Prayer as it relates to Chess

 I know Brit Nigel Short, in an unprovoked fashion, made fun of Wesley So for praying before an important chess game. As bright as the sadistic King March dude is, he seemed to erroneously assume that the Philippine superstar was praying for victory.

Was reminded of this when I played a buffoon who goes by NeedGodCom at ICC. The hopeless position you see below, arising from the Rubenstein French Defense, was when the Jesus Freak spent 50 seconds in a 3 minute blitz game!

White's Queen is pathetically out of play and his King is about to be gang raped and the preacher kept on thinking or beseeching a higher power to help him out of this suicidal position.

I asked the guy after the game if he was praying during his irrationally long think in rapid chess. The resign button would have been the Christian thing to do don't you think Nigel? I don't think believers in a benevolent God are “superstitious,” “narrow-minded idiots,” but I do think they are cowards who don't realize we are just an animal with an overdeveloped brain who will likely suffer and die with no hope for an afterlife. We have teeth that are good at helping us eat dead animals.  Frat boys prefer anal sex like many other animals that grace this planet. We poop and piss very close to where our offspring pop out.  Sorry GOD does fit in to this scenario GM So. 

How to handle hyper patient White buildups against the French Rubenstein defense?

 Austrian chess player obt(apparently this stands for obituary which places him in the company of the infamous attacking ICC player Widowmaker), playing blitz at the Internet Chess Club, was in a prophylactic mood when he played the square weakening f3 pawn move with the White pieces. The square he fatally weakened was the e3 square. 

It was his reaction to a tepid system advocated by Rubenstein in the French Defense. The move f3, ostensibly, blunts Black slowly developed fianchettoed Bishop at b7. The move is a lemon as it denies the White Horse the natural and superior f3 square. Obt's plan was to place his horse on e4 hoping that Black would cooperate by capturing leaving White with the sought after pawn duo d4,e4. 

Author Hannes Langrock writes about this "solid defense"  to 1. e4, but his book does not address the very slow buildups that the first player has against this Black defense that cedes pawn control in the center.  So Ich habe eine frage. What does Black do about the almost Zugzwang positions that occur when White plays ultra patiently? Thank you in advance for your well informed and erudite response. Auf wiedersehen!

Discovered Check Mate

Austrian chess player Wall-Street probably spends more time investing than with his chess development, but he  still threatens mate in one in the diagrammed position in a 3 minute blitz no delay game at the internet chess club based in USA.  Patrick Wolff and Ron Henley traded their GM brains in to become whizzes in financial industry. Wolff used to advertise in Seirawan's mag charging $100 to analyze a black and white game. He quickly realized he could leverage his time 100 fold managing derivative funds. Makes you wonder how many other chess super cerebral types waste all that brain power!! Not sure about Henley who use to be tight with Karpov. Never knew how he wheedled his way into being the boa constrictor's second in some of the world championship cycles. 

Markus Ragger would have been impressed with the mate in 2 that Black has set up which culminates with a discovered checkmate along the h file.White had just played Nc5 threatening mate on the b7 square, but Ng3(blunt force trauma hammer blow to the 1398 player from Austria) check is quite forcing as g1-a7 diagonal is covered by the Lady on d4

Ego Deflating Opening Ambush

It has happened to us all. Checkmated or grievous loss of material not 10 moves into the contest!  Screwed-blued-and-tattooed, Ambushed, gang-raped, torched, epic fail etc. 

Such was the fate of online chess player ego123 one Saturday morning hiding from the deadly virus.Now for the boring part: The opening was a French Exchange variation in reverse which can be quite dangerous for Black according to Watson's book. 

How did such a strong player allow a longer version of the Scholar's mate on h7 square? Carlsen himself has played the slightly more refined version called the Terrorist opening pioneered by Enrique Rios(last I heard this San Antonio homie was cashing in with Poker)

The very slow Ne7-Ng6 maneuver led to a hanging Knight due f7 pawn being pinned by the c4 Prelate(Phallic). Also 3 minute time control is often fast non-thinking chess that can lead to these kind of disasters. Alex Kundin presents an exceptionally entertaining version of this!

Influence of Book Reviews on Book Sales

I was overjoyed to learn that John Watson has secured stable employment with the United States Chess Federation. The French Defense advocate in a great writer and commentator regarding chess history and theory, recently espousing the profound work of GM Davorin Kuljasevic which seeks to eradicate the materialism malady which afflicts weaker club players. 

Also his full time position with the USCF should provide much needed health care benefits. I recall long ago John being ill and seeking contributions from other chess players to defray exorbitantly high health care costs. This was around a decade ago and medical care is even more through the roof nowadays!!

