Canadian Chess Open 2012 - Lessons Learned

After a (very) long break, I played in a major swiss chess tournament – Canadian Chess Open 2012 in Victoria. I scored only 50%, which is not too great given that all of my opponents were rated lower than myself. Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed playing after such a long break. Here is what I re-learned about competitive chess yet again:

1. Studying chess at home cannot replace regular tournament practice. Practical chess strength needs constant feeding by playing in tournaments
2. Opening preparation in large Swiss Events plays a major role. Everyone does it these days! Catch opponent unaware is more important than finding a hole in their old repertoire (they will play something new to surprise you anyway, so you should not expect them to walk the same path as in previous games). This was often an issue for me, where in 3-4 games my opponents served me with opening surprises, or simply remembered established theory better than I did
3. Opening repertoire must allow for variety, both to avoid getting surprised, and also to be more flexible and work around opponent’s weak spots
4. Getting enough sleep, food, fresh air before the games is quite essential for maintaining concentration during the games
5. The tension of a big slow time controls event cannot be compared to a blitz game online, and not even to an unrated rapid one-day Sunday tournament
6. Modern time controls don’t allow you to get flagged due to increments, but you only have a chance to think deep a couple of times during the game – choose those moments wisely. Ideally you don’t have to take those deep thinking sessions right out of the opening
7. Many players avoid mainline theory in favour of choosing lines that they are familiar with. Here is what those guys played against me in this tournament:
   As White:
   1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d3
   1.f4
   1.g3
   As Black: 1. e4 b6
8. There are a lot of young chess players in BC who need to be watched out for!
9. One can lose a lot of rating points in a tournament, and still enjoy the experience!
10. Victoria chess organizers take running events very seriously, and want to create the best environment for competitive chess

Finding Unknown Unknowns – Get a Chess Coach

I am now looking back at some of the games I played 15 years ago, and naturally noticing some obvious defects in my play. What seems common sense to me now – was completely unknown to me back then. I had simply not accumulated enough experience to get a sense of those many types of positions. Looking back on my endgame play, it's completely obvious that I was unaware of the subject of weak dark squares, space advantage, how to utilize a pawn majority, the importance of doubled pawns in the ending, etc. In other words I did not know what I did not know! I can only notice those defects in my understanding of chess now looking back through my games with the extra 15 years of experience. This reminds me of the quote by Rumsfield about unknown unknowns. To make things worse, 15 years ago, computers were not as readily available, so occasionally I would lose a game without even ever understanding what specific mistakes I had made.

It took me many years to accumulate that knowledge, so that those mistakes would become glaringly obvious. And this is exactly what a coach can do - use his decades of experience to point out weaknesses in the chess players understanding of the game. One can study the games of grandmasters and the try to of grasp their understanding of the game, but nothing can replace an experienced player looking at your games and immediately point out things you don't understand. That can literally save you years and decades of experience and help to avoid painful losses. Such a coach must be ruthless and as undiplomatic as it is possible. It may hurt your feelings now, can but that is the most useful thing a chess coach can do for you.

Chess Psychology - Prematurely Agreeing to a Draw

Jiganchine – Degtiarev, 1996

White to play.

Since I was not sure what I was supposed to do here, in this position I played 18. Ke2 and offered a draw, which was accepted.

Agreeing to a draw prematurely was a sin I was suffering from a lot during most of my years as an active chess player, especially in Junior tournaments back in Russia. How to do you assess the above position? I had just missed a winning line a few moves ago, and was disappointed by that. But looking at the position today, White still has several advantages:

• most importantly – White has extra space
• pawn tension on kingside is in his favour
• Black pieces on the kingside are dramatically tied up

Ironically, even today I did not think of it way it until I realized that a computer engine evaluates a position as +- without giving any direct winning ideas. I think White should:

• manoeuvre to improve placement of his pieces
• d5 is a potential weakness in Black’s camp
• prepare for either opening of the ‘h’ file, or opening the queenside with b2-b4 at the right moment
• transfer rooks and other pieces to wherever the play opens up. This transfer of pieces from one side of the board is what will give White and advantage since his pieces are more mobile than Black’s

I moved the pieces around, and arrived at this sample position:

White to move – b2-b4 opens up the game to White’s advantage in what is still a complicated position. If ‘b’ file opens up – White will be quick to double his rooks on it, and Black’s rooks will have a hard time defending ‘b7’.

