Playing the themes of an opening despite not actually playing the opening
The Grunfeld is a fight for d4 and a mobile flank attack. I think I had both of those and was able to capitalize with a simplification to a passed pawn with protection. Below that is a master game that opens similarly and a great video on the Grunfeld.
Master Game
Posted on February 27th, 2015
Chess Pattern Recognition: Game 1
Recently found an interesting book. Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition: Key Moves and Motifs in the Middlegame. I still like Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess, but this one allows me to post the PGN of games and just browse through them. Here's the first from Part 1: Chapter 1: A Very Powerful Piece: The Octopus
Posted on February 5th, 2015
It's Been a Good Month for Tactics
Now I just need some time to play and analyze...
Posted on February 4th, 2015
Two Tactical Wins: Given without comment
Before we get to the games, take a second to solve this tactic that came about. It’s about an 800 level I would guess.
The first game, my opponent went up a pawn because I miscounted a trade, but his next move hung a piece, followed by allowing me to mate quite easily. He really wasn’t trying.
This second game really emphasizes the danger of a white Bishop on b5, advancing the d-pawn, and not castling quickly. It’s an amateur fork, but hey, I will take it. There were a few tactics that arose, but the overwhelming difference doesn’t make for a great analysis.
Posted on February 4th, 2015
What I’ve learned by playing Bullet chess
I started playing Bullet at the beginning of 2014. I got into it mostly because my kid was on the way, and I wanted a quick game in case I needed to stop abruptly. A full bullet game rarely if ever (though it’s possible playing 2|1) goes over 5 mins. That comes out to up to 80hrs of Bullet play. I have put 250+ hours into Chesstempo over that time, so at least I am training more than I am playing, which is good.
Bullet is a terrible way to play chess. It is a dopamine surge, nothing more. It reinforces bad behavior. It makes you associate certain moves with success. Most of the time, I look over a game to find blunders, but never do I ponder over the theory involved with key moves. Worse, it has stunted my endgame play, which I think is my weakest component. I know general opening principles, and really, since I am not at the memorizing opening phase yet, they are just an extension of tactics. Bullet games don’t train tactics, they test them. Like a multiple choice test without feedback, they are great for judging your practice, but not a great way to learn.
I’d like to say I will slow down in Bullet play and stick to 30+ games and ChessTempo. I think my escapism won’t let me. It is a difficult balance, playing chess from the learners perspective, growing, expanding my knowledge, competing against myself and testing my mettle against others, vs the hedonistic desire to play fast paced games. I love the thrill of being down and knowing it, only to win on time, or catch the opponent in a back rank mate. Conversely, I get down quickly after a string of losses, clicking play again and again until I make one person suffer. Then I’m happy.
Below is my Chess.com report for a little over 1000 games. I look forward to a longer time interval before I get to 2000, and in the meantime, I will strive to a master level in the slow games which will definitely have an indirect effect on my bullet games.
Posted on January 27th, 2015
A very closed dutch game
An interesting Dutch game. I didn’t feel prepared for a QGD game, but I think I will go that direction in the future. This game was so closed that I couldn’t find a good plan. Looking at the analysis, it is odd that rarely were we ever faced with only one good move unless it was a recapture. I also made no mistakes or blunders, which is more a reflection of the closed nature of the game. No master game today. Busy week. I will however put my standard rating from ChessTempo, which has stepped it up a notch recently. CT has me estimated ~1600 based on my blitz score, and ~1700 for my standard score. And of course I suck at endgames on that site.
Posted on January 27th, 2015
Not a pretty win
I played poorly in the beginning, feigning here and there and leading to a poor position. Then he failed to protect a minor piece, then again I played poorly, not capitalizing until late, when some zwischenzug action simplified and saved a piece. This is a quick analysis, since I am doing it about a week after play. Sorry.
And here’s a master game. It’s a wild open game, like the Sicilian usually is. What I appreciate is the piece coordination of Smirin. If he really saw that rook-pawn getting to glory with a rook vs. 2 minor endgame, that’s amazing.
Lastly, here’s a video on the Sicilian. It’s not exactly what we played, since 2.Bc4 is so rare. But I do like the video and the theory explained at my level.
Posted on January 20th, 2015
Coordinating the English opening to my goals
This one was all about taking advantage of the theme of my play vs the lack of theme from him. There are many mistakes on my part, in that I missed opportunities, but I think I followed my goals of closing the game up with much more space, keeping my minor pieces more active, and trading when up to simplify the game. Specifically, trading my queen for his queen and a rook, and then giving up my rook advantage to secure a clear path for a pawn in a pawn-only endgame. I also wish I could see my time spent on each move like on lichess, since I spent a lot of time around his king with my queen (which was why I traded like I did)
Master game
A theme here is a nice closed up center, just like my game, as well as the passed pawn with rook protection. These situations often lead to a poor trade to get rid of that pawn, and this game ends with a better piece endgame
Chess Video
Posted on January 11th, 2015
Hitting 1600 with a sound end game
It’s funny to get to a class B player (on the internet) by winning a game I was trying to tie at one point. It’s also funny that what I thought was a poor choice by him not to tie was actually still a drawn end game, and it was his next move, trying to equalize too soon, that cost him. Either way, it was well fought. I need to work on a few aspects of my game to stay up here.
Master game
I really like the complexity of this game. I would say the main themes are central control from an offbeat opening, capitalizing on poor opening play by gobbling up pawns, and smart piece trading.
Posted on December 31st, 2014
Hunt for 1600: Bested by time
This was a tough game. The piece battle at the end was decisive for me, but I couldn’t capitalize. I got way behind in time, which would have been fine if I had a clear path to victory, but instead I blundered and then lost.
Posted on December 31st, 2014