Four Rules of Material Gain (HTRYC 3rd)

1. If you have a material advantage, find a plan that enables you to use the extra wood (using the extra material to overpower the opponent or trade all the pieces and go into a winning endgame).

2. When you make a successful strike into the opponent's camp and win material, you must often pull your army back towards the center and reorganize your forces (prevents counterattacks).

3. When you take material, you put pressure on your opponent to justify his sacrifice!  This induces a certain element of panic which can easily send his brain spinning off into the void.  A good basic rule goes as follows: if you are in an uncomfortable position (or just want to go all out for the win) and you are offered an unclear sacrifice, you should contain your fear and scarf up the offered meal, saying "give me proof or lose!"

4. When up material you have the added defensive resource of giving material back to stop his attack.  While the opponent scrambles to regain his lost wood, you quietly improve your position.  When he finally recreates a material balance, you should have succeeded in either equalizing a difficult position, grabbing the initiative, or gaining some sort of positional advantage that will serve you well in the later stages of the game.

Exercises

white to play

black to play

black to play

I Play Hope Chess

Last year, on June 18, 2011, after I dropped 3 games in the 45 45 League, I wrote this post.  I let it sit in 'draft' mode the entire year.  I came back to it every so often to read it and feel the burn of those losses.

I'm finally getting around to publishing it.  I'm a bit more a peace with myself.  I think I play less Hope Chess, but there are games where I still play it.  Once (and if) I complete my 52-game quest in August, I'll revist this topic and disect my thoughts and feelings.

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JUNE 18, 2011
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It's obvious I don't fire on all cylinders.  I have serious, gut-wrenching issues I have to deal with.  It is painful.  Sure it feels good to pull off wins; but the truth is I think there is a significant measure of luck involved in those wins that simply masks the fundamental issues that I have not addressed.  When it all gets boiled, the truth is I play Hope Chess.

Here's the three-punch knockout that has pushed me to this realization ... one; two and three.  Three was a "LOL" moment.  It truly was comical.

So what are my options?
1 - do nothing; just keep playing for the joy of it and not care about playing quality chess.
2 - give it up altogether and spend the time doing something else.
3 - fundamentally confront and deal with my issues.

There's no shame in #1 and #2.  This is chess for crying out loud!  It's a freakin' game.  But that's not all true now, is it.  There is a deep unreachable itch; an unsettling feeling in the bowels of my soul.  I can't let it go.  When not thinking about work or family or our church, all my mind can dwell on are those three losses and why they happened.  As I ponder the last couple of weeks, it feels like there are deeper issues at play here.  It's not just chess - there is a profound psychological aspect to this and I think it is not restricted to just my chess game.  There are macro life elements involved ... this issue seems to spill over into other parts of my life.  And somehow I feel like if I can fix my chess game, the rest of my life will become balanced.  And maybe it's not so much about chess, but rather about not giving up on something I started.

I can't walk away from this until I feel I've done a better job.  I owe it to myself.  When I get to the point that I can consistently say, win or loss "I played Real Chess and did my best" then I can be at peace with myself and if I decide to walk away from it all, I won't have regrets.

Game 34

Jabari, who visits our blogs, contacted me to play a 4 game series.  We started the series tonight (game 1 link here).  It was one tough game tonight.  So I felt I put up a pretty good fight, but I am still weak on seeing everything.  I need to take some extra time for triple-checking.

11...Qc7 was a great move on his part.  There wasn't really anything I could do to defend.  I just needed to see that position a bit earlier in the game.

19. e4 wasn't so great.  I saw the Qb+ move a few seconds after I pushed the pawn.  Sometimes this happens on Chess Tempo ... I see so many things and then they are all floating up there in my head and I have a hard time organizing my thoughts and keeping track of bad lines and such.

So he took the b2 pawn and I figured I could get some play out of that.  I did a little, but he navigated all the various lines well.

23. g4 killed me.  I wanted to defend that f5 pawn.  I probably should have just went ahead and played Bd1, giving me a chance to defend f5 while still getting a chance to take his c4.

After g4, I saw that h3 was now open for business.  It went downhill from there.  Since his clock was a little low, I worked a bit at forcing him to win it.  But he played quite well and finished me off no problem.

Game 33

My scheduled opponent didn't show tonight.  So I fired up Chessmaster and played my nemesis Seb.  I was 0-3 against him, but tonight I finally won.  He made one of those dumb moves early on, but this time the outcome was different.  Instead of falling into his traps and losing a won game, I finally won it tonight.

There's not much to discuss on this one.  I was able to defend adequately and then trade pieces until I had just my knight and a few pawns on the board compared to his pawns and king.  I continued to trade pawns - using my knight to defend and ultimately promote a pawn.  From there, it was a QK vs. K ending.

