Chess Basics, Letter 3 (10/03/1996, rev. 01/06/1998) ########################## OPENING: ADVICE HOW TO OPEN A GAME (ctd.) ======================================================================= In the last letter was written, that you should "place your pieces active". The following diagram shall illustrate what this means: Position: W: Kg1,Qc2,Re1,Re2,Bd3,Pa5,b4,c3,f2,g2,h3 B: Kg8,Qc7,Ra8,Rf8,Nf6,Pa7,b7,c6,f7,g7,h6 Material is even, but the white pieces are more active! Rooks are doubled on open line, white can enter the 7. rank (to reach this with rooks, is mostly an important advantage). 1.Re7 will win a pawn or after 1.- Qc8 2.Lf5 Qb8 (to protect Pb7) B. has a very poor position. Also it was said "don't waste a tempo". What this means you can see in the annotation to the game HT-CBP, move 3.-Bb4?. The 4 rules, how you should not play in the opening ... [this was: *1* don't come out with your queen too soon! *2* don't move a developed piece a second time *3* don't push pawns senceless forward. *4* don't place your pieces too defencive] ... are a good guideline when you play an unknown opening. But they shouldn't be seen as a dogma. For example you can come out with your queen sooner, when 'it's good' (this is obviously the case after 1.g4 e5 2.f3 [White plays against rule *3*] 2.- Qh5++, Fools Mate). And in our game HT-CBP you can see an example, where White can play against rule *2*. Solutions for tasks 3-6 from letter 2 ================================================================== Task 3 [*]: W.: Kc6,Rd7 ; B.: Kc8 White to move: Find mate in 3 moves! Answer: Sure, in a blitz game White would play (and win) 'naturally' with 1.Rh7 Kd8 2.Kd6 Ke8 3.Ke6 Kf8 4.Kf6 Kg8 5.Ra7 Kh8 6.Kg6 Kg8 7.Ra8++. But to mate in 3 moves one has to realize the ZUGZWANG: 1.Rd1 (or else d2/3/4/5) Kb8 2.Ra1 Kc8 3.Ra8++ --------------------------------- Task 4 [**]: W.: Kh1,Rd2,Re2,Pa3,b2,e4,g2,h2 (8) B.: Ke7,Rb5,Rd4,Pa6,d7,e6,h7 (7) Game Michaltschischin - Polajzer, Moskau 1993, Black to move. Find White's weakness and then you will see Black's key move! Answer: 1.- Rxb2. If 2.Rxb2 Rd1 3.Re1 Rxe1++. If 2.h3 Rxd2. Black takes credit from W's weak back rank (no rook on rank 1), wK has no escape square. The mate pattern is a BACK RANK MATE. --------------------------------- Task 5 [***]: W.: Kg1,Qf4,Rc1,Re1,Bd3,Bh6,Pa2,b3,c4,d5,f2,g2,h2 (13) B.: Kg8,Qc7,Rb8,Re8,Bc8,Ne5,Pa6,b4,c5,d6,e7,f7,g6,h7 (14) Game Kersten - Ulrich, Black to move. Find out, why 1.- Nxd3?? is a fault! White's answer is 2.Qf6. If 2.- exf6 3.Re8++. If 2.- Nxe8 3.Qg7++. Here White also takes credit from B's weak back rank (rook e8 unprotected, 'cause Bc8 interrupts the connection of rooks a8-e8), bK has no escape square (not blocked by own pawns, but Bh6 has g7 under control (dark squared bishop missed here). In general B's development is far behind, it's more than ripe for White's attack. --------------------------------- Task 6 [***]: W.: Kh1,Qf4,Ng5,Pg2,h2 (5) B.: Kg8,Qb2,Rb8,Pg7,h7 (5) Find out the move sequence for White to win! Answer: 1. Qc4+ Kh8 2.Nf7+ Kg8 3.Nh6+ Kh8 4.Qg8+ Rxg8 5.Nf7++ (SMOTHERED MATE!) Most participants could find the solution at once after replaying the following game: Morphy - Jacson, 2-Knights-Game, [C55] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.O-O Nxe4 6.Re1 d5 7.Bxd5 Qxd5 8.Nc3 Qh5 9.Nxe4 Be6 10.Neg5 Bb4 11.Txe6 fxe6 12.Nxe6 Qf7 13.Nfg5 Qe7 14.Qe2 Bd6 15.Nxg7+ Kd7 16.Qg4+ Kd8 17.Nxf7+ Qxf7 18.Bg5+ Be7 19.Ne6+ Kc8 20.Nc5+ Kb8 21.Nd7+ Kc8 22.Nb6+ Kb8 23.Qc8+ Rxc8 24.Nd7++ (smothered mate) --------------------------------- NEW TASKS (solutions in letter 4) ======================================================================= In former tasks some participants had difficulties with questions like 'find key move'. From chess puzzles they usually know questions like 'mate in x moves'. But such puzzles mostly have nothing to do with real games. In our tasks we'll have mainly positions typical for _games_. And games only in rare cases ends with mate. Decisive material loss often is enough to resign. Therefore, the question mostly will be for a key move that leads to big (or small, eg. 1 pawn