The March clinic is now online and is devoted to tactics. This is one of the most vital aspects of chess because tactics punctuate every stage of every game. Without good tactical play it is very difficult to get very far. During my teenage years I spent a lot of time on tactics using puzzle books though these days its easier because there are quite a few websites which have interactive tactical problems.
The following position is taken from the clinic with White to play:
B. C. versus NN: White to Play
White to play opened Black's king up with 19.Bxh7+ Kxh7 20.Qh5+ Kg8 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 and then finished the game off with 22.Qg5+ Kh7 and now a rook lift with 23.Re3. Black tried the desperate 23...Bxg2 but after 24.Qh5+ Kg7 25.Rg3+ resigned (1-0) because of 25...Kf6 26.Qg5 mate.
This was a really nice finished that I'm sure White was very pleased to have pulled off. I don't recall ever having the opportunity to use this theme myself.
Positional play is a major focus here at Tiger Chess. When I started teaching chess to club players in the 1990s, this was one of the areas which I felt was least developed, so I set about creating a course which focused heavily on this aspect of chess. Originally I sent this out as a correspondence course over a two year period, and a cut down version of this was later published as The Power Chess Program in a two book form. Its latest incarnation is the Tiger Chess Strategy Course which is available to members with 160 weekly lessons.
This work was later supplemented by opening repertoires which helped players use some of the strategic themes presented, including the Building an Opening Repertoire course for both Black and White, and more recently a specialist course on the French Defence. This summer I will be bringing out another course, this time for White, which will present an economical 1.d4, 2.Nf3 and 3.c4 repertoire in which the focus will be on strategy rather than computer generated variations which are very difficult for players to remember.
The February clinic was devoted to positional play in which five games were presented, four by members together with one of my own. Positional play is often misunderstood at club level and is perhaps best thought of as operations with the pawns. The following position provided a good illustration:
N.C. versus . N. Other
White to play used a thematic pawn lever with 36.a5!, undermining the pawn on b6. Black's position collapsed quite quickly after this, the game finishing with the moves 36...Ke8 37.axb6 Rxb6 38.Rxb6 Rxb6 39.Rxb6 Nxb6 40.Ba5 1-0. Black's resignation may seem premature but he is defenceless against an invasion of White's queen along the b-file.
This shows the power of good positional play, White simply levered open a file and his opponent's position was hopeless; no fireworks or calculation was required.
The January 2019 clinic is now out and features members' best games. There was quite a mix sent in, from a violent tactical game to several purely positional games.
The following position was reached in one of the positional games in which U. S. had established a stranglehold on the position after getting a pawn duo on e4 and d4 in the Colle and then turning this into an e4/d5 wedge. He closed in for the kill:
U.S. versus A. N. Other
White now played 37.Qc6!, with the game ending with the moves 37...f6 38.Rc8 Qxc6 39.dxc6 1-0. Black's knight has no squares so he must lose a piece.
I like to focus on positional play and endgames at Tiger Chess because this is where many players at club level can improve. Brilliant tactical ability tends to be more dependent on innate gifts rather than methodical learning.
I just posted the latest clinic on endgames which members can find here. As usual I should stress the importance of this part of the game which can benefit a player's chess as a whole by offering a safe and logical way to convert advantages as well as develop what I would term micro-patterns. My own chess improved a lot when I devoted more time to the endgame in the 1990s. It is also one of the main things that I have studied with my son Sam.
Sam has two of his games in this clinic with the first of them showing how the endgame is neglected at club level. In the Preston Congress he reached the following position as Black having just captured the pawn on b7:
NN - Sam Davies, Preston 2018
One maxim states that all rook endgames are drawn, which while not being true certainly indicates the drawish nature of rook endgames even one or two pawns down. Yet instead of keeping his rook on the board White exchanged with 44.Rxb7?? which leaves him with a completely lost pawn endgame. The game concluded with the moves 44... Kxb7 45.Kb5 Kc7 46.Kc5 Kd7 47.g3 f5 48.h4 gxh4 49.gxh4 g6 50.f4 Kc7 51.Kc4 Kc6 52.Kd4 Kd6 0-1.
How should someone go about studying the endgame? Well Tiger Chess just happens to have a 160 lesson endgame course that covers both technical endgames and endgame strategy, plus there are downloads which help practicing different positions against the computer. You need to join to access it or course...
We are at that time of year when many people are trying New Year resolutions. Most of these will have been abandoned by January 12th, including the chess ones, which will not help too much towards getting any better. Goals and resolutions are all very well but do they help people put the time in that is required for real progress? Usually not, no matter how lofty their initial aims.
