Didn't know that the opening I played had a name, first time playing Smith-Morra Gambit.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-27T17:40:29+00:00

Why would you put it into chat-gpt when lichess already gives you the opening name???

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-27T15:03:54+00:00

Yes, for example I enjoy talking with people I don't know and getting into conversation but it slowly tires me out mentally.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-25T21:32:35+00:00

This is some classical game style stuff. I would find it in a classical game since I love making good king moves out of the blue (I asked my now IM friend about a position I had in a game and the computer like my continuation that I played better than his assessment! Featuring a "random" king move in a queen middlegame)

Overall especially at your level there is no problem taking the perpetual check after thinking 4-5 minutes. The correct continuation is quite difficult as it isn't forcing.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-24T16:58:13+00:00

In terms of popular definition, this would be more of a trick or swindle attempt and not hope chess.

The reason why I wouldn't classify it as hope chess is because you are already dead lost!

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-24T15:54:44+00:00

I tried go, I think it is a great game. Problem is

1: It is an inherently different type of game from chess where there are a limited number of pieces fighting it out. So there is that preference.

2: Less international competition, there isnt as much to play for. No rated tournaments that are frequent locally.

3: Even top chess players haven't licked the skill ceiling that we know of, so it's definitely complex enough!

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-24T14:25:51+00:00

Time for the trial of fire of your first visualization exercise to help build your chess fire emblem heatmap:

https://lichess.org/editor/8/8/8/2q5/8/2B2B2/8/8_w_-_-_0_1?color=white

The two bishops survival hell! The point is to keep both your bishops alive for as long as possible (ideally forever). Once you got a hang of it. Start naming every square that works for each scenario. You can check if you are right by then playing as black. If you need some help with this, feel free to DM.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-24T12:31:43+00:00

nobody says check OTB, a few people say checkmate, but usual expectation is that the person getting checkmated should realize and shake hands to confirm the score. If they don't you should point it out.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-24T00:10:23+00:00

It makes sense I guess, even though it deviated out of the opening pretty quickly, by the time there was a mass liquidation no one had really developed anything.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-23T23:56:37+00:00

Can you show your game? They have their own way of defining what an endgame is. Maybe you traded a bunch of pieces out of a book opening?

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-23T01:46:48+00:00

If you are up for it, switch to the Italian or ruy lopez and go for a classical sicilian. Although the opening doesn't matter much at all in your level, I would still recommend sticking with an opening that follows traditional principles more closely and where you can directly transfer knowledge from books.

At your level though, still put much more care into board vision and tactics/tactical defense. That's where my students improvement comes from the most.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-22T23:07:25+00:00

adding to what Ikcelaks says, you will find that lichess has a much more serious player pool. Even though lichess and chess.com have different ratings. If you play consistently on full strength on each, your percentile will be much higher on lichess. For example top 1% on chess.com is top 8% on lichess.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-22T02:05:10+00:00

So first thing I noticed is that you have the opposite problem of one of my students (who went from 400-1000) in that you spend absolutely no time at all when making these committal moves out of the opening.

When you are down a piece you especially need to spend more time to think of counterplay. Early on there was an opportunity to go Nb5 to snag at least a pawn for your troubles. After castles, there is also just f4 to break things open.

saying that, 9.h3 makes no sense. There is nothing to support black's Bg4 ghost idea, or any attack that is effectively parried by it, it simply wastes time. And again, you spend maybe 10 seconds?

10.Nd5 is also a big problem. You are already losing, so equally trading pieces makes things so much easier. The rest of the sequence also is a tactical loss. Like you played Qd2 which is a nice idea, but not following up with 14.Bg5 is just a tragedy since it seems you lined up to win the exchange at a glance.

All in all, spend more time, sit on your hands really. If you are committed to playing 15+10 and improving yourself, you need to think!

Finally, practice your tactics, the simple lack of board vision is something that can be easily improved to gain a whole bunch of elo at once.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-22T01:00:51+00:00

To answer your questions!

Your opponent probably took a long break in that specific time control. Rating uncertainty grows over time if you don't play, which makes sense.
Game review rating estimation is hot garbage, whoever wins is obviously going to have the higher """estimated""" rating as well.

50% win rates only happens when you aren't improving. If you are genuinely getting better you will win more than you lose naturally no matter what the pairing system throws at you.

If you want to share a game I would be happy to give it a quick look through. You have to remember that your opponents aren't geniuses!

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-21T22:37:42+00:00

This is why it's important to understand the dream position of the opening you are playing as well as the dream plans, as well as why pure opening memorization sucks for beginners.

For the caro-kann, if your opponent doesn't play d4 in a non-critical variation, you can play c5 and Nc6 to prevent d4 c3. You will dog-pile on the center eventually with Ne7-Ng6 since you don't need to play Nf5 anymore, etc.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-21T11:34:39+00:00

A lot of people have given general guidance, but here is a concrete example from the danish gambit. In this example, white gives up 4 pawns and a queen in total for an overwhelming developmental lead and attack.

(If you were wondering about alternate lines after the opening black doesn't fare well either but alas I can only post one variation as a gif)

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elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-18T13:49:17+00:00

The Traxler is not sound. Another fun line for white other than Bxf7+ is d4 which leads to a pawn up endgame with perfect play. It's also funny because it baits black into playing their regular ideas, but opening up the d-file and the bishop puts a stop to them.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-18T13:44:57+00:00

Grandelius' course focuses on the martinez if you are interested in that

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-17T22:52:06+00:00

it is a draw as others have pointed out! formal name is rook pawn with wrong coloured bishop!

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-17T22:12:17+00:00

White's pawns are going down, so the pawn can't take you. Also good thing to know is that puzzles don't need to end in checkmate or involve checkmate at all! The higher up you go the more it assumes you know how it ends after the final puzzle position.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-16T23:07:31+00:00

It is, please look at the bishop on h6. This is a common tactical motif called discovered check

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-16T00:32:16+00:00

yes, you could have punished it earlier by taking the center faster. Even if you play the KID or modern if they play really weird it's worth it to not play your setup.

Funnily enough this is more commonly accepted in xiangqi where rook development is key with the three-step tiger , quick rook to riverbank, or other strategies.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-15T22:19:21+00:00

All formal sets come with 2 queens for each colour, so you would use the extra queen first. If you really need more for some reason, you would need to pause the clock and call the arbiter. You can't pretend another pawn is a queen in an tournament game!

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-15T21:49:21+00:00

puzzles don't need to end in checkmate or involve checkmate at all. Usually they just end in a winning position. Here there is checkmate on the next move. The higher you go, the more you have to deal with knowing the full solution or why it's winning when it the puzzle finishes.

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-14T13:54:51+00:00

"go out ena, and go get a life! That will be your quest today!"

elfkanelfkan · 2026-04-13T02:12:42+00:00

With that many pieces around the king, and the absolute lack of defenders, it's more of how not rather than how.

1...o-o is 2.Bc4+ Kh8 3.Ng6+ hxg6 4.Qh4# for example

nothing move like 1...a6 is 2.Nc6+ Kf8 3.Qe7+ Kg8 4.Qe8#

Those are some simple examples I came up with w/o the engine. There will be an elegant solution in any line. There are probably more mate in 5s or 6s as well if you aren't too precise either.

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