Board 8 > Do you know how to play chess?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yes. My best friend and I use chess to keep in touch basically since he moved out of state after college. You'd think after 7 years of us playing that I'd take more of an interest in learning strategy and openenings and such but nah haha. So I'm not really any good.

It's been years. I know the rules but that's it.

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MysteriousStan posted...

Yes. My best friend and I use chess to keep in touch basically since he moved out of state after college. You'd think after 7 years of us playing that I'd take more of an interest in learning strategy and openenings and such but nah haha. So I'm not really any good.

I've played off and on over the years too, and I am the same way. Don't really know any opening strategies or other strategies in general. I just play each game without a plan and only develop one as the game progresses. It's more fun for me that way.

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I'm decent enough at chess, but I haven't played a full game in years. I enjoy chess puzzles more than actually playing a full game.

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Yeah, I'm probably pretty bad tho. Either that or the one friend that consistently beats me is really good.

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I do. I was alright for my age range in my region, but I believe overall I would be considered below average. Particularly in my game knowledge. I relied mostly on a single opening and reacting.

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i enjoy chess a lot but im pretty low level. i'll beat my dum dum family members but anybody that knows what words like "pin" or "fork" mean will probably steamroll me. god help me if they know what openings actually are, cause i sure dont.

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trdl23 posted...

Yes

I'm not

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changmas posted...

My knowledge of opening theory is relatively weak, so I'm out of my opening theory pretty quickly most games, but yeah, I do play 3. Nc6 typically. A lot of times my games will go something like this:

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 g6
5. Nc3 Bg7
6. Be3 d6
7. Bb5 Bd7
8. O-O Nf6
9. f4 O-O

(sometimes I play a6 on move 7 instead of Bd7 and the position will look different, but overall these two problems still happen for me)

So at that point, I really start to struggle with two problems in this position:

How do I stop the white f-pawn from opening up my kingside?
And where is my Queen supposed to go? So often I want to put the Queen on b6 but that's such a horrible square with white's dark-square bishop always on that diagonal, but I can never figure out how to make my queen useful in this line at all, or at least until a bunch of pieces are traded off.

I play this (the accelerated dragon). you have to be really precise once you get out of the opening because a slow move against a well prepared player can really overwhelm you. a good strategy, in general, is an a6/b5 expansion and trying to achieve counterplay. if you just stay waiting in a solid position, you can end up getting broken down before you know it.

the position that gives me the most trouble is the maroczy bind, which is an early c4 that clamps down on the d5 square. I still don't know a good way to handle that...

edit: some other comments. I would look at swapping your move order here, playing Nf6 before Bd7. the ideal here is to trade off your knight with white's dark square bishop which as I'm sure you've figured out is white's best piece. if you can, play your knight to g4 with the intention of trading on e3. in my opinion black is better if you can pull that off. I usually see white throw in f3 after Nf6 just to shut down that idea. I actually struggle to play Bd7 in the first handful of moves because I feel like it's a wasted move, but you need it if you want to get your rook to its ideal c8 square. just my thoughts... I'm an intermediate player but I do have some background with this opening.

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transience posted...

the position that gives me the most trouble is the maroczy bind, which is an early c4 that clamps down on the d5 square. I still don't know a good way to handle that...

This is the reason why I always thought people didn't like the Accelerated Dragon. I actually experimented with the Kan Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6) for a bit, but it was this sort of c4 idea that eventually got me to give it up. I'm not actually sure that c4 is even a main line in this variation but I really hated playing it.

I do know that if you play the normal Dragon, you play Nf6 before g6 specifically to induce Nc3 from white which blocks the pawn from advancing to c4, but the tradeoff is slower development I believe.
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yeah, I feel like the biggest issue with the dragon is that you're a little slower, to the point where I feel like you're almost intentionally playing from behind at times. even the AD can sometimes feel like it's hard to keep up, if white plays really aggressively. but I really like the dynamic play on the flanks, and I am a total sucker for bishops on the long diagonals + pawn structures that let you take advantage of them.

it's sometimes more fun to play a reverse sicilian as white, with ideas like c4 Nc3 g3 Bg7 etc.

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transience posted...

I play this (the accelerated dragon). you have to be really precise once you get out of the opening because a slow move against a well prepared player can really overwhelm you. a good strategy, in general, is an a6/b5 expansion and trying to achieve counterplay. if you just stay waiting in a solid position, you can end up getting broken down before you know it.

the position that gives me the most trouble is the maroczy bind, which is an early c4 that clamps down on the d5 square. I still don't know a good way to handle that...

edit: some other comments. I would look at swapping your move order here, playing Nf6 before Bd7. the ideal here is to trade off your knight with white's dark square bishop which as I'm sure you've figured out is white's best piece. if you can, play your knight to g4 with the intention of trading on e3. in my opinion black is better if you can pull that off. I usually see white throw in f3 after Nf6 just to shut down that idea. I actually struggle to play Bd7 in the first handful of moves because I feel like it's a wasted move, but you need it if you want to get your rook to its ideal c8 square. just my thoughts... I'm an intermediate player but I do have some background with this opening.

hmm, Ill have to try that out. And i dont mind playing Bd7 at all, its keeping the queen on d8 that really bothers me. i just can never seem to find a good active square for the queen until its far too late.

Its also very possible that the dragon openings dont maximize my strengths as a player, so it may be worthwhile to look into some other lines (e4 e5 lines or the najdorf). The head of the chess club (he was rated about 2000) I was in before I moved advised me to stay away from e4 e5 at my rating / skill level just because that opens you up to so many different possibilities from white that I might not be prepared for without studying openings more extensively, whereas with the Sicilian black can dictate a little bit more of whats going on and has more chances for counterplay


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I dont mind keeping my queen on d8 in the AD. one of the weaknesses of the dragon is the base point on e7 and the queen staying back can protect it and also means your queen wont be counterattacked. eventually youll find a use for it - I like Qc7 in some lines just so you can see more squares while keeping it safe.

I dont really agree with avoiding e4 e5, but there is a lot of unique ideas you need to understand at a certain level (as white, things like the french or the sicilian, and as black, anything from the italian to the ruy lopez to more open positions like the scotch, which I rather like). I would sooner avoid d4 because of how positional it can be. it really depends on what you like though, and I would caution against being too dogmatic and studying one specific way. its like playing Street Fighter and only ever using Ryu.

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