Gun Shy

Ok, I watch a few videos, buy a book, try to remember some of what I learned in HS/College (I am in my 50s, so that is a while back).  I play against the Mac free computer game for practice.

Finally last night I go online, accept a challenge from someone with about a 1400 rating.  I was checkmated in 4 moves.  Now I had a bit of a headache -- but still it was embarrassing.  Now I am a little gun shy about trying again.

I keep practicing again the computer.  Then I watch a video or do a puzzle, etc.  I feel like I am learning and some things are coming back.   But chess, as I am finding out, is NOT like riding a bike.  You forget basics, you have to learn them again.

My son is a HS Senior and he and his friends play and invite me to join them every so often.  I do have a Ph.D., so I wallop them -- but they do not study or learn opening and endings, etc.  They just play the board.

If I got checkmated again in under 10 moves I would be TOTALLY embarrassed.  I know the only way to get better is to play.  Also the person who beat me logged off and immediately jumped to another game.  I was hoping for a bit of conversation -- at least telling me I missed the obvious would have been nice.

After 2.Bc4, it's better to play Nf6 immediately rather than Nc6. It covers h5, prevents Qh5, and forestalls what subsequently occurred to you. It is a bit embarrassing, I agree, but like LisaV said it's just a trap.

Look, you haven't been playing seriously in a long time, or against even reasonably strong opponents, so it's really not a very big deal to make a mistake like that. It's a silly oversight.

Play long (time control, I mean) games for the moment and follow the rule of looking at all possible captures your opponent can make after your move as well as all checks. You probably won't be mated in less than 10 moves if you just take your time and do those two things. Attacks on f7 are common after 1e4 e5 and the king's pawn openings can be very tricky.

Maybe play 1.d4 as white, and the Caro-Kann against 1.e4, as black, to try to avoid some of the immediate sharpness that can go on after 1.e4 e5.

Try some correspondence games, too, where you can take your time and analyze what to do.

Finding someone equal, or even better, a bit stronger than you to play OTB will help a lot. Most of my play now is OTB, which is why I only have one or two games on this site even after being on for a year.

Most of all, forget about the embarrassment of losing. It's going to happen. You win some and you lose some.

Last weekend I dropped a rook outright to a far weaker player after having gone up a pawn in the opening by what I thought was reasonably good play. I went on to win back the rook, but in reality I was clearly lost after his coup. I was able to temporarily trap his queen, though not to win it, and then gain some play with my own queen and a couple of pieces. Blunders happen. You just have to try to minimize the number of times you make them.

The best way to improve is to use Tactics Trainer:

http://www.chess.com/tactics/myhome.html

You can do three problems each day for free!

You have a phd in chess?

no playing isn't the only way to get better...You seem to understand this(you say you are studying the game).  Remember it is like anything else..

Read, play and try and apply what you learn, if you aren't able to apply what you learn then figure out why, once you figure that out then read about something else, play and try and apply, reassess and repeat

   The winner of a chess game is often not going to initiate a conversation since people can be angry/upset when they lose and think you are patronizing or mocking them. Even a salutory 'gg' can be taken badly. Your opponent's response was normal.  

   Hanging pieces and falling for basic tactics is also normal.  Just follow the other posters' advice here; Study some tactics and try to carefully check for captures/threats/checks on every move. 

Nope, that would have been too much FUN.

Good advice by all.  One of the reasons I got a diamond membership is that I will probably have back surgery soon and not be able to move.  Gives me something to keep my mind sharp that is fun and full access to all that is here on Chess.com.   I was ordained last Sunday and I will probably transition to being a pastor after the surgery.

Chess is more fun than "academic" writing.

Yes, quite likely.  I was stunned by it.  I guess a "gg" could be seen by some as rubbing it in because in my case, it was not a good game.  Thanks for the insight.

 I don't think you quite got my point.  Having a phd has NOTHING to do with chess(You said something like I have a phd I should be getting this more quickly).  Being "smart" has nothing to do with chess.  Being good at chess requires lots of study and practical play.  Study for the most part tactics, basic endgames and middlegame strategy (at your level.  You can study openings buty I would restrict it to opening principles at this time for the most part).

Remember whatever you got your phd in you struggled at many points and probably even thought you were horrible at certain points.  But, you put in a lot of hard (focused)work and became in expert in your field.  That is what it takes to get really good at chess.  If you ever have any questions you can message me if you would like and I would do my best to help.

