I know you already have a coach and all, but would you mind posting some of those games (or links to them) here?

Yeah definitely. English is quite wide and less move order dependent but more "theme" dependent. I think I'll set up Botvinnik's System as a default response to novelties/lines I haven't studied yet.




Yea, I will post some soon in the near future (need to figure out how first, maybe just paste game text here with my analysis)

Some sites that you play on have links to the games. You can also paste the pgn into chessvideos.tv to give us a game replayer. Also, adding the game text with your thoughts to augment the chessvideos replayed would be nice.

UPDATE: 24/3/2015 - 26/3/2015


Day 39 - 41

99 days ish left till tournies.

Played some blitz games, went up and down abit. I'll upload some of my games (both wins and loses) here at some point. I just want to do it justice when I can give it my all in terms of annotation and quality of review.

On my way to finishing the 1. c4 e5 repetiorre, its full of force lines and what not. Gonna review on responses and plans against a reverse grandprix set up by black (early f7-f5) with my coach. It's considered a most dangerous response, so need to make sure i get it covered.

For the 1. c4 c5 part of my English repetiorre, as well as all the anti- transposition set ups (e.g. anti slav systems, anti QGD systems etc. etc.), I'll just copy Marin's repetiorre from his series grandmaster repetiorre. Hopefully, I can get this done by end of April and move on to my black openings quickly.

I need to spend more time putting effort on completing my study schedule and stop procrastinating :P

I want to do more chess tonight, but need to study up for an online multiple choice exam for my uni course.

I play this as Black. Definitely pick a line with a quick d2-d4. Exactly which line depends on the rest of your repertoire, so that you don't get move order tricked, but if you just play a normal autopilot setup (which is the reason many intermediate players play the English) it's a lot more fun for Black.

Which line do you recommend? By rest of repetiorre you mean from my 1. c4 e5 part or the whole thing? I'm probably not looking to transpose into Queens Gambit, but some king side fianchetto with Nh3-f4 ideas after black's e5-e4...

Prepare to get flamed, but post games asap imo

he means whether you are playing 1.c4 e5 2.g3 or 2.Nc3 and 3.Nf3, and which setup are you going for if 2.g3 (Nf3/e3+Nge2/e4+Nge2). Agree that quick d4 lines are the best.

I mean it depends on the rest of your repertoire after c4 e5, maybe also some silly sidelines like c4 Nc6 or c4 f5. For a start, do you intend 2. Nc3 or 2. g3? In the former case you can avoid g3 altogether if it suits, but at the cost of allowing other lines like 2...Bb4

The setup you suggest is all but impossible assuming Black starts with Nc6. He will never play e4 unless you force it with d4, and you can't play d4 unless your N is on f3 (or if you played e2-e3 when you have issues on the light squares)

One example awkward line for Black is c4 e5 g3 Nc6 Nc3 f5 Nf3 Nf6 d4. Or the same thing without g3 and Nf6.

A very concrete line where you accept those light squared weaknesses: c4 e5 Nc3 Nc6 g3 f5 Bg2 Nf6 e3!? d5! cd5 Nb4. When this line was first discovered Black was thought to be winning. Theory (and computers) now prefer White, but it's not for everyone.

Sorry, I haven't replied in ages. I play 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 so i won't be playing g3 lines.

The setup I was refering to was something like 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 f5 4. d4! e4 5. Ng5 rerouting to h3-f4 later then with a kingside fianchetto after g5 fixing the dark squares on black's kingside.

UPDATE: 27/3/2015 - 31/3/2015


Day 42 - 45


Was studying for an online psychology course exam, its kinda f-ed up that I lost 4 days of chess study time just like that. The exam and ****ty and pointless anyway, shouldn't have studied on it that much. I've only got around 95 days left till tournaments, definitely feeling the urgency to complete my repetiorre and preparations, especially since I would have to be studying for university exams for a some of the remaining days before I start to play tournaments.

I did manage to sneak a few blitz game over the several days, but they are mostly poor quality games, and involved me swindling people in lost positions and time scrambles.

I'm too tired tonight, so i'll probably try to get a good night sleep and wake up early tomorrow to get some chess done.

Yeah that line is definitely one of the good choices, I think Black scores ok and the computer evaluates it as equal, but Black doesn't have his natural plans so it is easier to play as White.

