Mid-high level improvement thread - Page 6 - Chess and Board Game Strategy

Beat a 2467 GM today! Tomorrow visiting the Guggenheim museum. The city of Bilbao is pretty amazing, although the tournament organisation is sub-par for such a top level event.

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09-15-2014 , 07:03 PM

#128

RoundTower

ɹǝʍoʇpunoɹ

Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 14,563

incredible that this team

1.1 2710 Nepomniachtchi, Ian
1.2 2731 Morozevich, Alexander
1.3 2662 Dreev, Aleksey
1.4 2673 Grachev, Boris
1.5 2614 Dubov, Daniil
1.6 2610 Potkin, Vladimir

loses 5-1 to anyone

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09-15-2014 , 07:59 PM

#129

TexAg06

veteran

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 2,475

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoundTower

What the heck? Who did they lose to?

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09-15-2014 , 08:00 PM

#130

TexAg06

veteran

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 2,475

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldaxe

Beat a 2467 GM today! Tomorrow visiting the Guggenheim museum. The city of Bilbao is pretty amazing, although the tournament organisation is sub-par for such a top level event.

Duuuuuude that is awesome, congrats

Is that your highest rated scalp?

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09-15-2014 , 08:15 PM

#131

Rei Ayanami

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 11,685

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexAg06

What the heck? Who did they lose to?

Spoiler:

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09-16-2014 , 11:25 AM

#132

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexAg06

Duuuuuude that is awesome, congrats

Is that your highest rated scalp?

3rd highest, I beat GMs Vocaturo and Pert back in 2011.

Today wasn't so good, he surprised me with 1.Nf3 so I surprised back with 1...f5. I thought things were going well until...

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...b4ab4f02665218

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09-16-2014 , 02:00 PM

#133

lkasigh

adept

Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 953

Why did you play 6...exd5? 6....e4 looks clearly better for Black.

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09-16-2014 , 02:50 PM

#134

RoundTower

ɹǝʍoʇpunoɹ

Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 14,563

agree, e4 looks very strong to me

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09-16-2014 , 04:50 PM

#135

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

and on 7.Nh4?

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09-16-2014 , 06:34 PM

#136

RoundTower

ɹǝʍoʇpunoɹ

Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 14,563

well, then his knight is misplaced? Be7, 0-0, Ne8 would win. I guess that is a lazy assessment and he really does have g4 Nxg4 Qxg4 Bxh4 Qh5+ or something, does it really work for him in every line?

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09-16-2014 , 08:30 PM

#137

lkasigh

adept

Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 953

Maybe 7.Nh4 Bb4? If 8.g4, then e3 looks strong. If White doesn't play g4 then Black must be doing well..

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09-17-2014 , 05:05 AM

#138

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

I'll have a look later, at least OTB it wasn't clear to me how to continue. 6...exd4 is certainly quite tempting, because I have a great position if I can castle. Well, I guess we saw I wasn't quite in time

Today a double Black against Pavel Tregubov (2600)! And tonight we are going to the Champions League match between Athletic Bilbao and Shaktar Donetsk, should be pretty great.

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09-17-2014 , 10:18 AM

#139

lkasigh

adept

Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 953

Actually the more I look at the position, things really aren't that clear. 7...Bb4 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bc 0-0 10.g4 and the f5 pawn is rather strong.

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09-18-2014 , 05:39 PM

#140

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

I lost stupidly to Tregubov, I went into a lost pawn ending from a rook ending I should have held.

Today's pairing was somewhat unfortunate, playing the other Scottish team in the competition, although it was quite funny seeing as it is referendum day! I managed to win against a friend of mine rated 2193 (they are the second from bottom seeds).

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09-22-2014 , 03:51 PM

#141

TexAg06

veteran

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 2,475

The masses are demanding you post the Tregubov game

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09-23-2014 , 12:08 PM

#142

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...a3f13bcc50c0dd

The two tournaments were a pretty big success from the rating point of view, gained just under 50 points and according to my calculation I should be 2288 on the next list.

Chess definitely taking a back seat now I've started back at uni. I'm going to start out with 30 minutes of tactics training every day, and then try to do a bit of more serious work at the weekends.

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09-23-2014 , 12:25 PM

#143

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

win vs GM

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...0f3ba84d0589f3

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09-24-2014 , 12:08 AM

#144

Judit Bowlgar

centurion

Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 104

gg and congrats

18. h5!!!!!!!!!!!!! is a strong move, stopping the winning kh7-g6-f5-f4

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10-28-2014 , 12:55 PM

#145

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

Ugh, no updates for a month. Haven't played any competitive games but some training. Mainly been really busy with uni, also not had internet except on my phone for a while. Will post regular stuff once that gets sorted on Friday.

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10-30-2014 , 01:51 PM

#146

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

So another big weakness I have (can't believe I didn't mention this at the start of the thread) is very poor technique in winning/clearly better positions. For some reason I struggle to think clearly and calculate variations, it's like half of my brain is occupied thinking about the result. Anyone have any ideas or advice about how to work on this?

If you look at my win vs the GM, I only realised I was going to win 1 move before the end, which removed that factor. The problem is when I 'know' I'm winning. I think this is probably closely related to my similar issue in positions I should draw, discussed earlier in the thread.

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10-30-2014 , 08:17 PM

#147

leofric

grinder

Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 470

It's not uncommon - it's a little like taking time between the transitions from Opening to Middlegame or Middlegame to Endgame. Basically if you have the time it's best to take some just readjusting your thoughts and then starting calculating positions again.

Very often all you need to do is find one or two accurate moves and they'll give up so it's worth staying focused and creating the image that you're not going to blow this. After all there's nothing more depressing for a player than to be sat on the wrong side of a clearly lost position for a long time.

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10-31-2014 , 04:48 AM

#148

wlrs

adept

Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 989

Then again, a feature of strong players is that they tend not to give up so easily. Agdestein compared this to movie villains who keep coming back even after being maimed over and over again.

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11-10-2014 , 02:30 PM

#149

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

It's basically exactly what Rowson is describing in his chapter on 'Wanting' in Seven Deadly Chess Sins. I'm curious, are most people familiar with Rowson's books? Most people in the UK are, but I have no idea about other countries.

Played a couple of games in the national league, given below without annotations. I really need to stop playing this Dragon line, it's quite tough to win those positions. Second game I was apparently inspired by Carlsen grinding down major piece endings.

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...83e7b8e059f598

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...2680713da4f2b9

Quote

11-10-2014 , 02:34 PM

#150

goldaxe

centurion

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 166

Something I found very funny in the first game, in the position after 34 moves apart from the queens, it is exactly symmetrical on opposite sides of the board!

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