From Class Player to Expert

Small Achievements

2011-12-23T08:13:00.000-06:00

It has been a while since I have posted. It seems like I have more time during the holiday season then the rest of the year. I guess this is why so few players become Masters after they reach the age of 30, life just gets in the way.

Well, even though life gets in the way, I have been able to play few games and work my way up to a Class B player. Given, a low Class B player but a Class B none the less. I have had a few very good tournaments that have allowed me to reach this step on my way to becoming an expert including two wins to a 2100 but I still find it very very hard to defeat or draw a 1950 - 2050 player. My weakness seems to have been shifting from my poor opening selection (which is still weak but decent for now) to tactics and miscalculations in the middle game.

Give those flaws I was able to find a few really good move combinations in a game this past week. Here I am playing Kevin Geiss. He is a newer player who has come a long way in the past few months of playing. In the three games that we have played (each with me having the black pieces) we have fought to the end game and in two cases, I was able to control the final piece trade only when my pawns were in a much stronger position.

Here is the game that I would like to show. Now I have not hit this game with a computer so this is just some personal review so feel free to comment on what you think.

Play chess online

The First Game of the Year

2011-01-09T20:52:00.001-06:00

Hey Everyone,

I hope all had a good holiday season. But not that all the presents are opened, family time had and everyone has returned back to their normal lives it is time to get back to chess. Last week saw the first round of the 2011 Winter Swiss and as the first tournament of the year, I played the first ever Bird's Opening as White. If you have read any of my other posts you will know that I have once again altered my openning selection including the Bird Opening. I will only play this as White this year so hopefully I will be able to quickly learn the ins and outs of it.

I have my game listed below with my thoughts included. I did not go through it with a computer yet becuase I find it important to look at the game and try to remember what I was thinking so that is what I did here. I'm sure there is a lot that I missed but then this is how one learns.

If you have any feedback on my game, please let me know. I hope you enjoy it.

Play online chess

Another long break

2010-11-29T21:10:00.000-06:00

I truly believe that so many adult players don't make their goals because life gets in the way.

Over the past few months I have moved across the country, found a new job and discovered that my second daughter will be born in March. I'm back near family and even my nephews are starting to play the royal game. So, all of these have built upon themselves and have taken away from my chess playing.

I had started the year with a few goals. I wanted to establish myself with an opening and I wanted to play 100 games. Well, I didn't accomplish either. I did learn that I don't like play 1. d4 and that my ability to play against 1.d4 is also tough. I have, however, found that I do well with the French Defense.

So, in the upcoming year, I have decided that I will once again try for 100 games. I don't think that is an unreasonable goal so I will stick with it. As for openings, I am going to only play the following:

As White. 1. f4. I'm going to play Bird's Opening. It isn't as weak as 1. b4, my favorite, but it still keeps me way from to two center pawns.

As Black, I will respond to 1. d4 with the Dutch. Similar positions, with colors reversed are found with the Dutch and Bird's opening so I should be able to pull from both of these Openings to make help increase my knowledge of the positions faster.

To 1. e4, I shall continue with the French. I have decided that I like the way this is played out so I will see what I can do.

I am also going to make it a goal to post online at least once every two weeks with a hope of posting one of my games every week.

My final and third goal is to join a postal correspondence game. I played an e-mail tournament but I didn't do very well.

Well, there are my goals for next year. I guess those are my resolutions. I wonder how long I can hold on this year.

Have fun all.

Another Learning Point

2010-04-02T10:39:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

Last Saturday I played in the 5 NCGP Points Today #1 tournament. It was a four round G/65 tournament that only cost me a dollar to play in. You can beat four rated games for a dollar. The only prize fund were the rating points that you could earn and North Carolina Grand Prix Points. I had a pretty good day drawing against a 2000 rated player, winning against a 1700 and 1500 player and only taking one loss against a 1900 rated player (who also tied for first in the event).

Overall I gained 75 rating points to put me solidly in the Class B catagory with a rating of 1650.

I had two really interesting games. My draw agains Dan Lie (2000) and my loss against Mike Williams (1950ish). In my game against Dan (see below) I was able to get to a good position and had to settle for a draw becuase of some bad positional play but the key thing that I saw when reviewing this game was that we both failed to look at some major weaknesses in my king position.

So, my learning point is that when a weakness is seen, even thought I cannot attack that weakness in one move I need to look deeper to see if there is a way to leverage it. I have my notes in the game so please let me know if anyone sees anything better.

I'm still looking at my other game that I lost due to a massive blunder. At the time of the blunder I was able to get to a position where I had two bishops and a knight against my opponents queen. Once I have that picked apart I might post it here as well.

Play online chess

A Second Look At A Fun Game

2010-03-25T19:30:00.002-05:00

Two posts ago I showed a fun game that I played. It was a KID game that I lost but had a few great opportunities to pull out a win. If you look back you can see how I commented on the game and you can see what I was thinking.

Well, since then I have purchased, installed and imported a few games into Fritz 12. Just for fun, I plugged this game in to see how I did and it turns out that I missed a lot of stuff. Well, make that my opponent missed a lot of stuff and I missed a few chances to better my position. So, I guess I got lucky to have as interesting a game as I did.

