2018-12-15
2018-12-12
Chess.com USCF Online Blitz rated tournament decent result
It says 22 players, but that doesn't include the 12 who dropped out.
I got as high as 1888 blitz rating points before I lost to a lower rated player knocking me down around 30 points. Overall I had a net gain of 6 points.
It sure would be nice to break 1900.
2018-12-08
Stockfish 10 vs. Stockfish 9
When Stockfish 9 came out, I did a speed chess round robin between Stockfish versions 6, 7, 8, and 9, and all the games were draws except for the games played by Stockfish 9, which won all its games against the older versions of the engines. That is a significant difference.
I analyzed one position with Stockfish 9 and the new version 10 running at the same time. After 5 minutes, Stockfish 10 was thinking 1 ply deeper in the same position.. Is that significant? Probably. For most positions the engines would be very similar, but being able to think half a move deeper than your opponent usually makes you unbeatable, because you already see all the variations that your opponent is going to think about.
Both programs ran at roughly the same number of nodes per second. Given that this is a 27-28 ply search, achieving 1 ply deeper probably means that 10 has to eliminate about 3% of the variations that 9 looks at, by my calculation. This could also mean that 10 has a weakness that 9 doesn't. Or this could mean that 10 has a better evaluation function, leading to more variations being eliminated.
2018-12-05
Third Place in the USCF Online rated speed tournament was a surprise.
There were some higher rated players who dropped out before the final round, probably because they lost to the top player with the monster rating. It says "17 players", but that doesn't include the 18 who dropped out before the final round.
I had a couple of games that I really should have lost, but won anyway. I made many errors, but so did my opponents. This happens sometimes in speed chess. My last round opponent literally had me in a mating net and threw it away.
2018-11-17
USCF Online Quick rated ICC tournament. I'll take what I can get.
>uscf
> 4.5 john2001plus
> 4.0 jyokela
> 3.5 mrneale buglet
> 3.0 IAlwaysWin aslan777
> 2.5 weakfish BIRDSMAN
> 2.0 getRooked chessnvd saikolli
> 1.5 Acheyos
> 1.0 LarryDavidson55
> 0.0 Celtruler
>
> __________ __ ______ _ __________ __ ____ _ ____________
> /_ __/ __ \/ / / / __ \/ | / / ____/\ \/ / / __ \ | / / ____/ __ \
> / / / / / / / / / /_/ / |/ / __/ \ / / / / / | / / __/ / /_/ /
> / / / /_/ / /_/ / _ _/ /| / /___ / / / /_/ /| |/ / /___/ _ _/
> /_/ \____/\____/_/ |_/_/ |_/_____/ /_/ \____/ |___/_____/_/ |_|
>
> Congratulations john2001plus and Thanks to all :-)
The only really challenge was against IAlwaysWin who is a USCF 2100+ rated Expert.
[Event "ICC tourney 1543 (12 3)"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2018.11.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "IAlwaysWin"]
[Black "john2001plus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White forfeits on time"]
[WhiteElo "1732"]
[BlackElo "1731"]
[Opening "Réti opening"]
[ECO "A05"]
[NIC "QP.11"]
[Time "18:17:49"]
[TimeControl "720+3"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. e3 e6 3. b3 b6 4. Bb2 Bb7 5. c4 c5 6. Be2 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8.
Nc3 O-O 9. d3 d5 10. Rc1 d4 11. exd4 cxd4 12. Nb5 e5 13. Nd2 a6 14. Na3 Nd7
15. Bf3 Nc5 16. Qe2 Nb4 17. Bxb7 Nxb7 18. Nf3 Nxa2 19. Ra1 Nc3 20. Bxc3 dxc3
21. Nxe5 Bxa3 22. Rxa3 Qd6 23. Raa1 Rfe8 24. f4 f6 25. Qf3 Nc5 26. Nc6 Nxb3
27. Rae1 Nd2 28. Ne7+ Kf8 29. Qh5 Nxf1 30. Qxh7 Qd4+ 31. Kh1 Rxe7 32. Qh8+
Kf7 33. Qh5+ Kg8 34. Rxe7 Rf8 35. Qg6 f5 36. Re8 Qf6 {White forfeits on
time} 0-1
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2018.11.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "IAlwaysWin"]
[Black "john2001plus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White forfeits on time"]
[WhiteElo "1732"]
[BlackElo "1731"]
[Opening "Réti opening"]
[ECO "A05"]
[NIC "QP.11"]
[Time "18:17:49"]
[TimeControl "720+3"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. e3 e6 3. b3 b6 4. Bb2 Bb7 5. c4 c5 6. Be2 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8.
