And Then There Was Chess...

THIS WEBLOG HAS MOVED...

2007-01-12T09:34:00.000+01:00

and though i will let it remain, it will be no longer in use. I am now residing at WordPress. Please update your sidebars and or feedreaders for future reference, because i am currently on hiatus.

I've had it with this crap!

2006-12-17T09:03:00.000+01:00

I don't get it... I really don't have a clue what the f.ck causes the images i upload to keep on disappearing. I've put in quite a bit of work on the previous post in memory of Bronstein, creating diagrams and sh.t and they're all gone. I've been browsing through blogger's support pages (more then once) trying to find an answer, but i did not get any wiser. Only more frustrated. So frustrated i've decided to set up shop over at WordPress instead. Anyone who was interested in keeping up with my chess life should update my link on their sidebar with the following link: The Chess Of Edwin ‘dutchdefence’ Meyer. And for anyone who is interested in keeping up with my chess life, you should add it. Otherwise it is adios amigos, goodbye, au revoir, bonjour or whatever. It was fun while it lasted, but i've had it with this crap!

P.S. It will probably take some time for me to set up shop (and get accustomed to) over at WordPress, so bare with me.

This blog will be accesible at all times.

Update; If i'm correct, i've got the RSS feed set up (this is also in reply to Phorku's comment). I believe this is the feed for my entries. But you should check out the bottom of my new blog because you also got a feed for comments. I'm not really sure what's what yet. Try it out and let me know if it works.

In memory of David Ionovich Bronstein

2006-12-16T08:15:00.001+01:00

i bring to you the commented game i promised. The game to go along with this post. And what better way is there to remember him by, then to go over one of his beautifull games. A game that took place at the Amsterdam (the city i was born and raised) Interzonal in 1964 (i wasn't born yet then). In this game, Bronstein plays with the Black pieces against an Argentinian master by the name of Alberto Foguelman (this should be particularly interesting to those who play the QGA as Black).

[Event "Interzonal, Amsterdam 1964"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "A Foguelman"]
[Black "Bronstein David"]
[ECO "D25"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4

{Bronstein plays a Queen's Gambit Accepted which at the time was not a particularly popular opening. But Bronstein was never a slave to fashion and played exactly what he wanted to and he had many original ideas.} 3. Nf3 {One of the main lines.} Nf6 {Sensible move. Prevents White from playing his pawn up to e4 and claim the center.} 4. e3

{Attacking the pawn on c4 (see variation for what happens when Black tries to hold on to the pawn by playing b5).} Bg4

{An old favourite of Alekhine. It should be noted that this move comes with a slight drawback, namely the weakening of the b7 pawn.} [Black tries to hold on to the c4 pawn; 4... b5 5. a4 c6 6. axb5 cxb5 7. b3 cxb3 8. Bxb5+] 5. Bxc4 e6 6. Qb3 {A slightly controversial move, but if there's any move that will take advantage of Black's opening play, Qb3 will be it. Because the White Queen attacks b7. But it's here that Black gets to put his opening idea into
practice. And that is the sacrifice of the b-pawn to get active play.} 6... Bxf3 {Black seeks to ruin White's Kingside} 7. gxf3 c5

{Undermining White's center. And having come this far, White must certainly take on b7 as White's center is about to disintegrate, unless White takes the pawn on b7.} 8. Qxb7 Nbd7 {Now it's time that White starts asking himself questions, like what is going on in this position. There's no obvious move as such, but he certainly should start asking himself what alternative do i have, and what are Black's threats in this position. And Foguelman probably determined that Black threatens to take on d4, thereby reducing White's pawn structure to ruble. But he doesn't quite appreciate that Black has serious attacking chances on the Kingside in this position. And Foguelman continued with} 9. dxc5 {Andrew Martin think's 9. Rg1 would be more apropriate, because the text move only speeds up Black's development.} 9... Bxc5 10. f4 O-O 11. O-O {Andrew Martin thinks this is too risky and prefers 11.Nc3 as a waiting event, or perhaps to play Queen to g2 (probably the best move of all). And with the Queen closeby to the Kingside, white can consider castling. Even perhaps consider playing Rg1. But if you play that move, ofcourse you then gonna have to worry about where to put your King. But to castle in this position seems incredibly risky because of Black's next excellent reply. Which White probably completely missed.} 11... Nd5

{Cutting the Queen off from the defense of her King. At first sight, it doesn't look as if that move is actually completely playable, because what is to stop White from actually taking the Knight (see variation for what happens then).} 12. Rd1 [White takes the Knight; 12. Bxd5 Rb8 13. Qa6 (13. Qc6 Rb6 14. Qa4 exd5) 13... exd5} 12... Rb8 13. Qc6 Qh4

{A very powerfull move according to A. Martin, sacrificing the Knight on d7 and a move which A. Martin think's Foguelman completely underestimated. He simply didn't appreciate a few moves ago, that his Queen was needed for the defense of his King.} 14. Nc3 {Desperately trying to get his pieces out (see variation for what happens when Queen takes Knight).} [Queen takes Knight; 14. Qxd7 Qg4+] 14... Rb6 15. Qxd7 Nxf4

{A brilliant but also very logical move by Bronstein. Because with all the White pieces concentrated on the queenside it is actually very important for Black to start action on the kingside while the white king is actually undefended.} 16. Ne2 {White seeks to defend his King but it's much too late for that now (see variation for what happens if White takes the Knight on f4 or plays his Bishop to f1).} [White takes Knight; 16. exf4 Qxf2+ 17. Kh1 Qf3#] [White plays Bishop to f1; 16. Bf1 Qg4+ 17. Kh1 Qf3+ 18. Kg1 e5 19. Ne2 Nxe2+ 20. Bxe2 Rg6+ 21. Kf1 Qh1#] 16... Nh3+ 17. Kg2 Nxf2 18. Rd4 {If Black takes the Rook then pawn takes, Queen takes and perhaps White is holding on. But Bronstein carried on with the attack.} Ng4 19. Rf4 Qxh2+ 20. Kf1 Bxe3 21. Bd5 {Utterly desperate move.} Bxf4

{And White resigned.} *

Now, i really wanted to post this on the day of Bronstein's passing but alas, it didn't work out that way. I did order four of Bronstein's books after i took notice of his death, and got them delivered shortly after. For some reason i just couldn't hold off purchasing them any longer. I got Bronstein On the King's Indian (which i really like to recommend if you're into the KID), Modern Chess Self-Tutor (which seemed to be a very hot purchase shortly after Bronstein died), Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 (needs no introduction) and finally, Bronstein's Sorcerer's Apprentice. And i'm very happy to have them.

If you're having trouble following the game as i posted it, you can also go over it through your browser here. Hope you enjoy the post. Took me quite a bit of time to get it up. Hope the images will hold...

Test

2006-12-13T07:33:00.000+01:00

When i upload a picture/image, the HTML code for the picture/image looks like this (i left out the opening/closing tags or else i could not show the code),

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-lTbgbDnpJA/RX-fFqCReMI/AAAAAAAAADU/WUdliX2CclY/s1600-h/Smiling+Cat"display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-lTbgbDnpJA/RX-fFqCReMI/AAAAAAAAADU/WUdliX2CclY/s400/Smiling+Cat.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5007896230191265986"

To me it looks weird with all the A's, but i belong to the Dummies club when it comes to HTML. Does this look familiar to anyone when uploading a picture/image?

I am asking this because i have problems with disappearing pictures/images (as you might have read before). Changing templates didn't solve the problem either. I wonder how long this image will last...

Rybka parameters (need a little help here)

2006-12-12T02:41:00.000+01:00

I just started using the Rybka 2.2 32-bit UCI engine through ChessBase 9 and i was wondering about it's parameters. Should i change anything? Or should i just leave the parameters alone? I am wondering about it's ELO rating in particular, because when you look at the default parameters, it is set at 1200. Does that mean it also analyses as a 1200? The Rybka website's instalation instruction doesn't mention anything about it's parameters :-(

Anybody?

Anybody else experiencing problems?

2006-12-11T21:11:00.000+01:00

Is it just me, or are other Blogger users also experiencing problems with uploaded images? Except for the uploaded 'mate in one' wallpapers, none of the images i upload seem to last very long, and all that appears is an empty square with this little red cross in it.

I've made up my mind

2006-12-10T09:08:00.001+01:00

about what to play versus two black openings that annoy me the most when playing 1.e4. Namely the Caro-Kann and the French (who doesn't it annoy?). It has taken me quite some valuable time (which i could've spend a whole lot better) to figure out what i wanted to play, and i'm glad that i have. Because now, i can finally get on with my life ;-)
I will no longer make up my mind and switch back and forth between openings as i have done many times before. This time, i am going to STICK with the choices i made.

What did i play against these annoying openings in the past? Well, versus the Caro-Kann i have played the Classical Variation, the Advance Variation, the Exchange Variation and the Panov-Botvinnik Attack. Of which the latter appealed to me most. And versus the French i have played the Exchange Variation, the Advance Variation and the Winawer Variation. Again, the latter appealed to me most. But only because of a certain game. I even employed the King's Indian Attack versus both openings at some point, and addopted it against everything else Black would throw at me and which i did not like to meet. Like the Pirc, the Robatsch and even the Sicilian. To keep thing's simple, you know? As in play one system against all. But the resulting play just could not appeal to me. No matter how often i played it. I do keep it in mind as a back up though...

Anyway, so what am i playing now? Atleast versus the two openings in question. Well, versus the Caro-Kann, i've decided to play (and stick with) a so-called anti Caro-Kann. Anti Caro-Kann!?

