Monday, February 13, 2017
2017 Crooked Diagonals Round 1 Anton Taylor, 1910 - Harrison Broadhurst, 1729 Sicilian Rossolimo (B51)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nc6 4. Bxc6+ bxc6 5. d3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. Nbd2 e6 8. O-O Nf6 9. e5
Only here does Komodo 10 begin to see that White is much better. In fact this is the ideal position for white. Black's inaccuracies e6? and Nf6? have led him down a positionaly losing path. I felt here that I was completely winning. 9. ... Nd7 10. exd6 Bxd6 11. Ne4 Bc7 12. Be3 White has caught up in dynamic advantages (development), maintained his tempo, and has a permanent pawn structure advanatge due to black's isolated and doubled pawns that will eventually fall off. Black is completely lost here. 12. ... Qe7 13. Ng3 This is the best move to free the f3 knight to fight for the control of central squares. 13. ... Bg6 14. Qd2 O-O 15. h4 f6 16. h5 Bf7 17. h6 g6 18. Ne4 Rfd8 18. ... e5 is a better bid for the center and prevents with correct timing the coming disaster but Black would still have his pawn weaknesses to nurse. 19. Qc3 Bb6 20. Bg5 e5 21. Nxf6+ Nxf6 22. Nxe5
22. ... Rd6? I missed that 22. ... Qe6 23.Nxc6 Qxc6 24.Bxf6 Ba5 forces the trade of bishops or a perpetual and White's sacrifice is unsound and probably losing. Fortunately, so did my opponent. 23. Ng4 Bd8 24. Rae1 Qd7 25. Nxf6+ Bxf6 26. Bxf6 Qf5 27. Bh8 Rd4 28. Bxd4 cxd4 29. Qxd4 1-0 It amazes me how often a player in a bad looking position will not look for the opportunity to strike back (22. ... Qe6)
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Memory, the Brain, and My Chess Mastery Journey
I have been doing tactical training and going over a few opening lines in chessbase here and there recently. However, the topic that has been the most on my mind is neuroscience and how the brain works. I figure if I'm going to accomplish the goal of becoming a National Master in just one year I'm going to have to streamline the training process by "hacking" my brain for optimal function. What you'll read below is the results of that research and the ideas I've come up with for the future.
Years ago I developed this idea that chess masters are like machines constantly running. I now know for a certainty that this is not the case. While they calculate with mind-boggling speed and accuracy that is not the primary function of their brain in processing chess. In fact, according to a great study done by William Bart and Michael Atherton from the University of Minnesota called "THE NEUROSCIENTIFIC BASIS OF CHESS PLAYING:APPLICATIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF TALENT AND EDUCATION" the amateur actually calculates far more. The reasons for this are obvious once you hear them. The amateur reinvents the wheel with each game. Thinking about each position without any frame of reference. The master through years of study has in essence "seen it all before" and uses his memory recall far more to remember how to handle a situation more often than calculating. With me so far?
I have noticed that the amateurs method has been my method so far. Every game from the first few moves that I have played since this adventure started has been brand new and interesting positions (with the exception of positions I have had against much lower rated opponents where thinking was not necessary, but the former is most often the case). There is no help for this, however, because until the memories are built I'm doing the mental heavy lifting so I don't have to do it later. It would be beneficial to do more opening study and memorization but we're getting to the crux of the issue.
The real difference between the brain of the master and the brain of the amateur is the ability to take in information and hold it. I'm not just talking about long term memory but that "something" in between, the memory between short-term (remembering something for thirty minutes) and truly long term (years, months, and days). I have noticed this in most amateurs and REALLY noticed it in myself. Most of the lowest rated players I have played are juniors under the age of sixteen or so. It never fails that within thirty minutes of the start of the round their attention wavers and when they return to the fire on board they have to recalculate everything. I do basically the same thing just on a much more subtle scale. After about a half hour to forty-five minutes I find myself leaving the calculation mode (which is fine and normal), holding the calculated line in my mind for later (the desired skill to foster), and then at some interval I want to eliminate losing my grip on the information and having to start over. This has led to several losses in tournaments as well as many more losses in online blitz (because of the distracted nature of my home environment from the start).
The ability that needs to be fostered in my brain (and yours if you want to really massively improve) is this holding of attention. You or I should be able to walk away from the board, get a drink, take a break, and then return to the board still holding in our mind's eye all that previous information.
