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Games Of Local Interest - Videos By S. Farmer

Here you will find games from local players in the Arizona and New Mexico areas

King's Indian Sacrifice City Matthew Eberle vs. Steve Farmer, 2007 US Am, King's Indian Defense. After a slightly sloppy opening Black comes up with a unique way to continue the attack. First Black offers up a knight which is not taken, then a rook for one tempo which is taken, White is forced to return the Exchange only to be met with a combination where Black then gives up the last rook and a knight in a combination that leaves Black with a materially equal but totally winning endgame after a well deserved promotion of the Black queen's pawn. An exciting game!

The Wild Latvian [28:51] Steve Farmer vs. Ted Day, DPCC - Latvian Gambit. This game shows the dangers of playing the Latvian Gambit with the Black pieces. The Latvian may be nice as a surprise weapon to throw out every once in a while, but when your opponent is aware that this is in your repertoire, you can be sure that your opponent is going to be well prepared. Such was the case here. I had studied the Latvian from the White side a couple years earlier, fortunately the Latvian is not known for it's ability to advance in theory through the years, and the same old defense of many years ago will still work today.

Farmer vs Hammad Najdorf [11:47] Steve Farmer vs. Ramzi Hammad, Abq Open 2009, Sicilian Najdorf. In this game I came a bit more prepared to face my counterpart in our debate on the Najdorf, this time I did play the main line. In this opening it is easy to get your throat slit quickly if you are not vigilant. Watch this video for a surprising mistake that occurs to my opponent and how harshly it is dealt with. I look forward to my next encounter with Ramzi as I suspect he will be well prepared himself.

Puff Goes The Dragon John Vogel vs. Steve Farmer, 2008 US Amateur West. Sicilian Dragon 13:32. This game features some wild, if not necessary (or sound!), sacrifices. This is my first video post and was created in March 2009.

More King's Indian Sacrifices [17:45] Fletcher Peavy vs. Steve Farmer, 2005 US Amateur West. King's Indian Defense. This game is a pressure cooker that builds and builds until move 24 when in a space of 5 moves Black sacrifices two knights and a rook to strip the opponent's king bare and deliver mate. What was really nice about this sacrificial attack is that I calculated everything just once and then was able to automatically respond to whatever my opponent played. The players on the board next to us practically stopped playing their game to watch the explosion and fire on our board.

Roller-Coaster Chess [18:26] Ed Kestler vs. Steve Farmer, Coffee Exchange, 2009. Another 'Great Escape'. Ed manages to hold his own in the opening and even to gain the advantage. Thanks to the noise and pretty girls at the Coffee Exchange that evening, neither of us were able to concentrate. Eventually I was getting desperate and needed to find a way to win, I managed to do so in a unique manner, using a technique called the Alekhine's pawn (see Bogoljubov-Alekhine, Hastings 1922 2of2 for the original idea). Ed, feeling he was getting a boat-load of material soon found out that there was no way to stop my fast-advancing QRP.

The Ol' Rook Sac On g4 James Caid vs. Steve Farmer, 2001, Colle System. I'm sure you've seen games where a player places a knight or a bishop on N5 only to be harassed by the opponent's rook pawn, and then it stays there, much to the dismay of the pushy little rook's pawn. But... how often have you seen a rook sitting on this square, this really confuses the little rook pawn! This is what happens in this game. After some ingenious play I gain a winning edge only to lose the advantage in time trouble.

Batting Left-Handed with 1 d4 [25:51] Steve Farmer vs. Larry Slater, 6th Truepenny, 2002. Every once in a while a person needs a change of pace, such is the case here. In honor of Opening Day for Baseball this year, I decided to present this game where I opened with 1. P-Q4. What is unique about this game is the manner in which White maneuvered and redeployed his bishops to prepare for an attack on the king side. Black, feeling the heat, tried to complicate matters on the queen side, but this only delayed actions on the opposite side of the board.

Farmer vs Hammad Najdorf [36:01] Steve Farmer vs. Ramzi Hammad, Abq Open 2008, Sicilian Najdorf. An interesting theoretical battle is brewing between me and my new friend from New Mexico, a battle of wits in the Najdorf Main Line. In this game I deviated from the main main-line with an early 13.P-QR3, a move shunned by theory, but I believe has been rejuvenated to some extent.

