Two undefeated players (by our count, cromwell has won 1 standard game and 1 Capablanca Chess game on the blog; bookgirl_me has won 1 standard game, 1 Capablanca game, and 1 game of Turbo Chess). As usual, we’ve assigned the black pieces to the person who requested the game.
bookgirl_me, as White, moves first.
[Event "Muse Academy Eterna-ment"]
[Site "MuseBlog, NET"]
[Date "2010.03.04"]
[Round ""]
[White "bookgirl_me, "]
[Black "cromwell, "]
[CBBWhiteId "bookgirl_me"]
[CBBBlackId "cromwell"]
[Result "1-0"]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Ne5 Nh6 5.Bxh6 Bh5 6.Bf4 e6 7.g3 Bb4+ 8.Nd2 Bd6 9.c5 Bc7 10.b4 Nd7 11.Nxd7 Qxd7 12.Bxc7 Qxc7 13.Qc2 e5 14.Nf3 e4 15.Ne5 b6 16.e3 bxc5 17.bxc5 Qa5+ 18.Qd2 Qa4 19.Be2 Bxe2 20.Qxe2 Qa3 21.O-O Rb8 22.Nxc6 Rb2 23.Qg4 Qa6 24.Rab1 Rc2 25.Nb8 Qe6 26.Qxg7 Rf8 27.Rb7 Qh3 28.Nd7 Ke7 29.Qxf8+ Resigns
Your (first) move, bookgirl!
This will be fun…
Yeah, but I’m not very good.
That’s fine, since I’m a) out of practice and b) re-trying out some of the openings I used to like/trying to vary them a bit more.
Ah, the self-deprecation-to-lower-the-opponent-into-a-false-sense-of-security gambit. I remember it well.
Well, the oh-look-there’s-a-flying-whale-right-outside-your-window-of-course-you-don’t-have-a-queen one doesn’t seem to work that well here. Cromwell started it.
Well, according to my observations, you’re both strong players, and I don’t believe that either of you would try the snatch-the-queen trick (except against very inexperienced opponents).
Yes. A corner pawn, perhaps? Ah, the days when people forgot about their rooks… Just kidding.
Well, when we had a chess club at school, I wasn’t one of the best players (though it turned out I was actually the only one who knew en passant and queenside castling), and I haven’t played since then.
Okay. You may have got a pin, but I prevented both possibilities.
Sorry, I insist.
I should’ve done that move first instead…
Hmm… This is interesting. My position sucks, but I have a knight more. We shall see how this develops.
SFTDP:
Cromwell, I don’t want to pressure you, put I’m going on vacation starting this friday for nine days, and my internet will be patchy.
Sorry, sorry!
bookgirl: Your move! Again!
And Sudo: Your move in your game with Piggy.
Getting MBers to move is like squeezing the last dab of toothpaste out of a tube…
Hm? I thought I ended that game… Oh well. I will now.
Well, I’ve been pretty good in this game, except when I went to Belize.
Okay, I moved.
I kind of messed up.
I kind of did too, since my whole pawn formation leaves to be desired for. But then again, it’s a bit late in the game to play a gambit.
Ganging up on my poor little pawn like that is no fair. *pouts*
Careful! When bookgirl pouts, it’s usually to conceal her fangs.
Crisis averted-I think.
Ack, that was stupid of me.
Knight instead of rook? Hmm. You both missed that one.
Wait, I saw what she missed, but what did I miss?
Letting her do it.
(Note to other kibitzers and future generations: we’re talking about White’s 25th move, or non-move.)
Yep.
Now I see it… but it’s not looking too ba for me, as far as I can tell.
Okay, I resign-but I took my turn so I can’t now.
Why?
It’s a cat-and-mouse game from here on out. The queen can chase the king until she catches him.
White missed a couple of opportunities for quicker checkmates. At move 24, Rb8+ would have been mate in two. At move 29, Qf6+ (instead of taking the rook) would have been mate in three (29. Qf6+ Ke8, 30. Rb8+ Kxd7, 31. Qd6 mate).
cromwell and bookgirl:
A hard-fought game, and exciting to watch!
Just a few comments that might help you in the future.
cromwell, you had an uphill struggle after losing the knight on move 5 (as I’m sure you realized instantly, either 4. … Nf6 or retreating the bishop would have been better than Nh6). Your attack on White’s queenside pawns starting on move 15 was well executed but premature. It would have been better to castle your king to safety before opening things up over there. Under the circumstances (a knight down, etc.), I probably would have tried to keep the queenside quiet, castled, and maybe played 16 … f6 to drive away White’s knight (which has no place to go). Castling still would have been a good idea on move 20, and again on move 25 (after 24. … Rxb1), even though by then it would have cost you another pawn after White played Ne7 check.
bookgirl: You played very well throughout but missed a few opportunities, probably because you were trying to avoid complications. On move 17, I think Qxc5 would have been much stronger than capturing with the pawn. Your queen would have been within striking distance of Black’s king, and the black pawn on c6 would have fallen soon. (You could have piled on the pressure with Bb6; Black couldn’t have taken the bishop because of Qxc7.) 19. Be2 was clear and straightforward but not very aggressive; it probably wouldn’t have gotten you very much if Black had castled. I’d have played either 19. Rb1 (seizing the open file and threatening Rb4 and Nxc6) or 19. Bh3 (threatening Bd7+ and Bxe6, with a fork of the rook and queen). I think 28. Nc6 (threatening Re7 mate) would have been stronger than Nd7. Black’s queen would have had to come back, and then you would have had either Rb7+ or Qg5 threatening Qd8++.
Again, nice game, and fun for us spectators. Thanks to both of you. Are you now looking for new opponents?
Sure.
I just started to re-watch the game and realized that somehow I have no memory of it at all… O.O I think that’s called repression. I mean, the whole knight/rook thing I vaguely recall, but somehow the whole pawn diagonal completely slipped my mind.
Also, I think somehow this one ended up being ranked as Capablanca because the rankings said I played 3 games of C-Chess and 4 normal games (not counting the one with R_D, f course) even though I’ve only played POSOC and Ducky. Unless there was another game with some more exciting pawn formations that I’m currently unaware of
I miss the little critiques at the of the games: they’re always so much fun to read (and very helpful).