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A Guide to Chess Improvement section 4-4, The Three Types of Chess Vision As Dan writes about board and tactical vision, he pulls an exercise from the book, "Genius in Chess" by GM Jonathan Levitt. Time yourself to find as quickly as possible: 1) How many legal moves does White have; and 2) How many checkmates in one move does White have? Your answer should reflect two numbers. For example your answer would be in the form of "40 legal moves and 7 of these are checkmate". Remember, White to play - how many legal moves and how many checkmates?

Whew! What a lesson! Second lesson in two weeks after about a five year hiatus. My "work" kept me away from chess for too long. After a year of personal change and retiring from many distractions, I have committed to my first OTB tourney in the NC Open at the US Masters. Like other Adult Improvers, time is precious. No better way to get back on the right track then with a lesson. The USCF still has me at 1515 although at least 6 years old. lol, I will play in the U1700 group and most likely the lowest rated player in that arena. Good! It did not take long in this lesson to review a game (played at a G/45 + 45 time control from ICC ) to find my time management downfalls. To my chagrin, the game was essentially lost after 9 moves. It is amazing how much effort I put into analyzing this game thru CB16's tactical analysis with additional comments and thoughts only to overlock key insights that will improve my game immediately that you can only get from an experienced coach. Going thru a game with an experienced player or coach is critical for me as an adult improver. I get to hone in on the critical move(s), ideas, principles and any other unique findings come easy to those like Dan but are often amiss from my level of play. And, I have plenty of homework! I need to play a couple of slow games, I have 6 Novice Nook articles to read and at least 4 accompanying YouTube videos to watch. Key lesson takeaways and renewed attentions: Botvinnik's Rule in time management - Still have this link from 5 years ago! "Have a better idea!?" - A DH quip referencing an attempted strategy I implemented just prior to the middlegame. Although I thought the "strategy" worked, I missed "seeing" the real outcome of my idea. Hmmm, did I "Have a better idea"? No. I now have a much better strategy memorized! "Move every piece once before moving any piece twice unless there is a tactic! What a great lesson that will improve my game immediately! Note: I am constantly going over the lesson notes and working an action plan. Hence, I may add to the "Key lesson takeaways..." as I recall comments, discover missed nuggets and/or find relevant material. For example and a caveat, Dan gave me the name of a player who is looking for a slow chess game and an opportunity to delve into Slack. But, I can not include links or material that may property privileged to a student.

This is a the group for members of the Dan Heisman Learning Center (DHLC) who are using Dan's teachings for chess improvement. Working primarily from Dan's book "A Guide to Chess Improvement", we incorporate thematic correspondence chess, vote chess, slow and blitz chess, games and positional analysis as well as many of chess.com's resources on our path towards chess improvement. Welcome to the group! You may find a need to also join DHLC Slow Chess League, the DHLC home group and our new off-sit!e SlowChessLeague.org to enjoy all the benefits this group (DHLC - CI) has to offer. DHLC has spread to several "sister" sites. Rather than a site map, how 'bout some lnks? DHLC home site is: https://www.chess.com/club/dan-heisman-learning-center DHLC's Online Chess League for regular correspondence match play: https://www.chess.com/club/online-chess-league DHLC's Chat Room for particular nightly group gatherings: https://www.chess.com/club/dhlc-chat-room-chess-club DHLC's site for hosting slow chess events: https://www.chess.com/club/slow-chess-league You are currently in the DHLC Chess Improvement group. This group is easily organized incorporating the game plans found in Dan's book, A Guide To Chess Improvement. Here we will conduct thematic correspondence matches, vote chess games and slow chess. As we continue to grow, we will add some form of rapid/blitz chess activities. The book? Read Dan's blog about the book for details and the link to Amazon is found in the article. https://www.chess.com/blog/danheisman/a-guide-to-chess-improvement-how-the-book-was-made This forum will also include a lot of other resources for your chess improvement. First, let's recognize Dan Heisman for his well-recognized and well-sought expertise in teaching, articles and books. Dan's website is newly redesigned and is filled with resources. I have had the honor to take lessons from Dan before my caregiving duties became overwhelming. I look forward to reinstating those lessons in the future but, I recall one of those lessons including a discussion of "Hope Chess". What an eye opener and one of the best lessons I have ever received. The chart below visualizes the art of "Hope" chart in contrast to real chess. You can find the website link inside Dan's article below: https://www.chess.com/blog/danheisman/wwwdanheismancom-re-designed

Our first and hopefully, successful DHLC thematic Endgame match! The position below is from a classic game and the Endgame is instructional. At this critical point with Black to move, the outcome rests. How is your pawn Endgame? Towards the conclusion of the match I will post the entire game and any pertinent comments.

