Chess for Beginners

Author: beginchess

  • Connecting the Dots in Chess

    I have made an observation while solving puzzles, that I feel will improve my tactical puzzle solving skills, and might have direct application during actual games.

    When solving a tactical puzzle of intermediate to advanced level I either:

    1. Have no clue how to go about solving it and get it wrong.

    2. Have multiple ideas that look promising, but after further analysis don’t win {usually end up playing one of the two and get the answer wrong}.

    3. Solve the puzzle correctly.

    This post is going to focus on solving the 2nd category above. I have found that you will get many more puzzles correct by combining ideas that arise by analyzing different candidate moves. Unfortunately, by not making a link between the two, or forgetting about your first idea when looking at the second, I mainly fail to connect the dots and only after reviewing the correct answer do I see that I had been on the right track and would have answered correctly  if I had combined my candidates.

    You might want to solve this puzzles on your own before reading the answers below taking into account your thought process while doing so and then see if you encountered the same issues as I did.

    Here’s the first position we will look at:


    White to move and win

    The first candidate that came to mind was 1.Bb6 attacking the Queen. I analyzed the response 1…Nxb6 2.axb6 Qxb6 which loses a pawn for White and the Black Queen lives on. So I abandoned this candidate and looked for a better move.

    I then found that Qh6 looked promising and I began to analyze 1.Bh5 with the idea of Bh8 and then getting my Queen to h6. But I soon found that 1.Bh5 was a slow since it allows 1…Kh7 and White is out of gas. What I missed, and where I think there is room for improvement, is if I would have combined both moves. Attacking the Black Queen with 1.Bb6 with the idea of freeing the diagonal for my Queen to get to h6 with mate was the winning combination and one I failed to see by not connecting the dots.

    Let’s look at another example, and one which occurred right after I had attempted to solve example #1 above.

    White to move and win

    In this position quickly saw that both the White rook and Queen were attacking the Black d8 rook, and that there might be a tactical opportunity if the Queen were deflected from its defense. The candidate that came to mind was 1. b4 but after further analysis I saw that the Queen could seek shelter by moving to 1…Qc7.  The other candidate that stood out was 1.Qf6+ but the King can easily get out of the way with 1…Kg8 and there aren’t enough White pieces in the vicinity to force the issue. The third candidate I analyzed was attacking the undefended bishop with 1.Qe7 but I found that the bishop can get out of harms way via 1…Bc8. If I would have combined the two ideas or even looked a few ply deeper  I would have found the answer 1.Qe7 attacking the bishop and preventing the Queen from seeking shelter at c7 after deflecting her with b4. 1…Bc8 2.b4! and Black resigned.

  • Critical Moments in Chess

    GM Dorfman, has suggested that every game has 5 or 6 critical junctures “forks” at which important decisions need to be made. By understanding that the game has reached a critical moment, you can take extra time in analyzing and evaluating your moves. These critical moments are where games are won or lost, and identifying these milestones in a game are the key to improving your game. Critical moments are characterized by the presence of 2 to 4 different possibilities. Below is Dorfman’s list of critical moments:

    Critical Moments (Dorfman)

    • Positions where there are possible exchanges.
    • Change in pawn structure (especially central pawns).
    • At the end of a  series of forced moves (combination).
    • Transposition into an endgame.

  • Training Position #1

    White wins this position by creating a passed pawn on the Kingside.

     

    Note that if the Black pawn would be on d3 instead of c3, the game would be a theoretical draw.

    Copy the FEN position 4k3/1pp2ppp/p1p5/8/4P3/8/PPP2PPP/4K3 w – – 0 0 and play this position against an engine.

    NOTE: There was an issue with the original post. There was a missing White pawn on d4. The diagram and the FEN diagram have been updated.

  • The Sixth Ply

    Before we get started let’s define what a ply is in chess:

     A ply is a half move and a move is equivalent to 2 ply or a turn by each player. For example,  1. e4 is one ply and 1…e5 would be the 2nd ply, together these two plys make one move.

    Getting close to the truth of a chess position requires the calculation of a minimum of 6 ply (3 moves). The higher your rating the higher the ply calculation requirement increases since your opponent will be delving more deeply into the position than you. If you calculate anything less than 3 ply you are playing hope chess, since you are not forseeing your opponent’s responses. 

