Takchess Chess Improvement

2010-12-27T04:26:00.000-08:00

I've started posting at a new url due to limitations on this blog format.

http://takchesschess.blogspot.com/

notes

2010-12-05T17:07:00.000-08:00

Listing of Collections and User Names on CG.com

TakGambit:

Bronstein Open Games, Alapin French , Silicide, The Sorcerers Apprentice ,Colin Crouch How to Defend in Chess

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=tak+gambit

Takchess

The Art of Attack-Vukovich, The Modern Art of Attack, On the Attack-Timman, Knight Sacs on NF5 in Fianchetto Postions,Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=takchess

TakKing

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=takking

Koltanowski Max Lange Attack, GMRam, Impact of Genius, The Scandanavian by Ems, Neil Macdonald Chess, the Art of Logical Thinking , a handful of Giouco games

TakChessBooks

Games worth of Memorization, Comprehensive Chess Training V2, Games worthy of Memorization, icelandic gambit, Mastering Tactical Ideas by Minev, Reti's Masters of the Chessboard, Take my rooks Minev, Euwe's Development of Chess Style

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=takchessbooksTakQueen

TakPawn

Room to expand

TakQueen

Purdy 24 hour opening system, Torre Attack, Trompowski,

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=takqueen

Howtobeatyourdad

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=howtobeatyourdad

Tak Traxler

2 Knight Defense, A Wandering tour through the Traxler, The Italian Gambit, favorite games

TakKGA

King Gambit Accepted including a bunch of Gallagher Games

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=takkga

TakAttack

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=takattack
Kings gambit accepted and declined

Takchess Tactics
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=takchess+tactics

Takbook
Gambiteer and bronstein chess tutor

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=takbook

Takchessgiuicopiano

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=Takchessgiuocopiano

Patzer2 has the following attacking games by themes in this games collection

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=patzer2&page=1

notyetagm has a similar collection

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1014767

Pachman Modern Chess Strategy and Nezh Greatest Games

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=Bidibulle

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=maoam

game collections and attacks and sacs

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=syracrophy

The king in jeopardy

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=gauerhttp://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=arsen387http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=whiteshark

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1013303http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=Gypsyendingshttp://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?user=avidfanking indian http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1013811

Starting Out

2010-12-05T08:28:00.000-08:00

The book begins with a short look at the Steinitz-Lasker ideas of defense. Lasker championed in his books the ideas which Steinitz developed.

You've heard them all before I'm sure but I find it helpful to be reminded of things I think I know.

PreSteinitz Chess was the battle of attackers if you were a better attacker you by all rights you should win.

Steinitz is considered to be the father of modern positional play.

He pointed out that
* Defense as well as Attack is important
* That there is a time when one should Attack and a times when one shouldn't.
* There are places on the board where one should Attack and places one shouldn't.
* It is one's Obligation to Attack when the time is right or else the advantage will slip away.
* Which ever part of the board the attacker has the advantage should be where he should attack.
* pawn weakness of the opponent, control of open lines and outpost squares are important
* the fight for positional advantage first not the kingside attack
*The Accumulation of Small Advantages is the basis for positional play.

Lasker promoted two big ideas based on Steinitz ideas.

1) The Principle of Economy - whoever is under attack must make concessions to defend himself but must make the smallest concession possible. Not an ounce more.

2) Strengthening the line of least resistance - the ideal situation is where all lines of resistance are equally strong with no weak link in the chain. Strengthen weak areas first. Be careful of Pawn Moves!

How to Defend in Chess: Learn from the World Champions

2010-11-27T08:43:00.001-08:00

A while back I studied Vukovic's The Art of Attack and discussed it on this blog. I was hoping for someone to join me but as I recall I was the lone member of the A of A bookclub. 8) All in all it was time well spent.

I'm turning the tables and now studying Colin Crouch's book How to Defend in Chess: Learn from the World Champions . This is a study of defense using mostly Lasker and Petrosian games with other players games thrown in as suplementary games . http://www.chessgames.com/ had all but two of the games . I created this game collection . Although I enjoy an attacking style, I appreciate good defense and need to understand how to best defend bad positions.

So here we go. Crouch points out that it's important to win games; it's equally important not to lose them.

He writes in his preface: It's now well understood that an advantage may be genuine enough but insuficient to force a win against good play. For the player with the worst situation to carry such a position through to safety is the very basis of sophisticated defensive technique.

I want to be that guy........

interesting game

2010-11-24T09:48:00.000-08:00

From my game as a guest on Playchess.com @ 20 + 6. I'm looking forward to getting Fritz and subscription to Playchess at Xmas. As white I took d5 here and after Qxd5 played Bf4 and then castled queenside . A fun game. Anyone care to comment on this ?

I'm playing and solving again (The low key version)

2010-11-11T13:06:00.000-08:00

I've visited the chess club for 3 weeks in a row and am planning to renew my playchess.com account for Christmas.

I'm solving problems in http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1867326.Sharpen_Your_Tactics

I plan on doing all the one and two star difficulty problems . A page or two a night.

A shift in focus

2008-08-12T03:00:00.000-07:00

For the past few years, I have been playing and studying chess everyday. Lately, this has slowed down as I am becoming more interested in learning about gardening, environment, global warming, alternative energy. Chess is seeming very trivial to me now given all we need to pay attention to.

Some sites I am finding interesting

www.ted.com

http://www.treehugger.com/

http://www.peakoil.com/

Books I recently read and recommend

http://www.amazon.com/ZOOM-Global-Race-Fuel-Future/dp/0446698660/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218535948&sr=8-4

http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Fail-Succeed/dp/0143036556/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218536025&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Apollos-Fire-Igniting-Americas-Economy/dp/1597261750/ref=pd_sim_b_25

Alot of smart people are working on various solutions.

I'll be interested to see what technology will rise to the top. It is clear that change is needed.

An amazing combination

2008-06-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

I have an Alburt and Palatnik book on Chess Tactics for the tournament player. This is a position from Palatnik game against Kasparov(white) . White to Move played Bishop x g5 . This combination is about 14 moves deep all forced . Those who are adventuresome should attempt to calculate this before looking at the game score below.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1069723

Amazing.

White to move

2008-06-19T03:09:00.000-07:00

From a game I recently played . Qxf7 .felt very ct-artish.

As I was playing I was listening to this

Traxler and game results

2008-06-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

I am the first casulty of the tournament of Lepers . Donnie beat me quite handily. I for some strange reason started to play my carokahn defense against the Pirc and had a somewhat confused game. He pushed me around with some tempo gaining moves and I ended up undeveloped and uncoordinated. Arggh .

Great fun and Donnie is a good sport. A good sport says "now thats an interesting move" when he could rightly say instead "your move really sucks!" Update: he nicely annotated this game here

I don't have that file of this game but here is a traxler I played tonight that I thought was interesting.

http://blog.chess.com/view/traxler

Reti Gambit against a 1800 player

2008-05-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today, I played a Reti Gambit against an 1800 player on playchess . The Game progressed to the position below which may lead to a possibility of two strong bishop pointing to blacks Kingside. The bishop in front of the queen often leads to some tactics .

My opponent has just played a4 starting an attack on my castled position. white to move, I noticed Nxe5 pxe5, Qxe5+ Kh8 . If rook blocks then Bc4 with pressure.

After shuffling the rook back and forth a few times, black decides to play a4 ??.

Then comes BXf6!!. The bishop can not be captured since knight take loses the queen and pawn take leads to QXh7 checkmate so he plays ..rg8 .

This loses to Bc4 with the battery that can't be stopped. Nice to have a game against a strong player where I got in some tactical shots. Perhaps this Ct-art stuff is working.....

Play through the complete game here

Odds and ends

2008-05-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

Some progress being made. I feel like I am developing some better board vision and calculating ability. Level 30 tactic problem circles are going well. I am making efforts to play slower and more carefully. This is somewhat foreign to my nature and a big reason why I am at my current level. I am still overlooking some pseudodefenses in my variations. Defenses which are not defenses at all because of pins or can't recapture due to their defending a mating square.

Listening to World Reggae as music and Guns, Germs and Steel as book on tape. I am reading Forcing Chess moves which walks me through some chess tactics. Not a bad book.

Tactical Exercises update

2008-05-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-05-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-13T05:35:00.000-07:00

Selective Tactical Solving

2008-04-30T03:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-28T04:03:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-13T06:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

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

Not a badgame

2008-04-09T03:19:00.000-07:00

http://blog.chess.com/view/not-a-bad-game

I recently played this online game against strong competition. Interesting attacking ideas on both sides and the balance between the two attacks.

Study of Classic Games

2008-04-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Our old friend Likes Forests recently posted on the Mayet-Anderssen game which I annotated a year or so ago. I must say the annotations are more thorough and pointed to some lines that white could of played which I didn't consider. If you are curious, My initial post is found here which discusses the GM-Ram methodology and for ease of viewing I reposted my annotations found here. This is the first game in the book GM-RAM. I hope Likes Forest continues with this as I would enjoy reading this annotation on future games especially those games covered in GM-RAM.

LF asked me yesterday how long did I take to study this game. I did spend a significant time over a week or two studying it. I did memorize it and was able to play it in my mind completely. The GM-Ram Methodology suggest that one memorizes all 59 games. Well for me that is not going to happen. My buffer is too small and multiple games memorized tend to mix together. At various times I have memorized the Opera game, Evergreen Game, Immortal Game, the Double Rook Sac Game of Euwe-Reti and others. However I don't think I ever had more than one game I could replicate at one time. At this point I don't think I am holding on to any of them.......

You may ask the bigger questions

* Is Studying GM Games a good way to improve ones chess ?

* What Games should one study ?

I'll start off my saying that if I did things only to improve I would have quit blogging and studying chess a long time ago. I have seen improvement but certainly not significant or consistently enough to merit all this time. If I cared greater about my rating I would be doing Ct-art now instead of blogging.... I do tend to improve after studying deeply annotated games and the line in my play tend to get a little sharper and interesting.

I do however enjoy studying the games that are generally recognized by the chess community to be classic games. I am interested in the historical perspective and am interested in the March of Chess Ideas through time. Also the historical games often show tactics and ideas which are not seen at today's GM level but prevalent in the patzer world. Those popular classic games that are still being discussed often have exciting combinations, thematic attacks and are quite instructive. There is also the benefit of analysis and discussion about these games that make study of them enjoyable. I often get the most benefit in analyzing lines that may look good on the surface but don't hold up in play.

I often use ideas and a style of play that I get from some of these games and is shown in this past post

4652 Games and Counting

2008-04-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

From 9.25.05 to present, I have been collecting games that I played on playchess which automatically saves them to a Internet games folder. From there I often analyse the games using Fritz over night and in the morning take a look at the more interesting games. At this time I have over 4652 games with some duplicates and others played by others.

I am thinking about ways to improve from this huge collection of games. It is somewhat overkill and I am thinking about ways I can learn in a systematic intellegent way. An element of my games that improved is openings. I use the opening analysis portion of Fritz that shows some sample games in the same openings as where they diverge. I do a quick scan of these and have picked up some ideas as to what some of the GM's and better players have played .

My latest idea is to put key words in my annotations to so I can search on games worthy of future study. I have learned that I can search on words and look to add key words. Such as :instructive position, rook endgame , attack on the kingside castle, pawn storm. There is so many gmaes that it is somewhat daunting how to classify and study them. Perhaps I will just look at my Traxler games or my wild sicilian games against Scottcat.

Thunderclouds from Blue Sky

2008-03-31T04:20:00.000-07:00

Now this is an interesting game. After seeing the young Alekhine play this game, Schlechter said here is a future world champion.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1000606

lesson learned ?! Game 4536 Takchess-Bokla Attack on KSCASTLE Dual Bishops fpawngone 3.29.08

2008-03-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

I play a lot of 20+6 games on the Internet. As white, the games often ends up with me attacking a Kingside Castled position. I throw a lot of material at the position. The skilled player plays a reasonable defense and waits until my attack peters out and counterattacks taking advantage of my reduced material and my pieces now out of position.

I am hoping to develop into a player who attacks in situations where the position calls for it. Here are some examples of positions from a game I recently played. This game I lost . Hopefully some lessons will stay with me.

1) White to Move: What is the best move?

A) c4 black Qmoves followed by d5.

2) White to Move: Black Rooks threatens the Queen. Where is the Best Place for the Queen?

A Qf2 setting up the battery. all other moves are marginal. Notice that Blacks pieces will take time to defend Kingside and white is ready for a lightning attack.

3)White to Move: What is the Move here and Why?

A) Nf6 !! and white is up 3 pawns . Nf6 can't be kicked by the pawn due to Qh6. This queen has it sights on Qh7 supported by bishop and Qf7 supported by rook. (A missed tactic).

