Mike Serovey Draws Robert Clark

This game is from Round Two of the Tampa Bay Spring Open. I drew Rob Clark with White. In a previous, unrated, game I beat him with Black. We both missed moves in this game and the analysis of all of that can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/RobClark-English.html. Here is the game in PGN:

[Event "Tampa Bay Spring Open"]
[Site "Perkin's Restaurant"]
[Date "2011.04.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Mike Serovey"]
[Black "Bob Clark"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. c4 c6 2. g3 d5 3. b3 e5 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. Bb2 Bd6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. d3 O-O 8. Nf3
Nc6 9. O-O Re8 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. h3 Qd7 12. Kh2 Rad8 13. Ng5 Bf5 14. e4 dxe4 15.
dxe4 Bg6 16. Nc4 Bb8 17. Qxd7 Rxd7 18. Rad1 Red8 19. Rxd7 Rxd7 20. Nf3 Bxe4 21.
Nfxe5 Nxe5 22. Nxe5 Rd2 23. Nc4 Re2 24. Bxf6 Bxg2 25. Kxg2 gxf6 26. Ra1 Be5 27.
Nxe5 fxe5 28. Kf3 Rc2 29. Ke3 Kg7 30. h4 Kf6 31. g4 Ke6 32. f3 f6 33. h5 h6 34.
Kd3 Rf2 35. Ke3 Rc2 36. Kd3 Rf2 37. Ke3 {Draw agreed} 1/2-1/2

Mike Serovey Defeats Matt Register

This game isn't anything to brag about because of how weak my opponent was. It is here for the benefit of beginners who want to know how not to play against decent opponents.

This game, complete with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/MattRegister-Reti.html. This is from Round One of the Tampa Bay Spring Open. I got it wrong in my previous post. Here is the game in PGN:

[Event "Tampa Bay Spring Open"]
[Site "Perkin's Restaurant"]
[Date "2011.04.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Matt Register"]
[Black "Mike Serovey"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. e4 d6 4. Be2 c5 5. O-O Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8. b3
Nf6 9. d3 O-O 10. Ba3 a6 11. d4 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. dxc5 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Bxa1
15. Rxa1 Qa5 16. cxd6 Qxa3 17. dxe7 Qxe7 18. a3 Rfe8 19. Qd1 Rad8 20. Qc1 Qe2
21. h3 Rd2 22. Qf1 Qxf1+ 23. Kxf1 Ree2 24. g3 Rxc2 25. Rc1 Rxf2+ 26. Ke1 Rxc1+
27. Kxf2 Rc3 28. b4 Rxa3 29. h4 a5 30. bxa5 Rxa5 31. g4 f5 32. g5 Ra4 33. Kg3
Rg4+ 34. Kh3 b5 35. Kh2 b4 36. Kh3 b3 37. Kh2 b2 38. Kh3 b1=Q 39. Kh2 Qg1+ 40.
Kh3 Qg2# 0-1

Tampabay Winter Open

I'm not sure why this tournament was called a Winter open when it took place in the Spring and the temperature outside was in the eighties! I beleive that we had a total of eight players in the tournament and it was held at Perkin's, which is an unususl location for a chess tournament.

I won Round One against some little boy with a 687 rating. Because this kid is provisionally rated he will actually gain rating points just for playing me! I did take the time to explain that to him and also went over the game with him to show him his mistakes. I usually will go over a game with my opponents afterward if they want me to.

In Round Two I drew Rob Clark (1746) and in Round Three I drew Mike Hoffer (1713). I'm still trying to reconstruct the missing moves from my score sheet in the game against Mike. I'll probably have to guess at some of them.

I lost the last round to Richard Sloan (1635) but found a winning continuation at home that I missed during the game. The wrong move order in that game caused me to lose at a point where I could have won.

I'll post these games eventually. First, I need to get some work done on my (new to me) car and find a place to move to. I'm doing chess stuff during my not busy times.

