Me as a d4-player

I will post notes ASAP but I am down with fever:

A Glimpse from the Chess Cave

A snapshot from my training ground: Fågelsången







A great place! However, the owners would like me to pay for the coffee for my invisible opponent.

A New Beginning

Here is my new draft training regime:

• 15-30 minutes of Daily Tactics Training using Chesstempo
• 1-2 slow games per week (ICC Team4545-league)
• 2-4 Master Games per week (The Immortal Games of Capablanca)
• Reading "wordy" chess books (Heisman's "The Improving Chess Thinker" just arrived)
  

The Noble Art of Evaluation

This is not rocket science but I think it is a short and sweet summary of a neglected area in my Chess: Evaluation


A: Evaluation:
1. Material
2. Activity/Effectiveness
3. Weaknesses

B: Opponents threats -- preventing

C: Identify Opponents most Advanced/Active piece(s)

D: Activate your own pieces -- increase pressure


This nice little scheme has helped me to pinpoint some leaks in my game. Basically it has provided some clues to a better understanding of both the pace of an attack and what a weakness/target could look like.

Furthermore the scheme will help me to annotate my own games in a more systematic way.

Yummi!

New book by Dan Heisman

I am really looking forward to read this book. There are a few sample pages at the publishers site

The Fascinating Réti Gambit

This looks like fun stuff to play against the annoying french defence:

1.e4 e6 2.b3!?


Have a look at Thomas Johansson's web site

Wonderful Weird World of gambits

I am sure this gambit has a name but I wonder if we managed to stay within theory for more than three moves?

Look for "Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit" or "Poisoned Spike" if you want to be amused by a semi crazy gambit. You might even find a game played by Humphrey Bogart using the gambit. Fun Stuff!