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| Posted by wschmidt chessbase.net 5/30/2008 14:34:38 Play online chess |  Subject: Novice Nook #72Message: Here's the link:  www.chesscafe.com | ||||||||
| Posted by ccmcacollister chessbase.net 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 chessbase.net 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. ——— Chess: Knight moves — The finely tuned positional antennae of Ulf Andersson sense a problem requiring a harmonious solution. More from the master of positional play, Ulf Andersson. How did he manage to improve his position? RB: Last week I went for an exchange sacrifice in the game Andersson-Tempone. It wasn't the continuation that Andersson chose, which should perhaps be enough to warn me against the move I am thinking of here – 1…Rd4. If White accepts the offer, 2 Bxd4 then 2…exd4 and the knight, which is pinned to the queen, is lost. But, of course, it's not going to be that simple. White can refuse to play ball and instead go ... Posted by sf115 | chessbase.net 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 ——— Rise of computers has lifted game — Bobby Fischer was rarely wrong about chess matters. But in one critical issue, he erred grievously: Late in life, he concluded that chess was played out. Most of the important possibilities in the opening phase had been explored and understood, he thought, and grandmasters’ reliance on computers had taken the creativity out of the game. But it seems that the opposite is true. A complete database of chess games now would be in the millions, not in the tens or hundreds of thousands as in Fischer’s time. And that volume continues to grow as an increasing number of strong chess players, playing an ever larger number of games, dominates chess. Not surprisingly, chess players’ repertoires have ... Posted by scarper | chessbase.net 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 ——— Armenia Takes Team Title; Chinese Player Is Top Scorer — The Chess Olympiad, which was first held in 1924, is the most elite national team event in the chess world. But the World Team Chess Championship is in some ways more competitive because it includes only 10 squads, so there are no easy matches. This year, Armenia, the No. 4 seed, was the runaway winner at the chess event, which ended on Tuesday in Ningbo, China. It was hardly an upset; the Armenians, behind Levon Aronian, have won two of the last three Chess Olympiads, which are held every two years. China, the No. 6 seed, finished second, and Ukraine lived up to its seeding by winning the bronze medal. Russia, which was the top seed and had won the last two Team Chess Championships, finished ... Posted by ionadowman | chessbase.net 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. ——— Armenia replaces England as nation that punches above its weight — In the 1980s and 1990s England punched above their weight in world chess events. Silver medals in the Chess Olympiads of 1984, 1986 and 1988 and bronze at the 1985 and 1989 world teams were followed by gold at the 1997 Euroteams. After that the England chess team aged or retired, while competition increased with the break-up of the Soviet Union. There have been hopes in the past two years that a new England chess group could become international contenders, as Luke McShane, David Howell and Gawain Jones became strong chess grandmasters to support the established stars Michael Adams and Nigel Short. But recently McShane has reverted to a full-time job and is not competing in ... Posted by scarper | chessbase.net 6/01/2008 02:21:20 Play online chess Message: ——— Chess-mad Armenia's heroes return in triumph — Armenia's top chess players, lauded as heroes after winning the 2011 World Team Chess Championship this week, vowed on Friday to boost the small chess-mad country's status in the game even further. The team's head coach said that future successes will be secured through official support and an unusual new scheme to promote the game among schoolchildren initiated by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, a keen chess player who also heads the country's Chess Federation. "Because of this attention and care, we can improve our game," coach Arshak Petrosian told a press conference, two days after returning from the chess tournament in China to a rapturous welcome from fans and ... |