Chess Basics Archives - Chessentials https://chessentials.com/tag/chess-basics/ Chess blog about chess tactics, chess games and chess books Tue, 29 Jan 2019 22:29:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://chessentials.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/cropped-vjeks2-2-1-32x32.png Chess Basics Archives - Chessentials https://chessentials.com/tag/chess-basics/ 32 32 The Legal Trap https://chessentials.com/the-legal-trap/ https://chessentials.com/the-legal-trap/#respond Thu, 01 Jun 2017 17:08:56 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=2199 INTRODUCTION On the road toward chess mastery, a chess player acquires knowledge about numerous attacking mechanism and mating patterns. For instance, every strong player is familiar with the typical sacrifice of the bishop on h7,...

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]]> INTRODUCTION

On the road toward chess mastery, a chess player acquires knowledge about numerous attacking mechanism and mating patterns.

For instance, every strong player is familiar with the typical sacrifice of the bishop on h7, typical exchange sacrifice on h5 and other similar attacking manoeuvres.

However, one attacking pattern, in particular, has become especially famous throughout the centuries. It is rather well known because it was named after the player who originally played it in the 18th century.

Probably any Russian schoolboy could tell you the name of this manoeuvre even if you woke him up in the middle of the night.

Therefore, if you ever dreamt about travelling to Russia and waking up Russian schoolchildren in the middle of the night, it is probably time that you too get acquainted with Legal trap.

LEGAL MATE?

Legal trap is an attacking trap with which a player sacrifices his queen in order to deliver mate to the enemy king (or to gain a decisive advantage; more details in the subsequent section).

Legal trap was discovered in the 17th century by the strongest chess player of those times, the French virtuoso Francois Antoine de Legall de Kermeru (also known as Sire de Legal).

Sire de Legal

During this period, Paris was the chess capital of the world and the strongest players of the world gathered regularly at the famous Cafe de la Regence and played against each other.

In one of those games, against an unknown opponent,  Legal discovered a fantastic idea which would later become an integral part of the chess heritage.

Let us take a look at the moves and the key point of the game. Legal was playing with the White pieces.

1 e2-e4 e7-e5

2 Ng1-Nf3 d7-d6

3 Bf1-c4 Bc8-g4

4 Nb1-c3 g7-g6

Let us pause and take a look at the diagram position. Black has already violated two important opening principles; he moved his pawns instead of pieces on moves 2 and 4, and he developed his bishop prematurely.

Legal1

White is able to punish these mistakes with the help of a great move that Legal discovered:

5 Ng3xe5!!

An amazing discovery. White simply allows Black to take his queen in a move. Naturally, the offer is too attractive not to be accepted:

5… Bg4xd1

But in fact this allows White to deliver a checkmate in two moves:

6 Bc4xf7+ Ke8-Ke7

7 Nc3-Nd5 mate

Legal2

Very picturesque. White mates the Black king in the middle of the board and proves that in chess, mind often triumphs over matter.

LEGAL MATE OR LEGAL TRAP?

The above diagram represents the basic position of the Legal trap. However, stronger players might have noticed that Black is by no means forced to grab the White lady when the opportunity arises.

Let’s once again take Legal game as an example. His opponent could have refused the queen offer on move five, and captured the knight on e5 instead:

5… d6xe5

This would have allowed Legal to demonstrate another point behind his idea. The jump of the White knight, apart from threatening mate, also discovers the attack on the Black’s bishop. Therefore, White can now simply take the bishop with his queen:

6 Qf1xg4

Legal3

In the resulting position, White is a pawn up and has a large lead in development, as he already has three pieces in play in contrast to Black’s none.

Therefore, from the practical point of view, the diagram position should also be technically won. But even so, it is better for Black to enter such a position then to allow immediate checkmate.

Technically speaking, it is not fully correct to call the manoeuvre Legal mate, because Black can refuse to take the queen. Therefore, it is more precise to refer to the queen sacrifice as to the Legal sacrifice. Some authors also call it Legal Pseudo Sacrifice, because Black can’t really accept it, as demonstrated above.

Strictly speaking, whenever one mentions Legal name it should be clear what he refers to. All the terminology aside. For this reason, for the remainder of this article, we will stick to the Legal trap expression.

DIFFERENT VARIATIONS OF LEGAL TRAP

Ever since Legal ventured the queen sacrifice, many players have followed his footsteps and provided us with numerous examples of Legal trap in practical play.

Although the basic idea always remains the same, the features of every position are slightly different and the resulting consequences are not always identical.

Therefore, there are many different forms in which Legal trap can appear. We will examine four main variations of Legal trap on a number of model games.

Knight delivers the checkmate

The first variation of Legal trap was already demonstrated in it’s most primitive form in the Legal original game.

However, that game was a predecessor for many subsequent games in which knight delivered the checkmate after slightly more complicated opening phase.

As an example, let’s take a look at the game between two British amateurs, A. G. Essery and F.H. Warren, from the year 1912.

The game started with the Danish Gambit:

1 e2-e4 e7-e5

2 d2-d4 e5xd4

3 c2-c3 dxc3

4 Bf1-c4 d7-d6

Legal4

This gambit is not fully correct but is very dangerous. If Black takes on b2, White gets a large lead in development.

5 Nb1xc3 Ng8-f6

6 Ng1-f3 Bc8-g4

7 0-0 Nb8-c6

8 Bc1-g5 Nc6-e5?

Legal5

White’s last move has set a trap into which Black falls. The knight move allows Legal mate.

9 Nf3xe5! Bg4xd1

It has to be mentioned that Black’s best response is declining the Greek Gift with 9… d6xe5, but then White captures the bishop on g4 and remains a piece up.

The text move allows the mate:

10 Bc4xf7+ Ke8-e7

11 Nc3-d5 mate

Legal6

Thus, Legal mating picture occurs. It is noticeable that the diagram position is different from the position that occurred in the original Legal game; the key role is played by the bishop on g5 which pins the Black knight on f6 and hinders it from capturing back the knight on d5.

Bishop delivers the checkmate

Instead of merely pinning the knight on f6, on some occasion the bishop can have a much more glorious career on the square g5 and actually deliver the checkmate to the Black’s king.

Such a scenario usually happens when the Black knight from f6 gets exchanged for the White knight on c3.

For instance, the game by Jean Taubenhaus, a Polish master from the end of 19th and beginning of the 20th century, played in simultaneous exhibition in 1887, features this theme:

1 e2-e4 e7-e5

2 f2-f4

The King’s gambit was definitely the most popular opening in the 19th century. Nowadays, many antidotes have been discovered, but it is still used sometimes as a surprise weapon on the highest level.

2… d7-d6

3 Ng1-Nf3 Bc8-Bg4

4 Bf1-Bc4 Ng8-Nf6

5 f4xe5 Nf6xe4

6 Nb1-Nc3 Ne4xc3

7 d2xc3

Legal7

The exchange of the knights takes place. White loses an important attacker and is unable to deliver mate on d5, but on the other hand, Black loses an even more important defender.

7 … Nb8-Nc6

8 0-0 Nxe5?

Legal8

Fatal mistake. Now all the prerequisites for Legal mate are met:

9 Nxe5! Bxd1

Once again, declining the sacrifice loses a piece for Black, but it was his best option.

10 Bxf7+ Ke7

11 Bg5 mate

Legal9

The hitherto bishop, which has been sleeping on c1 until now, wakes up and delivers the fatal blow.

Legal mate leads to decisive material gains

Finally, we will examine the third variation of Legal trap.

In this variation, the idea of the Legal manoeuvre is the gain of material. When Black’s king is hemmed in by his own pawns, pieces and queen, a check by the bishop might force him to give up his queen in order to prevent the checkmate.

If this sounds too complicated, perhaps it is best to examine a trendy opening line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined in which this form of Legal trap can appear. (Note: In this game, it is Black who takes the advantage of the queen sacrifice).

1 d2-d4 d7-d5

2 c2-c4 e7-e6

3 Nb1-Nc3 Ng8-Nf6

4 c4xd5 e6xd5

5 Bc1-Bg5 Nb8-Nd7

Legal10

This variation is known as the Orthodox variation of the Blackburne’s variation of the Queen’s gambit declined (quite a long name for mere 5 moves, don’t you think).

It has been played a million times, but it is not immediately clear what happens if White simply takes the knight on d5.

Let’s take a look:

6 Nc3xd5? Nf6xd5

7 Bg5xd8 Bf8-Bb4+

Legal11

The point of Black’s play. White is unable to do anything about the check and has to interfere with his queen.

9 Qd2 Bb4xd2+

10 Ke1xd2 Ke8xd8

Legal12

At the end, Black has won the piece and with he should also win the game.

DON’T GET CARRIED AWAY WITH LEGAL TRAP

We will conclude this article with a word of caution.

Legal trap is the attacking pattern that every chess player should know because it teaches us the dangers of prematurely pinning the knight toward the queen in the opening and of disobeying basic opening principles.

Sometimes, you will get the opportunity to deliver it in the real game, but most often more experienced opponent will not allow it because he will play healthy, logical chess, against which winning with the help of the quick tricks won’t be possible

Not only that; blindly and intentionally going for Legal mate can bring you serious trouble.

For instance, consider the following diagram for the moment.

Legal13

In this position, if White tries the move Nf3xe5, Black doesn’t capture the queen, but replies Nc6xe5, defending the bishop on g4 and winning the piece for Black.

Therefore, I hope you will remember the name of Sire de Legal, appreciate the greatness of his brilliant queen sacrifice and use the opportunity to employ it if you ever get one.

Nothing more, nothing less.

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]]> https://chessentials.com/the-legal-trap/feed/ 0 Fast checkmates https://chessentials.com/fast-checkmates/ https://chessentials.com/fast-checkmates/#respond Fri, 26 May 2017 16:43:58 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=1972 Introduction We human tend to get obsessed with the superlatives in any field of human activity. We are constantly trying to determine who is the biggest, the strongest, the most intelligent, the greatest ever, etc.....

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]]> Introduction

We human tend to get obsessed with the superlatives in any field of human activity.

We are constantly trying to determine who is the biggest, the strongest, the most intelligent, the greatest ever, etc..

Heck, our obsession went so far that a separate body was created that publishes an annual book which documents all the unnecessary achievements of the humanity.

Chess players are not an exception. For instance, when we are playing the game, we are searching for the best move; we are willingly entering lengthy discussions about the comparative greatness of Fischer and Kasparov, etc.

However, I would like to focus on answering one particular question that often fascinates the minds of beginners and novice players.

That question regards the least amounts of moves required to checkmate the adversary King right out of the opening.

Therefore, fast checkmates are the main theme of this article. And we are going to start with the fastest of them all – The two move checkmate or the Fool’s mate.

The two move checkmate – The Fool’s mate

Only the player playing the White pieces can become a  victim of the two move checkmate.

Considering that such a checkmate arises only after a terrible play on White’s part, this checkmate is also known as the Fool’s mate.

An example game featuring the Fool’s mate is shown below.

We can observe that there are several conditions that need to be for the Fool’s mate to happen:

  • White’s g pawn has to be on g4, in order not to be able to block the check of the Black Queen.
  • White’s f pawn has to be on f3 or f4, in order for the e1-h4 diagonal to be clear.
  • White’s king has to be hemmed in by his own pieces. For instance, if there was no queen or d1 or pawn d2, there would be no checkmate as the king would be able to flee via one of those squares.

Naturally, White’s moves with the f and the g pawn are both terrible.

Therefore, it is fully justified to start singing to your opponent in the style of Amy Lee if you ever deliver the Fool’s mate over the board.

The three move checkmate – The Fool’s mate reversed

Compared to the two move checkmate, that is unique, there are multiple ways of checkmating the enemy king in three moves.

