I want to send a shout out to this book as I was thinking about it earlier today. One of the first books I read when I was a junior trying to improve was GM Murray Chandler's excellent book Sicilian 2c3 and I was smitten.
I took to this opening with a vengeance, although back then I practically never faced the Sicilian (it seemed that everyone played either 1...e5 or the French). On those occasions when I did though I was prepared. When playing against the Sicilian in a blitz game I was generally better out of the opening, even when giving up 200-300 rating points. I never really studied openings, but I studied this one like it was going out of style.
In 1992 I walked away from the game. When I came back in 2011 it felt to me like no time had passed, but of course eons had passed in terms of theory.
But of course I immediately purchased a copy of this book. I started facing the Sicilian more often and so I had more of a chance to put some of my knowledge to work. Except that I didn't remember any of it.
So I decided to put in some work. I started reading GM Chandler's book again and looking at games in the database and I quickly realized how much theory had moved on concerning the Alapin. So I purchased GM Evgeny Sveshnikov's amazing work The Complete c3 Sicilian. Imagine my delight when I started poring through it. This stunning volume is literally packed with game after game of information. Whereas most opening books will list perhaps one or at most two games showing the beginning of a certain variation's popularity GM Sveshnikov's work gives no fewer than 10!
Now when I pick up GM Sveshnikov's book I am filled with that same feeling of wonder that I once had for GM Chandler's book.
Why I don't play the Alapin more often I cannot say. Perhaps it's time.
Two other Alapin items I own and enjoy are GM Sergei Tiviakov's Fritz Trainer DVD and IM John Donaldson's pamphlet Inside Chess Opening Novelties Alapin Sicilian.
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Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
The Ratings Yoyo Continues
Well, after my most recent club tournament, the Blooming Flowers Swiss my rating is now only five points shy of my peak of 1724.
The results are here.
I'm pleased that I was able to gain 32 rating points in only two games. Mostly a combination of luck and skill I suppose.
My next event is a quad so I will have three games against similarly rated opponents. Meaning that I will have a good chance to surpass my all time high rating as long as I continue to play like I have been barring my one bad outing at the Arpad Elo Open.
At this point I think that as long as I continue to work my plan I will continue to improve in leaps and bounds. I just feel it in my bones right now so I feel like I have to keep the intensity going...
This weekend I will be at the final three rounds of the US Championships. I will also be spending time with a friend of mine that I grew up playing chess with. We are about the same strength so we should be able to get some good studying in around hanging out and everything else.
The results are here.
I'm pleased that I was able to gain 32 rating points in only two games. Mostly a combination of luck and skill I suppose.
My next event is a quad so I will have three games against similarly rated opponents. Meaning that I will have a good chance to surpass my all time high rating as long as I continue to play like I have been barring my one bad outing at the Arpad Elo Open.
At this point I think that as long as I continue to work my plan I will continue to improve in leaps and bounds. I just feel it in my bones right now so I feel like I have to keep the intensity going...
This weekend I will be at the final three rounds of the US Championships. I will also be spending time with a friend of mine that I grew up playing chess with. We are about the same strength so we should be able to get some good studying in around hanging out and everything else.
Calculation and the Value of Endgame Studies
I've been reflecting lately on a little piece of human nature relative to progressing in any field of endeavor you so choose. Specifically the tendency most seem to have to ignore the advice of someone who has already achieved something that we ourselves strive to.
In my case the advice I seem to currently be ignoring is the advice of my first coach, Nolan Hendrickson, to solve endgame studies to help improve calculation.
Nolan is a student at Lindenwood University in St Louis and is a member of their chess team. When he was in high school he went from Class A to Master with almost no stop at Expert and he says that a huge part of his success was solving endgame studies which helped improve his calculating abilities.
Almost every lesson Nolan would tell me that learning to calculate better would pay better dividends than improving any other area of my game. He would then tell me that solving endgame studies is far and away the best way to learn to calculate better.
So then why is it that I don't seem to take that advice to heart too often? What is it that lies deep within the psyche of us all that makes us think that we can somehow ignore the advice that is given and still achieve the aim?
