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I, a genius, immediately found stalemate in 1 with Qh6.  Today I blew a win with this ??? move:  But then my opponent gracefully offered a draw a few moves later: 
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Feb 12, 2024 03:41
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 06:04 |
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 Don't play the opening on autopilot!
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Mar 20, 2024 23:37
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cock hero flux posted:when you sac your knight can't they just ignore it and sac their bishop into a pawn, too, and then if you take they take and it's even? After Bxe6 black has Nd3+! Requiring cxd3 and after dxe6 white has to contort themselves to defend the f4 and c3 pawns while black develops with tempo with Be6, b6 (allowing Bb7 threatening the rook or Ba6 threatening the c3 pawn). In most lines the engine eventually gives up one or both pawns. The actual game went 4...Nxe5 5.fxe5 Qh4+ 6.g3 Qe4+ 7.Kf2 Qxh1 8.d4 Qxh2+ 9.Kf3 Qh1+ 0-1. Rough for a 1600 rated player in a daily game, but I've hung mate in 1 from a +8.0 position in a daily game before...
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Mar 21, 2024 01:21
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jesus WEP posted:you just temporarily sac the knight to win the bishop after Qh4+ or is there something stronger than that? There isn't, but you have to see the Nd3+ idea I mentioned above to make it work. Chess.com gave Nxe5 a !!, presumably because of that, otherwise it is just a super common tactic. khazar sansculotte fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Mar 21, 2024 |
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Mar 21, 2024 01:30
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Unless I'm just misunderstanding, it's white to move and force black to mate in 68. The engine eval is going to tell you the best moves, but the puzzle wants you to find the worst. It's a joke in some sense, but self-mating is a legit puzzle genre.
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Mar 25, 2024 22:16
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Actually "worst moves" is not a good way of putting it. Imagine both players are trying as hard as they can to lose. Can you force black to win despite themselves?
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Mar 25, 2024 22:23
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This is a famous endgame study that was thought to be a draw until someone realized there was an underpromotion tactic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saavedra_position There's also a trap in the Albin Countergambit featuring an underpromotion on move 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albin_Countergambit,_Lasker_Trap While we're talking about endgame studies, I'm working through Yusupov's books and came across this composition by Rinck. Took me about half an hour to solve. White to move: 
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Mar 28, 2024 19:47
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Then simply Nxh3 and black has insufficient material to mate.
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Mar 29, 2024 03:46
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cock hero flux posted:White to win or draw? Because it looks like you can force a draw by forking the king and taking the f pawn, then getting the knight to g1. If they promote you stalemate. If they make waiting king moves, you make waiting knight moves. It doesn't matter if they promote with the knight off of g1 because it hops back into block and then they get zugzwanged because the only moves are stalemating you or yeeting their queen. The only problem with this I can see is that if they bring their king all the way down they can cover both squares that work for waiting knight moves. I think if they do that then you can instead hop down to c1 and block their promotion and then if the king comes down and tries to do something about that you bounce away to b2 and they can't follow you without also blocking their pawn and you can probably dance around back to cover g1 and keep it going until you hit 50 moves. There might be something wrong with this but that feels like it'd work. White to draw, although if after 1.Ng5+ Kf6 2.Nxf3 c2 3.Ng1 black plays any king move, white can suddenly win with 4.Ne2 followed by playing 5.Kg1! in response to any king move, which is a good exercise to work out in its own right.
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Mar 29, 2024 07:00
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Arrhythmia posted:I'm sick of getting my cheeks clapped by the queen's gambit. someone tell me how to play it as black. The stock answer is to play an orthodox QGD (d5, e6, Nf6, Be7). What's your level? What time control(s) do you mostly play? What are you currently playing against the QG? What do you play against 1.e4?
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Apr 1, 2024 22:49
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Arrhythmia posted:1200 chess.com, 3+0. Usually 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 without much of a plan. e5 against e4 as God intended, usually aiming to the Giuoco Piano. I might consider 1.d4 c5, aiming for a Benko Gambit, but with the added bonus of sometimes catching people hanging their d-pawn if they carelessly blitz out their London/Colle moves.
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Apr 1, 2024 23:47
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Super unlikely, but I think it would be sweet and cool as hell if Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali both went all the way.
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Apr 4, 2024 20:58
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I think Sub Rosa is talking about this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy4rllkmoYM It comes across in a dickish way when he says it because he's Hikaru, but his point seems to be that he's successful (chess and income-wise) enough in other ways that the stakes of the WC don't feel as high to him. That said, I agree with Huxley that he's also at least partially trying to play a psychological trick on himself. Dude obviously cares about winning, because again, he's Hikaru.
