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singe posted:Cool tactic I found in a 3 minute game. White to move. I actually got the answer right, but I'm unsure of the continuation. Rxb7 Qxb7 d7 (?)
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Feb 21, 2013 02:51
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, I also didn't play the best continuation but it was still winning.
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Goose Halo posted:I actually got the answer right, but I'm unsure of the continuation. Yup, if black tries to play Rd6, Qxd6, Rxd6, Rook recaptures with check allowing you to get a tempo to queen. If he plays Qxd6 instead of Qxb7, Rxh7 and you get behind his king and rook threatening a skewer to gain another tempo. Edit: Rd7 is also strong like Aggro pointed out. singe fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Feb 21, 2013 |
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Feb 21, 2013 16:39
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Ah, I saw the solution, but assumed black would respond with Qxd6, but then realized that white can go up another pawn and retain the initiative with Rd7, forcing the black queen to move and allowing Rxh7. White should win easily being up two pawns -- passed pawns on the a and h files.
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Feb 21, 2013 17:33
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Yeah, that's a tricky one, there's a lot of possible moves. Nice position/exercise.
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Feb 21, 2013 18:39
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I just started playing a couple of months ago, but I've really enjoyed learning the game thusfar. I've read Seirawan's Play Winning Chess, Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide to Chess, Chernev's Logical Chess: Move by Move, and Dan Heisman's Guide to Chess Improvement. So, I feel like all of those gave me a solid basis for playing, and based on suggestions, I grabbed some tactics books (Dan Heisman's Back to Basics: Tactics, Dan Heisman's Looking for Trouble, and Seirawan's Winning Chess Tactics). So far, these books have made me feel profoundly stupid. I've had to go through each chapter multiple times because my board vision is just awful. I also grabbed another anthology, because those are super fun to read through (McDonald's Art of Logical Thinking). Other than that, I've been playing a ton of Chess with Friends and reviewing games with Shredder. I probably need to do more over the board or timed games, but I've been doing reading/playing in short spurts because of my schedule. I should make a chess.com account or something and see if I can play some goons this weekend.
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Feb 21, 2013 19:49
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Aggro posted:Ah, I saw the solution, but assumed black would respond with Qxd6, but then realized that white can go up another pawn and retain the initiative with Rd7, forcing the black queen to move and allowing Rxh7. White should win easily being up two pawns -- passed pawns on the a and h files. Not quite. 1.Rxb7! Qxd6 2.Rxh7! is flatly resignable because Qxd5 loses to 3.cxd5 Rcd6 (or the other rook) 4.dxe6 (or even Rh6+) Rxd1 5.e7 and black can't stop the pawn. If black doesn't take on d5 (although they have very few moves) they will lose shortly and sharply. e: So something like 1.Rxb7 Qxd6 2.Rxh7 Rb6 3.Qa8! Qxd1 4.Qh8+ Kg5 5.Rg7+ Kf6 (Rg6 6.Qh4#) 6.Rd7+ (Xd1) +- Or 1.Rxb7 Qxd6 2.Rxh7 Ra6 3.Qb7! (Xg7) +- Hand Knit fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Feb 21, 2013 |
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Feb 21, 2013 23:51
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Well all moves look winning, but I thought trading off everything on d6 seemed simplest after Rb6 or Ra6 if black attempts to avoid taking on b5, (Qxd6 initiates with Rxh6+ to pick up the final exchange). Looks like a simple won K+P endgame with two passed flank pawns.
singe fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Feb 22, 2013 |
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Feb 22, 2013 00:58
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I'm pretty sure that trading on d6 leads to a single rook endgame that, while up two pawns, leaves you vulnerable to getting outplayed in a way that winning a queen in ~5 moves doesn't. e: 1.Rxb7 Qxd6 2.Qxd6 Rxd6 3.Rxd6 Rxd6 4.Rxh7 Rd2 and while white is still better there's suddenly a long and losable endgame ahead. Hand Knit fucked around with this message at 12:57 on Feb 23, 2013 |
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Feb 23, 2013 12:54
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I was getting so pissed at the chesstempo.com tactics trainer. I would get 10 problems correct and 5 problems failed and go down in score. Now that I got over 1400, I'm consistently getting every problem correct. Maybe I'm just bad at lower rated tactics problems? 
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Mar 12, 2013 22:13
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You're improving!
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Mar 13, 2013 10:50
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That's probably true, and it also felt more like "these are the tactics problems I'm looking for and used to". Also getting used to the "tricks"of the problems much like getting used to standardized tests in school. I probably lose the most points off of the hanging piece and unsound sacrifice problems because I'm looking to mate the king or queen or win a piece from any of the types of double attacks (pins are my jam).
