Unpublished Work © 2026. Alex Povazh. All rights reserved
- A 500 vs 500 game, time control 15+10, 10 moves, A00 Grob Opening. 1. g4 d5 2. b4 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. b5 Bd7 5. bxc6 bxc6 6. d3 Qf6 7. Nh4 Qxh4 8. Rg1 Bc5 9. Ba3 Bd4 10. Rg2 Bxa1. 0-1
# Control of the center
# Keep monitoring the firing range of your opponent’s pieces before you make your move
# Neglecting piece development
# King has nowhere to castle: both sides are breached and cannot provide reliable security
# Sometimes moving the same piece twice in the opening is good if it results in a tactical or positional advantage. Opening Basics are not always mandatory
# Wasting time, losing tempo is a big no-no in chess
# Doubling pawns thus breaking a pawn structure is bad from a positional point of view
# Importance of gaining space
# Zero piece coordination
# Stuck in the center king is oftentimes unhappy
# Weak dark-colored squares around the white’s king are oftentimes the key to black’s success
# See and read the entire board, not just a piece of it” is a must in chess: always play with all of your pieces
# Severe misunderstanding of tactical opportunities is cured with solving even more Tactical Puzzles
# F2-square is the weakest spot around the white’s king - Visualization classics. On your physical chessboard with physical pieces analyze the short games below… Then check them move-by-move on the LICHESS.ORG’s Analysis board • Bobby Fischer vs Jacob Altusky E90 King’s Indian Defense: Zinnowitz Variation • Jimmy Thomason vs Bobby Fischer E90 King’s Indian Defense: Normal Variation. Rare Defenses • Albert Jenkins vs Bobby Fischer B20 Sicilian Defense: 2.b3 Variation • Alexander Alekhine vs Vladimir Nenarokov D07 Queen’s Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense. Main Line • Garry Kasparov vs Guy West B40 Sicilian Defense: Pin. Koch Variation • Magnus Carlsen vs Jostein Thorsen D20 Queen’s Gambit Accepted: General • Hikaru Nakamura vs Evgeny Romanov C45 Scotch Game: Classical Variation 500 vs 500, 15+10 D02 Queen’s Pawn Game: Anti-Torre
ULTIMATE REMINDER
(1) As a beginner player you need to play more long time control games on LICHESS.ORG like 60+ or at least 30+20. Only that way you have enough time for thinking, calculations, avoiding blunders, pattern recognition, position assessments, decision-making, etc. Short-time control games are for you to just occasionally test your way of getting better in chess and your ability to play chess under time pressure and anxiety.
(2) Computer-analyze the game you have just played!
(3) Identify your mistakes and give them real names like it is done in Problem ID series in this book!
A 500 vs 500 game, time control 15+10
They say chess helps develop deductive reasoning and logics. Let’s check it out.
A00 Grob Opening
Grey arrows on diagrams are computer-suggested moves
1. g4. Wow. The Grob Opening by a beginner? 1… d5. Very logical move by black claiming control of the center while white ignores it.
2. b4. A lesser-way Hippo System? Nope. White sends their b-pawn in full two-square flight just to put things on vacated squares. To prevent this from happening you need to keep monitoring the firing range of your opponent’s pieces before you make your move.
2… e6. Two goodies and one bad in one package. This move opens up the black’s dark-squared bishop’s diagonal (good). It attacks white’s b4-pawn (good) and blocks the black’s light-squared c8-bishop from taking the white’s g4-pawn (bad). The game was played with 15+10 time control which means black will have enough time to exploit white’s too bold chess leaving both white’s flanks have been badly compromised to accommodate the white’s king. White wants their king stuck in the center? Big mistake. Then what? Oh. Sorry. We are watching a 500 vs 500 game. There is supposed to be no logics at in a beginner vs beginner game. Black missed or ignored the free-to-take white’s pawn: 2… Bxg4, i.e. missed becoming up on material.
3. Nf3. The root of the evil in chess is the king safety / weak king. What is the Original Sin in chess? Neglecting piece development. 3. Nf3 gives away the b4-pawn for no good reason. Now blacks can develop their dark-squared bishop at one go: 3… Bf8xb4 (thank you!). If white attacks the bishop with pawn c2-c3, then bishop can retreat to d6 and keep an eye on white’s already breached and weak kingside. King has nowhere to castle: both sides are breached and cannot provide reliable security.
