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10-19-2014 , 09:00 AM
Where is the injustice though?
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10-19-2014 , 10:36 AM
I forgot to kick him in the nuts.
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10-19-2014 , 07:41 PM
I need to get back in the habit of going over my games, so here goes.

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=96762

This is one of those great Moderns where you grovel and grovel and the whole things looks like it's on the verge of terrible collapse, but somehow it just barely holds together until your opponent makes a mistake. I'm black against an FICS 1950.

My thoughts:

Spoiler:


3. h4

As a percentage, I do just fine in this positions. It's just the wins tend to be grindy and long and the losses tend to be spectacular blowups. You have to be able to take those in stride to play this opening.

8. ... fxg6

This is a really tough call. I'm not sure if recapturing with the f or h pawn is preferable. Recapturing with the h-pawn gives me two loose pieces on the kingside that don't have a lot of room to maneuever. Recapturing with the f-pawn leaves some gaping holes in the center of black's position.

9. Ng5 Nf8

I did foresee this back when I captured with the f-pawn. Black is ugly and uncoordinated but white isn't all that coordinated themselves and not developing all that quickly.

10. ... h6

Need to loosen up white's grip on e4. Worried about Nxb5 in the near future, but I think pressure on e4 should handle it.

16. ... g5

I think this was a mistake. That knight isn't doing a whole lot and black has plenty of control over the key light squares. 0-0-0 improves the position a lot more.

20. Bxg5

I honestly didn't see this coming, but after looking over the position, I didn't think it hurt me any. After long-castling, I'm pretty sure I can win the pawn back by force I'm a little worried about missing a tactic involving my king and knight being on the same open diagonal, but I didn't see anything develop over the next few moves.

White blunders a piece a few moves later and it's all pretty academic from there I thought 30. ... Kd8 (not Kd7) was a pretty nice find.


Last edited by KyleJRM82; 10-19-2014 at 07:52 PM.
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10-20-2014 , 07:06 PM
If you are ever involved in one of those human chess games where the captured pieces are executed, you want to be an h-pawn:





http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-ch...-average-games

I think he should have counted a lost game as that sides' king not surviving.
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10-20-2014 , 10:45 PM
It depends really. If you're playing against someone who knows some chess theory then you'd want to be an h pawn, however amateurs who don't know anything about the game love starting off with moves like h4
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10-21-2014 , 02:28 AM
It frustrates me, as someone who lives on the western coast of the US, how much great chess is played in the middle of (my) night time.

Two and a half hours until the second Grand Prix event starts in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Every round will begin at 2am for me. Guess I won't be watching any of it live.
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10-21-2014 , 03:01 AM
The **** time you think it is on the east coast lol
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10-21-2014 , 06:25 AM
The Fischer like Nh5 is played by Gelfand against Giri. According to the grandmaster repertoire book on the Benoni this is a small inaccuracy I believe, but I don't have it with me, so don't take my word for it. http://live.fide.com/tashkent2014/lite.php
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10-21-2014 , 06:27 AM
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044727
Whole different variation indeed. I need to work on my memorization
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10-21-2014 , 11:33 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by airwave16
The **** time you think it is on the east coast lol
Seems to me like if you live on the east coast the games will start at 5, unless I've forgotten my first grade arithmetic, which means they should still be in progress when you wake up.
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10-24-2014 , 02:40 PM
Help me out here with the opening please:



What should white plan here be? To me Be3 seems natural but it seems to completely suck according to databases and Rybka.
For some reason Nbd2 seems much stronger than Be3 as well.
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10-24-2014 , 10:29 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by valenzuela
Help me out here with the opening please:



What should white plan here be? To me Be3 seems natural but it seems to completely suck according to databases and Rybka.
For some reason Nbd2 seems much stronger than Be3 as well.
Whites overall plan is probably a kingside attack, which would probably be why the bishop is better off staying put, it's a long range piece so doesn't need to move to develop. Nbd2 intends to follow up with Re1 to support e4 and clear the f1 square then eventually Nd2-f1 then usually g3 eyeing f5 probably h3 is needed in there at some point so that black can't pin the night and Ng4 isn't a concern after we move the rook to the e file. I don't play the ruy Lopez so I'm no expert, that's just my take on what a typically maneuver might be.

