The Game of Kings (for Rookies)

Getting back into this

zachsattack — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:15:24 +0000

Hello everyone!
I’ve clearly taken a huge “break” (if you can call it that) from blogging chess. I’ve been involved with many other things. High school for instance! However, I would like to get back into this. Here’s my thoughts. I’m going to rework this page to what it was supposed to be originally: chess lessons for scholastic players. I’m also thinking of starting a new blog for more advanced players, covering tournaments, keeping updates on the latest theory, etc. I will announce the name of that hopefully later this month.
So, I’m sorry for slacking way too much, but hopefully we can get back to spreading scholastic chess!

Opening of the month

zachsattack — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:19:04 +0000

Each month I will try to post a new opening. It may be a defense such as the Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense, or a actual opening like the four knights variation. The Opening for June will be the Sicilian Defense, Taimanov Variation, Sicilian Counter attack. It is coming soon, probably within the week.

The one that got away (sort of)

zachsattack — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:47:18 +0000

With Ronen Har-Zvi gone, the first question that came to mind was, “Who will give our simuls?” Ronen suggested Deepak, the current New York State Champion, as the next simul giver. And indeed, Deepak Aaron and Patrick Chi, New York State Elementary Champion, gave simuls on 4/30/10, with Aaron playing 20 boards and Chi playing ten boards. Aaron won all his games 20-0, and Chi went 91/2-1/2, giving up a draw. Below is the game I played against him, which I drew and took home a small cash prize. I had the black pieces. Patricks rating is 1994, and mine is 1363.

White Black

1. d4 nf6

2. c4 c5

3. d5 b5

The Benko Gambit has a very interesting idea behind it that must not be underestimated. Black wants to sacrifice a pawn to get rid of his a and b pawns for long-lasting pressure on the queenside.

4. cxb5 a6

5. axb6 g6!

MCO (modern book of chess openings) gives this move a exlamation point as in some variations black wants to recapture the a-pawn with the knight.

6. nc3 bxa6

7. e4 bxf1

8. kxf1 d6

9. g3 ng7

10. nf3 nbd7

11. kg2 0-0

12. re1

MCO gives 12. h3 here as the main move, but re1 seems to do fine.

12…qb6

13. nd2 rfb8

Already we can begin to see the pressure building up against whites queenside. The c1 bishop is chained to the defense of the b-pawn, and if the b-pawn moves, it must guard a3, as black would love to stick a rook in there and pile up on the a2 pawn.

14. nc4 qb7

15. a4 nb6

Kick the c4 knight.

16. nxb6 qxb6

17. rb1

Here I was waiting for him to push to e5 with his pawn and then attack the c5 pawn. But hey, what do I know?

17…ne8

18. nb5 nc7

19. nxc7 qxc7

And now we can see the pressure black is exerting on white. The bishop along the diagonal is helping a lot, keeping whites c1 bishop locked in place. Here, I am not sure if Chi gave up a pawn for mobility or if it was just an accident, he returned the material.

20. qc2?! qa5

forking the rook and pawn.

21. bg5 f6

22. bd2 qxa4

23. qxa4 rxa4

24. bc3 rb3

My plan was a simple one. Hold the b-pawn where it was, then trade bishops and advance the c-pawn. Unfortulately, Chi interfered before I could execute my idea.

25. ra1! rxa1

26. rxa1 f5!

Even though queens and a pair of rooks have been exchanged, I can still put a surprising amount of pressure on him.

27. bxg7 kxg7

28. re1!

His idea is 1. exf5 gxf5 2. rxe7 check winning…

28…kf6!

…But its not going ot happen any time soon.

29. exf5 gxf5

30. re2 rb4!?

My idea was to play re4. He could not capture it because after rxe4 fxe4 followed by ke5 was crushing. But he stopped the whole idea in its tracks with…

31. f4 rd4

I want that pawn!

32. re6+ kf7

33. rh6 kg7

34. re6 kf7

1/2-1/2

draw.

