Your questions answered by Natalia Pogonina-19

Written by Administrator

Friday, 10 September 2010

The rules are simple - send us your questions and see them featured in the weekly Q&A column!

Q1: My rating is between 1700 and 2000, but I still keep missing obvious moves, even in correspondence. Have you encountered this problem, any treatment suggestions?
A1: Apart from lack of concentration and careless play, people often miss "obvious" moves for two reasons: tactical blindness and lack of positional understanding. In the first case even masters sometimes overlook tactical shots (this can be mitigated by adopting a prophylactic approach and solving more tactics, especially the ones that require rigorous calculation as opposed to flashy sacrifices). In the second case it seems to you that your opponent is moving randomly, and then you somehow lose. This is a sign of being outclassed, i.e. not understanding the plan behind your opponent's moves. To avoid that, you should improve your chess in general.

Q2: Can Anish Giri become a top-3 player?
A2: I generally don't like it when some people start acting like arrogant prophets and claim that "this guy will be a World Champ, while this doesn't have the talent". It depends on Anish himself and his competitors. As far as my opinion is concerned, he does have the potential.

Q3: Will Carlsen beat Kasparov's rating record?
A3: Probably. Only 26 points separate him from doing so. However, 2851 now and 2851 ten years ago are two different things. Now there are three 2800+ players and two very close to this border, so if you score a small plus against the world top-5, you will be at about 2850. Ten years ago there was only one player above 2800 - Kasparov (rated nearly 100 points above world's number 5), so he had to crush the opposition to sustain the rating. Therefore, the interesting question is whether Magnus can get to 2900 in the next few years - now that would be an achievement!

Q4: What are the good and bad gambits for people rated under 2000?
A4: People under 2000 have a lot to learn about chess, and that should be done by playing classical systems, not relying on outsmarting the opponent by playing a rare gambit. So, if you wish to improve, you had better either abandon gambits completely, or play only the most reliable ones (e.g. Queen's gambit, the Benko, Marshall gambit, etc.). There are dozens of them, but you can easily google the info on any opening and find out whether it's considered to be sound or not. Don't play for traps! On the other hand, if you have no intention to improve your game or results, you can play anything you like, even if it leaves you in a lost position after 10 moves.