There might also be something Nbd2-b3 to support a central expansion or Nbd2-f1-e3 where it eyes d5 and f5. My understanding is f5 is a particularly important square in this type of position which is probably why white will often maneuver the knight there. I think the main reason not to move the bishop is because its already developed on its home square and eyes h6 preventing black playing g6 without a lot of prep.
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10-25-2014 , 12:46 AM


Is it really that surprising that anyone's first instinct in this position, given that they know it's a tactical exercise, is 1.-Re2 (with the idea of meeting Rxe2 with Qc7). Back rank ideas should leap out at you. (Although the fact that 1.-Re2 is even necessary shouldn't.)

Someone gave another poster **** for it and was backed up by upvotes. Another reason to lol at r/chess.

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10-25-2014 , 01:07 AM
**** r/chess yo. For real
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10-25-2014 , 08:58 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by valenzuela
Help me out here with the opening please:



What should white plan here be? To me Be3 seems natural but it seems to completely suck according to databases and Rybka.
For some reason Nbd2 seems much stronger than Be3 as well.
Why don't you like the most popular move, 7.b4?
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10-25-2014 , 09:36 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by valenzuela
Help me out here with the opening please:



What should white plan here be? To me Be3 seems natural but it seems to completely suck according to databases and Rybka.
For some reason Nbd2 seems much stronger than Be3 as well.
It's not that Be3 is bad, but it doesn't serve much purpose. Black isn't forced to take, and if he just drops back with the Bishop to e7 or b6 White hasn't gained much.

The normal plan for White in this type of position is to prepare for a central advance. In fact I think you can go ahead and play d4 immediately.
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10-25-2014 , 09:28 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TimM
Why don't you like the most popular move, 7.b4?
I didnt say I liked it. I was just curious why Nbd2 was played more than Be3 and the answers seem to make sense.
Although if you ask me I think d4 looks stronger.
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10-27-2014 , 11:59 AM
Looks like Hou Yifan is playing Tata Steel in January! Four of the current top ten will be there, Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian, and Giri. Should be very interesting to see if she can drive her rating upward from 2673, a lifetime high, or whether she shows some regression.
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10-27-2014 , 08:19 PM
I hope this is the appropriate place for this.

Has chess.com recently changed its ratings? I hadn't played at all in a couple weeks and when I recently logged in my live chess rating was about 100 points higher than I remember it being. I've since played three games and won all three, two of which were against players that hitherto would have been my best win (the other was close to it). At the same time, two of those games were the result of my opponent making a pretty foolish blunder, and such things happen. Just a weird glitch and then coincidence, or did they make a change?
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10-27-2014 , 08:23 PM
Yes. They boosted everyone's ratings to match FIDE more or something.
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10-27-2014 , 09:19 PM
I wonder if the heavy bot usage on chess.com standard had caused their standard ratings to be warped. A bot user will usually steal 400-500 points from the community before having their cheating discovered, causing rating deflation over time
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10-28-2014 , 09:32 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobJoeJim
Looks like Hou Yifan is playing Tata Steel in January! Four of the current top ten will be there, Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian, and Giri. Should be very interesting to see if she can drive her rating upward from 2673, a lifetime high, or whether she shows some regression.
And she'll be in Gilbratar a day later, fantastic!
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10-28-2014 , 09:59 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleJRM82
Yes. They boosted everyone's ratings to match FIDE more or something.
All ratings or only standard?
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10-30-2014 , 03:29 PM
^ I dunno, I don't play there, I just heard people talking about it.


I had a random epiphany this week. It was one of those epiphanies that probably seem like "duh" to most people. I've been trying to take notice of things stronger players than me do that I don't.

Two are related: They calculate more variations and they take more time. I have to really force myself to take time, because I play by feel way too often. I have a tendency to decide that certain principles demand that I make a certain move so I might as well just make it and see what happens next later.

So what I'm doing is is forcing myself to calculate more. If my opponent has four possible replies, and I think only one is likely, I still try to calculate as many of the most likely lines as I can, as far as I can, with the time I have available. I calculate forcing lines even when it's clear they lose material within the first move or two. I calculate openings even though I know them.

Now sometimes this leads me to avoid an immediate inaccuracy that I would have missed otherwise, which is nice.

But the unexpected side benefit is that it's really helping me tactically. It's easier to notice and avoid tactics because, for example, I've been thinking about that loose rook in the corner in several variations previously that never went anywhere.

tl;dr I'm a dork who never realized thinking about stuff in chess is helpful
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10-30-2014 , 05:33 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleJRM82
tl;dr I'm a dork who never realized thinking about stuff in chess is helpful
Very solid realization! Now that you are armed with this knowledge, 2000+ is just a matter of time
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