Your Games Analyzed

NM WanderingPuppet

Updated: Oct 13, 2011, 9:25 PM | 3

Today I was fortunate enough to have one of my games analyzed by IM David Pruess (dpruess) on chess tv. I really enjoyed the show and David's ideas and a few others contributed with interesting suggestions as well.

Below is the PGN of the game with my analysis in addition to the analysis accrued in the chess tv segment.

Key points by David which made an impression on me:

- ...c5 gives a good position to Black subsequent to White's move e4 (see move 3+)

- The value of a piece is determined how useful and safe it is.

- Which rook to activate? Depends on how Black can best activate his other pieces.

- Bishops are sometimes best developed on their original square, in the KID, Black's light squared bishop often best on c8.

Yes, some of it is simple advice, but it is also easy to forget some logical principles. And some of David's ideas, bringing the bishop back to its best square, c8, and Qd7, to penetrate into the White position, I did not give due consideration. I was glad to obtain these insights; I know that David plays the Benoni sometimes, which is structurally similar to the KIDs I play, and given the significant disparity in our strengths, there are some plans and positions he understands much better than me - hence, I submitted my game. :-)

It was interesting to see that David looks to play the most principled moves start to finish - some strong players simply play positions to their preferences and do not play the most "correct" moves.

Other stuff:

- Lots of small inaccuracies, which is not surprising given complex closed positions

- Yet the game within draw bounds in evaluation until the queen endgame

- Not much interplay between the armies (White's army largely stayed on ranks 1-4, Black's army on 5th-8th)

I hope you enjoyed this blog and feel free to post constructive opinions and suggestions below. And thank you David for his efforts in his analysis and contributions to my chess knowledge.

NM Matthew O'Brien

35, M. I started playing tournament chess regularly at 21 years of age. Chess may be a fun, instructive and interactive activity. Sometimes I miss chat as I play on iPad or have chat disabled. I like to try out opening ideas that are new to me. If I played a particularly bad game, I may take a break and reward myself positively so do not take it personally if I do not give you a rematch. On the chessboard if you can give me fun problems to solve, I find that wonderful regardless of the result. I like to review my games to find fresh, creative ideas and to improve my game next time we play. You may find me a creative tactician, but I have much to learn.

Please note I only accept challenges from people I know in real life, if you are a verified user of a training group I am in and around my rating level IRL or pool rematches. Thanks for understanding!

Your Games Analyzed

NM Matt O’Brien blog