----------------------------------------------------------------------- (01/17/1997 rev. 06/02/1999) Chess Basics, Letter 8 ########################## Opening: Don't try the Scholars Mate! ================================================================== Beginners are fascinated by the Scholars Mate (see also IECC Jottings #4), an early attack with B+Q against weak square f7. But as we learned in earlier letters, it's not good to develop the queen too early, and to attack too early with too few pieces before the development is complete. So you should never try the scolars mate in a game: If your opponent really doesn't know this cheap trick, you can beat him also in an other way. But if Black wards of this attack correctly, it's your disadvantage! A nice example for this is a simultaneous game from Aljekhine. One of his opponents thought he could try the SM: NN - Aljekhine (Buenos Aires, Sim. 45 boards) 1.e4 e5 1.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qh5 Qe7 [! - to protect f7 with 3.- Nh6 is not good, 4.d4 .. 5.Bxh6] 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Qg5 d6 6.Qxg7 Rg8 7.Qh6 Bxf2+! 8.Ke2 [8.Kxf2 Ng4+] 8.- Rxg2 9.Kf1 Rg6! 0-1 [without any chance, 10.Qxg6 Qxg6 11.Kxf2 Ng5+] In the Jottings we've heard that Aljekhines character wasn't the best, also about his bad behaviour. But he was a brilliant chess player, and this is what remains, and what we can enjoy. An example you can find task 32 below. Solutions for tasks 25 - 28 (from letter 7) ================================================================== Task 25 [*]: W.: Kh1, Qd1, Re1, Pe5,g2,h3 (6) B.: Kh8, Qf5, Bd5, Pe6,g7,h7 (6) Take the white pieces. Your next move? HT: Before you touch a piece, you always should ask: What are my opponents plans/ what are his threats. Otherwise your 'strong' move 1.Rf1?? will beat yourself. Most participants realized Blacks threat, Antonio wrote: AB: Answer: 1.Qg4, White must defend h3, threat 1...Qxh3+ 2.Kg1 Qg2++. There are four moves to white: Kh2 and Re3 are bad. Black wins a pawn. Kg1 and Qg4 are good, but Qg4 is better. (+-) --------------------------------- Task 26 [**]: W.: Kc1, Qe5, Rd1, Na4,c6, Pb2,f6,g5 (8) B.: Kg8, Qb4, Rf8, Ba2, Pa6,f7,g7,h7 (8) Game Theofel-DePieri, 1996. Qc4+ happened in the game in this position: Why didn't Black play Rc8? Answer: 1.- Rc8? 2. Rd8+ (to unpin the N) 2.- Rxd8 3.Nxb4 --------------------------------- Task 27 [**]: W.: Kh2, Qf3, Rg1,g2, Ne4, Pc4,f6,h3 (8) B.: Kh8, Qh4, Re6,f8, Nd3, Pc5,d6,f7,h7 (9) Actual OTB-Game: Charlow - Hulak, European Team Cup, Budapast 1996. In this position White played 33.Nxd6! Ne5 34.Rg8+ 1-0 (A) 33.- Rxd6 34.Rg8+ Rxg8 35.Rxg8+ Kxg8 36.Qa8+ (N made this diagonal free in move 33!) 36.- Rd8 37.Qxd8++ (B) 33.- Rxf6 34.Nxf7+ a) 34.- R8xf7 35.Rg8++ b) 34.- R6xf7 35.Qxf7! --------------------------------- Task 28 [***]: W.: Ka5, Qa3 (2) B.: Kb1, Pa2 (2) Similar position as in task 22. Here with king closer to the pawn, on a5 instead of a8, White wins! In task 22 the wK was far away, and through the stalemate trick Black could escape into a draw. Here White can use a nice method: he allows Black to promote the pawn, but then uses the bad position of bQ in the corner (well known as "Polerios' corner play" [*]): 1.Qb3+ Ka1 2.Qd1+ Kb2 3.Qd2+ Kb1 4.Kb4 a1=Q 5.Kb3 1-0 ... [*] according Polerio, Italy (1590): ... mate in 2 moves 5.