PigLick on 5/10/2015 at 07:24
It does my head in a bit over such an extended time, you should try some of the blitz modes in free play on chess.com.
The 1 or 2 moves a day does work, but its better if you have multiple games on the go.
faetal on 7/10/2015 at 14:29
Henke, just dropped a gauntlet on your desk. Let's do this.
faetal on 14/10/2015 at 15:16
Ladies and gents, I present to you my first game of chess in around 2 years: (
http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=119724742)
I am still one ham-fisted and clumsy motherflippa, but I consider this one to have been a wonderful victory snatched from the jaws of defeat.
No doubt my opponent will have suspicion that I started using a chess engine during the last third, but I swear this is all me. Plus if they're really suspicious, they can just run my moves through any decent engine to see the blunders and inefficiencies.
Very happy with this (though I'm guessing it is mostly down to my opponent just not guessing what I was up to at the end, which is bizarre as it must have been quite glaring).
[EDIT] I'm particularly baffled as to why he didn't take my knight at the end there.
Gryzemuis on 14/10/2015 at 16:01
Quote Posted by faetal
... but I swear this is all me.
I believe you ! :)
Quote:
[EDIT] I'm particularly baffled as to why he didn't take my knight at the end there.
After 37 moves, black was totally lost. White had a mate in 9 (starting with 38. Ra8). That's not easy to see. But white was also loads of material ahead (2 full pieces). All white had to do was exchange a few pieces (or rook or queen), get the tension out of the position, and progress to a simple endgame (2 pieces ahead is more than enough to get a pawn promoted and win).
If only black would have had a threat. If only black could give mate. He maybe could give mate on g2. But white had g2 covered by the bishop on d5.
There was one move that would have spoiled it all. Only 1 move. A move that would block white's bishop on d5 from protecting g2. And miracles ! White found that one move, and he played Ne4. And then g2 was unprotected. :) :) :) You couldn't have done it without him.
faetal on 14/10/2015 at 16:57
Well, I'm buoyed by it, despite the helping hand. I really felt like I was definitely going to be trounced after he nabbed my rook, so I was playing fairly loose after that. My presiding attitude was "this one is probably lost, so I'll just use it as a lesson and maybe try a few things".
Gryzemuis on 14/10/2015 at 18:09
An old chess-master (Tartakower) once said: "No game was ever won by resigning". And that is certainly true. Your game swung between white and black quite often. Although white did a little better for most of the game. Your game is proof of why people should keep playing until one of both kings is mated.
Once the level gets a few steps higher, you will know when a situation is truly without any chances left. Then people usually resign when their position is lost and without any chances of counter-attack. Today I saw a game between two very good grandmasters, and they played an endgame with King versus King + Knight + Bishop. Theoretically it is a guaranteed win for the K+N+B. But you need to know how to do it. It's not trivial. (I can't do it myself). There have been famous games where a GM could not mate the other player with K+N+B. Today they played on until one king was mated. (Today was the World Championship Blitz games. A russian (Grischuk) won. A French guy (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave) came second).
faetal on 14/10/2015 at 18:36
Chess is a fantastic game which I will only ever be painfully mediocre at.
henke on 15/10/2015 at 18:31
Nicely played, faetal and PigLick. Hope you're up for a rematch some time soon. I gotta focus on one game at a time tho, because I've had 3 games going on at once these past few weeks, and every time I come back to one of them I have no idea what's going on. Unsurprisingly I got my butt whupped on both fronts.
faetal on 15/10/2015 at 20:30
I like to have 2 on the go just so I'm not waiting around too much. I was properly concentrating on our game while treating the other one I linked above more experimentally.
Good game though - I enjoyed it. Definitely up for a rematch too. I quit before mostly due to the PhD getting on top of me, but I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it.
faetal on 30/10/2015 at 11:37
Good game PigLick. I definitely felt on the back foot to begin with, which seems to be a theme with me, I think I need to work on my openings. It's almost as though I need to lose a piece or two or get behind on material before I start to focus properly on the game.
Case in point is the current game I'm playing which I am about to become very far ahead in thanks to a nice pin on my opponent's Queen which let me take his Queen in exchange for a bishop: (
http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=120858048)
