1. c4 Nh6?

As usual my curiosity for Knight openings and defenses sent me to the little gem 1. c4 Nh6? . I believe they refer to a Knight on the rim in the opening to be a Drunken Knight. A past UON stirred the interest of this opening for me. What's interesting is yes the Knight is on a typically bad square, yes it will be threatened with capture from the c1 Bishop, and yes it will have to move before or at the beginning of the middlegame. These are all usually bad things, right? For below 2000 ranked players, I don't think so. In fact I think this Knight offers some very interesting ideas.

1. With a Knight on h6 it can ,at some point in the game, post out to f5. Penetrating deep into the enemy center, attacking e3 and d4. I like how in hypermodern openings the Knights attack the center with out actually occupying it. What's interesting to me, is that a Knight at f5 does the same thing but penetrates deeper. Maybe not sound for the opening but may make for interesting play in the middlegame.

2. With the push of the pawn from f7 to f6, a nice little nook can be made for the Knight at h6. From here it influences a good section of the center, doesn't allow a capture or trade of the Knight and keeps it more toward the 'action'. This has been played many times before and usually follows the kingside fianchetto. Although the pawn blocks the Bishop at g7, with the right tactics many possibilities can occur. Discovered attacks with the Bishop maybe?

3. After 1... Nh6 2... g7, the Knight is protected by the Bishop at f8. So if there is a trade with the Bishop at c1 then there is no loss. You gain the Bishop pair, develope a piece, and attack a central diagonal. Sounds ok to me.

With the knowledge of these positions I will test it out at chess.com in their live room. I don't encounter c4 that much in the opening so I'm going to run another engine tournament tonight with 1.e4 2. Nh6. They'll be 1 min games since I'm interested in the openings and how the final games look as the engines do their 'book learning'. Maybe do a 1.d4 tournament tomorrow.

The tournament I ran over the weekend saw 288 5 min games by three engines in a round robin tournament. The PGN for all 288 games can be found here: http://www.lockism.com/engine/c4Nh6.pgn . The results looks as such:
.
c4nh601 2008
Rybka 2.3.1 32-bit 60.0 - 36.063.0 - 33.0** 123.0/192
HIARCS 11.1 UCI 36.0 - 60.057.0 - 39.0 ** 93.0/192
Deep Shredder 10 UCI 33.0 - 63.039.0 - 57.0 ** 72.0/192
.
Below are final three wins for Black in the tournament.
.
[Event "c4nh601"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2008.06.29"]
[Round "92.3"]
[White "Deep Shredder 10 UCI"]
[Black "Rybka 2.3.1 32-bit"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkb1r/pppppppp/7n/8/2P5/8/PP1PPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2008.06.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[Source "Doezer"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nc3 O-O 4. h4 d6 5. h5 Ng4 6. Be2 Nf6 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Qd2Ng4 9. Bxg4 Bxg4 10. f3 Bd7 11. Bh6 Bxd4 12. Nge2 Be5 13. Bxf8 Qxf8 14. hxg6fxg6 15. O-O-O Qf7 16. Nd5 a5 17. Kb1 Rc8 18. Rdf1 a4 19. f4 Bg7 20. Qd3 e6 21.Ne3 Nb4 22. Qd2 Na6 23. e5 a3 24. b3 Bc6 25. Nc3 Nc5 26. Qe2 Rf8 27. Qc2 Qe728. Ng4 b6 29. b4 Nd7 30. b5 Bb7 31. c5 Nxc5 32. Ka1 Nd7 33. Nh6+ Bxh6 34. Rxh6dxe5 35. g3 Nc5 36. Qc1 Nd3 37. Qc2 e4 38. Rfh1 Rf7 39. Qa4 e3 40. R1h2 Qc5 41.Rc2 Nb4 42. Rhh2 Nxc2+ 43. Rxc2 Rd7 44. Nb1 Qf5 45. Nc3 Qd3 46. Rc1 e2 47. Nxe2Qxe2 48. Qxa3 Qxb5 49. Qc3 Qa4 50. Qb3 Qd4+ 51. Qb2 Qxb2+ 52. Kxb2 Rd2+ 53. Rc2Rxc2+ 54. Kxc2 Bd5 55. Kc3 Bxa2 56. Kb2 Bd5 57. Ka3 e5 58. fxe5 h5 59. Kb4 g560. Kc3 h4 61. gxh4 gxh4 62. Kd3 h3 63. e6 h2 64. e7 Kf7 65. Kc3 Kxe7 66. Kd3h1=Q 67. Kd2 Qf3 68. Kc2 Qe3 69. Kb2 Qd2+ 70. Kb1 b5 71. Ka1 Qc1# 0-1

