CHESS: Letum vs UnderseaLcpl

[Letum]

Shall we start the first game with your move?
http://www.logicmazes.com/games/grid.gif

[UnderseaLcpl]

I accept your challenge!:D Don't thrash me too bad.

e2-e4

[Skybird]

Good luck to both of you, gentlemen. Don't forget that only your honour, your life, the fate of your family and the order of the universe is at stake, so don't feel like being put under pressure.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/7827/image1fy0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Letum]

d2-d3

[Skybird]

Guys, 1. e2-e4/d2-d3 is no move compatible with rules.

did you mean 1.../d7-d6, Letum?

[UnderseaLcpl]

:rotfl: We're playing as a team!

[Letum]

Guys, 1. e2-e4/d2-d3 is no move compatible with rules.

did you mean 1.../d7-d6, Letum?


Hmm, I always flip my board round.

Very well; E7-E6 (the same move translated)

[UnderseaLcpl]

ng1-h3

[Letum]

G8-F6

[UnderseaLcpl]

b f1-c4


I have a bad feeling about this......

[Skybird]

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4971/pos7mr5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[UnderseaLcpl]

Thanks sky!

[Letum]

F6-E4

Does no one use KB3-K5 move denotations anymore? :hmm:

[UnderseaLcpl]

You can have that pawn. He was a discipline problem anyway.:D

f2-f4
Does no one use KB3-K5 move denotations anymore?
I don't know. I just play casually. I guess the algebraic notation is shorter.
I'm disturbed that you are using the same defense people who beat me have. This does not bode well for me.
I really need to learn more of the textbook openings.

So, Letum, how did you come to know the game?

[Letum]

D8-H4
Check


So, Letum, how did you come to know the game?
My Farther taught me and beat me ruthlessly until the age of 12 after which the
tables turned. I played a little in secondary school until the age of 16, but did not
do well as I had picked up too many bad habits due to the lack of variety of
opponents I previously had. Since the age of 16 I have hardly played at all.
I know nothing at all of opening or other set moves or strategies, other than those
I have found out my self; often the hard way.

Yourself?

[UnderseaLcpl]

e1-e2

Forcing my king out I see. My offensive strategy seems to have backfired.

I learned almost the exact same way you did, but it would appear that my father was less talented than yours. Also, you ruined my castling. Most opponents that I play are not so aggressive. Shame on me for being so bold.

[Letum]

D7-D5

[Skybird]

after 5.../d7-d5

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/2553/pos7ca9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[UnderseaLcpl]

d1-e1


Sorry for the delay. Work.

[Skybird]

d1-e1


Sorry for the delay. Work.
Correspondence chess:
most national associations give 30 days for 10 moves for regular league matches - mail travelling time not included.

I was remembering wrong where two days ago I wrote 30 or 40 moves in 30 days. It's almost 20 years ago for me :)

[Letum]

H4-G4
Check

Don't worry about any delay in replying. It's all good.

[UnderseaLcpl]

f2-e3

The beginning of the end came a bit sooner than I had hoped.

[Letum]

f2-e3

The beginning of the end came a bit sooner than I had hoped.


....According to my board you don't have anything on F2....?

[UnderseaLcpl]

Sorry, e2-d3.
I guess I don't know my alphabet.

[Letum]

D5-C4
Check

[UnderseaLcpl]

d3-e3

[Letum]

F8-C5
Check

[UnderseaLcpl]

d2-d4

Man I'm on the ropes now:dead:

[Letum]

C4-D3 (e.p.)
Check

[UnderseaLcpl]

uh-oh.

I think my board may be messed up.:damn: I'm showing your pawn at c4 and my king at e3 and nothing at d3.

This is what I get for playing two games at once I guess. I must have switched a move somewhere.

[Letum]

uh-oh.

I think my board may be messed up.:damn: I'm showing your pawn at c4 and my king at e3 and nothing at d3.

This is what I get for playing two games at once I guess. I must have switched a move somewhere.


That's right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_passant

[UnderseaLcpl]

Oh crap! Look at me, playing chess when I don't know all the rules:88)

e3-e4

Looks like I don't have a choice.

