After a most pleasant evening at the chess club last night and more than enough examples of play which brought victory rather impressively I must say…well only one or two actually but that’s enough, I decided to return to Lucas Chess to face the engine Greko98 once more in hope of giving it a good thrashing, after all, it’s only rated 2500! At the chess club last night I told someone my FIDE rating is 2 but it’s actually a little higher than that. As mentioned in a previous post, I beat an engine rated 2200 and 2400, so Grecko98 it is, rated 2500. What I like about playing it is I have to analyse my games and learn from my mistakes to stand any chance. The video below shows the closest I have come to beating it. I was celebrating half way through it, thinking the win was mine, forgetting I always take my foot off the pedal when I think I have won, so I lost instead! I just got carried away with my attack and didn’t evaluation the position, failing to notice I had poor king safety. I shall make a note not to get too excited next time if I have what I think is a strong attack, I think this game is a good ilustration of the fact that I am not used to playing such high rated opponents and do not realize just how difficult they are to beat. It could be argued that that was to be expected. Grecko98 is a tough cookie. I might nick a draw of it but that’s probably all I can hope for. It’s been fun as this is the toughest engine I have ever taken on, I decided not to play the ones that can beat the world champion! Although I like to play, I don’t like it when I’ve got absolutley no chance and will get thrashed every game, so I gave those engines a miss and me thinks me shan’t go above 2500 also as I am under the kosh a lot. What I liked most about this game was it showed I wanted to stick it to my oponnent despite suffering material loss.
This weekend I am going to continue to play the engine rated 2500 that I can’t quite beat. I’m going to have to increase the time limit and become more conscious of critical moments in the game In following GM Gawian Jones’s recommendations in his book on the Grand Prix Sicilian I get middle games with the better position but just cannot convert it into a winning attack.
My level of focus and will power are very high. And I analyse all games to see where I went wrong. I’m up against it but well up for it. The program being used is Lucas Chess. Let’s see if I can nick a draw this weekend. Probably I shall post some videos soonish. I don’t like posting ones where I lose but whatever, the calibre of the play is high and the games are instructive.
Posted in My own endeavours | Leave a Comment »
In the previous post I mentioned that I gave up on playing online chess because it’s too easy, took on some engines, the one 2200 I beat, the one 2400 I beat but the one 2500 I could not. I felt sharpened up and fancied it down the chess club. How did it go? I enjoyed the company of all present and much socialising occurred before play began, I started drinking cider too.
We had a 9-round Swiss and I was very friendly at all times. My results were distinctly average though. I outplayed nearly everyone, winning with a devastating attack more than once but I just couldn’t get a grip of myself and adjust to the time limit (3m 2s) enough, sometimes losing on time, sometimes panicking not to and blowing the result. I had my shit together but it wasn’t enough over the board but failed to adjust to the tournament conditions. I couldn’t be bothered to see what my final score was, probably about 50%. To some degree my chess was anti-climactic.
Most importantly, life long member Peter told me it was lovely to see me back and he really meant it. In return I was complimentary too. Long term friend Poompong also very politely asked me about my life and my family unit, and so on. He was genuinely interested and spoke to me like a true friend.
To be happy just to be there and then valued as a member still, and treated as a true friend was what mattered most of the evening. I left feeling very touched indeed. It was a great night out.
M J M
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Tonight, old-timer McCready beat an IM at draughts (I have played for England before). The videos linked do not show the game I won but rather who my oppponent was (not just an IM but a senior figure in the draughts world), and that I was enjoying myself. Should it be the case that you assuming I was some one trick pony and nothing more, I am very sorry to tell you that isnt so… .
M J M
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It is Lucas Chess that I use and in the previous post I showed how the engine rated 2200 was rather easily beaten, so I then decided to play one rated 2400 but will not be posting a video of that. It was well dodgy and left its queen en prise, so I won again. A pyrrhic victory.
