The Life and Games of mace.J

Today is a good day, because I just beat a 1450 player and my rating was 1175!!! Now 1200. I understand some of it was luck, but some of it was me also. It was a blitz game (10 mins), and I was just concentrating on looking at the board and moving. I’ll break it down for analysis later on, but here it is for anyone that cares

  1. d2-d4 d7-d5
  2. c2-c4 d5xc4
  3. e2-e4 f7-f5
  4. e4-e5 e7-e6
  5. f1xc4 g8-e7
  6. b1-c3 b8-c6
  7. c1-g5 d8xd4
  8. c4-b3 d4xe5+
  9. g1-e2 e7-g6
  10. o-o f8-c5
  11. f1-e1 o-o
  12. e2-f4 c5xf2+
  13. g1xf2 e5-c5+
  14. f2-f1 g6xf4
  15. g5xf4 f8-d8
  16. d1-h5 g8-f8
  17. h5xh7 f8-f7
  18. h7-h5+ g7-g6
  19. h5-h7+ f7-f6
  20. h7-h4+ f6-g7
  21. h4xd8 c6xd8
  22. a1-d1 d8-c6
  23. d1-d8
    yes I know it has many tactical errors. But i’m glad I won and my opponent resigned… Ahhh the life of a chess master. :slight_smile: thanks bye

Oh, yeah I’m black.lol

Mace, I didn’t see this until just last night, but here is some advice for you to help improve your chess:

Don’t strip your king of protection unless you absolutely have to. Bringing it out is a sure way to get mated against a skilled opponent. In your game, for example, you’re lucky that your opponent didn’t play h2-h4 on his 20th move, which would have immediately decided the game in his favor. (The threat being f4-g5m.)

Don’t bring your queen out so early in the game. Although it worked for you this time, your queen will become a target that your opponent can use to harrass you while completing his opening development. A better rule of thumb is to get both center pawns, you knights and your bishops out with the first six moves or so, then castle and decide where you want your queen for your 7th and 8th moves. (Generally speaking, of course.)

For god’s sake, don’t take the pawn when playing Black against a Queen’s Gambit. The lines are too complicated to go into here, but take my word for it that Black rarely has a chance to even things out after 3.e2-e4, black moves; 4. f1xc4. This gives White an overwhelming superiority in the center, not to mention better development.

Unless you’re planning to use the f file for a rook attack, don’t move the f7 pawn, which exposes the h5-f7 diagonal, making your King’s position very weak.

You should check out Fred Reinfeld’s book on the Stonewall Attack as White and the Sicilian Dragon Defense as Black. It is good for your level, and will teach you about having an overall plan of attack in your games. Also, study Morphy’s games. They’re very clear in terms of theme and style, and will help you learn more at this stage of your development than studying the more modern masters.

Hope this helps.

Sorry for the long delay. I PMed you, but I don’t know if it was deleted or what. You were 100% right about the h2-h4 move, it would have crushed me. You’re also right about my bishops. Not bringing it out early made it bad in the end game, forced it to constantly guard my center pawn and block my rook. I am going to check out the books you recommended as soon as I finish, “Reassess Your Chess”. Thanks alot for taking the time to help me out. P.S Where do you play? Internet? Club? The reason I ask is that I heard that Chess isn’t very popular Japan. Thanks bye

Chess isn’t very popular around here, so I don’t play much. (My comment on another thread was just for purposes of illustration.) I used to play quite frequently when I was in my 20s, and in fact I taught chess for a while to help pay my way through college.

Books like “Reassess Your Chess” are good in theory, but at your level (and I mean no disrespect here), you really need to get comfortable with a few openings that are clear enough that you can see the themes being worked out through the middle and end games. Most of the modern masters (and the games that are taken from them and used in chess books) are so far into arcane theory that they do the novice little in the way of real good. They’re just too complicated and nuanced to be of use when you’re starting out.

I used to use my own games in order to illustrate points when I taught. These were at a low-expert level, generally speaking, and thus not so abstruse as to require weeks of analysis. I know that a GM could have taken a look at them and picked them apart, but what beginner is going to see the moves that he’d see? You need something practical, that you can apply to your own games and situation.

The Reinfeld book will give that to you. The Stonewall opening won’t work against anyone much over the level of 1700 or so, but it will absolutely crush your current 1200-1400 opposition. Give it a shot.

And when you win your first game with it, post it here and let us all bask in your reflected glory. :wink: