[Date "2009.04.06"]
[White "Theriot"]
[Black "NN"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2009.04.06"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. c4 d6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. e4 e5 7. d5 Ne7 8. Nf3
fxe4 9. Ng5 Ng6 10. Ngxe4 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Qe2 a6 13. a4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Bf6
15. b4 Ne7 16. Bb2 Nf5 17. Rfd1 Qe8 18. a5 Qg6 19. c5 Rae8 20. Qc4 Bb5 21. Qb3
Nd4 22. Nxf6+ Rxf6 23. Bxd4 exd4 24. Rxd4 Ref8 25. Rd2 Qg5 26. Rad1 Qg4 27. f3
Qd7 28. c6 Qc8 29. f4 Kh8 30. cxb7 Qxb7 31. Rc1 Qc8 32. Rdc2 R6f7 33. Qe3 Re8
34. Qa7 Qf5 35. Rxc7 Rxc7 36. Qxc7 Qd3 37. Qc3 Qe2 38. Bf1 Re3 39. Bxe2 Rxc3
40. Rxc3 1-0

Hi, Dennis! Thanks for all your wonderful videos! They are a great help for me as the chess beginner.
I would like to ask you about one game I played. Want to know whether I made to many mistakes. I won the game, but I still have the feeling that white had some powerful resources.

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6. Be2 e6 7. 0-0 Qc7 8.Nc3 a6 9. g3 Bd6 10. Ne5 Bg6 11. Bf4 Nd7 12. Nxg6 hxg6 13. Bxd6 Qxd6
14. Kh2 Ngf6 15. Re1 0-0-0 16. Na4 Rh7 17. c4 Rdh8 18.h4 Ne4 19. cxd5 Rxh4+ 20. Kg2 Rh2+ 21. Kg1 Nxf2 22. Rc1+ Kb8 23.Qb3 Ne4 24. Nc5 Rh1+
25. Kg2 R8h2+ 26. Kf3 Qg3+ 27. Kxe4 f5#

Nice tactics at the end. almost all my pieces are hanging and the mate ist threatend but white is under heavy attack.

It was an 8 minutes blitz game.

or may be this one

1.d4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 Nd7 5. Bf4 Ngf6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.e3 Be7 8.Bd3 Nh5 9.Be5 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 Nf6 11.Qc2 h6 12.h4 Bd6 13. f4 0-0 14. 0-0-0 Nd7
15. g4 Nxe5 16.fxe5 Bb4 17.Rdg1 f6 18.g5 fxg5 19.hxg5 Bxc3 20.bxc3 hxg5 21. Bh7+ Kf7 22.Qg6+ Ke7 23.Qxg7+ Ke6 24.Rh6+ Rf6 25.Bg8+ Kf5 26.Rxf6+ Ke4 27.Bh7+ Kxe3 28.Qxg5+ Ke2 29.Qg2+ Ke3 30.Re1#

Hehe thanks! Just checking out what a strong player would think about this game. Trying to expand my knowledge on stuff like the KID and although I sacked a pawn I am not fully sure I understand if this line is playable, sort of copying this line from another player.

Also I wanted to make a good example as I feel more people should post their losses as that is the best way to improve, to analyse your losses and especially if done by a master. Way too many people are posting their wins here IMHO.

I'm trying to prove Zibbit wrong and correct the ratio . I had to defend all the time but I think there are a few good defensive ideas I missed or executed wrongly. I hope it's instructive enough to merit analysis from Dennis.

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.04.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "RandomDeath"]
[Black "Hitchhiker"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1570"]
[BlackElo "1633"]
[ECO "B20"]
[TimeControl "900"]

