Had equality by move 18 but promptly blew it with a few "automatic" moves (lining up the rooks) but managed to hold on fairly tight for another 18 when I blew it (lost two pawns). I then held on another 18 moves & finally resigned.
WhiteEagle, one program I'd recommend is scid. This is a chess "database" program that can also be used to record your comments as you go. You can stick symbols on a commentary board to identify what squares you're looking at when you think about the move. After, you can compare the comments and marked squares with the results of the game. The user interface is a bit weird, so it might not be for you...
If you don't want to use an external program, while you're playing on chess.com there is a Notes tab. You can write private notes there and then use them for analysis later. Of course paper or a notepad window are equally useful.
Happy birthday WhiteEagle.
Ok enough of that.
Here's a game against my bff's cousin again. He sucks at chess.
1 e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5, 4. Nf3 h6, 5. c3, h5 6. Bb5+ Nd7
Nothing to see here. But I did manage to back door check him.
7. Qe2+...
Sorry, I couldn't resist there. Also it's the only time a queen has been moved in this short game.
7. ... Ne7 8. o-o Rh7? 9. Bg5 a6 10. Bd3 Rh8
I managed to make his poor rook run back where he came from with his tail between his legs.
11. c4 g6 12. cxd5 f5 13. d6 cxd6 14. d5 f4 15. Nbd2 b6
It's time for me to get agressive With my bishop still in position, and my knight coming, I didn't see this mate coming in 2 moves. Care to guess what it is? I'll give you a hint. Black's next move is:
16... a5?
And no, it has no effect on the fate put on him.
Bxg6#. I obviously didn't see that, and was trying a more frontal assault. His king was pinned between his two knights, his queen and his bishop.
Had he done 14 ... Nf5 wouldve stopped that mate.
Btw I did 16. Ne4 ... 17. Nxd6# instead.
I joined a beginner's tournament, and lost one of the games earlier today. I made a mammoth mistake that lost me my Queen with nothing in return... but then he turned around and did the same thing a few turns later
During that exchange, we had been chatting back and forth, and I really wonder if the messaging had some unconscious effect on his play. In any case, the game looked pretty much in the bag for him, but then an interesting (for me at least ) end-game developed. I knew he was 1 turn from mating me, so I had to keep checking his king. When we had done the same move a couple of times, I tried to break out - hoping he wouldn't remember / notice that he could win the game on my next move. Didn't happen
I'm just wondering if there was any way I could have pulled off a win in that position - without relying on an him erring, that is.
First off some tactics training; (Hints in spoiler tags if you get stuck.)
Imagine it's your move at move 20, white has just played Bxh6. That was not a good move, why was it not a good move? What should you play?
Spoiler:
What do you do with pinned pieces? You attack them!
Now it's your move again after white has played 27. Kb1. Who stands better and why is that? What should you play?
Spoiler:
You have a forced mate in 6.
And again your move after white played 42. Ka2. Who stands better and why? You should never play a move hoping that your opponent misses the best move, especially if it's a check mate. Instead you should deal with reality and find the best move. What is your best move?
Spoiler:
What happens if you keep checking his King? Where can he run?
Very, very nice extracts Panzar, you should be a chess coach (seriously) .
Pete, that was a very instructive game, check out the segments Panzar is referring to & really try to look deep. If you look at all your games like that you'll get better & better very quickly.
Second one I'm not seeing... I would have thought that white stood better: more active pieces, all better defended than black's. I am able to see several things I could do to harass his king (bring in the dark bishop, move the queen in), but I'm not yet at the point that I can see that it's all forced.
