A dramatic training game (90+30) played on 18 Aug 2018

Who says there is no luck in chess? See this game for yourself, I, newbie_learner, probably had the greatest luck of all time in this game. Perhaps Caissa rewarded me for the good chess karma I accumulated? LOL

I misplayed the opening, which paralysed my position completely. I was virtually a sitting duck waiting to be slaughtered. Then, my time bank took a huge burn as I wanted to maximise damage control on my end, really spending huge amount of time (even 20 minutes or more on 1 or 2 moves). I don't know if my young opponent is trying to beat me by playing fast at the crucial moves -- which didn't pay off for him. Still, my position looked very vulnerable, coupled by time pressure. Then, I went down a pawn in a Rook + pawns endgame. But what a resource I found when I decided I have nothing to lose -- I just centralised my King, activated my Rooks to harass my opponent's loose pawns. Objectively, the position should still be equal / well defensible endgame. But he kept missing the point which allowed me to keep getting free pawn advancement until the point of no return.

This game would be a complete waste of time for chess pros, but there may be some learning value for beginners and club players like myself. As always, these are my personal views which may not always be objective and correct -- please feel free to share your views / feedback if any! Thanks in advance.



Learning Points for Me

• All these games are the same cycle for me: Emerge worse out of the opening, spend lots of time to stay alive and enter into something playable, opponent try to beat me on the clock and backfire, no time to think and play out the endgame properly, *luck-fest* ^o^
• I have read on this about the Bishop pair, but I failed to apply it in this game. What I read seems to make sense in helping to judge whether the Bishop pair is a true asset or not: the unopposed Bishop -- is it good or bad. If good, it is an asset. If bad, it may even be a liability (like this game!)
• Please do something about the poor opening play! I won't always be lucky!
• Please do something about the time management as well. But understandably, because the opening position is already hateable, more time was consumed to improve the quality of the subsequent moves/play.
• Despite all the bad things in this game, I like my practical decision making, from simplifying the position, to not despair when a pawn down and just play the best moves I can see. Even if I seriously misplayed the endgame, at least I was consistent in my approach: gobble up all the Black pawns at all cost first (so that I won't lose). 
• (To other fellow newbies / club players learning and seeking to improve their own game): Can't say this enough: If you are in a favourable or likeable position, do NOT try to press the opponent when they are down on time, esp. when there is 30 second increment per move. Continue to make the best move you see. If you want, you can choose to complicate the position, but do it smart (i.e. the type that poses little to no risk of losing it for yourself). 

Also, it happens that the kids I know were playing on my surrounding boards, and were looking at my game with great interest -- everyone sees that my opponent has a very promising position against me. I guess, I'm glad I didn't disappoint their expectations ^o^

Thank you for your time reading this!


Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

Training Games with Renowned Local Chess Figure on 17 Aug 2018

I was so privileged to be offered the chance of a training session with a much stronger chess player. I did not have his permission to be identified, but he does quite a bit of various things, definitely a name that every person in the local chess scene must know or have heard of ^o^

So he offered my team in the QCD league a simul. Due to schedule issues only 2 of us from team 8.c4! attended the training session. In order for us to get a go with both the White and Black pieces, and due to time constraints, we only played 2 games of 20 minutes + 10 second increment each.

Overall, even though I lost all my games, it was not all bad. To be honest, I was probably in a good shape, perhaps even in winning positions in both games at some point, but crumbled under time pressure in both. I do know that in my earlier posts, I have been saying that it is unwise to "time-rush" when you are comfortable with your position. The reverse applies too -- when the position looks bad, go for time-rush against opponent in time trouble. And see how good players do it so effectively! 

This, to me, is the key difference between a good player (my trainer for the day) and an average club-level player (me). Good players continue to stay resilient in a bad position -- they just play their best and make the opponent work for the win. Had the situation/position been reversed, I wouldn't have been able to pull off something like that!

Without further ado, these were the games played. Also, the trainer played more aggressively on purpose, to maximise training effects. After the games, he even teased me as to make a choice between (i) winning games, and (ii) recording games for completion's sake. He said I was crazy for choosing the latter ^o^ 

Game 1

Learning Points:

• My opening play is non-impressive, as always in all my games ^o^
• But other than that, my overall play was not too bad!
• Time management, as always!