1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 d6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 Ne7 5.O-O Nbc6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 a6 8.Nf3 b6 9.Be3 Bb7 10.Qd2 Qc7 11.Rad1 Rd8 12.Qe2 Ng6 13.Rd2 Be7 14.a3 O-O 15.Rfd1 Nge5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.Bxa6 Bxa6 18.Qxa6 Nc4 19.Re2 Nxe3 20.Rxe3 Ra8 21.Qd3 Rfd8 22.Rh3 Bf6 23.Nb5 Qc6 24.c3 e5 25.g3 Be7 26.f4 Ra5 27.c4 Qc8 28.f5 Qc5+ 29.Kf1 Qc6 30.b3 h6 31.Qf3 Rxb5 32.cxb5 Qxb5+ 33.Kg2 Rc8 34.a4 Rc2+ 35.Kh1 Qb4 36.g4 Bg5 37.Qd3 Rd2 38.Rxd2 Qxd2 39.Qxd2 Bxd2 40.Rd3 Bb4 41.Rd5 Bc5 42.Kg2 Kf8 43.Kf3 Ke7 44.Ke2 f6 45.Kd3 Kd7 46.Kc4 Kc6 47.b4 Bg1 48.a5 bxa5 49.Rxa5 Bxh2 50.b5+ Kc7 51.Kd5 Bg1 52.Ra6 Bc5 53.Rc6+ Kd7 54.b6 Bd4 55.b7 Ba7 56.Rxd6+ 1-0

[Event "Oberhausener Oster-Open"]
[Site "Gesamtschule Alt-Oberhausen"]
[Date "2009.04.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sengi"]
[Black "Ackermann, F."]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2051"]
[BlackElo "2068"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4.dxc5 Qa5+ 5. Nbd2 Qxc5 6. c4 g6 7. a3 a5 8. cxd5 Qxd5 9. Bc4 Qd6 10. Qb3 e6 11. O-O Bg7 12. Rd1 Qe7 13. Bb5+ Nfd7 14. Nc4 O-O 15. Bd2 Nc5 16. Qc2 Qc7 17. Bc3 a4 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Qc3+ f6 20. Nd6 Qb6 21. Ne8+ Kh6 22. Rd4 g5 23. Rb4 Nc6 24. Bxc6 Qxc6 25. Nxf6 Nb3 26. Ng4+ Kh5 27. Qg7

Hi Dennis,

I've been watching your videos for a long time, and I've learned a lot from you, so thanks for being such a great part of this community!

This is a game I played recently, and it wasn't all too exciting. My opponent made some big blunders which cost him his queen. But we did reach an interesting position after white's tenth move. I stopped and thought about this position for quite a while. What do you think black should have done? Is it fine to take the pawn? I thought it wouldn't have given me as much as pushing it and making his bishop lame. Your thoughts?



[Event "Online Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2009.05.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "C.H."]
[Black "Joel G"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1569"]
[BlackElo "1777"]
[TimeControl "1 in 3 days"]

1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. a4 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. Ba2 Nf6 7. O-O Bg4 8. Qe1+ Be7 9. d4 Bxf3 10. gxf3 c4 11. Bd2 Nc6 12. b3 b5 13. axb5 axb5 14. Nc3 Nxd4 15. Rc1 Nxf3+ 16. Kh1 Nxe1 17. Rfxe1 O-O 18. Bb1 b4 19. Ne2 c3 20. Bg5 Ne4 21. Be3 Bg5 22. Bxg5 Qxg5 23. Rg1 Nxf2# 0-1

Hi Dennis,
This is my last round game from the 6th George Washington Open in Chantilly, VA. My main question is how could I have better exploited my positional advantage. The game was drawn, but I felt like I had the advantage for most of the middle game, i.e. the d-file, the strong point on d6 and the two bishops, and yet we still drew. I'm not sure if I missed a force win or simply didn't take the enough chances. How could I have won this game? Thank you.


[Event "6th G.W. Open"]
[Site "Chantilly, VA"]
[Date "2009.06.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Knox, Jeremy"]
[Black "Faries, Joe"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "1326"]
[BlackElo "1613"]
[Annotator "Knox,Jeremy"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2009.06.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[TimeControl "40/7200:20/3600:1800"]

{318MB, Fritz11.ctg} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg2 c6 6. O-O
Bd6 7. h3 O-O 8. d3 Qb6 9. Nc3 Nbd7 10. Qc2 Ne5 11. Be3 Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Qc7 13.
Bg2 Bd7 14. f4 Rfe8 15. Bf2 b6 16. e4 dxe4 17. dxe4 Bb4 18. e5 Bxc3 19. Qxc3
Nh5 20. Kh2 g6 21. Rfd1 Rac8 22. Rac1 Ng7 23. g4 c5 24. Rd6 Re6 25. Rcd1 Rxd6
26. Rxd6 Ne8 27. Rd2 Bc6 28. Bd5 Bxd5 29. Rxd5 Rd8 30. Qc4 Ng7 31. Bh4 Rd7 32.
Qd3 Rxd5 33. Qxd5 h6 34. Bf6 Kh7 35. Qd6 Ne8 36. Qd8 Qc6 37. Qe7 Kg8 38. Qd8 a6
39. Be7 c4 40. Bd6 Kg7 41. Qe7 Nxd6 42. exd6 Qf3 43. Qe5+ Kg8 44. d7 *