Lighter Side Of Chess [42:39] Steve Farmer vs. Fred Duren, Match Game. Irregular Opening. This one I list under the heading of "Dope Smoking Chess". In this game I decide to go all out for the attack. I sacrifice a bishop with check early in the opening. It looks like I just dropped the piece, but it was a calculated risk. First of all, the position after this sacrifice is very complicated and secondly, the time control was rather fast, so the chance that my opponent would find the most correct path was limited by this time factor. This is an exciting game that I will always fondly remember.

Bad Things Happen To Good People [19:37] Steve Farmer vs. V.M. Casual G/30. This game is interesting as I am playing a rather strong opponent. After one slight misstep in the opening my opponent finds himself in a bad way. I could have won the Exchange but chose to keep the pressure on his king, not allowing him to castle. There are many complicated variations that would have led to pretty king hunts, but my opponent played boldly, but this only brought him an inferior ending. Towards the end of the game I remembered a classic endgame that Alexander Alekhine had won and decided to return the Exchange sacrifice in order to obtain an easily won endgame.

Ted Day vs Joe Beck - Black gets a pawn out of the opening. White could have found ways to complicate matters for his opponent. Black later finds himself up three pawns, but even then there were opportunities to go wrong!

Ted Day vs Ben McGhee - 50 Years Of Ed Tnmt - French Defense Kupreichik Variation. Black gets a good game and then makes some less than stellar moves and allows the opening of the h-file which gives White some hope. As the game progresses White misses a nice chance to win the game. In the game Ted saw the chance to win Black's h-pawn, but if he had instead played Rh5 then it is practically game over for Black!

Ed Yetman vs Ted Day - 50 Years Of Ed - Ed manages to transpose Ted's Modern Defense into a French type of structure, a structure he is very familiar with and soon had a very good game. Still, there were chances for Ted and I found a very nice line that he could have tried had he been aware of the possibility to bring about a very complicated position.

Jim Blevins vs Ted Day - A new friend and an old friend go at it at the Desert Paradise Chess Club. Jim came down for a visit and later played in the Ye Old Pueblo Open. Here he has a good chance to take down the veteran with a combination, however, Jim didn't know to look for the combination that well could have won the game. We take an in-depth look at the anatomy of a combination.

Another Ho-Hum Queen Sac [16:51] Steve Farmer  vs. IM Dioniso Aldama 2493 Ruy Lopez. In this game I get schooled on how to play a queen sacrifice! Yes, it's true, I had someone sacrifice a queen against me! I was so taken aback from this that I literally collapsed without much of a fight. Only later did I realize that the sacrifice was not sound. Still, a fun and exciting game. Dioniso recently moved to Phoenix from Cuba and has played for the Arizona Scorpions in the US Chess League.

Dope Smokin' Chess - Part Deux [24:28] Joshua Leonard vs. Steve Farmer, Coffee Exchange, June 2009 - Sicilian Defense, Grand Prix Attack. This is a very interesting game played at a time control of 40 moves per hour. This is one of the more exciting games I have played recently, the outcome of the winner would not be known until the very end. This game involves an odd gambit, odd positional play and equally odd tactics. A wild game to say the least!

Anything Can Happen - Albuquerque 2001 - I managed to miss a winning continuation in the opening here against Col. Sam Euhare and quickly fell into a desperate position. I decided to risk everything is a very bad position with an unsound sacrifice, but it was one of those that leaves the opponent wonders "Just what in the hell am I missing? I'd better not take it". He weathered the storm and started to come after my king when I found a very unique resource to save the game.

2010 50th Rocky Mountain Open: Posted September 13th, 2010
Ostapuk-Kestler [21:12] This is one of the more interesting games played at the Rocky Mountain Open. Steve Ostapuk, playing White in this one, took 3rd place with this win. Ed Kestler, playing Black, opted to head for an Isolate Queen Pawn position and it is very instructive to see how Steve handled this. I was playing on the board next to these two and when their game was over Ed told me he was very impressed with a particularly nice combination that Steve had played. Indeed, it was pretty and it netted a pawn which later was to win the game, but as often happens in such circumstances, one overreacts to what our opponent has thrown at us, and as a result Ed missed the best line of play which would have most likely produced a drawn game. This game is more interesting in that, even though the combination was beautiful and it won a pawn, White had a better and more positional way to continue.

2010 Tucson Open Part 1 This is a crazy Blumenfeld Gambit that Jason Mueller sprung on his young opponent, Bryan Hu. It was an important game for the tournament standings. If you like sharp tactics and complicated struggles, you will definitely enjoy this game! FM Dennis Monokroussos liked the game so much that he did a supplement video and pointed out where his opinion differed from mine. Thanks Dennis, I appreciate you taking the time to do this for me!

There were many interested viewers and I made my own supplement video on this game to answer viewers questions about the game - that's how interesting this game was! In this video I get into my thoughts of subjective play vs. objective play.

These three videos, which was from February 2010, have a total of 2,869 distinct viewers... with more to come if you check it out!

Tucson Open Round 5 - Nate Palmer vs Steve Ostapuk. This is an interesting battle that ends up in an equally interesting endgame.

Tucson Open - Joe Kruml vs Jason Mueller. Here it is Joe who blows the dust off an old and rarely played line, the Steinitz Gambit.

Tucson Open - Jared Huggins vs Eddy Perez This is a game fragment from an important round enabling him to win his section with a 5-0 score. congratulations Jared!

New Mexico Championship 2009
Round 1 Jeff Serna vs. Farmer - Though I was able to tie for 1st Place in this event, it didn't start out too well as seen in this game.
Round 2 - In this round I was paired against an 1800 player and I was so frustrated after my first round that I decided to have some fun and play the Goring Gambit. My opponent was quickly lost in the maze of complications giving me a quick and easy win.
Round 3 - I was given a full bye in this round. I was to be paired against Eddie Liu, but after waiting around for 45 minutes I was informed that Eddie had requested a bye. I was asked if I wanted a house game, but I declined as I needed some rest, and besides, the Wildcats were playing football against the UCLA Bruins - how could I miss that!
Round 4 - Farmer vs Hector Flores - This was a French Defense and was my first (and next to last) outing of the Tarrash variation. Black ended up with the bishop pair, but I was able to pile on the pressure against his castled position. He lost his way in the complications and I was able to break through for a win.
Round 5 - Zach Stewart vs. Farmer - This game was crucial in deciding the tournament. A win gave me chances to tie for first place, though I would need help on the top three boards, and this is indeed what I got. In the end I tied for 1st. This game is one of my favorites, it is a Tropowsky and I played a rare line in it, again, my devil-may-care attitude was with me. I ended up gaining the bishop pair, which one usually does in the Tromp and I decided to play patiently and gradually worked to build a position where the bishops would be the stronger minor pieces. This was accomplished and then I set about capitalizing on this solid bishop pair advantage to win a nice game.

2010 Ye Old Pueblo Open: Posted August 13th, 2010
Howler Fragments Part 1 [41:52]
Howler Fragments Part 2 [45:10]
Howler Fragments Part 3 [33:22]
Balkum vs Qi [50:47] The last game of the tournament that decided 2nd place standings. This was a bitter fight to the end.
Ken Larsen vs Lemke [12:56] The 'Red Lion' displays his attacking skills of yesteryear. With Ken Larsen back on the scene nobody is safe.

2009 ARIZONA CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP New 9/7/09
AZ STATE CHAMPIONSHIP LINE-UP [37:19] Meet this year's contestants.
Arizona Championship ROUND ONE [43:50] Highlights of Round One Games.
Arizona Championship ROUND TWO [60:20] Highlights of Round Two Games.
Arizona Championship ROUND Three Highlights of Round Three Games.
Arizona Championship ROUND Four Highlights of Round Four Games.

2009 US Amateur West Part One Tournament winners and games from the event.
2009 US Amateur Round 1 Wrap-Up - A look at the top8 games and their results.
2009 US Amateur Round 2 Part 1 - A look at 4 games from this round.
2009 US Amateur Round 2 Part 2 - Three more games from this round.

