T66 Openings

Below, the top 10 T66 Openings so far ( Playoffs are ongoing) ...

4 e4 openings, 4 with d4, and 2 others ( Réti/English).

Hardly much of a change in major openings played, nor on the split between King- and Queen-pawn, with 1.e4 grabbing 53% of the games.

Oddest opening was 1.a3, which lost, although the opening can hardly be blamed for the tactical oversights in the game.

One Falkbeer Counter-Gambit, and also nice to see 1.Nc3 appearing twice, once transposing to a Philidor and the other remaining independent. Dirk van Geet would be pleased to see it still in action !

Seven games less than 10 moves, but no traps, just over-looked tactics at fault.

                           T66 Top 10 Played Openings

B20-B99	Sicilian	116 (15.6%)
C00-C19	French Defence	64 (8.6%)
D00-D05	Queen's Pawn ( General )	54 (7.3%)
A10-A39	English	48  (6.5%)
D30-D69	Queen's Gambit Declined	44 ( 6.0 % )
B10-B19	Caro-Kann	39 (5.3 % )
C60-C99	Spanish Game ( Ruy Lopez)	36 (4.9 %)
A45-A50	Indian & Torre Attack	32 (4.3 %)
A04-A09	Reti	30 ( 4.0 % )
E60-E99	King's Indian	28 ( 3.77 % )

All games were re-indexed by ECO code using Chess Assistant 11,. 

The Opening classification ranges ( ie grouping ECO codes), I based on those from Chessville (many thanks, although it seems to have disappeared :(

See also T56 Summary,  T55 Summary, T51 Summary,  T50 Summary and T47 Summary, T57-59 Summary , T61 Summary, T62 Summary and T63 Summary

T64 Openings

Below, the top 10 T64 Openings...

5 e4 openings, 4 with d4, and the Réti.

                           T64 Top 10 Played Openings

B20-B99	Sicilian	135 (13.5%)
C00-C19	French Defence	98 (9.8%)
D30-D69	Queen's Gambit Declined	80 (8%)
D00-D05	Queen's Pawn ( General)	64 (6.4%)
A45-A50	Indian & Torre Attack	59 (5.9 % )
A10-A39	English	54 (5.4 % )
B10-B19	Caro-Kann	53 (5.3 %)
C60-C99	Spanish Game ( Ruy Lopez)	52 (5.2 %)
A04-A09	Reti	32 ( 3.2 % )
B07-B09	Pirc Defence	30 ( 3 % )

All games were re-indexed by ECO code using Chess Assistant 11,. 

The Opening classification ranges ( ie grouping ECO codes), I borrowed from Chessville (many thanks, although it seems to have disappeared :(

See also T56 Summary,  T55 Summary, T51 Summary,  T50 Summary and T47 Summary, T57-59 Summary , T61 Summary, T62 Summary and T63 Summary

Missed tactics 4

From a recent Team League game...

White has a great opportunity presented to him, after Rd1 chases the Queen away...do you see it ?

White to play ...

The mate threat on h7 is very powerful, and though it draws your eye, the tactical target, and sacrificial bait , is elsewhere...

Unfortunately, White missed the clues, and played Nce4, to exchange pieces,and lose the advantage.

Highlight for solution [ The target is e5.  1. Rxe5  Nxe5 and if Nx35, then Qh7#. Instead, if the queen moves, then Nxf6 removes the guard.  A nice combination !   ]

Missed tactic 2

Another missed tactic from a recent game.

This time I did actually consider the move that I should have played, but didn't calculate it enough, and so dismissed it.

Should one trust intuition more in chess ?

Result of not spotting this at move 16, was a 67-move game, including a long Rook + Pawn endgame.

If nothing else that should be an incentive to improve !

Black to play and gain an advantage

Highlight for Solution [ The c-pawn is hanging... 1...Nxc3  various exchanges after that, although not forced ] 

Missed Tactic

From a recent game..White to play and gain an advantage.

Luckily ( for me ) White missed this, just as I had overlooked it.

I was concentrating on the a- and b-pawn threat, and I guess he was too, as it wasn't mentioned in the post-game chatter.

