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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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The U1800 Canadian Open Blog rd 5
Another day, another loss! To my credit I put up a good fight against my expert-rated opponent after dropping a pawn early on with minimal compensation. We ended up in a Queen and Pawn ending where I had hopes of getting a saving perpetual check, but it soon became obvious that my opponent could escape the checks (often while forcing a Queen exchange leading to a won King and Pawn ending) and slowly advance his connected passed pawns. Rather than grind it out til midnight and almost certainly losing, I resigned.
If someone had suggested before the tournament that I would, with 2 points out of 5, be paired against an opponent rated over 250 points higher than me, I would have said "No way!". But that is precisely what has happened, and contrary to my previous tournament experiences. And I'm not the only one. Scanning through the other round 6 pairings, I'm still seeing several rating differences over 350 points. Either this is the consequence of the pairing system used, or because the tournament is just 'top-heavy'- sort of like playing in the open section of our Scarborough Chess Club tournaments. This requires a bit of an attitude adjustment. Instead of looking forward to kicking some butt and maybe winning money, I should follow Bob Armstrong's approach of just enjoying the experience of playing challenging opposition (and hopefully learning something) even while losing. Of course an upset win here and there would be nice...
I think it's the Round 3 pairings Ken. It's not that the group is top heavy. There are 68 competitors under 1600 and another 60 under 1800.
However, because Round 3 was so bad, many top players ended up with an additional loss whereas bad players got a free pass. This resulted in a 2 point spread.
If someone had suggested before the tournament that I would, with 2 points out of 5, be paired against an opponent rated over 250 points higher than me, I would have said "No way!". But that is precisely what has happened, and contrary to my previous tournament experiences. And I'm not the only one. Scanning through the other round 6 pairings, I'm still seeing several rating differences over 350 points. Either this is the consequence of the pairing system used, or because the tournament is just 'top-heavy'- sort of like playing in the open section of our Scarborough Chess Club tournaments. This requires a bit of an attitude adjustment. Instead of looking forward to kicking some butt and maybe winning money, I should follow Bob Armstrong's approach of just enjoying the experience of playing challenging opposition (and hopefully learning something) even while losing. Of course an upset win here and there would be nice...
So, sort of like a $175 set of lessons - some good some bad?
The U1800 Canadian Open Blog rd 6
Despite being paired up again, I managed to end my three-game losing streak.
It's been my experience that most chess games at my level are lost in the middlegame. B-class players generally don't have the ability to convert a theoretical opening advantage directly into a win. As I've seen from the games that Bob Armstrong has analyzed (with computer assisstance) for Scarborough Chess Club, the advantage usually swings back and forth a few times before the decisive error occurs.
Sometimes, however, the decisive moment comes in the ending. In my game yesterday we entered a Queen Rook and Pawns ending where I was probably a bit worse due to slightly weaker pawns. But piece activity can make up for a lot of structural problems, and my opponent overlooked a quick mating attack.
I get another tough pairing today against a 1900+, but that doesn't feel so bad with a third point under my belt.
Updated results through 6 rounds for the SCC under 1800's:
Kurkowski K. 3
Rogers M. 3
Posaratnanathan J. 3
Posaratnanathan R. 2.5
Bellomo J. 2.5
Moran-Venegas M. 2.5
Gillis D. 2
Xie P. 2
Philip A. 2
Karmalkar V. 2
Dattani D. 1.5
Termeer T. 1
The U1800 Canadian Open Blog rd 7
After spending an enjoyable afternoon strolling on the Toronto Islands with my wife (a convenient 15 minute ferry ride from the tournament site), I sat down for my rd 7 game, against another A-class player. I didn't get off to a very good start, blundering a pawn after only ten moves. Although I put up a good fight and thought I might be able to hold a draw at one point, it's hard to overcome material deficit against an opponent rated 350 points higher. So I still have only 3 points. It doesn't get much easier next round as I'm paired against another A-rated player.
One lesson I'm learning from being paired up all these games is that you've got to "know what you play". By that I don't mean memorizing dozens of sharp opening lines 20 moves deep, but:
a) Knowing the first eight to twelve moves of ALL the reasonably expected lines against your pet opening/defence - not just the main two or three lines. For example, two of my French Defences have been met by less popular lines - the Exchange and the King's Indian Attack, and I wasn't sufficiently ready for those.
b) Having a good feel for what to do once you get through those first few moves. Even in some of my wins, I got out of the opening phase with a passive, difficult position and had to rely on a combination of my resourcefulness and 'help' from my opponent.
Another thing my rd 7 opponent pointed out after our game is that I should stay seated at the board instead of wandering around when it's my opponent's move. He may have a point, but I think there is some benefit to periodically getting up for a mental breather, checking out how my chess friends are doing in their games...I'll have to think about that one.
An interesting question - the getting up and wandering around issue.
When I was younger, I used to get up and wander after virtually evey move - don't know if it was just nervousness, or laziness - and maybe wanting to see how my firends were faring.