2009 Rocky Mountain Open - Intermission. It seems a habit with me that I cannot play on Saturday (due to work) so often I cannot play in tournaments, however, the TD of the Rocky Mountain Open allowed me to take two 1/2 point byes, even with losing one game I was able to tie for second place. The game presented here is my game with the black pieces against Butch Kawai in a Grand Prix Attack. Lot's of Grand Prix bashing here... all in good fun.

2009 Arizona Senior Championship My first two games from this event- A review of my poor performance at the first Senior Championship for Arizona - truly a sad state of affairs. This video features my games against Russ Crenshaw and Jan Jones.
Round Three AZ Senior Ch - In this game I am Black against Wayne Hatcher. A while back I played Wayne and he held me to a draw. In this game he just flat-out schools me in my own  King's Indian Defense. To say I was 'owned' is an understatement!
Round Four AZ Senior Ch - Here I am White against Hector Martinez. This was the only game I felt good about, but then again I greatly outranked my opponent, so it is nothing to brag about. Again, we get a Najdorf but he was unaware of the nuances in this tricky opening and I soon had an opening edge.
Round Five AZ Senior Ch  - I was White against Tom Myka and played an absolutely miserable game and lost in a French Defense, yes, I said I LOST to a French! Well, this was last in the Tarrasch variation!

2010 US Amateur West Regional: Posted August 13th, 2010
Belche vs Mathews [33:01] In this game almost anything can happen and does happen. Black grabs a pawn on the kingside early on and though it doesn't appear to be correct, it brings about some very interesting complications. Both sides miss some opportunities, but the play is exciting from start to finish. I must apologize for this video, I was in a hurry when making it and may have glossed over some areas that could have easily spent a lot more time in analysis.

2010 US Am West

Boteo vs Peavy [15:58]
Hu vs Savine [7:59] Pavel Savine takes on Bryan Hu the #1 seed with the Black pieces in his pet Benko Gambit. Play gets complicated (for White at least) after his novel Kh2. Pavel takes over the initiative and doesn't let go. White is walking a tight rope, and as time trouble for both players sets in White is looking totally busted. Just look at this game and tell me how White escaped with a draw!
Orlowski vs Kruml [8:55] Joe Kruml, the #2 seed, completely demolishes his opponent after a couple of slightly inaccurate moves. A good example of Joe's sharp play and gives us reason to understand why he is in the hunt for First Place. Joe did miss an opportunity to close out the game in a decisive manner, but the line he played never left the end result of the game in question.
Peavy vs A. Lebovitz [8:31] Andy Lebovitz took on Fletcher Peavy in this miniature. Fletcher plays a couple of inaccurate moves in the opening and soon finds himself trying to keep his head above water. Andy played this tournament like a man possessed, and when he saw Fletcher trying to stay afloat, he tossed him a life-preserver.... a lead filled life-preserver! The concluding combination of this game is a pretty one leading to a forced mate after a brief king-hunt. Nice game Andy!
Ostapuk vs Wang [5:47] In this game an old friend, Steve Ostapuk, scores a brilliant upset over a much higher rated player. Kinsleigh Wang must have started to doze off during Steve's typical (and, some would say, boring) opening system. This game will teach you that you should not take naps during a chess game! Steve spots Kinsleigh's mistake and pounces. What was funny about this game is that Steve came to me after the game and showed me the combination he played and how he would win gobs of material if his opponent had followed a different path, he was a bit shocked when I instantly pointed out the smothered mate... then to play on with it some more, we followed his line and he still had the smothered mate available to him. Still, a very nice win. It's always nice to chalk up points against higher rated opponents!
Booher-Motta [17:09] Paul Motta displays his devil-may-care approach to chess as he unveils the Elephant Gambit with the Black pieces. Had his opponent been closer to his rating I don't think he would have liked the outcome of this opening choice.
Kruml vs Lebovitz [5:57] In one of the few errors that Andy Lebovitz made in this tournament, this one little slip-up cost him dearly.
Eng vs Hu--Ending Fireworks [13:07] A wild Scotch Gambit between Randal Eng and Bryan Hu. This one was up for grabs most of the way through the game. White makes the first big mistake, but Black responds in kind. Randal missed his chance and it gave Bryan the chance to end the game with a BANG!

