The internet is a rude place.

I don't know what it is really but for some reason people are more rude on the internet. Recently I have suffered abuse and accusations of cheating just for playing on the internet. As a reward for such behavior I intend to post the games here to show the sort of play which insites abuse. I seriously hope that being published on the wrong side of a loss with this sort of behavior will irritate the sort of people who do this sort of thing.

This is the first of these games, with brief notes. My opponent swore at me when I declined a third 25+5 minute game. We drew the first before I won this game with Black. He then called me a poor sport. I simply don't understand these people who insist they deserve a rematch, let alone a second rematch...

CS Smith (2060) - nic_croad (2097)

playchess.com 'Friendly game' @ 25+5 2008

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Bb4 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bd2 O-O 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.O-O Nf6 11.Bg5 Be7 12.Rc1 Nb4 13.Bc4 b6?! 14.Qa4 Bb7

I had a long think on this move because I didn't like my position after 14...Nbd5 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Bxd5 exd5 17.Bxe7 Qxe7 and I must play with bad bishop against good knight. While I was not entirely happy about being forced to double my kingside pawns the damage didn't seem too significant at the moment and I get the g-file and bishop pair as a sort of compensation.

15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Be2 Kh8 17.a3 Nd5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Rfe1 Rg8 20.Qa6 Qd7 21.Rc3

Instead 21.Bb5 loses to 21...Bxf3 22.Bxd7 Rxg2+ 23.Kf1 Rxh2 24.Rc8+ Kg7 and mate is unavoidable.

21...Rg7 22.Rec1 Rag8 23.g3 Bd6 24.Nd2 f5 25.Nc4?!

Better was 25.Bf3 Bxf3 26.Nxf3 f4, when the White kingside is significantly weak however Black's queenside is falling appart quickly. The game is probably balanced but many players including me would rather be attacking the king.

25...Bxc4!

An obvious decision, though it is often difficult to decide on exchanging part of a bishop pair. White's best chances are associated with exchanging off the light squared bishops. Now the opposite colored bishops act as a catalyst to my attack.

26.Rxc4?

The queen is required to help with the defence. Either it must seek to exchange itself for it's black counterpart or stay in proximity to the White king in order to defend at an appropriate moment.

26...f4 27.Bf3

Other defences are no better. 27.R4c3 fxg3 28.hxg3 Bxg3! 29.fxg3 (29.Rxg3 Qxd4 30.Rxg7 (30.Kf1 Qf4! 31.Rcc3 Rxg3 32.Rxg3 Rxg3 -+) 30...Qxg7+ Kf1 31.Qg1#) 29...Qxd4+ 30.Kf1 Rxg3 31.Rxg3 Qf4+ 32.Rf3 (32.Ke1 Rxg3 -+) 32...Qxc1+ 33.Kf2 Qg1#

After 27.R1c3 f5 Black will further weaken the White kingside with the White queen still out of play.

27...fxg3 28.hxg3

28...Bxg3!

This must be the move which caused Mr Smith to get so worked up.

29.fxg3 Rxg3+ 30.Kf2 Rxf3+

The obvious follow up. With the queen and rook both engaging the king while the White can't come back on the diagonal f1-a6 I was quite confident it would work even without calculating every variation exactly. I sketched the following variations to check it was correct 31.Kxf3 Qd5+ 32.Ke3 (32.Kf4 Qf5+ 33.Ke3 Rg3+ 34.Ke2 Qf3+ 35.Kd2 Rg2+ 36.Ke1 Qe2#) 32...Rg3+ 33.Kd2 (32.Kf4 Qg5+ 33.Ke4 Qf5#) 33...Qg2+ 34.Kd1 Rd3+ 35.Ke1 Re3+ 36.Kd1 Qe2#

31.Ke2 Rg2+

Still trying to sacrifice the rook because of the transposition, 31...Kxf3 32.Qd5+ Ke3 33.Rg3+ and Black forces mate like in the above variations.

32.Ke1 Rh3 33.Rc8+

I was planning to swap my queen for checkmate with 33.Qc8+ Kg7 34.Qxd7 Rh1#

33...Kg7 0-1

When great players follow your games

In the year 2000 I won the New Zealand Junior Championship mostly as a result of the strongest junior (and now second strongest adult) player in the country catching a cold and not playing. As a result of this I was eligible to play in the World Junior Championship in Yerevan Armenia. It was an amazing trip to the other side of the world where I ended up competing in a tournament along side many young stars of today. My opponent in this game was at the time only a FIDE master but has since gained the GrandMaster title.

Recently I noticed a game where a real star of junior chess follows an idea and game which I played there. Notably of course with a better result than I could achieve. I have somewhat mixed feelings about this because this is one game from the tournament where I might have won. Who knows who might have beaten me in the subsequent rounds if I had won this game.

