♟️Chess

[tardy finch]

This was a rough one. But in order to consider ||Qe1||, you need to actually think about the alternative line and not just a single move.

[dusky hull]

i spent an egregious amount of time trying to make ||Rxf2|| work but no matter how long i spent on the sublines i couldnt see how to break through. only after like 5 straight minutes did i stop myself and reconsidered that maybe ||taking|| wasn't forced. ||Qe1|| is quite a find, bravo if you got that one @tardy finch . good puzzle.

[grand idol]

so if you follow that line, what about || Ke5 ||? do you just take the pawn?

[dusky hull]

Yes

Only difference is it’s not forced mate, but it’s still winning

[tardy finch]

Yeah, Pert beat me to it

That pawn is a rather important defensive tool even if it doesn't look like much

[dusky hull]

Friendly reminder to everyone (except probably leonard for great reasons!) that the Candidates tournament matches start tomorrow. Obviously very exciting stuff all around, but we have a round one Caruana vs Nakamura, two who are considered to be tied for most probable to win the candidates.

In addition, dont forget about the women candidates. Vaishali R (world 15) is an absolute beast and even if I dont think she'll win, I bet her games will be quite exciting to watch. Her first opponent is Humpy Koneru, who is the 5th highest rated woman and the 3rd highest rated woman in the tournament.

Should be many fun games! Feel free to show pics or vids of anything that excites you over the coming few weeks. I will be trying to watch as much live as possible.

[cyan elm]

Who are you hoping wins

[dusky hull]

im a massive Fabi fan, and I think that Fabi would be world champion even now if it weren't for magnus previously

I'm genuinely hoping he crushes it this tournament. I want to see him against Ding quite badly

with that said, tomorrow sets the tone. his game against hikaru could determine everything.

[cyan elm]

Gotta love Fabi

[tardy finch]

This year I am more interested in the women candidates for obvious reasons

All the best to Fabi but I'll be checking his matches just here and there

[delicate peak]

Hello

It was so awesome today when fabi said "it's fabi time" and he fabi'd everywhere today

[dusky hull]

yes exactly

[dusky hull]

Vidit/hikaru game was dope

[tardy finch]

@dusky hull please check Nurgyul's game right now and tell me what possible follow up might there be to Bg5+ because I am no GM but this feels like a throw

Ok, nvm, Vaishali fell for it then a bigger throw followed...

[dusky hull]

looking at the current position I can tell you vaishali is assuredly winning.

looking back at the Bg5+, the only thing I can speculate is vaishali was afraid that after hxg5 and Qxg5+ black can bring the lsb onto a more active diagonal, but yea i have no idea

sincerely couldnt tell you black's goal with that piece sac

maybe she missed Qf3 pinning the lsb to the king and then white is able to force a trade one way or another

[tardy finch]

Well, follow up was even worse. I'm nowhere near you in attacking skill but I can definitely say this was quite easy to defend (unless, as you said, some resource was missed/not considered)

[dusky hull]

maybe theyll go over it in postgame interviews

the knight sac earlier from vaishali was dope though

[tardy finch]

No sleep tonight, I need answers

[dusky hull]

always sac on f7

[tardy finch]

Fried liver players in shambles

[dusky hull]

but yea equal pieces but 3 pawns to 7, vaishali just needs to solidify on light squares so nurgyul's dsb is useless and push kingside pawns where she has a 4 to 1 advantage. totally winning at this point barring time trouble problems/some miracle defense

that's all she wrote

resignation on move 33

[tardy finch]

Yep. In more recent news, I'm sad.

[dusky hull]

oh?

[dusky hull]

Any cool stuff happening in the candidates while I’m gone? I will be catching up tomorrow!

[delicate peak]

Alireza and Hikaru had a hard-fought game that came down to a single blunder in time trouble after 6 hours by Alireza. Had game 6 vibes.

Gukesh also had a hard battle with Abasov, who eventually broke. Gukesh and Ian are now joint leaders.

[dusky hull]

Where’s Fabi in terms of trailing the leaders

[delicate peak]

He's alone in 3rd place, 0.5 points behind. He's playing Ian tonight which most people expect to be a draw, as a loss for Fabi would be absolutely catastrophic.

Hikaru won against Alireza yesterday and is playing Gukesh today. He could really use a win as well to have a chance as he is a point behind.

The other games today are Pragg-Abasov and Vidit-Alireza, both of which probably have little consequence

The story of today will be what comes of Ian-Fabi and Gukesh-Hikaru, the former because they are the two favourites to win the whole thing and Fabi can't afford to lose to Ian specifically, and the latter because everyone wants to see Hikaru back in the fight and a win would get him there.

[dusky hull]

Thank you for the excellent rundown. I hope to catch up on all things candidates by tomorrow

[grand idol]

its ogre

i wanted to take some pics

hope my boy alireza wins today

they are so strict wtf

[dusky hull]

Hey well I hope it was a good time man

Proud of you for taking the leap and going

[grand idol]

thanks dude, just got out of the balcony area. It was cool, the game between nepo and fabi was the best. But also no seating so after a while I was like okay im good

hikaru leaves after every move and then comes back like 3 seconds after his opponent plays some, so hes clearly just standing offstage. idk why lol

shame that alireza got the one opponent who is just using all his time zzz (vidit)

nepo was walking around and like making faces at the boards that was also funny

the fan area is lit though Imma play a game

[grand idol]

was doing well and then I blundered

[tardy finch]

Anyone else hating the chat in the chess streams with a passion?

[delicate peak]

Only thing worse than twitch chat are those who complain about it when you can just not read it. Copypaste that for youtube comments, dumb discord servers..

[tardy finch]

Fair point. Although my complaint is slightly different, I'm taking the L.

[dusky hull]

Yea idiot don’t ever complain about anything again dumb idiot dumbo

[tardy finch]

!status

[gray sorrel]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/444580964237312000/1171200610608087071/FwhNQWKWwAYVrjg.png?ex=655bd091&is=65495b91&hm=8002598e54f1120f9de4b9be516590085f4a7719d8f8285721a7f9dd1d3f88f3&=&width=595&height=595

[tardy finch]

Pert, what are the predictions on the Gukesh game currently?

[dusky hull]

I can’t see it right now :/

Well I imagine I can

But I’m currently in an airport and doing other things

[grand idol]

its 6 mins to 9 rn

also just wanna say alireza was dripped up

insane shoes/shirt

too bad he lost LOL

[cyan elm]

Everyone knows drip lowers your chess skills

[delicate peak]

not the most hype round

[grand idol]

also to what you were saying @delicate peak I agree u can ignore chat but its lame that they show comments on the main feed, like I dont need someone saying “he lost the bishop its over…”

[delicate peak]

true but I would never feel tempted to openly complain about something that I think

hikaru vs ian tomorrow with hikaru as white

could be fireworks, hikaru beating ian would be so important

[dusky hull]

Except Magnus. Man could show up in anything from a dolce and gabbana suit to a fucking potato sack and he’s still ending careers

[cyan elm]

The showing up late just to win comfortably is such a flex

I’d never recover

[dusky hull]

His recent tournament at Grenke classic, he performed at a 2990 rating

He’s not human bro he’s literally just a not great engine

Like yea there are better engines but he’s still an engine

[grand idol]

has he explained why he didnt defend his title

i forget

[dusky hull]

Oh yea

He has nothing to gain from it

And everything to lose

[grand idol]

thats how a title works lol

[dusky hull]

No like

He wants to be the first person to break 2900 still. That’s an aspiration of his. A setting where he has to endure a 14 game match against one of the worlds elite is not conducive to that goal

Even if he draws all 14 games like he did with Fabiano he loses rating

[grand idol]

you mean 3000?

[dusky hull]

No

2900

No one has been in the 2900s yet

For classical chess anyway

[grand idol]

I see

he doesn’t care about anything but elo

[cyan elm]

Yeah from memory he said that the amount of time spent with prep means he can’t do the other goals he has for chess

[grand idol]

sounds like some of my friends who play LoL

[cyan elm]

[dusky hull]

Honestly I don’t blame him

He’s the best by a clear enough margin. If the tournament style doesn’t work for him why bother

He knows he’s the best and so does everyone else at that level

And also he did ask fide if they’d be open to changing the format and they said no. So like at least he asked I guess

[cyan elm]

Yeah based

[grand idol]

what would the change be

[delicate peak]

just win them all then. skill issue

[delicate peak]

he wanted more games at faster time controls

thinks world championship should be beyond just classical and cover the whole spectrum

with a primary focus on there being a higher number of games so that the best player inevitably wins

[grand idol]

fischer random round incoming

[delicate peak]

I think he'd want that too but i dont recall him saying so explicitly for the world championship

[dusky hull]

Wesley So has entered the chat

[grand idol]

I wonder what it would be like to have like only 1 hour

but faster time control

[delicate peak]

in a 14-game classical match I think there's a pretty reasonable likelihood of the best chess player not winning some significant portion of the time

and I think that annoys Magnus because he knows he's the best all-around chess player but the format doesn't really let him prove that

[dusky hull]

I mean based on solely this years performance, ding is absolutely not better than ian

So yea

[delicate peak]

you can fluke a world championship win in the current format. but if the match was like, lets just say 100 games with some distribution of classical, rapid and blitz

I think it would be pretty much impossible to fluke a win

[dusky hull]

Right

But obviously that favors some more than others

[cyan elm]

I do think the world championship format could be better but good luck getting them to change it

[grand idol]

but 100 games would take like months

or at least weeks

[dusky hull]

I think we can all agree fabi is clearly world 2nd. But in faster time controls he drops off much harder than like Hikaru

[cyan elm]

I’d love it to at least cover all the major time formats

Some classical some rapid some blitz and prolly bullet too I suppose

[grand idol]

ya i like it when you have to be better at blitz

[cyan elm]

So that way the world champion is ideally the most “complete” player

[grand idol]

cause magnus is so good at blitz

danya incoming as bullet champion

[delicate peak]

You can play 78 blitz 3:0 games in the time it took Ian to lose game 6 in Dubai

[cyan elm]

you really did him like that

[dusky hull]

Yea so like this is sorta the problem. Because we do have blitz and rapid championships (and magnus holds both titles currently). My opinion is keep classical championship, but reduce the # of games, but the trade off is institute the chess complete championship where contenders compete across all time formats

[grand idol]

you dont go from 120 to 3 imo, you go to like 60/30 and have some blitz too

[delicate peak]

Indeed but its called the world chess championship and not the world classical chess championship and so maybe the name should be changed or the format should reflect the name (and I think, intention) of the tournament. is probably a caricatured version of magnus' thinking on that

[dusky hull]

Precisely

[delicate peak]

no one said that, the whole point is to have a mix, you're not reading my posts

[dusky hull]

So change the name and institute a real world chess championship

Best of both worlds

[delicate peak]

just saying that 100 games is not at all an unreasonable amount over 2 weeks

[dusky hull]

The world champion might not be the best rapid or best blitz player, but they could be the most complete player

