Harmony
Just a few notes to myself so I want forget impressions from the tournament that need further investigation later.
My mind is easily overwhelmed. In chess that translates to seeing too many possibilities and a mind that stalls as a response.
18 years of blogging has brought a bit of order in the chaos. This process is documented in this blog. A bit order results in less time trouble in my games. The watch is a useful tool for finding the areas in my mind where chaos reigns. I spent 17 years with dabbling around with tactics, and now I begin to see some order in that area, there is finally emerging some time to think about other elements in chess, like positional stuff and such.
In my youth I spent a lot of time with thinking about the reason why the notes of an octave in music are what they are. And after a few years I found the mathematical background behind this. Notes are in harmony when they have a simple ratio to each other. Like 1:2, 2:3, 3:4 et cetera. I assume that the physical reason for this is that simple ratios result in less dissipation of energy than complex ratios. 113:239 simply doesn't resonate.
In my game yesterday I found the same truth. All of a sudden there appeared a tactic in the play of my opponent as a result of the opening. His pieces worked harmoniously together while I still needed a few moves to disentangle my pieces.
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| White to move |
My latest move was Nb6. The pieces of white work harmoniously together against c7. Their energy have a positive upswing, while my own pieces radiate their energy more incoherent in different directions. I realize that this provides a whole new approach to opening study. I will have a look at harmonious piece play in the opening after the tournament.
I'm curious: when did you become aware of the LoA coordination of WBf4 and WRc1 against c7, in possible conjunction with the WNc3? Moving Nb6 created a double attack "target" for the WBf4. I'm guessing that your Knight was on d7 preceding your move Nb6. Were you thinking positionally about occupying the outpost on c4, thereby at least closing off the pressure from the WRc1, in addition to posting the Knight more actively toward the center?
ReplyDeleteDid you consider BBd6 as an alternative candidate move? White can exchange and give the Black pawns an "ugly" structure but it gets rid of the White Bishop's pressure on c7, clogs up the center and takes away any possible White outposts on e5 or c5.
Another alternative candidate move seems to be the "ugly" move c6, anchoring the half-open (for White) c-file and turning the BBb7 into a "tall pawn'" for some time. White will have difficulty occupying the outpost on c5 with a Knight for some time, if at all. The BNd7 keeps an eye on e5 and disallows the WNf3 from attacking c6 from e5. Even if White gets an 'Alekhine's gun' (both Rooks and Queen on the half-open c-file, he would have to give up an exchange for a Bishop and Pawn to gain unfettered control of the c-file.
Just out of curiosity to see what I was missing, I moved the BNb6 back to d7 and let GM Stockfish take a look at it after I wrote the paragraphs above. The available candidate moves all show White with a slight advantage, with a relatively large jump in value for White after BNb6. Not a very complicated tactical sequence, but hard to "SEE" if you were focused elsewhere.
Today is the rest day, and I have other plans today. But I will try to come back on it later.
DeleteBTW, I'd love to see the entire game score, if it wouldn't give away your opening "secrets."
ReplyDelete[Event "Computer chess game"]
Delete[Site "DESKTOP"]
[Date "2023.12.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sander"]
[Black "Tempo"]
[Result "*"]
[BlackElo "1700"]
[ECO "E12"]
[Opening "Queen's Indian"]
[Time "10:12:54"]
[Variation "Petrosian, 5.Nc3 Be7"]
[WhiteElo "1962"]
[TimeControl "300"]
[Termination "unterminated"]
[PlyCount "24"]
[WhiteType "human"]
[BlackType "human"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. d4 Bb7 4. Nc3 e6 5. a3 Be7 6. g3 d5 7. Bg2 Nbd7 8.
cxd5 exd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bf4 a6 11. b4 b5 12. Rc1 Nb6 *
Well, I repeat myself: Chuzhakin’s System http://www.neoneuro.com/downloads/chuzhakinssystem.pdf
ReplyDeletec7 is 2 times (x-ray) attacked and only once defended, so c7 is a HE3
The problem is not that I not immediately see this when I look at it, the problem is that I don't look at it. Because I look in another direction.
DeleteI just found an excellent fairly lower-level video which demonstrates the idea that more advanced players do not (necessarily) calculate using trees, no matter how much 'wood' is to be ‘chopped’.
ReplyDeleteLink: How is YOUR Tactical Awareness?
The [2 hour 10 minute] video emphasizes "SEEING" the tactical weaknesses and the consequences which flow from those weaknesses. Once a familiar pattern is triggered, the solution becomes relatively obvious and occurs all at once. He gives a series of examples that are centered around 6 basic skills:
P - Position of pieces and Pins
U - Unprotected pieces [including B.A.D. pieces]
B - Back-rank weaknesses
L - Limited (mobility) pieces
I - Intersection squares [Pops on LoA]
C - Checks, Captures, Checkmate threats
These categories are NOT exhaustive, but merely an introduction to how to raise tactical awareness.
A knowledge of tactical themes/devices (like pins, skewers, forks, diversion [decoy and deflection, etc.] and stock checkmate patterns is apparently assumed. These tactical elements are noted in passing as each position is analyzed, but are not the focus of the video. There is no emphasis on calculation per se nor on evaluation of the final positions other than a broad “White (Black) is winning.” He uses quite a wide range of examples from all phases of the game.
I was struck by how common some of his patterns are, yet so dissimilar from the “pieces-on-squares” perspective.
Perhaps this “tactical awareness” was what you missed in the example from your game. Or, maybe I am reading too much out of your example.
I expect that Aox can give the appropriate Hazardous Element(s) from Chuzhakin’s System.
I go by train to the tournament, and the total travel time is about four hours per day. Which gives me time aplenty to contemplate about these things. It all starts with the logic of system 2. System 2 must guide system 1 towards the right cues. Today is a rest day, and I try to figure out the right standard plans for guiding system 2. This is about line of attack awareness. We will talk about this after the tournament.
Delete