If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Policy / Politique
The fee for tournament organizers advertising on ChessTalk is $20/event or $100/yearly unlimited for the year.
Les frais d'inscription des organisateurs de tournoi sur ChessTalk sont de 20 $/événement ou de 100 $/année illimitée.
You can etransfer to Henry Lam at chesstalkforum at gmail dot com
Transfér à Henry Lam à chesstalkforum@gmail.com
Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
General Guidelines
---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
Some Basics
1. Under Board "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) there are 3 sections dealing with General Forum Usage, User Profile Features, and Reading and Posting Messages. These deal with everything from Avatars to Your Notifications. Most general technical questions are covered there. Here is a link to the FAQs. https://forum.chesstalk.com/help
2. Consider using the SEARCH button if you are looking for information. You may find your question has already been answered in a previous thread.
3. If you've looked for an answer to a question, and not found one, then you should consider asking your question in a new thread. For example, there have already been questions and discussion regarding: how to do chess diagrams (FENs); crosstables that line up properly; and the numerous little “glitches” that every new site will have.
4. Read pinned or sticky threads, like this one, if they look important. This applies especially to newcomers.
5. Read the thread you're posting in before you post. There are a variety of ways to look at a thread. These are covered under “Display Modes”.
6. Thread titles: please provide some details in your thread title. This is useful for a number of reasons. It helps ChessTalk members to quickly skim the threads. It prevents duplication of threads. And so on.
7. Unnecessary thread proliferation (e.g., deliberately creating a new thread that duplicates existing discussion) is discouraged. Look to see if a thread on your topic may have already been started and, if so, consider adding your contribution to the pre-existing thread. However, starting new threads to explore side-issues that are not relevant to the original subject is strongly encouraged. A single thread on the Canadian Open, with hundreds of posts on multiple sub-topics, is no better than a dozen threads on the Open covering only a few topics. Use your good judgment when starting a new thread.
8. If and/or when sub-forums are created, please make sure to create threads in the proper place.
Debate
9. Give an opinion and back it up with a reason. Throwaway comments such as "Game X pwnz because my friend and I think so!" could be considered pointless at best, and inflammatory at worst.
10. Try to give your own opinions, not simply those copied and pasted from reviews or opinions of your friends.
Unacceptable behavior and warnings
11. In registering here at ChessTalk please note that the same or similar rules apply here as applied at the previous Boardhost message board. In particular, the following content is not permitted to appear in any messages:
* Racism
* Hatred
* Harassment
* Adult content
* Obscene material
* Nudity or pornography
* Material that infringes intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any party
* Material the posting of which is tortious or violates a contractual or fiduciary obligation you or we owe to another party
* Piracy, hacking, viruses, worms, or warez
* Spam
* Any illegal content
* unapproved Commercial banner advertisements or revenue-generating links
* Any link to or any images from a site containing any material outlined in these restrictions
* Any material deemed offensive or inappropriate by the Board staff
12. Users are welcome to challenge other points of view and opinions, but should do so respectfully. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Posts and threads with unacceptable content can be closed or deleted altogether. Furthermore, a range of sanctions are possible - from a simple warning to a temporary or even a permanent banning from ChessTalk.
Helping to Moderate
13. 'Report' links (an exclamation mark inside a triangle) can be found in many places throughout the board. These links allow users to alert the board staff to anything which is offensive, objectionable or illegal. Please consider using this feature if the need arises.
Advice for free
14. You should exercise the same caution with Private Messages as you would with any public posting.
I'll start by what I shared on another thread. I admit Brian Hartman was my worst ever opponent - at least 12 losses in a row before I scored. It got so bad (it was probably more than 5 years) that it felt endless and I actually cringed when I had to face him.
Care to share?
I remember, around 2008-2010 I lost 7-8 games in a row to IM A.Samsonkin. Sure, he was (and he is) a much stronger player. However, the rating gap was around just 150 points in his favor. That means, I was expected to get around 30% of the points.
Later, I was able to improve my score against him, but still deeply in negative territory.
There was a fellow at the Boys & Girls Clubs (shheesh I don't remember his name!). He loved chess...in fact I would go to his place to play often. Anyway, at some point the Federal government had a program to hire youngsters...so with his help 3 of us were hired to run chess programs at the boys clubs. Howard Streit, Ron Bray and myself. That was many decades ago so I may not have all the facts correct but here is what I remember:
However before that happened we spent lots of time at the East End Boys & Girls Club where this fellow worked. That was where we did the chess and ping pong stuff.
Once the government money came in...I think Ron ran the program in Point St-Charles, I was running the program at the Unity Club on Greene Avenue in lower Westmount and I think Howard was running the program at the East End Club.
I believed we were making a difference...and I would like to believe that today :)
I don't think I've ever even scored a single half-point against David Gordon. Yes, he's way better than me, but he gets to crushing me so much faster than anyone I've played multiple times!
Easiest question ever. Rocket Rob Gardner. He was a master when I was just starting out, but over the years I slowly caught up to the point that our ratings were within shouting distance. However, he'd beaten me handily every time along the way. Once I got to 2200, I started scraping the occasional draw, but some included blowing hilariously winning positions. I finally beat him in a relatively meaningless club game well after my serious chess career had wrapped up, but it was still very satisfying. Posting here because after taking an avalanche of losses against him, I love posting my one win.
