Author: David Rasmussen
Date: 09:02:36 01/25/03
This is an account of Chezzz's games during CCT5. I haven't analyzed any of them
in depth, this is just my immediate thoughts. My rating is unknown but certainly
< 1500 or so, so don't expect too much :)
Comments on the games are more than welcome (especially if they help nail down
some bug or serious misevaluation).
Round 1 (Chezzz 1 - 0 Chompster)
--------------------------------
In the first round, Chezzz got paired against Chompster, Scott Farrell's Java
chess engine. After
1. b3 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Bb2 d6 5. d3 e6 6. e3 Be7 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O e5
9. Nc3 Bg4 10. a3 Re8 11. Nd5 a5 12. Rc1
[D]r2qr1k1/1p2bppp/2np1n2/p1pNp3/2P3b1/PP1PPN2/1B2BPPP/2RQ1RK1 b - - 0 12
Chompster moved 12... a4, sacrificing a pawn. Scott didn't understand this, and
neither did I. Chezzz grabbed the pawn, and it was enough to win even though
Chezzz played some weird moves sometimes, IMO.
Round 2 (Quark ½ - ½ Chezzz)
----------------------------
In the second round Chezzz got paired against Quark. Chezzz had an okay record
against Quark in the past months, so I wasn't expecting anything either way.
After playing the first moves of a pretty regular Sicilian, Quark ended up in
this position:
[D]r3k2r/1pqbbppp/p1nppn2/6B1/4PP2/2N2N2/PPPQ2PP/2KR1B1R w kq - 0 11
and after 11. e5 dxe5 12. fxe5 Nd5 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. Bxe7 Nxe7 15. Bd3 O-O, I
thought Chezzz was fine. White's e5 pawn looks a little vulnerable, IMO. After
some moves, Chezzz allowed this position:
[D]4r1k1/1pq1rp1p/p7/3pPQ2/1P6/1PP1R2P/8/1K2R3 b - - 0 36
I don't like black's king here, and against Quark, I felt sure that the loss was
inevitable. But after reaching this position
[D]8/1p3Q2/p1k5/3pr3/1P2q3/1PP5/1K1R4/8 w - - 0 60
nothing much happened. Pieces were shuffled about, rooks were exchanged, and the
vulnerability of the kings to the queens led to no progress for either side, and
the game ended in a draw.
Round 3 (Chezzz 0 - 1 Pharaon)
------------------------------
The next game was against Pharaon. The games I've seen from Pharaon have been
very convincing so I expected to lose, although Chezzz haven't played against it
before (I think).
After 1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. c3 a6
[D]r2qkbnr/1p2pppp/p1np4/1Bp4b/4P3/2P2N1P/PP1P1PP1/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 0 7
Chezzz played Bxc6+. I am not at home writing this, so I cannot check whether
this was in book or not. Anyway, with my limited chess capabilities, this seem a
wrong move in the Sicilian. It seems a mistake to give up the bishop pair and at
the same time stregthen black's pawn center.
A little while later, this position was reached:
[D]r3kb1r/4pppp/pqpp1n2/6Bb/3PP3/5N1P/PP3PP1/RN1Q1RK1 w kq - 0 11
in which Chezzz moved Qc2. Pharaon's response was (of course?) 11... Bxf3. As I
said in the beginning, I haven't analyzed any of this very deeply yet, but on
the surface it seems there is no reason for white to weaken his king safety with
the Qc2 move. I will have to look into this.
After the moves 12. gxf3 Rc8 13. d5 Qc5 14. Qxc5 dxc5 15. dxc6 Rxc6 were played,
though, it seems king safety was not so important anymore. Chezzz was quite
happy in this position, if I remember correctly.
The game continued, and black seemed to have problems getting his kingside
going, but as white didn't make any real progress either, this position was
eventually reached:
[D]4k3/1r1np2p/p3Nb2/2pR4/8/1P4BP/P3RPK1/2r5 b - - 0 34
Pharaon played 34... c4 and Chezzz answered 35. b4. I haven't analyzed so I
don't know the true value of these moves, but after Chezzz's 35th move, the
problems seem to begin for Chezzz. Black now had a passer that needed white's
attention. After 35... Rb1 36. a3 Rb2 37. Re4 c3 38. Rc4 Nb6 39. Rd8+ Kf7 40.
Rc6 Nd7 41. Ra8 Rb6 42. Nd8+ Kg6 43. Rc4 c2 44. Nc6 Rb5 45. Rxa6 Nb6 46. Rxc2
Rxc2 47. Na7 Rg5 48. Rxb6, the black passer was gone:
[D]8/N3p2p/1R3bk1/6r1/1P6/P5BP/2r2PK1/8 b - - 0 48
Instead black now had the exchange for two connected passers. I don't remember
Chezzz's evaluation in this position, but I think it was quite happy about the
connected passers. I don't know whether it's justified in this position. After
48... h5 49. h4 Rg4 50. Rc6 Rb2 51. Nb5 Kg7 52. Kf3 Rb3+ 53. Ke2 Bxh4 54. Bxh4
Rxh4 55. Rc3 Rh3 56. Rxh3 Rxh3, black had a winning passer, and Pharaon soon won
the game.
As you will see, the losses of Chezzz in this tournament were all about passed
pawns. So I guess I need to work a bit in that area. I don't know exactly what
is wrong, whether it's misevaluation of some concept or the lack of knowledge
(Chezzz doesn't know about potential passers, or the square of the king etc.).
