Etc.

There is a great tactics website at:

http://chess.emrald.net/

Over 23,000 tactics for your solving pleasure.

I attempted over 1000 in two days.

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I just finished the following book. GM Chris Ward is 1996 British Champion. This book is very instructive and his writing style is entertaining.

and started on:

U.W. Winter Open Feb 24-25 Madison, WI

This tournament has averaged 55 player the last 3 years. Past results are as follows:

2006 Winner Ashish Vaja
2005 Winner Alexander Betaneli
2004 Winner IM Stansilav Smetankin

2007 Results (Betaneli wins)

I scored 3-0=1 to finish with 4/5 (1 bye)

I tied for 3rd which was good enough for $120

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In round 4 I was paired against Brian Luo(2057). The #1 nine year old in the nation (by almost 200 points!). This is what none other than Gary Kasparov had to say about him:

"I am impressed to see kids like Ray Robson, Daniel Naroditsky and Brian Lou. All of them have the potential to become not only strong, but leading American grandmasters....."

-Gary Kasparov (page 39 September 2006 Chess Life)

I made a speculative exchange sac, but Brian missed zwischenzug (16...Bxh2+) which would have left him clearly better. After that the game got very complex. I got myself in really bad time trouble and went into survival mode and missed many obvious moves that would have won instantly. I agreed to a draw later, although analysis shows that white was better.

Click here to replay the game.

I was surprised that Brian was blitzing out moves when I was in time time trouble. While doing so he made many gross errors that I just missed since I was only trying to get to time control without worsening my position.

I have a 1-0=1 record against Brian. I won the first time we played around 2 years ago when he was rated 1675.

Below are some postions where I missed winning moves.

28.Bxf7

30.Bd5

44.f4+

45.Ne2+

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This was another tournament with adjournments, and I had 2! I took a bye in the 3rd round but had to come back after that round to play the two adjournments. Normally that would have meant a start time as late as 2 am. But because of the bad weather the last round was shortened into a G/60, so I had to come back at 9:30.

I was clearly winning in both adjourned games, and made very good sealed moves.

In round 1 my sealed move was N d3-c1

In round 2 my sealed move was N b3-c5

Click here for games (opens new window)

Arpad Elo Open, Jan 10-11, Wisconcin Dells, WI

Click here for games (opens new window)

Although adjournments are unheard of these days, they are alive and kicking here in Wisconsin. In this tournament the time control was 40/2, 20/1, G/1. A game could have lasted up to 8 hours! (And with 3 games on Saturday that could mean up to 24 hours of chess in a row!). With round times of 10:00, 3:30 and 7:30 adjournments were necessary. Last year I know of a case where a person had the first two games adjourned and had to play them after the conclusion of round 3, another case where a person had taken a bye in the third round but still had to come back after the conclusion of round 3 (after 1 am) to conclude a round from earlier.

I had my third round game go on till about 2 in the morning. I then had my forth round (the time control for the 4th round is 40/2, G/1) game last more than five hours and then had to start the 5th round 20 minutes later. I played horribly in the last round and dropped a piece very early in the game.

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Round 2 - Draw against ROGER D ALLISON (1731)

In this position I missed b5, if either the knight or the bishop takes back I have the intermediate move Nb6.

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Round 4 - Draw against MIKE NIETMAN (1861)

In the following position I missed the winning 31...h3, although with my move I still should have won.

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Click here for games

Tournament results

February 1, 2007

I played in the Northeastern Open, in Neenah Jan 20. The tournament has still not been rated! I was only able to play the first round against a lower rated player.

The tournament was rated today Feb 7th: Link

The b-pawn's journey made the game memorable.

Click here to replay the game.

This and That

I was looking at the tournament listing for the Chicago Open this year. There are some interesting changes:

The class cut-offs are different :

Under 2300,
Under 2100,
Under 1900,
Under 1700:
each $5000-3000-2000-1000-700-500-400-400-300-300.

There are new rules to deter computer cheating:

1) Players may not use headphones, earphones, cellphones or hearing aids or leave tournament floor without permission (rule may be waived for minus scores or those who cannot score more than 5 points).

2) Players must submit to a search for electronic devices if requested by Director; refusal to be searched is grounds for expulsion from the tournament, with no refund.