    Below is an assessment of how calculation skill correlates to one’s chess rating:

    0-1000 1 ply

    1000-1200 2-3 ply

    1200-1400 4 ply

    1400-1600 6 ply

    1600-1800 8 ply

    1800-1900 10 ply

    1900-2000 12 ply

    Stopping your calculations too soon can prevent you from finding the winning move. Many times the winning move comes after a series of seemingly unfavorable moves, and stopping your calculation too soon will prevent you from finding the best move in the position. At the same time, not looking deeply enough into your opponent’s moves will cause you to miss defensive opportunities against your opponent’s threats. (more…)

  • Tactics Tuesday #1

    White to move from Spielmann – Tartakower, 1925
    Alburt_135

    Highlight for answer: 1.Qh6! Qxe1+ 2.Bf1 (2.Kg2? Ne3+), and Black must give away his Queen with 2. …Qe#+

  • The Three Things That Have Improved My Chess

    1. Practising tactics – I cannot stress enough the importance of tactics at the sub 1800 level. If your time is limited, tactics training would be the one thing that would give you the greatest return on investment.

    2. Playing and reviewing my games – This allows you to learn from your mistakes, and to prevent you from repeating your mistakes over and over again. This important training tool provides you with the appropriate feedback loop, so that your chess training is focused on those areas that you need to improve the most.

    3. Revisiting my thought process – Learning more about how other chess players think, and then taking an inventory of my own chess thought process. I documented a process that made sense to me, and then reviewing it while going over positions and / or annotated games.

    Feel free to add a comment of your own list of things that have improved your game.

  • Secrets of Zen Chess

    Secrets of Zen Chess
    During my chess break, I ran into a friend of mine who loves chess and who had been in Japan doing a 4 week Seshin at a Japanese Zen Monestary.I asked him if he had time to practice his chess while at the monestary, and he told me that he had not, but that he had briefly spoken to a monk named Tezin, who also loved chess and was a pretty good player. He told me that Tezin had told him how his chess had improved in the last two years even though he did not practice as much as before he became a monk. Tezin told him that he attributed his chess improvement to what he called the ‘Secrets of Zen Chess’.
    I was very interested in hearing these so called secrets of chess improvement, and begged my friend to tell me what Tezin had relayed to him… so here goes:
    Less is More
    – Less focus on ratings and more focus on enjoyment & playing a beautiful game.
    – Less focus on reading books and more focus on practice.
    – Less focus on chess and more focus on solving the problems on the board.
    Impermanence
    – Because the position is always in flux, you need to adapt your plans and be flexible at all times.
    – Because of the fluidity of the position, the position needs to be reassessed every few moves.
    – Realize that dynamic advantages don’t last forever…take advantage of them while you have them.
    Practice
    – Practice for the sake of practice.
    – Practice for the beauty of the game.
    – Practice because you love to practice.
    Cause and effect
    – Consider the cause and effect of every move.
    – Consider how has the position changed after your opponent’s move
    – Consider how has the position changed after your move.
    – Consider if there are any tactical conditions on the board.
    Mindfulness
    – Be mindful of the game, you must become one with the board.
    – Be mindful of the harmony of your pieces.
    – Be mindful of the position, get to the marrow of board.
    – Be mindful of threats against you.
    – Be mindful of your threats against your opponent.
    – Be mindful of checks, captures and threats.
    Harmony
    – How can I improve the harmony of my pieces?
    – How can I disrupt the harmony of my opponent’s pieces?
    – How can I improve the weaknesses in my camp?
    – How can I create weaknesses in my opponent’s camp?
    Mastery lies in a convergence of skills that are already a part of you and not new knowledge derived from books. Mastery lies through practice that will lead you to uncover those things that are already inside you. Mastery lies in being mindful in life and at the board, so that you will know what your opponent’s plan is before your opponent realizes what his plan is. Mastery will be attained once you stop trying to attain mastery.
    These are the keys to mastery and these are the secrets of zen chess.

    During my most recent chess break, I ran into a friend of mine who loves chess and who had been in Japan doing a 4 week Seshin at a Japanese Zen Monestary.I asked him if he had time to practice his chess while at the monastery, and he told me that he had not, but that he had briefly spoken to a monk named Tezin, who also loved chess and was a pretty good player. He told me that Tezin had told him how his chess had improved in the last two years even though he did not practice as much as before he became a monk. Tezin told him that he attributed his chess improvement to what he called the ‘Secrets of Zen Chess’.

    I was very interested in hearing these so called secrets of chess improvement, and begged my friend to tell me what Tezin had relayed to him… so here goes:


    Less is More

    – Less focus on ratings and more focus on enjoyment & playing a beautiful game.

    – Less focus on reading books and more focus on practice.

