White to move
Highlight below for answer:
15.Rxf6 gxf6 16.Bh3+ Rd7 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7 18.Qg4+ Ke8 19.Nd5 Qd8 20.Qe6+ Kf8 21.Bh6#
Archive for the ‘Exercises’ category
Tactical Position for Study
August 27th, 2009Chess Visualization Exercise #8
August 24th, 2009It is very important that you have mastered exercises 1-7 before starting on this exercise. For exercises 1-7 visit the chess exercises page.
Without looking at the board, tell all the squares controlled by:
- a knight on c6
- a knight on f3
- a knight on b2
- a knight on c5
- a knight on h7
Karpov & Mazukevich’s Chess Thought Process
August 22nd, 2009(adapted by Herman Grooten)
The following thought process which is recommended by Karpov and Mazukevich is used to detect the important features of an arbitrary position in order to devise a plan that conforms to the positional assessment derived by using this thought process.
This thinking process is based on 7 criteria in which the White position is compared with the Black position.
1. What is the material balance?
2. Are there any (direct) threats?
3. How is the safety of both Kings?
4. Pawn structure questions:
a. Where are the open lines and diagonals?
b. Are there many strong squares?
c. Who is controlling the center
d. Who has more space and where on the board do they have it?
5. Which pieces are active and which are not?
Training applications:
Go through the questions out loud while doing middlegame positions based on Stoyko Exercises. The idea is to practice “talking out loud” with the list in front of you so that when you are in real game mode the questions will be asked subconsiously.
Source: Chess Strategy for Club Players pg. 37.
Chess Visualization Exercise #7
August 20th, 2009It is very important that you have mastered exercises 1-6 before starting on this exercise. For exercises 1-6 visit the chess exercises page.
Without looking at the board, tell all the squares controlled by:
- a knight on c3
- a knight on e2
- a knight on f6
- a knight on d4
Position for Study #1
August 18th, 2009
White to move
1. Material: White is up a pawn, that is about to Queen. But White cannot defend it.
2. King safety. White’s King is pinned to the light squared bishop. Black’s King is in no immediate danger.
3. Activity: Black’s rook is more active, and his bishop is not pinned like White’s.
4. Pawn structure. White has the better pawn structure on the Kingside, and has a passed pawn on the Qside.
Biggest threat for White is 1…Rxa7 losing the passed pawn and heading into a draw.
Problem is that White cannot defend the pawn with the rook since the rook is lost with either 1.Ra8 or 1.Rc7.
Candidates:
Highlight text for answer:
1. Rxc6+ {the most forcing move} Kxc6 2.a8=Q Rxa8 3.Be4+ {Wins the Black rook due to the skewering of the King and the Rook}
Improving Chess Analysis Skills with Stoyko Exercises
August 17th, 2009This content was buried in a post for Kotov’s Method for Chess Improvement, and since it is such an important chess improvement tool, I figured I would promote it to its own post.
Stoyko Exercises
from Dan Heisman’s Exercises page
A summary of Stoyko exercise:
1) Find a fairly complicated position
2) Get out a pen/pencil and paper
3) You have unlimited time
4) Write down every (pertinent) line for as deep as you can see, making sure to include an evaluation at the end of the line. This will likely include dozens of lines and several first ply candidate moves. Evaluations can be any type you like:
a) Computer (in pawns, like +.3)
b) MCO/Informant (=, +/=, etc.)
c) English (”White is a little better”)
5) At the end state which move you would play and it’s “best play for both sides” line becomes the PV
6) When you are done, go over each line and its evaluation with a strong player and/or a computer. Look for:
a) Lines/moves you should have analyzed but missed
b) Any errors in visualization (retained images, etc.)
c) Any lines where you stopped analyzing too soon, thus causing a big error in evaluation (quiescence errors)
d) Any large errors in evaluation of any line
e) Whether the above caused you to chose the wrong move
etc.
Chess Board Visualization Exercise #6
August 16th, 2009It is very important that you have mastered exercises 1-5 before starting on this exercise. For exercises 1-5 visit the chess exercises page.
Without looking at the board, tell all the squares controlled by:
- a bishop on b2
- a bishop on b7
- a bishop on a5
- a bishop on h4
- a bishop on d4
- a bishop on c4
Chess Board Visualization Exercise #5
August 11th, 2009For exercises 1-4 visit the chess exercises page.
It is very important that you have mastered exercises 1-4 before starting on this exercise.
Without looking at the board, tell all the squares controlled by:
- a bishop on g2
- a bishop on g7
- a bishop on e5
- a bishop on b7
- a bishop on d2
- a bishop on c5
Chess Board Visualization Exercise #4
August 1st, 2009Previous Exercises:
- Exercise 1
- Exercise 2
- Exercise 3
For exercise 4, using the board look at all of the squares controlled by:
- the f1-bishop developed to e2 (place only this bishop on the board)
- the f1-bishop developed to d3, c4, b5
- the f8-bishop developed on e7, d6, c5, b4
- all remaining bishops as above
Then, without the use of the board repeat the exercise again visualizing the squares controlled by the bishops above.
Perform this exercise for 2 sessions or until you feel comfortable.
Kotov’s Method for Chess Improvement
July 26th, 2009The Road to Chess Improvement
Ruke Vin Hansen in his amazing article Mind Games: Who is Doing the Playing? comes to the conclusion that the best way to improve chess skill is not through reading chess books or watching DVDs. He argues that reading more books only helps fill your short term memory whereas quality moves are a result of the subconscious processes which are not affected by the “conscious” short term memory.
Hansen asserts that the best way to improve playing strength, improve judgement and to combat blunder tendencies is to follow a similar approach as that found in Kotov’s Think Like a Grandmaster.
Here is the process described by Hansen:
No matter what position you choose to analyse, opening, middle game or end game, complex or simple; find annotated games and play through them till you to come to the point with the greatest number of variations.
Cover up the annotations with a sheet of paper and, without moving the pieces, analyze the position from 30 minutes to an hour. If the variations are extremely complex, you might write down your analyzes while analyzing.
When time is out, stop analyzing and uncover the annotations in the book or magazine, and compare your notes with the annotator’s. (This is crucial since this trains and disciplines the brain’s ability to perceive positions correctly)
Strictly speaking, this, and not his highly criticized graphic presentation of tree-analyzes, is the Kotov-method. This was the method catapulting Kotov to super GM strength and even if Kotov was unable to, we can partly explain why it works, and in short, it can be put as TWT or “Targeted Wiring Training”. As long as thinking is subconscious, we have no idea what the mind looks like when pondering or producing chess moves or analysing positions. This method simultaneously teaches a whole array of different chess skills even if not targeted individually or specifically.
When starting out, there might be a great discrepancy between your analysis and the annotators’ but with time, you learn to delineate relevant moves and variations as this training and final comparison will exercise and target the mind’s ability to perceive chess positions and produce high quality moves. Initially, this system of training may appear time consuming and even monotonous, but patience and diligence will return generous rewards since you will:
* Achieve total mastery of a new and important position
* Broaden your opening repertoire and theoretical knowledge.
* Become better acquainted with positions of similar pawn structures or themes (note; not “pattern”)
* Absorb motifs which you can also apply to other positions.
* Dramatically improve combinative skill.
* