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2076 USCF.

My Chess Story: I first went to the chess club at age 25 with a vague knowledge of the rules of chess, and was thrashed mercilessly and embarrassingly by a little Russian kid (1600-ish) and another girl rated about 1200. After reading half a dozen chess books and studying regularly with a few friends, I was rated in the mid 1700s within a year. I was just under 1800 when I joined CV.tv in Spring 2007 and watched a steady diet of Curtains and Zibbit videos. After studying Rudolf Spielmann's book The Art of Sacrifice, I started 2009 with a 15.5/19.0 streak in three tournaments against opposition rated 1900-2100, and gained 224 USCF rating points to surpass 2000. Since CV.tv was fundamental to my own progress, I hope to contribute videos that promote others' enjoyment and understanding of our game. Thank you! Training journal: [1]

Complete 1.e4 e5 Opening Repertoire for Black

0. 1...e5 for Noobs 32:17 Comparison with the Sicilian defense, overview of all major variations, and the guiding philosophy behind the 1...e5 repertoire.

1. Intro and Scotch Game 22:03 Introduction to 1...e5, and an overview of the Mieses variation of the Scotch, recommending the solid plan 8...Nb6 intending Qe6 and d7-d5.

2. Two Knights, Ulvestad 25:57 Detailed analysis of the ambitious Ulvestad variation after the critical 4.Ng5.

3. Two Knights Defense 34:49 Covers [1] Giuoco Pianissimo by transposition (4.d3), [2] Modern Two Knights (4.d4 exd4 5.e5), and [3] Classical Two Knights (anti- Max Lange) (4.d4 exd4 5.O-O).

4. Danish, Goring, Ponziani 24:20 Recommends the "Capablanca defense" to the Danish/Goring gambits, and follows the Caro/Tarrasch gambit line against the Ponziani.

5. Vienna, Bishops, KGD 34:13 Presents the main lines against the Vienna gambit and a detailed counter to the KGD by transposition, recommended for White in GM Emms' Attacking with 1.e4.

6. King's Gambit, Center Game 32:48 Recommends the Modern defense to the King's Gambit with 2...d5 3.exd5 exf4, and the ...Be7 system against the Center Game.

7. Four Knights 33:29 Covers the Four Knights by touching on the [1] Glek system, [2] Halloween & Belgrade gambits, [3] Scotch 4N, and then focuses on [4] the "Pillsbury defense" to the Spanish 4N.

8. Ruy Lopez, Berlin defense sidelines 31:21 Coverage of the Ruy Lopez, Berlin variation, when White avoids the queenswap mainline.

9. Ruy Lopez, Berlin defense mainline 33:17 Overview of the Ruy Lopez, Berlin variation queenswap mainline, recommending the Be7 plan as played by GM Kritz.

Game Analysis

Chigorin's Defence

6/18/08 Chigorin Rulz LOL 16:52 My first win against an Expert (played March 2007), and my first published game (LA Times)!
12/12/10 B vs 2100 my craziest fighting game 48:28 Crazy sacrifices from a desperate situation lead to a tense defense in severe time trouble.

Danish Gambit

9/9/08 Sacrificial Danish gambit 9:30 Blitz quickie featuring a couple intuitive knight sacrifices.

Queen's Gambit

8/28/11 W vs 2000 (QGD Exchange) 25:22 My first OTB rated game in the QGD featured an intuitive knight sacrifice out of the opening.

Nimzo-Indian

9/24/11 W vs 2100 Nimzo 4.e3 24:04 After getting a space advantage I played impatient and careless moves to get to a critical situation.

Open Game

9/2/11 B vs 2000 Italian Game 32:41 An experiment with long castles against a strong 12-year old.

9/13/11 B vs 2050 Italian Game 27:48 Another experiment with long castles against another strong 12-year old.

9/1/10 my best-played game??! W vs 2090 20:38 A strategically clean game against an overconfident opponent.

10/9/10 B vs 1500 Berlin with Re1 20:05 Black can find it difficult to play for a win in this opening.

10/16/10 W vs 1700 - 4N spanish 20:02

Philidor Defence (by transposition)

5/25/08 initiative lesson (1200-1600) 18:06 An intuitive sacrifice leads to an unstoppable initiative.

7/15/09 W vs 2000 Philidor/Pirc opening. 26:34 A positional pawn sacrifice for an advanced knight outpost leads to a mating attack. This was the game that put me over 2000 USCF rating.

Pirc, Holmov

4/25/09 White vs 2136 (Pirc, Holmov) 18:36 Interesting opening sacrifice for development where one Black misstep is fatal.

Scandinavian Defense

1/18/09 B vs. 2150 G/90 Scandin Nf6 22:40 The old guy misplays the opening but doesn't miss his chance.

2/13/09 B v. 2000 Nf6 skandinavian again 17:37

2/22/09 B v 2000; sicilian tal gambit (scandin) 17:20

10/26/11 B (1800) vs 2000 Sicilian Tal gambit 12:50

4/24/10 the importance of being objective! 24:21 A video on remaining calm and confident when the opponent throws the kitchen sink at you.

6/6/10 Why i stopped playing Scandinavian Nf6 25:31

Sicilian Defence

5/16/08 miniature in 2...a6 Sicilian (O\'Kelly) 11:28

12/14/08 Spielmann inspiration 9:27 A couple blitz quickies featuring gambit/sacrificial opening play.

Chess Software Demonstrations

SCID (Shane's Chess Information Database)

2/11/10 SCID Workshop 1 38:11

3/26/10 SCID Workshop 2 30:17

Chess Position Trainer

5/17/08 Chess Openings Program 14:59

1/1/09 Danish gambit training 15:54

Chessimo fka Personal Chess Trainer

6/21/09 Personal Chess Trainer, Chessimo demo 8:55

Art of Sacrifice by Rudolf Spielmann

I have now completed a video series covering all 37 games in this book, totaling almost 9 hours. I made the first 14 videos in December 2008, while still officially a Class "B" player. The quality is up and down, but I would single out 19, 24, and 12 as a few of the better ones. A few that are not so good are 4, 18, and 27.

As a training idea, I can recommend going over the raw game score without annotations and without an engine. Try to figure out the game for yourself-- especially try to see where the loser could have (1) avoided problems in the first place and (2) defused Spielmann's initiative. After you have reached your own conclusions, you can consult the video (or the book or an engine) to compare your conclusions. Biography by Wikipedia[2]

Sham Sacrifices

Positional Sacrifice: leads to forced recovery of the sacrificed material with an improvement in position.

Game 1 8:44 Spielmann - Pirc, 1931

Game 2 10:10 Spielmann - Schlecter, 1906

Game 3 13:11 Pirc - Spielmann, 1931

Sacrifice for Gain: leads to an advantage in material, the sacrificed material being regained by force and with interest.

Game 4 12:31 Bogolyubov - Spielmann, 1927

Game 5 10:58 Spielmann - Muller, 1933

Mating Sacrifice: leads to checkmate or to a decisive gain of material.

Game 6 21:16 Spielmann - Honlinger, 1929

Game 7 12:19 Spielmann - Tartakower, 1925

Game 8 11:22 Spielmann - Grunfeld, 1929