The forum topic is right out of Dan's book, A Guide To Chess Improvement. In Dan's book he asks, "Who are the best fast players in the world? Answer: The best slow players. We also have a lot of questions to answer. Can I still play fast games since those are my favorite? How long is an appropriate "slow" game? How do I read or understand a time-limit like 40/2, S/D 30, d5. How do I mange the time? Where can I play a slow game and how often? Whom do I play? How do I incorporate slow chess into my chess improvement? We can answer all these questions and more as well offer other helpful hints in this forum. But first things first. Let's introduce the slowchessleague.com website created by DHLC personnel including SirIvanhoe. Many of you are adventurous enough to head to the site and learn more or even get set up for the next qualifier. Of course, Chess.com has an excellent live chess feature as well. The Slow Chess League site is free. Dan writes in his Chess Improvement (CI) book, "...if you are trying to improve... [you should consider] about 100 slow games a year...". Wow! I guess you will be seeing me on the "Game Finder" pretty regularly! hmmm..."What is that you ask? As a member of the Dan Heisman Learning Center main site, you will encounter many messages about slow chess. Here, we hope to introduce slow chess into this DHLC Chess Improvement group as another leg of chess improvement. **This forum is under construction, stay tuned!

Correspondence Chess We often have 3-day tournaments and thematic openings to play. We will have varying degrees of ratings and rated *participations. The details are listed on the tournament's homepage. Click on any of the links to learn more about a current tournament. To join, simply click one of the links below and then click "Join" on the tournament page to *participate. This list is in the same order and should be consistent in the group menu matches link found in the group's directory. Or click here to open in a new window: ["Matches" from our group menu] Vote Chess - Legal Kibitzing! Vote Chess is a consensus driven contest where we discuss (kibitz) the moves to be made before voting. You may simply observe the discussion, put in your comments or move idea and help determine the games path. Remember that Vote Chess is for educational opportunities. Winning or losing is secondary to learning and improvement. Unlike our correspondence tourneys, vote Chess games can be joined at any time! Anyone and everyone can join Vote Chess! To learn more about vote chess, see our vote chess forum. You may also check out our Vote Chess link found in the group's menu. Click on the vote chess menu link below or go to the vote chess menu option at any time to get an update on games in progress. https://www.chess.com/club/votechess/dhlc-chess-improvement Slow Chess **Coming Soon! The place for organizing Slow Chess @ DHLC: http://slowchessleague.org/ The game finder features allows individuals to find games based on their personal schedules. *If you have your alerts set properly, you will receive direct notice when a match is available and a notice when the match begins. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Note: This forum will be lock and stuck to the top so it may be kept updated regularly. If you experience any trouble or want to provide feedback, please message an administrator directly or leave a note on the group's homepage.

Would like to work with my opponent where we openly discuss our candidate moves, and go through each move looking to see if it is safe. Maybe playing a tabiya first. we can use skype to talk.

