phorku's chess blog

What's the plan?

2008-05-28T23:03:00.003-05:00

So what is the plan in this position? I worked hard to get a good bishop, pawn structure, space and opponents passive pieces. Isn't a B vs N endgame with pawns on both sides of the board better for the B (or is that only when the rooks are off too)? Couldn't do a thing with it...

Side note:
I evaluated this position with me having the significant advantage. Crafty has us nearly equal. This game showed me if you can't evaluate who has the better position your play will suffer.

GP Attack / Passive Queen Sac / Miniature

2008-05-28T22:56:00.003-05:00

I have only seen this once before and I missed it. I used to play the Halasz Gambit vs the Sicilian but I read about the GP Attack from other knights and tried it out.

A perfect game...

2008-05-10T23:18:00.002-05:00

A nice flat game...

2008-04-19T22:49:00.003-05:00

I finally learned how to make a score graph with SCID. I will be adding this to my review of standard games. There is some good stuff in the MDLM program...

Strategy Is Hell !! or 21 Moves To Create An Outpost

2008-02-29T21:03:00.004-05:00

Game Here

Pawn Ram

2008-02-25T23:49:00.004-05:00

I picked up this book

(like I needed another chess book) and attribute a recent win(game) to one of the lessons I learned from it.

I reached this position:

I know I am supposed to play on the king side but I have always been reluctant to move my g and h pawns. In this book they have the concept of the pawn ram and the great strategists seem to have no such qualms. So... instead of playing on the queen side or making a bunch of week moves I pushed my pawns in his face, double rooks on the f file, moved my q into the attack then rammed my pawns down his throat. I could have done it more efficiently but am satisfied with my play and addition of a new weapon.

A cool Bobby Cartoon

2008-01-27T10:31:00.000-05:00

I love cartoons they can communicate such a powerful message.

Used without permission.
Credits:
Cagle Political Cartoons
Oliver Schopf

Still hangin out...

2008-01-07T22:43:00.000-05:00

I am still hanging around in the chess blogosphere. I have a busy month with work so there will be little time for hobbies. I am starting to regain some interest in continuing my studies now that I have had a decent break. Hope your holidays were great. See you in February...

New USCF High

2007-11-03T16:47:00.000-05:00

I picked up 80 points at the Club Championships for a total of 1497.

More clock fun at the club... Not!

2007-11-03T16:36:00.000-05:00

So after the clock fiasco at the last game of the Club Championshiops I went back to the club Tuesday to lose 2/3 games. In one of my games I tell my opponent to start the clock by pressing the middle button. With a big melodramatic flourish he reaches over and presses the button. He seems to hold the button down forever. About 13 moves into the game he says 'What is wrong with your clock?'. No time had elapsed. Apparently all the added flourish included a double press since my clock was working fine. So today my son and I went to the Parma Novemberfest and my clock batteries died in the middle of my first game. [Insert stupid cliche here] Anyway I won 3/4 in the U1600 and my son got 5.5/6 in the U800. YEA!

Aaaargh! phorku 6 - club 1

2007-10-23T22:26:00.000-05:00

What a night. Last game of the championships and I get paired against a speed player. He never keeps score and I get to the board and he has it upside down making it extra difficult to keep score. He plays the Sicilian and I play the Halasz gambit. I drop a N in the first couple moves, slow down trap his B and end up with a good position 2 pawns down. I have massive pressure on the King side and his N is trapped most of the game. He castles long with a weakened pawn structure and I advance my Qside pawns to break it open. Instead of ripping him open I push my pawn through planning on getting a pawn fork that never materializes. Next thing I know my flag falls. We shake hands and I look at the clock and something is horribly wrong. According to the clock we used up 2.5 hours in an hour and a half. I say something is wrong, he doesn't pay attention and goes off to play his $.50 a 5 minute game with his buddy. Then I notice his clock is stopped because he didn't wind his side. He is already at another table and some squirt is standing there talking to me while I am trying to figure out what the deal is. Squirt keeps trying to show me how to wind the clock and I keep pulling it away from him telling him to stop that some thing is wrong. Squirt must be and idiot savant because he keeps trying to show me how to wind the clock. I am getting really irritated with telling him to stop and him constantly reaching for the winder. I take the clock and go over to my opponent because I am ready to punch squirt in the fucking face and don't want to spend the night in jail. My opponents 5 minute buddy says give him another half hour on the clock and my opponent agrees. The position is tough now and I am still very irritated and go down in flames shortly afterwards. My opponent was 1522 just over 100 points above me. While I should be happy about my overall performance I am mostly still pissed off about the whole thing with second game in a row with a blunder, misplayed a winning position, backward board, non score keeping opponent, stupid analog clock and squirt. Squirt better hope I never face him over the board because I want blood, I want to send him crying back to his mommy for some more breast feeding. Aaaaaarrrrgh!

BDK's Blunderwareness curse...

2007-10-23T17:34:00.000-05:00

So... I was reading through a couple blogs before my teamleague game on Sunday and came across BDK's Blunderwareness post. I skimmed over it and thought I haven't made a blunder in the longest time, my thought process is pretty much automatic now. So I have black and my opponent opens with NF3. Ugghh... another ambiguous opening game. So I respond with my own ambiguous opening g6. 12 moves into the game and things are kind of tense and I am not sure how to continue. Clock is draining away and I start getting frustrated. I still can't come up with a good plan and decide to move my light squared B into his position so I can close things up with out making my B totally bad. I make my move click click. Instantly I see that I just put it on an unprotected square just 2 squares in front of his Q. I cry out 'What the hell did I just do?'.

An old weakness that I rarely encounter has just reared it's ugly head again. Too bad I had to learn that lesson the hard way... I thought I was smarter than that. Oh well. Now that the lesson has been scorched into my brain I have one more tool to use. Hopefully that will be the end of that weakness.

Well I am off to the club for game 7 of the club championships. It kind of sucks being undefeated. Every game I win makes me worry more about losing the next one. Just got to keep in mind that I do this for fun and have had an outstanding tournament.

phorku 6 - club 0

2007-10-16T20:54:00.000-05:00

Got paired against one of the lower rated players at the club. Total blowout in 15 moves. I was cautious during the game. I have played this person several times before and she plays far too aggressively. Occasionally wild play pays off so she has had a couple wins against me. One or 2 weeks to go and I guess I am guaranteed to come in first in my 'section' whatever that means.

Here is the game. I have the white pieces.

For ookwelbekendalsemc

2007-10-12T17:32:00.000-05:00

By your request here are games 4(Play for the center?) and 5. I am not going to post the other 3 since they are not really that interesting.

Update: Since I have won all my Parma CC games so far I have the winning side in each game ;-)
Oh, ok... I have black in 4 and white in 5.

phorku 5 - club 0

2007-10-11T13:39:00.000-05:00

Had another win at the club championships Tuesday. Pairings are all screwed up and I ended up playing someone I already played. It was a tough game Bishop's vs the French. Dumb I know but I have a lot of success with it. I get a passed pawn in the early middle game and did everything in my power to hang on to it looking for opportunities for good trades to get to a winning endgame.

There was a lot of pressure on both sides throughout the game and I used a new found general principle to stay alive. Trade off your opponents most active piece(s).

We ended up in an even rook and pawn endgame except I already had one protected passer. I manuevered my K and R to prevent any meaningful penetration. Spent mor time on the endgame than opening and middle combined. Anyway he couldn't defend against the passer and prevent my king from penetrating. I abandoned my passed pawn so I could eat up his kingside pawns and win the q race.

phorku 4 - club 0

2007-10-02T22:47:00.000-05:00

Won my 4th game in a row at the club championships. The pairings got messed up and originally they had me down to play the same guy I played last week. After the switch this week I won a hard fought game against a ~1514. This was my first 'real' game at the club. We usually play G30 and many members can't handle G90. This guy used about as much clock as I did. I was down an exchange after he forked my rook with a mating threat. I after I lost the exchange I set up a nice mating threat. I feel he moved his king to the wrong square. I penetrated and managed to get the exchange back and think I have a mating net in the middle of the board. Before I make my mating move he sees me counting off the escape squares. I move my rook to mate, hit the clock, write my move down and he casually takes my rook with his king. I say DUH! After all my hard work I throw my game away to looking at the pawns backward syndrome. Then I realize it is an illegal move and was just a joke. We bust out laughing. Most fun I have had at the club in a long time.

A Realistic Training Program

2007-09-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

I have come to the conclusion long ago that the MDLM program sucks as a complete chess training program. However it is a very important part of my training and very usefull for training tactics.

Let's make a simple comparison.

In all the martial arts schools I went to it all started out the same. You learn the basics of everything first. First you learn the rules. Then you learn stances and balance. Then punches kicks, blocks, locks and throws individually. Then you learn combinations (McMartail arts anyone? I'll have a combo #30 with a side of form 1). Then if you are lucky you start training in a freer form where you figure out how it all really works.

How effective would it be if i just trained punches and kicks with no footwork, balance, locks, blocks or defensive abilities? I am guessing not very (Just take a look at the Arts that teach to fight with one fist on your hip. It didn't take too many sore jaws later to learn to keep my fricken hands up).

Also you hear about comments from various knights and masters about the accumulation and application of chess knowledge. I know far more book knowledge than I can apply in my games. But what knowledge goes unused? Is it the basics or the advanced stuff? Well as you can surely guess it is the advanced stuff. I am coming up on my 2 year anniversary of chess training. The MDLM training (1st year) did little for me except show me that my tactics were weak and make them stronger. The thing is I was not losing that many games to tactics. Sure I missed some but you are likely playing opponents at your skill level who are missing them too. I became stronger at tactics but I wasn't winning that many more games. Why? Because my openings, positional and end game skills sucked. After I added that training in my rating really took off. Apparently tactical training does not help you learn these things as MDLM states. Like the comment he makes about about whether you are better off studying Kotov's book or setting up random positions and looking for tactics. Absurd!

Anyway some basic opening, positional and endgame study had greatly improved my game along with some advanced tactical study.

Here are my training recommendations:

Learn the basics.

