Encounter with a chess master

I was truly surprised after getting an offer to play for a team in this year's First Division Chess League. We do not have a Premier League, so apart from our national chess championship; this is supposed to be the highest domestic chess event!. It was hard to imagine why any team would be interested in a below 1900 player. What is happening with Bangladesh chess? I wondered. However, things got cleared when I learned that a majority of our top ranked plyaers boycotted this event as a protest against the newly elected executive committee of the federation.

Though there were moments of hesitation, I nevertheless, agreed to play. One of my seniour collegues and chess friends, Jakir Hossain Bhuyan was also playing for the same team. And for both of us, playing together was the main motivating factor.

My team was jobs-vander.com. Initially, I was selected for the third board and with a mere 1890 I din't see any point to complain. But on the first match day, our team manager announced that our number one player is seriously ill so we have to play one board up. Only Jakir Hossain was kept on board 4 while a new player, Ishtiaq was assigned to the board 3.

Overall the tournament did not go well for me. I lost more games than I won (+2-4=3). However, there was one good game that I managed to play. This is the story of that game. It was in the seventh round. We were paired against the tournament leader Bangladesh Biman. With two Grandmasters (Ziaur Rahman and Niaz Murshed), one International Master (Saptarshi Roy) and two FIDE Masters, it was also the strongest of all. For Biman, GM Ziaur Rahman was playing at the first board and GM Niaz Murshed was at the second.

This was a kind of 'dreadful delight' for me. On one hand, facing Niaz Murshed was a bit scarry (I must admit), on the other hand, the idea of facing the first ever South Asian Grandmaster was very exciting. But for obvious reason (we were the lowest aggregate rated team in the tournament) Niaz vai wanted to have a free day so I was paired against Indian International Master Saptarshi Roy.

And I was so disappointed.

I spent the entire night analyzing his favorite lines against d4. Basically, I was convinced that we would be getting a modern defence (1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6) as I had White and my rating is too low for him to respond with anything else! I was willing to try the Fischer-Benko setup with Bd3 and f4! But, instead of that I got Saptarshi. Now, in terms of rating there was not much difference between Murshed vai and Saptarshi. Moreover, what difference does it make when both of them are 400 ELO higher (and your manager comes before the game telling there is no shame in loosing but just try not to be mated within 20!) ? But to me the difference was big. one is our National Hero of chess and the other (with all due respect dada) is just a mere strong IM !

The game started in due time. And it was a Semi-Slav Noteboom. Grandmaster Zia appeared a bit late but finished his game very quickly at the first board. Around 24/25 moves I saw Zia vai is watching our game! And on the move forty Saptarshi offered me a draw which I duly accepted. This was my only mentionable achievement in the entire tournament and it was the only half point that Saptarshi lost during that tournament! For personal pleasure (!?) and for the curious ones here is the game:

Alimuzzaman (1890) - Saptarshi Roy (2419)

First Division League 2009, Round 07
BCF Hall, Dhaka
[D31] Semi-Slav: Noteboom variation

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e3 b5 6. a4 Bb4 7. Bd2 a5 8. axb5 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 cxb5 10. b3 Bb7 11. bxc4 b4 12. Bb2 Nf6 13. Bd3 O-O 14. O-O Nbd7 15. Re1 Ne4 16. Qc2 f5 17. Nd2 Ndf6 18. f3 Nxd2 19. Qxd2 Qb6 20. c5 Qc7 21. Bc4 Bd5 22. Bxd5 exd5 23. Ra4 Rfe8 24. Rea1 Ra7 25. Bc1 Rb8 26. Qd3 g6 27. Qb3 Rb5 28. Bd2 Kg7 29. Be1 f4 30. exf4 Qxf4 31. Qd3 Qb8 32. Bg3 Qb7 33. Qb3 Kf7 34.Re1 Qc6 35. Raa1 Rbb7 36.Ra4 Qb5 37. Bd6 Ra8 38. Rc1 Qc6 39. Rca1 Qb5 40. Rc1 Qc6

Here, on Black's offer, White agreed to draw.

It all began in 2007 ...

Once before, around 2008, I actually posted these games.

I created a blog titled 'BDCHESS'. However, I could not maintain it. Part of the reason was lack of my motivation (I was not sure about the whole blogging thing) and part of it was my unhappiness with the blog format. I wanted BDCHESS to have diagrams and java boards, so that interested onlookers may actually go through the moves. However, back then, that seemed out of my reach!

So, this is my second effort.

I changed the name from BDCHESS to MY ENDORPHINE. It seems to represent my recent relationship with this game better.

Before you, are the three games from my first tournament ever. I was unrated and had only one REAL chess book  in my collection: the 'My 60 Memorable Games'. Though this was my first tournament appearance, I played many games with my friends. Especially with Khan Shah Newaz (the person who taught me how to play this game!), Sheikh Abdul Goni, Ashfaqur Rahman Upol, Mohammad Jakir Hossain Bhuiyan and Hirok.

