Play, review, and play some more!

Yes I have been slack when it comes to updating my blogs, I will admit it. :)
But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy with chess, or not reading the other Knights' blogs.(Congratulations to J'Adoube, BDK, and Temposchlucker on their recent tournament participation!) Over the past few months I have been working on learning the openings with the method I mentioned way back in “Minimalist Openings or the “Sketch Pad Approach” “.

Initially it was painful, but I imagine anytime you attempt to change horses’ midstream you are bound to get wet.

Some of the minor setbacks included:
A) Complete negligence as to what my opponent’s pieces were attacking. (Don’t worry BDK mental faux pas occur at every level.) This is mainly because of what I feel chiefly to be a lack of pattern recognition involving the new structures, I repeatedly caught myself focusing/daydreaming more on my piece placement than what my opponent’s possibilities held. Normally I woke up from my nap after my opponent slapped me upside the head with a move I didn’t even consider once!
B) Encountering a sense of “What in the heck is my main objective in this position?” This usually appeared when my opponent played something outside my limited knowledge of a given opening. (I imagine this will continue for quite sometime)
C) Finding that I had a crack, crevice, hole, and on occasion a canyon in my repertoire. (But this is why I chose to approach opening study in this manner, “to find the weaknesses in my preparation”, and fix them.

On the upside:

A) I learned and continue to learn more about each of my openings chosen.
B) Transpositions are my friend! Being able to force pawn structures and more importantly plans into an arena I already understand is so nice.
C) Losing is only temporary, and you can quickly erase it by reviewing and turning it into a lesson.
D) If you “listen” to the opening it will reveal the plans that can and should be played. I struggled with this at first by attempting to force my will on the position. A better analogy would be certain notes and chord structures usually sound harmonious when they are played within the framework of a particular key. Trying to fit in notes that don’t belong to the “family” either by error or over-indulgence (i.e. look at how fast I can play) usually leave the listener with a sour taste.” Finding the plans gets easier each time I review, this is where one should study and memorize master games! Chessbase makes reviewing master games that apply to your own openings so easy it is ridiculous. While I appreciate the “classics” and do learn something new with every game reviewed. I feel like the “nugget of wisdom” learned is something that gets stored away in my toolbox for later use. Though I will be the first to admit if I ever happen to encounter one of those “nugget positions” I happily attempt to apply the learned idea. Sometimes without thinking it through to see if really applies. Hence my comment to Patrick about working to eliminate that particular flaw in my play. (BTW Patrick, the Buckley book arrived and it is awesome! Thank you so much!)


Another interesting milestone is I finally managed to break 2000 with my ICC “standard” rating which seems to be related to playing a bunch and keeping everything fresh. Plus I am forced to learn more about endings, as a lot of my games are won or lost from an equal middlegame. So endgame study has been providing an almost instantaneous return on the time invested while actually being fun. It would appear that Predrag’s comment about learning chess is like flying an airplane and one has to balance one’s approach much in the same manner a pilot keeps readjusting his wings to keep the plane level and on course.

Anyway I hope all my fellow Knights are doing well!
I still owe J'adoube a mini MDLM story, I haven't forgotten. (It's actually more of a side note than a story)

Minimalist Openings or the “Sketch Pad Approach”

Finally I finished the groundwork on my new opening repertoire!
This led to my latest plan for chess improvement, which is called the “Sketch Pad Approach”.
The idea was started while I tried to streamline my openings and to stop each of the lines at the point of completed development. Versus trying to input 57,000 variations like I attempted in the earlier incarnation.
The common thread is that all of the openings lead to simple playable positions that have seen plenty of practice at master level and above. Of course I combined pawn structures when and where I could.
A majority of the lines chosen are given as = by both Fritz and my ECOs’, there are no hidden agendas involved. Gone are the razor sharp openings that I played in the past, (while fun to play, for me they required an intense amount of review and study to be effective). I figured it makes more sense to gear my focus toward time spent learning how to play the standard positions. This is done by studying the games of the masters and of course simply playing chess. I want to spend more time playing (and reviewing each of my games). As I face a new line then and only then will I update my opening book, hence the term “Sketch Pad Approach”. Since J’adoube is big into naming stuff I should go ahead and call this the S.P.A.C.E. method (“Sketch Pad Approach to Chess Enjoyment”) [grin].
I have definitely included more notes dealing with plans and strategies into this opening repertoire than I did in the earlier version.
My plan is to now transcribe these lines from the Chessbase format into Bookup so that I can practice until I have them down cold.
From there I start the play and review phase.

