Hello 2+2!

My name is Posedaru Bogdan ( http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1213610 ) , a 25 years old Fide Master from Romania.

I played poker semi-professionally for the past 5 years but now I am more focused on Chess (I currently got all my IM norms, I just have to win some ELO points to get my title).

My typical day consists of several hours of purely chess training and 1 hour of psychological preparation with a certified sports psychologist, who advised me it should be best if I started to give something back to the chess community.
I decided it would be best if i would give something back not only to the chess community, but also to the poker community. Where else shall I do that, if not the chess section of the 2+2 forums? So here we are !

I will help you improve your play - openings preparation, middlegame strategy, endgame tehnique, tactical problem solving and so on.. and best of all, I will help you for free!

Feel free to post your online blitz games, your tournament games or any other chess-related question and I will analyze your strenghts and weaknesses and give you the proper advice to improve your game.

I can't help you with one-on-one chess lessons, at least not for free , but we can talk also about that if you are interested (if the forum moderators feel there is something wrong about that, please let me know).

Cheers,
bogdanpos

sure, I'll start off this thread.

my last 4 blitz games:
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1177104957
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1177099497
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1177094327
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1177088985

granted its blitz and there's like 5 blunders every game, I don't expect move by move analysis.

I just want to know if there's any strategical mistakes I'm making in the opening or middle game. fwiw I haven't studied openings in 10+ years.

I'm hoping to get back into rated chess one day.

another few question:

1) are there any simple openings u'd recommend that I can use to play against 1.d4, Nf3, or c4? i play a nimzo/bogo type line where i put my pawns on dark squares. i usually get into a middle game with a huge space disadvantage (esp from the bogo) against better players. is there a simple opening w/o a ton of theory that i can perhaps play pretty much intuitively?

2) i play badly vs. IQP and with IQP's esp from d4 d5 c4 dc lines. Is there any generic guidelines I should follow when playing it and playing against it. I know this is a pretty broad question, but I think I lack ideas from both sides.

3) I usually find myself stuck for ideas in the middle game after everything is developed. I know again this is broad, but I find myself making blunders every so often b/c I'm stuck for a plan. Against weaker players, I can just go for their throat OR they just blunder somewhere along the way. Against better players, I find myself on even grounds. What do you look for when you devise a plan?

4) Are bishops really that much better than knights in general? I find myself giving up the bishop pair in open positions a lot. Is this giving up too much?

edit: actually lol... I don't care for improving. I just want to exploit and beat Porque123 the next time we play a series of games.

Can you talk more about sports psychology and how to properly warm up and cool down for a game?

Do you use hypnotherapy?

Actually, I've just started working on the psychology part of chess, and I am not yet using hypnotherapy.

Before every chess tournament I play, I find it extremely useful to work at least 1-2 hours of chess tactics (simple or harder, doesn't matter) for 1 week before the start of the tournament, just to get myself in shape. My results were clearly better when I did this.

When I have a game, I just arrive at the playing hall 15 minutes earlier and sit at the table, and just close my eyes for two minutes to recap my opening preparation for that particular opponent.

When the game is finished, it is best if I just hang out and play pool or other games or just to talk to friends from the chess tournaments. Anything not chess related helps me cool down after the game.

Hope this helps

tiger415, I will look at your games and at your questions and I will reply as soon as possible

1. A "simple" opening might be Queen's Gambit. You fight for the center, you develop your pieces naturally and you castle the king pretty quick. Afterwards you develop your queen's side pieces and prepare thematic c7-c5 breakthrough, or, in some cases, e6-e5.
Another easy-to-play opening might be King's Indian Defence. Again, you develop pretty quickly (knight to f6, bishop fianchetto to g7) you castle immediatly and then you begin the fight for the center by preparing either c7-c5 or e7-e5.
As opposed to KID, Queen's Gambit doesn't allow white pieces to gain huge space advantage so maybe this suits you better, but still, there are plenty of ideas and principles you must learn in order to facilitate your in-game thought proccess.

