Yes. you got me out of a jam once in <New Orleans>, I believe.

An Orangutan with a razor blade was involved, no?

I left a message for you at <Open Defence> forum.

HI <rOBIN HOOOOD>qq

If that's the Sherrif of Not Canned Ham, then why does he look like Shakespeare?

No sheriff here, but an English poet. I had just prepared a couple of sonnets ready for you to read (I saw a portrait and some astonishing games of you) but I cannot find them. I'm worthless, I mean wordless.

No, my comment was merely a temporary brain melt-down.

Please disregard it!!

However, I have to confess I am enjoying the idea that you may in fact be the ghost of the dearly beloved <Rod Serling>.

I like how he's always smoking a cigarette while introducing something.

Yes, the 50s and 60s were interesting times.

I suppose the 1850s and 1860s were also interesting, but there's not as much info on that era on <YouTube>, so I'm not an expert.

Heh they put a lotta Queens to death.

Also, Queens put a lotta other people to death.

Have you read about "Bloody Mary" yet?

(Mary Tudor- England)

She killed a lot of Protestants, and became so famous they named a popular drink after her.

<jessicafischerqueen> (1968) v. <PPTchess> (1982) Letsplaychess.com (7 days per move)
Sicilian Najdorf (Schveningen kind with 6...e6)

THEME--

<Resigning the "Unpleasant Position" in Correspondence Play>

BACKGROUND INFO--

<I have completed 20 Rated Correspondence Games on letsplaychess.com-->

Rating: 1968
Record: +13 -4 =3 72.5%

For my last 8 games I have gone in "naked"-- no books or Opening Explorer consultation.

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6
6. Be3 e6
7. f3 Be7
8. Qd2 Nc6
9. g4 Qc7
10. O-O-O b5

Ok I'm pretty familiar with this kind of setup, so I know for a fact we are still "well in theory" after the first 10 moves: My turn, white to move--

click for larger view

11. Nxc6 Qxc6
12. Ne2 Bb7

My plan here is to "Reload" my Knight into the juicy <d4> square

13. g5 Nd7
14. h4 Rc8
15. Nd4 Qc7

Apparently, we have been following D Sengupta vs B Foo, 2007 up to now.

Here, <Mr. Sengupta- rated 2435> chose 16.h5, but I chose 16.Kb1 instead.

16. Kb1 d5
17. Bg2? dxe4
18. f4? Nc5
19. Nb3 Nxb3
20. cxb3 a5?

click for larger view

I thought I was being "crafty" here by temporarily saccing a pawn and sliding my f-pawn forward, thinking I'll just pick off his extra pawn "later on"... But my Engine is frowning heavily at my "idea"...

Black should castle here, not play <20...a5>... In fact, Black never castles in this game, and I believe that is why I ended up winning. Black now allows me to initiate a series of exchanges that are more favorable to me than to him-- and he makes tat least wo mistakes--

He doesn't castle, and he lets me centralize my bishops after the exchanges to the point where I am in complete control of the position...

And he begins to suffer.

21. Rc1 Qd8
22. Rxc8 Bxc8
23. Bxe4 Qxd2

Maybe I should have exchanged Queens before nabbing the pawn back? Well he takes the Queens off anyways right after

24. Bxd2 b4
25. h5 Bd6
26. Be3 Bc7??

click for larger view

Black's last move here is aimless- and, worse than aimless, it is a Blunder. It gives me Total command of the position-- White to play and grab Black by the Short Hairs:

27. Rc1! <heh> Kd8
28. Rd1+ Ke8
29. Rc1 Kd8
30. Rd1+

And he's had enough- he resigns this position:

click for larger view

OK- I see that after <27.Rc1> I am in TOTAL CONTROL of how the game will go-- IE- if I want, I have a draw by force-- Now I pretend I"m playing OTB and I make a move repetition in order to torture him psychologically. Maybe he will think I'm going to settle for a draw and let him off the hook, and maybe he thinks I'm just rubbing it in.

Heh. At any rate, he resigns here- and I think it's because of him not wanting to play out a lost position.

If he had played on, my plan was

30...Ke8 (forced)
31.Bc6+ Kf8 (forced)
32.Bc5+ Kg8 (forced)
33.h6

And here now Black would be Trussed up and helpless like a Christmas Turkey about to go in the oven:

click for larger view

33...gxh6? then
34.gxh6 and forced mate to follow

33...g6?
34.Bd6 and Black loses his bishop or rook by force (or else it's mate)

So Black has nothing to do and White has an easy plan--

Do I feel bad about trying to torture him?

No.

It's a MAN'S WORLD in Correspondence chess....

Except when me or <Deffi> play...

Heh- similar sense of humor--

Dunno about the results yet-- I've been analyzing one of my games all day- the one posted above there.

Pardon my deletions-- I'm trying to keep my page clear in case any of my friends help me analyze my game.

Don't worry though-- feel free to keep talking to me as much as you like in here.

I'll never delete any of your posts or my replies to them until I know for sure you've read them all.

You should get a premium membership and open a <Trig> Forum!!

It's fun...

