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AdorableStar posted:Yeah, I just captured his knight with my black bishop (Because he moved the pawn on the far right) and now it's his turn to move. Black is toast. Burnt black toast. White can just trade down anywhichway and lock in a won endgame.
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Sep 12, 2014 03:51
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Does anyone know if the FIDE online arena is supposed to be any good? As gimmicky as using your real FIDE blitz rating online is, it kind of appeals to me.
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Sep 24, 2014 23:26
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Well, I had my first Chess tournament ever today. It was swiss system and I went 3.5 points out of 5. In my second game, I had a queen advantage since I was able to trade a rook for a queen, but for some reason I was really really dumb and lost that queen for no reason and the game ended up being a stalemate. Appanrently, the more you win the higher up you get matched against people, so for the last round I was matched up at the first board against a little asian girl who had 4 points; I was black. If I won, I got first place for my division (I'm unrated in USCF so I don't even know where that is) going 4.5 points to her 4. I was apparently winning in the game after faffing about with my rook and losing my ability to castle (I felt good after move 22), but then on the 29th move I do something completely retarded and slightly go on tilt. I had actually hastily moved my king to a place where I would trade 1 rook for 2, but since I already took the king off the board, I sighed and did it anyways. The game isn't recorded to the end, but I played on thinking that stalemates still happen - I keep making those mistakes all the time. Here's the game where you can tell me how bad I am:  1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Qb6 4. Be3 Qxd4 5. Bxd4 Nc6 6. Nf3 Nxd4 7. Nxd4 e5 8. Nf3 d6 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bxd7+ Kxd7 11. O-O Nf6 12. Nc3 Rc8 13. h3 Rc4 14. Nd2 Rc5 15. Nb3 Rc7 16. Nb5 Rxc2 17. Rab1 d5 18. Na3 Bxa3 19. bxa3 Nxe4 20. f3 Nc3 21. Nc5+ Kc6 22. Rbe1 Kxc5 23. Rxe5 Kd6 24. Rfe1 b5 25. Re7 Rc8 26. Rxa7 Rc7 27. Ra6+ Rc6 28. Ra8 Ne2+ 29. Kh2 Rc1  30. Rxe2 R6c2 31. Rd8+ Kc5 32. Rc8+ Kd4 33. Rexc2 Rxc2 34. Rxc2 Ke5 35. Re2+ Kd6 36. Rd2 Ke5 37. Rb2 g5 38. Rxb5 f5 39. g4 fxg4 40. hxg4 Kf4 41. Rxd5 Kxf3 42. Rd4 Ke3 43. Rb4 Ke2 44. Kg2 Kd2 45. a4 Kc3 46. Rb3+ Kc4 47. a5 * I think somewhere between move 22-29 she offered me a draw and I didn't take it. After the game I asked her why, and she said it was because she thought she was going to lose. One thing that suprised me was that some people were up and finishing within 5-10 minutes and all of my games took an upwards of 30+ since I was trying to take my time on every move. It just so happens that the first moment I don't take my time is the one where I mess up. AdorableStar fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Oct 12, 2014 |
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Oct 12, 2014 00:18
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This local guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Nowak_(The_Octopus) claims to have nicked Fischer for a draw in a simul, most likely in Milwaukee 1964. Although I have no reason to disbelieve, I'd like to find the game because [citation needed]. He's not listed in the index of the Donaldson book "A Legend on the Road" so I'm guessing the score is lost to the mists of time. I'm not going to ask Nowak in person because {reasons} but if any of you guys happen to find Fischer-Nowak in some obscure database or something, I'd love to see the game.
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Oct 14, 2014 16:12
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AdorableStar posted:Well, I had my first Chess tournament ever today. It was swiss system and I went 3.5 points out of 5. In my second game, I had a queen advantage since I was able to trade a rook for a queen, but for some reason I was really really dumb and lost that queen for no reason and the game ended up being a stalemate. Appanrently, the more you win the higher up you get matched against people, so for the last round I was matched up at the first board against a little asian girl who had 4 points; I was black. If I won, I got first place for my division (I'm unrated in USCF so I don't even know where that is) going 4.5 points to her 4. Sorry for being too busy to offer commentary but the animated gif of the game is a really cool touch. One quick piece of advice is something that people don't always realize they have to learn, which is that winning won positions is hard. Once you have a winning advantage, which you did after Kxc5, take a minute to compose yourself. Look to see if you can squelch any play your opponent has, and if you can that's your first priority. If you can do that, you can just slowly and comfortably convert a stable advantage.
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Oct 14, 2014 16:40
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Anyone else playing on lichess.org? I just discovered it a few weeks ago but really liking it so far.
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Oct 18, 2014 04:30
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I've been playing email correspondence chess for years, but finally signed up for Chess.com. Feel free to add Username: DeNomoloss
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Oct 23, 2014 21:51
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I guess I've been playing chess for like 30 years now and just realized its legal to castle when the rook you're castling with is under attack.  (and also that you can castle queenside if the square next to the rook is under attack)This was the position/analysis that clued me in:  Had no clue that castling there was an option 
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Oct 29, 2014 19:35
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Don't worry, you're in company with Yuri Averbakh and Viktor Korchnoi. e: Starting tooling around some Karpov games and Geller's play this game is awesome. Hand Knit fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Oct 29, 2014 |
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Oct 29, 2014 20:36
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I like the whole animated gif idea so I'll post my games that way. I haven't posted any matches so far so here's one. A 5-minute blitz game that ended violently. Haven't engine-checked it yet, but I felt like I was better from the moment he played Bh5. Might've had more accurate moves than the plan I came up with once I displaced his king. But hey, it's blitz! The Whole Internet fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Oct 30, 2014 |
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Oct 30, 2014 03:21
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It's official - I officially suck!  
AdorableStar fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Nov 3, 2014 |
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Nov 3, 2014 06:19
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Just finished an 11-round rapid tournament at +4 -3 =3, playing up every round. Played some good games, some not good games, and some blunders followed up by good defence. If I have time I'll throw up a few later. AdorableStar posted:It's official - I officially suck! 49.9th percentile doesn't sound very bad.
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Nov 3, 2014 10:19
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I looked up what he was talking about after the game. (I got a stalemate after coming back from behind because gently caress 2 rooks + 2 rooks endgame.  ) Does it still count as that kind of defence if some of the pieces are different? The only things I can see that are the same are the positions of his knight + my knight and bishop. 
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Nov 11, 2014 05:24
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I'm guessing he was referring to your bishop, but no this is not a Nimzo-Indian by any means. In fact I don't think it's really very much like a Nimzo-Indian; your pawn on e5 for instance makes quite a huge difference. Grain of salt on that last part though as my opening theory is crap.
McNerd fucked around with this message at 14:02 on Nov 11, 2014 |
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Nov 11, 2014 06:35
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Yeah I'm pretty sure it can't be a Nimzo-Indian without white having pawns on d4 and c4.
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Nov 11, 2014 06:39
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lichess is great for when you're having a down day and just want to stunt on some randoms. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d4 a6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. dxe5 d5 7. exd5 cxd5 8. O-O Bb7 9. Re1 Ne7 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bf6 gxf6 12. exf6 Qd6 13. Qd4 O-O-O 14. fxe7 Bxe7 15. Nc3 Bf6 16. Ne5 Bxe5 17. Qxe5 Qc6 18. Rad1 d4 19. Ne4 Rhe8 20. Qf5+ Kb8 21. f3 Qb6 22. Kh1 Qxb2 23. Rb1 Qxc2 24. Rec1 Qxa2 25. Nc5 Qf2 26. Rxb7+ Ka8 27. Qb1 Rb8 28. Qa1 Rxb7 29. Qxa6+ Ra7 30. Qc6+ Kb8 31. Qxe8# { Black is checkmated } 1-0 I don't know whether 11.Bf6 or 27.Qb1 is a better "gently caress you" move.
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Nov 13, 2014 14:43
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Hand Knit posted:lichess is great for when you're having a down day and just want to stunt on some randoms. Hit a brother up, "battaile" on lichees e: 11. Bfg is pretty masterful, unfortunately I got sidetracked while manually punching poo poo in so I didn't get to the other one. I also love how you always have the patience/foresight to make an even better move than cashing in on his pinned knight at 13.Qd4 Kekekela fucked around with this message at 14:57 on Nov 13, 2014 |
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Nov 13, 2014 14:48
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Kekekela posted:Hit a brother up, "battaile" on lichess I don't actually have an account there. Is there a way to challenge you? e: registered and sent a challenge, I think e: Kekekela posted:e: 11. Bfg is pretty masterful, unfortunately I got sidetracked while manually punching poo poo in so I didn't get to the other one. I also love how you always have the patience/foresight to make an even better move than cashing in on his pinned knight at 13.Qd4 Hand Knit fucked around with this message at 15:10 on Nov 13, 2014 |
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Nov 13, 2014 14:50
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Apologize if this has been answered elsewhere in the thread, but I'm still working my way through. I'm getting back into playing and I was wondering if anyone could recommend some android apps, whether for playing online, tactical training, or playing through recorded games.
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Nov 13, 2014 23:04
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vulturesrow posted:Apologize if this has been answered elsewhere in the thread, but I'm still working my way through. I'm getting back into playing and I was wondering if anyone could recommend some android apps, whether for playing online, tactical training, or playing through recorded games. Chess.com has a good app. Make sure to get the recent one and not the 'classic' one, as I found the latter lacks premoves in blitz, and has a broken tactics trainer that gives you 1000 rated problems (rather than problems near your rating), so you can never gain points answering them.
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Nov 14, 2014 08:43
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Hey how's that fantasy chess going? Huh, huh? Just died, didn't it. 
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Nov 17, 2014 18:58
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2.5/5 after day 1 in London. One good game against a strong IM that I messed up at the end of it. Back at it tomorrow.
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Dec 6, 2014 23:55
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silvergoose posted:Hey how's that fantasy chess going? Huh, huh? Just died, didn't it. I will totally update the standings at the last minute and declare a winner. IT'LL HAPPEN
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Dec 7, 2014 09:46
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OrangeKing posted:I will totally update the standings at the last minute and declare a winner. IT'LL HAPPEN Yessss that is the best result.
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Dec 7, 2014 12:44
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Hand Knit posted:2.5/5 after day 1 in London. One good game against a strong IM that I messed up at the end of it. Back at it tomorrow. lol
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Dec 7, 2014 17:38
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Hey goons, I am a terrible beginner but I just signed up for a chess.com account and I'd love to get some games in with you guys and talk it through afterwards, if you're up for it. I'm always down for a correspondence game, and can do live games as time permits. Username is Athaboros. I'm catching up with the thread still, but it's fun reading through your games! (Is there a chess.com goon group?)
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Dec 9, 2014 05:52
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Athaboros posted:Hey goons, I am a terrible beginner but I just signed up for a chess.com account and I'd love to get some games in with you guys and talk it through afterwards, if you're up for it. I'm always down for a correspondence game, and can do live games as time permits. SA group - http://www.chess.com/groups/home/sa-mafia-chess It's been inactive for a long time though.
