A
New York Chess Player
(Lessons From The Marshall Chess Club)
by Larry
Tamarkin
5-15-2008
'4-Rated
Games'
After
getting 'tired' of the one-game-each-week events held at the Freeport,
Long Island club in the Freeport library, I decided to go back to
playing in the weekly 4-Rated Games event at the Marshall. The
Manhattan Chess Club folded some years back and so the Marshall is the
'main-drain' of the places that the strongest chess players can go to
on any particular day of the week.
And thanks
to tournament director Steve Immitt who has been running the '4-Rated Games!' consistently week
after week for many years, where you can still play Grandmasters,
International Masters and other chess celebrities in this tournament
nearly every week. |
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Therefore,
going to the Marshall has once again become my main test for myself after
taking a break from the long commute on the Long Island Rail Road to the
club in Manhattan.
With this
column I am hoping to improve my own game by subjecting the games to
critical self review and also to the eyes of those who would like to see
'real chess' as played by myself - a player not too different in strength or
outlook than many of you reading this. So My Dear Readers, I give you my
analysis of many of my games played mostly at the Marshall Chess Club for
your pleasure and/or your own analytical scrutiny.
Tamarkin,Larry S (2046)
- Paraqua,Marc C (2546) [B98]
4 Rated Games (1),
15.05.2008
After
last weeks tourney where I was paired with GM Rohde in round 1 I was hoping
that I would get a weaker opponent at the start this week - No such luck -
At least I have white at the start.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 a6
I have decided to play mostly 1.e4 and too stick to main-lines;
unfortunately I haven't yet sufficiently educated myself in these sharp (but
good!) openings to discuss them well with grandmasters.
6.Bg5
I like
playing against 6.Be3 but perhaps in the future I'll play that more often as
white too.
6...e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 h6!
Now I'm really in trouble!
Although I knew of this move I didn't yet know the plans and typical positions
that White should be playing for.
9.Bh4
So far I play the most often
played line...
9...Qc7 10.Bf2
After this
Black is already at least
equal and has the additional bonus of playing an opponent that doesn't know
what their doing.
Here 10.0–0–0 Nbd7 11.Bd3 g5 12.fxg5 Ne5 13.Qe2 Nfg4
14.Nf3 hxg5 15.Bg3 Bd7 or, (15...Nxf3 16.gxf3 Ne5 17.Kb1) 16.h3 Nxf3
17.hxg4 Nh4 18.e5 d5 19.Rdf1 ...is the main 'book position' that is evaluated
as very slightly better by the chess engine Rybka.
My plan
is to test these types of positions against friends on the ICC - or to learn
a lot more about the English Attack.
10...Nbd7 11.0–0–0 Rb8
Seldom played -
here, 11...b5!? 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.a3 Nc5 14.Kb1 Rc8 15.Rhe1 0–0 16.f5 e5 17.Nb3
is the main line in the tree and is still about equal.
12.g4 g5 13.f5
Ne5 14.Qe2 b5 15.fxe6 fxe6
16.h4?
After
16.a3!? Nfxg4 17.Bg3 0–0 18.Bh3 h5 19.Bxg4 hxg4 20.h3 gxh3 21.Rxh3 continues
a sharp battle where White has his chances. After the move in the game
I am worse and go further down quickly partly because I didn't realize I
still had a playable position...
16...b4 17.Na4
[17.Nb1 Nfxg4
18.Be1 Qc5 19.hxg5 Bxg5+ 20.Bd2 Rf8 (20...Qxd4? 21.Bxg5!=) 21.Nb3 Qb6
is also seriously bad for White.
17...Nfxg4 18.Be1 gxh4 19.Bxh4 Bxh4 20.Rxh4 h5
21.Nf3?
21.Kb1!? Qa5 22.b3 Bd7 23.Nb2 Qc5 24.Bh3 Ke7 25.Bxg4
Nxg4 26.Nc4!? Is still equal according to Rybka. Clearly I need a lot of
work to understand these Bg5-Najdorf positions better.
