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Would've been a draw most likely if I looked at the board and moved my pawn to a white space.  That's a problem I have; not looking at the board.
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Mar 17, 2014 22:46
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Kheldragar posted:Would've been a draw most likely if I looked at the board and moved my pawn to a white space. Stick to go. Just kidding, but was this a blitz game? There wasn't anything remotely close to actual opening concepts (take center, develop pieces), pawns were hung everywhere...
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Mar 18, 2014 15:32
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silvergoose posted:Just kidding, but was this a blitz game? There wasn't anything remotely close to actual opening concepts (take center, develop pieces), pawns were hung everywhere... They both had ~1100 though (1200 is the default start rating on chess.com) Kheldragar: You should use the opening book ("Game explorer") on there at least!
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Mar 18, 2014 20:14
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Any time white castles in Ruy Lopez/Berlin I
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Mar 19, 2014 23:43
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silvergoose posted:Stick to go. Everyone knows it's corners, sides, centre!  But no, even if it said the time was 3 days, I think we played it out in 30 minutes. I'm still not exactly sure what the meaning of "develop pieces" is, though nor have I ever been explained what the opening concepts are.Spug posted:
I'll check it out.
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Mar 20, 2014 03:04
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dorwTb_J1uc I'm not a fan of the opening but she goes over the opening concepts like controlling the center and developing pieces
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Mar 20, 2014 03:19
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Kheldragar posted:Would've been a draw most likely if I looked at the board and moved my pawn to a white space. If you're talking about the endgame from about move 39, after you lose your bishop, you're still losing if you don't hang your pawn. Since your opponent has a bishop they can use it to waste moves, eventually forcing you to move your pawn to a square where they can capture it. At the same time they place their last pawn on the same colour square as their bishop, so that they can hold it, just in case you try to attack it with your king. Shoeonhead22 posted:Any time white castles in Ruy Lopez/Berlin I  )
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Mar 20, 2014 03:32
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I exclusively play blitz and exclusively play 1. b4.
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Mar 20, 2014 03:49
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Hand Knit posted:If you're talking about the endgame from about move 39, after you lose your bishop, you're still losing if you don't hang your pawn. Since your opponent has a bishop they can use it to waste moves, eventually forcing you to move your pawn to a square where they can capture it. At the same time they place their last pawn on the same colour square as their bishop, so that they can hold it, just in case you try to attack it with your king. Well after ... Kb3, I'm pretty sure white can just shepherd the pawn down the board with Kd3 instead of the incomprehensible c4. Nothing black can do to stop it, especially not with the bishop on the board. Later on, same story, I think. White moves his king to the a file and black cannot hope to keep the pawn. Black also cannot hope to promote the other pawn, since white will be happy to trade the bishop for it and queen the a pawn.
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Mar 20, 2014 04:48
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Kheldragar posted:Everyone knows it's corners, sides, centre! edit: and the OP of this old A/T chess thread is good Or perhaps you want to up your game? Try the edgy new Bongcloud opening variations! Spug fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Mar 20, 2014 |
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Mar 20, 2014 12:59
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Facebook seems to have multiple chess apps associated with it. Are any worthwhile? Which is/are the best? I like FICS for free stuff but the user base seems so small.
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Mar 25, 2014 18:18
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Zwabu posted:Facebook seems to have multiple chess apps associated with it. Are any worthwhile? Which is/are the best? The main chess app is integrated with chess.com, which gives you access to not just the largest player base but also a whole lot of other benefits too.
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Mar 25, 2014 18:34
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Does anybody remember the link to that website that had all the problems from Fred Reinfeld's three books uploaded?
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Mar 28, 2014 03:27
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Thanks Zugz with your one weird tip I went from 1150 to 1600 in 1 minute games. And I'm still climbing, my entire front page is like all wins and one loss. The one weird tip, just play fast and stop worrying about playing the best move or refuting the blatantly bad move of an opponent. It's working pretty well when combined with just making strong moves. The tip should have been more obvious given that almost all of my losses were to time, but whatever. One minute is a casual fun thing for me and I didn't really care about rating, but it's more fun in the higher bracket because people are making real moves and stuff a lot more often. Khorne fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Mar 30, 2014 |
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Mar 30, 2014 00:02
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Been playing a fair bit recently. I find that I do quite well in the transition from midgame to endgame, but not so much going from opening to midgame. Any reccommendations on reading for this area of the game or is it just a "play more, you'll get it" thing? (I'm under no illusions that it's going to need that regardless)
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Mar 31, 2014 04:26
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There's a fantastic book called Chess Strategy for Club Players that does a nice job going over common plans and transitioning from the opening to the middle game.
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Mar 31, 2014 04:55
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And when you study openings, remember that it's less about memorizing what moves to play when and more about why that particular move is played rather than others. Or, what one line hopes to achieve vs. another (i.e. I really hate this particular variation, so I can avoid it by playing this particular move, because it neutralizes that variation's threats in this way, etc.) And try not to think just tactically, but strategically as well.
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Mar 31, 2014 15:44
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As terrible as I am at playing chess, I actually beat my DS at it in Clubhouse Games. Granted, it was set to Easy, but a victory's a victory. The DS was White, I was Black. I made some classic idiot moves like blocking off my bishops/rooks, along with getting two pawns in the same file, but I'd like to think I did a lot better than I deserved. 1. Pc3 Pc6 2. Qa4 Qb6 3. Qc4 Nf6 4. Qf4 Nd5 5. Qxb8 Rxb8 6. Pe4 Nc7 7. Bc4 f6 8. Pe5 Pxe5 9. Pb4 Pe6 10. Pa4 Bxb4 11. Pxb4 Qxb4 12. Na3 Qc3 13. Pxc3 Pe4 14. Bg5 Pd6 15. Ph4 0-0 16. Be7 Rf4 17. Bd8 Kf7 18. Bxc7 Ra8 19. Bd8 Ke8 20. Bc7 Kd7 21. Bxe6+ Kxe6 22. Bd8 Kd7 23. Bg5 Pa5 24. Bxf4 Ra6 25. Bg5 Rb6 26. Nb5 Ke6 27. Bd8 Rxb5 28. Pxb5 Pxb5 29. Rxa5 Pd5 30. Ra8 Bd7 31. Rb8 Ke5 32. Ra8 Pd4 33. Rb8 Pxc3 34. Ra8 Pc2 35. Rb8 Pc1=Q+ 36. Ke2 Qb2+ 37. Kd1 Qxf2 38. Bc7+ Kd5 39. Rg8 Pb4 40. Rf8 Pb3 41. Rg8 Pe3 42. Ne2 Pb2 43. Nc3+ Kc4 44. Rh2 Pb1=Q+ 45. Nxb1 Pe2+ 46. Kc2 Pe1=Q+ 47. Nd2+ Qxd2+ 48. Kb1 Ba4 49. Ka1 Qe1#
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Apr 1, 2014 00:48
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Snorb posted:As terrible as I am at playing chess, I actually beat my DS at it in Clubhouse Games. Granted, it was set to Easy, but a victory's a victory. OK I'm making a couple of quick formatting changes so this is viewable in a PGN viewer like this one. You can just copy/paste the whole thing in there if you want; you don't even have to delete my comments. 1. Pc3 Pc6 2. Qa4 Qb6 {I guess you were a little lost for ideas and you imitated the computer's play? These are both poor moves. The pawn on c3/c6 blocks the square that the Knight will likely want to go to, and it's just too passive. Seize the center with a move like 1...d5. Bringing the Queen out early is a classic beginner mistake: with proper defense, the Queen can't do much in the beginning except to be harassed by less valuable pieces.