Pandofini's books are excellent especially the kid's books. I bought several for my son and found the very valuable.

The Rules

Find them online or have someone teach them to you.

Mating Patterns

The Chess Kid's Book of Checkmate

Tactics

Basic pawn structure /Basic positional themes

Basic endgame study

Pandolfini's Endgame Course: Basic Endgame Concepts Explained by America's Leading Chess Teacher

Thought process / General Principles

Heres some stuff I may write about later:

Playing
Subconscious training
Analysis
Opening

Chess Study Hiatus

2007-09-30T12:47:00.000-05:00

I haven't seriously studied chess in months now. I have been spending some time learning some more practical knowledge. I am playing my best chess ever. When I return to study I will probably try some 'Solitare Chess' based on several others suggestions. With recent study getting extra weight in my analysis I am able to play better chess (for now). Plus it is more fun.

Having completed some 5000 tactical problems I would have to say the MDLM program is garbage for complete chess study. It is fine for tactical training which should comprise a fair chunk of your 'Total Training'.

I am 3-0 out at the club championships this year so far. The first game contained my favorite chess quote:
"I am going to try something" = I am going to try this unsound sac
Second game was tougher he wasn't using his clock though.
Third game was against a weaker opponent. Scando declined, early f6, exf6 and death down the F file. Gave him my N and R for Q and P with his N and R stuck on the Qside...

I am going to consider myself graduated when I hit 7000 problems or 400 points in any of my ratings.

I am also going to post my chess training draft and update it when I have something to update it with. No use in it being invisible.

Happy hunting!!

Cheater...

2007-08-19T07:36:00.000-05:00

vs

1-0
A fine miniature and a fine birthday present!

[16:51]DarkDouche: cheater
[16:51]phorku: bullshit
[16:52]phorku: what you cant see a mate in one how did you get 1290
[16:52]phorku: or 60
[16:52]phorku: you should be 800
[16:53]phorku: I play f7 attacks all the time. weakest square on the board. junior
[16:55]phorku: or check out my blog, 5000+ tactical problems
[16:55]phorku: maybe you should try it, http://chess.emrald.net
[17:02]DarkDouche: go, bother someone else pleas.
[17:02]phorku: whatever, learn some sportsmanship
[17:02]DarkDouche: kid, shut up.
[17:03]phorku: i'm 41 massengil
[17:03]DarkDouche: but behavin' like 13.
[17:03]phorku: no thats you
[17:03]DarkDouche: sure, think what u want.
[17:03]DarkDouche: but would you KINDLY shut up now?
[17:04]phorku: youre the one still talking, you have a projection problem

A Delicious Tactical Shot

2007-08-16T22:39:00.000-05:00

I have seen a bunch of these in my tactical training. This is the first one I have seen in a real game beyond 3 ply.

White to move:

Channelling Paul Morphy

2007-08-13T19:16:00.000-05:00

So I am playing this blitz game and the lights start flickering and the UPS starts beeping. Then it stops. Then music starts playing out of nowhere. It startles me and I realize that it is just the funky Sony hardware that turns on after every power outage... but the music, scary music in D minor. I don't own anything like that.

Then I realize that all the power is off but my computer is still working... and the smell... it smells like sulpher. This voice starts coming out of my computer speakers. "8 Nxe5!!" The voice is so strong I can see the exclamation points.

Me: But that drops my Queen!
Voice: Trust me the initiative will be ample compensation.
Voice: I didn't order the chicken soup I order the gumbo!
Me: WTF, how crazy am I hallucinating a hallucinating voice.

Tick...Tick...Tick
My clock is getting lower while I listen to the voice argue with himself.

Voice: Come on! afterwards we'll go have a shot and a friendly game on Bourbon street.
Me: WTF who is this? There's no bourbon street in Cleveburg that I know of.
Voice: It's your old buddy Paul I will move for you.

The scary music ends and the star warz theme starts up. And I am flying the x wing. Here comes the exhaust port.

Obi and Paul: USE THE FORCE LUKE!

Click...
The x wing disappears. I just clicked on e5...

Welcome to hell teammate

2007-08-01T22:21:00.000-05:00

I want to give a special welcome to AllegroKnight my teammate on the OCL U1600 Kastled Kings.

Chess jones

2007-08-01T22:16:00.000-05:00

The FICS server is down. WTF, where am I going to get my fix at? Just one game please... I'll never ask again... Just one more fix...

Tagged...

2007-07-16T15:57:00.000-05:00

I was looking for some smart ass comment to make about being tagged a couple days ago when I came across the tagged website and got distracted by some interesting videos. Anyway...

1. How long have you been playing chess? Have you played it consistently since you started, or were there lulls in your play? How did these lulls affect your performance?

I learned the rules when I was 8. I played off and on for fun till about 27. I started playing a college friend regularly in 95 (28) on FICS as well as others. I was just playing for fun in the beginning but started getting my ass whooped on a regular basis. It was like magic, I couldn't understand it. I went to the book store and browsed some books and came home with a tactics book. My play increased dramatically but then leveled off. I started playing in the FICS teamleague and one season my team did not play and my captain did not tell me. So I begged onto the De LaMaza team and accepted the condition that I start this blog and do the tactical training.

2. Aside from playing games, what is your primary mode of training?

Well rounded training. I would like to get a coach at some point. I have a draft of a mostly completed training post that will come sooner or later.

3. What is the single most helpful method of improvement that you have ever used?

1. Heisman's chess cafe article on real chess (just lost a game the other day because I played flip coin chess on 1 move).

2. Study the basics of things first then work deeper in a well rounded program. Concentrate on your weaknesses.

4. What is your favorite opening to play as white? As black against e4? As black against d4?

Who cares if everyone know what openings I play. I play on FICS. A quick look through my history will likely show you:

Bishops / Vienna
Scandinavian 2...Nf6

QID / English D / Dutch D

Halasz Gambit Sicilian Variation
Trying out the Rossolimo

I have also played the Scotch (may revisit) and have interest in checking out the King's Gambit.

5. Who are your favorite chess players and why?

I don't know too much about them. I have studied some games of Kasparov and am studying some games of Tal.

Morphy - what more needs to be said.
Steinitz - tactical master turned positional player (me a tactical player turning positional)
Pandolfini and Heisman - great educators.
Bobby - the personality not the player - interesting and entertaining.
Susan Polgar - if she would come to Cleveland and open a chess center (where are all the women chess players here?) and stop polluting the blogosphere.

Most of the Knights for their entertaining and educational blogs.

6. What is your favorite chess book?

The Tao of Chess. A bunch of simple concepts ready for incorporation into play.

I will probably have a different favorite when I get better.

7. What book would you recommend for a friend who knows only the rules of chess?

1. Heisman's real chess article.

2. Pandolfin's weapons of chess.

8. Do you play in in-person tournaments? What is your favorite tournament experience?

Yes. I don't have a favorite experience. I am not overly excited by playing a bunch of mostly old men, men with poor hygiene, men with poor social skills (yeah that's me), men with mental illnesses or some combination of the above. Oh, yeah i forgot about kids that show up sometimes too...

I did manage to make a new friend though which was the initial purpose of going to the club.

9. Please give us a link to what you consider your best two blog posts.

My currently unposted training post and this one.

Or maybe this one.

10. What proportion of total chess time should be spent studying openings for someone at your level?

For me and anyone below my level you should have 1-3 openings (/complexes) that you understand the basic idea of and can reach a playable middle / endgame with.

I brush up on lines as people take advantage of my opening weaknesses.

What's really fun is when you are at the club and your opponent has set up the board with the numbers and letters reversed and you end up playing the old Benoni instead of the Dutch ;-)

Dutch Defense you are it!

Pawn play in the middle game...

2007-07-05T21:18:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I have been studying chess a bit and keep coming across this minority attack thing. I understand it but not when to use it. I have played a couple thousand chess games and never consciously used it once.

However, I discovered the majority attack. In several games I have mounted a fierce attack and my opponent has mounted an adequate defense. Most the pieces are tied up and I usually lose. Why? Because I can't come up with a plan.

So the 1657 I beat this weak has been reading the Soltis Pawn structure book and told me after he beat me last time he was a defensive player. I had white and like always I play the Bishops / Vienna (King's gambit is calling) and mount a king side attack on his fianchettoed, castled king. He adequately defends as I expected. He had a doubled f pawn and I had the Q side / center majority. My attack has fizzled and I need a new plan. I decide to leave the pressure on the king side while I try to advance and create a passed pawn on the queen side to give him something else to worry about and prepare for the end game. He mounts a king side pawn storm and inadvertently drops his B when he captures a pawn with the B's defending pawn.

Passed pawn and Piece advantage in hand I went on to win the endgame.

So now perhaps I have an Idea of when to try a minority attack.

Psychological play at the Club

2007-07-05T21:10:00.000-05:00

I beat a 1657 in a G30 game woohoo! What was funny was my round 2 opponent tells me after "you know you just beat a high rated player?". He was already defeated at that point. I even told him I hope I have something left for you. My next 2 games were terrible. My game 2 opponent missed several of my blunders and let me get down to a won end game which I conveniently lost under time pressure. I should have lost the next game too against a beginner who wasn't missing my blunders. Luckily he made a beginner move and gave me his Q enprise. I should have bagged some more points for a new high too.

5000!

2007-07-02T21:59:00.000-05:00

New Highs

2007-07-02T16:57:00.000-05:00

FICS Blitz 1231 (solidly broke 1200)
USCF 1451

I have only played 2 FICS standard games since my last aggressive losing streak. I won the last one against a 1608. So I am currently underrated at 1526.

Tactics completed:
Since September 8th, 2005 I have completed over 4905 problems:
CT-Art Level 10 x 4 89% / 85% / 93% / 91%
CT-Art Level 20 x 2 + 54 76% / 78% / 80%
CT-Art Level 30 x 2 57% / 62%
CT-Art Level 40 x 1 56%
CTS 3299 / 77.8% / rating: 1291

Standard to Blitz Ratios

2007-07-02T16:46:00.000-05:00

I was wondering what is everyone's ratio of Standard / Blitz Games and Standard / Blitz Ratings? If you respond please provide the whole numbers not a reduced fraction or decimal and any relevant comments. Thanks.

phorku Fics 1058 / 785 - 1526 / 1231
Recently started playing a lot of 5 12 blitz because ratio is lopsided and to learn to think faster and play under time pressure. Just playing 30 30 or longer standard games did not produce enough game experience.

