My Win Against yacc Playing the White Side of the French Defense

From time to time I play against chess playing programs at ICC. One of these programs is called yacc. I have played several games against yacc and usually win. Posted below is the PGN for my latest win against yacc. The entire game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/Yacc-FrenchDefense.html.

[Event "ICC 20 20"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.12.24"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "yacc"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "1520"]
[BlackElo "1502"]
[Opening "French: advance, Euwe variation"]
[ECO "C02"]
[NIC "FR.03"]
[Time "22:21:40"]
[TimeControl "1200+20"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bd7 4. c3 c5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nb4 8. O-O Nxd3 9. Qxd3 Bb4 10. a3 Be7 11. Nc3 Rc8 12. Bd2 Qb6 13. b4 Rc4 14. Rfc1 f6 15. Be3 Kf7 16. Nd2 Rc7 17. Na2 Bb5 18. Qb3 fxe5 19. dxe5 Rxc1+ 20. Rxc1 d4 21. Bf4 d3 22. a4 Ba6 23. b5 Bh4 24. Be3 Qa5 25. bxa6 Qxa6 26. Nb4 Qa5 27. Nxd3 b6 28. Qb4 Qxb4 29. Nxb4 Be7 30. Nc6 a6 31. Bxb6 Ba3 32. Rc3 Bb2 33. Rd3 Ne7 34. Rd7 Re8 35. Bc5 Bc3 36. Nc4 Kg6 37. Nxe7+ Kh5 38. Ra7 Rb8 39. Nb6 Bxe5 40. Nc6 Bd6 41. Nxb8 Bxc5 42. Rxa6 Kg4 43. N6d7 Bd4 44. Rxe6 Kf5 45. Re8 Kf4 46. a5 Ba7 47. Nc6 Bxf2+ 48. Kxf2 h5 49. a6 g5 50. a7 Kf5 51. a8=Q Kg4 52. Qa4+ Kf5 53. Qe4# {Black checkmated} 1-0

French Defense

My Chess Goals For 2007

I just reviewed my chess goals for 2006. It looks like I missed every single one of them! I don't think that I played a single game at Stan's Net Chess all year, so I missed my goals of getting an established rating over 2200.

If I remember right, I only played 2 USCF rated tournaments all year and didn't do very well in those. As a result my USCF OTB rating dropped to 1500. It cannot go below 1500 unless the USCF changes its policy on ratings floors. Otherwise, it would have dropped below 1500 as a result of my last tournament. I lost every game that I played! I didn't play any Quick Chess, Blitz, or USCF rated Correspondence tournaments at all in 2006. I missed my goals of getting my USCF Standard rating over 1600 and winning an Under 1600 prize.

I did play several games at ICC and posted many of those games at my site located at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com. My Standard rating at ICC bounced around in the lower 1500 range and never go anywhere near 1600! I don't remember playing any Blitz or 5 Minute games at ICC this year. My current Standard Rating at ICC is 1520. Here are my statistics at ICC so far:

Statistics for OnGoldenPawn

rating [need] win loss draw total best
Blitz 1394 [8] 14 28 6 48 1441 (13-Mar-2005)
Standard 1520 [4] 60 73 18 151 1674 (03-Jul-2004)
5-minute 851 [8] 1 2 0 3
Correspondence 1551 5 7 2 14

I still have 2 correspondence games going at ICC. Both games are against an opponent who has already gone over the time control and been warned about it. If he exceeds the new, extremely generous, time control in either game I can claim a time forfeit in that game. So far, he is staying within the new time control. So, my goal it to win both of those games if I can.

I did request to be entered into several correspondence events at ICC even though I am irritated that they allow people to violate the time controls and get off with a warning. I need to practice as much as I can in order to improve my chess play. Also, I can learn and practice new openings by using them in correspondence games. When all is said and done, I may have up to 20 correspondence games going on simultaneously. That should give me plenty of practice!

I have some money coming to me from the VA. I got an increase in my service-connected rating with 3 years back pay. I'm not sure when I will actually get the money nor do I know exactly how much I am getting. Even so, I did an estimate and plan to use some of that money to play in a big money tournament in or near Orlando. So, I still have a goal of winning an Under 1600 prize or section and then bringing my USCF Standard rating back over 1600. Eventually, I plan to get my rating back over 1700, but it probably won't happen before the end of 2007.

My sleep cycle is still messed up and I tend to be up late and to sleep in late. That could cause some serious problems with early morning rounds! My plan is to take a 1/2 point bye in the morning rounds, if allowed, and to play in the later rounds. That would make winning the section outright difficult, but second or third place would still be possible if I win all of the games that I actually play in. That should help some with the fatigue problem that I have had in the past.

So, to summarize, my goals for 2007 are to bring my USCF Standard rating up to over 1600, to bring my ICC Standard rating up to over 1600, to get my ICC Correspondence rating up to over 1600, to win some Under 1600 prizes in both ICC and USCF play, and to rejoin Stan's Net Chess and then get an established rating over 2200. I also plan to play in at least one Orlando tournament, which should be for big money.

Chess Goals

Mike Serovey Defeats Phil Curtis With The English Opening

Posted below is the PGN format notation of my game at ICC against Phil Curtis. This game ended up being an English Opening against a Sicilian Defense. I was able to get a passed pawn in the Center and an attack on the f file against a Knight on f6. I then went up the exchange again and was up a Rook instead of just a Knight. Black continued to make errors and finally resigned when I captured his last Rook and queened a pawn at the same time. The entire game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/PhilCurtis-Siclian.html.

