Author Archives: DrDave

About DrDave

Retired player, current chess coach, organises chess events in Devon with a group of like-minded elves.

Approaching coaching

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Do you need a chess coach?

I think, if you want to improve, you should be

  1. Playing often, including a good slice of slow-play games
  2. Writing down all your slow-play games (and others if you can) or storing them in a database
  3. Going over your games, (a) by yourself, (b) with another player, and/or (c) with a computer
  4. Checking your opening moves against a book or database – who made the last ‘book’ move?
  5. Doing a bit of study of (a) tactics, (b) openings, and (c) endgames

If you aren’t doing any or all of those things, you won’t improve as fast as you could.  None of that needs a coach, but a coach might be able to give you pointers about your games (#2) or what you might look at to study (#4).  There’s a terrific amount of free instructional material online these days, so be sure you’re making the best use of your time and money before you hire a coach.  Here are some starting places:

https://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/getting-started-coaching-stuff
http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/u14-training-day-1st-february-2014

Hiring Dr.Dave

If you want to talk to me about coaching, I usually offer a free first consultation, to decide (a) if we like each other enough to spend more time talking,
(b) if I think I can do you any good, and
(c) if so, how and how often.
I’d like to do the consultation after having looked at your last dozen chess games – not your best dozen, or your last dozen wins, but your last dozen games, preferably with at least 30 minutes each on the clock.

The easiest thing, if you play online, is to point me to your chess profiles, where I can see your games for myself.  Lichess.org I think is one of the best places to play and is entirely free.

You can send games to me as scoresheets, photocopies or scans of scoresheets, transcribed typed moves, read to me over the ‘phone, or best of all as a PGN file.

Portable Game Notation (PGN) is a way of swapping games between computers, and any chess software worthy of the name should be able to read and write PGN files. A PGN file looks like this:

[Event "Game for stakes"]
[Site "London, Simpson's"]
[Date "1879"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Schilling,PDQ"]
[Black "Blackburne,JH"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. Nxe5 Qg5 5. Nxf7 Qxg2 
6. Rf1 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 Nf3# 0-1

Usually, a programme will give you a board to make the moves and a little form to fill in the game information.  To enter and email chess games in PGN format you can use:

If you play chess online, your server or software should be storing your games somewhere, and you should be able to find the games and send them along.  However, I never find ‘should’ much of a guarantee in life, so best of luck with that.

ALSO:

I am also interested to know about chess books, DVDs and software that you have in the house and also about any chess books that you may have devoured in the past and websites you may have plundered.

I can work face-to-face, over the ‘phone, or over the Internet using something like Google Meet and/or a chess server like Lichess .  Depending on your telephone contract and Internet speed, either may be the best option for us, but happy to discuss and experiment.

Fees vary depending on how much work you want me to do between sessions: if you can analyse your own games, do your own homework and we meet online, I’ll charge a minimum; if you want me to analyse your games, mark your homework and travel to your house, it will be for a higher rate.

[Contact email in sidebar.]

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Middlegame gym

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“Failing to plan, is like planning to fail.” ― Stephen McCranie

Test positions in PDF with comments about planning in general

Remember, this is more a guide of how to play positions where you have no idea what to do to start with; if you understand the opening systems you play better and better, that shouldn’t happen so often!

Suggested solutions

Dr.Dave’s Adventures at East Devon, 2013

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FRIDAY:
I’ve lost my last 5 games of chess and familiar doubts about my
chosen hobby are pressing. I could park my grade and retire to publishing and
coaching, but that’s not an admirable way to behave. Besides, having lost my
last 5 games, my grade wouldn’t be quite as wonderful at the end of the season,
so, time to shape up!

Click on […] to see games list.

1 {Black was unlucky to play a line I had
recently reviewed, and conceded a pawn. Despite some oversights by White in
analysis, it was actually Black who came up with a blunder.}

2 {I’m not sure whether to be pleased at how long I lasted against the top-rated player or disappointed that
I never felt as though I had anything positive to contribute during the game.
I was unhappy with my opening play during the game, but that may have been OK.
Odessky titled his chapter on this line as Tears fall, and maybe that’s all
there is to it: Black cannot create difficulties for White in this variation.}

3 {A bit of a grind. I have been playing this line for so long, you would have
thought I could find the right way through when I get a chance, but just as
against Alan Brusey in January, I make another pig’s ear out of Botvinnik’s
silk purse. Black doesn’t seize his moment, though, preferring to play simple,
uncommittal moves, which leads to his downfall. I didn’t find the clearest
win, and in pushing for a Bishop endgame could have thrown it away.}