The clues about why b5 was bad, are obvious in hindsight, but I can assure you, I did not see them !

Highlight for solution [ b5 leaves the knight defended, but only by d6, which also protects the knight on f5. So  1. Nxd5.  If dxe5 then Qxf5. EIther way, its a material gain for White    ]

T57- T59 Summary

As a matter of completion, here's a summary of Openings played in the last three TLs, since I seem not to have done this individually, plus a couple of short checkmates !

For me, T57 was the longest with 9 games played, as Magnum Ignotum reached the final. ( In fact we have reached the play-offs in 5 of the last 6 seasons : not bad !).

Although I had good results in T57, this was the tournament where I changed my repertoire for both Black and White., adopting e6 as my main defence and also moving to 1.d4 as White.

These proved to be consistent with main TL openings, as e4 is still the most played, and the Sicilian, French, and Caro-Kann the top replies. No change there.

For White, the main change, compared to T56. appear to be the increase in the the use of general Queen's Pawn openings, ie systems such as the London or Colle, as well as non-Queen Gambit openings, such as the Trompowsky.

Nice to see the short mate rearing it's head again...

Another quick mate in the Caro-Kann

Yes, its that damned Caro-kann !  Black really needs to be careful !

This short game started with 1.f4, but transposed to a King's Gambit, leading to mate in 9.

Short mate in a King's Gambit  

Longest games ?  Again, over 100 moves there were 9 games, only 4 of which were draws, including the longest at 124 moves.

Finally, as a minor exercise, work out the short mating sequence here, where Black resigned after 8 moves, after a failed Latvian Gambit !

T59 - Short game

                 T57, T58 and T59 Top 10 Played Openings

B20-B99	Sicilian	477 (15%)
C00-C19	French Defence	329  ( 10%)
B10-B19	Caro-Kann	227 ( 7% )
D00-D05	Queen's Pawn General (London\Colle\etc	234 (7 % )
D30-D69	Queen's Gambit Declined	175 ( 5,5 % )
A45-A50	Indian Defences\Torre Attack	156 ( 5 %)
E60-E99	King's Indian Defence	152  (5%)
A10-A39	English	151 ( 5 %)
C60-C99	Spanish Game ( Ruy Lopez )	148 (4,5%)
A04-A09	Reti	112 ( 3,5 % )

For those interested, all games were re-indexed in Chess Assistant 11,. The Opening classification ranges ( ie grouping ECO codes), I borrowed from Chessville (many thanks, although it seems to have disappeared again :(

See also T56 Summary,  T55 Summary, T51 Summary,  T50 Summary and T47 Summary.

Team League : T56 Openings

Although both T57 and T58  have finished, and T59 about to start, I still didn't catch up with T56 summary and games, and in fact haven't blogged since August.

I played all rounds and ended up with a score of 3,5/6, with 3 wins, a draw and 2 losses : more-or-less as expected.

As White, I played a consistent 1.e4 and faced a Caro-Kann  ( loss ), a Sicilian ( win ) and Alekhine's Defence ( win ).

As Black I played the Hanham Philidor twice ( one win, one draw ) and lost against a Réti Opening, one of the few times I have met 1.Nf3 in TL.

All fairly consistent with main TL openings, as e4 is still the most played, and the Sicilian, French, and Caro-Kann the top replies.

Below is a brief summary of opening play in T56.

For all rounds/games, see here for round 1, and follow through for the remaining rounds.

T56 Openings Top 10

B20-B99	Sicilian	178 (15%)
C00-C19	French Defence	112  ( 9%)
B10-B19	Caro-Kann	88 ( 7% )
A10-A39	English	80 (6,5 % )
D30-D69	Queen's Gambit Declined	77 ( 6 % )
D00-D05	Queen's Pawn General (London\Colle\etc	73 ( 6 %)
A45-A50	Indian Defences\Torre Attack	60  (5%)
A04-A09	Reti	56 ( 4.5 %)
D10-D19	Slav Defence	44 (3.5%)
C60-C99	Spanish Game ( Ruy Lopez )	43 ( 3.5 % )

For those interested, all games were re-indexed in Chess Assistant 11,. The Opening classification ranges ( ie to group ECO codes), I borrowed from Chessville (many thanks, although it seems to have dis-appeared again :(

See also T55 Summary, T51 Summary,  T50 Summary and T47 Summary.