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Mar 13, 2013 17:44
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What's the best way to practice endgames? I am reading through Silman's endgame book and there is no workbook and there is a complete lack of practice problems. The test problems are mostly trivial until the later sections of the book where he throws some problems he didn't even explicitly go over, but once you know the answer to a position (like the test problems) you can answer whether it is winnable or not without really understanding it or similar positions. I might throw some money at chesstempo for a gold membership to grind out some endgame theory problems, but I am not a huge fan of how unstructured chesstempo tends to be. What options do I have? Also, after I finish the Silman book I am wondering what endgame book I should tackle next. Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual is a candidate, Panchenko's two part series are candidates, the Averbakh book (and series) is a candidate, and there's Shereshevsky's Endgame Strategy as well. There's also Nunn's book. I actually like learning endgames and would like to get as many as is reasonable down. When I start the next book I'll also likely split study time between other activities a bit somewhere in to the book. I think that is where Dvoretsky's book would shine, because it's dense enough where it will be a long term study tool. Khorne fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Mar 15, 2013 |
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Mar 15, 2013 00:42
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I would definitely recommend getting Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. After you've more or less got the technique down and know the basic ideas behind common endgame ideas the next logical step is to just play through grandmaster endgames (preferably stemming from positions you play).
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Mar 15, 2013 00:47
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A friend who seconded for a GM recommended Shereshevsky's book as a waystation between Silman and Dvoretsky. Dvoretsky is so incredibly dense that it is best used as a reference manual to check your own games after you've played them - there's no way you could get navigate it otherwise. However, I've found that the best way to learn is by analyzing games with someone else. This is because endgames are very particular, so if you use the book before the person you may end up misidentifying the dominant characteristic of a position and then studying the wrong thing. Studying with other people helps you focus on what you were trying to do and, importantly, what you thought was happening in a position. This helps you with the most important part of endgame play, which is identifying the salient features of a position.
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Mar 15, 2013 11:46
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Hi, I play as ccapua on FICS and Capuano on chess.com. I'm terrible, but you should play with me!
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Mar 23, 2013 18:15
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singe posted:I played a rather sharp blitz game recently where I sac'd the exchange and it looked like it would work but my attack kind of lost steam after move 20. Is there a way to get better at knowing what to play when sacrificing or should I just practice more tactics. I was under time pressure since I was trying to figure out how to make it work. In hindsight on move 19 I should have just sacrificed the bishop on f7, getting a knight into position just took too much time. I tried to play a distractor but that didn't work. Tactics can help, but you already know there is a solution in that case. What really needs practice is just analyzing and improving your thought process. Things like solitaire chess or stoyko exercises. There is book Practical Chess Analysis that probably has good suggestions. The Chessbase engine ui also has a training tool for analysis that could be useful. E: Another program that is free that could be useful is Chess Hero (http://innokuo.altervista.org/chesshero.html). vyshka fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Mar 23, 2013 |
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Mar 23, 2013 18:33
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Does SA have any teams in the 45 45 leagues on fics icc or playchess servers?
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Mar 24, 2013 01:59
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I am starting to think that Blitz is just worthless practice. Here is what it helps you practice: 1) Reciting openings 2) Playing well in time trouble 3) Spotting patterns and tactics at increasing speeds, but not really Can anyone list anything else important about Blitz, other than it's fun and is more playable time wise than a long game? Otherwise I find it to be kind of useless. Usually it boils down to who has the most internalized knowledge of openings and common patterns. The person with this ends up with a huge advantage simply because the other person has to think about stuff and therefore loses on time, even if they are outplaying the other guy. Rather than improvement, it just seems like a probabilistic test of experience vs experience (or crystallized knowledge vs crystallized knowledge). In other words, great for asserting your dominance, but useless for improving your playing strength.
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Mar 24, 2013 04:47
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vyshka posted:Does SA have any teams in the 45 45 leagues on fics icc or playchess servers? There are chess teams? I would be more than happy to be a part of one if SA has one.
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Mar 24, 2013 05:09
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Capuano posted:There are chess teams? I would be more than happy to be a part of one if SA has one. FICS has the FICS Team League: http://teamleague.org/index.php ICC has the Team 45 45 League: http://team4545league.org/ Playchess has the ANCL and possibly others. ANCL is 90 5, and FICS and ICC leagues are both 45 45.
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Mar 24, 2013 07:35
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Ugg. I hate when I can read all the important characteristics of a position, but either forget one or don't put them together when I make my move. http://chesstempo.com/chess-problems/52386 Why did I play 2.Bd3? I know the f7 pawn is pinned! That means g6 is loose, brain.
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Mar 24, 2013 16:21
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I'm pretty excited that I saw this. Granted, it's Chess with Friends, so I had infinite time to analyze the position, but still. Black's last move was Qb6. White to move:  1. Qxh6+! If 1. ...Kxh6, then 2. Rh4#. Mate follows quickly after 1. ...Kg8 anyway, as after 2. Rh4, Black has to give up his Queen with 2. ...Qd4 to prevent mate on h8.
