Protected Passed Pawn Converted to Winning Diagonal Opposition

 

Lovable NYC chess coach, writer, teacher, mainstay contributor to USCF periodical Chess life Bruce Pandolfini has an extreme fondness for the term Jettison. 

In the above diagrammed position with 3 pawns per side, Blacks protected passed d5 pawn appears stuck unless one is acquainted with the endgame principle of diagonal opposition. So note that if Black plays pawn to d4 the White Monarch is forced to capture the jettisoned peon. After the Black King captures  White's f6 button, the Kings are on same diagonal separated by a single square and White's c5 pawn will eventually fall leading to a winning KP ending for Black.

In this example Bruce's term jettison essentially deflects the White King into a losing KP ending. 

Letting ones time expire Versus resigning like a Gentleman

 A Canadian chess player with the handle PleaseBlunder, understandably, let his time expire in the following position from a 3 minute blitz game at the Internet Chess Club. The guy probably does not know that Tic Tac Toe is a theoretical draw, but still devotes excessive time to our Royal Game without any discernible improvement in his level of play. 

His e2 Knight is pinned to f2 King with Black Knight capturing weak d4 pawn threatened. Back also has unstoppable passed pawns on Queenside so Black's domination of a very weak player is manifest. 

Tryfon Gavriel writes about dealing with bad sportsmanship OTB and online. Does anyone know why Victoria Fryer promotes B2B business platforms on chess blogs and at Quora? Incidentally Pat Wolff wrote about the thorny ethical questions of letting an opponent's time tick off rather than alerting them. I believe it actually transpired in one of his games against GM Dzindzichashvili. Pat was smart enough to transfer his genius from chess to finance.

Exchange Sacrifice arising from Advance Variation French Defense

One of the acts of chess maturation is being able to discern when to part with material for positional, long term benefits.

In the following game of chess played at ICC, MathSS essayed the advance variation against the French Defense.

A position was reached where Black had a protected passed pawn at c4 and a very powerful light squared Bishop anchored at e4 with the potential to terrorize the White King Side down the h1-a8 diagnonal. This observation is all the more significant given the absence of White's light square guardian.

So a powerful Bishop and a protected passed pawn along with the lever(file opening) h pawn motivated Black to sacrifice the exchange by ripping off the f6 Bishop with his Rook and then follow with pawn to h4.

The StockFish chess playing computer program found a complicated way to hold the position for White, but in a practical game between USCF experts or even masters, the practical winning chances lie with the Second Player!

Winning by Entering the Square of a Passed Pawn

Being familiar with the pawn structure is crucial at every point in a chess game. Pawns determine the topology of the board which is a major determinant of the strategy and tactics that will ensue. This is why Philidor referred to the pawn structure as the soul of chess.

In the following game played at the ICC, REVOLUCIONCHILE played his usual aggressive Dutch Defense. White won the exchange early and the following position was reached with White having a winning pawn structure due to his connected passed g and h pawns.

Black just played b5 to provide an outpost for his Knight at c4. White quickly reacted with Rook captures Horse at c4, giving back the exchange for a won King and Pawn ending. Note that this would have been a losing move had the White King been at h1 instead of g1.

After the obligatory recapture at c4 with the pawn, White enters the square of the pawn with either Kf1 or Kf2. The square or quadrangle of the pawn is any easy way avoid the calculation of determining whether one can catch up with a pawn before it queens.

After the forced recapture, the pawn at c4 helps form the vertices of square composed of the chess board squares f4,f1, and c1. Black's King which cannot support the queening of the c pawn has to stay close to the connected passed pawns while the White King is ingesting the separated and weak Black Queenside pawns.

I wonder if REVOLUCIONCHILE is serious about being part of a coup, insurgency, or revolution in Chile? The angry capitalization of his ICC name suggests more than a hot blooded Latina chess player.

Knight Versus Bishop Endng -STOP SQUARE for Knight

Superboy, playing out of Denmark at the Internet Chess Club, is very fond of the so called Bishop advantage over the Knight in all circumstances and I have learned to use his misconception against him numerous times to my advantage.