That said, the important thing that I learned from going over this game is that even when a king is completely exposed you may not have a great attack against it. But as long as your king is safe, the best move might be to attack the other side of the board. In this game, I got lucky because Mike kept trying to attack my king. If he would have attacked my queen side, he would have picked apart any chance I could have had to win.

Just to show everyone the difference between my comments and what Fritz 12 has shown, here is the same game with the output from the program.

Have fun everyone...

Play online chess

Fritz 12

2010-03-18T19:30:00.000-05:00

Today, I finally broke down and purchased Fritz 12.

I have been playing a game on Gameknot.com and worked my way into a pretty even endgame but one that I thought I could win and in the end I had a draw. At one point I could have pressed the issue and both I and my opponent could have promoted a pawn each but I held on to the possiblity that my opponent would have placed his king on the 8th rank and allowed me to queen with check and some advantage.

He didn't put his king on the eight rank until it was too late and I had to settle for a draw. The moral of the story, I would like to know if I had better moves to make in the endgame to see if I could do better. I couldn't find any but it just feels like there should be something. So, I purchased Fritz so I can get a better look into the game.

I guess it is only fair to show the game as well. So, it is below. Nothing really interesting happened in it so I don't have any annotations but who knows maybe there was something there after the exchange of the last rooks from the board.

Play chess online

A Fun Game

2010-03-16T10:37:00.002-05:00

We all play an exciting game from time to time that sticks with us. You know those games that you are extreamly proud of maybe becuase you defeated someone stronger than you or found that great move that stunned the crowd. Well, at the last tournament that I played in I had a great King's Indian Defense game against a stronger player.

I can't say that I didn't make any mistakes, becuase I did. However I was able to keep fighting, keep attacking and work myself into a very fun and interesting position. When I went down a pawn, due to a blunder, I kept playing. When I dropped a piece, again to a blunder, I kept looking and found a way to stick in it. Finally, I had a chance to draw the the game but overlooked an easy tactic and lost. Yes, my favorite game of the year was one that I lost.

Well, here it is. I'm trying a new way to display my games in this thread to see how well it works.

I hope any readers out there enjoy this game as much as I did.

Have fun..

Play chess online

Class B, Well Almost

2010-03-11T14:47:00.001-06:00

Well it has been a few months since I have posted. I guess life has just gotten busy. My wife is finishing her Master's degree and my daughter learned to crawl so I have been chasing after one while supporting the other as best I can. With all of that my chess playing has taken a hit. I have only played in a few tournaments this year but at the Land of the Sky, one of the largest tournaments in North Carolina, I was able to pull out just enough wins to break 1600, the low end of the Class B. Of course, I had a few losses which dropped me back to the Class C mark, but I have tasted the next level and I think I can move back up soon.

In January I made some very drastic changes to my chess playing to see if I can advance my level of play. The first, and most drastic change, is that I no longer play 1.e4 as white. That is right, I'm now a d4 player. I don't know all of the theory behind that move so I'm just fumbling my way through but developing normally seems to work. With e4 there is so much theory that I just don't have the time or books to research 20 lines deep in every one that is out there. It is strange for me to change over but I'm doing much better now that I'm starting to see how other people play against d4.

As Black, I have settled on two defenses. I'm playing the French against 1. e4 and the King's Indian Defense against 1.d4. The French is pretty solid and the one that I have been spending the most amount of time on while the KID is one of those exciting but difficult positions to play as Black. I'm doing well so far in both. In fact, one of my favorite games I have ever played was done at a recent tournament and was a KID game. I'm going to post that here in the next week after I finish adding the rest of my annotations to it. I didn't play it perfectly, but I had such great attacking options that it is worth looking at.

I'm not sure if anyone out there is even reading this, but if so, have fun and good luck in your own games!!!

Long Time

2009-11-30T15:39:00.000-06:00

It has been a long while since I have posted. I guess life just got busy but it is slowing again so I have some more time to spend on chess. I have managed to play in one Saturday tournament a few weeks ago and went undefeated in my section. However, the real test will come this weekend.

This Saturday and Sunday will see the four round G/120 Greater Charlotte Championship. I hope to do well and hope to have lots to report on my games and how well I have played.

So, stayed tuned for some good reading to come.

The Queen's Gambit Lecture

2009-10-05T07:31:00.000-05:00

Beginning last Tuesday night, the Queen City Chess Association began it's Fall Lecture Series. This is a five week event where we have some of the higher rated members teach an hour long chess lesson. This series even includes a few National Masters and a bunch of Experts so the quality of the lessons are pretty good.

The first lesson was about the Queen's Gambit. (I guess that I should add that this lesson was geared towards 1200 - 1500 players.) As an e4 player, the Queen's Gambit isn't something that I tend to play. However, I did ask a question about the basic structures and opening sequences of d4 over e4 and one thing that was agreed upon by the higher rated players at this lesson is that e4 openings tend to require more memorizaion while d4 openings are easier to reason at the board. With this information, I'm strongly thinking of moving to d4 as my opening move.

