I FINALLY won this Correspondence Chess game that seemed to drag on forever. Black simply would not give up even when he had no chance of winning. He was probably hoping to force a stalemate if I failed to manage my pawns and Rook properly. But... that was not to be.

My checkmate was finally delivered with my 53rd move this afternoon.. Position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our full move record below:

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.a3 b5 6.Nxb5 c6 7.Nc3 g6 8.e4 Bb7 9.Bxc4 c5 10.O-O Bg7 11.Re1 O-O 12.Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Rc1 Nc6 15. d5 exd5 16. Bxd5 Rad8 17.e5 Qf4 18.g3 Qf5 19.e6 fxe6 20.Bxe6+ Qxe6 21.Rxe6 Rxd1+ 22.Rxd1 Rxf3 23.Nb5 Bxb2 24.Nd6 Nd4 25.Nxb7 c4 26.Nc5 Ne2+ 27.Kg2 Nc3 28.Rd8+ Rf8 29.Rxg6+ Kf7 30.Rgd6 Bxa3 31.Rxf8+ Kxf8 32.Rc6 Bxc5 33.Rxc5 Ne4 34.Rxc4 Nd6 35.Rc6 Nf5 36.Ra6 h5 37.Rf6+ Ke7 38.Rxf5 Ke6 39.Rxh5 a6 40.Rh6+ Kf5 41.Rxa6 Kg4 42.h3+ Kh5 43.Ra5+ Kh6 44.h4 Kh7 45.g4 Kg6 46.f4 Kh6 47.h5 Kh7 48.Ra6 Kg7 49.g5 Kh7 50.h6 Kh8 51.g6 Kg8 52.Ra7 Kh8 53.Ra8# 1-0

And the adventure continues.

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Posted 16/Jan/2021 ~ 17:40 Central Time #RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess

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by Roscoe

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As life returns to semi-normal...

... I'm finally all caught up on my chess work, and I have two College Bowl Games to watch today.

My schedule was thrown off enough during Christmas week that my chess work was cut back quite a bit. Oh sure, I moved in some games almost every day, but today was the first day in almost a week that I've been able to work on every single game for which I have moves pending.

Now I've got plenty of time-cushion built up in all my games, so I'm not under time-pressure anywhere. And of my twenty or so ongoing games there are only about ten that require serious study and analysis. Still, it's good to be back to where I can give all my games the attention they deserve.

And today's chess work is out of the way giving me plenty of time to enjoy Oklahoma State in the Cheez-It Bowl later this afternoon and Texas in the Alamo Bowl tonight.

Sweet!

And the adventure continues.

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Posted 29/Dec/2020 ~ 15:20 Central Time #RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #football #chess

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by Roscoe

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Another Win With Black

Today I learned that I won another Correspondence Chess with Black. Yesterday my opponent playing the White pieces resigned after my 28... Qd4d3 fork put his King in check while attacking his undefended Bishop at the same time.

After his next move to protect his King I'd take his Bishop, of course, and my material advantage then would be even stronger. Checkmating the White King would happen quickly once I activated my other major pieces. He was right to resign the game when he did.

The position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our complete move record is below.

1. d4 d5 2. e3 a6 3. f4 Ng8f6 4. Ng1f3 Nb8c6 5. c3 g6 6. Bf1d3 Bf8g7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nf3e5 Nc6xe5 9. fxe5 Nf6e4 10. Qd1f3 Ne4g5 11. Qf3xd5 Qd8xd5 12. c4 Qd5d8 13. Nb1c3 b6 14. Nc3e4 Ng5xe4 15. Bd3xe4 e6 16. Be4xa8 Bc8d7 17. a4 Qd8xa8 18. c5 bxc5 19. b3 Bd7c6 20. Rf1f2 cxd4 21. exd4 h5 22. h4 Kg8h7 23. Bc1a3 Rf8d8 24. Rf2xf7 Qa8b7 25. Ra1a2 Qb7xb3 26. Ra2a1 Qb3e3 27. Kg1f1 Qe3xd4 28. Ra1e1 Qd4d3 0-1

And the adventure continues.

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Published on 19 December 2020 ~ 14:50 Central Time.

