The Blog of Jonas Martinsson

The most efficient way to improve your chess is to play lots of games. The online chess community makes it easy to find opponents of any skill level. This is the reason why the number of great young chess players is much greater today; anybody can gain experience on the Internet, 24/7. In the old days, players had to travel to tournaments to gain the same experience that can now be gained in an online equivalent overnight. So, you ask, how do I best take advantage of the online chess offerings to gain experience and improve my chess? First , select a server that is dedicated to chess. More generic game servers that offer a multitude of board games invariably offer a worse experience and a weaker community for the chess fan. Second , choose a server that has a decent amount of players logged in at any given time, so that you always can find an opponent that wants to play at your preferred time control. Third , go for an intuitive interface that fits your requirements. Fourth , de...

Yesterday, the opening game of a new 12-point chess match against tseltzer was played on FICS . I am having great hopes and expectations that it will turn out to be a close and exciting series of games. The fact that both our ratings are identical (1825) at the start of game 1 bodes well. During my preparations as White I learned that my opponent uses a clever move order as Black against my king’s gambit to avoid the bishop’s gambit lines: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 exf4!?. After this, White does best in transposing into the modern defense lines of the king’s gambit, which I also did in game 1. Black was not properly prepared for the line I played (4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bc4), and after some inaccuracies I early gained a clear advantage, and delivered mate in move 21. It will be very interesting to see how my opponent will deviate in his next game as Black. Game 1 can be viewed here .

After a painful 0.5-3.5 loss in round 5, our team is no longer in contention of reaching the playoffs. One round remains, but without any real significance. I am starting to plan on finding an even-matched match opponent when the league finishes. Below is my 5th round game. In the diagram position below, I am clearly winning, but blundered away the game on a silly mistake on move 28. Fuzion (1740) – Jonas Martinsson (1808) [B01] TeamLeague T38 Free Internet Chess Server (5), 15.03.2009 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nf3 Qxd5 4.d4 Bg4 5.Be2 Nc6 6.c4 Qf5 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Bxf3 Qa5+? [8...0-0-0=] 9.Nc3 0-0-0 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.0-0 e5 12.Qf3? [12.d5 cxd5 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.b4!+/=] 12...exd4 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Qc5 15.b3N [RR 15.b4 Qxc4-/+ 16.Bg5 f6 17.Rfc1 Qd5 18.Qg4+ Rd7 19.Bd2 Bd6 20.Rc2 f5 21.Qd1 d3 22.Rc3 Be5 23.Rc5 Qe6 24.Rac1 Qxa2 25.Rxe5 Qa6 26.Qf3 g6 27.Rxc6 Qb7 28.b5 Rd6 29.Qe3 Rhd8 Gulati,J (2122)-Lynn,J (1871)/Edmonton 2005/CBM 107 ext/1-0 (33)] 15...f5?! [15...Bd6=/+] ...

In round 4 of TeamLeague , my game was left to be played last for my team. We were leading 2-1 before my game started, so I needed at least a draw to secure the team win. I came out clearly worse of another declined Benko gambit, but my opponent failed to capitalize on my choice of opening, and we eventually reached an even rook endgame (the 2nd diagram below). However, that endgame was badly mistreated by yours truly… Interesting to note is that in all four games, my opening gambits have been declined. Party-poopers! ValenceJordan (1936) - Jonas Martinsson (1821) [A57] Teamleague T38 (Round 4), 11.03.2009 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nf3 Bb7 5.e3 I was unprepared for this move. In our previous encounter ValenceJordan played 5. Nbd2 5...bxc4 6.Bxc4 e6 7.Nc3 exd5 8.Nxd5 Nxd5N [RR 8...Nc6 9.Bd2 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bc3 Ne4 12.Qd3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Na5 14.Bb5 Bf6 15.Rac1 d6 16.Rfd1 Be5 17.c4 Nc6 18.Rb1 Qa5 19.Bxc6 Bxc6 20.Ne7+ Kh8 21.Nxc6 Qxa2 22.Ncxe5 dxe5 23.Nxe5 Sokolova,O-Hvostov...