Better than August, at Least…

August was a rough month for my chess studies and outcomes. I lost pretty much every game I played that month and documented those results more extensively [here](http://www.campfirechess.com/2015/august-a-rollercoaster-month/). Fortunately, the month of September has been much kinder to me.

Chess players of all skill levels experience winning and losing streaks. It might have something to do with the phases of the Moon, the tides, whether *The Walking Dead* is on its mid-season break, or any other of the countless variables that affect chess outcomes.

In the month of September I won 29 out of the 35 chess games I played in various modes on [Chess.com](http://www.chess.com) and games not played online. By far, my favorite win of the month came in a slow-move game with a 24-hour time control against a player rated 1057. It was an excellent tactical battle throughout and at one point I thought I had been lured into a trap before I managed to avoid making a huge mistake on move 38. Here is the game:

[pgn]
[Event “Let’s Play!”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.09.17”]
[Round “?”]
[White “AmishHacker”]
[Black “1057”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C49”]
[WhiteElo “1162”]
[BlackElo “1057”]
[PlyCount “85”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[Source “Campfire Chess”]
[SourceDate “2014.10.11”]
[TimeControl “1”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. d3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Bd2 Bg4 8. Be3
a6 9. Bc4 Nd4 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. Bxd5 c5 12. c3 Nxf3+ 13. gxf3 Bh3 14. Re1 Qf6
15. Kh1 Qg6 16. Rg1 Qf6 17. Bg5 Qg6 18. Be7 Qh6 19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. Bxb7 Re8 21.
cxb4 Re6 22. bxc5 dxc5 23. Rc1 Qh4 24. Rxc5 Rh6 25. Qc2 Bg2+ 26. Rxg2 g6 27.
Qb3 Rh5 28. Rc7 Qf6 29. Rc6 Qf4 30. Qd5 Qxf3 31. Qd8+ Kg7 32. Rc8 Qd1+ 33. Rg1
Qf3+ 34. Rg2 Rh4 35. Qg8+ Kh6 36. Bd5 Qd1+ 37. Rg1 Rg4 {Obviously my opponent
thought he had trapped my King and had mate in one. For a few minutes I
believed the same thing until the obvious Rxd1!! appeared. For Black, the game
was already lost but this merely sealed the deal.} 38. Rxd1 Rf4 39. Bxf7 Rg4
40. Rc7 Kh5 41. Qxh7+ Kg5 42. Qxg6+ Kf4 43. Qf5# {AmishHacker won by checkmate}
1-0
[/pgn]

In addition to this victory and the others, the losses I suffered were each a learning opportunity. Of course, every loss is an opportunity to learn something new, but many of the losses in August were simply beyond my ability to reason on and off the board. The game above was both fun and frustrating because I felt at times that I had it wrapped up and wanted my opponent to resign but then I would see another attacking line and the game would continue.

In addition to these games and the subsequent analysis I also started digging deep into the book *Fighting Chess*, which is a collection of GM Bent Larsen’s best games with his own annotations. Playing each of those games through on my travel board and reviewing them in [Chessbase](http://www.chessbase.com) is a great way for me to learn about his opening methods, explore tactics, and create a comprehensive collection of games. This game, which is reviewed thoroughly in the book, is one of the best attacking games that I have ever seen. I hope to annotate it for a future post and/or *Campfire Magazine*:

[pgn]
[Event “Moscow ol (Men) fin-A”]
[Site “Moscow”]
[Date “1956.??.??”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Larsen, Bent”]
[Black “Gligoric, Svetozar”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B92”]
[BlackElo “2575”]
[PlyCount “93”]
[EventDate “1956.09.02”]
[EventType “team-tourn”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “URS”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[WhiteTeam “Denmark”]
[BlackTeam “Yugoslavia”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “DEN”]
[BlackTeamCountry “YUG”]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Bg5 Nbd7 10. a4 b6 11. Bc4 Bb7 12. Qe2 Qc7 13. Rfd1 Rfc8 14. Nd2 h6 15.
Bxf6 Nxf6 16. Bb3 Bc6 17. Nc4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 d5 19. a5 dxc4 20. Qxc4 Rf8 21.
axb6 Qxb6 22. Nd6 Bb5 23. Nxb5 axb5 24. Qd5 Rxa1 25. Rxa1 Bc5 26. Ra8 Bxf2+ 27.
Kf1 Qf6 28. Qxf7+ Qxf7 29. Bxf7+ Kxf7 30. Rxf8+ Kxf8 31. Kxf2 Ke7 32. Ke3 Kd6
33. Ke4 b4 34. c3 b3 35. c4 g6 36. g4 h5 37. gxh5 gxh5 38. h4 Kc6 39. Kxe5 Kc5
40. Kf5 Kd4 41. Kf4 Kc5 42. Ke5 Kxc4 43. Ke4 Kc5 44. Kd3 Kd5 45. Kc3 Ke4 46.
Kxb3 Kf5 47. Kc3 1-0
[/pgn]

I was also happy with the results of this month’s work largely because it concluded with the premier of *Pawn Sacrifice*. When I am losing badly at chess I have trouble concentrating even on chess movies and books so I was worried that a lapse in play advancement might ruin the movie experience. Fortunately this was not the case and going 29 out of 35 for the month was enough to maintain my confidence in learning and advancement. Here’s to moving on to October and starting a brand new month with brand new challenges both on and off the board.