OMC Weekend Review (Volume 1, Issue 9)

The chess world has been very busy this week! The Millionaire Chess Open in Las Vegas is underway, the FIDE Grand Prix rages in Baku, Azerbaijan with everyone’s eyes on the new world #2, Fabiano Caruana and his continued domination on the board. Each of these tournaments have provided some exceptional kibitzing opportunities on [Chess.com](http://www.chess.com) and [Chessbase](http://www.chessbase.com). I have some reservations about the concept of the Millionaire Chess Open and that is why I have been reluctant to cover it in depth. I might post some thoughts on it later, but for now…on to the amateur stuff.

In OffMyChess.com Land, the chess successes have wavered through successes and failures. This upcoming week will be my first night at the [San Antonio Chess Club](http://www.sanantoniochess.com) and I am very excited about it! I was supposed to go two weeks ago, but life got in the way and I had to postpone it until this Thursday. Now, let’s take a look at some of this week’s games…the good, the bad, and the ugly:

[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2014.10.06”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Wesley Surber”]
[Black “735”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “732”]
[BlackElo “732”]
[PlyCount “57”]
[EventDate “2014.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]

{This player became irate after losing his third game in a row against me. He
accused me of cheating and said that I was not a “732” player. Apparently,
some people think I am some kind of chess hustler. If only…} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3
Nc6 3. Bc4 d6 4. O-O {A fairly standard configuration for me playing White.
Control of the center is mostly balanced, but White’s tempo gives me a slight
advantage.} Be6 5. d3 {Come and get it! Challenging Black to attack the c4
Bishop with his e6 Bishop.} Nf6 6. Nc3 Nd4 7. Be3 c5 {The stage is set for a
massacre in the central squares. I have to play this one carefully to ensure
a decisive win.} 8. Bb5+ Nc6 9. b4 {This was a mistake that cost me some tempo
and required a couple of moves to recover from. Better was 9.d4…} (9. d4
exd4 10. Bxd4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 {Black cannot recapture on d4 because of the
Bishop pin on b5.}) 9… cxb4 10. Na4 a6 11. Nb6 Rb8 12. Ng5 Qe7 13. f4 exf4
14. Bxf4 {Made this move without a real plan, which is always a terrible idea.
At this point, I was unable to determine any significant developing moves, so
I decided to eliminate the unguarded Pawn before it became a nuisance.} Bg4 15.
Nf3 Nh5 16. h3 g5 17. hxg4 Ng3 {This is the second time in this game that
Black mssed a capture opportunity. Notice that the Bishop on b5 remains
untouched as well. Better for Black was gxf4…} (17… gxf4 18. g3 Nxg3) 18.
Bxg3 {Taking advantage of the mistake by capturing the Knight.} Bg7 19. Qd2 Bc3
20. Qe3 Bd4 21. Nxd4 O-O 22. Nxc6 Qe8 {Another missed capture by Black. I am
playing horribly in this game, but his moves are letting me slip right through
my own mistakes.} 23. Nxb8 Qxb5 {A reasonable choice given piece value.
Capturing the Knight would leave me with a two-Bishop advantage.} 24. Bxd6 {
Beginning the assault on the King’s castle.} Rd8 25. Qxg5+ {I love forking
Kings and Rooks…} Kh8 26. Be5+ {Maybe Qxd8 was better, but I wanted to
maintain pressure on the King in the corner and avoid opportunities for his
Queen to fully engage in the battle.} f6 27. Qxf6+ Kg8 28. Qxd8+ {Black’s last
hope is gone.} Qe8 {A meaningful sacrifice…one fit for a Queen. Mate comes
next.} 29. Qxe8# 1-0
[/pgn]

[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2014.10.07”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Wesley Surber”]
[Black “882”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “732”]
[BlackElo “882”]
[PlyCount “55”]
[EventDate “2014.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]

