Two attacking Focal Points and a Smidgen of History

EarthsMantra, out of the Netherlands playing at the Internet Chess Club, is normally very tactically alert and difficult to beat. However today he was in a passive mood and not playing very well when he allowed the following position where he fatally weakened a long diagonal near his King.

This ICC veteran just played Bf3 blocking the checkmate at g2 while simultaneously attacking the mating Black Bishop at b7. So it appears the earth lover from Holland is out of the woods and defending well with the White pieces.

However exponents of the great attacking book written by Vladimir Vukovic will quickly observe that Black has two mating focal points that render White's position untenable.. See if you can find both of these relatively easy mating patterns Enrique Rios!  You should have beaten Anthony Saidy in Las Vegas dude!

Also we owe a lot to Vukovic's book titled Art of Attack in Chess where the author mentions the Indan version of chess called chaturanga which initially did not involve castling because the queen(fers) only moved one square and the Bishop or Alfil moved just two  squares!

Thus the King had no fears in those days because of the decreased mobility of the Queen and Bishop. Castling became a necessity when both of those pieces were given their long range mobility that we see nowadays.

Who is winning the Double rook and pawn ending?

In this rook and pawn ending, both sides have their rooks doubled on their opponent's second rank. With White to move, Rf7 check is the obvious move. Who stands better? There is a saying in chess known to every Russian school boy and according to Alex Yermolinsky every Russian school girl! The saying is "every rook and pawn ending is drawn"

In the diagrammed position, it is White who has to fight for the draw despite the fact that his rooks are doubled and he gives check on the move!! I can just hear Lewis McClary exhorting it is a draw you MORON!

In his younger less discreet days, Yermo who had a tremendous amount of contempt for USCF policy and politics once dropped the F-BOMB describing the United States Chess Federation. Now that Alex makes much of his income at the internet chess club, he has toned down his harsh denunciations of the USCF.

Alfred Hitchcock enjoyed Chess

Shots of chess boards are quite common in movies where leisurely pursuits or an intellectual backdrop is trying to be portrayed.

Nell Snyder, played by Margaret Leighton, has been taking care of her orphaned niece and is growing more concerned over her niece's behavior.Her niece blames all mischievous behavior  on an imaginary friend named Mr. Peppercorn. When the girl's grandfather Captain King Snyder gives her a Creole voodoo doll, Nell grows even more worried. Her niece says the doll came from Mr. Peppercorn. She names it Numa and treats like a real person. Eventually, Nell begins to realize that the doll is real and that it is trying to usurp her niece's soul. She follows her niece and Numa into the forest. There, Nell frightens her away, not realizing that her niece is now the doll and the black doll has been transformed into a little black girl. She sees the doll and discovers that it bears her niece's face.and then chases the black girl into the woods hoping for a switch back.

The chess connection here is a scene where the grandfather is about to relax for a drink at a table where a chess board with pieces in original positions.

The title of this suspense flick is Where the Woodbine Twineth.

What is Woodbine? I believe Woodbine is a type of honeysuckle vine and the only time the orphan was really able to to engage Numa was where the woodbine grew or twineth!

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!

Strong Point Leading to Effective Exchange Sacrifice

Offering your Rook for a Bishop or Knight is referred to as an exchange sacrifice in the game of chess. A Rooks is usually worth more than either minor piece in a wide open position whereas Knights can be stronger in closed positions where there are few open files.

In the following game played at the Internet Chess Club, Black played Qh4 threatening Qg3 check. Now should White accept the exchange sacrifice offered by Black at d3? If he does, Black will get an extra pawn plus a passed pawn at d3 AND chances against the vulnerable White King.



The possibility of the exchange sacrifice is partially due to the strong point/square at d3 supported by the c4 pawn. Jeremy Silman does an excellent job of sizing up the notion of material and when to give it up in his classic How to Reassess your Chess. If the reader is not absolutely convinced of the effectiveness of exchange sacrifices, given the necessary preconditions, after reading this great chess author's book, then he did not spend enough time with this magnificent, chess axiom spewing tome. Ask IM John Donaldson if you do not believe this dim light!


 

Distant Past Pawns Beat Protected Passed Pawn

jmderbes of Argentina must of thought there was no way he was going to lose the following chess position played at the Internet Chess Club as he went into the ending with a protected passed pawn at d4.

Black has a 4-3 king side majority but no protected passed pawn. White has 4-3 queen side pawn majority.




However, White blundered by playing a move which allows Black  to create isolated passed e and a pawns which will overwork the White King as they advance to their Queening squares at e1 and a1 respectively.

In the diagrammed postion, White just played b3 which allows the aforementioned winning idea. See if you can find the pawn move which leads to victory in all variations, Clarence Yeung, for the second player despite White's protected passed d pawn!

Many THANKS to Clarence Yeung and his Honor Roll school who taught my son much more than chess! Mike learned critical thinking, time management, and other important life skills. He now has a beautiful wife, an excellent job, and a bright future due in large part to his world class teacher. Also a big thanks to Jim Liptrap for all his encouragement and making us aware of the chess community and the positive, life changing impact it can have on our youth.

Pawn Queening Deflection

The following 3 minute blitz game played at the internet chess club is an excellent example of a deflection sacrifice leading to the promotion of a pawn to a Queen. The opening was a Benko where White managed to create a passed d pawn due to a Benoni-like e5 thrust before Black's queenside play manifested.



chichi1950 from Spain, playing with the Black pieces, must have been feeling quite comfortable with  his Rooks doubled at b2 and d2 with the threat of Rook captures pawn at f2 either drawing easily or perhaps winning.

White's trump is his passed d7 pawn which is a single square from Queening. With White to move, see if you can find a deflection move which either leads to the pawn promoting to a Queen or  the loss of a Rook.