Starting from today, I will dedicate my next three columns to studying the opening, middlegame and endgame and provide you with tips on how to work on all the three stages. Let’s start with the opening.
The opening defines the course of the game. There are lots of opening lines, so the first problem each player faces is “which ones should I choose”?
Opening choice
1. Let’s consider two options: a) for beginners b) for more advanced players
For those who are new to chess: you will need an opening book or, more modern and convenient, a chess database. I am using both Chess Assistant and ChessBase (they are the best ones available). Chess.com also has its own online database which could prove to be quite helpful.
You had better start with one of the main moves, either 1.e4 or 1.d4. Check out the opening tree, review some top players’ games and see what type of positions you like. If you are a complete newcomer, it could prove to be tricky since you won’t be able to tell the difference between them. In this case you might have to resort to your friends’ or coach’s help.
For stronger players: some people are quite proficient in chess, but somehow they never paid attention to their opening, or decided to switch from one system to another. While a novice may not be aware of his style, an experienced player knows it. Choose an opening according to your playing manner. For example, a positional player would be in his element in a Slav Defense, while a tactical player might prefer the King’s Indian.
2. The next step after choosing an opening is reviewing the variations. Study the main lines using a computer opening tree on opening book, then pay attention to the popular deviations. Make notes of your choices (using a pgn file). The key to mastering an opening is knowing the main plans for both sides and main set-ups. You can find those either in books, or by looking at some typical games. It is very useful to pick a role model – a strong master who is loyal to a certain opening and whose games provide insight on how to play it. For example, Alexei Shirov often plays the Ruy Lopez with Bc5, so I have looked through many of his games to improve my understanding of this opening and the main plans.
Create your opening tree which will consist of the main variation and the subvariations. Some people prefer to have a file for each opening (Black against 1.e4, Black against 1.d4, etc.). Others like to keep all the info together (so as not to lose anything or have trouble searching for it). As long as your trees are small enough, one file is probably the best option.
3. After studying the main lines and learning the plans you have to memorize the ideas and play some training games. Of course, you may skip this part and head straight to a tournament. However, playing some training games beforehand will help you get a touch of the opening and avoid losing in a silly way (thus saving your rating and self-esteem). You may either challenge an anonymous player over the Internet, or train with a sparring partner (e.g. a friend of similar strength). The former option is better since it allows you to agree in advance what you will be working on. A player on the Internet won’t be aware of your plans and may play something totally different. Playing otb is much better than online since it imitates the conditions you will be facing at a real tournament. Time control – standard or 1 hour per game. In the Internet forget about bullet or blitz, instead play some rapid games (15-25 min per game). 1 hour per game online is dull, bad for one’s eyes and also increases the risk of confronting a cheater (who will spoil all your pleasure). Btw, that’s another reason for playing “live”.
These 3 stages are pretty much all for the prevailing majority of chess players, but pros will need to go over 2 more.
4. Your proprietary analysis of the opening, searching for new plans and novelties
Chess has a myriad of variations, so even the extensive modern theory has spots where one can come up with something new. Nowadays chess engines offer a chance to players of any strength to find something worthy. Analyze your opening, widen and deepen the opening tree, watch out for interesting continuations. This will take your opening preparation to a new level and improve tournament results. Having a strong human partner next to you during the process can also be useful since chess engines are sometimes suggesting very inhuman lines, while a man can spot something completely different and promising.
5. Studying a back-up opening
To make opening preparation tougher for your opponents and to have some other line to fall back upon (when your main one needs to be fixed, when you need to play for a draw/win, choose something your opponent doesn’t like, etc.), you could study a back-up opening. Of course, this comes after becoming proficient in the first one, otherwise you will simply have two half-baked openings. A reminder: these final two stages are for master-level players. Others will benefit more from becoming well-rounded in chess and learning key middlegame and endgame principles.
Let’s take a look at another game of mine from the Mullhouse-2010 GM event and pay special attention to the opening:
My play in the opening was a critical ingredient in my overall success. Having prepared a new variation and found a new way of treating 15.Qd3, I managed to lure my opponent into a position which he wasn’t familiar with. Naturally, under such circumstances he quickly ended up being worse and eventually losing.
Poker legend claims he can get to 2100 in chess in a year
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While many chess players (including grandmasters) love playing poker part-time or even quit chess to try their luck in the card game, there are opposite examples. Allen Cunningham needs no introduction for poker-playing people. He owns 5 WSOP bracelets, has been named player of the year in 2005 and has over $10, 400, 000 in official tournament winnnings (10th largest in history). This year he decided to take a prop bet from another famous poker player - Howard Lederer. The first news was the Allen will try to get from novice to 2100 in a year. Later on the details have been clarified: he will be playing vs Howard in a high stakes chess match. Given that Howard hasn't been competing for over 20 years, and his rating of USCF 1951, his playing strength should be closer to 1700-1800 than 2100. Of course, Howard is not allowed to study or practice chess before the event.
