The Secret of Chess

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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

The brilliancy of Rxc5:

[fen]3r2kq/p2prp1p/1p4pP/2nR4/1Q6/1B3RP1/P4PK1/8 w - - 0 1[/fen]

Is that someone (not computer) in an over the table 2hr/40 match who is down by 2 pawns with yes better positioned pieces, has the guts to give up a Rook for Knight and predict an outcome that may still be 20 moves away.

That is brilliant! :)
Nick
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

The second volume of 'The Secret of Chess', containing example games, is out.
803 games in total.
The games follow the Table of Contents of the first volume, covering each and every term.
Some terms are covered by a single game, while others, more important ones, by as much as 15.
The volume features 5 world champions, among which Carlsen, Kasparov and Fischer, 3 top engines, Stockfish, Houdini and Komodo, as well as a number of other players.
I have browsed 15 000 games to carefully select those 803.
All games are tactical and positional masterpieces.

The book is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chess-Exa ... dpSrc=srch

I guess everyone, programmer or chess player, who has found the first volume interesting or would like to clear his ideas on the concepts, should have a look at this one.
For the time being, the games are unannotated. It will take couple of years to fully comment 800 games, so I wanted to have this consolidated version out.
I guess at some point there will be also a volume with annotated example games, but this will not be too soon. And I am not certain what portion of the games will be featured there, probably just a smaller one.
The main reason for releasing this volume is that many people asked me for illustrative games to better comprehend the concepts. Initially, I had not considered this at all.
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

Just to mention that the comparison between top engine and human play in the collection is an interesting observation.
We all know that top engine games last much longer on average, and the collection will only corroborate that.
But there is one more interesting phenomenon I discovered, namely that top engines tend to use some terms more often than humans, that would concern in particular for some reason outposts, especially more advanced ones, and material imbalances.
Why so?
Still not fully certain, but maybe one of the reasons is that the human imagination on average will have bigger problems with some lines, requiring deeper or highly unusual calculation.
So that chess changes, there is no doubt about that, and we will be seeing further very interesting developments in the future conceptually, no doubt about that.
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

Just to show how the concepts in the first volume are illustrated by the examples in the second.

[pgn][Event "Blitz 2m+2s"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2012.08.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Houdini 1.5 x64"]
[Black "Tsvetkov, Lyudmil"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[Annotator "Tsvetkov,Lyudmil"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[TimeControl "120+2"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. a3 a6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O
c5 9. Nd2 c4 10. Be2 b5 11. e4 Bb7 12. e5 Ne8 13. Nf3 Nc7 14. Qd2 a5 15. Nd1 b4
16. a4 Nb6 17. b3 Bc6 18. h3 Qd7 19. Re1 Bxa4 20. bxa4 Nxa4 21. Bg5 Nb6 22. Rb1
Rfb8 23. Qf4 a4 24. Ne3 a3 25. Nd2 a2 26. Ra1 Nb5 27. Bxe7 Qxe7 28. Bf3 Nc3 29.
Nd1 Nxd1 30. Rexd1 Ra3 31. Rdc1 Na4 32. Be2 Nc3 33. Bf1 b3 34. cxb3 cxb3 35.
Nxb3 Raxb3 36. Rxc3 Rxc3 37. Rxa2 Ra3 38. Rc2 Ra1 39. g3 Qb7 40. Qd2 Qb1 41.
Qe2 g5 42. Kg2 Qd1 43. Rd2 Qxe2 44. Bxe2 Rab1 45. Bd1 R1b2 46. Rd3 Kg7 47. h4
h6 48. hxg5 hxg5 49. Kf3 0-1

[/pgn]

This game illustrates the 'spearhead connected passer' term.
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

I was unable to post pgn diagram, see no pgn tags, would someone please remind me how full games are posted here?
Anyway, this is the position, where SF does not see black is better.
[fen]r4rk1/2nqbppp/1nb1p3/p2pP3/PppP1B2/1P3N1P/2PQBPP1/R2NR1K1 b - - 0 19[/fen]

SF fails to see Bxa4 wins, even in its current version.
Sumila

Post by Sumila »

In the game of chess, some people play well and others don't. Obviously, there is a difference between strong and not so strong players. The way of thinking differs between those players. Unfortunately, many strong players are unwilling to share their secrets and their way of thinking during the game.
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

Sumila wrote:In the game of chess, some people play well and others don't. Obviously, there is a difference between strong and not so strong players. The way of thinking differs between those players. Unfortunately, many strong players are unwilling to share their secrets and their way of thinking during the game.
Is not that forbidden?
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

Btw., a correspondence GM just posted a nice review on the first part: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-revi ... B074M85CVV
Thus my supposition the stronger the player/reviewer, the better the review seems to be right.
We need Kasparov to review to get the full picture.
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

