OMC Weekly (Volume 1, Issue 5)

**NOTICE**: This will be my last post until September. My family and I are moving to San Antonio, Texas, and I will have intermittent internet (and chess) access. Once on the ground and settled, I will begin the process of joining the Texas Chess Association and the San Antonio Chess Club. [OMChess.com](http://www.omchess.com) will resume normal operations in mid-to-late September.

This past weekend afforded me the opportunity to sit down across the board for the first time with a former tournament player. My brother-in-law Scott and I played two quick games during a family visit and suffice to say that I was more than a little unprepared for what was coming my way. I lost both games, but gained some valuable insight into opening theory and learned a few things that should help me in my quest to improve my skill set and my rating.

[pgn]
[Event “Grand Rapids, MI”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2014.07.24”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Wesley Surber”]
[Black “Scott Russell”]
[Result “0-1”]
[PlyCount “50”]
[EventDate “2014.??.??”]

1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 d4 {I know that I have played this opening before, but I was unable to turn the counter play in my favor.} 3. Nd5 {A terrible move.} c6 4. Nf4 e5 {Frustration set in at this point and I decided to sacrifice my Knight to avoid having Black chase it around the board for the rest of the game. By this point, I only had two pieces developed and Black’s side was gaining territory at the expense of my desire to protect the Knight.} 5. d3 exf4 6. Bxf4 Nf6 7. Nf3 Bd6 8. Qd2
Bxf4 9. Qxf4 O-O 10. c3 dxc3 11. bxc3 Re8 12. Ng5 h6 13. Nf3 Nd5 14. Qg3 Nxc3
15. d4 Nxe4 16. Qf4 Ng5+ {At this point, I had pretty much given up on the game. I was down a significant amount of material and had spent the entire game being chased around without much of an opportunity to develop.} 17. Ne5 {A knee-jerk reaction: I knew better.} f6 18. Bc4+ Kh8 19. O-O fxe5 20. dxe5 Be6 21.
h4 Bxc4 {Not playing 22.Qxc4 cost me one of my Rooks and assured my destruction.} 22. hxg5 Bxf1 23. Kxf1 Qxg5 24. Qf7 Qxe5 25. Qxb7 Qb5+ {Forking the King and Queen…I resigned.} 0-1
[/pgn]

We played the second game immediately after the first. This time, Scott revealed an opening secret of his to me, which allowed us to play a more classical game than the first.

[pgn]
[Event “Grand Rapids, MI”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2014.08.09”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Scott Russell”]
[Black “Wesley Surber”]
[Result “1-0”]
[PlyCount “109”]
[EventDate “2014.??.??”]

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 Bg4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. c3 e6 6. Nbd2 h5 {A relatively harmless position. This was something that both of us were more familiar with and it set the stage for a much more interesting and challenging game.} 7. h3 Bf5 8. Bxf5
exf5 9. Nb3 Ne4 10. Nfd2 Qe7 11. Nxe4 Qxe4 {This seemed like a good idea at the time, but in hindsight it unnecessarily cost me a Knight that I needed later.} 12. O-O Bd6 13. f3 Qh4 14. f4 g5 15.
Qf3 gxf4 16. exf4 Rg8 17. Bd2 O-O-O 18. Be1 Qf6 19. Nc1 Qg6 20. Kh2 Bxf4+ 21.
g3 Bd6 22. Qxf5+ Qxf5 23. Rxf5 Rde8 24. Nd3 Re3 25. Nf4 Ne7 26. Rxf7 h4 27. Nh5
hxg3+ 28. Kg1 g2 29. Bh4 Bh2+ 30. Kxh2 g1=Q+ {At this point, I was mistaken and thought that it was g1=Q#, but I missed White’s a1 Rook, which completely destroyed my attack.} 31. Rxg1 Re2+ 32. Rf2 Rxf2+ {Places the King in check, but unnecessarily sacrifices the Rook.} 33.
Bxf2 Rf8 34. Rf1 {And just like that, White has a better position.} Rf3 35. Kg2 Rf5 36. Ng7 Rg5+ 37. Bg3 Rxg7 38. h4 b6 39. h5 c5
40. h6 Rh7 41. Rh1 cxd4 42. cxd4 b5 43. Be5 Nf5 44. Bf4 Nxd4 45. Rd1 Ne2 46.
Be3 d4 47. Bxd4 Rxh6 48. Bxa7 Nf4+ 49. Kf3 Ne6 50. Be3 Rh3+ 51. Ke4 Rh4+ 52.
Ke5 Ng7 53. Rc1+ Kd7 54. Rd1+ Ke7 55. Bg5+ {The Rook is lost…I resigned.} 1-0
[/pgn]