Kf2 Qf3+; Ke1 Qd3 is mate} 49. Qg8+ Kh6 50. Qh8+ Kg6 51. Qg8+ Kh6 {White offered a draw. Black accepted. To continue, he has to move to the f-file and then White trades queens leaving Black insufficient winning material.} 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/gjM1073V"] [Date "2021.07.27"] [Round "?"] [White "Checkmated2002"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A30"] [WhiteElo "1995"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2021.07.26"] [TimeControl "G/30; 5"] 1. c4 c5 2. g3 e5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. d3 Nc6 5. Nc3 Ne7 {Why undevelop this piece? Be7 and 0-0 or d6 and Be6 and d5} 6. Nf3 Qc7 {Fritz says Nc6 or d6. Now Ne5 Qe5; Bf4 followed by Nb5} 7. O-O Ng6 8. Bg5 Be7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Nd5 Qc6 11. Nd2 {but this knight redeployment makes sense – He is headed for e4 to remove Black’s bishop} Qd6 12. Ne4 Qc6 13. Nexf6+ gxf6 14. Rb1 Qd6 {Fritz suggests Rb8 or h5, both favoring White. Black is trying to get his queen away from the White bishop} 15. Qd2 O-O {Castling into a devastating attack. Fritz suggests Ne7} 16. Qh6 Rb8 17. h4 Re8 18. h5 Re6 19. hxg6 fxg6 20. Kh2 {To bring the rook into the attack on the h-file. Fritz suggests f4 and double rooks on the f-file} f5 21. Rh1 g5 {Instead of sacrificing a pawn, Fritz suggests Qf8} 22. Qxg5+ Rg6 23. Qd8+ {Ne7+ is more to the point} Kg7 24. Kg1 {Consistent, but Ne7 wins a piece} b6 25. Qe7+ {last chance for Ne7} Qxe7 26. Nxe7 Rf6 27. Nxc8 Rxc8 28. b4 d6 29. bxc5 Rxc5 30. Rb5 Rc7 31. Bf3 Re7 32. Bd5 e4 {This loses a pawn. Fritz suggests f4 trying to activate the Black rooks.} 33. d4 {White’s reluctance to trade is odd. A piece up, he should welcome trades.} f4 34. g4 Rg6 35. Rh4 Rg5 {As soon as I saw this, I thought Be4. Fritz confirms Rb5; Rh7+ and RxR} 36. Kf1 (36. Bxe4 Rxb5 37. Rxh7+ Kf6 38. Rxe7 Ra5 {There is no check on b1} 39. Rh7 {Not Rd7 Ke6; Bf5+ Rf5!} Rxa2 40. e3) 36... Kg6 37. a4 h5 {That loses material. Fritz likes h6 or e3} 38. gxh5+ Rxh5 39. Rxh5 {winning a pawn, but Bf7+ leaves White a rook ahead} Kxh5 40. Bxe4+ Kg4 41. Bf5+ Kh4 42. a5 bxa5 43. Rxa5 Rf7 44. Be4 Rg7 45. c5 dxc5 46. dxc5 Rc7 47. c6 Kg4 48. Rb5 a6 49. Rb7 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "ARC"] [Site "ARC"] [Date "2021.06.25"] [Round "2"] [White "Bourgerie, Dennis"] [Black "Alford, Joseph"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D35"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2021.06.25"] {Dennis Bourgerie is playing chess again. He says he hasn’t played at all in the last year, not even on line.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Nf3 c6 8. Bd3 Re8 9. O-O h6 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Rb1 Nd7 12. b4 a6 13. Qc2 Nf8 14. a4 Bd7 15. b5 axb5 16. axb5 Ra3 17. bxc6 bxc6 18. Ra1 Qe7 19. Rfb1 Rea8 20. Na4 {Fritz says this is a blunder. He suggests Ra3 or Qc1} Rxa1 21. Rxa1 Qb4 22. Qa2 {So the bishop can protect from c2, but Fritz says White should bail out with Ra2 so the knight can protect from c3} c5 23. Bc2 Bxa4 24. Bxa4 Nd7 25. h3 Nb6 26. dxc5 Bxa1 27. cxb6 Rxa4 28. Qxd5 Qxb6 29. Ne5 Bxe5 30. Qxe5 Rb4 31. Qe8+ Kh7 32. Qxf7 Rb1+ 33. Kh2 Qd6+ 34. f4 Qf6 35. Qa2 Rb2 36. Qd5 Qg6 37. f5 Qf6 38. e4 Qg5 39. e5 Qf4+ 40. Kh1 Rb1+ 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/CSJ8zLaH"] [Date "2021.07.12"] [Round "2"] [White "Berardi, Orion, keyspleaseojo"] [Black "Smith, Jeff, UKWildcat"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1500"] [EventDate "2021.07.05"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 {Black should play d6; Nf3 and only then Ne4. Now White has Qe2 Qe7 (not Nf6; Nc6+ losing the queen) Qe4 d6; d4 de and White has won a pawn.} 4. Nxf7 Qe7 5. Nxh8 {Now it is White who loses a queen to the discovered check. Qe2 was correct} Nc3+ 6. Qe2 {Be2 helps White develop faster after Nd1; Kd1 with Re1 to follow} Nxe2 7. Bxe2 g6 8. Nc3 Bg7 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. O-O Bxc3 11. Re1 {de Qe2; B somewhere leaves White with some threates.} Be5 12. Bf3 {allowing Bh2+ and Qe1. Fritz says, no Bh2+; Kf1 Be5; d4} Qd6 (12... Bxh2+ 13. Kf1) 13. d3 Kf7 14. g3 Nc6 15. Bg5 {c3 to keep the knight out} Nd4 16. Bd1 b6 17. c3 Ne6 18. h4 {Fritz says develop with Bb3 or push the enemy away with d4.} Nxg5 19. hxg5 Bb7 20. Bb3+ Kg7 21. Rad1 Bxg3 22. Re3 Qc6 23. Rxg3 Qh1# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/sv0C0hxc"] [Date "2021.07.12"] [Round "2"] [White "Thompson, Kevin, kevthompson97"] [Black "Newman, Steve, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C45"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2021.07.05"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 a6 {One of the oldest versions of this opening runs Qh4; Nb5 which this prevents. I prefer Bc5 for Black.} 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bc4 d6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. O-O Be7 9. Bg5 O-O 10. f3 Nd7 11. Bd2 {Blocking the queen. Fritz prefers Be3 or Bf4} Ne5 12. Bb3 Kh8 {planning to advance the f-pawn? Fritz says Be6 or Rb8} 13. Ne2 d5 14. Bc3 {oops. Suddenly, White has more attacks on d5.} Ng6 15. Ng3 {Why not win the pawn on d5?} Bc5+ 16. Kh1 d4 17. Bd2 a5 18. Qe1 Ba6 19. c4 {The rook needed to move. On d3 the bishop would interpose} dxc3 20. Bxc3 Bxf1 21. Rd1 {Allowing Black to win another pawn for the bishop. More importantly, Black removes an important defender.} Bxg2+ 22. Kxg2 Nf4+ 23. Kh1 Qc8 {Breathing room for White. Fritz liked Qg5 or Nd3} 24. Nf5 {White has the edge again after Bg7+ Kg7; Nf5+ Kh8; Qc3+} Nh3 {Black cannot ignore White’s attack. f6 is critical} 25. Bxg7+ Kg8 26. Bc3 Nf2+ 27. Qxf2 Bxf2 28. Nh6# {Dueling mating attacks! Wow!} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Rated Blitz game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/sxMAImA2"] [Date "2021.07.13"] [Black "keyspleaseojo"] [Result "0-1"] [UTCDate "2021.07.13"] [UTCTime "07:34:21"] [WhiteElo "1054"] [BlackElo "1031"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "G/3; 0"] [ECO "C42"] [Opening "Russian Game: Stafford Gambit"] [Termination "Normal"] {Keys mentioned the Stafford Gambit} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bc5 6. Bg5 Nxe4 7. Bxd8 Bxf2+ 8. Ke2 Bg4# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

June, 2021 game at The Proving Ground:

[Event "TPG 2021.06.03"] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.06.03"] [Round "?"] [White "Alford, Joseph"] [Black "Frank, Cole"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "1530"] [Annotator ",JosephOAlford"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3r2k1/ppbr3R/8/5Q2/8/7P/PP1p2P1/7K w - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "2"] [EventDate "2021.06.11"] [SourceDate "2021.06.11"] {The Proving Ground, a rock-climbing gym on College Avenue, has offered to host in person meetings of the Twin City Chess Club. The climbers rest between climbs with chess. Steven Newman and Joseph Alford have been dropping by on Thursdays between 6 and 8 pm.} 1. Rxd7 (1. Qg6+ Kf8 2. Qf6+ Kg8 3. Rh8#) 1... d1=Q+ 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "The Proving Ground"] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.06.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Alford, Joseph"] [Black "Frank, Cole"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B15"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "1530"] [Annotator ",JosephOAlford"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2021.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 Bb4 5. e5 Nd7 6. a3 Ba5 7. b4 Bb6 8. Be3 a5 9. Rb1 axb4 10. axb4 f6 11. exf6 Ngxf6 12. Be2 {Too passive. Fritz suggests Bd3 } O-O 13. O-O Ra3 14. Rb3 {This weakens White’s queen-side, making multiple targets. Fritz suggests Qd3 and then Ra1, except that after Qd3 Ne4; Rb3 is still forced.} Rxb3 15. cxb3 Qe7 16. b5 {Fritz says give him the pawn. Put the queen on c2 and the bishop on d3 and ignore the mis-placed queen.} c5 17. Re1 Ba5 18. Bd2 cxd4 19. Nxd4 Bxc3 20. Bxc3 Ne4 21. Qd3 Ndc5 22. Qe3 e5 23. Bf3 {Nf3 is much better. White gets 2 pawns for the piece.} Nxc3 24. Qxc3 exd4 25. Bxd5+ Kh8 26. Rxe7 dxc3 27. Rc7 Re8 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

June, 2021 Online Games:

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/ZKLUSkgS"] [Date "2021.06.28"] [Round "4"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2021.06.07"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Bb4 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 O-O 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 Nbd7 9. Ne5 {Thinking that after NxN; PxN the pinned piece would be attacked by a pawn.} dxc4 10. e4 {Nc4 is much better.} Nxe5 11. dxe5 Qxd1+ 12. Rxd1 Nxe4 {Oops, no pin.} 13. Rc1 b5 14. f3 Nc5 {Fritz prefers g5 to force the bishop off the board and leave lots of targets for Black. Black responds to Be7 witih Nb3} 15. Rd1 Na4 16. Kd2 g5 17. Bf2 Rd8+ 18. Bd4 {I expeced Kc2 Rd1; Kd1 Nc3+} c5 19. Ke3 cxd4+ 20. cxd4 a6 21. Be2 Bb7 22. Rdg1 {The immediate h4 is better.} Rac8 23. h4 {one problem with attacking using the pawns that should be guarding the king is that those pawns become weak. Here, fighting to protect them just weakens the entire king-side. Instead, I sacrifice a pawn to consolidate my pawn advance on the queen-side} Kg7 {A wasted move by Black. Nc3 is best} 24. hxg5 hxg5 25. Rh5 Nc3 26. Rxg5+ Kf8 27. Rh1 Nxe2 28. Kxe2 Rxd4 29. Rh7 c3 30. Rgg7 Rd7 31. g4 c2 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/w0edwQGO"] [Date "2021.06.28"] [Round "4"] [White "Thompson, Kevin, kevthompson97"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C45"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "130"] [EventDate "2021.06.07"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 {A very old line that I have never played is Qh4; Nb5. White gets a pawn. Black gets an attack.} 5. c3 Qf6 {Fritz perfers Qh4} 6. Be3 Nge7 7. Bc4 Nxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Nc3 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 Qg6 {Thinking to win a pawn, but after 0-0 Qe4; Re1 White’s attack is worth more than a pawn} 11. O-O O-O 12. Bd3 d5 {sacrificing a pawn to activate Black’s pieces} 13. exd5 Bf5 14. Bxf5 Nxf5 15. Bf4 Rac8 16. a4 {Fritz does not approve of this pawn advance. Rb1 or Re1} c6 {opening a file against the weak c-pawn.} 17. a5 {Fritz says trade the pawns and settle for a solid passed pawn in the center.} cxd5 18. Rb1 b6 19. axb6 axb6 20. Qb3 Qc6 21. Rfe1 Qxc3 {Black goes up a pawn after these trades.} 22. Qxc3 Rxc3 23. Rxb6 Nxd4 24. Be5 Rc4 25. Reb1 f6 26. Bd6 Rfc8 27. h4 Rc1+ 28. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 29. Kh2 Nf5 30. g3 Nxd6 31. Rxd6 Rc5 32. Kg2 Kf7 33. Kf3 Ke7 34. Ra6 Rc7 35. Ke3 Kf7 36. Kd4 Rc2 37. Kxd5 Rxf2 38. Ra7+ Kg6 39. Ke4 h5 40. Ke3 Rf5 41. Ra2 Kh6 42. Ke4 Rf1 43. Ra5 g5 44. hxg5+ fxg5 45. Ra6+ Kg7 46. Ra5 Kg6 47. Ra6+ Rf6 48. Rxf6+ Kxf6 49. Kf3 Ke5 50. g4 {Ke3 is the best chance} h4 51. Kg2 Kf4 52. Kh3 Kf3 53. Kh2 Kxg4 54. Kg2 h3+ 55. Kh2 Kh4 56. Kg1 g4 57. Kh2 g3+ 58. Kh1 Kg4 59. Kg1 Kf4 60. Kh1 g2+ 61. Kg1 Kf3 62. Kh2 Kf2 63. Kxh3 g1=Q 64. Kh4 Qg6 65. Kh3 Qg3# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Rated Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/AATxp0Zb"] [Date "2021.06.28"] [Round "4"] [White "Newman, Steve, bitterroot88"] [Black "Thompson, Kevin, kevthompson97"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D06"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2021.06.07"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 {This gives White the center after cd Nd5; e4 or cd Qd5; Nc3 Qd8; e4. Black must protect d5 with c6 or e6.} 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. e4 Bg4 5. f3 Bh5 6. Bxc4 e6 7. Nge2 Bd6 {Stepping into a fork. Bb4 or Be7} 8. e5 Bxe5 9. dxe5 Nfd7 10. Bf4 O-O 11. O-O Nc6 12. Bb5 Ncxe5 13. Qd4 Nxf3+ {Thinking to fork on e5, but this just loses another piece} 14. gxf3 e5 15. Bxe5 Nxe5 16. Qxe5 c6 {Bg6 first. Both players are playing much too fast.} 17. Qxh5 cxb5 18. Qxb5 Qc7 19. Ne4 Rae8 20. N2g3 Re5 21. Qb3 Kh8 22. Rac1 Qd7 23. Qa3 Rfe8 24. Qxa7 f5 25. Ng5 f4 26. N3e4 {Now a knight dies. Rfd would try to move the queen allowing an escape square for the knight on g5} h6 27. Nf6 Rxg5+ 28. Ng4 h5 29. h4 Rg6 30. Qf2 hxg4 31. fxg4 Qxg4+ 32. Kh1 Re3 33. Rc8+ Qxc8 34. Qxf4 Qh3+ 35. Qh2 Qxf1+ 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/NknYb5Qu"] [Date "2021.06.21"] [Round "3"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2021.06.07"] 1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e5 3. d3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. O-O Bc5 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Bg5 Be6 8. e4 h6 {Black should trade on e4} 9. exd5 hxg5 10. dxc6 {Fritz slightly prefers de fe; Ng5} bxc6 11. Nxe5 {as a result of h6, Black is a pawn down and has 2 weaknesses.} Bd5 12. Nxd5 {White can win another pawn with Nc6 Bg2; Kg2 Qd5+; Qf3. I decided to just grab the center instead. That did not work out well} cxd5 13. d4 Bd6 14. f4 {Fritz much prefers either c4 or Re1.} Ne4 15. fxg5 {Fritz would be much happier with c4 here.} Qxg5 16. Bxe4 Qe3+ 17. Kg2 Qxe4+ 18. Nf3 g5 19. Re1 Qg6 20. Qd2 f6 21. Re6 Rae8 22. Rae1 Rxe6 23. Rxe6 Re8 24. Qe2 {Fritz found the spectacular Qg5!} Kf8 {When ahead, trade. Black should not let White force all the major pieces off the board. Rb8} 25. Rxe8+ Qxe8 26. Qxe8+ Kxe8 {Pawn endings are the easiest to win.} 27. Kf2 Kd7 28. Ke3 Ke6 29. g4 Be7 {Black’s best chance is f5 when Ng5+ Kf6 will be a pawn trade.} 30. h4 gxh4 31. Nxh4 c5 32. Ng6 cxd4+ 33. Kxd4 Bd8 {losing the d-pawn and the game. Bd6 was better.} 34. Nf4+ Kd6 35. Nxd5 a5 36. c4 a4 37. b4 axb3 38. axb3 Ke6 39. b4 Kf7 40. b5 Kg6 41. b6 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/uHmliT6B"] [Date "2021.06.14"] [Round "2"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Frank, Cole, zxprodigyx"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "1530"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2021.06.07"] [TimeControl "G/60;60"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 {I believe this is the best response to White’s c3.} 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4 Bg4 6. Be2 Nf6 7. dxc5 Qxd1+ {Black needs to take the pawn, even though his queen gets chased around a bit.} 8. Bxd1 e5 9. Be3 Nd5 10. b4 Nxe3 11. fxe3 Rd8 12. O-O e4 {Fritz thinks Black keeps better taps on key squares with f6.} 13. Nd4 Bxd1 14. Rxd1 Ne5 15. Nd2 Ng4 16. Nc4 {Fritz likes Ne4 when Black cannot reply Ne3 because of Re1.} a6 17. h3 Nf6 18. Nf5 Rxd1+ {Developing White’s last piece can’t be good. Fritz likes Rd7 or Nd5} 19. Rxd1 g6 20. Nfd6+ Bxd6 21. Nxd6+ Ke7 22. Nxb7 Rb8 23. Nd6 Rd8 24. Rd4 Ke6 25. a3 Rd7 26. Nc4 Rxd4 27. cxd4 Kd5 28. Nb6+ Kc6 29. d5+ {White is two pawns up and is willing to sacrifice one to remove Black’s last piece from the board.} Nxd5 30. Nxd5 Kxd5 31. Kf2 h5 32. Kg3 g5 33. Kf2 h4 34. g3 f5 35. gxh4 gxh4 36. Ke2 Kc6 37. Kd2 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/LWxHvped"] [Date "2021.06.14"] [Round "2"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Erickson, Darren, LaughingVulcan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C69"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "826"] [PlyCount "37"] [EventDate "2021.06.07"] [TimeControl "G/60;60"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3 {Bh5 is playable. h5 is a sacrifice of a bishop to open the h-file. Trading on f3 just helps White develop.} (6... h5 7. hxg4 hxg4 8. Nxe5 Qh4 9. f3 g3) 7. Qxf3 Nf6 {If Black wants to trade queens, now is the time. Qf6} 8. d3 Nd7 9. Be3 Qf6 10. Qxf6 Nxf6 11. Nd2 b5 {Preventing Nc4. but the cure is worse than the disease because of the weakening of the queen-side. Bd6} 12. a4 Nd7 {Too many moves of the same piece. Black needs development with Bd6 and 0-0} 13. Nf3 h6 14. d4 exd4 15. Nxd4 Nc5 16. axb5 cxb5 17. Nxb5 {the failure to develop has caught up with Black.} Bd6 18. Bxc5 Bh2+ 19. Kxh2 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/05u632Rh"] [Date "2021.06.14"] [Round "2"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C69"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [PlyCount "127"] [EventDate "2021.06.07"] [TimeControl "G/60;60"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bd6 6. d4 Bg4 7. dxe5 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Bxe5 9. Rd1 Qe7 10. c3 Nf6 11. Bg5 O-O 12. Nd2 h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Nc4 Rfe8 15. Re1 Qc5 16. Ne3 Rad8 17. Nf5 Re5 {Missing the threat of White’s last. Fritz says Kh7 or Qe5} 18. Nxh6+ gxh6 19. Qxf6 Rd6 20. Qf3 Rg6 21. Rad1 Qe7 22. Rd3 Kh7 23. g3 Rf6 24. Qg4 Rfe6 25. Rde3 Rg5 26. Qe2 f6 27. f4 Rg8 28. e5 f5 29. Rd1 Qg7 30. Red3 Rf8 31. Rd7 Rf7 32. Qd3 h5 33. Rxf7 Qxf7 34. Qd7 Re7 35. Qd3 {Fritz likes Qd8 or Qc8} Re6 36. b3 b5 37. Qf3 Kh6 38. Rd8 Qg7 39. Qd3 Kg6 40. Rd7 Re7 41. e6 {A little too aggressive, says Fritz. He likes trading or Rd4. The danger is that the pawn will fall after, for example, Kf6; Qd4+ Kg6; Qg7+ Rg7; Rg7+Kg7 and the pawn does not queen.} Qf6 42. Rxe7 Qxe7 43. Qe3 c5 44. Qe5 a5 45. h3 b4 46. c4 {I had planned g4 to strip away Black’s defending pawns. Fritz says do it now or trade on b4 and then play g4. I saw that Black was running out of moves.} c6 47. Kf2 Qd8 48. e7 {Fritz does not like this move, preferring Qe2, but to stop the pawn Black must trade queens and then the resulting pawn ending is won for White.} Qd2+ 49. Qe2 Qxe2+ 50. Kxe2 Kf7 51. Kf3 Kxe7 52. g4 fxg4+ 53. hxg4 hxg4+ 54. Kxg4 Kf6 55. f5 Kg7 56. Kf4 Kf6 57. Ke4 Ke7 58. Ke5 Kf7 59. Kd6 Kf6 60. Kxc6 Kxf5 61. Kxc5 Ke6 62. Kb6 Kd6 63. Kxa5 Kc6 64. Kxb4 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/ChszXWlc"] [Date "2021.06.07"] [Round "1"] [White "Johnson, Jeremy, JSBach71"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C24"] [WhiteElo "1486"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2021.06.07"] [TimeControl "G/60;5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 {Which pawn should White take? Fritz much prefers ed; Qd4 Nc6 when Black gets a free move chasing the queen and White has to be careful to protect the e-pawn.} d6 {Either pawn capture is better. This loses material.} 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bg5 Ke7 {This is worse than losing the pawn. How is Black going to develop the king-side?} 7. Nc3 c6 {Preventing a devastating Nd5+} 8. Nf3 h6 9. Bh4 b5 10. Bb3 g5 11. Bg3 a5 {White shows that there is no threat to the bishop. Nbd7 was better} 12. Nxe5 Be6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. Ng6+ Ke8 15. Nxh8 Bc5 16. O-O-O Nbd7 17. Ng6 Ng4 18. Rhe1 Kf7 19. Rxd7+ Kxg6 20. h3 Nf6 21. Rc7 Ra6 22. Nxb5 {Nicely played! Making use of the pin.} Bf8 23. Nd4 c5 24. Nf3 Ne8 25. Ne5+ Kh5 26. Rd7 {Rc8} Bd6 27. Re3 Nc7 28. Rh7 Bxe5 29. Bxe5 Ne8 30. g4+ Kh4 31. Rxh6# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/OjxDU6LM"] [Date "2021.06.08"] [Round "?"] [White "Newman, Steven, bitterroot888"] [Black "Johnson, Jeremy, JSBach71"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D20"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1486"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2021.06.07"] [TimeControl "G/60;5"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nc3 e6 4. e4 Nf6 5. Bxc4 Bb4 6. Qd3 O-O 7. Nf3 a6 8. O-O b5 9. Bb3 Bb7 10. e5 Nd5 11. Bc2 {Fritz prefers Ng5 g5; Qh3 h5} g6 12. Bh6 Re8 13. Ne4 Be7 14. a3 c5 {one guard, two attacks, and this does not help the beleagured king.} 15. dxc5 Nc6 16. Nd6 Bxd6 17. cxd6 {ed6 is much better as White has two connected passed pawns.} a5 {Leaving b5 unprotected} 18. Bg5 Qd7 19. Rad1 b4 20. Bf6 {Right idea, but a little too soon. Qd2 first.} Ba6 21. Qd2 Nxf6 22. exf6 Kh8 {Qd8} 23. Qh6 Rg8 24. Ng5 Bxf1 25. Qxh7# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

May, 2021 Games:

2021.05.24 Joseph Alford, Mihir Bafna, Darrin Erickson, Steve Newman, and Jeff Smith logged on to the Peoria site on 5/24 to play in their G/15 3-round tournament.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/ZUjkFtk4"] [Date "2021.05.03"] [Round "1"] [White "Newman, Steve, quassialeaf"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D30"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2021.05.03"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Bf4 {Move each piece once in the opening. Do not move it again without cause. Here Rc1 or e3 each developing new pieces.} c6 {Preventing Nb5 attacking c7. Fritz suggests dealing with this move with Nh5} 7. c5 Nbd7 8. e3 Nh5 9. Bg3 Nxg3 10. hxg3 b6 11. Qc2 h6 12. g4 bxc5 13. g5 {Black is not going to play hg allowing Qh7 mate. This just throws away a pawn.} Bxg5 14. Nxg5 Qxg5 15. O-O-O cxd4 16. Rxd4 e5 17. Rdh4 Nf6 18. Ne2 Bf5 19. Qa4 Ne4 20. Rxe4 {Fritz suggests g4 or f4. In both cases, Black is well ahead.} Bxe4 21. Ng3 Bh7 22. Rh5 Qg6 23. Rf5 Qd6 24. Rh5 Qc5+ 25. Kd2 Rfb8 26. Ke2 {b3 allows Qc2+} Rxb2+ 27. Kf3 e4+ 28. Kg4 Rxf2 29. Qa6 Qxe3 30. Qxc6 f5+ 31. Kh3 Rf8 32. Qxd5+ Kh8 33. Rxh6 Qxh6+ 34. Nh5 Qxh5+ 35. Kg3 Rxf1 36. a4 f4# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

April, 2021 Games:

[Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2021.04.26"] [Round "4"] [White "Smith, Jeff, wildcat309"] [Black "Newman, Steve, polyglottal"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C33"] [WhiteElo "1377"] [BlackElo "1335"] [PlyCount "111"] [EventDate "2021.04.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 Qh4+ 4. Kf1 Nf6 5. Nf3 Qh6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d3 Bc5 8. Bd2 {Too passive for Fritz who wants to take the center with either e5 or d4.} O-O 9. Qc1 Nh5 10. Ne2 g5 11. a3 d6 12. b4 Bb6 13. b5 Ne5 14. Nxe5 dxe5 15. Bb4 Be3 {A miscalculation that costs an exchange. Fritz likes the rook move to either center file.} 16. Bxf8 Qxf8 17. Qb2 Qd6 {defending instead of attacking. Fritz likes f3; gf Bh3+; Ke1 Bg2} 18. Qb3 Be6 {Qf6 threatening f3 is much stronger.} 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Nc3 Nf6 21. Ke2 Kh8 22. a4 Ng4 23. h3 Nf6 24. Nd1 Nh5 25. Nxe3 fxe3 {Fritz says Ng3+ first} 26. Kxe3 Qd4+ 27. Kd2 Qf2+ 28. Kc3 {This gives Black the option of repeating Qd4+ which he should do.} Nf4 29. Qc4 Ne2+ 30. Kb2 Qd4+ 31. Qxd4 exd4 32. Kb3 e5 33. Rhf1 Kg7 34. Rf5 Kg6 35. Rxe5 Nf4 36. Rg1 h5 37. Re7 Rc8 38. Kc4 Kf6 39. Rd7 Ke6 40. Rg7 Kf6 41. Rh7 h4 42. Rf1 Ke5 43. Re7+ Kd6 44. Rf7 Ke6 45. Rf5 c5 46. Rxg5 Ne2 47. Rxc5 Rxc5+ 48. Kxc5 b6+ 49. Kc6 Nc3 50. Kb7 Nxa4 51. Kxa7 Kd6 52. Ra1 Nc5 53. Kxb6 Nd7+ 54. Ka6 Nb8+ 55. Ka7 Nd7 56. b6 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2021.04.12"] [Round "2"] [White "polyglottal"] [Black "wildcat309"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D06"] [WhiteElo "1329"] [BlackElo "1377"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2021.04.95"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 {This gives White the center after cd Nd5; e4 or cd Qd5; Nc3. Correct moves are e6 or c6 or dc.} 3. Nc3 c6 4. Bf4 Bf5 5. g3 {Fritz says this lets Black take and keep the pawn on c4. White should choose between Qb3 and e3. The same moves are best next move and the move after.} h6 {Fritz likes dc4 or Qb6.} 6. Bg2 e6 7. Nf3 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Bd2 Nbd7 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Ne5 {Qb3 is still the best move. This allows Black to double White’s pawns with no compensation.} Bxc3 {Okay, there’s White’s compensation. Why trade a bishop for a knight} 12. Bxc3 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Ne4 14. Bb4 Re8 15. Qd4 b6 16. f3 Ng5 17. g4 Bc2 18. b3 a5 19. Bd2 Rc8 20. Rac1 b5 21. h4 Nxf3+ {Black does not get enough for this piece, but Nh7 leaves the bishop no escape square} 22. exf3 Qxh4 23. Be1 {The immediate Ba5 is stronger.} Qe7 24. Bxa5 Qa3 25. Bb4 (25. Bc3 Bg6 26. Ra1 {And White is just up a piece.}) 25... Qxa2 26. Rf2 Qxb3 {Okay, Black has managed to get 3 pawns for his piece.} 27. Bc5 Bh7 {hard to see at this point that Bg6 leaves the king an escape square.} 28. Rb2 Qa4 29. Rb4 Qa3 30. Rc3 Qa1+ 31. Kh2 Qa6 {Fritz prefers Qe1 looking for a perpetual check or Ra8 with mate threats.} 32. Kg3 Rc6 33. Bf1 Rec8 {Ouch! That loses a whole rook. Fritz prefers Qa1 or Ra8} 34. Bxb5 Qa1 35. Bxc6 Qe1+ {Taking the bishop back leaves a back-rank mate.} 36. Kg2 Qe2+ 37. Qf2 Qxe5 38. Bd4 Qd6 39. Rcb3 Qxc6 40. Qb2 {Fritz says Rc3 forcing a set of rooks off the board is much better, but he also says this is bad because it allows Qc2+ forcing the queens off the board.} f6 41. Rb8 e5 42. Rxc8+ Qxc8 43. Rb8 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/8MTvT5wQ"] [Date "2021.04.05"] [Round "1"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B94"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2021.04.05"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bd3 {Fritz says that’s an error. White maintains his first-move advantage after either Be2 or Bc4. Black can now play Ne4} Be6 9. O-O Nbd7 {Here Ne4; Be4 Bg5; Bf7 favors White} 10. f4 {A little premature, says Fritz. He wants the queen to move to e2 or f3} Nc5 {That loses a pawn. h6 or 0-0} 11. Nxc5 dxc5 12. fxe5 {No lost pawn after Ng4, says Fritz. White should have played f5.} Nd7 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nd5 Qd8 {But Fritz says this does lose a pawn. Instead Bd5; ed Ne5; Re1 f6 and Black is fine.} 15. Qf3 Nxe5 {White’s last was a trap. Now Black is in real trouble. 0-0 was correct.} 16. Qg3 Nxd3 17. Nc7+ Kf8 {And both missed Ne6+ winning the queen. Black should have moved Ke7} 18. Nxa8 Qxa8 19. Qxd3 Qb8 20. Rad1 Ke7 21. Qc3 g5 22. Qf6+ {One should not carry on a conversation while playing a game of chess.} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

March, 2021 Games:

