WCA Veteran’s Tournament
The highest finishing entrant age 50 and over will receive a trophy and the title of 2007 Wisconsin Senior Champion.
The highest finishing entrant age 50 and over will receive a trophy and the title of 2007 Wisconsin Senior Champion.
This will be my 4th consecutive time playing in this tournament. I have a pretty good record in this event 9-1=4.
Last year's winner was DANIEL L LINDQUIST. The 2006 Wisconsin Senior Champion was JAMES J COONS . Average attendance for the past 3 years was 35.
ALEXANDER BETANELI and TATIANA VAYSERBERG tied for first with 4.5/5.0
Bill Elger won the The 2007 Wisconsin Senior Champion Trophy on tie breaks.
I went 2-1=1. I lost the last round to Anthony Parker (1997). I played the white side of IQP and thought that I was doing well, but lost the thread somewhere. I am looking at the game to see where I could have improved.
Ivan you really need to work on your chess. Thats if you ever hope to get to 2000.
ReplyDeleteHere's some advise:
ReplyDeleteYou don't spend your time on doing the right things. I saw the endgame books by Chris Ward you were reading, for example. These are surely good books but from a practical point of view get SILMANS new ENDGAME BOOK which covers the practical important endgames in a short and concise way, instead of spending your time on a book that deals with rook-endgames exclusively, after you already studied another endgame book by the same author.
Don't get me wrong, it will improve your play a little, little bit, but if you would spend some of this time on opening study you would definitely fare better in tournament praxis.
You will never get all these endgame positions you are studying, and chances are, that if you do, you won't remember the respective lines and tricks, so instead learn the most important and practically relevant engames only; that is exactly what Silman provides you, and he does it in his book for different rating levels.
Another point is, that if you neglect openings and blunder in the middle-game you will not reach an (favourable) endgame at all, so it is obvious that you should focus first on openings and middle-game (tactics and strategic plans) and keep the endgame study really to a minimum that offers you best practical chances.(Silman!)
Openings: Just play very few lines, but try to be a wizard in these lines. Choose rather rare lines instead of fashionable GM lines, but also build on openings you already are familiar with.
Check yourself: are your opening lines leading to positions you like and where you can come up with sound strategic plans or not? (IQP for example...)If not, better change your opening lines.
Get yourself books on your openings like the "Starting out" series or the more detailed "Play the..." series, they are great.
Last but not least: I recommend my favourite chess book: "Tal-Botvinnik 1960" by Mikhail Tal. Get it if you don't have it; chess writing doesn't get any better and Tal is an inspiring guy.
BRUZ
Ivan, don't ready Silman's books please. His previous works (before Endgame book) are plain horrible: I do not know of any people who both liked and IMPROVED by reading him. And, unlike most people, I have had 100+ students during the decade of teaching. Silman focuses on exceptions and puts down great classical players; humor is nice, but it only gets to 1400 or so! His book on the endgame is OK, but there is no reason to think he is right about him main premise: his break-down of what is needed for each class is obviously arbitrary. I would rate the book at B+ for information and around B- for usefulness.
ReplyDeleteAlex Betaneli
The endgame book by Silman has 5 stars on Amazon and is recommended a.o. by Susan Polgar and Elizabeth Vicary (...and by me.)
ReplyDeleteE.Vicary on Amazon: "i'm surprised no one thought of this concept before-- dividing study material by approximate rating. of course it's a great idea. silman is a tremendous author, in that he knows what to explain and how to break things down. additionally, the book itself is lovely: heavy paper, nice font, good amount of white vs black space (sounds trivial, but these things are important when you are spending time reading a book)"
And BTW Alex, I personally would prefer constructive critique (advise) instead of destructive critique (what not to do)
BRUZ
Neither Polgar, nor Vicary train A class players, thus I am not sure what their credentials are. The fact that Silman and Polgar endorse each other's works is quite meaningless. And knowing what NOT to do is far more valuable for Ivan and most aspiring students of chess IMO.
ReplyDeleteAlex
PS Who is Bruz though?
BRUZ, what's your rating?
ReplyDeleteBTW, I have helped made A class players to become Experts (and even masters), thus, albeit somewhat immodestly, I consider myself good enough to comment on the topic. Previously I have pointed out what Ivan might want to do; however, improvement is very personal thing, there is hardly a good "general" advice, especially for an adult player.
ReplyDeleteAlex Betaneli
Bill Elger won the senior trophy on tie breaks.
ReplyDelete