Instructions for watching Sharkmeister vs. Albanius in real time:
Sicilian defense....
Dragon variation for Albanius. He proved very dangerous with that earlier in the tournament against ben masel....
With 10...Qa5, Albanius sets up the most dangerous attack of the Dragon game. Let's see if this bears fruit....
Sharkmeister has control of the middle for now. Albanius sacrificed his Rook to capture a knight and a slight positional advantage for his Queen....
At move 19, Queens have been exchanged....
With 20. g5 Nh5, Sharkmeister essentially trapped the Knight, which is now guarding against a Rook-Rook attack on the h file.
Albanius sacrificed his other rook! But, he was able to win Sharkmeister's rook by trapping it on h6.
ERROR UPDATE: For some odd reason, Chess Flash doesn't like the move at 24. Working on it.....(FIXED!)
Albanius has a big pawn advantage. But, his only attacking piece right now is a Bishop, whereas Sharkmeister still has a Rook.
Less than 15 minutes for Black, about 17:30 left for White.
Albanius now has control of the middle. But Sharkmeister is pestering the King with the Rook.
Sharkmeister may be playing for the draw right now.
Now, I'm no chess wizard, but I could have sworn that 41. Kf2 would have given White a major positional advantage.
Albanius is now beginning the slow march to Pawn promotion. Black's King has gotten all the way down to White's back row to facilitate that. Sharkmeister is now defending against the Pawns at all costs.
At move 47, Albanius has less than 5 minutes left, but a big positional advantage with his pawns.
Albanius claims that a better sequence for him would have been: 49...f2 50. Rf6 Ke1 51. Rxf2 Kd1
Just to test out Albanius's theory....
With the win, Sharkmeister now has 6.5 points through 7 rounds and will await the results of the other semi-final matches. Albanius has played very well against some very tough competition the last two rounds, but unfortunately came up short.
For the players, here are the various bits of kibitzing done by the observers on chess.com:
brendanm98 is now observing.
brendanm98: is there some way to see all observers?
Rajeshn1976 is now observing.
clm is now observing.
ArtTric is now observing.
notpaulmorphy is now observing.
dmet is now observing.
notpaulmorphy: Is this all book so far?
brendanm98: exchange sac is pretty standard anyway
SuperBowlXX: the live blog on Daily Kos is now up!
brendanm98: dunno if black needed to trade the black-square bishops
papicek is now observing.
cdhg is now observing.
cschess is now observing.
papicek: hello gentlemen :)
FM cschess: Hi all;
FM cschess: this should not be good for black
brendanm98: hiya
papicek: or should I have said, "nazdroviya kazaki!"
papicek: lotta Kossacks in the house
ArtTric: Kossacks everywhere
brendanm98: where is white's attack after Qxc3?
ArtTric: there it is
brendanm98: guess we will see
papicek: there's the mate spoiler
Damon-Jasperson is now observing.
papicek: needed
FM cschess: Hmmm
papicek: Nf5 maybe?
FM cschess: black just takes with the bishop
papicek: then the pawn makes the same temptation
papicek: of course, Alb is way too good a player to fall for it
FM cschess: White may lose too many pawns
brendanm98: speaking of
papicek: ouch
brendanm98: what an odd ending this will be
ArtTric: thats a bold statement
FM cschess: yes expected play
brendanm98: can rook pick up a pawn or two on queenside?
papicek: with a B & N? likely not
FM cschess: Good chances for black win
Damon-Jasperson: why did he swap k for b?
FM cschess: yeah he wants to get to the queenside, don't think it works
Damon-Jasperson: n for b rather
FM cschess: fewer pieces to fight his rook
FM cschess: now ...bd7-c6 is perfect defense
papicek: nice cover there by white
FM cschess: book
FM cschess: boo
FM cschess: he's hoping to draw now really
FM cschess: ok so he's getting to c6 another route
papicek: white has no real way to get in there
FM cschess: exactly
brendanm98: gotta try e5, right?
notpaulmorphy is now observing.
FM cschess: black hsa to sac the h pawn to win
FM cschess: but then the rook is active
FM cschess: I mean kg6 rg3 is draw
FM cschess: so, something like e5 check
FM cschess: and play for ...d5 or ...f5
FM cschess: yes!!
papicek: thanks again, cschess, for your comments, really appreciate it
brendanm98: ditto
FM cschess: it's not a certain win, but good chances
Damon-Jasperson: amazing how pawns really come into end game
ArtTric: if you let them
Damon-Jasperson: :-)
papicek: <<< loves pawns, at any time</p>
Damon-Jasperson: I tend to think of them as sacrificial..but end up paying for it if I don't dominate middle game
brendanm98: bishop is wrong color for a pawn... not sure if that could matter
senecadoane is now observing.
FM cschess: kg4 let's go!
Damon-Jasperson: why not go to g7 with rook?
ArtTric: i like g7
brendanm98: h5
FM cschess: just ...h5 then guys
Twohundredseventy is now observing.
FM cschess: The only problem I see for black is his king
Twohundredseventy: hey, anyone else watching this?
senecadoane: when we comment here as observers, is it visible only to other observers or to players as well?