T55 Report and Openings

I need to look back at some of my games in TL, as I haven't spent time on them in any way,and so as a prelude to that, I thought I'd put out another "TL Openings' post to cover TL55, as a way to start the process for me.

Personally, my record was +2=3-2, that's 50%.  Par for the course, although if you take out my default win and draw ( as you should ) , I have a not great 40%, and only 1 win out of 5 played games : GM material I am not !

Definitely room for improvement, although I would have to say generally not in the area of openings. Here, I tend to do well, mostly coming out into the middlegame with a good position. Its there, that I lose it !

In opening play, as White, I stayed with 1.e4, and in my two games faced:

The French, where, as usual,  I avoided mainline French lines with the fun-filled Réti Gambit.  Certainly, I reached an acceptable middlegame, but let things slip with a simple oversight losing a pawn. Following this with a less than active defence meant I played a pawn down for 20 moves, and eventually blundered a piece. I held ground for quite some time, but ultimately couldn't hold of the attack.

I really don't like the French.

The Sicilian  ( sounds like a Gothic novel title ! ).  This was a different prospect, as I think it was the first time I switched to a main line, rather my usual 2.b3 ( the so-called Czerniak Attack ).

Guided by Timothy Taylor ( in spirit, not in person :) , I played a Classical line with Be2, and again found myself well-placed in the middlegame, helped, I am sure, by an indecisive Black Qb6, followed by a creeping Qd8 retreat. I don't think he was ready or could calculate the positions after Qxb2, but no shame there !

In the end a forced combination led to a loss of a piece and an inevitable resignation : always satisfying to defeat the Sicilian.

As Black, I started with a loss in a Philidor. Again, I came out of the opening well, and then spent a long time until I made a major mistake. I even had a great chance to recover, but didn't see it, ending up a long piece down and resigning.

Twice I had games in the Old Indian/King's Indian, drawing both, which was a good feeling , as I don't consider myself a d4 player.

I'd say I was well-prepared in both of them, with a more than acceptable middlegame. In both, I gained the upper hand, but didn't see a plan to win, and with a lack of time my draw offers were accepted. Definitely could do better here.

How does my opening experience compare to Team League overall ?

...Continue reading...

DIY Blunders and Tactics 2

The New Year seems to have flown by, and good intentions, well, not quite fulfilled.

However, its never too late to catch up, so I took the opportunity of the overnight snowfall to look for some more ' home-grown' blunders and tactics...


Below, White has played what should be the losing  move, in Qf2 - f1.

Luckily for him, Black didn't play the sharp move, and a draw was agreed in a few moves.

What should Black play ?

Black to play

Solution  [  Rxg3 wins !  not so simple if white doesn't reply hxg, but Black still gets there ]

T55 Round 2 : Missed opportunities

I missed out on Round 1 because of incompatible times, so this was my first standard game in a while.


I could give the excuse that I lost because I wasn't 100% fit ( echoing  Zsusza Polgar's remark that she "never won a game against a healthy man" according to her sister, Judit's recent interview :)  but that wouldn't be entirely true.


I have to confess that recently ( er, read last couple of months ! ) I have not put much effort into keeping up the key part of chess improvement at my level ( ie tactics ), but there again I've done quite a few other things outside of chess in "real life".


That means it's not just "work-home" balance to strive after, but "chess-others", or even more accurately chess as part of a range of things I want to do that are not work : sometimes that quite a few things !


So reasons to lose ? Plenty, and mainly around missing tactics.


Reasons to win ? Not too many, and mainly around knowing the opening and resultant positions better than my opponent.


Here's a "win reason"...

9. Qf3

Not really sure why Qf3 was played here. At the time, I assumed it was to allow prompt Queenside castling, with the added benefit of defending e4, but since he castled King-side later, I wonder !


