Session - 7 February

Hello fellow chess warriors! We are extremely delighted to present the 7th edition of our blog

Agenda of today's session

1. A theory session with Mr. Dhanashekar

2. Friendly practice session

Notes :

The three golden rules in chess opening :

1. Place the pawn in the centre :

- known as centre control

2 . Development of pieces

3. King Safety

Centre control:

Controlling a center square basically means your opponent can't put pieces (and sometimes can't even put pawns) on that square. And in many openings it's equally divided with each player controlling 2 squares. Let's look at two very basic examples.

Both players are fighting for control of the centre. It seems that white is doing a bit better thanks to his knight on the strong f5-square, his central pawns and Bb2 that support the central pawns. White plays d4 to increase his space in the centre. He can do this since all his pieces perfectly support the move.

In the next example material is equal but black’s pieces are burdened with the tasks of defending his weak pawns (particularly a5, b7 and d6). White’s rooks and bishop already aim at the centre – which is good. White can further increase his advantage by centralizing his queen and taking control of the e-file. White plays Qe4. You will usually get an advantage if your pieces can take control over central squares.

Development of pieces :
Development means "to build and create". Development, loosely translated to "chess terms", means that in the beginning of the game you need to develop your position by getting all of your pieces out as fast as possible. Using your entire army is an absolute must when playing chess at a high level. The objective of development is about improving the value of your pieces by increasing the importance of their roles. Well-developed pieces have more fire-power than undeveloped pieces and they do more in helping you gain control .In the example below it is black’s turn. What would you do here to improve your development?
Black to move. How would you improve your development?
Step 1 – Find your least active piece
The least active piece is the piece that has no role or has the least important role. In this position black has two pieces the initially seem to need attention – Bf8 and Ra8. However, the Bf8 is already quite useful since he adds pressure on white’s a3 pawn and also gives added protection to black’s king-side. Therefore it is clear that the Ra8 needs attention the most.
Step 2 – Decide where the least active piece should go
We identified the least active piece and now we must decide where the Ra8 should go. Naturally the rook should go to d8 where he will attack the white queen and help to control a number of squares on the open central file.
When you have a good understanding of the development objective – moves such as Rd8 will be second nature to you.
Which rook should you capture?
The concept of the least active piece can also be used when you must choose between two or more pieces that you can capture. Firstly you should consider the point-value of the piece but you should also consider how active the piece is. Let’s look at an example:
Which move is better: Nxa1 or Nxe1?
In the position above black has 2 attractive options – Nxa1 or Nxe1. Which rook would you rather capture and why?
Here you should ask yourself – which rook is more active? The Re1! Also, the Re1 performs the role of protecting the e4-pawn. The Ra1 is undeveloped and currently has no useful role.
Now you may be tempted to think that Nxe1 is correct, but white will recapture with the Ra1 he will again have a rook on e1. But by playing Nxa1!, Rxa1 the Re1 will now be in the corner and black will win the e4 pawn too.
In other words, by playing Nxa1 we are in fact “capturing” the Re1 since the Re1 will end up on a1. To be clear, both Nxa1 and Nxe1 are good moves but Nxa1 is much better.
This second example illustrated that when you have an option to capture two pieces of similar value, you should capture the piece that is playing a more important role.
2. Exchange your less useful pieces for your opponent’s useful pieces
Look at the example below. Which piece is white’s least useful piece?
White’s Bd2 doesn’t serve a very useful purpose since its role is severely restricted by the white pawn-structure. On the other hand, black’s Bd6 is well-developed and serves a useful purpose of covering the c5 and c7 squares – which makes it hard for white’s rooks to enter black’s territory.
It is often a good idea if you can exchange a less useful piece for your opponent’s well-developed piece.
Bb4! White will trade his “bad” bishop for black’s “good” bishop.
In this case white can play Bb4! and force and exchange of the bishops. After this exchange white can improve the roles of his pieces even more by placing a rook on c7 and capturing the b7-pawn.
2. Restrict the development of your opponent’s pieces
