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Dec-25-09
 | | TheAlchemist: Thank you, Merry Christmas to you as well! |
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Dec-25-09
 | | Fusilli: Another remarkable final position, from a positional crush: S Sjugirov vs Svidler, 2009
Position after 23.c3:
click for larger view1-0. Black cannot avoid losing material. The game is worth looking at. It's a lesson on why advancing pawns carelessly can lead to catastrophic weaknesses. |
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| Dec-25-09 | | benjinathan: Same to you! Happy holidays. |
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| Dec-26-09 | | SirChrislov: Thank you <Fussilli>.
Merry Christmas to you too and to your family. |
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| Dec-27-09 | | Albertan: Hi, I hope you had a great Christmas and that you and those close to you have a wonderful 2010! |
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| Dec-31-09 | | WinKing: Happy New Year <Fusilli>!!! |
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Jan-01-10
| | Fusilli: Hello everybody, and happy new year!
I just got back from the North American Open in Las Vegas. I played the open section and had a poor tournament, scoring 3 in 7 (+2 =2 -3). This was the first tournament since I started playing competitive chess again (2003) in which: a) I lost more games than I won, b) I started with two losses, and c) All my opponents were (I’m pretty sure) younger than me. I lost 17 points of USCF rating and therefore fell below 2200 again, losing again my dubious label of “master”. And yet, I had a good time. I shared the hotel room with my friend Alex Steger of Baton Rouge, and that helped digest the losses. Although I do need an hour or two for venting, I am not one to get too depressed by losses, though… even though my loss in round 2 (I will post something about it soon) was a total bummer. So life is good. One’s level of chess playing depends on talent and effort, and my effort is rather moderate. If I had to choose between being a GM or keeping my PhD, I would, of course, keep my PhD! But I love playing chess, so I’ll try to do better the next tournament around. I will be posting some bits and pieces from my games... |
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Jan-01-10
| | Fusilli: North American Open, Las Vegas, 2009. Round 1
Mariano Sana (2204) v GM Kidambi Sundararajan (FIDE 2516) I fell barely below the middle of the rating ranking, so I got paired right away with a grandmaster and I played board number 4. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2
click for larger viewMy tournament roommate, Alex Steger of Baton Rouge, suggested this move to me (in turn suggested to him by GM Gregory Kaidanov). If Black plays 4…e6, then White gets a closed Catalan with 5.g3, which is quite a comfortable line for White (in my opinion, anyway). My opponent here didn’t go for that: 4…dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bg4 6.Ne5 Be6 7.Qd3 Nbd7 8.Nxd7 Qxd7 9.Nc3 Rd8 
click for larger view10.e4 Qxd4 11.Qxd4 Rxd4 12.Be3
click for larger view12…Rd8 (If 12…Rb4 13.Bc5 Rxb2 14.O-O-O. White wins the exchange, but there is comfortable compensation.) 13.Bxa7 g6 14.Bb6 Ra8 (I thought that 14... Rd7 would lead to a better game for White after 15.Na4 Nxe4 16.f3, but Fritz says that Black is slightly better after 16…Nd2 17.Nc5 Rd5 18.Bd3 Bh6 19.Rd1 Be3 20.Nxe6 Bxb6 21.Kxd2 fxe6. Needless to say, I didn’t calculate nearly as far) 15. Be2 Bg7 16. Bd4 O-O 17.O-O b5! 
click for larger viewI have played a very decent game so far against a very strong player. Fritz evaluates the position as about equal after 18.e5. But, as it often happens in chess, it is so easy to spoil a good effort with just one move. And there I go with a truly horrible move: 18.b4? (the absolute worse way to defend against the threat of 18…b4) Rfd8 19.Be5 (now if 19.Rfd1 Rxd4 20.Rxd4 Nh5! 21.Rad1 Bxd4 22.Rxd4 Nf4 wins) 19...Rd2 and Black has a winning game. (Here I saw that 20.Rfd1 would be answered with 20…Nxe4, but inexplicably I didn’t think of the same response against 20.Rfc1. The only decent move here was 20.Bf3 and Black is still winning). 20.Rfc1? 
click for larger view20...Nxe4 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Bf3 Nxc3 23.Rxc3 Raxa2, 0-1. |
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Jan-01-10
| | Fusilli: North American Open, Las Vegas 2009, Round 2
Marc A. Jimenez (2068) v. Mariano Sana (2204)
My opponent played the rarely seen Ponziani:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3
I had no idea how to play against it, but, investing heavy clock time, I figured something out: 3…d5 4.Bb5 Qd6 5.Qa4 Bd7
click for larger view
Here he thought for a while.
