How I Think in a Game of Chess.

This is the full game I played on the Geezer match.

         Started on May ending June 30th.  I learned to wait and patience. I created each of these 61 diagrams a little program called PAINT, it comes with all PC's.

This game started Thursday, May 31, 2012 Second game this time I DENVER have white.  These are my thoughts as I played the game.  Each move was 3 days time for each of us. I play for the Geezer's Match club. 

1. e4.    I thought I would try the Kings Gambit, which I have played before.   The Fried Liver Attack I have never used. I only know some of the starting moves.

. . .  c5.   Looks like the Sicilian? I don't know what to do for that one.

2.  Nf3.   Not the Kings gambit. Maybe the Fried Liver attack.

. . . .   a6.    Pushing the pawn up and then maybe follow it with B5 then C4 making me move my Bishop. I like that diagonal for my Bishop.

4.  a3.    I made room for my Bishop to retreat it just as Bobby Fischer used to do.

. . .  Nc6.   Nice development.  I believe he will move the Knight to A5 attacking my Bishop.

5.  0 – 0.     I have time to Castle now.

I could go to G5 with the Knight aiming for the F7 weak spot. But I don't think he would let me do that. He hasn't move any of his King side pieces. He should develop and Castle unless he is going to leave the King in the middle.

. . . Nh6.    He moved the Knight to prevent me attacking the F7 pawn. I still could if I take his Knight with my C1 bishop and he took the Knight with the pawn his King would be stuck in the middle.

6.  h3.     I don't want his Queens Bishop developing out here. I think I will attack on the Kings side if he castles.

. . .  Na5.   Here comes the Knight to take my Kings Bishop.

7.  Ba2.    I have to retreat it like Fischer used to do and make use of it later in the game.

. . .  c4.    Pushing the pawn. I don't want it there. I will try to clear the Queen file and the A2 diagonal.

8.  d3.   Get rid of my C pawn or D pawn.

. . .  b5.    He has a pawn storm coming on Queens side?

I still want to chase that Knight away with a pawn. I wonder if he knows the en=passant. I will try the b4 pawn. If he takes it en passant then I will take back with my c pawn. And then push it up to B4 and chase that Knight away. I still would have the diagonal open.

9.   b4.    Let's see what he does with this pawn?

. . .  Nc6.   He retreated the Knight. He must not want to move any pawns. 

I have to clear the Queen file and maybe the King file and bring my Rook to the middle. Still I can get rid of his Knight on h6 and take the F2 pawns.

10.  dxc4.    My side of the Queen file is half open. 

If he takes the C pawn, I will retake with the Bishop and I win a pawn. I can place my Rook on E1 and push my King pawn up. I'd like to get my Queen's Knight out and into the game. My C1 Bishop is just fine where it is. My Queen is just fine Looking toward her quest and spport from afar.I am just fine with him not Castling. His King side pieces, are still at home.

. . .  e6.     I didn't expect that move. I got one pawn free. That move sort of blocks my bishop diagonal to f7.

11.  cxb5.    I have to get some open files and get rid of some pawns. Need to bring my Knight out and the Rook to the King file. His pawns are going to block the D and E file. If he pushes the D pawn I will take it with my E pawn and check him with my Rook on E1.  I have to open them. 

I don't have to worry about him castling yet.

 . . .   Ne7.

He moved his Knight back in front of his King, blocking his Bishop and part of the Queen diagonal. Now, I have two of his pawns free. I could take the third pawn, he probably would take it with the bishop and he would have a piece developed. 

Then I would have to move my Rook since it would be en-prise.  I want to develop my Knight first.

12.  Nc3.    If he takes the pawn now AxB. I will take back with the Knight. I could push the A, B & C pawns up and maybe Queen one.

. . .   Ng6.   He's bringing his Knights to attack on the King's side?

13.  Re1.    Moved it to the Kings to push the E pawn.

. . .    Be7.    That looks like a great move. I have mental complications about this move.  He's ignoring the pawn that is in take on "A" file.  Do I need to bring more help to defend my King side?  I better think this out a day or so and look at variations on a chess board.  I've run the variation of taking the A pawn.   I still want to make this move.