[Event "ICC 35 10"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.12.03"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "PhilCurtis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1511"]
[BlackElo "1508"]
[Opening "Sicilian defense"]
[ECO "B20"]
[NIC "SI.48"]
[Time "00:10:14"]
[TimeControl "2100+10"]

1. e4 c5 2. c4 d6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Ne2 Nf6 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nbc3 Bd7 9. h3 a6 10. Be3 Qb6 11. Rb1 Rfe8 12. f4 e6 13. g4 Kh8 14. d4 e5 15. fxe5 dxe5 16. d5 Nd4 17. Bg5 Nxe2+ 18. Qxe2 Rad8 19. Qf3 Rf8 20. Bxf6 Kg8 21. Bxd8 Qxd8 22. Qe3 b6 23. b4 Qh4 24. bxc5 Bh6 25. Qf2 Qxf2+ 26. Rxf2 Be3 27. cxb6 Bxf2+ 28. Kxf2 Rb8 29. a4 Kf8 30. a5 Ke7 31. c5 h6 32. c6 Be8 33. Bf1 Kd6 34. Bxa6 Ra8 35. b7 Kc7 36. bxa8=Q {Black resigns} 1-0

Sicilian Defense

Mike Serovey Loses to fhunfi

Every month ICC has a standard tournament that is played on Tuesday nights. For this month Round 1 was played on December 5. I got paired against fhunfi (Chien Ming) and played the Black side of an English Opening. The game actually looked more like a Maroczy Bind versus a Sicilian Dragon. I made an error that caused me to lose my Queenside pawns and thus resigned. I forgot to show up for Round 2 until it was too late and thus forfeited that round. I then withdrew from the tournament. The game from Round 1 is quoted below in PGN format. The game, with diagrams and analysis, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/fhunfi-English.html.

[Event "ICC 60 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.12.05"]
[Round "-"]
[White "fhunfi"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1969"]
[BlackElo "1522"]
[Opening "English: symmetrical, Benoni formation"]
[ECO "A31"]
[NIC "OI.06"]
[Time "23:14:49"]
[TimeControl "3600+0"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 g6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O Nc6 9. Nc2 Bd7 10. Be3 a6 11. f3 Rb8 12. Qd2 Qa5 13. Rab1 Rfc8 14. b4 Qd8 15. Rfd1 Ne5 16. c5 dxc5 17. bxc5 Be6 18. Qxd8+ Rxd8 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. Rxb7 {Black resigns} 1-0

Chess Tournament Results English Opening

Mike Serovey On Chess Will Have A New Look

The hosting for two of my domain names has expired. That left these two sites suspended for a few days. Instead of renewing the hosting for two sites that aren't really earning any money I decided to move the hosting over to Go Daddy and use the free hosting that they offer. I get more space and bandwidth than I did with my paid hosting and the only real drawback is that each and every page of these two sites will have Go Daddy's advertising at the top of them. So, the new look will be that there will be new ads at the top of every page. The other change that I am going to make is to remove the server side includes in some of my pages. I will keep the .shtml extension for these pages so that links to these pages will still work. I still have to wait for Go Daddy to complete the set up and then I can upload http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com to the new server. The site should be up and running again by 4 PM EST Tuesday, December 12.

Chess Site

Mike Serovey Draws SlowBo With The Sicilian Defense

I have updated my chess site with a game played in 2005 on ICC. It was against a computer program named SlowBo. I had an advantage in development in the opening and then won a pawn. However, a sacrifice by White left me in an endgame with two passed pawns versus a bishop. I was unable to promote either pawn and had to settle for a draw. Here is the game in PGN:

[Event "ICC 25 10"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2005.02.19"]
[Round "-"]
[White "SlowBo"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ICCResult "Game drawn because neither player has mating material"]
[WhiteElo "1884"]
[BlackElo "1596"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (without ...d6)"]
[ECO "B30"]
[NIC "SI.31"]
[Time "18:45:34"]
[TimeControl "1500+10"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bd3 d6 5. Ng5 h6 6. Qh5 Ne5 7. Be2 Nf6 8. Nxf7 Nxf7 9. Qg6 Be6 10. f4 Kd7 11. f5 Bxf5 12. exf5 Ne5 13. Qg3 Rg8 14. O-O g5 15. Rd1 Qb6 16. Qb3 Qxb3 17. axb3 Bg7 18. Re1 Raf8 19. Bc4 Nxc4 20. bxc4 h5 21. Nc3 g4 22. Re2 Re8 23. Na4 Kc6 24. Ra3 Nd7 25. Rb3 Rgf8 26. d3 Rxf5 27. Be3 Ref8 28. Rf2 Rxf2 29. Bxf2 b5 30. cxb5+ axb5 31. Nc3 c4 32. Rb4 Bxc3 33. bxc3 d5 34. Be3 e5 35. Rb1 Nc5 36. d4 exd4 37. cxd4 Ne4 38. Re1 b4 39. Rb1 Kb5 40. Kh1 Nf2+ 41. Kg1 Ne4 42. Re1 b3 43. h4 gxh3 44. cxb3 hxg2 45. bxc4+ Kxc4 46. Kxg2 Rg8+ 47. Kh3 Rg3+ 48. Kh4 Kd3 49. Bc1 Kxd4 50. Rxe4+ Kxe4 51. Kxg3 d4 52. Bg5 Kd3 53. Be7 Ke2 54. Bf6 d3 55. Bg5 d2 56. Bxd2 Kxd2 57. Kh4 Ke2 58. Kxh5 {Game drawn because neither player has mating material} 1/2-1/2

This game, complete with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/SlowBo-Siclian.html.

Sicilian Defense