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/5CNJzKQM"] [Date "2021.03.29"] [Round "5"] [White "Johnson, Jeremy Scott, JSBach71"] [Black "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C46"] [WhiteElo "1512"] [BlackElo "0000"] [PlyCount "32"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nxe4 {I like Bf7+ Kf7; Ne4 d5; Neg5+ but Crafty says that favors Black slightly. He likes just 0-0 Nd6; Bd5 when Black should recover the pawn. If 0-0 Nc3; dc and White has an edge in development.} 5. Nxe4 d5 6. Bb3 {Crafty says Bd3 de; Be4 when Black’s surprise has cost him a pawn.} dxe4 7. Ng1 Bc5 8. Qe2 Bf5 9. Bxf7+ Kxf7 10. Qc4+ Kg6 11. Qxc5 Qg5 { Crafty says Qd4 is better to trade off White’s only developed piece, but Black still has an advantage here because White can’t develop any piece.} 12. g3 Rad8 13. d3 {gaining a move by attacking the queen, but White can’t capture on e4 or develop anything.} Qg4 14. h3 Qh5 15. g4 {A fork with no teeth, but there are no good moves.} Bxg4 16. dxe4 Rd1# {A triumph for development.} 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/0IY7gCTu"] [Date "2021.03.29"] [Round "5"] [White "Newman, Steve, quassialeaf"] [Black "Johnson, Jeremy Scott, JSBach71"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D06"] [BlackElo "1512"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d5 {Black’s pawn needs pawn support. Now cd Nd5; e4 and White has the entire center. Or cd Qd5; Nc3 also gives White the center.} 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. e4 e6 5. Bxc4 Bb4 6. Qa4+ {This misplaces the queen and does not deal with the problem on e4. Crafty suggests Qd3 or e5.} Nc6 7. Nf3 {White cannot protect both pawns.} Nxe4 8. O-O {Protect c3 with Qb3 or Qc2} Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bxc3 10. Rb1 O-O 11. Bg5 Qd6 12. Be3 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 Bxd4 14. Rfd1 c5 15. Bf1 {Hiding your head in daddy’s armpit is not going to help. The bishop belongs on d3 where it can help attack h7 or b7.} e5 16. Bg5 {This bishop becomes a target.} Bf5 {Black sacrifices a pawn to fork a piece and a square.} 17. Rxb7 Qg6 18. Bh4 Bc2 19. Qd7 Bxd1 20. Bc4 Bf3 {Another fork of rook and important square.} 21. Bxf7+ Rxf7 22. Qxf7+ Qxf7 23. Rxf7 Kxf7 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical Game"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2021.03.22"] [Round "4"] [White "Erickson, Darren, LaughingVulcan"] [Black "Alford, Joseph"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C50"] [Annotator ",JosephOAlford"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "826"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [SourceDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60;5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. d3 Bg4 6. h3 h5 {Chess is pattern recognition. After 1. e4 e5; 2. Nf3 Nc6; 3. Bb5 a6; 4. Bc6 dc; 5. 0-0 Bg4; 6. h3 h5; 7. hg hg; 8. Ne5 Qh4; 9. f3 g3 White gets mated on the h-file. However, this is NOT that position. Here and on many later moves White can safely take the bishop. hg hg; Ng5! and the queen cannot get to the h-file. Of course White must still be careful: after Ng5 g3; Nf7 Rh1+; Kh1 Qh4+; Kg1 Qh2 mate!} 7. Re1 Nd4 8. Nbd2 Qf6 9. c3 Nxf3+ 10. Nxf3 Ne7 11. Be3 Bxe3 12. Rxe3 Ng6 13. d4 Nf4 14. dxe5 dxe5 15. Bd5 Rd8 16. Qa4+ c6 17. Rd1 O-O 18. Qxa7 {I believe this is where we learned that chess.com requires you to set “allow takeback” when you start the game. Darren did not do that, so he loses a piece.} Bxf3 19. Rxf3 cxd5 20. exd5 Qe7 21. Qe3 Nxd5 22. Qe4 {And this allows a pretty fork to win material} Nxc3 23. bxc3 Rxd1+ 24. Kh2 Qc7 25. g4 {It is generally not a good idea to attack with the pawns that are supposed to be protecting your king. This time it works out.} hxg4 26. Qxg4 e4+ {played too fast. Now the mate threat lets White win a rook.} 27. Rg3 Qe5 28. Qxd1 Rc8 29. Kg2 {If Black takes the c-pawn then White plays Qd8+ followed by Qh4+ and a perpetual check.} 1-0 [pgn] [pgn navigation_board=floatLeft show_move_arrow=no] [Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/Rr3S9nBH"] [Date "2021.03.16"] [Round "4"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "0000"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2021.02.22"] [TimeControl "G/60;5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 {My favorite move against the Ruy Lopez.} 5. d4 exd4 {Again, my favorite move. Much safer is d5; ed Be6} 6. Re1 Qe7 {Losing the knight.} (6... d5 7. Nxd4 Bd6 8. Nxc6 Bxh2+ 9. Kh1 Qh4 10. Rxe4+ dxe4 11. Qd8+ Qxd8 12. Nxd8+ Kxd8 13. Kxh2 {This is the line I play as Black}) 7. Nxd4 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 f5 9. f3 c5 {Fritz shows Qc5; Qc5 Bc5+; Be3 Be3+; Re3 c6; Be2 d5 and Black will have 2 pawns for the piece.} 10. Qd5 Qd6 11. Qxd6 Bxd6 12. fxe4 O-O 13. Nc3 f4 14. Nd5 Kh8 15. e5 Bb8 16. Bxf4 b6 17. Rad1 a6 {making a bad situation worse. Bb7; Bg3 and White has an extra piece.} 18. Nxb6 axb5 19. Nxa8 Rxf4 20. e6 {The pawn can only be stopped by allowing mate.} dxe6 21. Rd8+ Rf8 22. Rxf8# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/Rr3S9nBH"] [Date "2021.03.16"] [Round "3"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "0000"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 {My favorite move in the Ruy Lopez.} 5. d4 exd4 {Again, my favorite move. Much safer is d5; ed Be6} 6. Re1 Qe7 {Losing the knight.} (6... d5 7. Nxd4 Bd6 8. Nxc6 Bxh2+ 9. Kh1 Qh4 10. Rxe4+ dxe4 11. Qd8+ Qxd8 12. Nxd8+ Kxd8 13. Kxh2 {This is the line I play as Black}) 7. Nxd4 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 f5 9. f3 c5 {Fritz shows Qc5; Qc5 Bc5+; Be3 Be3+; Re3 c6; Be2 d5 and Black will have 2 pawns for the piece.} 10. Qd5 Qd6 11. Qxd6 Bxd6 12. fxe4 O-O 13. Nc3 f4 14. Nd5 Kh8 15. e5 Bb8 16. Bxf4 b6 17. Rad1 a6 {making a bad situation worse. Bb7; Bg3 and White has an extra piece.} 18. Nxb6 axb5 19. Nxa8 Rxf4 20. e6 {The pawn can only be stopped by allowing mate.} dxe6 21. Rd8+ Rf8 22. Rxf8# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/Ce7uNob1"] [Date "2021.03.16"] [Round "3"] [White "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "0000"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Bb4 6. Bg5 c6 7. e3 h6 8. Bf4 {BxN. Now White will pile up on c3} Ne4 9. Qc2 {Fritz says Qb3 or Rc1} Qa5 10. O-O-O {Fritz says this makes bad matters worse. His recommendation is Nd2 letting Black win a pawn.} Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nxc3 {Fritz says Black had much better in Qa3+; Qb2 Qb2+; Kb2 Nf2} 12. Re1 Nxa2+ 13. Kb2 Nb4 14. Qb1 Nd7 15. Bd6 Nb6 16. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 17. Ka1 Qa5+ 18. Qa2 Qxa2+ 19. Kxa2 Bg4 20. Ne5 Be6 21. Bd3 Nd7 22. Nf3 Ke7 23. e4 {The game was already lost – Black has 2 extra pawns, connected and passed.} dxe4+ 24. Ka1 exd3 25. d5 cxd5 26. Nd4 Rhc8 27. Nf5+ Kf6 28. Nd6 Rc2 29. Rd1 Nc5 30. Rhf1 d2 {Premature. Nb3+; Kb1 Nd2+ was correct.} 31. Kb1 Rc1+ 32. Rxc1 dxc1=Q+ 33. Kxc1 a6 34. h4 Rd8 {The point of Black’s last move – the knight has no escape square.} 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/4LoR88Pk"] [Date "2021.03.16"] [Round "3"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D32"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "0000"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 {I think cd4 is better. Now Black ends up with an isolated pawn.} 5. dxc5 Nf6 6. Bg5 d4 7. Ne4 Bxc5 8. Nxc5 Qa5+ 9. Qd2 Qxc5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Nf3 Nc6 12. Rc1 Qd6 13. e3 O-O 14. Bb5 Bd7 15. Bxc6 Bxc6 16. exd4 {It is dangerous to open the center before castling.} Rae8+ 17. Kf1 Re4 18. d5 Bxd5 19. Rd1 Qa6+ 20. Kg1 Be6 21. Ng5 {I had a parent bugging me for information about the Tuesday night games, so I took a draw.} fxg5 22. Qxg5+ Kh8 23. Qf6+ Kg8 24. Qg5+ Kh8 25. Qf6+ Kg8 26. Qg5+ 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/fWGshXuf"] [Date "2021.03.08"] [Round "2"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Johnson, Jeremy Scott, JSBach71"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "1512"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. Bc4 Bg4 7. Be3 e6 8. h3 Bf5 9. Qd2 {Fritz says Nh4 now. The queen move allows Black to trade off pieces after Qb4; Bb3 Ne4} Be7 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. Nh4 b5 {That allows White to trade bishop for knight and double Black’s pawns. Fritz likes Be4} 12. Nxf5 exf5 13. Bd3 Nb6 14. Bxf5 {Fritz says that’s a blunder and calls for Bf4 Qd7} Nc4 15. Qe2 {Still not seeing the problem. Fritz says Qd3 Qb4; Rdf1 giving the king some running room.} Qb4 {Whoops! Did not see that coming. I have to sacrifice a piece to avoid immediate mate.} 16. Na4 {Fritz says it’s not quite that bad. Rd3 Qb2+; Kd1 Qa1+; Bc1} bxa4 {Logical, opening the file for the rook, but simply Qa4 is a killer.} 17. c3 Qb5 {Qb2+ favors White, but this is even better for White} 18. Bd3 O-O 19. Bxc4 Qb7 20. Bg5 Rab8 21. Rd2 {Safety first. Fritz prefers Bf4 or even Rhe} Rfe8 22. Qf3 {Fritz says that’s an error though Ne4; Bf7+ Kh8; Be8 Nd2; Bd2 Qb2+; Kd1 Qa2; Qe4 still favors White} Ba3 {Again?? Of course ba allows Qb1 mate and when he plays Bb2+ I can’t recapture. It would have comforting to see that Fritz considers this move an error, but that may be because Fritz considers Ne4 better.} 23. Bxf6 Bxb2+ 24. Kd1 Ba3 25. Bd3 gxf6 26. Qh5 Qb1+ {I thought (Fritz agrees) Black could escape by Kf8 or Re6. I was hoping to trade away his attack on my king. Fritz does not like sacrificing the queen.} 27. Bxb1 Rxb1+ 28. Kc2 Rxh1 29. Qg4+ Kf8 30. Qd7 Rc1+ 31. Kd3 c5 {At this point I tried Qa7 several times. The machine kept reverting to this position with a note that it was reconnecting. Discussing the position with Jeremy, I decided Qa4 was a much better move since his bishop was trapped. He pointed out Qa4 cd; Qa3 Rc3+; Qc3 dc; Kc3. There we each have rook and 4 pawns with his pawns split. It appears the best plan is Qa4 cd; Qd4 where I have 5 pawns to his 4 and my queen is attacking two more. The next day there was a memo that Lichess had been upgraded.} 32. Qxa4 cxd4 33. Qxa3+ {While doing these notes, I saw that Fritz points out that Qa3 is check and Black loses both bishop and rook without winning the queen.} 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "JosephOAlford simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/lSGqzXWk"] [Date "2021.03.08"] [Round "2"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B95"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "0000"] [PlyCount "37"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 h6 8. Bh4 Be7 {Fritz likes Ne4 trading knight for bishop and winning a pawn.} 9. Bg3 Nbd7 10. O-O-O b5 {bad move. That pawn was protecting c6. Fritz likes Nh5 with a slight edge for Black or Nc5 with equality.} 11. Nc6 Qc7 {And that’s a losing move. Qb6 was needed.} 12. Nxe7 Kxe7 13. Bxd6+ Qxd6 14. Qxd6+ Ke8 15. Qc6 Rb8 16. Qc7 b4 {The point of the queen moves is to allow the knight to get to d6 after a bishop sacrifice on b5. Now that is not needed.} 17. Na4 Nxe4 18. Rxd7 Bxd7 19. Qxb8+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "MBafna simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/353bFpvh"] [Date "2021.03.01"] [Round "0"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "MBafna"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "1828"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 {Fritz claims equality for Black after d5 or Nf6.} 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4 Bg4 6. Be2 Nf6 7. dxc5 Qxd1+ {I think he has to take the pawn back, but then the queen gets chased around. Fritz says Qc5 and Qd1 are almost equal.} 8. Bxd1 e6 9. b4 O-O-O 10. O-O h6 11. a4 e5 {An attack on the bishop on d1} 12. Be3 Nd5 13. h3 Nxe3 14. fxe3 Bh5 15. Nbd2 f5 16. Nc4 e4 17. Nd4 Bxd1 18. Raxd1 g6 {Now a couple of forced exchanges end the game.} 19. Nxc6 bxc6 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8 21. Ne5 Rg8 22. Nxc6+ Kc7 23. Nxa7 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "MBafna simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/0UAR4ETF"] [Date "2021.03.01"] [Round "0"] [White "MBafna"] [Black "Smith, Jeff, UKWildcat"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1828"] [BlackElo "1435"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 {This loses a pawn. Book is d6; Nf3 Ne4; Qe2 Qe7} 4. Qe2 Qe7 {Not Nf6; Nc6+ winning the queen} 5. Qxe4 d6 6. d4 dxe5 7. Qxe5 Qxe5+ 8. dxe5 Nc6 9. f4 Bf5 10. c3 O-O-O 11. Be3 Be7 12. Bb5 Nb8 {down a pawn, Black gives up another for nothing. Bd7 and a trade on c6 yields gives Black’s bishop a good diagonal and Ba7 just gets White’s bishop trapped by b6.} 13. Bxa7 f6 14. O-O Bd3 15. Bxd3 Rxd3 16. Na3 {An ugly move that should lose at least a pawn after Ba3; ba Rc3} Nc6 17. exf6 {A little too aggressive, says Fritz. He liked just Bf2. Now Ba3; ba Na7; fg Rg8 favors Black.} Bxf6 18. Bf2 Rd2 19. Nc4 Re2 20. Rae1 Rhe8 21. Rxe2 Rxe2 22. Re1 Rc2 23. a4 b6 24. Ne5 {Again, a little too aggressive, says Fritz. He advises Rb1 or g4 or Kf1. But White is still on top after either Ne5 or Ne7} Nxe5 25. fxe5 Bg5 26. e6 Kd8 27. Bd4 Rxb2 28. Bxg7 Ra2 29. Rd1+ Ke7 30. Rd7+ Kxe6 31. Rxc7 Rxa4 {Be3+ first to keep White’s bishop from d4.} 32. Bd4 h6 33. Rc6+ Kd5 34. Rxb6 Ra2 35. h4 Ra1+ 36. Kh2 Bf4+ 37. Kh3 Kc4 {h5 creates a mating net, but then Rb5+ destroys it.} 38. Rc6+ Kd5 39. Rc5+ Ke4 40. Bf2 Bd2 41. Rc4+ Kd3 42. Rc6 Ke2 43. Bd4 Kd3 44. Bg7 Rh1+ 45. Kg4 Rg1 46. g3 h5+ 47. Kxh5 Rxg3 48. Bf6 Ke4 49. c4 Kf5 50. Be7 Rg7 51. Rc5+ Ke6 52. Bg5 Bb4 53. Rb5 Bc3 54. Rb3 Ba1 55. Kg4 Kd6 56. Re3 Kc5 57. Re4 Bd4 58. Kh5 Kxc4 {Allowing a sacrifice that leaves White with a queening pawn.} 59. Rxd4+ Kxd4 60. Bf6+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "MBafna simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/YjEUWaTb"] [Date "2021.03.01"] [Round "0"] [White "MBafna"] [Black "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "1828"] [BlackElo "0000"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2021.03.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Qe2 Nd4 5. Nxd4 exd4 6. d3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. f4 c6 9. Bc4 b5 10. Bb3 d5 11. e5 Ng4 {This will cost a pawn. Fritz likes Nd7} 12. h3 {Fritz says f5 is much stronger, attacking the knight and also making progress on the king-side attack.} Ne3 {Fritz claims Nh6 is better. Ne3 is shown as equal until the move is actually made, then the response favors White. } 13. Bxe3 dxe3 14. Qxe3 Bf5 15. g4 d4 16. Qe2 Be6 17. f5 Bd5 18. Nd2 Bg5 19. Nf3 Be3+ 20. Kh2 Qc7 21. Bxd5 cxd5 22. Kg2 Rae8 23. Rae1 Rc8 24. c3 Qb6 25. g5 Rfe8 26. f6 gxf6 27. gxf6 Kh8 28. Kh2 {Fritz likes cd. Now White gets a weakness on c3} Rg8 {Or not. Bf4+ followed by dc} 29. Nh4 {Fritz is still concentrating on d4. Nd4 for White} Qe6 {Fritz says this is a blunder. (Rce is better) because of Nf5 Qe5+; Kh1 Qf6; Ne3 Qh4; cd Qh3+; Qh2 Qh2+ which favors White. I can’t imagine any human finding that over the board.} 30. cxd4 Bxd4 31. Nf5 Bxe5+ {Bg1+; Rg1 Qf5 still favors White, but this loses a piece.} 32. Qxe5 Rc2+ 33. Kh1 h5 {Black notices that Qe6; Qe6 Rgg2; Re8+ trades off the attack and White is down a piece.} 34. Qxe6 fxe6 35. f7 Rf8 36. Nd4 Rxb2 37. Nxe6 Rc8 38. Re5 Kh7 39. Rxh5+ Kg6 40. Rg5+ Kh7 41. Rfg1 Rcc2 42. f8=N+ Kh6 43. Rg6+ Kh5 44. Nf4+ Kh4 45. Rh6# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