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Apr 6, 2024 20:23
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I thought today was a rest day so I missed it, but what on earth was Vidit's idea with 26...Rb3? Did any commentators have any speculation? It looks hideous to my patzer eyes but the engine seems to think so as well.
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Apr 8, 2024 00:46
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I would never have found 26...c4 either, but I guess we could just push the same question back a couple of moves. Why 24...Ra5 instead of 24...Rad8 (which, in addition to being preferred by the engine, is way more natural IMO and almost certainly what I would have played)? Clearly he was seeing something in shoving his rook into that crevice, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it was.
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Apr 8, 2024 02:01
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This is what everyone was briefly worried was going to happen to Vidit yesterday lol.
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Apr 12, 2024 00:31
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Conditional moves can also be good for swindling. When you see conditional moves being played it makes you feel like you should also be playing fast. Example: I swindled a draw from the lost position below by playing 1...Kh7 and inputting 2.Qh5+ Kg8 3.Qe8+ Kh7 4.Qh5+ Kg8 5.Qe8+ as a conditional line. I'm positive my opponent would have found f4 eventually if they'd taken time to think. 
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Apr 13, 2024 01:03
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Nea posted:There's not many resources in the opening post for like, actual 'learning the ideas and rules of chess', so figured i'd ask. If you'd like to gamify your game-learning, Chessable has some good free stuff. There's an ocean of miniature "free lesson" things that are just ads for paid courses that honestly you should probably just ignore completely for now, but here are some genuinely useful free courses:
khazar sansculotte fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Apr 19, 2024 |
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Apr 19, 2024 16:03
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Man Fabi v Nepo tomorrow is going to be a blast.
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Apr 21, 2024 01:30
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Not sure it's correct, but with 5s on the clock I would play 1.Bg6 and hope for the best. e: actually I think it is best, but there's no way I could convert this with 5s left. The rook has no safe way to attack e7, and by the time the king removes the bishop white will promote. Black has to give up the rook for the e pawn, but creating another passed pawn is not trivial at all. khazar sansculotte fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Apr 21, 2024 |
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Apr 21, 2024 17:44
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I think Black's most resilient defense goes 1...Kg5 2.e7 Re8 3.e8=Q Rxe8+ 4.Bxe8 Kf6 5.Kd4 Ke7 6.Ba4 Kd6 and then white has to show some technique but should be winning.
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Apr 21, 2024 17:58
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It's always impressive how great engines are at dragging lost positions out, but if I were white I would definitely do more skull-clutching with 51...Kg5 hitting the board.
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Apr 21, 2024 19:04
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Yeah e7 and the next few moves are no problem, it's what happens after 55...Ke7 that gets complicated. I feel like black's the one who has to play with engine accuracy in the KQ+3PvKR+3P endgame. One wrong move and white is scooping up that rook with a fork.
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Apr 21, 2024 19:56
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"To be honest, I have no idea" -- Magnus Carlsen
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Apr 21, 2024 20:54
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God Fabi is such a beast, really hoping to see him and Gukesh in tie breakers.
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Apr 21, 2024 22:50
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Yeah sudden collapse after a bad move is pretty common.
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Apr 24, 2024 05:04
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Crossed 1700 on standard tactics rating at chesstempo with this one.  Hint: hard to see, easy to calculate
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Apr 27, 2024 20:32
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jesus WEP posted:is it just pawn to f5? seems like black is at best losing their queen Yes, the slightly tricky line continues with 1...Ne3. E: sorry, I meant 1...Rxg2+ 2.Kxg2 Ne3+, although the first one is good to think about too. khazar sansculotte fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Apr 27, 2024 |
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Apr 27, 2024 21:17
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OK here's another one just to start Building Habits. This is a famous tactic but worth seeing again even if you already have. FEN: 5rk1/pp4pp/4p3/2R3Q1/3n4/2q4r/P1P2PPP/5RK1 b - - 0 1 link 
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Apr 28, 2024 23:43
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What do you dislike about the slav? What time controls do you like to play? Do you have high rating aspirations or just like moving the horseys around?
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Apr 29, 2024 16:11
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If you're looking for fireworks, and don't mind getting crushed a lot when you're first getting the hang of them, I'd say KID and/or Grunfeld. Both are theory dense at master level and above, but can be played perfectly well at beginner/casual level just knowing basic/thematic ideas, and both are good for building "chess iq." The KID usually leads to closed middle game positions and will land you in a lot of situations where the best move is a weird one, so if you dutifully analyze your mistakes you can really sharpen your instincts for positional play. The Grunfeld, on the other hand, tends to open the board quickly and can get super tactical once it does.
