echecs06 wrote:
Do you have any of his/her previous games? That would be a good start.
Yes I have alot of my opponents recent games from tournaments that I am going over, this is an obvious :)
Preparing for match play at club level
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gameoverziggy wrote:
I am in the mid 1900 hundreds.
holy crap
LastImpression wrote:
gameoverziggy wrote:
I am in the mid 1900 hundreds.
holy crap
Holy crap? what is this? Litte of topic also! :p
Fezzik wrote:
It depends on how much advance knowledge you have.
I always work on tactics, so that's nothing special for a match.
If I have a wide selection of my opponent's games, I will look closely at his play after the opening. I will try to figure out what types of positions he likes and which ones he doesn't like. Which ones he understands well and which he doesn't.
It's only by looking at that information that you'll be able to choose which opening to play in most cases. (The exception is when you have an outright refutation of one of his openings.) Try to steer the game into the types of position that you are most comfortable in. If you can combine that with positions he doesn't play so well, wonderful!
Study the endgames. What sort of endgames does he like to play, and which ones are he weakest in? Can you take advantage of that?
Does your opponent like irrational positions, weird gambits, or anything like that? If so, you may want to play super-solid stuff and make him go berserk trying to find tactics that aren't there.
Is he super-solid? Can you find an opening that forces him to play with a material imbalance such as a piece for three pawns, or gambit a pawn in a completely unusual way?
Since it's a match, don't worry about winning as Black so much as gaining playable positions. If you win as white and draw as black, you win the match.
Thanks, there is alot of good info in there, now I know that my opponent likes to play fairly sharp lines (Dragon as black, king's gambit as white) I like sharp, double edged but weird positions, I am not so big on the theory. I have no problem with not playing theory. I guess another question is how do I prepare for a sharp player when I myself am a sharp player?
Hello everyone.
I am big on match play. I am currently preparing for a 4 game otb long match against an opponent to is rated in the low 1900's and I am in the mid 1900 hundreds. What I was wondering is, what are the steps that some of the stronger players take to preparing for match (other than looking an openings and preparing them against your opponent), what are the non obvious things that strong players do to prepare for their matches.