Hello, everyone. I am trying to improve, and so I’m putting one of my games here. I would appreciate it if someone could give me advice. (I’m tired of the “better is… leading to…” advice from CMX.) Thanks.

[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date "2007.5.11"]
[Round ""]
[White "MarkJB10000"]
[Black "Dfns"]
[TimeControl "1200"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "oft"]

1.d4 e6 2.e4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Qb6 6.Nxc5 Qxc5 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Be3 Qb4 9.Qc1 Nxe4 10.a3 Qa5 11.b4 Qe5 12.Nxe4 Qxe4
13.f3 Qh4+ 14.Bf2 Qf6 15.Bd3 Nc6 16.O-O h6 17.Qd2 a6 18.b5 axb5 19.Bxb5 g5 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Bd4 e5 22.Rfe1 d6 23.Qc3 c5 24.Bxe5
dxe5 25.Rxe5+ Kf8 26.Re8+ Kg7 27.Qxf6+ Kxf6 28.Rxh8 Kg7 29.Re8 f6 30.Rd1 Bb7 31.Re7+ Kg6 32.Rxb7 Rxa3 33.Kf2 Rc3 34.Rd2 h5
35.Rb3 Rc4 36.Ke3 g4 37.f4 h4 38.g3 hxg3 39.hxg3 f5 40.c3 Re4+ 41.Kf2 Kf6 42.Rd6+ Ke7 43.Rc6 Rc4 44.Ke3 Re4+ 45.Kd2 c4 46.Rb4
Kd7 47.Rbxc4 Re8 48.Rf6 Rd8 49.Rd4+ Ke7 50.Rxd8 Kxf6 51.c4 Ke7 52.Rd3 1-0


There were errors on both sides of the board, but overall a good game. (I really liked 24. Bxe5! )

Thanks for your input, ebutaljib! I really appreciate it. (I had missed 9. a3 Qxb2 10. Nb5. ) Also, I noticed that 22. Bxe5 (maybe) was better than Rfe1.

[Event "Standard 2/2007"]
[Site "www.sachy.sk"]
[Date "2007.03.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "ebutaljib"]
[Black "wacjan3"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nf5
{In my humble opinion, 5. Nb3 was better... But you've already proven what I know. }

5...Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Ne3 Be7 8.Ned5
{I think that this knight is moving a bit too much -- 8. Bb5 then Ned5 might've worked...
But, as aforementioned, what do I know? }
8...O-O 9.Be2 Nd4 10.Be3 Nc6 11.f3 Be6 12.Qd2 Bxd5 13.exd5 Nb8 14.O-O-O
{I don't think castling queenside works. If you had
castled kingside, there would be less threats, i think. (He wouldn't be capable of a perfectly effective pawn storm, as those are the
pawns protecting his king.) A small error. Or maybe a large error. I don't really know.}
14...a6
15.g4
{Counter-storming! Always interesting.}
15...b5 16.h4 Qa5
{Good move by black, getting the queen into the attack with tempo.}
17.Kb1 b4 18.Ne4 Nxe4 19.fxe4 Nd7 20.g5 Nc5 21.Bxc5
{Hmm... This one gets me thinking. You could've defended the pawn by Bf3 or
Bd3, but this move just gets rid of a potential attacking piece.}
21...Qxc5 22.h5 a5 23.g6 fxg6 24.hxg6 hxg6 25.Bg4 Rf6 26.Qh2 Kf7 27.Qh3 Bf8 28.Rhf1 Ra7 29.Bd7
{Rxf6+ was better.}
29...Ke7 30.Rxf6 gxf6 31.Qe6+ Kd8 32.Qe8+ Kc7 33.Qxf8 Kxd7 34.Rh1 Kc7 35.Qxf6 Kb6 36.c3
{Can't quite find the purpose of this
move. Qxg6 was better.}
36...Rc7 37.Qxg6
{Rc1 was better, keeping (or trying to keep) control of the c-file.}
37...bxc3 38.Qg1 Qxg1+ 39.Rxg1 cxb2 40.Kxb2 Rc4 41.Re1 Kc5 42.Kb3 a4+ 43.Ka3 Kd4 44.Rh1 Kxe4
{Although there were opportunities for
better moves, you played pretty well (better than i would). And I have to commend you for your fighting spirit!}
0-1
(Let me know how stupid I am later. )

quote:

I know this is breaking all the opening rules, but I always play like this in this "variation". If nothing else it confuses my opponent. In this line I've even beaten c1arinetboy in 12 moves Eek. He was trying to hard to refute it and blundered Smile

[Event "Igrajva"]
[Site "www.sachy.sk"]
[Date "2005.07.31"]
[Round "1"]
[White "ebutaljib"]
[Black "c1arinetboy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nf5 d6 7.Ne3 Be6 8.Ned5 Nd4 9.Be3 Nxe4 10.Bxd4 Bxd5 11.Nxd5 exd4 12.Bb5+ 1-0

After the game we decided to call this line "ebutaljib attack" Too Happy

Ah, I see. That sounds like the "tavery attack," by the way. (contact tavery for more details).

quote:

Yes it would be safer for him and me. When faced against sicilian I almost always go for opposite side castling and throw those h and g pawn at my opponent.

I hardly ever castle queenside -- it's too risky for me to handle. I remember a (very) short game of mine where i castled queenside, in fact...

quote:

I agree. I didn't really want to exchange that bishop, but are there really any good alternatives? 21.Bd3 doesn't really look good to me, and if I would play 21.Bd3 he would probably take the bishop and then my queen wouldn't be in such a good position as it was. It was exactly on the right spot - pinning the b pawn and monitoring the c1-h6 diagonal. Besides I figured that black can't afford to recapture with the pawn, since this would leave me with a protected passed pawn. But yes, the bishop was a very good attacking piece. I have no idea why he didn't play 23...h6. Since I didn't have a dark squared bishop which I could sacrifice, his king would be safe.

Point taken.

quote:

Thats because there is no purpose Smile After the exchange of bishops I realized that I left him off the hook and that game is totally equal (maybe even better for black, since my pieces are somewhat cut off from the defence of my king). The "plan" behind c3 was that if he takes, I would play Rc1 and capture the pawn, play Rc6 and capture his d6 pawn. With his exposed king and my passed pawn I would be in the driver seat again. However there are huge flaws in this "plan" and it has all gone wrong after this. It turned out that c3 was the losing move.

Oh, ok. That makes a little more sense.

quote:

Give yourself a little credit. We all more or less play "stupid" chess. Besides your comments are not stupid at all.

Gee, thanks for the ego-boost!! (By the way, what's your rating?)

quote:

Originally posted by ebutaljib:

quote:

(By the way, what's your rating?)

Don't have it.

Have you tried taking the Ratings Exam in the Intermediate Tutorial? I only looked at it in passing, but it almost seems to me like it's something you have to study for like it's the SATs to do well on it.

6.Nf5 in the chelyabinsk variation immediately surrenders control of the d5 square by 6...d5 as you mentioned.
6...d5 7.exd5 Bxf5 8.bxc6 bxc6 9.Qf3 Qd7 = and since this gives absolutely nothing you should revert back to the mainline with 6.Ndb5 d6 etc (not the beginners move 6...a6? Nd6+ etc).
Neither does it work with Nc3 and ...Nf6 omitted because of ..d5 again. The most amusing line here is 5.Nb5 a6? 6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.Qxd6 Qf6 8.Qd1 Qg3 9.Nc3 d5? 10.Nxd5 Qxe4+ 11.Be3 Nd4? etc which i have played against a fair few times and 90% of the time simply emerge up a piece, and the whole thing, even with correct play to come is of course terrible for black. I am quite sceptical about the entire opening in general