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I played a recent game in which I tried to utilize concepts of imbalances from Silman’s The Amateur’s Mind and was wondering if I could get guidance on how to build pressure against weaknesses as I felt I only used my Queen and doubled rooks to this end. I also feel that I don’t understand the Rook’s role in the middlegame too well. This is the link to an analysis board with my move annotations. PGN https://www.chess.com/a/31xK8g1NExSAr Role of Rooks in Middlegame I know that rooks belong on open files and can take advantage of the open files directly (by attacking targets on the open file), or indirectly by using the open file to maneuver to attack another file through a rook lift or use the file to flank pawns/pieces. It feels that often when the rooks are placed on open files, they simply exchange off with the other rooks on the open file, and I feel that when rook lifts are performed, pieces either move off the file or pawn moves are performed to become defended by other pawns. What is the right way to think about the rook in the middlegame? How to use Tension and How to Attack Weaknesses In particular, I tried to make moves that weakened my opponent's pawn structure and forced them to dedicate and restrict their pieces movements to protect their own weaknesses. Additionally, as much as possible, I tried to maintain the tension (possibility for exchanges) and invite my opponent to capture in ways that allowed me to develop or maintain control of a file (mainly the efile). Once I was fully developed, I had my rooks doubled on the efile, which I thought was good because it entangled his pieces in protection and offered me the opportunity to trade in ways that deflected his pieces from other defenses. In this process, I found that while my rooks were well placed, my knights served mainly defensively against kingside attacks until I eventually sunk a knight into the c4 outpost where it was protected by one of my pawns and surrounded by my enemy's pawns. In attempting to create and exploit weaknesses, I felt that I prodded my queen around, forcing either my opponent to create weaknesses through pawn moves or defend pawns with pieces. While this worked, largely because of the efile tension, I felt that maybe I should have improved my knights sooner. Was this use of my queen valid for attacking pawn structure weaknesses or should I have involved my knights or pawns or applied better piece coordination?

let's hope this is right

Hello everyone! I started playing about a week ago and already know the basics. Started training today, did 15 chess puzzles and played 3 games (I have played 7 games so far all lost). I noticed three things while playing: 1. I take too long while thinking. 2. My tactics are no good. 3. While playing my mind sometimes can't focus and just sits there passively or drifts somewhere else and I can't get deep into the position. Well I sign off, will continue my training tomorrow, a pleasure to be here.

the groups for this month are Osubuckeye and Masky... Deruku and farbro... Sharkpoet and Necodemmus....Zhane and the-dude (me)..Now don't forget you can set up the games any way you like and also remember I would like to do this once a month or so. To study tell others what you think you would have done and whyHAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Ok I may have been missing in action for a while but I'm back and still training with the-dude. In here I'll share my games and experiences with other players I've encountered.

Hello Sad to say but not only this group but any group that I'm a member of that deals with actually trying to learn and grow from each other instead of just constent vote and team chess they become inactive very quicky. I can't tell you enough how strong the power of team work is in chess. I've seen a group of 4 Class C players (1400-1599) who couldn't afford a coach so they decided to always and I mean always go over eachother games or part of it and finish the rest later on a daily bases at least (they even recorded the game's they went over in case one couldn't make it) and everytime one of them got some type of new material (book,website,software) they alway's shared. This was a year ago and when looked at master's and other advanced player thought nothing of it since they were all average player. Guess what ALL 4 ARE NM (2200) and they alway's say thy owe there sucess by always going over eachother's game's and doing nothing more no tactics no coach very few book's JUST TEAM WORK. now that was only 4 people think of this group's potential when all 70-80 of the people in this group work together. Please everyone try to become more active I rember reading some article about why Russian and Chinese player's are so strong and both simply replied TEAMWORK and described the exact same thing the 4 people who live in my area did but with there countries support of a lot of programs being formed. Even at time's when one of them got a little farther than the rest (2000 while the other's were between 1800-1900) it only took 3 weeks for the rest to catch up. even if only say 30 or 20 or even 10 of the member's in this group get serious about this I gaurantee that all 10 or how ever many will see great improvement (50 elo at least) in 1-2 months. So let's post are game's share a new website we discovered to play chess, start that journal thing this group had going, send eachother ebooks of a not common chessbook we found or software. I promise you if we take this chance to try and work with eachother we will improve.

