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wrecking_ball 29-Apr-14, 16:45	Joveyboy and others.... A long time ago when I was going to the Manhattan Chess Club(now closed),I became friends with one of the members that was always playing fast and large number of games.Even though the clock settings were not set for blitz,he still played with that style.He explained that(in his mind),he figured that playing more games with more opponents and different opening styles would more than compensate for his quicker play and give him a better well rounded experience. I went on to explain to him,about slowing down and analyzing deeper,ect ect.Again he disagreed and continued to play fast.Over time,I watched his progress,not as a mentor,but just kept an eye on him.I noticed his win/loss/draw progress over 2 years.Bottom line was that it stayed the same...his rating basically flatlined at around 1500,never going up much,never going down much. He continued to play that way(fast)until most of the players that he was friends with began to "graduate"to higher rating levels and began to beat him every game.They moved on to higher level tournaments as such.His losses with some of his friends (that were improving at a faster rate than him) were beginning to affect him psychologically a bit,to a point where he thought he would give up chess entirely.Sure,he could find a few other 1400-1500 rated players here and there,but not as many and all his friends were now playing in different chess circles. I told him once again,John slow the hell down in your play!Gave him a few books,showed him a few tricks with some openings he kind of avoided and he did indeed slow down after seeing that some of the English Symmetrical and Trompowski openings kind of forced him to slow down and think a bit more. He progressed.He slowed down and began to improve and get stronger.His one win against a 2000 rated player clenched it.Joe,you were right he said!Now,he started playing only a small amount of games at the club and only a small amount of postal games through the USCF(as I was doing at the time).I watched a few of his 2 hour games where he timed-out a few times but was ahead in material.Later he began to improve even more with less time-outs.But the key here is that he indeed did slow down and did indeed improve his strength.Over the next year and a half his rating climbed from 1500 to 1850!A huge improvement indeed. His motivator?Winning more games!!!!!!!!!!! So he finally admitted to me that slowing down AND playing less games...not only improved his play but motivated him to study more.That year,I gave him his first MC0 book (MC0-12) still written in descriptive notation back in those days.John began to study and experiment with the subvariations and footnotes in that book.He was taking the time to study and stayed at the pace I had told him to be at.He met up with his old friends again that had "graduated" to the 2000-2100 levels and began to defeat a good number of those players! He was now excited and jubilant.He played even less games,took up a mentor at the club,attending chess seminars and began to advance in positional strategy.Later we all moved over to the Marshall Chess club. Today,John is a master.And he beats my butt on the board...occasionally that is! But a master he is!I'm very proud of him. WB
baddeeds 29-Apr-14, 20:23	wrecking_ball makes a very good point. And, @joveyboy: I know where you're coming from. "Have so much free time that I just don't see that being enough games for me. Only 5 or 6 is a great way to improve your game play, but I don't think I'm ready to downsize yet. (Emphasis on yet). I do play in a blitz manner though, I admit. I do try to go slow, but I'm really only able to spend 2, maybe 3 minutes on my move, then I get tired and just make it. I know you must think, "That's all??? That's not nearly enough!" I have a reason though. As I said, I am the captain of Golden. The problem is, I am the LONE captain of Golden! The previous co-captains went to follow the previous captain to a new team. It's a long story, so long story short, I ended up being the lone leader of the team. On top of that, the team has 139 members!!! It's not easy to lead a team this big all by yourself! On top of that, there have been issues on the team that I'm slowly resolving. All of this takes up so much of my time, and although I'm only 16, I'm starting to burn out some. My games though don't make things any easier." Something very similar used to happen to me. As noted in our PM, back in my time, there was so much free time, but I never although should have thought, hmm how do you use that free time. I was playing at a ridiculously quick speeds, and played far too many games at one time. Now, Mr. Stockel also told me the same thing. He said take your time and don't rush. Spend it to think ahead because rushing prevents you from doing so. Only for a very short while did I ever disagree, but it didn't matter because I was still going to follow his advice. And