2019-11-17

I tried to Master Chess in 30 Days

This guy wanted to see if he could master chess in 30 days.  He improved, maybe going from beginner to 1000 or 1100 in 30 days.  On day 30 he has a rematch with a 1500 player that does not go well.  I had much to say about that game in the comments section of the video.

Bobby Fischer teaches chess is very much at the absolute beginner level.  Game 1 the Ne5 move was way premature, but you explain that.

To really master chess you might want to learn 1. d4.   The book "Logical Chess Move by Move" is useful in this regard.

The en-passant rule has to do with the fact that pawns used to only move one square from the start.  Moving two squares was a way to speed up the game (and so is castling), so enemy pawns can normally capture your pawn if you move up one square and this is important for allowing pawns to blockade other pawns.  En-passant allows a capture as if the pawn had only moved up one square, which maintains the ability to blockade.

My experience is that you are unlikely to reach a memorized opening past move 11.  There are some exceptions where certain openings, like the Dragon, don't really get started until around move 10.  Everything up to that point frequently follows the same sequence.

In the last game, I don't like 5. Bd3.  It is not a great spot for the Bishop, which is serving the purpose of a pawn.  The move b2-b4 creates weakness on the C file with a backward pawn on c2.  Here your pawn is well guarded but there is a big hole on c3 creating a weak spot that your opponent should try to occupy.  Your pieces (bishops and knights) are somewhat passive and in defensive positions, and eventually you will want to get them to better spots.  (Grandmasters really like to have active pieces.)  Ouch, you got skewered with Ba6!  The game is technically lost at that point.  The Bb6 response is probably bad.  I think that he should respond with Qb7 and try to pin your b6 bishop.  He didn't have to capture the queen immediately.  Instead of Nb3, the knight taking on e4 makes more sense to me because material is important.  When you played Nf6+ (check) you had two attackers on the square and he had two defenders on the square, but you moved one of your attackers to the square meaning that he was going to win the piece.  You really need more attackers than defenders on that square to make that move.  After he captured the knight it is better not to trade your bishop because you should not trade when you are down material, because your percentage of the total material becomes worse.  Likewise, you should not have traded your last piece, but the game is pretty much over by that point.  (Overall, you were too anxious to trade pieces.  Many beginners do this, but I only trade when I think that it is to my advantage.)

Best wishes,

John Coffey (rated 2016)

My free online chess lessons:  http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/index1.htm

Pattern recognition is a huge factor in this game, and on my website I stress doing tactical exercises to improve pattern recognition.

P.S. Your hypothetical example of where trading pawns might be favorable to Black is really bad because after 1. e4 g6 2. d3?! f5? White can play 3. exf5 and then if 3... gxf5???? 4. Qh5# (checkmate), which is a variation on "Fools Mate."

2019-11-16

Won the ICC tournament

I did something that I rarely do, which is win the ICC USCF Online rated tournament.

>uscf You won!!! Congratulations! This is your 11 1st place finish
> During the 5 rounds, you collected 4.5 points
>uscf
>   4.5 john2001plus
>   4.0 pawninthegrass Kausy trivialpursuit BillietheKid
>   3.0 ROWLAND tenchess CL123789 Lo eeec1
>   2.5 mrneale BotanicalKnight
>   2.0 IAlwaysWin Easy-Win fisherino kaps-ak
>   1.5 edwin9015 rjp1888 A4-H5 BIRDSMAN aslan777
>   1.0 eeec2 weakfish
>   0.0 alonzob
>
>    __________  __  ______  _   __________  __   ____ _    ____________
>   /_  __/ __ \/ / / / __ \/ | / / ____/\ \/ /  / __ \ |  / / ____/ __ \
>    / / / / / / / / / /_/ /  |/ / __/    \  /  / / / / | / / __/ / /_/ /
>   / / / /_/ / /_/ / _  _/ /|  / /___    / /  / /_/ /| |/ / /___/ _  _/
>  /_/  \____/\____/_/ |_/_/ |_/_____/   /_/   \____/ |___/_____/_/ |_|
>
>    Congratulations john2001plus and Thanks to all :-)
AlonzoB(TM)(231): john2001plus Congratulations! Thanks to all for playing and I hope you  enjoyed the tournament. :-)

john2001plus(231): Thanks to all.  Good games!


