Prague Summer Open

[Adam Bremner]

Neil has managed to gain +73 FIDE in 4 games so far, phenomenal stuff!

Hamish on the live boards should be interesting tomorrow.

[hamish olson]

Having a great time in Prague, hopefully tomorrows opponent wont thrash me.

This was this afternoon's effort. My first win in the open sicilian for a long time! Not a great game but there were some good moves as well as the bad ones.
[pgn]1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. f4
Qc7 9. a4 O-O 10. Be3 b6 11. e5 dxe5 12. fxe5 Nfd7 13. Bf3 Bb7 14. Bxb7 Qxb7
15. Nf3 Nc6 16. Bf4 Rfd8 17. Qe2 Nf8 18. Qe4 Na5 19. Be3 Qc7 20. Rae1 Rac8 21.
Kh1 Nc4 22. Bc1 Rd7 23. h4 f5 24. exf6 Bxf6 25. Qg4 Nd6 26. Bf4 Qc6 27. Bxd6
Bxc3 {1} 28. Bxf8 {4} Bxe1 {3} 29. Rxe1 Qc4 30. Qxc4 Rxc4 {0} 31. Ne5 Rxh4+ {1}
32. Kg1 {0} Rc7 33. Rf1 {1} h6 34. c4 Re4 35. Bd6 {1} Rc8 {1} 36. b4 {1} Re2
37. c5 bxc5 {1} 38. bxc5 Rxc5 39. Rf8+ Kh7 {0} 40. Bxc5 {1} Rxe5 {1} 41. Bb6 {1
} Kg6 42. a5 Kh5 43. Ra8 {1} g5 44. Rxa6 g4 45. Kh2 Re2 46. Bc7 e5 47. Re6 {1}
e4 48. a6 Ra2 49. Re5+ Kh4 50. Bd8# 1-0[/pgn]

[Adam Bremner]

All Rook endgames are drawn, but is this one today? Looks like a grovel ahead.

[Alan Tate]

It looked like a grovel but now it looks lost.

[Alan Tate]

However ...c6 and ...d5 with the idea of Rc7-c4xd4 is very creative!

[Alan Tate]

Any defence in the rook endgame? It seems like White is too active and can play on both sides of the board. The Black king can't really come to the queenside which means that Black is condemned to passivity and White can then push the b-pawn and march his king up. Quite impressive technique for a kid. Rd3 and g3 was a very nice idea.

The opening looked fine but Black's problems stemmed from the over-ambitious 14...b5.

[hamish olson]

Rd3 was a fantastic move, the endgame is probably lost anyways, b5 was certainly over ambitious although my opponent thought N7f6 allowing Bg5 was my main mistake

[andyburnett]

Tough game Hamish. I was pleasantly surprised when you played ...b5 but like your opponent I thought ...N7f6 looked wrong?! Anyway, this is really good experience for you - keep your spirits up!

[Alan Tate]

Black's pawn structure/piece formation does not look ready for queenside pawn breaks although it's tempting to think opposite sides castling means sac-sac mate. 14...Nh5 followed by central play with ...e5 or ...c5 would have been my choice.

Future armchair analysis should be enough motivation to go through tomorrow's opponent : D

[andyburnett]

Black's pawn structure/piece formation does not look ready for queenside pawn breaks although it's tempting to think opposite sides castling means sac-sac mate. 14...Nh5 followed by central play with ...e5 or ...c5 would have been my choice.

Future armchair analysis should be enough motivation to go through tomorrow's opponent : D

You're probably right Alan, but I was a little worried (on Hamish's behalf!) about white simply playing g4 (14...Nh5 15.Bd3 with g4 next). Looking a bit closer it's not a huge concern, but I can understand why Hamish (and myself) were attracted to ...b5