Pawn Structure Chess

I just started reading "Pawn Structure Chess" by GM Andrew Soltis.
What an eye opener! Just the first couple of chapters have exposed me to a whole new way of viewing the openings and shown some insight into how higher ranked players utilize positional schemes as much as they rely on tactics.
Playing through the example games made me realize that some of these were won long before the vanquished side even realized he was lost. They reminded me a lot of those nature shows where the game warden tranquilizes the rogue animal for future transportation to a safe habitat. The animal has been drugged and is slowly going down it just doesn’t realize what is happening.
What appears as a completely balanced game in regards to development, material, and space holds hidden weaknesses because of one side or the others inability to either execute or prevent a timely pawn break due to earlier minor piece exchanges or lack of sufficient control of a key square or squares.
I have a new found respect for positional play, when it is executed properly it is just as beautiful as a spectacular tactical finish.
Some of these examples show how players shifted gears once they had achieved their strategic goals and unleashed devastating kingside assaults because their opponents were overextended and couldn't answer the multiple threats.

This book will have a profound effect as I continue to solidify my openings. Now resultant pawn structures will weigh heavily into the equation as well.
Understanding how to play the formations is one of those required toolbox fundamentals I now see as a must have and something that require a lot of work.

Simplify Man!

Whew boy have I been busy.
Work is and will remain wide open, but I have managed to learn how to keep it within the confines of the 40 hr work week. Each Friday afternoon around 2 pm I consolidate my project list, write everything down, and head out the door. That way work related thoughts don't manage to weasel their way into my weekend. I'm amazed at how effective I have become at being able to shut out work and restart on Monday simply by reviewing my list.

I had to do some major overhaul work on my computer and decided it would be a good time to wipe everything and reinstall from scratch which has taken a little over a month here and there. I just reconfigured Chessbase this past week.

Joined a gym back at the start of July, most of my free time has been spent working out trying to regain some fitness and eliminate the accumulated desk job fat. I have been really pleased with the results. I’m about 7 pounds from my goal weight and have lost over 27 pounds in little less than a year. 10 of it over the past 2 months! My energy levels and attitude in general have improved tremendously. Now that I have a good schedule established it’s time for me to refocus on chess.

Openings- Gone are all of the sharp/razor’s edge openings that I have played in the past. I want good solid development with plenty of strategic opportunities. That’s not to say I’m not noting mistake-lines that I encounter. (Never pass up an advantage!) I’m just getting away from the systems that require tremendous amounts of memorization and computer like precision to remain unscathed.

I have a friend at the chess club that wants to join up to review and study. Our plan is to play solid stuff and focus on learning the themes, plans, and positions for each opening. Mapping the connections from middle to endgame. To do this we are going to review games in their entirety and compare notes.

Tactics- One can never get away from studying tactics. I continue to work through the PCT modules. But by studying games I get to see those lessons applied. More and what I consider most import you get to see how those positions are created. I can’t stress this enough. Learning tactics is a necessity, but unless you understand how those positions are nurtured along from a given opening you might as well be peeing in the wind and hoping what hits you is rain. I’m not saying that one doesn’t benefit from studying positions out of context. Of course you are going to benefit, because you are learning the building blocks. But at some point you have to move from learning the alphabet to learning how to spell complete words, then towards actually constructing sentences, and from sentences to paragraphs. You get the point.

Endgames- Understanding endings is just as important as any other phase of the game. Often I’m amazed how many times I save lost games and win the drawn ones just by utilizing what little I do know. Thank you Karsten Mueller!!

My question to the Knights Errant with ICC or Playchess accounts is how many of you would be interested in setting up some sort of group study session working on some key themes or standard endgame positions? We could post a new diagram each week and the following week compare notes. Several different viewpoints is always enlightening.

Chess Endgames 1

I recently picked up a copy of the Chessbase DVD "Chess Endgames Volume 1" by Karsten Muller.
All I can say is wow.
For me there is no comparison in the amount of information I retain after seeing an actual demonstration versus just reading about it and trying to understand what I just read.
After just one viewing of the segment about Bishop+Knight+King vs. King I can now pull this mate off instantaneously. I wonder how many times I tried to master this through just reading alone. But once I saw the technique in action the proverbial light bulb went into the on position.

