Blitzing Out The Moves in a Sicilian (ICC)

[Event "ICC 15 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2020.12.10"]
[Round "-"]
[White "HCAMP"]
[Black "Terlizzi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1419"]
[BlackElo "1534"]
[Opening "Sicilian: closed"]
[ECO "B23"]
[NIC "SI.44"]
[Time "13:08:16"]
[TimeControl "900+0"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 (2 ...Nc6 is more common in the Closed Sicilian) 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nc6 5. O-O g6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bg7 8.Nf3 O-O (last book move) 9. Bd3 Bg4 (provoking White's next move which weakens his Kingside) 10. h3 Bd7 11. Bg5 Nb4 12. Be2 Qb6? (better is moving the Knight back to c6 to prevent 13. e5) 13. a3 (stronger is 13. e5 dxe5 14. Bxf6 exf6 15. Qxd7 and White wins a piece) Nc6 14. Qc1 Rac8 15. Be3 Qd8 16. Nh2 a6 17. f4 Nh5!? (giving up a pawn) 18. Bxh5 gxh5 19. Qd1 Kh8 20. Qxh5 Be8 21. f5 f6 22. Qf3 Rg8 23. Nd5 Ne5 24. Qd1 Nc4 25. Bc1 Bf7 26. Nf4 (Fritz 15 suggests 26. b3 to kick the Knight back) Qb6+27. Kh1 Bh6 28. b3 Ne3? 29. Bxe3 Qxe3 30. Nd5? (30. Ng4! forces Black to give up the exchange) Qg3? (30 ...Qxe4! and White is lost) 31. Qe2 Bxd5 32. exd5 Bf4 33. Ng4 (Rxf4 giving up the exchange is White's only hope) Rxg4 {White resigns} 0-1

Original PGN:

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nc6 5. O-O g6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bg7 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. Bd3 Bg4 10. h3 Bd7 11. Bg5 Nb4 12. Be2 Qb6 13. a3 Nc6 14. Qc1
Rac8 15. Be3 Qd8 16. Nh2 a6 17. f4 Nh5 18. Bxh5 gxh5 19. Qd1 Kh8 20. Qxh5
Be8 21. f5 f6 22. Qf3 Rg8 23. Nd5 Ne5 24. Qd1 Nc4 25. Bc1 Bf7 26. Nf4 Qb6+
27. Kh1 Bh6 28. b3 Ne3 29. Bxe3 Qxe3 30. Nd5 Qg3 31. Qe2 Bxd5 32. exd5 Bf4
33. Ng4 Rxg4

"Foggydew (c)" Game 3 of 5 (FICS)

 [Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2020.12.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "cterlizzi"]
[Black "foggydew"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1754"]
[BlackElo "2247"]
[ECO "E80"]
[TimeControl "1200+20"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 c6 (last book move) 6. Bd3 e5 7. d5 (keeping the position closed) O-O 8. Bg5 Nbd7 9. b4 Qb6 10. a3 a5 11. b5 Nc5 12. Be3 cxd5 13. cxd5 Nxd3+ 14. Qxd3 Qc7
15. b6 Qd8 16. Nb5 Nh5 17. g3 (weakening my Kingside - better was 17. Ne2 followed by 18. 0-0) f5 18. Rc1 fxe4 19. fxe4 Qe7 20. Rc7 Qf6 21. Qe2 Rb8 22. Qf2 Qd8 23. Qe2 Nf6 24. Bg5 Ra8 (Here Fritz gives White a 2/3 pawn advantage - better was 24 ...h6 25. Bxf6 Rxf6) 25. Qd3 Rb8 (Black is repeating moves because he doesn't know what else to do) 26. Nf3 Bh3 27. a4 (a blunder, I need to move my rook to g1 to prevent Black's next move) Bg2 28. Rg1 Bxf3 29. Qxf3 Nxe4 30. Qxe4 Qxg5 31. Nxd6?? Qf6 and Black wins the Knight as I have to protect the f2 square with my Queen {cterlizzi resigns}
0-1

Well I had the better position for a while.  Looks like my only hope to beat this computer is with the White pieces - draw at best with Black!