Allen seems to take the challenge seriously (studying up to 6 hours a day) and be more interested in becoming a better player than just beating his opponent. His recent success at US Open says everything: the poker champ won 3 games against Experts and drew an NM along the way! That's incredible, isn't it?
Allen says:
A chess game is 4 hours of intense concentration over the course of 4 hours. Then you do it again after trying to choke down some food. Poker is 1/2 hour of concentration over a span of 10 hours. Of course, I'm much more experienced at poker so most plays are natural as can be and I can find them without breaking a sweat. Even so, I don't find a slow chess game online or live with a friend stressful at all so there is just something about the tournament setting that ups the pressure. I need to convince myself to just have
fun.
You can follow Cunningham's progress, offer advice or view some of Cunningham's games at a special forum thread. Good luck, Allen!
In one of the critical games at the Grenke World Rapid Chess Championship Rustam Kasimdzhanov had a totally winning position against the to-be winner Gata Kamsky. However, due to terrible time trouble he gave most of his advantage away, and then blundered with the odd-looking move Re5?? How did Black win on the spot?
This year's Maintz tournament featured a field of 701 contestants, 156 titled players (including 44 GMs), 11 rounds to determine the winner of the unofficial world rapid chess championship. Gata Kamsky won the event with an amazing 10 out of 11, but a few other super GMs were right on his heels.
Candidate master Peter Zhdanov's column at Pogonina.com
In this episode we will talk about round 4-6 of the IM-norm tournament that I have recently played in. By that time I had to try to recover from a bad start and start playing my game. This didn’t happen, but a lot of instructive positions occurred. Just like before, please take your time to think on the positions first, and only then compare your opinion with the commentary.
FM Dimukhametov (2296) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move
White played a novelty (12.h4) in the popular 7.Bc4 Gruenfeld line. Not having obtained any advantage in the opening, my opponent made an anti-positional move 16.e5?! (see the diagram), switching both of this bishops out of the game. How should Black react?
I played 16…e6 =/+. This is a good move, but even better is 16…f5! With a clear advantage. Now White either has to live with his dumb bishops, or try to open up the position:17.ef ef 18.Qd2 f5 19.Ng3 Nc6-/+- the position is still closed, and Black is clearly ahead.
FM Dimukhametov (2296) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move
White has been offering the h5-pawn for a long time. Black didn’t take it up to this point. Shouldhedoitnow? Whatisthebestcontinuation?
Ifinallytalkedmyselfintoplaying 22…ghconsideringWhite’sthreatstobenotthatgreat, whileIhaveh4-h4, etc. I should have shown more respect for the FM’s plan and opted for 22…Bf8 23.hg hg 24.Nf1 Bf5 25.Bf5 ef 26.Ne3 Nd5 27.Nd5 Rd5 with a symbolic advantage for Black due to the possibility of playing on the queenside (b4, etc.), while White’s attack has come to an end.
FM Dimukhametov (2296) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move
Playing not carefully enough, I ended up in the position pictured above. WhatshouldBlackdohere?
My initial intention was to play the correct move 30…Rg8 which poses some challenges in front of White. Probably, the best reaction is to simplify the position: 31.Qe7 b4 32.Bh6 Qe7 33.fe Bd7 34.d5 f6 35.Kf2 Rc8 46.Ke3 Kg8 37.Kd4 Kf7 with good practical chances to save the game for Black due to opposite-colored bishops.Alas, in the game I started my “counter-attack”by 30…Qc6?, and after the straightforward 31.Qe7 had to admit my mistake, lose a tempo and move to d7 again.
Sychev (2178) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move
White has a standard attacking plan: e5, Kh5, Bh7 and so on with mate. How should Black prevent it?
I played 20…e5. This move has an obvious idea behind it, but preferable was the flexible 20…Ne8 21.e5 b4 22.cb Rd4 23.Ne2 Rd5 24.Bb3 Qe5 25.Bc4= The shortcoming of e5 is that after 21.d5! the black bishop on b7 is passive, and Black has to watch after the d-pawn. However, my opponent delighted me by choosing 21.de?
Sychev (2178) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move
Of course, the a-pawn will fall, but Black’s pieces are more active and the rook is controlling the d-file. How should Black fight for an advantage?