Nc3 O-O 9. d3 d5 10. Rc1 d4 11. exd4 cxd4 12. Nb5 e5 13. Nd2 a6 14. Na3 Nd7
15. Bf3 Nc5 16. Qe2 Nb4 17. Bxb7 Nxb7 18. Nf3 Nxa2 19. Ra1 Nc3 20. Bxc3 dxc3
21. Nxe5 Bxa3 22. Rxa3 Qd6 23. Raa1 Rfe8 24. f4 f6 25. Qf3 Nc5 26. Nc6 Nxb3
27. Rae1 Nd2 28. Ne7+ Kf8 29. Qh5 Nxf1 30. Qxh7 Qd4+ 31. Kh1 Rxe7 32. Qh8+
Kf7 33. Qh5+ Kg8 34. Rxe7 Rf8 35. Qg6 f5 36. Re8 Qf6 {White forfeits on
time} 0-1
Position from last night
This is not the most deep position in the world, because White is already winning, but I think that the method that I used to finish the game is somewhat interesting.
Play chess online
2018-11-06
Eric Schiller Dies at 63: "Will be Remembered for His Love of Chess" - US Chess
I met this guy at the National Open around nine years ago. Compared to other professionals he was extremely nice. He briefly looked at one of my games and recommended a chess book.
2018-10-29
McCutchen
[Event "Casual blitz"]
[Site "Kroger"]
[Date "Oct 29, 2018"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Steve Sims"]
[Black "John Coffey"]
[Result "0-1"]
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. h4 h5 10. Qf3 c5 11. Bd3 Nxd2 12. Kxd2 c4 13. Be2 Nd7 14. Nh3 f5 15. Nf4
Nf8 16. Rab1 Qe7 17. Rh3 Kf7 18. Rg3 b6 19. Bxc4 Bb7 20. Bd3 Rc8 21. Nh3 Nh7
22. Rxg6 Kxg6 23. g4 hxg4 24. Qxg4+ Kf7 25. Bxf5 Rcg8 26. Qh5+ Kf8 27. Bg6 Nf6
28. Qf3 Rxh4 29. exf6 Qd6 30. Rg1 e5 31. Ng5 Rxg6
0-1
[Site "Kroger"]
[Date "Oct 29, 2018"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Steve Sims"]
[Black "John Coffey"]
[Result "0-1"]
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. h4 h5 10. Qf3 c5 11. Bd3 Nxd2 12. Kxd2 c4 13. Be2 Nd7 14. Nh3 f5 15. Nf4
Nf8 16. Rab1 Qe7 17. Rh3 Kf7 18. Rg3 b6 19. Bxc4 Bb7 20. Bd3 Rc8 21. Nh3 Nh7
22. Rxg6 Kxg6 23. g4 hxg4 24. Qxg4+ Kf7 25. Bxf5 Rcg8 26. Qh5+ Kf8 27. Bg6 Nf6
28. Qf3 Rxh4 29. exf6 Qd6 30. Rg1 e5 31. Ng5 Rxg6
0-1
2018-10-09
2018-09-26
2018-09-19
My best tournament result.
I didn't remember what year the tournament was, but I found it. I got a draw against soon to be Grandmaster Igor Ivanov and came in second.
This was a time when I felt like studying tactics was really helping me. Just looking at my rating progress, I went from 1800 even to 1927 in just 5 months, but it would take another 9.5 years before I would hit 2000!
There were a few other good results in recent years like ..
Winning the Utah G/60 championship http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201305040002.1-11080847
and getting the Expert trophy at the class championship a couple of times. Of course, winning the senior championship 3 times didn't hurt either.
2018-09-17
2018-09-07
2018-08-26
2018-08-25
Carlsen's secrets: How does he do it?
"There is an equal position on the board, and the opponent thinks: this is dead drawn. I can play almost anything and there is nothing he can do. But Magnus plays on, seeking complications, setting up threats. He is narrowing the margin required to hold the draw. Soon his opponent is thinking: why is he still playing – I can hold a draw with any of these three moves. Then: I can hold with this move and with this move. And then: I still have one clear way to hold a draw. And under the strain of constantly having to solve deep and complex problems, more often than not the opponent will crack. Magnus wins not because it was in the position, he wins because he is Magnus."
2018-08-07
Facebook post from 2 years ago.
I have been playing chess seriously for 42 years, so in the 2016 Open Chess Championship when I play an 8 year old who plays almost as well as me, I get nervous. I am also amazed. I was playing 8 year old Luke Ye from Missouri.
