Fromper's new 2008 improvement thread

[Octal]

Originally Posted by Fromper

The next big tournament for me is in three and a half weeks. It's only about a 20-25 minute drive for me, so no travel or hotel required for this one. The sections are divided by 400 point ranges, so I have a choice of playing in the "Under 1700" or "Under 2100" sections. Given that the next lower section is U1300, I'm thinking that if I play in U1700, I'm likely to play at least 1 or 2 1200-1400 rated opponents who will be pretty easy for me. But I'm still only in the 1500's myself, so playing guys in the 1500-1700 range should be good for me. But I've also proven lately that I can compete against 1700+ players, and even score the occasional upset against those in the 1800's, so playing up might be a good learning experience. I already preregistered for the U1700 section, but I'll see how I do in my games before then to decide if I want to change my mind and play up in the U2100 section instead.

--Fromper

I doubt you will really play many 1200/1400 players, as it's probably going to be a swiss, and since your rating is right in the middle of the rating range, you will be paired with the other middle-ers. But if you do end up playing someone 300+ points lower then your skill level, it would be a great time to practice playing the Fred's Gambit (1. e4 f5) as black, and Anderssen's Opening (1. a3) as white!

[Abba]

I'm not sure any time is a great time to play those openings...Yuck.

Fromp, here's what you should think about. If you play in U1700 you'll have a chance to win some money, but you may have a few cake rounds as well. If you play U2100, you won't challenge for money, but you'll have ample oppurtunities for upsets. The only problem is that you might be beaten so badly that you may not learn as much as a game w/ someone closer to your rating.

Honestly, I think that you should play U1700 as you're still not quite rated 1600 and this will be a chance to see if you can handle the pressure of being one of the better players in the section (you'll need to acquire this skill eventually if you continue to improve). It may not go as well as you hope, but it'd be a good challenge for yourself.

Maybe I'm stretching things here, but when I was on the verge of my big breakthrough (after being about 1400-1500 for 2 years or so), I played in a U1800 section and got 4.5/5 including a nice win over the highest rated guy in the section. My rating went from 1490 -> 1607 just from that one tournament. Then I played in another U1800 and shot up to 1745. It was basically an overnight 250 point rating gain as everything I studied clicked in.

Still, I don't think it'll hurt you at all to play up in U2100, and that may be a good experience for you as well.

[Fromper]

Octal, actually the Swiss system will intentionally pair people with ratings that aren't near each other. Eventually, the losers end up playing other losers and winners end up playing other winners, while those in the middle play each other, so things balance out. But I'm sure I'll be higher rated than roughly 70-80% of the U1700 section, so I'm guaranteed to have an opponent near the bottom of the pack first round. And assuming I win, I'll probably be high enough that I'll play one of the lower rated winners in the second round, too, though that'll probably be closer to my rating.

I'm definitely seeing trends in how these things play out from having played in so many. In this last tournament, I was in the bottom half, and I did well early, so I always played opponents rated 150+ points above me, despite the fact that probably 30-40% of the players in my section were lower rated than me. At the same time, there was a guy rated about 100 points above me in the same section who lost his first game and ended up only playing people rated lower than me the entire tournament.

Abba, I definitely know what you mean about sometimes playing in your own section to see if you can do well there. Check out the first post in this thread. When this year started, I was rated 1335, and I played in the U1400 section of a tournament the first weekend of January, where I was considering playing up in the U1600 instead. I won all 5 games, which boosted me to 1468, and I've been slowly coming up from there ever since.

Now that I'm in the 1500's, I've played in the U1800 section of the last two big tourneys, even though there was an U1600 section available at one. I scored 1.5/5 in the last one and 2.5/5 this time, despite all of my opponents in both being rated in the 1600's and low 1700's.

At the local club where I play on Saturdays, I think the competition is probably the same level as what I'd face in the U1700 section of this big tourney, except for occasionally playing the guys in the 1800's. But in the U2100 section, I'll be at the bottom of the pack, so I'll probably play someone around 1900 in the first round, lose that game, then play people between 1700-1850 for the rest of the tourney, and I've actually won or drawn a few games at that level this year. So it might be nice to face tougher competition instead of the same level of competition that I face at the club every Saturday. Of course, I'm not exactly winning at the local club every Saturday, so there's something to be said for trying to win at that level.

As I said, though, I'll probably wait to see how I'm doing in my games over the next 3 weeks and decide at the time of the tournament if I want to play up. If I kick butt at the local club this Saturday, I'll definitely play up. If I get clobbered, I probably won't.

