Category Archives: Ego

Morphy vs Steinitz

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I keep seeing “Morphy would have beaten Steinitz”, which we will never know, but here is some food for thought, from Steinitz’ International Chess Magazine of 1886:
(Nov 1886 pp 333-335)

“To what I have said on the subject before, I may only add quite in conformity with the substance of my previous remarks that I have never quarrelled with anyone who bonafidely believes that Morphy could have beaten me even, if he had made progress with the time. But if anyone says that the Morphy as he was, and not the one who might have been, could give Pawn and move only to a second rate nowadays I can only pity his understanding, or I must call it an impudent assertion. There will be an outcry over this,
no doubt, and nothing but blind conceit, selfishness, or worse will be imputed to me. I can not help that, nor perhaps would I help it if I could. For if our readers will allow me to give them a little perfectly true anecdote, which I consider amusing and instructive, I think I can
produce in support of my contention truthful, reliable, impartial, honorable, independent, honest etc., evidence. Would you believe it? The first witness whom I shall call to the stand, and to whose testimony I ascribe all the above-named virtues, is actually one of the above-named
trio, and in reality Samuel Loyd in life size and in flesh, and not his shadow. I think he will perhaps pardon my giving him such a character, and if not, I sincerely apologize to all the other witnesses whom I shall call. For in justice to his
“smartness” of which he bears such repute, and of which he chiefly prides himself, I ought to state that to the best of his knowledge he had at the time no personal interest
whatever in telling an untruth, and moreover his sayings were not intended to be published in one of James Gordon Bennett’s journals. But the miracle of his giving an honest opinion happened this way: It actually occurred before the A. C. E. A. had been composed and solved alone by its author (or dissolved as far as I am concerned, for I have
resigned from that body), by the simple process of his putting four-fifths of the funds of the Association into his own pocket. At that time, only about four months back, I was as friendly with Loyd as the public prosecutor might be with anyone whom he suspects (for I have known Loyd before), but whom he has not caught yet in flagranto delicti.
At any rate his pronounced public opinion on Morphy did not influence me any more than it does with several warm friends who can not dissociate themselves from old ideas, and he was a welcome visitor at my house. On one of those occasions, however, and in the course of a discussion it
occurred to me to play a little trick on my visitor, which comprised no deception à la Loyd, though I must plead guilty to a concealment for a little while. I can not give a verbatim report of the conversation in which the matter was introduced, but I am sure I shall faithfully state
the substance of it.

“Could you judge approximately the strength of two
players if I showed you part of one of their games, and if in order to save time I gave you some critical comments which, of course, you may judge for yourself?” I asked.

“Yes, I think so,” replied Loyd modestly.

“Well,” I said, please look at the following position :

“Y,” and “Z” played that game, and they have as you see only arrived at an early stage of the opening. In fact I may tell you it is only White’s 9th move in the present position.

Continuing my little lecture I said:

“You notice that Black has thus early three holes in his battleorder of Pawns or what I call weak strategical spots, which means any squares on his third or fourth rows on which a hostile piece might be planted sooner or later without being liable to he driven away by a Pawn. The weak points are at QR4, QB3 and QB4. Black’s K P is loose
and can only be defended by a piece or P–KB3, and the latter is generally inconvenient before the adverse QP is got rid of or further advanced than here. He has also two minor pieces standing undefended, and his QKtP is a mark for a dangerous attack by P–QR4, at the proper time. White’s position is compact with the exception of the QP which,
however, is well defended. Black’s chief weakness has arisen, I may tell you, from his having prematurely advanced P-Q4 instead of P-Q3. It is White’s move, and I feel satisfied from analogies of positions that
Kt x P, followed by P–Q4, would give him much the best of it, even against the subsequent answer of …B–Kt5, with the view of sacrificing a piece if White play P–KB3 (or else, I may now add, against the immediate answer Q–K2, pointed out subsequently by Mr. Teed, for White would also reply Q–K2). However castling is obviously a very good
and safe move, but White instead plays here 9 P–KR3. What do you think of that?”

“Certainly unnecessary and weak,” said Loyd.

“It is now Black’s turn,” I proceeded, “and if I were in his place I certainly would not give my opponent an opportunity of getting rid of his QP, and opening the diagonal for his Bishop, commencing with Kt x P. I would
withdraw B–Kt3 or B–Q3 first, for 9… Castling, what he does, will keep.”

Loyd nodded assent.

“Now White could do what I have just pointed out, and I feel sure he could get the better game, and much the best of
it, should Black answer BXP ch., which would have also been bad at the previous stage, where I suggested Kt XP. There are too many cases in point on record. But he plays 10. Castles.”

“But now,” I proceeded,

“it is evidently the highest time for Black to remove his Bishop, but he actually plays 10…P–KR3; do you think that good play ?

“No, decidedly not,” said Loyd.

“Of course White ought to take advantage of that without the least hesitation by 11 Kt x P,” I remarked, “but he
actually plays 11 P–Q4 instead, and naturally his QP is isolated. Now, what do you think of the strength of the two players. Are they first, second or third class?” I am sure I put the question fairly enough, for I believe if I had given him the choice of five classes he would have chosen the last. As it was, he answered at once:

“Third class at the utmost.”

“Would you be surprised to learn,” I said, “that this play
occurred not merely once, but actually in two games of the match between Morphy and Anderssen, in the second and in the fourth Tableau!”

And so it is indeed. The two great masters actually repeated the whole opening without the least amendment on either side, which proves that they had not the slightest suspicion that their development contained defects that about twenty-eight years later could only be described as grave strategical errors. By the way, as Loyd may have forgotten the whole affair, owing to his complicated business transactions as Vice-President of the A. C. E. A. and self-elected Treasurer of four fifths of its funds, I may remind him that on the same occasion I showed him that in the celebrated game with Paulsen, in which Morphy sacrifices
his Queen, the latter had a lost game early in the opening, and albeit Paulsen committed an error such as any Pawn and Two player would most probably avoid nowadays, his game was absolutely won just one move before the celebrated sacrifice, without any possibility of retrieving
it on Morphy’s part–of course assuming best play on both sides–if the former had played 16 Q–R6 only one move earlier, instead of the silly move 16 R–R2.”

Dr.Dave’s Adventures at East Devon 2016

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Friday night:

My entry to our local congress is sometimes deranged by family visits,
but an expectedly free weekend allowed another excursion in Exeter’s
St.George’s Hall, now renamed the Corn Exchange.

[It’s about as big a hall as a corn exchange would be, but Exeter is a
wool town, not a grain one, and this unhistoric renaming of a post-war
building rather makes me wince. Not as much as the chess, though…]

I have played less this season, quite deliberately; I’ve been finding
evening chess very hard, and in October even lost to a club member graded
50 points below me, when our grades suggest I should win every single
game. But in the daylight, I was hoping for better things.

Click on […] to see games list.

1. Black vs de Piro (141) – win.

Well, the first one is of course an evening game, after a week at work
and an abbreviated encounter with the Junior Club.

Tristram joined the Exeter club for a year or so recently, and in many
friendly games I couldn’t rememeber him playing much theory, so I
chanced my arm with the main line, but found, to my horror, that he knew
it all backwards. I scrambled together some reasonable moves from bits
of half-remembered theory and analogy with the …Qb6 lines that I have
always played before, but got to a position which used to be the main
line, yet has since fallen from favour. Characteristically, Tristram
went for the attack, but soon had to give away a piece to save his
Queen. I wonder how easy the endgame would be; I liked the passed pawn,
but in the post mortem I couldn’t make progress.

2. White vs. Kazanov (210?) – loss.

What an unforgiving game chess is. After being handed a space advantage,
I didn’t find a plan to make use of it and was brought back to focus by
my opponent breaking on the King’s side. It was not clear whose King
was the most exposed, but after some swaps we arrived at an endgame.
Under pressure to reach move 40 in time, I chose an active, forcing move
which made life more difficult for me, even impossible, when a calmer,
stabilising move would probably draw. But my real irritation is not
making more of the good position from the opening. (Maybe h2-h4? But
that’s not my style.)

3. Black vs. Jepps (150) – win.

On the four previous occasions we have met, Gerry has walked off with
the whole point each time. He is my Kryptonite: he loves gambit play, I
hate it; he attacks very well, I defend very badly … I thought I’d
play a straight bat against 1.e4 and my opponent, rather than playing
some evil underground gambit, went down a main line of theory, hoping to
play the Alekhin-Chatard Attack. Finding himself in the unfamiliar
MacCutcheon, he found most of the right moves in the opening, but
mistakenly judged his Bishop worse than mine (fearing …c4), and
swapped it off, losing time, when I think Black must have at least
equality. The standard attack down the c-file seemed to work smoothly
enough, and Gerry’s attacking verve and tactical opportunism didn’t
surface.

4. White vs. Wilson (155) – win.

I got a nice game the last time I played Matt with White, and hoped
to repeat the same line, or something like it. But my opponent bashed
out a completely different line that I rarely see, and a search of the
memory banks returned a familiar result: 404 Page Not Found. Black
seemed to equalise very easily, and while I had the Bishop pair it
seemed both of them were bad! I couldn’t see what else to do but
instigate a minority attack and hope Matt faltered on the other wing. My
attack flowed well enough, yielding a pawn, then poor Matt missed a
sequence of cheap forks around the time control.

[I have something of a reputation as a theory hound, but this is clearly
quite unfounded: I read fairly widely, but my knowledge is as shallow as
a gnat’s bidet.]

5. White vs. Helbig (194) – draw.

I have drawn and even won against Paul Helbig, a strong South West
player, but the most common (and expected) result has been a loss. My
single win came about from this line of the Pirc, with which I’ve had
some good results. However, once again my opponent bashed out what seems
to be a simple equalising line with little hesitation … which I should
have expected, as that’s exactly what he did last time! I was beginning
to find my position sinking into rigidity, even the rigor of death, but
a good-looking Queen manoeuvre by Black was met by an even stronger one
by White. Black had to concede a pawn, but, as always with classy
players, found the most awkward way of doing so, and I could only retain
the pawn by swapping off into an opposite-coloured Bishop endgame with
slender hopes of a win.

Overall: This unremarkable performance won me the upper grading prize,
remarkably enough (AKA the ‘not bad for an old duffer’ prize). I came
away happier with the result than the games; I got caught out in the
opening too often, and was in moderate time trouble in nearly every
game. But I can’t complain, that’s my best tournament result for a
while.

Dr.Dave’s Adventures at East Devon, 2000

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This tournament somehow escaped record until 2016… I was going through a 1.e4 phase in a vain attempt to sharpen my game.

Click on […] to see games list.

R1: It’s always nice to start a tournament with a win. White plays the
theoretically-pointless Exchange French and gets a standard IQP attacking
position out of it. Surprisingly, everything worked out well for me, Black
never getting any counterplay going despite a cheeky Rook manoeuvre.

R2: I remember feeling optimistic then remember losing…

R3: I hadn’t met Graham before… He was visibly disappointed with my opening and with his 13th move.

R4: No comment.

R5: Ian had walked off with our club championship the previous year, so I tried to treat him with respect.

Dr.Dave’s Adventures at East Devon, 2014

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I still don’t understand why anyone plays the Exchange, except that I
keep getting worse positions against it! Giles has been working on his
chess and is now a serious danger to anyone… I was lucky to find the
cheapo on move 32.

Another much-improved player, Oliver had embarrassed me by winning with
the French Exchange in a previous event, so I was out for revenge. On
the day, he stranded a piece and it was easy enough.

I’m sure I could have defended better but I was set problems throughout
that were beyond my powers of anticipation or solution.

An interesting encounter! I won a piece but Theo made it as awkward as
he could for me… I guess it was fitting that our only OTB encounter
ends in a draw. Next time, I don’t think I will be so lucky!

I have the same experience as I do playing against the French Exchange;
I have no respect for my opponent’s opening system, but he takes his
task seriously, creates problems, takes his chances, and shows how
simple it is to beat me with the right approach.

Dr.Dave’s Adventures at East Devon, 2013

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FRIDAY:
I’ve lost my last 5 games of chess and familiar doubts about my
chosen hobby are pressing. I could park my grade and retire to publishing and
coaching, but that’s not an admirable way to behave. Besides, having lost my
last 5 games, my grade wouldn’t be quite as wonderful at the end of the season,
so, time to shape up!

Click on […] to see games list.

