The Endgame Tactician

66 Days Later...

2009-08-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

A few of you probably wonder, "What ever became of likesforests?"

I have not studied any chess.

My baby's doing well.

I lost 45 lbs, but injured my knee.

I scored an apprenticeship in a new career.

I have an au pair arriving next month to look after my children.

The past few months have been hectic, exciting, and life-changing. But this is a chess blog, and I suppose this is enough non-chess for now. May Caissa shine on thee!

likesforests is back.

2009-06-23T18:38:00.000-07:00

Howdy, folks! My son's born and I'm ready to study chess again.

I reckon some rust has settled onto my game, but it's nothing that a little tactical study can't shake off. I plan to stop by everyone's blog in the next couple days to see what's up. I hope all the knights have been making great progress, that dktransform's in good spirits, and that my old A-Team & more will be at the World Open again this year. Have a good one!

Cheers,
likesforests

Birthdays

2009-04-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

I suppose I've been remiss in keeping this blog up-to-date.

In about two months, my son will be born.

Today is my birthday.

What of chess? I've been studying Mastering Chess Openings to improve my opening and early middlegame, and playing 5s increment blitz. I plan to take a break from coaching, being coached, and even tournaments. But I am not taking a break from chess.

Fremont 30/90, G/60 results

2009-03-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

I performed 1557, won 3 out of 4 games, and only lost to the tournament winner in the final round... a Russian whose last game in the US was in 2002.

And I'm completely miserable about losing.

The games:

a Nap before the Big One

2009-03-18T17:56:00.001-07:00

On Saturday I enter my slowest tournament yet... 30/90, G/60... four 5-hour games against class C opponents. I don't expect hanging pieces.

Since my last tourney I've played over 100 blitz games and studied the troublesome positions with an International Master. This week I'm resting up, hitting the deep tactics, and reading Heisman's time management articles. All signs point to conquest.

Except, deep down, I know my understanding of positional chess is infantile and I require my opponents to make a tactical error to succeed. See the games below. At least one of my opponents will play tactically sound chess. And he's going to be a struggle.

Likesforests Unleashed

likesforests-unleashed.pgn

Likesforests Collared

likesforests-collared.pgn

PS - Samurai is alive, and on his way back! Fellow knights, rejoice. :)

Blitzkrieg

2009-03-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

In my January tournament, two games entered the Old Indian, which I was unprepared for. In my February tournament, similarly two games entered the Stonewall.

And then there was a Winawer.

According to my Moskalenko, ...Bf8 followed by ...Bb7 was a surprising pet line of Petrosian. My opponent looked surprised. He broke the tournament silence to say so!

I hate this position. I have less space. I have less development. The locked center may give me time to catch up, but why had I prepared a position I dislike?

I need more experience. I've turned to blitz.

I mentioned I was coaching a USCF 700 student. I decided to teach them the Colle system, and surprisingly, this has re-invigorated my Semi-Slav!

semislav.pgn

The Tortoise and the ...

2009-02-23T17:26:00.001-08:00

Artwork by illustrator Stephanie Smith.

I played in another Open event this weekend and scored a USCF 1500 performance rating. That's solid, but nothing spectacular.

The following game was typical of my battles. I made no simple tactical mistakes, but I consistently used more clock time and my position always seemed to be slightly worse than my opponent's. In two of these battles my opponents found exceptional tactical shots to finish me off. In one game I returned the favor. The last game was a draw.

febcupop.pgn

Below is the critical position from another game, likesforests-careyfan:

(a) What move gives White an advantage?
(b) White actually played 21.Na4. What move wins for Black?

Circles of Madness

2009-02-17T11:15:00.001-08:00

Today I began a new 7-circles quest, following in De La Maza's footsteps.

It may seem strange to begin CT-ART circles when temposchlucker questions the whole method of solving tactics. But in G/30 to G/60 games tactics and calculation almost always plays a key role against amateur opponents. And intuitively practice is a fundamental requirement for improvement. Harnessing the power of spaced repetition makes practice more effective.

Of course, that's it's necessary is not the same as saying it's sufficient. Neither I nor De La Maza are one-trick ponies. I have a master-level coach advising me on thought process. I'm also playing and practicing visualization (as is Ray Cheng).

CT-ART progress:

Level 10
N° 110
Succ. 94%
Perf: 1779

I missed some basic ones, especially as I got tired. But tournament games come when you're tired, hungry, distracted, etc so I intend to practice in all conditions.

Tactical Hall of Shame:

It was the Bagel's fault.

2009-02-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

I played in an online G/45 tournament this weekend and scored a win, a draw, and a loss. I completely blame my so-so performance on a toasted sesame-seed bagel.

A few people have approached me about continuing the My System series, but I don't feel up to it yet. What business do I have teaching others strategy at this point? On the weeks I don't meet with my coach, I'm coaching a 700 USCF who loves chess and has been studying and playing for over a decade without the rating points to show for it. We meet at a coffee shop and play some blitz or study her games... that's also helping me keep up my pace. :)

Round 1: 1703 vs likesforests
A bagel would cost me this win. Really; it wasn't my fault!

feb08-r1.pgn

Lessons:

Bring extra food so you never end up playing on an empty stomach.
4-6 ply into a calculated line, review your calculations.

Round 2: likesforests vs 1942
Inattention and redemption, followed by time-trouble bumbling.

feb08_r2.pgn

Lessons:

Focus! I can't afford to let Black equalize on move three.

Round 3: likesforests vs 1658
A demonstration of how not to play the King's Indian Defense.

feb8_r3.pgn

Lessons:

My tactical ability is still mediocre.
My live chess.com sparring record the past two weeks was +8, =1, -2. I need stronger sparring partners (like these) who are more likely to reveal my flaws.

A Humble Retreat

2009-02-02T15:09:00.001-08:00

The weather was so lovely, I spent the weekend with my family at a humble cliffside retreat. At some places, a little money still goes a long way.

The trip wasn't so bad, either.

Farbror

Welcome Farbror! He's a fellow chessplayer I've known for awhile who, like us, is seriously trying to improve. He's new to MySpace. Whether or not he officially joins the Knights Errant, his blog will be worth visiting. So take a moment to say hello. :)

Fifth Coaching Session
Coach IM looked at my games and it turns out my tiny repertoire was enough to get an opening advantage in every game. Calculation errors by me and/or my opponents decided three of the games, and strategy decided the fourth.

According to him, calculation and vision are still where I should be spending the majority of my time. Before our next meeting he gave me a couple positions to solve and wants me to be able to visualize the path of bishops in my mind.

Another Day Another Open

2009-01-25T22:09:00.000-08:00

It's round three of the Cupertino Open and I'm paired up as White against a 1722 in his mid-teens who says he plays lots of bullet on ICC.

Black's playing the Old Indian. I learn after the game he knows this opening a dozen moves deep, while I'm already out-of-book. I pick logical developing moves and reach a fine position out of the opening. My opponent wins five minutes of clock time.

Eight moves later I find a brilliant sequence that should hand White a strong advantage. Can you spot White's next two moves in the position below?

It's an exchange sac! 18.fxg4! hxg4 19.Rxf5! Bxf5 20.Qxf5! Rh6 21.Qxg4 and White has a B+2P for the R. White has the initiative and Black's king is exposed with no nearby shelter.

The sad thing is, I missed no fewer than five opportunities to convert the position above. The magic sequence of moves is 30.Bc1! Rg6 31.h5! Argh. I couldn't skewer my way out of a paper lunch bag. I've got to get better at tactics. And managing my clock.

The gruesome details:

cupertino-open-round3.pgn

On a positive note, I won $50 for my overall performance. :)

Odds and Ends

2009-01-19T08:56:00.001-08:00

A new knight has joined the Knights Errant! Welcome to Retarded Knight. He plans to go all medieval on his tactics with seven circles through CT-ART, and microdrills using Troyis and Fritz Attack Trainer. Be sure to stop by and say hello. :)

In my fourth coaching session we discussed a couple recent games. I explained one of my moves (4...Qe6+ leading to the diagram below) against a weaker opponent, "It's a trap... if she plays 5.Be2 or 5.Ne2 I get to double her pawns."

"And if she plays Qe2?"

"5.Qe2 Qxe2 and with the queens off her extra tempi don't mean much. Black should be able to draw. It's a line recommended by Emms."

"And that's what you're aiming for, a drawish position two tempi down, against a player rated 700 points less than you?"

I'm taking up the French Defense. What I like about the French is, it's a fighting defense (unlike the Scandinavian or Caro-Kann) and the theory can be summed up in one book (unlike the Sicilian). This should help me more consistently put away lower-rated players.

I was seduced by Moskalenko's book, "The Flexible French". First, the lines are very memorable because he gives them creative names and talks about the history behind them. Second, he plays these lines frequently so he knows what he's talking aboout. Third, his explanations are fantastic. This weekend I played through most of his book--it's that gripping.

I'll finish with my first game in the French Defense. Again, I played for a trap. I need to get myself out of this mindset and play more solid moves:

nn-likesforests-trap.pgn

Who are the Knights Errant?

2009-01-10T19:09:00.000-08:00

The Knights Errant is a group of chess enthusiasts inspired by De La Maza's Rapid Chess Improvement and 400 Points in 400 Days. We encourage one another on our personal quests for tactical and overall chess mastery. I serve as the Secretary of the Knights Errant.

Active and Victorious Knights

* Blue Devil Knight
* Blunderprone
* Caquetio Knight
* Celtic Death
* Chessaholic
* Chris Kilgore
* Fussy Lizard
* Haunted Knight
* Himalayan Knight
* J'adoube
* King of the Spill
* Likes Forests
* Man de la Maza

* Mousetrapper
* Nezhmetdinov
* Pale Morning Dun
* Princess Errant (Margriet)
* Rise and Shine
* Salcido
* Sancho Pawnza
* Sir Banatt
* Sir Rocky Rook
* Tacticus Maximus
* Temposchlucker
* Underpromoted Knight

The Keys to Tactical Ability:

• Habits • Knowledge • Calculation

1. Habits

This includes always (a) thinking about why your opponent made his move, (b) examining checks, mate threats, captures, & other threats and (c) using mnemonics like Dilly Dally (discoveries, line tactics, & double attacks) to jog your memory.

De La Maza: "[T]ransferring my tactical ability to OTB games was quite difficult... I would look at the board... decide that there was no tactical shot... again I would turn out to be wrong."

2. Knowledge

We repeat or 'circle through' tactics to memorize them. This suggests: (a) your circles should be small enough that you recall positions when you repeat them, and (b) simpler tactics will appear more often in your games and therefore are the best candidates to memorize.

De La Maza: "The first step... involves exercises that pound very simple tactical notions into your brain."

3. Calculation

Of course, we are bound to encounter novel and complex positions. To excel tactically, we should be able to calculate a few ply without errors or doubts.

De La Maza: "The Seven Circles exercise will lead to a vast improvement in your calculation and pattern recognition ability."

Resources

De La Maza's articles, "400 Points in 400 Days" part I & part II.
How to join the Knights Errant and improve your tactics.

3rd Coaching Session

2009-01-04T20:12:00.000-08:00

I began our session by walking my coach through a game where I thought I played perfectly but for one move. My coach was silent for a minute, and I began to wonder what was up. Then his answer appeared--it was a top ten list of my mistakes in that game!

Weekly slow games and a coach are helping to keep me honest about my progress.

Since I seem to have the forcing thought process more or less down, he wants me to begin to focus on visualization. With my eyes closed, I should know what colors squares are, what diagonals they're on, and visualize more moves into the future.

What color is e6?

Are g6 and c2 on the same diagonal?

1.c3 e6 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nd4 Ne5 4.e4 c6 5.Ne2; what is Black's best move?

Rise and Shine Knight took this path a year ago with good results. I've followed in his footsteps by completing Chess Eye #1-#3 and making a blindfolded knight tour.

I also registered for a G/45 USCF swiss next weekend, Open section. Wish me luck! :)

I got mauled again.

2008-12-28T16:08:00.000-08:00

I got mauled this week: +4,-9,=2 Notice all the scratches on my opponents--at least I made sure they didn't get away completely unscathed.

1901-likesforests.pgn

1684-likesforests.pgn

The one positive I can take away from this experience is, I've stopped making huge blunders. I checked for those every move of my last few games (except in time trouble). My ICC rating took a temporary plunge as I worked on my thought process, but this new and more consistent me is stronger and I will ultimately be ranked higher in over-the-board play.

Any comments on how not to get mauled appreciated. :)

2nd Coaching Session

2008-12-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

Two Weeks Before the Session

After my first coaching session, I spent an evening going through 50 positions in Hertan's Forcing Moves, while focusing on checks - captures - threats. Also I avoided a lay-off, renewed my commitment to fitness and lost four pounds, and started taking DHA supplements to boost my chess concentration. A busy time.

I then turned in this miserable performance:

likesforests-1934.pgn

I took a day off work to lick my wounds, patch my repertoire, and play over model games. What can I say? At least I'm putting it on the line, training seriously, and playing opponents that I can learn from. This is not failure. Failure is never entering the ring.

The Session

Yes, my coach had noticed my loss, and right away we discussed why I had played that way. He also explained several ways to streamline my per-move thought process.

Maybe he noticed my tone, because we went over one of his games, one where he missed a GM norm due to a silly mistake. At key points we discussed what I was looking at, and what he was looking at--an eye-opener that also made me feel better about my loss.

Before the next session, he wants me to play more, many more, slow games.

If I don't have time to play a full game, I should at least play solitaire chess with a clock and write down my thoughts. He said improving one's thinking process takes lots of practice, and my attempts will help him direct my studies more effectively.

1st Coaching Session

2008-12-04T10:22:00.000-08:00

Coach IM played over six or seven of my recent games, one slowly, and came to the conclusion that my opening repertoire is reasonable, and one big problem is my thought process.

But my first dilemma---do I believe him? Is he considering my play or just walking me through a series of canned lessons?

He taught using positions arising from my opening repertoire and various endgames to illustrate ideas. He's certainly given similar lessons on thought process before, but he showed me it's a problem in my play and clearly the lesson was customized for my particular style.

Heisman's "Checks - Captures - Threats"

It's obvious, but I don't do it consistently. I tend to spot a reasonably good move, and then stop looking. If today's lesson had value, it wasn't so much in the content--which I could find in books--but in the diagnosis, prioritization, and discussion.

Silman's "Dream Positions"

He showed me several endgames where having a plan and taking reasonable steps failed, but calculating backwards from that dream position, or some combination of calculating backwards and forwards, effectively cracked the position.

Play more slow chess.

My coach wants more play vs. study.

$45 worth?

We'll see in a few months.

Cobwebs, go away!

