Lit Review Wednesday: Winning Chess

Winning Chess: Tactics & Strategies, by Ted Nottingham, Al Lawrence, and Bob Wade, is the first chess book I should have read. It starts out right where I was a month ago--someone who knew the basic moves but knew nothing about the theory behind those moves. The book highlights all of the important tactics: the fork, the pin, and the skewer. It also goes into some detail on discovered check and double check.

I think this book was written for a younger audience, particularly high school students, but it was still very informative. It's definitely the best beginner book I've come across so far. It's not really the most complete book, but if you're just trying to learn the game, this is where you should start.

 

With that said, I would give this book a 4 out of 5. It has a lot of really good basic info, yet there are some glaring problems too. For example, it uses a weird form of algebraic notation for most of it, one that isn't what the professionals use. If they had used the more commonly used version, I think this book would be much more complete.

Theory Thursday: Episode 3--Castling Imbalances

Today I wanted to touch upon the concept of imbalances. This is a huge subject, and there are many books out there that explore this in great depth, so this post will be far from complete, but it should get you pointed in the right direction at spotting these game changers.

By definition (according to IM Jeremy Silman), an imbalance on the chess board occurs when a player has an edge over another. These come up in many different forms; they can be in what pieces have been developed, how well positioned pawns are, whether the king is protected with a castle, or even what parts of the board the pieces are placed on. As you can see, there are many different areas that this concept covers, but one of the more overlooked things is the castling of the king and rook.

The castle is supposed to serve two purposes. The primary one is to protect the king. The king and rook switch positions, usually behind a wall of pawns, tucking the king into a protective corner of the board. But there’s another function, too. When you castle, your rook comes into a more prominent position—and this allows you to play it much more easily.

Castling too early can be disastrous, though. The rule of thumb is that casting on the king side is superior, but if you castle before your opponent has placed their pieces they can adjust their strategy and focus an attack on the king. So while castling is meant to protect the king, if you do it too early or on the wrong side, you are actually making your opponent’s checkmate a little bit easier.

Here’s a quick example.

 

 

As you can see, the king cannot kill the knight on f2 because of the bishop on c5. Nor can the king move to d1 because of the knight's reach. So one possible reaction to this "threat" is to castle. But look at what happens.

 

 

 

One of the rooks will fall victim to the knight's fork, and this is a big imbalance. So while you might be thinking that castling will whisk your king away from the threat, the move creates a material imbalance that will be difficult to recover from. The better reaction here would be to recognize that as long as the h1 rook was moved out of harm's way into g1, the knight in the original diagram does not pose a major threat at this point in the game.

Literature Review Wednesday: Logical Chess

Logical Chess Move by Move: Every Move Explained is not a book in the traditional sense. Written by Irving Chernev several decades ago, this book looks at many famous chess matches and breaks them down in painstaking detail, explaining what the masters behind the games were thinking when they made their moves. Chernev also takes the time to list the pros and cons of each move and even lists what alternative lines may have produced for the players.

I thought that this book would be boring, but it's actually quite enjoyable. I haven't made it through all of the games yet, but the ones that I have read are written in an entertaining manner and they are very detailed--which is great for the chess player with a basic grasp on the game, but doesn't yet truly understand why some moves are better than others. This is right where I am with my game now, so this book is perfect for me.

 

 

I highly recommend this book for players just getting into serious chess. Chernev is very thorough with his explanations why the moves made are good or bad, and this line of thinking will eventually its way into your game. It's already starting to show with my play.



Friday Update

Fridays will be used for going over goals and where I stand in relation to them. Now that June is half over, I have gotten further away from my blitz goal of 800, and have regressed down to a score of 665. This looks bad, but I'm not concerned. I've been focusing mainly on my standard 30 minute games, so the blitz score has been neglected. The standard score has dropped, too, which is a little disheartening. It's down to 862 right now, even though I was up above 900 for quite a while.

Still, I'm not worried. My standard games have been tough. I changed my opponent search ratings, and I am facing a lot of higher quality players. I'm losing much more often than I'm winning against these guys, which is frustrating, but I'm confident that I am getting better. I'm seeing moves more easily, I'm able to set up forks and skewers with more regularity, and I'm better able to visualize moves into the future. I think it is only a short matter of time before I start beating these opponents and step up in class. I am even able to spot their mistakes at times and turn the tables on them, which is very promising for me.

So my scores are getting worse, but I'm getting better. While I'm not making progress as quickly as I'd like, I know that I'm slowly starting to understand the game better, and this is a good thing.

Theory Thursday: Episode 2

I missed Lit Review Wednesday yesterday, but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading. I am currently going through a couple chess books and I will catch up with these next week.

I didn't want to forget theory Thursday, though. I think this is my most important post of the week, so I am making a point to get this blog in, even though it's getting late. Through my playing and reading, I've been trying to figure out what the most important theory subject is in my own games, and I really think talking about forks again is warranted.