There are some gaps in my chess opening knowledge, because chess is nearly infinite, and you can't know everything. Earlier in the week I tried to fix one of my gaps in my knowledge by studying a game played by world champion Magnus Carlsen in the French Defense. When I played the kid, he followed the world champion game closely, which by itself made me nervous, but he also started an attack against my kingside sooner than I expected. I was not quite prepared for this. Before the game I had asked Luke's dad if the kid had coaching, which he had, which means that some master or Grandmaster had taught him to play a certain way against the French Defense. I had the sense that the kid was following some sort of script by wrote, where he had been coached that if you put your pieces on specific squares then you can checkmate your opponent. Around move 15 he started an attack against my kingside and I spent over 20 moves defending. The kid was relentless. He just kept pursuing the idea of checkmating me on the kingside, somewhat to his detriment because it allowed me to be stronger on the queenside. I had my own plan, which took a long time to implement, but my plan was to weaken his pawn structure and trade the pieces down to an even king and rook endgame that was technically winning for me, which is what happened. I had figured that no matter how strong this prodigy might be, he wasn't going to be as strong as me in the endgame.
The two of us had spent spent about 75 minutes each on the first 25 moves. This is about the point that I felt that the game was turning in my favor, so I was able to move more quickly after that.
My opponent's 37nth move was a disaster. When I saw him reach for the pawn I thought "Don't do it!". He played such a good game up to that point, I didn't want to see him throw it all away on one bad move. I was winning anyway, but there was still a little bit of fight left in the game that would have been fun to play out. Instead he made a mistake and the game ended very quickly after that.
It is nice to win a game after a couple of tough losses. I now have 4.5 out of 8. At the very least I will finish the tournament with 4.5 out of 9. I don't think that the last round pairings will be kind to me; I will most likely play someone stronger than me, but I will give it my best effort. It would be very nice to get a draw or a win which would put me over 50%.
[Event "2016 US Open Chess Championship"]
[Site "Indianapolis Indiana"]
[Date "2016.08.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ye, Luke"]
[Black "Coffey, John"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2012"]
[BlackElo "1741"]
[Annotator "Coffey,John"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[TimeControl "90+30"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3
Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Be2 O-O 9. Qd2 a6 10. O-O b5 11. Qe1 b4 12. Na4 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Bb7 15. Qg3 Qc7 16. Bd3 g6
(Better is 16... Bc6 but I was worried about... 17. f5 Bxa4 18. f6, but then black can play Nxf6 19. exf6 Qxg3 20. hxg3 gxf6 21. Bxf6 Bc5+ 22. Kh2 Bd6 which prevents Rf4. That would have been really hard to calculate out in the game.)
17.Qh3 (If 17. f5 exf5 18. Bxf5 Nc5 19. Nxc5 Bxc5) 17... Bc6 18. b3 Bxa4 19. bxa4 Bc5 20. Bxc5 Nxc5 21. Qh6 Nxd3 22. cxd3 Qc5+ 23. Kh1 Qd4 24. Rad1 Rac8 25.
Rf3 f6 26. Rg3 Rc7 27. Qh3 f5 28. Qh6 Qf2 29. Rg5 Rg7 30. Rg3 Rc8 31. Rg5 Qxf4 32. Rxg6 Qxh6 33. Rxh6 Rg6 34. Rxg6+ hxg6 35. Kg1 Rc2 36. Ra1 a5 37. a3 b3 38. Rb1 b2 39. Rf1 Rc1 0-1
There are some gaps in my chess opening knowledge, because chess is nearly infinite, and you can't know everything. Earlier in the week I tried to fix one of my gaps in my knowledge by studying a game played by world champion Magnus Carlsen in the French Defense. When I played the kid, he followed the world champion game closely, which by itself made me nervous, but he also started an attack against my kingside sooner than I expected. I was not quite prepared for this. Before the game I had asked Luke's dad if the kid had coaching, which he had, which means that some master or Grandmaster had taught him to play a certain way against the French Defense. I had the sense that the kid was following some sort of script by wrote, where he had been coached that if you put your pieces on specific squares then you can checkmate your opponent. Around move 15 he started an attack against my kingside and I spent over 20 moves defending. The kid was relentless. He just kept pursuing the idea of checkmating me on the kingside, somewhat to his detriment because it allowed me to be stronger on the queenside. I had my own plan, which took a long time to implement, but my plan was to weaken his pawn structure and trade the pieces down to an even king and rook endgame that was technically winning for me, which is what happened. I had figured that no matter how strong this prodigy might be, he wasn't going to be as strong as me in the endgame.
