Letter to my students: Chess games to review.

It has been my pleasure to teach many people chess ideas mostly by showing them games of mine that I consider to be instructive.  It is also my belief that repetition is important as humans by their nature tend to forget what they have learned.  I have attempted to repeat my lessons with some people, but I have so many students whom I teach on a casual basis that repeating my lessons has become too time consuming to keep doing it.

With that in mind, it is my strong suggestion that you review the following games repeatedly on some regular basis.  Your goal should be to predict the moves that I made.  I am not asking you to memorize the entirety of these games, but to understand them well enough that most of the moves would seem natural and intuitive.  I am always available to answer questions.

I think that understanding these ideas is essential to becoming a Class A player.

http://chessplayeratlarge.blogspot.com/2013/03/chess-game_11.html

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0005.htm

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0001.htm  (In this game, try to predict the white moves.)

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0004.htm

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=74062

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0012.htm

Additional games that I wish to teach in the future...

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0002.htm  (In this game, try to predict the white moves.)

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0003.htm

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0006.htm

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0007.htm

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0013.htm

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0015.htm

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0024.htm

http://chessplayeratlarge.blogspot.com/2013/05/chess-game-slav.html

http://chessplayeratlarge.blogspot.com/2013/05/chess-game_25.html

-- 

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Fundamental Chess Openings

For a player just learning the chess openings, this book might be useful.   I suggest going to http://www.amazon.com/dp/1906454132/ and clicking on "Look Inside".

The problem with the book is that it rarely looks at anything past move 10, but  I like the clear presentation which should be just fine for someone who just wants an introduction to the chess openings.

Chess Game

[Event "May Speed Tournament"]
[Site "SLCC"]
[Date "2013.05.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Gonnelly, Mark"]
[Black "Coffey, John"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "1975"]
[BlackElo "1996"]
[Annotator "Coffey,John"]
[PlyCount "39"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Qh5 c5 6. Nf3 cxd4 (6... Nc6? 7.
Ng5 g6 8. Qf3 f5 (8... Qe7 9. Nb5 +-) 9. Nxe6 Ndxe5 10. Qxd5 Qxd5 11. Nc7+ Kf7
12. N3xd5 Nxd4 13. Bf4 Bd6 14. O-O-O Rb8 15. Re1 Ndc6 16. Nb5 Bf8 (16... Ke6
17. Bc4 Kd7 18. Nf6+ Ke7 (18... Kd8 19. Nxd6) 19. Ng8+ Kd7 20. Nxd6) 17. Bxe5)
7. Nxd4? (g6) Nc6 8. Nxe6 Qa5 9. Nxf8 Kxf8 10. Bd2 Ndxe5 11. O-O-O Bg4 12. Qg5 Bxd1
13. Kxd1 d4 14. f4 dxc3 15. Bxc3 Rd8+ 16. Kc1 Qxa2 17. b3 f6 18. Qf5 Nb4??
(18... Nd4!! Is very much winning here.) 19. Bxb4+ Kf7 20. Bc3
And black fell apart after this. 1-0

Chess Game

Chess game fragment

[Event "Quick"]
[Site "Target"]
[Date "May 11, 2013"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Isaac Balter"]
[Black "John Coffey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Qxd5 6. Qf2 Qe4+ 7. Qe2 Bf5 8.
Nc3 Qxe2+ 9. Bxe2 Bxc2 10. Nb5 Na6 11. Nd4 Ba4 12. b3 Bd7 13. Ba3 Rc8 14. Ngf3
e6 15. Bxf8 Rxf8
1/2-1/2 eventually. I gave white the initiative when I accidentally
touched my f8 rook losing a tempo.

