The Blessing of the November Sessions

December is here and that means Christmas is just around the corner! It is hard for me to believe that so much time has gone by! *Campfire Chess* will celebrate its 2-year anniversary in May and we’ve averaged around 50 visitors a day since August of this year! If the internet could be imagined as a city then *Campfire Chess* is like a novelty comic book shop in a strip mall. Even Best Buy and some of the most successful businesses in the world started out small, so we are on our way! November was a lot of fun for me because my chess activities were up-and-down as usual but ended on a *very* high note. I closed out the month of November 2015 with a win that gave me my highest online ELO ever: 1073! I am very excited with the level of improvement I have gained in the last 2 years of tracking my chess studies. My online ELO was around 650 in May 2014 when I opened *Campfire Chess* as *Off My Chess*. 1073 represents almost a 100% improvement which is not too shabby for a guy who is going to university full time, raising two kids, working full time, and supporting a family. In addition, my chess studies and improvement are without the assistance of an OTB coach although I am utilizing the [Tactics Trainer](http://www.chess.com/tactics/) and [Chess Mentor](http://www.chess.com/chessmentor/) over at [Chess.com](http://www.chess.com).

In reflecting on this milestone I would like to share two of my favorite annotated games from November. The first game is an 9 move game that could be described as an assasination…

[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.11.21”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Internet Opponent”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B01”]
[WhiteElo “1022”]
[BlackElo “1051”]
[Annotator “Surber, Wesley”]
[PlyCount “18”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[Source “Campfire Chess”]
[SourceDate “2014.10.11”]
[TimeControl “15”]

1. e4 {My favorite opening move regardless of which side I am playing on.} d5 {
This little gambit used to frighten me, but I tend to play it consistently
these days. White captures the pawn around 99% of the time. When that occurs,
Black has to be careful because finishing the trade with 2…Qxd5 can be
tricky.} 2. e5 {White declines to engage the gambit and marches his pawn into
enemy territory.} Nc6 {Having been down this road several times I am not
anticipating a capture of the e5 pawn with my Knight. He is really there to
control the d4 and c4 squares.} 3. Nf3 {A good move by White. The e5 pawn goes
from a nuisance to a reinforced nuisance.} e6 {Activating my dark-squared
Bishop and preventing the e5 pawn from pushing any further into my territory.}
4. Bb5 {A typical challenge to the Knight’s position. A capture-recapture with
the b7 pawn weakens the castling structure options.} Bd7 {I like this defense
typically because it allows me to maintain integrity of the Queenside pawn
structure.} 5. d4 {White pushes up against the central pawn structure. d5 and
e6 are immobilized but the f8 Bishop owns the long diagonal.} Qe7 {Bringing
out the Queen opens the back rank for castling and prepares an immediate
assault on White’s position.} 6. Bg5 {An unusually obvious attack on the Queen.
A move like this is designed only to force the Queen to relocate in an attempt
to steal tempo.} Qb4+ {Bearing down on the b2 pawn with a1 in my sights.} 7.
Nc3 {White misses the tactic.} Qxb2 {The b2 pawn is history, but the connected
Rook and Queen combination brings the attack on a1 to a temporary halt.} 8.
Bxc6 {White realizes he is in trouble and tries to divert attention away from
the Knight and Rook fork to the Bishop on d7. Not falling for it…} Qxc3+ $1 {
This one is devastating for White if he plays too quickly, which he did.} 9.
Qd2 $4 {What was he thinking? White gives away the Rook and the game.} Qxa1+ $3
{White resigned.} 0-1
[/pgn]

I am attending a school in Philly, so the next game was annotated on an American Airlines 737 from Dallas to Philadelphia earlier this week. This game was a lot of fun and had me on the edge of my seat several times throughout.