    – Less focus on chess and more focus on solving the problems on the board.


    Impermanence

    – Because the position is always in flux, you need to adapt your plans and be flexible at all times.

    – Because of the fluidity of the position, the position needs to be reassessed every few moves.

    – Realize that dynamic advantages don’t last forever…take advantage of them while you have them.


    Practice

    – Practice for the sake of practice.

    – Practice for the beauty of the game.

    – Practice because you love to practice.


    Cause and effect

    – Consider the cause and effect of every move.

    – Consider how the position has changed after your opponent’s move

    – Consider how the position has changed after your move.

    – Consider if there are any tactical conditions on the board.


    Mindfulness
    – Be mindful of the game, you must become one with the board.

    – Be mindful of the harmony of your pieces.

    – Be mindful of the position, get to the marrow of the board.

    – Be mindful of threats against you.

    – Be mindful of your threats against your opponent.

    – Be mindful of checks, captures and threats.

    Harmony
    – How can I improve the harmony of my pieces?

    – How can I disrupt the harmony of my opponent’s pieces?

    – How can I improve the weaknesses in my camp?

    – How can I create weaknesses in my opponent’s camp?

    Mastery lies in a convergence of skills that are already a part of you and not new knowledge derived from books. Mastery lies through practice that will lead you to uncover those things that are already inside you. Mastery lies in being mindful in life and at the board, so that you will know what your opponent’s plan is before your opponent realizes what his plan is. Mastery will be attained once you stop trying to attain it.

    These are the keys to mastery and these are the secrets of Zen chess.

  • What's The Frequency Kenneth?

    Chess is temporarily taking a backseat to new hobbies I am currently exploring…so my posting frequency will somewhat diminish. I am adjusting my chess training so that I will continue to spend 30 minutes per day doing chess tempo puzzles. 

    In the meantime, I have compiled the most popular posts for your enjoyment:

  • Chess Goals – Progress Report – Feb 2010

    This is my first progress report on the chess goals and resolutions I made back on December 21st.  While I haven’t had the time or inclination to update my blog, I have been active in my training averaging  one hour per day of training. During the last two months, I have continously tweaked my training schedule as well as the resources I use for training. I hope to have settled on a schedule and resource list in a few more weeks, and when I do I’ll post about it here. In the meantime, you can view it by visiting my shared Google Calendar. Overall I am happy with my results, but I need to play in a rated USCF tournament so I can gauge my progress using my USCF rating.

    • USCF rating to 1400 – haven’t played any rated tournament games since 9/2009.
       
    • Chesstempo standard rating to 1850. Currently at 1769 (started at 1700 +69)
       
    • ICC standard rating to 1825 currently. Currently at 1777 started at 1750 (+27)
       
    • 4 tournaments in 12 months – so far I have not played any tournaments but I am planning on playing on 2/28/2010.
       
    • Play 2 standard games / week. I have been doing this religiously plus I sprinkle 2-3 long games at work. I have noticed that my blitz play has deteriorated, but I’ll worry about this some other time.
       
    • 6 training sessions – I haven’t had any, and I will probably cut this back to 4 in 1 year…due to budget and time constraints.

    Short Term Goals

    • Dedicate 1 hr / day to chess  Spending an average of 1 1/2 hours per day dedicated to chess study and play – Grade A+
       
    • Review standard games  Giving myself a B- because while I am reviewing my games I could be doing a better job.  I need to analyze the game away from my computer, because having the engine available is to much of a temptation. – Grade B-
       
    • OTB before the end of February – targeting 2/28/10 – Grade Incomplete
       
    • Increase chesstempo standard rating to 1750. Currently at 1769, so I met my short term goal and I am on track to meet my long term goal of 1850  – Grade A+

    New short term goals

  • Play OTB rated game by 4/2010
  • Increase chesstempo standard rating to 1800 by 4/2010
  • Increase ICC standard rating to 1775 by 4/2010

  • Analyzing Your Games

    According to Mark Dvoretsky the analysis of one’s own games is the main means of self-improvement.  In Secrets of Chess Training Dvoretsky offers the following guidelines:

    1. Find the turning points – Decide where mistakes were made, where the evaluation of the position changed or an opportunity was missed.
    2. Seek the reasons for your own mistakes – The objective realization of your own weaknesses is a necessary first step in the work of correcting them.
    3. Seek new possibilities, which you did not notice during the game.
    4. Ponder over the opening stage – Approach the problems you faced during the opening to increase your knowledge and outline new plans.