Primates of the Caribbean

Musings from USATE 2011 Or “I am getting the band back together!”

2011-02-24T09:27:00.000-08:00

Rust is toxic.

Mark came back. Don came back. I managed to cajole, plead, harass Tom, Mark & Don until they relented. Now Tom plays a bit (couple tournaments a year), but Don and Mark both were returning to tournament chess after a prolonged absence. Therefore, they were bound to be rusty --- couple that with 3 days and 6 rounds of chess, fatigue will set in and blunders will come. For Don, his inaccuracies were early but he managed to shake off the rust after the first couple rounds. For Mark however, he had the opposite problem as his mistakes came in the last round. Unfortunately they also came late and they came big. Fortunately, my fatigue was relatively mild and was less apparent than my opponents’, especially in the last round.

Who killed the heat?

I guess the global recession has hit hotel chess scene as the Main Ballroom of the Hilton was a decidedly balmy 50 degrees on Saturday noontime. I can understand the rational: billions of little heat producing chess machines all in one space will challenge any air conditioning system. However, even a couple hours into Round 1, the temperature had not climbed one iota and I was still shivering like a little kitten in a room full of Rottweilers. However, by the end of the tournament things had returned to normal as Sunday & Monday were much more tropical climes as the Air conditioning gods had decided to frequent other places. Thankfully I had donned my customary short sleeved shirt and was able to adapt.

Theme: Sit on them until they give you things

If you have read my post from last year’s USATE, you know that USATE has this species of murderous IM-trained little chess thugs who love to slay the older generation. You will also know that I fare a bit better than most of the older generation as I have adapted to defeat these nefarious mini-giant killers.

My guiding principles are simple:

One - don’t go tactical on these kids (it is a death sentence FOR YOU)

Two - steer toward the endgame (kids don’t know squat about endgames. Endgames are boring, they hate them).

Three - sit on them until they give you things. Trust me it works every time.

For example, Don played one of these little minions from hell in Round 5. They blitzed through 17 moves of the Ruy Lopez Marshall Attack. The kid took all of 3 minutes for those 17 moves. THAT IS CRAZY.

Give up on 1. e4. Throw it away. 1.Nf3 is the antidote. Even Tom who has never played 1.Nf3 in his life tried it without any prior preparation against a kid only 100 points lower rated. Now admittedly he only drew, but he had all the play, was a whole hour ahead on the clock and stated afterwards that it was the easiest game he had played all tournament.

Scenes to a cheat

True story. I heard this antidotally, but from a trusted source. In the final round of the tournament, one of my friend’s teams was playing a kids team. He finished pretty quickly and sat down to watch one of his teammates play and subsequently noticed that the opponent’s father was standing behind his teammate. He thought it odd but initially gave it no mind. But as the game went on he noticed that the kid would look to his father quite a bit and that his father seemed to be making hand gestures. He summoned the TD and a major brouhaha ensued outside as the father – in broken English – claimed he had the right to “coach” his son while denying that he was giving his son advice on moves. Unfortunately because my friend did not quietly tell the TD, who could then observe the behavior, the TD could do little except expel the father from the playing hall. Unbelievable that this kind of behavior would occur, especially at a “fun” tournament like Amateur teams.

Primates take a Holiday!

2010-10-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

We wrapped up tournament 46 in solidly middling fashion, with Steve playing like a superhuman on Board 4, Fabio getting the hang of the 45 45 league, and me playing like a complete chucklehead. As a result we missed out on the playoffs (but to be fair we were only 3rd in our division). Ironically, I somewhat reluctantly decided to join a U2200 team "Rhenium" but more as a role player (or as I prefer to call myself a "scrubstitute"). But as it turned out, Team Rhenium had their board 4 suspended from league play after Round 2 due to numerous forfeits, and thus I became a "starter". Furthermore, Team Rhenium proved tough competition, plowing through their opponents undefeated, winning the division and going to the playoffs. Whilst I truly enjoyed playing 2 matches a weeks, my schedule is decidedly busier now that to play on 2 teams would prove problematic. Therefore with an open invitation to play on Board 4 for Team Rhenium in Tournament 47 (I don't know what the Team Captain Paulkov is thinking, he must be delusional), I have decided that the Primates are going on vacation for a bit, but will return once Paulkov realizes the errors of his ways.

I have truly enjoyed this team and the players who played alongside-whether just for 1 tournament or for many. Thanks, guys!

No fear though, as I still have many stories to tell. You can also follow Team Rhenium here:

http://chesselements.blogspot.com/

The Oddest Post-mortem I have ever seen

2010-08-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

I will protect the names of the innocent and guilty, basically because I am lazy.

Long time ago (close to 20 years, I think), I went to my first major tournament. A good friend of mine, a Senior Master now long retired from competitive chess, wanted to go play in a “big” tournament and asked if I was interested. So we headed off with him playing the Open section and me playing in a lesser mortal section (where I did quite well, thank you very much – but that is a different story). Anyway, one of the games my Senior Master friend played against was this older IM. Now for years, this IM had had stories swirling around him about the validity of his IM norms and possible “payments” towards earning said IM norms. In other words, this IM was considered by some as a decidedly shady character but still a very strong player (and would have crushed me a hundred times over).

So my friend and the IM square off – my friend has black. And during the game my friend is slowly getting beaten, and realizing this decides that rather than getting tortured for hours, he would go for a riskier continuation – which ultimately did not work and he quickly went down in flames. I had wrapped up my game and watched the latter part of the game, including the “flame out” part.

After the game concluded, the IM asked my friend if he would like to go over the game (i.e., a post-mortem). Sure, he replied, and I gladly tagged along. After all Senior Master and an IM were going to conduct a post mortem – what an incredible learning opportunity for me. So they sit down and begin to go over the game and IM completely dominates the conversation. OK, I think, he won the game, probably within his rights. But then the IM says, “And according to Alekhine”… and then speaks GERMAN for a good minute or two. I think, "What???????" I look over at my friend, who is impassive. The IM then goes over a couple more moves and then repeats this with “And Botvinnik stated…”and then says something in RUSSIAN. Again, I look over at my friend, still impassive. And I am thinking to myself: "Wow, I have a lot to learn about conducting post-mortems."

So the post-mortem lasts a couple more minutes, during which my friend says absolutely nothing. They shake hands and part. As we are walking away and not within earshot of anyone, I ask if that how all post-mortems go between titled players. My friend gives me this look like I am crazy and says, “Absolutely not. I stopped listening when he quoted Alekhine and started thinking of the ways I could kill him.”

Why are chess players so crazy?

2010-08-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Why indeed? What is it about chess that seems to attract the crazy ones? I was chatting with an old friend from Europe who used to play competitively (to the point of reaching FM and earning an IM norm before deciding to pack it in before he lost his sanity), and we both commented about the U.S. and the number of decidedly odd chess players. Now for those who don’t know me well, I never tell anyone I play chess. I am more than happy to tell them I play old man soccer, used to race bikes, played water polo in college – sure those “crazy” passions I am more than happy to talk to people about. But, chess? Absolutely not. I have close friends who have no idea I play and take it so seriously. And those who know that I do play, I explain it this way: I am just learning it so that I can encourage and teach my kids to play while still being able to beat them. The average non-chessplaying John Q Public would understand and accept this answer without thinking I am just a maladjusted lunatic, so that is what I tell everyone.

But getting back to my original question: Why? Is it that chess makes them crazy? Does Chess encourage crazy behavior? Or is it just the fact that it attracts crazy people here in the U.S.? I don’t know.

Perhaps I’ll just play No Limits Hold ‘em Poker like lots of other better-adjusted chessplayers.

T45 wrap up & Looking Forward to T46

2010-08-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

Every blog (and I suppose every “Blogger” by extension) must go through that period of inactivity for any number of reasons. I noticed the other day – actually one of my friends noticed and pointed it out – that I had not updated the Primates blog since the start of the last tournament. Given that, here is a wrap up of the last tournament. In summary, we were so close but soooooooo far. Curt, who had taken a break from playing the 45 45 league in T45 said it best when he observed that we were much more competitive than the final score would indicate. We lost most of the rounds 1.5 – 2.5, so while we didn’t earn Match Points we did have plenty of game points. We finished midpack in our division and did not qualify for the playoffs.

So T46 has started and the lineup has changed quite a bit from past years. Bob, Tom & Trond have all decided to take a break from the league due to the demands on their time. Cesar initially was on the T46 team but earned a 5 tournament suspension due to an accumulation of forfeits. From the “old days” Curt is back, playing as a “backup backup” player. In their places, new Primates have arrived: Merciful, Sammj & Upsan. Welcome, gentlemen.

After two rounds, we are 1 – 1 and, if things go well, we should be competitive (but then again, I say that every tournament).
From Round 2, I nominated Upsan’s game for “Game of the Week” for his patient and very clinical endgame technique.
Check it out and see if you agree:
http://www.4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=39076

Finally, I am not sure that I’ll be posting weekly updates. Anyone who has read a chess tournament article realizes that a tournament can only be written up in so many ways. Instead, right now I am leaning towards just outright “genteel chess pontifications”, while highlighting great teammates’ games I watch from the sidelines.

Round 1: Primates 1.5 : Tellurium 2.5

2010-05-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

For our first round match, we squared off against the #1 seeded team, Tellurium, which is a uniquely comprised team in that they have their 1st & 2nd boards rated above 2200, then their next two boards around 1700. So for them to do well in this tournament, their top boards really have to produce consistently every round, while their lower boards try to win points when they can. I’ll be interested to see how they fare with this setup. So Tom and I squared off against 2 masters and lost. I held my own pretty well for a good 35 moves, but missed a pretty simple tactic then it was all down hill after that. Cesar unluckily got nicked for a half point draw, not being able to convert a rook & pawn ending whilst being a pawn up. The good news was that Cesar was never in any trouble during the game despite having the black pieces this round. Bob had the game of the round, defending against a pretty scary attack right from the start, calmly repulsed the attack and converted nicely in the endgame.

So we lost the match by a half point; but as I told the team, every point counts. If we can avoid an off round, I think we could in fact win this division. In round 2, we play team “Mediterranean Warriors” in what could be described as a “Geography Battle” (i.e., Mediterranean v Caribbean). I wonder if the 4545 TDs have a sense of humor and placed us in the same division on purpose?

T45!

2010-05-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

Tournament 45 is here and hope springs eternal. Curt is taking the tournament off, so we have the newest addition to the Primate team - Cesaralexander. Welcome - Cesaralexander!

We are in the Maple Division and if we all play to ability, we should be pretty competitive. Round 1 starts Tuesday, so stay tuned!

T44 Wrap Up

2010-05-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

Tournament 44 wrapped up its regular season and so did the Primates. It is pretty easy to provide updates when "the going is good", quite another when things are not going your way. Last time we left our intrepid chess warriors, they had triumphed over their erstwhile first round opponents. Here is how the rounds have gone since:

Round 2: Lost to the Runners, 3 - 1. Bob and I drew, Tom and Curt lost. I had mentioned in an earlier post that we lack a "rival"; seeing as we have faced off against the "Runners" now a slew of times, they now represent the closest thing to a rival. I drew "Chiiwen" in this game, which now numbers the 5th time we have split the point (plus we each have a win).

Round 3: Lost to STC Identity 3 - 1. Tom and Bob drew (Bob's was an "agreed" draw). Curt and I lost. I got completely outplayed in an NvB endgame. Bleah.

Round 4: Got off the snide and beat the Runners 2.5 - 1.5. Once again I drew Chiiwen. I think it was 3 draws and a win for us, but I cannot recall.

Round 5: We got crushed 4 - 0 by STC Identity. I again got completely outplayed in an NvB endgame. Bleah. Second time in 3 rounds (I see a trend), so it is back to the endgame books for me.