3… Nc6. Is it rude to turn down a gift when the gift is honest? Lichess.org Stockfish wants to move the b4-pawn up further and attack black’s c6-knight though it violates one of the Opening Basics. But sometimes moving the same piece twice in the opening is good if it results in a tactical or positional advantage. Opening Basics are not always mandatory. If white decides to defend their b4-pawn instead of moving it one more square forward, it would be a waste of time. Wasting time, losing tempo is a big no-no in chess. By moving it up to b5 white, actually, saves time (the tempo) and kicks black’s knight out to one of three possible squares and none of them is wonderful enough. If knight moves back to b8, then white defends the b5-pawn with a2-a4 grabbing some space on the queenside. I don’t know. I don’t like this type of combat chess. Playing white pieces in this game I would move my bishop f1-g2 then castle 0-0, though black would make the white’s king unhappy with launching a kingside attack after, say, h7-h5 (white’s too bold 1. g2-g4 gives a good reason for this).
4. b5. Woof! Suicide pawn. Rest in peace.
4… Bd7?? Leaving their c6-knight pawn-attacked, not a piece-attacked. This may lead to an inadequate exchange. A blunder? Could be anything.
5… bxc6. Bad move. It breaks queenside pawn structure, which is, theoretically bad and doubles black’s pawns on c-file which is bad from a positional point of view: black do not have an extra tempo to build a fortress on c5. Computer says that considering the fact that white is already +2.3, either of the two captures on c6 is acceptable for black and couldn’t make things worse. However, from a human point of view, preserving the pawn chain will be much better for black. Computer says it’s ok for black to play 5… bxc6 (+2.3) and 5… Bxc6 (+2.4)… because computer cannot snatch human’s strategic concepts and their materialistic angle.
On the other hand, the position after 5… bxc6 is not that bad for blacks and give an impression, kind of, an integral, solid with quite the firm pawn triangle (center-oriented), with good prospects after castling 0-0, with the fianchetto bishop on g7. After black’s 5… bxc6, computer suggests for whites 6. c2-c4 (the fat grey arrow) hitting the beefy black’s triangle. Computer is sure that white’s king safety can wait for a moment.
6. d3. Denies the importance of gaining space if the opponent doesn’t mind it: 6. d2-d4 doing it at one go could have been better than too shy if coward 6. d3. Moving the d-pawn just one single square forward is not about keeping it closer to the friendly forces (safety!). It is a waste of time and opportunity, which is no good. The d-pawn is always well-protected by queen from d1. The d-pawn needs no protection from pawns at left (c2) and right (e2). We have yet another criminal case for wasting time. Just look at the diagram and imagine white’s d-pawn on d4 and depriving blacks of space instead of d3. Perhaps the player on whites was concerned with blacks’ probable response 6… c6-c5 and did not want to improve black’s pawn structure after the exchange on c5 and, what’s more, hated the idea of opening the way for the black’s dark-squared bishop Bf8xc5… but simple Bc1-a3 in case of black’s c5xd4 deprives the black’s king of castling after Ba3xf8 putting black’s h8-rook out of business. Castle gives muscle, because then rook is out of its corner into the game and ready to come on e-file (vertical column of squares) to control the e-file. I envy you as your Visualization Skills keep developing and working right now with you mentally moving pieces on the corresponded diagram!
6… Qf6. I believe this move will disgust any positional player of intermediate ranks. Blacks have voluntarily created yet another positional problem for themselves and slowed down development of their kingside pieces (right part of the board). Now queen attacks white’s a1-rook. Considering the low level of both players, it can be assumed that the player on whites will miss the hidden threat. I have too many sad stories about putting the black’s queens on f6 in the very beginning of a game, though putting the black’s queen on f6 at the very beginning of an Open Game is a great decoy, a provocation prompting the opponent to get angry and play crazy chess instead of developing pieces. In this particular situation of the current game the f6-queen now blocks development of black’s kingside pieces: the f8-bishop is unhappy as well as the g8-knight: they cannot go into the game regular ways. The game evaluation is -3.1. Three-pawn disadvantage for white (computer “anticipates” black’s queen to capture white’s a1-rook).
