Chess thread

**HugoVirtuoso** · September 8, 2019, 01:49

When Fnord was around a year ago, we had some nice chats about chess on angband.live. Maybe you could re-introduce the topic sometime.

**Nick** · September 8, 2019, 05:25

Originally posted by HugoTheGreat2011

When Fnord was around a year ago, we had some nice chats about chess on angband.live. Maybe you could re-introduce the topic sometime.

I don't understand why you left out the person's name.

**judias** · September 8, 2019, 06:59

Hi, I also play chess at amateur level, in that game white does several dubiuos moves, e3, d5, h4 and Bd3
e3 has logic to fortify d4 and does not combine well with d5, e4 is a very important point and must be controlled, for this positions a tipical layout is pawns in e4 and d5 bishop in e2 and knigth in f3, if e4 becomes under attack Kd2 defends and begin to transfer it to queen´s side (b3 or c4)

h4 Why? a tempo loss, it would be better to develop another piece

Bd3, it is attacked in the next move and retreat to Be2

So, we can see two move losses and a weakness in e4 in only ten moves

**wobbly** · September 8, 2019, 12:48

Hi judias I pretty much agree and I also think b4 was suspect (just 1 weakness too many). It's strange because white's quite a high rated player but he's no longer an active player so maybe he just muddled half remembered systems in his head. Early h4 is normal in some openings but usually its the french/caro-kann structure which is completely different. Here I don't see what its meant to be doing. It's interesting, my only win against a master was a dodgy h4 move too. Must be the fashionable way to lose to weaker players. I might see if I can find that old game. It's pretty amusing to see a WFM hang their queen. It was a real gift.

**Sideways** · September 8, 2019, 15:23

Agree with what was said above: d5 and h4 both look suspect, and Bd3 is just bad, it wastes time and loses any hope White had of following up on h4 with a further kingside push.

(At the same time, I can understand the logic behind playing h4: if you are - or think you are - the better player, sometimes you just feel that urge to bash the other guy's face in, especially if the game is not that serious. I doubt White would play h4 in a tournament game against an opponent of equal strength.)

14.Ng5 was a missed tactical possibility that would have made White's position less bad. I'm a bit surprised that White never really tried to complicate, he just died a slow death through his positional weaknesses and missing pawn. Maybe he thought he could miracle-draw the endgame just by being the better player.

Nicely played game from you! I don't think there's any way to really punish your opening play, but any attempt would likely involve 5.e4 instead of 5.e3. I don't think 5.e3 is necessarily bad, but it's not a punish-someone's-opening-play move. (Of course, 5.e4 does transpose into more-played lines, so it's unlikely White can really punish you there either.)

**judias** · September 8, 2019, 16:02

e3 is not bad and can be played, it tries to go to a reversed colours french, the kingÂ´s indian attack line (1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nc65 .g3 Nf6). It is good played with black with one move less, it will be good with white. But white can not mix different ideas with d5.
There are good lines in different openings with an early h4 (two in caro-kann, two in french I remember now) but as a general rule I avoid every line with an early side pawn move. They are usually very sharp lines where one single suboptimal move means lost game.

Retired australian grand master? I can only think of one person, he played in my chess club like 20 years ago, one game he played shocked me, I still remember the opening (1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.Nc3 e5 6.O-O Nge7 7.a3 d6 8.b4 e4 9.Ng5 f5)

**Sideways** · September 8, 2019, 16:45

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply 5.e3 was bad, just that it's not the kind of move that wins a game right in the opening.

**DrWho42** · September 8, 2019, 16:45

i'm bad at chess but i still play :P

**wobbly** · September 8, 2019, 17:45

There's also a Smyslov/Petrosian variation with Bg5 & e3 but I guess he can't get into that position as I haven't played Nf6 yet.

Originally posted by DrWho42

i'm bad at chess but i still play :P

Nice. Sometimes its good to be bad, easier to find someone else of the same strength.

Originally posted by Sideways

Nicely played game from you! I don't think there's any way to really punish your opening play, but any attempt would likely involve 5.e4 instead of 5.e3. I don't think 5.e3 is necessarily bad, but it's not a punish-someone's-opening-play move. (Of course, 5.e4 does transpose into more-played lines, so it's unlikely White can really punish you there either.)

Thanks. It's certainly convenient if I can play that order because I hate the English (apologies for my racism), so if I can get to a slav after 1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 without having to play a Reti after 1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 then I'm happy.

