I was crazy enough to bring down my DGT Chess Board (the truth is, I have donated away all my chess sets to various chess sites (Singapore Chess Meetup, Pub X Chess). I happened to reach SCF slightly ahead of our scheduled time, so I took opportunity to walk around and take photographs of the bulletins. What a great collection of interesting articles!
This kind of looks familiar, doesn't it? =) Click here for the full online article!
World Champion Magnus Carlsen thrashed us with a perfect 16-0 in Singapore. Well, he's the World Champion! To relive the moment, you can refer to this article!
I'm not sure how many of our national champions and aspiring teens and kiddos you can recognise =)
Anyway, back to my training session with Yogesh. Initially, I was hesitant about disclosing this for obvious reason. But with Yogesh's permission and blessings, here it goes!
It's a bit unfortunate that we weren't able to play a full 90+30 game due to practical constraints. As an alternative, we tried a 50+10 (50 minutes initial time + 10 second increment per move) in game 1, followed by a 20+10 in game 2, before we concluded the training session with a untimed "focus training" game.
Game 1
Learning Points
- I really "suck" playing against the King's Indian Defence (KID), but it wasn't all bad. At least there were some "generic" moves made that were good enough. In fact, it may be more important to stick to the fundamentals (e.g. minimise pawn moves on the side one is intending to castle, and initiate quick pawn storm against opponent's King).
- Got to be more careful as White was the first one who slipped into an objectively lost position, only able to get back with luck.
- It is really easier to play without time pressure. Good time management is important!
- Well, I guess Caissa rewarded me for pressing on. Fighting spirit ^o^ Otherwise, it would've probably been played out as a draw.
Game 2
Learning Points
- It is no good to play a move without understanding, although it can be tempting as the "easy way out" (but if one keeps doing it, it will become too taxing on the memory. I guess the point is to get on with development, and more importantly, by opening up the b-file, get the major pieces to launch a counter-attack against White's b2 pawn. Black will need to find more opportunities to strike against White's Queenside pawns.
Game 3 (This is the most interesting but this is not a proper game because Yogesh is telling me all the major themes in the opening phase move by move) as I try my best to play against the KID once more.
Learning Points
- Really have to thank Yogesh again for guiding me along. Finally a bit of positive experience in the opening I fared the worst by far. (Thank you!)
- If anything, I feel that delaying castling doesn't seem to work well when we can just castle to the side we are supposed to and do whatever we need to do (e.g. opposite side castling implies both sides should initiate pawn storm).
- Also, it seems that knowing the key theme or idea of the opening is so much more important than the exact precise order (at our casual / club level play).
That's all for now. Thank you again for taking time to look through. Feel free to leave a comment if you have additional ideas / criticisms to share for learning purpose!
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
a.k.a. newbie_learner
Siglap South CC Chess Quartet
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