1 {Black was unlucky to play a line I had
recently reviewed, and conceded a pawn. Despite some oversights by White in
analysis, it was actually Black who came up with a blunder.}

2 {I’m not sure whether to be pleased at how long I lasted against the top-rated player or disappointed that
I never felt as though I had anything positive to contribute during the game.
I was unhappy with my opening play during the game, but that may have been OK.
Odessky titled his chapter on this line as Tears fall, and maybe that’s all
there is to it: Black cannot create difficulties for White in this variation.}

3 {A bit of a grind. I have been playing this line for so long, you would have
thought I could find the right way through when I get a chance, but just as
against Alan Brusey in January, I make another pig’s ear out of Botvinnik’s
silk purse. Black doesn’t seize his moment, though, preferring to play simple,
uncommittal moves, which leads to his downfall. I didn’t find the clearest
win, and in pushing for a Bishop endgame could have thrown it away.}

4 {Some rather vague opening ideas were crowned by an absolute lemon on move 12,
after which Black’s position could be resigned without shame. I played on,
more out of inertia than anything else, when I caught a glimpse of an
opposite-coloured Bishop ending in the distance… and White was good enough
to steer for it.}

5 {I got a position of a type I have often played with colours reversed, and
with an extra tempo arrived at a winning position quite quickly. There seemed
to be very many a slip between plus and win, though.}

In the end, this was my best-ever performance in grading terms
(197), even better than Paignton last year (195). (Just in case you get too
impressed, my worst-ever was the East Devon in 2005, when I managed 00001 for
a 114 performance.

Dr.Dave’s further adventures at East Devon, 2007-2012

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East Devon Congress, Open Section, 2007

Four games and no wins is so-so, but the blunder count was reassuringly
low, and I had a good attempt at winning a couple of games, including
the one against Helbig, who was the strongest player I faced. So,
progress of sorts.

{Wretchedly got a bye in the first round. }

Click on […] to see games list.

East Devon Congress, 2008

I think Harry and Laura were down again.

East Devon Congress, Open Section, 2009

A much better score, even though this may prove nothing more than the
workings of chance. The first game did feature an absolutely wretched
series of oversights, but the rest was quite heartening. In reality, I
don’t know that I was playing that much better; I was just present at
the scene when Ponter had a brainfart and Helbig was visibly impatient
to get the game over, with the usual consequence.

Click on […] to see games list.

East Devon Congress, 2010

I think Harry and Laura were down again.

East Devon Congress, 2011

Young Theo Slade was staying with me, and I didn’t want to be playing
when he was ready to go home.

East Devon Congress, Open Section, 2012

Young Theo Slade was staying with me again, and I didn’t want to miss
the chance of playing again!

http://www.chessdevon.co.uk/P1000141.jpg
As usual, only one splash of colour in the room, and it’s me…

I had a good season last year and this one has been going better; I
expect my weekly sessions trying to keep up with Theo have something to
do with it. So, no longer content to draw with 160+ players, I made a
good start, but that was the best of it. Woodruff’s improvised opening
wasn’t hard to cope with, but I didn’t make much of it, and although I
played OK for the first part of the game against Mackle, the rest was
pretty lame. The Wensley game was awful, and although I had some ideas
against Stephens, I just missed the chance to pick up material and
immediately blew up, thrashing around trying to make something happen.
It all felt unbalanced and chaotic; bleah

Click on […] to see games list.

Dr.Dave’s Next Adventures at East Devon

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East Devon Update 2001-2006

Well, been a while since I posted one of these.  Dunno who reads them but just for the record…

East Devon Premier 2001  1/4 Something’s rotten…

Well, I’ve never had such a bad start that I qualified for the bye… Something’s not right with my play this year.

Game 1 (1) Cowley,D – Regis,D [A46] 1-0
Game 2 (2) Dunn,A – Regis,D [A46] 1-0
Game 3 (3) Regis,D – Turner,J [A29] 0-1
Bye
Game 5 (4) Regis,D – Parker,J [A15] 1-0

East Devon Premier 2002 1.5/5 No better

This wasn’t hugely more encouraging: it’s not just that I’m losing games, it’s the way I’m losing them that is sometimes discouraging.

Game 5 (5) Regis,D (1744) – Dunn,A (1900) [A26] 1/2-1/2
Game 6 (6) Woodruff,A (1808) – Regis,D (1744) [A40] 1-0
Game 7 (7) Regis,D (1744) – Evans-Quek,S (2160) [A40] 0-1
Game 8 (8) Williams,D (1688) – Regis,D (1744) [C12] 1-0
Game 9 (9) Regis,D (1744) – Ponter,I (1936) [A11] 0-1

East Devon Major 2003 3.5/5 A confidence-booster?

Well, I need to do something to stop the rot, so now that I have a grade low enough to enter a Major or two, perhaps I ought to build myself back up that way.  But it didn’t get off to a good start…

Game 10 (10) Regis – Farina [C24] 0-1
Game 11 (11) Oughton – Regis [A25] 0-1
Game 12 (12) Regis – Dean [D40] 1/2-1/2
Game 13 (13) Sellwood,C – Regis [C12] 0-1
Game 14 (14) Regis – Moreland [A16] 1-0

East Devon Premier 2004 (-)

My partner’s Dad died; first one I’ve missed.

East Devon Premier 2005 1/5 The other tournament from hell…

I was absolutely punch drunk in this tournament, lurching from disaster to disaster.  There were some spells of coherent play but the impression is of someone who can’t hold it together… and sometimes, can’t see as far as the nose on his face.

Game 15 (15) Hutchings,P – Regis,D [C01] 1-0
Game 16 (16) Regis,D – Wright,R [A10] 0-1
Game 17 (17) Taylor,G – Regis,D [C02] 1-0
Game 18 (18) Jepps,G – Regis,D [C00] 1-0
Game 19 (19) Regis,D – Chapman,P [A20] 1-0

East Devon Premier 2006 1.5/5 Some signs of life?

I wouldn’t say this was an unqualified success – in fact, I think it’s the first tournament I’ve played in where I’ve not won a single game – but it feels a bit more together: although I’m still missing things, I’m missing mostly more subtle things, and although I’m still losing games, I don’t think I’m such an easy mark.

Game 20 (20) Regis,D – Helbig,P [A25] 0-1
Game 21 (21) Whymark,D – Regis,D [A37] 1/2-1/2
Game 22 (22) Regis,D – Kneebone,J [A39] 1/2-1/2
Game 23 (23) Page,M – Regis,D [C12] 1/2-1/2
Game 24 (24) Regis,D – Richmond,J [A26] 0-1

Some context

[Did you know I do statistics for a living?]

 

Year White Black vs. 1.e4 Black vs. 1.d4 Score at East Devon Grading performance Grading over year Games played
2001 English Opening, few Bishop’s Opening etc French Defence, a few Modern Defences English Defence 1/4 130 143 28
2002 English Opening, a few more Bishop’s opening etc French Defence, a more few Modern Defences and Sicilians English Defence 1/5 142 144 ?
2003 English Opening French Defence, occasional Sicilian English Defence 3.5/5 (Major) 150 154 31
2004 English Opening French Defence, occasional Sicilian English/Dutch* (-) (-) 163 23
2005 English Opening French Defence, occasional Sicilian English/Dutch, some other experiments 1/5 114 159 31
2006 English Opening French Defence, occasional Sicilian English/Dutch, some other experiments 1.5/5 140 163 24

* Actually, I seem to get rather few people play 1.d4, and if they do, 1…e6 doesn’t always lead to the Dutch, so although theoretically I play the Dutch as Black, I only get one or two a year.

Discussion and conclusions

 

  1. I had a fond idea when starting this section of the website, that I would be able to record my reflections about my play and also, maybe, muse smugly on the improvements seen as a result of all this study and navel-gazing.  The reality has been something else.
  2. I have had some really rather poor form in the early  part of this century which has only just shown signs of recovery.  I have won the Club Championship twice, in 2005 and 2006, which might some measure of success (after 15 years of trying) although I had only one strong player to beat in each year and could as easily be interpreted as evidence of a fall in strength in the club!
  3. I conclude: It is not realistic to expect improvements in your play unless have time to devote to improvement and few other demands on your time and energy.  My knowledge of the game, its history, opening and endgame theory, and so on, is probably more than I need, but I’ve not able to put in the hours thinking through things at the board (at home or in tournaments) that I need to in order to improve.  Sometimes I have come to a chess match and looked at the board almost uncomprehending, for my time and energy have been caught up with work or home matters; at other times I have spent the week before a game doing nothing but work on a chess book, yet come to the board absolutely out of form, for all my thoughts have been about  typefaces and paragraph styles.

Cowley, Dennis – Regis, D.

East Devon Premier, 03/02/2001

A painful loss… I have not a lot of respect for White’s chosen opening, but this is my third loss to the Colle without putting up much of a fight. Thinking there was no danger, I overlooked some fairly basic threats….

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 c5 3.e3 Nf6 4.c3 b6 5.Bd3 Bb7

[5…Ba6]

6.Nbd2 d5

[6…Nc6 7.e4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nb4 9.Bb1 Ba6]

7.Ne5 Nbd7 8.f4 Bd6

[8…Be7]

9.O-O Qe7 10.Ndf3 Ne4

[10…a6 is a little more thoughtful.]

11.Bb5 Bxe5 12.Nxe5 Nef6 13.a4 O-O 14.Nxd7 Nxd7 15.f5 exf5 16.Rxf5 Nf6 17.a5 Ne4? White’s idea wasn’t that hard to spot.

[17…Qd6]

 

[17…bxa5 18.Rxa5 c4 19.Qa4 a6 20.Bxa6 Qc7 21.Qb5 Rfb8]

18.a6 Bc8 19.Rxd5 Qh4 20.Qf1 Nf6

[20…Be6 21.Re5 Nd6 22.Bd3 c4 23.Bc2]

21.Rd6 Ne4 22.Bc6 Nxd6 23.Bxa8 cxd4

[23…Bxa6 24.Rxa6 Rxa8 25.dxc5]

24.exd4 Bxa6 25.Rxa6 Rxa8 Black has material equality but no co-ordination.
26.Bf4 Ne4 27.Ra1

[27.d5]

27…g5 28.Be5 g4?? 29.Qf4 Ng5 30.Qf6

1-0

Dunn, Andy – Regis, D.

East Devon Premier, 03/03/2001

 

1.d4 Not again… Andy Dunn is a fine player but I thought he got away with this one. I just got horribly short of time looking for counterplay that wasn’t there…

1…e6 [

1…c5 2.e3

(2.c3 cxd4 3.cxd4 d5) 2…cxd4 3.exd4 d5 4.Bd3

(4.c4) 4…Nc6 5.c3 Qc7 6.Ne2 Bg4 7.Qb3 Bxe2 8.Bxe2 Rd8 9.Bg5 g6 10.Nd2 Bh6 11.h4 Kf8 12.Nf3 Kg7 13.h5 a6 Polgar,J-Karpov,A/Roquebrune 1992/0-1 (62)]

2.Nf3 c5 [2…Nf6]

[2…f5 Cobb,J-Williams,S/It, Cardiff WLS 1997/ – (61)
3.d5]

3.e3 Nf6 4.Bd3 [4.c3 1-0 Cowley,D-Regis,D/East Devon Premier 2001 (29)]

4…b6 5.O-O Be7 6.c4 O-O? 7.d5! Aaron Summerscale’s Killer Chess Opening Repertoire has a lot to answer for.
7…exd5 8.cxd5+/- NCO d6 [8…Bb7 9.Nc3+/- Re8 10.e4]

9.Nc3 Ba6 10.Re1 c4 11.Bc2 Nbd7 12.Nd4 Re8 13.e4 Nc5 14.b4 cxb3 15.axb3 Bb7 [15…Bc8]

16.b4 Ncd7 17.f4 a6 White has a winning game here, achieved with the simplest of means.
18.Bb2 [18.Nf5]

18…Rc8 19.Ra3 86/90m 19…b5 20.e5 dxe5 21.fxe5 Nxd5 [21…Bxb4! Not too hard to spot, even in time trouble.
22.exf6 Bxa3 23.Bxa3 Rxc3]

22.Nxd5 Bxd5 23.Bxh7+ [23.Qd3 Nf8]

23…Kf8 [23…Kxh7 24.Qh5+ Kg8 25.Rh3 f5 26.e6+-]

24.e6 Nf6 [24…Bxb4]

25.exf7 Bxf7 26.Rh3 Bxb4 27.Rxe8+ Qxe8 28.Bf5 Rd8 29.Rh8+ Ng8 Black is holding this, I think.
30.Be6 [30.Bh7]

30…Bc5 31.Kh1 b4 [31…Rd6! 32.Bxf7 Qxf7 33.Qc1 Qf6 34.Nf3-/+]

[31…Bxd4 32.Ba3+]

[31…Rxd4!? was the one he was afraid of while I was thinking, but it’s no good:
32.Bxd4 Bxd4 33.Bxf7 Qxf7 34.Qxd4 Qf1+ 35.Qg1+/-Qf5 36.Rh3 Nf6 37.Ra3 Qe6 38.Qa1+-]

32.Bxf7 Kxf7 33.Qh5+ Kf8 34.Qxc5+ I was bound to allow something like that: these positions are so much easier to play for the attacker at our level.

1-0

Regis, Dave – Turner, Joseph

East Devon Premier, 03/03/2001

A bit of chess blindness – I didn’t play especially well, but enough to keep making the play up to that point.

