Sooo it's the off-season of NFL and the NBA and there isn't much to do besides watch Baseball and work. I've always known how to play but recently have taken a near addictive level of interest in the game over the last few days. Anyone else here play? And if so is anyone here decently good? I still have a long way to go to be considered good, but I can win games now against decent players or at least take it to the endgame. This was the last game I played if anyone decent/interested wants to look at it and tell me what I could have done better. The arrow keys sort it move by move so you can see in order who played what. Pretty nifty. I know I won and all but still I feel like I played like a noob. http://www.chess.com/livechess/game.html?id=322399521
Oh boy. Last time Chess was discussed on this board was the Dolphins Survivor Challenge game. It did not go well... But I did put someone in school's mate...
If you don't know already, try to control the center of the board in the beginning. I wouldn't have moved my knight to the far end of the board in the beginning. Lots of players don't like to loose their queens. If you can play well without a queen, you can bully certain players into running with queen to queen threats on the board. "Seeing moves ahead," becomes really easy when you've played a lot of games. The experience you gain will help you recognize patterns easily. FWIW, I open by moving my queen pawn up two spaces. On my second turn, I bring out my king side bishop to the point where it's two spaces to the right of the queen pawn. On the third turn, I bring out the queen side bishop's pawn, one space, to protect the pawn and bishop I brought out on the previous turns. This forms a "V" made from the pawn,pawn, bishop formation and takes control of the center of the board. After that, I start moving my knights and getting aggressive.
Let me explain the Knight move...in retrospect I agree I wouldn't have done it but my intent was to threaten his queen with my bishop next turn and make him do something to defend. In other words I wanted him to start moving his queen out, or possibly overlook the board and take my bishop with his queen to where I could capture it with my knight. Basically his queen for my bishop and knight, 9 points for 6. It never got to that point though because he countered it. I'm just starting to understand and utilize center dominance. Before I understood that I was spending all my times on the flanks and had a record of 4-13 or something brutal like that. Since then I'm 14-8-4 so definite improvement. I usually open with the king side pawn two spaces and then the queen side knight to c3 or the opposite using the queen side pawn and the king side knight to f3
I was ranked statewide from the age of 7 to 11. achieved a national ranking at the age of 10. Then I discovered that girls have holes in them. Read Capablanca. I learned under his style, and it is what made me really good, really fast.
This is one of the most important games to study for defeating good players today: Learn the Capablanca side: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1095025
I'm really leaning that a lot. It's funny how at first it seems like the game is all about captures. When in fact a good pin of a piece rendering it immobile can be as good or better. Or even how sacrificing a slightly better piece to gain an edge in position can win a game. So much stuff to think about.
I once ran a hustle on some dude that wanted to challenge me to a match (best of 21). I spent a week researching whether to play the guy (if he was really good), and then decided to play him over a 60 day period. We played for 1k. He beat me the first 2 games and we drew the third. We then had a break of about 6 days, and in those 6 days, I consulted with my chess mentor and we deduced that he was playing a modern tactical style (by the transcripts). He instructed me to play positional and to force unfamiliar situations on this guy for GM4 to see how he responded. I did. The guy **** himself. I beat him 8 straight times, and he resigned for the match. Point being, he was not a well rounded player and did not THINK the game. He could not adapt and overcome. He just saw the board well and understood positional chess while I reacted to his positional style. You really have to study this game if you are gonna get serious about it. It took me 3 years to beat my mentor/teacher. 2 years later this guy challenged me again, this time for more $$............I declined. Point being, I was not serious about it anymore and did not wish to "train" for another match. It is very true what they say about how studying chess can make you a little obsessed and crazy. I then took up poker.
That's a pretty cool story. It also makes me think you have gambling issues or a lot of money to toss around.