Third one: I'm still not seeing how the game would do anything other than oscillate between his king moving a2, a3; and my knight moving c4, b5. Or is the point to get a draw rather than lose outright
I had an interesting game in an OTB match last night in our local league. My opponent was USCF rated 2148 (175 points above) me and I had white. The play wasn't perfect, but there were some tactical and strategic shots. The time control was 45/90, 30/60
1. d4 d5
2. c4 c6
3. Nc3 Nf6
4. Nf3 dc (this really is a gambit now)
5. e3 b5
6. a4 Nd5
7. Ne5 Nxc3
8. bc Bb7
9. Ba3 Nd7
10. f4 g6
11. Rb1 Nxe5
12. fe e6
13. Bxf8 Kxf8 (now I can recover my pawn)
14. ab Qh4+
15. Kd2 cb
16. Rxb5 Bd5 (the a8-h1 diagonal problems are a bit annoying)
17. Qe1 (26:17 left to time control)
17. ... Qxe1+ (47:42 to TC)
18. Kxe1 Kg7
19. Rg1 Rhb8
20. Rc5 Rc8 (I thought Rb1 would be more annoying to me)
21. Ra5 Rc7
22. Be2 Rb8
23. Ra2 Rb3
24. Kd2 Rcb7
25. Rga1 (to finally free that rook)
25. ... Rb2+
26. Kc1 Rxa2
27. Rxa2 Bxg2
28. Bxc4 (giving me my own passer)
28. ... Bd5
29. Bxd5 ed (oh well, it's not a passer any more but it did create more black pawn islands)
30. Kd2 f6
31. ef Kxf6
32. Kd3 Rc7
33. Ra6+ Kg5
34. Rd6 (8:06 to TC)
34. ... h5 (30:35 to TC)
35. Rxd6+ Kg4
36. Ra5 Kh3
37. Ra2 g5
38. c4 g4
39. c5 h4
40. Ke4 g3
41. hg hg (26:48 to TC)
42. Kd5 (4:19 to TC)
42. ... g2
43. Ra1 (spending one tempo to try and make my opponent spend two)
43. ... Kh2
44. c6 (1:07 to TC) g1=Q
45. Rxg1 Kxg1
time control is reached, one hour added for both players
46. Kd6 (Kc5 immediately may have been better)
46. ... Rh2
47. d5 a5
48. Kc5 Ra7
49. d6 a4
50. d7 a3
51. d8=Q a2
52. Qd1+ Kf2
53. Qa1 Kxf3
54. Kb6 black resigns
I haven't gone over the game yet but beating a 2148 is impressive. Best I'm done in tournament play is beating a 1850 or something. Good work! You really should join our team!
And Pete, yeah you got the third one. It's a forced draw (or mate if your opponent missteps). 1/2 a pt. isn't as good as winning but it feels way better than losing.
Keep looking at the second one until you can find the basic idea. You don't have to see the whole "mate in 6" but you learn to get a sense of tactical shots that will probably lead you to mate or at least get you out of a jam & on the attack.
Second one I'm not seeing... I would have thought that white stood better: more active pieces, all better defended than black's. I am able to see several things I could do to harass his king (bring in the dark bishop, move the queen in), but I'm not yet at the point that I can see that it's all forced.
Third one: I'm still not seeing how the game would do anything other than oscillate between his king moving a2, a3; and my knight moving c4, b5. Or is the point to get a draw rather than lose outright
#1 Maybe you got it right mabe not. The idea was to tell me so I can tell you if you did. If you answered "the move is bad because it pins the bishop to the queen" and played Bg7 followed by Rxh6 winning a piece you were right.
#2 Here is my judgment of the position:
Material count: white has Q, R, R, B, B, N, 5xP = 33 points, black has Q, R, R, B, B, N, 7xP = 35 points black is 2 pawns ahead in material, usually more than enough to win the game unless there is some other problems. Huge edge for black.
Activity: white has a reasonably active queen and a good knight. One bishop is pinned and can't really do anything while the other one is pretty bad at the moment. The long diagonal might be available but even there it doesn't do all that much. The rooks are not connected and moderately active. White has no real pawn breaks to play.
All of black's pieces are very active except the a8 rook but that rook has good prospects on the c-file. The queen and knight are extremely active, the bishops are strongly placed looking at both sides of the board and the h8 rook is holding down white's queen and bishop all by itself. There are several pawn breaks available. I'd say black has way the better activity. If you are not sure, just look at how many reasonable looking moves white has and then how many black has and compare them.
King saftey: White has a queen, knight, bishop and to some extent the rook on the e-file attacking the black king. Of those, the queen and bishop can't really do that much because of the pin. Black has both bishops defending and also have long castling available. Nothing tells me black's king will be in serious trouble anytime soon. On the other hand, black has a queen, knight and pawn in the immediate attack and both bishops to some degree as well as a rook ready to join in on the c-file. White has nothing much in the way of defenders around the king, maybe the e1 rook but that's about it. Black wins this category hands down.
So, if black has more material, more active pieces and the safer king, chances are pretty good he is better. The only thing I would be worried about here is tactics. White does have pressure on the knight on d1, the black queen is en prise and the f7 pawn is pinned making the e6 bishop unguarded as well. But with such a commanding lead in material, activity and king saftey there is usually something there. The first thing you look for is if you can force a check mate. If you can, the game is over already and you have one shiny point in the bag.
Turns out there is a forced mate here. How do you find it? Well, usually nobody will tell you there is one, you have to figure it out on your own. What you do is look at the position and try different lines out. You should start with the most forcing lines because they are easier to calculate as your opponent has less options. This is a relatively easy position as you get there with only checks which is the most forcing thing you can do. Here is the thought process you should use to solve this position:
Spoiler:
I am two pawns up, that's good. What did my opponents last move threaten? He moved the king out of check, a forced move that doesn't seem to threaten anything new. What other threats does he have? Well, his knight is threatning my queen so that's a major threat to deal with. He' also threatning to play Nxe6 winning a piece and if I move the queen there is Rxd1 winning a piece. Looks like white might win a piece if I don't come up with something.
