[BrianWall-ChessList] Wild Man

Mon Aug 13 17:08:33 MDT 2007

James Hamblin is a Chess wild man, a very rugged, masculine player whose games
are full of King's Gambit and Latvian Gambits. Jim loves Chess history and
often quotes old games. Nowadays he uses Chessmaster computer to augment his
study of ancient lines. I have known Jim since my teen years. In our twenties
we would joke how many times our ratings went above and below Master. Jim onces
beat Walter Browne in his prime. Browne just won $200,000 in a poker tournament.

If you look up Jim's rating someone ( probably Bill Engels ) put in the wrong
rating number for Jim so his old rating of 2320 ( 1992 ) is listed as inactive.
Jim was at Steve Dykstra's funeral, which started my whole email mania. Jim
used to like to go caving.

Shaun used to be an expert although he just got slammed hard to his rating floor
of 1800 mainly because he became Larry Wutt's study partner. After playing the
English and the French for 20 years, Shaun is starting to branch out.

This is a wild ride I am sure the computer will devastate but I wanted to look
at it anyway - very hard to understand what was going on. Getting a winning
position from James and winning it are two different things as everyone in
Colorado finds out eventually.

[Event "Pikes Peak"]
[Site "City Hall, 606 Manitou Avenue, Manitou Springs, CO"]
[Date "2007.08.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "James Hamblin"]
[Black "Shaun MacMillan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ICCResult "Drawn by mutual agreement"]
[WhiteElo "2017"]
[BlackElo "1800"]
[Opening "French: advance, Paulsen attack"]
[ECO "B22"]
[NIC "SI.46"]
[Time "00:31:54"]
[TimeControl "40/2  G/55 plus 5 second delay second time control"]

Pikes Peak

Round 4

August 12, 2007

Board 3

40/2

Game/55 plus 5 second dealy second time control only

White - James " Wild Man " Hamblin, 2017

Black - Shaun MacMillan, 1800 ( floor, can't sink any lower )

1. e4 c5 2. c3 e6 3. d4 d5 4. e5 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Be2 Nge7
7. dxc5!  Qxc5 8. b4 Qb6! 9. b5 Na5! 10. h4!? TN

Theoretical Novelty by James Hamblin

10 0-0  played 5 times
10 Be3  played 4 times
10 Nd4  played once
10 a4   played once

Hiarcs-
10 Qa4, 0-0, Be3, Qd4, Na3, Nbd2, Bd3, Nd4
#18  h4
#20  a4

10 ...  Bd7 11. a4 Qc7!  12. h5!  Nf5 13. Bd3 Bc5 14. Qc2

14 B:f5  ef  15 h6 looks strong

14 ... Nc4! 15. Bf4 a6!  16. g3 Qb6!!

to avoid the cheap tactician's shot of  17 B:f5  ef  18 e6

17. a5!?

Jim explained he gambitted the pawn to sidetrack Shaun's Queen.

17 ...  Qxb5!  18. Ra2 Qc6 19. g4!  Ne7! 20. Bxh7 Qc7!

The center is lokced up so they target each other's rook pawns.

21. Bd3!  Bc6 22. Qe2 Nxa5!  23. Nbd2!  b5!  24. O-O Nc4!

Shaun played a Sicilian but Jim forced Shaun to play the French anyway.
The c4 knight is supersolid and Shaun has the advantage now.

25. Nb3!  Bb6!  26. Nbd4 Bb7!  27. Rfa1!

Jim is playing the Benko Gambit and Shaun is playing his French.

27 ... Kd7 28. Ng5! Bxd4 29. cxd4!  Nc6!

Hitting the new base of the pawn chain.

30. Nxf7 Rhf8!  31. Bg6!  Nxd4

31 ... R:f7  32 B:f7  Rf8! is stronger -
Jim said he missed that idea.

32. Qd1!  Nc6!

11 minutes for Jim,
4 for Shaun.

