Reaching a grade of 2000 on lichess.org

I am not a very talented chess player, and I want to prove to myself (and everyone else) that hard work and dedication, might actually beat talent!  

I've spent hours and hours over the years playing blitz chess, but alas, my online grade only slightly improved.  So, I thought I'd slow it down a bit and play 10 minute games rather than 5 minute games and this has really helped.  Given that I am not a fast thinker, I am also generally a few minutes slower than my opponents even during these 10 minute games, so if I have a 'won game' I have learnt to speed up in the last 2 minutes of the game. 

Back in the summer of 2023 I set myself a challenge to reach 2000 on lichess.org.  (It should be noted that this server is not as strong as chess.com where my 10 minute grade still sits at 1801).  I found that it was simple enough to reach about 1800 without too much effort, but breaking the 1900 barrier was more of a challenge. Then one day I got past 1950 and realised that it might actually be possible!   

So, in the last few weeks I have been playing between five and ten, 10 minute games.   I've been doing some very basic analysis of the games I lose, and use chessgames.com to play through the games of the masters where the same type of opening is used.  I find that this is very helpful, because you can get a very good sense of how to deal with the positions that arise from the particular openings.

I've played three, 10 minute games today and my grade started off at '1995'.  I won my first game and my grade went up to '1999'.  Bearing in mind that this had happened twice before, I realised I'd have to play another game to get over the 2000 mark, so I played another - but sadly lost !!! :(  So, my grade now sat at '1994'.  I then played a person rated '2019' and to my astonishment, got into a 'won endgame' with less than 1 minute to spare ... I managed to promote a pawn to a Queen - and given that my opponent had no chance whatsoever of doing the same I had a completely 'won game' and they resigned!!!  So I gained 6 grading points and reached 2000!! :)   Job done at last.  I've now set myself the same target for chess.com .  'Never giving up' applies here.   

 

The enemy Knight became a beast!

I made a major strategic blunder in my last club game against Reading A Team.   In this game I really should not have allowed my opponent to place his remaining Knight on e5. During the middle/endgame phase having a Knight on such is a square is a blessing. The Knight surveys eight squares of the board and in this case, the Knight controlled the entire game from e5.

My Knight on the other hand was placed poorly on a2 ("Knight on the rim is dim") and ended up getting trapped ... ! Rubbish ... !! Never mind - learnt from this and won't let it happen again...   

Note: when I showed some colleagues the position after 16. ..e5, I gave them three choices ... They can either play 17.dxe6(ep), 17.fxe5 (which I wrongly elected to do) or 17.f5 which looked to be the strongest move. Unsurprisingly, out of those colleagues asked, the ones with the best chess ratings elected to play f5! This looks to be the correct move as the enemy Knight is certainly deprived of the e5 square, and White gets an attack against the enemy King, with effectively a Kingside pawn-storm.

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Kings Indian

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. O-O c5 8. d5 a6 9. a4 Rb8 10. e4 Ng4 11. Re1 Nge5 12. Nxe5 Nxe5 13. Qe2 b6 14. h3 Qc7 15. Bd2 Nd7 16. f4 e5 17. fxe5 Nxe5 18. b3 Bd7 19. Rab1 Rfe8 20. Na2 Rec8 21. Be3 b5 22. axb5 axb5 23. Bf4 bxc4 24. bxc4 Rxb1 25. Rxb1 Rb8 26. Rxb8 Qxb8 27. Bxe5 Bxe5 28. Kh2 Qb3 29. Qf2 Qxc4 30. Qd2 Qb3 31. Qf2 Ba4 32. Bf3 Qb2 33. Kg2 Bb3 0-1

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

Why didn't I play 21.Bb6???

Chess is often about calculating properly - and not just playing what 'feels like' the right move to play.   In this game I should definitely have played my Bishop to b6 on move 21, however the temptation to get my d pawn to the 7th rank was just too great ... !  Of course I learned of the consequences of making such a move after my opponents simple response .. Nxd7.  

The game was a useful learning experience and needless to say I threw it away. I definitely seem to panic when I have the game on a plate! This is a habit I need to shed if I am seriously going to win more competitive chess games.

You can see that after all the exchanges I am too pawns down - I struggled on until Move 53, but the lost pawns meant I could not hold a draw ...  

As usual, any comments welcome ...

d4 Opening

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O d5 7. Nc3 dxc4 8. e4 Be6 9. a4 a5 10. h3 h6 11. Be3 Na6 12. Qd2 Kh7 13. Ne5 Qc8 14. Kh2 Ne8 15. f4 f5 16. d5 cxd5 17. exd5 Bg8 18. Rad1 Nb4 19. Nb5 Nf6 20. d6 Rd8 21. d7 Nxd7 22. Nxd7 Be6 23. Nb6?? Rxd2 24. Nxc8 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Rxc8 0-1

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

Chess: It's a Race!

My last club game was against Bracknell. My opponent elected to play a kind of delayed London System, with me defending with a Benoni type configuration - I knew I had to get Kingside dominance with f5 at some stage, and I felt that this task was made easier, given my opponent's reluctance to push his Queenside pawns and make them really count. Although the plan was very transparent, the finish was very conclusive!

