|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 21 OF 37 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
Apr-01-12
 | | morfishine: Meant to add <Patriot> the rating system at ChessCube is pretty cool. You fix your settings for playing. For example I have been set to play opponents 100 points below me up to 300 points above my rating. (Now these are set at same rating +300). You get more points for beating higher rated players. You even gain points for drawing a higher rated player. But watch out, you lose 14 - 16 points when you lose to a lower rated player. Its quite volatile. For example, in my last game I was at 1740 when I won vs 1820 player and picked up 16 points. The most I gained is 20 points vs 2010 player. Fun stuff! |
 |
Apr-01-12
 | | sevenseaman: #58680
'Techstuff'
click for larger vieww. #26014
click for larger vieww. #57921
'A fine little point'
click for larger vieww. #55333
'Strange Bedfellows'
click for larger viewb. #31687
'Expedient'
click for larger viewb. #64535
'Torture of the Soul'
click for larger view b. #89806
'An OTB Time-eater'
click for larger viewb. |
|
Apr-01-12
| | sevenseaman: #17093
'On the Horns of a Dilemma'
click for larger view w. #90108
Surely those 'roads' must be leading away from Rome too. 
click for larger viewb. #72345
'Road to Mandalay' was far from easy.
click for larger vieww. |
|
| Apr-02-12 | | LIFE Master AJ: See my forum ... (answer). |
|
Apr-03-12
| | morfishine: Good Evening <Patriot>! Had a rather hum-drum position that I wanted to forward. I'll call it '5-min Psychology'.
I was White and had 1:07 left while Black had 2:04 left:
click for larger view
I've just played <28.f3>. In a long game, I would have played <28.f4> and Black can't play en passant <28...exf3> due to the pin on the e-pawn. But here, at 5-min, and with the time ticking, I played first <28.f3> figuring he would waste some time. I needed it since I was almost a minute behind. And so Black deliberated a full 28-seconds before playing <28...Qg5>. Now I played <29.f4> and he played <29...Qh4> burning another 9-seconds (time now :59 1:31). After <30.Qxc6 Rf5> (time now :55 1:12) I've almost caught up in time. After <31.Qe6+ Kh8 32.Rb5 g5 33.Rxd5 Rxd5 34. Qxd5 gxf4 35.Q+e5 Kg8 36.exf4 Qd8 (time :21 :28) 37.Qe6+ Kh8 38.Qxe4 Qb6+ 39.Qe3 Qf6 40.f5 h6 41.Qe6 Qxe6 42.fxe6 Re8 (time :10 :8.5) and black lost on time. I had 5.8 seconds left. Interesting stuff |
|
Apr-04-12
| | sevenseaman: <morf>I liked that jugglery with f3, f4. That was a clever psyching of the opponent to rob him of his time. Such posers make the clock run faster. |
|
Apr-04-12
 | | hms123: <morfishine>
Did you notice that in this position (after 28...Qg5 29.f4 Qh4 30.Qc6 Rf5 31.Qe6+ Kh8): 
click for larger viewYou can play <32.Qf5> 
click for larger viewNice way to catch up on time though. <f3> is what I would call an "annoying move"--always good to be annoying on the board. |
|
Apr-04-12
 | | benjinathan: <h> dasterdly! |
|
Apr-04-12
| | sevenseaman: <
hms123: <<morfishine><Did you notice that in this position (after 28...Qg5 29.f4 Qh4 30.Qc6 Rf5 31.Qe6+ Kh8):
click for larger view--w
You can play <32.Qf5>>>. And it would have been picked up by a tactics training computer as an example problem for demonstrating good technique. Sharp eye<hms123>! |
|
Apr-06-12
 | | Patriot: Hello <morf>! Nice game! <hms123> 32.Qxf5! is a nice spot. It's not always easy to see these things being short on time. |
|
Apr-06-12
| | Patriot: Hi <sevenseaman>! Just to let you know, I plan to get back to your puzzles when I get some time. Thanks! |
|
| Apr-06-12 | | LoveThatJoker: <Patriot> Thanks for the shout-out on today's puzzle! Have you come across anything interesting on Chess lately (game, theoretical rule, et. al)? I have a game that you must see for it's lovely and interesting finish: Kramnik vs A Chernin, 1996
LTJ |
|
Apr-08-12
| | morfishine: Thanks <Patriot>! Nice find by <hms123>! I find oversights like that all the time going over 5-min games: can only chuckle. Here, I was happy to make up a whole minute and win, blitzing to the end. (I think its safe to say that one wouldn't miss <Qxf5> in a long game and vice versa: Black would never play <Rf5> [in a long game]...or at least one would hope so!) :) |
|
| Apr-10-12 | | LoveThatJoker: <Patriot> Fantastic analysis on the Kramnik game I sent you, man! Thank you for sharing it with me. You get full marks for this one if it ever becomes a puzzle in advance. I have a question to ask you: Regarding Sunday's puzzle, as it regards the game continuation I went with 14. Nxh7 Kxh7 15. Qh5+ Kg8 16. f5 Ne5 Bb3 could you kindly tell me what Houdini makes out of that line, please? LTJ
PS. One more thing as it regards the Kramnik game: I gave you props and posted your excellent and accurate analysis on the game page there. |
|
| Apr-12-12 | | LIFE Master AJ: << Apr-11-12 <<Patriot>: Hi <AJ>!> I finally saw where you posted a comment. If you want to send the .pgn files that sounds great! <I just commented to <morf> that I seem to be going backward on my rating here lately. I lost badly in a tournament last night! I'm not sad, after all it is a game, but I do have a goal of 2000 and that's what hurts! <<<>>> > > >We all know how that feels, even me.