4 {Some rather vague opening ideas were crowned by an absolute lemon on move 12,
after which Black’s position could be resigned without shame. I played on,
more out of inertia than anything else, when I caught a glimpse of an
opposite-coloured Bishop ending in the distance… and White was good enough
to steer for it.}

5 {I got a position of a type I have often played with colours reversed, and
with an extra tempo arrived at a winning position quite quickly. There seemed
to be very many a slip between plus and win, though.}

In the end, this was my best-ever performance in grading terms
(197), even better than Paignton last year (195). (Just in case you get too
impressed, my worst-ever was the East Devon in 2005, when I managed 00001 for
a 114 performance.

A coaching challenge

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I played at the East Devon Chess Congress earlier this year alongside my
longstanding friend and team-mate Charlie Keen. During a break between
games, we went over one of his encounters, looking for tips for next
time. The critical position was this one:

You might get more out of the discussion below, if you try and decide
for yourself what you would play here.

Decided? Now read on…

This was the game to that point:

Later I got this email:

“Please see attached, You had wondered if 23. fg was wrong, but in fact
it turns out that 20. g4 was wrong, and the annotated variation starting
20. Be2 is the way to play this position. 20. g4 cost 150cp and nearly
the game, but for the clock. You did not think twice about g4, nor did I.
How to spot this sort of error in advance?”

Never one to let a rhetorical question lie, let’s have a look, shall
we?

This was the game continuation:

This was Fritz’ recommendation, a pawn-and-a-half better in outcome,
according to Charlie:

[I will say my feeble old version of Fritz gives Charlie’s move as +1.0
and the alternative as +1.5.]

1. Just to remark before getting stuck in, no chess player can be
expected to get very far if they don’t “think twice” about their moves,
unless it is “QxQ checkmate”. There are pros and cons about many moves,
and often you have to take risks to beat opponents of a similar calibre
to your own, so thinking more than once is recommended on occasion.
(Chess is the art of creating positions that are too hard for your
opponents, but if your opponent is as good as you are, there’s probably
an element of risk involved…) On the other hand, the clock is ticking,
and there is pressure to play promptly, so let’s make the natural moves
quickly and think only when we have to…

2. Hindsight is a great teacher. Let’s look at the pros and cons of
that move 20.g4:

PRO:
Grabs space on the King’s-side
Prepares to grab more space on the King’s-side
Prepares to open lines on the King’s-side
Gains time by attacking the Knight
Forcing (so easy to analyse)

CON:
Abandons pawn control of f4
Prepares to open lines on the King’s-side (they are two-way streets!)

We can see with hindsight that the cons of the game continuation did
become manifest on the board. Thinking this way, hindsight today might
become foresight tomorrow. We might, indeed, spot the error in advance.

3. Is there anything general, and generalisable, that we can say about
the incorrect text move? And is there anything general, and
generalisable, about the correct Fritz suggestion?

If you had to describe the theme of the game, we might file it under
Attacking the King castled on the same side, which presents
problems when we are trying to open lines.

We can see in the Fritz line that Black got some counterplay when the
Black Queen was able to occupy the h-file before White.

Moreover, if you contrast the White and Black campaigns, you might say
Attacker and Defender. But let’s refine this to:
Attacking with Bishops and Defending with Knights.

In the game, Black’s Knight, solidly placed on f4, was a real nuisance
to White. We can also see in the Fritz line something of the generally
recommended strategy for fighting with Bishop(s) against Knight(s),
namely, the Knights must be denied stable squares. Here’s the technique
in a fairly pure form, although Steinitz later chose to swap the
advantage of Bishop over Knight for other chances:

With that discussion in mind, the strength of the Fritz line, and the
principles that underlie it, becomes clear. White builds up more slowly,
denying the Knight a place to squat, and not opening the position to the
risk of our own King. And, I hope, this sort of reflection is what might
help us spot such errors in advance.

4. What, in the end, is the lesson of this game? Perhaps it’s more than
something about Bishops and Knights, viz.:
just as rehearsing tactical examples widens the variety of tactical
opportunities (and mistakes) that we are likely to notice at the board,
familiarity with a wide variety of strategical examples is likely to do
the same thing for our positional decisions.

Comments invited!

