Halftime Report: Round 4 in the QCD League (24 May 2019)

Finally, I found enough time and energy to get back on my coverage of the QCD League 2019. I don't think I will do any retrospective coverage of the previous rounds. (Sorry!)

This was a rather meaningful round for my team (8.c4!). First, our team scores was -2 = 1 + 0 (2 loss 1 draw 0 win) , so we certainly hoped to achieve better results. Second, I am seeking to break my personal doughnut after a poor -2 = 0 + 0 (2 losses with 0 draws and 0 wins). But the most important of all, is that 1 of my team mates, Nirag, is playing his last game for us as he would be migrating -- you'll be missed my dear friend, but I would be following any news and update on your sons in their chess ventures ahead!

Pre-match "Preparation"
We were paired against Team Knight Riders, a newly formed team which I helped to matchmake. To be honest, despite knowing a few of the other teams members, I don't really know the rest. So my pre-match advice to my team mates was "Don't bother to try preparing anything, just play your normal game." Because of the random board pairings employed in this league (the pairings were only released 1 hour before the commencement), it reduces the likelihood or efficiency of "reparations". So in short, there was probably zero preparation.

My Personal Game
My game was the first to finish. I will share the actual course of it, followed by how it (may have) affected the team dynamics.

Disclaimer: Do note that I am still a struggling learner to seek improvement. Hence, take my comments with a pinch of salt. But if you have any tips and suggestions, especially different views or opinion, please feel free to share with me so that I have a chance to learn and improve!

As always, the same game was analysed differently. In the first version, I just write down my own thoughts during the game, and in the second version, I run the one-click tactical analysis function from Chessbase 15.

Click here for the game replay: http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2019/5/25/Game581305125.html

Team Dynamics 
Because my game was to the first to finish, I was hoping it could have a positive psychological impact to the my team mates. Unfortunately, both of my neighbouring boards lost. And while watching the final game being played out, a lot of thoughts crossed my mind. The one I remember the most was: should I, in my capacity as captain, inform my team mate that he has to play to win? I know that would've exerted pressure, which can either have a plus or backfire. In the end, I decided to "mind my own business" and let him play his own game. And what an endgame treat it was! Frankly, if I was playing in my team mates' shoes, I would've been trying to find a way to secure a draw -- which comes to the point I want to bring out and confess:

Unlike most other chess players, I don't "play to win". I start off all games with "play to not lose" mentality, which I think is really hindering my own growth and development. If anything, it really hurts my results even when playing with weaker opponents. So if there are any fellow "newbies" starting out, I really hope you can not be like me and start off with the correct "play to win" attitude.

To Let the Game Run Smoothly v.s. Executing the FIDE Laws of Chess Strictly
In this deciding game (my team 8.c4! was trailing team Knight Riders 1-2), there came a situation whereby the player from team Knight Rider actually committed an unintended illegal move. For readers who are unfamiliar with the FIDE Laws of Chess, you actually need to promote a piece properly. You cannot just push your pawn to the 8th rank and press the clock. Under the laws of chess, this would've constituted an illegal move, and the punishment would be to award 2 minutes to the opponent (i.e. my team mate). "Everyone" saw it, but my team mate was not interested to making a claim. In fact, shortly after, the player from team Knight Rider committed a second illegal move. This time, grabbing the King and mistaking it as the Queen. Again, under the FIDE laws of chess, this should have been penalised as a game forfeit. Again, my very sporting team mate let it go, and shortly after, he won the game anyway.

Of course, good sportsmanship should be commended. However, for learning purpose, I hope all players new to or unfamiliar with the current laws of chess can take that little bit of effort to avoid such a situation as a measure to protect yourself (in the "real world" out there, not all your opponents would be so sporting and let this slide). In fact, this is not the first time illegal move via pawn promotion has occurred. I have observed this infringement quite a few times in the QCD league already.

Yet if I take away my arbiter hat for a while, I can kind of understand why enforcing an illegal move can really disrupt the flow of the game and cause unhappiness to 1 or both players. But then, arbiters have no choice according to the FIDE Laws of Chess. If they observe an illegal move, they are supposed to step in. Hence, I also hope that chess players can be patient and understanding if any arbiter's call go against their favour -- they are just doing their job, doing what is prescribed in the FIDE laws of chess.

Conclusion
I was pleasantly surprised when a spectator approached me and talked about the many chess posts I wrote. You mean anyone other than myself actually reads them!? =). I'm sorry that I have reduced my frequency a little -- these days, I only write when I have enough time, energy and inspiration. I hope they can continue to be somewhat entertaining and not a complete waste of time.

As the first half of the tournament is reached, let's take a look at the current standings!

I will continue to try my best to improve my personal games and hopefully help the team strive for the best results possible. We can only go up from here ^o^

And I do have a confession to make. While hearing some of the chess players ask about the best chess club/site in Singapore at present, I couldn't help boasting about Brad's Singapore Chess Meetup. I mean, I can back up my claim -- is there any other chess club or site in Singapore that has a minimum of 30 attendees and more than 60 players during its peak on a weekly basis? If you know of one, please let me know! Otherwise, you are more than welcomed to check out the Singapore Chess Meetup!

Thanks for reading!


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

Fun, Unofficial Time Formats

It's been a while since I posted something. This is mainly due to my recent non chess-related interest, following South Korea's long-running variety show, Running Man. Jeon So Min, is my clear favourite in the show.

