Knight Keystor

Questionnaire Tag

2007-07-07T16:27:00.000-06:00

Korsmonaut - Tag...you're it!

Alrighty, here we go:

1) What is your blogger name and URL?

Kknight at http://keystor.blogspot.com

2) How did you learn about the circles?

I came across the book Rapid Chess Improvement at Barnes & Noble while browsing the chess section.

3) When did you learn about the circles?

Around December of 2005 or January of 2006

4) How long have you been going through the circles or how long did it take if you are finished?

I did my first set of circles in 2 months or so using Chess Tactics for Beginners. I did 20+ circles with that collection (including reviews since.) I've also done a similar number of circles using Advanced Chess School and again using the first 3 tactics modules of Personal Chess Trainer. I can now sit down with any one of those collections and burn through the 1,000+ problems involved in an hour and a half to two hours...less for the 720 problems in each of the PCT modules. Combining those collections gives me a total of over 4,000 problems that I have "circled" through.

5) How is your progress?

Online, I improved by ~500 ELO in a year on Playchess.com...from about 1400 to about 1900. Live, I had a performance improvement of over 500 between two tournaments a year apart. In the first I ended with a PR of 997. A year later at the same tournament, I ended with a PR of 1502.

6) Does working with the circles alone work for chess improvement, or is it more helpful to join the Knights?

I'd say joining the Knights Errant is beneficial because of the accountability and sense of community that it provides...but that certainly doesn't mean that you can't do it on your own. I joined the Knights after completing my circles with CTB, Adv. Chess School and Modules 1 & 2 of PCT on my own. I did Module 3 of PCT during my time with the Knights.

7) Are you a scholastic player?

Nope...I'm a 28-year-old working adult with a young family. The oldest of my two boys plays chess occasionally though...he's seven years old.

8) Would you recommend the circles to a scholastic player?

Yes, but not using CT-ART...I'd recommend starting with either CTB or PCT before moving on to CTI (Chess Tactics for Intermediates) or CT-ART.

9) Do you use other chess training methods to supplement the circles?

While I was still training regularly, I was studying master games and doing some endgame study in addition to the tactics training. I also played regularly both live and online. I would then analyse and critique the majority of those games using Deep Fritz 10 and semi-regular input from the strongest player at our local club (he is currently a Strong Class A player and was USCF Expert rated about 10 years ago.)

10) Any general comments about chess training or the circles?

It can be hard work, but if you are willing to stay consistent and are determined to improve, this can be the ticket. I averaged at least 1-2 hours of study per day for close to a year and a half (not including playing time.) I'm somewhat the exception in that I did not find the circles to be drudgery, but truly enjoyed them. I think the work paid as I did see the "promised" improvement. I essentially improved 500 points across the board (online and off) in one year's time. Best of luck to anyone willing to take on the task of chess improvement!

Memories...

2007-06-27T12:37:00.000-06:00

It's amazing how much you remember, even after a two month hiatus. I just polished off a review of Tactics Module-3 in PCT 2007 as a refresher. I ran through it with probably about 95-97% accuracy. I'm going to try to pick up where I left off in Module-4 next. We'll see how it goes...

The End?

2007-05-30T08:07:00.000-06:00

"Pre-script" (is there such a thing???) - If you aren't up for reading this admittedly long post, please at least read the last paragraph and know that I do plan to stay "semi-active."

Well, it's been about a month since I've been to the club or played a game (online or off.) I've spent some time doing tactics (and am planning to do some more today,) but it has been a very small amount of time in comparison to the pace that I've kept up for over a year.

Before I explain what has happened, allow me to make it perfectly clear that I have not "burnt out" on chess...nor have I gotten tired of tactics. I still get and will continue to get immense enjoyment out of both. I'm one of those strange people that thinks it is fun to do 1,000+ tactics in a period of a few hours. I still plan to enjoy chess and everything involved with it for years to come...it'll just be much more infrequent. Now...with that out of the way...

Over the past month, I have come to the realization (although I'm not sure that's the best word as I've always known this but not thought much about it) that I am putting a very significant amount of time and effort (along with a less significant, but still decent, amount of money) into something that I will never get anything out of (aside of course from the aforementioned enjoyment.) Not that there is anything particularly wrong with that...but I've decided that if I am going to put that time and effort into something, it might as well be something that has at least the potential to give me some sort of return on my investment of time and effort...

After a fair bit of reading and research, I have gotten involved in the world of Fixed Limit Texas Hold 'em Poker. It is very much a game of strategy and statistics...and I have found that I enjoy it at least as much as I do chess. I study, I practice, I use a database to keep track of my played hands and look for mistakes in my play...you'd be amazed how many similarities there are between chess improvement and poker improvement. Most poker players don't put much effort into improvement because of a mistaken over-emphasis on the factor of luck. I'm already used to putting a significant amount of work into improving at something I enjoy. I figure that if I put as much effort into this as I have into chess, there's no telling how far I can go with it...and I have to say...an "expert" rating in poker is quite a bit more profitable than an expert rating in chess.

In closing, I'd like to thank everybody for the support, encouragement, and kind comments that I've been given during my time with the knights. I'd ask you not to take me off your sidebars just yet. I do plan on staying active by posting at least once a month in regards to the infrequent continuation of my chess journey. Don't worry, this won't become a poker blog. See you next time...

Not Much to Say

2007-05-07T13:32:00.000-06:00

I don't have a whole lot to say at the moment, but did want to let everyone know that I haven't fallen off the planet. I'm just working my way through PCT Tactics Module-4 at the moment. I'll continue to update my sidebar with my progress...

Play the Ruy Lopez Mini-Review

2007-04-24T08:48:00.000-06:00

Having now spent about a week with IM Andrew Greet's Play the Ruy Lopez, I figured I should post my thoughts on it. In short, if you enjoy playing the Ruy Lopez (a.k.a. the Spanish,) but want to stay away from the enormous amount of theory associated with the main lines, this seems to be the best way to go.

There are lots of original ideas and analysis based mostly on the second or third most popular (but still solid) lines. Everything is well explained and easy to understand...and just about every semi-reasonable response by black is covered! The book is divided into three parts: Part one covers black's third move alternatives (after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5,) part two covers black's fourth move alternatives (following 3...a6 4.Ba4,) and part three focuses on the Worral (4...Nf6 5.Qe2.) Each part is divided into chapters, with a chapter devoted to each of black's systems (Steinitz, Classical, Bird Defence, etc.)

This is the first opening book that I've ever purchased, so I can't give any kind of comparison to other opening books or to any kind of "standard." What I can say is that I'm very happy with the purchase and look forward to getting quite a bit of use out of it. Two thumbs up!

Another Win vs the Club Expert!

