Introduction
1. This is essentially a self-review and reflections of a local chess enthusiast (a social player with no specific ambition in chess.) Just seeking to improve my play with each game. Used to be a complete social player (never play any tournament), then retired from chess for 5 years (I was into board/card games and some non-competitive e-gaming) become coming back after getting to know of the Singapore Social Chess Meetup at the Asia Sqaure Tower 1 Building on Wednesdays, 6:30pm. Decided to try out competitive chess myself to see how I measure up against the active players, especially the young ones, as well as make myself more appreciative of competing chess players. All the whiners and keyboard warriors criticising GMs from the comfort of their homes with their engines switched on, you really ought to be ashamed of yourselves! Try playing the game on your own and you'd appreciate them much more!
2. Following feedback from some of my chess friends, I have made just adjustments in how I structure my chess blog. Specifically, I have removed the names of all my opponents, scrambling up the rounds order. This is to not allow my opponents be identified. It is understandable that some do not want their opening preparations to be revealed.
3. I have nothing to hide about my own chess games. In fact, I hope anyone who reads this play something prepared against me, so that it can maximise my own training / learning value. In fact, there are specific openings that I'd like to play with / against listed at the bottom of this post =)
4. I don't really believe in "eternal opening repertoire". This time round, I played the tournament with a few specific ideas in mind. Would probably try out something else next time. All the choices come with a reason:
- Even though this is not my "natural" style, I played 1.e4 consistently in this tournament because I feel that it is actually less risky than other first moves! The only 'fear' I have is the theory-heavy 1.e4 e5. But then, there is always the quiet 4 Knights opening =)
And if Black plays anything non symmetrical, the onus is on Black to prove he has something in the position! At least, this is my simple, "newbie" view. In fact, including the only loss game as White, I had a promising position in all White games. - The one game that I lost against the King's Indian Defence, I reached a "dream" position for White out of the opening. Unfortunately, I went astray and kept missing resources to come back into the game. While my KID score continues to be horrible (+2 = 1 -more than 30), I know for sure this is the type of anti-KID position I like -- with f3 without Nf3 made possible without early commitment of Nf3.
- As Black, I have been sticking to c6 (Caro-Kann, Semi-Slav). In 1 of the games against the English opening, I tried 1...c6 but got into a position which I really hate. It is so effective, I may try playing it as White next time =)
Database = "LiveBook"
newbie(learner) = "Ong Yujing" and
Engine = "Stockfish 9"
Sorry for my inconsistency!
The Luckiest Game
Learning Points from the Luckiest Game:
a. Opening play matters. Do not leave the rationale of any move unanswered. Even if it is a seemingly innocent "developing" move, try to compare them.
b. Be very careful capturing a "free" piece, lest it is a trap.
c. You know that when you win games like this, you accumulate bad "Chess Karma" ^o^
Best "Opening Kill" Game
Learning Points from the Best Opening Kill Game:
a. Opening surprises always comes from time to time. Deal with it!
b. When the position is already bad, don't make it worse!
Games that should be Won (2 of them)
Learning Points from the Games that should be Won:
a. Do not be scared playing on an objectively winning position in time pressure. If anything, opponent should be more scared!
b. Also, do not be scared playing on an objectively winning position in mutual time pressure. Since both players would be equally scared, the objective situation still stands!
Best Prepared Game
(In this game, I did some quick online search and correctly judged that my opponent has far less experience with 1.e4 -- and in those games, he always enters into the Ruy Lopez as Black. He got into some time trouble just to equalise the opening in the 4 Knights Game.)
Learning Points from the Best Prepared Game:
a. There is no shame in playing unambitious openings. Even the most popular opening, the Ruy Lopez, always runs into the Berlin Wall brick and most games result in draws anyways.
b. The studying of opponent's preferences and tendencies, can be useful. Just do not go obsessed with it. In my case, I only looked roughly at the opponent's opening tendencies (King Pawn, Queen Pawn or other moves) and not their specific games.
Most Painful Loss Game
(In this game, I was holding my opponent fine, and in my complacency, threw out a couple of moves that I thought was just "natural", only to fall victim to a simple tactic from a "quiet" position.)