February, 2021 Games:

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/zveeO610"] [Date "2021.02.22"] [Round "3"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Smith, Jeff, UKWildcat"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C34"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "1435"] [PlyCount "109"] [EventDate "2021.02.01"] [TimeControl "G/60;5"] 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nc6 {I don’t think Black gets enough out of this move. g5 is most common. Other possibilities are d5 and Be7} 4. d4 d6 5. Bxf4Bg4 {White has the center, the open f-file for attacking, and his pawn.} 6. Bb5 {This bishop is normally retained for the attack on f7.} a6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8. O-O Nf6 9. h3 Bh5 10. Nc3 Be7 11. e5 {Fritz likes Qd2 or Qe2 to bring the rooks to the center.} dxe5 12. dxe5 Nd5 13. Nxd5 {With Qd4 White maintains a small advantage. Fritz says this is even.} cxd5 14. Qd4 {Fritz says c5 with Qa4 coming to recover the pawn.} c5 15. Qa4+ Qd7 16. Qxd7+ Kxd7 17. Rad1 {The previous few moves were played rapidly. I was sure I was winning a pawn here.} Kc6 18. Rfe1 Bxf3 19. gxf3 d4 20. b3 Rhd8 21. Kf2 g5 {Fritz likes Kd5 or Bh4+ with advantage and only gives this pawn push equality.} 22. Bg3 h5 23. Ke2 h4 24. Bh2 f6 25. Kd3 fxe5 26. Rxe5 Bd6 27. Re6 {pin and counter-pin. Again, played rapidly. I am looking to win the g-pawn.} Rd7 {I think Black needs to force the trade immediately to give his other rook time to work on the king-side. I was looking for Kc7. Fritz suggests Kd5.} 28. Rg1 {Completely missing Kc4 when White will trade bishops and then play Re5} Kd5 29. Rxd6+ Rxd6 30. Bxd6 Kxd6 31. Rxg5 Rf8 32. Ke2 {Ke4 Re8+ and the rook penetrates. Fritz likes that better, saying Black’s pawns are more vulnerable.} Kc6 {heading for White’s pawns.} 33. a4 {Blocking the Black king. a3 is a better block.} Kb6 34. Rg4 Re8+ 35. Re4 Rg8 36. Kf2 {Just Rh4 is simpler.} Rh8 37. f4 Rd8 {Threatening a break-through on d3. White says my pawn is faster.} 38. f5 Rf8 39. Re6+ Ka5 40. f6 Kb4 41. Rc6 Rf7 42. Kf3 Rd7 43. Ke4 Rf7 44. Kf5 Rf8 45. Rc7 Rd8 46. Ke4 Rg8 47. f7 Rd8 48. Kd3 Rf8 49. Rb7+ Ka3 50. Kc4 Kb2 51. Kxc5 Rd8 52. Re7 Rf8 53. Kxd4 Kxc2 54. Rb7 Rd8+ 55. Ke5 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/OROBGHG2"] [Date "2021.02.22"] [Round "3"] [White "Newman, Steve, quassialeaf"] [Black "Johnson, Jeremy Scott, JSBach71"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D20"] [WhiteElo "1512"] [BlackElo "0000"] [PlyCount "129"] [EventDate "2021.02.01"] [TimeControl "G/60;5"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 {White gambits a pawn for control of the center} dxc4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. g3 {e3. having given up a pawn, White needs to proceed with grabbing the center. The fianchetto is too slow.} Nc6 5. Bg2 Bf5 {Development is good, but Nd4 is a free central pawn.} 6. e3 e6 {Fritz likes Qd7 or even e5, but still claims a slight plus for Black after this.} 7. Nge2 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Bd2 Re8 10. Rc1 Rb8 11. Be1 Bd3 {It is pretty clear that White did not get his gambit grip on the center.} 12. f3 {Fritz has no good lines to suggest, but opening lines in a center controlled by Black does not seem to be a good idea.} e5 13. Bf2 {Losing a pawn. de seems the best plan for White.} Bxc3 {ed is simplest since White’s pawn and knight are both pinned.} 14. bxc3 exd4 15. cxd4 Nxd4 {A pretty move. Of course Fritz says it is unsound. White gets two pieces for his rook and the game is equal.} 16. Nxd4 Bxf1 17. Bxf1 c5 18. Nf5 Qxd1 19. Rxd1 b5 20. e4 Red8 {wrong rook. Now there is a check on e7 followed by a fork on c6. But first, White must take care of his own rook with Rb1} 21. Rxd8+ {The rook is needed to help stop the pawns.} Rxd8 22. Bxc5 Rd1 {Logical, but now the rook becomes a target. Fritz likes the immediate c3} 23. Bxa7 c3 24. Ne3 Ra1 {Again, logical. Black keeps the bishop locked down. Fritz says Rd2 with c2 threatened} 25. Bd4 b4 {Rc1 is much stronger. Now the rook and pawn get forked. Even more importantly, the three White minor pieces tie up Black’s rook.} 26. Nc2 Rxa2 {This loses both pawns. Fritz says Rb1 or Rd1, and still shows an advantage for White.} 27. Nxb4 Ra3 28. Nc2 Rb3 29. Bd3 Rb1+ 30. Kg2 {Ouch! Kf2 is much stronger. Rh1; h5 and the king joins the three minors in the center.} Rd1 31. Nb4 {Bf6 first says Fritz} Rd2+ {c2 and we see why Fritz wanted to trade of f6 before moving the knight} 32. Kh3 c2 33. Nxc2 Rxd3 34. Bxf6 gxf6 35. Kg4 Kg7 {Rd2 Take your free pawn. After this Fritz is pretty much showing an even game.} 36. h4 Rc3 37. Nd4 h6 38. Nf5+ Kh7 39. h5 Rc8 40. Ne7 Rc5 41. Nd5 Kg7 42. Kf5 Ra5 43. g4 Ra3 44. Kf4 Ra6 45. Kf5 Ra3 46. f4 Ra6 47. e5 fxe5 48. fxe5 Re6 49. Nf4 Ra6 50. Nd5 Ra5 51. Nf6 Ra6 52. Ne8+ Kf8 53. Nd6 Ke7 54. Ne4 Ra1 55. Nf6 Rf1+ 56. Ke4 Rxf6 57. exf6+ Kxf6 58. Kf4 Kg7 59. Kf5 Kg8 60. Kf6 Kf8 61. g5 hxg5 62. Kxg5 Kg7 63. Kf5 Kh6 64. Kf6 Kxh5 65. Kxf7 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/sXqwCQ7A"] [Date "2021.02.16"] [Round "3"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "1920"] [BlackElo "0000"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2021.02.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 {That gives White a little too much. Fritz likes ed or a6} 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Ne4 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Re1 Bf5 {Now White will be able to trade a knight for a bishop. Fritz says f5 or Nc5} 10. Nh4 g6 {Fritz says putting in Bc5 first is not good enough. After Re2 Black still has to play g6} 11. Nxf5 gxf5 12. Bg5+ {That’s rather pitiful for both of us. f3 Bc5+; Be3 Be3+; Re3 Nc5} Ke8 13. Bf6 Nxf6 {Fritz says Rg8 and White still has to counter Bc5} 14. exf6+ Kd7 15. Nc3 Bc5 16. Rad1+ Bd6 17. Ne2 {this loses the f-pawn. Fritz suggests Re7+ instead. Now Black has the advantage.} Ke6 18. Rd3 Kxf6 19. Rf3 Rae8 20. Kf1 Bxh2 {Fritz wants to double rooks on the e-file.} 21. g3 Re5 22. Kg2 {I already had a plan for dealing with the doubling of rooks. Fritz has a better plan – Rf4 and Rh4} Rhe8 23. Re3 Rxe3 24. fxe3 Rxe3 25. Kxh2 h5 26. Kg2 h4 {There is no reason to give up this pawn. Black has 3 pawns for the piece, a difficult but not impossible game. Re4 or Re5. Just sit on the position.} 27. gxh4 f4 28. Kf2 Ke5 {No, you must not let White trade rooks. Fritz says Rh3; Nf4 Rh4} 29. Nc3 Rxe1 30. Kxe1 Kf5 31. Kf2 Kg4 32. Ne2 f5 {Kh4 now. Waiting a move helps White advance} 33. h5 Kxh5 34. Nxf4+ Kg4 35. Ne6 f4 36. Nxc7 c5 37. Ne6 b6 38. Nd8 c4 39. Nc6 a5 40. Ne5+ Kf5 41. Nxc4 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/gz7BnEZJ"] [Date "2021.02.16"] [Round "?"] [White "quassialeaf"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C25"] [WhiteElo "0000"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "179"] [EventDate "2021.02.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 d6 5. O-O {h3 first} Bg4 6. Nd5 {This does nothing about the threat of Nd4. h3 is called for.} Nd4 7. d3 {There was still time for Be2 which allows Black to trade knight for bishop.} Nxf3+ 8. gxf3 Bh3 9. Re1 c6 10. Ne3 Nh6 {Qg5+; Ng5 and the attack on the queen saves White for a move, but after Qg6 the knight can’t move} 11. Kh1 Qh4 12. Qe2 O-O-O 13. Rg1 Kb8 {Fritz says the file is important and the way to deal with that is g5} 14. Rg3 d5 {sacrificing a couple of pawns to make f5 more important. Fritz wants f5 now.