So, let's start looking at specific lines to see what we can do. We'll start with the most forcing moves. Do we have any checks? Yes, Nc3+ which gets the knight off to saftey with tempo leaving me free to move the queen next move, maybe to guard the bishop on e6, looks promising. Also, bxc2+ is possible. Let's look at bxc2+ first.
After 27...bxc2+ white can play Ka1 but then c1=Q+ is check mate so that's no good. Kc1 is also possible. Then I have Ba3+ and Kd2 would be mate after c1=Q# so Kxc2 is forced. I have Rc8+ and either king move leads to mate in one. That leaves 28. Kxc2 as the only possible move.
After 27... bxc2+ 28. Kxc2 do we have any more forcing moves? Yes, there is Rc8+ bringing a full rook in on the attack. White has two legal moves and after Kd2 Bb4 would be mate so that leaves Kb1.
After 27...bxc2+ 28. Kxc2 Rc8+ 29. Kb1 now what can we do? There are several possible moves... but starting with a check is always a good idea. If you have a line with only checks that leads to check mate there is very little chance for counterplay. Here we have three checks, Ba2+. Rc1+ Kxc1. We might have to look at all three in turn unless we find a mate. Let's try Ba2+. It gives a piece away but lets us bring the queen in on the action with Qd5+ if white takes. If he doesn't the only other move is Ka1. Then Rc1+ Kxa2 Qd5 is mate. So white must take, Kxa2.
After 27...bxc2+ 28. Kxc2 Rc8+ 29. Kb1 Ba2+ 30. Kxa2 we'll go with the queen check, Qd5+. If white plays Ka1 Rc1 is mate so Kb1 is forced.
After 27...bxc2+ 28. Kxc2 Rc8+ 29. Kb1 Ba2+ 30. Kxa2 Qd5+ 31. Kb1 the most interesting check is Qb3 bringing the powerful queen in on the king. White has only one legal move and that's Ka1.
After 27...bxc2+ 28. Kxc2 Rc8+ 29. Kb1 Ba2+ 30. Kxa2 Qd5+ 31. Kb1 Qb3+ Ka1 we have Qb2+ which happens to be a mate. That's fortunate since we don't have to go back and try more lines. If we had come to a position where there are no more checks, captures or threats we would have to stop here and evaluate the position. Then check the next line and see if we liked that position better or not. After going through all the lines you can come up with you then play the move that leads to the best position you have found. If like in this example it's a forced check mate, that's a lot of fun.
#3 Well, white can either shuffle the king between a2 and a3 all night or try Ka1 but then Rb1 is check mate. So he can't play that. This is what is called a perpetual check which is a draw.
Third one: I'm still not seeing how the game would do anything other than oscillate between his king moving a2, a3; and my knight moving c4, b5. Or is the point to get a draw rather than lose outright
Loss in one move or a forced draw. Yes, that's a tricky one. Hmmm.... shall we go with the loss or the draw... what a toughie. Whatever should we do? I know, take the draw!
Panzar, this analysis is so much more than I expected when I posted a link to that game
#1: When I said "I got it right", I meant that I saw that White's bishop was pinned. I didn't see that I could use that to gain material.
#2:
My look at the board after 27 Kb1 was completely at odds with yours. So much so, that I realize I need a lot more practice evaluating positions. White's cluster of pieces targeting Black's King seemed to me like a noose that will only close tighter. The positional advantage of Black mostly escaped me. Also, I hadn't considered White's King safety at all - again, being distracted by my own King's safety (which I under-rated).
#3:
The idea of drawing didn't ever occur to me. Which is really unfortunate. As it turns out, my opponent was shocked that I didn't offer a draw. He was fully prepared to accept! I found this out when our rematch game started. Lesson learned
Panzar, thanks again for such an instructive analysis of that game. It's much more instructive that the tactical advice I thought I'd get when I posted it.
This is one good way you learn. People tell you things you didn't know. That happened to me the other day when a strong player told me that the queen belonges on a certain square in a specific opening. I had no idea but now I do and will benefit from it in other games.
The idea of "pin it and win it" is very important. When you see a pin always check to see if you can attack it with more pieces and just win it.
Evaluating a position is very difficult. You get better and better at it the more you play but I'm not sure anyone ever gets it 100% right. The things to look for are material, activity (same as development in the beginning, as in who has gotten more pieces out) and King saftey. And of course any tactics you see.
Perpetual check is another very important concept. It's more common with a queen checking but now you know to look for ways to keep checking your opponent if you are otherwise losing. If the same position occurs three times it's a draw. ("threefold repetition").
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Can YOU guess what it is? 
) end-game developed. I knew he was 1 turn from mating me, so I had to keep checking his king. When we had done the same move a couple of times, I tried to break out - hoping he wouldn't remember / notice that he could win the game on my next move. Didn't happen 
.
Such an eye opener!!
