Veni, Vidi, Vici . . .Sort of

I tied for first place in the U1800 section of the 2018 Westfield Chess Club Championship, and I took home the trophy on tie breaks. Two wins, two draws. Of course it wasn’t that simple. I was dead lost in round four but stubbornly held on until my opponent let me back in the game. As usual, none of my illusions about the quality of my chess survive the first contact with the computer. But this game from round 2 isn’t too bad

[Event "WCC 2018"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.11.25"] [Round "2"] [White "Kang, Michael Jay"] [Black "Gottlieb"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C01"] [WhiteElo "1406"] [Annotator "Gottlieb,Paul"] [PlyCount "46"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. c4 Bb4+ 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bg5 h6 (6... O-O $142 { This is always useful}) 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. cxd5 {I'm not sure this pawn grab is wise. White needs to develop his king side} O-O 9. Nf3 Re8+ 10. Be2 Qe7 11. Ne5 c5 12. Nf3 Bg4 13. dxc5 {Leaving his king in the center} Bxf3 14. gxf3 Qxc5 $6 {Gives up a lot of my advantage} (14... Nd7 $142) 15. Qd3 Nd7 16. a3 $2 (16. Kf1 {or 16.O-O was a must}) 16... Bxc3+ {This is fine, probably winning, but} ( 16... Ne5 $142 $1 17. Qe3 Bxc3+ 18. Qxc3 Qxd5) 17. bxc3 Ne5 $19 {I get a second chance!} 18. Qe3 Qxd5 {Now Black is winning for sure. White's pawns are all weak, and Black has two powerful rooks while White's are sleeping} 19. Kf1 (19. O-O Ng6 20. Rfd1 Rxe3 21. Rxd5 Rxe2) (19. c4 Nxf3+ $1) 19... Qe6 $2 { This wasn't as good as I'd thought, because White can slow me down with 20.h4} (19... Ng6 $142 $1 20. Qd3 Qe6 $19) 20. Rg1 $2 (20. h4 $142 Qf6 21. h5 (21. Rd1 Ng6) 21... Rad8 $19) (20. f4 Qd5 $19) 20... Qh3+ 21. Rg2 (21. Ke1 Nxf3+) 21... Ng6 22. Qd2 Rad8 23. Qb2 Nf4 0-1

2018 New Jersey Open

Three wins, two draws, no losses (I had to skip the 6th round). A surprisingly successful event! I ended up winning the top senior prize in the under 1800 group. But unless you're a strong master, there's always a letdown when you subject the games to scrutiny. Remember the way those pebbles from the sea shore, the ones that gleamed like precious gems when you picked them up on the beach, turn out just to be a bunch of dull little stones when you get them home? My games also lose a lot of their luster when I examine them more closely. This second round game isn't too bad. My young opponent shrugged off this defeat and racked up a draw and three straight wins to tie for second in his class with 4.5 points.

[Event "NJ Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.09.02"] [Round "2"] [White "Gottlieb"] [Black "Feng, Andrew"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C01"] [Annotator "Gottlieb,Paul"] [PlyCount "75"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. c4 c6 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O O-O 8. h3 h6 9. Nc3 Be6 10. cxd5 ({The computer likes} 10. c5 Bc7 11. Ne5 (11. b4)) 10... Nxd5 11. a3 Nf4 12. Bxf4 (12. Bc2 {Seems just about as good}) 12... Bxf4 13. Bc2 Nd7 14. d5 cxd5 15. Nxd5 Bd6 (15... Bxd5 $142 16. Qxd5 $11) 16. Qd3 g6 17. Nc3 $2 (17. Rad1 $142) 17... Nb6 (17... Ne5 $1 {And Black has at least equality }) 18. Rfe1 $6 {The reason the habit of playing for cheap shots is so hard to break, is because those cheap shots often work!} (18. Rfd1 $14) 18... Rc8 $2 19. Rxe6 $1 Bh2+ (19... fxe6 20. Qxg6+ Kh8 21. Qh7#) 20. Kxh2 Qxd3 21. Bxd3 fxe6 22. Bxg6 {White has two pieces and a pawn for a rook, and Black has two isolated pawns to worry about. The win is a "matter of technique"} Nd5 23. Nxd5 exd5 24. Rd1 Rcd8 25. Kg1 Rd7 26. Bb1 Kg7 27. Ba2 Rfd8 (27... d4 28. Rxd4 Rxd4 29. Nxd4 {Is also hopeless}) 28. Ne5 Rd6 29. f4 a5 30. Rd2 Kf6 31. Kf2 Ke6 32. Kf3 Rg8 33. g4 b5 34. h4 b4 35. axb4 axb4 36. Bb3 Rh8 37. Rd4 Rb8 38. Nd3 1-0

My Game

This is a sample post demonstrating the use of the Chessbase game replay tool. As an example, I have chosen one of my rare good games

[Event "NJ Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.09.02"] [Round "3"] [White "McCaffery, Mike"] [Black "Gottlieb"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E43"] [Annotator "Gottlieb,Paul"] [PlyCount "62"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. Bd3 Ne4 7. Qc2 f5 8. a3 ( 8. O-O) 8... Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 O-O 10. O-O d6 ({One other idea is} 10... Rf6 11. Nd2 Rh6 12. f3 (12. g3 $2 Qh4 13. gxh4 Rg6+ 14. Kh1 Nxf2#) (12. Nxe4 fxe4 13. Bxe4 $2 Qh4 $15)) (10... c5 {Another idea, to fix White's c4 pawn}) 11. Nd2 ( 11. d5 Nc5 12. Nd4 (12. dxe6 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Qf6 $17) 12... Qf6 $11) 11... Qh4 12. f3 (12. g3 Ng5 13. gxh4 $4 Nh3#) 12... Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Nd7 14. Qc2 Nf6 { This may not be neccessary. White can eventually play e4, but the idea is to be ready to meet it with e5. This will lock up his white-squared bishop} 15. Bb2 Rae8 16. Rae1 g6 17. Qb3 c5 18. a4 Rb8 (18... g5 $5 {This is an interesting idea. I had a glimpse of this idea in the game, but I couldn't work it out} 19. a5 g4 20. f4 (20. axb6 gxf3 21. gxf3 Bxf3 $19) 20... Be4 21. Bxe4 Nxe4 {Dan says this is strategically won for Black. I don't know about that, but my knight is much the better piece}) 19. a5 bxa5 20. Qa3 e5 21. dxc5 dxc5 22. Qxc5 {Risky grab of a pawn} Bxf3 23. Ba3 $2 {This loses by force} (23. gxf3 Rxb2 $15) 23... Ng4 24. h3 Qg3 25. Rxf3 Qh2+ 26. Kf1 Qh1+ 27. Ke2 Qxg2+ 28. Kd1 Qxf3+ {This is absolutely winning, but} (28... Rfd8 $1 {Is just crushing}) 29. Re2 (29. Kc1 Qf2 30. Qd5+ Kh8 31. Rf1 Qxe3+ $19) 29... Nf2+ 30. Kd2 Nxd3 31. Kxd3 Rfd8+ 0-1