Call to Arms... a few windmills left standing.

Round up your steeds, dust off your saddles, for tonight we ride!

Actually skip the fanfare. If you happen to know the whereabouts of any of the Knights or friends. Please let them know there is a resurrection of sorts. I think everyone is beginning to realize that tactical prowess while important, is only a small piece of the puzzle. While I do plan to continue to make posts in this blog my main focus will be here at "The Society of Self-Analysis". http://societyofselfanalysis.blogspot.com/
I will do my best to avoid redundant information between the two but there might be some initially as I try to explain the impetus behind the much needed shift away from a tactics dominant approach to chess improvement. The Sancho Pawnza blog is the closest thing I have to a diary of my thoughts for that time period and I plan on using it as my own personal reference guide of sorts.
Before my hiatus (and I do plan on posting my adventures sans chess over the last 4 and 1/2 years) my plan was to start analyzing my own chess games.
Because I was no longer losing games to tactical oversight. I was losing games because on several occasions I'd find myself standing at the crossroads of two reasonable ideas. I'd spend considerable amount of time calculating both then I'd choose one of the options, only to realize that I still hadn't created much if any advantage and had only used a lot of clock time. This would usually come to bite me in the end (pun intended) game. The problem wasn't that the ideas were bad. As a check I'd even run the alternative line that I had in my head through the chess engine while it was still fresh, just to see if my assessment was bad. More often than not Fritz would agree with my evaluation. While this was reassuring that my calculation/assessment ability was improving it still didn't solve my problem.
The problem was much deeper. I didn't understand the ideas and objectives of the openings that I was playing. While wasting energy trying to memorize a bunch of variations in anticipation of a line my opponent may or may not play. I realized that my time would be better spent studying endgames and more importantly the ideas/middle game plans behind the pawn structures. Because we have all seen it time and time again in our own games. What do we do when our opponent plays a move that deviates from our "book" knowledge. Do we assume it is a mistake or some sort of novelty? We sit there and wonder what in the heck is going on and we are forced to start thinking on our own. For this first part let us assume for the sake of argument that the move played was a mistake.
So I took some liberty to tweak the age old adage of "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" into "If a mistake is played on the chess board and no one knows why, is it really a mistake?". Some times the moves are mistakes that we can readily refute tactically. Other/most times it is much harder to understand the why and how to punish those mistakes. Which leads us to the second line of reasoning which I feel is even of greater importance for my own improvement in the opening. How does a chess move tie into the overall plan for the pawn structure being played and what do I do about it.
I know this is broad brush but it made me stop and rethink my entire approach to my chess playing. Which is that I realized I have limited knowledge and understanding of planning in general.

If I want to improve I have to start looking at ways to tie the transitions from opening to middle, from middle to end into concepts/patterns that I understand. To cut out the mindless middle game wandering and start finding/stock piling plans that are dictated by the pawn structures. One of the ways I seek to improve is by studying endgames and reviewing games from the openings I play. And of course start studying all the material I can find on pawn structures and minor piece battles.

Anyway that's enough of my rambling for now. I'm off to study.

Loss of Sanity?

Hmmmm... Now if I can only remember in which direction Dapple wandered off?

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is doing well!

Chess... Where to start?

Local Chess Club
My main focus over the past year has been to increase the number of members at the club. We have grown from 8-10 to over 50, with 30 of those holding USCF memberships. The goal now is to include scheduled lessons for new players and non-USCF members that are designed to give them the basics necessary to start tournament play. Fortunately several of our higher rated players are volunteering their time and effort to help make this work. We now have so many higher ranked players in attendance that unless you are 1700+ you won't even crack the top 10 on the club rating list.

My Chess
Still playing and studying [nothing rated yet... :)]
My main focus has been geared toward learning endgame fundamentals, review of basic strategic positions and how to convert those into wins, review of master games, tactical exercises (limited), some opening preparation, calculation exercises, and how-to analyze chess positions in order to objectively develop plans (as opposed to wandering around aimlessly looking for tactical shots as I did in the past).

