Chess Skills: Reviewing Chess World Game History

20 February 2012

Reviewing Chess World Game History

Part of My Opening Statistics

It is useful to review one's previously played games. Chess World, an online correspondence site where I have played since 2004, has a feature called "My Opening Statistics" that provides access to games previously played there. Clicking on the ECO code in the right-hand column brings up the games in that opening system sorted by color and result. The link also offers pie charts that reveal at a glance essential information, such as that my winning percentage with the Queen's Gambit as White is decent, but that I fare quite poorly on the Black side of this opening.

Pie Graphs

From the list, I am able to scroll to the highest ranked opponents, and then select a game to play through on the site. I located my highest rated draw as White in the Queen's Gambit this morning. While playing through the game, I noticed that I forced a draw from a position where my pieces were well-coordinated and active, but my opponent had a threat. I began to reassess the threats. Was it essential to force the draw? Looking at tournament information attached to the game, I learn that it was a four-player double round-robin, a common tournament structure for that site. I've played many of those and have won my share. In this one, I placed third. My other game against this opponent was a loss. The game was played in late 2006.

I opened the game in my database and looked a little longer at the key position where I opted to force a draw.

The original game began:

Stripes,James (2051) - Yansuse (2170) [D46]
www.ChessWorld.net server game, 2006

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Bd6 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.0–0 0–0 8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Nxe4 10.Bxe4 e5 11.Qc2 h6 12.Rd1 exd4 13.Rxd4 Qc7 14.Be3 Ne5 15.Bh7+ Kh8 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.Rh4 f5 18.Bg6 f4 19.Bd2 Qe7 20.g3 Qg5 21.Rh5 Qf6 22.Rxe5 Qxe5 23.Re1 Qf6 24.Bc3 Qg5 25.Re5 Qg4 26.Rh5 fxg3

White to move

Here I opted for the draw by repetition, and my opponent quickly conceded the half-point.

27.Rxh6+ Kg8 28.Bh7+ Kf7 29.Bg6+ Kg8 30.Bh7+ ½–½

Was my attack strong enough to make a defensive move and play on? I tried 27.hxg3 against Rybka 4. After many moves, including some sub-optimal play on my part, the game was drawn.

27.hxg3 Bf5 28.Rxf5 Rad8 29.Rxf8+ Rxf8 30.Be4 Rd8 31.Kg2 Qd1 32.Qxd1 Rxd1 33.Kf3 Kg8 34.Ke2 Rd8 35.f4 Kf7 36.g4 g6 37.a4 Re8 38.Kf3 Rd8 39.a5 a6 40.Ke3 g5 41.fxg5 hxg5 42.Bf5 Ke7 43.Ke4 Kd6 44.Be5+ Kc5 45.Be6 Rd2 46.Kf5 Re2 47.Bc3 Kd6 48.Bc8 Kc7 49.Be6 Kd6 50.Bf7 Rf2+ 51.Kg6 Rf4 52.Bb4+ Ke5 53.Bc3+ Kd6 54.Bg8 Rxg4 55.Kf5 Rf4+ 56.Kxg5 Rf8 57.Bh7 Kc5 58.Bd3 Rf3 59.Be2 Re3 60.Bf1 Rf3 61.Be2 Re3 62.Bg4 Rxc3 63.bxc3 Kxc4 64.Bc8 Kxc3 65.Bxb7 Kb4 66.Bxa6 c5 67.Bd3 c4 68.Bxc4 Kxa5 ½–½

Using the annotations built into the Fritz family of engines, I went back to the point where the engine evaluated the effects of my move as leading to equality and tried the engine's suggestion. With this one take-back, I quickly provoked resignation by the silicon monster.

White to move