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cyboo has struck again, ladies and gentlemen! Let's take a look at the two games we've played...Game #1: Game #2: Congrats cyboo!

Here, I want to post an awesome win that involved a rook sacrifice, a bishop en prise 3 times, and cool tactics. Unfortunately I can’t post it. It’s my recent game with TAJEAGLE1357 where I played white: could anyone post it and help me analyse where I could have won faster, and my opponents major mistakes?

Another game was had recently between cyboo and myself, and I succeeded in coming closer to evening our score - cyboo leads me 3.5 - 4.5 after this game!Here it is, with cyboo going nuts in the middlegame and getting his king dismantled. Good game cyboo, I'm hoping for an even ledger by the end of this next game!

This was a game played between me and QueenBomb. I dropped a piece, but got some pawns for it, and thanks to his awkwardly placed knight, we called it a draw. See what you think. Thoughts? Comments?

This was a game I played at the local club earlier. My opponent had run away with the lead, on 4 out of 4. He had one potential contender trailing on 3 points, but I had to win and the other contender had to lose for the other guy to catch up. That's what ended up happening, and those two guys won jointly on 4/5, followed by yours truly on 3.5/5.(For those following my blog, yes, I should technically have used the Petroff because of my opening shctick. But practically I think it's best to use something I've learned solidly instead of jumping right into new territory in a rated game.)Here's the game, anyway. I forgot to add in the players and stuff, but can't bring myself to start over. Ristic, Mio (1635) vs Smith, Jack (1324) 0-1 Time control 60+30sec increment. Please, nitpick on!

Well, cyboo's done it again, salvaging a win from a bad position. With my own play dipping vexingly low, and his soaring at the moment, I think it's safe to say that he has overtaken me. (For now )Here's the game.

This was a game played between ChiefJab and myself. Let's take a look. Thoughts are welcome!

So I just completed an OTB tournament, which Andromeda also competed in. Here's my "report"...VCCC 2018 Report

This is the game I played with Kristen_Winter, which finished yesterday.A good game, with only a few mistakes on her part. This reminds me of the game I had with ChiefJab; both of you got a little too impatient, and played for something you couldn't afford just yet.I think going over master games in the openings I play helped me immensely. It doesn't have to be a thorough analysis, just 5 minutes per game, looking at what they were playing for, when they chose to do it, et cetera.Also, patience is key, especially in this opening and the Ruy Lopez. Often the middlegame race to complete plans starts at move 15 - 20, after so many moves of development! (That's not a number to live by, just a general indicator.Good game, and I hope you learned something!Thoughts? Feel free to share them!

Hi all, This isn't an obligatory thing, I'm just curious where we're all at. Some of our younger/lower rated members may be aiming for the stars, whereas some of us have been there and done that, and have more modest goals, if any. Where do you stand? And how will you get there? I'll go first...For anyone that doesn't read my blog, my current goal is to attain a rapid rating of at least 1800 by August 19, 2019. But more than that, I want to really improve. So at each rating that I'm at, I will pick opponents of that rating or higher. (Maybe a bit lower, like 50 points, or of course, anyone that asks me for a training game.)More than the rating goal, I want to have a better understanding of chess by that time. So, I'm trying to work on improving my understanding of positions, and in particular my problem with partiality and bias in assessment of positions. So, if you like, here's where you can share what your aspirations are. I look forward to hearing from you! Cheers,Willy

ChiefJab challenged me to an unrated daily game, so I decided to experiment with a d4 opening (I am all-out e4 player). My inexperience with d4 setups lead black to quickly equalizing in the opening and actually getting a better position for mid-game. However, couple strategic errors and one mistake for black allowed me to equalize soon after. Eventually black neglected some development and went too aggressive, getting his knight trapped, which eventually gave me the material lead and initiative to finish the game in a fairly secure fashion.It was a fun game, here is a fairly quick analysis of it! ChiefJab, what were your thoughts about the game?

Deirdre and I have completed another game, where I was simply outclassed. Let's take a look.

Here's the game just completed between myself and cyboo… Anyone have anything to add?

Hi guys, Last night I played an OTB game at my local chess club. The time control was 60 + 30, and I think I did pretty well, but I didn't take enough precautions and wound up getting demolished, despite having a superior position.My opponent is somewhat dubious positionally, but makes up for it with his sheer tenacity, and his dangerous vision. Let's see how it went down... This was a frustrating loss, but I learned lessons from it.#1. There was no need to castle Queenside. I wasn't going to shunt pawns up on the kingside, so I could easily have castled there. This was erroneous decision making. #2. I had all the time in the world after move 9. Surely I could have made time for prophylaxis. #3. It is coming to my attention how important it is to be conscious of your own thought process, funny and elemental as that might sound. I see so many people at tournaments looking at the board in the haze, looking and feeling like they're thinking but in actuality, they're just wasting time looking at the squares. I've found the same tendency in myself, and became aware of it in this game. Thoughts? Additional things I may have missed? Please do say so if you have something to say

When I was new to chess there wasn't anyone I knew who played, there also wasn't a great website like this. So sometimes I like to try and organize some information in hopes someone finds it useful, it's the next best thing to sending messages back in time to myself Anyway, maybe someone here can give me feedback on if this blog post is any good... I thought it might be interesting and helpful to point out how some successful attacks involve stacking up pieces on the h file. But maybe the examples are too dissimilar? Maybe it's not good for a different reason? (When I was new attacks were always super mysterious, some GM would sac a piece and write "and of course black wins now" and I'd have no idea why). https://www.chess.com/blog/Farm_Hand/attacking-with-h-file-antics

Hi all,Deirdre and I just completed a Daily game. Here's my analysis, with Skye's shortly to follow. This is one of the better games I think I've played, only crumbling towards the end.Thoughts? Analysis? I leave it to you.Cheers,~Willy

A couple of weeks ago I was playing on board #1 in a team match, with my club The Canadian Team facing off against Team Malaysia. The game that resulted was one of the strangest I've ever played. We didn't leave known theory until move 28, for one thing. The game gained me +108 rating points, which is also a bit extreme. The opening followed one of those double-edged lines where the first inaccuracy is likely to be fatal. Does anyone want to take a shot at analyzing this game? No engines, please... we can do that after trying our own analysis. https://www.chess.com/daily/game/200865884