IECC Weekly Jottings December 24, 1996 Editor: Gordon Lee Publisher: Lisa Powell While the IECC Newsletter analyzes games of higher-rated players, IECC Jottings wishes to serve the needs of lower-rated players. If there's anything which you as members would like to see in Jottings, and I mean ANYTHING at all, we would be more than happy to consider to include it in future editions of Jottings. We are hard at work in putting more contents in future issues, which includes: Opening Discussions Critical Position Analysis Integrating parts of Chess Basic to Jottings Some amusing stuff in general May we take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas to everybody from the staff of Jottings (ie. Lisa and I!) and have a wonderful new year. ------------------------------------------------------ The Problem Of Following The Book To The LETTER ====================================== Gordon Lee 23-Dec-96 Even a slight disadvantage in the opening can lead to months of suffering. There is a temptation to follow a book line routinely and work out what to do when you get to the end of it. The problem with this approach is that if there's any wrinkles in the analysis or someone somewhere had produced a powerful novelty, you'll be caught out. You need to be particularly careful of moves which only played in one game. There will probably be an improvement on it somewhere. Here's an example: [Event "BdF Jubilee Tournament"] [Date "1986-1988"] [White "Brilla-Banfalvi,S"] [Black "Webb,S"] [Result "1-0"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 d6 8.O-O e5 9.Ng5 O-O 10.f4 [According to theory Black has two main lines, 10.exd4 11.cxd4 h6 12.Nf3 cxd4 13.exd4 d5 =. However, Webb saw an innovation at move 17 in a chess magazine, so he decided to play that instead.] 10...cxd4 11.cxd4 exd4 12.exd4 Nxd4 13.Bb2 Nf5 14.Qc2 Ne3 15.Bxh7+ Kh8 16.Qd3 Nxf1 17.Rxf1 Bg4 [This was the new move, played by Hjartarson against Hansen and given an exclaimation mark by Hansen, White's alternatives were given as A, 18.Kh1 Qe7 (threat Qe2) 19.Qc3 Rae8 20.Be4 Nh5 21.Bd3 f6, with an advantage to Black. B, 18.Bg8 Qb6+ 19.Bd4 Bf5 20.Qc3 Qc7 21.Bxf6 Rxg8 22.Rf3 gxf6 23.Qxf6+ Rg7 24.Qxf5 Qx5+ 25.Qxc5 Qxc5 also with an advantage to Black] 18.h3! [Now Webb couldn't find a reasonable reply, 18...Bh5 19.g4 Bg6 20.Bxg6 fxg6 Qxg6 Qe8 22.Qd4 looked excellent for white] 18...Qb6+ 19.Rf2 d5 20.c5! ...and white won quickly. White should have analysed the position after move 17 before commiting at move 10. Some strong masters I've talked to in IECC preferred to take people out of the book very quickly (IM Conrad Goodman is one of them). However, it is not necessarily a good policy to do so, as this could probably mean playing a dubious move and suffer a disadvantage. So the best policy is to play the BEST move, analyse the situation BEFORE commiting yourself to a line. It is hard work, but it is VITAL. The time limit is not an important issue. You have plenty of time to think. To end this, I will give you a new line of Petroff which could be a nasty secret weapon. Sergei Tiviakov - Gyozo Forinto, Porto San Giorgio, 1994 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 Nc6!? [This astounding move can't be found in any opening book before 1993. It was unleashed by Jacob Murey against Jan Timmin in a French league game in Strasbourg 1993. This temporary sac gives a strong initiative to Black. The idea is to fork White's bishop and knight, which he can't avoid.] 5.Bxe4 d5 6.Bxh7 [The alternative Bd3 are no better, as e4 7.Bb5 exf3 8.Qxf3 Qe7+ would mean that the white king is stuck in the centre] 6...Rxh7 7.dxe5 Bg4 8.Bf4 Qd7 9.Nbd2 Qf5 10.Bg3 O-O-O 11.O-O (and Black won in 28 moves) So, the moral of the story is, following the footnote in a opening book with care. One surprise and you will have months of misery. ------------------------------------------------------ Here's our main game this week Analysis by IM Jan Malmstrom [Event "M-555.1"] [Site "IECC"] [Date "1996.11.25"] [White "Brown,Robert"] [Black "Tukey,Dave"] [Result "0-1"] 1.e4 e6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 c5 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Qxd4 Nc6 6.Bb5 [6.Qg4!? ECO CO2:4; 6.Qf4 f5 (if...6.Q7 7.Nc3 a6 8.Bd3 Nge7 9.O-O Ng6 10.Bxg6 hxg6 11.Re1 = 7.Bd3 Nge7 8.O-O Ng6 9.Qg3 Be7 10.Re1 O-O = Keres-Euwe, Zandvoort 1936] 6...Bd7 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.O-O c5 9.Qf4 h6 10.c4 d4 11.Na3 Ne7 12.Nb5?! [12.b4 cxb4 13.Nb5 Bxb5 14.cxb5 Ng6 15.Qe4 Qd5] 12...Bxb5 13.cxb5 Nd5 14.Qe4 Rb8 15.a4 Be7 16.g3 Rb6? [16...O-O = ] 17.Bd2 Qd7 18.Qg4 [18.b4] 18...g6 19.Ne1 Bf8 20.Ba5 Rb8 21.Ng2 Bg7 22.f4 O-O 23.Qf3?! [23.b3 =] 23...Rfc8?! [23...f6 24.exf6 Rxf6 =] 24.b3 Rf8 25.Rfc1 Rbc8 26.Rc4 f6!? [26...Nb6] 27.Rac1? [So far both sides have played well and the position was even before White's move 27, which was a mistake. 