hardcore pawnography

i shouldn’t play blitz, it’s bad.  i know, but maybe just one quick game won’t hurt me.  ok, one quick game and that is it.  ok, just one more, i mean, two games won’t hurt, and besides, it’s experience.  well, maybe just one more…..

i’ve played 5 blitz games in the last two days, and i won 3 of them.  fucked up thing is, two of the players were 1700 and one was a 1500 that i usually lose to.   i dont’ know if its so much “i won” as “they lost.”

the first game, against a 1541, is actually an interesting game.  i spent the first 9 moves attacking his dark squared bishop, and on move 10 i took it with my well placed knight, thereby trading a good knight with an outpost for a kinda sucky bishop and opening up his rook file.  this makes tons of sense to me.  then comes the battle of the b1-h7 diagonal.  he puts lots of pressure on it, i defend it rather well.  we trade off pieces, i offer a queen trade but he declines with a queen sidestep with check.  on move 23 instead of just moving my king, i block the check with my knight.  i know he would take the b7 pawn, and i want him to.  he does, which helps my plan.  he is up lots of pawns, but i am up two pieces, so on move 24 i sac my knight to open up the way to his king.  i then move his queen out of the way with my rook, which is then lined up nicely to attack the king with my queen all the way on f5.  really, i’m quite proud of the whole little scam.   he eats up pawns while i prepare to mate him, and on move 29, he resigns.

here is the game, i’m black

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. e4 d5
6. e5 Ne4 7. Bh4 Bg4 8. Be2 h6 9. c3 g5 10. Bg3 Nxg3
11. hxg3 f6 12. Qc2 fxe5 13. Nxg5 Bf5 14. Bd3 e4 15. Ndxe4 dxe4
16. Bxe4 e6 17. Nf3 c6 18. O-O-O Nd7 19. Nh4 Nb6 20. Nxf5 exf5
21. Bxf5 Qg5+ 22. f4 Qxf5 23. Qb3+ Nd5 24. Qxb7 Nxc3 25. bxc3 Rab8
26. Qxc6 Qb1+ 27. Kd2 Rb2+ 28. Ke3 Qxa2 29. Rhe1 Rxg2
0-1

second game against a 1768, i’m white, it’s a weird game.  he seems to attack prematurely, and all attacks are easily defended against.  on move 8 i think he fucked up, he offers a bishop for no apparent reason.  i think there must have been some bad ass tactic, but i didn’t take it.   on move 15 he sets up for another mating attack which i easily prevented by blocking with my bishop, so not only is he blocked, i keep pressure on his f7 pawn, all the while i set up an attack on his g7 pawn and king.  he spite checks twice, i set up to kill him, he resigns.   i didn’t win this game, he lost it.   weird thing is, he played like i do, it was like watching me play.  now i realize how much i suck and why.

i’m white, here is the game

1. d4 c5 2. dxc5 e5 3. e4 Bxc5 4. Bc4 Qb6 5. Nh3 Nf6
6. Nc3 d6 7. Na4 Qa5+ 8. Nc3 Bf5 9. Bd2 Bxh3 10. gxh3 Nbd7
11. Nd5 Qd8 12. Qf3 O-O 13. O-O-O Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Qb6 15. Rhg1 Bd4
16. Bb3 Nc5 17. Bh6 Nxb3+ 18. cxb3 Rac8+ 19. Kb1 g6 20. Qf6
1-0

last game i’m black against a 1743 doing the sicilian thing.   by move 16 queens are traded and i am down a few pawns, so i should lose the endgame.  luckily, i didn’t realize that as i was playing, i only see that now going over the game.  while playing, i foolishly think i might win.  on move 16 my knight takes  his e4 pawn, uncovering an attack on his rook, his bishop, and defending my lone c5 pawn.  a simple bishop move of his removes any threats i have.  nothing is easy.   on move 20 i decide to trade my bishop for his rook, but it turns out its my knight and bishop for his rook.  i suck so much i am awarded honorary black hole status.   he is up at least a piece, a few pawns, and i got nothing.  perhaps he gets too penisy and relaxes a bit, but on move 28 he moves his knight which gives up his bishop for no apparent reason.  that knight move was the iceberg to his titanic.  one simple move and his game goes to shit like “that” (i snapped my fingers when i said the word “that”).  he trades his two bishops for my one bishop, and i’m left with a good position.    i have two rooks, he has rook and knight.  he resigns.  perhaps he would have won if we kept playing, but he resigned, so i won.  go figure.

