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I just wanted to check the progress of the vote chess game which we were playing against Rapid Chess when we were in "The Chess club" and so i joined the Rapid chess. And then I quit the group. Now i see that I am being booted from the two vote games here which we were playing against Rapid chess. I cant even rejoin the games now. Will raise the issue with staff. This is crap.

computer analysis and post-mortem of this game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=17905&ncc=1#first_new_comment 4... c5! rybka agrees this is the best move, finding it only at a depth of 12 and beyond. The game slightly favors white +0.15@15. 5... f5. rybka likes Nf6 as it almost always does early in the opening. f5 scores nearly as well. It's interesting that rybka is trying to induce Nf6 e5? where dxe5 fxe5 Nfd7 strongly favors black. White's big center quickly becomes a target instead of a strength and the e pawn falls. white has a small advantage here +0.25@13. 6... Bxf5. best. 7... Nd7?! rybka is looking at interesting knight moves, bouncing between Na6 and Nh6! In fact, it wants to play both moves in its main line (+0.27@14). Our move scores a little worse +0.48@15. We were following a game plan laid out by a 2300+ player, but apparently he didn't understand the position well either! :) Rybka's main line has Nh6 as a useful move in response to white's Bd3. Now we aren't forced to trade on d3. Rybka is maneuvering the Nb8-a6-c7 with the intention of playing e6. Notice that the e pawn is backward on a half-open file, and if we can trade it, we can try to put a knight on d4 to shield the backward d pawn. Rybka's main line ends up being total craziness... Qa5+ Qd2! Qxd2+ Kxd2! and black is using their pressure along the long diagonal to prevent white from making more natural moves. 8... Qb6. Rybka likes Qa5+, which makes sense (Qa5+ Bd2? Qb6 is awkward for white, possibly forcing Bc1 losing a tempo). Our move scores only slightly worse +0.31@14. 9... Bxc3+! Rybka agrees, but only at a depth of 12+. White still has a solid advantage though +0.41@15. Our opponents are playing the opening very well. 10... Qa5. Just as good as rybka's preferred Ngf6. 11... Nb6. Just as good as rybka's Ngf6. We are closing the gap +0.17@14. 12... Bd7. Very close in value to rybka's Be4. We were pulling ideas from a master game and seem to be applying them very well. +0.29@14. 13... Na4. Another very small slip in value. Rybka still demands Nf6, and we slip from +0.28 to +0.40@15. 14... e6?? A huge blunder and we are getting crushed. Rybka wants Nf6 with white still holding a very small edge. After e6, rybka gives the main line as dxe6 Bxe6 Qe4 and things are so bad that black castles queenside rather then protect the bishop. +3.17@16! Wow, we got very lucky to draw from here! 15... hxg6. Best. White misses the best line but still has a crushing advantage. +2.60@14. 16... Kf8?? Drops a rook as white now has f5 exf5 Qxd6+ Ke8 Qe5+ winning the a8 rook. 17... exf5. Best, but hopeless if white plays correctly. 18... Ne7?? Scores much worse then Ke8, but Ke8 Qe5+ is completely crushing for white too. The game is now beyond any hope: +12.43@11. 19... Rd8?? Rybka announces mate in 6. Extra credit to anyone who can calculate this line. 20... Qc7?? White blunders badly, bringing the game back to +3.20@13. We blunder right back as Rxf5+ is still crushing for white, scoring over +6.0. Probably our move is best in practice as white has obviously missed the tactics with Rxf5. We took a chance that they would miss it again and they did. 21... Kg8. Best. White is completely crushing +6.15@13. Here we wisely took a draw by repetition, as white has an easy win:

a post-mortem / computer analysis of the following game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=17707 5.Nbd2. rybka goes for a3, a typical plan in this position. We had a more positional plan in mind, intending to control the d5 square, which scores just as well. 6.b3?! rybka takes space with the natural e4. This is the way this position is often played, but we wanted to follow a more positional plan from a 2600+ player, waiting for black to play e6 and then focusing our efforts on the backward d pawn. 7.Bb2. Best. 8.Qc2. rybka still wants to play e4. Our move is just as good. 9.e3!? rybka actually chooses this move to a depth of 10, before going back to e4. This is the start of a very interesting plan for white I think, leaving the light square diagonals open for use by their bishop. Black must play actively or be slowly crushed. 10.dxe6. best. 11.Be2. Just as good as Bd3. The game is completely equal. 12.O-O. best. 13.Rad1. Just as good as Bd3. Rybka doesn't see a lot of difference between moves in this positional game. The game is still dead equal. 14.Ne1?! rybka gives a small edge to black now, after ...a4 Nd3 Ne5. Instead, the computer looks at h3 first, then settles on Ng5 Bf5 Bd3 with equality. 15.Nd3. Black doesn't understand the need to push the a pawn and we have again equalized the game with the best move. 16.Bxf6. Removing a defender of the d5 square. Just as good as rybka's preferred move h3. 17.g4! White lashes out boldly and rybka agrees that we have found the best plan, seeing Nf4 and in our immediate future. Nice! 18.Nf4. best. 19.Ne4. rybka goes for the huge kingside expansion: Nxe6 fxe6 f4 Nf7 g5 Bg7 and now Ne4, scoring it +0.48@16. Our move is also advantage white, +0.35@15. 20.Nd5. no surprise that rybka likes Nxe6 fxe6 f4 and then Bf3 for white, scoring it a little better then our move. We still have a small advantage here though. 21.Rxd5. best. 22.gxf5. best. 23.f4. Black blunders and we pounce with the best move. +1.13@14 24.Rxf5. best. 25.Ng3. best. 26.Nxf5. best. Definitely better then Qxf5 Rxe3 Bd3, although this line is also very good for white. 27.Bh5! best again. Rybka loves our position, scoring it +2.33@16, despite no immediate tactics in the works. We are playing Kh1 and Rg1 with mating threats developing later in the line. Although the computer scores a few of our moves as inaccuracies, I really like the way we played this game. We had a positional plan to control the d file and d5, and it left black with very little counterplay. We made the best move frequently, made no blunders, and had a solid positional plan that came together well. That's a well played game of chess in my book. Great job team!

Here is a post-mortem / computer analysis of this game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=17103 6. Qb3! Rybka agrees with every move we've played so far, and after this move white is nearly winning. +0.98@16 7. Be2? We miss a good chance with 7.h3 Bh5 8.e5 Nfd7 9.Nge2 e6 10.Nf4which scores 1.51@14 despite material equality. Our move is still a big advantage white though, scoring +0.97@13. The other move considered this turn (Bc4) scores very similarly to Be2. 8. Nf3?! Better is Nb5! where Rybka gives Qe5 f4 Qxe4 Nxc7+ as the best line. We have slipped from winning to mere "advantage white", scoring +0.68@14. 9.Bxf3. Rybka likes elindauer's Be3! delaying the decision of how to recapture, with lines like Be3 Qd7 Rd1 Qc8 Bxf3 and Qe5 gxf3! flashing through the game tree exactly as discussed in the comments. We were a little too quick to make the obvious recapture here. 10.Be3. Rybka gives O-O as best, delaying a decision about where to put the bishop until later. Our advantage continues to slip, we are now at +0.48@14. 11.O-O. Rybka prefers Rd1, but our move scores well too. Black has played inaccurately and we are now at +0.84@12. 12.Be2! Exclam because this move is so hard to find, especially given the obvious play of putting a rook on the d file. elindauer was on fire this move, nailing several important points in this position: a) Rfd1? Qe6! is nothing special for white. rybka scores it +0.29@15 b) after Rfd1 Qe6! Qxe6 fxe6 the doubled pawns are not a big weakness for black. Rybka agrees and suggests that white play Qa4 instead of Qxe6. c) the best plan is to improve the light square bishop again and get the pawns rolling. Be2! After Be2, black cannot play Qe6 any more (Bc4), so White maintains a healthy advantage, +0.45@16. 13.f4? Rybka bounces around a lot on this move, looking for a while at Gary's idea of Rfd1, before settling on Rac1 as best, scoring +0.37@13. f4 is too aggressive, and rybka is harsh, scoring it as advantage black now -0.23@14. Ouch. I guess the idea of Be2 is not to move the f pawn, it's to restrict the black queen and keep her passive on c7 instead of the more active Qe6. Rac1 makes sense if we are anticipating the black queen showing up on c7 soon. 14.g4?! Rybka looks at much more passive moves like a3 and Kh1 in this position, fearing for king safety and feeling that black has the advantage. It rates g4 as -0.43@13, while a3 is -0.21@12. It's a recurring theme that we don't make the best moves when we overestimate the strength of our position. We never even considered a3 here. 15.Qc2. Best. 16.Rad1?! Black has played passively and rybka suddenly feels white has full compensation for the pawn and should attack with g5! We didn't even consider this move, looking only at fxe5? (...Nfd7: -0.43@13) and Rad1 (...h5! -0.26@13). The main line is g5! Nfd7 f5, following up later with Rad1. 17.f5?! Rybka agrees that it is better to maintain the tension between the rooks on the open d file, but feels that g5! is better, tempoing the knight before playing f5 with some advantage for white (as seen in the game f5 h6! stops our expansion). The game is now equal. 18.b4?! another slight inaccuracy. Rxd8 leaves us in complete equality, while b4 Ncd7 gives black a small edge (-0.18@14). 19.Nb5. Black finally blunders and we pounce, playing Nb5 with a big advantage. +1.08@14. 20.Qxc6+. best. Jimvger was right to believe that it was close between Qxc6+ and Rxd8 though. 21.Rxd8+. best. Much better then the sacrifice starting with Nxa7, although this also gives white an advantage (+0.38@14). We correctly identified the best defense for black: Nxa7? Qxa7 Bxb6 Qb8 Bxd8 Nxd8 left white without a knockout blow (Qc4 next is best). Some last minute voting saved the day on this one. 22.Qc4. best. We continued to discuss Nxa7 from the last move and concluded that we made the right decision with Rxd8+. :) 23.Nc7! best. Our string of great play continues. This is much stronger then the retreat Nc3. 24.Nxa6. best again. We are solidly winning now +2.38@10. 25.Rd1. Just as good as rybka's Qd3. 26.Bf3?! Missing the beautiful active play from rybka Nc7! where Qxe4 Qxe4 Nxe4 Nd5! will win the b pawn and leave our pieces more active then in our main line. elindauer's Qc7 was also a strong choice, with Qxc7 Nxc7 Nxe4 Nd5 transposing to rybka's main line. 27.Qb5?! b5 was stronger, although we are still winning (+2.51@14) 28.Qxb6. best. +3.24@11 29.Rc1?! Our first instinct was correct: b5! Nb7 Qc7 Re8 a4 and white's pawns are crushing. Push those passed pawns! 30.Qb5?! darkharvest gets the star, suggesting the best move Qa7! forcing off the queens and letting the passed pawns roll. 31.Qxe5?! rybka eschews the win of material and focuses on what's important... pushing those connected passed pawns. a4! scores a full point higher then our move. Still a crushing win for white though +3.02@14. 32.Qb5. best. 33.Qb6? They say "the good is the enemy of the great". hsbgowd points out that Qb6 wins easily by forcing off the queens and he's totally right, but we missed Gary's great move Qe2! where e5 will win a piece next move. Black's pieces are too loose and the bishops are raking the diagonals. 34.Qc6. best. 35.Rxc6. best. 36.Nc5. best. We had a big discussion about the best plan between this and pushing the passed pawn with b5. As often happens, they both score nearly identically. :) 37.Bxc5. surprisingly rybka plays bxc5, but our move scores just as well. 38.Bd6. Best. Gary's Rc7 and hsbgowd's Be2 were both convincing wins as well. 39.e5. Best again. rybka doesn't even bother to save the f6 knight any more it's so hopeless. +6.38@14 40.Bc5. Best. A dominating position. +7.98@15 41.e6. Best. 42.e7. Best. Our other move Bxd6 is just as crushing for white. 43.Rxd6. Best. 44.Rd8. Best. We play really well with an advantage... +11.65@15. Re6 is also crushing. 45.Kf2. Best. 46.a4. Rybka plays Bc6 forcing the win of a piece (Nc7 Bd6). We were content to let that piece sit there while we queened our pawn. Just as good. 47.Bd6. Best. Black drops a piece in a hopeless position. +18.71@15. 48.Bxc7. Best. 49.Rxd8. Best. Rybka declares that it will queen the a pawn and mate in 10. black resigns. We played this game pretty well I think. As we've seen in the past, we were overly optimistic about our chances at times, and this led to inaccurate play. When we did have an advantage though, we played excellent chess to put the game away. It was neat to see how often the lines we settled on during the analysis ended up coming out of rybka as the best play for both sides. Well done team!