The two of us had spent spent about 75 minutes each on the first 25 moves. This is about the point that I felt that the game was turning in my favor, so I was able to move more quickly after that.
My opponent's 37nth move was a disaster. When I saw him reach for the pawn I thought "Don't do it!". He played such a good game up to that point, I didn't want to see him throw it all away on one bad move. I was winning anyway, but there was still a little bit of fight left in the game that would have been fun to play out. Instead he made a mistake and the game ended very quickly after that.
It is nice to win a game after a couple of tough losses. I now have 4.5 out of 8. At the very least I will finish the tournament with 4.5 out of 9. I don't think that the last round pairings will be kind to me; I will most likely play someone stronger than me, but I will give it my best effort. It would be very nice to get a draw or a win which would put me over 50%.
[Event "2016 US Open Chess Championship"]
[Site "Indianapolis Indiana"]
[Date "2016.08.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ye, Luke"]
[Black "Coffey, John"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2012"]
[BlackElo "1741"]
[Annotator "Coffey,John"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[TimeControl "90+30"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3
Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Be2 O-O 9. Qd2 a6 10. O-O b5 11. Qe1 b4 12. Na4 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Bb7 15. Qg3 Qc7 16. Bd3 g6
(Better is 16... Bc6 but I was worried about... 17. f5 Bxa4 18. f6, but then black can play Nxf6 19. exf6 Qxg3 20. hxg3 gxf6 21. Bxf6 Bc5+ 22. Kh2 Bd6 which prevents Rf4. That would have been really hard to calculate out in the game.)
17.Qh3 (If 17. f5 exf5 18. Bxf5 Nc5 19. Nxc5 Bxc5) 17... Bc6 18. b3 Bxa4 19. bxa4 Bc5 20. Bxc5 Nxc5 21. Qh6 Nxd3 22. cxd3 Qc5+ 23. Kh1 Qd4 24. Rad1 Rac8 25.
Rf3 f6 26. Rg3 Rc7 27. Qh3 f5 28. Qh6 Qf2 29. Rg5 Rg7 30. Rg3 Rc8 31. Rg5 Qxf4 32. Rxg6 Qxh6 33. Rxh6 Rg6 34. Rxg6+ hxg6 35. Kg1 Rc2 36. Ra1 a5 37. a3 b3 38. Rb1 b2 39. Rf1 Rc1 0-1
2018-08-04
Endgame
This is subtle, but I like subtlety. It is not a very hard position, but initially I had a hard time wrapping my head around why one move is better than the other. However, it is all about tempos and weak pawns.
2018-07-28
How To Learn a Chess Opening. IM Valeri Lilov
I watched this video live. You could make a drinking game, tea in my case, out of every time he says, "This is really important."
Seems to me that the video is light on content, but has a few useful ideas.
2018-07-01
Instructive endgame
When I played this endgame, I did not understand the subtleties involved. The computer analysis was telling me that 51. Ke3 was much stronger than the move I made, but at first I had no clue as to why it would have been stronger.
After diving deeper into this, it became clear that White needed to prevent 51... g5+ and 52.... Kg7 with tempo. Also, it is easier for White to win this game if he can roll his pawns with f4 and e5, because in some positions the Black king cannot let himself get exposed to Rf8+ and the Black rook is tied down to stopping the b7 pawn.
I don't know if these ideas are common sense or not. I was playing a speed game and I did not pick up on them.
In the analysis I don't show every possible variation nor do I explain every move, but I do show the above mentioned ideas.
2018-06-19
2018-06-06
Exceptionally nice result in the USCF Online rated chess.com 3+2 blitz tournament
Before the tournament I said that I was going to "bring it." I felt like I could do well.
I started the tournament at chess.com rating 1800 and finished with a rating of 1848.
In Round 2 I had a nice victory against our friend Mohamed, who used to come to the Greenwood Chess Club.
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2018.06.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "john2001plus"]
[Black "Coupra"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D32"]
[WhiteElo "1816"]
[BlackElo "2019"]
[Annotator "Coffey,John"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Be7 8.
e3 O-O 9. Bd3 Nc6 10. O-O Ne5 11. Be2 h6 12. Bh4 Ng6 13. Bg3 a6 14. Rc1 Qb6 15.
Na4 Qa7 16. Bc7 Bd7 17. Nb6 Rae8 18. Bd3 Bd8 19. Nxd7 Nxd7 20. Bf5 Bxc7 21.
