/r/TournamentChess
The definitive forum for tournament chess and serious chess study.
The definitive forum for tournament chess.
/r/TournamentChess
I have a fide classical tournament coming up in january. I was looking at the tournament schedule and saw the hour-long inauguration. I was wondering if it's really important to attend it. Can I not just miss it and arrive 5-6 minutes before Game 1 starts??
When you calculate a chess position during your game, is it better to softly and quietly say the moves and what you think about the position? Or is it just better to just say it in your head. I been thinking about this for a while now....
Currently, I am stuck between 2 lines, after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O
Either 5. Qf6 or 5. Bd6 - I used to always play 5. Bd6 as per Gustafsson's recommendation and it's quite solid and I like it. But I am recently updating my black repertoire. Now the options I've looked at are 5. Bg4, which gets very sharp and not really my taste, 5. f6 I do not have any good resource for it and now stuck between continuing to play 5. Bd6 or switch to 5. Qf6.
I want a line that is stable and generally 5. Bd6 is, but I've seen some positions with Qf6 which look quite pleasant. if anyone can highlight which is more stable vs chaotic and the differences in the kinds of positions you get to help me choose along with your recommendation would be much appreciated
So, just yesterday my college organized a sports fest for the freshers. There were lots of sports and ofc there was chess too. (The best part was I played all my games as black)
Here's how the process to victory started. We organized a smaller tournament inside the hostel to select the players. Since I was the highest rated players in my hostel (1650 chess-com), I received a 2 round bye to avoid accidentally knocking out a strong player.
I easily won the two games and got selected for the inter-hostels. We had mid-semester exams right before the main event which meant any sort of team practice was not possible though I did puzzles and refine my openings wherever I found the time to.
There were only 3 participating hostels. I was playing board 1 for my team.
Swiss Round Stage - Game 1
I played as black. My opponent went for the Queen's Gambit which is probably one of my favorite openings both as black and white. The game went good and equal till the endgame when my opponent blundered on time trouble and resigned. My team won the first games 3-1.
Swiss Round Stage - Game 2
Next game I played as black again. I played the standard Dragon Sicilian which is my strength. It was an equal game where I entered a rook and pawn endgame which again I consider my strengths. I was running on serious time trouble (basically down to 5 seconds). I missed a very basic fork and accepted a draw by repetition. Luckily, the game ended on 2-2. Which means our team entered the finals.
Finals
We were playing the same team we played in Round 2. I Played the Najdorf Sicilian as black in response to the e4 and slowly went from an equal to slightly worse position during the middlegame. He kept pushing his queenside pawns. I missed a pawn break and then resigned after realizing that the pawns were basically unstoppable.
Luck was on our side though as we drew the game 2-2. One of our players on board 3 was able to hold a draw in a losing position and being a pawn down. Since the game was drawn, we had a 3 vs 3 rematch with the same rapid time controls.
Finals - Rematch
This was where I got ahead of my opponent mentally. I played the Dragon Sicilian as black again (the one where I missed a basic fork in endgame earlier). Almost trapped his queen (which forced a queen trade on my terms). And even then the game went towards a drawn Rook and bishop endgame where whoever played something else would lose....and he did! He moved his bishop from an important square which prevented advancement of my king. The moment he did that, I basically went full force, his bishop got trapped and he blundered his rook soon after.
Unfortunately, we lost on board 3 and again ended up with a match drawn at 1.5-1.5.
Finals - Tiebreaker
This is where the key moment comes. A 1 vs 1 tiebreaker was introduced. It was a blitz game (5|2) and asked the teams to send one player each to play the game. My teammates weren't really sure of my blitz skills but I persisted to let me handle the game.
We started. I played black AGAIN!. He went the usual e4 route and was probably expecting Sicilian again but I decided to surprise him with the Scandinavian defense. It worked, I played a simple game and then ended with a drawn king, queen and pawn endgame. He was on 1 minute and I was down to 30 seconds. I denied a pawn break by moving my pawn ahead. He went into a deep think and went down to 10 seconds. After that he could recover the time gap and eventually lost on time. (I felt bad for but I was tired and definitely didn't wanna play another game).