This isn't to say that Nolan's advice is the only way to reach my goal of becoming a master. After all, I'm sure that if you rounded up 10 Master's and put them all in a room together you'd get numerous answers to the "How did you improve" question. But it's not like I listened to the advice, carefully weighed the options, and then only after giving some careful thought decided to pursue other areas in order to improve.
To further add to the irony, the one point in time where I was solving endgame studies on a regular basis was at the end of last Summer when I finally stopped the bleeding. My rating had fallen from 1712 to 1560. I managed to get control of things and made it back over 1700 in just a few months.
So why then did I stop? That's the $64,000.00 question.
Speaking of $64,000.00, I'd like to add as an aside that I am truly rooting for Gata to continue his 4-0 start and win out at the US Championship. For a long time I have viewed that as Fischer's record and haven't wanted anyone to equal it. But I think that it would be great for my generation of US chess if one of us could finally tie that piece of history.
In my case the advice I seem to currently be ignoring is the advice of my first coach, Nolan Hendrickson, to solve endgame studies to help improve calculation.
Nolan is a student at Lindenwood University in St Louis and is a member of their chess team. When he was in high school he went from Class A to Master with almost no stop at Expert and he says that a huge part of his success was solving endgame studies which helped improve his calculating abilities.
Almost every lesson Nolan would tell me that learning to calculate better would pay better dividends than improving any other area of my game. He would then tell me that solving endgame studies is far and away the best way to learn to calculate better.
So then why is it that I don't seem to take that advice to heart too often? What is it that lies deep within the psyche of us all that makes us think that we can somehow ignore the advice that is given and still achieve the aim?
This isn't to say that Nolan's advice is the only way to reach my goal of becoming a master. After all, I'm sure that if you rounded up 10 Master's and put them all in a room together you'd get numerous answers to the "How did you improve" question. But it's not like I listened to the advice, carefully weighed the options, and then only after giving some careful thought decided to pursue other areas in order to improve.
To further add to the irony, the one point in time where I was solving endgame studies on a regular basis was at the end of last Summer when I finally stopped the bleeding. My rating had fallen from 1712 to 1560. I managed to get control of things and made it back over 1700 in just a few months.
So why then did I stop? That's the $64,000.00 question.
Speaking of $64,000.00, I'd like to add as an aside that I am truly rooting for Gata to continue his 4-0 start and win out at the US Championship. For a long time I have viewed that as Fischer's record and haven't wanted anyone to equal it. But I think that it would be great for my generation of US chess if one of us could finally tie that piece of history.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
If You Want to Improve at Chess the Ulrich's Will Show You How
This is a game that I played against Anne Ulrich in January. The Ulrich's are a very strong chess family. The older brother Tommy is I believe in high school. He is a 2300 master. One of the sisters, Rachel, is a 13 year old expert.
Although Anne is lower rated by far than either of them, she is fast improving. In the past year she has gone from 875 to 1470 and shows no signs of slowing down. She also just won that Chess Junior Magnet Grand Prix thing or whatever it's called.
On the surface, this game turns out exactly how you would expect it. The player who was higher rated by 300 points easily won in spite of some inaccuracies. But there are forces much deeper at work here. After the game Anne and I analyzed for a while and I was very impressed by her.
11...Ne7 is an inaccurate move. It allows White to begin an attack even with practically no material to use in that attack. But Anne had a plan. She told me after the game that she figured that after 12. Bxf6 gxf6 she would be able to bring a rook to the g file and launch an attack on my castled king.
She then said some words that have stuck with me ever since...she said something like "I had no business playing Ne7 because it shows I have no understanding of this position." Impressive words from a young lady who clearly has a great understanding of what it takes to be successful.
Since that post mortem I have learned to be far more critical of my own play. For example, my recent game against Rohan Mhaskar (see that game here - it's the second game listed) when I played 12. Bh6 rather than 12. Bd4 has that same feel. Clearly the inaccurate move, even though it wasn't the losing move, shows a lack of understanding of the position.
