Category Archives: Defensive strategy

12 chess tactics and how to use those to gain advantage – Part 10, 11 and 12

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Posted by ChessMaster on July 24, 2010 – 4:01 am
Filed under Attacking tactics, Chess Basics, Chess Tutorials, Chess lessons, Chess tactics, Defensive strategy
Tagged as attacking chess, attacking chess tactics, Attacking tactics, Chess tactics, Chess Tutorials

In English, a “baker’s dozen” means 13 and not 12, originating from an old practice of bakers giving one loaf extra when someone bought a dozen! Borrowing the idea in a converse sense, I am writing ten articles to cover the 12 chess tactics. Earlier, we devoted one article for each tactics to avoid cluttering up the lessons. But in this one, we have covered the remaining three tactics. The reason for this will be clear from what I have explained below.

10. Zugzwang

This tactic has already been discussed at length in two earlier articles viz. Chess Tactics: should some of them be prohibited? and Chess Tactics: Some more applications of Zugzwang. We have included the topic here only for bringing the different tactics within one series. If you take the trouble of going through the articles mentioned, you will get a fair idea of what this tactic involves.

11. Zwischenzug

What has been said above applies here also. We will request you to take a look at our earlier articles Chess Tactics: Catching Opponent on Wrong Foot and Chess Tactics: more on Zwischenzug where we tried to explain what this “mouthful” tactic means and how it is applied.

12. Stalemate

Unlike all the previous 11 chess tactics which are used to attack the opponent’s position, this one is a defensive tactics. A stalemate arises when the player with the move is unable to make any legal move while his King is not under check. Had the King been under check, this situation would mean a checkmate and defeat for the player so constrained. But a stalemate means a draw and many a clever player has been able to salvage a draw in a hopeless position by maneuvering to create a stalemate condition for himself!

On the other hand, particularly when you have undisputed and even overwhelming superiority in a position, you should be especially careful about this defensive resource. You should move the pieces carefully and be wary of picking up pawns or pieces apparently left unguarded by the defender, if such move does not render a check. Otherwise you may be left to rue for missing a sure win!

Let us first look at some positions to find how the stalemate came about.

You can see that Black has an obviously superior position. Once he can get the Queens exchanged (and even otherwise), it is a matter of time that the connected King-side passed pawns will win for him. How does he play his winning hand?

43. Kd1 Qc3 Almost any move other than this one would give Black a win!
 
44. Qg8+ Kxg8 White accepted the lifeline with both hands and Black had to accept the Queen offer. White is now in
stalemate – game drawn.

 

Black is a piece up and has a passed RP. He is ready for attack on the cornered White King. He should expect that White would try to find some escape route from a sure defeat.

49. Qd2 Rxd3 Black is still in grabbing mood, otherwise he could have played 49. … Qh3+ and then bring out his Bishop via h6.
50. Rxf8+ Kxf8
51. Qh6+ drawn If Black captured the Queen, it would be stalemate. If he moved his King, the White Queen could continue giving checks, sitting by the side of Black King if necessary! Black had to accept the draw.

 

Black is in a losing situation as he cannot stop the White QNP from promotion without giving up his Rook. So he found the way to a stalemate for snatching a draw!

54. b5 Re3
55. b6 Re1+ White had eye only for promoting his pawn as quickly as possible, so he failed to see through Black’s plan!
56. Rxe1 drawn

 

Because of his King-side connected passed pawns, Black’s win seems certain. But some inaccurate moves by him gave White the opportunity to a stalemate and it is quite amusing to see the White Rook’s antics!

58. Kb4 Rb3+
59. Kxa4 Rxb2 Now White has been able to put his King in a walled space from where it cannot come out. So he has a merry time making his Rook jump around to chase the Black King, challenging a capture!
60. Rd7+ Kh6
61. Rh7+ Kg5
62. Rxh5+ Kf6
63. Rf5+ Kg7
64. Rf7+ Kh6
65. Rh7+ Kg5
66. Rh5+ gxh5 Black had enough of this circus and accepted the draw!

 

In the next two examples, the games ended in decisive results only because the losers missed (and obviously the winners also overlooked) the moves that could give a draw through stalemate.

Black obviously is in poor shape and though White still has to keep an eye on Black’s RP, his KBP is also nearing promotion and more importantly, he is in a position to deliver checkmate soon.

67. f6 Qe8
68. Qxh3 Qb8+ Black missed his opportunity here. If instead he played 68. … Qe6+, White would be forced to reply 69. Qxe6 and Black would not have any move i.e., stalemate and draw.
 
