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From	Message
xpchesser23 23-Nov-13, 11:02	a big understanding of chess Does anyone here have a big understanding of chess. At the point of my games im really good at understanding openings and middlegames, somewhat endgames. But i still have no clue. For example sometimes when i play certain openings, understand how the openings work but when it comes to strategizing my play i hit rock bottom. I mean i understand tactical motifs. But is theres something about how certain openings work. Lets take the kings pawn opening. Yea e4 could be best by test, you have easy development and castle in 3 or 5 moves, but as we branch out to other sister openings such as the ruy lopez, sicilian defense caro kann what are the ideas based on whites side. For example what are the key squares good pieces such as knights and bishops.
archduke_piccolo 23-Nov-13, 13:33	Wow! What xpchesser23 is asking is a huge topic. Part of the problem that if we were to choose just one opening - call it the Ruy Lopez - to discuss the ideas behind it would have to take into account all sorts of ways the game could go. To take an instance, consider this sequence: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 - the Morphy Defence. This has been - probably still is - the most popular reply by Black. Before continuing, if we are looking at this opening from (say) White's point of view, we would still have to take into account ideas for Black. This unassuming little move forces White to make a decision: 1. Exchange on c6 (4.Bxc6) - The Exchange Variation. It's not hugely popular, but quite playable. 2. Retreat. It is unlikely White will be willing to lose time moving back along the diagonal whence it came, so: 4.Ba4. That still represents something of a loss of time. In the just finished World Championship Match, the Ruy Lopez was played 3 times. In none of them did Black play 3...a6, but instead 3...Nf3 at once: the Berlin Defence. Here's what my old MCO 11 (1972) has to say about the Berlin: "...formerly also a 'cramped' strategy', now a satisfactory reply to the once dreaded Spanish torture." Vlad Kramnik used it to stymie Harry Kasparov in the Match of 2000, and it seems that it is very difficult to break down. The impression is that Kramnik and Carlsen (and Anand as well) employed the Berlin as a 'gimme' draw with the Black pieces, thereby depriving White of a real opportunity to score with the White pieces! That of course is real top level stuff. The equalizing qualities of the Berlin could scarcely occupy us at less elevated regions of the Chess world. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bb5, White also has to count on the possibilities of: 3...Bc5 - Cordel Defence - Unpopular, but (according to MCO11) quite playable; 3...d6 - Old Steinitz Defence ( I prefer the Modern Steinitz with 3...a6 4.Ba5 d6); 3...Kge7 - Cozio Defence - OK if you like closed positions; 3...Nd4 - Bird's Defence - if you like offbeat systems; 3...f5!? - Schliemann Defence (a.k.a. Jaenisch Defence). I don't know why this is called a defence: really it is a violent attempt to counter-attack. I've played this once or twice on Gameknot myself. If you like tactics, I recommend it against the Ruy. At that we haven't looked at the several possibilities after 3...a6 4.Ba5.
archduke_piccolo 23-Nov-13, 13:49	Deleted by archduke_piccolo on 23-Nov-13, 19:53.
archduke_piccolo 23-Nov-13, 13:53	Deleted by archduke_piccolo on 23-Nov-13, 19:53.
bigpeta 23-Nov-13, 15:18	general ideas there is an old book by Ruben Fine called ideas behind the chess openings. This gives exactly what you are asking for. It points out such things as weak pieces or squares etc which musty be resolved for each opening. However i think that too deep theory at your level is not required. My philosophy is to concentrate on the basic guidelines to build a solid base from which to attack. Unless of course being a fairly new member of GK your rating is in fact much higher. In which case then this is not the right group for you. at this point only you can know this
snowman100 12-Dec-13, 14:42	general Ideas I agree with Pete to a certain extent that opening moves at general club level (my level) are sufficient to be based on solid classical principles, but there do seem to be many opening traps that are sprung by stronger players after their opponents play what seem to be solid moves (which has happened to me many times!).
snowman100 12-Dec-13, 14:42	Deleted by snowman100 on 12-Dec-13, 14:43.
