Amen, lol.
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Chess feels a lot smoother, and I’m intuitively making better moves.
Today I played a game with 0 mistakes, blunders, and misses. I’m not sure if I’ve ever done that. When I reviewed the game, it gave me an estimated rating of 1700, rofl. Interesting stuff, lol. It’s nice to see, but there was no endgame because the opponent resigned.
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Wow, I’m pretty speechless right now. I just played a game, probably the craziest game I’ve ever played so far in chess. I wasn’t able to close it out with a Rook and a King. I can never allow that to happen again, lol. I’m going straight to an analysis board to practice this until I’ve mastered it, no exception.
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My next step is to master the Rook + King endgame. An interesting observation about that game is that upon review, I had a 100% opening accuracy, rofl. That’s kind of wild, and I don’t think I’ve ever had that before. I’m attributing it to Limitless.
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Adding some screenshots in my journal while these things are fresh:
I’ll replace tomorrow’s game time towards mastering the Rook + King endgame, and log how long it takes me.
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there are engines where you can practice basic endgames like this. the engine will try as hard as it can to salvage a draw, but you have a winning position so you get to practice technique. Check this out on LiChess. Overall LiChess is a better improvement tool than Chess.com.
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I decided to do it now, while the momentum is hot.
I spent around 20 minutes messing around on the analysis board at https://www.chess.com/analysis.
Then I spent around 10 minutes reading this article: “https://www.chess.com/terms/chess-rook-king-checkmate#why-rook-checkmate-matters”. This article is so quick, efficient, and easy to understand, that I went back to my analysis board and can say that I now fully understand the Rook Mate and have mastered it. I might not be able to do it in the least amount of moves, but I can without a doubt be confident that in a Rook + King vs King situation like today - I will get the job done.
I am attributing the article as a Limitless manifestation, as well as the manifestation of the chess lesson and ability to quickly learn it.
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free puzzles. the “endgame” ones are the best. Limited pieces. Simple calculation. endgames which have checkmates, tactics, etc.,
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First game today was going really great. Felt confident and in control as black. I was up on material, winning -3.71… then boom. Blundered my queen, rofl.
This means no more chess for today, lol.
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Not only did I blunder my queen, but I missed a free pawn that was right next to my queen. Insane level derp. The opponent was probably in shock.
Obviously I can take the free pawn on g4 with my queen, move it out of harm’s way and get free material. It’s the best possible move according to engine, and the most common sense one. Yet, I decide to go bishop h4. Took me 29 seconds to make this move.
On reflection, I realize why. Interesting stuff, lol.
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Great chess insight learned today through Limitless. There is a method to the madness behind every blunder. It will seem like a completely illogical, random, or insane move, but it’s really the mindset of play, the flow of the game, the position, and the time pressure, etc. I know exactly why I made this move.
You can’t get caught up in anything, you have to stay balanced.
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If a tactic “almost” works you can try asking yourself about mixing the order of moves. Tat helps a lot. To target the f2 pawn, If you had started with Qh2, this would have obviously stopped this specific blunder, but it also gets the queen closer to the enemy king causing more problems for him. Problems like the threat of Qh1 which would just be devastating. Almost mate, white would have to sacrifice like crazy to survive. You’re probably winning the knight and rook If he doesn’t defend. Knight, bishop, queen, rook, theyre all defneding and tangled up with each other, none of his pieces can move. And if he does defend, then your bishop coming to h4 threatens the f2 pawn now too. (Qh2 also leaves the option to choose between the bishop going to h4, or giving a check on b4.
That’s considering the tactic you were considering.
But you also had the beautiful open h file and that lazy good for nothing rook hiding like a coward behind your f7 pawn could have gotten in the fight too. Improve your worst pieces before attacking
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I know the rook-king endgame very well. The idea is force the king to the side board. You do this by cutting off space through the horizontal and vertical power of the rook, coordinated with your king. Once the king is forced to the side, you position the rook in the next rank over. For example, the opposing king is on the 8th rank and your rook is on the 7th rank. You’ve trapped the king on the 8th rank. You then position your king on the 6th rank directly in front the opposing king. You then bring your rook to the 8th rank and checkmate.