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nc3 [5.Nf3 Chiburdanidze,M-Botsari,A/EuT-ch (women), Pula CRO 1997/1-0 (31)]

5…Be6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.O-O Be7 8.d4 [8.d3 1-0 Stoliar,E-Winter,I/Worishofen 1992 (16)]

[8.b3 Raddatz,W-Kaaber,N/Bargteheide 1989/1-0 (38)]

[8.a3 Schmitt,C-Lajarige,H/FrTCh, Montpellier FRA 1998/1-0 (44)]

8…Nxc3 [8…exd4 1-0 Havlicek,J-Svabensky/Ostrava 1946 (14)]

[8…Bf6 Backe,P-Bjornsson,A/Hallsberg 1982/1-0 (48)]

9.bxc3 e4 [9…exd4 Gulko,B-Sigfusson,S/Reykjavik,ICE 1996/1-0 (41)]

[9…f6 Backe,P-Sunnebjr,A/Hallsberg 1985/1-0 (67)]

10.Ne1 [10.Nd2 1-0 Filip,V-Szabo,F/corr ch-CR 1995 (25)]

[10.Ne5 Bonaldi,P-Cena,J/La Falda ch-ARG jr 1984/1-0 (42)]

10…Bd5 [10…f5 Backe,P-Angqvist,T/Sundsvall 1989/1-0 (38)]

11.Nc2 f5 12.Ne3 g6 13.Nxd5 Qxd5 14.f3 exf3 15.Bxf3 Qd7 16.Rb1 Na5 White has a nice advantage.
17.Bf4 [17.Bxb7 is a nice Bishop, but Black has no light-squared bishop of his own.]

17…Rb8 18.Be5 Rf8 [18…O-O]

19.e4 [19.Qd3]

19…Nc4 20.Qe2 [20.Bf4 g5 21.Bc1+ / -]

20…Nxe5 21.dxe5 f4 22.Bg4 Qc6 23.gxf4 h5 24.Bxh5 Chess blindness: the f-file had been open so long…
[24.Bh3]

24…gxh5 25.Qxh5+ Rf7 …I thought I could play Qxf7!!??
26.Rbe1 Qe6 27.Re2 Kd7 28.Rd2+ Kc6 29.Rd5 [29.Qd1 Qc4 30.Qf3 Bc5+

(30…Rg8+ 31.Kh1 b6 32.f5)

(30…b6 31.f5 Qc5+ 32.Kh1 Qxe5 33.Rd5 Qg7 34.e5+-) 31.Kh1 Be3-/+

]

 

29…Rg8+ 30.Kh1 Qg4 31.Qxg4 Rxg4

0-1

Regis, D. – Parker, John

East Devon Premier, 03/04/2001

After a bye, I would have hated to go away without a win at all… This was an unpretty but determined attempt to go away with at least one.

1.c4 e6 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Be7 4.Nf3 O-O 5.O-O c6 6.b3 h6 7.d4 d5 8.Nc3 Nbd7 9.Bb2 Rb8 10.Qd3 a6 11.a4 Nh7 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 f5 14.Nc3 Ng5 15.Rad1 Nxf3+ 16.Qxf3 Nf6 17.Rfe1 Bb4 18.Re2 Bd7 19.Qd3 Qc8 20.Na2 Bd6 21.Rde1 Rf7 22.Nc3 Qf8 White has a comfortable advantage.
23.d5

[23.c5]

23…e5

[23…cxd5 24.cxd5 e5]

24.dxc6

[24.Rd2]

24…bxc6

[24…e4]

25.Rd1 White has nothing here.
25…Bc7 26.Nb1 e4 27.Qc3 Bd6 28.Nd2 Bb4 29.Qc2 Re8 30.Nf1 Bc5 White is getting better…
31.Bd4 Bxd4 32.Rxd4 c5 33.Rd1 Bc6 34.Red2 Rd7 35.Rxd7 Nxd7 36.Ne3 Ne5 37.Nd5 Bxd5 38.cxd5 Qd6 39.h4 g6

[39…Nd3! is very good for Black]

40.Bf1 Nf3+ 41.Kg2 f4 42.Qc4 a5 43.Qb5 Rd8 44.Qxa5

[44.Qc6 Qxc6 45.dxc6 Rxd1 46.c7]

44…fxg3 45.fxg3 Nd4 46.Qc3 Rf8 White has slipped again…
47.b4 Rf3 48.Qe1 Nf5 49.bxc5 Rxg3+ 50.Kh1 Qxc5 51.Bg2 Re3

[51…Rg4- +]

52.Qd2 Rd3 53.Qe1 Ng3+ 54.Kh2 Rxd1 55.Qxd1 Qd6 It’s just a big check.
56.Qg4 Ne2+ 57.Kh1 Ng3+ 58.Kh2

[58.Kg1]

58…e3 59.Qxg3 e2 60.Qxd6 e1=Q 61.Qe6+ Qxe6 62.dxe6 Kf8 63.a5

1-0

Regis, D. (1744) – Dunn, A. (1900)

East Devon Premier, 03/01/2002
Round 1 A good scrap, where we each held the advantage at one point or another.

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 d6 6.Nge2 Be6 7.d3 Qd7 We were both very happy with the opening variation, Andy has played a lot of Closed Sicilians as White.
8.Nd5 I usually forget to play this move.
8…Nce7 [8…f5 1-0 Westerman,H-De Ruiter,T/corr ch-NLD 1990 (19)]

[8…Nd8 1-0 Franco Ocampos,Z-Mantovani,R/8th Valle d’Aosta Open 2000/The Week in Chess 276 (24)]

[8…h6 Panbukczijan,A-Praszak,M/PZU SA Open 1999/1-0 (44)]

[8…Rc8 Gorbatov,A-Tikhonov,A/Novgorod 1995/1-0 (58)]

[8…Nd4 Dichev,N-Dijoux,F/Open 2000/1-0 (70)]

9.Be3 [9.d4 1-0 Timman,J-Bednarski,J/Dieren 1970 (24)]

[9.O-O Amesz,J-Wortel,M/Lost Boys Open 2000/The Week in Chess 302/1-0 (36)]

[9.h3 De Coverly,R-Dunn,A/Folkestone 1991/1-0 (72)]

9…c6 10.Nxe7 Nxe7 11.Qb3 d5 12.exd5 cxd5 13.O-O O-O 14.Bc5 Rfe8 15.Nc3 [15.Bxe7 dxc4 16.dxc4 Rxe7]

15…dxc4 16.dxc4 Qc7 17.Qa3 Logical but not worth the pawn.
[17.Bxe7 Rxe7

(17…Bxc4 18.Bd6+-) 18.Nd5+/-

]

 

17…Bxc4 18.Rfd1 Nc6 19.b3 Ba6 20.Nd5 Qc8 21.Rac1 Be2 22.Re1 Bg4 23.Bd6 Qf5 24.Ne3 [24.Nc7 Nd4 25.Nxa8 Rxa8

(25…Nf3+ 26.Bxf3 Qxf3) 26.Bxb7 Rd8 27.Bc7 Bf3 28.Qa6 Bxb7 29.Qxb7 Nf3+ 30.Qxf3 Qxf3 31.Bxd8 e4 32.Rc8 f5

]

 

24…Qh5 25.Nxg4 [25.Rxc6 is risky.]

25…Qxg4 26.Rc4 Qd7 27.Rcc1 Rad8 28.Bc5 Qf5 29.Qa4 Rd2 30.Be3 Red8 31.Be4 Qh3 As usual, Andy is trying to win by a direct attack.
32.Bxc6 [32.Bxd2 Rxd2 33.Bxc6 bxc6 34.Qxc6]

32…bxc6 33.Rxc6 R2d7 34.b4 This is about equal.
34…Qh5 35.b5 Qf3 36.Rcc1 e4 37.Qc4 h5 38.h4 Be5 39.Qe2 Qf5 40.Bc5 [40.Bg5 f6 41.Qxe4]

40…Kh7 41.Qxe4 Qxe4 42.Rxe4 Rd5 43.a4 [43.Bxa7 Rxb5 44.a4+-]

43…f5 44.Rec4 R8d7 45.a5 Rb7 46.b6 [46.a6 Rxb5 47.Bxa7 Ra5 48.Rc6 Kg7]

46…axb6 47.axb6 Kg7 48.Be3 Kf7 49.Rc7+ Rd7 50.Rxd7+ [50.Rxb7 Rxb7 51.Rc6]

50…Rxd7 51.Bf4 [51.Rc6 Rb7 52.Kf1]

51…Bxf4 52.gxf4 Ke7 53.Rc6 Rd6 54.b7 Rd1+ 55.Kg2 Rb1 56.Rxg6 Kf7 There would have been no harm in playing on, but I realised I’d blown most of the advantage.
[56…Kf7 57.Rg5 Kf6 58.Rxh5 Rxb7 59.Rh6+ Kg7]

1/2-1/2

Woodruff, Adam (1808) – Regis, D. (1744)


East Devon Premier, 03/02/2002
Round 2 I was quite pleased with this game although I lost. I just couldn’t settle to a plan in the key phase of the game.

1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 Nf6 [4…f5 Gervais,C-Weclawski,D/Duisburg Wch U16w 1992/0-1 (53)]

5.Qc2 [5.e4 Gulko,B-Zvjaginsev,V/New York Open 1997/0-1 (51)]

5…Bb7 6.O-O-O O-O 7.f3 c5 8.a3 cxd4 9.axb4 dxc3 10.Bxc3 I think this ia already easier for Black.
10…Qc7 11.e4 d5 12.Qd2 dxe4 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.fxe4 Bxe4 Now I have a pawn. As usual, this is my cue to assume the game is won until it becomes obvious that I’m losing…
15.Nh3 Nc6 16.Qc3 Qe5 [16…Rfd8! 17.Qxf6 Rxd1+ 18.Kxd1 Qd8+ 19.Qxd8+ Rxd8+ 20.Ke2 Nxb4]

17.Be2 Qxc3+ [17…a5! 18.b5

(18.Qxe5 Nxe5 19.bxa5 Rxa5 20.Rhf1 Ra1+ 21.Kd2 Rd8+ 22.Kc3 Rdxd1 23.Bxd1 Bxg2 24.Rg1 Kf8 25.Bc2 Rxg1 26.Nxg1 f5) 18…Nb4 19.Qxe5 fxe5 20.Nf2 Bf5 21.g4 Bg6

]

 

[17…Rac8?! 18.Rhf1 Qxc3+ 19.bxc3 Ne5 20.Rxf6 Nxc4 21.Rd4 Bd5 22.Nf4 Rfe8 23.Bh5 Ne5]

18.bxc3 Ne5 [18…Rfd8]

[18…Kh8!]

19.Rd4 Bg6 [19…Bxg2 20.Rg1]

20.Nf4 Rac8 21.Rf1 Kg7 22.Kb2 Rc7 23.h4 h5 [23…h6= / + 24.h5 Bh7

(24…Bf5)

]

 

24.Bxh5 Persistent badgering has got some play for White.
24…Nxc4+ 25.Kb3 [25.Ka2 e5]

25…Ne5 [25…Bc2+! 26.Kxc2

(26.Ka2) 26…Ne3+ 27.Kd3 Nxf1- +

]

 

26.Bxg6 Nxg6 27.Nh5+ Kh6 28.Nxf6 And now he has his pawn back with a good position.
28…Rfc8 29.Rf3 Ne5 30.Rg3 Rc4 31.Ng4+ And now an exchange…
31…Nxg4 32.Rxc4 Rxc4 33.Kxc4 Ne5+ 34.Kb5

1-0

Regis, D. (1744) – Evans-Quek, Suan (2160)


East Devon Premier, 03/02/2002
Round 3 I just rolled over…

1.c4 b6 Ironic: I’ve played a lot of this as Black.
2.d4

[2.Nc3 Bb7 3.e4 e6]

 

[2.e4 is what I would normally play, but thought I’d be clever…
2…Bb7 3.d3 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4]

2…Bb7 3.Nc3 f5 4.Nf3

[4.Bg5 1-0 Alekhin Alexander-Rosanov V/St Petersburg nt 1909 (21)]

 

[4.f3 1-0 Fiedler,W-Kersten,M/Berliner Sommer 1995/EXP 47 (30)]

 

[4.Bf4 1-0 Von Scheve,T-Seuffert,P/Leipzig 1894 (23)]

4…e6 5.e3 Now I thought I’d play solidly, but Black is easily equal already.

[5.g3 Tillmann,M-Jorns,B/Ambassador Open 2000/The Week in Chess 323/1-0 (37)]

5…Nf6 6.Bd3 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.b3 Qe8 9.Bb2 Qh5 10.Be2 Qh6 11.d5 Na6 12.Nd4 Bd6 13.g3 Rae8 14.Ncb5

[14.Bf3]

14…Bc5 15.a3 Qh3 White has allowed the Bb7 to become a monster.
16.b4 Bxd4 17.Qxd4 exd5 18.cxd5

[18.Bf3]

18…Bxd5 19.f3 Rf7 20.Qd2

[20.Rf2 “holds” in some sense, but Black has a very easy game to play and an extra pawn.]

