Greetings players and fellow patzers 🙂
So I'm playing a 'Major' section this weekend, got 2 more games tomorrow.
I'm not doing very well... but I wanted to show the positions where I lost the plot.
As the title suggests, "spot the threat"... it is something we should all be doing throughout our games.
Game 1 - Neil Oddie (125) vs Zak Tomlinson (149)
I've had a historically poor record in round 1, this was no exception.
In a typical(!) Ruy Lopez we reached this position after 23 moves:
It is Black to play.
What is White threatening?
What should Black do?
Two more to follow...
Game 2 - Zak Tomlinson (149) vs Gareth Griffiths (142)
This game was going OK, I thought, perhaps...
My opponent sacced the exchange earlier, which scattered my pawns, but his attack wasn't as potent as he thought.
It is White to play in the below position:
Fritz scores me at being up 1.96, which is basically a full exchange with no compensation for Black.
What is the key move (or idea) to fizzle Black's attack and simplify to an advantageous endgame?
Game 3 - Francis Moan (140) vs Zak Tomlinson (149)
This game has a double-whammy... a two-for-one, great value!
I played a Grunfeld, which went pretty typical, at some point I had won a pawn.
Then a Rook pair came off, which gave my opponent an opportunity to grab the pawn back.
Which he did, with Bxa7:
It was incorrect to play this move... why?
I missed the move... later on we reached this position after the Rooks came off:
Spot the threat.
HINT:
Two more games tomorrow... I'm on 0/3 so the only way is up!
@64squaresofpain saidGame 1:
Greetings players and fellow patzers 🙂
So I'm playing a 'Major' section this weekend, got 2 more games tomorrow.
I'm not doing very well... but I wanted to show the positions where I lost the plot.
As the title suggests, "spot the threat"... it is something we should all be doing throughout our games.
Game 1 - Neil Oddie (125) vs Zak Tomlinson (149) ...[text shortened]...
It is Black to play.
What is White threatening?
What should Black do?
Two more to follow...
The threat is NxRP+, for if PxN, then RxN follows.
What should Black do? There are three options: move the N from KB3 somewhere else, protect the N on KB3, or ignore White's threat and threaten something else more dire.
@64squaresofpain saidWhite is threatening Nxh6+ followed by Rxf6. It's tempting to say ..Kh7 should be blacks move, but that leaves f7 unprotected. Maybe ..Qd8? It's hard to say, either way white is much better as you can't really exchange the knight on f5 as it just unleashes all of whites pieces. Under the circumstances, black might not be so upset at Nxh6, at least it opens the g-file so there is some way to drum up counter play, but objectively it looks like white is going to be the one having all the fun.
Greetings players and fellow patzers 🙂
So I'm playing a 'Major' section this weekend, got 2 more games tomorrow.
I'm not doing very well... but I wanted to show the positions where I lost the plot.
As the title suggests, "spot the threat"... it is something we should all be doing throughout our games.
Game 1 - Neil Oddie (125) vs Zak Tomlinson (149) ...[text shortened]...
It is Black to play.
What is White threatening?
What should Black do?
Two more to follow...
@64squaresofpain said..h5 in the final position looks winning for black. Obviously not allowing Queen check followed by the pin..
Game 3 - Francis Moan (140) vs Zak Tomlinson (149)
This game has a double-whammy... a two-for-one, great value!
I played a Grunfeld, which went pretty typical, at some point I had won a pawn.
Then a Rook pair came off, which gave my opponent an opportunity to grab the pawn back.
Which he did, with Bxa7:
[fen]2R1Q3/1P5P/P2K4/2P5/3P2q1/1p1p4/pbp3pB/1 ...[text shortened]... and resigned 2 moves later[/hidden]
Two more games tomorrow... I'm on 0/3 so the only way is up!
Correct fellas.
Game 1
I had actually missed Nxh6 completely, after which I reacted with Kh7 expecting him to move his Knight.
But he didn't and played Rxf6 and after I took he played Qh4 and I collapsed.
In game 3, I allowed the darn pin and win... I missed Bc5, which is terrible.
The first position though, after Bxa7, I simply had b6 which won the piece! (Qb1 is met with Qa5 and the pawn can't be taken)
In game 2, the plan is to get my Queen to g4 and stop Black's attack.
The correct route begins with Qb5, where if something like b6 is played then Qd7 is good.
--------------
I finished the tournament on 1/5, which is my worst performance by far.
My other loss came from another attempt at a Grunfeld defense... I'm currently doing homework on this opening.
I'm playing another Major this coming weekend... hoping to make amends!
@64squaresofpain
Thanks for the effort you put out showing your games. Do you have any idea how your rating compares to the one the US Chess Federation uses?
@64squaresofpain saidHey these things are always so much easier when someone creates a puzzle and says find the move. Don't sweat the bad result, it happens to everyone, tilt is real! DO you play every day? I have found that taking regular breaks from chess is actually really important, especially when you are playing tournaments like this. If i am doing a weekend tournament, i will take say tue-thu completely free from chess. If you arrive hungry for chess it really helps with the long hours of concentration. Too much chess and my brain just gets pattern over load.
Correct fellas.
Game 1
I had actually missed Nxh6 completely, after which I reacted with Kh7 expecting him to move his Knight.
But he didn't and played Rxf6 and after I took he played Qh4 and I collapsed.
In game 3, I allowed the darn pin and win... I missed Bc5, which is terrible.
The first position though, after Bxa7, I simply had b6 which won the piece! (Q ...[text shortened]... homework on this opening.
I'm playing another Major this coming weekend... hoping to make amends!
@Jayboman1579
I believe that the ECF to USCF conversion ratio is (ECF*7.5)+700=USCF
My ECF rating is 149, which using the above ratio equates to roughly 1820 if rounding up.
@Marinkatomb
Thing is, not only do I play some correspondence chess moves every day
(not too many, usually around 20) but I'm also doing tactical puzzles almost daily.
If there's a super GM tournament on (like the Sinquefield Cup) then I will watch that also.
... What makes it worse is I've just bought 'The Woodpecker Method':
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/products/2/327/the_woodpecker_method_by_axel_smith_and_hans_tikkanen/
I'm a glutton for punishment!
@64squaresofpain saidYou have basically just described my routine down to a tee 😀
@Jayboman1579
I believe that the ECF to USCF conversion ratio is (ECF*7.5)+700=USCF
My ECF rating is 149, which using the above ratio equates to roughly 1820 if rounding up.
@Marinkatomb
Thing is, not only do I play some correspondence chess moves every day
(not too many, usually around 20) but I'm also doing tactical puzzles almost daily.
If there's a super ...[text shortened]... oducts/2/327/the_woodpecker_method_by_axel_smith_and_hans_tikkanen/
I'm a glutton for punishment!
I feel doing tactics puzzles is really important, but you shouldn't do it every day. I find if i do this too much, then i approach every position like a tactics puzzle, and tend to discard normal solid moves in favour of super sharp (dubious) continuations.
The examples you gave above, I'm sure you have delivered such ideas yourself, the fact that you missed them in a game, to me, is a result of spending too much time on chess. Stare at the sun too long and you go blind.