Slightly more than a little busy

Still playing a lot, these are OTB rated games too.
Getting the new baby settled into a routine.
It's been wide open at work playing catch up. (See above)
Other than that it is business as usual.
Hopefully I get a chance to post some of the happenings
in my tournament games.

Balance

I have come to a not so stunning conclusion.
The best way to improve in chess is with a balanced approach.
I certainly don’t regret spending a concentrated amount of time on tactical
study earlier this year. Nor do I regret my time spent on creating an opening
repertoire, which is still an on going process, and after my lessons with IM Predrag Trajkovic I see the importance of studying endgames.

More importantly I have learned from Predrag that chess has to be approached
as a whole. One time I asked him if there was a set amount of time required for a player in each area (Openings, middle games, endings) he replied there are no set rules and no one could answer it with complete certainty, you get better by correcting your weaknesses.
Well since I can only discover those through playing that will be my focus this coming year. Playing and putting it all together.
I didn’t play a rated game during all of 2005 and I missed it.

My plan is to set up a structured approach to reviewing my games and allowing the necessary space to work on areas that need improvement, combining that with opening study, tactical exercises, and endgames.
Honestly I could go ahead and say that I need to improve in every area of my game.

Takchess mentioned something about a book that I had long since forgotten that I owned,
“GM RAM” by Rashid Ziatdinov. I decided to reread it after some of my lessons with IM Trajkovic, since he uses a similar approach in our lessons (understanding positions) I just didn’t put the two together until I finished reading.
Basically the book is comprised of positions that the author feels are essential knowledge for becoming a better player. The author also surmises that all strong players do not look at positions and count moves like “I will play here, he will play there, etc”. Instead a strong player sees a few reasonable moves immediately, and will go from there often without considering variations.
He feels that Chess is a language and I will take the liberty of quoting him directly as not to lose anything in translation. “Most chess players learn the game in a very unscientific manner. First they learn the basic rules-how the pieces move and the basic checkmates. Later they start to learn some openings and learn some basic principles, such as the importance of proper development and control of central space. Then if they become serious, comes deeper study of the openings, and eventually, and often reluctantly, study of the endgame. This is very much analogous to learning a language by learning whole paragraphs, and only much later, if ever, bothering to learn the basic vocabulary and simple sentence structures. Eventually some proficiency can be obtained, but mastery of the language’s nuances will likely never be obtained, since the early bad habits will be hard to overcome. The highly successful Russian school of chess takes the opposite approach. Start with the endings and teaching fundamental knowledge, and then build upon this knowledge.”

The first part of his quote sounds pretty much the way I learned to play, bass-ackwards.


He also states in another section “that logic is more important than memory.”
This sentiment is echoed in Irving Chernev’s book “Logical Chess:Move by Move, and also by IM Trajkovic. Who told me at the beginning of our first lesson that good chess is about correct thinking processes, and not about opening theory.
Little did I know at the time that IM Trajkovic is teaching me how to play by showing me the rules of chess thinking and why also those seemingly trite sayings (knights before bishops, passed pawns must be pushed, etc.) are the building blocks of becoming a better player.
Now the good news, GM Rashid Ziatdinov says that learning these positions is only one part of the puzzle, and that tactical training along with some opening study is required.
(So I don’t feel like I lost anything by spending a tremendous amount of time on tactics or openings the past year.) He states a player should “study the theory of an opening only after playing it. The point is that by playing the opening you will gain first hand experience in analyzing the types of positions that can arise.”

All I have to do now is figure out how to balance correcting my weaknesses. :)

Quick Update

Like most of you I have been really busy lately. Holiday season and work always make things interesting.
Anyway I'd like to welcome a few new Knights (**********, and funkyfantom) the return of an old Knight (Salcido) and a new friend to the Knights Ilan.

Still plugging in moves but I'm really scaling back the depth for each line, and trying just to hit the main lines. This is a really involved project so I had to figure out a way to be able to start playing long games again and continue with the opening book. I think I have hit upon a happy medium, by reviewing my games I get to refine my openings and work on my "in game" thought processes.

Pruning Lines

(Creating a Master File) brought us to the foot of the mountain, now we start our ascent.
Here’s where you will have the opportunity to spend a tremendous amount of time pruning lines from your master file if you so desire.

While it’s tempting to try and be prepared for as much stuff as possible you have to draw the line somewhere. We are trying to get our books down to a size that we can use for review. You can always add a line to your book at a later date if you encounter something new from one of your opponents.

