LOL, don’t worry - I’ll have plenty of zeros before the week is out, so you’ll have company.
I think you and I both have such aggressive styles too that lead to the crazy sharp positions.
For everyone else, here is a position that the computer thinks i (black) was at -8. But in these tactical games, those computer valuations are only as good as being able to identify the correct move sequence to follow. I did not.
It was a game beyond our class lol. The next two moves were you blundering and then myself immediately making a mistake to follow it up.
After your Qe7, I was thinking “Oh, I wouldn’t have done that. I think it’s good for me but it doesn’t change too much” (Actually the Computer labeled it a major blunder). Then I thought, “Well I want to get my rook to the e file and getting my bishop out of that file is good, and so I can force you to move you queen and move my bishop in one swoop with Bf6!” (Computer: What were you thinking?!)
Even at that point where I was -8, I never thought I was worse than like 1.5 or so. (Obviously I would have resigned if I thought I was down 8 lol) And that’s why I thought it was deserving of a draw, neither of us truly got a handle on this game.
What move did the computer want black to make on your picture. I’m not seeing it!
It suggested Qd5. Keeps the queen off the e file and off of the black squares. Also teams up with the bishop. As white I was planning Re1 after that, thinking I had many opportunities for attack, but seems like with perfect play the threat could be avoided.
You can check out the analysis here: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/daily/287606382 it’s a rollercoaster
Ok, I went into this knowing I would lose most games. I love lost the first 6 so far. Then I was finally playing well, and I lost it because of an end game blunder!! 
Oh, and I just realized that I can see all of the games in the tournament, even the ones still in progress. That’s pretty cool!
Oh no! What a tragedy of a game.
Does anyone have strong feelings about playing games out vs. resigning once you are down significant material? Sometimes I like playing games to their conclusion, but I also don’t want to annoy someone who is rated 1000 points higher by wasting their time.
I’m curious to hear everyone’s thoughts on this as well. I usually enjoy the satisfaction of actually checkmating someone, so I try to play games out to the end. But if someone has been dominating me the entire game and i realize I have no hope, sometimes I’ll just resign.
Ohh great question!
First I’ll preface by saying there was a time in which I played tournaments over the board fairly often, and I was part of my chess club in high school and college, so I have played a pretty decent amount. Never any formal instruction.
Anyway, I will always resign anytime I think the game was out of reach. That could be being down a piece without compensation, it could be even material but a lost endgame, there aren’t really any good metrics for when that is. It also depends on your opponent and the time controls. I think that resigning acknowledges that you respect your opponent’s ability and don’t need to go through the formality. It’s always based on how you feel though, if I was down but thought I really had a chance to trick my opponent into a draw or something I might play it out a bit. I don’t think I’d ever get to the point where my opponent checkmates me though. I personally get more satisfaction from my opponent resigning than checkmating them, but I think everyone is different.
That said, I would never take offense during any game if my opponent wanted to play it out when they are down. Especially lower rated players to get some experience, no issues at all with that. And I think the lower rated the players are, the less likely the outcome is to be certain, so I wouldn’t necessarily suggest that all games proceed one way or the other.
I’ll just end it by saying that if you think you still have a chance or will learn something from playing the game out, then go for it, most players won’t have an issue with that. Especially amongst us AO actuaries where it has a bit more exhibition learning type feel to the games.
Okay, thanks for the feedback. And for your viewing pleasure, here’s a gem where I managed to lose my queen to SneekySneaky on move 6.
[Event “AO Big Tournament - Round 1”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2020.11.28”]
[Round “-”]
[White “SneekySneaky”]
[Black “CuriousGeorge0726”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C42”]
[UTCDate “2020.11.28”]
[UTCTime “05:15:00”]
[WhiteElo “1809”]
[BlackElo “1101”]
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Nf6 5. Nc6+ Be7 6. Nxd8 1-0
I actually walked into that tactic (losing my queen) playing as white in that opening once and never forgot it. Chess can be brutal!
I largely agree with IPD.
I find I sometimes resign earlier online than I do when playing over the board. Over the board I see a lot of resignations in the following situtations (1400 - 2000 rated players I am playing against):
-you lose your queen
-They queen a pawn
-Hopelessly lost endgame
-One or two moves before checkmate
Where I don’t see resignations and people keep playing:
-Down a piece, an exchange, or a few pawns
-In a forced sequence to lose something, but haven’t lost that material yet
-Down materially, but up significantly on the clock
But really if you think you could still potentially draw, hold a win, your opponent might blunder, or learn something keep playing. The few times I have been annoyed are being forced to play out Rook and King vs King or something similar where there is zero chance of me blundering, zero hope of you winning, and a very easy but takes 5+ moves to do mate.
If you like roller coasters I encourage you to look at any game between Mayan and myself. Filled with tactics and rarely disappoints, here’s our latest entry: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/daily/288281516
He got me good this time
Just to add some photos for those that don’t click the link. Here is where I was feeling the worst about my position, can you find IPDs move as black?
And here is right before resignation. Can you find the right continuation for white?
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So where do you guys go to get better at chess? Just play more games? YouTube videos?
I just watched Queens Gambit and it made me want to try and improve my game. We’ll see how long that lasts with exam season coming up though.
I would recommend any book by Jeremy Silman.
But I think playing in person and talking about games during or afterwards is a huge help. I dont think online chess has helped me much except shaking off the rust. I had gone a while without playing really anything other than the AO tournaments and occasional 1 minute live games, but when I started playing regular chess.com tournaments I feel like my play got to where I wanted to be pretty quickly
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I’ll just say, thanks for the perspective. As one of those lower-rated players, I will tend to play out games just to get more experience looking at different board positions, considering alternative moves, attempting predictions, etc. Sure, I’m going to lose, and we both know it, but maybe I can find an interesting combination in the process that improves my next games down the road.
I’ll just share my experience, as someone who learned how to castle in my 20s. I’ll caveat that I still am not great and get absolutely crushed by strong players. - I started out watching some YouTube videos. Typically ones that had players describing their thoughts as they played a rapid length game felt helpful at the time. And then I started playing lots of games. Blitz but also Daily games. Blitz more for fun and daily to improve calculating. I did that for four years and then decided to play over the board at my club. Playing the over the board games improved my play significantly.
As far as openings go, just get the free “short and sweet” opening of your choice on chessable and that will be good enough to have you in the game. Don’t spend too much time on them, but if you are going to play over the board it is nice to feel comfortable at the start.
Books seem helpful but I haven’t been able to finish any yet.
When calculating, especially in long time control games, rather than trying to see why your move works see why your move doesn’t work. Look at all checks for you and your opponent. Then captures. Then threats.
If you do venture out to over the board play, which is my favorite style of chess, be prepared to do poorly. My first game I made a couple blunders and lost my queen on move 8 after like 5 minutes. Rough. The very next game I setup the board wrong because I couldn’t remember whether the knight or bishop was next to the rook, and my opponent had to reach over and fix my pieces at the start. Played better though.
Here’s my progress graphs-
blitz
Daily