} 3. Qc4 Nf6 4. Qf4 Nd5 5. Qxb8 Rxb8 6. Pe4 Nc7 7. Bc4 f6 {What was f6 for? Assuming of course you didn't know White would hang a Pawn. Again you could go ahead and play something like e5 to fight for the center.} 8. Pe5 Pxe5 {If this is the point where you beat yourself up for doubling your Pawns, don't. A free Pawn is worth it! And if it weren't you could always just sacrifice it back. } 9. Pb4 Pe6 10. Pa4 Bxb4 11. Pxb4 Qxb4 {Do you know the classic values of the pieces? Two pawns for a Bishop is not a worthwhile trade, generally speaking. Obviously there are exceptions. Anyway now that you are winning by a Queen you should just play calm simple chess. Activate all your pieces, look for chances to trade until you're the only one who has anything left. If your opponent refuses to make equal trades then you can push them around. Don't do anything wacky that complicates the game and gives you opportunities to screw up. Most games especially at this level are (or could be) won by this procedure of obtaining a significant material advantage and simplifying the game.} 12. Na3 Qc3 {These sorts of mistakes happen to everyone, especially beginners. But you should be aware, you would have had this game in the bag when your opponent gave up their Queen on move 5. If you can practice double-checking your moves to avoid mistakes like that, really this would be the single biggest thing you can do to improve your game.} 13. Pxc3 Pe4 14. Bg5 Pd6 15. Ph4 O-O 16. Be7 Rf4 17. Bd8 Kf7 {Not sure what the purpose of your move here was. But you should always ask yourself what the reason for your opponent's move was. Answering this question would have saved you your Knight.} 18. Bxc7 Ra8 19. Bd8 Ke8 20. Bc7 Kd7 21. Bxe6+ Kxe6 22. Bd8 Kd7 23. Bg5 Pa5 {Again, you'd have caught the straightforward threat to the Rook if you'd asked} 24. Bxf4 Ra6 25. Bg5 Rb6 26. Nb5 Ke6 27. Bd8 Rxb5 28. Pxb5 Pxb5 29. Rxa5 Pd5 30. Ra8 Bd7 31. Rb8 Ke5 32. Ra8 Pd4 33. Rb8 Pxc3 34. Ra8 Pc2 35. Rb8 Pc1=Q+ 36. Ke2 Qb2+ 37. Kd1 Qxf2 38. Bc7+ Kd5 39. Rg8 Pb4 40. Rf8 Pb3 {The computer could have taken your Queen here and won the game} 41. Rg8 Pe3 42. Ne2 Pb2 43. Nc3+ Kc4 44. Rh2 Pb1=Q+ 45. Nxb1 Pe2+ 46. Kc2 Pe1=Q+ 47. Nd2+ Qexd2+ 48. Kb1 Ba4 49. Ka1 Qde1# McNerd fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Apr 1, 2014 |
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Apr 1, 2014 02:47
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McNerd posted:(analysis of my piss-poor chessmanship) Thanks for the analysis, McNerd-- I'm just not very good at chess strategy, that's all. Some of the higher-value pieces getting captured were because I was paying more attention to the Jeopardy! game on TV than my DS. Like I said, "I did a lot better than I deserved." I am terrible at reading a couple moves ahead. I really need a remedial course in chess beyond "This is how the pieces move, this is how much the pieces are worth, en passant doesn't work how you'd like it to work." Also, the PGN viewer's having trouble parsing "Pe5" because it doesn't think the pawn on e4 can move there.
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Apr 1, 2014 04:21
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Oh, looks like I forgot to close some of my braces; maybe that's the issue? I fixed them, it's working for me now. Anyway don't beat yourself up; this is where every beginner starts except maybe child prodigies like Capablanca. But in all honesty strategy wouldn't really have helped you much here; if you could have kept from giving away pieces you could have done almost anything and won. Even looking multiple moves ahead wasn't really necessary here. (Although of course both are important in general.) I think your main strategic lesson for the day should be that thing I said about how to play when you have a big material advantage. If you want more, maybe learn the three classical goals in the opening: to control the center, get your pieces active, and castle. These should be your main focus in the opening, and all were a bit lacking. (Though I see you noticed the problem that you blocked in your Bishop and Rook, which goes toward piece activity, so that's good!)
