Lest you think I don't like tactics....I was reviewing some old games the other day and recalled this one with fondness. Did I calculate it like a puzzle? Not really...there is no solution per se and...I never saw 'mate' until right at the end, it was mostly my judgment mixed with some calculation that led the way:
Notes from back then when I put it in Chessbase...think they hold up though, I've not run it thru an engine.
Hmm I could have sworn I heard a couple of people in here saying "oh studying tactics isn't any good,puzzles aren't useful blah blah blah" ....oh well,on the contrary I would beg to differ!. I'd like to draw your attention to a game I played just now, it was a 30 minute game and I don't think I did too bad. I won this game,or at least it cost my opponent big time based on TACTICAL PUZZLES that I studied recently!
The same few people in here took shots at me and judged me based on my rating or what they thought is my rating,I don't know,maybe so but I doubt it,I don't think any player rated 800 would play like that,ironically my opponent who was rated over 100 points higher then me played probably weaker then my current rating.
The moral of the story is,if you're reading this and you know who you are,you judged me based on what you saw here and you shouldn't have done that, not only is it rude but it's just plain disrespectful,you know nothing about me kiddo,you don't know what's in my mind and WHAT my knowledge is about this game,don't ever judge or under-estimate someone based on what you see about them on this site. I told you before,online ratings don't mean sh**,the way people disconnect and all kind of nonsense going on!,you can't be serious! Besides like I told you,I played tons of blitz games and that's why I got the over 9K amount of games,mostly just to practice my tactics but yeah maybe I should stop doing that but it's hard to find anyone willing to play long games,even at my other site. *sighs*
Well it's all good,there are trolls every where,so I feel you,I just don't think it's right to disrespect lower rated players or who you THINK is lower rated, and get up on your high horse because your little number is higher then mines,good for you! Oh well all I know is that I played rather soundly here,strategically and tactically and it won me the game and that's good enough for me I don't care about a high number!, I don't know the strength of that play but I know my opponent blundered horribly and again a W is a damn W.
Oh and another moral of this story is ............TACTICS TACTICS TACTICS and then more tactics,study that sh** man,trust me,you listen to the people here,that wanna talk that garbage about studying openings,at our level? Do some research and you'll see that any player worth his/her salt will tell you that tactics is the way to go. You wanna know why,your research should tell you why but I'll tell you any way. Studying openings is a waste of time because your lower rated opponent won't play that super fancy 12 move variation of the Benoni that you studied and memorized,where as SIMPLE tactics like knight forks,pins,skewers and remove the guard,your opponents WILL fall for these tactics,it happens all the time OTB,that's over the board for those of you who don't know,so it makes sense to study tactics which you will be able to use,as opposed to some fancy schmancy Opening that you'll hardly ever use,until you bump your rating up to players that actually KNOW and PLAY these types of Openings. Aight ya'll I'm out for now,enough typing,I just wanted to share this game with ya'll and to that special person in here, let ya'll know things are NOT always what they seem,check your rudeness and disrespect at the door you know who you are!, Peace!!
@chesslover0_0 As i told before you played over 3k rapid games(that is a lot) and there is no significant improvement in your game. Don't get hurt by someone telling you that you are not improving. I am not even talking about blitz games. Yes tactics is important. But study other aspects of the game as well. Look at the OP, he is studying other aspects of chess and he is improving. You are correct that studying opening deeply for a beginner is not recommended. But study some endgames and strategies. But the focus of your study must be tactical improvement. But you are still very weak at tactics. How do you study tactics? What are your resources? Site them.And it is correct to say your knowledge is not great because tactical study is only the thing you do and you are still weak at tactics. Again don't your ego allow you to get hurt by these. Take this as a constructive criticism on what you should do and face reality.
If you don't have books, watch youtube videos by John Bartholomew, chessnetwork and Agadmator.