This post is for @tewald. [Note: my work (like for many people) is demanding with too much travel (at least before everything going on now) and little time for chess so my progress is slow. However, over the years, their lessons have started to sink in to my chess brain.] Valery Frenklakh was a great coach. First lesson he had me bring a pad of paper and a fistful of game scoresheets. He quickly read through the game scoresheets (no board or pieces) and shouted out where my chess was broken - "you are afraid of ghosts!" "you are too timid!" "you do not want to win!" "don't chase pieces!" In all, had over 25 pithy ways to describe how I sucked at chess (essentially he did a quick psychoanalysis of me). He was determined to correct the situation. In a later lesson, he tossed all the pieces to the floor in a dramatic bid to get my full chess attention on the board, on squares, lol... He did. Igor Foygel was another great coach. He took me for a few lessons. Went like this - similar drill with reading my game scoresheets. He was desperately looking for a game where he could help me. He ended up looking at me and said "I can't help you get better in chess because I can't tell how you play chess!" Of course, I replied "What do you mean? There are all these scoresheets..." He replied "I can't tell how you play chess because you lose so many pawns and pieces starting at the beginning of the game!" "You don't have an army to play chess!" He was right. I knuckled down and improved my tactics (long process), and now I'm better. Later, he was in the area and asked if he could come to my place and look at my chess library - goal was to recommend what I should read before the next lesson (he suspected - correctly - that I was reading above my level and not understanding anything. I brought him to my chess bookcase (this is before ebooks) and he ran his finger across all the titles, sometimes taking the book out to look closer, and read the table of contents, flip through pages, saying "hmmm', "hmmmmmm." Finally, he reaches over and took one book off the shelf, looks at me very seriously... and hands it to me and said gravely... "here is the only book you should read, ignore all other books"... : The book was Colin Crouch's "Pawn Chains". I wrote about it at the time (getting better at tactics, reading the pawn chain book: https://quest-of-the-chess-novice.blogspot.com/2010/03/acis-notes-003-im-back-part-2.html ) Point is that at the time my brain didn't absorb, so I thought. But every now and then, one of their lessons comes back to life, and I guess that means I'm integrating the knowledge. Back to the squares thing. Squares, squares, squares... If you control a file, you control squares. If you control a diagonal, you control squares. If your knight has an outpost you control a square. If you checkmate you control squares on and around the opponent king. If you have a strong point on the board (over protected), you control squares. One of the most eye-opening books on this "simple" way to think about chess is in the book "Simple Chess" by Michael Stean. It is a Dover book (old and out of copyright protection) and available in internet archive for free here: https://archive.org/details/Simple_Chess_New_Algebraic_Edition/page/n1/mode/2up Lately, I am starting to understand things like "if you have two bishops and your opponent has one bishop and a knight then..." color complexes. Not that I can execute that well, but I get why they are important. Please reply below, and we can start a discussion about squares which will inevitably lead to pawn formations... Thanks!

To improve your opening play, you'll need to learn the tabiyas for your chosen route to a playable middlegame. What is a tabiya (also spelled tabia)? Well, it's a word that you won't find in most dictionaries, not even the really big ones. It is said to be of Arabic origin and is used by chess players to mean a standard position in an opening which is usually reached by a normal sequence of moves (or sometimes more than one sequence) but after which the opponent usually has multiple options to choose from. Dan Heisman writes, "If you learn about good opening principles, follow them, learn a few tabiyas, and start adding sequences - even if one move at a time - then you will soon be well ahead of other players with similar experience." - A Guide To Chess Improvement (The best of Novice Nook). Dan's book includes a very well annotated sample Tabiya in the Closed Ruy Lopez. The Tabiya extends 9 moves deep and every move includes rationale for why's?, what happens if's? and zaps and traps. Here is a very watered down look at his tabiya although his wealth of comments and annotations are not included from the book [my comments bracketed]: We will play many thematic correspondence games to help develop your own tabiyas.

