The puzzles below were presented to two teams of adult members and juniors on June 4th, playing for a box of Celebration chocolates. The winning team scored 100 points. Why not try the puzzles to see how may points you would score? Answers are given at the end of the article.
Diagram 1 (Black # in 2) 5pts
Diagram 2 (white # in 2) 10 pts
Diagram 3 (white # in 3) 10 pts
Diagram 4 (white # in 3) 5 pts
Diagram 5 Black is in #. What are the pieces? 10 pts
Diagram 6 (White # in 9) 30 pts
Diagram 7.White to play and win 10 pts
Diagram 8 White to play and win 20 pts
G. Jones vs B. Khotenashvili
Diagram 9 White to play and win 10 pts
C. Duval vs E. Paehtz
Diagram 10 Black to play and win 10 pts
Answers to puzzles:
Diagram 1. 1…… Qg3+ 2. fxg3 Re8e2#
Diagram 2. 1. Re2e5 (If Rb2+ then Rd2#)
Diagram 3. 1. Rg1 Rh8 2. Rg3+ and either the rook checkmates by Rh3 or if fxg3 then fxg3#.
Diagram 4. 1. Qxh7+ Kxh7 2. Rh4+ Kg8 3. Rh8#
Diagram 5. White King on a6, black knight on a5, black king on a4, white rook on b5, white queen on b4.
Diagram 8. The plan is to place the pawn on c7 and play the king along the b file [so avoiding a check from c1 from the rook if the king strays to the c file].
1 c7 Rd6+
2 Kb5! Rd5+
3 Kb4 Rd4+
4 Kb3 Rd3+
5 Kc2
Now the promotion of the pawn is inevitable but white still needs to be careful.
5……… Rd4!
6 c8[R]!! [threatening mate on a8. If 6 c8 [Q] Rc4+! 7 Qxc4 with stalemate].
6…… Ra4
7 Kb3 and white wins because of the double threat of taking the rook or being checkmated.
Diagram 9. 1. Qb4+ Qxb4 2. axb4 Kxb4 3. g5 hxg5 4. f6 and white will promote his pawn first.
A few weeks ago, I finished a Berkshire Chess League game early, so had time to watch two players rated over ECF 2000 play a rook ending. David Roberts of Bracknell Chess Club was white. Rook endings are among the hardest end-games to play and even when the position below has a computer rating of +1.53, there are so many possible options that the only way to win is to have a very sound technique and to play with creativity. The engine agreed that the moves found by each player were accurate, which is credit to the skills and learning of both.
Position after black’s 70th move 70….Kb5.
How do we assess this position? Firstly, it is clear that if the two rooks are not on the board, then it is a trivial win for white. Black cannot defend both sides of the board. So, black must avoid the immediate exchange of rooks. Secondly. Black must eliminate the white a – pawn with his rook before considering how to stop white’s h – pawn. The king needs to relocate to the middle of the board (heading towards the h – pawn). The plan for white is to prevent the black king blocking the h – pawn, capture the g-pawn and advance the king to shepherd the h-pawn to the eighth rank. Easier said than done!
71. Kg3 Kc5
72. Kg4 Kd5
73. Kg5 Ke5
I had not seen David’s next move which is a clever way of forcing an exchange of the white a – pawn for the black g – pawn. After 74. Ra4. Black cannot position his king in front of the white h pawn via his third rank because of Kxg6. A rook check on a5 will force the king to the white’ fourth rank, cutting it off from the advancing h-pawn. Black has to play waiting moves.
74. Ra4 Rb6
75. Ra5+ Ke4
76. a4 Rc6
Now the king is cut off from the g – pawn white can look to force the capture of the g – pawn by Rb5, then a5 and Rb6. Black is forced to exchange the g – pawn for the a – pawn or else go two pawns down.
77. Rb5 Ra6
78. a5 Kd4
White can force the capture of the g – pawn by Rb6.
79. Rb6 Rxa5+
80. Kxg6 Ra1 (best to try and stop an advancing pawn by positioning a rook behind it).
81. Rb5 (cutting the King off from the fifth rank and shielding the king from a check on the g file).
81…..Ke4
82. h5 Kf4
83. h6 Ra6+
84. Kh5 Ra7
85. Rd5 Rb7
86. Ra5 Rc7
The final phase of the game! White plays Ra8 threatening to check the black king on f8 forcing it away from the advancing h-pawn, whilst giving his king cover from checks across the back rank. A great move!
