[Event "Unrated Standard: Challenge from firsttech"]
[Site "SchemingMind.com"]
[Date "2009.04.01"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Heidi"]
[Black "firsttech"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B87"]
[WhiteCountry "USA"]
[BlackCountry "USA"]
[GameID "198802"]

{
firsttech: I declined the other and started this one with you as white so we each have a game going playing white and black. Joel
}
1. e4
{
Heidi: Thank you so much!
}
{
Heidi: going away for several days.  if I have the chance to make a move I will; I assume I won't.
}
1... c5 2. Nf3
{
Heidi: I returned last night.
}
2... d6
{
firsttech: Welcome back!
}
{
Heidi: Thank you.
}
3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
{
Heidi: I am following, Game Explorer: Sicilian, staring on this move. Is this ok with you? Or should I be doing the moves on my own to learn? 
}
5... a6
{
firsttech: I think you are wise to use the game explorer. If you follow a well established opening line, you know you will end up in a pretty good middle game position. You will also learn the opening so when you play over the board, you won’t waste time thinking for the first few moves. At some point, you or your opponent will decide to play a move that isn’t one of the top choices or may not be on the list at all. I have followed the book moves to move 23 before. If you are following book moves and your opponent makes a move that is not on the list, stop and look at the position carefully. The move could be a blunder. Joel
}
6. Bc4
{
Heidi: I thought I would try this since it is one of my usual opening moves, although from what it says below, I may be making a mistake.
6. Bc4 Aggressive and dangerous. The Bishop is hitting out at Black's most vulnerable point.
}
6... e6
{
firsttech: Bc4 is an excellent choice and will lead to a more active game than some of the other choices. Joel
}
7. Bb3 b5 8. Bf4 e5
{
firsttech: Remember when I said to carefully examine the position when the first "non-book" move is made? Your move of 8.Bf4 is a non-book move so I took a close look at the position and found this pawn fork. Joel
}
9. Be3
{
Heidi: Whoops, I went on through several more pages and remembered it wrong, :O( at myself for all my blunders, it was supposed to be Be3. You know that, sorry
}
9... Nbd7
{
firsttech: I kind of figured it was a whoops move! I'll make a random move and let you recover. I have a habit of make the move and then looking the board over for a minute or so before I hit submit. I've stopped a lot of blunders this way. Joel
}
10. Nf5
{
Heidi: Ok :O), ty for advise.
}
10... Nc5 11. O-O Ncxe4
{
firsttech: I’m going to start a combination that at first glance looks like it is going to work for black. I’m going to that your e4 pawn with my knight. The best move for white is to take the e4 knight with the c3 knight. I will then take your f5 knight with my bishop. It looks like black came out a pawn ahead and black is attacking the unprotected e4 knight. However, white has a killer move 13 that makes her come out way ahead. Can you find the killer move 13? Joel
}
{
Heidi: I am so very sorry to all. Both my computer and my husband's computer broke down. This is my daughter's school computer and I have no idea if or how often I can use it until we get a computer back up.  I once again am so very, very sorry to all!
}
12. Nxe4
{
Heidi: Nxd6? or Bd5? I cannot figure it out. I am so sorry.
}
12... Nxe4
{
firsttech: Having computer problems can make life very difficult and frustrating. Soon life will return to normal. Take a look at this position. Black has an unprotected knight on e4 and an unprotected rook on a1. White’s f5 knight is unprotected and under attack. White’s b3 bishop is attacking the key f7 square. Look what happens if white moves her queen to d5. All of a sudden white is threatening mate at f7. White is also threatening to capture the unprotected a8 rook and the unprotected e4 knight. There is no way black can take care of all of these threats at once. Joel
}
13. Qd5 Be6
{
firsttech: This move blocks the most critical threat of mate and protects the a8 rook. Unfortunately, black couldn't protect the knight as well. Joel
}
14. Qxe4
{
Heidi: My husband signed me up for a tournament, but I am not ready. I haven't been able to be on here, accept for spuratick couple moves. I play twice a week at club, but they just run me over. I play around 2 games against my husband a day average. I did start reading a book of mate in one or two moves.  The three moves to mate take me forever to do.  I been doing 20, 10, and maybe 1 of the puzzles a day.  I do not have enough hours in a day exstra to do more.  It all is starting to make me sick, instead of happy at home.  Being on here and you all teaching me still makes me happy though. Thank you still for helping me.  My husband still has not told me haow long till he gets my computer back up.