Complete info at: http://www.uschess.org/tla/yState.php?st=IL

The USCF will be pulishing monthly rating supplements (electronic) starting Feb. 2007, instead of even months only. The Chicago Open will use the May supplement.

Because of this I will be among the top seeds in the U1900 section as long as I don't go over 1900 before the May supplement comes out. The cut-off for the May supplement will be all tourmanents rated by 11pm Friday April 6th.

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I was planning on not playing much, but decided to play at the Northeastern Open. After this tournament I plan to join ICC and play in a couple of other OTB tournaments and prepare for a good performance at the Chicago Open.

Michigan Class

I great turn out, over 160.

Complete results

I took a bye in the first round and lost the 2nd round. I won the next two games and a win in the last round would have won some money but this is what happened: I was looking at some Morphy games the other day and was inspired by that to play the move 20. Ng6 (but in my case it's just a gross blunder!) Instead of that 20. Bd3 and I should have the advantage

Click here to replay the game.

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This is my round 4 win against MI Jounior ATULYA ARYA SHETTY (1872)

Click here to replay the game.

Etc.

I am playing in a four round G/90 tournament. One game a week on Wednesdays. I took a first round bye. Yesterday I played a great game but unfortunately lost on time.

Click here to replay the game.

I missed many chances that would have led to a decisive advantage:
20. Bd4
22. cxd5
24. Qc2
and the beautiful 31. Bd3 +

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I was looking forward to playing in the Northeastern Open in Neenah, but will not be able to do so due to scheduling conflicts. I decided to play in the Michigan Classs Tournament in Lansing Jan 13-14 instead.

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I created another blog for my younger son.

Game Replay

I was using Chess Publisher for displaying the games, but noticed that it was really slow, so I put all the games in one place and created a link to them called "Games Replay".

Three games

These are 3 games from the last two tournaments

A loss to Ronald Luther(2243) Kansas City Dec 29th

[Event "Kansas City G/45"]
[Date "2006.12.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Wijetunge, Ivan"]
[Black "Luther, Ronald"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "1856"]
[BlackElo "2243"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 e6 4. Nd2 Bd6 5. Bxd6 Nxd6 6. e4 b6 7. c3 Bb7 8.
Qc2 f5 9. Bd3 Qg5 10. Ne2 O-O 11. f4 Qh4+ 12. g3 Qh5 13. O-O-O c5 14. dxc5 bxc5
15. h3 c4 16. g4 cxd3 17. Qxd3 fxe4 18. Qxd6 Qa5 19. Nb3 Qxa2 20. Kc2 e3 21.
Rhe1 Be4+ 0-1

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A loss to Frank Smith (1585) Kansas City Dec 29th

[Event "Kansas City G/45"]
[Date "2006.12.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Smith, Frank"]
[Black "Wijetunge, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "1856"]
[BlackElo "1558"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Ng3 h5 6. Nf3 h4 7. Ne2 h3 8. Bf4
Qb6 9. b3 hxg2 10. Bxg2 Bg4 11. O-O e6 12. Ng3 Nd5 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Qd2 Bd6 15.
c4 Nxe3 16. Qxe3 Bf4 17. Qe4 Nd7 18. d5 Nf6 19. Qd4 O-O-O 20. Qxa7 exd5 21.
cxd5 Nxd5 22. a4 Qb8 23. Qxb8+ Kxb8 24. Rfd1 Nb4 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. h3 Be6 27.
Ne2 Bc7 28. Nfd4 Bc8 29. Rc1 Bb6 30. Rc4 Nd5 31. b4 Rh8 32. b5 cxb5 33. Nxb5
Be6 34. Rc1 Rh6 35. Nbd4 Rf6 36. Rf1 Nc7 37. Nxe6 Nxe6 38. Nc3 Nf4 39. Ne4 Rg6
40. Kh1 Nxg2 {Black manages to lose this! (in bad time trouble)} 1-0

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A win against Yuri Kolesnikov (1560) Bloomington Dec 30th