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Dec 19, 2014 20:34
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It’s been a while since I’ve written up one of these, been a little busy. But last weekend I played in the Weekend Classic part of the London Classic, threw together a pretty good tournament, and the games are certainly worth sharing. 3.5/5, good for a split of third. Every game was theoretically winnable (except I guess for game 5, which I won) although I had no idea whatsoever what was going on in game 4. First round was against an unrated. I took the game very casually (I’d just gotten in by train) and almost screwed it up. [Round "1"] [WhiteElo “1200” [BlackElo "2035"] [ECO "B43"] 1.e4 c5 I don’t really consider myself a Sicilian player anymore, but I wanted to make sure I got play and wasn’t really worried about not playing things properly. 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 a6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Qc7 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.O-O Bc5 8.Be3 O-O 9.Qf3 d6 10.Qg3 e5? I’d played something similar to success back in August, but the position is different this time. My goal is to trade off the bishops, but white can avoid that and get a very strong attack starting with Bg5!. While he isn’t going to win any material immediately, the idea is to chase my knight from f6, which will in turn allow him to establish his knight on d5. Luckily he missed this. 11.Nb3 Bxe3 12.Qxe3 Nc6 13.f4 Be6 14.Nd2 exf4 15.Rxf4 Ne5 16.h3 Qc5 There are two considerations here. The first is that my knight is a little loose on f6, and could be subject to Rxf6. Getting rid of his queen preempts any attacking possibilities he has. More actively, I’m also just confident that I can outplay him once the queens come off. 17.Re1 Rfe8 18.Nf3? Qxe3+ 19.Rxe3 Ng6 20.Rxf6 gxf6 21.Nd4 Ne5 22.Be2  So white has gifted black an exchange. Now I have to figure out how I’m actually going to win this position. Despite having a material advantage, there isn’t a completely clear way forwards. I had a good knight on e5, but two large holes on f5 and d5. My bishop can hold one of them, but he has two knights. Objectively, black should probably play for a quick d5. While I would be left with bad f pawns, I get rid of the hole on d5 and also allow for my rooks to become active. Instead, because my opponent is bad, I choose for a slower strategy of building towards attacking along the c-file. 22…Kf8 23.Bh5 Red8 24.b3 Rac8 25.Nce2 Nc6 26.Nxe6+ fxe6 27.Bg4 Re8 28.Nf4 Nd8 29.Bh5 Re7 30.Rd3 Rd7 31.Bg4 Ke7 32.c4 b5 b5 is a key move, wrenching the position open. White is now losing. 33.cxb5 axb5 34.Rd2 Rdc7 35.Nd5+? A terrible trade. The game is now trivial. 35…exd5 36.Bxc8 Rxc8 37.Rxd5 Rc5 38.Rd2 Re5 39.Rc2 Ne6 40.a4 bxa4 41.bxa4 Rxe4 42.Ra2 Nc5 43.a5 Ra4 44.Re2+ Ne6 45.Rb2 Nc5 46.Re2+ Ne4 47.Rb2 Rxa5 48.Rb7+ Ke6 49.Rxh7 d5 50.Kf1 Ra2 51.Kg1 d4 52.Rh8 d3 53.Rd8 d2 54.Re8+ Kd5 55.Rd8+ Nd6 0-1 So, despite giving myself a bit of a scare early on, the first game was about as untaxing as I could have hoped for. My opponent for the Saturday morning arrived with what seemed like a half-dozen bags, and took forever to sit down. I didn’t know anything about him (I didn’t get a chance to see the pairings before I left in the morning) so I didn’t have any preparation. [Round "2"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "2035"] [BlackElo "2148"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Nde2 Nf6 7.g3?! A little shameless, but I’m counting on him not knowing that black can sneak in an early …b5 here. After all, what are the chances that he knows the sidelines of sidelines? 7…d6 8.Bg2 Bd7 9.O-O Qc8 10.Nf4 Ne5 11.h3 O-O 12.Kh2 Bc6 I don’t really like this plan for black. He’s aiming at e4 and, later, the kingside. I think that black should pressure the queenside, and try to strengthen his fianchetto bishop. After all, white wants to play Nd5 and Re1 anyway, so black isn’t applying much by the way of real pressure. 