Selbstgespräch
This morning I was thinking about why I am so bad at endgames. And I said to myself "because I always see too much possibilities". But then I heard the RCCM chime in "wait a minute, you don't SEE these possibilities, you only suppose them to be there".
And I realized that that has been true all the time. I always felt overwhelmed by chess. Not by the amount of possibilities that I SEE, but by the amount of possibilities that I suppose there are.
On another note:
Invisibility
You win when you see patterns that your opponent doesn't.
To name a few areas:
- tactics
- mate
- pawn ending
- rook ending
The first two I master reasonably well, and that is where I win my games. The second two are a recent discovery: I lose 0.5 per endgame galore.
With the pace I'm going now, I deem that I need a year to fix pawn and rook endings to the degree that I see the invisible patterns. Furthermore, I have reason to believe that a full fix of endings would bring me to 1950 rating.
But I stumbled on another area lately: the invisible invasion square.
The invasion square has only recently been added to my framework of assaulting the king. The invasion isn't specifically limited to the assault though. It can be used to initiate a winning ending too.
In search for more knowledge about the invasion I stumbled upon the Chessable course The positional chess patterns manual which has 13 chapters or sections about weak squares and outposts. What struck me was that most of these squares are invisible to me.
 |
| Black to move |
r1bqr1k1/1p1n1pbp/2p2np1/3pp3/p3P3/P1PP1NP1/1PQ2PBP/R1B1RNK1 b - - 0 1
It would never occur to me that d3 is an invasion square.
Weak squares and outposts are regulated by pawn moves. Pieces are the attackers that can make use of them, or defend against enemy pieces that try to use them.
ReplyDeleteImprove your worst piece. But if your worst piece is a pawn, you cannot always adjust them.
You need a way to value an invasion square. Because "You have to give squares to get squares."
What is Black's worst piece? I intuit that it is the BBc8. As long as the BNd7 and the BPb7 remain in place, that Bishop is going nowhere. As a consequence, the Black Rooks can't be connected/coordinated for attack. In the current position, the BRe8 protects the e5-pawn, and the BRa8 protects the a4 pawn, but there is no target for them to focus on. Rooks need open files and targets on the open files!
ReplyDeleteBUT, there is a glimmer of hope for Black. Although the e4-square is "overprotected" [3:2], Black can force an exchange and recapture by the d3-pawn because in response to 1… dxe4, White cannot recapture first with either the WRe1 or the WQc2 without losing material. This puts a “granite” obstacle into the potential LoA of the WRe1, WQc2 and WBg2. After visualizing that exchange (1… dxe4 2. dxe4), “suddenly” there is an open d-file. If Black can get the BBc8 to e6, then there is a threat of dropping it into the “weak” b3-square, and thereby controlling the vital d1-square, preventing the White Rooks from contesting the d-file. The path is now open for the BNd7 to take advantage of the c5-square, adding pressure to the e4-pawn and preventing a freeing pawn move on the White queenside. If the BNd7 and BBc8 are “developed,” then Black has good chances of taking control of the open d-file. Given an open file, the next thought is how to create or take advantage of an outpost in it. The d3-square should now be seen as a natural outpost.
Q.E.D.
1...dxe4 2.dxe4 Nc5 3.Bg5 Qd3 4.Qxd3 Nxd3 and suddenly there are threats and white must displace himself to try to stay in the game.
ReplyDeleted3 is a much more disruptive place for the knight than b3. Invasion is about disruption. Time to develop a nose for invasion!
Nimzowitsch advocates for minor pieces on central outposts and major pieces on wing outposts. Makes sense: minor pieces are movement constrained on the wings; major pieces are not.
Delete