It's late and I'm exhausted so a few quick thoughts.

First, on your Benoni game. This exact line was just a puzzle in Jeremy Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess Workbook I was doing. The puzzle started with Black to move in pretty much the position you played Bg5 in but instead of Bg5 it was Bd3. The move was Ne8! Not only preparing f5 but also Bg5 forcing the exchange of the bad Bishop. I saw that you caught your mistake, but hopefully pointing out that you helped Black in what is a problem in a book might help you remember that's not a good plan in the future.

Also, I'm not entirely positive but I think Ne2 is better than Nf3 as it doesn't let White pin and trade off the Bishop for the knight. (that's what the position in the problem had anyway) In this closed of a position knights might fair better at some point, just something to think about. I'm no Benoni expert as I've never played a game in it, so I could be wrong.

About learning openings:

Well, there's a lot to consider. JumpNMustang makes a good point, though I always heard not to study theory until 1800 not 2000 but the sentiment is the same. But honestly I like Dan Heisman's suggestion the most for learning openings which is to play it a lot, and after the game look it up either in a database or MCO, NCO or ECO. I do that with a database as that way I can see the moves played the most and positions that come from it to see if I like that line or might like one a little less used but leading to positions I understand better. Understand is the key point, memorizing lines is no good, but understanding themes and ideas in an opening is very crucial to getting good positions... at least that's my opinion. Hope this helps!

A horrible game. I wanted to try something out, but ended up completely botching the opening. Won the game through attrition. As usual, annotation to follow:

Haven't had any time lately for long games, but here is a blitz game showcasing my new defense i am working on, benoni.

A 30 0 game from FICS:



1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3

{Standard Kings Indian Defense.}

d6 6. b3

{With the early gain of space, I took the time to delay castling for a few moves to try to gain an advantage in development. The preferred setup at this point was Bb2, Nd2, Qc2 Rd1 and Re1.}

Nbd7 7. Bb2 Re8 8. Nbd2 e5

{Best is dxe5 dxe5 O-O c6 Re1 Qc7. Instead I was worried about
the later advance to e4, and so tried to blockade the e file, but instead
lost a pawn in the process.}

9. e4 exd4 10. O-O

{Better was Nxd4 immediately, but I was worried about my king's safety at this point, the idea of delaying
castling was not bearing fruit. Still, even though a pawn down, I felt the
game was still equal.}

Nxe4 11. Nxd4

{Probably better was Bxd4, immediately exchanging off the fianchettoed bishop.}

Nxd2 12. Qxd2 c6

{At this point in the game I set as my target the f7 pawn. I intended to trade the knight for
the light square bishop and put pressure on f7 with the queen. In addition, the fact that the white rooks are connected while black's rooks have 2 pieces between them made me feel like I could take control of the e-file and have a temporary ability to put pressure on the kingside while the other rook was
effectively blocked out. Black intends the d5 pawn break, and gaining more space for his pieces.}

13. Rfe1 Nf6 14. Rad1

{Putting pressure on d6, but really a bluff to detract from the real plan.}

Qc7 15. Rxe8+ Nxe8

{Undeveloping the knight and gaining control of the e file as planned.}

16. Re1 Bd7 17. Ne2

{The knight is going to f4 and white is trading off the dark bishop (the stronger of blacks two bishops).}

Nf6 18. Nf4 Re8 19. Rxe8+

{I traded off the second pair of rooks to give my queen mobility.}

Nxe8

{The knight undevelops again.}

20. Bxg7 Nxg7 21. Nh3

{A blunder. I made the mistake of falling into the classic trap of setting up an attack against a
well defended position. The idea is to play the knight to g5 and the queen to f4, forcing the advance of the f7 pawn, giving white a useful diagonal on a2-g8. But it is very easy to drive the knight away from g5.}

Be6

{Luckily black plays his bishop to a square where I can trade it off for the knight as
planned.}

22. Ng5 Qe7 23. Qe3

{Pinning the queen.}

a6 24. Bh3

{Indirectly pinning the knight on g7 as if it moves black drops a pawn via NxB pxN Bxp+.
I begin to tie down blacks pieces, the bishop is pinned to the queen, the
queen tied to the defense of f7, and the knight defending the bishop.}

Nf5

{The best move for black to gain freedom for his pieces. Because my queen is
the only piece guarding the knight on g5, I hesitate to move it and relinquish space to black in the center of the board while tying my queen to the defense of the knight, so I am forced to trade off my bishop, however
black must double his f pawns as a result.}

25. Bxf5 gxf5 26. h4

{Giving the queen freedom to move. Still eyeing f7 and possibly h7. The expected
variation here is ... h6 Nf3 Qf6 Nd4 d5 cxd5 cxd5 NxB fxe6 Qc5 or similar
with hopes of a draw by perpetual check at some point in the near future.}

f6

{Opponent makes a serious blunder and resigns shortly after.}

(26. ... h6 27. Nf3 Qf6 28. Nd4 d5 29. cxd5 cxd5 30. Nxe6 fxe6 31. Qc5 )

27. Qxe6+ Qxe6 28. Nxe6 Kf7 29. Nd8+

{Black resigns. I thought this was a pretty good job at minimizing the damage of losing a pawn outright in the opening and maximizing the effectiveness of my pieces in that situation. Your comments are
welcome.} 1-0

I lost all four games at my local chess club last night. Here they are (in memoriam):

I've never seen a strong player who said anything good about the BDG. That said, it seems to be a very tough opening for non-booked/ lower-rated players to defend against. Josh has a video here that demonstrates a good line for black (Hubsch Defence)- check it out: viewtopic.php?t=793

Actually don't, since I play the BDG myself on occasion

These guys were rated 1711, and 1655 respectively. I really thought I had blunderitis out of me by now

Don't get too frustrated. This season I see 2000+ blunder as if they were noobs. My friend plays against them on board 1 and after the games, when we present and discuss our "work", the whole team stares in awe and disbelief at his games - wishing we had played his opponent^^

What I want to say just is: There is no cure so don't get frustrated. It's an up and down (not sure if that sounds as encouraging as it is intended ).

You looked fine in most of those openings, tbh. Just out of curiosity, did you use a clock and write down how much time you spent per move? Also, you might not want to play the Sozin if you aren't booked up in it. You were losing really early, unfortunately.

In terms of blunders, tactics come out of a superior position. Calculate a little bit more and try to stay solid and your blunders will really start to disappear.

Registered with CTS. Hope to spend a half hour or so per night before bed, doing that stuff, maybe while I am watching some chess games (FICS has become like a replacement for TV for me, I often just go and watch).

Worked on CTS tonite. Solved 20/21 problems for a net gain of 76 pts. Currently rated 1404 w/83% solution rate on there now, so doing good I think - 500 more points until I pass curtains , so at this rate I'll be rated higher than curtains by next weekend. Also, 4 games I played over the board with a local tourney player rated 1167. He seems like he plays a lot better than 1200, or maybe I am just much weaker than I think I am. I do notice I have a harder time 'seeing things' on a real board due to the amount of time I play and study on computer screens. The good news is that I do all my chess book stuff on a board, so that helps a bit. Anyways, here are the games (in the order played, each a G/30 (you'll notice I react to a loss by going all out for blood):

Decided my goal will be to compete in the 2009 Columbus Open as my first ever chess tournament. If I am able to find a way to afford it that is. Will play in U1400 section as first timer.

Good luck, Jwhis!

Sounds like it should be fun! Good luck!

I think you mean "Zuke 'Em: The Colle-Zukertort Revolutionized"