Update on Recent Events

It has been a while since I last updated this blog and my chess site. On 3-31-2011 a tornado came through my area and tore up several trees. Half of an oak tree was knocked onto my roof and I had to move out of my house on short notice. I have moved back in with my mom temporarily and have gotten all of the paperwork into Citizens insurance company. I had to send them the title because the house is totalled and I'm not going to rebuild it. They will eventually haul it away and the park owner will put a new one on that lot. I am still awaiting the insurance settlement money and I am also trying to figure out the best use for that money. I am tempted to sell as much of my stuff as I can and give away everything else that won't fit into a van and then travel around the country playing in chess tournaments. I would like to play a tournament in each of the 50 states.

I took a 89 day leave of absense from Northcentral University so that I have time to get settled into a new place before I resume work on my Ph.D. in Psychology. However, I'm not sure that I am actually going to finish this degree because I have lost interest in it. I just don't see that completing this degree will get me a job that I would actually want. I just know that I want a doctorate in something.

I'll post more games here soon.

Mike Serovey, MA, MISM

Mike Serovey Defeats GMThomas

Earlier today I completed a chess agame at Stan's Net Chess. I decided to play an unusual opening so that I can add more games with them to this blog and my chess site. This agme with the Gedult-Gunderam can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/GMThomas-Gedult.html. Here is the game in PGN:

[Event "Game 495676"]
[Site "Stan's NetChess"]
[Date "2011.01.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "mserovey"]
[Black "GMThomas"]
[WhiteElo "2362"]
[BlackElo "2365"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. f3 d5 2. c3 e5 3. e4 dxe4 4. Qe2 Nc6 5. fxe4 Nf6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. b4 a6 8. Na3
O-O 9. Nc4 Bg4 10. a4 b5 11. Ne3 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Rb8 13. axb5 axb5 14. Ra6 Qd7 15.
Nf5 Rfe8 16. Bh3 1-0

Mike Serovey Loses to kato

Here is a miniature played last year at ICC. I was up material and got over confident. I didn't pay attention for one move and dropped my Queen! Considering how weak my opponent was I probably should have played this one out some more.

The entire game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/Kato-Sicilian.html. Here is teh game in PGN:

[Event "ICC 45 15"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2010.06.26"]
[Round "-"]
[White "kato"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1061"]
[BlackElo "1377"]
[Opening "Sicilian: closed, 2...Nc6"]
[ECO "B23"]
[NIC "SI.44"]
[Time "18:08:34"]
[TimeControl "2700+15"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 g6 5. Ng5 e6 6. b3 Qxg5 7. Qf3 Ne5 8.
Qh3 Nxc4 9. d3 Ne5 10. Bxg5 {Black resigns} 1-0

I have also added new chess books and chess boards and sets at my new chess shop.

Mike Serovey Loses to Terry Kay

I entered a thematic tournament in which we are to play both the White and Black sides of the Reti opening. In tis game my opponent chose to break form this and to transpose into a Queens Gambit Declined instead of staying with the Reti like he was supposed to. I blundered and lost in 25 moves.

This game, with analysis and diagram, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/TerryKay-QueensGambitDeclined.html. I still have my game as White against Terry still playing. Here is this game in PGN.

[Date "2011.01.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Terry Kay"]
[Black "Mike Serovey"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3.d4 c6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.e3 Be7 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 a6 10.Re1 h6 11.Bh4 b5 12.h3 Bb7 13.Qe2 b4 14. Na4 Qa5 15.b3 Bd6 16.Rac1 Rfc8 17.Ne5 Nxe5 18.dxe5 Bxe5 19.f4 Rxc1 20.Rxc1 Bc3 21.a3 Rc8 22.Kh2 Rc6 23.axb4 Qxb4 24.Nxc3 Rxc3 25.Be1 {Resigns} 0-1

Mike Serovey Defeats BobbyFisher Again

Tim Kraus uses the name BobbyFisher at Stan's Net Chess and this is the second time that I have defeated him playing there. This time he chose to play Philidor's Defense. He got out of "book" on move number three and I have no idea what he was thinking with that move. This win brought my rating at Stan's Net Chess to 2328, my highest one yet.

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

[Event "Game 492847"]
[Site "Stan's NetChess"]
[Date "2010.12.07"]
[Round "?"]
[White "mserovey"]
[Black "BobbyFisher"]
[WhiteElo "2328"]
[BlackElo "1909"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Qe7 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. Nbd2 Nc6 7. O-O Nd4 8.
h3 Bxf3 9. Nxf3 Nxf3+ 10. Qxf3 Nf6 11. Bg5 Qd6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Qxf6 gxf6 14.
Bc4 O-O-O 15. Bxf7 Rd7 16. Be6 c5 17. Bxd7+ Kxd7 18. Rfd1+ Kc6 19. Rd8 Kc7 20.
Rad1 a5 21. c4 Kb6 22. R1d7 Kc6 23. Rf7 b5 24. cxb5+ Kxb5 25. Rxf6 a4 26. Rfxf8
Rxf8 27. Rxf8 c4 28. Rc8 Kb4 29. Kf1 h5 30. Ke2 h4 31. Kd2 a3 32. bxa3+ Kxa3 33.
Rxc4 Kxa2 34. Rc5 Kb3 35. Rxe5 1-0

Chess Goals for 2011

Once a year, around this time, I review my goals for the year just ending and post my goals for the coming year on this blog. I think that I missed most of the goals for 2010! I can remember playing in only two USCF rated events and my losses were enough to put me back to 1500 even.

Here are my stats from ICC:

Information about OnGoldenPawn (Last disconnected Sat Dec 18 2010 18:40):

rating [need] win loss draw total best
Blitz 1375 [7] 19 30 6 55 1441 (13-Mar-2005)
Standard 1478 177 181 54 412 1674 (03-Jul-2004)
5-minute 851 [8] 1 2 0 3
Correspondence 1749 29 15 10 54 1749 (26-Mar-2010)

As you can see, there is not much improvement over the past year. The only thing that improved was my correspondence chess rating.

Here are my stats from Stan's Net Chess:

My current rating is 2328 and my overall win-loss record is 34-11-3.

I have entered into a USCF electronic mail tournament and am awaiting my pairings. I have also entered into some thematic correspondence chess tournaments and am also awaiting the starts of those. So, my goals for 2010 are to play in some USCF rated OTB tournaments and get my standard rating back up over 1600, which will be difficult because I no longer own a car. I may not play at all if I can't catch rides to the tournaments next year.

For some reason that I don't understand, I have been unable to get ICC to pair me in any more correspondence chess quads. They have ignored my last three requests to be paired with no reply at all! How rude of them!

In my USCF rated corresponence chess tornament, Electronic Knights, I hope to do well enough over time to not only get my USCF Correspondence Chess rating back over 1900 but also over 2000. With my databases of games sorted by opening I should be able to do that.

Non chess goals include doing well enough in my Ph.D. level courses to eventually graduate. Right now I am behind where I should be in my homework and will need an extension on the time to complerte all of my assignments.

Tampa Bay Thanksgiving Championship

My friend, Mike Hoffer, sent me an email about some chess activities that he is running. Here is the majorty of the information that he sent to me:

We have a 4SS, G/40 tournament this Saturday. If you want to save $5 on your entry fee, please mail it by tomorrow or pay Coach Mike at our Tuesday night club. Regardless, please RSVP whether or not you intend to play. This saves significant time in entering the pairings for the first round. IF you RSVP by tomorrow about Saturday’s tournament AND our proposed GM Nigel Short simul, you may pay your discounted $25 entry fee at the tournament.




