Chess Master class

[fatblokish]

OK, I have a question. To be a good chess player is it necessary to learn openings and how to counter them? I played a couple of times at junior county level but the prospect of having to learn moves, rather than calculate moves, put me off.

And if I am allowed a second question, typically in a game between grand masters, after how many moves does the precedent book become redundant, i.e. when do calculation skills, rather than memory, prevail?

 

[Thomk]

[QUOTE 3708884, member: 9609"]Never knew any of this e2 - e4 stuff existed, so just had a quick game and sure enough that is how they catalogue the moves - learn something everyday.
Anyway it was a quick game, some bloke from Santa Cruz in California, he resigned after I got his queen. all over in four minutes.

1.e4c6
2.Nf3d5
3.e5e6
4.d4c5
5.Nc3cxd4
6.Qxd4Nc6
7.Bb5Bd7
8.Bxc6Bxc6
9.Bg5f6
10.exf6gxf6
11.O-OQe7
12.Rfe1Bg7
13.Bh4Nh6
14.Qe3e5
15.Nxe5Nf5
16.Qh3Nxh4
17.Nxc6Qxe1+[/QUOTE]
Moves in brackets are suggestions.

1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5?! (Not the best as it doesn't marry well with Nf3. It allows blacks white squared bishop to exchange itself on f3 before playing e6 with a "French" type pawn structure without the "bad" bishop) 3...e6? (As in the previous note Bg4 is the best move here) 4.d4 c5 5.Nc3?! (c3) (5.dxc5) 5... cxd4 6.Qxd4 (6.Nb5) 6... Nc6 7.Bb5? (Exchanging a strong Bishop and in the process helping black to de-clutter and develop her bad Bishop) 7...Bd7 8.Bxc6 Bxc6 9.Bg5 f6?! (A little risky to open up in this way as black is quite a bit behind in development) 10.exf6 gxf6 11. O-O! Qe7 12.Rfe1 Bg7 13.Bh4 (13. Rxe6) 13... Nh6 14.Qe3 (14. Rxe6) 14... e5 15.Nxe5! Nf5 16.Qh3 Nxh4 17.Nxc6! Nice finish from Master Reiver!

 

[Thomk]

OK, I have a question. To be a good chess player is it necessary to learn openings and how to counter them? I played a couple of times at junior county level but the prospect of having to learn moves, rather than calculate moves, put me off.

And if I am allowed a second question, typically in a game between grand masters, after how many moves does the precedent book become redundant, i.e. when do calculation skills, rather than memory, prevail?

To play at county level or above you should have at least a passing acquaintance with opening theory although there are some who play county chess with fairly little. To avoid other players opening preparation they tend to play unusual and perhaps slightly dubious lines. Anything above county level requires some work on openings.

Opening theory might run out in a typical Grandmaster game anywhere from about move 10 to move 25, typically around move 15 I guess. There are exceptions to this of course...

 

[Thomk]

Chess is one of those activities that I would like to get into, but other things always seem to get in the way - bike riding, for instance.

I make time to play a few games of Backgammon, Sudoku and Spider Solitaire a day so perhaps I am just being lazy. I think I ought to be pretty good at chess, but can't really be bothered to put the work in to develop my skills.

Mind you ... I was sorting through old books the other day to reduce my collection - 2 chess books got put in the recycling bag but then I changed my mind and fished them back out again. Perhaps I still have a suppressed desire to get into chess?

As for BG ... The BG game I have on my tablet makes annoying mistakes. Most of the time it plays reasonably well, but sometimes it goes crazy and leaves blots all over the place for no good reason. Other times it does not spot that it is going to be backgammoned and blindly moves other pieces forward while ignoring ones stuck in my home quarter. I also get annoyed that it does not spot when games are definitely lost and insists that every move be played out to the end. (A superior chess player once got annoyed with me when I would not surrender a clearly lost chess game. He sneered at me and asked if I was trying to bore him into making mistakes! )

I used to play a fair bit of BG and had an engine called Jellyfish which was pretty good (as good as me anyway). I suspect BG engines are far better than humans these days.