1900 and Climbing...

I must have broken through one serious plateau after the tournament earlier this month. Here's my latest G/30 online victory:

Jj33 (1853) - Kknight (1866) [A59]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 25.01.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bxa6 7.Nf3 d6 8.e4 Bxf1 9.Kxf1 Bg7 10.g3 0–0 11.Kg2 Nbd7 12.h3 Ra6 13.Qc2 Qa8 14.a3 Rb8 15.Be3 Nb6 16.Nd2 Nfd7 17.f4 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rxa3 19.Rxa3 Qxa3 20.Rb1 Na4 21.Rxb8+ Nxb8 22.Nb1 Qa1 23.Bd2 Nb2 24.Bc1 Nc4 25.Qb3 Nd7 26.Qxc4 Qxb1 27.Be3 Qc2+ 28.Kf3 Qd1+ 29.Qe2 Qh1+ 30.Qg2 Qxg2+ 31.Kxg2 Nb6 32.Kf3 Nc4 33.Bc1 Kg7 34.Ke2 f5 35.Kd3 Nb6 36.c4 fxe4+ 37.Kc3 Kf6 38.g4 e5 39.Bb2 exf4 40.Kb3+ Kg5 41.Bc1 e3 42.Kc3 Kh4 43.Kd3 Kxh3 44.g5 Kg4 45.Ke4 Nxc4 46.Kd3 Ne5+ 47.Ke4 Kxg5 48.Bb2 e2 49.Bc3 f3 50.Ke3 Kg4 51.Be1 c4 Jj33 rinde 0–1

On a Roll...

I just won a G/30 game against a 1909 on PlayChess. My slow rating is now 1866:

Kknight (1815) - Lana40 (1909) [B01]
Rated Game, 30m +0s Main Playing Hall, 18.01.2007
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxd5 4.d4 Bg4 5.c4 Nf6 6.Be2 e6 7.0–0 Be7 8.Nc3 0–0 9.h3 Bh5 10.g4 Bg6 11.Ne5 Nbd7 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.g5 Ne8 14.h4 e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.f4 Nc6 17.a3 Bc5+ 18.Kg2 Nd4 19.b4 Nxe2 20.Qxe2 Bd4 21.Rd1 c5 22.bxc5 Nc7 23.Be3 Re8 24.Rxd4 Qe7 25.Re4 Qd7 26.Rd1 Qc6 27.Rd6 Qa6 28.Rxe8+ Lana40 gibt auf 1–0

Breaking 1800

Woohoo! A win against an 1842 today sent my PlayChess rating over the 1800 mark:

Kknight (1760) - Eddi2002b (1842) [C14]
Rated Game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 11.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.f4 c5 8.Nb5 0–0 9.Nc7 Nb6 10.Nxa8 Nxa8 11.Nf3 Nb6 12.Bd3 c4 13.Bxh7+ Kxh7 14.Ng5+ Kg6 15.Qg4 f5 16.Qh4 Qb4+ 17.c3 Rh8 18.Qxh8 Qxb2 19.Qh7# 1–0

500 Points in 364 Days

I ended in 3rd place in the Reserve Section (U1600) in the tournament yesterday and won the $100 Class E prize for being the highest scorer of the U1200 players. I had a performance of 1502 compared to my performance in the same tournament last year of 997! That's an improvement of just over 500 points in just under a year!!

I had 3 wins and 1 loss in the 4-round swiss. My one loss was to a 1438 who took first in the section...I was actually winning out of the opening (2.00+ according to Fritz,) but I got a little too greedy with my pawn-grabbing and let him get an overwhelming lead in development and then later stumbled into a mate in 1 (I was just trying to emulate Kramnik.)

My three wins were against a 772 (who hadn't played in a tournament since he was in kindergarten 13 years ago, so I doubt that rating is too accurate, but unfortunately it is still the rating that gets used for my rating and performance calculations,) a 1208, and a 1447. I am especially proud of my game against the 1447, who I managed to completely blow off the board in a Franco-Benoni that I was able to transpose into a Morra Gambit. I also only used about 15-20 minutes of my clock time, while he used a decent majority of his.

Here are the games:

Round 1
Ron (1067) - Evan (1438) [C18]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Qg4 Nge7 8.Qxg7 Rf8 9.Bh6 Rg8 10.Qxh7 cxd4 11.Nf3 Bd7 12.cxd4 Qa5+ 13.Kd1 Qa4 14.Be3 O-O-O 15.Qxf7 Rdf8 16.Qh7 Nf5 17.Bd3 Rxg2 18.Bxf5 exf5 19.Kd2 f4 20.Rhb1 fxe3+ 21.Kxe3 b6 22.h4 Bg4 23.Ne1 Qxd4# 0-1

Round 2
Jordon (772) - Ron (1067) [B01]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 d5 2.e5 c5 3.c3 Bf5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.g3 Bg4 6.Bb5 Qb6 7.Bxc6+ Qxc6 8.h3 Bf5 9.d4 e6 10.Nbd2 Be7 11.Nb3 b6 12.Be3 f6 13.Qe2 fxe5 14.Nxe5 Qc7 15.Qb5+ Kf8 16.Nd7+ Kf7 17.dxc5 Rd8 18.Ne5+ Qxe5 19.cxb6 Bg5 20.Qc5 Bxe3 21.Qxe3 Qxe3+ 22.fxe3 axb6 23.O-O Nf6 24.Nd4 Bxh3 25.Rf4 e5 26.Nc6 exf4 27.Nxd8+ Rxd8 Jordon Resigns 0-1