Karsten Muller does a great job in demystifying endings and explaining the key concepts in a manner and style that is easy to retain. So far I’m on Chapter Two (Pawn Endings) and loving it. Once I go through the entire disk I plan on playing through the examples versus the computer until I can memorize each technique cold. (I did this with the B+N+K vs K and it really helped drive the point home.)

So if you are trying to expand your endgame knowledge by all means you should not
hesitate in purchasing this DVD it is amazing.

Chess Exam and Training Guide

I personally found it to be a very rewarding book.
Having someone point out your Achilles heal(s) has to be a good thing, the Exam grades your relative strengths and weaknesses in 12 different areas.
You have to complete the entire book before you can begin scoring the tests.
The author combines 3-5 motifs for each of the 2 part questions. You may score really well in one chapter, and suffer through the next. I did notice there were a few questions in where I had zero idea of how to even start my approach in answering them. While others I found being related in one form or fashion to classic examples and started my search for the answer using those themes.
In hindsight I think it is a very accurate portrayal of my playing ability, and it further confirms what I thought I needed to improve. It has even shown me a few new areas that I had never even considered, but make perfect sense now that I realize they have a name. More importantly it further encourages me to focus my training on improving my weakest link (Strategy) which happens to be what I was trying to improve by reviewing complete games. (See my last post about playing through the games of Morphy.)

So anyway for your entertainment here are the “Titles” I received on the test.

Overall - Class (B)
Endgame - Class (B)
Middle game - Class (B)
Opening - Expert
Calculation - Class (A)
Standard Positions - Class (B)
Strategy - Class (D)**
Tactics - Class (B)
Threats - Class (B)
Attack - Class (B)
Counter Attack - Class (C)
Defense - Class (B)
Sacrifice - Class (B)

**Ouch!!
Looks like I’m going to have to dust off “Winning Chess Strategies”-Seirawan,
“Logical Chess Move by Move”-Chernev, and “Reassess your Chess”-Silman
In that order. :)

Off to the book case.

Where have I been?

I have been slack on the posting I know.
But over the past month I have been doing the following.

Super busy at work.

Enjoying the warm weather and extra daylight in the evening.

Spending more time with my family.

Spending less time in front of the computer.

Downloaded/Purchased PCT (Personal Chess Trainer) and have been working through the Modules.
I highly recommend it, everything is nice and neat. Tactics, endgames, and strategy all in one program. I laughed when I saw that GM Gilberto Milos starts people off with having them solve mate exercises in his Tactics Module. Guess I'm not crazy after all for recommending that new players should start there as an introduction into the wonderful world of tactics.

Exercising more. Cycling, and light weight lifting.

"Transcribing" Irving Chernev's "The 1,000 best Short Games of Chess" into Chessbase format.
This way I get to play through chess miniatures of some really great players.

Playing Solitaire Chess. I'm using Phillip Sergeant's book "Morphy's Games of Chess" as my current guide. I may play through all 300 games, who knows? Descriptive notation too!! I imagine algebraic will start to look weird after 40 or 50 of these.
Also I'm playing over these games using my tournament board, I have to start practicing my board visualization. I still have a problem jumping back and forth between 2-D (computer screen) and 3-D (real board). It might be from spending too much time studying with a computer. I will keep you posted on this experiment.

Endgames, endgames, endgames... "Secrets of Pawn Endings" by Karsten Muller
Currently.

Trying to increase enrollment at the chess club, Beginner's tournaments, USCF tournaments,
the whole nine yards.

Yard work before it gets too hot.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

I hope all of my fellow Knight's are doing well!

Following week’s game versus the 1730

Sancho Pawnza: Ok fellas huddle up. Before we enter the Command Central, which by the way I have had remodeled. You all remember “The Meeting”? Same thing as last week minus the screw up! Plans has worked hard with Archives reviewing master games in preparation. Tactics has busted his butt working out the calculation muscle. Even Celine er I mean Relayer has spent the past week setting up the new communication equipment. No one, and I mean no one is to leave their post for any reason. If you have to pee hold it, wet your pants, or use Relayer’s Latte cup. But you will not abandon your post. This guy is dangerous and loves to attack if you give him the opportunity. We have White this round, so develop with purpose and see what happens.
Now let’s have some fun!