Hell the world champion might not even be the best classical player

The point stands

[grand idol]

do you think 78 3:0 games is the same mental load as 1 classical game

[dusky hull]

No

Not even close

[delicate peak]

I wouldn't know

[grand idol]

like more or less

[dusky hull]

The strain one classical match has on you is absolutely taxing

[grand idol]

it feels like it would be more to me but iskdk

really

[dusky hull]

Blitz you can literally blitz out moves. You’re not spending a whole lot of time thinking. Classical is the antithesis of that

[delicate peak]

id think the classical game is tougher

just more time spent frying your brain

and stretching its limits

while blitz is closer to playing a video game or smth idk

[dusky hull]

Across 78 3 minute games, you’re thinking for roughly 1/3 of that time so 78 minutes. Classical is definitely more and definitely deeper thinks

You can’t afford to play off intuition in classical except when in time trouble

In blitz, intuition is your best friend

[grand idol]

but in a theoretical word championship youd be stressed each game no? and youd have no time to think youd just be playing

[dusky hull]

For what time control though

I mean stress is always a factor yea

But “no time to think” is what I’m questioning

[grand idol]

ya maybe youre right and that lowers the stress

like blitz? so maybe 3/5 mins

[dusky hull]

I can’t say for sure what definitively impacts stress. I’ve never competed at even close to the level they are now. But I will say that the more time you have to think the more nerves can become an issue. It’s just you and your own thoughts. You’re trying to calculate lines while keeping out of your own head. Blitz I think would be easier in that respect. Little time means you’re forced to move. You gotta go. You have no choice, back is against the wall

[grand idol]

yeah thats a good point

it would be cool to see more changes

[dusky hull]

You ever watch euro football players when a ball is in the air and they have time to watch it come down trying to volley it, and then they totally flub it? That usually has nothing to do with misreading the trajectory of the ball. It’s because when you’re acting on reflexes, your training takes over. When you’re forced to actually think, you’re put on the spot to act perfectly.

So I think it’s similar to that

Also it’s worth mentioning that magnus isn’t alone in this thought

World women’s #1 hou yifan is also not the world champion. She’s almost a clear 100 points higher than ju wenjun and refused to get back into the contenders because, again, it gains her very little

She’s stepped away from chess almost entirely as a result which is a real shame because she’s clearly a phenomenal player

The reality is that the format really only works when the top players are relatively close together in rating. The further the disparity between the players, the less enticing the format is for the higher rated players

(This is also evident in that super GMs very rarely enter open tournaments because even if they draw they lose rating)

[delicate peak]

well that wasn't so good for fabi..

[dusky hull]

F

[delicate peak]

gukesh 6
ian 6
fabi 5.5
hikaru 5.5
pragg 5.5

gonna be a good few days of chess coming up.

[dusky hull]

No matter what happens, the fact that prag has had this much success in the candidates by round 9 is fucking absurd

Kid is gonna be an absolute legend in the decades coming

Credit to svidler as his second for all the prep they’ve done together

[delicate peak]

How bout Gukesh though? Higher rating, a year younger

and obviously having an even better candidates, if only by a halfpoint so far

[dusky hull]

They’re both absolutely crushing it. Anand’s legacy stands tall.

[dusky hull]

puzzle rush, baby https://lichess.org/7zdUhzTW/white#1

[delicate peak]

hikaru 6.5
gukesh 6.5
ian 6.5
fabi 6

3 rounds remain

[cyan elm]

who is azor picking to take the checkered flag

[delicate peak]

man idk would need to check the remaining matchups

ian tends to clutch at teh end so..

[delicate peak]

Omg I spoke too soon

Ian won his game

He's sole leader now

[tardy finch]

Third time's the charm

[delicate peak]

jesus christ

[cyan elm]

Give me a multi way tiebreak and I’d nut

[tardy finch]

Not going to spoil the last round if you haven't watched it, but this is still feasible

[grand idol]

I know we still have tiebreakers

but man kind of anticlimactic the last couple days with the draws

[delicate peak]

lol

this aged poorly

[grand idol]

hahaha

fabi saw my post

[void bramble]

There's an episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds that has a character playing chess in Toronto to get 21st century currency

[void bramble]

@teal furnace btw

[teal furnace]

oh i didnt know

if anyone wants to game
https://chess.com/play/richyvee

(at MMA class for the next 3ish hours tho, so dont expect immediate responses)

[tardy finch]

Anyone fancy a game?

[teal furnace]

anyone watching scc?

[tardy finch]

Brain a little slow for that but I'm trying

[teal furnace]

fair

[teal furnace]

dayyyyuuum

that was a sequence

[teal furnace]

hikaru full gas no breaks 💀

[half hedge]

Hans got literally destroyed

[teal furnace]

[teal furnace]

he took it well tho

[hard pagoda]

Fellow hunter/chess geeks

Why does the engine have -3?

[void bramble]

cc @dusky hull

[hard pagoda]

I thought I was losing here. Doubled pawns in front of my king, and a pawn down

f5 knight is reasonably strong

But otherwise I didn’t feel like I had much going for me

Ended up winning due to an opponent blunder but I’m still intrigued

I think I’ve figured it out now. The rook on the open c file is killer after
… a6
Na3
Bxa3
bxa3

(I did play that but then played Nc4 rather than doubling up the rooks)

[tardy finch]

Engine evaluates the position, not the material. In the picture the knight on b5 is not only doing absolutely nothing, it's even one wrong move away from being trapped while ALSO blocking the other knight's usefulness. H rook is being held hostage more or less as it is inactive and requires a couple of moves to do something.

Note though that black is being suffocated here with very few moves being available which brings the eval bar back a little. If you do not spot a6, black still keeps the advantage but not to a winning degree.

[teal furnace]

[void bramble]

@hard pagoda I suspect you're not in the habit of checking here yet

[hard pagoda]

Yup that all makes sense. I was definitely feeling the suffocation at the time and only felt like I was in a winning position several moves later. Usually my “feel” for how a game is going aligns quite closely with the engine when reviewing after.

[tardy finch]

The feeling being on point is a great thing. The challenge is now to be able to consciously arrive to the same conclusion through logic. Once you can elevate "I feel I have a good position" to "I know I have a good position because of X and Y" then you are in great shape.

[hard pagoda]

ha mostly my thinking in blitz is "is this move a blunder?"

[tardy finch]

It's a start. Just make sure to mark down the ones you got wrong 😜

Fool me once, shame on you gratz actually, well played.

Fool me 5-6 times, the line ain't working.

[hard pagoda]

Think I need to switch up my opening as white - played scotch for a long time but now at 1200 people don't just blindly accept it and then you're in trouble

[tardy finch]

Pert is responsible for exposing me to the Reti... Which also has a gambit variation but that isn't as interesting. Still a neat little thing to add to your toolbox.

And I personally would often cling to the Italian as it's easy to flow from one idea to the other depending on your opponent. Downside is it's an overused opening.

[tardy finch]

Been a while since we had a puzzle in here. Black is on an early blunder streak and after playing b6 and opening up white's attack, now follows with Qf6, guaranteeing the winning position for white in under ten moves on the board.

Find the mate in three.

[teal furnace]

is there a way to setup a board like that on a homepage?
I'm not good enough to think about that in my head :D @tardy finch

[tardy finch]

In chess.com you go on Learn->Analysis->Set Up Position

[teal furnace]

ty ty

[tardy finch]

On Lichess it's Tools -> Analysis board and same idea. Just listing both so Pert doesn't crucify me

[teal furnace]

(no i dont need that long for the puzzle but i'm in a meeting )

i think i got it(?)
white C3 -> C6
black E8 -> E7
queen takes pawn
C8 D7
queen takes bishop mate

appearently theres a quicker mate if black goes D8 instead of E7
but i am unable to find it

lmao i found it instead of queen takes pawn queen goes E8 mate

and thats the other one i found

[tardy finch]

Splendid work!

[teal furnace]

thanksie

[dusky hull]

[dusky hull]

@tardy finch

[tardy finch]

He's back!

How are you doing man, give me some good news

[dusky hull]

good news? uhhh

i placed second at a USCF tournament

[tardy finch]

[dusky hull]

i couldve placed first but in one of the games i straight up blundered my queen on turn 12

so i ended 3/4 in what probably shouldve been a 4/4 tournament

[tardy finch]

You got an official rating now?

[dusky hull]

yup. 1174 lmao

[tardy finch]

Time to grind lol

[dusky hull]

my next tournament is sometime in november

i dont know all the details but yea, hopefully rating go up

[tardy finch]

Rating go brrr

[dusky hull]

other than chess, life has been absolute shit but

thats how it goes

[tardy finch]

Did the gym gains go up as well?

[dusky hull]

theyre something

bigger arms bigger legs bigger body dysphoria

[tardy finch]

That is all good news

[dusky hull]

i did end up finally reading your dms so if you kept the game you wanted to show me, feel free

[tardy finch]

I'll try to find it. If not, I'll make sure to have a better one in due time 🙂

Brain still at 5% power as I was asleep, just remembered my name

[cyan elm]

Missed you bud

[grand idol]

hi pert

[dusky hull]

[teal furnace]

chess thread booming

[tardy finch]

Ofc it is, Pert is back

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1296822827734798346/1296822843555971184/image.png?ex=67150163&is=6713afe3&hm=5da7cff86b908d99ee488ef04ebf4b820d11554df57196d24fa7d2c58ca9ae20&

I call this art piece "Developing moves are my passion"

[dusky hull]

i recently watched Aman mate an International Master by promoting all of his pawns to replace his pieces and put all of his pieces back on the starting squares, still mating his opponent

its shit like that that makes me seriously wonder if I'll ever actually be good at chess, because what the fuck even is that

[teal furnace]

i saw that that was so INSANE

like i can barely make it to endgame with a solid advantage against 500s and the guy casually trolls an IM

[tardy finch]

At the highest level the game is .. magic. One reason why I love watching Rapport's games is because he can turn what Stockfish evaluates as "u stoopid" into a marvelous win.

[dusky hull]

Spent the last 2 hours getting a colonoscopy from the 2150 player

In those two hours I had 1 win and 1 game I had a winning position but still lost

[left glade]

We take the win

[dusky hull]

🌟✨it’s something✨⚡️

[tardy finch]

Who's up for a game?

[teal furnace]

I love how much skillgapping theres going on at high levels aswell

like when you a "normal" GM play one of those 2700+ monsters

its like they dont even care

like you can never rest on your throne

[teal furnace]

i'm arround most times, gotta ping tho
or i think my invite link should still work

https://chess.com/play/richyvee

[tardy finch]

I might be 10 hours late to that game

[teal furnace]

thahahah

as I understand it that link works always?

[tardy finch]

Only one way to find out and it's not reading the documentation

[teal furnace]

[dusky hull]

my new coach to me, damn near verbatim: "lets say your plan was to fly to london. you bought the ticket, you packed your bags, you got your passport, you boarded the plane. you've done everything right. so why the fuck are you fist fighting the air marshal just before takeoff? just get to london man, stop changing your plan at the last second"

(in three separate games i was preparing to launch attacks only to stop to do something on the opposite side of the board. every time.)