here is the game, i’m black

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 Nc6 4. Bb2 Nf6 5. d3 g6
6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. d4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 e5 10. Nxc6 bxc6
11. Bxe5 Re8 12. f4 Qb6+ 13. Bd4 c5 14. Be5 d6 15. Qxd6 Qxd6
16. Bxd6 Nxe4 17. Be5 f6 18. Bb2 Bb7 19. Bf3 Rad8 20. Nc3 Nd2
21. Bxb7 Nxf1 22. Rxf1 f5 23. Bd5+ Kf8 24. Rd1 Bd4+ 25. Kf1 h5
26. Rd3 Kg7 27. g3 Kh6 28. Na4 Rxd5 29. Bxd4 cxd4
0-1

going over these games, i saw lots of tactical opportunities.  i saw how “counting errors” like hiesman talks about, i saw how one move changes the whole course of the game.   it’s cool i won, yeah, whatever, but i saw how much i suck, and how i got lucky, and i want to play chess where i win because my moves were better, not because i got lucky.   that said, winning, even if it’s cause i got lucky, beats the shit out of losing.

ok, so i learned the lucena postion. apparently i’m the last human on earth to learn this, and it’s the most important thing in chess ever. by knowing this position, i will win all my games, my teeth will straiten and whiten, i will have a full head of thick luscious hair like fabio, all the chicks will dig me, and all the guys will buy me beers and want to be my friend.

it looks like this with white to move:

it’s all about building a bridge too far over the river kwai in madison county.  white moves Rf2+, black king moves to g7, then what does white do?  he moves his rook to f4.  F FUCKING 4!!!!  of all the squares on the board to move to, f4 is the right one.   this keeps the black king out of the way, and lets the white king make like he is on the price is right and “come on down” to d5, so the pawn can get to across the border to mexico and become a queen.

so how many times will this ever come up in games?  i don’t’ think i’ve ever seen this position before, ever, yet it is the most important position in the universe.   ok, so now that i know this, do i play for this position?  do i trade everything down and march my king up in front of my pawn and get my rook where he needs to be and then force this position into reality?  is this something i keep in the back of my mind, and when i’m given an option to take a d pawn or have a pawn on d, think “well, with my pawn on the d file, i can get to the lucena position.”

also, since everyone knows this, they know what to do, and they should know how to prevent it.  right?

i do love the concept of bridging the king and rook, i like the whole “opposition” with the kings and the pawn, it is all kind of slowly coming together a bit for me, and i love that i now know this position.

i just wonder now that i know it, what do i do with it?

me: hey chess, how ya been?

chess: oh, it’s you. so, long time no see. you seem to have been so busy riding your bicycles and drinking, you just cast me aside like a pair of dirty underwear.

me: that’s not true, you can’t say that. while i may not have played at all, or sat and really studied in a few days, i’ve been looking at my tactics flashcards when i can and reading the reassess your chess workbook here and there. you have been on my mind most of the day every day.

chess: oh, yeah, that’s quality time. and now that you have a tournament coming up in about a month, you are gonna just waltz on in and expect me to just let you have your way with me? you want me to just open myself to you, fall all over you?

me: well…um…kinda, yeah. look, i’ve put in many hours trying to understand you and see you for who you really are. i took a few days to enjoy something else, and now i’m back and committed to spending lots of time with you, really really getting to know you. i don’t see why you are playing so hard to get. sometimes, i just don’t get you.

chess: no one gets me, i’m the wind.

me: what? really?

chess: no, i was just being difficult. i’m like that. many do get me, but i can be elusive to even them from time to time. i’m like that. so, why should i bother giving you the time of day?