6.d4 exd4
By now I had used one hour... and it’s only move 6! Surprisingly, though, Jimenez invested 65 minutes on his next two moves. He told me he couldn’t remember the theory. His seventh move is bad, and I got a pawn, with no compensation. 7. e5? Nxe5 8.Bxd7+ Qxd7 9.Qxd7+ Nxd7 10.Nxd4 O-O-O with clear Black advantage:
click for larger viewBy now he is left with a little less than 10 minutes for the next 30 moves! I had 56 minutes left. The rest of the game was a sorry display of ineptitude on my part. He blitzed from now on. I tried to regulate my time but blundered and invested a lot of time trying to survive the consequences of the blunder.
Position after 23.Rad1:
click for larger view
There are several good moves, the best of which are 23…Nd3 and 23…Ba7, both of which keep the position evaluation below -2 according to Fritz. 23…d4? 24.f4 (of course!)
Even now, after 24…Nd7 25.Nxc4 Rd5 Black would be somewhat better. But I played 25…Rde6 and continued to successfully conspire against my own position. The shock of blundering (and the insecurity that inevitably happens after one’s blunder) led me to think too much. He kept blitzing and I caught up with him on the clock. Eventually, I forfeited on time! Hard to believe looking back at the position and the clock after move 10!
The final position, after 38.Bd8, was:
click for larger view
About to get flagged, I couldn’t decide between 38…Nc5 (a bad move) and 38…Rc5 (after which Fritz’s evaluation is a mere +0.31), and virtually froze. Black forfeited on time, 1-0
I have to give credit to Jimenez for playing challenging moves under time pressure. By move 30 I felt I was being outplayed. I think he was able to turn things to his favor because he had been on blitz mode from move 10, while serious time pressure took me by surprise and I had difficulty processing my blunder and switching to blitz mode. |
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| Jan-02-10 | | WinKing: <Fusilli: And happy new year to you, Greg! I am back from the N.A. Open and will be posting positions from my games on my chessforum.> Hope your holidays were grand! I'm still making the rounds with a few relatives to visit yet. Starting off with a GM, now that's a tough draw in the first round. You played quite well early from what I could see looking that game over quickly. I agree with you that in the second game you should have at least had a draw with 38...Rc5!?. I will look at these games & others you may post more closely in the next few days as soon as I finish making my rounds with family members. I don't know if I will be able to tell you much of anything you don't already know but hopefully I can shed some light on your games. :) |
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| Jan-02-10 | | Albertan: Happy New Year's Mariano! Thanks for posting some of your games from the NA Open. Too bad about your performance, however there is always the next tournament.It is nice that you were able to share a room with a friend. The Ponziani can be tricky opening, one of the experts at our club used to play it all the time and he forced me to learn a way to play against it. Don't feel too bad about losing against that opening, according to Chessbase Megadatabase, the following GM's have lost against the Ponziani: Smejkal lost in 24 moves to Ljubojevic at the 1972 Wijk aan Zee tournament, Jansa lost to Chernin in 22 moves in the Ponziani in the 1995 Austrian Team chess championship, and Jenni lost to Turiov (both over 2500 elo)in 20 moves in 2005. |
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Jan-03-10
| | Fusilli: <WinKing> I guess you have a big family! Not me. It's my wife (Kristin) and me... and 8-year old, 18-pound cat Fusilli, who lent his name for my handle at both cg.com and ICC. Kristin doesn't get along with her parents and sisters, and my parents, brother, niece, nephew, etc. are all in Argentina. Maybe that's why we have dozens of friends. In any event, enjoy doing the rounds! I feel I am being an egomaniac posting my games with profuse comments as if I were a player worth looking at, but I tell myself I do it for my own future reference. :) Your comments on any of my games are always welcome, as well as anything you want to post on my forum! |
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Jan-03-10
| | Fusilli: <Albertan> <there is always the next tournament> Well put! In fact, I can't wait to play again! Yes, the Ponziani is tricky. I am proud of finding a good way to play against it on the spot. After all, I didn't lose to the opening but blew the game in the middlegame. When trying to figure out the opening, I kept in mind that White has slowed down development on the Queenside, so some lines couldn't be too bad for Black, as long as Black didn't lose material... |
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Jan-03-10
| | Fusilli: North American Open, Round 3
Mariano Sana (2204) v Alexander Velikanov (2092)
Position after 15.h3:
click for larger view
White is better (+0.75, says Fritz). Black has development problems on the Queenside. White also controls the center. Position after 20.b4:
click for larger view
20…Nc8 21.b5 Nxd6 22.bxc6 Nxe4 23.cxb7 Rab8
click for larger view
White’s expansive plan didn’t pay off. My opponent correctly calculated that he’ll capture the b7-pawn without danger. The position is now even. Draw in 32. |
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Jan-04-10
| | Fusilli: North American Open, Las Vegas 2009, round 4
Jennifer T Acon (1980) v Mariano Sana (2204) Position after 16…dxe5:
click for larger view
The position is about equal, but here White made a mistake:
17.g4? Qe7 18.b3:
click for larger view…h5! And Black has attack.
