Apology accepted

well perseus can you tell me about the 2 rook 1 queen on the same column issue?
thanks

Hmm..

When I was looking at this, I was thinking about 27. Ne5 ... 28. Qe3 ... 29. f4 ... 30. Rac1 since a black break must come with c5 or e5. The outposted knight incidentally stops e5 and the a1-rook goes to where the action will be. Alternatively, Rad1 isn't worse or anything.

If instead 28. Rae1, the 'plan' with Ne5, f4 and Qg4 can again be put into action; since black is likely to play Nd7 and take the knight when it gets there, the f-pawn would hang and needs to be nailed down.
At any rate, when you double the rooks, which isn't bad or anything, they are doing less than they should be, some of their potential wasted (that e5 square being very important).
I suspect part of my criticism on the rooks positions is due to the part that the attack cannot work unless black blunders completely.

I hope that's what you meant.

1.e4 c6

Umm, the only two openings I know are: Pawn on d3/e4 2 knights on c3/f3 (all other pawns in starting position), and Pawns on c4/d4/g3, plus bishop on g2 (all other pieces in starting position). I was told that learning openings is a black hole, people will simply invent new openings to confuse you and pressure you to get more nervous and play psychological games with you, and its endless. What you need, MonoThlipsi, is to learn the tactical thinking behind these openings. So I only know 2 openings

2.Nf3 e6

continuing on my opening

3.d3 d5

Finishing my opening, and thinking about the response to attack on my pawn.

4.e5 h6

Finishing my opening.

5.Bd2 Ne7

I see a chance to own the d2/h6 and d2/a5 diagonals, so I take it. Word on the street has it that owning diagonals is good for you

6.d4 Ng6

Last move of the "traditional opening". I only pick it because the computer always uses it against me! I did it in reponse to attacks on my pawn, that I didn't want to lose just yet.

7.Bd3 Nh4

Another chance to own diagonals. I take it.

8.Nxh4 Qxh4

Well I didn't want to see Nxf2+, because it would seriously compromise my position, and also leave me with no sly way to defend against a knight on f2, so I took the knight out of business. I was expecting Qxh4, and thought it was a fair trade.

9.c3 Nd7

Should I do Pawn to f3, to attack the queen? No, cause he can just move the queen to h3, thus losing my opportunity to castle kings side. Instead I want to connect my pawn chain together with c3. I see Nd7, and say to myself well that knight is not going anywhere soon because I have pawns ready to shoot it down.

10. 0-0 g6

A good chance to castle I think, while nothing serious is going on. I did not comprehend the meaning of g6, except maybe to leave a space for the black square bishop to move to, which would have been not very helpful to black anyway.

11.g3 Qd8

Now that I am castled I want to attack the queen. Force her out of my turf. Qd8 got me out of the danger zone.

12.Be3 Bg7

My b knight has nowhere decent to go, so I want to open up a bit of space for it, a safe square. Well how nice, I anticipated the bishop move. I can see into the future now

13.Nd2 0-0

Time to develop the knight.

14.Qc1 Kh7

Hihihi I have no good reason for this move. I don't understand Kh7 either

15.a4 a5

I wanted to create a line of pawns on the a5/b4/c3 diagonal, but failed to anticipate that answer

16.b3 Rh8

Ok next best thing is to support my pawn on a4. Rh8, well, I don't know what that does.

17.h4 Kg8

I want to deny the queen passage to the H column. Kg8 - why would black castle then uncastle?

18.Bxh6 Bxh6

I made this stupid move because I failed to update my board, I thought the king was still on g7 and liable to check XD. I also wanted to open up the H column to play a 2 rook/queen on the same column attack.

19.Qd1 Nf8

Qd1. Gotta save my knight somehow and make sure to not let my queen be shot down, so I maneuver around it. Nf8 - I guessed right, that knight has nowhere helpful to go.

20.Nf3 Bd7

Time to develop my knight more. Guiding it down safe squares. Bd7 - well that bishop is pretty trapped and useless right now.

21.Nh2 Be8

Well I wanna get my knight onto f6 eventually to check the king and maybe even shoot down the black queen. But I have to pass by g4 to do that, so I step backwards 1 step in order to go forward two steps as they say Be8 - I seriously wonder what the white squared bishop is doing.

22.Ng4 Bg7

Almost there to check. I was not expecting Bg7 so that plan failed.

23.Kg2 f5

I want to start maneuvring for the 2rook 1 queen attack on H column. f5 - I don't want to let my knight get shot down, I also don't want to move it back, and I also don't want to let a passed pawn pass by.

24.exf6 e.p. Bxf6

So I take it en passant. Bxf6 to be expected, since it was under attack. Now blacks kingside is seriously compromised, maybe I can pull something funny.

25.Re1 Bf7

I am uncertain whether to choose to ram the H column or the E column. Now I pick the E column, just at random. I still see no meaning in these bishop movements.

26.Qf3 Bg7

I wanna attack the black squared bishop to see what happens. Now its attacked twice and defended once.

27.Rh1 b6

Well still can't decide on the ramming move. I choose H1 now for a random whim. b6 - hmm want a symmetrical circle of pawns eh?

28.Rh3 Ra7

Hmm let me put together the ram on H. Ra7 may be a defending move.

29.Rah1 Nd7

Putting together my ram. Nd7 - Knight is still useless.

30.Qe3 Qe8

Hmm maybe I can join the ram later? By Qe3 --> h6? Qe8 - probably coming around to defend.

31.Ne5 Nxe5

E5 is defended three times and attacked twice. thats why I wanted to move my knight towards there to possibly move into a nice position, what nice position I don't know.

32.dxe5 Qb8

I shoot down the black knight. Hmm, attack on my pawn.

33.Qg5 Qxe5

Queen moves to defend the pawn. Qxe5 - well that was expected, no more pawn chain.

34.Qd8+ Bf8

I can move away from the attack on my queen and check the king at the same time. Convenient. Well should I shoot down the bishop now, or try to get a rook? Rook would be better, so I go for Qxb6.

35.Qxb6 Qc7

Hmm didn't anticipate this defense.

36.Qd4 e5

Moves out of attack zone. Queen is under attack again so retreats again.

37.Qe3 c5

Oh no, now I have a passed pawn danger on my hands.

38.c4 Bh6

I wanna shoot down some pawns. Time for queen to retreat again.

39.Qe1 e4

Queen is under attack, bishop is under attack.

40.Be2 d4

Bishop retreats.

41.Qa1 d3

Now I am desperate and make moves without thinking whatsoever

42.Bxd3 WHITE RESIGNS

Seeing that I have no hope left I just tidy up the board and resign.

Openings aren't really openings if you use them so independant of your opponent's moves. You can call them systems if you like.

You're right that people will invent things to confuse you. Usually bad things! That's where opening knowledge serves the improving player, you will more easily recognize the moves that are out of place, find what's 'wrong' with them and take advantage of it. Some opening knowledge is always better than none.

Openings have certain themes and ideas, patterns if you will. If you learn those you can play good chess even if your opponent deviates at move 11. To really improve though, you might want to consider dropping your cautious nature and strive for a center with pawns on e4 and d4 whenever allowed. Learn how to charge before you learn how to perform complex maneuvers.

why on earth does the computer always play the ruy lopez opening on me? O_o

and can you tell me in regular English what those themes and ideas common to all openings are?


thanks Perseus

The computer plays the Ruy Lopez because it has analyzed the thing into oblivion and knows it is the very best opening in e4-e5 territory.


Um, I hope you were joking. The themes and ideas common to all openings? By the gods I doubt I could because 1.) I don't know openings let alone all the themes and ideas in them and 2.) if I did, I'd have a GM title and ask you to buy my book instead :O

ummmm could you tell me the themes of the openings that you know then? yeh i was a bit too extreme on my 1st request

thanks Perseus!

Even that would take me weeks to summarize for myself, let alone make it comprehensible for everyone else.

It's not as tough as you may think though. If you look at the Advance Caro-Kann (usually reached via 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5):
- Basically, the white pawns are on dark squares, the black pawns on light squares. This makes the white LS bishop and black DS bishop powerful pieces, the other bishops are relatively weak. The central pawnstructure asks the question, can white do something with it or will black break it down first?
- On general principle black will play Bf5 making the bad bishop a decent piece. It is however somewhat vulnerable on f5 after black locks it out of the pawn chain with the inevitable e6. White may seek to kick it around a bit with pawns (which can be good and bad) or trade it off (not recommended to trade off LS bishops but it may work).
If white goes for the pawn push approach (g4, h4 etc), he will weaken himself positionally. This is only justified because black will have to entangle first (the Caro-Kann is quite cramped) before he can prove any weaknesses.
- Typically, f6 isn't an appealing strategy for black. It has a reputation for changing kingside castled positions into kingside swiss cheese when done early (same as in the Adv.French). Instead c5 is the standard Caro-Kann break to get at the pawncenter among other things. Generally c5 signals black's readiness to begin the fight in earnest. White should expect c5 and prevent it and/or make it less effective.
- Black's intentions are on queenside play (again much like the French). With sufficient counterplay and decent positional play, black will get a good endgame; usually due to an ironclad pawnchain.
- White's plans are on the kingside (where both kings will castle), if he has advanced his kingside pawns, he may push them further to roll up the kingside or to use one as a battering ram. White can succeed without pawnrollers using pieces and a well-timed sacrifice, in which case he relies on created tactics that don't come directly out of the opening.

Just grabbing a few concepts here.

I listed my thinking in my moves
Is there anything wrong with it, any logical errors, etc etc?

thanks