[pgn]
[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.11.25”]
[Round “?”]
[White “AmishHacker”]
[Black “Internet Opponent”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B00”]
[WhiteElo “1059”]
[BlackElo “1046”]
[Annotator “Surber, Wesley”]
[PlyCount “39”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
[Source “Campfire Chess”]
[SourceDate “2014.10.11”]
[TimeControl “15”]

{Excited and somewhat nauseous to be annotating this game through turbulence
at 39,000 feet on an 737 to Philadelphia! A first here on Campfire Chess!} 1.
e4 {An aggressive and spiritual opening. It was Bobby Fischer’s favorite and
is mine as well!} b6 {Black is going the way of the fianchetto.} 2. Nf3 {
Automatic moves in the opening is something I desperately need to work on. 2.
Nf3 is incredibly automatic for me with White and is not always the best way
to proceed.} Bb7 {Black’s Bishop is bearing down on my e4 pawn. It is not a
devastating threat but it cannot be discounted.} 3. Nc3 {Most of the time I
prefer to play 3.d3 to defend the e4 pawn but Stockfish and Fritz yell at me
when I do. If Dan Heisman was reviewing my games he would probably do the same.
Therefore, the Knight advances.} e6 {Attacking lines are now open for Black’s
Bishop and Queen although both pieces remain passive.} 4. d4 {The d4 square is
defended by the f3 Knight and advancing a pawn strengthens control of the
central squares.} Bb4 {Black’s Bishop advances to pin the Knight to my King.
If Bxe4 then I would be unable to re-capture with my c3 Knight.} 5. Bd3 {
Just giving Black a reason to think twice about capturing on e4.} d5 {And the
game is afoot! Black obviously wants to push through my pawn structure on e4
and is committing most of his resources to the effort.} 6. e5 {Taking on d5
would be tantamount to suicide. Therefore I elected to strengthen my pawn
chain to make it harder for Black to advance.} Nc6 {Material and positions are
relatively equal at this point.} 7. a3 {The annoying Bishop on b4 has to go!
Whether it retreats into enemy territory or is captured in a trade, I needed
to clear it away to advance my forces.} Bxc3+ {Black claims the first piece of
the game.} 8. bxc3 {The only reasonable response. Material is even.} Nge7 {
Simply clearing the lines for castling.} 9. O-O {The King will sleep soundly
tonight!} Na5 {Not really sure what Black is planning with this move. The
Knight doesn’t control any squares and is more of a positional burden on the
edge.} 10. Ng5 {Moves like this are too obvious to be an immediate threat.
However, the psychological effects of this move can lead Black to miss a key
tactic at the right (or wrong) moment.} Nc4 {The Knight is in a better
position but still has a ways to go before it can be a formidable threat.} 11.
Qf3 {Threatening the pawn on f7!} Nf5 {This was probably the best move Black
had in the position. Still, I am content to engage the Knight in exchange for
a Bishop and tempo.} 12. Bxf5 {The Knight is history.} exf5 {A unfair trade is
completed. The Bishop is re-captured but the pawn will fall and provide me
with a material advantage.} 13. Qxf5 {Black’s position is looking shaky…kind
of like the airplane where I am writing this commentary.} Qe7 {This is a good
move and it typically stops me dead in my tracks. However, I was in a Bent
Larsen mood and decided that if I was going to lose an advantage in this
position that I was going to do it with guns blazing!} 14. Nxh7 $2 {Is it
pretentious to add a ? to your own moves?} Qe6 $4 {No other way to say this:
what the hell? Is Black even playing the same board as me?} 15. Qh5 {I was
shell-shocked by Black’s previous move so I took the opportunity to move my
Queen to safety.} Ke7 {I am convinced now that my opponent was experiencing
some kind of psychological breakdown. He could have castled on this move if
his intention was to connect the Rooks. This move eliminates a chance of
castling and brings his King out into the battlefield.} 16. Bg5+ {Now that
Black has put his King into a vulnerable position, it is time to move in for
the kill!} f6 {A good response that loses the least amount of material.} 17.
exf6+ {The ONLY sensible response for White.} gxf6 {All this trading makes me
think I should play the stock market!} 18. Bxf6+ {Offering up the Bishop as a
way to draw the Queen away from her outpost.} Qxf6 {Black takes the bait and
will lose his Queen.} 19. Qe2+ {Forcing Black to move his King or defend him.}
Qe6 $4 {Black makes another perilous blunder and pins his Queen to King
defense. The game is lost.} 20. Rae1 {Black realizes that he cannot
successfully engage my Queen and resigned. This was a fun and challenging
game! I was on the edge of my seat at several points and think that it shines
as a nice little tactical gem.} 1-0
[/pgn]

I anticipate completing my Masters of Divinity in March so I hope to devote more attention to the rest of the blog. I recently began reworking the [reading list]() this week and plan to add the *movie list* which has been in production since July 2014. Chess is growing around the world and 2016 looks to be even better than this year! Stay tuned!