Temposchlucker

 I have adopted five new openings in the past few years. It is rare that both me and my opponent follow a book line. Often one of us deviates early in the game. Most of the time due to a lack of knowledge of the book lines. Usually I am standing bad after the opening. When I'm out of book, my opponent is out of book too. Not because we reached the end of the book variation, but because somewhere along the way I don't know how the book line goes again. That is the price of replacing five openings at the same time. And when I deviate, my opponent has reached the end of the line too, of course. Often I am able to fight my way back into the game. But there are clearly a few holes in my bucket here. Of course I can blame that on my limited book knowledge, but since my opponent is out of book too by definition when I deviate, that cannot be the reason. I identified three holes in my bucket between the opening and the kingside attack or the endgame: Pawn structure The center Piece dev...

  The isolani is known for its contrast of dynamism vs pawn structure. But how does that piece dynamism looks like? And why does it favor the side with the isolani? And how winnable is the endgame for the side that is fighting against the isolani? Those were the questions I had when I started this investigation. I have replaced my openings repertoire in the past years, and in a lot of the openings there was a battle going on between the side with the active pieces versus the side with the best pawn structure. So I wanted to know why good pawn structure seems to be opposite to piece activity. What is the origin of that piece activity and why has the side with the good pawn structure no good piece play? Sofar I found the following answers: There are a few reasons why the side with the isolani has more piece activity: Behind the isolani is more space When the isolani is mobile, it leaves even more space behind there is much space on the kingside blacks e6 pawn cuts blacks army in half...

 Robert did the same for the black pieces: Same position Numbers for the dark squared bishop Bf6 is the better position for the bishop.  The reference square h8 where the bishop exerts little influence scores a measly minus 0.92 Would the bishop be on b4 he would be able to gain wood immediately. Same position Numbers for Nd5 The Knight seems to be reasonably placed on d5. f6 is slightly better, but the bishop is even better place there. Same position Numbers for Nc6 The knight is on its best square. Same position Numbers for the Queen The Queen seems to have two better squares. I hope to have some time tomorrow to think about what all these numbers mean. I'll keep you posted. Robert thanks for the effort!

 What is the best place for white's light squared bishop?  Black to move. Green = positive Red = negative r1bq1rk1/pp2bppp/2n1p3/3n4/2BP4/2N2N2/PP3PPP/R1BQR1K1 b - - 2 10  This is a position from the game Vadim Zvjaginsev - Rodrigo Vasquez, World Rapid Ch., Khanty-Mansiysk 2013. White has just played 10.Re1. I let Stockfish think for 27 ply at average. The best place of whites light squared bishop is apparently c2. From there it exerts influence on both the diagonal b1-h7 and d1-a4 The two highest values are b1 and c2, indicating that b1-h7 is the most important  diagonal. It is striking that the bishop on c4 isn't better placed than on f1 Furthermore, the bishop on h3 is worse than the bishop on h1. h1 is some kind of benchmark for this position, where a bishop would exert hardly any influence on the position at all. Black to move. Green = positive Red = negative Same position, but now for the dark squared bishop. It is remarkable that there is no better place ...

 I concocted a plan to plug the holes in my bucket with the aid of some Chessable courses, GM Stockfish and Chess Tempo. Main focus Chess principles reloaded - center Chess principles reloaded - development Chess structures A grandmasters guide Specific techniques The Art of Awakening pieces The Art of burying pieces The art of exchanging pieces Endgame strategy Arkell's endings The Strategy Instructors Volume 1: Pawn majority & Minority The main leading course will probably be the one about Chess structures. I intend to take a certain pawn structure (there are 28 common pawn structures in the book), like for instance the Isolani, and then fiddle around with the pieces and Stockfish in order to find out some rules about piece placement. There might well be a consequence for my opening choice. If that is the case, I want to know it as soon as possible. Somewhere this summer I have subscribed for a nine day tournament. I intend to use that to experiment and get some useful feedba...

  I'm working my way through the course about the center for the second time. There are no clear scenarios presented. Meaning, that I'm told that I must occupy the center (the what), but not exactly why I should do that, nor how . Instead a lot of  examples are given from grandmaster games. Okay, there are a lot of hints , concerning the why and the how , but when you try it for yourself, you can't help to notice that you are still on your own. Tinstaafl! Apparently I have reached the limits here of chess education. Where an author can't do anything more than providing examples from grandmaster games. We were already told that that is the way how grandmasters learn. The strange book of John Watson "Advances since Nimzowitsch" already pointed in that direction. I was quite disappointed by that book, since I expected that he would go further where Nimzowitsch had stopped. In stead he came up with rule independent chess. Where he proved that rules have their lim...

[Event "Computer chess game"] [Site "Dubai"] [Date "2004.01.01"] [White "Al Hadarani"] [Black "Carlson"] [Result "*"] [BlackElo "2400"] [ECO "B31"] [Opening "Sicilian"] [Time "19:37:22"] [Variation "Rossolimo, 3...g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.c3 O-O 7.d4"] [WhiteElo "2400"] [TimeControl "300"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r1bq1rk1/pp1pppbp/2n2np1/1Bp5/3PP3/2P2N2/PP3PPP/RNBQR1K1 b - d3 0 7"] [Termination "unterminated"] [PlyCount "20"] [WhiteType "human"] [BlackType "human"] 7. ... {It looks as if white totally dominates the center. A lot of black players would play here cxd4. But Magnus wants the center for himself.} d5 8. exd5 Qxd5 {Now there is a pawn on c3, the Queen cannot be harassed by Nc3.} 9. c4 Qd6 10. d5 Nd4 11. Nxd4 cxd4 12. h3 (12. Qxd4 Ng4 13. Qf4 Qxf4 14. Bxf4 Bxb2) 12. .. a6 13. Ba4 b5 14. cxb5 ax...

  The title of this post is inspired by the funny accent of Hungarian IM Andras Toth. Currently I'm working my way through his course  Chess Principles Reloaded - The Center   I have seen all the videos. I think I have found the missing link here. What to do when the sitting ducks (King and pawns) have no feasible line of attack yet. When the opponent's  King isn't unsafe yet and there are no weak pawns either. IM Toth gives the answer: seize the center! I remember that I investigated that before, but became stuck in the trivialities that were poured over me. Toth stitches the ideas of the center, Nimzowitsch and himself nicely together. The following picture emerges: Aim all your pieces and pawns towards or in the center. When ready, your pawns are overprotected. Have a look at my post about  Overprotection  When you are ready, you push your pawns in the center. That uncorks the pieces that were behind your  pawns. All of a sudden, all your pieces com...

Overall, there are three directions that I can follow during a chess game Going for the throat of the King (à la Vukovic, PoPLoAFun, the first duck) Going for the weak pawns (provoke pawn moves, pawn trading, invasion, encircling, undermining,  the second duck) Going for the endgame (get a better pawn structure, get a passer, trade off the pieces, promotion square is the third duck) I have little knowledge of the second option. So let's investigate! I plan a series of middlegame chess positions which have no clear path to victory yet. Stockfish will be of little help, since there are 8 or 10 moves that score well between a range of 0.25 pawnpoints. And we must find a scheme of reasoning that gives our thoughts direction. White to move. Smyslov vs Szabo r1b1r1k1/pp2pp1p/2n3pB/2P1b3/8/6P1/PP1RNPBP/R5K1 w - - 0 18  White has a mobile pawn majority on the queenside. Black has a majority in the center. What are the plans? What is going on in the position? As said, Stockfish is of l...

While fiddling around with the Karlsbad structure, I got this position: White to move 8/5ppp/3k4/3p4/3P4/8/2K2PPP/8 w - - 3 1   There is only one winning move for white. White must reach one of the key squares a5, b5 or c5. You approach the key squares. Black tries to stop you by opposition. Then the pawns on the kingside get in motion, until black is in zugzwang. Then you can elbow your way in.

 Robert inspired me to have a look at the following position with Stockfish White to move 6k1/ppp2ppp/2p5/8/3P4/4P3/PP3PPP/6K1 w - - 2 1  This is what Stockfish came up with after half an hour and 35 ply. The values became higher the longer Stockfish was allowed to calculate. That is usually a sign that the position might be winning. Robert has invented a whole new area of investigation here. And when you fiddle around a bit with the King position it becomes even more convincing White to move 7k/ppp2ppp/2p5/8/3P4/3KP3/PP3PPP/8 w - - 2 1  After 31 ply. And fiddling around with the Kings positions in the Karlsbad structure is even more convincing: White to move 7k/pp3ppp/2p5/3p4/3P4/3KP3/PP3PPP/8 w - - 0 1  After 35 ply.

 I have seen all videos of the Chessable book  The Strategy Instructors Volume 1: Pawn Majority & Minority It gives a good impression what the middlegame struggle will often be about when one side goes for a good pawn structure, while the other side embarks on maximizing the piece activity. Where does this extra piece activity originates, and how is it in balance with a better pawn structure? Usually it takes time (tempi) to saddle your opponent with a double pawn. Furthermore, a doubled pawn comes with an extra (half) open file. And when the double pawns control the center, it is a good thing too. In order to get a better picture how this works, I decided to analyze the game between Anand and Shirov again. [Event "Linares"] [Site "Linares ESP"] [Date "1997.02.14"] [Round "9"] [White "Viswanathan Anand"] [Black "Alexey Shirov"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C45"] [Opening "Scotch"] [Variation ...

 When two pawns are exchanged for the first time in a game, two different situations can occur. A balanced one or an unbalanced one. Either blacks e-pawn or blacks c-pawn disappears. When the e-pawn disappears, the pawn structure is still balanced. The e-file becomes open on both sides, and since both sides cannot afford the other side to dominate the file, the trading of the rooks on a certain moment in the future becomes likely. But when blacks c-pawn disappears, the pawn structure becomes unbalanced. Two pawn majorities and two pawn minorities emerge. White has a majority on the queenside, while black has a majority in the center. Black has a minority on the queenside, while white has a minority in the center. Furthermore, white has an half open e-file, while black has an half open c-file. The exchange of rooks is not likely anytime soon. The state of the pawn majorities gives a clue for the strategy to follow. The diagnosis of the situation. What are the parameters? Is the majo...

 Somehow the picture seems to emerge as if the what (what to do) is related to knowledge and the how (how to do it) is related to skill. I don't think that is the case. The what represents the stage of diagnosis while the how represents the stage of administering the remedy . Both diagnosis and remedy have two sides: knowledge and skill. The logical narrative represents knowledge, while the accompanying patterns that are absorbed represents the skill. Diagnosis and skill have a N:M relationship. Because for every problem that you diagnose, there are a few different solutions. And there are a lot of solutions that can be applied to many problems. In general it is difficult to deduct the problem from the solution. Especially in endgames. There are quite a few problems of which knowing how to handle the Trébuchet is the solution. Most endgame books focus on solutions, not diagnoses.

From study of middlegame strategy by means of games like the one of Karpov in the previous post, the following picture emerges: There are three sitting ducks: The King, the pawn and the promotion square. All these ducks have their own parameters around them which tell you when they are ready for the eagle to dive in. Piece play is guided by which duck is currently the most vulnerable. The King For the king we have the preconditions of Vukovic. The parameters are geared around King safety, lines of attack that end next to the King, amount of attackers and amount of defenders. The battle of the LoA's. The pawn Isolani, backward pawn, doubled pawn, base of the pawn chain. Can they be blockaded? How about the open files adjacent to the pawns? Can they be attacked from behind? Encircling, undermining. The promotion square Where are the pawn majorities? Can they create a passer? How close are they to the promotion square? How distant is the opponent King? Is the majority mobile or fixed?...

[Event "Dortmund Sparkassen"] [Site "Dortmund GER"] [Date "1997.07.05"] [Round "2"] [White "Anatoly Karpov"] [Black "Artur Yusupov"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D56"] [Opening "QGD"] [Variation "Lasker Defence, 9.Rc1 c6 10.Bd3"] [TimeControl "300"] [Termination "normal"] [PlyCount "125"] [WhiteType "human"] [BlackType "human"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. Bd3 Nxc3 11. Rxc3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nd7 13. O-O b6 14. Bd3 c5 15. Be4 Rb8 16. Qa4 Bb7 17. Bxb7 Rxb7 18. Qc2 a5 19. a3 Re8 20. Rd1 Rbb8 21. h3 Rbd8 22. Rcd3 Rc8 23. d5 exd5 24. Rxd5 Nf6 25. Re5 Qc7 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 {Black has a majority on the queenside while white has a majority in the center. Whites plan is to immobilize the black majority and to activate his own majority.} 27. a4 {One holds two} Rd8 {Black cannot let white domin...

One of the most difficult positional issues is how to judge the dynamic piece play of a position against a wrecked pawn structure. The following game is very instructive [Event "Linares"] [Site "Linares ESP"] [Date "1997.02.14"] [Round "9"] [White "Viswanathan Anand"] [Black "Alexey Shirov"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "2400"] [ECO "C45"] [Opening "Scotch"] [Variation "4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 Qf6 6.Qd2 dxc6 7.Nc3"] [WhiteElo "2400"] [TimeControl "300"] [Termination "normal"] [PlyCount "50"] [WhiteType "human"] [BlackType "human"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 {White saddles black with a double pawn. But at the cost of moving his knight for the third time} Qf6 6. Qd2 dxc6 7. Nc3 Ne7 8. Qf4 {White has a better pawn structure. So he decides to aim for an endgame} Be6 {Black prefers development before pa...