post-mortem and computer analysis for this game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=15904 5. Bg2! maintains the tension in the center. rybka likes d5 to a depth of 11 moves, but then switches to our move as best. Nice! +0.33@14 6. d5! best again. we recognized that exd5 Nh4 wins the pawn back due to the pin on the bishop with advantage. 7. Ng5?! rybka likes Nh4, the other main db try in this position. Nh4 scores +0.25@15, while our move scores basically equal -0.07@15. 8. Nh3. best. 9. cxd5. best. we felt our position was superior but rybka continues to scorethe game as equal with a tiny edge to black. 10. O-O. best. 11. Nc3. best. black dodges a 23% for the losing 10... O-O?? 12. e4. rybka plays Nf4 Nbd7 e4, but our order is just as good. 13. f4! black's 12... Rd8 is a mistake, and we pounce by finding the best move. white has a small advantage again +0.19@15. rybka has to look to a depth of 11 to find f4 as the best move. nice one! again we over-estimated our edge in the comments, as we discovered later black has some resources vs the coming big squeeze. 14. Re1. rybka strikes right away with e5, but our choice is almost as good. rybka justifies e5 by pointing out that dxe5? d6! Bxd6 Nb5! wins a piece. We never even considered e5 in the comments. 15. a4! a subtle move to find, immobilizing the black queenside. rybka plays Nf2 then a4, because it recognizes that black is not actually threatening to play b5 right away... Nf2 b5? e5! with the d6 trick coming and a crazy position. 16. Nf2. just as good as rybka's Be3. b3 also scores well for white (+0.26@13), which is about what we concluded in the comments. good job. 17. Qd4?! rybka scores the game +0.47@13 for Qe2, though our move is not exactly bad, scoring +0.24@14. It's surprising how well black is doing despite the tremendous space disadvantage. There are still just enough resources for them to hold it together. We also looked at Be3, which scores +0.42@14. 18. Be3. rybka goes back and forth between Qxc5 and Be3. 19. e5? rybka waits a bit longer to make the breakthrough, playing Rab1 Nc5 e5. Given how the hanging b pawn ended up being important in so many lines, I think this is understandable. white has a solid advantage +0.49@13, but after our move rybka scores the game dead equal again at a depth of 13 moves! This position was crazy complicated with tons of lines, it would have taken quite an effort to recognize that Rab1 was the quiet move we needed to maintain an edge. 20. Nce4. black blunders back with 19...Ne8 and with rybka's 20.Nfe4 white has a +0.51@12 edge. Our move is almost as good. brazenbishop's e6 is also a good move here. 21. fxe5. best. 22. exf6. best. white's edge is now +0.65@12. 23. Qxb6. rybka likes Bd2, but our move scores just as well. 24. Qe6. best again! 25. Bd2?! Bd4 scores +0.72@16 with Bf6 Nxf6 Nexf6 Bxd5 Bxd5 Qxa6 as the main line, winning a pawn (Bxf6 is a key threat for white in this line). Our move tempoing the queen is not bad though, and scores +0.49@13. Again we never even considered the best move, which is probably why we didn't vote for it! 26. Qe5?? The key mistake in the game. After a series of great moves, we found ourselves with a big advantage. Ba5! scores +0.91@14 here, with total craziness erupting (Ba5 Nec7 Qg6 Bb4 Nd2 Bxd2 Bxd2 Qxb2 Bxh6! is the main line). Instead, Qe5?? leaves the game scoring dead equal! We argued a bit this move between Qe5 and Bxh6, and it turns out that we voted for the best move... unfortunately, we didn't even consider the winning move! 27. Ba5. One move too late. Rybka likes Rac1 as well. Here we began to see that we had nothing better then a draw in all lines. Good analysis! It's important to know where you stand in the game. 28. Nxf6. best. we did a lot of analysis here and nailed the best move, even though it only draws. good job. 29. Re3! the best move in a position with lots of candidates. here we laid out all the candidate moves, and nailed the winner. check the archive for this move and you'll see a good model for how we should analyze as a team I think. Rybka says that lots of moves are losing for white here... - Qe3? Bxg2 -1.17@12 - Bxb7? Qxb7 -1.60@11 - Bc3? Bxg2 -1.72@10 - Ne4?? Nxe4 -9.22@9 - Kh1?? Bb4 -5.3@13 - Bh3?? Bb4 -3.67@10 But after our move the game is completely equal. 30.Rxc3. best. we correctly avoided the trap of Bxc3 Bxg2 Kxg2 Qb7+ with Bc5 next, saving the game again with our solid analysis. 31.Re3. best. 32.Kxf2. best. 33.Ke2?! Kf1 is a bit better but both are drawn. 34.Qxe7. best and rybka agrees the game is totally equal. Draw agreed. This opponent was excellent. They had multiple players with ratings > 2400 doing analysis, they gave lines and discussed options, voted late, and we still pushed them right to the brink. I think we should be very proud of this game. A running theme with our team: Whenever we consider the best move, we seem to end up voting for it or for something that is almost as good. Our worst mistakes almost always happen when we don't even consider the best move. Suggest more candidate moves! Most often this happens when we compare two moves early and spend a lot of time analyzing them. We usually choose the best move between the two we are looking at, but we get distracted from figuring out all the candidate moves, and never even look at the winner. I think if we put a little more effort into finding good candidate moves before we get too deep into the analysis, we'll be an even stronger team. Good job everybody! This team was tough and we pushed them hard. We'll get 'em next time!