20…Ng4 21.Bd1 Rxe3 22.Nc3 Rd3 23.Qc2 Ne3 24.Qf2 Rd2

0-1

Williams, D. (1688) – Regis, D. (1744)


East Devon Premier, 03/03/2002
Round 4 Rabbit Pie. Again, you get to point where you’re at the bottom of the draw and you need a win…

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 I get very few of thse, although it’s supposed to be my main line defence.
6.Bxf6? gxf6 7.Nf3 c5 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Nc6 Black has managed to make a mess of the White pawns without missing the two bishops. White can argue that ths dark-squared one was bad, but it makes life easier for Black is a break doesn’t allow such a piece access to all the weak squares in his camp.
10.Qd2 fxe5 11.dxe5 Qc7 12.Bb5 Bd7 13.Bxc6 Bxc6 14.O-O O-O-O 15.Qf4 f5 A standard MacCutcheon trick.
16.Rfe1 Rdg8 17.g3 Rg4 18.Qe3 Qa5 A pincer movement…
19.Nd2 b6 20.Nb3 Qa4 21.f4 h5 22.Kf2 h4 23.Ke2 White panics and runs for it…
23…hxg3 24.hxg3 Rh2+ 25.Kd1 Rg2 26.Rg1 R4xg3 House! 27.Rxg2 Co-operative…

[27.Qxg3 Rxg3 28.Rxg3 Qxf4]

27…Rxe3 28.Rg8+ Kb7 29.Nxc5+ bxc5 30.Rb1+ Ka6 31.Rc8 Rxc3 32.Rb2 Qd4+ 33.Kc1 Qg1+ 34.Kd2 Qe3+ 35.Kd1 Bb5

0-1

Regis, D. (1744) – Ponter, Ian (1936)


East Devon Premier, 03/03/2002
Round 5

1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2?? Again! [3.Nf3]

3…d5 4.cxd5 [4.b3 is the move I want to play, but…
4…dxc4 5.bxc4 Qd4]

[4.Nf3 is a Gambit which Kosten recommends but which I haven’t studied at all.]

4…cxd5 5.Nf3 [5.d4 Hansen,V-Haahr,T/Aalborg 1965/1-0 (54)]

[5.Nc3 Kowarsch,H-Zahn,W/Bayern chB 1984/1-0 (46)]

5…Nc6 [5…Nbd7 6.d4 g6 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.Bf4 O-O 9.O-O Qa5 10.a3 b5 11.Ne5 e6 12.Nc6 Qb6 13.Rc1 Bb7 14.Ne5 Rfc8 15.Qd3 Vannay,J-Jankovics,I/Zalaegerszeg 1959/1-0 (45)]

[5…Bf5 6.Nc3 h6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.Ne5 Qd6 9.Qxb7 Qxe5 10.d4 Qxd4 11.Be3 Qe5 12.Bf4 Qd4 13.Qxa8 Qc5 14.Qxb8+ Bc8 15.Qb5+ 1-0 Finegold,R-Halstead,K/Monroe ch-MI op 1986]

6.O-O [6.d4 Groszpeter,A-Horvath/Keszthely 1981/1-0 (40)]

6…e5 [6…Bg4 1-0 Sehner,N-Moehring,G/BL2-W 1991/BL2 (40)]

[6…g6 Bailey,J-Kebrdle,M/Eastpointe ch-MI 1993/1-0 (35)]

7.d3 Bf5 [7…Be7 Schleifer,M-Ochkoos,J/Toronto 1992/1-0 (52)]

8.Qa4 This is a reversed Pirc, or Alapin Sicilian.
8…Bd6 9.Nc3 O-O 10.Bg5 Be7 This ought to be OK for White, he just needs a plan.
11.e4 [11.Qb5 a6!]

[11.Nxe5! Nxe5 12.Qf4 Bxd3 13.Qxe5 Bc4 14.b3 Ba6+ / -]

11…Be6 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Bxe7 Ndxe7 14.Rfe1 f6 15.Rad1 [15.d4! exd4

(15…Nxd4 16.Nxd4 exd4 17.Rxe6 dxc3 18.bxc3+-) 16.Rxe6 dxc3 17.bxc3+ / -

]

 

15…Qb6 16.b3 Rad8 Black is nicely centralised while White is vaguely organised.
17.Ne2 [17.d4!= / + Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Rxd4 19.Rxd4 exd4 20.Nb5 d3 21.Nd4 d2 22.Rd1 Rd8 23.Rxd2 Nc6]

17…Rd6 18.d4 Rfd8 19.Rd2 e4 Just hoped something would turn up if I sacrificed a little material, but being so disorganised, of course it did not.
20.Nf4 exf3 21.Nxe6 fxg2 22.Nxd8 Qxd8 23.Kxg2 Kf8 24.Red1 Rd5 25.Qc4 Qd7 26.b4 b5 27.Qc2 Rxd4 28.Rxd4 Nxd4 29.Qxh7 Qd5+ 30.Kh3 Qe6+ 31.g4 [31.Kg2]

31…Ndc6 32.Qh5 Qxa2 33.Qxb5 Qxf2 34.Rf1 Qe3+ 35.Kg2 Qe4+ 36.Kg3 Ne5 37.h3 Qe3+ 38.Kg2 Kf7 39.Qb7 Qd2+ 40.Kg3 Qd4 41.Qa6 Qe3+ 42.Kg2 Nd3 43.Qa2+ Kf8 44.Qc4 Ne1+ 45.Kh2 Qd2+ 46.Kg3 Qg2+ 47.Kf4 Nd5+

0-1

Regis – Farina


East Devon Major, 02/28/2003
Round 1 Yes, the major.

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4

[2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.f4 – Short,N-Speelman,J/London, Candidates Match ENG 1991 (14)]

2…Nf6 3.d3 Bc5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Nf3 b5 6.Bb3 Qb6 7.Qe2 d6 8.Be3 Bxe3 9.Qxe3 Qxe3+ 10.fxe3 Nbd7 11.O-O Nc5 12.h3 O-O 13.Nh4 a5 14.a3 Nxb3 15.cxb3 Normally I like to be the one attacking weak pawns…
15…Be6 I decided just to let it go.
16.Nf5 Bxb3 17.Ne7+ Kh8 18.Nxc6 Bc2 19.d4 Nxe4 20.dxe5 Nxc3 21.bxc3 Be4 22.Nd4 dxe5 23.Nxb5 Bd3 24.Nc7 Bxf1 25.Nxa8 Bxg2 26.Kxg2 Rxa8 About the best I could hope for I guessed: a pawn down in a rook endgame.
27.Rb1 f6 28.Kf3 g6 29.Rb7 Rc8 30.Ra7 Rxc3 31.Rxa5 Kg7 32.a4 Ra3 33.Ra7+ Kh6 34.a5 f5 35.Kf2 Kg5 36.Rxh7 Rxa5 One pawn, and all on the same side, but it’s still not good enough…
37.Kf3 e4+ 38.Kg3 Kf6 39.h4 Ra1 40.Kf2 Ra2+ And rather than retreat (or lose the e-pawn) I thought I’d start again tomorrow. So much for warming up my game with against some easier opposition. I usually go through and annotate a game with at least my immediate thoughts on the day of the match, but this one was so disheartening I didn’t bother until I cam to do this web page in 2006.

0-1

Oughton – Regis


East Devon Major, 03/01/2003
Round 2 Nothing dramatic, just make sure you’re never worse.

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 f5 4.e3 Nf6 5.Bg2 d6

[5…d5]

6.d3 Be6 7.b3 Qd7 8.Nf3 Be7 9.O-O h6 10.d4 Bf7 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Qxd7+ Nxd7 13.Bb2 O-O-O 14.Nd5 Bd6 15.Rfc1 Rhe8 16.Ne1 g6 17.Nc3 e4 18.Nb5 Be5 19.Bxe5 Ndxe5 20.Rd1 a6 21.Nc3 Nb4 22.a3 Nbd3 One advantage.
23.Nxd3 Nxd3 24.Bf1 Nc5 25.Rxd8+ Rxd8 26.b4 Nb3 27.Rd1 Nd2 28.c5 Bb3 29.Rc1 Now all my pieces are better than each of his.
29…Nf3+ 30.Kg2 Rd2 31.c6 Ne5 32.cxb7+ Kxb7 33.h3 Nd3 34.Bxd3 exd3 Passed pawn.
35.Ra1 Rc2 36.Nd1 d2

0-1

Regis – Dean


East Devon Major, 03/01/2003
Round 3

1.e4 Thankfully I remember nothing about this game.

1…c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Be7 7.Bd3 [7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bd3

(8.Bc4)

]

 

7…O-O 8.O-O dxc4 9.Bxc4 I’ve been trying to persuade myself for a while to master either side of IQP positions.
9…Nc6 10.Re1 [10.a3 1-0 Janosevic,D-Schroeder,W/Dortmund op 1987/TD 87\03 (28)]

[10.Be3]

[10.Bg5 1-0 Tenenwurzel,E-Black,R/New York 1911 (17)]

10…b6 [10…Nb4 11.a3 Nbd5 12.Ne5 Bd7 13.Bd3 Bc6 14.Bc2 Qb6 15.Qd3 Rfd8 16.Bg5 Qxb2 17.Nxd5 Rxd5 18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Rab1 1-0 Djurhuus,R-Johannessen,S/Jarleslaget, Trondheim NOR 1997]

11.a3 Na5 12.Ba2 Bb7 13.Bf4 Nd5 14.Bg3 Nxc3 15.bxc3 Rc8 16.Qd3 Bd5 17.Bb1 g6 18.h4 Nc4 19.h5 Determined to follow through the attacking plan, rather than admit I was on the slide.
19…Nxa3 Now an exchange sac to keep some sort of initiative…
20.Rxa3 Bxa3 21.hxg6 fxg6 22.Ne5 Qg5 23.c4 Bb4 24.Re3 Bb7 25.Qb3 Bd6 26.c5 Bd5 27.Qa4 Bxe5 28.dxe5 Rxc5 I can only assume he was short of time or in need of grading points.

1/2-1/2

Sellwood, C. – Regis


East Devon Major, 03/02/2003
Round 4 A cruise after he fell into an opening trap.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.Bxc3

[7.bxc3]

 

[Better is7.bxc3 Ne4 8.Qg4!]

7…Ne4 8.Bb4?

[8.Ba5?! Fischer,R-Petrosian,T/Curacao ct 1962/CAND/ 0-1 (43) The (bad) idea behind 7.Bxc3]

8…c5!= / + NCO 9.dxc5?

[9.Ba3 Qa5+]

 

[9.Bxc5 Nxc5 10.dxc5 Nd7 11.Qd4 Qc7 0-1 Kovchan,A-Vysochin,S/Bank Zachodni Open 1999 (23)]

9…Nxf2 10.Kxf2 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qxb4 12.Nf3 Qxc5+ 13.Kg2 Nc6 14.c3 Qe3 15.Qe1 Qxe1 16.Rxe1 Bd7 17.Bd3 O-O 18.Rhf1 f6 19.Nh4 Nxe5 20.Bc2 Rae8 21.Rxe5 fxe5 22.Ng6 Rxf1 23.Kxf1 Bb5+ 24.Ke1 e4 25.Bb3 Kf7 26.Nf4 g5 27.Ng2 Ke7! 28.Ne3 Rf8 29.Bd1 Kd6 30.a4 Bd3 31.Bg4 a5 32.b4 axb4 33.cxb4 d4 34.Nd1 e3 35.Bh3 Bc2 36.Nb2 Rf2 37.Nc4+ Kd5 38.Na5 d3

0-1

Regis – Moreland


East Devon Major, 03/02/2003
Round 5

1.c4 An early draw offer suggested Black wasn’t taking the game seriously, but I wanted blood.

1…g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 c6 5.e4 d6 6.Nge2 [6.d4 1-0 Laco-Magrin/Milan ch 1968 (22)]

6…O-O [6…Na6 1-0 Welling-Kok,P/Eindhoven 1986 (23)]

[6…Nbd7 1-0 Lobos,M-Martin,V/VII Open 2000/The Week in Chess 296 (25)]

7.O-O Be6 [7…e5 8.d3

(8.d4 1-0 Luque-Vilar/Cordoba 1991 (25)) 8…a5 9.h3 Nbd7 10.Be3 Nc5 11.f4 1-0 Gerber,P-Wiltink,J/Giessen op 1995/GER 11 (25)

]

 

[7…a6 Watson]

8.d3 Qc8 9.Rb1 Bh3 10.Bg5 Bxg2 11.Kxg2 h6 12.Be3 Ng4 13.Bd2 Nf6 14.f4 Nbd7 15.h3 Qc7 16.Be3 Nb6 17.Qd2 Kh7 Not really trying… White is allowed to build up an attack just as he wishes.
18.Rf2 e6 19.Rbf1 d5 20.e5 Nfd7 21.c5 Nc8 22.d4 White now has a complete lock on the position.
22…b6 23.b4 bxc5 24.bxc5 Ne7 25.g4 Rab8 26.Ng3 Qa5 27.f5 Ng8 28.f6 Bh8 29.h4 Bxf6 30.exf6 Ndxf6 31.g5 Ng4 32.Rxf7+ Still only 3.5 out of 5 against players I might have hoped to beat in each game.
[32.Rxf7+ Rxf7 33.Rxf7+ Kh8 34.h5]

1-0

Hutchings, P. – Regis, D.


