A mere 26 years on, since I ran away from the responsibility of being Tournament Organizer at my home club, I’m back at it again. The difference is, this time its all on-line quickplay stuff, which is a damn site easier to do than club championships where more than half never even shown up once!
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It could be argued that the Soviets played much more attacking chess then their, comparatively affluent, counterparts in the west. Partly because of what is ingrained in their culture/spirit, and partly because winning meant more or at least in becoming titled the government made more effort to look after you, and partly because the competition was much stiffer. And here’s a fine example from the 9th Soviet Championships, a spirited Levenfish shows us how it was done.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1090615
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If you teach then perhaps you know that the website www.readinga-z.com has become a force to be reckoned with in the context of blended learning. And since ‘enlighteners for the little blighters they be, below lies a Level G reader all about Chess. You are, of course, quite welcome to download it and do whatever you so wish. And yes I have already contacted the publisher to suggest improvements as the initial definition of chess clearly isn’t correct.
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As a rule of thumb, the more complex the concepts you grapple with are, the better the player you are. By this I mean when you move away from the material to the abstract, it means the more you are absorbing, very generally speaking. If you never consider control over colour complexes, it’s fair to say you are most likely playing for pleasure than playing to push yourself towards becoming a professional player. Those at the very top are able to win by means of controlling colour complexes and here’s a fine example by the first accredited Soviet Grand Master Verlinsky. Yes of course in retrospect we see Botvinnik as being the first but that wasn’t so. And so here is our old Soviet friend, who played without hearing, doing what he does best, showing why he was indeed world class.
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2020 got struck down by the most irksome of all maladies did it not? I much prefer natural disasters over pandemics personally…hopefully this one will piss off sooner rather than later…
Chesswise 2020 has been my best year ever because I altered my style of play significantly and play much more actively and directly. The principle reasons for that is it was both long overdue and the psychological impact of applying pressure is understated, and significantly so. I think that sub-2000 mistakes are a certainty and aplenty, and if you apply pressure they are inevitable almost. So crack the whip I do in order to watch my opponent fall apart. The real skill comes finding the right moment to do so, and that’s not so easy, anyway…
With our offline lives being rendered irrelevant almost, I spent the last 6 months almost online at all times and played some 1000-1500 games, which helped solidify that shift in style to something I am proud of. If every cloud does have a silver lining, then you could argue the sense of occasion which was lost when OTB chess stopped made much more room for a ‘play to win’ mentality to emerge. An altered mindset emerged from which I pushed home all the way, and with chess theory now creeping back into the fray, since the calibre of my opponents is noticeably higher, I should reach my peak next year, and that is where the climb begins…
Yes, most probably if I applied myself solidly for five years I could reach FM level or be thereabouts but I don’t think I will give it all that. Getting over 2000 should suffice methinks…
Do enjoy 2021…
Olcmarcus
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If your numbers are on the up and my grade is ‘improving’, as some would say, does that constitute progression or regression? Perhaps the question is a little vague and requires further qualification: what if I become concerned about my actual rating -which admittedly is artificially low- does wanting an impressive rating rank higher than playing contently with no real care over results? Do we start with what lies within us and work outwards or begin with what lies external to us -and depending upon the interpretation of that- work inwards to establish our own thoughts and feelings? Who calls the shots?
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Contemporaneous hypermodernism laudible not meretricious for the simpatico.
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When general principles are refuted by the counter-intuitive, it becomes tough to remain precise.
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A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
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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