{The alternative here is 11.Ne3, but I was concerned about 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 Qa5+ 13.Qd2 Qxd2+ 14.Kxd2 when his failure to castle or develop is unlikely to be punished; in fact, now my king will be the one stuck in the middle in a relatively open position. The move played allows black to dismantle the white center, but white gets a couple of tempo to start an attack on the e-file}
11...cxd4 12.cxd4 Bxd5 13.exd5 Ngf6 14.Re1 Nxd5!?
{Really risky - the tactics come fast and furious now. My opponent thought the coming ...Nc3 was going to resolve his issues, but missed the sacrificial possibility.}
15.Be4 Nc3 16.Bxe7!
{Anything else simply results in black being up material; of course, the move also gave me a lot of aesthetic pleasure and the table started to attract spectators due to the wild nature of the position}
16...Qxe7 17.Qd3
(17.Bxa8 Nxd1 18.Raxd1 Ne5 19.dxe5 dxe5 20.Bc6+ Kf8 21.Rd7 {I spent a lot of time on this line trying to see if there was some continuation from here that would give white a decisive attack, but couldn't find anything} )
17...d5?
{A clear mistake based on the hallucination that I had to play 18.Bxd5 Nxd5 19.Rxe7+ Nxe7 when he has two pieces and a rook for the queen. He should simply play 17...Nxe4 18.Rxe4 Ne5 19.dxe5 dxe5 20.Rae1 when material will be equal and white will have a little more activity}
18.Bxg6!
{Now 18...hxg6 19.Qxc3 will leave white simply up material after black puts something on e5 to avoid losing the queen}
18...Ne4 19.Bxe4 Nc5!
{A shock move that I completely missed; I had thought the game was pretty much over and I was going to have the pleasant technical task of just winning with a couple of extra pawns and initiative. This move keeps the game in doubt.}
20.dxc5 dxe4 21.Rxe4!?
{My opponent pointed out I could have played 21.Qxe4, which would lead to 21...Qxe4 22.Rxe4+ Kd7 and white is up two pawns; however, the c5 pawn is fairly weak and the black bishop is quite strong, so it's not clear how white will win}
21...Bxa1 22.Rxe7+ Kxe7 23.Qd6+ Ke8
{So at this point, white has a queen and two pawns for two rooks; however, black's pieces are all in the corners of the board. White's task is to prevent him from coordinating them - to do so, it's important to stop the rooks from ever seeing each other. The computer now gives a lengthy forcing line starting with Qc6+, and leading to the win of the a1 bishop because it gets stuck without a good square as the king defends itself. Even after looking at it, I don't feel bad about missing it as it's just one of those "computer" lines that is impossible to calculate in a practical game.}
24.g3 Rg8 25.Nh4 Rd8 26.Qc6+!
{My original plan here had been to just take a6 if he moved the a8 rook; however, I liked the idea of keeping him uncoordinated a lot better. }
26...Kf8 27.Nf5 Rg6 28.Qc7 Re8?!
{I expected 28...Bf6 and was quite happy about it; that blocks the g6 rook out, and leaves black still with issues along the back rank. The d6 square will also be quite enticing to the white knight. The move played I believe simply loses the exchange.}
{The last mildly difficult move of the game to find; I can't say that allowing his rook to the 7th with check was my first most intuitive move, but once I saw the upcoming double attack, it was all clear}
34...Rxf2+ 35.Kh3 Rc2
{35...Bb6 36.Qb8 Ba5 37.Qe5+ Rf6 38.Qxa5 Rxc6 39.Qe5+ is black's best hope, planning to put his rook on e6 and pray this works out to be some sort of fortress} 36.Qe4 Rc4 37.Qd5!
{A final blow, meaning white will get the bishop without losing the pawn after 37...Rc2 38.Qxd4+ Kf8 39.Qd7 followed by c7-c8Q.}
I remember, around 2008-2010 I lost 7-8 games in a row to IM A.Samsonkin. Sure, he was (and he is) a much stronger player. However, the rating gap was around just 150 points in his favor. That means, I was expected to get around 30% of the points.
Later, I was able to improve my score against him, but still deeply in negative territory.
Artiom must be my second worst opponent. 8 losses in a row (maybe some chances but still). I finally scored a win which I treasure (and I finally got smart and posted it on chesstalk. I'll see if I can find it)
The chess term is "client" as in Victor was Artiom's client,
Aris is Dave's client, etc.! Pre-supposes a regular.....
Some real-world terms gravitate to chess, and vice-versa!
I've had chessmasters in my car comment on crazy lane-switchers,
"patzer sees a gap, patzer fills a gap!"
For me, NM Ron Brice. One draw in four games. He was clearly stronger than me, but the positions I got deserved better finishes. I think the difference was that Ron was a very active player for many years, with 100+ tournament games in many of them; I was at around 20 to 30 tournament games, and that difference in sharpness brought him wins in critical situations. My one draw was a clear win for me, but I was looking for a mate that was not there, and chose a less than optimal line (still much better for me), and he found a miracle fortress draw!
Some real-world terms gravitate to chess, and vice-versa!
I've had chessmasters in my car comment on crazy lane-switchers,
"patzer sees a gap, patzer fills a gap!"
Chessmasters are usually pretty witty. You'd make a fine chessmaster yourself Francis!
Tweet
Comment