Diary of a Patzer

Valmont

A wild and ugly game tonight where I played what I didn't know was 'From's gambit' in response to 1. f4. I don't think this opening suited my style (if you could call it that) and I missed an awful lot of tactical opportunities during the first ten moves. I didn't anticipate my opponent gaining an extremely powerful bishop and while it constricted my position greatly he let the noose slip and blundered a piece after we had been playing for approximately three hours. He even offered the draw twice even though he was better in my opinion but I felt he was running out of ideas. Not the best game but it does boost my rating above the 100 ECF milestone! Return leg next week when I have white and I know he almost always plays the dutch (he loves it so much he opens with 1. f4 regularly) so I will prepare some lines from the Staunton gambit.

Lucena

Just had a read through the last few posts. You've gone from 67 ECF to just over 100 ECF. That's huge progress! Do you feel stronger as a player?

Regarding your From's Gambit game, did you know the theory going into the game, or did you wing it? It's not something I'd play without some knowledge, it's just too wild! I think your opponent had a better option on move 11. Instead of Kf2, he could've played Qe2, offering to swap queens. If you play 11...Bf5, he can just castle, and if you swap queens, his position is ok.

On your 15th move, you could have tried Ne7, blocking out the white bishop on g5, and you can now castle long, with a decent advantage in development. Still, other than that, you played well, and a win is a win!

Congratulations again on your progress!

Valmont

Lucena wrote: »

Just had a read through the last few posts. You've gone from 67 ECF to just over 100 ECF. That's huge progress! Do you feel stronger as a player?

Yes, looking back I was in dire need of patience. I'm playing a lot more cautiously (still not enough though) and I credit Yusupov's bloody painful exercises (I'm on chapter 13 now) with improving my calculation which means fewer blunders.

Lucena wrote: »

Regarding your From's Gambit game, did you know the theory going into the game, or did you wing it?

My opponent previously beat me with 1.f4 where he gained a huge advantage out of the opening. I picked the gambit precisely because it was wild and I thought I could make him uncomfortable. He 'deviated' from the main 5...g5 lines on move six so I figured that put us even. It was a double-edged strategy no doubt but it's almost the end of the season and I was feeling a bit more confident with open positions.

Valmont

I decided to mess up my opponent's attempt to pay the Queen's gambit last night by playing the wild budapest gambit. I don't think he had encountered it before because I won the pawn back very easily. While my opponent blundered a bishop towards the end, I felt my timely rook lift to e5 allowed me to basically dominate the board and build up a large attack on the kingside. I played it even though I could swear there's some general rule about not playing the rooks up into the middle of the board before the end-game?

mikhail

That's a nice, direct attack with Black.

Giving the pawn back quickly can be a reasonable way to handle the Budapest. Black hasn't traded a flank pawn for a central one, so there's no long term strategic gain, and he's spent three moves getting that knight to e5. White can wind up with good development and control of the center for very little in return. That said, 5.e3 doesn't seem to be the best way of doing it, and he was far too quick to trade pieces throughout the game.

For alternatives to ...Bb4+, it'd have been happy enough on e7 (maybe going to f6), but I'd drawn to the idea of putting it on d6. After you fianchetto the other bishop, the two of them will rake the kingside.

Valmont

I was outgraded by 200 ELO points (27 ECF) last night in the final game of the season. It was no immortal but a nice tactic won the exchange and I barely held it together to win the endgame with checkmate with just twenty seconds left on the clock!

Lucena

Congrats on a win in your final game. You seemed to be stronger than your opponent. Don't know if you're taking a break over the summer, but if not, maybe work on tactics. It's useful for players of all levels, and maybe you'll have an edge when the new season starts.

By the way, where are you up to with Yusupov?

Valmont

Sadly still on chapter 13 with Yusupov. I would make excuses but I've been sitting here all day playing ten minute blitz games on chess.com which is not a positive thing for classical chess. I started the book late September 2014 so at this rate I won't have finished it in a year! I best get to it.

Valmont

I had my first game of the new season last Thursday at my new rating of 1487 and was paired against a 1780 who made short work of me on two occasions last season. I decided to play it safe so opted for the Budapest gambit! I was outclassed and lost on time at move 21 (!) and upon reading over the game my opponent made some very deep moves (for my calculations anyway) very quickly. At least it was educational!