@chesslover0_0 As i told before you played over 3k rapid games and there is no significant improvement in your game. Don't get hurt by someone telling you that you are not improving. I am not even talking about blitz games. Yes tactics is important. But study other aspects of the game as well. Look at the OP, he is studying other aspects of chess and he is improving. You are correct that studying opening deeply for a beginner is not recommended. But study some endgames and strategies. But the focus of your study must be tactical improvement. But you are still very weak at tactics. How do you study tactics? What are your resources? And it is correct to say your knowledge is not great because tactical study is only the thing you do and with over 3k rapid games you still has low rating. Again don't your ego allow you to get hurt by these. Take this as a constructive criticism on what you should do and face reality.
Dude you was rude and disrespectful and I don't care what you say about me,you don't know if I'm improving or not so you have NO RIGHT to tell me that,do you understand that?. I disagree with that, "yes studying tactics is important but other aspects of the game as well",I partially disagree with it at least. I know that already and honestly I don't need you to tell me that at all.
Now you still coming out your mouth stupid to me,this guy....is he serious? Now what MAKES you think I am weak at tactics,what is your basis for saying that? Not that I care about your opinion. The other questions I'm not answering because I don't owe you an answer and if you came at me with some respect,then I would gladly answer you but since you want to come at me like that,you GET NOTHING from me. So now that crawled out of your hole to once again disrespect and attack me,you can go right back in it because I don't have much more to say to you. You are NOT offering any help even though you're acting like you care,that's a facade because you are rude and disrespectful and quite frankly I couldn't care less what you think about me,as I said,you know NOTHING about me!. You are nothing but an disrespectful,rude,egotistical,arrogant online TROLL,I know the type,trust me I do. So until you are willing to come at me correctly and show me the respect that I deserve as a member here of Chess. com and specifically this particular forum,then buddy you and I got nothing else to say to each other!
@chesslover0_0 As i told before you played over 3k rapid games and there is no significant improvement in your game. Don't get hurt by someone telling you that you are not improving. I am not even talking about blitz games. Yes tactics is important. But study other aspects of the game as well. Look at the OP, he is studying other aspects of chess and he is improving. You are correct that studying opening deeply for a beginner is not recommended. But study some endgames and strategies. But the focus of your study must be tactical improvement. But you are still very weak at tactics. How do you study tactics? What are your resources? And it is correct to say your knowledge is not great because tactical study is only the thing you do and with over 3k rapid games you still has low rating. Again don't your ego allow you to get hurt by these. Take this as a constructive criticism on what you should do and face reality.
Dude you was rude and disrespectful and I don't care what you say about me,you don't know if I'm improving or not so you have NO RIGHT to tell me that,do you understand that?. I disagree with that, "yes studying tactics is important but other aspects of the game as well",I partially disagree with it at least. I know that already and honestly I don't need you to tell me that at all.
Now you still coming out your mouth stupid to me,this guy....is he serious? Now what MAKES you think I am weak at tactics,what is your basis for saying that? Not that I care about your opinion. The other questions I'm not answering because I don't owe you an answer and if you came at me with some respect,then I would gladly answer you but since you want to come at me like that,you GET NOTHING from me. So now that crawled out of your hole to once again disrespect and attack me,you can go right back in it because I don't have much more to say to you. You are NOT offering any help even though you're acting like you care,that's a facade because you are rude and disrespectful and quite frankly I couldn't care less what you think about me,as I said,you know NOTHING about me!. You are nothing but an disrespectful,rude,egotistical,arrogant online TROLL,I know the type,trust me I do. So until you are willing to come at me correctly and show me the respect that I deserve as a member here of Chess. com and specifically this particular forum,then buddy you and I got nothing else to say to each other!
There is nothing wrong telling you that you are not improving significantly. If you look at chess.com, there are many people that tell this as an advice. Don't let your ego hurt you. As i told you played over 3k rapid games, and there are no significant improvement. You are still a scrub. Don't live in a dream.
I check your rapid games and it has many blunders. You are weak at tactics. Let me see. Solve the free 5 tactics puzzles now. And i am asking you on what are your tactical resources.? If you are not weak at tactics, you should not have 9 wrong answers at below 1k tactics rating here. You are 10/19 at tactics here. It should be 19/19 because the puzzles at below 1k tactical rating are really easy. Don't live in a dream and instead try to improve your game.You are not answering because you are full of shit and excuse.