2008-11-30T15:30:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I played my first couple slow games in three months, so I would have something for my coach to go over with me.

likesforests vs ICC 1978 - I'm paired up against a stronger player. When he responds to my English with ...c6 I decide to try something new and transpose into a Semi-Slav / Moscow. To my surprise I'm dominating him the whole game--then I blow a piece-up endgame.
lf-1978.pgn

ICC 1711 vs likesforests - A thrill-ride, especially after I forget my opening lines. I take his gambit pawn and try to hold on for dear life, but I'm forced to return it to stave off a crushing attack. A tactic in the late middlegame decides the game rather abruptly.
1711-lf.pgn

Not too bad, except for the embarrassing last move of my first game. :)

A Competitive Advantage

2008-11-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

(Photo of running coach Gilbert Tuhabonye by Jeff Campbell)

I hired a semi-active International Master to coach me and I'll be "seeing" him for two hours every other week. The sessions will be on ICC for $22/hour. I like his approach, he speaks excellent English, and has good references. We've discussed my goals and he looked at my five most recent games, off-the-clock. We officially begin December 4th.

At first I tried to hire local, but our FM wanted $75/hr and our NM wanted $35/hr. Besides that, they also only teach online unless you pay extra.

Coaching is expensive, but it should help me improve faster.

Chess for Penguins

2008-11-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

This plan is for a 1500-1700 elo player who has a basic tactical foundation and knows a tiny bit about strategy, endgames, and openings.

1. Average 60 min/day studying chess.

Surveys show FIDE-rated players, both titled and non-titled, average 5-6 hrs/week of study and reach their peak after 6-10 years of play. Another study found that masters (non-GMs) on average peak after 4000hrs of study.

Studying less than 1 hr/day reduces your chance of making master. But doing much more increases your chance of burning out.

2. Use per-position spaced repetition to retain my knowledge.

I did 7 circles through Heisman's Back to Basics: Tactics & 3 circles through Polgar's Chess Tactics for Champions. I got stronger, so circles ain't bad. But they're an obscene waste of time for someone with limited time.

Suppose on circle three I know 15 positions, I can calculate 10, and I miss 5. When should I review the book next? There isn't really an answer.

Per-problem tracking is the solution!

3. Read 100 Endgames You Must Know, My System, and Predator at the Chessboard and acquire their patterns

I added Predator at the Chessboard since the diagrams are easy to copy & paste into Supermemo. I was already studying the others.

100 Endgames You Must Know is an extremely readable FM-level endgame text. Once I have it down, I may be done with endgame theory for a long while.

4. Study the games that define my openings. Analyze key positions and write narratives, then memorize the lines.

I've avoided memorization a long time, but it has its place.

5. Play 3 rated OTB games/month at my local chess club.

Study and practice in combination is far superior to either one alone.

6. Review the games myself, with Rybka, and with a coach.

I found a coach who'll give me a great rate as long as I play OTB regularly.

7. Balance: Eat right, exercise, spend time with family, do well at work, and pursue interests besides chess.

But of course. Chess is a board game. :)

Psychology & Chess

2008-10-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Me

I was away for a week on a business trip. It was a blast enjoying prime steaks, T3 Townshend, and Crown Royal with usually faraway colleagues. But the workdays were long and in the evenings I suffered from insomnia.

A couple interesting books helped me to pass those long nights:

The Books

There are two models that explain how people succeed, and which one you subscribe to has a dramatic impact on your chess and life success.

Entity Theorists hold that factors beyond our control mostly determine whether we succeed--such as talent, luck, or a wealthy upbringing. Instead, Incremental Theorists attribute most success and failure to things within our sphere of influence such as effort or using optimal strategies.

You may be thinking you are a bit of both. Most people are. The key question is, which side of the continuum do you lean towards?

Carol's Take

Carol Dweck is a leading researching in developmental psychology. She gave 400 kids an easy exam, a difficult exam, and then an easy exam.

Group #1 was told after the first exam, "You must be smart at this". When given a choice, they opted out of the second exam. When not, they were demoralized by it and scored 30% worse than expected on the third exam.

Group #2 was told after the first exam, "You must have worked really hard at this." When given a choice, they opted for the second exam. When not, they found it educational and scored 20% better than expected on the third exam.

Similar experiments have yielded similar results in adults.

Josh's Take

Josh Waitzkin, who is both an IM and a world champion in the martial arts, agrees with Carol's research. In the martial arts there is a special phrase for being an incremental theorist--having a Beginner's Mind.

He adds that one trap that incremental theorists fall into is being ego-less, viewing each game as a lesson and not caring whether they win or lose. A true competitor is confident and cares intensely about the result of the game.

At first this may seem paradoxical, but it makes perfect sense. We stand to learn the most from our games when we put everything on the line. Clearly, we should aim for a mix of successes and failures in our practice games that boost our confidence while helping us learn.

Memory & Chess

2008-10-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

"When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory too..."

Scientists know what role the parts of our brain participate in, via brain scans and studies of people and animals with partially-malfunctioning brains.

Amygdala - Stores emotionally-charged memories and reacts when you re-enter a dangerous situation for the second or third time.

Basal Ganglia - Stores skills and habits that we've repeated many, many times such as driving our car, using a spoon, or exercising in the morning. Pros: Anything in procedural memory can be done on auto-pilot and it's hard to forget. Cons: It's hard to forget!

Hippocampus - Forms and stores long-term semantic memory, like principles, techniques, and tactical patterns. The longer we know these, the less likely the hippo's involved. It also stores visual-spatial memories, no matter how long we know them.

Frontal Cortex - Stores long-term semantic memory. If we know something well, and we know it for months or years, the knowledge will transfer completely from the hippocampus and into the frontal lobes.

A brain scan of players 1700-2600 shows that the stronger the player, the more they use their frontal lobes and the less they use their hippocampus. They remember while we calculate.

What does this mean to me?

The secret to mastery is not in learning to play chess on auto-pilot.
The secret to mastery is not studying drawing of 3d boards.
The secret to mastery is not how many positions we can calculate.

Since most of our chess knowledge is in forgettable, semantic memory we should be selective about what we learn and remember to review it (think: spaced repetition).

Basic Endings: Rook vs Knight

2008-10-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

This is one of the 100 endgame you must know, says GM Jesus de la Villa. It was also the subject of the first recorded chess endgame study by Al-Aldi in 842 AD.

I. Evaluation & Principles

71% draws.
Usually won if the knight ventures away from his king's protection.
Usually won if the knight's in a corrner (red zone).
Winning chances with a knight on the rim (yellow zone¹).

[08-Oct-2008 update: Added b4, b5, d2, d7, e2, e7, g4, and g5 to the yellow zone.]

II. Technique

While the above will help you determine whether to enter a rook vs knight endgame, you need to know more to actually play it well. Read on to learn more. :)

Trapping a Separated Knight

[FEN "7R/k7/8/1K6/8/1n6/8/8 w - - 0 3"]
3. Rd8 Nc1 4. Rd2 Nb3 5. Rd1

1.Rd8! confines the knight, the first step towards winning it. Finishing off the knight is straight-forward: 1...Nc1 2.Rd2 Nb3 3.Rd1 or 1...Na1 2.Rd2 Nb3 3.Rd1.²

Surviving on the Rim

[FEN "3KN3/7r/8/3k4/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 5"]
5... Ke6 6. Nc7+ Kd6 7. Ne8+ Kc6 8. Kc8 Rh8 9. Kd8 Rh7 10. Kc8 Ra7 11. Kd8

White's knight prevents the Black king from occupying d6, e6, or f6. If the rook attacks on the eighth rank, White can survive by escaping via the e7 flight square.

More Complicated Cases

These examples may mislead you into believing this ending is simple. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even super-GMs can goof, and amateur games are often comedies of errors.

rn-pos-3.pgn

As you play over the above game, can you spot all the mistakes? Every ?? indicates one side blundered so badly the result changed from won to drawn or vice-versa.

III. Mastery

"This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct." -- Obi-Wan Kenobi

When your clock is down to 5 seconds/move, it's not enough to know the winning technique. You must be able to play on instinct, as smoothly as you swim or ride a bike. Once you reach this level of mastery, you never forget. You've never forgotten how to swim, have you? ³

GM Yasser Seirawan learned this endgame by playing a simple game. He put only a white rook, white king, and black knight on the board. He then moved the White pieces and Black pieces in turn (Black is allowed to pass!) and saw how quickly he could hunt down the knight.

Play this for a few minutes a day for the next month. :)

Footnotes

¹ - Specifically, if the knight's in the red zone it can be immediately trapped by either the king or rook. If the knight's in the yellow zone it can be trapped by the king and rook together. I find this a useful way to gauge the relative danger of squares.

² - This position arises in a line from the Al-Aldi 842 AD endgame study.

³ - For the scientifically inclined, It's stored in your procedural memory. Experimental evidence proves this knowledge even survives many forms of amnesia.

Open Files and Pins

2008-09-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

Tactics without strategy is like having the awesome firepower of an artillery battery, but nobody to spot and direct fire at key enemy targets.

An artillery gun and its operators by themselves are dangerous. They may score the occasional decisive shot--and yet their true potential is revealed only when they work with a spotter. This team is worth far more than the sum of its parts.

This brings us to a recent rapid game, where I successfully combined open files (strategy) and pins (tactics) with a smashing result! I was excited to see the one-two punch of hitting the tactics and studying My System pay off so clearly in an actual game. :)

Black to move and win. Can you spot White's best defense and Black's winning line?

game-file-pin.pgn

Tactical Warfare: The Pin

2008-09-23T00:14:00.001-07:00

A great player once said "Chess is 99% tactics!" While modern masters argue chess is only 90% tactics these days, it's still the most profitable area for amateurs to study.

Target Audience: <1500 online rating

The pin is one of the basic tactical motifs. When you attack a piece, it's pinned if it can't move without exposing a more valuable piece.

In the diagram above, the rook pins the bishop to the king. White will capture it for free on his next move. When the target of a pin is the king, we call it an absolute pin, because it's illegal for the pinned piece to leave the line of fire.

In the second example the bishop pins the rook to the queen. It's legal for the rook to move... but that would be a big blunder! When the target of a pin is not the king we call it a relative pin. Calculating the outcome of a relative pin tends to be harder than calculating the outcome of an absolute pin.

Notice that only the bishop, the rook, and the queen can pin!

How to Spot More Pins

Study tactical puzzles and games involving pins.
Note which squares a pinned piece isn't defending due to the pin.
Note that pinned pieces are immbolized and thus vulnerable to attack.
Look for tactics whenever pieces are on the same rank, file, or diagonal.
Look for missed pins in your games to identify your blindspots.

Challenge Yourself

These practical tactical positions are lifted directly from my games. Try to find the best move. When you're done, review the answer key below.

Answer Key

#1: Bb5! pins and wins the Black queen.

#2: Black had attempted to shake-off the pin with ...h6, but this runs into trouble. Nxf6+! gxf6 Bxh6 wins a pawn and shatters Black's kingside.

#3: Nxf6+! and Black can't recapture because the g7-pawn is pinned.

#4: Qxb3! and Black can't recapture because the c4-pawn is pinned.

#5: ...e4! wins the pinned knight.

#6: ...Rg8! pins and wins the bishop.

#7: Bxg7? Rg8! loses the bishop. Just about anything else, even Kg2, is better.

Conclusion

If you got most of these, give yourself a pat on the back. But remember... in real games nobody tells you when there's a tactic. So if you want to defeat your opponents with a tactical flourish (and avoid the same fate yourself!) you should study pins from a tactics book until they become second nature to you.

My New Bookcase

2008-09-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to finally have a place to store all my chess books and magazines. :)

How's my studying going? Not so good. After work, exercise, and playing with / reading to my daughter I haven't had the energy to dig into tactics problems. For the past week I've focused more on productivity and eating right, and now my doctor wants me to run some tests for diabetes, thyroid issues, etc.

Studying chess has its ups and downs. I hope to hit my stride again soon!

McCain / Palin 2008

2008-09-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

I believe in John McCain and Sarah Palin. I enjoy discussing chess more than politics, but America matters, so please take a moment to read this.

Why is McCain / Palin better for our nation than Obama / Biden?

• McCain puts our nation first.

John McCain repeatedly requested dangerous assignments during the Vietnam Conflict. When the deck of the USS Forestal was ablaze, he risked his life trying to save a fellow pilot and was struck by shrapnel in the process.

On his 23rd air combat mission over North Vietnam his A-4 Skyhawk was struck by a missile. His bones were broken, he was stabbed with bayonets, he was taken prisoner and tortured by the North Vietnamese.

After his captors realized he was the son of an admiral, they offered to send him home for propaganda purposes. He refused... until every serviceman who had been captured before him was released. He remained a prisoner of war for years. The torture was so bad it caused his hair to turn white.

What sacrifices have Barrack Obama made for our country? Why should we believe Obama even gives a damn about this country?

• McCain can unite our country.

Believe it or not, John McCain was able to put the past behind him and work with Democrats to restore diplomatic relations with Vietnam. John has an unusual history as a maverick, supporting the best ideas of both parties. His government would include Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

In 2007 Obama voted according to the "party line" 88% of the time; he also had the most liberal voting record of any senator.

• McCain is intelligent and experienced.

It's obvious to most Americans that McCain has a huge edge in the experience department. Over 26 years in the senate plus 22 years in the military.

In the words of Hillary Clinton, "Sen. McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign. I will bring a lifetime of experience. And Sen. Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002."

Sarah Palin has more executive experience than Obama. In her role as governor, she also has earned an impressive 80% approval rating.

i lived on the Moon

2008-08-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

I just completed chapter one of My System. Since I spend at least an hour studying and writing about each page, that's a big milestone for me. The blog where I write about it, Strategy of 'My System', has somehow become #2 on chess.com.

Fellow bloggers have been instrumental in helping to guide and correct me, but chess improvement is still primarily a solitary, difficult pursuit.

I know my skills become stronger everyday...

tbonius-likesforests.pgn

And yet, what great lessons do I take from this game?

The restraining side is particularly vulnerable to an advance at the very moment he seeks to execute. And it's not enough to simply calculate whether the advancing pawn can be safely captured. We must look at what new lines are opened by both the advance and the capture, and what are the consequences of that.

It sounds trite. I have so much to learn.

[The photo is from i lived on the Moon, an incredible 5-minute short. I recommend downloading the high-resolution version and watching it.]

A treacherous path

2008-08-17T09:57:00.001-07:00

I'm gearing up for my next tournament, the Exchange Bank Fall Classic G/60 in Santa Rosa, CA on September 27th. I'm confident I would destroy the Booster (U1500) section so I'll play up in the Reserve (U1900) where I'll face stiff competition.

Playing up I won't win and I won't recoup my travel expenses. It's no wonder many choose to sandbag instead of playing up a section or two. But I want to play interesting games and improve, not win more money and trophies.

