Chess: Live Blitz game 11

[padperson]

Nice play.

I think your instinct was correct at 5:00 and Nd5 would have been strong.

c4 is no good because you're threatening knight to d3 winning the exchange I think.

[DuendeDude]

20...g4 looks good. I might be wrong, but it seems to open lines in any case.

[GreenCastleBlock]

What's the idea? As far as I can see, White just takes it.

I never truly got any active play in this game.

[Rickder19]

Annotate your games AFTER you play them, not while you play them. Holy shit.

[Abnormalized]

Matt, I really appreciate the level of detail you put into your commentary. It's so interesting to hear a good player explain why they are making their moves AS they do it.

Maybe an 8-minute game would give you the extra time you need to pull it all together.

;)

[Abnormalized]

Calling something cheap or not is incredibly subjective, but I tend to agree with Huri - if its in the rules, then if your playing to win you should take advantage.

Mava mentions basketball - I dont think many people consider it cheap to foul someone when theres 1 second on the clock and you're down by two points and the other team has the ball.

With soccer, I agree that many players calling foul is cheap - because it's unfair. If a foul didnt take place and you get credit for 1, THATs cheap.

[Kphyl]

im sorry, but wat site is this?

I play on Chesscube as a 2000ish player, but wana try this

[GreenCastleBlock]

FICS (freechess-dot-org)

[Kphyl]

ta~

[elbay2]

Thanks for the video Matt. I don't know how you guys are able to play and comment at the same time. I'd be just a bundle of nerves!!

[GreenCastleBlock]

how = apparently not that well

lol

[GreenCastleBlock]

no arguing / personal attack plz

[mavaddat]

I'm sorry Matt, but "no arguing"? So we have to agree about everything?

A personal attack is calling someone names or insulting them. I don't attack people. I do, however, point out when someone isn't bothering to understand me. It's important that we recognize the difference.

[topshonuff]

gg .

[phantomofthedrivein]

21. .. Nx F4

22.  gxf ... Qxf

[GreenCastleBlock]

23. Bg2 and 23. Bxh4 both seem like reasonable defenses to that.

I was looking for knight sacs for several moves in there but I didn't see anything concrete.

[Cream147player]

This game is the very definition of solid. Unfortunately, you lost due to time because you were talking at the same time.

[scotland7yard]

maybe you could make the video about the game's recap (after the game is over) so you don't get to lose on time.

still, great video!

[GreenCastleBlock]

Wouldn't be Live then :-p

[lakermangmx]

I like Matt Pullin's style.

[GreenCastleBlock]

I actually disagree, he played alright. Pretty solidly actually. At no point was I better in this game. In internet chess it is perfectly acceptable to continue playing legal moves upon reaching a position with no play in it, to attempt to win on time or hope for a mistake. That's why I don't prefer it.

[mavaddat]

That depends on what you mean by "perfectly acceptable," Matt. It is perfectly legal, yes. But it certainly shows a lack of discipline and respect for the game to merely push one pieces around pseudo-randomly to exacerbate your opponent's time trouble in the hope of winning on time. This is doubly so in an unrated game. If one has time, why not look for the best move? Why play for a sloppy win? It's just weak.

Chess is not just about winning, it's also about excellence.

[GreenCastleBlock]

I've gotten used to the fact that for most people you play on the internet the result of the game is more important to them than their performance, the quality of thought behind the moves. Any position can be and is played out for time.

What I've learned is that arguing for the integrity of internet chess is about as effective as rallies against violence.

This discussion is kind of pointless... this player didn't do anything wrong. I did not have time to offer him a draw until I was flagged.

[mavaddat]

I'm not saying he did anything wrong. It was just distasteful, cheap. It's a matter of good form, not correctness.

The discussion is interesting for its philosophical implications. Can there by goodness beyond just following the rules? I say yes. But then, many people regard philosophy itself as a "waste of time," so such a justification is often futile.

[hurikai]

What part of this don't you understand? If you spend more time thinking about your moves than your opponent, you get punished. That is the whole point of having a clock.

[mavaddat]

hurikai, read what I wrote instead of arguing with your imaginary foes.

I'm complaining about the **way** the guy won, not the fact that Matt ran out of time.

I'm not saying what he did was "wrong" or "illegal". I'm saying it was cheap. Please go back and reread my comments if you're not understanding that.

Randomly pushing pieces around the board because you want to win is cheap. That's the definition of cheap. If that's not cheap, nothing is.

[hurikai]

I know exactly what you're saying, I just think it's a dumb argument.

When you're ahead in material, you trade pieces to capitalise on your material advantage. Is that cheap?

[ongyj]

Cheap? You're just trying to win. What's cheap about that?

[hurikai]

this is chess. the whole point of it being timed is that you don't get to spend more time thinking about your moves than your opponent - and if you do, you get punished. there is no such thing as being 'cheap' if you're playing within the rules.

[GreenCastleBlock]

@hurikai: That is a good point, however I do believe there is a lot of cheapness in internet chess at the end of games... positions and moves that would never be played over the board against a human opponent whose hand you actually had to shake after the game. But there is no such play in this video.

[horatio83]

I think this has more to do with blitz vs. normally-times games than with internet vs. over-the-board chess.

You can easily find other players who like to play games with longer time controls in the net.

By the way, thanks for the info about the similarity between the Scandinavian and the Caro-Kann, Matt.

[GreenCastleBlock]

Over the board you can watch your opponent move before your time starts. This makes a huge difference in my opinion.

[mavaddat]

That is absolutely false, hurikai. Playing within the rules of any sport does not preclude one being cheap. For example, in soccer or basketball, a team that repeatedly tries to foul the other team or repeatedly cries foul is being cheap. Yes, they are within the game's rules and they may be punished by the referees, but they are still being cheap.

Playing within the rules has nothing to do with being cheap. Breaking the rules is cheating, not being cheap.

[OliverCheok]

Doesn't this transpose into some kind of Caro Kann?

[GreenCastleBlock]

In general the Scandinavian eventually adopts a Caro-Kann structure after Black develops the QB, plays ..e6 and ..c6, and the queen returns. Later if Black wants to play actively he aims for ...e5 or ...c5 which did not happen in this game. (Didn't want to open the center for the bishops)

I think it was NM James Fagan who once told me 'all these Center Counter players need to understand they're just playing the Caro-Kann with a funny move order -- so you might as well learn the Caro-Kann'

[OliverCheok]

Oh yeah, I'm curious, would you consider yourself good at Chess when you started playing in tournaments and which openings did you use at first?

[GreenCastleBlock]

I was not very good at all (although I did tie for 1st in my 1st tournament). It was a local scholastic tournament and the openings all fit into one of two categories: 1) Scholar's Mate 2) failed Scholar's Mate

[Alientcp]

"because i have been talking too much i'm probably going to lose it"

LOL

Good work though, i think you had a little advantage that couldn't be exploited due lack of time. Good job though.

[mac10688]

I love watching your live blitz games. I feel bad that you lost because you were talking but I can tell you hardly care. THANK YOU.

[KalkiAwaits]

You played great. Just watch the time.

[acmilan10italia]

Do you know of any flaws if White plays Qe2 rather than placing the bishop there when you do the Queen check at the beginning?

Great videos, Matt. Keep up the good work.

[GreenCastleBlock]

Black should just trade queens and play ...c6, after which Black is already equal

[joyofthehunt]

Glad you've started making vids again