Naked Pin Ends this game of Chess

 If naked pin is not a tactical motif, then it should be. What happened to American player WildRaven is actually called a deflection sacrifice

In the above diagrammed position, Black just played Rd5 protecting his b5 pawn and "keeping an eye" on White's far advanced d7 pawn. The winning  move is easy to discover if one realizes the simple truth that a Queen is invariably worth more than a Rook. HInt: What is the only move White can make to prevent Queen Pawn from becoming a lovely lethal lady? Alliteration for choice!

Incidentally, I have never understood why WildRaven has a USCF rating below 1600. He is such an uncompromising and principled player at the Internet Chess Club in Pennsylvania!

Also Kenny Lucky can tell your more about Naked Pin as it relates to Mary Wollstonecraft.

Be very careful how you say Forking Knight

 The terse chess informant notation definitely applies to the following position. The Houston,Texas Master did not notice his King and Queen were forkable on the f2 and d2 squares or maybe he did but did not notice the f3 pawn was ABSOLUTELY pinned by the f5 Queen.

Hobart was more concerned about the weak c2 square which led to the blunder. He moved one of his rooks to c1 guarding c2, BUT allowing Ne4 forking King and Queen followed by resignation. His position was already loose with his King quite vulnerable. He fell victim to the burden of being the higher rated player by 600 USCF rating points. In this case, the first player was not going to accept a draw under any circumstances to a much weaker 1600 player.

The lesson to be learned is try to keep tabs on all weak squares even those induced by absolute pins. The informant notation(using a times/multiplication symbol) is (Xc2,e4)

Devastating Rook Pin Along your Opponent's 2nd Rank

 I was reminded of a former chess buddy J.P. Hyltin who resided in Austin Texas and often played in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. He once drew with legend Joe Bradford after memorizing Big Joe's Benko Gambit line if I recall and wore a T-Shirt about his pregnant wife's GM candidate fetus. 

He was probably a genius in many regards including his profession in some branch of engineering, but I remember him saying that an overwhelming number of decisive tactics involved exploiting or creating a lethal pin. I also respected his views on the absurd DWI laws in our country where way too many repeat offenders end up killing people never having spend a day behind bars!!! His Austin friend and lawyer Mike Simpson Esquire defended many of those types usually the weekend when the Longhorns played the Sooners. I think  Victor Yaward  and Luis Salinas had strong opinions on vehicular homicide as well.

The following position involves the latter. See if you can figure out the winning move in the following position with White to play:

ICC player Danifrani had just withdrawn his Queen to the f6. Can you see how this move is a losing blunder due to the presence of the White Rook on the c7 square? I missed it in the game, but eventually won on time in a 3 minute no increment time control blitz game.

f4 pawn move creates enduring tactical theme

 

Double King Pawn openings have a notorious tactical character. Gary Sacco, a talented tactician at the Internet Chess Club based in Pennsylvania United States of America, fell prey to a vicious tactical shot after he played pawn to e5 attacking the Black f6 Horse.

Can you find the move that ignores this pseudo threat? Hint: White irreversibly weakened the DARK g1-a7 diagonal early in this double King Pawn opening. Some book authors refer to the theme as diagonal clearance based on a game ending  absolute pin!!! 

Somewhat related is the short supply of competent Client Data Protection professionals.

Moving into an Absolute Pin a Good Move in this Game

 In the below position, reached at a blitz game played at the Pennsylvania USA internet chess club, White had played pawn to g4 voluntarily moving into a pin on his King on a semi open g file occupied by Black's King and Rook. Sounds like a horrible decision doesn't it FM Zaur Tekeyev?

BTW the money is to be made at online streaming places like Twitch Mr Tekeyev, not writing paper books on 25 elementary tactics everybody should know. Where the the hell did you get twenty five dude? Are those the only 25 you know?

I bet players stronger than you do not know the trivial distinction between a relative and absolute pin.

In any event, see if you can see why a logical looking move like Qg5 is a blunder. Hint: Transform the the absolute pin into a winning relative pin!

Finally the most underrated resource on the internet is Norbert Thomas. The affable German has magnificent pedagogical ability and is a strong advocate regarding the social aspect of the game we all love!

Letting ones time expire Versus resigning like a Gentleman

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

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

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

"Universal" English Opening Setup EASY to equalize against

 I have a faint lack of respect for handlers of the White pieces who opt for safe play just hoping and praying, Nigel Short, that they can capitalize on a blunder by the second player.

A jugadore from the United Kingdom named OliverTheEighth has exactly this mealy mouthed approach in the following position. He traded off his Queen's Bishop for unknown reasons losing the "mini exchange" advocated by JEW HATER Robert Fischer who died on the the 64th square of the chess board still owing the USA a lot of unpaid income tax.

Oliver then arranged a rigid pawn structure and wasted tons of time getting his Horse to the d5 square which allows Black to reroute his c6 Knight to the Kingside while preparing c6 to drive away the Stead without a stable. 

Black won easily as his fianchettoed g7 Bishop landed on the g1-a7 diagonal pinning an impotent Rook at f2. 

A weak commentator at chess.com extols the "solid and flexible" Botvinnik structure without addressing how the Dutch Defense refutes it in the sense that 1.c4 f5  equalizes NUF SAID! Even weaker player and "chess entertainer" Nate Hill blindly plays the English afraid to play wide open tactically based openings.