Now why didn't i think of that sooner?

So much for a creative mind :-(

Versus the French, i've decided to play it (and stick with) the Tiviakov way. As in the Tarrasch Variation. Ofcourse the Tarrasch can be played a number of ways, but i really like how Tiviakov plays it. He is in fact one of he leading experts as White against the French. You really should check out some of his games.
Anyway, the Tarrasch has actually been recommended to me before, but i guess i was checking out the wrong lines, because it didn't appeal to me. Untill i checked out Tiviakov's way :-)

I've allready played a couple of games using my new chosen systems, and the play finally had an appealing effect to me. More then that even. Check out me versus the Caro, and me versus the French. Don't mind too many of the details as both games were played under blitz conditions.

There's a lesson in all of this

2006-11-30T08:28:00.000+01:00

I think (refering to Kramnik overlooking a mate in one). And the lesson is that you shouldn't rely too much on your patern recognition skillz, because apparently patern recognition skillz is what caused Kramnik to overlook the mate in one. If we have to believe chess player, trainer, editor of the Russian chess magazine "64" Alexander Roshal that is... But who am i to argue with an expert?

Alexander told us that the mating pattern that occurred during the game, with the white queen protected by a knight on f8, is extremely rare in chess. It is not one of the patterns that chess grandmasters automatically have in their repertoire. This was confirmed by a GM commentator in Bonn, who after Kramnik's move did not notice that it was a blunder and started discussing White's options – but not the mate in one. Alexander Roshal assured us that, had the white knight somehow moved to g5 or f6, Kramnik would have seen the mate in micro-seconds. The square h7 would have had a big red light blinking on it, Roshal said, because this kind of mate (or mating threat) occurs quite often in chess, and the mating pattern would be firmly anchored in his mind. With the knight in an unusual position the square remained dark and Kramnik simply did not see the danger. (excerpt taken from this article)

Kramnik's 'mate in one' wallpapers

2006-11-30T08:15:00.000+01:00

Kramnik's allready world famous 'mate in one' wallpapers, desktops, backgrounds or whatever the hell you want to call them, come and get 'em while they're hot ;-)

Here (click on image and save it to your desktop),

and here (same action as above).
They're quite nice if i do say so myself :-)

P.S. If the images are no longer displayed, you can try and obtain them here.

So what do you do to protect your blog?

2006-11-13T06:57:00.000+01:00

After some surfing on the web for more on this blog hijacking trend (because it doesn't end with just the two blogs i mentioned, it really is a trend), i came to find out that you shouldn't expect much help from Blogger's support service (if there even is such a service) in any such case. I guess that means we'll just gonna have to try to keep from being hijacked. I am thinking of periodically backing up my templates (with change). And in case of a hijacking, i can just create a new account and replace the new templates with the backed up ones. Ok, so i'll lose my pagerank. But is that really such a big deal? I also came across this password generating website. Which offers ultra high security passwords :-)
How about using that for a chance of passwords every couple of days or so? Do you think this password generating site is any good?

Oh, and on the subject of chess, i will be posting that Queens Gambit Accepted game from the previous post with commentary anytime soon. I know i said i couldn't in the first place, but i think i'm able to manage after all.

Untill next post!

Basics of Winning Chess - Middlegame Tips 3. Ask yourself questions - The way to choose a move

2006-11-12T08:57:00.000+01:00

It has been quite some time since i watched my last video segment of International Master Andrew Martin's "Basics of Winning Chess" DVD,

but i finally got around to it again.

This time, Andrew Martin deals with the subject of how to choose a move. He starts out by refering back to an earlier advice he handed out, about improving the position of your worst placed piece in case you really (with the emphasis on "really") don't know what to do. I can tell you from personal experience that it is very good advice. Improving the position of my worst placed piece in situations where i really did not know what to do, has taken me out of a number of jams.

But let's get back to the subject Andrew Martin is dealing with in this segment.
How do you choose a move? What sort of thing's should you be thinking about?
Andrew Martin starts of by bringing to your attention a book

(Andrew Martin does not mention the title but my best guess says it's this one)

by C.J.S. Purdy (by which he was impressed himself after having read it) where he recommended asking yourself questions during a game in order to try and organize your thinking (probably old news, but still...). And by doing so, to eventually come around to choosing the right move in any given position. Briefly stated, his series of questions went as follows:

The first question you should ask yourself is a very simple one; Is there an obvious move?
That basicly means that if there is a forced move, just play it. Don't think too long, if it's absolutley forced you just simply gotta play that move and get on with the game. If there's no forced move you gotta ask yourself; What are the candidate moves in this position? What are the alternatives?

At that stage you gotta ask yourself; What are the enemy threats?
Then you gotta try and determine if there's no obvious threat, who has the advantage in the position? How great the advantage is, and where the advantage lies.
The main factors to consider when you try and decide who has the advantage according to Purdy are as follows:

The first thing ofcourse, is material balance. Is one side or the other pieces or pawns up?
Secondly, King safety. The guy with the safer king usually has the advantage due to this factor.
Then we're looking at pawn structure. Who has the better pawn structure? Andrew Martin adds in (dismay?) that a lot of players simply ignore their pawns, who don't worry about isolated pawns, doubled pawns, backward pawns as if it does not seem to matter to them. Assuring you that in a game against a good player, it really does matter.
Finally you should be looking at the relative activity of pieces. Usually the guy with the more active pieces again has the better position.

Andrew Martin points out being fascinated by having read another book by grandmaster Dorfman? Called "The Method in Chess". In which he sets out a similar system. But which was in fact a complete replica of Purdy's ideas, which were devised over 50 years beforehand. Go figure.

Andrew Martin then adds his own two cents by supposing that the final thing you should look for in a position is combination. Do you have a sound or correct combination?
To cut a long story short, Purdy's thought was that by asking yourself these questions, eventually you would arrive at the right move (duh!).

Now, most of the video segment's are accompanied by a examplary game, and so is this one :-)
It's a game between a guy called Foguelman

(supposedly an Argentinian Master, no disrespect intended ofcourse) and the legendary David Bronstein.

The game was played in the Amsterdam Interzonal, 1946. The reason for the choice of game, is that Andrew Martin feels that if Foguelman would have known about Purdy's system, and he asked himself the right questions at the right time in this game, he wouldn't have been facing such a severe defeat.
Anyway, in the game, Foguelman has White and Bronstein has Black (duh!). The opening played, is a "Queen's Gambit Accepted" (this one's for you Blue Devil). Which at the time wasn't very popular according to Andrew Martin, explaining that Bronstein was never a slave to fashion (don't you just hate being one?) and played exactly what he wanted to (he literally played every opening you can think of) and had many original ideas. Adding that there's nothing wrong with the "Queen's Gambit Accepted" as it is nowadays popular in the hands of, for instance, Kasparov or Kramnik (yeah i know, Kasparov is not an active player anymore, but i'm just reciting Andrew Martin's word's) so that says a great deal about the ultimate soundness of this opening. But let's not get into an opening discussion and go over the game instead, and try to put into place the subject discussed.

P.S. The game comes with quite a bit of explanation, making it difficult to post it any other way then just refering to it, which might seem a bit dry. I would if i could. You would have to purchase the DVD if you're interested in the details of the game. Personally, i would say it (the entire DVD) is well worth the money ;-)

Untill next post!

Another hi-jacking

2006-11-10T12:01:00.000+01:00

This time it's Knight Errant Mate in Three who's been jacked.

Viewing the whole board (a recollection)

2006-11-10T06:26:00.000+01:00

Remember when i posted sometime back about viewing the whole board (see here) (and here)? If not, just think of it as another nice little puzzle to solve. I allready gave you the theme. It is up to you to find the answer. Black to move. Mate in 4.

Highlight between brackets to see solution (hat tip Mark's "Chess Training" for providing this nifty solution to include solutions without actually showing them ;-)
[1...h2+ 2.Kxh2 Rb8 3.a6 Rh8+ 4.Kg1 Rh1#]

I'm sorry Quando

2006-11-09T09:13:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry Quando, but i'm gonna have to let you go and take you of my sidebar. For a long time i've been hoping you'ld get thing's straightened out, but the hi-jacking situation of your weblog has stayed the same eversince. It was cool to have you around, and i hope you're on the right track when it comes to improving your game. If you ever get another blog, let me know. I'll make sure to have you on my sidebar in no time. Take care!

My hero speaks. Sadly enough, a bit disheartening. Because deep down inside, i know that he's right.

2006-11-05T05:05:00.000+01:00

What you are about to read is an excerpt taken from a radio interview with Bobby Fischer on a private talk radio station in Iceland. The original recording of the interview, in which Fischer discusses other things as well, can be heard here (as long as it's available).

In chess so much depends on opening theory, so the champions before the last century did not know as much as I do and other players do about opening theory. So if you just brought them back from the dead they wouldn’t do well. They’d get bad openings. You cannot compare the playing strength, you can only talk about natural ability. Memorisation is enormously powerful. Some kid of fourteen today, or even younger, could get an opening advantage against Capablanca, and especially against the players of the previous century, like Morphy and Steinitz. Maybe they would still be able to outplay the young kid of today. Or maybe not, because nowadays when you get the opening advantage not only do you get the opening advantage, you know how to play, they have so many examples of what to do from this position. It is really deadly, and that is why I don’t like chess any more."

