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| Jan-10-11 | | hms123: <Mariano> One more thing: today would be a good day to stay home. Driving may be hazardous. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl... |
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| Jan-10-11 | | dakgootje: But then who is going to save the 'corvette-girl who thought it would be a good idea to wear a mini-skirt in the winter'? <WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING
Hort vs Seirawan, 1981.
YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF SEIRAWAN.
Your score: 71 (par = 51) >
Very nice!
From now on, my objective will not be getting a 'good', but simply beating you -- much more of a challenge! :D |
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Jan-10-11
 | | Fusilli: <H> I think both he and I would have seen the Be1 trick under different psychological circumstances. There was psychological baggage. Let me explain. David and I had played once before, in January 2010. He also had the white pieces that time. It was a Scotch game where he got clear opening advantage, but I was able to complicate it in the middle game, and eventually won. This game was also a Scotch game. Again he came out of the opening better, although his advantage was not as great or clear as in the January game. The middle game was tense, but I defended well and managed to outplay him. This must have been upsetting to him, as he said after the game that he didn't know where he had gone wrong. (I didn't know either... I only knew my strategic plan paid off and his didn't.) After my 33rd move we reached this position:
click for larger viewSo, Black has an extra pawn, better placed pieces and more space, in exchange for a relatively exposed King (but with no dangerous threats against it). Black is obviously threatening ...Rd1+ and ....Qf1 winning. David played: 34.Kh2
click for larger viewThe game happened a month ago and I don't remember my thoughts in detail, but I think I discarded 34...Rd1 because of 35.Bf6. But then I started to think: "What if I play the Queen first?" So, I started to consider 34...Qf1 and did what I do in situations like this, where I think I am basically winning in two. I went, one by one, over all of my opponent's legal moves, no matter how ridiculous. After all, I had time. As it happens, I considered all his legal moves *except* 35.Bb4! (And, for that matter, 35.Ba5... that is, I didn't think of sending his bishop that way.) So, the game continued:
34...Qf1 35.Bb4
click for larger viewThis was quite demoralizing to me. I was shell-shocked I had neglected to see such a natural move... and the only move he has not to lose! After looking at possibilities other than 35...Rd1 I concluded they all led to dangerous positions for my King, so I played: 35...Rd1
click for larger view...resigning myself to the draw by perpetual check. Psychologically, after having been on the edge of winning, I think it was unfathomable to my brain to think that losing was such an immediate possibility. Now put yourself in his position. He had already lost a Scotch game against me months earlier, in which he also had lost control somewhere in the middle game. That one had also been a tense game (where it was also difficult to spot where he went wrong). After 35.Bb4, he must have felt a huge relief and must have been happy he wasn't losing. Just as it was unfathomable for me to think I could lose, it was unfathomable for him to think he could win. So, he played 36.Qxd7+ Kc8 37.Qe6+ Kb7 37.Qe4+ and he offered the draw. Which is all to say that you are right. In real OTB chess, no one taps on your shoulder to tell you: "psst! Hey, White to play and, actually, WIN!" The context is different and influences players in sometimes unpredictable ways. |
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Jan-10-11
| | Fusilli: <H> Actually, I've been fighting a cold, and the cold won. I'm home caughing, with a sore throat, etc. |
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Jan-10-11
| | Fusilli: <dak> Hey, your goal is the same as mine! :-) |
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| Jan-10-11 | | dakgootje: Could make it a competition actually - a GTM per week [for instance] using the same games with the winner obviously being the one who scores best :) Although, perhaps I should just aim to beat you at one of the games - rather than overall :P |
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Jan-10-11
| | Fusilli: <dak> We can play the same games and compare scores, but I prefer this to be on an irregular basis. Believe it or not, I might not even be able to do one per week! |
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| Jan-10-11 | | dakgootje: I expected that might be a problem indeed. Moreover I sometimes change very fast in what interests me - so perhaps I might not feel like doing any GTM's for months at some point. Irregular it is :) |
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| Jan-11-11 | | dakgootje: I just random-GTM'ed into Short vs Topalov, 2000. It is a 60-something mover with a par of 122 currently, but has only been given thrice so that could easily change in either direction. Probably shall not finish it this evening, but thought I'd give you a yell if you'd want to do the same game :) |
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| Jan-11-11 | | dakgootje: Don't know whether you recognize the feeling, but with these GTM's I have a lot of "No! My move was better, you can not play that! See, that is why you could not! Now you've done it - blown our complete position. Nice job, we'll have to start all over again." In the end we win though - so I suppose their blunders don't hinder my brilliant play too much. ;) |
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Jan-11-11
| | Fusilli: <dak> Sure, I'll do that one next time I try. <"No! My move was better, you can not play that! See, that is why you could not! Now you've done it - blown our complete position. Nice job, we'll have to start all over again."> lol. No, I really don't think that way. I'm more like: "hey! If you say my move is a valid alternative, why don't you give me the 3 freaking points instead of 1!!" |
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| Jan-11-11 | | dakgootje: hahaha, ye, that raised my eyebrows as well!