M J M
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When we don’t expect the unexpected what then? I made a video of me beating Lucas Chess 2200 engine. I had been playing well earlier in the day and so upped the anti. I didn’t think I could be confident enough to do such a thing but it was well founded as I won convincingly, much to my disbelief. I didn’t have to think that hard either but I did stay very focused! The only conclusion I can draw from this is that I must be better than I thought! I suspect it will be some time before the disbelief passes. Comments on the game are very welcome.
M J M
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Jetlag has cleared off, which means this week’s visit to the chess club won’t be the same as last week’s. Overall more pleasant and the sense of occasion greater. My results will improve but probably not greatly.
Presently I am on holiday and have much time to do as I so wish. I have decided to make videos for my site and find my voice with them. This is sharpening me up somewhat, so I won’t be quite so rusty either. Doesn’t mean much at all except that a pleasant evening should be had and that’s something to look forward to. And as you might expect, it’s always pleasant to go into the city and Bangkok chess club is right in the heart of it, leaving you with a slight sense of adventure as well… .
Last week I drank Coke Zero only to help keep me alert and will do so again this week as I don’t want to be carried out and put in a taxi again. Should be good.
M J M
Posted in Life beyond the chess board | Leave a Comment »
‘Live by your passions’, Nietzsche said so many times throughout his life. But how do we do that when we play chess? When I read Kasparov’s ‘How Chess Imitates Life’, I took note of his assertation that ‘Evaluation triumps over calculation’ and believed in it. Over time my play became more impulsive and calculation began to play second-fiddle. Impulses and instincts took over eventually, which works well enough in blitz and quickplay but with regards to classical chess, I am less sure. Evaluation is based on a feel for a position rather than congnition. Consciousness, then, more or less gets the boot and feeling and passions, such as which looks good and doesn’t need much thinking about, or moves I just want to play because I like them, or somehow it feels right get the nod. I can only really say this because I don’t play classical chess anymore and I only play for pleasure and not improvement, the underlying motive being bad conscience.
M J M
Posted in My Own Games | Leave a Comment »
You really do need to know what pawn moves should be made in most openings.
Posted in My Own Games | Leave a Comment »
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A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
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Not perhaps, but quintessentially, Old Tom Sweby is best thought of as a passionate devotee to the newspapers he wrote for. He was well read and knowledgeable of the Bedfordshire chess scene and well beyond, given that he was the president of the S.C.C.U. once upon a time. He was generally well-respected and rubbed shoulders with many, if not all, of those eminent within British chess circles. It would, however, be a critical mistake to see his column is primary source material entirely. That it is not. You will also find secondary source material quoted too, and the reliability of that is not quite as Tom hoped. Given that he wrote for decades, this is to some degree inevitable, and after all we are all prone to error whether we realize it or not. Thankfully, with regards to old Tom Sweby, they are infrequent and for the most part old Tom continued to document events and developments in the Bedfordshire league from the get go as best he could but, of course, everything lies open to interpretation. Despite this, and generally speaking. this does indeed make him informative and thus worth reading. Dare I say his columns constitute a narrative describing the latest developments, match reports and changing nature of the Beds league...he knew his audience and wrote according. This manifested itself over decades but brevity was always in play courtesy of the restictions imposed by writing a column. Should you wish to read a in instrumental figure of the Beds' league post WW2, you are quite welcome to peruse what has been posted here... . :-) I should, however, point out that as the decades wore on he gradually moved on away from narratives concerning the Bedfordshire league towards affairs both historical and international. The reasons for this are multifarous, old age was a predominante factor presumably, however, the bottom line is with regards to how the Bedfordshire chess scene developed post WW2: old Tom Sweby is your go to guy. He wrote more about chess in Bedforshire than anyone else did but given he was a Lutonian and writing for a Luton newspaper there is both bias and greater coverage of his hometown than the rest of the county.
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- 1982, myself versus Brian from Sunderland.
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