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)

Thematic King's Indian Bishop Sacrifice

 Was reminded of an old chess friend from Houston, Texas in the following game. Mick Bighamian(USCF rating of around 2400 at the time) said something that really stuck in my mind. The specificity of his claim made me realize that Chess players are really inveterate nerds. "when the unmoved c8 Bishop sacrifices itself at h3 the result of game is frequently, if not always, in favor of the second player". Now that may not be exactly the way Mick phrased it, but if he reads this I am sure he would agree with the paraphrasing. He had close to a photographic memory for positions which is a big part of the reason he was a senior master and one of the top 5 or so players in Bayou City. 

Another master from the region, Todd Thomas, penned an accurate quote in the Texas Knights monthly periodical stating that the late Robert Brieger was on chess nerd fringe in the same fashion that chess nerds are on the fringe of society at large. Todd was lampooning Brieger for making a big deal about the difference between the terms Zugzwang and Squeeze. Funny how certain things just stick in your head!!

So check out the position, arising from a Dutch Defense,  where Mick's always winning move wipes out Australian player Pritoka. After Bxh3, the f8 Rook occupies f3 square with fatal consequences. The Black king regicide is only avoided by the 9 pointer giving herself up. 

I do love this kind of position where an "undeveloped piece" is actually the most active force on the board! This actually shows how the nebulous concept of development as it is taught sometime in middle school as "just getting you pieces out" is quite mistaken.

Would like to close by paying tribute to the now defunct Dave's Chess Studio. Lotta good times there around 20 years ago, but alas the inconstancy of friendship and life getting in the way prevails. 

Take another look at this Drawn Bishop wrong color ending!!!

 Any chess neophyte can tell you that if the rook pawn is queening square that is not the some color as opponent's Bishop, the game will be drawn, BUT  let us not forget Lasker's infamous ceteris paribus(what does ceteris paribus mean from Latin-"all things being equal")

Well all things were definitely NOT equal in the following ICC 3 minute blitz game!!!

Note that Black's a6 pawn on a White Square would be Queening on the Black a1 square. Problem appears to be the stand impotent pair commentary since Black's prelate only guards White square diagonals!! 

So I doubt any of you would believe that Black to move it is mate in 10 in the diagrammed position. The give away hint is that Black must let White Queen his pawn on the a8 square.  This involves Black's Rook pawn becoming a Knight pawn and mating White King at a1 with pawn to b2 checkmate!!  Mind you White would have a just Queened pawn at a8 witnessing the Regicide. It is all about mating patterns and having the huge balls to count it out!!

Fortunately for Boaz1775,  this knuckleheaded American did not discover the mate in 10 and lost the game on time. 

Also please note that I am not referencing the dimorphic mating patterns as alluded to in scholarly effort by Guo-Hua Ding, Yun Tang, Zhi-Hua Lin, Xiao-Li Fan, and Li Wei  

Lisitsin Gambit Accident

 I can still remember Mike R. Flewelling exclaiming "I think your opening Sucks!!" despite absurd claims by chess commentator Miodrag Perunovic who ignorantly asserts the From's Gambit refutes the Bird's Opening, Michael knew it was viable opening. Perunovic was probably trying to elevate ad revenue on his YouTube channel with erroneous tripe.

Mike has a very bright daughter named Heather who shared her Dad's love for the Royal Game in Houston,Texas. 

The above diagrammed position details the tragicomedy experienced by ICC blitz player dutsbooi resulting in the dreaded checkmate delivered by the Lady on the g6 square. The poor dude had to stare at the abrasively cruel Qxg6# symbol on the scoresheet to add insult to injury.

 Alex Yermolinsky went public with his justified criticism of Kingside weakening aspect of the Dutch opening which is super amplified by 2. e4 in the Lisitsin's Gambit.  GM Larry Christiansen, who NEVER WAS AN IM,  did some beautiful pre computer engine analysis on refuting the Qd6 variation finding at least a forced draw for White if I recall(nothing to be proud of)

Mating Pawn

 The ICC chess playing engine authors Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba and Joona Kiiski  indicated the following razor sharp position was a Mate in nine.  I should say the Stockfish chess playing program written/coded by  by these geniuses revealed a checkmate in 9 moves.   USA player Schachspieler(German for chess player. I once asked a red hot German girl if she was a spieler and was promptly slapped- I deserved it, but eventually got laid by only her sister) was on the wrong end of this one with the Black pieces

OK back to the less sexually tense  diagrammed position where e6 is the obvious move threatening mate at f7.  Either Rd5 or the suicidal Qd7 prevent mate in one. You all can work out the rest of it. 

BTW Arlen G. Gallo does a nice job of covering mating pawns, but she should drop the weird sound effects on YouTube

Minority Attack Versus a Breezy Queen Side Pawn Structure

 A nice guy named Randy Bonds told me about the minority attack in the exchange variation of the Queen's Gambit where White's a and b pawns advance to weaken the three black queen side pawns(two pawns versus three pawns sounds like a minority to me!!)

The following setup against something like a Kings Indian Defense reminded me of the Dave's Chess Studio mainstay. As you can see, White voluntarily moved his pawn to c5 just to be triple attacked!!

Since it does not look like Black will get any kind of initiative with the standard KI f5 etc, White can pile his Rooks up on the b,c, and d files in a target practice sort of fashion not particularly worried about being a pawn down.

Also "The awakening of the men in the rear" might apply here with the f3 Knight hopping to the ideal c4 square. 

Minority attack adherents include Fotzus Zachus, Richard Dickinson, Rod MacNevin, arnav kapur, Ellen Revell

Protected Passed Pawn Converted to Winning Diagonal Opposition

 

Lovable NYC chess coach, writer, teacher, mainstay contributor to USCF periodical Chess life Bruce Pandolfini has an extreme fondness for the term Jettison. 

In the above diagrammed position with 3 pawns per side, Blacks protected passed d5 pawn appears stuck unless one is acquainted with the endgame principle of diagonal opposition. So note that if Black plays pawn to d4 the White Monarch is forced to capture the jettisoned peon. After the Black King captures  White's f6 button, the Kings are on same diagonal separated by a single square and White's c5 pawn will eventually fall leading to a winning KP ending for Black.

In this example Bruce's term jettison essentially deflects the White King into a losing KP ending.