An Interesting Game

Frederic Fournier [FIDE 1907] of Paris in France, homeland of Francois Andre Philidor in the 18th century, has started his own blog on the Contre Gambit Philidor (a/k/a Philidor Counter Gambit).

Bruehl - Philidor

Although there are no known examples of Philidor playing his own defense, the following game comes close. The only difference is that White does not develop his knight to f3. What makes this victory remarkable is that Philidor played it blindfold as part of a simultaneous exhibition!

John Bruehl - Francois Andre Philidor, London 5/8/1783

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 c6 3.Qe2 d6 4.c3 f5 5.d3 Nf6 6.exf5 Bxf5 7.d4 e4 8.Bg5 d5 9.Bb3 Bd6 10.Nd2 Nbd7

This position is similar to one that could arise from the Philidor Counter Gambit.

11.h3 h6 12.Be3 Qe7 13.f4 h5 14.c4 a6 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.Qf2 O-O 17.Ne2 b5 18.O-O Nb6 19.Ng3 g6 20.Rac1 Nc4

Both players have completed their development. Although the overall position is approximately equal, Black has an advantage in the center where White's dark-squared bishop is a "tall pawn" forced to blockade Black's passed e-pawn.

21.Nxf5 gxf5 22.Qg3+ Qg7 23.Qxg7+ Kxg7 24.Bxc4 bxc4 25.g3 Rab8 26.b3 Ba3 27.Rc2 cxb3 28.axb3 Rfc8 29.Rxc8 Rxc8 30.Ra1 Bb4 31.Rxa6 Rc3 32.Kf2 Rd3 33.Ra2 Bxd2 34.Rxd2 Rxb3

Black's more active rook and better minor piece give him the better chances in this endgame.

35.Rc2 h4 36.Rc7+ Kg6 37.gxh4 Nh5 38.Rd7 Nxf4 39.Bxf4 Rf3+ 40.Kg2 Rxf4 41.Rxd5 Rf3 42.Rd8 Rd3 43.d5 f4


The connected passed pawns are difficult to stop.

44.d6 Rd2+ 45.Kf1 Kf7 46.h5 e3 47.h6?? f3, White resigns.

Bruehl missed 47.Rd7+ Kf6 48.Rd8 with a likely draw. Philidor "saw" everything!

Caro-Kann at Chess.com

My post on the Caro-Kann has gotten many "reads" at Jim West Talks Chess.

Philidor at Chess.com

To date, there have been 186 "reads" of my post on the Philidor Defense at Jim West Talks Chess.

One of them was by Atomic Patzer.

French at Chess.com

Another post with many "reads" at my Jim West Talks Chess blog is this one, on the French Defense.

Marshall Chess Club Swiss 8/19/2007

Today I scored 3-2-0 in a game/30 Swiss at the Marshall Chess Club.

Here are my three wins, including a couple of king-and-pawn endings that would probably have been drawn except for my opponents' time pressure.

Round One: Budapest Gambit, Fajarowicz Variation

Spencer Shen (USCF 1512) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 8/19/2007

1.Nf3 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e5 4.dxe5 Ne4 5.Nbd2 Bf5 6.Nxe4 Bxe4 7.Ng5 Bc6 8.e4 Be7 9.h4 dxe5 10.Qf3 Bb4+ 11.Ke2 Qf6 12.a3 Qxf3+ 13.Nxf3 Bd6 14.Kd3 a5

15.c5? Bxc5 16.Nxe5 Bxf2 17.Nxc6 Nxc6 18.Bf4 Bb6 19.Rc1 O-O 20.Kc4 Rfe8 21.Bd3 Ne5+ 22.Bxe5 Rxe5 23.Rhf1 Rd8 24.Rf5? Rd4+ 25.Kc3 Rxf5 26.exf5 Rxh4 27.Re1 Kf8 28.Be4 a4 29.Bxb7?? Ba5+ 30.b4 axb3+, White resigns.



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Round Three: Philidor Counter Gambit

Tony Blum (USCF 1861) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 8/19/2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nc3 e4 7.Ne5 Nf6 8.Bg5 Bb4 9.Be2 O-O 10.O-O c6 11.Kh1 Qe8 12.f3 Bxc3 13.bxc3 Nbd7 14.Nxd7 Bxd7 15.Bxf6 Rxf6 16.fxe4 dxe4 17.Bc4+ Kh8 18.Rb1 b6 19.Qe2 Qe7 20.Qe3 Raf8

21.Kg1 Rxf1+ 22.Rxf1 Rxf1+ 23.Bxf1 h6 24.g3 Bf5 25.Bg2 Qe6 26.a3 Bg6 27.Kf2 Qd5 28.c4 Qxc4 29.Bxe4 Bxe4 30.Qxe4 Qf7+ 31.Qf3 Kg8 32.Qxf7+ Kxf7 33.Ke3 b5 34.g4 g5 35.h3 Ke6 36.Ke4 a6 37.c3 a5 38.Ke3 Kd5 39.Kd3 c5 40.dxc5 Kxc5 41.Kc2 Kc4 42.Kb2 Kd3 43.Kb3 Ke3 44.a4?? bxa4+ 45.Kxa4 Kd3 46.Kb3 a4+ 47.Kxa4 Kxc3 48.Ka3 Kd3 49.Kb3 Ke3 50.Kc3 Kf3 51.Kd3 Kg3 52.Ke3 Kxh3 53.Kf3 Kh4 54.Kf2 Kxg4 55.Kg2 h5 56.Kh2 h4 57.Kg2 Kh5 58.Kh3 g4+ 59.Kg2 Kg5 60.Kf2 Kf4 61.Kg2 h3+ 62.Kh2 Kf3 63.Kg1 g3 64.Kh1 g2+ 65.Kh2 Kf2,White resigns.