A French encounter

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Credits

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Picture credits:

chess sets = me

me & Theo = Andrew Slade

me playing chess = (c) Bob Jones http://keverelchess.com/

 

Try moves in both orders

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Just a little practical example of something I often talk about: move order in analysis.

If you have a good idea, try it with a different order of moves: it might be even better!

For example:

Here White piled on the pressure with 14.c5+, soon followed by b5-b6.

Try it the other way around:

Vukovic’s mates

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Some time after writing the piece about checkmate patterns, I bought V. Vukovic’s
famous book The Art of Attack in Chess. In it he
gives a chapter full of mates, shown below; the numbering and
terminology are his.

UPDATE: PGN file attached ]

  All of these mates are worth knowing, although you may
only pull off Reti’s mate once in your life. But the threat to
carry out Reti’s mate may come up every year.

  White is to move unless indicated otherwise.

30

-+-+-+-J
+-+-+-+b
-+-+-+-Q
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Solution/Notes

31 Arab mate

-+-+-+j+
+-+-R-+-
-+-+p+-+
+-+-+-+n
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Solution/Notes

32

-+-K-J-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+n+-N
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-

Solution/Notes

33

-+-R-+j+
+-+-+xXx
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+t+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-K-

Solution/Notes

34

-+-+t+j+
+-+-+x+-
-+-+xPx+
+-+-+-Q-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Black to move Solution/Notes

35 Damiano’s mate

-+-+dTj+
+-+-+-X-
-+-+-Xp+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
K-+q+r+r

Solution/Notes

36

-+-+-Lj+
+-+-+-X-
-+-Xx+p+
+-+-+-+-
q+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Solution/Notes

37

-+-+-Tj+
+-+-+x+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-Q
+-+-K-+r

Black to move Solution/Notes

38

-+-+-T-J
+-+-XxXb
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+q
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Can Black, to move, save the game? Solution/Notes

39 Philidor’s legacy

-+-+t+-J
+-+-+-Xx
-+-+-S-+
+-+q+-N-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-K-

Solution/Notes

40

-+-+-Tj+
+-+-+xX-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-Nq
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+k

Black to move Solution/Notes

41

-+-+-Tj+
+-+n+x+x
-+-+-+x+
+-+-Q-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+pP
+-+-K-+-

A common pattern Solution/Notes

42 Greco’s mate

-+-+-Tj+
+-+-+xXx
-+-+-+-+
+-+b+-Nq
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Black to move Solution/Notes

43

-+-+-Tj+
+-+l+x+x
-+x+xB-+
+-+-+-+r
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Black to move Solution/Notes

44 Morphy’s mate

-+-+-Tj+
+-+-+xXx
-+-+-L-+
+-+-+q+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+k+-
-B-+-+-+
R-+-+-+-

Solution/Notes

45 Morphy’s concealed mate

-+-+-Tj+
+-+-+xXx
-+-+-+-+
+-+-B-R-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Solution/Notes

46

-+-+-+j+
+-+-+-X-
-+-R-+n+
+-+-+p+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Solution/Notes

47 Anastasia’s mate

-+-+-Tj+
+-+-+xXx
-+-+-+-+
+-Rn+-+r
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Solution/Notes

48

-+-+-Tj+
+-+-+x+x
-+-+-Px+
+-+-Q-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
R-+-K-+-

Solution/Notes

49 ‘blind swine’

t+-+-Tj+
+rR-+-+-
-+-+-X-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+k+-

Black to move Solution/Notes

50 epaulette mate

-+-+tJt+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-Q-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+k+-

Solution/Notes

51 swallow’s tail

-+-+t+t+
+-+-+j+-
-+-+-Q-+
+-+-+-P-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+k+-

Solution/Notes

52

-+-+t+-J
+-+-X-+x
-+-+lX-Q
+-+-+-P-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Solution/Notes

53

-+-+-T-J
+-+-+x+x
-+-+-+-+
+-+-N-+-
-+-B-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-K-+-

Solution/Notes

54 as Rotlewi-Rubinstein

-+-T-+-J
+-+-+-+x
-+-+-+-P
+-+x+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+b
-+-+-+-+
+-+k+-B-

Solution/Notes

55 Boden’s mate

-+j+-L-T
XxX-+pXx
-+s+-D-+
+-+b+l+-
-+-+-+-+
+-P-Bq+-
pP-N-+-+
+-Kr+-+r

Black to move Solution/Notes

56 Pillsbury’s mate

-+-+-Tj+
+t+-+xXx
-+-+-+-+
+-+l+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-B-+k+-+
R-+-+-R-