87. Ra8 Rb7
88. Rf8+ Ke5
89. Kg6 Rb1
90. Re8+ Kd6 (moving the king further away from the h – pawn and allowing the king to play backwards towards rook checks).
Now the game is won.
91. h7 Rg1+
92. Kf5 Rf1+
93. Kg4 Rg1+
94. Kf3
1 – 0
There is enormous credit due to the way both players tackled this ending. It demonstrates how important it is to study endgames and, even when you do, how rich in possibilities they can be.
Tip 1. The centre of the board is the most important area to control in the opening. Use pawns to take away squares from your opponent’s pieces (e.g. e4, d4, c4). Bring knights and bishops out before queens and rooks. Put them on squares that maximise their potential (cover more squares than in the starting position). Knights should usually come towards the centre of the board. Keep the queen and rooks behind the knights and bishops.
Tip 2. Castle early to connect rooks and better protect your king in the corner of the board. The king is more vulnerable to attack in the centre of the board.
Tip 3. Do not move pieces more than once in an opening. A game can be easily lost by wasted moves.
Tip 4. Rooks work best when connected. Early castling helps. Do not bring rooks from the back rank too early, especially not in to positions where they can be attacked by pawns, knights and bishops.
Tip 5. To increase the chance of gaining strategic advantages play rooks along files or ranks occupied by your opponent’s king or queen.
Tip 6. Rooks belong on open files where they can advance and penetrate the opponent’s position along the ranks, particularly the seventh rank. Double up your rooks to gain control of open files.
diagram 1
diagram 2
In diagram 1 above if it is black to move then he should prevent Rd7 postioning a rook on the seventh rank. This delays further bringing the rooks together but will allow black to contest the open file by e.g. 1…Ke8 2. Rd2 Rd8 3. Red1 Rxd2 4. Rxd2.
In diagram 2 white should double rooks on the open file by 1. Rad1. It would be a mistake to concede the d file by capturing the black rook.
Tip 7. Do not bring your queen out in front of your pawns early in the game because exposing her to attack allows your opponent an opportunity to improve the position of his/ her minor pieces. Keep the queen back during the middle game i.e. behind the knights and bishops.
Tip 8. Do not deliver pointless checks with the queen [or any other pieces] just because you can.
Tip 9. Use the queen behind minor pieces to increase their power (Reti). Over-protect pieces in the middle game (Nimzowitch).
In diagram 3 I was playing a correspondence chess game and had just moved my queen from c2 to b2. This increases the power of the bishop on c3 and gives added protection to the knight on e5. Black responded by playing his knight to b7. Can you see the winning move? (clue: reference tip 7)
Tip 8. Knights are weaker on the edge of the board. They are best placed towards the centre, finding squares where they cannot be attacked by pawns.
Tip 9. Knights are particularly useful pieces for forking pieces, so beware!
diagram 4
In diagram 4 the knight on e5 cannot be attacked by pawns or the bishop. It covers 8 important squares in the centre of the board. The black bishop in contrast is blocked in by it’s own pawns. In this instant the knight is more powerful than the bishop.
Bishops
Unless there is a tactical reason (e.g. winning a piece, delivering checkmate) not to do so…….
Tip 10. Bishops are more valuable in positions where they are not obstructed by pawns.
Tip 11. Bishops are ideal for pinning or skewering. Do not give up your bishop for a knight too readily.
Tip 12. Two bishops together cover every square on the chess board. Unless the position is blocked, two bishops are more powerful than two knights or a knight and a bishop.
diagram 5
The two bishops are superior to the two knights because the position is not blocked with pawns. It is worthwhile playing through this position to see if you can win the game for white. Tip: bishops are powerful in end games where the pawns are split on either side of the board.
Illustration game.
In this (correspondence) game my plan was to bring my rook to an open file occupied by my opponent’s king and queen, threatening to pin the bishop with f5. I then wanted to improve the scope of my bishop on c1 by bringing it to b2. Finally, I intended to take advantage of pins down the a1 – h8 diagonal, threating pieces and checkmate (if black castles on the kingside, which I thought was likely!). Tactics were available to me as the position developed.
With acknowledgement to the excellent teaching course from Chess in Schools and Communities and ideas from ‘Maximise your chess potential’ by Dan Heisman.
