Chess Forum
diddyonline.com << online chess - < chess - chess > - chess online >>
| From | Message | ||||||||
| Posted by wschmidt diddyonline.com 5/30/2008 14:34:38 Play online chess |  Subject: Novice Nook #72Message: Here's the link:  www.chesscafe.com | ||||||||
| Posted by ccmcacollister diddyonline.com 5/30/2008 18:21:28 Play online chess | Three most common pawn trade errors, imo ... Message: *** 1) Premature trading of center pawn(s) or the Lever Pawn(s) ,attacking the center, with attendant release of Tension for no purpose. To maximize chances in ones' late-opening thru middle-game phase, tension should be maintained until either being faced with material loss or substantial positional disadvantage such that it is forced to trade; or otherwise not until the pawn trade will produce material or positional advantage or enable creation or pursuit of initiative. These goals being in additional to the generally advantageous (to varied degrees, per position) "side-effect" of creation of open line(s), particularly files for the major pieces. *** The whole point of creating tension to begin with is that one tries to buildup forces behind their file opening pawn(s) in such way that the opponent's position, being more cramped spacewise & less mobile and responsive for piece play (and squares to put them on) during that stage of the game, than it will be after tension is released, may lead to a situation wherein he simply Cannot respond to all your pressure sufficiently to keep safe all your targeted pieces or squares. Thereby you seek to win material, or significant infiltration into the far side of the board. This should be especially true if you have obtained a space advantage for yourself already ... wherein your own pieces have high mobility. **** As analogy, you might chose to think of tension as like a loaded rifle. Before pulling the "trigger" (releasing tension by pawn trade) you want to be sure that it is "loaded" (pressure upon files to be opening), and that you have "taken aim" (selected specific targets for capture or infiltration.) All too often we see a player simply Point at the opponents position and pull the trigger, without having any target in sight ... hoping for a blind hit somewhere meaningful. *** #2) Is quite similar to the above, but even more critical. That is the premature release of pawn tension, or piece trades as well, in a Gambit opening. The Gambiteer Must maintain advantages other than material, or probably lose; Usually having a lead in development & an already present open file due to the pawn(s) gambited (where opp may have none). ........................................ He must make sure to maximize the potential of his advantages during the tension stage, if there is one. His superior mobility, the very thing he has gambit to obtain, must be utilized mercilessly ... unless he decides and has the opportunity to gain back his material. .................................. (aka "wimp-out" ... but admittedly there are those times when the better part of valor, indeed our very survival at the board, will depend upon a good Wimp-Out! Still, a mating attack IS so much more satisfying, don't you agree? :) *** #3) A point of Endgame technique: DO NOT TRADE pawns for opponent pawns that can simply be WON OUTRIGHT. So many times I have seen players turn an easy win into a very slight and tricky win, or even a Draw or worse. Don't even waste time thinking about trading for his pawns if you can just win them. *** The EXCEPTIONS: (A) If you are in a tempo critical situation such as a pawn race to Queen first, then it may be needed to offer to trade rather than win weakened pawn(s), or even to sac some of yours outright for tempo. ..................................... (B) More a case of style: If you are playing for Artistry, such as trying to play a "perfectly played" game on your part, for instance, you may be concerned with completing your win in the shortest number of moves, aor as forcefully as possible, as a matter of displaying precision and accuracy of technique. Trying for the best and sharpest win line throughout. As opposed to the Practical Player, who will take a win as it comes and likely using the technique that will require the least deep analysis and energy expenditure, in order to keep his form and concentration for the length of a tournament. And if This latter IS your situation: Just WIN those pawns! :)) *** Personally, I always tend to go for the sharp and artsy. Perhaps that's why I've been known to fall asleep during the last round !!? Thanks for reading ... But Fair-Warning: if you are not into lengthy posts, you will want to skip this one~! * * * * * * * * * * * }8-D | ||||||||
| Posted by ionadowman diddyonline.com 5/30/2008 21:20:57 Play online chess | An instructive article. Message: How about situations in which you are ahead (or behind) and there are a lot of pieces and few pawns? To reduce the stronger side's attacking chances and/or mobility, the weaker side might well go for piece exchanges. Here's and example - rather "extreme", but it illustrates the point. White is well behind in material. Should he exchange pieces? The 'rule of thumb' says no: w Exchanging pieces in fact goes straight to a "book" draw: 1.Nd3+ Nxd3 2.Kxd3 after which the WK heads for h1 and the surrounding 3 squares, out of which he can not be evicted. The bishop can not control the queening square. ——— Children 1, Astronaut 0 — In the end, the astronaut could not outwit the children. Wednesday, Greg Chamitoff, an American astronaut, resigned a long-running