Prof Fritz says (19. Ng5 {might be the shorter path}Be8 (19... hxg5 $143 20. Qh5 Be8 21. Qh7+ Kf8 22. d5 $18) (19... hxg5 20. Qh5 {2}) 20. Bh7+ Kh8 21. Rxf7 Qxg5 22. Bxg5 Bxf7 $18) 19... Ba5 $4 {Black falls apart} (19... Be7 $142 $18)

Note to self play it in Fritz.

4) My Bxh6 was a mistake what does black play here to capitalize on it?

answer .....BXf3 (removal of the guard) then gxf3 if Rxf3 then Bxa1! Blacks bishop pair is strong as well !

1 2 3 testing

2008-03-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

http://tipsforbloggers.blogspot.com/2007/10/tips-on-pictures-in-blogger.html>

aaad

aaa

a missed tactic white to move

2008-03-26T15:21:00.001-07:00

a missed tactic white to move . Check out why the knight can't threaten in the variation.

http://blog.chess.com/Takchess/a-missed-tactic

I am finishing up on the Focal Point on g7 in AOA and am moving on to Focal Point on h7 games.

I found this to be an interesting game below as a study on the attack on a castled position. Not in AOA but has some of the same ideas.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1233225&kpage=1#reply3

Interesting enough I'm finding some of the focal point games which are heavy attacks on a castled position lead not to mate but to material and positional superiority that lead to a win.

On The Attack - Jan Timman Review

2008-03-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

I convinced my local library to buy On the Attack by Jan Timman. It contains representative games of the Modern Masters of Attack (during the last 25 years). He made it a point to select only games where the attack is sound ( I like it anyway). The games are annotated with a few concrete variations but with alot of discription about the position, tournament, strategy and some of his personal opinions and asides . Unlike Kasparov's My Greatest Pred's, this does not read like a Fritz chart.

This book is written for players at a higher level than I but I still feel with work I can get something out of it. I look to spend some time on it when I am done my Art of Attack.

It contains 30+ complete games which run 3-5 pages each with 2-3 games of each highlighted Modern Attacking GM as well as 30+ fragments of attacks.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1012326

Of particular interest to me is the Keres Attack against the Sicilian -first game Karpov-Sax. The potential of the pawn storm keeps the King in the center, it's timing and coordination of the moves, a passive knight sacrifice and a combination that springs from the position is a beautiful thing.

I feel at some point when I start understanding these games and their quirky positional play and exchange sacrifices , I will understand chess a lot better.

Honest BDK it's a good book ! You can trust me 8)

WTM- Do you see the mating net?

2008-03-14T11:06:00.002-07:00

I missed it. It would of been a sweet win. will post the game and solution later.

Spring Fever

2008-03-13T03:08:00.000-07:00

I am looking forward to warm sunny days. Snow is still on the ground here.

During lunch breaks in a month, I will be able to go to the park with my analysis board, lunch and The Art of Attack. A few years ago I spent many a lunch studying chess master vs chess amatuer which was quite enjoyable.

Studying Focal-Point on g7

The games are found here:

c5 Focal Points G7 pg 83V Fernandez Coria vs Capablanca, 1914 (C49) Four Knights, 19 moves, 0-1
C5 Focal Points G7 pg 83O Field vs O Tenner, 1923 (C58) Two Knights, 18 moves, 0-1
c5 Focal-points G7 pg 83Boleslavsky vs Ufimtsev, 1944 (C10) French, 26 moves, 0-1
c5 Focal Points G7 pg84K Vygodchikov vs Alekhine, 1910 (C78) Ruy Lopez, 32 moves, 0-1
C5 Focal Points G7 pg85Alekhine vs Lasker, 1934 (D67) Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line, 26 moves, 1-0

Updated notes;

I have been playing portions of these games against Fritz from Pgn files found here

http://wwwu.uni-klu.ac.at/gossimit/c/book.htm

Game Study on the attack of the Castled King

2008-03-12T03:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a game,in keeping with my current studies.where I had a win that evaporated to a loss. My game agains LJQ. I'll take a further look to figure exactly what went wrong I was up by 6 at one point according to Fritz. I liked how this attack built except for the ending.

http://blog.chess.com/view/game-for-further-study

In this position, WTM, R7g4 wins.

Note to self play this against fritz.

(4570) Takchess (1394) - LJQ (1666) [A01]
Rated game, 20m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 09.03.2008
[Fritz 10 (30s)]
A01: Nimzowitsch-Larsen Opening 1.e4 d6 2.b3 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bb2 c6 5.d4 Nbd7 6.Nf3 Be7 7.Bd3 Qc7 8.Qe2 0–0 9.0–0–0 a6 10.h4 h6 11.Rhg1 Kh8 12.g4 exd4 13.Nxd4 Ne5 14.Nf5 Bxf5 15.exf5 Nxd3+ 16.Rxd3 d5 17.g5 Ng8 18.gxh6 Nxh6 19.Nxd5 cxd5 20.Bxg7+ Kh7 21.Qh5 Qf4+ 22.Kb1 Rg8 23.Rdg3 Bxh4 24.Rg6 Rxg7 25.Rxg7+ Kh8 26.Rxf7 Rg8 27.Rh7+ Kxh7 0–1

Chapter 5 - Focal-Points

2008-03-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

This chapter deals with the troubles a defenders has in protecting a castled position especially one whose pawns in front of the king are poorly placed.

V. has very specific language which I find confusing:

The final resting point of the mated king is the mating square.

The square from which the attackers threatens or delivers mate from is the mating focal-point .

The square and attacker harries the King from or uses it to break into the pawn structure is the strategic or auxilary focal-point.

If there are many squares both auxilary and mating focal points of the same color there is a network of weak squares .

Generally speaking every focal-point is a weak square for the defensive side and a potential strong square for the attacker .

This chapter discusses attacks against various focal-points: The focal-point g7,the focal-point h7,the auxilary focal-point f7, complex focal-points.

This,my friends, is the start of the deep stuff.............

The Subtle differences between the focal-point on g7 versus the focal-point on h7

The h7 fp is more frequent due to the d3 being a natural square to post whites bishop and the ease of getting the knight to g5 compared to f5 or h5.

However attacks on g7 are more deadly as the queen can mate on g7 easier due to the kings possible escape square on f8 (with h7).

Also a weakness on h7 brings with it a weakness on only one other square g6 while a weakness on g7 brings with it a weakness on f6 and h6.

Playing g6 provides a greater weakening than h6. However the pawn on h7 is harder to defend since g7 can be defended by a bishop on either f6 or f8.

Historical perspective

2008-03-08T18:06:00.000-08:00

A Historical perspective on the Attack on the Castled King Chpter 3

V. singles out a few players who advanced the attack on the Castled King after Morphy:
Chigorin, Pillsbury and Dr. Tarrash and to the highest degree Alekhine .

Vukovic thought Chigorin illustrated the power of piece sacrifice in such positions. Tarrasch believed that the power of rapid development and control of the center were necessary to attack the castled king . Pillsbury created a kind of synthesis of Attacking play with the endgame and position play of Steinitz and Lasker.

Alekhine attacking play with his maximizing the attacking threat with the appropriate level of commitment is one of the major theme of the book.

I will skip over Mating Patterns chapter on my blog and go directly into Focal-Points. There is a lot to this chapter.

C3 continued::Attack on the Castled King

2008-03-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

The basic elements on the attack on the castled King (My notes from the Art of Attack in Chess)

Attack on the Castled King is the most important to study since they occur so frequently. The structure of the Castled King is positional in nature: a group of pieces having one or more fairly permanent features. One can further say it is passivity d stems from a certain immobility of the pieces. ( a finachettoed bishop may be an exception to this )

This passive nature derives from the lack of mobility of the king and is indirectly transferred to the pieces and pawns around it. Pawn weaken their position if they move and this weakness entails from reduced options from its advance. A pawn moved to h3 loses it's control over g3. Even pieces associated with a castle position lose some of their mobility functionality : A Knight on f6 needing to protect h7. or spatially due to difficulties involved in their centralization.

The structure and degree of weakness of the opponents castled position influences how the pieces attack it. Attacks range from lightning assaults to purely positional maneuvers, uncompromising charges to cautious preparations in which the attacker just flirts with the attack in order to restrict the opponents options.

Now here is an interesting point that had not occurred to me:

The positive feature of a castled position is that it is always a decentralized one. That as a rule any attack on it requires a greater or lesser decentralization of the attacker pieces. This is a basic contradiction for the main positional rule for normal play is one should be centralized (control the center), The risk of attacking the castled the king derives from if the attack stalls or fails then the attackers pieces are out of position which often leads to good counterplay for the defender.

Chptr 3 cont- on Castling and attacking the Castled Position in General

2008-03-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

Chapter 3 notes continued--

The Correct Moment to Castle

Many Simuls Massacres feature the opponents not castling but the beginners advice to castle early has many exceptions.

Here are some reasons to forgo or delay castling.

1) Castling is postponed or not done at all because some other action is more useful such as : capture of a piece, spoiling of opponents position, or launching an attack.

2) Castling is postponed for the time being because it is dangerous

3) Castling is postponed even though one can castle on the kingside but would prefer the queenside. Examples are if you want to castle queenside so you can attack a kingside position or at times you wait until the opponent castles so you can castle on the same side for stability.

4) Castling may be postpone or forgone when the center is permanently blocked. Often at this point the king is safer in the center.

5) Castling is not necessary because the endgame is not far off in which case you want the king in the center. Often when Queens are swapped.

It is still a good thing when one is justified in not being castled to have a quick exit by castling if necessary (just in case)

Knight Sac on F5 against KS Fianchetto: Thanks Trans!

2008-03-01T12:23:00.000-08:00

Vukovic in chapter 9 of the Art of Attack spoke about the thematic Knight f5 sacrifice which is common in attacks on the Kingside fianchetto positions. The blogger Dave Transformation http://dk-transformation.blogspot.com/ kindly sent me a series of games where the knight is posted on f5 against the fianchetto many which are sacrifices I have posted a collection of these games here Game Collection: Nf5 sac against the kingside castled fianchetto .

This is the ending position of the second game in this collection Black (btm) has no saving move.

Does this happen to you??

2008-02-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

Journalist: All these attempts of yours to find more complicated wins have cost and still cost you, more points than anyone in the world .Surely life must have taught you something?

Chessplayer : Yes it probably has . Nowadays, in my opinion, it happens less frequently,but, you see Sometimes an idea occurs that is so interesting that it proves stronger than me.

Mikhail Tal : Life and Games of Tal

It is a great thing even though I play mediocre chess to be able to chase those interesting ideas!

for example:

Here is me chasing an interesting idea that worked based on some thinking following this game and wanting to try simalar moves to see what happened.

and chasing one that didn't work

tie in the traxler

2008-02-17T17:23:00.000-08:00

http://blog.chess.com/view/traxler-tie

I just played the traxler against someone with the bishop take . I hate that variation. I was glad to take the draw by repetition .

afternotes:
I ran it through Fritz who felt I had a win here. See the Fritznotation here . click the move list to see the notation.

It liked a push of the e pawn promotion and trade off.

Check out this sweet combination

2008-02-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1289922

Notes on Chapter 3 On Castling and attacking the Castled Position in General

2008-02-09T14:12:00.000-08:00

This chapter starts off about the historical story of castling which I am leaving out here.

The Dynamic and Positional Considerations of Castling

Castling can be viewed in two ways as part of a series of moves or part of a static position.

Castling increased the dynamic potential of the position opening up new possibilities. increased the influence of the rooks, freeing the e file for a possible attack on the file, and prepared the ground for quick communication between the rooks.

Castling is also a postional move in it that provides an air of permancy to the position.The king tends to stay on the side which it is castled on. Until the endgame, it is a permanent feature. Before castling, the king has three choices staying in the center, castling kingside, castling queenside. Once it castled, their are disadvantages that follow the advantages. As now the opponent takes into the account this more permanent address of the king.

Artificial Castling = Castling by Hand. Eventhough a player has lost the right to castle,it is often still possible to put himself in a castled position at a cost of a few tempi.

The Correct Moment to Castle

(to be continued)

In my game study,I am currently studying the Art of Attack Chigorin-Caro Game

Also here is an attacking game that was the chess game. com game of the day A spectacular finish.

In this position a knight equals a queen

2008-02-07T04:30:00.000-08:00

The best move in this position from a variation in my traxler game yesterday is QXN for white to move . Fritz shows this move delivers a -.71 where the next best move delivers the -12.

here is some fritz analysis . As Dk pointed out the king in front of the pawns in this position is a dangerous thing and something white wants to avoid.

http://blog.chess.com/view/that-knight-is-worth-a-queen

Learning lines in the Traxler (black to move)

2008-02-05T17:44:00.001-08:00

Playing the Traxler leads to interesting positions (problems). I get so far and I forget the lines . With black to move in this position Rf8 not as it turned out here.

As it often turns out materialistic moves jockeying to take the bishop is wrong here. better to pin the knight to the king which is normally played in the traxler when you can.