once I tried it, I noticed a big difference, that I played better. This is actually one reason why I don't play blitz. I feel that blitz does cause one to rush in long correspondence chess because you get into that habbit of rushing. Once in a while, I still feel that I'm moving a little too quickly, especially in OTB chess. But, 2-3 minutes is not long enough. I know because one reason it took me so long to surpass 1150 was by playing at a quick speed and too much at one time. Once I cut my number of games and the speed, this is where I improved, which is the main reason that I emphasize it in my club. Now, when I became captain before changing the names, I had the same issues with people timing out on team games, which I had to fix. And, I had problems running the team, with not enough or not good co-captains. But, I figured out what to do for that. When it came to running teams, I would just set up matches, and in exchange, did not even worry about participating in a team game because playing too much caused me to lose those games, for the opposite reason of timing out, moving too quickly. I would rather not represent a team then lose do to rushing. The same thing happens when you play too much and too quickly. You lose that concentration and miss out on the important details. So, the idea is not to play a lot or at a quick speed. And, if something happens on a team, it might be best to hold off on all games, or cut it even further, until it gets resolved. Or take a break, and when you're ready, come back and, right then, I can almost guarantee an immediate improvement in your games.
joveyboy1 03-May-14, 19:04	hogfysshe, I'd really say my captaining time is more at 60%, playing time at 30%, and studying at 10%. I agree though, I need to change my percentages. I don't think studying is boring, otherwise I wouldn't enjoy chess. I do study, but definitely not enough. I do study is plenty of certain aspects though. I que some of my games for computer analysis and review them to see what I could of done better. I also annotate games, which helps out as well. I do tactics exercises as well, those help. One thing I need to do is review master games, I know that will help to. I do as well take some time to make sure that my chess moves are reasonable and not ridiculous or just plain stupid. I am trying to lower my games as mentioned, but below 20 at this time is too little for me. Your advice though is well noted, thanks! wrecking_ball, that is quite the experience! Well, let's see, I've definitely lowered my games. 70+ to around 30 is a big difference! As I said, I am trying to lower in further, like 20-25, but below that is too little for me at this time. I've definitely made plenty of progress so far, but I can't seem to convince myself to slow down. I have slowed some, but not enough for sure! If I can do that and look further into my moves and look further ahead, I can definitely get better at chess! Thanks, for the experience. It shows proof to your advice! jkarp, good advice, and again, we've both had similar experiences. I've actually got a co-captain right now (although I know he'll leave me high and dry soon). He's a very good co-captain, but he's a team hopper. I don't play real blitz games, although as said, I play in that manner with my games. I have to learn to slow down. I'm pretty good with team games, but I do play too many, and that's where I'm cutting my games back. So yeah, I need to cut back and play slower. I'm getting there, that's all I can say now. The good news is, I've pretty much resolved the team matters that needed to be handled, and with the co-captain I now temporarily have, I think I can focus on my games more. Thanks everyone!
wrecking_ball 03-May-14, 19:46	joveyboy1, Well good luck then.What you may discover is that as you "advance"in the deeper understanding of positional strategy and deeper theory,research,checking better moves through books,footnotes in places like MCO-15 or newer sources and more....this will actually slow you down automatically!So there are "different"levels of "seriousness".You may consider yourself a serious chess player,but the "level"of serious is directly proportional to the amount of time,effort,research and energy you put into every game and every move.Years ago,I might research and ponder just one out of book move for days before I responded back with my postal card.Back then,I might have 5 books open with perhaps 5 different games and subvariant moves with different results as to that line produced by my opponent that I never seen before. So,to play properly,takes more than 10 minutes and a "gut feeling"as to the best move to make.You must learn from other sources to "find"that better move,not just move the move yourself!This takes much effort.So you may consider yourself serious about the game,but how serious?That is the question!And that Joe,makes the difference between the lesser rated and the much stronger rated.Big BIG Effort goes way beyond just saying..."i'm serious"!