Just look at the OP, he has good improvement and he is studying other aspects of chess. If you want to get out from being a scrub and don't have books, try watching some youtube videos by John Bartholomew,agadmator and chessnetwork. Also improve your weak tactics.
Search at my post, I am helpful to beginners and i respect them. But you are just full of shit and full of ego. I only told you are not improving and it made you cry and emotional.
@jambyvednar and @chesslover0_0
Please stop your argument, since it is getting nowhere. If you want to continue the discussion, please do so with personal messages.
@chesslover0_0 As i told before you played over 3k rapid games and there is no significant improvement in your game. Don't get hurt by someone telling you that you are not improving. I am not even talking about blitz games. Yes tactics is important. But study other aspects of the game as well. Look at the OP, he is studying other aspects of chess and he is improving. You are correct that studying opening deeply for a beginner is not recommended. But study some endgames and strategies. But the focus of your study must be tactical improvement. But you are still very weak at tactics. How do you study tactics? What are your resources? And it is correct to say your knowledge is not great because tactical study is only the thing you do and with over 3k rapid games you still has low rating. Again don't your ego allow you to get hurt by these. Take this as a constructive criticism on what you should do and face reality.
Dude you was rude and disrespectful and I don't care what you say about me,you don't know if I'm improving or not so you have NO RIGHT to tell me that,do you understand that?. I disagree with that, "yes studying tactics is important but other aspects of the game as well",I partially disagree with it at least. I know that already and honestly I don't need you to tell me that at all.
Now you still coming out your mouth stupid to me,this guy....is he serious? Now what MAKES you think I am weak at tactics,what is your basis for saying that? Not that I care about your opinion. The other questions I'm not answering because I don't owe you an answer and if you came at me with some respect,then I would gladly answer you but since you want to come at me like that,you GET NOTHING from me. So now that crawled out of your hole to once again disrespect and attack me,you can go right back in it because I don't have much more to say to you. You are NOT offering any help even though you're acting like you care,that's a facade because you are rude and disrespectful and quite frankly I couldn't care less what you think about me,as I said,you know NOTHING about me!. You are nothing but an disrespectful,rude,egotistical,arrogant online TROLL,I know the type,trust me I do. So until you are willing to come at me correctly and show me the respect that I deserve as a member here of Chess. com and specifically this particular forum,then buddy you and I got nothing else to say to each other!
There is nothing wrong telling you that you are not improving significantly. If you look at chess.com, there are many people that tell this as an advice. Don't let your ego hurt you. As i told you played over 3k rapid games, and there are no significant improvement. You are still a scrub. Don't live in a dream.
I check your rapid games and it has many blunders. You are weak at tactics. Let me see. Solve the free 5 tactics puzzles now. And i am asking you on what are your tactical resources.? If you are not weak at tactics, you should not have 9 wrong answers at below 1k tactics rating here. You are 10/19 at tactics here. It should be 19/19 because the puzzles at below 1k tactical rating are really easy. Don't live in a dream and instead try to improve your game.You are not answering because you are full of shit and excuse.
Just look at the OP, he has good improvement and he is studying other aspects of chess. If you want to get out from being a scrub and don't have books, try watching some youtube videos by John Bartholomew,agadmator and chessnetwork. Also improve your weak tactics.
Search at my post, I am helpful to beginners and i respect them. But you are just full of shit and full of ego. I only told you are not improving and it made you cry and emotional.
I have nothing else to say to you,as Taskinen said,we should not continue the argument,you have insulted me,disrespected me,cursed at me and the like,so therefore I have nothing more to say to you. I wish you well in your Chess endeavors,now please leave me be,you and I are done. I don't have time for rude,immature,disrespectful people who let their feelings get hurt when someone disagrees with them.
Oh and judging someone based on what you see here on this site is just plain dumb kk? You don't know the truth but you also refuse to see the truth,K buh bye now,go annoy someone else!
