who plays the opening to test with your 84-phao. I am still at my first opening and not familiar with such opening.

---kurubear

NM

I probably will move 3-Soldier advance 1, Black can

[1] 3-infantry advance 1, this will give me the option of 8-Artillery advance 4 to block and attack. This may cause blockade at Black right and cause a traffic jam.

[2] move 2-Horse advance 3, now then I move 7-Soldier advance 1 (2-head snake formation) to cause inconvenience to Black's 2 horses. Black most probably need to do patrol duty and trade one of Red's Soldier to open up at least one horse pathway to reduce the possible risk of weak attack firepower or weak link of horse when going for attack later.

[2A] If Black goes for even development on right by 2-artillery move to 1, Red can 8-Artillery move to 6 and use the versatile Phan Cong Ma (反宫马) formation.

[2B] If Black decides to open up one of its horse's pathway by trading one of Red's Soldier, Red can counter using the stable multi-options Binh Phong Ma (3-7-Horse) with 2-Artillery advance 2 to start attack on the patrolling rook.


Quick Views
--------kurubear

truth in this. From what we were taught, it is a known fact that 1950-1980s Singapore CHIchess veterans rely more on their mid-games rather than their openings. Opening info/theory were at its infancy then.

This is the same reason why we were trained in our first opening only at a very late stage by our mentors. Even with our training, our mid-games are still at baby steps because of its complexity and we are constantly learning.

Our mentor says: The best opening is the one that exposes the enemy's weaknesses, not the situational perfect moves or what other people think are the better moves.


---kurubear

7-Soldier advance 1 is really bad move against a vertical xe.

----kurubear

I thought you still testing your vertical xe, if not I move xe 1-2, with phao 2 advance 4 option or use the Binh Phong Ma formation. Forgot there is a 2nd variation in your postings. :-)

Next time will be better prepared.

With few more games to catch the formation pattern, I should able to make you sweat a bit..hahaha

---kurubear

NM

NM

NM

and tournament is not just about how strong your skill are but how you perform at that game.

For top tournament, generally you may need to control up to the 20th moves for your chosen opening. That need regular study beforehand as suggested by XQ veterans (xiaobeidou, 几度 etc)

So 吕大侠 must seat down and plan his own strategies and tactics for the event ASAP.

-------kurubear

my mentor say if I play elephant or kung-fu style opening, I risk stampede by my own elephant because the direction and control of the game is very precise. If it is playing as Black then is ok because of its lower risk. The pressure is on Red player mainly. So, for now, the simple 5-phao is my good friend for next few months at least. :-)

--kurubear

also treat like quick grasp of elephant opening to get ideas of its pros/cons and see if can use when i attack using 5-phao. Help me learn this opening really must go into mountain and invest long time to master and really must research specialised mid-games (not 5-phao kind) and mental power/patience. Anyway, I have mentor and senior do crashcourse review so i can get quick idea. But they say its kind of mid-game not suitable for me at the moment. Exposed my weak mid-game when the pieces depend on tactical play (constant high usuage of chess advanced theory)instead of simplier positional play.

The breakthrough can be unexpected and unrecoverable mostly with gain/lose of 1 piece. The requirement for overall game awareness is very high on top of the depth of research needed before the tournament. Without kung-fu style midgames and abundant endgame experience will be very disadvantaged especially in time-based tournaments. So confirmed not good for beginner like us.

If we take black and use this opening then is ok for us :-). Pressure is on Red.

---kurubear

Based on recent years research, the most productive years is 10-35 years old.

---kurubear

have assasination tools or not-in-form enemies or make use of tournament rules ... etc.

Wonder how the top players prepare for it ?


---kurubear

everytime I keep using the same opening which he think no one will use in tournament. So far, he is the only Singapore Grade A player I can find to try to expose weakness in my game. No other players we played with are able to use chess theory to counter our opening. I dunno how/where the rest of Grade A actually train.


Exposed weak games to others is good. Then

[1] people can learn, in XQ, the kind of opening you use can make break your game even before you start.
[2] when you improve, people will be impressed
[3] Make potential enemies look down on you and don't treat you as a threat.
[4] For strategic reasons, like testing the player skill, not exposing your full level (many first time enemies I play with me with only 60% power including this year Group B winner) or intentionally losing to avoid a stronger player etc
[5] Lose for other people to see (dunno why though)

These are some of the reason the veterans here teach me :-)

---kurubear





--kurubear

NM

NM

don't look like a honourable thing to do. I think you also don't want people post in your name without your permission.



---kurubear

NM