The standings of the tournament are finally up. Sorry I did not post my results earlier but I wanted to wait for the standings and my new rating. Before I get into that though I would like to say that it was a good tournament, with a lot of chess and a lot of chess players (117!). I figure I got about 16 hours of chess on the weekend, some of which very poor, but after all was said and done I finished with 3.0 out of 5 which put me in places 6-8 out of 26. Now that seems like a fair showing, however I assure you the world has not yet seen my best chess. My results were as follows: Draw with black against Dalia Kagramanov (1983), Loss with white against Leon Perelman (1954), Draw with black against Michael Song (1809), win with white against Micheal Zaghi (1726), and a win with white against Dennis Khaiter (1686). I finished with a performance rating of 1916 and my new rating is now 1859.
I think I will annotate a game tomorrow (it will be difficult because none of my games were any good). Looking towards the future, I believe that I should achieve a 1900 rating without much trouble, and I will move along from there.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
New Chess Book
A teacher at my school just gave me a chess book called "The Best Move" written by GM Vlastimil Hort and GM Vlastimil Jansa. It is like a multiple choice tactics book, but deviously difficult. It looks like it was written in the 1980s, and in fact, upon inspection, I just learned it was copyrighted in 1980! Anyways, It is a good book, and it has good annotaions, so if you ever come across it, be sure to pick it up.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Another Tournament
I am looking at entering the Hart House winter tournament next weekend in Toronto. I had planned to enter the U1800 section and really push for the top spot, but due to my large rating jump I will end up in the U2100 section. No worries though, as I was well on my way to victory with black against a 2075 before I blundered in time pressure. I think if I can come off with two wins my rating will yet again improve.
Annotated Game
Here is one of my two losses from the Victoria Park tournament I played in recently. I was playing the black pieces against Jesse B. Wang (2075), and I tried an opening line which I hadn't played before. I mysteriously got an advantage out of the opening but I managed to blow it in partial time pressure.
Jesse B. Wang (2075)-Patrick O'Sullivan (1678)
1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 Nf6- I knew this was the book move here, and I had already been beaten in a previous tournament when playing 4....Qxd5, but nevertheless I spent a lot of time on this move making sure that 5.Bb5+ would not allow him to maintain the extra pawn. I didn't look through the whole line, but after about 4 min (this was only a 45 min SD game) I played the text. The line that I found in analysis was after 4....Nf6, 5.Bb5+ Bd7 6.Qb3 Bxb5 7.Qxb5+ Qd7 8.Qxd7+ Nbxd7 9.Nc3 Nb6 10.d6 e6 11.Nb5 Nbd5 12.Nf3 a6 13.Nc7+ Nxc7 14.dxc7 Rc8 and black finally regains the pawn, with advantage.
5.Nc3 Nxd5 6.Nf3 e6 7.Bc4 Nb6!?- out of book, but the book recommends 7....Nxc3 which I didn't want to play because it makes his pawns better, and 7....Be7, which I didn't want to play because of the isolated pawn after 8.Bxd5
8.Be2 Nc6 9.O-O Be7 10.d4 Bf6?!- I should have castled, because it is often unwise to move the same piece in the opening twice without reason, and my attack on d4 doesn't really mean anything after 11.Qc2 because the pawn is immune in view of 11.... Nxd4 12.Nxd4 Bxd4 13.Rd1 pinning my bishop to my queen or 12....Qxd4 13.Nb5 and the threat on c7 decides.
11.Be3 O-O 12.Bd3 h6- preparing to take on d4 (I can't take immediately because of the discovery Bxh7+ exposing the whit queen to d4)
13.Bc2- I spent a long time here trying to cope with his crude attacking plans, and at this point I was emotionally unstable because I hadn't seen this possibility.
