(1) Gray,Jean (850) - Farrell,Keith (1276) [C55]
Central Coast District Champ 2010 (5), 06.07.2010
[notes by Keith]

time control being 80 minutes (1.20) with a ten second increment 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bc4 Be7 Diagram

[4...Nxe4 5.Nxe4 (5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4) 5...d5 6.Bd3 Nb4 7.Ng3 e4 8.Bxe4 dxe4 9.Nxe4; 4...Bc5 5.0-0 0-0 (5...Nxe4 is a mistake with the black Bishop on c5 because of the knight vapture from e4 (which is probably why I out of habit chose to put the Bishop on e7 - aaah temptations, where would I be without you ... probably a more disciplined player) 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Nxc5 (7.Nxe5; or even the more exciting 7.Nxe5 Bd4 8.Nxf7 Kxf7 9.Qh5+ g6 10.Qxd5+ Qxd5 11.Bxd5+) 7...dxc4) 6.d3 d6 etc etc] 5.d3 h6 another move from habit, just to keep Knight or Bishop landing on g5 6.0-0 0-0 7.Be3 Ng4 8.Qe1 Bb4 9.a3! Ba5 10.h3 these last 2 pawn thrusts are applauded by the Chess Engine Firebird, White has been concentrating fairly well on solid developing moves while black has been entirely unconvincing flitting from place to place 10...Nxe3 11.Qxe3?! an even position whereas Firebird 'thinks' that recapturing would have had a strong centre, a strong f-file - ultimately firing at the f7 square with Rook(s?) and Bishop 11...Bb6?! time W 1.12 B 1.00 (after a fifteen minute penalty for starting late) - simple-minded, ...d6 or ...Re8 recommended 12.Qe2 d6 13.Nd5 Na5?! whereas this would have had some sense to it on move 8 (before white had provoked into providing an escape-square for the Bishop [a2]) now this is pretty much wasted ( 'hoping' for a Ba2 ... c5 and covering the Bishop with the Queen - so the pawns don't get disturbed too much but the terribly weakened d6 pawn ??? 14.Bb5 Firebird says this is definitely bad and leaves black with a positive worth of about half a pawn, although at the time (and even now) I consider my knight lost with myself neatly robbing it of its only escape-square and I would be better off to simply start over with Nc6 yet Engines know something ... 14...c6 Diagram

15.Ba4 wanting to keep the Bishop on board which is understandable but Nxb6 achieved that too [15.Nxb6 this being the BIG in-between move, I 'have' to recapture or else my Rook goes too 15...Qxb6 16.Bc4 Qxb2 so - the computer can see a way out and getting the Queen back into play but do humans like to play this way (unless your calculational abilities are up to it) 17.Qd2 (17.Rfb1 Qc3 18.Ba2 Be6 19.a4 Rad8 20.Bxe6 fxe6 21.Ra2 Rf6 22.Rba1 c5) 17...Qb6 18.Rfd1] 15...cxd5 16.exd5 "whoops" I thinks to myself 16...Qf6 I'd given up on that knight, and just decide to build a position elsewhere, seeinh that I would at least get a pawn for the knight [16...Bd7 17.Bxd7 Qxd7 18.b4 this was the BIG pawn move that gave me the shivers from - well ever since ...c6 till whenever I 'got' another piece 18...Rac8 though computers just do not care - ie "fearless they be" as yoda might say 19.bxa5 Bxa5 20.c4 b5 21.Rfc1 Rc7 22.a4 bxc4] 17.Rfe1 we'll stop the play-thru there, a few tacticals thrust were made here and there by black and just mis-handled by the lesser experienced Jean, still there are lots of good thi8ngs we can say about how white has handled the opening, handled the opening more cohgesively and sensibly in fact, keeping focused on what an opening is all about Black moved around a lot while not achieving much at all, the dark-squared being largely nullified (although on a good diagonal) and the knight lost, it was only a few mishandled tactics and with experience that will improve 0-1

(2) Higgins,Wade (1540) - Rowlison,Colin (1751) [B56]
District 2010 CCLC Gosford (4), 29.06.2010
[notes by Keith Farrell]

time control - 80 minutes per side with ten second increments it was an open Sicilian 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 d6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.0-0 g6 8.Nf3 Bg7 both players are pretty much getting what they each want - just developing 9.a3?! perhaps a bit passive 9...0-0 10.Qd3 Ng4 11.Bf4 Nce5 12.Bxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.Bc4 the Engine says this is poor, I will have to wait and see 14...Rc8! 15.f4 Diagram

I have been experimenting with this in the Sicilian - when to play and when not too, see the my game against Neil which highlights how a person can go astray with the f4 move, if one plays with their eyes closed, not Wade - moi15...Bg7 [15...Qb6+ 16.Kh1 Bxc3 17.Qxc3 Qc5 twitters Firebird] 16.e5 Bf5 17.Qe2 dxe5 [17...Bxc2 wins a pawn tho there is more in the offing, perhaps white should have Bb3 at some stage - altho it was 16.e5 that risked catastrophe] 18.fxe5 Qd4+!! 19.Kh1 Qxc4 20.Qf3 Bxe5 21.Nd5 Bd6 22.Ne3 Qh4 23.h3 Be4 24.Qg4 Qxg4 25.Nxg4 Rxc2 26.Ne3 Rxb2 0-1

(3) Farrell,Keith - Clark,Neil [C47]
Central Coast District champ 2010, 29.06.2010
[notes by Keith]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 my last 2 outings against Neil have been rather humiliating, resulting in losing 2 pieses for no compensation or worse, so I decided to 'play myself in' ? 3...d6 4.Be2 Nc6 5.d3 Be7 6.0-0 Be6 7.Ng5 Nd4 8.Nxe6 [8.Be3 in hindsight this would have been handy] 8...Nxe6 9.f4 I have been trying this, "just as long as I keep an eye on the 'deadly diagonal' of a7-g1" I thinks 9...Qd7 10.fxe5 dxe5 11.Rf5 0-0-0 12.Rxe5?? Diagram

Neil knew I couldn't play this - pity I didn't ! 12...Qd4+ white resigned, in case anyone doubted 0-1

(4) Farrell,Keith - Losh,Gary [B82]
Mal Murrell Shield 2010, 05.07.2010
[,Keith]

and now for a Sicilian game where f4 works - well, kind of works 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Kh1 Qc7 9.f4 and who'd a thought it but a known tributory off a main line, first played in 1949 - it looked to me an agreed-drawing-move, when initially played anyway. The player who was White won the Brazil Championship in 1950 and 1956 while the Black had already won in 1947 : Jose Mangini - Marcio de Freitas 9...Nc6 Diagram

[9...b5; 9...Nbd7 10.Qe2 (10.a4 b6) 10...0-0 11.Bd2] 10.Nf3 [10.Be3 is more usual here 10...0-0 11.Qf3 Bd7 12.Rae1] 10...0-0 11.Ng5 new fields [11.Qe1 b5 12.e5 Ne8 13.Ne4; 11.Qe2 b5 12.a3 Bb7 13.Bd2] 11...h6 12.Nh3 b5 13.a3 Bb7 14.Qe1 Rac8 15.Qg3 Kh8 16.Nf2 b4 17.Ne2 bxa3 18.b3 Nb4 19.Bxa3 Nxd3 20.Qxd3 Qxc2 21.Qxc2 Rxc2 22.Ng3 Rfc8 23.f5 Kg8 24.fxe6 fxe6 25.e5 Ne8 26.Nge4 Rd8 27.exd6 Bxd6 28.Nxd6 Nxd6 29.Rfd1?? I was too jumpy about Bxg2 and started to jump at ghosts [29.Rac1; 29.Rad1 Bd5 30.Rc1 Rxc1 31.Rxc1 Nf5 32.Rc5 Bxb3 33.Kg1; 29.Rad1 Nf7 30.Rxd8+ Nxd8 31.Kg1] 29...Rxf2 30.Rxd6 Rxd6 31.Bxd6 Rxg2 white resigned 0-1