Definitely horrible etiquette to offer draw in such positions

Obviously it's bad etiquette but w/e, just ignore it. Or do like an English GM and stand up on your chair, have a look round the playing hall and say 'draw? where?'

Not much to say about the game, as you said you go a piece up straight out the opening.

i believe "bitch, please" is an acceptable response there.

i'm not totally sure though.

I don't understand why the online chess servers don't give you the option to block draw offers.

I believe that's because it's sometimes good etiquette to accept a draw, like in a queen endgame with equal material (if there's no repetition manoeuvre that wouldn't spoil either player's position dramatically), especially if it's blitz, where it's not always clear who'll time out first, and even when it is, it's extremely good sportsmanship to still agree for a draw in a drawn position (which Chessexplained does, but his opponents sometimes don't, leading to his usual tantrums).

Woodpecker training is going well. I have done my tactics set for the 3rd time.

Using the -2 for wrong move, -5 for miscalculate and +1 for correct answer

Set 1 - 119/200
Set 2 - 174/200
Set 3 - 200/200

I will move onto a new set of 200 puzzles now and start the process again

My team 45 45 is going well we are top of the league and if we win the next match then I think we are almost certain to make the play offs which would be awesome.

Also played some blitz (my bad but crack addict gonna addict). I am still v poor at blitz but I think the tactics training is helping me in this format.

Below is a cute game because of the ending. I am sure I have better ways to win before this but this is pretty

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game/view/i...47b806d7ae8289

Halfway through my 2nd set of tactics and I certainly feel stronger all round not so many stupid blunders

Did a sesh with YKW on Friday where we looked at basic K+P endgames, boy do I suck. Granted I was tired and actually came down pretty ill over the weekend but, still a ton of work to do

Played my 2nd Team 45 45 game tonight and it was super strange, in that my opponent basically played every move almost instantly like it was blitz. He ended up with 55 mins on clock, which is crazy given how much time you are given.
I mean what's the point in playing in this league if you will treat it like blitz

The game is below, the great thing about 45 45 is all villains previous games are up for viewing. I went through his past games as black and found he plays this dubious 4...g6 line in the anti Sicilian and after d4 I think he is already much worse.

Previous games have gone either 5... cxd4 6 Qxd4 and now 6...Nf6 7. e5 and I think white is already much better and winning a pawn on c6 most likely.

The game continuation has been played before according to my research and gets crushed; villain had played this move before as well in a previous match which was here

Villain previous game

Team 45 45 v Miscu56

I think the problem is he basically never gets developed, I thought 15...Bb5 was a big mistake

Quick comp check shows I could have played more accurately at many points, double rooks on A file which looks nice is a mistake.

Bit of a lack of updates but I am still practicing hard (kind of )

I have kept up with the 'woodpecker' method and it is helping a ton. On my 4th set of 200 problems atm and my tactical strength is getting better.

Also my wife found my polgar tactics book which is great as I think it's better than what I am using currently. However, not my wedding ring which was lost at same time

In regards to games I have played another 2 team 45 games posted below. The first one is pretty simple I think, I liked the c4 pawn break idea and was pretty happy when he took. Assume he missed that he cannot take on e5 somehow.

The 2nd one is really interesting I went for a piece sac in which I was not sure if it was clear. I also missed e5 kind of (just didn't look at it because it looks odd). I spent quite a bit of time at this spot to make sure I was holding onto the pawn and that black doesn't get a ton of compensation for the bishop pair. I think the passed pawn is a bit of a monster in the end so looks like a good choice.

The computer likes it the piece sac as well, but tbh I missed villain could play Ra7 at end of combo. It seems I have more than adequate compensation for the piece even after this oversight.

I also missed multiple mates in this one and it seems in the end I took a draw by perpetual in winning position sigh.

Really did not even see the f5 idea at the end which looks good for white.

Feedback on this 2nd game would really be appreciated

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/...r.php?ID=75280

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/...r.php?ID=76175


Lastly we made the playoffs, and my opponent plays the London system as white. Any ideas on what to play against it, it seems insipid as a opening but quite solid and I want to play for the win.