13.a4 b6 14.Ra2 This looks weird but it’s a standard plan. White has to make sure to get in c4, though. Anish Giri recently got in trouble when he either forgot or didn’t manage to do this. 14…Qb7 15.Nfd5 Bxd5 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.exd5 Rac8 18.b3 a6 19.Re1 Rfe8 20.Bb2 Rc7? Here I missed a tactic. White to move and win.  21.Bxe5 Bxe5 22.Rxe5! dxe5 23.d6 Rc6 24.Qd5 Rec8 25.d7 +- 21.Bd4 Nd7 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Qd4+ Kg8 So what’s going on here? The position appears to have stabilized and white appears to have a small edge by virtue of having more space. However, black doesn’t have any obvious targets. Both e7 and b6 look a little shady, but white can’t target them convincingly with only majors and a light-squared bishop. In positions like this – largely closed but with a space advantage – one of the things to try is to pressure the opposite side of the board, just a bit. Because of the space advantage, white can swing from the queenside to the kingside and back again much more easily. This advantage is more pronounced by having a bishop against a knight, even if white’s bishop isn’t especially good. The plan then is this: apply just enough pressure to the kingside for black to have to shift at least his knight there, and then break through on the queenside. 24.h4 Nf6 25.c4 h5 26.Kg1 Rd7?  A sort of signal move for white to attack. Black needs that square to get his knight back in the game. 27.Rea1 a5 28.Rb2 Qc7 29.Bh3! Rdd8 30.b4 axb4 31.Rxb4 Qc5? This gives white an endgame with a passed pawn, which is probably winning. Black has to find a way to blockade the pawn while also stopping white’s bishop from entering through d7. 32.Qxc5 bxc5 33.Rb7 Rb8?? The game is now an elementary win. 34.Rxb8 Rxb8 35.a5 Ng4 36.a6 f5 37.a7 Ra8 38.Bxg4 hxg4 After the game, my opponent said that he thought he could have drawn had he taken with the f-pawn instead. His idea was that he could keep his king on e5 and f5. White is actually still winning, but has to start with f3 instead of a king walk. 39.Kf1 Kf7 40.Ke2 Kf6 41.Ke3 Ke5 42.Ra6 e6 43.dxe6 Kxe6 44.Kf4 Kd7 45.Kg5 Kc7 46.Kxg6 Kb7 47.Ra2 d5 48.cxd5 c4 49.Kxf5 Kb6 50.h5 This was actually unnecessary, but I hadn’t yet recognized the finesse with the d-pawn that I eventually used to end the game. 50…Kc5 51.Ke6 c3 52.d6 Kc4 53.d7 Kb3 54.d8=Q Rxd8 55.a8=Q Rxa8 56.Rxa8 c2 57.Rc8 1-0 I felt a little dumb after the game when he showed me the winning tactic on move 21, but winning endgames is very enjoyable. One of my previous worries in playing this opening was not being able to identify a winning plan, but I feel like I managed to do that reasonably well in this game. There was a long break between the rounds on Saturday and Sunday, and this gave me the chance to briefly look up my next opponent. He was a young junior already beating GMs, and his domestic rating was equivalent to about 200 points higher than his FIDE rating. Uh… uh oh. [Round "3"] [ECO "A05"] [WhiteElo "2100"] [BlackElo "2035"] 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 b5 I actually don’t have any opening ready to play against he KIA, but from playing it myself I have an idea of what’s annoying for white. Black wants to press on the queenside, so getting in a quick b5 when you have the opportunity is good. 4.O-O Bb7 5.d3 Be7 6.e4 O-O 7.Nbd2 c5 8.Re1 d5 Maybe too optimistic, trying to press on the queenside. Better is d6, leaving white without much of a plan. 9.e5 Nfd7 10.c4 bxc4 11.dxc4 Nb6 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Nf1 I panicked here because I couldn’t stop his knight from getting to f5. This is bad, because there’s actually nothing to worry about. Black has gotten everything so far, and should be confident to just continue developing. Instead, I panicked a bit and started to make a few bad moves. I thought that I needed to get my knight to e6 to stop his attack, when he doesn’t actually have much of an attack at all. 13…Na6 14.Ne3 Re8 15.Nf5 Bf8 16.Bg5 Qd7 17.Bh3 Qc6 18.Rc1  This is where my knowledge of white’s play should help me. Despite the four advanced minors, white doesn’t actually have much of an attack. N3h4=>Qg4 is intimidating, but also slow and easy enough to parry. If black had just inserted d5 here I would actually have been better – white suddenly has to start defending and black’s d5 pawn starts to be intimidating. Instead I feel like I have to play defence, which turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. 18…Nc7 19.N3d4 Qg6 20.Bf4 Ne6? I was so excited to calculate that I could get three minors for the queen that I forgot to calculate that white has other options. 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Nd6 Bxd6 23.exd6 Nd7 24.Qa4? The simple 24.Qe2 wins a pawn. Now black equalizes quickly. 