Game 2

Learning Points:

• My KID curse continues, though in an interesting way. I'll accept it as part of growing up in my chess adventures. Perhaps, the day I conquer the KID would be the day I make a milestone in my chess improvement adventure ^o^ 
• The loss was totally unrelated to the opening, but rather, extremely poor time management and very poor endgame play.
• On the bright side, it was not all bad. I actually liked my play handling a position I've never seen before. 

For the chess pros, sorry for wasting your time. But I hope you can find some entertainment value =)

For the fellow club players and newbies like myself, I hope you can take something away from this, both the good and the bad. What is most important, when playing against someone much stronger (higher rating points, more famous is this): Do not assume that you are losing the game before the game actually starts. There is a lot of psychology in chess played between 2 humans -- whoever denies the existence and element of psychology, is either lying, or ignorant, or both!

In any case, thank you for taking time reading this!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing

(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

My DGT Board's Debut @ Siglap South CC Chess Club (Sunday, 12 Aug 2018)

I'm glad my recently purchased DGT Smart Board was put to good use! I actually got it at around SGD $500 to record Rapid and Blitz moves using the Smart Board's internal memory -- it just need to be fed with a power supply (either direct power or powerbank will do). There were a couple of unrecorded games, thanks to my stupidity over setting up my Wall Charger cum PowerBank device wrongly -- it can serve as either 1 but not both at the same time, and the initial power socket I plugged into was faulty, LOL) Anyway, it was not a huge loss, now that I have figured things out, this blunder will not happen again.

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.

William and Seng Chin playing an untimed game on the DGT Board. Even though they did not request for it, the game moves have been captured! Note: We are all regulars at the Singapore Chess Meetup =)

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)

A Pictorial Report: Round 7 of the QCD Adults Chess League

As I did not play in today's round (still nursing a prolonged cold/cough), there will be no games replay / self-attempted analysis.

Rather, I tried my best to serve the chess goddess Caissa in every foreseeable way. 

First, I tried to take some photographs to cover this event. Unfortunately, more than 50% of my pictures taken "cannot make it". Some of the pictures, despite being very blur, were kept as they hold certain special meaning to me. Things did improve a bit when Andre tried his best to impart some photography skills to a complete photography idiot (me). You can see the world of difference between pictures taken by myself compared to the ones I tried to imitate his shots.

Second, I finally remembered to pass the application form for the upcoming Queenstown Chess Club standard chess tournament (unrated, 1 hour per side with no increment) to Mr Eric Lim, whom I have been referring to as the "Sunday Chess Uncle". We are currently playing chess on Sundays at Siglap South CC (3pm-6pm). This is the only way to inform him as he does not have access to the internet ... =(

Third, I tried to make sure that the spectators I'd invited (namely, Mr Sid and the "Sunday Chess Uncle") feel welcomed. I'm glad I brought my personal chess set and clock for their friendly games!

Wrapping up would be my observations, learning points and personal ranting -- I still care a lot about "irrelevant" things like chess etiquette and the likes -- and I admit this may be controversial and may upset some of the players in the league. Of course, things like etiquette is very subjective and open to interpretations. Please feel free to feedback any objections or different views. Even an indication that you're upset will be good, so that I would be more careful with what I say in future.

Okay, this is supposed to be a PICTORIAL report, so here goes. 

First, free-flow of drinks (coffee and tee) is provided. Yes, some of my friends found this "duh" (meaningless to take).

Second, these are some shots taken on my friends from Singapore Chess Meetup @ Asia Square Tower 1 before the game commences.

Picture with David and Jarred. I guess this was a lucky shot in that both players won their personal games for their own teams in impressive fashion. (Their team were playing against each other!)

This is between Cyrille and Jarred. What a game it turned to be man, I was treated to quality chess display!

A friendly game between Mr Sid, whom I "invited" to observe the league, and Mr Xavier Chua, Team Captain of Team Bulldogs/Psalms 23.

And their friendly game was observed by Chris, the arbiter for the tournament, who is also the current President of the Singapore Chess Federation.

It was hard to take a close-up with Chris as he seems to be avoiding my phone whenever I was taking a shot blatantly. Only managed to sneak one here. There was a very funny moment when Chris said "touch move!" in a joking way at the friendly game. I almost spilled my tea -- unfortunately this precious moment could not be captured by any shot -- you gotta be there to appreciate the atmosphere yourself!

A timed friendly game between Mr Sid and "Sunday Chess Uncle", Mr Eric Lim. Because Eric had stopped playing chess for decades (his knowledge on the rules and etiquette remain with the 1980s or so), I had taken some effort to update him of the current rules and etiquette. Hopefully, he will know enough to play correctly at his maiden tournament after so many years of inactivity!