[Event "c4nh601"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2008.06.29"]
[Round "96.1"]
[White "Rybka 2.3.1 32-bit"]
[Black "HIARCS 11.1 UCI"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkb1r/pppppppp/7n/8/2P5/8/PP1PPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "186"]
[EventDate "2008.06.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[Source "Doezer"]

1. Nc3 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe4+ Qe7 5. Qf4 Nb4 6. Kd1 c6 7. Nf3 d5 8.a3 Ng4 9. Be3 Nxe3+ 10. fxe3 Na6 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. g3 Nc7 13. Rc1 g6 14. Nd4Bg7 15. Bg2 Be5 16. Qh6 Be6 17. Nf3 f6 18. Nxe5 fxe5 19. Rf1 O-O-O 20. Ke1 Kb821. Qh4 Qxh4 22. gxh4 Rd6 23. Rf6 Rhd8 24. Rd1 a6 25. Kf2 Ka8 26. Kg3 Ka7 27.h3 Rb6 28. b4 Rbd6 29. Rd2 Ka8 30. Rf1 R6d7 31. Na4 Re7 32. Nc5 Bg8 33. a4 Bf734. Nd3 Be8 35. a5 Ka7 36. Nc5 Bb5 37. Rf6 Bc4 38. Rc2 Nb5 39. Kf2 Rc8 40. e4Nd4 41. Rc1 Rc6 42. Rf8 Nxe2 43. Rxc4 dxc4 44. Kxe2 b6 45. Na4 bxa5 46. bxa5 c347. Kd1 Rd7+ 48. Kc1 Rd2 49. Rf7+ Kb8 50. Bf3 Ra2 51. Rf8+ Kc7 52. Nb6 Kd6 53.Rd8+ Ke6 54. Bg4+ Kf7 55. Rd7+ Kf8 56. Rd5 Kg7 57. Nd7 Rc4 58. Nxe5 Rxe4 59.Bd1 Re1 60. Rd7+ Kf6 61. Nd3 Ra1+ 62. Kc2 Rexd1 63. Rd6+ Kf5 64. Rxa6 Rh1 65.Kxc3 Rxh3 66. Kc4 Rxh4+ 67. Kb5 Rd4 68. Nc5 Rd8 69. Nb7 Rb1+ 70. Kc6 Rc1+ 71.Kb5 Rb8 72. Rb6 h5 73. Nd6+ Ke6 74. Rxb8 Rb1+ 75. Kc6 Rxb8 76. Ne4 Kf5 77. Nd6+Kf4 78. a6 h4 79. a7 Ra8 80. Nf7 Rxa7 81. Nd8 Ra6+ 82. Kb5 Rf6 83. Nb7 h3 84.Nc5 h2 85. Nd3+ Kg3 86. Kb4 h1=Q 87. Kc5 Rc6+ 88. Kd4 Qh4+ 89. Ke3 Qg5+ 90. Kd4Qd8+ 91. Ke4 Re6+ 92. Ne5 Qd6 93. Ke3 Rxe5# 0-1