Originally posted by judias

Retired australian grand master? I can only think of one person, he played in my chess club like 20 years ago, one game he played shocked me, I still remember the opening (1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.Nc3 e5 6.O-O Nge7 7.a3 d6 8.b4 e4 9.Ng5 f5)

Untitled. Former WA champion. There's not a lot of GMs in this country, I see more foreign GMs at Australian tournaments then Australian GMs.

Anyway found that old game I mentioned. How to beat a master - step 1: get lucky & hope they blunder their queen. She quite helpfully puts her bishop on the queen's retreat square. Also 12. h4 for some reason. Never play h4. I was pretty happy to see 5. Nc3 as someone else surprised me with 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bc4 & I got smashed. Still don't know how to deal with that line properly.

WFM - me
caro-kann (2. c4 line)

1. e4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nxd5 6. Qf3 e6 7. Bc4 Nb6 8. Bb5+ N8d7 9. d4 Bd6 10. Nge2 O-O 11. O-O Qc7 12. h4 e5 13. d5 f5 14. Ng3 e4 15. Qh5 Nf6 16. Qg5 Bxg3 17. fxg3 Nbxd5 18. Be2 Be6 19. Bd2 h6 20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Qg6 Rf6 22. Qh5 Bf7 23. Rfc1 Qb6+ 24. Resigns

Edit: That line you gave actually looks like the reverse of a closed Sicilian except for the pawn being on c5. You know: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 & push all the king pawns like a barbarian.

**HallucinationMushroom** · September 9, 2019, 02:11

I enjoy playing chess, I used to play a fair bit but never considered myself 'good'. I have no idea what my FIDE rating would be. I might be a pushover, but if you play on chess.com, feel free to add me. My username is lineandstamper. Shrugs. I prefer 3 minute a side games for fun and profit, because like when I play Angband, I can't be bothered to think. lol.

I will look at your game in depth tomorrow at work, I'm too tipply atm. But, my best game of all time, would be this one: https://www.chess.com/daily/game/30454534 36.Nxf7+ is my favorite chess memory of all time. It felt good to play it, the board just felt alive.

**wobbly** · September 9, 2019, 09:37

Nice. Not sure if I have an account but if its free I'll join. I'm actually pretty terrible at 3 minute lightning but that's fine. Almost everyone plays terrible at that speed, it's the great leveller and can be fun. If we're on-line at the same time we can play.

**Sideways** · September 9, 2019, 14:09

Originally posted by wobbly

Nice. Not sure if I have an account but if its free I'll join. I'm actually pretty terrible at 3 minute lightning but that's fine. Almost everyone plays terrible at that speed, it's the great leveller and can be fun.

I don't think fast play makes things more equal between players at all; if anything, the opposite. A good player blunders in a 3-minute game and he'll pose you lots of problems that are hard to solve so fast, and even if you do solve them all he still runs your clock out. Good players might make fewer mistakes in slower games but they do still make mistakes and when they do, you have much better chances to convert your advantage.

Of course the flip side is that the same also goes when you are the better player

**judias** · September 9, 2019, 15:52

Originally posted by wobbly

Thanks. It's certainly convenient if I can play that order because I hate the English (apologies for my racism), so if I can get to a slav after 1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 without having to play a Reti after 1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 then I'm happy.

The slav defense is maybe the most trustworthy defense out there in all of its lines, you are right trying to play it
If you do not know hoy to play against the Reti system take a look at this game: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1102115
That system is so good than most of reti players play 3.d4 instead of playing it.

**wobbly** · September 11, 2019, 19:46

Originally posted by HallucinationMushroom

I enjoy playing chess, I used to play a fair bit but never considered myself 'good'. I have no idea what my FIDE rating would be. I might be a pushover, but if you play on chess.com, feel free to add me. My username is lineandstamper. Shrugs. I prefer 3 minute a side games for fun and profit, because like when I play Angband, I can't be bothered to think. lol.

I will look at your game in depth tomorrow at work, I'm too tipply atm. But, my best game of all time, would be this one: https://www.chess.com/daily/game/30454534 36.Nxf7+ is my favorite chess memory of all time. It felt good to play it, the board just felt alive.

Hey HM, you've actually got it set so people can't add you in your settings. I created an account but I actually get intermittent lag which makes blitz unplayable, they actually seem to have a really screwy interface there. I have no problems on lichess.org & I'm on there as wobbly. I also confirmed I play pretty terrible 3 minute chess

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