--Fromper

[Octal]

Originally Posted by Fromper

Octal, actually the Swiss system will intentionally pair people with ratings that aren't near each other. Eventually, the losers end up playing other losers and winners end up playing other winners, while those in the middle play each other, so things balance out. But I'm sure I'll be higher rated than roughly 70-80% of the U1700 section, so I'm guaranteed to have an opponent near the bottom of the pack first round. And assuming I win, I'll probably be high enough that I'll play one of the lower rated winners in the second round, too, though that'll probably be closer to my rating.

I'm not trying to argue this, as that would be a stupid argument, but wouldn't you be rated higher then about 50% of all the players? You're in the 1500s, 200 points higher then 1300 (the last category max), and 200 points lower then the section maximum, thus putting you in the middle rating range. Unless your rating goes up a 100 points or so, you will be playing mostly people at your level, because a swiss has all the people with the same points play each other (when possible). The highest rated play the lowest rated, the second highest plays the second lowest, and so on. With this in mind, you will probably play a lot of 2000+ players if you enter in the U2100 section, as you would be the lowest rated.

[Fromper]

Well, my rating's up to 1552 now. The weekend tournament was rated, and I gained exactly 50 points. Also, I'd expect about half the people in the 1200's and 1600's to play up into the next section at this tourney. So I'd guess 1550 should be higher than roughly 75% of the U1700 section.

And actually, you're not quite right about how the Swiss system works. The top half of the people are paired against the bottom half. So for instance, if there's 40 people in the section, then the highest rated will play the 21st, the second highest plays the 22nd, etc. After the first round, the same thing happens within each score group, so everyone with 1 point gets paired that way, then the people with half a point, then the people with no points.

So for instance, if I'm the 10th highest of 40 in the U1700 section, then I'll play the 30th highest rated in the first round, which will probably be someone 200 points below me. Assuming I win, I'll probably be in the top half of those with a point, but just barely, so I'll end up playing one of the lowest rated who won, which would probably be someone around 1300 who scored an upset.

Now think about what happens if I play up in the U2100 section - I'm one of the lowest rated, so I play someone around half way up in the first round, which would be around 1900-1950. Assuming I lose that one, I'll play someone around 1800 who lost their first game, then probably continue playing people in the 1700-1850 range the rest of the tournament, which is within reasonable range for me to maybe score an upset. If I do lose every game, I'll end up playing someone else who's playing up and losing every game in the final round, which would be a fair fight. That's what happened in one tournament last year when I was rated in the 1300's and I played up in the U1600 section instead of U1400, and I lost every game until the final round, which I won.

As I said, I've been through enough of these to see the trends. In the Swiss system, playing those around your own rating is actually fairly rare because of how pairings work.

But as I said, I'll probably make a decision at the last minute, and it'll be based on how I feel I'm playing at that point.

--Fromper

[Abba]

It's really a win-win. You can't go wrong playing in either section.

[lanced]

hey Fromter. I think the last thing that you should be studing is the openings. Since you seem intent to get your systems down in my opinion you should get those out of the way. Study them and have done with it and move on to more profitable things. Maybe my opening repertorie will help to give you some ideas. I haven't studied openings for a while and what I learned while I was preparing my openings has served me more than fine.

You said you want to start playing the Tarrasch instead of the Enguland so that you can have a sound defense against 1.d4. You also said that you wanted to get used to playing (in response to 1.e4) 1._e5. Since I only play 1._d5 in response to 1.d4 and 1._e5 in respons to 1.e5 I thought I would share my openings. Maybe it will give you some ideas.

First of all I think it is a good learning expreience to learn the double Kings and double Queens pawn openings. There are a lot of openings after this that does take some knowledge, but you can get along more than fine with a bare minnimun.

As for myself, let me explain. I'll start with 1.e4. Nowadays I only play the Petrov which avoids many openings. I only have to account for white on his second move playing 2.f4 or 2.d4 (instead of 2.Nf3). I like seeing 2.Nc3 because I can usually traspose the game into a Four Knights Game which I always play as white. On FICS I score extreamly well with the petroff winning more than 70% of my games. The reason that I switched from 2._Nc6 wasn't because I didn't like thoes positions but because I really like the Petrov. It's a great Opening, and while many lines are quite some are very very sharp. All this and my great sucess in this opening and believe it or not I have never studied this opening. I only went over a few master games and play what they play. So with almost no study I have a very good opening.

Whith White I play 1.e4 and I almost always play the Four Knights (sometimes the kings gambit). After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 is said to lead to a quiet game, but both players decide where to play and it gets very interisting. 4.g3 is also interisting (although I don't play it)and Josh Waitzkin has some games of that on chessmaster. About half the time I play 4.d4 and after 4._ed4 not the Scotch Four Knights but the Belgrade gambit. I know that you like to play some gambits. Well the Belgrade is my favorite and it is amazingly interisting. And if my opponent plays the Petroff I would be happy in the main lines but I always respond simply 3.Nc3 and then we almost always transpose into my Four Knights. The conclusion is that I found a opening that I can play almost all the time against anyone.

