An Odd French Game

This is an oddball French game, but for some reason I feel compelled to annotate it, so here goes.  1 d4 e6 2 e4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Nge2 a6?  Normal is de, Nc6,or Nf6.  Black's move is weak.

5 a3 Ba5 6 b4 Bb6 7 e5  The engine doesn't like this move, preferring 7 g3.  My thought was that 7 e5 limits the scope of both of his bishops.

7...h6 8 Ng3 Ne7 9 Nce3  The engine prefers 9 Qg4.  It says the position is now equal.

9...Nbc6 10 f4 Ng6 11 c3 f6 12 Nh5 fe 13 fe Qh5+ 14 Neg3 0-0 15 Bd3 Nf4??  The engine gives black a full point advantage after 15...Ngxe5, but that's a tough move to find in a blitz game.  Black's move loses the exchange.

16 BxN RxB 17 NxR QxN 18 Qf3 Qg5 19 Rf1 Qe7 20 0-0-0? (missing 20 Qh5, winning) Bd7 (finally developing his QB) 21 Qh5 Be8 22 Qg4 Nd8 23 Rf2 Nf7 24 Rdf1 c6 25 h4 a5 26 Nh5 Nxe5?  And now white has a forced mate, but black was lost anyway.

The game ended with 27 Rf8+ QxR 28 RxQ+ KxR 29 Qxg7#.

What To Make of Barr's Testimony

Attorney General William Barr testified Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee, the first such testimony in his year and a half in the AG job.  The day before his opening statement had leaked out, and the buzz in the media was how combative and confrontational it was.

When I heard his opening statement, I didn't hear anything combative in it.  It turns out he had toned it down greatly overnight, in response to the negative feedback he'd gotten.  His testimony itself was also predominately low-key.

Since it was so low-key, we must examine it more closely in order to understand it.  When it is so analyzed, we see that Barr is 100% on board with the Trump campaign strategy.  Here are some examples of this.

When asked about his intervention in the cases of Trump cronies Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, Barr said that  "The president's friends don't deserve special breaks, but they also don't deserve to be treated more harshly than other people."  He made a convincing case that the initial DOJ sentencing recommendation in the Stone case, while within the standard federal sentencing guidelines, was outside of normal DOJ guidelines.  He stressed that a 67-year-old first-offender who committed a white-collar crime would never get a sentence as long as what was originally recommended.

Barr repeated Trump's latest talking point that voting by mail is susceptible to large-scale fraud.  He offered no evidence to back this up, and, in fact, there is no evidence that there is any large-scale fraud associated with voting by mail.  Five states have exclusively mail-in voting, with no problems, and this year there will certainly be many more states transitioning to mail-in voting

This attack on voting by mail i part of an ongoing Republican effort to restrict access to the ballot box.  There are many examples of such GOP efforts--closing polling places, ID laws, rejecting ballots based on technicalities, and, in the latest and most outrageous example, sending out fake voting instructions to confuse people.

Barr strongly supported sending federal officers to Portland and other cities, claiming that "violent rioters and anarchists" are conducting "an assault on the government of the United States."  This supports the Trump campaign talking point that "You will not be safe in Joe Biden's America".  Trump has been running ads using this catch phrase for months now.  Trump seeks to portray Portland and other cities as under siege, so as to scare people away from voting for Biden.  He always stresses that these cities are being run by "liberal Democrats".

Although outside of his area of expertise, Barr was asked about the virus testing problem, and he claimed that "the problem of the testing system was a function of President Obama's mishandling of the CDC."  This is blatant (and false) partisan advocacy, which traditionally AG's have avoided.

When asked "Is it ever appropriate, sir, for the president to solicit or accept foreign assistance in an election?", Barr initially said that "It depends what kind of assistance", and then later acknowledged that it is never appropriate.  This kind of hedging is ludicrous, given that there is a federal law specifically prohibiting such assistance!

He insisted that there is no systemic racism problem in US police departments, asserting, without citing any evidence, that "police are less likely to shoot at a black suspect".

All in all, this analysis shows that Barr is nothing more than a political hack, doing everything he can to help re-elect the worst president in US history.

A Blackmar-Deimer Game

Played today vs. player "Brinkie47".  1 d4 d5 2 e4 de 3 Nc3 Nf6  Top players play 3...c6 (62%) or 3...e6 (25%).  3...Nf6 comes in at only 8%.

4 Bg5  Top players prefer 4 f3 (82%), with my move coming in at only 11%.  4...Bf5  Preferred is 4...e6 (93%), with his move at only 3%.

5 f3 ef 6 Nxf3 e6 7 Bd3 BxB 8 QxB Be7 9 0-0-0 Nc6(?) (c6) 10 Rhf1(?) (10 BxN BxB 11 d5)  h6(?) (0-0) 11 BxN BxB 12 d5 ed 13 Rfe1+ Ne7? (Kf8) 14 Nxd5 Qd6? (Kf8) 15 NxB+ QxN??  And now it is mate in three!

The game concluded 16 Qd7+ Kf8 17 Qd8+ RxQ 18 RxR#  1-0

2020 MLB Predictions

AL East  --  Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Blue Jays, Orioles

Only issue here is between Sox and Rays for second. I'm going with the Sox.