I made a s-so move 24…Re8?! which leads only to equality. A better try was …Rab8 25.Nd4 Bd7 26.Ba4 (26.f3 offers Black many nice alternatives – Rb6, Rb2, Rb3, Nd5 etc. ) Qe4 27.Qg5 Rb6 28.Bd7 Rd7 29.Rfe1 Qb7 and White has some compensation for the pawn, but it needs to be proved.
Sychev (2178) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move
The key moment of the game. Black felt that the advantage has evaporated, but didn’t find the correct way of handling this position. After a weird move 27…Qc5? and the natural 28.Ba4 Rb8 29.Bb5 ab 30.Ra5 White is clearly ahead. What was the right way to play?
Counter-attacking on the kingside was required: 27…Nh5 28.Ba4 Nf4 29.Bb5 Nd3 30.Qe3 ab. Black now has a great knight and Qg3 threatening Nf4. The position is equal, but White will be at risk since any imprecise move can lead to serious trouble.
Masters often play mediocre moves in the opening against less renowned players thinking that the former will blunder something anyway. That is exactly how this game went. Let’s take a look at some of the critical moments:
Zhdanov (2049) - IM Lavretzkij (2303)
White to move
How should White punish his opponent for playing the extravagant 6…b6?
Without giving it much thought I made a normal developing move: 7.Be3+/=. A way to put pressure on my opponent was 7.N2c3! Bb7 8.Qg4 g6 9.Qg3 Nf7 (pawn-grabbing isn’t what the doctor recommends: 9…Be4 10.Ne4 Qd4 11.Nc3 Nf6 12.Qc7 +/-) 10.Nf6 Bf6 11.Nb5 Na6 12.Bh6+/- and White will castle queenside tithe nice position, while Black has difficulties with the a7-pawn) .
Zhdanov (2049) - IM Lavretzkij (2303)
White to move
The second critical moment. The knight is hanging, what should White do about it?
After my choice - 9.f3= - White doesn’t have any advantage. A much better option was 9.Bb5 Nc6 10.Nf6 Bf6 11.Qf3 Qd7 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.Ne4 a6 14.Nf6 gf 15.Bf1+/= - White has two bishops and less pawn islands. Zhdanov (2049) - IM Lavretzkij (2303)
White to move
What is the evaluation of the position? How should White proceed?
At this point I was quite optimistic and looking forward to playing f4-f5 and slaughtering the Black king. By playing 14.Bh6?! I have clearly shown my intentions and lack of understanding of the position. The attack is bound to fail, while Black has a formidable center and active pieces. I should have played more carefully and tried to weaken Black’s center: 14.dc bc (14…Bc5 15.Qd2 followed by exchanging bishops and equalizing) 15.Qd2 Nc6 16.Rab1 preparing b4. White equalizes only by playing very accurately. On the contrary, in the game I made a few pseudo-active moves, avoided a worse endgame and, as it happens, ended up losing material and the game.
The rules are simple - send us your questions and see them featured in the weekly Q&A column!
Q1: Is it hard to live with a female chess player? What is the toughest part of it?
A1: I have never actually *lived with* a woman. Chess players are very different, it's hard to find something in common. Ok: they probably won't be willing to play chess at home and are likely to beat you (most men don't like it).
Q2: What is you next goal in chess? A2: First of all, to make it as popular as possible. Secondly, if we talk about personal goals, increase my chess level, perform well at the Olympiad and World Women Chess Championship. Finally get those GM norms.
Q3: What does a grandmaster do when she wants a business to sponsor her as a professional chess player?
A3: It depends on the grandmaster, of course. The typical way is to send out business proposals and try to attract sponsors by showing how beneficial the partnership can be. However, this way is not very efficient unless you have connections. People will just regard such letters as spam. So, the best way is probably to become so popular that companies will start contacting you with offers themselves. Q4: Are you planning a tour in South America? Or even just a trip as an anonymous tourist. A4: I don't have any time for non-business related travelling and have a rather busy schedule in general. Nonetheless, I always consider all the invitations and offers I receive.
Q5: Do you support the idea that more female players should also do a good quota of photograph sessions or even modeling to help confirm and show that chess is not a game of only old boring gentlemen sitting at a library and smoking pipes? A5: Absolutely. Of course, it should be done with grace, but photo shoots of beautiful female players definitely contribute to the popularity of the game.
Q6: What's your opinion on the Kasparov vs Deep Blue famous games? A6: There is so much controversy around the match, I just lack the information to comment on it. In my opinion Kasparov should have just played his own game rather than tried anti-computer strategy and dubious openings. At that time the machines were much weaker than nowadays, he had a perfect chance to beat Deep Blue.
Chess players are very different, it's hard to find something in common. Ok: they probably won't be willing to play chess at home and are likely to beat you (most men don't like it).