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.

I have finished the first handful of games correspondence mode on chess.com. For the most part, they have been pretty straightforward: play well and wait for the big mistake. Most of those have come early.

The Rochester Chess Club group match against the "Galactic Empire" put me on fifth board (out of 5), because I was still unrated. I am playing black against an experienced online player rated in the 1600s, and he is playing very strong. I think I made a mistake early. I gave up my light square bishop for a knight, and he went into a line like the KID exchange, but better for white (the c-pawn is not already committed to c4). I wonder how he feels about the game, as my rating has climbed from 1200 (starting) to 1608 in my first five games.

Online turn based games

I have decided to change my training from 15min online games to turn based on Chess.com. I expect that long term, I will mix and match.

After a week, the early games are not very indicative, because I am working my way up from unrated. Lots of very wild openings, though.

GM Nigel Davies points out this important video by Anand talking about memory, preparation with computers, and making the transition from preparation to playing.

Columbus Open 2012

I played very well and got 3.5 out of 5. I did not play GM Kudrin again, though he was here.

There was another class A player who scored 4 out of 5, so I did not win the top under 2000 prize.

I made an even score against the 3 masters I played! Perhaps I have broken through the plateau I have been on. Certainly the work I have done this past year on endgames helped in all the games but my one loss, (I missed an xray tactic).

I am getting more comfortable with the Catalan structures I am trying to get with white, but I still have more work to do there. When the mixed up schedule of summer is over, I think I will try some turn by turn games on Chess.com.

Update: I achieved my first Candidate Master Norm.