I was played a game and when I looked at the game review it said that Qf6 was a brilliant move, can someone explain why please ?

I am 1200 chess.com and constantly have a losing record with the white pieces. Int he last month I have only won 45% of game with white(losing 52%) but with Black I am winning 54% games (only losing 42%) I have noticed thay this has been a trend for as long as I have climbed out of being 800. I used to be a London player with white but recently I switched to the English with slightly better results then before.

With black I play the Kings Indian or Pirc mostly.

Any advice for changing this? Do I just need to study more with white or ?

I know some, if not all, of the puzzles on Lichess are derived from actual games, which I find much more enjoyable than some cooked up mate in 8!

Wondering if Lichess notifies you if they are using one of your games for a puzzle posting?

Does giving knight odds really help the weaker player? Or even equalize? It seems to allow for an earlier castle move, thereby getting connected rooks sooner.

Wanting to try (fry) my brain at blindfold play. Have tried VerbalChess on Android and it's working, but would like to compare other apps to test the voice to move playability. Thanks for any input!🤖

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https://preview.redd.it/6d7vp8kdo28a1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a48190e0bc5ca070561bba1fccc0865607cf415

My daily practice right now basically consists of playing as many tactics puzzles as I possibly can and then playing at least two online games and analyzing them. I find that if I play more than two I don’t have the time to analyze. I’m also reading a few chess books, currently “Everybody’s Second Chess Book” by Dan Heisman. It is literally my second chess book and I think it’s phenomenal. I’m not at all sure that this is optimal use of my time. Can anyone point out any changes that I should make to my practice? I’m losing more games then I win currently but I really do think I’m slowly getting better. I’m just not entirely sure of my direction. Any tips would be great. Thanks!

what do you think about memory in chess, how much can i really gain from it, i am really good at it and i wonder if i can progress by analizing every possible move with stockfish till move 40 or so in a certain opening and just memorize all that thing (i am have played for a year and i am around 1900 on lichess)

thanx

Free at http://ba.net/juegos/crazychess Is a variation of reallybadchess. Available free on desktop and mobile. Enjoy.

Hi Guys

Unfortunately I don't have a good opening analyser and I'm pretty trash overall at Chess (only studying a little bit when younger, don't have much time anymore)

I do enjoy a few 5m games online when I get the opportunity, I like Sicilian opening as black because I prefer sharp openings and open games. I also prefer book openings because the themes are consistent and patterns are more familiar. I am 100% certain with sub-optimal openings I don't capitalize on opponents mistakes enough

One funny answer for 2) c5 I commonly see from white is 3) Bc4

What ideas/squares/pieces should I be focusing on to punish this sub-optimal opening

I see 3) Kc6 has the best w/d/l ratio for black

I've also seen the weird 3) Qf3

What ideas/squares/pieces should I be focusing on to punish this sub-optimal opening?

Any really simple advice on basic fundamentals of opening are accepted humbly

Thanks for your help

edit: a strikethrough and line break

Hello chess masters, me and my gf played a game which ended with a draw which I don't think is true. I was black and she was white. I made my move and the app said it was a stalemate. The problem is I don't see how it could be a draw because to me it seems the game could only end in my win. Could someone please tell us if this was a problem with the programming of the app or was it indeed a stalemate? Screenshot of the board: https://imgur.com/p9Z0IGs

Hi, im looking for someone to tutor me in chess. I know the rules, but i do not know any strategies. Thanks in advance!

Hello /r/betterchess,

I have two main questions for you today, which are as follows:

1. How do you go through a tactics book?
2. Do you need a tactics book at all?

I find it easy to go through chess books such as Logical Chess or other annotated collections over a real board, since the games progress naturally. But how do you get through a tactics book? Do you set up each position, one after another? Isn't it too time consuming?

With chesstempo as my main tactics practicing resource, do I need a book at all? What advantages would a book for beginners such as Tim Brennan's Tactics Time, for example, have over chesstempo's standard, unpaid tactics?

Thank you in advance

Hey guys! I've been researching the Benko Gambit and am having some problems with a certain line.

[pgn]1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bxa6 7.e4 Bxf1 8.Kxf1 d6 9.g3 Bg7 10.Kg2 O-O 11.Nf3 Nbd7 12.a4 [/pgn]

I really have no idea how to strategically meet the ideas behind the 12. a4! Benko Gambit.

Any help?

So I wanted to play a more accurate game than I usually do, and really work on my play, rather than just playing the same moves I normally would with my go-to openings. So I upped the time controls to 15|10 (instead of my usual 2|1 and 5|2 games), and I decided I’d make use of one of my old openings from when I was just starting out. I played as black in this game. Here it goes:

[pgn][Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2014.07.19"] [Round "?"] [White "SixT4Square"] [Black "PlayChessLikeHockey"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1305"] [BlackElo "1366"] [TimeControl "15|10"] [Termination "PlayChessLikeHockey won by resignation"]. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 {This was the one move I wished he wouldn’t play. I didn’t have a plan for it, and plenty of times I’ve heard the motif “to take is a mistake,” and as I saw exd4 would mean white ends with his pieces active and mine all in home positions, I opted to try and grab the center with} 3...f5?! {Upon entering this into the computer, it told me this was a mistake after Nxe5 and that I should have taken. Any explanations?} 4.exf5 exd4 5.Nxd4 Nxd4 {I did end up trading here (which allowed white to end more developed) but that was to prevent Nxc6 doubling up my pawns.} 6.Qxd4 d5 {to develop my light square bishop, and capture the pawn on f5 that I left during the gambit} 7.Bd3 Nf6?! {computer suggested c5 now, but I did it next move. Oh well.} 8.O-O c5 {The aim of this move was to deflect Black’s queen (for tempo), and then force the white bishop off of the diagonal, allowing me to capture on f5.} 9. Qe3+ Be7?! {Computer suggests 9…Qe7, which I considered, but I wished to keep my queen for this game. I had a sneaking suspicion I’d need it later.} 10. c3? {Computer suggested Bb5+ here for white, if you were curious} 10... O-O {Darn! The bishop now has a place to go and remain on that diagonal! I guess I’ll just castle to add an attacker on f5 after Ng4 or some other discovered attack on the pawn.} 11. Nd2 a6 {Sometime after castling, I changed my plan, an instead wished to chase away the queen, and what better way than a discovered attack? They often keep tempo, and tend to scare away the queen before the move even gets played. I decided Re8 would be a good move for this, but had to defend against Bb5.} 12. Nf3 Re8 13. Qd2? {The computer called this move by white a mistake, and the game returned to being equal} 13... Ne4 {Aha! When I looked at this move, I felt I had finally found the way to regain that lost material from the opening!} 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15. Qxd8 Bxd8 {took with the bishop rather than the rook to keep some form of protection on my e-pawn} 16. Nd2 Bxf5 {Yay! Finally recaptured!}17. Nc4 Bc7 {I had just read an article before this game about Rook lifts, and thought I’d try one out in this game because it looked promising in this situation, with my two bishops lined up with the g2 and h2 pawns. Re6 followed by Rg6 should do the trick, I thought.} 18. Be3 b5 {In attempt to save the c-pawn and eventually trade bishops, I pushed the knight away with tempo, and follow up with Bb6. I don’t know if trading bishops is the right idea, but I tend to not play well with them. Is trading the bishops here the right idea?} 19. Na3 Bb6 20. Rad1 Rab8 {Protecting that bishop during the trade I mentioned earlier, as well as preventing a skewered pawn if Rd6} 21. Rd6 Re6 22. Rfd1 c4?! {computer’s analysis called this an inaccuracy, but it looks like a fairly equal and playable game after this, so I’m not to concerned.} 23. Rxe6 Bxe6 24. Rd6 Bxe3? {I didn’t even notice the possibility of 24... Rd8. I can see that this would have been a very sharp move, but I didn’t see it during the game, or even in my look over the game without the computer. It would have meant checkmate had white taken either bishop. However, after Rxd8 Bxd8, I don’t know what to do. The computer shows ( 24... Rd8 25. Rxd8+ Bxd8 26. Nc2 Kf7 27. h3 Bd7 28. Nd4 ), but I’m not sure how I’d play from this position, and I feel like I am very strong and comfortable with a rook and pawn(s) endgame, so I would have opted for the move I did anyway.} 25. Rxe6? {The computer suggested fxe3 here for white, and my next move is why…} 25... Bc1 26. Rxa6 Bxb2 27. Nb1?? {Black suggested this instead for white: ( 27. Ra5 Bxc3 28. Rxb5 Rxb5 29. Nxb5 Be5 30. a4 c3 ) but said I would still have a moderate advantage. If you don’t see why this was a blunder, its because my next moves force the loss of the knight, or he loses the game by checkmate!} 27... Rd8 28. g3 Rd1+ 29. Kg2 Rxb1 30. Re6 Bxc3 31. Rxe4 Bd2?! {The computer suggested ( 31... Rb2 32. a4 bxa4 33. Rxc4 Bb4 34. Kf3 a3 35. Ke3 ) which looks much nicer to me, but I definitely wasn’t capable of looking that far ahead and keeping track of the pieces.} 32. a4? bxa4? {So the computer suggested c3, which I now see would have been better to rush the pawn forward, as it would win the race to the end of the board. But during the game, I didn’t consider this (because I didn’t see it). I did think, however that I should chose to take because it brought my pawn another file away from the king, furthering my chances of queen-ing it.} 33. Rxc4 a3 34. Ra4 Bc1? {Black resigned, but I think I made a wrong move here. I found Bb4 after the game.} 0-1 [/pgn]

