for only 1 person at the moment!
You must never have exceeded a rating of 1400, a subscriber (to RHP) and it must be clear from your profile and attitude to games that you are serious and want to improve.
Post your name here and I will contact the successful applicant.
I have never done this before so will be playing it by ear. The intention is that I will go through 5 of your games, annotate then and advise on your short comings and suggestions on improvements. I will then play 5 unrated games against you and advise on your mistakes, the reasons and suggested improvements.
I will give you a month to play some games and put my suggestions into practice then have another review. We will continue this until we get your rating to 1600 or until either of us feel no further improvement is possible.
Originally posted by C J HorseOK, you are eligible.
I'll volunteer!
I will send you a PM on the next steps
Edit (copy of PM)
OK! On your rating we need to get you up to 1400, maybe 1500 and then hold you above there.
The next step is that I want you to send me 5 typical games which I will go through to identify your weaknesses. Post them on the forum so others can see what we do and make their own comments.
Read what others say by all means but follow what I say only.
Once I have analysed your games and given you a few pointers we will play 5 unrated games which I will comment on. We will also post these on the forum.
A few things I don't want you to do.
1. Don't take on too many games. No more than 20 until you have improved; and
2. No blitz! You need to spend time thinking about your moves not rushing them.
Here is my analysis of your first game
Game 2224501
You won this game. Well done. The most important thing is you were never out of it and except briefy (move 14 when Nh4 was dreadful and could have been capitalised on by black) you were never really behind.
That said you missed a number of opportunities to finish the game sooner and against a stronger player those missed chances would have been fatal.
You did not capitalise on blacks poor development which started early with a6 and h6 and continued with him putting his B on a poor diagonal and allowing himself to get boxed in on the Q-side where he had no attacking chances. Once you got your K-side attack going you throw away your 2 strongest pieces and tried your best to throw the game. As late as move 24 your initial advantage had been dissipated and black has a chance to save the game. A couple of weak moves from black lets you slowly grab back the initiative until finally on move 31 black blunders horribly and it is as good as over. Even then you missed things and on move 41 you missed a mate in 1 (prefering to mate in 2 instead)
C J Horse - L J
Tutorial
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 a6? a pointless unnecessary move [3...Nf6 4.Bb5=] 4.Bc4 h6? another unnecessary move from black. There was no need to secure b5 and g5 and developing moves from N & B would have been better. 5.0–0 Nf6! Good the best thing to do when your opponent makes silly moves in the opening is just to develop normally 6.d4 d6 [we will look at the dangers on f7 that can arise from eXd4 later 6...exd4 7.Nxd4 Bc5 8.Nxc6 dxc6 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.Bxf7²] 7.d5 [probably stronger is 7.dxe5 Ng4±] 7...b5 [7...Ne7 8.Qd3²] 8.Bd3 [not as strong is 8.dxc6 bxc4 9.Qe2] 8...Na7 9.Be3 c5 10.b3 [did you consider 10.dxc6 Nxc6 11.a3 Be6²] 10...Be7 11.a3 0–0 12.b4? creates a weakness on c4 [12.Ne2 would be safer 12...c4 13.bxc4 bxc4 14.Bxc4 Nxe4²] 12...c4! exploiting the c4 weakness and gaining space 13.Be2 Bb7?? The B is doing nothing on the a8-h1 diagonal which white has got totally blockaded with the d and e pawns [13...Ng4 14.Bc1=] 14.Nh4?? immediately hands the initiative back to black [14.Nd2 Qb8± and black is totally boxed in on his Q side whilst white can launch a K-side attack at leisure] 14...Nd7?? is an even worse reply [14...Nxe4!! wins black a pawn and destroys whites centre 15.Nxe4 Bxh4=] 15.Nf5 Nc8?? [15...Bg5 16.Bxg5 Qxg5 17.Nxd6±] 16.Qxe7+?? Why give away a strong knight for nothing? [16.a4 bxa4 17.Nxa4 Bg5+-] 16...Qxe7 [16...Nxe7 17.a4 bxa4 18.Rxa4± would be slightly better for black] 17.Bg4 [17.a4 bxa4 18.Nxa4 Nf6+-] 17...Nf6± 18.Qf3 g5?? I would give this move ???? if I could. Black already stands significantly worse but this move throws the game away. [18...Nxg4 19.Qxg4 f5 20.exf5 Qf6 keeps black in the game] 19.h4?! fails to capitalise on the previous mistake [19.Bf5!?+- and it is difficult to parry whites threats on the king] 19...Nxg4! white has now succeeded in giving up his 2 strongest pieces 20.Qxg4 Qf6? [20...f5!? is again playable 21.exf5 Qf6±] 21.hxg5 hxg5 22.Bxg5 Qg6 23.Ne2?? throws all the hard work away again [continuing the attack with f4 is soon fatal 23.f4 f6 24.Qe6+ Qf7 25.Qh3] 23...f6 24.Qe6+ Kg7? [24...Rf7 gives black another chance to save this game 25.Be3 Qxe4 26.Rfd1 Qxc2 27.Ng3] 25.Be3 Re8?? [25...Qxe4 must be tried 26.Nf4 Qh7 (26...Qxc2? fails to 27.Qd7+ Rf7 28.Nh5+ Kg6 29.Qg4+ Kh7 30.Nxf6+ Rxf6 31.Qd7+ Kh8 32.Qxb7) 27.Qd7+ Rg8 28.Qxh7+ Kxh7=] 26.Qd7+ [26.Qh3 is stronger] 26...Qf7 [26...Re7!? 27.Qh3 Qxe4±; 26...Re7 is stronger] 27.Qh3 Rh8 28.Qg4+ Kf8 [28...Qg6 allows black to fight a little longer 29.Qd7+ Qf7 30.Qxf7+ Kxf7 31.f4+-] 29.Ng3 [29.f4 is stronger 29...Ke8+-] 29...Qh7 [29...Ne7 is slightly better but the game is lost] 30.f4 at last! 30...Qh2+?! black would be better off marshalling his forces for defense rather than trying a doomed unsupported attack [30...Qg8 [Rg8 is also possible] 31.Qxg8+ Rxg8 32.Nh5+-] 31.Kf2 Ne7?? loses instantly [31...Rg8 is some sort of try but the game is now lost 32.Qf3 exf4 33.Bxf4 Qh7+-] 32.Rh1 Rg8 33.Qxg8+ Kxg8 34.Rxh2 exf4 35.Bxf4 Rd8 36.Nf5 Rd7 37.Bxd6+ Ke8 38.Rh8 Kf7 [Rg7 is blacks best move but even this is a forced mate in 11] 39.Rah1 Kg6 40.Rxg8+ Kf7 41.Rg7+ [41.Nh6#] 41...Ke8 42.Rh8# 1–0