So the point to all of this is that there is something to be learned from everyone. Higher rated. Lower rated. Doesn't matter. So don't dismiss the nuggets of wisdom your opponents sometimes give you just because of the result you had against them.
On to the game, which can be seen here.
Although Anne is lower rated by far than either of them, she is fast improving. In the past year she has gone from 875 to 1470 and shows no signs of slowing down. She also just won that Chess Junior Magnet Grand Prix thing or whatever it's called.
On the surface, this game turns out exactly how you would expect it. The player who was higher rated by 300 points easily won in spite of some inaccuracies. But there are forces much deeper at work here. After the game Anne and I analyzed for a while and I was very impressed by her.
11...Ne7 is an inaccurate move. It allows White to begin an attack even with practically no material to use in that attack. But Anne had a plan. She told me after the game that she figured that after 12. Bxf6 gxf6 she would be able to bring a rook to the g file and launch an attack on my castled king.
She then said some words that have stuck with me ever since...she said something like "I had no business playing Ne7 because it shows I have no understanding of this position." Impressive words from a young lady who clearly has a great understanding of what it takes to be successful.
Since that post mortem I have learned to be far more critical of my own play. For example, my recent game against Rohan Mhaskar (see that game here - it's the second game listed) when I played 12. Bh6 rather than 12. Bd4 has that same feel. Clearly the inaccurate move, even though it wasn't the losing move, shows a lack of understanding of the position.
So the point to all of this is that there is something to be learned from everyone. Higher rated. Lower rated. Doesn't matter. So don't dismiss the nuggets of wisdom your opponents sometimes give you just because of the result you had against them.
On to the game, which can be seen here.
Friday, May 3, 2013
I Could Use Your Help
I could use your help. I have thought long and hard about this and have been on the fence because it feels kind of arrogant to do this, but...
I need to increase the number of lessons I am able to take. In the past few months I have managed only four hours of working with a coach. My wife and I are saving for a house and so I just don't have much disposable income for chess right now. I do have enough materials (I have 125 or so books and 10-12 DVD's plus I am the librarian for my club so I have the 300 or so club books and 30 or so club DVD's at my house) and I can come up with what I need for entry fees.
The one thing that I can't do is to afford lessons right now.
So I am asking for help from my readers. If you can spare even just a dollar or two and think that my goal is a worthy one then I would appreciate your help.
blogger.com has an option to monetize blogs via ads. I thought about that because I do draw OK traffic. Especially seeing as how I'm less than three months into this project. BUT...I don't want to do that. I don't want to clutter up my blog with ridiculous ads. I like the believe that many readers here enjoy what they are reading and get something out of it.
Whether that something is inspiration to study; good practical advice as to how to improve at chess; or even just amusement I don't want to be "that guy" who makes the posts hard to read because you're getting slammed with ads over every inch of space.
So after thinking about it a long time I have decided to ask for help. If I get it, mission accomplished. If I don't, then no harm is asking. Hopefully no one will stop reading as a result...
Right now the coach I am working with is only $25 an hour. So in this case a little bit goes a long way. I don't need to raise hundreds of dollars to get only an hour or two of lessons in return. If I could raise even just $100 in a month that would be plenty.
So here is my pledge to you...I promise that any and all monies raised from my readers will go towards lessons. I will continue to pay all of my other chess related expenses out of my own pocket as I do now.
Of course I will also blog relentlessly about how the lessons are going, etc.
I need to increase the number of lessons I am able to take. In the past few months I have managed only four hours of working with a coach. My wife and I are saving for a house and so I just don't have much disposable income for chess right now. I do have enough materials (I have 125 or so books and 10-12 DVD's plus I am the librarian for my club so I have the 300 or so club books and 30 or so club DVD's at my house) and I can come up with what I need for entry fees.
The one thing that I can't do is to afford lessons right now.
