I have been playing chess for many years, but only recently decided to try to explore the deeper aspects of chess... strategy, tactics, anticipating opponent's moves. I was hoping someone might be willing and able to help me learn more. Any advice or tips is welcome. Thanks
Originally posted by ChessStudent1Give your approximate playing strength so people can tailor their responses to suit your deficiencies.
I have been playing chess for many years, but only recently decided to try to explore the deeper aspects of chess... strategy, tactics, anticipating opponent's moves. I was hoping someone might be willing and able to help me learn more. Any advice or tips is welcome. Thanks
Originally posted by ChessStudent1If you're really new too chess it might be smart to read a good chess book. I highly recommend Jeremy Silman's "How to reassess your chess" and "amateur's mind". For tactics i usually do chess puzzles. "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices & Combinations" by Fred Reinfeld is a good one.
I have been playing chess for many years, but only recently decided to try to explore the deeper aspects of chess... strategy, tactics, anticipating opponent's moves. I was hoping someone might be willing and able to help me learn more. Any advice or tips is welcome. Thanks
"Chess for Juniors" by Robert Synder is a chess book for the beginner i think. It tells how too move the pieces and a lot of the basics i think, too.
-- Paul
Originally posted by ChessStudent1The best way to learn is to play.
I have been playing chess for many years, but only recently decided to try to explore the deeper aspects of chess... strategy, tactics, anticipating opponent's moves. I was hoping someone might be willing and able to help me learn more. Any advice or tips is welcome. Thanks
Once you have played a few games there will always be someone prepared to give a bit of advice.
If you become I subscriber I will play 2 unrated "training" games with you but not otherwise.
Here are the full notes (unaltered) from an unrated Game 3604194 I played against User 324695 a while back. He was rated just under 1100 at the time & seems to be making consistent progress & I'm happy for him.
He shows an interest in the game. Trouble is people are reluctant to put in the effort to give instructional games to someone who hasn't played on RHP for long because probably 1/2 the player database is full of players who join, play 1 or 2 games, then don't play again.
1 Black Hi. Let me know if anything is too basic or if you need me to explain further. 1.d4 is a fine opening move. It tends to lead to more strategic, slightly slower-paced games than 1.e4 for instance. I'd say a beginner needs to decide fairly early on if they prefer to open 1.d4 or 1.e4 as white & stick with one or other at least for a while. Different openings can be tried of course, but 1.e4 or 1.d4 are the most vital. I always play 1.e4 as white. Here, instead of the common 1..d5 or 1...Nf6 I choose 1...f5 - the Dutch defence. The Idea of the Dutch is to skew the game (like Sicilian) & expand on the king-side at the expense of giving white more queen-side room. It is more attacking for black than 1...d5, but also far riskier as my king is exposed somewhat in most lines.
2 White Thanks. You cleared up something right off the bat. I go back and forth from d4/e4 and have not concentrated on one or the other. While I love rock'em sock'em chess, I tend to miss alot, which is why I have tried to figure a good d4 play.
2 Black After learning all the moves & rules the next step I think is to learn tactics. Winning chess tactics by Yasser Sierawan is probably the only book you'd need. Learning particular openings & strategy should follow after tactics I think. You can always use a database to help with your openings. Before you move always ask yourself "why did he do that? - are there any threats etc?" If you learn tactics & solve puzzles this will help identify threats & help you create your own. 2...Nc3 is fine, though it does stop c4, which is a common way for white to gain room early on. I'd say one of the most common mistakes is to put a knight on the edge of the board - the c3/c6 & f3/f6 squares are by far the strongest defensive positions for knights. I'll play 2...Nf6 which means I'm attacking the e4 square twice, allowing the possibility to castle & defending the h5 square against an awkward check - possible after 1...f5
3 White FYI I did start another game with you as white, I will send you the game # if you need it. I am heading out of the office. Our first home game is Sunday so we have some things to finish up before the big game. I am in the office pretty much 7 days a week. i do have Winning Chess Openings by Seirawan, next time i am in the States I will look up the tactic book. I do have an extensive set of tactic puzzles i printed out from some italian web site. Bg5 (Veresov opening, My father taught me to play, move the pieces, but the gentleman who taught me to play, always used this opening) I assume this puts pressure on the knight? A bishop for a knight is pretty much even correct?