Here's why: a properly executed fork can completely change the momentum in a game. I've been on both sides of this recently, but nowhere is this more important than when I do tactical exercises. These keep coming up over and over, and that implies to me that they are important. In a club game I played yesterday and today, I walked right into a pawn fork, where my opponent moved his pawn up against mine, forcing me to decide between my bishop and my knight. I had the lead up until this point, but after I lost my knight, the game quickly ended, with me on the downside of things.

So the point I wanted to make today is that while the knight fork is perhaps the most obvious example, you can have a fork with any piece that can attack in more than one direction. That's every single piece in the game, for those that are wondering. The important thing to keep in mind is that your pieces are versatile. They can serve more than one purpose at any one moment, and the winning player needs to know this and make the most of it. A weaker player will use their pieces in a single minded fashion, focusing on an end goal and not deviating. This might win a few games, but it severely limits how well you will play at higher levels.

Threat Perception

Not all threats are created equal. This is something I had figured out on my own, but seeing it put in writing was very reassuring, especially since it was a grandmaster that had written it. Sometimes your opponent will mount a threat, but the damage will be minimal, or even nonexistent. For example, if they are setting up an attack on your pawn with several pieces, but you never make the move they are looking for, all of their pieces will be pointed in one direction, while you can attack in another. Losing a pawn is not a big deal. If you can find a hole in their defense, taking advantage of it can pay off more than the pawn or two you might lose.

This goes both ways. You need to make sure that your attacks, when real, are legitimate. Setting up a decoy play is fine, but when you are making an honest effort toward an attack play, you need to make sure that you are fully prepared. If possible, you need to account for the moves that your opponent will be making, and you cannot count on them falling for your tricks. Again, if you are going for a ruse of some sort, this is okay, but once you realize that they are not going to fall for it, you need to change your tactics. If you don't, you can lose pieces, and the game.

Black and White

Obviously the title of this post is a reference to the squares on a chess board, but it's also a nod toward writing. First and foremost, I'm a writer. That's what I do to earn money. I don't make a lot, but I have yet to get tossed out of my house, and my kids eat whenever it's mealtime. I know a lot of people that read my blogs know this about me, but I think it's worth a mention for those that might not personally know me. When I started getting into chess, it only seemed natural that I write about it since that is my primary passion.

I also wanted to keep a track record for myself. In the event that I ever do become good at this frustrating game, maybe I can look back at the blog and figure out what worked for me so that I can write a book or a series of articles that will detail my system of learning.

Bobby Fischer wrote a few books and worked as a private instructor, too. There are so many books out on the market right now about chess (I know, I looked at Barnes and Noble yesterday), and there's not much sense in me writing another one if I don't have anything original to add. But there will always be the personal satisfaction in figuring out the best way to apply those concepts, and I'm hoping that this blog will help in that respect for me and whoever else reads this.

Genius!

I don't think this blog would be complete without some references to my family. Ethan, my three year old, is obsessed with chess now. Every time he sees me playing on the computer, he asks me what the pieces are. He now knows all of the pieces' names by sight. And did I mention he's only three! Today I started teaching him how the different pieces move.

Anatoly Karpov, one of the greatest chess masters to ever live, apparently learned to play chess at age four. Ethan's got a jump on him!

In other news, I learned that a lot of younger players that go on to become masters take about four years after starting to take the time to seriously study the game before reaching an elite level of play. Obviously there are outliers, but the bell curve shows that four years is a solid median timeframe.

Chess is a lot tougher than I imagined. I thought that I would spend a few weeks studying it and practicing and be ready to play the best. But it's going to take a lot longer than that. At first this frustrated me, but I am excited now. I think that this is going to be a very challenging journey, but I love challenges and I love bettering myself.

Goal Update

So when I started playing a few weeks ago, the original goal was to get all of my chess.com scores to 800 or above by the end of June. 800 is an indicator of a solid beginner, and I think this was a completely reasonable goal.

As of right now, my blitz score is the only mark below 800, and this stands at 647. My standard score, which I think is more indicative of my true ability, stands at 886. My other scores really don't have enough data to be worthwhile to look at.

Why is my blitz score so low? Well, blitz games, by definition, are 10 minutes long and under. I tend to play these when I don't have a lot of time, but I end up rushing through the games and this hurts me. I'll either be watching the kids and have to get up (I can't even tell you how many times I've lost close games because I ran out of time), or I am rushing to make my moves and don't see obvious blunders until it's too late.

So I'm pretty happy with my progress after not quite two weeks of playing. I am confident that if I play only when I know I have the time, I can boost my blitz score up over 800 in the 3+ weeks left in the month.

Once I hit my goals, I will be shooting for the 1,000 mark. I still have to evaluate a timeframe for this.

Theory Thursday. Episode 1

I wanted to make a series of weekly posts dealing with chess theory and tactics that can give you an  advantage over your opponent. Today, we will be talking about forking.

I started using this strategy regularly after having it pulled on me several times. Basically, this is a move commonly used by the Knight, since they have the most varied range of motion. A fork occurs when your piece is not threatened, yet the piece can attack more than one of your opponent's pieces. This is most effective when the King or Queen is put in danger with a Rook on the other end. What will happen is that the King or Queen will move out of harm's way and the Rook is left exposed so you can swipe it with the Knight. Even if you need to sacrifice the Knight, this still works out in your favor since you are giving it up to get a more valuable piece.