With the text move, Black resigned after another nine moves when the following position was reached (78. Qc5+)

 

Our final example shows the position just before the last moves. After Black played 59. … b3, White resigned possibly considering the mating threats by Black Queen from any of g2, g4 and h1 squares. Neither of the players realized that Black’s last move created the opportunity for White to get a draw through stalemate.

59. Rd3+ b3 Black could have played 59. … Rc3 and White would have to surrender sooner or later. But now the game could have continued:

60. Rxb3+ Kxa2 61. Ra3+ Kb2 (61. … Kxa3 62. Qa4+ or Qd3+ would force exchange of Queens by Black, leaving White with no move) 62. Qb5+ Kxa3 (if the King moved to c1, White would get a winning position!) 63. Qd3+ forcing a stalemate.

 

There are examples galore in chess annals for stalemate or missed stalemate as these samples spanning a century from 1880 to 1980 amply demonstrate. When all seems lost, be on the lookout for a stalemate possibility and you need not feel like a swindler because stalemate is a legitimate rule of chess!

 

“The stomach is an essential part of the Chess master”

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Posted by ChessMaster on June 25, 2009 – 9:28 am
Filed under Attacking tactics, Chess tactics, Defensive strategy, General Chess
Tagged as attacking chess, attacking chess tactics, Chess Strategy, Chess tactics

It takes a lot of effort in searching for suitable content, collecting information, and finally creating and editing the article for putting it up on the blog site. All this effort gets its reward when readers come out with their comments which shows firstly, that they have read it and secondly, that they felt something about it! We are thankful to the readers who write back for another reason also: their views and comments give us ideas for fresh articles and these help to sustain the cycle.

The idea for the present article came from the comments of two readers on two different topics.

Reader Ralphe commented on Chess Trivia: What the List of Grandmasters reveal by saying “I wonder why Vishy is not in the list, he was pretty young when he got his GM as well.” We clarified to him why Vishy was not on the list, but that set our thoughts to write some article using one of his games when he was pretty young. But which aspect should we consider as a theme for our article?

Here we came to remember what reader Chess king had to say on Chess Sacrifice as a Chess Tactics: to seize initiative. He brought us the quote from GM Bent Larsen: “The stomach is an essential part of the Chess master”. So why not show that Viswanathan Anand, more popularly known as ‘Vishy’ in chess circle, had it in him even when he was barely 16!

This game we have chosen was played in London in 1985 when Vishy was still an IM and his opponent Mestel was a GM.

Viswanathan ‘Vishy’ Anand (b.1969) became an IM in 1984 at the age of 15. He won the Indian Championship in 1985 and World Junior Championship in 1987. He became the first GM from India in 1988. He became FIDE World Champion in 2000 and proved his undisputed ability in the rapid play version of the game by becoming 2003 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion. In 2006, he became only one of the four players ever to cross FIDE Elo rating of 2800 (others are Kasparov, Kramnik and Topalov). After FIDE was reunited in 2006, Anand became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 by winning the double round robin tournament held by FIDE with 8 top players (Kramnik -- reigning champion, Anand, Gelfand, Leko, Svidler, Aronian, Morozevich, Grischuk) of the time with the exception of Topalov. He successfully retained the title in 2008 by defeating Kramnik in the older format of match play between Holder and Challenger. He is the current World Chess Champion.

Note: As compensation for being denied entry to the 2007 tournament, Topalov was given some special privileges by FIDE by which, after defeating Gata Kamsky in February 2009, he is the new challenger against Anand for World Championship Match to be held later this year

Andrew Jonathan Mestel (b.1957) of UK was World Under-16 Champion in 1974 and became an IM in 1977 and GM in 1982.

The diagram shows position after 18 moves.

starting an attack keeping an eye on enemy's threats

19. Nf5 Rfe8 if 19. … Bxc3 then 20. Qxc3 Qxa2+ 21. Kc1 and any idea of Black bringing pressure on White Queen and c2 square by Rac8 fails due to White’s threat of Qg7# and trying to counter that allows White Queen to capture the Knight at b3
20. Nxg7 Kxg7
21. Qd4+ e5 This move of Black was an error because in trying to guard against one line, he exposed himself in another as White proved soon
22. Qxd6 Rac8 In trying to create his own threats, Black overlooked what White had in mind
23. Qf6+ Kg8 After Black’s previous move, White was aware that once Black got time to play Rxc3 to remove his defender knight, his King would be two moves away from a mate starting with Black’s Qxa2+. He had to be sure of retaining his tempo against that threat at the back of his mind and this showed that he had the stomach for it!
24. Rd7 Rf8 White was threatening mate in two against Black’s mate in three!
25. g6 Resigns 25. … fxg6 was obviously out because of 26. Qg7#, but other alternatives do not provide any respite. For example:
25. … hxg6 26. Rg1 with threat of 27. Rxg6+ followed by mate next move irrespective of Black’s response
25. … Rxc3 26. gxf7+ Rxf7 27. Qxf7+ Kh8 Qh7#

The position after White’s 25th move is shown below.

disregarding the Damocles' sword

So you see how Vishy kept his nerve to always remain one step ahead of Black’s threats working on the principle of attack being the best defense!

