[Event "For New Members ( #77 ) • 10d+1d/m"]
[Site "SchemingMind.com"]
[Date "2012.11.10"]
[Round "-"]
[White "white bishop"]
[Black "SAMAEL"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52d"]
[WhiteCountry "PHI"]
[BlackCountry "CAN"]
[WhiteElo "1616"]
[WhiteRD "186"]
[BlackElo "1646"]
[BlackRD "74"]
[GameID "320663"]

1. e4
{
white bishop: Hi, which province in Canada are you from?
}
{
white bishop: I await your first move in the other board where you play the white pieces.
}
1... c5
{
SAMAEL: HI.I PLUM FORGOT.WE ARE PLAYING TWO GAMES.IT WAS ON THE 2 ND PAGE.I DID NOT THINK I HAD THAT MANY GAMES GOING.ANYWAY,I KNOW IT NOW. SAMAEL
}
2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+
{
white bishop: This is the 1st time I've tried this variation, giving black's king an early check. I wonder why they named this "Sicilian: Moscow". From my references, it's known as "Sicilian Defense: Canal Attack", though the ECO codes are the same at B51. 
}
{
white bishop: Are you very fond of the Sicilian? Which variations are your favorites?
}
3... Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. Re1 Qc7 7. c3 Rc8 8. Qa4
{
white bishop: This early, Christmas carols are heard everywhere in the malls and in the groceries and supermarkets. You may already be singing the following  opening line: "Said SAMAEL to the white bishop, do you see what I see?" I don't know if you are familiar with the lyrics and tune of that popular Christmas carol entitled "Do You Hear What I Hear?" 
}
{
white bishop: I'll go prepare breakfast and wake up the kids for school before I come back to this site. I still have to make my move for our other board.
}
{
white bishop: Hey, you got 56 ongoing board games, after having lost 4! It's like you are conducting a simultaneous exhibition with many players! With that substantial number of games to occupy your waking yours, you must be eating and sleeping in front of your computer, and furthermore, be dreaming of chess pieces in various positions during your sleep! But if you win the remaining 56 games, that may surely result in a big jump in your rating! :)
}
8... a6
{
SAMAEL: MY GIRLFRIEND AND I WE HAVE A PRETTY QUEIT CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY SEASON.   NO,I HAVE A LITTLE MORE THAN 60 CHESS GAMES AT THE MOMENT,AND NO I WILL NOT WIN THEM ALL.REGARDS SAMAEL
}
9. h3 g6 10. d3 Bg7 11. Bf4 Qc6 12. Qb3 O-O 13. Nbd2 b5 14. Qc2
{
white bishop: Hi, after playing a lot of moves with you, I was wondering what you looked like. Either you may be (1) balded; (2) have hair length as long as a woman's short hair; or (3) anything in between. As for hair color, it may be either (1) all white like Santa Claus', or probably (2) a combination of gray and white. As for eye color, it maybe either of the 3 most common colors of (1) blue; (2) brown; or (3) green. With a cold country like Canada, maybe you have (1) mustache; or (2) mustache with beard. As for skin color, my guess is that you may have some orange hues on your skin, with veins that are visible on your arms. As for height, you must be above 5'5". As for body build, I think you may be large, but either (1) thin; or (2) obese or fat. How near are my guesses? Can you describe yourself?
}
{
white bishop: As to lifestyle, I think you are the typical beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking guy who doesn't sleep much because you've got a lot of ongoing chess games. 
}
14... Qb7
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP. YOU ARE WAY OFF.I AM 6 FT TALL.MY EYES ARE HAZEL.DARK HAIR WITH A LITTLE GRAY.MEDIUM BUILD.I DO NOT DRINK OR SMOKE.TOO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT.I,M JUST AN OLDER MAN THAT ENJOYS PLAYING CHESS AND READING NOVELS..SAMAEL
}
15. Qd1
{
white bishop: Wow, you are taller than my husband, who's 5'8". It's good that you don't have any vices. You'll have a longer life! 
}
{
white bishop: Do you & yr girlfriend believe in God & regularly attend church services?
}
15... Nb6 16. d4 cxd4 17. cxd4
{
white bishop: It seems you are the most active player I have here at SchemingMind at the moment. Do you still sleep? With more than 50 games that you play, you seem to spend a lot of time in front of your desktop or laptop.
}
17... Nc4
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP  I ALSO PLAY ON THE SERVER.I HAVE 62 GAMES WITH SCHEMINGMIND AND 36 GAMES ON THE SERVER.A TOTAL OF 98 GAMES.KEEPS ME PRETTY BUSY.AND YES I STILL HAVE TIME TOO GO TOO SLEEP.  SAMAEL P.S.CAN,T HELP BUT IMPROOVE YOUR GAME.
