The Game of Kings (A Chess Dynasty)

[MJ4H]

I learned how to play chess when I was about 10 years old. I was an instant fan. I was quickly better than most of my friends that age and could beat my dad, who taught me the game, before too long.

When I got into junior high school, I became interested in music. It pretty much consumed my life through the rest of my time in school, even through college. I made a career out of that, so that's fine, but I had totally forgotten about chess.

One day, soon after graduating college, I discovered the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS). I created an account, and I was hooked almost instantly. For the next few years I played a lot and even started studying. I took some major lumps from even the bad to average players there, so I felt I needed to do some work to compete.

Eventually, I got to what I consider to be an average level of chess on FICS. I started entering more serious tournaments. I didn't do well, but I was enjoying it.

Without warning, though, I hit a major wall. I just lost interest in the game all at once. I quit playing altogether. I didn't play a serious game of chess between the years 2004 and 2010, in fact. In the summer of 2010, a really good friend of mine invited me to a chess tournament. I didn't want to go--I still really didn't have the desire to play. However, he wanted to go pretty badly, but didn't want to go by himself. I eventually agreed to go.

It bit me hard. Again. Since then I have played a lot. I have done some studying, but mostly practicing. I am in the midst of my second official USCF tournament, after finishing tied for 3rd in the tournament he invited me to. I have done instructional videos on youtube, I have recorded myself playing live blitz games with commentary, I have analyzed countless games of my own and of others, you name it.

With the creation of this dynasty, I am intent on getting better. I have taken some steps towards getting better, but they have been rather halting. I am hopeful that this will encourage me to stay after what I need to be doing and track my progress. I am hopeful that others can participate with commentary on games, techniques, etc.

In this dynasty, I will be monitoring three areas of my chess career:

My USCF rating. - I currently am assigned a provisional rating of 1618. This rating is based on only the 5 games of my first tournament. I have played 2 games in another tournament, but they have not counted towards my rating, yet. My rating will remain provisional until I have played 20 official games (I believe that is correct). I expect my rating to be around 1500-1600 when it becomes official.

My FICS ratings. - FICS uses a different rating system from USCF and most other places, but it corresponds to roughly the same skill levels. As of now, my standard rating (longer games) is 1556. My rating in blitz games is lower, 1178. However, all blitz ratings are lower due to something called rating deflation, which is sort of a little mathematical quirk of the rating system used there.

My chesstempo.com tactics rating. - This website has thousands of tactical problems that you can solve. They are rated based on difficulty and the success rate of other players that try to solve them. Based on this and how you do on the tactics problems, you receive a rating. Practicing tactics is a big part in moving up the early rungs of chess progress. This is where I will be spending most of my time early on in my development. My current chesstempo rating is 1416.5.

A lot of you know that I am a teacher. As such, teaching is something that comes as second nature to me. If there are budding chess players reading along that would like to learn from this dynasty, I am happy to help. Obviously, I am not an expert (yet!), but I do have a pretty good knowledge of the basics and a pretty good idea of how to teach people things. I would be happy if others learned from this dynasty more than I did. Don't be shy about asking questions that you think are really basic. Also, if you are one of the people that know more about chess than I do, please don't hesitate to throw in some advice, analysis, or whatever you'd like.

I'm going to conclude my introductory post with an example of my video analysis. This was the first game of the USCF tournament I am currently participating in. These USCF games are always played live over a real board. The players record the games by writing down the moves. Later on, I go over the games carefully to learn what I did well and what I could do better. This is an important part of learning to play the game better. I made this video to share my thoughts on the game with others. I will be doing this with every live USCF game I play, and many others.



And just for fun, here is a video of my playing live online. My thoughts here are recorded as they happen. This is a much faster game than the serious tournament games. These faster online games are called blitz games. They often feature many mistakes, as you can see here!

[MJ4H]

Doing a set of tactical problems just now I came across this one:



It is black's turn. I solved this one only because I couldn't figure out anything else to do. I missed the real trick to it.

Spoiler

It wasn't too hard to find the obvious deflection tactic (the rook on e1 is doing two jobs: defending the c1 rook and the e4 bishop). However, I couldn't get past the Queen being attacked. So, to me, Rxc1 should fail to axb4. I originally looked at the tactic thinking that a back rank mate would follow axb4 or that there would be a Q/K skewer from e5 through to h2. Neither of those ideas worked, so I was stuck. What I missed was that after axb4, Rxe1+ not only picks up the second rook (which basically breaks even), but forks the e4 bishop. Black then ends up a piece.

