Hi everyone, some of you might have noticed some posts by me, but most of you probably haven´t. So here goes a quick recap of my chess strength, how long I´ve played, a quick recap how I got where I am today. And then finally, the important part, my chess plans and ideas for improvement.

I´m a fairly new player that started playing early 2009. I started out vs chessmaster 11 and registered here, and a few days (maybe even a week or two?) I joined various internet playing sites. And I played my first games with the proper rules of chess 21 february on chess.com.

Fast forwarding to later in 2009, I joined a local chess club and had my first OTB games, and I did pretty good in the beginner and some intermediate tournaments, gaining a few small prizes, trophies and books.

This rewarded me with an OTB national rating of 1450, and that´s where I am today.

So far my studying have been very sporadic, and not at all organised, I´ve basicly grabbed my hands on every interesting looking chess book the libraries around my area has (and it really has a great selection of books!), reading some of them, flipping through some, and studying some. This coupled with some tactics training, games online, and various OTB tournaments.

1) Get a national rating of 1750-1800
I know this might be a stretch, since it would drive me up to 1800 in less than 2 years of chess. But if I put in the hours and sweat needed, and didn´t quite reach the goal, I´d still be happy with whatever improved understanding of the game I could get.

2) Improve my tactical sight and imagination
This is probably the thing that I need to focus the most on, as do the most players around my strength. Strategical studying has allways come easier to me than tactical studying, since the new ideas and plans where allways so interesting to follow. While tactical studying has, from times to times felt a bit more mechanical and less interesting. I´m daily doing 5-15 tactical puzzles on chesstempo, aswell as a book I have with 1200 mates I carry around me and read whenever I get the time, such as when I´m riding public transportation, or visiting the loo. I´m also going through one of the book I recently won, David Bronsteins "The Sorcererer's apprentice", and the very tactical slugfests in that book can sometimes be even more instructional than the pure tactic workout. And David inspirational games has also been somewhat of an source of appreciation for tactic problems, it adds an imaginative dimension to tactical ideas. As an opposition to the rather boring look on tactics you can sometimes encounter, such as the usuall suggestion that you do 1231312 tactical problems as a beginner and nothing else as a way of improving. Which can make it tedious, boring and mechanical.

3) Improve my opening repertoire
So far, I´ve followed the usuall suggestion that are dealt out to beginners, start with 1. e4, respond with e5 against e4, and d5 against d4. And this has worked out well, I´m really enjoying the 1. e4 e5 games as black. And I have no trouble against various replies against e4, not to say that I perform perfect.
My real problem however has been playing against d4. I usually (allways) respond with d5 and it takes us into a queens gambit declined, but I´ve never felt completely comfortable, I know some of the ideas, such as freeing my game with c5, using the half and open files when/if they open up. I usually have trouble getting my white squared bishop of c8, and if I do get it out, usually not untill later on in the game, at the cost of some other weakness. I know this is supposed to be the problem bishop, but most of the times I haven´t even got ideas on how to get it out at all. I´m tempted to head into the Kings indian attack, influenced some by the David Bronstein games I´m going through. But I´m dedicated to learning the 1. d4 d5 basics, and I plan on doing so by the help of John Watsons MASTERING THE CHESS OPENINGS volume 2, where I will, for now, focus on the queens gambit declined complex. Volume 1 where of great help, and if volume 2 will give me just a quarter of the understanding of ideas I got in volume 1, I´ll be more than satisfied, and I´m sure it will improve my performance against d4.

As white, when allowed, I usually go into the italian/two knights defence. I recently switched from the Ruy, partly because I had been playing the ruy for about 7 months, and partly because I felt it where a bit to deep for me to understand. I want to switch around between various openings about once every half year/year, to increase the amount of positions I understand, and not get stucked in one particular opening/variation.


4) Positional understanding and grandmaster games
This is the funniest part of studying chess, learning straight from the games and ideas of the master themselfs! I´ve spent many enjoyable hours looking through annotated grandmaster games. Even though I haven´t done it quite as much as I want the last weeks, due to the holidays getting in the way.
For this, I have two books, that I recently won during the last season. One of them is the above mentioned David Bronsteins Sorcerer's apprentice, which I plan on only reading up to the 50 annotated games. The games without annotations are to much for me at this stage of understanding, and will have to wait untill I feel I´m up to the challenge. Other than this I have the really exciting New York 1924 by Alexander Alekhine, a new modern 21st century edition. I plan on going through The Sorcerer's apprentice before jumping into New York 1924. So far I have studied the first chapter of The sorcerer's apprentice, and I´m now working my way through chapter 2. This will also be helped by John Watsons Mastering the chess openings.

5) (Lack of) endgame studies
My endgame studying so far has been Jeremy Silmans endgame book, and I´m going to stick to it for atleast awhile, so there isn´t alot to report on here.


There is alot of chess going on the comming weeks and months in my area. This weekend I´m joining a rapid tournament with the time controls 45/game, aswell as 60/game.

Apart from this there are many long going tournaments that I will attain, such as clubmastership, I´m also representing two teams in two different tournaments. And a tournament for the district championship. And all of these have roughly the same time controls, with 2 hours for the first 40move, and then it varies, ranging from 1 hours to finish the rest of the game off, to even more time and adjournments.