Hopefully my opponent can play tomorrow night as I have another open evening.

NAS-NAJ 2012 Open

July 13-15 at the Hobby Marriott - Not-a-Senior-Not-a-Junior 2012 Open

I'll be there Friday and Saturday getting my butt kicked in the U2000 section.

savaskulah: email me

Savaş Külah: I don't know how to contact you directly to schedule some games; so please email me.

rockyrook at hotmail dot com

thanks,

Sacrifice (HTRYC 3rd)

Sacrifice - The voluntary offer of material for the purpose of gaining a more favorable advantage than the material investment.  Unlike a combination, a sacrifice is not a cut and dried affair, and there is usually an element of uncertainty associated with it.  Though a combination always has one or more sacrifices, a sacrifice need not be associated with a combination.

In his Material Loss and Sacrifice chapter, he notes a few moves from a few games
Selesniev-Alekhine, Triberg 1921, move 20...Rb4
Reshevsky-T.Petrosian, Zurich 1953, move 25...Re6
Taimanov-Karpov, Moscow 1973, beginning with move 17...Rc4

Weak Squares (HTRYC 3rd)

You can create weak squares (for your opponent) with a pawn move, a piece exchange (forcing opponent to double up pawns) or by creating a threat, thus forcing your opponent to defend it while at the same time creating a weak square.

Once you've created the weak square, you need to get a piece to "nest on it."

Game 32

Game 32 (replayed here) was the 4th of 4 games with tommyg.  I won the game and the series.  I'm not sure if tommyg was playing at 100% or not.  His kingside pawns were all down the side and I was able to slip my white-squared bishop in the middle, fortified by a solid pawn chain.  He had a chance of whacking this bishop with his knight, but did not.

Later he played 14. Qa4+ and I had to place my knight between his queen and my king on d7.  His knight was also bearing down on d7 and he could have easily traded knights and queens and then it would have been a bit more difficult to get my rooks out and my king safe.

After he played 25. Raf2?, I took his bishop ... again - not sure what he saw when he made this move.  Then he followed up with 26. R2a6 and then I delivered the knockout punch with 27. Qf2#.

I now have 20 games left to play before August 6.  I should get a few extra games in during the week of June 21-28 during a family reunion.  My nephew plays chess and hopefully we can get a few long games in.  Then the weekend of July 15 there is a local tournament and I should get a few games in over that weekend.  So, in the mean time, if I can get 1-2 games per week on FICS, I should reach my goal of 52 games in 1 year.

"Bad" Pawns Can Be "Good" (HTRYC 3rd)

Isolated, backward or doubled pawns are often weak; however it is also true that sometimes they are not - other factors outweigh their potential weakness.

Doubled Pawns
a doubled pawn gives its owner an extra open file for coverage of critical squares that would not be possible if the pawns were un-doubled and 'healthy'.

Said Brent Larsen of this game, "In this variation, many endings are won with the aid of the seemingly humble [doubled] center pawns."

A pawn is only weak if the enemy forces can get to it.

Isolated Pawns
an isolated pawn is potentially weak because no other pawn can help defend it.  Since now pawns can stand by its side, the square directly in front of it also tends to be vulnerable.  However, it can control squares that might turn out to be useful homes for your pieces; there are open files on either side of an isolated pawn - a place for your rooks which can strive for activity.

An isolated pawn doesn't have to remain on a sickly square; it can advance and become a 'battering ram.'

If you advance and subsequently trade an isolated pawn, then the supposed weakness was nothing more than an illusion.

The most common type of isolated pawn tends to be the d-pawn.

Piece activity is key when trying to make use of an isolated pawn.  Don't trade pieces when you have an isolated pawn - you need them to defend and advance the 'iso.'  If you have an 'iso' and no minor pieces, try to swap rooks and queens.

Backward Pawns
the weakness or strength of a backward pawn depends on the following questions:
1. It is sitting on an open file?
2. How well is it defended?
3. Is the square directly in front of it adequately defended by pieces?
4. Is it serving a useful purpose defending the pawns that have gone ahead of it?
5. Can it successfully advance, thereby ridding itself of the 'backward' label?

If a backward pawn can safely advance then its weakness will turn out to be more illusory than real.

Passed Pawns
passed pawns are usually thought of as huge assets, offering great chances in an endgame, but they can also be a disadvantage.

You don't want a passed pawn if it can be blockaded, unless you have play elsewhere and the passed pawn acts as endgame 'insurance.'  The best blockader of a passed pawn is a knight, since its strength is no diminished by having a pawn in front of it.

Center (HTRYC 3rd)

The first responsibility of the owner of the big [pawn] center is to make it indestructible.

Conversely, the responsibility of the player facing the pawn center is to apply constant pressure to it, and to try to prove it to be a weakness instead of a strength.

