- A kiddo whom I played with at Thomson Chess Club played a simple, rarely played (according to database) yet seemingly practical move against me in 1 of my frequently played opening lines. I do not claim to know the best /reasonable response yet. Would be grateful if anyone who has some experience can offer me some tips.
- William, one of the Siglap South CC Chess Quartet, has finally won against Weng Chew (Weng Chew won all previous games)
- Have received some honest feedback and criticisms about my play, and I will be responding to them honestly =)
Some of these would be inter-twined. A new writing style I'm trying out. I just hope readers won't be too "lost".
Thoughts after the Game- It's not necessarily worth it to avoid mainstream lines for the sake of avoiding mainstream lines. I can't justify the position for White after 1.c4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.cxd5 cxd5 -- if anything, I feel Black has at least completely equalised.
- I got bluffed not accepting the gift Knight 12.Ng5+ and responded with a "turtle"-like 12..Kg8. I should have been more careful.
- Otherwise, I like the remaining of my play. Just accept all the sacrifices! The onus is on the side having made the sacrifice to make the attack work.
- Response to Criticism: "newbie_learner always wants to keep the Bishop pair". Absolutely untrue. My critic has presumably never seen these Caro Kann games I played as Black. I always offer the Bishop pair right from the start in this 2 Knights variation =) Also, everyone "knows" that Bishop pair is advantageous, especially in open positions. There is nothing wrong to formulate an entire opening approach based on seizing the Bishop pair, because it's that good! (There are even certain lines in openings like the Caro Kann Defence: Exchange variation, which is almost fully designed to play just against Black's light squared Bishop.)
I think how this criticism came about is my critic was looking through a game I lost which started of with me fully engaged in this "Bishop pair hunting" right from the start. Actually, that whole strategy of Bishop hunting in that game was supported by engine's evaluation. I lost the game because of my poor continuation, not because of the part on my Bishop hunting. This (attributing losses to the correct aspects) is something I value a lot. Otherwise, I would just keep changing the way I play (keep changing whenever I lose) without actually learning anything. So no, I do not agree with the criticism, in that I am not obsessed with the Bishop pair (for the wrong reasons). In fact, there are positions which I do not mind giving up the Bishop pair right from the start, such as this one.
- Back to this specific game, what I hope to learn is how exactly does Black deal with this simple yet effectively irritating move of 6.Qg3? (1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 e6 6.Qg3) According to the free database I have access to, it is not played that often, but boy is it irritating! Specifically, I don't know what's the most effective way to allow me to continue to deploy my dark square Bishop on f8 effectively while the g7 pawn is being harassed by the White Queen. If anyone knows, please share with me!
For Advice: What Should Black Play to Develop Effectively?
- 2 general guidelines which showed in this game were that exchanges are never innocent (it often benefits one party more than the other) and long term weaknesses. Regardless what the engine "says", I love my move 17...dxe4 which created permanent pawn weaknesses.
- Response to Criticism: "newbie_learner always follows general principles to a T" Absolutely true. However, I'm not sure if this is doing me more good or more harm. On one hand, I feel that I don't make unforced blunder dropping pieces so easily but on the other hand, often I leave opponent's mistakes unpunished. Yet despite knowing all these general principles, I still have difficulties executing them correctly consistently in my own games (otherwise, I won't be a newbie) ^o^ But I do think that whatever the case is, tactical considerations should be given top priority most of the time, which admittedly, I neglect this from time to time. That's why I'm particularly vulnerable whenever opponent generates an attack against me, LOL.
The best is saved for the last. William went all the way to the Cashew Chess Club to play with Weng Chew and finally registered his first win. I got permission from both players to share this. But out of absolute respect (because I am not that good myself, I have concerns my "analysis" may be off, whereas I have no such obligations looking through my own games ^o^) I have done my review in quite a number of different ways, including separate one-click tactical analysis function of Chessbase 15 to look at it from a pure engine view. Interestingly, I don't fully agree with engine's suggestions! I guess the reader has to make his/her own judgement call at certain interesting moments of the game.
newbie_learner's analysis of William-Weng Chew
The Siglap South CC Chess Quartet has been trying our best to assure William that "it's all in the mind". If you start off the game not believing you can win, you never will. Everything was done right in the game (not that there's no room for improvement, but most things and decisions came out well).newbie_learner's analysis of William-Weng Chew
Now that the doughnut was broken, all future games between this pair would be even more interesting I bet =)
I have also added a comparison analysis based on Chessbase 15's one-click tactical analysis. Open a new window from the link below:
http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2019/1/5/Game861860203.html
Thoughts after the Game + Response to Criticism
- Black seems to have over-prepared and delayed ...c5 pawn break for too long, to the point that it allowed White to do a complete regroup. It really does seem easier for Black to play ...c5 as early as possible.
- The biggest learning point to me was the position arising after the move 14.Ne5. I know that not everyone agrees with me, but the way I see it, it is a very provocative move. Specifically, it will likely work against newbie like myself who follows guideline to a T: "Always fight off opponent's pieces in your turf as soon as you can." Following this guideline blindly would have picked 14...Nxe5 as the move to make. Only to face White's menacing pawn charge starting from 15.f4. Actually, I'm still not sure how much better Black is, but the recommendations from the engines is to just trade off both the c and d pawns to minimally open up the scope of Black's Bishop pair. Because the Knight on e5 hasn't got very concrete targets yet.
- Response to Criticism: "The way newbie plays can be summarised as this: Minimise the occurrence of weaknesses, but often seemingly without any true demonstration of the point behind it"
It depends on how you see things. On one hand, I agree to a large extent. On the other, I feel that there are certain (even if few) concepts which I understand decently well. I'm just not sure which specific concept my critic feels I don't demonstrate correct understanding over. I think it is more accurate to describe myself this way:
"As a newbie who is not very good with the fundamentals, especially the appreciation of imbalances which all newbies struggle against, newbie_learner's lazy approach is to minimise weaknesses at all cost. Where there are less weaknesses in the position, it is easier to keep things in order. However, it is true that newbie_learner also let the opponent off the hook a lot, because he does not appreciate imbalances well. This leads to lots of problems in his games. For instance, opponents who know this are often allowed to take 'free attacking shots' based on newbie's desire to avoid imbalances. newbie_learner even suspects this is why his records are so terrible when facing double-edged openings like the King's Indian Defence and the Benoni Defence. "
- To improve, I do see a need for me to allow myself to play in more dynamic positions with imbalances. Minimally, it will give me more opportunities to test and improve my evaluation of positions. Shall make this a chess resolution for this year. Thanks for all the criticisms above!
Looking forward to hearing more feedback. Thanks again for your time!
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing (Eugene)
a.k.a. newbie_learner
Siglap South CC Chess Quartet
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