Jeffrey Ashton

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5 Nd4 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. Ne2 Nf6 8. Bd3 O‑O 9. Nxd4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Bxd4 11. Kf1 d5 12. Bd3 b6 13. g3 Bh3+ 14. Ke2 Bg4+   1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. Qd4 Nf6 7. e5 Nd5 8. e6 Nf6 9. exf7+ Kxf7 10. Bc4+ d5 11. Bb3 e5 12. Qd1 Bg7 13. O‑O Re8 14. Nc3 Kg8   1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5 Nd4 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. Ne2 Nf6 8. Bd3 O‑O 9. Nxd4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Bxd4 11. Kf1 d5 12. Bd3 b6 13. g3 Bh3+ 14. Ke1 Bg2 15. Rf1 Qd6 16. Qe2 Bxf1 17. Kxf1 Rac8   1. e4 c5 2. f4 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. O‑O e6 6. f5 Nge7 7. fxe6 dxe6 8. d3 O‑O 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Bb5 a6 11. Ba4 b5 12. Bb3 Bb7 13. a4 Nxb3 14. cxb3 b4 15. Ne2 a5 16. Ng3 Ba6 17. Ne1 Qd7 18. Be3 Bxb2 19. Rb1 Bd4 20. Bxd4 Qxd4+ 21. Kh1 Rad8 22. Rf3 Nc6

Some thoughts:  "Clock move” is a silly rule sometimes used in blitz or bughouse. Touch move is a great rule. The only imperfection about touch move is that sometimes kids lie about it. Also sometimes a kid will come “close" to touching a piece and the opponent will overreact. But this happens rarely, and it is usually done by really young kids or beginners.   I feel silly calling clock move a “rule” because I have never seen it officially acknowledged in any rule book or rule list.  It is a new “rule.” While I don’t know the history of the “clock move” rumor, I do know that the chess clock hasn’t been around for that long.  I’m pretty sure "clock move" was invented by a weak chess player and it got popularized by weak chess players until some stronger chess players were forced to play this way.   In clock move, a player can place a move on the board. It’s not official until the clock is pressed. There is no touch move. There is no “I took my hand off the piec...

Stockfish is available in the App store for free. I’ve used it for a few minutes. Here is what I know: It’s not nearly as good as the iPhone/iPad version. But if they can make it do exactly what the iPhone app can do, it will be incredibly useful. And I’m sure they will reach iPhone/iPad level, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they have more useful features. Right now you can enter in moves and use infinite analysis. This is way too advanced for most people. You can’t play against it (honestly, no one good at chess needs a computer to play against).  It’s great for entering your notated games and emailing the moves to to someone.  You can open up PGN files with it. This isn’t incredibly user friendly, and recommended only if someone sends you a PGN file. I like the iPhone and iPad app because one can email you a PGN file (see below) and it automatically imports from your clipboard.  Or you can copy and paste the following, and save it as a .pgn file (use TextEdit on Mac or Notepad...

One thing I know for sure about technology: There is NO excuse not to send a game to a chess coach, assuming the coach wants to see your games. 1) Enter the moves into Stockfish. Use analysis mode or “enter game” mode. 2) Save it. Email it to your Coach and maybe copy a parent or something. If you are using gmail, you will always have a backup copy. Coaches: Open the game in your gmail. Copy and paste the moves (the whole pgn) into ChessBase.   Stockfish is free (for now). There are other apps that let you use this workflow. ChessBase and Fritz both allow you to copy and paste an emailed PGN file (see below).  There is one downside, but I don’t actually think it’s a downside. An incorrect notation sheet won’t work. So write down your moves correctly. And if you enter the game 12 hours or less after playing it (I made up this 12 hour rule just because it sounds smart) then the player can usually use his or her memory to figure out what happened. If you can only send 12 moves or ...

We have 5 tournaments left. I just had a meeting with the office - I really need parents to help.  No chairs in the hallway.  Hallways must be quiet (no running or noise).  Basically there have been too many complaints and I couldn't deliver improvement. I told the office that we have 5 weeks left and I will try my best to avoid breaking lease rules for these 5 weeks. 

[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