-=-=-=-=-

My ICC standard rating just broke 1550. I would like to credit the circles, but frankly this had more to do with my opponents running out of time. Still, something that DLM wrote about has been borne out consistently; alot of my wins were gifts from my opponents.

There was one situation where the circles seemed to pay off.

I was Black here and had just played ...Re7 as a last-ditch effort to win. White saw the most natural move and played Nd5??, forking both the e7 Rook and the b4 pawn. It continued ...Rea7! threatening checkmate, c3 trying to get some luft (Fritz has c4 as best), ...b3 hemming in the King, Kc1 avoiding checkmate, ...Ra1+ skewering the Black King and the h1 Rook. To add insult to injury, White loses a tempo because after Kd2 Rxh1, Black threatens another skewer along the second rank with ...Rh2+, attacking the b2 pawn through the King on d2.

TCT Results	Circle 1	Circle 2	Circle 3	Circle 4	Circle 5	Circle 6	Circle 7
Step 1	97%	99%	99%	100%r
Step 2	93%	96%	95%	97%	96%	99%	100%
Step 3	93%	97%	97%	96%	96%	98%	99%
Step 4	80%	86%	90%	92%	89%	94%
Step 5	74%	77%	83%	87%	88%

Posted at 5:19 PM. Click to see this post's 4 comment(s). -=-=-=-=- Click to leave a comment

TCT Results	Circle 1	Circle 2	Circle 3	Circle 4	Circle 5	Circle 6	Circle 7
Step 1	97%	99%	99%	100%r
Step 2	93%	96%	95%	97%	96%	99%	100%
Step 3	93%	97%	97%	96%	96%	98%	99%
Step 4	80%	86%	90%	92%	89%	95*%
Step 5	74%	77%	83%	87%	88%

Posted at 2:03 PM. Click to see this post's 1 comment(s). -=-=-=-=- Click to leave a comment

This position could have been right out of TCT. White just played b4. On the surface Black's Bishop and Queen are enprise, which makes his e3 Rook's protection shaky. My hard work paid off as I realized that ..Rxf3+ Ke1 Qf2 was mate. This is one of the sweetest finishes I have had in a long time :-).

-=-=-=-=-

White to Move

Here is a instructive little blitz mistake I ran into. I thought "it's just Rxc8 Rxc8 36. Rxa3", right? This leads to ... Rc6 and the loss of a pawn. I didn't see it at the time, but it still looks winning for White. Chessmaster suggested immediately taking with Rxa3! DOH! I sure did not look at that. If Black takes either Rook, White captures the other Black Rook and gets to the back rank, possibly leading to a trade of minor pieces which White actually wants, not to mention it's much harder for Black to get the hanging e6 pawn.

TCT Results	Circle 1	Circle 2	Circle 3	Circle 4	Circle 5	Circle 6	Circle 7
Step 1	97%	99%	99%	100%r
Step 2	93%	96%	95%	97%	96%	99%	100%
Step 3	93%	97%	97%	96%	96%	98%	99%
Step 4	80%	86%	90%	92%	89%	95*%
Step 5	74%	77%	83%	87%	88%

Posted at 11:12 PM. Click to see this post's 4 comment(s). -=-=-=-=- Click to leave a comment

TCT Results	Circle 1	Circle 2	Circle 3	Circle 4	Circle 5	Circle 6	Circle 7
Step 1	97%	99%	99%	100%r
Step 2	93%	96%	95%	97%	96%	99%	100%
Step 3	93%	97%	97%	96%	96%	98%	99%
Step 4	80%	86%	90%	92%	89%
Step 5	74%	77%	83%	87%	88%

Posted at 7:56 PM. Click to see this post's 3 comment(s). -=-=-=-=- Click to leave a comment

1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 e5 3.d3 d5 4.e4 d4 5.Bg2 Bg4 6.O-O Bd6 7.h3 Bh5 8.Kh2 Nf6 9.Nbd2 h6
10.Qe1 O-O 11.Nc4 Bc5 12.Nfxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Nd7 14.Nxd7 Qxd7 15.f4 Rfe8 16.Bd2 c6
17.Bb4 Bd6 18.e5 Bxb4 19.Qxb4 f6 20.Rae1 fxe5 21.fxe5 Bf7 22.Rf4 Rad8 23.Ree4 Qc7
24.Rxd4 Rxd4 25.Rxd4 Rxe5 26.Qd6 Qxd6 27.Rxd6 Bxa2 28.Rd8+ Kh7 29.Be4+ g6 30.Rd7+
Kg8 31.Rxb7 Bb1 32.c4 a5 33.Ra7 Rc5 34.Bxg6 Bc2 35.d4 Rxc4 36.Bf7+ Kf8 37.Bxc4
1-0

This is one of my best 2/12 blitz games this year. I had the White pieces and played a kind of Barcza opening which my opponent countered rather well. There are a couple of mistakes that I made in the middlegame under time pressure, but quite a few solid moves I am proud of, too. Anyway, I guess I am posting it in part as evidence that the circles have helped my game, in part to show an idea about thinking process.

Although I consider blitz to be just for fun, I do think it is instructive in revealing what you don't think of. By the time I reached the position (above), I felt that I was sitting pretty and there wasn't much potential for Black unless I screwed up. My attitude was to just play solid and grind it out, perhaps finding a conversion to a more simple endgame. I saw my Bishop taking the hanging g6 pawn and absolutely nothing else. In fact, I felt that the Bishop was cemented to the protection of the d3 pawn which really was keeping the c4 pawn safe. The discovered double attack on the Black Bishop and Rook with d4 just didn't occur to me. It was like the opposite of having a tactic pop-out. Perhaps having the Black Bishop behind the White pawns was so unusual I ignored the possibility, not remembering that tactics can happen in the endgame. I don't really like d4 better than Bxg6; d4 makes for many pawn losses/trades and opens lines to the White King. It certainly was worth considering, though.

Since chess is a mistake oriented activity, my opponent had the decency to also not fully consider his next move, and after 34.Bxg6 Bc2?? I first saw the f7 check, then the decoy/discovered attack idea, and finally played 35.d4. After Rxc4 Black had protected both of his pieces from the immediate threats, but this walked into the fork 36.Bf7+ Kf8 37.Bxc4.

TCT Results	Circle 1	Circle 2	Circle 3	Circle 4	Circle 5	Circle 6	Circle 7
Step 1	97%	99%	99%	100%r
Step 2	93%	96%	95%	97%	96%	99%	100%
Step 3	93%	97%	97%	96%	96%	98%	99%
Step 4	80%	86%	90%	92%	89%
Step 5	74%	77%	83%	87%	87%*

Posted at 12:37 AM. Click to see this post's 5 comment(s). -=-=-=-=- Click to leave a comment

TCT Results	Circle 1	Circle 2	Circle 3	Circle 4	Circle 5	Circle 6	Circle 7
Step 1	97%	99%	99%	100%r
Step 2	93%	96%	95%	97%	96%	99%	100%
Step 3	93%	97%	97%	96%	96%	98%	99%
Step 4	80%	86%	90%	92%	89%
Step 5	74%	77%	83%	87%	87%*

Posted at 9:50 PM. Click to see this post's 5 comment(s). -=-=-=-=- Click to leave a comment