Newaz, aka, Sweet was the best among us. He was naturally talented and had a deeper understanding of the game. I am using past tense because he no longer plays chess. Goni was also very talented. Never read any chess literature, but was very smart with his Knights. He too no longer plays chess. Upol had a rating of around 1800. It was funny that Sweet would lose to Upol, then Upol would lose to Goni and then Goni would never win against Sweet. A kind of 'Tal-Korchnoi-Keres' affair was going on. Hirok was the weakest among us. Apart from me, Jakir Hossain is the only person still plays chess regularly. His rating over 1800 and is constantly improving.

Now coming back to my first tournament, I must admit, I was scared. The clock, mandatory writing of the moves and the very serious faces of veteran chess players were quite intimidating. In the first game I lost badly to a player rated 2060. I played King's Indian against his 1.d4 and messed up things in the opening, lost a piece within 15 moves and resigned within 30. However, I won in the second game against a non-rated player and that gave me some confidence. At the end, I managed 5.5 out of 9 rounds and was quite satisfied with some of my games. Here is the three wins against three rated players. In some future article I shall be posting some of my lost games too.

But for now, let me share those three sweet wins against three rated chess-hawks.

* Assuming that not everyone is familiar with chess notations, here is a simple explanation: K= King (রাজা), Q=Queen (মন্ত্রী), B=Bishop (হাতী), N=Knight (ঘোড়া), R=Rook (নৌকা) and Pawn or soldiers do not have any symbol. They are just known as the name of the files. x means exchange. Moves are written as per coordinates of the board. For example, 1.e4 means the Pawn in front of the White king moved two square forward. e is the file where the Pawn is located and 4 is the rank where it moved.

 Game 1
Arifa Khatun Moni (1860) - Alimuzzaman

[D02]: 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 sidelines

First Pragati Insurance FIDE Rating Tournament, Dhaka

Round: 04, 31.09.2007

06 Moves, 0-1.

Moni was the first of my three lady opponents in this tournament. And guess what – it lasted only 6 moves!! The game created a tremendous interest in the tournament Hall and the lady, Ms Moni, quite known to the chess circle, did not appear any of the next rounds! A six move win is quite rare in club matches and rarer in the tournaments. These days kids learn the elementary opening traps before even playing any single tournament game. But sometimes, one gets chance of a life time to execute such devilish traps and I was certainly pleased to do that. This was the shortest game of the tournament. 

1 c4 Surprise for me. I can not remember playing even any of my casual games, against this Pawn move. 1 ...c5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 d4 d5 4 dxc5 e6! Not worrying about the lost Pawn which Black would gain ultimately. 5 cxd5 Bxc5! The exclamation mark is just to appreciate the decision for setting up the trap which I did not actually imagined my opponent would fall into. More accurate would have been 5...Qxd5 6.Qxd5 Nxd5 7.a3 Bxc5 8.b4 Bb6 or perhaps 5...Nxd5 6.e4 Nf6 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8 8.Nc3 Bxc5 9.Bg5 h6 10.0–0–0+ Ke7!, etc. But then this would not have happened :). 6 dxe6??

6...Bxf2+!!

What can I say? White resigned immediately and rushed off from the playing hall!

Game 2
Alimuzzaman - Nure Alam (1840)

[C11]: French Defence

First Pragati Insurance FIDE Rating Tournament, Dhaka 

Round: 05 , 01.10.2007

58 Moves; 1-0

This was my first game in the tournament where I played 1.e4. While I was expecting the Sicilian, all I got was the French, about which I knew very little. My opponent was one of the tournament veterans who had recently dropped quite a few ELO ratings. However, he was also known for his brutal onslaughts against the Rookies. Another interesting point: His eight years old son was also playing in this tournament and that kid had an ELO of 1800!

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Nf3 c5 6 Be3 cxd4 7 Bxd4 Nc6 8 a3 a6 9 Qe2 Nxd4 10 Nxd4 Qc7 11 f4 Bc5 12 Qd3 b5 13 Nb3

Up to this move, I used up more than thirty minutes, while my opponent was playing like a blitz game and had more time than what we started with! Here, though Black has the Bishop pair, I was not entirely unhappy. 13...Bb6 14 Be2 Nc5 15 Nxc5 Qxc5 16 0–0–0! Not fearing the check of the Queen. 16...Qe3+ 17 Kb1! Actually White used one of Black moves to shift his King where it will be more safe. 17...Qxf4?! I saw this move before my move 16. And I found something which suggested this would not be a good idea for Black. But a Pawn is a Pawn, and it is very hard to resist such a fat and unprotected f4 Pawn. Better would have been 17...Bb7 18.Qxe3 Bxe3 when it is Black who keeps a small advantage.

18 Nxd5!! I am proud of finding this move over the Board. On move 16 I saw this, but before playing it I actually had to calculated Blacks responses up to move 23.