In this part of the article, we will focus on the basic instance, which is basically the Fool’s mate reversed.

(Other types of various three move checkmates are covered in a later part of this article)

An example game featuring the three move checkmate is shown below.

Similarities between the two move checkmate and the three move checkmate are quite obvious.

The only main difference is that White has to lose a tempo and wait for Black to weaken himself along the e8-h5 diagonal.

But if you allow yourself to be checkmated in this fashion, you still deserve to be called a Fool!

chess_dummies

We have already pointed out that only complete beginners will move their f and g pawns early in the opening.

Considering that there is a very low probability of encountering the Fool’s mate over the board, one might wonder if there is any point of getting familiar with it, whatsoever.

Well, if there is one thing one should remember from the example games above, that is the danger of weakening the h4-e1 (h5-e8) diagonal too early in the game.

Whenever you are contemplating about pushing your g and f pawns, you should make sure that your king isn’t going to suffer as a consequence.

Because even if punishment doesn’t come as quickly as in the Fool’s mate, you still might fall into a tactical trap and lose the game relatively quickly.

The following game should illustrate my point.

The four move checkmate – The Scholar’s mate

Another fast checkmate that is encountered rather often in the practice is the four move checkmate.

The f7(f2) is generally recognised as the weakest point in the pawn structure in the opening because the King is the only piece defending it.

Four move checkmate occurs when the White Queen, supported by the light squared bishop, checkmates the Black king precisely on the f7 square.

Due to its educational value (this pattern is often used to teach the beginners the basic combination elements) the four move checkmate is also widely known as the Scholar’s mate. 

An example game featuring the Scholar’s mate is given below.

Compared to the Fool’s mate, the Scholar’s mate is more often encountered in practice. Many beginners are attracted to the idea of a quick win and they try to catch their opponent of the guard with the Parham opening.

And not only beginners. The 2 Qh5!? was tried against arguably the greatest player ever, Garry Kasparov.

Apart from that, a top 10 player Hikaru Nakamura also played the White side of that opening.

These two games, however, demonstrate the drawbacks of the early queen sortie.

Once Black has defended against the immediate threats, he can gain time by harassing the White lady and end up in a superior position.

For this reason, a word of caution is required. Although you might win some games with the help of the Scholar’s mate, you are relying on a mistake by your opponent, which is hard an advisable strategy in chess.

Therefore, don’t become fixated on the Scholar’s mate. Any experienced player will be glad to take advantage of your suboptimal opening play.

A personal note

I would like to conclude this article with two anecdotes connected with fast checkmates.

I have been a victim of a couple of three move checkmates myself. However, as will soon become apparent, it was never my fault (I am pretty good in excuses, aren’t I?).

The first instance it happened was a friendly game against a family member, who tried the above-mentioned Parham attack against me:

After this debacle, one would expect that I have learnt the lesson and that I would never fall for something similar.

However, many years after the game above, I was playing in the Split open 2013 tournament. 

There I have spent quite some time playing blitz against IM Leon Livaić (who was “only” a 2050 Candidate Master at a time).

However, already then I got crushed in blitz quite badly. Out of desperation, I started playing some nonsense openings and simply hope for the miracle.

Then the following game happened:

” Don’t trust International Masters even when they are suggesting the theory.”

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]]> https://chessentials.com/fast-checkmates/feed/ 0 Chess tactics for beginners – Chess combination elements https://chessentials.com/chess-tactics-for-beginners-chess-combination-elements/ https://chessentials.com/chess-tactics-for-beginners-chess-combination-elements/#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2016 22:48:16 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=980 TACTICS, TACTICS, TACTICS In the previous post we have written about best ways to improve your chess. One of the suggestions was very blatant, as it simply said that studying chess is esential for improvement. The...

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]]> TACTICS, TACTICS, TACTICS

In the previous post we have written about best ways to improve your chess.

One of the suggestions was very blatant, as it simply said that studying chess is esential for improvement.

The natural question for someone who is new to chess is, what to study and how to begin. This post will therefore, partly try to answer these questions.

One of the most often heard advice for beginners is to work on one’s tactical skill. It sure is a great advice, especially for kids, because the best way to do so is by solving tactical puzzles. And tactical puzzles are so much FUN. 

Or at least they keep telling you that while you are a kid,  while all you want is to  pass that new level in the latest version of the ANGRY BIRDS.

angry_birds

However, it seems that this ANCIENT chess advice has some credibility. Because unlike some others dogmatic rules in chess (and life in general), this one very much seems to work.

Naturally, I don’t have a scientific proof for that. But I still think that once you dig beyond the surface, it turns out to be a very logical advice. I think that working on your tactics, especially as a beginner is REALLY  a good idea because of the following:

  • PRESENCE – tactics are important during all phases of the game. Whether it is a brilliant 11-move kingside attack in the middlegame, or modest “he takes this I take that” maneuvre in the endgame. On the path of becoming a complete player, good calculations and tactical awareness are the cornerstone.
  • SPONTANEITY – often in chess, a tactical blow is not a logical follow up to a brilliant tactical idea. It happens that our opponent overlooks a tactical idea and gives us a nice present. Naturally, in order to be able to say “THANK YOU VERY MUCH”, a tactical idea has to be found and calculated correctly. The probability of this spontaneous opportunities appearing on the board is highly correlated to the rating of the players. Basically, lower rated players make more mistakes, and give you more opportunities to exploit.
  • FUN WITHOUT DAMAGE TO YOUR IQ – seriously, why are these CLICK, CLICK, CLICK games that much popular?

If you still haven’t given up after this much Angry Birds bashing, in the remainder of the post I will try to concentrate on the basics of the tactical play. Because I think it is very important to get acquainted with a chess term closely related to the term tactics – and that is the CHESS COMBINATION.

armytactcs
Tactics you are doing it wrong 🙁

CHESS COMBINATIONS – BASIC ELEMENTS

First of all, perhaps it is not a bad idea to define what chess combination actually is.

