Good tournament
I played a tournament lately. I played 7 games.
1 win, 1 loss and 5 endgames. I managed to screw up all endgames. 2 potential wins became a draw and 3 potential draws were lost. I spilled 5 x 0.5 = 2.5 points there.
So that is very good news! It were all better or equal endgames. I consider it a luxury problem to screw those up. By not preparing my endgames I took that into account beforehand.
I have now the difficult task to decide to follow the revelation from the previous post or to work on my endgames.
I deem that both take half a year to think through the matter and 1.5 year to absorb it.
Thinking through is a system 2 task. And I cannot split my focus in two. That simply doesn't work.
I'm inclined to start with working out a framework with positional scenarios around the invasion. It is a big task, and I already see the contours of it. It will be great!
The consequence is that when I play a tournament at the end of the year, I will again drop points in the endgame. In an ideal world there will be less endgames due to the positional framework. But since I will not have it absorbed by then, that might not be the case at all.
I'm in dubio.
The holes in my bucket that I fixed the past two years apparently culminate in more good endgames against higher rated opposition. Which comes a bit as a surprise.
ReplyDeleteI have done some thinking. This tournament clearly points in the direction of endgames. Sofar I have always integrated my findings in a tournament in the next training step.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is, that I don't know what my investigation of the invasion is going to bring me. I expect a lot of it, but I don't know.
As a result of previous tournaments, I altered my openings. I'm quite happy with the openings I play now. I realize that all 5 good or equal endgames I got are to a certain degree caused by my opening choice. I now realize that this is true for the games I play at the club too.
Today I saw a video of Capablanca. And I realized that the endgame leads to an extra weapon. You can give the opponent the choice. Trade and get an endgame, or don't and get an attack. This will make my play much more relaxed.
So I guess I have made my choice.
Congratulations on your tournament result!
DeleteIf you are going to focus on the endgame, I strongly suggest using IM Jeremy Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master as a study framework. You will be able to complete the relevant sections before your next tournament.
The essential differences from other approaches to endgame study are: he recommends (1) studying practical endgames that you will most likely encounter in your games, and (2) studying in levels appropriate to your current playing strength. Fundamentals are covered at the beginning, and then additional information is added one level at a time, sometimes going back to examples covered at an earlier lower level and exploring the ideas deeper. Only study the material at or below your current playing level. If you really get ambitious, go no more than one level above your rating.
IM Erik Kislik in Applying Logic in Chess opines that fundamentals of practical endgames can be acquired (once and for all time) through a temporary study plan over a few months.
Better perception of tactics can lead to better endgame play; better endgame technique can lead to better middlegame tactics, and both can lead to better opening play. The important thing is to not “silo” your knowledge and skill. If you try to isolate one training aspect from another (and are successful), you lose by not SEEing the interconnections and interactions that are vital for increased overall skill. For example, studies have shown that practicing varied tasks results in improved skill more than monomaniacly focusing on just one specific aspect at a time.
A rising tide raises all boats.
I’ve been surprised that the lichess.org tactics puzzle set has a fairly high percentage of endgames.
Kill two birds with one stone.
An example puzzle and the game it was extracted from on lichess.org.
ReplyDeleteFEN = 8/8/3p1n2/2pPp1p1/kpP1B3/3P2P1/1PK5/8 b - - 0 50
The annotated version of the game showed that White committed 7 blunders, while Black only committed 5. Given the ratings of the two players, I would have assumed that both were sufficiently familiar with basic endgames to carry either player through to victory. Obviously, I was WRONG.
Black played 50… b3 and ended up losing the game on time.
There are some typical endgame ideas in play here that do not require a lot of endgame knowledge or calculation; it does require recognition of basic patterns. [Thank goodness: there is no “hidden” Trébuchet!] Black wants to INVADE White’s position. It’s not likely he can do that if the two minor pieces remain on the board. By chopping off the WBe4, White is also forced to isolate the WPc4. The c4 and b3 squares become weak, and the WPb2 also becomes a weakness. The only problem is how to force the White King to move away from the b3 invasion square. Zugzwang appears: advancing the BPg5 eliminates the only alternative tempo move, and forces White to choose between advancing the WPb2 (allowing the Black King to invade via a3) or moving the White King away from c2 (again, allowing the Black King to invade on b3 with a double attack on WPc4 and WPb2. As soon as Black gains one of those two pawns, it should be fairly obvious how to continue to the win.
[Event "rated blitz game"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/8xkjVQY7"]
[Date "2023.08.24"]
[White "fnunez"]
[Black "vliegmachinist"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "8xkjVQY7"]
[UTCDate "2023.08.24"]
[UTCTime "20:18:05"]
[WhiteElo "2367"]
[BlackElo "2389"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+10"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-6"]
[BlackTitle "CM"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[Opening "Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations"]
[Termination "Time forfeit"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d3 Nf6 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 Bg4 6. O-O Ne5 7. Nbd2 Qc8 8. Qe1 Nxf3+ 9. Nxf3 e5 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Qc3 Ng8 12. Bd2 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 h5 14. h3 Qxh3 15. Bg2 Qd7 16. f4 Bf6 17. f5 g5 18. fxg6 fxg6 19. Qa5 Bd8 20. Qc3 h4 21. Rf3 h3 22. Bh1 Bb6 23. Qc4 h2+ 24. Kf2 O-O-O 25. a4 Nh6 26. a5 Bc7 27. a6 Rdf8 28. axb7+ Kb8 29. Qa6 Bb6 30. Ba5 Ng4+ 31. Ke2 Qxb7 32. Bxb6 axb6 33. Qa2 Rxf3 34. Bxf3 Nf6 35. Qe6 Ne8 36. Rh1 Qg7 37. Qd5 Qe7 38. Ra1 Qb7 39. c3 Qxd5 40. exd5 h1=Q 41. Rxh1 Rxh1 42. Bxh1 Nf6 43. Be4 g5 44. Kf3 Kc7 45. Kg2 b5 46. Kf2 Kb6 47. Ke3 Ka5 48. Kd2 Ka4 49. Kc2 b4 50. c4 b3+ 51. Kc3 Ng4 52. Bf5 Nh2 53. Bd7+ Ka5 54. Kxb3 Nf1 55. g4 Nd2+ 56. Kc3 Nf3 57. b3 Nd4 58. Be6 Ne2+ 59. Kd2 Nf4 60. Kc2 1-0