Like a rabbit hypnotized by a python

2008-02-05T03:39:00.000-08:00

This is what David Bronstein wrote before the Sacrifice in this game in his Zurich International 1953 book.

"The creative element of chess is generally thought to consist of three things: logic, accurate calculation, and technuique (this last includes a knowledge of theory). There is a fourth ingredient also, however, perhaps the most intriguing of all, although it is often overlooked. I refer to intuition - chess fantasy, if you prefer.

Occasionally a position arises in the course of a game which cannot be evaluated on general principles, such as pawn weaknesses, open lines, better development, etc., since the state of equilibrium has been upset on several counts, rendering an exact weighing of the elements impossible. Attempting to calculate the variations doesn't always work, either. Imagine that White has six or seven different continuations, and Black five or six replies to each move; it's easy to see that no genius on earth could reach even the fourth move in his calculations. It is then that intuition or fantasy comes to the rescue: that's what has given the art of ches its most beautiful combinations, and allowed chessplayers the chance to experience the joy of creating.

It is not true to say that intuitive games were only played in the days of Morphy, Anderssen and Chigorin (as if now, in our era, everything were to be based totally on positional principles and rigorous calculation!): I remain convinced that, even in the games which received the brilliancy prizes at this tournament, not all of the variations were calculated to the end. Intuition has been and remains one of the cornerstones of chess creativity - of which we shall now see proof positive." David Bronstein,

Cut and Pasted from this site and this site

30...Qxh3+ Now the weakness of the pawn at h3 tells. The point of Kotov`s remarkable combination, which all his previous play went to prepare, is to drag the white king out to f5, where it will be defenseless against Black`s two rooks, knight and bishop; while White`s five pieces, deep in his rear echelon, can only look on from afar. 31.Kxh3 Rh6+ 32.Kg4 Nf6+ 33.Kf5 Like a rabbit hypnotised by a python, the king advances unwillingly to the place of its doom.

They just don't annotate like this anymore . 8)

Can you think like a Grandmaster ? (updated)

2008-01-30T04:45:00.000-08:00

In the position above, Averbakh-Kotov Kotov sacs his Queen on h3 forcing a Kings March. There are a series of precise moves that black makes to keep up the pressure and turn this to a win.

I am playing this against Fritz to help understand what moves need to be made and when. I give the move order below so you can toy around with it as well.

This is a classic case where a side has a material advantage but can't use it. Given this exact position in the game, I hope I would make that Queen sac as black could force a draw if the game appear to be a loss.

(4401) Yuri Averbakh - Alexander Kotov [A55]
Zurich Zurich, 1953
A55: Old Indian Defence with Nf3 and e4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nf3 Nbd7 4.Nc3 e5 5.e4 Be7 6.Be2 0–0 7.0–0 c6 8.Qc2 Re8 9.Rd1 Bf8 10.Rb1 a5 11.d5 Nc5 12.Be3 Qc7 13.h3 Bd7 14.Rbc1 g6 15.Nd2 Rab8 16.Nb3 Nxb3 17.Qxb3 c5 18.Kh2 Kh8 19.Qc2 Ng8 20.Bg4 Nh6 21.Bxd7 Qxd7 22.Qd2 Ng8 23.g4 f5 24.f3 Be7 25.Rg1 Rf8 Black prepares the advance f4 26.Rcf1 Rf7 27.gxf5 gxf5 28.Rg2 f4 29.Bf2 Rf6 30.Ne2 Qxh3+

Updated: Fritz saw this line that it liked when it analysed the info last night. The play is a series of checks with some of inbetween move to better blacks attacking position. ( I still need to further study this)

31.Kxh3 Rh6+ 32.Kg4 Nf6+ 33.Kf5 Nh5 34.Rg5 Rf8+ 35.Kg4 Nf6+ 36.Kf5 Ng8+ 37.Kg4 Bxg5 38.Qe1 Nf6+–+ -6.41/19 Line

This is a rather famous game and can be found here and with detailed annotation here at Life Masters AJ site ( an interesting site). It also appears in the Art of Attack chapter 2.

Attack on the Castled King -continued

2008-01-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

I played the game as continued here which lead to a loss. With Black to Move, he simply took by Bishop. The open file was not open compensation for the loss of my bishop. I continued with a rather toothless attack.

Fritz as well as DrnknNite saw this Bayonet attack.

DrnknNite comments from earlier:

I don't think you need to sacrifice the bishop on h6, just take on f6 and then play g4, he must retreat his bishop otherwise you will open the g-file with g5 (this theme of forking a piece and a pawn to force a pawn exchange is very important), so Be7 is the only logical move, after that you can still play g5, he must play h5 or the g-file will open up and then you play g6, and he has the option of allowing you to open the g-file or if he plays something like f6 you sac the knight on e5 and after qh5 you are mating. So the conclusion after this simple line of thought is that the g-file will be opened by force after Black plays h6. Most times that an opponent pushes a pawn in front of his king this type of bayonet attack will work.

A great explanation that gets to the heart of the matter.

did 44 problems of ct-art l20 . I am somewhat rusty.

Marching on a castled position

2008-01-23T07:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a game I played on Playchess . Takchess vs David Ciannemea 1.23.08 . I ended up trying to break into this castled position and was not successful. What I am hoping to get out of the Art of Attack is to reach a point where I will have more success cracking into the King's bunker. Eventhough the position is even here I want to push forward to see if I can create something and determine what is the best move order in positions like these.

What occurred next is white (me) to move here played Rd g1 then black played h6? the question mark is according to Fritz.

I plan to work on this position to understand the elements and coordination of pawns/pieces in the attack and post my results.

Chptr 2 The Attack on the King that has lost it's Right to Castle

2008-01-19T04:11:00.000-08:00

Here are some nongame specific notes on this chapter in Art of Attack in Chess by Vladamir Vukovic.

Just because ones opponents King has lost its ability to castle this doesn't necessarily justify a mating attack on the king

For an attack on the king that lost it's right to castle (TLIRTC) to be justified it must also involve

1)exposure of the King and

2) an increased vulnerability to attack

In most cases,the attack is justified, In most cases, there is further weakness that faces the king the communication between the rooks is more difficult. An attack can be made directly against this weakness in the struggle for the open file.

The Three Acts in the King TLIRTC

1)Spoiling the King's castling chances or drawing it away from the castling position

2)The pursuit of the King across the board by checking

3) The final mating attack in the middle of the board on on the edge

It is not the fact that the King has to move about is important .It is the degree that this movement weakness the position. Sometimes the King gets tied up in a few squares and is harassed by his opponent with checks, This can bring new pieces into the fight with a gain of time.

The pursuit of the KTLIRTC is not always successful. In some occasion, the King comes out the winner by successfully moving to safety and his flight has become artificially castling on a large scale.

The pursuer needs to keep two things in balance:

1) The tempo in the attack

2) surely building a mating net that the King has no escape from.

The Net is often of more importance than the tempi and quiet moves that "spin the threads" point the way whereas many juicy checks may prove to be mistakes.

The position of the KTLIRTC represents an investment which is acquired by the price of sacrifices and positional disadvantages. The attacker should keep his hold of this investment and not worry about short term gains (checks) but be concerned whether the King will fall.

In practice the players struggle to keep a balance between these two opposing ideals for only the correct mix will lead to a win.

Starting Chpt 2 Attack on the King that has lost it's right to castle

2008-01-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

Here is a chapter that is right out of CT-ART. Most of the combinations involves sacks that drive the king into the center of the board and then skillfully checkmated.

Or as I heard it said on playchess.com:

The King is walked to the center of town in broad daylight and shot.

These are the first three that I am studying:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1011660

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1084086

The position above is from the first link. white to move which takes the queen. Why is it we always hear about value of the Bishop pair and never the Knight pair which here is devastating ?

The Art of Attack Update

2008-01-15T02:50:00.000-08:00

The Art of Attack is quite ambitious and tries to answer many deeper questions regarding attacking play in chess such as

When is an attack justified ?

What are the stages of an attack ?

What are the principles of attacking on the various types of positions, Castled Kingside, Queenside, King in the middle, Fianchettos ?

How should defence be conducted?

What is the proper coordination of pawns and pieces in an attack?

I hope to understand some of these concepts better and move beyond being an attacker using cheap traps. I hope to move toward his ideal of Alekhine who was an efficent attacker. One played attacking chess with a minimum of commiting his pieces until it was the right moment to strike.

This certainly is not a perfect book as Vukovics did not have the benefit of computer analysis. However, Nunn does does a nice job modernizing it and correcting some lines. I did spend sometime analysing a line which was just plain wrong . Looking closer at the notes, I realized Nunn corrected it in the footnotes.

I have just completely chapter one and studying it's ten or so games. I am hitting this book very hard and approaching it from a few tiers. Reading the book in it's entirety without following the games (just completed) Reading the games analysis lightly then followed by more heavy involved study. I am finding my myself puzzled if certain moves could be played and why some of the moves were played. So I am first trying to figure them out for myself then work with Fritz on it. I have played a few positions against the computer as well.

My tactical eye is not as sharp as from my peak of doing Ct-art . Maybe I should......

Check out White's Combination after black's 17th move

2008-01-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

The more adventurous of us may want to take a run at it.............................

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1268967&kpage=2

I continue with my Art of Attack book where I am deeply studying the games which leads to slow reading. Still on the first half of Chapter 1. I think it is slow but worthwhile.

An Annotated Game from Art of Attack in chess Meesen vs Mueller Chptr 1

2008-01-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

The Art of Attack in Chess is a chess textbook with a series of games which illustrate the attacking principles. This is the first one that illustrates the attack on the e-file. I decided to annotate some of these games to help understand why the attack worked and where defensive measures went wrong.

My annotations can be found here . To best view use the show Move list to see all my notes. Interesting enough this position with 7 g3 turned out to be a win for white here.

It's confirmed, I'm a 2000 rated player !

2008-01-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true at the Boylston Chess Club I played a 2000 rated chess player in a New Years Day tournament . *)

I lost a Marshall Attack. It was interesting as he was normally a 1 d4 player and was a little surprised that I knew the line as a 1100 player which he was not as booked up on. At one point, I was left with the position in the diagram Black to move.

I went 0-4 against good competition. Here is the summary of my play.

1st game happy with Marshall Attack

2nd game made an unsound Knight sack for the hell of it

3rd game made a possibly sound Knight sack but didn't carry it through

4th game don't ask

Traveled with a high school student from our Chess Club who never played in a tournament before . He went 1 win, 2 losses and a draw. Beating a 1915 player and drawing against a higher rated player.

As always, a nice time at the Boylston chess club. Played some skittles games and discussed some lines of the Ruy and Kings Indian with some better players.

The two headed Traxler

2007-12-29T03:39:00.001-08:00

If you have read some of my chess blog during the past couple of years, you have read of my facination with the Traxler Counterattack lines. White has just played Q f1 and I mistakenly played d5. Here is the game as it was played and a composed game given what Fritz said should of been played by Black Rf8. I find it difficult to keep track of all the lines. Hopefully this will help.

also here are the search results from my past mentions of the Traxler

Chapter 1 : Attack the Uncastled King ( F7 Square Portion) updated

2007-12-24T12:15:00.000-08:00

Square f7 is Black's weakest square on the board before castling is f7 (f2 for White). This can occur in the begining stages of the game before the castling as with castling the rook protects this square. The most straightforward attacks on f7 are to be seen at the beginning of certain open games, especially in the Petroff Defence and the Philidor Defense.

I am beginning by playing through these Keres games. Both which are Sicilians and contain interesting ideas.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1072305

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1071720

Update. I notice that this chapter does not have alot of global statements about the attack on the e file and the f7 file . I think that VV wants to let the games "do the talking". If you look at the first link Keres has an interesting sacrifice that reduces the mobility of the opponents queen while the second is a ubergambit. Keres gives up 4 pawns before winning the game.

Also of note is this game Asgeirsson-Raud which is nicely annotated in this video by J'adoube.

http://j1mb3d3nbaugh.blogspot.com/2007/03/art-of-attack-in-chess.html

Chessgames just added the Raud game to it's collection

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1481003

Updated Annotation of the Steinitz Game

2007-12-23T04:30:00.000-08:00

http://blog.chess.com/Takchess/battle-of-hasting-with-fritz-and-my-comments

I ran the Steinitz -Von Bardeleben game through Fritz ,removed the extraneous comments and added some of my own. It can be viewed at the link above. To properly view the game and see all the variations, one must click on the Move List button below the board.

Art of Attack in Chess C1 Steinitz vs Von Bardeleben

2007-12-21T07:56:00.000-08:00

Diagram 3

Question 2 Diagram

Question One Diagram

One of the Chapter one games which illustrates the attack on the e file is the Battle of Hastings : Steinitz vs Van Bardeleben from the Hasting Tournament in 1895 . This is perhaps Steinitz most famous game and is analysed in Masters of the Chessboard, The World's Greatest Chess Games and other books. This was Tal's favorite Game. I can picture him as a young man analysing this game and enjoying it.

