A Fun Game in 9th Round of the QCD Adults Chess League 2018

1-liner Summary
Even though my team lost 0-4 to a friendly team (a team consisting of many friends), I enjoyed my personal game very much =)

Some background / context before the game
To be honest, I was not expecting to play today -- I was happily doing my non-chess related "Otaku" business of watching games replay, anime series the night before, and I slept at around 1am or so. Unfortunately, 1 of my team mates who was scheduled to play fell sick, so I had to stand in at the last minute.

Still, it was a good playing experience in that I get to experiment my revised opening repertoire as White. Also, the lack of preparations did not account for my loss. If there are things I can attribute for the loss, it would be (i) poor time management and (ii) poor basic chess skills/sense.

And it's been a great pleasure and fun to be paired against Carleton, the founder of the Pub X Chess movement in Singapore! Even though I lost the game, he's definitely 1 of the chess friends I do not mind losing to.

Disclaimer about my games analysis
Please note that I am nowhere a chess expert. My personal thoughts are NOT supposed to be geared towards "how to play chess well". Rather, it is more like how a (fellow) newbie/beginner chess player around my playing strength thinks. A bit like a negative demonstration for learning purpose. Like how we are expected to learn the most from games we lost.

Through reviewing and examining the thought process, it is hoped that I can be corrected of my wrong perspectives and work on the important things that can help one play/understand a chess game better. If you dear reader have any thoughts or feedback, please feel free to drop me a comment either on this blog page directly, or feel free to drop me a private message. A big thank you in advance!

The game itself -- this time, on top of the full replay of the game, I will also highlight what I consider as key moments of the game, or situations which demands questions and answers.

Personal attempt at review/analysis of the game (with no use of engine)



Engine-checked evaluation / some learning ideas ("guesses")
(to address some of my thoughts and questions on the positions in the game)

• Based on the position up to move 9.Bd2, Chessbase14 found 1 single game from the freely available Kingbase Database, between Srebrnic, Anna (2283) and Egerc, Josip (2134), 2009, which ended in a draw. However, there is a notable difference in that it was White to move in the position (but in my game with Carleton, it is Black to move), so in a way, Carleton has improvised on this game =) Though in reality, I'm sure both of us are not aware of this game when we played it ^o^ 

Srebrnic, Anna (2283) and Egerc, Josip (2134), 2009, 1/2-1/2 

Position arises after the following moves:

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 d5 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qa5 5. g3 c6 6. Bg2 g6 7. d3 Bg7 8. Bd2
Qd8 9. O-O O-O ... White with the move.

• After 12...Qb6, the engine indeed like 13.g4 that I found in my post-game review (+1 in favour White). 13.Bxg7 is also good, but not as good (+0.5). 

Game position after 12...Qb6

• After 12...Qb6 13.Bxg7 Kxg7, instead of 14.Kh2 that was played, the engine evaluation is strongly recommends (not in specific idea), but the general setup of d4, Na4, b3 and e4 to be played by White. Basically, do not self-invoke any weakness, and take centre control with the central pawns. Such a simple, basic notion, yet I couldn't get it right... Oh well, there's lots for newbie to catch up and learn!

• After 17...h6, there was a nice combination that White missed =( I'm not sure if I could've spotted it if I had more time in the bank -- if it was presented as a puzzle that "White to play and win", one would probably have spotted it. Such is the difficulty (and beauty) of a real chess game!

White to play and win!

Diagram position after 17...h6. Highlight the hidden text below for the solution.

18.Qc3+ (18...Nf6 or 18...Kg7) 19.a4 Qb6 20.Ngxe6 with 21.Nd7 Knight fork coming.

• After 17...h6 18.Nxe6 Nxe6 19.Nxe6 fxe6, I played 20.Qc3+ and thought that it may have been easier to play 20.Qc4. While 20.Qc4 more or less forces an exchange of Queens with 20...Qxc4 21.bxc4 Rad8! Black has a free shot to press against White's position (White cannot do 22.Rad1 because of 22...Rxd1 23.Rxd1 Rxf2 (the Rook on f1 is needed to defend f2 pawn). In fact, the engine likes my 20.Qc3 played in the game, just that the follow-up was really unsatisfactory! And after 20.Qc3+ Kh7 21.b3 Re6 Now 22.Qc4 is a move as after 22...Qxc4 White has 23.bxc4 (Black has no 2nd semi-open file to threaten White, and White will have time to improve his White King position to defend the f2 pawn, and then the White Rook on f1 is free to play a more active role. Hope the reader can try to visualise!

Game position after 17...h6 18.Ngxe6 Nxe6 19.Nxe6 fxe6, before 20.Qc3+ was played.

• While I considered the idea of 19.Nxb7, it is not that great/perfect for White. The most promising version is 19.Nxb7 Qxb7! 20.Bxc6 21.Qa6 Bxa6 22.Rxa8 and even though White has won the exchange on paper (White has 1 Rook + 2 pawns against Black's 2 Knights) Black will have 4 pieces to play against White's 3, and White's Kingside does look a bit weak. I think I can understand, or at least guess why the engine opine Black to be even slightly better despite White having the exchange.

Diagram position after 17...h6 18.Nxe6 Nxe6. If you were playing White, would you initiate 19.Nxb7!? Would it be a factor if you were under time trouble? Such are the practical questions to think about in a chess game! And nothing is perfectly black and white on whether it is a right or wrong decision. It is still highly playable despite what the engine says, and we play human opponents, not engines!

• Just want to conclude the analysis by saying that 22.f3, which was not played in time, was just a bad time panic ^o^ White could have simply returned the King to g1 (I was freaked out at the thought of Black doubling Rooks on the f-file and didn't know what to do under time pressure, lol!)

Interestingly, time management, to me, is 1 of the biggest practical issue in a chess game -- yet I have not come across any chess materials that addresses this subject directly. Has anyone come across any chess courses or study materials that actually talks specifically on time management? I think that is more important that some of the "hard skills" or knowledge of chess on a practical basis!

I still have A LOT of things to talk about, beyond my personal game! First and foremost, let's start with pictures which speaks a thousand words (each?)

From Picture's Left to Right: Gabriel, the youngest player on team 8.c4!), myself (newbie_learner, captain of the team 8.c4!) and Carleton, founder of PubXChess, who composed the game with me ^o^

Believe it or not, I got a book and words of encouragement from no other than Kevin Goh Wei Ming, Singapore's current #1 chess player. I'm so sorry that he has been putting up with my poor quality posts, yet super grateful for his tips and pointers at the same time. To think my casual chess blog is actually read by a local chess great! Can't ask for more ^o^

Some other great people and things I wish to shout out to:

• To Wern Jian, thank you for identifying yourself as my elder sister's friend ^o^ I honestly didn't know. What a small (chess) world, and all the best for your upcoming papers!
• To Dr_Chessdad, thank you for sharing with me about the free chess database, and some of the interesting functions and features of chessbase 14. I feel that my chess study, esp. on opening repertoire, is finally making its maiden step towards the right, organised direction.

• To my Singapore Chess Meetup friends (you know who you are) -- hope you have enjoyed this round of the League as much as I did!

• To "you know who you are", I have been looking forward to interview you. Let's do it after the final round! Best wishes to you and your team!

Last but not least, I simple need to try and promote the much awaited upcoming event, Social Chess BBQ ... Pawns and Prawns on 29 Sept 2018 (Saturday) .Thanks to Brad's correction, this is not technically an annual event, or a biannual event, but something that will take place as and when we feel like it and are able to commit to it. But I guess on the bright side, me (wrongly) branding it as the meetup's annual/biannual event would help to catch more newcomers to the meetup group. Surely, this mistake is not as sinful as hard-selling? ^o^

This turned out longer than I'd expected. Thank you for your time and patience!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing (Eugene)

a.k.a. newbie_learner, scorekeeper