Chess

[pindicator]

I ducked in and hit the Withdraw function on chess.com, hoping that would make the results more fair for everyone else.

[MJW (ya that one)]

I ducked in and hit the Withdraw function on chess.com, hoping that would make the results more fair for everyone else.

What do you think that would do? Chess.com clearly states that withdrawing causes you to resign all remaining games (even those that have not started).

[Gustaran]

1)  It sure didn't feel like this was the case.  If so, then why was this the only game where you engaged in such banter?  Why not engage with uberfish during his game like you did with me?  Or anyone else?  Also, I still remember reading your comment from the first tournament where you knew our first game was a drawn position but wanted to make me prove it and played it out some 20 more moves before accepting a draw.  So I don't know if I believe you when you say you would have resigned if I had consolidated my position.  I figured I had to checkmate you before you would give up, and would have to watch out for stalemate and perpetual traps if I did increase my advantage.

I didn't talk to any other players, because in none of my other games my opponents created any serious theats. And I avoid trashtalking people that are rated significantly lower rated or maybe already a piece down because this is usually indeed not very funny.
About the resignation: I usually resign when I have no plan left. In Rb#1 I thought I still had a winning idea, which proved to be incorrect.
On the other hand I think that converting a material advantage while you are under tactical pressure is one of your chess areas that needs the most work. And if I know you don't feel comfortable in these positions I am tempted to play on longer. The best antidote is to kill off my counterplay and make me suffer on the board. If a position is no fun to play at all resignation soon follows.

1b)  I just need to stop playing my turns over the phone if I'm at all playing seriously.  It's too disjointed, and there's no way for me to make notes to keep a train of thought.

Don't play on the phone, making the moves at home on your analysis board is an advantage.

Maybe you didn't realize that you really did strike a nerve in those comments.  At first I told myself I'd just play through it - my first responses weren't continuing your banter, they were talking about how tough the position still was.  Maybe I should have just told you to knock it off then, but I thought I could play through it.  Would I have still made the same mistakes or reacted the same without it?  I have no idea.

Sorry, but to me, these RB tournaments are totally casual. I am just explaining that, because in the last serious correspondence tournament I participated I had to pay a 30 Euro entrance fee to be able to play. A bunch of my opponents were rated ~2200 in my group and full computer assistance was allowed (as you may have guessed I got subsequently destroyed).
And like I said, if something like that bothers you, just write "sorry, but no game talk while the game is still running, I need to concentrate".

1a) I would like to go over the game at some point. I've already looked at the position where I played c6 a little, because I was thinking I should have played O-O-O instead of c6, but the chessbase light kibitzer actually doesn't mind c6. Still, it did make the position a lot more open, and allowed you more tactics, so I think strategically it was dubious. But I didn't play O-O-O there because I couldn't see a way to counter Qa4 followed by Bxa6, and then all my pieces are on the kingside while youre queen can come in from the queenside. But I haven't gone over variations with the engine yet, so maybe the threat wasn't quite that bad. Probably will sometime this weekend.

Or, you could just download a ~20 minute video annotation of our game by FM Valeri Lilov (ELO 2433)

http://rapidshare.com/files/343737177/Gu...mo5024.mp4

Please note that he looks at the game from my perspective and it seems he doesn't want to anger his customers by being too critical, but he explains some interesting positional ideas. Checking the game with an engine in addition is still recommended.

[pindicator]

I ducked in and hit the Withdraw function on chess.com, hoping that would make the results more fair for everyone else.

What do you think that would do? Chess.com clearly states that withdrawing causes you to resign all remaining games (even those that have not started).

I guess i was hoping they had a system in place that was more fair than a rage-quit
:rolleyes:

I didn't talk to any other players, because in none of my other games my opponents created any serious theats. And I avoid trashtalking people that are rated significantly lower rated or maybe already a piece down because this is usually indeed not very funny.
About the resignation: I usually resign when I have no plan left. In Rb#1 I thought I still had a winning idea, which proved to be incorrect.