[Event "c4nh601"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2008.06.29"]
[Round "96.3"]
[White "Deep Shredder 10 UCI"]
[Black "Rybka 2.3.1 32-bit"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkb1r/pppppppp/7n/8/2P5/8/PP1PPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "146"]
[EventDate "2008.06.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[Source "Doezer"]

1. d4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. e4 d6 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Be2 Nc6 6. d5 Nb4 7. O-O Ng4 8. Ng5Nf6 9. Be3 c6 10. Rb1 Na6 11. b4 h6 12. Nf3 Ng4 13. Bd4 cxd5 14. cxd5 Bd7 15.Qd2 h5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. a4 Rc8 18. Nd4 h4 19. Ndb5 h3 20. gxh3 Nf6 21. Nxa7Ra8 22. Nab5 Bxh3 23. Rfc1 Rh8 24. a5 b6 25. Nd4 bxa5 26. Nc6 Qd7 27. bxa5 Nc528. Qe3 Ng4 29. Qd4+ f6 30. Na4 Nxa4 31. Qxa4 Nxh2 32. f3 Rh5 33. a6 Qe8 34.Rb7 Rg5+ 35. Kf2 Qh8 36. Rxe7+ Kf8 37. Qa1 Qh4+ 38. Ke3 Rg3 39. Qb2 Qg5+ 40.Kd3 Nxf3 41. Rc3 Bc8 42. Bxf3 Rxf3+ 43. Kc4 Bxa6+ 44. Kb3 Qf4 45. Re6 Bd3 46.Nb4 Bxe4 47. Rxf3 Qxf3+ 48. Kc4 Bxd5+ 49. Nxd5 Qg4+ 50. Kd3 Qxe6 51. Qxf6+ Qxf652. Nxf6 Kf7 53. Nd5 g5 54. Ke2 g4 55. Kf1 Ra3 56. Nb4 Rb3 57. Nc6 Rb2 58. Kg1Ke6 59. Nd8+ Kf5 60. Nc6 d5 61. Nd4+ Ke4 62. Ne6 d4 63. Ng5+ Kf4 64. Ne6+ Ke365. Ng5 d3 66. Kh1 d2 67. Kg2 d1=Q+ 68. Kg3 Qg1+ 69. Kh4 Rh2+ 70. Nh3 gxh3 71.Kh5 Qg7 72. Kh4 Kf4 73. Kh5 Qg5# 0-1

Alekhine Defense : Krejcik Gambit w Bxf7

Alright, I ran the engine tournament and was suprised that Deep Shredder 10 won. Rybka has been the reigning champion. I was very pleased with this engine tournament. The path to victory for Black is clear now. Although the king has moved and unable to castle, Black still has an advantage in the opening. This is probably due to the advanced pawns and the fact that you gain tempos by attacking the queen. In the games, if the queens can be traded off early then Black gains the big center and more active pieces. I'm ready for this attack now and will gladly accept the gambit. Here are the results:

...

krejcikBxf7 2008
Deep Shredder 10 UCI 22.5 - 9.526.5 - 5.5** 49.0/642

Rybka 2.3.1 32-bit 9.5 - 22.516.0 - 16.0 ** 25.5/643

HIARCS 11.1 UCI 5.5 - 26.516.0 - 16.0 ** 21.5/64

...

The 96 game PGN can be found here: http://www.lockism.com/engine/KrejcikBxf7.pgn

Here is a sample game of how Black can gain a good center and even destroy the Whites pawn structure.

.

[Event "krejcikBxf7"]

[Site "?"]