Round 6 came and went, we were out of the playoffs. Overall we have not been particularly sharp, but I believe it has more to do with the positions we have gotten (from the obvious department of "duh"). What I mean is that each of us excel in certain positions resultant from certain opening variations, and whether by accident or by design, we just haven't gotten those positions. Also, hats off to our competition this round. Every round has been tough, both the Runners and STC Identity have the potential to go very deep in the playoffs - even win it all. As Curt had noted in an email earlier this week, we have made the playoffs 3 times out of the last 5 attempts - a pretty good average. I guess I should expect a down tournament from time to time.

Musings from the USATE

2010-02-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Tom and I ventured off to the snowy landscape of Northern New Jersey to participate in U.S. Amateur Team East, one of the largest annual chess tournaments held on the East Coast. USATE is a six round event held over President’s Day Weekend (and Valentine’s Day OBTW for all you married folks) with a luxurious 40/2 SD/1 time control which has participants ranging from GM’s to little, little kids. Rather than recap the weekend (others have done so far better than I ever could), here are some stray thoughts (sprinkled liberally with attempted humor):

1. 4545 play (or any online chess activity) is a good complement but no substitute for Over the Board play (OTB). My first 2 rounds were pretty rough as I shook off my recent OTB chess inactivity (Hey, I got a wife & 2 young kids, a fairly demanding job and I coach soccer pretty much year round. I am happy I can disappear for a whole weekend to do something as esoteric as play chess even once a year). However, I will say that slow online play does provide benefit to your tournament chess, but you must play over the board in a slow time control in order to avoid be rusty – for me it was readily apparent in the early rounds. HOWEVER, I will say that once I shook off my rust, I played fairly error-free and quite well, largely due to all the work and studying and playing I have done on the computer. In fact, as I saw lots of other players apparently suffer from “chess fatigue”, I began to get into a rhythm, improving with each game. Therefore, in my estimation (and Tom’s as well) the best path to no kidding, real chess improvement involves both forms of playing.

2. Kids. I watched more of my contemporaries (and teammates) get mowed down by kids this past weekend than I think I have seen in a looooonnnnnnng time. It was amazing. I actually don’t mind playing the under-18 (or actually under-12) crowd as I think my style really suits playing hyper-aggressive, super-tactical little balls of energy. Having said that, two things really bother me about playing kids.
• Kids are super underrated. Nothing worse than sitting across from some IM-trained, mega-booked up kid who has a played a billion scholastic games against other super underrated IM-trained, mega-booked up kids. Talk about an incubator of chess-killing machines. One of my games from USATE with a SEVEN YEAR OLD went ~ 18 moves into theory. When I was seven, I couldn’t even SPELL theory – much less know the moves. I would recommend to the USCF that you might look to have an alternate rating calculation when kids are playing that enables them to earn/lose higher ratings points when they play while also minimizing the points their opponents gain/lose. I believe this would more accurately reflect the true nature of the situation when a kid sits down to play a game, and most importantly cushion the older generation’s collective egos after we get crushed by a kid who isn’t even in middle school yet.
• (The following is meant tongue in cheek and with a grain of salt) Kids don’t know diddly squat about Chess Etiquette but should. Note to you all you chess trainers – take 15 minutes and teach your kids a little chess etiquette vice spending it on the latest Theoretical Novelty on move 15 in the King’s Indian Bayonet. No kidding, after the fifth time your star pupils, who is sporting your Chess Academy’s T shirt, asks for a draw (on my move for the 5th time) when he is 600 points lower rated and down material with no compensation, don’t be surprised if I don’t react politely (as opposed to the first four times I declined the offer with replies like “Hmmm, let’s play on for a while” or “No, thanks”). And hey all you kids, I know you are taught to play to the bitter end in scholastic events, but give us old codgers a bit of credit that we can mate your solitary king with a queen, a rook and a whole plethora of minor pieces. Really, we might be sporting more hair on our backs than on our heads nowadays and drooling at the chess board, but we still can muster that capability between naps during the game. This is not some scholastic event and we do not have a rating possessing only three digits.

3. There were noticeably less GMs/IMs and other hugely strong teams. I might be wrong about this, but I guess one of the unintended consequences of the economic downturn is the fact that GMs/IMs are less apt to spend precious money to play in a tournament that offers little financial reward (I would venture the Ebay market for chess clocks and USATE plaques is probably as “depressed” as a house in South Florida). Another side effect of the lack of strong teams was the fact that there were a higher percentage of kid’s teams, and therefore a greater chance to play kid’s teams. We in fact played kids teams in three successive rounds.

4. Steven Doyle & his crew have created a tremendous tournament and chess environment that truly captures the adage “We play chess for the fun of it,” which stands in direct opposition to the many events that require large entry fees in order to offer huge prize funds to attract folks to play. Although Steven may not in fact use the term “Festival” to describe USATE, I think “Festival” perfectly describes this wonderful event.

Round 1: Primates 3 – Friends of Punk 1

2010-02-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

Round 1 went pretty well with Tom and Curt doing all the heavy lifting, both of whom winning in distinctly different ways (some might say polar opposite). Ironically both games were Ruy Lopezes – Tom with white & Curt with black. However that is about where the similarities ended as Tom picked up an early pawn, then another and very efficiently converted his advantage. Curt on the other hand had to endure all sorts of pressure (Curt’s game definitely demonstrated why the Ruy is often deservedly referred to as the “Spanish Torture” for Black) before his opponent overreached attacking Curt’s kingside fortress. Curt finally converted after a long and grueling 3+ hour session.

On Board 4, Bob had the misfortune of being extremely busted in the opening due to a tactical oversight, then valiantly fighting back for 20+ moves to reach and even R+P endgame, only to lose in the endgame when his opponent was able to penetrate with a passer. Unbelievably bad luck, but one that I have had experienced with all too common frequency.

As for me?? Well, I had the easiest game of all with my opponent gifting me the forfeit win. On any other week I would have gladly accepted the free point; but as I am prepping for US Amateur Team East (with Tom), I was looking forward to “sharpening the blade” a bit. At least I got a couple of pretty solid, focused studying in while preparing for the game – as opposed to the hours of mindless blitz which usually fill my ICC time.

Primates gear up for Tournament 44!

2010-01-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

The gang returns intact – with the exception of Don, who continues to concentrate on his Masters studies program. Tom, Curt, Trond, Bob & I average a solid 1990 rating, with Trond serving as the primary backup player. The 1990 average rating will not makes us a #1 seed in any division, but on the other hand we are not in any danger of becoming too highly rated as a team to compete in the U2000 section. I am intrigued to see with whom we are placed in our division, as now that we have become one of the “regular” teams (i.e., a team with a fairly solid composition and has played in the last 5 – 10 tournaments). I do not think we have any particular rivals, despite the fact that the 45 45 league has a host of other “regular” teams. Perhaps over time we will develop a “rivalry”, as there exists the real potential to face the same opponent regularly -- which I think brings interesting challenges as well as the potential for real chess learning and improvement.

I also signed up to play for a team in the U2200 division with the expressed understanding that I would be only playing ~3 rounds (plus playoffs if required). With the lack of OTB tournament play on my calendar, 45 45 will just have to serve as my way of staying in shape chess-wise for the near term.

Finally on a completely different note, I received an email asking me if I wanted to play on an over 40 soccer travel team playing in Wilmington, NC, next month. My wife said it was “OK” with her, but to be fair I have not touched a ball in about a month since fall season ended. I am squarely on the fence on this one.

Primates crash out the first round of the playoffs, lose to “the Lucky Ones” 2.5 – 1.5

2009-12-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

As I told the team after the match, we were so close --- and that went especially for me. Tom and Bob were the first to play and while Tom drew in a Rook and Pawn endgame, Bob did not fare as well; so it was up to Curt to draw us level. To his credit, he played his best game of the tournament and perhaps one of his best games I have seen him play in the 45 45 league. I immediately nominated it for Game of the Week; frankly if Curt doesn’t win it, I would be surprised.

Thus, it was up to me – and we had drawing odds, having the better tiebreaks. My opponent, an FM from Canada who had White, would have to win the game for the Lucky Ones to advance.
The early portion of the game went very well for me, but it was not to be as I completely fell apart in time pressure (again). And while I was slightly upset for not being able to win the won game (unquestionably one of my weaknesses), I had a great tournament overall and am already looking forward to Tournament 44. As it stands now, the entire team is returning, so we should be competitive to do well.
Again thanks to Tom, Trond, Curt & Bob for being great teammates and making my job as Captain very easy.

Again we had no forfeits, we made the playoffs and most importantly we enjoyed the royal game.

One final note: The OTB version of the Primates will be heading to Parsippany, New Jersey, to play in the US Amateur Team East in February. Don is taking the year off, so Tom and I will be pairing up with a couple of old friends. For those unfamiliar with “USATE”, this tournament is not one to play in if you wish gain massive points (I think on average I tend to play incredibly underrated kids in 4 of the 6 rounds), but it is tournament where you play for the enjoyment vice the money purse. In fact I am looking to play a bigger tournament sometime this winter as I feel I have made significant improvement and want to “cut my teeth”. Not sure where yet, but stay tuned!

Late Breaking News: Trond wins Round 5 GOTW!

2009-12-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

I completely forgot to mention in the last installment, but Trond won Game of the Week honors for his critical win in Round 5, despite the fact that:
a) he had black
b) he was a 200+ point underdog
c) he was shaking off rust faster than a 1957 Chevy Nova at the beach after taking the summer off

For those interested in the game, here is the link:
http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=33294

Of note is that Curt’s aggressive victory in Round 6 is also up for GOTW. If you want to see how aggression can pay off, here the link to that game:

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=33308

Round 6: Primates win 3.5 – 0.5, qualify for playoffs on tiebreaks

2009-12-13T17:11:00.000-08:00

I never thought the division would end up as close it would; nor did I expect that we would qualify for the playoffs on tiebreaks. Truthfully I figured that if we won, we would qualify – and that was my only goal. However (to our benefit), things are never as simple as it would first appear, especially when it comes to the great game of chess. First we came out smoking, winning our first three games, while the division-leading Team Zwishenzugs struggled, trailing 1 – 2 with a game to go. They had to win in order to win the division outright, while we had to await to see how other teams did in their games in the case that we didn’t win the division. As games for Round 6 continued to wrap up and make the playoff picture clearer, I figured that all Tom would have to draw his last game to ensure we made it – which is what Tom did with ease. Thus we captured the last playoff spot with 4.5 match points.
We now face the #1 seed, Team “The Lucky Ones”, in Round 8 (Playoff Round 1). I actually think we have a reasonable shot at advancing.

On a completely different note, my old man soccer team crashed out of the playoffs on Penalty Kicks after dominating the entire 90 minutes. Grrrrrr. We even had 2 goals disallowed on rebounds for (incredibly) offsides. I also had my header blocked on the goal line on a corner kick by a defender with his hands (ala Terry Henry). We had more shots skitter away or hit the post, while the opposing team never even got a shot on goal. Unbelievable.

Round 5: Primates triumph over Division-leading Zwishenzugs 2.5 – 1.5

2009-12-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

In the final game of the match with the match tied at 1.5, Trond produces a clutch win over Superpeon. Trond had Black against an opponent rated 200 points higher, and this represented his first of Tournament 43. With my "Grandmaster Draw" versus SuperJEM and Curt's odd forfeit win (his opponent just "defaulted"), we earned a critical match win in our pursuit to make it to the playoffs. If my math is correct, we are still in the hunt for one of the two playoff Wildcard spots. Round 6 against Team Capablanca will prove to be the deciding round – win and we are in! This match win inched us closer to team Zwishenzugs; now we trail them by only half a match point with one round to go.

Tom’s win in Round 2 earned Game of the Week (GOTW) honors. Additionally, his exciting win in Round 4 earned Runner-up honors for GOTW. Well done, Tom! Here is a link to the game:

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=33266

I nominated Trond’s win over Superpeon for Round 5 GOTW. Here is the link to the game and decide for yourself.

