I don't think this blog would be complete without some references to my family. Ethan, my three year old, is obsessed with chess now. Every time he sees me playing on the computer, he asks me what the pieces are. He now knows all of the pieces' names by sight. And did I mention he's only three! Today I started teaching him how the different pieces move.
Anatoly Karpov, one of the greatest chess masters to ever live, apparently learned to play chess at age four. Ethan's got a jump on him!
In other news, I learned that a lot of younger players that go on to become masters take about four years after starting to take the time to seriously study the game before reaching an elite level of play. Obviously there are outliers, but the bell curve shows that four years is a solid median timeframe.
Chess is a lot tougher than I imagined. I thought that I would spend a few weeks studying it and practicing and be ready to play the best. But it's going to take a lot longer than that. At first this frustrated me, but I am excited now. I think that this is going to be a very challenging journey, but I love challenges and I love bettering myself.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Friday, June 7, 2013
Goal Update
So when I started playing a few weeks ago, the original goal was to get all of my chess.com scores to 800 or above by the end of June. 800 is an indicator of a solid beginner, and I think this was a completely reasonable goal.
As of right now, my blitz score is the only mark below 800, and this stands at 647. My standard score, which I think is more indicative of my true ability, stands at 886. My other scores really don't have enough data to be worthwhile to look at.
Why is my blitz score so low? Well, blitz games, by definition, are 10 minutes long and under. I tend to play these when I don't have a lot of time, but I end up rushing through the games and this hurts me. I'll either be watching the kids and have to get up (I can't even tell you how many times I've lost close games because I ran out of time), or I am rushing to make my moves and don't see obvious blunders until it's too late.
So I'm pretty happy with my progress after not quite two weeks of playing. I am confident that if I play only when I know I have the time, I can boost my blitz score up over 800 in the 3+ weeks left in the month.
Once I hit my goals, I will be shooting for the 1,000 mark. I still have to evaluate a timeframe for this.
As of right now, my blitz score is the only mark below 800, and this stands at 647. My standard score, which I think is more indicative of my true ability, stands at 886. My other scores really don't have enough data to be worthwhile to look at.
Why is my blitz score so low? Well, blitz games, by definition, are 10 minutes long and under. I tend to play these when I don't have a lot of time, but I end up rushing through the games and this hurts me. I'll either be watching the kids and have to get up (I can't even tell you how many times I've lost close games because I ran out of time), or I am rushing to make my moves and don't see obvious blunders until it's too late.
So I'm pretty happy with my progress after not quite two weeks of playing. I am confident that if I play only when I know I have the time, I can boost my blitz score up over 800 in the 3+ weeks left in the month.
Once I hit my goals, I will be shooting for the 1,000 mark. I still have to evaluate a timeframe for this.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Theory Thursday. Episode 1
I wanted to make a series of weekly posts dealing with chess theory and tactics that can give you an advantage over your opponent. Today, we will be talking about forking.
I started using this strategy regularly after having it pulled on me several times. Basically, this is a move commonly used by the Knight, since they have the most varied range of motion. A fork occurs when your piece is not threatened, yet the piece can attack more than one of your opponent's pieces. This is most effective when the King or Queen is put in danger with a Rook on the other end. What will happen is that the King or Queen will move out of harm's way and the Rook is left exposed so you can swipe it with the Knight. Even if you need to sacrifice the Knight, this still works out in your favor since you are giving it up to get a more valuable piece.
Forks can quickly change the momentum of the game into your favor, especially if you are only slightly down or pretty even. Losing a major piece like the Rook or Queen is a big blow to your opponent and severely limits their checkmate capabilities.
You can even set up a three-way fork if you're lucky. These give you a bigger range of capturing options, especially when a King is involved since they will be forced to move the King to stay alive. After this, you have your choice of which piece to take.
Forking is at its most powerful when your opponent relies heavily on their Queen. Assuming you are white, once the Queen is out of d8, a Knight on the c7 square can be a revolutionary move. This forks the King and the Rook. The King will probably be able to move to the d8 square, momentarily putting pressure on you, but the Rook is ripe for the taking and more often than not, you won't even have to worry about exchanging the Knight.