Computer analysis and review of this game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=16343 4... Nf6. As always, Rybka likes this early knight development. +.42@15 5... O-O. Rybka's choice early, before falling just slightly behind Nc6. +.30@15 6... c5. Again Rybka likes this early, then goes to Nc6, then back to c5, then Nfd7... clearly we have some flexibility in our setup here. ~+.25@14 7... Na6. Rybka likes e6, and gives a main line of e6 O-O exd5 exd5 giving black some space but still favoring white slightly (+.28@16). e6 dxe6 Bxe6 also favors white but now we can play Nc6 with nice control over the d4 and e5 squares, giving us some compensation. Or e6 dxe6 fxe6 aiming for a stonewall setup after e5, Nc6 and Nd4, again slightly favoring white but basically equal (this would be my preference, since the d6 weakness will be shielded nicely). Our move is slightly worse but nothing dramatic, with the difference probably being due to our being a bit more cramped here then in other lines. 8... Nc7. Rybka likes 8... Ng4, relocating the knight to e5. We never even considered this move, which scores +.30@16. We continue to slip ever-so-slightly, dropping to +.43@14 with our choice. 9... a6. Rybka likes b6 and Bb7, and is content to keep the position closed and await further developments. The computer's main line includes Nd7 Rc8 Qd7 etc, just hanging out and playing defense, scoring +.43@13. our move is more active and scores just as well though, so probably the best line for humans to play :). 10... b5. Correct. +.26@13 11... Rb8. White's 11.Bd2 is too passive, and Rybka now scores 11... Nd7 as completely equal. Our move is also good, scoring a mere +0.06@13 for white. Black has now equalized the game! Our planned line also includes Nd7 with play on the queenside, so we have the right ideas here. 12... e5? Rybka still wants to open up the bishop with potential relocations to e5 by playing Nd7, scoring the game as completely equal (0.00@15). Our move scores much worse, +.38@15. 13... exf4. Correct. White blunders back with 13.f4? a mistake allowing black to reopen the long diagonal for the bishop. Black takes a small lead, -0.14@14. 14... Nh5. Rybka likes this move at a depth of 9, but feels Re8 is a bit stronger after looking deep into the position. We are hovering around equality. 15... b4?! Rybka builds up on the e-file, going for Re8, Qe7, Nf6 and scoring the game as equal. After our move it is slight advantage white: +0.28@14. 16... axb4. I knew in my heart that Rxb4 was the right positional move for black here, keeping the center locked up and a grip on the dark squares and giving up on axb4 Na4 Bxa1. Rybka confirms this idea by seeing cxb4 Na4 f5 (not Bxa1) Ra2 fxe4 Bxe4 Rxf1 Qxf1 Qe7 as the main line for a long time, scoring it as small advantage white. After letting the computer think for 90 minutes and getting to a depth of 20 moves, Rybka comes around and declares that 16... Rxb4!! is best with a maneuvering game Bc2 Ne8 Qd2 Qe7 rae1 Nhf6 Nc1 Nd7 Nd3 Rb8 Bf4 Ne5 Bg5 Qc7. Jimvger made the only vote this move, saving us from timing out and losing! Good job Jim! 17... Bxa1? Rybka decides not to win the exchange, as it critically weakens the dark squares around the black king. Instead, 17... f5 scores as +.25@14. Our move gives white a big edge as feared in the comments, with e5/c5 and a pawn break up the middle coming for white. Rybka scores the game +1.02@14. Ouch! The moral of the story... in this system it's dangerous to give up our dark square bishop while white still has theirs on the board... even winning the exchange, it can lead to a loss! This piece as a precious kingside defender, and we should give it up only with the utmost care. 18... Qe7. Rybka is all over the board as it searches this position. Qe7 is the best move at a depth of 9, but Ne8 eventually wins out, scoring +0.83@12. But wait! At a depth of 12 moves, Qe7 is best again, scoring +0.93. Rybka sees the move we feared, as it is planning to play c5 very soon. Hold the phone! Rybka looks deeper and finds a very interesting sacrificial idea for black: 18... Bxh3! gxh3 Qg5+ which scores +0.78@13. Seems this is a very interesting position... 19... f5? Rybka likes Bd7, scoring +0.99@12. The computer is planning Ne8 next and looks to be trying to hold off the coming pawn storm. After a little more thought the computer switches to Rb7, breaking the x-ray pin from the bishop and scoring +1.07@14. Our move scores quite a bit worse, but white must play it well. 20. c5! ignoring our threat and storming with the pawns scores +1.32@13 for white. 20... Bxf5. White blunders with 20.exf5?? and it is suddenly black who is in charge! 20... Bxf5 is correct and scores a whopping -1.23@16. 21... Rxf5. Correct. 22... gxf5. Correct. 23... Re8. White slips again with 23.Kf2? and we pounce by finding the best move again. It is now -2.06@15 and climbing. Black is winning. 24... Nf6? Rybka likes Qh4, a move we never considered. Qh4 Kf1 f4 scoring -2.49@14. our move is still clearly advantage black, but scores only -1.45@15. 25... Ne4. Correct. White slips again in this highly tactical position and our advantage grows to -2.44@13. 25.Bf4 was better for white. 26... Nc3. We were unsure whether Nc3 or Nc5 was best at the time, but Rybka agrees that our chosen move is correct, scoring it -3.07@17 vs -2.57@15. Both moves were very good for black though. 27... Kf7! Black finds the correct move, marching the king toward the middle onto a square that is eventually proven to be quite safe from harm. This move is almost a full pawn better then the natural move Kh8. The rest of the game, where white struggles to find a check on our king, shows why this move is so strong. 28... bxc3. White blunders again with 28.Nxc3 and now it's game over. We find the best move and by now we're giving forced lines to the victory. Rybka scores the game -6.51@17, even though we are up only the exchange in material at this point. 29... Qe2+. Correct. We have analyzed the win already and just march on with our plan from last move. 30... Re3! We have planned this for a while now, but it's still a strong move. Rybka confirms it is the best. 31... Rxb3! We were unsure whether Rxb3 or the defensive Ne8 was best, but some nice team calculation resulted in the best move again. We proved both moves as winning, but found that Rxb3 was crushing. Rybka agrees, scoring Rxb3 -5.17@16 vs -3.11@14 for Ne8. Wow! 32... Qe4. Rybka likes Qd3 with all the same threats (mainly Rb1) but which takes away Nc3 as a reply from white. Nb2 Qd4+ winning the knight plays out similarly to the actual game. 33... Qd4+. Correct. 34... Qxc3. We weren't sure whether Qxc3 or Rxc3 was best, and Rybka ended up siding with Rxc3, planning to answer Qh6 with Ne8. Qxc3 scores almost as well and we showed a full win with this move, so no worries here. 35... Qe1+! White blunders by missing Qh6, and we find the best response, with the strong idea of heading to e4. Rybka scores this -9.85@15... 36... Qe4. Correct. 37... Rxh3+. White blunders again, but it's totally lost anyways. 38... Qe1#. Wrong! Rybka prefers Qb1# :) Oddly our biggest mistake was winning the exchange by playing BxR on move 17. I think this is a very instructional game for understanding the importance of our fianchettoed bishop. Also very instructional for me is Rybka's idea of 7...e6 and how we are going to hide the weakness of the backward d pawn to maintain equality if white play dxe6 (fxe6 / e5 / Nc6 / Nd4 stonewall setup). If white doesn't capture dxe6, then exd5 exd5 and we get some much needed space. Being able to find space in this opening is critical to black maintaining equality. Great analysis once we got the lead. We found a long string of excellent moves and basically smashed them after they blundered with 20.exf5. Well done team!