Here at Tiger Chess HQ we have a different approach. Goals are downplayed and broken down whilst the emphasis is placed on a steady work rate over a long period of time. What is doable on a daily basis which can also be monitored? With my son Sam I have found that Chessity works very well as it keeps great records as to how much you have really done. We also try to study together for 3 hours on a Sunday and also on Mondays and Tuesdays when he is not at college. Over time it adds up and helps put in place the necessary skills, as you can see below he has now solved over 40,000 positions on Chessity and is in the top 20 for the number of puzzles solved. Note also that I call him Jedi so as to turn him away from the dark side offered by his favourite Star Wars character, General Grievous:
Sam Davies Chessity Ranking
Recently he has been going through many of the videos here at Tiger Chess, which again can be done on a regular basis. With his other commitments he certainly does not do thousands of hours every year but it could be around 500. If he keeps this up for another decade or so he will become very strong.
What about the old guy? Well I am also in the process of dusting myself off with daily tactics practice and studying some new openings. A few thousand hours on top of the 45,000 or so I have already put in should help me get back in shape for when I finish my University studies (currently in year 2).
Finding the time to study chess can be quite tricky, especially for those of us with work and family commitments. It can seem almost impossible to find a solid chunk of time to work on your game which usually means using occasional study opportunities during the day. I built Tiger Chess with this in mind; people can access lessons and videos while waiting for a bus or train or during lunch breaks at the office. It is better to try and set aside some study time during the day, for example first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening, but this is not always possible.
When holidays come along, such as the ones many of us have at the moment, there can be more of an opportunity to spend a few consecutive hours on chess. How should we use it productively? The first thing is to have a realistic plan in place of what can be achieved during this time. There is also a good case for having a plan for all of our chess study, holidays just providing a bit more time to make extra progress.
A favourite study topic is the opening, not least because most of the chess books out there are about them. Simple practical openings that are not in danger of being suddenly refuted make the most sense for busy people. This accounts for many of the lines I recommend, such as the French Defence, Queen's Gambit Declined and Queen's Pawn Games as White. Those with little time on their hands do not have time to try to assimilate opening theory using books with hundreds of pages of densely packed analysis. This stuff is also completely unnecessary, games can be won against Grandmasters using simple openings and strong core skills.
What is the best way to study openings? Well here at Tiger Chess HQ my son Sam and I use the old fashioned approach of going through complete games with a board and pieces, never once going through them on a computer screen. We also play dozens of training games in each line in order to get the feel of the middle games and build up practical experience in particular position types. I think this is invaluable but very few people do it.
One final recommendation is to try to introduce new openings over time rather than change everything in one fell swoop. The previous paragraph really explains this, if you try to take on too much it will be impossible to do it thoroughly enough. The result will be a superficial grasp of a lot of things rather than a deep grasp of just one.
The Preston Congress is traditionally the last in the year for my son Sam. This time round he got a grading prize and we think that both his rapid play and long play grades may hit new highs. Sam is pictured below with Open winner Adam Ashton in what is a very pleasant venue, the Harrington Building at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN).
Sam's play with Black against 1.d4 has been going well of late, largely due to the amount of time we have been spending on it. He still needs some work as Black against 1.e4, which we have planned in the seven weeks we have before his next event. This in itself should produce a nice improvement in his results as in general we have focussed far more on endgames and tactics than openings. Here's the finish to his last round game.
Black to play after White's 38.Nd3-c1
White to play had just played 38.Nd3-c1, attacking the rook on b3. Sam replied with 38...Rb1! with the point that 39.Rxa3 Rxc1 40.Rc3 is met by 40...Rh1, which would skewer White's rook after 41.Rxc2 Rh2+. In the game White played 39.Nd3 but after 39...Rd1 40.Nc1 Rxc1 threw in the towel (0-1).
The Tiger Chess French Defence Course is an advanced, stand-alone opening course which builds on the treatment of the French presented in the Building an Opening Repertoire course. It features over 11 hours of video which explain key games and ideas plus a pgn (portable game notation) file of recommended variations that can be built upon, extended and important into software such as Chess Position Trainer. The 88 games presented are also included in pgn format, but without annotations.
The French is an excellent defence to choose as Black, it is solid and helps foster positional understanding. The choice of variations is designed to make it easy to learn and remember, with the focus being on reaching and playing certain typical key middle game and endgame positions. All the variations are examined more deeply than in the Building an Opening Repertoire course and some new lines have been introduced.
