Journey to 1800 Rapid

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Avatar of Gruugle
eboatwright wrote:

Thanks! That's what I'm trying to go for, I think that'll be a good way to reduce blunders

What have you been doing to play more solid? Like what's your strategy?

Avatar of eboatwright
Gruugle wrote:
eboatwright wrote:

Thanks! That's what I'm trying to go for, I think that'll be a good way to reduce blunders

What have you been doing to play more solid? Like what's your strategy?

Honestly it's hard to say, it really depends on the specific game. But what I've been trying to do is be less "confrontational" as GothamChess would put it. I heard a quote from him where he said "Don't try to make things happen in the position" which I interpret as: wait for the right moment to attack instead of just saying "Well I have all my pieces developed, so I might as well throw pieces at the center of the board" and just wait for the right moment to pounce

Another way to describe this concept is: generally you don't want to be the one to release tension. For example pieces attacking eachother (for example in the queen's gambit): you don't always want to be the one to make the trade, sometimes it's better to sit and let the opponent take you

Avatar of DillWithThePickle

Good win, some excellent tactics in there

Avatar of eboatwright

Thanks! I think it definitely should've been a draw going into the 2 rooks vs 2 rooks endgame, but my opponent definitely made some mistakes

Avatar of eboatwright

Hey! It's been a bit, I haven't played any rapid since the last posts, but I've still been working away at my Chess engine. I've just recently started another re-write from scratch, and if anybody's interested, I post regular updates in my club!

(If you're curious the previous version is about 2150 on Lichess)

I think this is definitely part of my journey to 1800, as I've actually learned a great deal about Chess as a whole from working on an engine.