The importance of community in strengthening ones chess - DeGuire's Digest #3

A common interest makes a community - James MacNeil

Spring has sprung and with it we got another amazing major tournament from the Denver Chess Club. It's always a good time seeing so many familiar faces, playing chess and learning from my peers over the board. In today's digest I wanted to take a look at an extremely important and undervalued aspect of chess improvement, Community.

Ben Johnson's pillars

My writing this month is inspired by Ben Johnson's book “Perpetual Chess Improvement” In it he describes his chess improvement model and its 4 pillars.

Pillar #1 - Tournament games : you simply cannot hope to improve your chess game if you are not playing serious OTB classical games.

Pillar #2 - Game Analysis : Your tournament games need to be analyzed. You must learn from every game and not shy away from valuable losses.

Pillar #3 - Calculation and pattern recognition : The core skills of chess, there is always a “next level” to these skills. Calculating one move deeper or burning a new pattern into your memory is always a positive.

Pillar #4 - Coaches, chess friends and mentors : Chess is a completely individual game yet there are no lone wolves.

 I think he nearly hits the nail on the head with his 4 pillars. The community pillar is one of the least considered and extremely underutilized of them all! With this month's theme being community I think it makes sense to use positions from some of DCC own members! Black to play and win.

Spring classic Round 2: Michelle Zhang (1843) - Chris Motley (1973) 

Black to move

Here Chris Motley (The Motler) is black against Michelle Zhang. Black is up a piece but the position is quite dynamic. One wrong move from black and whites connected passed pawns and threats against black's back rank could tip the scales. A couple moves win here but most beautiful and strongest is 1…Rc1, threatening all kinds of discovered mates and threats against the white queen. 2. Kh2 stepping out the way 2… Bc3 trying to chase the queen off of the 4th rank allowing for qxh4#. 3. Qf4 Bxe5! White loses their queen and resigns with mate in 6 on the board. 

Seek unique and strong peers

    Chess is very dense and impossible to master. Due to this chess players often develop with widely varying style, skill and knowledge. One player could be an opening connoisseur or middle game strategist, another an endgame junkie. The only thing these players might share in common is rating! With this in mind I think it's evident our peers have a lot to teach us.

Position after Qc4

    Will Wolf is a chess player on the opposite side of the stylistic spectrum from myself. He is extremely aggressive, knowledgeable on openings and is not afraid to sacrifice material. Although black is down the exchange, the positioning of blacks pieces is enough compensation and his move 1...Qd2+ wins on the spot. 2.Qc2 Ra2+ wins the queen and the game instantly. Analyzing chess with Will has helped me understand attacking and sacrificial chess much better.

  Something also extremely valuable is the comments and critiques of a stronger player. I can begin to count the amount of times a one of comment from a peer has made something in my head click. It could be something with how I approach the game or just a dumb opening habit that you don't realize is haunting your chess game. Most of the time chess players are willing to elaborate or share advice so don't be afraid to ask. 

Spring Classic Round 4: Owen Curtis(1856) - NM Daniel Herman (2168)

White to move

   The question is, can white get away with taking the rook on f8 or are the checks too much to handle?

  Overall when you interact with different and stronger players than yourself you become more well rounded. Sometimes the position in front of you will demand you play a bit more like Will wolf and sometimes boring and safe chess is what is needed! Comments and criticisms from stronger players is a invaluable resource to add to your chess game.

Postmortems

    One of the easiest ways to learn from your peers is to have a postmortem. By going over your game with your opponent you can discuss strategy, see stronger ways to play your opening or learn other useful tips. Postmortems are an extremely valuable but under utilized tool that chess players must take advantage of. I have always been able to learn at least one thing from my postmortems.

Spring Classic Round 5: Sean Pearson (1893) - Ben DeGuire (1770)

Position after 30. Bxf4

  In this game I struggled to decide between taking the white bishop with the queen or pawn. I chose the incorrect, 30....Qxf4 foolishly trying to play the long game and keep my structure intact. Black may be up a pawn but white has significant attacking chances with their control of the d file and well placed knight and queen. I needed to take with the pawn! After 30… dxf4!! Black's position has significantly improved. Black opens an important file for their pieces and will gain a tempo on the knight. White is just not in time to punish blacks poor development anymore.

After the game Sean and Daniel Herman were quick to show me this idea and I was able to quickly learn about a flaw in my chess game. My fear of dynamic play and attachment to pawn structure made me blind to my opponents strong attacking ideas. A recurring theme.

Spring Classic Round 2: Max Millan (1712) - CM Mike Maloney (1900)

White to move

 This position has no clear answer but has a huge amount content and ideas to discuss. Black has definitely misplayed their opening but yet white has no killing blows in the next couple moves. White has the option to play a lot of ways. Be it storming the kingside pawns with g4, trying to trap blacks queen with c5 and ne6 or a plethora of other options. A position like this would see all types of plans and strategies from peers in a post mortem.

  Overall I think post mortems help you to understand methods of playing chess that are not your own are extremely beneficial to your overall growth as a player. A community can help you push yourself and inspire you to go to the next level in addition to bringing personal bad habits to light.

Study buddies

  Another great benefit of having a community in chess is the competition and accountability you can have with your friends. When you study chess with another player you are encouraged to keep up and try to figure out the solution before them. More times than I can count have I sat down to study chess and instantly gotten distracted, this just doesn't happen with friends. 

  My personal favorite is looking at positions that do not have a clear tactical solution and seeing all the plans and ideas put forth by my peers. Often times study buddies will bring fun and instructive chess positions to your attention. My Vegas roommate and long time study partner Forrest Lundstrom provided us this fun and difficult calculation problem.

Endgame Calculation Exercise. White can simplify with 1. Rc4, assume that black will play 1...Rxe2. Win or Draw for White? What is the line?

Round 5 Spring Classic: Forrest Lundstrom (1897) - Mark Krowczyk (1974)

White to move

(Hint: Assuming that you calculated  1...Rxe2 2. Rxe2 Bb5 3. Kd3 Bxa6 4. Kc3 Bxc4 5. Kxc4 Ke7, What will White need to play on move 6. ?)

  Another way that your community can help you by finding a some friends to go to chess tournaments with. Attending major weekend tournaments can be extremely daunting for old and new players. When you car pool with some friends there is a extra level of accountability that you can use to fight off urges to to stay at home and be lazy. Remember Ben Johnsons first pillar, you have to play serious OTB tournament games in order to help you improve fast! Its not uncommon for me to be taxiing NM Brian Wall and soon to be NM Sikander Baker-Nagar to tournaments. Hopefully some of their chess skill rubs off on me. 

LM Sullivan McConnel (2342) - Sikander Baker-Nagar (2000)

Black to move

  A very cool position, here black played an explosive and thematic idea. 1...Ncxe5! (interchangeable with Nfxe5), Black temporarily sacrifices a piece for two important center pawns and breaks free from the near bind that white was imposing on black. 2.dxe5 Nxe5 and whites bishop is hit, while the pawn on b5 and g2 are soon to be under significant pressure.  

  Study buddies can help you be more inclined to study hard, see new material and attend chess tournaments. Truly study buddies are invaluable for your chess game. Ideally you all have a goodtime too, which fortunately, is true for me!

Conclusion