OMC Weekend Review (Volume 1, Issue 11)

It has been a very exciting week here at OffMyChess.com! Of course you might know that I finally managed to [break through](http://www.offmychess.com/reaching-900/) my plateaued blitz rating and pass into 900 ELO territory! This is very exciting for me because the last time I had a 900 ELO was back in the summer as my ratings dropped rapidly to equalize from the standard 1200 ELO given to all new players on [Chess.com](http://www.chess.com). Once I broke through the barrier I have had relatively little trouble maintaining a 925-940 ELO range. The game below is an example of some of the interesting and competitive play I have faced recently.

[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2014.10.23”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Wesley Surber”]
[Black “878”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “928”]
[BlackElo “878”]
[PlyCount “91”]
[EventDate “2014.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 h6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O {At this point, my
choices were 6.O-O and 6.Be2, which would add additional pressure to the e2
diagonal.} g5 7. Be3 g4 8. Nh4 {Moving the Knight to temporary safety.} Nxe4 9.
dxe4 {An interesting exchange! Black captures a pawn in exchange for one of
his Knights. Definitely something I would never consider unless I had
ulterior motives. After the pawn re-captures, Black launches an assault on
the Kingside with 9…Qxh4.} Qxh4 10. Qd5 Be6 {The obvious and best response.}
11. Qb5 Rb8 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. g3 Qh3 {Black’s Queen position makes me nervous,
but right now there is nothing he can do with her.} 14. Nd5 exd5 15. Qxd5 {Not
the most equitable exchange, but I needed to break through Black’s pawn
structure if I stood a chance against him.} h5 16. Qe6+ Ne7 17. Bg5 {Black’s
annoying Bishop on f8 is all that’s protecting his King from instant mate.} Rg8
18. Bf6 h4 19. gxh4 g3 20. fxg3 Qxe6 {My heart sank when Black captured my
Queen. It was not something I anticipated and it completely wrecked my
strategy.} 21. Rae1 Rg6 22. Bg5 Qxa2 {Most likely, this is the move that lost
the game for Black. There is no strategic or tactical advantage to taking my
a2 pawn, so I used the opportunity to place my e-file Rook in a better
position.} 23. Re2 Qg8 24. Ref2 {At this point, the f-file belongs to me.} a5
25. g4 Kd7 26. c4 Rg7 27. Rf6 Qxc4 {Threatening my f1 Rook, but Black is
unable to capitalize.} 28. Bh6 Qd4+ {28…Qe4 would have been much better!} 29.
R1f2 {The first of many blocking moves by my Rooks.} Qd1+ 30. Rf1 Qxg4+ 31. Kh1
Qxe4+ 32. R1f3 Qe1+ 33. Rf1 Qe4+ 34. R1f3 {What follows is a series of
perpetual blocks using mainly the Rooks on the f-file. Black lost on time.}
Rg8 35. Bg5 Qe1+ 36. Rf1 Qe4+ 37. R1f3 Nd5 38. Rf7+ Ke8 39. R7f5 Ne3 40. Rf6
Ng4 41. Re6+ Be7 42. Rxe7+ Kd8 43. Ref7+ Ke8 44. Re7+ Kd8 45. Re6+ Kc8 46. Re7
1-0
[/pgn]

Of course, this week was not without its scares, which I guess is appropriate for the Halloween season. The next game was a heart stopping affair in which I managed a dramatic comeback with the help of some blunders by my opponent and sheer blessings from the chess gods.

[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2014.10.25”]
[Round “?”]
[White “953”]
[Black “Wesley Surber”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteElo “953”]
[BlackElo “928”]
[PlyCount “74”]
[EventDate “2014.??.??”]
[TimeControl “5”]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. e4 Nf6 5. e5 Ng4 6. Bg5 f6 7. exf6 gxf6 8. Bh4
Bd6 {At this point, material is relatively even, but White is about to launch
an attack that caught me off guard.} 9. Bb5 a6 10. Bxc6+ {I have noticed that
regardless of the opening used, Bxc6 seems to be the typical response to a6.}
bxc6 11. O-O Rb8 12. b3 {A very good move. He noticed my chance to go Rxb2
and begin cleaning him out on the Queenside.} Bb4 13. Qd3 e5 14. dxe5 Bf5 {
This was a costly blunder. I made the move without realizing that I had
nothing to defend the Bishop. It was an immediate loss.} 15. Qxf5 Bxc3 16.
Rad1 Nh6 17. Qe6+ Kf8 18. Bxf6 {A frustrating trap. Regardless of where she
goes, my Queen is lost, so I decided to test White and see if he was up for a
trade.} Qe8 19. Qxe8+ Rxe8 20. Bxh8 {Another devastating loss. At this point,
I had written most of the game off, but things were about to get very
interesting.} Ke7 21. Bf6+ Ke6 22. Bg7 Rg8 23. Bxh6 {The whole neighborhood
probably heard me screaming from this move.} Bxe5 24. Nxe5 Kxe5 25. Rfe1+ Kd6
26. Bf4+ Kc5 27. Be3+ Kb4 28. a4 Ka3 {Several forced moves have me in a corner.
I am waiting on the end.} 29. Bd2 Kb2 30. Rc1 c5 31. Re3 Rg4 32. Bb4 Rxb4 {A
nice little gift. I think that Black was not watching his Bishop’s defence
much I like was earlier.} 33. Re7 c4 34. Rxc7 Kxc1 {A devastatng capture
against White. Suddenly I am back in the game!} 35. Rxh7 cxb3 {A simple
sacrifice to clear a path for my Rook. My only hope now is that White does
not see what I am planning and open up his Kingside files.} 36. cxb3 Rd4 37.
Ra7 {White missed it and its all over for him. An exciting win from the brink
of destruction for me!} Rd1# 0-1
[/pgn]

In addition to this week’s ratings rise, there are new wallpapers available on the newly renovated [Downloads](http://www.offmychess.com/downloads) page. The official pages for *OMC Weekly Review* and *OMC Quarterly Review* have also been moved out from underneath the downloads section and now have their own link under *Publications* on the main navigation bar. This is to facilitate the growing number of publications and related activities coming down the road.