MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
- Nxd4 b6
- Nc3 Bb7
- f3 d6
- e3 a6
- Bd3 g6
- b3 Bg7
- Bb2 OO
- OO Nbd7
- Qc2 Nc5
- Rad1 Qc7
- Nde2 e5
- Ng3 Nxd3
- Rxd3 d5
- cxd5 Nxd5
- Qd2 Nxc3
MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
- Nxd4 b6
- Nc3 Bb7
- f3 d6
- e3 a6
- Bd3 g6
- b3 Bg7
- Bb2 OO
- OO Nbd7
- Qc2 Nc5
- Rad1 Qc7
- Nde2 e5
- Ng3 Nxd3
- Rxd3 d5
- cxd5 Nxd5
- Qd2 Nxc3
- Bxc3
MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
- Nxd4 b6
- Nc3 Bb7
- f3 d6
- e3 a6
- Bd3 g6
- b3 Bg7
- Bb2 OO
- OO Nbd7
- Qc2 Nc5
- Rad1 Qc7
- Nde2 e5
- Ng3 Nxd3
- Rxd3 d5
- cxd5 Nxd5
- Qd2 Nxc3
- Bxc3 Rfd8
MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
- Nxd4 b6
- Nc3 Bb7
- f3 d6
- e3 a6
- Bd3 g6
- b3 Bg7
- Bb2 OO
- OO Nbd7
- Qc2 Nc5
- Rad1 Qc7
- Nde2 e5
- Ng3 Nxd3
- Rxd3 d5
- cxd5 Nxd5
- Qd2 Nxc3
- Bxc3 Rfd8
- Rd1
MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
- Nxd4 b6
- Nc3 Bb7
- f3 d6
- e3 a6
- Bd3 g6
- b3 Bg7
- Bb2 OO
- OO Nbd7
- Qc2 Nc5
- Rad1 Qc7
- Nde2 e5
- Ng3 Nxd3
- Rxd3 d5
- cxd5 Nxd5
- Qd2 Nxc3
- Bxc3 Rfd8
- Rd1 Rxd3
MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
- Nxd4 b6
- Nc3 Bb7
- f3 d6
- e3 a6
- Bd3 g6
- b3 Bg7
- Bb2 OO
- OO Nbd7
- Qc2 Nc5
- Rad1 Qc7
- Nde2 e5
- Ng3 Nxd3
- Rxd3 d5
- cxd5 Nxd5
- Qd2 Nxc3
- Bxc3 Rfd8
- Rd1 Rxd3
- Qxd3
MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
- Nxd4 b6
- Nc3 Bb7
- f3 d6
- e3 a6
- Bd3 g6
- b3 Bg7
- Bb2 OO
- OO Nbd7
- Qc2 Nc5
- Rad1 Qc7
- Nde2 e5
- Ng3 Nxd3
- Rxd3 d5
- cxd5 Nxd5
- Qd2 Nxc3
- Bxc3 Rfd8
- Rd1 Rxd3
- Qxd3 e4
I see no way to avoid losing my bishop here. So if there is a way and I missed it lets just move on, things are looking pretty dire for me in any case.
MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
- Nxd4 b6
- Nc3 Bb7
- f3 d6
- e3 a6
- Bd3 g6
- b3 Bg7
- Bb2 OO
- OO Nbd7
- Qc2 Nc5
- Rad1 Qc7
- Nde2 e5
- Ng3 Nxd3
- Rxd3 d5
- cxd5 Nxd5
- Qd2 Nxc3
- Bxc3 Rfd8
- Rd1 Rxd3
- Qxd3 e4
- Nxe4
MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
- Nxd4 b6
- Nc3 Bb7
- f3 d6
- e3 a6
- Bd3 g6
- b3 Bg7
- Bb2 OO
- OO Nbd7
- Qc2 Nc5
- Rad1 Qc7
- Nde2 e5
- Ng3 Nxd3
- Rxd3 d5
- cxd5 Nxd5
- Qd2 Nxc3
- Bxc3 Rfd8
- Rd1 Rxd3
- Qxd3 e4
- Nxe4 Be5
I offer a draw!