Rxc7 Nf6 22. Qb3 Re7 23. Nc6 bxc6 24. Rxa7 Rxa7 25. Bxg6 fxg6 26. Qb6 Rd7 27.
Qxc6 Rfd8 28. Qxa6 d4 29. exd4 Rxd4 30. h3 Ne4 31. Re1 Nc5 32. Qb6 Nd3 33. Re8+
Kh7 34. Rxd8 1-0
In Round 3 I played a national master who in the end got his king trapped in a mating net.
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2018.06.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jahonas"]
[Black "john2001plus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2245"]
[BlackElo "1834"]
[Annotator "Coffey,John"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Nbxd2 O-O 8.
O-O d6 9. Rc1 Nbd7 10. Qc2 c5 11. dxc5 Nxc5 12. Rfd1 Rc8 13. Qb1 Nfe4 14. b4
Nxd2 15. Nxd2 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Nb7 17. Ne4 Qc7 18. Qd3 Rfd8 19. Ng5 g6 20. Qd4 e5
21. Qh4 f5 22. e4 Qe7 23. exf5 gxf5 24. Qh6 Rf8 25. h4 Rf6 26. Qh5 h6 27. Nf3
Qf7 28. Qxf7+ Kxf7 29. Rd2 f4 30. g4 Rg8 31. g5 hxg5 32. hxg5 Rf5 33. c5 e4 34.
Nd4 Rfxg5+ 35. Kf1 f3 0-1
In round 4 I just outplayed a higher rated player. (USCF OTB 1964).
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2018.06.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "john2001plus"]
[Black "WarrenJoshuaJones"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "1844"]
[BlackElo "1863"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Bg5
Nbd7 9. O-O c6 10. Qc2 Qc7 11. b4 Re8 12. a4 a5 13. b5 Nc5 14. Rad1 h6 15. Be3
Ne6 16. Qd2 Kh7 17. Qd6 Qxd6 18. Rxd6 Bf8 19. Rd3 Nd4 20. Bxd4 exd4 21. Nxd4
Nxe4 22. Nxe4 Rxe4 23. Bf3 Re8 24. bxc6 bxc6 25. Bxc6 Bf5 26. Nxf5 gxf5 27.
Bxa8 Rxa8 28. Rd5 Rc8 29. Rxf5 Kg6 30. Rxa5 Rxc4 31. Ra6+ f6 32. h3 Bb4 33. Rd1
h5 34. Rd8 Bc3 35. Rg8+ Kf5 36. g4+ hxg4 37. Rxg4 Bd4 38. Rd6 Rc1+ 39. Kg2 Be5
40. Rd3 Ra1 41. Rc4 Ra2 42. h4 Kg6 43. Rg4+ Kh5 44. Rc4 Kg6 45. Rd8 Bc7 46.
Rxc7 1-0
In round 5 I outplayed a higher rated player in the endgame.
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2018.06.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PlanetChessClub"]
[Black "john2001plus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2022"]
[BlackElo "1858"]
[PlyCount "160"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Be2 Bd6 6. c3 O-O 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. Nbd2 Nc6 11. Nxe4 dxe4 12. Ne5 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Qe7 14. Qa4 Nxe5
15. Qxe4 Re8 16. Bxe5 Qxe5 17. Qxe5 Rxe5 18. f3 Bf5 19. Kf2 Rd8 20. Rad1 Red5
21. Rxd5 Rxd5 22. Ke3 Re5+ 23. Kf2 Rd5 24. Rd1 Rxd1 25. Bxd1 Be6 26. a3 f6 27.
Ke3 Kf7 28. Kd4 Ke7 29. c4 Kd6 30. b4 b6 31. c5+ bxc5+ 32. bxc5+ Ke7 33. Ba4
Bd7 34. c6 Bc8 35. Bb5 Kd6 36. a4 Bf5 37. Kc4 a5 38. Kd4 Bc2 39. Ke3 Ke5 40. g3
Bb3 41. f4+ gxf4+ 42. gxf4+ Kd6 43. Kd4 Bd5 44. Bd3 Bxc6 45. Bc2 Bd7 46. Bb3
c5+ 47. Kc3 Be6 48. Bc2 Ba2 49. Bf5 Kd5 50. Kb2 Bc4 51. Kc3 Be2 52. Bg6 Bd1 53.