}
{
firsttech: Chess should be fun not work. It may work better for you to play more casual games like this instead of competitive games. Solving chess puzzles is a great way to learn chess tactics but it also needs to be fun. A lot of chess puzzle books are too difficult for beginners. I learned chess puzzles by first finding some easy puzzles that focused more on gaining material than solving mate. If you have more material than your opponent, mate is easy. I would solve the easy problems and mark the ones I solved correctly. I then went through the easy problems again and saw improvement. Usually, by the third time through I was easily solving most of the puzzles. I would then work on the next level of problems. The repetition of solving the same group of puzzles has really worked well for me. It’s more fun and when I move to the next level, I am more successful. I’m now working on the more difficult chess puzzles. I highly recommend Dan Heisman’s book “Back to Basics: Tactics” for beginners. I’ve been through the book three times and thoroughly enjoyed it. The chess program CT-Art 3.0 is another great tool for learning tactics. Joel
}
14... Rc8 15. Rad1
{
Heidi: Thank you, this sounds great.  I love the game and like you said, I do not want to start dispising the work.
}
15... Qd7 16. Bxe6 Qxe6
{
firsttech: Black obviously needs to recapture the bishop on e6 and has two choices. Choice #1 is to take the bishop with the pawn. Choice #2 is to take the bishop with the queen. If you take only a quick look at both choices, your thoughts might be like this. Choice #1 doubles my pawns on the e file and leaves a hole on f7 near my king. Choice #2 leaves my pawn structure intact. It looks like choice #2 is best if you don’t carefully analyze the position. I’m going to make choice #2 and take with my queen. Treat this like a chess puzzle and see if you can find the solution. If you need help, let me know. Joel
}
17. Rxd6
{
Heidi: I found it I think?
}
17... Bxd6
{
firsttech: Yes! You can see how black made a hugh mistake by not taking the time to think things through. Now continue through the combination and capture my queen. In this game, you will have the material advantage and we will see if we can develope a plan for you to check mate me. Joel

}
18. Nxg7+
{
Heidi: fun!
}
18... Ke7
{
firsttech: Now in this game you have the material advantage. We know you are going to take my queen next move and I will capture your knight. What do you plan to do next? Can you describe a plan? Joel
}
19. Nxe6
{
Heidi: 20) Bg5+ (trying to start a tempo) 20)..K ?d7? 21)Qb7+, ?Bc7? 22) Rd1+, Ke8 23) Qc6+, ?Kf8?
I never can guess the other persons move and have next to nothing as far as leading. I went thru all the mates in one in abook twice and am just starting mates in two so hopefully after acouple times thru that I will  have a better handle on it.
Please show me my mistakes.
}
19... Kxe6
{
firsttech: I’m going to hold off starting the two new games for a little while. I have a lot games going on right now. I think you understand the need to plan ahead and to take into account what your opponent might do. So I’m going to try and describe the process of selecting a good chess move. Here is how I would look at our position from white’s point of view. White has a large material advantage. I don’t see a quick mating combination for white. White needs to use her material advantage to either gain more material or at least reduce black’s material by swapping pieces. White needs to bring all of her forces into action. White’s rook could move the d file where it would apply force on black’s bishop. So for this position, I would consider moving 20.Rd1. The next step in analysis is to consider what black will do. First, can black check white’s king? This is a question you must always ask because your king’s safety is your primary responsibility. In this position, the answer is no. Next, can black capture any white pieces? Black could capture the c2 pawn. Is the c2 pawn protected? Yes. Next, can black make any threats against white? This can be the hardest question to answer. I scan the position and try to look at every possible black move. This is where chess combination pattern recognition comes in handy. I have studied a lot of chess puzzles and have learned to quickly recognize common chess combination patterns. Mating combination patterns are useful in the end game but not as useful in a middle game position. You may want to work on basic chess puzzles that involve simple material gain. I can not see any credible threats black might have. So now, I have to make a guess as to what black’s best move might be. My best guess is that black will move a rook to the d file to support the bishop. Let’s imagine the move 20…Rcd8. Now I have to decide what my next move will be. It would be nice if I force the king to move away from the f7 pawn or away form the bishop. If I moved 21.Qd5+ the king would be forced to move away. I then need to look at the position to see if black has any checks, captures, or threats. As you can see this process of deciding the next move takes time. It does get quicker with practice and with the ability to recognize chess patterns. Joel
}
20. Rd1
{
Heidi: This was very helpful, thank you so much!
