Instruction / GM Advice Lev Alburt’s
Advice to Chris (and perhaps many others)
•Study chess in a comprehensive way— tactics, strategy, endgames, openings,
etc. Your intermediate goal is to learn whatever you think an expert should know (then, move upwards to master).
•Prior to planning what to study— evaluate yourself, and ask your coach/
friend to evaluate you. If needed, review games you’ve played in the last year or two. For example, on a scale of 0 to 10, your overall play should be 5. Give your - self, say, 7 for tactics and 4 for openings. Then move deeper: give yourself 9 for seeing tactics for yourself and 5 or 4 for anticipating your opponents’ tactics (if you are, indeed, prone to overlooking these). Don’t try to be precise (impossible and unnecessary); don’t try to do it all at once. Sometimes such an evaluation by itself will suggest what to do! Repeat when needed.
•Work on both the “gaps” in your knowledge and on your strengths. Wouldn’t it be nice
to be able to say, confidently, “I play bishops-of-opposite-color endings like a strong master?”
•Play and analyze all your games— first yourself, then with Houdini (mostly
for hidden blunders), then with your coach. When playing with a Game/60 or longer time control, write down the time you and your opponent spend on each move. This will provide you with a lot of valuable information when analyzing your game, e.g., in the game versus Sagunsky, how long did Chris think on moves 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. In the Cooper game, how much on moves 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 21, 22, 27 and, of course, 45 (where he missed an easy draw): also on the last move, 58. What was Mr. Cooper’s time at that moment? How long did he think before playing 57. ... Rb3? ?
•Most likely, a well-organized quest for chess greatness should work wonders!
4. ... d6 After a natural-looking 4. ... Bc5, the
same archetypical exchange (meaning: trade) sacrifice, Nxe5, which dominates the fifth to eighth moves of the previous game, is possible, and gives White an edge. Black’s most common reply to 4. e4 is 4. ... Bb4, with equality. The somewhat passive 4. ... d6 invites 5. d4! and now all lines: 5. ... exd4 6. Nxd4 (space, center); 5. ... Be7 6. d5 (space, misplaced black pieces—even 6. ... Ne7 isn’t possible; 5. ... g6 (attempting to transfer into the King’s Indian, but 6. dxe5!); even 5. ... Bg4!? 6. d5 Nd4 7. Be3 Nxf3+ favor White. Yes, Chris is more used to fianchettoing the f1- bishop, but here one move (5. d4) is simply the best, and should be played. More generally, Chris needs to expand the range of positions he’s comfort able in.
5. g3 Be7 I’d prefer 5. ... g6 (fianchetto). Master
Cooper, however, seems to like to tease/provoke his opponents by his unorthodox play in the openings.
6. Bg2 Bd7 7. 0-0 It feels like a better plan would have
been 7. d4 but I wasn't sure if my opponent would have captured. I felt like I would be OK after 7. ... exd4 8. Nxd4 but wasn’t sure what I should do if my opponent didn’t capture on d4. I couldn’t figure out if I should push the pawn to d5 or main tain the tension. In hindsight it seems like pushing the pawn would have cramped my opponent and so he would practically be forced to take. At the time it didn’t seem so clear. True, 7. d4 exd4 favors White (+=). Black,
however, can’t (as Chris noted) simply allow d4-d5—after, say, 7. d4 Re8 8. d5 White’s advantage is huge (±)—compare with the Classic King’s Indian. Thus, besides 7. ... exd4, the only other move Black should consider is 7. ... Bg4, leading after 8. d5 Nd4 (see the difference between this and other knight’s retreats?) 9. Be3 Nxf3+ 10. Bxf3, leading to a position where White is probably somewhat better, but only somewhat.
7. ... Qc8 32 January 2014 | Chess Life
8. Re1 Here, too, d2-d4 is the best. White
shouldn’t worry too much about allowing the exchange of his not-so-active g2-bishop for its black so-far-only-one-good counter - part, e.g., 8. d4 Bh3?? 9. d5! clearly favors White. Also, when playing a much stronger player, having two seemingly equal options, choose the one which leads to greater clarity. (alternatively, one proven way to outplay a weaker opponent in an equal position is to muddy the waters in order to give him more choices, more opportunities to go wrong).
8. ... 0-0 9. d3 Bg4 10. Qc2 Nh5 11. Nd5 Bd8 12. Ne3
12. Be3 would have completed develop ment.
12. ... Be6 13. a3 h6 14. Qe2 Nf6 15. b4 Nh7 16. Bb2 Bg5
17. Qf1 This is an absolutely terrible move. Here
I could have played 17. Nxg5 Nxg5 18. h4 Nh7 19. b5 and carried out my attack on the queenside while also dulling my opponent’s attack on the kingside. On moves 8-17 the master tried hard to
follow my advice above (notes to 8. Re1). Avoiding simple but equal situations, he made a number of provocative, dubious maneuvers such as ... N(f6)-h5, ... h7-h6, ... N(h5)-f6-h7. By the way, after 17. Nxg5 Nxg5— see the last comment by Chris— I’d play 18. f4! rather than 18. h4, and expand with a view toward an attack on the kingside.
17. ... Bxe3 18. Rxe3 Ne7 19. d4 f6 20. d5 Bd7 21. Rc1
This move seems to be unnecessary. It
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