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Apr 1, 2014 15:08
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I think the biggest thing to learn when you're up a lot of material is when to give back material for long term positional advantages. If you're up 3 points in material and you can sac the piece for a winning king and pawn endgame, that's usually the easiest and most straightforward method.
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Apr 1, 2014 16:47
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singe posted:I think the biggest thing to learn when you're up a lot of material is when to give back material for long term positional advantages. If you're up 3 points in material and you can sac the piece for a winning king and pawn endgame, that's usually the easiest and most straightforward method. The general rule* is that when ahead in material, every even trade gets you closer to a won endgame. *Caveat emptor, though. General rules can bite you in the rear end if you follow them blindly. Once some GMs were discussing a fellow GM's style and one said, "He only likes positions where he's up a rook and on the move." Then one of the others came up with a position where white is up a rook and on the move and is dead lost.
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Apr 2, 2014 03:35
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singe posted:I think the biggest thing to learn when you're up a lot of material is when to give back material for long term positional advantages. If you're up 3 points in material and you can sac the piece for a winning king and pawn endgame, that's usually the easiest and most straightforward method. I have found personally that trading a knight for a bishop tends to end well for the person losing the knight; bishops are stronger in the endgame and when you have more open space and by giving up a knight and removing their bishop furthers each of those in the long run. Like anything else it's subject to the conditions of the board and I'll give up a bishop if it's really worth it of course, but most of my winning games involves getting their bishops and my knights off the board. Also, I just learned the Sicilian Defense. Man, whoever thought of that line was brilliant, I wrecked the person I was playing 3-0. (he is weaker than me but not by much; I have to try)
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Apr 2, 2014 06:59
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Okay seems like a good time to review basic Bishop and Knight strategy in case anyone's interested. A Bishop has the advantage of longer range; the Knight has the advantage of being able to jump over things. It's generally agreed that in the middlegame, the Knight is stronger in closed positions--ones where the board and especially the center is clogged with Pawns for the foreseeable future--while the Bishop is better in open positions where it can stretch its legs. Strong players are always cognizant of whether the pawn structure is open or closed and will always work to create a type of position that favors their forces; it's never left to chance. Less knowledgeable players don't think about this and don't deliberately aim toward either type of position; in my experience they almost always wander into open positions where the Bishops are better. When the stronger player plays the weaker player of course they will probably be able to set up their desired type of position. (As with any strategic battle they'll set up dilemmas where the weaker player must either cede this advantage or give up something else. The weaker player might sense the other threat and avoid it, but since they don't understand the nature of this pawn structure business, they won't anticipate this dilemma and won't be able to avoid it. So the lesson here shouldn't be to favor Bishops when you're playing beginners: the lesson is to play correctly and learn to bully beginners with your superior positional understanding.) Another issue is that Bishops can only travel on one color. When the opponent only has one Bishop you kind of know where it'll be; you can anchor his own Pawns on that color to get in his way, and you can keep vulnerable targets like loose Pawns on the other color where they're safe. When the opponent has both bishops they don't have that problem. Consequently, having the "bishop pair" is considered to be worth roughly about half a Pawn. I suppose you could interpret this to mean that the first Bishop to be captured is much more valuable than the second, and usually more valuable than a Knight. For whatever reason it usually isn't phrased this way though. In the endgame it's sometimes said that Bishops are typically stronger when there are Pawns on both sides of the board due to their range but Knights are stronger when the Pawns are only on one side because they can cover both colors (and range isn't such a factor). I think the Bishop pair usually beats B+N either way? It's also notable that Bishop-and-pawn endgames with opposing Bishops of opposite colors are notoriously drawish: it's very easy for the defending side to block Pawns from advancing across particular squares while the opposing Bishop has no ability to interact with those squares and stop this. Another common drawing idea is when the attacking side has a Rook-pawn and a bishop on the wrong color, the defender can simply sit their King in the corner and can't be dislodged without stalemate. Obviously avoiding these types of situations (or achieving them, if you're the defender) is of paramount importance and if you have to trade your Bishop for a Knight or even for a Pawn, that's what you do. McNerd fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Apr 2, 2014 |
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Apr 2, 2014 16:00
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Can somebody tell me what I'm missing in this position? I was looking up chess information and ended up looking at this wikipedia article and the attached game, and I cannot help but feel that the next move played was the wrong move. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Spielmann (game is there) Specifically, the move 30: Qe1 seems flawed. All it does is attack the b4 pawn. I'm not going to presume I know better than goddamn Jose Capablanca, but I can't shake the feeling that Qd4 is a superior move, as it does the same thing as Qe1 does, while also attacking the a7 pawn and shoring up defense for both knights as well as blocking the d5 pawn's movement. Is there anything I'm missing that would make Qe1 a better move?