Going to do other things for a bit; only at move-24! Have not played the whole time, but -still- I am terribly slow :P At 51 points currently btw, which is okay I guess. Think if I would exactly keep this pace up, I would end with something like 135 which would be.. 'good' I suppose. I've got to do better than that! |
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Jan-11-11
| | Fusilli: <dak> Ha! It's hard to keep the pace in the endgame, where only moves (e.g. obvious recaptures, which are like 3 free points) begin to disappear... (Just trying to demoralize you, so I can beat your score!) :-) |
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| Jan-11-11 | | dakgootje: you are right though - especially because I am a horrible technician. For instance, when I am a pawn up in an endgame I don't really know how to bring home the victory - so I rather just simplify even though that does increase the chances of a draw. That said, I did relatively good on the past 10 moves [24->34, were not that hard though] so I've got some points to burn ;) |
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| Jan-11-11 | | crawfb5: <dak> Being tired, I thought I would make you feel good by trying Short-Topalov. Somehow I still scored above par (137), so I was no help... |
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| Jan-11-11 | | dakgootje: hehe, that's okay craw - I would've been very surprised had you scored sub-par -- even tired! It's merely my lack of technique hindering me - as usual ;) I have given up for the evening a while ago and actually did great over the last moves. At move 24 I had 51, as mentioned, and now at move 40-to-guess (so 16 moves later) I have 96! So over those moves I scored an incredible 45 out of 48 points. But I admit I'm having a hard time with it. Actually, I don't really know how I should continue - so here is hoping I can figure it out by tomorrow :) Theoretically, I can still score a monstrous 162 though :P |
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Jan-11-11
| | Fusilli: <dak> I didn't know you can quit and continue later. Can you? Or you just stay logged on through the night? |
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| Jan-12-11 | | dakgootje: I presume you can keep the tab-page open, however I return to the game via the option 'Clear out all partially-finished games'. <DON'T> click on Yes, but simply on the game you want to continue and voila, you are back where you left off. There is normal option to go back -without risking deleting all partially-finished games if you do not pay attention- which would be much, much easier obviously. |
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| Jan-12-11 | | dakgootje: Oh wow, and the par-score went from 120 to 124 to 128! Every game I mention, the par shoots up -- I must be a wizard :D Is there a way to train your technique, as needed for instance in this endgame? I have a hard time finding plans, let alone the moves :) Perhaps playing a lot of endgames is the only solution.. that'd be a shame :P |
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| Jan-12-11 | | dakgootje: Finally done! Found it a very hard game at times - had to use a great amount of time between moves 35 and 50, and even so I dropped more points than I would've liked. Last 7 moves or so were flawless again though so still got an excellent score! :D Short vs Topalov, 2000.
YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF TOPALOV.