This is where reviewing your games is crucial. (A completely separate subject and one for a much later date.) Making mistakes and finding new ground are all part of the game. We just want to try and avoid making the same mistakes repeatedly.

If you have a good reference book(s) on openings you may want to keep it/them near by.
(MCO, ECO, Nunn’s, BCO, individual books on a particular opening, etc.)

For this exercise I’m going to use CB9’s “Reference Feature” to do the majority of my decision making on the lines to keep. If you don’t have CB9 you will have to search through your personal library and hope that you get all of main lines that your opponent can throw at you.

We are only going to cover the first set of Black’s possible responses after 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3
The possibilities were shown in the previous post as what to expect. Once you see how this is done you will see how easy it is to repeat the process for each of the branches.

Ok fire up the recently created Bookup file we called “E4-E5 Work”.
Crank up CB9 (Chessbase 9), open a new board.

Enter the following moves into CB9 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 hit the “Reference tab” and wait a few moments while CB9 compiles a list of games. (It will take a fair amount of time in the early lines it gets noticeably faster the deeper into each line.)
This is basically a reprint of my earlier post no need to reinvent the wheel. :)

“My database contains 286,513 games

The report tells me that Black has played the following:
2...Nc6 (237,048) 83%*
2...Nf6 (31,153) 11%
2...d6 (14,147) 5%
2...f5 (1,904) .006%
2...d5 (938) .003%
2...Qe7 (533) .001
2...Bc5 (318) .001

* These are percentages that I have added to help throw some perspective on what to expect at this point. (Times occurred divided by total games found will give you the percentage) Example 2...Nc6 237,048 divided by 286,513 = .827 or 83% rounded up.

And even more moves than I have shown, but the number of times those moves have been seen in tournament play lessens significantly the farther we get from the top of the list. Does 2...Qg5?? Really need to be prepped?”

Ok now tab over to Bookup, it will probably be easier to resize the program windows so that you can see both the “CB9 board with reference tab info” and Bookup, unless you are really good at using Alt +Tab and remembering lots of info. But around my house it is nearly impossible. Those with children understand. :)

Now when you look at the starting position of the Bookup book/file “E4-E5 Work” we created you will see some lines for White that show possible transpositions.

Example: 1 d4 & 1 Nf3
You can delete everything but 1 e4. The same goes for everything found for Black’s replies except for 1...e5.
Now do the same with White’s second moves, delete everything but 2. Nf3 this way our
Opening book will match the move order of our current CB9 board.
Now switch your attention back to our CB9 board w/reference report.
As you can see this is a ton of information to digest and it is now time to start pruning heavily.
Obviously based on the frequency of occurrence we can expect to see the following
replies from Black.

2...Nc6
2...Nf6
2...d6
Just because
2...f5
2...e5
Haven’t occurred in a lot of GM games doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have something prepped. The Latvian and Elephant Gambits do happen quite often at the club level
and since this is our present fishbowl we might as well keep them in the mix.

So now I arrange and trim my “E4-E5 Work” file to match the report generated by CB9,
keeping just those 5 Black responses. I use the (Alt + U) to arrange the candidates in the same order as they appear in the CB9 reports. Make sure you set CB9 to prioritize the moves by number of times played. Simply click on the “Games” sub tab to make this happen.

Now in the CB9 “Ref Tab” selecting the top candidate (based on highest frequency) I click on 2...Nc6 and wait while it generates a new report.
It now gives me a long list of moves played by White.

I’m only interested in 3.Bc4 [The Italian or Guioco Piano (Pianissimo)], so I click on that move in the “Ref Tab”. While I’m waiting for a new report to be generated I toggle over to BU (Bookup “E4-E5 Work”) click on the move 2...Nc6, then I proceed to delete all of White’s 3^rd moves except 3.Bc4.

Once this is done I tab back over to CB9 and see what goodies Black has in store for us.
This is where it starts to get interesting. Black has a variety of very solid responses with a veritable who’s who of GM supporters for each one of the moves played.

We could spend hours at this point trying to decide what to keep and what to toss.
Fish or cut bait?
Keep all of the moves played above a certain ELO?
Pick a hypothetical number of lines?
Calculate the frequency played percentages?

All of this depends on you and how much time you are willing to invest.
I’m after main lines, since I’m using CB9 in this case as my primary guide. I pretty much have to look at each group of responses independently and truncate the lines once I establish a noticeable drop in frequency of occurrence. It’s either do it this way or spend a lot of time searching through other resources.

