As documented in the past, I’m pretty good at falling asleep at the switch. My Queen gets captured and I’m left scratching my head. “How did I not see that?” or “Could that threat have been any less obvious?” are two common thoughts. Many players, including myself, get discouraged and fall into a defensive mindset where all they want to do is prolong the game as long as possible (some players abandon the game altogether).
When your opponent calls all the shots, you won’t last long. As the below example illustrates, however, you can dig out of the hole if the game is still young and you hold decent position.
Okay, so my Queen (Nxd2) was captured and I had to trade a bishop to get the offending knight (Nxd2 - Nxd4). Seems that the cards are stacked against me, eh? At this point, you have to just say “fuck it” and go on the attack in hopes that you can even the score without sustaining further damage.
While my opponent set up an attack from the left side of the board, I pounced on unprotected pieces (Nxd5 and Bxf5) and threw a wrench in Black’s plans by forcing moves out of Check (Be6+). This coerced Black (who once held a clear advantage) into playing defense against a pin (Rf7) and a fork (Nxc7) before making a questionable move (Nxe3). It also helped me that Black stubbornly held position with a bishop ripe for the picking (Bxc4).
The dust settled and I came away with a clear material and positional advantage. I guess the lesson here is that if you’re going to lose your queen, lose her early because you’ll have plenty of time to make up for the loss. Don’t panic. All it takes is persistence and patience to break even.
Reading books about the game of chess are a challenge…especially on the train. I find it damn near impossible to envision a chess board in my head. When the author rattles off a series of moves without a corresponding diagram, I’m expected to know exactly what he is talking about? Sheesh. I’m lucky if I can see an angle in real life, let alone in my head.
I’ve had the linked book since 1997 and this is the 3rd or 4th attempt to read and actually absorb the lessons. Perhaps regurgitating what I read will help some of the lessons stick and help you get better.
A passage I read today discussed the power of the Knight. The ability to move to open squares around the board without having to worry about being blocked make it a versatile and therefore valuable piece. The main point of the passage was that a Knight has more value when it’s positioned away from an edge. As you can see in the board above, my lone White Knight sits trapped on the right side. Any of the spaces available to it leave it unprotected from capture. So as it stands on the set-up, my knight is pretty useless beyond offering protection to the Queen.
As for the game, you’ll see that my opponent advanced pawns deep inside my territory and is on the verge of gaining a second queen. Having to shift my focus from attacking Black’s king, I backed my Queen to a more defensive position so as to apply pressure on the pawns (Qc2). My opponent saw my threat on the trailing pawn and moved its Queen accordingly (Qd4).
A favorable situation unfolded as I was able to move my Knight (Nf5+) to a center position. This illustrates what the book was trying to teach me. From that position, I have seven of eight possible moves. Out of those seven, four would net me valuable pieces (this is called a ‘Fork’). That’s a much better place to be than on the edge where I had only 4 undesirable options.
My move put my opponent in check. Black can do nothing to protect its powerful rook and queen. After the King was moved to safety (Kd5), I was able to capture the opponents most valuable piece (Nxd4). Though the capture sacrificed my knight (Kxd4), it was a trade happily made.
I don’t claim to be any sort of chess wizard, but the following opening sixteen moves to a current game being played over at chess.com show how adept I am at squandering a serious advantage.
(in progress at time of post)In this case I secured the opponent’s queen only to squander my advantage four moves later by surrendering mine.I’m sure mental development in terms of chess peaked because I don’t think I’m any better at chess now than I was fifteen years ago. Oblivious to all angles, too quick to make moves, bad at formulating any sort of plan, and unable to see past my own defense, maybe that’s how I run my life. Perhaps I should quit while I’m behind and relegate myself to war (no offense, War enthusiasts).
