Your name came up in a conversation I was having with <Eyal> recently.

We are both examining <Fischer games> at present and agreeing that we wished all his tournaments were in <games collections> with the games in the right order,

He has dug up <Curacao 1962> which I'm now starting to go through. <Fischer> lost both games in the first two rounds!

I recently went through <Bled 1959>-- it took me almost 2 months.

I'm not till JAN 10, however.

<Stony>: Heh

<MannBee> THANKS SO MUCH FOR TELLING THE SECRET.

FOR AGES I'VE THOUGHT THAT THERE IS A "CAP" ON THE CAPLOCK THING- AND I YELL SO MUCH I JUST ASSUMED THAT WHEN YOU YELL A LOT IT AUTOMATCIALLY TURNS OFF THE CAPLOCKS.

NOT SO!

YOU REALIZE YOU'VE JUST CREATED A MONSTER?

REGARDS,
JESSICA YELLING ALLA TIME FROM NOW ON

IT WORKS, DR. FRANKENSTIEN!

Heh my third win ever over a 2000+ Yahoo player after a very tough week of getting pounded silly against overly-tough opposition

<Jessica> (1802) V. <Guy Who typed "You'll need it" right after I typed "good luck" at the start> (2015)

Yahoo (2 hours each time control)

1.e4 d6
2.d4 e6

<Fine with me give me all the space you want buddy>

3.c4 Nd7
4.Nc3 a6

<Aha! a rattish hedgehog setup So I have to Prove my center is “real”- not a sitting duck>

5. g3? Be7

<trying out a new idea- Fischer did this sometimes- fianchettoing LSB even though it could easily end up biting on the e4 pawn for ages- Since he’s giving me so much space and time I’m going for a “super solid setup.” No doubt Nf3 is better but I want to try something different>

6.Bg2 c6

<My Shredder is going nuts calling for Black to make a pawn break in the center for the last three moves>

7.Nge2 Nf6

<I’m already imagining an early f4—King safety will be an issue for me but I don’t care—if he’s going to give me space and time I’m going to attack>

8.0-0 0-0

<I know he’s going to play e5 to try to lock in my bishop—But when <Fischer> made a similar set-up with the White pieces he was deliberately angling to self-create an isolated pawn and open up the f-file. I can see now that It’s actually better for me to play f4 on move 7 or 8—easier for my game, anyways.>

9.h3? e5

<It’s here that I start going wrong—I have two plans which don’t work together. Idea here is to vacate the h2 square and put my King there, put a rook on g1, attack Kingside- but soon my pieces lose co-ordination. Shredder is yelling at Black to attack Queenside and says Black is better after 9…c5? Who am I to argue…>

10.dxe5 dxe5
11.Kh2??? <DOH!> Nb6

<carrying out my “plan” and Shreddy is having a heart attack telling Black to play 11…b5 here-but BIG DEAL if he does anyway White may not be better but she’s no worse either. It’s early days still-- BUT my brilliant 11.Kh2 turned out, predictably, to be a big fat bonehead "ploy">

12.b3 Qc7

<Shreddy wants me to swap Queens here with a dead even Eval—forget that!! Let HIM trade Queens. Nobody tells ME what to do! I have big honking plans to bust up his Kingside. Now, if he swaps Queens it just hands me control of the d-file for free>

13.Bg5? Rd1

<Shreddy wants me to play Be3 here with equality but screw that I have ideas. I’m trying to tempt him to play h6 so my DSB can have the h6 square for a target>

14.Qc1 Be6

<I actually was calculating for all of this since I opened the d-file for a potential Queen swap. I’m hoping for him to play h6 but he keeps refusing…>

<Shredder told Black to play Nbd7 here- maybe recognizing White has some potential threats Kingside, and to free up the Black b-pawn to go to b5—but a human is not likely to admit his Knight went to the wrong square. Particularly when he’s playing a gal 200 points lower than him.>

At any rate, this is not a GM game but neither side has <blundered yet> and here we are, White to move:

click for larger view

15.f4?! h6

<heh- my “original plan” to copy my dim remembering of a <Fischer game>-- offering to give MYSELF an isolated e-pawn in exchange for some dynamic Kingside action and the chance to liberate my LSB with a timely e5… Plus he FINALLY plays h6!! I was so excited here I forced myself to get up and wash my face before “calculating” further...