24…Qf7 25.Rc2 d4 26.Rce2 Bd5 -/+ 27.Qa3 h6 28.Qd3 Rab8 29.b3 Rb6 30.Bf5 Nf8 31.Be4 Bxe4 32.Rxe4 Ng6 33.d7 Qxd7 34.Bxh6 e5  Suddenly the position has turned around. White’s attack is gone, and black’s d-pawn suddenly has a lot of potential. Black now has good potential on the kingside. 35.Bd2 Rf8 36.R4e2 Rbf6 37.Bg5 Rf5 38.h4 Qf7 39.Qc4 Qxc4 40.bxc4 Rb8 41.g4 Rf7 42.h5 Nf4 43.Rxe5 Nh3+ 44.Kg2 Nxf2 45.Rf5 Nxg4? A critical mistake by black, leading to a draw. Black should be trying to push the d-pawn, and the best way to do that is get the knight to d3 where it will eventually pick off the c4-pawn and let black roll two passers down the middle. The game line results in total liquidation. 46.Rxf7 Kxf7 47.Re7+ Kf8 48.Rxa7 Rb4 49.Kg3 This is the move that I missed. White gets his king into position with tempo. 49…Ne5 50.Kf4 Nxc4 51.Be7+ Kg8 52.Bxc5 Rb5 53.Bxd4 Rxh5 54.Rxg7+ Kf8 55.Rg1 Ra5 56.Ra1 Ra4 57.Ke4 Na3 58.Kd3 Rxd4+ 59.Kxd4 Nc2+ 60.Kc5 Nxa1 61.a4 Nb3+ 62.Kb6 Ke7 63.a5 Nxa5 64.Kxa5 1/2-1/2 Even though I probably should’ve won that game, 2.5/3 is still a pretty good place to be after two days. I was feeling mildly bitter, though, since I’m not going to get the rating credit for playing against a 2300 but a 2100. Oh well. Going into day 3 I was able to figure out who I was going to play and, thanks to playing him a month ago, I knew what he played. He plays the Caro and I’d been working on a new line as I try to find something I like. Despite getting a good game out of it, I will probably not keep this line since I don’t like the opposite castling scenario. As the first three games evidence, I prefer endgames and this… did not head in that direction. [Round "4"] [ECO "B19"] [WhiteElo "2035"] [BlackElo "2290"] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 Ngf6 12.O-O-O Be7 13.Nf1?! A line that I had been given but hadn’t used yet. This is apparently a bit of an inferior line, but it works well enough. Black appeared to struggle for an idea once out of book. 13…Qc7 14.g3 c5 15.Bf4 Qc6 16.N1d2 b5 Black tries to push quickly on the queenside, so I try to counter in the centre. 17.Ne5 Nxe5 18.dxe5 c4 19.Qf3 Nd5 20.Ne4 b4 I sat for a while here, but couldn’t find a way through on the kingside. The idea behind Nd6+ is that it forces black to castle, which will hopefully help white attack the g7 pawn. This sort of works, but not quite. 21.Nd6+ Bxd6 22.exd6 O-O 23.Rh4 f5? 24.Be5 a5  Probably the first critical position of the game. Naturally, I failed to understand the position and lost quickly. I thought that I would try to push ahead on the kingside. Strictly speaking this is legitimate, but it requires white to know how to defend a position that I don’t really understand. g4 is a pretty demanding move, because it cuts of white’s rook, so things have to be calculated through pretty thoroughly. Better but still tough would likely have been Qe2, with the idea of playing Rc4 and taking control of the queenside. 25.g4 b3?! 26.a3? A critical mistake. White has to recognize that I can take and defend the position. One of the key features to recognize is that white’s good central bishop not only defend b2, but also controls a1 if black manages to push a3. The critical line, and I think I can be excused for missing this, is 26.axb3 cxb3 27.Qxb3 Rab8 28.Qg3 Rfc8 29.Rd2 Qa4 30.b3 Rxb3 31.d7!! I discarded the line well before the end of it, assuming that white was just losing and looking further would be a waste of time. 26…c3 27.Bxc3 Rac8 28.gxf5? Just a bad move, letting black activate his other rook. cxb3 is no great shakes, but it keeps a tenuous hold on the position with the hope of reducing to a drawn rook endgame. 28…Rxf5 29.Qe4 Qxd6 30.Qd4 Qe7 31.Rh3 Qg5+ 32.Kb1 bxc2+ 33.Kxc2 Rf4 34.Qd3 Rxf2+ 35.Kb1 Nxc3+ 36.bxc3 Rb8+ 37.Ka1 Qg2 0-1 I’m not really sure what else to add to this game. It’s probably the richest game that I played, but I don’t understand those sorts of positions so it’s hard to actually say anything. Even if I’m going to change my openings away from this sort of position, this game is probably still a signal that I have to work on tactics and calculation. I was reasonably tired heading into round 5 and, having the black pieces, ready for a reasonably quick draw. This resulted in me playing the opening a little casually, and finding myself in trouble quite quickly. Luckily the position was quite unfamiliar to my opponent, and I managed to get out of things reasonably well enough. The game made its way to a draw pretty quickly, but I figured I could press ahead without risk and, well… [Round "5"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "2090"] [BlackElo "2035"] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Bc4 Ke8 7.Nge2 a6 8.a4 Nbd7 9.f3 Bb4?!10.g4 Nc5?! 