note: rough draft, diagrams and highlights coming soonThe Chess Cafe is pleased to present the first contribution by American Master Dan Heisman. He is the author of two chess books, "Elements of Positional Evaluation" and "The Improving Annotator"; a third book is scheduled for November publication. He currently works as a full-time chess instructor. The Secrets to "Real" Chess by Dan Heisman Recently a student of mine, rated 1100 (a good high school player), played a tournament in which his playing strength was 1900 (!) for six rounds. He beat four players higher rated than anyone he had ever beaten before. As a chess full-time instructor, I was very intrigued as to what had caused this sudden great jump in playing strength. Could it be attributed to random chance or just "having a good tournament"? I gave this question considerable thought, weighing the possible reasons against many of the theories I had been teaching my students. I finally rejected the "good tournament" idea, even though I am sure that had a part in it. Instead, I created a two-part explanation that should be of interest to players rated under 1800 who wish to improve their game! Three Levels of Thinking The first part requires a description of three levels of thinking chessplayers use to decide a chess move. The ascendancy through these levels reflect the maturing of a chess player due to both age and experience. "FLIP-COIN" Chess - A move is played quickly and without serious thought. The winner of a game where both players are playing Flip-coin chess is almost random, and thus I named it after a coin flip. If one player plays Flip-coin chess and the other actually takes time to think, the thoughtful player almost always wins. Flip -coin players don't use the important guideline "If you see a good move, look for a better one." Almost all young beginners start by playing Flip- coin chess; they really aren't interested in playing a serious game. It is difficult to give an example of Flip-coin chess because there is really not much logic to it. The following is taken from my upcoming book, "Everyone's 2nd Chess Book,", due to be published by Thinker's Press in November (See Diagram): White: Ke1, Qd1, Ra1, Rh1, Nd2, Be5, Bf1; pawns - a2, c3, f2, g4, h2 Black: Kg8, Qd8, Ra8, Rh8, Nf6, Bc8, Bg7; pawns - a7, b7, e7, f7, g6, h7 White was rated about 500, Black (1000) 12...Bxg4 13. Bg2?? White doesn't see that his Queen is attacked. This goes right under the lesson about the mistaken logic "If his piece is doing one thing, it probably isn't doing another." White reasoned, "The Bishop went to g4 to take my pawn. So I know the purpose of that move. Now I can go ahead and look at what I should do." Wrong! "HOPE" Chess - This is NOT when you make a move and hope your opponent doesn't see your threat. Instead, Hope chess is when you make a move and don't look at what your opponent might threaten on his next move, and whether you can meet that threat on your next move. Instead, you just wait until next move and see what he does, and then hope you can meet any threats. In my first 3 tournaments I played Hope chess and never won more than 1 game in any of the three. The speed at which you can play Hope chess also explains why I usually took only about half an hour for each game in these tournaments, even though the time control was 50 moves in 2 hours. Most high school level players play hope chess, but almost always lose when they run into a serious player who plays "Real Chess." The following example is obviously made up, but it is a good example of Hope Chess and one that many scholastic chess coaches will probably find depressingly familiar (See Diagram): White: Kg1,Qc1; pawns - b3, f6, f2, g2, h3 Black: Kg8, Qb5, Ra8, Rf8, Na6, Nc6, Ba5, Bc8; pawns - a7, b7, e6, f7, g6, h7 12...Qxb3??? Black isn't really looking for what White might do to him; he is just waiting to see what White will do and hoping he will be able to stop it. This violates two of my most important principles for beginners: 1) Look for your opponent's checks, captures, and threats, and 2) the more you are winning, the more you need to think defense first. Black doesn't need another pawn. He only had to see and stop that one White threat 13. Qh6 and the hope was in vain; there is no defense to the mate in one, other than a few spite checks. "REAL" Chess - You select candidate moves and, for each, you anticipate and evaluate all your opponent's main candidate moves (especially all checks, captures, and threats). If you see a threat you cannot meet, you almost undoubtedly cannot play that candidate move; instead, you must choose a candidate move that allows you to meet all threats next move. One goal of real chess is to anticipate each of your opponent's moves - if you have a good opponent and he makes a move you hadn't even considered, that is not a good sign! This anticipation takes some time and real effort, so all good chess players take their time! Next time you go to a big tournament, notice how the best players use their time. As I mentioned above, improving players tend to mature through the process: Flip-coin, Hope, Real. Some players never get to "Real" because it requires a certain amount of work which they do not think is fun. A Chain is Only As Strong As Its Weakest Link The best way to introduce the second part of my explanation is to make an analogy. Suppose you build a home where the temperature is -20 degrees outside. You decide on a one-room home with four walls, a roof, a floor, and a heater. You decide to save a little time and material by finishing the four walls, the floor, and half the roof, but the other half you leave open. Even though you have completed over 90% of the structure, the temperature inside your home will still be about -20 degrees with half your roof open. If you want your inside heater to be effective, you have to enclose all of your home. The cold home analogy is similar to what happens when you play Real chess for 90% of your moves, but not for the other 10%. You think you are a good player, but weaker players beat you when you let down your guard for that 10%. In order to be a good player, you have to at least try to play correctly on every move, not just most of them. Consistency is important: remember that your chain of moves, in many cases, is only as strong as the weakest link. As an example, my son Delen, who was rated in the 1300's, was playing in the World Open in Philadelphia last year. He won his first four games in the Under 1400 section (a section for intermediate to weak club players) and was doing well until around the seventh round. He was playing another 1300 player and outplaying him up and down the board for the first 50 moves. He had an easily won endgame, up the exchange and a couple of pawns. All of a sudden his opponent checked him and, even though he was in no time trouble, Delen immediately moved to a square where his opponent could then fork his King and a Rook, thus losing the Rook and the game. Master dad almost had apoplexy, "How can you play like an 1800 player for 50 moves and then like a 400 (beginning) player for one, throwing the whole game away??!" My son replied, "I can't work hard on every move; it's too much effort!" Aaagh! This is akin to working on a beautiful painting for three weeks and then suddenly getting in a bad mood and throwing paint all over it! This also explains why you often run into so many people who just lost to a higher rated player and say, "I know I am better than him, but he beat me and he has a higher rating than I do; I just don't understand it." A player might be more talented and more knowledgable than another player, but be lower rated if the other player plays to his maximum strength on almost all of his moves, but he doesn't. This lack of consistency could be due to stamina, maturity, temperament, age, fighting spirit, or several other factors. Now you have all the information as to why the 1100 player had a 1900 tournament: -He knew about Real chess thinking, but unttil that tournament was still often playing Hope chess. -He finally realized that, in order to beatt much higher rated players, he needed to play Real chess on every move, and not just on most of the moves. So, like the cold weather home, when you don't play Real chess on every move, there is a dramatic difference in your rating. My explanation is more than just a theory about this player's performance. I explained it to my student and ask him if it applied to his performance, or did he feel that I was way off the mark. He replied that it was pretty much a good explanation of what had happened. In the next tournament, he continued to play very well, so we are pretty sure he is now playing Real chess. So that is the secret of Real chess - you must 1) make sure that your think deep enough (3 ply) to ensure that you can make it to the next move without facing threats you cannot meet, and 2) do this every move, not just most of them. Can this "secret" take you from 1800 to 2400? Of course not. As any high rated player knows, there is a lot more to chess than just trying hard, taking your time, and looking for your opponent's threats every move. But not playing Real chess can keep your rating a lot closer to 1000 than to 2000. The author invites comments about this article; he can be also be reached for private lessons in the Philadelphia area via danheisman@home.com. Copyright 1999 Dan Heisman. All rights reserved.

