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.

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.

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!

Bad Bishop and Weak Pawns Equals a Loss in this Chess Ending

Playing 3 minute blitz chess at ICC is not as bad for one's chess game as is widely promulgated. In the following ending that arose from a Catalan Opening structure, kenmiller457 finds himself with a difficult to defend position due to two considerations: 1. A bad Bishop  2. A weakened, shattered pawn structure namely doubled pawns at f7, f6, and h7.

Amazingly, Black's Bishop is bad because of one pawn! Yes the d5 pawn obstructs two long diagonals limiting the the mobility of the dismayed Prelate.  White's light squared bishop is NOT blocked by the d4 pawn giving it superior range and mobility.



White's winning plan is quite straightforward. Occupy the weak square f4 with impunity owing to the the doubled Black f pawns. After bringing his Bishop to f5, White will create a Zugzwang  position which will eventually yield a passed a pawn and a won game.

Black's weakened Kingside pawn structure occurred due to a pin on the f6 Knight by White's g5 Bishop. As the Queen's and rooks were exchanged these weaknesses became more of a concern. Remember tattered pawns are invariably a liability in an ending. Allow them at your own risk!