[Event "Bloomington G/70"]
[Date "2006.12.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wijetunge, Ivan"]
[Black "Kolesnikov, Yuri"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "1856"]
[BlackElo "1560"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. e3 c6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. O-O Bxc3 8.
bxc3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nb6 10. Bd3 Nbd5 11. Qc2 Ne7 12. e4 Ng6 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bc1
Nh5 15. g3 Qf6 16. Qe2 e5 17. Nd2 Nhf4 18. gxf4 Nxf4 19. Qf3 Bh3 20. Bc4 Qg5+
21. Qg3 Qxg3+ 22. fxg3 Bxf1 23. Bxf1 Ng6 24. Nc4 exd4 25. cxd4 Rd8 26. Be3 b6
27. Bd3 O-O 28. e5 Ne7 29. Nd6 Nd5 30. Bf2 Nb4 31. Bc4 Rd7 32. Rc1 Rc7 33. Be1
c5 34. Be2 Nc6 35. Bf2 Nb8 36. dxc5 Nd7 37. Nb5 Rcc8 38. Nxa7 Ra8 39. cxb6 1-0

End of Phase

My initial goal was to reach 2000, by the Feb 2007 suplement.

By mid December I had reached 1889, but due to various reasons I could not schedule any games with the time time controls that I like. (Not less than G/90)

I decided to played in 3 tournaments anyway,

The 1st in Grand Rapids,MI. I lost 19 points there in crazy time scrambles. (G/60)

The 2nd in Kansas City, MO where I won the first lost the second to a master and then lost to a 1600 in the last round being up a piece but with less time. This was a G/45, 3 round event. Lost another 15 points there.

The 3rd was in Bloomington, IL where I tied for first with 3.5/4 (with 1 bye), but the wins were against lower rated players. That was good for $80.

The latest USCF record shows my rating at 1859, but I have a draw against a 2100 player that was accidently left out, after that gets factored in I will be at 1866.

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I will be playing a lot less now. I was planning on doing some studying and playing about once a month, although I am having second thoughts. Maybe its just a big waste of time. Maybe I am just dissapointed because I feel that I should have not played in those fast time control events.

I will post the games soon.

Caption time

This and that…

While getting better will certainly improve your rating, getting your rating higher does not mean you are getting better.

My goal was to get better and get my rating up to 2000, by the Feb 2007 supplement. With the 20 point loss last w-end, the chances of that happening are not so good. I only have 6 more games scheduled before the February cut-off. (Which I think will be around Jan 2-3)

I will probably be paired down in 4 of these 6 games.

The games I have scheduled are:

Dec 29:
Three G/45 at FRIDAY NIGHT QUICK CASH - Kansas City, MO
Dec 30:
Three(1st round bye) G/70 at McLean County Historical Museum Open - Bloomington, IL

Probably the prudent thing to do is not risk rating points by playing mostly lower rated players in these quick events. But, I enjoy playing too much and I am also trying to improve my time management skills.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, starting Jan 1, I will only have time to play in about 1 tournament a month. I plan to study more and play up when I get a chance. I will also concentrate on getting better and not worry about the rating.

Things I need to concentrate on:
- Lots of tactics (I think that tactics alone can get you to well over 2000)
- Endgames
- Openings
- Study the type of middle games that come out of these openings

Some one was asking how I got an 1800 floor. I have that covered that here.

Western Michigan Open XXIV, Dec 16, (Grand Rapids,MI)

I had great time at this tournament. The playing conditions and organization were excellent, complementary coffee and snacks were nice touches.

Complete Results

Douglas M Forsythe - Organizer and TD

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I don't like to play with time controls less then G/90 or play more than 2 games a day. This tournament was G/60 and there were 4 games in one day. But there was nothing else I could find for this w-end, and I decided that I would like to get better at shorter time controls too.

All my games went right down to the wire in terms of time. The two games I lost were mad time scrambles by both players.

I finished with 1-2=1, and will probably lose about 19 points. to get back down to 1865

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I lost both games as White! The final 10-15 moves in these games were not recorded.

Click here to replay the first loss.

Click here to replay the 2nd loss.

Missing Loss

This was a loss I forgot to include in a previous post. White tries an unusual second move. Instead of playing 2...d6 or 2...d5 I tried 2...Qa5. That was not that bad, but after I played 7...c5 I was in a bad way. I had to play 7...d6

Russ Montey (1842) vs Me Loss

Click here to replay the game.

Progress Report etc.