ed_norton 04-May-14, 06:04	Gut feeling vs. Understanding First off, I must say that I feel like a little league baseball player linking a sandlot game video to Roberto Clemente or Nolan Ryan. Ever watch a kids tee ball baseball game and the little guy struggles to hit the ball off the tee? And then, after several tries succeeds and promptly forgets to Run to First Base? It's like that. Anyway, here's a queens pawn game and I have the black pieces. game I'll link my annotation below if anybody wants to suffer thru my recollection of the thought process of a little leaguer, but there are at least a couple relevant points to some recent posts concerning Gut Feeling Moves vs. Deeper Understanding and also the weak squares f2/f7. In this game the square of my focus became f3. I had a gut feeling around move 13 or so that f3 was relevant to my success, but I didn't know why. I still don't. gameknot.com
wrecking_ball 04-May-14, 06:20	Ed,I did not look deeply into your game,but do see the excellent and rare triple threat move you made on #27 with K/R/Q.Quite a rarity indeed.Goes to show how one must be more aware of their piece placement around attacking Knights....and looking ahead.Even a b5 move would have proved devastating down the line.Playing on the "cuff"as I call it is fine,but has its limitations.One must understand the whys before the "feelings",that is,to advance to the pro's as you mentioned!But in that game you did fine.
ed_norton 04-May-14, 07:15	WB points Ed to b5. Interesting for me that you saw b5 immediately, because during the game and even after when I annotated, b5 never occurred to me. I quite literally did not even see it. b5 attacking his knight, opening the b file for a rook, vacating b2 for my queen to set up shop on the long white a8/h1 diagonal. many directions of goodness unfold from b5. Thanks for your snapshot analysis, WB.
wrecking_ball 04-May-14, 07:21	Deleted by wrecking_ball on 04-May-14, 07:23.
wrecking_ball 04-May-14, 07:23	ts just "pattern recognition"that draws me to instantaneously spotting some of those things,Ed.That is,after playing probably a million games in my lifetime.(Literally).Almost everyday,I play against my Tasc R-30 as well.That board machine has been my close "mentor"since 1995!Helps me spot things that others would not.
baddeeds 04-May-14, 08:10	@joveryboy: Two things are important based on what ed_norton and wrecking_ball are saying. First, as easy19 has told me with past games, "Be a spectator of your game." That means, look at the entire board and not just one thing or position on there. A good example was a game that I played sometime ago against my coach. I had an immediate mate in 1 that I missed because I didn't look at the entire. Instead, I only looked at one small thing that looked interesting. And, that mistake turned a win into a loss. Second, thinking ahead, and not just move by move is important. I went wrong in several games, including my epic and historic game against Jack Stockel. In order to become really good those things are very important, and what I suggest on this site is analyze the board, as you get to see everything that happens, and if possible, the flip feature as you get to see things from your opponents POV. Remebering these lessons will help to improve your games.
wrecking_ball 04-May-14, 08:55	To all, I also suggest in some more closed or complex positions to set up a real chessboard along side of the computer screen or phone you are using,when you are at home anyway.Its been proven in my professional chess circles that the mind can grasp some critical positions better and with deeper insight when combined with giving your mind a different approach to viewing a game in real 3D as opposed to a screen.That way you can literally walk around the game and see from all sides.Just make sure your board is large enough and the pieces are not shaped in weird configurations....or too small or too large!You know what I mean...just standard regulation size.A Staunton would be perfect,but only if you can afford one!Otherwise a nice wood one(not plastic!)with perhaps yellow-tan/dark brown pieces with the same color board.Red/black boards can bring out too aggressive a play and hide the black pieces too well on the black squares. Trust me,I know what i'm writing about!I'm a Psy major!
baddeeds 04-May-14, 09:23	Agreed Psychology plays a very important because chess is another sport. So, cognition plays a very important chess role. Lucky for me, I think I've got an ideal chess board made for that. It's wood with that color, tan and black squares. For me, the size is kind of small, but after reading your post, it's the normal size and anything larger would be too big. Come to think of it, this is a way to also understand the important things, theory and concepts better.
wrecking_ball 04-May-14, 09:51	Well,a standard tournament board must be around 18"x18".But I have found that a few inches smaller is definitely ok...but not too much smaller.My Tasc R-30 board measures 14"x14" with another inch and one quarter perimeter wood trim.But if i'm not using the Tasc one of my 16"x16" usually does fine.If the pieces are too big they will block the view of other pieces.If too small...like 10 inches x 10 inches or less then the eye may overlook some of the pieces.Style of the piece makes a big impact on the brain as well.I've heard many complaints with some sets not showing huge differences between the K and Q and sometimes a Rook can look a bit like a Knight if it is one of those Indian Elephant Rooks,I have seen and actually own to defeat my OTB visitors on occasion!Thats the one I dip in coca-cola and let dry to irritate my opponent!But that's another thread!Ha ha!
caveman1960 04-May-14, 23:29	gameknot.com I present to our members the above annotated game. I would really appreciate any feed back cheers Wolfgang
baddeeds 05-May-14, 07:45	I have a very interesting game to show you. Remember, when I told you that I remember some strategies and apply them from quizzes by GM Judit Polgar for some of my games? Well, this was one of the main, which I did that since one of her recent quizzes involved a, "mating combination", by indirectly pinning the K. Well, a very similar thing happened in my most recent game against starb, and I followed the same concept, on my four moves to achieve the win. This incredible game is shown below. gameknot.com
baddeeds 05-May-14, 07:46	Edit: It wasn't on my last four, but rather, my last three moves.
darknite13 05-May-14, 08:44	To those ego-maniacs... A minor piece of advice: be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. Otherwise be prepared to crash and burn. This game came about because this person walked into my club, and started immediately kibitzing on some of my members skittles games. He was making comments like: "Oh that was a terrible move, why are you still playing this game?" So being the coach I am, I come to the defense of my players. I challenge the kid (who wasn't even a USCF member), but somehow seemed to have this wealth of knowledge. So I say, "OK we will play. You take the white pieces, and if you don't win, you owe these members an apology." He agrees, and we play: Casual Monday Practice - 4/21/14 Time Control: G/30 min White: NN unrated Black: myself (1986 USCF) 1. e3? e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Qf3 Qf6 So at this point he becomes irritated and saying, "Can't you do something original?" And his next move was: 4. Qd1?? to which he says "Copy that!" And I say, "Nah, I'll just checkmate you," replying 4. ... Qxf2# How embarrassing, right? If he took the time to even consider who he was playing, he probably would've entered my club with a little more respect and composure. As far as kibitzing goes, it can actually be fun, but ONLY if it's done among friends. Kibitzing then becomes the locker room talk among chess players. But that's a discussion for a different thread; onto the game: my first hint that this kid didn't know what he was doing was e3?. I almost never see a serious player push e3 in the opening on the very first move (even in blitz! though I may employ it with a few ideas if someone can enlighten me as to what good it does). So I decided that I would play a psychological battle with him for the rest of the match, which was shorter than anyone could have anticipated given how he talked himself up. I did play him again, and the second game was more serious, but he gave up after dropping 3 pawns and a knight. So yeah, lesson here: if you are entering a club for the first time, show some composure and respect for who is there!
baddeeds 05-May-14, 11:32	@darknite13 I have a couple question for you because you introduced me to this term in the WTWLR club. What does kibitzing mean? I thought that it only alludes to a club match between two different sides, where once you make for one side, you comment on the other side. And, here's my other question, why is kibitzing considered a sin? I ask because I have a lot to learn here. For instance, before I made the mistake of commenting on both sides between the two players, I have not heard of this term.
