Temposchlucker

 Let's start with a typical Aurora attack in the Colle Zukertort. This is how it might work: Diagram 1. White to move r4rk1/pbqn1ppp/1p1bpn2/2ppN3/3P1P2/1P1BP3/PBPN2PP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 2 4 Remember what we try to accomplish: finding the preconditions. The preconditions are related to the LoA landscape. Let me first map the obvious LoAs (lines of attack). Diagram 2. White to move. The LoAs What do we see? blacks Nf6 messes with two LoAs The long diagonal is clogged up The first thing to look at is can we clear the long diagonal with tempo? 1.Nxd7 1. ... Qxd7 (Aurora Australis) 1. ... Nxd7 (Aurora Borealis) Let's assume the Aurora Australis 2.dxc5 2. ... bxc5 2. ... Bxc5 2. ... Be7 (the lesser evil, giving up a pawn) Let's assume that 2. ... Bxc5 is played. Then we get the following position after 1.Nxd7 Qxd7 2.dxc5 Bxc5 Diagram 3. White to move r4rk1/pb1q1ppp/1p2pn2/2bp4/5P2/1P1BP3/PBPN2PP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 6  3.Bxf6           getting rid of the defend...

 I retired in Januari. Since then, I have mainly been busy to organize my life in accordance with the new situation (planting geraniums). I played my games on two clubs, but besides that, I haven't studied new material. Although I maintain the current stuff. Yesterday, I subscribed for a 9 day round robin tournament in July. And now the question is: how am I going to prepare for the tournament the coming months? The last tournament in december had a clear conclusion: 1/3 of my points I lose by tactics while 2/3 I lose by molesting endgames. Losing should read as not winning.  If I would worry about points, then focusing on the endgame would be the logical path to go. But I don't consider endgames as being problematic. It is only a lot of work. And even that remains to be seen. My problem is that I lack an endgame plan most of the time. And without a plan, tactics have no direction. The past weeks I have been quite successful as white. I won three times in a row with a bishop s...

 Robert stated: " If the patterns (principles/”rules”/whatever) are  NOT  embedded in LTM, then it is highly likely that we will NOT “SEE” the available options. " This is the core conclusion of this blog. It might not be immediately obvious what this means for our training. The following diagram makes this perfectly clear: Diagram 1. Black to move r3r1k1/1p3pp1/p5N1/P1p3n1/6b1/2N1P1B1/1PQ2PKP/R4R2 b - - 0 22 Pal Benko vs. Wolfram Hartmann (1984) I hesitated between Bh3+ and Bf3+. I thought it was equal, ceteris paribus. Admittedly, it was 6:00 am this morning and I just woke up. But that are the perfect moments to show you what has been absorbed and what not! What a grandmaster has absorbed doesn't disappear when he is drunk or sleep-drowsy. As long as these two moves look the same at first glance, I haven't absorbed the patterns. And that has dire consequences! What you haven't absorbed, you can't SEE during calculation. Diagram 2 is from my game yesterday. ...

 A close inspection of my last post revealed that I probably mix up two things. The plan of a tactic is revealed by its last scenario. The main study task is twofold: discover all scenarios in the chain of the logical narrative discover all the effects of each scenario I mix this up with my observations of the games at the Tata Chess tournament.. Essentially that works the same, but the end of the scenario-chain is not the gain of wood, but an assessment of the resulting position. Which I called the plan. Back to tactics. The last post was about the first point, discovering all scenarios, and especially the last scenario. But during my training I discovered that point two is a problem too, seeing all the ins and outs of a single scenario. Let me give an example. Black to move 5rk1/p3ppbp/1q1pb1p1/1N3r2/2PB1Qn1/1P4P1/P3PPBP/R4RK1 b - - 0 1 Parligras, Mircea vs. Nielsen, Peter Heine This is a problem of my database, and Chessable presents it to be on a spaced repetition basis. I thin...

 When I look at the videos of the Tata Steel chess tournament that is currently playing, I notice that I need the plan in order to work out the tactics. Without a plan, I am stuck in trial and error. geometry => conceptual geometry => scenario => plan => think backwards   Black to move 6k1/Q5b1/1B2q3/1P2p3/4Pn2/2Np2p1/P5PN/7K b - - 0 1 Alexander Grischuk vs Fabiano Caruana (not from the tournament!) 42. ... Qh6 43. Bg1 scenario 1 threaten mate in 1. Binding the white bishop 43. ... Qh3 44. Qf2 scenario 2 threaten mate in 1. Luring the pawn away, Binding the white queen 44. ... Qxh2+ 45 Bxh2 scenario 3 Luring away the overloaded bishop 45, ,,, gxf2 scenario 4 promoting the pawn The plan combines the 4 scenarios. When you discover the plan, you reached a higher level. From there, you can work backwards and debug your combination. The goal is to get a sense of how to combine scenarios to a plan. You figure it out. I know it!

 I like my views holistic. Because that helps to reduce vagueness. If any author wants me to play an active move, than a holistic view helps me to reason what he might be talking about. In order to build up a holistic view, I realized that I must start at the beginning. Sorry for the kings on the board. But the best program for arrows on the board (Lucas chess) doesn't allow for positions without kings. What is specific for the endgame? there is an extra attacker on the board (the pawn) there is an extra target on the board (the promotion square, the 4th sitting duck) there is a special line of attack (LoA) This terminology gives new meaning to the term "activity". Piece activity can now be measured in terms of influence on these three points of application. This gives rise to the possible scenarios: to attack the pawn to clear or block the LoA It introduces the battle for promotion. The past two weeks I did a lot of research in order to decide how to approach the endgame...

  That was another great tournament! I played some wonderful games. In simplified terms: In one game, I was outplayed by a 12-year-old kid with a rating of about 1500. He eventually finished second in my group. In the remaining 8 games, I was winning at some point. Yet the final result of those remaining 8 games is meager: 1 win, 1 loss, and the rest draws. Over the past year, I have focused primarily on my opening repertoire and positional play. I haven't lost any more points due to my openings or positional play. I still see many opportunities for improvement in those areas, but they are clearly not a priority anymore. You can compare me to a soccer team without finishers. I play excellently, but I don't score. These are the two 'finishers' that are missing: tactics (combinations) endgame strategy I played a draw against a woman, who is the partner of an International Master. She showed the game to him. He said I played excellently, but that I had botched the endgame....