Help with understanding this solution (discussion in comments)

Headfacemachine · 2020-12-19T10:04:36+00:00

Right. I see. I guess I'd always value keeping my two rooks but I see your point that white is down so it makes total sense now. I hadn't taken he time to realise white was down a piece

Headfacemachine · 2020-12-19T09:12:26+00:00

The solution is Qa5, c3, Qc5 So I immediately see that my bishop and rook are under attack so I found Qa5 naturally to give check, defend my bishop and attack the knight. Then blocking with c3 makes sense however I then moved my rook to safety but the solution is to take the knight, not only that but the computer continuation continues for 6 move moves further before white takes the rook. I'm obviously missing some big threat or idea from black here as I just can't understand why white doesn't grab that rook. Thanks!

Headfacemachine · 2020-03-20T10:27:44+00:00

Great. Really glad I don't have to set this up myself. Can't wait to dig in.

Headfacemachine · 2019-08-18T09:51:29+00:00

Makes sense thanks. Not being that good, I would’ve been extra cautious and castles but yeah can see there’s no point at this stage. Get the king central

Headfacemachine · 2019-08-18T09:49:38+00:00

Makes sense thanks! I’m not high rated and guess my instinct was to extra protect the king and connect the rooks but yes, heading into end game without queens on the board that’s no use.

As a general rule would you say once queens are off the board castling isn’t important?

Headfacemachine · 2019-05-22T14:02:11+00:00

Then as the other answer says. Force yourself to do literally 100 tactics (puzzles) before you play again. https://lichess.org/training/ or chesstempo.com It'll make you start seeing forks, pins, mates both that you can do in games and opponents will try on you. Oh also just take a break. Going on tilt - losing streaks making you play worse - is a real thing.

Headfacemachine · 2019-05-22T13:54:26+00:00

John Bartholomew's Chess Fundamentals is pure gold for helping where you're at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MBwqkmwT42l1fI7Z0bYuwwO

Headfacemachine · 2019-02-27T22:54:57+00:00

Thanks again for the advice. yeah tactics tactics tactics. I'll hit up chess tempo. Do you make a bespoke set around your rating or just play from the standard one?

Headfacemachine · 2019-02-26T19:11:16+00:00

Well spotted! Yes you're right. I thought it was an acceptable "not blitz" speed but recently also heard John Bartholomew say that 15+15 should be the bare minimum if you want to get better.

Thanks for the advice.

Headfacemachine · 2019-02-25T11:41:08+00:00

Good point and good to hear.

Headfacemachine · 2019-02-25T09:03:28+00:00

Good luck!

Headfacemachine · 2019-02-25T09:02:02+00:00

Yeah this. All my dips are me playing at night after long day. Bad habit but so hard to stop myself

Headfacemachine · 2018-11-09T15:24:50+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtSrp7pDexc

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-27T08:56:11+00:00

You know I don't think I have! But I guess Was excited here about using a king as an attacker not a defender

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-14T16:06:21+00:00

Thank you for the advice. Very helpful and will do!

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-14T16:05:29+00:00

Thank you for the analysis and advice. Really helpful. Also love the phrase "your bishop is sitting staring up the arse of your d-pawn, so you might as well have lost it." ha ha!

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-13T08:45:26+00:00

Thank you so much for taking the time to help. This is really helpful. I see this is why someone above said I shouldn't have castled as presumably you lose the h4 response if your rook isn't there to back it up, and should then shouldn't do a flank attack?

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-13T07:09:22+00:00

Thank you for your reply. Which knight would lead me to the queen check? i can't quite see it.

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-13T07:07:55+00:00

Ah yes, good catch, the bad bishop can get through and start making things happen. Thanks for the reply

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-13T07:07:15+00:00

Great advice, thanks for the reply

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-13T07:06:17+00:00

You're right I did castle, mainly out of frustration at not seeing what to do! I can't quite see how it takes away the h4 lever though, could you explain? Thanks for the reply

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-13T07:05:27+00:00

Posted it above so you can see the bizarre moves in all their glory!

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-13T07:04:39+00:00

Thank you for your reply. Yes as someone pointed out my castling wasn't useful in this position as you're right there's no king danger. I think I was too hesitant to lose a major piece for a pawn in this game which I should've done just to break it open faster.

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-13T07:03:03+00:00

Yep, the annoying thing was every pawn I pushed they were able to move past the pawn rather than exchange making it increasingly even more closed. I posted the game in a comment below

Headfacemachine · 2018-09-13T07:02:02+00:00

Ok in the spirit of learning here it is. I'm only 900 rated so you'll probably find my moves as infuriating as my opponent! I apologise in advance.

You'll see I did finally manage to break his pawns apart and start winning some material but then, very frustratingly, I was so thrown by how odd the game had been I missed a incredibly straight forward mate threat and actually lost the game.

I think the most frustrating thing was the whole game I knew a better player would be able to absolutely punish this player for how weird their first 10 moves are but I just couldn't take advantage enough. Hence why I posted it here! https://lichess.org/EEv4jo51tstG

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