Help With Getting Crushed

In my last topic, Learn Chess by Getting Crushed, I set out to play better players to get better. Guess what? I am getting crushed.

What I know about my weaknesses: tactics, checkmates and blundering pieces.

Regarding those three things that are common among the beginning chess player, I realize that it will take time to improve in those areas, and I am doing the things necessary in that regard, so I am not asking for any comment on those three items.

I work with tactics trainer here and at www.chess tempo.com. I work on checkmate puzzles from Polgar’s book daily,  Chess 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games, 1104.  I do my best not to blunder by checking to see if a move is safe before making that move, i.e., check for checks, captures and threats.

I always open with 1.d4 and 1…c5, if 1.e4 is played. If I see my opponent open with 1.d4, I will always play 1…Nf6. Why? Strong players have recommended that I stick to one opening. It gives me the chance to become more familiar with 1.d4, 1…c5 and 1…Nf6. I will see reoccurring problems that can be fixed, whereas, if I jumped from one opening to the next, how would I know I am doing wrong?

 Is 1…c5 for beginners? I’m not interested in debating that point, as the goal of any opening system is to reach a playable middlegame, and for the beginner, that is all that I can ask for. I’m not going to think like some expert player who says that this opening will favor Black in the endgame. I’m just not there, yet.  

Also, for those who believe that after 1.e4, a beginner should play 1.e5, entering into an open tactical game to develop tactical skills, I disagree. I get plenty of tactics training by playing better players with 1…c5. Also, White pulls some wiz bang tactics on me as well, so, 1…c5 has plenty to offer the person who needs practice on tactics. I understand that the Sicilian is a sharp opening and there’s little room for error.

 Questions that I wake up with every morning:

1. What if White does not play d4? What to do with my c-pawn and how should I proceed?

2. Are there better squares for my pieces during the game that I am not seeing?

3. How is my defensive play?

4. How is my offensive play?

5. Am I waiting too long to start attacking?

6. What to do when my opponent crosses the line and launches what looks like a premature attack on my king in the center? Do I add a defensive piece, counter attack or just keep developing?

I don’t see any of my opponents completing development before attacking. They still have pieces on the back rank and the rooks are not connected. There is no rule in chess saying that no one can cross the line until after the 6^th move. If that were so, there would be no Ruy Lopez.

My four games this morning played against the same stronger opponent. What do you see, and what would you do differently - besides the obvious, repeatedly blundering a queen. I didn't see her that well on the board this morning. Odd. Thank you.

I hope this topic will help other beginning chess players, as well.

Time Control = 10/0 Blitz

Hey, what did I tell you to do?

Here's a few tips:

1. What opening you play is of no importance whatsoever, you can even play the Bongcloud attack. :)

2. There certainly are much better squares for your pieces than those on which you are puttin them on.

3. For an attack to be succesful, you need to force checkmate or win material ( nevermind the positional stuff ), both of which you are not capable of doing consistently.

4. To put up a better defense, you need to see what your opponent is threatening, so you need to see tactics.

5. It doesn't matter when you start the attack since you don't have the tehnique to use the better positions you achieve.

6. When you are being threateaned, first see if you can answer with a more important threat ( really prone to blunders ) or parry the threat. But first, you neeed to have in mind if the threat is real at all, or just in your mind.

7. STOP PLAYING BLITZ !!

" - besides the obvious, repeatedly blundering a queen."

You hung your Queen reapeatedly !! Do you really think knowing where to place your pieces is of any importance if you are prone to losing your Queen on any move?  Also, how could you possibly know where to place your pieces if you can't tell if a square is safe or not?

In the last game, it's early to resign, at least for this level. Yould lost the Rook but you could take the Knight on e2 and now the threat of Bg5 + is going to be unpleasant for the White.

Dang musikamole -- I'm impressed with your resolve to improve.  You seem to know all the right things to do too.  You're sure to improve IMO.

That's true, but the Ruy Lopez isn't an attack in the sense that Bb5 is trying to win anything, it's just a developing move.  You really shouldn't attack before you're developed (unless you see you can win something).  What to do when an opponent attacks anyway?  It's the classic battle of ideas in chess -- if you can't find the right defensive moves, his idea wins (even if against best play it was an inferior idea).  If you can defend efficiently, then he will have lost time and have a worse position.

I elaborate on your #6 in my 2nd post.

No deep analysis here, just gonna throw out moves I would have considered and why.  Like you asked, no tactical/hanging piece pointers.


game 1:

6.Nc3
6.Bd3 develops a piece to the center (and keeps from moving the same piece twice) and keeps from block the c pawn.  Because black should eventually look for an e5 or c5 break you may want the possibility of playing c3.