But in the last 5 years or so, I've found myself sitting at the board a lot more, during my opponent's move, trying to anticipate his move and what I will do about it. Maybe I am more aware that to get good results, I have to work harder - use more time to analyze. I do feel that it has improved my game. I'm not slavish to this - if he has too many options, then sometimes I'm just not willing to do the work on all kinds of lines that aren't going to happen ( though I do admit, that working on them can give you a better insight into the " themes " of the position, which may help analyzing the move he eventually does choose).
Although I'm less experienced as a tournament player than some of you, I find it can be useful, if you're not in time pressure, to get up and take a breather. Just don't do it EVERY move.
Although I'm less experienced as a tournament player than some of you, I find it can be useful, if you're not in time pressure, to get up and take a breather. Just don't do it EVERY move.
and here I was thinking your vast knowledge of pairings came from your vast tournament experience
Okay. Could you please keep your relentless efforts to act as a childishly as possible to one thread? It's not fair to other people who actually would like to enjoy reading relevant threads on the CFC Open.
Okay. Could you please keep your relentless efforts to act as a childishly as possible to one thread? It's not fair to other people who actually would like to enjoy reading relevant threads on the CFC Open.
its not fair? since when are you the arbiter of fairness? and since when are you the Chesstalk arbiter?
I like reading relevant threads to the Canadian Open too and would prefer not to have to read you harrange poor Bob Armstrong about bolding people's names - if that wasn't the ultimate childish behaviour ever I'm not sure what is - please tell me you're not of legal drinking age
but I do recognize that you can go right ahead and do whatever you like, so more power to you, keep on keeping on
you posted on here to get attention, you got attention and when I don't agree with you I'm told I'm childish - no its childish to expect everyone to agree with you & complain when someone replies to your attention seeking honestly and not by saying you poor, poor fellow - we have to get those people that did this to you
Last edited by Zeljko Kitich; Saturday, 17th July, 2010, 06:21 PM.
The U1800 Canadian Blog Rds 8 and 9
Round 8 was another tough game, against an A-class player. I fought hard, but went down in the endgame. Then in Round 9, I got paired against a 1096. Easy win? NOT!!! My teenaged and almost certainly under-rated opponent gave up a pawn early on but then generated good counterplay. We got into an endgame with a pair of rooks each plus opposite colour Bishops. Unable to make any progress and with my time running down, I offered a draw, which was accepted.
So I finish with 3.5 points out of 9. This looks pretty unimpressive, but isn't so bad considering that my current rating is 1616, and six of my opponents were rated over 1800 (two of them over 2100). I will even gain a few rating points (about 20 by my estimate). I also learned a few things:
Gotta know your openings against stronger opponents! I don't mean just memorization (although some of that helps) but having a feel for the middlegame positions that arise and being able to come up with a good plan without chewing up too much time. I was consistently way behind on the clock after twenty moves or so in my games. Part of this involves settling on an opening repertoire and sticking with it - I have been practicing the chess equivalent of serial monogamy for too long! Looks like the French may be it against 1.e4. Not so sure against 1.d4/1.c4 (I didn't face these once in the tournament!), any suggestions from any of you 'Frenchies' out there?! - . For White I will continue with 1.d4, over my chess career I think I've had more success with that. Also, I need to study endings more (see paragraph 1 above).
Anyway, I had a good time, enjoyed the site and, like Bob, will experience "chess withdrawal" until the season starts at Scarborough Chess Club, or maybe at the Labour Day tournament.
You could try
(1)Nimzo-Indian/Bogo-Indian or Queen's Indian or and follow Nimzowitsch/Kaprov/Kramnik etc
(2)Stonewall Dutch and follow Moskalenko's repertoire
In any event alot of studying is needed.
I turned to the French recently relying on the ...dxe4 structures of the Rubinsteing variation before I move onto Moskalenko's ideas in the 'Flexible French'.
The Stonewall has the advantage in that there is a good single volume book by Agdestein et al while the Nimzo/QID or Bogo-Indian commits you to learning two openings.
If you play 1...e6 against 1.e4 or 1.d4 you can move into a French/Stonewall Dutch 'minimal' learning repertoire.
I just got Moskalenko's "Flexible French" at the CO. I like his approach - more enterprising lines as opposed to the more solid stuff like the Rubinstein/Fort Knox. As for the Stonewall Dutch, I actually have been considering that one after 1.d4. I was looking at the Semi-Slav too but those Bg5 lines are just a bit too scary. For white I like 1.d4 with Nf3 as recommended in "A Killer Opening Repertoire" by Summerscale and Johnsen: either Colle-Zukertort or transposing to c4 lines where that seems more effective.
(1)Playing the Queen's Gambit-Schandorff with 2.c4. This a very aggressive main line based repertoire.
(2)Wojo's Weapons vol 1 -Hilton and Ippolito with Catalan and an assortment of GM Wojowiecz's repertoire. You will need vol 2 as well when it comes out. This is a low risk positional repertoire.
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