At the time I recorded this video, I did not know the name of the defense my opponent was using (nor what to do against it), but after the video, I put the game in Chessmaster and it called my opponent's defense the "Queens Gambit Declined/ Chigorin's Defense."

Nice game bullrock :) I like some of your own the fly analysis. - pollock

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Yeah, with the help of Chess Position Trainer, I will soon be able to slap some serious variations onto my opponents. Aw, who am I kidding? On the beginner level, almost every move my opponent makes against my openings is "out of book" and every move I make is out of book for them, too.

Hi Bullrock

Just to say the line you looked at after Bb4. If you play a3 the Bishop can't go to a5 because b4 as you notice forces the B to b6. However you then suggest Na5 allowing you to swap off. Na5?? No need to go for a swap because c5 and the B is trapped. The Noah's Ark trap. As old as the ark but you'd be surprised how many players fall for it or variations of it. It's useful as a threat in many lines particularly for developing with tempo.

If a3 the B either retreats, a concession, or takes the N with BxN and bxN. This may not be bad for black as the c pawn is now a bit weak as is the square c4. Haven't watched the rest of the game but following your progress with interest.

Bullrock

Had a look at your game in more detail. Black mucked up. Playing 7....Ne4 was premature. Black should have played 7....OO first.The basic idea is develop and get your K to safety connecting R's as well. Then consider aggressive plans. Now was your turn to strike and punish him for his impertinance with 8.NxNe4! Black has to take back with the d pawn because if 8...BxB+ and the e4 N takes back winning a whole piece! So 8....dxN 9.BxBb4-NxB (if 9....exNf3 10.gxf theatening the B and the B should really move to h5 as 10...NxB 11.gxB and white is a pawn up with a better position) 10.Qa4+ never miss a check! Here we see the tactical opportunities arising because black hasn't played OO. Now 10....Nc6 is forced blocking the check otherwise the N drops and the magic 11.Ne5! (uncovering the B on blacks Bg4) -BxBe2 again forced 12.KxB-OO at last black can play this but then 13.NxN-Qd7 (if 13...bxN 14.Qxc6 and a pawn drops, in fact it's hard to see how black can save the pawn) 14.c5!

The smoke has cleared and white has a fine position. He has loads of Q side space and his pawns are an unbroken chain while blacks are doubled on the e file and an object of attack. White's K is also closer to the centre and perfectly safe!

Now I know you say your happy with exchanging pieces but this isn't a plan! In the line I showed you exchanges made sense because it gave you an advantage, not a winning one but, an advantage.

However you decided not to play 8.Nxe4 which was completely forcing and black had to respond, but played 8.c5 instead (loss of tempo which doesn't achieve anything imediately). Black replied 8....Bxf3? leading to the line where you won a pawn and well spotted Bullrock. This was the wrong exchange. Instead black should play 8....BxN 9.BxB (forced as 9.cxB blocks in your dark squared B and creats a weakness on c3) Now black plays 10....OO and you threaten niether the N on e4 ( which could be a resident for some time) or the B on g4. Your B on c3 is awful and blocked in by it's own pawns. Black is far better here.

So I repeat my advice. Stop thinking that exchanging pieces is a good idea unless they are the correct exchanges. It's about calculating whether the exchange is good in terms of development, building an attack or fighting one off. Otherwise this is a bad habbit. Seriously Bullrock you won't improve unless you get out of sloppy thinking like this and play the position concretely by calculation.

I'd recommend trying a tactics server which involves exchanging as part of an attack i.e EXCHANGING WITH A PURPOSE!

Bruce:

I'm 1700+ (pretty good but not great) on standard mode at chesstempo.com. But, the problem with tactics servers is that you know going in that there IS a tactic. During an actual game, you don't have that luxury. So, it becomes exceedingly difficult for beginners like myself to see tactics when they are present. In fact, I believe that is why beginners are beginners, because they move their own pieces such that there is a tactic and also fail to recognize when their opponent has done the same.

It's funny because the move 8. NxN was not made by me because I was trying to keep pieces on the board and stop my bad habit of just trading pieces whenever possible. So, it comes down to knowing when to trade and when not to, and unfortunately, at this moment I am just not very good at that. So, I definitely have a plan for how to improve my chess playing ability. Learn to spot tactics! Learn when trading is good and when it is just silly.