East Devon (Exeter), 03/04/2005
Round 1 A nice positional buildup for Black with a firm step on a big banana skin at the end.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd6 6.Bg5 f6 7.Bh4 Qe7+ 8.Be2 Already it’s gone wrong for White, although it took some maturity of character to play this move at all.
8…Nh6 9.Nc3 Be6 10.Bg3 Bxg3 11.hxg3 O-O-O 12.Qd2 Nf5 13.O-O-O g5 14.Bb5 Qd6 15.g4 Nfe7 16.Nh2 h5 17.gxh5 Rxh5 18.Nf3 Rdh8 19.Rxh5 Rxh5 20.Re1 g4

[20…Bg4]

21.Ng1 Nf5 22.Nge2 Bf7 23.Bxc6 Qxc6 24.Nf4 Rh2 25.Qd3 Qd7 26.Nd1 Nh4

[26…Nd6]

27.Qg3 A simple fork with the queen wins for White.
27…Nxg2 28.Nxg2 Rh3 29.Qf4

1-0

Regis, D. – Wright, R.


East Devon (Exeter), 04/04/2005
Round 2 A nice positional buildup with a banana skin in the middle.

1.c4 g5 Irritating, but of course that’s the point.
2.d4 h6 3.e4 Bg7 4.Nc3

[4.h4 c5 5.hxg5 Bxd4 6.Nf3]

4…c5 5.Nge2 cxd4 6.Nxd4 d6 7.Be3 Nf6 8.Be2 a6 9.O-O g4 10.f4 gxf3 11.Bxf3 I don’t know why this version of the Maroczy Bind shouldn’t be good for White, but it still needs winning.
11…h5 12.h3 e5 13.Nf5

[13.Nc2]

13…Bxf5 14.exf5 Qd7 15.Qd2

[15.Na4]

15…Nc6 16.Rad1 O-O-O 17.Bb6 I thought I’d got him now.

[17.Na4 Kb8 18.Nb6 Qc7]

17…Bh6 18.Qe2

[18.Qd3 Nb4 19.Qe2 Rde8 20.Ne4 Nxe4 21.Qxe4]

18…Rde8 19.Ne4

[19.Nd5 Nxd5 20.Bxd5]

19…Nxe4 20.Qxe4 Nd4 Now I missed a big one…
21.Bxd4

[21.Kh1]

 

[21.Bxh5]

21…exd4 22.Qd3 Be3+ Would have been even more serious had I captured the pawn… So, start again, but now it’s tough.
23.Kh1 f6 24.Bd5 Qg7 25.Qa3 Rd8 26.c5 dxc5 27.Qxc5+ Qc7 28.Be6+ Kb8 29.Qxc7+ Kxc7 30.Rd3

[30.g3]

30…h4 Black is simply better, and it’s hard to set him problems. In doing so, I give him opportunities that he is pleased to take…
31.g4 hxg3 32.Kg2 Rh7 33.Kxg3 Rdh8 34.Rh1 Kd6 35.Bb3 Ke5 White is out of ideas and also uncoordinated.
36.Bc2 Rc8 37.Bb1

[37.Rh2 Rg7+]

37…Rg7+ 38.Kf3 Rcg8 39.Rb3 Rg3+ 40.Ke2 Rg2+ 41.Kd3 b5 42.a4 Rd2#

0-1

Taylor, GP. – Regis, D.


East Devon (Exeter), 04/04/2005
Round 3 A nice positional build-up with a banana skin right at the start.

1.e4 Knaak e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.a3 [6.Be2]

6…f6 [6…c4]

7.Bd3 [7.b4 fxe5 8.Nxe5

(8.bxc5 e4 9.Ng5 Nf6= / +)

(8.dxc5 Nf6 9.Bb5 e4) 8…Nxd4 Nxe5 Nf5

(8…cxd4 exd4)

]

 

7…Qc7 [7…cxd4 8.cxd4 Nh6 9.Bxh6 gxh6 10.Nh4 Qb6 11.Qh5+ Kd8-/+]

[7…fxe5 8.dxe5 Qc7 9.Qe2 Nh6 10.O-O Nf7 11.Re1 c4 12.Bc2 Be7 13.h4 O-O-O

(13…Bc5 & …Qb6) 14.Bf4 Rdg8 15.Nbd2 Qd8 16.g3 g5 17.hxg5 Nxg5= / +

]

 

8.O-O [8.Bf4 c4 9.Bc2 O-O-O 10.Nbd2 Nh6 11.Bg3 f5 12.Bf4 Nf7 13.h4 Be7 14.Qe2 g6 15.g3 h6]

8…fxe5 [8…O-O-O is what they all play, but I had a vague idea I could get away with taking the pawn.
9.Bf4

(9.Qe2 h6 10.b4 c4 11.Bc2 f5 12.Nh4 Be8 13.f4 Be7 14.Nxf5 exf5 15.Bxf5+ Kb8 16.Qg4 g5 17.fxg5 hxg5 18.Bxg5 Bh5 19.Qg3 Bxg5 20.Qxg5 Nge7 21.Nd2 Rdg8 22.Qe3 Nxf5 23.Rxf5 Qh7 24.Rf6 Be2 25.h3 Bd3 26.Kh2 Ne7 27.Nf3 Nf5 28.Qf4 Ka8 29.Rg1 Qh5 30.e6 Be4 31.Rf1 Rg3 32.Rxf5 Qxh3+ 0-1 Grischuk,A-Short,N/19th Open 2000/The Week in Chess 284)

(9.g3 fxe5 10.dxe5 c4 11.Bc2 Bc5 12.b4 cxb3 13.Bxb3 Rf8 14.Qe2 Nge7 15.c4 dxc4 16.Bxc4 Rxf3 17.Qxf3 Nxe5 18.Qc3 Bd4 19.Qb3 Bxa1 20.Bf4 N7g6 21.Nd2 Bd4 22.Bxe6 Nxf4 23.gxf4 Bxe6 24.Qxe6+ Qd7 25.Rc1+ Kb8 0-1 Sikorova,O-Taborsky,R/TCh-CZE 2001-2 2002/The Week in Chess 388)

(9.Re1 c4 10.Bf1 Nge7 11.Bf4 h6 12.h4 g5 13.Bh2 f5 14.hxg5 Ng6 15.Nbd2 Be8 16.Be2 Qh7 17.Nf1 Na5 18.b4 Nb3 19.Ra2 Ba4 20.Qb1 Be7 21.gxh6 Qxh6 22.Ne3 Nh4 23.Nxh4 Qxh4 24.Nf1 Bg5 25.g3 Qh3 26.Bf3 f4 27.Bg2 Qh6 28.gxf4 Bxf4 Schneider,D-Smith,B/6th Foxwoods Open 2004/The Week in Chess 493/0-1 (42)) 9…c4

(9…g5? 10.Bg3 g4 11.exf6+ / -) 10.Bc2 h6! 11.h4

(11.Bg3 f5 (11…f5 Knaak 12.h4 Be8 13.Nbd2 Bh5 14.Bf4 Be7 15.Qb1 Rf8 Qd8, g7-g5)) 11…Be8!

(11…f5 12.h5+/-) 12.b3

(12.Nbd2 Bh5 13.Qe1 f5= / +)

(12.Bg3= / + Knaak) 12…cxb3 13.Bxb3 Bh5 14.Nbd2

(14.Qd3 g5 15.Bg3 (15.hxg5 hxg5 16.Bg3 Bxf3 17.Qxf3 (17.exf6 Qf7 18.Qxf3 Qh7- +) 17…Qh7- +) 15…f5 16.hxg5 Bxf3- +) 14…fxe5?

(14…g5! 15.Bg3 (15.Be3 f5-/+) 15…f5-/+) 15.dxe5 Bc5= / + 16.Qb1

(16.Qe1 Nge7 17.Be3) 16…Nge7 17.c4

(17.Bh2 Rhf8 18.Bd1-/+) 17…Rhf8 18.Bh2 Bxf3 19.Nxf3 Rxf3! 20.gxf3 Nd4 21.Kg2

(21.Bd1 Knaak dxc4- +) 21…Nef5 22.Bg3 Qf7! 23.f4

(23.Bd1 Qg6)

(23.cxd5 Knaak Nxh4+ 24.Bxh4 Qxf3+ 25.Kh2 Qh5 26.Qe4 Nxb3- +) 23…g5 24.cxd5 gxf4 25.dxe6

(25.Bxf4 Knaak Nxh4+- +) 25…Qh5 26.e7 Nxh4+ 0-1 Adams,M-Epishin,V/Ter Apel 1992/[Anand]

(26…Nxh4+ 27.Bxh4 Qg4+ 28.Bg3 f3+ 29.Kh2 Qh5+ 30.Kg1 Ne2#)

]

 

9.dxe5 [9.Nxe5 Nxe5 10.Bf4 Qb6

(10…Bd6 11.dxe5+ / -) 11.Bxe5 Qxb2 12.Qh5+ Kd8-/+

]

 

9…Nxe5 [9…g6 10.Ng5 Bg7 11.f4 Nge7]

10.Nxe5 Qxe5 11.Re1 Qf6 [11…Qd6 12.Qh5+ Kd8]

12.Qh5+ Kd8?? [12…g6 13.Qxd5 O-O-O and Black’s still very much in the game.]

13.Bg5

1-0

Jepps, G. – Regis, D.


East Devon (Exeter), 05/04/2005
Round 4 You always feel swindled when you lose to one of these gambits: you know they’re not supposed to be good, but that can lead you to think you’re winning before you really are.

1.d4 e6

[

1…d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3

 

]

2.e4 d5 3.Be3 dxe4 4.f3 Nf6 5.fxe4 Nxe4 6.Nd2 Nf6 7.Ngf3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 Be7 9.O-O O-O 10.Qe1 c5 11.Qh4 cxd4 12.Bg5 White has his open lines I guess but I’m happy enough with Black.
12…g6

[12…Qa5]

 

[12…h6 invites 13.Bxh6 and while Black may still be better, why give him the opportunity to play the game he wants.]

 

[12…Re8! 13.Ne5? Nxe5 14.Bxf6 Nxd3]

13.Ne4 Typical of these positions: White tries to increase the activity of his pieces without allowing exchanges as they get nearer…

[13.Rae1 After the game we thought this might be better, bringing the last white piece into play when Black is unable to respond in kind.]

13…Re8 14.Ne5 Nxe4 15.Rxf7 Marks for effort!
15…Nxg5 Big think from White here.
16.Bxg6 And without a lot of thought…
16…Nf3+

[16…Nxe5 wins handily]

17.gxf3 Bxh4 18.Bxh7+ Kh8 19.Ng6# Really, what else could White’s idea be? But I didn’t give him the credit for having one. Gary Lane was so impressed with this swindle that he wrote it up for Chess Cafe… I just did a whizz through a database to see how the BDG fared in local games, and out of 100 efforts White won 36 and Black 37. To read Gary’s book, you’d think that gambits like this always bloody win, but of course the losses are usually prosaic and never get into print.

1-0

Regis, D. – Chapman, P.


East Devon (Exeter), 05/04/2005
Round 5 Again, reduced to trying to claw a win from the last round…. fortunately I had an opponent even more demoralised than I was.

1.c4 d6 2.g3 e5 3.Bg2 c6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.e4 Be7 6.Nge2 O-O 7.O-O a5 8.h3 Na6 9.d3 Bd7 10.a4 Nc7 11.Be3 Ne6 12.f4 Solid play by Black, but as I always say, you do need a plan as well.
12…exf4 13.gxf4 Qc8 14.d4 Nc7 15.f5 Nfe8 16.Ng3 f6 17.Qh5

1-0

Regis, D. – Helbig, P.


East Devon (Exeter), 03/03/2006
Round 1 Not bad, but nowhere near good enough: Black has won this tournament in the past.

