Analyzing Your Wins

One of the things that we are all taught is that you should analyze your own games, especially your losses and draws.  After all, the idea is that you will learn from your mistakes.

FM Alex Betaneli recently gave a lecture at the Southwest Chess Club where he said that it's just as important to analyze your wins to see what might have been missed there as well.

This is especially true at the class Thursday I played a game that I won without ever being in serious trouble.  Yet when I looked at it with my coach he showed me that it was a blunder fest which I was lucky to escape from.

Once again, I horribly misplay an opening and then I get lucky when my opponent misses a crushing follow up.

Chess World Cup!!!

I don't know about you, but I am glued to the monitor watching Susan Polgar and Lawrence Trent's commentary on http://new.livestream.com/cisha/wcc2013

Also, because sometimes I can be a total juvenile, I found this to be thrilling!

An Absolute Travesty of a Game

I present to you a game I played a couple of weeks ago that was a complete opening disaster.  I waited too long to play Nge4 and I should have chopped the Black knight on d5 rather than letting it get to f5.

The Plan for August

A new month is on us!  Typically new months have brought with them new plans.

But this month I'm trying something a bit different...

This month I'm going back to the well and redoing the plan for July, with some slight modifications.

I present...August!!!

Opening Prep

As always this remains the weakest link in my overall game.  But as I mentioned in a prior post I'm narrowing things down.  I will now focus on one opening at a time.

Currently I am working on the Black side of the Slav.  I started doing so last month and will continue to do so this month.

I am working on some lines in the Chebanenko currently and feel reasonably confident in my abilities.  I don't plan on learning everything perfectly before moving on to the next opening, but rather I want to learn enough to know what I am doing, and then I will continue to work from there until I know the main lines inside, outside, forwards, and backwards.

I will do this the old fashioned way where after playing a game I will look it up in a database to see who varied and how play should have continued.  I will also be doing this with the lines I am not currently studying.

Analytical Ability

On the advice of my coach I will continue to analyze every game until I make master.

So far it is getting a little easier for me to see ideas and variations, but not a lot.  This is something that I intend to continue to work at rather hard because I know it's important.  I'm trying to learn to think more creatively and out of the box than I currently can, but honestly, this has been the hardest chess skill for me to learn so far.  However, since I also know it will be one of the most important skills I learn I'm willing to continue working at this one for as long as it takes.

Calculation Ability

I will continue to work on quick tactics as well as endgame studies for pure calculation ability.  I find myself calculating a little bit better in my games now, but still often wind up with a jumbled mess in my head.

I have been achieving winning positions against Experts lately, but am not converting those points.  However, learning to calculate clearer and better will lead to exactly that.

And so that brings me to the addition for August, which has been on some of these lists in the past...

Work on Endings

I am adding this back to the mix because I know that without a solid foundation in the endgame I will never become a master.  I can think of a few that have gotten away from me lately that solid endgame technique would have saved.

I think my rating would be 100 points higher right now if I played endgames at the 1800 level instead of the 1500 level I seem to.

Also, I think that this will help greatly with my calculation abilities.

So there you have it...the plan for August.

I think it would be great to hear from some of the readers of the blog on this one.

I see that I get a ton of hit each day, but I rarely get comments.  I would love for this to be a dialogue more than a monologue.

Until next time!

Recap for July

"Things can only get better." - Howard Jones

July began with a three step plan.  Step one was to work on opening prep (sound familiar?), step two was to work on analytical ability, and step three was to work on calculation ability.

So...how did I do?

Well, for once I feel that I completely nailed it!!!

Let's take the steps one by one:

Opening Prep

For anyone who has been following along with this blog, you know that opening prep is the bane of my existence.  Well, I finally decided that I didn't need to fix everything at once.  So now I'm not.  Instead, I took one opening, the Slav, and I worked on it in more depth than I normally would.

I found some interesting, but rarely played, lines that I think I can steer some of my games into.  I'm going to continue to work on this opening until I feel like I have it (more or less) down.  Then I will move on to the next one.

It might take another month or it might take six.  But one thing is for certain, and that's that I won't be moving on until I "get it" with this.

Analytical Ability

Still a long way to go on this one, but I've made some progress.  I now want to analyze every game after I play it.  I still am taking baby steps in the land of deep analysis, but it's a lot better than it was.

I long for the day in which I spend 10-15 hours analyzing each of my games after playing them.  I'm nowhere near that yet, but I can see it coming if I just stick with it.

Calculation Ability

Again, tons of room to grow here.  Yet I work on tactics regularly now, which I lump in as part of calculation ability.

Some day I will also start working on pure calculation exercises and doing the 20 minute exercises that Dan Heisman recommends.

But for now it's enough to know that my tactical work is paying off.

When I played through the first chapter in the Shirov DVD I reviewed I was able to solve all but one of the examples, and most I solved within three to five seconds.

So to sum it all up...I'm getting there.

Review of And Action! How to Crown Positional Play by Tactics - fritztrainer DVD by ChessBase

ChessBase was kind enough to send me two of their recent DVD releases to review, and so it was with great anticipation that I sat down to watch this DVD by renowned grandmaster Alexei Shirov.

