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A blindfold game of mine.I have mentioned many times that I could play blindfold chess. Bart Heikimian (at our club) will readily tell you of a night at one of our meetings, 5-10 years ago. I played seven games of blindfold chess, simultaneously. The only person who managed to beat me was Bart. Jack Mallory might also remember when I played three of the better scholastic players at the (Mobile Chess) club a few years back. I played three games both blindfold and simultaneously. One of the games featured a Queen sacrifice, and I chased my opponent's King over to the edge of the board and I mated him. (Somewhere over on the Queenside - I won all three games.) When I tell people of these feats, I am always asked for proof. OR ... people ask me for one of my games, (that I played blindfold). I never have written them down, usually other people do that for me. But I have had more than one e-mail requesting to see one of my blindfold games. So ... it has been in my mind ... for the last 2-3 years ... to play a blindfold game of chess, record it, and then post it on my website. Most of the times, I don't really have the opportunity, but on this night things were very slow ... and everyone seemed to have a playing partner but me. (There were plenty of witnesses, Bart, Don, Earl, Billy, and several people that I don't really know their names. And after the game, my friend Stephen Davis was nice enough to take me over to the "Steak-n-Shake" and help me remember ... and reconstruct the game.) Click HERE to see an explanation of the symbols that I use when annotating any chess game. Note of explanation: As my opponent is not a super-GM, I have not 'graded' this game as strictly as I might have done, otherwise. I have tried to be relatively objective, you may look to see how many exclams that I have awarded to my own play here. (The PRIMARY purpose of this whole endeavor was to simply show that I could - and, of course - that I still can - play blindfold chess.)
rnbq1rk1/pp2ppbp/2pp1np1/8/2PP4/3BPN2/PP3PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w
My last move was played out of a desire to create a rather unusual position ... and get as far away from the book as possible. (In case my opponent was familiar with all of the so-called 'normal' lines.)
[
More common would be: 6...Nbd7;
7.Be2 e5; 8.Nc3 Re8; 9.b4, "~"
GM Manuel Rivas-Pastor (2505) - GM Anatoly Karpov (2740);
[E61]
7.Nc3 Nbd7;
8.Nd2!?, [ Better was the move of >/= 8.Qc2, "+/=" when White has a small, but solid plus. ]
8...e5;
9.Nde4!?, (Possibly dubious?)
[ The safest line for White was probably the continuation:
9...Qe7;
10.b3!?, 10...Nxe4;
11.Nxe4?!, [ >/= 11.Bxe4 f5; 12.Bf3 Qh4; "=/+" ]
11...f5;
"/+" {See the
diagram just below.} r1b2rk1/pp1nq1bp/2pp2p1/4pp2/2PPN3/1P1BP3/P4PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w
Now White's best move is probably Nd2, the g3-square in an inferior post, and this steed will be left out for some time to come.
12.Ng3!?,
('?!') 12...e4!?;
('?') This was not an oversight, but a simple case of not taking the time to analyze the board properly. (I suspected some sort of hidden trap ... that was not really there.) Also, I was a little rusty on my blindfold skills. At the beginning of the game, I could not see the board, (in my head); really well, and was overly nervous. But by move twenty, I began to get into the game, and also relax just a little bit. [ >/= 12...exd4; 13.exd4 Bxd4; "/+" ]
The next series of moves does not require a lot of comment. 3r1rk1/pp2q1bp/2ppbnp1/5p2/2PPp3/BP2P1N1/P1B2PPP/1RQ2RK1 b
I thought that White had to undertake a major re-arrangement of his pieces in this position. [ (>/=) 16.f3!? ]
16...Rf7;
[ A lot better was:
>/= 16...Ng4!;
"/\" followed by playing my Queen to the
17.Ne2 g5;
18.Qe1!?, [ Maybe 18.Qd2, instead? ]
18...Qc7;
19.Qb4!?, {See the
diagram just below.} 3r2k1/ppq2rbp/2ppbn2/5pp1/1QPPp3/BP2P3/P1B1NPPP/1R3RK1 b
White should push his f-Pawn in this position, either one or two squares.
[ It is quite possible that the move of
(>/=) 19.f3,
was close to
19...d5;
20.h3?!,
20...Bf8;
21.Qc3?,
['??'] (A blunder?) The real kicker is White had TWO different moves that would have prevented the loss of a piece. [ >/= 21.c5[] f4; "/+" ]
21...Bxa3;
22.b4[], {Box.} [ </= 22.c5?? a5; "-/+" ]
22...Bxb4;
23.Qxb4 dxc4;
24.a3 Nd5!?; 25.Qc5!?, ('?!')