We recently sent everyone an email requesting your opinion of us hosting a lecture and simultaneous exhibition with GM Nigel Short to see if I can afford to guarantee Nigel’s fee out of my own pocket. Considering how I only got three replies, I will have to tell him to forget it unless I hear otherwise from our clientele. I deliberately left out that this event would take place in May 2011 because I feared it would inhibit our responses. This is no ordinary GM. Nigel played Garry Kasparov in 1993 for the World Championship! I can promise you this is an event you and your children would never forget. The fee to play GM Short is $60 per board. Please respond soon if you would like for us to bring such events to the Tampa Bay Area.



Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010 Tampa Bay Thanksgiving Championship

4SS, G/40. Perkins Family Restaurant, 5002 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, FL 33617. OPEN TO ALL. EF: $25 in advance and for HCA students, $30 on site. USCF Membership required. (You may join & pay at the site.) $$b/30: $150-90-60. K-12 90; K-6 60; K-3 50. Reg.: Sat., 11/27/10, 1:15-1:30 PM. Rds.: Rd. 1 at 1:45; Other rds. follow immediately. Parents welcome! Awards ceremony 7:00 PM. Please bring your own clocks and sets if you have them. ENT: Michael Hoffer, 10801 Myrtle St., Tampa, FL 33617. INFO: Coach Mike 813-526-2257, mjh99us [at] yahoo.com. NS. W.



Tampa Chess Club & Enrichment Classes by Hoffer’s Chess Academy

Official Affiliate of the United States Chess Federation

Push Pawns Not Drugs! Say Yes 2 Chess!

Tuesday Nights 7-9 PM @ Busch Commercial Plaza, Ginger Fitness & Rehabilitation

5035 E. Busch Blvd., Suite 5, Tampa, Florida 33617

www.Yes2Chess.com - (813) 526-2257 - mjh99us [at] yahoo.com

Mike Serovey Defeats nat1010

Here is a game recently played at ICC. A series of draws and losses to lower rated opponents has caused my Standard rating at ICC to take a beating! This game is a win, which helps a little in my rating.

The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/nat1010-English.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC 15 5"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2010.09.30"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "nat1010"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1307"]
[BlackElo "1420"]
[Opening "English opening"]
[ECO "A20"]
[NIC "EO.24"]
[Time "20:18:44"]
[TimeControl "900+5"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 d6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. e4 g6 6. Nge2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
d3 Be6 9. h3 Qd7 10. Kh2 Ne7 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. f4 exf4 14. Nxf4
Bg7 15. Nxe6 Qxe6 16. Rb1 c6 17. Ne2 Be5 18. Nf4 Qd7 19. d4 Bg7 20. d5 Rae8
21. dxc6 bxc6 22. b4 Rb8 23. c5 Nc8 24. cxd6 Nxd6 25. a3 Be5 26. Nd3 Qe7 27.
Nxe5 Qxe5 28. Qc2 Rfd8 29. Qxc6 Rbc8 30. Qd5 Qxd5 31. exd5 Nf5 32. Rfc1 Ne3
33. Rxc8 Rxc8 34. Rb2 Rc2 35. Rxc2 Nxc2 36. d6 Kf8 37. Bc6 Nd4 38. b5
{Black resigns}
1-0

Mike Serovey Loses to Jose Rodriguez

This game is from the last round of an Under 1800 chess tournament played in Tampa on 25 July 2010. If I had won this game I would have won the Under 1600 prize. Thisw game is one of two losses with White. Let's see if I can win the rematch when it comes.

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

[Event "Tampa Chess Club Under 1800"]
[Site "Tampa Chess Club"]
[Date "2010.07.25"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Mike Serovey"]
[Black "Jose Rodriguez"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 c6 5. d3 Qc7 6. e4 Nf6 7. Nge2 O-O
8. O-O Nbd7 9. h3 Re8 10. Be3 e5 11. f4 exf4 12. gxf4 Nh5 13. f5 Ne5
14. fxg6 hxg6 15.Rb1 Be6 16. b3 c5 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. cxd5 Qe7 19. Qd2
Rac8 20. Bg5 f6 21. Bh4 g5 22. Bf2 Bh6 23. Ng3 Nxg3 24. Bxg3 Kg7
25. Qe2 Rh8 26. Rf5 Kg8 27. Rbf1 Bg7 28. Bxe5 dxe5 29. Qf2 Rh6 30. Qg3
b5 31. Rc1 a5 32. Qe3 Bf8 33. Qd2 b4 34. Rc4 Rc7 35. Qf2 Qg7 36. Qg3
g4 37. hxg4 Rg6 38. Bf3 Qh6 39. Qf2 Rcg7 40. Kf1 Qh3+ 41. Ke2 Rh7 42.
Rh5 Rxh5 43. gxh5 Rg3 44. h6 Bxh6 45. Rxc5 Qh4 46. Rxa5 Qg5 47. Ra8+
Kg7 48. Ra7+ Kg6 {And Black eventually checkmated White} 0-1

Mike Serovey Loses to Nathalie van der Lende

I played only one Round of the 18th Annual Southern Open and that was a loss to Nathalie van der Lende of Holland. The complete game, with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/VanDerLende-Sicilian.html. There is a picture of her on that page that is a few years old. Here is a video that shows her near the end of it and you can see what she looks like now. She is the 17 year old girl with the long brown hair.



Here is the game in PGN:

[Event "18th Annual Southern Open"]
[Site "Orlando, FL."]
[Date "2010.07.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nathalie van der Lende"]
[Black "Mike Serovey"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. cxd4 e6 5. Nc3 d5 6. e5 Bd7 7. Nf3 f6 8. Bd3
fxe5 9. dxe5 Bb4 10. O-O Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nge7 12. Re1 O-O 13. Bxh7+ Kxh7 14. Ng5+
Kg8 15. Qh5 Rf5 16. Qh7+ Kf8 17. g4 Rxg5 18. Bxg5 Qe8 19. Re3 Qf7 20. Kg2 Qg8
21. Qh5 g6 22. Qh6+ Qg7 23. Rf3+ Kg8 24. Qxg7+ Kxg7 25. Bf6+ Kg8 26. Rh3 Rc8 27.
Rd1 Rf8 28. Rdd3 Kf7 29. Rh7+ Ke8 30. Rdh3 Bc8 31. Rg7 Rg8 32. Rhh7 Rxg7 33.
Rxg7 b5 34. h4 a5 35. h5 gxh5 36. gxh5 Nf5 37. Rh7 b4 38. cxb4 axb4 39. h6 Nce7
40. Rxe7+ Nxe7 41. Bxe7 {Black resigns} 1-0

18th Annual Southern Open

The weekend of July 30 to August 1 I played in the 18th Annual Southern Open in Orlando, Florida. In Round 1 I lost to a 17 year old girl from Holland. I'll write more about her later.

In Round 2 I took a half-point bye and then withdrew from the tournament prior to the start of Round 3 because of insomnia. I can't play decent chess on only 4 hours of sleep.

I played in the Under 1700 Section along with Mike Hoffer, Robert Clark, Nathalie van der Lende, and Christine Fuller. Mike Hoffer won 4 out of 5 games, Robert got 3 points defeating Nathalie, and Nathalie and Christina each got 2 points. Christine told me that she is going to college in Maryland and only vacations in Florida now. Nathalie is from holland and has done well in tournaments there. Her family has a vacaton home in the Orlando area. Mike Mason got 3 points in the Under 2100 Section.

What I learned from this experiance is that if I can't afford to stay in the hotel room by myself for the length of an out of town tournament then I should just skip it. I also need to get my sleep cycle straightened out and get back on a day schedule so that the byes are not necessary.

The kids that are under 21 have an advantage over some guys my age in that they have much more endurance than I have and don't tire as easily as I do. It sucks to spend over 3 hours playing a game only to lose it!

Mike Serovey Loses to nithin

In an attempt to back up my chess site I accidentally deleted several pages so some of the links in previous posts no longer work. I will need to recreate all of those missing pages.

