"Alex" wrote in message
om...
So I took all of your advice and then read some books. I finally got
my courage back and went to my local chess club to play in another
tournament. But I got clobbered again. They even let me play white
three times for some reason. I did my homework and looked up the
openings; now I know the variations that my opponents played. What am
I doing wrong in my games?? Why can't I beat any of these players at
my local chess club? It is really frustrating...You gotta help me,
please!!!

Thats an easy one: go to another chess club where they offer (free)
teaching. And concentrate on tactics, they are the basis on which you will
build a good game.
Really, every game should be analysed afterwards, and every question you
have should be able to be answered in your club.
It is also OK to ask your questions in ng's. In that case, you should learn
that hanging pieces cancels every effort you put in the opening. Chess is
99% tactics (at beginner level).

I started teaching chess to kids in order to improve my tactics. It's a
win-win.

Jan

"Alex" wrote in message om...
So I took all of your advice and then read some books. I finally got
my courage back and went to my local chess club to play in another
tournament. But I got clobbered again. They even let me play white
three times for some reason. I did my homework and looked up the
openings; now I know the variations that my opponents played. What am
I doing wrong in my games?? Why can't I beat any of these players at
my local chess club? It is really frustrating...You gotta help me,
please!!!


Hi Alex, I am by no means a top rated player, but like you I am learning.

I annotated your games with some important points which I hope will help you out. I have to recommend you get ChessMaster 9000 if
you can because it has a really good training CD included with the Chess Playing program. On the trainging CD is everything you
would every need to know about the game. I am studying it now and have learned much. It reviews openings, tactics, effective piece
use, pawn structure and a lot more than I can even say. Its as close as you can get to lessons from a GM. And it has a large
assortment of Computer opponents from 45 Elo up to GM strength - and they play different styles. This is good to practice what you
learn.

Overall I think your openings are looking good. Your midgame needs strategic planning and an increased knowledge of tactics since
they will hit you hard about this point in the game. Study pawn formations: islands, isolated, backward. Study tactics. Study
attacking the defender. Study defense. Knowledge is power in this game.

Here are the annotated games:

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "me 1210"]
[Black "2187"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B34"]
[Opening "Sicilian: accelerated fianchetto, modern variation"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f3
{This move is unecessary because you have protection of the e4 pawn by your N on c3. This move weakens what could be your castle if
it is planned on the Kingside.}
7... O-O 8. Bc4 Qa5 9. O-O Ne5 {Black attacks the Bishop on c4.} 10. Nb3
{White gives Black a reason not to take the Bishop at this time.} 10... Qc7
{The unprotected Bishop on c4 is twice attacked.} 11. Be2 d6 12. Qd2 Nc4 13. Qc1
{White should have traded the bad Bishop on e2 for the Knight on c4.} 13... Nxe3
{Black trades a Knight for the good Bishop.} 14. Qxe3 Be6 15. Rad1
{A half-open file is good for a rook. A full-open file is better.} 15... Rac8
{Black creates a Queen - Rook battery focused on c3.} 16. Rd3 a6 17. Rfd1 b5
{Black has a strategy to chase the Knight on e3 so that the Queen can capture the undefended pawn at e2.}
18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. exd5 Bf5
{Black seeks to focus an attack on the e2 pawn and activates the Bishop to this purpose. Even if the Black-Rook defends e2 after
moving, it will not be enough.}
20. Rc3
{This move was an oversight. I used to make more moves like this myself until I started paying more attention to the locations and
attack vectors of the Bishops on the board.}
20... Bxc3 {Black takes advantage of the situation.} 21. bxc3 Qxc3 22. Qxe7 Bxc2
{The White-Rook is threatened.} 23. Qxd6
{This move does not help because the White-Rook on d1 is under attack by a lesser point piece. That attack can not be blocked, so a
better move would have been to relocate the Rook to f1. There is also no diverting attack on the Black Queen that can help at this
time.}
23... Bxd1 {Black trades a 3 point piece for a 5 point piece.} 24. Bxd1 Qe1#
{The beginning moves of this game looked okay to some extent. I think you need to focus on the defense of your pieces more. Also
keep those Bishops in mind - they can sneak up on you from a distance. When you look at your weakness - look at your unprotected
pieces and unprotected squares on your side of the board. In this game everything from the 4th rank to the 1st rank. You need a
strong defense first before you can range out and attack the other side.}
0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "1923"]
[Black "me 1210"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E00"]
[Opening "Catalan Opening"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6
{You may want to take a look at the Kings Indian Defense as a response to White opening with the Queens pawn.}
3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 Ne4 6. Qc2 f5 7. Bg2 d5 8. Nf3 O-O 9. O-O
{Take a look at d4 - a perfect outpost fot the White Knight.} 9... b6 10. Ne5
Bb7 11. f3 Nf6 12. Nd2 Nbd7 13. Nd3 c6 14. c5 Ba6 15. b4 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 Qe7 17.
Rac1 a5 18. cxb6 Nxb6 19. Rxc6 Qxb4
{To see why this move is bad is to evaluate the set of moves that precede it and to consider the manner in which your pieces can be
attacked. You have to try to estimate what your opponent would move in response to your moves to be able to see if a move is good
or bad.}
20. Rb1
{This move uses a strategic principle of attacking the defender. The Knight is defended by the Queen, so if the Q is chased away by
the Rook as in this case, it will allow the capture of the Knight. This works because the Queen had no place to escape to that
would allow a continued guard on the Knight.}
20... Qe7 21. Rbxb6 e5 22. Re6 Qc7 23. dxe5 Nd7 24. Rbc6 Qb8 25. f4 Qb2 26. Bxd5
Kh8
{Thats good. You saw the impending attack by the White Bishop on your King. This is a good example of looking ahead and
visualizing the opponents moves.}
27. Bb3 Rac8
{This move is bad because you have left your Knight unguarded. Practice evaluating your pieces safety before choosing a move.
Sometimes its easy to get into an automatic sort of response or to not focus on ones own pieces, but it really will help if you look
carefully at your own pieces defense first before choosing a move.}
28. Qxd7 Rxc6 29. Rxc6 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "me 1210"]
[Black "1850"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B32"]
[Opening "Sicillian Defense"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. c3 {4.Nxd4 is better} 4... d3
{A better move for the opponent would have been 4...dxc3 which has the advantage of weakening the pawn structure on the Queenside.}
5. Bxd3
{Good to get the passed pawn out of the way before it becomes a problem.} 5...
g6
{The strategy is a fianchetto Bishop, which is seen a Bishop is placed on b7 or g7 for Black, c2 or g2 for White. The main idea is
that the Bishop will attack the center squares of d4, d5, e4, e5. This supports attacks by the Knights and other pawns on these
squares. Usually a Queen or Rook is used at the back of the attack to protect the attacking pieces.}
6. O-O Bg7
{Note the pawn structure for White. The e4 pawn is an isolated pawn. This means that is has no protection from other pawns and
will have to rely on the bigger pieces, Bishop, Knight, Rook, Queen - to be able to survive.}
7. Re1 d6 8. Be3 Nf6 9. h3
{This move is good to keep the Knight from pressing forward.} 9... O-O 10. Qd2
Re8
{A Queen - Bishop battery aimed at attacking the much needed Black square Black-Bishop. A good idea to eliminate that Bishop since
it is very much needed for Black Kingside defense because of openings in the pawn structure of the castle.}
11. Bh6 Bh8 12. Na3
{A knight on the rim is grim - or so they say. Sometimes you can make this kind of move and it works, but it depends on the
situation and if you have counted the Knight moves to a particular location. Maybe the plan is to support the pawn push of e5 by
the Knight on c4.}
12... Be6 13. Nc4 b5
{Black senses a problem from Whites strategy and strives to create problems for White.}
14. Ne3 a6
{Take note on how the white-squared White Bishop is becoming a bad bishop. There are not many squares where it can be used.}
15. a3 {Defends against 15...b4.} 15... Rc8 16. Rad1 Na5 17. Nd4 Bd7 18. b4 Nc6
19. Nxc6 Bxc6 20. f3 {A good move as it supports the double-attacked e4 pawn.}
20... Nd7 21. Ng4 Bb7 22. Be3
{Maybe not so good of a move since the Bishop was keeping the Black King in place. But then again it would be hard to get the Queen
in place for a checkmate because of the Black Bishop in the corner.}
22... Bxc3
{A strategic move that attacks two higher point pieces on the Bishops attack vector. This move works because the attacking Bishop
is backed up by the Rook and there is no equal or lower point pieces to exchange for the Black Bishop. These are the kind of moves
one dreads, but at least you can learn what to watch for in your next games. To be able to see a move like this you have to
understand how such moves are made. Study Tactics. Books are good. Master Games are very good to study.}
23. Nh6+
{Attacks the King and gives the Queen a moment of repreive, but does it help?}
23... Kf8 24. Qf2 Bxe1 25. Rxe1 Ne5 26. Bf1 Qc7 27. Rc1 Nc4 28. Bxc4 bxc4 29.
Rc3 e6 30. Qh4 Qd8 31. Qf4 Qe7
{Unfortunately the opponent saw through the strategy of mating by Queen on f7.}
32. Ng4 f5 33. exf5 exf5 34. Qh6+ Qg7 35. Nf6 Re7 36. Nxh7+ Kf7 37. Ng5+ Kg8 38.
Qh4 Qxc3
{Practice looking at the other areas of the board and checking your own piece defenses. Its not easy to do, especially when you are
focused on a particular part of the board, but it helps to not have tunnel-vision. Your first moves in this game are looking good
and it appears that you are developing strategies and testing ideas. It takes some work to get better. Study tactics and GM
games.}
0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "me 1210"]
[Black "1765"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B17"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann Steinitz variation"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Bd3 Nxe4 7. Bxe4 Nf6 8.
Qe2 Nxe4 9. Qxe4 e6 10. O-O Bd6 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. h3
{The only reason the Black Bishop will not move to h2 is the White Knight on f3.}
12... h6 13. Bd2 b6 14. Bc3 Bb7 15. Qg4 O-O-O 16. Qxg7 Rdg8 17. Qf6 c5 18. Rad1
Rg6 19. Qh4
{Practice slowing down your game play so that you have more time to evaluate all the pieces on the board. 19.Qxh8+ would have been
awesome. If White had replied 19...Qd8 to block the Check then you could have traded Queens and been up by 6 points.}
19... Bxf3
{Here is an example of the tactice called remove the defender. The h2 square is no longer defended by the Knight. Keep this
principle in mind for your moves and try to seek opportunities where you can try this type of tactic.}
20. dxc5 {It is a tough situation, but 20.g3 would have been better.} 20...
Rxg2+
{The g3 pawn was weak and Black took advantage of this fact. Consider studying pawn structure and how pawns can be effective in
placement for defense and for attacks.}
21. Kh1 Rh2+ {Instead of this move, 21...Rg3 would be a mate.} 22. Kg1 Rg2+ 23.
Kh1 Rg4#
{You have been holding up good on openings. Your midgame needs study for effective strategy and careful piece placement. Try not
to rush. Think carefully about your moves. Check your defense.}
0-1