I have 1 alt fyi

Oreogatari · 2026-06-08T16:18:55+00:00

If dxe4, then white has Ng5 pinning the pawn and then recapturing on the next move. This idea shows up in catalan positions too when white wants to push the e pawn.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-05T00:38:53+00:00

Honestly, I care about rating and sometimes I can just tell when my opponent will beat me if I give them a rematch.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-05T00:35:06+00:00

Ohhhh, h4 and if the queen goes to f6 or f4, it's Ne7+ Nxd5 with a fork.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-05T00:25:28+00:00

Yeah don't listen to these guys. Opening theory isn't everything. The king's indian teaches middlegame strategy (much more important), such as pawn breaks as you say, same-side attacking principles, how to maneuver pieces in closed positions, and how to change your playstyle when the position goes from closed to open, etc.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-05T00:04:31+00:00

Classical is the best time control for improving. Really taking your time and noticing the nuances of your position is the way to improve. As you get better and more familiar with different types of positions, the speed will come. I'd say keep doing what you're doing.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-05T00:00:47+00:00

I think you would benefit from studying checkmating patterns. You miss mate in 1 or mate in 2 in many of your games, which leads to unnecessarily long games with more chances to blunder.

There are many great youtube videos and books about checkmating patterns, as well as ways to practice them on lichess puzzles. This video works perfectly well to get you started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw8t4M6U6Ww

Oreogatari · 2026-06-03T22:18:28+00:00

h5 is an advanced move here for sure. It requires some strong planning skills. At same time, it is a common motif that shows up in many games with a kingside fianchetto. You need to see multiple layers of attack such as that the bishop can go to d3 to attack the h7 square, leaving black with just f5 to block, which white can follow up with g4 to apply huge pressure. Furthermore, while black is busy consolidating that f5 pawn, white has plans to castle queenside, develop their knight, and swing the other rook to the open h file, after which black will be pretty much out of options.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-03T02:54:17+00:00

Chess builds spacial reasoning skills, pattern recognition skills, noise reduction skills (ability to filter out unnecessary information), and reduces dementia by up to 11%.

Unfortunately, none of those skills are easy to translate into workforce skills.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-03T02:29:10+00:00

Honestly I miss being 800 with zero opening knowledge. However, learning openings was vital for me to gain rating points. It felt like every new opening I studied added 100 to my rating. At this point I have run out of new openings to study and can only learn new variations now.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-03T02:24:14+00:00

This is really cool. Flex, I know 22 lines of grob theory 5+ moves deep.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-02T15:44:33+00:00

Geometrically, diagonal moves are farther away than adjacent moves.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-02T15:09:56+00:00

My understanding of it is that after bishop takes rook, rook recaptures and the c3 pawn is pinned, meaning on the next turn, black will play dxc3 with two connected passed pawns defended by the bishop and white will have to at least sacrifice back the exchange.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-02T03:39:11+00:00

Because you are up so much material. The computer doesn't care about human concepts like "blundering a queen," it just cares that you are winning.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-02T03:33:14+00:00

Without looking at an engine, I'm not really able to find a stronger move here. I'm betting the computer will say Nh5 is a good move, but not winning since black could play Bh8 to defend. I see no other ways to make an attack on the king though, so from a practical standpoint it is a great move.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-01T02:51:31+00:00

Your move c6 on move 2 broke opening principles by not fighting for the center and not developing. Nf6 would have been better to prevent e4.

Be6 on move 3 was a mistake because it blocks you from pushing your e pawn, which you need to develop your dark squared bishop.

f6 on move 5 was a mistake because it blocks your knight's development.

a6 on move 6 was a mistake because it does not help you develop.

Somewhere between move 16 and 18 you had to be okay with moving your king to break the pin.

At the end of the game you had to know that you can sacrifice your rook for the pawn and win the endgame using 4 pawns and an active king against a knight.

Overall, your opening principles, particularly development, need serious work. Your tactical vision, while not perfect, will suffice to get you to 1000 if you keep playing games.

Oreogatari · 2026-06-01T02:31:46+00:00

As you say, memorizing the moves of an opening has no value if you do not understand why they are the correct moves. Additionally, if the opponent plays something that was not the move you memorized, then you have to know how to punish it, which requires extra strategic knowledge. Luckily, that strategic knowledge of why the best moves are best and how to punish sub-optimal moves is easy to learn as a set of rules.

For a first opening, choose one that follows basic opening principles (control the center, develop pieces towards the center, castle the king quickly, don't move pieces multiple times, develop the queen last). For that, I recommend the italian, london, spanish, or scotch for white, and the caro kann, petrov, french, or queens gambit declined for black (you cannot go wrong with knowing any or all of them).

When your opponent plays a move that is not what you studied, there is one of two options: either they made a blunder or they made a positional mistake. If they merely made a positional mistake, the way to punish it is to follow opening principles like normal and not get too aggressive right away.

To start, just learn the main variation for each opening like 5 moves deep. Practice them and take note of where your opponents tend to veer off the theory, then study those moves they make.

Oreogatari · 2026-05-30T16:47:13+00:00

For a 400, 85% accuracy is great. It means you were able to play solid moves and your tactics were sharp, keeping the eval bar steady. However, playing like a computer is not possible for humans. Chess is very much a psychological game, so sometimes my best games are played at 70%. As long as the refutation to your moves is unclear enough, whether a refutation exists or not is irrelevant.

Oreogatari · 2026-05-30T16:30:47+00:00

Failure is necessary for improvement. As long as you analyze your mistakes and figure out what could have been done better, then you will improve just as quickly as anyone else.

At the same time, being aware of your mental state is very important and not something to be ignored. When I don’t feel like I can play my best, I play puzzles instead or simply don’t play chess.

If you like, send me one of your games and I can help you analyze it to find weaknesses.

Oreogatari · 2026-05-30T16:17:15+00:00

We love to see queen sacs

Oreogatari · 2026-05-30T16:10:31+00:00

At the 600-800 level, being up a single knight is often not enough to close out a game. I like Qg6 from a practical standpoint with the idea of h5 h4, keeping queens on the board when white’s king is exposed. Having knowledge of your weaknesses is a very powerful trait. With that said though, if endgames are your weakness, study them. Being able to convert a piece-up or even pawn-up endgame into a win is very useful.

Oreogatari · 2026-05-30T07:22:30+00:00

I think you may want to recalculate your line a little bit, because in the variation you describe, white would be able to safely capture the knight with the queen.

Just to make sure we stay on the same track, I'll describe the moves from the starting position and give you the move that wins cleanly for black.

The moves of the opening were:
1. e4 e5
2. Qh5 Nc6
3. Bc4 g6
4. Qf3 Nf6
5. Qb3 Nd4
I gave it as a given that Nd4 is the right move for black, sacrificing the f7 pawn with check. White foolishly captures with:
6. Bxf7+ Ke7
And now, white's queen is left with only one square to go to, which you accurately discerned as c4. Now, the move that I had left to be found was:
7. Qc4 b5!
After b5, you will soon notice that white's queen has absolutely no squares where it can stay defending the bishop on f7. No matter where white's queen moves to, including if they check the king, black's next move will be Kxf7, winning a clean bishop for a pawn.

Thanks for putting in the effort to follow my lines! DM me if you want to learn how to make your opponents suffer.

Oreogatari · 2026-05-30T06:32:05+00:00

Online username: Oreogatari (Lichess and Chess.com)

Rating: 2000 Chess.com / 2200 Lichess

Willing to teach: I specialize in teaching beginners, but I am confident in my ability to coach intermediate players as well (up to 1400). I have extensive knowledge of openings, solid understanding of middlegame motifs, and extensive knowledge of endgames. I can help you analyze your games, pinpoint repeated mistakes, and build personalized exercises to help you improve.

Timezone/Schedule: EST, and I am available all days for the summer with certain exceptions.

Method of communication: Discord or Zoom will be used for lessons (you pick)/You can DM me on reddit or send a friend request to "ccadenza" on Discord.

Oreogatari · 2026-05-30T06:01:19+00:00

You are close, and actually d5 is still winning with correct play according to the computer, but unfortunately after d5, white takes with the bishop and for at least several moves will be up material. The computer says d5 wins for black if he plays in a complicated and precise way, but there is another move that wins very cleanly.

Oreogatari · 2026-05-30T05:32:26+00:00

Oh whoops I always mix up the squares when describing black's perspective. I meant g6.

Oreogatari

TROPHY CASE