xpchesser23 12-Dec-13, 15:58	ive never encountered any opening trap lines myself although, either because it goes unnoticed to club level players or because its easy to counterattack. but I know in the caro kann there is a certain trap and also the queens gambit accepted where white tries to give black a pawn in return for initiative where black tries to fight for the accepted pawn instead of his minor pieces he uses his pawns. or the greek gift where you sac the bishop when the black king is castled
snowman100 12-Dec-13, 16:00	Opening traps There are many many opening traps. If you google opening traps + chess you'll see loads of very crafty ones.
xpchesser23 12-Dec-13, 16:19	Deleted by xpchesser23 on 12-Dec-13, 16:20.
xpchesser23 12-Dec-13, 16:20	I know that but I don't think opening traps really develop you as a chess player, I know when I used to be a beginning chess player I tried to gain an advantage in opening traps but now as I play positional chess. like for example that fishing pole technique or whatever opening traps are out there.
xpchesser23 12-Dec-13, 16:24	since then I read chess books like jerry silmans chess lectures or watch chess videos such as this guy www.tigerlilov.com
archduke_piccolo 12-Dec-13, 17:35	Greek Gift. This isn't really an opening 'trap' or tactic, but a well-known mating motif that occurs in the middle game. As such, the notion ought to become part of a chess student's technique - the 'second nature' part of his game. Here's an example of a Greek Gift sacrifice: White to play: 1.Bxh7ch Kxh7 2.Nh5ch ... and now [A] 2...Kg8 3.Qh5. In this particular position, Black can not save the mate 3...Re8 4.Qxf7ch Kh8 5.Qh5ch Kg8 6.Qh7ch Kf8 7.Qh8 Ke7 8.Qxg7# Betas the heck out of 5.Nxe6?, eh? [B] 2... Kg6 When calculating what looks like a Greek Gift situation you have to count on Black trying this. In a slightly different position Black might escape this way. 3.Qg4 ... Threat: 4.Nxe6ch and winning the Black Queen. 3...Kf6 4.Rxe6ch!! fxe6 5.Qxe6#. Note that the success of this attack depends upon Black's Knights being unable to reach g6 betimes. Set up the same position but with the knight moved from b6 to d7, and the attack would fail: 1.Bxh7ch Kxh7 2.Ng5ch Kg8 3.Qh5 Nf3 By the way, an analogous situation is possible for Black.
xpchesser23 12-Dec-13, 22:34	archduke_piccolo How are you able to display the board like that i was hoping to show a couple of motifs myself.
archduke_piccolo 13-Dec-13, 03:45	Use the 'fen' notation... The full notation can be seen in the Wikipedia entry on the Forsyth-Edwards Notation for noting down chess positions. The position is written down line by line, Black pieces in lower case, White pieces in UPPER, and the empty squares between denoted by their number. Each rank is separated by a /. The board position below is written down in F-E Notation as: r2q1rk1/ppp2p2/2np1n1p/2b1p1p1/2P1P2B/2N2N2/PPP2PPP/R2Q1RK1 w The 'w' following indicates it is White to play and would therefore show the White pieces at the bottom. A 'b' would indicate it is Black to play. Omission of this will default to White to play. There are additional codes that identify whether White and or Black can castle (this has to be explicit if the ability to castle is significant, whether 'en passant' capture is possible (and where), the number of moves since the last pawn move or capture (if the 50-move rule needs to be considered), and the duration of the game. These codes are not essential, but their omission defaults to castling and 'en passant' not playable or no longer available in the position. To display in a message like this, the notation is preceded by fen=, and is enclosed in double quotation marks. fen="<notation>" where <notation> is in the form above. In the string below, I simply copied and pasted the <r2q----RK1 w> line. By the way, from ths diagram position, White obtains a winning attack by 1.Nxg5 hxg5 2.Bxg5 Nb4 - to deal with the threat 3.Nd5 3.a3 c6 4.axb4 Bxb4 5.f4 ... and although Black has 5...Bc5ch 6.Kh1, there is no good answer to White's threat of 7.fxe5.
hogfysshe 13-Dec-13, 05:12	practice board and fen string also keep in mind that you can set up a position using the gk practice board (located for example at the top of your "my games" page) and then click "FEN" under than board to retrieve the notation. Then you can post a diagram to the forum. It sometimes requires an adjustment or two to get the diagram to show the exact features you want. Anyway, useful tools for illustrating a position etc.
xpchesser23 13-Dec-13, 06:53	hogfysshe What do you suggest the adjustments should be???