[Skybird]

http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/5505/image3od6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Letum]

Cheers Sky

G4-G2
Check

[UnderseaLcpl]

e4-f3?

[UnderseaLcpl]

I'm off to bed for now. and then work.

Tommorrow is my day off. I'll try to undo whatever it is I did the past couple moves then. Goodnight.

[Skybird]

e4-f3?

Illegal move, Lance. ;) There is a hostile lady dancing at Golf-two.

Edit:
we spoke about chess in one or two of our mails. If you are interested, we could include in future mail exchanges some talk about the basics of chess. As you already said yourself back then, there is some room for improvement, if you please do not take that remark offensively. Or Letum does while you two do an after-action-report. :) ;)

[UnderseaLcpl]

ah... e4-d3.

one should not play chess when tired.
I guess my knight is going to die next.


Thanks for the offer sky, I'd like that. And any tips from Letum after the game.

[Letum]

ah... e4-d3.

one should not play chess when tired.
I guess my knight is going to die next.


Thanks for the offer sky, I'd like that. And any tips from Letum after the game.

Yup, afraid so.
Queen to H3

*edit*
And Check ;)

[UnderseaLcpl]

I don't know if I can save myself from inevitable defeat, but let's give it a few more rounds. If you would care for a rematch, I'd gladly accept one. Now that Arena is working properly I can play both matches on seperate boards.
I have no doubt that you will defeat me, but perhaps not so badly next time.

Please allow me a few hours for sleep before I make my next move. :D

[Letum]

I am quite happy to play on if you like, although I can't really see a come back for you.
If you wish to resign we can swap the board round and play our second round.

[Skybird]

Letum,

i hope you do not mind if I "coach" him a little bit. I will not tell him moves, however, just grab his head and turn it to the sides a bit, and make him look around. I think it is obvious that you and him are apart by a huge margin. Lance and me talked about chess before in emails, you know. Feel free to contribute to what I write in the following.



Lance,

accept Letum's suggestion to resign. You will learn nothing from playing on that one. You just kill time - yours, and his. Get a new match started, and you playing White again. And then I make you look at things that so far you do not even pay any attention to at all. You admitted yourself that you consider yourself a beginner in chess, and having monitored your matches, I see that that is true. You will not feel offended, please, if I give you some general tips that aim at serving as a quick first aid to maybe your next match with Letum (and/or Fatty). Much of course must remain unsaid in just one or two short posts. Usually I would start at the end and begin with endgames, since here you learn the basics of the pieces, and learn to calculate precisely, deal with limited material only, and opening being somewhat distracting due to the intimidating variety of possibly moves – but your next match starts with the opening nevertheless, so it cannot be helped.

So, some basic tips. There are exceptions to each of them, but a beginner should not be too concerned with the exceptions to the rules, but stay with them, when possible.

1. In the opening, move each of your pieces only once, if possible. Do not use one and the same figure to start crisscrossing the board. Avoid openings doing that as a beginner. In the opening, and later, try to make moves that pose a direct or indirect threat to the opponent. If he is busy needing to react to you, he cannot claim the initiative.

2. consider that a bishop or a knight close to the sides of the board controls fewer squares than if positioned in the centre. Corners are worst. Centre fields tend to be of primary importance very often.

3. Open with the king’s pawn e2-e4. In principle, it is the most logical first move possible, d4 already is inferior as long as you cannot handle the hidden intricacies behidn that different set of strategies. So be logical, and stick with e4. Keep away from the other systems. You need experience with the basics first, before trying the exotic stuff.

4. Chess has three dimensions: material, space and time. Each quality can be traded for and transformed into one of the others – but that is an art that is part of the experience that separates good players from not so good ones. Nevertheless even as a beginner you should spend some focus on keeping them in mind all the time, but as a starter you stick to keeping your material together: do not tend to waste material for gaining a vague image of winning “room”. This will become important to master – but later on. Avoid openings that play gambits: that is sacrificing a pawn for winning an advantage in time and winning space. It looks chic and makes the audience go "wowh", but that noise is worth nothign for you if you do not know why you sacrifice that pawn.