Better would be Nf3 or even 0-0.


I didn't capitalise on this, which leads neatly to a reason to lose ( or maybe one not to win, being slightly pedantic :)

10. h3  What should Black play ?

Considering my plan with Nc5 was targeting e4, how come I didn't follow through ?


Much later in the game (move 40 ! ) I have a chance, not only to regain the pawn I am down, but also to strike a rapier-like psychological blow, just when White must feel he has me on the ropes.

40. Qd4 Black to play and at least equalise !

Its obvious in hindsight, but I missed it at the time.   I'm sure all my avid readers will spot it in under 2 seconds and embarrass me !


Never mind. Make an effort to play through the game and see what can be learned.


Next round, I will be more ready !

T51 Summary and Openings

Team League T51 has reached the playoff stage, but Magnum Ignotum are not there, having ended in third place in their section  (congratulations to Scotch Yeti, whose team makes it again ! ).

Personally, my record this time is +3=0-5, that's 37%.  Not the best, and less than my overall TL record of 50%.  

Teacher's Report ? Could do better !

As White, I stayed with 1.e4, and ended up facing:

The Sicilian twice, one of them heavily questioned by an attack against my Queenside castling that just ran out of steam, collapsing to the counter-attack, and the other almost lost in the opening, but due to Blacks' passive play I managed to fight back to equality finally losing to a missed game-winning check-fork !

The French twice, both wins, one decided in the middle-game with Black over-looking a White capture that gives check and loses him a piece, the other an endgame grind, and most enjoyable, even including the psychological time tactics of my opponent. In both cases, I avoided mainline French lines with the fun-filled Réti Gambit.  I really don't like the French !

A Caro-Kann completed the roster, where my timidity proved my undoing, missing a neat pin in a counter attack, and putting me on the back foot unnecessarily. I missed the correct response, going on to lose.

As Black, twice I had long games in the Spanish losing one in a Rook and pawns ending, and in the other, again a timid plan lost me the initiative and the game.

Lastly, a Centre Game as Black was lost after I was surprised by an attack and just did not stay calm enough to give a good defence. I really should have done better here, and of all my losses, this one bugs me.

Conclusions for next season are evident.

How does my openings experience compare to Team League overall ?

...Continue reading...

T51 Round 2 - A win

My first win since August....

A French Defence turns into a Philidor,and stays fairly balanced, until we reach move 16...

16. Nf5

So many threats of exchanges to simplify.....but after Bxf5 gxf5 Nxc4 Qxe4 ( Qxc4 is bad, but not as disastrous as it appears ), Black plays Nxb2 ( expecting Kxb2 ) and misses the in-between check capture ...

19. Nxe7+ !

A piece down and with a nice White attack, Black tempts with d5...

Mess up the next moves and all is equal, but no, I find the correct combination ( Qxd5, Qxd5, Nxd5 ) and although Black plays well, the difference is too much.

42. Nd7#

Mate with Knight, pawn and King !

T51 - A disastrous start

Not too much to say.

I played two games this weekend and in both had an excellent position, but failed to win either.

The failure is in forming a middlegame plan to continue with an attack, and then, after a small mistake, floundering and making more serious ones afterwards.

Here's the worst example.

I've just played Re2, to which White has replied Bd1.

Not the worst position, but I did have a great move instead of Re2, plus another opportunity to play it, but just completely missed it, despite "knowing" the plan for Black overall : it simply slipped out of my mind.

After a badly calculated next move, I went on to lose...

To progress past this, I need a big effort around planning and attacking !

Losing games like this is not good for the team, so I really need to improve and have it under control, or I would guess that the substitute's bench is where I will end up !

Definitely Not Opening Phobia : T50 Short Games

Inspired  by a comment from ChessAdmin regarding how Nbd7 in the Caro-Kann can lead to the type of mate I showed as the shortest in T50, I searched all of T4545 for a shorter one.

It wasn't there, but I did find ones that are just as short !

Here's the original quick mate.....

Caro-Kann, mate in 6

Here is number 2, also 6 moves, also a Caro-Kann !

