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| Chess is food for the mind and soul. |
We had a low turnout tonight at LCCC. It's bad weather, its summer - and people need a little time off before our Fischer Random 960 tournament that starts next week!
It will be four rounds. One round a week. If you need to miss a week due to vacations - or whatever - you can still enter late or take a bye later in the tournament. A bye earns a draw score (1/2).
Be here next week for the action.
One of my study methods (not that it has made me a
threat to Magnus Carlsen or anything) is to play over games of Master chess
players - and above
The theory for doing this is to pick up patterns of
play – such as good opening moves, development of pieces, good squares for your
pieces and attacking patterns.
It is even better if the game is annotated with
notes from the players, or at least one of the players. Those notes will give
insight into what they were thinking and worrying about during the game, which
are hints as to how you should think during a game.
Other study exercises I do is to cover up the last
six or more moves of the game, and try to guess the winning moves (peek to find
the winner before hand) from that point forward. Then, when you guess
incorrectly, try to figure out what you missed that the Master player saw. This
exercise is designed to help your ‘chess thinking’.
You might want to start off covering up only the last 3 moves, until you are getting 2 out of 3 right or more all of the time.
You will be shocked on how hard it is to find the
right moves! Even though you are looking at the position without a chess clock
running and under no tournament pressure, it’s not that easy to think along
with a great chess player.
My estimation is that a “C” player will average only
about 55% correct, and that includes the occasional easy correct moves - like obvious
and forced re-captures.
But no matter how well you do, the idea is to
evaluate what you are missing in your analysis and what you are ‘tunnel
visioning’ on.
For instance, I have a bad habit of focusing on a
specific plan, and fail to take a fresh look at the position after each move.
After all, chess masters play at a higher level and their moves have greater
scope.
If you start with an entirely new look at the
position after each move - as best you can – you might see something else.
And this is something WHICH is the same thing you
should do in your own games!! Sometimes new opportunities – or threats – appear
out of nowhere after just two half moves.
Here is a game in which I embarrassingly only got
two out of seven of the last moves correct – and they were Moves 28 and 29,
with 29 being an obvious capture.
This is bad because as you will see – the entire
game is in the balance in these last seven moves – and I would have not played
the most accurate moves and would have lost a won position.
This game showed me I need to work on my defensive
skills – big time! As well as re-setting my analysis after each move – as I
locked on a bad plan and stubbornly stayed with it instead of looking more.
Now a very exciting, educational and interesting game - with notes from the winner – which includes
GM Kayden Troff’s “best move I ever played.” Kayden Troff was a FM and only 14
years old at the time! Re-printed from Chess Life – May 2015, with added notes
from Igor3000.
Pavlo Vorontsov – Ukraine vs FM Kayden Troff - USA
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. c3 Nf6
4. Be2 Nc6
5. d4 cxd4
6. cxd4 d5
7. e5 Ne4
8. Nc3 Nxc3
9. bxc3 e6
10. O-O Be7
11. c4 dxc4
12. Bxc4 O-O
13. Rb1 b6
14. d5 Na5
15. d6 Bxd6
(.2) Also possible is 15. ….Nxc4. [Not only possible
– but much better (-.7).
16. exd5 Nxc4
17. Rb4? Ba6
(-.5) No better is 17. Qd3, Nxd6 18. Ba3, Nb7 19.
Qe4
[Actually, Qd3 is much better. The game is EVEN with
the Qd3 line. And Igor3000 actually likes 17…..b5! (-.8). I will let you follow
that line on your own software.]
18. Ra4 Bb5
19. Rb4 Nxd6
20. Re1 Bc6
Correct was 20. Rd4! (Now -1.7)
21. Ne5 Bd5
Up two pawns. Clearly I should win from here. [Igor
puts Black ahead only -1.8 pawns because White has the more active pieces
positionally. Now watch White decide not to try and defend his weakness, but
rather attack using his strength (better piece placement).]
22. Qh5 Nf5
23. Ng4 a5
24. Rf4? Rc8?
[Neither player makes the optimum move. But at least
White is staying with his plan of aggression – hoping for just one Black
mis-step. Probably the same mis-steps I took when I was getting my guessing
attempts incorrect.]
25. Ba3 Re8
26. Bb2 Rc2?
 |
| White to move after 26. ......Rc2? |
Pavlo finds a great opportunity to make it more
complicated. [The simple 26….Bxa6 gives Black an even bigger advantage (-2.8).]
27. Bf6! ……
Now I was afraid of losing – and I am – except for
one move! [White truly has a lot of threats possible.]
27. ….. Re2!!
An unusual move, but the only one that wins! (-1.8)
28. Rxe2 Qc7
Now I have duel threats of Qc1 mating or Qxc7 taking
the rook back.
29. Rfe4 Bxe4
30. Qg5 Rc8
31. Bb2 Qd8
32. Nf6+ Kh8
33. Rd2 Qxf6
[The White bishop
cannot take the Black queen because of 34. Bxf6, Rc1+ and mate the next move.
And after the exchange of queens, Black is a full minor piece up in material
(-3.4). ]
White
resigns.
This game gave Kayden
the Under 14 World Championship title!
Games to review like this is why you need to be a member of the US Chess Federation.
And of course - LCCC!