So I am asking for help from my readers. If you can spare even just a dollar or two and think that my goal is a worthy one then I would appreciate your help.
blogger.com has an option to monetize blogs via ads. I thought about that because I do draw OK traffic. Especially seeing as how I'm less than three months into this project. BUT...I don't want to do that. I don't want to clutter up my blog with ridiculous ads. I like the believe that many readers here enjoy what they are reading and get something out of it.
Whether that something is inspiration to study; good practical advice as to how to improve at chess; or even just amusement I don't want to be "that guy" who makes the posts hard to read because you're getting slammed with ads over every inch of space.
So after thinking about it a long time I have decided to ask for help. If I get it, mission accomplished. If I don't, then no harm is asking. Hopefully no one will stop reading as a result...
Right now the coach I am working with is only $25 an hour. So in this case a little bit goes a long way. I don't need to raise hundreds of dollars to get only an hour or two of lessons in return. If I could raise even just $100 in a month that would be plenty.
So here is my pledge to you...I promise that any and all monies raised from my readers will go towards lessons. I will continue to pay all of my other chess related expenses out of my own pocket as I do now.
Of course I will also blog relentlessly about how the lessons are going, etc.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
The Plan for May...
Well, for April I had a three point plan. Those three points were:
How did I do? Well, I did some light opening prep. I vacillated between whether or not to play the Open Sicilian as White. Or go back to the Alapin. Or continue learning the Grand Prix. The result was that I didn't focus on any one thing. Big mistake.
I did some work on Rook Endings. I watched some Karsten Muller rook ending DVD clips and I worked through some Dvoretsky & Yusupov articles. But not enough. And not practical enough. I talked about learning specific techniques and then setting them up and playing them against Fritz. But I only did so once. And only one shot, not repeated effort to make sure I got it.
I am pleased with my tactical work. Although I didn't do as much as I would like I was more consistent last month with making sure that I did some work every day. Even if it was just doing a few puzzles on my phone each day.
So with last month's achievements and failures listed, let's move on to this month's plan...
For the month of May I am going to do the following...
So I plan on changing that. The hope is that by doing so I will also get a good feel for how to better use the bishop pair in general.
Strong opening prep on one White and one Black opening. OK, let's face it, I set myself up to fail last month. Saying you need strong opening prep is too broad a statement. You can't prep everything well in one month. But you can learn one White and one Black opening in a month. So I will choose one of each and work hard on them. I have an idea of what I want to work on. I think I want to work on the White side of the Worrall and the Black side of the 1...e5 English.
Rook endings. Last month I said I'd work on John Emms' Survival Guide to Rook Endings. I didn't. This month I will. I own it, I should use it.
Continued tactical work. I will just continue as is. Which is to say that I'll grab a tactics book and work on some puzzles. Or do some online. Or on my phone. At some point I want to work through Karsten Muller & Claus Dieter Meyer's excellent work, The Magic of Chess Tactics. Again, I own it, so I should use it. Although I feel like before I work seriously with that book I should continue to develop my basic tactics skills for a bit.
So that's it...that's the plan for May.
- Strong Opening Prep
- Tactics Work
- Rook Endings
How did I do? Well, I did some light opening prep. I vacillated between whether or not to play the Open Sicilian as White. Or go back to the Alapin. Or continue learning the Grand Prix. The result was that I didn't focus on any one thing. Big mistake.
I did some work on Rook Endings. I watched some Karsten Muller rook ending DVD clips and I worked through some Dvoretsky & Yusupov articles. But not enough. And not practical enough. I talked about learning specific techniques and then setting them up and playing them against Fritz. But I only did so once. And only one shot, not repeated effort to make sure I got it.
I am pleased with my tactical work. Although I didn't do as much as I would like I was more consistent last month with making sure that I did some work every day. Even if it was just doing a few puzzles on my phone each day.
So with last month's achievements and failures listed, let's move on to this month's plan...
For the month of May I am going to do the following...
- Learn to mate with two bishops.
- Strong Opening Prep on One White Opening and One Black Opening
- Rook Endings
- Continued Tactical Work
So I plan on changing that. The hope is that by doing so I will also get a good feel for how to better use the bishop pair in general.
