Chess Vibes | CJ | Activity

CJ posted an update: Ok, this is too funny. As I mentioned in my […]

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 07:41:51 -0600

Ok, this is too funny. As I mentioned in my question earlier I had to take a bit of a hiatus due to real life. When I came back my ELO had a jump with no games even shown from 405 to 422 on a loss with no in between games at all. So probably around a 25 point for not playing. Seems to be points refunds. Never thought a low level…

CJ posted a new activity comment

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 07:18:50 -0600

I don’t play on my phone as it’s doom. Probably similar issue here. Cats attacking the computer mouse with my hand on it is still a hazard but a lesser one.

You force chess dot com to only register drag moves but not sure if that’s on all platforms. It’s an option that must be set and I absolutely set it after some accidents.

In reply to - Joseph posted an update

+I could use your help. Even tho I totally suck at chess I’ve lost a number of games today by my pieces moving involuntarily . It seems that sometimes with my finger near the piece it […]

CJ posted an update: Ok, I took several weeks off due to other life issues. […]

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 07:14:13 -0600

Ok, I took several weeks off due to other life issues. I did continue to watch chess videos by Nelson and others but I wasn’t really up for the intensity of real games. His current ratings climb is a fantastic companion to this course but that’s not my question….

I started by playing course material against chess dot com bots to get…

CJ posted an update: It is unfortunate not unusual that other life activities […]

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 00:02:59 -0600

It is unfortunate not unusual that other life activities cut into my chess playing time. However I’m still somewhat around and watched your rating climb. Your rice cooker is an interesting chef. I noticed a lot of comments were that you made a mistake and he took advantage. But no, I flipped through his other games and it’s obvious…

CJ posted a new activity comment

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 23:14:27 -0600

It is simply assumed the king will be captured in a checkmate. I’m used to the tradition that the loser tips the king over to signify it’s “death” though now with online we just get the hash mark. But there’s no reason to say the king is not captured, we just save some time.

If all but one person folds in poker, the game ends even if…

In reply to - Andrew posted an update As a total aside , can anyone think of another game ( apart from chess ) where the game’s ultimate goal is never arrived at ? In chess the aim is to capture your opponent’s king ( […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 22:43:30 -0600

@deroqc89gmail-com He’s snagging that pawn a lot more than I can. I frequently wind up with this or similar.

As for not mentioning other player feeds, that’s terribly counterproductive. Not in any rule I remember and real teachers want their students to use whatever resources help them.

One of the big things that I like about Nelson is…

In reply to - Drew posted an update

I’ve been trying to play the Owen’s defense and 7/10 games after I play e6 they respond with a3 to stop my bishop from pinning the knight. I’m sure this may have been asked on here […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 07:14:23 -0600

t’s surprisingly rare I get to pin that knight and even if I do they can defend the pawn with the bishop. I’m looking forward to the rating climb but you’re mostly going to land in the exceptions sections of the other videos. I don’t bother to put the bishop in line with the king unless I can pin and that may be 25% of my games. For the most… Read more

In reply to - Drew posted an update

I’ve been trying to play the Owen’s defense and 7/10 games after I play e6 they respond with a3 to stop my bishop from pinning the knight. I’m sure this may have been asked on here […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 18:53:40 -0600

I’ve got two issues. One is there are early moves that can foul up these openings. Stonewall in particular is vulnerable to e5 for example. They can either tear down the wall or lock the center. You covered locking the center though not in the pushing past situation. But losing the pawn on d4 is annoying and pushing to d5 doesn’t appear…

In reply to - Nelson posted an update

Hey guys! Our next group coaching call is next Tuesday, Sept. 3! https://www.youtube.com/live/O5WMKLAR-T8

I’ll be doing a “mini rating climb” where I exclusively use the Stonewall […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 21:55:13 -0600

Moving the kings pawn in the standard sequence is my way of preventing this. I almost never deviate at that point unless things are already totally weird.