Oh, I see now that i saved my bishop without realizing it.
instead of 21 …Be5 I was thinking about
…Bxe4
Qxe4 Bxd3
But when I set up the position last time, I accidentally moved the a rook instead of the h rook for a certain move (I use ICC to set up my positions since the only chess program I have doesn’t allow for human vs human play for some reason, and my ICC client has been really annoying about taking back moves in examine mode, it doesn’t work if you want to make more moves after.) Anyway I wrongly figured it wouldn’t matter so I didn’t see the a1 rook cause it wasn’t there on my board. :smack:
I accept the draw, I’m kinda curious why you offered it now.
Also I bought a book of tactics problems over the weekend to try to improve at that.
Yes, I had actually blundered. :eek:
When I played 21. … e4, I intended 22. Nxe4 Bxe4 23. Qxe4 Qxc3, overlooking 24. Qxa8+! :o
My ‘reserve’ alternative was 22. Nxe4 f5, when a retreat of the knight loses your bishop but this allows 23. Nf6+ and White is much better.
I have little excuse for missing this (but that’s never stopped me before!), so here goes:
-
I knew you had blundered just before this and so were probably a bit distracted
-
I analysed the continuation 21. Qxd3 e4 22. Qd7 (saves the piece) Qxc3 23. Qxb7 Qxe3+ 24. Kh1 Re8 as the likely continuation. In this final position, I threaten exf3 and if 25. Nxe4 f5 26. N moves Qe1+! mates you.
In the game, I have lost a pawn, since you can play 23. Bxe5 Qxe5 24. Ng3. I do have some chances of a draw, but I thought I could tempt you with an immediate offer. 
I hope you enjoyed the game, and will post some analysis of it here soon.
I was kinda off balance at the end, felt like I had no real plan. Of course that was true most of the game, you made prophalactic (is that how it is spelled?) against any plans I came up with.
After we played further on, I see why 7. e3 isn’t played. It gave my bishop space, but it became a pawn weakness.
From the start things were crazy, I know Queen’s Gambit pretty well, but I didn’t know the correct response to Nf6. I think I did ok just making logical opening moves.
-
f3 may have been bad also as it opened up space around my king once I castled.
-
Qc2 was probably my first bigger mistake. I was thinking that it wouldn’t hard at all for you to open up the game, but I did ponder what chances I had for keeping it closed and making use of the knight vs bishop, but thats not something I’ve ever actually won a game with, just something I’ve read about.
Qc2 was doubly bad cause it didn’t do anything about your knight and blocked up my bishop’s escape.
If I had moved 13. Be2 busting open the queenside might have done something to free up my bishops mobility and move the c5 knight away.
After 14 …e5 you’ve already got my position rather squeezed.
- cxd5 was perhaps a mistake since it pinned my knight. But I didn’t really have any alternative.
Its hard to see what else I might have done differently. It was kinda an odd game, I must admit.
I moved d4 instead of e4 because lots of people play sicilian and I’m still lacking in knowledge about that opening although I know the names of the popular variations I don’t really know the moves to make beyond the first few. Plus it was something different since I usually start with e4.
After Nf6, I decided to try to take the center with c4, also c4 was a move I am familiar with from Queen’s Gambit. c5 made things strange again. Taking your c pawn seemed like a bad idea as those doubled pawns looked really weak. So I developed and defended with Nf3.
After the exchange we were in the weird situations of having more knights developed than pawns. Without knowing this opening I would have probably moved 4. …e5 if I were you, but its possible there is some drawback to that. And b6 and Bb7 fits the modern theme of attacking the center without being in the center.
When I was first learning chess before I really knew openings my dad taught me a whole bunch of rules, like Knights before Bishops, I still follow them intuitively when I don’t know what I’m doing even though a lot of popular openings don’t follow them. So I moved 5.Nc3 here.
- f3 was a highly odd move compared to what I usually play. I might have played Bg5 instead, obviously Bf4 is bad.
This game has got me interested in studying chess more again, and broadening my knowledge of different types of openings.
