Most Common ICC Blunder Leads to Epaulette Mate

 Blitz Player rf(Robert Fischer diehard fan probably)  usually crushes me, but today he blundered trying to castle Queenside. I don't have incontrovertible proof, but with the center wide open he moved his Queen to d1 rather than TRIPLE O.

Do you see the mate in 2 in the position below with Black to move?  Rc1 attracts Whites rook to that square and then mate at d2 for the shouldered White Monarch. Note that Epaulette Mates would NOT BE THING if two pieces could occupy same square!

So, Yup attempted castling is the most common blunder. I guess some people just can not get used to King being able to move two squares.

Was I playing Monkey; I mean former business colleague

A computer programmer that I sort of knew popped into my mind during the following blitz game. I did not know him well but he had a reputation as an excellent debugger and trouble shooter among the project leads and the developers or coders as they are called these days. 

Tom Holmen was logical guy that would explain his love of chess. Toguho, a monkey from Finland, played weakly in opening, dropping a pawn for nothing and then just running his h pawn down the board neglecting his development. 

His punishment was the lost ending you see where White has two minor pieces for the Rook and will win comfortably.  Last I heard, he was doing HR work and liking it, but we ended up in different countries so it has been awhile. 

 

Two Distinct Mating Patterns Decide this Sloppy Contest

 Norwegian Chess player Mark Fatty Thomas(markfattythomas) was in poor form lucky for me since he usually chews me up and spits me out Marvin Huckaby style.

The ICC blitz player when in for a piece sacrifice which was unsound owing to his ultra aggressive mood I suspect.

In the above diagrammed position White had a mate in two which is an enormous amount of information rendering this a trivial tactic to find. Problem in the game is the combatants HAVE TO KNOW IT IS A MATE IN 2 rather than sitting around on their couch in this Delta Mutation hell with a captioned position to work from.

White instinctively castled not noticing the forcing mate in 2 variation. The motif of two mating patterns simultaneously is what decides the game quickly

Hippopotamus In Reverse Catastrophe

 South African  chess player btropic played  soooo poorly with the White pieces that Black's seventh move Bf2 check leads to forced win.

In the diagrammed position, White his timidly set up what appears to be a Hippopotamus defense in reverse. Note that White's monarch is surrounded by its own forces in Epaulette fashion. He was duly punished with the attraction sacrifice Bishop capture King Bishop 2 pawn check in the old English descriptive notation. 

After Ng4 check, the a1 rook in the corner gets ingested and gets reactivated via c2 square. Would like to know if Alessio De Santis has ever essayed the Reverse Hippo and how he fared. 

Also why would a chess player play such a gutless, mindless opening with White?

Elegant Square Clearing Pawn Move

 Austrian Chess player Arsenal11 must have thought he stood no worse after the solid looking g6 pawn move. After all, his King on e6 had the opposition over its White counterpart on the e4 square.

However, he overlooked the game winning space clearance move pawn to f5 EXCLAM. So what space was cleared from this temporary pawn sacrifice? The f4 square, to be occupied by White Monarch, is the answer when Black finds himself in Zugzwang( German for NO move I think) 

Not only will Black's f5 fall, but the c5 pawn could be lost in some variations. Also if Black moves his pawn f6, White's g pawn jettisons Bruce Pandolfini! 

BTW, I have heard soccer goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has more than a mild interest in the Royal Game

Be very careful how you say Forking Knight

 The terse chess informant notation definitely applies to the following position. The Houston,Texas Master did not notice his King and Queen were forkable on the f2 and d2 squares or maybe he did but did not notice the f3 pawn was ABSOLUTELY pinned by the f5 Queen.

Hobart was more concerned about the weak c2 square which led to the blunder. He moved one of his rooks to c1 guarding c2, BUT allowing Ne4 forking King and Queen followed by resignation. His position was already loose with his King quite vulnerable. He fell victim to the burden of being the higher rated player by 600 USCF rating points. In this case, the first player was not going to accept a draw under any circumstances to a much weaker 1600 player.

The lesson to be learned is try to keep tabs on all weak squares even those induced by absolute pins. The informant notation(using a times/multiplication symbol) is (Xc2,e4)

Lisitsin Gambit Accident

 I can still remember Mike R. Flewelling exclaiming "I think your opening Sucks!!" despite absurd claims by chess commentator Miodrag Perunovic who ignorantly asserts the From's Gambit refutes the Bird's Opening, Michael knew it was viable opening. Perunovic was probably trying to elevate ad revenue on his YouTube channel with erroneous tripe.