Morphy and Capablanca had enormous talent, Steinitz was very great too. Alekhine was great, but I am not a big fan of his. Maybe it’s just my taste. I’ve studied his games a lot, but I much prefer Capablanca and Morphy. Alekhine had a rather heavy style, Capablanca was much more brilliant and talented, he had a real light touch. Everyone I’ve spoken to who saw Capablanca play still speak of him with awe. If you showed him any position he would instantly tell you the right move. When I used to go to the Manhattan Chess Club back in the fifties, I met a lot of old-timers there who knew Capablanca, because he used to come around to the Manhattan club in the forties – before he died in the early forties. They spoke about Capablanca with awe. I have never seen people speak about any chess player like that, before or since.

Capablanca really was fantastic. But even he had his weaknesses, especially when you play over his games with his notes he would make idiotic statements like “I played the rest of the game perfectly.” But then you play through the moves and it is not true at all. But the thing that was great about Capablanca was that he really spoke his mind, he said what he believed was true, he said what he felt. He wanted to change the rules [of chess] already, back in the twenties, because he said chess was getting played out. He was right. Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorisation and prearrangement. It’s a terrible game now. Very uncreative. ~ Bobby Fischer

HAT TIP

2006-10-22T11:45:00.001+02:00

For those of you who are concerned about the loss of quality chess blogs i've got a hat tip for you; doggers●schaak. For my english speaking/reading visitors i would like to refer to it as doggers●chess. A personal favourite of mine. It even made it's appearance on the ChessBase website which published an interview with grandmaster John Nunn conducted by the weblog's author Peter Doggers.
Here is what the ChessBase website has to say about it;

Peter Doggers chess blog was launched in February this year. After just seven months it now has around five hundred unique visitors each day. The site offers a wide range of subjects: news, stories, analysis and even articles with streaming video. The highlight so far was the Olympiad 2006 coverage. The author has a rating of 2232. He achieved an IM norm in Amsterdam, 2004, beating then almost GM Daniël Stellwagen in an attractive last round game. The journalist/editor writes his blog in Dutch, and is not planning an English version soon. "But who knows," he says.

Not that I need a ChessBase article to point out the weblog's quality (i was a fan long before that), but i just thought i'd mention it.

Anyway, the ChessBase coverage is somewhat outdated, because not long after the article appeared, the author decided to start publishing in english as well. So, to my english speaking/reading visitors; If you're looking to fill the void others left behind, i can highly recommend doggers●schaak.

Untill next post!

There's a first time for everything

2006-09-27T08:30:00.000+02:00

You probably all know the saying "There's a first time for everything" (yes, another post that doesn't have anything to do with chess improvement). Well today, (or maybe it was yesterday) i showed up on the ChessBookie game leaderboard for the first time :-)

Here's the proof

For those of you who do not know what the game is about, view this earlier post. All current bets are on Kramnik-Topalov World Championship Match. So far i have made 8 bets (5 of them are still running) and got it right 3 times. The winning bets were on who would draw first blood, who would be the round 1 winner, and who would be winning after 4 games. Respective winner in descending order; Kramnik, Kramnik, Kramnik :-) (i'm with Kramnik all the way)

Anyway, my stay on the leaderboard will probably be a short one as i have made some risky recent bets on the match with a lot of chessbucks on the line. I've betted that the round 4 first move would be a 1.e4 by Topalov, i've betted on the round 4 game length (i've predicted 30-39), and i've betted on the round 4 winner (guess who i've betted on).

!

2006-09-15T07:38:00.000+02:00

I've recently switched to Blogger beta and it was brought to my attention that the URL to my RSS-feed might have changed. So if any of my faithfull readers isn't receiving my feed anymore, you might want to change the URL to one of the following;
http://beta.blogger.com/feeds/15994818/posts/full (Atom)
http://beta.blogger.com/feeds/15994818/posts/full?alt=rss (RSS)
http://beta.blogger.com/rsd.g?blogID=15994818 (RSD)

Finished tactics unit 7-11 (module 2)

2006-09-12T21:13:00.000+02:00

Yes. I have been working on PCT. And no. Not as much as i wanted to. But i think i can get back to work on it more actively again. I just finished unit 11 and am a couple of problems into unit 12. The amount of problems presented in each unit, continues to grow as you can see in the image. I started out doing 90 problems per unit, which increased to 135 at unit 8. And now at unit 12, the amount grew to 150. While it may not seem like all that much, lack of activity can make finishing a unit a daunting task. Interesting side note, International Master Attila Turzo also likes using the Personal Chess Trainer software.

Bent Larsen selling 1927 portrait of Capablanca???

2006-09-12T16:12:00.000+02:00

Apparently, legendary GM Bent Larsen is selling an original signed photograph portrait of world champion José Raúl Capablanca on eBay.

The picture is claimed to be the only existing portrait of the world champion from the period when he was challenged by Alexander Alekhine. In fact it was taken on the day before the start of the match. It goes without saying we are talking about a very unique item. An item I personally would like to hold on to. So what's up with that? Is the man in need of money? The starting bid stands at US $22,000 plus $50 shipping costs. At the time of the article which brought the selling to my attention, at ChessBase, you had only five days left to place your bids. Which makes it about three now. Too bad i don't have US $22,000 to spend.

Blogger beta

2006-09-10T11:20:00.000+02:00

I've switched to Blogger beta. It promises all kinds of new stuff. Like customizing the design of your blog.

If only they were able to complete my request.

It goes without saying i've tried more then once. But from the looks of thing's, it seems i'm not going to be pimping my blog today. Anybody else made the switch?

So i got this email...

2006-09-10T06:11:00.000+02:00

from DGT Projects (equipment provider to Vladimir Kramnik), asking me for a link and/or review of their ChessTheatre PGN Viewer & Publisher
. So here you have it. The PGN viewer & publisher requires that you have your own little webspace to upload it to. Webspace should be provided with your Internet connection. My best guess is that uploading it to some free web host will not work, because you need an ftp adress etc. etc. Then again, i'm not that much of a whiz kid when it comes to the Internet, so i can't say for sure if it's really out of the question. If you are more of a whiz kid then i am with time to spare, be my guest and see if you can get it to work on a free webhost. Anyway, it really is a great viewer/publisher for your games. Click the link and see/try it out for yourself.

Now what do i get in return for taking time out and advertise for free?

Question

2006-09-04T11:28:00.000+02:00

Anyone of my readers familiar with this software?

Six World Champions
I have come across it (surfing the web) on a number of occasions and i would like to know your opinion about it. Especially when you have real experience with it. At first glance it looks interesting enough to make me want to purchase it.

ChessVille Free Playing Zone (and an update on what's happening)

2006-08-30T10:36:00.000+02:00

While visiting ChessVille a couple of days ago, it came to my attention that the site offers it's own place to play (live) chess. It seems they had it up in the past and closed it down for whatever reason (atleast that is what i understand from what i've read). And now they've brought it back (i don't know the exact date when, but it was news to me)! The server makes use of Flash, so there are no downloads required. Here's a screenshot.

You're free to try as a guest. And in my opinion, it's a much better place to play then Yahoo! Chess (i still don't understand why it's so popular) who offers a similar kind of playing experience (as in "Flash"). Ofcourse, Yahoo! offers great services. But chess is just not one of them. Anyway, if you want to try it out, click on the link.

Chessville Free Playing Zone
As for me, i am having a difficult time finding time to sit down in front of the computer and continue working on PCT. If i do find the time, i find myself being either too tired (to the point where all i want to do is just lie down and fall asleep), having a serious headache, or trying to manage all of the turn-based correspondence type games i've got going across the web (let's hope practice compensates somewhat for not actually studying). But i hope i soon get the chance to get back to active studuty :-)

So don't take me of your sidebars just yet ;-) Start worrying when i still haven't posted after half a year or so.

Some books i am thinking about purchasing

2006-08-03T07:10:00.000+02:00

- Chess Exam And Training Guide, Igor Khmelnitsky
- Chess for Fun and Chess for Blood, Edward Lasker
- Creative Chess Strategy, Alfonso Romero
- Chess Mazes, Bruce Albertson
- Chess for Zebras, Jonathan Rowson
- Chess Self-improvement, Zenon Franco
- Chess Praxis, A. Nimzowitsch
- My System 21st Century Edition, A. Nimzowitsch
- Judgment and Planning in Chess, Max Euwe
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Bronstein & Furstenberg
- The art of planning, Neil McDonald
- How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess Mastery Course (Exp. 3rd Edition), Jeremy Silman
- The Reassess Your Chess Workbook, Jeremy Silman
- The Art of Logical Thinking, Neil McDonald
- Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953, David Bronstein
- Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played, Irving Chernev
- Understanding Chess Move by Move, John Nunn
- 50 Essential Chess Lessons, Steve Giddins
- Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces, Igor Stohl
- Alexander Alekhine's Best Games: Algebraic Edition, A. Alekhine
- Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions, Pal Benko, Jeremy Silman
- Super Nezh, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Alex Pishkin
- The Middlegame - Book One: Static Features, Max Euwe, H. Kramer, Lou Hays
- The Middlegame - Book Two: Dynamic & Subjective Features, Max Euwe, H. Kramer, Lou Hays
- Art of Attack in Chess, Vladimir Vukovic
- Pawn Structure Chess, Andrew Soltis
- Simple Chess, Michael Stean
- The Amateur's Mind, Jeremy Silman
- Winning Chess Brilliancies, Yasser Seirawan
- Winning Chess Endings, Yasser Seirawan

These are some books that i am thinking about purchasing. Are any of my readers familiar with any of these books? Are they good? Are they bad? Are they the "must have" one's? Or if you have any other suggestions (i am allready familiar with the basics), do not hesitate to let me know, because i want to start a small (personal) chess book library. And hopefully even read them someday ;-)

P.S. I am also very interested in books that can be read without a board.

