Houston Chess

So I played in a small tournament this weekend, my first tournament in quite a while. I was afraid I was going to be rusty, but I did OK. It was a four round Swiss (G/60), but I had a bye in the first round so I only got to play three games. In those three games I went +2 =1 which I am happy with, even though I should have won that drawn game as I had a slightly better position in the endgame. I will post that game shortly with some analysis.

I played good against Daniel, was 2 pawns and then learnt some psychological aspects of the game in the process! how to never stop calculating the situations and fear not the tactical positions. Daniel saw great tactics at the end which I didnt in my clouded euphoric state and engraved my doom with a cute checkmate.. Heres the very interesting game.

fter my first coaching session, I spent an evening going through 50 positions in Hertan's Forcing Moves, while focusing on checks - captures - threats. Also I avoided a lay-off, renewed my commitment to fitness and lost four pounds, and started taking DHA supplements to boost my chess concentration. A busy time.

I then turned in this miserable performance:

my new reason for studying [$50,000 in cash Scholarships]

When I first learned what a 'weak square' was, I was so concerned with them that I actually gave away a Bishop rather than capture his attacking piece with a pawn, so as not to create weaknesses in my pawn structure. Needless to say, such play is abysmal and reflects a misunderstanding of the relative importance of evaluation factors in chess.

As preparation I have read a lot about positional play. I intended to do some positional exercises too, but every exercise raised so much questions that I ended up reading in stead of exercising. So I don't feel quite ready, but I am in the best shape to learn something (with a lot of buzzing questions in my head and half-formulated answers).

I skipped the opening preparation totally, which is quite liberating.

From a real blitz game I played. My opponent was rated 200 points higher, but I guess he hadn't done the Circles of Death. Black just took my Bishop on d3 and to him it looked very bad for me.

His most resourceful moment was in round 20 against Jose Capablanca. Yates had the white side of a Ruy Lopez . Capablanca managed to grab a strong central defender in the middle game which caused a lot of problems for Yates as Black’s bishops pinned pieces and limited his mobility. Yates sends off a desperado in this position and manages a draw a few moves later with a perpetual check.

Labels: Knights Errant