Other than that nothing fancy.

Chess Blogging
Undecided on the frequency, this may just be a one off deal or I may decide to post on a weekly, semi-weekly or even monthly basis. Everyone knows blogging is a time consuming affair, so as far as keeping up with this blog or that blog. I'd rather just spend that time with family and friends. Studying might even be an option. :)
Ideally I would like to incorporate something productive which would serve to reinforce my chess study as opposed to the same old blah,blah,blah... "It's week #428 I have now solved 52,870,621 chess exercises and I still suck!".

The Society of Self-Analysis
Oh yes its coming.
This will be the fun part, where I review my own games and post my blunders and (wtf?) moments for your entertainment pleasure. It is from these gems of "how not to play" wisdom that I will attempt to tailor my study and lesson plans in order to correct the unsightly blight on humanity better known as my chess game.

Stay tuned.

What is a "Knight" anyway?

I personally have zero desire to moderate blogs, set rules for others, or even to type this post.
But after reading through DG’s blog I realized there are some serious misconceptions not only from folks outside the group but more importantly those identified as “Knights” themselves.

So I guess I could set the definition of a "Knight" and provide a list of rules, but I’m not going to do it. Because in doing so I would have to act like my opinion weighed more than another’s and in that I refuse.
It would be more beneficial to provide some history and let you make your own decision.

Part of me finds this laughable in the sense, for one to be identified as a “Knight” has always had more to do with an ideology than attaching one’s identity.
The name “Knights Errant” was started as a joke nothing more. It was just a way for two people to motivate each other through the long arduous process of the 7 Circles much like someone would call upon a workout partner. Don with his incredible sense of humor and penchant for names fired “Knights Errant” off the top of his head in keeping with the theme of Don Quixote.
There was no premeditated plan, no screening process, and certainly no set rules to live by, the whole group came to life on its own. I personally have never wanted rules, officers, or any sort of hierarchy, and consciously avoided setting precedent in order to make all feel welcome.

Anyone with an interest in chess and a desire to share what you have learned (regardless what path you are taking) in the hopes that it might become beneficial to some other person seeking to improve defines the term “Knight”.
Whether it is following something structured like the 7 circles, or creating your own way has never mattered. The only thing that matters in my opinion is that you have a helpful attitude, are willing to share your experience, and encourage others in their personal quest.
That is why I have never placed separate headers in my sidebar for “Knights” and “others”, for me anyone fitting the above is equally worthy to share their viewpoint and by providing as many links as possible maybe someone can find a blog that they can identify with while on their own personal quest.
Imagine if five people were asked to demonstrate how a knight moves, you of course would probably have five different answers. None of which would be any more or less valid than the next. The trick would be for you to filter through the demonstrations and choose the method that you can readily identify with or piece various segments together to form your own answer.

I just hope that people will figure out that we are all “Knights” in one form or fashion, and identify less with a name and more with helping each other.

The Society of Self-Analysis

The Society of Self-Analysis or S.S.A. is in search of open minded applicants that are willing to become involved in a chess improvement group.
The mission of the group is to share experiences, study methods, utilized and designed solely for the purpose of improvement in rated play.
Applicants must be willing to undergo the strenuous task of analyzing their own games in order to identify weaknesses. An improvement plan will then be designed to eliminate said weaknesses, with results to be published.
Efficient methodology and a selfless nature will be appreciated.

