Trying to play like Petrosian and failing

Originally posted by hamworld
Exactly what games of Morphy would I study? His wins? His draws? His losses? All of them?

Every flippin one! Now get to it! March mister! 😠

You've never studied Morphy before!?!?!? 😲

What is this world coming to? :'(



😀

Originally posted by tomtom232
Every flippin one! Now get to it! March mister! 😠

You've never studied Morphy before!?!?!? 😲

What is this world coming to? :'(



😀

So I study Morphy's games, and then what? How much of an improvement could I expect from doing so? 100 ELO? 200 ELO? A finer understanding of the Italian game?

Originally posted by hamworld
So I study Morphy's games, and then what? How much of an improvement could I expect from doing so? 100 ELO? 200 ELO? A finer understanding of the Italian game?

First, we'd have to know what your current elo rating is. Second, it will instill a love of the game that will gain you more than mere elo points.

Originally posted by hamworld
Hmm. This game and the one vs Mecking where Petrosian played as White vs the Modern Defence reminds me of something that has been bothering me subconsciously for a while: I just don't understand the weak square concept. Never have. The positional sacrifice concept is also hard for me to understand. I've maybe used that idea in *one* chess game of mine.

...[text shortened]... tactics. Should I hire a grandmaster to pound the fundamental positional concepts in my brain?

Hi Hamworld,

I can think of no better person to show you the concept of weak squares than Petrosian himself.

In this game, he uses a spectacular combination involving the loss (or should I say gift?) of his queen to make all the dark squares around Black's king weak- so weak that the GM playing black resigns before he is mated.

One could even more accurately say that the dark square weaknesses were already in the position, and that Petrosian merely used the combination to exploit those weaknesses. It is highly likely that his recognition of the weak squares is what led to the combination.

Note how Petrosian exploits the dark squares to take complete control of the black position- he is not worried about what pieces leave the board, he is happy to use the ones still remaining on the board.

Hopefully, this will also broaden your opinion of how Petrosian played.

If all else fails you can try channeling the ghost of Petrosian through a psychic and get him to give you tips about improving your game. His spirit might even be able to possess your body during tournaments and play through you, where he would control the movements of your hands and make the moves without you even having to break a sweat thinking. It would be like automatic writing, where spirits control your hands and cause them to write by themselves without your conscious control.

Or you could try staring intensely for long periods of time at a photo of Petrosian and repeat over and over with great emotion something like this: "Petrosian and I are one. I am tapping into his mental database and downloading all of his chess talent and skill. From now on, I play brilliant chess just like he does."

Originally posted by homedepotov
If all else fails you can try channeling the ghost of Petrosian through a psychic and get him to give you tips about improving your game. His spirit might even be able to possess your body during tournaments and play through you, where he would control the movements of your hands and make the moves without you even having to break a sweat thinking. It wo ...[text shortened]... ing all of his chess talent and skill. From now on, I play brilliant chess just like he does."

You should go to the Spirituality Forum to discuss that sort of thing. They would appreciate it. 😀

Originally posted by tomtom232
First, we'd have to know what your current elo rating is. Second, it will instill a love of the game that will gain you more than mere elo points.

The rating is 1602. I already love the game without studying any tactical genius's games. I feel like we're dissing Paul Morphy's level of play by saying "Morphy's games should be studied first, they're simple compared to Karpov's games."

Or does the beauty of Morphy's games lie in the simplicity of them?

Originally posted by hamworld
The rating is 1602. I already love the game without studying any tactical genius's games. I feel like we're dissing Paul Morphy's level of play by saying "Morphy's games should be studied first, they're simple compared to Karpov's games."

Or does the beauty of Morphy's games lie in the simplicity of them?

When I had learned the basics of chess and was already aware of "the fools mate" and "the scholars mate", I looked at one of Morphy's games, which he had taken his queenside rook off the board at the beginning of the game. Then he immediately began his attacking style and never let up until his opponent was mated. Although his opponent never made any bad moves, he did miss the most important defensive move that allowed the mate. We now know what that move is. This is how chess theory and practice has developed over all these years so we can learn how to make the best moves, hopefully.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

Some consider Armenia and George as Eastern European nations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe

Originally posted by RJHinds
When I had learned the basics of chess and was already aware of "the fools mate" and "the scholars mate", I looked at one of Morphy's games, which he had taken his queenside rook off the board at the beginning of the game. Then he immediately began his attacking style and never let up until his opponent was mated. Although his opponent never made any bad m ...[text shortened]... e has developed over all these years so we can learn how to make the best moves, hopefully.

Hmm. Any chance you could show me the game?

Originally posted by hamworld
Hmm. Any chance you could show me the game?

Morphy played many games giving odds of pawn up to a rook. This guy making the video series gives examples of games he played in which he did not need the queen rook. The first game he plays with all pieces the next two were played with rook odds. It is the third one that I remember seeing first. Look at them all to get the idea. There are many other videos of the games of Paul Morphy on YouTube.

Paul Morphy: Genius part 1
YouTube

Paul Morphy: Genius part 2
YouTube&feature=fvwrel

Paul Morphy: Genius part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwrel&v=c-1UOUlAoNg&NR=1

In case you can't watch the Youtube video below:

Paul Morphy: Genius part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwrel&v=c-1UOUlAoNg&NR=1

Here is the first game I remember seeing of Paul Morphy

I guess I must have an error in the game but I can not find it. Anyway here is the starting poistion.



And here is the game moves I think.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Qf3+ Ke6 8. Nc3 Nd4 9. Bxd5+ Kd6 10. Qf7 Be6 11. Bxe6 Nxe6 12. Ne4+ Kd5 13. c4+ Kxe4 14. Qxe6 Qd4 15. Qg4+ Kd3 16. Qe2+ Kc2 17. d3+ Kxc1 18. O-O#