There is a lot too this game and it is remarkable one is the depth and the precision of the threats and combinations . A large portion of this game is played on the edge; Steinitz is one move away from being checkmated but can ignore it due to the strength of his attack. Playing on the edge makes this a very dramatic game.

It would be a good advanced tactical exercise if you were able to come up with the refutation of all blacks defenses to moves 22 on and determine the mating net after Von B walked out after move 25.

Here are some self study exercizes .

Question 1: in this Position Black on Move ;Von B played 7...d5 what is considered to be the modern move for black? See position above .

Answer

http://blog.chess.com/view/7--modern-continuation-on-the-battle-of-hasting

Whites moves 11-14 are a textbook case of making a series of trades to hamper your opponent with a weakness in the center. The weakness is the Knight on e7 and blacks inability to castle without losing the knight .This also seals in the King side rook keeping it out of action.

see link below

http://blog.chess.com/view/locking-the-knight-in-place

Question 2: See Diagram above White to move played the strong Qe2 there is another strong alternative. Answer not provided. The lines are spelled out in World's Greatest Games.

Diagram 3: WTM what is played ? see move 19 and the follow up move 20!

I will be back later to update this post

Game in PGN format

(1875) Steinitz,William - Von Bardeleben,Curt [C54]
Hastings Hastings (10), 1895
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.0–0 Be6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxd5 Bxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.Bxe7 Nxe7 14.Re1 f6 15.Qe2 Qd7 16.Rac1 c6 17.d5 cxd5 18.Nd4 Kf7 19.Ne6 Rhc8 20.Qg4 g6 21.Ng5+ Ke8 22.Rxe7+ Kf8 23.Rf7+ Kg8 24.Rg7+ Kh8 25.Rxh7+ 1–0

Game is nicely annotated here

http://www.lifemasteraj.com/old_af-dl/gcg_stein-vonbard1_rpg0.html

Art of Attack in Chess Book Club C1 Part 1 The Attack Against the Uncastled King

2007-12-14T05:19:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1: The Attack Against The Uncastled King. Part 1

(in this chapter,VV teaches mainly through game examples)

Mate against the uncastled king is often seen in amateur playing against a stronger player who has failed to castle at the right time. The initial position of the king before it castles contains two main weaknesses. One is that it is exposed if the e-file is opened up; the second is that the square f7 in Black' position (f2 is the corresponding weak point for White) is vulnerable, since it is covered by the king alone.

The Attack Along The e-File

Conditions for an e-file attack is 1) the opponent's king should be on that file, and that for some reason it is impossible or difficult for it to move away. If all the adjacent squares are occupied by the king's own pieces or controlled by the opponent's, its escape is absolutely impossible. If the player is simply being prevented from castling but other squares are not covered, the movement of the king is only relatively restricted . It can move at the cost of losing the right to castle. Castling can also be thwarted indirectly if the king has to guard one of the pieces which is protecting it.

The second condition for an attack of this kind depends on the attacker's situation 2)the e-file is open or can be opened by the attacker . The attacker needs to have a major piece (rook or queen) on the e-file . It is often necessary to strengthen pressure on the e-file, doubling rooks or by attacking one of his opponent's pieces which is on the file and protecting the king. The opponent tends to have a chain of defense and the attack is carried out against the central unit of the chain (that is the piece protection the king)

If this piece is on the square directly in front of the king (e7 or e2) the attacker may be able to mate by capturing it with his queen (or rook), i.e. by making the square into the focal point. An attack on the e-file tends to occur most frequently at an early stage of the game.

The following games are the examples for attacking on the e-file. (the f7 attacks to follow in another installment)

Pins to the King and a Mating Focal-Point play a big part in the following game.

Meesen Muller pg15

Sometime the problem to be solved is how to open the e file as in the Chigorin Burns Game

Chigorin and Burn

Vienna Gambit

A Famous Steinitz Game

The Art of Attack in Chess Book Club

2007-12-11T15:01:00.001-08:00

I recently read SamuraiPawn's blog and about his fascination with the Art of Attack in Chess by Vladmir Vukovic . He convinced me to spend some time on it. I am have sampled it various times during the past year but have not read it with any consistency. I now intend to read it straight through, take notes on this blog and slowly study the games. I invite anyone who wants to join me to follow along and add any notes you care to in the Comment Section. (feel free to do this even if it is weeks, months or years after this initial blog was posted)

The Art of Attack in Chess Vladmir Vukovic

About the Book

Written in the mid-sixties, Vukovic's intermediate book is considered to be a classic of learning about Attacking in Chess. Many Grandmasters have spoke of it's influence in their play. It is an important book in it's attempt to explore why some attacks fail while others succeed. From this analysis, the author tried to determine some general principles to assists one play.

It is not an easy read and I am using the updated John Nunn's 1998 EVERYMAN CHESS edition which translated the games to Algebraic Notation, added more diagrams, checked the analysis, added footnotes and polished the language.

Introduction

(VV had a historical perspective and often talked of the development of the rules of the game and style of play. My sense is he felt that the modern chess players of his time were somewhat wimpy and risk adverse) .

During the period from Morphy to Steinitz to Lasker the value placed on attack decreased with perfection of defensive technique. This was followed by a new Attacking period where Capablanca and especially Alekhine perfected the technique of Attack on the castled position based on sound positional play. Style of play again turned away from the risk of direct attack to a more safety first approach based on opening study. He felt there would be a time when Alekhine principles would be completely understood and we would enter a new phase of attacking play.( I wonder if Kasparov's play might be this new phase ?)

VV points out that learning attacking play is fun (The Takchess Creed)

There exists an extremely large group of chess players who are no longer beginners nor, on the other hand, masters or point hunters, but players who aim primarily at deriving an aesthetic satisfaction from the game. For such players an attacking game is more attractive than positional technique and they will continue to attack regardless of risk., for their stormy contest are not going to be noted down in theoretical textbooks.

Various kinds of Attack (VV 3 categories)

1. Latent Attack: The main action is not in fact an attack on the king, but there is the possibility of such an attack latent in the position, some threat or other is being nurtured, or else the attack is concealed in a least one variation. (this is a double attack with mate or a check as one of the attacks )

2. A player's action really does contain a direct threat to his opponent's king, but his opponent can stave off this threat at a certain price by giving up material or spoiling his position. (the majority of attacks fall in this category)

3. The attacker carries out an uncompromising mating attack in which he can invest even a considerable amount of material, as long as he is certain of mating in the end. (the highest degree of attack)

(VV breaks attacks into further categories which serve as the following chapters )

Chapter 1 The Attack Against the Uncastled King

Chapter 2 The Attack on the King that has Lost the Right to Castle

Chapter 3 On Castling and Attacking the Castled Position in General

Chapter 4 Mating Patterns

Chapter 5 Focal-points

Chapter 6 The Classic Bishop Sacrifice

Chapter 7 Ranks, Files, and Diagonals in the Attack on the Castled King

Chapter 8 Pieces and Pawns in the Attack on the Castled King

Chapter 9 The Attack on the Fianchettoed and Queenside Castling Positions

Chapter 10 Defending Against the Attack on the Castled King

Chapter 11 The Phases of the Attack on the Castled King

Chapter 12 The Attack on the King as an Integral Part of the Game

( Vukovic goes on to create very basic definitions and observations on which he builds his theories)

The Basic Pattern of Mate

For mate to be obtained, the king must be deprived of nine squares in the middle of the board, six squares on the edge or four squares in the corner. Some of these squares may be blocked by the kings own supporting pieces but the rest must be taken by the attacker through the agency of his own pieces or pawns. If all the squares surrounding the king are taken from it and if the square of which on which the king is also in check and without means of defence, then the king is checkmated.

The Mating Pattern (def)- is the final position where these conditions are met ( picture a diagram of the board). Mating patterns can be typical (common) or atypical (uncommon).

Mating Squares and the Focal-Point

Mating Square (def) is that square where the King sits when it is mated . (the kings final resting spot).

Mating Focal-Point (def) is the square from which an opponents piece (other than a king, knight or pawn) mates the king at close quarters. (note- the spot where a bishop mates from a distance is not considered a mating focal-point)

Vlad's tip -To carry out a mating attack successfully it is always useful to

1) survey the possible matings patterns

2) to prepare a mating net accordingly

3) to concentrate on the focal point.

In many cases it is important to clear the focal point to deprive any opposing pieces of their control over that focal-point .

VV points out these common players errors regarding mating patterns

* The attacker fails to perceive that he can neither stop his opponent from moving his king nor drive him into a mating net but still plays for mate. It is futile which at best may lead to perpetual check . ( Yup, I'm guilty as charged)

*The attacker plays uses typical mating patterns overlooking atypical mating patterns in a continuation.

* The player sees all the possible mating patterns based on one focal-point but doesn't realize that it is negated by the king moving and what matters now is new patterns which he hasn't prepared for.

*The player decides on a course of attack based on a certain focal-point, without realizing that he cannot provide cover for it or even clear it of the influence of his opponents pieces . This mistake is to be found even in Master games.

The Art of the Mating Attack

VV puts forth the following questions:

How does a mating attack relate to the other operations which take place in a game of chess ?

How much is a mating attack conditioned by the actual position on the chessboard and how much by the skill of the attacker?

Where does the risk attached to a mating attack lie ?

About which points are the minds of players today still unclear with respect to carrying out the mating attack ?

here is his complex response to these questions.

The mate is the final objective of which all other considerations are only contributory. The mating attack requires more preconditions than other operations. There exists a number of definite preconditions for a mating attack and these combine to require a considerable superiority on the part of the attacker. If he has abundant superiority, little skill is need but if his superiority just borders on a correct attack then maximum skill is required to carry out the attack.

The present day formula is to carry out a series of preliminary operations which require only a small degree of advantage and then (in theory) you will obtain a large degree of superiority that makes a success mating attack. However this tendency has cause players to fail to exploit the attack when the opportunity arises and masters have a tendency to overweigh the risk in attack.

It is not clear what are the minimum requirements for attack what kind of advantage is required. It may be available for a single moment in a game which never returns. Another unresolved question is in that of a players skill to properly weigh up the obligation. The order of preparatory moves are extremely important.

An important rule: Moves that require fewer obligations should be carried out before moves which are more strongly binding. (this is what we learn from Alekhine's play)

A few words about the kind of superiority needed. When one is superior in time and space. The attacker as a rule is stronger where the attack is occurring but must have considerable superiority. Even a queen on a mating focal square requires a piece to support it. For such pieces to be brought into an attack one needs a temporal advantage where the opponent can't organize a timely defense or a sufficient counterattack. Normally this condition is based upon the comparable immobility of the opponents pieces. In order to judge if an attack should begin one must look at all these factors .

The correct launching of an attack is the crucial difficulty that has cause many masters to steer away from attack onto a more positional approach( which often leads to drawish play) Without studying the art of attack there will be no advancement in chess. It is a spark that sits in every corner and must be nutured till one turns it into flame. Lasker once observed if there is ever an opportunity for an attack one must carry it out otherwise one advantage will evaporate.

(this concludes notes on the introduction,Chapter 1 The attack on the UnCastled King to follow next week )

I gave myself a little homework -study this game from Chapter 1.

A Traxler I need to study

2007-12-07T11:32:00.001-08:00

http://blog.chess.com/view/traxler-loss

step right up and see the Traxler

2007-12-04T03:08:00.001-08:00

http://blog.chess.com/view/shaky-play-in-the-traxler

New Book I read

2007-12-02T12:23:00.001-08:00

Now as I enter my Errant Knight retirement years, I am looking for non chess related things to do. A few year years ago, I was reading alot of nonchess books and listened to alot of nonchess related books on tapes and I am starting to do that again. With listening to books on tapes from my commute and books I read outright I read apprx 100 books a year .

I enjoyed reading Everything Bad is Good for You recently

The premise is that some of the new trends in pop culture are making us smarter . That popular media Television, Video Games, Movies are becoming increasing more complex and engaging and are improving our analytical skills.

The author keeps this blog

http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/

Time for new things.

2007-11-27T02:22:00.000-08:00

It's been fun but it's time for new things.

Back in February 2005, I started doing the tactical problems after reading about the De La Maza 7 circle program. I first read King of the Spill blog and joined the Knights Errants.

I started this blog and hastily wrote blog entries unencumbered by correct spelling , grammar and the need to write the kind of detailed meaningful content that Tempo, BDK, Pale Morning Dun , J'Adoube, Sancho, Don DLM and others often provided.

I have done my 1000 plus tactics 8 more time so I am officially declaring myself graduated. My goal was to do the complete CT-Art but it is apparent that I am not going to do that.

Doing the circles was helpful. I never have played stronger than after months of doing tactical training. I would recommend that anyone looking to improve give it a try. Being part of the Knights Errant was fun and helpful. Take a look at Samurai Knight blog if you would like to learn more.