- Qc3+ 6.Kc3 (not stalemate!) 6.- Ka1 7.Qb2++ How can we distinguish cases like task 22, K far away, and like task 28, K close enough? The following diagram shows, on which squares the wK must at least be for a win: +-----------------+ 8 | - + - + - + - + | 7 | + - + - + - + - | White to move 6 | - + - + - + - + | 5 | # # # # + - + - | (A) wK on squares '#' (or closer to a1): 1-0 4 | - + - + # + - + | (B) wK outside '#'-squares: draw 3 | Q - + - # - + - | 2 | a + - + # + - + | You may try, why 'e5' doesn't belong to the 1 | + k + - # - + - | 'win-area' +-----------------+ a b c d e f g h NEW TASKS ============================================================= +-----------------+ 8 | - + - + - + - + | 7 | + - + - + - + - | White to move 6 | - + - + - k - + | 5 | a - + - + a + - | 4 | A + - + - + - + | 3 | + - + - + K A - | 2 | - + - + - + - + | 1 | + - + - + - + - | +-----------------+ a b c d e f g h Task 29 [*]: W.: Kf3, Pa4,g3 (3) B.: Kf6, Pa5,f5 (3) Nina - Bernhard, both 11 years, 1997 The _even_ position above I've seen in a blitz game between 2 of my chess kids. They played: 1.g4 fxg4 2.Kxg4 Ke5 3.Kf3 Kd4 4.Ke2 Kc4 5.Ke3 Kb4 6.Kd4 Kb3 7.Kc5 Ka4 8.Kb6 Kb4 0-1 When White gave away the half point? Was 1.g4 wrong, or did the mistake happen later? How can W reach a draw? Answer: ... ---------------------------------------------------- +-----------------+ 8 | - + - + - + - + | 7 | k - + - + - a a | White to move 6 | b + - + a a - + | 5 | + - + - + - A A | 4 | - + - + A A - + | 3 | + - + - + - + - | 2 | - + - + - + - K | 1 | + - + - + - + - | +-----------------+ a b c d e f g h Task 30 [*]: W.: Kh2, Pe4,f4,g5,h5 (5) B.: Kb7, Ba6, Pe6,f6,g7,h7 (6) Black with B more, but White wins! Answer: 1.- ... ------------------------------------------------------- +-----------------+ 8 | - + - r - + - + | 7 | + a a a + - + - | White to move 6 | a + - k - + - + | 5 | + - + - + A + - | 4 | - + - N - + - + | 3 | + - K - + - + - | 2 | - + - + - + - + | 1 | + - + R + - + - | +-----------------+ a b c d e f g h Task 31 [**]: W.: Kc3, Rd1, Nd4, Pf5 (4) B.: Kd6, Rd8, Pa6,b7,c7,d7 (6) First sight: material is 'even': instead of the N Black has 3 pawns more. Second(or more?) sight: White wins! Answer: 1. ... ----------------------------------------------- +-----------------+ 8 | - + - + - + k + | 7 | a r + - + a a a | White to move 6 | - a - + - q n + | 5 | + - + - + N Q - | 4 | - + a + - + - + | 3 | + - + - + - + - | 2 | A + - + - A A A | 1 | + - + - R - K - | +-----------------+ a b c d e f g h Task 32 [***]: W.: Kg1, Qg5, Re1, Nf5, Pa2,f2,g2,h2 (8) B.: Kg8, Qf6, Rb7, Ng6, Pa7,b6,f7,g7,h7 (9) Aljekhine - Freeman, New York 192?, Aljekhine played blindfold/simultaneous on 26 boards! In this position he announced 'mate in 4'. Can you find it, on 1 board, with open eyes? Answer: 1.- ... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Annotated games, annotator HT: > [Event "privat"] > [Date "1996.10.19"] > [White "Kathi, Istvan"] > [Black "Terry"] (I don't have the last name) > [Result "1-0"] > >1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 here, against the Philidor's, I prefer 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 7.Bxc6 Bxc6, followed by Nc3>d5, with room advantage, and open e-line after exchange of Nd5. >..Nf6 5.Nc3 c5 (?! remains with weak pawn on d6, and d5 is a good square for white to place a N there) >6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.Bxd7+ Qxd7 8.Nf5 g6 9.Bg5 too many pawn moves from black/ right answer from white: development of pieces! >..Qe6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Nd5 (sure: see comment with 5.