Damon-Jasperson: but fork move at g7, correct?
brendanm98: lots of folks watching, yeah
papicek: Rh5...
Damon-Jasperson: DKos watchers rule!
notpaulmorphy: f7 is protected by B so no fork
brendanm98: only other observers can see, not the players
SuperBowlXX: it's only visible to observers, Seneca
Damon-Jasperson: thx...didn't see that
FM cschess: now take, ...f5, and rg7 check
senecadoane: thx
FM cschess: check now
FM cschess: black king to the edge
papicek: here we go
FM cschess: so may be hard to win
brendanm98: go back, right?
dpinzow is now observing.
FM cschess: hmmm
Damon-Jasperson: rook to g5?
papicek: can't force it to the corner, can he?
papicek: hmmmmm
FM cschess: rg5 ...be4
SuperBowlXX: I like Kf2 for white
papicek: hey Sup
notpaulmorphy: ???
brendanm98: is he gonna try to hide on f1 then?
Damon-Jasperson: king to e4, then?
papicek: draw?
FM cschess: up to black
ArtTric: don't suppose MicheleMalkin.com could have a chess tourney.
brendanm98: or maybe put bishop inbetween on g2?
senecadoane: why not have gone with rg5? pick off at least one of those forward pawns?
SuperBowlXX: Wait, wouldn't Kf2 earlier have given White the win?
FM cschess: no seneca
notpaulmorphy: Is ...Kg2 winning?
FM cschess: ...Be4
senecadoane: ah - ok
brendanm98: i don't think that would necessarily win, superbowl, because the black king can still run backwards
brendanm98: but agree it might have been interesting
papicek: Kf1
senecadoane: f5?
senecadoane: whoops -- i mean eventually....
notpaulmorphy: ...Kf1 intending f4+
Damon-Jasperson: re7?
FM cschess: well the plan is clear, but without the king helping in the center it is very tricky to hold the pawns
brendanm98: what about c4?
FM cschess: c4 I don't like it
brendanm98: then rg5
notpaulmorphy: ....f4+
SuperBowlXX: now f4
dpinzow: he just threw away a pawn
FM cschess: bishop on c6 is stable
papicek: this is close...Alb's K cannot go to e1
papicek: at all
notpaulmorphy: ...e4+
Damon-Jasperson: uh oh
notpaulmorphy: ...Bc6
ArtTric: can't stop that rush
papicek has left.
FM cschess: well...
SuperBowlXX: f3
brendanm98: now black has to be a little careful
FM cschess: black hurried the second pawn check i think
brendanm98: rf4 and what
brendanm98: or what, sorry
FM cschess: yep
dpinzow: the clock is now a serious factor for black
ArtTric: i think that was the plan
FM cschess: and back now
brendanm98: lol
FM cschess: close to zugzwang
brendanm98: yes
papicek is now observing.
Damon-Jasperson: is Shark running out the clock now?
FM cschess: no
FM cschess: ]he's playing
papicek: anyone besides me get dc'd?
FM cschess: no papi
Damon-Jasperson: what is dc'd?
senecadoane: "dc'd"?
brendanm98: Rb7
papicek: disconnected
FM cschess: oh well
papicek: mate!
Game over - Sharkmeister won by checkmate
brendanm98: oops
papicek: omg
FM cschess: yeah
Damon-Jasperson: holy crap!
clm has left.
ArtTric: what the heck
papicek: mouse slip?
dmet: what?
Albanius: oops - i saw that, intended f2
Albanius: not a mouse slip, mental slip
ArtTric: holy crap
brendanm98: exciting game guys
dmet: wow
ArtTric: nice
dmet: gg
Damon-Jasperson: great game!
senecadoane: time pressure
papicek: excellent game
Damon-Jasperson: thanks cschess for the awesome comments
Sharkmeister: I am pretty sure I was busted
FM cschess: welcome
cdhg: Good game!
Albanius: f2 Rf3 Ke1Rxf2 kd1
ArtTric: didn't see that
senecadoane: i'm going to back it up two moves and play it out awhile
Damon-Jasperson: wish u guys could play again..that was fun to watch
Sharkmeister: how about 15 0 -- less tension?
Damon-Jasperson: DKos rules!
papicek: lol
dmet: imagine the freeper chess tournament...
Damon-Jasperson: empty
ArtTric: lol
dmet: exactly
ArtTric: 5 min max
Rajeshn1976 has left.
Sharkmeister: some other time then?
Albanius: I had a draw of course when i still had the hpawn, youwould have had to repeat moves
Damon-Jasperson: that would require organization and brains...and a birth certificate
Albanius: I may be too wrecked to play more now.
Damon-Jasperson: sorry..i'll leave that elsewhere
brendanm98: thanks for the game guys... later
Albanius: yes, some other time, do you want to analyze
brendanm98 has left.
Damon-Jasperson: here, here
Damon-Jasperson: ciao
Albanius: cschess are you there?
Sharkmeister: I don't want to analyze, I don't think I played very well... I don't know my dragon as well as I could
Sharkmeister: until next time