An interesting team battle between the Asia-Squared Bishops (a team I helped to pull the players together at the beginning of the league!) and team 8.c4! (my team). Interestingly, I have played individual head-to-head games with all of the players fielded for team Asia-Squared Bishops.

There was a minor episode before this team battle. The Asia-Squared Bishops Team was unable to field 4 players (Mr Teddy Yip was added late and not eligible to play in this round under the tournament rules). So the team forfeited board #4 at the onset. Still, the players on Board 4 played a friendly game notwithstanding the 1 point was scored for my team's favour. In the end, my team won by the narrow margin of 2.5-1.5. In any case, there is no dispute over the team results as Mark won his friendly game on Board 4 anyway.

Team 8.c4!'s victory shot after the round: That's me with the tongue, Gabriel, Mark, Ching Wai and Ethan. The "3" from Mark signifies the 3rd consecutive team victory we scored -- in fact, it's "only" the 3rd team victory scored since our participation from the 1st season ^o^ I'm not sure if our team is the only 1 with absolutely no change of players from the 1st season? In any case,  I guess we are sticking together since we enjoy each others company very much!

Timothy seem to be in a great mood. I'm not sure if the smile was arising from (i) the presence / arrival of his supporter, (ii) me coming over to take a close-up shot, (iii) the discovery of a great resource over the board against my team mate, Ching Wai, (iv) a mixture of these reasons, or (v) some other reason(s)? In any case, kudos to you for a fine display my friend! Just hope you can quickly finish up your NS commitment and come back to play more chess okay =) 

Andre and Uthpala, both regular players of the Singapore Chess Meetup, posing for my shot. Their opponents conceded a walkover, so they had time for a little distraction. I'm sorry my poor shot don't do you guys justice man!

Uthpala with the very gentlemanly Anthony preparing for their blitz series for the night. Anthony deserves my praise for being a sport in a tournament setting. -- it's easy to behave like a nice guy in a non-competitive setting, but it's rare to behave as a gentleman in a competitive setting (You can read more on this in my previous report of the recently concluded unrated team rapid event @ Nanyang CC). Both Uthpala and Anthony boast a 100% win record against me to date ^o^ 

The following are some ad-hoc shots with no specific player-reference.

The league pool is big enough to be interesting. I've heard about some players' preference to play in adults-only pool, because they had bad experiences with kid opponents misbehaving in local tournaments. With no disrespect to kids, and with no intention to over-generalise, I have personally indeed encountered such incidents, or witnessed it myself when I/my friends participate in local chess tournaments. These are unfortunately, not once-off episodes. So this might serve as another pull factor for adult players to consider joining the Adults Chess League!

A slightly more artistic shot I tried to take, after Andre's patient repeated guidance =) 

Observations, Learning Points and Personal Opinion (Etiquette-wise)

Okay, a final pre-warning that this may seem controversial to some, and risk upsetting some players. Also, this is highly subjective based on my personal opinion. 

1. Strong players are strong because of their resilience. It is NOT true that strong players will always get a superior position right out of the opening (or from move #1 for the matter), increase their advantage to the point of no return and then crush their weaker opponent like a fly. Rather, when faced in a difficult / disadvantaged position, they don't give up as easily as "newbies" like myself and display impressive defensive technique. Recently, I have come to better understand why it always seems difficult to defend -- psychological factors aside, because more often than not, we need to address the opponents' main threats / ideas instead of advancing our own goals. Of course, this also does not mean that we are condemned to defending passively. Always remain on the lookout for opportunities to strike back!

2. Gamesmanship within the rules are perfectly legal. Whether it falls under "proper etiquette" is up to you.

One common observation I have seen (not only in this round, but also in other tournaments) is that sometimes a player likes to grab the Queen (or an extra Queen) and put it beside the chess board. No matter how I see it, this is a gamesmanship (not a sporting) display. Players who do this are essentially utilising psychological attack -- "If you do not resign, I am going to crush you with the promoted Queen."

What should we do when our opponent do this to us? Possible responses include:

a. If the position is truly hopeless, consider resigning!

b. There is this possibility that the opponent is bluffing! Why does he resort to a psychological attack? Maybe because he is not confident in outplaying you over the board! So the more the opponent tries to provoke us with such gimmick, the more we should try our best to remain calm and objective.

