Hey Everyone, Long time lurker on the site but I have registered an account now so I can buy some credits, post some comments and maybe make some videos of my own.

I will be using this to keep track of my weekly progress but also if I have a particularly interesting game that I don't get time to put into a video I will upload it here.

Anyway feel free to leave me comments at any time.

- Jtixs

Some information about my chess

~1500 standard on ICC

want to get to 1800 this time next year

What I want to improve
- Endgame! particularly K&P and RK&P
- Making sure I have a plan and identifying my opponents plan
- Not being reactive and passive

I will be using these methods to improve
- Tactics problems
- Analysing my games and the games of high level players
- making videos
- reading books designed for amateurs e.g. the amateur's mind,

Welcome and good luck!

I recommend Complete Endgame Course! Silman categorizes endings not just by type, but by the rating class at which you should learn them. If you like The Amateur's Mind, you'll get a lot out of his endgame book too.

thanks I do have that book but I feel like I never committed to it properly once it got more advanced. I will revisit it and go through it properly

I have decided to stream when I am playing or studying chess, Should allow for some interesting live interaction with the chat.

Anyone interested should follow me on twitter @jtixs as this is where I will post when streaming.

Schedule to come soon.

Back Streaming again twitch.tv/jtixs

20:00 GMT everyday

Did my first session of a curtain's style chess solitaire. I used the game Carlsen-Caruana from the Tal Memorial and played alongside Carlsen. It was a great way to train and I really recommend it to anyone, although I would suggest to those who
are less keyboard savvy to use a notebook to write down your moves. I will be doing this as often as I can and will post results after each session. I am also competing in chess.com automated tournaments and Streaming monday-thursday 8-10

Hi Jtixs,

Your improvement plan seems quite sound, and likely to lead to success if you follow it. I want to encourage you not to be too caught up in how quickly you pick up exactly 300 rating points, though. I myself have not gained rating points as quickly as I had hoped. But I *have* improved, and my rating is following, if ever so slowly. Most importantly, I am having fun! So if the journey takes longer, that's OK, because the journey is so enjoyable.

As long as you're having fun along the way, the journey to 1800 will be a lot of fun. And I'm sure you will get there, if you keep working hard and having fun.

Thanks man I appreciate the words, For me I just love the learning process, so if my rating doesn't rise rapidly it doesn't bother me.

Having watched the videos of IM Gregory Shahade (Curtains). I was inspired to use his training method of guess the master move. I have done a few and have found them enjoyable, challenging and a valuable method of improving my game. This is the first of many that I hope to share with you.

GM Alexander Beliavsky - GM Vladimir Kramnik, Belgrade Investbank 1997



For this game I decided to play alongside Vladimir Kramnik. I wanted to play a game that arose from an opening that I play. The Tartakower Defence.

The opening moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g5 Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.Nf3 h6 7.Bh4 b6




Our game begins from this position. I will give my move and then the Kramnik's obviously inferior move and note any interesting points that crop up. A green move from kramnik means I got it right, red means I was wrong

8. Qb3

8...Bb7 A natural developing move. Kramnik 8...Bb7

9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Rd7

11...Re8. I spent some time looking at this position. I didn't like the idea of Ne5 Bxe5 dxe5 and then the pressure on my d pawn is strong and I have to defend with something like c6 which I don't want to play as it makes my bishop ridiculous and I want to play c5 at some point. Re8 stops Ne5, develops a piece and puts my rook on a nice file. Kramnik 11...Re8.

12. Bd3



12...c5 c5 is the natural freeing move in a lot of QGD lines but it must be made carefully. In fact when looking at this position I missed the follow up and would have just blundered a piece so although I did get this move right I got it for the wrong reasons. Kramnik 12...c5

13.dxc5

13...bxc5. This is the incorrect follow up now 14. Qxb7 is just winning for white. Instead the move 13...Nd7 is a really nice move. point being that after 14.cxb6 Nc5! is a nice move 15.Qc2 Qxb6 and black has a nice position. K 13...Nd7.

14.c6

Bxc6 15.0-0 Nc5

16.Qc2

16...Rc8 I thought for sometime in this position. I was tempted to play Nxd3. Having the two bishops vs two knights could be promising. However after Rxd3 white gets potential pressure against my d-pawn and can double rooks. Further more with the isolated pawn we don't want to trade pieces and my knight on c5 is a strong piece. Instead I played Rc8. A nice move as it develops my rook and lines it up with his queen. Now white has to worry about potential discoveries and once the pieces move my Rook will be nicely placed on the open file. K 16...Rc8

17.Bh7

17...Kf8 This is a minor point I believe. Kramnik plays Kh8, my thought is that this does threaten g6 to trap the bishop and maybe black doesn't want to be on the f8-a6 diagonal although with no Dark square bishop this doesn't seem to be a huge problem. Also perhaps later white will want to play Qh7 and penetrate that way so the king on h8 defends that. 17...Kh8