A couple of areas I have been neglecting that have been potentially linked to brain health and skills are 1) sleep - I have not been sleeping well. Long hours of study and research are not conducive to sleep or at least not restful and rejuvenating sleep. The mind must be quieted. 2)Exercise - studies have shown that immediately after exercise the brain is more capable of retaining information. This leads me to the conclusion that if I want to get better at chess I need to hit the gym (or in my personal case the martial arts mats). You would be surprised how many chess Grandmasters know something about the martial arts or sports. 3)Meditation - meditation and the state of mind achieved in its practice has been linked to granting the same memory effects as good sleeping. A greater retention of information immediately surrounding its use. Now, taking out any eastern philosophy or mysticism let's just assume that meditation as an exercise gives you a greater internal understanding and awareness of your body. To me that has to translate to a control switch for holding information in my mind and memory.
So there you have it ... some things I'll be doing moving forward to help my memory and work toward this focused ability of memory that a master uses many times without conscious thought that he is using it. I'm not going to assume this idea is the correct one and I recommend you don't make that assumption either. However, for me it is a place to start and can give me measurable results in the form of rating points. If you make these alterations and my rating goes up then I'm right. If the rating doesn't go up or is marginally raised then perhaps it is not the whole truth. Time will tell.
Years ago I developed this idea that chess masters are like machines constantly running. I now know for a certainty that this is not the case. While they calculate with mind-boggling speed and accuracy that is not the primary function of their brain in processing chess. In fact, according to a great study done by William Bart and Michael Atherton from the University of Minnesota called "THE NEUROSCIENTIFIC BASIS OF CHESS PLAYING:APPLICATIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF TALENT AND EDUCATION" the amateur actually calculates far more. The reasons for this are obvious once you hear them. The amateur reinvents the wheel with each game. Thinking about each position without any frame of reference. The master through years of study has in essence "seen it all before" and uses his memory recall far more to remember how to handle a situation more often than calculating. With me so far?
I have noticed that the amateurs method has been my method so far. Every game from the first few moves that I have played since this adventure started has been brand new and interesting positions (with the exception of positions I have had against much lower rated opponents where thinking was not necessary, but the former is most often the case). There is no help for this, however, because until the memories are built I'm doing the mental heavy lifting so I don't have to do it later. It would be beneficial to do more opening study and memorization but we're getting to the crux of the issue.
The real difference between the brain of the master and the brain of the amateur is the ability to take in information and hold it. I'm not just talking about long term memory but that "something" in between, the memory between short-term (remembering something for thirty minutes) and truly long term (years, months, and days). I have noticed this in most amateurs and REALLY noticed it in myself. Most of the lowest rated players I have played are juniors under the age of sixteen or so. It never fails that within thirty minutes of the start of the round their attention wavers and when they return to the fire on board they have to recalculate everything. I do basically the same thing just on a much more subtle scale. After about a half hour to forty-five minutes I find myself leaving the calculation mode (which is fine and normal), holding the calculated line in my mind for later (the desired skill to foster), and then at some interval I want to eliminate losing my grip on the information and having to start over. This has led to several losses in tournaments as well as many more losses in online blitz (because of the distracted nature of my home environment from the start).
The ability that needs to be fostered in my brain (and yours if you want to really massively improve) is this holding of attention. You or I should be able to walk away from the board, get a drink, take a break, and then return to the board still holding in our mind's eye all that previous information.
A couple of areas I have been neglecting that have been potentially linked to brain health and skills are 1) sleep - I have not been sleeping well. Long hours of study and research are not conducive to sleep or at least not restful and rejuvenating sleep. The mind must be quieted. 2)Exercise - studies have shown that immediately after exercise the brain is more capable of retaining information. This leads me to the conclusion that if I want to get better at chess I need to hit the gym (or in my personal case the martial arts mats). You would be surprised how many chess Grandmasters know something about the martial arts or sports. 3)Meditation - meditation and the state of mind achieved in its practice has been linked to granting the same memory effects as good sleeping. A greater retention of information immediately surrounding its use. Now, taking out any eastern philosophy or mysticism let's just assume that meditation as an exercise gives you a greater internal understanding and awareness of your body. To me that has to translate to a control switch for holding information in my mind and memory.
So there you have it ... some things I'll be doing moving forward to help my memory and work toward this focused ability of memory that a master uses many times without conscious thought that he is using it. I'm not going to assume this idea is the correct one and I recommend you don't make that assumption either. However, for me it is a place to start and can give me measurable results in the form of rating points. If you make these alterations and my rating goes up then I'm right. If the rating doesn't go up or is marginally raised then perhaps it is not the whole truth. Time will tell.