I will continue to play chess and occasionally blog. Thanks everyone , Knights past and present, Fellow bloggers and readers. See you on the Internet.

Simplification

2007-11-24T15:29:00.000-08:00

http://blog.chess.com/view/simplification

I have lost alot of games this way. My opponent trading pieces off to a winning endgame . I am pleased to be on the winning end against a better rated opponent on this one.

The advantage went to the more active king. The moves were very clear to me.

shooting the elephant (Latvian?)

2007-11-21T03:14:00.000-08:00

http://blog.chess.com/view/shooting-the-elephant

Click on link to view game.

Unsure if this is an Elephant or Latvian Gambit. All in all a wild game. I in the middle made a bad move which should of lost a piece but was overlooked by my opponent.

Max Lange Mistake

2007-11-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

At Chess Club there are certain opponents that I enjoy playing more than others due to their style and the type of game that ensues. Most of the players at the club have been playing at the club for years. Recently, a new player has joined us and plays in a gambit style that I enjoy. He plays the Scandinavian followed by Nf6 as well as the Max Lange attack as white.

In the following position as black against him, I played the natural looking Qxf6. Do you see why that is a mistake ? (for the trap see the game link below)

Game

Trying out the Chess.com viewer

2007-10-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

http://blog.chess.com/Takchess/test-game2

I am trying out the Chess.com viewer and pleased that the comments I make in Fritz can be seen in the viewer. At some point in the future, I will fully annotate one of my games.

Go Sox !

On to the Series

2007-10-22T04:18:00.000-07:00

The Boston Red Sox are back in the World Series 8)

On chess related notes, I play in a tournament of November 4th. I also joined a 90 minute league the all nations chess league on Playchess. I hope that playing slow games will help my play.

Well you can tell ev'rybody in ol' Frisco Tell 'em Tiny Mongomery says hello

2007-10-18T03:33:00.000-07:00

I have been listening to Dylan and The Bands Basement Tapes for the past few months and have become fascinated by it .

I am currently reading

http://www.amazon.com/Million-Dollar-Bash-Dylan-Basement/dp/1906002053/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/002-0911514-7459243?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192704290&sr=8-3
one of the few nonchess books I have read during the past few years and of course everything leads back to chess.

http://www.hardingesimpole.co.uk/dylan/dylanchess.html

http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/interw/84-jul8.htm

Is anyone doing circles anymore ?

2007-10-17T09:35:00.001-07:00

Are any knights doing the circles of tactical exercises or have we become a loose confederation of chess bloggers?

Reports

2007-10-07T05:15:00.001-07:00

The reports of my death have been greatly exagerated - Mark Twain

I 've been very busy and I could say I've been sequestered in the TAKcave doing tactic after tactic. However that would be lying.

I have been spending alot of energy on my business and not spending massive hours on chess like usual. Playing in a tourney in New Hamsphire in a few weeks and will post about it once it is completed.

Interesting things on Tempo's Blog about Nimzo whose precomputer chess thought I find interesting. I hope to spend some time on this later.

Also to answer Margariets question > on play chess I am rated around 1500 at this moment t
he playchess rating can varies rapidly plus or minus 100 points of 1500 during a one week period.

It's official

2007-09-18T03:16:00.000-07:00

My Cup of Coffee in the big leagues is officially over. So much for talking loud and proud.8) I have been doing a few level 30 problems everyday but it appears I need a massive dose to stay playing at a higher level.

but perhaps there is hope. This am, my play as black against the Caro-kahn rated at 1840 . Had a won endgame but let it slip away. Still have some endgame study to do. I blundered the last pawn but still think at that point it may of been a draw.

1. e4 {2} c6 {3} 2. d4 {9} d5 {2} 3. f3 {2} e5 {11} 4. Ne2 {16} dxe4 {24} 5.
fxe4 {3} exd4 {76} 6. Qxd4 {5} Qxd4 {17} 7. Nxd4 {4} Nf6 {5} 8. Bc4 {9} Nxe4 {
41} 9. O-O {17} f6 {21} 10. Re1 {12} f5 {42} 11. Nc3 {6} Bc5 {8} 12. Be3 {26}
b5 {88} 13. Ncxb5 {14} cxb5 {8} 14. Bxb5+ {5} Bd7 {33} 15. Bxd7+ {11} Nxd7 {42}
16. Nxf5 {4} Bxe3+ {6} 17. Rxe3 {4} Ndf6 {55} 18. Nd6+ {8} Kd7 {14} 19. Nxe4 {8
} Nxe4 {48} 20. Rxe4 {5} Rhe8 {8} 21. Rd1+ {5} Kc6 {11} 22. Rc4+ {7} Kb6 {39}
23. Rb4+ {15} Kc5 {14} 24. a3 {13} Re2 {20} 25. Rb7 {34} Rae8 {33} 26. b4+ {12}
Kc6 {43} 27. Rxa7 {35} Rxc2 {14} 28. Rxg7 {12} Ree2 {8} 29. Rf1 {18} Ra2 {16}
30. Rf6+ {7} Kb5 {27} 31. Rf5+ {32} Ka4 {44} 32. b5 {43} Reb2 {67} 33. Rgg5 {14
} Rxa3 {Nudechess réclame le gain suite à déconnexion 44} 34. Rg4+ {296} Ka5 {
18} 35. Rgg5 {24} Kb6 {26} 36. h3 {8} Rab3 {66} 37. Kh2 {19} Rd3 {95} 38. Rh5 {
15} Rdd2 {33} 39. Rfg5 {6} Rd7 {17} 40. Rh6+ {18} Kc7 {68} 41. b6+ {6} Rxb6 {11
} 42. Rxb6 {6} Kxb6 {2} 43. h4 {13} Kc6 {7} 44. Rg3 {9} Kc7 {23} 45. Re3 {18}
Kd8 {7} 46. Kh3 {5} Rg7 {13} 47. h5 {7} h6 {9} 48. Kh4 {5} Rxg2 {14} 49. Rd3+ {
6} Ke7 {Takchess offers a draw (Lag: Av=0.32s, max=1.0s) 9} 1/2-1/2

A chess poem

2007-09-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking it would be fun to write a chess poem and I invite my fellow knights and fellow chess bloggers to do the same. Please put your a link to your poem in the comment section.

Here was one from Don De la Maza blog that goes back a ways.Done in the Haiku format.

I must comment on the beauty and simplicity
of the French after

1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. e5 c5
4. c3 Nc6

An ideal opening for a Buddhist, perhaps.

Avance
One man controls space
His opponent, the tension.
A knight, intrigued, leaps.

Best Lessons of a chess coach

2007-09-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

I took Best Lessons of a Chess Coach off the shelf and did a deep study of the first chapter. For those unfamilar with this book, the author Sunil Weeramantry takes a chess game and walks through it with a chess student. You sit in looking over their shoulders as the student is asked a series of questions about the game.

I took my book and the board over to the Riverwalk Cakery a coffeeshop here in Nashua and played through it and the variations. I had read this chapter before but did put enough energy in it to get the true benefit of it. This time I took my time and when asked what move should be played and why I thought about it instead of peaking at the answer.

The first lesson is this game and has a strong combination to end it.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1125461

Enjoyable to spend an hour and a half drinking coffee and working with the book. I imagine this is the closest thing that self study can be to working with a chess coach.

Two for BDK

2007-09-15T03:52:00.000-07:00

I am playing exclusively the Danish Gambit/Goring Gambit now as white if my opponent lets me play an open game. It is a nice change of pace from the KGambit which has alot of theory and sometimes the king gambit became a little too quiet for me I will play the Danish in tournament play if allowed.

Played a beautiful one last night at chess club unfortunately I did not record it. It was a minature where I could either had checkmate or took a queen and there was no lines that would of prevented it.

Here are two I played this morning on playchess.

1. e4 {5} e5 {2} 2. d4 {9} exd4 {5} 3. c3 {2} dxc3 {15} 4. Bc4 {6} Qe7 {12} 5.
Nxc3 {4} Nf6 {7} 6. Nf3 {34} Nxe4 {20} 7. O-O {5} Qc5 {24} 8. Qe2 {42} f5 {11}
9. Nxe4 {80} fxe4 {6} 10. Qxe4+ {5} Be7 {11} 11. Bg5 {7} c6 {5} 12. Rfe1 {19}
d5 {18} 13. Qe5 {23} O-O {78} 14. Bxe7 {29} Qxc4 {30} 15. Bxf8

1. e4 {4} e5 {5} 2. d4 {2} exd4 {7} 3. c3 {4} dxc3 {5} 4. Bc4 {4} cxb2 {6} 5.
Bxb2 {4} Bb4+ {19} 6. Nc3 {5} Nf6 {16} 7. Qb3 {23} Nc6 {22} 8. Bxf7+ {14} Kf8 {
14} 9. O-O-O {33} Qe7 {36} 10. Bd5 {19} Bc5 {29} 11. Nf3 {32} d6 {26} 12. Ng5 {
39} Nxd5 {21} 13. Qxd5 {16} Nb4 {30} 14. Qd2 {43} Bg4 {39} 15. Qf4+ {23} Kg8 {
31} 16. Qxg4 {7} h6 {33} 17. Ne6 {54} Re8 {51} 18. Nd5 {12} Nxd5 {39} 19. exd5
{14} Rh7 {32} 20. Qg6 {96} Bxf2 {71} 21. Rhf1 {27} Bh4 {20} 22. Kb1 {20} c6 {43
} 23. Nc7 {32} Qxc7 {20} 24. Qxe8# {(Lag: Av=0.68s, max=1.5s) 4} 1-0

Binging

2007-09-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

Like a proverbial drunken sailor, I have been spending my rating points in games against 1700-1900 rated players. Back to 1662 where I played this interesting Marshall or pseudo Marshall against a 1782 rated player. The endgame came through for me again.

Cut and Paste into viewer on sidebar

{C89: Closed Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4
Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. h3 Nf4 11. Nxe5
Nxe5 12. Rxe5 Qd6 13. d4 Nxh3+ 14. gxh3 Bxh3 15. Qh5 Be6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Bg5
Bf6 18. Bxf6 Rxf6 19. Nd2 Raf8 20. Ne4 Rg6+ 21. Kf1 Qe7 22. Ng5 Rh6 23. Rxe6
Rxh5 24. Rxe7 Rh1+ 25. Kg2 Rxa1 26. Ne6 Rf6 27. Rxg7+ Kh8 28. Re7 h5 29. Re8+
Kh7 30. Re7+ Kg6 31. Rg7+ Kf5 32. Nxc7 Rg6+ 33. Rxg6 Kxg6 34. d5 Rxa2 35. d6
Rxb2 36. Nxa6 Rd2 37. Nc7 Rxd6 38. Nxb5 Rc6 39. Kg3 Rc5 40. Nd4 Rxc3+ 41. f3
Rd3 42. Ne2 Kg5 43. Nf4 h4+ 0-1

Okay back to Ct-art Minicircle 5 L30 completed at 55 % on to mc 6
update mc6- 460 wed morn update on 490 thur 529

Another Cup of Coffee in the Big League -1677

2007-09-10T03:27:00.001-07:00

Once again I reached a high rating on Playchess.com. As always it coincides with heavy tactical training. My Playchess rating does fluctuate and I tend to be a very streaky player as evidenced by this chart. When I do hit a new high water mark I believe it to be significant. A number of these wins come from bringing an extra pawn into the endgame. I would be very happy if I could bring this winning streak and continue it in my tournament in October.

I need to continue to do more problems and not get caught up in the wave of playing alot of games.

monday update 40 l30 problems 569. Tuesday update problem 583

Welcome Taktrosian -TAKchess evil twin

2007-09-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

Taktrosian is TAKchess doupelganger who actually knows how to play defense and the endgame. To view game cut and paste game into pgn viewer on the sidebar. I am playing black.