7.Bb5
It may sound weird, but sometimes it's best to develop a bishop to a square where it doesn't really do anything other than not get in your way.  I'm looking at 7.Be2.  The point is it doesn't really help on b5, as you don't really want to exchange it for the knight on c6 (See next move ;)  It also blunts black's b7 bishop by reinforcing a square in your camp that is along that diagonal (Be2 protects f3).

8.Bxc6
Hmm, I have to question this move, black's strong bishop (it's on an open long diagonal) is now unopposed.  Looking at Be2 again, yes, even though it loses time!

10.Bg5
This doesn't really preform an important function on g5.  Black can play Nf6 followed by Be7 (in that order to not give white the chance to exchange the bishop).  Black can make white lose a tempo with that move order with h6 later.  If you took the knight then again he gets a nice long diagonal unopposed.  I was looking at moves like 10.Ne5, Re1, or Bf4


Game 2:

6...b6
an unnecessary move, a pawn move like this in the opening wastes time.  6...b5 would have been fine, as well as natural development moves like Be7 or g6 (for Bg7 and Ne7).  Nf6 may be fine, but why not keep the f pawn open for an f5 break later is what I'm thinking.

7...Nf6
Like I said, this is fine but I'd keep my options open with Be7 instead.  And as odd as it may look 7...Na6 (hitting f5 for a pawn push there) is a fine developing move.

13...Nf6
I would prefer either 0-0 or f5.  Black wants to seek play on the queenside (the center is locked and the queenside is cramped with no useful targets).  The knight was actually fine on d7 for the time being.

14...Bc8
That's what I'm talking about, good move :)

15...Bh3
This may be what I call "hoping you get 2 moves"  It seems to force his rook to a more useful square.  I was looking at 15...0-0 instead.  (Looking ahead this comes back on you, starting operations before castling).

16...Ng4  The knight and bishop are loose (loose as in undefended or under-defended, this mean they're subject to tactics) and not attacking anything.


Game 3 is the same as game 2


Game 4:

2...Nf6
This allows e5 with a gain of time, your knight would have to fall back to g8.  Better to guard e5 with Nc6 or d6 or occupy it with e5.

4...Nxd5
Why trade, the opening is about development, try to ignore your opponent's moves if they have no threat.  That pawn on d5 is cramping you now.  I was looking at Nbd7 followed by e6.  If you make him capture he's the one losing time :)

6...Bd7
This offers to trade your "good" bishop for his "bad" bishop.  With the center locked, these distinctions have real value.  Better was Nd7.

10...Qc7
Very nice, this was your only game where you completely finished development before starting operations.  That is, develop all your minor pieces off the back rank, castle, and move the queen a square or two away to connect your rooks.

19...Ra1+
I said I wasn't going to comment on any tactical mistakes, and I'm not -- just pointing out you're completely winning here because of king safety alone.  19...Bf6 and white is just about ready to resign.

1.  Do you mean what to do if white does not play e4?  Because with e4 you seem to know just what you want to do with your c pawn :).

In d4 openings the c pawn is usually left unblocked by the queen's knight (don't play Nc3 or as black Nc6).  Of course there are set-ups with Nc3 or Nc6, but by comparison those lines are obscure.  White almost always plays c3 (to reinforce the center at d4) or c4 (to start to break down black's center) or as black c6 (same idea, reinforces the center at d5) or c5 (same idea, to pressure the white center).

In closed games sides often build up for their pawn breaks -- for example in your game 4 black would be looking at f4.

2. Yes, I try to mention them.  Also note my answer to #1 and in game 2, sometimes you really want to keep your bishop's pawn (c and f pawns) ready to launch forward.

3.  Seems fine to me.

4.  Seems good except in game 2 your attack is pre-mature (you're not castled) and your pieces aren't actually coordinating around a square to attack.  This comes back on you in the end.

5.  No, your timing is not bad except as already mentioned in game 2 it's too early.

6. The best move would be a defensive move that simultaneously develops a piece.  Try to defend with a move that brings another piece into the game.  Try to avoid initiating exchanges (I point out some as in game 4 move 4, forcing him to capture or retreat).

The supream defensive move would develop a piece and simultaneously attack something -- focing him to react to you!  But often just calmly developing and casteling to safety will bear out a common result... the premature attacker has lost time in the opening, and the initiative will swing to your favor.

If you really want to improve, stop using blitz as an improvement tool and try to play longer time controls (25 10 or 30 5).

I'd be happy to give you insights on a game played at this time-control where you don't hang a piece

As long as you don't see direct threats or put your pieces en prise, other elements are irrelevant...

Ouch! That hurt, but it was a well deserved spanking. You did warn me. :)

I'm not as young as you. :)   My days on this planet are a bit shorter, and I do want to have fun playing this new hobby of mine, chess.

Correspondence Chess is instructional, and I play it here, but it's fun in a different way. I still want to play Live Chess as well. 