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=33294

Round 4: Primates triumph over Team “4HoursLife” 3 - 1

2009-11-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

We had a very nice, solid performance in Round 4. Bob earned a really nice win as Black when his opponent rashly sacrificed a bishop for a truly speculative attack. To Bob’s credit, he calmly accepted the piece, then proceeded to negate White’s counterplay and converted the full-point. On the complete opposite side of the chess spectrum, Tom’s game was a truly scary affair, with Tom as Black defending v the English attack in a Schevenigen-type position. It boiled down a race to mate the other guy, and Tom was just one move quicker than his opponent. I gotta tell you, Tom has had some fantastic results lately – even the game he lost to a much higher rated opponent in Round 3 was very interesting. Trond had the unfortunate luck to face an opponent 200 point higher rated than him. I haven’t looked closely at the game yet, but watched the tail end of it. So going into my game, we were up 2-1 and only needed to draw to win the match – and I used that fact to great advantage. We went into an interesting Tarrasch --and I don’t play 1.d4, but I am getting more and more Queen Pawn’s Openings -- then got into what I thought was a pretty even position where I offered my opponent the opportunity for draw by repetition or possibly go astray. He of course could not accept the draw as his team would lose, so he bravely opted to try and mix it up. Unfortunately for him, it left him dangerously unguarded on the kingside and I managed to convert with an interesting attack. So we won 3 – 1.

So now we have played four of the six rounds and it cannot be said that our division in Tournament 43 even remotely resembles our division in T42. Not even close. In the last tournament, all four teams were tightly packed; any team theoretically would or could capture the #1 slot and advance to the playoffs. You could never predict how each round would end up, we were that closely matched. In fact the division winner was not determined until the last 2 games of the division were played. Tournament 43 is just the opposite. Team “Zwishenzugs” remain undefeated at 4 – 0 heading into the penultimate round. We trail them by a full point and half but are solidly in second place. For us to capture the division, we must beat them this round, then beat our last round opponents AND have Team “Zwishenzugs” lose or draw. A tall order, if you ask me. I think our best chance rests with capturing one of the wildcard slots.

One note: The Game of the Week for Round 2 has not been determined (yet). We patiently await whether Tom’s game is selected. Also, someone (not from our team either) nominated Tom’s win from this round for GOTW. Very nice!

Primates lose 1 – 3 to “Team Zwishenzugs”

2009-11-16T13:27:00.000-08:00

Out top three boards all went down in flames as we faced the #1 team in our division, “Team Zwishenzugs”, with Bob earning the sole victory on Board 4. I felt especially badly for Trond, who had a fantastic game and looked like he was on course to win his first game after an extended layoff, when he went astray. Tom also had a great game early on, only to succumb to the greatest of endgame dangers – connected passed pawns. The game is worth looking at as it provides an interesting study of unbalanced material (in this case Tom had 2 rooks + 3 minor pieces v Queen + Rook + minor piece). The computer loved Tom’s position for a long time, but I felt it was one of those positions where it would coordination of his pieces could prove to be problematic.

Couple notes:
- Curt rightly nominated Tom’s smashing win in Round 2 for Game of the Week. We are still awaiting final determination, but I truthfully cannot see any other game earning the accolades (biased or not).

- I was cruising through various stuff on ICC Sunday night and noticed that Darren still has not logged in since September. Nor has he responded to previous emails. I hope all is well. If anyone has any info, please feel free to drop me a note or comment. Thanks.

Round 2 Wrap up: Primates tie with Team “4hourlifes”

2009-11-11T15:34:00.000-08:00

I would argue that Tom’s spectacular win which earned us the 2 – 2 tie made up for the other three rather less than spectacular results from myself, Trond and Curt. Curt and I both had great positions, almost crushing positions, and we both were unable to translate to a win due to overlooking ONE MOVE. In fact, my game went from crushing to me having to hang on and draw a pawn down Rook+Pawn endgame. Meanwhile Curt made his poor opponent suffer for as long as he could, but could not crack the position open and convert. Trond, though, suffered from a tactical blindspot in a completely even game and suffered the loss for it.

So going into Tom’s game, we were trailing by half a point and needed him to win just to draw. Unlucky for his opponent, Tom was in top form and completely dominated the game. Here it is:

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?ID=33266

After 2 rounds we are securely in 2nd place, just half a point off the lead. We square off against the #1 team, team “Zwishenzugs” in our division in Round 3. I am taking the week off, so good luck to all!

T 43 Round 1: Primates 3 - Team Capablanca 1

2009-11-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

Tournament 43 has arrived and the Primates have returned more or less intact. Trond has returned after taking the summer off and visiting Norway (welcome back, Trond!), and Darren has not been heard from nor signed up for T43. I hope all is well and we hear from him soon. Other than that, Tom, Curt, “The Other Bob” & I are all “tan, ready and rested” for T43 with Round 1 commencing this weekend.
We are in the Maple Division and face “Team Capablanca” in Round 1. The other teams included in our division include: “Zwishenzugs”, whom we have never faced and team “4hourslife” against whom we have squared off in a previous tournament. The Division looks to be pretty tough as 2 teams have an average above 1990 (max average is 2000), and we have an average at around 1980.

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Round 1 Wrap up: Primates 3 - Team Capablanca 1

Speed kills. That should be the theme for the last game in our match, which pitted Tom v Bgolev. What an unlikely result, but not in the way you would think. We were leading 2 - 1 going into the last game. Tom had Black v Bgolev and they played a g3 variation of the King's Indian in the most Karpovian style (which I always hated and one of the reasons I never played the King's Indian - that whole variation is such a. well. it should be banned along with the Petrov). Tom got a great position, but then he went off the rails and dropped a piece. Should have been game over at that point, but his opponent went deep into time trouble and gifted the piece back. The seesaw battle continued until Tom pinned Bgolev's queen with a rook and it was game over. Wow.

So we head into Round 2 tied for first, which really isn't notable except for the fact that historically we are slow starters and tend to pick up speed as the tournament progresses. Perhaps this is a good sign for T43. For Round 2 we are paired against "Team 4hourslife", whom we have faced in T41. This will be the first game back for Trond after taking the summer off. Welcome back , Trond, and good luck!

Playoff Semi-finals: Primates lose to Discovered Mates

2009-10-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

We square off against the Discovered Mates and for me I play against Andres Hortillosa, an expert from Minnesota.

As stated in prior entries, one of the best benefits to the 45 45 league is that it provides you incentive to study/prepare for specific games. For example, if you know your opponent plays a certain line in the Dragon, you can really prep for the game, which will (hopefully) translate over into stronger OTB play. In this match, I knew Andres plays the mainline Ruy. Now let me digress for a second: I am fascinated by the Ruy from both sides (same with the King’s Indian). I find the richness and variety that these defenses produce truly intriguing and can spend hours poring over games and analysis – which I cannot say the same about other defenses (Petrov’s & Queen’s Indian for example). So, when I saw that Andres would go for the Ruy, I leapt at the chance to play it. And the game was memorable, but not the way you would think. We delved 19 odd moves into theory, got into a very interesting middlegame with chances for both sides, and then he tragically “mouse-slipped” his queen (meaning he had a mouse slip and placed his queen accidently where he would lose it for no compensation) and resigned. Really not the way I wanted to win.

Our 2 lower boards have both lost, Darren in an interesting Scandinavian where his opponent’s 2 bishops proved to be stronger than Darren’s Bishop+Knight combination. Curt also lost in another interesting Ruy Lopez, this Ruy being a Marshall attack, where Curt could have sacrificed his queen for incredible winning chances (but in fairness to him, I never would have seen it either – only after having Fritz look at it did I see the idea). So we sit at 1 – 2 with Tom’s game tonight. So in fact we may draw, but I have to check the tiebreak situation.

Well Tom played his game and could not quite pull off the victory. His opponent, knowing that Tom needed to win, played the Berlin variation of the Ruy. Tom responded with the Worrall Attack, sacrificed the exchange, picked up a pawn and was threatening to grab another when he hung a piece. I suspect Tom was overpressing as he had declined his opponent’s earlier draw offer. So another season closes with our defeat in the quarterfinals. Not bad as we had to claw out of the cellar after the first 2 rounds in the tournament in order to qualify for the playoffs. I have 3 goals for every tournament:
No forfeits
Make the playoffs
Most importantly: Have fun & enjoy the camaraderie of team match play.
We achieved all three goals and I am already planning for Tournament 43, which will start in about a month’s time.

Quarter-finals Round up: Primates 3.5 – Runners 0.5

2009-10-29T14:01:00.001-07:00

Playoff Quarter-finals: Primates v Runners U2000

It figures. If we are playing in the 4545 League, we at some point should play the Runners (I believe we have played them a total of 5 times in three tournaments). Pairings will be up on Tuesday, but I suspect that I will face “Chiiwen” again, against whom I have never won (but most if not all the games have ended in draws).

So, you may ask, how did things go?
Everything seemed to go right for us in this round; I am not sure whether that bodes well for the rest of the playoffs --- or not. I played arguably my best round in T42 against an old time nemesis (that is meant in a friendly, jocular sort of way), Chiiwen, We have played 3 times prior and I have yet to notch a win against him (2 draws and 1 loss). In fact the 2 draws were both with me as white and I could not dent his super solid Accelerated Dragon setup. So, knowing that we more than likely would play another Accelerated Dragon AND I would need to push for the win, I spent some extra time coming up with a sharper line to play against it. It seemed to catch him by surprise and I came away victorious in a very tense struggle. Once my game was over, Tom quickly followed suit with a win, then Darren’s opponent forfeited the game, sealing the match victory. In a somewhat ant-climatic finish, Curt and his opponent agreed to a draw before the game started but couldn’t figure how to work out the mechanics to do a “GM draw”, so they played one move and then agreed to split the point.

Round 6: Primates beat Kingfischers57 & make the Playoffs

2009-10-29T14:00:00.001-07:00

You could almost say Primates “backed” into the playoffs. This division has been incredibly tough every round, and the top three teams have had the same score (or within a half point of each other) since the first round. Even the fourth ranked team, XXXXX, won as many games as the second placed team. Little wonder then that the Primates would have to win the round to assure qualifying for the playoffs. If the Primates drew our final match, then we would require some assistance in the form of the other match drawing 2 – 2 in order to qualify based on better tiebreaks. I started off first, playing the black side of the Ruy Lopez Worrall attack against Eurander. Unfortunately for Eurander (and fortunately for me), I had anticipated the line we would play and I had also played a game that went down an analogous position. As a draw was my initial goal, I was never in real trouble and even took a draw being a pawn up. In retrospect I should have pushed for the win, however, the last thing I wanted to do was blow the position, lose the game and put my team in a hole – especially given the fact that Eurander, rated at 2250, was a solid 200 points higher rated than me.
But then things got ugly as Tom had game #2 and lost against another 2200 rated player, putting us in a 0.5 – 1.5 hole and requiring Darren and The Other Bob to win both their games. Darren was the first to play, winning in convincing style and leaving it up to the Other Bob in the finale, which he did in a tense battle.

Round 5: Primates 2.5 – 1.5 Point-Blank

2009-10-29T13:59:00.001-07:00

Well I finally won a game, but not in the way I had wanted or asked for. I was matched against David Barnesly again, having lost to him just a couple rounds ago in a completely winning position (that is meant as a compliment to David, who hung incredibly toughly in a grim position and ultimately and deservedly won). So I tried to set up a mutually acceptable day & time for the match, David was out of town and could not respond in a timely fashion. After a bit of negotiation, we failed to agree on a time and I was awarded the forfeit win.

Round 4: Primates draw with Masagatsu Agatsu 2 – 2

2009-10-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

I took the week off (work travel) and the team again drew the match, which should have been the result given how closely everyone was paired in ratings – 3 of the 4 boards were within 10 to 15 rating points. Bob was the odd man out, playing his opponent 120 points higher than him. Tom had the one victory of the match, easily winning.

