Sunday, May 29, 2011

Where am I?

My current rating are:
Slow chess: 2457 ( I guess I am a correspondance chess master)
Gameknot: 1674 (Climbing a tough laddeer, 29/1/0)

I decided to be a more cavalier with slow chess games. I planned to be carefull with gameknot because I like their computer interface and unless I move up in the ranking, the opponent might not be challenging. So far, I have only 3 difficult games.

Starting again

Gosh!
Rook endings are so boring!
How many games I played that reached a lucena or philidor position. NONE!
Most of the time, I kill or I am killed in the middle game. My opening is not an issue because I only played email chess and the database are allowed. The middle game, that is where the action happens.
So,
I am taking an executive decision. I am stopping reading Mednis and move on into
an old love, "Modern Chess Strategy" by Pachman. I read this book several years ago
and it is time to read it again.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Never lose hope

Even when losing, the enemy might let you go. It is hard to substain the winning pressure. So I must be patient when I am in the wrong side of the table.


m1287733210, net-chess.com
lga (2157) vs. lsanchez (2244)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
abcdefgh
0
(black to move)
1.e4d6
2.d4Nf6
3.Nc3g6
4.Be2Bg7
5.Be3b6
6.Nf3Bb7
7.d5e6
8.O-Oexd5
9.exd5O-O
10.h3Re8
11.Re1Nbd7
12.Bb5a6
13.Bc6Bxc6
14.dxc6Nb8
15.Nd4Ne4
16.Qd3Bxd4
17.Bxd4Nxc3
18.Qxc3Re6
19.Bh8Qf8
20.Rxe6fxe6
21.Qf6Qxf6
22.Bxf6Nxc6
23.Bh4Kf7
24.c3Re8
25.Rd1e5
26.f3Ne7
27.Bxe7Rxe7
28.b4Kf6
29.a4Ke6
30.Kf2c6
31.Ke3d5
32.g4Rf7
33.Rd3Rf4
34.Ke2c5
35.bxc5bxc5
36.a5Ra4
37.Re3Rxa5
38.f4Ra2+
39.Kf3e4+
40.Kg3Rc2
41.h4a5
42.h5a4
43.hxg6hxg6
44.f5+gxf5
45.g5a3
46.g6Kf6
47.Kf4Rf2+
48.Kg3Rf3+
 

Friday, May 20, 2011

Keep track of our own chess understanding

I came to the conclusion that one of my problem in the past with chess was not having a fast way to review what I study. Several years ago, when I was active in OTB, I used paper flash card to keep my memorized opening moves. Later I found supermemo but I never use for chess but to study German. With supermemo I memorized up to 4000 german words. I suspect that supermemo could help me to break my chess understanding ceiling.

I began passing my chessbase notes into supermemo in the form of questions and answers. First supermemo presents the chess board and a question set,then after I answer it, it shows the right response. If I fail it will present it again on the next day and so on. It uses an incremental learning strategy. It shows only the flash card that have not been learned. It could be a lot of work, but after finishing my strategy and endgame studies, I will have a set to review while I focus my energy into regular tactical exercises and annotated master games.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Tony Kosten's Book complete

I just finished '101 Tips to improve your chess" by Tony Kosten. It is a great book to reflesh some chess wisdom after being away from the game for a several years. After the 85 tips, Tony ran out of steam and it was time to move on. It took me a while to work through the book. I relied on Chessbase 11 to help me along. Tomorrow I will take my notes and drop them into supermemo to review them.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

A memory from Fischer days.

I remember that in the first Fischer v. Spasky match there was one poison pawn game. I have the opportunity of taken the white side of the position and played a pretty combination. This is my first unrated game at chess.com. I am not really sure that I could played in that server because slowchess.com and gameknot.com are probably enough.


Welcome to Chess.com!, Chess.com
lusanz (1200) vs. KreatorSS (1784)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
abcdefgh
0
(white to move)
1.e4c5
2.Nf3d6
3.Bb5+Nd7
4.O-Oa6
5.Bxd7+Bxd7
6.Nc3Nf6
7.d4cxd4
8.Nxd4e6
9.Be3Be7
10.f4O-O
11.h3Qb6
12.Qd2Qxb2
13.Rab1Qa3
14.Rxb7Rab8
15.Rfb1Rxb7
16.Rxb7Qa5
17.Nd5Qxd2
18.Nxe7+Kh8
19.Bxd2e5
20.fxe5dxe5
21.Ndc6Nxe4
22.Rxd7Rb8
23.Nxb8
 

Sunday, May 8, 2011

A Knight to the rim is a dog.