In short, nothing is really indicating a draw here, White can play for a win without significant risk. Offering a draw can be explained by a combination of factors:

• chess factors – lack of understanding how White can play for a win
• psychological – disappointment after immediate break with h2-h4 failed to win
• outside influence – I was a tired kid, playing a game in the evening on the weekday after school

Taking a Break from Chess

In November/December - I stopped any studying of chess for about a month, and now resumed it. While that wasted a month of chess learning, this kind of temporary hiatus can have positive effects on your chess improvement and even overall well being (!):

1. You free up time for non-chess activities during the break
2. A break gives time to reflect on your studying methods
3. You can assess the improvements made during the previous study period
4. You get to plan on what your next goal in chess is, and what are the steps to achieve it
5. You get to reflect on the importance and role of chess (if any) in your life
6. You regain appetite for studying chess – when you feel like you are ready for it again
7. If you play a lot online, you also regain appetite for playing chess
8. Your new efforts will have some new, better focus
9. Your brush off bad habits, such as looking at games too quickly, or spending too much time surfing chess news websites
10. The openings that you felt were getting too boring, may not appear so when you look at them after a break – that can save you time for changing repertoire!

It is very easy to get into a rut in chess, like in anything in life, so taking a break is likely a good thing for any passion you may have!

Happy Chess Learning in 2012!

Strategy for Gaining Rating on Internet Chess Club

Internet Chess is mostly for entertainment, but most players today play more games online than over the board. So it is something we need to treat rather seriously if we want to improve from online games. Well, I am not a very good blitz player, and I am not in very good chess shape, but I noticed recently that I played quite a few blitz games on ICC without losing or drawing any. In fact my winning streak lasted so many games that there is not a single loss or draw in my ICC history, which spans 20 last games. Bobby Fischer’s winning streak in 1971 was 19 straight wins, but I had a couple of aborted games here, so his streak probably is still more significant. In the process my Blitz rating went up from 2052 to 2192.

Not to over-celebrate, I wanted to make a few observations to explain how this could possibly happen:

1. I had lower rated opponents than myself in all of those games. This is not too helpful for gaining rating, but surely helps to make the streak longer
2. I only played 1-2 game each day. I tend to lose focus/motivation if I play many blitz games at once.
3. I used a convenient mouse, which helped with concentration
4. I played these games not at my home, but rather at a place where I have very few external distractions
5. I was lucky in a couple of those games
6. I played my regular openings with both colours
7. I played most of those games with the same time control
8. I did not surf the web or listen to music while playing, minimizing self-induced distractions
9. I did not play in tournaments during these 3 months, so again, I got used to the time controls
10. I started to particularly care about the outcome once I set the goal for 20 games without a loss

Now that I got this blog entry out of my system, I can go and lose a game with a clear consciousness!

Three Hundred

I made three hundred posts on this blog in the past 4 years. The blog is definitely helping me to keep my interest in chess going, so as long as I am interested in chess, I will probably keep making little notes on the web in one form or another.

This is also a good time to summarize categories of posts (and I must admit some of 300 posts did not make it beyond drafts): there is quite a few posts about opening preparation, endgame, quite a few posts are positions that I think are good for solving. Other stuff is analysis of my own games  and games of grandmasters. The rest is either about chess-related software, videos I make on my youtube channel and book reviews. So if you are interested in improving your game, chess software and chess books, hopefully there is something for you read on my blog.

Blink – the Power of Intuition in Chess

Reading the book “Blink”, I could not help thinking about how it relates to chess. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell discusses how certain decisions can be correctly made with only minimal amount of thinking. It also gives examples where extra time taken to make a decision lead to worse results. The author also suggests the following:

In complex situations, quick intuitive decisions are often more likely to be correct than those based on a lot of complex analysis.

In simple situations, logical analysis actually proved useful and led to good results.