Round 4 (Qalat 0 - 1 Chezzz)
----------------------------
Already in the opening Chezzz made a weird move, I think:
[D]rn1qkb1r/pbp2ppp/1p2pn2/3P4/3P4/P1N2N2/1P2PPPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 0 6
In this position Chezzz moved 6... Nxd5. I thought in these kinds of openings,
that it was important for black to keep a pawn on d5, as white otherwise would
get a powerful center after forcing e4. On the other hand, after the bishop have
developed to b7, I guess it would not be too smart to close the diagonal, and
also, black's c-pawn can become weak in this kind of opening, the b-pawn having
moved and all. So forcing white to close the c-line is a good idea. I guess.
Anyway, I know next to nothing about chess, so... :)
Sure enough white quickly reached this position with an impressive center:
[D]rn1q1rk1/pbp2pbp/1p2p1p1/8/3PP3/P1PB1N2/5PPP/R1BQ1RK1 b - - 0 11
In this position black moved c5. I don't know whether this move is good or bad.
I guess challenging white's center is a good idea. But I would think that
preparing with Na6 and Rc8 would be a good idea. Doing it now seems premature,
and weakens the queenside pawns. Eh.. I think... :) Anyway, this is what
happened:
11... c5 12. dxc5 Nd7 13. cxb6 Nc5 14. Bc2 Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Bxe4 16. Qxd8 Rfxd8 17.
Bg5 Rd7 18. Nd2 Bd3 19. Rfc1 axb6, and black's bishops seem strong.
I have no clue about what happened next:
20. Bf4 Rc8 21. Nb1 Bc4 22. a4 Rcd8 23. Re1 Rd1 24. Na3 Rxe1+ 25. Rxe1 Bxc3 26.
Rc1 Bb2 27. Bg5 Bxc1 28. Bxd8 Bxa3 29. Bxb6, but suddenly Chezzz was up a piece.
After this the win wasn't hard.
Round 5 (Chezzz 0 - 1 Hossa)
----------------------------
Chezzz has an ok record against Hossa on ICC, so this could go either way. I
didn't know at that point that Steffen had new strong hardware for the
tournament. If I had known, I would probably have expected Chezzz to lose.
Already in the opening I got worried when I saw
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 Nf6 6. Nd2 d6 7. Nf1 Bg4 8.
f3 Be6 9. Ne3
I thought that such a knight manoever couldn't be good for white, taking all
that time. People told me that Kasparov had recently played all of this, and
although Chezzz is far from being any Kasparov, this calmed me down.
After 9... Bxc4 10. dxc4 black's d6 pawn was weak. After
10... Nd4 11. Qd3 O-O 12. O-O Qd7 13. Ncd5 Nxd5 14.
Nxd5 f5 15. Be3 fxe4 16. fxe4 Bh4 17. c3 Ne6 18. Rad1 Rxf1+ 19. Rxf1 Rf8
20. Rxf8+ Kxf8 21. Qe2 Qf7 22. Qg4 Bd8
[D]3b1k2/pp3qpp/3pn3/2pNp3/2P1P1Q1/2P1B3/PP4PP/6K1 w - - 0 23
blacks weak pawn ended up not having that much influence on the game, but Chezzz
felt fine. After
23. Bd2 h5 24. Qh3 Ke8 25. b4 b6 26. a3 Kd7 27. Qg3 Be7 28. a4 Bd8 29. Be3 Qe8
30. a5 bxa5 31. bxc5 Qf7 32. cxd6 Kxd6 33. Qe1 Kc6 34. Qb1 Qb7 35. Qd1 h4 36.
Bf2 a6 37. Ne3 Kc7 38. Qd5 Qxd5 39. exd5
[D]3b4/2k3p1/p3n3/p2Pp3/2P4p/2P1N3/5BPP/6K1 b - - 0 39
Chezzz thought he was winning, and I thought too. But:
39... Nf4 40. Kf1 a4 41. Nc2 Kd6 42. Ba7 g5 43. g3 hxg3 44. hxg3 Nh5 45.
Kf2 Nf6 46. Ke2 Ne4 47. Ke3 Nf6 48. Nb4 a3 49. Kd3 Nd7 50. Be3 a5 51. Na2
Nc5+ 52. Kc2 Na4 53. Kb3 Nb2
[D]3b4/8/3k4/p2Pp1p1/2P5/pKP1B1P1/Nn6/8 w - - 0 54
white is having trouble with blacks "weak" passers. I am not sure where the
deciding mistake is in the following, but I would very much like to know:
54. Bg1 g4 55. Be3 Bc7 56. Bg5 e4 57. Bf4+ Kd7
58. Bxc7 Kxc7 59. c5 Nd3 60. Kc4 Nxc5 61. Kd4 Kb6 62. Ke3 Nb7 63. Kd4 e3
64. Kxe3 Kc5 65. Kd3 Kxd5 66. c4+ Kc5 67. Nc1 Kb4 68. Kc2 Nc5 69. Kb1 Kxc4
70. Ne2 Ne4 71. Kc2 a4 72. Kc1 Nc3 73. Nf4 Kb3 74. Ne6 a2 75. Nd4+ Kc4 76.
Nc2 a3 77. Na1 Ne2+ 78. Kd2 Nxg3 79. Ke1 Kc3 80. Kd1 Kb2 81. Nc2 a1=Q+ 82.
Nxa1 Kxa1 83. Kc2 Nf5 84. Kc1 g3 85. Kd2 g2 86. Kd3 g1=Q 87. Ke4 Qd4+ 88.
Kxf5 Kb1 89. Ke6 a2 90. Kf5 a1=Q 91. Ke6 Qaa7 92. Kf5 Qag7 93. Ke6 Qgd7#
{White checkmated} 0-1
Chezzz again had troubles with the passers. I will put a lot more effort into
analyzing this game when I get the time. I would very much like to know if there
is a move that is losing, that can "easily" be avoided with the right knowledge,
or a move where Chezzz obviously misevaluates some key position.
/David
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