2. IQP is very vast and complex. There are thousands of pages of theory regarding optimal play by both white and black pieces in this kind of pawn structures. I will do my best to enumerate some of the basic principles that you must be aware of when entering this kind of positions, if you are playing white pieces:
a) Given that this is an open game, where you dominate the center and your pieces have lots of space to manoeuvre, your main task is to AVOID ALL EXCHANGES. Actually, this is one very important middle-game principle: When you have space advantage, keep as many pieces on the table as possible, and of course, when you lack space, try to exchange all the pieces you can. Most important, do not exchange rooks or queens ! You may exchange minor pieces if you gain small advantage, but if you exchange rooks or queens, the weaknesses in your pawn structure will be easily exploited.
b) Try to develop mating attack ! This is very important, because even if you won't succeed, black will have to compromise and of course, this will create weaknesses in his camp. For reference, a good setup of white pieces would be : Rd1, Re1, Nf3, Nc3, Bg5, Bb1. Notice that I do not give a "good square" for the queen because it will move pretty often with the purpose of "testing the field".
Good ideas to remember in this opening are :
a) h7 and f7 are black's main weaknesses. Try to exploit them ! (Ne5 with Ba2 for example will create threats of Nxf7 and Bxe6. Or Bb1 with Qd3 will create threats to h7.
b) Do not push your pawns ! If you are white, there's no need to push forward. Just manoeuvre your pieces (with a certain goal of course), because pushing the "F" pawn for instance will restrict your pieces and create more weaknesses in your camp. If you are black, you may feel obligated to play g7-g6 at some point. This is not the best, but it is often necessary. Remember an old chess principle: "Never push pawns on the side where you stand worse!"
c) In general, middlegames are favourable to white and endgames are favourable to black.

3. "What do you look for when you devise a plan?" - This answer to this question is the most important thing in positional chess !
In my opinion, positional chess is the hardest part of chess. Anyone can memorize openings from opening encyclopedias, anyone can practise tactics and spectacular combinations and anyone can learn fundamental endgames from let's say, Averbakh's endgame manual.
But mastering positional play is very, very hard ! It all revolves around the question : "What should my plan be in this particular position?". Over the years, I've been working with Romania's best chess trainer (notable student: GM Constantin Lupulescu, 2630) and he's helped me enormously into learning to devise a plan. I will try to briefly explain here what he told me 10 years ago.
REMEMBER THIS: Good positional moves come from good answers to the good questions you ask yourself.
Let's take for example, a common position arising from IQP (we are playing black pieces)



The most important thing is the assesment of the position, aka. "Who stands better?"

Here, there are many factors we need to analyse: Safety of the kings (we are both safe for now, but white has attacking potential!), Space advantage and center domination (white has space advantage thanks to his d4 pawn), Coordination of pieces (white has a minor advantage, seeing as black's bishop is misplaced) open files or diagonals (white has huge advantage - "c" file is occupied by the rook on c1, "e" file by the rook on e1 and "b1-h7" diagonal by the bishop-queen cooperation. Black only has a8-h1 diagonal) and weak squares and pawns (this is the only part where black stands better - white's d4 pawn is weak because there are no adjacent pawns to defend it and of course, the d5 square is a great square for one of black's pieces because there are no white pawns that can attack it there).
OK, now that the assesment is complete, let's make logical deductions from that:
White has attacking potential. Question I ask myself: How do I annihilate this? Answer: By exchanging pieces.
White has space advantage. Question I ask myself: How do I annihilate this? Answer : By exchanging pieces.
White has better coordination of pieces. My bishop is misplaced. Question I ask myself: How do I fix this? Answer: Either by exchaning the bishop or replacing it to g7 (quite hard)
White has better control of files. Question I ask myself: How do I annihiliate this? Answer: By bringing the rooks on open files.
White has major weaknesses in his position. Question I askmyself: How do I take advantege of this? Answer: By exchanging pieces!

So, now that we know what we need to do, we search for moves that comply with our plan:
What move shall I make in order to : Exchange pieces and bring the rooks to open files ? I think the answer now is pretty simple: Rac8 ! Notice that with this move we intend to exchange the rooks and then bring the other rook (from e8) to the open file and exchange the pair of rooks again!
So basically, in order to devise a good plan, we must do the following:
a) Asses the position in terms of : safety of kings, space advantage, coordination of pieces, open files and diagonals, weak pawns and squares.
b) Ask ourself the right questions on how to annihilate our opponent's advantages and how to increase our advantages
c) Find the right moves (and check for blunders) to do that!
Great players do this almost subconsciously and keep in mind that you can't play good positional chess if you do not understand what is happening in the game!

