Playing in the STC Winter Blues, which is one game per week and had my last round of TL 45 action. 0-2 in STC so far, and pulled a draw in my TL game.
Getting some 5/0 games where time allows (got my bltiz rating over 1000 :p).
Still plugging away at Amatuer's Mind- finding time to just hammer it out is tricky with a family and other hobbies (fishing, Dungeons and Dragons), but I feel like I'm getting close to making a big jump. I have been feeling great when I sit down for my long games, and I enjoy looking over my games win or lose...I just feel potent right now and believe that I will see my patchwork study and practice coalesce into real improvement soon...maybe a steady 1600+ FICS standard rating.
Showing posts with label Improvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Improvement. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Rough loss
Dropped a piece on something like move 7 because I was playing like it was G 15/0.
Thoroughly drove home Heismann's point that intermediate length games hurt more than help.
I believe I fought well and vigorously, but my opponent did not make any mistakes and hanging my rook (vs rook and bishop) with ~5 minutes on the clock sealed things up.
In spite of that (or perhaps out of necessity due to a player being wholly unavailable), I will be playing next week.
I will not embarrass myself like that again.
Thoroughly drove home Heismann's point that intermediate length games hurt more than help.
I believe I fought well and vigorously, but my opponent did not make any mistakes and hanging my rook (vs rook and bishop) with ~5 minutes on the clock sealed things up.
In spite of that (or perhaps out of necessity due to a player being wholly unavailable), I will be playing next week.
I will not embarrass myself like that again.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Birthday presents
33 this past Sunday!
I got The Amateur's Mind and Lev Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course Vol 2 (Beginner to Tournament Player) from the wife and child :)
Alburt's will be nice to go through with my daughter, and there are some nifty (pretty basic) square visualization exercises I like so far.
Amateur's mind already keyed me in to something I'd felt was a weakness- identifying plans in quiet positions without threats. Looks to be a fun read.
I got The Amateur's Mind and Lev Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course Vol 2 (Beginner to Tournament Player) from the wife and child :)
Alburt's will be nice to go through with my daughter, and there are some nifty (pretty basic) square visualization exercises I like so far.
Amateur's mind already keyed me in to something I'd felt was a weakness- identifying plans in quiet positions without threats. Looks to be a fun read.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Starting a book...of my mistakes
Taking Dan Heisman's advice in Novice Nook 81 (item #12), I am starting a 'book' of positions where I erred. They will likely be flat out material losses in many cases. Until I improve, what else would they be- poor attack of an isolated pawn? Nope (see item #14).
The article was also a good bump for reinforcing why I need to do all the mate in ones in PCT...not so much for me to see them, but rather to see them in replies my opponent may have.
So- mistake number one.
Up a Queen for a Knight, I played 20. ... Rxc2. I still won, but it was a lot harder than it needed to be.
Should have played ... Rxe5, with threats of mates or getting another exchange.
The article was also a good bump for reinforcing why I need to do all the mate in ones in PCT...not so much for me to see them, but rather to see them in replies my opponent may have.
So- mistake number one.
Up a Queen for a Knight, I played 20. ... Rxc2. I still won, but it was a lot harder than it needed to be.
Should have played ... Rxe5, with threats of mates or getting another exchange.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Change is good
Fiddled with the new layout tools at Blogger. I like the way it looks, but I'll have to brush up on my html to figure out where to stick a center tag for the banner.
I finally got my daughter to play through the first game of Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move. I read and she moved pieces. She was surprising vocal, and saw that 7. d5 was better than the text 7. a4. (Until I get a PGN viewer back in action, just nod and roll with it).
I couldn't immediately refute the move, so we made a note and stuck it in Crafty once we finished with the game. It lead to a much more complicated position, which is likely why Chernev didn't delve into it- the point was to show how to take advantage of mistakes.
She had a good time and said if I continued to work with her reading from the book and playing timed games, she'd give another tournament a go. She, too, hasn't really played much chess in the last two years. Part of her attraction is doing what I do, and before suggesting we play through the game, I deliberately did some things she wanted to do.
We've tentatively decided to look at 3-4 games from the book per week. It took about an hour, but that included me reading from the introduction. Her attention definitely wavered towards the end, but that'll improve as we practice. She liked the chessKids site I showed her earlier in the evening, so she might take off on her own a little!
I finally got my daughter to play through the first game of Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move. I read and she moved pieces. She was surprising vocal, and saw that 7. d5 was better than the text 7. a4. (Until I get a PGN viewer back in action, just nod and roll with it).
I couldn't immediately refute the move, so we made a note and stuck it in Crafty once we finished with the game. It lead to a much more complicated position, which is likely why Chernev didn't delve into it- the point was to show how to take advantage of mistakes.