So, as we worked through the lesson a number of key elements and chess theories were brought to light. The concept of "the space left behind" which is one of the biggest thing's that I miss. In my game that followed this lecture, I hung a rook and allowed my bishop to be trapped. I know, not very good play. In fact, I think that this is still one of those major things that I will struggle with as I try to move up to the next class. I need to make sure to double check all of my pieces right before I move. I have also noticed that when I tend to drop these pieces are at the end of a long analysis. Meaning that I see the hung piece in the begining, but then I think so deeply that I forgot that the piece is hanging and then I move something else.

I don't think there is a single silver bullet to keep from hanging piece, or every coach would teach all their students, however I still think that I'm making way to many game ending simple mistakes that shouldn't happen.

Well, I plan to take better notes on Tuesday night and will share even more detailed information on the Lessons that I did here. Although one thing that I do know, is that one hour isn't a lot of tie to cover the Queen's Gambit.

NC Class Championship

2009-09-15T08:29:00.003-05:00

This past weekend I played in the NC Class Championship. It was my first 'real' tournament that I have played in since competing in the Wisconsin Scholastic Championship back in 1997. I know, I'm getting old. This tournament also had the longest time control that I recall having ever played with a 30/90, SD 1. Yes, I had one game that went from 7:30 PM until 12:15AM and only to draw.

Over all, I think I did pretty well, at the end of the tournament I scored three points with two wins, two draws and a loss. But, I was way ahead in both draws before I decided to give it back. Over all, my favorite and best played game was in the fifth and last round. I entered this round with 2 points playing the second place player with three points. To finish in second place I needed a win while a draw would have put my opponent in a clear second place slot.

Half way through the game, things looked like they could have been a draw so my opponent offered one. Because I needed a win I had to decline and then to make counter play and to create some chances, I took his knight with my rook giving up the exchange but obtaining a strong attack. In the end he lost the game because he missed a complicated mating situation but even if he didn't miss that mate, I think he would still have been hard pressed to win.

Overall, I think I preformed well because of a few simple rules.
1) In the opening, just develop pieces to good squares and don't attack to early.
2) Play slowly and gain as much space as you can.
3) Once you get the initiative, attack attack attack.

Here is my fifth game. I still need to annotate it and I'm actually thinking of sending it into Chess Life.

Oh, so I took second place in the Class C division. I'm very happy with that.

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd8 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. d3 Bg4 6. Nf3 e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4 Bg6 9. Ne5 Bb4 10. Bd2 Nbd7 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. f4 Nb6 13. Bb3 Nfd7 14. Qf3 Qh4+ 15. Ke2 O-O 16. Be1 Qe7 17. h4 Nf6 18. h5 e5 19. f5 g5 20. h6 gxh6 21. Rxh6 Kg7 22. Rxf6 Qxf6 23. Ne4 Qh6 24. f6+ Kg8 25. Bxb4 Qh2+ 26. Ke3 Qf4+ 27. Qxf4 gxf4+ 28. Kf3 Rfd8 29. Rh1 a5 30. Be7 a4 31. Ng5 axb3 32. Rh7 bxa2 33. Rg7+ Kh8 34. Nxf7# 1-0

A Tough Win

2009-09-11T06:55:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday night was the last round of my club's weekend tournament (10 Rating Points Tonight!!! #10). I was tied for first place in my section and was really looking forward to playing the Class C player who I was tied with (Windy Gatlin). But, he didn't show up until after the round was paired and the first few moves were made. So, I was instead paired against the person in third place and half a point behind me (Copeland Blackwell).

Now, I should note that guy rated Copeland is ratted about 1194, was the person who I played in the last round of the prevouse club tournament. I was again half a point ahead of him and he managed to beat me taking the tournament and a bunch of my rating points. Here was that game and I had the black pieces:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. Nxe5 Bxf2+ 7. Rxf2 Nxe5 8. d4 Nc4 9. Bb3 b5 10. e5 Nd5 11. Qf3 O-O 12. Bxc4 bxc4 13. Qxd5 Rb8 14. Qxc4 Qe7 15. Qxc7 Qh4 16. Qxb8 Qxd4 17. Qd6 Qe4 18. Nc3 1-0

In the current tournament, I won the first round against Michael Hopkins (976) and the second round against Lee More (1218). I then had, what I believe was a strong draw against Derek Zhang (1627) and then lost my favorite game of the year against Mike Eberhardinger (1796). So, overall I have been doing well mainly due the draw and just playing well against the other players.

So, then I find round five. Having lost our last game, my history against Copeland prior to this match was 2 - 2 so this was to be our tie breaker. I started out very strong and Copeland made a mistake. I had, what might have been an amazing attack but I wasn't able to find a mating sequence so I decided to just play my four pawn advantage along with a more developed position. And then I started falling apart. I gave back my advantage and position and he had a winning position. And then, blunders began to strike him. He dropped a bishop for a pawn which resulting in a position that I thought was completely drawn. Then he made a bad King move, and I think I was in a winning position but then he dropped a rook which gave me an easy position to finish up in.

So, I moved from a clearly winning possiiotn, to a drawn position to a win. And won the tournament. So, what does one learn from this type of game? Well, I read a book a while ago, in fact I might have even made a blog post on it. It is called the "Art Of Learning" and it covers the concept of battling back from a losing possition. The idea of trying to reset your mind os you don't just let the emmotion of moving from a winning position to losing one and then just giving up. By staying in it and battling back, I was able to put Copeland into a possition where he could make a mistake. Where he could give me an opportunity. And in the end that is what happened.

