2022.05 2022.05 Downloads: 2022.05.03.tpg 2022.05.05 2022.05.12 2021.05.23 2022.05.31 [Event ""] [Site "The Proving Ground"] [Date "2022.05.31"] [Round "6"] [White "Frank, Cole"] [Black "Alford, Joseph"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C78"] [Annotator "JosephOAlford"] [PlyCount "52"] [EventDate "2022.05.03"] [SourceDate "2022.05.31"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 {Fritz prefers 0-0, but since I am known to like Ne4 White takes a road less traveled.} Bc5 {Black’s e5 is safe: Bc6 dc; Ne5 Bf7+; Kf7 Qd5+ and … Qe5} 6. O-O b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Bb6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Be6 12. Nbd2 {I thought that was a nice move, developing and defending. Fritz prefers Be6} Na5 {Fritz does not approve of continuing down the bad line. Bg4 or even Bd7 would be better. Again, Be6 should be the response. I disagree. Black gets a powerful grip on the center.} 13. Bc2 c5 14. h3 Qd7 {White needs to watch for a sacrifice on h3. It is surprising that Black’s king is safer in the center than White’s king in its castle.} 15. Re1 {White wants to advance in the center. Fritz says go ahead with d4} g4 16. hxg4 Bxg4 17. b4 {This opens squares (d4!) and lines (c-file)for Black. Fritz says Bh4 or Nf1} cxb4 18. cxb4 Nc6 19. a3 Rc8 {All of Black’s pieces join the battle. Fritz prefers the immediate Nd4 or Rg8, each moves I considered.} 20. Nf1 {Too slow. Fritz says Bh4 or Bb1 or Bb3. I think all of those are also too slow.} Nd4 21. Rc1 Bxf3 22. gxf3 Nh5 {I had planned Qh3. White gets a breather, but the attack is still very strong.} 23. Kg2 Rg8 24. Bb1 Nf4+ 25. Kg1 Rxc1 26. Qxc1 Qh3 {Fritz finds several faster mates, but you only have to win the game once.} 0-1 [pgn] [pgn navigation_board=floatLeft show_move_arrow=no [Event "Lichess Correspondence Rated"] [Site "https://lichess.org/ATEdGeSgSv"] [Date "2022.05.23"] [Round "1"] [White "Erickson, Darren"] [Black "Berardi, Orion"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1849"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2021.09.26"] {Not everyone plays on Thursday evening. This game was played by correspondence, one move a day over several weeks.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 {Now Black remains a pawn down. The recent world championship featured the Petroff a lot. Correct is d6; Nf3 and only now Ne4. A famous error is 3 … Ne4; 4 Qe2 Nf6; 5 Nc6+ losing the Black queen.} 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. Nc3 Bc5 6. Be2 {Fritz says Black can recover his pawn with Ne4; Ne4 Qd4. The immediate Qd4 also works. In either case, Black must be careful about pins along the e-file.} b5 {Pieces, pieces, pieces. Every move should develop another piece. Black should recover the pawn or play 0-0 or develop the second bishop.} 7. d3 Qd4 {Since this doesn’t work, Fritz prefers 0-0 or Qd6} 8. Be3 Qb4 9. Bxc5 Qxc5 10. a3 O-O 11. O-O Be6 12. d4 Qb6 13. e5 Nd5 14. Nxd5 {Here and several times later, when ahead, trade.} cxd5 15. b4 f6 16. f4 fxe5 17. fxe5 a6 18. Bg4 {A bit premature in view of the fork at d4. c3 or Qd2. Now Black gains some tempi, but he is still down a pawn.