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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!

 

12 chess tactics and how to use those to gain advantage – Part 9

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Posted by ChessMaster on July 23, 2010 – 3:21 am
Filed under Attacking tactics, Chess Basics, Chess Tutorials, Chess lessons, Chess tactics
Tagged as attacking chess, attacking chess tactics, Attacking tactics, Chess tactics, Chess Tutorials

9. Deflection and Decoy

Deflection is a chess tactic used as part of a combination. It forces an important defensive piece of the opponent to move from its current position, thereby creating weaknesses which are exploited to create a mating attack or to gain material advantage. It is quite common to see a sacrifice being used to force the opponent’s hand.

Decoy is a chess tactic of similar nature where an important piece, usually the King or Queen of the opponent, is forced to move to some specific position where it can be subjected to a mating or capturing attack. This tactic is also commonly associated with a sacrifice.

There is only a subtle difference between these two tactics. In Deflection, you force the opponent’s piece to vacate its present position whereas in Decoy, you force it to move to your desired position.

I have seen the word ‘entice’ or ‘ensnare’ being used to describe decoy, but I would refrain from using such description. Such connotation implies a trap which works only if the opponent falls for it. But a real decoy move is a forcing tactic and the opponent can avoid it, if at all possible, only at the risk of encountering an equal or greater danger.

Let us first look at some examples of deflection.

The following position occurred after 19 moves and White produced a move that tries to deflect either of the two pieces attacked – Rook at a7 to vacate the 7th rank or Queen to vacate the a5-d8 diagonal.

20. Rxa6 Rxg2+ 20. … Rxa6 21. exf7+ Ke7 (21. … Nxf7 22. Qd7#) 22. fxg8=N#
20. … Qxa6 21. Qd8#
21. Kxg2 Rxa6
22. Bxf7+ Ke7
23. Qd7+ Resigns

 

The following position is taken from a Kasparov-Kramnik game played at Novgorod in 1994. Though White winds up the game with a deflection tactic at move 36, we start with the position after 25 moves to show how White employed other tactics like check, pin, fork etc. with some sacrifices thrown in to induce and force Black to a situation for the final coup de grace.

26. Rd6 Nd5
27. h5 Nxf4
28. hxg6 Qxd6
29. Rxh7+ Kg8
30. gxf7+ Kxh7
31. fxe8=Q Nxe6
32. Bf5+ Kg7
33. Qg6+ Kf8
34. Qxf6+ Ke8
35. Bxe6 Qf8 This was certainly not the best move, but Black was possibly convinced that White would win ultimately by pushing his g-pawn and so gave up trying!
 
36. Bd7+ Resigns The Black King has to capture the Bishop, getting deflected from its support to the Queen

 

In the next two diagrams, you can see how decoy moves are used. In the first one, a queen sacrifice is used to draw out the Black King from out of its castle to expose it to mating attack by White’s other pieces. The position occurs after 17 moves in a game between Petrosian and Pachman in 1961.

18. Re4 Rd8
19. Qxf6+ Kxf6
20. Be5+ Kg5
21. Bg7 Resigns Black King has only two squares – f5 and h5 – available to it and White’s KB could deliver check to the King at those squares from h3 and f3. Whatever Black played, White’s Kingside pawns could force the Black King to one of those squares for the KB to create checkmate.

 

In the following game, a rook sacrifice by Black forces the White King to come out of its Q-side castle and then a series of checks drives it to the Kingside where Black is ready with his mating attack. The diagram shows the position after 15 moves.

16. Ng5 Bf5
17. Qxb7 Rxc2+
18. Kb1 Rc1+ This double check with Rook sacrifice draws the King out in the open.
19. Kxc1 Qc4+
20. Kd2 Qd3+
21. Ke1 Qe3+
22. Kf1 Rf8
23. Resigns

 

12 chess tactics and how to use those to gain advantage – Part 8

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Posted by ChessMaster on July 13, 2010 – 3:09 am
Filed under Attacking tactics, Chess Basics, Chess Tutorials, Chess lessons, Chess tactics
Tagged as attacking chess, attacking chess tactics, Attacking tactics, Chess tactics, Chess Tutorials

8. Forcing overload on opponent’s important defensive piece

Overload is having to bear more load than what can be sustained, resulting in a breakdown. In chess, a piece gets overloaded when it has to perform multiple duties (like having to defend two pieces) or needs to be at two different positions at the same time (which is not possible) to face the different threats posed by the attacker. It is obvious that the overloaded piece has to give up one or more of its functions, creating serious weaknesses in the defender’s position that can be exploited by the attacker.

See this position that occured after 19 moves in the game.

The game went:

20. Rxb2 Rxb2
21. Qd4 Qe5
22. Re1 Resigns The Black Queen has to guard against too many threats and gets overloaded. If it tries to save itself by 22… Qxe1, mate occurs at g7. If it tries to meet the mate threat by 22… Qxd4, Black is exposed to another mate threat by 23. Rxe8#

 

Following position with White to move after 22 moves have been played illustrates another Black Queen with too much on her hands.

Because of White’s threat of a backrank mate, both the Black Queen and the Rook at a8 have to remain in contact with the Rook at d8. To exploit the weakness in Black’s position, White played 23. Qa7 and Black resigned. The Black Queen had to guard itself as also the Rook and became overloaded. If Black Queen retreats to the back rank, White simply captures 24. Qxa8 and the mate threat reappears.

In the following position after White’s 33rd move in a game played between C. Lutz (White) and V. Kramnik (Black) in 1995, Black creates a series of overloads on White’s pieces. These practically force White’s responses and make him capitulate after another two moves.

It went as follows:

33. … Bh3+ The White King is overloaded as it has to save itself from check as also guard the White Queen, so it has to move to g1
 
34. Kg1 Qc3 The White Rook is overloaded as it has to guard the base rank against Black’s 35. … Qc1+ as also the e3 square to prevent 35. … Be3), forcing it to e1
 
35. Re1 Bd2 Black keeps the White Rook under overload as it still has to guard the base rank and the e3 square. Black cannot avoid a quick mate without incurring severe losses. If he tries 36. Nb5, then 36. … Qxf3 37. QXf3 (37. Qxd2 Qf1+ 38. Rxf1 Rxf1#) Rxf3 and mate is only a few moves away e.g. 38. Rd1 Be3+ 39. Kh1 Rf2 40. Rxd6 Bg2+ 41. Kg1 Rd2#