13....Ne7- perhaps better was 13.....Nb4
14.Qd3 Ng6 15.Ne4 Nd5 16.Nxf6+ Qxf6 17.Ne5?- Just the mistake I was hoping for when I played 15....Nd5. Now I win a pawn and finally claim an advantage
17.....Nb4 18.Qc3 Nxc2 19.Qxc2 Nxe5 20.dxe5 Qxe5- I spent more time than I had to on this move. Now my plan is to consolidate my extra pawn by centralizing my rooks.
-position after 20....Qxe5
21.Rfe1 Qf6 22.Rad1 Rd8 23.Qc7 Re8- after this sequence I was not so confident about my extra pawn, but I soon turned things around
24.Bd4 Qe7 25.Qg3- he can't trade queens here or my extra pawn will begin to tell
25....f6 26.Be3 Kh8 27.Rd4 g5- here e5 was much better, but I couldn't see an answer to Rh4 and sacrifices on h6. After 27....e5 28.Rh4 Bf5 is good, preparing to play Bh7 if he sacrifices on h6
28.Qh3 Kg7 29.Qh5 Qf7- once again e5 is much better according to the computer
30.Qd1 e5- finally I play e5 and now I am much better. Rybka gives -0.75
31.Ra4 a6 32.h4 Be6 33.hxg5 hxg5 34.b3 Rad8- I am now fully developed and I should coast to victory, but here I have approximately 10 min on my clock, while my opponent has approximately 35
35.Qf3 Bd5 36.Qg3 Qh5 37.f4 exf4 38.Rxf4- I should have inserted 37....Bc6 to avoid potential pins in the future to my rook on d8
38....Re5??- I had 8 min left, and was getting a bit too comfortable with the position. I lost focus and made the losing move
39.Rxf6!
-position after 39.Rxf6!
39....Kxf6??- This is just dumb. I played it immediately without thinking, but Rybka gives 39.....Rh8 40.Kf2 Rhe8 as equal. My pen stopped working here, but I think the game continued:
40.Bd4 Re8 41.Bxe5+ and I resigned a few moves later.
I played this game well overall, but I think I could have managed my time better so I could have spent more time ensuring a safe ending. This game just goes to show that you should never be content with a win before you actually get it, because a player who is losing is more resourceful than ever. Who knows, if I won this game I might be around 1900. As it stands I am now rated 1816.
Jesse B. Wang (2075)-Patrick O'Sullivan (1678)
1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.cxd5 Nf6- I knew this was the book move here, and I had already been beaten in a previous tournament when playing 4....Qxd5, but nevertheless I spent a lot of time on this move making sure that 5.Bb5+ would not allow him to maintain the extra pawn. I didn't look through the whole line, but after about 4 min (this was only a 45 min SD game) I played the text. The line that I found in analysis was after 4....Nf6, 5.Bb5+ Bd7 6.Qb3 Bxb5 7.Qxb5+ Qd7 8.Qxd7+ Nbxd7 9.Nc3 Nb6 10.d6 e6 11.Nb5 Nbd5 12.Nf3 a6 13.Nc7+ Nxc7 14.dxc7 Rc8 and black finally regains the pawn, with advantage.
5.Nc3 Nxd5 6.Nf3 e6 7.Bc4 Nb6!?- out of book, but the book recommends 7....Nxc3 which I didn't want to play because it makes his pawns better, and 7....Be7, which I didn't want to play because of the isolated pawn after 8.Bxd5
8.Be2 Nc6 9.O-O Be7 10.d4 Bf6?!- I should have castled, because it is often unwise to move the same piece in the opening twice without reason, and my attack on d4 doesn't really mean anything after 11.Qc2 because the pawn is immune in view of 11.... Nxd4 12.Nxd4 Bxd4 13.Rd1 pinning my bishop to my queen or 12....Qxd4 13.Nb5 and the threat on c7 decides.
11.Be3 O-O 12.Bd3 h6- preparing to take on d4 (I can't take immediately because of the discovery Bxh7+ exposing the whit queen to d4)
13.Bc2- I spent a long time here trying to cope with his crude attacking plans, and at this point I was emotionally unstable because I hadn't seen this possibility.