Even though I got that problem, it stumped me badly enough to end the session after only 13 problems. I didn't do so well. 7 right, 6 wrong. My rating ended down a few points at 1408.

edit: Followed up with a much better session, going 18 right out of 22 problems. My rating improved to 1440.

[MJ4H]

I've discovered when practicing tactics that I am either in the zone or I'm not. So far, I've had 2 sessions where I'm in the zone and one where I'm just not.

So far, my 3 sessions have been:
7 out of 13 right
18 out of 22 right
25 out of 27 right

To me, it felt like those last 2 sessions I was in the zone. I didn't miss much. The first session it felt like I was missing everything.

Anyway, after today's session my rating had jumped up to 1483! This is the kind of progress I've been hoping for.

My favorite problem from today:

It is white's move.

Spoiler

This has always been one of my favorite mating patterns. It starts off with Nf7+. Black has to move Kg8 (if Rxf7, then white checkmates with Rd8, etc.). The next part is the beautiful part. Nh6++ Kh8, Qg8+ Rxg8, and Nf7#.

[MJ4H]

More tactics problems last night and this morning. I have been on a monster tear and my current rating is 1513.

I stopped my session this morning because I was bothered by this problem:


It is black's turn here.

Spoiler

I failed this problem, but I feel like my solution is ok. I would love it if someone could point out the problem with my line, which is: Bf2, Rf1 Bg3 -- and the knight is lost. My solution was rejected in favor of Bf2, Rf1 Be3+. Kind of annoying because I think these two lines are essentially equivalent. Am I nuts?

A graph of my rating since starting this dynasty:

[MJ4H]

In answer to my spoilered question above, yes I am nuts. I figured out why, too. Blech.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

In answer to my spoilered question above, yes I am nuts. I figured out why, too. Blech.

If it makes you feel better, it took me a bit to see Bf2 at all (I also feel weird about how the diagram has Black and White reversed).

[MJ4H]

That is to help with knowing which side you are playing when doing the problems.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

That is to help with knowing which side you are playing when doing the problems.

I guess I just prefer the format of flipping the board to indicate which color you are supposed to play.

[MJ4H]

A couple of new videos. Made these this morning. The first video is me discussing current positions in the correspondence-style games I'm playing on chess.com. Note: these games are ongoing, so I would appreciate not commenting or recommending moves in these games. That would technically be cheating on my part to receive advice from others.



The second video is my 8th live blitz chess video. Here, I play a game against another online player live and comment out loud as I play. A lot of people find these types of videos interesting, and I've started making some. It is fun to do, and a blast to go back and watch later. It really helps to see how your throught processes are working or are flawed.

[MJ4H]

It looks like I am not going to make it to my USCF tournament game tonight. Catastrophic flooding in the area, and the rain is supposed to continue for the forseeable future. I am already out of school for the flooding today and likely tomorrow. Disappointing, but I'm not sure what I could do. It doesn't seem worth the risk, frankly. It is about an hour and a half drive one way to Ft. Smith from here.

[MJ4H]

To compensate for not having a game tonight, I decided to play another blitz game and make a video. Here you go. Feel free to comment on the blitz videos, of course, they are completed games.

[MJ4H]

I have gotten my tactics rating up to 1550!



Note: The following stats are for all of the problems I've done, not just the ones in the past few days:

Rating: 1550.8 (RD: 34.31) (Best Active Rating: 1550 Worst Active Rating: 1347)
Active Rank: 4108/8544 (Better than: 51.93% Best Active: 3407 Worst Active: 6338)
Problems Done: 486 (Correct: 322 Failed: 164)
Percentage correct: 66.26%

[MJ4H]

So I've lost about 10 rating points since I hit 1550. I was as high as about 1560, but I'm currently at 1540. Had a frustrating session just now where I felt like I was in the groove but crashed hard and just missed several things in a row. I finally quit after staring at this position for about 15 minutes without seeing a thing.



Even after I saw the solution, I was confused because it didn't go quite deep enough to see the point. I finally saw it, but this is a pretty tricky one. Anyone want to try their hand?

[johnnyshaka]

Bxb2 for starters?

[dwardzala]

I'm thinking h5, but then again I got blown off the board the last two games in the FOFC tourny.

[MJ4H]

Start out with Qxe2

[dwardzala]

Spoiler

I think this would be it:
... Qxe2 +
Qxe2 Rxe2
Kxe2 Bxg4 +
Rf3 Re8 +
Kd2 Bxf3

[MJ4H]

Yep. That's it.

[johnnyshaka]

Nice...saw it after you hinted at giving up the Q.

