But i could certainly imagine a layout where breakign against c4 woudl actually be much better.
Agreed, that's why I said "Not entirely true" instead of saying "Wrong".
There's a line in the French 3. Nd2 variation where breaking against White's e5-Pawn by ... f6 is perfectly playable for Black, for instance.
... but lines like that are the exception, rather than the rule.
But i could certainly imagine a layout where breakign against c4 woudl actually be much better.
Agreed, that's why I said "Not entirely true" instead of saying "Wrong".
There's a line in the French 3. Nd2 variation where breaking against White's e5-Pawn by ... f6 is perfectly playable for Black, for instance.
... but lines like that are the exception, rather than the rule.
Yeah, I agree. Although, white could just bypass all that jazz and play the french exchange. It does lead black to equality on move 3 though.
Currently I only study tactics and feel I am getting proficient at playing open games. However when it comes to playing closed games I often lose due to trying to open it up with sacrifices. This is because closed games seem really boring and dull.
These are two closed games I played:
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=881226591
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=881184489
Can someone give me an idea on how to play closed games well?
This frustrates me to no end. Neither of those games are closed games.
Youre another chess newbie that studies tactics, and think hes another Mihail Tal. If all youre interested in is tactics, because strategy is "dull and boring" then expect this to continue to happen. if you really want to improve your game, then you need to study the game competely, not just 1 part of it. The fact that you have no idea how to study strategy, middle game planning, etc. is frightening.
I do know something about chess strategy. How do I improve my knowledge of it?
What do you know of chess straetgy now? That will help in determining what you need to work on. Some basics are:
In the middle game you need to start an attack. You have all the pieces in the game and now youshould use them to attack the opponent’s position. To start an attack you should compose a plan. There are just 2 steps which help you to find an effective plan:
• You need to find an object to attack.
• You should find a way to attack that object.
The easiest object of an attack is the opponent’s weaknesses. “Weaknesses” are the pawns or the squares on the 5th and on the 6th rank, which can’t be protected by pawns.
The central squares are the most important on the board. Because the pieces in the center are the most active, centralization provides the basic idea of a chess game – the activity of the pieces. The center squares being d4, d5, e4, e5. But also quite often “center squares” mean the huge center ( f3-c3-c6-f6).
As a general conclusion, you should attack the weaknesses in the center first.
When you decide on 3 candidate moves, you should start to calculate the variations. After changes in the position, you should make corrections in your plan. There are 2 stable factors in a chess position, material and pawn structure. When one of these changes, you need to make corrections to your plan.
Forcing moves (check, capture, threat) are the best. When you make forcing moves, you improve the position of your pieces and force your opponent to go back, and or make passive defensive moves. Forcing moves help you to realize your plan, and they don’t allow our opponent to realize his. You should alays try to make foricng moves first.
Obviously there is alot more to chess strategy, but in a nutshell this will get you started.
Currently I only study tactics and feel I am getting proficient at playing open games. However when it comes to playing closed games I often lose due to trying to open it up with sacrifices. This is because closed games seem really boring and dull.
These are two closed games I played:
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=881226591
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=881184489
Can someone give me an idea on how to play closed games well?
This frustrates me to no end. Neither of those games are closed games.
Youre another chess newbie that studies tactics, and think hes another Mihail Tal. If all youre interested in is tactics, because strategy is "dull and boring" then expect this to continue to happen. if you really want to improve your game, then you need to study the game competely, not just 1 part of it. The fact that you have no idea how to study strategy, middle game planning, etc. is frightening.
I do know something about chess strategy. How do I improve my knowledge of it?
What do you know of chess straetgy now? That will help in determining what you need to work on. Some basics are:
In the middle game you need to start an attack. You have all the pieces in the game and now youshould use them to attack the opponent’s position. To start an attack you should compose a plan. There are just 2 steps which help you to find an effective plan:
• You need to find an object to attack.
• You should find a way to attack that object.
The easiest object of an attack is the opponent’s weaknesses. “Weaknesses” are the pawns or the squares on the 5th and on the 6th rank, which can’t be protected by pawns.
The central squares are the most important on the board. Because the pieces in the center are the most active, centralization provides the basic idea of a chess game – the activity of the pieces. The center squares being d4, d5, e4, e5. But also quite often “center squares” mean the huge center ( f3-c3-c6-f6).
As a general conclusion, you should attack the weaknesses in the center first.
When you decide on 3 candidate moves, you should start to calculate the variations. After changes in the position, you should make corrections in your plan. There are 2 stable factors in a chess position, material and pawn structure. When one of these changes, you need to make corrections to your plan.
Forcing moves (check, capture, threat) are the best. When you make forcing moves, you improve the position of your pieces and force your opponent to go back, and or make passive defensive moves. Forcing moves help you to realize your plan, and they don’t allow our opponent to realize his. You should alays try to make foricng moves first.
Obviously there is alot more to chess strategy, but in a nutshell this will get you started.
Fight to put rooks on open files, Knights on outposts of 5th of 6th rank, Keep Knights for closed games and bishops for open games. Use King in endgame.
When you gain material, try and keep your king safe and improve your development. Exchange to simplify position and avoid counterplay.
Limit pawn islands and attack weak squares and pawns by creating pawn islands in their camp.
Choose a target in the middle game and keep threatening it ( backward pawn, isolated pawn, weak squares)
Only move pawns up when needed and try to gain space. When you have more space, keep grabbing more on other areas.
Forcing moves often lead to combinations which gain material or endanger the king. The best forcing move is the threat of mate.
Thats what I know.
You don´t need to play closed games against a positional player, u play only openings very agressive, gambits, crazy attacks to open de positions, and you won´t have any problem .
You don´t need to play closed games against a positional player, u play only openings very agressive, gambits, crazy attacks to open de positions, and you won´t have any problem .
"crazy attacks"...and you wont have any probem?
Yea...
From the games you showed, it looks like your biggest problem is TACTICS, not strategy. Your problem is that you make tactical mistakes, not positional ones. It will take practice to avoid such blunders. In one game your biggest mistake is losing your rook to a tactic. In another game, you make a mistake when trying to fork your opponent's queen and a pawn, allowing your opponent to gobble up all your queenside pawns. Then you let him promote to a queen for free. Those are tactical mistakes.
You should take a look at http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Events_Books/General_Book_Guide.htm and purchase Chess Tactics for Students, using the book as Dan Heisman recommends on the website I gave you. Your positional understanding is probably fine for your level.
I do around an hour of tactics a day. However, I realised that I was extremely tired and dehydrated when playing the game, so I didn't really want to play it, but due to online chess addiction, I kept playing and made some mistakes I wouldn't make if I was playing properly. Thanks for the advise!
Not entirely true.
Certain pawn breaks are "indicated" by the layout of the Pawns. For example, if your opponent (Black) has a chain of immobilized Pawns stretching from f7 to c4, you could in theory break against either e6 or c4... but f2-f4-f5 breaking against e6 is indicated. The break against c4 is a positional error.