Be8 c4 54. Bf7+ Kc5 55. Be8 Bf3 56. Bf7 Bc6 57. Bxc4 Bxa4 58. Bf7 Bd1 59. Bg6
a4 60. Bf7 a3 61. Bg8 Bf3 62. Kb3 Bd5+ 63. Bxd5 Kxd5 64. Kxa3 Ke4 65. Kb3 Kxf4
66. Kc4 Ke3 67. Kd5 f5 68. Ke5 f4 69. Kf5 f3 70. Kg6 f2 71. h4 f1=Q 72. Kxh6
Qh3 73. h5 Qg4 74. Kh7 Qxh5+ 75. Kg8 Qg6+ 76. Kf8 Qh7 77. Ke8 Kd4 78. Kd8 Kd5
79. Kc8 Kc6 80. Kd8 Qd7# 0-1
In round 6 I had a draw against my old friend Kingsbishop. I have played him many times on both chess.com and ICC USCF Online rated tournaments. Usually I do well against him, so I might have missed something.
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2018.06.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "john2001plus"]
[Black "KingsBishop"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "1854"]
[BlackElo "1697"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
1. Nf3 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bf4 Nf6 6. e3 Ne4 7. Qc2 h6 8. Bd3
Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bd6 10. Ne5 Bxe5 11. dxe5 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Na5 13. Rd1 Qe7 14. Qa4+
Nc6 15. O-O O-O 16. Rd2 Bd7 17. Rfd1 Rfd8 18. Be2 Nxe5 19. Qe4 f6 20. Bxe5 fxe5
21. Qxe5 Be8 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Rxd8 Qxd8 24. Qxe6+ Bf7 25. Qe4 Qd2 26. Qd3 Qxd3
27. Bxd3 Bxa2 28. Kf1 Bd5 29. e4 Bc6 30. Ke2 a5 31. Ke3 b5 32. Kd4 Kf7 33. Kc5
Bd7 34. Bxb5 c6 35. Bc4+ Ke7 36. Kb6 a4 37. Ka5 c5 38. Kb6 Be6 39. Kxc5 a3 40.
Kb4 Bxc4 41. Kxa3 Ke6 42. Kb4 Bf1 43. g3 Ke5 44. c4 Kxe4 45. c5 Kd5 46. f4 Bg2
47. g4 Bh3 48. g5 hxg5 49. fxg5 g6 50. Kb5 Bf1+ 51. Kb6 Ke6 52. c6 Ke7 53. c7
Bh3 54. Kb7 Kd6 55. c8=Q Bxc8+ 56. Kxc8 Ke5 57. Kd7 Kf5 58. Kd6 Kxg5 59. Ke5
Kh4 60. Kf4 g5+ 61. Kf3 Kh3 62. Ke4 g4 63. Kf4 Kh4 64. Kf5 g3 65. hxg3+ Kxg3
1/2-1/2
In my last round I sacrificed material against a higher rated player and got beat, but there was a chance to win that I missed.
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2018.06.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "mateosh"]
[Black "john2001plus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "1991"]
[BlackElo "1848"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c6 8.
Bg5 h6 9. Be3 Re8 10. Re1 Ne4 11. Nd2 Qh4 12. g3 Nxg3 13. Nf3 Qh5 14. fxg3 Bg4
15. Kg2 Qh3+ 16. Kg1 Bxg3 17. Bf2 Bxh2+ (17... Bxf2+ 18. Kxf2 Rxe1 19. Qxe1
Qxf3+ 20. Kg1 Nd7 21. Qg3 Qxg3+ 22. hxg3 Re8) 18. Nxh2 Rxe1+ 19. Qxe1 Nd7 20.
Qe7 Nf6 21. Re1 Be6 22. Qd6 g5 23. Ne2 g4 24. Ng3 Nh5 25. Rxe6 Nxg3 26. Bxg3
Qxg3+ 27. Qxg3 1-0
2018-05-26
Surprise first place finish in the USCF Online rated ICC tournament. (Two weeks in a row.)
Surprise first place finish in the USCF Online rated ICC tournament. I didn't expect to get first because "Tthius" who was tied with me for first beat the guy who beat me, which was "tigeriz." However, I won the tournament on tie breaks.
Anyhow, in the following game I felt like I played in a sophisticated manner against an "Over The Board" 2100+ player. I hope that computer analysis doesn't poke holes in the game, although it probably will. At one point I offered to give up two rooks for a queen because I thought that I could control some important squares afterwards. My opponent didn't go for it, but offered to trade major pieces. Afterwards my plan was to restrict his minor pieces as much as possible. Eventually he won a piece at the expense of a couple of pawns, but this was apparently a mistake because my extra pawns overwhelmed his king.
The bottom line is that I had a plan, and be it good or bad it worked. Few of us can have a perfect plan, especially at these rapid time controls, so it is important just to have a plan period.