Restricting the development of your opponent’s pieces is a very useful way to get an advantage in the development objective. Study the examples below to see how white gets an advantage by restricting black’s pieces:
Example 1
White to play. What would you do?
White can restrict black’s development by targeting the movements of the Nb8 with the move Bb5!
Bd5 dominates the development of Nb8.
By restricting the development of the Nb8, white also restricts the Ra8. On the next move white may play Nc4, hitting the d6-pawn too.
Example 2
White to play. How can he restrict the development of black’s pieces?
d5! The point is that the black knight is forced back to d8.
After d5, Nd8, Rd8+! Kh7 the black pieces will be severely restricted in their development.
The black pieces have been paralyzed. White can now use his knight and king to gain complete control over the position and go to support the advance of his d-pawn. Even though material is equal white should win easily due to his significant advantage in development.
3. Neutralize your opponent’s best piece(s)
In the position on the diagram below it is black’s turn to move.
Black has a small advantage in material (he has an extra pawn), but white’s knight on d6 forced both black’s rooks into defensive positions (Rb8 must defend the b7-pawn and Rf8 must defend the f7-pawn.)
At first, the move Ne8 may seem like a bad move since you are retreating your knight to the back rank. However, if you consider the reason for this move – it makes a lot of sense.
From this example you can see how an understanding of the main objectives can help you find good moves – in this position your most relevant objective was to neutralize your opponent’s best piece.
P.S. Note the useful role of your Bg4 – covering the square which prevents white from improving the development of his rook to d1 from where he could defend the Nd6.
4. Secure strong squares for your pieces
Improving the role of your pieces often means placing them on good squares. However, good squares aren’t always freely available and you must sometimes “create” good squares for your pieces.
In the position below white would ideally want to improve the role of his Nd3 by moving it to c5. From c5 the knight will subject the black pieces into defensive positions to defend the b7 and e6 pawns.
But white can’t play Nc5 right now since black will simply chase the optimistic knight away with the move b7-b6.
a5! prevents black from playing b6, which means white can play Nc5 on the next move and secure his knight on the good c5-square.
Here is another example:
White wants to play Rc1 and take control of the open c-file which would be a good improvement for his rook.
White wants to play Rc1 and place his rook on the open c-file. Is this the best move?
But playing Rc1 straight away won’t achieve any advantage since black will neutralize the Rc1 by playing Rc8. Instead, white prepares the Rc1-move by first playing Ba6 which controls the c8-square and prevents black from playing Rc8.
Although a long battle still lies ahead, white will have a development advantage. Remember that strong players aim to accumulate small advantages.
P.S. If you were tempted to play g4-g5?! to secure the e5-square for the knight you should be commended for a good idea, but the idea doesn’t work so well since:
1. You give black the opportunity to develop his rook by playing Rc8 and
2. black can attack your g5-pawn by playing h7-h6.
5. Don’t help your opponent develop
We just looked at 5 ways how you can achieve your development objective. There is however another thing to keep in mind – don’t help your opponent to develop. There are 2 common mistakes whereby you will simply be helping your opponent to develop:
1. Making a weak threat that can easily be blocked
2. Making an exchange that helps your opponent to develop a piece
Don’t make weak threats that only help your opponent to develop
In the diagram below we see an example of the first case:
Black “developed” his bishop to b4 – checking white’s king, but white will simply block the check by playing c3 and attack the bishop in the same time. In essence black only helps white to strengthen his central pawn-structure.
Avoid making weak threats that help your opponent to develop.
Don’t make pointless exchanges
The next example illustrates that you should avoid making pointless exchanges since it usually only helps your opponent to develop:
1. dxc4? will help white to develop with Bxc4
2. Bxf3? will help white to develop with Qxf3
Black should rather make a move that improves his own development, for example 0-0 would be a better move for black since it improves his development and doesn’t help white in the process.
The mistake of making a pointless exchange has been referred to by Grandmaster Igor Smirnov as – “to take is a mistake“. Of course this doesn’t mean you should never make exchanges. Rather, it means that in most cases you should avoid making a pointless exchange since it will usually just help your opponent to achieve his own development objectives.