The book actually does not use the word “intuition” enough, but decisions made at the blink of an eye - obviously represent a person’s intuition. The above rules work in chess as well. Very often chess annotators point out that a chess player did not play a move that he would have easily played in a blitz game, instead went with a more complicated idea, which unsurprisingly turned out to be wrong. Another common observation is that “A long think usually leads to a bad move”.

To me - this just goes to prove that improving one’s intuition is very useful for blitz games, but will also make you an overall stronger player, save you time on the clock and add to your confidence as a chess player. For further discussion on the role of intuition of chess – read Dvoretsky’s book Attack and Defence In Chess.

My New Russian Chess Blog

My chess blog does have an audience from Russia, although a small percentage (see the stats for the past year). With hopes to increase that, as well as improve my writing skills in mother tongue, I figured I’d start a Chess Blog in Russian. For now it has very few entries, but more will come over time as often I want to share links to chess resources in Russian that would not make sense to post on the English Blog – so now I can post them on my Russian blog.

My Russian blog URL: http://shakhmatist.blogspot.com/

My Russian Chess Blog

Chess Dream – Translating Life into Chess Moves

Chess can be a part of our life, but at what point does our life turn into a game of chess? Some describe life as a battle, as a chess game that requires strategic approach, but I am talking here about more than a metaphor, but rather of a person’s mind being so deeply immersed into chess when the distinction between daily life and chess gets blurred.

A while ago I read an interview with Vladislav Tkachiev and realized that he talked about the feelings described very well what happened to me about 10 years ago. Chess was a very important part of my life at the time (it still is). I was a weak chess amateur, but I was living and breathing chess. I was changing my openings, and could not decide if I should continue with my quest to master 1.d4, or go back to 1.e4. One morning, as I was waking up and in the middle of a dream, I got a feeling that my day was about to begin, and my day was my chess game. Almost as I was deciding which foot to put first on the floor – right foot or left foot, I was trying to decide if I should start my day with 1.e4 or 1.d4. My day was my chess game, and I was trying to choose the opening. I will quote Tkachiev here:

Even when I am not playing it doesn't mean that chess leaves my mind. I am speaking with you, but at the same time the position against Kortschnoi is going through my mind. It is difficult to explain: I am talking with you, and everything we say is beginning to translate into chess language. You looked at me, Nf3, the girl over there smiled, Nf6, somebody fell over there, c4. This has not been described, because unfortunately the books about the subject have not been written by real chess players. Let me explain it again: Today I talked with you, I went to the swimming pool, I played a game, I went to the bar, I had dinner. And all this is beginning to be translated into chess moves. Nf3, Nf6, c4, g6. It is on the brink of madness, but I have asked many players and they have the same experience. I translate everyday life into chess moves, and it happens even if I don't want it to. Sometimes I ask myself "are you nuts?" The answer is definitely yes. Well, slightly, but it is true.

Vladislav Tkachiev in 2003

The King’s Gambit by Paul Hoffman - Book Review

When King’s Gambit by Paul Hoffman came out in 2007, I was anxious to get a copy as soon as possible. It had good reviews, and in addition I actually had met Paul Hoffman at a dinner in Toronto in 2004, at the closing ceremony for the Canadian Chess Championship. The book is meant to appeal to both readers who know little about chess, and to experienced chess players. I enjoyed the read quite a bit. It provided insider details on the top chess players – Kasparov, Susan Polgar, Joel Lautier, Nigel Short, and others, but also gave more details about the lives of players whom I had actually met at the board – Pascal Charbonneau and Jack Yoos.

Paul’s love for the game shines throughout the book. An chess amateur’s description of the sense of happiness of winning a good game that only chess players are familiar with – make the book stand out.

You will enjoy this book if you have ever

• dreamt to be a grandmaster
• admired a fellow chess player’s personal achievement
• wanted to learn about Garry Kasparov’s restaurant manners
• prepared for your tournament opponents by spying their ICC game history

Reading “King’s Gambit” I remembered watching Pascal Charbonneau’s dramatic win last round at the Canadian Closed Championship in 2002:

Charbonneau – Cummings, 2002
White to move. Black had just moved the bishop away from guarding g7, how can this be exploited?