Aftermath
This was my first ever tournament where I wasn't playing amongst a horde of chess kids. So, definitely it was a novel experience and will always remember it as one of the best experiences. Later I came to know the guy I thrashed 2.5-1.5 in four games was rated 2000 on chess-com ( I am rated only 1650).
I realized how I spend too much time not focusing on the game while playing which I need to work out. Also, I realized the importance of learning my openings. I had prepared both the Queens and the Sicilian in advance which I believe was a major reason I was able to hold through the openings. So, will keep on improving and hope to bring another great story to you soon.
Signing off...
I'm a club-level TD being trained up. The local TD is a great person, but extremely do-it-themselves, but also technologically unsavvy. We're working on them giving up some power, but for now, we have to do some guesswork. I also don't have SwissSys yet installed on my extra PC, so I can't actively play with SwissSys myself and test it out and see what's going on.
We were running a tournament, and we do care about tiebreaks, because we always give trophies out (kid-friendly space). We posted the results, and a kid asked why he didn't win on tiebreaks. I honestly didn't know, told him the computer does the math. It was a lame answer, I'll admit, but it was chaos at the end, it always is, and it was a long day.
But the next tournament, I asked to see what tiebreaks we use. Modified Median first, Solkoff second, Cumulative third, Opponent Cumulative fourth.
1 Modified Median [Med]
Of the two median tiebreaks, this is the more standard now. It evaluates the strength of a player's opposition by summing the final scores of his or her opponents and then discarding either the highest of these scores, the lowest, or both, depending on the player's score. Players with exactly 50 percent score are handled as in the regular Median system. Players with more than 50 percent score have only their lowest-scoring opponent's score discarded. Players with less than 50 percent score have only their highest-scoring opponent's score discarded.
Opponent | Player Name | Final Score | Round | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
7 | Person Seven | 3.0 | 1 | Win |
34 | Person 34 | 0.5 | 2 | Draw |
27 | Person 27 | 1.0 | 3 | Win |
3 | Person 3 | 3.0 | 4 | Loss |
Opponent | Player Name | Final Score | Round | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
30 | Person 30 | 1.0 | 1 | Win |
22 | Person 22 | 2.0 | 2 | Win |
1 | Person 1 | 3.5 | 3 | Loss |
10 | Person 10 | 2.5 | 4 | Draw |
Player | Modified Median |
---|---|
Tiebreak Winner | 7.0 |
Child Hero | 8.0 |
So, based on SwissSys's tiebreaks, it feels like the result should be that Child Hero did win on tiebreaks. I did think, okay, maybe we're misunderstanding "in order", and for whatever weird reason, SwissSys is calculating opposition cumulative score first. But Child Hero also would win on that tiebreak option first as well.
Idk. Monday, I'm going to get the TD to buy me SwissSys, install it on my PC, and then see if I can reverse-engineer what's going on.
My current best guess is that while he's running the tiebreaks, he's not actually viewing them. Like, maybe there's a different tab / button to display "who wins on tiebreaks", and instead, he's viewing just a basic cross-table that is sorted by rating (like you would submit to USCF).
Has anyone had any experience with SwissSys & using the tiebreaks? Is there a different print view? Does it sort the basic crosstable by tiebreaks when you enter the results?
Hello fellow tournament chess players,
I'm 1800 FIDE and need to decide how to face the Rossolimo. I started to play the Sveshnikov to get out of my comfort-zone and experience some more dynamic positions. So far I'm having a lot of fun with it, even when it is my first Sicilian and my results are tanking a bit, but that was to be expected. However, I can't really decide what to play against the Rossolimo.
There are three main variants as it seems to me: 3. ... Nf6, 3. ... e6 and 3. ... g6.
So my questions are:
Thank you guys in advance for your help and opinions!
Hi, I am a marshall player. I have my repertoire set except against the 8. d4 Anti-Marshall. Now black has two options, 8. Nxd4 or 8. d6 which transposes into the Yates variation. I have 0 experience in both of those lines and I would hope another Marshall player or someone familiar with this 8. d4 Anti-Marshall to explain which one to go for.