But it only takes one nasty little tactic at the end to win sometimes. Congrats on pulling it out. The computer clearly hated this game. Never discount winning desperate games on a…

In reply to - Jason G posted an update

OK, I tried to play Owen’s Defense and check out this trap I fell into on move 4. I thought he blundered the pawn, but it turns out I blundered my castle rights. I hung around and was […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 02:20:32 -0600

Slow down. I learned this in other disciplines and it was immediately obvious it applied here. If you have to write down the blunder checks on paper, do at least a 30 minute game, and force yourself through the list every single move. Most my mistakes come if I try to shortcut that.

In reply to - Juan E posted an update

Aside from playing many games and doing puzzles, any advice on how to get the mental discipline to apply the principles learned? I suffer from knowing what to do and what not to do […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 02:18:16 -0600

Keep playing and look for blunders on their side. The lower your level the more likely that will happen. Trust me, I’ve blundered a lot of queens. Fast checkmate tactics are nice like backrank tactics. The higher level the game the less this works.

In reply to - Scott C posted an update

Can you give me a recommendation for how to win when you blunder a queen 👑?

CJ posted a new activity comment

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 02:16:10 -0600

Queenside takes longer and doesn’t make the king “quite” as safe although you can move one more queenside to protect the three edge pawn. (Kingside castle requires an extra move to get the rook clear of the three pawn defense.) The advantage is the rook is often on an open file immediately. That rook can wreak havoc sometimes. Note…

In reply to - Brett D posted an update

Love the course!

1. What are the pros and cons of castling queenside vs. kingside?

2. Do you come up with a plan for how you want the game to proceed during the opening or do you wait […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 20:39:44 -0600

Even more than the queen pin is it feels like my pieces should be able to close in for a mate. Bc5 keeps closing in but I don’t see a way to seal the deal. Analysis is good but unfortunately always plays at 3200 rating so there’s no forced mate. But the way it escapes is very computer-ish. I wouldn’t expect a trap here to work on a…

In reply to - CJ posted an update

Tactical question: I decided to forgo the free knight and move my rook to line up on the king and pin the queen. But game review raked me over the coals for it saying I gave up a free […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 00:34:07 -0600

Sounds reasonable. There wasn’t a difference in skill.

In reply to - CJ posted an update

I’m running low 400s on chess dot com as I’m learning. But I started trying Lichess and I’m beating 900s. What’s the difference in these ranking systems?

CJ posted an update: I'm running low 400s on chess dot com as I'm […]

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 22:49:11 -0600

I’m running low 400s on chess dot com as I’m learning. But I started trying Lichess and I’m beating 900s. What’s the difference in these ranking systems?

CJ posted a new activity comment

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 21:07:11 -0600

94% accuracy! That’s fantastic. It’s actually not unheard of at our level but it’s pretty rare. The thing about the game that would have me very worried is losing the defense of my king. His rooks and remaining bishop were tied up in traffic so you weren’t in immediate danger but having no pawns by my king means extra work…

In reply to - Graham posted an update

Ok I think the Stonewall is starting to make sense as a whole. There are infinite variations but by focusing on the key ideas I think I am about to turn this losing franchise around. […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 15:30:57 -0600

Something I learned in martial arts. You may get worse before you get better when you have to unlearn bad habits. Good chess example would be someone who got some fast rank with early queen attacks. But it’s a given you will plateau fairly low with that tactic. To fix it you’ve got to start learning more about the game and you’ll lose…

In reply to - Frank posted an update

517 when I started, 414 now. working on it.

CJ posted a new activity comment

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 15:28:43 -0600

If I play too long I start losing a lot. Also I’ve found it better to use longer time controls as you can’t apply new knowledge at full speed. I’m not even bothering with games under 10 minutes and I’ve been doing initial exploration on 30 minute games so I have time to actually think things through. The old crawl-walk-run theory of learning.

In reply to - Ryan posted an update

Went full tilt today. Was like a gambler that just needed one hand to get right. Lost 100 points in last 24 hours and lost a week of climbing up in bullet.

