Undermining
Another 120 mates were offered to me by the spaced repetition system of Chessable. I solved them all without a mistake, and noticed that I needed to calculate about 50% of them. The rest I simply saw.
In general, the non mates are more difficult to absorb than the mates. Anyway, that part of the training is apparently going well. Just lather, rinse and repeat.
I asked myself the question, can I use this method for other parts of the game too? I decided to find out.
So I chose an opening, the French Tarrasch, to give it a try. Apparently it was possible, but after a few days I noticed it wasn't fun. I concluded that I wasn't ready yet to study openings this way. Just playing openings and getting punished for the things I don't know during a tournament is a much more efficient way to learn openings.
So I got back to the drawing board. And I decided that I am much more interested in the middlegame. I use the Chessable book of CM Can Kabadayi The Art of awakening pieces
With tactics I make use of repetition. There is actually not really a reason for that, but that is how the software I use works (ChessTempo and Chessable). For tactics it is good, since with every repetition I can go a bit deeper, until all the details of the layers become clear.
But strictly spoken, repetition is not needed for my method. The only thing that is needed is to invest enough energy and attention at the moment you absorb the patterns.
How does my method look like for the middlegame?
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| Black to move |
1rbq1rk1/2p1bppp/p1n2n2/1p2p3/P2pP3/2PP1N2/1PBNQPPP/R1B2RK1 b - - 0 11
This is from the game Spassky - Taimanov, 1956. It is not so much a chess puzzle in the usual sense. Maybe you can ask, what is the best move? But if you feed this position in Stockfish, there are other good moves too.
But that is not important. This position is about formulating a positional plan.
The plan is to create an outpost on d4. What is needed for that?
- clear the d4 square
- undermine the defense of d4
- get rid of the defending pawns c3 and b2
- get rid of pieces that can defend d4
- place a piece on d4
11. .. dxc3!
12.bxc3 b4
13.Nc4 Bg4
14.Bb2 Bc5
15.Rad1 bxc3
16.Bxc3
And you can harvest the outpost on d4
 |
| Black to move |
This process of undermining works always the same, albeit the specific tactics can differ.
Bobby Fischer: "To get squares you have to give up squares."
After trading pieces, in the endgame, d3 can become weak.
Why is 11. ... b4 not so good?
UPDATE
11...b4 also looks correct at first sight, however, it does not quite work for Black:
12.cxd4 Nxd4
13.Nxd4 Qxd4
14.Nf3 Qd6
15.d4! and White achieves a better position where the outpost on d4 disappears.
15...exd4 does not work due to 16.e5 and White wins a piece.
Black to move after 15.d4!
Piece activity is the nec plus ultra in the middlegame. I found that long ago. The deployment of Alpha Zero confirmed that. There are two aspects of activity that play a role. The first aspect is a statistical one. A move that enables the pursuit of more than one goal, obliges the opponent to find a multi purpose move too. Chances are, he can only find moves that answer only one of the two questions posed.
ReplyDeleteAbout the second aspect, I have extended the definition of piece activity with an extra condition: the activity must be related to one or more targets. This puts a strain on your opponents pieces, the Fun of PoPLoAFun.
d4 looks like a juicy outpost. If you can place a piece there that is unopposed, then you certainly have increased your piece activity. There is no need two worry about the two aspects too much, since the outpost is in the center, and targets will present themselves in due time. There is already a future target in place: the backward pawn on d3.
So the tactical task is twofold: get rid of the pawns that defend d4 and get rid of the pieces that can defend d4.
For the pawn battle, you need to be aware that your own pawns have to move for that. And in doing that, they leave holes in the position behind. You have to assess whether these holes can become dangerous to you.
The undermining of an outpost is a common middlegame theme. The connected tactical patterns are worth to absorb.
My short answer is because it makes the squares e5 F6 and h6 weak and your kingside vundersble to invasion
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why that applies to 11. ... b4 ?
DeleteWhoops. I was looking at this and mixed up the side of the board I was working from.
DeleteTemposchlucker asks:
ReplyDeleteWhy is 11. ... b4 not so good?
My first impression is to look at the locked center pawn chains. White’s chain “points” toward the kingside; Black’s pawn chain “points” toward the queenside. According to general principles, you should play on the side of the board (or the center) where the pawn chain “points.” That would indicate playing 11… b4 12. c4, effectively locking the center and the queenside. If White can play b2-b3 without mishap, the potential activity will shift to the kingside. White has a natural break by attacking the base of Black’s pawn chain at the f4-square.
The drawback is that White has a lot of shuffling to do to rearrange his pieces in a limited space. Black will certainly attempt to counter that plan by getting his own pieces over to the kingside, and he has a lot more space to work in.
It would be “interesting” to SEE what GM Stockfish recommends as a plan.
I don't use Stockfish for positional assessments. It puts you on the wrong foot. It is about learning to create plans. The plans might prove wrong when they are battle tested. But in the end I must learn to create my own plans. In this position I look at the bad bishop of white, and look whether I can reach an endgame of a good knight against a bad bishop.
DeleteThe pawns tell me which pieces are bad and which are good. From there I derive an exchange plan. Which pieces to exchange against which. Creating a placeholder for an outpost (d4) is the start of that idea. Then making the right exchanges, so I would get the following:
outpost where I can place my knight unopposed.
week pawn on d3
good knight against bad bishop
all other minor pieces exchanged
keeping the heavy pieces on the board for pressure against d3
It's a long shot of course, but it is a way of reasoning. Feedback is the goal, not the win so much. And it is out of Stockfish' reach anyway.
UPDATE in blue in the post
ReplyDeleteA little off topic and I am sure you have shared this before ...... What do you use on a desktop and an android phone to keep databases , create pgns, take notes view pgns. I no longer have access to a cd rom on my laptop and looking for a workable solution. I have used chessbase in the past but they have since priced themselves out of my budget. Given that they are on a yearly subscription. Thanks Jim ( @ TS and RC and anyone else that would like to comment)
ReplyDeleteI use Arena, Chess Opening Wizard, Chessable, Lucas Chess, SCID.
ReplyDeletety. Downloaded SCID on my windows machine .... Will spend some time later how to properly install it . It looks good.
ReplyDeleteBtw. I found this to be interesting. https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2024/5/7/ep-381-cm-azel-chua-calculation-advice-improving-chess-intuition-and-is-the-concept-of-checks-captures-amp-threats-overrated
ReplyDelete