My YouTube Chess Channel

A few days ago my YouTube channel hit a bit of a milestone – I got a 100th subscriber. Big Thank You to Everyone who subscribed!

This is a good time to make some observations about the blog/channel duo:

Effort:

The blog is more of an outlet for quick notes, thoughts, book reviews, and tactical ideas that caught my attention. On the other hand - making the 65 YouTube videos took a lot more of serious game analysis, some new hardware (microphone) and experimentation with recording software. I would go over the game a few times and try to understand its key points before I could talk for 10 minutes about it. So those videos probably took even more effort than the nearly 300 blog entries. The upsetting part is that at some point is that some of that effort was used while my microphone setup was far from ideal, so the sound quality of some earlier videos is very disappointing.

Feedback:

I also found that I received more comments on the videos, than on the blog entries – viewers who made it through the video probably got engaged in it to the point of actually feeling like making a comment. While the videos are harder to make, and involve wearing headphones to “consume” – the rewards are hopefully higher for both the maker and the viewer.

Learning:

I used the videos to structure my chess study, so the videos follow several themes, with playlists accordingly:

• Endgames
• Grandmaster games
• My games
• Sicilian Defence
• Spanish Opening

Liudmila Belavenetz – Best Chess Coach for Juniors

Liudmila Belavenetz (Людмила Сергеевна Белавенец) is mentioned in most reports on Russian junior cthat you see online today. That is not a surprise to me because I have been honoured to be her student for several years in the mid 90’s when I attended the Spartak Chess School in Moscow. A rare chess teacher has so much love for the game and passion about their students successes in competitions.

Liudmila Belavenetz was USSR Champion among Women in OTB play in 1975, and she was also the World Chess Correspondence Champion (1984-1992), so she is a very strong player herself. However she has a talent to explain chess in simple terms to young kids and teach the basics – with kindness and humour.

I was delighted to read this interview (in Russian) that tells a story very similar to mine.

I played chess a lot between the ages of 4 and 8, but later took a break as the game suddenly became no longer fun. When I was 12 - curiosity brought be back to the chess club, but it was really Liudmila Sergeevna Belavenetz who made me interested in chess again. Moreover, it was probably because of her that I got myself into teaching chess years later. As I was getting older and more competitive – I got to understand why several of her students were world champions in their age groups. In addition to explaining opening tricks, a coach needs to know how to support a young player during the competition – after a win, and after a loss. I have seen very few chess teachers do this with as much kindness and skill as Liudmila Belavenetz. Computer software can help you to prepare for opponent’s openings before the game, but only a good coach can set you with a positive mood and inspire you to succeed.

I was recently glad to see lead the awards ceremony for a Women’s blitz tournament in Moscow:

Liudmila Sergeevna awards Valentina Gunina

I hope Liudmila Sergeevna continues to be a vibrant force in Russian Junior Chess for many years to come!

Motivation in Chess

I have been on a break from studying chess due to personal reasons and this made me realize that the most important component for improvement in chess is motivation! With much being written about individual moves, combinations, tricks, positional details, training techniques – I rarely see a discussion of how does one become interested in chess, and then keep the passion alive. What drives players, both amateurs and professionals, to play and improve their game?
Do some people get immersed in the game without a strong desire to improve, merely fascinated by its aesthetics?
Do others only focus on the competitive side of the game, without the reflective look at the beauty of some moves?
Perhaps for some - the immersion to the game - is a way of escaping into a different world? For me, as probably for most players it is a combination of such factors that makes me study and play chess.

Sharing secrets of the King’s Indian Defence is very important, but perhaps the grandmasters can help weaker players by explaining more about what drove them to success, what motivated to study hard. Perhaps one book that talks about this subject is Kasparov’s How Life Imitates Chess, which I had reviewed already once, but I’d like to see more written about this.

Happy New Year to everyone, as this is likely my last post for this year!

British Columbia Chess Championship 2009

Round robin tournaments are in my opinion more appropriate for improving one’s chess strength, compared to Swiss events or knockouts. In this post I will try to explain why. Round robins tend to have players of more balanced strength, and allow to prepare for your opponents well in advance, resulting in higher quality of games, and fewer accidental opening choices. Here are some lessons learned from a typical round robin tournament among players of average 2200 FIDE strength.