I think Dan's book is a perfect starting point for a tactics training and study program. I am just now working through the Introduction, which includes several former Novice Nook articles. So, the Introduction is like a college prerequisite for an upper level course. "The Seeds of Tactical Destruction" is one such article that one can not read thru lightly. If you have the book, read along with me! Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman

“Anatomy of a Chess Player : Chess Ratings From Beginner to Expert” http://beginchess.com/2009/08/02/anatomy-of-a-chess-player-from-beginner-to-expert/ This article provides a short paragraph in frank terms of what a chess player may know or not know at all levels of play organized by rating. Additionally, each rating "change" suggests a time period recommended for the necessary improvement. There are also many interesting ideas on this site, but I am curious to your thoughts on these summaries of players "knowledge".

Tournament titled Q + p vs Q + p Link : https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/endgame-challenges Although the tournament is underway, I feel it is appropriate to post the actual inspiration for this match. I set the rating parameters between 1000 and 1700 but it accepted me in the field when my daily is currently over 1700. So, of course I saw the game and knew of Botvinnik's ability to work through this match. Now, I want you to see the game as well. Any comments or insights, analysis or whatever can be posted. It will be difficult for any player's to match the moves here, but the ideas are well worth discussion. For example, why would Botvinnik play 56.Qg4+ when he could simply take Black's pawn with the direct Qxe6 ?

