Middle Game Trap of Queen

Trapping the King is the well known objective of winning a game of chess. Most players know that trapping the Queen usually wins the game too. This is certainly not always the case as Queen sacrifices have lead to some the most beautiful victories our Royal game has seen!

In the following diagram, saira playing Black out of Finland at the Internet chess club, essayed the aggressive if not slightly unsound opening of 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5?!(Albin CounterGambit) White turned the game into an Advanced French Defense in reverse.

As you can see the overly aggressive Finnish player is trying to conduct an attack with his Rook, Bishop and Knight all on the back rank. White has just played Qd3 trying to consolidate his material advantage.

Black elects to play Nf2 forking King and Queen and forcing White to capture the trouble making Horse. Can you see what the Finnish player missed in his forcing continuation? His oversight quickly led to his resignation.

Piece Sac to Mobilize Two Center Pawns

ChessIsMyWife is a low rated, very aggressive United Sates player who loves playing at the internet chess club. He is equally enamored with the King's Indian Defense.

Any serious KI chess player is acutely aware of the weak d-pawn that helps keep his d6,e5,f4 pawn chain intact while he organizes a pawn storming King side attack. It is also well known that if White can crash through on the Queen side, Black's King's field can become a bit breezy if not indefensibly weak.

In the diagrammed position, Black is guarding his d6 pawn with Queen, Knight at e8, and Bishop at f8.

White recognizing the long term benefit of the center pawn duo, sacrificed his b2 Bishop at e5. After the c4 Knight recaptures the capturing pawn at e5 with a tempo on the f7 Rook, White can slowly prepare the steamrolling effect of his d and e  pawns.

The well known dictum of a secure, locked center being a necessary precursor for a flank attack is exploited in the first player's favor with this piece sacrifice. Note that White would likely not capture the poorly placed Rook if Black chose not to move it although the beautifully placed e5 Knight might want to get out of the way of the e4 pawn lusting to expand. Johathan Rowson, I am sure would have a humorous conversation with his obstructive steed to see if Horse agreed.

Rowson wrote,perhaps, the most seminal chess psychology book in our game's voluminous body of literature. He spoke of the circular motion of the Knight conjoined with the linear motions of the other pieces. The Scottish GM illustrated the value of gumption and the perils of over thinking and wasting time being overly concerned about the outcome of the game.

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.

Meran Defense in Reverse

I believe it was IM John Donaldson, contributing editor to the wildly popular pre internet magazine Inside Chess, who wrote an excellent opening manual on the Meran variation of the Slav Defense.

The opening was exceptionally popular and effective to the extent that anti-Meran White systems were devised. The idea behind the opening was to wait until White developed his f1 Bishop and then give up the center with d pawn captures c pawn. When White recaptured with his twice moved prelate, Black would play a6 threatening  b5 with a tempo on c4 Bishop.

The pawn pawn move b5 also cleared b7 for the Black c8 bishop to occupy. Cliff Bunch, a high intensity Houston player, believed Black was already better not 10 moves out of the opening.

Check out the following lighting game played at ICC where Serbian Grandmaster PapMisa is flummoxed by Cuban or Peruvian player rayosx playing the Meran Defense in Reverse!

Battle of the Pawn Duos

In this interesting struggle between competing pawn duos, precise calculation is required. Black has just played pawn to g4 producing a menacing looking duo at g4 and h4. White's duo at c5 and d5 turns out to be stronger than ICC plyer Nc3-4Me estimated.

With White to move, pawn to c6 threatening a center pawn roller is in the air and impossible to stop owing to the fact that the d6 square is protected by the b7 White Knight.

White's King and Rook are adequate to block the advance of the the Black pawn duo deciding the game in White's favor. Also observe that the Black Rook at a6 is in hot water after pawn to a5 and Bishop to d3 where minor pieces and a pawn conspire to trap and inter the Black Castle.

The ICC user named Nc3-4Me may have known about the late Houston master Larry Englebretson who was familiar with all the transpositional nuances associated with 1. Nc3 . Damian Nash, a very strong chess player out of Colorado, is also quite fond of essaying Nc3 on the first move. I believe he sometimes gets Black defensive systems with the colors reversed which can be very dangerous and effective against unsuspecting opponents.

