Returning to Chess

It has been a very long time since I have blogged about chess, but I have recently gotten back into it again, and I'm interested in doing some posts of my more interesting games over these past few years, since doing these posts gives me some small insights into my own thought processes during games.

I believe the last game I posted about was from my years in Iceland, which means I haven't blogged about the tournaments I have played in both Hungary and Bahamas. So I hope to make up for that over the next few weeks, especially since there are some intriguing games I have played. I can't promise all of the ones I blog about will be fascinating, but I believe all of them will be instructive, at least for players lower than master strength.

So, I didn't get to play any chess during the two years (2009-2011) I lived in Baku, Azerbaijan. It's a strong chess country, but they didn't seem interested in having me play there. I spoke a couple of times with their federation officials and no one would tell me anything about clubs or trainers, and the one big open tournament they held each year was in September, which didn't work for my arrival, and also they held the event outside of Baku sometimes (I also lived in Baku from 2014-2016 and this latter problem prevented me from playing those two years as well).

I saw both Kasparov and Judit Polgar again while in Budapest

Thus I didn't get to play chess for a long time and was rusty again once I did get to play, in May 2011 in Budapest. We lived in Budapest for three years, from 2011-2014, and I played in three events there. The first one was one of the famous 'First Saturday' events held by Laszlo Nagy. My rust showed and I finished with 3 wins, 4 losses, and 4 draws. I'll show just some of the more interesting games. This first one was short and fun. The player liked to play the same weird opening as black against e4, so I got to prepare and it worked out very well for me.

[Event "First Saturday FM-A"]

[Site "Budapest"]

[Date "2011.11.08"]

[Round "4"]

[White "Cross, Ted"]

[Black "Zala, Gyula"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "C40"]

[WhiteElo "2058"]

[BlackElo "1999"]

[Annotator "Cross,Ted"]

[PlyCount "29"]

[EventDate "2011.11.08"]

[EventType "tourn"]

[EventRounds "11"]

[EventCountry "HUN"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5

This is called the Elephant Gambit. I never had to play against it before, so it's a good thing I got to prepare in advance.

3. exd5 e4 4. Qe2 Be7 5. Qxe4 Nf6 6. Bb5+
Okay, so the better move here is 6. Qa4+, but Bb5+ isn't bad, and since I knew the line my opponent liked to play here, it was better for me to go along with his line since it led to an easily winning opening.
6...c6
This here is my opponent's novelty, and it isn't very good except as a surprise, which it wasn't for me.
7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Bxc6+ Nxc6 9. Qxc6+ Bd7 10. Qa6
This is a pet opening of this fellow, though here he varies between Rb8 and Qc7. Yes, he's given up three pawns but he has a lot of development for them, and this is a very dangerous line for white if

he isn't prepared.
10...Qc7 11. O-O Rb8 12. Re1 Kf8 13. Nc3 Bc6?
It's usually hard to win fast in this variation, because black has so much initiative and white has to play under such stress, but this move lets me end things quickly.

14. Ne5! Ba8 15. Qc4! 1-0
With the queens forced from the board, black has no chances and thus resigns.

The next game was against the top rated player in the event, and it featured lots of tactics and big swings of fortune.

[Event "First Saturday FM-A"]

[Site "Budapest"]

[Date "2011.11.10"]

[Round "6"]

[White "Cross, Ted"]

[Black "Juracsik, Jozsef"]

[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[ECO "B98"]

[WhiteElo "2058"]

[BlackElo "2172"]

[Annotator "Cross,Ted"]

[PlyCount "81"]

[EventDate "2011.11.10"]

[EventType "tourn"]

[EventRounds "11"]

[EventCountry "HUN"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3

Qc7 9. O-O-O O-O

I have always enjoyed this opening, and I've always felt that castling here for black was too soon and gave white a ready-made attack.

10. Bd3

This is my personal preference, since the bishop here aims at the critical h7 square and also allows either of the knights to easily come back to e2 without blocking in the bishop. In many lines the pawn goes to e5, clearing the lane for the bishop's attack against h7.

10...Nbd7 11. Kb1

11. Rhe1 may be only slightly stronger here, according to the computer, but it scores much more heavily according to the database percentages.

11...Nc5 12. h4?!