AL Central  --  Indians, Twins, White Sox, Royals, Tigers

I originally had the Twins in first, but the Indians young rotation impresses me. Had the Indians gotten rid of Lindor, I would have dropped them down, maybe even to third.

AL West  --  Astros, Angels, A's, Rangers, Mariners

I usually find an excuse to rank the Angels higher than they deserve. Here it is the free agent signing of Anthony Rendon.

NL East  --  Braves, Nationals, Phillies, Mets, Marlins

This is the most puzzling division to predict. Any of the top four teams could win it. I look for the Nats to have a letdown after their amazing run last year. Keeping Strasburg should help in 2020, although the 7-year contact given to a player who's been on the DL ten times is ludicrous.

NL Central  --  Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Reds, Pirates

There's something about the Brewers that interests me; it seems I always enjoy watching them play.  I actually think the Reds will finish higher then fourth, but I don't know which of the top teams to drop down to fourth.

NL West  --  Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Padres, Rockies, Giants

D'Backs signed Madison Bumgarner, showing a desire to compete. Padres still have the top-ranked farm system, but that doesn't mean they will compete this year.

Is the Political Comvention Obsolete?

At this writing the Republican Party still hopes to have an in-person national convention in Jacksonville, Florida, while the Democratic Convention will take place remotely.  This raises the question:  why have conventions at all anymore?

It used to be that the political convention was held every four years to pick the party's candidates for president and vice-president.  However, every candidate since 1952 has won on the first ballot.  There has still been occasional drama, as when Reagan challenged Ford in 1976, or when Kennedy challenged Carter in 1980, but the drama has largely gone by the wayside.

The political convention was a source of excitement and party fervor from 1832 to 1952, but is now obsolete.

Themes in the Budapest

The Budapest Defense, sometimes called the Budapest Gambit, was first played in 1896, but has never found favor among the world's top players.  It is rather easy to play against by white players who have some idea of what they are doing.

My approach has been to not try to hang onto the gambit pawn, but to play for development, and pressure on the d-file. A game I played today on chessbase illustrates this theme.  It began  1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e5?! 3 de Ng4  A trappy line is 3...Ne4, but if white knows to simply play 4 a3, it comes to nothing.  I rarely, if ever, face 3...Ne4. White's moves with his king's knight in the Budapest violate basic principles against moving the same piece twice in the opening. The trick for white is to be patient and not try to capitalize violently on this violation on black's part.

4 Nf3  White can also play 4 Bf4, 4 e3, or 4 e4, all of which score in the 60%+ range.

4...Bc5 5 e3 Nc6 6 Be2 0-0 7 0-0 Nxe5 8 NxN NxN 9 Nd2  9 Nc3 is the overwhelming favorite here, but I like the d2 square, preparing to go to f3 and oppose the black knight on e5.

9...a5 10 b3 Ra6  This "rook lift" is actually a major idea in the Budapest, although I wasn't really familiar with it before this game.

11 Bb2 Qe7 12 Nf3 NxN+ 13 BxN Rg6 14 Qe2 d6 15 Rfd1 Qh4 16 g3 Qh3 17 Bg2 Qf5 18 Rd5 Qe6 19 Rh5 Rh6 20 Bh3!  I offer black a rook and bishop for his queen, an offer which he wisely declines.

20...Qg6 21 RxR QxR 22BxB RxB 23 Qd4 Rg8 24 Rd1 Bxe3?  Black, unable to realize anything from his king-side pressure, unwisely sacs his bishop for two pawns.  Patience is the virtue he lacks.

25 fe Qxe3+ 26 Kh1 g6 27 Qd4  27 Bd4 was objectively better, but I choose to simplify into an easily won endgame.

27...Qf3+ 28 Kg1 f6 29 Rf1  1-0  In a position in which white has complete control of the board, black ran out of time.

Themes in the Gruenfeld

Here is a game I played today on chessbase which illustrates some modern themes in the Gruenfeld Defense.  The game began 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cd Nxd5 5 e4 NxN 6 bc Bg7 7 Nf3  Back in 1970s when I used to play the Gruenfeld, this was considered a blunder.  Now, however, this is the most popular move for white.  All major alternatives score about 55% for white.

7...0-0 (7...c5 is preferred 8:1.) 8 Bc4  Other moves are preferred, and score better (8 Bc4 scores only 40% for white!).  Most usual is 8 Be2.

8...c5 9 0-0 Nc6 10 Be3 cd 11 cd Bg4 12 Rb1  Five different moves have been played here, but this seems the most principled.  White seeks to pressure the b-pawn which black left unprotected when he played 11...Bg4.

12...b6  12...Nxd4 and 12...Bxf3 have been played.  My move is perhaps too passive.

13 d5 Ne5 14 Be2 Rc8 15 Bf4 NxN+ 16 BxN BxB 17 QxB Rc2 18 Qa3 Re8? (18...Qd7=) 19 Qxa7 Qa8 20 Qxb6 Qxa2 21 Qb5 Rec8 22 Qd7 h5 (22...Bd4) 23 Qxe7 Rxf2! 24 RxR??  Mate is now forced.  24 Bg3 would have preserved white's one-point advantage, though this is a hard move to find in a blitz game.

The game ended 24...QxR+ 25 Rf1 Bd4+ 26 Be3 BxB+ 27 Kh1 QxR#.