2007-04-19T07:45:00.000-06:00

This one is really exciting for me due to the fact that it is one of my first games with my newly minted Tarrasch Variation in the French. What a confidence booster in a new line!

Chris abandoned a bishop on move 17 thinking that it was immune to capture because of some back rank trickery. He missed that after attacking my queen with 18...Rad8 that I had the logical reply 19.Qe7, which left me up a piece and with a perfectly safe back rank. After the game he said that he was disappointed to have missed the opportunity of 19...c4, but I don't think that it wouldn't have worked anyway because of 20.Rae1, which would have been my reply had he played it instead of the 19...f5 that he did play. You can see it all here:

Ron - Chris [C09]
Unrated Club Game - No Clock - 18.04.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 cxd4 5.exd5 exd5 6.Nxd4 Nc6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.N2f3 Nf6 9.0–0 Be7 10.Re1 0–0 11.Bg5 Ne4 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Nd2 Qf6 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Rxe4 c5 17.Nb3 Qxb2 18.Qxd7 Rad8 19.Qe7 f5 20.Ree1 c4 21.Qe6+ Chris Resigns 1–0

In regard to my training, I think I'm finally going to get started on PCT Tactics Module-4 on Monday. I will have achieved all of my review goals (listed in my March 1st post) by then. Also, I received my copy of Play the Ruy Lopez a couple of days ago. So far I'm very impressed with both the writing and the analysis. I'll be sure to get a mini-review up in the next few days. See you then!

Good Books on the French Tarrasch?

2007-04-16T07:46:00.000-06:00

Can anyone recommend a good book or two on the French Tarrasch from the white side? I'm making two (relatively) major changes to my opening repertoire...one being to switch from 3.Nc3 against the French to 3.Nd2, the other being to switch to the Worral Attack in the Lopez.

I'm not making these changes due to poor results or unhappiness with my current lines, but rather to stay more consistent with the philosophy seen in the rest of my opening choices. I've built most of my repertoire around less popular and less well-known (but still solid) lines. I've done this largely to increase the likelihood that I'm more booked up than my opponent, as well as to minimize the need to spend significant time on opening study.

The French and the Ruy Lopez (a.k.a. the Spanish) have been the two biggest exceptions in that I have played more mainstream lines. Unfortunately, this has meant that these sections of my repertoire have been significant in size and time-consuming to keep on top of...thus my decision to change things up a bit.

Anyway, I have ordered Play the Ruy Lopez by Greet and am looking for a book to kickstart my Tarrasch knowledge. I'd prefer something that is more on the "talky" side rather than just a large book of variations. If anyone can make a recommendation or two, I'd appreciate it.

Retaining PCT 2.0 Training History

2007-04-12T08:01:00.000-06:00

Pale Morning Dun brought up a good point that I neglected to mention in the Personal Chess Trainer 2007 review. The issue is whether the training history and progress is carried over from PCT 2.0 to PCT 3.0 when you upgrade. The short answer is no, but there is an easy solution. First though, let me give a quick explanation of the situation...

When you install the new version of PCT, it is a fresh install into C:\Program Files\Personal Chess Trainer 2007...it doesn't overwrite or upgrade the install of PCT 2.0 which is located (at least by default) in C:\Program Files\Personal Chess Trainer. On the one hand, this means that you can still access version 2.0 and everything still works as normal, but on the other it means that none of the user data, history, or progress is carried over to the new version. With that explained, on to the solution...

If you want to keep your existing history and current progress from PCT 2.0 intact when you move to PCT 2007, it is relatively easy to do. Once you have downloaded, installed, registered, and activated PCT 2007, create a user account and then close the program. Open either My Computer or Windows Explorer (whichever method you prefer) and navigate to C:\Program Files\Personal Chess Trainer\Users\username, where username is the name of the user account you created in PCT 2.0. Select all the .dat files (and ONLY the .dat files...you don't want to copy the .ini or .pc* files) and then click the "Edit" menu and "Copy." Now navigate to C:\Program Files\Personal Chess Trainer 2007\Users\username and then click the "Edit" menu and "Paste."

Once this is done, you can close the window and start PCT 2007 back up. If it was done correctly, all of your history should be intact and if you were in the middle of a unit in PCT 2.0, you should be able to pick up right where you left off.

I hope that helps...feel free to let me know if you run into any problems.

PCT 2007 Mini-Review (Updated)

2007-04-10T18:45:00.000-06:00

I was going to wait until I had completed Tactics Modules 1-3 before doing the review, but after completing a little over half of Module 1 I think that I have enough information to do it justice. I can confidently say that Personal Chess Trainer 2007 (a.k.a. PCT 3.0) has a fairly substantial number of corrections, revisions, updates, and extensions to the problem set presented in PCT 2.0 as well as some completely new problems.

To expand a bit on that, I have run across a few problems so far in Module 1 that used to be in Module 2, meaning that they have re-arranged the problem set in some places. I'm assuming that this is to improve upon the progression of difficulty. There have been a few revisions and updates where problems have been changed (slightly in some cases, more drastically in others.) There have been extensions...for example there was a problem that used to be a two-mover in PCT 2.0 that ended one move before mate (the mating move is largely obvious) that has now been extended to include the mating move. Finally, I have run into problems that start the same as those in PCT 2.0, but follow up with a different reply from the opponent. In one case (problem 389) it was changed from a mate-in-three in PCT 2.0 to a mate-in-six here...same problem, but more difficult reply/variation. UPDATE -- After finishing Module 1, I can add that (perhaps best of all) it seems that the few problems that I was never able to completely "understand" or that just didn't seem to make sense (even after studying them extensively with Fritz, variations and all) have been revised to make them and their associated solutions much more clear and less ambiguous.

In addition to the changes to the problems and problem sets, the interface has been fairly heavily updated. It's a nice looking change in my opinion. Probably the two largest functional differences are the integration of the crafty engine and the ability to traverse back through the problems that have already been completed. Previously, once a problem was finished, you could not back up to it without re-doing the unit. A very nice update...

Finally, two new sets of Modules have been added: Openings and Commented Endgames. The Openings Modules seem somewhat offbeat, offering King's Gambit, Queen's Gambit, English Opening, and Larsen's Opening. The Commented Endgames include modules on Elementary Checkmates, Pawns, Minor Pieces, Rook, and Pieces vs. Pieces.

All-in-all, it seems to me that Personal Chess Trainer 3.0 is a worthwhile upgrade for owners of previous versions and highly recommended for those who've never tried it. At the very least, run over to the PCT website and give the free trial version a go.

Sidebar Pruning (Updated)

2007-04-10T08:48:00.000-06:00

I just finished doing some cleanup of the Knights Errant section of my sidebar. Basically, I removed any knights that hadn't posted in three months or more. I made a folder in my bloglines feeds called "Inactive Knights" and moved them all there so that if they return I'll remember to link back to them.

