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11 year-old vs. NM - please analyse :)
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Your son should play more attacking game, pawns should be defended well, he's 11 years old, don't put too much pressure on him, he will learn on his own! he's got talent!!
Thanks, Sarath, he'll love that you said that he has talent! I don't pressure him, I just want to help him because I think he has talent, too. He learned when he was eight and loved chess so much. Then he just didn't want to play for close to two years. Now he's discovered his love for chess again and I want to help him achieve his potential since now he wishes he hadn't stopped playing and wonders how much better he'd have been if he had continued. :)
Your son played really well. I doubt that I would have done any better, and i used to play the Ruy Lopez all of the time when I was younger. As someone else noted, playing a very well known and thoroughly opening is a bad idea if your opponent is rated signficantly higher and you are not thoroughly booked up on the line you are playing. This is especially true for the Ruy Lopez since certain lines have been analyzed out to 25 or 30 moves. I remember playing lines that I thought I knew really well (out to 15 moves), but having the opponent tell me that I deviated from book on move 21.
He likes the Ruy Lopez but I don't think he realized that, thanks pt22064! People always say not to study openings until you're an advanced player but it would seem as if you are at an extreme disadvantage if you don't study them. My son doesn't really have an opening repertoire and it looks like that is something he needs.
You have to learn how to win at least some of the time before you can improve. It is better to have him play against people that he can compete against.
I think playing the Ruy Lopez was a fine opening. He could play that opening for the rest of his life and have no problems. He didn't lose because he played the Ruy Lopez, he lost because black being the stronger player slowly outplayed him. People will argue that playing a gambit would increase your son's chance to beat the master but he could have more easily could outplaying tactically.
Thanks, chessmicky, Zigwurst & 2200ismygoal, I very much appreciate all the thoughtful input. :)
I'm 11 and beggining to learn chess. Leshuhan this was interesting to see how a boy my age did agaisnt a nm. Thanks for posting it. It was similar to one of my games against a Nm.
Powerbot108, We would both be interested to see your game. You should post it, too! We have a family-friendly group here on Chess.com. If you'd like to join, we'd love to have you. :) http://www.chess.com/groups/home/chess-castle
move 6 d3 a certain solidity to that but i like knxe5 to punish blacks previous move f7 f6 line goes knxe5 fxe5 qh5+ either black moves the king not desirable or blocks by g6 worse as g6 allows qxe5 check winning the rook at h8
Okay, thank you, Nedluddite. :)
LesuhAn wrote: he wishes he hadn't stopped playing and wonders how much better he'd have been if he had continued. :)
I too wonder myself about my possibilities. I started at 14, quit at 15, and restarted at 51.
My opinion: A couple of years off at that age isnt a big deal. He can become a masterplayer if he really wishes to spend that much time.
Thank you, InfernoImpact. That's really helpful. I'll have him go over that. He really appreciates all the advice on this thread, as do I!
DjonniDerevnja, I read him your comment and he smiled and said, "Cool!" :) I just learned how to move the pieces when he did. I wish I had learned as a child then I could help him now! Thanks for sharing your experience. :)
Okay, he wants to play me OTB, now and notate. I hate when he writes down our games, recording his Mom's blunders for eternity!
Thanks so much to all who took their time to help. :) :) :)
he played very well considering his rating
Jul 12, 2014
0
#39
LesuhAn wrote:
He likes the Ruy Lopez but I don't think he realized that, thanks pt22064! People always say not to study openings until you're an advanced player but it would seem as if you are at an extreme disadvantage if you don't study them. My son doesn't really have an opening repertoire and it looks like that is something he needs.
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The first game he played is a classic example of why they say not to study opening theory(opening principles are great at his level).
Out of the opening I would say he is slightly worst but, not much. He gives up the bishop pair(which is a valid opening system-the exchange ruy). BUt, then plays pretty passively(d3), then quickly castles queenside. Maybe it isn't a bad move. But, it just seems to me that the black attack comes much faster(opposite side castling generally whoever has the fastest attack wins). The g6 knight seems to be the only weakness for black so instead of h3, h4 and h5 were probably better followed by maybe h6 at the right time. But, the black side has 2 menacing bishops pointing at your sons king and a mobile pawn majority on that side to boot(meaning his forces are more coordinated towards that side.
So what he can learn from this game is if he is going to possibly be going into an opposite side castling position he needs to evaluate what he thinks the speed of the attacks on the wings are. The more he does that the better he will get at it
Thanks, Chessenall. :)