Interesting points regarding the real King Oliver:

Puritan tenant adherents wanted people to spend Xmas thinking and concentrating on the life of Jesus Christ, rather than celebrating. Monthly fast days were also introduced to encourage people to focus on God our Savior.  This much the reason many people in the States HATE the over commercialization of the birth of baby JESUS!

If you were caught playing sport on a Sunday, you could be whipped OR harshly punished

Swearing was punishable by a fine, or a stint in prison GOD DAMIT

Greed, Greed, Greed.....Lose, Lose, Lose

One of the seven deadly sins is Greed and chess psychologist Rowson expounds lucidly on the perils of not overcoming avarice in our beloved Royal Game pastime.

However, ICC user Missile14 apparently did not get the memo after getting splattered by the mating pawn move f6 in diagrammed position. The military jet fighter plane enthusiast was aiming for rapid consolidation with Nd6 with the goal of liquidating the powerful e4 Horse. In fact, Missile14 played Knight captures Knight after White played the overt checkmate move pawn to f6 pinning the g7 mating square pawn to the trepidating Black Monarch!  

Black could have played the desperate  Nf5 which only delays the mate or the calamitous loss of material. I think our military man was just assuming since he had an extra "do nothing" proverbial WHOLE ROOK on a8 square(not half mind you) that he would just win by swapping aka the Patzer's curse. 

I did find something about the Infrared Air Force FALCON homing missile14. 

BTW, a cat with a youtube channel called chess traps has a beautiful trap number 28 out of the Kings Gambit opening involving a knight on the grim rim and another fork winning Whites Queen!!!

Finally a tribute to some old acquaintances/buddies in Texas USA: 

Carmen Chairez - Army Veteran 

Tom Crane - Navy Veteran 

    Charles Fricks - Army Veteran 

 Troy Gillispie - Army Veteran - 

           Sheryl McBroom - Air Force Veteran

Bret Lynn - Air Force Veteran

Tom Boyd 

                            Master  John Farrell jarhead(teasing John semper gumbi) 

                                   My favorite Asian who love Biden's VP choice  Neil Naputo  

                           David Hater 

                               Leon Toliver and Jimmy Nazario 

MISS AND LOVE ALL YOU GUYS!!!! probably will never be able to play any of you face to face due to personal issues and fickle COVID policy starting with the leadership vacuum in the White House.....credit to Microsoft BOSS for that one!!!!

Rules of Chess need to be modified to remove this absurd Possibility

I found the following rubbish of an explanation at Reddit of why an absolutely pinned piece can still support checkmate: 

 The simplest and most natural set of rules would be to forget all about check and checkmate. You're just out to capture(the problem with this lame justification is that the g7 Queen DID NOT CAPTURE THE BLACK KING AT H7) the enemy King, and the game ends when you do so, even if it's just because someone didn't notice they were in check. And under this rule it's very clear that you can capture the King with a pinned piece, because the game will be over before they can take your King in response.

BTW absolutely pinned means pinned to the King like the g4 Rook is to the White King on the f3 square(The Black Bishop is performing the sadistic task) SO KING CAPTURES QUEEN SHOULD BE A LEGAL MOVE IN THE DIAGRAMMED POSITION!!!!!!! The simple reason is that the pinned Tower cannot capture  the Black Monarch!!! Who in the fuck wrote the rules of chess to allow such nonsense to prevail!!!??????

Even the venerable Martin Stahl(dealt admirably with the devastating Joplin Missouri Tornadoes) believes the checkmate in the diagrammed position is a logical interpretation of the rules of our beloved game. I know Erickenn1 of the internet chess club would not want the rule overturned. 

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!

Advanced Pawn Triples win in all Variations!!

As a weak USCF class player with a rating usually a little under 1500, one of my major weaknesses is being too materialistic. I go out of my way to win a pawn in the opening only to be slaughtered like a lamb by stronger players who see the pawn I won as a gambit pawn!!!

In the game above, Denmark player Superboy seemed to be well on his way to another crush of the weaker player. The skilled Danish player was up a piece and attacking my f8 Rook with his a3 Bishop. There is a spectacular move in the position that allows the second player to mobilize his blockaded pawn phalanx at f4,e3, and d4. Hint: The winning move also threatens to pin the White Queen to the White King!

Now, of course, I did not find the move over the board, but just imagine a tactical sequence that creates a PAWN TRIPLE. We all know about the potency of a pawn duo(couple), but how about at Fuckin pawn triple my chess loving friends??? Scroll down to see the winning conception figured out by StockFish.

Rf5!! putting the Rook en prise to the d3 Bishop. Capture allows for the winning mobilization of static pawn wedge!!!!!

Subterfuge Only for Weaker Chess Players

Every lover of the Royal Game knows the Lasker quote about deceit, lies, and hypocrisy at the chess board:

"On the chessboard, lies and hypocrisy do not last long." - Emanuel Lasker. ... "The creative combination lays bare the presumption of a lie; the merciless fact, culminating in the checkmate, contradicts the hypocrite."

An internet chess club player named subterfuge, who prides himself in his rather sleazy approach to chess, missed a tactical shot in the diagrammed position that would have given the second player a lasting initiative.

It is a simple move based on the horizontal pin of the White f4 pawn to the unprotected White Queen on fourth rank. Can you find the move?

The predator book by Ward Farnsworth did an above average job covering the tactical motifs associated with pinned pieces. Lesser lights  Frank Erwich, Claus Dieter Meyer, Karsten Müller also produce works that are worth reading on improving the tournament players tactical alertness.

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.

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?

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.