She had a good time and said if I continued to work with her reading from the book and playing timed games, she'd give another tournament a go. She, too, hasn't really played much chess in the last two years. Part of her attraction is doing what I do, and before suggesting we play through the game, I deliberately did some things she wanted to do.
We've tentatively decided to look at 3-4 games from the book per week. It took about an hour, but that included me reading from the introduction. Her attention definitely wavered towards the end, but that'll improve as we practice. She liked the chessKids site I showed her earlier in the evening, so she might take off on her own a little!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Correspondence Games- 8 in one blow!
Wow. I just spent the last 2 hours cranking out variations for 8 correspondence games I'm playing (6 IECG games and 2 in a forum championship). After awhile, all the lines run together and I start thinking that I've emailed the same person two different moves, or even the wrong game to someone.
The forum Championship is in the 'Finals'. We had 6 groups of 5-7 people play round robin. The group winners, runners-up and two wildcards are playing single elim matches. This round its 2 games, the next two are 4 games and the finals is a six game match.
The forum isn't a chess forum, but there are some very good players there. The group stage was a mixed bag. One game in an unclear middlegame was awarded to me by abandonment, another with me a rook up was abandoned, one I swindled my opponent (down a piece and he missed a mate in one) and the last (actually the first finished) was a legit mate. I think I won the exchange and just forced my way in from there...I forget.
The two games I'm in now I expect to win, and one of them I can't wait to share. I missed a move and thought I was going to drop a piece, but it turned out I could switch the subsequent move order and have ended up with the Bishop pair, a Knight, a Rook and a bonus pawn versus two Rooks and a Bishop.
I'm trying to visualize as much as possible without just pushing the pieces and saving all the variations. I'm still missing stupid stuff, but I'm checking myself fairly well and have avoided disaster so far. One of the IECG games does have a position I can't wait to get a computer to look at- I think my opponent missed a line winning at least the exchange, maybe even a piece.
Hopefully, the occasional frenzy of responding to 8 games at once will pay off :P
The forum Championship is in the 'Finals'. We had 6 groups of 5-7 people play round robin. The group winners, runners-up and two wildcards are playing single elim matches. This round its 2 games, the next two are 4 games and the finals is a six game match.
The forum isn't a chess forum, but there are some very good players there. The group stage was a mixed bag. One game in an unclear middlegame was awarded to me by abandonment, another with me a rook up was abandoned, one I swindled my opponent (down a piece and he missed a mate in one) and the last (actually the first finished) was a legit mate. I think I won the exchange and just forced my way in from there...I forget.
The two games I'm in now I expect to win, and one of them I can't wait to share. I missed a move and thought I was going to drop a piece, but it turned out I could switch the subsequent move order and have ended up with the Bishop pair, a Knight, a Rook and a bonus pawn versus two Rooks and a Bishop.
I'm trying to visualize as much as possible without just pushing the pieces and saving all the variations. I'm still missing stupid stuff, but I'm checking myself fairly well and have avoided disaster so far. One of the IECG games does have a position I can't wait to get a computer to look at- I think my opponent missed a line winning at least the exchange, maybe even a piece.
Hopefully, the occasional frenzy of responding to 8 games at once will pay off :P
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Sticky Chess
I'm reading a book called Making Things Stick. Or maybe its Ideas That Stick. I forget. Its, shocker!, about ideas that are simple enough and profound enough that they, shocker again!, stick.
"A bird in hand is worth two in the bush" has parallels in like 50 different languages and cultures. The razor blades in apples parent's check for at Halloween never happened.
The ideas have similar traits that make them stick, and since my wife took the book back (its her's, really) I can't recall them concretely enough to make it sensible. I do recommend strongly that anyone interested in learning, teaching or in a position that needs to convey information to check out the book. (I'll get the right title tonight).
Reading it, I see so many lessons for a teacher to use when teaching someone chess. Concepts and methods.
Somewhere, yesterday, I heard, read or saw a report on scientists teaching toddlers words by showing them two pictures side by side and saying the name of one of the objects (like a picture of an apple and a pumpkin and saying apple). They think the kids' brains acted like computers processing the info and after a short while repeating the testes with a variety of images, the kids did something cool.
I can't recall if it was say the word when shown the picture, or pick the picture out of a larger set when the word was spoken.
My prowess at recalling variations over the board must be stunning you right now, huh?
Some people watch chess games movie style, and over time the positions get processed and they can use what they saw- chunking I often see it called. Perhaps there's a way to make a Baby Einstein-like DVD that teaches chess not by here's this and this is what it does, but the way Kasparov (iirc) says he learned it- watching and then just knowing.