archduke_piccolo 13-Dec-13, 12:27	I think... ... they might be those I mentioned: availability of castling, 'en passant' and what have you. Check these out: White to play and mate in two... White to play and mate in one. The second notation has has <space>K added after the 'w' to signify K-side castling is available. Omitting that, as in the first diagram, defaults to castling not available - the K or KR has moved before. When you 'click' on the King in the analyse board, you will see the difference: an extra little blue circle appearing on g1 in the latter diagram. In the following two diagrams, it is Black to play. Who wins? Clue: click on the pawns in each diagram. The latter end with 'b - d3' (Black to move/no castling/'en passant available at d3 [destination square]). It don't work without that dash.
xpchesser23 13-Dec-13, 12:59	Here is a game that i played white player made the mistake by moving the bishop to f4, but the worst mistake he done was moving the rook. Obviously this was sort of a kings indian defense play for black but i managed to exploit his weaknesses of his F1 rook and his f2 square making a cute checkmate motif Black to play checkmate on 5.
archduke_piccolo 13-Dec-13, 13:08	Well done... I don't know whether you had seen this kind of thing before, but what you have played out is the famous 'Philidor's Legacy' checkmating motif. The idea, and its offshoots, crops up surprisingly often, even though the chance actually to play it out is rather rarer. Familiarity tells you what to avoid, or it can be used as a threat to make gains elsewhere. It's a very nice and satisfying way to end a game.
xpchesser23 13-Dec-13, 13:23	archduke_piccolo yes i have actually seen that kind of motif before whenever i do a little bit of chess tactics, but in other terms its called the smothered mate. usually handful of people dont see them and thats why its a good thing to brush up on tactics because you never know when you get a good checkmate chance. but anyways black to move on checkmate
archduke_piccolo 13-Dec-13, 14:18	'Philidor's Legacy' I was thinking more in terms of the constellation of pieces and pawns the permit the smothered mate after a forced sequence of moves. Both xpchesser23's diagrams contain this constellation. The former had checkmate in 5; the latter is mate in 7. The important features are the same: the weak g1-a7 diagonal accessible to the Black Queen, and the WK on g1; f2 reachable by the knight, unmoved g- and h-pawns, no rook on f1, The king unable to find refuge of f1 owing to the mate.... There is a White equivalent, too, of course. Suppose, though, White's g3-rook stood at f1. Then Black would probably still win the game by forcing the win of the exchange: 1...Qc5ch 2.Kh1 Nf2ch 3.Rxf2 Qxf2. 2kr2r1/1pqbbp1p/p3p2B/5p2/2p3n1/1PN2PR1/P1P1N1PP/R4QK1 b - - In this situation, the whole thing falls down on account of 1....Qc5ch 2.Kh1 Nf2ch 3.Kg1 and the smothered mate won't work because the Q can recapture on f2. So Black would probably be best advised to win the bishop by 3...Ng4ch 4.Kh1 Nxh6.
xpchesser23 13-Dec-13, 14:46	In this situation, the whole thing falls down on account of 1....Qc5ch 2.Kh1 Nf2ch 3.Kg1 and the smothered mate won't work because the Q can recapture on f2. So Black would probably be best advised to win the bishop by 3...Ng4ch 4.Kh1 Nxh6. Thats true true by setting the queen on a different square might make things a little more interesting. Instead of taking taking the bishop you can also reroute the knight to take the rook with.... 1....Qc5+ kh1 2. Nf2+ kg1 3. Ne4++ kh1 4. Nxg3 taking the rook while busting the kings side position and aiming for the weak pawn on g3 Why take something of equal value where you can get more. Thats why its good improve your position and find more.
hogfysshe 13-Dec-13, 15:23	all looks under control. looks interesting. will read through. yes, the archduke had it right saying I might have meant those items he had mentioned. just meant that if your diagram isn't working quite right, you might need to add or change a bit of FEN info. I've actually never done anything fancy with the diagrams beyond flipping them. but since Ion and Pete have talked about the technical aspects, I was saying "don't give up; there is probably a way to get it just right." wasn't sure the practice board and FEN string would be enough by themselves to do what you wanted.
archduke_piccolo 13-Dec-13, 17:20	Yes: in my last posting, I forgot... ... having 'copied' and 'pasted' the fen string, to do the fen= bit...

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