tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72131379980304543532024-02-20T18:29:44.490+01:00Chess VisionAnd what is good, Phædrus,
And what is not good...
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-38668384929964678582009-12-31T16:46:00.005+01:002009-12-31T17:19:16.963+01:00Stoyko and Phaedrus combinedThis afternoon I struggled with the position below. If you want you can use it yourself as a Stoyko exercise. The position is taken from <a href="http://www.iamcoach.com/chess/chessexam.htm">Khmelnitsky's Chess Exam</a>.<br /><br />After you have analyzed the position and written down every line, you can compare it with Khmelnitsky's analysis. If you highlight the space between the brackets you can see the line he recommends for white in this position.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigZPhWVVDDgBtC4J4aeFeSJJpH9zvJ2aDd9XfbWyW99RL1rnvNtJlmtGBcdXC6zAop09lH8ld_bprjWcEiPJt4EUshrLoFAR1b1IiyyT5e-4EZtBzPm4dfUIoONGXy_qKW12we744B00k5/s1600-h/Pos6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigZPhWVVDDgBtC4J4aeFeSJJpH9zvJ2aDd9XfbWyW99RL1rnvNtJlmtGBcdXC6zAop09lH8ld_bprjWcEiPJt4EUshrLoFAR1b1IiyyT5e-4EZtBzPm4dfUIoONGXy_qKW12we744B00k5/s320/Pos6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421430809816310050" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >(</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This is Khmelnitsky's analysis: </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">1 Rxd6!?</span> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">was played in the game Baburin - Basas, Andora 1998. White got two pawns for the piece, neutralized blacks initiative, and gainde psychological momentum. Black never recovered from the initial shock and quickly fell apart. After </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >1 ... fxe3 2 Nxe3 Bf8?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> [already a losing move. Better was </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >2 ... Nf6</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, but after </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >3 Rc6</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >4 Rxc5</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">white has excellent chances.]</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >3 Rxg6! hxg6 4 Qxg6+ Ng7 5 Ng4 Be7 6 Nh6+</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Black resigned</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >)</span><br /><br />When I had checked my analysis with Khmelnitsky's solution, I tried to win this position with the move recommended by the author and using my own Phaedrus Exercise. It was really challenging. Amazingly enough I already had real trouble winning this against Fritz 10 with a fixed depth of <span style="font-weight: bold;">3 ply</span>.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-91684451299413904702009-12-24T09:15:00.006+01:002009-12-24T15:35:57.987+01:00Phaedrus ExercisesSomehow during the Christmas holidays I lose focus and become a bit more contemplative. This week I am at home, taking care of my children. While you may think that this gives me a lot of time to work at my chess, there actually is surprising little time to do so. There is (the) continuous (threat of) disturbance. Young children in one way or another constantly seek for attention, confirmation, comfort or just turmoil.<br /><br />Still, all in all it is a great distraction from work and the daily routine at the office. Children are very direct, and it is wonderful to take care of them and give them the opportunity to play and have fun. On the side there is also the chance to do a bit of chess practice, but not the exercises that require focus and concentration (like step 6 exercises or Stoyko exercises) . Instead I have used my time mainly to contemplate a bit about the problems with positional chess training.<br /><br />Unlike tactical training, it is hard to make positional exercises. The unforced nature of the positions makes the moves more debatable. And sometimes it is more a matter of how to approach a position, than a matter of specific moves. So in most books about positional chess one will find no, or only few, exercises. Most of them give model games that are well analyzed and explained. While I acknowledge that these are very suitable to improve your knowledge, I do quesion if they improve your skill.<br /><br />Lets take the following position:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh51rSBnbLtVZ4QyHTmMxM2Lbh5EVsW9ciDvI86SM9dhVCTSSzg8pWeO2IWdFPbUcSKeK3wAVz-gI8LUhDNA5YIsZiA-FFmpgGIOKvWpj3lBZSZ4OCeqiVEzBp86dzT1tckyT8Tk7X-Th6r/s1600-h/Pos5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh51rSBnbLtVZ4QyHTmMxM2Lbh5EVsW9ciDvI86SM9dhVCTSSzg8pWeO2IWdFPbUcSKeK3wAVz-gI8LUhDNA5YIsZiA-FFmpgGIOKvWpj3lBZSZ4OCeqiVEzBp86dzT1tckyT8Tk7X-Th6r/s320/Pos5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418719315151419058" border="0" /></a>This is a position from the game Spassky - Fischer, Santa Monica 1966. It is given in Gelfers Positional Chess Handbook in a chapter about good bishop against bad knight. I will give game moves with Gelfers annotations.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>35 h4 Nc4 36 Ke2 Ne5 37 Ke3 Kf6 38 Kf4 Nf7 39 Ke3</b></span> <i><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;">39 Bd5</span> is better (Gelfer).</i> <span style="font-size:130%;"><b>39 ... g5 40 h5</b></span> <i>Black has rid himself of the weakness at g6 but his knight is restricted to watching the passed h-pawn.</i> <span style="font-size:130%;"><b>40 ... Nh6 41 Kd3 Ke5 42 Ba8 Kd6 43 Kc4 g4 44 a4 Kg8 45 a5 Kh6 46 Be4 g3 47 Kb5 Ng8 48 Bb1 Nh6 49 Ka6 Kc6 50 Ba2 1-0</b><br /></span><br />If you have played through this carefully, you might have the impression that you have learned something that you can use in your games. But how can you be sure that you have? To test this I suggest an exercise that can be done by players of all strengths.<br /><br />Setup the diagram position in Fritz or any other chess engine you have. Fritz has the option to chose a level. For starters chose a level with a fixed depth. Start with 1 ply, or if this is not challenging enough for you, with 3 ply, and try to win the position against Fritz. If you do, move up a level and play out the position with the engine set to 3 ply. Than 5 ply, and so on until you can't beat the machine anymore. As soon as you stop winning, analyze the games. What went wrong, and where. As soon as you think you know how to do it better, try again at the same level. At one time or another, no matter what you do, you will not win anymore. This is the time to stop and move on to another position.<br /><br />I do not make claims about the rating points will gain with this exercise, but I do believe it is the best possible way to study most books about positional chess.<br /><br />To make a name for myself, I do however claim the name "Phaedrus Exercises" for this method of training. Maybe I am mistaken, but I do not believe that (however obvious it is) until today anyone has ever suggested this exercise.<br /><br />Happy holidays to all A.C.I.S. members and other readers of this blog!Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-58486791369623555122009-12-18T09:27:00.002+01:002009-12-18T09:53:29.314+01:00No sneaky previewIn last weeks post "searching for Steve Stoyko" I explained the dilemma I encounter when I select positions for my Stoyko Exercises. A Stoyko Exercise is the most challenging when one starts it without having a clue about the game continuation or the given analyses. When the position meets these requirements, the exercise comes really close to a real otb chess game. But the exercise also demands that the position is complicated and/or dynamic. And last, but not least, it is best if I can compare my exhaustive analysis with those of a much stronger annotator.<br /><br />But finding positions which meet those criteria is impossible without a glance at the position and the continuation and analysis, which at least gives away candidate moves. I absolutely don't want this to happen, so I have found ways to tackle this problem, but not to my complete satisfaction.<br /><br />At the moment I am using positions from two sources. I get my positions from Agaards "Excelling at chess calculation" and from Pata Gaprindashvilli's "imagination in chess". These positions are in general sufficiently complicated to offer a real test to my calculation powers. Because the answers and analysis are given at the end of the book, I do not have to fear getting involuntarily preview at the solution.<br /><br />There is however a small negative side to this method. The positions I get are not only highly tactical, but they also have a very clear "solution". Contrary to real games, every position can be solved to a clear advantage (win) or equal position (draw). So there still is an certain urge to obtain a database with positions that do not lead to a clear cut conclusion. Alastairs suggestion to let another player do the selecting might be the best way to get exactly what I want. Teaming up with a player of more or less equal strength and exchange positions is probably the way to go.<br /><br />Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions to find Steve Stoyko. Your help is greatly appreciated.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-14692891112592715262009-12-13T11:29:00.003+01:002009-12-13T11:50:08.347+01:00Searching for Steve StoykoAs described in my last post, I am currently doing two Stoyko Exercises every week. The aim of these exercises is to improve my calculation. I love doing the exercises, but there is a practical problem that I encounter in the search for suitable positions. How to find good positions without spoiling them?<br /><br />I do not have a coach, so I have to rely on books as a reference for checking my calculations. Of course there is also the possibility of using a chess engine. But I very much prefer a human assessment of the lines I found as a reference. The main problem with engines is their evaluation of non tactical positions.<br /><br />Because of this, I want to work with positions that are exhaustively analyzed in a book. But to find them, you have to look at them. And even a glance involuntary gives away moves and lines before you start exercising. I think I have found a few ways to get around this obstacle, but I would love to hear some suggestions from other players to tackle this problem.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-14862662958338252742009-12-05T10:59:00.006+01:002009-12-05T11:26:54.265+01:00Step 6 and Stoyko exercisesAt the moment I use two training methods. The first is step 6 of the steps method. I already did this book once (over a period of more than a year) and had an overall succes rate of about 85%.<br /><br />At first I thought it would be best to concentrate on the exercises I failed to solve. But when I started to pick up the book I noticed that I didn't remember most of the (1300) positions. For this reason I decided to go through the book again. Not surprisingly my succes rate is now about 95%, and I also solve them a lot faster than I did the first time. I consider this work to be largely a kind of maintenance of acquired patterns.<br /><br />The other method I recently started is doing 2 Stoyko exercises a week. I have chosen this method to improve my calculation abbilities. Last season I noticed that most of my opponents calculated deeper than I did. So this is probably my weak spot.<br /><br />Below a description of the Stoyko exercise that I copied from Dan Heismans website.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">FM Steve Stoyko suggested this very helpful exercise. First the reader should find a rich middlegame position. You can find them in many Kasparov, Shirov, or Speelman games, or in the books The Magic of Tactics, Genius inChess, or How to Think in Chess. Take out a couple sheets of paper and a pen or pencil.The idea is to write everything you can possibly visualize from the position, like you were playing the game without a clock and you had to see and record everything before you move. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">Write down every line that you look at (no matter how bad!), along with that line's evaluation. This should fill up several sheets of paper and take 45 minutes up to 2+ hours! If you chose a sufficiently complex positions dozens of variations should be considered. Consider lines to as much depth as you think is significant.You can show your judgment of the evaluation (who stands better and by how much – you don’t always have to say why) with any number of methods: </span><br /><ol style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;"><li>Traditional: =, ±, ∞, …</li><li>Computer - In pawns; negative means Black is better: +0.3, -1.2, …<br /></li><li>English: White is a little better, Black has compensation for his lost pawn, etc.</li></ol><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">When you are done, take your analysis to a good instructor, player, or software program. Look at each line to see how well you visualized the position (any retained images, illegal moves, etc.?), and also compare your logic (was that move really forced?) and your evaluation.In general the Stoyko exercise, if done properly, should help you practice and evaluate the following skills:</span><br /><ol style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;"><li>Analysis<br /></li><li>Visualization<br /></li><li>Evaluation</li></ol><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">Steve claimed that each time he did this exercise he gained about 100 rating points! </span>Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-22663237580442783052009-12-02T21:17:00.006+01:002009-12-04T14:42:12.661+01:00Why are we seeking?Blunderprone has started a new circle of chess players on the road to improvement. I think this is a wonderful initiative and it certainly seems to have rejuvenated the chess blogging scene. When I started reading all the reactions on different blogs, one stood out as the most fundamental. It was <a href="http://rlpchessblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/acis-of-caissa-maybe-its-not-what-to.html">Robert Pearsons post</a> in which he questioned the point to seeking improvement.<br /><br />It struck me and reminded me of a question a that co-worker of mine once received when he said he was going to the tennis club. "Are you going to play or work on your backhand" he was asked ironically when he parted.<br /><br />I understood why this question came up. This co-worker is a very competitive guy who doesn't seem to enjoy playing when he loses. And when he talks about his games he is always pretty self critical.<br /><br />But isn't this something that everyone who is part of, or feels related to the A.C.I.S., recognizes? We want to improve, so we can be more successful. And most of us already have made all the improvement that can be gained within our comfort zone .<br /><br />What we recognize and appreciate in each other is the ambition to improve, win more games, gain rating points and (above all) make sacrifices to achieve this.<br /><br />So the answer to the question "why seek improvement" for me is: "to beat all of those lazy (and maybe more talented) bums who don't". Maybe it is some old fashioned Calvinistic work ethic that makes me think that justice has been done when the player who has worked the hardest, wins the game.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-68411880362674685312009-04-26T13:13:00.002+02:002009-04-26T13:27:38.664+02:0065 points in 400 daysWhen I started blogging last year my rating had reached an all time high. I hade made a jump from 2040 in november 2007 to 2068 in february 2008. This succes inspired me to do two things:<br />1. Start blogging.<br />2. Working through step 5 extra, 5+ and step 6 of the stepsmethod.<br /><br />I worked through the steps while commuting in the train. Not an ideal enviroment, but it sure beats doing nothing or slumbering as far as chess improvement is concerned.<br /><br />Today the provisional version of new Dutch ratinglist was published. It shows that I have made it over 2100. My new rating is <span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >2105</span>. Since I started to get serious in november 2007, I have gained <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">65 points</span></span>. Not even close to the 400 that MdlM made in his stint, but believe me, I am really pleased this accomplishment.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-83939593117404095662009-03-29T13:14:00.010+02:002009-03-29T17:24:33.355+02:00Answering Caquetio, Tanc and PollyBefore I return to the core of my subject of my last post, I will first take the time to answer to the analysis that I received in the comment section of this blog. I asked my readers to give their suggestions for white in this position.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibAMPO9jAPM7PetLy-jmbRaENGfHCwpxbN4bytG-Q-A1nD3dT-IgWpBX5nYijuJJWnC8iEoFZvrZbTUKMvGLnXU_mUPb9C2ICgbvzKlv0hKoaEShy1p6_XKAWDblLLleWWdVovCw4lTi3P/s1600-h/aagaard.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibAMPO9jAPM7PetLy-jmbRaENGfHCwpxbN4bytG-Q-A1nD3dT-IgWpBX5nYijuJJWnC8iEoFZvrZbTUKMvGLnXU_mUPb9C2ICgbvzKlv0hKoaEShy1p6_XKAWDblLLleWWdVovCw4lTi3P/s320/aagaard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318583080222524914" border="0" /></a>The position is taken from the game Andersson - Vaganian, Skelleftea 1989.<br /><br />The Caquetio Knight said:<br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">1.Qd2! Putting pressure on the d6 pawn. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Plan white: Rfd1 increasing the pressure on d6, b3 protecting c4, f3 protecting e4 if necessary. Look out for the appropriate moment to play Nd5 or exchange the dark bishop on h6.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Plan black: black’s counter play is on the Q-side with a6, b5 and the bishop looking down the long diagonal and on the long run the breaking move f7-f5. But the rook belongs than behind the lever pawn. For now if he plays 1…Rd8? 2.Rfd1 Ne5 3. b3 and black is in trouble cause f4! is in the air.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">1…Nd4! 2.b3 (2.Bxd4? cxd4 3.Nd5 d3!) f5!</span><br /><br />Tanc (happyhippo) came up with the following analysis:<br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">a.</span> The key to the position is to note that Black's 2 most active pieces are his g7 bishop and e6 Knight. The Queen is strangely offside at b8. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">b.</span> Black has a Knight that is likely to come to e5.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">c.</span> Black's other Knight is also coming to d4 soon so I need to find a way to counteract it.</span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">If I allow these 2 Knights a chance to come into the center, White's position would be difficult.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">d.</span> On the White side, the b2 pawn is weak.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">e.</span> Black is very unlikely to trade the strong Bishop on g7 for the Knight on c3 else it just opens up the dark squares around his King and that is suicidal.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">I first thought about the move <span style="font-weight: bold;">f4 </span>then <span style="font-weight: bold;">f5</span>. to pry the position on Black's kingside open.</span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">But then I run into the problem of Black responding with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nd4</span>. This is a monstrous Knight and needs to be removed.</span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">How do I do it?</span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">I cannot shuffle my Rook nor move my Queen to attack the d4 square once Black put his Knight there.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">With this in mind, it seems tempi is critical here. </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">How about <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rc2</span>? I now protect the b-pawn.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The move looks good. I'm also threatening to play <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nb5</span> next attacking the d pawn so it looks like Black is forced to play a6 on the next move to stop to defend this crucial pawn.</span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Afterwhich Black will surely play <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nd4</span> on the next move and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rd2</span></span> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Black's Knight is now threatening to overwhelm the position with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ne5</span> and those 2 Knights will be a handful to deal with.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">So after</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">1 Rc2 Nd4</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"> 2 </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">f4 </span>(to stop Ne5)</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">. </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">This is probably what I would play.</span><br /><br />Polly agrees more or less with Cauqetio<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">Hippo: I'm not overly afraid of the knight coming into d4 though it does stop the idea of piling on the d6 pawn. Perhaps <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bg4</span> pinning the knight on e6. It might provoke f5, though I think that's a lousy move for black.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">It's funny looking position with the knight on e6. It looks like a Maroczy bind type position, though as Black I would not have been so eager to get rid of my e pawn. I can't even imagine the move sequence that had black capturing on e6. Having played the Black side of the Maroczy I know that one needs a lot of patience to get a break for Black. I've also reached the White side by transposing against players of play c5 against my English.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">I like <span style="font-weight: bold;">Qd2</span> because it not only gives White a chance to put a rook on d1, but also gives the possibility of Bh6 trying to trade Black's dark squared bishop.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nd5</span> also looks appealing just out of general principle</span><br /><br />This is paraphrased (to avoid copyright issues) what Aagaard has to say about this position:<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">He points out whites completed development and think it is hard to say what the best position is for the queen, so it would be best to leave her where she is. He feels that the rook on c1 needs to be improved, and that b2 needs protection. Blacks position is in his eyes in a bit of trouble, though the knight on e6 and the bishop are well placed. He might consider a6 followed by b5, but he also has to take care of his weaknes on d6.<br /><br />The only way for black to defend this weakness is by utilizing the control over d4. So white should attack down the d-file with Rc1-c2-d2.<br /><br />He gives the game continuation with the following analysis.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">15 Rc2!</span> threatening 16 Nb5! <span style="font-weight: bold;">15 ... a6 16 Rd2 Nd4 17 Bxd4 cxd4 18 Rxd4! Bxd4 19 Qxd4</span> leading to the following position.<br /></span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfwYWi-djgL6ykjnHn4dZjXgdWd6IaO-0yPM84GMJAS2nGl8F8M4b7g7ffvDh5gjm4sGV985uwISybwShRMpe2l5ANyUQb6jn1NZqOj0mYvdy1bZ9j0aPftyeB4BLMfa8wfdVOZmcaQuH/s1600-h/aagaard2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfwYWi-djgL6ykjnHn4dZjXgdWd6IaO-0yPM84GMJAS2nGl8F8M4b7g7ffvDh5gjm4sGV985uwISybwShRMpe2l5ANyUQb6jn1NZqOj0mYvdy1bZ9j0aPftyeB4BLMfa8wfdVOZmcaQuH/s320/aagaard2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318583073071004706" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Here, according to Aagaard, white is slightly better, and brings under the readrs attention the white threats Nd5 and Bg4.<br /><br /></span></span>When I tried to solve the position, my thoughts were about the same as those of Caquetio and Polly. I saw the apparently strong outpost on d5 as a significant feature, and realized that the pawn on b2 needed to be defended before the knight could be played. So in my opinion playing Qd2 (which also connected the rooks) seemed to be more than obvious.<br /><br />After reading Aagaards analysis I do however agree with his judgment, and must confess that Rc2 is way stronger, so cheers for Tanc (happyhippo) who also thought this was the move to be played). The key to this position is the exchange sac. This is what I had missed, and what really gives a bite to Rc2.<br /><br />Though Andersson gets the credits for finding this exchange sac, I think Aagaard also deserves some credit for his explanation. However I believe that this position is a very bad choice for an exercise. Even Temposchlucker, who seems to like this book, agrees with me. In my next post I will try to make clear why this position is not suitable as an exercise for self improvement, which at the same time is my answer to Temposchluckers comment.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-27079912507304474142009-03-27T11:27:00.008+01:002009-03-27T12:46:40.615+01:00Looking closer at "Excelling at positional chess" 1Please look at this position.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-_gn4cG78dTm9Z62PGXICclEAODxTXX6ga57rjmsA21R8TRCBBiAAxOBk0oLwJQuQN9rGL6vQuSpRRZZmJ1dvLrUa95vrwDGh2YEpzlXG_6LYvkCjhBsR_nM8HGs8o7wRAglC-rGnnfs/s1600-h/aagaard.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-_gn4cG78dTm9Z62PGXICclEAODxTXX6ga57rjmsA21R8TRCBBiAAxOBk0oLwJQuQN9rGL6vQuSpRRZZmJ1dvLrUa95vrwDGh2YEpzlXG_6LYvkCjhBsR_nM8HGs8o7wRAglC-rGnnfs/s320/aagaard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317832437993556162" border="0" /></a>It is white to move, and this is the first exercise in Aagaards book "Excelling at positional chess". What move would you play?Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-51912249174745365712009-03-17T18:52:00.006+01:002009-03-17T20:01:31.645+01:00Space and capacityBDK's <a href="http://chessconfessions.blogspot.com/2009/03/planning-exercise-1.html">planning exercise</a> and <a href="http://chessconfessions.blogspot.com/2009/03/full-game.html">the follow up</a> made me grab Michael Stean's classic "Simple chess" again. I especially felt the urge to read what Stean had to say about space and the advantage it is to suppose to offer. And again I was impressed by the clarity of his explanation. This a small part of his treatise of this subject:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Space is not an easily definable or recognizable concept. The visual impression you obtain by glancing at a position and estimating who seems to have the lion's share can be misleading. The following is nearer to the truth. Any given pawnstructure has a certain capacity for accomodating pieces efficiently. Exceed this capacity and the pieces get in each other's way, and so reduce their mutual activity. This problem of overpopulation is easy to sense when playing a position, it "feels" cramped. To take an example, compare the next two positions.</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqy29Id_DSlMxcXBKrQA7XTPqlYnHkVuztOIzzOHRs22BocppfcqIS00USzEpJSEn2c2Tt-NYqD9w_QcyWfsMsGJNycMOEZWAsS1VNMgBFv6QUo5AgdiaQ5FzVCELYjeGJnwuTKtzo3xb/s1600-h/Pos3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqy29Id_DSlMxcXBKrQA7XTPqlYnHkVuztOIzzOHRs22BocppfcqIS00USzEpJSEn2c2Tt-NYqD9w_QcyWfsMsGJNycMOEZWAsS1VNMgBFv6QUo5AgdiaQ5FzVCELYjeGJnwuTKtzo3xb/s320/Pos3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314230338461991234" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnLj29_WxezC1KXv6kzyyr2BmybLOy0xEWqCQefMhjF50okBPg6g-wO_ox0T7_ZAXwruaAD3zZeO4MGY5TvGRuN6XTSpl21LeSSvzMD-9mEDtR2w77LR1d08N0dpQYJ5_fEFSzLuHA_lv/s1600-h/Pos2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnLj29_WxezC1KXv6kzyyr2BmybLOy0xEWqCQefMhjF50okBPg6g-wO_ox0T7_ZAXwruaAD3zZeO4MGY5TvGRuN6XTSpl21LeSSvzMD-9mEDtR2w77LR1d08N0dpQYJ5_fEFSzLuHA_lv/s320/Pos2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314230341777461650" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;">They do, of course represent the same position, but with two pairs of minor pieces less in the second case. In the first diagram black is terribly congested. There is no way he is ever going to be allowed to play b7-b5, while alternative methods of seeking some breathingspace by (after due preparation) ... e7-e6, or ... f7-f5 would compromise his pawnstructure considerably. White on the other hand can build up at leisure for an eventual e4-e5, safe in the knowledge that as long as he avoids any piece exchange, his adversary will never be able to free his game. </span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />The second diagram is quite a contrast. The size of blacks forces is here well within the positions "capacity". As a result there are no spatial problems at all and black can very quickly seize the initiative by ... a7-a6 and ... b7-b5 or even by ... b7-b5 as a pawn sacrifice, e.g. 1 ... b7-b5 2 cxb5 a7-a6 3 bxa6 Rxa6 with tremendous pressure. </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">We see from this pair of positions that blacks structure is very good, but his capacity is small. Visually white has a spatial advantage in both cases, but in the second the eye flatters to deceive. In fact he is grossly overextended. A vast empire requires an army of equal proportions to defend it. </span><br /><br />I have nothing to add to this, besides a glance at the position BDK gave us in his planning exercise.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJMTshVURauiHtyhmd5giETaGBrivAF9TRTjvTlFmOza5JZxiKsgYUOidfO3EY9AVcty2-HkAZ_myOeiWntA1uvU8WR2AzhHQNHExFeuYfhOOgCYcz21XVkcXhHIP0F-s7F5NZ73Kqb7n/s1600-h/Pos4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJMTshVURauiHtyhmd5giETaGBrivAF9TRTjvTlFmOza5JZxiKsgYUOidfO3EY9AVcty2-HkAZ_myOeiWntA1uvU8WR2AzhHQNHExFeuYfhOOgCYcz21XVkcXhHIP0F-s7F5NZ73Kqb7n/s320/Pos4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314230337567137954" border="0" /></a><br />Indeed, white has space? But why should this be an advantage, considering the explanation given above? It seems to me that blacks forces are will within the capacity of his pawnstructurePhaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-11041290742097020702009-03-14T16:14:00.003+01:002009-03-15T11:45:14.148+01:00Blindfold?Temposchlucker asked me: <span style="font-style: italic;">I assume you have tried to play blindfold chess. What's your experience? <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span></span>I have to confess that I did try a lot of methods to improve my visualization and calculation. And amongst those was also playing blindfold chess. I was not very good at it. I managed to play blindfold without playing illegal moves, but it was not something that came naturally.