What is your plan if White takes the pawn? What's your plan if he does not? What other moves could he do instead of taking d5? No vague reference to strategy, but move calculations, please.

Hint: d5 is a very good move. But why? Prove it with variations. why do you rate d5 as better than for example Nf6 whcih according to rule #6 seems to be recommendable: it deveklopoes a figure, brings you onem move closer to casteling, threatens his queen and force him to move it AGAIN, projects influence into the centre and covers the field e4 and d5.

I will not object if oyu move d5, it is an even better move. but I insist that you have at least an idea, WHY it is such a good move. So, gentlemen, your calculations, please. 2 full moves ahead, please, that is four half moves: two per side.

omg! ok, some pieces of advice. I see that you are obsessed by the Queen. I know-she is the most "powerful" BUT NOT in this part of game. She is blocked and moving pieces only to make here free is a blunder. Good that you see a potential white bishop move which can be dangerous especially giving support for Qh5. Is there any way of reducing this threat in general? Making the move I think of would be against some other rules but it also depends on Letum's move. We probably won't avoid disrupting our pawns structure on that flank-that is normal for the opening made by Letum but you cannot force your opponent to make/not make desired move. If you have any software(Fritz for sure) it would show you that black can take big advantage of white 2nd move so USE IT!

do not use a calculating chess engine, here, Lance. Calculate yourself, else you just copy what the machine is saying - but you do not learn how to calculate yourself. But being able to calculate precisely some moves in advance is bread and butter of chess. Without it you can forget strategy and tactics and openings and theory and all and everything. Nothing replaces precise calculation. It is the very basis - that is why correspondence chess and using several boards, books, notes etc is such a great thing - no better way to learn in chess. Really! Correspondence chess is no second class chess - it is the superior form of chess.

Take your time. If this last three month, at the end of those three months you are still three months older, no matter if you played this match, or not. ;) You miss nothing by playing this.

Actually....on reflection I think the D5 move is better than the move Sky wants to
make (if I guessed it correctly). If it is followed by Sky's move.

*edit* I take that back...it's not "Better" but it might be at least as good.

white e4xd5, black qd8xd5, white qh5xf3, black bc8xd6(black gains control of center)

white qh5xh3, black d5xe4, white d3xe4 or h3xe4, bf8xc5 or qd8xf6 (white queen gives ground)

white c2xc4, black d5-c4, white d3xc4, black ng8xf6, white qh5xf3, e2, or d1, black bc8xg4 (white queen boxed in)


white ???, black's brain explodes from trying to analyze in-depth.:D


How's that?

4. ed5:/Sf6 And the white queen must evade, for example 5.Qg5/h6 6.Qg3/Sd5: Note how White keeps running around with his queen while black developes figures, gains dominance of the centre, and approaches castling!

No...!!! if Qh3, then Bxh3...! Watch out bishop c8. always look at the WHOLE board, not just the focus of the most immediate action! cycle through all his pieces and check every single field they can move!

Nice, however, Black needs not to exchange his centre pawn against a wing pawn, so he would move 4 .../de4: 5. de4:/Nf6, White queen must evade, and then Nf6, Bc5, O-O and Bg4 - Black is deployed, white position lags behind by half a century! It becomes apparent now why 2. Qh5 was a very bad move, yes? It exposed the queen too early, where it could not pose a threat, only could promenade, which cost him time without gaining nothing, and made her a target. i am sure Letum played it for educating purposes. While he still needs to develope, you can start to improve your position, form a plan, bring your opieces into striking positions, and hinder his develoepment eventually. You have a time advantage now, that by claiming the initiative for yourself you can try to translate into a space advantage. While he probably needs to trade space for time (to develope, you can figure out how to translate space advantage into a king-attack, or a material advantage.

Better than just "instincts". Carry on. Practice leads to routine, routine leads to mastery.

Ok, so d7-d5. Official move.
Still want to take it with your e4 Letum?

I am using an engine. Skybird1.0 :D

And pretty, too.:p

In all seriousness, I am glad to have everyone's input on this. I know that I focus on the queen too much now, and that I must take more time to consider my moves and plan ahead.

Who knows? I may become a decent player yet!

to go slightly ot, now i'm rehooked on it, anyone wanna play this nub in a new thread/game??

I'm sure skybird will, but if he doesn't, I'll play you.
Just be prepared for my inevitable fudge-ups from trying to play 3 games at once. I can barely manage 2.

"...become a decent player yet, SIR!" :lol: I'm your new drill instructor!

Well, we are working on it, aren't we.


after 3.../d7-d5

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/4595/pos3ez4.jpg

Colour code:

A red square means that the piece is under attack and not sufficiently defended, or that it is being attacked by a piece of lesser value. This is usually a pretty serious danger signal and means you must take active measures to avoid losing a piece.

Yellow means that the piece is under attack, but it is just sufficiently defended. You must be careful about removing any defending piece.

Green means the piece has enemy contact but is well defended. Usually it is okay to remove a defending piece.

Baggy, why don't you send Fatty a mail, it is possible he would accept.
You are also free to join in this thread on any side.

Hi Baggy, I will play if you are still interested. If so, go ahead and start a thread and make your move.

B1-C3

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/5660/pos10qi5.jpg

OK, Black - what are White's possible moves? what threats there are? what threats can you eventually set up yourself? what were your considerations from your last ove? Are they still valid, or do they need to be altered? How to combine immediarte needs with longterm goals? Your pruority must be to seal any holes, and continue to develope your pieces while not letting your time advantage slipping away - if possible.

ng8-f6, pending

reasons,

black ng8-f6, if white Qh5-f3, black bc8-g4 or

white qh5-e2, black nc6-e2, or


or white qh5-d1, black d5-e4, white d3-e4, black nc6-d4

Thoughts?