21 Jul 2013: the amazing double rook snaffle

The Chess Pirate remains on her absurd summer "haitus."  But not to worry !  The famous Highlands Clubhouse served as a venue for a brutal game between the Pink Queen and the Gabridoodle.  Naturally, the Gabridoodle offered a game to the Townie, but he remains coy.

While no CLUB business was discussed, the Gabridoodle did engage in a burping contest with two children in a minivan.

Pink Queen - Gabridoodle, 0-1

Here we are 8 moves into the game.  Commanding the white pieces, the Pink Queen has employed a highly... unorthodox... opening.  Yet again, she was trying to rattle the Gabridoodle with an early assault on the kingside.  The Gabridoodle could only adopt a wait-and-see posture while making some necessary defensive moves.

On move 13, the Pink Queen advanced her c-pawn.  This made an instant monster of the Gabridoodle's dark-squared bishop, allowing it to snaffle up her rook.

Hilariously, and just two moves later, the Gabridoodle made the same error, advancing his b-pawn.  The Pink Queen's light-squared bishop then snaffled up the a8 rook.

Moving right along... At move 33 we have the Pink Queen put in this brutal position.  There's really no way out.

And indeed, a couple moves later, the Pink Queen is finished off by the Gabridoodle's lesbian queens.

11 Jul 2013: Exhibition game at Damata's

The Chess Pirate is on her summer "hiatus" -- some lame excuse about the heat affecting her brain -- so there hasn't been much action at CHESS CLUB of late.  But thanks to an early arrival at a Salem Social Cards cribbage event at Salem's inimitable Damata's, the Pink Queen and the Gabridoodle were able to stage an exhibition game ! It was definitely a coffeehouse atmosphere, complete with children tormenting fish and repeatedly spilling beverages.

Pink Queen - Gabridoodle, 0-1

Fully 24 moves in, the Pink Queen and the Gabridoodle were at a bit of an impasse, having erected a forest of pawns in the middle of the board.  The Gabridoodle has managed to rob the Pink Queen of her castling rights and gotten her king terribly exposed.  She, however, has stuck a bone in his throat on the h-file.

But then there was some action !  Here, at move 27, the Gabridoodle is about to achieve his key breakthrough of the game, moving the bishop to c8, skewering the Pink Queen's rook at h3.  Her queen retreats and the Gabridoodle exchanges his bishop for her rook.

Move 35 truly ushers in the Pink Queen's final collapse.  She's made a game attempt to threaten the Gabridoodle with the battery on the g-file.  But his move of Qe3+ solves two problems at once, simultaneously removing the bone in his throat at h6 and dealing with the g-file threat.

The rest was mopping up and by move 43, the Pink Queen had had enough and resigned.

14 Jun 2013: A long, tricky game

Thanks to a series of vacations, this was the first CHESS CLUB meeting in several weeks.  Perhaps inspired by the fine weather, the Pirate suggested that we find someplace where they have a giant outdoor chess set.  The Gabridoodle will look into this, though he isn't optimistic.  Even if we find one, there's no guarantee we won't be banned.

In official CLUB business, the Freshman (a member of the Pink Queen's entourage who took part in this year's jamboree) was appointed candidate member.

In non-CLUB business, the Gabridoodle was called on to assist the Pirate with various personal and professional administrative tasks.

Gabridoodle - Chess Pirate, 1-0

This game went on for more than the customary length of time.  Not only were the Pirate and Gabridoodle playing at a leisurely pace but the game took 63 moves.  That's not a CLUB record but it's not so far from one, either.

Sneaky bishops can be monsters !  Here, at move 8, the Pirate has just moved her g-pawn, not seeing that this would allow the Gabridoodle to grab her rook.  This he did to which the Pirate barked, "You piece of crap !"  However, she was subsequently able to trap the Gabridoodle's bishop, which he sent into desperado mode, remarking, "Well, if you want hideously doubled pawns."  The Gabridoodle loses a bit of material but with positional compensation.

Lots of action in the early going.  By move 14, the Pirate snared the Gabridoodle in a clever trap, forcing him to simultaneously lose castling rights and a rook.

...however, the Gabridoodle had a decent reply, attacking the Pirate's queen with a pawn, allowing him to snag her bishop.  Later, at move 25, the Pirate made a capture, exclaiming, "Check !  Oh wait, that's not a bishop." (it was a pawn)  The Gabridoodle replied, "Ya moron !"

Here we are at move 33.  The Gabridoodle is ahead a pawn and also has a very slight positional advantage. At this point, the Pirate went to her computer, logged on to a well-known social network, and poasted that she was trouncing the Gabridoodle.

By move 46, the Gabridoodle had finally forced the exchange of queens, though not before the Pirate mounted a scary kingside attack with her queen. A race to promote has begun, the Gabridoodle having advanced a pawn to h5.  He won the race...

...and subsequently the game (as usual, the Pirate was a sport and played on in the hope that the Gabridoodle would make a hideous blunder).

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).