Well, why not start posting my chess games on here. This one doesn't need much commentary. Opponent makes mistake on the opening, I take advantage and hold the advantage winning on time.


[WhiteElo "1448"]
[BlackElo "1439"]
[Time "15:00"]
[TimeControl "15 min"]

1. d4 b6 2. Nf3 Bb7 3. g3 h6 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. d5 Nb4 6. c4 c6 7. a3 Na6 8. Nc3 cxd5 9. cxd5 b5 10. Nxb5 Qa5+ 11. Nc3 Bxd5 12. Qxd5 Qxd5 13. Nxd5 e6 14. Nf4 Nf6 15. Ne5 d5 16. O-O Bd6 17. Nc6 O-O 18. b4 Rfc8 19. b5 Nc5 20. Be3 a6 21. Bxc5 Bxc5 22. a4 Rc7 23. Nd3 Bd4 24. Nxd4 axb5 25. Nxb5 Rc4 26. a5 Rc2 27. e3 Ne4 28. Bxe4 dxe4 29. Ne5 Rb2 30. Nd6 Ra7 31. Nxe4 f5 32. Nd6 Ra6 33. Nec4 Rc2 34. Rfd1 Kf8 35. Kf1 Ke7 36. Nc8+ Kf6 37. Rdc1 1-0

Overconfidence problems, attack and counterattack

Chess improvement is enjoyable, eerily too enjoyable too me. At best chess is enriching and challenging, at its worst I am no more no less than a kid who goes home from school and plays video games all day. The paradox I can't get find a solution to is this: for the amount of time I've spent at chess I'm rather good, but objectively speaking I have nothing near thea bility of a professional and very likely never will.

When I loose a game I can feel grumpy, stupid, and have a sort of mental pain, when I win a game there is a feeling of real strength. That feeling is nice. My win/loss ratio is about 50/50 ... at this level of chess I'm playing at (1400-1500) victory is often determined either by exploiting blunders or whoever goes into the match with more energy and motivation to win - couldn't that be said for chess at any level though?

My games get better, at least the games when I'm in a sharp mental state. My strategy for chess improvement is tactical improvement, which means looking at tactical puzzles and solving them. Solving the same problem in 30 seconds compared to 90 seconds is a huge improvement, I think ... speed of calculation matters. I play games at 15, 20, or 30 minutes for each side ... and the 30 minute games I definitely have the freedom to play better moves. How can I put it for the possible readers of this chess blog that are much better than me? A 10 minute game must be what a 1 minute game is to expert class or strong tournament player. The fast games are fun but consumptive and probably don't do much to improve chess ability. Feels like I improve most when I have a lengthy time to think, when I make my move with a certainty that it is a good decision, solid reasons behind the moves.

Here is a game I played on chesscube, 30 minutes each, my rating 1417, my opponents 1469 ... well matched opponnents. Purpose here is not so much to show off or boast but to provide an interesting inside to readers how my mind works at chess at this level of ability. I am white, opponent black.


1. d4 d5

At this level of play kings pawn openings are far more common. Advantage of queens pawn openings is that opponents are less comfortable with them. All else being equal I do feel like I play better chess accumulating positional advantages than making an aggressive attack - but I have started to play kings gambit!


2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3

Queens gambit accepted, rather comfortable with this oppening though I like to play QGD much more.


b5

A bad move. I've exploited the error succesfully in several games before and gain confidence I can make a winning position from his mistake.

4. a4 b4 5. e4 e6 6. Bxc4

Is there a better move than to take the pawn back immediately? Qc2 or Nd2 perhaps? Feeling crude, but perhaps playing correctly (?) I take the pawn back and breathe a sigh of relief having (at least) equalized correctly.


6. ... a5 7. O-O Nf6 8. Bg5

Very confident in the position at this point. Opponent is behind in development and I think of attacking the pinned Knight.

8. ... h6

Decision time. 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10 e5 leaves me with iniative and control of the center. This would have been better than the decision I made to retreat the bishop. If opponent attacks bishop with g5 then the king has no pawn safety if it castles on either side ... and if he doesn't advance to attack bishop the pin is maintained and I can attack the pinned piece with e5. ... Typical mistake I made here that must occur at all levels, instead of moving based on a concrete calculation I make decisions or more abstract judgement.



