When 1690 plays 1390

what are the differences between the styles of play in this game? The difference is that of technique - development and the conception of a plan. The lower graded player is not properly developed whereas the higher graded player considered development very carefully and capitalised on the 1390s lack of development.

The 1690 has managed to plan an attack against their opponents king, no matter how simplistic... 
Finally they used tactics to issue the knockout blows and checkmate the king!

The lessons for the 1390 player should be:
1) Bring all your pieces into play as expediently as possible.
2) Look out for enemy attacks and tactics against your king.
3) Plan your own attacks and make threats - the tactics will follow!

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Kings pawn

1. e4 e6 2. d4 Ne7 3. Nc3 Ng6 4. e5 Bb4 5. Bd2 Bxc3 6. bxc3 O-O 7. Nf3 Nh4 8. Bd3 Nxf3+ 9. Qxf3 c6 10. Qg3 f6 11. Bh6 Rf7 12. Be2 f5 13. Bh5 g6 14. Bxg6 Rf6 15. Bxh7+ Kxh7 16. Qg7# 1 0

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Accepting Chess Losses

Become "robot-like" and objective. How would a computer accept a loss? The answer is quite simple: It would not care. Nor should you. Computer's don't have emotions. Nor should you. Ignore the number of losses and the magnitude of the decrease in rating. Analyse how the losses were made. If, from a human perspective you're blundering, then stop playing for a while. You are either tired, chasing your grade, trying too hard, or bored of chess at the moment and lost for inspiration. Computers possess some of the strongest skills in the world of chess and the strongest ones learn from previous games of which there are millions - why shouldn't you imitate their behaviour if you want the same results? Start your new chess career from now: Become a chess-terminator!

Grand Prix Attack game leads to draw

I tried to use the Grand Prix Attack in my first club game of 2018.  I had a huge time lead during the 'middle game', but my opponent found what looked like a simple way to equalise by doubling rooks on the f file .... I was a pawn down, so accepted the draw that was offered!

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Grand Prix Attack

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bb5 Bg7 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. O-O Nf6 8. d3 O-O 9. Qe1 a5 10. Qh4 Qc7 11. f5 Rab8 12. fxg6 fxg6 13. Bh6 Rxb2 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Rac1 h6 16. h3 e5 17. Nh2 g5 18. Qe1 Be6 19. a4 Rb2b8 20. Qe2 Rf7 21. Nd1 Rbf8 0.5 0.5

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

How to defeat Scotch Terrorist Attack

I had an interesting game online this evening.  It reminded me of a game I played in the Portsmouth Chess Congress some years back.  I enjoy playing the Scotch game and my opponent played 4.Qh4 - "The Terrorist Attack".  This can get quite sharp and White has to play it accurately to not let Black  get an advantage!  The trick is to sacrifice the e4 pawn early on ... The result being that black has a lone Queen in play with the hope of being assisted ONLY by a bumbling pair of Knights ... White should win if they manage to get all their pieces in play, whilst Black struggles to develop their Bishop and Rook, partly due to forfeiting their right to castle.

You'll note from this game that I could have won my opponent's knight earlier on with a simple f4 pawn push, but failed to spot this ... It was only after replaying the match that I realised!!

Enjoy the game .... !



As usual, any comments welcome ...

Scotch Game

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Be2 Qxe4 7. Nb5 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Kd8 9. O-O a6 10. Bf3 Qe5 11. Nd4 Nxd4 12. cxd4 Qf6 13. c3 Ne7 14. Ba3 Nc6 15. Re1 Re8 16. Qd2 b6 17. Rxe8+ Kxe8 18. Re1+ Kd8 19. d5 Ne5 20. Be2 Bb7 21. c4 d6 22. Bb2 g6 23. Bg4 g5 24. Qe2 Ke7 25. Bxe5 dxe5 26. Bf3 Kd6 27. Qd2 a5 28. Qc3 Re8 29. Be4 h5 30. Qa3+ Kd7 31. Qa4+ Kc8 32. Qxe8+ Qd8 33. Qxd8+ Kxd8 34. d6 Bxe4 35. Rxe4 cxd6 36. f3 Ke7 37. Kf2 f5 38. Re2 Kd7 39. Rb2 Kc6 40. g4 hxg4 41. fxg4 f4 42. Kf3 Kc5 43. Rc2 a4 44. h4 gxh4 45. g5 Kc6 46. g6 Kd7 47. g7 1-0

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/