I got to take part in a blitz simul today vs IM David Pruess. Game was 5 minutes with a 2 second increment. I lost but got to test out our modern defense and the opening went very well. Check it out:

Post-mortem and computer analysis of this vote chess game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=15973 I pick up the analysis starting with our 4th move: 4... cxd4. Correct. White has a small advantage (+.13@18) 5... Nc6. Correct. 6... Nf6. Rybka agrees with Jimvger, going with the standard knight development to f6 over Nh6. Black has equalized the game. Rybka thinks Nh6 is an inaccuracy, scoring it slightly for white +.17@15. 7... O-O. Correct. 8... d6?! brazenbishop argued for Rybka's preferred move d5, which scores a solid -.39@15. We voted for the more conservative d6, which still favors black but at a much closer -.16@14. 9... Nd7. Rybka still wants black to strike at the center with d5, a move we didn't even consider here (not surprisingly). Our move is an inaccuracy that swings the balance back in white's favor, going from -.10 to +.12@14. 10... Nxd4. The computer wants a5 scoring the game +.08@14. Our move is much worse, scoring +.40@14. Ignore brazenbishop at your peril! 11... e5. Rybka thinks a bit but eventually agrees that this strike at the center is best. +.40@16 12... b6. Jimvger asks "what about f5?" late in the comments, and elindauer likes it and actually votes for it. Rybka confirms this is the best move, scoring it +.42@16. Our move of b6 is good too though, coming in +.53@14. 13... Rb8. Easy and correct. 14... Bb7. Rybka likes Re8, then Nf6, then back to Re8, scoring the game +.62@13. Our move scores just as well... there were a lot of similar plans here apparently. 15... Rxb7. Correct. 16... f5?! We finally return and find Rybka's favorite move from earlier... good job team! Unfortunately, Rybka likes Nf6 now, scoring it 0.2 better (+.32@14). The computer doesn't like Bg5 coming... good thing for us it wasn't played! 17... Nf6. Surprisingly, rybka wants to trade bishops and thinks the game favors black a bit after Bxh6. Our move scores almost as well though and with the help of a couple inaccuracies from white we have now equalized the game. 18... Qc8?? White's last move (Bg5) is a blunder! Rybka immediately spots the tricky Ne4! We never even considered this move, spending our time between Qd7 and Qc8. Ne4 scores -1.61@15, while Qc8 favors white scoring +.28@15. Ouch!! 19... Ne4! elindauer finally spots this strong move, and it's enough to equalize the game. brazenbishop notices that maybe we should have played it last move, but oh well, too late now. The alternative move of dxe5 favors white. 20... Nxg5? Rybka votes for brazenbishop's Qxc4, scoring -.29@15. Our move favors white again, scoring +.21@14. Ouch! 21... Qxc4. We didn't consider any other moves. Rybka now wants Bxe5, but considers our move to be just as good. 22... Kh8. Correct. 23... dxe5. White blunders playing Rd1 and we pounce by finding the best move. We are now winning!! -1.30@16. White should have played exd6 with a small advantage, although we had a line prepared that we felt should give us at least a draw here. fyi, Rybka wants exd6 Bf6, declining the b2 pawn that we were thinking about grabbing in our analysis. exd6 Bxb2 also slightly favors white according to Rybka. 24... Qc7. Correct. Our advantage grows. 25... Qd7. Correct. We cross the 2 pawn advantage mark now. 26... hxg6. Correct. 27... Qd4. brazenbishop is on his game, coming up with the best move yet again in a disputed position. Qd4 scores -2.18@14, while the defensive Qe7 scores only -1.97@12. 28... Kg8. Correct. 29... Qxb2. Correct. White has wasted time playing h3, and our advantage is now increased to -2.6. 30... Qxa3. Rybka stops grabbing pawns and goes for the quite e4 here, scoring -2.88@13. Our move scores almost as well though, and we are solidly winning. 31... e4! Continuing our trend, we find Rybka's move just a little late. We spend a lot of energy analyzing this tricky position and find the best move, scoring -3.2@11. Was it time well spent? well, after Qe7 Rdd6 Rc7 Rxg7!! we have less then a 1 pawn advantage, scoring -.82@15. Maybe we still win, but it would be much less clear. 32... Qe7. Correct. 33... Qxg5. Correct. As we thought, this is the death knell for white. We are now up more then a rook scoring -6.05@15. 34... a5. Rybka pushes the b pawn, but both are strong moves. 35... a4. Correct. 36... a3? Rybka says b5 is better, as it finds Ra2 Ra7 Rg3 annoying. Still a crushing advantage though. 37... Ra7. Correct. 38... Kh7. Correct. 39... Rb8. Rybka plays b5. Our move is just as good. 40... b5. Correct. White loses on time with a current score of -8.04@16. It was back and forth in the middle game there, with both teams making a good number of inaccuracies. We blundered badly by missing 18... Ne4, but otherwise we tended to find the good moves, even if we played them in a less-then-perfect move order. Good win team!

port-mortem computer analysis of this vote chess game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=16495 I pick up the analysis with our 4th move: 4.e4. Just as good as Rybka's preferred Nf3. 5.e5. Correct. Five moves in and we have already built up a decent advantage +.43@14. 6.f4?! Rybka still likes Nf3 +.32@14. Our move scores +.12@14. 7.Nf3. Finally! says Rybka. 8.a4?! We launch a pre-emptive attack where we think the king is headed. Rybka prefers castling, then goes to Nc3, scoring +.23@15. our move scores just +.08@14. 9.O-O. Correct. 10.g4! Rybka has to look 10 moves deep before agreeing that g4 is the best move. well played! 11.h3. Correct. The game is basically equal. 12. a5?! Rybka scores Nbd2 .20@12. Our move leaves the game dead equal. 13. c3. Just as good as Rybka's Be3. The game is still dead equal. 14. b4! Correct! We find the right plan to attack the queenside, choosing to keep the center closed. We have a slight advantage +.18@16. 15.exf6. Black does not find the right plan and blunders away the game. We find the best move and are now winning! +2.24@16. They chat "this is not good"... 16. fxg5. Correct. 17. gxh6. Black continues to struggle and our advantage increases. +3.70@12. 18. g5. Rybka likes gastroc's decision to protect the pawn and keep black on lockdown. +3.63@14 19. Bf4. We wanted to stop e4, but Rybka looks to get queenside operations underway with Na3, scoring +4.14@12. Bf4 is still solidly winning 3.99@12. 20. Qd2. Rybka still likes Na3 but our move is just as good. 21. Re1. Rybka is not worried about e4 and keeps the rook on the f-file Rf2, scoring 4.33@14. Our move scores 3.95@14. 22. Na3. Correct. 23. h4. Rybka goes for b5 and a queenside attack, scoring it +4.84@13. Our move scores a solid +4.2@12 though, good enough for an easy win. Black loses on time with Rybka recommending the ugly Qd8 as best... yikes! Black's comments for the last couple moves can be summed up as what should we do here? and damn if I know. They are totally trapped and waiting for us to finish them off when they run out of time. Well played team!

