At last year's National Seniors tournament I had to play Peter
Chen in two of the three singles events that I entered.  I
thought I was fairly decent against long pips players, but I
don't think I got more than 10 or 11 points in any of the four
games that we played.  It was the most frustrating experience
I've had in my 20+ years of playing sanctioned tournaments.
I've been rated over 2000 for over 10 years, but I must have
looked about 1200 against Chen.  At one point Rey Domingo (who I
took a game off of earlier) was laughing at the debacle.  For
this weekend's National Seniors tournament I have once again
entered only 3 singles events (for some strange reason they skip
from U-2050 to U-2300).  I hope that I won't have to play Peter
Chen in more than one of those events!

John Schneider

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1) When serving, serve very deep and follow up with winners whenever
possible. If you serve no-spin, you get no-spin back. If you serve backspin
and he pushes, you get either light topspin, light backspin, or no-spin -
all easy to attack. By keeping the ball deep, you stop him from dropping the
ball too short.

2) When not able to go for a winner, rally steadily, moving him around and
play steady.  If you don't move him around, he'll move you around, and you
know what happens then! You have to put the ball to both corners very wide,
as well as to the middle. Don't try to overspin the ball, since you're only
helping him while making your shot less consistent.  Just light topspin away
or push, looking for a weak ball and concentrating on placement.

3) When you see the right shot, your eyes should light up, and you should go
into high gear immediately, and go for the winner.  Judgment here is the
key.  There is little middle ground when playing someone who blocks dead
with long pips - you either play very soft and steady, or put it away.
Medium or aggressive shots that are not winners are what they thrive on.

I've never actually seen or played Peter Chen, but I've played dozens like
him.

-Larry Hodges

In article <8h1i8i$4m...@bob.news.rcn.net­>, "Larry Hodges"

John

*

No strategy works unless a player's level is close enough to the opponent to
be able to execute it.  Many coaches can tell you how to beat Cheng Yinghua,
but unless you are 2600+, you can't even begin to executive this strategy.
Similarly, Peter Chen is going to beat most players well below him
regardless of what they do. All you can do is maximize your chances.

A note on playing angles: it's true that if you angle a blocker, he can get
an extreme angle.  But it's a trade-off, because he now has only one angle
to use.  So cover that angle.  Many players know how to do this, but don't
do it instinctively - and so get caught by these angles.

As to quick blocking, it's a matter of changing your instincts, which keep
telling you you have more time when you don't  - and then when you rush
because of his quick blocks, you get tied up because the blocks are soft and
slow. It's easier said then done.

-Larry Hodges

Just for the record, my rating is only about 150 points below
Peter Chen (although that will change since he did so well at
the Concord tournament), but it felt like I was about 1000
points lower when I played him.  But once again, thanks for the
advice Larry.

*

John,

Try deep pure topspin serves. Long pips players has to chop block the ball
back, which is slow. They can't counter topspins like inverted players and
go defence automatically. Long topspin service is not much used against
inverted players but I find it the most useful against long pips or anti. If
you serve long enough, then the ball will come back long as well. Put enough
spin on the ball so that he can't flip. I encountered some good long pips
players who can flip a light top spin, which comes back to you as a fast
dead ball. But I never saw a long pips player who can flip a heavy topspin.
Serving underspin could be a little dangerous for you, on the other hand, if
the long pip player can flip it. If you put underspin on the ball, the ball
will come back to you most times as light top spin no matter how he hits the
ball(flip or 'disguise' push), which means he can attack your underspin
balls.
Playing simple strategy is better, i think, against them because they try to
vary the strategy and shake your rhythm and feel.
As for their serves, they can't put spin on the ball no matter what motion
they do. You could 1: chop the ball. Then the next ball would come back as
light top spin. Try to kill this ball.  2: put light top spin on the ball
and wait for the next ball(slight underspin) to kill.

Don Kim

In article <8h2bo6$7c...@news1.ucsd.edu>,  "Dongkyun Kim" <dong...@ucsd.edu>
wrote: >

You should visit England and see what the players do with the long pips
against long deep serves to the backhand.  They flat hit them back and the
shot can be very tough to return.  Virtually everyone over 40 years old I
played had long pips and could attack with it.  You probably have seen Carl
Prean play.  Well many have emulated his style on the backhand with the long
pips.  Also most long pip players at your level in England and other places
(including the US) can twiddle the racket and then attack with the inverted
side.    These things aside, I like your approach and use it myself.  I
actually mix side spin with the top spin some of the time as my technique
allows for the type of spin that comes back.  The predominant strategy for
most lower players is to not put side spin on the serve when going to long
pips.  Against a good long pip chopper the ball that comes back against a
long sidespin serve is a nightmare to read.

One of the most difficult up to the table dead blockers I have played is
also in the senior ranks.  I played Joseph Chen (I believe he is from
Seattle) a few years ago at the Pac Rim.  The guy soft blocked everything I
threw at him with perfect accuracy.  He looked like he wasn't even trying
and could have been reading a newspaper while he beat me under 10.   What
was even more frustrating was that he could remove the spin with the pips so
that it came back dead even when I made a heavy loop.  By the way he is a
penholder player and never moves off from the table.  I was running around
like a maniac trying to return the wide angles.  He dropped balls so short
at time that I couldn't even get a shot at them sometimes.  It was a very
numbling experience.

Perhaps there are those who know him and can tell me how to play against his
style.

I look forward to playing him again.

Waqidi