9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nxe4

Ouch. That nf6 attacked the e4 pawn never came to my mind! Regular mistake, not taking time to think of opponents plans. Down a center pawn now I begin fearing I have just lost the game. Stronger player than I would have understood in a flash that the knight attacked the e pawn.


11. Be5 f6 12. Qc2

Feeling desparate in the following moves, I try to create a difficult position. A good plan I believe, if in a losing position try to create a difficult position where opponent has more reasonable chance of making mistake.

12 ... Nxf2


My opponenent perhaps afflicted with the most human overconfidence captures pawn, and probably expects I'll capture back, then he'll take my bishop and come out ahead in material ... but checking queen allows gain of tempo and attack

13. Qg6+ Kd7

14. Qf7+ Better would have been Bf6 attacking the queen, Ne5+


Kc6 15. Bb5+ Kb7 16. Rc1? fxe5

Adding a new attacker, but allowing opponent to remove another, much better would have been to attack queen with Bf7


17. Nxe5 Qe7

Probably seeing no concrete continuation black hopes to exchange queens - the general principle being attacks on the king usually fail without the queen


18. Qf3+ c6

Which is best to continue attack? Also possible to be satisfied with gain in material by taking the Knight or winning the exchange, but dissolving attack and back to "normal" play with difficulty activating queenside rook.

19. Bxc6+ Nxc6 20. Qxc6+ Ka7 21. Ng6 ?

Perhaps overconfident and relaxed I satisfy myself winning a questionable exchange - giving my opponent huge counterattack. Hasn't my opponent been thinking all this time about a counterattack if he had the chance? Much better would have been Qb5 and Nc6 continuing the attack and leading to material gain.


Qf6 22. Nxh8 Qxd4 23. Qc7+ Bb7 24. Qc2?

Computer analyses shows this gives opponent forced mate. Was blind to the simple check and capture on a5

Nd3+ 25. Kh1 Nxc1 26. Qxc1 Qxh8


With Black ahead in material, unable to activate the rook and back rank problem I am accepting that I am going to loose this game. Checking merely hoping something might come up.

27. Qe3+ Kb8 28. Ra2 Opponenet has no easy victory from the position


Bd5 29. Qb6+ Kc8 30. b3 Rb8?

Again, overconfidence probably explains move like this, blind to how it enables me to activate my rook.


31. Rc2+ I have a forced mate suddenly

Kd7 32. Rc7+ Kd8 33. Qxb8# 1-0

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 b5 4. a4 b4 5. e4 e6 6. Bxc4 a5 7. O-O Nf6 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nxe4 11. Be5 f6 12. Qc2 Nxf2 13. Qg6+ Kd7 14. Qf7+ Kc6 15. Bb5+ Kb7 16. Rc1 fxe5 17. Nxe5 Qe7 18. Qf3+ c6 19. Bxc6+ Nxc6 20. Qxc6+ Ka7 21. Ng6 Qf6 22. Nxh8 Qxd4 23. Qc7+ Bb7 24. Qc2 Nd3+ 25. Kh1 Nxc1 26. Qxc1 Qxh8
27. Qe3+ Kb8 28. Ra2 Bd5 29. Qb6+ Kc8 30. b3 Rb8 31. Rc2+ Kd7 32. Rc7+ Kd8 33. Qxb8# 1-0

Improvement

[Time "15:00"]
[TimeControl "15 min"]

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. c3 c4 5. Ngf3 Nf6 6. e5 Ne4 7. b3 Nxc3 8. Qc2 Nb5 9. bxc4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 a6 11. Bxb5+ axb5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Qb2 Ra5 14. Nb3 Ba3 15. Qd2 Ra4 16. Bxa3 Rxa3 17. Qb2 Ra4 18. Nc5 Nxd4 19. Nxa4 Nxf3+ 20. gxf3 Qg5+ 21. Kh1 Qf4 22. Qxb5+ Bd7 23. Qxb7 Ke7 24. Nb6 Rd8 25. Rad1 Qxe5 26. Nxd7 Qa5 27. Nb8+ Ke8 28. Nc6 Qa8 29. Rxd8+ Qxd8 30. Nxd8 Kxd8 31. Rd1+ Ke8 32. Rc1 Kd8 33. Rc8# 1-0

