gorckat vs NoTB: LEPers 1, Round 1

Since LEP has plans to run/coordinate more tournaments, I'm calling this inagural event...LEPers 1! Damn, I'm clever.

Here's a few positions from my Round 1 game with Glenn (he has a viewer with the game as well as his thoughts over at his blog, Houston Chess):



I think b3 and then Bb2 to support the d-pawn long-term would have been better than Re1. Maybe I'd push the f-pawn later, or need to get the rook to d1? I think the rook move was premature.



Crafty likes h3 better than my d5. I pushed to avoid dropping the pawn and/or getting the kingside ripped open (which happened anyway after 12. ... Ne5)



Played Qa3 to save the b-pawn. I missed that after 19.Rb1, my Queen was covered by the g3 Bishop and thought 19. ... Bxf3+ won my Queen. I often miss long Bishop moves, but usually in a way that drops a piece, not defends my own. Anyone know good Bishop move drills to make those long moves pop more?



I didn't give b4 enough thought, but it's about a pawn better than my Na4, according to Crafty. The line would not have been much easier as Crafty gives (with my own !s) 22.b4 Bxf3+! 23.Kxf3 Qc6+ 24.Ne4 f5 25.Qe3 Bh6!! 26.Qe2 fxe4+ 27.Kg2 e3+ and then there's a few ways to go, either trying to squirrel away the King or blocking with f3:



Nasty stuff.



This was my last shot, hoping for a "cheap" Mate in 2, but Glenn found one of several ways out with g5.

Pig on fire

Here's a postition that blows me away. It has a sort of purity to it...the idea is right there, perfectly demonstrated. Its pretty.



At the risk of parroting Chernev 1. Rxe7 crushes black. The game went: 1. ... Qxe7 2. Qf3 Kg7 3. Nce4 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Qe6 5. Bxf6+ Kg8 6. Qf4 1-0

After playing it through, I also spent a lot of time looking at the board before 3. Nce4...I smiled at how, despite being covered by a pawn, queen and knight, it was so vulnerable an invasion point for black. The pinned knight, the king pulled like a moth to flame on g7...awesome.

And horrific as it sounds, given Yasser Seirawan's affection for calling rooks pigs (at least when paired on the seventh rank!), I have to equate the rook blowing up the bishop on e7 to the ancient practice of covering a pig in tar or pitch or whatever, lighting it up and sending it squealing and flaming into the enemy ranks, causing confusion and horror!

(My original title got lost in a browser reload, but I now have to tag any rook sacrifice with Pig on fire :P)

Fischer missed a mate in one! Or did he?

This makes me feel not so bad missing that mate in two earlier this week:



Fischer's note with the puzzle's solution says he missed this posibility but won anyway. I Googled for the actual continuation but didn't find the game. What I did find was a game with a similar position and it looks more like Bobby missed a mate in 3.



41. Kf1 e4 42. Bf2+ Kh3 (Kh2 ends the same) 43. Rh7#

I had gone back to Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess because I was thinking it might be a good book to put in my daughter's hands (easily portable, has puzzles which she likes doing). Unfortunately, I used a pen to write the solutions for the first half of the book right on the diagrams.

Guess I'll have to buy it as a stocking stuffer for her.

Proof I need more time on tactics

I got the first move, but missed the second. It was about 11:30 pm last night, but still- this is basic!

I need to get a routine down where I look at tactics and forced mates for at least 20 minutes a day, each.