me: well, i’m gonna spend lots more time with you, i’ll be giving you the attention you deserve. i will still be going to the gym and riding my bike, but my evenings will be spent with you and only you. unless top chef or that new celebra cadabra show where the famous people try to do magic on vh1 is on.

chess: you’re a dick. i hope you don’t expect to do well in chicago.

me: actually i do. i am going to really really study the sicilian, the plans, the tricks, the traps, as much of it as i can. i want to learn how to transition from it to the french smoothly, in case that ever comes up (again).

chess: pshhh. you got a few years? you don’t’ think you are just gonna do this in a week or two, do you?

me: no, of course not, but i gotta start somewhere, and while i’m doing that, going over master games, i’ll also pick up various middle game techniques, tactics, etc. i know it will take me more than a month, i’m in this for the long haul. i’m making a commitment to you, i thought you would have seen that by now.

chess: eh, you tend to be fickle. and you suck. and frankly i’m not all that attracted to you.

me: fine, that’s cool. i will just have to win you over. i’ll pay so much attention to you, you won’t be able to help giving up part of yourself to me. i’ll learn the real you, and maybe, someday, i can at least be one of your lower mild interests. i may not be your full time love, but i can at least be a part time fuck buddy.

chess: damn, way to ruin it. you were doing ok until that last part. why do you have to be like that?

me: i don’t know, that’s just how i see things. anyway, you will be seeing a lot more of me, i promise. but now i gotta get ready for work.

chess: you suck, i hate you.

me: i know, i’m gonna change that though.

yesterday i went for a huge bikeride, a bit too far, out of water, legs seizing up, nice light sunburn on the arms.  i pushed myself, it was good.  according to fred nietzsche, i’m stronger, seeing as how it didn’t kill me.  i don’t feel stronger, in fact, i felt all sore and depleted.

so today i didn’t do a damn thing all day, save look at internet porn, study chess, and confit some lemons (blanch lemons, rinse and dry them.  mix diced shallots (or onions) and garlic, and mix about 1/2 cup salt and 3 tbs sugar. slice lemons kinda thin.  in a non-reactive container (i use a glass jar) layer lemons, garlic/onion, and salt/sugar, then lemons, garlic/onion, and salt/sugar, etc, to the top. top off with garlic mix, put in fridge for 3 days, cover with olive oil, and you got some tasty ass lemons to use in food or as a weird little side).

i mostly studied chess.   what got me all excited was today i memorized a position.  i don’t’ know why, i just did.  you can reach the position either from a weird sicilian or a kings indian.

ok, so i know i’m supposed to “know positions” but i don’t quite know what that means.   i don’t know what positions i’m supposed to know, or what it means to “know” them.  like, do i need to know where every pawn and piece are, or just the big main players?  are there some positions you see quite frequently?  i know i often see a certain position playing a QGD game.

anyway, when i sat down to study at my kick ass chess desk, before i opened a book i made a conscious effort to “be in the moment” and pay attention to every move i made.  then i went over the games, two and three times.  i didn’t just look to see what move was made and make the move, i looked at the board, thought about what i would do, then looked at the book, saw what the player did, moved that move, then looked at the board, etc.   occasionally i actually thought of the right move.  sometimes i saw the move that that book said was obvious and wrong.  other times the move i would make was never made in the history of chess because it sucked that much.

the one game i really liked, and i don’t know why, was short-kasparov 1993 london (rapid). for some reason this game appealed to me, and i somehow memorized the position after 9 moves.  i can re-create it at will and i know what move was played next.

does this do anything for me at all?  did i just waste some brain space learning something i will never ever need?

i wonder what positions i SHOULD memorize, if any.  and how do i learn what positions i need to know?

anyway, i felt like i accomplished something, even though i can’t be sure it was anything.   and if nothing else, at least i have some tasty lemon confit.

so far i’ve managed to maintain my “intense” study schedule.  1 hour of tactics, two master games, one of them being capablanca’s end game study games.  today i shall get those in, and tonight is pizza and beer night.

but tomorrow begins the fruita fat tire festival.  i shall study, but most of my time will be spent on the bike.  perhaps a bit of a break will help?

