Category Archives: TOURNAMENTS

PSYCHOLOGY, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

HOW TO HANDLE PRESSURE

The finish to the Ding - Gukesh match brought this topic to mind, Ding blundered horribly to lose a 'drawn' endgame. He was under massive pressure, representing his country and with the eyes of the World upon him, and it has become apparent that he is a psychologically delicate individual. How can we handle such pressure and should we even want to?

Several of the greatest champions in history have struggle with pressure, for example Magnus Carlsen decided he had had enough and simply bowed out of his World Championship defence. Fischer too seemed unwilling to defend the title, suggesting conditions that nobody would agree to. Other players have also wilted under the strain of competitive chess, let alone playing a World Championship match under the watchful gaze of millions of people.

How can you handle such pressure? I think it's significant that Gukesh has mentioned that he practices yoga and meditation as part of his daily routine, and he also brought a mental coach (Paddy Upton) along as part of his team. I have long believed in such practices and would credit chi kung, tai chi and meditation as having saved me during a difficult period of my life. There are many different forms of mental conditioning available which would likely suit different people. I strongly recommend looking around for one that you like and building a regular practice.

Training Tournaments

The training tournaments this week are in positions from the French Defence and Building an Opening Repertoire courses as follows:

Sunday December 15th at 5pm UK Time: French Advance with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5

Sunday December 15th at 6.15pm UK Time: French Exchange with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5

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. It's with some regret that I won't be playing in the HIT Open this coming year (January 24th to 31st 2025) but my schedule is already quite busy. It's a really good and well organized event that I warmly recommend.

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 am still hoping 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. The details have yet to be confirmed, but when they are the teams will be selected.

Twitch Channel

I'm setting up a new Twitch channel on which I'm planning to run shows a couple of times a week. Please follow it if you'd like to get updates etc.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Nigel

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

HOW MANY OPENINGS SHOULD YOU PLAY?

Something I've often thought about is the width of an opening repertoire. At amateur level it's unusual to find anyone who knows anything really well, top players seem to know and play almost everything.

Should we try to emulate what top players do? Frankly I don't think so because we don't need to. Being too predictable can be fatal at the top level where your opponents can be armed with super-computers and seconds. It's different for amateurs because we will not be facing such a high level of preparation and will be able to win quite drawish positions.

So for most of us I think that having a single set of openings is plenty, assuming that we know them really well. It's important that they should be sound and yet have enough scope to outplay our opponents. Preparing more openings than that is an unproductive use of time which might be better spent on endgames.

What about older GMs who frequently play in weekend events? In my case I think that a single set of openings with White is fine but with Black I tend to think that I need two. One would be for sheer solidity when meeting players of a similar or higher rating to mine, a second would be for when I play lower rated players and really need to avoid early simplification.

One final thought is to always consider the Flank Openings when choosing your defence against 1.d4. The Gruenfeld (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5) and Nimzo (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4) are great until your opponent avoids them with 1.c4 or 1.Nf3. In such cases you need something extra, which can mean a lot more work.

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments feature more lines from the Building an Opening Repertoire course, this time from White's perspective:

Sunday November 24th at 5pm UK Time: Colle vs KID with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 Bg7

Sunday November 24th at 6.15pm UK Time: Colle vs Gruenfeld with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 d5

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 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.

Have a great weekend!

Nigel

BUILDING AN OPENING REPERTOIRE, COACHING, OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING, WHITE 1.d2-d4 REPERTOIRE

HOW TO STUDY CHESS VIDEOS

During this week's webinar I was asked how many times it's good to watch a chess opening video. I would say that the answer is rather nuanced.

To learn openings I recommend a combination of watching videos, training games and playing around with any pgn file to look for alternatives and see what the engine says. The amount of time used on these three approaches will vary from person to person and how much time they have available.

Personally I tend to watch videos, often whilst doing some other activity such as using a stationary exercise bike. I would like to spend time examining the variations with an engine and playing through them on a real chess board, unfortunately it's difficult to find time. As for training games, this tends to be my lowest priority, but I've put it there because I'd need both time and a suitable partner. In the past I've tested openings in correspondence games but tend to lose interest once the opening stage is over.