4. There is no doubt here: Bishops are better in open positions and knights in closed positions! Maybe you do not feel this way as there is an anecdote between chess players : "In blitz games, the knight is worth a rook!" because it generates hidden threats, hard to see with little time on the clock

Just skimming through your games, I noticed one very important aspect that, in my opinion is keeping you down: You play way to passively

In the first game you played a version of KID but with the white pieces ! Not to mention moves like 18.Bc1 , 19.Nd2 .. I assume your plan was to exchange the white-squared bishop, in order to exploit d5 weakness, but think again: It is way too slow, and I think utopic!

In the second game, 6...d6 is the kind of move why you find yourself lacking space.. If you don't feel comfortable manoeuvring in tight spaces, then just play 6...d5 ! and all your problems solved. 8... Nc6 is obviously a mistake for the same reasons: you give your opponent the chance to advance his pawns and squeeze you on the bottom ranks.

In the third game, I'm not saying "Grand-Prix" isn't a playable line. I just think that for an unexperienced tournament player, you should play principled openings : Develop your pieces, castle quickly, and fight for the center ! Now you also have some "plan-making" tips for your middlegame technique
Playing the type of openings where you make compromises (you give away the bishop pair) requires good knowledge of theoretic plans, like in this case you should attack on the kingside as soon as possible and with as many pieces as possible. Notice that by the 17th move Qxf6, black is clearly better by doing nothing!

In the fourth game, 7... a6 is exactly what I am talking about! Too passive. After you played the perfectly 5...d5 (best theoretical move) , now it's time to seize the initiative : 7...c5! Do not waste time by making useless "Waiting" moves like a7-a6. Whenever you get the chance to make active moves.. Just Do It ! . 9...c5 is very good, but imagine yourself up a tempo! (tempos are more important the earlier we are in the game!)
As a side note, 16...Nxd2 is a very weak move (16...Bg4!). Look at the position and make a very short assesment. You just realized that now YOU have space advantage and is your opponent that is suffering on the back ranks! The bishop on e5 and the knight on c4 cooperate very nicely, and white has big problems with hanging pieces (Nc3, Bd2, a3 pawn etc.). What is it that you have to do? Notice your inactive pieces : Bc8 and Ra8. So you must get them into play. How do you do this? 16...Bg4 ! with tempo and then Rc8.. Ba-dum-tss.. 0-1

All in all, I think your game also has its strenghts: You play solid positions, rarely blunder (These 4 blitz games impressed me from this point of view. I myself blunder quite often at this time control) and I sense that you are capable of visualizing many moves ahead.

If you have any other questions, or if my explanations have been as bad as I imagine they were, feel free to ask me anything and I will reply as soon as I can

wow great analysis...

I didn't realize I played too passively, but now that I go over the games myself, I do realize that's a common theme.

That opponent and I played a few dozen games and I think he psychologically got to me. I would feel like I haven't made a mistake yet he'd gain an edge or equalize in every position. That may have led to or furthered my passivity.

Also I feel like there's some leveling going on. I usually play the rossolimo/moscow against the sicilian. He started to respond with 2.e6 or 2.g6. Now I have to either play open sicilian or play some weird sidelines. I should probably look into the open sicilian, but I absolutely hate it since I think black has all the options and white has to study all of them.

When I look at this position, my first instinct is I'd rather take black here. I think black is better because of white's IQP and it seems like white doesn't have enough to show for it. I think the deal breaker is black's light square bishop and black's king looks really safe. Also I'm not great at devising plans when I have a space advantage! I usually just give it back, exchange a bunch of minor pieces, and then I'm stuck with the IQP. So maybe I'm being a little bias here and others will play IQP positions much much better.

As black, the first move that comes to mind is nd5 since I want to a) trade minor pieces b/c of white's IQP and b) get rid of the dark bishop (my weakest piece). Now that I think about it more, rac8 makes the most sense because I can always play nd5 later. The c-file can become a potential threat, so I should stop it first.

That's an interesting opinion. What immediately caught my eye is that the Q+B battery forced you to play g6 despite not fianchettoing, and now h6 and g7 are weak and g6 is pinned to h7. I can't see a forced win for White off the bat, but if it's White's move now, I'd start with Ne5 (what a good outpost!), h4, g4, h5. Black's Qd5 seems an empty threat because f3 deflects it. I don't believe it's dangerous for White to open up his own king's position because his pieces are coordinated better (that's the virtue of having an IQP).