UPDATE: 31/3/2015 (lost update should have been 27/3/2015-30/3/2015*)


Day 46

Today, trying to get back into the groove of studying but ended up spending the whole day playing blitz. Played some online, then went out and played for a few hours in a chess club. Then came back home and play some more.
I noticed a trend in my blitz playing. I tend to win all the time in the first few games I play in any session, and gradually my playing quality deteriorates. I go from seeing semi-deep variations to leaving free pieces hanging in just a few games. And my nerves/psychology crumbles very quickly, especially if there’s spectators watching or start losing a few games. Hopefully this won’t happen when I play real tournaments, but it’s something I have to work on.
Sometimes playing quick games is very discouraging, because I lose like a ******.
So here are some of my games. I would like you guys to be able to see an annotated version of a long tournament game I played at some point. But at this point I time, I don’t yet have the attention span to play anything long yet. Maybe I’ll play one next week which will have better quality chess. But I don’t want to keep you guys waiting. These two are my most recent games (played just minutes ago) against some decent 1900 guy who definitely played more blitz then me.
The quality of my play is kind of suspect, and I mostly just play by intuition here and my play is devoid of calculation or anything concrete.

The first game was pretty decent by me. Actually outplayed him positionally and got a dream position + pawn up in the endgame. Then I dropped a piece and lost straight away (lol!)
Game 1: I play as black

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 c5 6. Bb2 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Nf3 Re8 9. Be2 d6 10. O-O Qc7 11. h3 Ba6



This is some line in the Nimzo Indian (I don’t know which), I don’t play this opening usually, but whatever. White has the two bishops, but his pawn double pawns kind of block everything up. My game plan is pretty simple: render their bishops useless, keep the position locked and put pressure on c4 via Ba6 and Nc6-a5

12. Rc1 Nc6 13. Bd3 Na5 14. e4 e5 15. d5

White locks the position up (which is good for me). I win the c4 pawn also.

Bxc4 16. Qe2 Bb3 17. Nd2 Ba4 18. Bb5 Bxb5 19. Qxb5 c4!



White’s bishop and knight is useless, black has a winning position

20. a4 Qc5 21. Qxc5 bxc5 22. Ba3 Rab8 23. f3 Rb7 24. Rb1 Reb8 25. Rxb7 Rxb7 26. Rb1 Rxb1+ 27. Nxb1 Nb3 28. Kf2 Kf8 29. Bb2

I managed to transition to a winning endgame and white is lost. Both of white’s minor pieces are ugly and I prevented Ne2 or Bc1 freeing moves. Soon I’ll take the a- pawn too and win. I played possibly the one losing move that drops the game immediately. Oops.



29. ... a5? 30. Na3 1-0

Now I dropped c4 and my knight is trapped, king will come across and win it later. My opponent has 2 minutes left, which is plenty of time to convert.



My second game is also tactically suspect. I play white here against the same guy. The game was very messy and a lot of complications. I missed a lot of tactical ideas that I otherwise may not have missed in a standard game. I am still of right now, not capable to calculate deeply in a blitz game without running out of time. I played pretty aggressive in this game and had a few winning chances which I missed. I ended up swindling a lost position for a win in time scramble.

1. c4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2 e6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O a6 8. a3 Bd7 9. d3 Rc8 10. Bf4 Bc5 11. d4 Be7 12. Re1 O-O 13. e4



I gave myself an isolated queen pawn and made the position asymmetrical. I have some attacking chances on black’s kingside

dxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15.Rxe4 Na5 16. Rc1 Qb6 17. b4 Nc4 18. d5 Nxa3 19. Ne5 Bb5



Missed a nice idea here. 20. Rxc8 Rxc8 21. Nxf7 Kxf7 22. Rxe6 Qd8 23. Qh5+ Kf8 24. Qxh7 saccing a piece and leading to a very dangerous position for black’s king and according to the engine it’s +9.93 = win

20. Be3 Qd8 21. Qh5 exd5 22. Rg4 g6



I missed a pretty obvious mating variation: 23. Rxc8 Qxc8 24. Nxg6 fxg6 25. Rxg6+ hxg6 26. Bxd5+ Rf7 27. Qxg6+ Kh8 28. Qh5+ Kg8 29. Qxf7+ Kh8 30. Bd4+, now it’s lost for me after...

23. Qh6 Rxc1+ 24. Bxc1 Bf6 25. Nxg6 Bg7 26. Ne7+ 1-0
He blundered and forgot about this move and I swindle for the win, discovered attack and now i can mate next move.

This game is interesting because I didn't really calculated, but general intuition would tell you that if they don't have many defending pieces around their king and you have alot of attackers in the vicinity - usually the combination is somewhere or you are at least getting a petpetual check. But the amount of defensive resources they can have can often surprise someone who overestimates his attack.

I find it odd that you'd consider the position after 13.e4 to have attacking chances on the kingside. Those chances only come about because his next five moves involve moving his knight, bishop, and queen to the queenside.

At the moment you play e4, you have no attacking prospects on the kingside IMO; both of your bishops are pointing the wrong way, your knight is on the third rank, you have no central control, and his kings pawn protection is undamaged.

I'm not really trying to focus on this specific position, or this game. It's just that every one of those points is basic thematic structural stuff that should not make you think "kingside attack". What caused you to believe that at this point you would have kingside attacking chances?