This thread is to showcase games you have played in the Blackmar-Diemer gambit (1. d4 d5 2. e4) and to talk about interesting ideas / things you learned / etc. I'll start it out with a minature I won recently showing how black cannot afford to waste a tempo early:

Computer analysis of this vote chess game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=15857 4... a6. We played this sideline trying to tempo the bishop and get in Bb7. Rybka prefers the main line of Nf6, scoring the game at +.29@16, or about the same advantage it gives white when you start the game. Maybe we should avoid this sideline in future games, we eventually had a lot of trouble due to being behind in development and it pressured us into making mistakes. 5... e6. Just as good as Rybka's preferred Nf6. Our move is a bit riskier though... Rybka scores this move significantly worse until it looks fairly deep into the position. 6... b5. Rybka is desperate to develop the king knight and castle, but now wants to play Ne7 now that it can develop without blocking the bishop. b5 is just as good at a depth of 14 though (+.44). 7... Ne7. Correct. We avoid blocking the bishop and prepare to castle. 8... c5. Rybka prefers O-O with Bb7, Nd7, and then c5 coming, scoring the game +.31@14. Our move scores +.52, enough to call it an inaccuracy I think. 9... dxc5. Correct. +.56@13 10... h6? Rybka wants us to develop with Nd7, hitting the e pawn and keeping the bishop out of f6, then play h6. We had the right idea, but we felt Bf6 would give us a pawn at the time... we didn't appreciate the danger of being so woefully developed. After Nd7 Qe2 h6 Bh4 O-O it's +.38@14. After h6 Bf6! though, we are hurting at +.97@14. Ouch! A key mistake. 11... Bxf6. Just as good as Rybka's chosen O-O. +.85@15. 12... Nd5? Rybka sees Nf5 a4 b4 Ne4 as the main line, scoring it +.78@14 vs +1.08@15 for our chosen move. Another significant mistake. In the comments we never even considered Nf5, and were focused on winning the f6 pawn with Ng8. We were right to abandon this move... Rybka is harsh, scoring it at +2.19@14 and gives a line we correctly saw in the comments: Ng8? Ne5 Nxf6 Bxb5! and now Rybka thinks that axb5 Qxd8 Kxd8 Nxf7 is so bad that it plays Bd7 Qf3 O-O Qxa8 instead. So mixed review on this move... we recognized the danger before falling really far behind, but didn't find the best defensive move. It took us a long time to accept that Ng8 wasn't good, so we didn't have a lot of time to look at other moves. We just saw that Nd5 was better then Ng8 and moved it, ignoring other choices. Let's make sure we consider all the options! 13... Bb7? Rybka likes this move at first, but then realizes that we need to give up a pawn and play defense, preferring O-O with a score of 1.14@14. Our move scores quite a bit worse, +1.57@14. Again we never even considered the best move, but that's because we didn't see the danger coming. Poor analysis by us since it's easy to see that exchanges on d5 are going to open up the king. 14... Bxd5. Correct. 15... exd5. We went back and forth between Qxd5 and exd5 here. Rybka did the same early in the analysis, but eventually settled on exd5 as best, scoring +1.64@14, much better then +2.10@14 for Qxd5. Good discussion this move, even though we are still losing. 16... Kf8. Correct. 17... Ra7. Rybka likes Qd6 at a depth of 13 moves, but eventually it sees the danger and agrees with us that Ra7 is best, scoring +1.89@14. Good move. 18... Kg8. Correct. +2.06@14. Trying to save the pawn by playing d4 is worse scoring +2.48@14. 19... d4. Correct. 20... Kh7? Rybka likes Qd6, where our work would still be cut out for us and we are scoring +1.77@13. Kh7 costs a full pawn, scoring +2.88@14. Ouch! I think the key here is that the king is not at all safe on the h file... white intends to rip it open soon (as we discovered!) so we just waste a move at a time when we can't afford to waste anything. 21... cxd4. Rybka likes this move at first, but settles on Qd6 scoring +2.33@14. The end is near. 22... h5? Rybka likes Qc7, but we are still losing. 23... Qc7? Rybka says Qc8 planning Qf5 is a must. We didn't sense the danger in their kingside attack and blundered, but we were losing anyways. even after Qc8 rybka scores us at +3.57@14. 24... Qa5? a last desperate try. Rybka prolongs the agony by playing Qc8 then Qf8, but scores the game as hopeless at +6.28@12. 25... resign. It's mate in 7 anyways: ...Re7 26. Rh4 Kg8 27. fxe7 Kg7 28. Nxg6 fxg6 29. Re6 h6 30. e8=Q Nc6 31. Rxg6 Rxg6 32. Qxg6# So we fell a bit behind early, which put us under pressure to play very accurate moves to hold the game. Our biggest problem is that we didn't appreciate the danger we faced at several key points until it was too late, which caused us to blunder. Tough loss here. To their credit, Team India played this game extremely well. I think we can simply avoid the a6 line and play something a bit more mainstream, keeping in mind that in this early position (after say 4. Bc4 Nf6) we are still slightly losing and should be focused on getting castled and trying to equalize with a break in the center. Rybka gives 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. O-O Nxe4! 7. Nxe4 d5 with the center fork trick as being slight advantage white, and this seems like the kind of thing we should look for against this setup. They play Bc4, we castle and then center fork trick!