>uscf
> 4.0 john2001plus Ethius
> 3.5 tigeriz IAlwaysWin
> 3.0 KingsBishop RightHandRook OnseySeyon
> 2.5 TheBlackVeil aslan777 rjp1888
> 2.0 GTG Remingtown wizard realityczech
> 1.5 ROWLAND BIRDSMAN
> 1.0 kaps-ak chess4aditya Zephyr
> 0.5 RM3
>
> __________ __ ______ _ __________ __ ____ _ ____________
> /_ __/ __ \/ / / / __ \/ | / / ____/\ \/ / / __ \ | / / ____/ __ \
> / / / / / / / / / /_/ / |/ / __/ \ / / / / / | / / __/ / /_/ /
> / / / /_/ / /_/ / _ _/ /| / /___ / / / /_/ /| |/ / /___/ _ _/
> /_/ \____/\____/_/ |_/_/ |_/_____/ /_/ \____/ |___/_____/_/ |_|
>
> Congratulations john2001plus and Thanks to all :-)
On Sat, May 26, 2018 at 6:54 PM, ICC [john2001plus] <icc@chessclub.com> wrote:
[Event "ICC tourney 1444 (12 3)"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2018.05.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "IAlwaysWin"]
[Black "john2001plus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White forfeits on time"]
[WhiteElo "1624"]
[BlackElo "1773"]
[Opening "Queen's Indian: 4.g3"]
[ECO "E15"]
[NIC "QI.02"]
[Time "18:25:19"]
[TimeControl "720+3"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 O-O 7. Bg2 Bb7
8. Nc3 d5 9. Ne5 Ne4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Ng4 f5 12. Ne3 Nd7 13. O-O Nf6 14.
Nc2 c5 15. Rfd1 Rc8 16. b3 Qe7 17. dxc5 Qxc5 18. Qd6 Rfd8 19. Qxc5 bxc5 20.
Kf1 Ng4 21. h3 Ne5 22. Ke1 g5 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Rd1 Rxd1+ 25. Kxd1 Kf7 26.
Kd2 f4 27. gxf4 gxf4 28. e3 Nd3 29. exf4 Nxf2 30. Ne3 Kf6 31. Kc3 Nd3 32. a3
Nxf4 33. b4 Ke5 34. bxc5 Bc6 35. Bf1 h5 36. Nc2 a5 37. Ne3 Kf6 38. Nc2 e5
39. Ne3 Kg5 40. Kd2 Kh4 41. Nf5+ Kg5 42. Ne7 Bd7 43. c6 Be6 44. c7 Nxh3 45.
Bxh3 Bxh3 46. c8=Q Bxc8 47. Nxc8 h4 48. Ke3 h3 49. Kf2 e3+
{White forfeits on time}
0-1
[Event "ICC tourney 1444 (12 3)"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2018.05.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "IAlwaysWin"]
[Black "john2001plus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White forfeits on time"]
[WhiteElo "1624"]
[BlackElo "1773"]
[Opening "Queen's Indian: 4.g3"]
[ECO "E15"]
[NIC "QI.02"]
[Time "18:25:19"]
[TimeControl "720+3"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 O-O 7. Bg2 Bb7
8. Nc3 d5 9. Ne5 Ne4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Ng4 f5 12. Ne3 Nd7 13. O-O Nf6 14.
Nc2 c5 15. Rfd1 Rc8 16. b3 Qe7 17. dxc5 Qxc5 18. Qd6 Rfd8 19. Qxc5 bxc5 20.
Kf1 Ng4 21. h3 Ne5 22. Ke1 g5 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Rd1 Rxd1+ 25. Kxd1 Kf7 26.
Kd2 f4 27. gxf4 gxf4 28. e3 Nd3 29. exf4 Nxf2 30. Ne3 Kf6 31. Kc3 Nd3 32. a3
Nxf4 33. b4 Ke5 34. bxc5 Bc6 35. Bf1 h5 36. Nc2 a5 37. Ne3 Kf6 38. Nc2 e5
39. Ne3 Kg5 40. Kd2 Kh4 41. Nf5+ Kg5 42. Ne7 Bd7 43. c6 Be6 44. c7 Nxh3 45.
Bxh3 Bxh3 46. c8=Q Bxc8 47. Nxc8 h4 48. Ke3 h3 49. Kf2 e3+
{White forfeits on time}
0-1
2018-05-21
2018-05-15
Black to play and win.
I'm not sure how many people would appreciate the subtlety of this position. This is from an online game where I got a draw, but analysis shows that Black can slowly make progress until he wins. It is not possible for me to explore every possible continuation, but I show a couple of lines where Black slowly improves his position until White collapses. It is actually not that difficult, but hard to figure out in a rapid time control.
