Thank you Tyson to this information, now I know what these punctuations mean.
Best regards,
Nene
From: mordue andrew
Sent: 22 March 2021 18:21
To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [usbca_chess] Re: Me vs. Stockfish Level II
Hello everyone,
I've been the subject of a few e-mails today. Thank you to anyone who has said
kind words and/or asked directly for coaching. I will be in touch with you
later but I have a very full in-box and other students to answer.
I also intend to look at Che's annotated game that he posted on Friday.
Additionally I have the sequel to Mordue-Purry to post as well, but that is
already written so it's just a question of copying and pasting. Whatever, I
believe I've posted quite a lot of instructive material recently so it's time
for people to sit down and study it. And it should take you longer than playing
a game on the internet.
Below is a fairly comprehensive and objective analysis of Jorge's game on
lichess posted here originally on 19th March. There are a few things that I
need to make clear first.
Chess annotation features punctuation after the moves to demonstrate the
author's opinion of that move. So for example:
! means good move,
!! means brilliant move.
!? means interesting move.
?! means a doubtful move but one that may be difficult to refute.
? means a mistake.
?? means a blunder that usually loses material or misses a very good
continuation, even a mate.
There are lots of ?s and ??s in this game.
Secondly Jorge says that 'Notes and PGN attached below.' There are no notes by
Jorge to this game. There are game details given at the start but no notes. I
assume this is a misunderstanding on Jorge's part as to what notes in this
context means. The reader will find notes aplenty in my post.
Thirdly Jorge also wrote "There were a few ridiculous moves on Stockfish’s part
that I’m sure Tyson will find but other than that it was a good game." In fact
there were many ridiculous moves by Stockfish and, I'm sorry to say, that this
is not a good game. That is merely my opinion. The reader is entitled to
differ.
Finally I'm guessing that a time limit of 3600+8 is 3600 seconds, that is sixty
minutes for the whole game plus an increment of eight seconds a move. I'm also
guessing that the engine was actually playing at something equivalent to an
average of five seconds per move. Yes, that sort of response rate puts a lot of
pressure on a human opponent, especially a beginner. And I cannot imagine that
any human other than a top GM could play a sensible game at the same practical
rate against an engine. So again I assume that Jorge played at a slower rate
than the engine. What I don't know is how much slower, hence I don't know how
many of these moves are rushed or the amount of time given to any single move.
Nor do I know how much time Jorge used for the whole game.
What I am sure of, given the moving speed of the engine plus the fact it was a
57 move game, that Jorge has had no time for thinking in the engine's time,
because it's way too fast, so his thinking time is roughly 90 to 95% of the
time this game actually took, and we don't know what that was either. To put it
bluntly he's been rushed off his feet regardless of whatever his rate of play
was, and it's reflected in the quality of the moves.
So, Jorge, some suggestions for you:
As already written, learn how Pawns capture. It's the essence of chess.
Any games you play, play them at a much slower rate. If you're playing a member
of this group then I suggest a move per day if playing by e-mail.
Follow some of the other advice about opening play already given on this group.
Don't move too many pawns, get pieces to effective squares and try to avoid
moving them twice in the opening, and get castled early. Also pay attention to
what the opponent is doing.
Finally don't play any more games until you've studied the games that I've
recently posted, or anyone else for that matter. You will learn from them and
it will give you a higher standard to aspire to. Chess can be enjoyed by
studying as well as playing.
Of course, these suggestions can be adopted by any other inexperienced player
on the group.
Just as a taster for yourself and the group, the Mordue-Purry game that I
posted recently was the first competitive game that the then young Chris Purry
ever played. A tough start given that my grade then was probably BCF 190+,
equivalent to roughly Elo 2120. So no surprise that he got thoroughly crushed.
So what happened the next time we played? The answer will come in a few days.
That's enough from me. Have a pleasant evening.
Regards,
Tyson
Text begins:
Paez,J - Lichess,2 [A40]
19.03.2021
[Mordue,Tyson]
1.d4 e6
2.e3 Qg5?
[Bringing the Queen out too early and exposing it to attack, either by 3 Nf3 or
by White's next.]
3.e4 Qf6
4.Nd2?
[Leaving the d4 Pawn en prise to the Queen but Black doesn't take it. ]
4...Ne7?
5.Nc4
[Moving a piece twice in the opening but at least defending the d4 Pawn. 5
Ng1–f3 was more efficient.]
