January 2018 Chess Games

Games shown here were played against my chess applet, the Homeostatic Chess Player, a computer program I wrote in the first year of this century.

Double King Pawn Opening

Rick vs. Homeostatic Chess Player on Intel CORE i7 Dell Inspiron laptop, January 7, 2018. Minimal look-ahead set to six tempi. The computer is playing black.

	White	Black
1.	e4	e5
2.	Nf3	Nc6
3.	Bc4	Bd6       The point of black's bishop move is to free the knight to attack the bishop at c4.
4.	a3	Na5       White wants to keep the bishop on the line to f7 so he makes a hidey hole.
5.	Ba2	c5        The c5 move makes black's bishop chasing less pointless.

Position after move 5.

6.	c3	Rb8
7.	d4	e5xd4
8.	cxd4	Nc6
9.	O-O	cxd4
10.	Nxd4	Qc7       Black has moved his queen's knight three times and has an isolated pawn on a half open file.

Position after move 10.

11.	h3	Ng8e7
12.	Nc3	a6
13.	Nd5	Nxd5
14.	exd5	Nxd4
15.	Qxd4	O-O       A symmetrical pawn position with equal development.

Position after move 15.

16.	Qh4	b5
17.	Bb1	f5
18.	Be3	Bb7
19.	Ba2	Qc2
20.	Bd4	Qe4       Black poses an unavoidable queen exchange.

Position after move 20.

21.	Qxe4	fxe4
22.	Rf1e1	Rb8e8
23.	Ra1d1	Kh8
24.	b4	Bf4
25.	Be3	Bd6       White needs to create some initiative.

Position after move 25.

26.	Rc1	Rf5
27.	Re1d1	Kg8?      White's rooks are now better placed. Black's king move is a mistake. Better to get luft!
28.	Bc5	Bxc5?
29.	bxc5	e3        Black's taking of the bishop allowed white's pawn phalanx in the center.
30.	fxe3	Rxe3

Position after move 30.

31.	c6	Bc8
32.	d6+	Kh8       An all-imporant tempo.
33.	cxd7	Bxd7
34.	Rc7	Rxa3      
35.	Rxd7	Rf8       White wins a piece due to black's lack of luft!

Position after move 35.

36.	Re7	Rxa2      I could have saved the bishop, but don't need to.
37.	d7	b4
38.	d8=Q	Ra2f2     It's effectively all over now, just the mopping up is left.
39.	Re8	Kg8
40.	Qd5+	Kh8

Position after move 40.

41.	Qa8	Kg8
42.	Rxf8+	Rxf8
43.	Qxa6	Rb8
44.	Qc4+	Kh8
45.	Qxb4	Rc8

Position after move 45.

46.	Qb7	Rg8
47.	Qf7	Ra8
48.	Rd7	Rg8
49.	h4      Black resigns

Position after move 49.

Two Knights Defense

Rick vs. Homeostatic Chess Player on Intel CORE i7 Dell Inspiron laptop, January 10-11, 2018. Minimal look-ahead set to six tempi. The computer is playing black.

	White	Black
1.	e4	e5        Double king pawn opening.
2.	Nf3	Nc6       Standard attack and defense.
3.	Bc4	Nf6       The two knights defense.
4.	Ng5	d5        The Steinitz attack!
5.	exd5	Nxd5      Nxd5 is generally considered insufficient and this game illustrates why.

Position after move 5.

6.	d4!	Nxd4      On the surface, d4 seems to lose a pawn, but that's not the case,
7.	c3	h6        6. Nxf7 is the Fried Liver Attack, also unpleasant for black. See the next game for 7. ... f6.
8.	Nxf7	Kxf7      Moving the knight to a safe square also let's black's knight off the hook.
9.	cxd4	b5
10.	Bb3	Ke6       Taking the offered pawn is also feasible, but the text move is faster.

Position after move 10.

11.	O-O	c6
12.	dxe5	Kxe5
13.	Re1+	Kd6
14.	Bf4+	Kc5
15.	Re5	b4        Black keeps the knight confined. There really are no good moves for black here.

Position after move 15.

16.	Be3+	Kd6
17.	Rxd5+	cxd5
18.	Qxd5+	Kc7
19.	Qxa8	Qd7
20.	Qxa7+	Bb7

Position after move 20.

21.	Nd2	Qc6       Black has a mating threat!
22.	Nf3	Qe4
23.	Rc1+	Kd7
24.	Ne5+	Qxe5
25.	Qxb7+	Qc7       Checkmate is inevitable.

Position after move 25.

26.	Rxc7+   Black resigns

Two Knights Defense

Rick vs. Homeostatic Chess Player on Intel CORE i7 Dell Inspiron laptop, January 14, 2018. Minimal look-ahead set to six tempi. The computer is playing black.

	White	Black
1.	e4	e5
2.	Nf3	Nc6
3.	Bc4	Nf6
4.	Ng5	d5
5.	exd5	Nxd5

Position after move 5, same as in the game above.

6.	d4!	Nxd4      Yes, d4 again gets an exclamation mark, as in Horrowitz's Chess Openings.
7.	c3	f6        At first glance, f6 looks stronger than h6 as played above, but it's not.
8.	cxd4	fxg5
9.	dxe5	Bb4+
10.	Nd2	Nb6

Position after move 10.

11.	Bb3	Qe7
12.	O-O	g4
13.	a3	Ba5
14.	Nc4	Nxc4
15.	Bxc4	Qxe5

Position after move 15.

16.	b4	Bxb4
17.	axb4	Qxa1      The point of black's audacity in snatching the pawn at e4.
18.	Re1+	Be6       My point in letting him.
19.	Rxe6+	Kf8
20.	Qd2	Rc8       Black has nothing better.

Position after move 20.

21.	Qf4+	Qf6
22.	Rxf6+	gxf6
23.	Qxf6+   Black resigns

Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com