<br /><br />The way I played was that I would reconstruct the complete move sequence from the first move onwards, to rebuild the chunk I wanted to analyze. When I had done this (I did this fairly quickly) I was able to analyze the position a bit.<br /><br />As far as I can remember I never felt that I improved. Not in playing blindfold, nor in regular OTB games. The only thing that made me better in visualization is the platform technique that Tisdall described in "improve your chess". Not that it made my visualization and calculation deeper or faster, but mainly because it made it more effective and efficient.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span>Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-66282129352038236732009-03-12T17:35:00.005+01:002009-03-12T17:51:26.675+01:00What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!This is the material I have worked with the last year. The workbook is almost completely worn out. I accompanied me during a year on every train ride to and from the office. There never was a book that forced me to work as hard and continuously as this one!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxktkmimyrTCORQIcDwgL2NmvAbhN3qKHOU4f0XKFsVyRsu7c9coMjEVQZ8sJyssUzeHnTtppCuAUvj_mkccCwgmLwByXXz9M2KO3OkdrbYJ9HfzdlVH56LkkUsdXCie8GAeM-EOvthYh/s1600-h/12+maart+2009+001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxktkmimyrTCORQIcDwgL2NmvAbhN3qKHOU4f0XKFsVyRsu7c9coMjEVQZ8sJyssUzeHnTtppCuAUvj_mkccCwgmLwByXXz9M2KO3OkdrbYJ9HfzdlVH56LkkUsdXCie8GAeM-EOvthYh/s400/12+maart+2009+001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312342292881549442" border="0" /></a>The workbook without its cover.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxebwhfMVi_SRMsbHySZx_CB08R20RIc8usmd9A1Dwui2gcPMtNFt2Hd8BV6-JcDhUqIt09gjRw7tq1UCoE3f7YiFHO6rpMph0_pIlvLuGJrQifjF-31VRjEYLC0-qfVY-6LjRJHE6D9fN/s1600-h/12+maart+2009+002.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxebwhfMVi_SRMsbHySZx_CB08R20RIc8usmd9A1Dwui2gcPMtNFt2Hd8BV6-JcDhUqIt09gjRw7tq1UCoE3f7YiFHO6rpMph0_pIlvLuGJrQifjF-31VRjEYLC0-qfVY-6LjRJHE6D9fN/s400/12+maart+2009+002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312342294152968226" border="0" /></a>The torn and worn out cover.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip3E3cL4TOYQb6-lcptVZY-uMYIGfq_7eGq_32HHBo0ygtYwJN8kKCXjJ0M_R6ZBW2-fDYrffXG1oRey3TLvczrq20wRZKKBNifculTjbYSO8XqvSvID99k1pqHwjVB3ibUIFS6vDKMCaD/s1600-h/12+maart+2009+003.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip3E3cL4TOYQb6-lcptVZY-uMYIGfq_7eGq_32HHBo0ygtYwJN8kKCXjJ0M_R6ZBW2-fDYrffXG1oRey3TLvczrq20wRZKKBNifculTjbYSO8XqvSvID99k1pqHwjVB3ibUIFS6vDKMCaD/s400/12+maart+2009+003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312342294107880354" border="0" /></a>My notebook.<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMHE8IigO-jugZ0ospjBp6xorJZ4sqT0qhizBVPgSxuXpPJP9VEZfvfKlVUZz-JSzkhLP57MmzSS8CrN4onQv9dekql5LQvEyUfhEgrVClNUkvb4oYMYMYisTG0wtmkEA9HSrx23wr0Tw/s1600-h/12+maart+2009+004.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMHE8IigO-jugZ0ospjBp6xorJZ4sqT0qhizBVPgSxuXpPJP9VEZfvfKlVUZz-JSzkhLP57MmzSS8CrN4onQv9dekql5LQvEyUfhEgrVClNUkvb4oYMYMYisTG0wtmkEA9HSrx23wr0Tw/s400/12+maart+2009+004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312342290812755586" border="0" /></a>My notes.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDrpj-f9OAPFOqxPmFhHjnr-HX5IHztOtR_dYpgQ6WyB-50r7NlzksNMK3c-t71OyrwDNZ0feK3-m_vybjrnpiTp1QFVJRI4V1yZ5ugeYATvNJdV8j8nJF-t_8-wzx_1jnLVwMaHkmgIz/s1600-h/12+maart+2009+005.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDrpj-f9OAPFOqxPmFhHjnr-HX5IHztOtR_dYpgQ6WyB-50r7NlzksNMK3c-t71OyrwDNZ0feK3-m_vybjrnpiTp1QFVJRI4V1yZ5ugeYATvNJdV8j8nJF-t_8-wzx_1jnLVwMaHkmgIz/s400/12+maart+2009+005.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312342291019286402" border="0" /></a>My notes in closeup.<br /></div>Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-82230189811365274602009-03-09T20:44:00.005+01:002009-03-09T21:30:59.808+01:00Patterns, patterns and patterns!In my last post I made it clear that I believe that I am relatively good for a player of my strength in pattern recognition, and that I am relatively weak in visualization and calculation. This is something I see confirmed in the post mortems with players with ratings comparable to mine, or sometimes even significantly lower rated players. They have seen more variations, calculated deeper and I more often than not think that I can see that they calculate a lot faster.<br /><br />I once was fortunate enough to witness a post mortem between Timman (at that moment ranked third in the world) and Kasparov. Kasparov won that game in which the following unusual ending ocurred:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSQ60SgY7T7TU8DS7V_zsAZBnYSscNUJy-kBLOsGgo03GH9NYGBJKTKRkZ6fPFyn55GBZLQbCpyFJL_1XPvwvYg3Yla35qh78InATjLxU01Hy5JQCKYLYt7aG7WSrUhN-dh5KjefDHAIa-/s1600-h/Pos1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSQ60SgY7T7TU8DS7V_zsAZBnYSscNUJy-kBLOsGgo03GH9NYGBJKTKRkZ6fPFyn55GBZLQbCpyFJL_1XPvwvYg3Yla35qh78InATjLxU01Hy5JQCKYLYt7aG7WSrUhN-dh5KjefDHAIa-/s320/Pos1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311286084552896690" border="0" /></a><br />In this position it was White (Timman) to move. Kasparov (with the black pieces) won this game even though almost everbody thought it was a draw. During the post mortem it was stunning to see the difference between kasparov and Timman. Kasparov gave one variation after another in an amazing speed. Immediately rebuffing almost every suggestion Timman made to improve upon the game.<br /><br />Witnessing this I strongly felt that Kasparov brains just worked much faster than Timmans, and that the only thing that could compensate Timman for this disadvantage was maybe experience and knowledge (read patterns). Unfortunately for his Dutch fans however, Timman never could prove that his experience and knowledge were superior to Kasparovs, and after this match he never again was able to seriously challenge Kasparov again.<br /><br />Nevertheless, Timman of course was a world class player. So it is possible to be good at chess, even if your main strength is not calculation and/or visualization. And I think that this explains my progress from a steady 1900 player to a steady 2000+ player. The period in which I accomplished this, is the period in which I mainly concentrated on improving my pattern recognition. I started to calculate less, but the variations I calculated were much more relevant than before.<br /><br />And up to this day I still think that the road for improvement for me is to work on my pattern recognition. I do step 6 of the stepsmethod now for almost a year. I have nearly completed the workbook. My succes rate is about 75%. There is hardly a solution in the book that is deeper than 11 ply, and neither will you find solutions with more than 3 to 4 variations. As long as I keep missing 25% of the patterns within this horizon, there seems to be little reason for me to try to improve my abbility to look deeper.<br /><br />And besides, before I started to concentrate on pattern recognition, I have tried a lot to improve my visualization and calculation skills. It did not improve my rating, and neither did I have any other indication that it brought me significant gains. But maybe this is caused by the fact that I did not use an effective method. So for now I focus on patterns. The question remains however what to do when I have finished step 6.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-58759683784505240182009-02-25T16:36:00.003+01:002009-02-25T21:54:57.930+01:00More on calculation and patterns<div><a href="http://temposchlucker.blogspot.com/2009/02/picking-up-gauntlet.html">Temposchluckers attempts to shed some light on calculation and patterns</a> (<a href="http://temposchlucker.blogspot.com/">and the following posts</a>) has inspired me to share some thoughts of my own on this subject with the readers of my blog. This is not primaraly meant as a comment or criticism on Tempo's observations and conclusions, but more a reflection on my own dicoveries and during the past year.<br /><br />I have already stated several times that I think that for a player of my strength (2050+), I pretty much suck at calculation and visualization. So if my rating has some validity at all (and I like to believe is does) I have to do other things relatively well for a player of my strength. It seems to me that I am pretty good at pattern recognition.<br /><br />Of course pattern recognition, calculation and visualization heavily interact. And is is very difficult to divide between these three. I have asked myslef if it is at all possible to find the best move without any knowledge of the appropriate pattern? Imho this is hardly possible. One could make a case that in a position where it is mate in 1 move, the best move can be found simply by exhausting every possible move that gives a check. But one could also say this checkmate is a pattern that is eventually recognized.<br /><br />Because of the number of possibilities, which rises exponentially with every move, sequences of more than 3 to 5 ply cannot be found by calculation and visualization alone. At least not by humans. Computers however can. </div><div> </div><br /><div>But for us mortals, calculation and visualization have to be guided. This is largely done by the search for patterns. A player who finds the relevant patterns does not have to calculate and visualize very as much as a player who doesn't. The latter is clueless. He will have to calculate a lot of move sequences to find as much as a decent (not losing) move, and have a small chance of finding the best. </div><div> </div><br /><div>Computers however can use brute force. And they are so powerful now, that their ability to prevent weak moves within their horizon, outweighs the importance of even the strongest human players to (occasionally) find the best move beyond that horizon.<br /><br />So in order to improve there are two leads. The first is to improve my calculation and visualization, and the other is improving pattern recognition. In my next post I will tell you the choice I have made the past year (in which I gained over rating points, reaching an all time high).<br /></div>Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-19681502495104059012008-11-05T21:32:00.003+01:002008-11-05T21:36:26.480+01:00Light a candle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8J5-t4P00EcWKxGpHBIZyVI2plsoUE8BSV6jP2GpmCGqc_N81lHAjPrylYSdOqo6Aytx4xmqaOHHiMyL5-9PR7ySh7hRI1TqSS6Ms4veFBIz0SmGyP65REKAwaxZjAFWcHe5_V4Y51zFW/s1600-h/kaarsje.