11.Kf2 Two very casual moves, where I try to place my pieces forwards with no real plan, and suddenly my bishop is on the verge of getting trapped. This forces me to go backwards for a few moves to avoid losing immediately. Luckily the queens are off, which means that I can only get oh so worse. 11…Ne6 12.Nd5 Nxd5 13.exd5 Bc5+ 14.Kg2 Nf8 15.Ng3 f6 16.Re1 Ng6 17.Ne4 Be7 18.h3  White has a giant space advantage and black’s king is stuck in the centre. The advantage to having this sort of bad position is that black’s plan is quite straightforward: finish development and get the king to safety. The square the king has to go to is d7. That requires getting the bishop out first. The two possible squares for the lightsquare bishop are b7 and f5. Getting the bishop to f5 would require black to attack the g4 pawn twice. This weakens the central pawn structure with the king still in the middle, but at the same time white’s king suddenly becomes quite vulnerable. Even speculative counterchances against white’s king are very valuable when trying to catch up in development. 18…h5 19.Bd2 hxg4 20.hxg4 f5 21.gxf5 Bxf5 22.Rh1 Kd7 = 23.Bd3 Nf4+ I offered a draw with this move, since I have fully equalized at this point. He declined the draw, but played towards a draw anyway. I guess he wanted the draw, but wanted to do it “honestly.” I guess the lesson here is to take the draw you’re offered, even if dishonest, because you can always get in trouble later. 24.Bxf4 exf4 25.Nc5+ Bxc5 26.Bxf5+ Kd6 27.Rxh8 Rxh8 A very Magnus position. The game is entirely drawn, but black has slim practical chances due to a better king, and a slightly weak white pawn structure. 28.Re1 b6 29.Be6 Rh5 30.Kf1 This move was basically a de facto draw offer, inviting Rh1+, but this move also hangs a pawn. The position is still drawn, because white can force the rooks off anyway, but his king is very bad after this and he has to be reasonably precise. 30…Rh2 31.Re2 Rh1+ 32.Kg2 Rg1+ 33.Kh2 Rg3 34.Bg4 Kxd5 35.Rg2 Bd6 36.Rxg3 fxg3+  And so we have an opposite-coloured bishop endgame. If black is going to win this, what are the relevant features? I already have one passed pawn, but that’s not enough on its own. Nevertheless, it’s very good. Since there is only one square left of white’s bishop’s colour, he has to keep contact with it the whole time. Black also has Bf4! which keeps white’s king locked out of the game. The goal, then, is to fine a way to generate a second passed-pawn on the far side of the board. Ideally, black would find a way to trade the c-pawn for white’s a-pawn. Unfortunately, this can’t be forced. What is possible, however, is to sacrifice a pawn to get white’s a-pawn out of the way. This could then allow black to pressure white’s b-pawn out of the way, and then have the dark-square bishop play defence along the h2-b8 diagonal. This still isn’t forcible, of course, but it is an idea. 37.Kg2 c6 38.Bd7 Bf4 39.b3 a5 40.Be8 b5 41.axb5 c5 42.b6?! This game is still drawn, but c4+ =>b3 =>Ba4 made things much simpler. 42… c4 43.Bb5? This is one of the worst moves he can make, since this allows black to eliminate white’s good b-pawn with tempo. White isn’t threatening to take on c4 because Bxc4 would be met with a4! -+. Better is 43.Bf7+ Kc5 44.b7! Black can’t take on b3, because white recaptures with the pawn and secures the draw. Black also can’t take the pawn on c2 with the king, because then I would break contact with c4 allowing white to only then play Bxc4. This plan still works after black collects the white pawn on b6, but once the pawn on b6 is gone, black gains a concrete winning plan that would not have been there otherwise. 43…Kc5 44.Ba4 Kxb6 45.Be8 Kc5 46.Bd7 Kb4 47.Ba4?? Be6 = Kc3 0-1 Had white still had his b-pawn, 48… Kxc2 would have been met with 49.b4+ and 50.bxa5 where black will have to surrender the g3 pawn to stop white’s pawns, which will let white secure the draw. I guess this is a bit of a lesson in practical play. A very satisfying, albeit slightly slimy, end to a pretty decent tournament. I ended up tying for third and earning a life-changing sum of £7.14. No idea when I’m going to play next. Maybe the end of January, maybe not until July.