i wonder though, that fine line between taking a break and chess atrophy.  i’m afraid that if i go a day without chess study of some type, i will suddenly lose whatever i have, forget anything i may have learned.  this is ridiculous, but i still fear it.

yet i don’t want to burn out, i don’t want to train and study my brain into a fried mess so it shuts down and won’t do anything.  or maybe that isn’t even possible and i’m afriad of ghosts?

i’m really enjoying capablanca’s best chess endings.  not only can i find games by opponent or opening, but there is an index in back so i can look up games by what capablanca had vs. his opponent.  if i want to see him rook against knight and bishop, or queen and rook against queen and bishop, i look in the index and find what game covers that.    pretty nifty.

and the endgame starts on a different page than the rest of the game, so if i just want to see the endgame and not how he got there, i can start on the endgame.  it’s a really great book, i’m very happy with it

the only other endgame book i have is silman’s endgame course.  it seems to have everything i need right now, so that for instruction and capablanca for practical engame in action should do me quite well for now.

now it’s just up to me to actually learn this stuff.  and that is a whole other thing entirely.

ok, this week i’m gonna push it.

first off, i’m gonna go through all the basic mates.  philidors, smothered, anastasias, epaulets, all that stuff.   as it’s been said, go through the basic drills, make sure they are ingrained into my every being.

i will spend an hour each day on tactics, either with the CTS or the tactics books i have. in addition, i will go through at least 2 masters games a day, one of them being from chernev’s “capablanca’s best chess endings.” each game i will look over carefully, spending time with it, paying attention to how they moved, what pressures the pieces exert, i’ll go over it at least twice to get a feel for how they played it.

at least that is the plan for this week.

Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it. - agatha christie

ok, this is gonna be gay and sappy, but i was thinking about it all and this is what i wanna post.

since i’ve started this blog, i have had a metric shit ton of advice.

and no kidding, i’ve taken most of it.  it might not seem like it to the people like edwin and blunderprone and wahrheit and dk, to name a few, who’ve been reading my craptastic word hemorrhages since the beginning, and see i’m still making the same mistakes and asking the same stuff, but every bit of advice, every opinion, all of it, i have read, thought about, and most likely done.

and really, even though i still suck like a vampire in a black hole (which could happen cause vampires are already dead, they don’t need oxygen, they could “live” in space probably.  except they would go hungry cause everything else would be dead and they would have no blood to drink) i am a way better chess player today than i would have been without all the advice and help.

do not for a second think i don’t take all comments and advice into consideration.  if you took the time and effort to say something, especially something that will help me, i am damn sure gonna respect it enough to think about it, consider it, and if i can, try it.   agatha christie was wrong in this case, i will never ignore advice throw my way.

so, to everyone who has left a comment, an opinion, advice, “argued” with another commenter, all of it:  a super huge thank you.  all that information, all that personal experience, all of it is the fuel that makes the chess improvement tank roll forward.

really, that is one of the coolest things about this whole chess blog world.  so many people, of all ratings and abilities, are so willing to help and teach what they know.

that right there fucking rocks.

The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself. - oscar wilde

i think that’s how those lyrics went…

they (the all knowing “they” who say everything) say you can only serve one master. there are variations on that theme, but it’s pretty obvious and true, as history as shown. look at darth vader. that happend a long long time ago (yet somehow in the future) and those lessons are still relevant today.

you can only serve one master.

my problem is, i’m in my own personal polygamist ranch here, and it’s getting to me.

i bought a house and planned to move here to fruita colorado waaay back when i was primarily focused on riding mountain bikes, my first love. that’s all i wanted to do (that and surf porn for hours). but, between me buying the house and actually getting to fruita, or as i call it “zion” (just like they refer to the ranch) i somehow fell in love with the damn chess game. so i tried to force it to be mine, along with biking.

now the weather is turning perfect, and in two weeks there is the fruita fat tire festival and i am drawn to it like a texas mormon rancher is drawn to a 13 year old girl wearing a little house on the prairie dress.