Forks can quickly change the momentum of the game into your favor, especially if you are only slightly down or pretty even. Losing a major piece like the Rook or Queen is a big blow to your opponent and severely limits their checkmate capabilities.

You can even set up a three-way fork if you're lucky. These give you a bigger range of capturing options, especially when a King is involved since they will be forced to move the King to stay alive. After this, you have your choice of which piece to take.

Forking is at its most powerful when your opponent relies heavily on their Queen. Assuming you are white, once the Queen is out of d8, a Knight on the c7 square can be a revolutionary move. This forks the King and the Rook. The King will probably be able to move  to the d8 square, momentarily putting pressure on you, but the Rook is ripe for the taking and more often than not, you won't even have to worry about exchanging the Knight.

So this pretty simple concept can change games. I use this a lot because I am aggressive with my Knights, and lower rated opponents don't always see where the Knight will be in a few moves. How I proceed to use this technique is try to envision what the perfect position for my Knight is, and then I figure out a safe course to set up the play. This obviously doesn't always work, but when it does, you can often dominate the game.

Literature Review Wednesday

I wanted to have a few commonly recurring subject matters that I will be addressing on a weekly basis. I've decided Wednesdays will be a slot for me to review chess books.

Last week, I took out two books from the library and am almost done with the first. It's called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess Openings, by William Aramil. So far it's decent. The first few chapters were especially good for me as they go over algebraic notation and some very basic strategy principles. Concepts like material, space, tempo, King protection, and Pawn structure are introduced, and this is a very good thing for beginners. These five things are the building blocks of what makes a good board setup, and something that absolutely every budding chess player needs to be aware of.

However, these subjects are only briefly introduced and there isn't much space given to them--a couple paragraphs at most. It's pretty much assumed that the reader is already familiar with them, which is fine, but this makes me think that the book is not really geared toward the beginner, but rather someone who has already seen some moderate success.

After that, the most common openings are explained in good detail. For the beginner, this is great, but parts can be confusing because Aramil relies greatly on algebraic notation. There are several diagrams of board setups, but to really get the most out of this book, you will want to have a chess board handy so you can fully appreciate the various structures and their nuances.

If you're new to chess, this book can help you, but I wouldn't recommend this being your first read. I'm going to finish the book, but I think I will need to reread it in a few weeks.

Two things that I know now that I didn't know a week ago

One of the most important concepts about chess that I just learned a few days ago is that control of the center of the board is extremely important. When your pieces are in the center, they have the widest, most uninterrupted range of attack and this is obviously a big advantage.

Let me put out a basic example. When white moves the King's pawn to e4, black is at an immediate disadvantage since white is freeing up their Queen and the King's Bishop, and when they move the King's Knight out on the second turn, they are gaining yet another advantage by increasing their attack range in the center. Black must immediately play on the defensive or risk losing uncompensated pieces. 

However, this doesn't mean that white can just put pieces in the center and win. Black has many strengths, and if white is not careful, pieces on the sidelines can be lost and this can give black a small material advantage which can add up quickly. Still, if white plays correctly and adjusts for black's moves, white can keep momentum on their side and force black into a series of moves that they might not want to necessarily make.

Also, I learned algebraic notation! This should be the first thing that anyone playing chess needs to learn on the theory side of things. If you're looking on the white side of the board, the bottom left corner is a1, and the bottom right corner is h1. The top left corner is a8 and the top right corner is h8. The squares in between are all filled in accordingly. Knowing what the spaces are gives you a generic template for notating moves.

Obviously it's not quite this simple. Each piece has its own letter representing it, and there are special notations for check, checkmate, castling, en passant, and capturing pieces. The knowledge of these concepts will enable you to decipher games posted online and in books, and this opens up a whole lot of learning opportunities for you--definitely something that you need to know if you are going to get better at the game.

Opening Moves

I love playing chess. But I'm not the best. In my defense, I haven't really played regularly since high school, and that was over 13 years ago. But I started playing again last week on chess.com, and I am absolutely loving it. I thought that tracking my journey from beginner to wherever I end up would be interesting on two levels, both for giving me a way to track my own progress and learn, and to provide a blueprint of sorts for those who wish to learn the game and become better at it themselves.

If you're looking for expert advice on how to perfect your game, this is not the blog for you. Not yet, anyway. I currently am well under 900 rating in both standard and blitz games, with my standard game about 250 points higher than blitz. So I'm far from an expert. But I hope to be one in the next few years. Did you know some people make a living playing chess? I had no idea until a few days ago. This would be really cool, and while it's probably extremely stupid to bank my family's future on me bringing home a regular paycheck from chess, it would be amazing to say that I am that good.

So this blog is geared more toward those who are not very good at the game, but have lofty ambitions. I will be posting regularly here tracking my progress and documenting the improvements and setbacks that I experience. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for both of us and we can realize our dreams of kicking butt in the Royal Game. Good luck!