}
20... Rcd8
{
firsttech: I decided to move 20…Rcd8; 20…Rhd8 is a little better for black but 20…Rcd8 is better for a training exercise. So now you must survey the position again. You will develop your own procedure over time but I will keep going over the really important parts in different ways. Let’s look at king safety. Is white’s king safe? There is a risk of back rank mate but black can not get through to the back rank at this time. There is a temptation to move a pawn in front of the king and create luft but let’s resist that for now. Black’s king is in the open and can be attacked. Let’s look at piece safety. Are any of white’s pieces at risk of capture? Surprisingly, no. Can white capture any of black’s pieces? White could take the h7 pawn with the queen or the bishop with the rook. Neither of these captures makes sense. Can white check the black king? Yes, white’s queen could check the king on several squares but only 21.Qd5+ makes sense. If white moves 21.Qd5+, what are the possible replies? There are four possible replies: Kf5, Kd7, Kf6, and Ke7. Before white can decide if 21.Qd5+ is a good move or not she must choose a reply for each of the four possible king moves. You may have a hunch that 21.Qd5+ is a good move but you can not be certain until you take the time to calculate what might happen. I am going to go through the variations from black’s worst move and end with black’s best move. When you do this on your own, you will not know the best or worst until you calculate all of the variations. So we will begin with 21…Kf5. White could take the f pawn and put the black king into check.  The black king would be forced to move 22…Kg4 or 22…Ke4. Both of these positions look real bad for black; in fact one leads to a mate in two and the other a mate in one. These positions look so bad, I wouldn’t bother calculating further. So now we look at 21…Kd7. White could capture the bishop and check the king. The king would have two choices: 22…Ke8 or 22…Kc8. If the king moves to e8, white can take the rook and mate. If the king moves to c8, do we need to continue calculating or can we stop? With your queen under attack, I would continue to calculate. White could take the a6 pawn and check black’s king. Black’s king has to move to c7 or b8 and white’s bishop can move in with check. It looks like white could continue and force mate but white must be cautious and not allow black to take her d1 rook with a back rank mate. The next choice is 21…Kf6. White could move the queen to f3 and check the king. The king could move back to e3. White can move the bishop to g5 attacking the c8 rook and threatening to move the queen to f6. Black can not handle both of these threats and will loose material or be mated. The last choice for black is 21…Ke7. White might consider 22.Bg5+ but black can move f6 and force white to retreat. White can move 22.Bc5 and pin the bishop. If black captures the bishop 22…Bxc5, white moves 23.Qxe5, and mates next move. Black’s best response is 22…Rhe8. White can then capture the bishop with 23.Bxd6+.  We have now looked at all of the possible replies to 21.Qd5+ and they are all good for white so we know it is a safe move to make. Joel
}
21. Qd5+ Ke7 22. Bg5+ f6
{
firsttech: You missed this from what I wrote above. “The last choice for black is 21…Ke7. White might consider 22.Bg5+ but black can move f6 and force white to retreat.” You still have a very strong position but now you need to make a new plan. You could retreat the bishop and still have a winning position. Consider 23.f4 and calculate what might happen. Joel
}
23. Bd2
{
Heidi: 23)fxg5, fxe5 24) Bxe5 and then I either lose my Queen or Rook! unless I take your 25)Rd8, then I lose both.