} Rxf1+ 19. Kxf1 Rf8+ 20. Kg1 Rf4 21. Bxe6+ Qxe6 22. a4 Qg4 {When ahead, trade. Black is not ahead. Fritz suggests c6 or Rf8} 23. Qxg4 Rxg4 24. c3 Kf7 {losing another pawn. Rg6 followed by either Rc6 or just c6 would be better. In most rook and pawn endings, the more active rook wins.} 25. axb5 axb5 26. Ra7 Ke6 27. Rxc7 Kf5 28. Rc5 {Black can resign at any time now. He loses all his pawns without compensation.} Re4 29. Rxd5 Kf4 30. Kf2 g5 31. Rxb5 h5 32. Rd5 h4 33. b5 Kg4 34. h3+ Kf4 35. b6 g4 36. b7 g3+ 37. Kf1 Kf5 38. b8=Q Rf4+ 39. Kg1 Ke4 40. e6 Rf2 41. Qe5+ Kd3 42. Qf5+ Kd2 43. Qxf2+ Kxc3 44. Qe3+ Kc4 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. [Site "https://lichess.org/9kthRmPk"] [Date "2022.05.12"] [Round "2"] [White "JosephOAlford"] [Black "Newman, Steven, bitterroot88"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1125"] [PlyCount "115"] [EventDate "2022.05.12"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 Qe7 {The threat of discovered check is easily countered. Black should play Be7 and 0-0} 6. Be2 d5 7. O-O c6 {Solid, but very slow. Black needs to get 000. During the game Black suggested g6 with Bg7 and 0-0 to follow. I said that was too slow, but that might have been better than what happens.} 8. Re1 Be6 9. Nc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Nd7 {Fritz suggests h6 to keep White’s knight out, but Nd7 is his second choice.} 11. Ng5 O-O-O 12. Nxe6 fxe6 {The immediate Qe6 does not lose a pawn,} 13. Bg4 h5 14. Bxe6 Qf6 15. a4 Bd6 16. Ba3 Bc7 17. c4 Ba5 18. Re3 Kc7 {Losing a second pawn. dc was better.} 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Bxd5 Nb6 {Challenging the wrong piece. Either Re8 is better.} 21. Re7+ Rd7 22. Rxd7+ Nxd7 23. Rb1 Nb6 24. Bf3 Rd8 {Fritz suggests Re8, but Rd8 is his second choice.} 25. d5 Nc4 26. d6+ Nxd6 27. Bxd6+ Rxd6 28. Rxb7+ Kc8 29. Qb1 Rb6 30. Rxb6 Bxb6 31. Qe1 h4 {Looking for White to play h3 to stop the back-rank mate threat after which he hopes to drive the king to h2 and a bishop check.} 32. a5 Bc5 {Ba5; Qa5 and White covers a1} 33. h3 Kc7 34. Qb1 {Fishing. Looking for a way to trade queens.} Qa6 35. Qb2 g6 36. Qg7+ Kb8 37. Qh8+ Qc8 {Fritz says White could win the bishop with Qe5+ Qc7; Qe8+ Qc8; Qb5+. To paraphrase Fischer, You only have to win each game once.} 38. Qxc8+ {Forgoing the third pawn since the resulting ending is completely won.} Kxc8 39. a6 Kc7 40. Kf1 Kb6 41. Be2 g5 42. g3 hxg3 43. fxg3 Kc6 44. Kg2 Kd6 45. Kf3 Ke5 46. Kg4 Kf6 47. h4 gxh4 48. Kxh4 Kg7 49. g4 Be7+ 50. Kh5 Bd6 51. g5 Bc5 52. Bd3 Bd4 53. Kg4 Bc3 54. Kf5 Bd4 55. c4 Bc5 56. Ke6 Be3 57. g6 Bc5 58. Kd5 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. [Date "2022.05.03"] [Round "1"] [White "Alford, Joseph"] [Black "Cole, Frank"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C12"] [Annotator ",JosephOAlford"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2022.05.03"] {Chess is being played at the proving ground on Tuesday evenings} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 h6 {This results in a permanent weakness on the f-file. Be7; e5 Nd7 was expected. Fritz gives this as his second choice after de} 5. Bxf6 gxf6 6. exd5 exd5 7. Qf3 Bb4 8. O-O-O Be6 9. Nge2 Rg8 10. h3 {Both Qe3 and a3 are stronger.