Get free chess tips by a 789 FIDE rated player

Thanks solskytz, I am actually very glad to hear that. thanks

I forgot to say, welcome back NajGrunfield.  Pardon my manners...

(to post #84)

:-)

IamNoMaster wrote:

@Bilbo21century:

I played around 200 fide rated games, probably more.

*if you got to highlight the top 5 tips (3 tips if it may be) that you have gained from playing FIDE rated, what would these be?

@lofina:

Here are some tips regarding OTB games:

1) Dont think about your opponent, his rating or any outside things, try to fully concentrate on your game and play the board and not the opponent as they say.

2) Try to see the game or tournament as a big learning experience, you probably are not yet at your peak form so every game can be a tool to improve your chess level furthermore. Unless you are already at a high level winning is actually not important, your goal should be to play good chess and improve on the things you could have done better. If you see the game as a learning experience it in my opinion puts away nervousness and also allows you to get better quicker as you ask yourself more questions to understand the dynamics of each game better.

3) Analyse your OTB games!!! This is crucial as it is key to learn from your mistakes and avoid doing the same mistakes over and over again. When you see the game as a learning experience like I said in 2 a proper analysis can help you too get all your questions answered. If needed use an engine, preferedly though do it on your own or have a strong partner to help you out.

4) Prepare before the game! Preparing your openings before each game is a great way to increase your winning chances but also important to better your opening repertoire. Ideal would be to look at the name of your opponent before the game and search for his games in a database like chessbase. This allows you to see what openings he played in the past so you can prepare especially against those. If you dont know your opponent before the round or cant find him in your database you can also just refresh some of the main lines you play and go through sidelines with your opening book or also look at master level players games in these opening variations.

5) Enjoy it! Dont stress yourself, dont expect too much and do other things except chess at your location too. As great as chess is taking it too serious and overdoing it can only be contraproductive.

Hope these tips were helpful. I´m out.

thx Brahsen, will try 😊

 Thanks a lot! Cy@ on the field of justice.

How to plat against the stonewall dutch?

You are fide-underrated, and I really like your tutorial writing here :)

Master or not, these tutorials are good. 

Does it have to be chess? Can I ask for botany advice?

I bought a golden pothos plant from a hardware store a couple weeks ago. It looks to be three separate plants and it's all very overgrown in its container. I want to transplant them into individual containers if possible, but I'm afraid of damaging the roots if I separate them, so I might just have to propagate from cuttings.

I guess my question is... will I still be able to castle after either technique?

I like those tips, and I add one of my thoughts: Avoid taking draws! Several times I have been in complicated positions, and wondered if I should try to force a draw. I dont force the draws, because I think that this is complicated and wonders how to play it further. Playing it all the way out have given me many losses, and more important, practising middle game and endgame. 

Hi guys, I will put down my real Fide rating  in the profile later. I will also answer the other questions later when I get home. Despite that I am planning to write a big article about chess improvement today, go check it out. Lata.

p.s. thats a very good tip too Djonni I forgot that one.

INM Brahsen - First, thank you for your genuinely useful tips and answers to the questions asked above. 

I've a different kind of question to those posed by others so far which I hope you might help me with. I'm in the early phases of an correspondence end game (not on this site) in which I as white have two safely well placed bishops and seven pawns facing black with knight, rook and six pawns. The e-file is open while the d-file is half open (my pawn). The pawn chains for both sides are well formed and each side is controlling his half of the e-file, while the kings are both on the kingside. My pawn advantage is on the d-file and my pawns on the queeenside are quite well advanced. This move (it is my move) I have an opportunity to run my king across to the queenside but this opportunity is likely to close after his next move.

I don't want to spoil the game with my opponent, whose play I respect and with whom I want a good fair game, by showing it here for comments, but I do want to ask you whether in positions of this kind you feel that it best in general terms to keep the position blocked by stopping the pawns chains getting opened up and possibly allowing his rook in behind me (in short a holding action to begin with), or alternatively proactively advancing the queenside pawn majority and allowing my bishops the possibility (if there is one) to run riot on the subsequently open position on the queenside with the attendant risks of a delinquent enemy rook in behind my pawnchain.

Of course I understand that it is very important that, whichever option I take, that I maintain both bishops (unless I contrive somehow to win the exchange). I realise too that the question I am asking may not be particularly easy to answer without the specific position in front of you.

could you also include thinking intuitively, and being objective, please -thx,

To the question how to play against the Stonewall Dutch:

There are several good setups,the one I like the most is to put the bishop on f4 which will prevent black from putting his dark squared bishop on the active d6 square. If black plays it clever and goes into the stonewall from the meran variation you can also play something like this:

If you also dont like this variation just go for the fianchetto setup its very simple to play. As a sidenote always remember that although the Stonewall setup is very solid it has one major weakness, the black light squared bishop. so try to exchange the dark squared bishops if possible so that he is only left with his bad bishop.

hi Karpark, thanks.

Just for clarification, the position looks something like this right? (the pawns are on the correct files?)

if thats the case white should have enough compensation for being theoratically a point in material down. the bishops pair is always a strong trump card. as you said its hard to answer your question without the concrete position but i will try to give you some insights. generally what you want to do is play against the black knight. what that means is try to place your pawns and bishops in a way that they eliminate the potential of the black knight so he has no influence in the game. this method is known as the restriction method. with a knight on f6 for example you need to consider which squares he has and take thos squares. a pawn on f3 would restrict 2 squares from the knight, e4 and g4. another important square is the d5 square so if you can control this square blacks knight on f6 would be useless. i dont know the specific position but this is something you need to keep in mind as an idea to play this position. of course you are very right to be worried about blacks rook invading into your camp. luckiely he cant at the moment as there is only one file open and he has no invasion squares on that file. if you push your pawns too hard though and open lines for him it might backfire though so always be careful. the right play if you want to push for a win would be controlled aggression. what that means is you prepare every step very precisely and take away the opponents pieces activity before you start making use of your extra pawn. as this is on the queenside you obviously need to pressure that side of the board.bring your king in the center behind your extra d pawn. this is the best spot for it for several reasons. it protects your important d pawn which can potentially become a past pawn and in the center the king has the chance to protect both sides of the board, kingside and queenside. if you run straight to the queenside with it black can just try to open the kingside and invade with his rook and take your pawns as you have no defense there. your way to win this game is with controlled aggression on the queenside as I said. you can either try to get a past pawn in the center or create weaknesses on blacks queenside. this you can do for example by pushing your a-pawn to a6 and asking blacks b7 pawn what he is gonna do. hope that helped you a bit, it is hard though without the concrete position.