In the diagrammed position arising from the Dutch Defense, White has a protected passed pawn on the e4 square, the Bishop, and pawns on both wings which one would expect to equate to an advantage.

However, the position is more blocked than it is open and Black OWNS the e5 square as a stop square. What is meant by a stop square in chess? It is a square that can NOT be attacked by pawns and in this case completely in the second players control.

Black can play Ne5 in this ending preventing Bc4 since after Knight captures Bishop, White's doubled c pawns at c2 and c4 would be weak and ultimately indefensible leading to a lost King and Pawn ending.

The great magnum opus titled My System by Nimzovitch treated the topic of weak squares very profoundly emphasizing the fact that a square could be organically weak/strong irrespective of whether said square was occupied or not. This is certainly the case with the unoccupied e5 square as White has nothing other than his King to contest Blacks hegemony of this crucial square!

How to Continue in this Benoni

It is fairly well known among chess players that the guy who contributed a lot to the theory of the Benoni was plagued by abject depression and studied chess to distract him from his debilitating melancholy.

Zarod, playing at the ICC out of the Netherlands, is also a Benoni devotee and I hope a more cheerful and happy type than the aforementioned troubled soul.

In the diagrammed position, White exchange off his c1 Bishop in order to secure a protected passed pawn at d5 and a strong square at c4 for his horse. Black's play is usually on the queen side which makes a5 a good idea for White which also secures the b6 square as a strong point for his itinerant knight or peripatetic steed as Amarillo NM Gary Simms would proclaim.

With Black to move, then machine gives Nh5 as the best try and Black responding with a5. Positionally, Black would like to get his horse to the blockading square d6, but the Rook at e8 blocks the path to that square.

Some hard core Benoni defense players prefer b6 combined with Rb8 tempting White to place his Knight on e3 to avoid the tempo pawn hit with b5.

Distant Past Pawns Beat Protected Passed Pawn

jmderbes of Argentina must of thought there was no way he was going to lose the following chess position played at the Internet Chess Club as he went into the ending with a protected passed pawn at d4.

Black has a 4-3 king side majority but no protected passed pawn. White has 4-3 queen side pawn majority.




However, White blundered by playing a move which allows Black  to create isolated passed e and a pawns which will overwork the White King as they advance to their Queening squares at e1 and a1 respectively.

In the diagrammed postion, White just played b3 which allows the aforementioned winning idea. See if you can find the pawn move which leads to victory in all variations, Clarence Yeung, for the second player despite White's protected passed d pawn!

Many THANKS to Clarence Yeung and his Honor Roll school who taught my son much more than chess! Mike learned critical thinking, time management, and other important life skills. He now has a beautiful wife, an excellent job, and a bright future due in large part to his world class teacher. Also a big thanks to Jim Liptrap for all his encouragement and making us aware of the chess community and the positive, life changing impact it can have on our youth.

In The Square of the Pawn

The following King and Pawn ending looks very winning for Black owing to his central pawn duo at e4 and d4. There is a little wrinkle after one observes that White has a protected passed pawn at a5 which is three squares from Queening.

The pawn at a5 forms a square with vertices at the chess squares a5,d5,d8, and a8. As long as the White King remains within this square, the Black passed pawn must remain frozen.

This leads to the formulation of the simple plan of attacking the protecting b4 pawn and destroying the support of White's only hope. Now capturing the b4 pawn with the King would be an egregious blunder as it would land the discombobulated Black King outside the aforementioned quadrangle/square.




So the winning idea is to get the King to b5 which facilitates the pawn dissolving c5 pawn advance leaving two capturable pawns and White's resignation imminent. Incidentally, players of the French Defense are often rewarded after patiently defending with strong central pawns which also sometimes happens in Sicilian Defense games.

Kaalzar from the country of Guadeloupe(a group of Caribbean islands and an overseas region of France) is an uncompromising chess player who would rather lose "his way" than acquiesce to the will of his opponent.