For the record, I removed Celtic, Reborn, Man de la Maza, Pawn Sensei, Board Scholar, Guru, Lucky Bobby, Loomis, Samurai Pawn, and Poe Ripper. I also removed Tempo and Underpromoted Knight as they have both stated that they are done blogging (at least for now.) Finally, I moved Fierabras to Other Chess Blogs as he has left the knights but continued to blog.

UPDATE -- As noted in the comments to this post, I've added DK Transform to my sidebar and moved DutchDefence from Knights to Other Chess Blogs.

Personal Chess Trainer 2007

2007-04-09T20:20:00.000-06:00

I've been out of town on vacation for the last week and a half (but not neglecting my chess studies.) I returned to find (hat tip to our newest knight Abend) that PCT 2007 had been released. I paid the reasonable upgrade price and downloaded it.

I plan on having a mini-review up in a few days, but I will say right off the bat that I was disappointed to find that it is still not fully Vista-compliant in that it still needs to be run as an administrator. Just a small complaint, but I had hoped they would have the foresight to take care of that. More to come...

A Few Mini-Reviews

2007-03-29T08:10:00.000-06:00

I thought it might be worthwhile to make a few comments and recommendations (a.k.a. short reviews) regarding the products that I have used/am using for my training regimen:

Tactics

Chess Tactics for Beginners - This is a great "first" collection of about 1,300 tactics problems. It is a few levels of difficulty below CT-ART and I would highly recommend it for use in "circles training" before moving on to CT-ART. It has a good mix of mates, material-winning problems, and drawing problems. There are four or five "mistakes" where there is a better move than the "solution," but all-in-all it is a very high-quality collection. It keeps track of your solving accuracy and assigns you a rating to help track your progress. Finally, it has several features that I made heavy use of such as the ability to mirror the position, reverse colors, or view the board from white's perspective even when it is black to move. I found that randomizing the positions in this way helped to further solidify the patterns in my memory. If you buy this program, make sure that you download the patch from the support section of ChessOK's website.

Advanced Chess School - While I did get some benefit out of this program, I wasn't terribly impressed with it and can't in all honesty recommend it. The translation of the explanations is terrible and often doesn't make sense. Also, there is a very high number of composed mate studies that are frustratingly difficult and which I'm not sure were very beneficial to my improvement. It's not strictly a tactics collection as there are also a number of opening-type problems as well as quite a few strategy motifs. I'll likely return to this program at a later date and see if I get more benefit when I'm a stronger player.

Personal Chess Trainer 2.0 - I'm currently halfway through the Tactics Modules in this program. It consists of 4,320 tactics problems, 1,440 endgame problems, and 720 strategy problems (which each give a short explanation of the solution.) The tactics problems have a fairly high ratio of mates (as opposed to material-winning problems) although that improves as you get into the later modules. I've generally found it to be a good choice for a follow-up to Chess Tactics for Beginners. It is very well suited for "circles training" because that is the methodology that the program uses to train you. The first time you see a certain tactics problem you get three minutes to solve it. The next few times you get a minute and a half, then a minute, then 45 seconds, and finally 30 seconds. You end up repeating each problem about ten or eleven times during the course of a module. So essentially you do ten circles and it's all automated. It keeps track of the time you spend on each unit and then further breaks it down into average time per problem. It also automatically repeats any problems that you miss. In short, I'd highly recommend this program. If you haven't yet purchased it though, you might wait a month or two for the new version to come out. It is supposed to fix some mistakes and oversights as well as add an opening section.

Openings

Chess Position Trainer - This is essentially a database designed to store and train you on your personal opening repertoire. Not only is it free, but I've found it to be one of the best programs out there for this purpose. It allows you to break up your repertoire into multiple sub-repertoires for easier organization and training. It has a very large number of configurable options for drilling you on your openings. You can also download user-made repertoires from the site. I use the Dan Heisman recommendation of adding one new move to my repertoire per game. After a game, I look up the opening to find where we went out of book, figure out what the book move was, and add it to CPT. I then drill my openings with the training features until I can play them in my sleep. Highly recommended...did I mention that it's free? Version 4 should hopefully be out soon (the current version has some problems with Windows Vista.)

Endgames

Silman's Complete Endgame Course - I absolutely LOVE this book! It's practical, concise, and easy to understand. The decision to divide the material by rating is brilliant...I can't believe that it's never been done before. There are enough diagrams to go through the material without a board, but I tend to go back and play through the positions against Fritz after reading through a section. I find that helps to burn the information into place better. I'd say that this is likely the ONLY endgame book that you'll need until at least the expert level. I can't recommend it enough. Even if you aren't a big fan of Silman in general, you owe it to yourself to take a look at this book!

Chess Endgames 1 - This program is put out by Chessbase and authored by Karsten Müller. I really enjoy the video training format that Chessbase uses. I've found this to be a good companion to the Silman book. It plugs a few holes that Silman doesn't cover, such as the Knight & Bishop Mate. I know, I know, I know...I'll probably never run into it, but if I do, I'll be ready! It also gives a slightly different perspective on the overlapping material. I've found that learning the same idea/concept/technique in more than one way helps me to remember it even better. I wouldn't say that this is a "must have" like the Silman book is, but if you've got the extra money laying around and want to further solidify your endgame technique, I'd say that the Chess Endgames series from Chessbase is a good way to go (there are four in the series so far: Basic Knowledge for Beginners, Rook Endgames, Major Piece Endgames, and Strategic Endgames.)

Game Collections

I can't give much of a recommendation here since I've only been through a book and a half so far (although I've got a large number of books on my wishlist.) I can recommend the two that I'm familiar with though: Chernev's Logical Chess is a great first game collection book. Every single move is give an explanation. It is a little dated and has a few analysis errors, but I still think that it is a good place to start. The games are great and the explanations do a good job of helping to understand what is happening. His follow-up The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played is also highly recommended (I'm about halfway through it.) It's a step higher in terms of audience skill level (I should also note that it's in descriptive notation.) It doesn't have an explanation after every single move, but still has plenty of commentary when necessary. The selection of games is also both exciting and varied. So far I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

That covers most of the products that I've used so far. I'll try to do mini-reviews anytime I get something new. I hope it helps!!!

Still Here...

2007-03-22T13:31:00.000-06:00

...and still making slow but steady progress. I've been through all previous tactical problems (stages 1-5 of CTB and modules 1-3 of PCT) several more times since my last update. I decided that I am better off taking the time to be sure that all the material up to this point is truly "mastered" before moving on rather than just rushing into the next module in PCT. I've got about one more time through each of the PCT modules before I'll be able say that I am happy with my level of mastery.