Fun

[Event "ChessCube Game"]
[Site "www.chesscube.com"]
[Date "2010.07.04"]
[Round "-"]
[White "alkansonata@chesscube.com"]
[Black "flagosm@chesscube.com"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1392"]
[BlackElo "1362"]
[ECO "D06"]
[Time "15:00"]
[TimeControl "15 min"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Bf5 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. Qa4+ c6 5. Qxc4 e6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. e4 Bg6 8. Bd3 Nf6 9. Bg5 O-O 10. O-O h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. a4 Qd7 13. a5 Rd8 14. Ne2 e5 15. dxe5 Bxe5 16. Nxe5 Qe6 17. Qxe6 fxe6 18. Nf4 Rxd3 19. Nexd3 Bxe4 20. Ne5 g5 21. Nxe6 Na6 22. Rfd1 Kh7 23. Rd7+ Kg8 24. Rg7+ Kh8 25. Nf7# 1-0

Competetive Chess and Coffeeshop Chess

A few months playing chess on chesscube I've reached a rating of 1449 - sometimes gets a little higher, sometimes lower - feels nice to know the number is an accurate measurement of ability. Can assume also that it'd be pretty similar to an official rating (maybe that'd be 1425 or 1375 or 1475 is beside the point). A player at 1550 in good form I can play competetively on a good day, not much higher than that. 1300-1400's I beat consistentlyl and unless something is pathetic in me a 1200-1300 isn't going to stand a chance.

The challenge for me at this level is more of mindset than knowledge, having a mind to calmly see variations ... not rushing to make a move. Result of which my play is rather slow indeed and often I must bore my competitors to bits - but I don't care, it's all for the win, it's all for the improvement. Improving calculating ability is the main correllate with improvement ... and analyzing the games afterwards.

I grow less and less fond of coffeeshop chess mainly because I am not very good at it. Haven't I just written about this? I know. I'll start up a game with guys I like, I know I am the stronger player and my chess ability is a leap above theirs. I'll go into the game with an overconfidence which my motivated opponents of course are quick to exploit. Playing without the clock is unpleasant, unless risking a pompous asshole it just isn't possible to stare at the board for five minutes until the correct path appears in my mind. Unlike when I am playing in my smelly somewhat disorganized room I am too attuned to the social environ (and often am playing a chess game when that isn't what I want to do). Like poor Waitzkin I can be thinking more about how I look than what chess I am playing - whether I even realize it or not! The positions aren't very interesting because I can't think about them in the solitude I like to, sometimes moves that appear rather interesting to my opponents, but maybe knowing more about chess than them I see how error-ridden the positions are. Can't underestimate my opponents, their minds are probably more geared to chess than I - I who never played any sport until chess, who had to wait until late twenties to develop a competetive sportsmanlike attitude. The fantasy of being such an overwhelmingly strong player to crush casual opponents without having to think is that, at least until I'm able to improve another 100-200 rating points. Definitely no ability at speed chess of any sort - my mind can pull together the right moves, or reasonable moves, but it takes time, precious precious time.

Beginning To Attack

Honestly Chess terrifies me sometimes. When I was 16 I got addicted to Ultima Online and played it as much as I could, hardly ever doing anything else, for like a year of my life. I'm afraid the poet in me is receding and I'm becoming a chess zombie. Eh, at least I'm getting better at chess. I'm studying the King's Gambit. I've had a chance to play it in two competetive games. Game one I make a basic Kings Gambit Blunder, the most archetypical opening disaster there can be ... game two goes better and I am able to put together an attack, and a victory after my opponent blunders.


