Mike Serovey Draws GrandPoobah069

Here is Game #2 from my ICC correspondence quad. This is a game that I should have won on time forfeit. My opponent overstepped the time control on move #9 and I am sure that I complained about it. However, it appears that he was never warned about it. When he overstepped the second time control on move 36 I complained again and tried to claim the win on time forfeit. The TD said that my opponent was not warned before and thus no win on time forfeit! I had to settle for a draw in a game that I should have won! Why have time limits if you are not going to enforce them? Why let a repeat offender off with just a warning each time he oversteps the time control? My record at ICC for correspondence chess is 9 wins, 10 losses, and 3 draws. This win that I was robbed of would have had me at an even score!

The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/GrandPoobah069-English.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2007Quad.04.02"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.03.07"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "GrandPoobah069"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ICCResult "Game drawn by mutual agreement"]
[Opening "English: symmetrical, Botvinnik system"]
[ECO "B20"]
[NIC "EO.30"]
[Time "20:54:28"]

1. e4 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nge2 e6 7. d3 Nge7 8.O-O O-O 9. Be3 Bd7 10. f4 f5 11. Rb1 Rb8 12. d4 b6 13. Nb5 Bc8 14. dxc5 dxc515. e5 Nxe5 16. fxe5 Bxe5 17. Nxa7 Bd7 18. a4 Qc7 19. Nb5 Bxb5 20. axb5 Rfd821. Qc2 Bg7 22. Nf4 Kf7 23. Rfd1 Bd4 24. Qe2 Rd6 25. b3 Rbd8 26. Bxd4 cxd427. Rxd4 Rxd4 28. Nxe6 Rd2 29. Qxd2 Kxe6 30. Re1+ Kf7 31. Qc3 Nd5 32. Qe5Qxe5 33. Rxe5 Nf6 34. c5 bxc5 35. Rxc5 Rd1+ 36. Kf2 Rd2+ 37. Kg1 Rd1+ 38.Kf2 {Game drawn by mutual agreement} 1/2-1/2

Mike Serovey Defeats GrandPoobah069

Here is one of my games from a correspondence chess game played at ICC. It was part of a quad and one of three games in which I got paired against GrandPoobah069. In all three games he overstepped the time control and was warned about that! I am tired of repeat offenders getting off with just warnings! Why have time controls if you don't enforce them? In this game, however, he overstepped the time control a second time and I got the win on time forfeit. I got lucky in this game because my opponent missed a blunder that I made. I also got lucky to win on time. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/GrandPoobah069-Sicilian.html. Here is the game in PGN. This win, and my subsequent draw with GrandPoobah069 should have me in second place in this quad.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2007Quad.04.01"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.03.07"]
[Round "-"]
[White "GrandPoobah069"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "Black declared winner by adjudication"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Alapin's variation (2.c3)"]
[ECO "B22"]
[NIC "SI.46"]
[Time "20:54:28"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Nc6 8.Be3 cxd4 9. cxd4 Bb4 10. Nc3 Qd6 11. Nb5 Qd8 12. a3 Ba5 13. h3 Bh5 14. Qa4O-O 15. Rfd1 a6 16. Nc3 b5 17. Qb3 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Ne7 19. a4 bxa4 20. Rxa4 a521. Rda1 Qc7 22. Qa3 Rfc8 23. c4 Nc6 24. Qa2 Ne4 25. Bd2 Nxd2 26. Qxd2 Nb427. g4 Bg6 28. Ne5 Be4 29. f3 Bb7 30. Kg2 Rd8 31. Qc3 f6 32. Nd3 Nc6 33. d5exd5 34. cxd5 Rxd5 35. Nb4 Rd4 36. Bc4+ Kf8 37. Nd5 Qd8 38. Qa3+ Ne7{Black declared winner by adjudication} 0-1

Mike Serovey Draws Bobby Fisher

Here is one of my games played at Stan's Net Chess. My opponent is going by the name of Bobby Fisher. He is rated about 300 points below me and plays nothing like the former world champion. I outplayed him in the opening and was up a Knight and 2 pawns but blundered by grabbing a third pawn. I had to sacrifice a rook in order to get out of checkmate and that left me with a knight and 3 pawns versus a rook. I couldn't figure out how to win that endgame and had to settle for a draw. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/BobbyFisher-Benkos-Opening.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "Game 402718"]
[Site "Stan's NetChess"]
[Date "2007.06.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "mserovey"]
[Black "BobbyFisher"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e5 3. d3 d4 4. c4 c5 5. b4 cxb4 6. a3 bxa3 7. Bxa3 Bxa3 8. Rxa3Nf6 9. Nd2 Nc6 10. Ngf3 O-O 11. O-O a5 12. Qb3 Re8 13. Ne1 Be6 14. Qxb7 Qd6 15.Nc2 Reb8 16. Qxc6 Qxc6 17. Bxc6 Ra7 18. Rfa1 Ra6 19. Bb5 Ra7 20. Rxa5 Rxa5 21.Rxa5 Ne8 22. Bxe8 Rxe8 23. Rxe5 Rd8 24. Nf3 Ra8 25. Ncxd4 Bh3 26. Re8+ Rxe8 27.Ng5 Bg4 28. e3 f6 29. Ngf3 Bxf3 30. Nxf3 Rd8 31. d4 g5 32. h4 gxh4 33. Nxh4 Ra834. c5 Kg7 35. c6 Rd8 36. Kg2 Kf7 37. Nf3 Ke7 38. e4 Kd6 39. d5 f5 40. exf5 Kxd541. Ng5 Kxc6 42. Nxh7 Rh8 43. Ng5 Rh5 44. f4 Rh6 45. g4 Kd5 46. Kg3 Rf6 1/2-1/2

Mike Serovey Loses To HaraldP

I am getting tired of posting loses to this blog and my chess site! This is yet another game in which I resigned when I had an OK position! I outplayed my opponent in the opening and was up two passed pawns at one point. I sacrificed one of those passed pawns when I had a better move and then got surprised by a couple of my opponent's moves. The trick is to stay calm when things look bad and to find the saving move or moves.

