09-03-2012, 10:19 AM
The gambit spoiler made me chuckle, as have some of the other comments. It's fascinating to read the players thoughts, with both really desparate to know what the others are commenting. Andy's comparison to Over The Board chess and getting a read on players reactions was interesting. I might have a go at this during the weekend at Glenrothes. If you are my opponent and I am staring into your eyes I'm not strange or trying to outphysche you, I'm trying to get an idea of what you thought of my last move.
Aside from the amusement of the comments, I find the players ideas on strategy and planning fantastic. It's so much better than going through an annotated game in a dusty old book, on your own. Perhaps it's because I'm only getting bitesize pieces at a time or maybe part of it is the novelty or the players humurous comments but I am enjoying this, when sometimes going through a game seems a chore.
I'd recommend this game to all as a little bit of training.
I see Calum MacQueen has posted elsewhere that he wouldn't mind giving this a go and I know Alan Tate has been a visitor to the section, so maybe Alan could take Calum up on his offer, when Alan returns from the Cappelle tournament (good luck in the last few rounds, Alan. I've been following your progress but the website is a bit difficult to navigate, as my French is quite rusty).
On the Sreeves v Burnett game I would be thinking of playing 9.Nf3, as white. Now the Knight has gone back from d4, the Bishop pin no longer seems a threat. I'm looking to stick my Knight on g5 next move, so I guess 9.Nh3 would do the same job, as I imagine black won't take as it would give the white Bishop a strong diaganol. I'm thinking the reply to either could be 9..Nf6 and now I'd be concerned about the black knight coming to g4.
At this stage of the game I'm also wondering where I want to put my Queen and which side to castle on, neither side looks appealing and after I get my Knight on g5 and my bishop on e3 I would be struggling for a plan, other than try to push e3 to d4 and I wouldn't want to do that until I've decided which way I'm going to castle.
As black, my plan would be clearer castle queen side and get my king side pawns moving but then Nf6 inhibits that and I don't think I can play Ne7 for the same reasons white couldn't play Nge2. So I would need to work out how to defend the d5 square against the Knight but still enable the movement of my King side pawns.
My conclusion is the position is too complicated for my little 1258 graded mind to fully appreciate, without hurting or exploding. Maybe somebody higher rated can give their thoughts.
Aside from the amusement of the comments, I find the players ideas on strategy and planning fantastic. It's so much better than going through an annotated game in a dusty old book, on your own. Perhaps it's because I'm only getting bitesize pieces at a time or maybe part of it is the novelty or the players humurous comments but I am enjoying this, when sometimes going through a game seems a chore.
I'd recommend this game to all as a little bit of training.
I see Calum MacQueen has posted elsewhere that he wouldn't mind giving this a go and I know Alan Tate has been a visitor to the section, so maybe Alan could take Calum up on his offer, when Alan returns from the Cappelle tournament (good luck in the last few rounds, Alan. I've been following your progress but the website is a bit difficult to navigate, as my French is quite rusty).
On the Sreeves v Burnett game I would be thinking of playing 9.Nf3, as white. Now the Knight has gone back from d4, the Bishop pin no longer seems a threat. I'm looking to stick my Knight on g5 next move, so I guess 9.Nh3 would do the same job, as I imagine black won't take as it would give the white Bishop a strong diaganol. I'm thinking the reply to either could be 9..Nf6 and now I'd be concerned about the black knight coming to g4.
At this stage of the game I'm also wondering where I want to put my Queen and which side to castle on, neither side looks appealing and after I get my Knight on g5 and my bishop on e3 I would be struggling for a plan, other than try to push e3 to d4 and I wouldn't want to do that until I've decided which way I'm going to castle.
As black, my plan would be clearer castle queen side and get my king side pawns moving but then Nf6 inhibits that and I don't think I can play Ne7 for the same reasons white couldn't play Nge2. So I would need to work out how to defend the d5 square against the Knight but still enable the movement of my King side pawns.
My conclusion is the position is too complicated for my little 1258 graded mind to fully appreciate, without hurting or exploding. Maybe somebody higher rated can give their thoughts.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.scotchesstour.co.uk">http://www.scotchesstour.co.uk</a><!-- m -->