viewMaking My Monday Feel Better
I won this correspondence chess club tournament game earlier today when my opponent playing the Black pieces resigned, giving me the victory by default. He was right to resign when he deid. He could see that I was going to checkmate him soon and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
Position of pieces on our board when the game ended is above, and our full move record is below:
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Qf6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nc3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 g5 6.Bxg5 Qg6 7.e3 f6 8 Bd3 Qf7 9.Bh4 b6 10.O-O Bb7 11.d5 exd5 12.cxd5 Bxd5 13.Bg3 d6 14.e4 Bc6 15.Nd4 Nh6 16.Bf4 Qg7 17.Ne6 Qe7 18.Qh5+ Nf7 19.Qh3 Ng5 20.Bxg5 fxg5 21.Qh5+ Kd7 22.Nd4 a5 23.Qg4+ Kd8 24.Rfe1 Qg7 25.Ne6+ Kc8 26.Nxg7+ Kb7 27.Qxg5 Rg8 28.Bc4 Rh8 29.a4 Nd7 30.Ne6 Bxe4 31.Rxe4 Rhg8 32.Qd5+ Kb8 33.Qc6 Ra7 34.Qxd7 c6 35.Qxc6 Rc8 36.Qxd6+ Kb7 37.Qd5+ Kb8 38.Rb1
1-0
And the adventure continues.
Posted 22/Mar/2021 ~ 12:45 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewAn Uncomfortable Win
I won this correspondence chess game yesterday with the Black pieces when my opponent stopped playing and let his clock run out. Now, I'll take my wins however they come, but this game deserved a better ending.
White had a material advantage here. He and I had fought our way through a solid opening and an exciting middle game to this stage of the endgame. He was ahead by one major piece (his Knight) and two pawns. He'd have probably been able to checkmate me eventually, but there was a lot of chess to be played on this board before we reached that point. Sadly, that is some chess that will forever remain unplayed.
The position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our complete move record is below:
1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bf4 e6 5.e3 Bd6 6.Bxd6 cxd6 7.Bb5 O-O 8.O-O a6 9.Bd3 g6 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 b5 12.Nxf6+ Qxf6 13.c3 b4 14.Qa4 Bd7 15.cxb4 Rfd8 16.Be4 a5 17.Bxc6 Ra7 18.Bxd7 Rdxd7 19.bxa5 e5 20.Rfd1 Re7 21.dxe5 dxe5 22.Re1 e4
0-1
And the adventure continues.
Posted 20/Mar/2021 ~ 10:30 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewQueen-pawn-Bishop Combination Checkmate
I won this correspondence chess club tournament game earlier today with a nifty 3-piece combination checkmate. My White Queen is the attacking piece here, and all possible flight squares for the Black King are covered by my g4-pawn and the Bishop parked on the g3 square.
Position of pieces at game's end is pictured above, and our full move record is below:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d5 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.e3 Bd7 5.Bxc4 c6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.h3 b5 8.Be2 Qa5 9.O-O Bf5 10.Bd3 Bg6 11.Bxg6 hxg6 12.a3 b4 13.Ne2 g5 14. Bd2 Qb6 15.Nxg5 Qb5 16.Bxb4 Qxg5 17.f4 Qg6 18.Rf3 Nbd7 19.Rg3 Qf5 20. Rg5 Qh7 21.Qa4 Nb8 22.Rd1 Ne4 23.Ra5 a6 24.Nc3 g5 25.fxg5 Nxg5 26.Rxg5 Bh6 27.Re5 Ra7 28.Bc5 f6 29.Re6 Rd7 30.Re1 Kf7 31.Qc4 Rd5 32.Rxe7+ Kg6 33.Rxh7 Kxh7 34.Nxd5 cxd5 35.Qxd5 Kg6 36.g4 Kg7 37.Qb7+ Kg6 38.Ba7 Kg5 39.Rf1 Kh4 40.Bxb8 Bxe3+ 41.Kg2 f5 42.Bg3+ Kg5 43.Qg7#
1-0
And the adventure continues.