Yea good point, it was bad annotation on my part. I based my analysis on what happened later in the game. The game could've easily gone in the direction of struggle for the c- file.

However, I would like to point out, that black's natural Nf6 defender is getting displaced from f6 and e5 is under my control (potential platform for Ne5), and I do have more space.

But's its true I don't really have a piece superiority on the kingside, nor are my rooks ever getting to the 3rd rank. Perhaps my prospect are better on the queenside based on this position: double up on c- file, potentially Nc5.

Do you think that e4 is potentially an error, that I left my self with a isolated queen pawn without much of an advantage (but maybe i could get d5 in soon).

Maybe i should have kept the center locked/static and immediate aim for a queenside play? Can you suggest a plan that you think is good here?

I'll preface by saying it's not the kind of position I enjoy (too much balance, not enough imbalance). I mean, you're playing the white side of the exchange slav, it's not exactly going to lead to awesomely dynamic positions.

Your edge, if one exists in the position, is based on his bad bishop on the light squares; it can't really enter the game directly, while your dark squared bishop is outside the pawn chain and actively controlling queenside squares. I would pretty much pursue a very long term plan of just trading pieces down to the point that you have just the light squared bishops left, and play for the superior ending.

UPDATE: 1/4/2015 - 5/4/2015


Day 46 - 50

Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of days. I haven't used my time very effectively this week during Easter. Been mostly out eating with family, going out with friends and playing live poker. Woke up every late everyday and only got abit of work going.

Still have to complete my opening repetiorre, test it in games, and build on my overall skills (studying middlegames/endgames, doing tactics), while still prepare against people who I will play

I've got around 88 days left before big tournaments, and since I still have uni work, I have to make everyday count.

Have to complete this list in addition to my opening preparations:

Tactics

CT Art: 14/500 middlegame studies done (with compilation)
Chess Tactics level 3: 0/500 puzzles done
Chess Tempo: 110/500 puzzles done
Chess tactics puzzles with theme revealed: 15/500 done
Jacob Aagard's calculation: 0/10 chapters done
Visualization exercises: 0/100 days done
Reviewing past tactic compilations/catergorization (0/100 days done)


Strategy

45 techniques: 6/45 done (---- goal on hold)
Core months: 1/13 done
ICS essential+ practise: 0/13 done
ICS strategy puzzles: 0/13 done
Strategy 3.0 0/200 puzzles done
Strategy 3.0 0/100 games studied


Endgame

Endgame puzzles: 0/300 done
Endgames topic learnt: 0/9
CT Art: 0/400 Endgame studies


Other than the Daily Requirement, theres important other things*

Games played: 0/50 long games
Blitz games played 95/500 games


The key now is to focus and not waste any time procrastinating and getting distracted

1. No wasting time on Poker
No playing online cash games
No studying poker
No live casino cash game/tournaments
Only play important online tournies (the extra big sunday storm and SCOOP series)
Only play live poker once a week (every monday in a club close to my home) + the monthly freeroll that has good prizepool and super soft field
No discussing staking/backing with other people
No wasting time skyping with my poker groups
No spending time online reading about stuff on poker (e.g. other people's winnings) or watching poker videos
Basicly I'm mostly trying to spend as little time on poker as possible to keep my focus on chess

2. My spare time should be used for studying for uni
Only after I've done sufficient work on chess each day before going through uni stuff
Dropping a uni course to reduce my workload, chess is priority right now

3. Spend time going to chess clubs every week
Get some live experience and meet people, I've spent most of my life playing online and not talking to anyone except my coach
Play some games every Tuesday at a club near my house (same club that have poker lol)
Go to other clubs occasionally to attend GM lectures etc.

*Also spend some time going to Hyde park (in Sydney's city central) to play some decent 2100+ blitz players if no clubs available that week

4. My only source of recreation should be the one episode of a bunch of my favourite TV series that I watch every night
Should watch chess videos (from good chessbase series) at night if there aren't any new episodes out

UPDATE: 6/4/2015


Day 51

Studied some opening lines in 1. c4 c5, especially lines where blacks opts for an early d7-d5. I give myself <2 weeks to finish my white 1. c4 repetiorre, hopefully I'll be done in less.

Went to the weekly freeroll that I've allowed myself, run a stack pretty quick, and end up spewing off, because I really could care less. I think I really only play because my friends go there, so it's just for ****s and giggles.

Gonna try to get some work on 1. c4 c5 done before I sleep.

I didn't read this earlier, but it seems like you're doing this very wrong.

Most people are better off implementing beneficial routines, using goals merely as long-term organizing devices.

This is the basic difference between a routine and a goal:

Goal: 1000 ChessTempo problems in six months.
Routine: at least three ChessTempo problems a day, every single day.