1. c4 {1} e5 {6} 2. g3 {2} d6 {17} 3. Bg2 {6} Be7 {5} 4. Nc3 {26} Nf6 {11} 5.
e3 {13} O-O {6} 6. Nge2 {2} Qd7 {107} 7. O-O {17} Nc6 {43} 8. a3 {29} b6 {9} 9.
b4 {14} Rb8 {4} 10. Bb2 {21} Bb7 {7} 11. d4 {6} exd4 {28} 12. exd4 {18} Nd8 {34
} 13. d5 {6} c6 {13} 14. dxc6 {44} Bxc6 {7} 15. Nd5 {13} Bxd5 {32} 16. cxd5 {36
} Qb5 {67} 17. Nd4 {21} Qd7 {45} 18. Rc1 {10} Re8 {16} 19. Nc6 {13} Nxc6 {36}
20. dxc6 {3} Qc7 {3} 21. Re1 {13} Rbd8 {20} 22. Qd4 {164} d5 {136} 23. b5 {65}
Rd6 {37} 24. a4 {11} Re6 {51} 25. Rxe6 {12} fxe6 {4} 26. Qe5 {11} Rc8 {34} 27.
Qxc7 {6} Rxc7 {4} 28. Be5 {1} Rc8 {13} 29. c7 {6} Bc5 {16} 30. a5 {32} Ng4 {13}
31. Bf4 {59} Nxf2 {14} 32. Kf1 {11} Nd3 {5} 33. Rc3 {27} Nxf4 {18} 34. gxf4 {5}
Rxc7 {5} 35. axb6 {3} Bxb6 {13} 36. Rxc7 {12} Bxc7 {3} 37. f5 {6} Kf7 {11} 38.
fxe6+ {10} Kxe6 {3} 39. h3 {3} Ke5 {5} 40. Ke2 {11} Kd4 {5} 41. Kd2 {10} Kc4 {7
} 42. Bf3 {6} d4 {6} 43. Bc6 {4} Bb6 {3} 44. Bd7 {10} g5 {14} 45. Kd1 {24} Kd3
{9} 46. Bf5+ {12} Kc3 {6} 47. Bxh7 {22} Kc4 {4} 48. Kd2 {4} Kxb5 {4} 49. Kd3 {2
} Kc5 {2} 50. Bg8 {2} a5 {5} 51. Ba2 {56} Kb4 {12} 52. Bg8 {2} a4 {12} 53. Ba2
{3} a3 {2} 54. Be6 {4} Kc5 {58} 55. Ba2 {23} Kd6 {3} 56. Bc4 {6} Ke5 {2} 57.
Ba2 {16} Kf4 {8} 58. Be6 {2} Kg3 {8} 59. Ke2 {27} Kg2 {19} 60. Kd3 {22} Kf3 {31
} 61. Bg4+ {10} Kg3 {7} 62. Be6 {2} a2 {16} 63. Bxa2 {2} Kxh3 {2} 64. Be6+ {20}
Kg3 {3} 65. Ke2 {25} Kf4 {19} 66. Kf2 {32} g4 {6} 67. Kg2 {13} d3 {11} 68. Bb3
{24} d2 {4} 69. Bd1 {2} Ba5 {10} 70. Be2 {11} Bc3 {63} 71. Bd1 {5} Bd4 {5} 72.
Be2 {8} Be3 {4} 73. Bd1 {3} g3 {6} 74. Be2 {78} Bf2 {6} 75. Bf3 {12} Ke3 {6}
76. Kf1 {7} Kd3 {9} 77. Bd1 {17} Kc3 {5} 78. Bf3 {7} Kb2 {3} 79. Ke2 {11} Kc1 {
12} 80. Kf1 {19} d1=Q+ {40} 81. Bxd1 {9} Kxd1 {2} 82. Kg2 {2} Ke2 {3} 83. Kh1 {
4} Be1 {5} 84. Kg2 {2} Ke3 {5} 85. Kf1 {8} Kf3 {17} 86. Kg1 {18} g2 {11} 87.
Kh2 {2} Kf2 {7} 88. Kh3 {6} Kf1 {16} 89. Kh2 {8} g1=Q+ {
Kachapov resigns (Lag: Av=0.55s, max=7.0s) 5} 0-1

circle update L30 currently on 497 about 115 to go. sunday morn update onto 526

Once again Poor Play Saved by a Tactical Shot

2007-09-07T03:14:00.000-07:00

Diagram WTM. I gave up far too much material to take his queen.

1. e4 {3} e5 {2} 2. d4 {3} exd4 {2} 3. c3 {7} dxc3 {5} 4. Bc4 {5} d6 {8} 5.
Nxc3 {5} Nf6 {2} 6. Qb3 {7} Qe7 {23} 7. Bg5 {16} h6 {11} 8. Bxf6 {11} Qxf6 {3}
9. O-O-O {5} Be6 {4} 10. Nd5 {8} Bxd5 {4} 11. Bxd5 {8} Nd7 {23} 12. f4 {29}
Qxf4+ {19} 13. Kb1 {17} Nc5 {19} 14. Qh3 {37} Be7 {41} 15. Ne2 {12} Qg5 {14}
16. Rhf1 {17} O-O {18} 17. Nd4 {13} Bf6 {30} 18. Nf5 {19} Be5 {50} 19. Qf3 {144
} c6 {61} 20. h4 {5} Qf6 {19} 21. Nxh6+ {20} Qxh6 {40} 22. Bxf7+ {4} Kh8 {15}
23. Qg4 {31} Bf6 {45} 24. Rf5 {11} Rxf7 {174} 25. Rh5 {3} Qxh5 {39} 26. Qxh5+ {
4} Kg8 {2} 27. Rxd6 {16} Nxe4 {5} 28. Re6 {26} Rd8 {81} 29. Kc1 {25} Rfd7 {78}
30. Re8+

One of the more interesting endgames I have played

2007-09-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

I am playing Black

1. e4 {9} e5 {5} 2. Nf3 {13} Nc6 {5} 3. Bc4 {8} Nf6 {4} 4. d3 {27} Bc5 {6} 5.
Nc3 {18} d6 {8} 6. h3 {34} Be6 {8} 7. Bb3 {30} Nd4 {22} 8. Nxd4 {54} Bxd4 {8}
9. Ne2 {40} c5 {39} 10. c3 {33} Qa5 {15} 11. Bd2 {23} Bxf2+ {17} 12. Kxf2 {29}
c4 {2} 13. dxc4 {208} h5 {BSSBSS reconnected. BSSBSS reconnected. 62} 14. Be3 {
11} Nxe4+ {5} 15. Ke1 {114} f5 {14} 16. Ba4+ {193} Ke7 {320} 17. Bb3 {
BSSBSS claims win on disconnect 207} h4 {515} 18. c5 {163} dxc5 {61} 19. Bxe6 {
7} Kxe6 {8} 20. Qb3+ {5} Kf6 {12} 21. Qxb7 {24} Qb6 {24} 22. Qxb6+ {60} axb6 {4
} 23. a3 {196} Rad8 {35} 24. Rd1 {19} g5 {55} 25. Rf1 {76} Ke6 {15} 26. Bf2 {51
} Rhf8 {32} 27. g3 {138} Rxd1+ {12} 28. Kxd1 {20} Rd8+ {8} 29. Kc1 {48} b5 {36}
30. gxh4 {74} Nxf2 {28} 31. Rxf2 {51} gxh4 {6} 32. Kc2 {154} c4 {
Takchess claims win on disconnect 33} 33. b3 {310} Rd3 {40} 34. Rh2 {179} e4 {9
} 35. Nf4+ {12} Ke5 {6} 36. Nxd3+ {4} cxd3+ {3} 37. Kb2 {4} e3 {2} 38. Kc1 {27}
f4 {8} 39. Kd1 {17} f3 {9} 40. Ke1 {27} Ke4 {8} 41. a4 {4} bxa4 {7} 42. bxa4 {2
} e2 {8} 43. a5 {10} Ke3 {4} 44. Rxe2+ {30} dxe2 {6} 45. a6 {8} f2# {
(Lag: Av=1.25s, max=24.8s) 4} 0-1

The power of forward pawns and an active king

No Right

2007-09-05T02:58:00.000-07:00

This is representative of winning a game that I had no right winning.

1. e4 {7} e5 {5} 2. Bc4 {10} Nf6 {3} 3. Nc3 {7} Bc5 {6} 4. Nf3 {16} d6 {4} 5.
h3 {11} Nxe4 {15} 6. Bxf7+ {15} Kxf7 {5} 7. Nxe4 {9} Bf5 {29} 8. d3 {21} Bxe4 {
6} 9. dxe4 {6} Nc6 {14} 10. Qd5+ {9} Ke8 {33} 11. Bg5 {20} Qd7 {12} 12. O-O-O {
24} h6 {4} 13. Be3 {17} Ke7 {13} 14. Bxc5 {17} Rad8 {14} 15. Be3 {15} Nb4 {10}
16. Qc4 {20} a5 {11} 17. Nxe5 {13} Qe6 {17} 18. Qxc7+ {15} Kf6 {14} 19. Ng4+ {
22} Kg6 {13} 20. f4 {42} Kh7 {22} 21. e5 {12} Rc8 {16} 22. Qxd6 {20} Rxc2+ {14}
23. Kb1 {51} Qxa2# {(Lag: Av=0.39s, max=0.8s) 5} 0-1

Cut and paste into pgn viewer on sidebar

circle update on problem finish L30 on to minicircle L30 number 5.

On Blunderprone, the Scotch Gambit and Ct-art

2007-09-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday, I took a ride to Manchester NH to watch some games of the New England Open which a number of my chess playing friends were taking part in. I had a pleasant lunch with Blunderprone and protegy of BP who were both playing in the tourney. Had some yucks and now the chain is somewhat extended: Transformer DK met BP who met Takchess. He played the Scotch Gambit as white and played a hard fought 4 hour plus game which ended in a drawn endgame. George, I would enjoy seeing that game posted and what computer analysis shows.

Coincidently at the same time I was playing against the Scotch Gambit in the skittles room against a fellow against in past tournaments. We were discussing the various lines in this sharp opening. I have some ideas as to how to address it a little better now that I have thought about it for a while. I find it interesting how the lines of the Goring Gambit, Danish Gambit, Four Knights, G.Piano at points transpose to each other. I think to face it I will need to play the Max Lange Lines.

I am getting into CT-ART L30 and this minicircle is starting to gell. When I do problems I often reflect on the pseudoscience that is chess improvement. One of the ongoing discussion is the appropriate level of problem difficulty. Some believe it is important to do a string of easier problem as not to lose the pattern recognition of them. I suspect that doing the difficult problems you still are using the pattern recognition of easier tactics encapsulated within. Looking at a problem you may see the elements of a Anastasia mate then its a matter of explores ways to deflect guards, open lines, interfere with protection.

My next tournament is October and I am looking forward to having good board vision and tactical play.

Update: to 573 ,175 L30 problems today Labor day Tacticthon.

Notes from the Far Edge of the Continuum of Opening Insanity -Traxler and Goring Gambit

2007-08-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

As Bdk has so aply discribed my opening choices.

And yet another Traxler this time a defeat. I will need to see what Heisman Cd says on this line. Stayed within a pawn of him for a long time which is normally sufficient for a wild tactic to make itself available. It went on to a winning endgame for white. Cut and Paste game into the sidebar.

1. e4 {1} e5 {3} 2. Nf3 {2} Nc6 {3} 3. Bc4 {2} Nf6 {3} 4. Ng5 {2} Bc5 {3} 5.
Nxf7 {4} Bxf2+ {2} 6. Kf1 {1} Qe7 {10} 7. Nxh8 {20} d5 {10} 8. exd5 {14} Nd4 {
46} 9. h3 {31} Bg3 {21} 10. c3 {22} Nf5 {24} 11. d4 {98} exd4 {18} 12. Qe2 {16}
Bd7 {22} 13. Qxe7+ {14} Kxe7 {38} 14. Bg5 {16} Rxh8 {27} 15. Nd2 {15} h6 {13}
16. Bxf6+ {5} Kxf6 {22} 17. Rg1 {28} Rf8 {20} 18. Ne4+ {14} Ke5 {17} 19. Nxg3 {
23} Ne3+ {14} 20. Ke2 {10} Nxc4 {4} 21. Rge1 {23} Ne3 {12} 22. cxd4+ {8} Kxd4 {
15} 23. Rac1 {18} Bb5+ {12} 24. Kd2 {19} Rf2+ {16} 25. Ne2+ {2} Bxe2 {28} 26.
Rxe2 {2} Nf1+ {25} 27. Ke1 {3} Rxe2+ {33} 28. Kxe2 {8} Ng3+ {6} 29. Kf3 {3} Nf5
{6} 30. Rd1+ {14} Kc5 {6} 31. g4 {18} Nd6 {33} 32. Kf4 {13} g5+ {6} 33. Ke5 {8}
Nc4+ {18} 34. Kf6 {8} Ne3 {5} 35. Rc1+ {10} Kxd5

Similar continuations

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224894
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1158380

an interesting alternative on blacks move nine

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224768

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224851
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224861

All these and more can be found in this collection of mine

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1008357

My play seems to be getting sharper. Alot of good that extra pawn did for black. 8)

1. e4 {2} e5 {8} 2. d4 {2} exd4 {5} 3. c3 {1} dxc3 {2} 4. Bc4 {1} Qe7 {112} 5.
Nxc3 {13} Nf6 {10} 6. Nf3 {24} Nxe4 {42} 7. O-O {4} Nc5 {51} 8. Bg5 {48} f6 {8}
9. Re1 {34} Ne6 {5} 10. Nd5 {20} Qd8 {22} 11. Ne5 {72} fxg5 {38} 12. Qf3 {7}
Nf4 {72} 13. Nc6+

l30 update up t0 543 second circle,update now 565, update 605 upd finish on to circle3 l30,add'l update hope to finish l30 this long weekend currently on 453,Sun on520.update finished monday with 54% on to L30 circle 4

5X5update on number 420 now.XXX on 500 now

another one for BDK added today. Felt rather Ct-art-ish the ending combination.