The game continued: 19.Nf1 hxg4 20.hxg4 Qg5 21.Ne3 Nf6 22.Nf5 Nxg4 23.Qg2 Rad8 24.Nd6 Qh4 25.Re2 g6 26.Rd3 Kg7 27.Nd1 Rh8 28.Ne3 Rh5 29.Nxg4 Bxg4 30.Rf2
click for larger view
30…Rxd6 31.Rxd6 Rg5 32.Qh2 Bh3+ 0-1 |
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Jan-05-10
| | Fusilli: North American Open, Las Vegas 2009, round 5
Mariano Sana (2204) v Kyle Shin (2069)
The position was even after 22.Nc4:
click for larger view
But Black jeopardized his own prospects: 22…c5?! 23.Rd7 Re7? (23…b5 was the move) 24.Rd8+ Re8 25.Rxe8+ Kxe8 26.f3
click for larger view
26…Nf6 (I am pretty sure the pawn endgame is won for White after 26...b5 27.fxe4 bxc4) 27.Nd6+ Ke7 28.Nxb7 Nd5 29.Kf2 Nb4 30.Nxc5 Nxa2? (the pawn was untouchable and Black had to play 30…Kd6, with a clearly better endgame for White after 31.Ne4+) 31.Nd3
click for larger view
1-0 in 51. |
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Jan-05-10
| | Fusilli: North American Open, Las Vegas 2009, round 6
Evan Sandberg (2152) v Mariano Sana (2204)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.O-O Be7 7.e5 Ne4 8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Nc5 10.Nc3 b5? (I should have castled here, and White is slightly better. I didn't remember the 5.d4 line, and figured out the main line moves #5, 6 and 7, and made decent moves #8 and #9, but here I faltered.) 11. Bb3 Nxb3?! (11…O-O) 12. axb3 Bb7 13.Qg4 and White is better:
click for larger view
The game continued with some minor up and downs, oscillating between slight and clear White advantage. I ended up under time pressure, and the decisive moment came in move 40:
click for larger view
White to move: 40.___? Any takers?
1-0 in 54. |
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| Jan-05-10 | | WinKing: North American Open, Las Vegas, 2009. Round 1
Mariano Sana (2204) v GM Kidambi Sundararajan (FIDE 2516) 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bg4 6.Ne5 Be6 7.Qd3 Nbd7 8.Nxd7 Qxd7 9.Nc3 Rd8 10.e4 Qxd4 11.Qxd4 Rxd4 12.Be3 Rd8 13.Bxa7 g6 14.Bb6 Ra8
15.Be2 Bg7 16.Bd4 O-O 17.O-O b5
click for larger view18.b4? [Rybka 3 -1.22]
Rybka agreed with your Fritz that 18.e5 was the correct path.
Here is what Rybka 3 sees after 18.e5:
[(Rybka 3 d=20 -0.28) 18.e5 Nd5 19.Nxd5 Bxd5 20.a3 f6 21.f4 fxe5 22.Bxe5 Bxe5
23.fxe5 Rxf1+ 24.Rxf1 b4 25.axb4 Ra2 26.Rb1 Kg7 27.Bf3 Bxf3 28.gxf3 Ra4
29.b3 Rxb4 30.Kf2 Kf7 31.Rc1 Ke6 32.Rxc6+ <Diagram> - Rybka 3 1-cpu w32] 
click for larger viewThe game continued after 18.b4?