Interesting Chess Game

[Event "Quick"]
[Site "Target"]
[Date "May 11, 2013"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Grant Hodson"]
[Black "John Coffey"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7.
Nb5?! Na6?! (Nb6) 8.
c3 O-O 9. Bd3 c5 10. Nd6 cxd4 11. cxd4 Nb4 12. Bb1 f6 13. a3 Nc6 14. Qd3 g6 15.
f4 fxe5 16. fxe5 Qh4+ 17. Qg3 Qxg3+ 18. hxg3 Nxd4 19. Rh4 Nb3 20. Ra2 Nxe5 21.
Bc2 Nc5 22. b4 Ncd3+ 23. Bxd3 Nxd3+ 24. Kd2 Rf2+ 25. Ne2 Rxe2+ 26. Kxe2 Nc1+
27. Kd2 Nxa2 28. Rh1 d4 29. Nb5 Nc3 30. Nxd4 Ne4+ 31. Ke3 Nxg3 32. Rc1 Nf5+ 33.
Ke4 Nxd4 34. Kxd4 Bd7 35. Rc7 Bc6 36. g3 Rd8+ 37. Ke5 Rd3 38. Kf6 Rf3+ 39. Kxe6
Rxg3 40. a4 Re3+ 41. Kf6 Rf3+ 42. Ke6 Rf7!?!? 43. Rc8+ Kg7 44. b5 Bd7+
0-1

Chess Game

[Event "SLCC Quick"]
[Site "Target"]
[Date "May 11, 2013"]
[Round "1"]
[White "John Coffey"]
[Black "Eric Hon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 b6 6. Nc3 Bb7 7. e3 O-O 8.
Be2 c6 9. O-O d5 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Rac1 Nc6 12. Rfd1 Qe7 13. Bd3 Rac8 14. Nb5?!
a6 15. Na3 b5 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Nd7 18. f4 Nb6 19. Nc2 Nc4 20. Bxc4 dxc4
21. Qd7 Qxd7 22. Rxd7 Be4 23. Nd4 Rfd8 24. Ra7 Ra8 25. Rxa8 Rxa8 26. g4 g6 27.
Kf2 Rc8 28. Ke2 Kf8 29. Kd2 Ke7 30. a4 b4 31. Nb3 Rd8+ 32. Nd4 Rc8
(c3+ 33. bxc3 b3 wins) 33. Nb3 Rd8+
34. Nd4 Rc8 35. Nb3
1/2-1/2

Re: Grand Prix Report – Game-in-Sixty

Allan,

So far this year I am the Utah state Senior champion, Game/60 champion, and Expert Class co-champion.  It seems not likely to me that I could win the actual State Championship in November, but it is a remote possibility. 

The best player in the state is a 15 year old boy, Kayden Troff, who is currently playing in the U.S. Championship because he got a special invitation as an up and coming player.   He is so far above everybody else in Utah that it is no contest.  He is an International Master and could turn pro. He mostly does not bother with Utah tournaments anymore. 

It doesn't take much to interfere with my concentration.  Cheerleaders would do it.   :-)

Best wishes,

John Coffey

On May 5, 2013, at 3:48 PM, Allan Branaman  wrote:

Way to go! Kick some ass! I'm cheering for you. Do they have cheerleaders there? I guess it'd be a big distraction.

 

From: John Coffey

Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2013 3:46 PM

 

FYI...

From: Steve Hoisington 
Date: May 5, 2013, 11:34:38 AM MDT

"A total of sixty-four (64) players have now earned GP Points in the six (6) GP events held so far...

The year-to-date race remains close between John Coffey and David Vasquez.  With his clear first-place finish on Saturday, John increased his lead in the Grand Prix standings from just one point to a somewhat more comfortable 8.5 points. "

The current leaders (top ten) are:

 

1                      John COFFEY                                 67.67                                                 

2                      David VASQUEZ                             59.17 

3                      Randy ZUMBRUNNEN                    31.5   

4                      Petro GRETCHANEI                        30.2                           

5                      Alex GUSTAFSSON                         27.87 

6                      Eric HON                                          26.67                                     

7                      José GARCIA                                   25

8                      Enriqué ARCE-LARRETA                21.5                           

9                      Kayden TROFF                                21

10                    Charles RASMUSSEN                     19.17 

 

Best regards,

Steve