The main change from the Building an Opening Repertoire lines is that are new ways of meeting both 3.Nd2 and 3.Nc3 instead of the Rubinstein Variation with 3...dxe4. Against 3.Nc3 it is still possible to reach a Rubinstein after 3...Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Nbd7, though in this case White has lost many of his best anti-Rubinstein options because his bishop already stands on g5. White also has 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 available, but here Black has a good line in 4...Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6, aiming to get counterplay with 8...b7-b5.
4.Bg5 dxe4 is a rock solid option
Against the Tarrasch Variation with 3.Nd2 the recommended line is 3...c5 after which 4.exd5 Qxd5 produces a pawn structure that is very similar to those that arise from the Rubinstein Variation. Black often obtains a favourable endgame by centralising his king and then advancing his kingside pawns. White has a major alternative in 4.Ngf3 after which the recommendation is 4...cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6.
The recommended line against 3.e5 is still 3...c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Nge7, but the lines are examined in greater depth and with more ambitious options on offer for Black. The same is true of the Exchange Variation where 4.Bd3 is answered by 4...Nc6 and 4.Nf3 by 4...Bd6. There is also the same plan against the King's Indian Attack and 2.Qe2 lines where Black delays playing ...d7-d5 until he has castled so as to make room for his knight on e8.
This course is suitable for players over 1700 Elo who want a high quality defence against 1.e4 that is based on plans and strategy rather than tricks and traps. You need to be a Tiger Chess member to get it and continue to view it, which is why it priced at just $15.95. You can get it at the add-on videos page but need to be a logged on member to see the option to purchase it.
George Bernard Shaw once stated that 'those who can't do, teach', but is it true? Certainly I have come across many poor chess players who, as they gave up on their efforts to improve their own play, decided it was as well to sabotage others instead. Yet I have my doubts about Shaw's credibility, and not just because he also stated that 'chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time'. He was a fan of the USSR, which did not turn out well, and once described vaccination as 'a peculiarly filthy piece of witchcraft'.
Personally I have found teaching and coaching to be a very enriching experience. As you immerse yourself in the learning experience of others, and think how you might help them, you learn a great deal yourself. Explaining different concepts often means that you have to think more deeply about them than ever before, a strong player may intuitively feel that a move is bad but can they then put their feelings into words and provide a succinct, logical explanation?
These thoughts are why I am so pleased that my son Sam began to learn more about coaching today. It was not chess coaching, but rather table tennis, where his job was to help cheer his club's young players up as they went into battle. It has not gone unnoticed that Sam is a fierce and experienced competitor who never gives up, and this mentality is infectious. He knows to reset after a loss and sees when others need to do this. Below he is pictured with his coach George (seated), just before the competition began:
George (seated) & Sam Davies
I kept out of the way and read up on database security instead, but in the moments I spent inside the playing hall it was interesting to see the many similarities with chess events. Many parents and coaches were way too invested in the outcomes, and this clearly had an effect on their charges. It is good to take it seriously but when the game starts your inner child needs to do the playing rather than someone burdened with the expectations of those around them. Finding that balance can be tricky but experienced competitors can show the way.
The October clinic came out today with the topic being endgames again. Tiger Chess members know the importance I place on this area of the game as it has profound effects on the rest of a player's game. Many of the greatest players in history have recommended putting endgame study before anything else, most notably Jose Raul Capablanca. This is what he said: "In order to improve your game you must study the endgame before anything else; for, whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middlegame and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame."
Pawn endgames are particularly important as all the other endgames can end up as pawn endgames. In this clinic there was one very nice one played by J. T. who reached the following position as Black:
NN vs J.T.
White's connected passed pawns look imposing here and in endgames with other pieces on the board they might have promised him an advantage. Yet in a pawn endgame it is Black's kingside pawn majority and distant a-pawn that give him a decisive advantage as White's king is unable to control both. The game continued with the moves 1...f5 2.g5 ( 2.f3 fxg4 3.fxg4 h6 4.Kd2 g6 5.Kd3 h5 6.gxh5 gxh5 7.Ke4 h4! also wins for Black) 2...h5 3.gxh6 gxh6 4.Kd2 h5 5.Ke3 h4 6.Kf3 a5 7.c6 Kd6 8.Kf4 a4 9.Kxf5 a3 10.Kf6 a2 0-1.
Members can access the clinic here and four years of monthly clinic archives here.
Nigel Davies
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