Strong opening prep on one White and one Black opening. OK, let's face it, I set myself up to fail last month. Saying you need strong opening prep is too broad a statement. You can't prep everything well in one month. But you can learn one White and one Black opening in a month. So I will choose one of each and work hard on them. I have an idea of what I want to work on. I think I want to work on the White side of the Worrall and the Black side of the 1...e5 English.
Rook endings. Last month I said I'd work on John Emms' Survival Guide to Rook Endings. I didn't. This month I will. I own it, I should use it.
Continued tactical work. I will just continue as is. Which is to say that I'll grab a tactics book and work on some puzzles. Or do some online. Or on my phone. At some point I want to work through Karsten Muller & Claus Dieter Meyer's excellent work, The Magic of Chess Tactics. Again, I own it, so I should use it. Although I feel like before I work seriously with that book I should continue to develop my basic tactics skills for a bit.
So that's it...that's the plan for May.
Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall
So tonight I played the final round of a club tournament against someone rated 1853.
Normally I spend the week prior to a club game prepping since as you would assume generally I know what the other club members play. Oddly, even though this was someone I know fairly well it's also someone I had never played against before. In fact, for all of our conversations about chess we had never discussed anything specific that I can recall.
So I went into this somewhat blind. All I knew was that he plays 1. d4...but since I had White even that bit of knowledge didn't do me any good.
For some reason I decided that he was probably a classical player so I figured he'd answer 1.e4 with ...e5. As it turned out I was correct. So my plan was to play my first even Ruy Lopez Worrall over the board. Nope, it was a Berlin.
As it turned out it was to be an off night for my opponent. He dropped a pawn right out of the opening and then thought he had a tactic to win it back but missed an intermezzo and was down a knight for a pawn. I had six pawns, a knight, a queen, and a rook. He had seven pawns, a queen, and a rook. He resigned on move 16.
I won't bother posting the game since I don't really feel there is anything to be learned from it. It was just a bad loss.
But the be all end all is that according to the ratings estimator I should wind up at 1720 after this is rated, putting me just below my peak rating of 1724.
I didn't get as much study time as I would have liked this week, but I was able to do some puzzles on my iPhone using Shredder Lite each day. So better than nothing. Last night I got in a solid hour and a half or so, but other than that I really didn't have much study time at all over the past few days.
Now I feel like I need to have a solid performance in my next tournament to give myself a real shot at making a run at 1800...I just feel like I'm ready for a surge. This is how I felt when I went over 1600 for the first time and when I went over 1700 for the first time.
Normally I spend the week prior to a club game prepping since as you would assume generally I know what the other club members play. Oddly, even though this was someone I know fairly well it's also someone I had never played against before. In fact, for all of our conversations about chess we had never discussed anything specific that I can recall.
So I went into this somewhat blind. All I knew was that he plays 1. d4...but since I had White even that bit of knowledge didn't do me any good.
For some reason I decided that he was probably a classical player so I figured he'd answer 1.e4 with ...e5. As it turned out I was correct. So my plan was to play my first even Ruy Lopez Worrall over the board. Nope, it was a Berlin.
As it turned out it was to be an off night for my opponent. He dropped a pawn right out of the opening and then thought he had a tactic to win it back but missed an intermezzo and was down a knight for a pawn. I had six pawns, a knight, a queen, and a rook. He had seven pawns, a queen, and a rook. He resigned on move 16.
I won't bother posting the game since I don't really feel there is anything to be learned from it. It was just a bad loss.
But the be all end all is that according to the ratings estimator I should wind up at 1720 after this is rated, putting me just below my peak rating of 1724.
I didn't get as much study time as I would have liked this week, but I was able to do some puzzles on my iPhone using Shredder Lite each day. So better than nothing. Last night I got in a solid hour and a half or so, but other than that I really didn't have much study time at all over the past few days.
Now I feel like I need to have a solid performance in my next tournament to give myself a real shot at making a run at 1800...I just feel like I'm ready for a surge. This is how I felt when I went over 1600 for the first time and when I went over 1700 for the first time.
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