Humble Bumble Chess Services, LLC

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Chess improvement with fitness journal! chess fitness

Hey guys! I guess this page is BACK!

This page is shutting down. Very sorry. Still active on my YouTube channel.

Players who deserve to be better known
Entry # 2 Karel Opočenský


Karel Opočenský in 1969
Karel Opočenský (7 February 1892 – 16 November 1975, Prague) was a Czech chess master. International Master, Gold medal winner at the chess Olympiad, Czech national champion, World Championship Arbiter, “noted theotician”, etc. That much anyone can find on Wikipedia. However, my interest comes as a result of research into two of my favorite openings; The Benko Gambit and the Najdorf Sicilian. Here I find Opocensky was a path finder, early adaptor, explorer, dare I say…visionary??!? Check out these two very modern looking games played long before they were widely adapted.

Eliskases,Erich Gottlieb - Opocensky,Karel [A57]
Prague (1), 1937

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.e4 b5 6.cxb5 Bg7 7.Bd3 0–0 8.Nge2 a6 9.0–0 axb5 10.Bxb5 Ba6 11.Ng3 Bxb5 12.Nxb5 Nbd7 13.Bd2 h5 14.Qc2 Nb6 15.b3 Qd7 16.Nc3 h4 17.Nge2 h3 18.Ng3 hxg2 19.Kxg2 Qc8 20.a4 Nbd7 21.Rab1 e6 22.Bf4 exd5 23.exd5 Re8 24.Rfd1 Ne5 25.Bxe5 Rxe5 26.Qd3 Nh5 27.Qf3 Qd7 28.Re1 Rae8 29.Re4 Nxg3 30.hxg3 Qb7 31.Rxe5 Rxe5 32.Nb5 Qd7 33.Qd3 Re8 34.b4 Ra8 35.bxc5 dxc5 36.Qc4 Bf8 37.Rd1 Qb7 38.Kg1 Qa6 39.d6 Qc6 40.Qd5 Qxd5 41.Rxd5 c4 42.Rd4 Rd8 43.Rxc4 Bxd6 44.a5 Bf8 45.a6 1–0

Foltys,Jan - Opocensky,Karel [B91]
Duras 60 Memorial Prague (2), 06.12.1942
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.g3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.0–0 0–0 9.h3 Nbd7 10.Kh2 Nc5 11.Be3 Qc7 12.Qd2 Bd7 13.Rfe1 Na4 14.Nxa4 Bxa4 15.c4 Bc6 16.f3 Rac8 17.Rac1 Rfd8 18.b4 b6 19.Ne2 Bb7 20.Nc3 Nd7 21.f4 b5 22.e5 bxc4 23.exd6 exd6 24.Nd5 Bxd5 25.Qxd5 c3 26.Qd3 d5 27.Qxa6 d4 28.Bg1 d3 29.Qxd3 Ne5 30.Qxd8+ Rxd8 31.fxe5 Bxe5 32.Re3 Rd2 33.Kh1 Rxa2 34.b5 Qd6 35.Rf1 c2 36.b6 Qd2 0–1

More and more chess videos available on YouTube. Search Humblebumble chess!

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Strategy-Workbook-Blueprint-Developing/dp/0976196220/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1TMIQAWI1S0DU&keywords=todd+bardwick+chess&qid=1585332555&sprefix=todd+bardw%2Caps%2C199&sr=8-5
Highly recommended!

Chess Strategy Workbook: A Blueprint for Developing the Best Plan Chess Strategy Workbook teaches you to be observant and take your time to discover the clues in chess positions, introducing many of the strategies used by chess masters in a way that is fun and easy to understand.Learn how to use the different types of chess advantages (king safety, material, pi...

Attacking 101: Volume #005 by Joel Johnson

Exactly what is a "Sealer Sweeper" and why should I care?

Boredom is the enemy! If you are so busy and fulfilled that you never get bored, bravo to you good sir or ma'am! But most people (especially youngsters!) can get into bad situations or unhealthy habits due to (in large measure) to boredom. How many times have you grabbed a bag of chips, turned on the b**b tube, grabbed a smoke (or worse) just in order to have something to do? What if you had a positive thing that was also fun? Chess can provide that! It's one of the things that Psychologist Wm. Glasser would have called a "Positive Addiction". Is chess the only thing like that? Of course not! But it's the one that I am an authority on and can help introduce to you! Give me a shout and let's set something up!