This looks excellent. Keep us updated on your progress.

1) Get a national rating of 1750-1800
-It took me 3 years. But I could have invested much more time, sacrificing some of my many other interests. It can definitely be done.

2) Improve my tactical sight and imagination
-Hugely important, this will help you accomplish much of point 1.

3) Improve my opening repertoire
So far, I´ve followed the usual suggestion that are dealt out to beginners, start with 1. e4, respond with e5 against e4, and d5 against d4. And this has worked out well, I´m really enjoying the 1. e4 e5 games as black. And I have no trouble against various replies against e4, not to say that I perform perfect.
-I'm glad you're having fun, that's what matters most to me when I play anyway.
My real problem however has been playing against d4. I usually (always) respond with d5 and it takes us into a queens gambit declined, but I´ve never felt completely comfortable, I know some of the ideas, such as freeing my game with c5, using the half and open files when/if they open up.
-Hmm, you might try a different line in the QGD. I currently play the Tarrasch defense (1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5), which leads to more mobility than some of the other defenses. You've got c5 in already, white might saddle you with an isolated queen pawn, but learning how to play IQP positions is quite useful. On the other hand, you could stick to what you're doing and see if you can't improve on what you're doing without switching.
I usually have trouble getting my white squared bishop of c8, and if I do get it out, usually not untill later on in the game, at the cost of some other weakness. I know this is supposed to be the problem bishop, but most of the times I haven´t even got ideas on how to get it out at all.
I´m tempted to head into the Kings indian attack, influenced some by the David Bronstein games I´m going through.
-I'd recommend against the King's Indian defense (the attack is with white ) until you get to 1600 or so, it's not easy.
But I´m dedicated to learning the 1. d4 d5 basics, and I plan on doing so by the help of John Watsons MASTERING THE CHESS OPENINGS volume 2, where I will, for now, focus on the queens gambit declined complex. Volume 1 where of great help, and if volume 2 will give me just a quarter of the understanding of ideas I got in volume 1, I´ll be more than satisfied, and I´m sure it will improve my performance against d4.-A good idea. Though I'd definitely prioritize tactics.
As white, when allowed, I usually go into the italian/two knights defence. I recently switched from the Ruy, partly because I had been playing the ruy for about 7 months, and partly because I felt it where a bit to deep for me to understand.
-You can always come back to the RL, but the 3. Bc4 complex is probably just what you need right now.
I want to switch around between various openings about once every half year/year, to increase the amount of positions I understand, and not get stucked in one particular opening/variation.
-Another good idea. It should help you understand an opening from both sides as well. Again though, don't focus too much on openings.

4) Positional understanding and grandmaster games
-The more you've seen, the more you'll see. The 'cover up and guess the move' exercise has helped my understanding of chess a lot.

5) (Lack of) endgame studies
-You'll definitely need to study your endgames if you want to get to 1800. Tactics first, endgames second, keep us in the loop

Very fun day at this weekends rapid tournament today, most players where rated 1800 above, so my winning chances might not be huge. Time controlls, 45 minutes per player.


Game 1: Tricklev vs NN 1889 0 - 1

I played the white side of a Sicilian morra gambit accepted, I got a strong attack going for a piece sacrifice. I managed to get a strong king attack going, but in some time trouble I missed an elementary mate in 2, and shortly after I had to resign the game. I kicked myself during post mortem, when the mate was obvious.

Game 2: NN 1779 vs Tricklev 1 - 0
A boring Ruy Lopez, the opponent didn´t grab the initiative and seemed fine with trading down to an equal endgame. I didn´t do anything either, I had a passive mindset the whole game, and I where okey with trading down to an equal endgame aswell, not making anything with my bishop pair. And I got outplayed in a (almost) equal endgame. Very irritating game, I should have tried to create something more, and I shouldn´t have lost that endgame in the manner that I did.

Game 3: Tricklev vs NN 2027 0 - 1

I played the white side of a very exciting philidors defence, I´m not sure where I went wrong (I have my guesses though) but I got completely outplayed in a philidor game, in complete Philidor spirit, where the opponent massed a pawnstorm against me and managed to create a passed pawn that won him the game.

Game 4: NN 1864 vs Tricklev 0 - 1
My only win of the day, and a very exciting game, the opponent opened up with the English game, and the center eventually closed. But then Nimzowitsch advice echoed in my head, and I managed to break his pawnchain up at the root, lift my rook out unto a more aggresive and centralised position. EVentually I snatched two pawns and gave the opponent somewhat of an attack, stopped it, and eventually won the game thanks to my extra pawns.

All in all, a very fun day of chess, have 3 games tomorrow aswell, they are a bit longer though, with 1 hour each. I´m heading to bed soon after a long day, but it´s obvious that I need to train some of the things I mentioned above, such as tactics, lots of it, a quick peek at the Philidors defence. And as Perseus pointed out, I might need to spend some extre time on the endgame. The irritating loss in round two only helped me realise that.