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 157px; height: 93px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8J5-t4P00EcWKxGpHBIZyVI2plsoUE8BSV6jP2GpmCGqc_N81lHAjPrylYSdOqo6Aytx4xmqaOHHiMyL5-9PR7ySh7hRI1TqSS6Ms4veFBIz0SmGyP65REKAwaxZjAFWcHe5_V4Y51zFW/s320/kaarsje.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265274629629153714" border="0" /></a><br />International master Johan van Mil is dying. His wife has asked us to light a candle.<br /><br />Johan, Erika and your two sons, my thoughts are with you.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-66671211310200655722008-10-25T15:14:00.004+02:002008-10-25T15:24:54.248+02:00Calculation and patternsHow much deeper do you have to calculate, and visualize to improve 100 rating points? What patterns do you have to master to do the same? Can you gain a significant number of ratingpoints without improving in both at the same time?<br /><br />These were and are crucial questions in my own search for improvement and in my teaching. In my quest for an answer to there questions, I have used the stepsmethod. From my own experience I can make some estimations about the relationship between rating and mastering the steps. And I have come to the following conclusions:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Step 1:</span><br />Calculation level: 1 to 3 ply<br />Patterns: mate, capture, defend, promotion<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">At this level the immediate capture of a undefended piece, an immediate mate, and defending an attaked piece or square are mastered. Most exercises are 1 or two ply deep, sometimes three. I cannot give an rating assessment because I have never had a student at this level who played competitive chess in rated tournaments.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Step 2:</span><br />Calculation level: 2 to 4 ply<br />Patterns: Mate in two moves, fork, double attack, pin, mating with king and rook, discovered<br />attack, eliminating defense, defending against mate.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">When he has mastered step 2, the student is able to use standard techniques to attack or defend. He is capable to coordinate piece action (mating with king and rook, double attack). If he has mastered these skills he should be able to reach a 1000/1100 rating.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Step 3:</span><br />Caculation level: 3 to 6 ply<br />Patterns: stalemate, mobility, eliminating defense, luring, discovered attacks.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Step three builds on the foundations of step 2. It is not as much that new techniques are added. The basics are expanded by the game setting. The position have more pieces, and more distractions. Also the solutions require more calculation because exchanges or other forcing moves are part of the solution. After mastering step 3 the student should be able to reach a level of 1200/1300.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Step 4:</span><br />Calculation level: 5 to 8 ply<br />Patterns: attacking kingside, 7th rank; pawnendgame (key squares), rook endgames (passed pawn).<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Now that the student has reached a level that he is able to avoid 3 ply deep blunders, he can expect to reach the endgame in some of his games. So the basic endgame's are introduced in this step.. The 8 ply deep calculations are only necessary in very forced positions with no sidelines. The student should be able to reach a 1400/1500 level after mastering step 4.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Step 5:</span><br />calculation level: 7 to 10 ply<br />Patterns: Pawn race, seventh rank, rook endgames (Philidor and Lucena position) open files, drawing techniques (fortress), strong squares, Zugzwang, uncastled king, king side attack, small plan, Pin, discovered attack.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">In step 5 the average solution is about 5/7 ply deep, but especially in the forced sequences the student has to be able to calculate up to 10 ply deep. These occur mainly in endgames (pawnrace). Mastering step 5 should get the average student to a 1700/1800 rating.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Step 6:</span><br />Calculation level: 9 to 13 ply deep<br />Patterns: mobility, drawing techniques, zugzwang, imbalances (bishop vs night), strategy (small plan), kingside attack (intermediate moves, adding pieces after sacrifice)<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I am doing this step now. I score about 80% on average. So this step is fairly challenging for me (current dutch rating over 2050). The main difference with step 5 is that it is harder to recognize the patterns, and in many of the exercises there is more emphasis on preparatory and intermediate moves. About 60% of the exercises are endgame positions and themes. Mastering this step should lift you over 2000.The main conclusion I draw from this excursion is that the ability to calculate and visualize 13 ply deep is enough to reach a 2000 level. But only if you have mastered the required patterns. Mastered them so well that you can implement them in all of your (slow time control) games. </span><br /><br />This survey confirms my suspicion that I calculate not as easy and as well than most of the players that have a comparable rating to me. More than I would like to admit, I notice in a post mortem that a player I just beat, out calculates me. The main reason that I can compete and level with those players, is that I have mastered more patterns than they have.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-54982876697477031312008-10-09T21:23:00.002+02:002008-10-09T21:27:44.829+02:00Too deep!A question every chess player faces once in a while is: how deep should prepare my openings. If you grab your opening books you will find many variations that go all the way up to move 20 or 30. This has always made me believe that to be well prepared, I should learn my openings up to move 20 on average. But now I think I have to question this assumption. Memorizing openings up to move 14 on average, should be enough!<br /><br />How I can tell? Hans Ree has written <a href="http://weblogs3.nrc.nl/schaken/2008/10/07/niet-zo-simpel-als-economie/">a column in the NRC</a>, (a dutch newspaper, so the article is alas in dutch) in which he gives the results of some research he did. He checked how many moves it took in every game of the current Russian championship, to reach a unique position. After the first two rounds the maximum number of moves to reach a unique position was 17, the minimum 9 and the average number of moves after which a unique position was reached was 14.<br /><br />Of course the 12 games of the first two rounds are only a small number, and it would be better to take lets say 10 recent tournaments to get more reliable statistics. But I did a small test with my own games of the last year (OTB, slow time control). My average was 13! Try it out with your own games. Just to see if you can really expect to see some benefits of memorizing openings up to move 25 or more.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-10487098627611680862008-10-05T14:58:00.006+02:002008-10-05T15:28:32.916+02:00Exercise wtih Phaedrus, chapter three<span style="font-size:130%;">Lessons learned from a missed move</span><br /><br />first of all a heartily thank you to both <span class="misspell" suggestions="Likes forests,Likes-forests">Likesforests</span> and <span class="misspell" suggestions="Chocoholic,Shopaholic">Chessaholic</span>. You have done me a great service, enabling me to use you as a benchmark. You also convinced me that solving this position <span style="font-size:130%;">ought</span> to be well within my capabilities.<br /><br />Yet I failed. So how to explain this? Why could I not solve this position, when it was within my ability to project positions, not overly complicated and rather easy to solve by fellow bloggers. I do not know their current rating, but I suspect it does not exceed mine.<br /><br />IMHO there are two possible explanations. The first one is that I did not visualize and calculate well enough, and may have given up too soon. There certainly is some truth in this explanation. I had visualized up to 4 Kg2, and just did not see the win in this position. Had I however seen this position, not in my minds eye but right in front of me on the board, I probably would have found the winning split. So my ability to calculate from a position 7 ply deep from the board position diminishes too much, to construct a solution I would have found with the same position already on the board.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiop1JfU9XUmB797vmqCZcSguw3FURD7PKjyMIF6P9IKSCgbrwFBPMUjcQdb2umIhygOMfQjR48m2LMMQeJn-SyGwMt2zOGvWEEJ0Qefl0mo0YL7l0lJ-Iz47-m-LZ3SJQa1tFoeDcFvrt5/s1600-h/Pos5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiop1JfU9XUmB797vmqCZcSguw3FURD7PKjyMIF6P9IKSCgbrwFBPMUjcQdb2umIhygOMfQjR48m2LMMQeJn-SyGwMt2zOGvWEEJ0Qefl0mo0YL7l0lJ-Iz47-m-LZ3SJQa1tFoeDcFvrt5/s320/Pos5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253657699210278706" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">position after </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >4 Kg2</span> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">allowing the split:<span style="font-size:130%;"> 4 ... gxf2!</span></span><br /></div><br />But there is also another explanation that is even more valid. The split was not a pattern that I had burned into my memory. I may have seen it, but apparently it did not stick. And I suspect strongly that the split is a (well) known pattern for <span class="misspell" suggestions="Chocoholic,Shopaholic">Chessaholic</span> and <span class="misspell" suggestions="Likes forests,Likes-forests">Likesforests</span>. They spotted this pattern very soon, and <span class="misspell" suggestions="Likes forests,Likes-forests">Likesforests</span> in his comment confirmed that indeed he was very familiar with it. So for me the big lesson to be learned from this position is: <span style="font-weight: bold;">I have to store "the split" into my memory</span>. I do not fear it will not. Just writing this post has left a big impression, and if that were not enough, there is also the excellent marker in <span class="misspell" suggestions="Likes forests,Likes-forests">Likesforests</span> name "the split".