Bloomington Normal Chess Club

2024.02 Games

Joseph and Darren meet up at Barnes & Noble on February 18th and 25th for a couple of games, and a BJHS player passing through also played a couple of games. (Unfortunately Joseph and Darren set up their time to meet on the day of – wasn’t enough time to put it on the Discord, but for club members remember that the Discord does have a text channel to look for opponents both OTB and in Lichess!)

We’re close enough to the end of February that I’m just going to upload the games we’ve got as the monthly games and will include any others in March’s go.

Download the pgn file with February’s games by clicking anywhere on this sentence.

[Event "Barnes & Noble 2/25/24 Games: Alford-Erickson 1"] [Site "Barnes & Noble, Bloomington, IL"] [Date "02/25/24"] [White "Alford, Joseph O"] [Black "Erickson, Darren"] [Result "1-0"] [Termination "normal"] [Annotator "Darren Erickson, Joseph Alford, Stockfish 16"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C60"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 (3... Nf6 { Better }) 4. c3 a6 5. Ba4 b5 6. Bc2 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 (7... Qxd5) 8. d4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Be6 (10... c5 11. Qe4+ Qe7 12. a4) 11. O-O Nf6 12. Qxd8+ Rxd8 $10 13. Bf4 c5 14. a4 c4? (14... b4) 15. axb5 axb5 16. Ra5 b4?? 17. Ba4+ Bd7 18. Re1+ Be7 19. Bd6 Ng8 20. Bxb4 Bxa4 21. Rxa4 f6 22. Bxe7 Nxe7 23. Rxc4 Kf7 24. b4 Rhe8 25. Rce4 { [%csl Ge7] } 25... Nd5 26. Rxe8 Rxe8 27. Rxe8 Kxe8 28. Kf1 Kd7 29. Ke2 Kc6 30. g3 Kb5 31. Kd3 Nb6 32. Na3+ Kc6 33. Kd4 g6 34. c4 Na4 35. c5 Nxc5 36. bxc5 f5 37. Nc4 g5 38. Ne5+ Kc7 39. Kd5 h5 40. c6 f4 41. gxf4 gxf4 42. Ng6 f3 43. Ne5 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "B&N Games 2/18/24: Erickson-Alford"] [Site "Barnes & Noble Starbucks, Bloomington, IL"] [Date "02/18/24"] [White "Erickson, Darren"] [Black "Alford, Joseph O"] [Result "0-1"] [Termination "normal"] [Annotator "Darren Erickson, Stockfish 16"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C01"] [Opening "French Defense: Exchange Variation"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Qe2+ { Joseph notes, and Stockfish agrees, that while Queen check is fun it actually very subtly shifts things to black’s advantage. (Although it is playable.) Don’t move the Queen early here, 4. Nf3 is better. } 4... Be7 5. Nc3 { Now this seems normal enough to Darren and develop and threaten something, but Stockfish drops the evaluation by 0.5. I don’t see where this is really a problem, but see the variation – Stockfish thinks it is better to take advantage of the pinned black dark Bishop. } (5. Bg5 Nd7 6. Bxe7 Nxe7 7. Nc3) 5... Nf6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. g3 { Again, this isn’t evil. White doesn’t want to keep moving the Queen around and white’s light Bishop needs to get out of the way. (Best way to handle this would have been for white to not move the Queen in the first place…) But the eval drops a little more to black’s favor, I suspect because the fianchettoed Bishop doesn’t really support anything strategic at this phase. } (7. Be3 $140 { In immediate post-analysis Joseph liked this idea with the idea of 0-0-0. Stockfish analysis suggests this is worse but the idea seems sound enough and the move is better than the text move. } { [%cal Ge1c1,Ga1d1] } 7... Bb4 8. Qd3 Re8 9. a3 Bd6 10. Be2 c6) 7... Re8 8. Bg2 Nc6 { Stockfish strongly preferred 8. …Bb4 here. } 9. Be3 { And Stockfish even more strongly supports a white Castling here. } 9... Bg4 10. Qd2 Bb4 11. O-O Ne4 12. Qe1? { The Queen must move, yes, but Stockfish strongly wants the Queen on d3. } 12... Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Ng5?! { Takes the pressure off, Stockfish thinks that if we’re doing a trading game keep it up with 13. …Nxc3. } 14. Bxg5 Qxg5 15. Qd1 Rad8 $10 16. Re1?? { Nope. Don’t allow the Queen to be taken away from protecting the Bishop and more importantly the only guard to the d4-Pawn. } 16... Rxe1+ 17. Qxe1 Nxd4 18. Qd1 { Too late, the damage is done. } 18... Nxf3+ 19. Qxf3 c6 20. Re1 d4 21. Ne4 Qd5 22. Rd1 { White is still behind, but 22. Qg4 is better. } (22. Qg4 Kh8 23. Nc3 Bxc3 24. bxc3 dxc3 25. Qb4 Qd2 26. Qe7) 22... f5 23. Rxd4?? { White doesn’t really recall what this was trying to accomplish. Equalizing the material would have been nice and stopping black’s d-Pawn advance is important given that all black’s forces are ready to make that happen. But obviously the Rook is unsupported, (White is writing this on post-analysis because it is mystifying in post-analysis.) } (23. Ng5 Be7 24. Qxd5+ Rxd5 25. Nf3 Bf6 26. a4 Kf7 27. Kf1 g5) 23... Qxd4 24. Qxf5 Qd1+ 25. Kg2 Qd5 { So this is enough and white resigns. There’s really no need to play out how black can win with Rook against Pawn up. (Now if Joseph was Darren’s rating, dunno…. But even Darren can force a win with that kind of advantage.) } 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "B&N Games 2/18/24: Alford-Anrad"] [Site "Barnes & Noble Starbucks, Bloomington, IL"] [Date "02/18/24"] [White "Alford, Joseph O"] [Black "Kadiyala, Anuraag"] [Result "1-0"] [Termination "normal"] [Annotator "Darren Erickson, Stockfish 16"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B15"] [Opening "Caro-Kann Defense: Main Line"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 e6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O O-O (7... Nbd7 { Protect the f Knight and make White pay should the d pawn advance by giving a potential e5 Knight outpost. }) 8. Bg5 $10 { Stockfish rather liked take the f6 Knight, calculates 8. Bg5 allows equalization. } 8... Nxe4 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Bxe4 Nd7 11. c3 Nf6 12. Bc2 Bd7 13. Qd3 Rab8 14. Ne5! g6 15. Rae1 { Stockfish felt either Rook was fine to move to e1. } 15... b5?! 16. f4 Nd5? (16... Qd6 17. Qe3 Nd5 18. Qf2 Rbe8) 17. Qf3?! { (Dubious only because Stockfish evaluates the variation higher than this move…) } (17. f5 gxf5 18. Qg3+ Kh8 19. Bxf5 exf5 20. Ng6+ hxg6 21. Rxe7 Nxe7 22. Qe5+ Kg8 23. Qxe7 Rbd8 24. h4 Rfe8 25. Qf6 { But for the Q/R againt R/R/B it’s only +2.9. }) 17... c5?? 18. f5 f6 19. Ng4 cxd4 20. fxg6 hxg6 21. Bxg6 (21. Qxd5!! exd5 22. Nh6+ Kg7 23. Rxe7+ Kxh6 24. Rxd7 dxc3 25. bxc3 f5 26. Rxd5 Rf6 27. Rf3 Rfb6 28. Bd1 a5 { With white much stronger. }) 21... dxc3 22. Nh6+ Kg7 23. Qh5?? { Stockfish now evaluates as dead drawn, although it was very hard to see over the board. } (23. Nf5+ { Actually keeps pressure on at +4.0. } 23... exf5 24. Rxe7+ Nxe7 25. Bh5 Bc6 26. Qxc3 Rg8 27. Rd1 b4 28. Qc5 Rb7 29. Be2 Kh7 30. g3 Rg7) 23... Qc5+ 24. Kh1 Rh8 25. Rxf6 Rhf8?? { To this fish’s eyes this looks so natural, try and reduce down the pressure. But the reality is we go from dead drawn equality to a very complex Mate in 17. } (25... Kxf6 $10 { But for a beginner’s eyes this looks risky as anything could be to use the King as an attacker with white’s pieces all over the kingside… } 26. Bd3 Ke7 27. Nf5+ Kf6 28. Nh6 Ke7 29. Nf5+ Kf6 { And we’re still equal! }) 26. Rxf8 (26. Nf7 { This is the mate in 17 line… } 26... Rh8 27. Nxh8 Nxf6 28. Qxc5 Rxh8 29. Qg5 Rh6 30. Bd3+ Kf7 31. Qxh6 Ke7 32. Qg7+ Kd6 33. Qxf6 cxb2 (33... c2 34. Bxc2 Kc7 35. Qe5+ Kc6 36. Be4+ Kb6 37. Qd6+ Bc6 38. b4 Kb7 39. Qxc6+ Kb8 40. Qb7#) 34. Qxb2 Kc7 35. Rc1+ Bc6 36. Qxb5 Kd7 37. Qxc6+ Ke7 38. Rf1 e5 39. Qc7+ Ke6 40. Bc4#) 26... Qxf8 { At this point the annotator misses the next actual move – takebacks and variations were also happening during the game. Over another 20 moves occurred in the game with additional misses with rapid blitz moves occurring later. As the analysis is here and now white now has Mate in 11 with 27. Nf7 Qh8 being the next moves. We’ll just leave the game here. } 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

