I (finally) worked out lesson 18 in the Wolff tactics series in Mentor. As a final question, it said: Black has won the rook for bishop. Here's something you can figure out on your own. Why doesn't 3.Bxh7+ win the queen? I believe I know but I ...
I had another very good session with Attila who helped me understand where I went wrong in a couple of recent games which I lost. During our discussion it also occurred to me that I am too inclined to look at a piece in isolation and not see that...
Well, nothing much. If you skip through to move 16, you will see this comes to an inglorious end.* But where I am not at all sure what is going on is the intent of my move 3...a6. Now I had likely seen a move like this some time so thought I w...
Well it hasn't all gone according to plan - played a number of games but did little analysis. I noticed I made some bad mistakes in a few games (opponents were good so not making excuses): for example not seeing a fairly obvious mating move again...
So looking at this with hindsight and HIARC's suggestion, the obvious move is 8....c4, Why obvious? Well, puts pressure on the bishop, puts a protected pawn on c4 which has to be good (why? stops an easy advance by white into that square). In fa...
WIth the stimulus of an up coming lesson with Atilla, I have to confess to low activity in the chess field over the last few weeks. Things have been pretty hectic where I do some occasional work, hence no real training although I have kept up wit...
Well, been away from the blog for a while. Been playing online, some good, some outclassed (helped a couple of times by a complete failure on my side to see what threats could happen if I moved a certain way, including managing to get my Queen in...
So, if we don't like having our Queen running around, the alternative seems to be what is called "the Marshall gambit" as follows. This looks a little bit better - developing a piece and attacking the pawn (but of course one pawn down so far). S...
Well last blog was a bit overoptimistic. Been keeping up with Chess Mentor and playing the games I have on. On the Scandinavian defence, one of the "book" responses by black seems to break a cardinal rule - never bring your Queen out early. As...
No blogs till Tuesday - then return with Chess Mentor and the sorry story of my impending defeat in a nice game.
Whew, slowly coming to the end of this period. More office tomorrow and then next week a bit more flexibility. Currently doing Mentor - working on this problem: This position is commonly seen in games by non-master players. The opening moves we...
Moved on to some new topics in Chess Mentor - identifying vulnerable pieces. Moves in some games and in one mounting a desperate attack on the King since my opponent is one step away from doing the same to me. In Mentor played winning move in a...
Office ditto... Bit of play on the phone (enjoying the games). Tomororw back to Mentor.
Long long day at the office. Bit of chess mentor (learning how to spot perpetual check).
Time in the office today meant little time at the board but at least I had a bit of fun doing chess mentor. Couple of games today on the run as well.
So today I started playing black in the book openings section of chess.com on the Scandinavian defence. Following the most popular moves, this is where we get to after four moves: One comment I read (about things a very little bit later) is ...
Usual quick run through some chess mentoring (great training - Attila you were right). Not that I am turning into a star but the chess mentor stuff is making me a bit more aware in my games (in which I have a couple of tough fights going on).
Getting back after an interesting day in the office, relaxed with some chess mentor work. Last one I did was a bit of an unexpected touch with history: "This is a position from a game played at Krakow, Poland in 1947 between W. Zartobliwy and Kar...
Same small activity as yesterday.
Managed to squeak in a few moves on the phone during the day - no catastrophic blunders revealed yet.
Pretty busy with other matters today but managed to make moves in few games. Phew!
Not so much time today - finished one game (Congratulations classtorations!), played some moves in others. Went back to the Scandinavian defence - seems to run on tracks you would expect but more on that later.
Well the move to yesterday's problem (the Bobby Fischer one) turned out to be startingly obvious - I was overawed by the fact that it was a real game. Bit more Chess Mentor with some nice lessons about the importance of overall positions vis a vi...
Did a bit of Chess Mentor (for first time came across a problem that wasn't more or less straightforward- still thinking- Edmar Mednis (White) and Robert Fischer (Black) - have to work out why White resigned). Played out on HIARCS first few moves...
Did a bit more on seeing how that game works out. Plius started doing research on the Scandinavian defence (homework set by Attila). Plus some more Chess Mentor. Anyway the position we got to:
