Thursday, September 30, 2010

How to beat an IM in 15 moves

This game is from an OTB tournament I played in about 5 years ago. 5 Rounds, G/30. It was a state championship qualifier so it had a very strong field, 3 IM's, many Masters and Experts. Round 4 went like this:

Monday, September 27, 2010

Rhenium's ends a very successful season

We've been knocked out of the playoffs. Even if campagnolo wins Tuesday to draw the match the other team goes through on tiebreaks. During the regular season we scored 16 points, tied for most of any U2200 team. In fact there were only eight higher scores of all the teams (121) in all the sections of the league. But it's harder to score in the top section. The team did not lose a match, 3 wins, 3 draws. Maarten scored the most wins with 3. Paulkov, nb, and campagnolo each scored 2 wins. Seaborgium got 1 win in a shortened season. Nosalt, who was nice enough to fill in at the last moment, also got a win, in the playoffs no less. Forfeits accounted for 3 wins but also one loss which really hurt the tiebreak situation. All in all a great season. Looking forward to next season. Hey Niobium and Tellurium players, I'd like write something similar to this about you guys after t47.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

nb wins a tough game

Good moves by both sides throughout the game. White was slightly better the whole time and finally gets the point.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Rhenium takes 1-0 lead in playoffs

Nosalt won a nice game to start things off. And he played while away from home on vacation. I post the game later. Paulkov plays Sunday at 21:00 while campagnolo does battle on Tuesday at 21:30. Maarten's opponent is being difficult, that game is not yet scheduled.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Salvatore wins in round 5

Black had a strange plan on the queen-side. Salvatore exploited the waste of time.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A nice win by Ivio

Black makes a mistake with 11..Bxc3 and Ivio punishes him with 12.Nxg7. Some really good tactics to finish him off.

Rhenium round 1 playoff pairings

I'd list the pairings here but can't figure out how to make it a chart view. Go team!

Monday, September 20, 2010

A nice tactic

Solution to the last problem. Kc6! The king moves up to help the pawns. Seaborgium came up with a nice tactic to win material. White to play.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Black to play

Solution to the last problem: 34.Rxg5 if.. hg5 35.Qxh8+ and Qxe5 . The best defense is 34..Re1+ 35.Qe1 hg5 36.Qe5! and White should win, unless you're playing Fritz and he finds a slight flaw in your followup and finds a draw. Here's another one. What is the only move that allows Black to win?

White to play and win

Miles spoiled his winning game and is lost but his opponents latest move ..Bg5 gave him a chance to turn the tables. Can you find the winning move?

Rhenium in the playoffs

Round 1 of the U2200 playoffs starts next Tuesday. We play Forever Young Knights. The winner goes to the championship round. Go Team!

GOTW

I got game of the week, round 1, in the previous tournament. I forgot how to handle his Qb3 variation in the Benoni and was getting murdered. In desperation I sac'd a Knight which he regrets he took.

Yet another blog?

This blog is devoted to the T4545 teams I captain, Rhenium, Tellurium, and Niobium. Team news, good games, and other great things. If you have a good game or maybe just an interesting position in one of your games, send it to me, so I can publish it here. In T47 we're adding a U1800 and U1400 team, perhaps a U1200 team. All with an element name. If you know of any players who like slow chess, let me know, so we can add them.