I played well initially, then gave up everything but was lucky to have Copeland make a blunder or two. I guess that is the ture difference between 1200 and 1500, the number of blunders one makes in a game.

So, here is the game. I had the White pieces.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. d4 Nxe4 5. dxe5 Bc5 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Qd5+ Ke8 8. Qxe4 Qe7 9. Nc3 d6 10. Nd5 Qd7 11. exd6+ Kf8 12. dxc7 Ne7 13. Nxe7 Bxe7 14. Bf4 Qb5 15. O-O-O Bf5 16. Rd5 Qxb2+ 17. Kxb2 Bxe4 18. Rd2 h6 19. Re1 Bf5 20. Nh4 Bxh4 21. Bd6+ Kf7 22. Rd5 Bf6+ 23. c3 Be6 24. Rb5 b6 25. a4 Bd7 26. Rb4 Rhe8 27. Rbe4 Bxa4 28. Rxe8 Bxe8 29. Kb3 b5 30. c4 a5 31. cxb5 Bxb5 32. Bc5 Bd7 33. Rd1 Be6+ 34. Ka4 Bf5 35. Re1 Bd7+ 36. Ka3 a4 37. Rd1 Be6 38. g4 Bxg4 39. Rb1 Be5 40. Re1 Bxc7 41. Re7+ Kf6 42. Rxc7 Ra6 43. Bd4+ Kg6 44. Rxg7+ Kf5 45. Be3 Bd1 46. Rd7 Bf3 47. Rf7+ Kg4 48. h3+ Kh4 49. Rxf3 Rf6 50. Rxf6 Kxh3 51. Rg6 Kh4 52. f4 Kh3 53. f5 1-0

Tonight begins the North Carolina Class Championship. I'm going to be luckly enough to play in this event so hopefully I can do well against other people who are in my class. I don't often get to play in my class as there aren't that many people that I know of who are in my group so I think this will be good for me.

Have fun all....

My Exciting Game

2009-09-04T14:55:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

Well Tuesday night saw another tough game for me. There was an odd man in the upper and lower section so I played up against an opponent almost three hundred rating points above me. That said, this is the same guy who blundered a queen to me a few weeks ago at a weekend tournament so as you might guess, he was watching very closely.

Over all, I think I played a decent game althougth I put myself in a bad situtation eairly where ended up sacing a knight for two pawns infront of his king. I then had a great initial attack where I thought I might have had a matting attack. It turns out that I should have just grabbed a rook and then tried to play from there. But I didn't. And that is my learning point that I'm working on, knowing when sac a piece.

Here is the game:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 h6 7. c3 Na5 8. Bc2 d6 9. d4 Bg4 10. Nbd2 Be7 11. h3 Bh5 12. g4 Nxg4 13. hxg4 Bxg4 14. Qe1 Qd7 15. Qe3 Bh3 16. Nh2 Bg5 17. Qe2 h5 18. Re1 Rh6 19. Kh1 Bf4 20. Rg1 Qe6 21. Ndf3 Rg6 22. Bxf4 exf4 23. Rxg6 Qxg6 24. Rg1 Qh6 25. a4 Rb8 26. axb5 axb5 27. Bd3 Nc4 28. b3 Na3 29. Qa2 f6 30. Qxa3 g5 31. Qa7 Rc8 32. Bxb5+ Kd8 33. Ba6 g4 34. Bxc8 Kxc8 35. Qa8+ Kd7 36. Nd2 f3 37. Ndxf3 gxf3 38. Nxf3 Bg4 39. e5 Qf4 40. e6+ Ke7 41. Nh4 Qxf2 42. Ng6+ Kxe6 43. Qe8+ Kf5 44. Ne7+ Kg5 45. Qg6+ Kf4 46. Qxf6+ Ke3 47. Nd5+ Ke2 48. Qxf2+ Kxf2 49. Rxg4 hxg4 50. Nf4 1-0

I once again tried to review the game using Chess Master but that doesn't work for me. I don't understand why it plays certain moves and when it gets to the end of each variation I don't understand why those positions are better or worse. I guess I need to keep working on that. However, as you look through this game you will see how I was able to bring a lot of pieces to bear in the attack. Later in the game, I then dropped a knight and a few pawns but I still had an attack. Time go low and then I blundered the end where I should have been able to manage a draw. This game did go about 10 or 15 more moves but my opponent and I were under 2 minutes each so we didn't get them written down.

I guess I just need to keep working but next weekend is the North Carolina Class Championship, and I get to play in that. I'm really looking forward to a full weekend of chess. I hope I do well.

A Good Draw

2009-08-29T19:59:00.002-05:00

Every player with White looks for a win. You start out with the advantage of the first move which gives you a chance to shape the game. On my Tuesday night tournament game, I was finally able to be paired against someone with a higher rating than me. And he was higher by 150 points. He is a solid Class B player.

I had the White pieces and played 1.e4 as anyone who is reading my blog would know but he decided to play c5, the Sicilian. I hate playing the Sicilian. I'm not really sure why I don't like it, it is just one of those things that get under my skin. However, as a few Master's have told me, you don't really have to know a lot about the Sicilian to play it. You just make natural developing moves until you are in the middle game. So, I followed this idea.