1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 d6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 e5 5.e4 Nc6 6.Nge2 h5 7.h4 Bg4 8.f3 Be6 9.d3 [9.Nd5! 1-0 This is the only way to put pressure on Black’s game… makes you wonder a bit about how good the opening is, then…. Deleyn, G-Acevedo,V/Dubai 1986 (26)]

9…Qd7 10.Be3 [10.Nd5 1-0 Lie,K-Bogdanov,D/Politiken Cup 2004/The Week in Chess 508 (31)]

[10.Bg5 1-0 Syrjanen,J-Maki,V/Pori SM 1986 (38)]

[10.Rb1 1-0 Koenig,D-Gelman,G/USA 1993 (54)]

10…Nd4 11.Qd2 Ne7 12.Rb1 c6 13.O-O O-O 14.f4 Bh3 15.Bf2 Nxe2+ 16.Qxe2 [16.Nxe2]

16…Bxg2 17.Kxg2 exf4 18.gxf4 d5 Revealing White’s lack of pressure. Black is crusing towards a better structure, so I threw in a pawn for a good Knight and some attacking prospects.
19.cxd5 cxd5 20.Bc5 d4 21.Bxe7 Qxe7 22.Nd5 Qxh4 23.Rh1 Qd8 24.Rh3 [24.Rbc1]

24…Re8 25.Qf3 Rc8 26.Rf1 Rc2+ 27.Kh1 Qd7 28.f5 Passers-by were quite impressed with my position, but it’s hard to create real threats.
28…Rec8 29.f6 [29.fxg6 fxg6 30.Rg3 Kh7 31.Rfg1

(31.Qf6) 31…R2c6

]

29…Bf8 30.Rxh5 Rc1 31.Rh2 Bd6 32.Rhf2 [32.Rg2]

32…Rxf1+ 33.Rxf1 Rc2 34.Rf2 Rxf2 35.Qxf2 Qh3+ It’s all gone Pete Tong.
36.Kg1 Qxd3 37.Ne7+ Kf8 38.Qh4 Qe3+ 39.Kf1 Qf3+ 40.Kg1 Qg3+ 41.Qxg3 Bxg3 42.Kg2 Be5 43.Nd5 Ke8 44.Kf3

0-1

Whymark, DW. – Regis, D.


East Devon (Exeter), 03/04/2006
Round 2 Not crisp enough: again, I thought I’d solved the problem of the opening and went to sleep, waking up to find I was in big trouble.

1.Nf3

[1.c4 0-1 Smyslov,V-Fischer,R/Palma de Mallorca izt 1970/IZT (43)]

1…g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 e6 I’ve liked this position for Black ever since I read Levy’s book on Fischer as a nipper. However, it will be clear that I’m not as good as him…
6.O-O Nge7 7.d3

[Better is7.e3 0-1 Doda,Z-Fischer,R/Havana 1965 (36) Petrosian=:P]

7…d5 8.Rb1 O-O 9.a3 b6 10.Bd2 Easy so far, now I have to think of moves on my own.
10…a5

[10…Bb7 0-1 Petrosian,T-Fischer,R/Belgrade 1970 (66)]

11.Nb5 a4 12.b3 axb3 13.Qxb3 Na5 14.Qc2 dxc4 15.dxc4 Bb7 16.Bf4 Moving to swindle mode… I need a randomiser!
16…e5 17.Bxe5 Bxe5 18.Nxe5 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Nec6 20.Rfd1 Qe7 21.Nd7 Nd4 Glad to have found that one.
22.Rxd4 cxd4 23.Nxf8 Qxf8 24.Nxd4 Qc5 Had to see that one a while back…
25.Nb3 Qxc4 26.Qxc4 Nxc4 27.Nd4 Rxa3 Whew.

1/2-1/2

Regis, D. – Kneebone, Jeremy


East Devon (Exeter), 03/04/2006
Round 3 I did enough to get a plus but Black wasn’t playing as though he was worse…

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.O-O O-O 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 a6 9.h3

[9.Nc2 1-0 Pirc,V-Golombek,H/Hastings 1938 (20)]

 

[9.c5 1-0 Wojtkiewicz,A-Langenberg,J/Soest 1996 (21)]

9…Qb6

[9…Nxd4 1-0 Basman-Smit/Islington 1976 (31)]

10.Nc2 d6 11.Rb1 Be6 12.Be3 Qd8 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.cxd5 Ne5 15.a4 Rc8 16.Na3 Ned7 17.Qd2 Nc5 18.a5

[18.b3]

18…Nfd7 19.Rfc1

[19.b4]

[19.b3]

19…Nb3 Oops, missed that one, fortunately it’s not fatal, but now Black has the initiative.
20.Rxc8 Qxc8 21.Qb4 Ndc5 22.Nc4 Qf5 23.Re1

[23.Qe1]

23…Qc2 24.Bf3 Rc8 Drawn 25.Nb6 Rd8 26.Nc4 Bxb2 27.Nxb2 Qxb2 28.Bxc5 dxc5 29.Qxb7 ia a plausible continuation.

1/2-1/2

Page, M. – Regis, D.


East Devon (Exeter), 03/04/2006
Round 4

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.bxc3 Ne4 8.Qg4 g6 9.Bd3 Nxd2 10.Kxd2 c5 11.h4 Nc6 12.Nf3 Qa5 This is supposed to be my main line defence, but usually White deviates long before now and I’m not that familiar with the positions.
13.Qf4 [13.Rab1 0-1 Gensler,K-Harger,D/Midwest Masters Inv 1989 (24)]

[13.dxc5 Pozo Vera,S-G uia Garcia,J/II Marcelo Salado Cup Gp A 2003/The Week in Chess/0-1 (44)]

[13.Rhe1 Davies-Happel,H/Guernsey 1988/0-1 (51)]

13…cxd4 [13…b6 0-1 Goodger,M-Kiseleva,N/12th Monarch Assurance 2003/The Week in Chess 465 (28)]

[13…Bd7 Matjushin,G-Budnikov,O/Caissa Open 2000/The Week in Chess 284/0-1 (60)]

14.Nxd4 [14.h5 0-1 Terrieux,K-Benitah,Y/18th Touraine Open 2003/The Week in Chess 457 (35)]

14…Nxd4 15.Qxd4 Now, structurally Black has made some gains, but the skeleton of a plan needs a little more piece activity before it can be called alive.
15…Bd7 [15…b6 Sellwood,C-George,I/Camborne Club Championship 2002/[14/4/2002]

/0-1 (46)

]

16.Rhb1 [16.Rab1 0-1 Vuori,H-Tuominen,R/Tampere 1991 (37)]

16…Bc6 [16…b6 Arakhamia,K-Peng Zhaoqin/3rd EIWCh 2002/The Week in Chess 396/0-1 (69)]

17.a4 O-O 18.Rb4 Rac8 19.Rab1 Kg7 20.Bb5 Ironically, White is attacking where I am supposed to attack…
20…Rc7 [20…b6= / + Not too hard to dream up.]

21.f3 Rfc8 22.R1b3 Bxb5 23.Rxb5 Qa6 Now Black is clearly worse.
24.Qf4 Kh7 [24…b6= / +]

25.a5 Qc6 26.Qb4 Rb8 [26…d4! 27.Rxb7

(27.c4 Qxc4) 27…dxc3+ 28.Kc1 Qd7-/+

]

27.Qd6 Qxd6 28.exd6 Rd7 29.Rc5 Rxd6 30.Rc7 Kg7 31.Rbxb7 Rxb7 32.Rxb7 White has seized the seventh as he hoped, but it’s not enough.
32…Ra6 33.Rb5 Kf6 34.Ke3 Rc6 35.Kd3 g5 [35…Rc4 36.Rb7

(36.Rb4 Rc5 37.Ra4 e5-/+) 36…Rxh4 37.Rxa7 Ra4 38.a6? h5 39.Ke3 e5 40.Kf2 Ke6 41.Ke3 f6

]

 

[35…Rc7]

36.hxg5+ hxg5 37.Rb7 Ra6 38.Rb5 Rc6 39.Rb7 By the time White got his King to b5, my King might be able to do something on g2, so it feels too commital for White to try and win this.

1/2-1/2

Regis, D. – Richmond, J.


East Devon (Exeter), 03/05/2006
Round 5 A good scrap: I didn’t see Black’s idea to win a pawn, then she chose to win it in the worst way. But I never got a grip of the attack…

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.e4 d6 6.Nge2 Be6 7.d3 Qd7 8.Be3

[8.Nd5 I never remember to play this move… Regis,D-Dunn,A/East Devon Premier 2002/ – (56)]

8…h5 9.h4 Nh6 10.Nd5 Ng4 11.Bd2 Nd4 12.Nxd4 exd4 13.f3 Ne5 14.Bg5 Bxd5 15.cxd5 Qb5

Missed this idea to win a pawn… oh dear, back in swindle mode again! Black actually allows me a lot of activity but I couldn’t find anything concrete.
16.O-O Nxd3 17.a4 Qa6 18.Qc2 Nc5 19.b4 d3 20.Qd1 Nd7 21.Be3 Rooks don’t like defending, so if I am in swindle mode, I’m usually happy to throw in an exchange for some attack.
21…Bxa1 22.Qxa1 O-O-O 23.Bd4 Rhe8 24.Bh3

[24.Qc3]

24…f5 25.b5 Qa5 I was feeling OK at this point, but White’s fun is coming to an end…
26.exf5 Qd2 27.Rd1 Qe2 28.Bf1 Qxf3 29.Rxd3 Qxf5 30.Kh2 Re4 31.Qd1 Rde8 32.Bg2 Re2 Zok!

33.Rd2 Re1 34.Qb3 R8e2 Pow!

35.Rxe2 Rxe2 36.Qd1 Qe4 Splat!

Not a single win, but some better play than previously and against some good opposition. I finished the season on 159, which is higher than I have been recently.

0-1

Dr.Dave’s Best Games

Posted on by

The best?

dodd,n – regis,d [A40]

 BEST: caius vs. downing, Cambridge UCC, 1981

 1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 Bb7 6. Bf4 d6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Nf3 Qe7 9. Be2 Ngf6 10. O-O Ne4 11. Bd3 O-O-O 12. Qc2 f5 13. h3 h6

-+jT-+-T
XlXsD-X-
-X-Xx+-X
+-+-+x+-
-+pPsB-+
P-PbPn+p
-+q+-Pp+
R-+-+rK-

 Having played through Korchnoi-Szabo (see Strategy section of canon) I never put a piece in front of my pawns for ages. Here’s one game that helped confirm me in that!

 14. Nd2 Nxd2 15. Qxd2 g5 16. Bg3 h5 17. f3 Rdg8 18. Kf2 g4 19. Bf4 gxh3 20. Rg1 e5 21. Bh2 hxg2 22. Bg3 h4 23. Bh2 e4 24. fxe4 fxe4 25. Be2 h3 26. Ke1 Nf6 27. Kd1 Qd7 28. Kc1 Ba6 29. Kb2 Qa4 30. Bd1

-+j+-+tT
X-X-+-+-
lX-X-S-+
+-+-+-+-
d+pPx+-+
P-P-P-+x
-K-Q-+xB
R-+b+-R-

White is setting a trap, but needs the Bd1 to keep the Knight out of g4 30… Qxc4 31. Bb3 Qe2 32. Qxe2 Bxe2 33. Bxg8 Rxg8 34. Bf4 Bf3 35. Rac1 Rh8 36. Bh2 Ng4 0-1A game where (for once) I couldn’t find any errors: if you find any, I don’t think I want to know!