[cyan elm]

I’m taking just get to London man as a sign to only play the London system from now on

[dusky hull]

ironically he plays the london and i let out an audible groan when i found out

i dont think he was a fan of that lol. he doesnt have the same personality as my previous coach.

[cyan elm]

Fair not really a banter guy then?

[dusky hull]

apparently not

or maybe i just havent hit his particular vein of humor.

ill find it

[cyan elm]

Maybe try asking him to google en passant

[dusky hull]

lol i dont think thats it but ill keep that as my backup plan

have you chessed while ive been gone

[cyan elm]

I’ve been slacking

Got back into it recently tho

Cheeky blitz games on lichess from time to time

[dusky hull]

word

[tardy finch]

Bout to chess all weekend

Wish me luck and no London players

[dusky hull]

:)

[half hedge]

I appreciate you guys

[tardy finch]

You do? 🥺

[half hedge]

I do

[dusky hull]

Oh no, she’s deluded :(

[tardy finch]

So, Pert. I got angy juice. When is the showdown?

[dusky hull]

oh god

okay well i am supposed to have a 30+ minute game today

maybe we play today or tomorrow

[tardy finch]

If you give approximate hours, I could clarify that

Because today I have to clear one more farm boss and argue with the officers on why they should not participate in raid while tomorrow I am going to be busy with repairing my sister's car(once in a year is enough).

[tardy finch]

chess.com has a cool one today

[void bramble]

I have a question about this one. Is || a bishop actually better than a queen here, or was that just to be clever ||

[cyan elm]

||neither||

[void bramble]

So what was the reason?

[tardy finch]

||make a bishop and black is out of moves but not in check, aka game is drawn||

[cyan elm]

same for queen

u can win from here tho

[void bramble]

Does white still win || by making a queen ||

[tardy finch]

Nope

||try the reverse and think what black would do if it was their turn||

[void bramble]

|| why didn't they move a pawn to free the king for the puzzle? ||

[dusky hull]

Black pawns are coming toward you (marching down the board). White pawn is going up. Hopefully that answers you

@tardy finch it’s a mate in 3, yea?

[tardy finch]

5 unless one of us is counting wrong

So probably 3

It is 3

[dusky hull]

Word. Were you counting blacks moves separately to get to 5

I do that sometimes

[tardy finch]

... perhaps

[dusky hull]

Yea i get it lol

@void bramble you had the correct intuition about your first move, but consider other options.

More to what asiano said, consider what happens for black if you did do either of the options you initially considered.

[void bramble]

oh I'm silly

[void bramble]

I'm super lost. In the puzzle || white makes a bishop and eventually wins. if white made a queen, wouldn't white just win immediately? black won't be able to move at all ||

[dusky hull]

Is not being able to move the same thing as being checkmated?

If you make a queen, you’ve ascertained black can’t move. So if black has no legal moves on their turn but isn’t in check, that’s not a loss for black correct?

[void bramble]

Oh I thought it would be a loss but I'm guessing since you're asking that way that it's not

I get it now

[dusky hull]

If you have no legal moves on your turn but are not in check, it is stalemate

Aka a draw

[void bramble]

That's dumb

[dusky hull]

If you have no legal moves on your turn but ARE in check, it is checkmate

So in this case, the pawn promotion really matters because you can accidentally stalemate black

[void bramble]

I will accept it but I'm not going to like it

[tardy finch]

Me the first time I lost to the clock

[teal furnace]

idk how but man i turned this arrouned

[tardy finch]

gib pgn

[teal furnace]

smol disclaimer
I shouldnt have played

https://www.chess.com/game/live/124150200373

was not able to concentrate tbh

ah yes the classic mate in 14 i missed here

its a WILD sequence tho

[dusky hull]

this game is exactly what i would show beginner players on why its so fucking important to develop. im 20 moves into this game and black still has 6 pieces on the back rank, untouched

good comeback, way to get your king to relative safety and make your opponent suffer due to not executing fundamentals

[teal furnace]

tbf whenever my opponent gifts me pieces like i did in the beginning i would also just pick them up with the queen

[dusky hull]

no that was fine

im not saying dont grab a free piece

im saying when you're up a piece, get your queen out of there and then develop

[teal furnace]

aaah ok

[dusky hull]

let me put it in better perspective.

the game was 25 moves long. your opponent played TWELVE queen moves and 3 LSB moves, a piece that he traded anyway. this means your opponent played MORE THAN HALF THE GAME with 2 pieces

[teal furnace]

true ya

[dusky hull]

you cannot play chess like this. develop pieces. get your king to safety

and again, you punished him well for his mistakes

[teal furnace]

ya it eventually was his downfall

ye

I stubled into mate in 1 bcs he didnt do that :D

[dusky hull]

yes, and up to 1000 that will literally happen all the time

[teal furnace]

niiice

so theres a chance i'll get 1k

[dusky hull]

just stumbling into forks or accidental checkmates because your opponents dont understand fundamentals

brother every single person in the world who is not developmentally handicapped can hit 1500

guaranteed

[teal furnace]

dayum

[dusky hull]

its just a matter of how well you execute fundamentals

[teal furnace]

I was like
If i ever get 1k i can rest

[dusky hull]

i believe in you

[teal furnace]

I was hardstuck at 450 for so long

i was glad i am stable over 500 for now

but now i'm getting like the tingles when i play

[dusky hull]

yea thatll happen

just understand that your opponents have the exact same propensity to do silly things as you do. getting to 1000 is all about limiting the silliness

[teal furnace]

true true

[dusky hull]

like imagine how much easier your game wouldve been if your opponent played twelve moves with the queen AND you didnt donate your bishop to his charity

if you won on move 25, you mightve been able to win by move 20

get what i mean

the better you get and the better your opponents get, in general (unless its blitz) the longer the games will go

because silliness is kept to a minimum

[teal furnace]

ahahahahaha ya true
on that bishop move i was like.. aight.. i lost

but i usually try to fight the tilt and not resign

bcs sometimes you can turn those games arround bcs they get cocky/sloppy

[dusky hull]

yea dont resign

the general rule of thumb is below like 1300 dont resign. it has less to do with rating and more to do with 1) below a certain level, the odds that your opponent will blunder right back is incredibly high (hey look, your game is literally an example) and 2) you probably arent aware of all the counterplay you have on the board, even down material.

youll reach a certain point if you keep practicing where you will become cognizant of your counterplay (or lack thereof). once you get to that point, feel free to resign if you make an overwhelmingly tragic blunder

for reference, i refused to resign in the tournament game where i blundered my queen in one move. i made my opponent work for it. and honestly i was maybe one tempo away from securing a draw by perpetual. being down a queen is much more tragic than being down a bishop, so dont give up.

[teal furnace]

[dusky hull]

Lmao

[teal furnace]

another one of those games where the motto is "dont give up"

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/124216162715?tab=analysis

turns out its easier to win if the opponent blunders their queen on move 25

[teal furnace]

holy moly i feel like this was one of my better games recently

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/124238950159?tab=analysis&move=90

always weird for me when they build those zig zag pawn structures early

but somehow i managed to break through

[tardy finch]

Who cares about development if they ragequit in 10 moves...
But on a more serious note - can you guess how this position was achieved in the first place?

[dusky hull]

Queen trade on f3, some sort of blunder of a knight or LSB on b5

Maybe a scandi opening that went terribly wrong for white

I lean toward scandi because of the h-e pawns untouched for black and white and black traded off e and d

How wrong am I

[tardy finch]

That is ... surprisingly on point

I am both scared and in awe

[dusky hull]

what i am confused by is if a queen trade happened on f3, why white didnt recap with a knight

i imagine it was something like e4 d5 ex Qx Qf3 Qx and then gx, but why not Nx? idk

[tardy finch]

I don't know either

[dusky hull]

I wouldn't truly be back to TSL chess if I didn't post a puzzle. In this game, white has sacrificed a knight for an initiative that has not paid off. Eval before f3 was -3ish, reflective of white being down a piece. Eval after f3 shoots all the way up to -8 if you spot the correct idea.

Honorable mentions:
||Nef6 and Ndf6 are both more than fine. White has only weakened his position further and of course is still down a full piece (in practice even more than that because of how bad the dsb has become with an undeveloped queenside). Both the knight moves come with the same idea that white's queen is now threatened, but Ndf6 is what I chose to play in the game as I didn't want to immediately retreat my e knight. Both choices are very much winning for black.||

Answer: ||Bd4+, while perhaps easy to spot if you're looking for forcing moves, is still a bit challenging to understand if you don't also see the following move in the sequence. Bd4+ cannot be met with anything other than cxd4. All other replies are really bad or lose on the spot. After cxd4, the idea behind Bd4+ becomes clear with black playing Qc2. The pawn has moved, allowing the queen to infiltrate. The bishop moving to d4 didn't just come with check; it didn't just dislodge the pawn to free the queen; it also unblocks the rook's attack to the g2 pawn. This three-purpose move creates a mating threat, all while sacrificing itself and still leaving the knight hanging. White has to respond to the mate threat. The position is so terrible that white has to give up the knight on d2 before playing Qh3 just so that the rooks would be connected (because if Qh3 first then Qf2+ Kh1 Qxe1#). Really cool move imo||

[teal furnace]

dunno whats correct but i would move the horsey under attack to f6 attack the queen and then uhm queen dodges to h3 i'd assume or a more aggressive g5
but its not the idea i'd say lets see the answer

ok i did not expect that one

||why does white have to give up the knight on D2?||

[dusky hull]

Should be explained by the line provided. White can’t rush ||Qh3 because rooks are disconnected||

[teal furnace]

hmm ok so "just" ||to connect the rooks i guess?.. like i know its a thing you want to do (connecting rooks) but i dont get why thats of value in this situation||

[dusky hull]

If the rooks aren’t connected, the queen can target the undefended one with the line I provided at the end of the answer.

[tardy finch]

...spoilers

[dusky hull]

https://tenor.com/view/leonardo-di-caprio-wolf-of-wall-street-angry-rage-mad-gif-17710948

@teal furnace WITH a spoiler tag now

[teal furnace]

ooooh true!

ty ty for explaining

[dusky hull]

And more to your question of “why connect rooks”, even outside of this situation, usually you want your rooks to either defend each other so that if a trade occurs the other rook can take its place (important for controlling a file), or you want them connected vertically to form a battery.

[teal furnace]

ye in a "normal" game/situation i did find it quite handy/logical if you connect them like i usually end up doing the battery
but in this puzzle i didnt realize it right away that you just take the rook kek

[teal furnace]

you know its always good to know that people are actually just as bad as i am

in this position i played D5

black "fell" for my trap

and i collected a free queen

ez game, ez life

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/124418362973?tab=analysis&move=62

[dusky hull]

its nice when discoveries line up and your opponent misses them.

something to note: if your opponent sees the discovery, after Qh6 its not exactly clear who is better because your pieces are still getting forked...

however, you actually generate compensation for the piece if you find dxe6. black of course doesnt want to take with the bishop and give you a way out of the fork by trading yours off, so he will take with the pawn fxe6.

then if you find Ba2 just retreating the bishop, after bxa4 finally taking the hanging knight, you're down a piece but black's queenside is in utter shambles with doubled a-pawns and a very weak c pawn. not to mention blacks king is in the center of the board with yet another weak e pawn to protect him. i plugged this into the engine and it actually slightly prefers white here with the massive powerhouse bishops and open files for attack. Really cool resulting position.

