2022.04 2022.04 Downloads: 2022.04.07 2022.04.23 2022.04.26 [Event ""] [Site "The Proving Ground"] [Date "2022.04.26"] [Round "4"] [White "Frank, Cole"] [Black "Alford, Joseph"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C80"] [WhiteElo "1537"] [BlackElo "1920"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2022.04.05"] [SourceDate "2022.04.26"] {Chess is being played at The Proving Ground on Tuesday evenings} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 Nc5 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8. Nxe5 Be6 {Fritz prefers Be7; d4 Ne6} 9. d4 Nd7 10. Bf4 Bd6 {Fritz prefers Ne5 with a slight edge for Black} 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Ne4 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Be7 14. Qh5 f6 {This ends up costing a pawn. Fritz likes Qd5 or Qd4. I considered both but did not see any continuation.} 15. Rad1 Qe8 16. Qxe8 Raxe8 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Nxf6+ Rxf6 19. Bxc7 Ref8 {Fritz wants to chase the bishop, but I see no advantage.} 20. Bb6 Bd5 21. Re7 Rg6 22. g3 Rgf6 23. Rde1 {White has several better moves. Rb7 or Bd4.} h6 24. Bc5 R8f7 25. a3 Kh7 26. f4 g5 27. fxg5 hxg5 28. Bd4 Rf5 29. Rxf7+ Rxf7 30. Rf1 {Fritz calls this equal after Rf1+; Kf1 g5} Re7 31. Bf6 Re2 32. Rf2 Re1+ 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. [Event ""] [Site "The Proving Ground"] [Date "2022.04.27"] [Round "4"] [White "Schmidt, Fred"] [Black "Alford, Joseph"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "793"] [BlackElo "1920"] [Annotator ",JosephOAlford"] [PlyCount "40"] [EventDate "2022.04.05"] [SourceDate "2022.04.26"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 {Unlike e4 e5; Nf3, this doesn’t attack anything.} Bf5 3. e3 { Bf4 hoping to get in Nb5 to attack c7. Now White has two dead pieces} Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 {already thinking to allow Nh4 Bg6; Ng6 hg with an attacking file. Probably h6 or even h5 would be better.} 5. g3 {Much too slow. Bd3 hoping for a trade to bring up the queen and allowing a speedy 0-0} Be7 {Eyeing h4, but nothing comes of that. Fritz says Bd6 or Bb4.} 6. Bg2 Nbd7 {Another piece headed for the king-side} 7. O-O Nf8 8. b3 h5 {Ng6 first? I was thinking Nh4 Bh7 when I would regain the tempo with g5} 9. Bb2 Ng6 10. Qe2 h4 {Overly exhuberant. Now Qb4+ could be troublesome. c6 is better.} 11. Rad1 hxg3 12. fxg3 Qd7 {Thinking to 000 and bring the second rook into the growing attack.} 13. Ng5 {Supporting an e4 push? Black strikes first.} Ng4 14. h3 Bxg5 15. hxg4 Bxg4 16. Bf3 {I would be happy with Qg4 Be3+} Bh3 17. Rf2 Qd6 18. g4 Qg3+ 19. Bg2 Bxe3 20. Rdf1 Qxg2# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. [Event "Lichess Correspondence Game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/QpqCme4yTf"] [Date "2022.01.16"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Herrera, Oscar"] [Black "Erickson, Darren"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "1720"] [BlackElo "1849"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "2021.09.26"] {Not everyone plays just on Thursday evening. Here are two correspondence games by our members} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {Premature. Watch the pawns chase this bishop. d4 is best. d3 is playable.} e6 4. O-O a6 5. Nc3 {a4 or d3 or c3 all protecting the bishop.} b5 6. Be2 Nf6 7. d3 Be7 8. Ng5 {A one-piece attack is not an attack. h3 to support Be3} h6 {I like this move, but Fritz says the knight is misplaced. Why waste a move pushing it back to where it should have stayed? Fritz likes d5 or 0-0} 9. Nf3 O-O 10. Bf4 e5 {Two attackers. One defender. d5 was possible or h3 to support Be3} 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Bb7 13. Bg4 {If he takes the bishop then my queen and bishop are attacking. And if he doesn’t take the bishop?} d6 14. Bg3 Nxg4 15. Qxg4 Bf6 16. Rae1 Be5 17. Nd5 {Losing the b-pawn, says Fritz.} Bxd5 18. exd5 Bxg3 {Fritz says take the b-pawn, but also points out f5; Qh5 f4; Bh4 Qd2} 19. Qxg3 Qf6 20. b3 {White’s pawns become very weak. c3 was better. Fritz says c4 was also better. Note that Black’s pawns are also vulnerable.} b4 21. Re3 Rae8 22. Rfe1 Rxe3 23. Rxe3 {oops. fe3 is better. Even Qe3 is better.