  

As usual, any comments welcome ...

London System

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bf4 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Nbd2 Nbd7 6. c4 c5 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qc2 Rb8 9. a3 a6 10. b4 cxd4 11. exd4 Nh5 12. Bg3 Re8 13. O-O Nxg3 14. hxg3 Nf6 15. Rfe1 Bd7 16. Rac1 Rbc8 17. Qb3 Bc6 18. a4 Ng4 19. b5 axb5 20. axb5 Bd7 21. b6 e6 22. d5 e5 23. Ne4 Bf5 24. Nfd2 Bxe4 25. Bxe4 f5! 26. Bf3 Nf6 27. Qb4 e4 28. Bd1 Nxd5 29. Qb3 Ne7 30. g4 Kh8 31. gxf5 gxf5 32. Qb5 Rg8 33. Nb3 Be5 34. c5 Nc6 35. Na5 Qg5 0-1

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

Watch the Checks Sir !! - (4NCL Online Game ....)

Having lost all previous games in this league, I thought this game would probably go the same way. I castled Queenside and my position was precarious to say the least, but my opponent missed a simple check that he couldn't block without losing his queen for my rook - so that was the game, sewn up nicely ... ! A note about the opening: The 3. .. Na5 idea came from an old chess publication I had lying around and is apparently a bit of a novelty. It was once played by Graham Miles back in the day, and I believe he had favourable results with this opening idea ...?!

  

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Sicillian - Rossolimo

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Na5 4. O-O a6 5. Be2 d6 6. e5 dxe5 7. Nxe5 Nf6 8. Nc3 e6 9. d3 Bd6 10. Nf3 h6 11. Bd2 Nc6 12. Re1 Qc7 13. h3 b5 14. Bf1 Bb7 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. dxe4 O-O-O 17. c3 g5 18. a4 c4 19. axb5 axb5 20. b3 Bc5 21. Qc2 Qg3 22. Be3 Bxe3 23. Rxe3 Qd6 24. bxc4 bxc4 25. Bxc4 g4 26. hxg4 h5 27. e5 Qc5 28. Ba6 hxg4 29. Bxb7 Kxb7 30. Qb2+ Kc7 31. Nd4 Ra8 32. Nb5+ Kd7 33. Rxa8 Rxa8 34. Rd3+ Ke7 35. Nc7 Rb8 36. Qd2? Rb1+ 37. Kh2 Qxe5+ 38. Rg3 Qxc7 39. Qg5+ Kd7 40. Qxg4 Qe5 41. Qg8 Qf4 42. Qh7 Rb2 43. Qd3+ Kc7 44. f3 Ne5 45. Qd1 Rd2 46. Qf1 Ng4+ 47. Kh3 Nf2+ 48. Kh2 Qh4+ 49. Rh3 Nxh3 0-1

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

I played badly !!

I had a bit of a shocker against Guildford in early October ... I think I will try 2. ..e5 against c4 in future instead of 2. ..d5 which is probablly wrong ... !! I got punished with his simple passed pawn in the closing stages ... I am publishing this game as a penance ... to remind myself to do better next time :)

  

As usual, any comments welcome ...

English

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. d4 g6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 e6 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 a6 11. h4 g4 12. Ne5 h5 13. d5 exd5 14. Nxd5 Be6 15. Qc2 Bxd5 16. exd5 O-O 17. O-O-O Nfd7 18. Qf5 Qf6 19. Qxf6 Nxf6 20. Rhe1 c5 21. d6 Nbd7 22. Nxd7 Nxd7 23. Re7 Rad8 24. Rd5 b5 25. Bd3 c4 26. Bf5 Nf6 27. Rd1 Nh7 28. Ra7 b4 29. d7 c3 30. bxc3 bxc3 31. Bc7 0-1

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

Keininger Trap in Budapest Gambit worth learning!

I have recently been playing on Chess24 ... The Keininger Trap in the Budapest Gambit seems to catch people out all the time ... In this example I was playing someone online graded over 1830.  You will notice in this game that my opponent thinks I've forgotten to retreat my Bishop after being threatened by a pawn ... but - unbeknown to them, the next move is mate!!

  

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Budapest

1. d4 [%clk 00:10:00] 1...  Nf6 [%clk 00:10:00] 2. c4 [%clk 00:09:58] 2...  e5 [%clk 00:09:56] 3. dxe5 [%clk 00:09:36] 3...  Ng4 [%clk 00:09:55] 4. Nf3 [%clk 00:09:25] 4...  Nc6 [%clk 00:09:53] 5. Bf4 [%clk 00:08:43] 5...  Bb4+ [%clk 00:09:49] 6. Nbd2 [%clk 00:08:23] 6...  Qe7 [%clk 00:09:48] 7. a3 [%clk 00:08:11] 7...  Ngxe5 [%clk 00:09:43] 8. axb4 [%clk 00:08:04] 8...  Nd3# [%clk 00:09:42] 0-1

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