Damian Nash and Harold Stevens used to reside in Moab, Utah and wrote that Moab has the highest concentration of good chess players in the United States from a sheer percentage point of view. William Barefield is still smarting from losses to Nash and Mark Schwarman of NM

Stonewall Dutch Defense Refuted in this Game

It requires King sized balls to declare that a well established chess opening has been refuted. I recall Alex Yermolinsky berating Dmitry Gurevich for playing the Dutch Defense because of the way the first move f5 irreversibly weakened Black's King Side.

The following game played at the the Internet Chess Club is a refutation of the Stonewall Dutch Defense. Just teasing! White swapped off Black's dark squared Bishop because Black's choice of pawn structure, namely c6,d5,e6, and f5 permanently weaken all the dark squares.

F4thebird, playing out of America, starts an unjustified pawn avalanche on the King side grossly overestimating his chances. Observe that he retreated his d7 Bishop to the e8 square after is was attacked by the unassailable horse at e5. Like the Knight was actually going to capture the pathetic stonewall Dutch Achilles heal!?!

In the following diagram, "Black's attack" has ran out of steam and he is still stuck with his miserable Bishop while White's Steed at e5 is optimally positioned. White offered a Queen trade which would lead to lost ending if accepted, so the cross bearing American name F4thebird walked face first into a well known tactical them called attraction/deflection.

See if you can find the move that would force a civil chess player to resign like a gentleman. Black chose to let his 53 seconds expire rather than resign. I am sure his Blood pressure was quite elevated as he watched his time expire.

BTW, do all Americans have crude, inane, loutish, sexist handles at ICC?

Won King and Pawn Ending if Bishops can be forced off.

The following Bishop Ending is of practical and theoretical interest. It arose from a French Defense where Black captured White's e4 pawn on the third move of the game at the Internet Chess Club.

White has three pawn islands to Black's two. In a pure King and Pawn ending, the side with the fewer pawn islands frequently has the advantage. Such would be the case here if Black could figure out a way to force a trade of Bishops. Black would eventually win the game owing to his 4-3 King Side Pawn majority.

As you can see from the screenshot of the game, Black has just played Bc6 begging White, played by Taliesin of the the ICC, to exchange Bishops which would lead to previously mentioned losing end game for White.

Why is the ending losing for White? In short, because of the weakness of his isolated c5 pawn and a2 pawn. Black can convert is 4-3 majority to a single passed pawn which White must chase down which will lead to Black's a7 pawn queening.

Since this passed pawn is a rook pawn, Black has to prevent White getting to the stalemating c1 square.

Gurgenidze Defense Freak

 Stigern,playing out of Norway at the internet chess club, is adamantly and irreversibly attached to the Gurgenidze Defense variation of the modern defense in chess. With couples, a nice piece of advice is to not stand between a man and his wife. The same is true with a chess player and his opening. Stigern plays the Gurgenidze Defense against everything and may not know any other opening based on ICC data.

The Gurgenidze Defense is characterized by Black setting up a rigid pawn structure comprised of pawns at e6, f7, g6, and h5. In the following position White patiently organized file opening pawn pawn levers or breaks after Black brazenly did not castle leaving his King in the center.

Many chess players know that an exposed King constitutes a long term positional feature which means one does not have to be in a big hurry to mate the King and slow build ups are often the most effective. Matt Grinberg, a strong New Mexico master, is very well acquainted with this subtle strategical theme.

Note that Black is "threatening" Qe1 check in the diagrammed position with White to move. White ignored this threat and played Queen captures pawn at g6 apparently oblivious to the move order Qe1 check followed by Nc1 blocking and Bf4 pinning!

Can you see that this is a trap set by White due to the safe luft a2 square?

Game Ending X-Ray Attack

The game of chess has a rich and historical vernacular including terms like Zugzwang(Robert Brieger on high alert, seance required), skewer, tempo, fork, transpose, squeeze, pin, interpose, triangulate, opposition, etc.