How To Improve Your Calculation IM Silman https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-improve-your-calculation? After a detailed look at a member’s game and notes, IM Silman summarizes with an excellent “checklist” of calculation practices. Reading the article will help reinforce these suggestions as well as some of the member’s comments add some additional great ideas. Enjoy! Calculation and tactics have to be based on a strong understanding of undefended pieces and pawns. If you can’t see both your own and your opponents' undefended pieces and pawns, then your game will be stillborn. Don’t play “hope chess.” This is when you hope your attack or calculations are going to get the job done, but you don’t factor in your opponent’s possibilities. Most long calculations are riddled with errors. As the great Bent Larsen said, “Long variation, wrong variation.” With this in mind, you should expect mistakes if you go for a long calculation. It’s normal, even for very strong players. If you don’t look hard for your opponent’s best replies, then all your calculations will be faulty. Don’t live in a dream world. If you wish to improve, and you wish to find long, exciting calculations, you have to be honest with yourself. Do NOTcount on what you want your opponent to do (this chess disease goes something like this: “I’ll attack his queen, he will move a pawn, and I’ll take the queen!”). Instead, count on what your opponent's best move is. Even if your opponent doesn’t know what to do, YOUneed to know what he should do! If you can’t do this, your calculations will usually fail. Thus, be it calculation or a calm positional situation, look for your opponent’s very best replies. The acquisition of patterns makes or breaks the chess player. The more tactical and positional patterns you master, the better your calculation will be. Experience is everything! Don’t expect Herculean results if you haven’t put in long hours of study and practice.

Dan Heisman has written much on the importance of reviewing your games with your opponent (called a "Post-Mortem") as well as getting feedback from top players. He goes on to suggest getting feedback from humans before engines. He has gone even further to encourage analyzing your own game first. This forum can serve as an opportunity to get some feedback on your "slow chess" games. Blitz and Bullet games may serve as personal opening and time management practice as well as for examples of certain positions or play but, I hope you will avoid seeking feedback on those games. Let's stick to the slow chess atmosphere (ideally 45/45, 90/30 games but minimally 30/5 or higher) incorporated thru-out the DHLC sites. Finally, most of us are thick-skinned enough to see intention from most feedback. In fact, we might not even post our games if we were not thick-skinned! However, let's include a level of sportsmanship so not to alienate members who truly look forward to constructive feedback. On the another hand, we should be willing to hear from any player about our play and our games. All players who offer comments may benefit from testing their analysis skills and what I call, "thinking out loud"! It is the same principle we are incorporating in our vote chess games. Please join our vote chess games to learn more! Looking forward to seeing your game! Thank you in advance! Regards, Joe

Do you want to improve on a specific opening, variation, explore opening options or develop a repertoire? Me too! It is an enormous task for any site to accomplish this feat and still be helpful to you personally or offer interaction. Here is a solution! Many groups at Chess.com offer specific opening study and practice. I belong to two different groups that provide incredible resources, matches, vote chess and forums to enhance the group's opening preferences. This is not a conflict of interest for DHLC Chess Improvement group. Rather, what a great way to provide resources and information to improve your chess! The key is to find a group where the Group's name or title highlights an opening you want. One example is a group named "1.d4". However, this group may to broad a brush for your preference, but a good start? Here is how to get started. On your profile page, click on the heading "Clubs" where your club are listed. The next menu will have choices including "Find Clubs". Once you click "Find Clubs" an open frame will appear to type in the name you might be looking to find. It is similar to typing a URL, but you simply type the name of the opening you are seeking. The name will be searched not only in title, but in the group's description. For example, I sought to find a club for the "Benko Gambit". I pulled up club names that did not match the opening but referenced the opening in the description of the club. I did find one club Named "Benko Gambit" who has an Admin named Chris that I have known for quite awhile. I know him to be quite active and is pleasant. That group has about 255 members so I know it is a good choice. Personally, I belong to probably too many clubs for a variety of different reasons. I do belong to many specific opening groups. As an ardent hypermodernist for defense, I joined WormRose's 1...g6 Modern Repertoire. He has provided tremendous insights into the Modern Defense and he hosts many other clubs with specific opening themes. For offense, I am a part of the Londoneers. We practice many vote chess games and group matches for skill practice. You all can read through my list of clubs and ask me directly about any of them. I hold no ill will for anyone who wants to post a named opening group or club committed to a specific opening. In fact, you can share a club that you have found to be helpful (in an opening of course). A club that tries to dance with requests for all openings will fall short of your expectations. Hope this helps and opens doors! Let us know what you find!

