The Chess Dog Journal

Chess Tactics 101, Lesson # 1

Strategy and tactics are inextricably linked.  Without strategy, your game meanders aimlessly while your opponent builds the winning advantage.  Without tactics, you lack the capability to execute your strategic plans.

One piece of my new study plan for 2009 is to refresh tactics every day.  I am devoting 20 minutes every day to solving tactical problems.

Here is a neat one I from my tactics study last night.  I love the way this black puts this one away.

That Sinking Feeling

Sooner or later, we all experience it.  Your game is going well, and then your fortune turns on a single move.  You have made a blunder, and you know your game is going to go from bad to worse.

So, it went in my game last night.  In an interesting and roughly even game, my opponent made a move I had been expecting.  I felt confident because I had planned the response long in advance.  A simple knight move would nullify his threats.  But then, I made a move other than the one I had been planning to make.  It was a fatal mistake, a blunder.  I lost a pawn and was forced to exchange material moving into a lost endgame.

Why did I not execute my plan?  Was it temporary insanity?  Was it just an unfortunately lapse in attention?  I don’t know.  What I do know is that unmistakable feeling after making the move, before my opponent has even recognized the error, that feeling of inevitable doom descending upon the board.

I think my lesson from last night is when you get the urge to deviate from you plan, stop and check your rationale, and once you have done that do it again.

What have you found works to avoid that kind of mistake?

Chess Blogging

It’s always nice to think that your actions may inspire someone.  I have to thank my friend, Harvey Reed, for letting me know that by publishing the Chess Dog Journal, I have inspired him to blog about his return to over-the-board chess.

I have found that along with Harvey and me, there are a number of people out there writing about their personal journeys in chess.  I will be adding some of my favorites to my blog roll as I discover them.  Here are a few that I have found so far.

Blue Horizon Chess Blog – Dave Edmonds in the UK writes about his road to improving his game.   An interesting and personal account of Dave’s progress.

Blunder Prone – George strives to blunder less by examining historical players.  Some nicely presented historical perspectives.

The Quest of the Chess Novice – Harvey Reed’s new blog about getting back to over-the-board play.  I can really identify with this one.

I’ll add more to the blog roll as time goes by.  Let me know if you find a particularly interesting blog.

Blogging is about the network and community conversation it creates.  Through this blog and others, we all have a chance to travel on the chess journey together.

Horse Play

Last week’s game was a lot of fun.  My opponent took a chance going into an unusual opening line.  Unfortunately for him, the ploy backfired and he found himself down a pawn and with an exposed king coming out of the opening.  With the queens off the board rather early, I opted for transitioning into an endgame where the extra pawn would become the decisive factor.

We ended up in a knight and pawn ending which illustrated the importance of having scope for your knights.  Black found himself constantly retreating as white’s king and knight pushed deep into black’s side of the board.  On move 40, Black is in zugzwang and resigns on his next move after realizing that what remains of his position is about to collapse.

Here are my notes on the game.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Finding My Legs

My game last week was satisfying.  After my weak play in my first over the board game in two years, my goal was very simple: don’t make any boneheaded moves.  Okay, I wasn’t aiming very high; I just needed to feel that I could still play a solid game.  I feel that I accomplished that modest goal with this game.  The game was a relatively quiet game.  If my opponent hadn’t goes astray at move 30, I think it would have been drawn.  Fortunately, I was able to recognize the opportunity to grab the win when it was presented.

One Bad Move Deserves Another

I won my game last night.  I will have to do the post-mortem analysis and post that here.  It was an interesting reminder though of the importance of psychology in chess.  We’ve all heard expressions along the lines of, “One good turn deserves another.”  In think in chess, the expression should be: “One bad move deserves another.”

In last night’s game, we were headed towards a draw when my opponent made the mistake of underestimating my defensive resources.  He confidently slid his rook to a8 feeling that he was on his way to infiltrating my position.  However, my reply was a surprise for him.  I simply pulled my queen back to b7 where it attacked his rook.  On this new square, my queen now shared a common diagonal with his queen on f3 separated only by my rook on d5.  Suddenly he realized I had a second threat.  In the position, my rook now had the option of snagging a protected pawn with check and exposing his unprotected queen to attack by my queen.  I could see his expression change as he realized the mistake he had made by his hasty rook advance.

It was at this point that my opponent proceeded to fixate on the threat to his queen and become flustered.  In reality, his situation was not so grave as he thought.  His king could break the check by moving to f2 and protect his queen at the same time.  He would be down a pawn, but not without some compensation.

But instead of saving his rook, he compounded the mistake by sliding his bishop to e4 to block the illusory threat to his queen.  After the inevitable exchange sequence (Qxa8, Bxd5, Qxd5), he was down a full piece and headed toward a lost endgame.  Here is where chess psychology plays a role. 

When we make a bad move, it is easy to start believing that we are doomed and subsequently make a poor choice that makes our worst imaginings a reality.  It is important at that pivotal moment to step back, take a deep breath, and look at the board with fresh eyes.  Get up and walk away from the board if you have to.  You must break the negative psychology of the moment to see your opportunities to recover more clearly.  If my opponent had done this, I am certain he would have been much better off.

What do you think?  Does this resonate with your experience?

Getting Back To Chess

Although the result was not so good, it felt good to start shaking out some of the cobwebs last Tuesday.  This was my first outing in two years.  So, I found it difficult to stay focused and ended up squandering a great position.  Still, I feel my instincts are coming back and I am itching to get back to the board this week.

Metrowest Chess Club

If all goes well, I will be returning to active play tonight at the Metrowest Chess Club (MCC).  MCC is a great club that meets every Tuesday just west of Boston.  The club draws a crowd of over eighty players from the greater Boston area for rated play.  Play is divided in three sections based on ratings, so, everyone can get the quality of play they are looking for.

I have enjoyed playing at the Club on and off since 1986.  It has been two years since my last over the board game, so this will be a great venue to get my tournament legs back in shape.

Here is a game I played at MCC a few years ago when I qualified (rather unexpectedly) for the annual Club championship.  This was the round one game against Ed Epp.  Ed is as fine a gentleman as you could hope to meet across the board.  Enjoy!!

Chess In Your Life

Do you find your passion for chess showing itself in other aspects of your life?  Chess thinking is a valuable skill that has proven itself very useful away from the board.  Here is a post I wrote on my other blog, Innovating To Win, which discusses this very point in the context of innovation.

How does chess play a role in other aspects of your life?