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

New post of old material

I have not posted for a while as I have been on holiday so I decided to post some notes to a game I played quite a while ago. These notes were first published in New Zealand Chess Magazine but they were so butchered I would be surprised if anyone could follow them in any case.

One might get the impression from this game also being against Gavin that I play him a lot. Not really true, actually we just play more interesting games.

Gavin Marner - Nicolas Croad

North Island Championship (8), 2006

This game was played in the final round of an 8-round swiss tournament. I was seeded second and currently sitting in second place however I could not catch the tournament leader and I didn't expect the only player half a point behind me would be likely to win against him. In other words neither of us required any result out of the game and we were free to play without any regard to the result.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.O-O-O d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6

This move was not known to me (technically also the previous move) but as Gavin informed me after the game it is known to theory. In fact he has played this way before. My reaction is very naive.

11...Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Qb6 13.e5

Initially I had gone into this position expecting to play 13...Nd7 14.f4 Qe3+ 15.Kb1 Nxe5 however I thought that after 14.h4 Nxe5 15.h5 I am completely lost. The position has taken on a very critical nature and I sank into deep thought.

13...Nh5?!

I discovered the main like here goes, 13...Nd7 14.h4 Nxe5 15.h5 Bf5 16.g4 and now, 16...f6! (the move I didn't find during the game) saves Black from his fate.

14.g4 Rb8!

The only move worth considering. I execute a piece sacrifice leading to an extremely unclear position. In return for my piece the White king takes a journey into the centre of the board and White's attack down the h-file is blocked by 2 h-pawns. Gavin in not required to take up the challenge and if there was a moment to change the course of the play it was now.

15.gxh5?!

The alternatives don't leave White material ahead and Gavin takes up the challenge.

Instead 15.Na4 Qb4 16.gxh5 (16.b3 Qf4+ 17.Qxf4 Nxf4 with some advantage to Black) 16...Qxa4 17.Bd3 Qh4! 18.Rhg1 c5 19.f4 Bg4! gives Black a significant advantage.

15.b3 Qb4 16.gxh5 Qxc3 and Black is better.

15.Bd3! is a very strong move and Gavin would probably have won this game had he played it. He clearly won a brief post-mortem after the game with this move. I didn't consider it at all being a little pre-occupied with the piece sacrifice which I thought was on the cards. Variations are hardly required, 15...Ng7 16.h4 f5 17.Na4 Qb4 18.h5 and White has great chances because Black's attack has stagnated and his king in is a precarious position. Black must force the queens off the board with the move 18...fxg4 19.hxg6 Qf4+ and hope to draw the resulting position where it is only likely he will go wrong.

15...Qxb2+ 16.Kd2 Bf5 17.Bd3

17.Rc1 Rbd8! 18.Rg1 (18.Ne2 d4 -+) 18...Qb4! 19.Rb1 Qd4+ picks up the rook.

17...Bxd3 18.Kxd3 Qa3!!

Amazing really. With Black a piece down the best move is a quiet one setting up a pin across the third rank, preparing to get the piece back. When I first saw this position I was going to play 18...Qb4 19.Ne2 Qc4+ 20.Kd2 Rb2 with an unclear position but eventually convinced myself this move is stronger.

19.Kd2

Not 19.Qe3 d4 20.Kxd4 Rfd8+ 21.Ke4 Rb4+ -+

19.Qc1 Qb4 20.Qa1 is the sort of defensive maneuvre you don't consider (and I didn't) but after 20...f6 white has serious problems to solve none the less.

19...Qb4 20.hxg6?

This move clears the f7 square for Black to defend his kingside from. White needed to realise that Black has full compensation for his sacrifice and find the most accurate way to force the draw. There is no alternative for either side in the variation, 20.Rhg1 Qd4+ 21.Kc1 Qxc3 22.hxg6 Qa1+ 23.Kd2 Qd4+ 24.Kc1 and I must take a perpetual check.

20...fxg6 21.Rhg1 Rf7

The game comes to a sudden and not very favourable end after, 21...Rxf3 22.Rxg6+ hxg6 23.Qxg6+ Kf8 24.Qh6+ Ke8 25.Qh5+ Kd8 26.Qxf3 d4 27.Ke2! +- or the alternative, 21...d4 22.Rxg6+ Kf7 23.Rg7+ Ke8 24.Qxc6+ Kd8 25.Ke2 +-

22.Rb1 Qd4+ 23.Ke2 Qxe5+?

I was feeling my way through the complications here and had not even realise that I could/should play on in this position. The most accurate move here was 23...Rd8! not allowing White any alternative but to transpose into the position which the game reaches on move 28.

Of course not 23...Rxb1 24.Rxb1 Qxc3 25.Rb8+ Rf8 26.Rxf8#

24.Kd2?

Gavin doesn't want the draw which can happen after 24.Qe3 Qxh2+ 25.Qf2 Qe5+ 26.Qe3 but he now ends up in a difficult position. Instead Black can play on with 25...Qxf2+ 26.Kxf2 Rbf8 27.Rg3 e5 though this looks a bit more like a losing attempt than a winning attempt.

24...Qd4+ 25.Ke2 Qc4+ 26.Kd2 Qd4+ 27.Ke2 Rd8!

I repeated the position here a couple of times to gain clock time while I was deciding if I would play on or accept the repetition. My last move keeps the queens on the board and shows Black really has the advantage here. Amazingly enough White has only one decent response.

28.Qd2 Qe5+ 29.Kd1

29.Qe3 Qxe3+ 30.Kxe3 d4+ -+ was the most important point of 27...Rd8.

29...Rxf3 30.Re1!?

A clever concept which I completely over-looked. Gavin gives back the piece to double rooks on the seventh rank. Good alternatives are difficult to come by, 30.Re2 Rdf8 31.Re1 Qxh2 leaves White struggling without even having material equality. Still when you have sacrificed material it is always some relief at the point when you actually get it back again.

30...Qxc3 31.Qxc3 Rxc3 32.Rxe7 Rh3 33.Rbb7 Rxh2 34.Rg7+?!

Making the win easy. More resistance was offered by 34.Rxa7 d4 35.a4 d3 36.cxd3 Rf8 37.Re1 Ra2 38.a5 Ra1+ 39.Kd2 Rf2+! 40.Ke3 Rxe1+ 41.Kxf2 Ra1-+ but I should win here with my rook behind the pawn.

34...Kh8 35.Rxa7 Rf8 36.Ke1?!

This shortens the game a little however after 36.Kc1 Rf1+ 37.Kb2 Rf2 38.Rgc7 Rxc2+ 39.Kb3 Rb2+ 40.Kc3 Rb8 41.Rxc6 Rd8 -+ the win is no longer in doubt.

36...Rb8 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