OT: Chess

[Harbour Dog]

I played this tonight against Harbour Dog but got burned trying to transpose into the Modern Defense.

He's quite fond of the English, lirl:
View attachment 337983

Those two c3 games were mouse slips

I'm a firm believer in specializing in an opening. Especially online where you rarely play an opponent more than a few times.

It never gets repetitive, because games invariably become unique at some point and you need to be on your guard for when you are outside of what you've prepared.

 

[Ben Grimm]

I played this tonight against Harbour Dog but got burned trying to transpose into the Modern Defense. He's quite fond of the English, lirl: ...

The good thing about the Modern Defense is that you can play it against anything.

"All games of round four at the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg finished peacefully, which means Wang Hao, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are still sharing the lead on 2½ out of 4. Caruana pushed his h-pawn against Nepomniachtchi's Grünfeld but could not convert his slight advantage, while Grischuk entered his usual excessive time trouble while defending a complicated position against Vachier-Lagrave — in the end, he managed to hold the balance." The Candidates Round 4: Draws

 

[Ben Grimm]

"The 2020 Candidates Tournament has a sole leader for the first time, as Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Wang Hao with the white pieces in round five. The three other games finished drawn. Kirill Alekseenko and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave entered a sharp Najdorf which ended in a repetition, while Anish Giri could not make the most of the very promising position he got against Fabiano Caruana." The Candidates Round 5: Nepomniachtchi takes the lead

If a Russian is in the Finals, it will be the second time after 2008 when former WC Kramnik lost to former WC Anand:

2008	Germany	Bonn	Viswanathan Anand (3)	Vladimir Kramnik	3	1	7
2010	Bulgaria	Sofia	Viswanathan Anand (4)	Veselin Topalov	3	2	7
2012	Russia	Moscow	Viswanathan Anand (5)	Boris Gelfand	1+1	1	10+3
2013	India	Chennai	Magnus Carlsen	Viswanathan Anand	3	0	7
2014	Russia	Sochi	Magnus Carlsen (2)	Viswanathan Anand	3	1	7
2016	United States	New York City	Magnus Carlsen (3)	Sergey Karjakin	1+2	1	10+2
2018	United Kingdom	London	Magnus Carlsen (4)	Fabiano Caruana

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[aufheben]

@Harbour Dog got your message, I'm on now if you're around.

 

[Ben Grimm]

"Ian Nepomniachtchi goes into the second rest day of the Candidates Tournament leading by a full point after beating Ding Liren with White on Monday. The only other player with a plus score is Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who was worse but managed to hold a draw against Wang Hao. Anish Giri defeated Kirill Alekseenko in a game that lasted over seven hours, while Alexander Grischuk had to be precise to split the point with Fabiano Caruana." The Candidates Round 6: Nepomniachtchi wins again, widens the gap

 

[Ben Grimm]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3

Never play the French against a Frenchman

The Candidates: Postponed after Round 7

"Ian Nepomniachtchi went into the second rest day of the Candidates Tournament leading by a full point. The only other player with a plus score was Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In round seven the two played each other, and Vachier-Lagrave, who had the white pieces, outplayed the Russian and caught up with him in the standings table, a full point ahead of the field. The remaining three games ended drawn." The Candidates: Postponed after Round 7

 

[Harbour Dog]

I was so disappointed when I turned it on this morning and found out. Wasn't able to get back to sleep in the two and a half hour wait until work then, either.

So ends the last professional sporting distraction from the pandemic.

 

[Ben Grimm]

I was so disappointed when I turned it on this morning and found out. Wasn't able to get back to sleep in the two and a half hour wait until work then, either. So ends the last professional sporting distraction from the pandemic.

Agreed. I got depressed and took a nap. If you find out anything about any IM/GM online tourneys, please pm me or post it here.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Agreed. I got depressed and took a nap. If you find out anything about any IM/GM online tourneys, please pm me or post it here.

Will do!

I know Rensch had mentioned a couple times during the tournament that they would try to get some of those going.

 

[aufheben]

@Harbour Dog I want a rematch later.

 

[Baby Duck Homme]

This thread is giving me flashbacks to chess club in High School.

Your finger slipped off your bishop. Touch move!!

 

[Harbour Dog]

@Harbour Dog I want a rematch later.

