Well, I played in a "Friday Action Quad (FAQ)" at the St. Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center. My rating was probably a little inflated after winning my first three games in a chess tournament two weeks ago (all my opponents were 600 and below, as I was unrated), so I expected to have a rough time, and I wasn't disappointed. I got behind in the first game but then battle back, only to blunder the game away. I won the second game fairly easily, as my opponent overlooked a couple of long diagonal attacks. The final game I was thoroughly trounced, as we will see later. I will present the first game tonight. I have not run these through the computer yet, as its late and am quite sleepy.
More to come! I will edit this post with what the computer finds, as well as what happens to my provisional 1300P3 quick rating tomorrow!
Edit: Rating not too bad, new rating 1239P6 Quick Rated, which I think is about where I should be. Also of note, I think I'm going to limit the blog posts, probably 4 or 5 a week. I feel like my annotations are coming out a bit rushed, and I'm doing less and less analysis. I will try to get the next OTB game up either tomorrow or Monday.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
I decided not to annotate this one as its just too short. Personally, I think he resigns WAY too soon, especially at our level. But it is still a 15 10 game, and I guess he doesn't feel like trying to grind it out.
Anyway, I will either post one of my tournament games (quick rated, 26g/3) tomorrow night, or I do have another chess.com game to post if I'm too tired tomorrow or I don't write my moves down correctly :)
One final thought, I think you will see from looking through the games I've posted is, for all my flaws and mistakes, I've had a lead in development almost every game I've played. For the record, I DO play two specific openings (or at least, that's the plan). Every white game I play 1) e4, and usually try to go for some type of Spanish opening 2) Nf3 3) Bb5. When I play black, its always the Sicilian. But I assure you that I really don't KNOW any openings, and I certainly don't have any variations memorized or anything like that. This advice has been stressed in my "Advanced Beginner" class at the local chess club I play at, but I try to do these three things every time in the opening:
1) Control the center squares (the 4 in the very middle. Occupying with pawns usually helps).
2) Develop your minor pieces first. I would also add to that knights before bishops is usually better, because it takes your knight two moves to threaten your opponent, where your bishop can do it in 1, so why not move the knight first and get it closer? Also, it seems like bishops get harassed more frequently when developed to good squares initially.
3) Castle! I would also add, as a general rule, to not disrupt the pawn structure in front of your king for as long as possible. It just seems to invite trouble, and there are definitely players out there who might be weak otherwise who have all sorts of combos memorized when that area gets weakened.
(So, not to make this more complicated than it needs to be, but I would say a good #4 rule, as we see in the above game, is to keep your Queen in the back until development is complete. It just gives your opponent too much counterplay. Unless I have a tactic that wins me material on the spot, my Queen is typically very inactive until a file has opened up and some pieces have been exchanged. I think the game above is a good example of this).
It really is as simple is that. If you just make sure to do these things, I think you'll see your results improve. I know I have!
Books I'm Reading:
Winning Chess Strategy for Kids by Jeff Coakley - Great book, don't let the "for kids" turn you off! It covers all sorts of topics, including many positional concepts I knew nothing about. Also does a good job of interspersing tactical problems with strategic concepts. Extremely good book.
A First Book of Morphy - Franco del Rosario - I'm not 100% sure I'd recommend this or not. The games are obviously instructive, and I do think that Morphy is a good player to study early because the positions are not complex (it a LOT of tactics and mating combinations, combined with rapid development relative to his opponents), but this book is kind of weak on analysis, especially his opponents' terrible moves. Also, Morphy would play a lot of games where he would spot people a pawn or a knight, which the book doesn't tell you. So every once in a while, there will be a rook move which seems "impossible" until you realize that the knight wasn't there to begin with. Just needlessly confusing.
Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman - This book is good, but it depends what kind of learner you are. If you like to have things explained, he does an excellent job. But I wish the book had more examples and problems to work through. Also, if you are a beginner like me, read much farther in the book than he recommends if you want to learn anything. The beginner stuff is way too basic, and I'm going to guess if you've ever read a "general knowledge" chess book, its already been covered. I've ordered Pandolfini's Endgame Course, and while I've heard that there are a lot of errors, its basically a problems book, which I think suits what I'm looking for better (confidence in my execution of endgames that I should win).
Anyway, I will either post one of my tournament games (quick rated, 26g/3) tomorrow night, or I do have another chess.com game to post if I'm too tired tomorrow or I don't write my moves down correctly :)
One final thought, I think you will see from looking through the games I've posted is, for all my flaws and mistakes, I've had a lead in development almost every game I've played. For the record, I DO play two specific openings (or at least, that's the plan). Every white game I play 1) e4, and usually try to go for some type of Spanish opening 2) Nf3 3) Bb5. When I play black, its always the Sicilian. But I assure you that I really don't KNOW any openings, and I certainly don't have any variations memorized or anything like that. This advice has been stressed in my "Advanced Beginner" class at the local chess club I play at, but I try to do these three things every time in the opening:
1) Control the center squares (the 4 in the very middle. Occupying with pawns usually helps).
2) Develop your minor pieces first. I would also add to that knights before bishops is usually better, because it takes your knight two moves to threaten your opponent, where your bishop can do it in 1, so why not move the knight first and get it closer? Also, it seems like bishops get harassed more frequently when developed to good squares initially.
3) Castle! I would also add, as a general rule, to not disrupt the pawn structure in front of your king for as long as possible. It just seems to invite trouble, and there are definitely players out there who might be weak otherwise who have all sorts of combos memorized when that area gets weakened.
(So, not to make this more complicated than it needs to be, but I would say a good #4 rule, as we see in the above game, is to keep your Queen in the back until development is complete. It just gives your opponent too much counterplay. Unless I have a tactic that wins me material on the spot, my Queen is typically very inactive until a file has opened up and some pieces have been exchanged. I think the game above is a good example of this).