Look out Deep Junior...

2007-06-21T16:16:00.000-05:00

Theres a new chess playing machine.

Balanced Play / Planning

2007-05-29T16:09:00.000-05:00

I have recently suffered a playing slump. After a few successful and warranted ultra-aggressive games I started wanting every game to be like that and suffered a playing slump.

Luckily it mostly impacted my FICS blitz rating which I don't give a crap about. It is a good measure of my playing performance though. I have lost some other points to but they will come back.

Just to put it in perspective I lost about 120 blitz rating points in a couple weeks. I took a good hard look at my play and decided that the positional trade offs I was making for aggressive play were killing me. I gained it all back and more in a couple days.

It is so very interesting, this learning process. Not so long ago I was in the same situation only with material sacrifices.

I also need to continue work on my end game. In my last 45 45 game my opponent and observers were all whispering about the drawn game. I thought I had a win with my extra pawn... by time I realized it was a draw I played for the wrong kind. Being short on time I missed that he would end up with the opposition and I would not be able to get the rook pawn draw. I missed that we could have just ate each others pawns. I also failed to offer a draw. I never do... maybe I should get over it. Anyway it was horribly embarrasing.

Coincidentally just before this aggressive spurt I had a game where my opponent had so many positional weaknesses I thought I had an easy end game. His pawns were like swiss cheese. Well with his 2 rooks on the board plus at least one other piece he quickly got some counter play and whooped me good.

So now I am winning many of my games by planning or losing by planning poorly. If your opponent has any kind of counter play, decent development, or decent defense it is probably a bad idea to make positional sacrifices for an attack.

It is summer, the weather is nice and I am spending time on other hobbies so the posts will slow down as well as the training though it will not stop. I am trying desperately to get on a schedule and am shooting for quality instead of quantity.

2007 Parma Open

2007-04-26T15:55:00.000-05:00

I won 3 out of 4 games and tied for second. It should have been 4 out of 4 and tied for first I lost to some low rated kid. Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgh. They definately have the psychological advantage. I can't get up the same blood lust when I play them and then overestimate them. On top of this I couldn't get my head in the game. I tell the kid afterword he is the only one that beat me, and he says with wonder "How did you get 3 points?". I was ready to smack him; the question was how the hell did he beat me? Too bad he didn't make some smart ass comment before the game...

Anyway I had to force myself to play well in the second game and then the automatic thought process finally kicked in and I kicked ass.

Here are 2 of the games:

This one (new window) is probably my best combination in a game. It would be my best game but we both missed a tricky tactic (can you find it?). I also miss several mates in 4 - 8 while I am in clean up mode which I don't penalize myself for since you should simplify when ahead, and the object is not to necesarrily find the best move but any realizable plan. I attribute this game to learning the mating patterns and tactical training. Special thanks to Tak (My Hero), Nehza (Rook battering rams) and J'Adoube (Recent return to Art of Attack) for inspiring me back to aggressive play.

This one (new window) contains a true Bishop sac (declined) on f7. I am playing the Sicilian Halasz Gambit which is usually a rather slow gambit where I lock the center pawns and attack on the King Side. 99% of these games your opponent more or less naturally falls into the main line for the first several moves. This guy plays some unatural moves so I have to think about the opening for a change. I go out of the main line and get ahead in space, development and castled. He tempts me so I go for it.

Breaks good...

2007-04-23T17:03:00.000-05:00

Overtraining bad.

How many times have I learned this lesson?

Martial Arts:

Lateral Epicondylitis
Arthritis in hips
Bursitis in forearms
Arthritis in hands

Lifting:

Triceps tendonitis

Skating:

Achilles tedonitis

I have found in each of these things I overtrained in, if I was forced to stop for a short period, my skills would be at their peak when I return. Of course, continuous overtraining leads to bad things. Part of the reason why I would have the improvement is because my enjoyment of the activity would also be at its peak. Fun = Performance.

So I wonder if thats where those odd guys at the club come from... over training in chess?

Anyway check out my CTS graph:
The beginning part is drudgery of consitent training, then the peak of enjoyment, then the return of drudgery. Luckily my game performance does not seem to be linked to my CTS performance. Regularly working out on CTS has helped alot. I think I am going to start adding in the more difficult CT-Art problems to my training. I need to be able to calculate deeper as well as faster.

Perhaps I will slow down on the number of problems I do. I will hit the 7000 mark sooner or later. This goal is now trivial, I know I will get there over time, and it should not over shadow the real goal of chess improvement (and having fun).

307 Points in < 150 Days

2007-04-22T11:43:00.000-05:00

I have reached new high ratings in the USCF (1446) and on FICS (1608).

Since September 8th, 2005 I have completed over 4496 problems:
CT-Art Level 10 x 3 + 96 89% / 85% / 93% / 90%
CT-Art Level 20 x 2 76% / 78%
CT-Art Level 30 x 2 57% / 62%
CT-Art Level 40 x 1 56%
CTS 2948 / 77.6% / rating: 1331

Blue Devil and Tak...

2007-03-29T23:25:00.000-05:00

this one is for you. I was inspired by Blue Devil's don't pin the King's Knight before they have castled and Tak's castle late or never.

Eruption

2007-03-23T23:18:00.000-05:00

Basically my life erupted and I found myself homeless with my pets. I bounced around hotels for a couple of days then camped out with my mom for a couple till I got my new place. I moved my stuff in Saturday then Sunday another eruption.

Now unlike Nehza, I have applied my multi-ply thinking to my twitchy gut. I went out to dinner Saturday night with some friends and took my trusty Immodium with me. (I should get a marketing job there... Immodium - so you can fart with confidence!). So as soon as I felt that old familiar gurgle I took the 2 little green pills and didn't think about it again... till about 4am when I woke with a full stomach. So I start pacing back and forth to the bathroom waiting for the inevetable. So half an hour later my stomach is empty and that dreaded pain starts. 6 or 7 times before I have been sick like this. The pain builds and I have to barf to make it go away...on and on for 8 - 16 hours. Last time it was pancreatitis. So I called for a ride to the hospital where I spent my Sunday all messed up on narcotics and anti-emitics. One time I wake up and start puking in the garbage (bitch nurse wouldn't give me an emesis pan) while I start leaking out the other end, trapped in a fish bowl and tethered by my IV. I can't figure out where the call switch is and am trying to figure out how wipe with the paper towels and not my hospital gown all while caring in only the most disconnected way that everyone can see me...

So tactical training has been in the toilet along with my health and appetite. I managed to get a couple games in and should be back in full swing in a week or so.

You don't need that many blankets....

2007-03-08T22:45:00.000-05:00

to survive the Icelandic winter. Smothered Miniature...

4048 Problems completed

2007-02-13T01:26:00.000-05:00

Since September 8th, 2005 I have completed over 4048 problems:
CT-Art Level 10 x 3 + 96 89% / 85% / 93% / 90%
CT-Art Level 20 x 2 76% / 78%
CT-Art Level 30 x 2 57% / 62%
CT-Art Level 40 x 1 56%
CTS 2500 / 77.8% / rating: 1328

Dutch Indian loss...

2007-02-11T18:24:00.000-05:00

I blundered under time pressure in the U1900 OCL 60 15 R2. The opening seems fairly solid. I wonder why it is not played more. 10 e4 made the position more complicated than I could calulate. I also missed 11 ...Bb4.

Crafty can't be trusted

2007-01-29T17:34:00.000-05:00

Broke 1400 USCF

2007-01-29T15:30:00.000-05:00

I am now 1401 after the Cardinal Open.

2007 Kindergarten Open

2007-01-28T19:29:00.000-05:00

er... Cardinal Open rather. I played in it this weekend in the under 14 y/o section. er... under 1400 section rather. Boy there sure were a lot of kids there. I scored 4/5 and ~~I am not sure if I won anything yet~~ tied for second. I believe I won about $100 which means I played for free.

~~Here is the summary. I'll try to post the details later.~~

phorku Halasz Gambit Sicilian var - Sicilian 0-1

I lost due to a mental abberation. 11 Qe1 was my first choice move. I decided e2 was a better home. I make my sanity check and play Qe1. Duh! Then I make a horrible move next and end up with a choice between ugly, uglier and ugliest. Jettison the Bishop for a possible mating attack, Trade queens and hope I have enough left for a mating attack - he is going to castle out of it, or trade queens to a hopelessly lost endgame.

e4 - phorku Scandinavian 0-1

an uninteresting game where my opponent played for a mate in 1 when I had mate in 3 on the board

phorku Bishop's - French 1-0

I learn that I need to play harder when I am ahead. I was careful but totally missed my opponents chance to equalize. (No Crafty it is not 22 ... Qd3) Luckily my opponent had the complimenting disorder of getting frustrated when behind and missed his opportunity.
There is an interesting feature in this game. I call it artifacting. I screwed around going for simple mates instead of trading down right away. My opponent traded down for me and left me with an isolated pawn which would normally be weak. Look at the role it plays later in the game controlling vital center squares with the Bishop while the King mops up and protects the promotion square.

Queen's Pawn - phorku Dutch / Indian 0-1

A trial of my modified opening against a much weaker player.
Fun game.
Got way too cocky.
Start understanding how to take advantage of color complexes instead of being taken advantage by them.
A seemingly innocent patzer move (no this is not the stonewall that square is verboten) then a horrible move totally destroys my opponents position.

phorku Halasz Gambit Sicilian var - Sicilian 1-0

A fun game.
I penetrate his position like.... never mind.
I pass up calculating several mating attacks (or miscalculating as the case may be) and win material / simplify.
Opponent totally blew all my plans by castling long and had to get my head around a new game.
A subtle move tears open his postion.
Free Rook Lift. Thanks buddy. Crafty you don't have any sense sometimes, though you still humble me.

