Opening’s Ramble

I wanted to post some of the things I have learned about openings and also some things I am pondering as a result of my studies.  One item is that the struggle that is a chess game starts with move one.  *waits for the laughter to die down*  By that I mean move 1 is just as important as move 23 or the last move of the game.  Why?  You might ask.  The reason is this.  Your first move is your statement about where you are starting your attack on your opponent.  That thought in itself has changed my view of a chess game. You see . . . I used to only get serious after the mysterious opening was over.  For some reason, I just did “get it” that the opening phase of a chess game is just your preliminary first attack on your opponent.

With that in mind, the thought about which move is best for opening a chess game?  I believe that answer ends up being a little complicated, especially when transposition comes into play.  It is possible after 7 moves to end up with the same position, but doing the moves in a different order, or transposing the order of the moves.  So I will fall back upon this statement. The best first attack is to first seize the middle of the chessboard.  On some of the chess discussions there is the eternal argument over the best opening.  To take control of the center of the board is to limit your opponent.

For me, the answer to that idea is e4 as my beginning of my opening.  I am getting comfortable with what I call “King Pawn Complex.”  All e4 guarantees me is that I will end up with one of the following openings: Scotch, Giuoco Piano, Ruy Lopez, Petroff’s Defence, Sicilian, Caro-Kann, French, or one of a few other openings.  You see, the opening system is determined by the play of me and my opponent together.  My repsonses to his/her attacks will dictate which opening and opening line is played.  No. I don’t have them all memorize to move 12.  But I do have some idea of the first few moves of each opening.  Rather than memorize thousands of moves, I am trying to understand the battle that takes place in each of these openings.  By understanding the King’s Pawn Complex, I hope to avoid, Fried Liver, the Tarrasch Trap, and any other traps that appear in the openings.

On another idea, I am evaluating what I call the Center Counter Punch.   Center Counter Punch refers to the idea of attacking my opponent’s center.  Something I read once has gotten me curious.  It was referring to Alekhine’s Defence which is Nf6.  It is a Hypermodern idea of letting white setup a center and see if it can hold.  Right now, I believe that a Center Counter Punch that uses a pawn sacrifice, would possibly work on any center.  I have some reading and studying to do, but I believe that this idea leads to the following idea.  “It is not who arrives first at the center who controls it, but the last.”  Right now it is a theory and an idea, one I want to experiment with and study.  If you have any ideas, please leave a note here.  I would love to research this idea.

Improvements through analysis.

This game is one of my turn based on-line games.  This game is one I actually took time and analyzed my moves and took my time.  I have Fritz8 and Chessmaster 10.  I had both of them analyze the game.  I discovered some things that surprised me.

Opening: C40 King’s Knight Opening.

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Bd6 [He tries to defend the King Pawn in an unusual way. I believe this to be weak. It hinders his queen pawn from moving and allowing the white Bishop to develop. This move makes me curious about my opponent.]

3. Bc4 Nc6

4. c3 [ In the spirit of the Giuoco Piano I made this move. I am also worried about Nb5 move. This protects both. I want to win the center and the c pawn is the sacrifice to make in order to retain a d pawn.]

4. . . Qf6

5. O-O a6 [This was another curious move. It is his attempt to keep me from some sort of delayed Ruy Lopez. I am trying to keep with the Giuoco Piano.]

6. d4 [This move will allow me to

a. Take the center

b. finish my development with Bg5 and Nd2.]

6. . . exd4

7. cxd4 [Up to this point I have no surprises. I figured the game would go this way and that my next two moves are still on track Bg5 and Nd2. Also, I see a mean fork with e5.]

7. . . Qe7 [He sees it! I am glad he does. I like playing opponents that don't miss obvious moves.]

8. Bg5 f6 [It is really the only defence in this case. Nf6 would not allow him to attack me and it would pin the knight. c6 does create a weakness, but on the other hand, it makes me think about moving my bishop.]

9. e5! [I decided not to move my bishop, but to counter attack. I lose a bishop, he loses a bishop. Let's see what he wants to do. Fritz 8 gave this an !.]

9. . . b5?? [Fritz8 gave this move ??. I think he wanted to attack my bishop in response to my attacking his bishop in response to his attacking my bishop. Chessmaster didn't like this move either and said fxg5 was better. I agree with this.]

10. Bd5 [Both programs said Re1 was the better move. I saw the move later. I didn't want to leave so much material hanging. Fritz's line 10. Re1 bxc4 11. exd6 (pinning the queen) Chessmaster's line 10 Re1 Kd8 11. exd6 gxf6 12. Rxe7 Bxe7 and so on. I didn't see this move and it's power till I saw the analysis. Just goes to show you that no matter now good you play. There might be something better you missed. The point of Bd5 was to pin the knight to the Rook.]

10. . . fxg5

11. exd6 Qxd6

12. Re1+ [The last two moves were expected. I finally see Re1. I figured he would protect with Ne7. It seems very logical. I also start to toy with either Qh5 or Bf7.]

12. . . Nge7 [After looking a few moves into the combo. I figured he would see that f8 is the best square for his king. It seems odd that this is the best, but all the combos seem to lead to that conclusion. I decide to protect my Bishop and see what changes come up.]

13. Nc3 Bb7 [He can't castle King's side, due to my bishop, so he is preparing to castle Queen side. At least that is what I figure.]

14. Nxg5 [This move is part of my attack on f7.]   Qf6? [Both programs liked Qf4 better.]

15. Nce4 [My intent was to keep hassling the Queen.]

15. . . Qxd4 [Black's move seems really solid and almost demands a trade, but when I looked at it, i saw that Blacks Knight on c6 would eventually end up on c2 with a fork on my rooks. I decided to let him take me and then provoke his Knight on e7 to move and then I would move my knight to have a disovered check. I decided that my Bishop would take his knight and that would force his knight to retake due to his knight defending the queen.]

