10 May 2013: in which a civil Pirate almost wins The Shiny

This fine spring day, Salem CHESS CLUB was the venue for a remarkably civil game.  However, as usual there were a few choice remarks:

Gabridoodle: "You're being suspiciously civil today."
Chess Pirate: "My nails are wet."

Chess Pirate: "That's right, back up bitch !"

Gabridoodle (referring to himself): "If you can't play well, play angry."
Chess Pirate: "Did you say Amish ?"

Chess Pirate: "Your turn,                         ."

Of interest to our friends at Salem CRIBBAGE CLUB, the Pirate and the Gabridoodle played three brisk games of cribbage.  The Pirate won the first game by about 5 points.  Game two went the Gabridoodle's way, also by about 5 points.  In the third game, the Gabridoodle waltzed away with it, winning by a wider, though not skunk-level, margin.

Gabridoodle - Chess Pirate, 1-0

The Pirate was on her way to winning this one, but some fancy footwork by the Gabridoodle and a Piratical blunder turned things around. The Gabridoodle retains The Shiny.

The Gabridoodle got into trouble in the early going.  Although he did a reasonably good job managing the Pirate's frenzied opening attack, he made a key blunder at move 8.  Instead of moving the e4 bishop somewhere or advancing the d-pawn, he castled.
     8. O-O Nxe4
     9. Nxe4 Qxe4
left him was down a horse and this led him into a severe crisis in the middlegame.

Here we have move 22, Rxg7.  At first blush, it might seem that the Gabridoodle didn't have his priorities straight.  With the middlegame crisis unresolved, he goes and snatches a pawn.  However, this was a vitally important move for him.  The Pirate had a 4-to-1 pawn majority on the kingside.  If something wasn't done about it, things might well have gotten stormy.

By move 37, the Pirate was down to only 1 kingside pawn.  Between that and the hideously doubled pawns on the b-file, the Gabridoodle was in slightly better shape, although still down a horse.  And now we have the move that turned the whole thing around.  The Pirate blundered away a rook (as shown in the diagram).  The Gabridoodle eventually sent the horse to the glue factory and also dealt with the h-pawn.  The rest was mopping up.

Finally, at move 56, we have a classic king-and-rook versus king checkmate.

Tactics corner: vicious triple play

In this game at Chess.com, the Pink Queen captured the wrong horse (with her king at f6; the h-pawn might have been better).  This allowed the Gabridoodle to move his other horse,  getting a discovered check, fork, and skewer combined.  The Pink Queen was shortly queenless.

2 May 2013: an audience !

Today we had an audience !  The Chess Pirate's lodger was present.  While the Pirate went shopping for a door for the Fish Room, the Gabridoodle photographed the lodger.  The lodger then went out for lunch.  Much to our surprise, she actually returned and rather than making excuses or simply barricading herself in her room, she opted to observe the chess action.  In a move that could only warm the Nixonian heart of la Marmotte des Echecs, the lodger chose Checkers as her CLUB nickname.

As usual, the Pirate didn't have a full grasp on relative exchange values, insisting that the queen is worth 10 and, nonsensically, that the king is worth 20.  The correct values: king = priceless; queen = 9; rook = 5; bishop = 3 or 3¼; knight = 3; pawn = 1.  A non-kingly piece that moved like the king would be worth about 4.

In CLUB business, the Gabridoodle has decided that if Checkers attends another CHESS CLUB session, she will be appointed prospective candidate member.  After that, we'll see.  She has to learn the game first.

Game 1
Gabridoodle - Chess Pirate, 1-0

Need it even be said that the Pirate began the game with the sort of crazed, frenzied attack made by someone who never set the textbook aside because she never picked it up in the first place ?  The Gabridoodle parried these thrusts, managing not to suffer any real positional damage in the process.  The Gabridoodle, in a Steinitzian mood, accumulated a series of small advantages.  By move 16, the Pirate already was making the empty boast, "Let's see what I can do to fuck you over."

While the game went 50 moves, the definitive turning point came at move 23 (see diagram at left). The Gabridoodle's Be5+ left Rd6 as the Pirate's only legal move.  The Gabridoodle thus picked up a rook at the cost of a bishop and as an added bonus, damaged the Pirate's pawn structure thanks to her exd6 recapture.

The rest of the game was a methodical grinding down of the Pirate, her only hope being that the Gabridoodle would make a ghastly blunder.  No blunder was forthcoming and the Pirate surrendered at move 50 (diagram at left) rather than suffer needlessly.

Game 2
Chess Pirate - Gabridoodle, 1-0
Time control: 10 minutes each

This speed game was played just for fun, not for The Shiny.  Incredibly, the Pirate decided to call this an "exhibition game" because Checkers was watching.  The Gabridoodle achieved an edge in position and eventually also material.  However, despite using most of her time to prattle with Checkers, the Pirate won when the Gabridoodle's flag fell first (though the Pirate had scarcely more than 20 seconds left on her clock).