} Qa1+ 24. Re1 Qxe1# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. [Event "Lichess Correspondence Game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/CALdNY2m"] [Date "2022.04.23"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Erickson, Darren"] [Black "Herrera, Oscar"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1849"] [BlackElo "1720"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2022.01.16"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. e5 dxe5 8. fxe5 Ng4 {This knight now gets pushed out of the game. Nd5} 9. h3 Nh6 10. g4 {Played to keep the knight from f5? Fritz suggests Bb5 or Be4 to remove the knight on c6.} Nxd4 11. Bf4 c5 {Black is reluctant to increase White’s development with Nf3+. Perhaps Ne6 after which Black should attend to the h6 knight with Kh8 or an f-pawn advance.} 12. Nxd4 Qxd4 13. Qd2 b6 {c4, attempting a queen trade, looks best. Black could get two pawns for his piece with Ng4; hg Bg4 but then there really would be a king-side attack.} 14. Bxh6 Bxh6 15. Qxh6 Qxe5+ 16. Ne4 {Returning the piece immediately. Be2 Ba6; Qd2 Rad looks dicey. Ne2 Qb2; Qc1 is promising. My first thought was Kd2 with rapid rook development. Fritz approves.} c4 17. O-O-O cxd3 18. Ng5 Qg7 19. Qxg7+ Kxg7 20. Rxd3 Bb7 21. Re1 e6 22. Rd7 Bc6 {Bd5 is best, but still loses a pawn to Ne6+} 23. Nxe6+ Kh6 24. Nxf8 Bxd7 25. Nxd7 Rd8 26. Re7 Kg5 27. Rxf7 Re8 28. Rxh7 Re1+ 29. Kd2 Ra1 {A piece down, Black places his rook out of play. The game is over.} 30. a3 Ra2 31. Kc3 Kf4 32. Nf8 g5 33. Ne6+ Kg3 34. Nxg5 Ra1 35. Rxa7 Re1 36. Rf7 Re3+ 37. Kd2 Re5 38. Rf5 Re8 39. c4 Kh4 40. c5 Rg8 41. cxb6 Rb8 42. Rb5 Rg8 43. b7 Rf8 44. b8=Q Rxb8 45. Rxb8 Kxg5 46. Rf8 Kh4 47. a4 Kxh3 48. g5 Kh4 49. g6 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. [Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/SflWZF8d"] [Date "2022.04.08"] [Round "1"] [White "allies, Johnson & Newman"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C25"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2022.04.07"] {Jeremy Scott Johnson and Steven Newman discussed moves on a private Discord channel for the White pieces} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. g3 {This produces a very solid position, but it is slow. White must be careful to not fall behind in development. Nf3 or Bc5 would be better} Nc6 4. Bg2 d6 {Fritz prefers Nf6 or a6 (to preserve the bishop)} 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. d3 O-O 7. O-O Bg4 {Fritz still wants a6 or even a5 to preserve the bishop. Black is fishing. If White responds h3 then the bishop retreats with a target in view.} 8. b3 {Again, very slow. And this time the question would be what is the bishop on b2 aiming at?} Qd7 9. Bb2 h6 {allowing for a re-deployment Nh7-g5 hitting the pinned knight. Black dreams of knights on g5 and d4 and an open f-file. White sees that dream as a nightmare and eliminates it.} 10. Qe2 {Qd2 Now Black gets a free developing move} Nd4 11. Qd1 Nh7 12. Na4 {The coming trades eliminate Black’s attack} Bb6 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. Bxd4 exd4 15. Qd2 {White has made great progress. Black has two sets of doubled pawns and the pin is gone. Black wants to play f5 renewing an attack along the f-file, but first the central pawn must be defended} c5 16. Rfe1 Rae8 17. e5 {Losing a pawn. Fritz says a4 or c4} Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Rxe5 19. b4 {White says Black may have an extra pawn, but those pawns are weak. He dreams of an open b-file} Rfe8 20. c3 Ng5 21. Bg2 dxc3 22. Qxc3 Rxe1+ {Pulling the queen away from protecting c5} 23. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 24. Qxe1 d5 25. a3 Ne6 26. Qe5 {Winning either the d-pawn or the b-pawn, but now Black’s c-pawn starts its run} c4 27. Bxd5 {Not good enough. Fritz clls for Kf1 or f4 (to restrain the knight)} cxd3 28. Kf1 {But now this should lose a piece. Fritz gives d2; Ke2 d1/Q+; Kd1 Nc7 winning the pinned bishop} Ng5 {Now White has an edge. He can stop the pawn with Qd4 or Ke1} 29. h4 d2 {Black retains an advantage with Ne6. Now Ke2 Nf3; Qe4 favors White} 30. Qd4 {This loses} Qb5+ 31. Kg2 Qe2 32. Bb3 Qf3+ 33. Kh2 Qxb3 34. Qd8+ Kh7 35. hxg5 d1=Q 36. g6+ fxg6 37. Qxd1 Qxd1 38. b5 Qf3 39. a4 h5 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.