I'm back reading Yusupov with a vengeance and am currently plodding miserably through chapter 14 on open files and outposts. I don't think I'll be passing this test judging by my score for the first eight puzzles. Here is one I was sure I had figured out correctly with Bh5! but of the three scoring answers mine was not mentioned. Two moves were given one point, with the correct move played by Karpov against Gligorich in 1972 being given the maximum of two points. Can you find the right move? Or more importantly, tell me why Bh5 is bad?

mikhail

Yeah, I found Karpov's move, though I didn't see the final win. A lot of Karpov problems boil down to him poking at two weaknesses at the same time. Here, the threat of invasion along the h-file along with the weakness of the c-pawn add up to Black being left a bit tied up. Two of Black's defensive moves - Qe7 and Nd7 - take pieces from the queenside, which Karpov stomps on like an empty coke can. It's really a remarkable solution.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1067695, for the curious.

After your Bh5, what would you mean to do after ...Ke8? What have you gained?

Valmont

After Be5 Ke8, I was going to play g6 but I see now it doesn't do much except force a few trades

mikhail

He can meet g6 with ...f6, locking things up. No doubt he's still worse, but it's trickier to make progress. It's best not to push those pawns until he can't do that for tactical reasons.

Valmont

I also considered Bh5 Ke8 Bxf7+ followed up by g6+ but again not good enough! Out of the twelve puzzles on 'Open files and Outposts' I think eight of the answers were relatively simple rook lifts!

Valmont

I lost a very exciting game the other night, being unable to find the right continuation after a strong knight sacrifice. Once again I used too much time coordinating the attack and hoping for a quick finish and left myself very short for what could have been a winning end-game. How to solve these time-trouble woes? I failed chapter 14 of the Yusupov book so I'm going back over the examples again.

Valmont

I've made it to chapter 16 in the Yusupov book so I was ready to take on my opponent in the club championship who outgraded me by 105 ELO points. Last year I played the Caro-Kann in response to 1.e4 but this year I fancy my chances with the Sicilian.

I've created two tactics puzzles out of my game where I missed two pretty checkmates. 1.
2.. Solve them and then see the exciting Najdorf we played to get to the final (and third time lucky) mating position.

Lucena

I don't think I would have spotted those mates in a game either, they don't seem like the type of mate you'd see in books very often. No nice and tidy back-rankers here!

Regarding the Najdorf, have you just started playing it? My own experience of the Sicilian (Accelerated Dragon in my case) was that I wanted to play something a bit more dynamic than the French (too many Exchange Variations). Now it just seems that there are too many possibilities for White in the opening, and that in my experience, I end up playing against these more than going into a main-line Accelerated Dragon:

Closed Sicilan (from time to time)
Grand Prix Attack (only occasionally, but I deviate into a French-like structure with 2...e6 and 3...d5, which is generally ok)
Morra Gambit (fairly common)
Alapin (I get this A LOT)
Rossolimo (more over the board than on the internet)

So you may have a lot of work ahead of you. Sorry if this sounds discouraging, but I think in chess there's no such thing as a free lunch!

Valmont

I've been reading a lot of My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer and the Sicilian is the most frequently featured opening so I think I have a general intuition about the sort of position I need to work towards. My tactics have improved a lot over the last year so I'm trying to avoid closed positional games where I seem to get lost quickly. That said, I generally wince in fear lest my opponent play 2.c3 or 2.Nf3..d6 3.c3 but I've made a go of these moves before without too much trouble. Regarding the Rossolimo, the Grand Prix, or the Closed Sicilian, I know the move white plays but after that I would be firmly in Terra Incognita. I'll crack open chessbase now actually and look at a few positions.

How are you getting along? What have you been reading since finishing Yusupov?

Mustafa Chess

The Sicilian is real chess player's choice

checknraise

Mustafa Chess wrote: »

The Sicilian is real chess player's choice

You should play it more often so

Valmont

I promised myself to play a greater variety of openings this year to gain some experience. I'll probably play 1...e5 the next time I meet 1. e4. I played the King's gambit last night as white and after my 1750 rated opponent played 2. d5 I was stumped. Needless to say I knocked my king over on move ten.