Regis,D (1820) – Lane,PC (2080) [A00] 1996

 1. g3 The first and only time I played this. Pete has a opening repertoire (French and KID) which he knows inside out and kills 190-grades with, so my one ambition was to avoid playing into either. Given that I’ve been playing King fianchetto systems most of my life, this was the front runner. 1…Nf6 2. Bg2 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Ne2 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5+ 7. Nbc3 Qxc5 8. Be3 Qa5 9. h3 Nc6 10. O-O I was amazed, typing in the game afterwards, to find that Fritz regarded all of the above as theory. I dunno about Peter, but I was making it all up! We now get a standard Sicilian formation where White is better placed to attack in the centre and Queen’s-side than the King’s-side – but so is Black! Hence some little tactics where White can’t just play the normal positional moves e.g. Nd5 without caution. 10…Rb8 11. a4 a6 12. Nf4 O-O 13. Nfd5!? Nxd5 14. Nxd5 b5 15. c3 Qd8 16. a5!? e6!? 17. Bb6 Qd7 18. Ne3 Bf6 19. Qd2 Bd8 20. Bxd8 Rxd8 Black now may have trouble holding the dark squares. 21. Rfd1 Ne5 22. Qd4 Bb7 23. b4!? Rbc8?! 24. f4! Nc4masking the weakling on c3 25. Ng4 Qc6 26. Nf6+ Kf8 27. Nxh7+ Ke8 28. Nf6+ Ke7

 This beginning left something to be desired, and also left us each with about 5 minutes to get to move 36, but all is forgivable after a return to hack mode…

-+tT-+-+
+l+-Jx+-
x+dXxNx+
Px+-+-+-
-PsQpP-+
+-P-+-Pp
-+-+-+b+
R-+r+-K-

 29. Nd5+ exd5 [else 30.Qf6 anyway] 30. exd5 Qc7 31. Re1+ Kd7 32. Qf6 Ra8 33. Re7+ Kc8 34. Rxc7+ Kxc7 35. Re1 Rd7 36. Re7 Rad8 37. Qxf7 1-0

Posted in Ego

Dr.Dave’s best blunders and swindles

Posted on by

the best blunders and swindles

 I consider it a matter of disquiet that the most heartfelt tributes to my chess prowess include the following:

  • {*FrankNStein says: Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaastaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard*} [BICS]
  • “f***ing cheapo, bl**dy swindling b*gg*r” [OTB National Club Championships]
  • {*Walt tells you: you played me a set of dirty schwindles*} [Dutch ICS]

 The sporting achievements that led to these fine compliments are to be found here, but below are the ones I am proudest of… You might also enjoy:

Swindle your way to success
An introduction to the ignoble art, which uses some games from below.

gray,t (1695) – regis,d [A40]

 SWINDLE: Ian Miles Chp., Andover CC, 1983

 1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. e3 f5 !? 5. Nc3 Bb4 !? 6. Be2 Nf6 7. Qb3 ! 7… a5 7 … Na6 8. a4 O-O 9. O-O Bxc3 10. bxc3 Qe7 11. Ba3 d6 12. c5 Nbd7 13. cxd6 cxd6 14. Ne5 ! (zok) 14… Ne4 15. Rad1 Kh8 16. Bb5 ! (pow) 16… Nec5 17. dxc5 Nxe5 18. c6 (kazango)

t+-+-T-J
+l+-D-Xx
-XpXx+-+
Xb+-Sx+-
p+-+-+-+
BqP-P-+-
-+-+-PpP
+-+r+rK-

 18… Nxc6 19. Bxd6 Qg5 !? 20. Bf4 [20. g3] 20… Qg6 21. f3 e5 22. Bg3 f4 23. exf4 exf4 24. Be1 Ne5

t+-+-T-J
+l+-+-Xx
-X-+-+d+
Xb+-S-+-
p+-+-X-+
+qP-+p+-
-+-+-+pP
+-+rBrK-

 25. c4 Rac8 26. Qa3 Qf7 27. Rd6 Nxc4 28. Bxc4 Qxc4 29. Rxb6 Ba6 30. Rf2 Rfe8 31. Rb1 Re3 32. Qa1 Qc5 33. Kh1 ? [33. Rd1 Rce8 34. Qb1 Re2 35. Qa1 Qe3 36. h3]

 33… Bd3 ? Surprisingly, Black still has enough to win a piece 34. Rb7 [34. Rd1 Rxe1+ 35. Rxe1 Qxf2 36. Re7 Rg8] 34… Qe5 35. Qxe5 Rxe5 36. Bc3 ?! 36… h6 ! 37. g3 Rxc3 38. gxf4 Rf5 39. Kg2 Rxf4 40. Kg3 g5 41. Rd2 Kg8 42. Ra7 Rxa4 43. Rb2 Rb4 44. Ra2 Be4 45. R2xa5 Rxf3+ 46. Kg4 Rf4+ 0-1

willis,r – regis,d (1855) [A40]

 SWINDLE: exeter club ch’p #2, 1994

 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. e3 Nc6 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 Nce7 8. O-O

t+-Dj+sT
XxX-SxLx
-+-X-+x+
+-+pX-+-
-+p+-+l+
+-N-Pn+-
pP-+bPpP
R-Bq+rK-

 8… f5 9. Ng5 Bxe2 10. Qxe2 Bh6 11. Ne6 Qd7 12. Nb5 c6 13. Nbc7+ Kf7 14. Nxa8 cxd5 15. cxd5 [15. Nac7 +-] 15… Nxd5

n+-+-+sT
Xx+d+j+x
-+-Xn+xL
+-+sXx+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-P-+-
pP-+qPpP
R-B-+rK-

 16. Nec7 [16. Qc4 Qxe6 17. Nc7 +-] 16… Nxc7 17. Qc4+ [17. Nxc7 Qxc7 18. Bd2 +-] 17… Ne6 18. Nc7 Qxc7 19. Qxc7+ Nxc7 Whew… 20. Bd2 Nf6 21. Rac1 Ne6 22. Bb4 Rd8 23. Rfd1 d5 24. Bc3 d4 25. Bd2 Ne4 26. Rc2 Nxd2 27. Rcxd2 e4 28. Rc2 d3 29. Rc4 Bg7 30. b3 Bb2 31. Rd2 Be5 32. g3 Ng5 33. Kg2 Nf3 34. Rd1 Rd7 35. h3 Rc7 36. Rb4 a6 37. g4 b5 38. gxf5 gxf5 39. Kf1 Bd6 40. Rd4 Nxd4 41. exd4 Bf4 42. f3 Rc1 43. Rxc1 Bxc1 hang your head in shame… 0-1

fayle,a (1735) – regis,d (1940) [B83]

 SWINDLE: exeter univ. v teignmouth, 1986

 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be2 Be7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 a6 9. a4 Nc6 10. O-O Bd7 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Bc6 13. Bf3 e5 14. Be3 b5 15. fxe5 dxe5 16. Rfd1 Qxd2 17. Bxd2 Bc5+ 18. Kf1 b4 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 e4 21. Be2 Nxd5 22. Bc4 Nb6 23. Bb3 a5 24. Ke2 Kh8 25. Be3 Rac8 26. Bxc5 Rxc5 27. Rd4 f5 28. Rad1 h6 29. g3

-+-+-T-J
+-+-+-X-
-S-+-+-X
X-T-+x+-
pX-Rx+-+
+b+-+-P-
-Pp+k+-P
+-+r+-+-

 There is only one thing Black has to watch for… 29… Rfc8 30. Rd8+ Rxd8 31. Rxd8+ Kh7 32. Bg8+ Kg6 33. Rd6+ Kg5 34. h4+ Kg4 35. Rg6+ Kh3 36. Rxb6

-+-+-+b+
+-+-+-X-
-R-+-+-X
X-T-+x+-
pX-+x+-P
+-+-+-Pj
-Pp+k+-+
+-+-+-+-

 36… Rxc2+ 37. Ke3 Rxb2 38. Be6 Kxg3 39. Bxf5 Ra2 40. Bxe4 Ra3+ 41. Bd3 Rxa4 42. Rg6+ Kxh4 43. Rxg7 Ra1 44. Kf4

-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-R-
-+-+-+-X
X-+-+-+-
-X-+-K-J
+-+b+-+-
-+-+-+-+
T-+-+-+-

 Looking tricky… 44… b3 45. Rg6 h5 (?) [45…Kh5!] 46. Rg7 Kh3 47. Kf3 a4 48. Rg5 Kh4 49. Rg7 [49. Kf4 Re1] 49… a3 50. Kf4 Rh1 51. Be2 a2 52. Rg5 Rf1+ 53. Bxf1 a1=Q 0-1

regis,d (1740) – garret, derek (bcf 103, age 50[?]) [D34]

 SWINDLE: exeter vs. devon juniors(!), 1993

 1. c4 c5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Nc3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5 [9… d4 10. Na4] 10. Na4 Be7 (!) 11. Be3 b6 12. Rc1 Bb7 13. Nc3 ?! ( brian thought 13 h3 with a quiet build-up was better ) 13… Qd7 14. Nb5 Rad8 15. Nbd4 Nxd4 16. Nxd4 ?! [16. Bxd4 is better: 16… Rc8 17. Qd3] 16… Ng4 17. Qd3 ?! [17. Bf4 I avoided this because of 17… g5 ?! (…Rc8) but after 18. Bd2 Qd6 19. Bh3 h5 20. f3 Nh6 21. Bf5 it’s +=] 17… Nxe3 18. Qxe3 Bc5 19. Qd3 Qa4!

-+-T-Tj+
Xl+-+xXx
-X-+-+-+
+-Lx+-+-
d+-N-+-+
+-+q+-P-
pP-+pPbP
+-R-+rK-

 20. e3 ? (idea 21 b3, Qxa2? 22 Ra1 +- ) 20… Ba6 ( oh dear ) 21. Qb3 Qxb3 22. Nxb3 Bxf1 23. Bxf1 Bd6 24. Rd1 Be5 25. Nd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 Rd6 27. Bc4 !

-+-+-Tj+
X-+-+xXx
-X-T-+-+
+-+x+-+-
-+bR-+-+
+-+-P-P-
pP-+-P-P
+-+-+-K-

 ( by this time I had seen the swindle in the distance ) 27… Rfd8 28. Bb3 Kf8 29. Kf1 Ke7 30. Ke2 Ke6 ? 31. e4 !

 31… f6 32. exd5+ Rxd5 ? ( unforced, so he must have been going for a draw ) [32… Kf5 33. h3 Re8+ 34. Kd2] 33. Ke3

-+-T-+-+
X-+-+-Xx
-X-+jX-+
+-+t+-+-
-+-R-+-+
+b+-K-P-
pP-+-P-P
+-+-+-+-

 33… f5 ?? ( the losing move, I thought: 33…R8d7 must be at least level for Black ) 34. Kf4 h6 35. h4 g6 36. Rxd5 Rxd5 37. Bxd5+ Kxd5 38. h5 ! 38… g5+ 39. Kxf5 1-0

beckett,t – regis,d [A04]

 SWINDLE: king’s lynn vs. cambridge univ, nmcc, 1981

 1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 Nc6 3. Bb2 d6 4. e4 e5 5. Nc3 Nge7 6. Bc4 g6

t+lDjL-T
Xx+-Sx+x
-+sX-+x+
+-X-X-+-
-+b+p+-+
+pN-+n+-
pBpP-PpP
R-+qK-+r

 7. Ng5 d5 uncooperative 8. exd5 Nd4 9. d6 Nd5 10. Nxd5 Qxg5 11. Bxd4 exd4 [11… Qxg2 12. Nf6+ Kd8 13. Bd5] 12. Nc7+ Kd8 13. Qf3 Bxd6 14. Nxa8 I make that a whole rook down on body count

n+lJ-+-T
Xx+-+x+x
-+-L-+x+
+-X-+-D-
-+bX-+-+
+p+-+q+-
p+pP-PpP
R-+-K-+r

 14… Re8+ 15. Kf1 Bg4 16. Qxb7 Qxd2 17. f3 Bf5 18. Qd5 Re6 19. Qb7 Re7 20. Qc6 10 minutes left 20… Bf4 21. Qd5+ Bd7 22. Nb6 axb6 23. Qa8+ Kc7 24. Qa7+ Kc6 [24… Kd8 25. Qxb6+ Ke8 26. Qxc5 Be3 27. Be2 d3 28. Qxe7+ Kxe7 29. cxd3] 25. Qa8+ 1/2

regis,d – greet,an [A20]

 SWINDLE: torbay open, 1994

 1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 d6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. e4 O-O 6. Nge2 e5 7. O-O c6 8. d3 a6 9. a4 ANG thought this a mistake 9… a5

tSlD-Tj+
+x+-+xLx
-+xX-Sx+
X-+-X-+-
p+p+p+-+
+-Np+-P-
-P-+nPbP
R-Bq+rK-

 10. f4 ?? [10. h3] 10… Qb6+ 11. Kh1 Ng4 12. Qe1 Na6 13. Nd1 Nc5 14. f5 Nb3 15. Ra3 Nxc1 16. Nxc1 Bh6 17. h3 Bxc1 18. hxg4

t+l+-Tj+
+x+-+x+x
-DxX-+x+
X-+-Xp+-
p+p+p+p+
R-+p+-P-
-P-+-+b+
+-LnQr+k

 18… Bxb2 19. Qd2 Go on, I dare you [19. Ra2 Bc1]

 19… Bxa3 20. f6 Kh8 21. Qh6 Rg8 22. Bf3 g5 [22… d5 23. Kg2 Bf8 24. Qh4 Qd8 25. Rh1 h6 26. g5 h5 27. Bxh5] 23. Kg2 Rg6 [23… Qd8 24. Rh1 Rg6 25. Qxh7#] 24. Qf8+ Rg8 25. Qh6 1/2

kelly,mike (1780) – regis,d (1740) [E16]

 SWINDLE: vs. totnes (peter rooke memorial K/O), 1993

 1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 b6 3. g3 Bb7 [3… Nf6 ( reserving the …Ba6 line ) 4. Bg2] 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. c4 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 [6… Bxd2+ bco/eco] 7. O-O O-O 8. Nc3 d5 ! pachman 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Re1 [10. Qc2 += bco/eco] 10… Nxc3 11. Bxc3 [11. bxc3] 11… c5 12. Rc1 Nc6 13. e3 ?! ( building for e4 looked like the only sensible plan for white, but White had been moving with a lot of speed and confidence, while I was trying to reconstruct some half-remembered theory from Pachman) 13… Rc8 14. Qe2 ?! ( allows …Nxd4 attacking the queen and thus forestalling Bxb7 in reply ) 14… cxd4 ( I offered a draw here in a loudish voice. MK recently won the Paignton congress, with grade = 178! so disdained offer. ) 15. Nxd4