Posted 19/Mar/2021 ~ 14:00 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewA Win with White
I won this correspondence chess club tournament game earlier today when my opponent playing Black resigned after my d6 pawn placed his King in check. It wasn't quite checkmate yet, but that was only two moves away and he saw there was nothing he could do to stop it.
It would be a 5-piece combination checkmate when it happened involving: an attacking pawn protected by a Knight, and all possible flight squares covered by my Queen and both Bishops.
The position of pieces on the board when black resigned is above, and our full move record is below.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nbd2 e6 4.a3 Bd6 5.c4 c5 6.g3 b6 7.e4 dxe4 8.Qe2 exf3 9.Qxf3 Qd7 10.Bg2 Nd5 11.cxd5 e5 12.dxe5 Qe7 13.Nc4 Kd7 14.O-O Qf8 15.Nxd6 a6 16.Bh3+ Ke7 17.Nxc8+ Kd8 18.Bg5+ Kc7 19.d6+
1-0
And the adventure continues.
Posted 17/Mar/2021 ~ 21:00 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewAnother Black Win
I won this correspondence chess club tournament game yesterday with Black when when my opponent playing White resigned after my 47th move. He was certainly right to do this as checkmate was inevitable. My Queen and Rook were going to work together to force the White King over to the a-file where they'd mate him against the edge of the board.
Position of pieces at game's end is shown at the top of this post, and our full move record is below:
1.d4 d5 2.e3 a6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.a3 Be7 6.h3 O-O 7.Ne5 Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.f4 h6 10.g4 Ne4 11.Nxe4 dxe4 12.c4 c5 13.b4 cxb4 14.axb4 Bxb4+ 15.Bd2 Bxd2+ 16.Qxd2 Rb8 17.c5 c6 18.Bxa6 Bxa6 19.Rxa6 Qc7 20.O-O f5 21.Kg2 fxg4 22.hxg4 Qb7 23.Ra2 Qf7 24.Qc2 e5 25.Qxe4 Qxa2+ 26.Kf3 exd4 27.Qxd4 Rbd8 28.Qc3 Rfe8 29.Rf2 Qd5+ 30.Kg3 Qe4 31.Rf3 Rd3 32.Qc2 Rxe3 33.Qxe4 Re8xe4 34.f5 Kf7 35.Rxe3 Rxe3+ 36.Kf4 Rc3 37.Ke5 Rxc5+ 38.Kd6 Rc1 39.Ke5 Rd1 40.Ke4 c5 41.Ke3 c4 42.Ke4 c3 43.Ke5 c2 44.f6 c1=Q 45.Kf5 Qg5+ 46.Ke4 Qxg4+ 47.Ke5 Re1+
0-1
And the adventure continues.
Posted 16/Mar/2021 ~ 13:30 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewIt was my Bishop that did it, but...
I won this correspondence chess club tournament game yesterday with a 4-piece combination checkmate that I don't remember ever having used before. It is, of course, my Bishop on the c8 square delivering the kill stroke to the White King. But all the possible flight squares available to that White King are covered by: my Black Queen, my pawn on the d6 square, and by my Black King himself. So my Bishop did it, but he had a lot of help.
Our board at game's end is shown above, and our full move record is below:
1.e4 d6 2.d4 b6 3.Nc3 Bb7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 g6 6.h3 Bg7 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Ng5 e6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.Nxe6 Qe7 11.Nxf8 Bxf8 12.Qf3 Nc6 13.Bg5 Bg7 14.O-O-O Rf8 15.Rhe1 h6 16.Bxf6 Rxf6 17.Qg3 h5 18.Nd5 Bh6+ 19.f4 Bxf4+ 20.Nxf4 Qf7 21.Rf1 Qxa2 22.d5 Nb4 23.Nxg6 Qa1+ 24.Kd2 Qxb2 25.Ne7+ Kf7 26.Ng8 Qxc2+ 27.Ke1 Rxf1+ 28.Kxf1 Qxd1+ 29.Kf2 Qc2+ 30.Kf3 Qd1+ 31.Kf4 Qd2+ 32.Kf5 Bc8#
0-1
And the adventure continues.
