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“Are you studying openings wrong? A Coach’s Honest Take”

still reading this blog, as there are many games...

but in the first game, i would say my take away would be after 12. Rc1, it is important to not look for a definitive best move but rather to look at it conceptually. The computer says 12... Nd4. Why? It may be a computer move but I would explain this by the fact of an available space for black's Knight that can't be booted immediately by a pawn (and in the centre no less), sort of like a waiting move. Black can always retreat if your white mobilizes to form a plan against black's position, and it may bait a badly timed pawn advance eventually.
Even by your analyzed line of 12... e6, 13. b3 (then maybe followed by h5), I would characterize as 'squeezing all the water you can' out of the board as it still lacks direction, making moves that don't harm the overall position. The computer then suggests 14. Ne4 in that position, possibly along the same line of reasoning as the previous 12... Nd4.

In conclusion to the first game, the analysis stops there... white traded off the lightsquare bishop off with no clear plan heading into the late game, and played a tactic that was not calculated.

Also most of these games seem to by analyzing some strange sideline ideas, when the problems seem to arise navigating the midgame and transitioning to endgame, unrelated to opening prep at all.

still reading this blog, as there are many games... but in the first game, i would say my take away would be after 12. Rc1, it is important to not look for a definitive best move but rather to look at it conceptually. The computer says 12... Nd4. Why? It may be a computer move but I would explain this by the fact of an available space for black's Knight that can't be booted immediately by a pawn (and in the centre no less), sort of like a waiting move. Black can always retreat if your white mobilizes to form a plan against black's position, and it may bait a badly timed pawn advance eventually. Even by your analyzed line of 12... e6, 13. b3 (then maybe followed by h5), I would characterize as 'squeezing all the water you can' out of the board as it still lacks direction, making moves that don't harm the overall position. The computer then suggests 14. Ne4 in that position, possibly along the same line of reasoning as the previous 12... Nd4. In conclusion to the first game, the analysis stops there... white traded off the lightsquare bishop off with no clear plan heading into the late game, and played a tactic that was not calculated. Also most of these games seem to by analyzing some strange sideline ideas, when the problems seem to arise navigating the midgame and transitioning to endgame, unrelated to opening prep at all.

@tyler1_megafan said in #3:

still reading this blog, as there are many games...

but in the first game, i would say my take away would be after 12. Rc1, it is important to not look for a definitive best move but rather to look at it conceptually. The computer says 12... Nd4. Why? It may be a computer move but I would explain this by the fact of an available space for black's Knight that can't be booted immediately by a pawn (and in the centre no less), sort of like a waiting move. Black can always retreat if your white mobilizes to form a plan against black's position, and it may bait a badly timed pawn advance eventually.
Even by your analyzed line of 12... e6, 13. b3 (then maybe followed by h5), I would characterize as 'squeezing all the water you can' out of the board as it still lacks direction, making moves that don't harm the overall position. The computer then suggests 14. Ne4 in that position, possibly along the same line of reasoning as the previous 12... Nd4.

In conclusion to the first game, the analysis stops there... white traded off the lightsquare bishop off with no clear plan heading into the late game, and played a tactic that was not calculated.

Also most of these games seem to by analyzing some strange sideline ideas, when the problems seem to arise navigating the midgame and transitioning to endgame, unrelated to opening prep at all.

Hello, thanks for your feedback. I hope you can understand why the analysis wasn't too deep. As you mentioned, it's quite a lot of games, so I tried to at least keep the analysis light and understandable. I am quite aware of what moves the engine was suggesting, but I tried to analyse lines which would make sense and which would be replicable. The 12...Nd4 move seemed hard for me to grasp, but now I understand that it prepares b5 and/or Nf5 to trade off some pieces, which is definitely part of black's "grand plan". What I wanted to illustrate here was that black is in no position to undertake immediate action, which means he should wait and play all of the useful moves he can, like e6 and h5. Such useful moves are also worth understanding, since without the knowledge, it's hard to know which moves are useful and which are weakening, this is why I tried to explain them in the annotations.

I understand that the conclusion may be that black lost in the endgame, the engine definitely feels that way. In an OTB game blunders usually happen when one side has been under pressure for a long time, as was the case here. The engine says it wasn't that bad, but in a practical game playing against the 2 bishops without any prospects of counterplay is a nightmare. The point I was trying to make was not that if you don't know the structure you will make blunders, it's moreso that you will not know what to do and what your opponent is doing, therefore slowly drifting into an inferior position. Finally, it's usually in slightly inferior positions that blunders happen, since one side had to defend and navigate difficult terrain for a long time, which drains a lot of energy from the player.

@tyler1_megafan said in #3: > still reading this blog, as there are many games... > > but in the first game, i would say my take away would be after 12. Rc1, it is important to not look for a definitive best move but rather to look at it conceptually. The computer says 12... Nd4. Why? It may be a computer move but I would explain this by the fact of an available space for black's Knight that can't be booted immediately by a pawn (and in the centre no less), sort of like a waiting move. Black can always retreat if your white mobilizes to form a plan against black's position, and it may bait a badly timed pawn advance eventually. > Even by your analyzed line of 12... e6, 13. b3 (then maybe followed by h5), I would characterize as 'squeezing all the water you can' out of the board as it still lacks direction, making moves that don't harm the overall position. The computer then suggests 14. Ne4 in that position, possibly along the same line of reasoning as the previous 12... Nd4. > > In conclusion to the first game, the analysis stops there... white traded off the lightsquare bishop off with no clear plan heading into the late game, and played a tactic that was not calculated. > > Also most of these games seem to by analyzing some strange sideline ideas, when the problems seem to arise navigating the midgame and transitioning to endgame, unrelated to opening prep at all. Hello, thanks for your feedback. I hope you can understand why the analysis wasn't too deep. As you mentioned, it's quite a lot of games, so I tried to at least keep the analysis light and understandable. I am quite aware of what moves the engine was suggesting, but I tried to analyse lines which would make sense and which would be replicable. The 12...Nd4 move seemed hard for me to grasp, but now I understand that it prepares b5 and/or Nf5 to trade off some pieces, which is definitely part of black's "grand plan". What I wanted to illustrate here was that black is in no position to undertake immediate action, which means he should wait and play all of the useful moves he can, like e6 and h5. Such useful moves are also worth understanding, since without the knowledge, it's hard to know which moves are useful and which are weakening, this is why I tried to explain them in the annotations. I understand that the conclusion may be that black lost in the endgame, the engine definitely feels that way. In an OTB game blunders usually happen when one side has been under pressure for a long time, as was the case here. The engine says it wasn't that bad, but in a practical game playing against the 2 bishops without any prospects of counterplay is a nightmare. The point I was trying to make was not that if you don't know the structure you will make blunders, it's moreso that you will not know what to do and what your opponent is doing, therefore slowly drifting into an inferior position. Finally, it's usually in slightly inferior positions that blunders happen, since one side had to defend and navigate difficult terrain for a long time, which drains a lot of energy from the player.
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Another hideous AI thumbnail...

Another hideous AI thumbnail...

@c2b7 said in #5:

Another hideous AI thumbnail...

Why do these self-advertisers love AI so much.

@c2b7 said in #5: > Another hideous AI thumbnail... Why do these self-advertisers love AI so much.