The computer analysis called this game’s opening “C44: Scotch Game”, if that helps anyone.

Link to the game on chess.com: http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=864778552 Link to the computer’s analysis on chess.com: http://www.chess.com/home/computer_analysis?id=864778552&game_type=2

As soon as I captured the pawn on f5 with 16… Bxf5, I felt like I had a slight lead and was gaining control of the game. Was I right?

When I made the move Re6, I did it with the intention of trading pieces. The computer suggested 22... Rf6 23. h3 Kf7 24. Nc2 Rxd6 25. Rxd6 Be6 26. b3 as a follow up, but I don’t see the advantage in any of this… the computer calls it a “drawish position”. I don’t see what I can do from here that would be beneficial to me. It looks like I have no play from here, and white is in my camp with his rook! Why is this position better for me than after 22… c4? (It shows 22... c4 23. Bxb6 Rxb6 24. Rd8+ Kf7 25. Nc2 Bg4 26. R1d7+ as what white should have played, but I don’t see this as necessarily bad for me either. So basically, was it better for me to try this supposedly less accurate move to try for the win?

On 28… Rd1+, is that still called a fork, even though its with a rook? I never really hear people calling it a fork with anything other than a knight, and rarely a pawn or queen.

At the end of the game, had I continued with Bb4, it was suggested that I play ( 34... Bb4 35. Kf3 Rb2 36. Ke4 a2 37. Ra8+ Kf7 38. Ra7+ ). I can see that to get the pawn to the final square on the 1st rank, I would like to play X…Bc3 (X+1). Kd3 Bf6 with the idea of moving my rook off of my bishops diagonal, either giving check, or more likely, taking a pawn on the 2nd rank. But how do I get to do this? Can someone show me how to get out of the perpetual check I seem to be staring down?

I felt very accomplished after this game. New standard rating of 1366 after this game, and successfully deployed a few tactics I'd learned over the past 2 years. But i want to improve! So constructive criticism is very much wanted!