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!