correspondence chess game against a group of children from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Wash. They had started the game in September 2008 while Chamitoff was stationed aboard the International Space Station. The game had been the idea of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Officials at the agency had asked the United States Chess Federation about having Chamitoff play a game of chess against some of the federation’s members. Stevenson was chosen as an opponent because the school ... Posted by sf115 | diddyonline.com 5/31/2008 03:21:24 Play online chess Message: It's an interesting article but the examples shown seem to be quite extreme. Blocking the whole board with a giant pawn chain or having a rook's pawn and bishop of the wrong colour are rare. Would it be true to say that 90% of the time the rule: "swap pieces when you're ahead, swap pawns if you're losing" is the best ——— London Chess Classic: Kramnik's lesson in positional play — McShane-Kramnik, London 2009. Black to play. With two rounds to go in the London Chess Classic, the Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen looks set to win the tournament. Vladimir Kramnik, his main rival, is in second place. In this game from round three, Kramnik displayed his refined positional understanding. RB I've been following this tournament online, but I missed this particular game, and more's the pity because I can't find a good continuation for Black. Clearly Kramnik has the better game – the two centralised knights look very threatening – but how to convert Black's positional superiority into a winning position? 1...Nxd2 2 Nxd2 doesn't lead anywhere and ... Posted by scarper | diddyonline.com 5/31/2008 13:38:05 Play online chess Message: This is a principle i've heard before but i don't think i fully understand it. I see the logic in not swapping pieces when you're losing but i don't really understand why swapping pawns benefits a losing position. Could someone elaborate? Cheers ——— Gelfand Wins World Chess Cup — Boris Gelfand of Israel is the 2009 World Cup champion. Gelfand won the title by beating Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in a playoff on Monday. The first four games of the playoff were rapid games (25 minutes per player per game) and Gelfand took the lead by winning the second game. But Ponomariov, with his back to the wall, won the last rapid game to tie the match up again. The playoff then went to blitz chess (5 minutes per player per game) and Gelfand once again took the lead by beating Ponomariov in the first game when he managed to trap Ponomariov’s queen in 21 moves. Ponomariov rallied again, winning the second game. But Gelfand won the third and Ponomariov ... Posted by ionadowman | diddyonline.com 5/31/2008 15:53:57 Play online chess Whoops...Message: w scarper: When behind in material, it is usually a good idea to reduce the pawns on the board (i.e. exchanging) in order to reduce the stronger side's chances of promoting, but also to localise his attack. Consider a rook and pawn ending. Speaking very broadly here, K+R+P finds it very difficult to beat K+R. It is in such an endgame where you pretty much know what your drawing chances are. Things are a lot more complicated when there are several pawns a side, say K+R+4P vs K+R+3P. For one thing, much depends on where the pawns are, relative to the board, and relative to each other. Naturally, where the kings and rooks are also makes a difference. By "relative to the board" I mean the question of whether all the pawns lie on one side of the board, on both sides, or are clumped in the centre, and how advanced (i.e how close to promotion) they are. By "relative to each other" I mean whether connected pawns are level or form a diagonal. whether any pawns are backward, isolated, doubled, passed... A position like the following would be very hard for the stronger side to win: w ... provided that the weaker side keeps the rooks on. On the other hand, in this position: w ... the stronger side can really fancy his winning chances. ——— A tragic knight — The London Chess Classic, a fabulously organized eight-player elite tournament, shaped up as a confrontation between two great chess grandmasters, the top-rated Magnus Carlsen of Norway and the former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. By the luck of draw, they met in the first round, and Carlsen won. The Norwegian GM was still in a clear lead on Sunday with four points in five rounds, a full point ahead of Kramnik. U.S. chess champion Hikaru Nakamura drew four games and lost one. The tournament concludes Tuesday. The Carlsen-Kramnik duel looked like a perfectly played game by the Norwegian, who took advantage of Kramnik's stranded knight. "If one piece is ... Posted by scarper | diddyonline.com 6/01/2008 02:21:20 Play online chess Message: ——— A Game Lasts 163 Moves, and That's Not Even a Record — Chess professionals are conditioned to games that take four to five hours and last about 50 moves, but occasionally play lasts much longer and the contest becomes a war of attrition. That is what happened between Nigel Short and Luke McShane of England in the first round of the London Chess Classic, which started on Tuesday. McShane, who had White, got a tiny advantage out of the opening, but Short defended well, and after 60 moves it seemed as if the game would end in a draw. But McShane, 25, persisted and Short, 44, was forced to continue to defend. It took McShane seven hours, and 163 moves, but he finally broke Short and forced him to resign. That ... |