Lebovitz vs Savine [11:35]

The Plucked Bird [23:36] Lawrence Lebovitz vs Thomas Green
A.Lebovitz vs Bryan Hu [23:46]
Joe Kruml vs Paul Motta [16:26]

Albuquerque Open - Round 1 [21:10] Eddie Lu vs. Steve Farmer, Abq Open R1, Polish Opening. This is my first round game from the 2009 Albuquerque Open where I finished in 2nd place. My young opponent played the opening move of 1.P-QN4, I played 1...P-Q4 and after 2.B-N2 I played a line suggested to me by Ed Yetman with 2...Q-Q3. This odd sortie of the queen so early in the opening is indeed unusual, but it has it merits. I believe that Wolfgang Uhlmann was the first to use this concept. As you can see, I played steady logical chess, waiting for my opponent to mess up. As things turned out, this game should have been a draw after a horrible oversight on my part, but my opponent then returned the favor and the game soon ended. There will be more games presented from this event after they have made their appearance in the Yetman Brothers Descriptive Chess Magazine and the Desert Knight.
 Albuquerque Open Round 2 - This is my game against Ramzi Hammad, a fellow devotee of the Najdorf Sicilian. This game takes a nasty turn after technology steps in to ruin the day for my opponent.
 Albuquerque Open Round 3 - Draw on demand. This was my game against Wayne Hatcher who was coming off with a win against fellow Tucsonan Roland Rodriguez. I was very tired from the road-trip the night before. My idea in this game was to build a fortress with the Black pieces and not give up any ground, and to not think too hard! Mission accomplished!
 Albuquerque Open Round 4 - With White against Carlos Santillan I had my work cut out for me. In the previous round I sat next to Carlos and watched him play a Maroczy Bind as white and I didn't think he played it to the full, so, in this game we get into a Maroczy with me having the White pieces. Carlos loses his way and it cost him a pawn and a poor position. The ending was a rather instructive one.
Albuquerque Open Round 5 -  My game against Silas Perry in a King's Indian Defense - but in this one I was WHITE! Looking at the prize money situation I could have tied for 1st place with Silas if I won, or, I could offer a draw and share 2nd place... a loss would take me out of the money. A quick draw so that I could start heading back to Tucson since I had to work the next morning after an 8 hour drive home.

Anything Can Happen - Albuquerque 2007 - I managed to miss a winning continuation in the opening here against Col. Sam Euhare and quickly fell into a desperate position. I decided to risk everything is a very bad position with an unsound sacrifice, but it was one of those that leaves the opponent wonders "Just what in the hell am I missing? I'd better not take it". He weathered the storm and started to come after my king when I found a very unique resource to save the game.

2010 Tucson Open Videos

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New 1/26/10

 Hu Mueller Photo
Bryan Hu vs. Jason Mueller


In a bid to try and win first place, Jason Mueller pulled out all the stops with the Black pieces against Bryan Hu. In a wild Blumenfeld Gambit Jason shows how age can triumph over youth and conventional opening preparation. Bryan goes slightly astray early on in the game, and then misses two opportunities to hold the position, but to do so he would have had to seen deep into the complexities that arose. To see a video of this game, click this link: Tucson Open 2010 Part One [65:19]

Thanks to everyone who viewed, voted or commented on this video, it made the #1 most viewed video for three days in a row - awesome! Chess in Tucson is making a step forward.

New 1/30/10

This video is a follow-up to the Hu-Mueller game above. One of the viewers had a question about Mueller's Exchange sacrifice and offered an alternative, ...Bxf3. I take a look at this idea and give my views on objective vs. subjective decision making in a critical game (i.e., an important final round game such as the case here). To watch this game, click this link: Tucson Open Part 1 Viewer Questions [20:58]

 

New 1/31/10    Nate Cromer vs. Steve Ostapuk 

Steve Ostapuk
Steve Ostapuk shown here - Sorry, no photo of Nate is currently available.