Learning Points from the Most Painful Loss Game:
a. Never enter "auto-pilot mode". In quiet positions, look for any possible chances where things can go wrong, and try to address the potential problem before it strikes.
Mutually Misplayed Game
(In this game, I got into a fine position, but I didn't know how to open up my light square Bishop, and got into trouble. Interestingly, my opponent also didn't know how to play the closed up position, and offered me a draw ^o^)
Learning Points from the Mutually Misplayed Game:
a. Imagining how to improve the position (where the pieces belong) is the key to start!
b. Be suspicious when opponent offers a draw! Though in this case, it's a fair result since both players don't know what they are doing ^o^
Most Single-minded Game
(In this game, I had an excellent opening position set-up, but despite spending a huge amount of time, couldn't get the Kingside attack to work. Then I just felt bad staring at the single weakness in my position, and overlooked all the rich opportunities for counter-attacking in the position.)
Learning Points from the Most Single-minded Game:
a. Time spent is not necessarily directly correlated to the quality of move(s)!
b. When a plan fails, no matter how awesome it was and how awful it became, look for plan B rather than staring into nothingness!
c. Similarly, staring at a weakness that cannot be salvaged won't help. Look for counter-play elsewhere!
Most Interesting Game
(In this game, I got into a position new to myself, and got into moments where I had advantage without realising. But in most parts of the game, it was equal but I had to live on time increment while keeping the balance with passing moves. I actually did it, and in fact, as my friend cum observer pointed out correctly, there was a move that could've let me to objective advantage and press. But with a Queen, a Rook, a minor piece + many pawns on the Board, it doesn't make sense (to me) playing on in less than a minute against a player with 40 minutes of thinking time in the bank).
Learning Points from the Most Interesting Game:
a. My handling of the IQP position was... decent. My handling of the dynamics of the position before it became "quiet", was not =(
b. Staying calm under time pressure is the best thing you can do for yourself.
c. Sometimes, a "passing" move is indeed the best thing you can do in a quiet position.
Finally, an overall wrap-up
- Need to "grow some balls" (pardon my language here)! Not daring to play out 2 objectively won positions against players rated 21XX and 20XX due to time situation is a pity, no matter how you look at it.
- While many chess experts recommend that club players should not play into the "theoretically heavy" opening lines, I think this advice needs to be contextualised. I like my opening play (though not the opening-middle game transition) in the mutually misplayed game. Looks like my natural reaction is quite in line with the theory / LiveBook database.
If a player's "feel" for the position happens to be good, it doesn't matter if it is theoretical or not. Same thing as the Semi-Slav. I think it suits me well, just that I probably need to refine some of my moves here and there. No choice, this has to come with experience, playing more players etc, since I don't like to read and I don't like to play chess games online.
Just take note that if you happen to like a particular variation of say, the Sicilian Defense (e.g. Dragon or Najdorf), you really need to be prepared against anti-Sicilian. And no, they are not "crap". Better be aware and familiar than losing in an actual game =) - Despite my overall negative scores, I am actually very glad to have won a game. It was the first standard game I won in the year 2018! But I was lucky though. Very lucky.
- Also, it was not all bad. If anything, there were experience points gained. Always wished I could play better of course, lol. But there are indeed some fixing of opening holes after this tournament run. I'm just seeking to play more games (be it in tournament or training games). These are the openings of my training interest for now:
a. Caro-Kann Defense
b. King's Indian Attack
c. King's Indian Defence
d. Semi-Slav
e. English Opening; and
f. Sicilian Defence
If anyone plays these openings and don't mind playing a not-so-strong adult player (that's me), maybe we can arrange for some games at the Singapore Chess Meetup or something! - Last but not least, doing daily chess tactics puzzles is a necessity (very painful when you miss tactical shots in the game), but in a game where both players have certain standards, such opportunities are extremely rare, naturally. (If there are lots of tactical misses, it simply means the player(s) didn't player well ^o^) Hence, it is also very important to learn about general piece placement, planning etc.
Please feel free to leave me any comments on any aspect of the post games. Thanks in advance
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(aka newbie_learner)
(aka newbie_learner)
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