In the end, this game was now awe inspiring of a match, however it was one where I made no major mistakes. No major mistakes in a game that went 66 moves. In reviewing parts of the game, I did get into a position where Black was slightly better but I was able to hold out and play the last few moves of the endgame well enough to pull out a draw. It's amazing how someone can be excited about a draw but I am. Mainly because it was against a Class B player and I didn't make any major mistakes throughout a long game.

I think this is a great step in the right direction. Here are the moves of the entire game:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Qd2 Ng4 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 Nc6 10. Bb5 Bd7 11. Nf3 O-O 12. h3 Nge5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. f4 Bxb5 15. fxe5 Bc6 16. exd6 Qxd6 17. O-O-O Bxc3 18. Qxd6 Bxb2+ 19. Kxb2 exd6 20. Rxd6 Bxe4 21. Rd2 Rac8 22. Re1 Bf5 23. Re7 Rfd8 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Rxb7 Rd2 26. Rc7 Rxg2 27. Bf6 g5 28. h4 g4 29. h5 g3 30. Rc5 Rf2 31. Bh4 Rf3 32. Bxg3 Bxc2 33. Rc8+ Kg7 34. Be5+ f6 35. Bxf6+ Rxf6 36. Rxc2 Rb6+ 37. Kc1 Ra6 38. Rg2+ Kf7 39. Kb2 Ra5 40. Rh2 Kf6 41. Kb3 Kg5 42. Kb4 Rf5 43. Rg2+ Kxh5 44. Rg7 a5+ 45. Ka4 Rg5 46. Rh7 Kg6 47. Ra7 h5 48. Ra6+ Kf7 49. Ra7+ Ke6 50. Ra6+ Kd7 51. Rh6 Ke8 52. a3 Kf7 53. Ra6 Kg7 54. Ra7+ Kh6 55. Ra6+ Rg6 56. Rxa5 h4 57. Rc5 Rg5 58. Rc1 Rh5 59. Kb4 Kg5 60. a4 h3 61. a5 h2 62. Rh1 Kg4 63. a6 Kg3 64. a7 Rh8 65. Kb5 Kg2 66. Rxh2+

I should add, that I am willing to share all of my games with anyone who would like to see them. Just let me know and I can get them to you in a PGN format.

Well, have fun everyone.....

Personal Game Database

2009-08-24T11:18:00.002-05:00

In my last post, I listed a few goals for my game.

1) As White. I need to stick with 1. e4 and will try the Giuoco Paino.
2) As Black, KID and the Pirc will be were I'm looking. It is hard to fully blunder these games away in 10 moves because Black develops very slowly.
3) I'm going to look over all the games that I can find that were played by GM Sokolsky.

Since then, I have made progress on steps one and two. I played 1.e4 each time as White and as Black, each of my games began 1. e4 e5, so I haven't had a chance to play the KID. However, I haven't started on my third goal. I should also add that I have not lost a game since this however, I have only played two OTB games and both against weaker players. In one of these games I even dropped a rook but did so late enough in the game that I was up and had a winning end-game position.

So, this post is going to be about my third goal. I initially thought to download and look at games that have been played by a strong Grand Master and I selected GM Sokolsky because my favorite opening as White is 1. b4 (which you will notice is one that I'm not playing because it doesn't help with a chess players overall understanding of basic openings.) So, instead of looking at this, I have spent the time of putting of my games that I have played in a PGN file. These would be all of the games that I have played since the middle of 2008 when got back into chess. So, I entered this into a PGN file and downloaded a viewer that also allows me to annotate these games in one place.

It took me a while to get this database up and running, and I had to contact a few of my opinions for their copy of the game because my annotation was a bit weak, but I have it now complete. So, right now, instead of going over GM games, I think it is more vital for me to go over the games that I actually do. Then, I think I will look for some games. But again, I'm not sure if just picking a GM and going over their games is the best solution. So, right now I'm going to think of what I can do to find the right games to review in the time that I have.

Well, that is what I have for now. I should add, that I'm going to try and find a way to post my entire PGN database of my games so anyone who wants to see them can review the them.

Have fun all, and good luck in your games.

A Tough Spot

2009-08-07T11:51:00.002-05:00

Okay, I think I have reached that tough spot in my game that many C players reach and then get depressed.

I feel like I'm stronger than I play and I get frustrated that I don't do well. So, what do I mean? Well out of the last four games that I played, three of them were effectively over in the first 10 moves while the fourth I only won because my opponent made a huge blunder.

I have read those books and even commented on how spending time working on the middle and end game had a great impact on my game. But now, I don't know about that. I'm thinking about picking a the Pirc and the KID and trying to play those two against White. They are pretty similar systems for what I can tell so I should be able to leverage the ideas from both openings why playing each other. And for White, I might go back to 1. b4. It is hard to really lose that game in the first few moves because the nature of the opening but then it isn't the most stable opening out there.

After thinking that I started looking around again and find that everyone still says stick it out with 1. e4 and see what happens. But it is 1.e4 that I keep blundering. Maybe that is just what needs to happen. I need to play it more so I learn how to do well with it. I shouldn't just give up because I lose a few games.

