Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Time continued
























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There seem to be two different types of time in chess. First we have the time that we count in tempo's. That is a sort of countdown towards a static ideal situation. In the opening for instance, the ideal state is a position with developed pieces. On the way towards the ideal situation you can spill tempo's. But once you have reached the ideal situation, you can't lose tempo's anymore and to continue counting them is useless.

On the other hand we have the time that is related to the initiative. When there is such threat we simply cannot afford to not react to it. If the target is the king, the preconditions of Vukovic are a good guide. The problem is that concrete threats can make all other advantages like material, outposts etcetera irrelevant. Although tactics use to flow naturally from a good position, sometimes they flow against all odds from a bad position where the player has released all positional considerations and material attachment. Sometimes threats are ignored, for instance positions with opposite castled kings, where both players push their own agenda, usually untill one of them is obliged to react to a threat. Sometimes the pieces of the defender seem to be frozen in time.

Reading "Reassess your chess" 4th edition and still playing blindfold games every day in preparation for Tata.

2 comments:

  1. I look forward to reading these latest posts carefully as well as some of your older ones.

    I'm trying to learn about positional ideas, weak squares and color concepts.

    This is a new way of thinking for me.

    Here is a game where time didn't matter. A slow strangulation.

    http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124533&kpage=5

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  2. I think these different types of time are the same. You lose tempi while you are working on your strategy. The common openingstrategy is known: "get the minorpieces out... castle...". Later the strategy ( =plan ) might be: "attack the King ".

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