OT.com Chess Federation©®™(OTCF©®™)(was: How about a game of chess?) — Page 18

Darth_ender, would care to give your analysis of our last game and tell me where I went wrong? 

I'll give a short analysis too, if you don't mind, just because it helps me understand the game better myself.

I think you made a mistake by allowing darth_ender's queen a huge amount of coverage on the board. At turn 3, he set himself up to move into the centre of the board. The fact that he risked his knight to take a pawn makes that apparent. He was baiting you so he could get out in the open. Once he was on d5 on turn 5 he was covering more than half the board with his queen and was in a position to move just about wherever he wanted. You forced him out of that position with your knight, but he moved into you territory. You did a good job getting him out of there, but then he started moving bishops around, taking over the centre of the board. Around turn 9, it might have been wise to move your knight out to defend against his oncoming pieces, but you ended up making a line of defense on row 3 instead. I think this was probably a bad idea since it allowed ender to trap you. After that there wasn't much you could do to effectively come back.

Hopefully that's accurate and I didn't sound too critical.

Again I didn't save my game, so I'll have to go by memory.  The queen is a wonderful piece, but her power is ultimately her downfall.  What you could have done was harass her, since I'd sort of been forced to bring her out too early once again.  When the board is full, her abilities are not as notable.  That is when she is weakest.  As pieces are removed from the board, she grows in strength.  Therefore you had two options: develop your pieces while simultaneously forcing me to move her (thus not developing my own pieces); exchange queens while we were even or you were in the lead.  Now you obviously didn't have the chance to exchange while in the lead because I evened things out when I took your g2 pawn, but as our queens were facing each other for a while, it might have been wise to trade, especially since you still had that vulnerable rook hemmed in by your knight in the same corner and you couldn't move your queen without exposing that g2 square, and thus your rook, to my queen once again.  But really, the biggest error you made was your queenside castle.  It's easy to overlook, but a common tactic is the skewer, wherein I attack a valuable piece, and when it moves, it exposes another less valuable piece behind it to attack.  You lined your rook right up with your queen while I had a bishop available to attack that diagonal whilst defended by my queen.  Pay attention to paths in the ranks, files, and diagonals, as skewers and pins are my stronger tactics (in that I see the potential for them more readily than other tactics).  If you line your pieces up, make sure I can't exploit it.

And for what it's worth, the pawns on b2, b7, g2, and g7 are a weak spot along the diagonal.  Once the bishop is moved, the pawn is undefended, and if the knight remains in place, the rook is stuck.  You did well moving your queen to f8 to prevent the loss of your rook.

And look at that!  I did save the game after all!  Sorry.  Well, I guess I got it all right.  But one thing I notice also is wasted moves.  You moved your queen from f3 to g3, then back to f3.  When you first moved to g3, I thought you were going to force an exchange, which I didn't want but was ready to accept.  But then you didn't, and moved back.  You probably didn't need to move it in the first place, and I'm really not clear why you moved it to g3 in the first place.  Every move should be maximized when possible, especially in the early game.  You gave me two more moves to place my pieces where I wanted them, so that even though I hadn't yet castled, I was pretty secure in my little fortress.

Hope this helps.  Let me know your thoughts, or if you have any questions or critiques of my analysis.

RicOlie_2 said:

I'll give a short analysis too, if you don't mind, just because it helps me understand the game better myself.

I think you made a mistake by allowing darth_ender's queen a huge amount of coverage on the board. At turn 3, he set himself up to move into the centre of the board. The fact that he risked his knight to take a pawn makes that apparent. He was baiting you so he could get out in the open. Once he was on d5 on turn 5 he was covering more than half the board with his queen and was in a position to move just about wherever he wanted. You forced him out of that position with your knight, but he moved into you territory. You did a good job getting him out of there, but then he started moving bishops around, taking over the centre of the board. Around turn 9, it might have been wise to move your knight out to defend against his oncoming pieces, but you ended up making a line of defense on row 3 instead. I think this was probably a bad idea since it allowed ender to trap you. After that there wasn't much you could do to effectively come back.