Friday, February 3, 2017
2017 Land of the Sky XXX Round 5 Garret Allen, 1853 - Anton Taylor, 1916 Dutch Defense (B80)
2017 Land of the Sky XXX Round 5
Garret Allen, 1853 - Anton Taylor, 1916
Dutch Defense (B80)
1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 Nf6 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. c4 Bb4+ 5. Nc3 c5 I didn't remember the book line against Bg5 but I felt the position before this move was fine. I spent a good bit of time here debating all of the options. It seems that there is no consensus among masters in the position either. Truthfully it is quite bad for Black. the most common move is the lackluster O-O which leaves nothing resolved and surrenders to white to decide things. 6. e3 Nc6
This move does not appear anywhere in the database but I like the energy of it. It is probably an over-ambitious treatment but the method to take advantage of the move seems difficult for white to choose. How should he respond? 7. Ne2 Qe7 At the time this seemed like an interesting way of continuing to play against the white center. Now I am not so sure. the main problem is Black's d-pawn. This may be an argument for playing d5 on turn 5. 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 d6 10. Nf4 O-O 11. g3 Bd7 12. Bg2 Na5 13. Bd5+ Kh8 14. Qh5 (14. h4! Be8 15. h5 h6 16. Qf3 Rb8 17. Ne6 and Black is completely lost) 14. ... Qe8 15. Qe2? This is the losing move. The best option was the trade of queens. 15. ... Rb8 16. O-O b6 17. Qc2?
White continues to miss the right plan and this move is completely pointless. I was very happ to see this and now I have my turn to find the right plan. 17. ... g5! 18. Ng2 Be6 19. h4 Bxd5 20. cxd5 Qe4 21. Qxe4 fxe4 22. hxg5 fxg5 23. dxc5 bxc5 24. Rfb1 Nc4 25. a4 Nd2 26. Rb5 a6 27. Rxb8 Rxb8 28. Ne1 Rb1 29. Rxb1 Nxb1 30. Nc2 Nxc3 31. Na3 Nxa4 32. Nc4 Nc3 33. Nxd6 Nxd5 34. Nxe4 c4 35. Kf1 a5 36. Ke2 a4 37. Kd2 a3 38. Kc1 c3 39. Kb1 h6? After this Black's decisive advantage is slowed down but he is still completely winning. The simple h5! ends things. 40. g4 Kg7 41. Nc5 Nb4 42. Nb3 a2+ 43. Ka1 c2 44. Nc1 Kf7 45. f4 h5 46. gxh5 g4! and white throws in the towel with the impending pawn promotion. 0-1
Garret Allen, 1853 - Anton Taylor, 1916
Dutch Defense (B80)
1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 Nf6 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. c4 Bb4+ 5. Nc3 c5 I didn't remember the book line against Bg5 but I felt the position before this move was fine. I spent a good bit of time here debating all of the options. It seems that there is no consensus among masters in the position either. Truthfully it is quite bad for Black. the most common move is the lackluster O-O which leaves nothing resolved and surrenders to white to decide things. 6. e3 Nc6
Thursday, February 2, 2017
2017 Land of the Sky XXX Round 4 Anton Taylor, 1916 - Ali Shirzad, 1695 Open Sicilian (B40)
2017 Land of the Sky XXX Round 4
Anton Taylor, 1916 - Ali Shirzad, 1695
Open Sicilian (B40)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 a6 is the more common move and probably more cautious (if not to say more accurate) 5. Bd3 Bc5? This move is not dubious but I don't like it on a principle level. Nc6 develops a knight first. I also see that Black will have to move the Bishop twice at least and White will trade his Bishop for it in one move potentially (Be3) 6. Nb3 Bb6 Be7 is more common in the position and probably is better BUT It is better to play Be7 before Bc5 because the knight is exposed on d4 but now is safe on b3. 7. Nc3 a6?
