Mike Serovey Loses To Hakka

Here is a non rated game played at ICC. This game was my very first attempt at playing the Dutch Defense. I lost because I misplayed the opening. That often happens when I don't have a good feel for the opening that I am playing. With more practice and study I should start winning some games with this opening. The game started off as an English opening and transposed into a standard Dutch Defense. I am glad that this game was not rated because I got some practice without losing my rating points. The entire game, complete with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/Hakka-DutchDefense.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC 15 12 u"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.11.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Hakka"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1624"]
[BlackElo "1540"]
[Opening "Dutch with c4 & Nc3"]
[ECO "A85"]
[NIC "HD.05"]
[Time "18:30:02"]
[TimeControl "900+12"]

1. c4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. d4 e6 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Nf3 Be6 7. Bb5+ c6 8.Bd3 g6 9. a3 Bg7 10. b4 a6 11. Na4 O-O 12. Bd2 Nbd7 13. O-O h6 14. Nc5 Nxc515. bxc5 Ne4 16. Rb1 Rb8 17. Rb6 Nxd2 18. Qxd2 Qc7 19. Rfb1 g5 20. Qb2 f421. Rxb7 Rxb7 22. Qxb7 Qxb7 23. Rxb7 fxe3 24. fxe3 Ra8 25. Rb6 Bd7 26. Bxa6Kf7 27. Ne1 h5 28. Nc2 Bc8 29. Bxc8 Rxc8 30. Nb4 {Black resigns} 1-0

Mike Serovey Draws GrandPoobah069 Again

This is my third game with GrandPoobah069 and the third time that he has overstepped the initial time control and got off with just a warning! Why have a time control if you are not going to enforce it? Why let a repeat offender off with just a warning and more time to play the game? I am really irritated by this and have decided that when I finish the last two correspondence games that I am still playing I will not play any more correspondence games at ICC! I am quite tired of them letting people get away with cheating! This is my second draw with GrandPoobah069 and the second time that I got robbed of a win on time forfeit! With this draw I now have 1 win, 0 losses, and 2 draws in this section. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/GrandPoobah069-English2.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2007Class.01.06"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.07.14"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "GrandPoobah069"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ICCResult "Game drawn by mutual agreement"]
[Opening "English opening"]
[ECO "A20"]
[NIC "EO.18"]
[Time "19:40:17"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Nc6 6. Nge2 Nge7 7. O-O O-O 8.d3 Be6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Be3 Qd7 11. Nd5 Kh7 12. Rb1 f5 13. f4 Rab8 14. b4 a615. a4 Bxd5 16. cxd5 Nd8 17. b5 axb5 18. axb5 Nf7 19. b6 c6 20. dxc6 Nxc621. d4 Rfd8 22. fxe5 dxe5 23. d5 Ne7 24. Nc3 Nd6 25. Qd3 Rbc8 26. Rfc1 fxe427. Nxe4 Nxe4 28. Bxe4 Rxc1+ 29. Rxc1 Nxd5 30. Rd1 Nf6 31. Qxd7 Rxd7 32.Rxd7 Nxd7 33. Bxb7 Bf8 34. Be4 {Game drawn by mutual agreement} 1/2-1/2

Mike Serovey Loses To Antonio Mendonca Silveira

I just finished another ICC correspondence game. I lost and this now makes me 1-4 in this section. I have been playing in chess tournaments off and on since November of 1974. That is a total of 33 years! Not once during that time have I played the Black side of a Catalan, until now. I used MCO 14 as my guide and tried a line that should have given White only a slight advantage. He varied from the "book" line on move 13 when he captured the pawn on c6. MCO 14 says that he should have played 13. Qc2 with a slight advantage. I was curious about what would happen if White took that pawn and I found out. I thought that I would get a decent position, but it didn't work out that way. His 16th and 17th moves surprised me and thus were not in my analysis of this position after recapturing my pawn on b6. I thought that I effectively countered White's threats but I overlooked a Knight fork and went down the exchange on move 22. After that my plan was to keep my remaining Rook on the board and to trade off the queenside pawns. That plan failed. On move 33 I considered playing Kf6 but then found an interesting line with a trap. My original analysis failed to find the one move that saved White from this trap! It was only after playing 33... b4 that I found the one move that saves White from either checkmate or a Knight fork on his King and Rook that won the Rook and blockaded his passed pawn. White found his saving move on move 36 and played it leaving me down the exchange and a passed pawn. I resigned shortly afterward. My ICC correspondence rating dropped to 1557 after this loss. White's rating went from 1670 to 1681. This is yet another chess game in which I intended to play the Cambridge Springs defense and White avoided it! I'm giving up on that and will be looking at the Gruenfeld defense. I'm not posting this game to my chess site because I don't plan on playing the Catalan as White but may find myself transposing into it from an English opening or Reti. I shouldn't see it again as Black because I don't intend to answer 1. d4 with 1... d5 again. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2007Seven.02.18"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.08.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "AntonioMendonca"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[Opening "Catalan: closed, main line"]
[ECO "E09"]
[NIC "CA.04"]
[Time "18:02:53"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8.Nbd2 b5 9. c5 a5 10. e4 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 dxe4 12. Qxe4 Nf6 13. Qxc6 Bd7 14. Qb6Qxb6 15. cxb6 Rab8 16. Bg5 Rxb6 17. Rac1 Bc6 18. Ne5 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Nd5 20.Bxe7 Nxe7 21. Nd7 Rc6 22. Nxf8 Kxf8 23. Kf3 g6 24. Ke4 Rb6 25. Rc5 a4 26.Rfc1 Nd5 27. Rc8+ Kg7 28. Ra8 Nb4 29. a3 Nc6 30. f4 h5 31. Rc8 Ne7 32. R8c7Nd5 33. Ra7 b4 34. Rxa4 bxa3 35. bxa3 Rb3 36. Ke5 Re3+ 37. Kd6 Re2 38. Ra7{Black resigns}1-0

Mike Serovey Defeats Stahlberg

Here is another one of my ICC correspondence chess games. When I realized that my opponent wanted to go into the Alekhine's defense I had a choice of allowing this or transposing into something else. Because this was a correspondence game I was able to use MCO 14 as a guide to this opening. I have been wanting to learn Alekhine's defense because I may play it as Black as a surprise weapon. Playing the White side of it gave me a chance to look at one line in that defense. I got a slight positional advantage out of the opening, but definitely not enough of an advantage to win. My opponent blundered away a Bishop on move 29 and resigned. Stahlberg's rating at the start of this game was 1626 and it dropped to 1589 at the end of it. My ICC correspondence chess rating went up to 1568 as a result of this win. My score in this section is now 1 - 3. I need a couple of more wins to reach my goal of going over 1600 by the end of the year. I also need 2 more wins to even up my overall score in ICC correspondence chess. I'm not posting this game to my chess site because I don't plan on playing either side of the Alekhine's defense any time soon. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2007Seven.02.20"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.08.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "Stahlberg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[Opening "Alekhine's defense: modern, Larsen variation"]
[ECO "B04"]
[NIC "AL.05"]
[Time "18:02:54"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Bc4 c6 7. O-O Bg7 8.Re1 O-O 9. Bb3 a5 10. a3 a4 11. Bxd5 cxd5 12. Nc3 Be6 13. Bf4 Qc8 14. Qf3Rd8 15. Rad1 Nc6 16. Qe3 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 Bxe5 18. Qxe5 Qd7 19. h4 Bg4 20. f3Be6 21. Na2 Qd6 22. Nb4 Qxe5 23. Rxe5 Rac8 24. c3 Rd6 25. Rde1 Kf8 26. g4Rc7 27. Kg2 Kg8 28. Kg3 Kf8 29. f4 f5 {Black resigns} 1-0