Your score: 152 (par = 128)
par is now 131. That only got me a 'good', actually.. Had expected a 'very good' in all honesty. Ah well, so be it :)
<EDIT>: Sorry for spamming your forum :D I did actually <finally> get a Good 'overall rating'! About time ;) |
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Jan-12-11
| | Fusilli: <dak> Your spamming is very welcome! 152 on a 128 par is only "good", uh? I wonder what formula they use to determine this. Surely it must be defined by ranges involving % points above/below par. Maybe later I'll take my own ratings to try to figure that out. I'm still with a cold. It seems to be subsiding. It snowed again last night in Nashville. The streets are covered in snow, that will become ice, with the consequent problematic driving conditions similar to the night I crashed my car. Ugh. But I am not leaving my house today. |
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Jan-12-11
 | | SwitchingQuylthulg: <dakgootje: I am a horrible technician. For instance, when I am a pawn up in an endgame I don't really know how to bring home the victory - so I rather just simplify even though that does increase the chances of a draw.> <Is there a way to train your technique, as needed for instance in this endgame? I have a hard time finding plans, let alone the moves :)> Well, I only scored 151 even though I was well ahead of your reported middlegame marks, so... ;-) You get "good" for a game >10% and <=20% above par, "very good" is >20% and <=35%, "outstanding" is anything >35%. |
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| Jan-12-11 | | dakgootje: <I'm still with a cold. > Best of luck getting better! We had a lot [perhaps 6-8 inches] of snow over here in December, but around New Year everything melted. So currently it is not all that cold and are back to the rain instead of the snow. Improvement! Still, I can not wait until summer! :D <Well, I only scored 151 even though I was well ahead of your reported middlegame marks, so... ;-)> Really?! I thought I was doing so well in the middle-game.. Although, I did miss a <lot> of, fairly easy, points in the opening. In retrospect, I 'only' scored 51 out of the first 66 points [at move 24, black made 23 moves and the first move was <pointless> :] However, I am <very> sure I used a lot more time than you did in the endgame! Also, at one point I scored a 0 on a move because my move actually threw away all the advantage by allowing a perpetual! So I probably should've gotten some minus points there :P |
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Jan-12-11
| | Fusilli: <SQ> Thanks for the info on the scoring ranges! Are you also into GTM practice? <dak> I never was a big chess book reader, but there is this little book by GM Soltis: http://www.amazon.com/Grandmaster-S.... (BTW, no idea why it is listed as so freaking expensive. I bought it maybe five years ago for a very reasonable price, probably $15, new, from a vendor at a chess tournament.) The book has a very annoying presentation style. It consists of a dialogue between a master and a student. The student asks questions such as: "I never manage to win a rook endgame with an extra pawn, and I even often lose them". So, the master shows him several examples of GM play in that type of endings, revealing principles of technique. After each forceful move, invariably, the student shows complete awe and shock ("that never occurred to me!") This is the case from the first to the last example in the book, suggesting that the student is awfully dumb, as he has made no progress whatsoever in his understanding of the game after all those lessons. However, once you tune out this permanent annoyance, I do think the examples are very, very instructive, and Soltis does a good job at explaining the problems. I did take valuable lessons out of the book, the first of which is: strategy in the endgame is so different from that of the middlegame that you have to think about it as a completely new problem. Pawns can suddendly be priceless, cutting off the enemy king is usually a wonderful thing, it usually pays off to push your pawns forward rather than trying to stop your opponents... and many other rules, all of which are, of course... relative! ...and subject to exceptions. In any event, I do recommend the book. It also has a good number of diagrams so that you can work through it without setting up the pieces, while on the subway, for example, provided you can calculate and foresee without much difficulty 4, 5 or 6 moves ahead. Hey, I just realized I should post this on the Chessbook Forum! |
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| Jan-12-11 | | crawfb5: We have a foot and a half, maybe two feet of fresh snow on the ground. The town didn't even plow my street until about 9:30AM this morning. I even called out today, as I have yet to finish shoveling. I got the walks and driveway, but the cars are still buried. I miss maybe one day or so of work a year, so <know> it's bad here. |
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