Tuesday, August 21, 2012

"It" Happens

Rubidium Rd 1. Not much to this game. Tamky70 had the better position when his opponent gifted him a whole Rook. It reminded me of a scene in the movie Forest Gump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b3vg9k8Abc

FlyingTiger Gets A Nice Win

Niobium Rd 1. FlyingTiger played the Queen endgame very well. It's worth taking a look to get some ideas on how to win these things.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

White To Play

A position from my endgame course in the Bishop section. It looks like a simple win but if Black can blockade the pawns then he can draw. There's only one move that stops any blockades from happening.

Krysto Starts with A Win

Niobium Rd 1. Krysto got into some trouble but battled back.

T54 Starts!

Strontium Rd 1. Sorry for not posting lately. Some crisis' in my life right now. But now it's time for some league games! Here's a very interesting game to start things out. A lot of mistakes on both sides, a little rust I suppose. But also some fine moves. And a very instuctive endgame.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Chess Endgame Course


I watch a lot of 45 45 games and the biggest thing I notice is the horrific endgame play, especially at the lower levels.
Both players begin out playing fairly decently, attacking, defending, some good plans etc. Maybe not master level but reasonable.
Then when the endgame starts things fall apart. Missed wins and draws abound. It's if there are random moves being made.

Why is this? It's because most people don't study the endgame. It's boring they think. Or another false thought that the ending won't happen. But it does. People may avoid the endgame because of this weakness, instead of going into a winning endgame they will stay in the middlegame letting their opponent off the hook. Lots of rating points go wanting.

Are you one of these players? Have you gone over your game afterwards and to your horror discovered you missed a win or draw in an endgame position? And lost rating points because of it.

"In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before anything else; for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame." – J.R. Capablanca

So what can be done? You could buy a book, study it haphazardly. You're not sure whats important and whats not. Maybe you'll get to chapter 2 before you realize that it IS a lot of work to gain this Knowledge. The book ends on the shelf gathering dust. And you're still missing those wins and draws. And those rating points.

But I can help. I'm offering an ENDGAME COURSE. It's targeted specifically for players under 1800 down to 1200.

About 12 years ago I started taking lessons from an IM. The first thing I noticed it was a lot of endgames. I asked why. He told me that it was the foundation of being a good player.
And I found out I really enjoyed endgames. And I got some positive reinforcement when I started to gain an extra half point here and an extra point there.
But this teacher was charging me $60 an hour and I couldn't afford it.
I wanted to do the work though and try to master this aspect of the game. I bought some books, some database programs, and set to work.
I spent 1,000 hours on this in the next year and a half. And I got good at it. The rating went up. If I had a even position I could, as an option, just take it to the endgame. And many times it worked, I scored the point, even against Masters.

So I've taken my notes, my games, the books and databases I've accumulated and compiled it into an Endgame Course. I'm saving you those 1,000 hours that I took.


The course is as follows:

King and Pawn endgames to begin with. The soul of Chess. You will recognize the themes of what is happening on the board. You will know what to calculate, what to be looking for. Your opponents will still be making random moves. You'll start scoring much more.

Rook and Pawn endgames. The most common endgame. Lots of theory here but you will gain the knowledge to recognize what to do and how to combat what your opponent is doing. More points scored.

Other endgames: There's a lot here but they're less common. I present the key positions in winning Knight endings, Bishop endings, Bishop vs. Knight endings, Queen endings, and unbalanced material endings.

The lessons are done on ICC in examine mode. The positions are stored and placed in examine mode instantly. None of this put the pawn there, the Rook there, etc.

The course isn't free but very reasonable. Considering the time I spent to get this course ready I'm making very little.
$25 per hour or $100 for 5 hours of instruction. Pretty cheap considering you'll retain this knowledge for the rest of your lifetime. We can also go over your games or other things that interest you.

If you're interested send an ICC message to Paulkov or an email to cottonyard@charter.net

"When you study openings you learn openings; when you study endgames, you study chess."

Studying the endgame really helps your calculations in other areas of the game.