After the game, the chess reporter (who is rated 1800ish so he is very good) claimed I had a winning postion, as did Chi’s father and some other specators. Indeed I had looked at the possibility of after 35. rh6 rxd5 36. rxh7+ ke6 and I win the b-pawn, but at the time all I saw was a complicated mess. It was late, and the game had taken a lot out of me. Hence the title, “The One That Got Away” (sort of )

Opening Correction III

zachsattack — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 11:59:32 +0000

I was thinking of calling this post, “Always Make Sure You Post Your Chess Diagrams and Analysis While Using An Actual Chess Board So That You do Not Make The Same Mistake That Zach Did In His Post, ‘Opening Correction (Again)’ And You Will Not Look Like A Fool.”

(Deep Breath)

OK, maybe a tad too long for a title. But my original one (I will not bother repeating it) says it all. I made a giant mistake in the Mackenzie Attack of the Neanderthal Variation. I will post a video lecture on the Neanderthal Variation, Mackenzie Attack, soon. Until then, cheers!

Opening Correction (Again!)

zachsattack — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:11:27 +0000

I decided to take a look at my Variation of French Defense. Just to refresh you, take a look at the original Opening Correction post. A truly crude idea, lets call it the Neanderthal Variation. After 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5?! Bxc5 4. c4

Dana Mackenzie had some interesting comments. He ( I was reading his blog later on and found a picture of him. Sorry, Dana!) pointed out that 4…nc6 is probably blacks best way of meeting this, as it attacks the weak f-pawn. 5. nf3 nge7 6. bf4 ng6 7. bg3 0-0 8. nc3 qb6 attacking b2 and adding pressure to f2. I call this the classical variation as it is not overly aggresive and simpley aims to capitalize on the weaknesses that white has.

White can play the aggresive 9. nb5, but this is probably not his best option. Rather na5 when black will play either 9…qb4+ or 9…bb4+.

Mackenzie’s idea (Lets call this the Mackenzie Variation) runs as follows. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5?! bxc5 4. c4 qh4!? I don’t know whether to give this a !? or a ?! as the queen looks ridiculous. After 6. qc2! white handles both threats of c4 and f2 quite neatly. 6…nc6 7. nf3! This looks like a normal move, just developing with tempo, however it conceals a lethal trap. 7…qd8 is a must! If 7…qh5? 8. rg1!

Now 8…f6 (or 8…f5) is blacks only move. if he plays a normal developing move like 8…nge7?? 9. g4! qg6 10. bd3! and the queen is a goner.

10…f5 11. gxf5 e.p. and the twin threats of the rook and the pawn cannot be dealt with.

This is my analysis to the Neanderthal Variation. I picked the name Neanderthal after Dana Mackenzie and his friends primitive names for their pet lines. (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 bf5 4. g4 the Homo-Erectus Variation, although now he reffers to it as Bronstiens Folly. Likewise, 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 bf5 4. h4 the Caveman variation.) I will publish some sub-lines to the Neanderthal later.

Good places for information

zachsattack — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:28:39 +0000

There is no website that you can use all the time for chess: I gaurantee you that. Every single website or blog does not cover every aspect of the game, and mine is a prime example of that. So I would like to list some good books that I have found really useful.

For starters

If you are just starting to research chess seriously, then here are two good sources of information:

1. The Ultamite Book of Chess Strategy by Jeremy Silman. This book is very instructive. It gives wonderful explanations of basic chess principles.

2. www.chess.com This website is a wonderful place to get started. With everything from openings to playing online to its hundreds of instructive chess videos, I highly recommend it! It is absolutely free to become a member. If you are really serious about playing online, ICC (Internet Chess Club) is probably the better place, although it costs money. My name is Traxlerman on chess.com. Hope to see you online!

3. Chess Tactics for Champions by Susan Polgar and Paul Truong. This book contains hundreds of puzzles that will sharpen your tactics as fast as a good pencil sharpener sharpens a pencil. It did for me!

4. Judgement and Planning in Chess by Max Euwe. This book shows how to take asvantage of teeny weaknesses in your opponents play such as backwards pawns and queenside pawn advantages. This book is awesome!

I hope you get all of these, as they are all really good. If you have any other sources that you recommend, please comment! I may not like closed positions, but I am very open minded.