  Caro-Kann, mate in 6

There are a few slightly longer at 7 moves, such as this...

7...Qxf2#

Quite a few short losses, usually, like the one below, because of a blunder losing a piece. Here it is the loss of the Queen, quite understandable to resign  !

Nd5...Black resigns !

But here, its the opposite : why resign ?  It seems like a match-winning move, but in reality White will lose no more pieces and is compensated by his advanced development...

Qxg2, White resigns ?

Enough, I need to make this personal ! Here is my own short loss.

After totally missing the correct defence, I end up here.....

14. Bh3#

Let's stay personal : my own short win, where White misses the threat. All patsers are similarly guilty !

Finally, no win or loss, but the agreed draw where I wish I had played on.


I suppose this is a disadvantage of team games. Once the result of the match is already decided, sometimes one, or both, players lose the incentive to play. Such was the case here where my Hanham Philidor was challenged by the same player, and in the same variation ( Larsen's with g6 ) where I had previously drawn with him.

Last time he played 12.g4 and we drew after a hard-fought game. This time he played 12.e5, and agreed a draw : I wish I had played on !

12. e5 draw agreed

Is it worth adding that these shouldn't provoke "opening phobia" in anyone?  Of course not, unless you play an early Nbd7 in the Caro-Kann, but then, you are prepared, aren't you !

T50 : Addendum

As a coda to the main show....

Total Draws ?  21 %

Longest game? Actually 3 of them, all with 106 moves : Two draws and one win

One of the draws was an opposite-bishops ending, played as such from move 38.: dedication and stamina !

Shortest game ? The three short,  "GM draws" don't count, so its the mate in 6....

Black has just played 5...Ngf6, and White does not make a mistake !  Just how the Caro-Kann should be disposed of !

White to play and win !

See also T50 Short Games.

Team League T49 Season Summary

Blogging during this last TL season has , for various reasons, not happened.

So, now that the Team is out ( sadly, we didn't reach the playoffs this time ) I will review my season in general here, and discuss a couple of interesting games in subsequent posts.

Overall, my record was 3-0-4. A great improvement over the previous season (1-1-4), when I came close to wins, but only delivered once ( and that as White against the Philidor ! )

Surprisingly, two of this season's wins were with Black, and both of them against the Spanish ( Ruy Lopez ), as this season I switched away from my normal Philidor Hanham, to more classical Open games.

In general, I can say that I paid more attention to three main areas:

1) Time Management.  Not perfect, but no time scrambles, and a good feeling overall.
2) Piece placement/pawn structure
3) Reducing blunders.

The latter is most important.

There were at least two games where I blundered terribly.

...Continue reading...

Endgame Adventures In Team League 4545 : Where we ended in T47

Partly, I wrote this post to offset against this one on T47 openings ( I wouldn't want to be classified as an openings freak :)  and to continue my exploration of T47, but also because I was interested in just what sort of endings are played in TL games ( especially compared to 'professionals') and maybe just a bit on trying to identify what endings I should concentrate on, to shortcut trying to work on them all.

Presentation was an issue, since, although endgames are classified, they aren't as straightforward as openings ( ie not recorded in the game notation ), but I used a 'standard' classifier in my database, so at least I present some sort of consistency.

Straight into things.

...Continue reading...

Under Promotion in T47

I seem to have carried on looking at T47 games after my brief exploration of openings played.

If I manage it, I hope to give details of some of the endgames reached, but while assembling this, I saw a number of under-promotions in a few games ( 11 of 1377, to be precise ! ).

Most of these are irrelevant, ie under-promotion makes no difference to the result, as the 'promoting side' was in full control. I suspect, in fact , that a lot of under-promotions are just to allow practise in unusual mating, especially if the opponent doesn't resign.

There was only one that was a necessary under-promotion, since creating a Queen would be an instant checkmate next move.

118...h1N+

The knight promotion giving check should only have saved Black temporarily, as mate still follows rapidly with 119.Kf3 Nf2 120. Qxf2+ Kh1 121. Qg2#

Amazingly, Black must have thought his luck was in, as White played Kh4,  and it took until move 160 before mate happened. Doubtless time trouble, and the "forking ability" of the knight is something to be wary of.