  Let's see what we have found Pawn majorities/minorities are important to base your plans on. Both in the opening, the middlegame and the endgame Judge the pawn balance in three areas: Queenside, center and Kingside The majority becomes stronger when the endgame nears A minority must be used in the middlegame, in order to saddle the opponent with a weak pawn which is a subject of attack when the pawn balance is disturbed, think all pieces away and judge the resulting pawn ending make a piece exchange plan ask yourself which pieces you need to chase the king away from a blockading square the middlegame is about invasion. On which invasion square can you get the upperhand? overprotection is for invasion squares open lines of attack that can't be dominated often lead to piece trades. Since you cannot permit that your opponent dominates the file. Look how that fits in your piece exchange plan. Since you must still drive away your opponent's king from the Path to Promotion (PtP...

Today I stumbled upon a game that might be the reason for the following citation:  “Modern Chess is too much concerned with things like Pawn structure. Forget it, Checkmate ends the game.” — Nigel Short [Event "Linares"] [Site "Linares ESP"] [Date "1992.02.24"] [EventDate "1992.02.23"] [Round "2"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Nigel Short"] [Black "Alexander Beliavsky"] [ECO "C48"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "116"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Ba4 Nxf3+ 6.Qxf3 Bc5 7.d3 c6 8.Bb3 d6 9.O-O h6 10.Be3 Bb6 11.h3 O-O 12.Rfd1 Bxe3 13.Qxe3 b5 14.a4 b4 15.Ne2 Qb6 16.d4 a5 17.Ng3 Ra7 18.Rd2 Re7 19.Rad1 d5 20.exd5 cxd5 21.dxe5 Qxe3 22.fxe3 Rxe5 23.Bxd5 Rxe3 24.Bf3 Re5 25.Ne2 Rc5 26.Nd4 Bd7 27.Nb3 Rc7 28.Nxa5 Bxa4 29.b3 Bb5 30.Re1 Rfc8 31.Re5 Bd7 32.Nc4 Be6 33.Ne3 Rb8 34.Ra5 g6 35.Rd4 Rd7 36.Rxd7 Bxd7 37.Kf2 Kg7 38.Ra7 g5 39.Ke2 Bb5+ 40.Kd2 Kg6 41.Rb7 Rxb7 ...

  [White "Yifan"] [Black "Humpy"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3b4/5k2/1pp1p1p1/p1p1P2p/P1P2PP1/1P5K/5B1P/8 b - - 0 35"] [Termination "unterminated"] [PlyCount "42"] [WhiteType "human"] [BlackType "human"] 35. ... Bc7 36. Bh4 hxg4+ 37. Kxg4 Kg7 38. Bf6+ Kf7 39. Kg5 {Both the king and the bishop cannot move.} b5 {The only option for black is to try this} 40. Kh6 bxa4 41. bxa4 Bb6 42. h4 Bc7 43. Kh7 Bb6 44. Be7 {Luring the black King away} Kxe7 45. Kxg6 Kf8 46. h5 Kg8 47. Kf6 {Attack on two fronts} Bd8+ 48. Kxe6 Kg7 49. Kd7 Bh4 50. e6 Kf8 51. h6 {Change of front again} Bf6 52. f5 Bg5 53. h7 Kg7 54. e7 {Change of front again} Bxe7 55. Kxe7 Kxh7 56. f6 {And black resigns} *

Continuation of the previous post.  After 39.Kg5 is black in zugzwang.  From here I don't follow the exact game due to repetition in time trouble and mutual errors which compensate each other. That obscures the method. Black to move 8/2b2k2/1pp1pBp1/p1p1P1K1/P1P2P2/1P6/7P/8 b - - 4 39  Both the king and the bishop cannot move. The only option for black is to try 39. ... b5  39. Kg5 b5  40. Kh6 bxa4 41. bxa4 Bb6  42. h4 Bc7  43. Kh7 Bb6  44. Be7  Luring the black King away Black to move 8/4Bk1K/1bp1p1p1/p1p1P3/P1P2P1P/8/8/8 b - - 4 44  44. ... Kxe7  45. Kxg6 Kf8  46. h5 Kg8 47. Kf6  Attack on two fronts Black to move 6k1/8/1bp1pK2/p1p1P2P/P1P2P2/8/8/8 b - - 2 47  47. . . . Bd8+  48. Kxe6 Kg7  49. Kd7 Bh4  50. e6 Kf8  51. h6  Change of front again Black to move 5k2/3K4/2p1P2P/p1p5/P1P2P1b/8/8/8 b - - 0 51  51. ... Bf6  52. f5 Bg5  53.  h7 Kg7  54. e7 Bxe7  55. Kxe7 ...

