I'm back to reading Purdy and one thing he said was that weak players defend threats while strong players try to find ways to ignore threats.
I decided to start playing again to try to put into play some of the stuff Purdy says. This game was the result.
I had the white pieces:
Originally posted by EladarWhy didn't you trade Q's on move 22?
Here I am with the black pieces forgetting that my queen no longer supported my bishop so I resigned after hitting submit:
[pgn]1. e4 d5 {I have that dvd by Romanlab on Qd6 Scandinavian and my heritage is mostly Swedish so I must play it}2. exd5 Qd8xd5 3. Nb1c3 Qd5d6 4. d4 Ng8f6 5. Ng1f3 c6 6. Bf1d3 Bc8g4 7. O-O e6 8. Bc1e3 Bf8e7 9. h3 Bg4h5 10. a3 O-O 11. ...[text shortened]... c5xf2{I can't stand games after I make such blunders so I put myself out of my misery} 1-0[/pgn]
Originally posted by BigDoggProblemI was trying to be too cute. If I had remembered that my bishop was no longer supported because the queen was in the way I would have. I think I had a pretty good position until that point. After trading queens I would save my knight then have a pretty good position.
Why didn't you trade Q's on move 22?
I'm trying to become more aggressive, but got burned.
Originally posted by MarinkatombWhere do you believe that black ignored white's threats? It seems to me that for the most part black was making most of the threats.
Continuing in the same vain, i just played this a couple of minutes ago..
[pgn][Event "Casual game"]
[Site "http://lichess.org/va8CDom6"]
[Date "2015.03.20"]
[White "Anonymous"]
[Black "marinkatomb"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "1802"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+3"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Opening "King's Pawn ...[text shortened]... 6. Kb1 Qxc6 37. Rg1 Nxe4 38. g6+ Kh6 39. Rc1 Nd2+ 40. Ka1 Qa4# { White is checkmated } 0-1[/pgn]
"weak players defend threats while strong players try to find ways to ignore threats. "
Strong plays don't ignore threats, they judge how serious it is and if it
is allowed what happens. Of course if it's checkmate then it must be
dealt with but only after examining in detail all the options open to him.
To a weak player the threat (what ever is) is the key thing on the board.
It is all that matters, Whilst a stronger player takes in the whole board
and the threat is only part of it.
Purdy could have added that weak players only see their own threats
and never their opponents, especially when they have just played a move
which threatens something.
My take on this is - weak players can process only one threat at a time. If they are making a threat, they don't consider an opponent's counter-threats, and vice versa.
Furthermore, weak players understanding of "threats" is quite limited. Hanging pieces, pins and forks is about all they see. More advanced tactics (zwischenzugs, sacrifices, king attacks, etc) are beyond their ability & so don't register as threats until their opponent uses them.
I didn't even know that I should be looking to counter threats. I remember watching games on FICS where people would lose a piece then take a piece. It looked rather magical and cool. I was thinking ouch when the first piece was lost then cool when the next took a piece right back.
Now that I know to look for them the game has become more entertaining. I think my biggest weakness at the moment is patience, but what do I know about my own weaknesses. If I knew them, then I'd correct them.