darknite13 05-May-14, 14:16	The term has 2 definitions--a non-chess one, and a chess one. The non-chess one states it means a spectator who looks on and often offers unwanted advice, especially at a card game. This is Webster's definition. We can safely assume he wasn't a chess player! In terms of chess, the term means the following: as a spectator, making comments on a chess game that can be heard by the players. You ask why is it a sin? Not necessarily a sin, but keep this in mind: kibitzing over a ranked match, or even any kind of tournament game (while it is in progress), is especially frowned upon because it can lead to one side forfeiting the match. My very first tournament game was lost because an over-hyper member of my team mentioned I was running low on time. My opponent paused the clock, and called over a tournament director who determined I lose the match by forfeit. I was extremely angry, since I didn't need the sound byte and was closing in on a win. How sad a great game was ruined because my team member couldn't hold his tongue. From that moment on, my team members were banned from watching my matches. I highly discourage the practice in my club so that members don't have to go through the same thing I did. The thinking is this: if you learn it early, in theory, you won't be burned by it later.
joveyboy1 10-May-14, 14:59	Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll see what I can do to get better   I have two games I want to share, but I'll wait until I get them annotated.
baddeeds 23-May-14, 17:37	Since now I know what the chess terms of kibitzing is, I hope that what I'm about to talk about is not considered kibitzing. The only reason I do this is to say and emphasize one thing that wrecking_ball points out in his Q sacs, don't resign, until you know that mate is inevitable. Well, I remembered the exact same quiz from my game against starb for another mating combination. This one more similar, but the difference here is that I, very nearly, overlooked it and spotted it at the last minute. But, this one was against my coach, Mr. Stockel, earlier today. There are differences between the diagram and position, and it's never completely accurate. For instance, unlike this diagram, in the actual game, white castled very early, K side. But, otherwise the position is similar to what happened, otherwise. Now, in this particular game, I was white and my opponent was black. I was already in trouble before this position, as I was down two points. Since I have a weakness, black tried to exploit it. Note: The b1 R was there from earlier. Having said that, black's last move was 1...Rb2. The idea being to force a R exchange, for if I didn't take, he'd win my R, and have a mating sequence, with and after 2...Rxb1. But, instead of allowing an exchange, I played a whole different move. Knowing that the position is dead lost, with nothing else to lose, I decided place him in check by taking his pawn with 2.Nxh6 Now, at first, I thought that this was a mistake because it loses a piece for a pawn, in addition to what I've lost. But, at the very last minute, I realized that it's not bad at all, and there's more to it then meets the eye. And, in fact, he recaptured with 2...gxh6. Once he did that, I immediately played 3.Qxh6. After this, Jack resigned. The reason being is that like what you saw in the quiz, the same thing happens. I have an immediate mate in one, and I was going to take advantage of that opportunity. In order to avoid mate, the K would have to move, and that's not possible because it's pinned.