A center is only good because it restricts the opponent's pieces.  If it has to advance and give the enemy pieces good squares, then its whole purpose has been negated.

Game 31

I missed the last of our 4 games with tommyg on Friday night - it was a hectic day.  We are trying to work out a time to play that 4th game.

Tonight I played game 2 with gatoruss (replayed here).  The first game last week was pretty ugly.  I replayed that game a few times today and it was painful.  But tonight's game had a different outcome.  It was pretty interesting in the beginning and then he played 18...Nxe3?  I'm not quite sure what he was thinking.  But from then on, I just worked to try to trade pieces.  He made a second blunder with 24...g4.  My knight was pinned to my king by his queen and then he advanced the pawn attacking my knight.  But that left my queen to deliver check and then retake the pawn at g4.  At that point, I was up a bishop and knight.  He tried a few checks, but I secured the king and he resigned.

Game 3 with him may be next week, but being Memorial Day, we may delay game 3 until June 4.

Hey you Europeans ... check out my post on brunch and chess!  I'm up about the time you guys are having a late breakfast or early lunch - why not play a G/60 with me?

European Brunch May 21-25

So I had a thought on my 4-mile walk the other day ...

I need something to motivate me to get up and get going in the morning.  The answer: a G/60 game of chess.

But who plays chess at that unseemly hour?  The answer: Europeans.

So, each week, I'll post which days I can play a G/60 and people can sign up by posting a comment on that post.  I may not get much response, but it's worth a try.

If you're rated between 1500-1800 on FICS (standard rating), feel free to sign up for a game or two with me.

Monday: no games
Tuesday: open spot - G/60 at 02:45 FICS time
Wednesday: open spot - G/60 at 02:45 FICS time
Thursday: open spot - G/60 at 02:45 FICS time
Friday: no games

First come first serve - leave a comment to let me know which day you'd like to play.

Space (HTRYC 3rd)

Space, as defined by Silman, is the "player's territory usually determined by the positioning of one's pawns."  It's the area of property behind the pawns.

The reason it's important: if you have more territory, you also possess more room in which to move around.

1. the side with less space should initiate exchanges so that he will have more room in which to move around.
2. alternatively, the side with more space should avoid exchanges and instead focus on increasing the space advantage.

However, there is a "dark side of space"

1. the further a pawn advances the less space it can potentially control

Other rules

1. in closed positions with locked centers you must attempt to get open lines on the wings by breaking with pawns

Game 30

Game 30 was game 1 in a new series - this time with gatoruss.  Not much to see in this game - just total crap on my part.  I guess one shouldn't multi-task when playing a game.  On the bright side, I had a pretty good night on ChessTempo.  Once I knew the game was lost, I logged on to CT and got a small bump in my blitz rating.

Playing Chess Playlist

I've found that certain pieces of music enhance my concentration.  Over the years, my "Concentration" playlist has grown.  I've noticed that a few of the pieces are a bit up tempo than most, while the majority of them are slow or relaxing.  Here's my 107 minute playlist with links to the songs on youtube.

Bach's Persia by David Darling
Progeny by Hans Zimmer
The Wheat by Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
Earth by Hans Zimmer
Sorrow by Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
Zucchabar by Hans Zimmer
Esptesicus by Hans Zimmer and James Howard
Evenstar by Isabel Bayakdarian
Minas Tirith by Ben Del Maestro
The Long Night by Oystein Sevag
Egypt by Lakki Patey
Piece in the Old Style 1 by Henryk Gorecki performed by William Orbit
Piece in the Old Style 3 by Henryk Gorecki performed by William Orbit
Opus 132 by Beethoven performed by William Orbit
Anytime, Anywhere by Sarah Brightman
Our Breath Shall Intermix by Symbion Project
Instrumental by Rob Dougan
9999999 by Valve - Mike Morasky - Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory (Portal 2 soundtrack)
One Simple Idea by Hans Zimmer
Dream Within a Dream by Hans Zimmer
Waiting For a Train by Hans Zimmer
Time by Hans Zimmer

There are lots more tracks in my library that could be on this list.  I've noticed I can go through this playlist twice in one 75 15 game.

Game 29

Game 29 was the fourth with Nygren.  Full game here.

In our postmortem, he asked me what I was thinking when I moved 9...c5.  My thought, at that point of the game, was to try to open up the middle or move it along to c4.  I also wanted to get my rook on the c file.  He said that it wasn't a good move because it created an isolated pawn (on d5).  He was right.  I could not defend it well after.  He also noted that I should not have have been trading pieces with an isolated pawn; but that I should be supporting it and trying to advance it.  So, I was going about it all wrong.  But I really welcomed the feedback.  After doing a full analysis with Fritz 11, it didn't have any feedback for me on that move.