I don't know what my win/loss recored is at ICC, but I believe that it is on the minus side and that is what is keeping my rating in the 1500 range. I seem to be doing better at Stan's Net Chess. I very recently submitted two games for adjudication at ICC. I claimed the win on time forfeit in both games and I am waiting for the tournament director to adjudicate the games in my favor. This same opponent is about to overstep the initial time control in my third game with him. This is a habit with him and he keeps getting off with warnings each time he does this! I can only claim the win on time forfeit if he violates the time control twice in a game and that irritates me! In an OTB game he would lose the second he overstepped the time control, so why not in a correspondence game? Whey give anybody a warning, especially when they do it in more than one game?

Anyway, here is the game against HaraldP. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/HaraldP-English.html.

[Event "ICC 30 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.08.12"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "HaraldP"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1536"]
[BlackElo "1431"]
[Opening "English opening"]
[ECO "A20"]
[NIC "EO.24"]
[Time "18:03:31"]
[TimeControl "1800+0"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Bc5 3. Bg2 h6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nge2 O-O 7. O-O c6 8. a3a6 9. b4 Ba7 10. d4 exd4 11. exd4 Nbd7 12. Bf4 Bb8 13. d5 c5 14. Na4 b5 15.cxb5 axb5 16. Nac3 cxb4 17. axb4 Rxa1 18. Qxa1 Qb6 19. Be3 Qb7 20. Qa5 Bc721. Qxb5 Qxb5 22. Nxb5 Ba6 23. Nxc7 Bxe2 24. Rb1 Rb8 25. Rb2 Bc4 26. Bf4 Rb627. b5 Rb8 28. Bxd6 Rb7 29. b6 Nxb6 30. Bc5 Ra7 31. Bxb6 Ra1+ {Whiteresigns} 0-1

Mike Serovey Loses To rayz

Here is a game from a correspondence quad I played at ICC last year. I didn't do well in that quad and lost more games than I won. So far my recored at ICC isn't very good and that is why both my standard rating and my correspondence rating are in the 1500 range. I still have some correspondence games going at ICC and at Stan's Net Chess. I will post them here as I finish them. One of the problems that I am having in my correspondence games is that I still tend to move too quickly and thus miss things.

In this game with rayz I played the English opening, Botvinnik system and got into trouble early. I dropped the Rook for a Knight and pawn and got an attack going against Black's King. I had the lead in development but my attack fizzled out and Black eventually caught up in development. I ended up trading down into a lost endgame and resigned. The entire game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/Rayz-English.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2006Quad.30.10"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.08.05"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "rayz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[Opening "English opening"]
[ECO "A21"]
[NIC "EO.23"]
[Time "21:08:44"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d6 5. e4 c6 6. Nge2 f5 7. d3 Nf6 8. f4Nbd7 9. O-O fxe4 10. dxe4 Qb6+ 11. Kh1 Ng4 12. Qxd6 Nf2+ 13. Rxf2 Qxf2 14.fxe5 Bxe5 15. Qe6+ Kd8 16. Bg5+ Kc7 17. Rf1 Qc5 18. Be7 Bd6 19. Na4 Qe5 20.Bxd6+ Qxd6 21. Qxd6+ Kxd6 22. Rd1+ Kc7 23. c5 Ne5 24. Nf4 Bg4 25. Re1 Rad826. h3 Bc8 27. Nc3 Rd2 28. Re2 Rhd8 29. b3 g5 30. Rxd2 Rxd2 31. Nfe2 h5 32.Kg1 b6 33. cxb6+ axb6 34. Kf2 Ba6 {White resigns} 0-1

Mike Serovey Loses To jks2000

In Round 4 of the Tuesday night Standard tournament for July, 11 PM Open section, I lost to jks2000. This game is the second time that I lost a game at ICC because of a mouse slip. On move 10 I moved the King over to g8 to castle kingside and the software moved the King to f8 instead! Unfortunately, I could not remember how to ask for a take back of that move. By the time I had figured out how to ask for a take back several moves had transpired and it was too late. Even if I had remembered how to ask for a take back, my opponent could have been a jerk about it and said, "No". He does not have to allow the take back. I wasted so much time trying to get my King into a castled position that my opponent was able to get a strong queenside attack going before I could get my kingside attack going. In the future, I will ask for a take back if I have another mouse slip like that. I have decided not to post this game to my chess site but I will post it here. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC 60 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.07.31"]
[Round "4"]
[White "jks2000"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1666"]
[BlackElo "1547"]
[Opening "English: ultra-symmetrical variation"]
[ECO "A36"]
[NIC "EO.31"]
[Time "23:04:15"]
[TimeControl "3600+0"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. a3 d6 6. Rb1 e5 7. b4 cxb4 8.axb4 a6 9. d3 Nge7 10. Nf3 Kf8 11. O-O f5 12. e4 Kf7 13. Qb3 Rf8 14. Bg5 h615. Bd2 Be6 16. Nd5 Kg8 17. b5 Nd4 18. Nxd4 exd4 19. Nf4 Bf7 20. exf5 Nxf521. Bxb7 Rb8 {Black resigns} 1-0