The following game played at the internet chess club illustrates another entry in the Royal Game's very dense lexicon. Monkjunk, playing out of the United Kingdom, just played Qe7 on the black side of a Catalan opening expecting a quite drawish Rook and Pawn end game.

Little did the British player, with the sacrilegious user name, realize he had just walked face first into a tactical theme that was covered in Jeremy Silman's classic middle game work How to Reassess your Chess. The tactic is aptly named X-Ray attack because, in some sense, the attacking piece is "seeing through" one piece to attack another piece or square in this case.

In the diagrammed position, the Black Queen is X-Rayed to to the unoccupied d8 square which makes the winning move of Rd8 a no brainer for any veteran chess player familiar with the multitude of tactical patterns our beloved game enjoys.

Back to the ICC handle monkjunk. A monk is an individual who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of other monks. Asceticism means to live a self denying, austere sort of life, so one can only surmise that this chess player is not a monk, a monk on the way out, or being disrespectful to monks....... Come to think of it chess players are typically a bunch of guys who hang out with each other for long weekends to get away from their wives.....Hmmm food for thought.

Do NOT Exchange Pieces when you have a Space Advantage

Sultankam, playing at ICC out of the Island Nation named the Philippines, has a space advantage on the White Side of this French Defense. Why? Because Black elected to give up the center by capturing White's proud e pawn with his d pawn.

How does this confer a space advantage for White? White possesses a center pawn at d4, whereas Black has no center pawn. This gives White more space in the center and more maneuverability with his pieces.

This does not sound like much of an advantage, but very view Grand Master strength players give up the center in this fashion with the Black pieces. The attractive and strong female player Anna Zatonskih does not mind playing the Black side of this type of French Defense as established by her willingness to annotate a win of hers in the Berry brother's Oklahoma Chess Bulletin.

In the diagrammed position, the Filipino chess player retreated his Horse to g3 avoiding exchanges at e4 proving he understood his more than minute advantage. Something similar to this happens in Sicilian Defenses when White has a somewhat cramping e pawn and will retreat his Knight from d4 to b3.

Black can have problems finding a safe square for his Queen here. He also looks for the opportunity to play c5 to challenge White's central supremacy. GM Sergey Kudrin is an absolute maestro playing the White side of this position.

I remember witnessing a tense game between Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush where Anna outblitzed Krush inducing an angry reaction by Irina. I admired Anna for not reacting to the outburst where Krush knocked her pieces over and exited the playing hall furiously. Still not sure what her grievance was? She lost by the smallest of margins, but lost nonetheless.

Tangentially, would like to point out that, The Berry Brothers of Stillwater, Oklahoma can lay claim to being most munificent benefactors to women's chess in the United States. Just ask WGM Camilla Baginskaite, WIM Nadia Ortiz, WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, WIM Alexey Root, WFM Bayaraa Zorigt, WFM Tatev Abrahamyan, WFM Iryna Zenyuk, WFM Lilia Doibani, WCM Judit Simo, Tatiana Vayserberg, Vanessa West, Simone Sobel, Becky Huang, Stephanie Ballom, Sarah Chiang, Courtney Jamison, Stephanie Pitcher, Helen Jamison, Sylvia Yang, and Alexa Zolman.

These women all converged in Stillwater back around 2004 for chess Olympiad training and tournaments for any FIDE rated woman waiving transportation costs, lodging costs, and offering a $500 appearance fee. Those old Berry brother wool hounds know how to get a bunch of women assembled in one place and make it look legal now!! :)

Getting away from the joy of playing chess and the struggle of improving, all this proves that lots and lots of CASH makes the decision making for poor chess players infinitely easier, Money talks bullshit walks.

Fork Trick Out of French Defense Opening

Avila, out of Guam playing at the internet chess club, plays aggressively if not sometimes recklessly. His style is well suited to blitz chess where fortune often favors the brave as David Bronstein repeats a few times in his famous Zurich international tournament book. I will never forget when Dmitry Gurevich got the opportunity to play against Bronstein, who Gurevich idolized as child, at the National Open in Las Vegas directed by Bill Snead who was a computer programmer from Amarillo, Texas. Gurevich got ground down by Texas legend Joe Bradford in grueling Rook and Pawn ending where big Joe demonstrated Karpovian boa constrictor technique! Dmitry was constantly repeating in the post mortem that the ending had to be drawn which is old truth whispered by the worshipers of Caissia about such endings!