Training Schedule

Tactics	30m	M-F	Study Chess Tactics for Champions
Exercise	30m	M-F	20m elliptical & 10m weights
Endgames	30m	M-F	Study 100 Endgames You Must Know
Openings	30m	M-F	Study The Scandinavian
Strategy	240m	Sun	Write Strategy of 'My System' articles

Bookshelf

My goal is to maintain and slightly improve my tactical, endgame, and opening skill while working aggressively to acquire new strategic knowledge.

U1600: 1st Place & Perfect Score

2008-08-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

I won 1st place in my U1600 G/30 tourney this weekend with a perfect score. But to be honest, I'm disappointed with my performance.

When the games turned sharp, I danced the tactical dance, and my opponents were left panting on the floor wondering what had hit them. But some of the games were not sharp! Then I had to take risks and winning was tough.

Here's arguably my worst game:

u1600.pgn

Fellow bloggers, where did I go wrong?

1. My opening is all wrong if I suspected White was tactically weaker and I should take up the Reverse English (a.k.a. the Sicilian).

or

2. My opening is fine. There were better ways to play this position that I missed (and you will be nice enough to point out)!

or

3. You call that chess??

likesforests vs likesforests Sr.

2008-08-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

I played my Dad a brief match and scored +4 -0 =0. That's not surprising since he only plays a few games per year, but what did surprise me is that it takes me longer to beat laymen now than a year or two ago. I'm certain I haven't gotten worse. I think I've just gotten better at determining whether an attack is sound and at restricting counterplay.

I can't wait for Sunday, my next USCF tournament. :)

me-vs-dad.pgn

Procrastination

2008-07-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

"Procrastination is our substitute for immortality; we behave as if we have no shortage of time." -- from Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel

What have I accomplished this week?

Chess Tactics for Champions - I finished the book. Oddly, according to CTS, I am no tactically stronger than I was 6 months ago. I've started another circle through Heisman.

My System - I finished section 1.4. It's easy to quote maxims, but it takes real study to figure out why 'an exchange followed by a gain of tempo' works wonders in the Marshall, is only so-so in the Gruenfeld, and fails miserably in the English. But the end product is a maxim I can actually apply. And hopefully a better lesson. :)

Check out my new Strategy of My System series!

likesforests takes a beating:

White to move and win. Do you see White's best move?

likesforests-punished.pgn

Only a person who risks is free.

2008-07-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

What am I up to?

I plan to enter an August 10th U1600 G/30 tournament. I probably won't win, but it should give me a better idea how strong I am OTB.

I've solved 495/620 tactics in Chess Tactics for Champions.

I've gone through ~16 games in my openings

I'm proud to present a new series I've been writing, The Strategy of My System, intended for players rated 1400-2000.

It premiers this Friday. :)

I've been playing a 15+10 every day or two. I think it's good time management practice for the tourney and it keeps my focused on my real weaknesses.

In the game below 11...b4? was a poor move. The game became sharp, but I was very happy I managed to hold everything together tactically. :)

nn-likesforests.pgn

A New Target

2008-07-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

Local Club Championships
Sept 25 to Nov 6, G/120, 7 rounds

My goal is to train and take my time to avoid simple, 1-2 move tactical errors. If I succeed at that, I expect my provisional rating to climb about 200 points.

Training Schedule

Cardio	45m	M, W, F	Hike 3 miles, use an elliptical, or swim
	15m	T,R	Use an elliptical
Weights	30m	T, R	Alternate between heavy loads & functional lifting
Tactics	45m	daily	Circle through my tactics books
Openings		daily	Study games in my openings with any remaining time

I removed advanced endgame books from my study tracker. You could become a GM without ever reading "Secrets of Rook Endings", and I got the optimal result from every endgame I played in the tournament, so that's not my weakness.

Books

Tactics, tactics, tactics. As long as I don't fall down a rabbit hole, I should have no problem climbing up the rating ladder to a more respectable level.

These opening books are not new, but I've used them more as reference books and never deeply studied all the games they contain.

World Open Victory!

2008-07-07T09:47:00.001-07:00

With 5 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses I clinched 5th place at the World Open 2008.

It was satisfying. I do not suck at chess. I played Russians, Chinese, Americans, and an Indian... older folks with experience on their side, younger folks with sharp wits, and one coached by NM Dan Heisman. I held my own.

Being in Philadelphia for the 4th of July with blunderprone, chessloser, Ivan, and Shelly (superknight42) rocked. They're wonderful.

But I was already brooding as I rode the shuttle back to the airport. I played every ending correctly. But I didn't take 4th because of a psychological error. And I didn't take 3rd due to tactical mistakes. And I didn't take 1st or 2nd because those players knew their openings.

The cycle begins anew. I will train away my weaknesses, and next time my opponents will have twice as much reason to fear me.

[ Note: Thanks to everyone who wished me luck. The confidence I gained from those encouragements really helped, especially after the first loss. :) ]

World Open, Game #4

2008-07-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

Being in Philadelphia for the Fourth of July and the World Open has been a blast and educational. I'm scoring 2.5/4.0... I do ok in the opening and ending, but my tactics remind me of Polly's Wacky Wednesdays. Round 4 put me up against a Russian in his late 50s. It was a pulse-pounder... I made a blunder but set a counter-trap and held on like grim death.

Results:

5.0/8.0

Round 1: Win
Round 2: Loss
Round 3: Win
Round 4: Draw
Round 5: Loss
Round 6: Win
Round 7: Win
Round 8: Draw
Round 9: ?

At the World Open July 3rd - July 6th

2008-07-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

"The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there... and still on your feet." -- Stephen King

How to Recognize Me

Unrated section (3-day schedule).
I'm male, big & tall but in shape, late 20s.
I'll be wearing Hawaiin-style shirts, shorts, and brown shoes.

E-mail

Results:

2.0/3.0 in 5th place

Round 1: Win
Round 2: Loss
Round 3: Win

Will it be Jekyll or Hyde at the World Open?

2008-06-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

It's only a week or so until I fly to Philadelphia for the World Open.

My practice games make me wonder whether it'll be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde who shows up. Here are a couple games I played completely differently this week.

The first is a correspondence game; I clinched a perfect score in round one in the 1st chess.com 1400-1800 correspondence tournament. After 9.Nc3 I've won the opening, 13.e4! is the winning tactic, and I convert effortlessly.

The second is a game I played at G/15 time controls. Again I win the opening and convert effortlessly, but only after 12.Nd5?! and 13.Ne3?, tactical blunders that would've landed me in hot water against a stronger (or luckier) opponent.

Which player will show up at the World Open?

Tourney Victories & World Open Training

2008-06-15T23:48:00.000-07:00

Tournament Victories

I scored a perfect 8 out of 8 points in the first round of the 1st chess.com correspondence tournament (U1800 section), raising my rating to 1873.

Despite being one of the favorites, I will probably withdraw. I want to become a master of OTB chess, not correspondence chess, and subsequent rounds will probably require more analysis time to score.

World Open Training

I don't think my training regimen can really be called intense training, but here are the things I've done to improve my chances:

Openings - Refined my White opening repertoire based on lines I've had trouble with, books, master games, and statistics. Played and analyzed 16 10+5 games to get comfortable with it.

Experience - There's no substitute, but I read the rulebook, familiarized myself with my clock, played a few locals OTB, and have gotten useful insights from cratercat and polly on what to expect.

Diet & Physical Training - I am still boxing, swimming, hiking, etc. daily and eating right to get in better shape.

Endgames - Reviewed Q v K, R v K, B+B v K, B+N vs K for speed & K+P v K, K+2P v K, K+P vs K+P, K+2P vs K+P for accuracy.

Strategy - I've been reading up on passed pawns, pawn chains, weak pawns, and pawn breaks, especially from My System.

Tactics - I've reviewed sections of CT-B and Heisman's tactics book.

In the final two weeks my focus will be on refining my Black repertoire and avoiding basic tactical or endgame errors.

Can't Wait!

BluderProne & BlunderDaughter, ChessLoser, and SuperKnight42 will be there. It will be fun to meet some fellow bloggers. :)

BlunderProne vs Polly

2008-06-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

I know I'm supposed to be studying, but I took a break last night to watch an entertaining battle between BlunderProne and Polly. The game and my commentary follow.

A Posse Ad Esse

2008-06-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

World Open 2008 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania June 30th - July 6th

I won't be blogging this month. I'm training intensely for my first OTB chess tournament, the World Open 2008. Blunderprone and Blunderdaughter will also be there. I think I'm a competitive player, so I intend to walk away with a trophy and maybe some prize money.

Charity

2008-06-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

Our friend Polly, who apparently runs a marathon faster than me, is raising money to help the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. They do good things so please make a small donation.

Polly recently received a letter from Vici, whose daughter has Leukemia, and is someone she knows that the society has been helping:

Simone is finishing her first year of Elementary School in kindergarten. She loves it. Luckily, she stayed mostly healthy and missed little school due to sickness...

Yesterday marked the 2 year anniversary date for Simone's diagnosis and with a little more than 8 weeks to go, she is excited about not taking med's everyday! Excited about not having to go to the hospital for treatment monthly.

She still loves to play with her friends, is very social and enjoys every moment...

I'm losing to cratercat.

2008-05-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

This may turn into my first correspondence chess loss, and I'm annoyed. You see, when our game began the board resembled the diagram on the left, but after a series of fortunate moves by my opponent and unfortunate moves by myself, it has come to more closely resembles the one on the right.

(Please offer no evaluations or move suggestions as the game is in progress.)

"Fight to the Death. No game was ever won/drawn by resigning too soon. In contrast, with dogged, resourceful defence you can hope for the opponent to show signs of fatigue" -- Karsten Mueller in "How to Play Chess Endgames"

He presents N.Paglietti-C.Garcia Palermo, Italian Ch (Montebelluna) 2006:

It's Black to move. White played 61.h5? and now Black draws with 61...Ne2+! followed by 62...Nxc3 63.Kxc3= as White has the wrong bishop for his pawn.

"Art of Fighting Back - When you find yourself in a very bad position, don't set one final cheap trap and expect to resign if the opponent sees it! Instead, hold on as if your life depended on it. How to do this? Simple: play the move that you would hate to see if you were in your opponent's shoes! We all can identify with this; we all have been in wonderful positions where we know we should win but desperately hope the opponent doesn't play one particular move because it will make us work forever to score the full point. This type of grim goal-line stand unbalances the opponent psychologically. It tires him and can often lead to blunders that turn a hopeless cause into a victorious celebration." -- Jeremy Silman in "How to Reassess Your Chess"

Silman's example is Silman-Ruth Haring, San Francisco 1981.

1... Qe4+ 2. Re3 Qb4+ 3. Qd2 Qb1+ 4. Ke2 Rd4 5. Qe1 Qb5+ 6. Kf3 Qxc5 7. Kg3 Qd5 8. h6 Bxh6 9. Rxe5 Rc3+ 10. Qxc3 Qxe5+ 11. Kg2 Be4+ 12. Nf3 Bxf3+ 13. Qxf3 Rf4 14. Qe2 Qd5+ 15. Kg3 Qb3+ 16. Rf3 Rxf3+ 17. Qxf3 Qe6 18. Qf6+ 1-0

Silman gives 3 pieces of advice:

1. Avoid passivity and counter-attack. To do this you must have a favorable imbalance. Do everything possible to create one--even sacrificing material.

2. The best reaction to an attack on the wing is a counter-attack in the center.

3. If you have less space trade pieces.

Some of this advice doesn't ring true. cratercat will never get fatigued, and neither of us is exactly cramped. But, oh yes, I will put up a fight!

[Update 06/04: Cratercat-likesforests ended as follows: 19... h6! 20. Nh5 Qg5 21. Qxg5 hxg5 22. f4?! Bb5! 23. Rfc1 gxf4 24. Nxf4 Bc4 25. Rd1 Rfe8 26. a3 e5 27. dxe5 Rxe5 28. Rd7 a6 29. Rc1 Ra5! 30. Re1 {Draw by agreement--to train for the world open.} 1/2-1/2]

The Exchange Slav: The Boring Way

2008-05-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

1.d4 d5 2.c4 d6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nc6

This is the tabiya (common starting position) for the Exchange Slav.

Statistics: +21%, =58%, -21%

The position is symmetric. Only 2 pawns are off the board, but an open c-file means the rooks will likely be traded off early. The better player has fewer opportunities to outplay their opponent than in many positions. Still, some interesting games begin here.

6.Bf4 Bf5 7.e3 e6 8.Bd3 Bxd3 9.Qxd3

Statistics: +2%, =94%, -4%

8.Bd3, exchanging off light-squared bishops, is White's most direct attempt at a draw. This is a sensible line if Black is a stronger player.

Black often agrees to the draw by playing:

9...Bd6 10.Bxd6 Qxd6

Statistics: +1%, =98%, -1%

For example:

Kramnik-Anand, Groningen 1993

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bd3
Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O 1/2-1/2

Movsesian-Svidler, Shenyang 2000

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bd3
Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O 1/2-1/2

Dorfman-Grischuck, Mallorca 2004

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bd3
Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rac1 Rfc8 13. h3 h6 1/2-1/2

DaDaPiSkReMa

2008-05-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

Someone compared the chess blogosphere to a cult. It's true we praise Caissa, the Goddess of Chess. And sometimes she demands expiation, the sacrifice of countless hours studying tactics and positions from master games.

Oh, and I chant: "DaDaPiSkReMa, DaDaPiSkReMa, DaDaPiSkReMa".

Da	Double Attacks
Da	Discovered Attacks
Pi	Pins
Sk	Skewers
Re	Removing the Guard
Ma	Mating Patterns

There are two basic ways to solve a tactic:

A. Recognizing the idea
B. Calculating

Recognizing the Idea - We often do this automatically. I know when pieces are lined up for a skewer or fork, or there's a potential double bishop sacrifice. But sometimes we look at a position and have no clue.

That's when going through a checklist of tactical motifs may help us find the idea, and the mnemonic DaDaPiSkReMa helps to remember that checklist.

Calculating - The trick is to consider checks, threats, and captures in that order. If there are few forcing moves, sometimes we can skip finding the idea and simply calculate the solution. But in complex positions we usually have to find the idea and then calculate.

Erik e-mailed me and asked me to take up editing tactics for chess.com. I was about to decline, when I realized the role matches my current objectives. I receive dozens of computer-selected key positions from master games every day and have to fully understand them before editing them for clarity and to give the losing side a strong defense.

Anti-Moscow Gambit: 12.f3!?

2008-05-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

A recent game in the Semi-Slav / Anti-Moscow 12.f3!? line.