27.exf6] 27...fxe5 28.Bd2?! [28.Rxc5 Rxc5 29.Rxc5 exf4 30.gxf4 Qf7] 28...exf4 29.Rxc5 [Too Late! 29.gxf4 e5] 29...Rxc5?! [29...fxg3! 30.Rxc8 gxh2+ 31.Kxh2 Rxc8 -+] 30.Rxc5 fxg3 31.Qxg3 Nc3 [31...Qf7!] 32.Rc7?? [A final blunder, leading to mate in 2! ; 32.Qe1] 32...Ne2+ 0-1 Ratings: 1579 Dave Tukey 2-1-3 USA 1458 Robert Brown 0-0-3 CAN ------------------------------------------------------ Simplified guide to PGN format (20-Dec-96), by Gordon Lee ============================== As you probably know, you must send all your finished game reports to Lisa Powell , to the TD of the event, and to IECC Archivist Ken Field . IECC PGN (Portable Game Notation) is a game record with short algebric notations and the header above the game. Right, let's get to the easy part, the game itself. Here's a typical game (Sicilian, Grand Prix attack) 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nc3 Qd8 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Ne5 e6 7.Qf3 Be7 8.b3 Nbd7 9.Nxd7 Bxd7 10.Qxb7 O-O 11.Ba6 Qb6 12.O-O Rfb8 1/2 Just a few notes Castling is defined by the letter O for Orange -- not the number 0 for nothing; K-side castling is defined as O-O and Q-side as O-O-O There's no space between the period (.) and the move. Pawn captures must be typed, for example, exd5 not just ed. Software can't read a PGN as well as can us humans. If two pieces of the same kind can make the same move, then the piece which is to be moved must be distinguished, for example, Rfb8 indicates that it is the f-Rook to be moved, not the other one. Now, the crucial part of the PGN format, the headers. ***All members should read this again, as there's a few changes*** VERY IMPORTANT!!! There is a space between the beginning of the page and the "[", so you would type: (space)[Event "KO 1.2"] like this [Event "KO 1.2"] The space is a press of the space bar, not the word. Please put the header at the BEGINNING of the message. ***But there's no space between the ***left margin and the game notations (ie 1.Nf3). So what information is required in the headers? Here's an example [Event "KO 1.2"] [Site "IECC"] [Date "1996.11.27"] [Round "1"] [White "Botvinnik,Mikhail"] [Black "Fine,Reuben"] [Result "1/2"] Let's go through each of them one at a time: [Event "KO 1.2"] This indicates the event of the match. The match number and the event name is required, also if more than one game are played. You can help us by distinguishing between them by doing the following: Let's say you're playing in a two-game match M-595. This is the first game you've played, so in the header instead of just [Event "M-595"] you should put [Event "M-595.1"] [Site "IECC"] This is required and all you have to do is put this line in as it is. [Date "1996.11.27"] This indicates the date of the STARTING DATE (a change) of the game, and the format is yyyy.mm.dd [Round "1"] Crucial in Knock Out and Swiss Event, in others, you can use this to indicate whether it is the first or second game. [White "Botvinnik,Mikhail"] [Black "Fine,Reuben"] The name of White and Black player in the format: surname,firstname [Result "1/2"] 1/2 indicates a draw, 1-0 means a white win, 0-1 means a black win. Putting at all together, it should look like this: [Event "KO 1.2"] [Site "IECC"] [Date "1996.11.27"] [Round "1"] [White "Botvinnik,Mikhail"] [Black "Fine,Reuben"] [Result "1/2"] 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nc3 Qd8 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Ne5 e6 7.Qf3 Be7 8.b3 Nbd7 9.Nxd7 Bxd7 10.Qxb7 O-O 11.Ba6 Qb6 12.0-0 Rfb8 13.Qxb6 axb6 14.Bb5 Bxb5 15.Nxb5 Nd5 16.c3 Rd8 17.a4 Rd7 18.Ba3 Rad8 19.f5 e5 20.Rae1 f6 21.d3 Nc7 22.Nxc7 Rxc7 23.Rf3 Ra7 24.Rg3 Kf7 25.Rh3 Rad7 26.Ree3 Kg8 27.Kf1 Kf7 28.Ke2 Kg8 29.Re4 c4 30.Bxe7 1/2 Then send this off to the people I mentioned earlier and that's it! If there's any point in this instruction which you're not clear about, please drop me a line. Gordon Lee --------------------------------------------------------------- Rather than having the Staff of IECC Weekly Jottings choose the game-of-the-week, we would prefer that members suggest games they played, indicating where they feel they lost the advantage to their opponent. Write to Gordon Lee or Lisa Powell