Sunday, October 28, 2007

Finally a win

Tournament game win today with the Smith-Morra as white, game here. Normally I wouldn't even include games like these (he had no idea how to play it) but wanted to show the little mating combination at the end. It's exactly the type of problem you'd find in CTB or CT-Art. A typical attack against a timorous opponent, but I am happy as it is not typical for me to actually find the obvious attack. I just sat there, thinking "There has to be a tactic here: his position is just horrible." I just had this intuition grounded in not much, which made me look extra hard for that attack. This is something that is new for me. Note the annotations are my own: I'm sure I didn't play optimally and he had defensive resources he didn't exploit. I haven't Fritzed it yet.

I am starting to really like these tactical openings. Sure, the chances of crashing and burning are higher, but the same is true of both sides which just makes the games fun.

16 Comments:

Blogger Glenn Wilson said...

Sweet!

10/28/2007 12:47:00 PM  
Blogger takchess said...

Is 9 bXf7 check any good ? nice to see you reaping the gifts of the circles.

10/28/2007 02:19:00 PM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Tak: that was my original plan but I wasn't clear on it once push came to shove. I think it would yield essentially the same position (unless he was crazy enough to take the B with his K!).

10/28/2007 02:39:00 PM  
Blogger BlunderProne said...

(salivating) nice game. I like how you ripped him open in the center adn went after the vulnerable f7. Nothing sweeter than a mate with teh king in the center.

10/28/2007 06:54:00 PM  
Blogger slithytove said...

Nice game! Not that I would have noticed this during the game myself, but since the question came up, 9 Bxf7+ Ke7 10 Qxd8 Kxd8 results in the same position, but It's white to move. I believe you gain a tempo by pushing his king around a bit. Not that you needed a tempo. . .

10/28/2007 09:29:00 PM  
Blogger Pale Morning Dun - Errant Knight de la Maza said...

I like how at the end he still has 4 minor pieces on the back rank. Precious.

In blitz I'll often ask similar questions of myself, in search of tactics. Things like, "His Queen is way out there, this can't be good." Or, "He's moved his knight three times now, his development is crap, there has to be something here I can exploit." Or, "He's trying to attack me with just two pieces, there's insufficient material for that in this position, I'll keep developing." Pausing to look deeper at those moments can be key.

10/28/2007 11:14:00 PM  
Blogger katar said...

good game. just wanted to say that 0-0-0 is much much better than 0-0 in that position.

10/28/2007 11:17:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good game and a sweet tactic to wrap things up!

10/29/2007 05:56:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am glad you are having fun with the Danish and Smith-Morra.

Beware- once your rating starts to rise and you start playing higher-rated people in the half-Danish, they will start pinning your c3 bishop and doing the knight a5 double-attack on your queen and c4 bishop. This will be less fun for you. But till then, enjoy.

10/29/2007 09:30:00 AM  
Blogger BlunderProne said...

A SWEEP! A FRIGGIN SWEEP! RED SOX BABY! Finally I can sleep.

10/29/2007 01:05:00 PM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

IT was bloody awesome, the sweep. I couldn't believe it. A agree it will be nice to sleep....

Next week, Superbowl 0.5. That will be intense.

10/29/2007 01:56:00 PM  
Blogger Polly said...

Having been on the receiving end of a few ugly Smith-Morras I can feel your opponent's pain. Your opponent put up a little more resistance then I did. If you missed it, here it is. http://castlingqueenside.blogspot.com/2007/09/tgis.html

(Note to self: Don't try this line against it either!)

10/29/2007 05:27:00 PM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Thanks Polly. I hadn't worked through that one. It's a tricky opening. Makes me glad I don't play the Sicilian, as you not only have all the main lines, but these weird little kooky lines. I've been much happier since I switched to 1...d5 against e4. Low book openings are just lower stress.

10/29/2007 06:16:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice - where were you playing?

10/29/2007 07:21:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

way cool game, and i love your comments with it.

10/29/2007 08:06:00 PM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

DS: this was ICC in the 45 45 league. That's the extent of my tournament play for a while as I try to pay off credit cards!

chessloser: thanks. It was fun.

10/29/2007 09:33:00 PM  

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