18... Rfd8 19. Be5 Rd2 20. Rfc1 Nxe4 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Bf3 Nxc3
23. Rxc3 Raxa2 1-0
You really did play a very nice game up to move 18 Mariano. It is not hard to get tangled up in the tactics of a middlegame especially against a GM. You can compare this to what Fritz thought about 18.e5. |
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Jan-05-10
| | Fusilli: <WinKing> Thanks for the Rybka analysis, Greg. 18.b4 was quite an unfortunate move. When you play against a strong player, there is no mercy for mistakes like that. It's not about playing well, but playing well the whole game. I think something that I have to improve is my consistency... |
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| Jan-05-10 | | WinKing: Marc A. Jimenez (2068) v. Mariano Sana (2204)
Ponziani Opening
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d5 4.Bb5 Qd6 5.Qa4 Bd7 6.d4 exd4 7. e5 Nxe5 8.Bxd7+ Qxd7 9.Qxd7+ Nxd7 10.Nxd4 O-O-O <Fusilli: with clear Black advantage> Yes, Rybka agrees black looks quite good here. I must say you came up with some nice moves for not knowing how to play against this opening. :) Rybka's take after 10...O-O-O:
[-1.18] d=20 11.O–O c5 12.Nf3 Bd6 13.Na3 Ngf6 14.Be3 a6 15.h3 Rhe8 16.Rad1 Ne5 17.Nxe5 Rxe5 18.Nc2 b6 
click for larger viewThis opening has always been a mystery to me. The move 3.c3 just seems kind of slow for white but black must play accurately or he pays the price. I had to go to my 'old reliable' Chess Openings: Theory and Practice by I.A. Horowitz to see what this opening is all about. Your opponent played 4.Bb5. Horowitz claims 4.Qa4 is the sharpest & best. Looks like Jimenez just transposed 4th & 5th moves. I'm sure theory has changed on this opening through the years. I have to believe your 4th move
...Qd6 confused him. He might have been caught in the 'wrong move order trap'. Been caught in that a few times myself...(sigh). His 7th move 7.e5 is the mistake - 7.exd5 is correct. Horowitz's line:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d5 4.Qa4 f6 5.Bb5 Ne7 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.d4 Bd7 8.0-0
exd4 9.cxd4 Ne5 10.Bxd7+ Qxd7 =
click for larger viewYou came out of the opening with a nice advantage. I know all too well what it is to get into time trouble. Been there myself enough times & had my fair share of losses because of it. We won't dwell on that sore subject. Your play of the openings seems stellar Mariano. Like you said in your post though <"It's not about playing well, but playing well the whole game".> |
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Jan-05-10
| | Fusilli: <WinKing> Thanks for the line with 4.Qa4. Now I know what to do in that case! My main concern in playing 4...Qd6 was whether it'd be a loss of time if White at some point captured the d5, but I concluded that all was fine. Thanks for your nice words on my opening play! I did in fact played the openings well in this tournament. The only game in which I misplayed the opening was in round 6, and even then I got several moves right before messing up. Let's call it learning cost. IMHO, I don't think it's a good idea to make an obscure opening like the Ponziani anyone's main weapon. Once your opponents know it, they can equalize easily, and sometimes so even when they don't know it! There is no way to avoid taking at least a cursory look at more mainstream openings, the ones we looked at when we first learned chess. Perusing the book vendor area at the tournament I saw a book (Boris Avrukh's "Grandmaster Repertoire") with the tag line: "Tired of Bad Positions? Try the Main Lines!" I think there is a lot of truth to that advice. There is a reason why the main lines are the main lines. Of course one may not have the endless amount of time required to master the Najdorf Sicilian, but in that case at least learn the main ideas, or play another Sicilian, rather than, say, playing the Scandinavian every time you face 1.e4. In the long run, you will have better prospects of getting a good game by trying 1...c5 or 1...e5, or 1...e6. Just sayin'... |
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Jan-05-10
| | Fusilli: North American Open, Las Vegas 2009, round 7 (last)
David Plotkin (2115) v Mariano Sana (2204)
Not much to show about this game. I got to the last round rather disappointed and wanting to finish the tournament. I played the Black side of a Catalan and I took a draw offer after 19 moves. Final position, after 19.Rac1:
click for larger view
Fritz evaluates the position as +0.17, a comfortable equality. |
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Jan-05-10
| | Fusilli: North American Open, Las Vegas 2009
GM Alex Yermolinsky v FM Daniel Naroditsky
click for larger view
White could have won win with 1.Be8 or 1.Bc4, but played... 1.Be6 Rf8+ 2.Kg4
click for larger view
Black to play. Any takers? |
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| Jan-06-10 | | WinKing: <Fusilli:Black to play. Any takers?> I took a shot <Fusilli>. Left the solution in my forum in case others want to try & solve it. |
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| Jan-06-10 | | WinKing: Holy Smokes <Fusilli> I didn't know that
player Daniel Naroditsky is only 14 years old. These young 'whippersnappers' today have no respect for us 'old fogeys' LOL. No wonder Yermolinsky wanted to win that game so badly. Another prodigy on the rise. :) |
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