One of the more famous quotes by the sixth world champion, Mikhail Botvinnik is “Tactics are the servants of strategy.”  In this excellent DVD in the fritztrainer series by ChessBase world class GM Alexei Shirov sets out to prove just that.

There are few names as associated with tactical flair as that of Shirov.  Yet, as Shirov himself notes in the introduction he always has felt that having tactical finishes present themselves in his games means that he is a solid positional player.  The truth is that he is absolutely right, and in this DVD he sets out to show the viewer just that.

 The DVD is divided into six chapters.  They are:

1.       Intro and Easy Tactics (Warming Up)

2.       Developing an Attack

3.       Tactical Play in all Stages of the Game

4.       Some More Difficult Exercises

5.       Yet More Complex Attacks

6.       Even More Difficult Examples

Each of those chapters titles contain both a hyperlink to the ChessBase files containing the starting position and the analysis of each tactic, as well as a video link which launches a video of GM Shirov playing through each example while giving his analysis of each of the positions.

For those who aren’t familiar with the fritztrainer DVD series, here are some things you should know.  You will need a computer to view the DVD.  The DVD integrates video clips of the presenter, along with a board that uses ChessBase Light.  If you are not already a ChessBase Light user don’t worry, because the files are included on the DVD for easy installation!

In addition to the video clips of the presenter demonstrating the material there are also hyperlinks to the game fragments with analysis in a ChessBase file that you can play through in ChessBase Light.  One of the benefits to this is that you can then play through any sidelines you may want to explore on your own and you can do so with an engine running to check your ideas!  In this way you can come to more fully understand the position and the ideas contained within it.

When you pull up ChessBase Light you are shown a graphical depiction of a board, like so:

 

[FEN – “rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1”]

A nice benefit to the fritztrainer DVD’s is that if you are wanting to follow something from the Black point of view you can simply his Ctrl+F on your keyboard and the position will be flipped around to the other point of view, like this:

[FEN – “rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1”]

To flip the board back to the original viewpoint simply hit Ctrl+F again.

In the first chapter GM Shirov starts out with a number of relatively easy examples that are designed to serve as a series of warm up exercises in order for the viewer to gather their mental energies for the more serious efforts to come.

Let’s take a look at one of those examples:

Lutsko-Shirov, Latvian Championship 1986 0-1

Black to Move

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FEN – “6k1/pR6/4r1p1/8/1P6/4p1P1/P3n1BP/7K b - - 0 30”]

This is one of Shirov’s earlier games, played four years prior to achieving the GM title and is the first example shown in the video.

After giving some background information about the game and the position, the viewer is then encouraged to pause the video in order to attempt to find the solution on their own.’

To me this seems to be a very overlooked aspect of chess improvement.  It seems that in today’s age of videos the temptation is often great to take the shortcut and simply play the solution without pausing to first attempt it ourselves.

In fact, that temptation is so great that modern chess books are starting to comment on the phenomena.  In fact, two come to mind immediately.  Move First, Think Later by Wily Hendriks and Studying Chess Made Easy by Andy Soltis both touch on the subject.  IM Hendriks by pointing out that the real improvement from reading a chess book comes from solving the puzzles rather than just reading through the solutions, and GM Soltis by stating that one of the most basic ways to improve it to treat every diagram as a lesson.

In the example above, the solution is:

30…Nxg3+ 31.hxg3 e2

Another interesting example from the first chapter is a game between Shirov and Ivanchuk.  One of the most fascinating aspects of this game is that as Shirov himself points out in the introduction to the position, it’s not too often that a game between two elite grandmasters is decided by a simple tactic.

Shirov – Ivanchuk, Melody Amber Rapid 1998 1-0

White to Move

[FEN – “8/4k1p1/1bp4p/p4PnP/1pKP4/8/P1B3R1/8 w - - 0 55”]

Again, the tactic is not too difficult.  White wins by playing:

55.Ba4 Kd6

[55…Kf6 56.Bxc6 Kxf5]

56.Rxg5 hxg5 57.f6 Ke6

[57…gxf6 58.h6]

58.fxg7 Kf7 59.h6 1-0

After the initial chapter GM Shirov moves on to a slightly more taxing subject; how attacks are formed.  In this chapter the idea is not to solve the positions as much as it is to pay attention to Shirov as he works through the variations that he played or calculated over the board.

A nice example given in this chapter is a game between two future super GM’s, Alexei Shirov and Loek Van Wely.

Van Wely – Shirov, WCH U20 Tunja 1989 0-1

[FEN – “r2q1rk1/ppp3bp/3p2b1/1QPPpnp1/4N3/2N3B1/PP3PPP/2R1R1K1 b - - 0 20”]

This is the position reached after White’s 20^th move.  Here Shirov starts with the comment: “ White is prepared to answer 20...h5 with 21.h3. Does Black have to defend the queenside or he has something stronger?”

