Smelling a rat
For attacking play, we must develop a new way of looking at a position. We must develop a sense for what pieces might be able to do in the long run. We must be able to smell a rat long before Stockfish does. Since Stockfish might see a defense which your opponents will overlook, since they are not a computer. So Stockfish will not ring the alarm bells. It only will do so when something already is irreversibly wrong.
Have a look at the following position.
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| White to move |
r1bqk2r/ppp2pp1/2np1n1p/2b1p3/2B1P2B/3P1N2/PPP2PPP/RN1QK2R w KQkq - 0 1
This diagram is a bit unusual for this blog. First of all, it is our opponent to move. Second, there is nothing forcingly in the position. Please bear with me, I'm on terra incognita.
White played 1. O-O here. And that is a perfectly reasonably move. Stockfish judges the position still as equal after searching 34 ply deep. But that is because Stockfish sees the perfect defense for every situation.
The position is equal, because both sides have developed an equal amount of pieces. Yet, white has to be a bit careful. He must be aware of the potential of the pieces.Let's try to visualize that.
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| Black to move |
White has done nothing wrong, really. If he would be a computer, he would be perfectly fine.
We define the attacking area as all squares around the king: h1, g1, f1, h2, g2 and f2.
You notice that there is a scary amount of pieces that can contribute to the black attack within one or two moves. Let's see whether white's counter attack looks equally scary.
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| Black to move |
White can bring 4 pieces to the attack, while black can bring 8 pieces to the attack. What black has extra:
- two pawns that can storm towards the white king, gaining tempi along the way by kicking the white pieces
- a rook that is still on the h-file
- a knight on c6 that is one move closer to the enemy king (than Nb1)
well, i repeat myself: your lines are the hazardous elements (HE) of Chuzhakin https://chuzhakin.com/downloads/chuzhakinssystem.pdf
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that I'm on the right track, then. For me it is the first time that I am able to apply my usual logic to my chess games. Applying logic is a system 2 activity. It is a necessity for system 1 which looks over the shoulder of system 2 that logic is applied. Only that way it can absorb the relevant patterns and works its miracles.
DeleteChess is a tempo game. In the position above, you count the tempi for an attack on both sides, and the tempi for defense. The difference in tempi reveals where to work.
ReplyDeleteThere are some heavyweights (like GM Anish Giri) who will play this position with either color. It seems to be a favorite line for GM Levon Aronin as White - and he lost to Hikaru Nakamura with it. I let Stockfish run overnight, and 7. O-O was the preferred move (by only a few hundredths of a point); the evaluation was dead even at 0.0.
ReplyDeleteThis line (with some transposition) is discussed in the Quality Chess book My System by Aron Nimzowitsch, pg 132 in the chapter on The pin.
What is old becomes new again.
The point is that you may choose a line based on the statistical results (a good idea from Munich) or because some famous GMs play it, but YOU still have to formulate a workable plan and choose the best moves in your own games - and your opponent may have zero knowledge of what to do 'according to theory'. As you put it so succinctly regarding training, YOU still have to play the specific game on your own. TANSTAAFL.
We must create our own system. Chuzazkin, Smirvov, PopLoaFun and counting tempi provide side wheels, which you can use for some time. But there comes a moment where you must ride on your, no matter how bad it may go in the beginning. My main problem the past 23 years has been that my mind was so easily overwhelmed by the amount of possibilities.
ReplyDeleteAfter eliminating the vast amount of well-intended advice, I finally found the crux of what is behind all that advice. I separated the wheat from the chaff. The effect is, that my mind is no longer overwhelmed so easily. In the past, I saw way too many possibilities. Questions like "Is there a tactic? Is there a positional rule that can be applied? What are the PoPs, What are the LoAs, What are the FUNctions, What are the hazardous elements? What would Smirnov do? Which pawn must I push and why, which piece must I exchange and why?" used to confuse my mind. But that now all is replaced by a simple set of questions: how does this contribute to a kingside attack, especially towards the attacking area? And how long does it take to defend that?
Now my mind is not so easily overwhelmed anymore, I am able to apply logic to my moves. It probably is rather childish logic, since I see that my opponent can easily follow what I try to do. But I don't bother. Since applying logic has introduced a new element into my games: I now get feedback from my games for the first time! It will be just a matter of time before that translates to better results.
What I like about this system is that it is coherent. I can judge any move against it. The next step is to get a sense of value of how much a move contributes to an attack. Another step is to develop a sense of cooperation of your pieces. In the position above the arrows show how many of your pieces contribute to the attack potentially.
