TCCL 2013 first round

Rochester brought three teams to this years Twin Cities Chess League. We have arranged the teams according to rating, so we have good, better, best.

We were lucky in that a team dropped out of the gold division, so we have a team in each of the three divisions gold, silver, and bronze. This will allow us the maximum flexibility in substitutions, as a player can play on teams in different divisions.

I am 4th board on the team in the Gold division. I pulled out the Pirc against another class A player, and he chose the 150 attack. It ended up in one of those opposite castling pawn storm races, and I managed to get my attack in first. I should be facing some stiff opponents, but probably not as difficult overall as last year. (when I was playing 1st board on a team in the silver division)

All three Rochester teams won their first match.

Here is a problem position from my game, black to move and win. Tthere are several good moves that maintain black's advantage (including the one I played), but only one that puts the game away.

highlight to see solution: 23...Nbc4 24.Qa4 Na3+ 25.Qxa3 (25.Kxb2 Qc3+ 26.Kc1 Nec4)

Funny

It's been a busy month and I have neglected the blog.

I have been writing about chess almost daily, but it has been commentary on ongoing vote chess games on Chess.com. The local chess club has a group there, and the discussion has been fun. I think both games will form blog posts when they are done.

I have been playing a lot of online turn based chess, and the games have not been interesting. I am climbing up the rating ladder. I am currently in the Sept tournament on Chess.com in the 1600-1800 section.

I have learned that the light square bishop is important to keep in a KID exchange variation. I was definitely missing the piece in an online correspondence game that is almost finished.

I did not play well in the Noel Skelton Labor Day tournament. I was low on sleep and had a lot of allergy problems. I need to pay more attention to feeling well at a tournament.