Campfire Stories #3

This has been an incredible whirlwind of a week! Unfortunately, very little of the week involved chess because I was promoted this week and spend much of my time preparing for the ceremony honoring the event. However, I did manage to keep up occasionally with the Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland where GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won in elegant style against GM Richard Rapport.

[pgn]
[Event “48th Biel GM 2015”]
[Site “Biel SUI”]
[Date “2015.07.30”]
[Round “10.1”]
[White “Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime”]
[Black “Rapport, Richard”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2731”]
[BlackElo “2671”]
[ECO “C41”]
[Opening “Philidor”]
[Variation “exchange variation”]
[WhiteFideId “623539”]
[BlackFideId “738590”]
[EventDate “2015.07.20”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Re8 8. O-O
Bf8 9. Bf4 Nbd7 10. Qd2 Ne5 11. Rad1 c6 12. h3 b5 13. b3 b4 14. Na4 c5 15. Nb5
d5 16. exd5 Bxh3 17. Bxe5 Rxe5 18. Bxh3 a6 19. Nbc3 bxc3 20. Nxc3 Bd6 21. Rfe1
Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 Qc7 23. Ne4 Nxe4 24. Rxe4 Qb6 25. Qe3 g6 26. Bd7 Rd8 27. Be8 Qc7
28. Kg2 Rb8 29. Rh4 h5 30. Re4 Rb4 31. c4 Rb8 32. Qf3 Bf8 33. Qf6 a5 34. d6 Qb7
35. f3 Bg7 36. Qe7 Qxe7 37. Rxe7 Bf8 38. Bxf7+ Kg7 39. Ra7 Bxd6 40. Bd5+ Kf6 41.
Rxa5 Rb6 42. f4 g5 43. Kf3 h4 44. fxg5+ Kxg5 45. gxh4+ Kxh4 46. Ke4 Kg5 47. Rb5
Rb8 48. Rxb8 1-0
[/pgn]

Over the past few weeks I have stopped playing regular blitz on Chess.com and focused more on 15 minute standard games with 10-second increments. The results of these games have been much more fulfilling than the countless blitz games that I lost miserably or won through time troubles or fundamental mistakes by my opponents. In addition to focusing more on my standard time control chess, I have also been working on some projects to create a fully Mac chess experience. As I have written about numerous times in the past, finding good chess software for the OS X platform can be a daunting task. One such project is a distributable OS X edition of the Tarrasch Chess GUI.

Tarrasch Chess GUI running on OS X

This simple little program has been popular with Windows users for years and has been ported by other OS X and Linux users, according to the site’s development blog. My goal is to create a distributable package for OS X where users can download the file from Campfire Chess or other websites without having to go through the tedious process of installing a wine skinner, finding appropriate themes and settings, and hoping that everything works OK. I hope to have it available for download in the coming weeks.

Your Greed Will Find You

The following game was played with standard 15|10 time controls on Chess.com in July. My opponent was rated about 100 points lower than me, but it was quite a struggle between the two of us. I chose Your Greed Will Find You as the headline for this game commentary because the endgame demonstrates the peril of always wanting to capture a piece that appears unguarded.

[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.07.21”]
[Round “?”]
[White “967”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “0-1”]
[BlackElo “1052”]
[ECO “B01”]
[WhiteElo “967”]