Original PGN:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 c6 6. Bd3 e5 7. d5 O-O 8. Bg5
Nbd7 9. b4 Qb6 10. a3 a5 11. b5 Nc5 12. Be3 cxd5 13. cxd5 Nxd3+ 14. Qxd3 Qc7
15. b6 Qd8 16. Nb5 Nh5 17. g3 f5 18. Rc1 fxe4 19. fxe4 Qe7 20. Rc7 Qf6 21.
Qe2 Rb8 22. Qf2 Qd8 23. Qe2 Nf6 24. Bg5 Ra8 25. Qd3 Rb8 26. Nf3 Bh3 27. a4
Bg2 28. Rg1 Bxf3 29. Qxf3 Nxe4 30. Qxe4 Qxg5 31. Nxd6 Qf6

The Trompowsky DENIED (ICC 11.11.2020)

 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. d5 d6 5. f3 Nf6 6. e4 g6 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8.
Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. c4 Bg7 10. Nc3 Na6 11. Nge2 Nh5 12. Be3 O-O 13. g4 Nf6 14. Qd2
Nc7 15. a4 a6 16. Bh6 b5 17. cxb5 axb5 18. a5 b4 19. Nd1 Nb5 20. h4 e6 21.
dxe6 fxe6 22. h5 Ne8 23. Bxg7 Qxg7 24. h6 Qe5 25. O-O Nd4 26. Nxd4 cxd4 27.
Kg2 Rc8 28. Nf2 b3 29. Rfc1 Nf6 30. Nd3 Qb5 31. Rxc8 Rxc8 32. a6 Ra8 33. Nb4
e5 34. g5 Ne8 35. Ra3 Nc7 36. a7 Qb7 37. Rxb3 Rxa7 38. Ra3 Rxa3 39. bxa3 Nb5
40. Qa2+ Kf8 41. a4 Nc3 42. Qb3 Qe7 43. a5 Qxg5+ 44. Kf2 Qd2+ 45. Kf1 Qe2+
46. Kg1 Qxf3 47. Qe6 Ne2+ 48. Kh2 Qg3+ {White resigns} 0-1

I give credit to my victory here by my effort to play on both sides of the board!

Crushing the Scandinavian (Played on FICS 11.07.2020)

 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. b4 Qxb4 5. Nb5 Qa5 6. Bc4 c6 7. Bxf7+
Kxf7 8. Qh5+ Kf6 9. Bb2+ e5 10. Qxe5+ Kg6 11. Qe8+ Kh6 12. Qxf8 Nf6 13. Qxh8
Nh5 14. Qxc8 Qxb5 15. Qe6+ g6 16. Bd4 Na6 17. Be3+ Kg7 18. Qe7+ Kg8 19. Nf3
Rf8 20. Ng5 Nf6 21. Ne6 Rf7 22. Qd8+ 1-0

 I encounter the Scandinavian from time to time, never had good results against - especially in tournament play.  I learned these tactics and traps from IM Rosen's Youtube Channel withe the video of the same name - "Crushing the Scandinavian"!

- Lizzi

Cochrane Gambit Miniature (Played on FICS 11.05.2020)

 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nxf7 Kxf7 5. d4 g6 6. Nc3 Kg7 7. Bc4 d5 8.
Nxd5 Nxe4 9. Qf3 Nd6 10. Bb3 Be6 11. O-O c6 12. Nf4 Bxb3 13. Qxb3 Qb6 14. Qe6
Na6 15. Nh5+ *

My First Blindfold Checkmate (Lichess.org)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Nc5 5. Nc6+ Be7 6. Nxd8 O-O 7. Nxf7 Rxf7 8. Qh5 Rf8 9. Bd3 Bd6 10. Bxh7+ Kh8 11. Bg6+ Kg8 12. Qh7# 1-0 I cannot be very proud of this game considering my opponent blundered his Queen very early in the opening. That being said, this is still the first time actually checkmated an opponent in a BLINDFOLD game - not just win through a resign, but an actual checkmate! Game played 6.13.2020 on Lichess.org