5...Nec6
[And here it looks more natural to put the other knight on c6.]
6.Nf3 b6
7.Be2 Qg6
[This is Black's third Queen move. However, he is forking two Pawns on e4 and
g2. Then again he is well behind in development and lacks space in the centre
so White can afford to gambit a pawn.
Best of all is 8 d5 attacking the Knight on c6 because if 8...exd5 9 exd5
there's no longer a Pawn loose on e4.]
8.Bd2?
This is the start of a series of errors by both sides. Also this is same move
after which Jorge got mated in a game posted later. It may be a developing move
but what does the Bishop actually do here? It certainly blocks the Queen's
forward motion but that's a negative. What's more the issue of the attacked
Pawns hasn't been addressed. Other than the afore-mentioned 8 d5 the simple 8
0–0 is also fine. Getting the King castled safely is a priority.]
8...Qxg2?
[This is the wrong Pawn to take. The central Pawns are worth more and after
8...Qxe4 the d4 Pawn is also under threat because 8 Bd2 blocked the White
Queen's defence of it.
The problem with the text is that White should simply reply with 9 Rg1 picking
up at tempo on the Queen and getting control of the g-file as well. This is
plenty of compensation for a Pawn as Black is doing nothing but running around
with his Queen.
The next pair of moves convince me of two things. One is that the Black engine
is working on a random basis at a very fast rate. The second is that whatever
the time limit is White is also playing far too quickly. Jorge leaves the h1
Rook en prise for nothing and with a move that undevelops the Bishop he
developed two moves ago, yet Black doesn't take it. Instead it swallows a
defended Knight and loses the Queen. ]
9.Bf1?? Qxf3??
10.Qxf3 Nxd4
11.Qd1
[11 Qd3 counter-attacking the Knight is better. ]
11...Bb7
12.Ne5??
[Leaving the e4 Pawn en prise. After 12...Bxe4 Black hits the Rook on h1 and
threatens 13...Nxc2+ winning the other Rook. Instead 12 Bg2 would develop and
defend the e4 pawn and then White could castle. ]
12...Be7?
13.Bb5??
[The Bishop is en prise to the Knight on d4 but Black doesn't take it.]
13...Nbc6??
14.Bxc6 Nxc2+??
[Simply giving the Knight away instead of recapturing on c6. ]
15.Qxc2 Rb8??
[Once again failing to recapture on c6. White should now take on d7 with either
Knight or Bishop and go after the Black King. He can also take on b7.]
16.Bb5? Bc6?
[The accurate move is 16...c6.]
17.Bxc6
[Now after 17...dxc6 18 Qxc6+ Black is losing more material so the engine lets
it be, but White still fails to take on d7 advantageously next move.]
17...Bc5
18.Ba4? c6
19.Rb1
[I can only assume this is played to avoid the reply ...Bc5-d5 forking a1 and
e5 after White plays b2-b4, but castling on either side is better. There is
also the explosive 19 Nxd7 Kxd7 20 b4 and White hopes to break through on the
c-file because c6 is undermined. Worth looking at.
Incidentally Deep Rybka says White is +15 which is accurate. He's a Queen and
two pieces up.]
19...Rc8
20.0–0
[This is belated but okay. I'd have preferred 19 0–0–0 because White still had
two connected Pawns there to shelter the King behind after a later Kc1–b1. On
the Kingside there is a draught because of the missing g-Pawn and the f2 Pawn
is pinned. However, a subsequent Kg1–h1 is fine as it breaks the pin and the
King is safer on h1. There's no Black light-squared Bishop to harass the King
in the corner.
After this White just has to co-ordinate his pieces and target the Black King.
He can afford to sacrifice a piece or two to break up the Black Pawns.]
20...Rd8
21.Qd1?!
[This is the last we see of this White Queen. On c2 it was an active and
aggressive piece. On d1 it does little and has less scope.]
21...Kf8
[Castling looks more natural. However, it should be borne in mind that any
judgement here is skewed because of the vast difference in material. White is
simply winning and that's it. ]
22.Re1 Bd6
23.Rc1??
[Leaving the Knight on e5 en prise and Black doesn't take it. Possible is 23
Nxd7 Rxd7 24 Bxc6 with a slight material investment for some open lines. 24 Bg5
is also good attacking both d6 and d8 and probably forcing 23...Be7 after which
White can consider the merits of 24 Nxd7+.]