5. Move only one, at best two pawns in the opening.

6. Develop the knight before the bishop. Develop the Queen last, by tendency develop all light pieces (bishops and knight) before the heavy pieces (Rook and queen). Develop the king’s side first, Queen’s side second. Always try to keep at least one pawn in the centre (d4, e4, d5, e5).

7. Castle early on, preferably to the king’s side, it moves the king further away from the centre line.

8. check carefully this “ideal” textbook opening and see how the principles outlined until here result in both fast development, and gaining covering space in the smallest amount of time possible: (white moves only): e2-e4, Ng1-f3, Bf1-b5, O-O, d2-d4, Nb1-c3, Rf1-e1. In principle, this is the Ruy Lopez opening, and there is a reason why it is the oldest known chess opening, and maybe the best analysed. If you play it like this, Letum probably will know ways to deal with it, so you maybe will have to accept changes. However, the idea behind the sequence, behind each move is that should give you an idea of how to play chess instead of just moving pieces around.

9. Make sure your pieces do not stand around uncovered. Like an army in real life sees it’s different units and branches interacting (“combined arms”), the pieces should provide mutual cover, and support not many different attacks, but one major plan.

10. Do not waste moves.

11. Isolated pawns are weak. Doubled pawns on one line are weak. Weakest are isolated doubled pawns. the one blocks the other, and none of them can support the other.

12. Try to gain and keep control of open lines and diagonals. On open lines, consider doubling your rooks.

13. Watch out for “pins”, that is a figure cannot move without exposing an even more valuable fig-ure or the king behind it to a threat (in case of the king it is forbidden: such pins can be costly, even lethal). Guard yourself against enemy pins, try to fight the enemy by using pins on him.

14. Watch out for “forks”, that is a pawn or figure moves and then is able to attack several enemy pieces at the same time. A pawn advancing and then threatening both a rook and a knight in his new position, is a pain. A knight moving in and greeting your king with a check while threaten-ing you queen or rook at the same time, is real drama.

15. Watch out for “skewers”, that is like a fork, but with the threatened figures standing in line: the one cannot move away without exposing the other. Obviously, pawns cannot do that.

16. Watch out for discovered attacks: his one pieces moves away and poses a thread somewhere else or not – but behind it, another piece is suddenly posing a threat that before was hidden.

17. Always calculate precisely how many attacking pieces and how many defending pieces focus on a disputed square. Try to overload the opponent’s defence of one field, avoid facing getting overloaded yourself.

18. When it is your turn, always ask yourself: “What threats are there?” Check each of his pieces, and where they can move, and can strike. And when I say “each”, I mean “each”. It’s like a pilot checking all his main instruments once every 30 seconds.

19. A pawn is like 1 point in value, a knight is like 3 points, a bishop is like 3.3 points, a rook is like 5 points, a queen is like 9 points. However, the value of rook and bishop may decrease if the position is closed and lines are blocked – in this case, knights often become a bit more valuable.

20. If you have passed pawns, design your plan to push them. If you have combined passed pawns that can support each other, they potentially can become a force – turn brutal in pushing them (but not easyminded!).

21. You wrote in your last mail you believe in the principle of leading from the front. Well, that is the military world, but it is not you and not in chess! Keep your king well-hidden and protected, away from the centre and away from open centre lines. Do not open “breathing holes” and “escape hatches” (h2-h3, h7-h6) until you have to, it weaknes the pwan structure eventually, and makes you losing one move. Once the figure pieces are gone and you are in endgame with pawns only, however it all changes – then the king becomes a warrior and should lead the fight – move him out fast and early, move him to the centre, he is the most powerful around, then. Let him lead the attack, use him to block the enemy king.



Well, a lot remains unsaid necessarily, and of course these rules all know exceptions. Also many more “golden rules” there are, but you cannot learn them all in just one rush. If you play again with Letum, maybe he agrees that you explain the intention behind every move you make, and then we, or you and him, give your ideas a thought or two, and then you decide whether you stick with that move, or make another one which then will be binding. I think this makes more sense for you than just playing uncommented and just wondering what is going wrong, but getting no answer.

And if you do not wish to do so, just say it and I fall silent immediately.