If the game could be taught "indirectly" that way, then so could openings, endgames, tactics- the whole shebang. Maybe that's the mechanic behind the circles working, and maybe there's a better way.
UPDATE: Here's the authors website- http://www.madetostick.com/
"A bird in hand is worth two in the bush" has parallels in like 50 different languages and cultures. The razor blades in apples parent's check for at Halloween never happened.
The ideas have similar traits that make them stick, and since my wife took the book back (its her's, really) I can't recall them concretely enough to make it sensible. I do recommend strongly that anyone interested in learning, teaching or in a position that needs to convey information to check out the book. (I'll get the right title tonight).
Reading it, I see so many lessons for a teacher to use when teaching someone chess. Concepts and methods.
Somewhere, yesterday, I heard, read or saw a report on scientists teaching toddlers words by showing them two pictures side by side and saying the name of one of the objects (like a picture of an apple and a pumpkin and saying apple). They think the kids' brains acted like computers processing the info and after a short while repeating the testes with a variety of images, the kids did something cool.
I can't recall if it was say the word when shown the picture, or pick the picture out of a larger set when the word was spoken.
My prowess at recalling variations over the board must be stunning you right now, huh?
Some people watch chess games movie style, and over time the positions get processed and they can use what they saw- chunking I often see it called. Perhaps there's a way to make a Baby Einstein-like DVD that teaches chess not by here's this and this is what it does, but the way Kasparov (iirc) says he learned it- watching and then just knowing.
If the game could be taught "indirectly" that way, then so could openings, endgames, tactics- the whole shebang. Maybe that's the mechanic behind the circles working, and maybe there's a better way.
UPDATE: Here's the authors website- http://www.madetostick.com/
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Any advice on improvement would be appreciated
Did some PCT last night and fired up a G30 on FICS. Crafty has illuminated the error of my 34th move. Really obvious that I missed it in hindsight. I wouldn't have figured the whole line, I don't think, but that one move should have stood out to me.
I'm not sure where I could have done better in the middlegame. Crafty saw no tactical chances missed.
Crafty at move 34: 34. ... Kc4 35. a3 Kb3 36. Kd3 Kxa3 37. Kc3 Ka4 38. d5 a5 39. bxa5 Kxa5
I never feared for my King, really. My pieces had a good hold on the center and I was comfortable pushing his dark Bishop when I did. I feel like I might have missed something with either my dark Bishop finding a check on f2 and/or the knight that eventually took his Bishop on g3 finding a fork.
I'm not sure where I could have done better in the middlegame. Crafty saw no tactical chances missed.
Crafty at move 34: 34. ... Kc4 35. a3 Kb3 36. Kd3 Kxa3 37. Kc3 Ka4 38. d5 a5 39. bxa5 Kxa5
I never feared for my King, really. My pieces had a good hold on the center and I was comfortable pushing his dark Bishop when I did. I feel like I might have missed something with either my dark Bishop finding a check on f2 and/or the knight that eventually took his Bishop on g3 finding a fork.
Friday, November 30, 2007
The Toolbox
My code for Personal Chess Trainer was in my inbox when I got home from work yesterday! I gleefully fired up PCT, registered it, reinstalled it (everyone with PCT knows what I mean, from my reading :P), fired it up again and...fiddled with the options.
Unfortunately (for my chess, at least) my daily evening looks like this:
5pm through 6pm is for helping my daughter with homework and starting to cook
6pm through 7pm is for eating, dishes and cleaning
7pm through 9-10pm is for whatever the hell my wife says its for!
9-10pm through whenever I pass out is for chess and stuff
On days when my wife goes to around 9pm, I get a G30 in, some Novice Nook or puzzles and Google up 'chess babes in lingerie'. Last night when she was up till almost 11...By the time I got PCT going, I was wobbling in my chair taking 3 second naps between puzzles trying to complete a 45 puzzle series of Mate in Ones twice, since PCT makes you solve each problem two times. I kept thinking that I had to be getting close to the turn and coming down the repeats soon, but it felt like it never happened.
As my eyes fluttered, I started making moves on automatic and the only miss I had was moving the wrong rook the first time through. By 11:15, 90 puzzles down, I was toasted and fell into bed.
I have to break it to the wife that no later than 10pm, every night, I'm gonna go play with myself for at least an hour and she's neither invited nor allowed to interrupt. There's no way I can make progress if I'm not awake enough to understand what I'm doing.