[White "Bacrot"]
[Black "Dreev"]
[Site "Poikovsky"]
[Date "2005.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. h4 g4 11. Ne5 h5 12. f3 $5 { White wastes no time tearing open the kingside.} Nbd7 13. fxg4 hxg4 {Black's g-pawn is weak. It seems likely that White can regain the gambited pawn in this line.} (13... Nxe5 14. Bxe5 hxg4 15. O-O {Transposing to the mainline.} (15. Bxg4 {Another option. Since this line gives White more interesting options, Black should probably stick to the text.})) 14. O-O $6 { Doesn't this make White's h-pawn hard to defend?} Nxe5 (14... -- 15. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 16. e5) 15. Bxe5 Nd7 $1 { Sac'ing the exchange... Dreev has done quite well with this line.} ({ Passive play here has been punished severely...} 15... Be7 16. Qd2 $1 Rxh4 17. Qf4 $1 $16 {Nechaev-Maksimenko, Alushta 1999. White has a devastating attack and is likely to convert.}) 16. Bxh8 Qxh4 17. Bxg4 (17. Be5 $2 Nxe5 $1 18. dxe5 $2 Bc5+ $1 {And mate to follow.}) 17... Qxh8 18. e5 $1 {Well calculcated.} O-O-O $1 $146 (18... Nxe5 $6 19. dxe5 Bc5+ 20. Rf2 Qxe5 21. Qe2 Qxe2 22. Bxe2 Rd8 23. Kf1 Bxf2 24. Kxf2 {A tough endgame in Kasparov-Dreev, Moscow 2004. Although Kasparov won and this line is now frowned on, I doubt many experts or even masters have the technique to convert this position as White.}) 19. Qe2 c5 20. d5 Nxe5 21. dxe6 Nxg4 22. Qxg4 Qd4+ 23. Qxd4 cxd4 24. Nxb5 fxe6 25. Rac1 Bh6 26. Rxc4+ Kb8 27. Re1 Be3+ 28. Rxe3 dxe3 29. Rd4 Rf8 30. Rd1 a6 31. Nc3 Rf2 32. Rd6 e5 33. Re6 Rf5 34. Rg6 Rf2 35. Rg5 Rxb2 36. Rxe5 Rxg2+ 1/2-1/2

It's important to remember 15...Nd7!, as it would be hard to find over the board. Both 18...O-O-O and 18...Nxe5 afford Black good chances.

Anti-Moscow Gambit: 15.Bg3!?

2008-05-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

A recent game in the Semi-Slav / Anti-Moscow 15.Bg3!? line.

[White "Sakaev, Konstantin"]
[Black "Borovikov, Vladislav"]
[Site "Halkidiki"]
[Date "2002.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 {Semi-Slav} 5. Bg5 h6 {Semi-Slav / Moscow} 6. Bh4 {Semi-Slav / Moscow / Anti-Moscow Gambit} dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. h4 g4 11. Ne5 h5 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Qc2 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bg7 {So far, everything has been according to theory we've seen before...} 15. Bg3 $5 $146 {Sakaev's novelty! White is willing to sacrifice another pawn to play e5 and Ne4 without delay.} b4 $6 {Borovikov's reaction is unfortunate. It has been universally accepted since this game that immediately accepting the gambit is the only way to proceed. And yet his move is logical: (1) After the c3 knight retreats, it won't end up on its desired e4 square, (2) he still gets to take the d-pawn, and (3) Sakaev probably spent more time analyzing the gambit accepted than the gambit declined.} 16. Na4 $8 Qxd4 17. Bxc4 (17. Rad1 $2 Qxe4 $1) 17... c5 $2 {c5 is actually a losing move, because it allows White's bishop onto the a4-e8 diagonal.} (17... Qxe4 $2 18. Bd3 Qd5 19. Nc5 $1 Bc8 20. Rfd1 O-O 21. Bg6 $18) (17... a5 $1 { Giving the queen the a7 retreat square in the case of Rd1 and protecting b4.}) 18. e5 Qe4 $6 {Trying to force the trade of queens seems prudent as White is building up an attack, but this move isn't sound and Sakaev found the refutation.} ({But other moves also lose...} 18... Nd7 19. Rfd1 Qe4 20. Qxe4 Bxe4 21. Bb5 $18) 19. Bb5+ $1 Kf8 20. Qxc5+ $1 {The point. White's checks have avoided the queen trade yet still left the f6 knight en prise. Black's position is lost.} Kg8 21. f3 $1 {(else Qxg2#).} gxf3 22. exf6 { White wins the knight.} Bxf6 23. gxf3 Qg6 24. Kh2 Rc8 {Desperation.} 25. Qe3 Rc2+ 26. Rf2 {Game over.} 1-0

The key is to accept the gambit. After 15...Qxd4! 16.Rfd1 Qc5!N Black went on to win in Grischuck-Svidler, Mexico City 2007 and 15...Qxd4! 16.Rfd1 16...Qb6 has also done well.

Anti-Moscow Gambit: 15.Rad1!?

2008-05-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

A recent model game in the Semi-Slav / Anti-Moscow 15.Rad1!? line.

[White "Aronian"]
[Black "Anand"]
[Site "Mexico City"]
[EventDate "2007.09.14"]

{Anand's victory over Aronian shows how dynamic the Semi-Slav can be.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 {Semi-Slav} 5. Bg5 h6 {Semi-Slav / Moscow} 6. Bh4 {Semi-Slav / Moscow / Anti-Moscow Gambit} dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. h4 { This is the main move, coaxing Black to advance (overextend?) his pawns.} g4 11. Ne5 h5 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Qc2 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bg7 { This game demonstrates model development for both sides.} 15. Rad1 $5 { White prepares for Bg3 by adding a new protector to the d-pawn.} O-O 16. Bg3 { Bg3 threatens e5 (when Black's bishop has no scope) and Ne4 (a centrally posted knight).} Nd7 {Anticipating e5 and planning to meet it with f5.} 17. f3 {Shifting to a new strategy: tear open the kingside where Black just castled.} c5 $5 $146 {In yet another game, this pawn thrust at a key moment is decisive!} 18. dxc5 Qe7 $1 19. Kh1 $2 {Aronian replies passively. This is a good reply to the usual 17...Qb6, but it's not a good reply to 17...c5!?N. Aronian may have played this on autopilot. It's amazing how subtle a mistake can be fatal at the super-GM level.} (19. Bd6 $5 Qxh4 20. fxg4 hxg4 21. Rf4 Nf6 22. Nxb5 Bh6 $13 {White regains the pawn, but this is a tough position to play.}) (19. Rd6 $5 Bxc3 20. Qxc3 Rac8 21. c6 Rxc6 22. Qd4 $14 {looks more promising.}) 19... a6 20. a4 Bc6 21. Nd5 $5 {A tricky sacrifice. An IM commenting on this position called it a blunder, a GM felt these complications were White's best chance to keep his head above water. The rest of this game is not so important theoretically but very complicated and exciting!} (21. fxg4 hxg4 22. Bxg4 Nxc5) 21... exd5 22. exd5 Be5 23. f4 Bg7 24. dxc6 Nxc5 25. Rd5 Ne4 26. Be1 Qe6 27. Rxh5 f5 28. Kh2 Rac8 29. Bb4 Rfe8 30. axb5 axb5 31. Re1 Qf7 32. Rg5 Nxg5 33. fxg5 Rxc6 34. Bf1 Rxe1 35. Bxe1 Re6 36. Bc3 Qc7+ 37. g3 Re3 38. Qg2 Bxc3 39. bxc3 f4 40. Qa8+ Kg7 41. Qa6 fxg3+ 0-1

This game highlights model development in the mainline for both sides.

Anti-Moscow Gambit: 9th Moves

2008-05-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

The Anti-Moscow tabiya is the position where games and theory really begin:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5

Black has an extra pawn. But White is better developed, controls the center, and Black's advanced wing pawns may prove to be over-extended. In this sort of position you either win or lose... rarely do games fizzle out to a draw.

9.Be2 - This is intuitive and the mainline. Before White initiates hostilities, he ensure that his king is able to castle at the first sign of danger.

9.a4? or 9.b3? - An a4 advance is strong in the Slav, but both a4 and b3 are losing in the Semi-Slav. After 9...Bb4!, White must spend time defusing the pin and protecting his a- and e-pawns, which gives Black time to develop.

9.h4 or 9.Qc2 - These transpose to the Be2 mainlines after 9.h4 g4 10.Ne5 h5 11.Be2 Bb7 or 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Be2 .

9.Ne5!? Δ 10.h4 - Black can no longer answer 10.h4 with 10...g4 without losing a pawn. Black has a couple answers:

Black's simplest answer is the direct 9...h5. In Aronian-Anand, Mexico City 2007 the game went 9...h5 10.h4 g4 11.Be2 Bb7, transposing to the mainline.

Sharper is 9...Bb7!?. Sasikiran-Stefanova, Zafra 2007 went 9...Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Nxg4 Nxg4 12.Qxg4 Qxd4. See annotated game below for details:

[White "Sasikiran, Krishnan"]
[Black "Stefanova, Antoaneta"]
[Site "Zafra"]
[Date "2007.03.22"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 {Semi-Slav} 5. Bg5 h6 {Semi-Slav / Moscow} 6. Bh4 {Semi-Slav / Moscow / Anti-Moscow Gambit} dxc4 7. e4 $8 {Threatening e4-e5.} g5 8. Bg3 $8 b5 {This is the Anti-Moscow tabiya. Black is up a pawn, but his flank pawns may prove overextended. Whitei s better developed and enjoys better central control.} 9. Ne5 $5 {A sharp move! In the mainline, Black answers h4 with g4, but now that  the knight covers g4, that would hang the g-pawn.} (9. Be2 Bb7 10. h4 g4 11. Ne5 h5 {The mainline.}) 9... Bb7 $5 {Black's reply is also sharp. Antoaneta ignores the threat and goes about her developing her pieces to their usual squares as if Ne5 hadn't been
played.} (9... h5 10. h4 g4 11. Be2 Bb7 {Transposing to the mainline.}) 10. h4 g4 11. Nxg4 Nxg4 12. Qxg4 Qxd4 {After this recapture, Black's still up a pawn.} 13. Rd1 {White forces Black to spend a tempo moving her queen.} Qg7 { Black forces White to spend a tempo moving her queen.} 14. Qf4 Na6 $1 { A critical move, preventing Qc7.} 15. a4 $2 Bb4 $1 {The typical way to punish an a-pawn advance. At this point, Black has a clear advantage.} 16. Be2 { An admission that White should have castled early with 9.Be2. This position is not as benign as it looks. Do you see atactic?} O-O $1 (16... Bxc3+ $2 17. bxc3 Qxc3+ {While this tactical sequence may seem to win a pawn, it's really a clever trick that allows the dangerous penetrations Qd6 or Qxh6.}) 17. O-O Nc5 18. Qe3 Nb3 (18... Bxc3 $1 19. Qxc5 Bxb2) 19. axb5 Bc5 20. Qf4 cxb5 21. Nxb5
Nd4 22. Nxd4 Bxd4 23. Bxc4 e5 24. Qf3 {Sasikiran's played some tremendous moves, going from an opening disadvantage to an advantage in the space of a few moves. The rest of this game is very exciting but probably not so important from an opening theory perspective.} Kh8 25. Rxd4 exd4 26. Qf4 Rae8 27. f3 Bc8 28. Rd1 Be6 29. Bf1 Rc8 30. h5 Qg5 31. Qxg5 hxg5 32. Bd6 Rg8 33. b4 g4 34. f4 g3 35. Bc5 Rg4 36. f5 Bb3 37. Rxd4 a5 38. Rd3 a4 39. Re3 Rd8 40. Be2 Rgg8 41. Kf1 Rd2 42. Rc3 Kh7 43. Ke1 Rc2 44. Rxc2 Bxc2 45. Bc4 Bb3 46. Bxb3 axb3 47. Kd2 Re8 48. Kc3 Rxe4 49. Kxb3 Re2 50. b5 Rxg2 51. b6 Re2 52. b7 Re8 53. Ba7 g2 54. Kc4 f6 55. Kd5 Kh6 56. Kd6 Kxh5 57. Kd7 Rg8 58. Ke6 Kg4 $4 59. Kxf6 Rb8 60. Kg6 Rxb7 61. Bd4 Rd7 62. Bf2 Rd2 63. Ba7 Rd7 64. Be3 Kf3 65. Bc5 Rd5 66. Ba7 Ra5 67. Bg1 Ra1 68. Bc5 g1=Q+ 69. Bxg1 Rxg1+ 70. Kh7 Kg4 71. f6 Rf1 72. Kg7 1/2-1/2

9.e5!? - Forcing 9...Nd5, and now it's White who must be careful. In Utkin-Potyavin, St. Petersburg 2004 after 10.Be2? Bb4 11.Rc1 Qa5 12.O-O Nxc3 13.bxc3 Bxc3 Black had a winning advantage. 10.Nd2! is accurate.

[White "Lajthajm, Borko"]
[Black "Aleksandrov, Aleksej"]
[Site "Budva"]
[Date "2003.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 {Semi-Slav} 5. Bg5 h6 { Semi-Slav / Moscow} 6. Bh4 {Semi-Slav / Moscow / Anti-Moscow Gambit} dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. e5 $5 Nd5 10. Nd2 Bb7 11. Be2 Nd7 12. O-O Qb6 { Typical development.} 13. Nde4 c5 $1 {This is a really opportune time for this pawn break. Black can't continue to develop with Bg7 due to Nd6+, and he has no need to castle immediately with O-O-O.} 14. dxc5 Bxc5 15. a4 Nxc3 16. Nxc3 a6 17. axb5 axb5 18. Rxa8+ Bxa8 { All these liquidations should benefit Black, who is still up a pawn.} 19. Bf3 Bc6 $1 {A brilliant call. Bxf3 Qxf3 may liquidate even further, but it also cedes the a8-h1 diagonal to the enemy queen, leaving Black on the defensive for the near future. The rest of this game is probably not theoretically important.} 20. Qe2 Ke7 21. h4 Bd4 22. Bxc6 Qxc6 23. hxg5 hxg5 24. Rd1 Bxc3 25. bxc3 Nc5 26. Qe3 Rh5 27. Qe2 Rh8 28. Qg4 Ne4 29. Rd4 Qa8 $1 (29... Nxc3 30. Qxg5+ Kf8 31. Rd8+ $18) 30. Qf3 f5 (30... b4 $1 31. cxb4 c3 32. Rd1 c2 33. Re1 Rc8) 31. exf6+ Nxf6 32. Bd6+ Kf7 33. Qe2 Rh4 34. Rd1 Qh8 35. f3 Rh1+ 36. Kf2 Rxd1 37. Qxd1 Nd5 38. Bb4 Qh4+ 39. Kg1 Qf4 0-1

An early 9.Be2 is the most flexible move, but 9.e5!? and 9.Ne5!? are also interesting options White could use as a surprise.

Anti-Moscow Gambit: 7th Moves

2008-05-06T13:30:00.001-07:00

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4!?

The Anti-Moscow Gambit is a popular way for White to try to obtain an advantage against the Semi-Slav. 6...dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 is now forced, according to my openings books, but what if White deviates on move #7?

♦ 6...dxc4 7.a4?! - In the Slav, this is how White prevents Black from playing ...b5 and consolidating the extra pawn. That doesn't work in the Semi-Slav. 8.Bb4! 9.e3 (or most other moves) 9...b5 and due to the pin on the c3 knight, White can't prevent Black from consolidating the extra pawn.

[White "Arab, Adlane"]
[Black "Aleksandrov, Aleksej"]
[Site "Bled"]
[Date "2002.10.26"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e3 b5 8. a4 c6 9. Be2 Nbd7 10. O-O Qb6 11. Qc2 Bb7 12. Rfd1 a6 13. e4 O-O 14. h3 c5 15. dxc5 Qxc5 16. Bg3 e5 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. exd5 Rae8 19. axb5 axb5 20. Qf5 Bc8 21. d6 Re6 22. Qe4 Rfe8 23. Ra8 Nf6 24. Qc2 Qc6 25. Raa1 Bxd6 26. b3 Ne4 27. bxc4 b4 28. Rd3 Nc3 29. Ra5 Bb7 30. Bf1 Bc7 31. Qb2 0-1

When White castles, 10...Qb6 or 10...a6 are the proper counter-measures. While 10...Bxc3 also protects b5, that wastes the bishop pair.

After 13...O-O we have a position similar to the Semi-Slav : Anti-Moscow mainline except Black's king is tucked safely away behind his pawn wall and his dark-squared bishop is operating on a different diagonal.

Of course, White still had chances. 16.Bg3 threatened Bd6, provoking e5, allowing Nd5, provoking Nxd5, allowing exd5 (a passed pawn). Once the passer was squashed, White's hopes of a victory or draw were more or less extinguished.

♦ 6...dxc4 7.e3?! - After gambiting a pawn, White can't afford to play this slowly. Black doesn't have to weaken his kingside, and if/when White plays e3-e4, he's down a tempo.

[White "Cruz, Filemon"]
[Black "Granda Zuniga, Julio E"]
[Site "Arequipa"]
[Date "2003.12.06"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e3 b5 8. Be2 Bb7 9. O-O Be7 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. Bg3 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 O-O 13. Bf3 Qb6 14. a4 Rad8 15. Qc2 Nd5 16. a5 Qa6 17. Ne4 Nb4 18. Qe2 Nd3 19. Ng3 c5 20. Bxb7 Qxb7 21. Qg4 g6 22. h4 Kh7 23. h5 g5 24. f4 f5 25. Qe2 gxf4 26. Bxf4 Rg8 27. Rf3 cxd4 28. Raf1 Rg4 29. Bxh6 Kxh6 30. exd4 Qd7 31. Rxf5 Rxg3 32. Qd2+ Bg5 0-1

Again, after 12...O-O White has minimal compensation for the pawn. White's seemingly half-hearted attempts to crack open Black's kingside share blame for the loss.

♦ 6...dxc4 7.Bxf6? - Trash. White doesn't save his pawn with 6.Bxf6, then gives up his bishop pair with 7.Bxf6.

♦ 6...dxc4 7.Qa4? - Trash. Now 7...b5! comes with tempo.

♦ 6...dxx4 7.Ne4?! - White's playing in an aggressive manner... but again... no pawns on e4 and g5 mean inadequate compensation for the pawn.

[White "Rogule, Laura"]
[Black "Le Kieu Thien, Kim"]
[Site "Mallorca"]
[Date "2004.10.28"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 dxc4 5. Ne5 e6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 b5 8. g4 Nbd7 9. Bg2 Bb7 10. Nxc6 Qb6 11. d5 Bc5 12. O-O O-O 13. b4 cxb3 14. Qxb3 Rac8 15. e4 Nxg4 16. Rad1 Bxc6 17. dxc6 Nde5 18. h3 Ng6 19. Bg3 N4e5 20. c7 Qxc7 21. Kh1 a6 22. Ne2 Qb6 23. f4 Nc4 24. f5 Nge5 25. f6 g6 26. Bf4 Be3 27. Bh2 Rfd8 28. Nf4 Rxd1 29. Rxd1 Nd2 30. Qb2 Nec4 31. Qc2 Qd4 32. Ne2 Qxf6 33. e5 Qe7 34. Ng3 Rd8 35. Re1 Qh4 36. Re2 Bf4 37. Be4 Nxe4 38. Nxe4 Bxh2 39. Nf6+ Kg7 40. Kxh2 Nxe5 41. Rf2 Rd3 42. Ne8+ Kh8 0-1

After beginning as a Slav, the game transposed into an Anti-Moscow Gambit. Both sides played some inaccuracies in the opening--perhaps it's neither player's pet line... but after 12.O-O White had an uphill battle for the same reason as in the previous games. White fought back tenaciously and was getting close to a draw until around move 21.

So 7.e4! is White's only real move, not only staking a claim to the center, but also forcing Black to weaken his kingside after either 7...g5 8.Bg3 b5 or 7...b5 8.e5 g5.

Moscow Feeds Tournament Tactics

2008-05-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Moscow - I've been studying the Semi-Slav, Moscow variation. If you follow NIC or Informant, you know the Anti-Moscow is hot.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5
9.Be2 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Ne5 h5 12.O-O Nbd7 13.Qc2 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bg7 15.Bg3!?

White sacrificed a second pawn in Sakaev-Borovikov, Halkidiki tt 2002 (5), and since then, many master-level games have been probing this line.

It's very exciting and sharp.

Feeds - RSS can notify you whenever a chess blog has new content.

For example, in the RSS sidebar to the left I can tell temposchlucker, dk-transformation, and sir kaan kara all added new blog content for me to check out.

1. If you want to make this easy for your visitors, in your blogspot settings go to the "Site Feeds" tab and turn them on.

2. Download Sage to do the same thing yourself... it's free!

3. On a few blogs, such as dk-transform's, site feeds don't seem to work even though the owner enabled them. But I found a neat trick! You can still subscribe to them manually by visiting their site and adding "/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" to the URL. Eg:

http://dk-transformation.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Tournament - In the chess.com 1400-1800 correspondence tournament I've won the first eight games and I'm up a piece in my final two games.

I posted a sample game online. Should I be happy? A small part of me says yes, this proves I can play consistently. The rest says no, I've been wasting my time. I need to find strong opponents to play me OTB at tournament time controls. Perhaps I will drop out before round two and go visit one of the local chess clubs.

Tactics - I studied 19 hard tactics from the ChessCafe puzzle book and 64 easy tactics from Predator at the Chessboard.

After taking about 15 minutes/diagram to solve the 12 "Back Rank" puzzles from the ChessCafe Puzzle Book I figured I must be weak at that motif. I went ahead and solved 64 "Back Rank" puzzles from Predator at the Chessboard... almost instantly!

I'm not weak at back rank mates, or any other tactical motif. I'm weak at solving positions that combine two or more motifs--combinations.

So... I'm convinced that the ChessCafe Puzzle Book is right for me.

That's all for this week. Note the progress in my fitness counter. :)

Joining battle against windmills.

2008-04-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

To me, tactics are "tricks" that win the game, material, or secure a better position. They flow from a superior position and/or an opponent's blunders.

Black to move and win.

White to move and win.

Consistently spotting simple tactics, as in the positions above, have given me fairly consistent wins against players class C and below. But the tactics in master games are more complex and it often takes me 10-30 minutes to decipher a middlegame position.

How to assess 1.Ne6?

Is the sac 1.Nd5 sound?

An expert, by definition, can scalp a master every few games. So I better learn to decipher these positions much quicker. I'm retiring from Troyis (world-rank: #503) and diving into the ChessCafe Puzzle Book for "circular" tactical study.

Tempo hit on one prerequisite for consistent tactical study--Joy. The book's written by Karsten Mueller and based on recent master games, so that factor's there for me.

What else am I doing?

Endgames - Secrets of Rook Endings by Nunn & Comprehensive Chess Endings volume IV: Pawns by Averbakh... detailed works. I want to fully master these endings.

Strategy - My System + GM-RAM games.

Openings - Studying annotated master games from ChessPublishing.com.

Fitness - I began an intensive athletic training and nutrition program 3 weeks ago to give me more energy, stamina, focus, and discipline.

Play - Mostly correspondence for now... won 15/16 games. I need to return to live chess and seek out harder opponents once my repertoire's complete.

GM-RAM #1: Mayet-Anderssen, Berlin 1851

2008-04-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

Questions, comments, and especially criticism are welcome. You can also view this game and my commentary on an interactive board courtesy of chess.com.


[Event "Berlin -"]
[Site "31232"]
[Date "1851.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Karl Mayet"]
[Black "Adolf Anderssen"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C64"]
[Annotator "likesforests"]
[PlyCount "26"]
[EventDate "1851.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 $5 {The Classical Defense. With Bc5, Black chooses to counter-attack rather than defend the e5-pawn. This line dropped out of favor by the 1920s due to the discovery of 3...a6, but the line's still occasionally played even at the GM level. Fine calls this defense inadequate, because it fails to prevent White from building up a strong center.} 4. c3 { Planning d4.} (4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. Nxe5 $2 {The e5-pawn is not hanging, of course.} Qd4 $11) 4... Nf6 5. Bxc6 $6 $146 {Weak. c3 already prepared d4, and this doesn't really prepare Nxe5 because, now that Nf6 has been played, that can be met by Nxe4.} dxc6 6. O-O $6 {Pins are quite effective when the king has already castled on the same side as the pin. And they are extremely so when the bishop that would otherwise defuse the pin has been exchanged off.} Bg4 { Naturally!} (6... Nxe4 $2 { The e4-pawn is not hanging, but the tactics behind its safety are interesting.} 7. Qe2 $1 (7. Re1 $2 Bxf2+ $1 8. Kf1 Bxe1 $19) (7. Qe1 $2 Qd5 $15) 7... Qd5 8. c4) 7. h3 h5 $6 {A shocking sacrifice! This is also played frequently in the Exchange variation, and Nigel Davies suggests it in his video, "Dirty Tricks".} (7... Bh5 {Also reasonable, since g4 would further weaken White's kingside.}) 8. hxg4 $2 hxg4 9. Nxe5 $2 {Mayet was seeing such a sacrifice for the first time, but masters nowadays usually decline the sacrifice or return most of the material.} (9. Nh2 $2 g3 10. Nf3 gxf2+ 11. Rxf2 Nxe4 12. d4 Rh1+ 13. Kxh1 Nxf2+ $19) (9. Ne1 $2 Nxe4 10. Qxg4 Bxf2+ 11. Rxf2 Rh1+ 12. Kxh1 Nxf2+ $19) (9. d4 $3 gxf3 10. dxc5 $1 fxg2 11. Qxd8+ Rxd8 12. Kxg2 Nxe4 $16 { White gave back two pawns and ends up ahead one pawn with good chances.}) 9... g3 $6 (9... Nxe4 10. Qxg4 Bxf2+ 11. Rxf2 Rh1+ 12. Kxh1 Nxf2+ 13. Kg1 Nxg4 14. Nxg4 $17) 10. d4 $1 Nxe4 11. Qg4 $2 {White acts quickly to prevent Qh4, but this move allows a second devastating tactic which Anderssen has spotted!} (11. fxg3 $1 Nxg3 12. Re1 $1 Rh1+ $16 {White must walk a tight-rope but it's possible to withstand the attack and even come out on top with extremely precise play.}) 11... Bxd4 $6 (11... gxf2+ 12. Rxf2 Rh1+ 13. Kxh1 Nxf2+ 14. Kg1 Nxg4 15. Nxg4 $17) 12. Qxe4 {Mate-in-5.} (12. cxd4 gxf2+ 13. Rxf2 Rh1+ 14. Kxh1 Nxf2+ $19) 12... Bxf2+ 13. Rxf2 Qd1+ {Mate after 14.Rf1 Rh1+ 15.Kxh1 Qxf1#. Arpad Elo estimates that Andersson was the first chess master with a GM-level (2600) playing ability. It's clear that his strategic knowledge and  tactical vision was deeper than Mayet's. Mayet was a master, but his lifetime record against Anderssen was only +3-16=1.} 0-1

like a crazy metal sea

2008-03-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

But the cables held, and the Killing Floor rose and fell like a crazy metal sea. And Molly danced on it. -- William Gibson

I'm going to be eclectic this month. You've been warned. ;)

Openings - Last year, a top player looked at my games, and identified openings as one of my major weaknesses. I began this year by reading "Improve Your Opening Play", "The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings" and "The Chess Player's Handbook". Based on what I learned, I revamped my repertoire. I now play the English, Caro-Kann, and Semi-Slav. I'm adding depth to my repertoire as I play through annotated master games.

Visualization - I found a neat game for improving Knight Vision called "Troyis". I'm currently #603 in the world with a score of 953420 (Apr01). As a result, I calculate knight moves 4x faster, and my play has dramatically improved in positions with minor piece imbalances.

Endgames - I got the new copy of "Secrets of Pawn Endings" and I'm taking the Chess Mentor pawn endgame course. They're mostly review, but good exercise.

Strategy - I'm reading through "My System" by Aron Nimzowitsch. I'm up to chapter four and finding his take on things very enlightening.

Play - I entered the chess.com 1400-1800 correspondence tournament. So far, I'm in 2nd place out of my group of five. I have 4 wins & 4 games in progress. The top player has 5 wins & 3 games in progress. I am not happy with some of the moves I've played, convincing me to return to daily tactical study.

Tactics - I've been remiss at this for while, like always. Last week, I began solving problems again using the chess.com Tactics Trainer.

I've been recruited a few times now to create an endgame course, but I've declined. To do battle with experts I need to train hard. Do tactical puzzles. Face tough opponents.

See that look in their eyes, Rock? You gotta get that look back, Rock. Eye of the tiger, man. Eye of the tiger. -- Apollo Creed

Queen & Pawn vs Queen

2008-01-08T03:31:00.000-08:00

Q+P vs Q is more common than Q vs P, but it receives less coverage. That's probably because it's complex, and in fact humans knew little about this ending until the advent of tablebases revolutionized its study.

Rook and Knight pawns usually draw if:

the defending king reaches the promotion corner.
the defending king reaches the corner opposite the promotion corner.

Bishop and Central pawns usually win unless:

the defending king gets in front of or very near the pawn

The weaker side should get their king to a drawing zone, perpetually check the attacker, avoid queen exchanges, and avoid pawn advances.

The stronger side should prevent the defending king from reaching a drawing zone, move their king to the same rank or file as the attacking king to threaten a queen exchange, centralize their queen, and advance their pawn.

In the above diagram, both kings are on the same rank, so Black must be careful to avoid queen exchanges. 1...Kc3?? 2.Qe5+! Qxe5+ 3.Kxe5 +-

And that's what you need to know in a nutshell. :)

Further Resources:

How to Play Endgames Brilliantly

2008-01-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

View Article

What have I been up to? I read "Improve Your Opening Play" and "Dealing with d4 Deviations" over vacation. Opening study is one of the least rewarding types or study, but now I have a basic idea of what to do when faced with the Trompowsky, Torre, London, or Colle.