Posted 15/Mar/2021 ~ 09:40 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewA Win with White
My opponent playing Black and I had gotten ourselves into an extremely bottled up situation (see the above graphic of our board at game's end) in this rated club game. We both had significant armies of equal size, but neither of us had a positional advantage. For either of us to break through the other's defense, the attacking army would have to sacrifice important material, giving the defender a major advantage.
Fortunately for me, my higher rated opponent simply stopped playing. He let his clock run out, giving me the win today by default.
Our full move record is below:
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bf5 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. O-O Bd6 8. a3 h6 9. Re1 O-O 10. Nb5 Be7 11. b3 a6 12. Nc3 b5 13. b4 Bd6 14. g3 e5 15. e4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 Nxe4 17. Qxe4 Nxd4 18. Nxd4 exd4 19. Qxd4 Re8 20. Bb2 f6 21. Qd5+ Kh8 22. Qf7 Rf8 23. Qg6 c5 24. Re4 Rc8 25. Rd1 Qb6 26. Rg4 Rc7 27. Rd5
1-0
And the adventure continues.
Posted 12/Mar/2021 ~ 16:50 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewA Black Win by Q-N-R Combination Checkmate
This morning I won a correspondence chess club tournament game with a Queen-Rook-Knight combination checkmate. The position of pieces at game's end is pictured at the top of this post, and our full move record is below:
1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 e5 4. d5 Nd4 5. Nxd4 exd4 6. Qxd4 Nf6 7. Bg5 Be7 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. O-O c5 11. Qe3 Ng4 12. Qd2 Bxg5 13. Qe2 Bf6 14. h3 Ne5 15. a4 Bxb5 16. Nxb5 a6 17. Nc3 c4 18. Rab1 Qc7 19. Qe3 h6 20. f4 Nd7 21. Qg3 Rfe8 22. Rbd1 Qc5+ 23. Rf2 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Nb6 25. Rb1 a5 26. f5 f6 27. Kh1 Rxe4 28. Rf4 Rxf4 29. Qxf4 Re8 30. Rd1 Nxd5 31. Qf3 Ne3 32. Re1 Re5 33. Re2 Nxf5 34. Rd2 Re1+ 35. Kh2 Qg1#
0-1
And the adventure continues.
Posted 01/Mar/2021 ~ 11:50 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewA Win With Black
Earlier today my opponent playing White resigned this club tournament game after my 31...f3, giving me the win with Black. He was right to do this. At this point in our endgame he only had one major piece left on the board, the Bishop he'd just pushed to the c1 square, while I had a Rook, a Knight, and I was only two moves away from promoting a pawn to a Queen.
The position of pieces at game's end is shown above, and our full move record is below.
1. e4 a6 2. Qh5 g6 3. Qf3 e5 4. Bc4 Qe7 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Nd5 Nxd5 7. Bxd5 d6 8. d3 c6 9. Bb3 h5 10. h3 Be6 11. Bxe6 Qxe6 12. g4 Nd7 13. c4 O-O-O 14. Ne2 hxg4 15. hxg4 Qf6 16. Qxf6 Nxf6 17. f3 Rxh1+ 18. Kd2 d5 19. b3 Bb4+ 20. Kc2 dxe4
21. fxe4 Nxg4 22. a3 Bc5 23. b4 Bd4 24. Nxd4 exd4 25. Kb2 Rh2+ 26. Kb3 Rh1 27. Bb2 Rxa1 28. Bxa1 f5 29. exf5 gxf5 30. Bb2 f4 31. Bc1 f3
0-1
And the adventure continues.
Posted 24/Feb/2021 ~ 17:00 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe
viewMoving on up
Playing in club chess tournaments is often a very humbling experience. Trying my very best but losing, sometimes quickly, does not instill a sense of confidence. But then there are moments that make me smile.
This morning I received an email from one of the clubs in which I play notifying me that I'd won a section in a tournament there and was being “bumped up” to play the next round against more advanced opponents. This made me smile.
And the adventure continues.
Posted 17/Feb/2021 ~ 09:15 Central Time
#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess
by Roscoe