[cyan elm]

You’re really cool

[dusky hull]

[dusky hull]

@teal furnace speaking of discoveries and massive powerhouse bishops lol https://lichess.org/BCgcC6cl/white#1

[teal furnace]

hoooly i gotta read up on all that once i'm properly awake

I do however very much appreciate you sharing ideas for my game

[dusky hull]

One thing you’ll learn is that I autistically ramble on about chess so you’ll see multiple paragraphs from me at a time

[void bramble]

I like it

[teal furnace]

i love reading stuff i'm interested in
so just keep on typing

i just slept the entire day yday so I didnt get back to it yet

i did aquire a helpful tip from chesscom tho

unironically tho
since i always play 15|10 games
I forced myself to think about every move for at least 15 sec last few days and i must say it did increase my odds

as much as i dont wanna admit it, but i am not good enough to play blitz/bullet

i can also not calculate deep enough to play like 90 min games, but 15|10 or 10|0 is perfect

[dusky hull]

Your chess doesn’t improve with lower time formats. Bullet, blitz, and even sorta rapid are generally based on your existing knowledge of chess and your intuition. Long games give you the chance to actually exercise and improve. Also “I can’t calculate deep enough” usually is not the reason you will lose longer games.

In fact it’s pretty much universally agreed on that the slimmest margin between a novice and a grandmaster is actually calculation ability

My coach has made me subscribe to 30+0 or longer games and honestly I can see why. Blitz is for fun, but this is where I’m seeing growth

[teal furnace]

i found 15|10 rapid be a sweetspot bcs it lets me think but doesnt take 1hour to play a game
but i do agree, longer games give you more time to grow

[void bramble]

And I got laughed at awhile ago for trying to set up a daily game instead of a 10 min one

[dusky hull]

I’ll still laugh at you for a daily game lol

[void bramble]

[dusky hull]

You need to have SOME time pressure

[tardy finch]

Nothing wrong in sending your move by a pigeon

[teal furnace]

finally went back to revisit this one
actually insane how those - for me - unintuitive moves result in a 0.4 for white

like ya, blacks queenside is messed up but on first glance, my pieces look very inactive to me (they prolly arent, but i'm dumb)

that being said
I'm a bit intoxicated (had some gin tonic)
but i still managed to flag this person https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/124580964291?tab=analysis

[tardy finch]

One thing I quickly noticed in the game - from time to time you make moves that have an obvious counter, one you probably would even spot if you out yourself in your opponent's place.

Now, sometimes it is in fact useful to bait/force a move out of your opponent. But for example, move 9, Bb4. If your opponent follows through with the idea of trading, you gain nothing. If he decides to defend - like he did - you actually help him develop. So just don't play Bb4 and go straight for Bd6 which you played next turn anyway. Difference is, that pawn won't be there because you are not gifting white an extra move.

Key takeaway from butting heads with Pert multiple times and feeling constricted all the time - do not rush into an engagement unless you are sure committing is the right choice(probably applies to personal life as well). Make a statement, leave a threat hanging for the opposing side like the sword of Damocles (please don't apply this one to personal life) and explore possibilities. Controlling the game isn't just about having a piece advantage - leaving your opponent with little to no good moves is just as efficient while also not forcing you into an endgame right away.

[teal furnace]

ya you did find a great weakness of mine

lots of times I even find the counter to my bad move immedeatly after making the move
even tho sometimes I tried taking time to think about my move. dunno if thats the case in the move you mentioned, but usually i think for a bit
move and instantly regret it

it got better already but usually I tend to rush it still.
i'm bad at evaluating positions or like.. realizing how to develop my position.
i always feel like i gotta attack even tho i know that sitting out would lead my opponent into blundering themself

i"m sure someone smart said this at some point, but my biggest enemy in chess currently is myself

[tardy finch]

I mean... You are the only person who has participated in every game you lost so there is some truth to that

[teal furnace]

yep yep

[teal furnace]

is it ever smart to exchange pieces quickly?

like in this game i was like
screw it i'm exchanging/taking as much as possible early

https://www.chess.com/game/live/124887531659

[dusky hull]

okay so a few things. im just gonna mention stuff as i see them

1. your opponent plays d4, you respond c6. totally fine. your opponent then pushes d5? for like little reason? just capture it. it is situational, but most of the time you are very happy to exchange a flank pawn for a central pawn. if your opponent is willingly offering you that trade, its usually a good idea to capture. there are times when this isnt the case, but especially in the opening just go for it. because like after cxd5 and Qxd5 you think oh no ive helped him develop, but you still have Nf6 with tempo on the queen. so now you get your tempo back and he has to move the queen again.

2. i do not like e5. its not like outright losing but look at it this way. he has a defended pawn on your side of the board--aka he controls more space. if you do not control more space, you need to be able to challenge the pawns/pieces that do. by playing e5 you will NEVER be able to challenge that d5 pawn. not to mention that you now have a hole on d6, but that's a bit less important. e6 instead makes sense because you immediately and directly challenge his pawns that are on your side of the board. d6, while probably not findable at the 500 level is slightly better because it closes the hole, supports your c pawn, and prevents e5.

3. develop your minor pieces before your queen. you moved your c pawn so your knight is begging to be played Nc6.

4. all of the trades so far are fine. he blundered a pawn and now you trade into an endgame up a pawn. your d pawn could potentially be a target because you can never get in d5 so its backwards, but for right now not a big deal.

5. okay so getting back to your original question, the general rule of thumb is that a pawn endgame is the easiest endgame to win when you're the one up in pawns. so trading down as you are is totally fine. you're up 2 pawns, this is all kosher. my one note about castling is that while castling is generally advised to new players (king out of center, develop rook, etc), its not usually necessary to do when you're already in an endgame. in an endgame, you want your king to be active. queens are off the board so you're not getting checkmated probably, so by castling you're just tucking him further away for not any real reason. its not a BAD move, but it also isnt necessary especially when he's offering you yet another 3rd pawn.

6. move 18. just keep trading. dont stop trading. take that knight every day of the week.

7. move 22, gotta be a pawn grabber. thats just a free pawn, bringing you back up to 2 pawns ahead. and like you just moved your bishop the turn before so like yea go for it pull the trigger, steal that pawn

8. i understand the justification behind b5. you wanna get those pawns rolling, make use of the 2v1 on that side. sure. its really really hard for beginners to spot that they can block the rook's defense of the pawn with something like Bd5. HOWEVER. after b5 you gotta commit to your gameplan man. next move after b5 should be a5 100%. keep pushing those pawns. but after Ne4 you're not doing so hot anymore. this looks pretty drawish. maybe you're the one still pushing for more, but its gonna be so hard to prove that your position is better.

9. the blunder is understandable. it might notve been exactly apparently why you needed to take with the knight and not the bishop. from there on out you did well to keep fighting. this is why you never resign below a certain level. you made your opponent prove that they could mate you and in fact they couldnt.

[teal furnace]

sheesh what a wall
ty
will read after lunch

[dusky hull]

context: just had this position in a blitz game. I was playing the stonewall as white where my opponent brazenly castled QS. I made a strategic blunder just a few moves earlier, so I was forced to go on the offensive. In the position shown, I had just offered my bishop, saccing it for a pawn on a6. Instead of reacting at all to what's going on by his king, my opponent decides to counterattack by taking my knight on f3. This move can be punished. Find the correct idea in this position that wins for white and see how far you can calculate it.

answer: ||Only one move wins, everything else is losing for white. You had to find Bxb7+ insisting upon the bishop sac. The king is forced to recapture because if Kb8 trying to hide under white's bishop sort of like an umbrella pawn, then Qa1 is just mate on the spot. So Kxb7 followed by Rb1+. The rook joins the attack with tempo, controlling the whole file. If Kc8 then Qa6 is again just mate in one, so Nb4 giving material back to white. Black will continue to offer pieces until the king is eventually caught in a mating net due to the open board vs 2 rooks and a queen.||

[hard pagoda]

||Not sure it’s instant mate given once Qb5 black has an exit on d7. It’s still game over though. Well played||

I’ve been practicing a bit more recently and got myself up to 1200 mostly by making fewer silly mistakes but now getting pretty stuck. Every time I get up to 1210 I lose a few games and bam back down again. Any suggestions? I’m not making as many blunders but I’m struggling to spot attacking opportunities. And I’m losing games to the clock waay too often (playing 5min blitz mostly)

I always know in a closed midgame it’s just a matter of time before I make a dumb dumb due to lack of patience or lack of time.

Playing a lot of Italian -> Giuco Piano as white. Maybe I go back to the Scotch so there are fewer closed games…

[dusky hull]

1200 range is still usually about not blundering first, however this is no longer just about outright blundering material in one move like you’d see below 1000. You’re now at the level where a sizable mistake can also mean moves that simply waste time and don’t fit the position; moves that don’t fit the opening ideas; moves that either allow for your opponent to create a pawn break and/or moves that disallow your own pawn breaks.

Once you’re out of the opening as I can assume you’re safely achieving at 1200, you want to be asking yourself “where are my pieces looking?” Usually, your pieces will be looking in the direction your pawn structure stretches, and that’s usually the area you want to focus your play. Additionally, this means asking yourself “where are my opponents pieces looking?” And doing the same process. By asking those 2 questions, you will then be able to start formulating a plan for yourself while also considering which pieces to trade (maybe you have a bad bishop that you’d love to trade for his great knight, etc).

Becoming better at chess is to become better at creating a plan for yourself while also uncovering your opponent’s plan and taking steps to dissuade it. Then, the next level is to learn the timing of both, as sometimes you will need to respect your opponents plan and other times you should be proceeding with your own.

If you post a game I’d be happy to take a look

[hard pagoda]

Here’s a decent example from last night

Check out this #chess game: FigTree4 vs T_Man_Cometh - https://www.chess.com/live/game/125193516493

I got the advantage in the opening very quickly

Then missed opportunities in the middle of the game. Felt like I was shuffling pieces around aimlessly

And then blundered under time pressure

Looking back on where you spent time is kinda interesting

Be2 from this position cost me 25seconds.

And then a similar bishop move a few moves later cost me another 20s

[tardy finch]

First question you should ask yourself if you feel you're out of moves is "What am I doing with my lif- oh, a rook is hanging"

[dusky hull]

I’m gonna be really honest with you, you played a really good game for most of the game

Like for 1200 I’m genuinely impressed at your reasoning. I have two notes for you and only two notes because once you got below the one minute mark time pressure got to you and everything from there was whatever

1. Go back to move 17 and without an engine (if you haven’t explored this yet) and see if you can find a better move then read what I have to say.