23...Bc5??
24.Bb3 Bd6?
25.a4??
[25 Bg5 is still good. Once again White leaves the e5 Knight en prise for
nothing and Black doesn't take it. This happens next move as well.]
25...Kg8??
26.Bc4?? Be7??
27.a5 Bf6
28.Nd3
[This begs the question if White saw that the Knight was en prise when the
Bishop was on f6, then why not when it was on d6? White has also retreated his
best piece. Better was 28 Bc3.
At this point it’s worth pointing out that the whole group of pieces on d1, d2,
d3 and e1 has limited scope and they don’t work together very well. In fact
none of this group ever moves again, yet this is most of White’s extra
material! It’s no good having extra material unless you use it in some fashion.]
28...Be7
29.a6?
[The whole point of the advance of the a-Pawn was to open lines for the major
pieces with a5xb6. So he should now play that and Black should have avoided it
by playing ...b6-b5 when the Pawn got to a5. This looks another case of not
being aware that Pawn takes Pawn is a legal move.
On the other hand it could be argued that White is playing to get another
Queen. Several points there. White does indeed succeed in this but it would be
better if he did something with his original Queen. All his pieces are
currently in his own half of the board and there are no fully open files for
the Rooks. So priority should be given to opening lines. Also you are unlikely
to win a chess game by constantly staying in your own half on the board. At
some point you must engage in the other half, and that is so much easier to do
when you have a big material plus. ]
29...Bd6
30.b4 Rf8
31.b5 Rc8
[31...c5 to keep lines closed is the simple thing to do here.
At this point Jorge finally decides to swap material for open lines. It's a
belated decision because it could have been more more easily and advantageously
earlier, but the method is wrong and Black's repose is even worse. ]
32.Bxe6?? dxe6?
[Instead 32...fxe6 keeps lines closed to some extent and also gives the Black
King a flight square off the back rank.]
33.Rxc6 Rd8
34.Rxd6!?
[Not sure about this because Black really should simply recapture with
34...Rxd6. After 35 Qc2 there's a threat of mate on the back rank and also
penetration to c7 and then a7 but White has to be wary of the loose pieces on
the d-file. In effect White would have given up at least a Rook for play with
his Queen but he can afford that with all his extra material.
For Black with his next move to just meekly decline and let the Bishop go for
nothing is very poor. It means that the result of this little sequence is that
White has gained two Pawns and open lines. ]
34...Re8??
35.Rd7 g6?
[This is to give the King a flight square off the back rank in case of checks
there. In this instance it's a poor choice because White has a dark-squared
Bishop and Black has just weakened both f6 and h6. 36 Bh6 would certainly be an
embarrassing reply. A better move would be 35...h6. ]
36.Rxa7
[White can go for mates with 36 Qf3 - threatening 37 Qxf7 mate - 36...Rf8 37
Bh6 which hits the Rook and threatens 38 Qf6 and 39 Qg7 mate. This means Black
probably has to play 36...f5 instead after which 37 e4xf5 opens a whole host of
lines and White should win quickly.
There is a clear tendency amongst beginners that once they are a large amount
of material up with nothing coming back the other way that they go after even
more material. This isn't good foe several reasons.
1) It prolongs the game and fatigue may set in causing more errors later.
2) The object of the game is to checkmate the enemy King, not win all the
opposition pieces except the King. So learn mating nets.
3) The less units that the opponent has compared with your own then the greater
the danger of stalemating. Do you really want to spent two hours or so with a
crushing game just to get a half-point for your efforts because you stalemated
the guy instead of checkmating him?]
36...Rf8
37.Rb7 Rd8
38.a7 Ra8
39.Rxb6?
[Much better is 39 Rb8+. Obviously if 39...Rxb8 40 a7xb8=Q+. Instead 39...Kg7 -
linking the Rooks - then 40 Qa1+ f7-f6 - not that h6 is not available for the
King because of the White Bishop on d2 - 41 Rb7+ Kg8 42 Qxf6 and mates. Is this
another error based on not knowing how Pawns capture?
After the text if 39...Rxa7 40 Rb8+ Kg7 41 Bc3+ f6 42 Bxf6+! Kxf6 43 Rxh8 White
has won more material and exposed the Black King. There may be even better
lines. ]
39...h6
40.Ra6
[White intends shoving the b-Pawn down the board. This will win even more
material but it's not checkmating Black. Incidentally according to Deep Rybka
White's plus is now +37.04. ]
40...Kh7
41.b6 Kg8
42.b7 Rd8
43.b8=Q Rf8
44.Qxf8+!