This week I've been reviewing pawn endings. I analyzed 632 K+P vs K, 505 K+P vs K+P, and 90 K+P vs K+2P endings as a refresher. Very entertaining. :)

Happy Holidays & Palm Hiarcs

2007-12-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

I bought a Palm Z22 and loaded Palm Hiarcs (ELO 2506), Morphy's 472 known games, and 24 issues of Endgame Corner. It's a great chess combo that lets me study while on the go.

Cost	$145
Battery Life (playing)	16 hours
Battery Life (analyzing)	8 hours
Weight	3.4 ounces

Its strength can be adjusted from 750 to 2500 FIDE in increments of 50. I tried the 750, 950, 1150, 1250, 1350, 1450, and 1550 levels and generally the mistakes looked intelligent from 950 upwards. Its opening book has 377,379 positions, although it lacks endgame tablebases.

How is its analysis? Palm Hiarcs solved 2/3 complex rook endgame positions in 2-3 seconds each. Fritz solved them all in about 20-30 seconds each.

And it can handle a large PGN database of master games. :)

Alternatives

Excalbur makes an $80 handheld chess computer, but it can't load PGN or PDF files or take notes and its analysis capabilities are only 2000 ELO. Fine for playing, though.

Monroi ($359) makes a device with even fewer features for more money. It only allows recording games, but it's allowed in official tournaments and instantly relays your games on its website. BDK says Monrois are evil. But Polly used one, and she doesn't seem evil to me.

Example Game

In this game I tell Hiarcs I will take 10sec/move (Casual Move Time Preset=10) and ask it to play at 1550 USCF strength (Elo Level=1450 Elo), taking into account my speed. Hiarcs plays a crisp middlegame with a few intelligent mistakes, but its endgame is noticeably weaker.

Is gxh6 safe?

2007-12-04T14:08:00.001-08:00

I'm Black and up exchange plus a pawn with a better structure in a G/10 game. I'm feeling confident that I'll score tonight, when my opponent's knight sacrifice stings me, like an angry date splashing champagne in my face. Can Black safely capture the knight?

In 45 seconds I worked out four variations:

A: 20...gxh6 21.Bxh6 Rfe8? 22.Qg4+ Kh8 22.Qg7#
B: 20...gxh6 21.Bxh6 Qc6! 22.Bxf8 Bxf8 -+
C: 20...gxh6 21.Be5 Qc6! -+
D: 20...gxh6 21.Qg4+! Kh8 22.Be5+ Bf6 23.Bxf6#

I played the safer Kh8 and won, but my calculation of variation D was wrong. Black actually had two strong defenses: 22...f6! and 21...Bg5 22.Bxg5 f5!

PCT Unit	Glenn	likesforests	Speedup
9 (mate-in-one)	22:20	19:50	-11%
17 (mate-in-two)	12:59	16:57	+31%
25 (mate-in-three)	30:34	43:43	+43%

For fun, I compared Glenn Wilson's tactical speed to my own. As you might guess, experts untangle such positions at least 50% faster. I guess what all this means I have much more training to do to reach expert strength. :)

Tough Games

2007-11-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

I decided to play in an "Open" section this weekend and scored 1.5/3.0. I guess that's not bad, but I think advancing beyond this pack will be difficult.

At the 1500-1650 level opponents generally hang onto material but often allow me to obtain a space advantage, half-open file, or a bind on one colour (which I can use to win). At the 1850-2050 level opponents seem to give away very little for free.

My 2-Week Plan:

Tactics - Continue training mating patterns

Calculation - Study 3 Queen's Indian or Nimzo-Indian games

Ideas - Play through 10 annotated games

Happy Thanskgiving!

2007-11-22T11:19:00.001-08:00

May your turkey taste delicious,
May you share your table with loved ones,
And may your belt fit tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A week ago Loomis crushed me in a couple Gruenfeld blitz games. I used to play anti-Gruenfeld lines, but my coach advised me that I undervalue control of the center, and that playing the mainlines would be educational.

I'm White, and my position is collapsing.

So I've been studying the Gruenfeld and sharpening my tactics. I also tried the Queen's Indian Defense for the first time in a correspondence game.

Actually, his goose was cooked even before the blunder 16.Ra2??. And I think 13...Bb4 might have been a stronger move than 13...O-O.

Coached

2007-11-12T14:33:00.000-08:00

In preparation for my first coaching session I played in a G/45 tournament, won all my games, and made no tactical blunders! So I'm feeling confident when I show my coach the toughest game of the match, which came down to a rook endgame.

Of course, they found a gazillion holes in my play. Apparently I know how to play endgames and how to use a space advantage... but I have a terrible sense of time and I don't calculate enough candidates... I play the first reasonable move. An interesting lesson. :)

Attacking on the e-file

2007-11-04T19:29:00.001-08:00

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Sometimes your opponent doesn't castle. How do you take advantage? A typical plan is to attack on the e-file, and these are some wonderful annotated examples.

Morphy vs Anderssen

2007-11-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

View Article

Their shortest game and a dazzling tactical battle, annotated.

Morphy said to me, "I have a positive chess fever coming over me. Give me the board and the pieces and I'll show you some of Anderssen's games." And with astounding memory, he gave me battle after battle with different adversaries, variations and all. How he dilated on a certain game between him and Drufresne. "There," said Morphy, "That shows the master."

dktransformation's ending

2007-10-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

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This is an exciting ending played by my friend dktransformation. I think it's practical and it contains interesting positions, mistakes, and nuggets of wisdom that we can learn from.

Personal Update

2007-10-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Trainer	So how do you win?
Slim	I attack.
Trainer	And what do you do after you attack?
Slim	Nothing.
Trainer	Why nothing?
Slim	Because I never stop attacking.

I'm meeting with a top player in three weeks for coaching. Here's where I think my chess knowledge stands at G/45 time controls:

Endgames - Class A
Openings - Class B
Strategy - Class C
Tactics - Class D

I will really try to focus on tactics until then... I always seem to get sidetracked by endings or master games. If I can whip myself back into tactical shape before then, we might be able to discuss more interesting things than how I dropped my bishop to a 3-mover.

Frontal Defense IV

2007-10-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

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This is my final article on the Frontal Defense. We look at positions from real games. These are complicated positions, so don't feel bad if you miss a move.

Frontal Defense III

2007-10-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

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We're going to look at Frontal Defense on the knight file today, and then examine some interesting games between strong players.

Frontal Defense II

2007-10-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

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Now that you know how wage a Frontal Defense, we're going to learn how to quickly evaluate whether a position can be drawn via this method.

Frontal Defense

2007-10-15T02:03:00.000-07:00

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The Frontal Defense was invented by Tarrasch. It's a method that a defender can use to draw a R+P vs R ending when his king is cut-off from the pawn.This technique is only effective if the pawn hasn't crossed the middle of the board.

Rook f-, & h-pawns vs Rook

2007-10-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

This is one of the few ways to draw when you're two pawns down. I found an interesting resource on the Internet for mastering this ending:

Rook endings with rook and bishop pawns

In this free lesson Peter Joseph covers 32 R+P vs R endings and 16 R+2P vs R endings. There are some real gems in his writings:

Why against a central pawn the defender's rook needs 3 files of checking distance, but against a bishop pawn the defender's rook only needs 2 files of checking distance.

A simple formula you can use in frontal attack positions with bishop pawns to determine if the endgame is a draw without having to calculate.

How the attacker can try to win... by sacrificing the rook pawn to arrive at a won R+P vs R ending, or by driving the enemy king to the back rank.

Enjoy at your leisure, and have a great weekend. :)

Rook vs Bishop

2007-10-11T00:47:00.000-07:00

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For players under 2100, Rook vs Bishop is won 40% of the time. The drawing technique is counter-intuitive, so if your opponent doesn't know it, you have chances to win.

Queen vs Knight

2007-10-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

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Queen vs Knight is a simple win, but when you reach it you may be tired and in time trouble. You also must watch out for forks! See how a strong master goofed it up, then learn a simple trick that makes disappointments unlikely.

Queen vs Bishop

2007-10-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

View Article

This article may be too simple for some readers, but in my Bishop and Pawn vs Bishop and Centurini Position articles I frequently said Q vs B is an easy win. Then I witnessed a tragicomedy, and thought maybe I should offer a couple tips! :)

Centurini Positions

2007-10-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

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A Centurini Position is one where one of the two diagonals in front of the pawn is less
than four squares in length. These are almost always won.

Bishop and Pawn vs Bishop

2007-10-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

View Article

View Tragicomedy

If Knight endgames are about flashy tactics, Bishop endgames are about subtle finesse. Enjoy and learn from my selection of five practical positions.

Zugzwang & Steinitz's Rule

2007-10-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

Simba writes, Thanks for posting [Karpov-Hort, Budapest 1973] and your commentary which is very informative. Got one question: What does 'spare tempi in zugzwang situations' mean when white moved g5 in move 35?

Zugzwang means it's a disadvantage to have the move.

In the above position, Black to move loses and White to move draws. Such positions are called zugzwang positions and they're very common in the endgame. It's astonishing the first time you see such a position, because in the opening it's an advantage to have the move!

Steinitz's Rule: Keep some pawns on their starting squares, because there they often provide reserve tempi in zugzwang positions.

With a-pawns onboard, the situation's more complicated.

In the first diagram, Black to move draws with 1...a6! a4 a5 and now it's White to move in our original zugzwang position. But he loses with 1...a5?? 2.a4 as now it's Black to move.

In the second diagram, Black to move draws with 1...a5! and now it's White to move in our original zugzwang position. But he loses with 1...a6?? 2.a5 as now it's Black to move.

In the third diagram, Black loses either way. 1...a5 2.a4! and it's Black to move in the original zugzwang position. 1...a6 2.a3! a5 3.a4 and again it's Black to move.

Not every endgame reaches a zugzwang position, but many do, and now you know why it's a good idea to leave some pawns on their starting squares. :)

Karpov-Hort, Budapest 1973

2007-10-05T22:52:00.000-07:00

View Annotated Game

A fascinating and instructive endgame. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have, and that it teaches you something. Feel free to ask if you have any questions! :)

B+N+P vs B+2P

2007-10-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

View Annotated Game

This ending is a great example of how a bishop, knight, and king can work together. It's shamelessly stolen from "Analysis on The ENDGAME" by ugralitan, but his article didn't cover these lines. I hope you will find this annotated game enjoyable and educational. :)

Week in Review, Sep 28

2007-09-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

Rook and Pawn vs Rook endings are the most common ending in practice, and they're more complex than most players realize.

Rook Endings - [External] An introduction to Lucena and Philidor.

Lucena, not so simple? - An average player believes he wins easily if he reaches Lucena. We learn that's often not the case!

Not Quite Lucena - Describes the proper defense and common mistakes.

Not Quite Lucena II - Describes how the attacker can break down an improper defense--a misplaced king.

Not Quite Lucena III - Describes how the attacker can break down an improper defense--a misplaced rook.

Kopaev, An Instructive Endgame - An incredibly instructive endgame that tests your knowledge of zugzwang and the previous lessons.

Kopaev's Instructive Endgame

2007-09-27T10:25:00.001-07:00

Read my new article, Kopaev's Instructive Endgame. It's a practical, instructive, and challenging Rook & Pawn vs Rook position.

The animated diagrams make it easier to explain on my other blog. :)

Not Quite Lucena III

2007-09-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

Not Quite Lucena positions feature the attacker's pawn on the sixth rank with his king in front of the pawn and are quite common in practice.

This is the final article in my series on Lucena. You may want to read through the earlier ones here, here, and here if you haven't already.

Today, we'll learn how to crush another inaccurate defense--a misplaced rook. Defenders goof in over 80% of such positions. So my advice to you is to be patient until an opportunity presents itself, and then be swift in exploiting it!

Mistake #3: The defending rook is less than 3 files away

Black to move. White is threatening Rg1+, initiating a Lucena maneuver, so Black must either initiate a passive defense with Rg1 or an active defense with Rb8+. By now, you know that an active defense is almost always the best plan.

1...Rb8+ 2.Kd7 Rb7+ 3.Kd6 Rb6+ 4.Kc7 and we reach this position:

An important point is that Black can't reposition his rook on the b-file. The only moves that stop White from queening this turn are:

4...Re6 5.Kd7 +-.

4...Kf7 5.Kxb6 +-.

White wins, because Black's rook was misplaced on the b-file.

Mistake #4: Thinking a misplaced piece is always fatal

Black to move. It's important to know that a misplaced rook or king is not always fatal, especially if the attacker's pawn is not too far advanced. In this position, Black can miraculously save himself with an active defense in spite of his misplaced rook.

1...Rb7+ 2.Kd6 Rb6+ 3.Kd7 Rb7+ 4.Kc6 and we reach this position:

As in the last position, two of Black's defenses fail:

4...Re7 5.Kd6 +-.

4...Kf6 5.Kxb7 +-.

But now, Rb2 or Rb3 or Rb4 draw! Moving along the b-file fell to e8=Q in the last position, but here e8=Q is impossible. What about e7?

4...Rb2 5.e7 Kf7!! 6.Re1 Ke8 and it's a Lucena no more.

I hope this series of articles has helped to deepen your understanding of one of the most important endgames in chess. I know I learned something.

Not Quite Lucena II

2007-09-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Not Quite Lucena positions feature the attacker's pawn on the sixth rank with his king in front of the pawn. They're quite common in practice. If you haven't already, I recommend reading my previous articles, Lucena I and Lucena II, before proceeding.

Today, we'll learn how to crush a couple inaccurate defenses. Defenders goof in over 80% of such positions. So my advice to you is to be patient until an opportunity presents itself, and then be swift in exploiting it!

Mistake #1: The defending king is on the eighth rank

Black to move. Black has a few defenses he can try:

1...Kg7 - Black places his king where it belongs, on the sixth or seventh rank. The refutation is simply 2.Rg2+!, beginning a Lucena maneuver.

1...Ra7+ - Black's best try is an active defense. This would work if the Black king were on the sixth or seventh rank, but now it fails to 2.Kf6 Ra6 3.Rd8+ Kh7 and with the Black king more than one file away, the win is inevitable. An important point is that 2...Kf8 was impossible due to 3.Rd8#.

1...Rg1 - Black mounts a passive defense, preventing a check on the g-file. In rook endings, passive defenses usually fail and this is no exception. 2.Ke8 Kg7 3.e7 and now either 4.Kd7 or 4.Rg2+ is unstoppable and wins.

White wins, with Black to move, if his rook's on any of the green squares. These squares (a) allow White to initiate a Lucena maneuver if Black moves his king to g7 and (b) prevent 2...Kf8 due to 3.Rd8#.

Mistake #2: The defending king is on the fifth rank

1...Kg6 - Black places his king where it belongs, on the sixth or seventh rank. The refutation is simply 2.Rg2+!, beginning a Lucena maneuver.