I would not recommend my approach to anybody else, I think we all have to find our own way. A good way to start is by watching Tiger Chess material and then play in the Tiger Chess training tournaments on Lichess.

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments will feature the Colle, which appears in both the Building an Opening Repertoire course and the White 1.d4 Repertoire:

Sunday November 10th at 5pm UK Time: Colle with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5

Sunday November 10th at 6.15pm UK Time: Colle with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 b6

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! Meanwhile please note that there are discounts on my Vimeo videos listed in my newsletter.

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

OPENINGS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

A QUESTION OF CONFIDENCE

Players can often have a crisis of confidence with their chess, not feeling 'prepared' being a primary symptom. This is especially the case with those who are returning to the game after a long layoff, both opening theory and the ways it might be studied have changed considerably, largely due to the advent of computer databases and increasingly powerful engines.

How can this be handled? Really I believe there is only one way, to know what you are doing more thoroughly than your opponents. Yet this knowledge can take different forms, you either out-prepare people with your own computer analysis or you develop a deeper understanding of the plans and ideas.

My approach with students has been to help them develop a better understanding, I believe this will carry over into different parts of the game. For this reason I developed ideas based opening repertoires with minimal theory, then coupled this with a recommendation to play what you learn to develop fluency. The training tournaments I run on Lichess can be part of this process.

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments are in the Dutch Defence and use my repertoire recommendation of 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3:

Sunday October 13th at 5pm UK Time: Dutch Defence with 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6

Sunday October 13th at 6.15pm UK Time: Dutch Defence with 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 g6

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.

October 25-27, 2024: Scarborough Congress

This one of the UK's most prestigious congresses, the sections include a 'foundation' tournament and a junior event. Click here for details.

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.

February 18-23, 2025: Isle of Wight International

I've been invited to play in this one but will have to pull out if I get invited to the World Senior Teams. It's a new event but the organizers seem to be on the ball. You can find details here.

July/August 2025: British Championships

Will these be held in Liverpool next year? Last week I linked to the rumour on Tim Spanton's page that they would be. I would be using my Metro senior travel card (!) to get there and might go for the 50+ event.

I'm also still hoping to be invited to the World Senior Team Championships (Prague, February 16 to 27, 2025) and/or the European Senior Team Championships (Walbrzych, Poland, April 4-14). I should find out about these soon.

I offer discounts on some of my video series on Vimeo for which my catalogue is here. To get the discount codes please sign up for my weekly newsletter via the form on the right.

See you next week, I'm planning to post here on a regular basis.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, FRENCH DEFENCE, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

NOVEMBER 2021 CLINIC

The November clinic features more games from the Tiger Chess Themed Training events on Lichess. This time the chosen them was the position arising after the moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 in the French Defence.

I have issued frequent warnings about the caution required by Black in ever castling kingside when there is a White pawn on e5. Of course it's always good for people to discover this for themselves, and this is what happened in the following position (see diagram):

HerbertChapman - NN. White to play.

Black's last move was to castle kingside (15...0-0) which White then answered with 16.Nxh5!. Black actually resigned at this point (1-0) which might have been either great vision or a reluctance to continue with his king in such a desperate situation. At first it did not seem that clear to me but then Stockfish indicates that White is winning, for example after 16…gxh5 17.Ng5 Rfc8 18.Qxh5 Qxd4 19.a3 Ba5 20.Bf4 Bd8 21.Rhd1 Qc4 22.b3 Qxb3 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Rdb1 Qa4 25.Rxb7 etc..

At the moment these training events are featuring the Petrosian Variation of the King's Indian Defence and take place on Wednesdays (8pm UK time) and Sundays (6pm UK time). Participation is free and you can find them here.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, NEWS, OPENINGS, PATTERN RECOGNITION, QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED, TIGER CHESS WEBINARS, TOURNAMENTS, TRAINING

SEPTEMBER 2021 CLINIC

I recently took the decision to change the clinic content so that it covers the Tiger Chess Themed Training events on Lichess. I set these events up so that students could practice important position types rather than waste time on the random mayhem that usually occurs in online games. The results have been very promising in that several people have reported increased engagement and interest in the problems after having wrestled with them in a series of games.

