STL $5 Satellite (Round 3)

 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bb4+ 5. c3 dxc3 6. bxc3 Be7 7. Qd5 d6 8.
Qxf7+ * 1 - 0

Upcoming Tournament

 I'm going to play in the Megamind G/30 USCF rated chess tournament this weekend on Saturday, 10.16.2021.  It will be my first chess tournament in well over a half a year.  I did this strictly out of boredom.  But, who knows what may come out of it?  Maybe, I'll make some new friends or meet a girl.  IDK.  Or maybe I'll even win all three rounds and get first place (this has happened before).

This tournament is at the Saint Louis Chess Club.  It is their first standard rated Over-The- Board tournament since all this Corona shit started.  Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.  It's a 36-player tournament, I'll upload my games here at my blog.

I took lessons from the Iranian Chess Queen - Derakshani.  She's younger than my step-sister and is already an International Master.  She gave me some good general tips for guidance.  One thing she told me that really hit me, "I don't think chess players ever really quit playing chess".  Amen!  We all go long periods of time without playing but almost always come back to the game!  

Wish me luck!

Beautiful Victory with The Sicilian Defense (Played at FICS 2.21.21)

 [Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2021.02.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "gercole"]
[Black "cterlizzi"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "1742"]
[BlackElo "1773"]
[ECO "B23"]
[TimeControl "1500"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Bc4 e6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. d3 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Qd2 Nd4 8.
O-O-O O-O 9. h4 Bd7 10. Ne2 Nxe2+ 11. Qxe2 b5 12. Bb3 a5 13. c3 a4 14. Bc2 b4
15. cxb4 cxb4 16. d4 b3 17. axb3 axb3 18. Bxb3 Qa5 19. Qe3 Rfc8+ 20. Bc2 Ba4
21. Rd2 Bxc2 22. Rxc2 Qa1+ 23. Kd2 Rxc2+ 24. Kxc2 Qxh1 25. Ne1 Ra1 26. Kd2 d5
27. e5 Bb4+ 28. Kc2 Qxe1 29. Qxe1 Rxe1 30. exf6 Re2+ 31. Kb3 Bd6 32. Be3 gxf6
33. Kc3 e5 34. b4 exd4+ 35. Bxd4 Re4 36. g3 f5 37. f3 Bxb4+ 38. Kd3 Re1 39.
Be3 Kg7 40. h5 Kf6 41. g4 fxg4 42. fxg4 Rxe3+ 43. Kxe3 Kg5 44. Kd4 f5 45.
gxf5 Kxh5 46. Kxd5 Kg4 47. Ke6 h5 *

TERLIZZI Saves (Played On FICS 10.17.20)

 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 d6 5. h3 O-O 6. e4 e5 7. d5 Na6 8. Be3
Nd7 9. Be2 Ndc5 10. O-O f5 11. exf5 gxf5 12. Bg5 Qe8 13. Ne1 Qg6 14. f4 Ne4
15. Bh5 Qxh5 16. Qxh5 Ng3 17. Qf3 Nxf1 18. Qxf1 Nc5 19. fxe5 dxe5 20. Qe2 f4
21. Nf3 Bf5 22. Rd1 e4 23. Nh4 f3 24. gxf3 Bxh3 25. Nxe4 Rae8 26. Qh2 Nxe4
27. fxe4 Bg4 28. Re1 Bd4+ 29. Be3 Be5 30. Qg2 Kh8 31. Qxg4 Rg8 32. Bg5 h6 33.
Qh5 Rxg5+ 34. Qxg5 hxg5 35. Ng6+ Kg7 36. Nxe5 Rxe5 37. Kg2 Kf6 38. Kg3 Ke7
39. Kf3 Kd6 40. b4 c5 41. b5 b6 42. Rh1 Re7 43. Rh6+ Ke5 44. Rg6 Kd4 45. Re6
Rd7 46. Kg4 Kxc4 47. d6 Kd4 48. e5 c4 49. Re7 Rd8 50. d7 c3 51. e6 c2 52. Re8
c1=Q 53. Rxd8 Qf4+ 54. Kh5 Qh4+ 55. Kg6 Qe4+ 56. Kf6 Qe5+ 57. Kf7 Qf5+ 58.
Ke7 Qh7+ 59. Kf6 Qh6+ 60. Kf7 Qh7+ 61. Kf6 Qh6+ 62. Kf7 Qh7+ 63. Kf6 Qh6+ 64.
Kf7 {Game drawn by repetition} 1/2-1/2

Down a queen for a rook and came back to draw.  I almost resigned when he trapped my Queen!  I need to go over this one with Fritz.  I think I actually missed a win in the Endgame.

There will be another day!

