Underdog wins

With this game - my opponent's rating was 400+ higher than mine - a very strong player - my opponent resigned before the end of the game and the game was annotated as follows by Earl of Norfolk.

1.e4 e5 2.d4 d5!? Playable, but not the best. Black can't afford to mimic White's moves, especially when it comes to centre Pawns. The obvious (2...exd4) is best. 3.f3 Weakening the King's position. Best is simply (3.dxe5 dxe4 4.Qxd8+) and Black loses the castling priviledge, although with the Queens off the board this isn't too critical. 3. ... Bb4+ Wastes time, as White will simply interpose the c-pawn and the Bishop will have to retreat. Best is (3...exd4). 4.c3 Bd6 5.exd5 exd4 6.Qxd4 Nf6 7.Bg5 O-O Since the shaky first three moves, both sides have played quite well, but here (7...Nbd7) is better, as White will now be able to shatter Black's King's position. 8.Bxf6 gxf6 (8...Qxf6 may be safer, if not better, for if 9.Qxf6 gxf6), Black has the same Pawn formation as in the game, but White's main attacking piece (the Queen) is gone. 9.Bd3 Qe7+ Since White can cover the check with a developing move, it may have been better to start chipping away at the White centre with (9...c6). Also worth considering is (9...Be5). 10.Ne2 b6 11.Be4 An unnecessary moving of the same piece twice in the opening. White should complete her development with (11.Nd2), followed by castling (Queenside being safer in this case, because of the semi-open g-file). 11. ... Bb7 Logical, given his previous move, but (11...f5) would've forced White to retract her last move. 12.c4 Another unnecessary move, as the d-pawn was amply protected. White should once again have played (12.Nd2). 12. ... Nd7 It's hard to knock a move that develops a new piece, but (12...Be5) was stronger here. 13.Nd2 White finally makes this move, but as long as the c-pawn is no longer preempting c3, this Knight would be better placed there. c5?? Once again, (13...Be5) would have been an uncomfortable move for White to face. The text is a blunder which should lose a piece. 14.dxc6 Be5? Wrong time for this move now, as it just compounds his previous error. Better is (14...f5 15.cxb7 Rab8 16.Bd3) etc. 15.Qd3?! Good enough to maintain the advantage, but (15.Qxd7 Qxd7 16.cxd7 Bxe4 17.Nxe4 Bxb2 18.Rb1 Be5 19.f4) is much stronger. 15. ... Bxb2? Here Black had a chance to avoid the worst with (15...Nc5 16.Qc2 Bc8 17.Bxh7+ Kg7). 16.Rb1 Good, but better is (16.cxb7 Rae8 17.Rb1 Nc5 18.Qe3) etc. 16. ... Ne5 (16...Bxc6) is probably better, although Black would still be losing. 17.Qc2 Ba3 Again, (17...Bxc6) is better, but perhaps Black was trying to confuse the issue. 18.cxb7 White now has an overwhelming advantage, and should win with reasonably careful play. Rab8 19.O-O Prudent, but White should have played (19.Bxh7+) while the opportunity presented itself. 19. ... Bc5+ 20.Kh1 Qd7 Here Black might have tried getting rid of the thorn in his side with (20...f5 21.Bxf5 Rxb7). 21.a4 There's still no reason why White can't play (21.Bxh7+). 21. ... Nc6 Seals off White's b-pawn, but (21...Ng6) would have saved Black's h-pawn ... 22.Bxc6 ... except that White doesn't seem to want Black's h-pawn for some reason. Qxc6 23.a5 Worth considering is (23.Qe4). 23. ... Rxb7 Black finally eliminates White's advanced Pawn, but is not yet out of the woods. For one thing, he's still a piece down. 24.a6 More of an annoyance move than anything else. (24.Ne4), with the idea of exchanging off Black's Bishop, is better. 24. ... Re7 25.Nf4 (25.Ne4) is still probably the better move, but the text isn't bad, either. 25. ... Be3 Flashy, but inconsequential. 26.g3!? A bit dangerous. With (26.Nd5) White would be assured of eliminating Black's Bishop. 26. ... Bxd2?! Obliging White by exchanging the Bishop himself, thinking only of winning the c-pawn. Something like (26...Rd8) is probably better. 27.Qxd2 Qxc4 Black regains a Pawn, but the real threat was White moving her Knight to h5, followed by Qh6 threatening mate in two. Therefore, (27...Re5) is safer. 28.Ra1 Fortunately for Black, the above-mentioned threat doesn't occur to White. Qc6 29.Kg2 Once again, (29.Nh5 would force 29...Re5, then 30.Qh6 threatens mate in two, so Black would have to play 30...Rxh5), losing the exchange. 29. ... Rd7 30.Qc1 Offering the exchange of Queens, which isn't a bad idea, as White is a piece ahead. Qxc1 Black should have avoided the exchange of Queens by, say, (30...Qb5). 31.Raxc1 Rd2+ Black gets more mileage out of this move than he should. 32.Kh3 Better would be (32.Rf2), when Black would either have to exchange Rooks or retreat. 32. ... Ra2 33.Nh5 White trades her a-pawn for Black's doubled f6-pawn, not a good deal as Black will now have two connected passed Pawns. Better is (33.Ra1). 33. ... f5 Of course, Black doesn't have to let the forward f-pawn go easy, but it would have been better to take the a-pawn. 34.Nf6+ Once again, better is (34.Ra1). 34. ... Kg7 35.Nd7 Rd8 36.Ne5 Here White might have tried (36.Rc7, and if 36...Rxa6, THEN 37.Ne5). 36. ... Rdd2 Black doubles Rooks on the second rank, normally a very strong manoeuvre. However, it's stronger when White's King is still on the first rank. 37.g4!? Much safer would be protecting the h-pawn with (37.Rh1). 37. ... Rxh2+ 38.Kg3 Rag2+ It was at this point that Nikita asked me to look at this game. My comment at the time (not giving her any actual advice as to which move to make, of course) was, "If you can avoid checkmate in the next few moves, you may have a chance at winning." Prophetic, as it turned out. 39.Kf4 Ra2?! Back to attacking the a-pawn, but he should have first played (39...fxg4). 40.gxf5 The natural move to make, but (40.Rc7) is much stronger. 40. ... f6? Gives White the game. (40...Ra4+) would have made a fight of it. 41.Rc7+ Kg8 42.Rg1+ Rag2 Forced, as (42...Kf8 43.Rf7+ Ke8 44.Rg8) is mate. 43.Rxg2+ Rxg2 44.Nd7 Rg7 It makes little difference what Black plays now. 45.Rxa7 b5 46.Ra8+ A bit of a slip. (46.Nxf6+) would have won quicker. 46. ... Kf7 47.Nc5 And now (47.Rf8+) is stronger, but White is wrapping up the point. 47. ... Rg8 48.Ra7+ And here exchanging Rooks was quicker, but it would be hard for White to lose this game almost regardless of what she plays. Kf8 49.Rxh7 Even better would be (49.Ne6+), but the text is still good enough to win, as Black can't stop White from queening the a-pawn. Black rightly resigned at this point. 49. ...

