Week 1 Report (30 April – 5 May 2012)
Opening
Toying with the idea of changing my opening’s wardrobe to
something not to sexy …perhaps something solid and did not take much time to
study. ..Dragon, Najdorf, Marshall is a no-no. Benko, Slav, Catalan…maybe. Or should I
continue to play what I am playing now but study it much deeper?
Decisions!, decisions! By week two I have to come up with at least 6 openings that I need to study.
Middlegame
I have to study the classic
1. Re visit Capablanca’s Chess Fundamentals
2. 2.
Study Nimzowitsch’s My System
(This lies a problem…I could not find those books)
Endgame
Back to basic. Spend many hours learning to checkmate a lone king with knight
and bishop. After going through this ending via Nunn’s Understanding Chess
Endgames and Kastern Mueller’s Fundamental Chess Ending, I feel Mueller’s
explanation is easier to understand ( W manouver and all) and more systematic.
Apparently there is
debate whether is it worth to study how to execute this checkmate since chances
are very small that one is going to encounter it in real game. Well, to me…
Definitely it is worth it since it boast your confident in endgame, it also makes one appreciate
the power of knight and bishop more (did you know it is possible for bishop and
knight to imprison opponent king? now I
know) and ofcourse, my old favourite quote...
“An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and
less”
Wrap the lesson by testing my ability to execute this
endgame against computer…manage to do it below 40 moves. I pass the exam! And
hopefully did not forget it when I encounter it over the board.
By the way, wikipidea informed that few GM also sometimes
did not know how to checkmate with knight and bishop…ok, since now I
self considered myself expert on this type of endgame…basically now I am better than some
of the GMs :)
Also spend few hours looking at Q vs R endgame (Offensive side should aim
for Philidor Position) but not really satisfied with it, still much to
know/learn about this tricky Q vs R endgame.
Things to do on W2
Opening
Come up with list of openings to play/master as white and as
black.
Middlegame
Find those two books or any good middle game books, most
likely at Kinokuniya KLCC.
Endgame
I have My System ebook. email me and I will send it to you.
ReplyDeleteHi John Wong,
DeleteMany thanks for your generous offer...have send you an e-mail!