33. Rc1?

same move that led to disaster for Josh Devine in our last game Wednesday.
33 Bg3!  avoids the threat

33 ... Rxf7

33 ... Nd8!!  34  N:d8  R:f4!  35  N:b7  Q:b7  36 Qe2  Raf8!!
with beautiful piece coordination is even stronger.

34. Bxf7!  Rf8! 35. Bxe6+

35  Q:d5+!  ed  36  e6+  Kd8  37 B:c7+
is a better chance for Jim but Tim Brennan
insists no trades when losing.

35 ... Kxe6!

Shaun is totally winning now but he is short of time.

36. Bg3! Qf7 37. f4!  Qc7??

Losing but Shaun had seconds left.
He made his 40th with 3 seconds left.
37 ... d4, ... Ke7  or ... Kd7 all win, among others.

38. f5+!!   Ke7!!

Forced.

39. Qxd5!!  Nd8 40. Bh4+

Jim regretted not giving Shaun a more difficult choice
with so little time left. 40 Qd3!!!  and  40 Qd4!!
are stronger moves that give Shaun more rope to hang himself.

40 ... Ke8

Forced.

41. Bxd8

41 Qd4!!  is a little better than  41 Q:d8+! or  41 B:d8!

41 ... Qc8!

Forced

42. Rxc4

Forcing a draw -
42 Qd3, d1 or d4
would keep some life going.

42 ... bxc4!

Forced

43. Qd6

Forced

43 ... Qxd8
Forced

44. Qg6+
Forced

44 ... Rf7
Forced

45. e6
Forced

45 ... Qd1+

45 ... Qb6+=  or  45 ... Qd4+
are also perpetuals.

46. Kh2

46 Kf2 is also a perpetual check

46 ... Qh1+

46 ... Qd6+  or ... Kd8 are also perpetuals

47. Kg3
forced

47 ... Qf3+

47 ... Qe1+, ... Qg1+ and  ... Kd8
are also perpetuals.

48. Kh4

48  Kh2 is also a perpetual.

1/2-1/2

Thanx for listening.
I had to get that out of my system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------

[Event "Pikes Peak"]
[Site "City Hall, 606 Manitou Avenue, Manitou Springs, CO"]
[Date "2007.08.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "James Hamblin"]
[Black "Shaun MacMillan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ICCResult "Drawn by mutual agreement"]
[WhiteElo "2017"]
[BlackElo "1800"]
[Opening "French: advance, Paulsen attack"]
[ECO "B22"]
[NIC "SI.46"]
[Time "00:31:54"]
[TimeControl "40/2  G/55 plus 5 second delay second time control"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 e6 3. d4 d5 4. e5 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Be2 Nge7 7. dxc5 Qxc5 8.
b4 Qb6 9. b5 Na5 10. h4 Bd7 11. a4 Qc7 12. h5 Nf5 13. Bd3 Bc5 14. Qc2 Nc4
15. Bf4 a6 16. g3 Qb6 17. a5 Qxb5 18. Ra2 Qc6 19. g4 Ne7 20. Bxh7 Qc7 21.
Bd3 Bc6 22. Qe2 Nxa5 23. Nbd2 b5 24. O-O Nc4 25. Nb3 Bb6 26. Nbd4 Bb7 27.
Rfa1 Kd7 28. Ng5 Bxd4 29. cxd4 Nc6 30. Nxf7 Rhf8 31. Bg6 Nxd4 32. Qd1 Nc6
33. Rc1 Rxf7 34. Bxf7 Rf8 35. Bxe6+ Kxe6 36. Bg3 Qf7 37. f4 Qc7 38. f5+ Ke7
39. Qxd5 Nd8 40. Bh4+ Ke8 41. Bxd8 Qc8 42. Rxc4 bxc4 43. Qd6 Qxd8 44. Qg6+
Rf7 45. e6 Qd1+ 46. Kh2 Qh1+ 47. Kg3 Qf3+ 48. Kh4

1/2-1/2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------