[Event "B&N Games 2/18/24: Erickson-Anrad"] [Site "Barnes & Noble Starbucks, Bloomington, IL"] [Date "02/18/24"] [White "Erickson, Darren"] [Black "Kadiyala, Anuraag"] [Result "1-0"] [Termination "normal"] [Annotator "Darren Erickson, Stockfish 16"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B13"] [Opening "Caro-Kann Defense: Exchange Variation"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Bb5 a6 6. Ba4 { Stockfish suggests Black is marginally better here with …b5 7. Bb3 Nf6 8.Nce2 Bf5 } 6... Nf6 7. Nge2 e6 8. O-O Be7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 Qc7 11. Bf4 Qb6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. b3 Ba3 14. Bg5 Ng4? { A bit early to launch an attack and the advancing Knight is unsupported with lots of white side pawns to push it back. } 15. h3 Bb2 { Knight retreat was strongly advised here. Good thing white didn’t see the possible fork… } 16. Rab1 (16. Na4 Qc7 17. Bf4 e5 18. Nxb2 exf4 19. hxg4 { And white is just up a minor piece. }) 16... Bxc3 17. Qxc3 Nf6 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Qg3+ { Stockfish likes advancing the knight in support first with 19. Nf4. White saw the need but thought the forcing move would make a better commanding presence first – this is actually a mistake. } 19... Kh8 20. Nf4?? $10 { White gives up the advantage – Stockfish believes this is now dead drawn. } 20... Bd7 { But black also blunders, not seeing the mate threat. } (20... Qxd4 { Now white is tied down and black gets the Queen over to the Kingside for defense. } 21. Qh4 Qe5 22. Qh6 Rd8 23. Nh5 Qg5 24. Qxf6+ Qxf6 25. Nxf6 Kg7 26. Nh5+ Kg6 27. g4 f6 28. Rfe1 Ra7 29. Rbd1 d4 30. Rd3 e5 31. f4 Re7 32. fxe5 Rxe5 33. Rxe5 fxe5 34. Rf3 e4 35. Rf6+ Kg5 36. Kg2) 21. Nh5 Rg8 22. Qh4 Rg6 (22... Rg7 { Missed in the initial postgame analysis, white still has a winning/commanding lead but the f6 Pawn and g8 Rook are no matter what, but black can marshal the a-Rook in support. } 23. Qxf6 Rg8 24. Nxg7 Rxg7 25. Rbe1) 23. Nxf6 Rxf6 { (Black could still have enacted that plan with 23. …Rg7.) } 24. Qxf6+ Kg8 25. Rfe1 Re8 26. Re5 Qxd4?? { Wups! Black just missed the discovered attack. } 27. Rg5+ Kf8 28. Qxd4 Ke7 29. Qc5+ Kf6 { Stockfish gives a mate in 11 from here. } 30. Qe3 { White decides to conserve forces and defend the Rook instead. } (30. Rg3 e5 31. Qd6+ Re6 32. Qxd7 e4 33. f4 h5 34. Qd8+ Re7 35. Rc3 c5 36. Rxc5 e3 37. Rc6+ Kf5 38. Qxe7 Kxf4 39. Rf1+ Kg3 40. Qg5#) 30... h6 31. Qe5+ Ke7 32. Rh5 f6 33. Qg3 Rh8 34. Qg7+ Kd6 35. Qxh8 e5 36. Qxf6+ Be6 37. Rxh6 d4 38. Qxe6+ Kc5 39. Qxc6+ Kb4 40. Qc4+ Ka3 41. Qa4# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.