Like I said earlier you can always add lines at a later date if you face something new.
Our mission is to create an operational opening book that allows us to practice our new found knowledge. We aren’t trying to become a theoretical expert on any particular opening. We are striving for solid lines that allow us to direct matters into areas we understand.

For the sake of brevity I keep the top 4 responses for Black, and adjust my BU file accordingly.
3...Bc5
3...Nf6
3...Be7
3...d6

I now click on the move 3...Bc5 in CB and allow it to proceed with a new report, while waiting I make that same selection on my BU board.

White’s 4^th Move

Here is where knowing what you want to play saves you a lot of time.

Since I’m creating this book from White’s perspective I only want one move in my BU file in any of my openings. (Why add extra burden and additional study time, just having to worry about Black is enough work already.)

I know that I want to continue with 4.c3. So I click on that move in CB and while I’m waiting for the next report to finish I return to BU to trim away all moves except 4.c3 as White.

So far in this line we have played the following moves.

1 e4 e5
2 Nf3 Nc6
3 Bc4 Bc5
4 c3

Black’s 4^th Moves

Now there is a considerable drop in the diversity of responses from Black.
I’m prepping for the following:
4...Nf6
4...d7-d6

Continuing with my trend I update my BU file to match this move order, and select 4...Nf6 in CB to generate a new report.
In case you haven’t figured it out by now at some point we will have to return to
cover the other branches. By making these adjustments now I save time when I come back through here again.
It also makes it easier to take the highest move in the first pass, work through it until we hit a certain depth. Then back up one ply to solve each of the sub-variations.

White’s 5^th Move

5. d4
Once again I enter this move into CB9 first and trim lines out of BU while I wait for a new report. (It doesn’t take long for a new report to be generated once you get past move 3.)

I think you begin to get the idea, nothing fancy just a lot of work.

The main trick is to remember where you stopped, usually once I complete a line I will mark it in Bookup with a red, green, and yellow color code that I can later go back and remove under the commands option.

The other trick is to decide how far to take these lines. It all depends on your opponents
and the particular opening you are researching. You can always go further with your knowledge, because these opening books are something you can keep and modify.

Hope this has been helpful!
If you have any tips or suggestions please don't hesitate to add them here.

Creating a Master File

Okay enough procrastination on my part...

This is more along the lines of a how-to manual instead of my regular drivel. So I guess this should be filed under “How-to Drivel” or something equally impressive.

If someone happens to have a suggestion/short-cut/alternate route/or much needed improvement please don’t hesitate to post it here. The Knights are about feed-back and shared ideas. I promise I won’t take it personally.

Creating an opening book is really easy if you know what kind of positions you like to play. The hard part is doing enough research to have an understanding about which openings lead to said positions. But then again the best way to find out what you like is to play through the openings. You also have to decide whether or not you plan on playing the mainlines or do you plan to play systems in an attempt to reduce study time. There are pros and cons to both methods and I’m not even going to set foot in that territory.

Ok, with any cook book you need a list of ingredients:

(I’m using the following, but there are a variety of programs that could be substituted to achieve roughly the same results.)

Programs
Chessbase 9 (CB9)
Bookup 2000 Pro [Build 25] (BU)
Fritz 8 (F8)

Reference Material
Encyclopedia of Chess Openings A-E (ECO)

Reconnaissance and “Rough Draft”
As White I play 1. e4, of course after pushing my King’s pawn two squares forward
my opponent gets his/her say in the matter so I want to try and be prepared as much as I can.
Since I don’t know who my opponent is and what they might play I now start with the first of a seemingly long list of possibilities.
For this example I’m only worried about 1...e5
I meet 1...e5 with 2. Nf3. Using the ECO index I know that 1.e4,e5 falls under the C grouping. I’m not worried about possible transpositions at this point, I’m after information. So I fire up CB9, open a new board, and enter the previous moves then I hit the reference tab. This is when the fun begins, CB9 proceeds to scan the database that I have chosen to be used as my main source of information. (I’m using Megabase 2005, since it contains the most games and strongest players.) After a brief moment or two (depending on your computer speed) CB9 starts giving me a report of what I can expect to see as Black’s second move in order of frequency played.
The reason I use the “reference tab” as opposed to an “opening report” is because the “reference tab” will find transpositions and is faster for the needs of my rough draft.
If I want more detail I can do an “opening report”.
My database reports 286,513 games are found with this position. Notice I didn’t say move order because the position could in theory be reached by several move orders.
(1.Nf3, e5 2. e4), (1.Nf3,e6 2.e3,e5 3.e4), etc. [I just threw this tidbit in now because it is easier to explain transpositions with a simple example than trying to show something 6 moves deep. Now forget that I mentioned transpositions, and that we are looking for a list of Black’s second possibilities. :)]