If it's Black to move now, though, it's a bit trickier as Qd5 prevents Ne5. Hmm.

I'm only of about 1600 FIDE strength, though (that's just an estimate as I've never played a FIDE tourney), and definitely need to plug this position into Stockfish now Before that, I bet on the side whose move it is.

I'm ~2100 and have recently realized a new dedication to put in the effort and achieve master. This is a game I never analyzed because it was my first win vs an IM and I didn't want an engine telling me my brilliance was littered with errors.

But since I want really to improve, I figured I would dive into the vault and finally analyze this game for what I did well and what I need to work on.

I appreciate any suggestions and criticisms from anyone. Thank you.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Nf3 c5 6. e3 d5 7. a3 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Nc6 9. Bd3 Qc7 10. O-O dxc4 11. Bxc4 e5 12. h3 h6 13. Rd1 e4 14. Nd2 Re815. Nb3 b6 16. Bb5 a6 17. Bf1 Ne7 18. c4 Ng6 19. Bb2 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Qc5 21. Ne2 Ne5 22. Ng3 Bb7 23. Qb3 Re6 24. Rab1 Ned7 25. Bd4 Qc7 26. Nf5 Kh7 27. Rdc1 Nc5 28. Bxc5 Qxc5 29. Nd4 Rd6 30. Qb4 Rc8 31. Qxc5 Rxc5 32. Rc2 Nd7 33. Rcb2 Bc8 34. Be2 h5 35. g4 Ra5 36. Rb3 Rg6 37. Kf1 h4 38. f4 exf3 39. Bd3 Bb7 40. Bxg6+ fxg6 41. Kf2 Be4 42. Rd1 Ne5 43. Rc3 Ra4 44. Ne6 Bb7 45. Rd6 Rxc4 46. Rxc4 Nxc4 47. Rd7 Ba8 48. Rxg7+ Kh8 49. Rc7 Bd5 50. Nf4 Nxe3 51. Kxe3 1-0

I think to defend the 4th game where I played nxd2, I figured qc7 next would win at least a pawn or an exchange. But I guess I should probably hold onto the pressure and try and gain more.

In the same game, I played the waiting move 7...a6. I played this so I can force white to exchange the c-pawn for my d-pawn (otherwise I take c4 and go b5, which I think allows me to develop quickly).

In the 2nd game where I played Nc6 and back to b8, that is a common theme to get white to play d5). But I think ur right about it being very slow and cramp-ish. I'm better off just playing d5 myself and make a break in the center.

In the 1st game I played lol terrible passive. I think that just allowed black to equalize and gain an edge very quickly.

In the 3rd game, I agree the grand prix is a horrible choice. I think I agree that this opening allows black to at least equalize easily. But this was blitz. I guess if I'm a passive player, the grand prix is a horrible choice.

Wow, I'm so glad you find this thread interesting

Unfortunately, I won't be home this weekend, so I will write all my answers sunday evening or monday morning.

Oops, Black's LSB indeed turns out to be playing a major role. E.g. 1. Ne5 Rac8 2. Rxc8 Rxc8 3. g4? (trying to take h5 away from the N) Rd8 4. Be3?? Qd5 5. f3 Nxg4! and White is busto. I didn't see that one coming. Hence 4. Rd1 Nd7 5. Bxe7 Qxe7 (5. Bf4? Qd5 6. f3 Nxe5 7. Bxe5 Qxf3) 6. Nxd7 (6. Nf3? Qf6 7. Ne1 Ne5!) - hello, endgame White turns out to be the one who's playing for the equality in that position; the d4 pawn is very weak indeed, and Black always has Nd7 available that trades the attacking pieces off

Cool thread OP, I will contribute a game.

I usually just play blitz & bullet, but have dabbled in some correspondence.
This was a good 1, it made me actually sit and think in between moves.

http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=115009186

Note: game is in progress, so dont tell me how 2 finish em, altho I think its over

YouKnowWho, Judit Bowlgar, and now OP. Seems like we have a lot of strong coaches in this sub!

Because it is the best chess sub on the Internet!

Good stuff OP, keep going

Actually, you are right. Good assesment, black is actually slightly better ! But playing Nd5 is not the best (nor is it terrible) because it allows white to seize the initiative for the moment, for example : Bh6, Rc8 and Ne5 and threats start coming.