<br /><br />The reason that I think the second explanation is more valid than the first one is based on research. contrary to average chess players a grandmasters brain activates mainly (or at least much more) his memory. And what else would a gm use his memory for than the search for patterns.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And now</span><br />Like every position that I cannot solve, this position is stored by me an a database. After I have finished the book, I will use this database for a second round in which I will again try to solve them. The positions I cannot solve then, will again be stored. I repeat this until I have solved all of them. This is a method which is IMHO much more efficient than the 7 circles. And it has the advantage that it forces you to focus on your weaknesses. Missing a move is never 100% accidental, or just a result of tiredness. It always is a pointer. It either signals that the position is too complicated for you and beyond your ability to visualize and calculate, or it tells that the move is part of a pattern that has not established itself in your brain as well as other patterns.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUa2kBGDbiaFCiuAKs5XYrF7s1QzooPAJQZA8ULUVu6W1Hp92AEf3BNXAUWG56ZdRkT1f-x9AHh5_4MrW8wqREx0IZoU0h4t_bdIaPaqybTz6n0Q6I6EwQxuS5k7PxdX0DNkY4kNjstb8h/s1600-h/Pos6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUa2kBGDbiaFCiuAKs5XYrF7s1QzooPAJQZA8ULUVu6W1Hp92AEf3BNXAUWG56ZdRkT1f-x9AHh5_4MrW8wqREx0IZoU0h4t_bdIaPaqybTz6n0Q6I6EwQxuS5k7PxdX0DNkY4kNjstb8h/s320/Pos6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253657705704829122" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Black to move:<span style="font-size:130%;">4... gxf1B</span> or <span style="font-size:130%;">4 ... g1Q </span>mate </span><br /></div><br />And though it appears to be just another oversight, I do think that <span class="misspell" suggestions="Likes forests,Likes-forests">Likesforests</span> missed mate in 1, signals something. It might either be that this mate was not familiar enough for him, and/or that he is inclined to stop thinking as soon he sees that a piece can be taken.<br /><br />Sloppiness, fatigue, distraction, all increase the chance that you miss the best move, but this occurs the first with those patterns that you have not mastered 100%.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-72751228672360063202008-10-04T16:04:00.008+02:002008-10-05T15:31:01.916+02:00exercise with Phaedrus, chapter 2<span style="font-size:130%;">Outsolved</span><br /><br />Congratulations to Chessaholic and Likesforests, who demonstrated that they were able to "outsolve" me in yesterdays exercise. Although there is not much I can add to Likesforests comprehensive solution (with the exception of a mate in 1 he missed), I will give the solution here again, and add a few diagrams. In this way I make it more comfortable for you (other) readers to see what chesscaholic and Likesforests came up with.<br /><br />This was the position I asked you to solve yesterday. It is black to play and win.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBbhh4kQLiElYkS9VsPoAhTEfJNh0ys7QgSUz7mXgsQs6ZKXAuhdBrClVTV1qckFLXoNDEcv30qLegRZ6QQU285rC8Ax2-Vi1YgoDsCLRRznWjxlhbnitRkOLWvg1SRHd0NVA27zJk-CFB/s1600-h/Pos1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBbhh4kQLiElYkS9VsPoAhTEfJNh0ys7QgSUz7mXgsQs6ZKXAuhdBrClVTV1qckFLXoNDEcv30qLegRZ6QQU285rC8Ax2-Vi1YgoDsCLRRznWjxlhbnitRkOLWvg1SRHd0NVA27zJk-CFB/s320/Pos1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253300853103586002" border="0" /></a><br />The solution is <span style="font-size:130%;">1 ... g3 2 Nf3+</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">2. Nf1 Bxf2+ 3. Kh1 g2+</span>(see next diagram)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xO4feUFlJjvHYr3JErNUMQM7CL_FjADNt3c-8kEzR9yXcsbVElfswRQKWjoVl5IAzlksxc8lydsPsqXD0K6dWOEUruiIKzy0tZJiB5Qlr3xpwiyQpScK6X8ce72DdeQzbNPlE28fqOzq/s1600-h/Pos4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9xO4feUFlJjvHYr3JErNUMQM7CL_FjADNt3c-8kEzR9yXcsbVElfswRQKWjoVl5IAzlksxc8lydsPsqXD0K6dWOEUruiIKzy0tZJiB5Qlr3xpwiyQpScK6X8ce72DdeQzbNPlE28fqOzq/s320/Pos4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253300856691755970" border="0" /></a>And in this sideline after <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> 4.Kh2</span> best is <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">4 ... g1Q</span> and mate<span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">4 ... gxf1B</span> was given by Likesforests. It is less effective than mating immediately. But his variation has the attraction of the very rare occurrence of a minor promotion to a Bishop. So an A+ for creativity for you Likesforests!)<span style="font-size:130%;"> 2... Kg4 3. Nxd4 h2+<br /></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RSy3K7QgskbASjXTjW4G0_uVcwzExQeh37G8C4AK4NRIqspxsIJnuUg3u6LYDmTyBjEb9dSjrk7BTb3nbqb4CmifEE1OEVpyrTxOP2gG3nGXRkcKq9vpTtL-hVrAOAilanvid_9ltCFQ/s1600-h/Pos2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RSy3K7QgskbASjXTjW4G0_uVcwzExQeh37G8C4AK4NRIqspxsIJnuUg3u6LYDmTyBjEb9dSjrk7BTb3nbqb4CmifEE1OEVpyrTxOP2gG3nGXRkcKq9vpTtL-hVrAOAilanvid_9ltCFQ/s320/Pos2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253300857462727570" border="0" /></a><br />Analysing this position in my minds eye, I failed see how black can win after <span style="font-size:130%;">4 Kg2</span>. But in fact it is very simple now. <span style="font-size:130%;">4... gxf2 </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLoYp8KArlepAk3pdN1H32JKrDq1NKK5ckDDmqnZ_upq2aKwwoISXGuc1f2N8JsyFvAk4gkqbj_qRaxHUlBM9Yzw3D33aPSc0lNxEoIPdd2b6OtzeJGuTqOxZsdQHU2KxatLvxYZDpYm26/s1600-h/Pos3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLoYp8KArlepAk3pdN1H32JKrDq1NKK5ckDDmqnZ_upq2aKwwoISXGuc1f2N8JsyFvAk4gkqbj_qRaxHUlBM9Yzw3D33aPSc0lNxEoIPdd2b6OtzeJGuTqOxZsdQHU2KxatLvxYZDpYm26/s320/Pos3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253300857076518338" border="0" /></a><br />This is what I missed and what Likesforests so appropriately calls a "split"! <span style="font-size:130%;">5. Nf3 h1Q+ 6. Kxh1 f1Q+</span> <span style="font-size:130%;">0-1</span><br /><br />Tomorrow I will return to this exercise and share some of my reflections on the fact that I failed to find a solution (and why Chessaholic and Likesforest did).Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-29214650156406448642008-10-03T13:47:00.004+02:002008-10-05T15:30:01.878+02:00Exercise with Phaedrus, Chapter oneDear readers of my blog.<br /><br />Like I told in my post "<a href="http://chesstrainerphaedrus.blogspot.com/2008/09/zen-and-art-of-chess-training_19.html">Zen and the art of chess training</a>", I am working my way through step 6 of the steps method. The following position is taken from this book. I would like to invite each of you to try to solve this position. If you come up with solutions or some variations, your please sending your efforts in a comment is much appreciated. I very greatly hope that you can resist the temptation to try solving them with a chess engine. And if you cannot resist, I request you not to take from the effort of others by kindly withholding comments. For me it is very important to see what my readers can do with this position. Thank you.<br /><br />What I am trying to do with this post as well as with the next two planned is to make clear how I use these kind of exercises to improve. This is the first post, with the solution planned for the the next, which will be occur tomorrow. Finally, this Sunday I will discuss the results with you in my third and final post on this position. Then I will tell you why I think that improving takes just a bit more than just solving.<br /><br />Good luck! And one more thing: I failed to solve this problem, so this is your golden opportunity to not only accompany me on my road to chess improvement, but also to embarrass me.<br /><br />It is black to play and win.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNIpQbFmiLDCGnABqsrIPfsc6HMmGRynyOlwbLuxjlW6hT19kTgTzqhBArG95_dt7OtQpH-6dul5CE6nvuz3dVBLd1Z6jjEnUiSCcaA4LdKMCYjjLnPrg0dCX5-lSS9_dJK0IuM1_HZSuW/s1600-h/Pos10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNIpQbFmiLDCGnABqsrIPfsc6HMmGRynyOlwbLuxjlW6hT19kTgTzqhBArG95_dt7OtQpH-6dul5CE6nvuz3dVBLd1Z6jjEnUiSCcaA4LdKMCYjjLnPrg0dCX5-lSS9_dJK0IuM1_HZSuW/s320/Pos10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252899143548006754" border="0" /></a>Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-77041461768821709452008-09-26T10:06:00.007+02:002008-09-26T14:28:02.242+02:00First note on transfer<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In an <a href="http://chesstrainerphaedrus.blogspot.com/2008/03/framework-of-chess-improvement.html">earlier post</a> I had presented a framework for chess improvement (see below). The part of the framework that raised the most questions was the “transfer” block. And in many ways this was indeed a “black box”. The whole subject is more or less ignored in all major books or methods of chess improvement but the <a href="http://www.stappenmethode.nl/stepsmethod/index.html">manuals for chesstrainers step 1 to 5</a> being a notable exception.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45gxbTeDjM7YeCp0fFDGErfzSncR_PtXUe8q7vhgE0K5TJZ1k84jDtXS4wZBQ0BwkH5-rbq_KmRLaO9TC3M0a_b7_fL8gJWyrIl1akk84iJYpp4Gkd-TUpcg0jr7JRzxwIeoizGnJIsoM/s1600-h/framework.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45gxbTeDjM7YeCp0fFDGErfzSncR_PtXUe8q7vhgE0K5TJZ1k84jDtXS4wZBQ0BwkH5-rbq_KmRLaO9TC3M0a_b7_fL8gJWyrIl1akk84iJYpp4Gkd-TUpcg0jr7JRzxwIeoizGnJIsoM/s320/framework.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250292895894984274" border="0" /></a><style type="text/css"><!-- @page { size: 21cm 29.7cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">First of all, let me explain to you what transfer is to me. Transfer is using the patterns one has acquired by learning and/or training in a game. Working with beginning players in combination with the chess trainers course has opened my eyes to the gap that exists between solving exercises and playing a game. Very often I would see young players who could solve 3 to 4 ply deep tactics, yet who more often than not, put their pieces en prise several times in a game or miss 1 ply deep opportunities to capture a piece or execute a simple mate.