Snow! Sneeu!

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Merry Christmas to you all! Enjoy the music of John Lennon - So this is Christmas

My Move

A Golden Load

See more beautiful pics on my WP blog about the area where we live. The link will open in a new window.

Green Point Football Stadium

Beautiful, isn't it! Click HERE to see more images of this football stadium in Cape Town, South Africa. The link will open in a new window.

Jane Austen

Visit my Jane Austen entry on my WP blog to see more photos about my visit to the Jane Austen museum-house. The link will open in a new window.

Woman Chess Grandmaster for South Africa!

Congratulations to Melissa! We are proud of you!Click on this link to read about 14 year old Melissa.

South Africa

Friday, 14th August was Afrikaans Language day - well in the "old days" - in South Africa. On this link - which will open in a new window - you can read a few interesting facts about South Africa. Afrikaans is also the youngest official language. Here is just a few interesting facts.....We have the greenest canyon in the world- which is also the 3rd largest in the world, we have the highest waterfall in Africa and the 2nd highest in the world, the 3rd longest Tufa waterfall , the deepest mines, the largest zoo, the smallest butterfly, the largest diamond, the second largest amount of windmills on farms (280 000), the largest impact crater on earth, white lions... read more on the link too and you will also find on this link another link to an entry on my blog about the Afrikaans Language Museum. If you don't know what a Tufa Waterfall is, you will also find a link to read what it is and also, a few Afrikaans songs. Enjoy!

Countryside

You know what's in this photo?
See more images of the countryside in Bucks on
my WP-blog here. The link will open in a new window.

African Individual Chess Championship - Tripoli

Pairings/Results
Round 3 on 2009/07/23 at 15:00
WIM Alaa el Din Yosra vs WFM Latreche Sabrina–0-1
WIM Solomons Anzel vs WCM Beddar Karima– 1-0
WGM Mona Khaled vs WIM Greeff Melissa –1-0
WIM Mezioud Amina vs Al Jahani Marwah –1-0
Elansary Eman vs Elgohary Myada –1-0
Rahal Mawadda vs Abdulgader Amira–1/2
WFM Mudongo Boikhutso vs WFM Elfelo Khouled–1/2
Al Felo Ekhlas vs Matoussi Amina–0-1

Men: RESULTS AFTER THREE ROUNDS:

1-3 : (2,5 Points) : IM. Kenny Solomon, GM. Ahmed Adley & GM. Essam Elgindy

4-5 : (2,0 Points) : GM. Amon Simutowe, IM. Watu Kobese & GM. Amin Bassem

GM. Slim Belkhidja is on 1,5 Points and we have no word yet on GM. Aimen Rezouk except to report that IM.Kenny Solomon took advantage of him in pocketing full score!
This tournament is now taking place in Libya. Many players couldn't get visas to enter Libya...more info on a link on my Wordpress-blog. Little information is available about this tournament. Please click HERE to follow the tournament in Tripoli and to read more about the "issues". The link will open in a new window.

South African Open Chess Championship 2009

If you have missed out on the South African Open 2009, you are still in time to catch-up with some news as this tournament ends only today!