baddeeds 28-May-14, 17:06	Talk about not resigning, and interesting idea came to mind. Here's another good game to talk about. But, this time, I was not playing the game. My student, reachforgoals, was. In the past, resignation was the problem. But, she remembered what we talk about because in our mentoring session it was agreed that she wouldn't resign, no matter what. By remembering that advice, she pulled an amazing and managed to trick her opponent into a draw by repetition. This amazing game is shown in the annotation below. gameknot.com
wrecking_ball 30-May-14, 14:47	Today's "recipe"of success in beating a senior master... Let me add that analyzing not only your games,but OTHERS,may help you find ways to defeating your opponent.For example,back in 2009 as TA,I was on my way up to 2500,but still at 2300+in rating when I decided to play krasney21 who's rating was 139 points north of me at 2451. Past Game below(from 2009): game I manged a nice draw with this opponent and gained a few rating points as you can see.Notice however,that I managed to draw the game,even being down a pawn in the endgame at a whopping move # 101.This opponent of mine tried his best to win against me,but it was like trying to scratch at a 2 foot thick titanium wall with your fingernails and get through to the other side.Maybe if you were immortal,at age 5 million you might do it,but not in his lifetime!Check out Krasneys Rook moves from #68 to #98.That is almost 30 Rook moves in a row with no success.So he agreed to throw in the towel. But why was he not capable of winning against me?Answer:My pawn structure vs his.He must keep on the defensive with his Rook,or else I will slip through to Queen one of those better centralized and Bishop defended pawns.I have the initiative,he does not.It may not be enough power initiative to Queen,but its enough to "hold him back".That e pawn of mine combined with the dark square control of my Bishop and the e file dark Queening square(dark square on e8)sends a powerful message:You must stay in that area with your Rook to counter the pawn promotion threat by white and/or check me continually to defend your safety position. Lets fast forward to the present. I decided to play krasney21 again.Keep in mind that now I am WB not TA anymore and Krasney has no idea who he is playing or that my rating was north of 2500 at one time.The element of surprise is in my court.But what did I learn from the first game with this opponent?I learned from my first game and a few other games of his that I analyzed that he tends to have this weaker endgame with pawn structures and has lost a few based upon not having quite enough strength in disabling his opponents centralized pawn structures,connected or disconnected.So the goal in my second game was to protect my central pawns best I can and by advancing a pawn wall on both my Queen side and King side.Check around move #44 in the game link below.The e and g pawns of his,you can see,are neutralized,so I then proceed to concentrate the pawn advancement on my Queen side to open the diagonal and with the goal in mind to attack his light squared pawns with my light squared Bishop from his own rear flanks. It worked.And I won against this 2451 senior master player with a +13.8 point rating booty. And this time,I was not a pawn down....but 2 pawns up!!!!And more pawns to come in my favor if he would not have thrown the towel in!! Game: game So what is the motto here? Find out where your weakness's exist in your opponent before you play him!I found out with a prior game.But you can analyze any opponent ahead of time,even if you never played him before. I judged Krasney to be a bit weak with endgame pawn structures.So I found a way to "saturate"the board with my own stronger pawn structures and deployment to confuse, amplify and "recreate" this recurring subtle weakness AGAIN that exists in a few of his games from the past.It takes patience and an eye to go through about 30 games of his like I did and spot endgame pattern weakness in several of his games. Was it worth it to take 2 weeks picking apart his past game losses and checking them out,taking notes and then trying a pawn strategy like I did? Yes it was.Too time consuming your thinking?Not worth the effort?Who cares? Well,thats why I am a 2300+ player,soon to be 2500 again in a year or so and you will remain at the lower rating scales.Time,energy,effort,care,concern and seriousness all play a key role in your desire(if you have a desire)to improve to the big leagues my friend! No desire to get that expert or master rating?Then I suggest you never read anything I write! Just keep playing in those tournaments,game after game and your rating for the most part will have a nice flat line in your rating graph,year after year!Good luck!
wrecking_ball 12-Jul-14, 14:33	Beating the senior master,yet a tiny bit mystified.... Its not often that a 2400+player shows up in the GK 5 min blitz room.I was going to sacrifice something,but then I said to myself,ok,lets see what this senior master can do against me straight up and full strength against me,no screwing around and full out serious.Well,he performed like he did previously against me....not good at all!!Kind of lousy,to tell you the truth!!And the game was over in only 35 moves.For his rating he seems to miss simpler tactical moves,does not protect his own pawns(like move #32),allows me to open up a file(wide open)move #28 and allows me to cleanly check his King with my Knight,then he captures my poisoned Knight on move #35 which allows my d pawn to climb right up that wide open d file to an unstoppable Q promotion by move #35.He resigned after seeing that pawn on square d3. I've beaten a ton of senior master before,both in the long corresp games and blitz(hell,i'm a senior master)but brett seems to not be playing anywhere near a 2411 level.In the past,with my long GK corresp games,he did ok. He had 2 draws and one loss against me.Not terrific for him,but not that bad either. Kind of proves the old statistic...that many players take a nose dive in 3 to 10 minute blitz with their playing skills.Statistics have shown that a great number of players(not all, but many) even masters and above will average approx anywhere from a 100 to a 200 rating value decrease in playing strength in fast blitz,especially with no increment.Some players,even some masters play as much as a 300 rating value below their corresp rating.My strength is approx equal in both my long corresp and blitz for a different set of reasons.I have specifically trained in blitz with ultra strong players all my life,including some GM's.I have inherited a talent,a trained eye,pattern recognition and can spot strengths and weakness's instantaneously,unlike other senior masters who may not have played 10's of thousands of blitz games like me.And no,blitz has never hurt my long corresp games or OTB play...and never will.But,I am,of course,the exception to the rule as compared to many other players. If you rip apart this blitz game below,you will see that Brett was playing at perhaps a 2000 level.I can't say he played better than that from my observation of all the things he missed in this game.Just his disconnected/isolated pawns by move #35 illustrate a lack of piece coordination,including the weak Knight of his on square g1....which he could have utilized to stop that d pawn of mine to advance.This is far from a 2411 strength play that he shows in his long corresp games.Yet,I am a bit mystified,because he really should have played better than this.Again,just my opinion. Just making an observation here and showing you a quick blitz game between 2 senior masters.Yes,I know....my rating at the moment is under a senior master level of 2400.But most of you old timers know me and know what my past rating level was....2500+.I'll get their again in time!But that does not mean that my real playing strength is 2300+,just because that is what it shows at the moment with my "new"account!My new account only has a trickle of games so far!But 2366 in only 49 games?That should give you a hint!!!After,say 200 games played,take a guess at where I will be at!!! [Event "GameKnot Blitz"] [Site "http://gameknot] [Date "2014.07.12"] [Round "-"]2300+ [White "brettbevans"]2411 [Black "wrecking_ball"]2300+ [Result "0-1"]white resigns early before my pawn promotion. 1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. O-O Nc6 5. d3 e5 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. c3 O-O 8. Re1 Bg4 9. h3 Be6 10. e4 d4 11. c4 Be7 12. Ng5 Bd7 13. h4 Ng4 14. Ngf3 a6 15. Qe2 Qc7 16. b3 Qd6 17. Nf1 b5 18. N1h2 b4 19. Nxg4 Bxg4 20. Kh2 Qg6 21. Bh3 f5 22. Bxg4 fxg4 23. Ng1 a5 24. f4 exf4 25. Bxf4 Bxh4 26. gxh4 Rxf4 27. Rf1 Raf8 28. Rxf4 Rxf4 29. Rf1 Qf7 30. Rxf4 Qxf4+ 31. Kg2 Ne5 32. Qf2 Nxd3 33. Qxf4 Nxf4+ 34. Kg3 d3 35. Kxf4 d2 0-1 chesstempo.com Below are the 3 games I played in the past against Brett.2 draws and one win.I was at 2423-2469 at the time,closing in on 2500 plus a few months later. game game game
