Mike Serovey Defeats Renato Dacany

Here is Round 3 of the tornado played on 14 October 2007. This is my longest game of the tournament and the highest rated player that I beat in that tournament. I made a blunder on move 32 and got away with it. Time pressure caused my oponent to make some weak moves and I was able to easily win the endgame. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/RevatoDacany-QueensGambitDeclined.html. The opening was D37 QGD: 4.Nf3. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "Tampa Chess Club Tornados"]
[Site "Tampa Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.10.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Renato Dacany"]
[Black "Mike Serovey"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 e6 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. a3 c6 6. e3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3b4 9. axb4 Bxb4 10. O-O O-O 11. Qc2 a5 12. Ne2 Ba6 13. Bd2 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 c5 15.Bxb4 cxb4 16. b3 Qb6 17. h3 Rfc8 18. g4 Qc6 19. Ne5 Qc2 20. Rfc1 Qxd3 21. Nxd3Rxc1+ 22. Ndxc1 h6 23. Nd3 Nb6 24. Nc5 Kf8 25. Kf1 Ke7 26. f3 Kd6 27. e4 Nfd728. e5+ Kd5 29. Nxd7 Nxd7 30. Kf2 Kc6 31. Ke3 Nb6 32. Kd3 a4 33. Rc1+ Kb7 34.Rb1 a3 35. Ra1 Nd5 36. Kc4 Rc8+ 37. Kd3 Nc3 38. Nc1 Kb6 39. Kd2 Kb5 40. Nd3 Nd541. Nc5 Rxc5 42. dxc5 Kxc5 43. h4 Kd4 44. g5 hxg5 45. hxg5 Kxe5 46. Kd3 Kf4 47.Ke2 Kxg5 48. Kf2 Nc3 49. Ke3 f5 50. f4+ Kf6 51. Kd3 g5 52. fxg5+ Kxg5 53. Ke3 e554. Rg1+ Kf6 55. Kd2 e4 56. Ke3 Ke5 57. Kd2 a2 58. Ra1 f4 59. Ke1 e3 60. Kf1 f361. Ke1 Kd4 62. Rc1 Kd3 63. Kf1 Kd2 64. Ra1 Kc2 65. Re1 Kb2 66. Rxe3 a1=Q+ 67.Re1 Qxe1+ 68. Kxe1 Kxb3 69. Kf2 Ka2 70. Kxf3 b3 {White resigns} 0-1

Mike Serovey Defeats Ankit Aggarwal

This game is from Round 2 of the Tampa Chess Club Tornado played on 14 October 2007. My opponent played much better than his rating of only 723. He made some minor errors that lead to my having connected passed pawns on the Queenside. That was enough to win the endgame. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/AnkitAggarwal-English.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "Tampa Chess Club Tornados"]
[Site "Tampa Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.10.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Mike Serovey"]
[Black "Ankit Aggarwal"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 e6 5. e4 Be7 6. Nge2 O-O 7. O-O b6 8. d3Bb7 9. h3 Nd4 10. Be3 Nxe2+ 11. Qxe2 Bd6 12. f4 e5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. cxd5 exf415. Bxf4 Bxf4 16. Rxf4 Qg5 17. Qf3 Rac8 18. Rf1 Qg6 19. b3 Ba6 20. Qe3 b5 21.Rg4 Qd6 22. e5 Qe7 23. d6 Qe8 24. Rc1 f6 25. Rxc5 Rxc5 26. Qxc5 fxe5 27. Qxa7Bc8 28. Qb6 Qe6 29. Qxb5 Qxd6 30. Qd5+ Qxd5 31. Bxd5+ Kh8 32. Kg2 d6 33. Rc4 Ba634. Rc3 g6 35. Be4 Rb8 36. Rc6 Bb7 37. Rxd6 Bxe4+ 38. dxe4 Ra8 39. a4 Rb8 40.Rd3 Kg8 41. Rf3 Kg7 42. Kf2 Kg8 43. Ke2 Kg7 44. Kd2 Kg8 45. Kc2 Kg7 46. Kb2 Kg847. Ka3 Kg7 48. b4 Kg8 49. b5 Kg7 50. Kb4 Kg8 51. a5 Kg7 52. b6 Kg8 53. Kb5 Rb754. a6 Rxb6+ 55. Kxb6 Kg7 56. a7 Kg8 57. a8=Q+ Kg7 58. Qf8# 1-0