} 15. exd5 f5 {way too slow. Fritz wants Be3 or cd} 16. Ng2 {only now did I realize the threats on e4 and g7 were just too much } Bxg2+ 17. Kxg2 f4 {Rde, says Fritz. He agrees Black has seriously over-extended.} 18. Qxe5+ Bd6 19. Qg5 Qxg5 {Nf5 is an interesting alternative. Fritz says White is still on top after Qf5 gf ; hg} 20. Rxg5 Be7 {And that’s a blunder. g6 is called for.} 21. Bxf4+ Ka8 22. Rxg7 Nf5 {four pawns down.} 23. Rf7 Rdg8+ 24. Kh1 Rf8 25. dxc6 bxc6 26. c3 Bh4 27. Rxf8+ Rxf8 28. Be3 {Rf1 or Kg2} Nxe3 29. fxe3 Rxf3 {three pawns down} 30. e4 Rf2 31. Rb1 Bg5 32. a4 Bf4 33. b4 Rxh2+ {Two pawns down} 34. Kg1 Rc2 35. Rf1 Be5 {A serious error, says Fritz. Be3+ Kh1; Rc1 retaining the h-pawn} 36. Rf8+ {Good enough, but Ba6 is much stronger, says Fritz.} Kb7 37. Rf7+ Kc8 38. Rxh7 Bxc3 39. b5 cxb5 40. axb5 Bd4+ 41. Kh1 Kd8 42. Rh2 {Fritz says trade rooks here or next move} Rc1+ 43. Kg2 Ke7 44. Kf3 Rf1+ 45. Ke2 Rb1 46. Rh7+ Kd6 47. Rh6+ Ke7 48. Re6+ Kd7 49. Rh6 Ke7 50. Rh5 Rb2+ 51. Kf3 Rf2+ 52. Kg3 Rc2 53. Rd5 Bb6 54. Kg4 Rg2+ 55. Kf3 Rf2+ 56. Kg3 Rc2 57. Rf5 Re2 58. e5 Bd4 59. e6 Re5 60. Rf7+ Ke8 61. Kf4 Re1 62. Rb7 {Fritz says White misses a chance to advance his bishop with Bd5. the opportunity occurs several times in the next few moves. The move I was afraid of was b6 ab; Bb5+ forcing the king into a fork on my bishop. fritz says Black responds to b6 with a6} Bb6 63. Kf5 Re3 64. Kf4 Re1 65. Kf5 Re3 66. Kg6 Re1 67. Kh7 Rg1 68. Rb8+ Ke7 69. Rb7+ Ke8 70. Rf7 Rg2 71. Rg7 {last chance to move the bishop to d5 and then c6 to help the pawn queen.} Rxg7+ {I was pretty sure I could hold the opposite colored bishops ending even 2 pawns down.} 72. Kxg7 Ke7 73. Kg6 Bd4 74. Kf5 Kd6 75. Ke4 Bg1 76. d4 Bf2 77. d5 Bh4 78. Kd3 Bf6 79. Kc2 Kc5 80. Kb3 Be7 81. Kc3 Bf6+ 82. Kd3 Be7 83. Kc3 Bf6+ 84. Kd3 Be7 85. Kc3 Bf6+ 86. Kb3 Be7 87. b6 axb6 88. Ba6 Kxd5 89. Bc8 Kc5 90. Bd7 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/PSqbF5DE"] [Date "2021.02.08"] [Round "2"] [White "Johnson, Jeremy Scott, JSBach71"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A17"] [WhiteElo "1512"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "2021.02.08"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg2 c6 6. d4 Bd6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. O-O h6 9. Qc2 Be6 10. e4 {That leaves White with a weak d-pawn that has to be defended the rest of the game. Fritz suggests Re1 or Bf4 (to open the g-file for an attack?)} dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Qxe4 Nd7 13. Ne5 Nf6 14. Qe2 Re8 15. Nxc6 {well! That was a surprise. Recapturing leaves White with rook and two pawns for two pieces, more than enough. Fritz says, not so fast, bc; Bc6 Bd7 attacks the White queen. Black gets only 2 pawns for his knight.} Qc7 16. Ne5 Bg4 17. Qb5 {White offers to trade his problem d-pawn for the b-pawn.} Bc8 {Second choice for Fritz who would trade the pawn for development after Be5; de Re5; Qb7 Qb7; Rb7 Rad} 18. Bf4 a6 19. Qa4 b5 20. Qb3 Be6 21. Qe3 Rac8 22. Rac1 Qa5 23. Rxc8 {I don’t think White should trade. I was looking for Nc6 attacking queen and bishop and planned to meet that with Bd5 which loses instantly to Na5 Re3; Rc8+. Fritz likes the rook trade.} Bxc8 {maintaining the pin with the threat of Ng4 and 3 attacks on the knight.} 24. Bc6 {I was still expecting Nc6 when his queen is attacked, but so is my queen and my bishop. Fritz says keep it simple with a3 or Qb3 Be6; d5} Re7 {I also considered Rd8 hitting the pawn. Fritz likes that move slightly better.} 25. Bxh6 {yet another surprise. If gh then Qh6 and White has a good chance at perpetual check or of forking one of the loose pieces.} Ng4 26. Qg5 Nxh6 27. Bd5 Re8 28. Qg6 {A mistake. White has 3 attackers on f7, but White trades one off.} Bxe5 29. dxe5 Bf5 {Be6 is probably simplest.} 30. Bxf7+ Nxf7 31. Qxf5 Qxa2 32. e6 Qxe6 33. Qc5 Qd6 34. b4 {White cannot trade queens. The ending is quite lost. Black has only 2 minutes left. White should keep the game as complicated as possible.} Qxc5 35. bxc5 Rc8 36. Rc1 Rc6 37. f4 Nd8 38. Kf2 Ne6 39. f5 Rxc5 40. Rxc5 Nxc5 41. g4 Kf7 42. Ke3 Kf6 43. Kd4 Nb7 44. Kd5 a5 45. h4 a4 46. Kd4 Nd6 47. Kc3 Nxf5 48. gxf5 Kxf5 49. Kb4 Kg4 50. h5 Kxh5 51. Kxb5 a3 52. Kb4 a2 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/DwRdpYNW"] [Date "2021.02.08"] [Round "2"] [White "Newman, Steve, quasialeaf"] [Black "Smith, Jeff, UKWildcat"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D06"] [BlackElo "1435"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2021.02.08"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 {Black should defend the pawn with a pawn. Now cd and both of Black’s recaptures are bad. Nd5 meets e4 and Qd5 meets Nc3 and then e4} 3. Nc3 Bf5 {Black wants the bishop outside the pawn chain, but Fritz says this is a bit too aggressive. Now Qb3 wins at least a pawn. Black needed e6.} 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg5 {Qb3, says Fritz.} h6 7. Bh4 Nxc3 8. bxc3 Qd7 9. e3 e6 10. h3 Be7 11. Bg3 O-O 12. Be2 Rfd8 13. O-O a6 14. Nh4 Bh7 15. Nf3 Bd6 16. Ne5 {White ends up with swiss cheese for pawns. Fritz suggests Bd6 or Qb3} Nxe5 17. dxe5 Ba3 {A mistake allowing Qb3. Fritz wants the bishop on c5 or even e7} 18. f4 {Qb3 is simple. Fritz also likes Qd7 Rd7; Rad} Bb2 19. Rb1 {Fritz points out it is still possible to trade queens and play Rad} Bxb1 20. Qxb1 Qd2 21. Qd1 Qxc3 22. Qb3 Qxb3 23. axb3 Rd2 24. Bf3 c6 25. Rb1 Bc3 26. Rc1 Bb4 {That’s an oops. Ba5, says Fritz when Be1 can be met with Ra2.} 27. Kh2 Rb2 28. e4 Rxb3 29. Rf1 Rd8 30. f5 Rd2 31. h4 a5 32. h5 a4 33. Be1 Rd4 34. Bh4 a3 35. g4 Rd2+ 36. Kg3 a2 37. g5 Rb1 38. Rxb1 axb1=Q 39. gxh6 Qg1+ 40. Kf4 Qh2+ 41. Bg3 Qg1 42. hxg7 Kxg7 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "2021.02"] [Site "https://lichess.org/953ejxwZ"] [Date "2021.02.01"] [Round "1"] [White "allies, Erickson & Newman"] [Black "Bafna, Mihir, MBafna"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E38"] [WhiteElo "826"] [BlackElo "1828"] [PlyCount "38"] [EventDate "2021.02.01"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] {The allies are Darren (Laughing Vulcan) Erickson and Steve (Quasialeaf) Newman} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. Nf3 {A standard here is a3. dc and e3 are also playable. The text requires some care.} d5 6. Bd2 cxd4 7. Nxd4 dxc4 8. e3 {Always hungry, Fritz likes the reply Qa4+ Qd7; Qb4 Qd5; Nb5 with some danger for Black.} O-O 9. Bxc4 e5 10. Nde2 {A little too passive for Fritz who likes Nf3 or Nb3 better.} Qc7 11. Bd3 {At this point the allies were debating Bd3 and Bb3. Both protect the queen. I had logged on for just a moment and recommended Bd3 as more active. Fritz says the choice should be Qb3 or b3.} Bg4 12. O-O {Fritz says a3 or h3. Get those bishops out of my face. White’s central piece mass is under a lot of pressure.} Nc6 {Fritz says this gives White a chance to force trades with Ne4 or h3. He says Rd8 or e4} 13. Rac1 {Protecting the wrong piece, says Fritz who still likes the trading moves. Ne4 Ne4; Bb4} Rad8 14. Ng3 {The losing move. Rfd was still holding everything.} Qd7 {Black’s pieces are much more active. One of the bishops will now die. For example, Bf5 Bf5; Nf5 Qd2} 15. Nge4 Qxd3 16. Qxd3 Rxd3 17. a3 {Nf6+.} Nxe4 18. Be1 Nxc3 19. Bxc3 Bxc3 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