Round 3
Ron (1067) - Corey (1208) [B08]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Nc3 O-O 6.O-O Nbd7 7.Re1 e5 8.Bg5 a6 9.Qd2 b5 10.Bd5 Rb8 11.Rad1 b4 12.Ne2 Nb6 13.Bxf7+ Kxf7 14.dxe5 Nc4 15.Qd4 Nxe5 16.Nxe5+ dxe5 17.Qxd8 Rxd8 18.Rxd8 Nxe4 19.Be3 Bf6 20.Rd5 Be6 21.Rd3 Be7 22.f3 Nf6 23.Bg5 Rb5 24.Rd2 e4 25.f4 e3 26.Rd3 a5 27.Nd4 Rb6 28.Rdxe3 Bc5 29.Bxf6 Kxf6 30.Rxe6+ Rxe6 31.Rxe6+ Kf7 32.Re4 Kf6 33.g4 h6 34.h4 g5 35.hxg5+ hxg5 36.fxg5+ Kg6 37.Kg2 Bxd4 38.Rxd4 Kxg5 39.Rd5+ Kxg4 40.Rxa5 Kf4 41.Rc5 Ke3 42.Rxc7 Kd2 43.Rc4 Kc1 44.Rxb4 Kxc2 45.Rd4 Kxb2 46.Kf2 Kxa2 47.Rb4 Ka3 48.Rb8 Ka4 49.Ke3 Ka5 50.Kd4 Ka6 51.Kc5 Ka7 52.Rb1 Ka6 53.Rb2 Ka7 54.Kc6 Ka8 55.Kc7 Ka7 56.Ra2# 1-0

Round 4
Ron (1067) - Joseph (1447) [B21]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Nxc3 Bb4 6.Qd4 Bxc3+ 7.Qxc3 Nf6 8.Bg5 Nxe4 9.Qxg7 Qa5+ 10.Nd2 Rf8 11.Bh6 Qc5 12.Nxe4 Qb4+ 13.Nc3 d5 14.Qxf8+ Qxf8 15.Bxf8 Kxf8 16.Bb5 a6 17.Bd3 Kg7 18.Na4 Nd7 19.Rc1 b6 20.Rc6 Rb8 21.Kd2 Ne5 22.Rxb6 Ra8 23.Nc5 a5 24.Re1 Ng4 25.f3 Nf6 26.Rc1 d4 27.Ba6 Nd5 28.Rc6 Bxa6 29.Rxa6 Rb8 30.Nb3 Nb4 31.Rxa5 Nxa2 32.Rxa2 Rxb3 33.Kc2 Rb7 34.Kd3 e5 35.Rc6 Rb3+ 36.Kc4 Rb7 37.Rd6 f6 38.Raa6 Rxb2 39.Rxf6 Rc2+ 40.Kd3 Rc3+ 41.Kd2 Rb3 42.Rfb6 Rxb6 43.Rxb6 Joseph Resigns 1-0

A Win Against the Club Expert!!

I won a game against the club expert last night! The game was about as even as it could be until half-way through a rook and pawn endgame where he made a few mistakes that gave me the win. Until that point, Fritz's evaluation doesn't vary by more than a pawn in either direction. There was a point in the middlegame where I missed a couple of opportunities to win a pawn, and then later, when going into the endgame, he had a slight advantage (0.60 or so.)

What makes the win even better in my mind is that (even though we weren't using clocks) he used considerably more thinking time than I did. A large chunk of it was his trying to find a way to draw the lost endgame. The game lasted about two and a half hours...take a look:

Chris - Ron [B01]
Unrated Club Game - No Clock - 03.01.2007
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Be2 Nc6 5.0–0 0–0–0 6.Nc3 Qd7 7.d3 e5 8.Be3 Nf6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.dxe4 Qe6 11.Qe1 Qg6 12.Ng5 Bxe2 13.Qxe2 Be7 14.Rfe1 Bxg5 15.Qg4+ Kb8 16.Qxg5 Qxg5 17.Bxg5 f6 18.Be3 Nd4 19.Rac1 Rd7 20.c3 Ne6 21.Kf1 Rhd8 22.Ke2 Nf4+ 23.Bxf4 exf4 24.Rcd1 c5 25.Rxd7 Rxd7 26.Kf3 Rd2 27.e5 fxe5 28.Rxe5 Rxb2 29.Re7 Rxa2 30.Rxg7 Ra3 31.Kxf4 Rxc3 32.Ke4 b5 33.Kd5 a5 34.Kc6 b4 35.Kb6 Kc8 36.Rc7+ Kd8 37.Ra7 b3 38.Rxa5 b2 39.Rb5 Rc2 40.Kc6 c4 41.Kd6 Kc8 42.Kc6 c3 43.Rb7 Rxf2 44.Rxh7 Kd8 45.Rb7 c2 Chris Resigns 0-1

Upcoming Tournament

I'm going to be playing in a USCF Rated 4-Round Swiss (60+5) on Saturday. I'm expecting good results as I have improved considerably since my last two tournaments (January and April of last year.) This should also be a good measurement of my progress since I started studying tactics as my primary method of improvement LAST January. I'll post the results and the games after the tournament.