Playing Against an Outpost

  In the diagram White has an outpost on e5, but Ne5 can always be met by …Nxe5 and after recapturing with the pawn, White’s outpost is gone. White needs to bring another piece to bear on e5, so White to move would play 1.Bg5 and follow it up with Bh4 and Bg3. If on the other hand Black is...

The Philidor Position

The Lucena and Philidor positions are the most important positions to know when it comes to rook and pawn endings. Here we will be looking at the Philidor position, which allows Black to draw against an opponent that is up a pawn. It’s important to note that the Philidor position only works if the...

The Outpost

The diagram shows that White has the center and the d-file. In other respects positions are equal. White with the move will attempt operations on the d-file. This presents difficulties since the protected Black pawn at d6 represents a “granite block”. The key move in this position is 1.Nd5 and...

Virtual Chess Coach – Part I

About the Virtual Chess Coach Program This program is geared for my improvement (a 35 year old 1278 USCF rated player), but I hope that others in a similar situation will be able to derive benefit from it as well. I will be modeling this program on the teaching’s of Dan Heisman. Dan Heisman is one of...

King and Pawn Endgame with Pawns on Both Wings

The following endgame example illustrates how to turn a one pawn advantage into a win: The conversion of an extra pawn falls into three phases: 1) the King is activated. 1.Kf1 1…Ke7 2.Ke2 Kd6 3.Kd3 Kd5 2)Mobilization of the majority. 4.b4 Mobilize by moving the “candidate”, which is the...

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