Solution/Notes

57 Legal’s mate

tS-DjLsT
XxX-+x+x
-+-X-+x+
+-+-X-+-
-+b+p+l+
+-N-+n+-
pPpP-PpP
R-BqK-+r

Solution/Notes

58 Max Lange’s mate

t+-DjL-T
XxX-+xXx
-+-+-+-+
+-+xP-+-
-+-+s+p+
+b+x+-+-
pPpP-+pP
RnBq+rK-

Black to move Solution/Notes

59 Reti’s mate

tSl+jL-T
Xx+-+xXx
-+x+-+-+
+-+-D-+-
-+-+s+-+
+-+q+-+-
pPpB-PpP
+-Kr+bNr

Solution/Notes

60 Blackburne’s mate

-+-+-Tj+
+-+-+xXx
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-N-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-Bb+-K-+
+q+-+-+-

Solution/Notes

Solutions and notes

#30

  1 Bg6+ Kg8, 2 Qh7+ Kf8, 3 Qf7 mate

  1 Bf5+ Kg8, 2 Be6 mate

#31

  1 Nf6+ Kh8, 2 Rh7 mate

#32

  cannot be forced in this situation

  but worth looking out for in a castled King’s-side
position, because the Knights cover so many squares

#33

  Oh, how many times have we overlooked this…

#34

  1…Kh7, 2 Qh4+ Kg8, 3 Qh6 and 4 Qg7 mate

#35

  1 Rh8+ Kxh8, 2 Rh1+ Kg8, 3 Rh8+ Kxh8, 4 Qh1+ Kg8, 5 Qh7
mate

#36

  1 Qh5 Be7, 2 Qh7+ Kf8, 3 Qh8 mate

#37

  1…f5 2 Qh7 mate

  1…Re8 2 Qh8 mate

#38

  1…g6! 2 Qh6!

#39

  1 Nf7+ Kg8 2 Nh6+ Kh8 3 Qg8+ Rxg8 4 Nf7 mate

#40

  1…Rb8, 2 Qxf7+ Kh8, 3 Ne6 Rg8, 4 Qh5 mate

#41

  1 Nf6+ Kh8, 2 Nh5+ f6 escapes

  1 … Kg2, 2 Ne8++ Kh6, 3 Qf4+ g5, 4 Qf6+ Kh5, 5 Ng7+ and
White needs only a Pawn on g2/h2 to force mate

#42

  1…h6 2 Bxf7+ Kh8 3 Qg6! hxg5 4 Qh5 mate

#43

  1…Rf8, 2 Rg5+ Kf8, 3 Rg7!

#44

  1 Qxf6 gxf6, 2 Rg1+ Kh8 3 Bxf6 mate

#45

  1 Rxg7+ Kh8, 2 Rxf7+! Kg8, 3 Rg7+ Kh8, 4 Rg1+ Rf6, 5 Bxf6
mate

#46

  1 Rd8+ Kf7, 2 Rf8 mate

#47

  1 Ne7+ Kh8, 2 Rxh7+

#48

  1 Qg5 Kh8, 2 Qh6 Rg8, 3 Qxh7+

#49

  1…Rfd8, and White has only perpetual

  the Rooks ‘grunt out check’ but cannot get sight of mate
(Janowski)

#50

#51

#52

  1 g6 Bg8, 2 g7 mate

#53

  1 Nxf7+ or 1 Ng6+ mates

#54

  1 Be6 d4, 2 Bh2 and 3 Be5 mate

#55

  Macdonnell-Boden 1869

  1…Qxc3+ 2 bxc3 Ba3 mate

#56

  1 Rxg7+ Kh8, 2 Rg8+ Kxg8, 3 Rg1 mate

  (compare Morphy’s mate)

#57

  1 e4 e5, 2 Nf3 d6, 3 Bc4 Bg4, 4 Nc3 g6

  5 Nxe5! Bxd1? 6 Bxf7+ Ke7, 7 Nd5 mate

#58

  10…Bc5+ 11 Kh1 Ng3+ 12 hxg3 Qg5, 13 Rf5 h5! since 14
Rxd8 hxg4 mate

#59

  9 Qd8+ Kxd8, 10 Bg5++ Kc7, 11 Bd8 mate

#60

  1 Qh1 h5, 2 Qxh5! gxh5, 3 Bh7 mate