I competed in the 2009 BC Closed Championship last weekend. Thank you, Stephen, for running the tournament again, and providing the crosstable:

Last year I already wrote a summary of my games and tournament overview of 2008 championship. Back then I had 3 wins and 3 losses, only a single draw. This time I took a different path to the same result – 1 win, 1 loss and 5 draws, with a tie for the 3rd place yet again. In itself, regular participation in a tournament like this is definitely essential if I want to maintain and improve my chess level, so I am very glad I took part. Jack Yoos won convincingly, although he was clearly losing at one point in his game against Lucas in round 6, that game could have change the situation quite a bit. Dragoljub Milicevic was included at the last moment, but posted an awesome result. He now agrees to draws a lot more willingly than 10 years ago, but also is being practical about picking up points when opponents give him a chance. Tanraj Sohal showed a lot of potential for his age, I did not realize that he is only 12 years old.

A few personal observations again:

- I had a bit more time to prepare the openings before the tournament, and was more careful about getting enough sleep throughout the tournament. My games were also shorter, so I was not as exhausted as last year. Last year’s preparation was also helpful since 4 of last year’s opponents played again this time, and obviously their opening repertoires have not changed all that much since then. Opening preparation for a tournament like this (opponents are known well in advance) is time consuming and sets the tone for each game. Although I thought I was reasonably well prepared in the opening - my opponents still managed to surprise me by their choice in the opening in nearly every game. Still, except for the games against Jack Yoos and Brian McLaren, I felt sufficiently familiar with the position that arose …

- I am not happy with my time management again. In a couple of games I had a good position in the end, but went for a draw by repetition because I had significantly less time than my opponents. What was worse, in two games I knew all the opening moves quite well, but still spent half an hour or more on those known moves. Roman, if you know the moves – just frigging play them!

- UBC is a pretty nice place! It was a longer daily commute for me than last year, but I still enjoyed the playing site quite a bit.

I also posted the video of my only win – game against Alfred Pechisker, and a nice combination I found analysing my endgame against Howard Wu. Another tactical idea I posted about – was found while preparing for a game against him.

Studying chess in Miami

I have not posted on my blog for a while, I was on vacation in Miami, and had little time for writing new entries.

I’ve however been studying chess quite actively while on the trip, mostly going through my opening repertoire. Khalifman’s book on the Spanish opening has been of enormous help. Not to beat this subject to death, but wanted to comment that I realize now more and more that putting together a foolproof set of responses against every possible move an opponent can throw at you is quite a hustle. But then again, it’s something you inevitably must do, sooner or later, and once you have such a repertoire in a database, you can print it to study more conveniently, and preparing for each game is way easier. I also found a related series of blog posts - http://www.chessedelic.com/2009/04/25/how-to-build-a-chess-opening-repertoire-part-i-getting-the-lay-of-the-land/ that are a lot more detailed than anything I wrote on the subject so far.

Las Vegas - gambling vs. games (and Khalifman)

I just got back from a short trip to Las Vegas. Among other things I was impressed by how many people are actually glued to the slot machines. The atmosphere reminded me of chess tournaments (in a sense that people are stuck to their chairs for days), but obviously a lot more people are into slot machines than into French defense. In some ways, you'd think chess would be a lot more appealing to folks who want to kill time, but perhaps the amount of effort and dedication required is too much. Even if you win some cash in an open chess tournament, that happens only once per trip. Perhaps it is as simple as the fact that 99.99% of people care about money a lot more than about any pawn structure nuances. Below is the picture of Caesar's Palace hotel where Alexander Khalifman won his FIDE Champion title in 1999. Apparently at the time, nobody in town knew about the event going on, and if they did, they probably would not care.

Khalifman, incidentally is an awesome chess player, often underestimated because he won his title without beating Kasparov, however as it often happens - lesser (compared to Kasparov) players can have a lot of very instructive games in their collection. I have a copy of Khalifman: Life and Games in Russian, and each game seems to contain a sacrifice that would win a beauty prize in a major tournament. His opening repertoir is sharp and extensive, so you'd find an instructive example from any major opening. It's too bad that his playing strength declined since the period of 1999-2000.