Oh and judging someone based on what you see here on this site is just plain dumb kk? You don't know the truth but you also refuse to see the truth,K buh bye now,go annoy someone else!
I have not insulted you. I just told after 3k rapid games, your are not improving significantly. Your ego is hurt because you want to live in a dream that you are a good player. but the truth is you are a bad player. Don' be stupid. So where do you want to be judge? You don't have a FIDE rating. You want to be judge on your wrong full of ego fantasy that you are not a bad player? Stop living in a dream. You are a bad player.
Rather than crying here, improve your game. As long as you live in a dream, you will forever remain a bad player. You want to believe you are not weak at tactics, but you are 10/19 at below 1k rating puzzles here. Your rapid games are also full of blunders.
Oh and judging someone based on what you see here on this site is just plain dumb kk? You don't know the truth but you also refuse to see the truth,K buh bye now,go annoy someone else!
I have not insulted you. I just told after 3k rapid games, your are not improving significantly. Your ego is hurt because you want to live in a dream that you are a good player. but the truth is you are a bad player. Don' be stupid. So where do you want to be judge? You don't have a FIDE rating. You want to be judge on your wrong full of ego fantasy that you are not a bad player? Stop living in a dream. You are a bad player.
Rather than crying here, improve your game. As long as you live in a dream, you will forever remain a bad player. You want to believe you are not weak at tactics, but you are 10/19 at below 1k rating puzzles here. Your rapid games are also full of blunders.
Dude get a life,stop quoting me,it's over,it's done,do you get that? I don't CARE one bit what you think about me so stop telling me what you think you know about me based on this website.
Lest you think I don't like tactics....I was reviewing some old games the other day and recalled this one with fondness. Did I calculate it like a puzzle? Not really...there is no solution per se and...I never saw 'mate' until right at the end, it was mostly my judgment mixed with some calculation that led the way:
Notes from back then when I put it in Chessbase...think they hold up though, I've not run it thru an engine.
What time control was this? Your opponent played horribly. XD
Nice combo though.
Given that it was the city championship ( NOT one of the 3 I won), I would think 40 or 50 moves/120 minute with probably a 30 min sudden death.
"Horribly"....well, no game is won without mistakes from your opponent, large or small. I don't know how to throw this into the chess.com game analyzer, but in the Chessbase 'Tactical Analysis' feature, it only gives one ?? - that's to the move that leads to a forced mate, but White was busted at that point anyway. No '?'s. Up to move 10 is (unknown to us of course) 'book' so really only 10 moves were original.
I would agree a few of his were ?!'s and some of mine were not exact. But...it's a game, that is played by humans. A game of willpower largely.
Again though I show it only because I went by a simple 'feel for the initiative' - truly 'calculating into the dark'...as most all calculation is during a game. There are no straight 'puzzles' to solve.
Taskinen - I was just sitting here halfway watching an old Twilight Zone episode (I Sing The Body Electric), glanced over at one of my 3 bookcases that only has chess books on them and noticed HOW TO GET BETTER AT CHESS: Chess Masters on their Art.
Basically it is a combination of games from some IM/GM's (some World Champions) from 1991...and their views.
Chapters:
Part 1: The Players Speak
1. HOW DOES ONE GET BETTER AT CHESS?
2. WHAT'S MORE IMPORTANT - STUDY OR PRACTICE?
3. WHAT BOOKS OR PLAYERS HAVE INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST?
4. HOW DO TOP PLAYERS SEE THINGS SO QUICKLY?
5. IS THERE AN AGE WHEN IMPROVEMENT STOPS?
6. IS MEMORY IMPORTANT IN CHESS
7. HOW DOES WINNING ND LOSING AFFECT YOU?
8. ANECDOTES.
Part 2: Profiles and Games
It is a fun read as I recall. Their advice/opinions can range from those to beginners to IM's wanting to be GM's and all in between. Books they recommend tend to be 'game collections' - Alekhine/Botvinnink/Capablanca, Tal's Life and Games, etc...Tarrasch's 300 Games is mentioned more than I remember. I have it and while I am not a fan of the openings played, he really digs into his games with commentary.