Hopefully that's accurate and I didn't sound too critical.

 I think this is good as well.  Yes, I don't do as well at tactics as good players, but I can be pretty strategic, and I know the advantages of holding the center of the board.  I got a pretty good hold on the center there in the beginning.

darth_ender said:

Therefore you had two options: develop your pieces while simultaneously forcing me to move her

this is what I would have liked to do, but I am not sure how I could have done that in our game.   One thing I think I should have done after you captured my bishop on d5 with your queen was move my f pawn to f3, thus preventing your queen from capturing my g pawn.

darth_ender said:

But really, the biggest error you made was your queenside castle.  

yeah, that was quite a blunder, considering what happened in one of our previous games, where you caught both of my rooks on the same diagonal.

darth_ender said:

  You did well moving your queen to f8 to prevent the loss of your rook.

I think you meant f3.  

darth_ender said:

And look at that!  I did save the game after all!  Sorry.  Well, I guess I got it all right.  But one thing I notice also is wasted moves.  You moved your queen from f3 to g3, then back to f3.  When you first moved to g3, I thought you were going to force an exchange, which I didn't want but was ready to accept.  But then you didn't, and moved back.  You probably didn't need to move it in the first place, and I'm really not clear why you moved it to g3 in the first place.

the reason I moved my queen back to f3(and I am not saying it was a good reason) was so that if you moved you e5 pawn to e4, I would capture it with my pawn on d3, you would then capture it with your bishop on f5, which I would capture with my queen.   It was probably bad reasoning.  I probably should have exchanged queens when your moved your queen to g6.

darth_ender said:

Every move should be maximized when possible, especially in the early game.  You gave me two more moves to place my pieces where I wanted them, so that even though I hadn't yet castled, I was pretty secure in my little fortress.

what two moves are your referring to?  the first two moves?

darth_ender said:

Hope this helps.  Let me know your thoughts, or if you have any questions or critiques of my analysis.

 yes it does help.   I appreciate you giving me this analysis.  Hopefully, it will help me learn from my mistakes.

Warbler said:

darth_ender said:

Therefore you had two options: develop your pieces while simultaneously forcing me to move her

this is what I would have liked to do, but I am not sure how I could have done that in our game.   One thing I think I should have done after you captured my bishop on d5 with your queen was move my f pawn to f3, thus preventing your queen from capturing my g pawn.

darth_ender said:

But really, the biggest error you made was your queenside castle.  

yeah, that was quite a blunder, considering what happened in one of our previous games, where you caught both of my rooks on the same diagonal.

darth_ender said:

  You did well moving your queen to f8 to prevent the loss of your rook.

I think you meant f3.

Yes I do.  I added this sentence after I'd realized I had the game saved.  And when I'm not paying attention (since 8 is obviously the last rank), and looking at the tiny letters and number scrunched on my software squares, it looks like f8.  I should have known better, but as always, I was typing in a flurry and not paying attention.

darth_ender said:

And look at that!  I did save the game after all!  Sorry.  Well, I guess I got it all right.  But one thing I notice also is wasted moves.  You moved your queen from f3 to g3, then back to f3.  When you first moved to g3, I thought you were going to force an exchange, which I didn't want but was ready to accept.  But then you didn't, and moved back.  You probably didn't need to move it in the first place, and I'm really not clear why you moved it to g3 in the first place.

the reason I moved my queen back to f3(and I am not saying it was a good reason) was so that if you moved you e5 pawn to e4, I would capture it with my pawn on d3, you would then capture it with your bishop on f5, which I would capture with my queen.   It was probably bad reasoning.  I probably should have exchanged queens when your moved your queen to g6.

I see your reasoning.  You did have your knight on c3 to ensure a fair trade.  Yeah, if I had been in your shoes, I probably would have gone ahead and traded queens.

darth_ender said:

Every move should be maximized when possible, especially in the early game.  You gave me two more moves to place my pieces where I wanted them, so that even though I hadn't yet castled, I was pretty secure in my little fortress.

what two moves are your referring to?  the first two moves?