Watson got "beyond material" in his Advances since Nimzovitch magnum opus, so his review/assessment of Kuljasevic's new work should help sell many copies for the Croatian writing talent.  I wonder if it is possible to track John's influence on the gross proceeds for the much awaited book? 

J. Watson-Rule Independence

Chess player John Watson wrote a book that featured a section or chapter on Rule Independence a long time ago. I mean like how many times have you hear the phrase "If center pawns are locked up, then attack with a pawn storm on flanks or wings" OR open the game up with line opening pawn moves if you possess the bishop pair"  His book showed counterexamples to many of the pedantic overstated rules that have been passed down over the generations mentally handicapping some beginning players.

The following game played at ICC reminded me of something else the IM quoted in his book. A guy named Suba stated that Bad Bishops protect good pawns. One can see in the diagram that Black's Bishop at e6 is enveloped by the pawns on the g6,f5,d5,c6,b7 squares. 

However, imagine that same entombed prelate on f5 threatening mate in one!! The move f4 , clearing the f5 square for the aforementioned threat, appears to  be refuted  by Bd3 where g6 is attacked by the Bishop and and g1 Rook. In the game Black played Rh1 desiring to exchange Rooks with Belgium player Azrael1978. This  is close to a horrible positional/tactical blunder. Rh2 is a better move, but Black must see how to respond to f3 attacking the Black Lady. 

So Black has the initiative after Rook h2 even though his Bishop is manifestly bad patiently awaiting diagonal opening pawn moves. On a side note IM Watson endorsed the interesting view of Sarah Hurst which espouses the assertion that chess intelligence does necessarily positively correlate to IQ, practical intelligence or other forms of mental acumen. I knew of academically retarded guys in Houston who were expert chess players.  Her remarks on the matter sound almost angry to the point I would bet she has very LOUD multiple orgasms.

Widow Making 101

An old master chess buddy of mine from Austin, Texas had a cool rule of thumb for when to sacrifice the exchange which means to give up a Rook for a Horse or a Bishop. Drew said that if you could get an extra pawn out of the deal, then the exchange sacrifice was likely to be sound.

Widowmaker, a tactically aggressive player from the United States of America, had just casually played b4 expecting to casually post his prelate at b2 and positionally punish the French Defense major handicap at d7.

So remembering Sarkisian's sage advice, I ripped off the f3 Knight with the f8 Rook resulting in the e5 pawn getting munched by either of my Horses. This exchange sacrifice did not result in the maiming of White's Kingside pawns, but left Black with a passed d pawn and open lines for his remaining forces.

The player boasting the nickname of the left anterior descending  artery was crushed in this game in a fashion consistent with his ICC label.

I moved from Austin area long, but will be always grateful to the kind chess players from that region. Thanks for the memories guys!!

Weakened Pawn Structure Versus High Mobility Bishop Duo

Norway or Norwegian blitz player PerMag(An adoring fan,devotee and lover of Carlsen) plays much better than his 1400 rating. In the following diagram, he chose the bishop pair over a maimed King Side pawn structure.

He does have a healthy uncompromised(will stand strong against the feared COVID-19 virus) 3-2 queenside pawn majority that could possibly lead to an endgame advantage. US Grandmaster D. Naroditsky wrote a beautiful piece dealing with tattered pawn structure,Bishop Pair(Magnus Carlsen) versus solid pawn structure with two Horses(Nakamura).

Carlsen, exploiting imperceptible weaknesses, while torturing  the dumbfounded American in an article published in the USCF periodical.

The Stockfish ICC machine, as G. Kasparov calls it in his magnum opus "My great predecessors", evaluates White's compromised structure as a long term advantage for Black, unless the Bishop pair that were once a single piece according to J. Rowson can impose their will!!

BTW, do any of you know who owns the website simplifychess.com? Whoever it is does Caissia an extreme disservice with marketing slogans like LEARN HOW TO ALWAYS WIN AT CHESS

Moreover, the entrepreneur behind the site never discloses his/her name, but wants your name so they can send you "cool software" that will make you never lose a chess game. OMG, are you kidding me? Who is your target audience for a ludicrous thing like this? CHESS PLAYERS ARE SUPER SMART. Do you think anybody will be suckered in by such Bullshit?!! 

The whole notion that chess can be simplified or dumbed down to where average IQ people can always win is a travesty. Take down your site and make a living another way!! Have the guts to reveal yourself to the chess world by disclosing your name like fredthebear did at his gaming site.

Read the efforts of Daisy Grewal regarding the misogyny that exists in the Royal Game. She was brave and principled enough to put her venerable and trusted name on her work in Scientific American.

A tribute to a PRINCIPLED NYC Chess player

 The ICC is a ruthless place by many people's standards. Intelligent people winning games against other intelligent people in completely level positions because they took 1/10 of second less on their clocks in blitz chess!