Mike Serovey Loses To Radek Laburda

Here is my game from Round 1 of the tornado played on 14 October 2007. This was my only loss in the tournament. My opponent was rated 2009 and was the second highest rated player in the tornado. So far I have lost every time that I have played an expert in OTB tournaments! I need to find a better strategy for playing the Black side of both the Réti and the Kings Indian Attack. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/Radek-Laburda-Kings-Indian-Attack.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "Tampa Chess Club Tornados"]
[Site "Tampa Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.10.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Radek Laburda"]
[Black "Mike Serovey"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d3 d6 6. c4 e5 7. Nc3 c6 8. Rb1 h69. b4 b6 10. b5 Bb7 11. Nd2 Qc7 12. Nde4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 cxb5 14. Ba3 Rd8 15. cxb5d5 16. Rc1 Qd7 17. Nd6 Bf8 18. Nxb7 Qxb7 19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. Qb3 Rd6 21. Qb4 Qe722. Rc8+ {Black resigns} 1-0

Mike Serovey Draws Robert Franz

Here is Round 4 of the Tampa Chess Club Tornado that I played on 14 October 2007. This game ended in a draw after a wild time scramble. See my previous post to see how I did in each round of this tournament. The opening is a Réti (ECO A04). I don't like playing the Black side of the Réti or the English and I faced both in this tournament. In this game I decided to play the Botvinnik system a tempo down. I got outplayed in the middle game but was able to come back in the time scramble. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/Robert-Franz-Reti.html. Actually, the game on that page is only as far as I can remember it because I stopped recording moves at move 51. Here is most of the game in PGN.

[Event "Tampa Chess Club Tornado"]
[Site "Tampa Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.10.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Robert Franz"]
[Black "Mike Serovey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O e5 6. d3 d6 7. Nc3 Nge7 8. a3 O-O9. Qc2 h6 10. Bd2 Be6 11. Rfb1 Qd7 12. b4 Rab8 13. b5 Nd4 14. Nxd4 cxd4 15. Na2b6 16. Nb4 Bh3 17. Bh1 f5 18. Nc6 Nxc6 19. Bxc6 Qe7 20. Bd5+ Kh8 21. Bg2 Bxg222. Kxg2 g5 23. Rh1 f4 24. f3 Rf6 25. g4 Kg8 26. a4 Kf7 27. a5 Rb7 28. axb6 axb629. Ra6 Kg6 30. h4 gxh4 31. Rxh4 Rf8 32. Rh5 Qc7 33. Bb4 Rd8 34. Qa2Bf8 35. c5 dxc5 36. Qe6+ Kh7 37. Be1 Qd6 38. Qf5+ Kg8 39. Bh4 Rf7 40. Qe4 Rc841. Rxe5 Kg7 42. Re6 Qd7 43. Qg6+ Kh8 44. Raxb6 c4 45. Bf6+ Rxf6 46. Qxf6+ Bg747. Qe7 Qxe7 48. Rxe7 c3 49. Ree6 c2 50. Rec6 c1=Q 51. Rxc1 Rxc1 52. Rc6 Rxc653. bxc6 Be5 {Draw agreed} 1/2-1/2

Mike Serovey Loses To John3v16

I just finished another one of my correspondence chess games played at ICC. This loss makes me 0-3 in this section. My overall score for correspondence chess games played at ICC is 10 wins, 13 losses and 4 draws. I need to start playing much better than I have been if I want to get this record back to even! As a result of this loss my ICC correspondence chess rating dropped to 1549. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/John3v16-English.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2007Seven.02.11"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.08.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "John3v16"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[Opening "English: Carls' Bremen system"]
[ECO "A22"]
[NIC "EO.10"]
[Time "18:02:53"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Be7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. d4 Nbd7 7. b4 c6 8.O-O exd4 9. Qxd4 Qb6 10. b5 c5 11. Qd1 Qc7 12. Bb2 Rb8 13. Qc2 b6 14. Rfd1Bb7 15. Ng5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 h6 17. Nge4 Rbd8 18. f4 Rfe8 19. h3 Bf8 20. Nd5Nxd5 21. Rxd5 Re6 22. f5 Ree8 23. g4 f6 24. Bc1 Ne5 25. Bf4 Be7 26. Rad1 Kf727. Kg3 Rg8 28. h4 Rh8 29. g5 hxg5 30. hxg5 fxg5 31. Nxg5+ Bxg5 32. Bxg5 Rd733. Qe4 Re8 34. Qh4 Kg8 35. Rh1 Nf7 36. Qh7+ Kf8 37. f6 Nxg5 38. Rxg5 d5+39. Kf3 dxc4 40. fxg7+ Rxg7 41. Qh8+ {Black resigns} 1-0

My First OTB Tournament In Over a Year

Yesterday, Sunday, 14 October, 2007 I played my first OTB tournament in about a year and a half. Fortunately, because I have been playing online I wasn't that rusty. In Round 1 I got paired against a guy rated 2009 and had Black. I lost in 22 moves. In Round 2 I got paired against a kid that looked like he was 8 years old. I was told that he was from India and he looked like he was. His rating was 723. I haven't played someone rated that low since I was in high school! Obviously, I won but it took me 58 moves to mate him. In all fairness to my opponent he played more like a 1300 than a 723. I am guessing that he is provisionally rated and that his rating will go up just from having played me. Unfortunately, I wasted my only White on him. In Rounds 3 and 4 I got Black both games. In Round 3 I got paired against a guy I kind of know and won in 71 moves. Normally, if I have a game go that long I believe that I missed a win earlier in the game. This game would have lasted another 20 moves if he had made me play it out to checkmate.

My opponent from Round 2 was about to lose on time when I checkmated him. He had about a minute left on his clock in a sudden death time control. Part of the reason that he ended up in time trouble is because he kept forgetting to punch his clock after making his moves. I let the clock run on some obvious moves and it cost him about 10 minutes. His lack of experience showed in his forgetting to punch the clock and in how he played the endgame.

My opponent from Round 3 also got into some time trouble and had less than 5 minutes remaining when he resigned. In the final round I got Black again against a guy rated 1654. I kept score of the game up to move 50. I got outplayed and was down material when my opponent had about a minute left on his clock. I knew that if I could avoid checkmate I could run him out of time. In the time scramble he let me win back some material and it ended up with him having four pawns versus my Bishop and pawn. If I remember right, he had 8 seconds left on his clock when he offered me a draw. I accepted the draw because we were playing with a 5 second delay on the clock. As long as he moved instantly he would never run out of time. I was saved from losing by the blunders he made during the time scramble and he was saved from time forfeit by the 5 second delay. I ended up with 2.5 out of 4 and won the Under 1600 prize. I got my entry fee and gas money back, but that was about it.

I will post the actual games from this tournament in the near future.

Miscellaneous Thoughts On Chess

I just found out that there is a chess club in Brandon, Florida and it meets on Wednesday nights at the library on Vonderberg Road. I plan to start attending now that I know about it. Also, there is a chess club in Tampa that is on North 56th Street. So, now I can play chess without having to drive all the way to St. Pete.