Now that I have finished my online Java class with a solid "A" I can now spend more time on chess. I decided to play a game at ICC yesterday and won a pawn due to an opening trap and kept the material advantage throughout this game. However, one blunder cost me this game! Here is the game in PGN:

[Event "ICC 45 5"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2010.06.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "nithin"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "1445"]
[BlackElo "1404"]
[Opening "Sicilian defense"]
[ECO "B33"]
[NIC "SI.34"]
[Time "19:31:31"]
[TimeControl "2700+5"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be2 Bb4 7. Be3 Nxe4
8. Qd3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bf3 d5 12. c4 Bf6 13. cxd5 exd5 14.
Nxc6 bxc6 15. Bd4 Be6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Qa6 Qc3 18. Rad1 Rfb8 19. Rd3 Qxc2
20. Bd1 Rb6 21. Qxb6 Qxd3 22. Qxc6 Rc8 23. Qb7 a6 24. Re1 Qb5 25. Qa7 Qa5
26. Re3 Qxa2 27. Qb7 Qa1 28. Qxc8+ Bxc8 29. Re8# {Black checkmated} 1-0

This complete game, including diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/nithin-Sicilian.html.

Mike Serovey Loses to Stephen Crookston

Here is Round Three of the unrated open chess tournament that I played last Saturday. This game was my only loss of the tournament and resulted in my taking second place. The game, complete with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/StephenCrookston-English.html. Here is part of the game in PGN:

[Event "TCC Open"]
[Site "Tampa Chess Club"]
[Date "2010.04.24"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Mike Serovey"]
[Black "Stephen Crookston"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. a3 d6 5. Nc3 Be6 6. d3 Bg7 7. e4 Nge7 8. Nge2 f5
9. O-O O-O 10. f4 Qd7 11. Nd5 Nc8 12. Rb1 Nd8 13. b4 c6 14. Ndc3 fxe4 15. Nxe4
Ne7 16. Bb2 Nf5 17. fxe5 dxe5 18. c5 Ne3 19. Rxf8+ Kxf8 20. Qd2 Nxg2 21. Kxg2
Nf7 22. Rd1 Re8 23. Nf2 Bd5+ 24. Kg1 Bh6 25. Qe1 Ng5 26. Qc3 Nh3+ 27. Nxh3 Qxh3
28. Rf1+ Kg8 29. Rf2 Be3 30. Nf4 Bxf2+ 31. Kxf2 Qxh2+ 32. Kf1 {White was eventually checkmated} 0-1

Mike Serovey Wins His First Chess Trophy Since 1986.

Yesterday I played in an unrated open chess tournament in Tampa that was run by the
Tampa Chess Club. There were only 8 people in this section and all but one were adult men. I got the only boy in Round One and that game is posted below. I won both games with Black and lost in Round Three with White. That was good enough to win the second place trophy.

This game against Daniel Arbel can be found with analysis and diagrams at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/Arbel-Modern_Defense.html. I usually play either 1... Nf6 or 1... f5 against 1. d4 but in this game I decided to get an unknown opponent out of what he wanted to play by transposing into the Modern Defense. Here is as much of the game as I have been able to reconstruct, in PGN:

[Event "TCC Open"]
[Site "Tampa Chess Club"]
[Date "2010.04.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Daniel Arbel"]
[Black "Mike Serovey"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Bc4 c6 5. Nf3 Nd7 6. Be3 b5 7. Bb3 Bb7 8. Ng5 e6
9. Nf3 Ngf6 10. Qd2 O-O 11. h4 a5 12. a4 b4 13. Ne2 c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. e5 Nxb3
16. cxb3 dxe5 17. Qxd8 Rfxd8 18. O-O e4 19. Nfd4 Ng4 20. Nb5 Nxe3 21. fxe3 Bxb2
22. Ra2 Bf6 23. Rxf6 Rd3 24. Nbd4 Rxe3 25. Rc2 Kg7 26. Rf2 Bd5 27. Rc7 Rf8 28.
Ra7 Bxb3 29. Nxb3 Rxb3 30. Rxa5 Ra3 31. Nc1 Ra1 32. Rf1 Rc8 33. Ra7 Rcxc1 34.
Rxc1 Rxc1+ {And Black eventually won on time} 0-1