From the wikipedia: ” In chess, a combination is a sequence of moves, often initiated by a sacrifice, which leaves the opponent few options and results in tangible gain.”

Although I am not a big fan of the definitions, I think this one is pretty clear. Probably the only mystery is what a tangible gain is. The answer is that it can really be anything. As a result of combination, one side can win a modest pawn, or force the mate of the enemy king. It can be forced or not forced. It can be 10 moves or 2 moves long. It can appear wherever, whenever on the chessboard.  And so on, and so on… As a famous chess author Irving Chernev once said:

“COMBINATION IS THE HEART OF CHESS.”

The key point here is the fact that no matter how long or how complicated a combination is, it can always be divided into shorter and simpler combinations. These smaller combinations are based on the typical tactical motives and are also called BASIC COMBINATION ELEMENTS. 

As I have previously discussed in my “The art of checkmate” review, pattern recognition is one of the important aspects of chess learning. Learning basic combination elements is precisely that.

Once you get familiar with the various elements that  appear during the game, you will soon start noticing them in your own games.

Therefore, without further ado, let’s take that “SMALL STEP FOR A CHESSPLAYER”, and see what some of the most often combination elements are.

DOUBLE ATTACK

Let us start with something familiar. When I played chess as a kid, my main goal to attack as many pieces possible with my knight. Without even knowing, I discovered the mechanism of the double attack.

It might come as a HUGE surprise, but a double attack is an instance when one pieces attacks two opposing pieces and as a result wins material.

The most vivid examples of the double attack are the ones that involve the knight and the pawn. Colloquially, they are often called FORKS. The example a pawn fork is given on the diagram below.

You can see that the pawn on e5 is supported, and as a result White wins a piece.

OVERLOADING

When a piece executes multiple defensive functions, it is said that the piece is OVERLOADED. One side can often take advantage of an overloaded piece by very simple tactical means. Please consider the position below:

As a result of the combination, White has won a piece. And that is quite decent TANGIBLE GAIN.

PIN

When a piece of a lower value finds itself IN FRONT of a piece of the lesser value and is being attacked by the opposing piece, then we have a PIN on the board.

Pin comes in two different variations, depending whether the piece IN THE BACK is the king or not.

When  a piece is PINNED toward a king, we say that the pin is ABSOLUTE. The pinned piece can’t move. An example of an absolute pin is shown on diagram below.

The White rook is unable to move, and Black is able to capture it on the next move.

On the other hand, when a piece is PINNED toward some other, more valuable piece, we say that the pin is RELATIVE. The pinned piece can move, although it involves a loss of material.

The White rook is pinned toward White queen. If the rook moves, Black can capture the queen.

It is important to note that the pinned side can often extricate from a RELATIVE pin by tactical means. There are infinite possibilities, but the most famous one is certainly the famous LEGAL’S MATE.

SKEWER

Skewer can most easily be explained as a PIN IN REVERSE. The mechanicsm is similar, but a SKEWERED piece finds itself behind the king which is checked. The case of skewer is shown on the diagram below.

We can see that Black loses a whole rook due to SKEWER.

DISCOVERED ATTACK/CHECK

I contemplated about trying to explain the DISCOVERED ATTACK/CHECK with words, but started writing more than Leo Tolstoy wrote during his life. Therefore, please consider the diagrams instead.

DISCOVERED ATTACK is similar to discovered check. Consider the slightly changed diagram once again:

DOUBLE CHECK

When two pieces give the check to the king, then we have an instance of a DOUBLE CHECK. (If only everything was this simple).

The very big advantage of the double check is the fact that it can only be parried by moving the king. In some positions this is a very powerful tool while executing a combination.

The simplest instance of a double check is depicted on a diagram below:

In the DECOY section below is an example game that also serves as an example of the POWER OF A DOUBLE CHECK.

DECOY

DECOY is a combination element in which one side makes a sacrifices that forces the enemy piece to occupy that square.

While you might be wondering why would anyone do that, please consider the following position.

If you thought that such things don’t happen in real games, please consider the following game. It is one of the most famous games in the history of chess.

It is also a great example of how more complicated combinations are composed of basic combination elements. In this instance, first the DECOY Qd8!!, which is a queen sacrifice, forces the king on d8. And then the DOUBLE CHECK forces checkmate.

CLEARANCE

The penultimate element that we will examine is the CLEARANCE.

Sometimes, it simply happens that you wish one of your pieces simply wasn’t in play. (Somehow I hear that often from my parents. And I promised them I will leave the house before I am thirty, I really don’t understand.)

Uhm.. anyway… sometimes you simply want to CLEAR a square where one of your pieces is standing, in order to occupy it with another piece. And GAIN something TANGIBLE.

As usual, I would have probably been better if I simply inserted a diagram in the first place instead of lamenting about my life:

INTERFERENCE

Finally, last but not the least, an INTERFERENCE tactic /combination element. I think by now I can sense the reader INTERFERING with my lengthy diversions, so I will simply focus on the diagram immediately.

CONCLUSION

Congratulations, you have made it to the end of another lengthy post. Hopefully, now you have a slight idea about how tactics in chess work. To conclude, I would like to post an example of another very famous, and very beautiful game. It is one of the most famous KING HUNTS in the history of chess, and also a very thankful example for the theme of this post. You will notice how a certain BASIC COMBINATION ELEMENTS were followed by a series of checks that forced the mate in a spectacular fashion.

 

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]]> https://chessentials.com/chess-tactics-for-beginners-chess-combination-elements/feed/ 1 How to get better at chess https://chessentials.com/how-to-get-better-at-chess/ https://chessentials.com/how-to-get-better-at-chess/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2016 21:55:30 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=688 … OR WHERE TO BEGIN? Very recently a college colleague of mine has sent me the following FACEBOOK INBOX (sorry, EMAILS are so 20th century): ” Hey Vjeko, recently I have started playing alot of chess over the Internet....

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]]> … OR WHERE TO BEGIN?