The October issue of Chess Life has a picture of Irina Krush on the cover and a few more of her inside. I think that she is pretty and if I figured her age out right she is 23 years old. She is an international master (IM) and the current US Womens Champion. I will probably never get to meet her but I would definitely like to date her if I could. Or, I would pay her for chess lessons just to get to spend some time with her. I suppose that most people think that chess masters are big nerds and that the women who play chess are ugly and nerdy. I have seen pictures of Irina Krush and Susan Polgar and I think that both of them are good looking. I also think that some of the other women masters that I have seen in Chess Life are pretty. Over the past 21 years I have seen a few attractive young girls and women at various tournaments in Florida. Back in 1986 Carla Sutphin was a 1700 rated player and a very good looking young woman. She stated back then that she would not marry a chess player because they don't earn enough money. I haven't seen here since then so I have no idea whom she married. I met a girl from the Miami area named Sashi Luna. She was 11 or 12 when I first met her and really cute. The last time I saw her she was 15 and gorgeous. I believe that her rating was only around 1300 then. Her father and brother are much better players than she is. At the state championship of 2006 I saw 4 rather pretty girls there. One I knew from the St. Pete Chess Club and her name is Christina Fuller. I have only played her once and lost because I was trying to force a win out of a dead drawn endgame and walked into a checkmate. I won't underestimate her again! I am looking forward to a rematch with her. The last time that I saw her was over a year ago and she was really cute back then. Another cute girl that I saw at the State Championship was a 1600 rated teenage girl named Rita Merchandani. She was with someone I believe to be her older sister. Both were gorgeous. I saw a rather pretty blond that didn't appear to be in the tournament, just there to watch. My hope is that these pretty teen aged girls will continue to play chess as adults and after they turn 18 years old I might be able to get a date with one of them. My main point in all of this is that there are a few good looking girls and women who play chess and some of them are even good at chess!

Mike Serovey Loses To sdo1

Here is another one of my correspondence chess games played at ICC. I just resigned today because the only way to avoid checkmate was to sacrifice my Queen for a Rook. I am now 0-2 in this section. My new correspondence chess rating is 1551 and my opponent's is 1959. I ended up in an opening that I don't know against a much higher rated player. I used MCO 14 as my guide to the opening but my opponent got me out of book early when he prevented my Knight from going to b5. My opponent's first name is Steve. I don't know his last name. He lives in TN. I am not posting this game to my chess site because I don't normally play either side of the Caro-Kann. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2007Seven.02.06"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.08.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "sdo1"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann: anti-anti-Caro-Kann defense"]
[ECO "B10"]
[NIC "CK.01"]
[Time "18:02:52"]

1. e4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 Qxd5 5. Nc3 Qd6 6. d4 Nf6 7. Bc4 e68. Nf3 a6 9. O-O Be7 10. d5 b5 11. Bb3 b4 12. Ne2 Nxd5 13. Bg5 Bb7 14. Bxe7Qxe7 15. Ned4 O-O 16. Re1 Rd8 17. Qc1 Nd7 18. Qd2 Rac8 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20.Bxd5 Nc5 21. Bxe6+ Nxe6 22. Qe3 Bxf3 23. Qxf3 Qf7 24. Qe2 Nf4 25. Qxa6 Nxg226. Kxg2 Qd5+ 27. Kg1 Rc6 {White resigns} 0-1

Mike Serovey Defeats Okie901 Again

I just got my third win against Okie901 at Stan's Net Chess. This is my second win on time forfeit against him. I was down a passed pawn at the point where I won. This game brought my rating up to 2162, so I am getting closer to my goal of getting my rating over 2200 by the end of the year. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/okie901-English.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "Game 402696"]
[Site "Stan's NetChess"]
[Date "2007.06.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "mserovey"]
[Black "okie901"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. d3 Bb4 4. Bd2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Bxc3 d6 7. g3 Nc6 8. Bg2Re8 9. e3 Bg4 10. f3 Bh5 11. Ne2 d5 12. b4 d4 13. exd4 exd4 14. Bd2 Ne5 15. O-ONxd3 16. Nf4 Nxf4 17. Bxf4 b6 18. c5 d3 19. cxb6 cxb6 20. Re1 Rxe1+ 21. Qxe1 Bg622. Qd2 1-0