Newsletter Issue #201 Tactics Time Every time a pawn moves, it leaves weakened square in its wake. ~ Peter Kurzdorfer The Tao of Chess T his position was featured in Geoff Chandler's Redhotpawn.com blog under the post, "The Rip Off and the 11 Year Old Champion", which you can read here: http://www.redhotpawn.com /blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=109 In the position on the right it is White to move. Answer below. Lets talk about Weak Squares. Some excerpts from Wikibooks, http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Chess_Strategy /Weak_and_strong_squares The importance of individual squares Many amateurs make a mistake in chess. They play for mate, or the win of material, or even the creation of a weak pawn. But many of these amateurs fail to recognize the importance of squares. Seizing squares is just as important as taking pawns, or getting a lead in development, or getting a better minor piece, etc. Weak squares Weak squares are squares which cannot be defended by a pawn. These weak squares are thus open to occupation by an enemy piece. For White, weak squares can usually be found along the 4th and 3rd ranks, while Black's weak squares are often on the 5th and 6th ranks. One of the qualities of a weak square is that it increases the value of the piece that occupies it. This is especially true for knights, which need advanced support points to be effective. Weak complexes of squares Oftentimes, it is not just a single square that is weak. Sometimes, a whole network of same-colored squares can be weak. These weaknesses can be accentuated by the elimination of the bishop that stands on the color of those squares, because that is one less defensive force for those squares. In a practical game situation, this often occurs when a fianchettoed bishop is exchanged on g7, leaving a complex of weak dark squares on the squares f6-g7-h6, and sometimes the squares f8 and h8. Here is the complete game: [Event "Clan challenge"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2004.11.19"] [Round "?"] [White "buddy2"] [Black "Thalassa"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1812"] [BlackElo "1709"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2004.??.??"] 1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bd3 O-O 5. h3 d6 6. Be3 b6 7. Nc3 Bb7 8. Qd2 Re8 9. O-O-O a5 10. Nh2 c5 11. d5 e6 12. Bb5 Re7 13. Rhe1 exd5 14. exd5 Ne4 15. Nxe4 Rxe4 16. Bd3 Re5 17. c4 Qd7 18. Ng4 Re8 19. Bg5 Na6 20. Nf6+ Bxf6 21. Bxf6 1-0 You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis /boardhistory.php?gameid=788767. Answer: Here white was able to create a "weak complex of squares" by removing black's dark square bishop. 20.Nf6+ forks the king, queen and rook forcing 20...Bxf6 Then 21.Bxf6 creates a dangerous threat on the dark squares. Black will have to give up a massive amount of material in order to stop Qh6 and Qg7# 20. Bf6, hoping for 20...Bxf6 21. Nxf6 with a family fork, is OK, but not as forcing as 20. Nf6+, because it is not a check. Happy Tactics! Your Friend, Like Tactics Time on Facebook. Follow Tactics Time on Twitter. Check out the Tactics Time Blog. If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them! Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read? Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com! © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved. Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter Newsletter Issue #202 Tactics Time Problem, Chess: any chess position that could never occur in an actual game. ~ NM Eliot Hearst, published in an article titled "A Gentle Glossary" in Chess Life July 1962 T oday's problem is something very different than what we normally do! In the position on the right your goal is to put 2 white rooks and 1 white knight anywhere on the board so that the black king is in checkmate. You do not move the pieces about, the Black King stays on e5. Just simply add the three white pieces on the board so it's mate. Answer below. This is a problem that I saw on Geoff Chandler's redhotpawn.com chess blog, and found very interesting. He posted it under the title "Mating Patterns - Studying Tactics", which you can read here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=11. I think that there is a great lesson involved when it comes to learning chess tactics patterns. Geoff writes in his blog that he has shown this problem to several very strong players, and some of them could not solve it. He also writes that he has shown it to very weak players who solved it almost instantly. The thing that makes this problem hard to solve is that solving chess problems, and playing winning combinations in real chess games is mostly based on pattern recognition. Most of the time when we solve a problem, or find a good move at the board, we are using a pattern that we already know. Geoff writes: "...if you study tactics and store these patterns then the easier they are to spot in your games. This 'study' proves it. You cannot reproduce over the board what is not there in the first place. I have played 1,000's of combinations and yet NONE have been original. I have seen the idea before in a game or a puzzle and stored it." Answer: There are several different solutions. white rook on e6, the other white rook on e4, and then the knight on e3. white rook on e6, the other white rook on e4, and then the knight on e7. white rook on d5, the other white rook on f5, and then the knight on c5. white rook on d5, the other white rook on f5, and then the knight on g5. The rooks check the king, and protect each other through an "x-ray", and the knight covers the squares to the side of the king. The trick to this solution is that the final position is illegal, and could never happen in a real chess game. There is no way that both rooks could give check at the same time, because the king would already have been in check from the first rook, when the second rook gave check. The quote was a bit of a hint :-) So your pattern recognition can actually get in your way of solving it, because you have never seen such a position before. That is part of the reason that novice players can have an easier time solving this, than more experienced players. They don't have as many patterns in their head to begin with, so they will play around with the pieces until they find a pattern that works. They may not even realize that such a pattern could never occur in a real game. Happy Tactics! Your Friend, Like Tactics Time on Facebook. Follow Tactics Time on Twitter. Check out the Tactics Time Blog. If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them! Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read? Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com! © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved. Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter Newsletter Issue #203 Tactics Time Have I ever mentioned you play an irritating game of chess, Mr. Spock? ~ Captain Kirk (after Spock had announced a forced mate) T his game was posted on facebook by Rob Hartelt, who wrote "Hey Paul, I guess Timothy Brennan's Tactics Time is really paying off! :D" In the position on the right it is White to move. Answer below. Today we are going to have some chess "comic relief". From the website, http://www.edcollins.com /chess/glossary.htm Many of these "definitions" were compiled by U.S. Master Eliot Hearst and were first published in an article titled "A Gentle Glossary" in the July 1962 issue of Chess Life. Adjournment: an interruption in play to enable both players to obtain analytical help from their chessmaster-friends, chess libraries, or chess computers. Adjudication: a binding decision about the outcome of an unfinished game, made by someone who is rated 200 points below you and who renders his judgment after spending a total time to only 5% of the the time that you devoted to the game. Algebraic Chess Notation: a system of recording chess moves which is so logical and mathematically neat that it's amazing that it actually became popular here in the U.S.A. Amateur: in chess, someone who plays only for money (cf. Professional). Analysis: irrefutable proof that you could have won a game you lost. Bad Bishop: the one that you still have left on the board. Bird's Opening: 1. f4. Opening named after a strong but nearsighted English master who frequently reached for the wrong pawn. Black-square Weakness: a term usually given to describe the state of the dark colored squares surrounding ones own king (cf. White-square Weakness). Blindfold Chess: a skill, through which minor masters can gain a world-wide reputation; outlawed in Russia because Morphy and Pillsbury died crazy. Blitz: a an extreme form of rapid transit chess, where the players move faster than they can think -- thus ensuing the game a rare profundity. Blunder: Sacrificing for a tactical disadvantage. Book-Player: a chess slave, who fills a relatively empty head with information that makes it even emptier. Brilliancy: a combinative sequence which is understandable to anyone once the solution is revealed. Bughouse Chess: a game gaining in popularity since you can always blame all of your losses on your partner's play. Bye: in Swiss System tourneys, a full point given to an odd player. Castling: a defensive move played by a cowardly opponent.; a special move solely done for king's safety only to be dismantled by your opponent later. Center: according to the hypermoderns, the squares a1, a8, h1, h8. Challenger's Tourney: a tournament to decide which Russian will play another Russian for the world championship. Champion: someone who has attained success in chess only because he has had more time to devote to the game than you have. Cheapo: a phrase coined by U.S. Master Dr. Karl Burger, who has won a large percentage of his games by such a maneuver; a move which threatens something so obvious that only an idiot would fall for it, and he does. Checkmate: a self-inflicted torture by novices who don't know the word "resigns." Chess: a most intriguing intellectual challenge, played in a cultured manner according to strict rules and regulations. The object of the game is to crush your opponent. Chess Life: a magazine that comes out late once a month. Combination: any long series of moves that the average player cannot understand. Compensation: something that I tell myself that I have for being down that pawn. Connoisseur, Openings: an understanding authority, who thinks one opening is better than another. Correspondence Chess: a method of play to determine who owns the strongest chess computer. Duffer: anybody who can beat you three times in a row. Egotist, Chess: someone who is more interested in describing his own victories than in listening to yours. Endgame: your last opportunity to miss a win or a draw. En Prise, To Leave: a method of relieving oneself of extraneous material. Fianchetto: an Italian method of developing bishops; popularized by Russians. Fish: a player who falls for all your traps and still wins. Fool's Mate: a chessplayer's spouse. Foresight: the ability to play in only those tournaments you are sure of winning. Fork: "an instrument used chiefly for the purpose of putting dead animals in one's mouth" (A. Bierce). Gambit: any unsound sacrifice in the opening. Good Bishop: your opponent's bishop. Grandmaster: anyone who has reached the point in chess where he is acclaimed for drawing all his games. Grandmaster Draw: a friendly conclusion due to mutual fear. Hypermodern Play: any opening system where an early checkmate is impossible. If-move: a method of shortening a typical correspondence game from nine months to just eight months and three weeks. Isolated Pawn: a pawn that will queen in the endgame (cf. Passed Pawn). J'adoube: 1. a phrase customarily emitted when you are caught starting your opponent's clock on your move. 2. French for "What am I doing?" If I move that piece I'm lost!" Kibitzer: someone who gives good advice to your opponent and bad advice to you. King's Indian Reversed: naidni sgnik. Lost Game: something your opponent had before he won. Marshall Counterattack: an aggressive defense to the Ruy Lopez, devised by Frank. J. Counterattack. Median System: a way of breaking Swiss System ties which requires a knowledge of