Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Mike Serovey Defeats BachInBlack

Here is the PGN formatted game I played on ICC against a chess computer known as BachInBlack. The program outplayed me in the opening and won a Rook for a Bishop, and then walked into a Knight fork on its King and Queen! The entire game, with analysis and diagrams can be found here: http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/BachInBlack-English.html.

[Event "ICC 15 5"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.07.20"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "BachInBlack"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "1534"]
[BlackElo "1375"]
[Opening "English opening"]
[ECO "A10"]
[NIC "EO.64"]
[Time "16:36:10"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]

1. c4 d5 2. cxd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd4 4. Nf3 Qd8 5. g3 Bf5 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. d3 e5 8.
O-O Nf6 9. Bg5 Bc5 10. a3 O-O 11. b4 Bb6 12. Nh4 Be6 13. Ne4 Bd4 14. Bxf6
gxf6 15. Nc5 Bxa1 16. Qxa1 Nd4 17. Qb2 Bg4 18. Nf3 Nxf3+ 19. exf3 Bc8 20.
Rd1 Qd5 21. f4 Qd6 22. fxe5 fxe5 23. d4 Rb8 24. Ne4 Qd5 25. Nf6+ Kg7 26.
Nxd5 Bg4 27. Re1 c6 28. Ne3 h5 29. Nxg4 hxg4 30. dxe5 Rbd8 31. e6+ Kg6 32.
e7 Rfe8 33. Be4+ f5 34. Bb1 Rd5 35. Ba2 Rd3 36. Qe2 Rxa3 37. Qe6+ Kg5 38.
Qg8+ Rxg8 39. Bxg8 a5 40. e8=Q axb4 41. Qe7+ Kg6 42. Qf7+ Kg5 43. Re5 Ra1+ 44. Kg2 b3 45. Rxf5+ Kh6 46. Qh5+ Kg7 47. Qh7# {Black checkmated} 1-0

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Random Thoughts About Chess

I have decided to give a brief update on my chess activities as of late and to reminisce about the "good old days" of chess for me. I have just started another correspondence tournament at ICC and still have one old game going from last month. I have been playing too quickly in some of my games and it has hurt me greatly. I am still not considering all of my opponents possible replies at critical points in the games and thus lose or find myself fighting for a draw! This has gotten rather old. Sometimes I get outplayed in the openings because I get caught in lines that I don't know or haven't played in a while and I forgot what I was supposed to play in those positions. I am going to force myself to slow down in the games that I just started and hope for better results. It is also best not to look at the games when I am tired.

I am playing in a thematic tournament that is also correspondence. In this one, everybody has to play the Colle-Zukertort. The first five moves are given and forced. Play picks up on Black's move 5. I'm still in the opening in these games so I'm not winning or losing.

I have a book on the Colle, to include the Colle-Zukertort, so I have some help here. I plan on buying a copy of Modern Chess Openings 14th Edition (MCO 14) from Amazon.com soon and to use it to help me avoid opening traps in my correspondence games.

Now for the good old days. I started playing chess with my little brother back in the 1970's. We didn't know all of the rules back then so we both played some illegal moves. In 1974 I joined the Plant High School Chess Club and team. I joined mainly to get good enough to beat my little brother and got hooked on competitive play. I loved competing against other schools in matches and tournaments. At the time I joined the club and team, Plant High School was the reigning champs of the Southeastern United States (Region 4). I went to the Region 4 championship in my senior year (I believe that was Spring of 1976) and did OK. I played in the Under 1400 section and we won it. I played in the Under 1400 section at National High School and did OK. I believe that I got an even score in that tournament.

I continued playing chess off and on through the eighties and nineties and now I play mostly online because it is cheaper. When I got out of the US Army in 1986 there were tournaments in Tampa almost every month. So, I played in most of them and kept my skills up. After meeting Tom Stiers I helped him run some tournaments in the Brandon, FL area. Now, there are no tournaments in the Tampa and Brandon areas that I know of. There are some players who are interested in forming a club, but we need a place to meet. I really do miss being part of a team and I also miss running tournaments. I have found that lately I cannot play in any tournaments that I am also directing because it is just too much work for me.