Game One - For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

The game is just so.. meh! My first attempt to remove simple blunders from my game, and what do I do? A simple blunder. I saw the knight attack immediately after I made my last move(see game and guess where it is) and oh boy, it was all downhill from there.

Its kinda like, if I ask you not to think of a white elephant dancing in a pink tutu, you will immediately think of an elephant dancing in a white tutu even though I specifically told you not to.

Did I mention that games like this makes me hate myself a little?

Game Two - Straight out of the book.

Did you know that the first chapter of Art of Attack is titled "Attack against the un-castled king" and that the first section of this chapter is called "The attack along the e-file"?


The surprising thing here is that it felt so easy and yet when I looked at the opponents rating, I had to do a double take as he was higher than mine. It wasn't supposed to be this easy.

I don't mean to sound as if I'm bragging because, clearly as the first game shows I have a lot to learn. But the win in this game felt that is was just a "matter of technique".

Game Three- Locked and loaded

The first game in which I am able to extensively practice the question. This games was very tense and very long. Long not in the number of moves, but in the time me and my opponent spent thinking about the position. We were both down to ten minutes. A very good game all in all.

1. This is a Ruy Lopez. The jockeying for position was enjoyable. The plan was crystal clear for me. This reflects my, what I think is a developing understanding of chess principles.

Allow Mr. CJS Purdy to tell it for us:
"As Nimzowitch explained in his book My System, a pawn center is regarded as an asset only because a piece center is usually not possible. But if you can get the later it is much better."

I don't know what does that tells you, but for me, in this game at least, I somehow got the idea to, to centralize my pieces in preparation for the impending liquidation of the center . I reasoned that since I will not have pawns in there, better that I replace it with my pieces.



2. The second strategy I had was that I was gonna gain the two bishops. On an open board with the center removed of all clutter, I reasoned that the influence of my two bishop will soon tell.

Ok back to the question

I was able to use it mostly throughout the game. I knew at all times that his strategy lay in the fact that he wanted to push his advanced pawn. With that in mind, his moves was a little bit predictable. And as a culmination of it all, below is the position where the question best served me well.



Game Four - Much too fast

A game in which I suffered a major letdown. Oh, I won alright but it was again too easy. My opponent was rated 1700 so it was with expectation that I can work on practicing the question while he's attempting to crush me.

But as early as the third move, I noticed he was playing much too fast. I would take some time thinking about my move and he in turn will immediately bang his reply. At the end of the game,he actually gained more than 12 minutes from when we started. Uhhm!?

It wasn't at all what I expected. Winning is good and all but well, I wanted to learn :(




The only time I was able to practice answering the question was when he was generating an attempt on my kingside. An 'attack' parried easily enough.


I'm officially worried. Its not supposed to be as easy as this. I've not been playing too long since my break so I don't think I'm stronger than my rating. Maybe this is a setup before the fall. After all, there is an old saying "They first make mad, whom the gods will destroy" - :fear: -


Next: I'll update when I've played six more games.