The report tells me that Black has played the following:
2...Nc6 (237,048) 83%*
2...Nf6 (31,153) 11%
2...d6 (14,147) 5%
2...f5 (1,904) .006%
2...d5 (938) .003%
2...Qe7 (533) .001
2...Bc5 (318) .001

{* These are percentages that I have added to help throw some perspective on what to expect at this point.}

And even more moves than I have shown, but the number of times those moves have been seen in tournament play lessens significantly the farther we get from the top of the list. Does 2...Qg5?? Really need to be prepped?
Since I want to get through with this sometime before the turn of the next century
I need to establish some guidelines on as to how far I’m willing to prepare.
Where do I draw the line? That’s a tough one to answer, because the variations will continue to fluctuate along with the frequency. So it is at this point that I reach for my ECO for a little additional guidance. (I would probably skip the first step and just head straight to the ECO if it weren’t for the fact that some of the data in the ECO assumes you have the previous editions.)

Since the first five have the highest occurrence percentages I will start with them.
1.e4, e5 2.Nf3, Nc6 is shown as group C4. Turning to the C4 chapter gives
me a list of 10 diagrams that are numbered in succession C40-C49.
Here is where knowing what openings you want to play helps, and if you don’t know
this is a great place to gain some exposure.

C40 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
C41 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6
C42 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6
C43 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4
C44 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
C45 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed4 4.Nd4
C46 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3
C47 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6
C48 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5
C49 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bb4

The only codes that apply to me at the moment are C40, C41, C42
C40 covers all of the offbeat responses such as the Latvian, and Elephant Gambits.
C41 covers the Philidor lines.
C42 covers the Russian/Petroff Classical lines

The rest head into lines that I don’t happen to play at this moment, such as the Two Knights defense, and the Scotch.
All five of Black responses have been addressed except that I don’t see my response to 2...Nc6 in this group.
I meet 2...Nc6 with 3.Bc4. It must be in another set of ECO codes (C5 Group), so back to the book repeating the above process. Fortunately since I am trying to head into Guioco Piano
waters I get to eliminate ten tons of theory by avoiding the vast expanse known as the land of the Ruy Lopez. [Thank You Predrag! :)]
(I could also find each of the ECO codes using CB9 by selecting Tools/Opening Classification. I would have to scroll through each of the move orders, which would take some additional time. The advantage would be that is gives me the name of the general defense. There are plenty of on-line resources that list the moves with the related names
in great detail just do a search on “Openings classified by ECO code”. I usually just grab the code first and eventually the name.)
Now I know what ECO codes I can use to find or filter games.
Whether I create the files myself with CB9 or just download the games it really doesn’t matter. The main thing is that I want them in .pgn format because they are ultimately headed into a soon to be created Bookup file/book.
So now I gather all of the .pgn games I can find for each of the necessary ECO codes.

It’s not really important to have the most recent games or the strongest players for this part of the book building. All I’m really after is a lot of variations to create a master file for 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 ... It is faster to prune lines out of an opening book than it is to add them. I learned this the hard way.

Now I fire up Bookup 2000 Pro and create a new Book called “E4-E5 Master”, you could call it anything you wish, it doesn’t really matter as long as you can keep track of it.

Select PGN/Import Games/ ->select the .pgn file. ->Reduce the number of plies to import
Down to 24 (12 moves deep, is plenty for my level of play.) De-select Highlight novelties->Click Ok and repeat the process for each of the needed .pgn files.

Once this accomplished there are just a few steps remaining before I can say that I’m finished with the Master file. Commands/Select “Clear Assessments”->Ok. This strips any numerical assessments from all of the positions in the book. (This may or may not be necessary, but I do it anyway.)

Now back to Commands/Select “Clear Rate Symbols”->Ok. This is necessary to clear the stray evaluations, and give you a clean slate. While doing the previous two steps you will have plenty of time to grab a beverage or a snack between commands.

You will want to back-up your newly created “Master” file. I just create a sub-folder for each master and copy the Bookup files into it. Just be sure that you get all of the files for each “Book” because Bookup uses a multitude a files.

After making a back-up Book of the “E4-E5 Master” as a safety check I would close out of all of the new “Books” and then reopen them one at a time to make sure they function properly. After they check out close the “Back-Up Master” and now rename the Book something like “E4-E5 Work”.

