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| Posted by wschmidt intochess.com 5/30/2008 14:34:38 Play online chess |  Subject: Novice Nook #72Message: Here's the link:  www.chesscafe.com | ||||||||
| Posted by ccmcacollister intochess.com 5/30/2008 18:21:28 Play online chess | Three most common pawn trade errors, imo ... Message: *** 1) Premature trading of center pawn(s) or the Lever Pawn(s) ,attacking the center, with attendant release of Tension for no purpose. To maximize chances in ones' late-opening thru middle-game phase, tension should be maintained until either being faced with material loss or substantial positional disadvantage such that it is forced to trade; or otherwise not until the pawn trade will produce material or positional advantage or enable creation or pursuit of initiative. These goals being in additional to the generally advantageous (to varied degrees, per position) "side-effect" of creation of open line(s), particularly files for the major pieces. *** The whole point of creating tension to begin with is that one tries to buildup forces behind their file opening pawn(s) in such way that the opponent's position, being more cramped spacewise & less mobile and responsive for piece play (and squares to put them on) during that stage of the game, than it will be after tension is released, may lead to a situation wherein he simply Cannot respond to all your pressure sufficiently to keep safe all your targeted pieces or squares. Thereby you seek to win material, or significant infiltration into the far side of the board. This should be especially true if you have obtained a space advantage for yourself already ... wherein your own pieces have high mobility. **** As analogy, you might chose to think of tension as like a loaded rifle. Before pulling the "trigger" (releasing tension by pawn trade) you want to be sure that it is "loaded" (pressure upon files to be opening), and that you have "taken aim" (selected specific targets for capture or infiltration.) All too often we see a player simply Point at the opponents position and pull the trigger, without having any target in sight ... hoping for a blind hit somewhere meaningful. *** #2) Is quite similar to the above, but even more critical. That is the premature release of pawn tension, or piece trades as well, in a Gambit opening. The Gambiteer Must maintain advantages other than material, or probably lose; Usually having a lead in development & an already present open file due to the pawn(s) gambited (where opp may have none). ........................................ He must make sure to maximize the potential of his advantages during the tension stage, if there is one. His superior mobility, the very thing he has gambit to obtain, must be utilized mercilessly ... unless he decides and has the opportunity to gain back his material. .................................. (aka "wimp-out" ... but admittedly there are those times when the better part of valor, indeed our very survival at the board, will depend upon a good Wimp-Out! Still, a mating attack IS so much more satisfying, don't you agree? :) *** #3) A point of Endgame technique: DO NOT TRADE pawns for opponent pawns that can simply be WON OUTRIGHT. So many times I have seen players turn an easy win into a very slight and tricky win, or even a Draw or worse. Don't even waste time thinking about trading for his pawns if you can just win them. *** The EXCEPTIONS: (A) If you are in a tempo critical situation such as a pawn race to Queen first, then it may be needed to offer to trade rather than win weakened pawn(s), or even to sac some of yours outright for tempo. ..................................... (B) More a case of style: If you are playing for Artistry, such as trying to play a "perfectly played" game on your part, for instance, you may be concerned with completing your win in the shortest number of moves, aor as forcefully as possible, as a matter of displaying precision and accuracy of technique. Trying for the best and sharpest win line throughout. As opposed to the Practical Player, who will take a win as it comes and likely using the technique that will require the least deep analysis and energy expenditure, in order to keep his form and concentration for the length of a tournament. And if This latter IS your situation: Just WIN those pawns! :)) *** Personally, I always tend to go for the sharp and artsy. Perhaps that's why I've been known to fall asleep during the last round !!? Thanks for reading ... But Fair-Warning: if you are not into lengthy posts, you will want to skip this one~! * * * * * * * * * * * }8-D | ||||||||
| Posted by ionadowman intochess.com 5/30/2008 21:20:57 Play online chess | An instructive article. Message: How about situations in which you are ahead (or behind) and there are a lot of pieces and few pawns? To reduce the stronger side's attacking chances and/or mobility, the weaker side might well go for piece exchanges. Here's and example - rather "extreme", but it illustrates the point. White is well behind in material. Should he exchange pieces? The 'rule of thumb' says no: w Exchanging pieces in fact goes straight to a "book" draw: 1.Nd3+ Nxd3 2.Kxd3 after which the WK heads for h1 and the surrounding 3 squares, out of which he can not be evicted. The bishop can not control the queening square. ——— After Four Rounds of the Chess Olympiad, Several Favorites Have Fallen — Seven teams have won all of their matches through the first four rounds of the biennial Chess Olympiad. Four of those teams — the top two Russian teams, Hungary and Armenia — were ranked among the top six at the start, so their standing is