16. Bxc6 Nxc6 ??

17. Nd6+ [Now it is time to see if my plan will be a good one, or a bad one. The computer's didn't like the last two moves. They wanted us to exchange queens. Also, Fritz said my move was ?? and that Nc5 was better because I would end up winning the Bishop. I see that now. I was so focused on the possibility of winning the h Rook that I didn't look at what else I could do. 16. Nc5+ Kd8 17. Nge6+ dxe6 18. Nxe6+ (and I win the queen.)]

17. . . Kd8 [I am still blind to the consequences of Kd8. I just saw the fork. I figure that his move will be to f8. I am shocked by this move. It seems he is stepping into the fork.]

18. Ngf7# 1-0

I learned quite a few things from this game. I was surprised at some of the things I missed. I am overall pleased with this game. I did some planning and tried to move slowly and deliberate on each move. I still suffered from Positional Blindness. Overall I am moving in the right direction and putting in to effect some good habits.

I am still learning about annotating games myself. Please feel free to leave a comment.

The Frustrations of Chess

Right now I am completely frustrated at myself and my chess playing. No matter how hard I work at learning the game and my playing, it seems the same old problems resurface again and again. These are problems that cost me games and put me down a piece early in the middle game! *sigh* It is enough to tip the King and walk away permanently. Just when I thought I was making progress, the old trouble creeps in again. I played a long game a few days ago and won. I was playing Chessmaster rated at about 1220. I dominated the game and it felt good. I know that won’t happen much, but I enjoy it when it happens. I have lost 2-3 games since that victory due to my typical bad tendencies.

My first bad tendency is to see a move and play it. I don’t slow down and evaluate the board. I will call this Blitz-itis.  I have “The Amatuer’s Mind” by Jeremy Silman and have read it, and I still don’t do it. I also get focused on what I want to do and I get blind to all the other replies that my opponent can do.  I will call this one Position Blindness. I wonder if the pressure of the tactics puzzles is reinforcing my Blitz-itis. Seeing tactics are important. I feel that for me seeing them and then increasing my speed at recognizing them is how I should do it. But then again, will anything help? I am doomed to be a wood-pusher? I sure hope not. I would like to believe that there is hope. . . even for me.

So what is the game plan? What do I do to overcome this, or at least, take steps to overcome these weaknesses?

1. Don’t hurry responses. I play on a few “turn based” chess sites. I will take some time before my moves.

2. Look for the Opponents best move. When I evaluate, try to find what I would do to counter my move.

3. Look at multiple reply variations. When looking at replies, look at multiple moves. Use Chesspad to look at the various options for replies to moves.
   

4. When overly excited at a move, wait, look it over again.

I believe that these are doable.  Any more and I just can’t possibly keep it up.  I know t hat I will have Blitz-itis from time to time and Position Blindness is something we all face, but maybe this and playing more games will get me where I want to go.

2 great books on Chess

Of all the articles and books I have read, three books stand out from the rest. These books are:

• “Ideas Behind the Chess Openings” by Reuben Fine

• “Discovering Chess Openings” by John Emms

Stand out from the rest. They each have a unique impact on my chess playing.

Discovering Chess Openings

The chaper titles are:

1. Central Issues

2. Introducing Development

3. King Safety

4. Delving Deeper

5. Pawn Play

6. Chess Openings in practice

In Chapter 1 he discusses and explains why controlling the center needs to be the point of the openings. From being able to post a defended piece on f5 or d5, to being able ot keep you opponent from developing naturally. Also, you start to see the reasons behind using the Sicilian Defense.

Chapter two discusses development of pieces, how to do it and how not to do it. He discusses why early Queen use runs you into trouble. He also covers the general principle for proper development along with why these principles work.

King Safety is discusses in Chapter 3. The king’s safety is part of the opening. He also discusses why certain pawn moves lead to a weak king.

Chapter 4 goes into various topics that fill out opening theory, such as time, force, use of pins and gambits. This chapter is a must read!

The lowly pawn gets his due in chapter 5. Pawns are very important pieces when it comes to the opening. He covers quite a bit about proper pawn play and not just in the openings. He covers basic pawn play for a King pawn opening and also for Queen pawn openings.

Chapter 6 puts everything into practice as he looks at openings and some entire games.

Ideas Behind the Chess Openings has been a favorite of mine that I have read and picked through many times. I haven’t seen any book that dispenses with the nonsense of remembering opening moves and explains the theory behind the openings.

The chaper titles are:

1. General Principles

2. King Pawn Openings (1. e4 e5)

3. King Pawn Openings (1. e4 Replies other than e5)

4. Queen Pawn Openings (1. d4 d5)

5. Queen Pawn Openings (1. d4 Replies other than e5)

6. Reti and English Openings

7. Bird’s Opening and Nimzovitch’s Attack

8. Irregular Openings.

There is so much good in this book I really don’t know where to start. Here is a passage from Chapter 1

An apt illustration occurs in deviations from “book.” A game begins with 1. e4 f6? The reply is bad, so bad in fact that it will not be found in any collection of standard opening moves. What to do about it? The man who has memorizzed oodles and oodles of moves without understanding them is at a loss; he will not even be able to give a good reason why the move is bad. But the man who knows that Black has neglected the center, deprived his King’s Knight of its best square, and weakened his King position will find it a simple matter to refute his opponent’s faulty play.

That, my friend, is why I love this book. It explains the reasons for the opening moves and explain why certain openings have certain moves and why. It doesn’t cover every variation, but it teaches you how to understand an opening and why it is being played. This book is one to slowly digest. It is full of chess goodness.