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Apr 3, 2014 01:45
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Rorac posted:Can somebody tell me what I'm missing in this position? I was looking up chess information and ended up looking at this wikipedia article and the attached game, and I cannot help but feel that the next move played was the wrong move. Just off the top of my head, but Qe1 gets you a pawn back for the piece you're going to lose either way? 30. Qd4 Bxd3 31. Qxd3 Bxe5.
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Apr 3, 2014 01:53
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Yeah, I was trying to find some way to make Qd4 a better move but nothing worked, Qe1 really is better. That's why Capablanca was a GM and I'm a rank novice I guess Also, if the op wants to add my name to the list, I'm Kalanco on chess.com
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Apr 3, 2014 05:42
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Rorac posted:Yeah, I was trying to find some way to make Qd4 a better move but nothing worked, Qe1 really is better. That's why Capablanca was a GM and I'm a rank novice I guess Capablanca never actually received the title since he died young, and FIDE does not award titles posthumously. So if you ever get up to candidate master, or whatever title FIDE invents next to try draw in more money, you will be a more titled player than him or anyone else who died before 1950.
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Apr 3, 2014 15:40
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Hand Knit posted:Capablanca never actually received the title since he died young, and FIDE does not award titles posthumously. So if you ever get up to candidate master, or whatever title FIDE invents next to try draw in more money, you will be a more titled player than him or anyone else who died before 1950.
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Apr 3, 2014 16:11
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I just finished a fun 5 minute blitz game. Mostly fun because I managed to win a game while playing a line I've never played before. 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Bc4 Nf3? 4. e5 I developed my king's knight to its natural square, expecting the pawn push. The line I wanted to play out is: [4. ... d5 5. exf6 dxc4 6. exg7 Bxg7] I like how open the position is and the presence of a fianchettoed king's bishop, and I have the bishop pair. Instead, my opponent went with: 4. ... d5 5. exd6 e.p. Bxd6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O a6 (preparing to remove the bishop on c4) 8. a3 b5 9. Ba2 At this point, I don't really have a clear plan of what I want to do. I control a lot of space on the queenside, but my pieces are generally poorly developed. I'd like to start mobilizing and try to plant a knight on d4, probably after playing e5. 9. ... Bb7 10. h3 Nc6 11. Re1 With White seizing the open file, I got a slightly shortsighted idea to block his rook by pushing his knight back to e2. I'm really not sure if this was the best move overall, but the computer analysis agrees with me. 11. ... Nd4 12. Nxd4 cxd4 13. Ne2 At this point, the computer suggests that I play 13. ... d3 and essentially gambit the pawn, as White then plays cxd3. I see the advantage: double isolated pawns that make it extremely difficult for White to move his queen's bishop. However, I am much better at tactical positions than I am at positional play, so instead I played: 13. ... Nd4? I was expecting this line to play out: [14. d3 Nxf2?! 15. Kxf2 Bh2] In which White has a number of responses, but I have Qf6+ or Qh4+. With both of my bishops with strong diagonals and White's king exposed, I think it's a strong enough attack to force mate or a loss of material. Instead, White gets greedy and takes a pawn. 14. Nxe4 Nxf2! 15. Kxf2 Qh4+ And at this point, material will be even (16. Kf1 Qxe4), but my pieces are far more active and White's king can be easily harassed. But, White blunders with: 16. Kg1? Now I'm winning even if I continue with 16. ... Qxe4+ since White's only good move is to interpose with 17. Re3. I win the exchange after 17. ... Bf4, and I'll still have a strong attack to contend with. But, I can threaten mate with a better move. 16. ... Qg3! It threatens mate on the spot with Qxg2#. White's only useful move is 17. Qe2, and even that leads to his king being chased around the board while I gobble up pawns and pieces.