So this pretty simple concept can change games. I use this a lot because I am aggressive with my Knights, and lower rated opponents don't always see where the Knight will be in a few moves. How I proceed to use this technique is try to envision what the perfect position for my Knight is, and then I figure out a safe course to set up the play. This obviously doesn't always work, but when it does, you can often dominate the game.
I started using this strategy regularly after having it pulled on me several times. Basically, this is a move commonly used by the Knight, since they have the most varied range of motion. A fork occurs when your piece is not threatened, yet the piece can attack more than one of your opponent's pieces. This is most effective when the King or Queen is put in danger with a Rook on the other end. What will happen is that the King or Queen will move out of harm's way and the Rook is left exposed so you can swipe it with the Knight. Even if you need to sacrifice the Knight, this still works out in your favor since you are giving it up to get a more valuable piece.
Forks can quickly change the momentum of the game into your favor, especially if you are only slightly down or pretty even. Losing a major piece like the Rook or Queen is a big blow to your opponent and severely limits their checkmate capabilities.
You can even set up a three-way fork if you're lucky. These give you a bigger range of capturing options, especially when a King is involved since they will be forced to move the King to stay alive. After this, you have your choice of which piece to take.
Forking is at its most powerful when your opponent relies heavily on their Queen. Assuming you are white, once the Queen is out of d8, a Knight on the c7 square can be a revolutionary move. This forks the King and the Rook. The King will probably be able to move to the d8 square, momentarily putting pressure on you, but the Rook is ripe for the taking and more often than not, you won't even have to worry about exchanging the Knight.
So this pretty simple concept can change games. I use this a lot because I am aggressive with my Knights, and lower rated opponents don't always see where the Knight will be in a few moves. How I proceed to use this technique is try to envision what the perfect position for my Knight is, and then I figure out a safe course to set up the play. This obviously doesn't always work, but when it does, you can often dominate the game.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Literature Review Wednesday
I wanted to have a few commonly recurring subject matters that I will be addressing on a weekly basis. I've decided Wednesdays will be a slot for me to review chess books.
Last week, I took out two books from the library and am almost done with the first. It's called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess Openings, by William Aramil. So far it's decent. The first few chapters were especially good for me as they go over algebraic notation and some very basic strategy principles. Concepts like material, space, tempo, King protection, and Pawn structure are introduced, and this is a very good thing for beginners. These five things are the building blocks of what makes a good board setup, and something that absolutely every budding chess player needs to be aware of.
However, these subjects are only briefly introduced and there isn't much space given to them--a couple paragraphs at most. It's pretty much assumed that the reader is already familiar with them, which is fine, but this makes me think that the book is not really geared toward the beginner, but rather someone who has already seen some moderate success.
After that, the most common openings are explained in good detail. For the beginner, this is great, but parts can be confusing because Aramil relies greatly on algebraic notation. There are several diagrams of board setups, but to really get the most out of this book, you will want to have a chess board handy so you can fully appreciate the various structures and their nuances.
If you're new to chess, this book can help you, but I wouldn't recommend this being your first read. I'm going to finish the book, but I think I will need to reread it in a few weeks.
Last week, I took out two books from the library and am almost done with the first. It's called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess Openings, by William Aramil. So far it's decent. The first few chapters were especially good for me as they go over algebraic notation and some very basic strategy principles. Concepts like material, space, tempo, King protection, and Pawn structure are introduced, and this is a very good thing for beginners. These five things are the building blocks of what makes a good board setup, and something that absolutely every budding chess player needs to be aware of.
However, these subjects are only briefly introduced and there isn't much space given to them--a couple paragraphs at most. It's pretty much assumed that the reader is already familiar with them, which is fine, but this makes me think that the book is not really geared toward the beginner, but rather someone who has already seen some moderate success.
After that, the most common openings are explained in good detail. For the beginner, this is great, but parts can be confusing because Aramil relies greatly on algebraic notation. There are several diagrams of board setups, but to really get the most out of this book, you will want to have a chess board handy so you can fully appreciate the various structures and their nuances.
If you're new to chess, this book can help you, but I wouldn't recommend this being your first read. I'm going to finish the book, but I think I will need to reread it in a few weeks.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Two things that I know now that I didn't know a week ago
One of the most important concepts about chess that I just learned a few days ago is that control of the center of the board is extremely important. When your pieces are in the center, they have the widest, most uninterrupted range of attack and this is obviously a big advantage.