And the biggest thing I learned is Kramnik must drink a lot of Diet Pepsi ;-)

My first game was against a 10 y/o who was rated about the same as me. Due to losing the first round all my other oppenents were much weaker. Since I am not playing for money I will never play at the top of a section again, I will play up.

3555 Problems Completed

2007-01-23T23:11:00.000-05:00

I have passed the 2000 mark on CTS.

Since September 8th, 2005 I have completed over 3,555 problems:
CT-Art Level 10 x 3 + 96 89% / 85% / 93% / 90%
CT-Art Level 20 x 2 76% / 78%
CT-Art Level 30 x 2 57% / 62%
CT-Art Level 40 x 1 56%
CTS 2007 / 77.3% / rating: 1335

"T.H.I.E.F.S."

2007-01-23T18:48:00.000-05:00

A couple posts back I mentioned I had been trying to come up with an acronym(s) to aid in my thought process. I stumbled accross this page:

The Art And Craft of Planning in Chess

Dutch Defense with b6 Bb7

2007-01-23T18:02:00.000-05:00

I have been messing around with the Dutch but have found 2 things I really dont like. Here is the typical dutch set up (I never play g6 and try at all costs to avoid the stonewall with its weak square).
1. Queen side pieces are bottled up.
2. e6 pawn is weak.

Here is the structure I have been experimenting with. Sometimes I still play d6.

Does anyone have any information on this type of Dutch / Dutch Indian?

I found these 2 pages but little else.
Jacques Meises Dutch defence 1. d4 f5 2. g3 b6
Nimzo-Indian_Defence (check out Dutch Variation)

Over Protection Correction

2007-01-15T17:35:00.001-05:00

Mark Weeks from Belgium sent me this nice comment.

Just a note that your definition of over-protection ('denying your opponent tactical opportunities'), a Nimzovich term, is more like a definition of prophylaxis, another Nimzovich term. Over-protection is aiming your pieces at one of your own strong points, like a center square, and hoping that the combined action of those pieces will result in new opportunities. As you rightly point out, the idea behind prophylaxis is important, but the idea behind over-protection is something of a backwater.

It's also worth mentioning that 'denying your opponent tactical opportunities' could be stated 'denying your opponent *any* opportunities'. Many strong players -- Petrosian and Karpov come to mind -- were also expert at squelching both tactical *and* positional counterplay. - Mark

Interesting game

2007-01-12T20:32:00.000-05:00

Here is the game(new window) I was talking about in my previous post. I use a variety of tools to accomplish my goal.

Played the player and the board
Aggressive opening
Control dark squares
Gain space advantage
Gain pawn through tactics
Keep opponents dark bishop bad through much of the game
Trade down to endgame with space and pawn advantage
Advance Kingside pawns after Queen's are off the board
Centralize King for endgame
Maintain initiative through much of the game

The only thing that I did not do well is manage my time. The only good thing is my oppenent used nearly as much time as I did.

Repitition not required for pattern recognition...

2007-01-10T17:28:00.000-05:00

I have been reading Pandolfini's end game course and he has a positon similar to the one below except the queen is a rook. I was down to my last couple seconds in a time delay game. White has a number of options but I recognized the example instantly and moved Ke6 ;-) My opponent pushed his pawn and hit the clock. Can you see the next couple of moves?

Btw what is supposed to be the sequence for promoting a pawn at the club? Everyone pushes their pawn and hits the clock and both players usually scamble for the Queen. Can anyone tell me?

Anyway in this game he pushed hit the clock then I made my next move and hit the clock. He wanted his Queen and I told him it didn't matter. He saw instantly I was right and we played through to mate.

It was a very tough and interesting game. If I have time I will post the annotated portion later.

Past problem rears it's ugly head again

2007-01-07T16:39:00.000-05:00

Last year at the club I got really frustrated because I could not beat players in a G30 game that I could clearly outplay. I could get a winning position but would run out of time. If only I could think faster was all I could say. I solved that temporarily by playing a lot of 5 12 blitz and positional study helped me make decent moves quickly in non-tactical postitions. Tactical study and pattern recognition has definately played a part as well.

Now I am having a similar problem. I can play into a position where I have a lot of pressure on my opponent and it looks like I have an overwhelming attack but I cannot calculate to checkmate, advantage or quiet postion. So now I am trying to come up with some guidelines where a sacrifice or all out attack would be in my favor. Obviously there is no substitution for calcluation but I am lucky if I can 3 or 4 moves deep in a complicated postition.

So 'The art of Sacrifice' is sounding very interesting to me right now. Too bad I don't have it. Anyway I am trying to come up with some guidelines for when to start my attack when calculation fails.

I have a few to try out.
I am reading 'The Tao of Chess' right now. I think the book sucks as far as some of the examples they give. But it is good for me to come up with new ideas.

One idea I got from the book is a Queen and a Rook is enough to mate a King in the open. The examply sucked in the book and what exactly is 'in the open' and how many defender can be around? Ovioulsy these questions can not be answered easily. At lest the example does give some clue.

So this is how I will apply it. If I can trade down my attack to where I have a R and Q left with my opponent having 1 or less pawns left and 1 or less pieces to defend with then I will pursue my attack.

What I have come up with on my own is to count the number of pieces I have in the attack and the number of pieces he has in defense. If it is 1 greater then I should consider the next step of how many pieces can I easily bring into the attack and and how many piece can he easily bring to defense. And finally do either of us have any inactive pieces and then if things look favorable start an attack.

I am already very comfortable making a B sac on h6/3 (it makes me salivate when they put a little ear on their castled K) with the QB battery if I have some other piece to support bring into play etc. I have also learned the valuable lesson of leaving the the Q on h6/3 where King is one check away from mate. In the past I have foolishly moved my q to give check on the g file and allow his R to come into play. Sometimes that has been quite disasterous.

I would appreciate any other guidlines you guys use when deciding to attack.

Club Update

2007-01-02T23:26:00.000-05:00

I won 2 of 3 at the club on two Tuesday's ago and piced up another 40 points. Thats like 227 points in 34 days. I was the lowest rated player at the club due to the low attendance (and my class d rating). I think my rating is probably going to level off a bit now. I am having the same problems against the stronger players that I was having against the weaker players last year in these G30 games. I have to use a lot of my time to get into a winning position but often don't have enough time left to win. I have played a lot of 5 12 blitz over my break from the chess club to train myself to move faster / think faster. The 5 12 games are about half the time of our G30 games. Postitional training has helped alot too. I used to be stuck in quiet or closed positions trying to come up with good moves or a plan. No that I am not just looking for tactics the basic positional stuff really helps out. I also won 2 games due to pattern recognition. One was due to some endgame patterns and the other was due to a mating pattern. I was so short on time in these games that I would have lost if I had to figure it out at the board. That is one big advantage to blitz games. You can play more of them. Some experience is just do to repition. Correspondence play really helped with my endgame studies. Many of my correspondence games went to the end game and I learned many of the basics by studying the postions. The most valueable lesson I learned from the was oppositon and combining that with pawn moves to prevent the enemy king (or other pieces from penetrating my postion).

I got 1 win out of 3 at the club last week playing against one player rated about the same as me and 2 that were higher. This week I won one sloppy game against a lower rated player. Had a won game against another lower rated player and blundered on time. I lost the 3rd game because of touch move. I was looking at (B)d3 and reached down and grabbed my king by accident. I did not pick it up and there is not a player at the club that would make such a retarded move. I looked my oppenent in the eye and he says "touch move". Well I have a new goal now. Now I don't care about my rating as much as the chance to play him again.

Squares update

2006-12-21T22:15:00.000-05:00

J' adoube and I have been having a discussion on squares. I did find one training CD Alexander Bangiev: Squares Strategy, Vol. 1. I forgot to mention it in the comments.

Super Subconscious Training Program

2006-12-16T23:15:00.000-05:00

Now you too can take part in my Super Subconscious Training Programtm. Just read the last couple entries on my blog and buy my soon to be available Everyman Chess title "Super Rapid Chess Improvement". With stringent following of my program, starting or joining an internet chess cult to worship me and the purchase of my book you too can be a GM in just 12 months. That's right with a gain of 187 points per month you will be a GM on no time.

My early progress and one man example should be plenty of proof for you to dive headfirst into my training program. Any failure is surely due to your inability to follow the program. So order now!

Seriously folks, I have had a huge rating improvment this month. I am not sure what to attribute it to. Obviously some facet or facets of my training program is working or has kicked in. I am not sure what it is. I am suspecting it is the tactical training the night before my chess nights. Perhaps time will tell.

Timothy de la Flory

LQQking at Squares

2006-12-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

In a recent post I made a comment about GM's and looking at squares. J' adoube made this comment:

As for GM's looking at squares, what they are doing is looking at combinations of moves - they are looking at where pieces will end up.

I believe this is exactly the opposite of what was meant. It is surely the opposite of what I meant. Everybody calculates and we are not talking absolutes. What I was talking about and what I believe the saying was talking about was looking at squares.

There are 3 ways I look at squares. The first way is the obvious way that all tactical players look at. That is piling pieces on weak squares, creating focal points for attack and all that.

The second way is pretty obvious also when you look at mating nets.

The third way is more subtle and a different way of thinking. It is related to improving the position of your worst piece and other strategic themes.

This is how I look at it. There are 64 squares. When I do not see a tactical combination I start looking focal points for attack, the center and the empty squares. I look at which ones I control and which ones he controls. I try to pile on the focal points or the center squares. Then I start looking at uncontrolled squares. Can I put a piece on there or take control over it. Where can his pieces move and how many of those squares can I take away. One square I keep an eye on is the g6 square. When I play white Bc4 is usually move 2 (oh how I love the Itialian diagonal). h6 frees this square for occupation or if Black moves his g pawn there look out.

When I first started thinking about it I was trying to come up with an algorithm or study plan to figure out best piece placement to cover a majority of squares. Now I just run with the Idea.

---------------

Blue Devil, the bike analogy is a great one and that is what has started happening to me. I am not concentrating on pedaling and steering anymore I am now planning the route to where I want to go. My subconscious is doing the pedaling now.

