Friday, May 22, 2009

Final round of tournament

Below is the last-round game in the tournament I entered a couple of weeks ago. I post this game not because I am particularly proud of my play (we both made a lot of mistakes), but to remind the commentariat what games between patzers are typically like, even in "slow" openings.

I play black, time control is 70/5.

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

13 Comments:

Blogger From the patzer said...

4. h4 ... White plays for the cheap shot of 4. ... e6 5. g4 Be4 6. f3 Bg6 . h5 and the bishop has nowhere to run anymore.

6. e6 ... Taking with the f-pawn means that black's bishop on f8 will have problem to develop. Only g6 - Bg7 seems a reasonable option then but like you said it will weaken the kingposition and kingside to much.

If white plays 31. Ng6 then i think he will lose a piece, i may be wrong though since i did it all in my head:
31. Ng6 Bd2+ 32. Kd2 Kxg6 33. Bxh2 Bxe3
or
31. Ng6 Bd2+ 32. Kd2 Kxg6 33. f7 Rf8 34. Bxh2 Bxe3 35. Bd6 Rxf7

5/22/2009 10:25:00 AM  
Blogger Loomis said...

You shouldn't play the Caro because it's not tactical ;-).

Re: reconciling GM advice on openings. Write the advice this way:
1) Openings don't matter much to the result of the game at the patzer levels.
2) Patzer's should open with e4 to build a base for their long term chess abilityIn this post, you show a Caro game that gets tactically rich very quickly. It's also just as easy to find 1. e4 e5 games that will put you to sleep.

It seems like a lot of beginners, instead of learning to play fiercely in the open games, learn to play safe (scared). Tactical openings may scare people off their creativity simply because the opponent may have a prepared tactical line. Perhaps it's better to get to uncharted tactical waters, rather than the well trod tactical paths.

5/22/2009 10:34:00 AM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Chesstiger: yes, my main concern was not letting my Bishop get trapped in the opening. Nice examination of consequences :)

Loomis: you damned scientists and your desire to create consistency.

Good point about beginners, openings, and types of games reached.

5/22/2009 11:05:00 AM  
Blogger es_trick said...

I would say that you've been playing long enough, and have studied enough that you probably have a pretty good idea of what kind of positions you enjoy, and what suits your temprament.

Seems to me perfectly legitimate to opt for 'closed' positions and the positional style of play if that's what feels more comfortable. Of course, even positional players need to have a handle on the tactical aspect of the game. But if you force yourself to play 'open' games just because other people say you should, you might end up enjoying the game less . . .

5/22/2009 11:44:00 AM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

es_trick: That is an important point.

I think the key idea in the comments to my previous post was:

The most important things, in order, for a patzer in choosing an opening are:
1) Do I like it and am I comfortable playing it?
2) Does it have fatal flaws that people at my level are able to exploit in practice?
3) Are there other things I should focus on that will help my game more than opening study?
4) If the answer to 3 is no, then what opening should I focus on?

5/22/2009 12:27:00 PM  
Blogger Chessaholic said...

LOL @ "commentariat", gotta love that term...

Congrats on the win, that was a pretty wild game :)

5/22/2009 12:53:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

This game is a good example why a patzer has no reason to fear opening preparation from another patzer ;-)

5/22/2009 03:43:00 PM  
Blogger wang said...

4.h4? - yes you can put this down. this is an insipid move that is played in blitz where you can catch someone off guard, but in big boy time controls it shouldn't be played.

9...Be4! - great counteract!

12...gxh5 - maybe this was a little better

15...Nd7 - I like connecting the R's here

17..g4 - I like this move too.

18...Rg8 - he deals with this threat easily and it helps him develop his K-side pieces. Maybe Bg4.

20...I like fxg5 better, he's going to slide the R over anyway, and this one frees up your N & B.

As always I am a patzer and my ideas definitely suck more than Fritz' and they're probably quite a bit worse than yours.

Congrats by the way. G75 is a nice time contol.

5/22/2009 08:28:00 PM  
Blogger katar said...

Good game. I like your move g5-g4. IMO the move i would criticize the most is Re8-g8. Doesn't it just look wrong to move this piece twice and away from a central open file? Consider instead Bb4 when have the possibility Bxc3 which secures e4 outpost for your other bishop. Incidentally, white's recapture gives you another outpost for your knight to b6 then cemented on c4. So if a move like Re8-g8 "looks wrong" see if you can uncover a concrete reason why it IS wrong. This is just my opinion, i dunno what Fritz would say. :)

5/22/2009 11:46:00 PM  
Blogger katar said...

actually after bxc3, Nb6-a4 is a possibility too. Anyway you seriously played a good game. A lot of improvement has nothing to do with chess knowledge but only gaining confidence, as my recent results reflect. :)

5/22/2009 11:49:00 PM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Katar and Wang: both of you have good ideas there. This is actually a good example of the type of game Glenn Wilson was talking about, where a computer could be very helpful as the best way to explain the best moves is via variations, not explanations :)

I think you may be right about Rg8. At the time I was going for a cheap swindle with a discovered attack on his king from my Rook, but then he castled queenside so I regrouped. That said, it is really bad to play hoping for a swindle. As I said in the annotations I was imprecise, but I should have said "greedy, cocky, and sloppy in my thinking."

I've said before that when you first go up in material, be careful! That doesn't mean be a pussy, but just be careful and think. (Reminds me of this post, which is suprisingly relevant two years later....).

5/23/2009 12:49:00 AM  
Blogger Rune said...

Michael Goeller has a nice article on 4.h4. He is suggesting 4...h5 as the best reply.

http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/games/java/2007/caro-adv-h4.htm

5/26/2009 05:55:00 AM  
Blogger Blue Devil Knight said...

Wrimle: thanks a lot, that is a great resource!

5/26/2009 09:29:00 AM  

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