Dropped from 1184 to 1089

CJ posted an update: Tactical question: I decided to forgo the free knight […]

Sat, 03 Aug 2024 22:53:58 -0600

Tactical question: I decided to forgo the free knight and move my rook to line up on the king and pin the queen. But game review raked me over the coals for it saying I gave up a free knight which was true Especially at low ELO, was the subsequent rook move with discovered attack potential really a bad idea? P.s. I won.

CJ posted a new activity comment

Sat, 03 Aug 2024 22:11:27 -0600

My solution is simple. To actually learn I play 10 minute or longer. To practice blunder checks 30 minute games are probably best though 15|10 is still better than default.

In reply to - Richard H posted an update

Hi Nelson,

Really enjoying your course. Just started the Positional module.

I am 63, and have noticed that I am too slow in 3 min Blitz games, often winning, but just running out of […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 02:21:40 -0600

Knight takes your knight and fouls up the alignment. But the better response to the original puzzle according to the computer is to move Qe2 which will get you mated if you don’t watch it VERY carefully.

I wish Nelson included the FEN for the start of each exercise.

In reply to - Andrew M posted an update

Blessings upon Nelson for providing this course…! Quick question re: Lesson 4.4: Forks/Double Attacks. In the final Master example, what are the drawbacks to N-d4 instead of N-b4? Thanks -A

CJ posted a new activity comment

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 04:49:43 -0600

I’m still getting through a mid game chapters. A significant problem I’m getting into now is I know something was covered in a lesson but I can’t properly remember how to respond. I am remembering a a lot especially tactics but all the weird things that can happen in the openings and often doesn’t mean I remember the correct response 20 games previous.

In reply to - CJ posted an update

I mentioned in sub comments about Owens where the kings pawn is pushed on the second move and then has an early queen attack to complicate the fianchetto majorly. It messed my up on my […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 04:10:25 -0600

Yes. Need more repeats. Seriously, my ELO isn’t changing much yet because I’ve got to get the new openings working plus unlearn some bad habits. People who win with early queen moves will plateau fairly early on I’ve observed. But it’s always nice to win.

With chess, you can say it’s how you play the game because if you do it right you…

In reply to - CJ posted an update

I mentioned in sub comments about Owens where the kings pawn is pushed on the second move and then has an early queen attack to complicate the fianchetto majorly. It messed my up on my […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 03:58:38 -0600

And another loss. I’m not seeing future lessons on dealing with this kind of mess. I was on the receiving end of tactics here which avoiding is later lessons. But the problem remains it was stonewall on stonewall. https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/108500169610

I felt forced into a similar strategy which I’m still unfamiliar with and lost to traps.

In reply to - CJ posted an update

It would be a lot easier to ask for help here if I could post images of board positions or games.

Something happened tonight where practically every opponent is just playing pawn moves in […]

CJ posted an update: I mentioned in sub comments about Owens where the kings […]

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 22:47:06 -0600

I mentioned in sub comments about Owens where the kings pawn is pushed on the second move and then has an early queen attack to complicate the fianchetto majorly. It messed my up on my first encounter and was literally going to post the game here, when the same exact tactic showed up again. Second time I won even with a couple of mistakes …

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CJ posted a new activity comment

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 22:36:18 -0600

I just won against the same tactics, I’m posting both games in a bit. The win got clunky after I did blunder but I was way ahead in material and could trade down multiple times just to clear the board, but then won on time.

In reply to - Andrew posted an update Message to CJ – a while ago we talked about playing against someone who made a lot of pawn moves in the opening & this seemed to be ” popular ” at the moment . I mentioned that I […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 18:25:42 -0600

I have business during the day here with limited net time, but I’ll look into it tonight. Meanwhile I just got beat by a early queen attack of a type I’m not used to and appears to be suited to counter me playing Owens. I’ll post the game in a main post as I can’t be the only one dealing with this.

CJ posted a new activity comment

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 04:43:04 -0600

I can’t see a button to follow. I have gotten this and want to see the answer.

In reply to - Richard posted an update

Hi Nelson, I was just playing the stonewall any my opponent immediately played e5. I think messed things up by responding e3. I don’t see a way to avoid not having that pawn in the […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 04:41:58 -0600

Both chess dot com and lichess support this. You create the arrows with the right mouse button. Right click a square and drag.

In reply to - Jerry B posted an update

What are you using for your digital chessboard in the lessons?
I would like this for teaching my grandchildren with the options like you use for the arrows, colored squares, etc.

CJ posted a new activity comment

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 04:16:15 -0600

Here’s the whole game. https://www.chess.com/game/live/108469207078

In reply to - CJ posted an update

It would be a lot easier to ask for help here if I could post images of board positions or games.

Something happened tonight where practically every opponent is just playing pawn moves in […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 04:14:00 -0600

Here’s an example. I’m getting better and I won this but it felt like more luck than skill.

In reply to - CJ posted an update

It would be a lot easier to ask for help here if I could post images of board positions or games.

Something happened tonight where practically every opponent is just playing pawn moves in […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 04:54:12 -0600

Except my pieces are forward and often interfering especially with Owens. I’m messing around now trying to build back some rank. Stonewall is a good opening though I had some others for white. I was suffering with black until I got Owens which keeps it simpler. Unfortunately it’s passive on the front end.

Here you see the remains of…

In reply to - CJ posted an update

It would be a lot easier to ask for help here if I could post images of board positions or games.

Something happened tonight where practically every opponent is just playing pawn moves in […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 04:33:30 -0600

Honestly their position sucks if I broke through without losing a lot of material. I’ll mess with it. Losing rank means I’ll be back to other tactics so may have to advance a bit to get back to this. I’m mainly playing 10 minute but could go to 30. But usually 10 minute gives some time to think and learn and even win without a…

In reply to - CJ posted an update

It would be a lot easier to ask for help here if I could post images of board positions or games.

Something happened tonight where practically every opponent is just playing pawn moves in […]

CJ posted a new activity comment

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 04:31:18 -0600

Sigh, I’m going to have to get something to screenshot to file. I’ll work on it but it’s late and the one thing that for sure isn’t in your coursework is cats that want something indescribable RIGHT NOW and are jumping on my mouse and keyboard. I’ll be back but the trouble I’m having are either long pawn chains or and advancing V shape…

In reply to - CJ posted an update

It would be a lot easier to ask for help here if I could post images of board positions or games.

Something happened tonight where practically every opponent is just playing pawn moves in […]

CJ posted an update: It would be a lot easier to ask for help here if I […]

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 04:14:30 -0600

It would be a lot easier to ask for help here if I could post images of board positions or games.

Something happened tonight where practically every opponent is just playing pawn moves in an interlocked formation while I develop which means they threaten developed pieces with pawns while their other pieces rest on the back rank.

I know…

CJ posted a new activity comment

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 04:14:10 -0600

It was great and now I’ve gotten repeatedly clobbered by people who only move pawns. Asking about that in a separate post as I’ve never seen this before and now it’s epidemic problem all of the sudden.

In reply to - CJ posted an update

Hey Nelson, I just finished your chapter on pins and then THS happens. https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/108449988532?tab=review

Unfortunately chess in general isn’t nearly this […]

CJ posted an update: Hey Nelson, I just finished your chapter on pins and […]

Sun, 28 Jul 2024 20:55:12 -0600

Hey Nelson, I just finished your chapter on pins and then THS happens. https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/108449988532?tab=review

Unfortunately chess in general isn’t nearly this easy but this may be a useful object lesson. AKA Don’t Pin Your Queen.

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Analyze your chess games with the strongest chess engine in the world - Stockfish. You can also use natural language analysis to get the most human understanding of your game.

CJ posted a new activity comment

Sun, 28 Jul 2024 19:19:09 -0600

Finally set it up. Note if you go through my games, you will find a number that would make Levy quit chess. You hopefully are made of sterner stuff. However I am getting better on average especially as black. Wins are not as accidental. Aside from blunders, I’m still having trouble when my opponent does really crazy stuff. I just lost…

In reply to - Nelson posted an update

Hey we’ve just added the ability for you to add your rating and chess.com profile! Just click “Edit” on your profile and update the new fields. See the images for an example.