Why tactical training alone hasn't worked for me....

2006-12-14T20:08:00.000-05:00

I stumbled across this web page that explains it better than I could. It is a very interesting read. This statement pretty much sums it up for me:

"Here is my hypothesis: My friend and I are both afflicted with the same problem, Forcing The Issue. We have spent so much effort learning tactics from setup positions, that once we are in a real game, we try to apply our lessons to positions that don't warrant it. Subconsciously, we believe that every position has some stunning combination in it that will allow us to win. When we look for it, if it's not there (most often the case), we try to force one, causing a lost game.

"Studying tactics in setup positions is a VERY necessary part of learning chess, but, knowing when to apply tactical knowledge is, at this point in my education, to me even more important. My friend's opponent instinctively makes "better" moves because my friend is making weaker moves, and so am I. Given a setup position, he would most likely find the solution much faster than his opponent. In a general position, we would both likely find a combination that wasn't there." -- Gene THOMPSON, The Search for Great ChessPart V, Chess Scene

I also wanted to comment on another thing Nezha said. He was talking about all he could get was a 1 point positional advantage based on computer analysis and was not able to take advantage of it. Positional advantages lead to tactical advantages. Basically this comes in 2 flavors. Over protection (denying your opponent tactical opportunities) and space. I have never engaged in over protection(hard for me to grasp the concept with the way I like to play). I have learned about space. I read about it in some of Silman's books but it was never clear what to do with it when I got it. When I first tried to take advantage of space I thought that space advantage should be pushed....constricted as Silman says. I have learned though that the advantage of space is 2 fold. First there is the practical side. Space yeilds out posts in your enemy territory and restricts your opponents area to play. As your opponent runs out of squares tactics appear. Or perhaps you can get your opponents pieces isolated from the King where you can launch your attack. Somewhere I read that GMs think about squares instead of pieces. I had a long think on this and am starting to use it in my games. It has been very enlightening for me. The second advantage of space is the psychological pressure. In one of my recent games I had space and had been making a series of direct and tactical threats. I threatened his queen and he had one move to make to avoid losing material. He cracked under the pressure (told me after the game) and moved his queen enprise for my knight.

I found this page when I accidentally found this training guide.

Nezha...

2006-12-13T00:45:00.000-05:00

Your blog is very interesting to me. It is interesting to see someone who started on the positional path. It explains why you don't understand some of the Knight's discovery of positional play. I still don't understand how to take advantage of light / dark squares very well. I have been beaten by it many times thought (Cruin with the English on the white squares). Why did you pick those books in the beginning? When I started to get serious about chess I went to the bookstore to find a book. I was already an aggressive attacking player, just
like I am in the martial arts, ping pong, risk, work and ...... life. I ended up picking a tactics book for my first chess book.

You talk a lot about people's nature and abilities. Some people are aggressive and some aren't, some athletic, some intelligent, some musically talented... and so on. This is true but, many talented people never develop their talent due to lack of drive or other reasons. When I was young I was not athletic or musically inclined. I did have some artistic talent and was intelligent. Like all people I was lazy. I wanted to be a commercial artist and I drew all the time. One year in school I sat across from this kid who made my drawings look like stick figures. I was so demoralized I gave up. Years later I joined the Army. It made a man out of me. It made me strong and gave me discipline. I learned I could be athletic. Not like most people but more than I thought. I was surprised what I could do even when I didn't want to. One day I thought what if I took all this discipline and applied it something I was interested in....

So after I got out of the Army I decided to quit smoking and lose my newly put on fat. So I searched around for a decent martial arts school. I had previously dabbled as a child and young adult and been humiliated in the Army. I found my first real school (Phillipine Institute of Martial Arts. Thanks Tony Marcial for the wonderful gift.) I was the best at the school at 2 different times. Completely unbelievable for me who had always been made fun of. I totally supassed my expectations and then went on to surpass them again at another school.

So my point is much can be accomplished with determination and practice. If you want to play like Nezha (never knew who he was before today) then you need to see if you have aggressiveness in you and practice aggressive play. Pick an opening that leads to open games or flank play on the King side (The King,The King,The King....it is what I think about most). Can I get to his before he gets to mine? Can I get to his before he eats through me queen side pawns and starts on my pieces? I will accept this doubled pawn for a half open f file. If you want to play aggressive sometimes you have to take postional risks. Try playing some unrated
games and try some new things. Who knows what will happen?

Clubbing them at the Club

2006-12-13T00:39:00.000-05:00

I scored 3 out of 3 tonight for the first time. Took first place and won $12. I destroyed my opponents tactically. 100 problems on Monday night seems to be doing me a world of good. I will probably need to start achieving my 200 problems per week shortly to improve more. I expect that after the ratings come out I will have improved just under 100 points over the last year. Not quite 400 points in 400 days but I have not studied as much as the program calls for. Perfectly acceptable for me though.

Thought Process

2006-12-06T17:57:00.000-05:00

Something has happened to my thought process. I don't know about you but I have 2 minds, the weak one that I have control over and the strong one that I don't. The weak one I tell to figure out this problem and if it is easy enough it figures it out. The strong one runs in the background somewhere and I have no idea how it works. Long after the weak one has given up the strong one will wake me up in the middle of a day dream or in the middle of the night and say here is the answer stupid. It also interupts me with inane thoughts.

Anyway I can access the strong part of my mind at certain times. It is hard at work when I sleep, drive or take a shower. So on Monday before I go to bed I have been doing 100 CTS problems. I seem sharper on Tuesdays now and tactics sometimes spring off the board. The other time I can access my strong mind is when I am in the 'ZONE' There is the code zone(programming), ping - pong zone, martial arts zone, guitar zone, and now there is the chess zone.

I used to have a conscious thought process. Are Q and K on the same color / diagonal / rank file. I was trying to come up with an acronym to go through all the tactics. I rarely think about those things any more. Now most things are done automatically. Check for tactics (yes calculate) , look for positional opportunities, come up with a plan and move.

I expect that I should see a fair rating increase since I am making the transition from concentrating on the basics to concentrating on the bigger picture and the basics become second nature.

Cleaning Up at the Club

2006-12-06T17:44:00.000-05:00

Last year I got frustrated at the club I got frustrated after a couple months. I got sick of being beaten by players that I could out play at longer time controls. So I went home, licked my wounds, started playing a lot of 5 12 games and studied my tactics and other aspects of the game.

I have 5.5 (corrected from 7.5) points out of 9 games over the last 3 weeks. I hope to break out of the patzer quad soon. I have been totally destroying my opponents in my won games. One of my losses I was up 2 pieces and got greedy/made a bad plan to try to pick up the Queen. I miscalculated and my King got stuck in the middle and I got mated by an attack on both flanks.

2360 down 4640 to go

2006-12-04T19:12:00.000-05:00

Update:

I updated my sidebar.

I have updated my training routine to:

Monday: 100 CTS problems
Tuesday: Chess Club
Sunday: 45 5 mamer on FICS
Try to get 100 additional problems per week.
Positional / Endgame /Strategic / Opening study when stranded with a book. Currently reading Pandofini's endgame course.
Periodic review of chessgames database
Review of select games with Crafty

Since September 8th, 2005 I have completed over 2,360 problems:
CT-Art Level 10 x 3 + 96 89% / 85% / 93% / 90%
CT-Art Level 20 x 2 76% / 78%
CT-Art Level 30 x 2 57% / 62%
CT-Art Level 40 x 1 56%
CTS 812 / 75.6% /rating: 1322

My rating has not improved as much as I had liked and I am still missing simple tactics in my games. I have not been playing any standard games (unless you call G30 club standard) since the demise of the 45 45. I will start playing in the 45 5 mamer to get my standard games in. It will be interesting to see what happens to my rating after the long break from longer games.

Nezha is correct that tactics are the most important part of training and you can go far with studying just tactics. I don't think anyone disputes that. There are more sides to chess than just tactics though. Why should I be able to calculate a mate in 6 (rarely occurs) when I am deficient at my end game and positional play? End games occur more often as I get better and positional play helps when their are no tactics that I see and need a plan. It also tempers my aggressiveness, makes me more patient and helps me place my pieces in better positions which often leads to tactics.

In several games recently I have taken a couple of moves to create an outpost for one of my pieces that turned into a later tactical opportunity. Tak also discredits the postional game. What happens when your attack runs out? Tak also calls on the disciple Vukovic and his bible. But even Vokovic says prophylaxis is sometimes necessary. On page 296 there is an example which has the annotation "First White thouroughly eliminates the possibility of Black's playing b5".

Yes tactics are important but why not have some skills where you can restrict your opponent's play or convert to an easily won endgame?

Weak master moves....

2006-11-03T21:45:00.000-05:00

When I was perusing the Boylston Chess Blog I came across this game BCC Champ Rd. 6: Chase-Rihel 0-1.

Chase,C (2292) - Rihel,J (1953) [B82]
BCC Championship (6), 16.09.2006

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 e6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.Nf3 Qc7 9.a4 Nc6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qe2 Rd8 12.Kh1 b6 13.e5 Nd7 14.exd6 Bxd6 15.Ne4 Bf8 16.Neg5 g6 17.Nxf7 Re8 18.f5 gxf5 19.Bxf5 Nf6 20.Bd3 Qxf7 21.Ng5 Qe7 22.Bd2 Bg7 23.Bc3 e5 24.Bc4+ Kh8 25.Nf7+ Kg8 26.Ng5+ Kh8 27.Rxf6 Bxf6 28.Nf7+ Kg7 29.Qh5 Be6 30.Qh6+ Kxf7 31.Qxh7+ Kf8 0-1

I was shocked at Chase's move in this position. I like Be3 or 0-0. Crafty likes Ng5. a4? a4? I can't see what the point of that move is. I never would have considered it in this position. Anyone have a clue?

What I was trying to say....

2006-11-03T17:36:00.000-05:00

Steinitz says much better. I have been studying my tactics like all the Knights. Not as much as some, more than others. My ratings have improved some, but not as much as I had hoped. Every increase in tactical ability has to be tempered by cautious play. My tactical play is definately stronger so why hasn't my rating supported it?