Finally... if you have managed to make it this far give yourself a pat on the back because that was a lot of work, and we have only reached the foot of the mountain.

We will start pruning lines in our next installment.

Opening Approach on Hold

Sorry for the long delay, I'm caught in the middle of revising my approach.
(Not the tools that I use, just some of my opening selections that I had chosen to play.
I will expand some more on the features that Jim mentioned us using while reviewing some of his games.)
BTW This is a work in progress. :)
I reserve the right to modify or make adjustments anytime I find something faster and more efficient. This holds true for things I discover on my own, or stuff that is pointed out to me by those who happen to know.

I have started taking lessons from IM Predrag Trajkovic. I wasn't in the market for a chess teacher it just kind of happened.
One day while watching the FIDE World Championship matches on ICC. [I actually think FIDE got it right this time, with the double-round robin format. Now whether or not they follow through with anything remains to be seen. P.S. Congratulations to GM Topalov on his outstanding performance, the word amazing is an understatement. 6 wins, 0 losses, 10/14 points]
There was an announcement made about an open lesson from an IM, and all interested parties were welcome to watch. I had a few moments to spend before I had to head out for dinner with my wife so I decided to drop by and check out the lesson.
It turned out to be one of the most instructive events that I have witnessed. IM Trajkovic had a seemingly equal position setup on the board. He then asked for opinions on how to proceed from the given position. He then played through the suggestions move by move covering the pros and cons of each of the suggested ideas. You learned why the idea might not be as good as some of the kibitzers had hoped, by his solid explanations. He didn't slam the door on any of the audience’s ideas, or act like any suggestion wasn’t worth covering. (Like I have seen some Titled players do in the past.) He then proceeded to explain the best method to exploit the slightest of all weakness. It was something that a tactically minded individual such as yours truly would have never found in a million years. Had I encountered that position OTB, I would still be there trying to use dynamite when something as simple as pouring water would be enough to win. Unfortunately I had to take off for dinner before the lesson ended but I had seen enough from Predrag to be impressed with him as a teacher.

So much in fact that I decided to do my own research and check into the feedback reports left by his students, apparently the lesson I witnessed was just his standard approach to teaching, informative and straight to the point. So I decided to ask him about providing lessons for me. He had me email him some of my games to get a feel of where I was strength wise a few days prior to the lesson. During the lesson we started with some endgame basics which I thought I knew cold, but didn’t. He then explained the key themes in such a manner that I do know them now. More importantly I know them at a glance without have to waste anytime calculating line after line of move orders. He simplified the positions into their absolute basic elements. It feels like a load has been lifted when I think about those types of positions.

Now that I’m back from my mini-vacation I can hardly wait for the next lesson to begin!

All of those interested in finding a really great teacher should ask him about lessons.

His handle on ICC is PTrajkovic.

PS You can’t beat his rates!

Opening Approach (Part 2)

Sorry about the delay, been kind of busy as of late, still steadily working on my opening book though.

Source materials for the compilation, I'm not following any one person’s opening book. I’m using several sources, it could be from opening books on a particular line that I play or using any or all of the following, ECO (Encyclopedia of Chess Openings), MCO (Modern Chess Openings), NCO (Nunn's Chess Openings), BCO (Batsford Chess Openings), and last and certainly not least. The item I feel is the single most important component in the arsenal of any aspiring chess player, a database program. I own, love, and swear by my Chessbase 9. (Matter of fact here recently it is what I have been using the most.)

To me it is worth its weight in gold. If I had to pick between having access to a library that had every chess book ever printed or using Chessbase, I would choose Chessbase.

Most of the opening books that you see on the market are nothing more than a collection of games with very little if any original ideas, with just some text thrown in for good measure.

The “Opening Report” feature in Chessbase will do the same thing those books do and more.

Enter in a series of moves from a particular opening that you are interested in learning, “Right-Click” on the board, select “Opening Report” then stand back because it will give you more information than you can imagine.

Chessbase spits out the following, all of course reflecting the database selected. (You can use anything you want as a reference database, from correspondence games, entire games collections, your own particular games, Internet (Log file) games, whatever you happen to have or decide to create.)

It gives me the following information, along with the number of games found.

1) A brief history of when it was first played, by whom, latest GM game, and latest game. It also shows a graph Number of games/Years played.

2) A list of “Strong GMs and Notable Players” that used this line, and their win/loss records.

3) The Statistics, performance levels, percentage of White wins, draws, Black wins and the average length of each.

4) Moves and plans.

That was just one small example. (Chessbase does tons more, do a web search for Steve Lopez’s Chessbase articles to get a way better example.)

