My First Yahoo Game

I normally don’t play real time chess and if I did play a lot of it Yahoo would be my last choice because I’ve heard so many bad things about it. I did try it today though, figuring I should at least actually check it out.


I normally play the Old Steinitz Defense against the Ruy Lopez. It’s easy to play and not much can go wrong. Unfortunately that holds true against weaker players, too, and I’ve had some less than favorable outcomes. It works well against higher rated players though. Against lower rated players I’ve been using the Bird Defense because it seems to confuse them.

After the game I took a quick look at it with Fritz. I guess I understand the reasons for its evaluations but one thing it never takes into consideration is lack of technique. I knew I had an advantage in this game but never would have put it at nearly 4.0 after White’s 12th move. But when it comes to lack of technique, I rate pretty high!