3 Black B & N are both worth 3 points. You have to take into account that your dark-square B is fairly active after 1.d4. Taking my Nf6 will relieve some pressure on e4, but after my move (I play 3...e6) I free up my Q to retake if needed, along with opening the f8-a3 diagonal for my Bf8. You have to weigh how much you'd miss an active piece by exchanging-off against a less active one of similar value so early. I also have to plan against if you decide not to exchange & just leave Bg5 there, pinning my Nf6 against my Q. Obviously I won't move Nf6 anytime soon, so you've forced a response to some degree. I have to adjust my plans - I expected 3.Nf3, then I would have played moves like g6, Bg7 & 0-0.
4 White When one "forces a response" (or conversely, pins a piece) this is something one should attempt, as it reduces your opponents options correct? These are things i try to look for. PS Like I said, I live across the street from the stadium/ offices, my boss asked me to come in and grab some phone numbers he left behind, so i'm just making one move in each game) Once again, Thanks!!
4 Black Yes, pins are very powerful indeed. My Nf6 effectively becomes useless & if possible you should always try to attack the pinned piece. At -1500 levels it is possible that people forget the pin is there & move their pawn or knight & lose the higher value piece (in my case my Q). A pin against the King is even more powerful, especially later on when the piece being pinned may be undefended. Here I play Be7, breaking the pin & so keeping as much flexibility as possible. You have certainly made no mistakes so far.
5 White Ah, no mistakes yet, but the game is young. I always find oportunities to blunder away nice positions!! This move i consiodered 4 moves. a) h4 incase you want to move up your Nf6 , you cannot do this b) e3 so f5 cannot advance further. c)Ne5 puts a bit of pressure on how you consider your next move d) Qd2 allows to castle
5 Black I think 5.e3 was your best move. e3 defends your central d4 pawn & opens light-square diagonals up for your Bf1 & Q. It's important to always be developing in the opening without losing any time (tempo). Ne5 looks quite aggressive but it doesn't actually threaten anything. It is rather annoying though so I'll play 5...d6. This blocks my Bc8 in for the moment, but you lose a tempo moving Ne5 away & I've quietly strengthened my position slightly. 5.h3 would have lost a tempo & weakened your KS slightly - generally if you intend to castle KS you should try to leave the f/g/h pawns on the 2nd rank. 5.Qd2 looks much better, allowing QS castle, defending Bg5 & developing Q to 2nd rank. As I said, 5.e3 looks best to me though.
6 White Now I lose time moving my knight again correct? General rule of thumb is you only want to move pieces once in the opening correct? So I can move the knight and lose time, or grab your knight (f6) with my bishop and you can choose between grabbing my knight (e5) or the bishop if he takes the knight. I am going to take the knight, because knights can fork easier than other pieces.
6 Black Yeah I know knights can cause beginners problems. In my opinion your 6.BxNf6 is a strategic mistake though. I'll re-take with my B, then you'd have traded a developed B for my defensive N. My re-take here completely relieves the tension from your side of the opening, develops my B slightly while at the same time you still have to move the knight away. I feel like I'm slightly ahead at this stage.
7 White That is terminoigy I understand, but I still have trouble understanding in "practical" situations. I know what it is supposed to mean, but when I am playing, I cannot tell the difference. And when you say you "feel slightly ahead", how is this determined? How can one tell from position?