Nice, did well to pull off at least one upset, and was a quick tactic away from 2!

this seems like a positive start of the year for you! (considering the large rating difference)
Don't be discouraged by the losses this kinds of tournaments when your oponnents are quite a bit better than yourself are the best way to gain experience.

Your study plan seems very systematic, the only thing important now is to stick to it. lol
Another thing you may want to look at is thought process. Several authors have written about this subject quite extensively ( I haven't yet read any of the books on it in their entirity but Jeremy Silman seems to be one of the more renowned so he may be the right direction to look in) The reason I mention this is because missing a mate in 2 in a 45min/player game is not caused by lack of tactical ability but flaws in thought process and/ or lack of discipline when it comes to calculating.
Don't take this as criticizing, just an advice that may steer you to look at something you still have to work on (and thought process is probably something we all have to look into )

Yeah TGO, I have been working on my thought process lately, but only very sporadic, but it is as you said, it needs more work. The missed mate in two was due to getting fixated on what was only a minor detail in the position.


Anyhow, I just got home from todays three games, 1.5 out of 3. Todays opponents didn´t quite have as high rating as the ones yesterday, but still a slight leap up from mine. I´m pretty satisfied with how the tournament went. 2.5 out of 7 isn´t the best score, but I am still satisfied with most of the chess.


Game 1: Trickle vs NN 1658
A pirc defence, I used to feel quite lost in these positions, but latelly I´ve done better against it. With that said, the tournament started 10 am in the morning, so during the first 15moves there wasn´t alot of proper plans and ideas brought up. He played a passive tempo loss early in the game, so I tried to open up the position with an e5 pawn advance, and eventually we traded off a few pawns in the middle and I got a strongpawn on d5 in exchange for he getting a half open c file. I managed to keep the initiative going the whole game, but eventually we reached a complicated endgame with two rooks and a knight each. I still had the initiative, but with less than 5minute on the clock I offered a draw and he took it without hesitation.

Game 2: NN 1587 vs Tricklev
A queens pawns opening, I responded with the Tarrasch as I´ve done the last weeks (with mixed results) but todays game went really good. I think he missplayed the opening somewhat. He stuck me with an isolated d-pawn rather quick, but after loosening his kings defence a bit to much, I grabbed the iniative and went for a attack. I couldn´t find anything decisive, but eventually I managed to win a pawn and traded down to a rook and pawn endgame where he had 4 isolated pawns vs my 5 pawns. He timed out in a lost position.

Game 3: Tricklev vs NN 1647
A very annoying game, Petroff defence, and my score against the petroff is terrible, the only games I´ve managed to win against it, is when the opponent missplays majorly and plays 3... Nxe4. He probably missplayed the opening a bit, but he none the less managed to grab the initiative, I got into an extremely passive position, and after only 20moves I where down the exchange, two pawns and his rook where gulching down the rest of my pawns. So I threw one of my remaining bishops into his kings position with a check and resigned.

The tournament pointed out some of the wholes in my game, the endgame, bad thinking habit (becomming overly passive, getting fixated on minor details and so forth), aswell as my complete lack of understanding regarding the petroff, the philidor not to much, I´m pretty sure I knew what I did wrong, although I´m going to spend a few minutes checking up on it. But it also showed me that 1700 isn´t that far away, while I undoubtedly need to work on alot, it´s not out of reach, if I can just patch up some of the major wholes in my game.

you should post a game some time, your annotations are intresting!

The Petroff sure is a tough nut to crack. I haven't found a good weapon againts it myself either so I usually play the main lines and try to keep some small advantages. (it is rather drawish if you don't have a truly profound understanding) I think the key is to not have hyper aggressive attitude. If you don't have any valid reason to attack then don't. If you can't find a win a draw is stil better than 0-1.

best of luck in future games

Regarding the Petroff, I am a similar rating as yourself and against the Petroff I used to play (I play d4 now) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nxf7 Kxf7 5. d4

At the highest level of chess maybe there are some holes with it but I have found that the black pieces needs to play very accurately to avoid falling into a mating net, or giving back the material while being in a much worse position. I'd have to check my game scores but I don't think I have ever lost to the Petroff (though have not played a ton of games against it) using that setup.

As with any sort of gambit line it takes a certain type of constitution to want to head down that road but if it's something you like then take a look at it.

I´m going to have a quick nap (naps are great, even if you are older than 6, and younger than 65), these early mornings are killing me. As soon as I wake up though, I plan to take a look at the petroff, I´m interested in the 3. Nc3 line, which to me, looks the most like the "let's just play chess"-line, where it might be possible to avoid some of the awkward positions I usually end up in. I haven´t made up my mind about that yet though, need to read up on the petroff before I decide anything.

TGO, I actually plan on posting one of the games from the weekend, just haven´t decided on which one yet, not the Petroff game though, that's for sure.

doulous: I´m hoping I can avoid that, I´m not to found of scetchy sacrifices, I do make sacrifices, and sometimes they are indeed unsound, but filling a repertoire whole with a somewhat dodgy sacrifice almost feels like a cope out. It´s enough that I´m already avoiding the sicilian with something that is generally considered unsound.