Watch the Game

Chess tactics: Which masters to study?

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Posted by ChessMaster on April 27, 2009 – 5:31 pm
Filed under Attacking tactics, Beginner Chess Tips, Chess Basics, Chess Strategy, Chess Tutorials, Chess lessons, Chess tactics, Defensive strategy, Forks
Tagged as chess combinations, Chess tactics

There is no doubt about the necessity to become familiar with the elements of a combination which we understand as chess tactics. In the article gameplan part2, we have listed the elements for you to find examples on each item and study those thoroughly to build up your repertoire. However good you may be in chess strategy and planning your game, you need to employ tactics to give effect to those.

So the question in any beginner’s mind will be: how do I learn to use chess tactics? My answer will be: after you know the elements, study the games of chess masters who excel in combinational play and chess tactics. That is why we have already shown you many such games where the tactics reigned supreme. There are quite a good number of articles at this site and trying to put a link to all those will clutter up this article. You have to search those out through the site map.

The next question obviously is: which masters to study? There are hundreds of Grandmasters and International masters, past and present, and it is true that all of them deploy chess tactics in their games. If you have to study all those, when will you get the time to use those in your play? That is why we need to be selective and choose games from players who excelled in the area of chess tactics and complex combinations. Different people have their own favorites but I am quite sure that some of the names we suggest will occur in every such list! Their names are given in chronological order

Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879)

No one has ever played chess like Adolph Anderssen, nor won as much fame and glory for his charismatic style. Anderssen’s hallmark is the direct (and often spectacular!) Kingside attack.

Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941)

The main contestants of his time like Tarrasch and Janowski complained that they could not understand his play and implied that Lasker’s success was due to dubious tricks. Fact is, Lasker was much ahead of his time in his style of play, which found acceptance with later generation of players.

Frank J. Marshall (1877-1944)

He earned a lot of brilliancy prizes by virtue of his daring gambits and sacrificial play. One of his moves is held as one of the top three best moves ever played on a chessboard! Though spectators enjoyed his slash-bang techniques, purists held that some of his moves produced results by virtue of their shock value and not because of deeply calculated combinations. That may be the reason why he never became a world champion but managed to defeat all top players of his time.

Rudolf Spielman (1883-1942)

He was a master of attack with beautiful ideas and brilliant daring play full of sacrifices.

Alexandre Alekhine (1892-1946)

He is one of the greats among world champions and was at home in different styles of play. He was a master of complex positions and well-calculated combinations. Many of his games are still analyzed and experts have not reached a common verdict because of the complexities involved.

Mikhail Tal (1936-1992)

He is one player who probably earned the maximum admiration from the contemporary greats in chess. Tal used some self-derogatory comments about his own play by saying that there were two kinds of sacrifices – the sound ones and those used by him! Botvinnik, a world champion, said that it was not possible to tackle Tal if his pieces were mobile and active with some space and that is why he used to play close positions against Tal. He went on to say that if Tal could have some self-control, it would be impossible to play against him. A player of the stature of Kramnik went so far as to say that analyzing Tal’s game was like discussing what God looked like! When you play through his games, you will wonder if those bolts from the blue were results of intuition or pre-calculated combinations!

Bobby Fischer (1943-2008)

He was a chess genius and many experts believe that had he not gone into self-exile, he could have been the undisputed top player in chess history! He has produced many beautiful games with a long combination the results of which were not easy to see even by top masters. Boris Spassky who played Fischer in the famous championship match commented that playing Fischer was not a question of your win or loss, it was a question of your survival!

Garry Kasparov (1963- )

Another chess genius and holds the highest ELO rating among chess Grandmasters. He is also a versatile player and can play well-calculated combinations.

Alexei Shirov (1972- )

Among the mew generation players, he is noted for his attacking style and creating complications that remind one of Tal, not surprisingly, because he studied under Tal.

Now you know the names of some of the chess masters who have consistently produced great combinations in their plays. But many of them have played hundreds of games, so which ones to study? Go for their best games, some compiled by other chess authors or chess masters and some by the players themselves. These books generally include about 50 to 100 of the best games in their career and studying those few is not a very massive task! Keep a note of the basic principles that have been applied or violated in these games (many brilliancies arose to exploit mistakes by the opponents). These types of controlled study will not only help you to improve your play, but will also provide enjoyment for many years to come!