Mike has a very bright daughter named Heather who shared her Dad's love for the Royal Game in Houston,Texas. 

The above diagrammed position details the tragicomedy experienced by ICC blitz player dutsbooi resulting in the dreaded checkmate delivered by the Lady on the g6 square. The poor dude had to stare at the abrasively cruel Qxg6# symbol on the scoresheet to add insult to injury.

 Alex Yermolinsky went public with his justified criticism of Kingside weakening aspect of the Dutch opening which is super amplified by 2. e4 in the Lisitsin's Gambit.  GM Larry Christiansen, who NEVER WAS AN IM,  did some beautiful pre computer engine analysis on refuting the Qd6 variation finding at least a forced draw for White if I recall(nothing to be proud of)

Mating Pawn

 The ICC chess playing engine authors Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba and Joona Kiiski  indicated the following razor sharp position was a Mate in nine.  I should say the Stockfish chess playing program written/coded by  by these geniuses revealed a checkmate in 9 moves.   USA player Schachspieler(German for chess player. I once asked a red hot German girl if she was a spieler and was promptly slapped- I deserved it, but eventually got laid by only her sister) was on the wrong end of this one with the Black pieces

OK back to the less sexually tense  diagrammed position where e6 is the obvious move threatening mate at f7.  Either Rd5 or the suicidal Qd7 prevent mate in one. You all can work out the rest of it. 

BTW Arlen G. Gallo does a nice job of covering mating pawns, but she should drop the weird sound effects on YouTube

Minority Attack Versus a Breezy Queen Side Pawn Structure

 A nice guy named Randy Bonds told me about the minority attack in the exchange variation of the Queen's Gambit where White's a and b pawns advance to weaken the three black queen side pawns(two pawns versus three pawns sounds like a minority to me!!)

The following setup against something like a Kings Indian Defense reminded me of the Dave's Chess Studio mainstay. As you can see, White voluntarily moved his pawn to c5 just to be triple attacked!!

Since it does not look like Black will get any kind of initiative with the standard KI f5 etc, White can pile his Rooks up on the b,c, and d files in a target practice sort of fashion not particularly worried about being a pawn down.

Also "The awakening of the men in the rear" might apply here with the f3 Knight hopping to the ideal c4 square. 

Minority attack adherents include Fotzus Zachus, Richard Dickinson, Rod MacNevin, arnav kapur, Ellen Revell

Some Discovered Checks are fatal Blunders

 I am writing this partly due to Eric Camp's tireless devotion to the well known tactical motif of Discovered Check. I had a game with American provisional player Bigj18 where the ICC player automatically played a move that setup a Knight move Queen Discovered check on the Black Monarch at g8. 

Eric despite his two failed marriages has done a magnificent job of expounding upon the preconditions that must exist to ignore the threat of the normally DEALDY discovered check tactical theme!! Camp published a game where he was able to calculate that a threatened discovered check WAS NOT REALLY A THREAT AT ALL BUT, IN FACT, AN EGREGIOUS BLUNDER.

In the diagrammed position, Black can all ignore Whites threat by attacking White's very breezy King side with the move Qh3. After Qh3, White continued with Ne3 discovered check. After Kh8, White guards the g3 pawn with Nf5,BUT White just rips off the strong Horse with Rxf5 and wins easily due to Whites miserably developed Queenside including a "stuck Bishop on the back rank and a spectator 5 pointer at a1 that will stand witness to the impending REGICIDE!!!

Shout out and thanks to all my El Segundo California buddies! We shared a lot of good times, women, and male bonding!!

There is NO Mate with Knight at f8

 The English Descriptive notation equivalent would be "NO mate with Knight at King's Rook one", but that shit does not rhyme!! In the below diagram with WTM Swedish player Zorkne certainly must have thought he possessed the initiative, but notice that the Horse on f8 square guards the checkmate sensitive h7 square along the "permanent post" looking e6 square. So the minor piece located on the back rank protects two crucial weak points.

So Back stands better because White's e1 square is being gang raped by the doubled rooks and White Lady's eventual occupation of the b4 square. 

I hope that Brooklyn's Levy Rozman, the Gotham chess content provider, filed a police report regarding the home burglary that wiped out many years of chess wisdom and lessons that help me to briefly become a USCF rated expert. Eric Rosen and Dewa Kipas are also excellent Royal Game tutors who have fair rates and quite COVID compliant with my cousin's kids!!

Instructive Mate in Seven

 The following position, resulting from a blitz chess game at the internet chess club, is a Black to Move and Win variety. The title of this article is a dead give away and provides enough information for an average player to figure out the forcing winning line.