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The way we were taught to handle this was to make a connection between the things our students had learned and playing a game. So every time I see a beginning player putting a piece en prise, I wait for his opponents move. If he misses the capture I will stop the game and ask both players: ‘Do you see undefended pieces or other targets (king, mating square)?’ And after they have pointed out all the targets I ask them, so what is the best move? This almost never fails to direct them to the best move.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The other method I use to improve transfer is to encourage beginning players to name the theme when they use a tactic. It is amazing what it does to them if they start saying out loud: “double attack: wood and square” or “Pinned piece is a poor defender”, etc.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">All of this does wonders when players are climbing up from a rating of 1000 to 1600. But after reaching 1600 level the results are found to diminish. I believe that the reason for these diminishing returns is that the games above a certain level are no longer decided by basic tactics and themes that occur in almost every game. When I tell a player: "look for targets", and he sees almost every game decided because he or his opponent fail to do so, I have established a very direct connection between training and playing.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But when you improve and face stronger opposition, games are no longer decided anymore by these basic tactics. And this is where most of us get out of “the zone” of fast improvement. Improving gets harder and the connection between training and playing is lost again. So the big question is: can this connection be re-established? This will be addressed in my next post on transfer. </span></span> </p>Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-58696037832657160642008-09-19T16:34:00.002+02:002008-09-19T22:18:42.497+02:00Zen and the art of chess trainingAs stated my last post, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I am still alive</span>! And though my current audience may well be very limited after such a long and unannounced break, I feel that it is time now to resume posting. Contrary to the posts I wrote up to now, I will focus less on general training issues. Future posts will mainly tell you about my own struggle to improve, or at least keep my current level.<br /><br />This is a real struggle, and I would not dare to begin posting about it, if I hadn't proven to myself that I had the determination to give it the required effort. And I think I have. For 20 weeks I have been working through step 6 of the stepsmethod. Every week doing at least 3 sheets of 12 exercises (see the bottom of this post to check out the planning sheet). And I really feel the pay off. already I can sense that I have mastered a few skills that I did not before.<br /><br />It is too soon to tell if this will have any influence on my rating, but I am convinced that in the long term it will. Provided that I will continue to train like this. For the next 20 weeks I know what I have to do.<br /><br />As for the period after that I also have a precise plan on what to do. Then I will come to phase two of my struggle with step 6. Phase two is going through all the positions that I could not solve. These positions are the true treasure of my study plan. These are the position I could not solve, not even after trying for 20 to 30 minutes. Most of the time I could not solve them because I did not find or even know the pattern. Others I missed because I did not calculate well enough.<br /><br />Just to give you an example of the latter I give you this position. It did not take me long to see the pattern, yet I failed to give the correct sequence because I missed a crucial defense. It is white to move and win.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8KHj9t7kkffw0yFvFEGND8JaL-2Jzc2gKp1pIPODLWK0LbZ_QwG0_ZHs0LLTkrWZXrsraFkkncWYliekrRCYKDzU9688S6QQIA2vVmp5g0dlei4Q7mj-SihYMlqb_s1G84eaaAiTnCEy/s1600-h/Pos9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8KHj9t7kkffw0yFvFEGND8JaL-2Jzc2gKp1pIPODLWK0LbZ_QwG0_ZHs0LLTkrWZXrsraFkkncWYliekrRCYKDzU9688S6QQIA2vVmp5g0dlei4Q7mj-SihYMlqb_s1G84eaaAiTnCEy/s320/Pos9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247708180411516290" border="0" /></a>(<span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">Here I immediately saw 1 c5 Bb1. After a few minutes I came up with 2 c6?! Be4 3 Ne6! and after 3 ... fxe6 c7! the pawn will queen. So 3 ... Bxc6 is forced, and now 4 Nd4+ appears to be winning. But unfortunately it is not. Black can play 4 .... Ke4 (I completely missed that move) and after 5 Nxc6 Kd5 it is not clear how white can win. Much, much better is 2 Ne6! fxe6 3 c6 and black is completely lost. Did you find this one? Congratulations if you did.</span>)<br /><br />So many of us (me included) are tempted to seek for improvement within our comfort zone. But this is not where it can be found. They are like all those people who think that they can do what Zen monks do, just by meditating every day and setting up a Buddhist altar in the living room. They love the beautiful and comfortable Zen, not the brutal and true Zen.<br /><br />In chess terms: they play over games and analysis casually, read the narratives about the game, read the psychological bogus, and think that this laid back approach will make them stronger. But even if they learn, it does not mean that their skills improve. I have yet to see a correspondence course that will teach anyone a swim stroke like the butterfly.<br /><br />There is no way around it. Improvement, for most of us, is hard work. In my humble opinion this is what chess training is all about. Struggling to add patterns and sharpening your calculation skills. It is a bit like Randy Pausch said in his brilliant <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo">Last Lecture</a>. When you want to get at a certain place, but face a wall, remember that this wall is build <span style="font-weight: bold;">to keep out the other people</span>. And even when you are ready to break down the wall and get to it, it is still not certain that you have find the 1% of useful advise <a href="http://temposchlucker.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html">Temposchlucker refers to</a>.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">In spite of itself, Zen is what we are talking about when we talk about peeling away the many-layered fabric of false identity. If you take away all the trappings of Zen -the teachings and ceremonies, the different schools, the postures and the koans, everything you think of as Zen- and throw it in the fire. What survives? What is the true core of Zen after all its veins and vanities have burned away? </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">The fire! The fire is what's left. The fire is Zen.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;"><br />(Jed McKenna, Spiritual Warfare)<br /><br /><br /><iframe src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pk1q1Bt7tWXHYE8fSFhJMFQ&output=html&widget=true" frameborder="0" height="300" width="500"></iframe></span>Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-11181955063799883952008-09-19T11:10:00.003+02:002008-09-19T11:27:45.534+02:00alive<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VbhsYC4gKy4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VbhsYC4gKy4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-66069008492856304362008-04-05T15:47:00.006+02:002008-04-05T18:45:35.256+02:00Freedom is to loose! Open letter to Chessloser.Dear chessloser, You wonder <a href="http://chessloser.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/ok-what-now/">what to do now</a>!<br /><br />When I read your post I felt a strong urge to reply. But my years of experience as a teacher and as trainer have taught me that it is very dangerous to give advise, if you don't know what the the exact problem is or what the other already did to fix the problem.<br /><br />In my first year as a teacher at a university for applied sciences, I had to exam a female student. Before the exams I looked at the schedule in the restaurant. An other (older) colleague looked over my shoulder, and said: "I see that C.... is on your schedule". Having said no more he left, leaving me wonder why he would pick her name out of a list of 20 names.<br /><br />As soon as the (oral) exam started I, as well as the co-examiner, found out why. C... walked into the room, and panic and anxiety were written all over her face. I tried to calm her down, offered her some coffee, told her that so far things had gone really well that morning and that all the students so far had passed. But it all was in vain. She picked up her coffee cup with trembling hands, tried to drink, but as she got the cup to her mouth, a sudden convulsive movement made her spill most of the coffee over the table. When the coffee spread over the table and contaminated our questionnaires, all three of us were frozen. I remember I looked at her, she looked at me, we all looked at the table, then looked at each other again. She tried to fight the tears in her eyes, but could not stop them. Then she started crying, softly.<br /><br />Of course we did everything we could to normalise the situation and calm her down. So we cleaned the table. Told her that this was no problem at all, and started the exam again, giving her a glass of water to avoid new stains.<br /><br />My philosophy with oral exams always has been that one should give a student the opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge as much as possible, and that they are most likely to do so, if they have some confidence. So I always started with some "slam dunk questions", to make sure that the student could gain some confidence in the beginning and get rid of some nerves, before getting to the real testing questions.<br /><br />This time I chose the easiest question that I could think of (not even on the questionnaire, that was unreadable after the coffee accident anyhow). And again those eyes! Sheer panic. And then silence, followed by a cramped face and more silence. So I tried to rephrase the question, attempting to make it completely monkey proof. But this aggravated the situation. She began to cry, loud this time. So loud in fact that we started to attract attention from people outside the room. We waited in silence and offered her paper handkerchiefs as hers began to ran out. We said as little as possible until she stopped crying.