wrecking_ball 12-Jul-14, 15:15	typo above and some more info... Just a slight correction above.Where it says "round" in the blitz format above,I typed in 2300+ accidentally.A typo. I meant to write....5 min,zero increment. Hey,I did not have my supper and coffee yet! By the way,earlier I sacrificed BOTH of my Bishops in an opening blitz game against a 2000 rated player and received NOTHING in return for the Bishops!And I won by mating him in 30 moves!!!!I could kick myself for forgetting to copy/paste that game!Tired today,I guess.If I was awake,I would have mated that player in 20 moves being down the 2 Bishops! Ha ha!!! There is a strategy with that kind of sacrifice.In fast blitz,many times Knights are more valuable than Bishops,even in open games!!!Now,yes,this goes against conventional wisdom,where Bishops SHOULD have better value in an open game.But not all the time!!! Blitz is a game of a different flavor!!!Many of my opponents cannot interpret and assimilate tactical position advancements fast enough with both of my Knights coming at them like an out of control freight train.Bishops will psychologically be better observed and assimilated with my opponents eye on a long diagonal,but not the same with my Knights,even in an open game.I can,for example,instantly see my Knight's position ahead by say,5 or 6 "L"move positions and form a positional strategy of offense.Most players cannot fathom the Knight ahead that far...even BRETT above in that blitz game.Check my notes above and the move for yourself! So,the "strategy"is that,if I am going to sac 2 pieces,its better to sac both my Bishops,than my killer Knights....even knowing that there will be an open game coming up later on!And that is because I am simply better trained to use my Knights in blitz than my Bishops,at least in fast play!So,it depends upon the user sometimes,not necessarily the "book approach"that Bishops have more of a value than Knights,even in open games.That is not always true! I'll have to show you what I mean if I get another "victim" in the 5 min blitz room!You would be surprised.Many times when I give my Bishops or a Queen away in blitz my opponent quits the game and refuses to play me!He either falsely thinks i'm a total beginner and he would not play against a beginner or I have no right to play that way or that i'm trying to make a fool out of him or that i'm simply the "fool"or an idiot.He may also think that it would be "too easy" a win for him!Take you pick at why these players leave me!!!I just laugh to myself,since every excuse they invent in their minds is not true. Later, WB
hogfysshe 12-Jul-14, 17:57	bending of rules: I follow what you're saying about recognition (or lack there of) affecting the value of your pieces, with pace of game being factored in. in the same chapter with how you can let your king be less safe (safe by a strict definition ...of the pawns around it for example). in the case of the king, if a weakness around the king can not be taken advantage of (because for example the game has ended), then it is not really a weakness. it may in fact be weaker to not put those pawns or usually closed lanes to work for you than to be overprotective, adhering too tightly to general principles. ...not that mere mortals can get away with much of this rule bending that masters can pull off routinely.
wrecking_ball 12-Jul-14, 19:16	Good points hogfysshe.Sometimes the only difference between a player like you and me is that I can see ahead quite far.This is my advantage.So a player may know much of this theory stuff,but if his board "vision"only goes 3 or 4 moves ahead,his limitations may very well do him in.Its kind of like one player having the best binoculars money can buy and he is looking at the moon and a few planets and another player having the best portable telescope money can buy...looking at the deeper sky objects like galaxy's and nova's. Pattern recognition combined with the pawn structures can make or break a player.
baddeeds 13-Jul-14, 15:10	I have another game to chat about. But, this one was only few days prior to Superstorm hitting the Northeast. And, it compares to Tropical Storm Irene which also hit my area, but wasn't nearly as bad. During Tropical Storm Irene my rating plummeted to it's lowest of only 851. At that point, as noted in a different, I didn't have any encouragement, except for Jack Stockel, until my rating nearly reached, which at the time, was my highest. And, that's when I had a really good mentor on this site. Who gave a lot of help. Now, after Irene, came Superstorm Sandy which hit the area, where I live much harder. However, the storm being a much worse, since it was a Hurricane, combined with a Noreaster, which packed 80 mph wind gusts, and knocking out, power and Cable for even longer, I managed to play much better chess anyway. With Irene, I made a ton of beginner mistakes, that I really didn't learn from. But, with Sandy, a couple of games were bad. I lost most of my games, but they weren't as bad, and in the long run, learned how to prepare for future storms. And, despite how ugly things really got, I managed to defeat a few players. The moral is no matter how bad the situation, and how long you'll lose power and are worried about timing out, don't let it distract you. Otherwise, you won't play as well.
baddeeds 13-Jul-14, 15:12	BTW, the example of that game, and how Sandy compared to Irene when it came to how well I played, is shown in this annotation below. gameknot.com
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