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.....
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Personal Game Database
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.
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.
Friday, August 7, 2009
A Tough Spot
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.
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.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Weekend Tournament
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Another Setback
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
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
Sunday, June 14, 2009
A Good Weekend
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.
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.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Too Much At A Time
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.
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.
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