Actual serious question: how do you learn the terminology of chess so you can play online like this? I’m no beginner at chess, but I don’t know how to note the moves like you guys do…
goes back to flirting and archery practice
each square has a letter and number
a - h going from left to right and 1 to 8 going up from white’s first row. The letter comes first then the number.
For a move you give the square you are moving into. You put the letter for the piece before the square it is moving to, if its not a capture.
So Nd3 is the Knight moving to the fourth column, third row. For pawn moves you omit any letter. So e4 is a pawn moving to e4, the only pawn that can do that is the e pawn.
For a capture by a piece, you put the letter of the piece then x and then the square the piece is moving to. Nxd4. For a capture by a pawn you put the letter for the column of the pawn being moved before the x. axb3 means the a pawn is capturing on b3.
Castling you use OO, I always used O-O for kingside castling and O-O-O for queenside, but OO and OOO work too.
Then the harder rules go like this. If two pieces of the same type can go to a certain square, then you have to specify which column letter they come from. The column letter comes right after the letter of the piece. This applies to captures and regular moves.
If there is a knight on d1 and a knight on f1, and you want to move the d1 knight to e3, since the f1 knight can also move there you note the move as: Nde3.
If there was a piece there I think it is Ndxe3 but I’m not totally sure on that.
Now, the last rule is, if two pieces can move or capture to the same square and they are on the same column, then you give the row number instead.
If there is a piece on the same row and also one on the same column as the piece being moved all that can move to the same square your piece is moving to, then you can specify both column and row.
Example: Queen on a1, Rook on a3, Rook on c1. All three pieces can move to c3. If I just specify the column, you could be confused with the rook on a3 and similarly for the row. (Also called Files and Ranks instead of Columns and Rows)
So, for the Queen to move to c3 the notation would be Qa1c3, I think. I’ve never seen a move that required this rule so I may be wrong on how to use it.
Also, reading chess games in books and other places there are some extra things you see.
… move
If three dots come before the move, it means the move is not being listed together with white’s move, and the dots tell us that this is a move by black. Normally if a game is listed without comments it has the same style as my game against glee.
White Name Black Name
Move Move
And so on
But if you wanted to comment on a move on white’s you wouldn’t put black’s response there, so later you put … and black’s move.
- If a plus is after a move it means that move was with check.
If a pound(or hash) is after a move then it is checkmate.
! If an exclamation mark is after a move it means it is a good move. (according to the person commenting on the game)
? If a question mark is after a move it means it is a bad move.
!! or ?? More than one question mark or exclamation mark simply means it is an even worse or even better move.
!? This notation has always been slightly confusing to me but I think it means something that is untested but quite possibly good.
?! This notation is one that really confuses me. It seems like ? but maybe not quite as bad as a full ?. I have no idea.
e.p. I think this may be used for capturing en passant, not really sure though.
Glee can clarify where I made a mistake.
Wow… thank you! grovels
Thanks to Mindwanderer for this explanation. I’ll just pop in a few comments in bold.
each square has a letter and number
a - h going from left to right and 1 to 8 going up from white’s first row. The letter comes first then the number.
For a move you give the square you are moving into. You put the letter for the piece before the square it is moving to, if its not a capture.
You always put a letter for the piece (pawns don’t get a letter!), using N for Knight, since K=King.
If it’s a move, you put a dash; for a capture put x.
So Nd3 is the Knight moving to the fourth column, third row. For pawn moves you omit any initial letter. So e4 is a pawn moving to e4, the only pawn that can do that is the e pawn.
For a capture by a piece, you put the letter of the piece then x and then the square the piece is moving to. Nxd4. For a capture by a pawn you put the letter for the column of the pawn being moved before the x. axb3 means the a pawn is capturing on b3.
Castling you use OO, I always used O-O for kingside castling and O-O-O for queenside, but OO and OOO work too.
Then the harder rules go like this. If two pieces of the same type can go to a certain square, then you have to specify which column letter they come from. The column letter comes right after the letter of the piece. This applies to captures and regular moves.
