White to play and draw

Part 1:  https://chesslevel7.blogspot.com/2023/11/white-to-play_24.html

Part 2:  https://chesslevel8.blogspot.com/2023/11/black-to-play-and-win.html

Wow

How to Stop Blundering and Start Improving Your Chess Game: Advice from a GM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Gcl0YK034

Apparently, GM Ben Finegold believes the same things I do.

His comments at the end are funny.

One of my best chess tactics

I consider this to be one of my better chess tactics.  Of course, we have seen Grandmasters like Bobby Fischer make similar moves, so chess masters probably consider this to be pretty routine.

https://onethousandpositionstochessmastery.blogspot.com/2023/11/white-to-play_14.html

The Reason People Don't Get Better At Chess According to Ben Finegold

As a chess YouTuber, Ben Finegold is not my favorite.  His presentation is just not as interesting.  He seems rather casual, less informative, and cocky.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbF1bRwxIWY

However, I like the point he makes here, which is that people suck at chess because they blunder and don't learn from their mistakes. 

He is only partially correct.  People try to learn from their mistakes, but they do so by just playing.  It is repeated trial and error.  People don't retain information this way, although if a person played a great deal then they would make progress up to a point, which I think would be around the 1700-1800 level.  It is difficult to get better than this without some serious study.

So the way I learn from my mistakes is that I analyze as many of my games as I have time for, and I have a system for reviewing my past mistakes.  This takes much time, and maybe some people would feel that the time would be better spent just playing.

I strongly believe that studying tactics is critical.  There were specific tactics that I studied that took me from 1800 to 1900, and then a different group of tactics that took me from 1900 to 2000.  I studied tactics 30 minutes a day almost without fail, which meant that I spent hundreds of hours studying tactics.  However, this is something I haven't had time for lately, so my most recent goal is to study tactics for 20 minutes per day.

Some of my chess lesson material

FYI.

The theme of today's lesson is that a person can often get a winning advantage right out of the opening.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John Coffey <john2001plus@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Nov 5, 2023 at 3:31 PM
Subject: Chess Games from face to face chess lesson plus bonus material
To: John T

This is the first game that I suggest learning by rote:

This game is about weaknesses:

https://onethousandpositionstochessmastery.blogspot.com/2023/03/white-to-play_17.html

Second game:

This is about Development and Initiative:

https://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0012.htm

Another game to study:

https://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0003.htm

Third game:

This is about tactics:

https://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0001.htm

We talked about this opening:

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-bad-opening-goes-very-bad.html

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2020/03/chess-lesson-2020-03-20.html

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2017/01/chess-lesson-2017-01-09.html

We talked about how Queenside bishop moves are bad for Black in Queen Pawn openings:

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2018/01/chess-lesson-2018-01-15.html

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2019/07/chess-lesson-2019-06-17.html

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2019/03/chess-lesson-2019-03-11-slav-defense.html

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2019/01/chess-lesson-2019-01-21.html

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2017/01/tactical-game.html

Another game that I showed to illustrate this idea:

[Event "Columbus Chess Club"]
[Site "Lewellen Center"]
[Date "Nov 2, 2023"]
[Round "3"]
[White "John Coffey"]
[Black "NN"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 Bf5 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Qb3 b6 7. Ne5 e6 8. Bg5
Be7 9. e4 dxe4 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Bb5+ Ke7 12. Qb4+ Qd6 13. Qxd6+ Kxd6 14. Nxf7+
Ke7 15. Nxh8 Bxd4 16. O-O a6 17. Ba4 b5 18. Bc2 Nc6 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Nxe4 Rf8
21. Rac1 Rc8 22. Rfd1 Bxb2 23. Rc2 Bf6 24. Nd6
1-0

This is an opening trap that everyone should know, even if it wasn't part of our lessons.

https://www.entertainmentjourney.com/g0005.htm

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2017/04/2017-04-10-chess-lesson_11.html

In addition to this, in the Queen's gambit accepted, if Black tries to accept the gambit and hold onto the pawn, it is always bad:

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2017/04/2017-04-17-chess-lesson-queens-gambit.html

This is a speed game I lost in Utah in the 1990s.

https://greenwoodchessclub.blogspot.com/2017/01/chess-lesson-2017-01-30-alapin-opening.html

Why 50% of Players Could Be Cheating