Against 1.d4 I always play the Queens Gambit Declined (just like you want to try) Orothodox Defense. I don't do very well in these positions because blacks position is a bit passive and I get too impatient which is probably the worst thing to be in thoes positions. Nevertheless I have stuck with it.

Heres where I think that I can be the most help to you. You say that you want to learn the Tarrasch for a sound defense to 1.d4? And you also need a defense to 1.c4? Well I say play the Tarrasch. It is super sound and very aggressive. And heres the best part, You can play it against 1.c4 too. Play 1.c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3.g3 c5 and if ever white playes d4 than you will be in a Rubinstein Tarrasch. Of course if 1.c4 e6 2.d4 d5 you are already there. Also if 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.d4 and then you are there again.

What I am trying to explain is that with a little thinking you can study a minimum of openings and then be happy to go against anyone. A little praticality saves a lot of book study.

[Fromper]

Thanks, Lanced. I'm a step ahead of you on the Tarrasch. I've played the Tarrasch a couple of times now with decent results. I even tried it against the English in my last tournament and transposed just like I wanted. I'll look up a line here or there as they come up, but I think I'm fine learning as I go with this for now, and it gives me something to play as black against almost anything but 1. e4. Actually, if you're having trouble with being too impatient for the Orthodox QGD, you might want to give the Tarrasch a try - it can be more open and aggressive, though some patience is required in the symmetrical lines.

Against 1. e4, I've been sticking to 1. ... e5, with mixed results. I'm playing most of the recommendations from Nigel Davies' book "Play 1. e4 e5!", except that I haven't read his chapter on the Two Knights yet, so I'm still playing the Giuoco Piano. So I play the Closed Ruy Lopez, the early Bc5 against the Scotch, decline the King's Gambit with Bc5, and give back the gambit pawn in the Danish, Goring, and similar gambits with an early d5.

The up side of playing the Closed Ruy Lopez is that I defend very well against my opponents' attacks. I got a surprising draw against a much higher rated opponent with this line once. The down side is that against weak attackers, I've got nothing to defend, and I don't know how to launch a counter attack from those positions. I actually had a close call against an 1150ish player recently in the Closed Ruy.

I'm thinking of just switching back to the Elephant Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5) against lower rated opponents, to get out of book and get an open, tactical game. I really dislike the idea of playing based on the rating of my opponents, though. I usually try to avoid finding out people's ratings before I play them, because I'd rather not know and just play the same against everyone.

So in 1. e4 e5, I've still got a lot to learn, but I'm just skimming stuff in Davies book once in a while, not really focusing on studying it. I'm also considering playing the French once in a while for variety, since I'm already semi-comfortable with it.

As white, I've got other issues. I play 1. e4 , aiming for a Smith-Morra Gambit. Let's face it - the Sicilian is the main line against 1. e4, so it would be inaccurate to say I'm aiming for a Giuoco Piano, though that's what I play against e5. Against the Scandinavian and Caro-Kann, I play the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and the related CK Fantasy Variation. Against the French, I either play the Alapin Gambit (3. Be3), which is similar to the BDG, or sometimes I play the Advance variation with an early f4 to attack on the king side. Against the Pirc/Modern, I pretty much make it up as I go along.

As for the Smith-Morra Gambit, that's the one area where I'm still doing any real opening study right now. I enjoyed Andrew Martin's Foxy Openings DVD on the gambit declined, so I picked up the one on the gambit accepted last weekend at the tournament. I've only watched about half of it so far. Watching those DVD's seems to be a more effective way for me to learn than studying openings in books. I already feel much more comfortable playing against the declined lines, so I'd like to watch the accepted DVD at least twice before the next big tournament to see how much that helps.

Mostly though, I'm focused on tactics and endgames right now. I've actually been feeling sick, so I've done very little study so far this week. That's why I've only watched half of that DVD, along with a couple of tactics puzzles.

I'm going to miss the local club this Saturday and the next, so that leaves me playing just one USCF rated game between last weekend's big tourney and the next big tourney 3 weekends later. The new OCL tourney started online, though, so I'll play the first game in that this Saturday. I want to practice more online if I can find time.

--Fromper

[lanced]

Well all sounds good then. I would just try hard to keep opening study to a minimum.

[Abba]

Fromp, pretty good opening repertoire to get you to Class A - Expert Level. You'll probably need to make a change at that point (that unsound Diemer stuff), but until then, looks good.