Recovering from a bad run of form

[E Michael White]

I seem to just be making the wrong plan or the wrong continuations.

In retrospect did you see the right plan/move and reject them or did you not see them ?

If you rejected them I would follow Andrew Martin's advice, if you did not see them follow Alan Walton's advice. If a mixture of both start with AM and then proceed to AW.

[ThomasThorpe]

It's mainly missing the plans altogether, although I have rejected some perfectly good ones in the past few weeks!

[andrew martin]

Hi Thomas

Next time I will charge you a large sum of money for the advice and then you would most certainly take it, instead of mistakenly playing one extra game.

Andrew

[ThomasThorpe]

Hi Thomas

Next time I will charge you a large sum of money for the advice and then you would most certainly take it, instead of mistakenly playing one extra game.

Andrew

It was a match I had already committed to playing a few weeks ago. To my surprise I played a really nice defense after my opponent blundered a piece.
If I could've gotten out of playing the match, I probably would've done, but I think being loyal to your club is more important than your sole performance.

For those interested, here is the game in question:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d6 4. d4 Bg4 5. Be3 a6 6. Be2 h6 7. O-O Nf6 8. d5 Ne7
9. Nbd2 c6 10. c4 c5 11. Ne1 Qd7 12. Nd3 Ng6 13. f3 Bh3 14. gxh3 Qxh3 15. Rf2
Be7 16. Qa4+ Kf8 17. Bf1 Qh5 18. Qd1 Nh4 19. Be2 g5 20. Nf1 Qg6 21. Ng3 Rg8 22.
Kh1 h5 23. Rf1 Qh7 24. Nf2 g4 25. Rb1 Ng6 26. fxg4 hxg4 27. Nxg4 Nxg4 28. Bxg4
Bh4 29. Nf5 Ne7 30. Bh6+ Ke8 31. Qa4+ Kd8 32. Qa5+ Kd7 33. Ng7+ f5 34. Rxf5
Nxf5 35. Bxf5+ Qxf5 36. Nxf5 *

Tom

[Paul Douglass]

Hello Tom,

In regards to your original question about improving your game/performance, I've recently entered my first Open at Scarborough and obtained 3/5. Loss in Rd 1/5 and wins in between. I should have gotten 3.5 but that's for another thread! I'm graded currently 163 which is no great shakes so I was obviously pleased in this.

In terms of improving performance, I think its best to go back to basics. I've been reading Silman's Reassess Your Chess/Endgame Course (to 2000 ELO and nothing beyond) and also been doing loads of tactics puzzles. Nothing major on the openings as they are just there to create the imbalances you are comfortable with. I do prefer gambit games to slow positional most probably because I gain the most enjoyment.

In terms of your quote above
"If I could've gotten out of playing the match, I probably would've done, but I think being loyal to your club is more important than your sole performance." - that's true to a point particularly if you are most likely to gain something for the team. If you feel you're not going to get anything for the team then probably best to take some time out of the game and reenergise.

All the best with your game though!

Paul

[Gavin Strachan]

I am going through a pretty bad run of form. I even talked myself out of win the other night having set up a great trap decided not to follow through with the winning move and ended up drawing eventually. The way I see it is: having to get up early everyday to feed a baby doesn't go well with chess at night. I have got an old book on middlegames to see where I can improve and get a bit of decent training, but although my chess is a little on the appalling side I know things will change when I get sleep (ie when the kids leave home). I enjoy playing and result is immaterial - a couple of pints also does help. All players go through bad patches, Carlsen went through one recently.

[Michael Jones]

Unless your name is Rybka, you are never going to play to a completely consistent standard; you will have some good games and some bad games, and occasionally a string of one or the other; my grade is also in the 150s, but sometimes (very rarely) I play more like a 180 and sometimes (more often than I care to think about) like a 120. I wouldn't worry about it too much, you'll get out of it eventually - with or without any conscious effort to do so.