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nxc3 Bb4 6.
Nf3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Nxe4 8. Qd5 O-O 9. O-O Nxc3 10. Qh5 d5 11. Ng5 h6 12. Bb2
Nxa2 13. Nxf7 Rxf7 14. Bxd5 Qf8 15. Rfe1 Nb4 16. Bxf7+ Qxf7 17. Re8+ Qxe8 18.
Qxe8+ Kh7 19. Qf7

Upon reflection I am uncertain as if the continuation is the Danish or Goring I understand these lines often merge. Most likely they are Danishes

5 X 5 Board -CT Art

2007-08-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

I have also felt that it would be helpful if CT-ART had a Level that would be complete their simplified 5x5 boards which they give as a hint. I just realized that you can go immediately to the 5X5 board by a right mouse click.

Although it is somewhat of a roundabout way to get there. I think it would be interesting/helpful to do a circle of the 1200 5X5 problems. My belief is if I internalized these 5X5 I would greatly improve tactically.

Currently on my L30 2 circle at number 500. 100 problems to go.

Also I am becoming a believer in the idea of narating why the tactic works for understanding in addition to visualizing the solution to improve tactical recognition.

My ratings increases/decreases have been sporatic due to my inconsistant study program. They normally increase after I go through a period of tactical binging. I feel I am on the cusp again of increasing,

The signs I see are.

Winning Games I have no right to win (through a tactical shot)
Drawing more games which I use to never do
Better endgame play

updated note: started to do a circle of 5x5 did the first 330 fairly quickly although somewhat cumbersome.

Danish Gambit

2007-08-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

I am developing an appreciation for the Danish Gambit.

Cut and paste the game into the pgn viewer link on sidebar.

1. e4 {5} e5 {2} 2. d4 {6} exd4 {13} 3. c3 {6} dxc3 {2} 4. Bc4 {2} cxb2 {5} 5.
Bxb2 {2} Bb4+ {21} 6. Nc3 {3} Nf6 {8} 7. a3 {21} Bxc3+ {5} 8. Bxc3 {4} Qe7 {32}
9. Ne2 {48} Qxe4 {11} 10. Qb3 {17} d5 {19} 11. Qa4+ {23} Bd7 {13} 12. Qb4 {22}
dxc4 {7} 13. Bxf6 {14} gxf6 {8} 14. O-O {3} Rg8 {30} 15. Ng3 {6} Rxg3 {35} 16.
Rfe1 {6} Rxg2+ {30} 17. Kf1 {12} Qxe1+ {23} 18. Rxe1+ {5} Be6 {22} 19. Kxg2 {4}
Nc6 {3} 20. Qxc4 {16} Ne5 {6} 21. Qxc7 {8} Kf8 {18} 22. Qxb7 {51} Rd8 {11} 23.
Qb4+ {51} Kg8 {9} 24. Rxe5 {16} fxe5 {3} 25. f3 {4} Kh8 {4} 26. Qe7 {28} Rg8+ {
5} 27. Kf2 {10} Bh3 {29} 28. Qf6+ {5} Rg7 {8} 29. Qxe5 {10} h6 {15} 30. Qe8+ {
31} Kh7 {6} 31. Qe4+ {20} f5 {6} 32. Qf4 {22} Rg2+ {8} 33. Ke3 {2} Ra2 {16} 34.
Qc7+ {11} Kg6 {10} 35. Qxa7 {5} Rxh2 {9} 36. Qb6+ {35} Kg5 {16} 37. f4+ {13}
Kg4 {5} 38. Qg6+ {10} Kh4 {8} 39. Qxh6+ {12} Kg3 {11} 40. Qg7+ {39} Bg4 {10}
41. Kd4 {26} Rd2+ {25} 42. Kc5 {142} Kxf4 {33} 43. Qh6+

monday update:currently on 475 of L30 125 ish to go to finish the Level

My Dream

2007-08-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

Most Chess Bloggers, Knights and others look to develop systems that when used prevent blunders. Most of these are very structured and are somewhat mechanical. I have not been very successful using such a blunderproofing system but then again I have not put any substained effort finding one that I like and making it a part of my game.

I have banked my efforts on the idea that solving repetative problems over time will develop a type of Super Chess Vision where I just see things on the board naturally. My Tactical Spider Sense to start tingling when something was happening. That is the dream, isn't it? Anyway, it is my dream.

I am stubborn. I am holding on to a chess belief system that may not be all that valid. Especially when I look at the experience of those who have done tons of these drills Blunderprone,J'adoube, Tempo,MDLM come to mind. All I know is when I do a ton of problems in a short period for some reason I get better. I am in one of the periods of substained effort now.

Finished another L20 of CT-ART. I also finished all the problem of CT for beginners. So now I have seen all the problems once. I must say there are a handful of endgame problems that are very deep.

Update.

On Saturday did a complete l20 circle in am and another complete circle in the pm.

Sunday. Hopefully I will get a circle of L30 completed by tomorrow. I only have 60 to go but it is mentally taxing scoring only 30-40% on them. It is simalar to when I first started doing the L20 how strange some of the mating nets seemed to me at the time.
Sunday Update-Finished L30 at 45% total.

Jacques Mieses

2007-08-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

I have become interested in the Jacques Mieses who was a flamboyant character who was a leading player in the New Romantic school of chess who played from 1885 to 1945. Vienna gambit, Center Games.good stuff. He is amongst this cast of characters at the 1909 St Petersburg tournament where the players were first awarded the title of Grandmaster.

I figure I will just click through some of his games on Playchess.com

I like the building a bridge type moves to drag his pawn up the board and the underpromotion in this game.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1228310

This has a killer ending (hangs 2 pieces whose capture by opponent would lead to a loss

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1228324

Tuesday:finished another circle of L20 and am up to the 75th L30

I thought this was an interesting simplification to a drawn endgame against Lasker.
(I am starting to appreciate these subtleties)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1096453

Wednesday Morning update : did 75 l20 problems

a rook and pawn ending for my future study.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1228373

Wednesday evening update did another 50 L20

Some tactics

2007-08-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday did about 100 of L20 and 20 of L30
Monday did 50 L20 and 20 L30

I saw an video of the following game on chesslecture.com . So is this Queen Sac Sound. Alekhine felt it was made without risk. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011857

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1283

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1320

It takes faith in your chess convictions to sac your queen without immediate compensation in sight. Please check in if you were in this game if you would of sacked your queen in this position.

Tuesday update: 50 L20 before breakfast
9 L30
25 l20 in evening

Wednesday update 7 L30
50 l20
I am liking the approach where I do a few harder tactics l30 mixed in with ones I have seen before L20. I find this to be less frustrating

Whats going on

2007-08-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

My doctor felt I should stay home from work for the next two weeks keeping my foot elevated. Fortunately, I can do alot of my work remotely as I am extremely busy.

I gave myself a one month subscription to www.chesslecture.com which gives me an unlimited viewing of their 500 plus videos which I am enjoying. Watching them on endgame fundamentals, the danish gambit, the scotch as black (I need to learn this to fend off Cratercat) and a bunch of other topics. At 12.95 for the month, it is about a cost of a book and given my situation I will get my moneys worth.

I have also bought a book Danish Dynamite on the Danish Gambit and the tactical training Cd Theory and Practice of chess endings. I selected this since there are learning modules mixed in with problems. I impatiently await for this to arrive.

I am doing alot of Level 20 Ct-art problems trying to stay sharp. I will move on to L30 at some point soon.

Certainly, I hear alot of critism of spending too much time on opening study. I wonder about this. There is a high school Senior I play against in Chess Club who has done a very deep study in the openings. He is very tough and knows the reasons why one should play a move vs another move. He plays a very tough Sicilian. I arranged some wellfought games between him and Cratercat. I believe that a deep study around one opening helps one better understand the ideas of chess. I believe this info is transferable to improved playing strength even when playing different openings.

The Return of the Return of the Traxler CounterAttack

2007-08-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

I have enjoyed playing some Traxler Counterattacks games during the past few days. The opening is very strange and reminds me of the saying about the Shark. That the shark breathes through moving around but when it stops it is in danger of suffocating. * Urban legend?/Factoid.

It also like a fire and needs material to keep it going . It could be yours or your opponents pieces. Just throw your Rook on the fire. Black can't afford to let it get too quiet.

How is this for some bizarre metaphors ? The game often has one correct move for each side to make and the Fritz position evaluation can fluctuate widely.

Now for the games: cut and paste them into the pgn viewer.

Game One:

In this game it appears I could of played Bg4 on move 12

1. e4 {3} e5 {3} 2. Nf3 {8} Nc6 {3} 3. Bc4 {5} Nf6 {3} 4. Ng5 {3} Bc5 {4} 5.
Nxf7 {10} Bxf2+ {3} 6. Kf1 {32} Qe7 {6} 7. Nxh8 {3} d5 {13} 8. exd5 {9} Nd4 {15
} 9. d6 {40} Qxd6 {14} 10. Bf7+ {2} Ke7 {30} 11. c3 {32} Qa6+ {12} 12. c4 {11}
Bg4 {17} 13. Qe2 {Roter Teufel 2 gibt auf 29} Bxe2+ {7} 0-1

Game 2: a draw 7....qe7 is also a book line in this.

1. e4 {6} e5 {3} 2. Nf3 {3} Nc6 {16} 3. Bc4 {10} Nf6 {4} 4. Ng5 {2} Bc5 {13} 5.
Nxf7 {16} Bxf2+ {17} 6. Kxf2 {2} Nxe4+ {3} 7. Kg1 {30} Qh4 {9} 8. g3 {27} Nxg3
{7} 9. hxg3 {20} Qxg3+ {5} 10. Kf1 {4} d6 {12} 11. Qh5 {18} Qf4+ {17} 12. Ke1 {
52} Qg3+ {10} 13. Kf1 {8} Qf4+ {10} 14. Ke1 {12} Qg3+ {19} 15. Kf1 {
(Lag: Av=0.68s, max=1.8s) 8} 1/2-1/2

Game 3

1. e4 {2} e5 {2} 2. Nf3 {21} Nc6 {3} 3. Bc4 {14} Nf6 {4} 4. Ng5 {3} Bc5 {4} 5.
Nxf7 {10} Bxf2+ {9} 6. Kxf2 {5} Nxe4+ {4} 7. Ke1 {8} Qh4+ {7} 8. g3 {17} Nxg3 {
4} 9. hxg3 {19} Qxh1+ {4} 10. Ke2 {1} Nd4+ {4} 11. Kd3 {13} Qxd1

From Friday Night Chess Club what I should of played on move nine according to Fritz
I lost this one.

Game 4

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5.
Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6. Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7. Ke3 Qh4 8. Qf3 Nf6 9. Bb3 Ng4+ 10. Kd3 Nf2+ 11. Ke3
Nxh1 12. Nxh8 Qe1+ 13. Kd3 Nf2+ 14. Kc3 Nd1+ 15. Kc4 b5+

also, Finished level 20 of ctart

Man vs Nature, Nature 1 Man 0

2007-08-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

While at the Cape a wave threw me and I now have a fractured fibula.It is my left foot so I still drive and go to work.

The plan is to do Ct-art on the coach for Evenings for a while. In an air cast for the next 6-8 weeks. This is God's way of telling me he wants me to be a better chess tactician.

Thursday : Ct-art Circle Whatever 1-270

A rare draw using my new endgame book knowledge

2007-08-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

This is one of the few games I have played where I actually was able to take advantage of my opponents endgame mistakes to draw. I simplified to a known drawn position. I am playing white.