that, combined with the constant negative reinforcement of losing at blitz games which i shouldn’t be playing, feeling like i just am not getting it, feeling stupid, has put me a bit off on chess. i feel my enthusiasm waning, i’m not on fire as i used to be. its like chess has grown into a 30 year old woman, and cycling has become the 15 year old i want to force to marry me against it’s wishes.

last night i came home from a ride, and i played tacticus maximus in our tournament of leppers game. i didn’t want to play, it was over pretty quickly, i lost and figured i’d lose at around move 3. the rest was just kinda a slow painful walk towards inevitability. not that i didn’t try, i did, but i didn’t expect to win and i didn’t much care to play, i was thinking of riding. chess just hasn’t been a priority for me lately, and that scares me a bit.

i was supposed to play ivan later that night but fell asleep. IVAN, DUDE, SORRY I FLAKED ON YOU.

not that i have any intention to quit, i can’t. even if the authorities break into my house, arrest all the books and chessbase, and take me to a shelter, i am gonna wanna come back to it. i can’t quit the chess.

but my feelings for the biking still stirs. i ride, i love to ride, i have to ride. i want to ride all the damn time. but if i’m out riding, hanging out with riders, partying, doing bike related stuff, i am not studying chess. and i have a damn tournament coming up next month. and i want to learn and play chess like someone who knows how to play damn chess dammit.

i have no intention on becoming a professional bicycle racer/rider, i don’t compete, i don’t have to “train.” i also want to improve at chess but i’m not gonna be a professional chess player either. so it’s not like i have a huge dilemma. i should be able to do both.

but i want to be good at chess, much better than i am now, i want to understand it’s secrets, discover it’s hidden beauty, see how the pieces move like the cosmos dancing. but to improve in chess i need to put in the time, the hours, and those are hours that i could be and very well might be out riding my bicycle on the most perfect singletrack trails in the country.

which puts me in such a funk, i end up sitting on the couch watching reality television, my other mistress (but one i’m not particularly devoted to).

i hope i get my chess lust back. maybe i’m just on my chess period, and this will go away.

i feel better now that i’ve typed it and got it out of my head. perhaps i’ll go study, right after i get back from a ride.

so i’m going through the zurich international chess tournament of 1953, again, that book is just so damn instructive, bronstein kicked ass writing it.

but what strikes me is the games are so…..easy, so…..basic. i understand at that time, they were laying down the foundations of what we consider good solid chess, it was all new, fresh, exciting.

but the games are simple. deceptively simple. they don’t look like anything, the moves all look so “obvious,” each move looks like it fits, like it should be done. so obvious, so simple, why is it when i play chess, i make these fucked up moves that look like a juicy medium rare steak wrapped in bacon served at a vegetarian restaurant?

and then i think, well, that is how chess is played, but then i see a modern game, like this one by levon aronion in the 2005 aeroflot open:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. c5 g6 7. Qb3 a5 8. Ne5 Bg7 9. Nxb5 cxb5 10. Bxb5+ Kf8 11. O-O Ba6 12. a4 Ne4 13. Nd3 Bb7 14. f3 Nf6 15. Ne5 Qc7 16. Bd2 h5 17. c6 Bc8 18. e4 Qb6 19. Be3 Be6 20. Rac1 Na6 21. f4 Nc7 22. f5 Bc8 23. Rc5 Ba6 24. Bg5 Bc8 25. Kh1 Nxe4 26. Bxe7+ Kxe7 27. Rxd5 Nxd5 28. Qxd5 Ng5 29. Nxg6+ fxg6 30. Re1+ Be6 31. Rxe6+ Kf8 32. Qd6+ Kg8 33. Bc4 Kh7 34. Re7 gxf5 35. Qf6 Rhg8 36. Qxg5 1-0

every freakin move of aroinian’s is forward, he sacs two pieces, he is down material but commands the board, aggressive, violent decisive chess.

that game makes the most exciting beautiful game in the zurich 1953 book look boring and stupid.

and so i wonder, if i try to emulate and play like they did in 1953, would i just get crushed? can someone get away with playing like that now? i’m sure if i played like keres or smyslov or petrosian on their WORST day i would play 300% better than i do now.