[Event "6th G.W. Open"]
[Site "Chantilly, VA"]
[Date "2009.06.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Knox, Jeremy"]
[Black "Faries, Joe"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "1326"]

I am white and the time control is 60 minutes plus 30 seconds increment. It's not my best performance, but certainly not my worst. I wanted to get one of my games analyzed a bit on one of the shows, and I think I can learn more from one of my losses where I could have played better, but didn't get completely crushed either.

After move 34...Kd6 my opponent offered a draw and I declined. I had plenty of time left, about 21 minutes, but I refused it and played my next move pretty quickly.

[Date "2009.06.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Hogfoss, S. 1760."]
[Black "Leitel, J. 1712."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B95"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. O-O-O Nc5 10. Kb1 Nxd3 11. Qxd3 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Bxg5 13. Nf3 Be7 14. Nxd6+ Bxd6 15. Qxd6 Qxd6 16. Rxd6 Ke7 17. Rhd1 f6 18. Ng1 e5 19. Ne2 Be6 20. Rb6 Rab8 21. Nc3 Bf7 22. Nd5+ Bxd5 23. Rxd5 Rhd8 24. Rxd8 Kxd8 25. Rd6+ Ke7 26. Rd3 Rd8 27. Rxd8 Kxd8 28. c4 Kd7 29. b4 f5 30. Kc2 b6 31. Kd3 g5 32. f3 h5 33. h3 h4 34. a4 Kd6 35. a5 bxa5 36. bxa5 Kc5 37. Kc3 e4 38. Kd2 exf3 39. gxf3 Kxc4 40. Ke3 Kb5 41. Kd4 Kxa5 42. Ke3 Kb4 43. f4 gxf4+ 44. Kxf4 a5 45. Kxf5 a4 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2009.05.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Spreek"]
[Black "IW"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[Annotator "?"]
[PlyCount "61"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Ne5 a6 5. d4 Nf6 6. c3 e6 7. Bd3 Bd6 8. f4
Bd7 9. a4 Nc6 10. Nd2 Rc8 11. O-O O-O 12. g4 g6 13. g5 Nh5 14. Rf3 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Qb6+ 16. Kh1 d4 17. Ne4 Na5 18. b4 Nc4
19. b5 dxc3 20. Rh3 Nb2 21. Rxh5 Bc6 22. bxc6 Qxc6 23. Kg1 Rfd8 24. Nf6+ Kf8 25. Qb3 Qc5+ 26. Kh1 Rxd3 27. Rxh7 Rd1+
28. Qxd1 Nxd1 29. Ba3 c2 30. Bxc5+ Rxc5 31. Rh8+ 1-0

Hi, Dennis!

This is probably a more serious game then the previous two. 15-minute blitz. I was sure that I had a winning position, but somehow the opponent made the position look more drawish than it was before. From the move 30 we both were in a severe time trouble. He lost on time. Have I missed something interesting?

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4.a4 Be6 5. e4 Na6 6. d5 cxd5 7. exd5 Bf5 8. Bxc4 Nb4 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10. Nf3 f6 11.0-0 a6 12. Bxd7+ Qxd7 13.Qb3 Nd3 14.Be3 Ne5 15. Nxe5 fxe5 16.f4 exf4 17.Bxf4 Nf6 18.Rad1 b5 19.axb5 axb5 20.Nxb5 Ra5 21.Nc7+ Kd8 22.Qb8+ Qc8 23.Ne6+ Kd7 24.Qxc8+ Kxc8 25.Rc1+ Kd7 26.Rc7+ Ke8 27.Rc8+ Kf7 28.Nc7 Kg6 29.d6 Rg8 30.Ne8 exd6 31.Nxf6 gxf6 32.Bxd6 Kf7 33. Rc7+ Kg6 34. Bxf8 Rxf8 35. Rc6 Rb5 36.Rf2 h5 37.h4 Rb4 38.g3 Rg4 39.Kh2 Rb4 40.Kh3 Rb5 41. Rc4 Rf5 42.Rxf5 Kxf5 43.Rc5+ Kg6 44.b4 Rb8 45.b5 Rb6 46.g4 hxg4+ 47. Kxg4 Kh6 48. f4 Kg6 49.Ke4 Rd6 50.Rc6 Rd1 51. Rc4 Rb1 52.Rc5 Rh1 53.h5+ Kh6 54. Rf5 Rb1 55. Kd3... 1-0