I finally found enough time and spirit to make a short post due to the long weekends!

Did you know that the regulars at the Singapore Chess Meetup came up with this special time format which was quite enjoyable? We refer to it as "10 second chess (10s)". In a nutshell, you have 10 seconds to make each move. The 10-second timer resets with each move, and there is no accumulation of time to subsequent move(s).

Instructions on how to set the Clock for 10s

1. The way to do this, is to use Delay mode, where the initial time is 0:00 and the delay is 10 seconds / move.
2. If you are using a chess clock model similar to LEAP PQ 9903, you can make the adjustment from option #10.
3. For this particular format, do remember to switch on the sound/alarm (assuming your clock has this function). As seen in the video, the effect is that the timer will beep once per second when there is only 5 seconds left on the clock.
4. Happy playing!

Interestingly, players who are good at blitz may fare poorly in this format. The general tip/trick, seems to be, that one should try to maximise the 10 seconds per move.

Last but not least, my personal favourite time format is actually hourglass, which I tried out playing with a kiddo at Siglap South CC some time ago.

Care to share what is your favourite 'fun' time format that is not used in official tournaments?


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

Personal Chess Journal (5 May 2019)

According to chess.com games archive, it's been more than 4 years (!) since I started playing online chess. I will fully attribute this to the greater enjoyment derived from playing chess over the actual board, with a real person sitting right before me. BUT, I have to say, that I find playing a lot of blitz games useful in a couple of things, like tactical sensing, copying with time pressure, and above all, getting more familiar with the type of opening positions I play.

This is how I would divide my chess playing time:

• Play Blitz games online -- it is useful in that all game moves are automatically recorded for review
• Play Rapid games when playing at various chess sites -- I should be able to record most of the game moves (esp. opening/midgame)
• Play Standard games at chess tournaments -- this should be the ultimate test to the application of whatever little chess knowledge I have.

This is my current self-identified weaknesses:

• Over-eagerness to push pawns to engage without adequate preparation (esp. placing the Rooks on the files most likely to open up
• Opening bias -- I should stop playing side-lines for the sake of sidestepping. Instead, acquire the knowledge required to play the position correctly. (Yes, especially when playing against the King's Indian Defence as White.)

Let's see how I would fare in this coming SG City 2019 Open tournament!

Friday Night Casual Training Game

It was a great feeling to see so many adult players in the QCD Chess League 2019 playing training games at the same place! I actually love the temporary location of the Thomson CC Chess Club's chess site at Bishan CC (first floor, just below Singapore Chess Federation).

Anyway, I was glad to have played this long game with Ms Zhemin. After losing 0-3 several weeks ago, I finally managed to even out our head-to-head records a little with a win tonight =) More importantly, I felt I learned something out of it. Truth be told, at certain phases of the game, I felt uncertain even though by the general principles, I thought that I have not committed any chess sin and surely I should be able to punish my opponent for breaching the opening principles and falling so behind in development speed. I guess this is something all fellow beginners / club players like myself need to experience and grow from.

Even though the game was played without the use of a clock, I took extra care to ensure that the time consumption was reasonable (i.e. I would not have flagged, or ran into time trouble, had the game been played under 90+30 conditions).

The game replay can be found in the following link. As per my current practice, I first describe my own thoughts and feelings during and after the game, without the use of engine, before checking for tactical mistakes using Chessbase 15's Tactical Analysis function, and compare the 2.

External link to game replay: http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2019/5/4/Game99188734.html


For this particular game, I'm glad that I wasn't too far off at large. Perhaps the big moment for me in the opening phase of the game was this:

I was playing the opening moves based on general principles. I wasn't even trying to play anything too fanciful after a standard-looking move of 7.Nc3, and then a question popped up in my head: What am I supposed to do against 7...Qb6 which targets against my d4 pawn? I was actually quite worked during the game, and even though my instinct of 7...Qb6 8.d5 seems passable by the engine's standard, it was uncomfortable enough to upset me. There is still much more imbalance for me to learn to appreciate, and I cannot just look at things superficially, that White seems to have dropped a pawn. White does get quite a bit of tempo for it.

Back to Playing Online Chess

It was around 3-4 years ago, when I stopped online chess completely after finding out the wonderful Singapore Chess Meetup started by Bradley Loh. Why would I waste time playing online, when I derive the greatest satisfaction playing chess games in person over the board? I think that was why I quit online chess. Another reason was the abuse and swearing online that sours the gaming experience.

But I have to admit, that blitz games have its important place in a chess players learning. I do find it useful in experimenting and checking one's familiarity with openings, coping with time pressure/stress, as well as tactical sensing checks. Yet I wish the games are recorded (I recall my original reason to buy a DGT Smartboard Set was to record the blitz games I play over the board!). Hence, I have decided:

• To play more games of slower time control (standard or rapid) at various chess sites. This allows me to record and review the games. Of course, given the practical considerations such as time constraint (we can play more games under rapid time controls) , I suspect I would be playing more rapid games at the various chess sites I visit, and the standard games would mainly be clocked during tournaments. I would play blitz games as a form of warm-up.
  
• To play blitz games online whenever I feel like it. The best part is that the games are all recorded as played. Also, I have agreed to play some correspondence chess with my QCD team mates as part of training and preparations. 

Now I really understand why they say chess is life. Because it takes up the bulk of your lifetime ^o^


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