13....Ne7- perhaps better was 13.....Nb4
14.Qd3 Ng6 15.Ne4 Nd5 16.Nxf6+ Qxf6 17.Ne5?- Just the mistake I was hoping for when I played 15....Nd5. Now I win a pawn and finally claim an advantage
17.....Nb4 18.Qc3 Nxc2 19.Qxc2 Nxe5 20.dxe5 Qxe5- I spent more time than I had to on this move. Now my plan is to consolidate my extra pawn by centralizing my rooks.
-position after 20....Qxe5
21.Rfe1 Qf6 22.Rad1 Rd8 23.Qc7 Re8- after this sequence I was not so confident about my extra pawn, but I soon turned things around
24.Bd4 Qe7 25.Qg3- he can't trade queens here or my extra pawn will begin to tell
25....f6 26.Be3 Kh8 27.Rd4 g5- here e5 was much better, but I couldn't see an answer to Rh4 and sacrifices on h6. After 27....e5 28.Rh4 Bf5 is good, preparing to play Bh7 if he sacrifices on h6
28.Qh3 Kg7 29.Qh5 Qf7- once again e5 is much better according to the computer
30.Qd1 e5- finally I play e5 and now I am much better. Rybka gives -0.75
31.Ra4 a6 32.h4 Be6 33.hxg5 hxg5 34.b3 Rad8- I am now fully developed and I should coast to victory, but here I have approximately 10 min on my clock, while my opponent has approximately 35
35.Qf3 Bd5 36.Qg3 Qh5 37.f4 exf4 38.Rxf4- I should have inserted 37....Bc6 to avoid potential pins in the future to my rook on d8
38....Re5??- I had 8 min left, and was getting a bit too comfortable with the position. I lost focus and made the losing move
39.Rxf6!
-position after 39.Rxf6!
39....Kxf6??- This is just dumb. I played it immediately without thinking, but Rybka gives 39.....Rh8 40.Kf2 Rhe8 as equal. My pen stopped working here, but I think the game continued:
40.Bd4 Re8 41.Bxe5+ and I resigned a few moves later.
I played this game well overall, but I think I could have managed my time better so I could have spent more time ensuring a safe ending. This game just goes to show that you should never be content with a win before you actually get it, because a player who is losing is more resourceful than ever. Who knows, if I won this game I might be around 1900. As it stands I am now rated 1816.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Tournament Thoughts
Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, I have been busy with schoolwork. The Saturday tournament went fairly well for me; I scored 3 points out of 5, with wins over two kids rated approximately 1400 and a win against Richard Douglas (1885). If you're wondering why there were 1400 rated kids there, it is because three master players didn't play, so they combined the top two sections into one. My two losses came against IM Nikolay Noritsyn (2542) and Jesse B Wang (2075). I lost quickly to Noritsyn, blundering right in the opening, and I was comfortably one pawn up and winning against Wang when I made a horrible blunder in slight time pressure. I plan to annotate my games against Richard Douglas and Jesse B Wang in the near future.
There was a tie for first place between IM Noritsyn and Arthur Calugar (2329) at 4 points out of 5. Bill Peng (2142) finished third.
There was a tie for first place between IM Noritsyn and Arthur Calugar (2329) at 4 points out of 5. Bill Peng (2142) finished third.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Tournament Today
Well, today is the day of the tournament that I'm going to. It seems that Aman Hambleton has been taken of the list of players (perhaps he didn't pay) so we are down to nine. That's too bad because now byes will take effect. I don't want to sit out a round but chances are good that I will. Anyways, I am prepared to lay good, solid chess, and I will annotate some of my games here.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
More Talent!
Looks like the Saturday tournament just got tougher. FM Aman Hambleton (2308) is registered, so there are now an even ten players. This is looking like it will be a very instructive weekend for me, I just hope my rating doesn't get killed!
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