Before I played f4 here I had already calculated that h6 doesn’t trap my DSB since I can always trade it off for the Knight—but I’ve had my HEART SET ON SACCING my DSB on h6 from the moment he castled Kingside>

16.Bh4?? exf4

<He took about 1 second to play 16…exf4 which is also what Shredder DEMANDS but it’s still “all part of the plan”. Shredder says I can recapture 17.Qxf4 and White is not in any real trouble, but I’M LOOKING FOR TROUBLE HERE… dagnabbit>

17.Nxf4?! g5

<Finally! The whole plan/calculation here was to tempt g5 “winning a piece” for Black, but at a cost- Insane complications and I get to chase his King. Shredder sees the danger for Black playing g5 here and counsels 11…Bc8 with Black up “half a pawn…” An Eval probably based on my isolani but what’s half a pawn to the BLOODY MIDLANDS BANK??. Plus he “went for it.” My temptation…>

18.Nxe6 fxe6
19,Bxg5 hxg5?

click for larger view

<I’m having a heart attack here but it’s me who wanted the insanity. We BOTH missed Black’s “in between move” of 19…Ng4+…. If Black had found it the position simplifies with an edge to Black, but probably not a decisive or “winning edge.” Even if he had found 10…Ng4+ I would have played on as ferociously as I could. You know he could have played Ng4+ even earlier with advantage—I think putting my King on h2 was a wasted tempo and kind of a retarded idea—It didn’t help my attack or my “plan” but it DID allow him to have the Ng4+ tension in the air from move 11 onwards. But Hey he didn’t see it. And I punished him for it.>

20.Qxg5+! Kf2

<Well I don’t need any Shredder to tell me that 19…hxg5 was a big mistake. After move 20 I have sacked my DSB but his king is naked as a Jaybird and White has a BIG EDGE. It’s White’s game to lose now.>

21. e5

<And he’s had enough I WIN!! Heh. No defence after 21.e5…. If 21…Rh8 simply 22.exf6, and if 21…Rg8? Then 22.Rxg6+ WHAMMO and it’s over very quickly.>

Heh the whole shenanigan came down to one thing in the end—My King was idiotically misplaced on h2-- BUT (everyone I know has a "big but")-- he succumbed to my game-long temptation to hand him my DSB in exchange for stripping his King's pawns—

AND- FINALLY, and crucially, he missed his saving “in between check” Ng5+, which is the MAIN REASON I won.

I had a sense I was misplaying the opening right after 5.g3? but sometimes you gotta try new stuff.

<I really HATE putting my Engine on my games—win or lose it’s torture. But my Engine says that I didn’t <Blunder outright losing on the spot>= and at this stage of my “chess career” that’s all the “encouragement” I need from my pal, the Shredder.>

<Arooo He <<<underestimated>>> me and missed his saving move and I CLOBBERED HIM GOOD.

I agree that 11...b5 did not look as such a big deal, although 11...Nb6 was certainly worse. "A knight on b6 is always bad" - Tarrasch.

I would have preferred f4 earlier, on move 13, for example. The potential space gain / pawn storm on the K side is easily worth the relatively cheap price of an isolated e pawn. (In some scenarios you might even recapture with the g pawn, to avoid isolating the e pawn.)

13. Bg5 looked a bit aimless, although it turned out well here.

After 15...h6 I would consider 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. f5 followed by moves like g4, Qe1, Qg3, h4, g5. There may be some flaw to this plan but I am too feverish to analyze further.

So I changed my profile today!!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, you know what it means to me.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Heh. I say it all the time to <Wilson>, who I now only call <McLovin> in honor of the hilarious comedy <Superbad>.

I didn't know you were an aging black female Rhythm and Blues singer.

So who is that "guy" in the photos of you in your forum?

Did you hire him?

The time control is 7days/move, but even THAT is blitz to me, cause the position is absolutely crazy. Complicated. Not tactically complicated, but strategically. Even 7 days is not enough time for me to figure everything out statisfactorily.

Is it alright to post my games I play in this forum, for all of you guys to analyse? Hope I'm not polluting this forum by posting ugly games, hehehehe :) :) :) :) :)

Also, how can I use a chess engine to help me? What is the proper way to use them, and how should we NOT use them?

So here is my study plan that I've made up.

1) Get my hands on Winning Chess Tactics, Strategy, Endgames, Combinations and Openings, and also on Lazlo Polgar's tactics books.

2) Go through all of them carefully.

3) Go through 1 game a week between players of great strength differences (like GM vs IM or FM vs Expert), using the "pretend play" method by Jess. Also occasionally go for a Capablanca game.

4) Go through <kingscrusher>'s vids when I feel like it (I think they're too advanced for me, yet, so it might not be suited for serious study <yet>)

5) Go to <achieve> and <notyetagm>s forum everyday for problems and advice.

6) Analyse my own games, on this forum if I have permission. Also bite my tongue, shelve my pride and let it gather dust, and analyse my LOSSES. Play less games and analyse more.

7) Play a teaching CC game with <Eyal> when I'm strong enough to deserve it.