Notice how he used a b pawn to attack your knight on the a file. For me, immediately, this is a good time to stop and think “do I have to react?” Why? For one, if he does succeed in capturing, he gets doubled a pawns—(tied with doubled h pawns) the weakest of pawns one could have. and for two, unless you really really really need to or unless it is part of a plan, you generally do not want to retreat your pieces.

So I would think to myself okay so what could I do in one turn if I didn’t care about him taking the knight. Then you go through your “checks, captures, threats” checklist. There’s only one check in the position with Bb6, but the square is defended twice so that won’t lead to anything right now. Next, captures. You only have two captures in the position and one of them is totally infeasible (Bxf6 doesn’t do anything for you). But then you see you can trade Bxd6. And then you think wait a second, I remember that the knight I’m capturing was one of the two defenders of the b6 square AND the only piece black can even recapture with is the king—the OTHER defender of the b6 square. So if Bxd6 Kxd6 you can plop your knight Nb6+ forking the king and the rook, pretty much winning the game. If black wants to maybe proceed differently after Bxd6 they could go through with capturing your knight bxa4, but now they have super weak doubled a pawns and you’ve retained your bishop pair. Even if you don’t find the best moves after that (a little hard to spot), you can still retreat your LSB and say “my position is way better than yours”.

Do you see how the ideas combine together once you go through your checklist? And notice that you only spent 9 seconds on your decision to retreat the knight. Do not respect your opponent, do not trust your opponent. If they attack your piece, that does not always mean you have to retreat.

Okay and now 2. On move 21, you fall victim to the same mindset you had in the previous move I was expanding on. Your opponent has catastrophically blundered his kingside pawn structure and you collect the free pawn. So he attacks your bishop with Rf8. Again, do not respect your opponent. My immediate thought in this position is just the very simple e5. You solidify a monster bishop, you advance your passed pawn (PASSED PAWNS MUST BE PUSHED), and you attack his bishop, all in one move.

Your opponent will be incredibly hard pressed to remove the pawn/bishop constellation you’ve formed in the center of the board. You’ve basically entrenched your forces deep in his position and now he will have to suffer for it. Instead however you decide to trade off your incredible bishop for a knight that honestly wasn’t doing much. Yes, you’re doing well because you’re up pawns after everything trades down, but now you’re relying on yourself to not make a mistake in an endgame when you’re the one who is down on time. Had you pushed e5, you’ve sacrificed absolutely nothing on your end while your opponent is now going to panic and grasp at straws to somehow pull off a miraculous defense. Chances are he is dropping more material very quickly after e5.

So here’s my tldr: under no circumstance should you just trust your opponent that you have to retreat or have to trade. Once you’re in the middle game, go through the checklist: checks, captures, threats and try to combine ideas if they can be. And finally, again, credit where credit is due, you played a great opening and a really good middle game aside from a few decisions that just made the game harder on yourself. Keep at it. Maybe do some endgame practice if you have time (lord knows even I need to practice my endgames) but that’s not why you lost this game.

[dusky hull]

Hopefully with the thesis paper I’ve written you will see that if you go through your checklist it can start to help with the “aimless shuffling”

[hard pagoda]

That's really helpful, thanks! I think there's two things I need to improve on:

• remember that you don't need to retreat from a threat if you can create an equal or greater threat.
• identifying more "strong" things. I've got the basics like passed pawns, giving my opponent isolated doubled pawns, rooks on open files. I need to add to that as I identify what to work towards

[dusky hull]

Precisely

Thank you for summarizing my autistic rambling

[hard pagoda]

Didn’t need any of those tips after my opponent walked into this situation today. 8 moves in:

Played Scotch and couldn’t believe my luck when he played d6

[teal furnace]

chess thread poppin

[tardy finch]

Let's make it even better
https://lichess.org/zTwAhZKQ

Not knowing who accepted makes this more intersting

Fuck, who was it that I played

[dusky hull]

Whoever played Be3 I’m gonna need you to confess so I can bonk you

[tardy finch]

Let's try to fish the culprit out

@mint parrot was it you

[mint parrot]

?????

[tardy finch]

Ok, not you

[dusky hull]

You’d be an ace detective in another life man

[tardy finch]

Not you either then

[hard pagoda]

I’ve gotta assume that was a misclick (it wasn’t me either!)

[tardy finch]

New suspect is doolb

[dusky hull]

Doolb doesn’t know how the pieces move

[tardy finch]

Which would explain Be3

[dusky hull]

@tardy finch blitz game? im high off my rocker

[tardy finch]

Half asleep, this will be a wipeout

Let me take a piss first

[dusky hull]

we can try again tomorrow

[tardy finch]

Nah

It's now or never

Light the beacons...

[dusky hull]

https://lichess.org/lLWLBKa9

[dusky hull]

lit

its random sides, 5+3

the consequences of b3 were really unfortunate there

[tardy finch]

Well, didn't think about it well enough

[dusky hull]

yea i think everything you did up to that was fine

the problem was just that my dsb opened up and your queen got reaaaaal crowded

[tardy finch]

I mean... I kind of feel there was something. I just didn't spot it

And then I was constantly a move behind

[dusky hull]

yea, instead of b3 you couldve developed a knight or played Ba5 maybe, trying to dislocate my queen

but b3 just allowed for so much free tempo

we will play again when you're not on the verge of sleep

[tardy finch]

Apparently Ka3 was a thing according to the engine. I looked at it earlier and didn't like it at all, let's see what the fish has to say ...

[dusky hull]

the fish had an upgrade, did you see?

its on 17.1 nowadays. absolutely crazy

[tardy finch]

Oh, right, the plan was to move your queen away from that square

[dusky hull]

ya

[tardy finch]

Fuck

[dusky hull]

my queen on b6 held together my position

[tardy finch]

Ye, ye

[dusky hull]

if you challenged that, the game wouldve gone on

it happens

[tardy finch]

I was really eyeing the pawn but was fine with just the bishop

And apparently even with a passive Ka3, it's still fine as you cannot yet move the queen or I get the stronger attack. So I should've just went on the offense.

[dusky hull]

as one often should

in the words of our almighty antihero Eren Yeager, "Tatakae!"

[tardy finch]

Let's try again on Sunday so I'm home. Then I can get angy juice and even the scales.

[dusky hull]

oh god hes too strong on the angry juice

word sounds good

[tardy finch]

I have no idea what that actually means but slightly slurring the pronunciation turns it into "Yes, that is so" in Bulgarian.

[dusky hull]

it means fight

in japanese

[tardy finch]

...yes, that is so

[dusky hull]

or, as the 2200 at my in person club likes to say "attack, because absolutely no one actually enjoys defending"

[tardy finch]

My man, I take great pleasure in a successful OTB defense. Nothing like seeing the one-trick start fuming.

[dusky hull]

just remember that the best player in the world doesn't believe in fortresses.

defensible is just a matter of opinion

[tardy finch]

But being used to defense has its downsides - as seen in the game, I started leaning towards keeping my pieces together when I should have looked for attacks.

[teal furnace]

so at work i cant get games against real ppl on PC(somehow outgoing traffic is locked so i cant find an opponent idk its weird.. ANYWAYS), so i started playing the chesscom bots when at work (also less stressful bcs no time pressure)
today i beat my fist 1400 bot

(tbf i did beat this guy who is 1600 but it seemed like he had an issue when i beat him bcs it was almost too easy)

[teal furnace]

i'm not very confident in chess notation yet so i was frantically looking for a move where a piece goes from a b rank to e3

yet i failed to realize you literally meant move two

ahaahaaha

[dusky hull]

congrats. bots are slippery lil bastards.

[teal furnace]

it feels weird playing them.
like they are very precise
but also they do WEIRD stuff sometimes

my new opponent did an early queen sac just so he could force to get it back 4 moves later with how he set up the board

and I was like...

aint no way

[dusky hull]

yea playing bots is a mixed bag. i wouldnt say train on them but if you play them every so often it can be a unique experience

[teal furnace]

ya true

[dusky hull]

I keep trying to play longer time formats so my coach has games to examine for me. But literally every single longer game my opponents have blundered before move 15

Every single fucking one

[teal furnace]

Check out this #chess game: richyvee vs nosnotna - https://www.chess.com/live/game/125606411821

can you tell on which move the waiter brought me my food ?

[dusky hull]

It’s actually getting so frustrating

[teal furnace]

for me keeping it slow (obviously) helped so far

but i struggle to stay fully zoned in currently

at some point my mind wanders

but starting to get better

[teal furnace]

i dont think i can provide any tips
but I feel you

[teal furnace]

uuuuh
.. why excactly does this win a queen?

(opponent resigned here)

[tardy finch]

Queen is safe and sound unlike white's position... I guess it is comparing the evaluation to move 8 when Qh5+ wasn't played?

[teal furnace]

i'm back home now and was about to start the eval on PC

HEH

more like it

move queen away and pawn takes h4

i guess game analysis on phone is a bit borked

[tardy finch]

"This move wins."

Fixed it

[dusky hull]

Analysis is based off of computing power; your phone, being a minicomputer, can run analysis, but it will always be weaker to a computer running the same version of analysis tool

[tardy finch]

Using that logic, my potato phone would have said I missed a mate in 6

[dusky hull]

Or your potato phone could have missed the mate in 6 itself

[teal furnace]

fair fair

i thought its like a cloud based thing

[dusky hull]

how many pieces do you intend to sacrifice this game?
Yes.
https://lichess.org/dlawyy81/white#1

[tardy finch]

Started as the English, continued in the spirit of the Danish

Lovely

[dusky hull]

Pretty much yea

[dusky hull]

White to play, only one move retains a massive advantage (there is also one other move that keeps white ahead, but not by much)

[tardy finch]

Sleepyhead here, is it ||Kd5||? I see a profitable continuation.
P.S. ||knight is spelled with K but my dumb ass forgot the king existed ...||

[dusky hull]

answer: ||If you found Nd5 and spotted why, you're winning this game.

Initially you may have considered Na4, attacking the bishop 3 times, but the problem is after Na4 black can just capture Bxf2+ and not only does the piece that was attacked get traded off, but also its a discovery and white's queen hangs.

Nb5, now blocks the queen's xray towards white's, but all the same Bxf2+ and after f6 white has no attack.

But if you've seen all that, then by process of elimination you can arrive at Nd5! saying "go ahead, take my rook with check, i dont care." black obliges Bxf2+ but after Kh1! sidestepping and not recapturing, how does black stop the mate on g7? the only thing black can do is play f6 like in the Nb5 line, but this time the knight plays an active role in the counterattack. f6 Nxf6 Rxf6 and now finally Qxa5, the xray working in white's favor this time.||

[teal furnace]

any strong centers in the chat?

holy moly this was a clean game for me

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/126206438031?tab=analysis&move=50

(game of the above screenshot)

even found the nice checkmate at the end (by accident, just wanted to take a pawn KEK)

[dusky hull]

good pressure on the f pawn

your pieces all focusing on that one square is what won you the game. nice job

i also just had a pretty damn clean game, but no fireworks. if anything it would just be an ode to positional games.

opponent slowly crumbled because of his lack of space

[teal furnace]

[dusky hull]

Perhaps I will share with you all how to kill a hippo

[teal furnace]

the best and most useful weapon against a hippo would be a 50 cal sniper rifle or a 50 cal heavy mg

[tardy finch]

It's actually patience. There's a great lecture on the hippo by Josh Friedel, pretty sure it's on YouTube

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J-c-_QLCzc0

Turns out it is still there. Key takeaway for fighting back trash/meme/unknown openings is don't rush in, be methodical, wait for the right time. Most of the time those weird ass openings work because you fall into a trap due to "thinking" you can punish a mistake that was just a juicy bait.