(Note! This post is subject to editing)

Grandmaster vs Amateur (another game left unfinished)

2006-08-01T09:21:00.000+02:00

[White "Dembo, Yelena"]
[Black "E"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2464"]
[BlackElo "----"
[EventType "game (corr)"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bc4 c6 6. exd6 Qxd6 7. O-O Bg7 8. h3
O-O 9. Re1 Re8 10. Nbd2 Nd7 11. Bb3 N7f6 12. Nc4 Qc7 13. Nce5 Nd7

(final position with an advantage for White)

Shit happens, still... After all this time.

2006-07-29T10:59:00.000+02:00

My first IECG server based tournament game just ended in a loss. And what a loss. Check out the final position;

I resigned immediately after. It is hard to recover from losses like these. Makes me want to give up this game called chess all together. After all this time i invested into it, and much more... Sh*t like this still happens.

IECG takes it to the web

2006-07-28T03:34:00.000+02:00

As a big fan of server based correspondence type chess play, i was pleased to find out that IECG has now taken it to the web, giving members the oppurtunity to play through a server.

A little info about IECG;

The IECG: With over 10,000 members the International E-mail Chess Group comes is the #2 largest (unofficial) CC club, next to the (officially reckognized) ICCF, and operates as a 100% volunteer-based organization and does not charge fees of any kind. The IECG features tournaments such as “class” events, 2-game matches, Quads and Thematic Tournaments. A “Thematic” tournament involves nothing more than a series of pre-arranged moves to which all players agree. The “real” game starts at the end of this sequence. Thematic events, as the name implies, illustrate some particular opening. All players should know that these clubs do not “teach you to play chess”. You must already know the rules of the game beforehand.

When it comes to correspondence chess via E-mail, IECG is one of the most esteemed servers with 8 years of experience and a rapid increase in the number of members each year. IECG provides Internet users with the opportunity to play rated email chess games with people all over the world for free. Joining IECG is easy, all you need to do is to log on the website and fill in some details. Then an experienced tutor from tutorials office will train you in a friendly atmosphere and when he/she makes sure that you are ready to play, you get your IECG ID to join any IECG event any time during the year.

Anyway, i have been a member of IECG (of which i think you should be a member of if you are anywhere near serious about correspondence type chess play) for quite some time now, and received numerous invitations to participate in events/tournaments played via E-mail. The way IECG intended it to be. But i never participated in any of them. I would have eventually, but at the time submitting moves and playing the game strictly by way of E-mail seemed too much of a hassle, and i was secretly hoping they would turn server based. And now they have :-)
I'm playing my first IECG server based (open) tournament as we speak.

This post should also be of interest to Knight Errant J'adoube, who (since he also became somewhat of a correspondence type chess play fan) mentioned somewhere he would like to expose himself to different levels of opposition, particularly stronger levels. And in that case, i would like to recommend registering at IECG. IECG houses players like John C. Knudsen, Simon Webb, Jorge Rodriguez and Dieter Gutsche, to name a few. Ofcourse it's not very likely you will face these players, but the fact is IECG houses the more serious correspondence chess player, assuring strong competition.

A few impressions;

As you can see, these are impressions from the tournament i enrolled in + my current ranking. Though my current ranking doesn't say much since i haven't completed any games yet. But i have to say i am very pleased with the way thing's look/feel/work.

Anyway, if you're interested in playing correspondence type chess on a more serious note, make sure not to pass up on IECG.

Untill next post ;-)

Finished tactics unit 6 (module 2)

2006-07-25T19:45:00.000+02:00

Finished tactics unit 4 & 5 (module 2)

2006-07-24T03:15:00.000+02:00

Finished tactics unit 3 (module 2)

2006-07-19T22:20:00.000+02:00

Finished tactics unit 2 (module 2)

2006-07-18T22:18:00.000+02:00

Learn from E's mistakes (Prt.1)

2006-07-18T11:41:00.000+02:00

As far as i know, it is very rare that people show off games they lost due to blunders/mistakes they made. Hey, i do ;-)
And why shouldn't you? The blunders/mistakes are usually painfull enough to not want to be reminded of ever again. But the fact that blunders/mistakes can be instructional made me come up with the idea to start a series of posts dedicated to them, called "Learn from E's mistakes". To kick off with a
recent blunder which will show you that leaving your King exposed, might come back to haunt you. It also goes to show you, that i can play just as bad as i can play good (whatever that means). The game is annotated for your enjoyment.

Finished tactics unit 1 (module 2)

2006-07-17T21:31:00.000+02:00

I've recovered somewhat and started working on the 2nd tactics module.

A lifetime (or two)

2006-07-10T08:21:00.000+02:00

as i was adding this post to my notebook, i realized i probably have enough training/study material to keep me busy atleast a lifetime (or two). And i didn't even include everything...

Finished tactics module 1 (sigh)

2006-07-09T17:30:00.000+02:00

It took me a while, but i finally pulled trough. I might wrap up (and publish) a few more posts i have in the making today (or maybe tommorow), and then i'll probably give everything a rest for a while. I need rest. I'm not doing so good for a while now. My back is troubling me again amongst other thing's.

Knight (J'adoube) vs ex-Knight (me) Challenge 0,5-0,5

2006-06-24T08:08:00.000+02:00

Another Knight challenge has come to an end. This time my challenger was none other then graduate Knight 'J'adoube' playing as 'jbedenbaugh'. The games were played over at Net-Chess. A perfect match as the outcome of the games would suggest. I really enjoyed the games Jádoube! Let me know if you ever want to have another go at it.

Knight (J'adoube) vs ex-Knight (me) Challenge 0,5-0,5 (click to replay)

Grandmaster vs Amateur (update)

2006-06-17T07:30:00.000+02:00

Remember my turn-based games vs the Iranian (residing in France) Grandmaster Amir Bagheri i previously posted about? Well, they have come to an end. After the Grandmaster put the games on hold, he decided not to return at all, thus forfeiting the games. Technically you could say i've won both games (with the emphasis on "technically"), but i rather consider the games to have no outcome. Too bad, as i felt i had an interesting game going as White. The following diagram is the final position of me playing as White.

Less interesting was my game as Black, as i felt the position was starting to look pretty bad. Take a look at the diagram.

You can replay the games (with some annotation) to their final positions here. Anyway, all is not lost. I still got a game going with women's Grandmaster Yelena Dembo over at GameKnot :-)

Finished tactics unit 49 (module 1)

2006-06-05T05:46:00.000+02:00

Finished tactics unit 46 to 48 (module 1)

2006-06-04T04:46:00.000+02:00

Finished tactics unit 41 to 45 (module 1)

2006-05-24T10:57:00.000+02:00

Andrew Martin and The Basics of Winning Chess Middlegame Tips 2. Play with a plan & square control

2006-05-23T06:13:00.000+02:00

I got around to watching the second video of the second chapter on middlegametips, in which Andrew Martin shows an examplary game displaying the chapter's theme "playing with a plan and square control" (click here for the introductionary post). It is a game played between Jose Raul Capablanca and Philip Stuart Milner-Barry. Main point of focus should be on Capablanca's play with the theme in mind.

P.S. I could have probably made this a more attractive post but i'm too tired.

Finished tactics unit 40 (module 1)

2006-05-23T05:00:00.000+02:00

Another reason to visit ChessGames.com

2006-05-21T07:15:00.000+02:00

Need a reason to visit ChessGames.com? Personally, their chess games database alone is more then enough reason for me to visit. But if you're the kind of person that is looking for some fun on the side, maybe their betting game will do the trick for you. You get to predict real-world professional chess events and bet on them using "chessbucks". If you register for an account (you can register for free as well), you'll receive a 1000 chessbucks to get you started. If you can pick the winners, your chessbucks account will grow and grow. If you're really good, you'll see your name in lights on our Leaderboard, for others to admire. And if you're the best of the best, you will be immortalized in our Hall of Fame (okay, so i coppied some of the explanatory text from ChessGames.com). I am currently ranked #377 (handle is 'Edwin Meyer') -870 chessbucks and into the loanshark for 1,180 :-(

Ready to place a bet yet? (click here)

Like Father, Like Daughter

2006-05-20T10:20:00.000+02:00

Ya'll probably know about this one allready, but i just came across it. Seems like an interesting follow up to her father's book. Especially since Susan is one of my favourite female players. For more information and reviews, go here.

Finished tactics unit 39 (module 1)

2006-05-20T09:14:00.000+02:00

Training history window's working again :-)
Seems my anonymous friend was right. In the previous post my anonymous friend commented that i should make a back-up, which can be done within the program, and then re-install it. Atleast i guess that's what he/she meant. At first i wanted to wait untill i finished module 1. But i decided afterwards i wanted to give it a try right away, which i did. And it worked. Problem solved :-)

Finished tactics unit 38 (module 1)

2006-05-19T04:57:00.000+02:00

It's a little different from the training history window, but it'll do. Unless i re-install the program, the error that causes the training history window not to show, stays. And since re-installing means resetting as well, i am not going to. The program works fine otherwise, so...