[Date "2008.06.25"]

[Round "5.1"]

[White "HIARCS 11.1 UCI"]

[Black "Deep Shredder 10 UCI"]

[Result "0-1"]

[PlyCount "111"]

[EventDate "2008.06.25"]

[EventType "tourn"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. Bc4 Nxe4 3. Bxf7 Kxf7 4. Qh5+ Kg8 5. Qd5+ e6 6. Qxe4 d5 7. Qe3 d4 8. Qe2 d3 9. Qxd3 Qxd310. cxd3 Nc6 11. Na3 e5 12. Nf3 Bg4 13. Nc2 Bxf3 14. gxf3 Kf7 15. b3 Bc5 16.Bb2 Rad8 17. Ke2 Rhe8 18. Rac1 a5 19. Rhg1 g6 20. Rg4 h6 21. h4 b6 22. Rcg1 Re623. Bc3 b5 24. Re4 b4 25. Bb2 Rde8 26. Rc1 R8e7 27. Rc4 Bb6 28. Re4 Rd6 29. Ne3 Bd4 30. Nc4 Rf6 31. Bxd4 exd4 32. Re1 Rfe6 33. Kd1 Kf6 34. Kc2 Kf7 35. h5 gxh5 36. Rh1 Kg6 37. Reh4 Re1 38. R1h3 Rf1 39. Rxh5 Ree1 40. Rxh6+ Kf7 41. Rh7+ Ke842. Rh8+ Kd7 43. a4 Rb1 44. R3h7+ Ne7 45. Rh1 Rxh1 46. Rxh1 Rxh1 47. Nxa5 Nc648. Nc4 Ke6 49. f4 Kf5 50. Kb2 Kxf4 51. Kc2 Ne5 52. Na5 Kf3 53. Nc4 Nxc4 54.dxc4 Ke2 55. d3 Rd1 56. a5 Rxd3 57. a6 Rc3+ 58. Kb2 d3 0-1

Alekhine Defense : Krejcik Gambit

1. e4 Nf6 2. Bc4!? An interesting line with only one real trap to it. I was caught by this in a 1 min blitz game and wanted to see what the refutations were. There were many interesting games. Rybka won again. I really need some new engines. Something to give Rybka a run for its money. I'm going to run a tournament between Rybka, Hiarcs, and Deep Shredder 10 for the line 1. e4 Nf6 2. Bc4 Nxe4 3. Bxf7+ . This was the line that kinda threw me and in the tournament there were only a couple of games that ran this line. I will post the results when the games finish. I'd like to do a 40-60 game tournament with the 3 engines. The results to the initial Krejcik Gambit tournament with 5 engines and 40 games was as follows:

krejcik 2008

1 Rybka 2.3.1 32-bit 6.0/8

2 HIARCS 11.1 UCI 4.5/8

3 Deep Shredder 10 UCI 3.5/8 13.50

4 Fritz 9 3.5/8 13.25

5 Shredder 10 UCI 2.5/8

The PGN can be downloaded here: http://www.lockism.com/engine/Krejcik.pgn

My 1 min game complex

I can't get away from 1 min games. I think its because I've been focusing a bunch on Unorthodox Openings. Its so much fun pretending I'm Hikaru Nakamura. I'm still an amateur and don't know good time management, when I get into a long game I rush it and lose quickly. I win a bunch but its really not the type of wins I want. Dan Heisman says its better to lose a well thought out game than it is to win a rushed, sloppy game. (Not his exact words but you get the breeze.) Here is an example of a won game but in a BAD way. It was supposed to be a Larsen's Opening gambit but turned into a Bird.

[Event "1 min blitz"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2008.06.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "boogaloo"]
[Black "kevin235"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. b3 e6 2. f4 Be7 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 O-O5. Be2 Re8 6. Bb2 d6 7. d4 Nc6 8. Nbd2 b69. Bd3 Bb7 10. Qe2 Qd7 11. O-O-O Bd8 12. g4 Be713. g5 Nh5 14. Qg2 f6 15. h4 fxg5 16. hxg5 g617. d5 Nd8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Rh1 Bf8 20. Rxh5 Bg721. Rxh7 Bxb2+ 22. Kxb2 Qxh7 23. Bxh7+ Kxh7 24. Qh3+ Kg725. Qh6+ Kf7 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. g6 Re7 28. g7+ Ke829. g8=Q+ Kd7 30. Qxe6+ Ke8 31. Qhxe7#

Mokele Mbembe Engine tournament

I ran an engine tournament for the Mokele Mbembe Variation of the Alekhine defense. There were 420 games total. The result looked like this:

Mokele 2008

Rybka 2.3.1 32-bit 91.5
HIARCS 11.1 UCI 79.5
Shredder 10 UCI 69.5
Deep Shredder 10 UCI 67.5
Naum 2.0 57.5
Aristarch 4.50 32.5
Ruffian 1.0.1 22.0

The PGN file can be located here http://www.lockism.com/engine/MokeleEngine.pgn

Alekhine Brooklyn Variation

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Ng8!

The Brooklyn Variation of the Alekhine Defense. I ran across this variation on the Unorthodox Chess Openings yahoogroups. They constantly talk about new and interesting openings. This one is 'somewhat' interesting. Its more for the shock value than anything else. I viewed a couple of games they posted and wanted to view more. Following Clyde Nakamura's lead I decided to run a chess engine mini-tournament. There were 12 games in all and they were very interesting. Not suprising though was the fact that black only won one of the games. There were many draws and many wins. While watching some of these games though I realized that for lower rated players (like me) could easily equalize and stun the opponents. Most likely in a 2 or 1 min game. I have come across these positions before so I will try this opening soon. The resulting over extended center kinda reminds me of positions I've reached with the Nimzovitch defense. I will post more about that after I practice this Brooklyn Variation. The games can be found here: http://www.lockism.com/engine/ The file name is Brooklyn_Variation and the results of the games were as so:

Oh.. and this was my first Chess Engine Tournament. I think I could have tweaked it more but am pleased with the results. My analysis can only get better from here on out.

The Tango!

I've been trying a bunch of different openings now that I can play quick live games at work. Today I realized that I haven't been playing the Two Knights Tango. I bought a Tango book years ago but never really studied it and it has been sitting on my shelf. I took it out yesterday and didn't really ready but just skimmed through it. I was very interested in this opening because it is hypermodern to the extreme. Black developes his knights hopeing white will over extend his pawn thus turning them from assets to targets. I luv it. Well today I played one quick game of it and it went well but since it was a 1 min game i lost on time. :( But its ok.. there are many many more 1 min games. Below is the pgn with Fritz 9 blunder check.

[Event "1 min match"]
[Site "Chess.com Live Room"]
[Date "2008.06.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "dalmatinac"]
[Black "boogaloo"]
[Result "1-0"][ECO "A50"]
[Annotator "Doezer,Jonathan"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2008.06.18"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. d5 Ne7 5. e4 Ng6 {last book move} 6. Bg5 Bc57. Nge2 d6 ({-0.30 Fritz 9:} 7... Bxf2+ 8. Kd2 h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Kc2 O-O 11.d6 cxd6 12. Qd3 Bc5 13. Rd1 Nf4 {[%eval -179,12]}) 8. Qd2 a6 9. O-O-O b5 ({0.01 Fritz 9:} 9... Bxf2 10. Ng3 Bxg3 11. hxg3 h6 12. Be3 Ng4 13. Be2 Nxe3 14.Qxe3 Qg5 15. Qxg5 hxg5 16. Bh5 {[%eval -87,12]}) 10. cxb5 axb5 11. Nxb5 Bd7 ({0.02 Fritz 9:} 11... Rxa2 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Ng3 O-O 14. Nc3 Ra8 15. Bb5 Bg4 16.f3 Ra1+ 17. Kc2 {[%eval -97,10]}) 12. Nbc3 Bb4 13. Ng3 Rxa2 14. Kb1 Qa8 15. Kc2Ba4+ 16. Kd3 Qa6+ 17. Ke3 Qb6+ 18. Kf3 Bxd1+ 19. Qxd1 Bxc3 20. Qb3 Qxb3 21.bxc3 Qxc3+ 22. Be3 Rxf2+ 23. Kxf2 Nh4 ({-10.75 Fritz 9:} 23... Ng4+ 24. Ke2Qxe3+ 25. Kd1 Qd4+ 26. Ke2 h5 27. Nxh5 Rxh5 28. h4 Qb2+ {[%eval -32754,10]})24. Be2 Qd2 ({3.66 Fritz 9:} 24... Qb4 25. Ra1 O-O 26. Rc1 Nxe4+ 27. Nxe4 Qxe428. Bf3 {[%eval -1100,12]}) 25. Bxd2 Nxe4+ ({5.70 Fritz 9:} 25... h6 26. Rc1Kd8 27. Ba5 Ne8 28. Bb5 Ng6 29. Bxe8 Kxe8 30. Nf5 {[%eval 344,12]}) 1-0

Oh god...

My new fav hiphop track is: I Run This - Birdman & Little Wayne

A lot of new Hiphop is trash. This song might be as well, but its catchy and definitely a club banger. I haven't been listening to a lot of hiphop lately. Just my regular Gypsy Jazz and Bluegrass. I recently 'acquired' some flamenco and really like Paco DeLucia. Good stuff.

So..... I witnessed a store robbery last night. I'll post more later.

hassleme.co.uk

Well I just found an excellent site. Its called HassleMe. You go to the website and set up a reminder for yourself. Basically write a message and then set it up for how ever many days you want the reminder to come. I just used it to : "Play a game of Blindfold chess on ICC!!" I hope this will help me remember this. Although I think GMail can do this as well, I think its an interesting site and will support it. Anyways, I need to be 'nagged' to do things sometimes. The more reminders the better!

A Polish Feast

----------------
Mmmm. Yummy Cabbage!
Quickly I will devour thee.
Polish food is good.
----------------

Yesterday I had the privilege to attend the Annual Polish Festival in Patterson Park. It was all weekend but my girlfriend and I only attended the last day. We also only attended for a couple of hours but I accomplished what I went there to do... EAT. My girlfriend and I enjoy making and eating traditional ethnic foods. Hearing there was a Polish Festival right down the street we made it a point to go and sample the local fare. First entering the festival we tried some handmade Pierogi's. Pierogi's are basically like dumplings, pasta outer coverings with ingredients in the middle. Pierogi's are famous in Poland but they are common in all 'Slavic' regions of Europe. They advertised two flavors. The first was a sauerkraut/mushroom pierogi and the second a cheese/mash potato pierogi. We wanted to try all of them but unfortunately they only had the sauerkraut and mushroom one. It was great but I was looking forward to the cheese one. The sauerkraut really took over the flavoring the the aftertaste of the pierogi was amazing. Well worth the buy. Next we tried a local Baltimore's take on a spicy polish sausage. It was great. I had it on bread covered in onions and bell peppers. Although it was a 'polish' sausage it was still just a regular sausage you buy at any festival. Flavors were good but nothing I didn't have before. After the sausage we went to a little family owned stand and go the 'Polish Dish'. It was mash potatoes, pickles, fried pork chops, and some cabbage on the side. Everything was basic except for the cabbage. It totally made up for the $6 price and the instant mashed potatoes. This cabbage was almost a soup, relatively thick, with meat stock to it. Absolutely amazing. I need to find the recipe. Actually, I WILL find the recipe. That was too good to not have again.

There was also a Filipino stand there and they were selling the regular pinoy booth food. Rice, Pork bbq, chicken, and lumpia. What they had that really made my day though was the cantaloupe juice. MMMMMmmmmm. So good. The juice caught my eye and I had to have some. That's the first time I've had that since the old Fil-Am meetings in Italy. If you've never had it I suggest you go get some NOW.

After that we watched some polka bands, bought a belt and then left. I got a cool blue and black cowboy belt. I'll post some pics later.. or not. Whatev.