Steinitz has the accumulation theory:
Each advantage, no matter how small, is important becuase a few small advantages added together can mean a winning postion.

Pandolfini explains it well too:
Play positional chess. Seize the opend diagonals with your bishops. Induce weaknesses in your oppenents camp, then use them to launch an invasion. The weight of your accumulated advantages will be too much for your opponent to bear.

These statements basically describe why my play has not been improving much. Rather than making the best move I often play the most aggressive move or moves that are likely to lead to tactical combinations.

When I learned how to play chess I took the tactical path by accident. I am aggressive so maybe it was by nature. Any first I learned how the pieces moved and I thought I could play. I played into my adult life never knowing about tactics or positional chess. When my interest turned serious in college and I started playing on FICS and playing friends I got tired of losing. The combinations were like magic. So I went to the bookstore and browsed the chess books. I found one that was easy to read and interesting and happened to be some book on basic tactics tactics. So I stopped hanging so many pieces, stopped being a victim of cheap tactics and got stronger with discovered attacks, mates and forks. So then I started playing to set up cheap tactics and started winning more games. So I continued on in this fashion buying books on attacking and aggressive chess play and openings. My play continued to improve but then peaked. I discovered the Knights and joined thinking that I would really be a great chess player if I mastered these tactics. But I have discovered just as the cheap tactics stopped working so do the more complicated ones when you play better players. They generally do not give you the same opportunities. So once again I experienced being beaten by magic.... I could not get any tactics going and even had trouble developing my pieces into aggressive postions.... heh, or sometimes at all. Some games I would get constricted and some games there would be this annoying piece that I could not get rid of.

Most of the tactics in my games are in the 10 - 30 level range in CT-Art. Rarely is there a mate/combination in 6 or 10. So what good is it if I can solve all the CT-Art problems? So my plan is to continue tactical study on the Chess tactics server, it serves me the problems I am ready for and continue working the 10-30 problems on CT-Art while I bone up on some positional chess. When I start losing games because I missed 4 or more move combinations then I will work on building my tactical muscle some more.

Current Training

2006-10-26T17:57:00.000-05:00

Well as we all have discovered there is more to chess than tactical training. I have noticed that when I study tactics only my play gets more wild. Allow a Knight to invade a weak square on the queen side? Who cares, I will just point another piece at his King and I will beat him with a nice tactical combination. Well in the mean time he is taking away squares from my attacking pieces and invading my position. Eventually I cannot hold my position together anymore and it becomes a race to see wether he can eat up my army before I get to his King.

I always though positional chess was BORING. I thought it was a 'style' of play. So and so's a positional player. Well I have come to realize that I will have to be well rounded to improve my play. Some of my biggest gains were after studying positional books. Maybe MDLM was naturally a strong postitional player and needed tactics to round him out. When I study positional chess I play slower, consider my opponents counter play more, make preventative moves and generally play where I have the advantage rather than going on a king hunt.

So I have been studying Weapons of Chess (thanks J'adoube) while finishing up some other books, studying some variations of the Dutch Defense and Practicing my tactics on the chess tactics server.

I have also mostly collected my fics game reports (500) into a database of games. I have been using SCID to review them. I have already learned that several things I believed to be true are false.
Among the misoconceptions are:
1. I mostly win against the Sicilian.
2. I mostly lose against the French.
3. The frequency and effectiveness of Bxf7 sacrifices (or at least with the way I play).

I see that the Chessbase reader comes with some limited tools as well. I guess I need some more tools to do a decent analysis. Right now what I am looking for is a tool that will:

Annotate games and add ECO codes
Sort games on opening, postion, (un)rated, blitz/standard, and other criteria
Blunder check games (Positional and Tactical)
Provide ratings graphs and graphs of a game as in the MDLM book

I would like to get a set of tactical problems from my own games.

More to come later. Better hit publish post before I get dropped from some more blogs........

Scando Declined 2...d4 3. Nd5 opening trap

2006-10-20T18:20:00.000-05:00

Here is a game I won at the club recently. I win a lot of knights and games this way. I could have played c6 on move 5 and still won the knight. Here is the game (new window). Oddly enough she had the book opening traps and zaps in her pile of chess stuff. I wonder if it is in there.

Highest Rated Win Ever (I think)...NOT

2006-10-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

I believe the person I beat Tuesday night at the club was rated 1841. I play the Halasz gambit Sicilian variation. Since I mostly lose against the Scicilian (SCID tells me so. More on that later.) I figure I might as well have fun while I am at it. Anyway I won and here is the game (new window).

Update:

Bummer. I found out Ram is Ramachandra not Ramesh and is an unrated, unregistered player. This makes at least 2 players in the last couple tournaments that have not registered. How annoying. Now it will take forever to get my ratings.

Still Alive Out Here

2006-10-19T20:35:00.000-05:00

I am still alive out here training and dealing with a busy schedule. Work has been killing me and there is lots of family drama going on. I have a couple of posts to make yet that are back logged and will do that this week.

Big Winner!!

2006-08-30T19:52:00.000-05:00

Went to the chess club yesterday and won 2 out my 3 games. My last game we were playing 25m with a 5s delay. I sacked a Bishop for 2 pawns and a raging attack. I was really beggining to tear him up when I got short on my clock. My flag feel just as I was finishing him off.

So I was very happy with my play after many losses the last couple times I was at the club. I was sitting there enjoying enjoying the moment when the TD comes up and says "Here.". I look up and his is holding out $6. I say "Huh?". The TD tells me I tied for first. So minus the $5 entry fee I won a whole $1.

I have learned some new lessons as well. There is book learning and then there is understanding. I have always read about and some times played for the center and putting rooks on open files. I never really fully understood the importance of it till lately. I always liked the attacking game as I am pretty sure about 90% of the Knights do. I play openings that usually involve taking space and attacking on the king side. It is amazing how many players will castle short anyway. Anyway I would usually play on the flank trying to go for the kill. I have learned that supporting the center aids in these attacks and often allows for attacks from both sides of the board. Doubled rooks on open or half open files in the center are great for this. Plus it often restricts your opponents movement. Seems obvious but now it is more than just a memorized lesson.

Recent Activities

2006-08-28T16:43:00.000-05:00

Well it has been a while since I posted. I have been pretty busy lately. I started my new job on June 19th. I wear 2 hats; database administrator and developer. The company has had explosive growth and is pretty short handed. I work in a mostly new IT department and the entire network is going to be mostly rebuilt. I have been working some extra hours trying to get things in order and make a good impression.

When I get busy I usually slack off on my blogging first. I have been studying a variety of material. Some mentioned in my last post. I got the chess base CDs for the bishop's/Vienna and the Dutch Leningrad. The Dutch CD seems at first glance to be all for the g6 variation that I never play. I guess I picked the wrong Dutch CD. Oh well maybe there is some good stuff in there. The bishop's/Vienna CD I like alot. There are some lines in there not covered in my books that give the opening a whole new flavor. I am starting to really enjoy it. I make less mistakes in the opening now and spend less time calculating book lines. It is not so much that I have memorized the lines but understand some of the concepts better. I also understand some of the trickier lines now as well.

I took a break from tactical study for a few weeks while studying some of this material. I am still surprised how fast your tactical muscle gets flabby. I have been studying my tactics on the CTS as well. If I get some more free time I will update my tactics stats.

I lost all my 45 45 games and my team did not do well. I am not disappointed though. I put the team together at the last minute and just wanted to play. I played pretty well, not making any gross blunders except under time pressure. I got beaten by chessbridge, a blind 17 year old twice. My family finds endless pleasure razzing me about that. I also tried to play in the 90 30 but the players were really bad about scheduling their games. My standard rating is down to 1577. I have been playing a lot of blitz lately. I will start going back to the club starting tomorrow in preparation for the club championships. These are G90 games that I enjoy. I don't like the G30 games much at all.

Here are 2 recent games I lost.
Game 1(new window)
Game 2(new window)

Rating is out of control...

2006-07-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

I just won another 2 games on FICS recently. My rating is now 1677, another all time high. I won a game against one of my favorite opponents Cruin. I challenged him as black and he obliged me as always with the English. I played pretty well although we both missed a mate in 2 after a short string of forcing moves which he made. So really I missed a mate in 5 or 6 and he missed a mate in 2.

I have been playing most of my games as black to practice my new d4 defence. But most players play e4 so I have been getting lots of practice on my Scandinavian game. Today my opponent played into the Icelandic gambit my favorite of all openings. Most players will not play into it so I am not an expert at it yet. This game (new window) was short and sweet. My skill has definately improved but I still think I am over rated. I miss Bg4 on the move before I play it.

I haven't been working any tactics lately. It has contributed to my recent success lately but I have also been studying a lot. Believe it or not I have several Eric Schiller books. Even though most people hate him you can learn a lot from his books. I generally choose wordy chess books because I often read them in waiting rooms and other places... Then I can often pick up things without having a board set up. I learned the Scandinavian/Icelandic from his gambit opening book for black. I am not a good memorizer so I don't care if he covers every line. 2 of the last 3 books I have read are 'Learn from Garry Kasparov's Greatest Games' and 'Encyclopedia of Chess Wisdom'. Some holes in my chess knowledge seem to be getting filled. I used to run into time trouble trying to evaluate a position or come up with a plan. I am having a lot less trouble in that area now. I also look at weak squares now. I used to be really good at identifying them. They were the squares where your opponent put his pieces where you couldn't chase them away or they caused you immense pain. Now I sometimes see them ahead of time.

First 45 45 U1800 team

2006-07-03T17:41:00.000-05:00

I am fielding my first 45 45 team this FICS tournament. I am looking forward to some scheduled games. The team name came from the song 'One Night in Bangkok' (linkII).

Everything but Yul Brynner
InsaneManiac
2052

pollock
1825

evgenionegin
1705

phorku
1608

JayGosh
1597
Average:1797.5

I also registered in the 90 30 mamer tournament on FICS. Where my first opponent had registered by accident. I have been playing some blitz games lately both unrated and rated. Mostly as black. Trying to get my new d4 defence in order.