Mike Serovey Defeats Kadriye in rematch

This is one of my ICC correspondence chess games and is the last one that I completed there. This brings my record for ICC correspondence chess to 29-15-10 and my rating to 1749. I played 2 games against Kadriye in this section and lost the one where I had Black so I needed to win this one in order to even up the score with him. This entire game, complete with analysis and diagrams, can be found at http://www.mikeseroveyonchess.com/Kadriye-English.html. Here is the game in PGN.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2009Quad.08.02"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.09.12"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "Kadriye"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[Opening "English: Bremen, Smyslov system"]
[ECO "A22"]
[NIC "EO.10"]
[Time "00:11:15"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3 5. dxc3 O-O 6. Bg2 h6 7. Nf3 Nc6 8.
c5 d6 9. cxd6 cxd6 10. O-O Be6 11. Re1 Qd7 12. e4 Nh7 13. Qd3 Rad8 14. Be3
b6 15. Rad1 Bh3 16. Bh1 Bg4 17. Rc1 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Ng5 19. Bg2 Ne6 20. Rcd1
Qc7 21. b4 Ne7 22. Re2 Rc8 23. Rc2 Rfd8 24. a4 Qc4 25. Qxc4 Rxc4 26. Rcc1
Rdc8 27. Rxd6 Rxc3 28. Rxc3 Rxc3 29. Rd7 Rc7 30. Rxc7 Nxc7 31. b5 Nc8 32. f4
f6 33. Bf1 Nd6 34. Bd3 Kf7 35. f5 Ke7 36. Kf1 Kd7 37. Bd2 Nb7 38. Bb4 Nd6
39. Ke2 Nce8 40. Ke3 Nc7 41. g4 Nce8 42. Bc2 Nc7 43. Bb3 Nce8 44. h4 Nc7 45.
Kf3 Nce8 46. Bd2 Nc7 47. g5 hxg5 48. hxg5 Nce8 49. gxf6 gxf6 50. Bd5 Nc7 51.
Bc6+ Kd8 52. Bb4 Nc8 53. Kg4 Ne7 54. Bxe7+ Kxe7 55. Kh5 Kf7 56. Kh6
{Black resigns}
1-0

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Goals for 2010

Normally, I post my goals for the new year around January 1 of each year. I haven't posted here in quite a while so I'm just now getting around to it. This time I'm not posting just my chess goals. I'm going to include other goals too.

Last year I didn't play in any USCF rated events so all of those rating stayed the same. I plan to play in some this year and bring my standard rating up to over 1600 again. It hasn't been there in about 20 years now.

My rating at Stan's Net Chess is now up to 2304. My goal for this year is to get it over 2400.

My ratings at ICC are as folows:

rating [need] win loss draw total best
Blitz 1400 [8] 15 28 6 49 1441 (13-Mar-2005)
Standard 1438 [2] 75 86 19 180 1674 (03-Jul-2004)
5-minute 851 [8] 1 2 0 3
Correspondence 1749 29 15 10 54 1749 (26-Mar-2010)

I had some losses in standard play as a result of careless play and my rating dropped so I need to get it back over 1500. Then, I'll work on getting it over 1600.

I got accepted into a Ph.D. program at Northcentral University and start my first class in June. One of my goals is to eventually finish that degree and find a job teaching somewhere.

Another goal is to update several of my web sites and promote them consistently so that they produce steady income.

Chess Opening Wizard

I have the professional version of Chess Opening Wizard and there is an upgrade coming out soon. It features photo learning of chess positions. I don't know how to use photo learning so I probably won't get much out of this new feature. The author, Mike Leahy, has a video that explains it and it can be found at