I've had many interesting games against Ted, usually wildly tactical. He was one of the first people I played when I joined a couple of years ago. He used to slaughter me all the time, but the games are more even now and I've managed to beat him once or twice. His ECF grade is about the same as mine, but he has a lot more playing experience and so outplays me in positions that I'm not used to. Luckily for me, he makes tactical mistakes, which I sometimes do and sometimes don't spot, and he doesn't always capitalise on my mistakes. He tends to make very open positions where lots of tactics crop up, I've noticed he tends to get frustrated in closed positions and throws pawns forward to open it up.
TedPyevDeanMadden.pgn
So anyway, this was a typical game. I made a mistake so that he had a material advantage, he made a mistake to allow me to have the advantage, he then had the advantage after another mistake, and finally mated me. Lots of things to go over. The good thing is I have lots of things to think about and try and learn from the game.
He played 2. Bd3 against my Scandinavian, a move I hadn't seen before and which I think he just makes up as he plays it. I thought about taking the pawn, but wasn't sure how it would play out so decided on developing my pieces.
The game got difficult for me when I played 22...Kg7 below. This allowed him to play Ng5, attacking the h7 pawn with his rook. I then played Qg8, allowing him to force a trade of my Queen for his rook and knight.
In the position below he played Qg1, but this allowed me to play Bf4+, also attacking his rook. He was able to then fork the rooks with his bishop, but for some reason decided not to take one.
However after this I was getting tired and didn't know how I was supposed to force a win with rooks and a knight versus a queen.
I then made the fatal error of playing Be5 below, not noticing he can fork king and rook on e3. Hen then ended it with a nice mate.
This weekend I'll be playing in the Leek congress, one game on Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday, each 2 hours per player long. I'm not sure if there will be relatively weaker players like myself so don't know if I'll expect to pick up any points. Looking forward to it anyway.
5 comments:
Indeed a game with lots of tactical possibilities. Now do a 'good' analyze of this game by which i mean that you have to figure out why you made those mistakes. Can it be you only looked at your plan and not your opponent threats? Not visualizing the positions analysis in your head? ... Find the problem and work on it.
Thanks ChessTiger, yes it's something I've tried to think about. I think part of it is not always considering fully what my opponent can do on every move, I should be more disciplined in my thought process. Something that reared its ugly head again towards the end was time pressure, I tend to spend a lot of time in these tactical sort of games. Towards the end when I missed his fork, I was rushing and quite tired mentally. I think it's important that I spend time more efficiently, i.e. spend more time on complex positions where there's a lot to analyse, but spend less time on easier or simpler positions. I'm not sure what I can do to stop the mental fatigue, especially in evening games after a long day at work. The funny thing is for a few hours afterwords I'm still going over the games in my head and don't feel as tired anymore. I try to get up and walk about a bit when I start to lose concentration.
That mental fatigue can be because you are to stressed during the game. Be relaxed, dont think of the result but just about the game at hand. It's not a biggie to lose a game of chess. Afterall it's not your means of income.
Losing on time is honorable, losing because of big blunders made during the game stupid. So be calm and relaxed during the game. Dont fret yourself up when you come low in time.
With more experience and insight in positions you will eventually see the plan(s) quicker and use less time.
Thats why trainers and coaches of our beloved game hammer so much on paternrecognision. It saves time and finding the correct plan becomes a bit easier since you have previous knowledge about the position.
Goodluck in your next games!
Yes I do tend to be stressed during the games, especially when I see the clock ticking. But logically I agree it's not worth getting stressed and worrying about it. I think I'm just afraid of making stupid mistakes, and don't mind losing if it's to a better player where I can learn from the loss. I tend to view it as a battle against myself rather than my opponent. I'll try and relax more :)
Hello Dean,
Thanks for taking the time to post on my blog... I have added your blog to my links.
Have a great weekend!
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