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Mar 25, 2013 00:05
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It's always such a great feeling when you get to play an elementary mate like Anastasia's or Philidor's. Looking at your piece position, how far in advance were you planning it?vyshka posted:Does SA have any teams in the 45 45 leagues on fics icc or playchess servers? I know that Twan plays in a 45 45 on ICC, maybe he will stop by and share some knowledge. Once upon a time there was an SA team on redhotpawn, managed by OrangeKing, but I don't know whether or not that's still alive.
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Mar 25, 2013 23:00
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Only a couple of moves, to be honest. I didn't see it until Black traded rooks on the c file, since that's how my queen ended up on c1. Prior to that, I was focusing on a potential Queen/Rook fork with my knight moving to d5, and trying to harass the Black king afterward. Didn't realize that it's an elementary mating pattern though. Whomp whomp.
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Mar 25, 2013 23:19
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Aggro posted:
I can never pass up an opportunity to recommend this site for a really comprehensive look at elementary tactics. Here is the first page about this mating pattern in particular.
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Mar 26, 2013 00:36
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McNerd posted:I can never pass up an opportunity to recommend this site for a really comprehensive look at elementary tactics. Here is the first page about this mating pattern in particular. Another good source is Renaud's Art of the Checkmate, or Murray Chandler's poorly named How to Beat Your Dad at Chess.
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Mar 26, 2013 03:19
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What client do people use for FICS? I've been using scid but the client is weird with a pseduo touch move policy and I haven't been able to figure out the premove option.
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Mar 26, 2013 18:36
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singe posted:What client do people use for FICS? I've been using scid but the client is weird with a pseduo touch move policy and I haven't been able to figure out the premove option. What OS? On windows I have liked the babaschess client. http://www.babaschess.net/
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Mar 26, 2013 18:42
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I have no idea what just happened in this game. I was trying to type "resign" and the console was telling me that I wasn't playing a game. Then I realized my opponent (playing Black) had resigned first. I don't get it.
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Mar 30, 2013 00:46
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Given that they had "guest" in their name, I'll guess that they just had to go and closed the window.
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Mar 30, 2013 00:47
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What a shame that they were able to play almost 9 minutes in then have to quit. Mate was coming in under 5 moves.
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Mar 30, 2013 01:06
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I've eventually worked out that comouter tactics puzzles are bad for me because I play one move at a time instead of calculating them first. I'm doing much better with good old-fashioned book. Over 1400 on chess.com 
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Apr 8, 2013 14:12
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BIGFOOT PEE BED posted:I've eventually worked out that comouter tactics puzzles are bad for me because I play one move at a time instead of calculating them first. I'm doing much better with good old-fashioned book. Do the standard problems at chesstempo.com. They aren't timed like chess.com and CTS (chess.emrald.net).
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Apr 8, 2013 15:57
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Oh hey a chess thread, I gave up correspondence chess recently after realizing that I was godawful at OTB/timed stuff where I didn't have an analysis board as a crutch. Been doing a ton of tactics and steadily improving as a result, now I can immediately spot hanging pieces and potential forks yay! I'm controlvolume on chess.com if you want to play a game, I promise not to use the analysis board so expect my effective rating to be somewhere around 1350-1400. Control Volume fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Apr 23, 2013 |
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Apr 23, 2013 20:28
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Things that feel good: agonizing over proper technique in an endgame for hours and then having your opponent make it easy for you in the most stylish possible way.