7 Black Planning is the hard part to explain! Tactics can be learnt & recognised - strategy is more down to experience & feel. You can do a space count - eg how many squares do you control compared to your opponent & how active your pieces are in comparison. Secondly you can count material - beginners tend to get obsessed by material but don't forget you can be up a rook, knight & a pawn & still be checkmated! Third is pawn structure - are there weaknesses in yours or your opponents? Do your have any backward unprotected pawns, isolated pawns, passed pawns that you look to protect & maybe promote (or threaten to) etc We are still in the opening, but I have a plan to try to dominate the light-squares now you've traded-off your light-square B & push on in the center. Therefore, I play 7.d5. I know that usually you shouldn't move pawns more than once in the opening, but every rule can have an exception. I'm setting the agenda in the opening now, & have a plan (even if you know part of it now!) - therefore I feel like I'm ahead even though material is equal.
8 White Ah, like colored square thinking (at least thats what I call it) I always forget to think about that while the opening is in progress!!
8 Black I think you should have played Ne5 then, as it would have protected the d4 pawn, there's no way I'll trade off my dark square B - it's a very important piece for me now. After Ne5 you may have had problems anyway if I played Qd6. I'm thinking this will be a snatch & grab, because I notice the discovered attack tactic now if you move you Nd2 away when you Q attacks my Bd4.
9 White e3 to put pressure on the bishop? it either trades for the knight or moves away? thats what i see..
9 Black e3 is a very good move. As well as attacking my Bd4, you have opened the f1/a6 diagonal for your bishop & the d1/h5 one for your Q. If I hadn't taken care earlier, Qh5+ could be a problem if I had an undefended piece on g5 say. These are the sorts of things you should notice as you make these good moves. I really don't want to trade-off my active B, but I notice that after 9...BxNc3 you must re-take with 10.bxc3. This causes a rather unpleasant problem of doubled c-pawns which is a structural weakness. Also, both the 2 c-pawns & the lonely a-pawn will make 2 pawn islands, another weakness. If I didn't trade, I'd probably play 9...Bf6, an active square & my B eyes the center.
10 White here, bxc3, and you may reply Nc6, bringing your knight in the game? and c4 to break up that little pawn (island is the correct term?) c4 better than e4 because e4 is attacked twice
10 Black Yes, 10...Nc6 feels right. Don't forget if you play 11.c4 I don't have to take it. If you then play 12.cxd5 (removing 1 of my central pawns & un-doubling your c-pawns) I can play Qxd5 & retake while also bringing my Q into the...
...game on a very active square. It's up to you though - I understand your logic in wanting to do that. If that's what you'd play naturally, then do it & we can discuss the moves.
11 White Here, I am thinking between moving f4, trying to set up pawns on the black squares, on Bb5, playing the famous 'pin the knight. I THINK a6 is unwise, because if I take the pawn with the B an you take B with the b pawn, it leaves b file open for my Q and R, you Q is still blocked by the light squared B. I am thinking you castle on the next move.
11 Black 11.f4 would be a slight mistake I think in this position. It weakens your KS defence once you castle. Don't forget pawn moves can't be taken back once you make them! You chose another good move, Bb5, pinning my knight firmly against the king. 11...a6 would be a structural error from me here, because after 12.Bxc6...bxc6, I have doubled pawns & isolated a-pawn which I don't like. Other good moves you could have made are maybe 11.Be2 - placing the B on a great square or 11.Rb1 - taking the 1/2-open file. As you say, whenever you see a 1/2 open file like the b-file here or especially an open file with no pawns of either colour, you should try to put your rook there before your opponent can. R's love open files & can cause chaos using them, or attack & cramp your opponent by blocking them off. Only use your Q if you can't do this with your R in general, as the Q may be better served exerting pressure towards the middle of the board. 11.Bb5 was the best move you could play here, in my opinion. I play 11...Bd7, breaking the pin & moving my B off the back-rank.
12 White right now i am indecisive, i considered Rb1 in case the file opens up considered Nf3 but that blocks my queen, so i castle
12 Black 0-0 is a good move. Your king looks secure behind the f/g/h pawns & you've brought your rook into the game. I have a choice of several moves, 0-0 - shame I moved the f-pawn, activate my Q - Qf6 looks a powerful positional move, or a6. 12...a6 drives the Bb5 away & continues my light-square plan. If 13.Bxc6...Bxc6 I have an opening for my bishop & a good looking position. I think 12...a6 is sound.
13 White here i thought Bxc6, getting rid of your Knight was the best move. I had to move or lose the Bishop.. BTW I read, general rule of thumb, unless there is a good reason for not doing so, you capture with the man of less value.. in this case, you do NOT want to use your pawn, causing doubled pawns, correct? (assuming you retake with your bishop)
13 Black Well, I think that you should re-take with whatever improves your position. Your Bxc6 was ok because your B was going to have some problems getting into the game. However, exchanging-down in both our games when you are down material & have structural problems may not be the best idea. When you exchange down & are behind in material, the difference of even 1 pawn increases the more everything is exchanged. Re-taking with my pawn here would be a bad mistake.
14 White I notice you still have not castled. Is there a reason to delay it? Here I move my pawn to try get rid of doubled pawns
14 Black Now I castle. Usually I try to before this, but with all the exchanges I haven't been able to. I was worried you'd play 14.Qh5+ last move, forcing me to play 14...g6 & then I would have to re-think things & castle to an already weakened QS.
15 White i did consider that move!! but i saw nothing more than a "spite" check, really not accomplishing anything more than, well, just a check, not improving my position.. here i am "undoubling" pawns..
15 Black The Q is on a very powerful square...
16 White Yes. # if it gets to g2.
16 Black Good - you saw the simple mate threat. It's easy to forget the threats & get too involved in developing or attacking. I've lost quite a few games to simple mates like this because I lost concentration or was thinking about attacking. I bring my Ra8 into the game.
17 White I will be honest though, that pawn move i made was the second move I considered.. i thought a bit on moving my knight to "offer trading queens".. it was a while before i realized that threat..
17 Black Trading Q's when you're down (even by just 1 pawn) is generally not a good idea.
18 White I never knew that about trading Q's, so thanks!
18 Black No problem.
19 White the rook is "setting up" to defend a square i will use..
19 Black Yeah that's a reasonable move. 19...Rxd1 would be a mistake, because you could play 20.Rxd1 - claiming the open file. Instead I double my rooks on the d-file.
20 White again put a little pressure on the queen, and rd1 is still protected by the Q and R on f1
20 Black Good move. I'd say you're playing well above your 1100 rating.
21 White its like i say in my profile, i am erratic and inconsistent.. i will make a handful of good moves and out of nowhere piss it away on a silly move.. I considered taking a rook, and i considered moving the rook to d4 (it is protected by the knight and the pawn my plan was to double the rooks and take both yours but i noticed the bishop on c6, so i just decided to take one..
22 White welcome back!! I am confused here, I know what I would like to do but dont know much about how to go about it. I want to advance my knight, and I think d4 is protected, i doubt that you will use a rook or the Q to try to take it
22 Black Hi. Nd4 was a good move for you, threatening Nxe6. I don't want to exchange-down any more than I have to, even though I'm a pawn up. Therefore, I play Bd5, keeping things active.
23 White Bd5 threatens a2, and I lose another pawn, your Q threatens 2 pawns but they are protected, so I move a2
23 Black Bc4 skewers your Q & R. Always try to look out for tactics if you have 2 pieces on the same file, rank or diagonal. You would have been ok if you had moved your R or Q last move.
24 White I did not see that. I considered Nb5, which would also out your queen under pressure, ubt decided to go with Qe1
24 Black Good move. I have to move my Q so I take yours (being up a pawn it's usually helpful to exchange Q's) & hope that my positional advantage is enough...