My first doubtful move. This takes the position from a strong white advantage down to about equality. Much stronger was 12. Qg3.

12... b5 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. e5 dxe5 15. Qxa8?

It was a bad idea to take the 'free' rook. Now I could get into trouble. Much better is to keep an advantage with 15. fxe5 Be7 (15... Bxe5 16. Qxa8 b4 17. Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. Ne4 Kg8 19. Nxc5 Qxc5 20. Qe4 with a large advantage) 16. Qxa8 Bb7 17. Ncxb5 axb5 18. Nxb5 Qxe5 19. Qa5 Nxd3 20. Rxd3 Bxg2 21. Re1 and the computer struggles to understand who is better in this very complex position.

15... Bb7??

My opponent returns the favor with a big blunder, going from a winning position to one that is much better for white. He could have won with 15...exd4 16. Bxh7+ Kxh7 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Qxe4+ Kg8, and though it may not look it, the computer rates this as a huge advantage for black.

16. Bxh7+ Kxh7 17. Qxf8 exd4 18. Ne2 Bxg2 19. Rhe1 

My move isn't a mistake and white still has a large edge, but the defensive move 19. Rh2 leaves white even better for navigating the upcoming tactics.

19... Be4 20. Nxd4 Bxd4

Though white is up two exchanges, black's active pieces are all congregated around white's king. I needed to be more aware of the explicit dangers and to look more deeply at the tactics.

21. Rxd4??

A terrible decision that turns my advantage into a losing game. Correct was 21. Rxe4 Nxe4 22. Rxd4 Qxf4 23. Qd8 f5 24. a3 with a strong edge to white.

21... Bxc2+ 22. Kc1

The only way to continue, though it is as dangerous as it looks. Playing the 'safer' looking Ka1 gets white mated: 22. Ka1 Nb3+ 23. axb3 Qa5+ 24. Qa3 Qxe1+ 25. Ka2 Qb1#.

22... Ne4?

It's not so easy to see all the correct tactics over the board. My opponent misses the best continuation. 22... Bg6 23. Kd2 Nb3+ 24. axb3 Qc2+ 25. Ke3 Qxb3+ and black is winning, though these weren't exactly simple to see moves! 

23. Qd8

Now it's all equal again, though still a complex position where we can and do go wrong. Look at that board. It doesn't look very equal, does it! But the computer pegs it as dead even.

23... Qc5 24. Rdxe4?

Yes, my move is a mistake, but it wasn't easy at all to find the correct move to maintain equality, which was 24. Rd2! Bd3+ 25. Kd1 Qh5+ 26. Kc1 Qc5+.

24... Bxe4+ 25. Kd2 Qf2+ 26. Re2 Qxf4+ 27. Re3 Bg6 28. a3 Bh5 29. Qd3+ Bg6 30. Qc3 Bf5 31. h5 a5 32. Ke1 b4 33. axb4 axb4 34. Qb3 f6 35. Rg3 Qd4 36. Re3 Qh4+ 37. Rg3 Qf4 38. Rf3 Qd4 39. Re3 Kh6 40. Rg3 Kh7??

 Perhaps this seems easy to win, but over the board it didn't feel that way, and my opponent accidentally let the position repeat three times, making it a draw. It's not so clearly easy, though, as you can see by lines such as 40... Kxh5? 41. Qf3+ Bg4 (41... Kh6 42. Qh1+) 42. Rh3+ Kg6 43. Qd3+ Qxd3 44. Rxd3 f5 45. Rb3 Kf6 46. Rxb4 g5 47. Rc4 and it's equal

41. Re3 1/2-1/2

 Two games is enough for now. I'll return with more games from this event soon.

Chess World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan

Today was a really cool day for me as a chess fan. I visited the chess World Cup here in Baku, Azerbaijan. It began with 128 players and now has only 16 as of today. Three of the remaining 16 are American players--Grandmasters Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and Wesley So.

Nakamura plays Adams

The organizers were very nice and gave me a press pass so that I could go inside the roped off area and take photos up close. I was introduced to Wesley So's adopted mother and we had a nice conversation for about twenty minutes. It's fascinating to learn details of an elite player's life. Then I saw and watched the games for a couple of hours.

