Fighting for the center
I played a nine round OTB tournament in Amsterdam lately. I scored a measly 3 out of 9, which is in accordance with my rating. All players except one were higher rated than me.
I had prepared for the tournament by doing the course CPR The Center in the past weeks. That started to totally transform my play already. I outplayed four of the nine opponents right from the opening, just like the game I show you here. Yet a few holes in my bucket made that I wasn't able to convert these four games in four full points:
- I overlooked a counter knight fork
- I didn't see a bishop sac that I could do to secure the mate
- I was busy to mate my opponent, while I had to avoid a perpetual check. My flag fell while my opponent had only 3 seconds on the clock
All in all I consider the tournament a great success. It clearly confirmed that I'm on the right track the past year. The most important issue is that I now play according a plan. That supplies the feedback that I missed so dearly the past 23 years. It's only a matter of time now to reap the benefits.
[Event "ASPT"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2024.07.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Temposchlucker"]
[Black "FV"]
[Result "1-0"]
[BlackElo "1876"]
[ECO "B08"]
[Opening "Pirc"]
[Variation "Classical, 4.Nf3 Bg7"]
[WhiteElo "1790"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[WhiteType "human"]
[BlackType "human"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Bf4 O-O 6. Be2 c6 {Black must be
careful to not fall behind indevelopment} 7. Qd2 Nh5 8. O-O-O Nxf4 9. Qxf4
{Black has invested 3 knight moves in order to get my bishop. But look at
the difference in development now! 4:1} Nd7 10. h4 h5 11. e5 {Trying to
open the position while I'm still ahead in development.
Preventing Nf6.
The black knight blocks the bishop, and the bishop blocks the rook.} e6
{Offering a pawn in order to get access to f6 for his knight} 12. Ne4 {Not
interested} d5 13. Nd6 f6 14. Qg3 Kh7 15. Bd3 f5 16. Ng5+ Kg8 17. Nxe6 Qe7
18. Qxg6 {Black resigns} 1-0
In my youth, I have done judo for some years. I learned ten control positions on the ground, and the way to transit from one control position to the other.
ReplyDeleteI never grasped the logic behind it. Until in recent years I looked at MMA fights on television. And immediately it was clear what they had tried to teach me.
The same happened to me with chess lately. I used to have two meter chess books. But I always failed to grasp what they tried to teach me.
Last year the books went up in flames, and my health deteriorated. Since I can't walk long distances anymore, what I used to, I picked up chess again from the backburner. If I can't walk too much anymore, I can at least sit down. I granted myself the luxury to buy some chess videos.
And those videos have the same effect as television. All of a sudden, I grasp the coherence of the positional knowledge, which didn't come across when reading about it. Reading is just to slow to grasp the relative importance of the subjects. You lose the sight of the forest for the trees.
I'm now in the experimentation phase. I must first experiment with all the details. That's why I'm not bothered with points at all. It will probably take a year or two to get the whole picture. That is only the beginning, of course. Once I get the picture, it is time to become creative myself. To add my own interpretation of the knowledge to picture.
It are exciting times!
PART I:
DeleteReading is a linear process based on System 2. A minority learn how to read fast enough (with concurrent comprehension and retention) to overcome the slowness of learning by reading. On the other hand, watching a video may be difficult to gain good information from because so many things are happening simultaneously. Surely there has to be a sensible balance involved.
I went back and forth through the GM Yasser Seirawan and GM Aman Hambleton video Solve Chess Tactics with Yasser and Aman. I note that there is a second video on the same theme that I haven’t viewed yet.
As I went through the video, I noticed there were times when both GMs engaged in light banter, and then other times when both of them fell silent. Their suggestions during banter sometimes bordered on the ridiculous. However, after a “deep think” by one (or both) of them, the insights were much clearer and applicable to the specific position/variation. Very insightful commentary at those times!
I did find one problem that demonstrated beyond doubt that although they both are GMs and both are far more capable than typical club players of drilling down to the essence of a particular problem, there are a few times when they also “go off the rails.”