BUT, would you discover the mating pattern in a real over the board game had you not been given the elephant in the room hint?  

Notice that White's f2 Bishop and f4 pawn occupy escape squares for the forlorn and isolated Monarch. Also fantasize about the g file being open after your Jonathon Rowson conversation with your h8 rook. Add the g7 Knight to the dialogue. After all, fianchettoed HORSES SUCK.

Stunning Pawn Sac in Dead Drawn Looking Ending

 In the following blitz game played at USA based Internet Chess Club, TheBlackCat must have thought he had an easy draw. Black despite having an extra pawn, had no way to promote his passed g3 pawn.

I was not able to figure out a brilliant pawn break through based on the "weakness of White's f4 pawn". Do you see it?!?!? That's right pawn to e5, followed by pawn to d4 leads to the capture of White's f4 pawn and Black should win! 

H C Schonberg would have easily discovered these two naked pawn sacs based on the informant notation Xf4. Contemporary commentator Naroditsky would have noticed it in less than 10 seconds probably between his binge viewing of Breaking Bad. He was cool kid at Stanford when I was working on my post doctoral stuff. He may have been the reason I never finished because his love of Royal game was soooo damn infectious along with his massively expansive vocabulary. The late Emory Tate may not have found it because he did not reach many endings based his tendencies to have things resolved in the middle game. 

Strong Knight WEAK King

 Some of my old Russian buddies often spoke of a weak opponent King location as a long term positional consideration. I had a hard time with this concept initially, but over the years have learned exactly what these wise Russian School of Chess dudes actually meant.

In the position below, which arose out of a Dutch Defense Staunton Gambit, the country of India player AabhasJindal resigned when he could  not see an adequate way to defend his d pawn.  Chigorin would have rolled twice in his grave mocking the passive and gutless style of a guy who just gives up when his unjustified attack did not work.

The Indian's King is certainly pathetic at g1 blocking in his own Rook at h1 while also being placed on the weak g1-a7 dark diagonal. However, resigning and not playing on suggests a lack of maturity and resolve. He forgot or never learned Andy Soltis' recommendation to make your  opponent win the game as a last line of defense. 

I do understand that experienced Android Developers working as Mobile Engineers do not have as much time for chess and respect that. Life in Udaipur, Rajasthan can be competitive and a man has to feed his family first and then give up time for leisurely pursuits. 

Unstoppable Mate in Four

 CTalin is a tactical beast at the ICC in the USA. I am usually on the receiving end of brutal attacks by this 1857 rated Mikhail Tal fanatic, but today was tactically alert, Larry Christiansen, and was lucky enough to to see a Mate in 4 after the careless Be6 move by Ctalin.

Can you find this mating pattern based on the potentially wide open a1- h8 diagonal and g file? Hint: Look for line opening piece sacrifice where the only way to delay mate involves hanging the Bishop.

Electrical Engineer Mike Peattie has posted some rather dry commentary about sacrificing material at Quora in a way quite common to unimaginative understanding of the concept of material.

The solo pianist's views on Zionism

 Jewish chess player Ashcenazy, playing out of Israel, allowed a Mate in six in the following diagrammed position.  My Jewish brother, who has been dealing with religious persecution over his Biblically guaranteed homeland in Palestine, blundered with Qf5 apparently forgetting Rook captures f2 pawn was NOT A CHECK on the White Monarch on the g1 square!!

So after, Qc7 threatening mate at f7 and g7, my acquisitive opponent resigned in this blitz game at the internet chess club based in Pennsylvania.

Don't get me wrong! I fully understand the commentary of John Punnett Peters regarding the details of practically accommodating God's will in the Middle East. Most sensible English speakers in US favor the Jews reoccupying Palestine because it is what our Lord and Savior promised in the Good Book! The country of England has quite a different opinion UNFORTUNATELY!! 

Tactically Defended Weak End Game Pawn

Alexander Shabalov had the fond nickname or sobriquet Shabba when face to face chess was all the rage. He and Yermo were buddies and life was good. Now online streaming resources have facilitated stay at home chess and writing talents like Daniel Naroditsky realized the USCF chess periodical were obtaining the rights to their priceless endgame commentary way tooooo CHEAP!

GM Naroditsky's Chess Life column was sucked away in Twitter induced vacuum.

This Knight versus Bishop was played against an aging Shabba at the internet chess club where the Horse on the f5 square is immune to capture due to winning KP ending for Black. Also  Bishop takes the pawn on c6 loses to the Knight fork check at d4! 

Black's doubled c pawns at c6 and c5 guard the key potential King entry point squares d5 and d4.