I've also spent a fair amount of time re-organizing and reviewing my opening repetoire in CPT over the last couple of weeks. I want to get that down solid as well. I'd guess that it'll be another week or two before I begin on PCT tactics module-4. I still want to do a little bit of master game study and endgame study before that time as well. Back to work...

Chessbase Support Sucks

2007-03-12T10:59:00.000-06:00

I've heard this sentiment before, but this is the first time that I've had a chance to experience it myself. I came across a bug in Deep Fritz 10 back in December. Although I've since found ways to work around it, it's a big annoyance and a fairly major issue.

I e-mailed Chessbase support in early January with a description of the problem. We e-mailed back and forth a few times to nail the details down and get a sample database to them that exhibits the problem. After that I didn't hear from them for a month, so I e-mailed them in early February to ask the status. I was told that they had lost the database that I had sent and could I kindly re-send it. So I did...and another month went by.

I e-mailed them again at the beginning of this month asking about the status...I have yet to hear back. I've pretty much given up. I'll just deal with it and hope that it will eventually get fixed in one of their updates.

The latest wrinkle is that I have noticed when I hit 's' in the board window to set up a new game/position that the checkbox for black to castle long is always unchecked by default. I'm sure that's somehow related to the whole issue, but even if I make sure to check that box when I set up a new starting position and then enter the game from there, once it gets saved into the database the problem again arises. So that setting is getting turned off at some point during the save process. Ah well...life goes on.

In other news, I'm continuing with my review. I've been back through everything once, but wasn't too happy with my performance in PCT Tactics Module-2, so I will run through it a few more times before moving on.

PCT Module-3 Done!

2007-03-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

Tactics Module-3 is complete! I will now do a massive, "once-through" review of CTB and Modules 1 & 2. I will also likely play through several master games, do some endgame study, run through a few hundred CTS problems, modestly retool my opening book in CPT, and spend some time playing at PlayChess before moving on to Module-4 in a couple of weeks. Then the cycle will begin anew...

Still Room for Improvement

2007-02-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

My latest G/30 game reinforces the decision to continue with tactical training. I did win it, but I missed several earlier and/or faster wins. Here is the game, with my comments below it:

Kknight (1856) - Chel (1861) [B21]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 22.02.2007
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5+ Nfd7 8.Qxd5 e6 9.Qf3 a6 10.Bxd7+ Bxd7 11.Qg4 Nc6 12.Nf3 Nb4 13.0–0 Nd3 14.Bg5 f6 15.exf6 gxf6 16.Qh5+ Ke7 17.Be3 Qe8 18.Bc5+ Nxc5 19.Qxc5+ Kd8 20.Qb6+ Kc8 21.Rac1 Bc6 22.Nd4 Kd7 23.Rfd1 Ke7 24.Qc7+ Bd7 25.Nf5+ exf5 26.Re1+ Kf7 27.Rxe8 Kxe8 28.Re1+ Be7 29.Qd6 Chel resigns 1–0

I did evaluate 8.e6, but could not calculate the line to completion and so chose not to play it. Same with 17.Bxf6+ and then again with 18.Nd5+. I did not, however, even consider 23.Nxc6, although the line I played (starting with 23.Rfd1) is just as easily winning.

Expanding the Training Regimen

2007-02-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

I've decided not to halt the tactics training, but instead to supplement it with some endgame study and increased master game study (to provide a sort of "strategy training.") My wife bought me Karsten Mueller's Chess Endgames 1 for Valentines day and I have Silman's Complete Endgame Course on order.

In order to make time for this supplemental material, I will be cutting back on my correspondence games at FICGS. I only have nine active games left and will not be joining any more tournaments for a while.

I'm hoping that this new, expanded regimen will continue to provide the benefits that I have been seeing from tactics training while also improving the previously neglected facets of my game. As always, I'll keep you posted...

Time to Give Tactics a Break? (Updated)

2007-02-08T13:09:00.001-07:00

I think it may be about time to switch to strategy and/or endgame study in order to get those aspects of my game up to the same level that the tactical aspect is currently at. I'm finding my play to be extremely solid lately in regards to tactics. The games that I am losing are being lost in either closed or strategic positions or in the endgame. It's rare for me to lose a game on tactical grounds anymore...at least at this level of play.

Using today's G/20 game that I played against a 2045-rated player on PlayChess as an example, I played a tactically sound game (with the exception of the last 6-7 moves which were played under extreme time pressure,) but in the middlegame started to lose ground strategically. I'm thinking that once I finish Tactics Module-3 in PCT (I'm about halfway done,) I'll move into another area of study for a while. I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts both on the plan in general and in my assessment of the game:

Kknight (1905) - Pommes (2045) [C91]
Rated game, 20m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 08.02.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.d4 Bg4 10.d5 Nb8 11.Qd3 Nbd7 12.Bc2 Kh8 13.b4 Rg8 14.Nbd2 Nf8 15.h3 Bd7 16.Nb3 Ng6 17.Nh2 Nh5 18.Bd2 Ngf4 19.Bxf4 Nxf4 20.Qf1 g5 21.Bd1 Qf8 22.Bg4 Bxg4 23.Nxg4 h5 24.Ne3 g4 25.g3 Nxh3+ 26.Kh2 Ng5 27.Nd2 Nxe4 28.Nxe4 f5 29.Nd2 f4 30.Ng2 Bg5 31.Ne4 f3 32.Ne3 Qf7 33.Nxg5 Rxg5 34.Qd3 h4 35.gxh4 Qf4+ 36.Kg1 Rh5 37.Ng2 fxg2 38.Qg3 Rf8 39.Qxg2 Rxh4 40.Re4 Qg5 41.Rf1 Rf3 42.a4 Qh5 43.c4 Rfh3 Time 0–1

UPDATE -- The flip-side of the coin is that I have been seeing significant improvement in my playing strength and rating lately due entirely to tactical training. So should I just continue doing what has been working until I start to see diminishing returns and only THEN move onto endgame and strategy study? I obviously want the most bang for my study-time "buck" here.

Cruising Along

2007-02-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

I've been burning through the PCT units at a rapid pace recently...largely two and three-move material winning positions. In addition, I've been spending a fair amount of time with CTS problems and have seen a slow rise in my accuracy score there. Finally, I am keeping pace with my Tuesday/Thursday schedule of G/30 games on PlayChess. I was quite happy with today's game, which put me back above 1900 for the second time now (I had a loss last Thursday to a 1977 that knocked me back into the upper 1800s):

Yikes (1857) - Kknight (1877) [A02]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 06.02.2007
1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.g3 0–0 6.d3 Bg4 7.Bg2 Nc6 8.c3 Re8 9.0–0 Qe7 10.e4 Bc5+ 11.d4 Rad8 12.Qb3 Na5 13.Qa4 Bb6 14.b4 Nc4 15.Qb3 Be6 16.Ng5 Nd2 17.Qc2 Nxf1 18.Bxf1 Bg4 19.Bd3 Rxd4 20.cxd4 Bxd4+ 21.Kg2 Bxa1 22.e5 Qxe5 23.Nxh7 Qd5+ 24.Kf2 Qf3+ 25.Kg1 Bd4+ 26.Be3 Bxe3+ Yikes Opgeven? 0–1

1900 and Climbing...