Fabiano Caruana

Nakamura only needed a draw against Michael Adams of England in order to advance, and he did that easily. Caruana lost yesterday, so he had to win today and he only managed to draw, so he is eliminated. As I type this Wesley So's game against Vachier-Lagrave of France is still going on, but it looks as if he will lose and also be eliminated. So a mixed day for American chess!

Wesley So

I Met Pal Benko Today

I don't post much here anymore, because I haven't been doing much with chess lately. I did play in a First Saturday tournament here in Budapest last November, but since my chess viewer stopped working, I didn't post anything about it back then.

Today I was on the bus coming home from work when a couple got on and the woman sat near me. The bus was crowded so there weren't many places to sit. Since they were older than me, I decided to stand up and allow the man to sit down next to the woman I assumed was his wife. When I saw his face, though, I instantly recognized him as the famous American-Hungarian Grandmaster of chess Pal Benko.

Photo of Benko from Chessbase

Benko was a contemporary of the legendary American world champion Bobby Fischer. I saw Benko in 2008 in Reykjavik when he attended the Bobby Fischer Memorial Tournament (in which I did very well, almost beating an international master, though I messed it up and only got a draw instead). I didn't get to speak with Mr. Benko that time, but I did this time.

I said hello, and he asked if I recognized him. I said I always read his columns in Chess Life, and I told him that I saw him in Iceland. He asked where I worked, and I told him. He than asked if I was playing in the chess tournament series in Budapest. I told him I don't get much free time, but I did play in it last November. Sadly, my stop had already arrived, so I had to get off and couldn't speak further with him.

I would never want to bother someone like him, but he and his wife seemed nice. It would have been awesome to invite them to dinner or something, but I would never want to impose.

Will I Ever Get to Play Again?

I know I am writing just for myself now, and who could blame anyone? I can't post anything if I don't have any chess experiences. I thought I would get to play here in Baku, the birthplace of Garry Kasparov and the home of some of the strongest GM's in the world, but I haven't been able to play at all.

So, I am thrilled that next summer I will move to Budapest, which has a thriving chess scene, mainly thanks for Laszlo Nagy's First Saturday tournaments each month. I gained my FIDE rating in Budapest in 2003 at the Spring Chess Festival. I know I won't be able to play immediately after arriving, as I will need to settle into my new home and position at work, but I am excited at the prospect of finally getting to play again.

I see that the game reviewer app stopped working on my blog. I wish there was a way of using the Chessbase export feature with Blogger to allow me to show my games here that way. The USCF uses it all the time, but I have no idea if there is a means of doing it on Blogger. I believe you need some space somewhere on the server to store the game data. Anyone know how to do this in Blogger?

Chess in Baku

I recently arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan. I want to be able to play chess here, but the chess calendars that I have found so far do not show any events in Baku for the next year. There is the Baku Open in September, but unfortunately I don't think I can play in that due to being too new at work here.

See You in Baku

I just wanted to let anyone who happens to read this know why I am not posting these days. There are two reasons. One is that I have been finishing a book that I have been writing. The second reason is that I am moving from Iceland to Baku, Azerbaijan. We will arrive in Baku in August. I won't be able to play chess for some time, since I will be settling in to the new position, but I hope to eventually play in Baku. They sure have a strong chess tradition, including being the birthplace of Garry Kasparov. If any Azeris see this blog, perhaps you can help me out with finding good FIDE-rated events in Baku. I've tried emailing the clubs and federations that I could find, but no one responded.

Reykjavik Open 2009 Rd. 9

I have played in many tournaments in my life, and 455 tournament games, yet this event has been the worst performance I have had. Given how the rest of the tournament went, this last round was fitting. I played a young boy with no official rating - though FIDE shows that he has just begun playing and so far has a 1670 rating - and he played like each of my previous opponents has - mistake free. I have had games in the past where the computer showed no real mistakes by my opponent, but this is the first time I have had an entire tourney with no such mistakes!

I noticed some interesting patterns between this year's tournament and last year's. Last year I never once had to play down against a player lower rated than myself, and I gained around 30 rating points. This year I had to play down five times, and I lost around 18 rating points. Last year I didn't lose a single game with white; this year I nearly lost every white and didn't lose any with black!

