FICS

Hello once more,


I found out through that rant I had to deal with yesterday that I have a blitz rating (1500) with some 1100 matches played.  Of those 510+ were wins.  I think I'm satisfied for blitz sessions.


Cheers,
James

Chess Life

Hello again,


I just received my first copy from my membership renewal and hopefully over the course of time I will be able to gain valuable insight into various openings, ideas, combinations, positions, and etc.

Cannot wait to dive in.


Cheers,
James

Chess etiquette

Hello Everyone,


Hope everyone is doing well.  I have to rant about something that happened yesterday.  Fortunately I was not able to write back after my match to this person but I hate being insulted.  It's not proper, and it's something I rarely do... therefore anyone who does that with me will not have a match with me.


Cheers,
James

Match of the week

Hello everyone,


I found this one on chessgames.com and found it pretty interesting as it was a match played by a famous actor - Humphrey Bogart.

Humphrey Bogart v Lauren Bacall
1951
C60 - Spanish Game / Ruy Lopez

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. d3 d5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. c4 Bb4 7. Nc3 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Qd6 9. a4 Bd7 10. Ba3 Qf6 11. Qe2 Nge7 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Nxe5 Bxg2 15. Rg1 Bh3 16. Rg3 Be6 17. d4 c6 18. d5 cxd5 19. cxd5 Bxd5 20. c4 Be6 21. Re3 f6 22. Nd3 Kf7 23. Nf4 Rae8 24. Nxe6 Qb4 25. Kf1 Re7 26. Re1 Rhe8 27. Nd8 Kf8 28. Rxe7 Rxe7 29. Qxe7 Qxe7 30. Rxe7 Kxe7 31. Nxb7

At the very least it is pretty entertaining.

Cheers,
James

Books from USCF

Hello Everyone,


I just received my books this afternoon from USCF.  I cannot wait to start reading them in conjunction with my repertoire books.  Hopefully I gain some important insight into how to actually play the game and become a better player.

The books I got are:

-   Lasker's Manual of Chess.
-   Grandmaster Preparation - This is one book I remember reading years ago, but lost the meaning behind what was written.
- How to Crush Your Opponents - The Freebee
- Lasker's Defense to the QGD - An opening I'm wanting to take interest again.

I would encourage anyone out there to at the very least to pick up Lasker's Manual of Chess.


Cheers,
James

Blitz matches

Hello,


A note on blitz matches.  I play a lot of blitz and found that I'm losing more than winning these games.  Some are in the opening, but most of them have happened during the middle game.  During the opening I know that it's just getting through seeing missteps on my part and needing to hone some pattern recognition skills I am lacking.

Regarding the middle game - it's just pure tactics.  I'm not very well versed on this, but I do know that there are occasions when I see something, a spark happens and a flash of brilliance coms into play leading to victory.

It should be known that blitz overall is not good chess except in times of time crunching your experience through a normal match whether it is g/60 or g/90.

Anyway, hopefully you, like myself are applying yourselves to some real book study and actual play time.


Cheers,
James

Match of the week

Hello everyone,


This match date back to the 1880's and I found it to be very intriguing as White crushes the king-side of Black's defense and loses out of sheer aggression and a little luck by Black.  Match is courtesy of chessgames.com and it is very nicely annotated on http://gameknot.com/chess-opening/english-a10-anglo-dutch-defense?nd=83 by ast_archimedean

Siegbert Tarrasch v Bernhard Richter
Halle, 1883
A84 - Dutch Defense - Classical variation

1. c4 f5 2. d4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 b6 5. Bd3 Bb7 6. O-O Bd6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. e4 fxe4 9. Nxe4 Be7 10. Ne5 Nxd4 11. Nxf6 Bxf6 12. Qh5 g6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. Qxg6 Ke7 15. Ng4 Qf8 16. Nxf6 Qxf6 17. Bg5 Ne2 18. Kh1 Rxh2 19. Kxh2 Rh8 20. Bh6 Qh4

I hope you enjoyed this match.  I did as it proves lost positions aren't lost until the match ends.


Cheers,
James