Nate Cromer won the Reserve with a perfect score of 5 wins, no draws and no loses! Congratulations Nate! Hope you can do better next year! :-) 

In this presentation we see his final round game against Steve Ostapuk. Nate played an English openings and I have to say that I felt that Black had the better of things out of the opening until he started helping his opponent's development. Even then, Black missed a chance to give Nate a ruptured queenside which would have definitely given Black the upper-hand. Black later misses a line that allows White to win a pawn (again, subjective play here may well have saved the game for Black, but to do so he would have to admit the dire situation for him on the board). Once White won the pawn he pressed forward patiently and finally scored the point in a double rook ending.  To watch this game, click this link: 2010 Tucson Open Part 2 [26:16]

Fred Duren takes First Place at the
6th Gold Canyon Invitational. On September 21st several of us travelled up to Gold Canyon for a one-day event. We played 3 rounds and the outcome was in doubt until the final round. Fred needed a win to take first place while his opponent Rob Keough needed only a draw. What happened was a wild game showcasing Fred in one of his off-beat openings. Rob pressed too hard and Fred came back with a vicious attack.  There were several interesting games and I have put notes to all the games. Some of the more interesting games were; Duren vs. McGhee from Round 1, Farmer vs. Keough from Round 2 was also interesting, I missed my chance and Rob scored the win. In the last round we see the above mentioned encounter, Keough vs. Duren - a wild attack springs up out of nothing.

The 48th Rocky Mountain Open! Robert Tanner takes 1st, Fred Duren 2nd place. The turn-out for this event was rather small and this seems to be a growing trend for Labor Day events. Still, there were some good games. I have taken the liberty to annotate an interesting encounter between the 1st and 2nd place contestants. Click here to view this battle.

US AM West Best Game Reserve Section [21:33] In this game one of my students won the Best Game prize for the Reserve Section. This was not an easy decision at all, firstly as it involves a Student and secondly there were a couple of decent contenders. I solved this problem by bringing in two additional judges to pick from the top three or four contenders. Congratulations Sam! This shows that no matter how bad things may go, it is always worth it to keep plugging away!

US AM West Best Game Open Section [19:48] Selecting the Best Game from the Open Section was turning into a nightmare. After four rounds there were at least a half dozen contenders for this prize, and none of them were perfect. However, in the last round, in the game between Jason Kammerdiner vs Jeff Green all my worries went away. Jason flipped out the rare King's Gambit. Not a bad choice in a must win situation, however, here it back-fired on the first player. Jeff was well up to the task and after a couple of slight inaccuracies Black's pieces were flooding into White's position, never giving him time to find safe harbor for his king. Black's attack in this game was very straight-forward. Thankfully for me Jeff knew he was on to a good game and let me know that his game, thought in progress, is one he wanted to submit for the Best Game prize. Indeed, as I looked in on the game as it unfolded I only had to verify that a gross blunder was not committed. In the end I am sure the viewer will agree with me that this is a very nice game indeed, and well deserving of the title of Best Game.

2011 Tucson Open
2011 Tucson Open - Saeed and the Beast [34:23] This game pits Saeed Mohammad against Dionisio Aldama, a.k.a. "The Beast" What a great fighter Dionisio is! He brings a blend of modern technological play with a true Romantic style - the result is that he produces many brilliant games with sacrifices that are not always proper but give a feeling that he just might have been influenced by Mikhail Tal, or me. In this game he is held back from tactical shots, but he shows his talent in positional warfare. Saeed is a newcomer to Tucson chess, but he seems like a nice young man and I hope to see more of him at these events.

2011 Tucson Open Decisive Game [38:23] This game has Lev Altounian playing the White pieces and Dipro Chakraborty with Black. Dipro seems to hold his own, at least I think that's what he was thinking, but when you are playing Lev you are never out of the woods until he resigns the game and shakes your hand. In this game First Place was on the line. This game also out lasted all the others as Dipro put up a valiant effort. However, Dipro missed a chance to hold the game late in the endgame phase. I haven't talked to Lev yet to see if he saw what I found as the saving resource for Black, but that hardly would have mattered since if it isn't played on the board, it is not of concern. Still, this is a very instructive Bishop & Pawn endgame that is well worth knowing and may save you a point, or at least 1/2 a point!



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