Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Grinch 2.5 Whoville 0.5

Another week at the chess club and I am sitting at the kid table again. This week, I was white and played my favorite Smith - Morra against the Sicilian. I took this boys' firetruck (rook):










1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 This is a lame way to decline the S-M Gambit. It allows for Alekhine transpositions.
4.e5 Nd5 5.cxd4 Nc6 6.Nf3 d6 7.Bc4 I was continuing the plan to develop and attack. I anticipated Nb6 where I would drop back to Bb3.

7...e6 8.Bg5 I considered doubled isolated pawns in exchanging the Knight. Then I saw that would actually free up his Light squared bishop and get mine off the board. I didn't like not having a light squared bishop in that position and felt Black had compensation and enough material to bolster the IQP. Once d6 x e5 the Dark Bishop had freedom and the game becomes wide open for Black. Not a place I wanted to be with one Bishop with Dark pawns blocking the center. So , I moved here to entice an exchange.

8...Be7 9.Bxe7 Ncxe7 10.Qc2

Why c2 and not e2 now? I move there 6 moves later anyway. Qe2 is move thematic with the S-M.

1) I didn't like Black's knight going to f4 and attack my queen.

2) I wanted to set up prospects on h7 and my knight on g5.

10...dxe5 11.dxe5 Nc6 12.0-0 Nb6 13.Bd3 Bd7 14.a3 True, Bxh7 was tempting. I didn't like 14... Nb4 because after 15 Qe4 I thought the queen would be too exposed. But looking at it now, I think it would have been a winning position. on e4 she threatens the Knight on b4 and the only other piece that could attack the queen is the bishop.

14...Rc8 15.Nc3 h6 16.Qe2 0-0 17.Ne4 Rc7 18.Rfd1 Qe7 19.Rac1 Nd5 I didn't want to jump too soon. I reached a point where I was all developed and I wanted to keep the f4 square and a few dark squares on the king side covered. I still like g5 if I can get it.

20.Qd2 Rb8 21.h4 I liked g5 so much I was willing to open up my king side for it. With the center locked up and the dark squared bishops off the board, it was worth the risk.

21...a6 22.g4 f5 This creates a weakness for Black I thought. An isolated king pawn. I was willing to exchange down at this point.

23.exf6 Nxf6 24.Nxf6+ Qxf6 25.Qe3 I am sacrificing the b pawn as I build up the pressure in the center and threats on the king side. 25...Qxb2 26.Ne5


I am actively trying to trap the queen.Ne5 threatens several things.

1) I want to gain the Bishop on d7.

2) If Nxe5, I gain a rook on c7.

3) If he tries to save the Bishop I go after teh queen with Rb1 followed by Bc4


26...Rbc8 27.Nxd7 Nd4 28.Rb1 Qc3 29.Nb6 Rc5 I had no idea why my opponent played this. I saw the cheap shot 31... Re5 32 Qxe5 Nf3+ 30.Nxc8 Re5 31.Ne7+ I decided to play the following: 31...Kf7 32.Qxd4 Re1+ 33.Bf1 Qxd4 34.Rxd4 Rxb1 35.Nc8 Ke8

I am up two whole pieces. The end was near. All I had to do was try to force the exchange of rooks.
36.Rb4 Ra1 37.Rxb7 Rxa3 38.Rxg7 a5 39.Bb5+ Kd8 40.Nd6 a4 41.Rd7# 1-0



I know, I know, why don't I pick on someone my own size. Well. his rating is 1642 and on par with mine. Next week I am tentatively paired with this 1790 kid:



So far I have beaten him everytime ( 3 times) ...I hope I can continue this trend.

Best regards,

BP

4 comments:

HardDaysKnight said...

Grinch vs Whoville ! I love it!

Listen, a friend of mine (I guess he's in his late 30s early 40s; rated around 1650) was paired against an excellent nine year old (perhaps a little yonger). Every time this member of Whoville made a move he would grunt. When it wasn't his move he squirmed in his chair (well, he squirmed in his chair when it was his move, too), ran around the table, etc. It was quite funny to watch. My friend sat there patiently through it all. The game ended in a draw. The kids are great; it's fun to watch them grow.

BlunderProne said...

HDK,

I wholeheartedly agree, Its a blast to watch these kids grow. On the Blog I put on the facade of a grinch like person... mostly its IMHO... as I really have a great rapportand lots of fun with the kids at the club. I joke with them, I make them feel at ease because i know it can be intimidating playing us Adults etc. Plus I used to coach an elementary school's chess club back when my older kids were ...well in elementary school.

transformation said...

fyi, when you post photos, view in html THEN you can work on the spacing ... its tricky, but you will get the hang of it. this removes that large space under the illustration, and others do this, too, so i see this finese that took me so long to learn to do rapidly is something we can use now. hope it is ok that i mentioned this. gotta run to CTS NOW!!! warmly, dk

Phil Willis said...

I always get scared playing kids because you have everything to lose and nothing to gain.

So if I beat a nine-year-old, what am I going to do? I can hardly go home and brag to my mates.

What's worse is losing to a nine-year-old!

It's at the point now when my wife asks me how many kids did I get beaten by at my latest tournament.

Hmm.

Occasionally I make the little kids cry, but more often than not - I'm the one in tears at the end of the game.