Chess Vibes | Drew | Activity

Drew posted a new activity comment

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 23:39:57 -0600

They are PGNs so you need to open them with chess.com or Lichess

In reply to - Chris S posted an update

I am on module 3. I downlaoded the Owens and Stonewall PDFs but tbey either dont open or are blank.

Drew posted a new activity comment

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 17:39:21 -0600

I have the same fear in losing ELO. I got to 1200 rapid, lost some games, then got back to 1200, and quit playing for a while because I didn’t want to go below 1200 again 🤣

In reply to - Aaron posted an update

TL;DR How to focus on taking the course, rather than blitz (haha) through it all in a night, for proper retention?

I got the Breaking 1500 course last year, and it’s been nearly a year […]

Drew posted an update: I got this course immediately when it came out last year […]

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 17:07:24 -0600

I got this course immediately when it came out last year and fell in love with the stonewall. I got up to 1200 from around 1050 rapid and then hit a wall where I wasn’t improving, it almost felt like I was going backwards making very obvious blunders and mistakes. I think I was more focused on being robotic with my moves instead of playing…

Drew posted a new activity comment

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:58:14 -0600

Closed for fair play already!?

In reply to - William F posted an update

I’m looking for friends to play and practice with. If anyone would like to add me on chess.com, my name is Nyxiechan

https://www.chess.com/member/nyxiechan

Drew posted a new activity comment

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 16:00:17 -0600

If you can, your goal in the opening should be to prevent any of blacks pieces/pawns from getting to e4, while at the same time controlling e5 with your pawns so your knight can eventually get there. Your light square bishop and knight on d2 should always be preventing their knight from getting to e4. The only exception is if they copy…

In reply to - Pierre W posted an update

Stonewall

Nelson,

What is the best way to avoid a black pawn on e4, which can be very annoying as it prevents the rook lift and other moves.

In fact, the main question is: how do we […]

Drew posted a new activity comment

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 14:14:47 -0600

I am not good at end games, but I still can’t believe white is +5 here. I’m guessing the king goes toward the blacks b pawn as a decoy, then marches up to take one of the the other 2 pawns and created a passer?

In reply to - Remko posted an update

Hi Nelson, I played an OTB game last monday where I enden up in a pawn/king end game. At the time my opponent offered a draw and I accepted as I couldnt see a win. At home I put the […]

Drew posted a new activity comment

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 16:03:31 -0600

This happens to me A LOT. I can’t count how many times I have a crushing position or attack and end up blundering my queen to a knight because I don’t blunder check.

In reply to - Fred T posted an update

I’m having a good game. I’m ahead in pieces. I can see what I want to do, and then…
I forget to do a blunder check, and lose my advantage or even the game.

Arrgh. I can’t seem to break my […]

Drew posted a new activity comment

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 16:01:56 -0600

That happens to everyone, don’t feel bad. I am going through the same ups and downs right now too. I went from 800 blitz to 1060 and now back down to 900. When this happens I take a break from playing and do more studying until some gears move and things start to click again.

Go through your losses and see what you did wrong. For me when someone…

In reply to - Ryan posted an update

I’m at a loss for words and completely confused. After a 3-month steady climb from 1100 to 1420, i just experienced a 2-day free fall of 188 points to collapse back to 1232. I’m actually […]

Drew posted a new activity comment

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 02:18:36 -0600

I play unrated daily games if you want to send a challenge. R00kCrook is my username, the 00 in rook are zeros

In reply to - Robin posted an update

Is someone here willing to play me in a daily game I’m 800 rated on daily but 1140 rated on rapid.

Drew posted a new activity comment

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 02:17:01 -0600

Congrats!

In reply to - Anand posted an update

Really elated to inform that I just crossed 1000 on Chess.com (for the very first time!). Thank you Nelson so much for the guidance. Now I play with an 80% confidence of winning any game.

Drew posted a new activity comment

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 02:15:53 -0600

f4 to prevent them from playing e5

In reply to - Lukas posted an update

What is the best white move with Stonewall opening after 2.e3 Nc6 ?

Drew posted a new activity comment

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:58:09 -0600

Sometimes you just can’t play the opening you want depending on what your opponent does. All their pawn pushes created a lot of weaknesses so instead of trying to get a stonewall set up, you could identify the weaknesses they are making and attack those.

In reply to - Charles posted an update

Stonewall problem. What to do on move 4 when black has played c5. I carried on and Stockfish says that f4 was a good move. I was worried about c5xf4. It did not happen here, but this […]

Drew posted an update: I have noticed recently that almost every person I play […]

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 03:23:14 -0600

I have noticed recently that almost every person I play when I use the stonewall, castles queenside and has the sole purpose of preventing me from playing the stonewall. This is just in the past couple days, and it’s weird. Did someone come out with an anti stonewall course that I don’t know about!?