I finally had some time to act like a real chess player and conduct an "opening preparation" against an opponent. The results were phenomenal. I owe this win to my preparation. I knew I was up against a stronger player, but my preparation settled me down to seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. What a rewarding day in chess. I feel like I just hit my second shot on 18 and put it next to the hole! However, I thought to include my complete preparation here including the final game. I hope you will add any thoughts to help me and others find the best rewards in preparations. The Modern Defense, justified! My ICC opponent, parrot9, is rated higher and I had time to do some game preparation. I finally found a game with the Modern and some with the KID. Mostly King's Gambit, Sicilians, Ruy Lopez and even Center Counter. While looking through, I asked "why did he lose, Why did he win and how might he play against the Modern". First game is an example of his MiddleGame shortcomings where he often misses a tactic or combination. 22.Rad1?? Next Game is linked, but the Middlegame went so awry after missing many opening principles. Surprisingly, his Ruy Lopez is often strong or a win. - http://team4545league.org/pgnplayer/pgnplayer.php?ID=8914 Another weak MiddleGame And a KID, where his common f3 thrust followed by an eventual g4! This is his trademark line in the Indians. Once he gets the initiative his is relentless as you can see in this bashing. However, I studied how "passive" Black's play seemed as in 6...c6? Ceding the Center to White is anti-hypermodernist! lol Trading pieces to put the Knight on the rim and missing the strategic h6 or ignoring the Kingside was all White needed. Here was my game model. This is the line I intended to play, with several variations. For my opponent, his opening moves are pretty consistent. I will incorporate h6 and e6 in the game, striiving for a hippo setup. My plan is to be even throughout the opening applying good Modern Defense theories while refuting his advances. Strategically, based on other games I have seen, I should be able to find a tactic to win material or position. Either one will deflate this opponent. So, I intend to play for a draw which, based on his playing behavior may lead to a win! He plays very strong when he is ahead in position or material and makes mistakes when the chips are heading down. Now for our completed game. I spent most of the day going through this game and putting it in ChessBase. I did not put it to an engine and frankly have not done that in a long time. I know it is important to get my own thoughts down first. Comments welcomed!

It is not our first tourney for the London System, but the first for this popular line that was brought to light in 1888. It is probably not the first time it was played as well, but the game below is the first recorded game for the London System. The line, although a transposition, is the most common line played in the London. The "Double D" as I call it, is referring to both pawns face to face on the d-file.

Many of the matches prepared on chess.com and of course here in our DHLC group, have in the criterion an "open" rating. This means any rating is allowed to participate. The good news is that more people can join and they fill up faster. The bad news is that your opponent may be several hundred rating points above you or at least far enough away to take the sport out of the match. Sure, some enjoy playing those players much higher rated, but that is not widely common. A downside of player someone much higher rated is the risk of not even getting out of the opening phase of the game before the game is lost or your position is dire. Hence, you will often face very little middlegame activity and almost no endgame skills are practiced. Personally, in the beginning (ha! you say cuz I am old...but I only started serious chess about 10 years ago) I enjoyed playing those players closely rated to my level and felt almost embarrassed when having to face someone so highly rated. I am sure I do not speak for you, but that is the purpose of this forum. What say you? We believe setting matches for certain rating ranges can be beneficial and fun. We had hoped that a "Learn by Doing" series could be advantageous. Additional, we had hoped to identify specific opening lines or "themes" for opening skills not to mention the opportunity to get to middlegame and endgame play. So, your turn! What would you like to see? What openings are you interested in? How would you like DHLC Chess Improvement to continue, that is, what activities may be helpful to you? What things may help your participation? Goals, Aspirations, Dreams, Plans, Ideas, even Gripes! Lay it down!