2018-04-02
2018-04-01
2018-03-25
2018-03-06
Computer comparison of top chess players past and present
I'm a bit surprised by how much lower Paul Morphy is. In the 1960's Fischer said of Morphy that he was "the greatest genius of us all" and "would beat any player alive today."
It is interesting just how much better Magnus Carlsen is compared to everyone else.
According to a previous study, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_top_chess_players_throughout_history#Moves_played_compared_with_computer_choices, Fischers play during a 3 year period, which I assume was during his peak in 1970 to 1972, was better than any corresponding three year period by any other player, however this study was done before the rise of Magnus Carlsen.
2018-03-01
[Event "Columbus Chess Club"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "Mar 1, 2018"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Steve Sims"]
[Black "John Coffey"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Bc4 Ng4 8.
Bb5+ Kf8 9. Qf3 a6 10. Bc4 Ne5 11. Qe2 Nxc4 12. Qxc4 Nc6 13. O-O-O Ne5 14. Qe2
Qc7 15. f4 Bg4 16. Qf2 Kg8 17. fxe5 Bxd1 18. Rf1 f6 19. Nd5 Qd8 20. exf6 exf6
21. Ne6 Qd7 22. Qxf6 Bxf6 23. Nxf6+ Kf7 24. Ng5+ Ke7 25. Nxd7 Kxd7 26. Rf7+ Kc6
27. Kxd1 Rae8 28. Bd4 Rhf8 29. Rf3 Rxf3
1-0
[Site "?"]
[Date "Mar 1, 2018"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Steve Sims"]
[Black "John Coffey"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Bc4 Ng4 8.
Bb5+ Kf8 9. Qf3 a6 10. Bc4 Ne5 11. Qe2 Nxc4 12. Qxc4 Nc6 13. O-O-O Ne5 14. Qe2
Qc7 15. f4 Bg4 16. Qf2 Kg8 17. fxe5 Bxd1 18. Rf1 f6 19. Nd5 Qd8 20. exf6 exf6
21. Ne6 Qd7 22. Qxf6 Bxf6 23. Nxf6+ Kf7 24. Ng5+ Ke7 25. Nxd7 Kxd7 26. Rf7+ Kc6
27. Kxd1 Rae8 28. Bd4 Rhf8 29. Rf3 Rxf3
1-0
2018-02-25
Endgame
The computer agreed with all my endgame moves starting with move 40. I had a sense that I could out finesse him in this bishop versus knight ending. Even though his 44... g5? was pretty bad, I still had a superior position. I am going to to do some analysis to see how the game should go if he doesn't play 44... g5?.
[Event "ICC tourney 1394 (12 3)"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2018.02.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "john2001plus"]
[Black "advaith06"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "1742"]
[BlackElo "1568"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2018.02.24"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. Ne5 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Bd7 8.
Nxd7 Qxd7 9. Rb1 Nd8 10. Qa3 Qe7 11. e3 Qxa3 12. Bxa3 Kd7 13. Bd3 b6 14. O-O
Nb7 15. c5 Na5 16. Bb4 Nc6 17. Ba3 Rhb8 18. Ba6 Ne4 19. Rfc1 Nd8 20. f3 Nf6 21.
Kf2 bxc5 22. Bxc5 Ne8 23. Ke2 Nd6 24. Kd2 Nc6 25. Bxd6 Rxb1 26. Rxb1 Kxd6 27.
c4 dxc4 28. Bxc4 Rb8 29. Bd3 h6 30. Kc3 Rxb1 31. Bxb1 Nb8 32. e4 f6 33. f4 c5
34. e5+ fxe5 35. dxe5+ Kd5 36. Bd3 Nc6 37. g3 Nd4 38. Bf1 Kc6 39. Kc4 Nc2 40.
Bh3 Nd4 41. Bg2+ Kb6 42. a4 a5 43. Be4 Nc6 44. g4 g5 45. Bxc6 Kxc6 46. f5 exf5
47. gxf5 h5 48. f6 Kd7 49. Kxc5 h4 50. Kd4 g4 51. Ke3 Ke6 52. Kf4 g3 53. hxg3
hxg3 54. Kxg3 Kxe5 55. f7 Kd4 56. f8=Q Kc4 57. Kf3 Kb3 58. Ke3 Kxa4 59. Kd3 Kb3
60. Qb8+ Ka3 61. Kc3 a4 62. Qb2# 1-0
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)