The Game Begins...
Comments by Sancho Pawnza

1. e4 c5

2. Nf3 e6

3. d4 cxd

4. Nxd a6 Good Evening Mr. Kan I’ve been expecting you.

5. Bd3 Nc6

6. Be3 h5!?? Hmmmm... Interesting move on his part, I guess I can expect one of those all out attacks. But he should be concentrating on his development instead. Looks like he’s not planning on castling anytime soon. Kill his only active piece and make his light squared Bishop look like a tall pawn.

7. Nxc6 dxN

8. a4 [Freezes b5 dead in its tracks. 8...b5?? 9. axb cxb 10. Bxb5+!] a5 Guess he thought I was going to play 9. a5? But Bb4+ wins my A pawn.

9. Nd2 Nc3? Would only help him by allowing Bb4 pinning my Knight. Nf6

10. h3 Nc4 looks good too but I can play it next, besides I shut out ...Ng4 Qc7 Thematic

11. Nc4 Squares are targets too. He’s allowing me to upgrade from Operation ToeJam to Operation Foothold. c5 Holy Over Commitment Batman! His Bishop on f8 now has the range of a water pistol. Nd7 would have been much better.

12. Qd2 Hello dark squares! If ...e5 Qc3 b6 Not much else happening. I guess he’s trying to continue with the typical themes found in this system, but they are only effective with complete development.

13. Bf4 Congratulations d6 is mine! Qb7

14. f3 Bd7 No way to exploit the fork, I could permanently fix my dark squared bishop on d6 after Nd6+ followed by e5. But I’m not in the trading mood with all of these available options. Search, find the move, wait a second... Ne5 gives him massive amounts of problems. Now I can kill the Bishop on d7 and whatever recaptures gets pinned to his King.

15. Ne5 Rd8 Queenside castling here I come, the a4 pawn is safe because of Bb5+ and mate threats on d8.

16. 0-0-0 Development complete! Be7 No castling for you, because with my next move your King is going to start playing defense.

17. NxBd7 NxN

18. Bb5 Say hello to my little friend! f6? The dark squares look like an Interstate highway now. I have a multitude of targets and he’s getting ready to lose a series of pawns.

19. Bd6 Bf8

20. BxB RxB

21. Qd6 His King has to run now. Rf7 Ouch! I guess he was planning to use his Rook as a shield. But after 22. Qe6+ Re7 23. Qg8# and if 22...Kf8 23. Bc4 Kg8 24.Qxf7+ Kh7 25. Qxh5#

22. Qxe6+ Kf8

23. Bc4 Resigns

End Game
Well I finished the tournament (a double round-robin) with a score of 5.5/8
+5 -2 =1 and missed 1st place by 1/2 a point.
All in all I'm not displeased with the result. Of course one always wants to do better.
I guess the good news was after that second loss it led me to use a new methodology
in my thinking, which so far has worked pretty well.

Part II

The start of the Second Half

I noticed my thought processes making the switch to plan based chess, which has an amazing effect on your clock. Instead of looking for the “tactical” shot that brought down the house. I started focusing that energy into looking for plan continuations. Boy I thought I had found the secret ingredient to successful chess!

Now I’m playing the other 1700 in the tournament, the guy I lost to earlier in the first half. Not through any brilliance on his part but shear stupidity on mine.

Now this game starts out well, I’m up a pawn and his position is completely busted. He’s saddled with three pawn islands two of which are isolated pawns. I have targets and plans lining up for days. My current target is an over extended pawn that can’t be defended

by all of his pieces as it is on the opposite color of his remaining bishop. I become complacent, my only and final mistake of the game.

Sancho de Plans: Hey Tactics why don’t you take a break, grab some coffee we’ve got this covered!
Sancho de Tactics: You sure?
Sancho de Plans: Yes of course take a look at all of those juicy targets! Here’s the “plan” we stroll over and summarily execute that helpless e-pawn. Besides we’ll call you in to look his face right before we clip his wings. We are beating him at his own game. This positional grind stuff is fun! He can’t do squat besides sit there and squirm.
Sancho de Tactics: Well let me run some numbers.
Immediate checks? No.
Counterplay? No.
Forced sequences involving mate? No.
Everything looks cool and besides I really have to pee.
Don’t screw this up I will be right back.
Sancho de Plans: Don’t worry ya big baby. Besides look how our time advantage continues to steadily climb.
Sancho de Tactics: Ok, Ok enough whining take the helm.
Sancho de Plans: Sheesh! You think he’d show a little more gratitude, thanks to me we are kicking more booty than Jet Li!
Sancho de Relayer: Ok guys new move hot off the wire. It’s the anticipated Rook move!
Sancho de Plans: Cool! We expected this, no biggie just redirect our Knight and allow it to follow our current plan. Hey Relayer! What was the sequence Tactics ran through earlier?
Sancho de Relayer: You talking to me? Dude! Like I’m just a reporter, strictly non-combatant! If it wasn’t for this job I’d be a Canadian citizen and my checks would be of the hockey variety. See I have already memorized the anthem.
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot...
Sancho de Plans: Ok enough!! Go sit in the corner and keep quiet! Let’s see.
1. Checks? No!
2.Counterplay? No!
Um what was that third thing?
Now you’ve got me addled and thinking about hockey and beer.
Heck with it two out of three is close enough.
Send a message to Hand to move the Knight!
Sancho de Relayer: Dude! You can’t do that without Tactics approval!
Sancho de Plans: Dude!? Do you see Tactics?
Sancho de Relayer: Um, no.
Sancho de Plans: Of course not! Want to know why? I will tell you why!
Cause there’s a new Sheriff in town and his name is Reggie Hammond!
Sancho de Relayer: Bro’ calm down.
Sancho de Plans: Right now we ain’t brothers, we ain’t partners, and we ain’t friends,
and if this patzer gets away with our points you’re going to be sorry you ever met me!
Sancho de Relayer: Dude! You’ve lost it! I’m going to find Tactics! (Runs off)
Sancho de Plans: What a fuggin’ wuss! He’d get his butt kicked playing hockey.
Hand! This is Plans do you read me?
Hand: No need to shout, just because I’m a hand doesn’t mean I’m hard of hearing.
Sancho de Plans: Sorry my apologies. Could you please do me a favor and kindly move our Knight to the following coordinates? Ne4 to g3 please, please, please?
Hand: Hey what happened to Relayer?
Sancho de Plans: Um he’s taking a break, besides you know I have clearance to make request.
Hand: True, besides I have this whole conversation on tape and if this thing goes down in flames I’m blameless.
Sancho de Plans: Want a signed authorization too?
Hand: Nah’ smart azz!
Knight move sequence completed as ordered.
Anything else your majesty?
Sancho de Plans: No sir that will be all for now thank you.
Sancho de Tactics: Dude what did you do to Relayer?
Sancho de Plans: You mean Céline Dion? I kind of snapped when he started on that whole non-combatant spiel.
That coupled with his singing of “O Canada” off key mind you pushed me right to the edge. But it was his refusal to help with your three basic Tactical rules that really did it.
Besides I will buy the pansy a Latte’ and he’ll calm down.
Sancho de Tactics: Let’s see...
1.Immediate Checks? No!
2. Counterplay? Uh-oh
3. Forced sequences involving mate? Holy Crap!! Dude you’ve screwed us!
!@#$%
Let’s hope this idiot doesn’t see it.
Sancho de Relayer: New move, h4!
Sancho de Tactics: grrrrrrrrr
Sancho de Plans: Dude calm down you know this guy loves to push a pawn.
Sancho de Tactics: Dude, I can side step the mate, but thanks to your hasty
decision making you have managed to activate pieces that even I didn’t know he had. Not only that but I will now have to jettison a Rook and a Bishop for zero compensation. Dude I’m going to have to file a Loss report with the big cheese.
Sancho de Plans: A report? You can’t be serious?
Sancho de Tactics: Well it’s either we come clean now in front of the man or we spend the rest of our lives in the witness relocation program. Besides you know how he operates. He’ll review the tapes and hand out stiffer fines if we delay. It’s best to go ahead and fess up. I feel like I’ve been kicked in the gut a few times, and a little lower more than once.
Sancho de Plans: I think I’m gonna hurl, (sniff).
Sancho de Tactics: Dude that a tear?
Sancho de Plans: Allergies man and don’t forget it!
Pass me the phone I will call the boss.
Sancho de Tactics: Dude you rock, way to suck it up!
Sancho de Plans: Boss, its Plans. Tactics informs me that we are lost.
Sancho Pawnza: (Silence)
Sancho de Plans: Boss?
Sancho Pawnza: Hold on, I’m pulling up the position as we speak and running it through Archives looking for cheapos or perps. (Pause) Listen to me very carefully. Tell Tactics I said to play on..., based on this guy’s facial expression if we can give him any more excitement he may have a stroke, or wet his pants. Besides you never win anything by resigning!
Sancho de Plans: Yes Sir!
Sancho Pawnza: Oh and Plans...
Sancho de Plans: Yes sir?
Sancho Pawnza: I want to see you and Tactics in my office as soon as this is over!
Remember to congratulate our opponent on his well played game, you know the rules.
Once the clock stops we return to being friends, besides you should be thanking him for teaching us a lesson about dropping our guard.
Sancho de Plans: Yes Sir!
Sancho Pawnza: and bring Relayer with you. We are all going to review this and make some adjustments to get this mess resolved ASAP!
Sancho de Plans: Yes Sir!
Immediately after the game Plans, Tactics, and Relayer enter Sancho Pawnza’s office and the door closes quietly behind them.