Finally I made to tip No. 50 of "101 Tips to Improve Your Chess" by Tony Kosten. I am using this book to systematically review what I know about chess. A refresher book that I love.  Here is what I found in Tip No. 50.

Elgoibar 05th
Gomez, M. (2425) vs. Kosten, Anthony C (2540)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
abcdefgh
-1
(black to move)
1.d4Nf6
2.Nf3e6
3.c4Bb4+
4.Nbd2b6
5.a3Bxd2+
6.Qxd2Bb7
7.g3O-O
8.Bg2a5
9.b3d6
10.O-ONbd7
11.Bb2Qe7
12.d5Ne4
13.Qe3exd5
14.Nh4f5
15.cxd5Rae8
16.Rac1Ndc5
17.b4f4
18.gxf4Qxh4
19.bxc5Nxc5
20.Qc3Re7
21.e3Rf6
22.f3Rh6
23.h3Bc8
24.Rc2Rg6
25.Qe1Qxh3
26.Bd4Qf5
27.Qb1Ba6
28.Rff2Bd3
29.Qa2Bxc2
30.Rxc2Qd3
31.Rd2Qb3
32.Bxc5Qxa2
33.Rxa2dxc5
34.e4c6
35.f5Rf6
36.dxc6Rxc6
37.e5Rc8
38.f4Rd7
39.a4c4
40.Kf2c3
 

Friday, May 6, 2011

Trapping chess pieces

A very niece strategical game.

EU-chT (Men) 08th, Plovdiv
Miles, Anthony J (2585) vs. Mortensen, Erling (2475)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
abcdefgh
0
(black to move)
1.d4Nf6
2.c4g6
3.Nc3Bg7
4.e4d6
5.Bd3e5
6.d5O-O
7.Bg5Na6
8.Qd2Qe8
9.Nge2Nd7
10.Ng3Ndc5
11.Be2f6
12.Be3f5
13.exf5gxf5
14.f4e4
15.O-OQg6
16.Rab1Nd7
17.Nh5Bh8
18.b4Nf6
19.Nxf6+Bxf6
20.Rb3Rf7
21.c5Rg7
22.Bxa6bxa6
23.c6h5
24.Rf2Kh7
25.Bd4Rg8
26.Nd1Bxd4
27.Qxd4Qg7
28.Qxg7+Kxg7
29.Rg3+Kf7
30.Rxg8Kxg8
31.Rb2Rb8
32.a4Kf7
33.a5Kg6
34.h4Rb5
35.Nc3Rb8
36.Kf2Kf6
37.Ke3
 

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Study plan

  1. Alternate study between strategy and endgame
  2. Practice Tactics everyday: first 3 levels of CT-ART and Practical Chess Exercises
  3. Play about 30 turn based games simultaneously
The analysis of own games will follow after finishing the current book in strategy because I want reflesh my memory about it.

Bishop pair for a drawing game.

I know that bishop pairs are good for winning a game. However, they are also good for drawing a game.(Tip #38 of Kosten's book)

Biel MTO op, Biel
Klovans, Janis (2405) vs. De Firmian, Nick E (2565)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
abcdefgh
-1
(white to move)
1.e4c5
2.Nf3d6
3.d4cxd4
4.Nxd4Nf6
5.Nc3a6
6.Be2e5
7.Nb3Be7
8.O-OO-O
9.a4Nc6
10.Be3Be6
11.Qd2Rc8
12.Rfd1Nb4
13.a5d5
14.Bb6Qe8
15.exd5Nbxd5
16.Nxd5Bxd5
17.Rac1Qa4
18.Qg5Rfe8
19.Qe3Bf8
20.h3Rxc2
21.Rxc2Bxb3
22.Rcc1Nd5
23.Qxb3Qxb3
24.Bc4Qxd1+
25.Rxd1Nf6
26.Rd8Rxd8
27.Bxd8Bc5
28.Bxf6gxf6
29.Bd5b6
30.axb6Bxb6
31.b4f5
32.Bb7a5
33.bxa5Bxa5
34.Bc8f4
35.Bf5Kg7
36.Kf1h6
37.Ke2Kf6
38.Bc2Kg5
39.Bh7Bb6
40.Kf3f5
41.Ke2e4
42.f3e3
43.Kf1Bc5
44.Bg8Kh4
45.Be6Kg3
46.Bxf5e2+
47.Kxe2Kxg2
48.Bc8