The RHP 2013 Championship has started which traditionally gives me loads
of games to have fun and make merry with.
There is hidden within an instructive element, things to avoid, ideas.
But on the whole this is all a piece of fun. Chess is a game. Love and enjoy it.
Every awful blunder you will see or have seen in previous blogs will have
been played by all of us ‘good players’ some time in our carefree past.
The bad news for today’s players is that their learning games are not hidden in score books.
They are circling the planet and can at anytime be sucked onto someone’s monitor.
I know I have played every blunder known to the game and it’s just by the
grace of God that me and others players of my age were born before the internet
else our early efforts would be out there as well.
Opening moves stats from the 5083 RHP Championship games.
1.e4 was by far the most popular opening move, more than half the games opening this way.
1.e4 was played 3103 times
1.d4 was played 1356 times
1.c4 was played 245 times
1.Nf3 was played 167 times
1.g3 was played 43 times
1.b3 was played 38 times
1.e3 was played 25 times (crazyblkknight and ricewind1972 have opened 1.e3 8 times )
1.Nc3 was played 26 times
1.g4 was played 22 times (hunterknox and HiOctane have opened 1.g4 8 times )
1.f4 was played 18 times
1.b4 was played 10 times
1.h3 was played 10 times (Vendi opened all his game with this move.)
1.a3 was played 9 times ( gniyfidom7 opened all his games with this move.)
1.c3 was played 9 times (SirLurch opened 7 times with this move.)
1.d3 was played 3 times
1.h4 was played just once by chesslfc.
Nobody played 1.f3 or 1.a4 and despite the recent publicity nobody played either of
the Drunken Knights moves 1.Na3 and 1.Nh3
Some games are finished already and by a fantastic coincidence the first player
to win a game was the RHP 2012 Champion: Chucker.
Chucker - ZeroOx RHP Ch. 2013
The quickest mate in this years Championship is ekyrun - swahn RHP Ch. 2013
I thought I might be in the running for the quickest mate but my one was 8 moves.
Again the tender square f7 is the target. (it is the only square defended by the King.)
White knows this is a soft spot and very often picks at right from the start
of the game. Black’s watch your f7 square. (more examples will surely follow.)
Over the years this exact move order and finish has appeared on RHP 20 times.
greenpawn34 - kaminsr RHP Ch 2013
scottmd64 - Jools06 RHP Ch 2013
The opening move were1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O
Reaching a position that has been seen from Alaska to Antarctica and from Chile
to China millions and millions of times.
Black played 4…Bd6
The Bishop is preventing the Black d-pawn from moving so Black will have
to move it again to get any play in the centre of the board.
That one reason is enough to reject it as an opening choice of move.
The Bishop is clogging up the works. The c8 Bishop will take a while to get into
the game so that means the a8 Rook will have to sit it out.
A cramped game is not a lost game, but Black will have to unravel with care.
Why put yourself through this when there was no need to.
Moves like 4…Bd6 are often played by players to avoid opening theory.
Opening Theory, which is what has most often been played by other players in the
past has established a handful of other moves here all with a long pedigree.
Now beware. The very fact a lot of players have shunned a move is not 100% proof
it is no good. But in some cases, as here, you can trust opening theory to tell you
that 4…Bd6 is not a popular move because it is way down the list of other choices.
4..Bc4 4…Nxe4…4…Be7 4…d6..
On my OTB database of 5 Million games this has appeared in only 157 times with
White winning 125 games. ( 82% ).
But more to point, at RHP level the moment Black played 4…Bd6 this happened.
The Blunder Bird of Prey appeared on Black’s side of the chessboard.
Every players aim is to stick this bird on the other side of the board.
You cannot force an unexpected blunder where a player leaves a piece hanging.
But you can, if the opportunity arises, put him into a position where a plausible
blunder is very possible.
Black has invited the Blunder Bird of Prey to sit on his shoulder and all that is
needed from White is to nudge him into that plausible position.
Let us see what happened.
Finally, we were robbed of a piece of instructive play when
KidEunuch played Protelcom in the 2013 RHP championship.
Here White to play.
The Black Queen is defending a critical pawn on c7.
Look out for these type of positions this is where all that tactical training you do
solving diagrams bears fruit.
The board is telling you there is something on.
First you must see the idea before you can look for the combination.
Got it?
OK let’s have re-read.
(always good to go over what you have written , unlike a game of Chess you
can take moves back and re-write them.)
I’m sure I could come up with something better than The Blunder Bird of Prey.
That’s awful
Where am I getting that from? Blunder Bird? Thunder Birds?
And the Bird of Prey is a Klingon Spaceship. Thunder Birds and Star Trek.
The Blunder Vulture, The Crow of Cock Up’s, The Blunder Buzzard!
The Buzzard of Blunders! The Hawk of Howlers, The Seagull of Slip up’s.
And why a bird? The Giraffe of Gaffs, The Mongoose of Mistakes,
The Hamster of….
Enough!.....Russ.
The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 153600
(The Duck as arrived in Thailand - some Duck pics next blog.)
It's vulture, which is more of a scavenger and an opportunist - very appropriate!
I'll post in main cess forum.
There are quite few good players who go there.
You will hopefully get some ideas.
Any suggestions on methods of training one's analysis?
Playing no doubt with a few other games in progress it is
easy to miss shots easpecially when you a good move in the postion.
(that is when you stop and look for a better one.)
It's not diagrams that help here, it's knowing that the Queen
is a terrible defender of anything, she has to give way if attacked.
Think instructive, Think of your fellow bloggers. 🙂