They sometimes say how much one of these best games collections 'influenced them'; that is probably another reason to study games collections -- it helps hone your style when you play thru a bunch of games/notes from these great players.
When they speak of non-game collections, they mention Capa's Fundamentals, or Lasker's Manual or Nimzo's My System and such - basic fare really.
My favorite quote is from Mark Diesen (World Junior Champion and IM):
"If you want to improve you must drink lots of light beer! Seriously, people should read over endgame books as well as great master game collections, such as Reti's Masters Of the Chessboard"
Oh and judging someone based on what you see here on this site is just plain dumb kk? You don't know the truth but you also refuse to see the truth,K buh bye now,go annoy someone else!
I have not insulted you. I just told after 3k rapid games, your are not improving significantly. Your ego is hurt because you want to live in a dream that you are a good player. but the truth is you are a bad player. Don' be stupid. So where do you want to be judge? You don't have a FIDE rating. You want to be judge on your wrong full of ego fantasy that you are not a bad player? Stop living in a dream. You are a bad player.
Rather than crying here, improve your game. As long as you live in a dream, you will forever remain a bad player. You want to believe you are not weak at tactics, but you are 10/19 at below 1k rating puzzles here. Your rapid games are also full of blunders.
Dude get a life,stop quoting me,it's over,it's done,do you get that? I don't CARE one bit what you think about me so stop telling me what you think you know about me based on this website.
You keep quoting me, so i won't stop.
So where do you want to be judge? You don't have a FIDE rating. You want to be judge on your wrong full of ego fantasy that you are not a bad player? Stop living in a dream. You are a bad player.
Rather than crying here, improve your game. You want to believe you are not weak at tactics, but you are 10/19 at below 1k rating puzzles here. Your rapid games are also full of blunders
@jambyvedar, I also have a lot of blunders online because I don't care enough about the games to be concentrated. Why would I when I am playing 'strong' people like you? I have beaten so many IMs and even some GMs online. That would have not happened OTB. Ever.
You played bullet 1 min here. Even in otb, it is common to see a none GM or IM, beating a GM at bullet chess. Blunders are also common at 1 min bullet, even at otb. While not 100 percent accurate, an online rating is a good indicator of playing strength. For example GMs have high rating here.
Here at chess.com blitz rating almost all the top 10 players are the top 10 players in the world.
https://www.chess.com/leaderboard/live
At rapid all the top 6 are GMs. Many top players does not play online rapid rapid.
https://www.chess.com/leaderboard/live/rapid
Also he does not play otb tournament games and is 10/19 at below 1k level puzzle tactics.
@jambyvedar, I also have a lot of blunders online because I don't care enough about the games to be concentrated. Why would I when I am playing 'strong' people like you? I have beaten so many IMs and even some GMs online. That would have not happened OTB. Ever.
You played bullet 1 min here. Even in otb, it is common to see a none GM or IM, beating a GM at bullet chess. Blunders are also common at 1 min bullet, even at otb. While not 100 percent accurate, an online rating is a good indicator of playing strength. For example GMs have high rating here.
Here at chess.com blitz rating almost all the top 10 players are the top 10 players in the world.
https://www.chess.com/leaderboard/live
At rapid all the top 6 are GMs. Many top players does not play online rapid rapid.
https://www.chess.com/leaderboard/live/rapid
Also he does not play otb tournament games.
On an other site, I beat them in longer ones. But my best standard time control OTB result is a draw with a 2370.
Where is the link? You are at least a national master level strength. Even at otb tournaments, many national master level players have beaten an im or gm.
@jambyvedar, I also have a lot of blunders online because I don't care enough about the games to be concentrated. Why would I when I am playing 'strong' people like you? I have beaten so many IMs and even some GMs online. That would have not happened OTB. Ever.
You played bullet 1 min here. Even in otb, it is common to see a none GM or IM, beating a GM at bullet chess. Blunders are also common at 1 min bullet, even at otb. While not 100 percent accurate, an online rating is a good indicator of playing strength. For example GMs have high rating here.