  White to move 5b2/2p2k2/1p2p1p1/p1p1P2p/P1P2P2/1P2BKP1/7P/8 w - - 0 32  Let's first see what Stockfish has to say: Stockfish at 39 ply deep Remarkable is that the move 32.h3, which is proposed in the  The Strategy Instructors Volume 1: Pawn Majority & Minority  doesn't seem to be winning at all. Btw, I'm going to promote this book at Chessable shamelessly, since I hope they will be inspired to write a volume 2 at some moment. In a sense that might be good news. It shows that even grandmasters tend to be failure prone in the endgame. Let alone mere mortals. The bad news is that I have to think for myself. The first 9 moves seem to score equally well. Which moves make progress and which moves do nothing more than not giving the win away? Let's see what theoretically might lead to progress. The black king is powerful on the white squares. He can blockade the black king from invasion. What can drive the black king away from the white squares? White has no piece to ...

  Black to move 8/1ppr1kp1/2p1p3/p3P2p/P1P2P2/1Pb3P1/4K2P/2B2R2 b - f3 0 25  The only move here that does not lose for black is 25. ... Kg6. Why is dat? Black should be able to keep the queenside closed. His focus must be to keep the kingside closed too. To only way to do that is to raise a blockade on the white squares. The only piece that can do that is the black King. That poses a problem for white. White wants to trade the rooks. He cannot permit black to invade with his rook via the d-file. Hence the rook trade is inevitable. But once the rooks are traded, which piece is going to drive the black king away from the white squares? The only piece that can chase the black king away from the white squares is the white rook. So black can set up a blockade on the white squares once the rooks are exchanged, and white cannot make progress anymore. I'm surprised how clear the position becomes once you have unearthed the right logical narrative!

 Sofar we have found move  17. ... Kf7 where almost every move gives black the opportunity to keep the balance, and move 32, where every move from white indicates a probable win for white except for the two pawn breaks: 32.b4 gives black chances to win 32.f5 and black is probably able to hold the draw Somewhere between move 17 and move 32 the balance has tipped. Let's see whether we can find the precise tipping point. It seems to be that  25. ... g6? is indeed the tipping point, as the author indicated. Stockfish indicates that from here both Rd1 and Rf3-d3 are clearly better for white. Showing that the rook trade is the direction to go. There are a lot of other moves for white that score well too. Which shows that when the option of the rook trade is kept open, white is somewhat better. But the route to go is evidently the rook trade. All relevant diagrams are shown in the previous post. The next question is: what is the method to press forward from move 32 for whit...

 Robert asked some relevant questions about the game of the previous post. Let's see what we can learn. This is the position after move 17. ... Kf7 White to move 3r3r/1pp1bkp1/2p1p3/p3P2p/P7/1P6/1BP2PPP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 18 If you think away  the rooks and the bishops, only white can try to play for the win. Black must hold the draw. White can try to create a passer on the kingside by converting his pawn majority there, while black cannot convert his queenside majority into a passer due to his doubled pawns. "Rule": one holds two. The general "rule" for this position is that white must trade pieces, not pawns, while black must trade pawns, not pieces. The open d-file is a line of attack where both parties strive for dominance. No side can permit the other to get the upperhand on this file and invade. So the most likely outcome is to trade the rooks along this file, which plays into the hands of white. A few moves later we have this position after move 25.f4 Black t...

 Currently I'm studying the book The Strategy Instructors Volume 1: Pawn Majority and Minority  by GM Ramesh R.B. & by GM Efstratios Grivas from Chessable. This is a position from the game Hou Yifan - Humpy Koneru: White to move 3r3r/1pp1bkp1/2p1p3/p3P2p/P7/1P6/1BP2PPP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 18 What is going on in this position? In general There are three regions of the board to consider in relation to potential passers: Queenside. Black has the majority. But a double pawn on the c-file is difficult to convert into a passer (as a rule of thumb 😉 ) Center. Is equal. But white has more space.  Kingside. White has a pawn majority. From blacks point of view: Battle for the domination of the line of attack d-file. What is it that black wants? Rd8-d5 and Rh8-d8. Blacks wants to use d5 as a means to double his rooks. Whites c4 prevents that. line of attack Be7-c5-f2 pinning the f2 pawn invasion on d2 via Bb4 line of attack Rh8-h6-g6 invasion of Kf7-g6-f5-e4. Notice h...