Saturday, November 10, 2018

A Couple of Friday Night Games @ Thomson CC Chess Club (9 Nov 2018)

I'm so glad to get to know Allen through the Singapore Chess Meetup (7 Nov 2018). Thanks to him, I got to play 2 interesting games on Friday, followed by his sharing of information on Cairnhill CC Chess Club for me to up date my most viewed post to date, "Updated: Where to Play Chess in Singapore 2018". So sorry and so grateful for you to make a special effort to check it out!

Both games were played without the use of clock. I do feel bad about my misses in the game, but interestingly, I was not the only one who made such mistakes (there were similar games on LiveBook), especially for Game 1. Also, am really grateful to Mr John Wong for helping us review our games afterwards.

Game 1
Personal Learning Points and Thoughts
  • Minor point: I do see the merits of 6...h5 over 6...h6 now, although both moves are probably playable (hence I see this as a minor point)
  • Major and interesting point: Should I actually go 10...Qxb2 or not? If I wasn't ready to do 10...Qxb2, then maybe I should not have went 9...Qb6 in the first place.

Position after 9...Qb6 10.Be3. If you were Black, would you play 10...Qxb2 ? There is no clear right or wrong here -- The engine evaluation seems to suggest the pawn can be captured, but based purely on database statistics, White fares more than okay after Black takes the pawn. I would say that it is effectively a gambit -- if Black takes the pawn, Black will be a few moves slower in completing development.  Isn't such interesting dilemma the charm of chess ^o^


Game 2
Personal Learning Points and Thoughts
  • I don't think it is possible to never be "surprised" in the opening phase of the game (although it is possible to reduce such occurrence. Most importantly, we should try to
  • It is important to not get provoked into playing a (type of) position that clearly departs from one's own natural playing style. Of course, if the intention is to try out something new, just do whatever you want ^o^
  • More often than not, at our club level, sticking to general opening principles is more than adequate. A lot of bad moves arise from the wrong evaluation that a position is "bad" (when it is not) and that I need to do some "innovation"(or play something drastic) to improve the situation. More often than not, it backfires.
Thank you for reading!


Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing (Eugene)
a.k.a. newbie_learner
Siglap South CC Chess Quartet

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