Well, i'm sorry for my misunderstanding of RB#1 then. I still had felt a little slighted by that, to be honest - my takeaway had been you knew it was drawn but only played to catch me in a screw up. If you thought there was still a win to be had then you certainly had every right to continue on.

On the other hand I think that converting a material advantage while you are under tactical pressure is one of your chess areas that needs the most work. And if I know you don't feel comfortable in these positions I am tempted to play on longer. The best antidote is to kill off my counterplay and make me suffer on the board. If a position is no fun to play at all resignation soon follows.

I'd expand this to playing in general under tactical pressure. I'm far more comfortable in positional games (not saying I'm brilliant there either, but i feel like i understand the principles at least). In this last game I kept thinking "gotta get my king somewhere safe" but could never see a path to do so.

Sorry, but to me, these RB tournaments are totally casual. I am just explaining that, because in the last serious correspondence tournament I participated I had to pay a 30 Euro entrance fee to be able to play. A bunch of my opponents were rated ~2200 in my group and full computer assistance was allowed (as you may have guessed I got subsequently destroyed).
And like I said, if something like that bothers you, just write "sorry, but no game talk while the game is still running, I need to concentrate".

I have a bit of a thing with blowing games i know i should win, and i'm probably a bit sensitive to that. No, i definitely am. Not just in chess, too. I don't want to say "never trash talk" because it is fun to have that going on, especially if everyone knows it's all in fun. (And it definitely seems like i misjudged your intentions here so i'm sorry for that. ) So I'll just ask you keep that in mind and use your judgment if you think it's appropriate or not.

Or, you could just download a ~20 minute video annotation of our game by FM Valeri Lilov (ELO 2433)

http://rapidshare.com/files/343737177/Gu...mo5024.mp4

Please note that he looks at the game from my perspective and it seems he doesn't want to anger his customers by being too critical, but he explains some interesting positional ideas. Checking the game with an engine in addition is still recommended.

Oh wow! That is as awesome as it is intimidating! How did you swing that?

I think I need to stress that i don't hold anything personally here. I like you Gustaran and i'm glad you're a part of RB. I look forward to our next game.

[MJW (ya that one)]

[quote='pindicator' pid='361488' dateline='1366395244']
Or, you could just download a ~20 minute video annotation of our game by FM Valeri Lilov (ELO 2433)

http://rapidshare.com/files/343737177/Gu...mo5024.mp4

Please note that he looks at the game from my perspective and it seems he doesn't want to anger his customers by being too critical, but he explains some interesting positional ideas. Checking the game with an engine in addition is still recommended.

Do you have other vids like this? Me vs you for example?

[regoarrarr]

If I mis-read that then my mistake, but you didn't engage anybody else like that. .

That's because the rest of us stink too badly (at least I do...)

[regoarrarr]

And for the record, I don't feel like you "need to" or "should have" resigned our game. From my perspective, that's the benefit of being "better" - you can come back from deficits.

In my book, I drew the game I was hoping to win (Pindicator) and won the game I was hoping to draw (uberfish) so for me it all worked out

[Gustaran]

Do you have other vids like this? Me vs you for example?

No, that's the only one. Valeri Lilov has website where he offers a variety of different chess training services for money.
You can play training games against him with an analysis afterwards, get online training sessions, personalized lectures or as in my case submit a game for video analysis. One video review is 16$, which is not cheap but compared to what an hour of training with a GM costs it's quite good value. Still, I will probably only have a few games analysed where I was much worse at some point with not too much opening theory.

If you want to check out his website, it's http://www.tigerlilov.com/ and his chess.com coach profile is http://www.chess.com/coach/valeri-lilov

If you like his style (he is a very popular coach) but find his personalized services too expensive you can check out his training DVDs at Chessbase.com.

[uberfish]

Well, I resigned my game against Gustaran because in my opinion the position was dead lost, I'd expect to win it almost all the time from the other side. (well, minus randomly dropping a rook but I don't play for that)

[Sian]

Just won against Waterbat as Black ... Am I correct in thinking that it was not retreating his dark bishop in time (ie, after i got castle'd and my backrank rook couldn't be taken with check anymore) decided the game? (well ... that and his Ke4 in the end which feels wrong)