After singing Happy Birthday to Julian on Thursday evening round 2 of our tournament got under way and six games were played. All thirteen registered players showed up which is great except for the fact that Codie (@clons87) had to take a bye. All the games seemed pretty interesting and they were not marred by too many gratuitous blunders.
Julian (@sausjulian) may have been distracted by leftover birthday cake in his game as he was not able to crack Andrew's (@perryand1971) Slav Defense. Andrew came out of the opening with a large advantage that resulted in an attack on White's king and mate on move 29. On the table next door Denis (@denisbouchard) and John (@hodjon) faced off in a Queen's Gambit Accepted. Material remained equal for most of the game but Denis as White steadily built up positional advantages that he took into a pawn ending and then converted into the full point. A nicely played game.
Those of you who have been involved in these Thursday evening events over the last couple of years know that Jonathan (@jpmunz) is one of our star players. What you may not know is that he is also my nephew. I am not sure if I was the one who taught him to play (chess was part of the math curriculum back in the 90s here in Québec) but I have always encouraged him and look on him fondly as a protégé. Sadly, the respect for me that this should engender is not always present. Our debate on Thursday revolved around Jonathan's backward d-pawn and then transformed into a fairly even endgame. The subsequent play underlines how important it is to understand endgames as first White then Black had clearly won positions that they threw away. At move 60 I was unable to find the correct plan to convert three connected passed pawns into a win and watched Jonathan collect yet another point by figuring out how to make the second to last mistake of the game.
Newcomer Joe (@SonicFalcon) is not new at all but one of my oldest friends made through chess. It is good to have you join us Joe - even if you are yet another of the people against whom I have a negative lifetime score :) Pablo (@roflcopter11) played a seldom seen Russian Game against him that Joe met with very accurate play. At move 18 Pablo stumbled by allowing a pin that cost him a piece and the game.
On the top boards Ron (@BigData1969) went home happy as he took a little revenge on Jacques (@jcss64) for a game these two played a few weeks ago. Jacques played his habitual Pirc Defense and succumbed to an attack after trading away too many of the defenders around his king. Our top seed Paul (@E3Engineer) faced an English Opening from Patrick (@vger) in which he outplayed Patrick in the middlegame. Patrick held on though to a bitter end at move 57.
Here are links to all the games of the round:
@vger v @E3Engineer lichess.org/eDec7hVB
@BigData1969 v @jcss64 lichess.org/ZAGmgpYp
@jpmunz v @datasmith lichess.org/xDqR8M7g
@roflcopter11 v @SonicFalcon lichess.org/BdtSY1Xc
@denisbouchard v @hodjon lichess.org/yuD2RIbM
@sausjulian v @perryand1971 lichess.org/ezphrJYG
@clons87 bye
Current standings:
2 @E3Engineer (1953)
2 @bigdata1969 (1946)
2 @jpmunz (1929)
1 @vger (1911)
1 @sonicfalcon (1903)
1 @denisbouchard (1860)
1 @jcss64 (1822)
1 @datasmith (1753)
1 @perryand1971 (1724)
1 @clons87 (1418)
0 @roflcopter11 (1515)
0 @hodjon (1501)
0 @sausjulian (1438)
Thanks again to all of you for making these evenings so interesting and fun. We are always recruiting new players to add variety and good opponents for everyone so please continue to pass the word among your circles.
David
Julian (@sausjulian) may have been distracted by leftover birthday cake in his game as he was not able to crack Andrew's (@perryand1971) Slav Defense. Andrew came out of the opening with a large advantage that resulted in an attack on White's king and mate on move 29. On the table next door Denis (@denisbouchard) and John (@hodjon) faced off in a Queen's Gambit Accepted. Material remained equal for most of the game but Denis as White steadily built up positional advantages that he took into a pawn ending and then converted into the full point. A nicely played game.
Those of you who have been involved in these Thursday evening events over the last couple of years know that Jonathan (@jpmunz) is one of our star players. What you may not know is that he is also my nephew. I am not sure if I was the one who taught him to play (chess was part of the math curriculum back in the 90s here in Québec) but I have always encouraged him and look on him fondly as a protégé. Sadly, the respect for me that this should engender is not always present. Our debate on Thursday revolved around Jonathan's backward d-pawn and then transformed into a fairly even endgame. The subsequent play underlines how important it is to understand endgames as first White then Black had clearly won positions that they threw away. At move 60 I was unable to find the correct plan to convert three connected passed pawns into a win and watched Jonathan collect yet another point by figuring out how to make the second to last mistake of the game.
Newcomer Joe (@SonicFalcon) is not new at all but one of my oldest friends made through chess. It is good to have you join us Joe - even if you are yet another of the people against whom I have a negative lifetime score :) Pablo (@roflcopter11) played a seldom seen Russian Game against him that Joe met with very accurate play. At move 18 Pablo stumbled by allowing a pin that cost him a piece and the game.
On the top boards Ron (@BigData1969) went home happy as he took a little revenge on Jacques (@jcss64) for a game these two played a few weeks ago. Jacques played his habitual Pirc Defense and succumbed to an attack after trading away too many of the defenders around his king. Our top seed Paul (@E3Engineer) faced an English Opening from Patrick (@vger) in which he outplayed Patrick in the middlegame. Patrick held on though to a bitter end at move 57.
Here are links to all the games of the round:
@vger v @E3Engineer lichess.org/eDec7hVB
@BigData1969 v @jcss64 lichess.org/ZAGmgpYp
@jpmunz v @datasmith lichess.org/xDqR8M7g
@roflcopter11 v @SonicFalcon lichess.org/BdtSY1Xc
@denisbouchard v @hodjon lichess.org/yuD2RIbM
@sausjulian v @perryand1971 lichess.org/ezphrJYG
@clons87 bye
Current standings:
2 @E3Engineer (1953)
2 @bigdata1969 (1946)
2 @jpmunz (1929)
1 @vger (1911)
1 @sonicfalcon (1903)
1 @denisbouchard (1860)
1 @jcss64 (1822)
1 @datasmith (1753)
1 @perryand1971 (1724)
1 @clons87 (1418)
0 @roflcopter11 (1515)
0 @hodjon (1501)
0 @sausjulian (1438)
Thanks again to all of you for making these evenings so interesting and fun. We are always recruiting new players to add variety and good opponents for everyone so please continue to pass the word among your circles.
David