Chess Players itP...

[Shishnarfne]

I just found out that I will be playing in my state Chess Championship (invitation only, six player round-robin) this coming weekend. Apparently, two people declined invitations, so I'll have the distinction of playing against people who may have been preparing for two months against my one week of prep...

On the other hand, I am guaranteed to play two games against USCF masters in one event (making it my toughest event yet), so I'm fairly excited.

Should I stick with the openings that I know, or try to come up with a few surprises?

Yes, there are chess forums where I'd be more likely to get a reply, but I don't post on those, and I thought I'd ask about the local chess players (I know that last year there were a couple people who played chess via posting in SMBG), and see what they think...

[Destro_Yersul]

Well, I PLAY chess, I'm just not very good at it. Best advice I can give is to do a bit of both. Save a few surprises for nasty shenanigans, and keep a few good openings if you need to play it safe.

[Zakama]

I don't play it often, but I still like it. I used to be in a chess club, that was pretty cool.

As for openings, you probably want the stability that an opening can give you. You could also look up some new ones, so you can still get him off guard. At some point you should try a totally wack random opening though. :smalltongue:

[Cynan Machae]

Well, if you are going to play against people who had much more preparation than you did, and masters at that, I'd say that you should stick to the openings you can play well. If you get too much outside playing lines you are used to, you can get screwed against someone who knows more about it than you do.

But if you can learn a few variations of less standard openings, and be really good at it, I'd consider it a pretty safe way to play.

But really, if you think that you know more about an opening than your opponent do, that's usually a good pointer to use it.

[Shishnarfne]

Yeah, I'll probably just stick to my guns (pretty much) for now, but I'll try to brush up on a few specifics to make sure that I'm ready for it...

Right now, I'm just excited that I get to play in the event! (I think I'll be lucky to hit 50%, but it's the experience more than the result that interests me at this point... that may change before the event actually begins, however.)

[Narmoth]

Best wishes to you. Hope you get at good ranking

[WrstDmEvr]

Good luck on the tourney.I would get a few new surprises, and also a few variations on other lines you play.

[Vavaara]

I'm a relatively good chess player. While I don't know the names of the various moves, I consider myself one of the better players in the local park. If I know any moves that generally work, I just give them random names that I can remember. Good luck at your tourney!

[Athaniar]

Well, I like to play chess, and strategy games in general. I don't know if I'm particularly good at it or not.

[Dumbledore lives]

What openings do you plan on using? I play chess a decent amount, but I haven't really found anyone good enough to play against at my school. I quite like the English for white, though it leaves a big gaping hole in the middle. I can probably beat all my friends easily. I do have a four-way chess set though, and that is really fun and generally about even.

[Shishnarfne]

Well, I have a long-standing affinity for the Caro-Kann and Benko Gambit with the Black pieces, but I was considering trying out the Catalan with White (I usually play more typical 1.d4).


I've found a difficult point in most four-way chess variants: My friends tend to gang up on me... and then the really tricky part isn't just that I'm outnumbered 3-1, it's that they move three times as often as I do.:smallwink:

[Dallas-Dakota]

Home-made styles all the way.

They have 3 months of prep, and you only one? Never, ever stick to the ones you know and are generally known. They will know how to counter them. They will.

Use something very rare. Or home-made if you have it. They don´t know it, they won´t know a counter-strategy, they may improvise, but if you´re good, and youre strategy is functioning good, it´l trap them and then suffocate them....
Erm, not litteraly...

Yeah, I played for province position. Got third.
Yeah, I also was a short time of a club, but all the names and strategy´s were... ehm boring*hides for a bit*

So to say, self-made strategies own. They won´t be good if you are not good, but then you probably wouldn´t be playing at that level.

[Shishnarfne]

Well, I just got back from the event... With one exception, I did fairly well in the opening, though I was suprised in one other game and didn't do terribly well there either.

However, I did manage to pull a draw against one of the two masters there, so I'm happy with how I did.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and support!

[Green Bean]

I used to play chess in middle school. Unfortunately, I more or less stopped after the time I single-handedly blew our win of the inter-school championship. I keep thinking about taking it up again, though.

[JonnyH]

First of all, conrats on the invite.

Lemme preface by saying that I'm about 2050 USCF strength, but don't play in tournaments anymore, so I am only rated about 1800.



Anyway, if you're going to be playing masters, then you should probably be prepared to play against the Rb1 line in the Benko... not to mention some of the declined lines coming back into fashion... hell, that's why I stopped playing it (I have been having some trouble finding a suitable replacement, though, I think I may end up going with the KID... it only takes about a year of losses with it to get the results you would get with another opening immediately ;))

Be sure to look up your opponents repertoires, but DO NOT CHANGE YOURS! This is probably the biggest mistake that people do before big tournaments. You will only perform worse if you play an opening that you have a less deep understanding of. I judge from your post that you won't exactly be the top seed, so I doubt they will worry about preparing for you, which could give you an edge in the openings.

Just keep your mind sharp by practicing tactics and endgame puzzles in preparation for the tournament, but don't even think about chess the day before the tournament. Just try to relax, clear your mind, get a good night's sleep, etc. Oh, and don't change any regular routines. What I mean by that is if you normally exercise, continue to do so, but if you don't do it regularly, then don't start just for the tournament.


Good luck.


Edit: Oh... I see I'm a tad late...

[Shishnarfne]

Actually, one of the masters managed to checkmate me in nine moves in one of those Benko Declined variations (one of the few I hadn't gotten around to studying....) as I overlooked that my c8 bishop was hanging...

Here's the game, spoilered to avoid confusing people:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4. Nf3 g6 5. cxb5 a6 6. Qc2 Nxd5? (should've just played 6...d6) 7.Qxc5 Qa5+?? (7...Qc7 or 7...Nf6 would've avoided the mate) 8.Bd2 Qxb5?? 9.Qxc8#

This was my quickest loss ever in a tournament game.

I was however, prepared for my last round opponent's Fantasy Variation against the Caro-Kann, and managed an easy draw that let me get out of there. (My previous round presented the largest advantage and disadvantage of the FIDE increment: we played 96 moves into the ending, were able to keep notation and think the whole time, but the game got done two minutes before the next round started!)

[JonnyH]

That's the type of game that you either claim you were drunk during or deny having ever played. :smallredface: