My first game for the Clifton Chess Club

Since my last entry I have (aside from running the Bristol Half Marathon with a PB of 1.41.26) played seven games on ICC, during which my rating has declined slightly. Despite continuing my experiment with playing more aggressively and tactically I have had two draws in those seven, and have been a bit disappointed over all. I had previously been avoiding answering e4 with e5 in part to avoid theory, and now taking it up in this way has made me fall for book traps, for example in the position below.


Play continued ...d5 5.exd5 ...Nxd5 6.Nxf7! (a book trap) ...Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3

I was fortunate enough to go on to win this game, but should have simply lost straight out of the opening.

The position below shows an interesting endgame where I am down the exchange for a pawn, but have connected passers on the kingside. This kind of unbalanced situation is pretty new to me.


Play continued 36.g4 ...Rg8 37.g5 ...Ka4 38.f4 ...Rf8 39.h4 ...a5 40.bxa5 ...bxa5 41.h5

I went on to win that game. It's surprisingly difficult to deal with the kingside pawns advancing (perhaps black should have played ...h5 earlier), although the computer thinks it should have been a draw with best play.

In some games I have lost the plot quite miserably however, for example in the position below I got too carried away thinking I had a winning tactic and didn't blunder check my move.


White to play and lose with 14.f5?? (...Bxg3)

I had been intending to follow 14.f4-f5 with 15.g3-g4, trapping the black light square bishop, but instead simply threw the game away by missing that the g3 pawn was hanging.

This week I played my first game for the Clifton Chess Club, playing as 5th board for Clifton C against Yate A in Bristol Division 2. My opponent was an older gentleman called Lloyd who had the white pieces. Going in to the game I didn't know my opponents rating, and seeing as I was playing 'up a team' (I'm actually registered as a regular for the Clifton D team) and it was my first ever league game I tried to play quite cautiously. My plan was just to play solid moves, looking for tactical opportunities every turn and carefully blunder checking my own candidate choices. The time control was 90 minutes.

My opponent played 1.e4 and I answered with the Caro-Kann. On move 4 I decided to play the slightly off beat immediate Nf6. My idea was that it might be a good idea to avoid any forcing book lines (e.g. 4.Bf5) against a significantly older opponent who probably knew more about it that I do. I have only played 4...Nf6 a few times before, but it's obvious that the pawn structure is pretty solid, and having a pawn controlling e5 and g5 makes a nice change from the standard Caro-Kann pawn structure.


It's pretty clear that this isn't the most ambitious defence however, particularly so far as the middlegame is concerned. From here we both developed fairly logically. My opponent grabbed more space on move 9 with c2-c4 and I chose to trade off a little in response, before castling and striking back at the centre with 12...c6-c5.


I had spent several minutes on this move, and was quite happy when my opponent replied 13.d4-d5. White has an advanced passed pawn, but black can blockade this and has a clear plan for the middlegame and endgame, namely trading into a good knight vs bad bishop situation. Play continued 13...Bg4 14.Qf4 ...Bxf3 15.Qxf3.

From here play proceeded roughtly how I had hoped, although my opponent threatened to gain play by dominating the e-file. On move 29 my opponent had 19 minutes left vs my 28, and we reached the position below.


With 29...f5-f4 I finally reached the ideal position I had hoped for. White has a terrible bishop and no clear plan, while black can make progress using the dark squares as outposts for his knight. If the queens come off then black still stands slightly better but I felt it was best to try and keep them on for winning chances.

On move 35 my opponent offered me a draw which I declined. I felt that although I wasn't certain I could get a win there was at least no risk of losing for black.


By the time we had reached move 40 (the position above) black has made more progress but white can defend stubbornly. My general plan here was to establish my king on d6, probably play f6-f5 to limit the white bishop further, and then try to attack the somewhat weak white king using my knight and queen. Whites can still reasonably hope for a draw, however with six minutes on their clock remaining my opponent blundered with 41.h4?, and after 41...Qf2 there is no way for white to defend the h pawn and the position is lost.


My opponent resigned with his flag hanging on move 45 in the position above. Black intends to simply play h7-h5-h4, while moves such as ...f5-f4 followed by ...Nxf3+ are also threatened.

I learned after the game that my opponents rating was 116. Our game was the last to finish, having lasted just under three hours, and with the other games having ended 2.5-2.5 I was fortunate enough to help the Clifton team to a win.