Very recently a college colleague of mine has sent me the following FACEBOOK INBOX (sorry, EMAILS are so 20th century):

” Hey Vjeko, recently I have started playing alot of chess over the Internet. I have also done some chess studying, mostly openings, but I am confused whether that is the best way to start learning chess. Therefore, I am sending you this INBOX. Since I have virtually no idea how to start, perhaps you can share your thoughts and recommendations. “

To be honest, I had to resist a serious urge to quote the Bible in Dave Allen style, since it apparently states that ” IT ALL STARTED IN THE BEGINNING.”

the-beginning

On a more serious note, this is not the first time that someone has asked me something similar.  Considering that a friend of mine has recently started a student section at his chess club that has become enormously popular  (see HASK Mladost official page), I decided that it might be useful to devote a post to the subject.

Because I know how hard it can be to get yourself involved in the world of chess as an outsider. And how hard it is to start raising your playing level without the proper guidance and the proper tools, since I have started playing chess relatively late in my life (if you disregard childhood “traumas” that I have already described).

Additionaly, I think that recipe for taking the first chess steps is more or less the same as the recipe for improving your chess. At least untill my modest 2200 level.

Therefore, I though it might make alot of sense to cover both topics simultaneously. Naturally, with the purely ALTRUISTIC GOAL of helping the readers with coverage of the broader subjects.

And the fact that I have to write only one post instead of two is merely a coincidence.. I am glad to help

helping
[deep] Some people only ACT that they are helping [/deep]

CHESS VERSUS SPORT – advantages

First of all, before talking about concrete ways of improving your chess, I would like to say why I think that the expression “IT IS NEVER TOO LATE” is very much valid for chess in general. And why I think it is much easier to balance chess improvement with your other daily obligations, compared to some sport for instance.

old_chess

I would avoid elaborating my opinion about whether chess should be considered sport or not. I can merely briefly say that, although there are many arguments FOR chess as a sport, my opinion is closer to defining it as A GAME, rather than a sport, since I  think that physical activity is an important prerequesite of any sport. Check for instance this Oxford dictionary definition.

Anyway, definitions aside, the list below enumerates what I think are comparative advantages as a chess. As a benchmark for sport, I have used the table tennis, since I also train it on regular basis and can most easily asses its good and its bad sides.

  • AVAILABILITY

In the modern era, chess is available anytime, anywhere. Everything you need to play a chess game is an Internet connection, and Computer or a smartphone. Whereas some 30-40 years ago the whole world was immensly slower, nowadays it takes a few seconds to connect and play a chess game against someone on the other side of the globe.

Moreover, the beautiful point is the high probability that you will get paired with someone whose skill is similar to yours. Which makes the playing process might more enjoyable.

Perhaps this might not seem like a very big deal, but this advantage is ENORMOUS compared to any other sport.

For instance, in order to have a satisfying table tennis training, you have to find the playing hall with proper conditions and a partner whose playing strength is similar to your own.

This might not seem like a great problem, but believe me, it is much more complicated than it seems.

And that is just for an individual sport. Imagine the trouble you have to go through to assemble 10 players for a casual football match.

familysoccer
When you really really REALLY wanted sons, but got three daughters instead..

To make myself clear, I don’t suggest that sitting in front of a computer for a long period of time is neccessarily a good thing.

Unless you are playing anything that BLIZZARD made.

But chesswise, once you get fed up with the staring at the virtual chess board and clock, you only need one friend, and a real chess clock and a chess board.

  • NO PHSYICAL PREREQUISITES

The fact that chess requires very little phsyical prerequisites should be pretty SELF EVIDENT, and you might be wondering why on Earth am I mentioning it here.

The answer is rather simple. I think that the fact that chess is more INTELLECTUAL, than physical, allows people who haven’t been involved with the chess from the youngest chess to start doing it in their twenties (or potentially later) and still reach a reasonable level.

Now, I am not talking about becoming the World Champion. But I think that reaching a FM/IM level even while starting in your twenties is pretty much attainable.

Let’s draw a parallel with the table tennis once again. I am not saying that reaching a certain level is impossible in other sports, but I think it is much more hard.

Because the basic mechanicsm of learning the table tennis technique is the so called MUSCLE MEMORY. In other words, the more times the player repeats the stroke correctly, the sooner will that stroke become automatic.

However, this is very hard, if not impossible to achieve on your own. Since in order to repeat the stroke correctly, it is a must to have someone watching and correcting your every move.

Additionally, according to this article (but also my own experience), kids are faster “SPORT LEARNERS” than adults.

To conclude, since chess is a game based on logic and geometry, it is much easier to grasp things on your own later in your life. Many people I know have claimed that they have reached their intellectual heights in their later twenties.

  • LESS TIME DEPENDANT

From my perspective, this is the greatest advantage of chess compared to any sport. It is somewhat connected with the AVAILABILITY factor mentioned above.

Consider the following. In order to complete a meaningfull table tennis practice, you should spend at least one hour in the playing hall. And when you add the time required for traveling towards the hall and back, showering, etc., that number increases significantly.

In contrast to that, getting involved in chess even for 10 minutes per day may increase your playing strength if done consistently. Therefore, there is no reason for you not to solve tactics on your phone next time you are driving in a bus or holding bags while your girlfriend is shopping.

The additional benefit is that if you start doing that and your girlfriend doesn’t leave you, congratulations. You have found your soulmate! 😀

time

Anyway, I could go on for many more hours on this topic. But I think after listing the 3 main options above, it is time to move on. In the remainder of the post we will focus on the main theme of the article. And that is IMPROVING YOUR CHESS.

HOW TO GET BETTER AT CHESS

Finally we have arrived to the question that most often occupies the mind of the chess amateurs. And not only amateurs.
Too be honest, I often got the impression that people who ask this question are somewhat similar to the Croatian high scholars.

Because people often enter a lengthy discussion and philosophy about doing a certain activity.. Instead of you know… DOING IT..

Numerous articles have been written on the subject of improving your chess. And most probably following advice from any of them (as for instance from this one)  will do you no harm.

