Wednesday, May 07, 2008

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

I managed to lose seven games in a row. Lack of chess skill had a lot to do with it, but there was a big phsychological barrier that I was not able to navigate around once I lost a few early games.

In todays game I got a great game after my oponent misplayed the opening. I am Black in the following position. There is absolutely no reason not to play ...e5 here. In fact playing ...e5 was my plan all along, but for some reason I decided to delay it. Then lost to a simple tactic.

Click here to replay game

Starting tomorrow I am going to take a 2 week break completely away from chess. I am going to concentrate on physical fitness and practicing my violin.

10 comments:

  1. Ivan,

    Bd6xh2 is a bad move; remember 1st game Spassky-Fischer 1972?

    :)

    BRUZ

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  2. Ivan,

    some more suggestions for you:

    IMO you very clearly lack a plan in all of your games. You don't have one and you obviously don't know when to come up with one.
    You usually stumble from move to move (which you select on general terms) until finally all ends with a blunder after you already completely lost oversight of what's going on on the board.

    You say that e6-e5 was your plan ..... but the single move e6-e5 doesn't qualify for a whole plan.

    You rather should have noticed that your opponent was badly lagging behind in development, that his King was still in the center without finding rest on either side of the board after f2-f3 weakened his kingside and with the Bg6 "shooting" into his queenside. Apart from that he has some problems developing his Bc1 and Ra1. Therefore immidiately opening up files in the center starting with e6-e5 as you mentioned was surely the right thing to do, especially as you were already fully developed (your Rh8 could stay at h8 for the moment in case of the h-file opening up after Nf4 takes Bg6; it can at any moment be easily transferred into the center in one move if it is needed there) and your pieces all had useful squares.
    To be honest, I don't like any of your moves you played after the diagram position

    So, if you couldn't come up with a (obvious) plan here then I doubt you are able to find a plan in any position.

    Maybe for a start you read one of Neil McDonalds' books "The art of planning in chess" or "Chess success.Planning after the opening".

    Anyhow you have to work on your tactics as well. This time the blunder was really bad again, because having the Queen and King on one diagonale should really tell you something after so many years of chess....and if you catch on h2 and the Rook h1 can take you back, then that's obviously the first candidate move you have to check.
    I really wonder what exactly you are pondering over during your games...
    I think here is your real problem: you simply don't think methodically and efficiently, and you definitely don't see the "big picture" of a chess position.
    You just see the trees but not the forest...
    Maybe also read Watson's "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy - Advances since Nimzowitsch".

    Regards,
    BRUZ

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  3. Ivan,

    I am nobody to suggest this as my strength is same as yours. Still as a friend this is what I wanted to share.
    I would suggest get a coach (may be Ashish or Alex or somebody else) and let them analyze your game and more importantly what you were thinking and seeing (and not thinking and not seeing) in the game. Then find out what you really need to fix on. I know you have read a lot of books and have a lot of match experience. Something is missing here. Let them help you fix that.

    Souvik

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  4. Sorry friend. That really sucks. I know the feeling, but remember all great competitors pick themselves up and dust themselves off and start over undeterred by a poor result.

    It seems very difficult for adult chessplayers to do that though. I definitely include myself in that category.

    I think the two week break will do you some good. Walk away for a bit and do other things. I know it seems ludicrous to think that there are things to do other than chess.

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  5. dude, you got all your losing out of your system, you are ready to destroy in chicago. i look forward to meeting you there!

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  6. wang - there are things other than chess?

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  7. Against equal competition you should score about 50%. The chance to score 7 x 0 = 1 : 128. This means that at average you score every 896 games 7 x 0 once.

    Statistics in chess (in sports) are counter-intuitive and usually explained as the form of the day. But that is nonsense, of course.

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  8. Perhaps a pep talk from the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers is in order?

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  9. Are you a good violinist? What piece are you working on?

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  10. I used to play the violin as a kid, but haven't touched it in long time. I am just a beginner.

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