Thanks a lot!

[Event "?"]
[Date "2009.07.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "jakamura"]
[Black "Jinx"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6
6. c3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qc2 Qe7+ 9. Be3 f5 (9... Bg4 10. Ne2) 10. Bxf5 g6 11.
Bd3 Bg4 12. Ne2 Qc7 13. f3 Re8 14. Bh6 Bd7 15. O-O-O Rc8 (15... c5 16. h4 c4)
16. h4 c5 17. h5 c4 18. Bxg6 hxg6 19. hxg6 f5 20. Qd2 Ba4 21. Qg5 Qe7 22. Qxf5
Bd7 23. Qh5 Re8 24. Bf8 Qe3+ 25. Rd2 Kxf8 26. Qh7 Qe6 27. g7+ Ke7 28. g8=Q+ Kd8
29. Qxe6 Rxe6 30. d5 Re8 31. Qg6 Bc5 32. Qg5+ Be7 33. Qg7 Bf8 34. Qg6 Bc5 35.
Nd4 Kc8 36. Rh7 Na6 37. d6 Bxd4 38. Rxd4 b5 39. a4 Rb8 40. Rxd7 Kxd7 41. Qf7+
Kc6 42. axb5+ Kb6 43. d7 Nc7 44. dxe8=Q Rxe8 1-0

Hi Dennis. A correspondence game, I was black in this one and up to move 14 or so was very optimistic in my chances but as the game went on I have run out of constructive moves ( after white's 18th move ) and just had no clue what to do! Thereafter I lost not so long after

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bb5 exd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8.
Bxc6 bxc6 9. Re1 Be7 10. f3 Nd6 11. Qe2 Kf8 12. Nc3 Bf6 13. Qf2 h5 14. Na4 h4
15. Nc5 h3 16. g3 Rh5 17. Bf4 Rb8 18. c3 Kg8 19. g4 Rh8 20. Rab1 Kh7 21. Qg3
Bh4 22. Qxh3 Kg8 23. Bg3 Be7 24. Qg2 Nb7 25. Bxc7 Qxc7 26. Na6 Rxh2 27. Qxh2
Qxh2+ 28. Kxh2 Bd6+ 29. Kg2 Rc8 1-0

Dennis, here is a game that I was not able to finish it. I was a pawn up, tryed to simplify, but lost when all of his pieces invaded my camp.

White: Bernobr (1538)
Black: AmirMilbes (1830)
Event: Internet Chess Club (ICC 60 60)
Date: 2009-07-26
(B24 Sicilian, Closed)