but chess has changed since 1953. it’s changed since 1983. but do i try to emulate the wild ass crazy moves of aronian in that game, or do i play like aronian did the very next day with a boring dull straight forward endgame, no fireworks, nothing wild.

how relevant are the games of 1953 now? are they just for historical purposes? i assume the basic principles are the same, they still apply, and if i study and learn those games, i will understand good solid basics. i don’t think i’m wasting my time, but i sometimes wonder if learning the 1953 chess, then learning the 1990’s chess, then learning today’s chess, while enjoyable and enriching, is a long way to a point that can be reached a bit more direct.

i will still study zurich 1953, enjoy the games, learn from them. how can i NOT learn from them. i just wonder if there is a more direct, more efficient path. what if i just studied the games played in the last 5 years? what if i just studied Quality Chess’s San Luis 2005 (recommended by tanc in the comments of the last post) would i be missing something? would i not have a solid enough foundation?

how relevant is old timey chess today?

i don’t know if it’s the weather or what, but lately i haven’t been as focused on chess as i should be. i’ve been going over tactics, a very very few master games, and i’ve not been playing chess online at all.

until friday.

friday was “pizza and beer night,” where we ride our bikes down to the pizza joint, have pizza and beer and ride home. this was followed by “i think i’ll have one more shot of sambuca” night. being in a drunken state, with my inhibitions and self restraint all gone, i got online to play chess. i was double fisting it too, i had both FICS and ICC open, trolling for games.

i was the drunk guy at the bar hitting on every woman he saw. “hey baby, wanna dance?” “hey, were your parents retarded? cause you are sooooo special!” “hey, do you have a mirror in your pocket? cause i can see myself between your legs!” etc etc.

only i was like “hey, nice rating, wanna play a blitz game?”

usually this only turns out bad for me, i suck, i lose, i get more despondent, and the downward spiral ends with a bang. but not this time.

first off, i ended up calling my man Wango.  i know when you are drunk and you drunk dial, you are supposed to call up ex-girlfriends and such, but trolling around ICC i saw wango so i called him.  he was gonna play in a tournament, and we talked about stuff, we talked about the gruenfeld, and i was filled with some kind of belief that i knew what i was doing and could play.

i played against a 1742, and somehow i won.  he must have also been drunk.

i was white, he plays the slav.   i play 4 a4, preventing the b5 push.  i don’t know if this is really helpful or not.  is it a waste of time, could i have played something more aggressive, setting myself up for a strong attack?

on move 7 he plays the obvious h6 to kick my bishop on g5, so i move him to f4, with the plan of putting him on e5, maybe.  i’ve done this before, i don’t know if it’s the right thing to do, if he would be better on h4, but he is blocked by the pawn on e3.    move 11 his knight comes to d5 attacking the bishop, i think i might want that guy later, so i take with the c3 knight.  again, not sure if this was the right thing to do, but to me, i remove one of his pieces and he doesn’t give me doubled pawns by taking my knight.

of course he takes with the other knight, but then i move the bishop to e5.   he checks me with Bb4, i block with my f3 knight, his queen comes to a5.  i know i’m gonna lose that knight, but i’m good with that.  he can have the knight, that’s all he is gonna get.

i castle, he takes the knight, but then what?  what does he have?  nothing, that’s what.    my queen comes to g4 threatening mate, i know he has to move the pawn, but he moves f6 instead of the g pawn, so i move the bishop to attack the rook.  then he moves f5 attacking the queen, so she takes one step closer to kissing the king goodnight.  he moves he rook to d8, my bishop comes back to e5 and again i threaten mate.  his rook comes to d7, i push the g pawn to break shit down.  he has  3:53 on the clock, and moves his knight to e7, blocking the rook so i can mate.  he resigns.    a cheap win?  yeah, but fuck it, i’m drunk, i’ll take it.

game is here if you wanna see it:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. a4 e6 5. Bg5 Be7
6. e3 O-O 7. Nf3 h6 8. Bf4 Nbd7 9. Bd3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nb6
11. Bd3 Nbd5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. Be5 Bb4+ 14. Nd2 Qa5 15. O-O Bxd2
16. Qg4 f6 17. Bd6 f5 18. Qg6 Rd8 19. Be5 Rd7 20. g4 Ne7
1-0

just for the irony, i decide to play again, so i can laugh at how i beat a 1742 and lost to a 1224.

