Lets play a game of Chess

[StarenseN]

I did the queries , here are the candidates:

2816 Veselin Topalov
2814 Hikaru Nakamura
2808 Fabiano Caruana
2793 Anish Giri
2784 Dmitry Jakovenko
2782 Liren Ding
2777 Vladimir Kramnik
2773 Wesley So
2771 Alexander Grischuk
2765 Levon Aronian
2762 Sergey Karjakin
2758 Evgeny Tomashevsky
2744 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
2742 Michael Adams
2741 Radoslaw Wojtaszek
2738 Teimour Radjabov
2737 Pendyala Harikrishna
2736 Shakhrivar Mamedyarov*
2734 Yi Wei
2732 Leinier Dominguez Perez
2728 David Navara
2727 Peter Svidler
2726 Vassily Ivanchuk
2725 Nikita Vitiugov
2721 Yangyi Yu
2720 Dmitry Andreikin
2717 Pavel Eljanov
2712 Hao Wang
2707 Peter Leko
2705 Ian Nepomniachtchi
2700 Anton Korobov

* Maimdiarove's name is butchered horribly all the time and the correct spelling is unknown

A good candidat for OP is Giri Anish.



Young (21yo) from Netherlands where Bitcoin is quite popular there. He played many times Magnus Carlsen when junior, >2700, is very deep now in the Baku Tournament... and lived in Japan during 2002-2008
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anish_Giri

I'd like to thank whoever it is because this thread is highly valuable (OP is world top best player !!), due to this thread for a week now I'm learning from zero Chess and it's a real blow, I like it very much spending a lot of time to learn openings and play. I was also digging a lot of information about the best players, their games, the history of Chess and when doing this I fell on this player and thought... well it could really be him !

BTW, the best free and ad-free chess website I've found is http://www.lichess.org have a look (they also have an app).

[Timelord2067]

It's late because I fell asleep. Sue me

I saw a lot of discussion leaning towards b3 but you have it behind, can you tell me who voted for which in the above graph please?

[letsplayagame]

It's late because I fell asleep. Sue me

Your move bitcointalk. You have the white pieces

The current position is updated below:

1. Nf3     d5
2. c4      e6
3. g3      Nf6
4. Bg2    dxc4
5. Qa4+  Nbd7
6. Qxc4   c5
7. 0-0     a6
8. d3      b5
9. Qc2    Bb7
10.Nc3    Be7
11.Bf4     0-0
12.Rfd1   Qb6
13.a4      Rfd8
14.a5      Qa7
15.e4      Rac8
16.h3      Nb8

[XMRpromotions]

That was unexpected! We can definitely rule out Topalov, Nakamura, Aronian and Ivanchuk now.  They would have tried to wipe us off the board with c4.

Nb8 seems very positional and a move that Carlsen or Karpov might prefer.  Too bad they are not on the list.

My first idea is 17. Ne5

That way we can capture on c6 before his knight can get to b4 or d4

17. Be3 will stop c4 now but after Nc6 his knight seems very well placed and he can always close the diagonal with Nd4 later

edit: I don't mean to insult Topalov, Nakamura, Aronian and Ivanchuk or imply they cannot play positional moves.  I am just saying that they are aggressive players and c4 looked like a very natural (and good) aggressive move.

[jjacob]

Be3 is an attacking move.
Let us play it and wait for the GM's response.

[Timelord2067]

Pawn to e5 please, it directly threatens the knight.

The Bishop isn't going to make a move on the other knight at b8 (perish the thought)

Either that of pawn to d4 if you're suddenly concerned the white bishop will move across to the knight at f3

Thank you.

[XMRpromotions]

Pawn to e5 please, it directly threatens the knight.

Thank you.

After you play e5 black will probably play Nd5 (which is a good square) attacking our bishop on f4. If we trade knights with Nxd5 then he can play Bxd5 and our pawn on d3 will become a long term weakness. Black also may be able to attack us along the a8 to h1 diagonal (with both bishop and queen) and his c8 knight will eventually get to b4 or d4.

[Timelord2067]

Pawn to e5 please, it directly threatens the knight.

Thank you.

