Mate in 1

Mark Dvoretsky on American Scholastic Chess:

In the summer of 1991 I gave lessons to some young American players. To my surprise I observed that many of them, when playing important games or meeting more eminent opponents, did not want to play actively and thought only about a draw. Clearly, the result would often turn out directly the opposite-ultra-cautious, passive play usually leads to a worsening of the position.

Now I will express my version of events. In America parents begin closely following the competetive achievements of their children from their very first steps in chess. Too much emphasis, even in junior competitions, is given to ratings, prizes, isolated successes in games with strong opponents, and so on. Such an approach is of course passed on to the children, and they try to give their paents joy and boast to the contemporaries about any current successes. For the sake of momentary successes they become cautious. Alas, the result sometimes turns out just the opposite and, more important, it sharply slows the creative growth of the children.

An improvement process is only effective when the work is done with a future aim. This means that trainers should teach young players to sensibly combine fighting for successes in competitions and experimenting and taking creative risks. The fostering of a depressing pragmatism from early childhood cannot be good.

Black to play: Defend

Most players react too quickly when they are in check and when they are captured.
Don't instantly move when you are in check. Never automatically recapture.

Here Black should be winning with perfect defense. If Black plays "natural" moves White will win.

Black to play

Do you see a variation with a pawn checkmate?

Marshall - Greek Gift

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.04.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Marshall "]
[Black "Greek Gift"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "D06"]
[PlyCount "26"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 e6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Bd3 Nbd7
8.
O-O O-O 9. e5 Nd5 10. Bxh7+ Kxh7 11. Ng5+ Kg8 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Qh5 Re8 {
Diagram [#]} *

Marshall - Greek Gift

(4) Marshall - Greek Gift [D06]
22.04.2013

1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.Nf3 e6 5.e4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.0-0 0-0 9.e5 Nd5 10.Bxh7+ Kxh7 11.Ng5+ Kg8 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Qh5 Re8 Diagram

*

Marshall - Greek Gift: White to Play Force Mate

(4) Marshall - Greek Gift [D06]
22.04.2013

1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.Nf3 e6 5.e4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.0-0 0-0 9.e5 Nd5 10.Bxh7+ Kxh7 11.Ng5+ Kg8 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Qh5 Re8 Diagram

*

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.04.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Marshall "]
[Black "Greek Gift"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "D06"]
[PlyCount "26"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 e6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Bd3 Nbd7
8.
O-O O-O 9. e5 Nd5 10. Bxh7+ Kxh7 11. Ng5+ Kg8 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Qh5 Re8 {
Diagram [#]} *

Loose rook on a1

Closed Catalan Qc2 Slav

A Game from Friday

This is the position after move 11.h3 Can you find the winning move for Black?

 

Kasparov-Topalov

Play chess online

(1) Garry Kasparov (2812) - Veselin Topalov (2700) [B07]

Hoogovens A Tournament Wijk aan Zee NED (4), 1999

 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 c6 6.f3 b5 7.Nge2 Nbd7 8.Bh6 Bxh6 9.Qxh6 Bb7 10.a3 e5 11.0–0–0 Qe7 12.Kb1 a6 13.Nc1 0–0–0 14.Nb3 exd4 15.Rxd4 c5 16.Rd1 Nb6 17.g3 Kb8 18.Na5 Ba8 19.Bh3 d5 20.Qf4+ Ka7 21.Rhe1 d4 22.Nd5 Nbxd5 23.exd5 Qd6 24.Rxd4 cxd4 25.Re7+ Kb6 26.Qxd4+ Kxa5 27.b4+ Ka4 28.Qc3 Qxd5 29.Ra7 Bb7 30.Rxb7 Qc4 31.Qxf6 Kxa3 32.Qxa6+ Kxb4 33.c3+ Kxc3 34.Qa1+ Kd2 35.Qb2+ Kd1 36.Bf1 Rd2 37.Rd7 Rxd7 38.Bxc4 bxc4 39.Qxh8 Rd3 40.Qa8 c3 41.Qa4+ Ke1 42.f4 f5 43.Kc1 Rd2 44.Qa7 1–0

I nickname this blog "the boring blog" because I mainly use it as a place to store very advanced notes that are way too boring to read for most people. My sincerest apologies!