Therefore, there was no point in trying to be amazingly creative with the improvement tips.

Instead, I’ve tried to pinpoint some things that I consider especially important. I have to emphasize that this is only MY PERSONAL OPINION. And that is has worked for me only up to my current near-2200 rating.  

According to the Croatian saying, “OPINION IS LIKE AN ASS. EVERYBODY HAS IT“. Therefore, what worked for me, might not work for someone else.

But I think I have elaborated too much anyway. Without further ado, let’s look at the ways of improving your chess, one by one.

  • Play, Play, Play

The “ultimate” advice and also the most obvious one. Since it all comes down to moving the pieces on the board, without playing it is extremely hard to employ everything you have learned beforehand.

This TRUISM hold for any sport in general. And it is no accident that all of the world’s promising youngsters are constantly on the road, playing tournaments.

Naturally, the importance of the AVAILABILITY factor mentioned above comes into play here. Playing chess has never been easier. And whether it is correspondence, rapid or blitz, playing serious chess doesn’t necessarily require a huge amount of time.

Oh, and if you are really tight on schedule, you can always play some bullet instead.

bullet

  • Analyze your own games

The importance of analyzing your own games can’t be overemphasized. It still happens to me that I stubbornly play 10 blitz games in the same opening I don’t know deeply enough, one after another. And naturally, I always end up in positions I don’t know how to play and repeat the same mistakes over and over.

Whereas if I bothered to take a moment and analyze the first game briefly, I would inevitably learn something new. And it would be much more BENEFICIAL, than trying to go with my head through the wall.

In order to give you a better idea about the importance of analyzing your own games, I will quote the anecdote described by Garry Kasparov in his book My Great Predecessors, Part II, which involves the sixth World Champion, Mikhail Botvinnik.

Ljubomir Ljubojevic, a promising Yugoslavian talent, was brought in front of Botvinnik. The Patriarch (Botvinnik’s nickname o.p.) asked him whether he analyzes his own games.

“What for??”, asked Ljubojevic in genuine surprise. 

“This is when I realized nothing worthwhile will come out of him”, Botvinnik later said.

Okay, the Botvinnik was probably not the most easy-going person around, but he knew a thing or two about chess. And as another Croatian saying goes: ” A SMART PERSON LEARNS ON MISTAKES OF OTHERS, A FOOL NOT EVEN ON HIS OWN.”

botvinnik

  • Study, study, study

I think this one should be self-explanatory. Without “HEATING THE CHAIR”,  there is no serious improvement. The good thing about chess is that once you spend some hours on it, it sooner or later reflects on your play.

The word that popped my mind in this context is the word REVELATION. Somehow, you “feel” that you have jumped to another level and deepened your understanding. And I can tell you that raising your level in any activity, and chess especially, is very rewarding feeling.

The good question, however, is how to study properly. My suggestion is that, unless you are willing to spend serious money on a personal trainer, CHESS BOOKS, are the way to go. I am a big believer in books in any field of human activity, and chess is no different. I think there is no better way of both grasping the basics, but also improving your strength afterwards. Books of high quality have been written about every aspect of chess play and for players of different strength.

  • Active instead of passive approach

This advice might come as a slight surprise, but it has motivated me to put a “FUNNY” Boromir MEME as a featured image on this post.

If you are serious about chess improvement, I think the best way is to engage every single of your brain cells. And like it or not, watching youtube videos, similarly as following games with the help of the engine, doesn’t force you to FOCUS and use your own brain. And FOCUS is really the key word here.

In order to make myself more clear, let me compare this situation with math learning. You are probably familiar with the “THIS – IS – SO -EASY” state of mind while the professor has been solving assignments during your math class, only to end up practising “DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT” phrase during the exam when you realize that Greek alphabet indeed has too many letters.

engineer

But how can you become ACTIVE in chess sense? One of the best tips is to watch the chess games WITHOUT THE ENGINE. Engine kills all the fun and really makes you lazy while kibitzing online.

Trying to figure the variations in your head instead of merely looking at the evaluation makes you appreciate the depth and the play of the grandmasters as well.

  • Be objective

One of the first chess websites I started visiting on a regular basis is the www.chessgames.com. And there I first encountered the art of trolling in chess, from the wonderful user named slomarko.

One of the quotes on his profile were etched forever in my brain:

” The ultimate goal in chess is objectivity. Maximum objectivity.”

I think this is very important aspect of improving your chess. Trying to be realistic and objective will help you asses your strengths and weaknesses.

It is not rare to hear something like: “I was winning, but you were sooo lucky.” after the game. I think this approach is very faulty. It is not opponent’s fault that you were unable to finish him from a position of strength. In contrast to table tennis, there are no net or edge balls in chess, and speaking about luck merely looks like an act of frustration and desperation.

Therefore, instead of concerning yourself with your opponent, you should rather think about where YOU went wrong. And although dealing with the cold truth that your play is indeed NOT THAT BRILLIANT can be harsh, if fueled correctly it can be a great tool for motivation and improvement.

  • Get chess database

As you start progressing down the road, a computer database will sooner or later become a must. If you are even remotely serious about chess, the possibility of checking your opponent’s past games beforehand is too important to be ignored. Additionally, since modern chess is very much about memorization, using a tool like opening’s book to memorize the opening variations is also very handy.

One of the most commonly used databases is Chessbase. There are loads of other possibilities apart from the ones mentioned here, but I think that laptop with the chessbase is the most important asset of any stronger chess player.

  • Using the engine

Finally, sooner or later you will start using the engine on a regular basis. Without going into a lengthy discussion about the good and the bad sides of the chess engines, I will merely express my own opinion.

I think that the development of chess engines has done wonders for chess. Nowadays, chess engines are stronger than humans. Therefore the ultimate chess truth is available to any amateur willing to put some time and effort. Similarly, as in science, I believe that knowledge should be available to anyone, and chess engines are one step toward making subtleties of the chess play closer to the broader chess public.