I completely missed that 8.e5! clearly wins in this position. I'm in robotic development mode. 8. Qf3 d6 9. Be3 Nbd7? Placing the knight here locks in the Bishop to the back rank and the threat of Ne5 is not that critical. 10. Be2 Preserving the Bishop pair (at least for the moment). In spite of the equal evaluation this move is given I much prefer White here. 10. ... Ne5 11. Qg3 Ng6? 11. ... Bxe3 12. Qxe3 Neg4 seems to be the most accurate line for Black. 12. f4 h4 is the better way to go about a kingside attack but I felt like it was more commital than this move (because here I preserve the idea h3-g4. 12. ... Bxe3 13. Qxe3 O-O 14. g4 e5 15. f5 Nf4 16. O-O-O b5 17. Bf3 This move turns out to give Black's counterplay a little more bite. The immediate g5 turns out to be the winning idea. I felt like Ne2 trading off the knight was necessary before the pawn storm to give open lines for the rooks.17. ... Bb7 18. Ne2 When I envisioned this position in my mind four moves earlier I did not see that the pressure black could have along the c-file keeps the balance. 18. ... Nxe2+ 19. Qxe2 Qb6 20. g5 Nd7 21. f6 g6 22. Bg4 Rfd8 23. Bxd7 Rxd7 24. Qg4 Qd8 25. Rd2 a5 26. Nc5 Rc7 27. Nxb7 Rxb7 28. Rhd1 Rb6 29. Qh4 Raa6 30. Rd5 b4 31. Rxe5 b3 32. Qh6 Qf8 33. Re8! 1-0
Anton Taylor, 1916 - Ali Shirzad, 1695
Open Sicilian (B40)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 a6 is the more common move and probably more cautious (if not to say more accurate) 5. Bd3 Bc5? This move is not dubious but I don't like it on a principle level. Nc6 develops a knight first. I also see that Black will have to move the Bishop twice at least and White will trade his Bishop for it in one move potentially (Be3) 6. Nb3 Bb6 Be7 is more common in the position and probably is better BUT It is better to play Be7 before Bc5 because the knight is exposed on d4 but now is safe on b3. 7. Nc3 a6?
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
2017 Land of the Sky XXX Round 3 Dhruv Rajaganesh, 1599 - Anton Taylor, 1916 Caro-Kann: Exchange (B13)
2017 Land of the Sky XXX Round 3
Dhruv Rajaganesh, 1599 - Anton Taylor, 1916
Caro-Kann: Exchange (B13)
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 I was unaware that this move was actually part of the mainline in the exchange (a large sample). It seemed logical to me as well as aggressive and developing. I expected the response Qb3 (which turns out again to be the mainline).7. f3?
This move turns out to be the start of a bad trend. White's best piece is the Bishop on d3 so placing pawns on the light squares is definitely the wrong way to play. 7. ... Bd7 8.h3?? This move makes the white position critical. Black is nearly winning after this move. 8. ... e6? a possible and thematic sacrifice is 8... e5 9. dxe5 Nh5 10. Bh2 Qh4+ 11. Kf1 Ng3+ 12. Bxg3 Qxg3 13. Ne2 Qxe5
That's not the best play for white but illustrates clearly the advantage of playing e5! ... e6 throws away an advantage. 9. Ne2 Nh5 10. Be3 Bd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Qc2 f5 13. f4? Nf6 After white seals off the bishop and creates an advanced outpost Black hurries to put a piece there. 14. Nd2 Rc8 15. a3 Ne4 16. Nf3 Qe8? A mistake that I regret immediately. It is an interesting idea but ultimately is just a wasted move because of the reply. 17. Ne5 Na5 18. Rf3 Ba4 19. Qb1 Nb3 20. Bxe4 dxe4 21. Rg3 Nxa1 22. Qxa1 Bb5 23. Qe1 Qh5 24. Kf2 Bxe5 25. dxe5 Bxe2 26. Qxe2 Qh4 27. Qe1 Rfd8 28. Kf1 Qh5 29. Bd4 Qe8 30. Qe2 Qa4 31. Qh5 Rxd4 32. cxd4 Rc1+ 33. Ke2 Qc2+ 34. Ke3 Qd3+ 35. Kf2 Rf1++ 0-1
This game was a much needed victory after two straight losses. This game stopped the bleeding long enough for me to mentally recover for the remaining two rounds on the following day. I'm not ashamed to say that I at chocolate the night after this game. I ate my sorrows.
Dhruv Rajaganesh, 1599 - Anton Taylor, 1916
Caro-Kann: Exchange (B13)
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 I was unaware that this move was actually part of the mainline in the exchange (a large sample). It seemed logical to me as well as aggressive and developing. I expected the response Qb3 (which turns out again to be the mainline).7. f3?
This game was a much needed victory after two straight losses. This game stopped the bleeding long enough for me to mentally recover for the remaining two rounds on the following day. I'm not ashamed to say that I at chocolate the night after this game. I ate my sorrows.
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