I Tried playing the Black castling, as the move, no matter what white does.

I Tried playing Black's side and don't see how I can attack white and be successful.  I keep seen that the center is blocked for him, maybe he won't castle.  Tried pushing the "E" pawn and that is not a good solution. Too many variables.

I tried moving the Queen to D4 and that is one giant complicated sequence trying to figure out what he would do in that case.  I'll wait one day and go away. Something might pop up.

My sons keeps saying, "Why don't you go away and leave it for a day and something will turn up. Get away from it."

14.  bxa6.    This was my first choice to move my pawns up and have him focus on my Queen side attack. He has two choices about that "A" pawn.  Takes it with the bishop, I push the B pawn and make him retreat the Bishop. 

Takes it with the Rook, I move "Bc4" attacking his Rook. My Rook defends the A pawn.  If he moves it to the G1 to A7 diagonal, I move Be3. Forcing another Rook move by him, allowing my developing my bishop. 

I keep looking at moving my Queen to the C1-H6 diagonal and taking the Knight and then the pawn, breaking up his King side and gaining another pawn, but that takes several moves.

. . .   Rxa6.    What a relief he made his move finally and I can get down to normal self.  It was on my mind always for several days.  He didn't castle and took the pawn. Now I have two options that are good.  I don't perceive any attacks now from him.

After all this waiting and thought of what he could do, it's such a relief that his response was not such a CRUSHING that I was expecting.   I had so much stress about his 14th move.

15.  Bc4.     The Bishop develops and also attacks the Rook. If he moves it to a dark square I will move my other Bishop and attack the Rook again.  If he puts it on my "a" pawn is protected by my Rook on A1. 

I'd like to move the c pawn up to c4 and get him into the pawn storm, but that will take several other moves.  I must watch that my Knight on C3 and the Bishop on c4 is also unprotected and if taken by a bishop it's a free piece for him and it would attack both Rooks.

I will wait one day and a half before I post the move. It's probably is a good thing to do and not just make the move, maybe something else might pop up.  I'm not stressed now. I don't want to lose this game. I want to win it.

. . .    Rc6?    Oops. He put it where I can pin it to the king, with my Bishop Bb5.  I will take my time and will make my move tomorrow.

16.  Bb5!     I pinned his Rook to the King, he cannot move it.  I probably will take it next move.  He could retake by moving the Queen or Bishop.

. . .   Bd7.    Is he is hoping I won't take the Rook?

17. Bxc6!   I had to take it.  I hate to lose my Bishop.

. . .   Bxc6.  He lost the exchange.

 18.  b5.   Have to push the passed pawns.

 . . .   Bb7.

 19.  a4.   I have to push the other support pawn.

 . . .   d5.    He finally pushed a pawn and broke formation. I don't know how to proceed.  I'd like to keep pushing both pawns.  If he Castles, which is what I would do, I want to take the Knight on H6 and break up his pawn defense. There is two ways I could do that. One is put my Queen on d4 and go to g6.

The other put the Be3 and still be able to take the Knight if I had to.  My Knight on c3 I wish I could move him from that spot so I could move my c pawn up. 

Here is what I'd really like to do: exd5  he retakes  exd5 with his pawn. If he retakes with the Bishop then it's another ball game.  I'm only up two pawns and I have a Rook over his Bishop. Heck I'm going to sleep. I will work on it tomorrow.

 20.  exd5.    I don't like it but maybe he thinks differently.

 . . .   exd5.    My Rook has his bishop pinned to his king.  I don't know why he doesn't Castle.

 21.  Nd4.    I might as well stop that pawn right there and develop the Knight to a better. position. I don't think he will start an attack on the Kings side.

. . .   Ne5?      That is a shocker. Give away the Knight? I don't see why, so I will just take the Trojan horse?

22.  Rxe5!   I'm still waiting for the Castle move.

. . .    Qa5.    I think he wants to take my Knight on c3.   Well I think I will just trade pieces and get that King before he Castles.

23.  Rxe7!      No more Castling for him.  He takes with the King, I can check with my Queen on the E file.    If he moves to f8, behind the f7 pawn, I can check Ba3+.    Then King moves to g8. Queen to e8 and it's mate.   If he moves different I have other variations to try.

