User Profile: astaub

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astaub
Member since Oct-20-04 · Last seen Apr-11-09

I live in Brooklyn, NY (USA) with my wife. I play in a league that is made up of teams that consist mostly of players from banks.
One of my favorite memories, although obviously a losing one, involves a game I lost after getting confused in the opening. After the game, I asked my opponent whether he had played a new move. He said "That move was first played by Paul Morphy in 1858. Alan, I am afraid the only thing new about this move is that it is the first time you've seen it."
As you probably would guess from my avatar, I enjoy horseback riding. However, I do not prefer knights to bishops in most positions.

From my last name, you can probably guess that I am of German ancestry. I studied German somewhat in high school but did not learn all that much. Recently, I was talking to a German tourist couple visiting the United States. The visitors spoke perfect English, but I could not resist showing off my rudimentary knowledge of German. I then asked the husband how he liked my high school German. He said "It is about as good as your high school English."

astaub has kibitzed 16 times to chessgames [more...]

Jul-31-08 Velimirovic vs J Augustin, 1977

astaub: I had ChessMaster 9000 playing at a supposed rating of about 2800 at 25 minutes per game and it showed White winning this game by moving 41 Kc3. It was rather difficult but the move seems to be a much better try than was played in the game.

May-10-08 E Paehtz vs M Medic, 2005

astaub: The incorrect move here appears to be 28 ...Nc5.I worked with this position with ChessMaster 9000 playing at about 2600 strength. It appears Black should interpolate 28 ...Bb3 29 ab and then 29... Nc5. After 28 ... Nc5 29 Bd5 ed 30 Qd5+ Kh8 leaves White a pawn ahead. The computer ...

Apr-26-08 Smyslov vs K Plater, 1947

astaub: 17 ... Bh8 is probably the losing move since apparently 18 Nf5 wins a pawn without yielding any particular compensation. At move 22 ... Ne8 seemed better to me than 22 ... Nd7. This opinion was confirmed by the ChessMaster 9000 program playing at a rating of about 2640. The same ...

Mar-15-08 S Melia vs A Ismailova, 2001

astaub: This is a very interesting opening variation that I analyzed recently with the help of ChessMaster 9000 playing at about a 2670 rating. The move 12 Qf2 at first appears to be a blunder since it seems to lose a pawn to 12 ... Bg4. However, the computer program recommends 12 ... Rb8 ...

Mar-05-08 M Pavey vs Keres, 1954

astaub: It appears to me that simply 38 ... Qf5 preserves the win for Black because now White does not have the tactical shot of 39 Nd7. I think Keres may have felt that Black was safe after 40 Rc4, overlooking the fact that a couple of moves later his bishop on e6 is in all sorts of ...

Feb-16-08 Kudrin vs Benjamin, 1987

astaub: The 69th move is obviously Kb5 not Kb6.

Dec-17-07 M Janata vs H Lehmann, 1969

astaub: The ChessMaster 9000 program playing at a rating of about 2650 recommended 31...Kg8 as a defensive move. However, it then proceeds to defeat that move by 32 ef Nc2 33 Rc2 Nc6 34 Ne4 Rf7 36 Qa5 Rh7 37 Ng6 Kg7 38 Qg4 Kf7 39 Nc5 Rg7 40 Re2 Nd5 41 Ne6 Qe6 42 Re6. This seems a more ...

Aug-02-07 A Hoffman vs Nakamura, 1999

astaub: It is apparently true tht Black could have forced mate by playing ...f3 on either move 27 or move 29. However, the variations are rather tricky. The Chessmaster 9000 program found this idea to be sound. I had it playing at about a 2750 level. Here is the analysis starting with ...

Jul-31-07 I Ivanov vs Benjamin, 1992

astaub: I did some analysis on this game with the help of the Chessmaster 9000 program operating at a strength of about 2750. On move 13, the program recommends 13...Qd3 rather than Benjamin's sacrifice. On move 19, it recommends 19...Nf3+ that would draw by a three fold repetition. However,

Jul-30-07 Capablanca vs B H Villegas, 1914

astaub: Some additional commentary on the possiblities arising after 18...exd3. The suggestion of 20 Rg4 is met by 20...exf2+ 21 Rxf2 e5 22 Nd5 Qd6 23 Bc3 a5 24 Re4 f6 and Black remains substantially ahead (about the equivalent of 4 pawns) in material. 25 Nb5 does not appear to be as ...

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