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Dec 20, 2014 21:41
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Hello chess goons, I am trying to get into chess and was wondering if you have any cool or interesting articles or videos to share. What kind of things do you show your friends when trying to get them to learn to play?
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Jan 6, 2015 17:57
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I usually give them the chessmentor software. It's pretty fun, informative, and gives you lots of cool little scenarios and history tidbits while you learn. I haven't tried any of their more advanced modules but there are some for like, specifically learning the Sicilian and stuff like that I've heard are good.
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Jan 6, 2015 18:38
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uranus posted:Hello chess goons, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgeYScYe8wI
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Jan 6, 2015 22:51
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uranus posted:Hello chess goons, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdyxhLeRq8g
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Jan 7, 2015 01:21
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Full context, this is how playing against Nakamura feels like for the current world #1: http://gfycat.com/MaturePositiveAstarte
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Jan 7, 2015 01:39
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Ernie. posted:Full context, this is how playing against Nakamura feels like for the current world #1: http://gfycat.com/MaturePositiveAstarte The gif is moving too quickly. Was that Magnus' "did he actually just do that?" reaction when Naka shot his own foot off?
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Jan 7, 2015 01:42
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Hand Knit posted:The gif is moving too quickly. Was that Magnus' "did he actually just do that?" reaction when Naka shot his own foot off? It is!
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Jan 7, 2015 01:43
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Yoooo that was sick, it's like he loving comboed his dead body in marvel vs capcom 2
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Jan 7, 2015 01:44
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The Joys of lichess: 1. e3 { Van 't Kruijs Opening, General } e5 2. b3 Nc6 3. Bb2 Nf6 4. Nf3 e4 5. Nd4 Nxd4 6. Bxd4 d5 7. Be2 Bd6 8. f4 h5 9. Nc3 c6 10. O-O Ng4 11. Na4 Qh4 12. h3 Qg3 13. hxg4 hxg4 14. d3 Rh1+ { White resigns } 0-1
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Jan 11, 2015 17:48
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Honest question, Hand Knit. When you type out things like that do you 'see' the board while you're reading along? I'm trying to read/follow along without just posting it on an editor but it's really hard, and while yeah obviously you're a better player I'm just casually wondering when/what ELO people start actually memorizing boards/messing with them around in their head freely. edit: Also and this might be so stupid but I'm missing why you went with Rh1+ at the end and not Rh2? Is there a mate in 2-3 that I'm missing? Ernie. fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Jan 17, 2015 |
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Jan 17, 2015 21:39
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The first thing is that I don't write the moves out myself, there's always a way to copy and paste them. For my OTB games I input the games manually by moving the pieces on a database program (I use HIARCS now), which is still a bit of work but way easier than writing by hand. In terms of reading, it's less a skill thing and just a practice thing. There are ways to drill yourself to do it easier, though I haven't done those and consequently don't read game scores all that well. As for the end of the game, 15.Kxh1 Qh4+ 16.Kg1 g3 and mate is unavoidable.
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Jan 18, 2015 04:10
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I've never been able to visualize the board well from notation. It would be so useful for reading chess book without an analysis board ready, but it seems I like the spatial ability, I suck with blindfold chess as a result. I have a sort of mini rant. I've been kind of annoyed at my chess lately. I had some good results in 2014, a couple u2000 wins (multi-way ties for first) in CCA tourneys and a few wins in small open tourneys. For some reason I can't seem to break through the psychological barrier of the 2000 rating, I've been waffling around the 1970-1990s USCF rating. I've been close for the past 6 tourneys I've played, where a last round win/draw would have pushed me over but every single time I've messed up a good position or just gotten outplayed. I also feel the pressure to win against way lower players and as a result I've been subconsciously trying to get more out of positions against these individuals instead of playing more objectively. It's also hard to gauge whether or not I'm improving since my rating has plateaued for about 6 months. I'm thinking of getting a coach, any thoughts? I just feel like I won't be able to make the most of it since I have a full time job, but there are some relatively cheap options on ICC.
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Jan 26, 2015 17:02
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