. . .   Kxe7.   Out comes the Monarch with swords in hand!

 24.  Qe1+.    Let's see which way he moves. 

. . .  Kd6 ??     King is attacking.

25.  Ne4+    Knight checks the King. I didn't expect the King to come out with it's sword out. Now he loses the Queen after the check, unless I can find a way to Mate him.

. . .    de4.    Pawn took my Knight.

26.  Qxa5!    I didn't look for a mate, I just took the Queen. Maybe he will resign.

 . . .    Ra8.  Attacking my Queen supported by his Bishop.

27.  Qb6+    Checks the King and forks the unprotected Bishop, next to the Queen.

. . .   Bc6      blocking the check.

 28.   Qxc6+       It forks the Rook on A1.

. . .    Ke5.  He moved more to the center.

I see a mate in two moves. A check then a mate. I will try and put these in the conditional feature. I have never used that feature before.

Check on C5, He moves to f6,  Q to G5 check mate.  The bishop supports the Queen. the Knight cut off two squares.

29.  Qc5+!   Forced move to f6. Then Qg5# checkmate. 

. . .    Kf6.   Moving to his destiny!

30.   Qg5# Check Mate.    

 EPILOGUE:

The conditional feature worked. I never saw the mate being made. It did it automatically and removed the game from the display and updated the match file.

All this thinking on my part and all the moves he made, made the thoughts I made a useless exercise on my part of chess. I always think the worst is going to happen to me, but then it doesn't happen. 

Sometimes when I think I have exhausted the moves that I could make, I go away and come back a day later and see another move that I could make and it gives me a new perspective on the game.

Maybe I shouldn't think so much.

This felt like the longest game I ever had.  May 31st  to June 28th.  Thanks for coming this far if you read it and  thanks if you leave a coment.

This will be the last game that I will create all the diagrams by hand.  

Don't think too much is my advice.  I probably won't take that advice myself.  I am in another match game and this woman is  giving me a run for my game.  

                                  DENVER

Move 3. Bc4 is usually played by players who do not understand or usually play against the Sicilian. What Black SHOULD have done was eventually play e6, defending the weak f7 square and leading up to d5, kicking the bishop off.

Called the Sicilian: Bowlder Attack.

I think you could find some articles/forums on it.

Most of it doesnt really need comment but 2)...d6 by black is far from passive.  It allows the knight to come to f6 without being hit by e5 and is the precursor to some of the most violent lines in the Sicilian including the Dragon and the Najdorf.

http://www.youtube.com/user/kingscrusher/videos

He's not a master, but his rating is (I think) over 2000, maybe even over 2200. As far as I can remember he's rated around 180 ECF, which should equate to 2090. He uploads analysis of master games, and tonnes of his own live games, which he comments on as he plays. Excellent channel, and presumably will be quite helpful to you! He uploads new videos almost every day and he has a radio show on his website, which you can either watch the videos of on youtube, or join his channel and watch the feed live, in which case you can join the chatroom and take part in any "guess the next move" challenges he sets.

EDIT: He recently played Nakamura on ICC, and by his own admission couldn't psychologically handle playing a super GM. He fell apart and he's laughing his ass off on the video at how he suddenly can't play, but in general he's a really, really good player and his videos are really helpful.

Bye for now.

Awesome, enjoy!

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I suggest that you should play against one or more Chess Programs and let your games being analyzed by one or more Chess Programs aside from Studying Tactics, Strategie, Chess Principles and possibly Opening lines and Variations.

Chess Programs really get you to the Point and actually say to you and me '' no no no, don't do all that Prophylactic thinking and reset your mindset towards chess a bit. ''

Sometimes, when I have the luck, I think: '' What should a Chess Program make in this Position? ''
Than, with the Experience I have from them, and the Psychology on itself, I usually find the better move ( think  )

Consider yourself this; it is something I have recently learned from Chess Programs:

Only make a Prophylactic move if:

-Your Position will get Worse if you do not - considering your opponents best replies - and you think that it is a better move [ the best move] than another move that gives your Position more +.