}
18. Qb3
{
white bishop: SAMAEL, seems you are very desperate to improve your chess skills! Since I am preparing & conditioning myself for an actual, OTB chess tournament in Feb next yr, my training now would involve (1) studying annotated chess games; (2) learning positional principles; and (3) playing against a computer. I have downloaded a freeware yesterday morning, but have not tried playing with it yet. Btw, at which server are you playing your 36 games? My, oh my, a total 98 games is quite a lot! You could already make it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the person who played the most number of games at any one time! 
}
{
white bishop: For me, you play very well! I already lost a game to you! I think that after this mini-tournament, I will not join any more chess tournaments for the time being, but will probably play a few games on SchemingMind, & devote the rest of my time on the theoretical aspect, to see how I can improve my game for next year. At least, I will be able to assess from our mini-tournament on where I stand.
}
18... Nxd2
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP   I,M PLAYING MY 38 GAMES ON THE ICCF SERVER.I FORGOT TOO MENTION WHICH SERVER. SORRY.SAMAEL HOPE YOU DO WELL NEXT FEB.IN THE TOURNAMENT.
}
19. Nxd2
{
white bishop: It's okay! No need to apologize.  I am now checking out the ICCF server. Are you on the "Live Games"? What name did you use? You see, I have already become a fan of yours and I would like to view your other games as well. I will get a sampling of your games for my study purposes.
}
{
white bishop: Could you say that in your games you are more focused on tactics rather than strategy? Although I believe in the saying that "practice makes perfect", I won't go to that extent of playing 98 games myself, because I don't have the luxury of time as you have. I will try to review my games and see where I went wrong, so I won't be repeating the same mistakes next time I play.
}
{
white bishop: In chess, as in life, I think the most important thing is that you must not be discouraged by losses. You must use it as a springboard for future successes. Any mistakes we make in the past, whether in chess or in life, must be taken as a learning experience, i.e. that there are lessons to be learned, which once mastered will truly improve us and make us wiser and not keep on repeating the same mistakes next time when we face the same positions in chess or the same situations in life.  
}
{
white bishop: By the way, what was your occupation before you retired? Just curious. 
}
19... Nd7
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP  MY OCCUPATION WAS GENERAL LABOUR.NEVER HAD A TRADE.ON THE ICCF SERVER,I PLAY ON WHAT IS CALLED (MY GAMES)IS WHERE I PLAY ALL MY GAMES.I AGREE WITH YOU ON NOT GETTING DIS-COURAGED.ONE MUST WANT TOO IMPROOVE.LIKE IN LIFE,ONE HAS TOO MAKE GOOD CHOICES.AND IF ONE DOES NOT MAKE GOOD CHOICES LEARN FROM IT IF YOU CAN.SOMETIMES IT MAY TAKE A WHILE.TOO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT.ALL WE CAN DO IS KEEP TRYING.SAMAEL
}
20. Nf3 Rc4 21. Qd3 Rfc8 22. Rac1 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 24. Bxc1
{
white bishop: We'll probably be in the endgame stage by our 30th move. In the endgame, pawn structure matters a lot. We still have 7 pawns each. 
}
24... Nb6
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP YOU ARE RIGHT. THE END GAME SHOULD BE INTERESTING.SAMAEL
}
25. b3 Nd7 26. Bf4
{
white bishop: The endgame is the least practiced stage in a chess game, as sometimes in the middle game one player resigns, or there was a draw, and the game is over. 
}
{
white bishop: Last Aug-Sept 1, I've been focusing my training on the endgame, and have so far completed studying a chapter on Pawn Endings, from one of my very old chess books, which uses a different form of standard chess notation back then. I was also able to download an e-book at that time on purely rook endings, but I only studied about 3 selected positions from it, as I found it too lengthy  & boring, and always felt sleepy and mentally exhausted trying to figure out by visualizing the best & moves in my mind. There is also another website wherein I do my endgame studies a few months ago. They have a compilation of different positions for study, and they provide the best solutions as well in each of those positions. If you are interested in any of these, I will share the info with you after our game is over, with the hope that you will likewise benefit from it. 
}
{
white bishop: Right now I have a different emphasis in my self-structured training. I'm not focusing anymore on the endgame, but I'm trying to master positional principles and plan to study a few masters annotated games, which takes care of the opening as well, then try playing games with a computer instead of a human being, though there I would still play a few games with a human being. I think chess computers seldom make mistakes, and would make a better opponent than a human being who is still prone to blunders and oversight. 
}
{
white bishop: Have you tried playing with a computer? :)
}
{
white bishop: Last night, I was looking at "Pyraminds" in this site, and saw your name and Potatoheid's name in Level 1. Did you find playing in Pyramids helpful in improving your skills? 
