Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna
Emmanuel Neiman
Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna
Know when (and where!) to look for winning combinations
New In Chess 2012
Q 2012 New In Chess
Published by New In Chess, Alkmaar, The Netherlands
www.newinchess.com
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ISBN: 978-90-5691-404-2
Foreword
In this book, I suggest a thinking method that is intended to help the practical chess player. I am sure that using this technique, the reader will improve his play as a whole, meaning both his tactical abilities (i.e. the ability to foresee combinations) and his positional abilities.
The idea of this work is to provide the reader with a kind of ‘antenna’. This antenna has seven ‘filters’ (what I call signals) that will allow a chess player to detect tactical possibilities.
The two main points are:
- Follow carefully the necessary steps of reflection (see the 5 phases in the Introduction);
- Detect the signals for you and for your opponent (Part I and II).
First look, then analyse, plan, and only then start to look for the right move! See Part III of this book.
A great trainer and champion1 once advised his pupils to calculate like machines. I’d say: be human! Do not calculate without ideas.
Good luck to all!
Emmanuel Neiman
November 2012
Footnote
1 Alexander Kotov.
Explanation of Symbols
The chess board with its coordinates:
❑ White to move
■ Black to move
! Good move
!! Excellent move
? Bad move
?? Blunder
!? Interesting move
?! Dubious move
White stands slightly better
Black stands slightly better
± White stands better
∓ Black stands better
+− White has a decisive advantage
−+ Black has a decisive advantage
= balanced position
∞ unclear position
# checkmate
Introduction
Improving the ability to solve chess combinations is the main road to progress for the learning chess player. As soon as he is given the magic formula ‘White to play and win’, the seeker will try to find as quickly as possible the best move in order to provoke events and in so doing, he will improve his capacity to calculate forced lines.
After some practice, in general the improvement is significant and as a trainer I am often surprised by the ability of some people to quickly find the solution to a non-obvious puzzle.
When I congratulate a pupil on good solving, his/her reaction is often: ‘That was not difficult, you told us that there was a combination!’ Most of them add: ‘The real problem is that when we are playing, we don’t know when to look for a tactic’. This started me thinking about the idea of an ‘antenna’ that ‘alarms’ a player when a combination is available.
Once I found in a newspaper the following position, which I gave to grandmaster Anatoly Vaisser to solve:
Lingnau,Carsten
Orso,Miklos
Budapest 1992 (4)
White to play and win
One, maybe two seconds after I showed him the position, he indicated the right solution by drawing a kind of ‘Z’ with his finger in the air.
Nevertheless, in the actual game White was unable to win, and had to be content with a draw after
65.Kd5 Bg1 66.Ke6 Bf2 67.Kd7 Bg1 68.Kc8 Be3 69.Na5+ Ka7 70.Bb7 g2
½-½
Here we have a basic illustration of our theme. White was not advised that there was a forced win, so he just continued in the ‘logical’ way, bringing his king toward the enemy monarch.
What did Vaisser immediately detect here?
We can observe, before doing any calculation, that the black king is already ‘stalemated’ by the knight on c6 and the pawn on a6. This observation should lead us to look for some chance to give check without moving the two guards (knight and pawn). Then we might notice that the light-squared bishop is able to deliver the mate, for it can reach the b7-square via the route h3-c8-b7 and mate.
Did Vaisser follow all these steps?
I doubt it – in one or two seconds. What (as I think) he did instantly was just:
1. Checking the enemy king position.
2. Looking for a mating possibility.
3. Seeing the right route.
Is it the same process?
No, the trained grandmaster (at this time, Vaisser was one of the best rapid players in the world), knowing that there is something to be found, concentrates on the essential. First, the king! Probably, almost immediately after he is given the diagram position, he looks for a mate, because he instantly realizes that the black king is trapped.
If you tried some fancies along the long diagonal, or, like in the actual game, started a long march with the king, then you did not investigate the most crucial problem in the position (and most generally in chess): the king’s position.
I hope that after reading this book, you will go for the real stuff in this kind of position, and that before looking for moves, you will look for ideas.
Here the idea is relative to the poor king’s position. Such an idea is classically called the motif of a combination. The motif is the reason why there’s a combination or a forced win (a combination normally implies a sacrifice, here we look for ‘tactics’ – that is, a forced variation with or without a sacrifice).
Generally, puzzle books are arranged according to theme. This classification: double attack, pin, deflection, decoy, etc., is a useful tool for solving purposes. When we know that there is a combination, the motif provides a valuable answer to the ‘How’. In this book, we deal with the ‘Why’: we want to discover if there is a chance of winning by force.
