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BI FAR

what do you think?

is london the best opening 

BI FAR

what do you think?

yes I love london 

that's literally "not setting up defensive measures"

Oh yeah, I misread that quote wrong xD

I would argue that defense is 75% psychological. You tend to start thinking, oh dear, how did I Get in this position? If only I had moved my knight instead of my bishop. Maybe if I played a more familiar opening. Maybe if I had played a more sound opening. If I didnt take this risk. If i... what if... maybe earlier...

But it is all useless. What is done is done. The hardest part is telling yourself, you are either going to find the best moves or you won't, and crying about the past won't help you do the former.

The biggest reason why people fail to defend properly is because they fail to realize that their position calls for defensive measures. Since the proper measures aren't in place, they collapse easily.

I don’t think my reason for defending incorrectly is not realizing the danger in the position. If I see my opponent just getting slightly aggressive I panic and make a fee bad moves in a row that lead to my position crumbling fast

that's literally "not setting up defensive measures"

Oh yeah, I misread that quote wrong xD

misreading the quote wrong implies that you read it right

That’s my problem, I think to myself “why didn’t I play (insert move) instead of (insert move) and generally my bad mood leads to my bad moves. I’ve been trying to work on it more recently though and have noticed better results 

There's this antecedote about a guy analyzing with karpov. He felt that karpov would never stop asking questions. You move your knight, ""aha, I am attacking this". Karpov would just defend, seemingly asking, "ok, I have defended it, what do you do now?" And you go, well, I attack this! And he would defend it, saying, "Ok, It is defended now. In a few moves I threaten to do this and this. What will you do?" and at some point it becomes a chore to keep your advantage. 

"I felt that he wasn't too concerned with how he got into the position. He would just focus on making the best moves."

I remember you posting that in the “I will look at your games and tell you what you’re doing wrong” thread. It made me think about my mindset and trying to change it as my “oh god I should have done this” mindset isn’t doing me any good

1. b4 setup and middlegame plans 

also for 1... b5 against everything

bet letz go buddy

How play chess?!!!??!??!!

Here's an example of "failing to defend". I will put a hypothetical situation in my opponent's head.

hmm.. 1... b5 against everything?

jokes on you i play 1.a4

Thank you for that example! Like I said earlier, whenever I mess up a position I get frusterated and make a couple of bad moves without thinking. That is bad obviously, and I need to start taking time to think of what I should be aiming for and how to create my counterplay (like in the example you gave of how black should be aiming for a rook endgame because he has an active rook and your extra pawn is on the K-side)

Defense, to me, at least, is "make your opponent so f*cking annoyed that it takes him so long to win the game, that the next time you guys play, he will be filled with the dread of having to grind fifty moves after obtaining a winning position."

Bonus points if you don't lose, it causes extra trauma.

Honestly defending is fun if you look at it that way xD 

Why do you think I keep doing it?

Looking for a line to equalize, because you know you can do it, is just as fun as trying to increases your advantage. Just gotta warp the view a little bit.

Yes

How do I get better at middlegames? like, the stratagy part.