Let me put out a basic example. When white moves the King's pawn to e4, black is at an immediate disadvantage since white is freeing up their Queen and the King's Bishop, and when they move the King's Knight out on the second turn, they are gaining yet another advantage by increasing their attack range in the center. Black must immediately play on the defensive or risk losing uncompensated pieces.
However, this doesn't mean that white can just put pieces in the center and win. Black has many strengths, and if white is not careful, pieces on the sidelines can be lost and this can give black a small material advantage which can add up quickly. Still, if white plays correctly and adjusts for black's moves, white can keep momentum on their side and force black into a series of moves that they might not want to necessarily make.
Also, I learned algebraic notation! This should be the first thing that anyone playing chess needs to learn on the theory side of things. If you're looking on the white side of the board, the bottom left corner is a1, and the bottom right corner is h1. The top left corner is a8 and the top right corner is h8. The squares in between are all filled in accordingly. Knowing what the spaces are gives you a generic template for notating moves.
Obviously it's not quite this simple. Each piece has its own letter representing it, and there are special notations for check, checkmate, castling, en passant, and capturing pieces. The knowledge of these concepts will enable you to decipher games posted online and in books, and this opens up a whole lot of learning opportunities for you--definitely something that you need to know if you are going to get better at the game.
Let me put out a basic example. When white moves the King's pawn to e4, black is at an immediate disadvantage since white is freeing up their Queen and the King's Bishop, and when they move the King's Knight out on the second turn, they are gaining yet another advantage by increasing their attack range in the center. Black must immediately play on the defensive or risk losing uncompensated pieces.
However, this doesn't mean that white can just put pieces in the center and win. Black has many strengths, and if white is not careful, pieces on the sidelines can be lost and this can give black a small material advantage which can add up quickly. Still, if white plays correctly and adjusts for black's moves, white can keep momentum on their side and force black into a series of moves that they might not want to necessarily make.
Also, I learned algebraic notation! This should be the first thing that anyone playing chess needs to learn on the theory side of things. If you're looking on the white side of the board, the bottom left corner is a1, and the bottom right corner is h1. The top left corner is a8 and the top right corner is h8. The squares in between are all filled in accordingly. Knowing what the spaces are gives you a generic template for notating moves.
Obviously it's not quite this simple. Each piece has its own letter representing it, and there are special notations for check, checkmate, castling, en passant, and capturing pieces. The knowledge of these concepts will enable you to decipher games posted online and in books, and this opens up a whole lot of learning opportunities for you--definitely something that you need to know if you are going to get better at the game.
Opening Moves
I love playing chess. But I'm not the best. In my defense, I haven't really played regularly since high school, and that was over 13 years ago. But I started playing again last week on chess.com, and I am absolutely loving it. I thought that tracking my journey from beginner to wherever I end up would be interesting on two levels, both for giving me a way to track my own progress and learn, and to provide a blueprint of sorts for those who wish to learn the game and become better at it themselves.
If you're looking for expert advice on how to perfect your game, this is not the blog for you. Not yet, anyway. I currently am well under 900 rating in both standard and blitz games, with my standard game about 250 points higher than blitz. So I'm far from an expert. But I hope to be one in the next few years. Did you know some people make a living playing chess? I had no idea until a few days ago. This would be really cool, and while it's probably extremely stupid to bank my family's future on me bringing home a regular paycheck from chess, it would be amazing to say that I am that good.
So this blog is geared more toward those who are not very good at the game, but have lofty ambitions. I will be posting regularly here tracking my progress and documenting the improvements and setbacks that I experience. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for both of us and we can realize our dreams of kicking butt in the Royal Game. Good luck!
If you're looking for expert advice on how to perfect your game, this is not the blog for you. Not yet, anyway. I currently am well under 900 rating in both standard and blitz games, with my standard game about 250 points higher than blitz. So I'm far from an expert. But I hope to be one in the next few years. Did you know some people make a living playing chess? I had no idea until a few days ago. This would be really cool, and while it's probably extremely stupid to bank my family's future on me bringing home a regular paycheck from chess, it would be amazing to say that I am that good.
So this blog is geared more toward those who are not very good at the game, but have lofty ambitions. I will be posting regularly here tracking my progress and documenting the improvements and setbacks that I experience. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for both of us and we can realize our dreams of kicking butt in the Royal Game. Good luck!
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