Drew posted a new activity comment

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 00:24:57 -0600

The stonewall is a very powerful opening IF you understand it and play it right. Keep going with it and you’ll see how good it can be!

In reply to - Ronald posted an update

Hello everyone, today I tried playing Stonewall, although I only know the first 4 moves for sure. Of course I messed up the opening. I still won the game. I concentrated on blunder […]

Drew posted an update: I need help. I find when I’m playing games I cannot see […]

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 04:18:59 -0600

I need help. I find when I’m playing games I cannot see tactics or understand the position that well. However, if I watch someone else playing it’s easy to see tactics or evaluate the position. I was just watching a game and I saw a tactic to sac a knight to set up a discovered check and win their queen. I am positive I’ve had similar tactis in…

Drew posted a new activity comment

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 03:01:01 -0600

I started watching his speedrun series, it is very helpful

In reply to - Seann posted an update

Just broke 1150, up from 850 to start. In addition to B1500, watching the stonewall speedruns on chessbrah (youtube) has been extremely helpful.

Check out this great move: […]

Drew posted an update: Not related to the course, but last night I got to play […]

Sat, 05 Oct 2024 13:47:27 -0600

Not related to the course, but last night I got to play a live game against GM Varuzhan Akobian in a simultaneous exibition. For a scrub like me to play such a high rated player was an awesome experience, and I lasted 37 moves before ultimately resigning. I channeled my inner Nelson and went for a sacrifice to open up his king. I thought I…

Drew posted a new activity comment

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 13:26:39 -0600

It’s a great idea! Winner of the tournament gets to play a game against Nelson as the prize?

In reply to - EDWARD M posted an update

Would anyone be interested in doing a weekly tournament? Since we are all working the same material it could be alot of fun to set up a club on LICHESS or Chess.com. We could do teams […]

Drew posted a new activity comment

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 13:20:42 -0600

Congrats, that’s a huge accomplishment!

In reply to - Daniele C posted an update

I did it! 😍 https://www.chess.com/awards/dancamma3/achievement/progressive_rapid_rating?threshold=1500

Drew posted a new activity comment

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 18:47:29 -0600

@sazstuff thanks to puzzles I recognized the pattern right away, but when I analyzed, I saw I missed being able to have that mate sooner. In fact, the way I did it he could have sacked the rook for the knight and then I wouldn’t have gotten the smothered mate.

In reply to - Drew posted an update

Sloppy game and missed the intial smothered mate, but ended up getting it

Check out this #chess game: R00kCrook vs tbones66 – https://www.chess.com/daily/game/699653237

Drew posted an update: Sloppy game and missed the intial smothered mate, but […]

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 00:35:46 -0600

Sloppy game and missed the intial smothered mate, but ended up getting it

Check out this #chess game: R00kCrook vs tbones66 – https://www.chess.com/daily/game/699653237

chess.com

Chess: R00kCrook vs tbones66

R00kCrook (1184) vs tbones66 (1200). R00kCrook won by checkmate in 23 moves over 1 day. Click to review the game, move by move.

Drew posted a new activity comment

Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:16:33 -0600

I’m about the same. 2400 puzzle and 1150 ish rapid. Nelson would say that we both need to be looking for more tactics in our games

In reply to - Mark H posted an update

How does uour puzzle rating correlate to yojr rapid rating? Im 2400 in puzzles, but 1200 rapid.

Drew posted an update: Been struggling lately, but had this pretty nice game.

Sat, 07 Sep 2024 20:51:09 -0600

Been struggling lately, but had this pretty nice game.

Check out this #chess game: slaughterini vs R00kCrook – https://www.chess.com/daily/game/699740957

chess.com

Chess: slaughterini vs R00kCrook

slaughterini (1192) vs R00kCrook (1184). R00kCrook won by checkmate in 23 moves over 1 day. Click to review the game, move by move.

Drew posted a new activity comment

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 13:29:14 -0600

I definitely feel like a 600 some days :/ it’s hard with my work schedule to get longer games in, but I might bump it up and try some 15l10 games.

In reply to - Drew posted an update

My problem right now is I have these spurts where I play pretty good getting 80%+ accuracy most games, seeing the board very well, and finding great moves. Then all the sudden after a week […]

Drew posted a new activity comment

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 03:57:03 -0600

@deroqc89gmail-com by taking a couple weeks off…I stop playing games but I still study/watch videos and do tactics puzzles (my tactics rating also drops too). Then once I feel I’ve got my mind right again, I jump back into games.

For example, I play against a friend who’s 1600+ and I can win 1/5 games, often never blundering or mistakes.… Read more

In reply to - Drew posted an update

My problem right now is I have these spurts where I play pretty good getting 80%+ accuracy most games, seeing the board very well, and finding great moves. Then all the sudden after a week […]

Drew posted an update: My problem right now is I have these spurts where I […]

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 02:33:36 -0600

My problem right now is I have these spurts where I play pretty good getting 80%+ accuracy most games, seeing the board very well, and finding great moves. Then all the sudden after a week or so,my brain turns to mush and I start blundering a lot and missing easy to find moves and I’ll start having games where I am 50%+ accuracy or even less. I…

Drew posted an update: I’ve been trying to play the Owen’s defense and 7/10 […]

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 04:47:39 -0600

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 before, but what is the best plan going forward since I can’t play the reccommended moves?

Drew posted an update: Going through the tactics section again and one thing I […]

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 19:27:16 -0600

Going through the tactics section again and one thing I wish was in there was defending tactically. Watching your videos on youtube there are many times you say that something is defended tactically, and if you hadn’t said that I wouldn’t have been able to see it.

It would be awesome if you could add a video to the course or do a youtube video…

Drew posted a new activity comment

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 15:08:57 -0600

There is a button that says “mark as complete” just hit that if you’ve done the puzzles 👍🏻

In reply to - Jerome S posted an update

The puzzles for Modules 4 and 5 don’t indicate that I have completed them no matter how many times I do. So, my progress is not being accurately documented.

Drew posted a new activity comment

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 17:45:02 -0600

I am 1150-1200 in rapid and I can’t seem to get past 900 in blitz. I don’t understand how these lower rated blitz players are so good, but it’s insane.

My focus is to get better at longer time controls and then once I feel I am faster at spotting tactics and not blundering as much, then I will go back and try more blitz games. I think the…

In reply to - Przemyslaw R posted an update

Something I want to share that frustrates me is my rating swings. I mostly play 3 min blitz recently and few days ago I reached my max of 1130 on chess.com just to drop down today […]

Drew posted a new activity comment

Sun, 18 Aug 2024 22:32:50 -0600

Not only am I looking for tactics for me, but also keeping an eye out for tactics my opponent has. Even though I’m only playing people 1100-1300, I find they are finding some really advanced tactics a lot of the time. Could be opening prep or maybe they are more advanced players and they haven’t caught up to their true elo range yet. That’s why…

In reply to - Drew posted an update

First off I love this course, all the time and effort put into making it really shows.

However, after going through the tactics section I found that now when I’m playing games, I can’t help […]

Drew posted a new activity comment

Sun, 18 Aug 2024 22:25:21 -0600

I had not made it to module 10 yet, but what you said makes a lot of sense. I think I will try to play 10 games with a specific goal in mind like blunder checks, and try and get faster at doing them until it becomes more natural

In reply to - Drew posted an update

First off I love this course, all the time and effort put into making it really shows.

However, after going through the tactics section I found that now when I’m playing games, I can’t help […]

Drew posted a new activity comment

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 13:13:20 -0600

Happens to everyone, in a month you’ll be up past 1550!

In reply to - blundergoat posted an update Chess hard 😓

Drew posted a new activity comment

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 13:28:44 -0600

If the queen is defended by another piece then the king cannot take it. But if the queen is undefended, then the king can take it.

In reply to - Elizabeth P posted an update

Why cant the king take the queen? Ive had some situations where the king took the queen & that was the only move they had?

Drew posted an update: First off I love this course, all the time and effort […]

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 13:24:17 -0600

First off I love this course, all the time and effort put into making it really shows.

However, after going through the tactics section I found that now when I’m playing games, I can’t help but look for every possible kind of tactic after every move. Not only am I looking for all these tactics, but trying to calculate the continuations, and do a…

Drew posted a new activity comment

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 18:55:39 -0600

Yeah that makes sense now, not sure what I was thinking 🤦🏻‍♂️

In reply to - Drew posted an update

In lesson 2.4 around 7:30 mark, why is it better to play Qd5 first instead of sacrificing the bishop and them playing Qd5? When you sacrifice you get an extra pawn AND the king can’t castle […]

Drew posted an update: In lesson 2.4 around 7:30 mark, why is it better to play […]

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 17:44:31 -0600

In lesson 2.4 around 7:30 mark, why is it better to play Qd5 first instead of sacrificing the bishop and them playing Qd5? When you sacrifice you get an extra pawn AND the king can’t castle so to me that seems like the better move.

Drew posted a new activity comment

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 17:44:19 -0600

I should have been more specific.My question is regarding the course. For now I just made a note of the lesson and time stamp. I don’t want to be annoying and make multipleposts asking questions

In reply to - Drew posted an update

Should we be asking questions here, or saving questions for the group meetings?

Drew posted an update: Should we be asking questions here, or saving questions […]

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 15:59:21 -0600

Should we be asking questions here, or saving questions for the group meetings?

Drew posted an update: I have been counting down the days until this course […]

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 02:56:04 -0600

I have been counting down the days until this course came out. I am very excited to get it a little early!