just play chess
it took me, what? about two years or so?
i finally learned the secret to playing chess.
just play chess.
and by that, i mean do all the stuff they say to do from the beginning, all the basic “yeah, i know that” stuff. develop the pieces, put them on the squares they belong. king belongs in the corner, rooks belong on open files, or the c file. knights belong on c3/6, f3/6, unless on d2/7, depending on if you are gonna push the pawn.
i played against a 1700 guy, i won. i didnt do anything crazy or weird, i developed boringly. this put my pieces in the right spot for tactics and combinations, he made a small error, i got a tactic where i checked his king and won his queen and i won.
i played a 1500 guy, pretty much the same story, i won.
i play an 1100, i bring out the bishop and queen on move 3 to attack, i push the g pawn for no real reason, i lose.
you cannot attack prematurely. you cannot siege a castle if your battering rams, ladder guys, archers, and infantry are not ready and coordinated.
its just so easy!
yet i still manage to lose way more games than i win, to people rated way below me, so what the hell do i know?
notifier said,
February 18, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Your name got stolen:
USCF
Someone is copying your pawnography thing.
likesforests said,
February 18, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Odin’s blood! I think you’ve got it.
blunderprone said,
February 18, 2009 at 7:43 pm
“…yet i still manage to lose way more games than i win, to people rated way below me, so what the hell do i know?”
Well, there’s always mind altering substances like peyote or Musshrooms. At least when you lose, you’ll be laughing and you won’t care as much. That’s the secret. When you don’t care, you have nothing to lose.
No seriously, Sounds like you’re starting to “get it”. Keep at it. Hope to see you at an OTB this year. I won’t be making the Eastern Class in 2 weeks because of a little thing called Work…instead I’ll be heading to Denmark.
abuteague said,
February 19, 2009 at 8:00 am
That is me too. I seem to have higher performance odds against higher rated players. Am I not taking the lower rated players seriously?
A GM told me that I should focus more on material and really evaluate any potential exchanges for now. Don’t give up a pawn to anyone. I’m 1400 and have been for 5 years. I do give up a pawn here or there even to lower rated players. I didn’t mind at all. It is just a pawn. Instead of protecting pawns I was creating fantastic combinations. They are beautiful. It does bring down an occasional 1900. But I do lose to the 1100 more often than I would like.
So I’m thinking I’ll try to restrain myself a bit and keep an eye on those pawns. Who knows.
Rolling Pawns said,
February 19, 2009 at 8:58 am
Beating higher rated guys shows your potential. Try to understand why you are losing to lower rated. It could be psychological reasons – you do not play positionally sound moves or sacrifice too much, hoping that you will checkmate them anyway. Also it could be their style. Some can play “street chess”, involving you in crazy positions, forcing you to lose time, etc… If you play “boringly”, they will have no chance. I lost to one guy OTB, he was rated 200 lower than me, played some sharp Scandinavian variation, I got under attack, … Next time I played him, I declined his gambit, played carefully, castled queenside (not to give him a chance for kingside attack), then intercepted the initiative, won 2 pawns, and had a winning position until I let him involve me in some tactics, where my advantage was lost and finally we settled for a draw. Next time I meet him, I will play in Petrosian style
.