FM Morteza, Mahjoob - Croad, Nicolas

World Junior Championship (2), Yerevan Armenia, 2000

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5 Be7

Though I tried my best to prepare for the tournament it was a hopeless task and my openings were sorely under done. The result of this was that I had to think about my move here 5...Be7 which is however a good and known book move. I think that the time I took to decide on this move may have helped to get my creative juices flowing.

6.Nxd4 O-O 7.Nb5?! Nxe4?

Here David Howell played the move 7...Bc5 which is significantly stronger however the game transposes back shortly.

8.Nbxc7?

The better move 8.Bd3 would have completely refuted my idea. This is why Howell's move is significantly more accurate. After 8.Bd3 I am forced to essay the dubious piece sacrifice 8...Nxf2 9.Kxf2 Bc5+ 10.Kf1 or allow White to secure a significant and stable advantage after 8...Nf6 9.Nbxc7 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 += (and if 10...Qa5+ 11.c3). Now we reach the same position by transposition.

8...Bc5!

9.Qf3?

David Howell's opponent H Toufighi found an interesting resource, which indicates he is a good player in his own right. That game went 9.Bd3? Nxf2! 10.Bxh7+ Kxh7 11.Qh5+ Kg8 12.Bg5 and it looks like the Black queen is trapped however 12...Re8+ 13.Kf1 Re5 0-1. While most of Howell's moves here were forced I would suspect that many of them were found before he played 9...Nxf2 or even 7...Bc5.

An annotation of that game gives 9.Be3 Bxe3 10.fxe3 when the position could probably be judged unclear. I think that now Black must play 10...Rb8 because he doesn't gain sufficient compensation for the piece sacrifice after 10...Qh4+ 11.g3 Nxg3 12.hxg3 Qxh1 13.Nxa8 +-. In this position with both White knights in this precarious position and the White king vulnerable I would certainly rather take the Black side however.

9...Nxf2 10.Be3

Instead with 10.Nxa8 Nxh1 White must follow up with 11.Be3 transposing because 11.Nac7 loses to 11...Nd4! 12.Qd3 Qh4+ -+.

10...Bxe3 11.Nxe3

White loses a queen after 11.Qxe3 Nxh1 12.Nxa8 Re8 -+

11...Nxh1

Maybe clearer though weaker here was 11...Qxc7 12.Qxf2 and Black is a pawn up and has already castled. I think that given the difference in our ratings I was not confident about holding onto the advantage of just one pawn and decided to try for the maximum. The choice is more a matter of style or ability. I think my move in the game was more correct but I didn't really complete the calculation requirements to actually justify playing it so in a sense I was gambling on my positional intuition.

12.Nxa8 Qh4+ 13.Kd2 Qb4+ 14.c3 Qxb2+ 15.Nc2 d5

White's last couple of moves have been forced and Black's moves clearly strong but now there is no straight killer blow so it is time to stop and decide how to follow up. Obviously White has a slightly easier time of it extracting his knight than I will.

16.Bd3 d4?

I think after 16...Ne5! I would have secured the whole point. White must choose between 17.Qf4 Nxd3 18.Kxd3 g6 where both 19.g4 Bxg4 and 19.Nd4 Nf2+ leave a position which Black should win without difficulties, and the alternative 17.Bxh7+ Kxh7 18.Qh5+ Kg8 19.Qxe5 Nf2 -+ where Black has both the safer king and more material.

The move I missed here in my calculations was 18.Qe4 attacking the knight and threatening mate on h7, though this is really because my calculating ability was rather limited at this time and I was becoming confused and tired of calculating variations even at this stage in the game. The major lesson I learned from my games at the World Junior was that it is always possible to put up resistance, no matter how bad your position is and often to win. Many of my opponents did exactly this to me throughout the tournament even when I was better or winning against them.

17.cxd4 Nxd4 18.Qe4 Nf5

Trying to keep as many pieces as possible on the board. The alternative 18...Bf5 19.Qxd4 Qxd4 20.Nxd4 Bxd3 21.Kxd3 +- leaves White with a piece for two pawns regardless of how I follow up. White is clearly winning in either case.

19.Rxh1 g6 20.Nc7 Bd7 21.Re1 Rc8 22.Nd5 Be6 23.Qe5!

Once the queens are exchanged there are fewer chances for White to slip up even with his king in the centre.

13...Qxe5 24.Rxe5 Kg7 25.Nc3 Rd8 26.Rc5 Ne7 27.a3 Nc6 28.Ne3 Nd4 29.Rc7 Nc6 30.Ke2 Nd4+ 31.Kf2 Nb3 32.Bc4 Rd2+ 33.Kf1 Bxc4+ 34.Nxc4 Rc2 35.Nd6 1-0