Black's king is not so safe, given there are plenty of pieces on the board so white might devise a plan to attack it . IF white was to move here, it would be best to just play Ne5 and if black responds with Rac8 then Rcd1! keeping the pieces on board. So that's why black should play Rac8 first and not Nd5, losing an important tempo.
I hope I made it pretty clear why in this kind of pawn structures, white has to keep the pieces on board (to try and develop an attack) and black should try to exchange pieces!
Keep in mind that your reasoning for playing Nd5 is good but white won't be so easily tricked into exchanging the minor pieces, so Bh6 is the obvious response.

Regarding your play in positions where you have space advantage, I have some things to add:

1. Try to keep as many pieces on the table, as your opponent will have a difficult job trying to manoeuvre the pieces to better squares, due to his lack of space.
2. Try to anticipate your "breaking move" : This is a very important concept in space-advantage positions. Let's take a quick look at the following position, white to move:



White's huge space advantage is obvious, thanks to his d5 pawn. Black's pieces are somehow awkward and lacking routes to manoeuvre. White should try to improve his position to the maximum.
But how should he do it?
This is the moment you should take you time and find "the breaking move". The breaking move is almost always a pawn advance and it should respond to the question : "How will white increase the pressure on black's position?"

Let's take a look at the queen's side structure: White played a2-a4, in order t o block black's counterattacking chances by b6-b5. But the downside is white won't be able to break black's solid structure by playing b2-b4 (actually, white can prepare this advance but it will help black, as after cxb4, he will gain the very important c5 outpost for his knight).
Now, let's take a look at the center : it is clear that white can't do anything about it, as it is completely blocked.
Okay, this leaves us with king's side structure: Now, it is pretty clear which will be white's breaking move: f2-f4!!. Sure, why can play it right now, but there's no need to rush things, as black cannot generate any immediate counterattack or any serious threats (f5-f7 is typical but it is better for black to prepare it by means of g7-g6, Ne8-g7 and maybe then f7-f5). So we can take our time and prepare the breaking move, so when we play f2-f4 it will be really dangerous. So now, the question we ask ourselves is : How to improve our pieces' position for the final breakthrough? Where would my pieces stand better to increase the pressure when f4 will be played?
The Queen is well placed (d2 or c2 are both very good squares), The rook on f1 is great, the light squared bishop is well placed, the bishop on e3 occupies the best square and the knight on c3 supports the center very well.
But what about the a1 rook? we just analysed the situation on the queen's side so a1 is not the best place. But where should I move it to increase the pressure, once f2-f4 is played? e1 of course !
But what about the e2 knight? is there any better square for it? Sure, the d3 square looks really great! (also the f5 suqare but there's no route for getting there)

After you answered to all these questions, you will find the best moves to fulfil your plan: Re1 and then Nc1-d3 (in either order you want)

3. If your space advantage is either on the queen's side or the king's side (but not in the center) be very careful for black's possible pawn advances that will undermine our structure.

You are right about Ne5 being the best move for white, but for the wrong reasons.
Your plan of advancing your king's side pawns is not so good. Keep in mind that you must strictly control the center in order to develop a king's (or queen's) side attack. This is a very important rule to remember!

Hello rooookktaker!

The correspondence game you played is quite good, but you made a huge error on move 16. : 16.Bxc5? is very bad. Indeed, I think you missed Nf4, but even so, if you stop for a moment and assess the position before your 16th move, you should notive that you are well behind in development : your rook on a1 and your knight on b1 are still not part of the fight. This is yet another important rule to remember: Do not be greedy when you still have pieces to develop. Of course, there are certain positions where this rule doesn't apply, but that kind of positions are almost always theoretical where every line has been analyzed, or the type of closed positions, where there aren't any files or diagonals open. This surely isn't the case, because black controls the "d" and "f" files and also, your queen on h5 is badly placed (it can be attacked by the knight on g6 in only one move). So do not underestimate the dynamic potential of the positions!

Thank you very much, I am very glad you appreciate the effort !

Thx OP. I totally missed Nf4 in that game. So, on move 16 there i should just go Nd2, ya?

Thx again

I would have played f4 right away. Now that I look at it some more, nc1-d3 is very strong as it places the weakest piece onto a more active square after the break.

F4 seems better. Wtf is this Re1 Nd3 plan? Maybe it is good but ain't nobody got time for that bull****.