2007-01-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

I must have broken through one serious plateau after the tournament earlier this month. Here's my latest G/30 online victory:

Jj33 (1853) - Kknight (1866) [A59]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 25.01.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bxa6 7.Nf3 d6 8.e4 Bxf1 9.Kxf1 Bg7 10.g3 0–0 11.Kg2 Nbd7 12.h3 Ra6 13.Qc2 Qa8 14.a3 Rb8 15.Be3 Nb6 16.Nd2 Nfd7 17.f4 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rxa3 19.Rxa3 Qxa3 20.Rb1 Na4 21.Rxb8+ Nxb8 22.Nb1 Qa1 23.Bd2 Nb2 24.Bc1 Nc4 25.Qb3 Nd7 26.Qxc4 Qxb1 27.Be3 Qc2+ 28.Kf3 Qd1+ 29.Qe2 Qh1+ 30.Qg2 Qxg2+ 31.Kxg2 Nb6 32.Kf3 Nc4 33.Bc1 Kg7 34.Ke2 f5 35.Kd3 Nb6 36.c4 fxe4+ 37.Kc3 Kf6 38.g4 e5 39.Bb2 exf4 40.Kb3+ Kg5 41.Bc1 e3 42.Kc3 Kh4 43.Kd3 Kxh3 44.g5 Kg4 45.Ke4 Nxc4 46.Kd3 Ne5+ 47.Ke4 Kxg5 48.Bb2 e2 49.Bc3 f3 50.Ke3 Kg4 51.Be1 c4 Jj33 rinde 0–1

On a Roll...

2007-01-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

I just won a G/30 game against a 1909 on PlayChess. My slow rating is now 1866:

Kknight (1815) - Lana40 (1909) [B01]
Rated Game, 30m +0s Main Playing Hall, 18.01.2007
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxd5 4.d4 Bg4 5.c4 Nf6 6.Be2 e6 7.0–0 Be7 8.Nc3 0–0 9.h3 Bh5 10.g4 Bg6 11.Ne5 Nbd7 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.g5 Ne8 14.h4 e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.f4 Nc6 17.a3 Bc5+ 18.Kg2 Nd4 19.b4 Nxe2 20.Qxe2 Bd4 21.Rd1 c5 22.bxc5 Nc7 23.Be3 Re8 24.Rxd4 Qe7 25.Re4 Qd7 26.Rd1 Qc6 27.Rd6 Qa6 28.Rxe8+ Lana40 gibt auf 1–0

Breaking 1800

2007-01-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! A win against an 1842 today sent my PlayChess rating over the 1800 mark:

Kknight (1760) - Eddi2002b (1842) [C14]
Rated Game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 11.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.f4 c5 8.Nb5 0–0 9.Nc7 Nb6 10.Nxa8 Nxa8 11.Nf3 Nb6 12.Bd3 c4 13.Bxh7+ Kxh7 14.Ng5+ Kg6 15.Qg4 f5 16.Qh4 Qb4+ 17.c3 Rh8 18.Qxh8 Qxb2 19.Qh7# 1–0

500 Points in 364 Days

2007-01-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

I ended in 3rd place in the Reserve Section (U1600) in the tournament yesterday and won the $100 Class E prize for being the highest scorer of the U1200 players. I had a performance of 1502 compared to my performance in the same tournament last year of 997! That's an improvement of just over 500 points in just under a year!!

I had 3 wins and 1 loss in the 4-round swiss. My one loss was to a 1438 who took first in the section...I was actually winning out of the opening (2.00+ according to Fritz,) but I got a little too greedy with my pawn-grabbing and let him get an overwhelming lead in development and then later stumbled into a mate in 1 (I was just trying to emulate Kramnik.)

My three wins were against a 772 (who hadn't played in a tournament since he was in kindergarten 13 years ago, so I doubt that rating is too accurate, but unfortunately it is still the rating that gets used for my rating and performance calculations,) a 1208, and a 1447. I am especially proud of my game against the 1447, who I managed to completely blow off the board in a Franco-Benoni that I was able to transpose into a Morra Gambit. I also only used about 15-20 minutes of my clock time, while he used a decent majority of his.

Here are the games:

Round 1
Ron (1067) - Evan (1438) [C18]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Qg4 Nge7 8.Qxg7 Rf8 9.Bh6 Rg8 10.Qxh7 cxd4 11.Nf3 Bd7 12.cxd4 Qa5+ 13.Kd1 Qa4 14.Be3 O-O-O 15.Qxf7 Rdf8 16.Qh7 Nf5 17.Bd3 Rxg2 18.Bxf5 exf5 19.Kd2 f4 20.Rhb1 fxe3+ 21.Kxe3 b6 22.h4 Bg4 23.Ne1 Qxd4# 0-1

Round 2
Jordon (772) - Ron (1067) [B01]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 d5 2.e5 c5 3.c3 Bf5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.g3 Bg4 6.Bb5 Qb6 7.Bxc6+ Qxc6 8.h3 Bf5 9.d4 e6 10.Nbd2 Be7 11.Nb3 b6 12.Be3 f6 13.Qe2 fxe5 14.Nxe5 Qc7 15.Qb5+ Kf8 16.Nd7+ Kf7 17.dxc5 Rd8 18.Ne5+ Qxe5 19.cxb6 Bg5 20.Qc5 Bxe3 21.Qxe3 Qxe3+ 22.fxe3 axb6 23.O-O Nf6 24.Nd4 Bxh3 25.Rf4 e5 26.Nc6 exf4 27.Nxd8+ Rxd8 Jordon Resigns 0-1

