Get better at chess

^{Dec. 15, 2006}

I won my group in the first round of a tournament at GameKnot.com . Now I’m waiting for the second round to start.

My GameKnot Stats
Rating: 1403 (62^nd percentile).
Won: 42 (59% of games played).
Loss: 29
71 games played.

French Defense, final position, white resigned.

^{October 6, 2006}

Here’s the PGN:

Event “Let’s play chess”Date “2006.10.06”White “wbay77”Result “0-1”BlackElo “1368”Mode “ICS”

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Ne4 5. Nxe4 dxe4
6. Be3 f5 7. Ne2 g6 8. Nf4 Bg7 9. Bc4 Qe7 10. O-O c5
11. Bb5+ Bd7 12. Bc4 cxd4 13. Qxd4 Nc6 14. Qc3 Bxe5 15. Qd2 O-O
16. Rad1 Rad8 17. Qe2 Kg7 18. g3 Bf6 19. Rd2 a6 20. Bb6 Rdc8
21. Rfd1 Ne5 22. Bd4 Nf3+ 23. Kg2 Nxd2 24. Rxd2 e5 25. Nh5+ gxh5
26. Be3 Bc6 27. Qxh5 Bd7 28. Qh6+ Kh8 29. Be2 Bg7 30. Qh5 Be8
31. Qh3 Bg6 32. Rd1 Rxc2 33. Rd2 Rxd2 34. Bxd2 f4 35. f3 e3
36. Bc1 Qc5 37. Bxe3 Qxe3 38. Kf1 Bd3 39. Bxd3 Qxf3+ 40. Kg1 Qxd3
41. Qg2 f3 42. Qf2 Qd1+ 43. Qf1 Qxf1+ 44. Kxf1 f2 45. h4 e4
0-1

After this win my rating is 1377 (57^th percentile).
W 39, L 29, D 0

^{August 16, 2006}

This is the first game I started at Game Knot . The photo shows the final postion. I was white and my opponent, sixstringsdown, resigned.

Here’s the pgn if you want to follow the match:
Event “Let’s play chess”Date “2006.08.16”White “mydree”Result “1-0”BlackElo “1216”Mode “ICS”

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 e6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. a3 g5
6. O-O Ng4 7. h3 Nf6 8. Nc3 g4 9. hxg4 Nxg4 10. g3 Qf6
11. Bb5 Qh6 12. e4 Rg8 13. Bxh6 Bxh6 14. e5 f5 15. exf6 Nxf6
16. Ne5 Bf4 17. Ne2 Bg5 18. Nxc6 bxc6 19. Bxc6+ Ke7 20. Bxa8 Ne4
21. Qd3 Bd7 22. Bb7 Rf8 23. c4 e5 24. cxd5 Nd2 25. Rfd1 Nf3+
26. Kg2 h5 27. Qh7+ Kd8 28. Qxh5 e4 29. Ng1 Bb5 30. Nxf3 exf3+
31. Kg1 Be7 32. d6 cxd6 33. Qxb5 Rg8 34. Qh5 Kc7 35. Bxf3 Rg5
36. Rac1+ Kd7 37. Qh3+ 1-0

The big mistake sixstringsdown made was losing his Queen in a uncovered attack.

Current Games
I’m playing in 2 games at Game Knot , both as black.

^{July 27, 2006}

Current Status
My rating on Game Knot is 1368 (58th percentile), this puts me in Game Knot’s Intermediate ranking.

Current Record
W-L-D: 35-27-0 (62 total games).
Win percentage: 56%.

The Goal
I want to play regualarly and improve my rating at Game Knot to 1500 or above, this would put me in the Advanced ranking. I have been rated as high as 1389 so I think this is a realistic goal.

Secondary Goal
To play in the next Game Knot tournament (starts Sept. 5) and advance past the first round.

The Plan
To have several games going at once and to read about and study the game of chess.

Long-range Plan
Once my Game Knot rating improves I will play real-time matches on the Free Internet Chess Server .