Round 3: Primates 2 - Team Poinblank 2

2009-10-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Here was the lineup :
Campagnolo (2061) 0 - 1 DavidBarnsley (2060)
Nosalt (2051) 1/2 - 1/2 topadyarpov (1930)
Ivanson (1859) 1 - 0 Nosferatu1 (1864)
Budzo (1697) 1/2 - 1/2 Brainwave (1741)

We split the point with Team Point Blank, but I play the worst game humanly possible, making 2 incredibly stupid errors: getting in time trouble (I mean really bad time trouble) and avoid getting mated trying to avoid a draw. Bleah. I overpressed in a winning position, but failed to negotiate the tactical nuances of the position and realize that I can either drop a rook or get mated. But the worst part of the whole game is that I had drawing possibilities even after losing the rook (Thanks, Fritz, for showing how bad I can play. On a side note, computers can be a wonderful tool to analyze and research, but sometimes they can really depress you with their flawless ability to show the obvious).

So after Round 3 we sit tied in 2nd - 3rd spot, trailing the leaders by a match point. Not worth stressing at this point, however we need to start "firing on all cylinders" if we want to make the playoffs.

Round 2: Primates get back on the winning track

2009-08-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

After losing a close one in round 1, we roared back in round 2, winning 3 – 1 against Team “Masagatsu Agatsu U2000”. Curt and I both drew our games, but our middle boards --- Darren and Tom --- played in convincing style, both bringing home the full point. Darren did so with a nice combination, and Tom played a game which I thought is “Game of the Week” material, playing the White side of Dragon Yugoslav attack.

See for yourself:
http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?id=26022

Standings-wise we are on top of the table temporarily as there is still one game in the other match to play in our division. Best case, we’ll be a half point off the lead, worst just a point. Next round we’ll be facing Team “Point-Blank”. More to follow on that.

Round 1 Primates lose out to Kingfischers57 2.1 – 1.5

2009-08-05T17:31:00.000-07:00

On paper I thought this round would be, well much easier than it turned out. Here was the lineup:

Campagnolo (2061) vs.eurander (2271)
nosalt (2051) vs. PrincessChess (1812)
Speedy-Reedy (2022) vs. tourettes (1703)
ivanson (1859) vs vollmerj (1632)

While I would be facing Eurander, rated 2271, the rest of the team would be playing opponents on average 200+ points lower. So I figured a 3 – 1 final score would be about right, but not as a loss. It did not bode well when Tom lost in a desperate time scramble after successfully trotting out the Alekhine as Black. (Alekhine, Tom, really the Alekhine? The Alekhine is not a real opening. And that is not opinion, but true fact). Then Darren and Curt both fought hard but had to settle for draws (Darren for example pushed unsuccessfully for well over 100 moves to try and get the win). I was also not successful, having a bit of pressure but overlooking a nice resource which converted the position to a dead drawn opposite colored bishop endgame. ThusKingfischers57 won 2.5 – 1.5.

Round 2
Next Round we face the Masagatsu Agatsu, and again we match up pretty well.

Here is the lineup:
Ptzz (2039) White vs Campagnolo (2061) Black
Zumbi (2038) Black vs. Nosalt (2051) White
Alexdb (1972) White vs. Speedy-Reedy (2022) Black
PaulKaspar (1921) Black vs. Ivanson (1859) White

T42 Commences and Primates Return

2009-07-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

Tournament 42 kicks off on Tuesday, 28 July, and the Primates return for what should be another action-packed tournament full of great chess. I would hope that all the bad luck we suffered in T41 is gone forever and we are primed to return to our winning ways.

We have a couple changes to the team. First off, Darren joined us as the newest member of the team, Darren. Welcome, Darren! Don is taking a break to pursue academia again (good luck, Don!) and Trond is taking the summer off (enjoy your well-earned break, Trond).

As we get set to start another season, first and foremost to be a Primate is to remember that on this team :
- We play to enjoy chess and to improve.
- We support each other by “observing” each other’s games (schedule permitting of course). Post-Mortems are encouraged (another great learning tool).

We are seeded in the Magnolia Division, with what I think is a very competitive group of folks. But if everyone plays to their ability, we should well.
http://team4545league.org/tournament/t42/t42teams.html#Arbor

Stay Tuned!
- Bob

Updates on Rounds 3 & 4

2009-05-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

The Primates are having the oddest tournament so far in Tournament 41. Well, when I say oddest, I mean bad but in a truly bizarro fashion. And the bizarre was in grand fashion in Round 3. Mind you, I knew we were having "issues" in the first two rounds, drawing games from winning positions and just losing games for no apparent reason. I told the team that we in some sense were overdue for some bad "luck" as things had gone so smoothly for us in tournaments 38, 39 & 40. So, while we had lost the first two rounds by the respectable same score 1.5 -2.5, I figured that a good solid victory would be just the medicine the chess doctor ordered. Man, was I wrong.

First, Trond misread his start time and showed 2 hours late -- forfeited. Again, this was Trond's first ever forfeit loss in a ton of tournaments. Did I mention this was his first ever forfeit? But Tom evened it right up in smashing fashion, leveling the score 1-1. So Bob and I were playing at near identical times; but Bob had to take a quick draw due to family emergency (everything turned out OK), and I managed to resign in an even position -- a first for me ever, OTB, ICC, correspondence. Incredible. So we go down in flames 1.5 - 2.5 for the third week in a row.

So halfway through T41 and we have lost more matches than in the first 3 tournament we played combined. To be fair, it will take a major miracle to get in the playoffs now.

OK, Round 4. We are playing team "Opening Drive". Here is the lineup.

Opening Drive v Primates of the Caribbean
Merciful (2137) - Campagnolo (2100): TBD
Hubris123 (2003) - Nosalt (2063): TBD
Kabrindra (1796) - Ivanson (1833): Monday, May 25 1600
Badmove (1522) - Budzo (1708): Monday, May 25 1000

Updates on Rounds 1 & 2

2009-05-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

I got a little behind in my reporting, so this will be a combination of a wrap up of Round 1 plus a look ahead to Round 2.

Round 1. At the risk of repeating myself, “we matched up well against our first round opponents.” Actually, Tom and I were higher rated than our opponents, while Curt and Bob were lower rated. And to Curt’s & Bob’s credit, they acquitted themselves quite well, drawing both games. But then… the wheels came off the cart, as Tom drew after being 2 pawns in an opposite colored bishop ending (as he states, “I got complacent.”). I however played the worst game of chess in a long time, get in horrible time pressure then blow a completely even game. Argh!!!!! So we lose the first round 2.5 – 1.5 to the team “4hourslife”.

So, onto round 2.
Here is the lineup: Primates of the Caribbean v Opening Drive
Campagnolo (2100) v Merciful (2137): Wednesday, 13 May @ 2100
Nosalt (2063) v Hubris123 (2003): 0-1
Ivanson (1833) v Upsan 1826: ½ - ½
Budzo (1708) v cityprosecutor (1806): Wednesday, 13 May @ 2000

T41 has arrived!

2009-04-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note in order to keep every up to speed on T41. It has seemed like years since the end of Tournament 40.In T41, we have been placed in the U2000 Willow division with the teams “4hourslife”,” Opening Drive” & “OWNAGE” --- 3 other teams we have never faced. As for the team, the lineup consists of Myself, Tom, Trond, Curt & Bob. Don is taking a break and Trond will be serving as the “Official Sub”. Of note Kristian will be playing for his old team, "Marvelous Moves Clique II in the Magnolia Division. Good luck, Kristian!

Our team averages a respectable 1988, so I believe we should be pretty competitive. As Round 1 will be starting this Tuesday, we are soon to find out. As soon as the round 1 pairings are posted, I will follow up.

Lower Primates crash out in Semis

2009-04-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

It was not meant to be. I guess that it how I should phrase our semi-final match against the team “Fischer Disciples”. On paper we matched up quite well, but once we got to the “practical application” we just couldn’t put our erstwhile opponents away. It had started auspiciously enough with Tom winning quite easily on Board 2. With the first set of tiebreaks being even, the second set would be taking the score of the top 3. So, all it required was for the team to get one point between the two of us and we would go to the finals. However, I knew that I faced a very tough match against Ser-Enigma, who was undefeated in this tournament. Plus I had Black. Ooof. Don would also have Black, but he possessed a higher rating than his opponent, so I estimated Don’s chances to win better than mine. Curt’s game on Board 4 would only matter if Don and I failed, but Curt would be facing an opponent over 200 points higher, so he had a pretty formidable challenge on his hands.
Ser-Enigma surprised the heck out me by playing this offbeat Benko-line (anti-Benko line?), the third guy I have faced in a row with Black that has chosen to play against my Benko (and the third guy to whom I have lost). It was a bit frustrating; each time getting a reasonable position then missing some form of tactic. Argh. I guess I should expect folks to tee up against my Benko and I just need to play it better (and isn’t that the whole point?).
The Curt also lost, but as long as Don won, we would advance. And Don played a beautiful game, had a completely crushing position, then got into time trouble. From there it all went awry as his opponent could exchange sac and get a perpetual, which he did. So we lost 2.5 – 1.5. Oh well.
Still, we had a great tournament, we made the playoffs (which was my goal) and we got to the semi-finals.
So now, I am making preparations for Tournament 41, so stay tuned!

Semi-Finals Lineup posted

2009-03-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

Board 1: Sunday, Mar 29 @ 0530
Campagnolo (2097) Black – Ser-enigma (2119) White

Board 2: Friday, Mar 27 @ 1300
Nosalt (2047) White – DeLaSalle (1976) Black

Board 3: Monday, Mar 30 @ 1900
Dnmusg (2002) Black – Charles-Allen (1960) White

Board 4: Sunday, Mar 29 @ 1700
Ivanson (1788) White – McPlayerus (1910) Black

Lower Primates clinch in early victories, roll on to Semi-Finals

2009-03-24T05:05:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had three games in rapid succession against team “Assassin the King”. I had a game at 0530 (I know, but I am an early riser by nature and with 2 young sons, the only quiet I ever seem to get is when they are asleep!), then Don played at 1300 & Bob at 1400. With tiebreaks favoring us, Don and I scored the first 2 wins and secured our place in the semi-finals with The Other Bob’s game still being played out. And although Tom plays this AM (Tuesday), the league has already posted the next round of the playoffs. So we face off against “Fischer Disciples”, a team we have faced off in the regular season of Tournament 38. Again, and I have said this before, but I think we match up pretty well.

Of note, Don’s game has been nominated for Round 8 Game of the Week. Here is a link to the game:
http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?ID=8738&Board=3

I’ll post the lineup tomorrow when we know who plays whom (the teams’ lineups get posted at 2200 on Tuesdays).

Lower Primates square off against Team “Assassin the King” in first round of playoffs

2009-03-20T09:05:00.001-07:00

This coming Saturday is a HUGE day as three of the games will be played, leaving only Tom to play on Tuesday. We roll into the first round as the #4 seed, squaring off against the #5 seed. In my estimation, we have a fair shot to advance to the next round as we match up ratings-wise pretty closely with the opposition. Curt is taking the week off with family obligations, so Bob, aka “the Other Bob”, has Board 4 duties. Without further ado, here is the lineup (as always all times are ICC Server time):

Lower Primates of the Caribbean v Assassin the King
Campagnolo (2097) v Puuntuupaaja (2044): Saturday, Mar 21 @ 0530
Nosalt (2047) v Shakkimestari (2028): Tuesday, Mar 24 @ 0930
Dnmuscg (2002) v Speedy-Reedy (1967): Saturday, Mar 21 @ 1300
Budzo (1676) v Shakkiipe (1788): Saturday, Mar 21 @ 1400

Lower Primates roll through Round 6, qualify for playoffs!