1...Ra7+ - Black's best try is an active defense. This would work if the Black king were on the sixth or seventh rank, but now it fails to 2.Kf8 Ra8+ 3.Kf7 Ra7+ 4.e7. The problem is, White's rook must stand alone, and a strong defense usually requires coordination between the rook and king.

1...Rg1 - Black mount a passive defense, preventing a check on the g-file. In rook endings, passive defenses usually fail and this is no exception. 2.Ke8 Kg6 3.e7 and now either 4.Kd7 or 4.Rg2+ is unstoppable and wins.

White wins, with Black to move, if his rook's on any of the green squares. These allow White to initiate a Lucena maneuver if Black moves his king to g6.

I hope you enjoyed this article and learned something, too. :)

Not Quite Lucena

2007-09-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

An interesting position, similar to Lucena, is when the attacker's pawn is on the sixth rank with his king in front of it. If defender plays carefully and checks from the side he can draw, but in practice he mucks it up 80% of the time.

After this lesson, hopefully you and I will never muck up this defense. :)

The Rules:

1. The defender's rook must be on the long side and his king on the short side.
2. The defender's rook must be at least 3 files away.
3. The defender's king must be only 1 file away, on the 6th or 7th rank.

Black to play. Aronian-Carlsen, Moscow 2006. This should be a draw, but Carlsen accidently allowed the White king to advance. This is a common mistake. 73...Ra7+? 74.Ke8! and Carlsen resigned. Much better was 73...Kg6=, preventing an advance and holding the draw.

Black to play. Sorin-Deumie, France 2004. Black's rook is already well-positioned, so a proper move might be 74...Kg6. Instead, Deumie blundered with 74...Kg8? and lost to 75.Kf6! That's a typical won position where the White rook will cut-off, skewer, or mate the Black king. The moral of the story is to keep your king on the 6th or 7th rank to hold a draw.

Black to move. Kosten-Scrholl, Austria 2003. Here Black made the dubious decision to check from below with 93...Rd2?. White advanced with 94.Ke8! and soon won. Much better here was 93...Ra8, preventing an advance and holding the draw.

Black to move. Jablonski-Bouton, France 2003. Here Jablonski comes up with the 'bright idea' to attack from above with 68...Rd8. Continuing to attack from the side with 68...Rh8 is the only move that draws.

Black to move. Feletar-Mrkonjic, Kaposvar 2001. After fighting courageously for 20 moves, Mrkonjic played 81...Rg8? This loses because now there is no longer 3 files between his rook and the pawn. The White king is able to approach the rook and soon White wins.

This time we focused on the hard part... proper defense. Next time I will show you how an attacker can exploit a defender's mistakes to obtain victory.

Lucena, not so simple?

2007-09-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Lucena is the most important position in Rook & Pawn vs Rook endings, so why do most books use only one or two diagrams to explain it?

Let's begin with a quiz. White to move. If you had the White pieces, which of the above positions could you win over the board?

...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...

You should win them all. If that surprises you, read this Lucena lesson.

You win Rook & Pawn vs Rook if your pawn is on the 7th rank, your king is in front of it, and you have the move. Rook pawns are exceptions.

Let's try another quiz. Black to move. If you had the White pieces, which of the above positions could you win over the board?

...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...

Draw. Black can draw by checking the White king from the side. 1...Ra8+! 2.Kd7 Ra7+! 3.Kd6 Ra6+! 4.Kc5 Re6 =.

Win! The Black king is misplaced on the eighth rank. 1...Ra8+ 2.Kd7 Ra7+ 3.Kd6 Ra6+ 4.Kc5 Re6 5.Rf8+! Kg7 6.e8=Q Rxe8 7.Rxe8 1-0.

Win! The Black rook is misplaced on the b-file. 1...Rb8+ 2.Kd7 Rb7+ 3.Kd6 Rb6+ 4.Kc7 Re6 Kd7 1-0. The rook requires three squares of checking distance, and in this case it only has two... a fatal problem.

If Black realizes that flank checks won't work, he may try a more sophisticated defense. 1...Rb8+ 2.Kd7 Rb7+ 3.Kd6 Rb8 4.Kc7 Ra8 5.Ra2!! Rxa2 6.e8=Q +/-. Now White needs to win a Queen vs Rook ending.

Win! But, you couldn't prove it over the board, so "Draw" gets the credit. As proof, 13 out of 14 top titled players failed to solve it within an hour.

This is a great illustration of how complex such endings can be. If you're curious about the solution, read about it at The Chess Mind.

Generally, you win Rook & Pawn vs Rook if your pawn is on the 7th rank and your king is in front of it, even without the move. Rook pawns are exceptions.

I hope this helped you learn more about Lucena. :)

loomis, 28.Aug.2006

2007-09-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

White to move. I'm a thief, and I'll admit it. Loomis posted this excellent position in his blog entry a year ago, and now I'm covering it here (with permission).

First, the easy part. White can blockade the queenside pawns with his knight via the maneuver Nf6, Ne4, Nc3, Na2. Then we're left with a symmetrical king and pawns position on the kingside. White's kingside pawns are further advanced, and he can generate extra tempi by shuffling his knight. But is that enough to win?

[Position after 1. Nf6 a5 2. Ne4 a4 3. Nc3 a3 4. Na2 Ke7 5. Kf3 Ke6 6. Ke4]

No, because Black's king can shuffle between d6 and e6. And a pawn advance is no help. Eg, 6...Kd6 7.f5 gxf5 Kxf5 is drawn.

So we return to the original position and try something else. What if White's king stops the queenside pawns, and his knight stops the kingside pawns?

[Position after 1. Kf3 a5 2.Ke4 a4 3. Kd4 a3 4. Kc3 a2 5. Kb2 Ke7]

If only the g-pawns, the knight, and Black's king were on the kingside this would be an easy win, but Black's f7-pawn complicates things.

Therefore, the winning strategy is to eliminate the f7-pawn! 6.Nf6 Ke6 7.Ng4 Kf5 (7...f5? or 7...f6? => 8.gxf6!) 8.Nh6+ Kxf4 9.Nxf7 wins.

What a funny-looking winning position! Material is almost equal, but Black is completely lost. White's king will capture the a-pawns, then help his g-pawn promote.

Knight vs Blocked Pawns II

2007-09-13T16:51:00.001-07:00

To master an endgame, you must learn the general rules and you must practice them. We did the first step in Knight vs Blocked Pawns. Now we tackle the second step.

White to move. Dvoretsky, 2000. With our newfound knowledge, this position is too simple. Both 1.Nb5 and 1.Nd5 place our knight in the ideal defensive position and therefore win.

Black to move. Lugovoi-Skatchkov, St. Petersburg 1999. This position is almost as easy. Black's knight needs two moves to reach his ideal defensive square e4, and White's king needs two moves to attack the pawn. The fastest win is 1...Kb2 2.Kd5 Nd2! 3.Ke6 Ne4!

Black to move. Santurbano-Vittimberga, Imperia 2001. White's king will be able to capture the Black pawn in three moves, so Black's knight must act quickly to reach c2 in time. Both N -> f3, e1, c2 and N -> f3, d4, c2 win. Nf3 is powerful because it threatens two different wins!

Valeria Vittemberga apparently didn't know this rule, so she played 63...Nf5?? trying to centralize her knight, and blundering away the win.

You may have noticed these positions didn't have any rook pawns. Rook pawns are exceptions, and lead to a draw more often than other types of pawns.

Knight vs Blocked Pawns

2007-09-13T01:57:00.000-07:00

loomis recently noticed that my Seven Rules of Knight Endings was missing the important situation of blocked pawns. This post corrects that.

Knights should defend passed pawns from behind, as that often makes them immune from capture by the enemy king.

This is easy to grasp visually. The f5 knight defends the pawn, and Black can't capture the knight without leaving the square of the pawn. White wins!

Add a pawn to d7 and the position changes completely. The pawn can't advance when Black captures the knight. Black to move wins!

How should a knight defend a blocked pawn?

The surprising answer is, from in front. Black would love to play Kd7, forking White's knight and pawn to secure a draw, but his own pawn gets in the way. He could try to draw by threatening the knight.

But 1... Kd5 2. Kg2 Kc6 3. Kf3 Kb7 4. Ne7! gets Black nowhere. The knight is happy to hop between c8 and e7 until the White king arrives.

1... Kf7 2. Kg2 Ke8 3. Kf3 Kd8 4. Ne7! is equally fruitless. The White king will soon arrive to queen the pawn no matter what Black tries.

Our new insight is:

Knights should defend passed pawns from behind, and blocked pawns from in front (on an adjacent file) so they're immune to capture by the enemy king.

Knight vs Pawn, by request.

2007-09-10T21:33:00.001-07:00

"My nephew and I were looking over this position and wondering if it was a draw. It seems like it to me. If it is, I wonder if with a little variation it would be winable by white?"

White to move. wizzifnab, 2007.

It's a draw. Black's knight blockades the a-pawn, while Black's king protects his f-pawns and prevents infilitration by the enemy king.

White's king can't penetrate along the h-file because 1.Kg3 Kh6 2.Kh4 Kg6 and Black's king can shuttle back and forth between g6 and h6, but White only has the one h4-square. White king also can't cross over to the queenside for a couple reasons: (a) The knight will then find a way to fork the king and a-pawn (b) Black's king will have time to reach h4 and thus win White's f-pawn if the White king wanders too far away.

1. a5 Nc5 2. Kg3 Kh6 3. Kh4 Kg6 4. Kg3 Kh5 5. Kh3 Kg6 =

Remove either of Black's pawns and it's still drawn, but remove both and it's a win.

Seven Rules of Knight Endings

2007-09-09T14:04:00.001-07:00

1. Botvinnik's Rule: Knight Endings are Pawn Endings - The techniques that win in a pawn ending (breakthroughs, shouldering, zugzwang, outside pawns) also work in knight endings. Imagine the knights gone and ask what the winning plan is--80% of the time that's correct.

2. If a Knight occupies any square in a pawn's promotion path, except a corner square, he can stop the pawn from promoting. If he even threatens such a square, 90% of the time he can stop the pawn from promoting.

3. Knight endings are extremely tactical. Keep an eye out for forks, checking moves, moves with more than one purpose, and knight sacrifices.

4. The king best shoulders a knight along a diagonal when they're one square distant, and along a rank or file when they're two squares distant.

5. If there are pawns on both wings, centralize your king and knight to increase their mobility. Knights have trouble protecting the rook-file.

6. Knights should defend passed pawns from behind, and blocked pawns from in front (on an adjacent file) so they're immune to capture by the enemy king.

7. "All Knight Endings Are Drawn But Tricky". Knight endings are drawm more often than rook endings, but they require more precise play.

Szabo-Groszpeter, 1984

2007-09-09T12:46:00.001-07:00

This is an interesting and very instructive knight endgame. It highlights several themes you will find useful in your own games. First, remember Botvinnik's Rule. If the knights were gone, how would White play this position?

1.a5! bxa5 2.a6! and White's b-pawn is the first to queen. This is a basic pawn breakthrough. Moves like 1.Kxb6? are too slow to win a race.

Returning to our position with knights on-board, we would like to do the same thing, but Black's pesky knight on c4 prevents a5. We would like to trade knights, but we can't force it.

So we use a common tool in knight endings--the deflective knight sacrifice!

[Position after 1.Nd2!? Nxd2]

Before you play a crazy sacrifice, calculate as deeply as you can:

2.a5 bxa5 3.b6 Nc4 4.b7 Ne5. And not 5.b8=Q? Nc6+! -/+, but instead shouldering out the knight with the king should lead to = or +/-.

2.a5 bxa5 3.b6! a4? or 3...h4? +/- ... White's pawn is closer to the finish like and can promote before the other pawns.

2.a5 Nc4!? 3.a6 Nd6 4.Kxb6 should be = or +/-.

1...Ne5?! Kxb6 +/-

You may be able to calculate more or less deeply, or fewer or more variations, but the point is to calculate as deeply as you can. If White doesn't break through soon, he'll lose anyway, so a calculated gamble makes sense.

[Position after 2.a5 bxa5 3.b6 Nf3 4.b7 Ne5]

5.b8=Q?? Nc6+! obviously loses.

5.Ka8 Nc6! 6.b8=Q Nxb8 loses.

5.Ka6 Nc6! 6.Kb6 Nb8 and general rules tell us Black can at least force a draw, so we should pursue other lines.

5.Kb6 Nd7+ 6.Kc7 (to prevent Nb8) 7.Nc5 b8=Q 8.Na6+! and Black wins. If on the other hand White allows 6...Nb8, Black can at least force a draw, so we should pursue other lines.

6.Kb8! Nc6+ 7.Kc7 Nb4 8.Kb6 +/-
6.Kb8! Nd7+ 7.Kc8 Nb6 8.Kc7 Nc4 9.b8=Q +/-
6.Kb8! a4 7.Kc7 a3 8.b8=Q +/-

[Position after 6.Kb8! Nd7+ 7.Kc8 Nb6 8.Kc7 Nc4 9.b8=Q +/-]

A winning position.

Nikolic-Vaganian, 2006

2007-09-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

After 23...Kxf8 you'll find the main attraction--a knight vs knight endgame between two super-GMs. Botvinnik's Rule indicates a draw is likely.

24.Kf1 - Centralizing his king.

24...Ne4! - There's a tactical threat here! If White doesn't respond accurately, 25...Nc3! 26.a3 Nb1! 27.a4 Nc3! 28.a5 Na2! wins a pawn and likely the game. It's the same tactic we learned in Chekhover, 1938.

25.a3! - Accurate.

25...Ke7 26.Ke2 - More centralization.

26...c5 27.bxc5 Nxc5 - This swap slightly favors Black, because he's closer to creating a passed pawn on the queenside.

28.Nd4 g6 29.f3 a6 - Nd4 wasn't particularly threatening, but both sides decide to minimize counterplay. Now White's knight has no potential penetration points, and the Black's knight only option is the silly a4.

29.g4 Kd6 30.h4 Kd5 31.Kd2 - While White attempts to create a passer on the kingside, Black centralizes his king. Soon Black's king is superior and White's on the defensive.

31...Ne6! 32. Nb3! Offering a knight exchange. Black's king is superior to White's king, and knight endings are easier to draw than pawn endings. Don't get too hung up on Botvinnik's Rule! White wisely declines the offer.

33...f5 34.gxf5 gxf5 35.Kc3 b5?! - This seems like a mistake. It moves Black's pawns closer to White's king. White will easily penetrate on the queenside, but Black will have trouble penetrating on the kingside. f4? is met by e4! I think Black had winning chances before this.

36.Kb4 Nd8!? - This seems odd when a simple Nc7 defends the pawns, but Nc7 is too passive, and there's an idea behind this move we'll soon see.

37.Ka5 Kc4 38.Nd4 f4 - Good timing! Now e4 and fxe4 are impossible.