Round 3
Ron (1067) - Corey (1208) [B08]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Nc3 O-O 6.O-O Nbd7 7.Re1 e5 8.Bg5 a6 9.Qd2 b5 10.Bd5 Rb8 11.Rad1 b4 12.Ne2 Nb6 13.Bxf7+ Kxf7 14.dxe5 Nc4 15.Qd4 Nxe5 16.Nxe5+ dxe5 17.Qxd8 Rxd8 18.Rxd8 Nxe4 19.Be3 Bf6 20.Rd5 Be6 21.Rd3 Be7 22.f3 Nf6 23.Bg5 Rb5 24.Rd2 e4 25.f4 e3 26.Rd3 a5 27.Nd4 Rb6 28.Rdxe3 Bc5 29.Bxf6 Kxf6 30.Rxe6+ Rxe6 31.Rxe6+ Kf7 32.Re4 Kf6 33.g4 h6 34.h4 g5 35.hxg5+ hxg5 36.fxg5+ Kg6 37.Kg2 Bxd4 38.Rxd4 Kxg5 39.Rd5+ Kxg4 40.Rxa5 Kf4 41.Rc5 Ke3 42.Rxc7 Kd2 43.Rc4 Kc1 44.Rxb4 Kxc2 45.Rd4 Kxb2 46.Kf2 Kxa2 47.Rb4 Ka3 48.Rb8 Ka4 49.Ke3 Ka5 50.Kd4 Ka6 51.Kc5 Ka7 52.Rb1 Ka6 53.Rb2 Ka7 54.Kc6 Ka8 55.Kc7 Ka7 56.Ra2# 1-0

Round 4
Ron (1067) - Joseph (1447) [B21]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Nxc3 Bb4 6.Qd4 Bxc3+ 7.Qxc3 Nf6 8.Bg5 Nxe4 9.Qxg7 Qa5+ 10.Nd2 Rf8 11.Bh6 Qc5 12.Nxe4 Qb4+ 13.Nc3 d5 14.Qxf8+ Qxf8 15.Bxf8 Kxf8 16.Bb5 a6 17.Bd3 Kg7 18.Na4 Nd7 19.Rc1 b6 20.Rc6 Rb8 21.Kd2 Ne5 22.Rxb6 Ra8 23.Nc5 a5 24.Re1 Ng4 25.f3 Nf6 26.Rc1 d4 27.Ba6 Nd5 28.Rc6 Bxa6 29.Rxa6 Rb8 30.Nb3 Nb4 31.Rxa5 Nxa2 32.Rxa2 Rxb3 33.Kc2 Rb7 34.Kd3 e5 35.Rc6 Rb3+ 36.Kc4 Rb7 37.Rd6 f6 38.Raa6 Rxb2 39.Rxf6 Rc2+ 40.Kd3 Rc3+ 41.Kd2 Rb3 42.Rfb6 Rxb6 43.Rxb6 Joseph Resigns 1-0

A Win Against the Club Expert!!

2007-01-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

I won a game against the club expert last night! The game was about as even as it could be until half-way through a rook and pawn endgame where he made a few mistakes that gave me the win. Until that point, Fritz's evaluation doesn't vary by more than a pawn in either direction. There was a point in the middlegame where I missed a couple of opportunities to win a pawn, and then later, when going into the endgame, he had a slight advantage (0.60 or so.)

What makes the win even better in my mind is that (even though we weren't using clocks) he used considerably more thinking time than I did. A large chunk of it was his trying to find a way to draw the lost endgame. The game lasted about two and a half hours...take a look:

Chris - Ron [B01]
Unrated Club Game - No Clock - 03.01.2007
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Be2 Nc6 5.0–0 0–0–0 6.Nc3 Qd7 7.d3 e5 8.Be3 Nf6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.dxe4 Qe6 11.Qe1 Qg6 12.Ng5 Bxe2 13.Qxe2 Be7 14.Rfe1 Bxg5 15.Qg4+ Kb8 16.Qxg5 Qxg5 17.Bxg5 f6 18.Be3 Nd4 19.Rac1 Rd7 20.c3 Ne6 21.Kf1 Rhd8 22.Ke2 Nf4+ 23.Bxf4 exf4 24.Rcd1 c5 25.Rxd7 Rxd7 26.Kf3 Rd2 27.e5 fxe5 28.Rxe5 Rxb2 29.Re7 Rxa2 30.Rxg7 Ra3 31.Kxf4 Rxc3 32.Ke4 b5 33.Kd5 a5 34.Kc6 b4 35.Kb6 Kc8 36.Rc7+ Kd8 37.Ra7 b3 38.Rxa5 b2 39.Rb5 Rc2 40.Kc6 c4 41.Kd6 Kc8 42.Kc6 c3 43.Rb7 Rxf2 44.Rxh7 Kd8 45.Rb7 c2 Chris Resigns 0-1

Upcoming Tournament

2007-01-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be playing in a USCF Rated 4-Round Swiss (60+5) on Saturday. I'm expecting good results as I have improved considerably since my last two tournaments (January and April of last year.) This should also be a good measurement of my progress since I started studying tactics as my primary method of improvement LAST January. I'll post the results and the games after the tournament.

Update on Deep Fritz 10 Problem

2006-12-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

I've been able to confirm the issue on a second PC. This one has a different processor and different OS, so I'd say the problem is definitely with Deep Fritz 10 (I can't comment on the non-deep version.) I've also been able to clarify it a little further. The problem arises in positions where black is able to castle long. There is no problem with white doing the same. I'm going to try to e-mail Chessbase about the issue. I'll put out another update if/when I hear back.

Fritz 10/Deep Fritz 10 Problem?

2006-12-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

I'm having a very strange problem with Deep Fritz 10. If anyone else has either version of Fritz 10, can you try to replicate this and let me know if you have the same problem? This is somewhat difficult to explain, so please bear with me. I have found that in some cases, infinite analysis mode gives incorrect information once a game has been saved in the database. It seems to happen in games where castling long is a possibility. I'll give two examples that I have been able to replicate 100% of the time:

In the first case, I paste the following moves into a new game:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 gxf6 7.Nf3 b6 8.Bc4 Bb7 9.Qe2 Nd7 10.0-0-0 c6 11.Rhe1 Qc7 12.g3

Now, if I turn on infinite analysis mode, 12...0-0-0 is possible and is the first or second choice depending on the depth. If I save this game into a database, then close and re-open the game, 12...0-0-0 is not included in the analysis and Fritz WILL NOT let me enter the move at all...as if it were illegal or something.

The second example is even more dramatic:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c4 7.Qg4 g6 8.Nf3 Qa5 9.Bd2 Nh6 10.Qh3 Nf5 11.g4 Nxd4 12.cxd4 Qb6 13.Bg2 Nc6 14.Qh6 Nxd4 15.0-0 Bd7

Now at this point, if I turn on infinite analysis, 16.Bg5 is the number one move at a depth of 16-ply and a score of 3.84 in favor of white. If I save this game into a database, then close and re-open it, then turn on infinite analysis, 16.Qg7 is the number one move at a depth of 16-ply with a score of 9.92 in favor of white!!! After a bit of digging, I realized that the reason for the difference is that after saving and re-opening the game, Fritz is assuming that 16...0-0-0 is illegal for some reason!?

