Dear chess enthusiasts,

Today I had the great annual easter chess game with my wives father I told
you about in a previous message.

Sadly, due to work, I haven't had the energy or motivation to study the
past 4-5 months, so in a fit of desperation, I grabbed one of my favourite
chess books, Zuke em: The Colle Zukertort Revolutionized, and went through
the main ideas of the main line in about 45 minutes or so before the
arrival of our guests.

I've read the first 100 pages or so of the book 2 times before, and I have
played the system at least 50-75 times or so, but still, 45 minutes after
not doing anything for 5 months... I thought I was doomed!

And then the miracle started... an enormously cautious and defensive game
from both sides, and in the end it turned out to be an opening in the form
of a bastardized Colle-Zukertort. I did not get all the way to the end of
the opening, so it was a kind of mix of the regular Colle and the
Zukertort, because I had to deviate and adapt (I played white).

So in terms of the game itself, it is kind of a parallell activity during
easter, no time, and we play until interrupted by dinner, then play, then
interrupted by desert, play, coffee, so the game goes on when we have time
from around 14:00 and ended around 19:00.

Enormously cautious and defensive, and the first key moment is here:

Photo 1: https://i.postimg.cc/2yZ9DnWh/IMG-7686.jpg

Question: Black to move, how would you rate our position? I tried to bait
him with the knight to open up the left side for my rook and was hoping to
be able to do something nasty with the bishop and queen.

The game continued with no big mistakes, and the advantage actually moved
back and forth... in photo 2 you see where we agreed on a draw:

Photo 2: https://i.postimg.cc/xjJ4MVZ8/IMG-7687.jpg

My idea was to try and get the rook or bishop to remove the pawn blocking
my white pawn on F6, but it was very tight in the corner. I toyed around
with sacrificing the bishop (a bait he didn't take) and he tried to trap
my rook and/or bishop with the king.

Do you think a draw was a good choice? I can add that all family members
except us were tired of the game and pushing us hard to wrap it up, so a
draw was agreed upon.

Given the fact that he wins about 80% of the games, and my very bad
preparation I'm very happy with my draw and it was a great game!

The thing I could do better, I think, is to attack earlier and more
specifically _know when to attack_. I think I waited too long to attack.

Best regards,
Daniel

D schrieb am 31.03.24 um 23:07:

> Today I had the great annual easter chess game with my wives

How many?

> Photo 1: https://i.postimg.cc/2yZ9DnWh/IMG-7686.jpg
>
> Question: Black to move, how would you rate our position?

Black wins, as he (or they) can eat the knight.

> Photo 2: https://i.postimg.cc/xjJ4MVZ8/IMG-7687.jpg

> Do you think a draw was a good choice?

Not if W moves. Exchange rooks after Rd7 and then
eat all the "white" pawns with the bishop.

On Mon, 1 Apr 2024, Carlo XYZ wrote:

> D schrieb am 31.03.24 um 23:07:
>
>> Today I had the great annual easter chess game with my wives
>
> How many?

.... I wish! ;) "Wives father". Jokes aside, I was in a situation once with
two girl friends and it was 1.5x the good and 2x the bad. Not highly
recommended!

>> Photo 1: https://i.postimg.cc/2yZ9DnWh/IMG-7686.jpg
>>
>> Question: Black to move, how would you rate our position?
>
> Black wins, as he (or they) can eat the knight.

Chess is such a funny game. I was actually goading him to take the knight
so that I could some how smash through on that side of the board by
opening up for my rook, and he did not believe it was a good idea. Me
neither. But neither of us are experts.

>> Photo 2: https://i.postimg.cc/xjJ4MVZ8/IMG-7687.jpg
>
>> Do you think a draw was a good choice?
>
> Not if W moves. Exchange rooks after Rd7 and then
> eat all the "white" pawns with the bishop.

Sorry, black to move. If it would have been my move, the game would be
over for him, I agree.