{In this very unusual game, my opponent relentlessly laughed at me throughout
the entire event. At first I brushed him off as a heckler, but soon began to
wonder if he was drunk. The game that ensued was…interesting.} 1. e4 c5 2.
Bc4 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e5 {Another standard configuration in my games for White.
Center control is balanced.} a6 5. Nc3 Nd4 {In low-rated blitz games, I have
come to learn that this is more of a blocking move than an attacking move.
Black could easily snatch the Knight on f3, but material quickly returns to
balance with Qxf3.} 6. O-O {Castling at this point was not part of my plan,
but became part of the plan just in case he tried anything “funny.”} Be7 7. d3
f6 8. a3 {Setting up to push to b4.} fxe5 9. Nxe5 Nf6 10. Bg5 {I have not had
much luck with my Bishops on g5…it is a work in progress, but in this game
it also helped to maintain pressure on the f6 Knight and provide options for a
kingside attack.} O-O 11. b4 Qc7 12. Qe1 b5 13. Bxb5 Nxc2 {In other games, I
have lost many Queens to the King-Queen-Knight fork, so I was relieved to only
lose the Rook.} 14. Qc1 Nxa1 15. Qxa1 axb5 16. Nxb5 Qc6 17. a4 {Defending the
b5 Knight, with reinforcements sitting on a1 just in case.} Qd5 18. Nc7 Qb7 19.
Nxa8 {In chess, never trade down…always trade up. The Knight gave its life
to destroy Black’s corner Rook.} Qxa8 20. f4 cxb4 21. Qd4 Bc5 {A blunder on
Black’s part, plain and simple. There is nothing to defend the c5 Bishop…it
is history.} 22. Qxc5 b3 23. Bxf6 {Sacrificing the Bishop to break through
Black’s castle defenses.} gxf6 24. Ng4 Qxa4 25. Qe7 {Black is in some serious
trouble, and his Queen is in no position to help.} Qd4+ {A forced move by
Black attempts to hold off his King’s slaughter.} 26. Rf2 f5 {This is probably
the move that lost the game for Black. It does nothing to attack the g4
Knight nor does it add pressure to the f2 Rook or my King. White concludes
the game with a series of forced moves.} 27. Nh6+ Kh8 {Nowhere else to go.} 28.
Qxf8# 1-0
[/pgn]

Of course, not everything this week was rose pedals and victory dances. The following game demonstrates the depths of despair I experienced in some brutal losses.

[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2014.10.10”]
[Round “?”]
[White “818”]
[Black “Wesley Surber”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B00”]
[WhiteElo “821”]
[BlackElo “818”]
[Annotator “Wesley Surber”]
[PlyCount “57”]
[EventDate “2014.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]

1. e4 d5 {Challenging White to attack the d5 Pawn for center control, but he
did not take the bait.} 2. e5 Nc6 {Adding to pressure to the e5 pawn.} 3. Nf3
Bf5 4. d4 e6 5. Bb5 Qd7 6. Bxc6 {A simple exchange: Knight for Bishop.} Qxc6 7.
Na3 O-O-O 8. O-O f6 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. c4 dxc4 11. Ne5 {White tries to place
some pressure on my Queen, but the threat itself is almost nonexistent.} Qe4
12. Nexc4 {Unfortunately for me, Black continues to chip away at my pieces,
despite my solid plan for attacking on the kingside.} Rxd4 13. Qc2 Qd5 14. Qa4
Bd3 15. Rd1 Bc5 16. Be3 {This part made me very nervous because I knew that
the ensuing exchange would determine the direction of the endgame.} Be2 {An
attempt to lure the Rook into a trap…it worked, but not in the long run.} 17.
Rd2 Bxc4 18. Rxd4 Bxd4 19. Bxd4 Qxd4 {I came out on top in that exchange, but
things were about to go from “OK” to “OMG.”} 20. Qxc4 Qd2 {A mistake…I was
in a hurry to attack the King and maintain my Queen safety that I missed
bringing her back to the first rank for protection. Qd2 opened my pieces up
to a retaliation by White.} 21. Qc2 Qa5 22. h3 Rd8 23. Rd1 Rxd1+ 24. Qxd1 Qb5
25. b3 Qa5 26. Nc4 Qxa2 {This is the move that cost me the game. Better was
anything than Qa2.} 27. Ne5 {Assures Black a victory with Qd7+.} Ne4 {For some
reason, I gave away my only chance of defending my King against Qd7+.} 28. Qd7+
Kb8 {Forced. Mate comes next.} 29. Qd8# 1-0
[/pgn]