If anyone can confirm whether this is a problem with Fritz 10 (or preferably Deep Fritz 10, since that is what I have,) I would greatly appreciate it. The two examples have been 100% repeatable for me, so if it is a problem with the program and not my computer, somebody should be able to replicate it.

Thanks,
Ron

An Agonizingly Painful Loss...

2006-12-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

...to the club expert. He is the strongest player at my local club and his USCF rating has been as high as ~2050. What makes the loss so painful is that this is the second time (out of my multitude of losses against him) that I have had a devestatingly won game against him until the very, very end and then blown it. I'll dig up and post the first one some other day, along with the one win that I do have against him...

The game last night went for almost 4 hours and 73 moves. We played a line in the Ruy Lopez that I was quite familiar and comfortable with. I came out of the opening/early-middlegame up a full rook and a couple of pawns, giving me an overwhelming and "easy" win...but as you'd expect from a solid expert, he was a very tenacious defender. Slowly he was able to whittle down my lead...first winning the exchange, then winning my queen for a rook.

This put us into an endgame where he had a queen and a set of non-passed, doubled pawns and I had a knight, a rook, a passed center pawn, and three connected pawns, one of which was also passed. I played a very precise, winning endgame, always making sure that all of my material was sufficiently defended at all times...then it happened. I moved my rook to an undefended square with check, allowing him to move his king with a discovered check. I had seen the discovered check, but thought that his king only had two escape squares...and either of those two moves would have left me safe. What I missed was that in moving my rook, I had opened up a third escape square for his king which allowed him to win my rook. I played on for a few more moves, but it was hopeless. Here is the full game...let me know what you think:

Ron - Chris [C72]
Unrated Club Game - No Clock - 13.12.2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0–0 Bg4 6.h3 h5 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.d4 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 exd4 10.Re1 Qf6 11.Bf4 g5 12.e5 dxe5 13.Bxe5 Qe6 14.Nd2 g4 15.hxg4 hxg4 16.Qd3 0–0–0 17.Qxa6+ Kd7 18.Bxh8 Qh6 19.Bxd4 Bd6 20.Be5 Nf6 21.Bxd6 Rh8 22.Bh2 Qxh2+ 23.Kf1 Qf4 24.Qd3+ Kc8 25.g3 Qh6 26.Qf5+ Kb7 27.Ne4 Nd5 28.Qxg4 f5 29.Qxf5 Rf8 30.Nc5+ Ka7 31.Qd3 Qh1+ 32.Ke2 Re8+ 33.Kd2 Qh6+ 34.Re3 Kb6 35.Nd7+ Kb7 36.Nc5+ Kb6 37.Na4+ Kb7 38.Qb3+ Kc8 39.Rae1 Nxe3 40.fxe3 Qh2+ 41.Re2 Rd8+ 42.Qd3 Qxg3 43.Qxd8+ Kxd8 44.Nc3 Qd6+ 45.Kc1 Qb4 46.e4 Ke7 47.a3 Qc4 48.Rd2 Ke6 49.Rd3 Ke5 50.b3 Qg8 51.Kb2 Qg1 52.Rd1 Qb6 53.b4 Ke6 54.Na4 Qa7 55.Nc5+ Ke5 56.c4 Qa8 57.Rd7 Qc8 58.Kc3 Qh8 59.Re7+ Kd6+ 60.e5+ Kxe7 61.Kd4 Qh4+ 62.Ne4 Ke6 63.a4 Qe1 64.Nc5+ Ke7 65.Nd3 Qd2 66.a5 Ke6 67.a6 c5+ 68.bxc5 Qa5 69.c6 Qb6+ 70.Nc5+ Ke7 71.Kd5 Qa5 72.Kd4 Qd2+ 73.Nd3 Ke6 Ron resigns 0-1

Back on Track

2006-12-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my 11/5 post, I went on vacation last week...it was a relaxing chess-free, computer-free, mostly phone-free week. But now I'm back and ready to get to work again. I started Tactics Module-3 of PCT today and plan to stick to a M, W, F schedule for PCT while playing G/30 games on PlayChess on T & Th. I'm hoping that this will keep my play from getting rusty during tactics training since I have found that tends to happen when I'm doing strictly tactics. I'll probably also sprinkle some CPT and CTS time into the mix here and there. I'll let you know how it goes.

A "Class A" Win

2006-11-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

I'm quite excited this morning due to a game that I won at my local club last night against a solid Class A player. He has a current USCF rating of 1806, but has been rated as high as 1990 or so. His current quick rating is over 1900. He lost due to a miscalculation...he saw that he was getting two rooks for a queen but missed that he was also losing a rook of his own in the process. Nevertheless, I'm very happy with the result as well as the quality of the game:

Ron - Scott [B03]
Unrated Club Game - No Clock - 20.11.2006
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Nc3 Bf5 7.Nf3 e6 8.Bd3 Bg4 9.0-0 Be7 10.Be3 Nc6 11.Rc1 0-0 12.Be2 Rc8 13.Nd2 Bxe2 14.Nxe2 Nb4 15.Qb3 a5 16.a3 Nc6 17.Nf3 a4 18.Qb5 Na7 19.Qh5 Nxc4 20.Rc2 Nxe3 21.Rxc8 Nxf1 22.Rxd8 Rxd8 23.Kxf1 Nc6 24.Ng5 Bxg5 25.Qxg5 h6 26.Qb5 e5 27.Qxa4 exd4 28.Nxd4 Ne5 29.Qa5 Rc8 30.Nb3 Nd3 31.Qd2 Nc5 32.Nxc5 dxc5 33.Qd7 Scott resigns 1-0

A Fresh Start

2006-11-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

I've used the opportunity of my PlayChess account expiring to start anew so to say. I didn't want to pay for a new serial number since I'll get another free year when I buy Deep Fritz 10 in a week or two. So instead, I decided to create my second account using my Fritz 9 serial number. My handle on PlayChess is now Kknight.

I'll wait until my ratings settle a bit before I update them on my sidebar. Theoretically they shouldn't change significantly, but I can say that my new blitz rating is already quite a bit higher than it was in my other account. This is due to the fact that the blitz rating on my other account was derived primarily from 50+ very bad blitz games that I played when I first started on PlayChess over a year ago. My new rating will likely be a fair bit closer to my slow rating.

Yuck!