The fork trick is likely more common in late middle games and endings, but in this case it presented itself seven moves into a French Defense where the Pacific Islander played d4 which permits the shocking Queen captures d4 pawn which wins a pawn due to Nc2 forking the Lady and the Monarch!

White played the surprisingly weak 1. e4  e6 2.c4 against the French defense apparently trying to prevent the French signature move d5.

Pawn Center Easily worth the Exchange Sacrifice

In the following French Defense played at the internet chess club, Nooky from the United Kingdom is "up the exchange" handling the White pieces. However, with proper play Black should come out on top owing to his suffocating pawn center comprised of the e4, d4, and c5 pawns.

White just played b3 to protect his pawn from capture by the the Black Rook at b8. While this protects the pawn, it creates a weakness on the c3 square for occupation by, perhaps, Black's f6 Knight after it hops to d5.

Also, the h1-a8 diagonal will be terrorized by the light squared Black Bishop.  It is crucial to recognize that both of White's Rooks are impotent due to the lack of open files. Also the Black pawns are lusting to expand Aron Nimzovitch which will weaken squares for occupation by the Black forces.

Hopefully the reader will now be more convinced of the value of an advanced, difficult to dissolve pawn center as in this case it is worth more than being "down the exchange".

Over Pressing in Rook and Pawn Endings

The following rook and pawn ending where Black has a passed Rook pawn and three King Side pawns versus White's Rook and four King Side Pawns makes frequent appearances at ICC. My experience has been that it is quite easy for the side with passed pawn to overplay the position believing the passed a pawn gives good winning chances.

However, blitz chess addicts prefer White's position because Black often runs out of time trying to win because his Monarch gets checked to death trying to cross over and help support the passed a pawn! So this is an example of the practical chances belonging to the side without the passed pawn. Postal Master Mark Dejmek of Houston,Texas understood the subtleties and finesses of these type of endings perfectly and frequently squeezed full points out of overconfident opponents who tried too hard to win a drawn position.

Dejmek, who drove a sports car with a personalized chess tag, was very effective utilizing his correspondence knowledge in over the board games and knew every last wrinkle of opening theory in his pet Dragon Sicilian where many games are drawn not by mutual consent but by perpetual check.

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!

Capturing c3 Knight in Nimzo Indian Defense Unprovoked

The Nimzo-Indian Defense reaction to 1.d4 2. c4 3.Nc3 is likely the best Black Defense. There are many die hard Gruenfeld and Slav Defense players who would vehemently contest this claim, but Super GMs such as Anatoly Karpov and Michael Adams play move orders that avoid the Nimzo-Indian which is characterized by Bb4 pinning the c3 Knight and "threatening pawn doubling".

In the diagrammed position, BIV of the United  States playing at the ICC, ill-advisedly played Bishop captures Knight without being provoked by a3. The drawback to the premature capture, giving up the mini exchange according to Fischer, is that White has not blocked his f-pawn with Nf3. The f pawn can spearhead a line-opening attack against the Black King. The lines being the f file and the c1-h6 diagonal.

Also the  e2 White Knight can become fatally aggressive by hopping to g3 and h5 accentuating the pinned Black Horse at f6.

Black greedily went after one of the doubled c pawns at c4 by misplacing his Knight at a5 millions of miles from the King Side where it might play a defensive role. The materialist plan of winning the the c4 pawn with the aforementioned Knight and Bishop to a6 is unsound as proved in this game where Black was crushed to death by a merciless White attack for his greedy forays on the other side of the board!

GM Roman Dzindzichashvili, who was sort of a sleazy, Bohemian, con-artist type back in the 80s and early 90s at many United States USCF tournaments, has written some excellent stuff regarding the demerits of capturing at c3 too early in the Nimzo-Indian.

Won King and Pawn ending out of the opening

jgonz, playing at the Internet Chess Club with the White pieces out of the country of Mexico. elected to exchange pieces every chance he got in this French Defense. He was so eager to swap pieces that he willingly allowed Black a four to three pawn majority on the King side.

