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.