Teamleague 37?

There's a rumour circulating that teamleague 37 might be starting at the end of September... fingers crossed.

I had a couple of training games against team mates this weekend. I managed to win, but I'm not terribly impressed with my play - totally superficial. In the second game I was getting nowhere and starting to go backwards so I played a psuedo-combination just because the idea had been staring at me for a couple of moves. It should have resulted in an unbalanced but even position with two rooks vs rook and two minors with pawns dangling all over the place... fortunately for me my opponent found a way to go wrong.

Then there were the rated blitz games... oh dear... I did swindle a draw against a 1200...

So some things need to change. No more random wood-pushing to wile away the hours, no more "setting my hair on fire". That experiment is complete. Every game now must be taken seriously, I can play poker or toss dice if I want to see a suprise random outcome.

I need to play some serious 45' 45" games with 1800+ opponents to see if any real improvement is happening. This was to be '100 Days to Chess Improvement'. We're about 70% of the way through that... the clock is ticking...

Praxis Practice 2

One of my TeamLeague team mates was good enough to give me a training game at 30' + 30" today. I won't bore anyone by discussing the whole game, but I did find two nice tactical points that I don't think I would have seen if I hadn't been doing this excercise.

SimianChatter (1793) vs TeamMate (1673)
After 17. Ng5-e6

This is not a sacrifice at all, but a 'free hit', available because of the complete immobility of the Knight on d7 so after 17. ... fxe6 18. dxe6 followed by 19. exd7 White opens the a2-g8 diagonal and exposes d6 just for starters. I hadn't fully worked out the implications of 17. ... Be7, whether I could play N6c7, R or Qf3, or if the retreat Ng5 was necessary, but for the purposes of this game having those options was enough, later I will need to have it all worked out before entering into a line like this.

SimianChatter (1793) vs TeamMate (1673)
White to move

Finding the killer... sniffing the possibility of 37. Qd7+ Zwischenzug is what convinced me to go into the line with 32. Be6, although I expect that something like 35. ... Qf5 is at the very worst holding for Black. None-the-less, from the diagram 36. Qxe6 Qxc3 37. Qd7+ wins a Rook.

A quick progress report...

Standard Rating: 1819, RD 116.9 (best: 1920)
Blitz Rating: 1598, RD 88.3 (best: 1618)

Finally moving in the right direction, but both still meaningless until those RD's are much lower.

I've now worked through about 600 problems from Fred Reinfeld's "1001 Chess Sacrifices and Combinations" at least once. From this week, I plan to make a small modification to the method of working through this book. I'll spend more time in the first few chapters that have simpler motifs and more problems to solve, with quick reviews of the shorter, later chapters most of which I've almost completed.

The Queen's Fan, the King's Shield, and the Knight's Wheel

This position got me thinking about something I mentioned in an earlier post about the Queen being a Rook + Bishop in one piece. In that position the Rook and Bishop proved stronger than a Queen, here She shows their combined strength with something I decided to call 'The Queen's Fan'.

Reinfeld position #699
Black to move

White has a classic weak bank rank, so my first thought was to exploit it by removing the defender of Rd1 with 1. ... f5, but unfortunately then White has a defense in 2. Qf3. So with g6 guarding h5 and the Rook blocking d1, how do we cover the 'short diagonal' e2-f3-g4? The answer is the decoy 1. ... Qe4 when the 'Rook-Queen' covers e2 and g4, and the 'Bishop-Queen' covers f3.

Queen's Fan, King's Shield

This 'three square diagonal' or 'mini-Bishop' feature of the Queen's powers struck me because it reminded me of the way Kings look like they're holding a shield as they march down the board blocking an adjacent file, most commonly recognised in the 'direct opposition' above.

Knight's Wheel

While we're on the subject, we talk about Bishops and their diagonals, Rooks and their ranks and files, but when we talk about Knights we usually do so in terms of 'squares'. Rank, files, and diagonals are all groups of squares, and I've always thought we should see Knights in the way they control groups of squares, rather than just single points of interest. Above is a 'Knight's Wheel', something we will no doubt return to should I ever progress from tactics to a study of the positional elements of the game.

The Suicide Squad

When I become royalty, I'm going to get myself a crack squad of suicide troops like the Black King and Queen have at their disposal here.

Reinfeld position #582
Black to move

"Sir Cleric, I wish to see you snub the White Queen!" the Black King orders.
"By your command, Sire!" is the reply as the Bishop makes a short-lived rudish (he is after all a man of the cloth) gesture 1. ... Bb5 2. axb5.

"Excellent!" the King applauds "And now Sir Knight, I command thee to fall on thy sword!"
"Which of us, your Majesty?" the obedient pair respond in unison.
"Why both of you of course!" 2. ... Nhg3+ 3. Nxg3 Nxg3 4. hxg3 for they feared more than anything a lashing by His tounge.

"Now that Rook... throw it at their castle wall, I like to hear it go BANG!" 4. ... hxg3+ 5. Kg1 Rh1+ 6. Kxh1 Rh8+ 7. Kg1.
"Wait for it!" the King cautioned the impetuous Rook "First, that Bishop say blasphemous words upon their King." of course he could not refuse 7. ... Bc5+ 8. Nxc5.

Yet even before the Black King could again open His mouth to speak, the last Rook had rushed forth shouting an oblique reference in battle-cry "Oh No! More Lemmings!" 8. ... Rh1+ 9. Kxh1.

"Good show!" cried the Black King "But where did everybody go?".

Reinfeld position #582
Position after 9. Kxh1

"Oh husband!" admonished His Queen "Must I do everything myself?" 9. ... Qh8+ 10. Kg1 Qh2#.

So Much to See!