It is well known that White can do something similar in the Ruy Lopez exchange variation  securing a 4-3 King side majority at the expense of conceding the Bishop pair. In praxis Aaron Nimzovitch, White rarely wins because of said majority.

In the position you see, White's Knight and Rook, at first glance. appear to be on threatening squares. However, they are unable to combine around the Black Monarch and Black's simple plan becomes to at least trade off Rooks with the fantasy of also exchanging Knights leading to won king and pawn ending.

The winning Black pawn structure owes its soul to the fact that White's 4-3 Queen side majority can never bear the fruit  of a passed pawn since the c pawns are doubled at c2 and c3. Such a Queen side majority is frequently called unhealthy by folks at the Mechanics Chess club in San Francisco and the rock and roll one there frequented by New Mexico chess legend Jess Kraai who authored Lisa, a chess novel which had a refreshingly puerile point of view and was worth reading.

Forcing a trade of Rooks is usually easier that coercing swap of Horses, but many endgame books point out that Knight and Pawn endings share many of the characteristics of pure King and Pawn endings, so getting the Towers off the board is a good start in Black's quest to secure the full point!

A Whole Rook

KingRogue, playing white out of Australia at the Internet Chess Club, just grabbed the Black Rook at a8 with his Bishop and is up the proverbial "Whole Rook". How this phrase crept into chess parlance is beyond this writer. One rarely hears the corresponding phrases Whole Bishop, Whole Knight, etc. mentioned during raucous kibitzing sessions at USCF tournaments.

Moreover, his Rook,Queen, and other Rook are tripled in that order on the d-file. However, being up in material does not a chess game make! Chess would be way too much like checkers if all that mattered was material superiority.

White's King is stuck in the center which, in this case. more than negates his material advantage. With Black to move, find the shot that exploits a pin that effectively forces the First Player from down under to tip over his King.

Central Pawn Duos ALWAYS worth something

I recall Peter Kappler a computer scientist residing in Austin, Texas USA, who was also a strong A player in the United States Chess Federation , stating that central pawn duos were evaluated separately by all evaluation functions that were worth their salt.

The following game played at the internet chess club hosted in the United States is an excellent example of why.

Pozarek decided to disconnect and forfeit rather than resign like a gentleman in the following position. He was apparently very afraid  of Black's passed a pawn while not giving any value to the his own passed pawn duo at d5 and e5.

Black would probably try Bb3, clearing the a file for the advance of his a pawn, in the diagrammed position and Pozarek would play the natural Bf5 check pushing the Black King to f7 when the pawn advance d6 would be the strongest move.

Pozarek, quit by disconnection because he did not notice the drawing deflection resource Bg6 ! The Bishop is immune to capture, otherwise the d pawn will queen. Moves like this are also called attraction sacrifices in this case attracting the King away from the square of the pawn!

Pawn Clinging Variation Open Catalan

I have to confess that I possess close to contempt for chess players who try to "win pawns out of the opening" as though they were playing checkers. I guess the reason is that I too was overly materialistic when I first became hooked on the royal game.

The following position played by Aracaju out of Brazil at the Internet Chess Club is an example of Black trying to win a pawn and hang on to it at the neglect of his development. It strikes me as a tad too greedy, but some chess players do not mind dragging themselves through a sewer line for an extra pawn even if it means ignoring opening principles.

One can observe that Black has made four pawn moves to consolidate "his advantage" constructing a structure comprised of pawns at a6, b5,c4, and c6. His only developed piece is his b7 Bishop stuck behind said pawn structure!

With White to play, b3 is a logical and sensible move chipping away at the potentially over extended pawn formation.

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.

My Maine Chess Experience

I want to express my sincere thanks to the chess players of the Great State of Maine! Was there on sabbatical from my theoretical research at a University and had the very good fortune to play at many of the clubs throughout the state.