Is it possible that I am over-thinking, and that players doing such actions meant "no harm"? Maybe the opponent just wants to make sure no precious time is lost when it comes to the point that he needs to Queen/promote. I can't bring myself to buy into this argument/excuse, simply because of the following law of chess. As quoted from FIDE Laws of Chess taking effect from 1 January 2018,

"6.11.2 A player may stop the chess clock only in order to seek the arbiter’s assistance, for example when promotion has taken place and the piece required is not available."

So the reason/excuse that a player is doing this with no harm intended doesn't stand, at least, in my opinion. No time will be lost since you can pause the clock when you are promoting a piece not available!

Of course, the use of gamesmanship is not against the rules. I am guilty of it as well. In particular for team events I often initiate 1 insincere draw offer in a bad/lost position (although I do not repeat the offer). Even if it burns a bit of the opponent's thinking time to consider the offer, it achieves some "free damage". So far, other than arising from wrong evaluation of the position, I don't think I have initiated a draw in a bad/lost position for individual games. (If I did, I apologise for it.) But I do admit that I am no saint myself where chess etiquette is concerned -- I am still learning and trying to improve with each other game (both in terms of play and etiquette). 

3. Take note of the proper way to execute pawn promotion!

Going back to the point on piece promotion, the use of an inverted Rook to represent a Queen is NOT correct under FIDE law of chess (I've heard that this is allowed under certain USCF rules, but I'm not so familiar with USCF rules anymore). The famous incident over the Canadian Chess Open Controversy will serve as a painful reminder for the side making the promotion the wrong way. In fact, I observed it done wrongly in a couple of games played today (but the opponents did not complain about it).

Even though the current laws of chess is such that a game is only forfeited after making 2 illegal moves (a lot of things, like not using the same hand to move the piece(s) and press the clock, using 2 hands to make a move, pressing the clock without having made a move are now considered as an illegal move) , one should be careful with all the high tension ongoing during a game. Remember to replace the pawn with a promoted piece before pressing the clock, even if it is obvious that the opponent will capture the promoted piece immediately! If you can't find the piece you wish to promote to, pause the clock and don't waste precious time!

4. How to deal with the pressing of the wrong clock?

Last but not least, there is still one infringement that I cannot find a proper reconciliation -- in a team event, what if you press the wrong clock? I have asked 2 arbiters for their views so far, and both opine that 

a) it should not be punished as having made an illegal move, but 

b) it is indeed difficult to restore the "legal/correct" playing condition in a time incremental situation. 

Personally, however, I do think the culprit should be punished somehow. But I don't know how... If you have any suggestions or take on this, please feel free to share with me!

Thanks again for reading!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing

(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

My Standard Chess Game on National Day's Eve (8th Aug 2018, Singapore Chess Meetup @ Asia Square Tower 1)

Background
This match was driven by my disagreement with Weng Chew over the basic things an aspiring chess player needs to do ^o^

Even though I won my game with a stroke of luck, I have to eat my words -- his play was much tougher than our previous encounter-- in fact, I think he's easily stronger than the 4 kids I've played against in the current term of the HPE training league. Whatever he's doing -- going through GM games on his own, with special attention paid to forcing himself to visualise the moves -- is working for him. While I would continue with my daily chess puzzles, I have to admit that this may not be the only way to "keep in shape" for chess.



What I thought I did well (opening):

1. Objectivity aside, it's a great feeling to play in positions I enjoy playing again!
2. I was largely keeping to the opening objectives (develop, centre control, king safety) without trying to be fanciful

What I thought I did badly (opening):

1. Queen placement! The inability to find the best square (c2) to fight for control over e4 cost me too much). 

What I thought I did well (midgame):

1. The choice of 15.Qf1 over 15.Qf3 (even though neither move was "the best"). At least the reasoning made sense!
2. The insertion of 17.Bb5, even though not objectively winning, was a "free shot" to see if Black would react wrongly. Black replied correctly, but doesn't take away that it was a good free shot for White (playable from equality if Black reacts correctly, would've gotten an advantage if Black mishandled the move). This is the type of practical move I enjoy finding in my game.
3. The choice of 21.Nxd4 over 21.exd4. Even though White does not exert control over c5 and e5 squares, it was the right decision to make Black suffer the IQP for the long term.
4. The choice to go for immediate simplification after 24...Rc5 with 25.Nxe4 was great! It seems that at times, I play better when in time trouble =) 

What I thought I did badly (midgame):

1. Also the choice of 15.Qf1 -- it addresses what happens after the e-file was open. BUT there was a more effective 15.Nf3 to keep the e-file closed! (reply ...cxd4 with Nxd4)
2. The choice of 22.Qf5 -- or rather, the constant fear of the continuation. This is a clear demonstration of poor calculation/evaluation resulting in lack of confidence.