They both look quite tricky but this line is not supposed to be very challenging for black, at least at the top level.
Which one is more positional and which is more tactical?
How easy is it to equalise in each line?
Is there a YouTuber who can discuss the example games from this book?. If so tell me the name, because it will be very useful to discuss or see how an title player solves all this problem sets.
Coming from a 2000 cc perspective but that’s 2000 through tactics and not through positional understanding, and looking to learn more about the ruy:
In the Mainline Closed Ruy after 7… d6 8. c3 0-0 (while I’m here, why isn’t Bg4 played very often at master level? not the main question but seems like it’d be sensible since white’s next move is in order to prevent it, but seems to score awful for black) 9. h3, what is the character of the ensuing positions of each of the main black responses? Na5, Nb8, Bb7, etc. is one more tactical than the others, for example? I’d imagine they’re all very positional just purely bc of the nature of the Closed Ruy but is one easier and more intuitive to play, one that requires more prep bc of difficult to find moves with strange ideas, what kind of player would play which of those lines I suppose is my question. Or is it all pointless to distinguish because the plans are more or less the same depending on what happens to the pawn structure in the centre.
Additionally, in the Yates Variation, Bogoljubov line where knight takes e4 is that even that bad for black after Qd7? That is to say: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 0-0 9. d4 Bg4 10. Be3 Nxe4 11. Bd5 Qd7 and then let’s say 12. Bxe4 d5 13. Bc2 e4 14. Nbd2 exf3 15. Nxf3, I very often hear of 10… Nxe4 listed as a blunder or a great mistake but this position - following a series of fairly forcing moves from what I can tell - really doesn’t seem all that bad for black, even in comparison to the positions after not taking that pawn at all.
If a 2200 is playing against 1800-2000 how do they ensure wins when playing black?
I don't require specific lines or repertoires - I know Chess Structures by Flores Rios is an attempt to understand pawn structures that arise from openings, but he doesn't cover fluid openings where pawn structures are not fixed and plans to address them. For instance, are there any books or courses that focus on Nimzo-Indian and general ideas to look out for as Black in certain situations?
Hey, I have the Fritz 19 software which I use to review my games. It spends X-time (I use 30sec/move) checking for blunders etc. I use the Stockfish engine instead of the Fritz one. Anyway, at the end it tells you how many mistakes/inaccuracies and gives you a score for your accuracy. If it’s 0.50 then on average you were half a pawn out per move.
I was just wondering if people find this good or not, and what other people use? The chess.com one is very fast but likely not as accurat, even though it gives good descriptions for its advice.
Hey I am looking for a good video opening course for the white side that is explaining the ins and outs of the opening and not just showing me all the variations. I want to let the video play on my second monitor at work that is why I want a video course.
Right now I am playing e4 and am thinking about getting KiS 2.0 video (already have the book but it is so dense) or maybe the e4 simplified with video.
Id like to play mainlines and no Londons and stuff but I dont really know something good besides the courses on chessable.
Do you guys have some recommendations that I am not aware off before the black friday sales start? For reference my playing strength is like 1550-1600 dwz.
In the line 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Nd5, what is the idea behind 3. Nd5? Is White simply aiming for the bishop pair, or is there a different strategic goal? Is it worth to play or rather keep it simple with avoiding the entire line with 2. g3?
Giving this another go. Just looking for someone who is 1750+ (honestly anywhere up to 2000 online) who wants to chat about chess, swap some puzzles to do and play some rapid. It can be an off and on type thing if you’re busy. Feel free to DM me
I’m playing someone who either plays 1.d4 queens gambit and I’m going to play the slav, or plays the 1.Nc3, the van geet. Any good vids on these openings. I’m black and the guy is about 50 elo above me (FIDE). I’m not very familiar with these openings so I think I’m cooked.
In case anybody is unaware, Chessbase has released v18 of their software.
Hi all, im looking for online places where I can play some semi serious long format chess or training games as I have no where locally to play so I can only play the odd weekender and feel that when I queue for a random long game on lichess or chess dot com I just cant take the game as seriously.
