Suggested Rating for My Services:
My analysis and comments will be most helpful for those players rated 1600 and below (USCF). Players rated above 1600 may also find some benefit in my tips on winning mindset at different stages of the game.
Game Analysis:
I will analyze your games with a special emphasis on mindset and attitude during the game. While I will provide certain tactical insights on some moves, I will not be running your game through a chess engine like Fritz or Rybka and merely spitting out a long tactical analysis. You can do that yourself easily enough (ask me if you don't know how). What I will do is point out certain strategic and practical ideas that I feel should be used in certain positions.
For example, I might point out that you are trying to attack with only two pieces and that you should have waited until your development was more complete or until your king was safer or something like that. Or you are a pawn or two ahead, but you are allowing counterplay instead of trying to trade off pieces and get to a won endgame. Or if you are castled on opposite sides, you should consider attacking your opponent's king, since throwing pawns at his king will not endanger your own king on the other side, and that the attack has to be carried out with utmost speed and economy of moves. One unnecessary move can be the difference between winning and losing. These are things that computerized analysis will not tell you.
Game Submission Format:
PGN would be nice, but typed out moves are OK. Even a scan or photograph of a scoresheet would be OK as long as I can make out all of the moves. Just make sure you double check it so all the moves are correct. If you have incorrect or ambiguous moves, I may end up analysing positions that never occurred in the game and I would still have to charge you for the effort I put into it.
Questions:
You can ask me to answer specific questions about the game or to concentrate on certain parts of the game where you felt you were having trouble, e.g. "Can you tell me what I should have done after the opening? I felt I had a good position, but after move 11, I wasn't sure how to continue, and by move 20, I felt like I was losing." This is just the kind of question where I can be of most help and a computer program is usually of no help.
Price:
$20 per game or 3 games for $50. I may have to limit the number of games I can analyze, since I really put a lot of effort into my insights on each game, so ask me before you send in a lot of games.
Payment:
You can send me a check, or I can take you credit card # and process it myself (I have a merchant account for that).
Sample Annotated Game:
B. Till (1896) - M Coppola (1261)
2-18-02
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 h6
A typical defensive move played by someone who doesn't know the main line of the Two Knight's Defense and got in trouble with it before. The main line is 3....Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5! (Black probably tried 5....Nxd5 before and got in trouble after 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Qf3+ Ke6 8. Nc3 Nb4 9. a3 Nxc2+ 10. Kd1 Nxa1 11. Bxd5+ Kd6 12. d4 exd4 13. Bf4+ Kc5 14. Na4+ Kb5 15. Qb3+ Ka5 16. Bd2+ Ka6 17. Bc4+ b5 18. Qxb5 mate to give one possible example of what can happen. So Black decides to avoid this type of line altogether by preventing 4. Ng5) 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Be2 h6 9. Nf3 e4 10. Ne5 Bd6 11. f4 exf3 12. Nxf3 Qc7 13. O-O O-O Black is a pawn down, but has a lead in development and lots of open lines and attacking possibilities. The position is dynamically equal. The problem with 3...h6 is that Black is wasting time with a non-developing move to prevent a move that doesn't need to be prevented, if you know what you are doing. It also weakens the white squares around Black's king, as we shall see in a moment.
4. d4 exd4
5. O-O
White is concentrating on king safety and rapid development.
5. ..... Bc5
6. c3
Threatening 7.cxd4 regaining his pawn and creating a dominating pawn center.
6. ..... dxc3
A fourth pawn move (out of 6 moves so far). White now uses a tactic to expose the Black king.
7. Bxf7+ Kf8
Black avoids Kxf7 8. Qd5+ Ke8 9. Qxc5 d6 10. Qh5+ Kf8 11. Nxc3 when White has a lead in development and the Black king is unsafe and it hasn't even cost White any material. The move Black played is not much better.
8. Nxc3 Bxf2+
Black's logic here is "I want to take White's bishop on f7, but then he will get my bishop on c5 with Qd5+, so why don't I grab a pawn with check first, then take the f7 bishop. Then I will be a pawn ahead!" What seems to be escaping Black is the fact that his king is very unsafe in a very open position. His number one concern should be getting his king off of f8, where it is out in the open. One plan for Black might be d6, Nf6, Qe7, Be6, Kf7, Re8, Kg8, Kh8. White would attempt to stop this plan, of course, but Black has to try something like that.
The move Black actually played, Bxf2+, is an absolute disaster, because it puts his king, which was uncomfortable already, in even more danger, where it now stares down the barrel of gun (the f-file) at a very large bullet (White's rook).
9. Rxf2 Kxf7
10. Ne5++
A double check (from both the knight and rook). Double checks are bad because the only way out is to move your king, meaning it is a very forcing move, leaving you with few options.
10. ..... Ke7
11. Ng6+
Now we see one of the drawbacks to 3...h6, the square g6 is weakened. The other drawback was the loss of time, that is, Black could have developed a piece with 3...Nf6 or 3...Bc5.
11. ..... Ke8
Avoiding 11....Ke6 12. Qd5 mate. Black seemed surprised by White's next move, probably expecting 12. Nxh8, which wins a rook and threatens 13. Qh5+ followed by any number of unpleasant moves for Black. Having the excellent move Nxh8 in his pocket, White follows the old saying "If you see a good move, don't play it. You may have a better one!"
12. Rf8 mate
This game shows the stark contrast in the mindsets of a Category A player and a Category D player. The A player castled early, developed his pieces quickly, and opened lines in the center. The D player played an uneccassary defensive move, missed a simple tactic that left his king exposed, then worried about winning a pawn instead of getting his king out of danger. He was swiftly put to the sword.