A new sidebar block:
The Toolbox
PCT
FICS
Novice Nook
I hope to add Chernev's Logical Chess to that at Xmas. The Toolbox will basically be my current reading/study list. I need to get some annotated master games on there, as well. Any recommendations for Morphy and other early players?
Unfortunately (for my chess, at least) my daily evening looks like this:
5pm through 6pm is for helping my daughter with homework and starting to cook
6pm through 7pm is for eating, dishes and cleaning
7pm through 9-10pm is for whatever the hell my wife says its for!
9-10pm through whenever I pass out is for chess and stuff
On days when my wife goes to around 9pm, I get a G30 in, some Novice Nook or puzzles and Google up 'chess babes in lingerie'. Last night when she was up till almost 11...By the time I got PCT going, I was wobbling in my chair taking 3 second naps between puzzles trying to complete a 45 puzzle series of Mate in Ones twice, since PCT makes you solve each problem two times. I kept thinking that I had to be getting close to the turn and coming down the repeats soon, but it felt like it never happened.
As my eyes fluttered, I started making moves on automatic and the only miss I had was moving the wrong rook the first time through. By 11:15, 90 puzzles down, I was toasted and fell into bed.
I have to break it to the wife that no later than 10pm, every night, I'm gonna go play with myself for at least an hour and she's neither invited nor allowed to interrupt. There's no way I can make progress if I'm not awake enough to understand what I'm doing.
A new sidebar block:
The Toolbox
PCT
FICS
Novice Nook
I hope to add Chernev's Logical Chess to that at Xmas. The Toolbox will basically be my current reading/study list. I need to get some annotated master games on there, as well. Any recommendations for Morphy and other early players?
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Sometimes winning feels like your heart will explode
Wow. I really need to read some of that "Don't get to high on your wins" stuff because I am jazzed right now! Maybe it's because I haven't played since missing Mate in Two. Right now I feel like I can play chess.
Here's the game with off the cuff commentary and Crafty analysis (some of the diagrams have the White to move when its not- oops!):
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6
That's about all I know of the Spanish!
4. Bc4 Bc5
Hey- this is like the Italian Game!
5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 O-O 7. Re1 d5 8.
exd5 Nxd5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Rxe5
I spent about 3 minutes considering 10. ... Bxf2+ before deciding my opponent wouldn't play 11. Kxf2 allowing 11. ... Qf6+ winning the Rook. (Crafty liked Bxf2+, but with moves I hadn't considered! Need to look at that later...)
10. ... c6 11. d4 Bb6 12. c3 Bc7 13. Re1 Qd6
I've decided to gun for the Kingside with everything I've got. After forcing his Rook back, I realized he still hasn't activated 4 pieces. you'd almost think I dropped that pawn in exchange for the activity!
14. g3 Bh3 15. Bf1 Bxf1
Sweet! I get to exchange what was my worst piece for his best!
16. Rxf1 Rfe8 17. c4 Nf6
Sure- make me go to the Kingside.
18. Bf4 Qd7
Given how the game ended, I'm sure he wished he'd exchanged Bishops at this point. instead, he 'forces' me to centralize my Knight and score what I consider a badass finish.
19. Bg5 Ne4 20. Be3 Qh3
21. Nd2
21. ...Nxg3 22. Qf3 Ne2+ {Letto resigns} 0-1
I can't believe I found this win (even after Crafty tells me Nxg3 wasn't all that I thought it was :D)! I watched a few videos yesterday on the Grand Prix Attack, a system I'm thinking of using in conjunction with the Scotch Game, and reading the unmarked half of my Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess so I can only assume my brain was primed for assault and mate!
Here's the game in raw PGN:
[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.11.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Letto"]
[Black "gorckat"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1658E"]
[BlackElo "1475P"]
[ECO "C60"]
[TimeControl "G/30"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 O-O 7. Re1 d5 8.
exd5 Nxd5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Rxe5 c6 11. d4 Bb6 12. c3 Bc7 13. Re1 Qd6 14. g3
Bh3 15. Bf1 Bxf1 16. Rxf1 Rfe8 17. c4 Nf6 18. Bf4 Qd7 19. Bg5 Ne4 20. Be3 Qh3
21. Nd2 Nxg3 22. Qf3 Ne2+ {Letto resigns} 0-1
I just let Crafty take a hack at it. Crafty never went over one pawn either way until 22. Qf3. Here's what he gave at that point: 22. hxg3 Rxe3 23. Nf3 Re7 24. Re1 Rae8 25. Rxe7 Rxe7 26. d5 a5 27. dxc6 bxc6 with a pretty even game, slight edge to Black.
