Chess tournament with two games

[David Ottosen]

Shameless brag post.

I just finished in the San Jose (Costa rica) chess championships and decided to make a shameless brag post. I was ranked 6th in the tournament, and after 6 rounds had 5 points. There were 3 players with 5.5, and in round 7, I played one of those players (rated 2098), and mated him with a multiple piece sacrifice, as follows:

[Event "San Jose Championship"]
[Site "San Jose, Costa Rica"]
[Date "2005.12.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Alfaro"]
[Black "Ottosen"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C03"]
[PlyCount "50"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. c3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd7 6. Bd3 f5 7. exf6 Qxf6 8. Ngf3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Qc2 g6 11. Nb3 e5 12. Bg5 Qf7 13. Nxe5 Ndxe5 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Be2 Bf5 16. Qc1 Be4 17. Be3 Qd7 18. Nc5 Qf5 19. Nxb7 Nf3+ 20. gxf3 Bxh2+ 21. Kxh2 Qh5+ 22. Kg3 Rxf3+ 23. Bxf3 Qxf3+ 24. Kh4 Qh5+ 25. Kg3 Bf3 0-1

Thanks to a draw on board 1, I entered the last round in a tie for first with 4 others, and would have my "fate in my own hands". However, I would be playing an International Master, with a FIDE Rating of 2365:

[Event "San Jose Championship"]
[Site "San Jose"]
[Date "2005.12.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ottosen"]
[Black "Murillo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C05"]
[PlyCount "91"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. c3 c5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Ne2 Rb8 8. O-O b5 9. f4 g6 10. Kh1 h5 11. Nf3 Ne7 12. Qe1 c4 13. Bc2 Nf5 14. Ng3 h4 15. Nxf5 gxf5 16. Ng5 Nb6 17. Rf3 Be7 18. Rh3 Bxg5 19. fxg5 Kd7 20. Rxh4 Bb7 21. Rh6 Qe7 22. Rf6 Rbg8 23. Qf2 Ke8 24. Bf4 Nd7 25. Re1 Nf8 26. Qg3 Bc8 27. Kg1 a6 28. Qf3 Qb7 29. Rh6 Ng6 30. Bd2 Qe7 31. Qh5 Kd7 32. Re3 Nf4 33. Rxh8 Nxh5 34. Rxg8 Nf4 35. Rf3 Ng6 36. Rh3 Bb7 37. Rh7 Nf8 38. g6 Nxg6 39. Rxg6 Qe8 40. Rf6 Kc6 41. Rfxf7 Bc8 42. Bd1 Kb6 43. Bh5 Qd8 44. g3 a5 45. Re7 Ka6 46. Re8 1-0

Two games I am very proud of. I ended up tied for first with one other player.

[Dynasty]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v720/DynastyPoker/clap.gif

With no comment about actually playing chess, I'm amazed that people can take those letters and numbers and turn them into a mental picture (i assume) of how the game played out. I dont think Im smart enough for that.

[ZenMusician]

[ QUOTE ]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. c3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd7 6. Bd3 f5 7. exf6 Qxf6 8. Ngf3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Qc2 g6 11. Nb3 e5 12. Bg5 Qf7 13. Nxe5 Ndxe5 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Be2 Bf5 16. Qc1 Be4 17. Be3 Qd7 18. Nc5 Qf5 19. Nxb7 Nf3+ 20. gxf3 Bxh2+ 21. Kxh2 Qh5+ 22. Kg3 Rxf3+ 23. Bxf3 Qxf3+ 24. Kh4 Qh5+ 25. Kg3 Bf3 0-1

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow. Never would have saw that! NH!

-ZEN

[David Ottosen]

Its very easy actually. Just number the board with 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 along the top and bottom, and a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h on the sides. Once you do so, you can make any square have a "name", such as e4, or g7, or whatever (like Battleship!). The rest is fairly easy - of course you are meant to do this with a board in front of you, not really to try and picture it in your head.

Oh, I understand the very basics of numbering the board and moving x to y, I just figured that some of these fools would be able to visualize the play of the game in their heads, without getting out a chess board.

I wonder if there's a "chess game replayer," and I'll be real surprised if google doesnt turn up numerous ones...

[David Ottosen]

Pasted the text (including headers) into this and you can replay the game fairly easily.

Replayer (http://www.chessclub.com/chessviewer/pgnform.html)

[pudley4]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. c3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd7 6. Bd3 f5 7. exf6 Qxf6 8. Ngf3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Qc2 g6 11. Nb3 e5 12. Bg5 Qf7 13. Nxe5 Ndxe5 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Be2 Bf5 16. Qc1 Be4 17. Be3 Qd7 18. Nc5 Qf5 19. Nxb7 Nf3+ 20. gxf3 Bxh2+ 21. Kxh2 Qh5+ 22. Kg3 Rxf3+ 23. Bxf3 Qxf3+ 24. Kh4 Qh5+ 25. Kg3 Bf3 0-1

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow. Never would have saw that! NH!

-ZEN

[/ QUOTE ]

If move 20 goes 20.Bxf3, he's in trouble...but he did a great job finishing it off

[David Ottosen]

20.Bxf3 leads to a draw after 20..Bxf3 21.gxf3 Bxh2+

[Jake (The Snake)]

Two very beautiful games. Nicely done sir.

[TimM]

[ QUOTE ]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v720/DynastyPoker/clap.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Good job. OOTiots are doing well at this game: My brag (http://www.webcom.com/timm/chess/nassau/2005-championship-standings.html)

[ChipWrecked]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, I understand the very basics of numbering the board and moving x to y, I just figured that some of these fools would be able to visualize the play of the game in their heads, without getting out a chess board.


[/ QUOTE ]

A master from the 1800's (Morphy maybe?) played eight games at once, 'blind', and won them all.

[atrifix]

Miguel Najdorf played 45 opponents in a simultaneous blindfold exhibition in 1940. He scored +39-2=4.

You played the first game well, but White played terribly. There must have been something better than 17... Qd7, which should lead to a draw after 20. Bxf3. I'm pretty sure 17... Nc4 is the 'correct' move, but 17... Qe7 is also interesting.

In the second game, Black should have played ...c4 earlier. It's not really a problem until 11... Ne7 because he can always respond to dxc5 with ...b4, but you should definitely have played 12. dxc5. The natural continuation 12... Nxc5 13. Bc2 b4 14. cxb4 Rxb4 15. a3 Rb8 16. b4 Nd7 17. Ned4 is already close to a win for White, so he wouldn't have been able to play ...b4, in which case you can play b2-b4 and take complete control of d4.

The only other mistake I see was 16... Nb6, when Black should have played 16... Be7 to be followed by 17... b4, which would have kept the game interesting. He probably miscalculated the consequences of 17. Bxf5. If he didn't want to go into such a sharp variation, then he could have kept the h-pawn on h5 and played 14... b4, which is more or less equal.

Very good games, all in all.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Oh, I understand the very basics of numbering the board and moving x to y, I just figured that some of these fools would be able to visualize the play of the game in their heads, without getting out a chess board.


[/ QUOTE ]



A master from the 1800's (Morphy maybe?) played eight games at once, 'blind', and won them all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Theres been a few gm's that have done 10 board blind simuls. I think recently nakamura did a 15-20 board and said he felt like he could of eaisly done more.