Here is the game. I was playing the White pieces:
So with that in my mind I spent a lot more time looking at the position and trying to calculate correct things in today's G/65. I OF COURSE did not get everything right BUT I did get a win in a hard fought game that went down to only a little bit of time left on the clock.
Here is the game. I was playing the Black pieces:
So school is starting up and my chess flurry will end. Next Saturday I go to my OTB tournament! YAY!
Later this week I will give some thoughts on my chess before the OTB tourney and then of course post those games when I get them worked up.
This week will just be normal tactics and endgame work and reading through some Keres' games!
I couldn't/can't get into the comment sections of your last few posts that have comments.
ReplyDeleteAs far as these two games, you needed to play f5 instead of Nf3 in game 1. I understood your dillemma about defense, but it's the Open Sicilian Def, so you only want to defend as truly warranted, otherwise just get your attack in before c3 or c2 needs defending. In this case you have an attack; most of the time, defending is because White's attack is not quick enough, but that is not the case here.
Game two, classic mistake of trading down while ahead, particular with that last BxNg4 trade.
You look like you know what you are doing in the opening, it's just after that point that you start scratching your head a bit.
I hope you have a great tournament, TommyG! :-)
I want to show you a "for instance" in game 1.
ReplyDelete10.f5 e5?, 11.fxg exN?, 12.gxf7+ followed by f7xNg8(Q) and White has pawns for nothing, plus a losing king position for Black.
My point is not the above variation, that was only a sample of many possibilities. My point is to play f5 without even thinking! It's one of those things that you simply do/play, once you have a better understanding for this opening. Even if Black ignores the push, and it is equal, White has solved the problem of what to do with the f pawn and file regardless of whether you push f6 or trade it on e6, but probably want to trade it on e6, that looks strong.
BTW, I also want to harp on this more so that you understand where I am coming from on this move, at my level of chess-strength/experience. When I saw 9..g6, I thought to myself "Well that's a mistake, (because) now I can get in f5." and it probably took me less than 2 seconds to come to that conclusion. I wasn't thinking "Well, I have these 10 candidate moves, and f5 is simply one of them." No, I was thinking "Let me see how f5 wins, or is +-, against all replies." (keep in mind an engine may think it's equal, I am saying what works against other humans, plus an engine has to see the concrete advantage).
ReplyDeleteSo, I did also see the 10.f5 Bg7, 11.fxg BxN+, 12.QxBd4 f6 (or drops the rook), 13.exBd7+ and now Black is without the dark bishop. I saw both of the above lines, one and then the other, in about 1.5 minutes. BUT, they were really "justification lines." as I knew I would play that move already in blitz, for instance. They weren't "let me see if this works" lines, they were "let me see how I will punish, to give me confidence, in case Black tries to challenge White's position" lines.
I guess what I am trying to say is that it is okay to play with more confidence, and you will get this confidence as you play more games OTB. OTB is more of a character and confidence situation. Perhaps what I meant earlier is that it doesn't take me as much confidence to play online because I will blunder and lose all the time online and I've stopped caring about it as much as with my OTB rating - so confidence has become either a bad thing or irrelevant in my online games.
That should say 11.fxe6, naturally.
ReplyDeleteI saw ..Qb6 out of the corner of my eye when I first considered f5, and I can't help but show 10.f5 Qb6, 11.Kh1 (trading a tempo with Black, but it actually gets White somewhere and is a wasted move for Black) Bg7, 12.fxe BxNd4, 13.exBd7+ (Kxd7, assuming), 14.Rxf7+ Ke8, 15.Qf3.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am pointing at is that against the Open Sicilian, things _should_ get messy. I know that Karpov played it in a nice, clean, defensive style as White, but his last name was also Karpov. ;-)
Hey LinuxGuy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all good thoughts! YEah I do need to stop chasing threats that aren't there and play to better my position.
I do have a question though as I was aiming for a closed Sicilian and you kept mentioning an open sicilian. I am trying to slow it down a bit. Did I go about that the wrong way?
It is funny you have mentioned before that I seem okay in the opening but I promise I haven't looked at an opening book! :)
I just check the openings of my games AFTER I play them. :)
On one hand my play has gotten better but I think I have forgotten to look at the position at times lately.
Hi, TommyG!
ReplyDeleteWell, in an Open Sicilian, one can't judge entirely by positional factors, but speed of development and attacking chances can count for more.
Keres played a line 1.e4 c5, 2.Ne2 when the idea is to play a closed opening against d6, and an open one against ..Nc6 or ..e6, which makes sense, that according to Varnusz in his book.
I don't know much openings compared to an IM, but I have a feel for certain positions. You can't play those positions simply how you want, but must play them more according to the spirit of the position.
If you want something slow, then play 2.c3. The Open Sicilian is a rather fast opening.
You play positional openings well, where you are going more or less straight from the opening to the ending.
Before a tournament it is better to study tactics and some elementary king and pawn endings. Tactics mostly are good because it helps one to calculate well and more quickly. I haven't studied them in a while, but did a lot a few months back. Not sure how much you studied of tactics, but it will help your calculation and clock management during a game. :-)
Hey LinuxGuy!
ReplyDeleteI would say that since July 60% of my study/practice has been tactics, 25% has been endgames, 10% reading through annotated master games, and 5% openings. (all rough estimates) But that has been the shape of it. And then going over all my games. :)
Hi Tommy G,
ReplyDeleteSome interesting games.
One thing that might help your game is to note tempo when going over your games or a masters games.
In your first game, you noted that moving your Knight around a lot in the opening wasn't very helpful as it cost a lot of time. I think you noted rightly that the B on g7 was pretty powerful. One way to handle that was Bd2 to over protect the N on c3 and then slide the Queen to c1 which also covers b2 and eventually try to take care of the Bishop via h6.
After f4 you pretty much committed to a Kside attack so after the g7B's gone a mobile Queen, a Knight on the Kside and a Rook slide to the g or h file should provide a good attack after Black castles. There's been a few games I've seen recently with this theme, I'll try to remember them and pass them on.
But a lot depends on keeping the tempo for the attack, for instance your King is vulnerable to a b6 check so you probably need to move him to h1 costing time. That loss of tempo is probably why the computer likes Be3 (computers always play for tempo) but for a human putting another piece out there without cover can be dangerous.
In the second game, I think you noted rightly that 32. Bxa6 wasn't as good as the time gainer 32. Rxe8 as the recapture with the N loses time and also puts it unprotected which will probably cause another tempo loss.
Good luck OTB!
Hey ChessClues:
ReplyDeleteI agree! I do lose tempo often in a chess game (which is bad since I play drums for my profession!!)
Anyway, I often make slow moves that make my pieces seem like they are walking in concrete. I also notice that my queenside bishop (no matter what side I am playing) can often get forgotten! I need to correct that. :)
Thanks for stopping by!