oops, I have his king at d2.

My bad.

Hope you got Arena up and running, Rick. Lance also uses it since some days, he probably could help you if you still have problems.

I purchased chessmaster 9000 for $9.95.

It is a good learning tool, and has a great kids section for my grandkids.

It will do nicely. :)

This is always the point in the game where I struggle and often manage to blunder away my advantages. I think I just am not able to see ahead quite far enough.

Very nice, but try here without the running engine calculating your moves. This match is not so much about winning and playing, but education. It makes little sense if you guys just follow what the machine is telling you.

eventually we could have a new thread with an engine match.

A computer match does not interest me. I do not see the point of it.
My board is set up as human vs human and will stay that way for this game. My errors will surely convince you. :ping:

the point is the same as in watching two superior players play, or study a match from a book: learning from it. If you are advanced a player, it also has iots pleasure to compare different styles of two engines, and analysing parallel to them and the evaluation they give.

Is chessmaster an GUI that aloows other engines to run under it as well than just Chessmaster, or is it just that one egnine and GUI that cannot load other engines?

I do not think it can use other engines but I am not sure. I got it last night (download) and am not very familiar with it yet.

Sky, does your program let you have the board coordinates on? They help me, and I think Lance would benefit.

Did we lose Lance's team? No one has commented lately.

....the board with coordinates but I prefer your board with the highlighted squares.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...chessboard.jpg

Roger.

I'm still here. It takes me a while to plan these things out, especially with drill instructor sky looking over my shoulder:D

I'm considering nf6-h5 at the moment.....

OK, why?

His queen can capture your pawn at E5 and from there it attacks that knight.
I think that is a wasted move and gets you away from the center.


Make a move on your board, then look very hard at it from his side, to see if he has a good counter to it.

Yeah I know, I was working out all the variations of an exchange to see if black could come out on top. It doesn't look too good.

I keep coming back to d5xe4 as well, but I don't think the time is right for that.

Maybe Qd8-d5? I don't know, what do you think?

edit- oops I mean d6.

nf6-h5 and I am guaranteed to get one knight .

Qd8-d6 ? Lets look at that. Are you liking that move to protect the pawn at e5 that his queen stares at? It might have some merit.
Looking at it though, it completely boxes in your Bishop at e7, weakening it. He has a response of f2-f4 adding an attacking piece so the e5 pawn is still vulnerable.

My thinking is time here is important because white can catch up if we don't grab the initiative.

My vote is 7......./d5xe4
White can respond in many ways.
if
8. Nc3xe4 then Nf6xe4 9. Qxe5 OR g7. If Qxg7 then Rh8-g8. Black's pawns are fragmented but Rook is strong there especially after castelling queenside.
8 f2-f3 then 9. e4xd3 Bxd3
8 Qg3xe5 then 9. e4xd3 Bxd3

Sky, I told you this is where I struggle. lol.
I still like black after any of those.

Nonsens, your position is superior. You can still castle. You have the centre. the White king i vulnerable, and he can't castle. He lack sin developement, while oyu are ahead. You probably win material.

Stop that instinct feeling thing, you still do not have instincts in chess. Calculate it as good as you can, and trust in the results.

Look at g7. That move of yours is a loser.

I again point your attention towards oyur Queen on d8 and his king on d1. The queen already has the king in check, if only the pieces on the d line would not block the firing line. If you could manage to remove those pawns on d5 and d3, only the knight on d4 is left. If that knight moves, he exposes his king to your queen, which is "covered check" ("Abzugsschach", somebody correct me if I use the wrong English term, I am not familiar with the English chess vocabulary). So, if that knight moves into a position from where he could reach an important square or in the next move can take a piece of higher value, while he needs to move his king and cannot react to that threat set up by the knoight, it brings you advantage.

Keep this motive in mind, you'll meet it often in chess. In this case it may not be your strategy, the long vision and great plan that is, but it is a tactical motive that you should focus on for the imminent future, and try to exploit.


Question to Rick,

f3 is a strong and unexpected move for somebody describing himself a beginner. You sure you described yourself correctly? What are your experiences, and chess background? I just wnt to know with whom I am dealing in here. Letum is sort of an unknown to me, and so are you. just want to avoid mentioning stuff that people already know.

Hi people!

I feel a bit the same as Rick after looking at some of the variations you give. It sure looks like black is better, but white isn't really under that hard pressure any more. Of course the King is still in the center, but how should black exploit this in the best way? Letum is just waiting to get the chance to take a swing back at black :cool:

One idea for black is to keep going after the queen. After all it's a theme of this game :D. My idea for black is 7. Nf6 - g4... (which threatens to be followed by Bh4) This move keeps up the pressure on the queen. Blocks the potential threat at g7, and at the same time guards the pawn at e5. And Black can still go for the d5xe4 after this manouvre. Black can soon castle kingside and put more fuel on the fire, perhaps with pawn to f5 in one or two moves, with a rook gunning down the f-file.

This way promises good tactical chances for black, and hairy calculations for both sides. :hmm: Thoughts about this approach?