Search found 271 matches

by Matt Fletcher
Mon Nov 20, 2023 1:25 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Annoying line in the Caro kahn
Replies: 13
Views: 1647

Re: Annoying line in the Caro Kann?

John Upham wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2023 11:09 am
Matt Fletcher wrote:
Sun Nov 19, 2023 10:48 pm


It doesn’t exactly tear it down but I find 4. dxc5 followed by 5.a3 usually works OK for me.
Do many of these games go

4...Sc6 5.a3 Se5: 6.b4 g6 7.Lb5+ Ld7 by any chance?
Yes, that sort of thing.
by Matt Fletcher
Sun Nov 19, 2023 10:48 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Annoying line in the Caro kahn
Replies: 13
Views: 1647

Re: Annoying line in the Caro kahn

Recently I've been having some sightly better games against black with the advance variation (I say "better" because it's such an anti chess position that a negative opponent will often find ways to squeeze any life out of the game) but the one scummy system I've not found an answer to and has rest...
by Matt Fletcher
Tue Sep 20, 2022 9:52 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Chess sudoku puzzle
Replies: 0
Views: 1271

Chess sudoku puzzle

It’s been posted on the chess in media thread, but I think this chess sudoku by Christian König is special enough for its own thread. The sudoku is pretty trivial, it’s really more of a chess construction puzzle which might appeal to some here. The idea is that you’re part way through a game of ches...
by Matt Fletcher
Wed Sep 07, 2022 11:06 am
Forum: International News
Topic: 2022 Sinquefield Cup
Replies: 223
Views: 22025

Re: 2022 Sinquefield Cup

Definitely thought yesterday’s interview with Niemann was worth watching (and it was good that they gave him time and space to speak). I found the cheating bit slightly hard to follow but I think it was: OTB: never Online for money: one Titled Tuesday aged 12 Online casual: when aged 16 to increase ...
by Matt Fletcher
Wed May 04, 2022 8:54 am
Forum: Congress Diary
Topic: English Senior Championships 2022
Replies: 17
Views: 2373

Re: English Senior Championships 2022

Although it doesn't affect the players named, the seeding order given on the ECF website is wrong. The tournament rules say the seeding order is higher of ECF/FIDE rating which significantly changes the seeding below the top few players in each event. The tournaments start tomorrow. Seemingly the s...
by Matt Fletcher
Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:36 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Worst pawn structure of all time?
Replies: 7
Views: 1264

Re: Worst pawn structure of all time?

Wow, that’s even more special!
by Matt Fletcher
Tue Apr 26, 2022 9:27 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Worst pawn structure of all time?
Replies: 7
Views: 1264

Worst pawn structure of all time?

Played a rapid game last night where my opponent got one set of isolated tripled, one set of isolated doubled, and two other isolated pawns by move 16.
7DB07EAD-9E47-4D93-BF49-5A3DF729A5D6.jpeg
7DB07EAD-9E47-4D93-BF49-5A3DF729A5D6.jpeg (169.92 KiB) Viewed 1264 times
Wondering if anyone’s ever seen a worse pawn ‘structure’?
by Matt Fletcher
Thu Jun 24, 2021 10:26 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: HELP! Who composed this?
Replies: 3
Views: 891

Re: HELP! Who composed this?

Nice puzzle!

A Google search using the FEN suggests it’s by Boris Sidorov - see here (towards the bottom of the page)
by Matt Fletcher
Sun May 23, 2021 8:36 am
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Oldest GMs
Replies: 11
Views: 1389

Re: Oldest GMs

Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Sat May 22, 2021 11:48 pm
Nikolai Krogius is AFAIK still alive, also 90-ish.
Krogius is number 3 on the list, a couple of months younger than Matanović.
by Matt Fletcher
Sat May 22, 2021 10:17 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Oldest GMs
Replies: 11
Views: 1389

Re: Oldest GMs

JustinHorton wrote:
Sat May 22, 2021 8:48 pm
Out of interest, who's in second place?
You can order the list of GMs on Wikipedia by date of birth, then check there’s no entry in the date of death column. Looks like the answer is Matanović who turns 91 tomorrow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandar_Matanović
by Matt Fletcher
Mon May 17, 2021 7:52 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Online to OtB rating conversions
Replies: 7
Views: 1619

Re: Online to OtB rating conversions

Although... I then did the same for my last blitz opponents and got average blitz of 2336 vs average rapid of 2333 (with a range of +/-200). More detailed analysis needed I feel...
by Matt Fletcher
Mon May 17, 2021 7:24 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Online to OtB rating conversions
Replies: 7
Views: 1619

Re: Online to OtB rating conversions

2) I’m not sure about blitz vs rapid conversions on lichess - I’m playing more 10+0 rapid recently, my opponents are typically 2200-2300 in rapid and rarely much over 2000 blitz. I think there’s a bigger gap at that level than the table suggests between the two (at least 100 points, possibly more)....
by Matt Fletcher
Mon May 17, 2021 3:26 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: 1979 Lloyds Bank Masters
Replies: 17
Views: 2111

Re: 1979 Lloyds Bank Masters

John Upham wrote:
Mon May 17, 2021 2:54 pm
I do not have this book but maybe someone can look :
I refer you to my previous answer... :D
by Matt Fletcher
Mon May 17, 2021 1:33 pm
Forum: Chess History
Topic: 1979 Lloyds Bank Masters
Replies: 17
Views: 2111

Re: 1979 Lloyds Bank Masters

Or page 161 of the shorter work Chess Results, 1978-1980 from 2014. It might be a starting point at least. I was able to read the relevant page of Chess Results in a quick online search - it appears to have the same results as Informator (i.e. stopping at 19th position). It sources the results to B...
by Matt Fletcher
Mon May 17, 2021 12:10 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Looking for a training partner
Replies: 8
Views: 1406

Re: Looking for a training partner

@wmiltti - Matt Fletcher, frequent visitor to this parish. Recently suggested to me that if I want to improve my blitz rating I could try winning more games. But has helpful advice and tips too. Are you telling me my advice didn’t work? Your rating would suggest otherwise... There's also @chess_doj...