I think that is it. I'm just freaking out because I play in a tournament and win three of the four games that I play and my rating still goes down. Maybe my stress point is my rating and I need to just forget about that.

Okay, so what is my goal. Here is its:

As White. I need to stick with 1. e4 and will try the Giuoco Paino.
As Black, KID and the Pirc will be were I'm looking. It is hard to fully blunder these games away in 10 moves because Black develops very slowly.

And I'm going to look over all the games that I can find that were played by GM Sokolsky.

This is a tough time for my chess playing. I just need to get through it and I will be good.

Weekend Tournament

2009-08-03T17:43:00.002-05:00

I played in the Reverse Angle 15 tournament this past Saturday. This is a one day chess event that draws between 40 and 60 players for a three round swiss tournament with a game 90 format. As far as I know, it is one of the strongest one day events in North Carolina.

In my first round my opponent had the white pieces and lead us into a King's Gambit. This was the first time that I have played the King's Gambit OTB in a rated event. It was a strong start to a game with Mike making a blunder on his tenth move (1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 Nb6 5. h4 g4 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Ng5+ Ke8 8. Qxg4 Nf6 9. Qxf4 Nd4 10. 0-0 Ne2+ and White resigns as he loses his queen.)

White could have made a few strong moves either the queen check, what I think is strongest or Rf1. What is really interesting here is that I ended up playing a King's Gambit online a little while before and even reviewed that game with some people that morning. The King's Gambit is an interesting game to play as it leads to some crazy attacks. Here is a link to the online game that I played earlier: http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=12151132

I played very poorly in the next game and put myself in a losing position after about five moves. I know, how can someone get that close to losing in a just five moves. Well, here they are (and I was black) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 f6 4. Bc4 Na5. Okay, it was four moves. The next two moves were 5. Bxg8 Rxg8 6. dxe5 fxe5 7. Qd5. Here I not only lose a piece, but I have no development and White is quickly bringing in attacking pieces. Moral of the story, on move 3, take the pawn. I knew that this was the correct move but wanted to try something flashy. Well, in a tournament, play solid. On one's spare time, try the something different to see what happens.

My last game was pretty interesting. It was a Grand Prix attack where I attacked before really getting my pieces together and my opponent just traded down all the material. It was a very tough end game where he made the last blunder and gave me a passed pawn. But, he didn't make this blunder until I made a few of my own. If anyone is interested in seeing this complex endgame, let me know and I will post the entire game.

Another Setback

2009-07-28T11:19:00.002-05:00

Okay, it has been a long while since I have posted but some of that has to due with my new child. So, not only am I trying to improve my play, as a new father, well my time is even more spread out and my sleep reduced. However, those are just challenges to this process and challenges that others have to face as well.

Since my last post, I lost over 80 rating points due to some very bad play against some 1100 players. But, I'm still class C and this last tournament has served the purpose as to open my eyes as to what I'm doing.

Current, I'm trying to study my endgame play and to leverage this in my overall game. So far, my knowledge is steadily increasing in this but I think I still have a ways to go before I see the impact in my OTB game.

Secondly, I spent time going over the openings of the games I have played this year to try and understand what my opponents are playing against me. I have found that may people who I play (in my weekly club game) are starting with d4 and my best response has been the KID. So, I have decided to spend some time reviewing that in more detail. In this review, I am using YouTube and the MCO. So, I'm still basic in this understanding but I think I am making progress.

In addition to this, I have decided to move away from playing the Caro-Kann in response to 1. e4. My rational behind this is two fold. First, I haven't been playing it very well. I have a few wins and a few draws but none of the games were extremely good. And I had some very bad loses against players who really used their knights with deadly impact. Simply put, my lack of understanding the key concepts behind this opening as a Black player, put me at a huge disadvantage. And secondly, I'm playing either the Ruy Lopez or the Giuoco Piano as White so I have decided to play the Black side of this as well. This will help me to learn OTB how to both play the white and black side and thus save me some time in my studying as I can center my study time on just two openings.

As a side note, I have been the assistant TD at a few tournaments including one scheduled for this Saturday. As an assistant mainly charged with the doing the pairings, I also play in these events. So, this weekend I have a three game event cumming on and hopefully I will be able to preform well.

Good games to all

A Good Weekend

2009-06-14T08:52:00.002-05:00

I played in a one day, three round tournament yesterday and had a good day.

This tournament is very healthy and had 50 players attend in four sections. I played in the under 1800 section since my rating is 1526. In the first round I was paired with 1770, second 1616 and last 1630. (I'm estimating the rating on the last two games.)

The first game I played was great. I made good solid moves. Put my pieces on good squares and when the time came, made a very strong queen move that ensured my win. Or at least put me into a very strong and aggressive position. I'm going to sit down and annotate this game and possibly post it here later. (It takes me two to three hours to review one of my games so it might take me a few days.)

After this however, my level of play dropped. My second game, I don't know what I was thinking. In the opening I made a questionable decision to trade my bishop for a knight and then I decided to chase my opponents knight with all my pawns thinking I could win the piece. Well, i was wrong about winning the piece and then when the dust settled all my pawns were on bad squares and I just lost.