[Event "Reykjavik Open 2009"]
[Site "Reykjavik, Iceland"]
[Date "2009.04.01"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Cross, Ted"]
[Black "Karlsson, Mikael"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2076"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bd3 Qb6 6. Nb5?!
The proper move here is 6. Nb3, but I was feeling particularly aggresive and I didn't care if he took the pawn.
6...a6
He would have been fine taking the pawn: 6...Nxe4 7. Bxe4 Qxb5 8. Nc3 Qb6 9. O-O d5 and black has a small edge.
7. Be3
The computer likes 7. N5c3 better.
7...Bc5 8. Bxc5 Qxc5 9. N5c3 Nc6 10. Nd2 b5 11. O-O Bb7 12. Kh1 O-O 13. f4 d6 14. a3 Rfd8 15. Nb3
Looking back on it, I don't like this move. The computer recommends it, yet in the game this knight was just out of play for a long while.
15...Qb6 16. Qe2 Qc7 17. Rad1
The computer also recommends this, but if I was really going to follow the plan that you see over the next few moves, then this is just a wasted tempo.
17...Rac8 18. Rf3
I told myself not to do this. I knew I wouldn't play like this against a higher rated opponent. Yet, I felt that lower rated players often panic when someone directly attacks their king, and I didn't quite like the idea of playing g4 and g5 instead, since my king is potentially exposed to the black bishop.
18...Ne7 19. Rh3?
I couldn't back down, even though I knew I should. Since I could see that his knight was swinging over to g6, this move doesn't do any good anymore. Perhaps it would have made better use of itself on g3. Best of all would have been to abandon that line of play and just play it back to f2 or f1.
19...Ng6 20. Rf1
You see how moving this rook to d1 was a waste of time?
20...e5!
An excellent move that highlights the drawbacks of my overly aggressive plan. I either have to allow the opening of the d file for black's rook or further weaken my kingside with g3. Neither is appealing. So, black gets a perfect outpost for his knights on f4.
21. fxe5 dxe5 22. Rg3 Nf4 23. Qf2
I really thought I had him here. So many 1600 level players would have gone right in for the knight trade on d3, but given the way this tournament has gone, I am not surprised he didn't go for it.
23...N6h5
I had hoped for 23...Nxd3?? 24. Qxf6 and white wins.
24. Rf3 Nxd3 25. cxd3 Nf4 26. Nc1
Here I missed the chance for equality with 26. d4!
26...Rd7 27. g3
Better was 27. N3e2 f6 (27...Nxe2 28. Nxe2 Rcd8 29. b4 f6 30. Rc1 Qd6 31. Rc3 Rc7 32. Rxc7 Qxc7 33. h3 with a slight edge to black.) 28. Nxf4 Qxc1 (28...exf4 29. Ne2 g5 30. Nc3 =) 29. Nh5 Rf7 30. b4 Qc2 31. Qb6 Qc6 32. Qf2 Qe6 with a slight edge to black.
27...Ne6 28. Nd5 Bxd5
Black overlooked a much easier win here with 28...Rxd5! 29. exd5 Bxd5.
29. exd5 Nd4 30. Re3 Rxd5 31. Re4 Rc5 32. Ne2 Nxe2 33. Rxe2 Rd8 34. d4! exd4 35. Qxd4 Qc6+ 36. Qe4 g6?!
Black should have played 36...Qxe4+ 37. Rxe4 Rc2 38. Rfe1 g5 39. R4e2 Rdd2 40. Rxd2 Rxd2 41. b4 Rd3 42. Ra1 with a good advantage for black.
37. Qxc6 Rxc6 38. Re7 Rf8?!
Much better was 38...Rc2 39. Rexf7 Rdd2 40. Rf8+ Kg7 41. R1f7+ Kh6 42. Kg1 Rxh2 43. Rf2 Rhxf2 44. Rxf2 Rxf2 45. Kxf2 Kg5 and black should win.
39. Ra7 Kg7 40. Rf2 h5 41. h4 1/2-1/2
Though my move is the last one, it was actually he who offered the draw. He is too new to chess to know that he has to make his move first before offering a draw, I guess. I was lucky to escape alive. So, how come 1600 level players are all of a sudden playing like experts?