I found the same type of personalities as you see in Northern California despite the drastic cultural differences  between the two states. The person from Maine which I will likely never forget was Brian Cobb, a positional chess player with almost no tactical ability. If you let him play slowly, he will squeeze you to death like the Boa Constrictor Anatoly Karpov. He will not accept gambit pawns usually and can not compete with even an average skilled tactical player. Brian is bad about disconnecting in losing positions at the Internet Chess Club.

I am grateful to him and other Maine Chess players for being gracious host during my time up North! The players and parents from the Augusta and featherfoot farms chess clubs were especially friendly folks.

Finally, many of the Maine players had a style comparable to the chess players in Utah who had utter contempt for opening theory even if it meant getting an inferior position out of the opening. I was often able to get big edges out of the opening only to be outplayed in the middle game by these resourceful guys. There were about the same number of gay chess players in both states from my estimates. One even shared that the most intense sex he ever had involved being spanked by a chess player he had just beaten after they had analyzed game in hotel room.

CARTHER S THEOGENE

GRAHAM P COOPER

MATTHEW E FISHBEIN

AARON SPENCER

JOSHUA QUINT

SERGIO B MEJIA

ALAN P SCHALK

ZACHARY H BENCE

ROGER JOSEPH MORIN

RUBEN BABAYAN

MAX E BERUBE

TODD SNYDER

DAVID WASDAHL

JOHN R PHYTHYON SR

RAY HAINES

ROGER D PETERSON

CHESTER YOUNG

PHILIP LOWELL JR

TROY FRANKLIN

JOHN J BRADY

ANDREY SAVOV

S WARREN LOHR

LANCE BELOUNGIE

WILLIAM E RAVN

EDWARD J NEVELLS

WESLEY M PARKER

CURT BROCK

DEAN ASTUMIAN

DMITRY ALBIN

AKAGI KAYASHIMA

GABE BORLAND

JON BUXTON

THOMAS C SANDFORD

RYAN TRIPP

BARRY MAGDA

DONALD L PLUMMER

MATTHEW REALE-HATEM

GREGORY P ANDERSON

GREGORY SHIELDS

BRADLEY MARK WORKMAN

WILLIAM AUSTIN BURTT

GLENN SNYDER

YURI D RIABKOV

BRIAN HURST

JAMIN A FLETCHER

BRUCE A SHERWOOD

STEVIE BASTON

DANIEL C DELUCA

ROGER D HARDISON

MARK SEEDNER

GEORGE SPAHN

JOSEPH POWELL

ALEX WALLACH

FRANK L R DI RENZO

BROCK MACDOUGAL

WILLIAM T PHELPS

DANIEL A LA VALLEE

IAN YOUTH

LEROY F DOUCETTE

CAMERON WENDELL

DARRELL BUTLER

FRANK COLLEMER

BRIAN RODERICK

JOHN M SANDORA

JOHN DAVID ELLISON

ANDREW B BRYAN

DAVID C CHEN

BETHANY SUPING HUMPHREY

STEPHEN WONG

DANIEL C DRAYER

OWEN WALL

FREDERICK J STINE

ANTONY KARL FREUDIG

THOMAS L ALLEN

JOHN F JONES

ANDREW TURNER

FORREST M BLANKENSHIP

JOSHUA JOEL SHUMAN

EZRA M BRIGGS

GHEORGHE TEODORESCU

BENJAMIN AMAR

KENNETH P BURKE

DANIEL R FISHBEIN

ALBA H BRIGGS III

HALEY DELUCA LOWELL

NATHAN C SHEMWELL

KRISFORD MELANIO

MARK E MCPHETERS

BRENDAN PENFOLD

ORLY VAUGHN

CHARLES ROTMIL

TIANJIAN YUAN

JOSEPH ASTUMIAN

AARON BEN WILSON-MCFARLANE

JIAJUN CHEN

RICK PERRY

CARTER D BROCK

CAMERON TROTTER

FRANK JIN

ZACHARY GRINDAL

NICHOLAS SHEDD

DAVID HUNTER

DANIEL BRETT

JESSE AMAR

MAX LIZOTTE

ANNE YORK

GREG WADSWORTH

ADAM GAGNON

BRENNAN LANE

HUI KENNEDY

JINRAN TIAN

CALEB HUNTER

ERIC YOUTH

MICHAEL HAYDEN

NICK CHARALAMBOUS

JOHN CL MORGAN

CONOR THOMPSON

AUSTIN C BURTT

CATHERINE RUDNICKI