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Great feedback, lol. Thanks.
Well said. Took me some time but I was able to finally get it.
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Had a really intense game today. I managed to come out on top in a drawn endgame. Feels good, lol.
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1015 rating in Rapid, lol. Halfway there.
What a game… this time I got both a 1750 estimated rating and 100% opening accuracy.
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These were in 2 separate games and now I got both of them in one, rofl. This time 1750, not 1700.
I feel like I’m getting way better, especially in the endgame.
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I found a website that roughly compares ratings from lichess.org and chess.com.
According to this website, 1100-1200 rating on Lichess (Blitz) is equivalent to 700-800 rating on Chess (Blitz). My current rating on Chess (Blitz) is 787, so this seems about correct. I think that once I get to 1500 rating in Rapid, then I’ll get my Bullet and Blitz ratings to at least 1000.
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ooooh only just getting to look at ur games now. have chess dot com blocked on my computer so I don’t play instead of do work/life stuff.
EDIT: WOW - dude the improvement in a freaking WEEK was insane, looking at then vs now games. Totally different style & better understanding.
Here’s a big learning moment. You could have destroyed his pawn structure here.
Take his bishop with your bishop.
After he takes your bishop with his pawn, you play f5, and this is the new position.
(Once you feel like you have an advantage and want to attack, playing the f-pawn forward to be traded off so that you have an open file for your rook to attack with is a VERY common idea. Most hyper aggressive attacking openings like the king’s gambit and bird opening are “aggressive” simply because of the open f-file.)
I think in general this open f-file position is a concept you’re not aware of (my guess) because the position was SCREAMING for that exact move on move …27, …28, …29, and then he blundered. Your c6 was infinitely defended because of your bishop that couldn’t be dislodged from a pawn (because of your b-file pawn).
Never ever play a bishop-check if it can be blocked by his pawn. He could have played c3 here and you wasted a turn and helped him enhance his development. I mean, unless you WANTED him to play c3 so that he’s not happy castling on either side on the board… then you’re a genius. But the general principle is don’t give a check if it can be blocked by a pawn (unless you WANT that pawn to move).
Move 7… Ne5, you should have played bishop e6 instead. You were smart in seeing that the knight couldn’t be played to f6 without being a target for the pawn, but, bishop to e6 to defend a pawn like that is a common theme. It’s not always the best, but, in this case it’s great, he damaged his structure with a goofy opening, so you just play solid and you’ll have a better middle game. Be6 was the only way to defend the pawn tho.
Not critiquing moves only sharing major themes that will show up in all ur games. How to punish this INSANE pawn push to f3. It’s INSANE.
I love this move u made, checking him with ur dark squared bishop. But u had a HUGE threat… 0-0-0… queenside castle. Now he cant’ ever take his king to the queen side because you’re blocking the d-file. Rule #1 of attacking - keep the enemy king in the middle of the board, stop him if he’s ever “threatening to castle to safety.”
NOW no matter what his next move is, you can go Bishopg3 anyways but it’s MUCH more devastating.
I mean JESUS look at this position…
I was playing around with the engine and literally couldn’t find the move white should play. My attempt (Nd6) immediately lost the knight. o-o-o- followed by Bg3 is an unbelievable threat. King is stuck in the centre. And whatever he plays, after ur Bg3 check and whatever blunder he makes, you have this BEAUTIFUL formation… rooks on e/d files, king stuck in centre, his rooks not developed. You’re crushing here.
I’m not looking into the deep dives of any tactics but just general principles.
For example, here… you moved your pawn to h6 from h7. Why not move Kg4? and then whatever he does, you move your pawn from h7-h5 in one fell swoop. Saves you a tempo, and ONE MOVE is often the difference in endgames (speed/tempo).
Same vein as before, here ^ - keep the king in the centre of the board, and open ur file to attack - if you take his knight with your pawn, the e-file is open, your rook is ready to take the e-file, and his king is trapped in the centre. (He also had a queen attack you needed to be aware of but that’s tactical, not principled, so whatever.)
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