Note that 3*(182.5) isn't close to 1000. That's by design. What you don't want to do is take a bunch of days off when you aren't feeling up to taking on your Sisyphean workload. Taking a lot of days off and trying to catch up later is the absolute worst. So choose a comfortable lower bound -- an amount of work you can handle daily even when you're feeling lazy. The binges, the days you exceed your quota by 1.5x-2x or more, will get you to your overall goal. And remember: the most important part of a routine is the "every single day" part.

You're trying to do a lot of different things, so you might have to create two or three sets of routines and alternate between them, like this:

You'll find it easier to do this if you consolidate some of the redundant categories (working with four different tactics resources is overkill) and remove the unnecessary ones, like endgame studies.

I do have a routine, I just haven't posted it yet. I switch around sometimes though to keep it less static. But the basic stuff like tactics, I try to do everyday. Other stuff, such as middlegame strategy, I'll change around depends what I want to go through (e.g. spend more time on kingside attacks, if I find out it's been lacking etc.)

I'm currently in the process of studying opening lines. And I hope to complete my repetiorre before doing anything in the forementioned list.
I found it hard to concentrate on the things, when I have unfinished English lines in the back of my mind.

UPDATE: 7/4/2015 - 8/4/2015


Day 52 - 53

So I got abit of work done in opening, much less than I had hope.

I used the program chess opening wizards to record down my variations after studying Marin's Grandmaster Repetiorre. This is so I can later test myself.

I realized I have an assignment due next week so I'm going to get started on that.

Gonna attend a lecture by Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly tmmr.

In order to combat my time wasting, I've set up a point system to keep track of my study.

I have to post update everyday.

Every time I spend a day effectively, I get one point.
Every time I procrastinated and wasted a day, I get one strike.

When I reach 10 points any reader of this thread can suggest a way for me to reward myself.
When I reach 3 strikes, anyone here can suggest a punishment for me. (nothing too extreme lol :P)

Everyday, I'll either be getting a point of a strike, unless it's some extremely special circumstance.

Based on the amount of strikes you'd be retroactively due, I think each person who has posted in this thread could suggest a separate punishment already.

Btw, one day you may get what Rei is talking about in terms of planning and enforcing a routine > specific things. But this newest system doesn't really do that at all. If it's enough motivation to avoid strikes then perhaps you'll form solid routines anyway, but maybe not. This could end up as an exercise in gaming your own system to some degree.

I don't know for sure what to recommend. It wasn't until after college that I was able to establish and learn better discipline and routine in my life. And not until I moved in with my now wife who is, by default, someone who is quite disciplined, was I really able to set up a more optimal pattern of certain routines.

I really like having a routine overall. Of course I never actually want to go to sleep "on time" but man, just this one little example makes a huge cascading difference in my life. Note that I feel there's quite a bit of flexibility in my routine but when something relatively optimal is set, there usually isn't much need to blow it up too much, simply shift things around as needed.

Very insightful, this is something I'll try to apply to my study. Currently, I'm focused on completing my repetiorre, so I'll based my routine around that.

UPDATE: 9/4/2015


Day 54

So I woke up abit late today. I played some blitz and did alright. Then went to work on my repetiorre against the reverse maroczy set up in the English opening.

I didn't get as much done as I would like but it was still a busy day, so I'll be generous and give myself a point today.

I headed out later in the day to attend a lecture by Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who was one of the seconds for Anand in his match against Gelfand.

It was a very interesting and insightful lecture. I learnt alot about calculation and key concepts as prophylaxis (I should share some of the stuff i learn here later :P)

But I will leave you guys with something VERY interesting (I might repost the following if anyone miss it, since I'm gonna post everyday.)

Below is one of the positions that arised out of Anand's preparation with his team. They focus on finding concepts that engines would not be able to find. The GM remarked that this is the most beautiful position he ever seen.

The position was in the rossilimo sicilian line and imagine if it was actually played in the world championship match. The idea in rossilimo is to prepare b3-Bb2 of d3-e4, Be3. Black has the idea of an early e5, which threatens to erect a powerful phalanx with d6.

This position arise after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.b3 e5! (threaten d6 to build pawn wall - leads to complication) 6.Nxe5 Qe7 7.d4 f6 8.Nf3 Qxe4+ 9.Kd2!! (wow) Qf5 10.Re1+ Be7 11.Kc3 c4 12.Kxc4



now king can hide in b2 where it is reasonably safe, and consolidate with a better position and a pawn up. Or 12.Qa5 13.Kd3 Ba6+ 14.c4 d5 15.Ke2! dxc4 16.Kf1! cxb3+ 17.Kg1! (king is back on g1) bxa2 18.Qc2 axb1=Q 19.Qxc6+ Kf7 20.Rxa5

Points: 1
Strikes: 0