Finished tactics unit 37 (module 1)

2006-05-18T07:42:00.000+02:00

You're gonna have to take my word for it this time (and maybe from now on) because i am getting an error message when i am trying to view the history window :-(

Finished tactics unit 36 (module 1)

2006-05-16T08:47:00.000+02:00

I believe i'm on a roll ;-)

Finished tactics unit 35 (module 1)

2006-05-16T05:39:00.000+02:00

Finished tactics unit 34 (module 1)

2006-05-15T05:46:00.000+02:00

Finished tactics unit 33 (module 1)

2006-05-14T10:04:00.000+02:00

Finished a module in one run for a change. Results were kind of lousy though... The unit was a mix of ~~1 move~~ 2 move mate problems and 4 move mate problems. I guess it's because i've been doing 4 move mate problems for quite some time now and being focussed on them, because i was having a hard time solving the ~~1 move~~ 2 move mate problems all of a sudden, while they are suposed to be easier. I do have to say i let my performance be dictated mainly by the minute (per problem) i was given to solve them. I was given a minute and a half for the 4 move mate problems, but they were much easier to solve within the given time span. Does this switching reaction sound familiar to anyone of my readers? Ofcourse it could've been that i just had a bad hair day ;-)

Finished tactics unit 32 (module 1)

2006-05-12T08:05:00.000+02:00

Gambit talk

2006-05-08T04:22:00.000+02:00

Recent talk of gambits by fellow chess bloggers Quandoman and Blue Devil has caused a gambit, which i tucked away in the back of my mind, to resurface. The gambit was originally known as the Mueller-Schultze gambit. Nowadays it is better known as the Halloween gambit (see diagram).

The position in the diagram is reached after the following moves; 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5?! Though it can also be reached after starting out 1. Nc3 e5 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nxe5?! To avoid the more common "other" reply's when you start out 1.e4.
Anyway, if there is one gambit i really have a thing for, it's this one. Eversince i first layed eyes on it. To my knowledge, it is one of the most daring, radical and provocative gambits i've come across. And it's provocativeness (or better yet, it's boldness) is probably one of the main reasons why i like this gambit so much. Now, what does White gain after exchanging his Knight for the pawn? A beautifull center. But that's not all, you also get to rapidly develop your pieces, and not let your opponent develop (as in hindering/slowing it down). And the latter completely equalizes the game just a few moves after having sacrificed the Knight.
A certain Steffen A. Jakob, German chessplayer and computer programmer was probably just as touched by this gambit and created Brause. Brause was a clone of the chess program Crafty loaded with a Halloween gambit opening book and played more than 3000 internet games in the period from 1996 to 1998 in which it scored 72 %. Really, this gambit is not as unsound as it may look. But you definitely have to know your way around the board.
Anyway, i played a few Halloween gambits myself quite some time ago. Won some, lost most. Decided to leave it alone. But in reality, it was always there. Ready to be played again. I was intrigued by it. And i still am! So, after these recent gambit talks, i decided to pick it up again and try and play it occasionally. As an "on the side" kind of thing. I mean, hell! What else am i studying all these tactics for? I might as well try and force them upon my oponent instead of waiting for them to occur. I mean, i'm not a Grandmaster. And if i think realistically, i shall never be one. So why not have fun?
An article about an encounter with David Bronstein brings about the following; Bronstein played the first two moves of the King's gambit on the display board. "This is what you should play," he said. "This is what you can learn about chess. Play for fun. Play the King's gambit." As for openings popular with grandmasters, he said, "They're boring. Look at this. Nowadays they play something like this." He played out the first three or four moves of a Nimzo-Indian Defense and an English opening. "This is popular with the grandmasters. But it's boring."
Anyway, i leave y'all with an examplary game showing just how deadly the Halloween gambit can be.

Finished tactics unit 31 (module 1)

2006-05-05T06:11:00.000+02:00

Still 4 move mates and some re-runs :-)

Crackers for breakfast

2006-05-04T07:34:00.000+02:00

Don't you just hate it when you're all alone, studying tactics and all of a sudden someone walks in, sits down right behind you and starts eating crackers for breakfast?

1.e4 c5 2.Na3!?

2006-04-29T12:38:00.000+02:00

After reading more and more about this unusual move order to meet the Sicilian as White, I too had to try it out. This game was ofcourse not played at Vadim Zvjaginsev level (who is said to be specializing himself in this opening) and i do not know the strength of my opponent, but i liked the game it brought about. I might even try it out again ;-)

P.S. The game's annotation after 2.Na3 should read that i like being out of book that early in the game, so that it's every man for himself :-) Because it is not just getting the game out of book that counts, it is how you get the game out of book that counts. Well, that's my opinion anyway...

Oh, and many thanks to ChessGames.com for sharing their self-made pieceset for use with the viewer i use to show games. They use the same viewer, so...

One month of ICC - Looking back

2006-04-29T10:22:00.000+02:00

As mentioned in this post, i got a free month's acces to the Internet Chess Club. Now, i've gotten a free month's acces before, so it wasn't like it was completely new to me, but i still would like to take a look back. I played a lot of shitty games. Mostly due to not being able to play under (for me) ideal circumstances. Ideal meaning (in this case) not being able to concentrate enough. And if there is one thing i rely on during a game, it's my concentration. When it breaks, i screw up. But i got to play some decent games as well, luckely :-)
I mostly played against high rated bots at standard time control... At the times i was on, there were few or no actual people willing to play games with standard time controls, so... And as far as playing titled players goes, i got my butt kicked by a couple of them :-) Including GM Wang Hao. Who, by the way, is a really cool guy. I also tried to get a game with GM Boris Alterman, as well as with GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Pentala Harikrishna and IM Ben Finegold. Which were al no-no's. They acted pretty stuck-up. Not that that was anything new... It seems that a lot of titled players have that attitude in common when it comes to playing a "nobody" like me. There was also this incident where i was branded as a cheater and i wasn't allowed to play rated anymore. At one occasion when i was on i simultaniously played a game on ICC as well as on Playchess (as a guest). But i played on Playchess through ChessBase 9, which caused me to swith back and forth inbetween ICC and ChessBase 9. I don't know how, but ICC is able to monitor what you've got running. And they monitored me running ChessBase 9. Which makes me feel quite uncomfortable. What if i got some porn running :-)
That's a joke. Though i am not gonna deny watching it ;-)
Anyway, i got into a pretty big fuzz about it with one really pigheaded admin, who kept insisting i read the help files on computers. Just so i could tell him i've read them and that i wouldn't do it again. Do what again? I'm no cheater! I allready explained the matter to him in detail. But still he wanted to hear me tell him i've read the help files and that i wouldn't do it again. Which i refused :-)
The discussion ended in quite some name calling, after which i went and looked up another admin, who got the job done without a fuzz, and without being pigheaded...
Anyway, i am kinda glad it is over with. Cause by trying to take advantage of this free month's acces and play a lot, i kinda ignored PCT. Now i can finally get back to work on it actively again... And for those interested, i included an image showing my ICC results of one month's play.

Andrew Martin and The Basics of Winning Chess Middlegame Tips 2. Play with a plan & square control

2006-04-23T08:04:00.000+02:00

It has been a while since i posted anything new of my experiences with the Andrew Martin's Basics of Winning Chess DVD, but i've been watching the first video of the second chapter on middlegame tips entitled; "Play with a plan & square control". Andrew Martin starts off by telling you that you should always play with a plan. A plan in his words, is simply stated some idea of where you're going, and what you're going to do next. The clash of plans over the board (or on screen for that matter) is one of the most interesting aspects of the game of chess. So he says :-) Ideally, plans should be flexible and adaptable. So start simply, with short range ideas. As you gain experience you'll automaticly deepen your planning skills. There's no actual substitute for playing chess to develop this ability. No amount of study is going to teach you like your own games. Therefore A. Martin's advice for developing planning skills is to play more. And that concludes "play with a plan". To continue with "square control" and putting your pieces on good squares. A.Martin starts off with the question what exactly a good square is, and tells you that many great players seem to find good squares for their pieces with ease. They put a piece down and it just seems perfectly posted. So why is that skill not available to all of us (A. Martin asks)? Have you heard of the "square control theory" (to tell you the truth, i didn't)? It may be a bit of a mechanical rather robotic method, but it will help you determine what is a good square for a piece and what is not. After which A. Martin shows you the following commented examples.

If you are tho choose wether to start a game with 1.Nf3 or 1.Nh3, which would be the better move? Well, sheer number crunching would determine that 1.Nf3 would be the better move. In the first example the highlighted squares shows you the number of squares the Knight controls from h3, which is four. But looking at the Knight on f3

we can see the Knight controls actually eight squares. So by putting a piece in the center at the start of the game, you actually doubled the effectiveness of that piece! Maybe a very usefull idea for you to think about. One more example of that plan;

Let's say the opening is as followed; 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 after which White must determine a good square for his light squared Bishop (that is if you want to play out your Bishop on the third move). You could put the Bishop on e2.

There the Bishop controls five squares. If you put the Bishop on d3,

the Bishop controls the same five squares. But if you put the Bishop on c4,

how many squares does the Bishop control then? The same five squares plus three. Which makes eight! Significantly increasing the range and effectiveness of that piece. And if you put the Bishop on b5,

we see that the Bishop controls six or seven squares if you count the attack on the Knight. So that is why Bishop to c4 or b5 are the most popular choices in this position. Simply because the piece is placed most effectively. So if you want to pick up a piece and place it most effectively, count the number of squares it controls. It's a very usefull way of looking at the game. A. Martin concludes with a final usefull piece of advice; If you really can't think of what to do in a game of chess (taking into account there are certain positions which baffle us all), just keep it simple, improve the position of your worst placed piece. Pick up a piece which you percieve to be on the worst square and improve the effectiveness of that piece. Usually this involves some centralization. Now, all these ideas may seem very basic, but the point is; They really do work. Therefore A. Martin urges you to think about them closely in your own games.