Please click here to read more and to see the results of all the rounds.The final round - round 11 - is being played this morning at 11:00-16:00 South African local time. The link will open in a new window.

Exciting news: Ryan van Rensburg (2106) (SA) drew a game against GM Dimitri Komarov (2530) (UKR). Ryan has also beaten IM Watu Kobese (2493) (SA) in round 7 and in round 8 he drew a game against IM MABUSELA, JM (2244)! Ryan drew in round 9 his game against IM P Wang (2453) and in round 10: Ryan drew his game against FM NP van der Nat (2322) and also, FM CCA De Villiers -2179- (SA) drew against GM G Jones-2550-(ENG).


From Chesscube: The South African Open is being contested by 208 with the following nations being represented in the field: AUS, ENG, EB, EK, FRA, GER, HUN, KEN, MAW, MOZ, NAM, NWP, NZL, RSA, UK, UKR, WP, ZIM. With 2 GM’s, a handful of IM’s, and a couple of FM’s/CM’s in the field, you are for sure to see good chess. There are 3 games being played live exclusively to ChessCube of SA Open. To watch these games all you have to do is go into the SA room and you can watch straight away. Games are commencing at 9:30 and 18.30 each day – local time.
In a world first for chess, some of the matches will be played online. This is a format many internet chess players have been waiting for – an online event being played simultaneously over 2 continents, yet officially recognized and rated by FIDE!
From Melbourne, Australia, behind the computer screens will be GM Gawain Jones (GBR, ELO 2550), IM Puchen Wang (NZL, ELO 2453), IM Mirko Rujevic (AUS, ELO 2282), and IM Leonid Sandler (AUS, ELO 2332) on standby. On the other end of the computer terminal at Cape Town, South Africa, will sit their opponents. The South African opponents will be paired each round, as will all the other players, using the Swiss Pairing system. This means that three different South African players will play online every round.
“Having these players compete in the tournament from another location using the Internet is a world first. Each Australian player will use a computer to connect to ChessCube and play their game, and will be supervised by the arbiter on that side. Similarly the players paired against them in Cape Town will play their games online using a computer, and will be supervised by an arbiter on this side,” commented Mr. Mark Levitt, founder of ChessCube. FIDE rated event over the internet! FIDE have agreed to officially rate the games played over the Internet.ChessCube powering the community and the SA OpenChessCube as a playing platform has been bringing innovative ideas into online chess playing for the last couple of months, turning into one of the busiest and most populated web chess servers with player peaks reaching over 3000 players online simultaneously, and a growing base that has eclipsed half a million users. The platform has turned into something that the chess world has been missing at previous online chess communities – it is a place where one can socialize and have fun at the same time.
Now ChessCube are taking a step further and create a tournament, part of which will take place online, and will be officially recognized by FIDE.- source: chessdom

MTel Chess 2009

MTel is on! The chess machines of the world are playing.Please click here on my WP-blog to see the results and chess graphics of the rounds too.The link will open in a new window.

Topalov played a game blindfolded before the start of the tournament.

US Chess Championship 2009

Please click HERE to follow the tournament and results.

This game is Kamsky's game in Round 4. On the photo you can see Shulman vs Kamsky















The following game is Kamsky's game played in Round 8



Play through the game of Hess and Shulman played in Round 8



Play through the game of Brooks and Nakamura played in Round 8

Azerbaijan vs Fide World

Big Chess is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan. The world's "big game" in Chess! In this glass front you can see the images of the 9 players...Fide World Team against the Azerbaijan Team. Follow the link at the bottom of this entry for more details.


Mamedov vs Anand - 1/2

Please click here to see more chess graphics and results on my WP-blog about the tournament.

South African Women's Open Chess Championships 2009

The South African Women's Open Chess Championship is now taking place in Pretoria till Sunday the 5th May 2009.

Please click here to follow the results on my WP-blog. The link will open in a new window.

US Chess Championship 2009

The US Chess Championship 2009 starts from the 7-17th May 2009.

Click on THIS LINK to get more info and to read more about the Championship.
This game here is REAL time chess! Click the arrows to follow round 3 of Kamsky's game - 10th May 2009


Real time chess!


Kamsky round 2 - end position

Fook Island

Fook Gallooper..image: artthrob.co.za artist:Norman Catherine


If you wanna know what Fook Island is all about..then click here to read who was the creater of this island. He even created fookian banknotes and exchanged it on the airport of Rome. His fookian drivers license was accepted in the USA! hehehe...The link will open in a new window.

Nalchik 2009

Please click HERE to follow the games at Nalchik live. See more spectacular images of the opening ceremony. Nalchik is in Russia and on the link you can see who are the Grandmasters taking part in this Fide Grand Prix tournament. The link will open in a new window.

Happy Valentine's Day

On THIS LINK you can find more beautiful images and quotes about Love. The link will open in a new window.

Video Games History

Technology!
Follow THIS LINK to watch a video about the history of video games. The link will open in a new window.

Corus Chess 2009 Live

Please click HERE to follow the Corus Chess 2009 Live.The link will open in a new window.