Moving your queen to g3 then back to f3.  If to g3, then force the trade.  If not, then keep her on f3 would have been my suggestion.  The back and forth ended up costing you two moves, and you could have kept her where she was while moving other pieces in that same time.

darth_ender said:

Hope this helps.  Let me know your thoughts, or if you have any questions or critiques of my analysis.

 yes it does help.   I appreciate you giving me this analysis.  Hopefully, it will help me learn from my mistakes.

 I'm glad.  I hope I don't ever come off as condescending or anything.  I try to be forthright, and I honestly don't consider myself to be anything great--merely decent.  But if I'm able to sharpen your game, then it's definitely worth it :)

We could try a harder handicap, such as Pawn and Two Moves (with me playing black) or Knight Odds (which I believe has me play white).  Truthfully the more I give you, the more scared I feel.  But it's worth it to try to even out our game. :)

darth_ender said:

 I should have known better, but as always, I was typing in a flurry and not paying attention.

I understand,  it happens to me all the time.  ; )

darth_ender said:

I hope I don't ever come off as condescending or anything.

not at all. 

darth_ender said:

 I try to be forthright, and I honestly don't consider myself to be anything great--merely decent.  But if I'm able to sharpen your game, then it's definitely worth it :)

absolutely. 

darth_ender said:

We could try a harder handicap, such as Pawn and Two Moves (with me playing black) or Knight Odds (which I believe has me play white).  Truthfully the more I give you, the more scared I feel.  But it's worth it to try to even out our game. :)

 How about we try one more with the same handicap as before? 

Sounds good.  You go first :)

ok, d4

d5

Nc3

Nf6

Nf3

Nc6

Is there any real advantage to mirroring so many of each other's moves? Wouldn't it be more advantageous to make a unique move, ender, and gain the upper hand a bit?

I am not doing this to mirror him, and bearing in mind that I am short a pawn, I have to play more cautiously.  Playing black, a player is often forced to dance to the tempo set by white initially.  Even if he had not played his knights where he did, I believe I likely would have brought mine out.  The only difference might have been a pawn move instead.

The opening might be the part of the game where I am weakest.  I should study more opening theory.  But right now I am not trying to gain the upper hand just yet.  Rather I am trying to ensure equal footing.  I will play for upper hand if it comes along, but at the moment I haven't seen a bold move that would grant me significant advantage.

OK. I would probably play it that way too, despite the fact that I've been advised not to do that (in a different situation, I'm sure), but I was curious since you made an earlier suggestion to use each and every turn to your advantage (my paraphrasing, of course) and this seemed to go against that advice.

Well, my point was to develop your pieces.  Warbler had pieces stuck in relatively unhelpful positions.  Right now I'm still bringing pieces out.  Look what I have available thus far, and what more I can develop soon.  My position leaves me with opportunities, choices, and I wish to maximize my choices.  I don't know if you'd want to say so here, and I won't change my move anyway, even if you clearly have a superior idea in mind, but what would you have done instead?

e3

darth_ender said:

Well, my point was to develop your pieces.  Warbler had pieces stuck in relatively unhelpful positions.  Right now I'm still bringing pieces out.  Look what I have available thus far, and what more I can develop soon.  My position leaves me with opportunities, choices, and I wish to maximize my choices.  I don't know if you'd want to say so here, and I won't change my move anyway, even if you clearly have a superior idea in mind, but what would you have done instead?

 I thought I had something, but upon closer examination, what you're doing seems to be either better than, or no worse than, the alternatives.

Going by memory, and I'm not Bobby Fischer, but I'm pretty sure I'd like to play e5.  Hopefully you can get in another move before I get home tonight and I'm content with what I've just chosen.

(assuming e5 was your move) dxe5

You know, now that I'm home and I see the board, I probably wouldn't have wanted to do that.  Do you mind if I take it back?

ok

Thanks, Warb.  B-f5.  I don't think I'll move again unless I have a board in front of me to look at.