1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bc5 5. d4 Bb4 6. Bxf4 O-O 7. Ng5 d6 8. Qf3 Nc6 9. Rd1 Bg4 10. Qg3 Bxd1 11. Bc4 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 d5 13. Bxd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bh5 15. Qd3 g6 16. dxc6 Qe7+ 17. Be3 Rae8 18. Kd2 b6 19. h3 f5 20. Rf1 f4 21. Rxf4 Qxg5 22. Rxf8+ Rxf8 23. Bxg5 1-0

Understanding Grandmaster Chess ... Understanding Middlegames

After writing on here a little while ago about how unpragmatic studying grandmaster chess games are to chess improvement I ignored what I wrote (my mind wasn't in the best condition, so I assigned it this less weighty task) and started studying grandmaster chess games with Nunn's "Understanding Chess." This book is as much a gem as a gem can be, takes the mystery out of how chess is played at the highest level. The more chess literature I read the easier it is for me. Took about a week to go through all the games in the "middle game themes" section, sometimes my understanding much lucid than other times ... I'm planning to read through the book more than a few times in my life of course, and this is just the first one. Of course I cannot understanding the variations, or even conceive of most of them at this point ... but I found that if I focused my mind and took the necessary time I could see the variations occur on my chessboard without having to move the pieces.

The main reward so far is acheiving a much deeper understanding of the end-game. For anyone reading who doesn't know it works like this - you stop thinking like "what move am I going to make next" and start thinking (1) what plan am I going to formulate next and will this plan work or will this plan fail. ... and you continue to do that again and again." Your opponent makes moves and you also think "why did he move this, what is his plan?" ... I've had to play chess for about a year to be able to do this! Not that I wasn't aware of the neccessity before, but I simply hadn't built enough chess into my brain to be able to do it with cognitive efficiency.

Which part of chess to study, the opening, middlegame, or end-game. I've seen many good arguments about emphasizing end-game study, but to meet it seems logical (almost obvious) that the middle-game is the most important to study ... because in most chess games the endgame takes up the most time and neccesitates the largest amount of brute thought (at the level of play where I am at at least, for experts, class A players, masters etc this may not be as true and endgames could have their grater importance, I couldn't say.) And of course, middlegame is strategy, tactics, position, sacrifices, etc etc ... anyway I'm happy to have improved my middlegame and want to show you two games I played and won today with the black pieces. ... compared to the games I was playing and showing on here a few months ago I think you'd be impressed with the improvement in my skill level - let's be modest: chess is a virus that has infected my mind but I enjoy the challenge of it more than Sudoku


1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. Ng5 O-O 7. Nc3 Na5 8. Nd5 Nxc4 9. Nxf6+ Qxf6 10. dxc4 a6 11. Qh5 h6 12. Nf3 b5 13. cxb5 axb5 14. c3 b4 15. cxb4 Bxb4 16. a3 Ba5 17. Qh4 Qxh4 18. Nxh4 Bb7 19. Nf5 Bxe4 20. Ne7+ Kh7 21. g4 Rae8 22. Nf5 Bxf5 23. gxf5 g6 24. fxg6+ fxg6 25. f4 e4 26. b4 Bb6+ 27. Kg2 d5 28. a4 c5 29. a5 Ba7 30. bxc5 Bxc5 31. Rb1 Rb8 32. Bd2 Rxb1 33. Rxb1 e3 34. Bc3 g5 35. Rb7+ Kg6 36. Rg7+ Kf5 37. fxg5 hxg5 38. Kg3 d4 39. Be1 d3 40. h4 gxh4+ 41. Kxh4 Bd6 42. Rg5+ Ke4 43. Rg4+ Rf4 44. Bg3 Rxg4+ 45. Kxg4 Bxg3 46. Kxg3 d2 47. a6 d1=Q 48. a7 Qa1 49. a8=Q+ Qxa8 0-1

*

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Ne5 Nbd7 5. Bb5 c6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. Qf3 O-O 8. Bd2 Qb6 9. b3 Qc7 10. Bc3 a6 11. g4 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nxg4 13. h4 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bxe5 15. h5 Bxa1 16. hxg6 fxg6 17. Qg2 Bf5 18. e4 dxe4 19. Bc4+ e6 20. c3 b5 21. Rh2 Qxh2 22. Qxh2 bxc4 23. bxc4 Rab8 24. Na3 Bxc3+ 25. Kf1 Bb4 26. Nc2 Bc3 27. Na3 Rb2 28. Qg3 Bb4 29. Kg2 Rxa2 30. Qb3 Bh3+ 31. Kxh3 Rf3+ 32. Kh4 Rxb3 0-1