It really is as simple is that. If you just make sure to do these things, I think you'll see your results improve. I know I have!
Books I'm Reading:
Winning Chess Strategy for Kids by Jeff Coakley - Great book, don't let the "for kids" turn you off! It covers all sorts of topics, including many positional concepts I knew nothing about. Also does a good job of interspersing tactical problems with strategic concepts. Extremely good book.
A First Book of Morphy - Franco del Rosario - I'm not 100% sure I'd recommend this or not. The games are obviously instructive, and I do think that Morphy is a good player to study early because the positions are not complex (it a LOT of tactics and mating combinations, combined with rapid development relative to his opponents), but this book is kind of weak on analysis, especially his opponents' terrible moves. Also, Morphy would play a lot of games where he would spot people a pawn or a knight, which the book doesn't tell you. So every once in a while, there will be a rook move which seems "impossible" until you realize that the knight wasn't there to begin with. Just needlessly confusing.
Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman - This book is good, but it depends what kind of learner you are. If you like to have things explained, he does an excellent job. But I wish the book had more examples and problems to work through. Also, if you are a beginner like me, read much farther in the book than he recommends if you want to learn anything. The beginner stuff is way too basic, and I'm going to guess if you've ever read a "general knowledge" chess book, its already been covered. I've ordered Pandolfini's Endgame Course, and while I've heard that there are a lot of errors, its basically a problems book, which I think suits what I'm looking for better (confidence in my execution of endgames that I should win).
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Another annotated game, this time with 15 10 time controls. I think I play reasonably well for me, with a minor blunder in the early mid-game offset by my opponents lack of development.
I am still undefeated on Chess.com after starting this blog! I would say at the very least, the reduced number of games and the time I'm taking to analyse my games is paying some dividend. I have a very brief game to present tomorrow, and then an OTB (Over the Board) mini-Tournament on Friday, which I will post on here, assuming I can get my moves written down properly.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
New game, and likely the last one I play with 30 minute time controls. I win on time, but think I would have been able to take care of business had things played out in a more reasonable manner (we were both rushed). I also make about 10 mistakes in this game, but I make enough good moves near the end to pull it out.
More to come tomorrow!
More to come tomorrow!
Monday, August 20, 2012
Well, as promised here is my second game from Sunday. Its honestly a pretty dull game, but I think there are two important lessons. One, ignore the fact that a pawn recapture can double you on a file, a fact I take for granted in this game. Secondly, if you have no good moves, increase your king safety and don't play hope chess. If the game is going to be a draw, let it be a draw.
More to come tomorrow, where I win again on time! :/ I think I might play 15 10 from now on, as a nice combination that keeps me alive is sort of muddied by a time rushed ending. Stay tuned!
More to come tomorrow, where I win again on time! :/ I think I might play 15 10 from now on, as a nice combination that keeps me alive is sort of muddied by a time rushed ending. Stay tuned!
Sunday, August 19, 2012
New game from this morning. Pretty uneven performance by me, but thanks to a few opponent errors, I was still able to pull it out. He plays great after going down by 3 early in the game though.
That's five for five since blog has started! I played another game later that day which I will post tomorrow which was a humbling experience. Stay tuned!
That's five for five since blog has started! I played another game later that day which I will post tomorrow which was a humbling experience. Stay tuned!
Saturday, August 18, 2012
I have a new game to post which I'm very proud of. A few mistakes were made, but I was able to exploit my advantage in development into a decisive victory. I've now won 4 in a row since beginning this blog (although have yet to attract a stronger opponent from a rating perspective).
I apologize for this, but when trying to enter some variations the computer found, I screwed up and am no longer able to edit the annotations in the game. Here are some other important items the computer found:
Instead of 6) Bc4??
6)Nd5 Qd8 7)dxc5 dxc5 8) Bf4 and now there is nothing Black can do about the knight fork on c7 (or he loses the knight to Bxb8).
15) Is bad for both sides because my proposed exchange is bad. He is better off exchanging, and so gets ?? from the computer for not doing so. From his perspective, after 15) Bg5?? Bxg5 16) Nxg5 Ne7 and now he wins a pawn on the next move.
Other keys are that there were much faster ways for me to win the game. 23) Ne6 wins the queen, since 24) Qd4 flushes the king into the open, leading to a quick mate. At any rate, I'm glad I was able to turn my advantage in development into a win, even with the loss of my rook.
On my way to Rams vs. Chiefs preseason game. Looking for a much better showing this week. Arsenal, however, did NOT show well. Might by pretty hinky for a while before they can get some new transfers in.
I apologize for this, but when trying to enter some variations the computer found, I screwed up and am no longer able to edit the annotations in the game. Here are some other important items the computer found:
Instead of 6) Bc4??
6)Nd5 Qd8 7)dxc5 dxc5 8) Bf4 and now there is nothing Black can do about the knight fork on c7 (or he loses the knight to Bxb8).
15) Is bad for both sides because my proposed exchange is bad. He is better off exchanging, and so gets ?? from the computer for not doing so. From his perspective, after 15) Bg5?? Bxg5 16) Nxg5 Ne7 and now he wins a pawn on the next move.
Other keys are that there were much faster ways for me to win the game. 23) Ne6 wins the queen, since 24) Qd4 flushes the king into the open, leading to a quick mate. At any rate, I'm glad I was able to turn my advantage in development into a win, even with the loss of my rook.
On my way to Rams vs. Chiefs preseason game. Looking for a much better showing this week. Arsenal, however, did NOT show well. Might by pretty hinky for a while before they can get some new transfers in.
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