The amount of time it saves me is incredible, not to mention you can easily pop open Fritz or some other GM strength chess engine and review positions, games, etc.

I couldn’t afford to purchase, let alone store the amount of opening books Chessbase replaces. It would take me months of time, a full time research team and a stack of “Chess Informants” to cover all of the games CB finds with a few quick clicks of the mouse.

End of Part 2.

(Next installment I will actually get to my silly approach.)

Opening Approach (Part 1)

JavaManIssa left the following comment to my last post.

"How are you going through the opening book? It's not good to memorize lines, understanding key ideas behind openings is what should be done. In the end not only will you have memorized the mainlines (without trying..) you'd also be able to go out of the book and still be fine! :)"

While I appreciate his concern I guess I should clarify my approach to opening study.

I never have once planned on or believed that “memorizing lines” is the key to successful chess, chess doesn’t work this way. What opening preparation does if approached correctly is give you insight into why moves are played. Study enough openings and you will come to the same realization I had.
{Even now J’adoube is paying good money to learn what I told him for free. [grin]
1) Screw CT-Art and start studying mating patterns.
2) Chess playing is about piece activity.
Seriously Jim I was really glad to read that Dan was stressing those points, it made me feel like I wasn’t off the mark with my own approach to gaining the most benefit in my training. Especially since I was one of the first Knighted de la Mazan’s to scrap the “sacred” approach. }

What I do believe is that opening preparation will solidify my understanding of developing with a plan. It will provide me with a frame work of moves that I can play without hesitation until my opponent branches into unfamiliar territory. Thereby saving precious time on my clock that can be used in other areas, I would rather enter into an equal middle game position, but with more time than my opponent any day.
Ideally chess should flow seamlessly from one phase to the next. Before I can say I have “learned” an opening, I have to understand the themes involved. What are the key squares, which minor pieces thrive in this pawn structure, any long term weaknesses and strengths, is maintaining pressure critical to my or my opponent’s success? What long term plan was used successfully in the past? Why was it successful?
I'm not saying I can do all of those things yet, but it is something I'm working toward.
End of Part 1.

Internet Jones

Glad to report that everything is intact after a recent visit from the lovely Hurricane Ophelia.
The area was very fortunate to have escaped with just lots of wind, rain, and relatively light damage.

I did have my internet knocked out until today from a chance meeting of a wayward pecan tree and a 20,000 volt power line. Minor stuff in the grand scheme of things.

Still slogging through the opening repertoire book.

Fall Cleaning

Went through my links and moved some folks to the M.I.A. spot due to either 404 or inactivity.
Added a few new players to the list of Knights Errant, Smith-Morra, Phorku, and DutchDefence, Welcome to family, and have fun!
I even played around with some font and color settings trying to make things easier to see. The color changes will probably continue to happen until I find a nice even balance.


My opening training is paying off in unexpected ways. Even in openings that I haven't studied I'm beginning to find myself reaching favorable positions on a more frequent basis. I seem to have lost that tendency to saddle myself with structural weaknesses and inactive pieces. At the club this past Thursday I would even go as far as saying that I played my best "positional" games ever.
There weren't any tactical fireworks, because my opponent tried his best to play openings that are about as exciting as watching paint dry, which is his usual approach during our games. He tries to keep things as quiet as possible and I normally try to drag him into the deep end of the tactics pool. I'm always joking with him telling him that he would rather push a pawn than mate someone. Typically I try to blow things apart, but this time I decided to give him all the rope he wanted. I allowed him to over extend his position, all the while maneuvering my pieces into locations that allowed me create multiple attack points simply by shifting threats until his pieces literally tripped over each other. As soon as they stumbled I would pounce and win a key pawn and grind him off the board. Honestly it was as satisfying if not more so than crushing someone tactically.

Slogging along

Not much to report, still working on my opening repertoire. I should complete it around the year 2055 at the rate I'm going.
I guess I'm going to have to create a schedule and stick to it. 45 minutes a day or something.
I need some cheese for my whine. :)

Cool DVD

I recently picked up "Game Over:Kasparov and the Machine", way cool movie.
All I can say other than watch it, is that IBM and its team of experts (Joel Benjamin) included
are pretty much lying sacks of $#!% unless they can come up with the log files that prove that the move 26. f4 in Game Two was played by anyone other than a GM.
After watching the movie I no longer think Kasparov was just sour over his loss, as I kind of did before. If IBM didn't manipulate the move selection why hide the files? The match is long since over, and Deep Blue dismantled. Prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that your machine alone bested Kasparov.
As a test I ran the position through every computer I could find old and new and not one of the following: Fritz 5.32, Fritz 6, Fritz 8, Junior 9, Crafty 18.07, Crafty 19.01, Chess Tiger 14.0, Gambit Tiger 2.0, Comet B27, and Comet B50 even glanced at the move.