When you make a goal - and keep working hard - it is my belief that you will attain it. I see no reason why you could not achieve 2000+. You seem to be a reasonable, intelligent fellow. I personally do not think any special talent is needed to become even a master. Of course, guys like Kasparov, Fischer, Anand, Kramnik (etc.) ... those guys were blessed with tons of talent ... but I imagine that even they worked hard to get to where they are at today. |
|
| Apr-12-12 | | LoveThatJoker: <Patriot> Thank you! I'm sorry to hear that you've lost a couple of tournament games and hence have lost some rating points. I certainly hope that this is something that will only serve to take you to greater heights and be a motivator for you to achieve your goals. As <LMAJ> said to you: Keep working hard and keep at it, and you will achieve success with Chess. Here's a fellow friend in Chess rooting for you to succeed, LTJ |
|
Apr-12-12
| | morfishine: Good morning <Patriot>! Good to hear from you! Been quite busy, thus forced to ration my 'chess time'. As for your results, since the games are so recent and fresh in your mind, this is an ideal time to analyze what you were thinking at the moment the game(s) turned against you. Was time a factor? I'll follow up later as now, time is a factor for me (off to work!). |
|
Apr-13-12
| | morfishine: Dear <Patriot>: Thanks for waiting for me to follow up. I get the feeling you are 'butting your head' against a wall and feel a little discouraged. Don't despair! A breakthrough awaits those who are persistent and confident in their goals. I really get the feeling that your main problem is 'paralysis by analysis' which in chess, leads to falling behind in time. Perhaps you might consider a different tack and focus on time mgmt games, or short games, to enhance your speed of calculation. I say this with absolutely no offense whatever, but instead offer the idea as a tool to eliminate 'time problems'. Here's a game I just played and was happy to win the 'time problem' and positional problems [Event "ChessCube Game"]
[Site "www.chesscube.com"]
[Date "2012.04.02"]
[Round "-"]
[White "morf@chesscube.com"]
[Black "danbill@chesscube.com"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1769"]
[BlackElo "1767"]
[Time "18:17:41"]
[TimeControl "300"]
1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 e6 3. a3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. c4 c6 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. Ne2 Qc7 8. Nbc3 Be7 9. Rc1 Ne5 10. Qc2 Nxd3+ 11. Qxd3 Bd7 12. O-O b5 13. cxb5 cxb5 14. Nxd5 Qd6 15. Nxf6+ gxf6 16. Qxd6 Bxd6 17. Bxf6 Rg8 18. Ng3 Rg6 19. Ne4 Be7 20. Bxe7 Kxe7 21. d4 Rag8 22. g3 f5 23. Nc5 Bc6 24. Nxa6 Bd5 25. Rc7+ Kf6 26. f3 e5 27. dxe5+ Kxe5 28. Nc5 Bc4 29. Rd1 Rd6 30. f4+ Kf6 31. Rxd6+ 1-0
click for larger view
Its not a gem, but games like this, at least to me, are good tools to build our talents at longer time controls. |
|
Apr-14-12
| | Patriot: <morf>/<AJ>/<LTJ> Thanks for the kind words! On the way home my thoughts were "Oh well--It's just a game!" Since then I have been trying to figure out what's been going on with me lately. There are times when we run into a wall and even spiral downward. I wondered how solving <CG> puzzles or how improving analysis skills in general is going to help me for G/30. I believe the trick is to never take a lot of time on subtle positional moves during a game (especially that time control--learn that after the game). Save time for critical positions because that's where you need it for "puzzle logic". And that's where solving <CG> puzzles can help! <AJ>, <When you make a goal - and keep working hard - it is my belief that you will attain it. I see no reason why you could not achieve 2000+. You seem to be a reasonable, intelligent fellow. I personally do not think any special talent is needed to become even a master.> I certainly believe I can achieve this goal--it just takes doing the necessary things to get there. I'm not sure about the last statement. In my opinion becoming a master is a very tough thing to achieve and very likely requires special talent. I salute you! That is something to be proud of. <LTJ>, <Here's a fellow friend in Chess rooting for you to succeed> Thanks for all the kind words! That really does mean a lot. I plan to keep a positive attitude and realize there are probably several factors that have been causing my rating to go into decline. The key is that you never lose if you learn from your mistakes and don't repeat them! <morf>, <As for your results, since the games are so recent and fresh in your mind, this is an ideal time to analyze what you were thinking at the moment the game(s) turned against you. Was time a factor?> That is very good advice! The answer is "Time WAS a factor!" In the game I played against an expert, I stopped recording on move 23 which means I reached the 5 minute mark in a pretty uneventful game. That is way too slow, requiring me to play the remaining half of the game in only 5 minutes! I must become more efficient and save time for when I really need it for complex positions. <I really get the feeling that your main problem is 'paralysis by analysis' which in chess, leads to falling behind in time.