[MJ4H]

Rough last few days of tactics problems. I have hit a real rough spot and my rating has plummeted back down to earth at 1520.

[MJ4H]

Here is a quick run through a game I just finished. This is a correspondence game (where each player has a very long time to make each move--in this game 3 days). I play correspondence chess games on chess.com, where my rating is 1765.

[MJ4H]

I have entered a long-term tournament on FICS. It is a team tournament, where the results of my games count towards a team total and goal. My first game is tonight at 8:30 central. If anyone wants to log on to FICS (www.freechess.org) and watch the game, that would be cool. I will whisper my thoughts about the game as I'm playing, so you should be able to read what I am thinking during the live game in the FICS console. Whispering is a form of communication that goes to the observers of the game but not the other player. One of the best things about these team league games is watching the games because players are encouraged to whisper their thoughts during the game.

I have been preparing for this game for a couple of days. I researched my opponents past games to see how he likes to play the opening. It turns out he pretty immediately goes into a line I am totally unfamiliar with. I have had to learn as much as I can about this particular line in a short amount of time. I'm afraid it has me at a disadvantage already, but we will see. The lines do have some similarities with positions I am used to playing.

It should be interesting. For those that know what I'm talking about, I play the French Defense as black almost exclusively. My opponent plays 2. Qe2 which nicely avoids most of the mainlines of the French. It seems the best move is to transpose to the Sicilian with 2...c5, but I have never really studied the black side of the Sicilian. I can play against 1. ...c5 as white ok, because I know how the open sicilian works and I can just play d4 and Nxd4 if necessary, but it will be considerably different from the other side when I can't force an open sicilian, and I've never played from the black side even if it does go that way.

[MJ4H]

FWIW, my name on FICS is Gorgonian.

[dwardzala]

Good luck!

[MJ4H]

Thanks. I got a draw. I played pretty well, except for a tactic I missed until after the game where he could've won my bishop for free. Luckily, he missed it, too. Other than that, I think I did ok at generating a little advantage and some winning chances, but ultimately, it fizzled out and I settled for the draw. I should get a video up covering this game sometime soon.

[johnnyshaka]

Thanks for the match...that was fun, until you whacked me!

[MJ4H]

It was fun indeed. Feel free to rematch any time. As I said in our chat, I will try to a video annotation of our game. I have a backlog of videos to make, though, hehe.

[johnnyshaka]

I will definitely rematch but I would like to do a little reading first.

[MJ4H]

The johnnyshaka game!

[johnnyshaka]

Thanks for the recap, that was very informative and I certainly appreciate you pointing out better moves and explaining why. Definitely lots to learn!

I did jot down a few notes while our match was on-going but they definitely aren't very detailed nor will they likely shed much light for you but at least it's a little feedback that may or may not be useful.

Couple moves in and I'm not liking how active my pawns have been thus far. I'd much rather get a bishop or knight out roaming around.

I was a little frustrated, maybe nearing impatient, as I just couldn't get my power pieces out and moving around. It was early in the match but I still wanted to get them out there and doing something. That frustration is probably something most n00bs like me feel early on.

And it continues, pawns are running amok.

Again, just felt that I was being stifled and it was frustrating. You definitely were pushing the pace during the early part of this match and I was forced to defend more often than not.

Looking to get my queen to g4.

Shortly after you castled I started to focus on g4. Right or wrong, that was my focus for the next little while. With all the action going on way over yonder, on the other side of the board, I thought I might be able to either corner your king and clean out a few pawns or else have you hang a rook or bishop.

B4 is one I struggled with as there were so many options.

Ugh. This move took me forever to workout. I don't think I made the right move but the other move I was considering (bxc4) to take your pawn instead of getting imprisoned (lol...I did giggle when I saw my poor pawn flanked on all sides) just didn't seem to be much better.

A little shocked at the decision to support the knight instead of moving it leaving me a chance to take a pawn as well as potentially exchange a knight for rook/bishop.

This is when you moved your pawn to a4 to totally enclose my pawn at b4. At this point I was pretty happy with myself in that I had turned the tables on you for the first time and that queen to G4 was looking something rather promising. Coincidentally, the next move was Nxe4, probably the high point in the match for me.

Finally got my queen to G4 and my bishop ready to strike white's knight on F3 and then a checkmate with my queen taking G2. But that was thwarted by another damn pawn.

And after gaining so much confidence, it vanished rather quickly. I obviously got way ahead of myself but like I said, confidence was high.

That was it, I pretty much shutdown. I lost all focus because that move was what I had been working towards for much of the game and didn't have a plan B...or C. Again, probably something most n00bs go through. As a result, I stopped taking notes and it wasn't long before I found myself down and out.

