I offered to help Mel B with his chess. If anyone else wants to post some advice, feel free.
In Game 990423, obviously 6. Bf3 was a mistake because of the Queen fork. This kind of thing is subtle and hard to see. The trick I use to avoid tactical mistakes like this is to check every possible move the opponent can make every time I decide on a move and see if it causes a check, a fork, if I lose a piece, etc. It's monotonous but it helps a lot. Also running through tactical puzzles in books helps.
14. b4 wasn't a good idea. Black had doubled isolated Pawns. By playing b4 you allowed him to undouble them while isolating your own a-Pawn.
As a general rule, don't exchange material when you're down in material. Therefore I tend to dislike your 18th and 20th moves.
On your 23rd move you could have tried playing g3. This might have saved your game as Black gave you the Knight back and I don't see any forced wins for him as a result.
Of course ictoan is a really strong opponent, so he may have seen things I don't.
Originally posted by DfthdExactly my point. Knights before bishops is hardly a copious amount of theory; rather, it is a tried and true principle that has been taught at all levels for more than a century (most of the time since principles of chess strategy have been formulated).
[snip] As amatuers playing against other amatuers, we do not need to know copious amounts of opening theory, however, deviating from theory on move 2 generally isn't a good idea.
I pointed out the line I thought Mel B should consider:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3
and then offered, "also good 2.Nc3, 2.f4, 2.c3"
Of course it is nonsense if Bowmann thinks so. But in my feeble defense, consider the games in a small, but highly selective database of 56,682 games (this database comes with a popular commercial chess program).
In that database, after 1.e4 c5:
2.Nf3 occurred in 49,651 games.
2.Nc3 occurred in 3,106 games
2.c3 occurred in 3,075 games
All other choices occurred in less than 400 games each. My rather dubious suggestion of 2.f4 occurred in a mere 273 games.
Mel B's 2.Bc4 occurred in 7 games.
Now, such a database only reflects what skilled players do. Just because a move is rare does not mean it is bad, and one bad move so early in the game does not always result in loss.
In my online games, I've faced Mel B's line 146 times, but managed to win only 90 of these. My mere 65% scoring percentage (90 wins, 7 draws, 46 losses) would seem to suggest that a playable position could result from the premature deployment of the bishop. But this score (compared to 54% overall with the black pieces) should at least give pause to any effort to consider 2.Bc4 beyond reproach.
In Mel B's game, this bishop was driven to another square by advancing pawns, and eventually the attacks on this bishop, because the bishop was often one of two targets, facilitated black's win of the knight on c3. Black gained the upper hand with clear control of the center as a by-product of pushing the bishop around. The rest of the game was a fairly straight-forward attack.
ATY mostly got all of it. But I'll emphasize these points:
Biggest mistake was when you walked into the forced mate on move 24 (king to e2). I would've moved rook to e3 instead of that.
Don't exchange material when you're down in material.
Move 2 (Bishop to c4) shouldn't have happened. You're inviting black to capture the center early. Controlling the center is a very important aspect of chess.
Originally posted by WulebgrI think the Knights before Bishops point and the d3 point are valid; however I think Mel B would do well to work on other things that are less subtle and more dangerous for him.
Exactly my point. Knights before bishops is hardly a copious amount of theory; rather, it is a tried and true principle that has been taught at all levels for more than a century (most of the time since principles of chess strategy have been formulated).
I pointed out the line I thought Mel B should consider:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3
and then offered, "also g ...[text shortened]... product of pushing the bishop around. The rest of the game was a fairly straight-forward attack.
Originally posted by Azeri guyI just play and learn from my mistakes. Cheers to the Guy that did this thread to help me improve my game. I will keep coming back to it and picking up little bits here and there, eventualy something should stick.
either Mel B is busy applying your moves or analysing advices or she doesn't care about all your comments 🙂
Villa. Saturday. 2-0. Come on lads.