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by Roscoe

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Another win with White

Last night I won another Correspondence Chess game with a White army when my opponent playing Black resigned after my 32. exd7+. No, that revealed check from my e1 Rook wasn't checkmate, but looking at our board at game's end (the graphic which leads this post) we can see that mate was inevitable and only a few moves away. So he was right to resign when he did.

The full move record of our game follows:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nc3 b6 4. e4 e6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bxc4 a6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Re1 h6 9. d5 Ne5 10. Nxe5 Qe7 11. a3 Qc5 12. b4 Qd6 13. Ng4 Be7 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 15. Bb2 exd5 16. Bxd5 Rb8 17. Rb1 O-O 18. b5 Qc5 19. e5 Bh4 20. Ne4 Qxb5 21. Nc3 Qc5 22. Ne4 Bf5 23. Nxc5 Bxb1 24. Nd7 Rbd8 25. Nxf8 c6 26. Bxf7+ Kxf7 27. Qf3+ Ke7 28. Ng6+ Ke8 29. Nxh4 Ba2 30. Qxc6+ Rd7 31. e6 Ke7 32. exd7+ 1-0

Black's sad decision to sacrifice his Queen for my Rook at 22... Bf5 was his downfall. From that point onward in our game my White Army began a relentless slaughter of his remaining Black pieces.

It's interesting to note that I seem to be getting more comfortable playing the Queen's Gambit Opening that I've been trying to learn over the past several months. I like that.

And the adventure continues.

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Posted 11/Dec/2020 ~ 10:30 Central Time #RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess

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by Roscoe

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While I was sleeping...

..it seems I won another Correspondence Chess game by the silent resignation of an opponent.

This game began back in mid-October when I pushed my White Queen's pawn to the d4 square. And it proceeded at a pretty good pace, considering we were playing with a 7-day per move time control. At a pretty good pace until my opponent chose to slink quietly away, without even a word, leaving me today with another won game.

In his defense it was clear the we were engaged in what was going to be a very long, frustrating endgame. Both our Kings had pawn clusters in which to hide, and we were nearly equal in terms of major pieces, though my lone Bishop did give me an advantage there.

If this game was played in the old days when our moves were sent back and forth via post cards, this particular endgame could easily stretch out through many long months, maybe a year or more. But now we play server=based games over the Internet for crying out loud. We could have knocked this game out inside a couple of months easy, even with our very relaxed time control.

Oh well, whatever...

The position of pieces at game's end is posted above, and our full move record is below:

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Bf5 3.Nc3 e6 4.a3 Nf6 5.e3 Nc6 6.Bb5 a6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.O-O Ne4 9.Nxe4 Bxe4 10.Nd2 c5 11.Nxe4 dxe4 12.c4 Be7 13.b4 cxb4 14.axb4 Bxb4 15.Qa4+ Qd7 16.Qxb4 a5 17.Qb7 O-O 18.Qxe4 f5 19.Qd3 c5 20.Ba3 Rfc8 21.h3 cxd4 22.Qxd4 Qxd4 23.exd4 Rxc4 24.Rfe1 Kf7 25.Rad1 Rd8 26.Bb2 a4 27.Ba3 1-0

And the adventure continues.

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Posted 29/Nov/2020 ~ 08:40 Central Time #RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess

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by Roscoe

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White wins quickly

This Correspondence Chess game started in mid-October when I pushed my White Queen's pawn to the d4 square and ended today with my win as Black resigned.

Position of pieces at game's end can be seen in the graphic that leads this blog post, and our full move record is below.

1. d4 d6 2. Ng1f3 Ng8f6 3. g3 Nb8d7 4. Bf1g2 e5 5. dxe5 dxe5 6. Nb1c3 c6 7. O-O h6 8. Rf1e1 Bf8b4 9. a3 Bb4xc3 10. bxc3 Qd8c7 11. c4 e4 12. Nf3h4 Qc7e5 13. Ra1b1 g5 14. Nh4f3 exf3 15. exf3 Qe5xe1 16. Qd1xe1 1-0

The adventure continues.

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Published on 19 November 2020, ~11:50 Central Time.