[ Probably the safest is:
25.Qb2, but not
</= 25.QxP/c4??
Nc4;
"-/+"
25...b5;
26.Rbc1 h6;
(Why this move?) {See
the diagram just below.} 3r2k1/p1q2r2/2p1b2p/1pQn1pp1/2pPp3/P3P2P/2B1NPP1/2R2RK1 w
Once again ... without going into too much detail, or providing reams of analysis ... I had calculated a long line. My Queen was going to wander off and (maybe) capture the a-Pawn. {I also had to move my Knight on d5 in this line as well.} White - then - would have the tactic of playing BxP/e4! If I capture the Bishop, White plays QxP/g5+ followed by QxR/d8. All this does not change the fact that ...P-QR4 was the much better move, and the computer confirms this fact. [ >/= 26...a5!; "/+" (Maybe "-/+") ]
27.Bd1 Qb6;
[ MUCH better was:
>/= 27...f4!;
"--->" when Black's attack is both powerful
28.Qxb6 Nxb6!?;
29.Nc3 Bd5!?;
[ The box prefers to play
29...Nd5;
but the difference between the two
30.Bh5 Rf6;
31.g3!? Kh7; 32.Kh2 Rg8; 33.Rc2 f4; ('!?')
[ Once more, the move of:
>/= 33...a5!;
("/+"
or "-/+") is both the simplest and the best.
The next few moves look forced. [ </= 34.exf4 gxf4; 35.Re2?? fxg3+; 36.Kg2 gxf2+; 37.Kh2 e3; "-/+" ]
34...gxf4;
35.exf4, [
(>/=) 35.Rg1
]
35...Rxf4; 36.Rg1 Rgf8!?; {Diagram} 5r2/p6k/1np4p/1p1b3B/2pPpr2/P1N4P/2R2P1K/6R1 w
This is the current situation - that we now have - on the chess board.
[ The machine says that Black's best and safest line is:
36...Rxg1;
(Now) 37.Rg2 might be best, (here - for White); at least according to Fritz. [ >/= 37...Bf7!; "-/+" (Or even 37...a5.) ]
38.Rc3 Na4!?;
('!')
39.Rcg3,
{See the diagram just below.} 8/p6k/2p2r1p/1p1b3B/n1pPpr2/P5RP/5P1K/3N2R1 b
I knew that in this position, with my opponent having two doubled Rooks and a Bishop near my King ... that one false step was fatal. [ </= 39.h4?? Nxc3; "-/+" ]
Now Black decides on a sacrifice.
However, I tested this position on several different programs. My move, (the rook capture on f2); is not the first second ... [ Fritz prefers: (>/=) 39...Kh8; 40.R1g2, etc. (White is still quite lost.) ]
The next few moves are forced. [ But not: </= 41.Kh1? e3+; 42.R1g2 c3!; "-/+" when Black is winning easily. ]
41...e3;
42.Rg7+?!,
Not only this, White has the chance to set a clever trap ... and go for a draw.
[ White's only hope was to play for:
(The move of 43...RxR/g2+; still wins
("-/+")
easily for Black.)
44.Rg8+ Kh7;
45.R8g7+ Kh8;
46.Rg8+ Kh7; 47.R8g7+ Kh8;
"="
42...Kh8;
43.R7g6 Bxg2;
44.Rxg2, With correct play, White is still losing ... no matter what. But here, he had a chance to win a Pawn with a clever tactic. [ A little better was: >/= 44.Rxh6+! Kg7; 45.Rg6+ Kf8; 46.Rxg2, etc. ]
44...Rxg2+;
[ A whole lot sharper was:
45.Kxg2 c3!?;
46.Bg6 Nb6;
47.Kf3 Kg7; 48.Be4 Kf6;
49.Bd3, ('!?')
[ But of course NOT the move:
The rest is pretty easy to understand, White was not going to escape here anyway. [ Immediately decisive was: >/= 51...c2!; 52.Bxc2 e2; etc. ]
52.axb4 axb4; ("-/+") (White Resigns, see the final diagram, just below.) 8/8/2p2k1p/3n4/1p1PK2P/2pBp3/8/8 w
And here my opponent realized that the game was pretty much lost, and decided not to continue the battle.
This was not a bad blindfold game, and I decided to present it in its entirety.
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2006. All rights reserved.
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