I have been able to devote so much time to playing chess for the last few months because my family has been out of state. They will be returning Jan 1 so after, that I won't have too much time to go to tournaments. Although, I will be able to study, which is what I really need in order to improve. I will be traveling to and from Texas over the Christmas/New Year's break. I will be flying down and driving back.

My goal is to get to 2000 by the February 2007 supplement. There are only three weekends left. (I don't think the Jan 6-7 weekend will make the February supplement)

These are some of the tournaments I am looking at playing in:

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Dec 16 : Western Michigan Open XXIV
Rounds : 4
Time Control : G/60
Location : Grand Rapids, MI
CON(S) : Distance
Site: Leonard Terrace Apartments 1315 Leonard Street North East Grand Rapids, MI 49505 Directions: Yahoo Map Infospace Map Format: 4-SS Open USCF and MCA Membership required Time Control: G/60 or G/55(t/d 5) Rounds: 10AM - 12:00PM - 3:00PM - 5:00PM Lunch - after round 2 - 2:00PM - 3:00PM Entry Fee: $20 - Western Michigan Open XXIV Free - USCF rated blitz - side event(s) Registration: 9 - 9:45, December 16, 2006 Prizes: Plus-score tournament 4.0 = $40 3.5 = $35 3.0 = $30 2.5 = $25 Entries/Info: Douglas M Forsythe, Local TD 1825 Ball Avenue North East Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 (616) 361 - 8214 forsythe.douglas@comcast.net

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Dec 23 : 2nd Saturday Touch Move CC Action
Rounds : 5
Time Control : G/30
Location : Chicago, IL
CON(S) : G/30, Tournaments played at this club have not been rated yet.
5639 N. Ashland Chicago IL. Limit 40 players. EF: $30 non-members, $20 TMCC members. ($360 b/24) $120 - $70, U2200- $65, U2000- $55, U1800/Unrated- $50, Reg.: 12:00 pm Rounds: 1pm-2:30-3:45-5-6:20 pm. 2 bye limit, request before rd 3. Info: IM Angelo Young (773) 627-2759, TMchesscenter@hotmail.com

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Dec 29 :Friday Night Quick Cash
Rounds : 3SS
Time Control : Game/45
Location : Kansas City, MO
CON(S) : G/45
The Chess Club at Vivion West Shopping Mall (North Kansas City), 2314 NW Vivion Rd, Riverside MO 64150. EF: $25 by Dec. 27th, $30 onsite. Memb. Req'd: $5. OSA. $$GTD: $225. $75. U2000 1st $75 U1600 1st $75 100% of entries will be paid out as cash prizes!. Accelerated pairings will be used. Reg: Between 6-7 PM. Rds: 1st Round 7PM. No Byes Available. ENT: Ken Fee 1537 Baker St. Liberty, MO 64068. Club Phone: 816-505-1615 PAYPAL to chessclub@powerpawn.net. INFO: chessclub@powerpawn.net. http://www.powerpawn.net/.

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Dec. 30 : McLean County Historical Museum Open
Rounds : 4SS
Time Control : G/70
Location : Bloomington, IL
McLean County Historical Museum, 200 N. Main, Bloomington, IL. EF: $20 if received by 12/28 ($16 under 20), $25 at site. $540 b/35. 1st $200, 2nd $100 (1st and 2nd prizes are guaranteed) U2000 $100, U1600 $80, U1200 $60. Reg: 8:30-9:30 AM, Rds: 10, 1, 3:45, 6:30. Ent: Dennis Bourgerie, Box 157, Normal, IL 61761. 309-454-3842. Cell: 309-531-1723. Schoolstreeter@msn.com, NS, NC.

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Observations etc.

• I attribute my imrovement mainly to my mental attitude. I used to be "scared" of my opponents. Not any more. Swiching(from the Qd6 Scandinavian) back to Caro Kann helped too.
• Most of my recent losses/draws were due to mistakes during time trouble, I have to improve in that department.
• I see a lot more tactics now, but I still miss a lot.

5 more points and a painful draw in Round 3

My result was 1-1=1. The new rating will be around 1889

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Round 3 Me vs Raymond Hayes(2100) draw

I fell for 3 fold repetition in time trouble in a completely winning position against floored out 2100 player Raymond Hayes. I stopped taking notation after move 49.

Click here to replay the game.