2009-03-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

For those who were unaware, this team was a last second decision to put together. Previously the Primates played in the U2000 division, but after last season our team average was over 2000, thus placing us in the next division up. On a whim Don, Tom & I decided that we could swing 2 games a week; we then sought out and found Curt and “The Other Bob” to complete the team. Voila! The “Lower Primates” were born.

Now fast forward to Round 6 (the last round), we needed to win this match to make the playoffs. We faced the Runners, whom we faced off against in the last round last tournament and failed to beat, but this time the team responded by ripping through the competition (with me yet to play). I must admit, it felt good to win the match and make the playoffs.

So now we await the final seeding to determine whom we face. As it stands now, we are slated to square off against team “Assassin the King”, but that might change dependent on how the final couple games finish (including mine). As I can best figure out, we are tied for 3‑5 place with team “Assassin the King” and team “Discovered Mates”, and I have yet play and Discovered Mates’ Board 1 also has yet to play. Lineups will be posted by Tuesday night and we shall see how it shakes out.

On a personal note, I am 4-1-1 playing second board for the Primates in the U2200 section, but only 1-0-2 playing first board for the Lower Primates in the U2000 section (although I have been gifted at least one game in the U2200 section).

Finally, I wanted to thank all my teammates for their professionalism and conduct during the course of the tournament. We finished the entire tournament without a single forfeit! They also took care of all their responsibilities of scheduling and playing without me having to lift a finger. But most importantly we truly enjoyed the team aspect; guys watched each other’s games and supported each other throughout the season.

Thanks, guys!

- Bob (Alpha Primate?)

Lower Primates: Win & they’re in

2009-03-07T08:20:00.001-08:00

While the Primates wrapped up their round 5 with a valiant effort and 1.5 – 2.5 loss to Team “To Be Determined”, the Lower Primates continued their good form with a resounding 3.5 – 0.5 win over the Team “Long Live the King”, giving them a half Match Point lead over their closest rivals, Team “Mistaken Identity.” Round 6 has the Lower Primates facing Team “Runners”, who also possess a chance to make the playoffs, only trailing the leaders by 1 Match Point.

Here are the current standings after 5 rounds (and 1 round to go):
1. Lower Primates 3.5 (12.5 game points)
2. Mistaken Identity 3.0 (11 game points)
3. Runners 2.5 (10 game points)

Of note, Curt had a fantastic game in a crushing miniature, playing the white side of Center Counter, so good that I nominated for Game of the Week. Here is a link to the game:
http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?ID=22368

And here is the lineup for the critical Round 6

Campagnolo (2097) v Chiiwen (2002): Saturday, Mar 14 @ 2100
Nosalt (2047) v martineden (1963): Monday, Mar 9 @ 1100
Dnmuscg (2002) v chess9397 (1805): Monday, Mar 9 @ 1930
Ivanson (1788) v chess9793 (1750): Wednesday, Mar 11 @ 1800

As for the Primates, their last round opponents forfeited en masse and in effect have a bye, finishing in the Everest Division in a respectable 3rd place.

Round 4 wrap up & looking forward to Round 5

2009-02-27T12:59:00.000-08:00

The Primates continue to take it on the chin in the U2200 division, while the Lower Primates are now tied for 1st in their division – both with only 2 matches to go.

One of the best displays of sportsmanship I have seen was between Tom and his Round 4 opponent (BigTweed), the latter’s wife was due during the round – and actually gave birth during the weekend. Tom and BigTweed continued to correspond on scheduling the game, a difficult prospect as the baby could have arrived at any time and caused a forfeit. Both players were eager to play and finally played their game after the arrival of BigTweed’s baby daughter – congrats on your family’s addition and kudos to both players for their ability to keep the whole thing in the proper perspective.

So here we are for round 5:

Primates v To Be Determined
TheChessKid (2137) v easycure (2332): Monday, Mar 2 @ 1800
Campagnolo (2097) v Blade (2163): Sunday, Mar 1 @ 0500
Nosalt (2047) v Slimedog2 (2142): Tuesday, Mar 3 @ 0830
Dnmuscg (2002) v Ser-Enigma (2119): 0-1

Lower Primates v Long Live the King
Campagnolo (2097) v Trophyking (2313): Tuesday, Mar 3 @ 2100
Nosalt (2047) v Alexdb (2005): TBD
Dnmuscg (2002) v Wheels (1870): Saturday, Feb 28 @ 1100
Ivanson (1788) v Philly-Boy (1782): Saturday, Feb 28 @ 1800

Round 3 Round up & looking forward to Round 4

2009-02-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

Lower Primates top of the division after 3 rounds. Primates in 3rd.

We knew the games were going to be tough in the U2200 section. What we really did not take into account is the fact that we would be soooooo underrated (or maybe the better term is “overmatched”). For example, Tom on Board 3 plays a FIDE Master. Wow – Board 3! I guess we should be happy to get such tough and ultimately enriching games, but hot diggity. But kudos to the Lower Primates, especially, Curt and The Other Bob (who tongue in cheek calls himself “TOB”) have pulled out some fantastic results and ensured that the Lower Primates are undefeated and top of the table halfway through the competition. And after 3 rounds neither team has had a forfeit. I am justifiably proud of the guys for making sure that they schedule their games on time and show up to play. I have to do very little to remind them, everybody takes care of it on their own. Thanks, guys!

As a side note, Tom, Don & I ventured into northern New Jersey this past weekend for 3 days of the US Amateur Team East, one of our collective chess highlights of the year. Overall we did well, finishing with 4 points out of a possible 6, but lost out Top Military honors to our rivals “Ernest Goes to Parsippany” on tiebreaks (our team name of course was “Primates of the Caribbean”). The best game award goes to Don, who played a very impressive game against an Expert, sacrificing 2 pawns in rapid succession for the initiative, then sacrificing/trading his rooks for his opponent’s queen. He orchestrated his queen and 2 connected passed pawns against the 2 rooks and converted the full point. Also, kudos to Steven Rollins, who played on Board 4, scoring 4.5 points of 6 despite his claims of rustiness.

OK, here are the lineups for Round 4

First, Justin still has a Round 3 game versus the Massachusetts State Champion & 2400 USCF rated Senior Master Denys Shmelov on Sunday.
TheChessKid (2137) v Easycure (2332): Sunday, Feb 22 @ 1200

Primates of the Caribbean v Les Goolie Crushers
TheChessKid (2137) v Pandorasbox (2309): TBD
Campagnolo (2097) v onslaught (2246): TBD
Dnmuscg (2002) v izit (2184): TBD
Holm (1998) v Jonesey (2060): Sunday, Feb 22 @ 0400

Lower Primates v Mistaken Identity
Campagnolo (2097) v Folgers (2115): Friday, Feb 20 @ 2100
Nosalt (2047) v BigTweeds (2050): TBD
Dnmuscg (2002) v MeanMrMustard (1925): Monday, Feb 23 @ 2000
Ivanson (1788) v Jcdios (1906): Sunday, Feb 22 @ 1800

Catching up on Rounds 1 & 2; Looking ahead to Round 3

2009-02-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

Due to a late schedule, Curt finished up his round 1 match in the second week (which is entirely legal) with a victory and providing us with the match draw against the Runners in the U2000 Division. His was a nice win when we needed it in the clutch.

In the Round 2 match, Justin had the Grandmaster Draw of grandmaster draws, when his opponent, who has white and was rated higher over 200 points, offered a draw at move 1. Tom and I subsequently drew our games, only Don lost. We lost a close match 2.5-1.5, despite all for of our boards being heavily outrated. We now trail in second place in the U2200 Everest Division, a match point adrift.

In the U2000 Division, the other Bob pulled out a tough draw as black to secure the match victory against the team “Mistaken Identity” 2.5-1.5. As a result, after 2 rounds we sit atop the leader board in the U2000 Magnolia Division in what looks to be a highly competitive division. Not bad.

This week is going to be interesting as Don, Tom & I all head off to play in the US Amateur Team East. For those who have never played in the USATE, it is a unique, wonderful experience where players range from the Grandmaster to the brand new school kid learning to play. I am hoping that all the hard work that Don, Tom & I have put into studying and playing in the 45 45 league pays off in our OTB games.

Finally, here are the line ups for Round 3:

“Primates” v “To be determined”
TheChessKid (2137) v Easycure (2332): TBD
Campagnolo (2097) v Blade (2163): Tuesday, 17 Feb @ 1500
Nosalt (2047) v Slimedog2 (2142): Wednesday, 18 Feb @ 2000
Dnmuscg (2002) v Ser-Enigma (2119): Tuesday, 17 Feb @ 1400

“Lower Primates” v “Long Live the King”
Nosalt (2047) v trophyking (2313): Thursday, 19 Feb @ 1900
Dnmuscg (2002) v Alexdb (2005): Friday, 13 Feb @ 2100
Ivanson (1788) v Wheels (1870): Monday, 16 Feb @ 1600
Budzo (1676) v Fuzzie (1777): Saturday, 14 Feb @ 1000

Round 2: Here we go!

2009-02-06T08:41:00.001-08:00

Primates v Les Goolie Crushers

After 1 round, we sit atop the Everest Division, but now have to face some serious competition where all four boards are higher rated than we are (once again, Justin has it worst at an ~180 point difference). Here are the pairings, only Don has played his match so far:

Les Goolie Crushers v Primates of the Caribbean

Pandorasbox (2309) v TheChessKid (2137): TBD
Izit (2184) v Campagnolo (2097): TBD
Kingcapture (2181) v nosalt (2047): TBD
Jonesey (2060) v dnmuscg (2002): 1-0

On the Lower Primate side of the house, round 2 has us matched against “Mistaken Identity”, where I think we match up pretty well. Curt still has his round 1 game to play, so he has the bye. Don and Tom played yesterday (Thursday), with both coming away victorious. Here are the match ups:

Lower Primates of the Caribbean v Mistaken Identity

Campagnolo (2097) v Folgers (2115): Saturday, 7 Feb 2100
nosalt (2047) v BigTweeds (2050): 1-0
dnmuscg (2002) v MeanMrMustard (1925): 1-0
Budzo (1676) v azbycx (1827): TBD

Results from Round 1

2009-02-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

I think the theme of Round 1 is “endgame”. Ironically in the 45 45 League, I am sure that opening preparation plays an important role in the game, and obviously positional and tactical themes run rampant, but as I watched some of our team’s games, I saw a common theme of endgames impact. I think the major difference is that you can recover from bad positional play, or poor opening preparation or even missed tactics, but endgame play is technique which will directly cause a win/draw/loss. I have studied endgames a bit (nowhere near enough, but I do feel pretty comfortable). I am not an endgame expert, but I do play one on TV. For those who want the greatest return on an investment (meaning you don’t want to spend too much time on endgames), my first recommended book is Glenn Flear’s Improve Your Endgame Play. It is only 160 pages and you can plow right through it. You’ll get the basics, just play Fritz in some of the test positions and Bingo! My other recommendation if you have more time is Jeremy Silman’s Complete Endgame Course. Jeremy’s book is much longer and it is divided into what to know at whatever your rating/expertise is vice thematically like Glenn’s.

OK getting back to Round 1
Primates victorious over “Los Zetas”
Primates 2.5 v Los Zetas 1.5
Don cruised (Don usually makes it look easy), Tom lost, I had a good game, but Justin had THE game of the match, playing a FIDE Master 200+ points higher rated with the white side of a Dragon. It was a very interesting game to watch (Dragons usually are) and it quickly got very messy, with both players missing subtle tactics. It ended as a draw, with Justin up a rook for 3 pawns (I cannot fault him as I ironically also had a draw with a rook v 3 pawns). Besides the draw secured the match and our first victory in the U2200 League. Congrats, Justin! Not bad for your first match.

