Jeffrey Ashton

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2014.02.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Chen, Alex Ze"] [Black "Guo, Zachary"] [Result "*"] [ECO "D85"] [PlyCount "55"] [SourceDate "2014.02.22"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Be3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Rd8 13. Qb3 Nc6 14. Rfd1 Rac8 15. Rd2 Na5 16. Qb4 Nc4 17. Rd3 Nxe3 18. fxe3 Rc7 19. Rf1 Rdc8 20. Rdd1 Bh6 21. Rde1 Rc3 22. Ne5 Qe6 23. Rxf7 Bxe3+ 24. Kf1 Qa6+ 25. Nc4 R8xc4 26. Rg7+ Kxg7 *

I have been studying some Botvinnik games lately. What I like about Botvinnik is his professionalism. He is known for treating chess like a sport, and being known for his intense chess study. He is also a great player, and his style is easy to imitate. He has a great positional understanding and tactical alertness. Here is a good game played by him. You can view it at chessgames.com immediately here: Botvinnik-Kan Botvinnik-Kan 1930 1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Bxd2+ 5.Qxd2 Nf6 6.g3 b6 7.Nc3 d6 8.Bg2 Bb7 9.O-O Qe7 10.d5 e5 11.e4 fxe4 12.Ng5 Nbd7 13.Ncxe4 O-O 14.Ne6 Nxe4 15.Bxe4 Rf6 16.Qc2 Rh6 17.Nxc7 Rc8 18.Nb5 a6 19.Na7 Rf8 20.Nc6 Qg5 21.Bg2 Nf6 22.Qf5 Qh5 23.Qxh5 Nxh5 24.f4 Re8 25.Rae1 Bxc6 26.dxc6 Nf6 27.g4 Nxg4 28.fxe5 Nxe5 29.Bd5+ Kh8 30.c7 Rf6 31.Bb7 1-0

A lot of good chess players I know change their openings or stop doing something that works... it seems crazy. Unless there is something terribly wrong with your opening... don't change it just because you are bored. Look at a large sample size of your notated games and figure out what your results are. Also it's ok to keep on studying new openings to learn more about chess. But this post is mainly targeted towards the 2000+ people who change their openings that are clearly good openings that work! If it's not broken... etc.

These videos have no sound. Level: Intermediate and Advanced.    Marshall Defense: Big Center! Gain a Tempo! from Jeff A on Vimeo . Marshall Defense: Relative Pin from Jeff A on Vimeo . Marshall Defense: Weak Light Squares from Jeff A on Vimeo .

Happy New Year! January 31-February 2. from Jeff A on Vimeo .

Up until 2:50am thinking about/working on some issues with the tournament based on some things that happened today. Very tiring and discouraging. A good tournament director can make things run smoothly with the kids… but then the X factor is the parents.  After doing about 300 tournaments with nearly the exact same format, I learn that kids enjoy the structure of rated play, and they learn how to be professional rather quickly. But then sometimes parents can randomize things.  Usually randomization is caused by not-showing up, making requests that would be illegal (according to USCF rules) for a director to grant, and just other surprises. And then there are days like today (that I have not experienced yet) where things are severe.  Not sure what to do exactly but I will work on it tomorrow! Early morning 8:00am. The chess world needs more good tournament directors.  The scholastic chess world needs parents who are positive and support chess.