Re: Improving your Chess
You don't need to know what openings are called, and you don't need to play them religiously. The reason they exist is because greater minds than ours have analyzed the snot out of a lot of these openings and have determined that they give better winning chances.
For instance, if you start the game with e4, I am very likely not going to play b5. It is a free pawn, and its only dubious claim to fame is that it allows me to play an immediate Be7 to attack your undefended e-pawn. But a quick d3, Nc3 or even a sneaky Qf3 can do that job, and now I've lost a pawn for almost nothing.
By contrast, meeting e4 with e6, or c5, or c6, or half a dozen other replies, is more profitable.
Also, apologies for the four or five-move resignation earlier. I shouldn't have asked you to play, Nocturnis, when I don't have my board handy. Meant to move Nc3 instead of Nf3, lost a pawn key against the opening you were using, and knew that if it was starting that badly, it was going to get worse.
For comparison, Rastislav, I believe my ELO probably sits in the 1700 range. I've beaten a 2300 once, but I've also been beaten by a 1200-ish player who snuck in a back-rank checkmate on me in a superior position (i.e., I was destroying him, but needed a couple of moves of setup, and all he needed was a rook and an open file). Admittedly that was 2-3 years ago, but still.
-- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