However, word of caution is necessary. Similarly, as any computer software, you have to know how to use the engine purposefully.

Once again let me draw a parallel with “real life”. In engineering, for instance, everyone is capable of entering some input data into computer software and obtaining some results. However interpreting those results and evaluating whether they make some sense is the harder part.

Similarly, it is very easy to make some moves and obtain the computer variations. I think that real effort behind using the chess engines includes TRYING TO UNDERSTAND why a certain move is good or bad.

If you followed any of chess game analysis on this blog (for instance Carlsen – Karjakin match, or London Chess Classic 2016 ), you may have noticed that I also use engines on a regular basis. I hope I have improved the way I analyse a great deal in the last couple of years.

However, I still vividly remember preparing for tournament games with the engine. Usually, I would reach a point in my analysis where the engine showed that the position is equal (THE ETERNAL 0.0 EVALUATION). 

Thinking everything is alright, I would happily go to a game and reach the very same position. And only here would I understand that I am not at all certain how to handle that “EQUAL” position, and would usually go to lose miserably.

Many years later it comforted me that even World Champions are not immune to relying on the computers too much.

Therefore, the important thing to remember is, “DON’T LET THE COMPUTER CONTROL YOU, BUT RATHER TRY TO MAKE IT OPPOSITE.”

engine_use

CONCLUSION

Phew… This turned out to be much longer post than I initially intended.

If you managed to last until the end of it, I have to thank you for your attention. If you have any thoughts, suggestions or comments, feel free to express yourself in the comments below.

I wish you good luck with your chess improvement and your chess goals 🙂

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]]> https://chessentials.com/how-to-get-better-at-chess/feed/ 7 Basic chess rules https://chessentials.com/basic-chess-rules/ https://chessentials.com/basic-chess-rules/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2016 20:51:13 +0000 https://chessentials.com/?p=341 INTRODUCTION Many times during the course of my life I people have asked me where have I learned the basic chess rules. And I have always answered rather reluctantly that it was my uncle who thought...

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]]> INTRODUCTION

Many times during the course of my life I people have asked me where have I learned the basic chess rules.

And I have always answered rather reluctantly that it was my uncle who thought me everything.

Why reluctantly? Because while other kids were playing computer games, I was losing games where I was given a queen odds, or where I had 5 min against 10 seconds.

Just in the case you were wondering why have I started playing chess seriously only at the age of 19.

family_chess
A random nice photo of a happy family playing chess…The biggest lie since Anthony Bennet

You might be wondering why on earth am I mentioning things that only my therapist should hear.

Because precisely of my uncle’s rigorous regime (and I might have overexaggerated things a bit), I have learned the rules of chess at a very young age.

And consequently, I have considered them rather easy to grasp. Which is why I often get surprised when someone who is new to the beautiful chess world has trouble with some basic chess rules.

Furthermore, such ignorance is typicall for many chess players, who have little patience and understanding for mistakes of novice players.

Therefore, I have decided that it might not be very bad idea to write an “apologetic” series of  posts dedicated to basic chess rules.

  • BASIC PIECE MOVEMENT

THE QUEEN

In chess, as much as in life, the female pieces play the main roles. The queen is the most powerful piece of wood  a chessplayer will ever hold. On the piece value scale, the Queen’s value is equal to value of nine pawns.

It comes as a no surprise therefore that the Queen also has the greatest freedom of movement. The queen can move in any direction (either vertically, diagonally or horizontally) for as many squares as possible.

 

THE ROOK

The Rook is another very strong piece, surpassed only by “her Majesty” the Queen. The main and only difference is that the Rook is unable to move diagonally. Movement in either of the two remaining direction is possible for an unlimited number of squares.

Consequently, his value on the piece value scale is equal to value of five pawns.

THE BISHOP

Probably the easiest definition of the bishop movement can be depicted by the following equation:

Bishop = Queen – Rook;

If addition of the mathematical expressions left you in the same state of confusion as before, let me elaborate. The Bishop is the piece that travels only diagonally for the infinite number of squares.

It is therefore not surprising, that on the piece value scale Bishop ranks lower than the Rook, his value being equal to the value of three pawns (although some might argue that his value is rather three and a half pawns, I would rather not enter that discussion here).

THE KNIGHT

The Knight is the piece that causes most confusion to the beginners (and not only beginners), because it is the only piece that can jump over other pieces.

The easiest explanation of the Knight’s movement includes the use of the alphabet.

I know it seems like you have returned to primary school (first equations, now alphabet), but bear with me. Due to the similarity of the Knight’s movement with the word L, use of alphabet is completely aproppriate here.

Because the knight moves initially for two squares in either horizontal and vertical direction. And the second part of it movement consists of moving one square in the perpendicular direction.

If the oral definition has left you even more confused (which it probably did), take a look at the diagram depicting knight’s movement:

The squares that are highlighted with red indicate squares where the Knight can possibly move.

Finally, there is the question of the Knight’s rating on the piece value scale. Without too much philosophy, the Knight’s value can be considered the same as the value of the Bishop – three pawns.

THE KING

The King is THE most important piece in the game. The movement of the King is the simplest one to understand. The King can move only one square in any direction (vertically, horizontally or diagonally), as demonstrated on diagram below.

“His Majesty” is the only piece in the game that cannot be captured or “taken”. When opponent’s piece attacks the square where the King is located, it is called “check”. When faced with the check, the King is forced to move away.

In the diagram above the queen check the king. The king has to move away, on a square not under the control of the queen.

The main goal of the chess game is to give such a check, which leaves the opponent’s King immovable. Such a check is therefore called CHECKMATE. Especially relevant for beginner are basic checkmates, such as queen checkmate, whose basis form is given in the diagram below (for details about queen checkmate, CHECK this post).

Due to the queen influence (green arrows) on possible squares where king can move (red arrows, red squares) the check by the queen ( green arrow) is called checkmate. Therefore, White wins the game.

