Most Common ICC Blunder Leads to Epaulette Mate

 Blitz Player rf(Robert Fischer diehard fan probably)  usually crushes me, but today he blundered trying to castle Queenside. I don't have incontrovertible proof, but with the center wide open he moved his Queen to d1 rather than TRIPLE O.

Do you see the mate in 2 in the position below with Black to move?  Rc1 attracts Whites rook to that square and then mate at d2 for the shouldered White Monarch. Note that Epaulette Mates would NOT BE THING if two pieces could occupy same square!

So, Yup attempted castling is the most common blunder. I guess some people just can not get used to King being able to move two squares.

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.

Hippopotamus In Reverse Catastrophe

 South African  chess player btropic played  soooo poorly with the White pieces that Black's seventh move Bf2 check leads to forced win.

In the diagrammed position, White his timidly set up what appears to be a Hippopotamus defense in reverse. Note that White's monarch is surrounded by its own forces in Epaulette fashion. He was duly punished with the attraction sacrifice Bishop capture King Bishop 2 pawn check in the old English descriptive notation. 

After Ng4 check, the a1 rook in the corner gets ingested and gets reactivated via c2 square. Would like to know if Alessio De Santis has ever essayed the Reverse Hippo and how he fared. 

Also why would a chess player play such a gutless, mindless opening with White?

Inventive Approach in this Chess Game

 An ICC blitz player named ReInventor, playing Black in the below diagrammed position, had to love the inventive nature of this Naked hanging piece sacrifice. His greed for pawns weakened his f7,e6, and b7 White Squares. Also his Horse at b8 blocks the Rook at a8.

Applying Laskerian logic to the three anemic squares, the NAKED piece sac Ng5 presents itself as a winning move! The Knight move attracts the Black Queen to the g5 square which also creates devastating back rank mate threats after the White Lady ingests the b7 pawn.

Read the work of medical researchers V. Kalidasan, Narcisse Joseph, Suresh Kumar, Rukman Awang Hamat, and Vasantha Kumari Neela to learn more about iron deficiency as it relates to our Royal game. I learned all about Iron homeostasis from these medical students or interns or maybe even Doctors. In any invent the move Knight to King's Knight 5 jacked Black's efforts at homeostasis.

The game Dexter Dale Jr. vs. Ryan Folgarty had some themes similar to this game.

Back Rank Clearance Tactical Motif

Not sure if back rank clearance is common parlance, but perhaps a glance at the diagrammed position will define it by picture. 

It is well known that hanging (en prise pieces) are the origin of any tactical sequence. Combine that with King safety and it is not difficult to see why Bishop to the g4 square initiates the fireworks against knightjouster5 during a blitz game at the internet chess club. BTW GM Jesse Kraai believes online chess along with the COVID-19 might irreversibly damage the long time control aspect of our beloved Royal Game. He and Greg Shahade are extreme adversaries in the short versus long time control paradigm shift!! Kraai's pithy and incisive column in Chess Life should win multiple awards!

Back to the diagram. White's hanging Queen at c2 and rook at a1 fully justify the "hanging attack" Bg4. Work through the variations. IT IS STUNNING!!

I am certain Saint Louis chess club commentator Jonathan Schrantz would include this in one of his instructional videos.

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?

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!

Devastating Attractions Sacrifice

What is meant by an attraction sacrifice in chess? An attraction sacrifice is a tactical motif where an enemy piece is lured/attracted to a particular square. The attraction idea frequently pulls a chess piece to a square where it is no longer defended.

In the following ultra dangerous position played at ICC, MurderofCrow from the United Sates has just bravely connected his rooks by playing King to d2.  Black reacted with Rook to e5 intending to support the nasty Black Knight at the e3 square.

Observe that the Black Queen at d4 is the only piece protecting the Rook which is being attacked by the White g3 Queen. So it appears that if the First Player nudges the Queen away with c3 that the e5 Rook will be captured and Black will lose miserably.




See if you can visualize the stunning tactical resource that Black has based on the attraction sacrifice theme! Backing off in ultra sharp positions usually forfeits the initiative and sometimes the game.

Incidentally, ICC chess player MurderofCrow just let his time expire rather than resign in a hopeless position later on in the game which quite common at the Internet Chess Club.