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Apr 3, 2014 16:31
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Hand Knit posted:Capablanca never actually received the title since he died young, and FIDE does not award titles posthumously. So if you ever get up to candidate master, or whatever title FIDE invents next to try draw in more money, you will be a more titled player than him or anyone else who died before 1950. I wasn't actually aware of that! The sentiment stands either way though. Would that he could be alive today I'd put money down that he'd be kicking Magnus Carlson's rear end up and down the board. Jonked posted:Word on the street is Expert Master, A Class. And then B Class, and C Class, and D Class... Those are USCF ratings though?
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Apr 4, 2014 01:44
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Rorac posted:Those are USCF ratings though? Also I think Expert doesn't count has a title?
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Apr 5, 2014 07:11
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It's whites turn in this game I played and I have no clue what to do here. The pawns on the left have basically been in that position the whole game and it's basically two bishops vs rook/knight now. Does it look hopeless or is white in a better position than black?
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Apr 5, 2014 16:45
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I feel like black can break on d5 to try to make a bunch of weak pawns and try to use his material advantage. Don't know what white should do, hope black doesn't break?
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Apr 5, 2014 16:52
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Kheldragar posted:It's whites turn in this game I played and I have no clue what to do here. The pawns on the left have basically been in that position the whole game and it's basically two bishops vs rook/knight now. Does it look hopeless or is white in a better position than black? You're probably worse, but definitely not losing. As Jonked said, black wants to eventually break with a d5-push, but his pieces are all misplaced for that. His knight wants to be on f4, not g3, and his rook will have a hard time reaching the d-file. Your plan, on the other hand, is not so clear. If you could get rid of the e6-pawn that would help, since it would neuter the d5-break, but that will be hard with his knight on f4. Similarly, despite the position of his king, it isn't clear how you can get your queen in to the play to do anything. Your best chance is probably to force a trade of queens - your dark squared bishop could become quite strong then - but I don't see a way to force that. If it's your turn to play, I would focus on getting your bishop to g4 then making your opponent prove they know how to win. With any luck they'll try a bad plan, which would in turn open things up for you.
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Apr 5, 2014 17:17
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I guess I can move my bishop to h3 and then consider it okay if he gives up a rook for my black bishop for the next turn?
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Apr 5, 2014 17:49
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Kheldragar posted:I guess I can move my bishop to h3 and then consider it okay if he gives up a rook for my black bishop for the next turn? You need to defend your pawn on f3. Likely best is some idea like Kc2=>Qf2=>Bh3=>Bg4, with Kc2 first being necessary on account of 1.Qf2 Nh5 2.Bh3 Nf4 -+
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Apr 5, 2014 17:53
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Kheldragar posted:I guess I can move my bishop to h3 and then consider it okay if he gives up a rook for my black bishop for the next turn?
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Apr 5, 2014 22:43
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Spug posted:He won't do that, it would be horrible for him. It's not the worst thing in the world, black just needs to get his king and queen in the right position first, and have white's king be away from the kingside. Black can probably not secure the g3-square for his king, but if he could then the exchange sac would have merit.
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Apr 5, 2014 22:48
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