Stay Tuned for Part III

Sancho Pawnza Rides Again (The Return to Tournament Play)

Part I

It has been long over due. Theories, schedules, and practice are necessary but are good for only so much. It was time to see if any of this stuff actually works.

These games marked the start of a new style of chess for me, a combined influx of tactical exercises, opening preparation, some endgame practice, and the new thought processes gleaned from the time I spend with IM Predrag Trajkovic have consumed my studies over the past year. A combination of nervousness, anxiety, and anticipation seemed to take turns in the days prior to the start. How would I perform? Would the past year’s efforts be a wash? Could I manage to assimilate all of this data and produce something that resembled a chess game?

The format was a double round-robin with player ratings ranging from 1000 to low 1700’s. Five of us in all, so there would be an off week for each player during each pass.

First Half
I started slowly only 2.5 out of 4, most of which I will attribute to rust and a passive mindset. One could say my offense was sputtering. I'd have moments of clarity only to find myself drifting into the fog. Even in the earlier won games I should have finished off the opponent sooner, or solidified advantages. Two out of the four games I was in severe time trouble. I drew a 1730 with 51 seconds on my clock, and frittered away a won position into a completely drawn ending in a time scramble against a 1300. The only thing that saved me was his blunder allowing me to skewer his rook and King.

I was fighting to over-ride my normal tendency to look at tactics and force myself to play with a plan. Finding the proper balance didn’t come until later, much later.

Regardless of what I tried it felt like I couldn’t get everything going in the same direction. Thanks to my time troubles Mr. Fritz even had a few rude things to say!

Needless to say my confidence was shaken. Realistically I felt I should be at 1.5/4 instead of 2.5/4, something had to give or I’d be in for a rough time over the course of the remaining games.

Stay Tuned...

New Schedule

I have mapped out a schedule to be able to study several of my weakest areas of the game.
So pardon the lengthy list but I could stand to improve just about everywhere.

So far I have grouped the following:

A) Openings
Opening study with game review (playing through GM games of the particular lines I play to gather ideas and plans.)

B) Middle Game (Calculation Exercises)
Using tactical exercise software. (X number of problems per session, just to stay sharp)
(CT-Art believe it or not) The main reason is because it has some flawed lines and some really diverse themes. In a couple of recent tournament games I found myself getting lazy with taking
variations out only so far and missing some key advantages that I later found with Fritz only a move or two deeper than I initially looked. This is to work my calculation muscle, so I take my time with each exercise and have been trying to formulate an in game checklist while working through these.

C) Middle Game (Calculation & Planning)
Using IM Jacob Aargaard's excellent resources as my guide. Working through his "Right Decisions" Chessbase DVD and its companion book "Excelling at Chess Calculation".
Hopefully this will alleviate some of my in game indecision problems that I have encountered
over my last few games. Some of it can be attributed to rust, but I have been guilty of playing without a plan more often than not. If I'm going to make any significant improvement I have to avoid placing myself in time trouble and learn how to formulate plans when I enter into new territory over the board.

D) Middle Game (Pattern Recognition)
Working through the 1000X Checkmate CD again. This is a good way to keep those mating patterns fresh.

E) Endgame (Studies)
Working through Karsten Muller's "Fundamental Chess Endings" as well as his "Secrets of Pawn Endings" and creating a database of the examples for later review.

F) Endgame (Studies)
Working through the examples given in "GM-Ram" by Rashid Ziatdinov to help build bridges
between the middle and endgame.

G) Playing Rated Games
Self explanatory, play and review to seek improvements.
You need to play for the feedback alone, not to mention why bother to study if you aren't going to use it.

With one category for each day of the week it should be more than enough to keep me busy.

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.