Weekly Progress Reports #82-83

I did 4 hours two weeks ago – mostly a league match which I and the team managed to win, thereby saving us from relegation.  Last week I did almost no chess – just 20 minutes or so of online blitz – as my (60 page) 4th-year project report was due in on Friday.  My league game is below – a 6. Be2 Najdorf/Scheveningen encounter with a young player from the club who is improving very rapidly, and is certainly worth much more than his current grade of 95 (=1410 ELO).  I got a good-looking attack, but for a long time it looked like his tenacious defense would show it to be just bombast and bravado.  Fortunately for me he eventually erred.

8 thoughts on “Weekly Progress Reports #82-83

  1. I read what I considered to be a good piece of chess advice last week. Here is what it was: If you are less than an International Master, for every game of chess you play, do your best to create a “good quality chess game” from your part; concentrate more on creating “good quality” chess, rather than on the result and you most likely will achieve both “good quality” and better results. I know that concentrating solely on the chess RESULT often breeds anxiety, overpressing and poor results.

    1. As Steven has already said – sounds like good advice! Anxiety and overpressing are certainly problems I suffer from sometimes.

    1. I certainly followed it. Whether I learnt anything I’m not sure – I was flicking constantly between the chess and revision, which probably wasn’t much good for either.

  2. Dear internet users…

    Please don’t present famous chess games as your own for analysis and or discussion. Thank you

    ps. Just getting the word out. No accusation regarding this site is implied.

  3. Nice game. According to Stockfish, black is even before 32. … Qd7 and loses to 33. Bh6. 32. … Ra7 would have maintained parity. After Bh6, Stockfish recommended 33. … Qg4+ but black has no more good moves, if White can calculate the right continuation.

    33. … Bxd4+ [13.56]
    34. Qxd4 [Stockfish sees a little more now, or I gave it more time… the score grows from a win to meaninglessly high 83.8… but no mate yet.]
    34. … Qe7 (Stockfish found this too, good job, Black)
    35. Qf4?? [7.79 Stockfish: Qg4] White has converted a crush into a ‘won’ game. This is a great example of how working with a program can help. Stockfish says: 35. Qg4 Kh8 36. Re3 Qc7 37. Qe6 with a score of 86! I’m a USCF “B” player, so I am on par with the blog’s author and I didn’t immediately see this. After a few minutes, however, since I know the tactic is there, I can see it. It’s going to be something like 36. Qe6+ Qxe6 37. dxe6, and pushing the pawn into Black’s gullet will cause fun on f8. Now, I’ll make a silly move for black so we can see it unfold… 35. Qg4 a5??. Stockfish replies, 35. Qe6+ Qxe6 37. dxe6 Rc8 38. e7> with Black’s remaining moves being computer-silly, to put off mate for as long as possible.
    35. … Re8 [a good move that keeps Black alive. The position evaluates to 5.13 now]
    36. Kg2 [8.6; recommended Qf6. But even with this ‘inaccuracy’, White’s attack is too strong]
    36 … Qe2+ 37. Rf2 Qe7 [as per Stockfish, good job guys. The score is now 10.4]
    38. Bf5? [and the score plummets to 4.5. Stockfish wanted Qg4 again. Apparently, we both underestimate the strength of the e6 square. I have heard that a ‘won’ game is the hardest to win!]
    38. … Qd7 [This holds, but Stockfish wanted the Qs off the board with Qe4+]
    39. h3 [great move, IMO!]
    39. … Qb7? [h5. Now with the Q not defending the K the score leaps up to 13+.]
    40. Qf3? [Why are you defending? Qxd6 hits f8 and protects d6. score is 4.6]
    40. … Qd7 [8.4. Qg7 was suggested]
    41. Bh6 [5.1. Stockfish preferred Qf6. I think this move gets back to the basics of the position, however, so I liked it.]
    41. … Qe7 [15+. Stockfish wants the Qs off the board with Qf5.]
    42. Qf6 [4.8. Stockfish wants Qg4. The fundamentals of the position have not changed! Now Stockfish thinks the queens will come off, and this finishes White’s attack.]
    42. … Qe4+?? [70+. Ouch. The problem is that after the check there’s nothing left.]
    43. Kh2 [70+. Kg3, I also chose Kh2.]
    43. … Qe5+ [OMG now what, lol. The light comes on!]
    44. Qxe5 dxe5 45. d6 Rd8 [all as per Stockfish, nice job again, guys]
    46. Rf6 [why? The black rook must defend again Rf8++. d7 was preferred, with the game getting to a conclusion quickly with 46. d7 (whatev) 47. Rf8+ Rxf8 48. Bxf8 Kxf8 49. d8=Q+ and surely he’ll resign.]

    The computer is brutal, lol. I thought it was a nice game.

    I run my games through the computer so it can find things I missed. Then I can try to figure out why I missed good moves. Do this with a good program on a hard setting to ensure there’s no real possibility you’ll outplay the computer.

    1. Hi Tony,

      Thanks for your comments. We were both fairly short of time for a lot of this, as the time control (just 15 minutes more) is at move 28 in our league. Regardless of that, I could certainly have hoped to play the end phase a bit more incisively.

      Will

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