A "Class A" Win

I'm quite excited this morning due to a game that I won at my local club last night against a solid Class A player. He has a current USCF rating of 1806, but has been rated as high as 1990 or so. His current quick rating is over 1900. He lost due to a miscalculation...he saw that he was getting two rooks for a queen but missed that he was also losing a rook of his own in the process. Nevertheless, I'm very happy with the result as well as the quality of the game:

Ron - Scott [B03]
Unrated Club Game - No Clock - 20.11.2006
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Nc3 Bf5 7.Nf3 e6 8.Bd3 Bg4 9.0-0 Be7 10.Be3 Nc6 11.Rc1 0-0 12.Be2 Rc8 13.Nd2 Bxe2 14.Nxe2 Nb4 15.Qb3 a5 16.a3 Nc6 17.Nf3 a4 18.Qb5 Na7 19.Qh5 Nxc4 20.Rc2 Nxe3 21.Rxc8 Nxf1 22.Rxd8 Rxd8 23.Kxf1 Nc6 24.Ng5 Bxg5 25.Qxg5 h6 26.Qb5 e5 27.Qxa4 exd4 28.Nxd4 Ne5 29.Qa5 Rc8 30.Nb3 Nd3 31.Qd2 Nc5 32.Nxc5 dxc5 33.Qd7 Scott resigns 1-0

A Fresh Start

I've used the opportunity of my PlayChess account expiring to start anew so to say. I didn't want to pay for a new serial number since I'll get another free year when I buy Deep Fritz 10 in a week or two. So instead, I decided to create my second account using my Fritz 9 serial number. My handle on PlayChess is now Kknight.

I'll wait until my ratings settle a bit before I update them on my sidebar. Theoretically they shouldn't change significantly, but I can say that my new blitz rating is already quite a bit higher than it was in my other account. This is due to the fact that the blitz rating on my other account was derived primarily from 50+ very bad blitz games that I played when I first started on PlayChess over a year ago. My new rating will likely be a fair bit closer to my slow rating.

Yuck!

...and now I'm back below 1700. My opponent went out of my personal book knowledge at move 3, and that's almost never a good thing. Nevertheless, I largely outplayed him in the opening, but ended up with a terribly cramped position of the type that is notoriously difficult for me. I ended up throwing away everything trying for an attack on his king, just hoping to break through...but it didn't work out as you can see:

Sanpelegrino (1664) - Keystor (1704) [A56]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 14.11.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3 d5 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.Nc3 O-O 8.b4 Bb6 9.c5 Bc7 10.Bd2 b6 11.Na4 Bb7 12.Bd3 Ne5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.Rc1 Rc8 15.O-O Bc6 16.b5 Be8 17.c6 a6 18.Bb4 Bd6 19.Qc2 a5 20.Bxd6 Qxd6 21.Nxb6 Ng4 22.g3 Rc7 23.Qc3 e5 24.Qxa5 Qh6 25.h4 g5 26.Bf5 Qh5 27.Bxg4 Qxg4 28.hxg5 Qxg5 29.Nxd5 h5 30.Qxc7 h4 31.Qe7 f6 32.Nxf6+ Rxf6 33.Qxe8+ Kg7 34.Qd7+ Kg6 35.g4 h3 36.Qe8+ Kg7 37.Qh5 Qxh5 38.gxh5 Kh6 39.Kh2 Rf3 40.c7 Kxh5 41.c8=Q Kh4 42.Rc4+ Keystor resigns 1-0

A Win Against a 1759

I'm back above 1700 (again) after a win today against a 1759 on PlayChess. I'd have to check to be sure, but I think this may be the highest rated player that I've beaten. Looking at his history, he's been as high as 1800+, so I feel pretty good. It wasn't an "error-free" game, but I still think that it was of a fairly high quality...especially in the opening and middlegame. My worst mistakes were in the king and pawn endgame, but he missed the biggest one and made one of his own, allowing me the win. Let me know what you guys think:

Keystor (1680) - Currymuncher (1759) [B21]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 09.11.2006
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bc4 d6 7.0–0 Nf6 8.Qe2 Be7 9.Rd1 Qc7 10.Bf4 e5 11.Bg5 a6 12.Rac1 0–0 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Nd5 Qd8 15.Rd3 Be6 16.Nxf6+ gxf6 17.Bxe6 fxe6 18.Rcd1 Qe7 19.Rxd6 Rfd8 20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.Rxd8+ Qxd8 22.g3 Nd4 23.Qd1 Qb6 24.Nh4 Qxb2 25.Qg4+ Kf7 26.Qh5+ Kf8 27.Qxh7 Qb1+ 28.Kg2 Ke8 29.Qh8+ Kd7 30.Qg7+ Kc6 31.Qxf6 Qxe4+ 32.Nf3 b5 33.h3 b4 34.g4 Qxf3+ 35.Qxf3+ Nxf3 36.Kxf3 Kd6 37.Ke4 a5 38.g5 a4 39.g6 Ke7 40.h4 b3 41.axb3 axb3 42.Kd3 Kf6 43.h5 e4+ 44.Kc3 e5 45.Kxb3 Currymuncher resigns 1–0

Busy Week

Well, this last week was an extremely busy one for me. I didn't get any games in all week, although I did continue with my tactical review. I'm almost done on that front. I expect to spend the next 2-3 weeks just playing, re-reviewing, and maybe running through a few master games...just letting everything sink in and "integrate" into my game.

I'm taking my family on a vacation the week after Thanksgiving, so I'll probably delve into Tactics Module-3 of PCT once we get back from vacation. I'll continue updating my ratings and other statistics on my sidebar in the meantime...