This is one of those positions where you just know there's got to be something on, even if Fred hasn't already told us so. If only we could get a pointy bit on the a1-h8 diagonal there's mate with Nh6, but attempting to get Black to leave the d- or e-files by say Re1, Rb2, or Rc2 meets stiff resistance. The solution turns out to be a wild ride through a lot of little combinations. The variation tree is straight, but quite long with a few side points.

Reinfeld position #563
White to move

First, White penetrates to the back rank to make a variety of pins and Rook forks using a clearance sacrifice followed by a decoy.

1. Rxb5 cxb5 2. Rc8 Qd5 if the Rook is captured, White gets his way with either Qa1+ or Qd4+.

Reinfeld position #563
After 2. ... Qd5

Now Black threatens Qh5#. 3. Qa1+ another decoy as now 3. ... Rxa1 4. Rxf8 Kg7 5. Bh6#. 3. ... e5 4. Bxe5+ now if 4. ... Rxe5 5. Rxa8 Black looks like a pin-cushion.

Reinfeld position #563
After 5. Rxa8 (variation)

4. ... Qxe5 5. Rxf8 Kg7 6. Rf7+ this Rook has done an amazing amount of work behind enemy lines without direct protection. It's reward is to go out in a blaze of glory by decoying itself again, in order to buy the Queen a tempo to win a Black Rook.

Reinfeld position #563
After 6. Rf7+

6. ... Kxf7 7. Nxe5+ Rxe5 the Queen is forking the two Rooks and will capture one next move.

And it all looked like it would be so easy when I first saw this problem...

Definitions: Double Check

The definition's in the name, but I want to have a quick look at some implications of giving a double check.

Double Check: A piece moves giving check while simultaneously uncovering a second check by another piece.

The two main implications of this:
1. To defend a double check, the King must move.
2. Therefore, giving a double check temporarily immobilises the entire defending army.

Here is an example which also makes an interesting point about Queens, Rooks, and Bishops.

Reinfeld position #406
White to move

1. Qd8+ Kxd8 2. Bg5++ and now Black's only legal moves are 2. ... Kc7 3. Bd8# or 2. ... Ke8 3. Rd8#.

Note that when the Queen, constructed of a Rook + Bishop in one piece, arrived on d8 it was not mate because She was undefended. Yet when Her power was split between two 'lesser' pieces to form a barrage against d8, their combined power delivered checkmate.

Our man Fred describes this next example as "The most beautiful double check ever played.".

Reinfeld position #407
White to move

1. Rxg5 clearance of the h-file for the Queen's penetration 1. ... hxg5 2. Qh7+ Nd7 if 2. ... Kd8 3. Qh8+ followed by capturing one of the rooks 3. Bxd7 a liquidating combination, since after 3. ... Qxd7 4. Qxd7 Kxd7 5. Rxb8 etc, White will have 5 extra pawns. 3. ... Qg8 defending against a discovered check by attacking the unprotected White Queen. Another diagram for the finale:

Reinfeld position #407
After 3. ... Qg8

4. Rb7+ either decoying the King to a square from which the double check can be delivered, or interference with the Rook's protection of the Queen Kxb7 5. Bc8++ Kxc8 6. Qxg8+ and now Kb7 or Kc7 meets Qg7+ winning a Rook.

Progress Report 2

It's been a week of horrible results playing unrated blitz games, which I don't mind too much as I've been really trying to force tactical complications in positions where I know they're not justified (+1-9=0 at one point!).

I have played some rated 5 12 games recently, and my blitz rating has gone from 1442(E) to 1579(E) which might sound like progress, but in reality I got 60 points from adjudicating some old (some 5 years old!) adjourned games, and benefitted from my high RD beating ~1300 players for about 15-20 points a game. You'd call it eeking if you didn't know better. My blitz RD is still about 88, so that rating is a bit meaningless until I've played some more games.

Here's an example of the sort of fun I've been having when I do manage to pull it off.

SimianChatter vs RandomFICSer (1415 blitz)

White to move

11. Ne6 clearance of the h5-e8 diagonal, and the f-file for the follow-up sacrifice. 11. ... fxe6 12. fxe6 Bc8 Crafty says 12. ... Rf8 =, but that's no fun! 13. Rxf6 annihilation of defense. Now 13. ... Qxf6 should hold, but after my opponent played 13. ... Bxf6 14. Qh5+ resigns as 15. Qf7 will be mate.

Surprise Moves

A couple of the later chapters of "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations" have problems that are not categorised, other than as "Surprise Moves", "The Helpless King", or "The Weakened Castled Position". Often these are mating problems, and to find the solution it is often necessary to see several checkmates that utilise a variety of pieces in 'unusual' positions.

Reinfeld position #794
White to move

The King is lured into one of two mating nets by 1. Nf7 clearance of the e-file 1. ... Kxf7 2. Qxe6+ decoying the King to the mating net. After 2. ... Kxe6 you need to have seen 3. Ng5# before playing 1. Nf7:

Reinfeld position #794
Variation 1

And if instead Black plays 2. ... Kg6 3. g4 immobiling the King and threatening both Bxf5# and Nh4# 3. ... Be5 4. Nh4#.

Reinfeld position #794
Variation 2

All of which brings me to my point for today. This sort of combination resists catagorisation by tactical motif, and yet it is a most fundamental type - targets need to be immobilised, and what White does here is lead the Black King down a blind alley then whacks him.

Sometimes 'simpler' combinations might win some material because the defender has to avoid a whole variation where such a 'complex' mating position is forcable. "Start at the checkmate position, and work backwards" - learning to checkmate should be the first step in learning tactics. Visualising checkmates, the 'pattern recognition' part of Chess, comes from practicing checkmate problems and building up an internal database of checkmate positions, just as with the other tactical motifs.

Maybe I should have started by reading "1001 Brilliant ways to Checkmate"...