The thrid game went quickly to an end game that was hard fought for about 50 moves. I believe that my position was more sound but then, I made a bad pawn push which allowed my opponent to attack with his queen putting me on the defense. He went up a pawn but again I made some great moves and retook the advantage. Only to draw the simple pawn-rook endgame. Oh well, everyone has their days I guess.

In the end, a win against a very strong Class B player and a draw and lose against average Class B players. Overall, great progress for me. But we will have to see how things end up.

Too Much At A Time

2009-06-05T13:26:00.002-05:00

Call it bad luck. Call it bad concentration. Say it is due to too much on my mind. What ever excuse I want to come up with is fine. But I have been losing a lot of games to people who have ratings way lower than I do.

So, I sat down and looked at them to try and find out what I was doing wrong. What can cause someone to lose to a player that is almost 400 rating points lower, consistently. And what did I find beyond uninspired moves, lack of a battle plan or leveraging good positions and tactics was that my endgame was terrible. In the past few that I have played I believe that my endgame position was at least event to better but I wasn't able to take advantage of them.

Lately I have been trying to study the Queen's Gambit and the Queen's Gambit Declined. The QGD was suggested as a good defense that I should learn as Black against d4. So, I have been investing time here but overall I think I need to really get down the basics and look at where I need to spend my limited time. Like I told someone yesterday, very few times do people win a game in the opening or even in the middle game. One might come out with a small advantage but not typically the win. The win is sealed in the end game.

So, I'm going to spend the next few weeks just studying the end game. This will hopefully give me the tools I need to play these end games strongly and add a few wins (hopefully) to my record.

Lessons Not Learned

2009-05-26T08:54:00.000-05:00

In an online game I was playing over the course of about a week, I achieved a position that I thought was completely lost.

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nf6
3. Nxe5 Qe7
4. d4 Nc6
5. Nxc6 Qxe4+
6. Qe2 Qxe2+
7. Bxe2 dxc6
8. O-O Bd6
9. Bg5 Bf5
10. Bxf6 gxf6
11. c3 O-O-O
12. Nd2 h5
13. Rae1 Rdg8
14. Kh1 Be6
15. Bc4 Bd5
16. Bxd5 cxd5
17. Nb3 Rg5
18. g3 h4
19. Kg2 f5
20. f4 Rg4
21. Re3 Rhg8
22. Rff3 Bxf4
23. Re7 hxg3
24. h3 Rh4
25. Rxf7 Rxh3

I had the White pieces and at this point, I resigned the game. Following that resignation, my opponent ask me why I resigned because he didn't think I was lost. This makes for a few really good lessons that I have an issue learning.

1) Never resign unless it is obvouse that I'm lost. In this game, it wasn't evident to my opponent that he had won.

2) Use all of your time. In this game I had a few days left to make a move so I should have studied longer and harder.

3) Always look for a better move. I looked at three or four options than resigned. I need to look deeper at other things.

Options:

a) 26. Rxf4 Rh2+ (27. Kf1 g2+ 29. Kg1 Rh1+ 30. Kf2 g1=Q+) (27. Kg1 g2 28. Rf2 Rh1#) So, the rook cannot take the Bishop.

b) 26. Rg7 just loses the rook after Rxg7 and then Black is up a rook and should still obtain his queen.

c) 26. Rxg3 and White trades his rook for the pawn and is in a lossing position.

d) 26. Kxh3 g2 Here 27. Rg3 loses to 27. ... Rxg3+, 28. Kh2 g1=Q#. 27. Rxf4 loses to g1=Q and a mate threat at Qh1#.

e) 26. Nc5 (or anywhere for that matter) and Rh2+ will allow Black to push the g pawn using checks to the end of the board.

f) 26. Rf8+ is the only last option, I believe. 26. ... Rxf8 27. Rxf4 Rh8. (Now if White plays Rf3 here, he will be losing after Black will be able to play f4 then Rh2+ with solid play and chances for that g pawn. However, if he plays Rxf5 then after 28. ... Rh2+, 29. Kxg3 Rxb2. Black will be ahead but White will still have some life left in him if he can mount a good defense.

So, I should have looked harder to find this last option. I still think that it will be a loss for White in the end but I should have looked harder before resigning. Of course, I still might be missing something so I sent this same information to him so he can tell me if there was another defense that I might have missed.

Play the Queen's Gambit

2009-05-20T09:20:00.000-05:00

It has been a week since I posted, but that is probably due to the fact that I missed my tournament game last week. (I have a child on the way so I had to attend some baby classes to keep my wife happy).

Okay, but I did just finish playing a good game against a good opponent that I will annotate and then post online. It takes me a few days to do that because, well, I have to review the entire game and look up the openings to see what works best. So stay tuned for that.

But, I have a new book from the library called "play the queen's gambit" It is an Everyman Chess book (a series that I like a lot) and this one was written by Chris Ward. I have only gotten about 20 pages into this book but I wanted to point out my goal for this one. I'm a big fan of having an idea of what I want from a book before I read it so that I can gain something. I just find that if I pull a book and just read it to see what happens I don't really get as much from it. So, my goal with this book so to learn the Queen's Gambit Declined. As I mentioned in a prevous blog post, this defense was suggested to me as an option against 1. d4. I was told that this might fit my play style.