[dusky hull]

In all seriousness yes. When your opponent does weird, slow openings like the cow or the hippo, you just play a normal game.

[teal furnace]

what about the magnus carlsen gambit?

where you manually swap places of queen and king

think of levy what you want but i think this is one of his best videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlaar3KY6sU

[tardy finch]

Arbiter: "Carlsen will play white."
Magnus: "Nuh-uh."

[dusky hull]

I am lamenting the fact that I haven’t talked about this yet. Today was game one of THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP between ding and Gukesh

Gukesh played e4 and ding decided to play the French. Gukesh chose a dubious line that was very attacking but very sharp and unfortunately for him Ding was very resilient.

It was a really solid first game for the WCC. Tomorrow is game 2!

[tardy finch]

It's content time 😎

I was expecting Ding to be the first to win a game in the series but expected that to be game 5 or 6. We will likely see some aggressive play from Gukesh to equal the score

[hard pagoda]

It really is. I used to rely on it a lot and then when I was like “huh?” a few too many times I’d just run moves through the engine instead.

[teal furnace]

good to know

[teal furnace]

i watched like half of it yesterday (already knew the games end bcs of internet)

but man the beginning was so intense
ding thinking for 30 min on like move 8

lookling like hes gonna break down and then blitzing out moves to finish the game

hooooooooooolyyyy

winning as black in game one.. what a statement

and now with game 2 done and conference inc

[dusky hull]

Yea dings clock management was something scary

He dropped down to like 39 minutes to gukesh’s hour 30

Yet somehow he won

[teal furnace]

yaaa ahahaha insane

i got so excited watching it afterwards

like i sat there
knew whats gonna happen and i'm like OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

[hard pagoda]

I watched Levy’s summary of it. Good match

[dusky hull]

Game 2 soooooooon

[teal furnace]

sir? game 2 is over

[dusky hull]

If I haven’t seen it yet it’s not over

[tardy finch]

I can spoil the game. So much power at my fingertips...

[teal furnace]

aaaah

[dusky hull]

Ok I caught up

I have a feeling tomorrows game is going to be crazy

[tardy finch]

After taking a look, I have a feeling it will suddenly explode as at the time of writing, position is stale and drawn

[teal furnace]

oyeoyeoyeoyeoye game 3 shoulda been today

ooooooooooh? a || loss for the current champion|| cant wait to check out the game later. its gonna get exciting now

[tardy finch]

It already was exciting

Didn't quite expect the game to end in the way it did but I am overall satisfied, considering how early on it was ||somewhat locked down||.

[teal furnace]

YO

anyone ever had any XP with one of those guys?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lumjhGDg4dk

unironically thinking of getting this

dont really enjoy sitting at PC for playing
that would solve that problem

[tardy finch]

Regular Price: €419.99

[teal furnace]

yaaa thats the argument against it

[tardy finch]

If next game is a Sicilian, you HAVE to get the board

[teal furnace]

i will get it if i see a caro kann

[tardy finch]

That wallet will live another day

[teal furnace]

Check out this #chess game: richyvee vs vinu17babayaga - https://www.chess.com/live/game/126615537027

good game (if I may say so myself) against a aggressive/careless opponent

and yes that rook F1 was a mouseslip

[teal furnace]

chesscom cant be real

https://youtu.be/XDJBIrHWPMk?si=O9KKGdzDJZgZcztL

😂😂😂😂😂

[hard pagoda]

So. Here’s a position I should have been in (playing black) if my opponent hadn’t blundered his Queen and resigned. Material equal but black clearly ahead in terms of development and king safety.

But it got me thinking: if I started in this position as black, I wouldn’t know how to exploit the advantage. So, for those more knowledgeable than me: you’re playing black. What would the plan be?

Maybe d4 to trap that knight? Maybe use the Queen to attack those weak queenside pawns?

f6 for a stronger pawn structure? but then the g5 bishop gets trapped.

Chess is hard 😔

Get the pawns on white squares to neuter his bishop?

[dusky hull]

usually when you have an advantage and there isn't any clear exploitation of the enemy position, its best to: continue development, place pieces on optimal squares, and shore up weaknesses if there are any.

In your position, taking stock, you've retained the bishop pair in a semi-open position. 6 to 6 pawns but you have the central control. Your opponent has made absolutely zero spatial progress, so he has no threats. So you ask yourself "what are my worst pieces?" Well, your lsb is an absolute monster, clearly your best piece on the board. Your dsb isn't too bad either. But your queen and rooks aren't that impressive.

My first goal would be move the queen to connect the rooks and then place rooks on files that make sense. So where does the queen belong? f6 and b6 both make some amount of sense because they still keep an eye on your d pawn, but b6 allows for Nc4 to come with tempo, so f6 seems preferable.

[You might also consider d5 here, firmly holding the center and preventing Nc4 in the future. I bet d5 is totally solid with few drawbacks]

Then its the matter of the rooks. Rb8 on the semiopen file, Rd8 protecting your d pawn and aligning with the queen, and maybe even Re8 depending on if your opponent was able to play Nc4 or not.

moral of the story is your infantry has taken ground, so now it is time to bring up the rear. Get them the reinforcements they need to hold their ground.

[dusky hull]

boys i gotta treat for yall

https://lichess.org/5iBLoUR5/black#1

played a carokann sideline as black where if white doesnt really know the proper continuation, black equalizes almost immediately which is what happened here

the knight blunder makes it a little less spactacular, but im more focused on moves 13, 14, 15, and 16

after move 13, it is hard to see the difference between Kg2 vs Kh2 especially in a blitz game. My opponent plays Kh2, and that make the following sequence possible. My queen is underattack, but I can counterattack with Ne5 which is not just possible but very potent because not only does it attack his queen, but if Bxg5 Nxf3+ lands with check, allowing me to fork the king and the dsb Nxg5.

so white plays Qg2, but Ng4+ still not moving the queen out of danger, asking if white wants to move out of check and take the knight on h3. But if Kxh3 then Qh5# on the spot. g1 is taken by the knight on h1 so Kh1, and now only after getting the knight on g4 do we play Qh5 which has the mating threat of Ng5+ discovered check Kg1 Nf3+ Qxf3 and finally Qh2# now that the queen has been deflected. My opponent resigns when he realizes Qh2, giving up the queen to stop mate, is the best defense. tactics pay off.

[teal furnace]

not that i consider myself very competent but assumning white plays C3 as the arrow indicates I would be quite lost on what to do next.
I think i would do D4 to trap the knight ya... and now lets read the perturb insights

[tardy finch]

I love it when the eval bar jumps off a cliff.. twice

[tardy finch]

Then, assume c3 was played. Is there an immediate threat to which you need to respond? No. Did that move achieve something for white? It lets the queen out on that side and it can attack.... absolutely fucking nothing. While playing c3 is beneficial for white in the long term, from your perspective the move is as good as skipped. Any time you have a situation like that, use the opportunity to improve your own position, either through developing or unleashing a devastating attack(which black doesn't have here).

If at the start I let you move two pawns instead of one, you wouldn't be lost. Confused, maybe, but definitely not in a struggle what to do. Same thing here.

[teal furnace]

lil bro was really confident playing queen h2

literally blitzed the move thinking he had checkmate

resigned immediately after knight takes

also what do we think of game 6 yday?

I was SO hyped when gukes refused the draw by repetition and started visibly shaking afterwards

for a few moves i thought ding had him but then ||they manouvered themselves into a draw again||

[tardy finch]

I couldn't watch the game live and felt disgusted when I reviewed the PGN

This is not what I didn't pay for

[dusky hull]

Game 7 is still ongoing, is it not

Or did it conclude

I usually watch Antonio’s recaps since I don’t have much time in the day to watch live

[tardy finch]

What do you mean during the day, isn't it starting at 4am for you?

[dusky hull]

[left glade]

4am is just a number, cursed sleep shedule and go

[teal furnace]

nah
rest day

also i HIGHLY

HIGHLY recommend

to everyone here
to watch the post game press conference

honestly i'm in love with ding and gukesch now

more so ding

[tardy finch]

Watching the game live is just .. ||the hell is going on, put Rapport at the table for motivation||

[teal furnace]

game is kiiinda intense

ding being behind like 30 minutes

and now its only 4 minutes

I cant

pls agree to a draw
I'm not ready for a 4:3 lead for any of the two

[tardy finch]

I don't think it will be a draw but I also don't like where the match is going

||Give Ding a monstie ffs||

[teal furnace]

hahahahaha

[teal furnace]

yaa i dont think so too

i think gukesh aint gonna loosen his grip

[teal furnace]

man what a game this was yday i cant wait for todays

sadly had to get away from pc at the end but watched it afterwards

||ding holding on til the very end securing a draw... ding chilling ||

[hard pagoda]

Chess lessons everywhere: take the centre with your pawns early in the game.
Ding: no thanks

[teal furnace]

aahahahah yaaa

its insane
when i stumble into the moves/positions of those guys its a blunder

they get "novelty"

[hard pagoda]

||I thought Ding had the upper hand for the second half of today’s game - still not quite sure how it ended up as a draw||

[teal furnace]

i didnt catch it

just glimpesed at the game during meeting ||when they been in bonus time and position was balanced and "shortly" after i glimpsed again and it said draw||

[tardy finch]

||He had an advantage but not the amount that can be converted into a guaranteed win. This and playing the safe and reasonable 31.Nd4 over the computer evaluation of 31.Ne1 which apparently leads to more threats being available...but fuck me if I knew how to play that line.
It's crammed full of brilliant moves and the only thing I understand out of it is that due to white being more active, the knight at c5 will eventually fall in return for black reinforcing the a and b pawns. You have to go 5 moves deep to even capture the knight and another 7 to prove black's pawns aren't unbeatable. Inhuman calculation to perform while also under the stress of having 13 minutes left and 10 more moves until the extra time.||

[hard pagoda]

Yeah, agree with all of that. Computer evaluations can easily give us a skewed perspective of “oh he’s got an advantage”

In much smaller brain chess land my rating has had a rough time recently

But I am almost impossibly proud of the end of this game

Check out this #chess game: FigTree4 vs MaX_Slav - https://www.chess.com/live/game/127085970777

The rock sacrifice. The discovered attack on the queen.

I was sad he resigned because I’d spotted mate in 4 at the end too.

