Hello folks,
Interesting replies to Michael's question by both Chris and Jim. The question
has a lot of validity and both answers, although different, carry weight.
The main point or points depend on what sort of player you are and what sort of
player you want to become. There are solid openings and there are active
openings. This applies to players as well. For example I would describe myself
as a player with an active style but not necessarily solid. On the other hand I
would describe Chris (Ross) as a solid player. However, it would not be
unreasonable to describe us both as all-rounders because we can play in each
other's style if necessary.
Regardless of one's style there is a lot to be said for cutting out blunders.
They can end a game instantly after hours of effort. I recall a Downend Club
Championship game where I struggled for five hours to save an inferior position
and just at the point when I'd got in down to a drawn position my opponent
needlessly blundered his Rook to a simple Pawn fork. He could have had a draw
just by asking for it.
Part of cutting out blunders can be resolved by studying tactics. I recommend
looking particularly at pins, forks, skewers, weak back rank scenarios and
mating nets. Paul Benson's pieces are great for this.
The real horror is just simply putting something en prise. My first piece of
advice is "A piece never controls the square it stands on." This may sound
obvious but a lot of inexperienced players calculate as follows: I have two
pieces controlling, say, e4 and so does my opponent. So if I put something on
e4 I'll be safe. Of course once that piece is put there then it is no longer
controlling it and the net effect is one defender to two attackers. So count
carefully.
The second bit of advice is that "A rushed move is rarely a good one." I'm not
a big fan of five or ten minute games. I much prefer to see players taking time
over moves. There's a lot more to be discovered by looking deeply into a
position. Recently I played an e-mail game where my opponent made an illegal
move. I wrote back pointing that out and almost immediately he sent me a legal
move that simply left his Queen en prise!
So improving one's openings is a good thing, cutting out blunders is another,
and just taking more time is a third way of improving one's game. However, the
bottom line is do what is good for you.
A final anecdote. In late 2006 I lost a game as White in a particular line of
the Sveshnikov/Pelikan Sicilian. I mentioned this to Chris who said "Keep the
line but change the variation." Sound advice as my selected 10th move gave up
occupation of the d5 square. I found a different variation but it was two
months before I got to play the line again and when I did so it was against
someone who knew the line well. Not only did I keep my Knight on d5 but at one
point in the game I had a complete stranglehold because my d5 Knight was
supporting one embedded on f6! So an improvement made in spades!
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Tyson
On 30 December 2020 at 11:30 Jim <jhomme1028@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Michael,
This message is definitely not an attempt to insult your or anyone
else's intellegence. I can definitely say that as a casual player, and
someone who works full time, that I want chess to be fun. I don't want
to work hard at it. I just want to make progress and win more games as
time goes along. And since I just got my new keyboard, music one and
my new music desk, I'll even be spending less time playing, so I don't
want it to be painful, or at least I want it to be less painful.
Here's my newyears chess resolution. To go through the below book and
to cut down on 50% of my blunders. No fancy theory. Are you with me?
With that in mind, I recommend that you read this book and for now,
forget about opening theory. You can skip the part about how the
pieces move and the values of the pieces, but go through the rest of
the book with a board in front of you and play through all the moves.
I plan on doing this. If you want to make a pact to do that together,
let me know.
https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/download/detail/srch/DB93603
I like the book because it talks in English, not chess. It explains
everything clearly.
I accidentally found a couple YouTube videos a few days ago, and
although they weren't as descriptive as I might want them to be, one
point stuck out with me, because it is something that happens to me
way more often than I would like. If you can play chess and avoid
giving pieces away, you will win more games. That's not cool or sexy,
but somehow it happens to me in a lot of games. I get a brain cramp
and give something away. I just make a move an leave something out
there for free. Yipes.
So are you with me?
This may not be the best plan, but it's better than no plan. Let's do it.
Jim
On 12/29/20, Chris Ross <cnross1978@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Michael et al,
Learning opening repertoires takes many years, thousands of hours of
work and a great deal of dedication. You need to decide on your “style
of chess” before you alter any opening repertoire. Once you discover
your “style” of play, then, you should adopt your opening repertoire
to reflect that. Discover your identity as a chess player, before
spending time, resources and energy on finding a suitable opening
repertoire.
Suggest that you study the ECO (encyclopaedia of Chess Openings) and
determine to what type of player you are, what style suits you and how
you like certain positions and structures. Do not move from an opening
in the ECO, until you have fully appreciated the principals of the
openings, what’s its objectives are and how the middle-game or
end-game targets are striven for.
Once you have that foundation, I suggest that you sign up to
www.chesspublishing.com
and ensconce yourself in the vast amount of material there, targeted
at your chosen opening choices.
Be aware though, that this takes time, resources, energy and a great
deal of reflection, contemplation, consideration, consultation with
others and an abundancy of practice.
Cheers,
Chris
On 12/30/20, Michael Rodgerson <monex249@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all, hope you had good holidays, I'm looking to expand my openings
repertoire, can someone teach me and the theories behind them?
Please contact me off list
monex249@xxxxxxxxx
Thank you
Michael Rodgerson
--
==========
Jim Homme
Website: https://www.jimhomme.com/
Twitter: @jimhomme
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jimhomme
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimhomme
Skype: jim.homme
FreeChess: jhomme