1. e4 { An extremely popular opening move in chess. It was a favorite of Bobby
Fischer and is something I use quite regularly unless I am facing a lower-rated
player who prefers to deviate from classical lines.} 1… d5 { When playing
with the Black pieces, I like to offer up my Queen’s pawn to show my opponent
how serious I am about controlling the center of the board.} 2. Nc3 { White
declines the gambit and adds a second attacking piece to my d5 pawn.} 2… Nf6
{ Not convinced that my opponent is really willing to go after the pawn after
declining the gambit, I decided to return the favor and add a second attacking
piece to the e4 pawn.} 3. d3 { The battle to control the center is shaping up
to be quite a fight. White adds a pawn on d3 to defend the e4 pawn while taking
control of the c4 square.} 3… e5 { I am not interesting in launching any
attacks at this point, so I decided to reinforce my position and make room for
my Bishop to activate.} 4. Be3 { White flexes some muscle, but has no real
threat at this point.} 4… d4 { It would be perilous for the Bishop to even
consider taking the pawn.} 5. Bd2 ( 5. Bxd4 exd4 { Is too easy.} ) ( 5. Bxd4
Qxd4 { Spells immediate doom for White.} ) 5… Nc6 { More standard
development. The c6 Knight protects both the d4 and e5 pawns.} 6. Nb5 { Wasn’t
exactly sure what White’s plan was here.} 6… Bc5 { Trying to make it hard
for the Knight to do whatever it was he was planning to do.} 7. f4 { The way
White has been playing this game, this was more of a developing move.} 7…
O-O { Taking time to secure the castle.} 8. f5 { White is trying to limit my
mobility by building a strong pawn chain.} 8… a6 { Forcing the Knight to act
or leave.} 9. Na3 { The Knight retreats and is practically worthless.} 9…
b5 { Advancing my own pawn storm.} 10. g4 { White adds another link to his
pawn chain.} 10… g5 $4 { This blunder could have handed everything to White,
but he did not see the move.} 11. Nf3 $4 { Instead of engaging the pawn and
winning material, White misses the opportunity and blunders with Nf3??} ( 11.
Bxg5 { This would have been a tragic loss of material after establishing such a
strong defense. Any movement of the Knight would sacrifice my Queen for
nothing.} ) 11… h6 { I wasted no time taking advantage of White’s missed
opportunity by adding a defensive pawn to the lonely g5 pawn.} 12. h4 { White
makes what could be the first truly attacking move of the game. Defense of the
g5 pawn will come at a price that I am not sure I am willing to accept.} 12…
Nxg4 { Black makes the first capture of the game and now threatens the heart of
White’s defenses.} 13. Qe2 $2 { White brings his Queen into the action, but it
has limited movement and influence due to the blocking d2 Bishop and f3
Knight.} 13… Nb4 { It might look like I am going after the c2 pawn, but
there’s no benefit to that move. This is purely developmental and psychological
to give White the feeling that the noose is closing around him.} 14. O-O-O $5
{ Its hard to argue with castling, but this move seems incredibly ill-timed. My
b4 Knight now has a move that it did not have before and can gobble up a pawn
and weaken the newly formed castle’s defenses.} 14… Nxa2+ $1 { A check to
demonstrate to White that his King is not safe anywhere.} 15. Kb1 { White’s
only defensive move is to threaten the Knight.} 15… Nb4 { An easy retreat
and the only sensible move.} 16. hxg5 { The g5 pawn finally falls. White is
threatening to launch an assault on my Kingside…} 16… hxg5 { Daring the
Bishop to retake.} 17. Bxg5 { The Bishop would make an appetizing meal for the
Queen, but it is guarded by the dubious f3 Knight.} 17… Qe8 { Side-stepping
to guard my Queen.} 18. Rh4 $2 { A rather obvious attempt to attack my
Knight.} 18… Ne3 $1 { Forking the Bishop and the Rook. The Bishop can take
my Knight, but risks re-capture by an advancing pawn. White is being wreckless
with his decisions at this point.} 19. Rc1 { Refusing to engage, White
retreats his Rook to safety and signals a willingness to part with his Bishop.}
19… f6 { Threatening the f5 Bishop while enticing the Rook to come down the
file.} 20. Bh6 { White continues to ignore the e3 Knight and makes a feeble
attack on my Rook.} 20… Rf7 { Safely out of harm’s way.} 21. Bh3 { Another
developmental move.} 21… Nxf5 { Threatening the h4 Rook and trying to
disrupt White’s growing contingent of pieces on my Kingside.} 22. Qg2+ { White
forces me to defend my King.} 22… Rg7 { An aggressive response, showing a
willingness to sacrifice major pieces for an advantage.} 23. Rg4 { White
establishes a battery staring straight at my King.} 23… Nxh6 { Breaking down
part of White’s assault. This prevents the Rook from doing any real damage if
it decides to advance on my King.} 24. Rxg7+ { White unleases his battery on
my King, but it is poorly executed and weak with my Knight and Queen defending
my position.} 24… Kh8 { The safest way out of trouble.} 25. Rxc7 $4 { Even
if that was a strategically important pawn (which it was not), attacking the
Bishop would be a suicide run for the Rook. Yet, the real threat comes with
checkmate in 1 move if White where to play Qf7, but…he did not.} 25… Bxh3
{ This was a huge gamble. If White moves to Qf7, it is all over for me.} 26.
Qxh3 $4 { White took the bait and his assault on my King is over.} 26… Qg6 {
Adding a defensive piece to my Knight.} 27. Nh4 { White counters by engaging
my Queen and trying to break a hole for the Queen to attack.} 27… Qh5 { At
this point, any coordinated offensive that White had planned is gone. The
Knight is pinned to defending the Queen and the Rook is helpless to do anything
about it.} 28. Rxc5 $4 { Instead of bringing his other Rook into the fold,
White chose to gobble up a Bishop trying to win back material from the pounding
he took during his failed assault. However, this move sets up the game’s
devastating ending.} 28… Qf7 $6 { When I made this move, I did not think
that I had a chance of pulling it off…} 29. Nf5 { White continues with his
greed and makes a play for my Knight and King combination. Howver, he missed
the mate in 1 move that I had prepared two moves earlier…} 29… Qa2# { And
it is all over for White.} 0-1
[/pgn]