2006-11-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

...and now I'm back below 1700. My opponent went out of my personal book knowledge at move 3, and that's almost never a good thing. Nevertheless, I largely outplayed him in the opening, but ended up with a terribly cramped position of the type that is notoriously difficult for me. I ended up throwing away everything trying for an attack on his king, just hoping to break through...but it didn't work out as you can see:

Sanpelegrino (1664) - Keystor (1704) [A56]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 14.11.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3 d5 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.Nc3 O-O 8.b4 Bb6 9.c5 Bc7 10.Bd2 b6 11.Na4 Bb7 12.Bd3 Ne5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.Rc1 Rc8 15.O-O Bc6 16.b5 Be8 17.c6 a6 18.Bb4 Bd6 19.Qc2 a5 20.Bxd6 Qxd6 21.Nxb6 Ng4 22.g3 Rc7 23.Qc3 e5 24.Qxa5 Qh6 25.h4 g5 26.Bf5 Qh5 27.Bxg4 Qxg4 28.hxg5 Qxg5 29.Nxd5 h5 30.Qxc7 h4 31.Qe7 f6 32.Nxf6+ Rxf6 33.Qxe8+ Kg7 34.Qd7+ Kg6 35.g4 h3 36.Qe8+ Kg7 37.Qh5 Qxh5 38.gxh5 Kh6 39.Kh2 Rf3 40.c7 Kxh5 41.c8=Q Kh4 42.Rc4+ Keystor resigns 1-0

A Win Against a 1759

2006-11-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

I'm back above 1700 (again) after a win today against a 1759 on PlayChess. I'd have to check to be sure, but I think this may be the highest rated player that I've beaten. Looking at his history, he's been as high as 1800+, so I feel pretty good. It wasn't an "error-free" game, but I still think that it was of a fairly high quality...especially in the opening and middlegame. My worst mistakes were in the king and pawn endgame, but he missed the biggest one and made one of his own, allowing me the win. Let me know what you guys think:

Keystor (1680) - Currymuncher (1759) [B21]
Rated game, 30m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 09.11.2006
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bc4 d6 7.0–0 Nf6 8.Qe2 Be7 9.Rd1 Qc7 10.Bf4 e5 11.Bg5 a6 12.Rac1 0–0 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Nd5 Qd8 15.Rd3 Be6 16.Nxf6+ gxf6 17.Bxe6 fxe6 18.Rcd1 Qe7 19.Rxd6 Rfd8 20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.Rxd8+ Qxd8 22.g3 Nd4 23.Qd1 Qb6 24.Nh4 Qxb2 25.Qg4+ Kf7 26.Qh5+ Kf8 27.Qxh7 Qb1+ 28.Kg2 Ke8 29.Qh8+ Kd7 30.Qg7+ Kc6 31.Qxf6 Qxe4+ 32.Nf3 b5 33.h3 b4 34.g4 Qxf3+ 35.Qxf3+ Nxf3 36.Kxf3 Kd6 37.Ke4 a5 38.g5 a4 39.g6 Ke7 40.h4 b3 41.axb3 axb3 42.Kd3 Kf6 43.h5 e4+ 44.Kc3 e5 45.Kxb3 Currymuncher resigns 1–0

Busy Week

2006-11-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, this last week was an extremely busy one for me. I didn't get any games in all week, although I did continue with my tactical review. I'm almost done on that front. I expect to spend the next 2-3 weeks just playing, re-reviewing, and maybe running through a few master games...just letting everything sink in and "integrate" into my game.

I'm taking my family on a vacation the week after Thanksgiving, so I'll probably delve into Tactics Module-3 of PCT once we get back from vacation. I'll continue updating my ratings and other statistics on my sidebar in the meantime...

First CTS Session

2006-10-25T13:51:00.000-06:00

I did my first session at the Chess Tactics Server today. I'm amazed how much of a factor time plays in the rating calculations. I consider myself to be doing pretty well if I am able to solve a problem in 5-10 seconds, but that's often not good enough on the server.

Oh well, my purposes for using CTS are exposure to and practice of a large number of problems as well as an evaluation of sorts to gauge my tactical progress in general. As long as my accuracy stays within an acceptable range and I am solving the problems in well under 30 seconds, I'm not going to worry too much about my "rating." Anyway, my statistics are now on my sidebar along with the rest of my ratings.

Speaking of ratings, I broke back above 1700 on PlayChess again today! After I hit 1700 last week, I lost a game to an 1891 and then another to a 1776, knocking my rating back down to 1677. Time to start looking toward 1800 as the next milestone.

Just Right...

2006-10-23T13:14:00.000-06:00

I think I've gotten my blog set up the way I want it. All of my current ratings are on the sidebar and will be updated regularly. My training progress and current master games being studied are also there...the number of opening repertoire positions comes from how many positions I have in Chess Position Trainer. Feel free to let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions.

Introduction

2006-10-20T10:46:00.000-06:00

Hi Everybody,

I've been playing chess since last June (2005) and studying/training since January (2006.) I recently came across the Knights Errant de la Maza and decided to join the community.

My primary method of training is the one recommended by Michael de la Maza in his book Rapid Chess Improvement. Using this method, I've finished the first two tactics modules of Personal Chess Trainer 2.0, all of Chess Tactics for Beginners, and all of Advanced Chess School. I usually go beyond the seven circles and continue repeating the problems until I can solve each one in 5-10 seconds or less. It generally takes 10-15 circles to achieve that. Also, once I've gone through about half the circles, I turn on the randomizing options in the Convekta programs (reverse colors, flip board, mirror board, etc.) for the other half. Basically, I want to make sure that I have the patterns down cold.

After completing a new module or program, I do a complete refresh of all tactics problems that I've done previously. So since I just finished Personal Chess Trainer Tactics Module-2 a couple of days ago, I went back through Module-1 (Unit 51) and I'm now going back through all of Chess Tactics for Beginners in random mode. I will then go once more through Advanced Chess School.

Between modules/programs, I spend a few weeks playing G/30 games on PlayChess in order to integrate what I've learned and let it sink in a bit. I'd like to play slower time controls, but I generally do my studying and playing during my lunch hour, so G/30 is all I have time for. I do play slower games at my local club on Mondays and Wednesdays.

As for openings, I use the Heisman recommendation of looking up the opening after each game and only adding one move per game to my personal repertoire. I use Chess Position Trainer 3.2 to keep track of and train my repertoire.

My final area of study is playing through master games. The method I use is to enter them into my Fritz 9 database complete with variations and color commentary. I find it much easier to play through them this way versus using a board. Jumping around between variations and doing "what if" type explorations is much less cumbersome. Thus far, I have entered and played through all the games from Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev, all the games from The ABC of Chess Openings (DVD) by Andrew Martin, and all the miniatures in the Advanced Chess School software. I am currently working through The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev.

I've been playing online at PlayChess for about a year now (under the handle keystor.) My slow rating has gone from ~1400 to 1700 in that time...primarily through tactics study. My provisional OTB rating is under 1100, but I've only played 7 games in two tournaments...a swiss in January and a quad in April. I'm hoping to start attending tournaments more regularly after I get back from vacation in November.

I guess that about covers my training history...I look forward to continuing my journey of improvement as a member of the Knights!