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.