Absolutely Bullrock. But tactics servers are really good for your game. If you work on tactics this stuff goes deep. During a game you actually feel that a move is right. My point to you is that if you didn't chop the N because you wanted not to trade isn't good thinking either. I know it's difficult to calculate during a blitz game. However I'm not saying just 'don't exchange' . I'm saying stop thinking of exchanging as a tactic which somehow helps you. Or 'not exchanging' as a tactic. Neither is good in terms of thinking during a game.

I know your a beginer but I was too. I also thought trading down was good but it doesn't work when you come up against stronger players.

My point about solving tactics is that it involves working out exchanges mainly or, of equal importance, strong positional moves. A puzzle book is as good as a server. Start of with easy ones. I solve a few a day. The point is chess is about pattern recognition. Strong players recognise more complex patterns and see the right move to play. We have to work at it.

Now I know that in puzzles you know there is a tactic there. However sometimes how difficult is it to find the solution when it's right in front of our face! Just like a real game. You'll hear strong players looking at positions in videos, usually where there is a fair amount of material on the board, and saying 'there must be a tactical solution here'. Most often there is. In fact every game. Particularly at our
level is decided by tactics of one sort or another. There isn't a single game at our level that, when it's over, where there were heaps of missed tactical opportunities. Not just missed strong moves but,in many cases, winning moves.

And tactics are made up of potential in the position. For example the line I went through only worked because you had Qa4+. However you did see the tactic which won you a pawn! True you missed NxN but then black missed BxN. So you can see tactics sometimes. But it's about getting better at spotting them. They don't have to win material or crush your opponent just improving your position is tactical.

It's like you said you only consider say one part of the position and this is a problem. Great masters see the whole board. But you can also see much more. If you study tactics you will begin to see tactics in your games that you didn't see before. As soon as you spot a tactic in one of your game based on study your play will go up a notch. Trust me. This approach saw my grading go up by nearly 300 points in OTB chess in one year. This was after languishing at the same grade for over ten years.

I guarentee that if you start working on tactic puzzles until you solve them, all of a sudden, after a little effort, you will see an improvement in your game.

I was having a meal with a titled Scottish player recently and his advice to me was. 'Stop studying openings and just concentrate on tactics.' I said surely this is Ok if your 1000 or 1200 FIDE but not for higher level players. He turned to his friend next to him and asked him if he studied openings. 'No never I just work on tactics' he replied. He was then asked his grade. '1800' FIDE came the reply!

Need I say more? Play anything. e4, d4, Nf3, b3, Nc3. Just try to follow opening principles and see how you get on. It doesn't matter if you lose but you will have to depend upon thinking over the board and tactics tactics tactics. Im ranting now but just trying to help as you are obviously a keen player and I know you can play better.

[quote="Bullrock"]At the time I recorded this video, I did not know the name of the defense my opponent was using (nor what to do against it)[/quote]
that didn't matter b/c your opponent didn't know how to play it either, LOL. 4...e5 transposes to an equal line of the Albin countergambit.

i play Chigorin defence as black-- it can be fun.

Do openings really matter at anything below say 1800?

Bruce:

I do work on tactics using chesstempo.com as mentioned above. However, my ability to see them during a game is poor. Improving on that should definitely be my goal. Also, I play 30 minute games about 90% of the time, and to be honest, I don't usually use my time and really sort of play the game as if it blitz. The reason is I don't want to get into time trouble in case I end up with a complex endgame. But, I now realize that spending more time looking for a tactic when it seems there ought to be one would be much more beneficial to me than saving extra time for an endgame which wouldn't be difficult at all had I found the tactic to begin with!

Thank you for your help. I do truly want to get better at chess, and you are helping me to see what I need to work on.

Katar:

Well, I have certainly put Chigorin's into my Chess Position Trainer repertoire! I will be better prepared for it next time, I'm sure.

[quote="brucewallace2"]Do openings really matter at anything below say 1800?[/quote]

I would have to say yes to this. The reason is because there are some pretty nasty combinations in some openings that unless you are familiar with, you are likely to fall prey to them. One example is the Ponziani. It contains a line similar to the Halloween gambit and if you make "natural" moves against it, you likely will have a very short, embarrassing game!

Link to a video on the Ponziani opening...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOZLHeKW ... re=related

[quote="Bullrock"]Katar:

Well, I have certainly put Chigorin's into my Chess Position Trainer repertoire! I will be better prepared for it next time, I'm sure.[/quote]
train or not, the better player will still win. if improvement is your #1 priority, i would not recommend investing time "training" openings...
i posted that opening training video for Phobetor, who is a 2100 player and obviously has a solid grasp of the fundamentals.

but if you just want to have fun, then just do what you please.