Lower Primates 1 – Runners 2
With Curt’s game yet to play, we trail the Runners 2 – 1, with Tom and Don both drawing and Bob getting into time pressure and missing a tactic which undid his position. To Bob’s credit, he hung tougher than I probably would have after dropping the pawn, as his position quickly deteriorated. He almost recovered enough to get to a playable Rook & Pawn endgame. Don played magician and wiggled out of a near dead lost endgame, sacrificing his bishop for his opponent’s last 2 pawns, leaving the poor guy alone with a knight. Don, in his typical humorous fashion, told me after the game, “I don’t think my opponent knows how to mate me with his knight.” Tom also drew, after suffering for most of the game, then getting to a King & Pawn ending where he at one point could have pulled out the victory. His position was study-like in nature (If I have time, I will post it). But in the end, Tom got a Queen & Pawn v Queen & Pawn dead drawn ending.

Good luck to Curt, who plays Friday @ 3:00 PM ICC server time.

Probably Wed I will post Round 2’s pairings.

And it begins – Round 1!

2009-01-28T13:07:00.000-08:00

Round 1 kicks off with the Primates squaring off with “Los Zetas”. With the exception of Justin, who is outrated by close to 200 points, I think we match up quite well. Here is the lineup (of note, Don & my games are already scheduled for Friday)

Primates of the Caribbean v Los Zetas:

TheChessKid (2137) v Gringo (2313) : TBD
Campagnolo (2097) v GeofDev (2080) : Friday, Jan 30 @ 21:00
nosalt (2047) v SlowDragon (1950) : TBD
dnmuscg (2002) v Tiesto (1725): Friday, Jan 30 @ 10:00

As for the Lower Primates, I selected myself to take the week off (I am trying to “ease” back into the swing of things). We kick off with a grudge match v. the “Runners U2000”, whom we played twice last tournament. The Other Bob (or is Bob “the real Bob” and I am “the other Bob”? Not sure yet on that issue!) and Curt debut for the Lower Primates on Boards 3 & 4. Here is the schedule:

Lower Primates of the Caribbean v Runners U2000
nosalt (2047) v chiiwen (2002) : TBD
dnmuscg (2002) v martineden (1963): Monday, Feb 2 @ 10:00
KarloTurk (1914) v Ivanson: TBD
chess9397 (1805) v Budzo (1676): Monday, Feb 2 @ 19:30

I will update the match times once I they are posted.

TheChessKid joins the Primates

2009-01-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

Justin (aka "TheChessKid"), who happens to be a friend of Tom's and from the same town, has agreed to play as Board 1 for the Primates. Welcome to the team, Justin! So we now have 6 players, which to some might seem too many, but Trond is planning on serving as an alternate (he was quite happy to play 2 games in Tourn 39, so he will plan to play about the same this time). Also, Tom, Don and I will be going to Amateur Team East to defend our title in Feb and will need some deserved rest before, during and after. It will be interesting to see how we fare against the unquestionably tougher competition that the top section is sure to offer.

So the lineup is:
- Justin (TheChessKid- 2137)
- Me (Campagnolo - 2097)
- Tom (Nosalt - 2047)
- Don (dnmuscg - 2002)
- Trond (Holm - 1998)
- Kristian (livis - 1956)

Our team average is 2070.75, which is on the low side for the section, but we are good with that. Wish us luck!

And if we weren't gluttons for enough punishment, on a whim Don, Tom & I formed another 45 45 team for the U2000 section, the team being aptly named "Lower Primates o the Caribbean" (I couldn't fit the "f" in the word "of" in the title due to our name having too many letters). So "Lower Primates" we shall be!

For those who think us completely crazy, I would contend that:
1. I truly enjoy this format -- especially the team aspect, which gives me the motivation to do my best for the team
2. One game a week is perfect. As I do not play enough over the board tournament chess, this will reduce the amount of "rust" I usually suffer from
3. As a result of joining the league I play less speed chess, which is addictive but really doesn't do anything positive for your game (and can be very frustrating).
4. I think it has improved my game

One final note: It looks like Gary and I are going to go to play in the Guernsey International tournament in October. I have wanted to play overseas for some time (England or Ireland would have been perfect), but Guernsey is close enough. More to follow on that adventure as it gets closer!

Primates move on up to U2200 for T40!

2009-01-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

Congrats to the guys! You worked hard and it payed off.

- Don's rating improved over 50 points

- Tom's rating improved over 40 points

- Trond's rating improved 90 points!! (wow)

So, despite not making the T39 playoffs, the Primates' ratings improved so much so that it created a a small problem. We have done so well that the team's average is OVER 2000.

We had a couple options: break the team up or move up a section. As we truly have a great team chemistry and want to continue to play together -- now in the rarified air of the U2200 division --- there really was only one choice.

Now the reward for all that hard work is tougher competition. Ooof.

Tournament 40 kicks off on Jan 27, so stay tuned for updates!

--------------------------------------

On a different note, I finished Garry Kasparov's "Kasparov v Karpov 1975 - 1985" over Christmas holiday. Great book, highly recommended. Reminded me of the Tal's "Tal-Botvinnik 1960." Both are very readable and games can be enjoyed casually or studied deeply.

Round 6: Primates 3.5 -- Tomato Paste 0.5

2008-12-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

The Primates finished up in fine style, winning 3 and drawing one. I took the week off to go travel out of town for Thanksgiving weekend, and Tom stepped up to board 1 for the first time, drawing SonofFlash; while Don, Kristian and Trond all won their games. Well done, Gents.

So we finish up second in the Magnolia Division, but still played pretty solidly throughout. I am planning already for tournament 40, which starts in January. Watch for the Primates!

On one final note: We never did hear back on the protest. Or perhaps in fact we have. Hmmmm.

Also....For an early Christmas present, I picked up Garry Kasparov's "Kasparov v Karpov 1975 - 1985". I am not much for chess books, but I have always considered that rivalry as big as any in sport (if you consider chess a sport, but that is another discussion). I have to say "Kasparov v Karpov 1975 - 1985" is amazing. Wow. No punches pulled and the way he describes not only the variations but the emotions too are top-notch. My goal is to go through this book in the next couple of weeks.

Round 5: Primates v Runners

2008-11-21T14:45:00.001-08:00

Here is the belated lineup:
Chiiwen (2069) White -- Campagnolo (2035) Black: Sunday, 23 Nov @ 2100
Martineden (2035) -- Nosalt (1994) 0-1
KarloTurk (1994) -- livis (1944) 1/2 -1/2
chess9397 (1845) -- dnmuscg (1930) 1-0

Please note that chess9397-dnmuscg game is under protest. More to follow after the final game on sunday and result of the protest is determined.

Round 4: Primates 2 -- LeChess Maestros 2

2008-11-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

What a weird round this was. In the first game, Tom played an amazing game against Fegary... and drew! Both players were at their best, and the end result was one of the best games I have seen in this league. Then it was my turn and I played Chessduke (I had Black). We went into a rather innocuous line, where I have not lost in tournament play. I knew the entire line all the way to move 16, where Chessduke offered a draw. I accepted. You could call it my "Grandmaster Draw"; I think I have 2 of those in this tournament.

Then bizarro things started to happen. Nosferatu1 showed up an hour late for his game -- and forfeited. Then the very next day, Don's opponent also was a no-show and forfeited. End result: match tied 2-2. Looking back at the match -- 2 draws and 2 forfeits.

Round 5 (the next round) against the Runners arguably is going to the critical round. We are tied with LeChess Maestros and the Runners in match points, but behind a half point in total games won to the Maestros and ahead a half a point in total games won to the Runners. This is a very competitive division and every game now counts -- no grandmaster draws!

One final note: I have noticed an amazing amount of forfeits in tournament #39. Not sure what the cure for that problem is, but I would be interested in seeing some statistics on it.

Round 3: Runners 3 -- Primates 1

2008-11-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

It was bound to happen. After 10 rounds of being undefeated, we finally succumbed to the inevitable and lost a round. I knew we were in for a tough fight when Tom, cruising in a superior position, overlooked a pin and hung a rook. Then Kristian fought hard, but went down swinging in a Rook and Pawn endgame. I was the third game to play, and at this point I had to win even to give us a chance to split the match. But it was not to be, as my erstwhile opponent deftly played the Black side of a Maroczy Bind and I could not make a dent into his defensive formation and we drew. As it turned out Trond also drew the final game, and we were left on the short side of a 3-1 decision.

Round 4: Primates v LeChess Maestros
Now we face arguably our biggest match in this tournament as we face LeChess Maestros for the second time, with whom we are tied with 2 of 3 match points but trail them by 1 game point.

Here is the line up:
Chessduke (2108) White -- Campagnolo (2035) Black : Time TBD
Fegary (2038) Black -- Nosalt (1994) White: Friday, Nov 14 @ 09:15
Smitty120 (1936) White -- Dnmuscg (1930) Black: Monday, Nov 17 @ 15:00
Chessateer (1833) Black -- Nosferatu1 (1876) White: Sunday, Nov 16 @ 12:00

Chessduke and I are still trying to work out the times as he resides in India with a 10.5 hour time difference.

Round 3: Primates v Runners

2008-11-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

Here are the Round 3 pairings. Don is taking the week off and Trond is filling in. I think we match up pretty well on paper, let's see how it goes over the board (as it were).

Campagnolo (2035) White - Chiiwen (2069) Black: Sat 8 Nov @ 2100
Nosalt (1994) Black - Martineden (2035) White: Sat 8 Nov @ 1000
Livis (1944) White - KarloTurk (1994) Black: Fri 7 Nov @ 1500
Holm (1899) Black - Chess9793 (1781) White: Tues 11 Nov @ 1230

All times are Eastern Standard Time. Once Tom & Trond get their times posted, I will update.

Primates 3 - LeChess Maestros 1

2008-11-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

Despite Tom posting a early loss, we reeled off 2 wins plus Don's opponent forfeiting, giving us the match 3-1. Of note, Don is now 7-0-0 (1 forfeit included). Pretty incredible. My match was the last one to be played, while we were up 2-1, so the least we could do was tie the match. But here I was, tell me what you would do here. Would you sac? Would you risk it all?

Well, not yet.

11.Bf4 Qd8 (pretty much forced)

But after this I decided to go for it:

12.Nxf7!? Rxf7

- 12...Kxf7 13.Rxe6 Ke8 14.Qd2 b4 15.Rxe7+ Qxe7 (15...Kxe7 16.Qe3+ Kd7 17.Qe6#) 16.Re1

13.Bxe6 b4 14.Ne2 Bd5 15.Bxf7+ Bxf7 16.Qd3 Bd6 17.c4 Bxf4 18.Nxf4 Qd6

19.Ne2 Nc6 20.b3

- 20.Rad1 Bg6 21.Qg3 Re8 22.Qxd6=

20...Bg6 21.Qg3 Qxg3

- 21...Nxd4 22.Nxd4 Qxd4 23.Qxc7 Ng4 24.Qg3 Rf8 25.Rad1 Qxf2+ 26.Qxf2 Nxf2 27.Rd6 a5 28.Rd5 Ne4 29.Rxa5+/=

22.hxg3 Re8 23.d5 Ne5 24.Nf4 Bf7 25.Rad1 g5 26.Ne6 Bxe6 27.Rxe5

- 27.dxe6! Might be better but he doesn't have to take

27...Bg4 28.Rxg5+ Kf7 29.f3 Bh5

- 29...h6! 30.Rxg4 Nxg4 31.fxg4 Re2 32.Rf1+ Kg6 33.Rf2 is a pretty tough win for me

Now this is a matter of technique: 30.d6 cxd6 31.Rxd6 Re6 32.Rxe6 Kxe6 33.Ra5 Bg6 34.Rxa6+ Ke7 35.Rb6 Bb1 36.Rxb4 Bxa2 37.Kf2 Nd7 38.Rb5 Kd6 39.Ke3 Nc5 40.b4 Nd7 41.Kd4 Bb1 42.Rd5+ Ke6 43.c5 Bc2 44.Rd6+ Ke7 45.b5 Ba4 46.b6 Nb8 47.Rh6 Black resigns 1-0

Round 2: Primates v LeChess Maestros

2008-10-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry to be late on the posting for Round 2:
Here is the line up
Campagnolo (2035) White - Chessduke (2108) Black: Time Still TBD
Nosalt - Fegary 0-1
Livis (1944) White - Smitty120 (1936) Black: Friday, Oct 31 @ 1600
Dnmuscg - Chessateer 1-0 (forfeit)

Primates 3.5 – Tomato Paste 0.5

2008-10-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

Round 1 went well, with Tom, Don & Kristian all triumphiant while I drew on board 1 in an interesting endgame. I frankly was pretty closed to being busted, in a game that my only hopes lay in pushing for a Rook and Pawn endgame – which in fact happened.