Albin-Counter Failure and Success

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.04.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Albin-Counter"]
[Black "Failure and Success"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "D09"]
[Annotator "Ashton,Jeffrey"]
[PlyCount "19"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 {The smart move.} (4. e3 $2 {99.999999% of
Albin-Counter Gambit players choose their opening since they learned this trap.
A terrible reason to play an opening. That's why I personally was attracted to
it. I didn't play the opening for long.} Bb4+ 5. Bd2 dxe3 6. Bxb4 exf2+ 7. Ke2
fxg1=N+ {Under-promoting to Knights is common because it's check. I'm not
saying checking is usually smart... but sometimes it is.} (7... fxg1=Q {This
fails due to Qxd8+ followed by Rxg1 giving Black NOTHING special.} 8. Qxd8+
Kxd8 9. Rxg1 Bg4+ {It's not a skewer because White has no Queen on d1! How
lucky.}) 8. Rxg1 $4 (8. Ke1 Qh4+ {Missing f-pawn tactics. Remember the Qe4+
fork idea if White plays g3.} 9. g3 Qe4+ {I'm sure you've seen this hundreds
of times. Missing-fpawn tactics are simple!}) 8... Bg4+ {Because you CHECKED
by promoting the pawn into a Knight, you had the luxury of "moving twice in a
row" and creating this skewer.}) 4... Nc6 5. g3 {a3 is also smart. White never
wants to play e3 when Bb4+ is annoying. Playing a3 makes e3 a reasonable idea.}
Bg4 6. Bg2 {White wants to   1) Castle  2) Develop his lazy Knight  3)Throw a
bunch of pawns at Black on the Queenside and maybe put his Rook on b1.  
We're not really sure what to do with the Bishop on c1 (Queen's bishops are
hard to develop so they should be patient, just like rooks). So playing Nd2
before developing the bishop on c1 is fine (and common in many openings).} Qd7
7. O-O O-O-O (7... Bxf3 {Is an attempt that fails usually. White's light
squared bishop is strong now.} 8. Bxf3 Nxe5 9. Bxb7 {White should have a great
game!}) 8. Nbd2 Nge7 (8... h5 9. b4 {Just play b4!}) 9. b4 {This is what I was
talking about when discussing "throwing pawns on the Queenside."    If White
were allowed to capture his own pieces he would capture his b-pawn so he can
use the open b-file to checkmate Black's King.} Nxb4 10. Rb1 {And White is
attacking the b7 square many times. Ok, zero times. But look at b7 carefully.}
*

The weird c5 move.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Enter New Game"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "13"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c5 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nc3 Qd8 6. Qxd4 Qxd4 7. Nxd4 {
And White can follow this tip:  "When you trade Queens, just threatening a
fork (Nc7+) is often winning."     I'm kind over-simplifying when saying this..
. but watch out for Nd5-Nc7 ideas as well as Nb5-Nc7 ideas.} *

Bird's Opening Fromm Gambit

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.04.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bird's Opening"]
[Black "Fromm Gambit"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "A00"]
[PlyCount "34"]

1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nf3 g5 5. g3 (5. h3 Bg3#) 5... g4 6. Nh4
Ne7 {The idea of this move is to activate the rook on h8.} 7. Bg2 $4 {It's
funny to give such a natural, developing move a double question-mark.} Ng6 8.
Nxg6 hxg6 {Capturing towards the center both strengthens the center and opens
a file that will be useful for a rook. General advice. Here the rook on h8 is
quite powerful.} 9. O-O Rxh2 10. Kxh2 Qh4+ 11. Kg1 Bxg3 12. Rf2 Bxf2+ 13. Kf1
g3 {With many fun ideas such as Bh3 or Qh2.} 14. e3 {A fun variation.} Bg4 15.
Bf3 Qh3+ 16. Ke2 (16. Bg2 Qh5 $1 {And White has problems.} (16... Qxg2+ {This
is a bad move only because it only wins a bishop. Black has a much better idea.
})) 16... Bxf3+ 17. Kxf3 Qh5+ {Wins a Queen at least.} *

Smith-Morra Gambit Qc7 Ng4 idea

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "18"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 (3... Nf6 {is an option.}) 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Bc4 e6
6. Nf3 Qc7 {To control the e5 square. So white can't thrust the e-pawn towards
the Knight that plans to come to f6.} (6... Nf6 {runs into the e5 pawn thrust,
and it's kind of annoying.} 7. e5 {Black can still defend this position, but
Black is wise to play Qc7 earlier.}) 7. O-O Nf6 8. Qe2 Ng4 9. h3 Nd4 *