It's now easier to email Humble Bumble Chess Services, LLC

Characteristics of an effective Chess Training Program

If you are reading this, I assume you are (or seek to support) a person involved in Rated Tournament Play who desires to maximize their potential and results.
The effective training program for competitive chess players has much in common with any sporting program’s ideas, so many of those concepts apply here. If there is a single type of sports program that best translates to chess play it would be the combat sports. The ideas and methods found in Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, and MMA especially form a valuable analogous comparison.
The effective program will provide players, their coaches, and supporters (Family, Friends) with empirically based training ideas. This program should allow it's participants access to the latest developments, ideas, theories, and practices in chess training. The best proof of improvement is the Chess rating system. Those people entering competitive play and their trainers/supporters MUST understand this rating system and how it reflects a person’s mastery of Chess.
Training in this program should show that these resources are being converted into rating point gains and better chess-play for the student. In short, any effective Chess Training program or coach should have as their goal helping their students reach their full potential as a rated chess competitor and use rated play as the way to measure progress.

Chess; “Weak square(s)”
A phrase that is thrown around so much in chess writing that you may wonder is there a clear-cut definition[2]? While there is a general consensus, I’ve yet to find the definitive statement. Is it just that the definition is obvious? When it is said that a square is weak, it is because the square is not strong, i.e. weak. What could be simpler? Well, my level of stupid requires definitions and context for even the simplest terms. A square is neither weak nor strong, rather I prefer to use the concept of value. A square is either valuable or it is not. When it has value, both players will seek to control and/or occupy it.
Is it ever possible that a square that has no value? Could we call that square unimportant, valueless, inconsequential? No! Value changes. What is vitally important on move 5 may be totally inconsequential by move 20. Therefore, a general definition, subject to relative factors seems most useful. A square is weak when it cannot be defended by a pawn, and control or occupation of that square has value to one or both players.
Every square has the potential to be valuable, subject to what is going on in relation to it. The primary factor is whether a piece or pawn will stand well there (occupation) and the converse whether or not this pawn or piece can be prevented from going there or exchanged when it does (control).
[1]Jeffrey A. Baffo, self-published, January 8th 2020
[2]The closest I’ve come in my research is The Oxford Companion to Chess entry for Weakness “ …a pawn or square that is hard to defend…” (pg. 445)

The Value of the Pieces and Pawns.

After careful consideration and researching many different sources here's what I've come up with;
 Pawns 1.0 point (Some sources give gradations even amongst the pawns themselves; King and Queen pawns strongest on down to the rook pawns.)
 Knights 3.21
 Bishops 3.32 (Bishop pair add .5)
 Rooks 5.22
 Queen 9.56
Some thoughts on this ranking; it is more than a little surprising that the two Bishops are so powerful, at 7.12 to her lady’s 9.56. Raw numbers indicate that Two rooks should be easily able to go up against the Queen (10.44 vs. 9.56) but as so many games bare out the Queen does very well in these situations.
Clearly the values shown above can not be considered absolute and must be evaluated in light of a bewildering array of mitigating or augmenting factors. If you are like me, and this type of deep dive into the strengths of chess units fascinates you, I highly recommend GM Andrew Soltis’ 2004 Batsford book; Rethinking the Chess Pieces.

https://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Chess-Pieces-Andrew-Soltis/dp/0713489049/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Rethinking+the+chess+pieces&qid=1581445939&s=books&sr=1-2

Rethinking the Chess Pieces Professionals know that during the course of a game, the value of chess pieces change. And they use this knowledge to decide which pieces to exchange--and when. International grandmaster Andrew Soltis, the author of Bobby Fischer Rediscovered, helps pass this important information on to novices s...

Chess players attention! Excalibur does not exist!!