In the second game, instead of e5, b4 looks pretty strong for Black.

In the first game, I don't really like your idea of Bxf5 and c4 - if Black just goes Be6 and Ne7 I don't think you have anything. Just 12.c3 gives you a very good position imo.

c5 then load up on the b file is really good for me I think and was my intention. I looked at it on houdini also and it liked this plan with a pretty clear advantage for us.

Black has no counterplay and we have a very solid game. Think we have Ra1 to B1 - Rb5 at some point and can double rooks with the Queen at the base to form a cannon

Will have a look at b4 in the other game later on.

b4 looks interesting and deffo better than e5 which seems a mistake.

Stockfish likes 14. Bb1 g6 (mate is threatened) 15. Na4 I assume with ideas of Nc5 which looks kind of nasty for black and he prob has to give up the bish pair when the knight comes to c5

Looks more playable than in the game though.

Rather than 13...e5 it is suggesting 13...h6 which is equal apparently and I prob have to be careful to keep active as if pieces come off then the iso d4 pawn becomes the traditional sore point.

Ok, I agree White is a bit better in that position, but I think I still prefer c3, though perhaps just a matter of taste. These types of positions after Bxf5 exf5 are always confusing. On the one hand, the Bishop on e6 looks like a terrible piece, but it also holds Black's position together.

Bd2-b4 looks like a big move in that position, control d6 and prevent castling. If dc then d5 probably wins. There's only the small matter of losing a pawn to nb4, qc4. Maybe we can make that work, or maybe play slower with a4, bc1, ba3?

I think white has serious compensation after bb4 nb4 ab qc4 qd2! so this seems like the most principled way to play

Not played a ton recently but, I have been at it with tactics still and getting better at them still

In team 45 our team won the league which is awesome though it was close. final match was draw then replayed and drawn again. We won as the take off the last board result which we lost and recalc based on top 3 board.

Here are my recent games, playing close to best chess I have played ever actually. Thanks to tactics work and also YKW lessons


Here are the games and I think the game versus Nathan won game of the week

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/...r.php?ID=76220

YKW gave me a nice opening set up idea versus what I thought would be london system but it kind of transposes into it

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/...r.php?ID=76267

This was game of the week, I had no clue what I was doing and accidently on purpose sac the 1st pawn. The 2nd one was on purpose, very nice tactic i missed rather than 18 Bd3.
18 Ng5 is winning I think, YKW and I looked at this and found it post game which was a nice move to find

Last game, which was a draw for sure until villain goes into a K+P endgame which is lost though he was in time pressure

http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/...r.php?ID=76279


I think next season, I am rated 1920 (was 1740 for this one but had only just started ICC) so I will be playing board 1 and expect it to be much tougher. Hopefully (or maybe not) I get some tough games where I need to really think hard.

Any thoughts/feedback on these games is appreciated though

game 1: Is 13.Qd6 annoying? If so maybe you should have played slower with something like 10.-a6 11.a4 b6.

maybe might have been better than his game choice.

I think i had 2 options if he plays this e4 followed by something like be5

or give up a pawn and play just Nb6 and if he takes on c5 grab bish pair followed by Be6 and tempo. Pawn down but I am pretty happy with our postion and it has some dynamic potential with the 2 bishops.

Not sure what I would have done in game as did not really consider Qd6 probably as he is somewhat undeveloped. Which is a oversight on my part for sure.

Not that I'd want to criticise the setup in game 1 but my usual plan here was to not play c5 but instead concentrate on forcing through e5 leaving the c pawn to go on c6 if necessary. All the other elements (Qe8 Nd7 etc.) can stay the same but sometimes I found the Nd7 could use the manoeuvre c5 - e6 to take control of f4.

Epic bump

Brag: won v a 2360 as black best blitz result ever!
Beat: was a 5 min game
Variance: missed a rook win and quicker mate

http://en.lichess.org/EqLe7mrm#74