After you play e5 black will probably play Nd5 (which is a good square) attacking our bishop on f4. If we trade knights with Nxd5 then he can play Bxd5 and our pawn on d3 will become a long term weakness. Black also may be able to attack us along the a8 to h1 diagonal (with both bishop and queen) and his c8 knight will eventually get to b4 or d4.

Quoted in full for relevance...

Pawn to e5 please, it directly threatens the knight.

The Bishop isn't going to make a move on the other knight at b8 (perish the thought)

Either that of pawn to d4 if you're suddenly concerned the white bishop will move across to the knight at f3

Thank you.

I recon he'd move his Horsey to h5 and then that would enable him to move his bishop to h4, so your Horse play wouldn't happen.

[XMRpromotions]

Pawn to e5 please, it directly threatens the knight.

Thank you.

After you play e5 black will probably play Nd5 (which is a good square) attacking our bishop on f4. If we trade knights with Nxd5 then he can play Bxd5 and our pawn on d3 will become a long term weakness. Black also may be able to attack us along the a8 to h1 diagonal (with both bishop and queen) and his c8 knight will eventually get to b4 or d4.

Quoted in full for relevance...

Pawn to e5 please, it directly threatens the knight.

The Bishop isn't going to make a move on the other knight at b8 (perish the thought)

Either that of pawn to d4 if you're suddenly concerned the white bishop will move across to the knight at f3

Thank you.

I recon he'd move his Horsey to h5 and then that would enable him to move his bishop to h4, so your Horse play wouldn't happen.

If he responds to 17.e5 with Nh5 I will admit I was wrong and thank you for your clever idea. We could then move our bishop on f4 and create the threat of g4 trapping his knight on h5. He may be forced to play g6 (making weaknesses near his king) to create a retreat square for his knight on g7.

However "Horsey to h5" is very unlikely from our opponent.

In general I think it is best to assume your opponent will find the best moves. Hoping opponents will make bad moves may lead to some fast wins but is not the best strategy against good opponents.

Here is an example. In the line I gave above I assumed he would play Bxd5 (good move). If instead I hoped he would play exd5 (bad move) we would be doing well because his b7 bishop would become passive after the following:

17. e5    Nd5
18. Nxd5 exd5?
19. d4!  (compare how much better his bishop is after 18.... Bxd5 which is my assumption than 18.... exd5 and 19. d4)

Our opponents last move (Nb8) proves he has a great positional understanding. There is no way he would play exd5 instead of Bxd5 after 17. e5 Nd5 18. Nxd5

For the above reasons I still do not like 17. e5

[Foxpup]

17. Be3.

[boolberry]

It's late because I fell asleep. Sue me

Everyone needs sleep!

I was one of the people that voted for h3 last move. Now that we have prevented Ng4 from our opponent, 17. Be3 seems like the logical follow up.

[boolberry]

That was unexpected! We can definitely rule out Topalov, Nakamura, Aronian and Ivanchuk now.  They would have tried to wipe us off the board with c4.

Nb8 seems very positional and a move that Carlsen or Karpov might prefer.  Too bad they are not on the list.

My first idea is 17. Ne5

That way we can capture on c6 before his knight can get to b4 or d4

17. Be3 will stop c4 now but after Nc6 his knight seems very well placed and he can always close the diagonal with Nd4 later

edit: I don't mean to insult Topalov, Nakamura, Aronian and Ivanchuk or imply they cannot play positional moves.  I am just saying that they are aggressive players and c4 looked like a very natural (and good) aggressive move.

I was not expecting Nb8 either.

Your idea makes sense but after 17. Ne5 Nfd7 and black can trade his other knight instead allowing the b8 knight to come to c6 afterwards unopposed.

[abacus]

17. Be3

That's the reason we moved h3.

[LucyLovesCrypto]

17. Be3

That's the reason we moved h3.

+1 for
17. Be3

For anyone that wants to join more than 1 chess game at once:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1190988.0

[XMRpromotions]

That was unexpected! We can definitely rule out Topalov, Nakamura, Aronian and Ivanchuk now.  They would have tried to wipe us off the board with c4.

Nb8 seems very positional and a move that Carlsen or Karpov might prefer.  Too bad they are not on the list.