Well, that concludes the first video (chapter is divided into two) of "playing with a plan and square control". Personally, i found it to be very usefull. Even though it is very basic. Anyway, if you enjoyed the post (hope i didn't overdo the tilted text parts), do not hesitate to let me know. Because i also create these posts hoping they will be of use to others wanting to learn a thing or two about the game of chess.

Untill next time ;-)

Finished tactics unit 30 (module 1)

2006-04-21T05:58:00.000+02:00

I just finished tactics unit 30 of tactics module 1. Mostly 4 move mate problems again, but this time around they were less frustrating. Even though exhaustion is getting the better of me. I've got a lot of sh*t on my mind which is taking it's toll. And it is hard to combine that with something as excruciating as studying chess. It is getting harder and harder to solve problems and to 'not' play sh*tty games. The past couple of days i've been on a serious blunder streak in my turn-based games (whoever thought a serious blunder was possible in a turn-based game?), and my live games aren't going much better either! I just sit there in front of that screen, and i just don't see anything anymore. I think i see it, but i don't. And it's pretty hard to deal with the frustration that goes along with it...

Two Knight's The Bobby Fischer Way :-)

2006-04-18T04:24:00.000+02:00

After going through some Giuoco Piano games at ChessGames.com, which included a game played by Bobby Fischer (which isn't a Giuoco Piano game at all btw), i logged on to the Playchess server to play this game (click to replay). I was looking to play a Giuoco Piano as White, but it turned into a Two Knights Defence. As was the game played by Bobby Fischer (playing the White side). It must have gotten stuck in the back of my mind (and why wouldn't it), because if you compare the games, you'll find some similarities. Atleast during the opening stages ;-) Love the attack!

Now, i know there are a bunch of moves for which i could have found better ones. I analyzed the game allready (up to some point), so... But you have to know that the problem with me playing blitz is that i take too much time. Which gets me into time trouble. After which my moves become hasty choices. But enough with the excuses. The chessviewer appeared to be having problems with the (better move) variations i put in, so i am unable to show them. There is some annotation however...

Knight (Phorku) vs ex-Knight (me) Challenge 0-1

2006-04-17T04:28:00.000+02:00

I've recently won another Knight challenge against Phorku over at Net-Chess... Phorku (White) to move, resigned in a lost position.

Knight (Phorku) vs ex-Knight (me) Challenge 0-1 (click to replay)

P.S. Good game Phorku! If you want a rematch just let me know, okay?

So much for my National Master challenge :-(

2006-04-16T05:27:00.000+02:00

What i was afraid of still happened. The National Master stopped moving... Too bad :-(

Here are the final positions.

White (Me) Black (the National Master)

White (the National Master) Black (Me)

As you can see, we were still in the early opening stages. Anyway, i've got myself another nice challenge instead... I came to find out WGM Yelena Dembo started playing on GameKnot. I knew she played at other places where i tried to challenge her before, but was unable to because of restrictions here, restrictions there, restrictions everywhere :-)
Anyway, thanks to GameKnot i finally got a chance to play against her, and this is the current position.

I'm Black.

The position arose from a (B04) Alekhine's Defense. Though i probably should have known better then to play Alekhine's Defense against a WGM. On the other hand, i guess it doesn't really matter...There's a 99.9% chance i will get thrashed no matter what opening i use :-) And i'm probably still giving myself too much of a chance here :-)

My games vs the (men's) Grandmaster are also still active, though they are currently on hold due to the Grandmaster having taken some time off.

Keep y'all posted.

P.S. No kibitzing please ;-)

Finished tactics unit 29 (module 1)

2006-04-15T07:53:00.000+02:00

Today i finished tactics unit 29 of tactics module 1. Have been speeding up a little. For a while now, PCT has me solving 4 move mate problems. They can be pretty frustrating. I still wonder what kind of excersises PCT will have me doing when i reach the first module of unit 6. 40 move mate problems?? Anyway, PCT does have me recognizing certain theme's or patterns for a while now, so it's definitely paying off...

Let me show you a couple of problems that handle the theme's/patterns i'm refering to. Maybe you like to try them out for yourself.

Black to move (mate in 4). Hint; The theme is called "smothered mate".

And another one

White to move (mate in 4). Hint; While i'm not exactly sure what it is the theme is called, it has to do with co-operating Bishops :-)

Have fun solving ;-)

A new (as far as i know) live chess server!

2006-04-07T07:07:00.000+02:00

There's a new (as far as i know) live chess server in town... It is called Infinia Chess. And it's free! It also makes use of client software, just like FICS and ICC. The interface is pretty basic, but hey! Like i said; It's free! I just registered myself and logged in to have a look around. The user number was pretty low though, which probably has to do with the fact that it's new? Or maybe every chessplayer in the world was asleep for once ;-)
Anyway, if you like to check it out, click the above mentioned link.

P.S. Don't forget to download the soundfiles. They can be found in the support forum.

Finished tactics unit 28 (module 1)

2006-04-07T05:57:00.000+02:00

Today i finished tactics unit 28 of tactics module 1. I've been slowing down again, due to wanting to take advantage of this free month's access to ICC, which will last untill 29th of April. Anyway, it could have been just one of those days, but unit 28 got to be pretty frustrating. But what was even more frustrating, is the fact that i tried to upload the screenshot image for more then half an hour before it finally did!

400 points in 400 days? How about 400 points in one game?

2006-03-30T08:13:00.000+02:00

I just played a 10 minute blitz game on ICC and my rating went from 1500+ to 1900+

Now there's a sweet deal if you ask me :-)

Ofcourse this is only due to the fact that it was the very first game i played (and won) and probably having to do with that RD stuff and all, thus giving me a one time boost. But it's cool nonetheless :-)

I told y'all i was gonna kick some ass ;-)

Woohoo! I got another free month at ICC :-)

2006-03-30T07:12:00.000+02:00

As a former "free" member of Chess21 which due to a hacker attack moved to ICC and get some kind of joint venture thing going, i was entitled to atleast a free month's play at ICC. Former "paying" members get more advantages ofcourse :-(

Anyway, i just installed the software and i am ready to kick some ass ;-)
It will probably interfere with my training for the coming month, since i want to take advantage of the free month's play. Now let's see which titled player i can get to play this time ;-)

I wonder if i also get a similar deal over at Playchess, since there was also talk of a joint venture with them. I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Interested to see how a master trains?

2006-03-29T05:16:00.000+02:00

In an earlier post i mentioned i started playing games against a National Master. Now, that same National Master is putting his training on display. And for those who are interested to see how a master trains, i suggest you start following his posts @ chesstrainingblog.com. And for those of you (especially Knights Errant members) that missed or overlook my previous post, you might want to place me somewhere else on your sidebar since i am no longer a Knight.

P.S. In the games i'm playing against the National Master, the National Master is moving :-)
In the post i refered to above, i mentioned i was afraid i was going to win the games due to him not making a move because he's a busy guy. I hope this proves i'm wrong, cause i really want to play atleast one complete game against him...

I'm giving up knighthood

2006-03-24T07:37:00.000+01:00

After having questioned my knighthood for quite some time now, i have come to decide i am giving up on it. Since i am doing nothing really de la Maza like, as in circlish, concentric squarish things and all that, i really do not see much of a reason for me to stay on. Sure i am on a quest to try and significantly improve my chess game, but not through de la Maza's exact method's. Now, it is not like i think that the Knights aren't cool or anything, and that being part of it isn't cool, cause they are cool, and being part of it is cool. In fact i think they are a very unique kind of band. And what really makes them unique, is their shared de la Maza religion/belief, and being on their so-called knightly quests, following in the footsteps of de la Maza to become eventual Knights Errant hall of famers (can't think of any other way to describe it). And even though i might make use of some of de la Maza's methods (in time and on my own pace), i really do not feel i am much of an addition to the Knights Errant. So i've come to make this decision.

The Knight(side)bar will remain on my blog and i will keep it up to date and i will be keeping track of all your posts as i always did (nothing will change for that matter), and i would appreciate remaining on your sidebars as well :-)

Anyway, i would like to wish you all the best the best on your knightly quests, and let us toast to the improvement of our beloved game ;-)

Finished tactics unit 27 (module 1)

2006-03-24T05:38:00.000+01:00

...

It's on!

2006-03-22T11:48:00.000+01:00

The games against USCF National Master Jeff Ashton have begun. Something tells me i am going to win both games :-)
How? Well, i hope i am wrong, but he started a bunch of games in which his challengers made their moves and he never made his. Thus forfeiting them on time. And because of that, i feel it's highly likely that the same thing will happen in our games.
He's probably a busy guy (which is understandable in his position), but i do hope to play a complete game (or two) against him...
By the way, all is still equal in my games vs the Grandmaster :-)
Though i am more happy with my white game then with my black game. Have a look at the current positions. In the first diagram i'm playing white. In the second one i'm playing black (duh). Please, do not comment about possible lines and/or continuations.

Black to move.

White to move.