21...Qa5 22.Nxe5
Qxe5 23.Kb1 Bd7?!
23...Ke7!?
24.Qxa6!
I sensed I might be back
in the game here but I'm already getting into much more serious
time-pressure then GM Parqua.
24...Ne3
25.Rc1??
Already the losing move - If I could just have been more relaxed
perhaps I would have played 25.Qa7! Nxd1 26.Qxb8+ Ke7 27.Qa7 Qg3 28.Bb5
Nf2 29.a3 Qxh4 30.Qxd7+ Kf6 31.Qxd6 Qxe4 32.Bc6 Qg4 after which I am also
probably still losing but at least putting up a better fight. In the
game it is just immediately over.
25...Nxf1 26.Rxf1 Qb5!
And that does it
- Black wins a piece.
27.Qxb5 Bxb5 28.Rd1 Bxa4 29.b3 Bd7 30.Rxd6 e5 31.c4
bxc3 32.Kc2 Ke7 33.Rg6 Bg4 34.Kxc3 Rbc8+ 35.Kb2 Rhd8 36.a4 Rd4 0–1
O.K. - I
didn't play so badly considering my opponents huge rating advantage - 3 more
rounds to go I'll get easier opponents and will have a chance at
something...
Kopiecki,Eddie (1937) - Tamarkin,Larry S (2046) [B97]
4 Rated
Games (2), 15.05.2008
1.e4
c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5
Whenever I'm
Black
against Eddie I can expect to see this line which I myself still play.
6...e6 7.f4 Qb6
And I have decided to always play the poison-pawn when
given the opportunity. I study this variation whenever I can find some
extra time and find that other club players are usually less prepared here
then I am.
8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 h6
This is a nuance introduced
by the super grandmasters (probably Anand.) The point is that it gives
Black
some extra options if White doesn't transpose into the position arising
after 11...dxe5.
11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nfd7 13.Ne4
[13.Be2 Be7 14.Bg3 Qa5 (14...Bg5 15.Qd3 Nc5 16.Qf3 0–0 Is an
interesting alternative.) 15.Ne4 Qxd2+ 16.Kxd2 Nc5 17.Bf3 Nxe4+
18.Bxe4 Nd7 19.Bxb7 Is in the chess base opening tree and rated about
equal.]
13...Qxa2!
I didn't know this move the previous time that I
played Eddie and was luky not to lose that game.
14.Rb3
[14.Rd1!? Qd5
15.Qe3 Qxe5 16.Be2 Bc5 17.Bg3 Bxd4 18.Rxd4 Qa5+ 19.Rd2 0–0 20.Bd6 Nc6! Is
the very latest theory in this opening; I don't pretend to understand
exactly what is going on! - I am ready to get this in a tournament game and
risk a loss to learn more about it though.]
14...Qa1+ 15.Kf2 Qa4 16.Bb5
This move seems to lose even though it is in the opening tree as played
in 4 other games.
16...axb5 17.Nxb5 Na6!
[17...Bc5+ 18.Nxc5 Qxh4+
19.g3 Qd8 20.Nd6+ Kf8 Is another line given in the opening tree which is
evaluated as winning for black by the Rybka chess engine.]
18.Nbd6+
Black is winning -
even so I played the last part of the game somewhat nervously and was also
in time pressure throughout. Fortunately I don't mess it up.
18.Qf4
18...Bxd6 19.Qxd6 g5 20.Re1 Qc6 21.Qa3 Nc7 22.Nd6+
Kf8 23.Qc1 Qc5+ 24.Kf1 Nxe5 25.Bg3 Ng6 26.Rf3 Rh7 27.Nxc8 Rxc8 28.Bxc7 Qxc7
29.Rxe6 Qc4+ 30.Re2 Nf4 31.Qa3+ Kg8 32.Rxf4 gxf4 33.Qe7 Rg7 34.Qd7 Ra8 0–1
Eddie optimistically thought he missed a win somewhere - This I doubt though
over the board I can understand how he could think this.