25 White welcome back!!
25 Black Thanks.
26 White Here I can notice a good pawn structure on the Queen side, they seem to be protecting each other.
26 Black You left your knight en prise. I decide to take with my rook as it's slightly more active than cxd4 because the d-file is now mine. You had a choice of N moves, Nf3 looking like the best one defensively. A bad mistake, but I have made a lot of them. I hung my Q not so many games ago, in an otherwise drawn game. That is very bloody annoying!
27 White ugh, i dont even know how i missed it!!
27 Black I think that 27.exf5 was better for you, perhaps forcing me to re-take, then you'd have the open e-file for your R. After Re1+ you could cause problems getting in behind my pawns on the 8th rank if I wasn't careful. It's difficult not to panic when you go down a piece or just make a small mistake & then make another one. Many times mistakes come in pairs. Remember this if you play someone who makes an error - they may well do the same next move.
28 White The mistakes coming in pairs comment, very true, i have noticed they "snowball" and just come one after another and get worse.!
28 Black I should have an easy win from here. However, my endgame is probably the weakest aspect of my play...
29 White Yes I was going to say, the correct thing would be to resign, you have two pawns and a bishop, and it is near impossible for me to promote one of my pawns. However, if you wanted to practice end game I would play on. Since you have the light squared bishop, I was going to park my king on e1 to prevent the pawns on the e file from promotion, and the other pawns/ your king will advance.
29 Black Yes we should play on for a while. Here I'm playing to block then take a4, giving me promotion chances in the center & on the QS. I am conscious that maybe Kf7 is better, as my K is mis-placed at the moment.
30 White This blocks the pawn e4, and I will worry about e6 with the pawn f4.
30 Black Ok. On with my plan.
31 White I realize from d2 (or f2) I can capture the pawn if it reached e3
33 Black I think you already know my strategy...
34 White Use the king!
43 White If you want to keep chasing me to mate fine by me, let me know..
43 Black Well in a normal game the resignation would have come maybe around move 26 or so. I'm playing this the way I would try to finish anyone who didn't resign - win as quickly as possible.
44 White And I felt so much better about this game than the other!!
44 Black Games can swing quickly. You've show good thought processes most of the time. Just watch for threats & don't hang your peices & you'll be fine.
45 Black I think it's mate in 3 now after, for instance: 46.Kh2 (only move)...e2 47.Kg1 again, forced...e1(Q) 48.Kh2...Qg3 mate I should point out that it's important that you don't take your eye off the ball even when massively ahead like my poistion here. It's easy to rush a move & stalemate the K then you look stupid. I've also tried to show you that you must never underestimate your opponent & always try to finish as quickly & efficiently as you can.
48 White looks like this is the end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! h1 and its over!!!
48 Black Good game.
Originally posted by SquelchbelchWow!! That's five minutes of my life I'll never get back.
...game on a very active square. It's up to you though - I understand your logic in wanting to do that. If that's what you'd play naturally, then do it & we can discuss the moves.
[b]11 White Here, I am thinking between moving f4, trying to set up pawns on the black squares, on Bb5, playing the famous 'pin the knight. I THINK a6 is unwise, becaus ...[text shortened]... 1 and its over!!!
48 Black Good game.[/b]
The funny thing about giving traing games, I find, is that they play very well, find themselves in a good/equal position only to blunder....
out of all the training games I've given it would appear that the most fundemental and sound piece of advice I could ever give is to "BLOODY THINK!"
i'm going to play him when he gets a new game. he seems new to the game after talking to him quiet a bit. hes read some books but never really played quiet as much as anyone on here has. i think it helps players a lot when they do games like squealbeach played with talking through the game as well. wittywonka and i started to play these types of games around two and a half months ago i was about 1620 avg and he was at an avg of about 1290 1320. now hes averaging in the 1500s easily. i've even gone up quite a bit. i feel that not only did he benefit from me teaching him but it helped me understand why i make the moves i do.