Here is what happened next:

I have managed to force myself back into the game and now am up a rook for 2 pawns. White offered a draw and I accepted, not being sure if in fact I could stop that h pawn, especially with my king so far out of play.

Here is some analysis, which confirms my suspicions

56...Rf5 57.Kh6
This is pretty much forced (and what I expected to play). All other moves lose

- 57.h6 Rg5 58.b5 Rxg3 59.b6 Rg6 (59...f5?? throws the game away 60.b7 Rb3 61.Kg6 f4 62.h7 Rb6+ 63.Kf5 f3) 60.b7 Rb6 61.Kg7 Rxb7 62.Kf6 Rb6+ 63.Kxf7 Rxh6

57...f6
- 57...Rb5 (This doesn't work) 58.g4 Rxb4 59.Kg7 (59.g5 Rg4 60.g6 f5 61.Kg7 f4 62.h6 f3 63.h7 f2 64.h8Q f1Q 65.Qh5 Qe2–+) 59...Rxg4+ 60.Kxf7 Rh4 61.Kg6 Rg4+ 62.Kf7 Rh4 63.Kg6 Ke2 64.h6 Kf3 65.h7=]

58.Kg6 Rg5+ 59.Kxf6 Rxh5
- 59...Rxg3 (This doesn't work either) 60.h6 Rh3 61.Kg7 Rg3+ 62.Kf7 Rh3=

60.g4 Rb5 61.g5 Rxb4 62.g6 Rb6+ 63.Kf7 Ke2 64.g7 Rb8= ½–½

Round 1: Primates take on Tomato Paste

2008-10-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the line up for Round 1:

SonofFlash (2200) White – Campagnolo (2035) Black: Friday, 24 Oct @ 2000
DFME (2000) Black – Nosalt (1994) White: 0-1
MrKarma (1651) White – livis (1944) Black: Friday, 24 Oct @ 1700
Cory (1521) Black – dnmuscg (1930) White: Friday, 24 Oct @ 1945

Tomato looks tough on the upper boards, but Tom posted an early, impressive win yesterday – a great start to our season. The rest of our games will be going on this evening, conceivably all three could be going on at the same time if Kristian’s game goes long.

Also, Kudos to Mutaant, the Magnolia Division TD, who promptly fixed a glitch in Tom’s game score. Thanks!

Of note, I did sign up to play for the Peons U2200, so I have that game at 0500 Sunday morning!!! Yikes, but the family plans on going to Busch Gardens after Church, so I have to wedge the game somehow. I guess I will sleep while the wife drives.

I’ll post the results probably Saturday.

Return of the Primates!!!

2008-10-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Tournament #39 has begun. We have assembled the “Primates of the Caribbean” together once again, with all five players returning and the addition of Kristian (aka “Livis”). Trond wanted to stay on the team, but because of work commitments, wanted to play more in a reserve role vice playing every week. All in all, I think the team has good chemistry (if there can be such a thing as chemistry when the team play is all online), especially given that Don, Tom and I play on the same team at US Amateur Team East every year and have known each other for years and years. I also was asked to play as a sub for the U2200 division team “The Peons”, so hopefully I will get some more good games in. I am slated to play 2 games with them, which I think I can handle without too much difficulty.

Getting back to the ICC Team 45 45 Tournament #39, we are seeded in the U2000 Magnolia Division with the following teams: “Tomato Paste”, “Runners U2000” and “LeChess Maestros”. First round kicks off next Tues, October 21st. Once the lineup and game times are announced, I will post them.

Playoff Round 1: Primates 2 - The Peons 2

2008-09-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I have to say I am a bit disappointed -- not sure why exactly. We drew the match with the Peons 2-2, but lost out on tiebreaks, which ironically was the number forfeited games you had. We had 2, Peons had 1 -- so they advance. I am kinda scratching my head here: we didn't lose a single match all season and had the best record, and yet here we are spectators -- without losing a match.

And I feel guilty. Here is why:
1. I play my match against Nfork, who has me outrated by 200+ points. But I have white, so can dictate the position. We go into the famous IQP position played a billion times before that have arisen from Queen's Gambits, Nimzoindians and Caro-Kanns. It turns in to a very interesting R & opposite colored bishop ending, which we draw. But the thing is, in looking back over the game, I think I should have pushed for the win, which would have clinched the match. It was probably a draw, but then again perhaps not. OBTW, I will post it (I know, I have at least 3 games I need to post).
2. So we are up 2 - 1 with 1 game to go: Holm's game. I leave him a message that all we need is a draw. He ends up losing (and to add insult to injury it is the Game of the Week -- which I do not think it was. Don had a pretty ending that I think merited the honors). Did I influence Holm, which cost him the game?

Oh well, our entire team is coming back for T39. We should be tough!!!!!

Round 6: Primates 2.5 - Knightmares 1.5

2008-09-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

We finished the season is good shape, beating the Knightmares 2.5 - 1.5, which was not as close as the score would indicate (no offense intended to our opponents). Nosalt took the week off to play in a REAL chess tournament (gasp!), but dnmuscg & I both posted early wins, the Holm clinched the victory with a draw v his opponent, who was 100 points above him. So the match was already won before the last game was to be played, which was fortunate as Nosferatu1 got his dates mixed up and missed this game.

So, we finish up with the best match record 5.5 out of 6, best in the U2000 division. We also had the best game points with 16.5 out of maximum total of 24. We lost a total of 3 games for the entire season (not including my forfeit or Nosferatu1's). Pretty impressive. Dnmusg went 4-0, Holm went 4.5 of 5, and Nosferatu1 had 2 wins and 2 draws. There is no doubt that our middle/lower boards did the heavy lifting and is the strength of the team.

Next stop -- Playoffs as the #1 seed!

Round 5: Primates of the Caribbean 3.5 -- Team Voja 0.5

2008-08-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we clinched the U2000 Maple Division with a round to go with a well played round across all four boards, with only Tom giving up a draw after winning a pawn on move 7. With Don taking the week off, we were matched up rating-wise pretty closely with Team Voja and the final score doesn't indicate how close some of the games were. On a personal note, I finally won a game, defeating Cappelo-upgrate in a variation that I actually had studied quite a bit and played a similar game back in December 2007 -- unluckily for Cappelo, who probably was wondering what hit him. As it is my first win in 5 rounds, I will definitely publish it (I still owe the game from round 4).

We go into Round 6 with Tom taking the week off as he is playing in a 3 day tournament this weekend. And the first result is already in, with Don winning (again! I think he is 4-0-0). Here is the lineup. Once I get Nosferaut1's scheduled game time, I'll post that:

Campagnolo (2043) White - Kinghunter08 (2172) Black: Monday Sep 1 @ 1900

Holm (1900) Black - DFME (2000) White: Monday Sep @ 1500

dnmuscg (1891) 1 - Ehab (1837) 0

Nosferatu1 (1835) Black - Ernie1 (1669) White: TBD

Round 4 results: We draw v Fischer Disciples

2008-08-21T15:30:00.001-07:00

Well, after Don blazed a beautiful trail, upsetting his opponent ranked 150 higher than him (with Black no less), Tom & I both stumbled to different degrees then it was up to Nosferatu1 to save our bacon (which he did) and the match with a well earned draw. Tom had white and the Yugoslav attack v the Dragon, went up the exchange but gave back the exchange to what I thought was a fairly even R+P ending. But alas for Tom, he could not hold it. But this accounts for only his first loss in the tournament. As for me, it was an interesting and instructive game full of errors, a reversed Maroczy Bind (if there is such an animal, but that it is how I played it). I had the game won at least twice, so did Ser-Enigma, my opponent. In the end, we split the point. I'll post the game, once I get some more of my thoughts down on it.

I also nominated Don's game for "Game of the Week", but to be fair this week's entries all were pretty good games, so he is in my opinion a long shot to win this week's award.

BREAK BREAK

Round 5 Pirates of the Caribbean v Voja 2000

Here is the lineup (Don has the week off)

Cappelo-upgrate (2164) White - Campagnolo (2043) Black @ Aug 22, 17:00

Proudchess (1880) Black - Nosalt (1999) White @ Aug 23, 13:00

Alo (1839) White - Holm (Black) 1900 @Aug 27, 15:00

Touchthis (1819) Black - Nosferatu1 (1835) White @ Aug 24, 12:00

Overalll, we still remain in 1st place in the Maple Division with 2 rounds left. Everyone (with the exception of me! Argh! Double Argh!!) is playing really well, and I still contend we are going to be tough to beat.

Round 4: Primates v Fischer Disciples

2008-08-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

We square off against the Fischer Disciples. Trond has the week off.

(W) Ser-Enigma (2119) - (B) Campagnolo (2043): Friday August 15 @ 1500
(B) JoshRom (2047) - (W) Nosalt (1900): Friday August 15 @ 1400
(W) mcplayerus (2022) - (B) Dnmuscg (1891): 0-1
(B) charles-allen (1802) - (W) Nosferatu1 (1837): Tuesday August 19 @ 1700

Once again, Don captures the early win (and upset!!), with a beautiful Queen Indian Defense. He played beautiful positional chess, negating mcplayerus' initiative then just turning the screws on on the kingside. I don't understand the QID, but I could still appreciate his game. No fiery tactics or pieces en prise all over the board, just really simple chess. A definite Game of the Week candidate.

Primates 3 - Voja 0

2008-08-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

Well, Primates of the Caribbean triumph again, with Don, Tom & Trond all continuing their amazing winning ways (all three are undefeated & "undrawn"), while I find a new way to lose (more on that in a minute). In this round, we squared off against the returning U2000 champions, although to be fair I do not know how many of last tournament's winning team had returned. Luckily for us, we fielded off strongest team rating-wise (Nosferatu1 took the week off). We won on boards 2, 3 and 4, while Cappelo-upgrate and I were double-forfeited. Argh.

First off, this is MY FAULT. Cappelo has every right to be upset to have been forfeited (if he is, I am sorry). Here are the circumstances -- in the hope that this saves someone from this situation. As this is my first full tournament, my fourth game ever in the league and my first time as Captain, every week I am learning something.

OK, down to it. Cappelo offered 3 options to play, and I picked on for Monday @ 7:00. Now he wrote 7:00 ICC Server Time (correctly I might add), and I for reasons unknown my brain read that as 7:00 PM NOT AM as he had written. But then in a following post I tried to confirm a 1900 start time. From there, things kinda spiraled downward as I was on travel. He tried to contact me to reschedule, and by the time I read his later posts trying to correct the situation, he had offered Monday afternoon --which then I accepted (but as it turned out not outside the 24 hour window, which is requirement). Therefore, he did not have enough time to accept. So we were both forfeited, a ruling that I think is more than fair on my part but perhaps a bit harsh on him. I am actually considering contacting the TD and appealing Cappelo's forfeit. It seems only fair (tho' I am not sure how to do it yet).