If there is a knight on d1 and a knight on f1, and you want to move the d1 knight to e3, since the f1 knight can also move there you note the move as: Nde3.
If there was a piece there I think it is Ndxe3 but I’m not totally sure on that.
Yes, it is.
Now, the last rule is, if two pieces can move or capture to the same square and they are on the same column, then you give the row number instead.
You can alternatively use the row number to separate two pieces of the same type on the same column that can each move to the same square. So with Knights on e7 and e3, you would write N7-d5 or N3-d5, as required.
If there is a piece on the same row and also one on the same column as the piece being moved all that can move to the same square your piece is moving to, then you can specify both column and row.
Example: Queen on a1, Rook on a3, Rook on c1. All three pieces can move to c3. If I just specify the column, you could be confused with the rook on a3 and similarly for the row. (Also called Files and Ranks instead of Columns and Rows)
So, for the Queen to move to c3 the notation would be Qa1c3, I think. I’ve never seen a move that required this rule so I may be wrong on how to use it.
You just put Qc3. It’s the only Queen that can move there. The rooks would be Rac3 or Rcc3, as required.
Also, reading chess games in books and other places there are some extra things you see.
… move
If three dots come before the move, it means the move is not being listed together with white’s move, and the dots tell us that this is a move by black. Normally if a game is listed without comments it has the same style as my game against glee.
White Name Black Name
Move Move
And so on
But if you wanted to comment on a move on white’s you wouldn’t put black’s response there, so later you put … and black’s move.
- If a plus is after a move it means that move was with check.
If a pound(or hash) is after a move then it is checkmate.
! If an exclamation mark is after a move it means it is a good move. (according to the person commenting on the game)
? If a question mark is after a move it means it is a bad move.
!! or ?? More than one question mark or exclamation mark simply means it is an even worse or even better move.
!? This notation has always been slightly confusing to me but I think it means something that is untested but quite possibly good.
It’s an unclear move, but the annotator thinks it’s probably sound, but risky to play.
?! This notation is one that really confuses me. It seems like ? but maybe not quite as bad as a full ?. I have no idea.
It’s an unclear move, but the annotator thinks it’s probably unsound, but difficult to defend against.
e.p. I think this may be used for capturing en passant, not really sure though.
Yes it is.
Wow…that was interesting. I’m going to have to read through the analysis a bit later (long day at work today) but that was fun. Thanks.
MW Glee
- d4 Nf6
- c4 c5
- Nf3 cxd4
The usual choice for White is 3. d5 gaining space in the centre.
- Nxd4 b6
Nothing wrong with 3. Nf3 - it’s just quieter.
- Nc3 Bb7
The diagonal h1-a8 will be important with this pawn structure.
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f3 d6
-
e3 a6
-
e3 is passive. 7. e4 is natural. 7. … a6 keeps knights out of b5.
-
Bd3 g6
-
b3 Bg7
-
Bb2 OO
-
OO Nbd7
A quiet opening. There are no pawn breaks (=exchanges) in sight.
-
Qc2 Nc5
-
Qc2 is likely to be wrong, since a Black Q or R will come to the c-file. 12. Qe2 looks safer.
-
Rad1 Qc7
-
Nde2 e5
White has blocked in his bishop on d3 and Black can exchange his knight for it anytime. After that, it will make sense to open the position for the bishops by exchanging pawns. However 14. … e5 is premature (Black just wanted to annoy the knight on e2!). 14. … Rfd8 is better.
- Ng3 Nxd3
Grabbing the bishop before it retreats.
- Rxd3 d5
This is necessary before White plays e4, blocking the centre.
- cxd5 Nxd5
Now we see the pin on the N on c3 (see note to move 12)
- Qd2 Nxc3
- Bxc3 Rfd8
- Rd1 Rxd3
- Qxd3 e4
A key moment. This combination would work if Black had played 19. … Rad8. Chess is a subtle game!
- Nxe4 Be5
As mentioned earlier, Black has blundered a pawn. Having done that, it’s not a bad idea to offer a draw before White realises the game has swung his way.
Agreed drawn.