Wednesday 15 September 2010

Say of the Jackal

I've recently come across the website sparkchess.com. There, you can play against an engine without having to download anything, sign anything or buy anything.
It sports four levels of play; 'Beginner'; 'Casual'; 'Advanced' or 'Guru'.
The site warns that the guru level can be a bit slow, so, as I was looking for something a bit faster anyway, I opted for the Advanced level.


As a rough guess I'd put its standard of play at between 1500 and 1700 at its second highest level which, alongside its two lower levels, makes it a pretty handy resource for those who are either quite new to the game or who are much more experienced - but still improving. 
I played only one game against the engine at sparkchess - so my estimate of its rating at the 'advanced' level is, I would have to admit, somewhat arbitrary. As the game was a Jackal Attack line I've included it here.

Well, I have to say that I'm impressed with Gameknot: I have tried other websites for playing competitive on-line games; but Gameknot win hands down. 
The site has really improved this last few years and, more recently, they have adding still more useful features. Not least amongst these is a resource for doing both static diagrams and 'play-through' games. They have a few tweaks still to do with the sizes of boards and so on - but the site has a very nice 'feel' to it. The position to the left is an example of one of the static diagrams and is based upon the above game. It is white to move. There are two particularly good options.


        One of the latest innovations at Gameknot is their 'tactical training' resource. At a minimum, you can get to attempt to solve 10 positions based [as far as I can see] on real games. I've only come across one exception so far.
       What is really good about the way it's done is that - not only are the positions graded - but you can pre-define the level of difficulty of the combinations you will be presented with using an upper an lower grading limit. As an example; you might select positions that fall in the range between 100 points below and 200 points above your current rating.
 The scoring system is also well thought out: In many real game positions there is often more that one good move available - and this frequently applies to winning  positions as well. One move maybe a bit more efficient than another and, in such instances, the secondary move usually shares the same theme - albeit that the resulting win takes a little longer.
     It is therefore a good idea to account for this in any scoring system - so that the selection of the second best move also gets some recognition..This is what Gameknot have done. 
In much the same way - if you have managed to visualize the theme of the combination and correctly rattle off, say, the first three moves - but then carelessly miss the last move - then you are still credited with part of the available score .It really is a very well-thought-out system. 
The same idea is integral to the T-Y-T problems presented here. However, this is by necessity: The puzzles aim to mimic the kind of thinking process in real chess positions where a player identifies candidate moves and then selects what is perceived to be the best available.


Featured Game: 




Here is a position from this month's featured game: White to play - but what is his best move? The answer can be found in the play-through.


Click on the game: jackdaw1 v riwulof







T-Y-T (test your tactics)


In a fit of unprovoked nastiness, I have decided not to supply the solutions and explanations to each month's T-Y-T positions until the following blog. Nevertheless, if you really can't sleep at night without knowing how you got on - then you can email me. It would be useful to know your actual rating [so that I can grade the difficulty of the sets] - but this is not essential. My email address is on the Jackal Attack website.



Home letters from the front lines:

I've just started a game with the Cochrane Gambit. The opening is one where White meets the Petroff with an early knight sacrifice for two pawns. I'm looking forward to the game: I've never lost with the gambit. Now, I know I really shouldn't have said that....


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