Btw, I've found in chessbase database a game that reached (by a different move order) the position after 16...d5, where White played another sac that threw his opponent completely off balance:

[Event "Buenos Aires BCA op"]
[Site "Buenos Aires"]
[Date "1989.??.??"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Cid,Marino Alejandro"]
[Black "Garcia,Raimundo"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qc7 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be3 a6 7.f3 Nf6 8.Qd2 b5 9.g4 d6 10.Nxc6 Qxc6 11.0-0-0 Be7 12.h4 Bb7 13.Ne2 Rc8 14.Kb1 Qc7 15.Nd4 Nd7 16.g5 d5 17.h5 dxe4 18.Bh3 Nc5 19.g6 f5 20.gxh7 exf3 21.Bf4 Qb6 22.Nxf5 Bf6 23.Nd6+ Ke7 24.Nxc8+ Rxc8 25.Qd6+ 1-0

I think you're absolutely correct in noting that his failure to castle became a matter of grave concern for him. You certainly exploited it all well enough, and <Eyal> is is quite right about the final combonation (and the resulitn goodies for White).

Trying to find an alternative 17th move for you. I looked a little at 17 Bh3 (with possible mayhem on e6 for Black, if he's not careful), but after 17...dxe4, there's no clear continuation that doesn't involve risk (18 Bxe6 fxe6 19 Nxe6 Qc6 20 Nxg7+ Kf2 (none of which is forced--18...0-0, perhaps), and now if 21 Qxd7 and it's too unclear for my feeble mind:

click for larger view

Maybe 21...Qxc2+, but Black must be careful, as the Bishop on b7 hangs (e.g. 21...Qxc2+ 23 Ka1 Rc7? 24 Qe6+ Kf8 (24...Kxg7 25 Bd4+ Kf8 26 Bxh8 exf3 26 Qh6+ Ke8 27 Qg7 looks very uncomfortable for Black). Maybe 21 ...Qxd7 22 Rxd7 Rb8 23 Nf5 Ke6 24 Rxe7+ Kxf5 25 fxe4+ Kg6 (25...Bxe4 26 Rf1 picks up the bishop) 26 h5#!!! (Yeah, like Black will let that happen! And my very hasty analysis is undoubtedly not sound! Someone--perhaps <Eyal> [Hi, <Eyal>!] will no doubt point out the flaws if you don't youself.) But black has plenty of other possibilites.

Anyway, terrific game--very instructive!

<You are the king at finding new and even more beautiful avatars.>

Thanks for the compliment! It's always nice to hear from you. How are you? I hope all is well. Take care!

Would you take a look at the latest Correspondence Game>

Your annotations are a good read as usual. That makes you a CC writer.

The notion of ignoring aids in CC seems bizarre. The point of CC to me is to produce higher quality chess than OTB games. Imagine how miserable The World Team games would be if us schlubs didn't use aids.

Apparently your opponent also didn't use opening aids. 7...Be7 is unusual. Everybody plays 7...b5.

9. g4 is fine and is perhaps the more modern treatment than 0-0-0. 8. g4 is a newish try that shows good results in a few games in the OE.

9...Qc7, though not a bad move, is the beginning of black wonkiness. Apparently he/she used a chess engine at low depth. Fritz liked Qc7 up to about 20 ply. 0-0 is of course the sane move here. Perhaps g4 scared him but why play the Najdorf if you haven't seen g4?

12. Ne2 seems OK. The engine prefers h4 and the OE shows g5 has had success albeit in only 2 games. I wonder if black can play e5 in answer to Ne2.

14...Rc8 bothers me although it can't be bad. Black is poised to play d5 which is the thematic equalizing move for black in the Sicilian. Perhaps this rook will go to some other square after d5. The moral is if you have a move that you are going to play no matter what, play it immediately for greatest flexiblility.

17. Bg2 is odd but maybe not a blunder. After 17. exd5 Bxd5 18. Bf4 Qc5 19. h5 Rd8 (note comment to Rc8), white is better. e2 may be a better square for the bishop to leave the g-file open for a rook. The bishop goes to h3 in some wild tactical lines.

This is a good place to stop. Your commentary from here is excellent.

<A. Beliavsky
"Korolkov - 100", 2008

click for larger view

Can you find a forced win in the end
of this beautiful study?

1.Qf5+!! Kxf5 2.Ne7+!! Rxe7

White has only the knight against Black's superior forces, and it is placed rather passively on the 1st rank.

However...

3.Ne3+ Kf6 4.Nxd5+ Kf5
5.Nxe7+ Kf6 6.Nxg8+ Kf5
7.Ne7+ Kf6 8.Nd5+ Kf5 9.g4#

Wonderful, isn't it!!>

click for larger view

click for larger view

click for larger view

click for larger view

I'm a <letsplaychess.com> girl.

I have 3 Correspondence games on the go, 10 days a move.

That's my speed.

I'm sorry but I can't join you guys on <POrt Alice>--

If you ever sign on to Letsplaychess.com, I'll play you there at 10 days a move.

<The Chess Engine is <imperfect>...But for how long?>

I think for a very long time given the exponential explosion of the number of moves in all possible games. I have seen estimates that are in terms of the age of the universe even with computers that operate at the speed of light. (I think that means they are so fast that you can't see them at all--they probably flicker in and out of time or space or something.)

Also, the chess engines are based on evaluation algorithms etc. that are created by people (at least the creators claim to be people--sometimes I worry about bodysnatchers.)

I noticed some movie talk earlier. I recently watched (for perhaps the 100th time) <The Magnificent Seven> based on Kurosawa's <Seven Samurai>. I assume you have seen them but if not you should do so immediately. The ensemble cast of the former is stunning.