More importantly, how happy am I to see that my friends and the kids loved their experience using the Board! I have also offered to lend this to other chess sites such as the Singapore Chess Meetup @ Asia Square Tower 1 on Wednesdays and PubXChess @ a different Pub location on Saturday / Sunday afternoon for special event(s) at no charge of course.
The following are my personal games played any my own quick review / views on them.
Game 1(rapid)
Learning Points / Post Game Opinion:
- My opening play continues to be meh - no opening advantage, if not slightly disadvantaged and we play on from there -- maybe my opening play is actually worse than my endgame? I don't know for sure.
- I love the way I punished Black's innocent-looking 14...a6 =) Tactics!
- Misplayed under time pressure, but I'm glad I managed to explain to the kid how to play against opponents under time pressure. He should be doing the right things next time!
Game 2 (rapid)
Learning Points / Post Game Opinion:
- Again, the opening started off rather equal.
- Again, Queen placement issues (12...Qc7 played instead of 12...Qa6!)
- The tactical trickery with 19...Bg6 is probably one of the better lessons I can give my kiddo opponent today =)
Game 3 (blitz)
Learning Points / Post Game Opinion:
- Can't switch opening just like that. Specifically, cannot use Caro-Kann ideas in the Sicilian, LOL.
- After surviving the lost position from the opening, I actually like the way I kept things simple. Feels correct for a blitz game.
Raw games played by others, captured on the DGT Board (I did not clean them up, so some appear a bit weird -- so minimise takebacks next time!)
I don't know how it happened, but I think after the session wrapped up, the 4 of us ("Sunday Chess Uncle" Mr Eric Lim, Seng Chin, William and I) were chatting on chess for 30-60 mins. Who says that chess is a non-social activity? ^o^
Okay, that wraps up the week, and working weekdays are here =( Oh well, hope to survive until I get to play chess again!
Thanks again for your time reading =)
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)
Typing this on the train home, and apologies as I only have time to look at the first game.
ReplyDelete9. e3 I can understand why you played that, but I am wondering what would come out of a more ambitious 9. e4: White staked a claim in the centre, prevents black from playing d5, and the hole on d5 is protected by the knight. Black doesn't have any quick way to exploit the loose e4 and c4 pawns as his light squared bishop is still undeveloped. After completing development, white could consider pushing b4, c5 with a general queenside advance, and even use the open e-file to their ad
13... e4 I don't like this move, it creates that hole on d4 which you promptly exploited. Had black not made that mistake on the next move, white could consider exchanging on d5, leaving black with a blockaded weak pawn on that square, which will become a real weakness in the endgame.
Also, love the way you handled the battle against the isolated pawn in the endgame!
Thank you for commenting, my friend!
DeleteYes, I honestly wasn't sure. But my senses tell me that I better avoid opening up the position too much and risk getting into trouble while my White King is still in the middle. 9.e4 is an idea, but if I wanted to take up the centre this way, I probably wouldn't have" surrendered" by initiating dxe6 earlier. (I did it to encourage the centre files, esp. the e-file, to stay closed)
To me, what was the most important was to ensure that White still get to castle into safety. Hence, the modest e3 followed by Be2 and 0-0.
That's the type of player I am, I don't want to take any risk at the onset, I prefer simple, quiet moves even at the cost of opportunity to stake a claim for more.
But I'm trying to work on this deficiency, of course, along other major weaknesses like Queen placement and pawn breaks for now. And KID 😂
As for 13...e4, yeah that's the kind of self-examining move some kids tend to play. I think this one needs more experience to overcome.