If not Blitz, what time control would you suggest for Standard Live Chess, 15 minutes, more? Would you recommend increments? 

I am a member of ICC (Internet Chess Club) and could play a 45/45 game. It's interesting how you said not to play Blitz. One of the moderators over at ICC told me to play slower, not faster. So, I listened to him and played a 15 minute game and beat my first challenger.

I guess when you get older the brain just doesn't work as fast. The memory seems to go as well. I forgot all about my stats over at ICC, as it has been a few months since I played a Live game there. This might shed some light on how fast I can think. 

Blitz 584

Standard 936

5-Minute 636

15-Minute 1765

I completely forgot that I have a rating of 1765 over there. It's been a while since I played on their server. It sucks being old. Enjoy your youth.

ICC does have a time control for the old folks at home. It's 45/45. This means that each side has 45 minutes, and for every move, 45 seconds is added to the clock.

I've seen NM Dan Heisman go over many of these amateur games in video format. Many players will be over 45 minutes after the first 10 moves, having 50 minutes on the clock! The winner usually has plenty of minutes left, like 20! I could actually look at my queen on every move and NEVER blunder her, ever.

Thanks for taking the time to make some very good, constructive comments. I take them to heart, as you are the better player.

Yes. The stronger players are not seeing me at my best in 10 0.

You've told me this before. (25 10 and 30 5). Are these time controls popular here at chess.com?

It certainly would give me a chance to check for checks, captures and threats.

Now that I have my challenge set to 900-1200, I'm seeing any of those really weak openings by my opponents. With that said, I think with more time on the clock, I do believe I have enough knowledge about development to equalize out of the opening, reaching a playable game.

I always benefit from your posts. Sorry if it takes you a bit longer to drive home these elementary concepts through my thick skull!

Atos! So glad to see us on the same thread again. Thank you for your comments. They are most appreciated and always welcomed.

Not deep analysis, but just enough for this beginning chess player - and it's  perfect for me, the reason behind the move analysis, for free! I'm plugging your annotation into ChessBase. Thanks big time!

Sorry. I wasn't to clear on this one. I will use a diagram, because this happens often when I play the Sicilian, and I really don't know what to do. I really want to exchange my c-pawn for White's d-pawn and do the thematic queenside attack, placing my a8 rook on the semi-open c-file after my c-pawn is off of that file. I can't get that to happen, so my position gets cramped and my queenside attack is stopped. That's probably why you saw me make some desperate attempts to gain space on the queenside by pushing the wing pawns on that side. It may very well be wrong thinking, but it's the only strategy I have at the moment to work with.

I play this move, e7-e6 instead of the more popular e7-e6, to liberate my light squared bishop. Maybe this is a bad idea, and I should go by the book and play e6 instead. The move e7-e5 does seem to frustrate White's plans, limiting the scope of his bishop, hurting his control of a diagonal that cuts straight through the center and is aimed kingside. I find that bishop placement (Bb2) unpleasant.  Suggestions?

Your c-pawn still controls the d4 square and can be traded later if white ever tries to break with d3-d4.  Don't worry about the fact that you aren't able to trade it immediately and just play the game out.

...e5 instead of ...e6 in the diagram creates a hole on d5 -- none of your pawns can ever control that square.  But in return you clamp down on d4.  This can be ok, but can also be problematic at times.

I wish Chess.com would have sent me the 'How can we make Chess.com better?' message, after I played through your games, Musikamole. I could have at least suggested getting ambulances

You need help getting crushed?

It comes naturally to me.

Thank you.

So, the c-pawn is doing an important job. I'll play e6, instead of e5 in the future. I don't like holes.

Many of my opponents like to fianchetto one or both bishops. In the cramped position below, which I find myself in often, what squares would you attempt to place your bishops on, as I want to castle before White targets my king in the center.

In the diagram below, both of Black's bishops are blocked by center pawns. This is where it gets tricky for me. White has stopped Black from advancing either center pawn. I don't like these cramped positions.

O.K. First you used the word triage in my other topic, now ambulances?

Yes. That was the first time I saw a pop-up asking me how chess.com can be improved. Don't these guys have any bright ideas of their own. I think they all suffer from some sort of inferiority complex.

I wrote that Chess.com was too good already, and I asked them to make it worse

If white avoids playing d4 in the sicilian, then it's a more closed (obviously) maneuvering game.  In that case yes, the c5 pawn controls d4, but also you're gaining space on the queenside.  Your most natural play will involve further queenside expansion (after development of course) with moves like Rb8 and b5-b4.  The king's bisohp will probably fianchetto on g7 to point toward the queenside and along the dark squares black controls.  Of course lots of things can happen and there are options to break in the center or even play on the kingside... just pointing out the general idea which is definitely queenside play (that's where you have more space / where you pawn chain "points").