Rated beyond my ability...

2006-06-22T20:18:00.000-05:00

I am up to 1630 FICS now due to a win against a provisional player. I have finished CT-ART levels 20 & 30 2 times, level 10 3 times and level 40 1 time. Recently I have been taking a break from tactics to learn a new black opening vs 1 d4. Any d4 players want to play a 30 30 (rated or not) game on FICS?

I was also pondering if it was the seven circles that made MDLM so successful or the fact that he had so much time to put into it. No doubt working these tactics problems are making me a better player but so are the other studies I am doing.

Pomeranch Captain where you at!

2006-06-22T20:13:00.000-05:00

I posted a comment on Roman's blog and sent him an email about this tournament 31 (FICS team league). I have not received a reply. I am looking for a team to play on in 1600 or 1800. Is 'Checkmate you are dead!' going to have a team this time? Is anyone interested in forming a team? Let me know.

1600 At Last!

2006-05-29T23:07:00.000-05:00

I finally achieved my 2+ year goal of breaking 1600. I am now 1608 thanks to a tough win (new window) against twinders. The tactical training is definately helping. Once again the half open g file against his king comes into play.

Thanks Celtic Death for the nice comment on my MFalme game.

Wild 45 45 Win - New FICS High Rating!!

2006-05-16T22:31:00.000-05:00

I won my game (new window) against MFalme. It was a completely wild game. Prevented MFalme from castling on the king side and snatched a pawn early in the game. Fell behind in development. Then I got my knight on the king side stuck in its original position and had to give the pawn back. I dropped my knight in a blunder where I thought I was phorking his queen and king. His king was in the middle of the board. I decided to go for broke and open the middle up. I was threatening a skewer, double phork and a single phork. He played the wrong move and I picked up a bishop and a rook. Then he allowed me to pick up a pawn, force a queen trade, and put me in a won position. I have an all time high rating of 1596, now just 4 points from that ever elusive 1600 goal.

A fun game

2006-05-14T20:53:00.000-05:00

Here is a fun game (new window) I played on FICS. This is the first game I looked for a stalemate when I was just a little down instead of waiting till I was in a hopelessly lost position. After I lost the exchange I was thinking about a perpetual check with my queen. As it turns out I won the game.

team league draw

2006-04-29T21:43:00.000-05:00

I should have won my game(new window) against Seberg but ended up taking a draw in a won position. I was doing really well in my game until the interuptions started. My girl friend's uncle stopped in unexpectedly and the dog started going wild. I lost several minutes from that and worse lost my concentration. I ended up being short on time and was unaware Celtic Death was losing his game so I took draw by repetition. I was in the zone till the disruptions started.

Status

2006-04-28T11:36:00.000-05:00

So far I am 1-1 for T30 in the FICS 45 45. In my first game I dropped a knight in the opening, regained a piece later on then played into an end game I could not figure out how to win. In my second game I won due to a mouse slip. It was an interesting game that I would have liked to finish. Here is a link(new window) to the game with comments from Josh and me if you haven't seen it already.

My girl friend went on night shift so now I have some free time in the evenings and don't have to go home at lunch to let the dog out. I did most of my blogging on my lunch hour so I should be able to make more posts. I need to come up with a plan for completing my circles. Unfortunately I still have not found a new job so that is still taking up some of my time.

Still plugging away

2006-04-09T20:35:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a while since I posted. I am still plugging away at CT-Art. I have been working through the level 30 problems a second time. Things have calmed down a little allowing me some time to spend on chess.

In my correspondence games I am 9-0 and am in the middle of 5 games. I will likely have my first loss in my game vs Dutch Defense. One of the games I am playing is a Fischer Random game and it is pretty enjoyable. The opening phase is pretty tough though.

I am still looking for another job. I can't believe how long it is taking. Some jobs I am not interested in after interviewing. Some have not offered enough salary and some can't make up their mind if they really want to hire someone. I am considering taking a long term contract because I am really frustrated at work and have been really busy.

Some schedule changes at the house will probably free up more time for chess in the near future.

Recently I have read on some blogs the MDLM was unemployed during his 7 circles. I was wondering if those in the Hall of Fame followed the schedule exactly. If not, what is required by the Knights to get into the Hall of Fame?

I will try to update my blog with my progress and the side bar this week.

Something interesting happened last night. My girlfriend and I fell asleep on the couch and I woke up in the middle of the night because one of the tortoises was making a grunting noise. I thought "Oh no! Here comes another midnight visit to the animal hospital." I looked over and 2 of them were doing the nasty. Now we have to try to figure out what the gestation period is and how to prepare the habitat so the female will lay eggs. The bottom we thought was a male all this time.... I wonder if they are dumb like rabbits and will hump anything. Guess time will tell.

Update from the zoo...

2006-02-19T14:53:00.000-05:00

Things have been pretty busy lately. I am still looking for a new job and things have been very busy at work requiring me to work extra hours. I also wrecked my car and got a new one. My girlfriend also got 2 sulcata ("African Spurred") tortoises and a puppy. So altogether we have 3 cats a dog, 2 tortoises, and a dwarf hamster plus kids. So between job interviews and testing, looking for a new car and taking care of the animals I have been really busy and have not had as much time to spend on chess as I would like.

I finished the level 20 problems a second time and have started on a second round of level 30 problems.

My 45 45 games went OK this tourney with one win, 3 draws and 2 losses during the regular play and I lost my playoff game. The only game I was disappointed in was my playoff game where I had played into a significant advantage but did not analyse the position correctly. More tactical training and time on my clock would have helped. After I missed my initial advantage Crafty still had the game about even but through additional poor play (and missing an enprise bishop under sever time pressure) I lost the game.

In my correspondence play I am 8-0 so far with 4 wins vs Matthew, 2 vs Josh and 1 vs ChessSmith, who is one of Josh's buddies on ChessWorld. I in the middle of 4 other games vs Josh, Matthew, DutchDefense and ChessSmith. I am trying out some new openings in some of these games. These games also cut into my tactical training time but still have value.

I am hoping things will settle down soon so I can make a commitment to start the circles for real.

Drew game 3 (45 45)

2006-01-10T00:20:00.000-05:00

I accepted a draw in round 3(new window). I was up a passed pawn and queens were still on the board but down on my clock against a stronger opponent. I was starting to get nervous and after the game saw that my current plans had fatal flaws. He offered me a draw with 13+ minutes on his clock and I had a little more than 3. I missed a tactic that would have let me get an exchange (26...Rb2). Hopefully we won't forfeit on board 1 and can still win the round.

I won my 4th correspondence game with Matt and started 3 new games with Matt, DutchDefence and DreadPirateJosh. I will probably win my game with Josh. Still trying to figure out how to apply my chess knowledge in less time. I still play blitz on my lunch hour when I don't have anything going on. My blitz rating is going up but it hasn't translated to thinking faster yet.

Update

2006-01-01T14:30:00.000-05:00

Forgot to mention that the horrible moves at the end of the game vs sixkiller were due to time shortage.
-----------

I have been pretty busy lately with the holidays and all. I have not been studying my tactical problems as much as I would like but still am spending a fair amount of time on my chess studies. I have also been hanging out some with a new chess buddy, Matthew Bennett. We have been playing some correspondence games and I am undefeated so far 3-0. In shorter games we are about even in wins. I like correspondence because I have all the time in the world to consider tactics and strategy. Amazing how you can still miss things though. If anyone else wants to play some let me know. I played a G45 4 round swiss tournament and lost 3 of my 4 games. I should have won 2 but blundered trying not to get behind in time and got checkmated. I need to learn how to apply my chess knowledge in less time.

In one of the knights tourneys I played CelticDeath (game/new window) I thought I played well till I evaluated my game with Crafty. I had been playing too aggressively and decided to work on playing a safer game. I won a piece early on then missed several mates in 1 trying to regroup my pieces as Silman says you are supposed to do when you gain an advantage. Just goes to show there are no absolute rules in chess.

So far I am 0-2 for this 45 45 tourney. In my first game(new window) vs twinders I played pretty well considering he totally dismantled me the last time we played. I had a drawn position but could not figure out how to get it with the time left on my clock. Roman showed me how to convert a bishop's pawn to a rook pawn to get the draw. In my second game(new window) I played ok, taking too long on a couple moves where it would have been more advantageous to just make a decision. I took a long time deciding on what side to castle and could really have used that time later in the game. I missed a subtle tactical strike also 33... Bxc5.

I have also finished my level 40 problems some time ago but haven't had time to blog about it. I am currently working the level 20 problems a second time and plan to start my 7 circles for real when I finish those.

Lost another 3 games at the club...

2005-11-22T11:50:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday I lost all my G30 games at the club. It was not as bad as 2 weeks ago though. I had the advantage in all 3 of my games but could not convert it to a win in the time I had left. I have been playing a more conservative game lately, trying to make moves to improve my position instead of always attacking. In one game the advantage shifted back and forth.

Since I have a problem with running out of time I have started playing 1 or 2 blitz games at lunch to improve my thinking speed. Also this will allow me to play more games and get more experience in different kinds of positions.

I have also started playing some e-mail correspondence games with one of the guys at the club and try to get 1 or 2 standard games in a week.

My tactical studies have slowed some. Last weekend the weather was very nice so I got out and enjoyed it. Also my girlfriend shut down my computer with CT-Art running so I had to redo about 50 level 40 problems.

I will skip the club tonight and work on my tactics and perhaps get another standard game in.

I have also been looking through my Bishop's opening book learning more on how certain positions should be played.

I also found a new PGN viewer that I like much better than the old one and stayed up way to late playing with it, trying to figure out how to add the rotate board check box to it.