He then shows how the attack was successfully formulated and then carried out with:

20…g4

[20…b6 21.cxb6 cxb6 22.f3]

21.Qxb7 h5 22.Nb5

[22.f3 gxf3 23.Bf2 fxg2; 22.h3 gxh3]

22…Rb8 23.Qa6 h4 24.a4 hxg3 25.hxg3 Nd4 26.cxd6 cxd6 27.Qxa7 Bxe4 28.Rxe4 Qf6 29.Rf1 Nxb5 30.axb5 Rxb5 31.Rxg4 Rxb2 32.Rc4 Rd2 33.Rc7 Rf7 34.g4 Rxc7 35.Qxc7 Rxd5 36.g5 Qf7

[FEN – “6k1/2Q2qb1/3p4/3rp1P1/8/8/5PP1/5RK1 w - - 0 37”]

[36…Qxg5 37.Qc4 e4 38.Qxe4]

37.Qc8+ Kh7 38.Rb1 Rd2 39.Qh3+ Kg6 40.g4 Kxg5 41.f4+ exf4 42.Rb5+ Be5 0-1

I will conclude this review with an example from the final chapter so that readers can get a good feel for the level of complexity present by GM Shirov.

Shirov – Kozul, Sarajevo 2005 1-0

[FEN – “8/2q3k1/5p2/2pBpPbP/1r2P1P1/1PQ5/1KN1b3/R7 b - - 0 66”]

66…Rb8 67.Bc4 Bxg4

[67…Bxc4 68.Qxc4]

68.Ne3 Bxh5 69.Nd5 Qb7 70.Rg1 Re8

 

[70…Rb8 71.Rxg5+ fxg5 72.Qxe5+ Kh6 73.Qf6+ Kh7 74.Qxg5 Qg7+ 75.Nf6+]

71.Qe3

[FEN – “4r3/1q4k1/5p2/2pNpPbb/2B1P3/1P2Q3/1K6/6R1 b - - 0 71”]

71…Kh6 72.Qh3 Rh8 73.Nxf6 Bxf6 74.Rg6+ Kh7 75.Qxh5# 1-0

 
In summing up this DVD I would have to say that it contains something for players of practically any strength.  If you are rated anywhere from 1200 up there is something here for you.  While the more advanced material will definitely be too complicated for many viewers, the first few chapters are much more widely accessible for players of all strengths.

Not to mention that this is a DVD that should be reviewed again and again as you improve so that you will more fully absorb the ideas over time.

To me this was like a five hour lecture with one of the best attackers of the last 20 years.  I think that GM Shirov definitely achieves his goal of showing how games that conclude with spectacular tactical fireworks tend to begin with solid positional achievement.

I give this five out of five stars!

 

You may purchase this fine DVD (or even download it!) here:

 

http://chessbase-shop.com/en/products/shirov_and_action_how_to_crown_positional_play_by_tactics

 

 

 

 

Time to Narrow the Repertoire

I have talked about openings a number of times since beginning this blog a few months back.

At first I wanted to play everything.  I was playing 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4, and 1.Nf3 depending on how I felt.

Unfortunately this only exacerbated my opening problems.  I'm already not too well versed in the openings I play, nor do I have much of a feel for the resulting positions that arise from them. So playing everything was just a way of keeping myself from having the opportunity for any real improvement.

Now that I have committed to working on openings more than I have been I see that I need to narrow my repertoire a great deal. 

This means I'm committing to going back to 1.e4 as my first move.  It also means that I need to play the same openings over and over again until I understand them and know them. 

For instance, Thursday I wound up playing the White side of the Two Knights (I will post the game at some point after I annotate it) and for the first time ever I played 4.Ng5.  Every time I had faced the Two Knights before that I played 4.d3 and hoped that my opponent would play 4...Bc5 and we'd transpose into the Italian.  But I wasn't doing it to get what I wanted on the board, I was doing it to avoid having to work on learning a new opening.

Now I'm realizing that I should just work on the new opening and leave it in place for the next few years.  I've kind of reached a point where I'm thinking that maybe I should just leave everything in place until I become an expert and then at that point perhaps begin to expand or change things.  That's because I assume that by that time I will know my openings well enough and understand the resulting positions to a degree that will make it easier for me to add new openings from time to time if I wish.

I've also had an epiphany that one of the mistakes I have been making that has been holding me back is the way that I have been approaching studying openings.  I know that I am deficient in them as a general rule, and therefore I have been trying to learn them all at once.  i.e. I've felt like I need to somehow work on the White side of the Italian, Sicilian, Two Knights, French, etc. all at once while simultaneously working on the Black side of the Slav, Scheveningen, and English.

That has been adding unnecessary difficulty to my goal of becoming proficient in the opening.  So now I have a plan to work on one at a time.  I plan on starting with the Slav.  Once I feel that I'm OK there (don't know if that will take two weeks, two months, etc.) then I will move on to the Scheveningen, and then from there, etc.  It might take me a year to really build a solid foundation, but if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes.

One thing I haven't quite figured out yet is how much of my total study time should be devoted to openings.  I know that the two things I need to work on the most are openings and game analysis, but I don't know if I should neglect other things like endgames and positional chess until I fix the openings.

I do know for sure that I will continue to work on tactics constantly along the way.  That is a must.

Until next time...