Here at chess.com blitz rating almost all the top 10 players are the top 10 players in the world.
https://www.chess.com/leaderboard/live
At rapid all the top 6 are GMs. Many top players does not play online rapid rapid.
https://www.chess.com/leaderboard/live/rapid
Also he does not play otb tournament games.
On an other site, I beat them in longer ones. But my best standard time control OTB result is a draw with a 2370.
Where is the link? You are at least a national master level strength. Even at otb tournaments, many national master level players have beaten an im or gm.
Jambyvedar did you receive my message?
Taskinen -
As I have pointed out that after 4K puzzles solved your tactics and general game play are really weak and that you might want to think about what you are doing.... I suppose I should at least offer an idea of how to be better prepared for solving exercises (and more importantly general game play!). Right?
Let me point out a tip I found just a few years ago in Matthew Sadler’s really excellent book - TIPS FOR YOUNG PLAYERS really, it is a great little book…wish they had not called it that as people think it’s a book for kids. It’s NOT!
Matthew relays how he was Top 20 in the world at one time and would be watching Kramnik, Anand or Shirov analyse some games. Every time a position would be reached where they would start throwing around pieces…while he was still adjusting to the position. At some stage a short time later in their analysis, would ask, “Oh, but can’t White do this move from the starting position?” and they would just tap on one of the pieces impatiently, to indicate that this piece could not be captured because of a tactical idea he had not grasped.
He says that part of this was their great natural talent….but that a lot of it can be trained if you get in the right habits from your earliest venture into chess. Because of their ability to so quickly grasp the particularities of a position, he realized that most important of all the skills in chess to be develop is what he calls ‘instant vision’, this basically being the first of two items he offers in the book for improvement:
#1. THE RELATIONSHIPS OF THE PIECES How to train this? It’s beautifully simple as he says: “I take a chess book with diagrams in it and I go thru each diagram in turn". He does not try to guess the move - not at all, his only idea here is
Again, he doesn't try to solve puzzles or even find a move here...he simply is training his vision in all the relationships that are in a given position. I even go one further and note where say a Rd1 'would be attacking' blacks Rd8 'if' say my bishop was not on d3.
The idea is that because you are consciously doing this...say 15 -25 positions a day (whenever you get the chance really) over time you will instinctively begin to better notice such connections in game play.
Don't try to solve or find the move the diagram is hinting at in these positions now...you can always go back at a later day and do so. You are simply trying to force into your subconscious to always be aware of the relationships of the pieces and pawns and squares. Period. It is a completely separate exercise from actually solving anything or trying to make your way thru playing a game.
It makes a lot of sense when you think about it: when you try to solve a puzzles (tactical or positional) or miss something at the board in actual play, you can almost always trace the reason to not paying significant enough attention to some aspect of the position...and it's usually the relationships. So, train yourself to try to make noticing them fully, second nature.
My fingers are too tired to try the full example he gives before offering a few positions to show it in practice, but basically he takes a position and notes:
White Attacks:
1. The Bishop on c4 is attacking the black pawn on e6
2. The Knight on f3 is attacing the Knight on e5
Black Attacks:
1. The Knight on e5 is attacking the Bishop on c4 and pawn on f3
White Defences
1. The Queen on e2 is defending the Knight on f3, the bishop on c4, the Rook on e1....etc.
2. The Knight on f3 defends the h2 pawn etc.
Black Defences
1. The King on h8 is defending the pawns on h7 and g7
2. The Queen on e7 is defending the pawns on c5 and a7 and the Rf8
White - Squares attacked
1. The Queen on e2 is covering a2,b2,c2,d2,f2,f1,f3,d1...etc
2. The Bishop on c4 is covering a2,b5,b3,d5,e6,f7, etc...
Black - Squares attacked
1. The King on f8 is covering h7 and g7
2. the Bishop on g4 is covering h3,h5,h3,f5,e6,etc...
Satisfied he has, he goes to the next diagram.