Would be waiting for my opponent to share his side of the analysis for this game!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing
(newbie_learner)

Another chess afternoon @ Siglap South CC (5th Aug 2018)

This is "just" another of those enjoyable days in chess. I only managed to play 1 rapid game, followed by a series of blitz games against various players. Just a personal recap for the day:

1. I finally "returned to my roots" with 1.Nf3 again. I enjoyed my months of affair with 1.e4, but admittedly, it doesn't truly suit me, although I definitely had fun with it. No, 1.e4 is not a person ^o^
   
2. Even though I have lost a 5+3 blitz series 1.5-4.5 against the best player of the club today, I'm glad I managed to at least get a win and a draw. More importantly, there were certain openings which I personally didn't like to face, but I picked up new ideas on how to face them. Yes, I agree that we learn more from playing slower time controls, but blitz games need not be "useless" if one plays it for specific purposes (for me, its opening check and basic tactical senses). There is still this 1 player from the Singapore Chess Meetup whom I have lost to by an absolute margin of 0-16 (or was the deficit higher?). Maybe I should work towards winning against him too, at PubXChess one day!
   
3. A pity that I did not bring my newly bought DGT Smart Board (essentially, the cheapest functional digital chess set that can record moves and register the game moves into the computer later). I still need to find a large bag/carrier for the chess Board (it's quite big) and to get a power bank.
   

This was the only rapid game I played today. Glad I won it =) 

Learning Points

• Honestly, I'm much more at ease playing something that suits me. Even though I have been playing only 1.e4 for some time (which was a deliberate attempt to experiment), the moves came naturally.
  
• Waiting for opponent to crack on their own is a legit strategy too =) At club level, most games are lost due to one's own mistakes. I have yet to come across games which were decisive without a mistake from either side.

Anyway, thank you for your time once again!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing
(a.k.a. newbie_learner)

A Great Chess Event on 29 July 2018 (Part 3 Conclusion)

This shall be my final concluding post for the Nanyang Racial Harmony Team Chess Challenge 2018! I have decided not to share the games that "didn't matter" (huge blunder-fest) to spare myself the humiliation. You can also go back to the earlier parts: Part 1 (the game 1 felt most educative for myself + my cross-selling of the QCD Adults Chess League + some pictorial coverage) and Part 2 (coverage of 2 games I shouldn't have won).

First and foremost, let me make the important qualifier that by saying "games that I should not have lost", I am definitely NOT saying that my opponents did not deserve to win. Rather, I should not have made it so easy for them to win =) In fact, it was really good on their part to squeeze a win out of what I opine as equal positions. In a way, this is similar to the different perspectives of the same thing, like the contrasting saying "Games are won by brilliant moves (attack)" as compared to "Games are lost by mistakes (defending)".

Anyway, here goes. In the first example, I thought I(Black) have completely equalised in the opening, I was not entirely correct, but it was close.



Learning Points / Reflections on this Game:

• I actually felt like I'm learning something (overall/general chess) as I refine my play in this opening (Caro-Kann Defence). 6..Ne7 was worlds apart from 6...Nd7 that was played for instance. Another major point was 12...Nf5 instead of 12...Ned5 to have some cover/protection against d6.
• Again, while opening did not decide the outcome of the game, it could have -- certain moves if you make too much of a concession, you are just going to get a very uncomfortable position until it ends.

The following game leaves another deep impression on me, as I (someone who pride myself as knowing chess psychology compared to others who don't or neglect this aspect of chess), actually got self-intimidated by my opponent!

Learning Points / Reflections on this Game:

• Whoever says psychology plays no part in their chess game is either lying or ignorant =) It's a HUGE part of the chess game. And realising it is just a small step towards maximising your potential. See it as shaping your mental toughness as part of your programme towards self-improvement!
• Time management: I wish I played faster in the earlier phase of the game to have more time where it counts in the endgame.
• It was not all bad -- I do feel I treated the opening fairly well.

And with this, I end my coverage of my play in the event. I will probably carry the remaining 2 undisclosed game to my grave without publishing them ^o^ 

Thank you for your time!

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing

(a.k.a. newbie_learner)