Was shocked to learn that folks like n.u.r.74(a colleague of Nazala Imaniah) are apparently making money by recording their facial reactions, at Youtube and instagram,  to movies and other stuff. She is some kind of Asian with nice teeth and is maybe making some click bait ad revenue by creating Male Felatio fantasies based on her supple lips. 

There are multiple safe prostitution accounts like hers where physical contact does not occur and solicitors hide behind screen names. I get a slight erection when she smiles and laughs a certain way, but have never clicked on any of her ads. 

Moving into an Absolute Pin a Good Move in this Game

 In the below position, reached at a blitz game played at the Pennsylvania USA internet chess club, White had played pawn to g4 voluntarily moving into a pin on his King on a semi open g file occupied by Black's King and Rook. Sounds like a horrible decision doesn't it FM Zaur Tekeyev?

BTW the money is to be made at online streaming places like Twitch Mr Tekeyev, not writing paper books on 25 elementary tactics everybody should know. Where the the hell did you get twenty five dude? Are those the only 25 you know?

I bet players stronger than you do not know the trivial distinction between a relative and absolute pin.

In any event, see if you can see why a logical looking move like Qg5 is a blunder. Hint: Transform the the absolute pin into a winning relative pin!

Finally the most underrated resource on the internet is Norbert Thomas. The affable German has magnificent pedagogical ability and is a strong advocate regarding the social aspect of the game we all love!

Hope this Chess player Finds Peace and Tranquility

 Gambling, Alcohol dependency and chess are more related than many would want to confess.

The profile of an outstanding bullet chess player(has played around 150,000 games according to his finger notes) named vladika01 from Japan was ominously suicidal on December 12th 2020. 

1 min chess same as gambling

 2: Time to leave ICC 2002-2020

 3: All that can be said has been said and all good things must come to an end

 4: Came here to play chess not to look for friends-but found some anyway

 5: Forget me soon and take care ya all

 6: Last words ...hmm, guard against those who want to distort history by

  changing it

v

I found references to a Bishop vladika a member of the Japanese Orthodox Church and the Enlightener. 

As you can see in the diagrammed position, Vladika typed in the not so spiritually edifying FU. He was quite angry over losing the game after winning piece directly out of the opening and acquiescing to the long term positional disadvantage of a King trapped in the Center of the Board!

Usually the lines and arrow are used to for players to kibitz after the game has completed but the Japanese blitz addict preferred the initials to Fuck You. Also his  mental health would be improved by knowing that history is written by whoever wins the wars or currently in Control.

Back to the game and the White King stuck trepidating fearfully in the middle of the Back Rank.

So Vlad is still "up a piece" but down a King as you can see in the diagrammed position above. He spent time thinking that Qh4 "threatening" Qd8 checkmate was a game saver only to eventually note that Black's Queen at d3 surveils the mating square. So after the forced Qe1 to avoid mate, the Japanese lover of the Royal game could tip over his King after Black SNAPS OFF THE f3 Knight.   3 minute chess is too slow for him in my opinion. Find peace somehow my brotha.

Exchange Sacrifice for Weak Pawns

 You all remember those material point tables published by the German Bernhard Horwitz who claimed a Queen was worth 9 pawns, a Rook 5, Bishop or Horse worth 3

This dude who plays on the internet named Blackdata believes these values are absolute indicating he never has read Rowson. 

So when I play this cat, he always lets me take off his Horse with my Tower as you can see in the following diagram(Notice the f3 Knight has been snapped off by the f8 Rook shattering his Kingside pawn structure). I thought he might be a computer programmer or a bitcoin miner or a data scientist, but probably not since those type of professionals always learn from their mistakes.

Blackdata does not get the quality and coordination aspect of a chess position. In the above position, he thinks he is winning because his pieces add up to 16 pawns and Black's pieces add up to 14 pawns according to the German MoFo who formed the infamous group "The Pleiades"

I am sure the Chess Improver  Valer Eugen Demian and his copyrighted content could talk about the weak squares around the White Monarch along with weak pawns as being more than adequate compensation for the exchange sacrifice. Black has an enduring initiative despite having "lost the exchange". 

Demian  will quickly learn that a standard Blog is no match for Streaming Twitch content or YouTube. Daniel Naroditsky does not give the USCF the time of day after becoming a Twitch ad revenue animal. I sure as hell do not blame him, although I miss his outstanding column in Chess Life.

In closing Blackdata, like many lovers of the game suffers immensely from materialism and should realize chess would not be much of game if one could just do a Horwitz count of material to determine who stood better in an arbitrary position.