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Round Four: Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation

Jim West (USCF 2200) - Sarkis Agaian (USCF 2123), Marshall Chess Club 8/19/2007

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 b5 8.O-O Be7 9.Be3 O-O 10.f4 Bb7 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 Bxd5 14.Bxd5 Qxd5 15.Nf5 Nc6

16.Qxd5 exd5 17.Nxe7+ Nxe7 18.Bc5 Rfe8 19.Bd6 Rac8 20.c3 Nc6 21.Rfe1 d4 22.Rac1 h6 23.Re4 dxc3 24.Rxc3 Na5 25.Rxc8 Rxc8 26.Kf2 Rc2+ 27.Re2 Rxe2+ 28.Kxe2 Nc4 29.b3 Nxd6 30.exd6 f6?? 31.d7, Black resigns.

King's Indian Defense 3.e3

Earlier today I participated in the Hamilton quads where the following game was played.

Round One: King's Indian Defense

Mark Kernighan (USCF 2200) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Hamilton NJ Quad 8/18/2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.e3 g6 4.Bd3 Bg7 5.O-O O-O 6.c4 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.Qc2 c6 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.e4 Qc7 11.Na4 Re8 12.c5 Nf8 13.Nc3 Bg4 14.Ne2 Ne6 15.Be3 Nh5

16.Ng5 Bxe2 17.Bxe2 Nhf4 18.Nxe6 Nxe2+ 19.Qxe2 Rxe6 20.Rfd1 Bf8 21.Rd3 Ree8 22.Rad1 Rad8 23.a3 Be7 24.Kf1 Rxd3 25.Rxd3 Rd8 26.Rxd8+ Qxd8 27.Qc2 Bg5 28.Bxg5 Qxg5 29.h3 Qd8 30.Ke2 Qd4 31.b4 Kg7 32.Qd3 Qb2+ 33.Kf3 h5 34.h4 Qc1 35.g3 Qh1+ 36.Ke3 Qe1+ 37.Kf3 Qh1+ 38.Ke3 Qe1+ 39.Kf3, draw.

Damiano Redux?

In the April-June 2006 issue of Atlantic Chess News, I analyzed Damiano's Defense, arriving at the conclusion that it was refuted. But Sam Sloan made an attempt to revive the line in round eight of this year's United States Open chess tournament at Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Daniel Aldrich (USCF 1658) - Sam Sloan (USCF 1955), U.S. Open 8/4/2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.Nxe5 fxe5 4.Qh5+ Ke7 5.Qxe5+ Kf7 6.Bc4+ d5 7.Bxd5+ Kg6 8.h4 h6 9.Bxb7 Bd6 10.Qa5 Nc6

Obviously, Black can not play 12...Bxb7?? and allow 13.Qf5#.

11.Bxc6 Rb8 12.Nc3 Nf6 13.d3 Rf8 14.Be3 Rxb2

White has already missed several easy wins including 12.h5+ or 13.e5. He misses another one now with 15.O-O-O Bb4 16.Qxa7 Bxc3 17.Qa3 Be5 18.d4.

15.Bc5 Rxc2 16.Kd1 Rb2 17.Kc1 Rb8 18.e5 Bxe5 19.Bxf8 Bf4+ 20.Kc2 Qxf8 21.Be4+ Kf7 22.Rab1 Rb6

Up an exchange and a pawn, White is still clearly winning.

23.Rxb6 axb6 24.Bd5+ Kg6 25.Qb5 Qa3 26.Qa4?? Qxa4+ 27.Nxa4 Nxd5

Now it is Black who is winning, thanks to White's careless 26th move. Instead, 26.Qb3 would have won easily for White.

28.Re1 Bf5 29.a3 Bd6 30.Kb3 Nf4 31.d4 Nd3 32.Rf1 Kh5, White resigns.

On 33.g3 Bh3 34.Rh1 Nxf2, White loses more material.

Pirc at Chess.com

The post with the most "reads" at my Jim West Talks Chess blog is the one on the Pirc Defense.

PCG at Chess.com

At my Jim West Talks Chess blog, these are some posts on the Philidor Counter Gambit: here, here, and here.

Fajarowicz at Chess.com

At my other blog Jim West Talks Chess, I have posted entries on the Fajarowicz Variation in the Budapest Gambit, here, here, and here.

Chess on "Star Trek"

Kirk outplays Spock in a game of three dimensional chess.