- if it is not the best move on itself, but for example helps you Developing another Piece ( most often a Bishop I think ), and thus it is a better move than the other move that gives your Position a direct +, while this move prepares getting a + and at the same Time is a Prophylactic move. You can consider this move. You want the best move.

- When there is not really something to do in a given Position.
The best examples of Prophylactic moves are Castling ( but also an offensive move because of the Rooks. Castling on the King Side is more KingSafety, while Castling on the Queen Side is a better offence ( the Rook ) and Center-Control, and a better EndGame assuming you don't move your King ( more ) towards the Corner on the Queen-side to give it more Safety. ( Nearly )( always ) this is on itself, thus assuming we do not take other factors of the Position into account. ) and a ' a ' or usually a ' h ' Pawns move.



Do not do a Prophylactic move when: 


- You Estimate that the Position will get Equally good if you don't make that Prophylactic move and your Opponent makes the move where your Prophylactic thinking was supposed for.

- You Estimate that your Position will get Equally bad if you don't make that Prophylactic move and your Opponent makes the move where your Prophylactic thinking was supposed for. 

- And ofcourse, when the move is bad for your Position, and good for your Opponents Position.


* And ofcourse I don't mean good good and bad bad that the Evaluation is [00,00]..

'' If you don't make a Prophylactic move, you make a move in the Meanwhile ''


 
 

Oh my.. all those images while you have posted a diagram as well? That has been alot of work! It was a nice read though, interesting to read along with your thoughts and I learned new stuff.

One of the biggest things I learned was patience. Not to make an abrupt move on impulse. I take a longer time now. In matches with 3 day moves, I make my moves two day later after my opponent makes his move.

Also not to totally anticipate the move he/she will make. I now use the provisional move and wait to see if it works. I stopped stressing if I am making the correct or safe move. That is a weight off of my shoulders.

This is the second and the last of this type of posting.

Bye for now. Thanks again for your comment.

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Hey Denverhigh, that was fantastic letting us get into your thought process. Very illuminating and informative. I believe you have helped me improve my thought processes. Thanks so much. Well done!!

Waynet:

I think if higher average chess players did that I would learn more myself.  I just went and read all that I wrote and it reminded me of stuff I lack.

Thanks for the read and coment.

I have four thoughts about your thought process . First, it never really seemed like you really took the time to analyze the imbalances (e.g. pawn structure differences, how to best shut of his minor pieces and use yours more effectively, material etc.) and develop a solid plan based from those imbalances that you followed through with until the end. You did, at times, have short plans, but you usually got distracted. I feel guilty telling you this because of the few number of times I do this, so please, I beg your forgiveness for being hypocritical.

Second, it seemed at times you had too much focus on attacking his King (or him attacking yours) than really trying to make a plan from the imbalances (as said above). There is a right time in the game to attack the King such as when he played 24 ...Kd6, but oftentimes the King is safe and trying to set up an immediate attack doesn't work. That being said, you did back off on move 21. and when he played 24 ...Kd6 you appropriately attack him.

Three, sometimes it felt like you were reacting to him and letting him control the game, instead trying to improve your position. There's a time and a place for that, but that wasn't always reflected in this game.

Four, even though there were times when you just reacted to him and even thought you made some mistakes, you never got scared or depressed. You kept your cool and always thought you'd win. That is something maybe (including me) struggle with. We find out we played a bad move, and then we get depressed, play another bad move and pretty soon we find ourselves checkmated! But you didn't do that.

I book you could read about this subject is called the Amateurs Mind by Jeremy Silman. He took the thoughts of dozens of amateurs and then commented on them and told were they were good, and where they could be improved. I've read that book 1 and a half times and still struggle to have the right thought processes. Read that book, do this same exercise with another game and if a GM happens to find this, you might just impress his and earn his respect

KOSPE:

Thanks for the read and input comments. It has been a while since I made this post. I will reread all the other comments also.

Just so you know I was about 1200 when I made this notes. Went up to 1600 and then tumbled down to eart again. So it is a learning experience.

There is another game that I also made notes on. I played  BLACK and created the diagrams: Here is the link.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/what-i-think-will-be-the-response-many-time-wont-happen

Thanks again and I will get that book that you suggested. That will be my third Silman book.

Happy New Year

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