Thanks again (1700 FIDE for reference)
Hi all, I'm currently a 1900 USCF player who's been at a crossroads of sorts lately. I've almost exclusively played the London System for most of my competitive lifespan using a Chessable Lifetime Reportoire on the opening and recently have been thinking of making a change due to difficulties trying to improve with the opening. In general, there's just less resources on playing london middlegames than these century old openings, which makes improvement hard. I've been thinking of switching to either maining queens gambit or e4, both of which I know a great deal of theory for already. To improve then, in general with these new openings or even staying with London, would it be best to try to learn specifically positions arising from, let's say the queens gambit, stuff that would apply most to what I see e.g. studying Queens Gambit Declined by Mathew Sadler or would I find the most chess improvement studying general chess principles, studying tournaments like Zurich 1953, Alekhine 1924 or My System or how to Reassess your Chess.
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What's your take on the Triangle Setup? I'm getting to the level where I'm seeing a ton of the early Qc2 line and Marshall Gambit. Even when I play the Stonewall my opponents adopt a safety first approach that necessitates me playing on both sides of the board in a drawn-out fashion.
This was a game played by a 2000 fide rated vs a FM So I was watching a game when I saw this set-up so basically instead of the usual Nbd7, Re8, then e5. Black went for Nfd7 instead and went for e5 then Nc6 which surprised me because I never seen before. What are your thoughts about the opening?. And which side would you rather play?
Hi All,
I just finished my first tournament after not playing OTB chess since high school twelve years ago. The tournament was a blast and I got 2/5 which I was happy with after the first game made me realize how rusty I actually was. I had a good conversation with my last opponent, a player much stronger than I, and he gave me some good advice for studying and continuing to improve. The following is what I came up with. I hope I'm not too much of a beginner to post here. I did try r/chess first, but I didn't get much feedback outside of "more tactics."
I can probably devote two hours a week to chess. Following the 20-40-40 break down, that gives me:
~30 mins/week: Opening Improvement. I'm going to start with a couple short and sweet chessable courses and then maybe look at some opening books later.
~50 mins/week: Middle game improvement. In every single game I struggled with deciding on a plan. My strong opponent suggested Silman's Reassess Your Chess. I'll spend 25 minutes reading that and 25 minutes working on puzzles. I have a copy of Chess by Lazlo Polgar.
~50 mins/week: End game improvement. I bought a copy of Silman's endgame course and will work through that.
I'll also try to get in at least one 15 minute game a week and analyze without the engine first.
How does this sound? I'm not trying to become some kind of top competitor, but I would like to enter more tournaments and create a life long habit of chess improvement.
I know FIDE has restrictions on TDs not being allowed to change published pairings (unless there is some violation that occurs, i.e. players played already) but are USCF-only tournament directors allowed to do so? I was already re-paired twice in a row in a specific tournament without being informed ahead of time, which from a tournament perspective gives certain advantages to other players (i.e. I cannot prepare for a pairing, while other players can). It'd be one thing if there were no preemptive pairings in the first place, but I feel almost cheated having to go into a game with utterly worthless prep when others can do so.
I’m sleep deprived and playing a 1700 OTB player, he is having a perfect tournament and it’s the last round (7/7 win). I’m sleep deprived af and slept for 4 hours last night. Should I just resign? I’m about 1300 otb btw. Tourney in 40 minutes. Played a 10 min game just then and hung my queen. Cannot ask for a postponement now since there isn’t enough time. What should I do
Hi all,
I just recently got back into chess more seriously, and decided to purchase Chessbase 17 (bad timing, 18 is coming out shortly). I have been studying the Two Knights Defense, and I noticed that when I search for games in a given position, the Online Database returns way more games than the local Mega Database.
Is that expected behaviour? If not, what can I do about it? Can I reach out to Chessbase support somehow and inquire?
Thanks!
P.S. I have decided to switch to e5 after playing the French for 15 years and I am loving it! I wish my coach had pushed me towards e5 rather than e6.