I have a new group called Light Force and I would like as many people to join my fight against darkness.Our aim is simple to stop evil ruling the world

Buddies, It is about time to set up a team game and to get some energy into this group. Who should we challenge?

My goal is not for the year. It is for the next 3 months. Go through and finish aj (Tony) Gillam's simple chess tactics and checkmates as well as his little book Better Chess Finish Chess Tactics by Paul Littlewood Finish at least half of chess school 1a by ivashchenko Keep playing on chess.com but try to cut my games to 25 if I can Start with chess board a first book of Morphy. (or when it finally comes del Rosario's newer book on capablanca 's games) Struggle page by page with Yusupov's Build up your Chess vol1 Keep My system nearby After 3months I'll let you know how things are.

Hello. Just wanted to say Hi! I am new to the group and I hope to meet new people and learn from others. My buddy Farbror invited me and I thought it would be a neat thing to do. So thanks for the invite!

The Tournament is finished! You are all winners! Thank you for playing!

I picked up chess for real last summer. Before then I had only been playing occasional blitz games with my friends every now and then. Now I study chess every day. In school when I'm not in class I like to solve tactics exercises or to challenge my friends on the little chess board I always carry with me in my backpack. One slow game a week should probably be managable for me. I started playing in a chess club some months ago and it is going quite well even though the club is small and we mostly play blitz games. So far I've only played one rated OTB game, which I lost to a 1410-player about 8 years younger than me or so :)I like queens pawn openings a lot! When I started playing chess I read a lot of books and watched video clips in order to improve. Because of that I think I have quite a good understanding on positional play, which is quite ironic because recently I have come to realize that not before you really start approaching the 2000 FIDE barrier will you probably need to know any positional stuff as long as you study your tactics enough. Chess books I have read so far are: Play like a tiger by Simon Webb, The Amateurs mind by Jeremy Silman and half of Logical Chess move by move. Oh and I like Lasker even though I don't understand Grandmaster play at all really and I don't believe anyone with approximately the same rating as me (1300 OTB) if he states that he does!

I am going to spend this summer with my tactics books: Predator at the Chessboard, Bein's Chess Tactics for Students, The Chess Tutor (Leslie Ault - and old book which I have just recieved and it is WONDERFUL), and Chris Ward's Starting Out: Chess Tactics. Plus computer stuff: Tactics Trainer, Chess Tempo, and Convecta's CT-Art for Beginners. And if I'm not too wiped out, I may come up for air and read Purdy! stwils

OK, ongoing game, white wants me to accept a draw. I think I should play on. Comments?

Unfortunately I have practically no training to document! My studies (and the girlfriend) have kept me more or less away from serious study of chess, hell I can just barely manage to keep in some semblance of physical shape. However! Last year things were not so grim and I was able to study chess as much as 8 hours a day...ahh those were the days...ahh my youth! Anywho I am trying to find a schedule by which I can reconcile my love of wine, women, yoga, school, economics, and chess...this is no simple task. So far methinks I can handle this: -100 tactics puzzles on Chess Tactics Server daily -Going over 1 grandmaster game from my zillions of annotated game books per day. -Keep playing on chess.com and try to take more than .5 seconds for each move, as is my habit. -view chessbase DVDs in my spare time instead of listening to so much music. By the way I recently recieved "1000 recordings to hear before you die" as a gift and I heartily recommend it to anyone who needs a shot of new music in their life. Also I've been desperately trying to make the time to play in my local chess club but I feel like I'm so out of practice I'll make an ass of myself. Therefore I need to do some rocky-like mega training (including montages) so I can get myself up to speed quickly. There just aren't enough hours in the day...

http://blog.chess.com/DeepGreene/a-simple-defence-against-aimless-chess-training

How should I analyze an endgame like this? Two pawns up but facing a bishop pair. What is a typical strategy? I think it was just luck that gave me the full point.