Another thing that I like is that it renders Stockfish as useless to judge the position. It advices white to castle. Since he knows how to defend it. But can your opponent find the only move to defend without a computer? Doesn't he fall for the temptation of winning your queen? We will find out in my next post.
The funny thing is that black can make the same mistake in this position. If white develops with 1.Nc3 instead of castling, black can castle himself into trouble. And again Stockfish won't smell a rat. But your opponent isn't allowed to use a chess engine. Can he find the only moves on his own?
With castling, the tables turn completely. Now white has suddenly the extra attackers (pawns h2, g2, Rh1 and Nc3). Can you see how their chess engine addiction might work against your opponents?
Forget about the best move. Replace it by the move that causes the most trouble for a human.
Temposchlucker offers valuable advice:
ReplyDeleteForget about the best move. Replace it by the move that causes the most trouble for a human.
For example:
Chess Tactics for Advanced Players, GM Yuri Averbakh, diagram 102, pg 58.
GM Averbakh recommends:
Try to firmly fix in your mind that the best way to defend yourself against a double attack is by countering it by a double attack of your own. He then provides the following study as an example.
Conclusion of a study by A. Kakovin, 1961
FEN=8/7b/5p2/B1K5/5P1N/8/5k2/8 w - - 0 1
GM Averbakh gives the following “short and sweet” commentary:
In this position White must protect himself against the threatened double attack 1...Kg3. He solves this problem by playing 1.Bc7!
This move is in preparation for a two-fold attack: 1...Kg3 2.Ng6! This is the whole point of the exercise! White surrenders a piece temporarily only to regain it without delay after 2...Bxg6 by discovery check 3.f5+.
I saw Blacks threat to fork the WPf4 and WNh4. The immediate tactics (in White’s favor) reside on the surface. After 1.Bc6! Kg3 2. Ng6! (getting the Knight off the edge of the board and back into play) Bxg6 3. f5+ (discovered check - Zwischenzug!) Kg4 fxg6 and the White Pawn advances to becoming a Queen, with an easily won game.
Then I was struck by this thought: Why is Black making it so easy for White to win?
Black is down a piece (Knight). Is there a way to resist and make it harder for White to win (even though it might be eventually inevitable)?
White has a decisive material advantage, which is countered by the Black King and Bishop currently dominating the White Knight (it has no safe squares available to move to). If Black can miraculously exchange off his bishop and both Pawns, then the very difficult King, Bishop and Knight versus King ending would require a level of skill (that most amateurs and even some masters don’t possess) to win in 50 moves. Combine that with a (clock) time shortage, and that seems like a much better alternative than acquiescing to the inevitable in just a few moves.
So, how to avoid the discovered check?
1...f5 seems like a good start. Now White cannot extricate the Knight and the Black threat remains to capture it. If White panics and decides to capture the BPf5, then the result should be an easy draw. At any given time, Black can exchange his Bishop for the White Pawn with an automatic draw. There also is a trap here. If White fails to find the only move to save both Pawn and Knight, he will lose either the Pawn or the Knight. White is forced to play 2.Bd8 Kg3 3.Bg5.
Alternatives would be to get the Black Bishop out of the restricted corner and out into the open area of the board. 1…Be4 and 1...Bc2 come to mind. This requires White to maneuver so that (eventually) he can get to where he can exchange off the Knight for the Bishop without losing the f-Pawn. Given an f-Pawn and a minor piece, it should not take White long to promote to a Queen and win.
Another alternative is 1...Ke3, loosening the domination of the White Knight but shouldering off the White King for the time being. (This turns out to be the “best” move [by only 0.01 points], followed by 1...f5, according to GM Stockfish, which I set up for analysis AFTER coming to my own assessment.)
Hard to tell which alternative would be best in advance; there are still a lot more moves to be made.
And thus we reach Tempo’s observation regarding NOT playing the “best” move but playing the move(s) that would be the most trouble for the human player.
In these times, people tend to totally trust in engines. Letting Stockfish analyze their games and frowning upon anyones suboptimal moves. Often when you win from these people you lost according to their post mortem analysis. Causing havoc in your games is good for two reasons. Your opponent might be out of book sooner than you, since he only prepared for the best responses according to Stockfish, without really knowing what he is doing. The other reason is that all your games will be fun. And isn't that more important than worrying about the approval of Stockfish?
ReplyDelete