- c5) >.. Qd8 >12.Nfe3 Bg7 13.c3 O-O 14.O-O Re8 15.f3 Nc6 16.Qe2 Ne7 >17.Rfd1 Nxd5 18.Rxd5 why not Nxd5? I prefer a N on this square, it's always dangerous, can't be attacked here by minor pieces! Your play against the weak pawn d6 is also good, but in the endgame with KQR:KQR 1 pawn more sometimes is nor enough. >.. Re6 19.R1d1 Bf8 20.Nc4 Qc7 20.- b5 >21.Qd3 Rd8 >22.e5 b5 23.Nxd6 Bxd6 24.Rxd6 R8xd6 25.exd6 Qd7 26.Qd5 c4 >27.Kf2 Kg7 28.g4 h6 29.h4 Kf8 30.b3 cxb3 31.axb3 a5 32.c4 bxc4 >33.bxc4 now the advantage is better: connected free pawns >..a4 34.c5 f6 35.c6 Qa7+ 36.Qd4 (black resigned) Good game! Defensive opening (Philidor) and 1 weak move (c5), that was enough for you, to win! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And here's another game from our Swiss 40 tourney: [Event "Swiss 40"] [Site "IECC"] [Date "1996.09.28"] [Round "1"] [White "Theofel, Heiner"] [Black "Coffield, Alan"] [Result "1-0"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 [No rule without exception: here this early Q-move is good. White should protect his N with 6.c3, and then this square is blocked for his Nb1. After 6.c3 Nge7 7.Nc2 Bxe3 8.Nxe3 Qe5! the bQ finds a safe place in the middle of the board. But White deviated from the book here, the 'trouble' begins ...] 6.Nxc6 Bxe3 7.fxe3 Qxb2 8.Qd4 Qc1+ 9.Kf2 Qxc2+ 10.Nd2 Qxc6 11.Qxg7 Qf6+ 12.Qxf6 Nxf6 [... and after the smoke of the first battle was gone, I had a pawn more, a nice 'passed pawn' in c-line. White has no compensation (##) for this pawn. So the point must be mine! The rest was 'technique', nice is the active role of the bK, so that in principle Black has 'a piece more' in the endgame. In move 36 the K himself rolled out the red carpet for the passed pawns last steps, Black had no more thumb- tacks to through throw them onto the carpet (this is a summary of the nice chat I had with Alan about the game)] 13.Bb5 a6 14.Bd3 d6 15.Rac1 c5 16.Nc4 Ke7 17.Nb6 Rb8 18.Nd5+ Nxd5 19.exd5 b5 20.Rb1 Bd7 21.h4 c4 22.Be4 f5 23.Bc2 Kf6 24.Kf3 Ke5 25.Rhd1 Rhg8 26.Rd4 Rg7 27.Rbd1 Rbg8 28.Rg1 Rg3+ 29.Kf2 R3g4 30.Kf3 Rxd4 31.exd4+ Kxd5 32.Re1 Kxd4 33.g3 Kc3 34.Re7 Bc6+ 35.Kf4 Kxc2 36.Kxf5 Kd2 37.Rc7 Bg2 38.a4 c3 1-0 (##) What 'compensation' means, you can see in the first game I finished this year: White 'won' a pawn, but the price was a demolished pawn structure in front of his king, and undeveloped pieces on the queens side. Black has good compensation for the pawn! ... and the decisive attack started immediately. [Event "S0003"] [Site "IECG"] [Date "1997.01.01"] [Round "1"] [White "Spacic, Aleksandar"] [Black "Theofel, Heiner"] [Result "0-1"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bb4{!? Alapins move} 4.c3 Ba5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.O-O Bg4 7.d3 f6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Qe2 Ne7 10.d4 O-O 11.g4 Bf7 12.dxe5 Ng6 13.exf6 Qxf6 14.Ng5 Nf4 15.Bxf4 Qxf4 16.Nxf7 Rxf7 17.Kg2 Rd8 18.f3 Bb6 19.Rd1 Rxd1 20.Qxd1 Qe3 21.Nd2 Rd7 22.Qb3+ Kf8 23.Nc4 Qf2+ 24.Kh1 0-1