Annotating One's Own Games

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17th June 2009, 04:00am
#1
by Arv123
New York City United States
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 450

A good way to increase your chess playing skills is to annotate your own game and publish it. Here is one of my recent tournament games. Comments on game are appreciated,


Because this game was so instructive, I learnt a few lessons about chess. Here they are.

Lessons Learnt:

 

  1. When a position is a draw keep playing for a win, because you just might get it.
  2. A good chess player is always lucky.


17th June 2009, 04:32am
#2
by brandonQDSH
Honolulu, HI United States
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 996

Arv123

Nice game and annotations, although a little too much needless annotations in the opening. 2. Nc6 is hardly "daring" and follows the classical rules of development (control the center, develop minor pieces, Knights before Bishops, etc.), as opposed to the Center Counter (Scandinavian), which exposes the Queen to early attack by White.

I'm glad White won, as you had a very nice advantage going into the endgame. Not only did you have the good Knight to Black's bad Bishop as you mentioned, but you also had a Kingside pawn majority, which is the key to the position. White's 3 pawns are enough to hold the position so that Black's 4 pawns mean nothing.

"Draw-ISH" positions are not the same as draws though. Yes, after the exchange of minor pieces, Black regains equality: trading off his bad piece and un-doubling his pawns. Played correctly, the position will most likely be drawn. But against lower-rated players, and even higher rated players, if you know your endgame and have good tactical skills, you can win, as you did. 

17th June 2009, 04:57am
#3
by kco
Perth Australia
Member Since: Jun 2008
Member Points: 7055

@brandon would after 16....Rxd4 would it be better 17.cxd4 instead of Rxd4 ? that would created a nice central or connected  pawn ?

17th June 2009, 05:27am
#4
by Arv123
New York City United States
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 450

If Black is playing for a draw, which he is, Rxd4 would lead to exchanging rooks in the endgame, which is good when playing for a draw.

17th June 2009, 05:30am
#5
by Scarblac
Arnhem Netherlands
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 1747
Arv123 wrote:

If Black is playing for a draw, which he is, Rxd4 would lead to exchanging rooks in the endgame, which is good when playing for a draw.


Not necessarily. Rook endgames are often very drawish, pawn endgames much less so.

If white manages to go into a pawn endgame where he has a winning 4vs3 on the kingside and a drawing 3vs4 on the queenside (because the doubled pawns make it impossible to create a passed pawn for black), then white wins. So black needs to keep pieces on the board.

17th June 2009, 05:37am
#6
by Arv123
New York City United States
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 450

Scarblac,

I believe worded what I was trying to say wrong. What I meant was, both sides get equal chances.

I am sorry for any misunderstandings. 

17th June 2009, 05:41am
#7
by Arv123
New York City United States
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 450
brandonQDSH wrote:

Arv123

Nice game and annotations, although a little too much needless annotations in the opening. 2. Nc6 is hardly "daring" and follows the classical rules of development (control the center, develop minor pieces, Knights before Bishops, etc.), as opposed to the Center Counter (Scandinavian), which exposes the Queen to early attack by White.

 

 

What I meant by "daring" was that Black needs to be willing to study a lot of openings, unlike the center counter.

Once again, sorry for misunderstandings.

 

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