Wow, this looks fun! However, I do not have much to write. Maybe I can share some thoughts on my recent games?

Hi all, I am very glad to be part of your study group!My general objective is to improve my game in long time control tournaments (with the dream of getting to National Master level, but I would be already happy with much less than this).Background: I started playing chess many years ago, I then stopped for many years, and I very recently restarted. I am 37 years old, and I do not have an exceptional amount of time to dedicate to chess: realistically, I would say no more than 3 to 4 hours per week as average. My current level is between 1300 and 1400 ELO, and my main defect is that I blunder too much and too often.My current study plan is the following:OPENING:At my current level and given the limited time I have available, I don’t believe that I should invest huge amount of times on openings. I am using the Torre Attack when playing White, and the Scandinavian Defense when playing Back against 1.e4. I believe they both lead to solid positions, very good for me. I have one book per opening, and I regularly study the games there and the main lines and variations.TACTICS:This is where I am currently investing most of my time, because I think that, at my level, most games turn around tactics. I do about 30/45 minutes a day of Chessimo (www.chessimo.com, something very similar to ChessTempo, but with more of a didactic twist), then another 15/30 minutes with ChessTempo, which I use to “track my progress”. I also review (using Fritz) all my online games, to find tactics my opponent or I have missed.STRATEGY:Here, again, I am not spending too much time with theory. I know the basics and general concepts, and the only study I do is going through annotated games of strong players and read the comments, trying to understand the why of each move from a strategic perspective. I have several books for this, all very nice and well written.ENDINGS:Here I have a pretty pragmatic approach. I use the endings module of Chessimo, which is based on “learn by doing and repetition”, I read about the key concepts, and I practice by taking some random positions from ChessTempo (the ones non ending up in mate), and playing them until the mate (one thing I have to learn is how to win a won game – if this makes any sense to you).GAMES:Finally, I try to play as much as I can, because of course you can study and practice as much as you want, but playing remains the key thing – and it’s also where the most fun is! I try to play long games (like 30/30 or 45/15), so I can focus on each move and improve my ability to calculate lines.Whenever possible, I try and play regular OTB, because I realize that there is a huge difference between playing on screen and over the board.That’s basically it. I am looking forward to getting engaged in new activities with you all! Andrea

Hi, Firstly, thanks for the invite! Right then, I used to play a chess a lot when I was younger (ages 10 - 12), and I was one of the best in my school. However, after going to tournaments and finding out that this wasn't good enough in the chess world I gave up, promising myself I'd come back to it at some point. Many moons later and I'm back! I've been re-teaching myself everything over the past few months, and now I'm in the first flush of full-on chess love: and chess love is like addiction, some would say it's as strong as a crack addiction, only without the loss of teeth and employment. I've promised myself that I'll work hard and attain a 1300-1500 rating by the end of the year. I'm doing tactics daily (on the chess tactics server - aswell as the 3 free I get here), and I'm reading up on chess ALL THE TIME - much to my girlfriend's annoyance! I've got 3 books: Winning Chess (Seirawan); Chernev's Logical Chess Moves and Bronstein's 1953 Zurich book. Of these I've found the Chernev book most useful. (I'm also reading the Chess Tactics Explained Website, which is very useful!) I'm currently on a search for my perfect opening. Though I'm currently playing E4 (Ruy Lopez-ish) as white, and as black, well, that's a toughie - it's not pretty(!), it's some sort of KID/Sicilian horribleness... I can't really put a name to it other than "The Loss-Meister". Anyway, I've identified that the opening/midgame transition is my (current) biggest problem, so this is what I need to address first. Right, I've got to go as my girlfriend is threatening to torch all 3 of my chess books if I don't "get off that fricken site" (only she didn't use the word fricken!) Cheers Russell