<br /><br />As soon as she had dried her tears, we asked if she wanted to continue. To our relief she said that she didn't see any use in a continuance. There was some time left before the next candidate, so I thought that it was time to offer some advise, and suggested to her that there were ways to fix her problem. This was clearly the limit for her. Not only did she start to cry again, but she also got really angry with me and started yelling.<br /><br />Did I know what she had already done? Would I believe her if she told me that she had done EVERYTHING to fix this. Could I possibly imagine how desperate her situation was? And that she would never ever pass an oral exam due to stress. And before I could make some suggestions, she summed up everything she had tried. It took five minutes or so to sum up. Leaving the distinct impression that this would offer enough material to write several breathtaking thesis's on "fear for failure".<br /><br />The whole experience was intense enough to be a lifetime lesson. Since that day I try to be reserved when the occasion arises to give advice. But now there is this direct question, if not cry for help. What to do now? The only way I saw fit to give advise was to ask Chessloser to tell me what he had done so far to improve. After a few days he gave me the honor to reply and this is what he told me:<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#ff0000;">i've been studying chess, really paying attention and studying to learn and improve, for just over one year now. i've chosen one opening for white, one for black against 1.e4, and one for black against 1.d4 and tried to learn those openings through books on the openings and through master's games, to see how they played them. i also have a few books on tactics that i go over. other than that, i don't really have a "focused training schedule." but i'm not sure if that is what i need. i do have someone i study with, i analyze games, then we go over them and he answers any questions i have and teaches me through those games. but i don't know enough to know what questions to ask.</span></em><br /><br />This information gave me enough to dare to give some advise. Chessloser is using a method of chess study that closely resembled mine when I was a student at Nijmegen University. In those days I studied chess with a very good chess friend. We analyzed our games together and often played blitz till dawn. We were 100% about chess. Even girls came second. Not to mention law school (my study) and philosophy (his). Studies which were more or less used for killing time between chess activities. He gained a lot of rating points in that period, I did hardly. When we met, I was somewhat stronger than him (50 points). When I left Nijmegen, he was a lot stronger than me (200 points).<br /><br />I had to stop spending so much time on chess, since I got a full time job. Paradoxically enough, suddenly I made much more progress than in the years before. One of the main reasons was that I was on my own, and had to make some sense of chess study now that the entertaining evenings with my friend had stopped.<br /><br />This was the moment that I began to work more systematically. The biggest jump however was after I did the course for "chesstrainer A" and "chesstrainer B". These made very clear to me on what didactic principles the stepsmethod was based, and what I should do to make progress. Just to avoid misunderstandings, the course was purely didactic, and there were no exercises to increase our own level. The only thing that came close to chess training for ourselves was the final exam for chesstrainer B in which we had to solve 12 exercises, a test to determine if we had step 6 level. Inspired by this course I began to do the steps myself. Being a 1850/1950 player at that time, I nevertheless did all the steps with the exception of step 1. And I did them exactly in the way we were taught to teach. After the theme exercises I would do the mixed exercises and after every solved position I would say out loud the theme of the exercise.<br /><br />So I would sit behind the computer, solve a position and say: "pinned piece is a poor defender", or "kings attack, making a hole, regrouping material and mate.", or "decoy, taking piece and winning material". I did this in a regular schedule. At least three nights a week for one hour in a quiet environment. I felt in "the zone" as never before since puberty, and began to look at the board differently. I developed "chess vision". With the knowledge of today I would say that I was sharpening my motor skills.<br /><br />And this my dear Chessloser is exactly my advise to you. Sharpen you motor skills. NOT by casually going through exercises, NOR by forcing yourself to do an over ambitious De La Maza schedule. But by returning to the basics and reestablish the basis of your chess skills. It seems to me that, just as I discovered for myself, the foundation of your skills is not good enough to ad new skills. If this indeed is the problem, no new knowledge will help you to improve. You need to unlearn and relearn. Methodically, gradually and determined. Use a schedule that does not interfere with higher priorities in life, but use the hours that you invest in chess study as well as you can. Just to give an illustration of my method of study I will give you three "step two positions" that I used, with solution and theme. (If you highlight the space between the brackets you will see solution and theme.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6TfbPBd3sw4dhlNBlg6mmkQE0A5JFlFCfdLbhBtD2aK2XzDRUvwVMkxfsMy8xUE9o7YBJ9leYMp5MMA4pkdVsi704oEgji0cTnqmaZM3XedKQuDBmGVR3cJFPI_QNb7Ghg6vndocVNZ0O/s1600-h/Pos7.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185763598018343362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6TfbPBd3sw4dhlNBlg6mmkQE0A5JFlFCfdLbhBtD2aK2XzDRUvwVMkxfsMy8xUE9o7YBJ9leYMp5MMA4pkdVsi704oEgji0cTnqmaZM3XedKQuDBmGVR3cJFPI_QNb7Ghg6vndocVNZ0O/s320/Pos7.jpg" border="0" /></a> White to move: (<span style="color:#000000;">1 Rb5 double attack piece (Nb2) and square (b8)</span> )</p><p><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-wUt7PQi1rGZhHyhADhpe4RKZraxNjbzuMVDKebGUveZ7Wt3qOcJBt0kMS_6-IHy4VVTm_x8rKm12xa298ywqsI7JbCwiRKa5YOwo-ysk9rT5OGMciCegKrJH5rWTCDWOEuyd4AsSsPs/s1600-h/Pos8.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185763602313310674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-wUt7PQi1rGZhHyhADhpe4RKZraxNjbzuMVDKebGUveZ7Wt3qOcJBt0kMS_6-IHy4VVTm_x8rKm12xa298ywqsI7JbCwiRKa5YOwo-ysk9rT5OGMciCegKrJH5rWTCDWOEuyd4AsSsPs/s320/Pos8.jpg" border="0" /></a>Black to move: (<span style="color:#000000;">1 ..., Bg4 Discovered attack (battery), headpiece attacks material (Qf3), tailpiece attacks square (d3), extra credits for identifying "Pin" (Bg4. Qf3, Ke2) which prevents the queen defending d3.</span> )</p><p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1qHRiLkooAONN3uhV6RW8yjbyme0nL7M55TOSwD7ZUUPeHs-ZQrloPcdGgdRZrPiI1wiQ4nsNp50uJGlTzGsE9TZd9XKGaArSjHtlUCeillrtakKmmSi5Cf6Z0FjSRaZwoayE4jOW1jQ/s1600-h/Pos9.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185763606608277986" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1qHRiLkooAONN3uhV6RW8yjbyme0nL7M55TOSwD7ZUUPeHs-ZQrloPcdGgdRZrPiI1wiQ4nsNp50uJGlTzGsE9TZd9XKGaArSjHtlUCeillrtakKmmSi5Cf6Z0FjSRaZwoayE4jOW1jQ/s320/Pos9.jpg" border="0" /></a> Black to move: (<span style="color:#000000;">1 ..., Nc2+ eliminating defense, luring defender (Qd2) and taking material (Kxh6)</span> )</p><p>Too simple? I don't think so. Remember the "micro drills" Michael de la Maza endorsed. He continued to do them, even after finishing the circles. Maybe those contributed more to his improvement than circle 4 to 7.</p><p>Hope this helps. </p><p>Phaedrus</p><p></p><p>P.S. For those of you who wondered what has happened to C.... She graduated, but rivers of tears flooded the university building before she eventually did. And without Clause 5 (see below) she might never have. </p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyh9bEWu5A-1lL2XhP1dcThII7-HLjiuSwRENJsG0q_PYlUKUeUQDlBOmje6ka1aZh2FMIS3OaI0UwV3mnNVzvcI7LDBPGISggC_ZDi_h760yWrE3g9oyShflcgUJx8Aa2Ary6yXDhCun/s1600-h/article+five.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185763610903245298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyh9bEWu5A-1lL2XhP1dcThII7-HLjiuSwRENJsG0q_PYlUKUeUQDlBOmje6ka1aZh2FMIS3OaI0UwV3mnNVzvcI7LDBPGISggC_ZDi_h760yWrE3g9oyShflcgUJx8Aa2Ary6yXDhCun/s320/article+five.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></p>Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213137998030454353.post-73778049715113773482008-03-24T13:07:00.007+01:002008-03-24T13:26:55.711+01:00A framework of chess improvement.For a chess player self knowledge is the key to improvement and getting your rating up. The illustration below is an attempt to distinguish the elements that determine your strength, results and rating.<br /><br />I would like to hear form readers of this blog what they think of this framework. Do you miss something? Are the elements clear? Any other comment? any questions? To the adjusted framework that results form your comments, I want to related the methods of learning and training that I will suggest in the future.<br /><br />So please, be ruthless and blunt. But above all, be honest and clear. Make sure that I think of everything, when I adjust and complete my framework of chess improvement. For the benefit of all!<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRRv3Ou4JD3hyphenhyphenEsA_JjmhOpkwLl_pgkyhbcbJ2vycI2BNU2ygB2-gUwjH5pmC2sPcasuSF1QSlAhG1qByANuZo4uy6sYJReGikqxpAiVJwLQfL2KH3ytSnfC3_loxx2UGJGYwn1HR5dOu/s1600-h/elements.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181279252729360818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRRv3Ou4JD3hyphenhyphenEsA_JjmhOpkwLl_pgkyhbcbJ2vycI2BNU2ygB2-gUwjH5pmC2sPcasuSF1QSlAhG1qByANuZo4uy6sYJReGikqxpAiVJwLQfL2KH3ytSnfC3_loxx2UGJGYwn1HR5dOu/s400/elements.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKfRnOIJgGMoeCApbho0yHjnrI7NISltADA1QvMuGeQM8rq8Z07s8IrhcTOQbLjbwuwnpZVugi8tSlOgqylCyYHSUJCiofccwp31FZGOTG9y_WyIlQR5uTwrZcCMFZZMJbj27_Zul-BCvy/s1600-h/elements.JPG"></a><br /><br /><div></div>Phaedrushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05393639592979349429noreply@blogger.com34