We are looking for hints, and if we can find some, then we will look at the position with a solver’s eyes – a solver who has already done part of the job. The antenna has been erected, and it involves seven filters. In classical chess literature these filters are called motifs. In this book, in accordance with our ‘antenna’ theme, we will call them signals.
A. What is a signal?
A signal is a weakness in the opponent’s position.
When we look for a signal, we look for a reason why we should be winning. Since Steinitz, we know that the combination does not appear randomly, but as a consequence of the positional superiority of one side. This superiority lies in positive factors, lets say more active pieces. But we can take the opposite approach: looking at the opponent’s position, we can establish that he has passive pieces; or they may be trapped, locked in or lacking coordination. This way of looking gives us hints, and those hints we will call signals, in other words: reasons to believe that there is a possible win.
Take another position:
White has no weaknesses for the time being. All his men are well protected, and
Black is unable to threaten any of them. Not a single white piece is on a light square, so the bishop is useless for offensive purposes. No file is available for the black rook (Black might dream about …h7-h5-h4, …Rh8 and …h4xg3 with a possible attack on f2, but in the meantime White will have taken all the pawns on the queenside, beginning with Rc7 or Nxe6). In short, there’s no chance of any winning tactics for Black. When we are winning, or at least in a very advantageous situation like this one, the study of the signals will also help us keep the opponent in the defence, without allowing him any tactical possibilities.
What is the difference between a signal and a theme?
The signal (the motif) is the reason why the combination exists. The theme is the main mechanism which allows us to make it work.
Christiansen,Larry
Karpov,Anatoly
Wijkaan Zee (m/1) 1993
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nxc6 Bxc6 10.Bf4 Nh5
Chasing the white bishop, but also provisionally misplacing the knight. The move is correct here, but not with Karpov’s follow-up in mind…
11.Be3 Bd6
11 …Bc5 or 11 …Qb8 are better.
An important signal is the unprotected piece. Here Karpov has placed two unprotected men on open lines: the h5-knight and the d6-bishop.
12.Qd1
1-0
A double attack winning a piece in the opening, quite a rare bird in the practice of World Champions!
Here we can clearly see the distinction: the signal can be found in the unprotected pieces. A single unprotected piece is already a reason to look for a forced continuation – here we have two of them. So there could (should?) be some win. The theme is the realization of the winning tactic. Here the classical way of responding to the signal is to look for a double attack.
If we don’t find the thematic double attack, we won’t win, of course. But the win exists only because of the signal, and here, once we are aware of the motif, the realization is not difficult.
Both are complementaries; for example sometimes the signal is clear, yet the combination is difficult to work out, because we need to use complex calculation. Here the theme is a useful help.
Study position
The signal is obvious here. Black’s problem lies in the position of his king, stuck in the white camp, while the rest of his army is far away. Note that the king cannot go to e4, because then 2.Qe3 is checkmate. Yet, finding the win is not simple, and White has to act quickly, otherwise Black could force more exchanges with 1…Re2+, and after 2.Kxe2, then 2…Rxg3.
Let’s first calculate the most forced variation: 1.Rxg8 Qxg8 2.g3+ Kg4 (if 2…Ke4 then 3.Qe3 mate)
In this position, White has a draw with 3.Qf3+ Kh3 4.Qg2+ Kg4 5.Qf3+ etc.
After 3.Qf3+ Kh3 White could try 4.g4+, but then 4…Kxh4 (not 4…Kh2 because of 5.Qg2 mate) 5.Qg3+ and Black has an escape with 5…Kg5.
Hence the first move, which is based on the theme of square closing, a typical theme when hunting the enemy king. With the same idea, instead of Rxg8 White plays
1.Rg5!Rxg5 2.g3+Kg4
2…Ke4 3.Qe3#.
2…Rxg3 3.Qxg3+ Ke4 4.Qe3#.
3.Qf3+ Kh3
4.g4+ Kxh4
4…Kh2 5.Qg2#.
5.Qg3#
Now we will start the study of the different signals.
This book is aimed at various levels of readers. Some basics of tactical play are dealt with further on in this book. If you are a beginner, or you lack experience in this aspect of the game, I strongly advise you to start with the introduction to Part II, where basic tactical themes and classical checkmates are given (page 71).
B. The thinking process
What shall we do when we examine a position?
There are five important steps2 that we must follow in order to get the right feeling for a position.
1. Global vision
This part is very important in my opinion, but most players omit it.
The first thing to do when you examine a position is: take your time! Take a panoramic view without trying to grasp all the details, try to get a general impression. Look at it as if it were a large painting: don’t come too close at first if you want to grasp the whole scene.
If you randomly switch on the TV, what do you do when you see the first images? Probably first you will try to guess what kind of a program it is. If it is a movie, what kind? A comedy? A western? And if you keep this program on, then you will try to gather more information and progressively try to know exactly what’s going on.
A chess game is like a movie: if you begin in the middle of it, you have to make some effort to get into it. So when you examine a position, you should begin in exactly the same way. First you take a ‘global’ look to get some general information, and then you will progressively focus more deeply.
What impression does it give you? Do you prefer White? Black? Does it remind you of a similar position you know? It is a general feeling that you look for. Is there something unusual about it? This part of the reflexion is especially important because once you begin to get involved with calculation, you will not be able to retrieve this fresh look anymore – that which some people call ‘intuition’.
2. Analysis of the position
It is time to check the various strategic and tactical points. What about the material? (maybe you have seen this already). Who is better, from various points of view? What are the important strategic and tactical points? Who would be better in an endgame?
This phase is the one we will chiefly consider in our book. It is the right time for detecting the tactical possibilities and looking for signals – we will come back to this point in the next chapters. The analysis will reveal the signals (see Part I), and once you have picked one or two, you can try and look for a combination, with the relevant theme in mind (see Part II). You won’t find a combination every time, but keeping the signals in mind helps you to be alert.
3. Looking for the theme
When we have studied all the elements of a position, we have to choose a general direction. This is also the time for an examination of important strategic choices like exchanges, or decisions concerning the central pawn structure – what we call a ‘plan’. For example, we have noticed that the ending would be winning, so the general direction is to find a way to exchange the queens. You don’t plan at every move, but knowing what is desirable helps you to find one when required.
From a tactical point of view, if we have detected several signals, then we can look for the relevant themes that could help us find the correct idea. For example, we detect that the only defence against an important threat (Qxh7 mate) is by a certain piece – say a knight on f6. The theme will be to eliminate or dislodge this defender in order to give checkmate. Here we must look for the themes of elimination, deflection and decoy. We have found our idea, now we can begin our calculations.
4. Looking for candidate moves
This is the time to make choices. Basically the first three steps can (and should) be made in the opponent’s time. Now it is up to you. You know the position and have registered all the details. Time to get to work! Spassky, when analysing a game and feeling that a forced win was available, used to say: ‘Now is the moment! This is crisis! Now we have to think!’3.
The selection of candidate moves should be made according to the general idea defined in Part III. We will choose the most forcing way to execute our idea first, and then the second most forcing, etc. The correct order for this is:
Checks – Mate patterns – Captures – Threats.
5. The calculation of variations
This is the stage were we have to check our ideas. The previous examinations required a good vision of the board. The final stage is just one of sweating. We have to examine the candidate moves, then try to find the best answer for the opponent, then our second move, the best defence… without forgetting any possible counter to our ideas.
When we deal with forced moves (i.e. only
moves), the calculation is easy. Sometimes we can find positions that are more complicated, and in this case, at each step, we have to return to step 4. For example, we want to examine a certain move for White that has many possible answers. Then for the black side we have to go back to the examination of candidate moves, to peruse them before starting to calculate (more on this in Part III).
Phases of reflection in practice (1)
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar
Basencyan,Mark
Dubai Open 2012 (1.11)
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.g4 h6 5.g5 hxg5 6.Bxg5 c6 7.Nf3 e5 8.Bc4 Be7 9.a4 a5 10.h4 Qc7 11.Rg1 Nf8 12.Qe2 Ne6 13.0-0-0 exd4 14.Nxd4 Nxd4 15.Rxd4 Be6 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.Qc4 e5 18.Bxf6 gxf6
18…exd4 19.Rxg7 dxc3 20.Qe6 with unavoidable checkmate.
18…Bxf6 19.Nb5+−.
19.Nb5 Qb8
What is our first visual impression here? Nearly all the black pieces are on the back rank, the king is unable to castle. White enjoys an active position, with all his men attacking on open lines, while his king is well protected. Without any further examination, we should analyse the position bearing in mind that White looks much superior, and later try to look for a forced win.
The second phase is the analysis. Let’s check the material: equal. King positions: very poor for Black, especially if White’s men can invade immediately (white queen on e6, white rook on g7). Our motif will be: ‘defence too far away’ (see Chapter 7, p. 62). Black’s rooks can do little against a direct attack on his king. Then we have to take into account that Black has a double threat: on the knight and on the rook.
The third phase consists of looking for the theme. We look for a decisive attack, so let’s see what pieces are in the defence. The main defender is the e 7-bishop. It is useful for us to deflect this bishop (‘deflection’), or eliminate it (‘elimination of the defender’). The fourth phase is looking for candidate moves. Here we should examine three that are quite forced: 20.Rg8+, 20.Nxd6+ and 20.Qe6, which threatens to invade with the rook. The fifth phase consists of accurate calculation. Then we can choose the right move.
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