January, 2021 games:

[Event "January Tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/beXuqTTM"] [Date "2021.01.25"] [Round "3"] [White "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D30"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "94"] [EventDate "2021.01.04"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Ne5 Nbd7 5. Nc3 dxc4 {Fritz shows a slight advantage for Black after Bb4 or Bd6 or c6. Equality after this.} 6. Qa4 {A little too aggressive, says Fritz. Nc4 is equal.} c6 7. e4 {A lot too aggressive, says Fritz. Just trade on d7 and take the pawn with the Queen.} Nb6 {Why are you mis-placing your knight, says Fritz. Trade on e5, play b5 to protect your extra pawn, and move your knight.} 8. Qd1 Bb4 9. f3 Bxc3+ {Oh, you are not going to sacrifice your knight, says Fritz. Where are the pieces to back up that sacrifice? Just 0-0 was better.} 10. bxc3 Nxe4 11. fxe4 Qh4+ 12. Ke2 Qxe4+ 13. Be3 {Just Kf2. Now Black has a target.} Nd5 {First f6.} 14. Qd2 {Nc4 protects e3 and threatens Nd6+. It appears f5 immediately is better.} b5 15. Re1 {It’s time for the king to run. Kd1 Qb1+; Ke2 (not Qc1 Nc3+). Fritz prefers Kf2 or Rg1 with g3 and Bg2 coming} f5 {Fritz says this is now better than f6 first.} 16. Nf3 {That just gives Black the piece. With 3 extra pawns, the game is over. Fritz now likes Kd1 better than Kf2 when f4 wins the bishop.} f4 17. Ng5 Qxe3+ 18. Qxe3 Nxe3 {Fritz says fe3 is better because of the open lines for attack.} 19. Kf3 O-O 20. h4 h6 21. Nh3 Nd5 22. Rc1 Bb7 23. Be2 c5 24. Kf2 Rae8 25. Bf3 cxd4 26. cxd4 e5 27. Rhe1 exd4 28. Rxe8 Rxe8 29. Re1 Rxe1 30. Kxe1 Bc6 31. Bxd5+ Bxd5 32. Nxf4 Be4 33. a3 Kf7 34. g3 a5 35. Ne2 d3 36. Nc3 Bc6 37. Kd2 b4 38. axb4 axb4 39. Nd1 Ke6 40. Ne3 Bb5 41. g4 c3+ 42. Kc1 d2+ 43. Kd1 Ba4+ 44. Ke2 d1=Q+ 45. Nxd1 Bxd1+ 46. Kxd1 b3 47. Kc1 Ke5 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "January Tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/GQiFNQsN"] [Date "2021.01.25"] [Round "3"] [White "Johnson, Jerremy Scott, JSBach71"] [Black "Kumar, Prithiv, Prithiv3"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A22"] [WhiteElo "1512"] [BlackElo "1387"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2021.01.04"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 {Fritz is not impressed. Now either Black pawn could chase a knight out of the center.} Nc6 5. d4 e4 {Fritz likes either pawn capture. Now White seizes an initiative.} 6. Ne5 Nxe5 7. dxe5 d4 8. exf6 dxc3 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. bxc3 {White maintains a slight initiative, but Fritz says Bg5 is much stronger, gaining several tempi.} gxf6 11. Bg2 f5 12. Bg5+ Be7 13. Rd1+ Ke8 14. Bf4 Be6 15. Bh3 {Very passive, says Fritz. Black’s bishops rake the board. White’s bishops are much less effective. f3 to activate the g2 bishop.} c6 16. O-O h5 {Fritz wants to open lines to White’s king.} 17. Rb1 b6 18. a4 Bxc4 {Hey, what happened to opening lines? Fritz wants h4.} 19. Bxf5 Bxe2 {Fritz likes Bd5. Black’s king is on that soon-to-be opened e-file.} 20. Rfe1 {Good, says Fritz, but Be5 is even better.} Bd3 21. Rb2 {Again, Fritz prefers Be4} Bc5 22. Bxe4 Bxe4 23. Rxe4+ Kf8 24. Rd2 Re8 {Kg7 leaves White with all the developed pieces, but this loses a pawn.} 25. Rxe8+ Kxe8 26. Bg5 Be7 {f6 now, not next move, says Fritz, but Black still has a bad game.} 27. Re2 f6 28. Bxf6 Rh7 29. h4 {Fritz likes Kf1 to gain a tempo on the race to the queen-side. Or c4 to better restrain Black’s pawns. White will still trade both pieces} Kd7 30. Bxe7 Rxe7 31. Rxe7+ Kxe7 32. f4 {That appears to be the bad move. With f3 (now or later) White secures the king-side against the enemy king. Then an immediate b5; ab cb; Kf1 a5; Ke2 a4; Kd2 a3; Kc2 a2; Kb2 and White wins. Or f3 Kd6; Kf2 Kc5; Ke2 Kc4; Kd2 Kb3; g4 and White wins. Fritz is still showing a White advantage, but not nearly as much.} Kf6 33. Kf2 Kf5 34. Kf3 b5 35. axb5 cxb5 36. Ke3 a5 37. Kd2 a4 38. Kc2 {Fritz is now showing equality. Neither king can capture the backward pawn without allowing the forward pawn to queen.} Kg4 {Ke4 or Ke6. Black must be able to stop White’s c-pawn as well as his f-pawn. He will never be able to take the g-pawn.} 39. Kb2 Kf5 40. Ka3 Ke4 {From here Fritz shows equality in all lines.} 41. Kb2 Kd5 42. Ka3 Ke4 43. Ka2 Kd5 44. Ka3 Ke4 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "January Tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/4sBEoMIo"] [Date "2021.01.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Newman, Steve, quassialeaf"] [Black "Bafna, Mihir, MBafna"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E34"] [WhiteElo "000"] [BlackElo "1828"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2021.01.18"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. Nf3 O-O 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 c5 8. e3 Nc6 9. Bd3 Qc7 10. O-O h6 11. h3 Na5 12. cxd5 c4 13. Be2 exd5 14. Ne5 Nb3 15. Rb1 Ne4 {A little too aggressive, says Fritz. Now Bc4 wins a pawn.} 16. Bf3 Bf5 17. Rxb3 {This sacrifice is not sound (though it is the 2nd choice for Fritz), but Black is ready to play Ng3 attacking both rooks.} cxb3 18. Qxb3 Rfd8 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 {de, says Fritz, preparing for a king-side assault and leaving no weaknesses behind.} 20. f3 Bh7 21. Bb2 Rac8 22. Rc1 {Fritz wants the more active e4, hoping for de fe with three attacks on f7} h5 {depriving the knight of an escape square, but Fritz says this gives White time for c4.} 23. Qd1 {Thinking to protect the knight when it retreats to d3, but Fritz says c4} Qb6 24. Qe2 {Ba1 Now the queen is overloaded protecting both bishop and knight.} f6 25. Nd3 Bxd3 26. Qxd3 Qxb2 27. Rb1 Qxc3 28. Qxc3 Rxc3 29. Rxb7 Rxa3 30. Re7 a5 31. Kh2 h4 32. f4 a4 33. g4 Ra2+ 34. Kg1 Rb8 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "January Tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/ZKMNe9Vo"] [Date "2021.01.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Smith, Jeff, UKWildcat"] [Black "Johnson, Jeremy Scott, JSBach71"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "1435"] [BlackElo "1512"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "2021.01.18"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d4 Bg4 6. Be2 c6 7. Be3 Nbd7 8. O-O g6 9. h3 Bf5 10. Bc4 e6 11. Ne5 b5 {Not Ne5; de Qe5??; Bd4 Fritz likes Ne5 de but then Qd1; Rad Nd5} 12. Bb3 Bg7 13. g4 {Fritz calls this a blunder. He likes Qf3 or Nd7 Nd7; Qf5 emphasizing the weakness of c6.} Be4 {Fritz says b4 is needed. Now White could trade on d7 and play g5 to win a piece.} 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. Qf3 Nxe5 16. Qxe4 {Ever vigilant Fritz calls for de Qe5; Bf4 winning the knight.} Nd7 17. c3 {You’ve got him on the run, says Fritz. Bf4 Qd4; Qc6} O-O 18. Rad1 Nf6 19. Qf3 a5 20. Bf4 Qd7 21. Be5 a4 22. Bxf6 axb3 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. a3 {I would have taken the pawn, but Fritz says keeping the file closed is better.} Qd6 25. Rfe1 Rfe8 26. Qe4 Ra4 27. Qe5+ Qxe5 28. dxe5 Rf4 29. Kg2 f5 {That opens lines that White is quick to seize.} 30. g5 c5 31. Rd7+ Kg8 32. Kg3 Re4 {Fritz rates Ra4 or Rc4 better than this.} 33. Rxe4 fxe4 34. Kf4 Rf8+ {Black says, hey, I can use open files too.} 35. Ke3 Rf3+ 36. Kxe4 Rxf2 37. Rb7 b4 38. axb4 cxb4 39. Rxb4 Rxb2 40. c4 Rh2 {The losing move. Fritz gives two alternates h5; gh allows the king to come forward and recover the pawn instead of getting trapped. Or Re2+; Kd4 b2} 41. Rxb3 Rf2 42. c5 Kf7 43. Rb7+ Ke8 44. c6 Kd8 45. Rxh7 Rd2 46. Rg7 Rh2 47. Rxg6 Rxh3 48. Rxe6 Rg3 49. Kf5 Rf3+ 50. Kg6 Kc7 51. Rf6 Re3 52. Kf7 Rxe5 53. g6 Kd8 54. g7 Re7+ 55. Kg6 Rxg7+ 56. Kxg7 Kc7 57. Kf7 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