[Event "Rated game, 25m + 0s"]

[WhiteElo "1518"]
[BlackElo "1710"]

1. e4 {3} d5 {5} 2. exd5 {2} Qxd5 {2} 3. Nc3 {1} Qd6 {0} 4. Bc4 {13} Nf6 {3} 5.
d4 {3} a6 {2} 6. Nf3 {9} b5 {2} 7. Bd3 {7} Bb7 {5} 8. Ne2 {21} Nbd7 {6} 9. Bf4
{3} Qb6 {2} 10. Qd2 {39} e6 {35} 11. Be3 {4} Ng4 {27} 12. Bf4 {37} Bd6 {18} 13.
Bxd6 {31} Qxd6 {8} 14. Nc3 {21} Rd8 {139} 15. Be4 {4} c6 {33} 16. h3 {25} Ngf6
{4} 17. Bd3 {10} c5 {14} 18. dxc5 {21} Nxc5 {3} 19. O-O-O {4} Nxd3+ {7} 20.
Qxd3 {7} Qxd3 {3} 21. Rxd3 {2} Rxd3 {2} 22. cxd3 {2} Bxf3 {2} 23. gxf3 {3} Ke7
{6} 24. Kd2 {2} Rd8 {3} 25. Ne4 {9} Nd5 {24} 26. Rc1 {36} g6 {98} 27. Rc6 {99}
Nb4 {37} 28. Rc7+ {12} Rd7 {10} 29. Rxd7+ {2} Kxd7 {6} 30. a3 {1} Nd5 {30} 31.
Nc5+ {3} Kc6 {2} 32. Nxa6 {3} Nf4 {23} 33. Nb4+ {13} Kd6 {16} 34. Ke3 {3} Nxh3
{3} 35. f4 {10} e5 {43} 36. fxe5+ {10} Kxe5 {4} 37. Nc6+ {3} Kd6 {26} 38. Nd4 {
13} Kc5 {9} 39. Nb3+ {6} Kd5 {8} 40. Nd4 {23} Nxf2 {6} 41. Nxb5 {20} Nd1+ {3}
42. Kd2 {18} Nxb2 {3} 43. Kc3 {4} Na4+ {13} 44. Kb4 {9} Nb6 {21} 45. d4 {17} h5
{7} 46. Kc3 {5} h4 {3} 47. Kd3 {10} h3 {3} 48. Nc3+ {4} Ke6 {11} 49. Ne4 {10}
h2 {20} 50. Nf2 {3} Kd5 {20} 51. Nh1 {4} f5 {13} 52. Ke3 {7} Nc4+ {4} 53. Kf4 {
4} Nxa3 {11} 54. Kg5 {8} Kxd4 {2} 55. Kxg6 {2} f4 {5} 56. Kg5 {1} f3 {8} 57.
Kg4 {1} Ke3 {3} 58. Kg3 {3} Nc2 {21} 59. Kxh2 {2} Kf4 {7} 60. Kg1 {7} Ne1 {14}
61. Kf2 {12} Nd3+ {5} 62. Kf1 {4} Kg4 {10} 63. Nf2+ {7} Nxf2 {15} 64. Kxf2 {4}
Kf4 {0} 65. Kf1 {4} Kf5 {4} 66. Kf2 {3} Kg4 {2} 67. Kf1 {17} Kg5 {4} 68. Kf2 {3
} Kf4 {1} 69. Kf1 {3} Ke4 {5} 70. Kf2 {21} Kf4 {(Lag: Av=0.48s, max=4.0s) 2}
1/2-1/2

Solidarity

2007-08-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

A
R at
I n
T om's
H ouse
M ay
E at
T om's
I ce
C ream

Nothing to do with chess but as an act of solidarity with BDK and Tempo I have posted an Mnemonic acronym and a picture of an eye.
Some more meaningful content to follow later.

Tak-trosian

2007-08-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

This Kings Indian Defense is causing me to once again to play a somewhat Petrosianesque game: shuffling pieces looking for an advantage.

I was fairly happy with this game except for the ending.

{E90: King's Indian: Classical: Early deviations and 6 h3} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6
3. c4 d6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 O-O 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 e5 8. d5 Nbd7 9. b4 c5 10. b5 b6
11. h3 a6 12. a4 Bb7 13. Bd3 a5 14. O-O Re8 15. Nh2 Kh7 16. Ng4 Bc8 17. Nxf6+
Nxf6 18. f4 Rg8 19. fxe5 dxe5 20. Rf2 g5 21. Bg3 Re8 22. Qf1 Qe7 23. Nb1 Qd6
24. Nd2 Ra7 25. Nf3 Nh5 26. Bh2 f6 27. Qe2 Nf4 28. Bxf4 exf4 29. e5+ f5 30.
Nxg5+ Kg6 31. Ne6 Bxe5 32. Nxf4+ Kf6 33. Qh5 Bxf4

Cut and paste game into the pgn viewer on the side. I am playing black against a 1850 playchess fellow.

Building Bridges on Cape Cod

2007-08-05T03:23:00.000-07:00

July of 06 I spent my vacation time working on the King's Gambit with some of the results found here here .
This year on my vacation, I spent some time working on endgames especially rook endings. I hope sometime soon to be able to use my knowledge of the Lucena and Philidor positions in a game. I am putting off learning the minor pieces endgames until I have a firm grasp of pawns and kings & rook endings.

Can you find Whites Killer Sacrifice here ?

2007-07-27T03:40:00.000-07:00

I thought this was an interesting game. I have identified the Major Piece endings as an area where I can gain some points with study. I won this game as white on time. At the time I thought it would play out to a draw but I now believe that it is a black win with his king once he gets to h2.

I missed a killer sacrifice that would of won the game. Can you find it?

cut and paste game into pgn viewer on the sidebar

1. e4 {3} c5 {4} 2. Nf3 {2} Nc6 {1} 3. Nc3 {2} e6 {8} 4. Bb5 {12} Nd4 {18} 5.
Nxd4 {30} cxd4 {3} 6. Ne2 {8} e5 {10} 7. O-O {12} Nf6 {13} 8. Ng3 {17} a6 {24}
9. Bc4 {8} b5 {12} 10. Bb3 {16} Bb7 {3} 11. d3 {8} a5 {33} 12. a3 {5} Be7 {19}
13. Bg5 {29} O-O {3} 14. Bxf6 {38} Bxf6 {3} 15. Nf5 {7} d5 {83} 16. f4 {16}
dxe4 {57} 17. fxe5 {15} Bxe5 {13} 18. Qg4 {27} e3 {59} 19. Nh6+ {29} Kh8 {13}
20. Nxf7+ {5} Rxf7 {17} 21. Rxf7 {6} Bd5 {35} 22. Raf1 {39} Bxf7 {21} 23. Rxf7
{150} Bf6 {50} 24. Rd7 {47} Qb8 {94} 25. Bd5 {14} Ra6 {109} 26. Be4 {
8} Qe5 {333} 27. Ra7 {108} Re6 {67} 28. Ra6 {
16} Re8 {17} 29. Qh3 {. 101} h6 {17} 30. Qg3 {39} Qxg3 {12} 31. hxg3 {3} b4 {33
} 32. a4 {13} Rc8 {3} 33. Rc6 {9} Rxc6 {3} 34. Bxc6 {3} g5 {1} 35. Kf1 {9} Kg7
{1} 36. Ke2 {2} Be5 {1} 37. b3 {16} h5 {1} 38. Bf3 {5} Bxg3 {1} 39. Bxh5 {5}
Kf6 {1} 40. Bf3 {4} Ke5 {1} 41. Bg4 {17} Kf4 {0} 42. Bf3 {20} Bf2 {0} 43. Ba8 {
5} Kg3 {1} 44. Be4 {Zaman ' 10} 1-0

The answer is in my comments, Hint it is somewhere between move 25-30

Recommendations for Chess Endgame Software ??

2007-07-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

I am looking for chess endgame program simalar to CT-art.

It should cover basic to intermediate endgames. Heavily geared toward being practical and learning principles.

Please make recommendations.

http://www.convekta.com/downloads.asp

I see 3 options in convekta.

Brain Dump from Part one of Mednis King and Pawn Ending tape

2007-07-19T03:35:00.000-07:00

Many Experts feel that K&P endgames are the most difficult of all.

You can follow the right path most of the time by following these rules

1) Activate your King ( King leads passed pawns)
2) Try to get the Opposition
3) Use King Triangulation to obtain Zugswang Position
4) Outside Passed Pawns are usually decisive
5) in misserable looking positions, look to draw

If you have only one pawn the Rook Pawn is the worst one to have.

On a clear board, all consistant King Routes between two points are of equal length

In order to maximize your effectiveness, look for King Routes that can't be interfered with by your opponent

Opposition (def) Kings are seperated by an odd number of squares either 1,3,5 with no pawns in the way

Opposition can be Vertical, Horizontal or Diagonal

On an open board, the value of having the opposition is your King can move forward

If your King can get in front in your pawn this tends to be a win
If your King can't get in front of your pawn it is a draw
If the King is on the side,whether it can get in front normally determines win

If you have to lose a pawn to a King Capture, Pick the spot where the king will have trouble promoting a pawn

King on the 6th Rank in front of a pawn always wins(file b thru g)
King on the 3,4,5th Rank in front of his pawn will win only with the opposition
(with an extra pawn, a pawn move can always achieve opposition)

Note to self :Postion 11 is the most important position

When Capturing a pawn see that the King is advantageously placed.

(observation) There are often surprising sacks of a pawn on the H-file to draw, Causing the opponents g pawn to become an h pawn which can't promote

There are only 3 ways for the Weakside (black) to draw in K&P endgame,
1) an unwinable rook pawn endgame
2) Position 6 see picture white on move for draw
3) Position 11 see picture either side moves for draw
(will add the board view to this post)

Always try to simplify to a known winning position.
Mednis had an example where he sacked pawns to get his king in front of pawn on 6th rank

2 knights study

2007-07-18T03:30:00.000-07:00

Some positions I seem to lose a dispropotional number of games. Here is one . I am black in the 2 knights white to move. I plan on study into this further.

I have discovered that the 2nd screenshot of my last post was incorrect. sorry about that ......... will post a corrected one later .

Wed, 20 Ct-art problems

Breakthrough 1 & 2

2007-07-17T03:49:00.000-07:00

The 2 position above with white to move are classic breakthrough positions where white can force a passed pawn. I can muddle through what are the correct moves. But I wonder, Are there rules of thumbs to use as to what the correct pawn move should be in these positions??

Braindump from Endgame book

2007-07-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

JTF Endgame book

Intro:
The characteristics of the endgame are:
1) Endgames favor an agressive king
2) the importance of passed pawns is greatly increased in the endgame
3) Zugswang is often a factor

If you want to win at Chess, begin with the ending - Ruebin Fine.

Some rules that apply to the middlegame and opening actually reverse themselves in
the endgame.

A passed pawn increases in strength as the number of pieces on the board
diminishes. -Capablanca

C2: Pawn Endings: Atomic Chess

There are 2 principle features that determine play in any pawn ending-
1) Position of the Kings
2) Presence of passed pawns.
P1 King and One Pawn

Chances of Winning

K+1 vs K 50% chance of win
K+2 vs K 90% chance of win
K+3 vs K 95% chance of win

* If you have an extra pawn advance your King ahead of the pawn.

* If a pawn can be supported by his King often blocking is the only defense which
often draws
* You can't stop a pawn from the side, BLOCK IT.
* You can't stop a pawn from behind, BLOCK IT.

Blocking a pawn does not always work except if it is a rook pawn.

Often when opponents interupts the path of a chasing King, counting squares should
be used instead of the rule of a square

The Three rules for winning a pawn up game:

1) Move your king in front of your pawn

2) With the king in front of pawn either diagonally or directly in front you will win, unless your opponents gets the Opposition.

3)With the king on the sixth rank(non rook pawns) in front of your pawn you always
win regardless who is on move.

If the pawn advances to the seventh rank in front of the king with a check this is
a draw.
"Advance with check, your game is a wreck"

A pawn hitting the seventh rank without check it is a win.

Rook Pawn: When Living on the edge can be safe

* One can often corrall a King into a stalemate on the Rook file .
* When the Superior side pawn is a rook pawn (an a or h pawn) the win is impossible if the weaker side 's king takes possession of the the corners queening square or barricades the opponents king in that corner.

Safe Square- If the opponent can stand on a square and draw, it is a safe square.

* Taking the opposition when ahead of the pawn diagonally inevitably leads to
having the oposition in front of the pawn.

Passing the Move- Triangulation-
in order to take the oposition and force the opposing King from the key square,
you will often need to pass the move on to the other side. This is done through
Triangulation.

Calling in the Reserves

Often a reserve pawn move can effective pass the move to grab the opposition.

The Moving Screen

As in the moving Screen in Basketball, a King can move in the shortest route to his objective while preventing the opposing king to take the shortest route to hisobjective. Also known as shoulder pushing.

The moving screen accomplishes two goals. Allows one king to take the shortest
route to his goal while preventing one opponents king from doing the same.

The distant opposition:
By taking the opposition from a distant one can force a direct opposition as the Kings move closer

Unlike real life, stepping aside diagonally is as short a path as traveling straight ahead on a rank or file.

All Consistant King Moves Across the Board are of Equal Length -Mednis

The Classic Triangilation (look at example on pg 62)

If the King on Move can enter the square, it can catch the pawn.

Part II Passed Pawns;

The main task of a distant passed pawn is to distract the opposing king, while on the other side of the board it's own king attack defenseless pawns bereft of the kings support.

2 passed pawns, who on their own cannot promote, often serve as protection for
each other.

Capturing One would put the other out of reach of stoping the other: One can not
dance at two weddings.

Passed Pawns are meant to distract; the farthest one is from the opposing king the
strong it's ability to distract.

Breakthorough. 3 pawn directly across from 3 pawns seperated by a single rank . To Breakthrough move the middle pawn. ( then offer a Falkbeer like countergambit with the other pawn, one will have to pass !)

Summary: One should be alert to sudden transitions in the endgame.