The time control was 12+3.


Against potentially my toughest opponent (USCF OTB 2100+) I tried to play sharp.  However, my record is pretty positive against this guy.

[Event "ICC tourney 1751 (12 3)"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2019.11.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "john2001plus"]
[Black "IAlwaysWin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D25"]
[WhiteElo "1719"]
[BlackElo "1654"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[TimeControl "720+3"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. e3 b5 5. a4 b4 6. Bxc4 e6 7. O-O Bb7 8. Nbd2
Be7 9. a5 O-O 10. a6 Bd5 11. Ne5 c5 12. Qa4 Bxc4 13. Ndxc4 cxd4 14. exd4 Qd5
15. Be3 Nbd7 16. Nc6 Qxc4 17. Rac1 Qe2 18. Rfe1 Qxb2 19. Nxe7+ Kh8 20. Rb1 Qa3
21. Ra1 Qxa4 22. Rxa4 b3 23. Rb1 Rab8 24. Nc6 Rb6 25. d5 Rb5 26. dxe6 fxe6 27.
Nxa7 Rbb8 28. Nc6 Rbc8 29. a7 Nc5 30. Bxc5 Rxc6 31. Bxf8 b2 32. Ba3 {
Black resigns} 1-0




I had one draw against a lower-rated player.  I was winning that game but blew it somehow.

I appeared to be losing my last round game.  I was in a "must-win" situation to win the tournament.  I thought that if I simplify the ending that I might outfox my opponent.

[Event "ICC tourney 1751 (12 3)"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2019.11.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "pawninthegrass"]
[Black "john2001plus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1528"]
[BlackElo "1727"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[TimeControl "720+3"]

1. g3 e5 2. Bg2 d5 3. d3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bc5 5. e3 c6 6. d4 exd4 7. exd4 Bd6 8. Ne2
O-O 9. O-O h6 10. Bf4 Bg4 11. f3 Bf5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Qd2 Re8 14. Nbc3 Qc7 15.
Rae1 Nbd7 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. h3 b5 18. Nd1 Re7 19. Nf2 Rae8 20. c3 a5 21. Nd3
Bxd3 22. Qxd3 Re3 23. Qd2 Qe7 24. Kf2 Nh7 25. Ng3 Rxe1 26. Rxe1 Qxe1+ 27. Qxe1
Rxe1 28. Kxe1 g6 29. f4 Nhf6 30. Ke2 Kf8 31. Ke3 Ke7 32. g5 hxg5 33. fxg5 Nh7
34. h4 f6 35. gxf6+ Nhxf6 36. Kf4 Nh7 37. Bh3 Nb6 38. b3 Kf6 39. h5 Ng5 40. Bg4
gxh5 41. Nxh5+ Kg6 42. Ng3 Kf6 43. Bf5 Nf7 44. Nh5+ Ke7 45. Bg6 Nd6 46. Ng3 a4
47. Nf5+ Nxf5 48. Bxf5 Kd6 49. Kg5 axb3 50. axb3 c5 51. Bd3 c4 52. bxc4 dxc4
53. Be4 Na4 54. Kf4 Nxc3 55. Bf3 b4 56. Ke3 b3 57. Bh5 b2 58. Bg6 b1=Q 59. Bxb1
Nxb1 60. Ke4 Kc6 61. Ke5 c3 62. Ke6 c2 63. d5+ Kc5 64. d6 c1=Q 65. d7 Qe3+ 66.
Kf7 Qf4+ 67. Ke8 Qe5+ 68. Kd8 Kc6 69. Kc8 Qc7# {White checkmated} 0-1


Perhaps the most important thing is that I didn't make any losing blunders that I know of.  I haven't analyzed the games yet.  I did fail to win a game that I should have won against a lower rated player and I will be examining how I messed that up.

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