Category Archives: TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

COACHING, PSYCHOLOGY, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

PLAYING WHEN YOU’RE HUNGRY

One of my golden rules is to only try to play when I'm hungry for chess. Going through the motions when feeling unmotivated is a sure-fire recipe for getting lacklustre results, mainly because you won't concentrate and fight as you should.

How do you recognize a lack of hunger? Basically you need to listen to your inner voice. Maybe you think that you hear it encouraging you because this is a rare opportunity, but are you really truly hungry?

I experienced this just recently when thinking about the Bolton Rapidplay. In theory I wanted to play to keep my hand in, but in reality I lacked the hunger. Just lately there have been some serious distractions, and these have completely overshadowed the importance of playing chess. I'm hoping that the distractions will recede into the background before very long, but until that time comes it seems better that I stay on the sidelines.

What are the most distracting things? I'd say that a potential house move is pretty high on the list, especially if you are caught in a chain of buyers and sellers. Problems at work (or school) will probably play havoc with your focus, as will anything to do with romance, illness or money.

Of course professional players may not have the luxury of sitting on the sidelines, and this may account for apparent swings of form. Amateurs have a different problem, they can play when they choose to but their lives outside chess might be a source of more distracting events!

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments feature openings from the Ding - Gukesh World Championshiip match, which happen to be included in several Tiger Chess Opening Repertoires. The first one is in the French Defence course while the second is in both the White 1.d4 Repertoire and the Building an Opening Repertoire courses:

Sunday December 1st at 5pm UK Time: French 6.Ncd2 with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nce2 Nc6

Sunday December 1st at 6.15pm UK Time: Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6

Upcoming Events

Here's my schedule over the coming months, though it is subject to change. I often don't know until fairly late in the day.

December 7, 2024: Huddersfield Chess Club Seminar
I've run a number of seminars at this great club, this is the first since before COVID. Their website is here.

January 17-19: Huddersfield 4NCL Congress
I really enjoy the 4NCL Congresses as they're played under excellent conditions in nice hotels. This is the first one in Huddersfield, you can find details here.

January 27th: Stockport Rapidplay
I've played in this event with some regularity, so probably I'll go for it again. You can find details here.

February 16-27, 2025: World Senior Team Championship
I've accepted a place in the 50+ second team which means I'll play a much stronger field than on bottom board of the first team. Although this diminishes my chances of winning a medal I'm looking forward to the challenge.

July/August 2025: British Championships
Will these be held in Liverpool next year? There's a rumour on Tim Spanton's blog that they would be. I think I might go for the 50+ event if this is the case.

I'm still hopeful that I'll get to play in the European Senior Team Championships (Walbrzych, Poland, April 4-14) in which I've said I'll play in any team and on any board. It hopefully won't be long before the teams are picked.

Have a great weekend!

Nigel

COACHING, HOW TO, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

HOW MUCH CHESS SHOULD YOU PLAY

A question I'm often asked is how much chess someone should play in order to stay in practice. Generally speaking I suggest trying to play at least 50 classical games per annum, though for many amateurs even this many is going to be difficult to achieve.

Can you substitute online blitz and rapid play events for these classical games? To some extent you can, but I would suggest rationing faster games if being good at longer time limits is the goal. If winning on time is just as good as forcing your opponent's resignation, it can lead to playing fast/tricky moves rather than good ones.

The top players in the World are good at every time limit because their high level of skill will always be relevant. It's the development of such skill that the issue arises, it's important to learn to do things well before doing them faster.

Training Tournaments
 

This week's training tournaments will feature the French Defence, which is a mainstay of my opening recommendations because of its quality, teaching value and the ease with which it can be learned. The variations featured are the Classical (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6) and the Tarrasch with 3...c5 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5):

Sunday November 3rd at 5pm UK Time: French Classical with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 

Sunday November 3rd at 6.15pm French Tarrasch with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5

Upcoming Events

Here's my approximate schedule over the coming months, subject to change! I often don't know until fairly late in the day.

December 1, 2024: Bolton Rapid Play

A fairly local event for me, so I'll be playing to to get some practice. Details can be found here.

December 7, 2024: Huddersfield Chess Club Seminar

I've run a number of seminars at this great club, this is the first since before COVID. Their website is here.

January 17-19: Huddersfield 4NCL Congress

I really enjoy the 4NCL Congresses as they're played under excellent conditions in nice hotels. This is the first one in Huddersfield, you can find details here.

January 27th: Stockport Rapidplay

I've played in this event with some regularity, so probably I'll go for it again. You can find details here.

February 16-27, 2025: World Senior Team Championship

I've accepted a place in the 50+ second team which means I'll play a much stronger field than on bottom board of the first team. Although this diminishes my chances of winning a medal I'm looking forward to the challenge.

July/August 2025: British Championships

Will these be held in Liverpool next year? There's a rumour on Tim Spanton's blog that they would be. I think I might go for the 50+ event if this is the case.

I'm hopeful that I'll get to play in the European Senior Team Championships (Walbrzych, Poland, April 4-14) in which I've said I'll play in any team and on any board.


Hope you have a great weekend!

Nigel

CLINIC, NEWS, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS, WHITE 1.d2-d4 REPERTOIRE

NOVEMBER 2022 CLINIC

The November clinic featured some more games in the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, this time starting after the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5. It also featured an interesting duel between two of the regular participants in these events.