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Apr 29, 2013 01:01
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Hi all, I'm a 2000 rated player and a chess teacher and here are my book recommendations for beginners: Books: Primers Chess the Easy Way by Reuben Fine The best chess primer I've ever seen. I don't usually recommend this for kids unless they have a natural talent for chess. It is extremely rich in content. OR Comprehensive Chess Course by Lev Alburt and Roman Pelts, volume I recommend this for kids and adults who like a slower-paced, methodical approach. It follows the Russian idea of giving you exactly what you need to know when you need to know it. The lessons are programmatic where the lessons build on what you've previously learned. additional intro books: Play Winning Chess by Yasser Seirawan The entire Winning series is great, although many of the books are not for absolute beginners. Guide to Good Chess by C.J.S. Purdy Purdy is an excellent writer on chess; everything he's written is great. If Chess the Easy Way doesn't suit you I recommend checking this out. I've heard nothing but high praise for Chess Fundamentals by Capablanca but haven't checked it out yet. It is a self-teaching book. Capa believed in learning endgames and building on that knowledge when learning the middle game and openings, which is a quite different approach than is commonly used nowadays. Tactics I like online tactics sites because they give you a rating and adjust the problem difficulty based on your results. These are free sites: http://www.chesstempo.com I think this is the best site. http://chess.emrald.net This is also a good site These sites are great for all levels of players. If you are a beginner then stick with it- the first problems may be way out of your league, but they get easier and easier until they are right at your level. I strongly recommend solving tactical puzzles right from the beginning. Books on tactics for beginners: Winning Chess Tactics by Seirawan. This is an excellent book. I only recommend it to beginners once you can easily see if pieces and pawns are safe on their squares. CHESS by Lazlo Polgar. This is a HUGE book of chess problems, starting with checkmates in one move and going on from there. This isn't a generalized tactics book as most of the content is chess problems (find the checkmate). It's a series of puzzles with no comments- just chess positions. Basically you either love this or you don't. Worth checking out. This is a book you can use as you improve; even strong players can benefit from this book. If you like books better than online resources grab a big book of tactical puzzles. Fred Reinfeld is good here but there are many others. Endgames I believe in learning the endgames from the very beginning. Some teachers don't believe in teaching endings to beginners since most beginners' games are decided in the opening or middle game. IMHO learning endgames teaches you how to coordinate pieces, control squares and use tactics, which are all incredibly important things to learn. Start with learning the basic checkmates: king and queen vs. king; king and 2 rooks vs. king; and king and rook vs. king. Next learn the basic king and pawn endgames starting with king and pawn vs. king. I recommend learning endings from books. There are some online sites but these are better for practicing what you've already learned. The books will teach you the concepts. That said, chesstempo.com is a good online site where you can practice endgames. It adjusts the difficulty level of the problems to your skill level. I've seen some other sites but they don't tell you what to study in what order. Books: Winning Chess Endings by Yasser Seirawan is the best I've seen. Chess the Easy Way by Reuben Fine is very good here, but it may be too advanced and terse for kids and some adult beginners. Strategy I don't have a specific recommendation here other than Chess the Easy Way. Logical Chess: Move by Move by Chernev is very good but I don't recommend it to absolute beginners. How to Reassess your Chess is great but geared more toward intermediate to expert level players. Another great book for intermediate players is Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking by Neil McDonald. Basically I recommend getting a primer and working with it, and supplementing it with learning tactics and endgames. I believe in learning good opening principles but not studying openings in more detail until a little later. Same with collections of instructive games: these are important but I don't recommend them to players who are just getting started. Studying chess books is all very well, but don't forget to play chess too! You'll improve much more rapidly if you play all the time. Go over the games after playing; the most bang for your buck is to look at your losses to stronger players- with a stronger player. Bad Titty Puker fucked around with this message at 05:19 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 1, 2013 07:19
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Great post! Is there any chance you may have confused Comprehensive Chess Course Vol 1 with Vol 2? (Or thinking of the version where both are printed in one book?) Vol 1 is mostly just the rules of the game. Which is well and good and I guess I sometimes underestimate the importance of such things, but Vol 2 is absolutely fantastic and I hate to see it left out in the cold.
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May 2, 2013 04:12
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If you become a good/decent chessplayer and want to help your community, you can teach kids to play chess at your local Boys & Girls Club - let them know you'd like to volunteer. Also, some parents will hire you to teach chess to their kids or even the whole family. Even if all you know are the basics plus a bit of strategy, you can make some nice beer money and/or get kids involved in something fun/good for them. I did this through college and it was a great experience. You don't have to be a great chessplayer to be a good teacher/mentor to a young player. The reason I bring this up is because we're giving book recommendations. For a teacher, Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is simply the best curriculum/homework book out there for you to follow/use. You can get copies very cheap - it's been in paperback since its release in the 70s.
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May 2, 2013 04:46
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camels posted:Hi all, I'm a 2000 rated player and a chess teacher You could be my first loss of 2013 
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May 2, 2013 04:48
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McNerd posted:Is there any chance you may have confused Comprehensive Chess Course Vol 1 with Vol 2? (Or thinking of the version where both are printed in one book?) Vol 1 is mostly just the rules of the game. Which is well and good and I guess I sometimes underestimate the importance of such things, but Vol 2 is absolutely fantastic and I hate to see it left out in the cold. Yeah, you're right, I was thinking of volume 2. JDCorley posted:For a teacher, Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is simply the best curriculum/homework book out there for you to follow/use. No way! Where did you get that idea? Fischer didn't write it... It's not a terrible *tactics* book, but that's all it is, and there are much better ones out there. Fenrir posted:Hey, would you be interested in a correspondence game? I'd really like to see how my game has shaped up with all the practice I've thrown in against players around my rating (1680 and on a bit of a win streak right now) and deep fritz (which brutally kicks my rear end if I give it significant time to think). Sure. I've just started playing correspondence chess on chessworld.net (I'm "ReleaseTheBats"). I don't have much experience playing correspondence, but am getting into it.
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May 2, 2013 05:10
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