He then mentions:
#2. TRAINING FOR LITTLE TACTICS
He notes that small tactics (not even the kind you would normally see in tactical exercises) are like little mosquitoes….sometimes as little making sure you are not about to drop a piece. Mostly this is just a structured approach to thinking and solving problems, nothing special...nothing you can't find elsewhere.
#3 MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR GAMES
This like #2 doesn't stray too far from traditional advice. He says to take 5 or 10 min after every game you play to just think quietly about the game...the flow of it, places where you were afraid or uncomfortable or where your opponent played a good move or where you were proud of your play...suggests making notes before critical position of why this is an important position. Then, months later, go back to these and the memories of the play of the game will come flooding back. You will be looking at it with fresh eyes and your ideas will become 'fresh' again. Again, nothing too out of the norm.
But because of the tactical/positional and general game play deficiencies I see in your games, I really wanted to bring #1 to your attention. Good Luck!
Hello all!
I've spent last few days in Saint Petersburg with my girlfriend (what an interesting city), so haven't really spent any time at all with chess. I'm going to read through all the comments here and write back more thorough response once I've read them! Thank you all for interesting comments!
A longer game
So many of you have recommended me to play longer games, so I've taken your advice and just played a 60 minutes time control game. That was the longest game I have ever played, and I must admit that it didn't feel that long after all. It was pretty nice to get really into the game, thinking about all the possibilities with enough time to think. I think I played a pretty good game, even though I eventually won because my opponent blundered. But I am still satisfied, I was playing with black pieces against a higher rated opponent, and managed to play a pretty clean game. I made only one real mistake near the end (with 29 ...Bxd4, not calculating the line completely), after which my opponent blundered (not seeing the equalizing line either). Other than that, pretty good game, couple hiccups as usual but mostly just clean chess. Fighting for small advantages, and then trying to nourish them to something bigger.
Here is my annotation (by the way, I think I messed up the line after Nxd7 a bit, but too lazy to re-do it with Tarrasch):
@Cornfed Thank you for feedback. I guess you are referring to something like "Guess the move" lessons we have here and on ChessTempo? I have done some of those and enjoyed them.
I feel like I'm being pulled to multiple directions here. A lot of grandmasters in their video courses emphasize the importance of tactics training for beginners. I think it was Nigel Short who said something along the lines "beginner must first master tactics, before he can master strategy". So you're telling me to practice less tactics, and a lot of people are telling me to study more tactics?
Well, one thing you all have in common is that you tell me to play more and study less. That's what I've been doing. I've gone through every game afterwards (like I always do) trying to pick up issues in my game. You bet there are a lot of issues. But I'd be amazed to see a beginner whose didn't.
"Guess the move"? Possibly...not familiar with it, but it sounds similar...IF you are actually stepping thru an entire game doing so. I REALLY think you should do it with an actual board and pieces...not some 2d or 3d 'representation'....make it real.
You say I am telling to to 'practice less tactics'....what I noted was that since you have gone studied/gone thru 4000+ tactical exercises and you tactics were still as weak as they are at tactical play...that maybe you should rethink things and practice actual calculation - such as you would find in a game... because a game is not a puzzle or even a series of puzzles, it is a contiguous whole.
And when I say practice playing games, I really think longer than 10 or 15 min games is beneficial...it's not about quantity, but quality. It's the same way in studying tactics: quality over quantity. I don't know how long it took you to do 4,000 tactics, but I divide 365 (which isn't realistic, no one would likely study...'study', every single day of the year) into that and get right at 11 a day. That's probably too many when you are trying to actually 'learn'...you are going from some random position to another to another....spend more time on learning.
Murray Chandler has two really awesome books 'for kids' - CHESS TACTICS FOR KIDS (50 tricky tactics to outwit your opponent) and HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD AT CHESS (Including 50 deadly checkmates). I buy them when I see them for like a buck in a local used bookstore and give them to people eager to get better. From what I've seen in your games, I think if you had worked thru each (they are NOT very big), you would be better at tactics than you are now.