Most of the games were very hard fought, but in one of them White demonstrated some neat twists in the opening and found a devastating shot from the following position (see diagram):

OldSpeckledHen - DanStaples, White to play

White uncorked the brilliant 17.Bxg6! after which 17...hxg6 18.Qxg6 Bf8 19.exf6 Re6 20.Bxg7 forced resignation (1-0), not a difficult sacrifice but a very instructive one.

Tigerchess.com Themed Training events are a great opportunity to practice key positions from regular openings, and are open to everyone who joins the Tiger Chess Team. Participating in these events helps players develop an insight into the openings played, above and beyond looking at them in a book or on a video.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

OCTOBER 2022 CLINIC

The October clinic featured games with two different openings, the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6 6.Qc2 Be7 7.Bg5 0-0 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Bd3 Re8 10.0-0 Nf8) and the King's Indian Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2). Both of these lines are in Tiger Chess opening repertoires, and both have great instructional value because they are rich in plans and pawn play.
This is not to say that tactical opportunities never arise as the following position illustrates, Black to play found a devastating sequence (see diagram):

JackHodges - Oldspeckledhen, Black to play

Black won with 31...Ra1+ 32.Rf1 Rxf1+ 33.Qxf1 Qxe4! (0-1) as if the queen is taken then White's queen on f1 also falls.

Tigerchess.com Themed Training events are a great opportunity to practice key positions from regular openings, and are open to everyone who joins the Tiger Chess Team. Participating in these events helps players develop real insight into the openings played, above and beyond looking at them in a book or on a video.

Nigel Davies

QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS, WHITE 1.d2-d4 REPERTOIRE

MAY 2022 CLINIC

The May clinic features games with the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation from the Tiger Chess Themed Training Tournaments on Lichess. The starting position was the one that arises after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bg5 c6 7.Qc2 O-O 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Bd3 Re8 10.O-O Nf8, which is considered a key opening position. This features in two Tiger Chess courses, the White 1.d4 Repertoire course (in which 11.h3 is recommended for White) and the Building an Opening Repertoire course in which it is recommended for Black.

Both sides have chances in this line and it is rich in strategic and tactical ideas. One of the key plans for White is a minority attack with b2-b4-b5. Dandanmian brought this off in one of his games and here he had a winning idea (see diagram):

 

Dandanmian - NN: White to play

White to play found 21.Ba6!, winning the rook on c8 because 21...Ra8 is met by 22.Bb7. Black struggled on for some moves but the position is hopeless.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, FRENCH DEFENCE, NEWS, OPENINGS, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

MARCH 2022 CLINIC

The March Clinic is now out, featuring games with the Exchange Variation of the French Defence (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5) from two of the Tigerchess.com Themed Training team tournaments. Although this line has a drawish reputation both sides have fighting chances, and there are also a number of trappy ideas that both sides can fall into.

The following position shows one of the classic dangers for Black, that he plays ...Bc8-g4 and then has his bishop driven back with h2-h3 and g2-g4. His last move was the natural 13...c6, what did White do next (see diagram)?

Dandanmian - BalthasarII, White to play

White played 14.f4!, which is actually quite devastating because of the threat of 15.f5. Black cannot save his bishop with 14...Be4 because then 15.g5 would undermine the bishop's defender. In the game he tried 14...h6, but as the f-pawn is pinned just 15.Nxg6 won a piece and the game.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, OPENINGS, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

FEBRUARY 2022 CLINIC

Several different openings featured in the February clinic, the Semi-Tarrasch (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e3 cxd4 7.exd4 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Qc7), the Queen's Gambit Declined Tartakower Variation .d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 b6) and the Zukertort Colle (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5 4.Bd3 d5 5.b3 Nc6 6.Bb2 Bd6). All the games played were from training events between members of the Tigerchess.com Themed Training team.

Here's a spectacular finish from one of the games, with White to play (see diagram):

 

Dandanmian - Borzoi73, White to play

White played 26.Qxc7, essentially forcing resignation (1-0) as after 26...Rxc7 there is mate with 27.Rd8.

The Tigerchess.com Themed Training events are a great opportunity to practice key positions from regular openings, and are open to everyone who joins the Tiger Chess Team. Participating in these events helps players develop real insight into the openings played, above and beyond looking at them in a book or on a video.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, NEWS, TIGER CHESS THEMED TRAINING TOURNAMENTS

JANUARY 2022 CLINIC

A main line of the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.e3 O-O 8.Bd3 c6 9.Qc2 Re8 10.O-O Nf8) features in the January clinic. There were training events in this line between members of the Tigerchess.com Themed Training team which provided the material to be used

Here's a position from one of them in which it was White to play (see diagram):

Dandanmian - Aleksandr Ivanovich. White to play.

White played 19.Rxf6!, which gave him a strong attack after 19...Qxf6 20.Rf1. The game ended with the moves 20...Qg5 21.Rxf7+ Kg8 22.Rxb7 Re6 23.Ne2 Bd6 24.Nf4 Rf6 25.Nexg6 Re8 26.Ne5 Qg3 27.Qh7+ Kf8 28.Qh8+ Qg8 29.Qxf6+ 1-0.

The Tigerchess.com Themed Training events offer a valuable opportunity to practice key positions from my syllabus, and are open to everyone, not just subscribers. Those who participate in them find that the experience helps trigger valuable insights into the topic concerned, much more so than just playing through some lines in a book.

Nigel Davies