- Lizzi

Winning with the Alekhine (Played at FICS 10.02.2020)

 
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. exd6 exd6 7. Be2 Bf5 8.
O-O Be7 9. a3 Bf6 10. b4 O-O 11. Nc3 Qd7 12. Be3 a5 13. b5 Na7 14. a4 Rad8
15. Qb3 Nac8 16. Rad1 Ne7 17. c5 Nbc8 18. b6 cxb6 19. Bb5 Qc7 20. Bf4 bxc5
21. dxc5 Qxc5 22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. Rxd5 Be6 24. Rxc5 Bxb3 25. Rc7 Bd5 26. Nd2 Ne7
27. Nc4 Ng6 28. Bxd6 Bxc4 29. Bxf8 Bxf1 30. Bxf1 Nxf8 31. Rxb7 Rd7 32. Rb5
Bc3 33. g3 g6 34. Kg2 Rd2 35. h4 Bd4 36. Bc4 Rxf2+ 37. Kh3 Bc3 38. Rb7 Bb4
39. Bd5 Ne6 40. Re7 Bxe7 {SlowDave resigns} 0-1

 Good game, good win, I guess.  But, my opponent blunder his knight on move 28.  I mostly study my Alekhine games to get a better understanding of The Alekhine Defense and how to play it.  I've only played this defense one time in a USCF tournament and it was recently.  That game ended in a draw.

 Note:  Bobby Fischer played the Alekhine Defense on more than one occasion during the 1972 WCC against Spassky

 There will be another tomorrow!

- Lizzi  

2020 Summer Open (Round 3)

 [Event "Summer Open"]
[Site "Illinois"]
[Date "08.08.2020"]
[Round "3"]
[White "CJ"]
[Black "Lizzi"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Be2 d6 5. c3 O-O 6. h4 Nbd7 7. h5 e5 8. Bg5 Qe8
9. hxg6 fxg6 10. Bc4+ d5 11. dxe5 dxc4 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Nd2 Be6
15. Qe2 Qf7 16. O-O-O b5 17. f4 Be7 18. Ngf3 Bg4 19. Qf2 Bxf3 20. Nxf3 Bf6 21.
g4 Rfe8 22. g5 Bh8 23. Rh4 Qe6 24. Re1 Qe4 25. Rh3 Rab8 26. Qh4 Re7 27. Nh2 b4
28. Ng4 bxc3 29. Nh6+ Kf8 30. bxc3 Rb1+ 31. Kd2 Qd3# 0-1

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

The 2016 STL Chess Club Thanks Giving Open

I was satisfied with my results in last weekend's tournament. I got really discouraged after a heart-breaking loss in round 2 to a player rated 300 points higher than me. I call it "heart-breaking" because for a while I was up a pawn and had the advantage. I got too exhausted by the time we reached the endgame, and I lost my ability to focus. I caughed up a couple of pawns and resigned. I imagine if I could have won that game I would have had much better results for this tournament. But, I was still satisfied with myself because I came out of this tournament with a positive score (more wins than losses).

I think I may have over-done it by going to two major tournaments within a couple weeks of each other when I haven't been very active in tournament chess over the past few years. Oh well, I learned a lot.

I must also add that I defeated two children (rounds 1 & 6). Why do I mention this? Because when I play kids in the 7 - 11 age range I usually do really bad. The problem is that they are usually overconfident and they move very fast... it throws me off psychologically! But, I relaxed and took my time this time. It made all the difference.

I'm not sure when my next tournament will be. Maybe the one in my hometown in March. We'll see.

My Strongest Tournament Victory - 3.10.12, Oestreich Memorial

[Event "2012 Mark Oestreich Memorial"] [Site "Salem, IL"] [Round "2"] [White "Pollitt"] [Black "Terlizzi"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1919"] [BlackElo "1472"] [Annotator "Terlizzi"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2012.03.10"] [TimeControl "2700%2B45"] 1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 a6 6. Nc3 Qd8 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. Bc4 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bb3 Nc6 12. Be3 Nd5 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. Ne5 Bf6 15. f4 Qd6 16. Qf3 Ne7 17. g4 Bxe5 18. dxe5 Qg6 19. h3 h5 20. g5 h4 21. Bc5 Re8 22. Bxe7 Rxe7 23. Bxd5 Bf5 24. Kh2 Qb6 25. Re2 Rd8 26. Rd1 Red7 27. Red2 Be6 28. f5 Bxd5 29. Rxd5 Rxd5 30. Rxd5 Qxb2 31. Kg1 Qb1 32. Kf2 Qxa2 33. Ke3 Qxd5 *'/>

This game was played in my hometown two years ago (2012). I was playing a guy from Indiana who was rated nearly 500 points higher than me. It was the first time I had ever beaten a Class A player. I ended the tournament with a perfect score - 3/3 and received first place. I had always planned for white to play the anti-Sicilian (Alapin) whenever I play the Sicilian. My plan is to always play ...d5 on the second move. He responds 3. exd5 and I recapture the pawn with my queen on move 3. I surprised myself a bit on move 5 by playing ...a6. The move looked too passive but in hindsight I think it was a very important move and it helped me build a strong position for the opening as it prevents white from moving the bishop to b5. The rest of the game was fairly simple. He just made a tactical blunder in the middle of the game and I capitalized on it by winning his rook. I remember punching in the numbers on my computer when I got home that night and I discovered that I had a performance rating of over 2300 ELO, which is well into the master class. This tournament is coming up again next month and I hope I win it again. I'll keep everyone informed. Thanks for reading.