}
{
white bishop: In the ICCF site, I can't find any of your current games. They only show games from previous years. There weren't any "My Games", but I only saw "Live Games". Also, I don't know what name you used there in ICCF, possibly your true name.
}
26... Qc7
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP   I PLAYED AGAINST MY LAPTOP COMPUTER LEVEL 9.I USULLY WIN BUT NOT ALWAYS.THE ICCF SERVER,THE REASON YOU CAN,T FIND ME WELL TWO REASONS.ONE,MY NAME THAT I USE IS PETER SAINT LOUIS WHICH IS MY REAL NAME.TWO,MY GAMES IS ONLY FOR ME.BECAUSE IF YOU HAD ACCESS TO MY GAMES YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO COUCH ME WHICH IS ILLEGAL.I SEE I GAINED 424 POINTS.BUT IT WILL SLOW DOWN.YES,END GAMES ARE VERY IMPORTANT,IT COULD A WIN INSTEAD OF A LOSS.SO PUT FORTH YOUR MENTAL ENERGY ITS WORTH IT.AND YOU WILL FEEL GREAT AFTERWARDS.   SAMAEL
}
27. a4 Qc6 28. axb5 Qxb5 29. Qc2 Qb7 30. Bd2 e5 31. d5
{
white bishop: Quite tricky, Peter. It is better not to eat your pawn on e5. I guess, in reply, d5 could be my best move.
}
{
white bishop: Hi, I was just looking at your 2 games w/ potatoheid. In that English Opening game of you vs potatoheid, I'm willing to play the game with you as black by continuing where he left off, i.e. his 12th move, as black. Of course, this is not for the competition or tournament but a friendly game, if you still want to occupy your waking hours by a game or two, by exploring what possibilities there are in the game. I'm also willing to continue the moves in the Pirc Defense game of potatoheid vs you by beginning his 12th move. Let me know if you want to pursue this.    
 
}
{
white bishop: We just have to follow all the moves you and he made, then I continue on from there, since it's his turn to play in both games. There were exchanges of pieces in both games. Would you believe in the Closed Spanish Game of jxpepe vs me, we already completed 19 moves and there were exchanges of material so far, not even a pawn, so it's really difficult to move and maneuver your pieces on the board.  
}
{
white bishop: Correction: In the 3rd sentence of the last message, it should correctly read as "there were NO exchanges of material so far, not even a pawn". 
}
31... f6 32. Qc6 Qxc6
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP JUST TOO LET YOU KNOW.MR.POTATOHEID LOST ON TIME.BUT THE GAMES WERE EVEN AT THIS POINT.SAMAEL
}
33. dxc6
{
white bishop: I know that he lost on time. I've seen all his games, and they were so far even. Somehow he just decided to abandon all his games. This affected his rating greatly, because in SchemingMind's records, he lost all his 8 games in the mini-tournament. 
}
33... Nb6 34. Ba5
{
white bishop: Since you are a very good and a very tough player, Peter, this game may last more than 40 moves for sure, depends on how we play our successive moves.
}
34... Nc8 35. Nd2 Kf7 36. Nc4 Ke6 37. Nb6 Nxb6 38. Bxb6 f5 39. f3 Bh6 40. Kf1
{
white bishop: You know, Peter, this is my only game in this mini-tournament that has reached the endgame. For the others, we were all in the middle game yet. The endgame is really the most difficult stage of the game to play, even though there are fewer pieces, don't you think so? Opening is easy, because you just follow a prescribed set of moves.
}
40... Bd2
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP  YES,I AGREE THE END GAME IS VERY DIFFICULT SOMETIMES. SAMAEL
}
41. Bd8 fxe4 42. fxe4 h6 43. Ke2 Bg5 44. Ba5 Be7 45. g3
{
white bishop: Seems like we're getting nowhere, Peter!
}
45... Bf8
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP  IT SURE SEEMS LIKE IT.
}
46. Bd8
{
white bishop: You wanted to exchange bishops in your 43rd move. If I had exchanged bishops with you, it would have been more boring and more unmanageable for each of our kings and 5 pawns.
}
{
white bishop: At the moment, I'd prefer to retain my bishop in order to assist my king, so he won't be too exhausted moving around. The pawns are scattered throughout the chess board, and the king is limited by his one-step-at-a-time move. If he goes to one side, the other side will be unguarded or vulnerable.
}
46... Be7 47. Bb6
{
white bishop: From the looks of it, Peter, we may exceed 50 moves. It depends on what you decide to do with your K-side pawns.
}
{
white bishop: I'm inviting you to join me in the Anna Ushenina mini-tournament. It's a knockout tournament, so you get to play a maximum of 2 boards with the same person each round, until you get eliminated. I already signed up for this tournament, and I hope you will too. Can I count on your participation?