SOOZIN CHA

RICARDO ROMERO

REID RAUCH

WILLIAM XU

BEN PETERSON

ANDREW NEVELLS

OLIVER SULLIVAN

OLIVER JAMES BROWN PATRICIO

VETRI VEL

OMAR KHAN

NICHOLAS T KAWAMURA

JOHN JEWELL

LUKE ARSENAULT

BENJAMIN BAXTER FREUDIG

HANNAH SHA'AFI

THOMAS J LAJOIE

MAX DELUCA LOWELL

DESMAN DRINKWATER

IVAN ZEMBRUSKY

THOALFAKAR SAHEB ALSAADY

JAY ALBERT MCINTIRE

BEN BOLSTRIDGE

KALEB P CORMIER

TAYLOR JACKSON

ELIJAH MCGILL

BEN PENFOLD

JACINTA G DESCHAINE

AIDAN COYNE

MILO EDMUND SANOKKLIS

EION MCCLOSKEY

RYLEE EATON

CYRUS GRINDAL

ISAAC VAUGHN

DANTE CASTRO

COLBY TUFFLEY

BRENT ROBERTS

HILAL AHMAD

STEELE YOUNG

CODY EATON

PATRICK WHITE

BRENDAN PARLEE

KALEB PENDLETON

COLYN CHESLEY RICH

CAM STEWART

BRI HEISLER

NICHOLAS BITHER

COLE STEWART

QUTAIBA HASSOON

TOMMY HUTCHINSON

SAM PARROTT

TYSON RICE

WENDEL CROSS

ELIAS VEILLEUX

PARKER S ALLEN

WYATT HENDRIX

JULIAN GIDEON

GAGE KING

JACOB COTE

CHARLOTTE URQUHART

MATTHEW GRIFFITH

DUNCAN BRADSHAW

ISAAC HOFFERT ROBINSON

OSAGE CRIE

KAYLEE MOREY

JAKOB MCPHEE

ISAAC DINNERSTEIN

GRANT BODINE

JAMES POULIN

ORKHAN NADIRLI

ROSS STEWART

JOSHUA R WATSON

SHAWN FARRINGTON

JUSTIN M BOYER

JORDAN PATRICK ROCHE

SEAN NEAL

CODY ROSS

BILL HARTT

LILY JORDAN

LOGAN SEVERANCE

NOAH LAPLANTE

Two attacking Focal Points and a Smidgen of History

EarthsMantra, out of the Netherlands playing at the Internet Chess Club, is normally very tactically alert and difficult to beat. However today he was in a passive mood and not playing very well when he allowed the following position where he fatally weakened a long diagonal near his King.

This ICC veteran just played Bf3 blocking the checkmate at g2 while simultaneously attacking the mating Black Bishop at b7. So it appears the earth lover from Holland is out of the woods and defending well with the White pieces.

However exponents of the great attacking book written by Vladimir Vukovic will quickly observe that Black has two mating focal points that render White's position untenable.. See if you can find both of these relatively easy mating patterns Enrique Rios!  You should have beaten Anthony Saidy in Las Vegas dude!

Also we owe a lot to Vukovic's book titled Art of Attack in Chess where the author mentions the Indan version of chess called chaturanga which initially did not involve castling because the queen(fers) only moved one square and the Bishop or Alfil moved just two  squares!

Thus the King had no fears in those days because of the decreased mobility of the Queen and Bishop. Castling became a necessity when both of those pieces were given their long range mobility that we see nowadays.

Who is winning the Double rook and pawn ending?

In this rook and pawn ending, both sides have their rooks doubled on their opponent's second rank. With White to move, Rf7 check is the obvious move. Who stands better? There is a saying in chess known to every Russian school boy and according to Alex Yermolinsky every Russian school girl! The saying is "every rook and pawn ending is drawn"

In the diagrammed position, it is White who has to fight for the draw despite the fact that his rooks are doubled and he gives check on the move!! I can just hear Lewis McClary exhorting it is a draw you MORON!