If the question is "How do I get better at chess?" Then the answer must be "Get to work!" Study, play, discuss, analyze, and then study some more. Almost all chess materials have something to offer. The important thing for the student is be exposed to as many positional ideas and tactical motifs as possible via the convention of real game examples. My personal favorites are Fischer, Kasparov, Botvinnik, and Alekhine, but there are dozens if not hundreds of other worthy players Whoever’s games you study look for this; the player/author should have a way of making chess concepts very easy to understand (if not to implement). Modern authors also do a very good job and have the advantage of World Champion level engines looking over their shoulder.
In short, examples are more important than methods. Get game collections of annotated games and study the cr*p out of them. There is no cook-book recipe for finding good moves. There is only the unrelenting search and maximum effort of the searcher/student. Books may be an outmoded
concept. For all their charm and our passionate love for them, books are a fading medium. Better to say information. Go on-line, buy software, use e-readers, and yes physical books. Get busy. Balance your approach; play and study should be done in the proper ratio, a ratio by which you're getting the maximum value. Each person is different. Too much study dulls your creativity. Too much play prevents you from seeing new concepts and consolidating your knowledge base. But please know this; be it "7 Imbalances" "Drop" "Tree of Analysis" "Force, Function, Trapped" or whatever ingenious system (with it's cool acronym) you discover, there is NO checklist approach that is going to help you until you have seen many examples and can recognize them on the board. Finally, remember this, the BEST study material for your improvement is YOUR OWN GAMES! Review them until every flaw and error is clear to you; then strive with all your power to ELIMINATE those errors. So, guys, please...stop your search for the magic sword. The Lady of the Lake is NOT going to hand you Excalibur. You must forge your own!

The Best Coaches no when to say no.

Desire and motivation are essential for every successful student. They are also the hardest commodity for a Coach to provide when they are missing or weak. Consequently, it's never the first or most happy choice of a coach to disagree with or inhibit his student. We instructors fear to damage that all-important enthusiasm of the learner. In addition, allowing a student to fail is essential in many cases. Nothing teaches "Hot" better than burned fingers. But there are those times (thankfully, rare) when a skillful coach simply MUST talk his student out of a questionable strategy. If a coach can do that with skill, diplomacy, and love then he or she just earned their pay.

Attitude! As we begin in chess our attitude is that of a newcomer; curious, unsure, apprehensive, humble, yet also eager and excited. As we progress our attitude changes. We expect more of ourselves and sometimes become emotional and discouraged by lack of progress, or God forbid, setbacks. Warning! Easy-to-say, hard-to-do advise follows; Lose the expectations! You know how to play intelligently up to a point. When you reach that point past which you are not ready to go you will fail. Like a weightlifter at his/her maximum you simply can not shoulder this increased burden...yet. But the struggle of trying, the testing of limits, even though they brought defeat this time, are precisely what makes progress possible. Unless you are a Mozart/Paul Morphy level genius springing fully formed from the head of Zeus, you will have these times. ADAPT, REGROUP, TRY AGAIN. Keep training, keep preparing, keep fighting. NEVER QUIT!

Jeff and I are now USCF Certified Tournament directors.

About us

I love chess! I have been playing tournament chess since 1971 when my Dad took me to a Chess tournament somewhere in the Chicagoland area. I competed in the “Under 1200 and unrated” section and scored 3 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw. I think my first published rating was 1051. I believe chess is one of the greatest games ever invented. It is a mind-building, brain-exercising, boredom-busting dynamo of goodness! I want to teach it to YOU!
HumbleBumble Chess Services, LLC is the formalized, registered, and tangible embodiment of my love for the game of chess. With this company I hope to impart my 50 years of chess experience to you, to help you and/or the ones you care about reap those benefits I mentioned above.
Services offered; Group & Individual lessons, chess tournaments, advice about how to “do” chess; running your own tournaments, buying chess equipment, books, software, how to hire a great chess coach, how to run your own school program, you name it! If it’s chess related, I can help get the answers you need. I can teach total beginners or help the experienced player reach their full potential.
I am originally from Chicago, Illinois, settled in Colorado in 1996 after retiring from the U.S. Air Force. My wife of 40 years Betty Baffo (“my only sweetie”) is also a certified chess coach who helps me with HumbleBumble. I have been coaching and organizing chess related activities since before coming to Colorado, but with HumbleBumble Chess Serivces, LLC, I am launching my first-ever real-live business.
Please bare with us while we get up and running. Betty and I are ready to coach NOW, so please feel free to book your lessons. However, as a brand new startup company, some things are still being developed. We are designing our web site, and looking in to accepting Credit/Debit cards, etc.
Make a great move, learn or deepen your experience with a fantastic hobby/art/competition!