User Profile: ZUGZWANG67

ZUGZWANG67
Member since May-04-08 · Last seen May-04-13

Hi ! My name is Sylvain Courtemanche. I live in Canada, near Montreal, Quebec. I have been playing chess since I am 12 years old. I' m 44. As many kibitzers here, I usually resolve the puzzles by looking at the position without moving the pieces. I think that this is the best way to improve one' s tactical vision.
As White, I used to play 1.d4 but recently decided to shift to 1.e4. That is so because I want to broaden my experience with structures and playing style. I even envision turning to 1.c4 at some point. When Black, I used to go for a French against 1.e4, but have turned to 1...e5 for the same reasons. I don't like 1...c5. I think the opening concedes too much in space and developpement for what Black gets in return. Against 1.d4 I still answer 1...d5 and most of the time go for a QGD with 3...Be7 in in order to avoid some annoyance brought by the exchange variation.
I am rather a modest player strenght, rated ą 1200. I've been playing in tournaments for only year and must stop fearing the clock. Before that I basiccally studied the game and sometimes played against software.
I've been teaching chess (!)since october 2010 to kids aged 6 to 12. Transmitting the game is an awesome feeling. It's the way for me to give back what I have gotten from our game.

Peace!

ZUGZWANG67 has kibitzed 348 times to chessgames [more...]

Feb-19-13 G Kanefsck vs R Cristobal, 1999

ZUGZWANG67: If 19...Rf8 then 20.Nd6 Qa6 21.Qxe6+ wins 2 pawns. This is typical problems for a 3 rank defence: no good squares available for your pieces! :)

Dec-17-12 J Finnegan vs R P Allen, 1948

ZUGZWANG67: 23.Qxf8+ Nxf8 24.Re8 is mate. Pretty standard mate with R & B.

Dec-04-12 G Timoshchenko vs J Bednarich, 1997

ZUGZWANG67: W can sacrifice material at e8 as eventually Qf6 will decide the game.

Nov-22-12 Gilg vs I Censer, 1927

ZUGZWANG67: I went for 16.Nd5,thus overlooking the simple 16...Qd8. 16.b4 was a great move!

Sep-04-12 J Kalish vs E Dunphy, 1966

ZUGZWANG67: 18.Ng5 and I don't think 18...Be3+ would defend, as after 19...Bxg5 White can open up the h-file for mate.

May-31-11 S Vaibhav vs A Yang, 2011

ZUGZWANG67: Black is a pawn up but White has a mating attack based on his active pieces and his passed pawn. 26.Bxh7+ Kxh7 27.Qh5+ and: a) 27...Kg8 28.Qh8 mate; b) 27...Qh6 28.Qxf7+ (the point) 28...Qg7 29.Qxg7 mate.

May-25-11 Adams vs Seirawan, 1999

ZUGZWANG67: White has 2 Rooks and a pawn for a Queen. He has a passed center pawn. Black's f3-pawn makes one think of a mating possibility at g2 but at the moment g5 is unavailable. However the Bd2 is undefended. Thus 27...Qd4 double-attacks d2 and g4. So 28.Bc3 (28.Be3, 28.Rd1) 28...Qg4 ...

May-19-11 K Akshayraj vs Le Quang Liem, 2008

ZUGZWANG67: 35.b4. Too easy. Missed it. Surprising that after spending soooo long trying to avoid a perpetual, this move never received the consideration it deserves in my analysis. I saw it, of course. But no more than that! Sigh!

May-18-11 S Johnston vs Marshall, 1899

ZUGZWANG67: More often than not when Black plays his QN before his c-pawn he gets in trouble. Of course, there always the Chigorin, but in that case he usually plays ...e5 in one move; not two! Could the fact that the game was played more than 100 years ago explain for such an inacuracy? ...

May-17-11 O Chajes vs C Jaffe, 1911

ZUGZWANG67: <<patzer2>: Perhaps I should examine checks before captures in my position evaluation?> <once: I'm not sure that would help.> <AccDrag: Absolutly.> I think that a key issue here is seeing the difference between solving a puzzle and finding the best move in

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