[tardy finch]

I absolutely LOVE how you played that

You spotted a misplay, punished it immediately and took your opponent's soul

[dusky hull]

Name a better friendship than rooks and open e/d files

You can’t

[tardy finch]

Me and e4

fight me

[dusky hull]

[teal furnace]

new chesscom peak archieved in a.. well... more less (less) fierce fight won by resignation

never felt too much in trouble but also made some dumb moves

Check out this #chess game: richyvee vs ilostu - https://www.chess.com/live/game/127122548323

[tardy finch]

Today's daily on chess.com has a little twist in that it contains a misplay. To fix that - find a way to force black to choose between losing the game or his queen (and subsequently the game)

There really is just one way around it and how it goes afterwards depends on black.

[hard pagoda]

Solved it. Although I wouldn’t have done without your hint

[hard pagoda]

||can't believe today's blunder. Think most 1500 players would have felt guilty about that one.||

[teal furnace]

hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy what a game

sheeeeeeeeeesh

[tardy finch]

7 move game and the fish is suddenly simping

Legal mate for those curious. Apparently a brilliance and not a textbook trap.

[hard pagoda]

link game

[tardy finch]

I don't feel like exposing the poor soul's account so here are the moves themselves

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Bg4 4. Nc3 c5 5. Nxe5 Bxd1 6. Bxf7+ Ke7 7. Nd5#

You can try that queen bait at your own risk. Originally, this trap is played against the Phillidor defense where black actually has a way of reacting to the trap. In this case knight to the middle was just the way to go due to black not preparing a counter.

P.S. chess.com will tell you this is the Phillidor defense which is correct..for a bit. Kc6 is crucial in fighting for the center.

[hard pagoda]

Yup I’d have grabbed that Queen as well, no hesitation.

Although I’d like to think I’d have never got myself into that position in the first place

Mainly because c5 is my one and only response to e4

(I do sometimes play 2…e5 in response to the Alapin but you’re never going to reach this point from there)

On world championship chess - yesterday’s game was an absolute banger. Ding slowly boiling the frog. Hopefully we see more of that in the last two games.

[teal furnace]

yaa it was soooo insane

instead of completely shambeling my bro shows up and just walks gukesh into the wall

hoooooooooooly

and even misses a free rook

like when he played this instead of a7

and in the PC he like

oh i missed that

[tardy finch]

Guy literally said "I drank coffee" when asked about performance

Confirmed he simply slept through the previous 10 games

Jet lag is real

[hard pagoda]

Missed the free rook but played the better move anyway

When your mind is stockfish…

[tardy finch]

I mean... Their draws were all 98% accuracy and higher, no?

Kind of expected at that level, this ain't the 100 rated mate in one blunders

[teal furnace]

true

[teal furnace]

dunno if jet lag but i think he has a HAAAARD time understanding english

like when the chines guys ask him questions in manderin he is YAPPING

but in english he struggles a lot

[tardy finch]

I love how just now Ding returned to the table and played his move in two seconds simply because he knew en passant is forced

[hard pagoda]

What a chad

[tardy finch]

Honestly, the clock is the real end boss in these, position is definitely drawn but looking at the time, it's more likely the world champion is decided by timeout

P.S. Can't help but have mixed feelings about that outcome.

[dusky hull]

I’ve been MIA the last few games so I need to catch up, but I know the outcome. Good for Gukesh; the better player won the title. With that said, Ding’s cursed streak just does not seem to end. Whatever is going on, I hope he sorts it out because this is not the same guy who had a 100 classical game unbeaten streak. Nevertheless, we are alive at a time where a seventeen year old has claimed the title and that’s something really special.

[delicate peak]

I mean its not like Ding got totally rolled?

[dusky hull]

It’s not necessarily about the final scoreline. I’m worried about certain aspects of his game. The clock thing is a bit worrying; you can point to several elite players who suffer from clock management issues (Grischuk in particular notoriously lets his clock bleed as if it were an artery of an enemy), but 100-unbeaten streak-Ding was not that person. He was composed and didn’t get stuck in indecision. Additionally there were a few draws in which he was the aggressor, where there was still play to be had—problems to pose to Gukesh. Put Magnus in the same situation and 10/10 times Magnus will at least ask the questions even if Gukesh can find the answers. It seemed as if he was content to just get by without losing rather than keep Gukesh on the back foot. That was my impression, at least. I still haven’t seen the final few games but I hope to rectify that tonight.

[teal furnace]

i think it was such a sad end to the match

i honestly would have appreciated a tiebreak win for ding a lot

but as with every sporting event i dont really care who wins, i enjoy to watch the content and like when its exciting.
and even tho a lot of games were deemed boring by our reviewers I had a ton of fun watching the games.

at first I did not care atall but the more i followed it, the more i rooted for ding to defend his title tbh. hes such a cutie

but ya, as you described above, it seemed he just wanted to draw the games and avoid conflict

and then blunders in the last game that was soo drawish from the getgo

[tardy finch]

Final blunder was something else... Offering the rook trade should be followed by "What next?" - "Oh, yeah, I wanted to move the king forward... But where?"

And at this point a GM should realize what is coming. I refuse to believe he was unable to evaluate that endgame - rather, I choose to believe something is weighing him down.

[teal furnace]

yep

agree

like I wasnt able to understand the issue

but on the beodcast GM Naroditsky was yelling IMMEDIATELY

like he immediately was likeHHHAAAAAAAAA
huuuuuge blunder

[hard pagoda]

I’m really not sure about “the better player”. But definitely the player who’d done his prep better.

Ding’s game 11 was an absolute masterclass.

Real shame that he essentially lost it with a blunder in 10 and a blunder at the end of 14

[tardy finch]

That is the nature of chess. One game is a galaxy brain, then next thing you know, your intellectual capacity drops to jellyfish level.

[dusky hull]

I would. Gukesh has been on an absolute rampage the past 2 years. His rating and his results definitely convey he is the better player, and preparation is a factor. Out preparing your opponent at that level is just as important as outplaying.

[hard pagoda]

Fair

[hard pagoda]

It’s just that my galaxy brain moments are Gukesh’s “single cell organism” level.

It still feels bad having world champs without Magnus however. Maybe next time?

[tardy finch]

Maybe Magnus decides to remind the world how the championship matches looked when he was the champion.. although unlikely.

But God, I would love to see him participate in the candidates. We are looking at a potential all-India roster for the future so this would be a hell of a scenario.

[teal furnace]

anyone following the rapid tourney?

[teal furnace]

holy moly

if i ignore the fact my opponent didnt see M1

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/128275168339?tab=analysis&move=70

this was a good game

beautiful M5 i found at the end

(even tho i wasnt sure if its really M5)

[tardy finch]

@teal furnace feel like playing a game? you pick time control

If not, juice is ready to go for @dusky hull

[dusky hull]

I’m occupied for another few hours unfortunately

[tardy finch]

So am I but I am fed up with the Ohio nerds that I am supposed to work with tonight

[teal furnace]

hey sry was at MMA class

usually i'm up for a game yes
but i gotta sleep
alarms going in 6h

[tardy finch]

Grim

Stay strong, holidays are coming

[teal furnace]

[dusky hull]

did you mean literal ohio

because yea fuck em

[tardy finch]

Yep. Marysville in particular.

[tardy finch]

Here's an unusual one - there is no right or wrong answer... apart from one which was played in this game.
In this position my opponent played h6 which is not even a blunder, it is just WhatTheFuck evaluation
White is winning, no way to sugarcoat this. Two pawns up, even with a rather flimsy pawn structure this is still winning. However, it's prone to mistakes.

Here's the challenge - what would you play and why
One move stands out. It's not saving you but it's opening the way for black to possibly catch up. Find it.

[dusky hull]

i would play resignation gambit

i dont see how this is salvageable for black but i look forward to you telling me the answer

maybe ||Qb6|| or ||Qc3|| because you absolutely cannot ||trade queens||

[tardy finch]

Oh, no, no, no. With perfect play this is not salvageable

That's why I said there is no right or wrong answer. Just what would you play

[tardy finch]

Update: Pert clapped me, opinion no longer valid

[dusky hull]

bro you were literally winning lmao

or at the very least your position was WAY easier to play

unironically you played insane chess that game. perhaps the best ive ever seen from you in all the games weve played tbh

you just had the position in a chokehold

[tardy finch]

result said you won

I lost

worst chess EU

[teal furnace]

i kinda wanna play against pert but i'm afraid i'll walk into a checkmate trap on move 4 and then i can never show face ever again in here

[dusky hull]

I am not a chess pro by any means lol. You have nothing to worry about

[teal furnace]

[hard pagoda]

Qc3 surely the only move that even slightly works - defend pawn and keep white’s rook moves limited and get Queen defended?

[hard pagoda]

Ran it through the engine that agrees with me but gives Qd2 as a slightly worse alternative but the general conclusion is black’s up a creek with no paddle

[hard pagoda]

btw. has anyone used chessly or anything similar? I find the lessons on chess.com a bit dry, looking for something a bit more attention grabbing/interactive.

[teal furnace]

i'm tempted to try chessly tbh

but no
didnt try anything

i watched 2-3 levy and hikaru lessons on openings and thats it

[dusky hull]

fwiw I have heard good things about chessly, but the key factor to remember about these lesson formats is usually they’re geared to opening prep and I remain resolute in saying no one below like 1200 needs to learn opening prep. It can help, and perhaps you can learn a few traps and how to sidestep them, but opening theory is so low on the list of things to improve upon that I can’t sit here and tell you it’s required.

Imo anyone below 1200 should be working on TWO things: tactics and fundamentals. If you want to improve your tactics, I find that lichess puzzle rush (it’s free) and chesstempo puzzles (free and also more practical puzzles) are the best way to practice.

I personally started using chesstempo and doing lichess puzzle rush daily just to keep myself sharp and the difference in what I’m spotting vs before is noticeable. The reason training tactics is so crucial is not just because your opponent will fall into a similar trap pattern (although below 1200 yes that will happen frequently) but also because it trains your mind to look for how to enable a trap. How to look at a pawn and say “if I let this hang, can I punish my opponent for capturing” or “damn this fork almost works but the bishop is here. Can I deflect the bishop away to make the fork work?”

You’ll start noticing after enough puzzle training that your middle games will become way more potent.

Just my two cents on the matter

[teal furnace]

openings in chess is kinda a "weird" topic for me ... where its like... ya it doesnt matter I guess.. but then you realize that some normal 2.4ish GMs/IMs literally focus on one opening or two and thats it.. and even super GMs arent giga comfy in all of them according to chess commenters

but also i feel like it gives you a nice edge if you know a good starting position

[dusky hull]

ill make you a deal: when you hit IM, you can study openings as long as you want and i will not say a word lol

[teal furnace]

hahahahahahhaha

I'll be the most opening versatile IM ever

[hard pagoda]

Yeah I’m not too interested in opening theory. I only “know” the scotch and open Sicilian as white. And as black I always play Sicilian to e4. More interested in improving my middle game. Will try the puzzles you suggested.

[dusky hull]

https://chesstempo.com/chess-tactics/

make an account and try a whole bunch of different tactics on there. i find theyre harder than lichess or chesscom tactics usually

my last note on opening theory is it doesnt hurt to learn one or two openings, but foundational principles generally tend to guide openings. things like pushing central pawns, control the center, develop minor pieces usually knights before bishops, castle by move 10, etc. these principles get you to the middle game without having any opening theory knowledge. so if you abide by those, you get to the middle game relatively unscathed, and then you're playing chess. thats when tactics and strategy come alive.

sure it absolutely helps to know that in the sicilian there is a war for d5 or that in many carokann lines black is trying to get in f6 without compromising king safety

but you dont need to know the intricacies of these openings when you're still learning. its nice, sure, but its not required by any means

much better is to train yourself to spot hanging pieces and pawns via tactics, and also know novice-level endgames (how to mate with a rook, how to win queen vs rook, how to mate with 2 bishops, etc)

none of us here are ever going to be professional chess players which means that none of us here ever have to worry about creating novelties in existing openings. so just focus on improving your actual chess skills and then memorization will come later

[teal furnace]

oh my fucking god

i just had the most insane game ever

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/128618035081?tab=analysis

its this meme where they like

Staaaahp hes already dead

[tardy finch]

I love how turn 3 it's already -2.1, this gon be gud

Richy pushing for 800

[teal furnace]

[teal furnace]

[hard pagoda]

Punished him. Wp!

[teal furnace]

[hard pagoda]

Also. I should start making time to play 20min games rather than doing all my chess in 5min blitz…

[tardy finch]

Start now

https://lichess.org/iVHmr3hp

[hard pagoda]

At work sadge

[teal furnace]

20|0 is berry nice

[tardy finch]

Feels a bit too much for me, at least when I am trying to sneak in a game. Potentially 40 minutes is a commitment.

Although when playing OTB chess, it's naturally going beyond that

[hard pagoda]

I get my 5|0 games in when on the thinking throne at work.

And when on the train there/home

[teal furnace]

well ya it depends how much time one got at their hands

but usually if i play fast in 20/0 games dont last too long either

[hard pagoda]

Those puzzles paying off. Yes I was ahead anyway but was please I spotted the rook sac mate in this game

[teal furnace]

happy holidays chess legends

[void bramble]

Merry Christmas Dad

The daily puzzle is cool today

[teal furnace]

i'm so bad with doing those

I think i havent done it in 2 weeks

[tardy finch]

Now... Is this commitment or addiction?

Profile suggests you haven't played a game in a year and a half so this is just puzzle grinding

[void bramble]

I played a game November 14th

But yes, I mostly like puzzles

[dusky hull]

Happy holidays everyone. I just had this position in a game as white that resulted from the English. Usually when I post a puzzle, there is a clear best continuation, but I think this is fairly instructive as your understanding of the position should guide your plan which then allows you to find a move or two in that direction.

Spend a few minutes trying to absorb the position and ask yourself what you would do if you were white here. See if you can identify a plan for white and what move(s) you'd consider here.

asiano you can't participate because i showed you this game

[tardy finch]

I was about to type what you did

[dusky hull]

my thoughts on the position:

||Immediately you should have at least thought about what happens if Nxb4. But just as immediately as you likely saw this move, you should also have seen that if you do this, black will not recpature with B, but will instead play axb4, doubling b pawns but opening up the a file with tempo on your c knight. this is a massive problem for white now as saving your piece means dropping a pawn near the king after Rxa4. This can be ruled out.

Well if we can't capture the knight, let's start thinking about what we have in our favor. Notice that we own all of the key light squares b5 d5 and f5. This means that black is unable to assault our king and is unable to break in the center. So we turn our attention to his king.

"But Perturb, we have no pieces by his king. Why would we look over there?" Remember, in opposite sides castles, pawn storms win games. We just established that b5 is locked down as our c pawn, c3 knight, and LSB have triple control over it. So black is unable to storm our king. But the same is NOT true for us. with f3 already committed, we are primed and ready to storm black's king with g4, the move I chose in the game. The plan is very simple: while black spends time trying to undermine our control on the queenside or center, we will thrust forward with g and h pawns. We can trust that our pawn storm will create some weaknesses and rooks on the g and h files will soon become very active.

The moves we'd be looking to commit here are g4, h4, h5, g5, and g6. The reason h5 before g5 is because we never want to allow black's f knight to blockade our advance. If we do g4 h4 g5, this allows for Nh5 and now we will almost assuredly never get h5 in ourselves. But if we play h5 first, then g5 kicks the knight away from our advancement.

Let's go back to the original position. We talked about how we can't Nxb4 and we also talked about how the plan here should be attacking black's king. But are there other moves that fit into that plan that aren't g4? h4 is very much in the same theme. there is technically an engine defense that makes h4 slightly less optimal than g4, but i doubt anyone would find it so as far as i'm concerned h4 is just as good as g4 as long as you follow h4 up with g4. You also could play Rhg1 as you know eventually your pawn will land on g6 so the rook on the file makes sense.

But what about a3? Should we consider trying to kick the knight away knowing that we can't capture it on b4? Well there's nothing wrong with a3 and black's best reply is in fact to trade so Nxc2 Kxc2, but now understand that it is black's move and you still haven't committed g4 (or h4) which is the main idea of the position and you'll have to do that anyway. So effectively you're going to do the same thing but you're just one move slower. White is still doing just fine, but there's no reason to instigate the trade and slow yourself down when you can commit g4 h4 and if black ever wants to trade on c2, let that be his choice; you don't need to instigate it and waste time with a3.

And lastly, i think it would be disingenuous if I didn't include the top engine move which is Na3, but Na3 is an entirely different plan from the kingside pawn storm. Na3 aims to play Nb5 and Nd6 and even Nf5 if black allows all of it. This would lead to a position where black slowly suffocates and is forced to make even more weakening pawn moves both on the queenside and the kingside. Black's best defense is to not allow this, so after Na3 it would play Bc6 and only now once the Nd6/Nf5 plans have been thwarted will it execute g4 and h4. This is an incredibly high level improvement to the regular pawn storm plan and I certainly didn't see it during the game nor would I fault any of you for not seeing it.||

look at that wall

https://tenor.com/view/dono-wall-gif-24048347

me whenever i go autismo in the chess channel

[tardy finch]

I mean... I read the walls you put up here and enjoy them but the TL;DR after the first paragraph (which I find important to point out before reading the rest) is ... ||MONKE SEE PAWN MONKE PUSH PAWN||

[hard pagoda]

Puzzles from my games are simpler than perturb’s…
You’re black. What’s the move to finish the game off in this position? Posting because I only caught it late - spent a good chunk of time considering two other moves that, while not losing, would have made the end game much trickier.

[dusky hull]

||a4: passed pawns must be pushed||?

[hard pagoda]

Indeed. Although this one wasn’t aimed at you… 😀

[dusky hull]

oh

lmao

im SORRY

[hard pagoda]

||I spent ages weighing up b4 and Rb8 before spotting a4. It just didn’t seem like the “obvious” move to me, if that makes sense||

[hard pagoda]

Hahaha. Don’t be!

[dusky hull]

any opportunity to create an outside passed pawn in an endgame is usually worth taking. its funny because as beginners you're taught you should capture toward the center but that's really only a guideline and its really only for opening/middle game. once you hit the endgame, capture away from the enemy king and you're creating a really annoying threat

[tardy finch]

I had the same idea immediately but there's also another thing to consider. Quoting Siegbert Tarrasch:
||
"The rooks belong behind passed pawns, behind their own in order to support their advance, behind the enemy's in order to impede their advance"

Burn this one to heart as it is important. If the enemy rook cannot get behind your pawn, it will have to lock itself in front of the pawn, forever staying at the back line and never being able to constrict your king's movement. An active king in the endgame is a powerful king.
Next, if you go with that approach, how quickly can white "lock" the a file using the rook? a4, bxa4, bxa4, Rc1, a5, Ra1. That's the fastest. You still have more time to go which means you get time to bring your king closer and assist the pawn. The alternative a4, Rxb5, a5, Rc5, a6, Rc1, a7, Ra1 just barely catches up so even better, that pawn is two mistakes away from being a queen. That is excellent.
Finally, although not related to this particular position, it is always good to consider which king can reach the action first and start restricting the other's movement. You can use the same "square" rule you would for checking if the king can stop the pawn from promoting. In this case, your king is closer, can definitely assist earlier and even if you mess something up, you can pick up a pawn in the exchange then proceed to win by sheer force.||

And, technically, whenever there's a rook endgame and some loose pawns, you don't want to waste time on passive moves because that rook will feast

[tardy finch]

And to make up for my own miniature wall of text, here's a simple, yet interesting position. White is underdeveloped and Black is already knocking on the door. However, the way forward isn't quite clear as everything is sticking like glue. There is however a way to get a winning lead as Black through tactics. I won't specify the exact outcome of the line and what the particular tactic is called - at least until someone figures out the few moves required.

Black to move and gain like a -6 position.
P.S. Phone suggests it's -10 but I'm doubtful
P.S.P.S. Okay, may be it really is -10, I missed how crazy the attack can get afterwards

[hard pagoda]

||Bg3+, Kd2, Qxb2+, Ke3, Qxa1?||

Oh ||Nc2 would follow Qxb2+||

So I’m not quite sure how you then follow

[dusky hull]

even after your correct continuation, white is totally busted

down material and exposed king in the center.

if it were me, id probably continue with Rd8 or e5. probably e5 to avoid the check possibility.

[dusky hull]

saw this posted in a chess group and thought it was a fun one. white to move and win.

[hard pagoda]

Fun. Keep doing loops until the pawn can’t help any more

[hard pagoda]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98lkrdkz70o ffs. FIDE shooting themselves in the foot again

[teal furnace]

is it just me or does fide seem like a bunch of small dick people

[tardy finch]

Start gobbling pawns. Keep a relentless attack with each move preparing the next. King being on d2 means that a bishop check starts asking questions.
After Bf4+, there are three possible moves that don't sacrifice anything immediately - and they are all king moves. Moving towards the relatively open center is dangerous and the d file is near collapsing(and black is about to dictate what happens there), while in the back rank you either lose your knight to Ne3+ or get chased more by Qxc3+. Personally, I didn't spot the entirety of this during the game and my opponent resigned shortly after. It was however thrilling to see how the computer would kick ass as black here.

[dusky hull]

Crazy power trip. If all they did was fine him, everything would’ve been dandy. He would’ve agreed, the tournament would’ve gone on, and at most the news coverage would’ve treated it like a bit of a joke. But now the entire tournament is overcast by this. Super short sighted.

I guess you could say their calculation skills aren’t the best

[tardy finch]

Imagine having to hold a tournament when you know all that food is waiting specifically for you at home. I don't approve of the decision but I understand.

[teal furnace]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOL

i mean... I can see the point of even magnus has to play according to rules
but ya. just make him pay a fine, tomorrow he shows up in dresspants and no one cares right? ?!

but now the guy who arguably brings in a lot of clicks to the event is gone.. well but also this drama brings in a lot of people for drama sake

but they will be gone soon again

on more relevant matter

very nice game from grischuk vs erigaisi