Computer analysis and comments for the following vote chess game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=15726 First I asked rybka to find blunders... the computer says that we madezero blunders, but felt that 3.g3, 10.e4 and 30.Rfe3 were blunders for white. Good job team! 3... d5. Just as good as Rybka's Nf6. -.28@15. 4... Nh6. Rybka likes Nf6, scoring -.20@15. Our move scores almost as well, -.14@16. It's interesting that Rybka likes Nh6 more and more as it looks deeper into the position. 5... Nd7. Rybka likes Nc6 leaving us a small advantage of -.11, with the game scored as equal after our chosen move. ...Bf5 actually leaves white with a small advantage, so we chose the best move of the ones we were considering. 6... Nf6. Initially the computer gives up trying to control e4 and suggests the game is equal after 6... c6. At a depth of 15 moves though, rybka spots our chosen Nf6! and gives a small advantage to black. Great move team! 7... Nf5. Basically just as good as Rybka's preferred O-O. Surprisingly we have only a very slight advantage here -.10@15. 8... Nd6. Rybka likes O-O for a long time, then decides that c6 is a little better. Our Nd6 is just as good, suggesting that our whole plan (Nd6, c6, O-O, Bf5) was not very dependent on move order. The game is now officially slight advantage black (=/=+). 9... c6. Rybka agrees and it is now definitely advantage black scoring -.45@13. White should have played the knight to e5 instead. Our control of e4 is becoming a problem for them. 10... dxe4. Just as good as kicking their queen with Bg4. Black now has a clear advantage -1.05@15. 11... Nfxe4. Correct of course. 12... Nxe4. Correct. 13... Qxd4+. Correct. 14... Bxd4+. Correct. 15... Be6. Correct! Rybka confirms this highly counter-intuitive move as best. 16... Rd8. Correct again! -.87@16. hsbgowd is correct that we want to keep the king on the kingside to avoid counterplay. Slightly better then O-O-O which scores -.77@15. 17... O-O. Rybka likes h5, scoring -1.03@17. O-O scores only -.87@16 so a small inaccuracy there, and about the same as my line of Bf5, which scores -.92@19. 18... Rd7. Just as good as Rybka's Kg7 (-.95@14). Bf5 is still just about as good as well. I think what we should learn here is that it's not 1 move we want to find, but a reasonable plan. 19... Bf5. Rybka likes Kg7, then likes f5, then Rfd8, scoring -1.00@15. Bf5 scores -.90@18. 20... gxf5. Correct. 21... Kg7. Rybka plays the move order Rfd8, then Kg7, then Kg6, but we have the right plan here. -1.03@17. 22... Rfd8. Correct. -1.15@16. 23... Kg6. Correct. -1.46@18. 24... h5. Rybka likes a5, then Bc3, and eventually settles on e6, then likes Bf6. Again it seems it's a plan we want to find, not a move. Our move scores just as well as any of these. 25... Rd5. Rybka likes the f6/e5 passed pawn plan at first, but then settles on Bf6 Bb2 Rd2 with immediate rook penetration into the white camp. As we discussed in the comments, our move is just as good, we are just tidying up our position and white can do nothing to stop our plan. 26... R8d7. Get on with it already! Rybka is ready to go with Bf6 and penetrate with the rooks, scoring -1.84@18. Our move scores "only" -1.57@16. I guess letting them get in a5 allows them to defend a little more vigorously. 27... a6. Correct. -1.64@19. 28... e6. Rybka still loves Bf6, and scores it the same, -1.86@18. Notice that we have not changed anything about our attacking chances by playing slowly but have taken away any practical hope of counterplay by placing our pieces perfectly before proceeding. Looking deeper into the position, rybka sees we are crushing it... -2.36@21... 29... Bg7. Rybka likes the tricky Bg1, but our move is just as good. 30... Rd3. Finally! Rybka agrees this is the best way to deliver the final blow. -2.86@20 and going up. 31... Rxd3. Correct. 32... Rb3. Rybka prefers to win the pawn by the sneaky Bc3 Ba3 Bd2 with a discovery on the bishop winning two pawns and keeping the rook on the only open file. Our way is also effective. -3.74@20. 33... Bb2. Rb2 also wins, but Bb2 is clearly best. Black wins. Great game team! Another nearly flawless display for the Bad Bishops!

post-mortem analysis of this game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=15711 I'm starting the analysis on move on move 8 since the opening is pretty standard stuff. 8.b3. rybka likes my suggested Qd3, scoring +.36@15 (a score of .36 analyzed 15 moves deep). Our chosen b3 is slightly worse, scoring .24@14, but still good. 9.Bb2. best. 10.Qc2. just as good as rybka's Qd3. 11.e4. best. rybka also likes Rad1. 12.Nxe4. best. 13. Nxf6. best. 14. Ng5. best. +57@14 15. Bxb7. best. 16. Be4. hsbgowd liked Bg2, preferring to avoid allowing black to play f5. Rybka agreed scoring Bg2 +.5@16. Be4 scored .45@16 though, so very close. Since f5 is a very long-term weakness / strength, I'd say the jury is still out on this one. 17. Bxh7+. Surprisingly, Rybka rates Bxd4 as just as good. +.51@15 18. Bxd4. best. 19. Bb2. rybka likes Bc3 at a depth of 9 moves, then finds Bb2 to be best, then likes Be3 at a depth of 12 moves, and then goes back to Bb2 at a depth of 14 moves... it seems we can't go too wrong here. :) 20. Bxg6. best. 21. Qxg6. best. +.48@15 22. Qh5+. rybka likes our move to a depth of 13 moves, but ends up preferring Qe4 with a score of +.58. Qh5+ scores +.55@16 so it's very good as well. 23. Qe2. best. Qxh6 is also good. 24. Rad1. rybka likes f3 to stop e4, but Rad1 e4 Rd6 scores just as well. We are slowly increasing our advantage: +.61@15 25. f4. black's last move (Qh3) was a mistake, and we capitalized by finding the best move in f4. We are now close to winning +.92@15 26. Rxf4. black has blundered! They needed to play 25... e4 or 25...Bg7. Now Rxf4 is best and we are crushing it with a score of +4.97! 27. Rg4+! We thought a lot about the best plan here, and eventually found the best continuation. Rg4+ scores +7.53 at a depth of 15. In comparison, our other option was Qe7+, which, while still winning, scored a paltry +2.48. That's a difference of a whole rook! 28. Re1! best. The key move that makes 27.Rg4+ so strong. 29. Qe6#. best. :) Wow! We played a nearly flawless game, and we basically all agreed on every move. Our choice of move was arguably best in 28 of 29 positions. Unbelievably strong game. Great job team! We obviously like these positions with the king bishop fianchettoed. Changing our repertoire with white to target these positions seems like it might suit our team well. Perhaps we should play d4 d5 g3?! with the general plan of developing our pieces exactly as we did in this game. Bg2 Nc3 O-O c4 b3 Bb2 etc. Thoughts?

In this game we played the blackmar-diemer gambit and won as white: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=15697. This post is for post-mortem analysis of key positions, talking about what we learned, what we liked / didn't like about the game, etc. Some analysis from rybka: after 3.f3, rybka gives a slight advantage to black (-.41, depth=18). I think we should ask ourselves how comfortable we are giving away white's inherent advantage (and then some) as a fundamental part of our opening repertoire. The main line given is 3... e6 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. fxe4 Qh4+ 6. Ke2 etc. 5.Bg5. We had a discussion in the chat about developing knights before bishops, and generally how best to organize our minor pieces. rybka gives Nc3 as best with a score of -.30 (d=15), Nbd2 (...Bf5) as -37 (d=14). Bf4 (...Nd5) as -.42 (d=14) and our chosen Bg5 (...h6 Be3) as the worst option at -.47 (d=15). 6. Nbd2. just as good as Nc3 according to rybka 7. c3. rybka initially prefers Bxf6 Bxf6 c3 Nc6 Bb5, scoring it -.43 vs -.54. The knight became a pretty good piece for them later in the game, perhaps this is why we should be willing to give up the bishop here. 8. Bd3. good move. about equal to Bxf6 9. Bxe7. best 10. Ne4. rybka strongly prefers jimvger's Nc4 c5 O-O, scoring it -.59. After Ne4 f5 we're moving right back to d2 with rybka scoring us at -1.00, or about the same as the crazy-looking Nf1. So we were right to be concerned that Nc4 allowed c5... this is black's best move and they are developing a decent advantage. We were simply wrong to think that we could do better! :) 11. Bf1. rybka sides with jimvger again, suggesting the simple O-O Nxd3 Qxd3 f5 as best for white, scoring -.41 at a depth of 14, compared with -.85 for our chosen move. ouch! Fortunately, black missed the best reply (e5!). 12. Qd2. Best. go team! 13. Bd3. Just as good as rybka's choice of O-O-O. good job team! 14. O-O-O. We spent a long time deciding which way to castle here. In the end rybka sides with those castling long (-.52), but in fact castling short gets an almost identical score. All that discussion over nothing! :0 15. h4. rybka prefers king safety with Kb1 (-.59) with our chosen move scoring a touch worse at -.70. brazenbishop did well by suggesting Rhe1, which is rybka considers just as good as Kb1 (-.6). bb's alternate suggestion of Qf2 was not as strong, scoring -.77. 16. dxc5. best. 17. Nxc5. best. 18. Ng5. rybka prefers Kb1 or Rhe1 (-.74), presumably to take Qe3 forcing the trade of queens. Our attacking plan of Ng5 is definitely worse at -.93. black now has a nearly winning advantage. 19. Bh7+. This controversial move, sacrificing the knight and risking trapping the bishop is best, according to rybka, scoring -.93. Well done! 20. Kb1. rybka has suggested Kb1 a couple times now... how will it feel about this move? the cpu prefers Bc2 Qe3, scoring -.92. After Kb1 rybka plays Qe3 anyways and scores the game a bit worse at -1.10. 21. Bc2. best (-1.01). 22. Qe3! strong move! rybka initially likes Nf3 saving the piece, and after some it likes our backup plan of Qf4, with a score of -.69. The computer thinks Qe3 is terrible at first, but after some thought, the cpu agrees that this deep move is even better, scoring a fantastic -.67, and now we are fighting for a draw. Game on! The computer agreed that e5 is the best reply to Qf4. 23. Rhg1! rybka likes Rh3 out of the gates, but after looking deeper into the position it agrees with our choice of Rhg1, scoring the game at -.61. It's interesting to see that the deeper rybka looks, the more it likes white's position. After Rdg1??, we are clearly losing as rybka trades the queens for the two rooks and scores the game -2.30. 24. Rdf1!! the computer likes Qg3, then prefers Rd4, then goes back to Qg3. rybka scores the game at -.54 at a depth of 15 for Qg3. But... given some more time, the computer looks deeper and finds Rdf1! and scores the game at -.46 at a depth of 18 moves. Great find team! 24... Black loses on time. Rybka gives the main line from here as follows:

We recently reached this position in a vote chess game, and were debating about Be4 vs Bg2. Here's the position:

This thread is for showcasing games you played in the Robatsch defense (1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7), and for discussing things you learned / ideas in the opening. Here's a game to get us started:

I thought you might enjoy this.It was against a fellow called soontobe worldchamp.

If you look at a vote chess game and there are less then 4 hour remaining, make sure you vote for a move. We've come close to timing out a couple times, let's make sure that never happens! thanks all -eric

Just saw that elin's quit the Chess Club. What happened? Sooner has been behaving like one military army general nowadays and interfering with the way things were going on. His news item to group asking everyone to vote was completely idiotic. I had a chat with him somedays after that to sort out the matter. He was rude and stubborn and thinks we have been dominating and not allowing others to participate. Frankly speaking, I just want to lose that game just for the way he treated us. And Sooner privately messaged me this. It was weird. From: SoonerTo: hsbgowdDate: Apr 7, 2010 @ 7:11amSubject: Re: Vote Chess Game with Black Shield Assassins. I didn't have anything in particular in mind. I just wondered.----------------------------------------------------------------------Original Message by hsbgowd on 4/6/2010 @ 2:30pm: No one did. What is it about?----------------------------------------------------------------------Original Message by Sooner on 4/6/2010 @ 2:03pm: Hi Gowda, I have one followup question to our chat earlier today. Has any one copied and sent to you any comments from the discussion in the Club's vote chess game with Black Shield Assassins or communicated with you about the discussion? Sooner

I think I've reached a stage in my chess career where I need to start thinking about building an opening repertoire. Has anyone done this before? Do you have any suggestions for how to get started? Along these lines, would it be crazy to build up a "group repertoire", where we always play the same set of opening and try to get very good at them? Or would you prefer to play many different kinds of positions in vote chess games for more variety at the cost of perhaps not playing them as well?