39. Nf5 fxe3 40. Nxe3+ Kd3 41. Nf5 Nc6+ 42. Kxa6 b4! 43. axb4 Nxb4+ - White's a pawn up, but Black's king is more active. Botvinnik forecasts a draw.

44. Kb5 Nc2 45. Kc5 Ke2 46. Nxh6 Kxf3 - Finally! Knight & Pawn vs Knight. Now Botvinnik's Rule again forecasts a win, but concrete calculation shows it's only a draw. White's own knight tragically slows his own pawn's advance.

47. h5 Kf4 48. Nf7 Kf5 49. Kd6 Kf6 50. Ne5 Kg5 1/2-1/2

An interesting game. Certainly not a boring "Grandmaster Draw". :)

Chekhover, 1938

2007-09-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Vitaly Chekhover was a master on knight endings. He once wrote an entire book on the subject with the help of Yuri Averbakh.

Black to move. In this composition, immediately pushing the f- or h-pawns obviously leads to failure. What's less obvious is that the king cannot travel to the kingside to help his pawns.

1...Kc3 2.Ne4+! {forks the king and f-pawn} =
1...Kc5 2.Ne4+! {forks the king and f-pawn} =
1...Kc4 2.Ne4! {threatens Nxf6} f5 3.Nd6+! =

Since the c3, c4, and c5 squares are mined, Black must find another path to the kingside pawns if he wishes to win. Kb3 and Kb5 are tempting.

If 1...Kb3, White has a brilliant refutation: 2.Ne4! f5 3.Ng3! f4 4.Ne2! f3 5.Nd4+! =. I suggest playing these moves out. Once you've seen the solution, I think you'll find it's more intuitive than the long list of moves suggests.

If 1.Kb5 then Ne4! 2.f5 Nd6+! =

What does that leave? Well, there's the counter-intuitive Ka5-Kb6 maneuver. Black could then cross the c-file on c6, c7, or c8. Let's play forward a few moves and reach that position: 1... Ka5 2. Ka2 Kb6 3. Kxa3.

3...Kc6 2.Ne4! f5 3.Ng3! f4 4.Ne2! f3 5.Nd4+! Yes, it's the same brilliant maneuver that White used in answer to Kc4.

3...Kc7 4.Nh5! f5 5.Ng7! f4 6.Ne6+! In a similar manner, White again wins the f-pawn. So no matter what, White can draw using knight forks!

If the king were on c8, then 4.Ne4 f5 5.Nd6+! would win.

We've already seen how White can draw using tactical shots, but let's consider what would happen if we missed one so 3...Kc7 4.Kb4 Kd7 5.Nf5 h5:

White's knight creates a barrier that the Black king can't penetrate. Black made progress with his h-pawn, but now he's forced back the way he came.

6.Kc5!

White's king increases the size of the barrier. How can Black make progress? If 6...Kc7 7.Ng7! h4 8.Ne8+! All other moves result in the loss of the queenside pawn. So now we've seen how useful creating barriers in knight endings can be, and how easily they can be setup.

I hope you enjoyed this wonderfully instructive composition from Chekhover. The missed-tactic game is below in PGN format, for your convenience.

[Event "Chekhover, 1938"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/p4p1p/8/1k6/p5N1/8/K7 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "32"]

1... Ka5 2. Ka2 Kb6 3. Kxa3 Kc7 4. Kb4 Kd7 5. Nf5 h5 6. Kc5 Kd8 
7. Kb6 Kd7 8. Kxa6 Kc6 9. Nh4 Kd6 10. Kb6 Ke5 11. Kc5 Ke4 12. Kc4 f5 
13. Kc3 f4 14. Kd2 f3 15. Ke1 Ke3 16. Nxf3 Kxf3 17. Kf1 1/2-1/2

Knight vs Pawn

2007-09-05T01:43:00.000-07:00

If the knight is able to occupy or threaten any square in the pawn's path, except a corner square, he can force a draw.

Generally, these endings play themselves, but sometimes they require brutal calculation. Let's look at positions where the players goofed so that we might learn from them.

White to play. Morant Sampol-Hallerod, Calvia 2006. The obvious drawing moves are Na2 and Nc2 which occupy or threaten squares in the pawn's path. White played 51.Na6?? and soon lost the game, despite being a piece up.

White to play. Vlkovic-Arpa, Slovakia 1998. The knight is only threatening a corner square, but after 60.Ke6?? Nf8+, it threatened h7 and forced a draw. White should have secured the win by protecting the f8 square with 60.Ke8.

White to move. Appel-Liepold, Kaufbeuren 1998. Quick! Can you spot White's winning move? Appel played 65.h5? Ng4! and drew, but much better was the seemingly counter-intuitive 65.Kf5!, which stops the knight from reaching g4 and wins.

White to move. Petraki-Papadimitrou, Nikea 2005. White played 66.Nc1+ and lost. What?! You're about to say, "But his move followed our rule!" and you're perfectly correct. This just happens to be a rare exception.

White actually had two choices: Nb4 (drawing) and Nc1 (losing). Remember the maxim, "A Knight on the Rim is Dim" and you'll make the right move, even if you encounter one of these mysterious exceptions in your games.

Black to play. Ikonnikov-Verlan, France 2004. Black must calculate deeply to find the draw. Nd8? accomplishes nothing, for after that where does the knight go? The White king is defending c6. Instead, 67...Nh6!! 58.a5 Nf5 59.a6 Ne7+ and the White king can't protect both c6 and c8 so it's a draw.

If you couldn't solve this position, no worries. Sergei Verlan couldn't solve this position over the board, and his FIDE rating was 2285. However, you should have realized that Nd8 led nowhere, as he was able to do.

I hope you found these positions interesting and instructive. :)

King & Pawn vs King

2007-09-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

King vs King & Pawn is a simple ending, so why am I covering it? Some fellow bloggers are just learning it. Also, some players rely completely on maxims such as:

"In K vs. K+P endings move the defending King straight back and straight in front of the pawn no matter what. If the opposing King steps up to the left or right of the pawn, the defending King moves right in front of the opposing King."

White to move. Azmaiparashvili-Lechtynsky, Albena 1984. Quick! Can you find a move that allows White to draw this position?

White to move. Salom-Knoblauch, Vitoria 2003. Quick! Can you find White's best attempt at a draw in this position?

White to move. Madl-Titz, Eger 1988. Quick! Is this position won or drawn?

For the record, my favorite rule for this ending is taught by Karsten Mueller. He teaches that if you happen to have any two of the following, you win:

1. King in front of pawn
2. The opposition
3. King on the sixth rank

He also analyzes several instructive positions. Now, we return to today's problems:

1. Azmaiparashvili-Lechtynsky, Albena 1984. 1.Kg1! Kg4 2.Kg2= (1...Kf4 2.Kf2=). All other moves lose because they allow Black's king to get in front of his pawn with the opposition.

2. Salom-Knoblauch, Vitoria 2003. White drew with 61. Kh2! g3+? 62. Kh1 Kg4 63. Kg2 1/2-1/2. Note, 61.Kh2 doesn't guarantee a draw, but it gives White chances to go wrong.

3. Madl-Titz, Eger 1988. It's won. The game continued 62.g6! Ke8 63.Ke6 1-0. The continuation would have been 63...Kf8 64.Kf6 Kg8 65.g7! 1-0.

loomis' pawn ending

2007-09-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

White to move. Loomis posted this practical, interesting position from one of his endgames. I encourage you to try to solve it, then read his commentary.

Dos Hermanas, 2004

2007-08-30T13:43:00.001-07:00

Dos Hermanas is a small city in Andalusia, Spain. It's named after two sisters who, after the conquest of Seville, discovered an image of Saint Anne.

In 2004, Dos Hermanas held a chess tournament. That brings us to our game of interest, between Emre Mecit and Juan Carlos Angel Acosta. We briefly discussed it yesterday, but today I want to master this endgame.

Mecit-Acosta, Dos Hermanas 2004

Which plan should White adopt?
A. Block the a-pawn with his pawn and the f-pawn with his king
B. Counterattack by capturing the a-pawn.

White fares very badly if he counterattacks. That's because White promotes in 11 moves, but Black promotes in only 7 moves! However, do check this plan in your games, because it works if the defender's pawn is far advanced.

So White's plan is to simply block the f-pawn by moving back and forth between e3, f3, g3, and f2. If you've studied King & Pawn vs King, you know the attacker won't be able to force the f-pawn's promotion.

Sciurus made the interesting observation that Black's king can wander just about anywhere he likes without changing the result. For example, 1... Kh5 2. Kf4 Kg6 3. Kf3 Kg5 4. Kg3 and Black can still win easily.

That actually makes sense. The White king is already ideally positioned to stop the f-pawn, and counter-attacking is doomed even with an extra tempo.

Which plan should Black adopt?
A. Promote with the f-pawn.
B. Use the f-pawn as a decoy and promote the a-pawn.

We already know the first plan fails, so Black must try to promote his a-pawn.

Black can wander around aimlessly as long as he likes, but as soon as he sacrifices his f-pawn, every tempo counts. He should choose his starting position for the upcoming race very carefully.

1...Kf6 2.Kf3 Ke5 3.Ke3 and Black will win the race. Not 2...Ke6? 3.Kf4!, when Black's only positioned to draw the race. This may seem tricky but it's not. Simply remember to shoulder your opponent whenever possible.

Even if you goof, there's no need to worry because the race hasn't started yet. Keep maneuvering your king until you obtain a favorable position.

And the race is on! Each player needs only six moves to reach the key squares (b2, c1), but Black moves first. Simple counting tells you Black will win!

But as you'll recall, Black didn't know Bahr's Rule, and played f4??. It happens to be the only move that draws. Why's that the case??

It's quite simple. After capturing the f-pawn, the defending king needs to reach the c1 square to draw. And f4 is closer to c1 than g4 is.

Hopefully now you have a deep understanding of this endgame, and you will be able to play it well whenever it comes up on the board. :)

I reject the notion that you need Bahr's rule to play such positions accurately. However, Bahr's rule lets you evaluate and play such positions instantly and without error. And having that in your arsenal's a huge advantage.

Rook Pawns & Outside Pawn II

2007-08-29T22:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I covered eight Rook Pawns & Outside Pawn endings. You may wish to familiarize yourself with that blog entry before proceeding.

Speelman-Chandler, Hastings 1988. White to move. Quick! Who wins?

The techniques we discussed in our last lesson don't help. White's rook-pawn hasn't crossed the middle of the board, and counting isn't easy because the paths of the two kings cross.

What can we do? We can use a new technique called Bahr's Rule. Draw a diagonal line from the defender's pawn towards his first rank. Then, at the bishop file, bend the line back towards the attacker's first rank.

If the attacker's passed pawn is on or behind the line, he wins. If the attacker's pawn is in front of the line, he draws. So in this case White draws.

Mecit-Acosta, Dos Hermanas 2004. Black to move. Quick! Who wins?

Again, let's draw the Bahr's Rule lines:

The attacker's pawn is on the line, so he can win with accurate play! In the actual game, Acosta played the inaccurate 56...f4+? and drew. The right plan for Black was to capture White's a-pawn and then promote his own.

Bahr's Rule is very useful, but only use it when the attacking king is beside his passed pawn and the defending king is in front of it.

Sutovsky-Gulko, Montreal 2006. White to move. Quick! Who wins?

I told you Bahr's rule only works if the attacking king is beside his passed pawn and the defending king in front of it. Clearly, that's not the case here.

But Bahr's Rule works with a slight modification. If the attacking king is in front of his pawn, and the pawn is not a rook's pawn, pretend that the pawn is one square further back before applying Bahr's rule. This position is actually a win for White.

Rook Pawns & Outside Pawn

2007-08-29T01:05:00.000-07:00

In pawn endings, an extra pawn is often enough to convert the win. But rook pawns lead to exceptions, which you must learn to prevail. Today we'll cover 8 positions from real games.

Tip: You may want to read my K&P vs K with a rook pawn lesson before this one.

Viengold-Fieandt, Jyvaskyla 1996. Black to move. Quick! Who wins?

If you've read my posts before, you know I'm a huge fan of counting. Black will capture the f-pawn and reach c8 in five moves. White will capture the a-pawn and reach b7 in five moves. So Black to move draws.

Capablanca-Edison, New York 1931. White to move. Quick! Who wins?

This is very similar to the first example. Black will capture the h-pawn and reach c8 in six moves. While will capture the a-pawn and reach b7 in six moves. So White to move wins.

You can't use the Counting Method if the path of the two kings touch or cross.

Horowitz-Factor, New York 1936. White to move. In this position, the count is irrelevant, because the paths of the two kings touch on move two. Fortunately, there's a rule you can use to instantly evaluate this position.

“If the stronger side's rook-pawn crosses the middle of the board, he wins.”

So it's won. Simple, huh?

Above we have:
Flacnik-Ippolito, Las Vegas 2006
Skrabanja-Pahole, Sentjur 2005
Spraggett-Oratovsky, Maia 2003
Nanu-Ducsoara, Miercurea Ciuc 2000

They're all won, because White's pawn crossed the middle of the board.

Novak-Lacina, Prague 2006. Black to move. What should Black play?

In the actual game, Lacina played 58...Kb6?, losing. 58...h5! would have drawn, because that prevents the White pawn from crossing the middle of the board. What a simple position, once you actually understand it! Too bad Lacina didn't study his pawn endgames.

How to Use Personal Chess Trainer 2007

2007-08-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

One thing that separate masters from amateurs is the ability to recognize tactical patterns. A popular tool that's available to help amateurs is Personal Chess Trainer. After using it for some time, I believe that how we use the tool makes a big difference.

When you're faced with a position you either recognize the pattern or you have to calculate it. In the first case, you already knew the pattern. In the second case, make sure you spend some time looking at the solution and the elements that made it work! If you don't store an accurate pattern in your short-term memory, how can you expect to recall it during your next game? Our human tendency to look at the problem more than the solution--that's backwards!

If your time for a unit was slower than 3-6 seconds per position, you obviously didn't recognize all the tactical patterns. So repeat it! What's the point of continuing on unless you have actually learned the patterns? There's no prize for finishing a module quickly. If you ensure the knowledge gets into your short-term memory, a good portion of it should reach your long-term memory, and then PCT's frequent reviews will help you to retain it.

On my first pass through PCT I was in too much of a rush, and as a result didn't learn the patterns very well. If it takes me 35 seconds to spot a tactic when I'm told it's there, my chance of spotting it over the board under time pressure is slim.

This second pass, I'm going slow. Slow and accurate. That's the formula that worked on Chess Tactics Server and I think it works here as well.

Back to Tactics

2007-08-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a break from endings to revitalize my tactical skills.

The blitz games I played this week convinced me my endgame knowledge is excellent but my tactics are abysmal. I shouldn't be down material every time I reach the endgame, even if I can often pull out a win or a draw.

All the endgame material I posted is still here, so feel free to enjoy. :)