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Round 2Russ Montney (1842) vs. me Loss

White tries an unusual second move. Instead of playing 2...d6 or 2...d5 I tried 2...Qa5. That was not that bad, but after I played 7...c5 I was in a bad way. I had to play 7...d6

Click here to replay the game.

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Round 1 Me vs James Coons (1883) win

Click here to replay the game.

My opponent usually gets in time trouble and is known for memorizing openings. I knew that I could get a good time advantage if I varied from the main lines. I played 7. h3 and after that had a good advantage on the clock. Towards the end of the game I had about 20 min. and he had less than 2. Some of the moves I made toward the end (eg. 24 Qh5) were made not because I thought they were the best moves, but because I though they would give him the most discomfort with the clock ticking away towards zero.

Caption time

Wisconsin Memorial : Dec 9-10 (Madison, WI)

I finished 3-0=1, and gained 19 points to end up at 1885. I split the $100 class A prize with David Cardenas.

Complete Results

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Round 4 - Me vs Richard Wagner(1900) - Win

I could have won a pawn with 13. Bxf6. but I decided to go into a closed position with active pieces, my king's bishop had a lot of scope, and I could expand on the queen side.

15...f5 creates a backward pawn on an open file, and a hole on e5 which the king's knight now is itching to occupy.

17. Bxc6 the bishop gives his life so that the king's knight can occupy e5. (The knight is humbled by the bishop's selfless act).

18. Ne5 This knight is an octopus!

18...Qh5 Looks dangerous for White, but there is nothing here. Time to defend!

20...f4?? Black blunders

23. f3 although this was not necessary I wanted to stop all counter play by black

25. Rc4 The rooks are planning to double themselves on the b file

27. h3 more prophylaxis

Click here to replay game.

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Round 5 - Jeremy Kane(2065) vs Me - Draw

I have choked in the last round many times in the past few weeks, and was determined not to let that happen this time. Theory in this variation of the Caro Kann goes from the opening all the way to the ending, where Black is suposed to have excellent drawing chances. Kane missed the book move 12.Qc6+. I offered a draw right after this, but it was declined. He then offred a draw after his final move and I accepted. Although I thought I was better, I figured that that chances of me making a mistake were higher.

Click here to replay game.

Apology - 3rd Coast Chess Festival

I would like to apologize to the organizers of the 3rd Coast Chess Festival for the comments made in this blog entry.

Instead this is what I would like to say:

I would like to thank the organizers for having the event, and also for the community service projects they undertake.

The tournament was well directed and the playing conditions were excellent, although basing the prizes on 180 participants was overly optimistic. (Based on adult participation in Illinois events)

Illinois Class Champ. : Dec 2-3 (Joliet, IL)

Results

Tournament format: 4 round Swiss G/120

I finished with 1-2=1. I missed lots of tactics but still lost only 10 rating points to end up at 1865.

Game 3 where I was able to sacrifice my queen for mate made the whole tournament worthwhile for me. (I missed 13..Bxa3 & 17...Qf1+, but If I had seen them, I would not have been able to sac the queen in the end!)

Game 4 was a big disappointment. After playing a great game, (where I missed at least 2 opportunities to put the game away 17. Qh3 and 22.Bb4) I got myself into terrible time trouble and lost. There was $100.00 riding on this game too!

Observations etc.

Bad time management in Game 4. I spent about 20 min. deciding between 9.0-0 and (9.Nxd7 Nxd7 10.Qg4.) I was about an hour behind my opponent on time after about 17 moves.

I used to not be able to recover after a loss, but after losing Game 2 I came back strongly in Game 3 and almost had Game 4.

I had lost only 2 games out of 12 for the month of November. If I want to keep that up in December I can't lose any more games!

"A" players miss lots of tactics!

Rnd 1 - HECTOR R HERNANDEZ (1900) vs Me - Draw

Rnd 2 - Me vs TREVOR S MAGNESS (1897) - Loss

This was a bad loss. I completly missed the danger at f2. Instead of 16.Bd3, 16.h5 would have left me with a slight pull. Even after 17.Nxe5 I could have still played h5 and the game is about equal.

Click here to replay game.

Rnd 3 - DANIEL SAJKOWSKI(1862) vs Me - Win

Click here to replay game.

Rnd 4 - Me vs ERIC S ROSEN (1909) - Loss

Click here to replay game.