I also posted this in the beginner's corner under the chess titans thread but figured I would get greater feedback here. If you need me to delete one of the posts just let me know.

I just destroyed chess titans on level 5 playing black. No cheating this time! An annoying feature of the game is that the computer never resigns...i think it was officially over at move 20. Here are the moves...does anyone see a way I could have won sooner or played it better? And is it just me, or did the computer play a horrible game? Methinks 7. Nxd5 was particularly silly. And what would my defence be called? the Queen's Binko French Sicilian Monster Boy Gambit or something?

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nc3 d5 5. Qa4 Bd7 6. c5 b6 7. Nxd5? Nxd5 8.Bg5 Be7 9. h4 h6 10. f4 Nb4
11. e4 Bxa4 12. h5 Nc2+ 13.Kd2 Nxa1 14.a3??? Nb3+
15. Ke1 hxf5 16. exd5 Qxd5 17. Be2 Nxd4 18.Rh3 Nxe2 19.Kxe2 Bb5+
20. Ke1 0-0-0 21. Nd4 Qxd4 22. Rd3 Qxd3 23. c6 Qd2#

In going back over the notation, it seems I may have mixed up 12.h5 with 14.a3, thus explaining the triple question mark. It's the whole mixing up h with a and 3 with 5 thing that I did a few times before as well.

You will need to create a correct sequence of moves before it can be analyzed. I do occassionally write down an incorrect square also, so to create an accurate sequence of moves I use a free chess pgn creator software called Chesspad2, which can be obtained from here:
http://www.wmlsoftware.com/chesspad2.html

When using Chesspad2, enter your moves, confirm your moves, then use the Menu: Game, Copy as PGN, then paste it here. You can make a correction to your post so you do not have to post it again. Cheers, Matt

Thanks for the tip. I just tried to do it over and can't figure out where I wrote the notation wrong, but I obviously did mess up...I'll figure it out.

For starters, 8. Bf5 isn't legal as the bishop was still on f1.

I'm pretty certain I fixed it, sorry about the mixup.

10.f4 is not legal. And 10...Nb4 is ambiguous -- which knight? And so on.

Here is an online PGN generator:

http://www.caissa.com/chess-tools/pgn-editor.php

Click "2. Game Moves", and "4. Output" at the end.

Oh hell...so much for that game, I don't remember which knight it was, arrrgggh! PGN generator here I come.

I used the PGN editor this time! Sadly I could never figure out the other game, it was a battle of epic proportions. So now, a new one. This game was after studying Fischer vs. Spassky so I can't take credit for the opening. First time I had won a game in twenty tries or so (I've been playing a lot...studying up for the composition I am working on.)

So, the computer made a Queen sacrifice without anything to gain it would seem, lots of silly mistakes like that as far as I could tell, but I don't know, I may have missed something. Any comments or sugestions for mr. newbie would be greatly appreciated.


[Event "Tomatzio vs. Chess Titans Level 5"]
[Site "the couch"]
[Date "2010.2.11"]
[Round "the only one"]
[White "Tomatzio"]
[Black "Machine"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "-30"]
[BlackELO "-500"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 Nc6 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 a6 8. b3
Bd6 9. Nc3 g5 10. Nxg5 hxg5 11. Bxg5 Bxh2 12. g3 cxd4 13. Ne4 dxe3 14. Nxf6+
Qxf6 15. Bxf6 exf2+ 16. Kxf2 Rh3 17. Kg2 Rh6 18. Bg5 Rh8 19. Be4 d5 20. cxd5
exd5 21. Qxd5 Bd7 22. Rad1 Ra7 23. Bf5 a5 24. Bxd7+ Kf8 25. Qxc6 Rxd7 26.
Qxd7 Rh5 27. Rxh2 Rxh2+ 28. Kxh2 Kg7 29. Rd6 b5 30. Qf5 Kg8 31. Bh6 f6 32.
Rxf6 Kh8 33. Rf8# 1-0

As a side note, I have found it is a good thing the computer never resigns, as a beginner it lets me work on my endgame "skills"

I won another yay!

As always, any feedback would be appreciated. I haven't studied opening theory much so I'm not sure what classification this would receive. It seems pretty standard until 4.Qd3 which I have not been able to find through google.

I have been working through the Polgar book "Chess Tactics for Champions" which helped me greatly in this game. Kind of a difficult book for a beginner such as myself, but rewarding nonetheless. I did hit the undo button once because I hadn't accounted for the Knight crashing in before I began my onslaught. Originally it was 8. e5 Nb4 which I saw would cause problems so I backed up to 8. a3 instead. Otherwise I probably would have lost.

[Event "Tomatzio strikes again!"]
[Site "The couch"]
[Date "2010.2.14"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tomatzio"]
[Black "Chess Titans Level 5"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
%Display=999
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Qd3 Qd6 5. g3 e6 6. e4 Bd7 7. Bh3 Be7 8. a3
O-O 9. e5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Qc5 11. exf6 Bxf6 12. Be3 Qc6 13. Nd4 Qc4 14. Qd2 a6
15. b3 Qc5 16. b4 Qc4 17. f4 Ra7 18. O-O-O b6 19. Nxe6 c6 20. Nxf8 Bxh3 21.
Bxb6 Bxc3 22. Qe3 Ra8 23. Qe7 Rxf8 24. Rde1 Bxe1 25. Rxe1 Rb8 26. Qe8+ Rxe8
27. Rxe8# 1-0

Sorry no annotations, I'll figure that sort of thing out later I suppose.

Hi tomatzio,

I looked through your game above. Well done for beating the computer again!

I began to prepare move-by-move commentary of the above game, but after a while my post became unnecessarily long and complicated, so I just wanted to say the following.

I think your main target for improvement ought to be tactics. There were a few tactical shots missed (by both sides!), and I would highly recommend mastering basic tactics first and foremost.

I have not read Chess Tactics for Champions, but I guess that would be suitable, as long as it's not too advanced. If it is a little advanced, Winning Chess Tactics by Seirawan is good. I would also recommend Chess Tempo.

[Edit: Actually, even Winning Chess Tactics isn't so elementary. Maybe someone else has a better book suggestion.]