Thursday, May 04, 2006

Life is Interfering with Chess...

This has not been a good week (or two) for chess study. My wife was in the hospital for two days and is now recovering at home (serious, but not life-threatening). That makes for lots of extra jobs to be done, and not much study or playing time. Priorities!

I did manage to finish up Round 9 in the STC Open on a good note. I've done a bit of looking at my play and am posting the comments below.



















[Event "STC Open 2006 Round 9"]
[Site "freechess.org"]
[Date "2006.05.02"]
[Round "9"]
[White "RBHawkins"]
[Black "Skorj"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1596P"]
[BlackElo "1681"]
[ECO "D04"]
[TimeControl "3600"]
1. d4 {1:00:00} d5 {1:00:00} 2. Nf3 {0:59:52} Nf6
{0:59:49} 3. e3 {0:59:43} c5 {0:59:07} 4. c3 {0:58:42}
Bg4 {0:57:48} 5. Nbd2 {0:56:57} c4 {0:57:07} 6. b3
{0:54:18} b5 {0:56:55} 7. Qc2 {0:52:51} Nc6
{0:55:58} 8. Be2 {0:51:42} e6 {0:54:59} 9. O-O {0:51:14}
Rc8 {0:53:47} 10. e4 {0:50:24} dxe4 {0:51:57} 11. Nxe4
{0:50:02} Nxe4 {0:50:59} 12. Qxe4 {0:49:19} Bf5
{0:50:01} 13. Qe3 {0:47:27} Qd5 {0:48:49} 14. Nh4
{0:44:22} Be7 {0:46:09} 15. Nxf5 {0:42:48} Qxf5
{0:46:00} 16. bxc4 {0:41:40} Bg5 {0:44:20} 17. Qxg5
{0:41:18} Ne7 {0:42:24} 18. Qxf5 {0:38:31} Nxf5
{0:42:20} 19. Ba3 {0:37:26} bxc4 {0:42:01} 20. Rab1
{0:36:39} f6 {0:41:15} 21. Rb7 {0:36:11} a5 {0:37:20}
22. Bxc4 {0:35:32} Rxc4 {0:35:39} 23. Rb8+ {0:35:26} Kf7
{0:35:38} 24. Rxh8 {0:35:21} Rxc3 {0:35:37} 25. Rf8+
{0:34:21} Kg6 {0:35:29} 26. Bc5 {0:33:14} e5
{0:34:08} 27. Rd1 {0:31:25} exd4 {0:33:43} 28. Bxd4
{0:31:08} Nxd4 {0:33:38} 29. Re8 {0:29:01} Rc2 {0:32:01}
30. Kf1 {0:27:34} Nc6 {0:30:05} 31. Re2 {0:26:48} Rc4
{0:29:12} 32. h3 {0:24:41} Nd4 {0:28:20} 33. Re4
{0:23:48} {Skorj resigns} 1-0

5 comments:

BlunderProne said...

Nice Game! Have you ever tried the London? Its a lot like your Colle system except you get the Bishop out to f4 bofore closing it in with e3.

I've had quite a bit of success with it.

Pendrax said...

I've read snippets about the London on the Bookup site but have never looked at it seriously. I noticed you played it in the blitz game you posted ad it worked well. Seems to give you lots of kingside tactics, which are always fun!

I'm just beginning to grok the Colle system, sort of!

katar said...

London is terribly passive and often no pawns are exchanged until move 20.

Sorry about your wife! Hope she is OK! :)

I thought you played a fine game. I think dxc5 is not so good cuz it gives up the center. Black's move c4 is usually not good b/c it gives up tension in the center. You can play Be2 and Ne5 with options of playing f4 for stonewall attack on the kingside.
I like your plan with Ba3 and Rb1-- more aggressive than taking another pawn.
27.Rd1 was a mistake, as you noted.

The tactics were nice.. you have a pretty aggressive style (going for attack instead of pawn grabbing) and a knack for tactics...

King of the Spill said...

Good game.

I know a tiny bit of the Colle system and I think it's great, but it seems like many Black players avoid it with KID or KID-like responses.

BlunderProne said...

Patrick... Terribly passive you say? I'd like to prove you worng OTB. Lots of k-side tactics. Especially the newer version with 2.Bf4 and a delayed Nf3. Try it, you'll like it!

BP