again, i am white, he tries to play some kind of bastard gruenfeld, without the fianchettoed bishop.   i had just talked to wang about the gruenfeld, how odd.  anyway, i end up with a nice half assed attack on the kingside, my pawns move forward menacingly, my bishop takes h6 and is there to help the queen kill the king.  he sees that death is imminent and just sits and lets time run out.   two drunken victories and i call it a night.

here is the game:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3
6. bxc3 c5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Bb5 Bd7 9. O-O Qb6 10. Rb1 Qa5
11. Ng5 h6 12. Nf3 Be7 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Ne5 Qc7 15. Qf3 O-O
16. Qg4 Bf6 17. Nxc6 Qxc6 18. e5 Bg5 19. f4 Be7 20. h4 cxd4
21. f5 Qc4 22. Bxh6 g6 23. fxg6
1-0

the weekend was spent working, riding my bike, going over tactics and looking at some games from zurich 1953.  what a great book.

i need to go over games in depth, i need to dig and wrench the meaning of the moves right out of the pages.  i need to understand, to KNOW.  that will be today’s focus.

and i’ll do it all sober.

i went and saw doomsday. i love “post apocalyptic” type movies, and this didn’t let me down. it had the totally original plot of having to send a team into a “no man’s land” to find a guy, get a cure, and get out alive.

there was a virus that got out of control in england, mostly up in scotland, so they walled off scotland and left everyone to die, scotland became this huge “no man’s land” contaminated area that no one could enter or leave.   then the virus showed up in london and they found survivors in scotland so they had to send a team into the city to get to the doctor and find a cure.   this was just the setup to the action to come.

one thing i learned, in the future it will always be rainy and dark, and all survivors left without government supervision will be muscular, fit punkrockers with mohawks who drive cars and motorcycles with skulls on them. i also learned a bently can drive THROUGH the middle of a bus, causing the bus to explode, yet the bently will have little to no damage and the paint job will remain shiny and scratch free. what an awesome movie. there is even a small surprise “twist” that i didn’t see coming, but i won’t mention it here in case someone wants to see that movie.

surprisingly, there was no chess.  apparently, in the year 2032, peopel will stil listen to adam ant and the pet shop boys, but there will be no chess.

i wanna see a post apocalyptic movie about chess.   a crazy virus spreads and mutates everyone, people die, chaos ensues, and a chess grandmaster takes over (susan polgar?) and leads people, and establishes a chess city (like elista?) that they all live in, and live by the rules of chess.  the “queen” of chess city rules with an iron fist, and someone from “the outside” has to get into the city to find some scientist, who works for the queen, because only he can make the cure.

the team is lead by a bad-ass special forces guy, and they have to take this super nerdy bad ass chessplayer in, and the bad ass chess player has to think all chessically to outwit the city guards and he has to play chess.

and in one scene, they have to fight angry mutated chessmoms who fling poisoned steel darts that are little bishops.

and they drive through a chesshall, where the mutants are playing chess, a the chess boards explode!!!

also there is a fight and they use exploding chessclocks.

yeah, i gotta get in touch with hollywood on this one.

anyone reading this, don’t get any mutating viruses, and have a great weekend.

yesterday sucked as a chess day. chess was the olympic torch and my mind was a mob of protesters, not having any of it. the two or three games i played on ICC i lost, and i knew i would lose, cause i just wasn’t into it. i almost didn’t’ want to play, my mind wouldn’t get into “chess mode.” i tried studying, but my mind wouldn’t acknowledge the information, my eyes wouldn’t see the pieces. i wonder if alekhine, tal, petrosian, or capablanca ever had those days.