Things that make you say hmmm.

If they ever release the log files I will then edit this post. :)

Cease Fire, Truce, Timeout...

I'm just kind of firing this off the top of my head, so if I step on any toes, or bruise any egos it is completely unintentional. Trust me, if I were speaking directly to anyone. The individual(s) would know it.

I generally like to observe the goings on and interaction between the Knights and our friends. This is my refuge and release, a place to relax and read about the trials, tribulations, and successes of other like minded souls. It has served on more than one occasion as a lift for the spirits of those weary travelers plodding Caissa’s path.
It has always been light hearted and positive in the past.

Recently things have slowly started to take a turn towards a direction that I personally don't like, nor care to see appear on our friendly pages. The writing is on the wall. I'm here to erase it.

I am tremendously proud of this group. Never before has a community of chess players existed where everyone was helpful to those around them. Regardless of skill, experience, age, nationality, race, religion, all are welcome. Our Grail so to speak? The quest for chess improvement. Those seeking such improvement are always welcome no matter what methods they employ.

We have never established any set standard of rules or any criteria for joining other than a friendly introduction. There was never any conscious or premeditated plan. What started as two has grown into the ever expanding family we have today. We exist simply because we have unknowingly held ourselves to the highest standard.

Servitude.

In doing this we have not only improved our skills as chess players, but even more importantly as people.

Let us all try to take a moment and remember what brought us here.

Openings

Not much going on, still logging moves into my opening database.
It is way too much fun... I'm kidding of course.

Long slow process

I have just about completed one opening for White, only 7 or so more to go.

Post Cycle Update

I have actually been really busy since completing the Cycles. My focus has been solidifying my opening repertoire and creating my "playbook" so to speak. At first it seemed overwhelming, with so many lines and sub-variations then it dawned on me, it was sitting there the whole time in full view.
The single most important thing that I noticed while studying the various lines and inputting moves is the common thread all the time tested openings share. It doesn't matter whether I'm looking at King's Gambit lines or Nimzo-Indian lines it is all the same. The thread you ask? Piece activity/development with a plan, plain and simple. Increase your piece activity while making moves to limit your opponents. I have yet to see an opening that helps the opponent develop.

The moves are what they are because they have to be, a response to maintaining a balance. Give and take.

There comes a point when I'm inputting the moves where I have to truncate the lines. Realistically unless I'm playing a particularly sharp line where the theory is so well known that move 10 is the starting point (for example certain variations in the Sicilian Dragon) what’s the point of taking something out to move 25? At my level of play my opponents will most certainly deviate long before then, so why waste time. My plan at the moment is to memorize lines up to the point where all of my pieces are developed, learn the relevant themes involved of each opening concerned and try to steer the game down paths where I have some sort of strategic clue. To do this I will have to play through the games of the greats plain and simple. It all comes back to the pattern recognition. Openings are patterns to get you through the mine field, and middle game planning involves the strategic patterns. Knowledge of past master games is the way to learn what constitutes an advantage and how to capitalize on said advantage. Endgames are where you bring home the bacon. An advantage is useless if you can't capitalize on it.
I plan on absorbing/studying some endgame technique while playing through the master games.

"Mission Accomplished", and who turned on the light?

Late last night kind of by accident I decided to go ahead and tackle the final Cycle which was the "final review" of all 1,000 problems. If I had given it any real thought I would have waited until sometime today when I was rested and relaxed before attempting the final lap. But the real test of whether you know something or not is how well you perform while being exhausted.
Since I'm recovering from a wonderful summer cold and was already sleep deprived, last night at the time seemed like a good idea.

I am really happy with the results. It took me less than 3 hours to cover all 1,000 problems. What I am even more pleased with is the pattern recognition. It seems as if I have increased my own little stock pile of mating patterns that I can call up at a glance, which is really nice. During the review I noticed my focus was on the proximity and classification of my pieces in relationship to the enemy king and not trying to recall the exact answer. I would see a familiar set-up and then I would check the correct move order. Basically I would identify the possible theme(s) available and then go from there. All in all it was pretty easy, no muss, and no fuss just clean efficient regicide.