18. Bf5

18...Ne6 This was an interesting moment in the game. I looked at 2 candidate moves. Rc7 and Ne6. In the end the decision came out of positional factors. Rc7 does get out of the attack and does let me double rooks at some point on the e or c file once the queen moves. However I was concerned with Nd4 and i wasn't in love with the positions that followed. Nd4 Bxd4 Rxd4 Ne6 doesn't fill me with joy. I played Ne6 which controls d4.If Bxe6 fxe6 gives me connected pawns in the middle and 2 bishops. K 18...Ne6

19. Nd4 Nxd4 20.exd4

20...Rc7 Here I looked at two moves Rc7 which I played and Bb5. I decided to play Rc7 because it allowed potential doubling of my rooks. However Bb5 was a mistake and I didn't see why. 20...Bb5 21.Bxc8 Bxf1 22.Kxf1 Qxc8 23.Qb3 and black has no advantage. In the end I did play correctly but I didn't reject Bb5 due to that variation I just decided Rc7 was better. K 20...Rc7

21. Qd3

21...Rce7 This move is played later however we want to play the inbetween moves g6 and h5, we can use these pawns for kingside pressure and getting them with tempo is nice as white otherwise would play Bg4 and now these moves would need more preparation. K 21...g3

22.Bg4 h4 23. Bf3 Rce7 doubling the rooks on the e-file. Black has an edge.



24. g3

24...Bg5 I wasn't sure how to continue as black. The best plan would be to push my kingside pawns, h5-h4 and try to break down whites kingside pawns and use my dark square bishop to take advantage of his weak dark squares. Bg5 doesn't do this and hinders the advance of my pawns. I think I considered using the f pawn in this position but the h4 plan is much stronger. K 24...h4

25. Qd2

25...Kg7 White tries to defend the threat with the idea of Qh3+ however the quiet Kg7 defends, I was happy I found this move, identifying what your opponent wants to do is important and Kg7 supports my pawns, removes the threat. potentially allowing my rook to shift to the hfile. K 25...Kg7

26.g4

26...g5 White tries to relieve the pressure on the g3 and also threatens g5, trapping the bishop pawn. g5 and Re6 are the two moves available. I didn't see Re6 but it is a nice move. g5 does hinder our bishop and Re6 has the potential of Rf6 at some point, a powerful move.g5 scores ok but it isn't as good.
K 26...Re6

27.h3

27...Bg5 natural move flows with Re6 as Rf6 is now an option.
K 27...Bg5

28.Qc2

28...Qf6 When I was analysing here I was too fixed on my rooks staying connected and In my mind I thought that Qf6 Bxd5 Bxd5 Nxd5 Qf3 had something for me, but on reflectio there isn't much there and Qb3 is fine for white. Instead Qd6 is nice, we keep the connected rooks and our queen eyes the weak dark squares.
K 28...Qd6

29.Qb3

29...Be3 I couldn't see what to do and chose an impatient sacrifice which doesnt work Be3 fxe3 Rxe3 Bg2 Qg3 and I have nowhere to go. Bd8 I believe the obvious idea is to play Bc7 at some point and if Nxd5 Bxd5 Qxd5 Qf4 and white's dark square problems will lead to his dowfall. K Bd8

30. Bg2

30...Bc7 This flows with the original plan however when white plays Bg2 Bc7 is met with 31.f4 which does weaken some squares but defends for the time being. However Bg2 is a blunder as it ovelooks 30...Qf4! and after Bc7 the dark squares are too weak and white will fall. K 30...Qf4

31. Rc1

31...Bc7 Natural move white is nearly dead

32. Rfd1

32...Rf6 You have to create multiple weaknesses in the enemy camp with the move Rfd1 which made space for the king he has left the defence of the f2 square. so Rf6 is a nice move. K 32...Rf6

33. Qc2

33...Qh2+ I honestly wasn't sure what to do here i played Qh2+ to force his king out of the corner, but Re3! is a great move. K 33...Re3

34.Kf1



34...Rxc3 white resigns here I will let you go through the tactics. K 34...Rxc3

So a great game, really nice play from Kramnik, who exploited the dark squares very nicely. I think I did ok although my correct moves were inflated by some obvious move and moves I played for the wrong reasons. But i definitely feel like I improve whilst doing this kind of exercise

Please leave any comments and thanks for everyone who has read this.

I was doing some thinking the other day.

I recently noticed I was slipping into bad habits, rather than challenging myself with longer games or difficult thinking. I was playing 5 minute games, moving too fast and robotic-ally, blundering, not analysing and then queuing up another game.

After 45 minutes I would get depressed and think that I don't have the 'natural talent' to play chess and I should give up.

I have decided that this though is stupid. 5 minute chess isn't what I should be doing. I should be playing long games, analysing afterwards and trying to get better.

Also even if it is true that I possess absolutely no talent for chess what so ever. You know what, I'm still going to play. I'm going to work my ass off to get better, and that way when I win it is just down to all the work I put in not some inate talent and that will be the most rewarding experience of all.

5 minute days are over, watch this space

Watching! I'm sure you speak for many of us here...

Playing blitz is like eating cupcakes. It's fun and pleasurable, and in small quantities it won't hurt you very much. But when it becomes a staple of your diet....

God damn it I seem to be making a lot of "i'm back" posts.

I had to take time off chess for a month, just to much stuff going on.

Back now, training and making videos.