up, task 8) advantage. +-----------------+ 8 | - + - + - r - k | 7 | + a + - + - + a | 6 | a + a + - q - A | 5 | + - + - Q - + - | 4 | - + - + - + - A | 3 | + - + - + - A K | 2 | - + - + - + - + | 1 | R - + - + - + - | White to move +-----------------+ a b c d e f g h Task 7 [*]: W.: Kh3,Qe5,Ra1,Pg3,h4,h6 (6) B.: Kh8,Qf6,Rf8,Pa6,b7,c6,h7 (7) White to move: Find White's key move to win! Answer: 1. ... --------------------------------- +-----------------+ 8 | r + - + - r - + | 7 | + a a b + - + - | 6 | - + - a - + k + | 5 | + - n A q a a R | 4 | a + A N a + - + | 3 | A - Q - A - + - | 2 | - A - + B A A + | 1 | + K + - + R + - | White to move +-----------------+ a b c d e f g h Task 8 [**]: W.: Kb1,Qc3,Rf1,Rh5,Be2,Nd4,Pa3,b2,c4,d5,e3,f2,g2 (13) B.: Kg6,Qe5,Ra8,Rf8,Bd7,Nc5,Pa4,b7,c7,d6,e4,f5,g5 (13) Game Kuhnle - Richter, 1995, White to move. Black's last move was 26.- Kg6, to protect Pg5. White found a surprising answer. Answer: White's move is 27. ... (describe the consequences) --------------------------------- +-----------------+ 8 | - + - + - + - + | 7 | a - + - + - + - | 6 | - + - + - + k + | 5 | + R + - + - + - | 4 | - + - + - + - + | 3 | + A + - + - + - | 2 | A A - + - a A + | 1 | + - + - + - + K | White to move +-----------------+ a b c d e f g h Task 9 [**]: W.: Kh1,Rb5,Pa2,b2,b3,g2 (6) B.: Kg6,Pa7,f2 (3) Reti (study), White to move. The f-pawn is nearly through. Is there a possibility for White, to win? Answer: 1. ... --------------------------------- +-----------------+ 8 | - + q + - + k + | Black to move 7 | a b R - b a a a | 6 | - + - + r + - + | 5 | + Q + - a - + - | 4 | - + - + - + - + | 3 | + - + - A - A - | 2 | A + - + - A A K | 1 | + B B R + - + - | +-----------------+ a b c d e f g h Task 10 [***]: W.: Kh2,Qb5,Rc7,Rd1,Bb1,Bc1,Pa2,e3,f2,g2,g3 (11) B.: Kg8,Qc8,Re6,Bb7,Be7,Pa7,e5,f7,g7,h7 (10) Seems white has a good position. But it's Black to move. Find out the move sequence for Black to win (mate in 4)! Answer: 1.- ... --------------------------------- G) CHESS AND C(h)ATS ======================================================================= +++ about keeping actual positions: Some people have actual positions of their email games on screen, and consider their moves there. Others, so do I, like to see their positions on a real board. But how can we store these positions, to make sure that the actual position is correct, without replaying the whole game? Years ago I've asked a friend to play a correspondence game. "I can't", was his answer, "we have a CAT in our flat. And it would disturb my position, when I have it set up on my chessboard". And recently I've heard from a chessfriend, that he has a chessroom, where all his games are set up on real boards. Both had no good method to store their games. Even if you have enough room, to set up these boards: if you try out a variation on your board, are you sure to go back to the correct position? Here's my simple method to store the games: I print out an empty board (squares 20x20 mm, black sq. are ligth grey) on a sheet of paper, 1 for each game. With a smooth pencil I mark the position of pieces (K,Q, .. for white and black, additional circel around the letters for black pieces). When a piece was moved, you simply use a rubber. Now you can set up small pieces on such a board. Doing so, you make _sure_ to have the correct position. You can try out variations - and can go back easy, quick and save to the actual position. You don't need an extra room for your games, just a folder. +++ solving tasks, the easy way: TASK 3 - I cannot believe that this one is marked *EASY. I tried everything and cannot do it -- unless of course black cooperates :) So, instead of a hint, why don't you be white and I'll be black and then you can mate me in 3 moves or less. Your move ? ###################################################################### +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | __o Heiner Theofel | | _`\<,_ IECC TD Swiss Tournaments ---> results under: | | (_)/ (_) http://kerouac.pharm.uky.edu/rgbIECC/IECC.html | + ~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------------------------------------+