#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #Thursday #chess

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by Roscoe

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Chess and Music

Making this Wednesday the best day of the week (so far) I've decided to spend this afternoon working on my Correspondence Chess games with relaxing Boomer music playing in the background.

And with the exception of a gameshow break mid-afternoon (she and I have gotten into the habit of watching Lets Make a Deal together), this THIS is how I intend to spend the next several hours!

The adventure continues.

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Published on 18 November 2020, ~12:50 Central Time.

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by Roscoe

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Another CC Win with White

Logging onto the site of one of my server-based Correspondence Chess Clubs this afternoon I found that I'd won another game with the White pieces. Though my 34. Nd4e6+ had placed the Black King in check, it was an attack from which he could easily escape in two ways. But however he did it, my next move would have been to capture his last remaining Rook, giving me an overwhelming material advantage. Faced with this inevitability, Black rightly resigned.

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. Ng1f3 Nb8c6 3. c3 Bc8g4 4. h3 Bg4xf3 5. exf3 e5 6. dxe5 Nc6xe5 7. Bc1f4 Qd8d6 8. Bf4xe5 Qd6xe5 9. Qd1e2 Qe5xe2 10. Bf1xe2 Ng8f6 11. O-O Bf8c5 12. b4 O-O 13. bxc5 Rf8e8 14. Rf1e1 c6 15. Nb1d2 b6 16. Nd2b3 Nf6d7 17. Nb3d4 bxc5 18. Nd4xc6 a6 19. f4 c4 20. Nc6b4 Nd7b6 21. Be2f3 Re8d8 22. Nb4c6 Rd8d6 23. Nc6e7 Kg8f8 24. Ne7f5 Rd6f6 25. Re1e5 Rf6e6 26. Re5xe6 fxe6 27. Nf5d4 Kf8f7 28. a4 Kf7f6 29. a5 Nb6d7 30. Ra1b1 Nd7c5 31. g4 e5 32. Rb1b6 Kf6f7 33. Bf3xd5 Kf7f8 34. Nd4e6+ 1-0

And the adventure continues.

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Published on 08 November 2020, ~14:00 Central Time.

#RoscoeEllis #blog #SeniorLiving #chess

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by Roscoe

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Not very pretty, but I like it.

When I checked my messages this morning I learned that I'd won another Correspondence Chess game. My opponent playing Black resigned from our game with his 56th move, giving me the win by default.

Some say that only wins by checkmate are pretty, and the earlier and more unexpectedly they come, the prettier they are. I don't say that, not at all. A win by late game resignation when a checkmate is inevitable, such as this one, is enjoyed very much.

The position of pieces at game's end is shown in the graphic above, and our full move record is below:

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Bd7 5. O-O h5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Ne5 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. Re1 Nc6 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. e3 g5 13. e4 O-O-O 14. exd5 Rxd5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. c4 Nb4 17. d5 Bd7 18. a3 Na6 19. Qd4 Rh6 20. Qxa7 e5 21. Rac1 f6 22. d6 Qxd6 23. Qa8+ Nb8 24. Qxb7+ Kd8 25. Qxb8+ Ke7 26. Qg8 Qe6 27. Bd5 Qxg8 28. Bxg8 Rg6 29. Bh7 Rg7 30. Bb1 Ba4 31. Bc2 Bd7 32. Kg2 Bc6+ 33. f3 g4 34. Be4 Bd7 35. b3 Rg8 36. c5 c6 37. b4 Ra8 38. Ra1 Kd8 39. Rf1 Ra6 40. Bg6 Be6 41. Bxh5 gxf3+ 42. Rxf3 Bd5 43. Rd1 e4 44. Rxf6 e3+ 45. Kg1 Rxa3 46. b5 Rc3 47. Rxc6 Ke7 48. Rxd5 Rc1+ 49. Kg2 Rc2+ 50. Kh3 e2 51. Bxe2 Rxe2 52. Ra6 Re6 53. c6 Rh6+ 54. Kg2 Ke6 55. Rd8 Ke7 56. c7 Rxa6 1-0

And the adventure continues.

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Published on 05 November 2020, ~13:00 Central Time.

#RoscoeEllis #microblog #SeniorLiving #Thursday #chess

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by Roscoe