I wasn’t sure what to expect until I had completed the final cycle. I didn’t know if I would have to relearn/resolve the problems from scratch or if I would just remember the answers. Finding out that I was primarily recalling typical patterns is nice to know.

So now seeing the benefit of just learning simple mating patterns is making me realize how important pattern training really is to becoming a better player. Of course developing calculation muscle is equally important along with a host of other ideas and I don’t plan to neglect those either. But until now I had never really thought of chess in this particular light.

Whether it is the opening, middlegame, endgame, or even particular strategies it is the patterns that we know and understand that influence our decision making. I really think up to this point I have seriously neglected the importance of keeping things simple.

I couldn’t see the forest for all of the trees.

I plan on changing that.

Totals
Cycle 1-Completed. Points Reached 1838/1842=99.78%
Cycle 2-Completed. Points reached 2052/2052=100%
Cycle 3-Completed. Points Reached 3624/3648=99.34%
Cycle 4-Completed. Points Reached 3640/3660=99.45%
Cycle 5-Completed. Points Reached 3582/3600=99.50%
Cycle 6-Completed. Points Reached 3582/3600=99.50%
Cycle 7-Completed. Points Reached 4404/4428=99.46%
Cycle 8-Completed. Points Reached 5355/5400=99.17%
Cycle 9-Completed. Points Reached 5364/5400=99.33%
Cycle 10-Completed. Points Reached 5346/5400=99.00%
Cycle 11-Completed. 988 problems correct out of 1000=98.80%

7,000 down-0 remaining
141 Days down 0 to go

Cycle 9 Complete

Couldn't help myself, got on a roll and just went with it.
Getting ready to do the same thing to Cycle 10.
Then the final review all 1000 problems of the course material. Just to see how well I remember what I have hopefully learned.

I cannot wait to "graduate" from the Cycles/Circles and this particular part of the tactical training.
Roughly I figure up to this point I have completed at least 9,000+ tactical exercises with another 1,600 yet to go. This of course includes the 3,500 or so that I did with CT-Art until I could no longer stand the percentage of error filled problems that are inherent to the program and I decided to switch course material.
It doesn't include the number problems that I revisited or practiced over and over again until I had the pattern etched into my memory.

Cycle 10- 0 Down 600 to go.

Totals
Cycle 1-Completed. Points Reached 1838/1842=99.78%
Cycle 2-Completed. Points reached 2052/2052=100%
Cycle 3-Completed. Points Reached 3624/3648=99.34%
Cycle 4-Completed. Points Reached 3640/3660=99.45%
Cycle 5-Completed. Points Reached 3582/3600=99.50%
Cycle 6-Completed. Points Reached 3582/3600=99.50%
Cycle 7-Completed. Points Reached 4404/4428=99.46%
Cycle 8-Completed. Points Reached 5355/5400=99.17%
Cycle 9-Completed. Points Reached 5364/5400=99.33%
5,400 down-1,600 remaining
126 Days down 15 to go

Cycle 8 Complete

Running a little bit behind on this cycle, probably would have finished sooner if it hadn't been for Mousetrapper's latest find.

The Chess Tactics Server

Which is the equivalent of electronic crack. So be warned all who dare enter.

Hopefully I will get a good jump on this next set of problems over this long holiday weekend.
I want to get started on my next project which is entering moves into the Chess Position Trainer. That is going to take a serious amount of effort, but it will be well worth it.

Welcome our new group of Knights. Zeon, Silver Dragon, Dread Pirate Josh, and Ed G.

Cycle 9- 0 Down 600 to go.

Totals
Cycle 1-Completed. Points Reached 1838/1842=99.78%
Cycle 2-Completed. Points reached 2052/2052=100%
Cycle 3-Completed. Points Reached 3624/3648=99.34%
Cycle 4-Completed. Points Reached 3640/3660=99.45%
Cycle 5-Completed. Points Reached 3582/3600=99.50%
Cycle 6-Completed. Points Reached 3582/3600=99.50%
Cycle 7-Completed. Points Reached 4404/4428=99.46%
Cycle 8-Completed. Points Reached 5355/5400=99.17%
4,800 down-2,200 remaining
112 Days down 29 to go

Still Going...

Just a quick blurb, don't want anyone to think that I caught the sniffles. :)
Work has picked back up, plus I'm in the midst of trying to learn some new software that will hopefully make the design process a little easier. It cuts out a ton of the tedious functions that I used to do by hand. Plus anytime in the past someone made a change I’d have to restart from scratch, looks like that is quickly coming to an end.

Still slogging through the Cycles...