Thanks!

zachsattack — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:36:53 +0000

I just wanted to thank all my viewers. The 1000 mark was finally broken, as now 1002 people have visited this blog! I am very excited. I have had viewers from all over the U.S.A, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Britain, Ireland, Germany, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, India, and South Africa. Best of luck to all of these countries in the Olympics, and once again, thanks!

Ruy Lopez: Friend or Foul?

zachsattack — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:19:39 +0000

I sat down one day with my set and set up the Ruy Lopez position. The basic position 1. e4 e5 2. nf3 nc5 3. bb5. I used to play this, and I asked myself, “What do I gain by playing bb5?” And I answered myself, “Three things. 1. Control over the a4 square. That does not help you at all. 2. You can now castle, but that can also be reached through the Italian Game. (Guico Piano.) And thirdly, you are contesting the e5 square. Some later advantages are 1. You will get a lot of space. (Via c3 and d4, also reachable through the Italian game.) 2. The bishop becomes active on the a2-g8 diagonal(again, reachable through Italian game, but most notably the Evans Gambit.) So why do so many Grandmasters play it with regular use? Maurice Ashley suggested it to me, and for a long time I played it, and it is without a doubt a good opening: FInd one master level player who has not played it. I just think it is very… interesting. Please leave your opinion. Thanks.

A new look at wing gambits

zachsattack — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:13:14 +0000

There are some wing gambits that are entertaining and good for surprise value, but more often than not they are easy to defend against. For instance, 1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 and when black puts pawns on d6 and e6, he will be able to defend well.

However, some Wing gambits deserve more attention. The Evans Gambit was incredibly popular and used with great success by Morphy, Ficsher, Anderssen, and of course, Captain Evans. Grandmasters found various defenses to it, and it began to decline. Then, Kasparov used it twice against Anand. Speaking of Kasparov, he seems like the guy who tries to bring back unused openings. He used the Evans and the Scotch. He once used the Kings Gambit in a simul, but I dont think even Kasparov would play that against, say, Topalov. The Evans Gambit goes 1. e4 e5 2. nf3 nc6 3. bc4 bc5 4. b4

If black accepts, then 5. c3 when black has 3 main options. 5…ba5, be7, or bc5. 5…bc5 can be eliminated immediately because of 6. d4 with a great center and tempo to boot. 5…be7 was played by Anand, so it can’t be that bad, but a teensy bit passive. However, it does leave the option of na5, since qb3 is a huge part of this gambit. 5…ba5 is the main move. 6. d4 exd4 7. o-o d3 not 7…dxc3?! 8. qb3 leaves white with too much initiative. 8…qe7 9. ba3 and white is very ok.

I apologize for how the board looks.

White has some chances here. There are many lines to the Evans Gambit. But now onto the Kotrc-Mieses gambit.

White Sacrifices a pawn for rapid development after 4…qxb4 5. rb1 qd6 6. d4 nf6 7. nf3 when white will have sufficient compensation for the pawn. He can sacrifice the bishop into a castled kings position eventually. The rook will also be able to jump into the attack easily. The knight or bishop can go to b5 to deliver a blow. White is very ok, and black has to play carefully. Emanuel Lasker played it, and GM Boris Alterman did a two-part video series on ICC (Internet Chess Club)

These are two Gambits that were a bit unfashionable. I play them both as my primary weapons as white. The Benko Gambit, the Blumefeld Gambit, and the Vitoninsh gambit will be covered seperately.

New York State Chess Championship Held in Albany

zachsattack — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:27:30 +0000

These past few days (Sept 4-7) were part of many things. Last minute school shopping, (School started today) weekend plans, and lots more, including the NY State Chess Championship. Top contenders were GM Joel Benjamin, GM Giorgi Kacheishvili, IM Jay Bonin, IM and GM-Elect Alexander Lenderman, FM Igor Nikolayev, and FM Alec Getz. I played in the u1600 section, and my rating is 1219. I got two and a half points out of six, meaning I got two wins and one draw out of six games. The final game was between GM Giorgi Kacheishvili and GM Joel Benjamin. I am not sure who won, but I will update. I will also post my games and hopefully the game between the two Grandmasters.