Lucena

Valmont wrote: »

How are you getting along? What have you been reading since finishing Yusupov?

Decided to take a break over the summer, didn't bring any chess materials with me. I decided I'd do 30 minutes of Chesstempo exercises every day though, but unfortunately there was no internet where I went! :pac:

Been working on (very slowly) on Weteschnik's 'Understanding Chess Tactics', it seems ok, but not getting into it as much as the Yusupov. Possibly because there are lots of examples and very few exercises. Will explain a bit better when I update my own training diary.

rathkeltair

Valmont wrote: »

22... O-O-O?? A terrible move. Rd8 was much better. I was in trouble now.

Why? Surely your move 23... b5 is good, as is simply 23... Nxd3. You're huge material up, and your opponent has no threats that you cannot parry.

Valmont

What game are you referencing, Rathkeltair?

rathkeltair

Sorry, valmont, your "first win of the season"

rob51

Valmont wrote: »

I promised myself to play a greater variety of openings this year to gain some experience. I'll probably play 1...e5 the next time I meet 1. e4. I played the King's gambit last night as white and after my 1750 rated opponent played 2. d5 I was stumped. Needless to say I knocked my king over on move ten.

Falkbeer Counter Gambit if I remember rightly. I played the Kings Gambit in the Armstrong and Heidenfeld many years ago with good results for several seasons. Met one old guy who smiled and played the whole g5 line. I reckon it was main line theory in his youth :-). Otherwise most Black players didn't expect it.

Valmont

The King's gambit is the main reason I avoid 1...e5. Although I played 3...d5 line recently in a few blitz games and did won with black.

Valmont

I've been quite busy recently, mostly getting smashed by much stronger players. However I scored 3/5 in the challenger's section of the county open last week but it was nothing to write about. The stronger players beat me and I beat the weaker players: I basically performed exactly according to my ECF rating.

I had my first league game in division 2 last night, throwing away a carefully crafted advantage during an abysmal end-game but I was lucky to draw. I think my opponent realised he had blundered in offering a draw after he looked at the board a bit longer, ha!

I'm planning on playing more symmetrical openings this season like 1...e5 and 1...d5. I'm reading Reuben Fine's book The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings and I'm well prepared against most early lines in the centre game, the scotch, and the Giuoco piano, and I'll start working on the Ruy Lopez in a week or two. Someone told me the book is out of date (I have a first edition dated 1943) but I don't think the average player at 1400-1600 is too juiced up on the latest developments in the various openings.

Anyway, I'm back to bore you with another season of Patzer games!

mikhail

Valmont wrote: »

...I'm planning on playing more symmetrical openings this season like 1...e5 and 1...d5. I'm reading Reuben Fine's book The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings and I'm well prepared against most early lines in the centre game, the scotch, and the Giuoco piano, and I'll start working on the Ruy Lopez in a week or two. Someone told me the book is out of date (I have a first edition dated 1943) but I don't think the average player at 1400-1600 is too juiced up on the latest developments in the various openings.

One way in which it might mislead you is if it's overly dogmatic about controling the centre by occupying it. The hypermoderns were still gaining acceptance for their ideas back then. It's probably still worthwhile, but I'd suggest you check the recommended lines against a database, keeping any eye out for moves that have fallen completely out of fashion.

Valmont

I played a very exciting sicilian game last night as white. My opponent was rated 1513 compared to my 1472 and also the captain of the team with whom I won division three last season (I've since swapped clubs to get a chance to play in division 2) so I was glad to see him play 1...c5 to my 1. e4. My play is starting to follow a pattern whereby I build up some pressure with a small advantage and then blow it back to being worse or equal somewhere in the middlegame. In response to this terrible trend, I've purchased Ludek Pachman's Modern Chess Strategy and have recently been reading about the relative advantage of bishop vs knight. Lucky me that I had a chance to play a bishop vs knight endgame that I had never known until just this week was advantageous for white. Advice greatly encouraged as my progress seems to be stalling lately.

Valmont

This is one of my rare successful kingside attacks from a recent tournament. I think it demonstrates quite clearly the importance of playing active moves. I'll post up some of my draws and losses soon, I should learn more from them really.

EDIT: See the last post on the previous page for a very exciting sicilian dragon played last night!