The first round of our January tournament

[Event "January Tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/4FXxb2FH"] [Date "2021.01.12"] [Round "1"] [White "Johnson, Jeremy Scott, JSBach71"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A13"] [WhiteElo "1512"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "2021.01.11"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] {White is Jeremy Scott Johnson, known on lichess as JSBach71 and on Discord as Ender8484 says his rating is 15 years old. He has been playing postal chess.} 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d3 {I expected d4. e3 is also playable.} dxc4 4. dxc4 Qxd1+ 5. Nxd1 Nc6 6. e4 Nb4 {Fritz says this attack is much less strong than just Nf6 or Bb4+} 7. Ne3 Bc5 {Again, Nf6 is stronger.} 8. a3 Bxe3 9. axb4 Bh6 {Bc1 Black hopes to place his bishop on the long diagonal. That does not happen.} 10. Nf3 g6 11. Bxh6 Nxh6 12. Be2 Ke7 13. O-O {White has the better position out of the opening. Time for some brilliant middle-game play.} a6 14. b5 Bd7 15. Ne5 Rhd8 {Fritz says ab is equal. I was looking for development.} 16. Rfd1 Be8 17. Rxd8 Rxd8 18. bxa6 bxa6 19. Rxa6 Rd2 20. Kf1 Rxb2 21. Ra7 { Brilliant middle game play if often enhanced when the opponent blunders a piece. I expected f3 (Fritz likes f4 to protect the knight) when I would have time to protect c7} Rb1+ 22. Bd1 Rxd1+ 23. Ke2 Rb1 {hoping for Rc7+ Kd6; Rc8 Ke5; Rc8 Ke4} 24. f3 {Fritz calls that a blunder which Black should punish with Rb2+} Kd6 25. Nd3 Rb8 {I am very aware that my poor knight has no escape, so I am guarding the approaches.} 26. c5+ Kc6 27. Ke3 f6 28. Kd4 Nf7 29. f4 Nd8 30. Kc4 Bf7 31. e5 f5 {Note that fe; Ne5 is mate!} 32. Nb4+ Rxb4+ {Fritz says Black survives Kd7; Na6 Rb7} 33. Kxb4 Nb7 {Equality, says Fritz: Ra6+ Kd5; Ra7 Kc6} 34. Ra8 g5 {The bishop is in danger and fg would weaken White’s e-pawn.} 35. fxg5 Bg6 {Now Nc5 was possible.} 36. Ra6+ Kd5 37. c6 {The last drawing chance was Ra7 with the repetition mentioned above} Nd8 38. Kb5 f4 {Both players miss Nc6; Rc6 Be8} 39. Ra7 {White notices that Bd3 kills the rook} Bd3+ 40. Kb4 {Ka4 Kc6 is obviously a lost cause} Nxc6+ 41. Kc3 Nxa7 42. Kxd3 Kxe5 43. Ke2 c5 44. h4 Nc6 45. Kf2 Ke4 46. h5 Ne5 47. g3 Ng4+ 48. Kg2 f3+ 49. Kf1 c4 50. g6 hxg6 {Fritz points out c3 when both queen, but Black’s queen mates} 51. hxg6 c3 52. g7 Nf6 53. Ke1 c2 54. Kd2 f2 55. Kxc2 f1=Q 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "January Tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/HkCP0lbS"] [Date "2021.01.12"] [Round "1"] [White "Dane_Sorensen"] [Black "quassialeaf"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C27"] [WhiteElo "000"] [BlackElo "000"] [PlyCount "44"] [EventDate "2021.01.11"] [TimeControl "G/60; 5"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nxe4 4. Nxe4 {Playable. Fritz suggests Qh5 with multiple threats.} d5 5. Bxd5 Qxd5 6. d3 Nc6 7. c3 {This leaves the d-pawn very weak. Nf3 and 0-0} Be6 8. Nf3 O-O-O 9. O-O Qxd3 10. Qxd3 Rxd3 11. Nfg5 {Fritz says develop with Be3 or Re1} Bd5 12. b4 {That loses one of the knights. Ng3 or f3 per Fritz} f6 13. b5 Nd8 14. c4 Bxc4 15. Nf3 Bxb5 16. Be3 Nc6 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. Bxc5 b6 19. Ba3 Rxa3 20. Rfd1 Rd8 21. Rdc1 Nd4 22. Ne1 Ne2+ {Game over. Each player used about 15 minutes of the allocated 60 minutes. Obviously, playing much too fast.} 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

We start 2021 off with a bang as new member Nicholas Bruha takes on the rest of us in a simul.

[Event "mentosandcoke simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/ITwNjRCk"] [Date "2021.01.05"] [Round "1"] [White "Bruha, Nicholas, mentosandcoke"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D85"] [WhiteElo "1989"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2021.01.04"] [TimeControl "G/30; 10"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8. h3 {Be3 is most common. Rb1 and Bb5+ are also played. This prevents a pin of the knight which is protecting the center.} O-O {Passive. The whole point of Black’s defense is to attack the White center. Fritz says get on with that with cd or Nc6} 9. Be2 Nc6 10. Be3 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qa5+ {The alternate plan is f5, still attacking the center} 12. Bd2 {Qd2 is equality. Black would be happy.} Qd8 {Qa3 is the other common continuation. How is White to protect the center?} 13. d5 {The bishop escorts the sleeping elephant to heaven. But who’s guarding the king?} Bxa1 14. Qxa1 Nb8 15. O-O {Might as well develop the last piece since Black has nothing off the first rank. On Bh6 Black should play f6 and return the material.} f5 {Hindsight suggests f6} 16. Bh6 Rf7 17. Ng5 Qe8 18. Nxf7 Qxf7 19. Bc4 {Fritz calls this an error only because Rc1 or Qc3 would be even better.} fxe4 20. d6 e6 21. Re1 b5 {Allowing Re4 followed by Rf4 is death.} 22. Bxb5 Bb7 23. Be8 {Deflecting the queen from protection of g7. Well played} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "mentosandcoke simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/pqu6hQS5"] [Date "2021.01.04"] [Round "1"] [White "Newman, Steven, quassialeaf"] [Black "Bruha, Nicholas, mentosandcoke"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C53"] [BlackElo "1989"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2021.01.04"] [TimeControl "G/30; 10"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. b4 Bb6 7. b5 Na5 8. O-O Nxc4 9. dxc4 d6 10. Nbd2 a6 11. Qe2 Be6 12. Bb2 h6 13. a4 Nh5 14. Rad1 {Missing the threat to the bishop costs a piece. Rab or Rfe Nf4; Qf1. Crafty likes g3 despite the hole in the White castle. Both Fritz and Crafty like a5. Fritz also comes up with Nd4 Nf4; Qf3 Nh3+; gh ed} Nf4 15. Qe1 Nd3 16. Qe2 Nxb2 17. Rde1 {Ra1. White’s pieces are centralized, but not coordinated.} Nxa4 18. Qe3 {Mouse slip? I susect he meant Qd3. There is no take-back in simul play.} Bxe3 19. Rxe3 axb5 20. cxb5 Nc5 21. Rd1 Ra2 22. Nf1 Bc4 23. Ng3 Bb3 24. Rde1 Ne6 25. Nf5 Nf4 26. Kh1 Be6 27. N3h4 g6 28. Nxh6+ Kh7 29. N6f5 gxf5 30. Nxf5 Bxf5 31. exf5 Rg8 32. Rg3 Rxg3 33. fxg3 Nxg2 34. Re4 Qg5 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "mentosandcoke simul"] [Site "https://lichess.org/uRn3N5bW"] [Date "2021.01.04"] [Round "1"] [White "Bruha, Nicholas, mentosandcoke"] [Black "Erickson, Darren, LaughingVulcan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D11"] [WhiteElo "1989"] [BlackElo "826"] [PlyCount "19"] [EventDate "2021.01.04"] [TimeControl "G/30; 10"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Bg4 {Fritz is not impressed, prefering Nf6 for equality or dc for a slight edge.} 4. Ne5 Be6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Nc3 g6 {Fritz prefers Nd7 or Nf6} 7. g3 {Solid. Fritz prefers Qb3 or e4} Nf6 8. Bg2 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. Qb3 {A power failure took Black out of the game. Fritz gives White a slight advantage after either Qb6 or Nc6} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.