Diamond membership = Tactics Trainer marathon. You might dip really low at first depending on how good your board sight is, but don't get discouraged - just learn what went wrong if you miss one and recognize the pattern.

Many problems below 1600 rating have to do with hanging (unprotected pieces), Queen forks to grab a piece, and short mates. All of these things are great for a player at any level to work out. Also, agree with erikido about PhD/Chess relations - it requires work, patience, and stamina, rarely will raw intelligence alone make the mark in this game (unless you're a child prodigy!).

EDIT: addition to the above - Correspondence Chess may suit you better than Live. You have more time to work out moves, so you aren't rushing and miss a mate-in-one. Doesn't take as much speed-analyzing as Live, and you'll probably see a lot less of Scholar's Mate attempts (the surprise that you hit on your first game, it's something that most people run into eventually).

I did miss your point.  The Ph.D. is irrelevant most of the time in life -- except if you misspell a word and someone rubs it in your face.  People with Ph.D.s are supposed to know all, or have it all figured out.

Trust me they don't.  There is an old saying about academic doctorates -  you know more and more about a smaller and smaller field until you know absolutely everything about nothing.   That is how it feels at times.  I was in a major car accident.  I have no back, severe pain, I have lost my job and my house and all people want to know is how I am going to fix it.

Sorry, they didn't teach me major car accident recovery in grad school.

30 years ago I was a decent player.  I worked hard, studied, played, studied some more.  But life got me and Chess had less and less room.   Now that I have more time, Chess may have MORE room.   I didn't get to be a decent Chess player the first time by raw intelligence (its overrated anyway).  I got there by work and playing.

Today, I am feeling a bit like I am starting over -- although in the back of my brain some of it is coming back.  I will lose early on, no doubt about it.   It will take some work.  4 moves just surprised me.  10 to 15 I would have felt a BIT better.

Believe it or not, at one time I was a nationally ranked Magic the Gathering player.  It is easier to play as you simply play the board more.  Less to worry about in the way of tactics, diagonals, open and closed positions, openings, defenses, etc.  

So yes, I missed your point.  A Ph.D. helped only in the context I brought it up in - I could beat my son and his friends by brute mental strength.  Had one of them been in the chess club, they would be bragging right now how they beat someone with a Ph.D.

 Completely off topic.  But, I basically recovered from an accident of my own(flipped the car over but no "major" injuries other than sitting and playing pool really hurt my back-which is a tragedy for this young one-the playing pool part that is).  If you have any questions I would be happy to try and direct you to the right place.

A good place to start is stuart mcgills book of back health and fitness.  For someone who is a laymen it might take a little bit of work but definitely doable imop. 

http://www.backfitpro.com/

His companion dvd might give you some ideas as well.  Although I haven't actually seen it he is one of THE bad back specialists so I wouldn't be surprised if you got at least a few great tidbits(imop that is all you need with things like these to make it worth it).

Look into things like http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/what-mckenzie-method-back-pain-and-neck-pain and possibly ART(active release technique). 

Good luck on your journey back to health and great chess playing. 

Suggo was nice enough to play against me.  I made two serious blunders that cost me.  But this time it took 20 moves.  In a rather large blunder I lost a rook early then at the end left my King unguarded thinking more of saving my last rook and not looking down the G column to see I was in big trouble.

So a loss I learned a lot from.  Suggo was nice and all went well.  Thanks to Suggo for taking the time.

On another note, I would like to get enough games in to play in a tournament.  But that will take some time if I don't play live chess.  I have two games in the works now, but both I am black and the other person has not even made their opening move yet.  3 days/move is good, but slow.  Kind of reminds of how people played chess by mail years ago.

I took a look at your game. If you had played Nb5 instead of Nd5, and afterwards Suggo still took the rook on a1, it might have been his blunder instead. I think you had a really nice tactic available after Nb5, with Nd6+, and he might have been better off retreating his bishop at that point

I sent you a diagram with annotations. Anyway, much better this time!

It was better -- I was in it for quite awhile.  Thanks for your note.  

Now that I feel a bit better about playing (and my rating is getting trashed) it is harder to find games.  Those with 1500 to 1600 would love to play you.  Those with 800 to 1100 do not want to.