After this I had a quick look in other Team League games and found these two examples....

 From T24 - 2004

Straightforward, but still nice to see 52... e1N#

But here is a very useful under-promotion to gain a draw...

From T41 - 2009

Again, promotion to anything but a Knight will result in mate, but 64...c8N+ is a great way to gain a draw, and on the magic 64th move !

Interestingly, go back to move 63 in the same game, and White misses the chance of a win. It wasn't time trouble as both players had plenty of it, but I think it was an assumption on White's part that the win was guaranteed.

Move 63....decision time

Does it matter which move you choose ? Kxe4 ? or Rh2 ?

Indian Adventures

"Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom time wasted"

Well, true, but sometimes, you just wish your opponent would follow the same plan as yourself !

In checking out the opposition before playing this back in March last year, I could guarantee that my opponent played 1.d4, a move that I don't particularly enjoy meeting.

Mostly, I have responded 1...f5, the Dutch, which has been relatively good to me.

However, I recognise that its not quite as flexible as some opening moves, and can also be quite particular and precise, so its probably better, at this stage of my playing, to aim for more main-line openings.

When I played chess as at school, the King's Indian was the opening that we all wanted to play. No sensible "chess reason", but mainly because it consisted of a 'fianchetto', which sounded incredibly exciting, let alone the "Indian" part, which was exotic too.

I can't recall if this was also prompted by players at the time, or, as is more likely, it was based on the influence from the school chess club teacher, whose name I can't even remember !!

Mind you, I must have inherited a cult memory, or 'desire' to use it, as I have played it a few times over the years, but never really invested time in learning what it was all about.

I used to play the Old Indian variation, probably because of either romantic notions or a (wrong) belief that it was so obscure that no-one would know it: how many of us amateurs do that ?

Crazy, really. At my chess level opening knowledge is fairly irrelevant ( mine is aimed at reaching the middlegame without losing ! ) , most things are decided by a mistake in the middlegame, and even then, there's a chance of redemption through a future opponent  mistake...

Enough of memories, and onto the game in question.

...Continue reading...

Do you have an Opening for me ?

Currently running in the chess blogosphere, is a variation of the eternal and probably unresolvable "Use of Opening Theory" discussion : Super-GMs vs the rest.

Dennis Monokroussos and Dana Mackenzie, are debating the process/benefits/methods of opening theory ( or "Opening Theory" as they have now re-defined it) and particularly how non-Super-GMs, including Amateurs, should, or should not, use it in our chess games: self-discovery vs re-use of previous experience (in a nutshell) plus a few more complications.

Happily, it seems much more of a discussion than a serious spat. Here's the original 2008 post and the recent response, both to keep you entertained, and thinking.

I have to say I agree with parts of both arguments.

My games rarely follow established opening lines for long, so, yes, I would probably be better off with sensible developing rules (does that mean 'classical' ? ) rather than slavishly trying to remember a variation in my opponent's chosen line or sideline. This should enable me to spend more time on what matters, ie playing a decent middlegame and spotting tactics and combinations !

Definitely, I should also look in more detail at the opening moves. Not necessarily to find novelties, or to derive my own opening moves, but more that I understand reasons behind the 'theory' moves, so can eventually begin to appreciate why "Opening Theory" is there, and how to use the benefits it brings ( ie how to hack into and re-use all the exploration and thought that previous players have bequeathed to us ).

One area that I do think is useful ( and enjoyable ) is the re-discovery ( or re-use ) of old variations. Such lines, probably unplayable at GM level these days, are highly suitable to us Amateurs. Rolling out a 'forgotten' 1890s move in a supposedly modern opening is very satisfactory.

So, what do we Internet amateurs play ?

Since I  find it interesting knowing what openings to expect in my next TL4545 match, I spent a morning looking at the recently finished T47 season in the Team4545 League.  ( Note that I also carried this out a few months later for T50 )

What would you think to be the most popular ? Have a guess before reading more !

...Continue reading...