Here are a couple fun unannotated games I played recently:
1. A tough win against the BDG. Game(new window)
2. A blitz draw against a much stronger opponent. I had a winning position but let him get away with repitition. Game(new window)

Taking a beating

2005-11-14T12:16:00.000-05:00

The games at the club went back to G30 last week and I lost all 3 games. These games are really short for me and do not seem like proper chess. They are probably good practice for me though as I often have time trouble in my 30 30 and 45 45 games. One player in my quad was obviously a better player than the rest of us since he won all three of his games plus all his games at the last tournament. I also lost 2 games on FICS and my internet connection went down on a 3rd lost game. I haven't done much tactical training either compared to the last couple months. I finally finished moving into the girl friend's and cleaning my apartment. What a chore especially since cleaning takes a back seat to work kids and hobbies. I thought one of my losses this weekend was respectable until I reviewed it with Crafty. My opponent and I both missed a mate in 1 (against me) 2 moves in a row.

One big flaw in my playing is that I only know how to attack. I attack prematurely or when preventative measures would be more appropriate. Sometimes I miss taking some pawn's because I am focused on his king. One thing I have noticed with CT-Art is that most of the tactics are checkmate or attacks on major/minor pieces. I rarely see any problems that gain a pawn unless it is close to queening.

One thing that I disagree in MDLM's program is that he says positional and end game study are unnecessary. I really think I could benefit from some positional study especially in these short games where I could be improving my position and perhaps saving some time. I noticed that I often am extended more than my opponents making it easier for them to pick up pieces.

Sorry team

2005-11-05T12:11:00.000-05:00

Lost my playoff game vs kosu. Made 2 mistakes one minor and one that lost the game. Didn't see that 13. ...Kh8 dropped a pawn. Then 20. ...Qh4 trying to pick up a pawn drops my N with a rook phork. Here is the unannotated game(new window).

Does anyone know what happened with Lliamah's game?

Sorry Folks

2005-11-04T09:53:00.000-05:00

If you use an RSS FeedReader I would like to apologize for re-editting one of my posts a bunch of times. I was having problems with my sidebar going to the bottom of the page and blogger help suggested one of my posts was too wide. I ended up picking a new template to fix the problem. Why? because Internet Explorer is a piece of crap. Why did they ever incorporate this collection of bugs into the Windows OS? Guess they needed to do it to reach their bug quota. Ever notice how if you open 10-15 browsers your system will become unresponsive? Telnet offers a better internet experience than this POS. That is why I use FireFox at home. Apparently MicroSloth will destroy thier products with extra 'features' after they run out of useful improvements to make. Windows seemed to peak with Win2k. I could have done without the rounded corners in XP and all the extra clicking I have to do to that aggravates my repetitve stress syndromes. I would rather have had the bugs and security holes fixed rather than these new annoying features. I'd like to take that office paperclip and make spit to roast the stupid search dog on. What a of time and money not to mention the code bloat.

Won wild game at the club

2005-10-25T22:57:00.000-05:00

FLORY, TIMOTHY J (1290P14) - KRYSH, LISA(888)1-0
Won my game(new window) at the club. My opponent was overly aggressive but I was under a lot of pressure with my K stuck in the middle. Crafty is much braver than I am. I thought I was in a lot of trouble but after analysis it wasn't that bad. I hate playing lower rated players.

Won my 45 45 game

2005-10-23T22:29:00.000-05:00

Won my 45 45 game(new window) today. Threw away 2 easy wins to play into a drawn position. Luckily my opponents end game skills were worse than mine. If anyone wants to recommend some sources of end game study I would appreciate it.

Our team goes to the finals!
This is also my best 45 45 tourney yet with 4 wins 2 losses.

Scando Dec / Nimzo Def win at the club

2005-10-19T22:44:00.000-05:00

Won my game(new window) at the club Tuesday. My opponent declined to take my d5 pawn and played e5 instead. I decided to transpose into the Nimzowitsch Defense like I used to play and won after a tense game. My recent losses on FICS were motivation not to make any dumb moves in this game. My opponent did not really surprise me with any moves and I only made one mistake that did not effect the outcome of the game.

BENNETT, MATTHEW N (1251P6) v FLORY, TIMOTHY J (1290P14)
0-1

In a slump

2005-10-17T19:34:00.000-05:00

Have been playing poorly lately. Lost a game to moving too quickly during the opening phase and one due to a miscaculation. I think my all time high rating on FICS were inflated as I got it playing 45 45 games were I was matched against weaker opponents. One problem with this tactical training is I have not been playing that many games and my mental discipline is suffering. Plus I was always trying to play stronger players when I would get games on my own. After I complete circle 0.3 I will probably go into the full 7 circles. I should have more time since my move to my girlfriend's house will be completed and winter will be here. Also the G90 games end after next Tuesday and the club will go back to G30 quads. I won't feel too bad if I miss some club night quads to complete the circles. I have a feeling the circles will not improve my rating too much till I start playing more games on a regular basis. I also feel that these tactical training programs would be more beneficial if there were postions with no tactical strikes and you had to recognize them. I also think this tactical training inflames my over aggressiveness. I am ready to get the circles over with so I can mix more play in with my tactical training. Oh well back to CT-ART.

Sorry team

2005-10-13T16:57:00.000-05:00

twinders v phorku 1-0
Got my self into a bit of trouble then dug myself in deeper trying to get out.

[17:35]phorku: nice
[17:35]twinders: Good game *handshake*
[17:36]twinders: made me work for that one.
[17:36]phorku: didnt seem like it to me
[17:36]twinders: LOL

Scandinavian Declined / Nimzowitsch Defence

2005-10-12T18:44:00.000-05:00

Last night at the club I played the Scandinavian like I always do against e4. My opponent declined to capture my pawn and advanced his e pawn. This is the line that I hate the most. I used to play Nc6 instead of c5 in this line because I was learning the opening. I have played c5 a couple of times now and played it last night at the club. I don't really like it since it opens up the Q side and it is difficult to get the K side pieces out to castle. I was looking through the chess database on the chessbase site and discovered that Nc6 transposes into the Nimzowitsch Defence. Since my book did not cover this I was under the impression I was making a mistake. I plan on sticking with Nc6 in future games. Instead of buying another dry opening book I will probably pick up one of the versions of Chessbase 9. This hobby is getting quite expensive.

Greedy pawn snatcher loses at the club...

2005-10-11T23:11:00.000-05:00

Lost my game at the club. Got greedy and snatched a pawn with out taking enough time for my move. Ended up dropping a piece and my opponent played carefully and finished me off.
AYOKUNLE ADESINA (1061) v FLORY, TIMOTHY J (1290P14) 1-0

Redback Makes Me Work For The Win

2005-10-10T14:13:00.000-05:00

I won my R4 45 45 game(new window) this week. It was a tough game and I had a lot of uncertainty on how the position(s) should be played. Like J'adoube says it is often difficult to come up with a plan when there are no tactical shots or King attack. I felt like I played poorly making several calculation errors. Luckily none were fatal. After the game my opponent was complaining about how much time I used and he finished with more time on his clock than he started with. Actually we were still playing when he started his evaluation and I had to prompt him to finish the game first. I like it when my opponents hurry. It is one of my main weapons to bore my opponent to death. If everyone took their time I would be rated much lower.

I am 3-1 for my teamchess games so far and next week I play on board 1. Hopefully I will not disappoint the team.

I was really stumped at several points in the game trying to come up with a plan so if anyone wants to offer any insight or tips I would be grateful.

Smothered at the Club

2005-10-06T20:20:00.000-05:00

I got mated by a smothered mate at the club Tuesday. Here(new window) is the annotated game.

FLORY, TIMOTHY J (1290P14) vs ADAMS, LOUIS W (1738)

2005-10-02T23:09:00.000-05:00

Lost my 45 45 game vs Wook. I had some distractions during the beginning of the game and had to take my time not to blunder. I played pretty well till the end. It was a very frustrating game and could not seem to get anything going. I would not be so upset about losing except for the massive 19 point loss on my rating and the loss of a game point for my team. We are still up 2:1 though so hopefully we will still win the round. Here is the game(new window) unannotated.

2005-09-29T09:43:00.000-05:00

Here is my club game(new window) from Tuesday night. This may be the strongest opponent I have beaten yet.
JEDACEK JR, WILLIAM J (1681) vs FLORY, TIMOTHY J (1290p14) 0-1

2005-09-28T07:40:00.000-05:00

I have been playing the best chess of my life lately. The MDLM program has been working wonders for me even though I have not done that many problems. I learned a lot about my weaknesses from doing my tactical training and already feel stronger. It is a chore to do it though. I thought I had peaked in my chess ability since I was unable to achieve last years goal of maintaining (or even reaching) 1600 FICS. I am now just 5 points away after 2-3 months of tactical training and I feel like I should be able to maintain that average.

I won my club game last night against a 1600 player. It was a very tough game and I believe I beat him on a psychological level before beating him on the board. I will post the annotated game after I have a chance to evaluate my play.

I was really kind of pissed off last FICS 45 45 tourney that after playing for the Patchworks team for several tournaments when they did not submit a team (or let me know) and I had to beg some other captains to let me join. I was lucky to get on the Pomaranch 1600 and DLM 1800 teams. If not for that I may have never started the tactical training. Funny how things work out.

I thought all this blogging would be a waste of time but I have learned a lot from going over my games and reading other's blogs. Some of the comments people have left me have helped out a lot too.

2005-09-28T07:36:00.000-05:00

Here is my annotated 45 45 game(new window) from Saturday.
phorku v novolook 1-0

2005-09-24T09:57:00.000-05:00

Yeah! Another DLM1600 win and all time high rating of 1595 on FICS. Annotated game to be posted later.

2005-09-23T11:17:00.000-05:00

Here (new window) is my loss from the club Tuesday. Before my tactical error I thought my position wasn't that great but Crafty said it was about even. I felt I played ok, only a couple minor errors instead of gross errors like leaving pieces enprise. I was really hoping to beat Ludvik and last weeks opponent. Oh well.

FLORY, TIMOTHY J (1290P14) vs BARTA, LUDVIK (1635) 0-1

2005-09-21T21:51:00.000-05:00

I won my first round in the FICS 45 45 against redback and achieved an all time high rating of 1584. You can view the game here( new window). I used some of my new tactical ability to play into the endgame. I have some basic endgame skills and felt confident I could win it. I had a respectable loss at the club on Tuesday will post about that later. It has been a busy week.