[Event "Blitz 2m+2s"]
[Site "Microsoft"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Stockfish 9 64 POPCNT"]
[Black "owner"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r4rk1/2nqbppp/1nb1p3/p2pP3/PppP1B2/1P3N1P/2PQBPP1/R2NR1K1 b - - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[TimeControl "120+2"]

{512MB, OWNER-PC} 19... Bxa4 {0} 20. bxa4 {0.90/25 5} Nxa4 {0.61/22 1} 21. h4 {
0.55/22 1} Nb6 {0.37/20 1} 22. h5 {0.59/22 1} Qd8 {0.30/20 1} 23. Ne3 {0.40/20
0} Nb5 {0.27/21 0} 24. Ng4 {0.54/20 1} Nd7 {0.22/20 1} 25. h6 {0.30/18 1} g6 {
0.22/20 1} 26. Bh2 {0.42/18 1} a4 {0.00/17 0} 27. Bf4 {-0.07/17 1} b3 {-0.51/
20 1} 28. Qc1 {-0.41/17 1} Bb4 {-0.61/20 1} 29. cxb3 {-0.41/19 1} axb3 {-0.24/
20 1} 30. Bd2 {-0.38/20 0} Bxd2 {-1.29/20 1} 31. Qxd2 {-0.98/21 0} c3 {-1.27/
20 1} 32. Qc1 {-0.65/20 0} b2 {-0.58/22 0} 33. Rxa8 {-0.60/24 1} bxc1=N {-0.57/
21 0} 34. Rxd8 {-0.57/21 0} Nxe2+ {-0.62/20 0} 35. Kf1 {-0.36/22 0} Ng3+ {-0.
40/19 0} 36. fxg3 {-0.81/22 0} Rxd8 {-0.70/21 0} 37. Ke2 {-0.87/20 0} Rc8 {-0.
88/22 0} 38. Kd3 {-0.87/22 0} c2 {-0.60/21 0} 39. Rc1 {-0.37/24 0} Na3 {-0.70/
21 0} 40. Ne3 {-0.92/20 0} f6 {-0.85/18 0} 41. exf6 {-0.61/20 0} Nxf6 {-0.57/
21 0} 42. Ng5 {-0.47/18 0} Rb8 {-0.80/22 0} 43. g4 {-0.62/21 0} Ne4 {-1.02/20 0
} 44. Nxe4 {-0.98/19 0} dxe4+ {-1.22/20 0} 45. Kd2 {-1.21/20 0} Kf7 {-1.30/22 0
} 46. g5 {-1.06/21 0} e5 {-1.19/21 0} 47. Nxc2 {-1.29/20 0} Nc4+ {-1.37/20 0}
48. Ke1 {-1.30/19 0} Ke6 {-1.38/21 0} 49. dxe5 {-1.31/20 0} Kxe5 {-1.25/20 0}
50. Ra1 {-1.45/19 0} Rb2 {-1.32/18 0} 51. Kd1 {-1.24/20 0} Rb7 {-1.22/19 0} 52.
Ra6 {-1.15/20 0} Kf4 {-1.34/19 0} 53. Rc6 {-1.56/19 0} Ne5 {-1.55/20 0} 54. Rc5
{-1.35/22 0} Nf7 {-1.48/21 0} 55. Ke1 {-1.28/21 0} Rb2 {-1.15/18 0} 56. Kf1 {
-1.27/21 0} Nxg5 {-0.96/17 0} 57. Rc7 {-1.28/20 0} Ra2 {-1.23/21 0} *

Here is what I get in a single try by SF 9, but of course, there are improvements for both sides.
The point is, the knowledge contained in the 'spearhead connected passer' is there and objective, it kicks in at some point, changing the evalution from positive to negative.
Search is unable to help SF very much here, as the lines are very deep, running into the 60+ plies.

PS. Someone, please tell me how one posted whole games here, the pgns, I forgot.
kosterix
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Post by kosterix »

i bought your book but haven't had the time to fully read it.
Strive for avoiding anything flat that emits light. Love the unhackable chess computer with real pieces and a tactile feel. I do not collect, I live.
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

kosterix wrote:i bought your book but haven't had the time to fully read it.
Thanks Kosterix.
I appreciate your attitude.
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

As part of a free promotion, running for a couple of days, my latest book, 'Practical Mates', is offered for free.
Download it here: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-mates- ... B07CQVNC6K
500 mate problems, ranging from 1 to 5 moves.
You will get much better after reading it, of course.
If interested, spread the word about it.
Lyudmil Tsvetkov
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Post by Lyudmil Tsvetkov »

2 more days to go for the free promotion of my latest book, 'Practical Mates'.
Download it here to get stronger at checkmate pattern recognition and at chess:
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-mates- ... B07CQVNC6K
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