no surprise. But three of the leaders — the Netherlands, the Republic of Georgia and Vietnam — are unexpected, in particular the last two, who were ranked No. 20 and 27, respectively, when the chess competition began. Several of the pre-tournament favorites ran into unexpected trouble early on. Ukraine, which was ranked No. 2, gave up a drawn match to Croatia, No. 28, in Round 3. (Matches are between teams of four players). Ukraine is now tied for ... Posted by sf115 | intochess.com 5/31/2008 03:21:24 Play online chess Message: It's an interesting article but the examples shown seem to be quite extreme. Blocking the whole board with a giant pawn chain or having a rook's pawn and bishop of the wrong colour are rare. Would it be true to say that 90% of the time the rule: "swap pieces when you're ahead, swap pawns if you're losing" is the best ——— Yemen sacks chess team for playing against Israel — Yemen has sacked the country's chess team and members of the governing body after its players competed against Israel at a chess tournament in Belarus. The Yemeni Sports minister, Hamud Mohammed Ubad, took the unusual decision after chess players ignored instructions to pull out if drawn against Israel, which is widely criticised in the Middle East for its policies towards the Palestinians. "This was an individual action contrary to the policy of Yemen, which refuses any normalisation with Israel," said Mr Ubad, adding that the chess players were on their way home from Minsk. Like several other Middle Eastern countries, Yemen does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and bars ... Posted by scarper | intochess.com 5/31/2008 13:38:05 Play online chess Message: This is a principle i've heard before but i don't think i fully understand it. I see the logic in not swapping pieces when you're losing but i don't really understand why swapping pawns benefits a losing position. Could someone elaborate? Cheers ——— As Chess Olympiad Begins, No Surprises, but More Controversy — The first round of the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on Tuesday did not produce any upsets, though a few high-ranked chess teams yielded a draw or two. According to the Olympiad’s Web site, there are 1,300 players from 144 countries. The Chess Olympiad, which was first held in 1927 (or 1924, unofficially), is convened every two years. The 2010 Olympiad is particularly important as elections for the top offices in the World Chess Federation, the game’s governing body, will be held near the end of the competition. Prior to the start of the Olympiad, it had been plagued by problems, including a race to finish building the main venues before the teams arrived. Now that the chess event has ... Posted by ionadowman | intochess.com 5/31/2008 15:53:57 Play online chess Whoops...Message: w scarper: When behind in material, it is usually a good idea to reduce the pawns on the board (i.e. exchanging) in order to reduce the stronger side's chances of promoting, but also to localise his attack. Consider a rook and pawn ending. Speaking very broadly here, K+R+P finds it very difficult to beat K+R. It is in such an endgame where you pretty much know what your drawing chances are. Things are a lot more complicated when there are several pawns a side, say K+R+4P vs K+R+3P. For one thing, much depends on where the pawns are, relative to the board, and relative to each other. Naturally, where the kings and rooks are also makes a difference. By "relative to the board" I mean the question of whether all the pawns lie on one side of the board, on both sides, or are clumped in the centre, and how advanced (i.e how close to promotion) they are. By "relative to each other" I mean whether connected pawns are level or form a diagonal. whether any pawns are backward, isolated, doubled, passed... A position like the following would be very hard for the stronger side to win: w ... provided that the weaker side keeps the rooks on. On the other hand, in this position: w ... the stronger side can really fancy his winning chances. ——— Chess Puzzles: Richard Reti's Marvelous Squares — A chessboard is a square, divided into 64 black and white squares. But there are more squares in chess, mostly invisible, as part of an amazing chess geometry hidden in chess players' minds. One classic square is often used in pawn endgames when a king is chasing the enemy's passed pawn. The king doesn't have to walk in horizontal or vertical lines, he can run diagonally or zig-zag across the field. But he needs to be close enough to catch the pawn. How close? The king has to walk into a square whose one side is defined as the distance between the pawn and its promoting square at the edge of the board. We can use a famous study by Richard Reti as an example. The world-class player ... Posted by scarper | intochess.com 6/01/2008 02:21:20 Play online chess Message: ——— Lahno Wins Women’s World Blitz Chess Championship — To be good at blitz, or speed, chess, players must think quickly and have good tactical skills. That is why the best chess players under slow, or classical, chess time controls are not necessarily the best at the faster form of the game. Though only 20 years old, Kateryna Lahno of Ukraine has been among the best women players in the world for seven years and is now ranked No. 7. She is actually ranked higher than Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, the current women’s world chess champion, who is No. 10. She is clearly an excellent classical chess player and has won the European Individual Women’s Championship twice (in 2005 and 2008). Now she has proven that she may be even more adept at speed chess. ... |