} c6 11. Nf4 {Again, Qe3 and a3 should be considered} Qa5 12. Nxe6 Bxc3 13. Nc7+ {I liked this move, but Fritz points out Qe3 or Nc5, both significantly better} Qxc7 14. Qxc3 Qf4+ 15. Qd2 Qxd2+ 16. Rxd2 {Kd2 activates the king.} Nd7 17. Re2+ Kf8 18. g3 Re8 19. Rxe8+ Kxe8 20. h4 Ke7 21. Bh3 Nb6 22. Re1+ Kd6 23. b3 a5 24. Kd2 a4 25. Kd3 axb3 26. axb3 Na8 27. Ra1 Nc7 28. Ra7 Rb8 29. c4 {A mistake that puts Black slightly in the lead. Fritz says retreat the rook or play Bf1 aiming for a6.} Na6 {I was feeling pretty good with my one rook holding down both of his pieces. Then I saw Kc7 and Kb6.} 30. c5+ Kc7 31. Kc3 Re8 32. Bf1 Kb8 33. Rxa6 bxa6 34. Bxa6 Kc7 35. b4 {Fritz suggests bringing the bishop to d3 to block the rook from attacking f2.} Ra8 36. b5 cxb5 37. Bxb5 Ra2 38. Be8 Rxf2 39. Bxf7 Rf3+ {I did not think Kb4 Rg3; Bd5 Rg4 gave enough chances.} 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. [Event "Casual Classical game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/52NjY1Y1"] [Date "2022.05.05"] [Round "1"] [White "Johnson, Jeremy Scott, JSBach71"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C25"] [WhiteElo "1670"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2022.05.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. g3 {Nc3 is a slow opening. g3 is a slow opening. Combining the two is a bad idea.} d6 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. Nf3 a6 6. d3 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4 {h3 is ok. Adding in g4 invites Black to take a can opener to White’s position.} Bg6 9. O-O h5 10. Nd5 hxg4 11. hxg4 Qd7 12. Ng5 Rh4 13. Bf3 f6 {I was thinking, Oh yeah? Where’s your knight going to go? No matter how good a player you are, you still need to make good moves. This is not one. Now White could play Ne6 when Qe6 meets Nc7+} 14. a3 Nd4 {Yes, I could take the g4 knight, but then BxP and my rook has to retreat and I can’t 000.} 15. Ne6 Nxe6 16. b4 Ba7 17. Be3 Bxe3 18. Nxe3 Ng5 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. gxf5 g6 21. Bg4 Nh6 22. f3 gxf5 {On Qe1 Rg4+ is sufficient.} 23. exf5 Nxg4 24. fxg4 Nh3+ 25. Kg2 Nf4+ 26. Kg1 Qc6 27. Rxf4 Rh1+ 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. [Event "Casual Correspondence game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/9XNkQmu6"] [Date "2022.05.05"] [Round "1"] [White "bitterroot88"] [Black "JosephOAlford"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "1125"] [BlackElo "1500"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "2022.05.05"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. exd6 {Bb5 is considered correct today. The old line is exf6 dxc4; fxg7 Rg8} Qxd6 8. O-O O-O 9. Bg5 Bg4 10. Qd3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Ne5 12. Bxf7+ {White is already a pawn down. Now he gets only 2 pawns for his piece.} Rxf7 13. Qxb7 Raf8 14. Nd2 Neg4 15. Nf3 Nxf2 16. cxd4 Bxd4 17. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 18. Kxf2 Qc5+ 19. Kf1 Ng4 20. Bh4 Nxh2+ 21. Ke2 Re8+ 22. Kd1 Nxf3 23. gxf3 Rd7+ 24. Qd5+ Rxd5# 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