}
47... Bf6
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP YES,THIS IS SOME GAME.I THINK THIS GAME WILL GO MORE THAN 50 MOVES.THIS GAME IS A TOUGH ONE.IT CAN GO EITHER WAY.(AS FOR THE ANNA USHENINA I SEE IF I CAN LOCATE THAT KNOCKOUT MINI TOURNAMENT.IF I,M SUCESSFULL,I WILL BE IN IT.SAMAEL
}
48. g4
{
white bishop: Hey, great, they matched you with your fellow Canadian Majoanis at Board 13. I'm in Board 2, but until now OlliY of Finland has not made any moves in his 2 games with me, so I'm still waiting. Your opponent Majoanis' rating is not very far from yours, so expect a good and interesting game. I'm pitted against a higher-rated player, so I don't know yet what the outcome will be.    
}
{
white bishop: In my game with OlliY at the Anna Ushenina tournament, I made d4 my 1st move as White, as I'm prepared to have a close game with a higher-rated player. My 1st move as Black will depend on his 1st move. Should he make e4 his first move as White, I'm prepared to do 1. ... e5. I don't know if that will work, but overall, I should be more cautious and not be very careless in my succeeding moves. What would you advise? :) 
}
{
white bishop: Think I'll go find that book I bought a few months ago entitled "How to Crush Your Chess Opponents" by Simon Williams. I've so far randomly selected & studied 6 games from the 1st 9 games in the book. That's a great book and one I highly recommend, if you'd like to brush up on your strategies or learn something new! Now I'll try to see if I can finish the book, if I have time, but first I have to locate it.
}
48... Bg5
{
SAMAEL: SAMAEL WELL,I HOPE WE BOTH WILL MAKE IT TOO THE SECOND ROUND.
}
49. Kf3
{
white bishop: This will not be your 1st time to play with Majoanis, as you've played with him before in other tournaments. His name sounds French, so he could be from Quebec.
}
49... Bd2
{
SAMAEL: SAMAEL I PLAY A LOT OF PEOPLE MORE THAN ONCE.
}
50. Ke2
{
white bishop: In this mini-tournament for new players, we are the only ones actively making our moves several times a day. Both jxpepe and recam have been quiet for days. I've been waiting for them to make their moves. If they don't make a move and their time runs out, then it will be an easy win for me! :)
}
50... Bb4
{
SAMAEL: SAMAEL YES,SOMETIMES WE WIN THAT WAY.ITS ALL PART OF THE GAME.(RIGHT)
}
51. Bd8
{
white bishop: If our game will take long, such as till the end of the yr or until next year, then I'll have time to greet you (1) "Merry Christmas!" (2) "Happy Birthday!" and (3) "Happy New Year!" in that order.
}
{
white bishop: Do you cook or prepare food on your own for yourself and your girlfriend? Yesterday morning for breakfast, I made Grilled Cheese Sandwiches w/c my kids love. For their lunch in school, I heated some of the leftovers from the previous night & placed them inside each of their lunch containers w/c is kept in their respective lunch bags that they each bring along with them to school. For dinner, what did I cook last night? Oh, I prepared (1) Cheeseburger Mac(aroni); (2) Buttered Corn, Carrots, and Peas; & (3) Cream of Mushroom Soup. For breakfast this morning, I gave the kids seedless grapes in a bowl topped with kiwi slices. For their lunch today, I heated the leftover Cheeseburger Mac that's just enough for both of them to bring to school.
}
{
white bishop: As you can see from my previous message, my kids favored a Western or an American cuisine.
}
51... Bc5
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP  YES,I DO KNOW HOW TO COOK.BUT ONLY THE BASICS.MY GIRLFRIEND DOES MOST OF IT.SHE IS MUCH BETTER AT IT THAN I AM.SAMAEL PS.THIS GAME SURE LOOKS DRAWISH
}
52. h4 Bd4
{
white bishop: Yes, I was hinting to you after I made my 45th move that it "seems like we're getting nowhere." By that statement, I had implied indirectly that the position is drawish. 
}
{
white bishop: You see, from your 43rd move up to the 51st move, all were bishop moves. As long as my pawns remain on white squares, they won't be harmed by your bishop. Also, there are factors that prevent our isolated pawns from queening. Your king is afraid to leave its square at E6, so it's your bishop who kept moving. The conditions are highly visible for a draw. What do you think? Would you like to draw now or later? I can wait until the time you make your 63rd move (as you are 63 yrs old), to make the game more memorable for you!
}
53. h5 gxh5=
{
SAMAEL: HI.WHITE BISHOP COME DEC.28,2012 I WILL BE TURNING 64.PS.YES,I FEEL THE SAME WAY.OUR POSITION IS DRAWISH,SO I AM GOING TO OFFER YOU A DRAW.O.K.SAMAEL
}
1/2-1/2