Edit: If Letum does not wish to do so, we can have a separate thread and then it is just you and me then. Maybe there are other beginners as well who might be interested to join in.

[kranz]

omg, man-you could become a chess teacher. I played for some time(about 4 years)in a chess club in my city and the only thing that the "lady-teacher" done was giving us the boards, pieces and clocks.

[kurtz]

And if you do not wish to do so, just say it and I fall silent immediately.

Edit: If Letum does not wish to do so, we can have a separate thread and then it is just you and me then. Maybe there are other beginners as well who might be interested to join in.

There are indeed other beginners who would be interested, I for one!

[Skybird]

omg, man-you could become a chess teacher. I played for some time(about 4 years)in a chess club in my city and the only thing that the "lady-teacher" done was giving us the boards, pieces and clocks.
Actually, 20 years ago I was co-trainer for the youth team in my chess club back then. :D

[Skybird]

And if you do not wish to do so, just say it and I fall silent immediately.

Edit: If Letum does not wish to do so, we can have a separate thread and then it is just you and me then. Maybe there are other beginners as well who might be interested to join in.

There are indeed other beginners who would be interested, I for one!
The beginners also could form a team and have a public debate about their next move.

[Letum]

I am quite happy for any kind of discussion here :).

I allways find it key to take the initiative.
When you grab someone by the balls and don't let go, he moves where ever you want him to. ;)

[kranz]

omg, man-you could become a chess teacher. I played for some time(about 4 years)in a chess club in my city and the only thing that the "lady-teacher" done was giving us the boards, pieces and clocks.
Actually, 20 years ago I was co-trainer for the youth team in my chess club back then. :D

I wanted to challenge you but now...


The beginners also could form a team and have a public debate about their next move.

very nice idea

[UnderseaLcpl]

Vey well, I resign.

I hope the next match will be more of a challenge for you, Letum. Now that I have a seperate board to map moves on, and with sky's tips, I feel I can put up a better fight.

@Kurtz-please do join us. You certainly can't get trounced any worse than I did here. You may have to wait a bit, but just toss your hat in the ring on sky's "chess Again, Anyone?" thread.

[Letum]

OK.
I'm White now.

E2-E4

[UnderseaLcpl]

Ng8xf6, to threaten the pawn and because I was going move my knight there at some point anyway.

[Skybird]

Well, I fire up another chess thread now. Letum maybe wants to be the opponent again, if I got you correct? I recommend that those players considerign themselves to be beginners jpoin in a team there, and discuss their move suggestions - and the reason why they think of that move. It would be nice if Letum waits with his move, until a consensus is there. I will jump in and comment on any erratic thoughts. I will not suggest moves, though, only make you guys start asking the right questions.

It is an experiment, of course. Let'S see how it works out. In best case, we get a lot of communication and hoepefully a very vivid thread.

Is there enough interest to have a second chess thread where tactics and rules and principles get introduced in one essay per item? Anybody knowing his stuff could volunteer to write a posting about his favourite thing. A given opening for example. The tactical use of Zugzwang/compulsory moves. Berger's square.

[Skybird]

It seems we have a thread shism now?!

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=939696#post939696

[UnderseaLcpl]

Letum's choice as to which match to pursue. In your thread he'd have to be black again. Should he choose this, it would seem that one never does go back:rotfl:

[Skybird]

This all is an experiment. We need to line out the basics of functioning. And please, guys, NUMBER your moves for easier reference!

Question to Lance: why not 1.../e7-e5? what advantage would that have? (three possible answers)

[Letum]

OK, I'm lost....what am I doing now?

[UnderseaLcpl]

The advantages would be that I could have more freedom to devlop my strategy with my queen and bishop, I would block the forward progress of his pawn, and I would establish a presence in the center of the board.

However, I made the move I did so as to force him to either support his pawn or move it again, either one of which might restrict the development of his strategy. If he ignores the threat, he loses the pawn and I may be able to fork his queen and kingside rook once I support an attack on f2 with my bishop or queen in my 3rd move.

Wise or naive?

[Skybird]

I copy it to the new thread and answer there, Lance.

To all, please no more answers in this thread. Use the new one exclusively:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=141699