[This is the only move in the whole game that gets an ! It should lead to a
forced mate. Unfortunately there is a whole raft of one-move blunders to follow
this.]
44...Kh7
[After 44...Kxf8 45 a8=Q+ Kg7 46 Bc3+ e5 47 Bxe5+ Kh7 (or 47...f6 48 Ra7 mate,
a simple lateral checkmate) 48 Qxh8 mate.
45.a8=Q??
[This is simple greed. Instead 45 Qxf7 is checkmate on the spot. This is called
an epaulette mate as the two units on h6 and h8 are said to be standing on the
Black King's shoulders.]
45...g5??
[Again this allows an instant mate on f7 and again White doesn't play it or
take on h8!]
46.Qa7?? e5??
[White has just left a whole Queen en prise with 46...Rxf8 and Black doesn't
take it! Now taking on f7 with either Queen is instant checkmate. ]
47.Qxh8+?? Kxh8
48.Qa8+?
[Simply 48 Qxf7 and then 49 Ra8 is mate.]
48...Kh7
49.Qa7 g4?
[Instead 49...Kg7 is simpler although 50 Qd1xg4+ is a good answer and the first
thing this piece would have done for a long time.]
50.Qxf7+ Kh8
51.Qf8+
[Both 51 Ra8 and 51 Rxh6 are checkmate.]
51...Kh7
52.Qf7+
[52 Rxh6 is also checkmate here.]
52...Kh8
53.Qf8+ Kh7
54.Qf7+ Kh8
55.Qf8+ Kh7
56.Qf7+ Kh8
57.Qf8+ Kh7
Assumedly Black claimed a draw by repetition.
½–½
Text ends.
On 19 March 2021 at 12:00 Jorge Paez <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello everyone.
So I decided to take it up a level today and play Stockfish level 2.
There were a few ridiculous moves on Stockfish’s part that I’m sure Tyson will
find but other than that it was a good game.
Notes and PGN attached below.
Just as an FYI since I forgot to add it yesterday, my classical games are 60/8,
60 minutes per side with an 8 second increment per move from move 1.
Jorge
[Event "Casual Classical game"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/LwhNAV1I";]
[Date "2021.03.19"]
[White "paezchess"]
[Black "lichess AI level 2"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[UTCDate "2021.03.19"]
[UTCTime "10:56:26"]
[WhiteElo "1125"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "3600+8"]
[ECO "A40"]
[Opening "Horwitz Defense"]
[Termination "Normal"]
1. d4 e6 2. e3 Qg5 3. e4 Qf6 4. Nd2 Ne7 5. Nc4 Nec6 6. Nf3 b6 7. Be2 Qg6 8. Bd2
Qxg2 9. Bf1 Qxf3 10. Qxf3 Nxd4 11. Qd1 Bb7 12. Ne5 Be7 13. Bb5 Nbc6 14. Bxc6
Nxc2+ 15. Qxc2 Rb8 16. Bb5 Bc6 17. Bxc6 Bc5 18. Ba4 c6 19. Rb1 Rc8 20. O-O Rd8
21. Qd1 Kf8 22. Re1 Bd6 23. Rc1 Bc5 24. Bb3 Bd6 25. a4 Kg8 26. Bc4 Be7 27. a5
Bf6 28. Nd3 Be7 29. a6 Bd6 30. b4 Rf8 31. b5 Rc8 32. Bxe6 dxe6 33. Rxc6 Rd8 34.
Rxd6 Re8 35. Rd7 g6 36. Rxa7 Rf8 37. Rb7 Rd8 38. a7 Ra8 39. Rxb6 h6 40. Ra6 Kh7
41. b6 Kg8 42. b7 Rd8 43. b8=Q Rf8 44. Qxf8+ Kh7 45. a8=Q g5 46. Qa7 e5 47.
Qxh8+ Kxh8 48. Qa8+ Kh7 49. Qa7 g4 50. Qxf7+ Kh8 51. Qf8+ Kh7 52. Qf7+ Kh8 53.
Qf8+ Kh7 54. Qf7+ Kh8 55. Qf8+ Kh7 56. Qf7+ Kh8 57. Qf8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2