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Apr 29, 2024 19:32
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multistability posted:I was under the impression that beginners/amateurs in general were highly advised to stay away from the Grunfeld because giving White a big centre is usually a disaster when they don't really know what they're doing. Does it not violate a load of basic opening principles that are far more important to internalise at that level? OP is bored by the Slav, so it's not like playing the QGD is going to get their blood pumping. As infrequently as 1.d4 is played at OP's level compared to 1.e4, and with OP already playing more classically as white and against 1.e4, I think what OP will gain in exposure to new positions and structures, not to mention fun, makes it worthwhile. But yes, if someone is going for maximum long term improvement, doesn't care about making number go up quickly, and has the discipline to analyze all of their games deeply, they should be playing main line Ruy Lopez/Open Sicilian and QG with 3.Nc3 as white, and Nimzo/QGD paired with the Closed Ruy Lopez/Giuoco Piano and the Najdorf as black. Ghislaine of YOSPOS posted:people say not to play the ruy lopez as a beginner because the theory is deep. what can I do as black to capitalize on that? I don’t feel like it’s a bad idea for someone to play the ruy into me at the moment. If you're looking to notch easy wins, the Schleimann (3...f5!?) is very good for that. It's venemous, no one bothers to learn it from the white side, and many natural moves are inaccurate. khazar sansculotte fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Apr 29, 2024 |
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Apr 29, 2024 20:56
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Leperflesh posted:to get to 1200 I'm gonna need to do some actual proper line memorization and I'm kind of resisting doing that because it feels like homework. You definitely don't need to do a bunch of memorization to break 1200. The advantage you gain by successfully reproducing 10 theory moves is miniscule compared to how most games at that level are won and lost. It's way more important to train yourself to consistently notice when your opponent blunders and avoid blundering yourself. Just do lots of tactics puzzles (chesstempo is best IMO but lichess and chess.com are fine) and, critically, take the time to understand the ones you get wrong. That'll make your rating rise way faster than memorizing lines.
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May 1, 2024 01:28
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Yes, I would agree that it's worth knowing how to refute garbage and not fall into simple traps. I just conceptualize that more as "see and understand" rather than "memorizing."
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May 1, 2024 02:10
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Understanding why you put pieces in some places in some openings but other places in other openings is a fine thing to spend a little time on, it can help you learn to spot the ingredients for tactics and understand strategic principles. This common line from the Evans Gambit, arising after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 NC6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.d4 exd4 is a good example. Black has just captured on d4, so I think most people's natural instinct is to play 7.cxd4 in response because you just lost a pawn and it looks like you're about to lose another, and this seems like the safest way to capture back. Now, 7.cxd4 is a perfectly decent move, but it's not necessary to rush to recapture because dxc3 is not a threat, in fact it's a blunder in light of 7.O-O dxc3? 8.Bxf7+! Kxf7 9.Qd5 Kf8 10.Qxc5 d6 11.Qxc3. White has tremendous compensation for the sacrificed pawn in the form of a huge lead in development, a much safer king, and many easy moves to start building an attack. The temporary Bxf7+ sacrifice is a common motif in many e4-e5 openings, and is in some sense the reason the Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4) exists at all. Because black cannot shield the pawn by playing e6 once it's been pushed to e5, f7 is a weakness black has to be very mindful of. Studying this line may help you see other Bxf7+ opportunities in other openings (or avoid falling prey to them when you're playing as black). But at the sub-1200 level, it's not worth building a full opening repertoire (what is usually meant when people say "memorize openings") to learn this lesson. Most lines in a full repertoire are going to end on a rather pedestrian "white has the bishop pair and a backward pawn on d6 to play against, while black aims to expand on the queenside and eliminate the d6 weakness with a timely d5 push" kind of evaluation that a sub-1200 player isn't going to know what to do with. And one side or the other will likely end up accidentally hanging a piece in a few moves anyway, which completely overwhelms the subtle positional considerations that were the reason you bothered to memorize the line in the first place.
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May 1, 2024 07:26
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 06:04 |
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My  thought process was try to create a threat with Qe2, then noticing that the king can escape to g7, then wishing the bishop could get to h6 to cover the g7 square, then noticing that the black bishop can be drawn away from f4 by Qh6+, and then realizing that Bh6+ is forced mate. It's a pretty straightforward puzzle if you don't subconsciously write off Qh6+ as a possible move. Hard to see, easy to calculate, etc.
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May 11, 2024 04:44
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