Creation of the Thinking Model v1.0

After finishing my first “quick read” of “Practical Chess Analysis” by Mark Buckley (meaning I stick strictly to the text portion, mentally following the variations as far as I can clearly, while leaving deeper analysis of the examples for the second read with plans to use those as exercises utilizing the author’s methods).
This was the book recommended to and by Patrick. I highly suggest you read some of Patrick’s reviews of “PCA-1”,"PCA-2", "PCA-3".
One of the first things mentioned (page 4) is that a player must establish a method. Buckley states “For only with a workable technique can a player hope to improve his analysis-the approach must be applicable to any particular position. This book is the result of my wish to share what I have learned about chess analysis: how to see ahead, how to judge a position, how to study. I have tried my best to present the essentials, the heart of the matter, trusting that you may apply these suggestions and develop your own analytic tools.”
Of course Buckley doesn’t disappoint as the rest of the book is dedicated to explaining his particular methods in a manner that is approachable, though clearly I have a lot of work ahead of me if I want to develop what he considers the basics that are necessary to become good at analyzing. Some of those basics are only obtained through experience and a few more will require some exercises created solely to gain “experience”. For example Chapter 2:“Developing your intuition” deals with ways to increase intuition through pattern recognition. He includes items such as isolated pawns, misplaced pieces, and stock combinations in this family. This quote says it all “Pattern recognition is the heart of intuition. The pattern represents something familiar, something already evaluated. Because the experienced player has often already studied a similar position to the one set before him, he largely knows what to do without thinking. His judgment is sound; he refines and confirms, in most cases what the pattern tells him. This experience saves time and effort over the board and lets the player concentrate on the position’s unique features.”

So obviously “Developing my intuition” is not something that will occur overnight!

For me step one is the creation of a “thinking model” or “workable technique” with the help of this book and a few other resources. This need for a ‘thinking model” became painfully obvious as review of one evening’s blitz game losses all shared the same theme. Complete disregard for my opponents move possibilities, which comes mainly from my desire or focus to inflict my will on the position.
As part of my training to correct this problem I have reinstalled CT-Art 3.0 and plan on using it to help test and refine my “thinking model”.

Yes I hated CT-Art while using it as a training tool for the 7-Circles because I felt the material was too haphazard for effective use in developing pattern recognition. But it wasn’t until later that I realized there is a distinct difference between Pattern Recognition and Calculation Muscle. Since my desire is to strengthen my calculation and increase my ability to accurately evaluate positions CT-Art will be the perfect tool given the wide variety of themes.
Buckley is adamant in his belief that a player must have the ability to accurately calculate variations (one of his basics). He precedes this by insisting one must literally memorize the chess board so each square can be named, identified by color, and located on the lines intersecting it.

I have been approaching each exercise position (during practice) or move situation (in game) with the following mini checklist/thinking model.
While this is extremely crude, the list/model will continually be refined as some of the items move from “new concepts” to “intuition”. Plus practice and understanding will allow a shift in the amount of time applied to each section. For now there are times when just remembering to address the items in order can be counted as a success. Ultimately I’d like to be able to refine my calculation and train what Buckley calls “The Mind’s Eye” to the point where I can visualize variations with great accuracy.
But for now I’m going to work on just developing the habit of mentally identifying the following.

Thinking Model Version 1.0
1) Material Count on the board. (Pawns, Major, Minor)
2) I treat the position as if my opponent has the move.
3) I look for checks (Direct, and indirect) Buckley recommends giving the pieces an “aura”. The aura is unaffected by obstructions. Similar to what BDK’s coach told him when it comes to seeing through pawns. This also includes mating patterns.
4) Loose pieces& pawns (Anything that isn’t nailed down so to speak)
5) Weak Squares
6) Pawn Structures
7) Piece Mobility and Placement

My particular model doesn’t even come close to the one used by Buckley and is not a representation of the material provided in his book. This is simply a way for me to correct a flaw in my play and to start establishing the habit of refreshing the board after each move in an attempt to create a baseline evaluation. Organizing my thoughts should make my time spent calculating more effective over the board.
My goal is to work towards the model presented in PCA, but like I said before I can utilize the methods described by Buckley it will take a considerable amount of work on the basics.

If you have the chance to obtain a copy of Practical Chess Analysis by all means do so, you won’t regret it.

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.