A resident of Croton, New York takes no quarter and gives no quarter in this regard. I watched him play on in a completely level position against a weaker player. Neil Basescu goes by the pizza name Pepperoni and wins a lot of games by clocking his opponent, but on this day the other contestant played for a Bishops of opposite color ending right out of the opening in a French Defense by just capturing White's proud e4 pawn on move 3. This avoids a ton of theory that the higher rated player Croton may have memorized. So the lower rated player beat the higher rated player in a game that would have been easily drawn in a USCF tournament.

Breaking Bad actor Art Glassman would have most certainly adjudicated the game a draw as any Senior TD would not tolerate the nonsense of shuttling opposite colored bishops back and forth for hours!

But at the internet chess club, bullet chess players will gladly sacrifice their Queen to win on time one move before getting mated OR play 104 move games like the one you see below where neither side has winning chances. Pepperoni requested multiple draws in the position which were repeatedly declined by the lower rated player because Mr Croton would have done the same thing. NO HARD feelings. IT IS WHAT IT IS!! even though this is a stone cold deadlock with the Black Dark Squared Bishop not controlling the White h1 square in the "wrong corner" where players in a longer time control tournament would agreed to a draw or Goichberg would call it a draw to avoid the spread of the Corona COVID-19 virus!!!

Online Chess IM generously exposing himself to the Chess Masses

Francis E Anquandah(Ciseric) is a decent human being and humble sportsman. He is an IM or an International Master of Chess. One of his many laudable attributes is his willingness to play the much weaker players in Blitz at the Internet Chess Club(ICC).

In the diagrammed position you see below, the weaker second player chose the variation of The French Defense where the d pawn captures the e pawn on move 3 literally destroying reams of John Watson theory on the Winawer, Advance and the positional Nd2 variation. Black managed to use his only Rook to help stunt the promotion of the White b pawn while maintaining the Queening threat of Rook to King's Knight one if we must encumber ourselves with the onerously tedious English Descriptive Notation.

Francis confidently played Rh1 believing his b pawn would jettison down the board queening before the Black pawns got rolling. This turned out to be a misjudgement by the IM as the Black King can single handedly blockade the anemic White pawns. Meanwhile Black's g pawn will reach g3 forcing through Rg1 winning for the much weaker American player.

GM Alex Ipatov would have been proud of the dominating fashion Black made his pawns "go faster" than White's foot soldiers. Sexy Anna Rudolf would concur and I believe someone so beautiful should contemplate another profession! 

Also Charlotte Chess Center & Scholastic Academy does a marvelous job of training their students in subtle nuances of Rook and Pawn endings which have reputation of being ALWAYS DRAWN.

Punish this Greedy Player

The chess champion and philosopher E. Lasker was not fond of greed and spoke of ways of punishing greed and avarice in life and chess.

Lordi, a 50 year old player at the Internet Chess Club, must not be familiar with Lasker's aversion for pawn grabbing out of the opening. With the White pieces, Lordi misplaces a Bishop at a3 and a Knight at a4 to win the Black c5 pawn. Dan Heisman would get nauseous and Rowson would excoriate the Indian player fot not "talking to the Horse and Prelate" before engaging in such unprincipled abuse of the Royal Game! You see this idea in the Nimzo Indian Defense, but the pawn chains are more locked up or closed.

So how do we punish this careless and materialistic Caissa sacrilege? The move is not  obvious, but it refutes White's poor understanding of material and piece coordination. Alex Yermolinsky student Rikkitikkitavi also still battles the addiction of pawn grabbing in opening and late middle game. The relatively slow move solution appears under the diagram.

Qe7!

Dejected player from the Netherlands

Arie Werksma from the Netherlands is an expert chess player at the Internet Chess Club. In the game you see below, he disconnected and forfeited against a USA player with a much lower rating. Werksma did not notice that his f3 Knight was hanging due to a pin of the g2 pawn by the Black Queen.

So rather than resign like a man, the Dutch player disconnected from the Blitzen interface gnashing his teeth and cursing into the humid night air of his below sea level homeland. If he only knew how much sweeter that made the victory for the weaker American player!

Mr Werksma censors players who beat him. Maybe he should noplay them as well so he will avoid the humiliation of being dominated by lower rater players.

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.

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!

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.

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".

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!

Queen Sac Leading to Knight Fork

The following tactical chess position arises rather early in a game where Black essayed a French Defense. Avila from Guam playing at ICC confidently plays d4 in a position where he appears to stand much better. He has two pieces out compared to Black's what appears to be offside Knight at b4.

Veteran chess players know that there are always exceptions to general rules. What is the exception to the rule that claims the better developed player should have an initiative in the diagrammed position?

Put another way, what move should Black play to gain a lasting initiative which should eventually win the game for him?  Hint: The title of this post completely gives it away!