7. Nh4?? -3.2 (!) Decoying the black’s queen with cheap bait? LOL.
7… Qxh4? -2.2. Ignores the a1-gift. Perhaps in white’s opinion the a1-square is way out of the opponent’s king and black’s queen on a1 will not be same strong as it would be on h4. “Well. Maybe”. Dick Cavett said in that 1972 interview with Bobby Fischer about Fischer’s remark that Cavett made more money than Bobby Fischer. 7… Qxa1 could’ve been better than 7… Qxh4 because nothing can cork the queen on a1 and the queen is free to get back to the game.
8. Rg1 -2.5. Not too bad a move despite the bad impression it makes. Whites give away their h2-pawn, but defend their g4-pawn. Now white’s army has zero piece coordination, the white’s stuck in the center king is oftentimes unhappy.
8… Bc5 -2.0. A very natural move as it threatens checkmate … Qxf2#. Now lichess.org Stockfish (2600+) loves 9. e3 (-2.0) for whites more than, on my opinion, much better 9. d4 (-2.2), which hits black’s bishop right away… Well… After a couple of minutes spent on why? I can see it now. Computer is right, as always. White’s 9. e3 lets the white’s queen to come to f3 and defend the king.
9. Ba3??? -8.4. Holy smoke! Now, without those grey helpers on the diagram I would immediately think of 9… Qxf2 for black, but then, smelling the blood, 9… Bxf2+ comes into my mind because white’s king is helpless on those dark-colored squares. Weak dark-colored squares around the white’s king are oftentimes the key to black’s success. Black can send white’s king on its way e1-d2-c3, out of the lousy shelter right into the big problem. See the wide-open b-file (vertical column of squares) and the still lazy black’s a8-rook ready to join the action?“See and read the entire board, not just a piece of it” is a must in chess: always play with all of your pieces.
9… Bd4. Oh, my goodness! You see that? Golly dolly. Player on blacks goes for the opponent’s rook instead of trying to checkmate the opponent’s king. Severe misunderstanding of tactical opportunities is happening here due to a lack of experience. Solving even more Tactical Puzzles would help to recognize the pattern.
Feels like Bruce Langhorne, “Leaving Del Norte”, The Hired Hand. All that grief and sadness.
# Control of the center.
# Keep monitoring the firing range of your opponent’s pieces before you make your move.
# Neglecting piece development.
# King has nowhere to castle: both sides are breached and cannot provide reliable security.
# Sometimes moving the same piece twice in the opening is good if it results in a tactical or positional advantage. # Opening Basics are not always mandatory.
# Wasting time, losing tempo is a big no-no in chess.
# Doubling pawns thus breaking a pawn structure is bad from a positional point of view.
# Importance of gaining space.
# Zero piece coordination.
# Stuck in the center king is oftentimes unhappy.
# Weak dark-colored squares around the white’s king are oftentimes the key to black’s success.
# See and read the entire board, not just a piece of it” is a must in chess: always play with all of your pieces.
# Severe misunderstanding of tactical opportunities is cured with solving even more Tactical Puzzles.
# F2-square is the weakest spot around the white’s king.
Do not get frustrated! It takes time to learn things in chess, because there are too many things to learn up there.
You still cannot solve one of the problems discussed in this book and have been identified (ID’d) in these articles? Ask your question on the internet. There you will find real stories and solutions.
Importance of post-game computer analysis
Post-game computer analysis is the cornerstone to your “building” you are about to begin to construct. It gives you a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction of learning from your mistakes and mistakes of your opponents, learning new ideas. It broadens your horizons, identifies your weakness, suggests you new strategy, etc.
(1) Before making a move ask yourself what is the purpose of your move? You cannot and you shouldn’t do that literally by speaking your question aloud. Ask yourself mentally by thinking it. For educational purposes you better play longer time control games not less than 30+ so you’ll have enough time to do that and make it a rule. On whites, say, you want to play 1. e2-e4. On blacks you want to respond 1… e7-e5 to whites’ 1. e2-e4 and 1… d7-d5 to white’s 1. d2-d2. Example games you can find on lichess.org: lichess.org – top menu – TOOLS – Analysis board. Play some moves and check the Lichess database for the game you are playing right now (yellow arrow in the image below).