About to play my second USCF National Master (turn-based)

2006-03-19T08:34:00.000+01:00

After coming across chesstrainingblog.com and commenting on some of the posts, i got in touch with it's author Jeffrey Ashton. Who happens to be a USCF National Master. After exchanging some emails, i got him to sign up on ChessHere so we could play some games. He will be the second USCF National Master i get to play over the Internet. The first USCF National Master i played against was Michael Aigner a.k.a. "fpawn". Unfortunatly, the games we played were cut short, no thanks to a certain webmaster (click to replay the games)... Anyway, i am really looking forward to play against Jeffrey Ashton, and add him as another titled player on my list of titled players i've played :-)
I'll keep y'all posted.

Finished tactics unit 26 (module 1)

2006-03-17T00:10:00.000+01:00

Felt i needed to re-edit some older posts, so don't pay attention to them if they show up on whatever type of RSS feed reader you use, and when you allready seen them.

Knight (me) vs Knight (generalkaia) Challenge 2-0

2006-03-11T07:22:00.000+01:00

Again, it wasn't much of a game (kaia forfeited on time once more), so i will only show you the litlle notation and a diagram of the final position (just as i did with my previous game against kaia).

[Event "m1136856424"]
[Site "net-chess.com"]
[Date "2006.01.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "cthigpen"]
[Black "dutchdefence"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "1500"]
[BlackElo "1500"]
[EventType "game (corr)"]

1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 Bb4 5. Bd3 Nf6 Reaching the following position after white (kaia) forfeits on time.

0-1

Time for a change...

2006-03-10T07:10:00.000+01:00

I am changing the looks of my blog again, so bare with me. Everybody will be back on the sidebar eventually...

Finished tactics unit 25 (module 1)

2006-03-09T03:07:00.000+01:00

...

Proof of improvement? Let's take a look at the evidence. Exhibit #1: All the right moves.

2006-03-08T04:54:00.000+01:00

After having having juggled with the idea of adding a d-pawn opening to my repertoire in my head for quite a long time, and coming across one of my liking today (by accident), i finally decided to go ahead and add one.
Now, i went over the Queens Gambit accepted as well as declined, to Queens Pawn's games and Torre attack's, but they just didn't touch me, you know? There's this something i need to feel when i choose an opening. Then it finally hit me. The Catalan. I came across it by accident and i felt this something :-)
But to make a long story short, i decided to try it out right away after having quickly gone over 3 or so games (click to replay the games). The first game is annotated and also the one in which i put most of the little mental energy i had left (cause i am soooo tired lately), causing me to play a whoooole lot less sharp in the other 2 games. Luckely, my opponents in those 2 weren't very sharp themselves :-)
Now, the reason for the title of this post (specificly the "all the right moves" part), is because i managed to play 10 consecutive book moves in the first game without having any theoratical knowledge of the opening at all. To some of you that might not seem like a big of a deal. But to me it is, since i am not doing any opening study at all. But somehow, by applying the basics and this simplistic approach (action/reaction) i mentioned a few posts ago, i feel i start to develop a feel for (atleast) the opening when i play, so... Proof of improvement?

Another example of viewing the whole board (from one of my own games)

2006-03-04T08:27:00.000+01:00

I thought the following game would make a nice example of viewing the whole board (a subject i have been watching on the Andrew Martin ChessBase DVD). Particularly near the end, when i switch from one side to the other. It is a game i played against a 1600+ USCF rated player whom i have known for quite some time now. Anyway, if you're interested in the game, then click the link. The finish is pretty nice if i say so myself.

BTW, i have adjusted the board colors. I found that the previous colors didn't really go easy on the eyes. I find that the current colors do. Let me know what you think.

(click to replay the game)

Knight (me) vs Knight (generalkaia) Challenge 1-0

2006-03-04T01:08:00.000+01:00

Since it wasn't much of a game (generalkaia forfeited on time), i decided not to take the trouble to post a replayable game. Instead, i give you the little moves made, and a diagram of the final position.

1.b2-b3 e7-e5 2.Lc1-b2 Pb8-c6 3.e2-e3

1-0

Question...

2006-03-03T07:57:00.000+01:00

Does being good at mathematics really make a difference when it comes to playing chess? Will being good at it improve your game more then someone who's not good at it? Cause to tell you the truth, i hated it (and sucked at it because of that). Just wondering...

Test results are looking promising :-)

2006-03-03T07:43:00.000+01:00

You're Garry Kasparov! The highest rated player of

all time, you were the 13th World Champion at

22, but broke away from FIDE to start your

own chess organisation. Now no-one is sure

who's World Champion any more, but it's

probably you. Or Kramnik. No, you. OK, maybe

Anand. Or Shirov. But you have better PR than

those guys.

Which Chess World Champion Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Andrew Martin and The Basics of Winning Chess Middlegame Tips 1. View the whole board

2006-03-01T20:07:00.000+01:00

It has been a while since i posted about the Andrew Martin ChessBase DVD i am watching, which is due to always having limited time to spend on studying chess, which in turn causes you to choose what to do, and when to do it everytime. Anyway, i have now reached the middlegame section, in which Andrew Martin hands out tips on the middlegame. Now, the middlegame section consists of 3 examples that show the importance of viewing the whole board. Let us start with example one.

Example one

In example one Andrew Martin tells you, that as a coach, he encounters a lot of players who concentrate too much on one specific area of the board. And that because of that, they miss oppurtunities that have arisen elsewhere on the board. Now, take a look at the above position and try to find out what the best continuation is. It is black to move. You can find the solutions to the examples at the end of this post. But take some time and try to figure it out for yourself first. You might improve your game with it :-)

Example two

Example two is from an actual game between Karpov (white) and Taimanov (black) played in 1977, which goes to show you it takes a tremendous vision of the whole board to come up with something like Taimanov did. Once again, take some time and try to figure it out for yourself. It's black to move.

Now, the third and final example is in fact a complete game in which white displays tremendous board vision throughout the entire game (click to replay). To end this middlegame section, Andrew Martin leaves you with a usefull exercise and a tip, which he also recommends to all of his students. The exercise is, that before the start of a game, you should run your eyes along the perimiters of the board a few times, in order to stimulate your board vision. And the tip is, that before the start of a game you could try and splash some cold water on your eyebrows, which keep the eyes and brains fresh.

Solution to example one.
Solution to example two.

Finished tactics unit 24 (module 1)

2006-02-23T14:08:00.000+01:00

...

Finished tactics unit 23 (module 1)

2006-02-15T05:27:00.000+01:00

Finished unit 23, moving on to 24...

Knight (me) vs Knight (Satish) Challenge 2-0

2006-02-13T05:16:00.000+01:00

I've won both Knight challenges against Satish (which were also the very first Knight challenges i took up). I do not take pride in the wins, because the games never finished. Satish forfeited them both on time. Moving on to the games, as black, i tried to play the Ruy Lopez classical defence after having seen some introductory moves to it, played by Capablanca. At the time i started the games (were talking turn-based games), i was just coming out of a phase in which i wanted to try out each and every opening i layed eyes on. Even though i had no knowledge of it whatsoever. So i decided to try out this classical defence as black. It wasn't going very well...
Moving on to Satish, i think the guy is a pretty solid player. He made me feel that he knows his way around on the board. Too bad we didn't get to finish the games. I would've probably lost my game as black, since white's position (before forfeit) was clearly better.
Anyway, i'm off now to see Jarhead

Knight (me) vs Knight (Satish) Challenge 2-0 (click to replay)

Woohoo! I earned a title! A SchemingMind title that is...

2006-02-12T09:09:00.000+01:00

From now on, i am a SchemingMind Chess960 Expert. SM Expert for short :-)
Ain't that amazing? And i only played 3 games!
Anyway, i think it is kinda cool that SchemingMind hands out it's own titles as a server... There are 3 titles which you can earn, which are; SchemingMind Expert, SchemingMind Master and SchemingMind Grand Master. The title goes with the territory, meaning you can earn one at playing standard chess or a variant.

Finished unit 21 & 22 and working on 23

2006-02-11T05:55:00.000+01:00

Finished unit 21 & 22 of tactics module 1, and currently working on 23. Progress has been kind of slow due to an increased difficulty and playing live games jitters. I got very inspired by watching the stuff (untill so far) on the Andrew Martin and The Basics of Winning Chess DVD, and really felt the need to go on a playing streak. For some reason the DVD inspired me also to try out different openings. Though the beginning of the new year also played a role in it. Anyway, i just wanted to try out and play, relying purely on basics. As in; Take the centre, develop your pieces, get castled... That sort of stuff. But also in an action and reaction kinda way. Inspired by an article i read quite a while back, in which a GM told a player that chess was actually very simple. That it was only a matter of "you make a move, your opponent makes a move, your opponent makes a move, you make a move" or something like that. I cannot exactly recall it. But i believe it was David Bronstein who said it. Naturally the player thought to himself that if it was really that simple, then everybody would be a master at the game. But if you look real closely at preferably a classic game, and dig into it deep, the simplicity which the GM tried to get across, really starts to appear. Well, to me it did... Anyway, i am going to show you some games now (little or no analysis/annotations) which i tried to approach with that same simplicity. Games in which i am using openings which i played when i just started out, and had very bad results with at that time. In the first place because i had a lack of knowledge, but i also feel i took a far too complicated approach to playing them. For about a year now i have been trying to avoid playing those openings.

Two Knights game as black (click to replay)
Nothing much to add, other then the fact that (with all due respect) my opponent probably was not that good at chess yet. Not that i consider myself good at it, but i was probably better :)

Closed Sicilian as white (click to replay)
Here i would like to add, that i never knew about the existence of this King's Bishop Sicilian fianchetto variation. I just played 3.g3 because it felt natural. Turns out it existed allready. For a very long time. So much for finding an opening renamed after me...