My first idea is 17. Ne5

That way we can capture on c6 before his knight can get to b4 or d4

17. Be3 will stop c4 now but after Nc6 his knight seems very well placed and he can always close the diagonal with Nd4 later

edit: I don't mean to insult Topalov, Nakamura, Aronian and Ivanchuk or imply they cannot play positional moves.  I am just saying that they are aggressive players and c4 looked like a very natural (and good) aggressive move.

I was not expecting Nb8 either.

Your idea makes sense but after 17. Ne5 Nfd7 and black can trade his other knight instead allowing the b8 knight to come to c6 afterwards unopposed.

I did not see Nfd7. Good move. For anyone wondering, if we play Nxd7 on move 18 black would recapture with the rook (not the Knight on b8).  Nfd7 proves that we cannot stop Nc6 by playing Ne5.

Please change my vote from 17. Ne5 to 17. Be3

[dre1982]

17. Be3

That's the reason we moved h3.

This.

You could even play b4 after this move to build pressure on his pawn.

[letsplayagame]

17. Be3

That's the reason we moved h3.

+1 for
17. Be3

For anyone that wants to join more than 1 chess game at once:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1190988.0

It is good to see more people playing chess. I just visited the thread but will not be participating in the game. I will plan to stop back from time to time to observe the technical discussions. Privacy is important to me.

Who has seen Pawn Sacrifice? Any reviews?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596345/releaseinfo

[StarenseN]

17. Be3

That's the reason we moved h3.

+1 for
17. Be3

For anyone that wants to join more than 1 chess game at once:
https://b
itcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1190988.0

It is good to see more people playing chess. I just visited the thread but will not be participating in the game. I will plan to stop back from time to time to observe the technical discussions. Privacy is important to me.

Regarding all the technical discussions by the community, isn't a great edge that grants you at least a draw? (considering it is a close game, which I think is not knowing your level)

[letsplayagame]

17. Be3

That's the reason we moved h3.

+1 for
17. Be3

For anyone that wants to join more than 1 chess game at once:
https://b
itcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1190988.0

It is good to see more people playing chess. I just visited the thread but will not be participating in the game. I will plan to stop back from time to time to observe the technical discussions. Privacy is important to me.

Regarding all the technical discussions by the community, isn't a great edge that grants you at least a draw? (considering it is a close game, which I think is not knowing your level)

Yes, seeing the plans of your opponent discussed in plain text will offer an advantage.

I don't take the time to study all the comments before I decide what to do. I generally just return and make a move once it appears team bitcointalk has reached a consensus.  I even asked for community volunteers to help count votes to save me the time of carefully looking at all the posts myself.

If you want to surprise an opponent you don't necessary need to know what they are thinking. If there are two moves of approximately equal strength it sometimes makes sense to play the more unusual looking one (more likely to be a surprise). This is especially true if the unusual looking move complicates the position and your opponent is in time trouble. Referring to our current game, I can see that many people expected me to play 16....c4 after 15....Rac8. I could have guessed that without reading the thread because 16....c4 was a natural looking move and follow up to 15....Rac8.

Please don't interpret this as an insult because I think team bitcointalk does has some good chess players participating. Most of the logical plans I saw discussed in the thread I had already considered and at a greater depth than what was written. Some of the proposed moves I did not think about but those were generally moves with no clear purpose or leading to an instant loss of material.  GMs do not consider all possible moves. They will automatically reject moves that seem illogical. Pattern recognition is important in chess. The more experience you have the easier time you will have in narrowing your list of plausible plans in any given position.

Move recommendations with no analysis offer me nothing (I already consider most reasonable looking moves)

Recommendations with in depth analysis could potentially help me (if I am reading them). However I believe the benefit of such analysis to team bitcoin would far outweigh any marginal advantage it might provide me. We are playing for fun. Team bitcoin should be focused on learning not on keeping their plans secret.

[letsplayagame]

Chess problem time!

This was the position after you played 15. e4



If instead of 15....Rac8 I had played 15....Nb8 How should white proceed?

Some of you will see the answer immediately. Please give others some time to think before responding.  I can make more difficult puzzles on another occasion.