Now, I want look look at the QGD, however the first part of the book is the Queens Gambit Accepted. I have worked through the theory part of the opening for about 15 different lines and I'm starting to like it a lot. I have traditionally been an 1. e4 player, but this book is starting to suggest to me the idea of changing. Now, I should add that this is just the Queen's Gambit and there is more than two different ways to play against 1. d4 but it will keep me from having to play the Sicilian that I hate so much.

So, this book has already been a good thing for me and I have yet to get to the part that I really hoped to learn the most. Hopefully, in a week or so I will be able to add this book to my list of really good chess books.

Databases and Online Chess

2009-05-14T08:26:00.002-05:00

Today marks another first for me in my chess development, the use of online chess and game databases and opening books.

I am a regular player on two different chess websites (chess.com and gameknot.com). On both of these sites I tend to play only the correspondence type games where one is granted a few days for each move. Up until now I have used these sites more like a regular game play with me moving after just a few minutes of consideration. Today marks the day where I have changed this view, well, to some extent that is.

A new game was started today with me having the White pieces and I began with 1. e4. My opponent played 1. .. d5, the Center Counter or Scandinavian. I don't play this opening very well even though I know the first few opening moves, however under the suggestion of an expert who I is helping me out a bit, I decided to research this game as I'm making the moves. Look at game databases and open theory is not against the rules of correspondence chess as long as you are the one doing the analysis not a computer or some other person.

So, I pulled out my copy of MCO v15 (Modern Chess Openings, version 15) to review the opening lines it has. There are very few for this opening, with all starting with 2. exd5. So, I made that move. The next move, however was not one that is listed in this book. 2. ... c6. Now, in a game I played two weeks ago, I got into a bad situation after grabbing up some offered pawns so I wanted to really find out what taking this pawn would do because it looked okay for me. So, I pulled up my Chess Master program and went to the game database that it has. It found 16 games with these moves.

So, I glanced through them. I didn't do the in depth analysis I probably should have of these games and how they traversed, but after looking at them, I decided that taking this pawn wasn't bad for me.

So, at this point, I'm up a pawn and we will see how things go, but the important thing is that I'm branching out. Using my chess resources to help advance my knowledge of the game and how to play things. I sometimes wonder if the people whose games I look at ever thought that they would be used as a stepping stone for my learning process.

All that said, I should say that Chess Master, or the version I have, doesn't have the largest game database but for me it will work for now.

Gary Kasparov, Unlimited Challenge

2009-05-11T10:57:00.002-05:00

So, I finished reading about Karpov then picked up the book on Kasparov.

Just reading their autobiographies you can feel the difference between these two individuals. How they operate, how they see their own chess and how they interact, even with each other. And of course, it is always interesting to see the different point of views on the same subject. Between these we see the world champion matches from each of their own perspectives and wow are they different.

in readings these though, I was looking for a deeper understanding in chess and I think I came back to something that I saw in the the movie "Searching for Bobby Fisher". I never believed that chess excellence was every something that could be made from a cookie cutter. There isn't some recipe that will teach someone to be a great player. I think you have to be born with something. Maybe the way people think and their mental affiliation to the game is what is required. In each of their own words, these two great players tell us how they always loved chess even before they knew the rules.

But like was said in the movie, you have to be who you are. Everyone has their own style and trying to copy some else isn't going to get it done. Trying to be Bobby Fisher by playing his games and understanding his moves will not make you better or equal to Bobby Fisher. Understand Karpov's and Kasparov's games will not make you a world champion either. There are so many different components to the game so may different ideas and though process. There is a personality to the game. Everyone who touches a piece has their own personality. The key to unlocking chess is understanding your own personality, well and playing hard.

I wish I knew my personality. But I guess this process that I'm on is, in part, to discover my own personality. Chess is life, well, maybe not is life but it is something.

Karpov on Karpov

2009-05-05T15:06:00.003-05:00

I am a believer that great chess players are not made by memorizing opening books, memorizing endgame theory and practicing tactical situations. I believe that these skills help improve a good player but I think there is more.

I have recently found "Karpov on Karpov, Memoirs of a Chess World Champion" by Anatoly Karpov. In this book, Karpov breaks down his life and his chess and does it on a level that anyone can easily read. He hits on a number of topics that made him a great player and identifies problems associated with other top players that he identified and was able to use against them over the board.

I won't say that everyone should learn to be like a great player. I don't think what worked for Karpov, or Fisher or Spaasky will work for anyone else. But I do think there is something to chess that goes beyond the basic movements of the game. There is something associated with the human element that makes this game really exciting.

I will admit that there are a fixed number of moves that can be made. (Given that number is so huge it might as well be unlimited except that in the future I'm sure we will have computers that can list them all and decided which is best.) I believe that even with a fixed number of moves there is still an art form to it. There is something beyond the standard placements of the pieces that really make chess special. Perhaps I say this only because this is game I love but who knows, maybe there is something to it.

I just believe that in his self reflection, Karpov not only tells us about his life, but he also teaches us about chess. I recommend this book to everyone, even non-chess players as it still has lessons that can be adapted to most situations.