In his younger less discreet days, Yermo who had a tremendous amount of contempt for USCF policy and politics once dropped the F-BOMB describing the United States Chess Federation. Now that Alex makes much of his income at the internet chess club, he has toned down his harsh denunciations of the USCF.

Alfred Hitchcock enjoyed Chess

Shots of chess boards are quite common in movies where leisurely pursuits or an intellectual backdrop is trying to be portrayed.

Nell Snyder, played by Margaret Leighton, has been taking care of her orphaned niece and is growing more concerned over her niece's behavior.Her niece blames all mischievous behavior  on an imaginary friend named Mr. Peppercorn. When the girl's grandfather Captain King Snyder gives her a Creole voodoo doll, Nell grows even more worried. Her niece says the doll came from Mr. Peppercorn. She names it Numa and treats like a real person. Eventually, Nell begins to realize that the doll is real and that it is trying to usurp her niece's soul. She follows her niece and Numa into the forest. There, Nell frightens her away, not realizing that her niece is now the doll and the black doll has been transformed into a little black girl. She sees the doll and discovers that it bears her niece's face.and then chases the black girl into the woods hoping for a switch back.

The chess connection here is a scene where the grandfather is about to relax for a drink at a table where a chess board with pieces in original positions.

The title of this suspense flick is Where the Woodbine Twineth.

What is Woodbine? I believe Woodbine is a type of honeysuckle vine and the only time the orphan was really able to to engage Numa was where the woodbine grew or twineth!

Positional Exchange Sacrifice

Chess GrandMaster Jacob Aagaard wrote an excellent instructive book which emphasized the theme of positional exchange sacrifice. I would like to think that Mr Aagaard hailing from Scotland would find the following diagrammed position a very illustrative example of offering a positional exchange sacrifice.

 The game was played at the internet chess club under a 3 minute blitz time control. LucianoPavez playing out of Australia was handling the Black pieces defending against the Catalan Opening. His b7 Bishop was looking worse than the infamous bad French Defense Bishop.



The squares c5 and d6 are potential strong points for White pieces provided the e7 Bishop guardian could be removed. Moreover, Black's Rooks at c8 and c7 are clumsily and ineffectively placed in a game where  no open files are imminent.

How does White exploit the passivity of Black's play obtaining an iron grip on the dark squares including complete hegemony on the d6 square?

I believe that Jeremy Silman would cream "fantasizing" about this one in the never ending tug of war between position and material!

Strong Point Leading to Effective Exchange Sacrifice

Offering your Rook for a Bishop or Knight is referred to as an exchange sacrifice in the game of chess. A Rooks is usually worth more than either minor piece in a wide open position whereas Knights can be stronger in closed positions where there are few open files.

In the following game played at the Internet Chess Club, Black played Qh4 threatening Qg3 check. Now should White accept the exchange sacrifice offered by Black at d3? If he does, Black will get an extra pawn plus a passed pawn at d3 AND chances against the vulnerable White King.



The possibility of the exchange sacrifice is partially due to the strong point/square at d3 supported by the c4 pawn. Jeremy Silman does an excellent job of sizing up the notion of material and when to give it up in his classic How to Reassess your Chess. If the reader is not absolutely convinced of the effectiveness of exchange sacrifices, given the necessary preconditions, after reading this great chess author's book, then he did not spend enough time with this magnificent, chess axiom spewing tome. Ask IM John Donaldson if you do not believe this dim light!


 

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.

Pawn Queening Deflection

The following 3 minute blitz game played at the internet chess club is an excellent example of a deflection sacrifice leading to the promotion of a pawn to a Queen. The opening was a Benko where White managed to create a passed d pawn due to a Benoni-like e5 thrust before Black's queenside play manifested.



chichi1950 from Spain, playing with the Black pieces, must have been feeling quite comfortable with  his Rooks doubled at b2 and d2 with the threat of Rook captures pawn at f2 either drawing easily or perhaps winning.

White's trump is his passed d7 pawn which is a single square from Queening. With White to move, see if you can find a deflection move which either leads to the pawn promoting to a Queen or  the loss of a Rook.