Haha, I'm just getting on again if you're able to play!

 

[NYRangers16]

Lmao, not enough patience to watch a full baseball or basketball game.

I played a lot over the board between 16 and 20 years old, but only over the last couple years have I started playing online.

I've got nearly 3000 games under my belt on chess.com now, and I'm still learning new ways I should be responding in my openings, which have been mostly the same since game 100 or so. And I'm relatively weak at end game tactics.

I think I enjoy analyzing openings and figuring how to steer them into the middle games that I want more than actually playing the game. I play the Sicilian as Black, and just this morning I spent an hour going over a specific, rare variation of it (McDonnell Attack, Tal Gambit) #NextLevelNoLife

Edit - nearly 2600 games

'Been playing since my dad taught me how to play when I was 6. He stopped playing me after a few months because he couldn't beat me anymore lol. Chess.com is definitely where it's at but i'm still learning openings/counters.

 

[NYRangers16]

Anyone ever play shotglass chess? Now that's some serious fun...

 

[Harbour Dog]

'Been playing since my dad taught me how to play when I was 6. He stopped playing me after a few months because he couldn't beat me anymore lol. Chess.com is definitely where it's at but i'm still learning openings/counters.

Very similar for me. I think I was in grade two or three when he taught me, but after our first game he never won again and soon stopped playing.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Anyone ever play shotglass chess? Now that's some serious fun...

I've played shot glass checkers once.

And me and a buddy in university used to occasionally play chess where the winner of a game had to shotgun a beer before he could set up his pieces for the next one. It was intended to even the scales haha.

 

[Ben Grimm]

The 6.a3 Najdorf Sicilian

Another attempt is represented by 6.a3, the value of which is what I will be trying to evaluate in this article as far as possible from the point of view of both players. So then: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.a3!?. The move 6.a3 attracted some attention when world champion Magnus Carlsen used it at the Wijk-aan-Zee tournament in 2017 against Najdorf expert Radoslaw Wojtaszek and won his game, whilst on the previous day Karjakin had also used the line (against Giri and had drawn). But since then the setup had not really got beyond the status of a surprise weapon. I am, however, of the opinion that even as such a surprise weapon it can be of good service to players with White; so Najdorf players should not under-estimate the move 6.a3.

Venomous as venomous can be​

 

[Harbour Dog]

The 6.a3 Najdorf Sicilian
Venomous as venomous can be​

I avoid the Najdorf with 5...e5, keeping an Open Variation Sicilian, but I've recently started playing a6 sometime in the next few moves, in some lines, and when I scrolled down to the "Najdorf setup" I see several familiar positions.

Good find, thanks!

 

[NYRangers16]

Very similar for me. I think I was in grade two or three when he taught me, but after our first game he never won again and soon stopped playing.

Haha our poor dads. But I'm thankful he taught me

 

[NYRangers16]

I've played shot glass checkers once.

And me and a buddy in university used to occasionally play chess where the winner of a game had to shotgun a beer before he could set up his pieces for the next one. It was intended to even the scales haha.

With checkers it almost doesn't matter lol. And yeah the only time my friend in college ever beat me was in that shotglass game - every piece taken was a drink, and we further evened it out by his being filled with beer. Good times.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Marin's English Love

"Marin mentions in the beginning this repertoire is based on 1.c4 followed by 2.g3. Obviously the move 2.g3 has the advantage to avoid the lines where Black plays ♝b4, such as after: 1.c4 e5 2.♘c3 ♝b4"

A lifetime love for the English​

 

[aufheben]

Marin's English Love

"Marin mentions in the beginning this repertoire is based on 1.c4 followed by 2.g3. Obviously the move 2.g3 has the advantage to avoid the lines where Black plays ♝b4, such as after: 1.c4 e5 2.♘c3 ♝b4"

A lifetime love for the English​

Against the English I’ve been trying the Caro-Kann, 1...c6. White can play 2.Nf3 or 2.e4 (the Accelerated Panov Attack), then 2...d5.

 

[aufheben]

I noticed my winning % is slightly higher with black, and two of my best games were with black.

 

[ecemleafs]

this page looks like an advanced math problem

 

[aufheben]

this page looks like an advanced math problem

Chess notation definitely takes some getting used to.