1 e4 c5
2 Nc3 Nc6
3 g3 e6
4 Bg2 Be7
5 d3 Nf6
6 f4 d5
7 e5 Nd7
8 Nf3 O-O
9 O-O Rb8
10 a4 a6
11 h3 b5
12 axb5 axb5
13 Kh2 Nb6
14 b3 c4
15 Nxb5 cxb3
16 cxb3 Bd7
Here I am up a pawn. Very happy. But i started to question how to win. My evaluation of the position was that besides the pawn that i was up, I also had a pretty good position, my pawn on e5 was crunching blacks pieces, they would be worried about my b pawn while i could create some offense against his king, and both of my knights and bishops could easily go to a good square. But I decided that I should keep it simple and trade as much as I could, so that the extra-pawn would make the difference.
17 Nbd4
First retreat, I could have played more agreesive, with Nfd5, taking away some good squares of blacks camp with my knight. I think that this was the first mistake
17 ... Qc7
See, his queen would not have gone to this place if my knight was still on b5
18 Ba3
I calculated that i could trade a pair of bishops and knights, even though I was making his life easier, since he was the one with difficulty to put his pieces on active squares
18 ... Rfe8
19 Bxe7 Rxe7
20 Nxc6 Bxc6
21 Qc2
Since I wanted to trade pieces, I kept my queen in front of his queen, threatening Nd4 to trade more pieces. I was also occupying the open file
21 ... Qb7
22 Nd4 Be8
I was feeling confident now. Even after all the pieces were traded, my knight was looking good and my bishop could make the difference at the end game
23 Rfb1 Rc7
24 Qd2 Nc8
25 b4
Here the computer strongly suggest
25 f5 Which I think could be a good idea, since my queen, knight and bishop could attack the king while blacks piece where on the queen side
25 ... Qb6
26 Nc2 Na7
27 Ra2
I started my plan to double the rooks and try to get into the 7th rank, but I regret this move a lot, since his knight started to play very actively from now on
27 ... Nb5
28 Rb3
I should have retreated my rook to a1, but that is assuming that I was wrong. Black was threatening a fork on both of my rooks
28 ... Rbc8
29 Na3
I really wanted to trade knights, and started to feel the pressure. I did not realize how weak was my back rank and that although my king was far from the fight, he was under threat of mate
29 ... Rc1
30 g4
Only way to scape
30 ... Qg1+
31 Kg3 Nc3
here black missed
31 ... Nd4 32 Rb1 (32 Rbb2 Rf1 attacking f3 twice 33 Kh4 Rf3 34 Bxf3 Nxf3+ 35 Kh5 f6# ) 32 ... Rxb1 33 Nxb1 Qxb1 -+
32 Rc2
for a few minutes I was feeling calm again. I was sure that there was nothing that he could do, we would only trade all of our pieces
32 ... Rd1
33 Qf2 Rxd3+
34 Kh4 Qxf2+
35 Rxf2 Ba4
And he was threatening a knight fork on d1 if I played Rb2
36 Bf1 Rd1
37 Rbb2
37 Ba6 Bxb3 (37 ... Rc7 38 Rbb2 Rc6 ) 38 Bxc8 Ra1 39 Rf3
37 ... Ra1
38 Nc2 Rc1
39 Nd4 Nd1
40 Ne2 Ra1
41 Ng3
And he capture one of my rooks
41 ... Nxb2
42 Rxb2 Rc2
43 Rxc2 Bxc2
44 b5 d4
45 b6 Rb1 0-1
White resigns

Hey there!

I am trying to learn about computers and the way they play chess. In this game I tried to overcome Chessmaster's engine "The King v. 3.50 (2007)" with an novel (and supposedly quite unsound) opening. The computer apparently got confused and on move 5 played the seemingly inferior Nc3 (I think that 5. o-o neutralizes my opening and gains quite an advantage for white). In time trouble I played an inferior move on move 34 and soon lost a pawn and had to resign.

I am trying to learn about computers without using their own analysis and would therefore really like to hear a masters comments on the game and maybe on the "man vs machine" theme in general! Hope you take it up!

[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date "2009.4.19"]
[Round ""]
[White "Chessmaster"]
[Black "Rux"]
[TimeControl "7200"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO " "]

1.Nf3 e6 2.g3 a6 3.Bg2 Ne7 4.d4 d5 5.Nc3 b5 6.O-O Bb7 7.a4 b4 8.Na2 a5 9.c3 Nec6 10.Bd2 Bd6 11.cxb4 Nxb4 12.Qb3 N8c6 13.Nc3 O-O
14.Nb5 Be7 15.Rac1 Ba6 16.Bf4 Bd6 17.Nxd6 cxd6 18.Rfe1 f6 19.Bh3 e5 20.Bd2 Kh8 21.dxe5 dxe5 22.Qc3 g6 23.Qc5 Bc4 24.Be3 Re8 25.Nd2 Ba6 26.Nb3 Bb7 27.Bd2 Na2 28.Rcd1 Ncb4 29.e4 Nd3 30.Bxa5 Nxc5 31.Bxd8 Nxe4 32.Bb6 Bc6 33.a5 Nb4 34.Bg2 f5 35.f3 Ng5 36.Re3 e4 37.Nd4 exf3 38.Rxe8+ Rxe8 39.Nxf3 1-0