Sicilian Najdorf as black (click to replay)
Nothing much to add, other then the fact the Najdorf isn't really suitable for blitz games. Too complicated. Atleast, for me that is...

Sicilian Moscow Variation as black (click to replay)
Nothing much to add.

Ruy Lopez as white (click to replay)
I would like to add here, that after having watched a game from Fischer which is used as an example on the Andrew Martin DVD, and having listened to the commentary in which Andrew Martin explains that Fischer was always looking to keep it simple in a game, i felt that the exchange of Knight for Bishop right away in the opening, was the simplest way of dealing with the Ruy.

Ruy Lopez as black (click to replay)
I always hated playing the Ruy as black, untill i discovered the existence of a fianchettoed Bishop variation in which you fianchetto the King's Bishop early on in the game. And i like it. I really do... Come to think of it, i must have somekind of fianchettoed Bishop fetish :)

Strong player yes, titled player no

2006-02-09T13:54:00.000+01:00

I got a chance to talk to the Grandmaster i am currently playing through MSN. When i asked him if it was possible for me to become a strong player he said, strong player yes, titled player no. When i asked him why it wasn't possible to become a titled player it basically came down to memory capacity. Not that i expected to become one...

The Beginning

2006-02-05T06:12:00.000+01:00

So ya'll think you know how chess started, right? Well, maybe you'll think differently after reading this amazing story...

By the way, i know some of you ain't into Hip Hop and all, but i've just finished watching the movie Hustle & Flow, and for those of you that liked 8 Mile... This is better. Now, ofcourse that is only my personal view :)
But i also like Terrence Howard as an actor very much.

Oh, and make sure ya'll catch that chess video link i put on my sidebar, way down below, for some great chess video's! For instance, Korchnoi, who is defeated by a cow in a chess game :) And much more!

Grandmaster vs Amateur (this time we playing turn-based baby)

2006-02-01T07:11:00.000+01:00

Remember that Grandmaster vs Amateur (miniature) game i posted about? Well, that same Grandmaster was willing to take me up on some turn-based games :)
Even though there's a 99.9% (considering everybody is a hero in their lifetime once) chance i will get my butt kicked (most likely 100%), it is a great honour. I will surely post the games once they're done. Probably take a while though :)

Finished unit 20

2006-01-19T11:04:00.000+01:00

Finished unit 20 of tactics module 1 and started on 21. Reps (as unit 15 to 20 mostly were) seem to be over, as 21 is making me face new challenges again. I'm not sure what to think about my back ache... It still bothers me, but it seems to be going slightly better.

Andrew Martin and The Basics of Winning Chess The Opening 4. The right way to learn a new opening and a summary of opening principles

2006-01-15T03:36:00.000+01:00

I've been watching the 4th and final chapter on the opening tips, and in this chapter International Master Andrew Martin discusses the right way to learn a new opening and makes a summary of all the previous opening principles. The first thing he advocates is experimentation. There's no harm in trying a variety of openings. Eventually you will arive at the right choices for you. The best way to prepare is to use the following method; The first stage is the familiarization phase. He recommends playing through a number of games in your favourite opening, say 20 or 30 games or so. To get the basic ideas in your head. At this stage ignore detail an play through the games at a reasonable pace but not too slow. The second stage after the familiarization phase, is to try the opening out in friendly games. Either on the Internet, at your club or against a strong playing program. Just to see how it works. The third stage is to check out your knowledge that you've learned now, against the theory in the opening books. Notice only after a playing phase and a familiarization phase are you coming to the opening books. This is the stage at which you need to study some theory. people make the mistake of studying theory far to often (in Mr. Martin's opinion), without trying out the openings themselves for quite a few times. Then repeat stages two and three for a few weeks. Keep trying the opening out in friendly games at your club, the Internet, against your program, and keep studying the theory. Finally, you then come to play your opening in competitive chess. You should have a very good knowledge of the opening at this stage. Having played it and studied it for some time. And finally, don't forget to analyze your games thereafter. This is probably the most important stage of all of the whole process. A lot of players leave out this phase cause they're simply too lazy. If you done all the study, done all the work, and you analyze your games after again using all the tools mentioned, you cant go wrong. You can continuesly update your opening knowledge this way. This is how the best players do it... This is how you should do it. Follow this advice and you won't go far wrong.

Now we come to a final summary of all the opening principles of this part of the DVD. If you stick to and master the following principles of opening play, you will not go far wrong. Point number one is a fairly simple one, bring all the pieces out into play as quickly as possible. In general the pieces should be developed in reverse order of strength, but that's not an absolute. Knights and Bishops first, Rooks, Queens. Something like that. Only make a few pawn moves in the opening. Don´t go freaking out untill you´ve mastered the basics. Only make those pawn moves that are necesarry to let the pieces out. This is very important. The third point is to castle early to get your King to safety and to bring your Rooks into the game. Think Rooks. They are very important pieces. A lot of beginning players neglect their Rooks when they´re starting out in chess. Think about your Rooks and use them. Don´t lose time by bringing your pieces out to vulnarable squares where they can get chased around. Try not to move the same piece too many times. Play to occupy or control the center. This gives you more choices of plans for the middlegame. And finally remember that the whole idea of the opening is to get a good position going into the moddlegame. No more, no less.

Note that i´ve been writing this down while watching the video itself. So it is kind of roughly summarized )or whatever you call it).

I am moving on now to another part of the DVD that handles the middlegame.

Finished unit 18 and 19

2006-01-14T05:44:00.000+01:00

My back ache still isn't over and makes it hard for me to find a comfartable position to sit in. I did manage to finish unit 18 and 19 of tactics module 1 though. I must say that i really like the pace at which i'm going. Though i'm not fooling myself by thinking that this pace is going to last. Because the units i'm doing now, are just repetitions of previous positions with some of them being slightly altered. But they all come down to being the positions you've allready encountered. That is why i am going at a relatively fast pace right now. But i'm sure that within a couple of units i am going to be hit by something that will slow my current pace considerably.

Finished unit 17

2006-01-13T04:56:00.000+01:00

Finished unit 17 of tactics module 1, while recovering from a severe back ache and learned even more positions. I've learned 180 now. The best thing is that they actually feel learned :)
So now it's 17 units down and 35 to go. And that's only tactics module 1 i'm talking about here... There are 5 more of them. And each of them hold 52 units. And then ofcourse there are the strategy and endgame modules... Phew! Completing PCT is gonna be quite a task. I also got my hands on a Fritz Powerbook 2005. A must have (if i may say so myself) for people who want to prepare for tournaments and the variety of openings they might confront. Ofcourse you can prepare yourself and your game against Fritz with it's supplied opening book. But you are likely to face very one sided opening play. And that is why ChessBase created the Powerbook. Just click the link for extended info. And don't overlook the link to Steve Lopez's review, as he explains in detail what the benefits are of having a Powerbook.

Finished unit 16

2006-01-11T06:42:00.000+01:00

Finished unit 16 of tactics module 1, while being sick. Talk about commitment :)
According to PCT i've learned 120 positions now. Also been in touch with Mr. Bill Wall, and got this blog and my link collection listed amongst his... Seems there are quite a few other Knights listed there as well. Going to finish watching Man-Thing now, and get some sleep.

Finished unit 15

2006-01-10T04:31:00.000+01:00

Finished unit 15 of tactics module 1. The program finally considers some positions as learned. 60 out of the 342 unique positions i've encountered to be exactly. Personally i wouldn't put too much value into PCT's considerations, and the reason for that is simple... PCT is designed in a way, that if it encounters one and the same position for six times throughout your training, it will consider it as having been learned. But it does not keep track of how many times, out of the six times you've encountered that position, you made the wrong choice... What i am really trying to say, is that you should only value it's considerations when stuff actually feels learned.

Anyway, i hope my posts make sense most of the times, cause what i am trying to explain in English, sits in my mind in Dutch. Now, i know that the Dutch way of saying what i am trying to say is correct. But to translate that to English, and try and make it look the same as it would be in Dutch is pretty hard to do :)

Andrew Martin and The Basics of Winning Chess The Opening 3. Choose the right opening for you!

2006-01-09T04:44:00.000+01:00

I managed to watch the third chapter on opening tips as well :)
In this chapter, International Master Andrew Martin talks about choosing the right opening. He tells us that knowledge of yourself and your playing style is essential when it comes to choosing your openings. He also tells us that if you're starting out in chess, it is better to play open positions. To learn how to make combinations. To learn to attack. And to generally learn how to develop your pieces. Ofcourse, this is all done during the course of yet another game. This time we get to see a very famous game between Robert James Fischer and Boris Spassky. The game that's used in this case, is to show us that Fischer certainly knew what openings to choose.

Andrew Martin and The Basics of Winning Chess The Opening 2.a + b)

2006-01-08T07:21:00.000+01:00

I also got around to watching another part of the "Andrew Martin and The Basics of Winning Chess" DVD. I've watched the second chapter of the opening tips. It's about coordinating the pieces and aiming for the initiative. The game used as an example in this case, is a game between Mikhail Botvinnik and Viacheslav Ragozin. In which you should pay close attention to Botvinnik's play. In particular the coordination of Botvinnik's pieces with which he aims solely for the initiative through the entire game, and brings home the win.

Andrew Martin also notes that a study of the classics is essential if you want to become a good player.

Finished unit 13 and 14

2006-01-08T06:09:00.000+01:00

Finished unit 13 and 14 of tactics module 1. Both in one breath! I'm on a roll here :)