-+tD-Tj+
Xl+-LxXx
-Xs+x+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-N-+-+
+-B-P-P-
pP-+qPbP
+-R-R-K-

 15…Nxd4 16. Bxd4 Bxg2 17. Rxc8 Qxc8 18. Qg4 ?? Having publicly declined the draw White finds it too difficult to play Kxg2 =. I am ashamed to say, had I offered a draw more quietly he might have taken it or not tried to push his luck. I don’t do things like this any more. Often. 18… e5 [18… e5 19. Qxc8 Rxc8 20. Kxg2 exd4 21. exd4 Bf6 22. d5 Bxb2 23. d6 Rd8 24. d7 Kf8] 0-1

Posted in Ego

Dr.Dave’s early games

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hammond,g – regis,d [C50]

 FIRST: fenland guards jnr chp, 1974

 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. b3 a6 8. Bc4 b5 9. Bd5 Nxd5 10. exd5 Bb4 11. Bd2 Nd4 12. a3 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 c5 14. a4 b4 15. Bd2 Bg4

t+-Dj+-T
+-+-+xXx
x+-X-+-+
+-XpX-+-
pX-S-+l+
+p+p+n+-
-+pB-PpP
R-+qK-+r

 16. h3 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Qf6 18. c3 Nxf3+ 19. Ke2 O-O 20. cxb4 Rae8 21. bxc5 dxc5 22. h4 e4 23. Rc1 exd3+ 24. Kxd3 Qd4+ 25. Kc2 Nxh4 26. Re1 [26. Qh5] 26… Qxf2 27. Qg4 Nf3 28. Rf1 Qxd2+ 29. Kb1 Nh2 30. Qf4 Nxf1 31. Qxf1 Qxd5 32. Qc4 Qxc4 33. bxc4 f5 34. Rd1 Re4 35. Rc1 f4 36. Kb2 f3 37. Kb3 f2 38. Rf1 Re1 39. Rxe1 fxe1=Q 40. a5 Rf3+ 41. Kc2 Rc3+ 42. Kb2 Qc1+ 43. Ka2 Ra3# Not much of a game, but the first (and only) title I ever won. 0-1

 FIRST: march v ely, 1975

regis,d – hooper,ht [D30]

 1. d4 My first move for March! 1… d5 2. c4 e6 3. e3 2. c4 was as much as I knew! 3… Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. cxd5 exd5 8. O-O c6 9. Re1 Re8 10. Qc2 h6 11. e4 Clearly still influenced by patterns seen in Chernev’s LOGICAL CHESS … 11… dxe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Bxe4 Nf6 14. Bf4 14… Nxe4 15. Rxe4 ??

t+lDt+j+
Xx+-LxX-
-+x+-S-X
+-+-+-+-
-+-PbB-+
+-+-+n+-
pPq+-PpP
R-+-R-K-

 15… Bf5 16. Rae1 Bxe4 17. Rxe4 Bf6 18. Be5 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Qc7 20. Qe2 Rad8 21. Qe3 b6 22. g4 Rd5 23. h4 Red8 24. g5 Rd3 25. Qe2 h5 26. e6 fxe6 27. Rxe6 Kf8 28. Ne5

-+-T-J-+
X-D-+-X-
-Xx+r+-+
+-+-+-Px
-+-+-+-P
+-+t+n+-
pP-+qP-+
+-+-+-K-

 I’m still (1992) taken with the determined attitude of White here! 28… R3d6 29. Ng6+ Kg8 30. Ne7+ Kf7 [30… Kf8 31. Qf3+ Ke8 32. Nd5+ Kd7 33. Re7+ still] 31. g6+ Ke8 32. Nd5+ Kd7 33. Re7+ Kc8 34. Rxc7+ Kb8 35. Qa6 Rxg6+ 36. Kf1

 It is an omen that my first ever competitive game featured both a cheapo AND a swindle. 1-0

regis,d – richard dixon (CORR_92/93) [B36]

 FIRST: devon vs glos. (ward-higgs I), 1993

 My first and only correspondence game, during which I made comments to myself throughout. I can only add here NEVER AGAIN: I found the experience appalling – months of paranoia, hesitancy and self-recrimination. At least OTB you can let it go at the end of the day (usually…), although I know there are folk who feel OTB slow chess is too heavy.

 1. c4 g6 ( I knew a game of Portisch‘s which I had in mind throughout) 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 ( new for me this season: I played the e3/Nge2/d4 plan for years but recently fancied this, which looked more enterprising ) 5… d6 6. Nge2 c5 ( black had a lot of choice at this point: …e5/…c6/etc. ) 7. O-O Nc6 8. d3 Ne8 9. Be3 Nc7 ( ?! in the books ) [9… Nd4] 10. d4 ! ( in the books ) 10… cxd4 11. Nxd4 Ne6 12. Nde2 Ne5 ! TN – threatens c4 and e3 via g4 [12… Nc5 13. Rc1 Be6 14. b3 Qa5 15. Qd2 Rac8 16. Nf4 +- and black is in trouble: barcza-szilagyi 1967] 13. b3 b6 ( transposing to a hedgehog formation looks better than szilagyi’s setup ) 14. h3 ( stopping the …Ng4 lines seemed sensible, especially since last move they were possible. The knights now need to get out of the way of the pawn roller ) 14… Bb7 15. Rc1 ( looks slow and a bit aimless with hindsight ) 15… Nc5

t+-D-Tj+
Xl+-XxLx
-X-X-+x+
+-S-S-+-
-+p+p+-+
+pN-B-Pp
p+-+nPb+
+-Rq+rK-

 16. f4 ( now I thought I was on the right lines: turn that space into attack, as in the portisch game ) 16… Ned7 17. g4 a5 ( I would have preferred …a6 ) 18. Ng3 ( I don’t know where this is going yet, unless black can be obliged or tempted to take on f5 eventually – if not the Ng3 and Bg2 are very passive ) 18… Bc6 ( ! I now wanted the wN back on e2 ) 19. a4 ( this isn’t really necessary [19…a4; 20 b4 looked good ] but I thought was justified psychologically – what is black’s plan now ? the real challenge of course is to find white’s plan! The wQ is badly tied to b3 and d3 ) [19. Bd4 ( this was better I thought afterwards ) 19… e5 20. Be3 exf4 21. Bxf4 Ne5 22. Rc2 Ned3] 19… Rb8 20. Rf2 ( Nicely ambiguous [ ideas of Qd2 or Rd2 ] but d3 is now more tender ) 20… Qc8 21. Nd5 ( I’m obviously entertaining pushing f4-f5-f6 ) 21… Re8 22. g5 ( not f5 yet ) 22… Qb7 ( adds to pressure but locks in Bc6 ) 23. f5 ( It’s starting to get hard for me to find a plan which doesn’t involve f5 but Black can play …e6 and build up nicely now. I had some fun with 23 f5 and 24 Nh5 in analysis which was all bluff but looked worth starting ) 23… Bf8 ( I looked at …Bxd5 and …Be5 in analysis but this looked most solid. If …e6 white can afford …exd5 because exd5 wins the Bc6 ) 24. Bd4 ( 24 f6 simply takes a good square away from the knight. Now I have more realistic-looking threats but I must say by this stage I thought it was all starting to slip away ) 24… Ne5 25. Rc3 Bg7 ( I now entered a short sequence of moves which I thought were most solid and maintained a space advantage despite exchanges ) 26. f6 Bf8 27. fxe7 Bxe7 28. h4 Bxd5 ( the two bishops are no real advantage here as the Bg2 is inactive ) 29. exd5 Bf8 30. Rf4 ( else Qf1,Bg7 will threaten …Nf3+ and …Bxd4 ) 30… Bg7 31. Qf1 ( both sides have consolidated after some white initiative and I thought we’re now in for a phase of manoeuvring ) 31… Re7 32. Bxc5 [32. Rf6] 32… bxc5 ( obviously not 32…dxc5; 33 d6 ) 33. Ne4 ( This move cheered me up a little; I felt I had some chances for the initiative ) 33… Rd8 34. Nf6+ [34. Nxc5 ( idea d6 again ) 34… Qb6] 34… Bxf6 35. gxf6 Ree8 36. Re4 h5 ( I admit I analysed this only after sending off my last move – I concluded I had some chances of a combinative breakthrough on the K-side but this couldn’t be forced, and I became slightly less alarmed about possible endgames ) 37. Rce3 Kh7 38. Qf4 ( I couldn’t see a way of winning after what I thought was the best line, …Qb4, but I didn’t have to lose either. White can try to contrive a lever with Bh3, Qg5 and now Bf5, but …Qb4 & …Rg8 (forces Kh1) slows or stops it) 38… Qc8 ( I thought at the time, not as strong as …Qb4, but realised it’s trickier ) 39. Bh3 Qb8 ( if the knight moves don’t work this is probably best ) 40. Kh1 Qc7 41. Bf5

-+-Tt+-+
+-D-+x+j
-+-X-Px+
X-XpSb+x
p+p+rQ-P
+p+-R-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+k

 41…Qb8( I immediately thought this was too resigned ) 42. Qg5 ( mates in six ) 1-0

Briggs, Tom – regis,d [C02]

 FIRST: march cc friendly, 1975

 Tom founded March Chess Club and worked hard for the club until his death. I played many games with Tom as a young player and was always impressed by his consistent good humour and generosity. Like Andersson, he met defeat only with laughter and praise for his opponent. Chess is full of people like Tom, although we tend to notice only the Kasparovs.

 1. e4 This game is probably fairly typical for the time, and features my first and long-time favourite French Defence to 1.e4.

 1… e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Nc6 4. Nf3 f6 5. Bf4 g5 6. Bg3 fxe5 7. dxe5 Bg7 8. Bb5 Nge7 9. O-O a6 10. Ba4 Bd7 11. c3 Ng6 12. Bxc6 Bxc6 13. Re1 Bb5 14. Nd4 Qd7 15. a4 Bc6 16. b4 b5 17. a5 O-O-O 18. Qg4 h6 19. Qxe6 Qxe6 20. Nxe6 Rd7 21. Nc5 Re7 22. Nd3 Rhe8

-+j+t+-+
+-X-T-L-
x+l+-+sX
Px+xP-X-
-P-+-+-+
+-Pn+-B-
-+-+-PpP
Rn+-R-K-

 23. f4 Nxf4 24. Nxf4 gxf4 25. Bxf4 Bxe5 26. Bxe5 Rxe5 27. Nd2 Re2 ??? 28. Nf3 d4 29. Rxe2 Rxe2 30. Nxd4 Rxg2+ 31. Kf1 Bb7 32. Re1 Rxh2 33. Re2 Rh3 34. Rc2 Be4 35. Re2 Bd3 36. Kg2 Rh5 37. Re8+ Kb7 38. Re3 Bc4 39. Kg3 Rg5+ 40. Kh4 Rg8 41. Nf5 Rh8 42. Kh5 Bf7+ 43. Kh4 h5 44. Re7 Rf8 45. Nh6 Bg6 46. Kg5

-+-+-T-+
+jX-R-+-
x+-+-+lN
Px+-+-Kx
-P-+-+-+
+-P-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-

 46…Be8 47. Re3 Kc8 48. Nf5 Rg8+ 49. Kf6 Rg4 50. Rxe8+ Kb7 51. Re3 Kc8 52. Rh3 Rc4 53. Kg5 c5 54. Nd6+1-0

regis,d – rivett,dv [D16]

 FIRST: lowestoft friendly, 1977

 1. d4 Another ‘dues’ game – my uncle Don was a very important benchmark for me, and was endlessly patient with my early efforts. This was a game I remember being proud of at the time, having finally taken half a point from him. I also remember not really understanding how, though! 1… d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bd7 6. e4 b5 7. axb5 cxb5 8. Be2 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. d5 a6 11. Ne5 Qc7 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. Bf4

tS-+j+-T
+-+dLxXx
x+-+xS-+
+x+p+-+-
-+x+pB-+
+-N-+-+-
-P-+bPpP
R-+q+rK-

 13… exd5 14. exd5 O-O 15. d6 Bd8 16. Bf3 Nc6 17. Nxb5 Rb8 18. Nd4 Nb4 19. Rc1 Rc8 20. Bg5 Rc5 21. Nb3 Rc8 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Bg4 Qc6 24. Bxc8 Rxc8 25. Re1 Qd7 26. Qe2 Nd3 27. Rxc4 Nxe1 28. Rxc8+ Qxc8 29. Nc5 Kf8 30. d7 Qd8 31. Qxe1 Be7 32. Qe3 Qa5 33. h3 g6 34. Nb7 Qd51/2-1/2

 35. Qc3! should have been promising.

Posted in Ego