so i realized my studying and chess thinking is all straight line. i think i should try some backwards planning, which makes sense, as it’s a military thing used for planning military stuff, and chess is a game of war. i know his king will most likely end up in the corner, and i want to kill the king there. so i work backwards. if his king is gonna be in that corner, then i need my knight here, my bishop here, my queen here, and i have to keep these squares open. and i work my way backwards from where i want to be to where i am now, to figure out how to get my pieces where they need to be. this sounds pretty obvious and easy, but i’m not sure i think like that when i play, and i wonder if i would do better if i thought that way.

i also noticed when i am studying the tactics books, i usually concentrate on “white to move” and when i go over games, whatever side wins is the side i play, to see how it looks from my point of view. perhaps i should do more “black to win” in the books and play the losing side of games, to get me thinking upside down, so i start to see threats from the opponent, start to see possible moves for him, see his options, and get better at figuring out what he might do.

if nothing else, perhaps this will stimulate my brain, give it a jumpstart, nudge it a bit.

it’s official, i’ve registered, made the plane and hotel reservations, i’m going to the chicago open. and so i felt it necessary to paraphrase a quote from the blues brothers movie for the title of this post, since they were in chicago and all.

i got a few weeks to gear up, prepare, and so i have been thinking of another crazy half assed scheme. since i’ll be playing in the U1300 section, hanging out in the kiddie pool, what if i devote every day from now to then to the endgame, just study the shit out of the endgame and get good, capablanca good. i become an endgame fucking master, which most people under 1300 don’t know. then, in all my games, i just trade pieces until i get to the endgame, where i will win.

all of my games, by move 15, will be endgames, where i dominate and win. how fucked up would that be?

i was also thinking of showing up to the game in a speedo and a tube top, and when you shake the other guy’s hand and wish him luck, saying “i used to fuck guy’s like you in prison. good luck. ” that should throw them off a bit, giving me the extra edge i need.

either way, i’ll be in chicago. never been there before, so i’m excited to go. i better go study now and get ready…

went to the gym this morning, i felt tired, i still managed to bench press about 185 pounds.  not too shabby for a 145 pound short guy.   i love the gym, all that sweating, grunting, hard breathing….but i digress.

thing is, i had gotten out of it for a bit, lost whatever i had.  when i got back into it, i had to start at the beginning, and i could only bench about  100 pounds, and not that much, and i was weak and couldn’t get stronger.   but i found, as i got stronger, i could put more weight on and push harder and push more which in turn got me even stronger.    at first, i was so weak i couldn’t bench enough to get a solid workout, i would tire quickly and easily, but as i got stronger, i could go longer and heavier and get bigger increases.

so it has been (a bit) with chess.   at first, i didn’t’ know what i was looking at, so i took it at face value, took what i saw as the truth, and moved on, not really knowing how to use what i just learned.  now that i’m a scant bit stronger, (stronger, yes, yet i still have managed to retain my indefatigable ability to suck like a chest wound) the things i learn and see mean more to me now then they did.  i’m slowly, like at the speed of a retarded sloth, “getting it.”

i remember reading how “the art of attack” is a great book for 1600 and thinking “why can’t i read it?  i’m an adult, i can understand concepts, i can read it and understand it and use it.”  and i read it and i understood it, but now that i know a slight bit more, i understand it a slight bit more.  it all makes sense to me now, how a book, how information, is targeted at someone with a certain rating.

a 1600 presumably knows a certain amount of chess stuff.   so he will interpret the information in the book differently and perhaps more efficiently than someone with less knowledge.

and so the more i know, the more efficiently i will be able to take in the information, the more i will learn from each thing i do. the stronger i get, the stronger i will get.

how exciting.

in addition to everyone’s advice and comments, all of them super helpful and appreciated, Phaedrus wrote this open letter. and while it is to me, i think there is stuff there for everyone.

overall, i feel re-energized, ready to look at the games with beginner’s eyes and beginner’s wonder.   i’m ready to turn my amplifier up to 11, put some hi-octane gas in the tank, and study chess with reckless abandon.  i have my tactics flash cards that i made from reinfeld’s 1001 sacrifices and combinations that i look at when i’m standing around at work.   i’m planning on going to the chigago open, so i have a goal, something to train for.

it’s saturday, cloudy, and i have to work.  that’s ok though, there will be chess for me when i get home.