At no point had I considered Qh5 by White which came up in several of Crafty's lines. If I had seen it and decided to make my moves anyway, then fine. Its a glaring weakness of mine- failing to consider all my opponent's moves. I can probably work on it better in G60, but it gets so hard to find two hours when I have the energy for it.
Here's the game with off the cuff commentary and Crafty analysis (some of the diagrams have the White to move when its not- oops!):
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6
That's about all I know of the Spanish!
4. Bc4 Bc5
Hey- this is like the Italian Game!
5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 O-O 7. Re1 d5 8.
exd5 Nxd5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Rxe5
I spent about 3 minutes considering 10. ... Bxf2+ before deciding my opponent wouldn't play 11. Kxf2 allowing 11. ... Qf6+ winning the Rook. (Crafty liked Bxf2+, but with moves I hadn't considered! Need to look at that later...)
10. ... c6 11. d4 Bb6 12. c3 Bc7 13. Re1 Qd6
I've decided to gun for the Kingside with everything I've got. After forcing his Rook back, I realized he still hasn't activated 4 pieces. you'd almost think I dropped that pawn in exchange for the activity!
14. g3 Bh3 15. Bf1 Bxf1
Sweet! I get to exchange what was my worst piece for his best!
16. Rxf1 Rfe8 17. c4 Nf6
Sure- make me go to the Kingside.
18. Bf4 Qd7
Given how the game ended, I'm sure he wished he'd exchanged Bishops at this point. instead, he 'forces' me to centralize my Knight and score what I consider a badass finish.
19. Bg5 Ne4 20. Be3 Qh3
21. Nd2
21. ...Nxg3 22. Qf3 Ne2+ {Letto resigns} 0-1
I can't believe I found this win (even after Crafty tells me Nxg3 wasn't all that I thought it was :D)! I watched a few videos yesterday on the Grand Prix Attack, a system I'm thinking of using in conjunction with the Scotch Game, and reading the unmarked half of my Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess so I can only assume my brain was primed for assault and mate!
Here's the game in raw PGN:
[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2007.11.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Letto"]
[Black "gorckat"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1658E"]
[BlackElo "1475P"]
[ECO "C60"]
[TimeControl "G/30"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 O-O 7. Re1 d5 8.
exd5 Nxd5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Rxe5 c6 11. d4 Bb6 12. c3 Bc7 13. Re1 Qd6 14. g3
Bh3 15. Bf1 Bxf1 16. Rxf1 Rfe8 17. c4 Nf6 18. Bf4 Qd7 19. Bg5 Ne4 20. Be3 Qh3
21. Nd2 Nxg3 22. Qf3 Ne2+ {Letto resigns} 0-1
I just let Crafty take a hack at it. Crafty never went over one pawn either way until 22. Qf3. Here's what he gave at that point: 22. hxg3 Rxe3 23. Nf3 Re7 24. Re1 Rae8 25. Rxe7 Rxe7 26. d5 a5 27. dxc6 bxc6 with a pretty even game, slight edge to Black.
At no point had I considered Qh5 by White which came up in several of Crafty's lines. If I had seen it and decided to make my moves anyway, then fine. Its a glaring weakness of mine- failing to consider all my opponent's moves. I can probably work on it better in G60, but it gets so hard to find two hours when I have the energy for it.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Fischer missed a mate in one! Or did he?
This makes me feel not so bad missing that mate in two earlier this week:
Fischer's note with the puzzle's solution says he missed this posibility but won anyway. I Googled for the actual continuation but didn't find the game. What I did find was a game with a similar position and it looks more like Bobby missed a mate in 3.
41. Kf1 e4 42. Bf2+ Kh3 (Kh2 ends the same) 43. Rh7#
I had gone back to Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess because I was thinking it might be a good book to put in my daughter's hands (easily portable, has puzzles which she likes doing). Unfortunately, I used a pen to write the solutions for the first half of the book right on the diagrams.
Guess I'll have to buy it as a stocking stuffer for her.
Fischer's note with the puzzle's solution says he missed this posibility but won anyway. I Googled for the actual continuation but didn't find the game. What I did find was a game with a similar position and it looks more like Bobby missed a mate in 3.
41. Kf1 e4 42. Bf2+ Kh3 (Kh2 ends the same) 43. Rh7#
I had gone back to Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess because I was thinking it might be a good book to put in my daughter's hands (easily portable, has puzzles which she likes doing). Unfortunately, I used a pen to write the solutions for the first half of the book right on the diagrams.
Guess I'll have to buy it as a stocking stuffer for her.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Proof I need more time on tactics
I got the first move, but missed the second. It was about 11:30 pm last night, but still- this is basic!
I need to get a routine down where I look at tactics and forced mates for at least 20 minutes a day, each.
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