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.

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.

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.