18...exd5 19 Qxd5 0–0 20 Qxa8 Bg4 21 Qxa6 Bxe2 22 Qxb6 Bxd1 23 Rxd1 Qxe5 24 g3?! Better was 24.Rd8!? 24...Qe2 25 Qg1 Rc8 26 Rc1 h6 27 h4 Qc4 28 Qf1 Qa4 29 Qf5 Ra8 30 Rf1 Ra7 31 Rf4 Qa6 32 Rb4 Qd6 33 Rxb5 Qxg3 34 Qc8+?! Much better is 34.Re5!? Ra8 35.Qe4+- 34...Kh7 35 h5 Qe1+ 36 Ka2 Qe6+ If 36...Re7, I was planning 37.Rb7 Rxb7 38.Qxb7 Qe6+ and then 39.Qb3! 37 Qxe6 fxe6 38 Kb3 g5 39 hxg6 Kxg6 40 Re5 Re7 41 Kc3 h5 42 Re2 e5 43 Kd3 h4 44 Ke4 Kg5 45 Rg2+ Kh5 46 c4 h3 47 Re2 Kg4 48 Re1 h2 49 c5 Kg3 50 b4 Rf7 51 Rh1 Ra7? 52 Kxe5!? Rxa3

53 c6! Rc3 54 b5 Rc5+ 55 Kd6 Rc3 56 c7 Kg2 57 Rxh2+ Kxh2 58 b6 and Black resigned.

Game 3

Alimuzzaman - Mahmuda Khatun Molly (1960)

[C14]: French Defence

First Pragati Insurance FIDE Rating Tournament, Dhaka.

Round: 09, 06.10.2007

36 Moves; 1-0

Third of my Lady opponents in the tournament and certainly most attractive one currently playing chess in Bangladesh! Also my second experience with French and result is +2 against it. This time off course, I knew a little more than round 5 as I studied one of Fischer's Game from his My 60 Memorable Games.

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e5 Nfd7 6 Be3 c5 7 Qg4!?

7...Kf8 8 h4?! cxd4 9 Bxd4 Nc6 10 Nf3 Nxd4 11 Qxd4 Bc5 12 Qf4 h6 13 Nb5!

13...Qa5+ 14 c3 Qb6 15 Nfd4?! Much better was 15.0–0–0 and not worry about that Pawn 15...Nb8? Why? I did not understand. I still don't. But I was happy to see this move. 16 Nb3 I thought this was a good move. And perhaps it is. But my silicon monster does not agree. It believes 16.Rh3! Nc6 17.Rf3 Nd8 gives White a winning advantage. Such a monster! 16...Be7 17 Bd3 Ke8? 18 Qg4?! Again missed the point. Better was 18.0–0–0. And frankly, both on 15th and 18th move, I did consider castling but overtly worried about my f2 Pawn resulting in declining castling on both occasions. 18...Rg8, if she repeated with18...Kf8 I was thinking about pushing my a Pawn. 19 Bh7 Rf8 20 Nd6+!

20...Bxd6 21 exd6 Qxd6 22 Qxg7 Nd7 23 0–0–0 Qf4+ 24 Kb1 b6? 25 Nd4 Ba6 26 Rhe1 Nc5?

27 Nxe6?! 27.b5! man b5! and then this sac. 27...Nxe6 28 Rxe6+?? In fact, if I would not have analyzed this game with FRITZ, perhaps I would have put two exclamations here instead of two question marks. I was so proud of finding this tactical blow over the board that after making this move I stood up from my chair and went to see other games! And just after finishing the game many of the spectators congratulated me on this very move!! One of my University Junior, also played in this tournament, actually gave me two-thumbs up for the combination which neatly gained two Pawns?? by a long sacrificial combination. Off course Ms Molly exactly made the move that I calculated and the rest is just history. But how wrong was I! In fact-after sacrificing the Rook-White was just lost. This is a classic example of chess blindness especially during the calculation of combinations that we the armature players are so vulnerable to. I learned more from making one such mistakenly calculated but extremely lucky combination than all the games I played during the tournament!! 28...fxe6–+ 29 Bg6+ What else? Other moves are just as hopeless as it was. For example, 29.Re1 Qf7 30.Qxh6–+ 29...Rf7??

Now Black gives the game back to White on silver platter! And this is the move that I calculated Black would have to make. I did not see that after 29...Kd8!! all of my cocky combinations would become fruitless and Black would have coolly secure victory.

Analysis diagram: after cool 29...Kd8

For example, 30.h5 Rc8 31.Qxa7 Be2 is clearly better for Black 30 Qg8!+ Off course! You only live twice. 30...Ke7 31 Qxa8 Rg7 32 Qxa7+! Kf6!? 33 Qxa6 Rxg6 34.g3 Qe4+ 35.Qd3!? Intention was simple. Do not give her any opportunity of counter play. But better was 35.Ka1! 35...Qa4? 36 Qd4+ and Black resigned.