The take aways for everone else:
1. Make sure you use a 24 hour clock to offer times. For example, 0700 for 7:00 AM and 1900 for 7:00 PM. Also all times are in ICC Server Time (aka, Eastern Daylight Time).
2. Give your opponent more that 24 hours lead time.

OK BREAK BREAK

We have faced all three teams in our division and come away with 3 victories. I am not sure we can continue this incredible form, but as long as Tom, Don & Trond keep playing the way they are playing, we are going to be very tough to beat. I am just hoping I can finally step up to the plate and deliver. We are now going to face the same 3 teams again, akin to a "home and away" format. I do believe we have a legitimate shot to make the playoffs.

My Round 1 game

2008-08-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

(1411) Tadiran (2090) - Campagnolo (2028) [C58]ICC 45 45 Internet Chess Club, 28.07.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Qf3 This is a tricky line to meet - if there is in fact a refutation to the 2 Knights Defense, it might be hidden somewhere in here. Black has to tread very carefully in order to avoid many pitfalls 8...h6 9.Ne4 Nd5 10.Ba4!? [10.Nbc3! This is what I expected -- and thought was the best move. But in hindsight Ba4 is OK too.] 10...Be7 11.d3 [11.0-0 0-0 12.d3 f5 13.Nec3 ] 11...0-0 12.0-0 f5 13.Nec3 Be6 Better is Bb7 striking along the h1-a8 diagonal. [>=13...Bb7 14.a3 (14.Re1 Nb6 15.Qg3 f4 16.Qg4 Nxa4 17.Nxa4 c5 18.Rxe5 Nc6 19.Re1 Nd4 ) 14...c5 15.Qh5 Nb6 16.Bxh6 Nxa4 17.Qg6 Rf7 18.Nxa4 f4 19.Re1 Qd7 20.Nbc3 Qc6 21.Qxc6 Nxc6 22.Bxf4 exf4 23.Ne4 Nd4 24.Rac1 f3 25.Kf1 fxg2+ 26.Kxg2 Raf8 27.Rf1 Bc6 28.Nac3 Bg5 29.Rb1 Nxc2 30.Kg1 Be7 31.Ne2 c4 32.N2g3 cxd3 33.Rbd1 Rd8 34.Rd2 Nd4 35.f4 Ne2+ 36.Nxe2 Bxe4 0-1 Van Weersel,A-Solleveld,M/Vlissingen 2003/CBM 095 ext] 14.Re1 Qc7 15.Nxd5 Bxd5?! Keeping the pawns together is stronger. The Bishop is vulnerable once the knight comes to c3 [>=15...cxd5 16.Qg3 f4 17.Qf3 Rad8© ] 16.Qh5 Rf6 17.Bd2 Bd6 18.Bc3 Kh7 19.Nd2 Rg6 20.g3 Rf8 21.b4 Nb7 22.Bb3 Nd8 23.Qe2 [23.Nc4 e4 24.Nxd6 Qxd6 25.Rad1 Rg5 26.Qe2 f4 ] 23...Nf7 24.Rab1 [24.Nc4 Ng5 ] 24...f4 25.Ne4 fxg3 26.fxg3 Bxe4 [26...Ng5! 27.Rf1 (27.Kg2 Qc8 28.Rf1 Rxf1 29.Rxf1 ) 27...Nxe4 28.dxe4 Bxb3 29.Rxb3 (29.axb3 ) 29...Rxf1+ 30.Kxf1 Rf6+ 31.Kg2 Qf7+/- ] 27.dxe4 Ng5 28.Rf1 Rgf6 29.Rxf6 Rxf6 30.Rf1 Qe7 31.Rxf6 Qxf6 32.Kg2 Qg6 33.Bc4 Qf6 [33...Kh8 34.Bd3 Ne6 35.Qf2 Nf4+ 36.Kf1 ] 34.Qg4 Bc7 35.Qf5+ Qxf5 36.exf5 Ne4 37.Be1 Nd6 38.Be6 Nb5 39.c3 a5 40.a4 Nd6 41.Bd7 Kg8 42.Bxc6 Nxf5 43.b5 Kf8 44.Bf2 Ke7 45.Kf3 Kd6 46.Bb7 Kd7 47.b6 Bd8 48.Bd5 Ne7 49.b7 Bc7 50.c4 Nc6 51.Bc5 Nb8 52.Kg4 [52.Bf8 ] 52...Ke8 53.Kf5 Na6 54.Bc6+ Kf7 55.Be3 Nb4 56.Be4 g6+ 57.Kg4 h5+ 58.Kf3 Kf6 59.Bb6 Black resigns 1-0

Round 2: Primates of the Caribbean 2.5 - Fischer Disciples 1.5

2008-08-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well, after I lost to even the match -- Holm pulls off the second upset (Dnmuscg pulled off the first one), and we triumphed again! Unbelieveable. I have to thank my three teammates (Holm, Dnmuscg, Nosferatu1) for scoring points (Tom did take the week off) to pull the victory out of the clutches of defeat.

We finish playing our division opponents in round 3 when we square off U2000 defending champions "Team Voja 2000"; the good news is that for the first time we will field our strongest
lineup, just in time if you ask me.

As for me, bleah - ugly game. Not worth publishing, but I will.

- Bob

Round 1 Results: Primates 3 - Knightmares 1

2008-07-31T06:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we have successfully concluded the first round versus the Knightmares and Nosalt (aka Tom), Holm & Nosferatu1 were all victorious -- and with me not so victorious v Tadiran. But, we won 3-1 and now face the Fischer Disciples in Round 2, in which Tom is taking the week off and Don is stepping up to the plate. In fact, Don played yesterday and won versus an opponent 100 points higher than him. A great start. Nice job, Don!

Here is the lineup for Round 2:
(W) Campagnolo (2043) - (B) Ser-Enigma (2119) Monday, 4 Aug @ 1400 EDT
(B) Holm (1900) - (W) JoshRom (2047) Time TBD
(W) Dnmuscg (1891) - (B) Mcplayerus (2022) 1-0
(B) Nosferatu1 (1837) - charles-allen (1820) Thursday, 31 Jul @ 1830 EDT

I have my game v Tadiran ready to post, so it should be up shortly.

Round 1 pairings have been posted

2008-07-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

So round 1 pairings have been posted (here they are):

Knightmares v Primates of the Caribbean (U2000 Maple Division)

(W) Tadiran (2050) - (B) Campagnolo (2043) – Monday 28 July @ 2130 EDT
(B) DFME (2000) - (W) Nosalt (1999) – Tuesday 29 July @ 1100 EDT
(W) Ehab (1837) - (B) Holm (1900) – Saturday 26 July @ 0800 EDT
(B) KingofKnights (1804) - (W) Nosferatu1 (1837) Monday 28 July @ 1730 EDT

Don is sitting out this week as he has relatives a' plenty visiting.

On paper we look good and match up rating-wise very closely with the Knightmares.
Of note this will be the first time that Tom will be playing in the 45 45 league and only my second game in 45 45 as well. Don, Tom and I have played together at the US Amateur East tournaments for several years and we collectively decided to try and wean ourselves off of blitz as much as possible (blitz is an additive habit and frankly really provides only limited benefit to your tournament game – at least that is my opinion). So, I am going to use this as a opportunity to prepare as much as possible, given the limited time I have with a job and 2 very energetic young sons!

As a side note, I am still waiting for the ICC correspondence tournaments to start up again. I enjoy them immensely (they seem to synch up nicely with my penchant to do deep analysis) and use them to experiment and learn with new openings. Some of my experiments have not gone well, others I truly learned a great deal. If ICC does not deliver on the correspondence, I’ll look for another avenue (suggestions anyone?).

First Round of the 45 45 T38 Tournament

2008-07-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here it is. First round of ICC's 45 45 T38 tournament. I did in fact put together get a team of five players together to play in the U2000 section (which were my goals both in terms of having one extra player and being competitive in the under 2000 division). Our team name is "Primates of the Caribbean" and consists of myself, Don and Tom, plus "Holm" and "Nosferatu1" - neither of whom I know personally, but hope to as the tournament progresses.

Now I need to put my money where my mouth is, as I convinced both Tom & Don that we all needed to play more slow chess and less speed chess, as it would (hopefully) be more beneficial. This will be brand new to Don and Tom (neither have played in the 45 45 tournaments before, and I have only played 1 game in the last tournament).

So step one is to put the lineup before Tuesday and then we shall see how things go.

If all goes well, I plan to post the team's results, my game and some analysis.

- Bob

My experience from the Empire State Open

2008-06-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

“Well, here is another fine mess you have gotten us into.” I am not sure who said it, but it was ringing in my ears as I walked into the Saratoga Hotel in late December to play in the Empire State Open 28 – 30 December. Why, do you ask? Well, a little explanation is required. First, I am on Christmas leave (otherwise known as a holiday or vacation, dependent on your vocation or locale), and I have come up with my 2 sons to visit the grandparents up in Saratoga Springs, New York. My wife is staying back in Virginia Beach working stupid crazy hours in the mall and we agreed that taking Patrick (9) and Kevin (3) to the snow‑clad environment of upstate New York would be more a joyous Christmas than the stress filled one in snow-deprived Virginia Beach. So, my folks have agreed to let me play in this tournament, which is a mile from the house, but I do not wish to abuse this offer by playing all three days – so I am taking 2 byes (in a six round tournament) in the vain attempt to balance family and chess. Hah! Also, I am playing in the U1900 section, also in the vain attempt to at least get some of my entry back in winnings.
The Empire State Open has two entry options: the 3 day or 2 day. The 3 day is the leisurely one I opt for – 2 rounds per day, all six rounds at 40 moves in 2 hours, with sudden death in 1 hour. The 2 day has the first three rounds in game in 1 hour, then the last three in the 40/2 & SD/1 format. Bleah – who wants to cram that much mind-bending chess in a day. So, the first day only has about half the entrants. OK by me as it is pretty quiet and the playing area has plenty of room, just the way I like it.

Round 1. I am playing Walter Chesnut from Vermont, rated 1619. Walter had a great tournament, finishing up with 3.5 points and gaining 36 points. He has white and we enter a Benko Gambit. He plays really well; I try and complicate the position and he quickly goes astray. Here is the position from 14th move, where he pushes 14. e5 – always a Benko player’s major worry. When White can successfully push e5, Black is usually (although not always) close to being busted. Here I thought I had it pretty well covered. See what you think.

Chesnut,Walter (1619) - Collins,Robert (1857)

Round 1: Empire State Open, 28.12.2007

14.e5!? Always a threat against the Benko, but I felt I had this covered.
14...dxe5
15.Nxe5 Nxe5
16.Rxe5 Qd6

Ng4 with Qh2+/h1+ is a definite threat

17.Bf4??

17.Nb5?? Qxe5; 17.Qe2?! Is what I expected 17...Ng4 18.hxg4
- 18.Rxe7 Qh2+ 19.Kf1 Qh1# Is the threat!!;
- 18.Ne4; 18.Nb5 Qxe5 19.Qxe5 Nxe5
18...Bxe5 19.Qe4 Rb7-+;

17.Qe3?! Ng4 18.hxg4 Bxe5; >=

Best is 17.Re1 e6 18.Rd1 exd5 19.Nxd5 Nxd5 20.Qxd5 Qxd5 21.Rxd5 Bxb2 (21...c4 22.Rc5=) 22.Bxb2 Rxb2 23.Rxc5 Rbxa2 24.Rxa2 Rxa2= completely dead even

17...Nh5

18.Rxh5!?

Yowser! I never even considered this.
But fortunately, there is a reason why I never gave it much thought --> it is bad

18...Qxf4
19.Ne2 [19.g3 Qb4 20.Rh4 Qxb2 21.Rb1 Qxc3 22.Rxb8+ Rxb8 23.Qxc3 Bxc3]

19...Qf6 0-1

Round 2. I take the bye. Have dinner with my parents and the kids. Drink a beer (OK maybe two). Easy round for me.

More to follow in the next installment....