Tamarkin,Larry S (2046) - Rabin,Evan (2064) [B13]
4 Rated
Games (3), 15.05.2008
I was
lucky to get white this time against Evan as he beat me in our 3 preivious
games with the closed Sicilian in a line that his teacher GM Leonid Yudasin
showed him. I'm so fed up by all those losses I will probably start playing
the closed Sicilian myself as white till I learn how to deal with it!
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5
Roman Dzindishichashvili on one of his DVD's
recommends the exchange line I play here. Its actually pretty harmless and
I knew it, but it is also a safer way to play to avoid losing - Which was my
main priority this time against Evan.
3...cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3
7...Qd7
7...Qc8,
so as not to be hit by a later Ne5 move, is the
more subtle way to play it but Evans 9th move (which is also a safe system)
is fine as well as long as Black doesn't over-extend.
8.Nd2 e6
9.Ngf3 Be7 10.0–0 0–0 11.Rfe1 Bh5 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Bg6 14.Bxg6 hxg6 15.h3
Qc6 16.a4 b6 17.Qb5 Rfc8 is Opening Tree 2007. The position is equal.
8.Nd2 e6
9.Ngf3 Bxf3 10.Nxf3 Bd6 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.0–0 0–0 13.Rfe1 Rab8 14.Re2
Out of
my opening tree's moves. (Though I didn't know it at the time); 14.a4 a6
15.Ne5 Rfc8 16.f4 g6 is the line in it.
14...b5 15.Rae1
The position
is equal - as I have said earlier my young opponent had beat me three times
before in the closed Sicilian so I guess he was planning to add another win
as Black against the 'old man'. This makes it possible for me to wind up
winning this game later.
15...b4 16.Qa4 bxc3 17.bxc3 Qc7 18.h3 Ne7 19.Qa3
Ng6 20.g3 Rfc8 21.Rc2 Ne8 22.c4 dxc4 23.Rxc4 Qe7 24.Ra4 Qxa3 25.Rxa3 Rc7
26.h4 Ne7 27.Kg2 h6 28.Re5 Nd6 29.Rea5 Ndc8 30.Rc5 Rd7 31.Bb5 Rd6 32.Bd3
All these moves are typical for a 30 minute game and I'm sure far from
perfect - my advantage was that I was playing hard not to lose, while my
opponent was I think a little obsessed with beating me yet again. This works
out to my advantage as he is finally the one to go most wrong here and lose
the game.
32...Rbb6 33.Rc7 Rbc6 34.Rb7 Rb6 35.Rc7 Kf8 36.Rac3 Rd8 37.Rc2
Rbd6 38.g4 a5 39.R7c5 a4 40.Ra5 Nd5 41.Kg3 Ncb6 42.Be4 Nb4 43.Rb2 N4d5
44.Bxd5 Rxd5 45.Ra7 R8d6 46.Rc2 Rd7 47.Ra6 R7d6 48.Rc7
48...Nd7 49.Rxa4 Rb6 50.g5 1–0
The last
few moves were not recorded because of time pressure - I understandably felt
great finally getting a win against this very talented young player after so
many previous losses. (I also consider Evan a friend.)
Sarkis,Again (2108) - Tamarkin,Larry S (2046) [A23]
4 Rated
Games (4), 15.05.2008
This was
the 2nd time that I played Sarkis in 1 month - I was a little lucky on the
black side of an Alapin Sicilian in the previous game and in past games from
more then 2 years ago Sarkis beat me most of the time - However he took some
time off from playing (probably busy with school) and has been rusty coming
back.
1.c4 e5
As a matter of principle I always play 1...e5 against
the English if allowed.
2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6
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