> You really hit the nail on the head and I take no offense at all. I just played (3) 2 5 games on the ICC and won all three against higher ratings. They were somewhat comical because me (and my opponents) missed a number of tactics (some of them I noticed during the game). During the last game my opponent was winning but I did things to mix it up and eventually had a forced mate in 4. He either lost connection or disconnected out of frustration and I got this message: "JudgeBot has given you a win after your opponent disconnected in a bad position. Congratulations! The game is in your history." It's good the ICC has it set up that way now to avoid being cheated out of a win. Thanks for the game! I plan to play through it. |
|
| Apr-15-12 | | LIFE Master AJ: <<<AJ>, <When you make a goal - and keep working hard - it is my belief that you will attain it. I see no reason why you could not achieve 2000+. You seem to be a reasonable, intelligent fellow. I personally do not think any special talent is needed to become even a master.> I certainly believe I can achieve this goal--it just takes doing the necessary things to get there. I'm not sure about the last statement. In my opinion becoming a master is a very tough thing to achieve and very likely requires special talent. I salute you! That is something to be proud of. <<>> >> Thanks! I sent you the PGN file. |
|
| Apr-15-12 | | LIFE Master AJ: White to move ...
click for larger viewWARNING!!! (Its much more difficult than it looks. White has MANY wins ... ... ...
you are asked to find the BEST line from the position given in the diagram!) And I checked all of this with Houdini 1.5 and Fritz 13. |
|
Apr-15-12
| | Patriot: <AJ> I think the best way is 1.b4+. 1...Ka4 2.b5 with the idea 2...axb5 3.Rxb5, pinning the black king to the wall and giving white a free hand. For instance, 3...Ka3 4.Kxc7 Ka4 5.Kb6 with 6.c4 next. The interesting piece to this is 2...a5 3.Kxc7, winning easily. But maybe 3.b6 is even better. 3...cxb6 4.Rxb6 Ka3 5.Kd5 a4 6.Kc4 Ka2 7.Kc3 a3 8.Rb3 Ka1 9.Rxa3+ Kb1 10.Ra8 Kc1 11.Ra1#. This is a long shot so now I'll run it through Houdini and see where I went wrong. ---------------
Whoa! I was way off. 1.Rb6!! is very clever. Oh well, I tried! |
|
| Apr-16-12 | | LIFE Master AJ: Any Player - A.O. Player
1000 Checkmates (1) / 15,04,2012.
[A.J.G.]
White to move ...
click for larger viewSeemingly, this is a fairly boring and routine position. White's first move appears to be a blunder or an oversight: 1.Rb6!! cxb6; 2.c3! b5; 3.Kc5!!, Very brilliant. 
click for larger viewBlack is in Zugzwang ... he only has one legal move here ... ... ... [White had a simpler win: RR3.b4+ Ka4; 4.Kb6 Kb3; 5.Kxa6 Kxc3; 6.Kxb5,  ] 3...b4T; (Box/forced.) 4.cxb4#.
click for larger viewThis is an excellent mate with just Pawns and the WK. 1-0 |
|
Apr-17-12
| | morfishine: Good morning <Patriot>! Wanted to elaborate that in my view, 5-min format could be a useful tool to increase calculating speed (which should help you out in longer games). Just be on guard to not get emotional over losses (painful lesson for me to learn) and keep it all in perspective. Different types of chess exercises focus on different aspects of the game. For example, puzzles are a great way to improve one's 'pattern recognition'. That in itself will save you valuable calculating time. And here, short time limits can help one train to calculate faster under pressure. Hope this helps! |
|
Apr-21-12
| | morfishine: Hello <Patriot>! Now that makes perfect sense: Focus on an opening you really feel comfortable with, just one for now, and work it out for 10-moves or so; Play that and only that; I've been through times when I only played the Gruenfeld or the Ruy or whatever for hundreds of games in a row and thats how you get expert at those openings. FWIW: While I am primarily a <1.e4> player, lately I've been playing the Orangu-Tang <1.b4> as White at 5-min and have been doing quite well, even against 1900+ players. Its sort of a surprise opening. I am a committed Sicilian player against <1.e4>, so its 'do or die'. You may wonder what do I play as Black against <1.d4>? Well, thats a mix, pretty much how I feel. I feel comfortable with <1...d5> but play the KI and the Gruenfeld, but my favorite is the Slav. The point is to steer the opening into your strength, what you've studied and played. This saves valuable time and holds the balance. Perhaps this is a missing link for you: Center yourself on some specific openings as white and defenses as Black, and know them inside and out. This will eliminate a lot of variations. After that, its all tactics and Pattern recognition. Ok, thats too simple, but the point is to focus on your strengths and steer the game(s) into that. Best, Morf |
|
|
|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 21 OF 37 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