Finally, it is also possible to reach such a position, in which every possible square of the king movement is attacked by opponent’s pieces. If there are no other pieces beside the king, the player is unable to move, and the game is therefore drawn.

The chess expression is that the King is STALEMATED.

The diagram below shows one example of a stalemate.

Due to the fact that every neighbouring King square is covered by the White pieces (green arrows), Black King doesn’t have a safe square to move to.

THE PAWN

Finally, last, but not the least, the pawn. An ordinary soldier at the battlefield is often considered as a “cannon fodder”, since he is often sacrificed in the opening. It is so well known, that even chess movies acknowledge that fact.

The movement of the pawn is very complex, despite it’s simplicity. Even when considering only the basis pawn movement, because of it’s different movement in various circumstances it is easy to get confused.

Therefore, I think it is appropriate to mention three basic rules considering the pawn movement:

1 Pawn opening move

Since the majority of the chess games starts with the pawn move, let us start with the pawn opening move.

When moving for the first time, the pawn can move either one or two squares straight forward, assuming that the square is vacant.

Furthermore, if there is a piece on the neighbouring diagonal square, pawn can either move forward or capture the piece according to the rule number three.

2 Pawn normal move

After the pawn moves in the opening, he can only move one square forward, if the square is vacant.

3 Pawn capture

As already mentioned, the pawn attacks only the two squares diagonaly in front of him.

Especially relevant is the fact that the pawn is not forced to capture the piece standing on those squares. Player can choose either to capture the piece according the rule number three, or to advance the pawn according to rules number one or two, as demonstrated on the diagram below.

White can either take the black pawn (red arrow) or advance his own pawn without the capture (green arrow)

To sum up, the pawns move one square forward, attack things one square diagonally and move one or two squares in the opening.

Important to note is that the pawns don’t move backwards.

If you dive deeper into the world of chess, you will probably hear that sentence many,many…MANY.. times.

  • SPECIAL MOVES 

I’m sorry, although you thought that after reading everything written above you will never have to visit your uncle, we are not done yet. Because in order to complete the picture it is neccessary to mention four more “special” moves not covered in the previous part of the post.

SHORT CASTLING AND LONG CASTLING

First of all let us consider two moves that appear in almost every chess game.

Castling is the single instance when a player is allowed to play the move with two pieces. Both the King and the Rook participate in this maneuvre.

Castling is also the only move where King is able to jump over another piece and also move for more then one square.

While castling, a player takes the King, and moves it for two squares horizontally toward the Rook. Move by the King is followed by the Rook move when the Rook is moved to the square next to the King, but on the opposite side.

Especially relevant is the fact that initally the King can move in two directions. Depending whether the first move was towards the King’s rook or the Queen’s rook, the castling move is somewhat different. Therefore, there are two names based on the direction of the King move – SHORT or KINGSIDE castling and LONG or QUEENSIDE castling.

While I was writing the explanation above, I couldn’t avoid remembering the following Einstein quote:

einstein
One of the best quotes I have ever read

Since it wouldn’t surprise me if you understood nothing from the everything written above, I will act in the spirit of another old chess quote: “A diagram is worth a thousand words.”

SHORT CASTLING DIAGRAM

LONG CASTLING DIAGRAM

Although now the basic principle of castling is clear, it is not always allowed to play this move. It is therefore neccessary to clarify instances when castling is forbbiden:

 a) Castling is not allowed if there are pieces between King andRook

b) Castling is not allowed if the King or Rook have moved previously (even if they have moved back to their original squares). Therefore, castling should be the first move by the both King and the Rook.

c) Castling is not allowed when the king is under the check.

d) Castling is not allowed when a square on the path of the King is under the check (any square on the path, not just the square where the King ends the castling move)

PAWN PROMOTION

Pawn promotion is the move that transformes the pawn from zero to hero.. from ugly duck to swan… from beast to beauty…

Okay, I will stop. But you get the idea.. 🙂

Pawn promotion occurs when the pawn reaches the opposite side of the board. Since pawns don’t move backwards (I told you you will hear it), the player can place a piece instead of a pawn of the very same square.

Pawn promotion is often referred to as a queening. The pawn promotion mechanicsm is depicted on the following diagrams.

However, more careful reader will have noticed that I have written that the player can place a piece instead of a pawn. Which doesn’t neccessarily mean a queen.

And for those of you who are wondering why on earth would someone do that, consider the following diagram.

It is White to move. It is obvious that he can promote his pawn. However, if he was to promote the pawn to a Queen, he would instantly get checkmated.

Therefore, instead of naively taking the Queen out, much better move is simply to promote the pawn to a Knight. Such a promotion is also known as UNDERPROMOTION.

It is visible from the diagram that the Knight is now  attacking the King and the Queen simultaneously. Therefore, instead of losing the game, White manages to draw.  Because often in chess mind triumphs over the matter.

EN PASSANT

Finally, we arrive to the move that causes most confusion among the ranks of novice players. So if you think that En passant is the name of a fine meal from the French cuisine, it is time to change that.

En passant is a special case when a pawn captures the pawn that has just completed an opening two square advance.

Furthermore, to make en passant possible, it is neccessary for a pawn that captures to find itself on a neighbouring square of a captured pawn after the latter advances.

The capture mechanicsm follows the basic rule for pawn capture. The pawn that captures moves one square diagonaly.

Probably the reader will again understand things most clearly with the help of the diagram below.

White’s last move has been the advance of the e pawn, as indicated by green arrow. Since Black’s pawn is horizontally aligned with the White pawn, it is possible to take en passant. The Black pawn will find itself on a square behind the White pawn (highlighted red). The diagram below shows the positions after Black has taken en passant.

CONCLUSION

Phew… Finally we have arrived at the end of this post. Although I think i have sometimes complicated things a bit, I hope that with the help of the diagrams everyone will be able to learn the chess rules without the “help” of the family members.

And hopefully use that knowledge to beat the hell out of their own nephew one day. 🙂

quantum-physics-lecture
And that concludes this easy explanation. Are there any questions?

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