Tactical Exercises update

I split Level 40 into two halves for minicircles . I just finished my third mc of the second half of level 30. I solve these exercises with a low key attitude doing them at times with the Red Sox or Celtics in the background. I am not making great gains from circle to circle but by the time I reach 8 times I seem to know them reasonable well.

Today, I am convinced that understanding why the tactic works and being able to verbalize (narrate) the characteristics of the position is an important part of tactical training. At one point I was convinced that I would see a position and automagically relate it to the tactical solution. This only happens after hours of missteps, narrating and working through the problems. This is the door I must pass before the magic occurs.

Unsure if I will move on to Level 50 afterwards.

I may classify some of the Ct-art problems by type of mate :Boden Mate, Anastasia mate , Arabian Mate etc. and if I do I will post it on this site.

I think this covers it....

Pins, and forks and hanging pieces.
Skewers, Invaders and back rank weakness
Kings without air and Defence not there,
X-ray Attacks and guards that get wacked,
Pieces in a row and Queens with no place to go.
Attacks discovered and Kings uncovered,
Discovered Checks and Pawn structure wrecked
Open line through and defenders with too much to do.

tactical update did 7 + minicircles of the first 100 L30 ,now working on the next 100.

Chess Club on Friday I had a series of good games. One which I gave up my queen while delivering mate to the King on a8 with Nc7. Another winning material advantage with a fellow I had not beaten before. Also in a game against a strong player,when my opponent tried to swap queens, I played a rook check deflection of a rook who was guarding a queen. This won a queen for a rook. Very ct-artish.

Selective Tactical Solving

I have decided to take a block of Level 30 problems (the first 100) and solve them repetitively until I am proficient at them. I'll get back to Art of Attack later.

Blackburne Hartlaub Variation of the Englund Gambit

http://blog.chess.com/view/blackburne-hartlaub-gambit

I am really enjoying this variation of the Englund Gambit as it takes away all the feeling of playing a Queen pawn game if White accepts both pawns offered to him . I would love to play this sometime in a tournament game.

At playchess I have played this three or four times where my d6 bishop checks on h2 and then a rook takes the queen. Some fun themes in this line.

I liked the game in this link. I have lightly annotated it.

Bdk thanks again for introducing me to the BH Gambit.

Let's cut to the chase

I started to analyze a number of my games but decided that they would only tell me I need to brush up tactically. The Rx is to do tactical problems. Over the past week I have been doing L20 Ct-Art and had a Pacman like correct percentage. I now have a laptop which makes it easy to do 50 at sitting in almost any environment. Almost done a second pass of L20.

Englund against a 2145 player

From Playchess.com this am.

http://blog.chess.com/view/englund-gambit-against-a-2140-player

As the arrows suggest in the diagram black to move (me) missed a decisive tactic. I find it interesting that even a better player missed the same tactic as it allowed his queen to be captured.

Hmmm. Pretty basic stuff. I think a little Ct-Art again might do me wonders................

At move 16 I was up a .85 of a pawn. Then the tide turned but true to form I was attacking till the end. Fritz liked 17 g4. In fact still ahead till my big mistake which was 18....Be6.

I do like it when better players want a breather and play me. I don't think I would want a steady diet of being kicked around however mixed in with my regular games it is fun.

trying something new

Starting to play the Sicilian as black a little bit.nothing fancy c5 d6 Nc6