Chess thread

[theprawnidentity]

Ain't no thing, I ran A2o into AQ......     

[theprawnidentity]

Back onto the chess.  Would love to see more puzzles ITT.  Had a play around with the 'not taking' principle and found it kind of difficult.  Ended up going for a trial and error approach.  Also I don't really have a fixed opening I like to use.  Been messing around with a Kings Indian Defence (but as White, which is probably lol).  Would you advise spending a lot of time playing a certain opening to get familiar with it or mixing it up every game and seeing what happens?

[Tal]

Back onto the chess.  Would love to see more puzzles ITT.  Had a play around with the 'not taking principle and found it kind of difficult.  Ended up going for a trial and error approach.  Also I don't really have a fixed opening I like to use.  Been messing around with a Kings Indian Defence (but as White, which is probably lol).  Would you advise spending a lot of time playing a certain opening to get familiar with it or mixing it up every game and seeing what happens?

It's all down to the sort of person you are. If you like detail and immersing yourself in the intricacies of opening theory, then you can go to town with books and books and books. If you're a bit more normal and like the game itself more than all the learning, my advice would be to learn a few basics of a handful of openings and work from there.

When I used to teach, I'd suggest the Vienna Game, as there are not a lot of variables and developing pieces comes quite naturally.



Don't worry too much about the detail; focus on attacking the centre squares and developing your pieces.

There's nothing wrong with the King's Indian Attack (yes, it is called that). Same applies: get your bits out and castle. You'll be looking to make a break in the centre by moving your king's pawn to e4 when you're ready and that should give you a nice easy target.

[JBuss]

Hi Tal,

I was sat on your table on Saturday in the 6 max, we spoke about your chess thread and watched the darts. Felt the need to sign up to blonde after lurking for a few years. Had a little read through your thread. Good luck at the tables.

Jonathan

[Tal]

Hi Tal,

I was sat on your table on Saturday in the 6 max, we spoke about your chess thread and watched the darts. Felt the need to sign up to blonde after lurking for a few years. Had a little read through your thread. Good luck at the tables.

Jonathan

Was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Jonathan. You kept me on my toes all afternoon, when I was just looking for an easy ride.  Glad to see you've officially joined the madness.

[kinboshi]

Tal claims a blonde vigin

[Tal]

The 100th British Chess Championship has started in Torquay. From piece eating littl'uns to boiled sweet wrapper-twizzling veterans, a smorgasbord of abilities is on display in the English Riviera.

The Main Event is the closed British Championship. International Master Andrew Martin (not competing) is doing the commentary and has fabulous daily videos, the first of which is here:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010625/100th-british-chess-championship-started-300713.aspx

No shocks in round one, but the top seed, Gawain Jones, drew his second round game, as did a few other Grandmasters. It's an 11 round tournament, so lots of time to catch up the deficit on the leaders.

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010646/british-championships-round-two-and-torquay-010813.aspx

Chessbase is a day behind, but has done a nice summary of the situation in the British after two rounds, with pictures and analysis.

The Simon Williams game (not me; he's a grandmaster) is a nuclear job. I've had terrible trouble working out what's going on when going through it!



Readers will be astounded to learn that this is not a picture from Tuesday's action, but the link above will explain its relevance.

[Tal]

Go on then. Have a puzzle:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/daily-puzzles/812013---thematic-mating-idea

I'm saying a Low difficulty, but if you're new to puzzles, it might take a few goes to get the hang of it.

[theprawnidentity]

Thanks for the Vienna game video Tal.  Extremely useful, gonna have a crack this puzzle with some tables open on the side, like a bawwwsssssssss.

[Tal]

No problem, Tomosom. Experiment with openings but find what works for your style. Most poker players will instinctively be attackers, so a king's pawn opening is likely more suitable, but anything that teaches you to develop quickly is likely to be advantageous in the "chess micros"

[Tal]

For those of you at a loose end this afternoon (perhaps because you don't like cricket or racing?), you might enjoy tuning into the commentary of the British Chess Championships.

Andrew Martin has been doing the commentary for what must be fifteen years and he is brilliant at it. He appeals to all levels, encourages people to shout out ideas and dances between the top few games as things develop.

I can't recommend it highly enough.

http://englishchess.org.uk/BCC/live-commentary/

Games start at 2.15, so I would think 3pm would be an approximate start time.

[The Baron]

Looks like Magnus posts puzzles on his twitter feed.

[Tal]

Looks like Magnus posts puzzles on his twitter feed.

I tweet not, so feel free to post them ITT

[Tal]

While the British Championship is going on, the British Number One, Michael Adams, has been playing in Dortmund against a very strong field; much stronger than is playing in Torquay.

With one round to go, the crosstable looks very good:

Click to see full-size image.

As you can see, it all comes down to today, with Adams playing the only man who can catch him, Vladmir Kramnik. Adams has the white pieces and will start as favourite to win his first big title for a good while.