Self-destructing Viper...

The idea behind Alekhine's Defense is for Black to entice White to chase Black's knight around the board, all the while building up a pawn center that - Black will argue - becomes a big, fat target. However, White need not cooperate in the plan.

My most recent "BlackBerry" chess game featured the Maroczy variation of Alekhine's Defense, which I faced for the first time and which on the surface seems an overly passive way for White to open the game.

One cannot judge the strength of a player based on the opening chosen. A player who chooses something offbeat might still be skillful (I seem to recall GM Michael Basman used to enjoy venturing 1.a3 as White), and a player who confidently strides through the first moves of a well-known opening, say the Sicilian Defense, may still be only parroting book moves (though I would suspect the odds of such a player being a rank beginner are somewhat smaller).

The following game is not an example of good play by White, who starts to fall apart around move 12. I did, however, do a fairly good job of taking advantage of my opponent's missteps.

[Date "2007.04.18"]
[White "VIPERX100"]
[Black "ALEXPGP"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.e4 Nf6 2.d3 e5 3.c4 Bc5 4.h3 O-O 5.Nf3 c6 {This seems to lose the pawn on e5. However, at this point, I want the position opened up a bit. The extra pawn is an illusion.} 6.Nxe5 d5 {Striking at White's center.} 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.d4 {Apparently trying to avoid getting stuck with an isolated pawn.} 8...Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Nxd2 dxe4 {The pawn is regained, and White's d-pawn is isolated. My ultimate strategy here will be to put increasing pressure on the d-pawn and win it.} 11.Nb3 a6 {I felt that Bb5 was a real threat within a move or two.} 12.Bc4? b5 {I get a free move. White's game seems to unravel at this point, at an ever-faster pace.} 13.Be2 Be6 14.Nc1? {This permits...} 14...Qa5+! 15.Kf1? {It would've been better to exchange Queens after 15.Qd2 Qxd2 16.Kxd2} 15...Qb4! 16.b3? Qc3! {It's not that Black's moves are so great, objectively speaking, but I think they take maximum advantage of White's poor defense.} 17.Ncd3?? {Sure, White's position is not that hot, but this was not forced.} Qxd4! 18.Nxf7?? exd3 19.Bf3 {This looks like a try to regain some material by attacking the Rook on a8, but the effort is a waste of time...} 19...Rxf7 20.Bxa8?? {...because Black can announce mate in 4, though the software doesn't appear to have that feature. :^} 20...Ng4 21.Bf3? {As good as anything else, but leads to immediate...} 21...Qxf2 mate

Cheers...

First night okay...

Last night's MSR shift went well (as I managed to pretty much sleep between 4:30 pm and 9:30 pm, with only a brief waking period somewhere halfway in) and I even had an opportunity to shine when I managed to "translate" directory names expressed using 8-bit accented characters into Cyrillic (e.g., "Ôîòî" becomes "Фото").

Last night's sleep session didn't stop me, however, from grabbing about 3 hours of shuteye this morning after I sent off some files and invoices. The month is off to a fairly good start, though it's a shame that the first invoices are going out on the 7th, since that means they won't get paid until - practically speaking - the middle of next month.

Apropos of getting paid, I'm going to wait until Wednesday afternoon until I again nudge my East Coast client about the unpaid bills from last year (the subject of an email I sent last which will also give a chance for the payment due a day or two ago to get here). I am also taking a provisional wait-and-see attitude with regard to some overseas work, curious to learn just when I'll be paid under terms stated as "60 days after the end of the invoice month" (i.e., in May, that refers to work done in February?!), as my naive assumption would be that the agency ought to be prepared to cough up payment payment PDQ given how long the terms are.

* * *Galina directed my attention yesterday to some yellow mushrooms that were growing out of the soil of one of the plants we have on the patio. I tried taking some photos of them, but I have no tripod and the flash is too "hot," so the photos, um, suck. In any event, I am confident they are yellow parasols (Lepiota lutea), and while they're pretty to look at, they're not edible as far as I can tell.

Cheers...

UPDATE: Upon reviewing the email I sent one week ago, I decided that one week was enough time to respond, so I just sent off another note.

Stop Real ID...

I'd have put an exclamation point in the subject, but I get this surreal feeling this whole Real ID thing is a foregone conclusion, and that the primary purpose of eliciting public comment on the idea (instructions here) is to get a head start on compiling lists of people that may be, um, politically unreliable.

Having done the high-pressure sales bit, I'll note that the deadline for comments is tomorrow, 5 pm EDT.

Cheers...