Writing down your games

Have YOU ever written down a chess game you have played? It can extremely helpful. After you play the game, if you lose, then you can review it and highlight the weak moves you made and how you could have done better. And of course, if you win, keep the notation of the chess game as a memory to how well you played! You can also review it and see if you could have played even BETTER!


Why not write a BOOK and record all of your most prized games in it? Organise them, annotate them, give your opinion on what you think would have been a better move if you stop a weak one.

• See our Algebraic Chess Notation page if you don't know how to record chess games.
• Use my Chess Score Sheet for a quick 'n' easy way to record your games:

Chess Score Sheet

Date:____________________ Time:______

White:_____________ Black:_____________

No.	White	Black	50		No.	White	Black	50

Copy & paste the above score sheet into a Word document and print! (If you don't have Microsoft Word you should consider downloading OpenOffice, a free Word-like word processor!)

1. Put the move number in the No. column
2. Put white and black's moves in their columns
3. The 50 column is for noting down how many moves have past since the last pawn movement or capture, and if the move number reaches 50, the game is a DRAW (this is a PROPER tournament rule, but if you're playing a fun game you can ignore the 50 column)

Have fun improving your chess tactics!

The Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation

(The big pictures in this blog post are ANIMATED pictures. Click on them to view the animation. The small pictures are NON-ANIMATED)


The Ruy Lopez is named after a Spanish priest called Ruy Lopez. It is one of the most studied and popular openings ever, and is commonly played at Grandmaster Level. The Ruy Lopez begins with these moves:

(1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5)

Ruy Lopez Opening

What white is trying to do here is WIN A PAWN - his white bishop on b5 attacks black's knight that defends the pawn on e5.


Today we are going to look at one variation of the Ruy Lopez:

Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation:

(3...a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6)

It now SEEMS that white can take the pawn on e5 for FREE... but NO!

So black gets the pawn back by a QUEEN FORK. After black and white exchange queens, BLACK HAS A BETTER POSITION BECAUSE WHITE CANNOT CASTLE ANYMORE.  So DON'T take the pawn on e5 - YET anyway...

What white should do after his knight and black's bishop exchange, is to CASTLE. Then, if black is not careful, something terrible will happen to him!

Here is the position after white CASTLES. (5. O-O) What black should do now is DEFEND the pawn on e5 with something like 5...f6, 5...Qd6 or 5...Bd6. BUT... what happens if black does the obvious developing move 5...Nf6???

THIS is what happens... 

AND BAM! Black's queen is PINNED and it is officially dead! If you are black you must be extremely careful.

Now, let's see what happens if black DOESN'T try to fork white's knight and pawn again, but takes white's pawn on e4 instantly. 

This time, if black's knight on e4 moves, white will play 8. Nxc6+ - It's CHECK from the rook on e1 and the knight attacks black's queen.


Again, black's queen is dead. If however, black DEFENDS his knight on e4, white just plays 8. d3 and again, if black moves his knight, 9. Nxc6+ will win black's queen, so black will have to sacrifice his knight.

TOMORROW, we are going to look at a trap black can set in the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation, and how he can checkmate white early in the game if white falls for it!

DON'T DO THIS SACRIFICE!! I did it just for fun against someone.

Scholar's Mate from Philidor's Defence, from a game I played ages ago (I was white by the way ;))





Play these moves on the chessboard above:
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 d6
Philidor's Defence opening
3. Bc4 Bg4
PINNING the knight
4. h3 Bh5
5. g4 Bg6
6. h4 Bxe4
7. d3
I sacrificed a pawn to try and get my opponent to exchange...
7...Bxf3
He did!
8. Qxf3 Nf6??
He blocked mate, but that knight is now dead.
9. g5!
If the knight moves I will deliver mate!
9...Ng8??
His worst blunder that will cost him the game.
10. Qxf7#


Yeah... I know that it was risky sacrificing the pawn to try to entice my opponent to start exchanging... and there so many ways he could have prevented mate, so... not a very good example... but it just shows what you get for being a bit greedy. I would not recommend doing something like this against a careful player, and as in a chess match you should almost always assume best play... DON'T do this!

Welcome

Hi everyone - I'll be posting some chess tips and games frequently. Check this blog every few days for something new!