How about 23) Qf3, fxg5, 24) g4 25)Qf5 26) Re1 27)Qxe5
? I am not sure, but I do believe I can lead it to Checkmate.
lol, changedf it completly since the B can Break up the R and Q from you uncovering your R.
}
23... Rhg8
{
firsttech: 23.f4 was the best choice but very difficult to calculate. Here is what could have happened: 23.f4 fxg5 24.fxe5 Bxe5 25.Qxe5+ Kf7 26.Rf1+ Kg6 27.Rf6+ Kh5 28.Qe2+ g4 29.Qe5+ Kh4 30.Rh6#. I have made a move that looks threatening. If you carefully analyze the position, you may find a move that will gain material for you. I’ll give you a clue. Black’s d8 rook is overworked. Joel
}
24. Ba5
{
Heidi: ty,
well I will try :O)...
24)Ba5
, Rook one direction or other on 8 row 25) Qxd6
or , Rd7 25)Qxg8
Am I right?
}
24... Rge8
{
firsttech: Yes!
}
25. Bxd8+ Rxd8 26. c4 bxc4 27. Qxc4 a5
{
firsttech: Not much black can do!
}
28. Rd3
{
Heidi: Could you lead me thru the right way to do this?
}
28... Rd7
{
firsttech: Ok, let’s make a simple plan to win this game. Step one, check for any checks, captures, or threats from black. There appears to be no immediate threats from black. Step two, assess the position. White is at risk for a back rank mate but black is unable to do anything about it at this time. Black’s two pieces are on the queen side of king; black is strong queen-side and weak king-side. The g file is open. White’s last move was a good move because white can move the rook to the open g file and attack on the king side. I wouldn’t waste time moving a pawn in front of the white king. Keep the pressure on black! Joel
}
29. Rg3
{
Heidi: That isw interesting: "black is strong queen-side and weak king-side."
}
29... Bb4
{
firsttech: A white rook on the seventh rank is almost always bad for black. Be aware that if you don't check the black king, black will mate you on the back rank. 
}
30. Rg7+
{
Heidi: ty
}
30... Kd8
{
firsttech: You could create luft for your king on move 31 by moving one of the pawns in front of your king. Then black could have some fun by taking the initiative for a while. But, you want to win the game and put black out of his misery.  That limits your choices to moves that attack black’s king. There are only three viable checking moves: 31.Rxd7+, 31.Rg8+, and 31.Qg8+. 31.Rxd7+ would remove both rooks from the board. Black would be weakened and the back-rank mate threat is gone. This would be a good choice for OTB or blitz chess when you have limited time to think. But, we have lots of time so let’s look at the other two choices.  31.Rg8+ forces black to move his king to e7. Then what would you do? Black’s king would be trapped and this might be the time to create luft for the king before closing in on the black king. How to proceed is unclear, although white clearly has the advantage. Now we look at the last choice of 31.Qg8+. Black would retreat his king to c7. White could grab the h7 pawn with her queen and support the rook on g7. Now black has some unpleasant choices. He can not move his rook from the seventh rank because it is pinned to his king. His rook is under attack by white's rook and queen. Black has no other piece that can help defend the rook. Black’s only choice is to take white’s rook, 32…Rxg7. White will retake with 33.Qxg7+. Now the back-rank mate threat is gone and white can grab the f6 pawn on the next move. So the last choice seems to be the best. Black’s rook will be gone, the back-rank mate threat is gone, and white grabbed a couple of black’s pawns along the way. Joel
}
31. Rg6 Rd1+
{
firsttech: I'm puzzled. Did you read my last comment? Joel
}
32. Qf1
{
Heidi: I thought I had. I appologize, I have had poison ivey so tryed to stay off here since I could not think straight at all.  Boy I see I had really messed up. This was the only game I tryed answering.
}
32... Rxf1+
{
firsttech: One of my brothers is severely allergic to poison ivy. He gets it so bad he ends up in the hospital. I swear he can look a poison ivy from a distance and catch it. Your last move was really bad. You moved your rook to a square where I can capture it with my h pawn. Plus you just lost your queen. Would you like to end this game and focus on the two new games? Joel
}
0-1