The next part I wanted to look at was 12...Nce4.  Fritz 11 gives me a =+, but I didn't quite pull off the pawn capture like I was thinking.  He responded 13. Rc1 followed by my Bg4.  Instead of Bg4, I should have captured his knight with 13...Nxc3 14. Rxc3 Rxc3 15. bxc3 h6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 and I'd still be slightly better ... I could still attempt to capture the c-pawn with Qc7.  But instead of playing 13...Nxc3, I played Bg4 and you can see this resulted in the opening of my castled king as well as going down a pawn.  From that point on, I struggled to stay in the game.

The game continued - his rook and queen were playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with my king.  I was trying desperately to get my queen back into the thick of things.  It was looking pretty clear he was going to win, and so I decided to try to last for as many moves as I possibly could; even trying to get a perpetual check so as to draw the game.  He was able to trade rooks with me and win my other glimpse of hope - a pawn with a wide-open file ahead of him.  Now he had a pawn in the middle heading to be queened.  My king was stuffed to the side and I was trying to get a perpetual check.  After moving 37...Qc5, I was expecting him to play either h4 or Qh8+.  After that, His pawn could just saunter on down.  But he played g4+ after which I played fxg3+.  39. Qxg3 would have been fine, but he played Kxg3?? after which I finished it off with Qg1#.

I felt badly for him.  The game was his except for that blunder.  He was very gracious in the postmortem and I was very appreciative of him playing me those four games and going over them.

My pool of people to play is about to dry up.  I need more players to play!  I'd prefer to play a 4-game series of 75 15 games, but one-off games are perfectly ok too.  G/60, 45 45, G/90 ... whatever ... just that it's a longish game.  I'll play pretty much anyone ... I think I'd have to draw the line at 1875.  If you're around the 1875, give or take 25 rating points, I'm not sure I'd be of any use other than to be utterly humiliated :-) ... but if you're 1875 or below, I'd  be willing to take a shot.

Leave a comment if you want to play; or shoot me an email at hotmail dot com.

Game 28

Game 28 (replayed here) was against Tommyg again - our third of four.  I'm up 3-0 now.  It was a fairly even-keeled game ... no exploding fireworks.  I had a couple of long thinks on move 13 and 29.  But besides those, my thinking was fairly quick and concise.

Towards the end, I felt I had it wrapped up a couple of times, only for Tommy to pull out another move that made me pause and ponder.  He put up a really good fight.

I had to delay my game today with nygren ... my son's friend and his dad invited us to see the new stadium the Houston Dynamo are playing in.  We had to leave a bit early this morning and I wasn't sure if I started the game with nygren if we'd finish in time before we had to leave.  So that game is tomorrow morning.

Games 26 & 27

So far, the chess this weekend has not been aesthetically beautiful - blunders have abounded thus far.

Game 26 was against Tommyg - I had the black pieces.  The game can be replayed here.  The game was fairly even, but he had his queenside pawns ready for the attack.  This worried me the entire game.  But I was able to get the kingside opened up a bit and the slip my queen into his territory.  Then he played 34. Ra2?  As the rook sat on a1, it was already defended and in no danger.  So I was able to deliver check and then capture the rook.    38. Qxa7 also seemed like a mistake - taking another defender out of the picture.  This allowed for a quicker checkmate.  The Tommyg series is 2-0 now.

Game 27 was ugly.  This game was against Nygren and it was barf-o-rific from the start.  The game can be replayed here.  I probably should have resigned earlier, but this game only went 29 moves.  I had the white pieces in this game.  He played the KID.  I played the SOL opening.  9. h3 was wrong as evidenced by the game.  9. Bh4 is the better move.  When I was looking at this move, I saw him playing g5 and then possibly getting the knight and bishop forked, plus the possibility of the pawns fully storming the side.  On the other hand, with 9. h3, I saw my h-file opening up; my rooks doubling and a fantastic storming of his castled king - all delusions of grandeur.  By the 13th move, it was certain I would lose a knight.  I went into blitz mode, which in my state of mind was suicide and very low quality analysis.  So the Nygren series is now 1-2.  This one has the feel of the stevelco series - where I was lucky to come off with a win in game one and then get stomped the remainder of the games.

The only consolation for me is that the overall goal of getting in 52 games in a year is progressing.  I fell behind early on in the quest, but I've been cutting into the "games behind" stat.  I'm only 10 games behind schedule now.  I've now passed the mid-way point as well.

20,000 Blitz Tactics on ChessTempo

Today I hit the 20,000 blitz attempts mark on ChessTempo.

• 20,000 attempts
• 14,114 correct
• 5,886 failed
• 70.57% correct
• 1678.3 rating (with an RD of 34.48)
• 500/1095 is my active rank ... better than 54.39% of the active population

Here's to the next 20,000.