(2) After your opponent makes a move, you are supposed to ask yourself: What is the purpose of this move?
At first, you’ll literally be asking yourself these questions. Then, once you’ve gotten used to this procedure and made it a ritual, you’ll automatically be asking yourself these questions before you make your move. You will now follow this ritual without questions.
Visualization classics
On your physical chessboard with physical pieces analyze the short games below…
Then check them move-by-move on the lichess.org Analysis board
Bobby Fischer vs Jacob Altusky
E90 King’s Indian Defense: Zinnowitz Variation
1. d4 g6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 O-O 5.Bg5 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.e5 dxe5 8.dxe5 Ng4 9.Nd5 Ngxe5 10.Nxe7+ Kh8 11.Nxg6+ hxg6 12.Bxd8 1-0
Jimmy Thomason vs Bobby Fischer
E90 King’s Indian Defense: Normal Variation. Rare Defenses
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. O-O Nc6 8. Be3 Nd7 9. Be2 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 e5 11. d5 Ne7 12. Be2 f5 13. f4 h6 14. Bd3 Kh7 15. Qe2 fxe4 16. Nxe4 Nf5 17. Bd2 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. Bc2 Nd4 20. Qd2 Nxc4 21. Qf2 Rxf4 22. Qxf4 Ne2+ 23. Kh1 Nxf4 0-1
Albert Jenkins vs Bobby Fischer
B20 Sicilian Defense: 2.b3 Variation
1.e4 c5 2.b3 Nc6 3.Bb2 e5 4.Nf3 d6 5.Nc3 f5 6.d3 f4 7.h4 Bg4 8.Be2 Nf6 9. Nd5 Be7 10.Nxe7 Qxe7 11.Nd4 Nxd4 12.Bxg4 Nxc2+ 13.Kf1 Nxa1 14.Bxa1 Nxg4 15.Qxg4 O-O 16.Bc3 b5 17.Qe2 a5 18.f3 b4 0-1
Alexander Alekhine vs Vladimir Nenarokov
D07 Queen’s Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense. Main Line
1. d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.cxd5 Qxd5 5.Nc3 Qa5 6.d5 O-O-O 7.Bd2 Bxf3 8.exf3 Nb4 9.a3 Nxd5 10.Na4 1-0
Magnus Carlsen vs Jostein Thorsen
D20 Queen’s Gambit Accepted: General
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nc3 g6 4. e4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. d5 Ne5 7. Nxe5 Bxe5 8. Bxc4 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 c5 10. O-O Nf6 11. e5 Ng4 12. Re1 Qc7 13. d6 Qd7 14. e6 fxe6 15. Qxg4 exd6 16. Bxe6 Qe7 17. Bg5 Bxe6 18. Rxe6 Qxe6 19. Qxe6+ Kf8 20. Bh6# 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura vs Evgeny Romanov
C45 Scotch Game: Classical Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. Nxc6 Bxe3 7. fxe3 dxc6 8. Qd4 Qg6 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. O-O-O O-O-O 12. Qxa7 1-0
500 vs 500, 15+10
D02 Queen’s Pawn Game: Anti-Torre
Grey arrows on diagrams are computer-suggested moves
It’s about time for you to start analyzing big chunks of information. Your brain may not be quite ready for intense activity, which is your biggest challenge among others. It is absolutely necessary to train your brain to cope with the long-term stress.
Think more of the Piece Coordination and Piece Orchestration! (B) Go 3… Bh5 4. g4 Bg6 5. h4 gaining space on black’s money. Actually, the 5. h4 is quite a daring decision as it blows the white’s kingside and makes impossible for white to castle 0-0 (to the right). But in this case white could have blown the black’s prospects for castling 0-0, as well. This could have been just a beginning of tactical and strategic fight.
My message to the player on blacks: If you gravitate to tactical fight from the very beginning of a game I suggest you to play the Petrov’s Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 with the immediate fight in the center.
That way you’ll run full tilt into dangerous waters within educational domain of chess contrary to the Tale of 1001 Dumb Moves you are currently working on… Now back to our game analysis. Below is a nice way to deal with the cocky bishop.
Back to the actual game