Puzzle 71:
FEN: r1r5/p5pk/2p1Q1p1/q2pPp2/PRbP4/B7/2PK1PPP/7R b - - 0 1
Last White move: 0. Rb4
2:07:51—2:21:51 – 14 minutes total
I transcribed the entire dialog between the GMs, a very slow and painful process. If needed, I slowed the video down to a crawl in order to understand what was said. Even with that trick, it was sometimes hard (impossible) to follow what was said through the laughter.
The most interesting thing about the solution to this problem was that GM Seirawan jumped right on a potential “solution” and GM Hambleton totally disagreed with that idea. The initial dialog went like this:
YS: This one kinda feels too easy for me; I think something’s wrong. c6-c5...you gotta take the pawn, otherwise the rook is lost. Qxc5 and there’s no defense to the pawn on f2, and we’ve opened up the c-file, which is very good...
AH: I’m so glad that I have you here: I would consider this probably never in my life.
YS: WHAT?!? Why not?
AH: Ever. It’s a puzzle, dude, and I’m looking at trapping the [White] queen, I’m looking at winning the [White] rook, I’m looking at getting the rook lift [to c6] and Yasser literally just exchanged a pair of pawns, and claimed the position was winning on the spot.
YS: I told you, well, the drone in me is looking at that f2 pawn and saying, “That’s undefended.” How can you go through life playing chess with undefended pawns?
AH: And the sick part is, you’re gonna be right. An absolutely sick part.
YS: 70 for 70 [Puzzle Rush score]. I’m not taking any credit whatsoever. I’m not gonna take any credit at all for the first 50 [problems]. No, that was like, you did that, you know, I was telling stories and you were just racking them up.
AH: Oh my God, I mean, it’s gonna be Ke1, Re8, and you [White] can’t play Qd6…
YS: SWEET!
AH: Oh my, this is just so sick; this [c5] is a move you might play by accident.
YS: (Laughs) Defending your pawn. The training is working: Aman is defending his pawn!
AH: This is ridiculous.
PART II:
DeleteTo me, the absolute “sick part” was that GM Seirawan, rated 200 Elo points higher than GM Hambleton, was totally WRONG. The very first move was not in question, but everything following it went down the wrong track into a long, dark tunnel. For example:
YS: So, what I’m thinking is we’ve gotta stop is h5 and we stop it with Be2.
AH: You’re kidding me. You’re literally joking.
YS: [Laughs loudly] I’m like, “No!”
AH: No shot! You’re telling me c5, h4, Be2 is the answer… I’m rolling in my grave.
YS: No, I’m saying we need to stop h5...
AH: That would be three moves in a row that I couldn’t produce if my life depended on it.
2:15:14
YS: This is good stuff. Be2.
AH: “Be2” in a falsetto voice]. WHAT?!?
Somewhere along here, GM Seirawan suddenly went quiet for a relatively long think, and came up with this:
YS: h5, Be2, Kxe2, I’m going to take the rook cxb4, then you’re gonna go h5, then I go Rxc2+, Kd1 and I gotta face the music on the kingside once again and I’m not happy. [Sighs] Okay, so Be2 doesn’t work. Aman, it doesn’t work!
AH: ARGH! Color me surprised, Yasser! Let’s get to Twitter immediately. Hashtag: Carlsen, Nepo, Be2 doesn’t work; get some exposure on that bad boy.
That’s encouraging when a 2600+ GM goes down a rabbit hole and then demonstrates that “if it doesn’t work, abandon it.”
I think too often when we get into the tunnel or rabbit hole, we are very reluctant to abandon the trek. Consider it as a sunk cost; whatever time has been spent cannot be recovered, and the cost is minimized the sooner we recognize that fact.
YS already said somewhere that he should be a member of Pawn Grabbers Anonymous
DeleteWhat struck me is how strong they are guided by a sound logical narrative. They simply cannot force themselves to take a gamble when the story isn't complete.
DeleteIt took me 23 years to find that the logical narrative is the only method that is able to transform knowledge into skill. Then it took me another 1.5 years to find that a video is the best way to assimilate a narrative, since it helps you to get the necessary distance from the trees to see the forest.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm going to see whether I can find a video (at Chessable) of sufficient quality about tactics.