The first position to have been played is a key position in the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation, arising after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Be7 7.Bd3 O-O 8.Qc2 c6 9.Nf3 Re8 10.O-O Nf8. This is a very useful position from which to learn strategy because of the clarity of the pawn structure and the ease with which the different plans and ideas can be explained. Nonetheless it can prove very challenging to master as these plans come into conflict, and I am devoting the current series of webinars to its mastery.

Queen's Gambit Declined: Key Position

I will not show any highlights this time but instead list the forthcoming practice events, which are held at 8pm London (UK) time on Wednesdays and 6pm London (UK) time on Sundays:

October 10th (6pm): QGD Exchange Training

October 13th (8pm): QGD Exchange Training

October 17th (6pm): QGD Exchange Training

October 20th (8pm): QGD Exchange Training

October 24th (6pm): QGD Exchange Training

After this series the webinars will cover a new topic and new positions will be used for the training events. It will take more practice than this to get in tune with these position types, but this is at least a start.

Nigel Davies

COACHING, TOURNAMENTS

CAN COACHING IMPROVE YOUR PLAY?

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.

Nigel Davies

TACTICS, TOURNAMENTS

KEEPING A CLEAR HEAD

One of the most important aspects of tournament play is to keep a clear head for the games. For this reason it is usually better not to prepare too much on the day of a game but instead just relax and perhaps take a walk.

This is something that people find especially difficult if they have a database and lots of their opponents games to go through, can it really be better not to study their games? I found that I did better when I just stopped worrying and prepared myself mentally for the fight ahead.

In the tournament where I made my final Grandmaster norm, the Gausdal International of 1993, I did exactly that. Gausdal is a ski resort situated in the Norwegian mountains, so every morning I took a long walk and came back in time for lunch, a quick look at the pairings and then going straight into battle. I just played chess, and managed to beat two Russian Grandmasters, Yuri Razuvaev and Naum Rashkovsky.

Here is the finish to the Rashkovsky game in which I was White; in the position in the diagram Black had just played 22...h7-h5:

Davies - Rashkovsky after 22...h5

What should White do here? Well using my clear head I calculated a forced win starting with 23.Bxe7 after which 23...Rxe7 fails to 24.Rc8+ Nf8 25.Qh6 threatening mate with either capturing on f8 or Nf6. So Black had to try 23...hxg4 but then 24.Qh6 threatened 25.Bf6 whilst 24...Rxe7 would be met by 25.Rc8+ followed by mate.

Rashkovsky tried one last thing with 24...Qxb2, but after 25.Bf6 resigned as even 25...Qxc1+ 26.Qxc1 does not help him as White threatens to bring his queen back to h6.

Tactical sequences like the one above will usually arise at some point in a game. This is why having a clear head is so important, you will calculate just that little bit better.

Nigel Davies

CHESS PARENTING, TOURNAMENTS

THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A CLEAR HEAD

Today I took Sam to the Birmingham and District Chess League Rapid Play. He had an OK tournament, which was more or less around his current grade, but he clearly was not at his best. I had kind of expected this as he had a tough week at his sixth form college. Such matters undermine your focus even if you are not consciously aware of it. This is why one of a chess player's primary goals should be to have a clear head and for this reason it is often better not to over prepare and clear away possible distractions.

This year's Birmingham Rapid Play also featured an 8 player all-play-all invitational tournament in which three Grandmasters (Keith Arkell, Mark Hebden and Matthew Turner), one International Master (Ameet Ghasi) and four aspiring youngsters took part. As the cross table shows, the youngsters had a tough learning experience though Louise Head finished well after beating Ghasi and two of the other aspirants.

Invitational Cross Table

As usual Sam and I enjoyed hanging out with the other players, Sam pictured here with an eminent group:

Left to Right: Mark Hebden, Ameet Ghasi, Sam Davies and Keith Arkell

As always this tournament was well organized and there was a good turnout in terms of numbers. Probably we will be back next year and perhaps I might get to play.

Nigel Davies