King Safety :
We will look at 5 practical things you can do to achieve your king-safety objective. They are:
- Treat the squares near the opponent’s king as a target-area
  Look for ways to open and expose the enemy king
  Don’t allow an exposed king to escape
  Keep making relentless threats against an exposed king
  Always keep the safety of your own king in mind
  
  1. Treat the squares near the opponent’s king as a target-area
  We talk about the center-control objective we learnt that we should aim to attack and control the central squares. Similarly, the squares near the enemy king should also be treated as targets. The king can’t move very fast – this makes him a rather static target and we should direct our forces towards this target once the situation in the center is stable.
  Launching an attack on the opponent’s king is only advisable once your own king is relatively safe and when the situation in the center is under control. It is a bad idea to start an attack if you in the process give your opponent a chance to take control of the center. In order to sustain a successful attack against an opponent’s king you will need to bring enough forces to that area of the board. If your opponent has control of the center, you will probably not be able to sustain a successful attack on the enemy king. Don’t forget that the central squares are still the most important squares on the board.
  As a “rule-of-thumb” a flank-attack (on one if the sides) can only work while the situation in the center is under control.
  Here is an example that illustrates how the squares near the enemy king can be treated as targets:
  White removes an important defender of the black king. After gxf6, white will follow up with Qh5! and put overwhelming pressure on the h7-square.
  There are usually a number of good ways to continue an attack against the opponent’s king. Once you can attack and expose the opponent’s king – you usually obtain a big advantage.
  2. Look for ways to expose the enemy king
  There are sometimes surprising ways to expose the opponent’s king. Since an exposed king is so vulnerable, it is possible to even sacrifice material to bring the king into the open.
  In this example black found a surprisingly effective way to expose the white king:
  Bxf2+! totally exposes the white king since after KXf2, black will follow-up with Qc5+! forcing white to give back material with Nd4.
  The example proves that you should always consider options that open up the enemy king – even if it involves sacrificing some material. Of course, before you sacrifice material you should first calculate to be sure that you get enough compensation in return for the sacrificed material.
  3. Don’t allow an exposed king to escape
  In this position white is behind in material but he has compensation in the sense that the black king is exposed and vulnerable.
  The move Bh6 does 2 very important things:
  It prevents the black king from running to the g7-square
  It opens squares for the queen to also join the attack via the g5
  Black was “threatening” to run back to safety on the next move by playing Kg7. If white couldn’t stop the black king from returning to a safe square he would probably lose the game due to being behind in material.
  When you have exposed your opponent’s king you should give high priority to making sure that the king doesn’t get back to a safe place.
  4. Make relentless threats against an exposed king
  An exposed king is a target that you should attack relentlessly – never give your opponent an easy way out. Keep making threats against the king and make sure he can’t escape.
  Every move you make should force your opponent to defend against a serious threat. If you don’t do this, you risk that your opponent might suddenly start a counter-attack or find a way to get his king back to safety.
  This example illustrates how you should mercilessly keep your opponent’s king under pressure when you have the chance to do it:
  White does not capture a rook right away. Instead, he uses checks and captures the rooks whilst keeping the black king in check, i.e. Qe7+ Kg8 Qxd8+
  White could have played Qxd8 or Qxh4 straight away on the first move of the example. However, white didn’t want to give black time to organize his defenses and made sure that he first exploited the vulnerable king to the maximum and win as much material as possible in the process.
  The purpose of this example was to illustrate how to exploit an exposed king by making threats for as long as possible and obtaining as much advantage as possible from it.
  5. Keep the safety of your own king in mind
  In this position it is white to move – he is thinking about the move Bf6?! which seems to win instantly since black will not be able the stop the Qg7# threat…
  Bf6? A big mistake! Black now plays Qxg3+ (f2 is pinned by Bb6), followed by Qf3+ and Qxf6.
- Don'ts in opening :
- DON'T move the same piece twice.
  Make as FEW PAWN MOVES as possible in the opening.
  DON'T bring out your QUEEN too early.
  CASTLE as soon as possible, preferably on the KING SIDE.
  Shots of our session :
See you all in the next session
Goodbye! Keep Checkmating!
-Signing off
Chess Club Blogger Team