The First tournament of the year - well the first with rateable games anyway.

The Time Limit G90 Guillotine finish

they'll be playing while are will be playing a simltaneous exhibition against John Curtis Fide Master (ie 6 March)

round notes

Peter keeps charging up through the ranks, he may well have scored the full point too but a 3-hour game is a hard slog.

Gary and John's game soon ground down into trench warfare with a solid block of covering almost all the board, eventually a cease-fire was agreed to after 60 moves.

Neil and Phil's game too was hard-fought (none of the games were quick affairs) with Phil's experience and study telling the story.

Bill had a very good game versus Don but succumbed to 'stalemate-itus'.

Round 4 pairings 
 1 John L Pascoe  1447 [2.5]     :     Bruno Kronental  1613 [3.5]
 2 Gary Losh      1462 [2.5]     :     Jeffrey Young    1706 [3]  
 3 Peter Clark    1300 [2.5]     :     Michael K McLoon 1561 [2.5]
 4 Phil Brown     1556 [2]       :     Keith R Farrell  1416 [2]  
 5 Duncan Bassett 1307 [2]       :     Ben Young             [1.5]
 6 Bill Hoseman   1013 [.5]      :     Neil Clark       1300 [1]  
 7 Andrew Clark   1300 [1]       :     Don Skulimowski  1361 [.5]

(124) Losh,G - Young,J [D02]
Gosford Summer Swiss 2007 Oi Oi Oi (5), 27.02.2007
[notse by B Kronental, K Farrell]

All notes and variations not marked are those provided by Bruno and Keith Deep Shredder10 was used for this Analysis 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c3 d5 6.Nbd2 Bd6 7.Bg3 0-0 8.Bd3 cxd4 9.exd4 Bxg3 10.hxg3 g6 11.Qe2 Re8 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Qxe5? [ 13.dxe5! Nd7 14.Qe3 and White's position is better] 13...Nd7? but Black does not take advantage of White's mistake [ 13...Ng4! that is Black correct move 14.Qe2 ( 14.Qf4 e5) 14...e5-+ and Black position is much stronger ] 14.Qd6= [ 14.Qe3 is better] 14...e5 15.Qxd5 [ 15.Kf1 is better] 15...exd4+ 16.Kf1 dxc3 17.bxc3 Nb6= [ 17...Ne5! 18.Be4 Qc7 19.Qb5 Be6-/+] 18.Qd4 Be6 19.Nf3?-/+ [ 19.Ne4 is better 19...Qxd4 20.cxd4=] 19...Qxd4=/+ [ 19...Qc7 20.Qf6 Rad8 21.Ng5 Nd5 22.Nxe6 Rxe6 23.Qh4 h5 24.Bc4 Rde8 25.Bxd5 Qxc3 26.Bxe6 Qxa1+ 27.Ke2 Rxe6+ 28.Kd2 Qxa2+ 29.Kc3 Rc6+=] 20.cxd4 f6 21.a3 [ 21.Nd2 is the better move] 21...Rac8 22.Ke2? [ 22.Nd2 is better because it stops the Black knight to settle on c4] 22...Bf5+? [ 22...Nc4! and Black has several tactical threats for example - Keith 23.Rac1 Bf5+ 24.Ne5 Nxe5 25.Bxf5 Nc4+ 26.Be4 Rxe4+ 27.Kd3] 23.Kd2 Black is letting White to slowly improve his weak position 23...Nc4+ 24.Bxc4+ Rxc4 25.Rac1 Rec8 26.Rxc4 Rxc4 27.Rc1 Rxc1 28.Kxc1 Be4 [ 28...Kf7 is better, as time arrived for the king himself to go and fight] 29.Kd2 b5 30.Kc3 a5 31.Ne1 Kf7 32.f3 Bd5 33.Nd3 Ke6 34.Nf4+ Kd6 35.Nd3 Bc4 36.Ne1 Bf1-/+ 37.g4 [ 37.f4 is better because Black bishop can not attack it] 37...h5? = the game is about equal 38.gxh5 gxh5 39.g3 Kd5 40.Nc2 Ke6 41.Ne3 Be2 42.f4 White has all his pieces on the dark squares - leaving the Bishop a tourist - though it would seem difficult to break though, the only bright spot being the passed d-pawn although pushing it blindly would seem only a short-term gain and a long-term problem - Keith 42...Bf3 43.Kd3 f5= 44.Kc3 Be4 45.Kb2 Kd6= Diagram