Others may wish to comment on your game and my analysis but in summary you need to
- watch out for strategic weaknesses and try and capitalise on them;
- when you have a piece that is strategically strong (eg a N on on outpost, an active N vs bad B, a strong B on a good diagonal) don't swop it off unless you win material or create an even greatwer strategic advantage;
- work on your tactics (2 or 3 moves deep is fine at your level) watching out for forks, pins, etc - you certainly should not be missing a mate in 1)
Game 2225086
My initial thought was that this game could not possibly have been played by the same person who played the previous one. I don't know which is more typical and I hope this was just an off day.
The strategic errors mentioned in the last game were also evident here and by move 8 your development was significantly better. 9.a4 would have cemented your strategic advantage as it would have prevented b5 but you didn't play this and I can only assume it was because you did not realise how bad blacks position was. Your position was not won at this stage but your advantage was such that any GM playing with white would beat another GM playing with black.
At this stage however you made a series of tactical blunders that threw away pieces and hand the initiative to black.
C J Horse - Hawaiianhomegrown
Tutorial
I am going to restrict myself to comments on whites moves in this game 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 h6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.0–0 c6 6.d4 Nbd7 7.d5 c5 8.Be3 a6 at this stage white has kept his head in the face of some strategically bad black moves and concentrated on normal development of pieces. My only reservation is that d5 blocks the c4 B rendering it pretty ineffective. Meanwhile black has a number of strategic weaknesses particularly d6 and is significantly behind in development. In particular the c8 B although b5 creating space and a Q-side attack is now threatened. If allowed this could free blacks game. White stands significantly better 9.Qe2?? [This move traps his own B with the obvious black move 9.a4! preventing the freeing b5! was necessary to keep the strategic advantage] 9...b5 10.Nxb5 because the B is trapped this move is vitually forced. For any other reason the sacrifice is unsound as sufficient force cannot be bought to bear on the black K. see Game 2246765 for a game where this type of sacrifice works. 10...axb5 11.Bxb5 Nxe4 12.Bc1?? [There is no need to move this piece but if it is moved 12.Bxh6 Rxh6 13.Qxe4 wins back a pawn but may expose white to a dangerous attack on the h file. It is certainly better than the retreat. 12.Bc6 protecting the d pawn, maintaining the pin, getting a decent outpost for the B and attacking a8 is best.] 12...Nef6 13.Bc4?? [13.Bc6; 13.Rd1; 13.c4 are all better than the move played. Bs are better in front of rather than behind pawns as they can offer mutual protection and maintain an attack.] 13...Bb7 14.Bf4?? Pointless. An example of pinning for the shear sake of it. This offers no threat and the pin can be relieved instantly 14...Be7 15.Bd2 losing another tempo 15...Bxd5 16.Qd3?? The c4 B is lost so this wastes another move as the Q needs to recapture on c4 anyway [16.Bxd5 Nxd5 17.c4] 16...Bxc4 [16...e4!! is much stronger 17.Qe2 exf3 18.gxf3 Bxc4 19.Qxc4] 17.Qxc4 0–0 18.Rfe1 d5 19.Qd3 e4 20.Qe3 Qb6 21.b3?? [21.Nh4 is necessary to save the N] 21...Ra6 22.Qf4 [22.Nh4 is still necessary] 22...Bd6 23.Qf5 exf3 24.Qxd7?? [somewhat worse than 24.Qxf3 Qc7 25.Qh3] 24...Nxd7 0–1
What lessons can be learnt here?
1. continue to try and understand weaknesses so you can exploit them;
2. look at the reason for a move and your intended follow up. 14 Bf4 is a good example of this as after a little thought you would have realised that the move achieved nothing and that you had no follow up;
3. look to see what your opponent threatens and unless you can conjure up a greater threat protect against it in a way that enharnces your attack if possible;
4. consider always how your opponent can respond to your move and what new threats he can create.
Originally posted by kmac27No! If you have already got yourself above 1400 you are capable of doing it again. I want to help a few lower rated people who may benefit from some help on what they are doing wrong.
if i drop below 1400 will i be a candidate?
Read here what I tell them. The demonstration games and comments will be posted when they start.