BC Chess Championship 2008 - quick overview

Stephen Wright has kindly posted the full games over here, so below is a quick overview of my games, in their critical moments. As you can see, I started with two good wins, but was then struggling to score a win until the last round, which did help me to 'save face'.

Round 1. Jiganchine - MacKay (1:0)

After 16... Kxe7 (variation)

White got a great attacking position in the Sicilian (which happens to me quite rarely), and Black had to give up a piece just to not get mated. Here is one of the "sacrificial" attacks:

17. Rxe5+!! dxe5 18. Bc5+ Kf6 (18... Ke8 19. Qd6) 19.Qf3+ Kg5 20. Be3+ Kh4 21. Qg4#

Given the strength of my opponent in this game (an FM who was once a member of the Scotch national team) - this was probably one of my best games ever.

Round 2. Davies - Jiganchine (0-1)

After 23. Bc4

I stopped liking the 'dynamics' of the game - White was about to play Ne3, and neither d5 nor f5 would be possible for me. So it seemed like I must try to break up White's bind on light squares and open up some files to expose his king.

So I came up with the pawn break that in the end worked out to my advantage

23... d5! 24. exd5 f5! The pressure on the f and b files was soon to much for white to bear, and after Nf5-d6xc4, the b3 pawn fell, and then the White king got under a mating attack. Perhaps this was my most satisfying game with the Sveshnikov so far.

 

Round 3. Jiganchine - Patterson (0-1)

After 35... f4

In in an unclear position I made a couple of aggressive moves, but my opponent discovered a hole in my plot. While I though my queen was putting pressure on Black king and pawns, it turns out that Bd8 is about to win my queen, and h3 is about to threaten checkmate. 36. Nd4 was an interesting suggestion from the computer (with the idea of after exd4 playing Re1, Re6 and going for the perpetual), I played 36.f3 (so that I can play Qg4 after Bd8) and after 36... h3 my king soon got burned (although there were a couple of chances to make things complicated along the way).

Round 4. Berry - Jiganchine (1/2:1/2)

After 10. e4 Bh7

Jonathan's move order in the opening allowed me to get the bishop to f5, so not being to happy about his position, he played 11. cxd5 and offered a draw. I accepted since getting a bit more rest before the evening game seemed like a good thing.

Round 5. Jiganchine - Wu (0:1)

The most important event in this game happened outside the board - the clock was setup "with delay" instead of "with increment", so in a complex endgame I made several crucial decisions in a bit of a panic, as my time appeared to be running away quite fast. That was of course my own fault - I should have paid more attention to how time was getting incremented before it got too late.

After 33... Nb6

34. Kf3 was still enough to keep the game balanced. Instead I overlooked the fact that Black can play ... f3 himself. Several moves later I was hopelessly tied up:

34. R5a3?! f3+! 35. Kd3 Rxa3 36. bxa3?! Re8 Now even if there is a draw, I played a few more "natural" moves and lost.

Round 6. Pechisker - Jiganchine (1:0)

After 14.Be2?

Apparently 14... Nxe5 15. Bxe5 Bf5+ 16. e4 Rxe5 was winning quite easily. White cannot take on e5 or on f5 because then a piece on either d2 or e2 falls with grave consequences. I was already very short on time, so I simplified into what turned out to be a difficult endgame with

14...Bxd2? 15. Nxd2 Rxd2+?  16.Kxd2 Nb3+ 17. Kc3 Nxa1 18. Rxa1 and soon lost. Perhaps that was my most frustrating loss in this tournament.

 

Round 7. Jiganchine - McLaren (1:0)

After 24. Nd6

It may seem that the position is unclear because of Black's advanced pawns and two bishops, but actually Whites' pressure on the queenside is more important. White won the b7 pawn, and soon - the game.

10 years in Canada

It really has been exactly 10 years since I first arrived to Vancouver, Canada. What can I say - Canada has treated me well so far!