Game Of The Week
Back when I was playing a ton of blitz games to improve my chess instead of actually reading some chess books, I would make all kinds of mistakes in the first few moves. As I fell into all kinds of traps and swindles, I would make a mental note and learn to avoid them in the future.
So, I learned opening theory by just trying to eliminate those things that were making me lose games. One of the holdovers from those early days was my theoretic novelty in the Caro-Kann: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 last book move 4...Qa5.
I won a ton of games doing this and even stronger players seemed to have a hard time punishing this (especially in blitz). I think part of the reason it worked for me (and why I liked it) was that it violates the axioms, “Never bring out your queen too early!” and “Never move a piece twice in the opening!”
The first piece I was moving was the queen and usually I had to move it twice in a row. Clearly, it had to be a mistake.
In fact, after this game against Istvan Hornyak, he said the same thing many opponents say to me in the post mortem, “Qa5 is a mistake, but I couldn’t figure out how to punish it.”
And Fritz agrees with him. After I go a pawn up and finally get my minor pieces developed, Fritz scores it, not slightly better for white, but rather white is better. But ten moves later, I get a winning position, and he loses on time in G90.
I am guessing that the psychological pressure became too much for him, “Here a lower rated player makes a blunder on move 4 by moving his queen out way too early, and I continue to develop my pieces forcing him to move the queen 2 more times, but I am not sure how to win this.”
As the minutes tick off his clock, the pressure grows. “I’ve lost a pawn, but I have the bishop pair, more active pieces, and better mobility, but I am not sure how to win this.”
When I am playing a chess game, I want to pull out every weapon in my psychological chess bag to maximize the opponent’s pressure to win.
Playing a lower rated adds a little pressure, not being able to capitalize on a mistake adds more pressure, and being way behind in time adds a lot of pressure.
But the best weapon I have is being a website publisher. Just the mere thought that millions of people all across the globe could see your loss is the nuclear bomb of pressure weapons.
But how to make sure my opponent knows this fact. Well, Brian Wall’s idea was to wear a t-shirt saying, “You look like my next email!” Fortunately, I didn’t need the shirt for this game.
 |
| Black to move |
Pressure Tactics
[Event "Southern Colorado Open"]
[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]
[Date "2001.06.10"]
[Round "4.12"]
[White "Hornyak, Istvan"]
[Black "Anderson, Paul"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "1705"]
[BlackElo "1544"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2001.06.09"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qa5 5. dxc5 Qxc5 6. Be3 Qc6 7. Qb3 a6 8. f4 e6
9. Nf3 Bc5 10. Nd4 Qb6 11. Qc2 Nc6 12. Qd2 Nxd4 13. cxd4 Bb4 14. Nc3 Bd7 15. a3
Bxc3 16. bxc3 Rc8 17. Bd3 Qb3 18. Ke2 Qxc3 19. Rhb1 Qxd2+ 20. Bxd2 Bc6 21. a4
Ne7 22. Bb4 g6 23. Bd6 Nf5 24. Bxf5 gxf5 25. a5 Bb5+ 26. Kd2 Kd7 27. Bc5 h5 28.
Ke3 h4 29. Kf3 Rhg8 30. Rb2 Rg6 31. h3 Rg3+ 32. Kf2 Rcg8 33. Kg1 Rxh3 34. Kf2
Rhg3 0-1
This Week In Chess
Tuesday May 9, 2006
On May 2, the CSCC had 19 members in attendance. In the USCF-rated ladder games (G90), Josh Bloomer bludgeoned Paul Anderson, Jason Check chose the winning moves against Joe Fromme, Tom Mullikin mustered the stronger force over Fred Eric Spell, and Dean Brown and Jerry Maier ended up kissing their sisters.
The rest of the participants played in a double, round robin, blitz tournament (G5). Here are the results:
Player Score
Virgil McGuire 11.0
Joe Pahk 11.0
Shaun MacMillan 10.0
Bill Whinemiller 9.5
Renae Delaware 7.5
Horst Wolf 5.0
Kathy Schneider 2.0
Jenna Bloomer 0.0
Comments From Email
Damian Nash, Tuesday, June 27, 2006 12:03 AM
Thanks for letting the folks on your list know about our Moab tournament!
Tim, Tuesday, August 17, 2004 8:02 AM
I really like your newsletter! You are doing a great job!
Upcoming Events
5/9 Paul’s G/20 tournament - 3-SS, CSCC
5/16 G/15, 4 rounds. Lowest rated picks opponents, CSCC
5/23 Quads, CSCC
6/10-11 Southern Colorado Open, CSCA
7/22-23 2006 Kansas Open, CSCA
8/5-6 Pikes Peak Open, CSCA
Colorado Springs Chess Club: CSCC
Denver Chess Club: DCC
Colorado State Chess Association: CSCA
No comments:
Post a Comment