I was glad to hear that I put a slight scare into you with that move but you certainly pissed on my parade with the simple pawn to h3 afterwards.

Overall, I was very proud of myself up until this last sequence because I actually had a goal in mind and systematically worked my way towards it. For me, I typically find myself more or less reacting to opponents and rarely initiating the play so to get to that point I was pretty excited.

The loss of focus following these last couple of moves is something I have to work on, that's for sure. Controlling my emotions and trying to develop more than one tactic at a time are other things I need to improve on if I want to get better.

Anyway, hope my brief take on things offered something of value to you. And, again, thanks for taking the time to review our match, that was very helpful.

Until we meet again!

[MJ4H]

One thing that strikes me reading your commentary is how it seemed that you kind of pinned your hopes on getting a mate threat going and then I guess hoping your opponent (me) either wouldn't see it or wouldn't be able to respond to it.

Most games are not going to go that way. You need to work on creating small advantages and accumulating them until they are overwhelming in most games. In a blitz game you might be able to pull off a quick mating tactic like that, but in a slow game, especially a correspondence game, a mate threat is simply nothing to worry about unless it can't be defended. Hoping your opponent doesn't see it is never something you want to be doing in chess.

As an example, I never once thought about constructing a mating threat in this game until I had a concrete advantage and thought that I could force it to happen. That didn't happen until after I had taken the bishop and attacked your queen along the g-file.

[johnnyshaka]

Again, that's the n00b in me, I suppose.

Early on I targeted that area of the board, and G4, because of how dynamic that position was at the time. At the time your queen was still in it's original position so as long as I had something covering my queen I would've had the option to swap queens. With your king on the G file after castling it definitely gave me more incentive to my queen into position.

So, while my notes didn't really reflect everything I was thinking at the time, I did think about the collateral damage I could've inflicted without getting the mate and that was a driving force, too.

But when everything fell the way it did and you only having the one move to escape, I admit, I got WAY ahead of myself. Totally n00b move, for sure.

I'm new to this type of correspondence chess (I used to play with friends in person) where you have all the time in the world to work things out without having to hear your opponent moan and groan about how long things are taking. I'm sure there are apps out there that will do all the thinking for you, too. Point being, I think I was ignorantly hoping that you might panic and make a mistake. But, like you said, that is rather unlikely in this setting...I know that now.

[MJ4H]

Have game 2 of my team league today at noon (central). Once again, the game will be played at freechess.org and will be under the name Gorgonian.

[MJ4H]

Woohoo I won this one.

[dwardzala]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Woohoo I won this one.

Congrats!

[MJ4H]

Here is the game with a visual only analysis. I will do a normal video for it sometime.

[johnnyshaka]

Good job!

[MJ4H]

Doing some tactics problems tonight, I came across this one. I looked at it for about 5 minutes without seeing anything. I ran through as many variations as I could and couldn't see any possible win.

Finally, I told myself to look away and clear my mind. I visualized the puzzle in my head, then wiped it away. I concentrated on breathing for 30 seconds or so. Then I looked back at the puzzle and saw it fresh. I saw the solution in under 10 seconds. I spent the next minute or so double-checking it, but the solution jumped right out at me.

There is some mental blockage going on in my chess brain right now that I really need to work out.

Here is the puzzle, incidentally.


White to move.

[britrock88]

[s]g3 leads to a free knight, right?[/s]

Not looking far enough ahead. Pardon the novice.

[johnnyshaka]

Spoiler

Re1?

[MJ4H]

No to both

[johnnyshaka]

Spoiler

Nf3?

[JAG]

Cool problem. Took me a little bit.

Spoiler

Qh7+!! KxQ, Bxf7+ and mate in a couple moves

[MJ4H]

Yes, JAG. I really liked it.

[MJ4H]

Game 3 of my Team League is tonight. About an hour from now (8 central).

Log on to freechess.org and observe Gorgonian if you want to watch.

[MJ4H]

Lost this one. My mind wasn't prepared for this game.

[MJ4H]

A couple of new live blitz videos:

[MJ4H]

Recorded myself solving chesstempo.com tactics problems:

[MJ4H]

More!


I will keep this up as my rating has gone up 50 pts over the course of these two videos.

[MJ4H]

Cool, this game embedding works. Wasn't sure it would. In the game below I play as white. I was pretty proud of this slow squeeze and then the tactic that won the game. Move forward to after black's 27th move and see if you can spot the winning move. Of course, no reason to spoiler or anything since you can just play through the rest of the game. However, he resigned before I could play the continuation. The point should be clear, though.