White is off the hook and the game is completely equal46.Kc3 Kc6 47.Kb2 Kb6 48.Kc3 Ka6 49.Kb3 Kb6 50.Kc3 Kc6= 51.Kb2 b4 52.axb4 axb4 53.Kc1 Kb5 54.Kb2 Ka4? 54...Kb6 or 54...Kc6 are better moves because it would allow Black king to make it harder for the White d4 pawn to promote 55.d5+/= clearing up the kingside (followed with the unfortunate Ka4) only served hand the iniative to White, and now Black's King has to hurry back and in the process lose his Queenside majority - Keith 55...Kb5 56.d6 Kc6 57.Kb3 Kxd6 58.Kxb4+/= [Black 54...Ka4 move was the wrong idea which enabled White to force removal of the two pawns and as a result White position is a bit better because White king position is stronger than Black king position, which was not the case before Black move 54...Ka4] 58...Ke6 59.Kc4 Kd7 60.Nd5 Ke6 61.Nc3 Bc6 62.Kd4 Kd6 63.Nd1 Ke6 64.Kc5 Ba4 65.Nc3 Bb3 66.Ne2 Ba2 67.Nd4+ Kf6 68.Kd6+/= White improved his king position even more by controling larger space and forcing Black king to a defensive position 68...Bb1 69.Nc6 Bc2 70.Nb4 Bb3 71.Nd5+ Kf7 72.Ke5 Bc2+- Black position is deteriorating even more as his f5 pawn will be lost 73.Ne3 Bd3 74.Nxf5 Kg6

Diagram 75.Ne3 White had an even a stronger move that could force the win even faster, as follows: [ 75.Nh4+! Kf7 76.f5 Bb5 77.Nf3 Be2 78.Kf4 ( 78.Ng5+ - Keith 78...Ke7 79.f6+ Kf8 80.Kf5 ( 80.Kf4 Bg4 81.Ne4 Kf7 82.Kg5 which I just think is a more 'human' manouvre - the pawn being on the more secure (from the Bishop at least) dark square - the Kf4 way is more accurate AND easier to find the moves - Keith) 80...Bd3+ 81.Kf4 Bg6 82.Ne6+ Ke8 83.Kg5 Bd3 84.Nc5 Bc2 ( 84...Be2 85.Kg6!) 85.Kxh5 Kf7 86.Kg5 Bd1 87.Nd7 Ba4 88.Ne5+ Ke6 89.f7 Ke7 90.Kg6 Bb3 91.Kg7) 78...Kf6 79.Nd2 Bd3 80.Ne4+ etc.] 75...Bb1? Black is letting White win easily, instead he could test White ability to win by complecating the game by the move 75...h4, as follows: [ 75...h4 76.gxh4 Kh5 77.f5 Kxh4 78.f6 Bg6 79.Ke6 Bh5 in this position its much more difficult for White to win than in the position developed after 75...Bb1] 76.Ke6 [ 76.Ng2! by this move White could force the win possibly even faster, as follows: 76...Bc2 77.Nh4+ Kg7 78.Ke6 Bd1 79.Ke7 Bc2 ( 79...Bb3 80.f5 Kh6 81.Nf3 Bd5 82.f6 h4 83.gxh4 Kg6 84.Ne1 Kh5 85.Kd6 Bc4 86.Ng2 Ba2 87.Ke7 Kg6 88.Nf4+ Kf5 89.f7 Bxf7 90.Kxf7 Kxf4 91.Kg6 Kg4 92.h5 etc) 80.f5 Bxf5 81.Nxf5+ Kg6 82.Ke6 Kg5 83.Ke5 Kg4 84.Kf6 etc] 76...Ba2+ 77.Ke7 Bb1 78.Ke6 Ba2+ 79.Ke5 Bb3 80.f5+? that White move is a mistake [ 80.Nf5! this White move is much better because of: 80...Bc2 81.Nh4+ Kf7 82.Nf3 Bd3 83.f5 Be2 84.Kf4 etc] 80...Kg5 81.f6 Bg8 82.Nf1 h4?? [ 82...Kg4!!= according Shredder10 that position is a draw...] 83.gxh4+ Kxh4 84.Kd6 Kg5 85.Ke7 Kg6 86.Ne3 Kh7 87.Ng4 Bb3 88.Ne5 Kg8 89.Ng6 Bf7? [ 89...Bd5! this Black move could make it much more difficult for White to win] 90.Nf4 Bb3 91.Ne6 Bxe6 92.Kxe6 Kf8 93.f7 1-0 (fantastic game! with ups and downs and chances for both sides.) 1-0

playthru game above


The Wyong Shire Cup (hosted by Mingara club) starts Mon 26 February; 7 rounds $8 entry

coming up in March is the Toukley Open talk to Gary or myself for a few more details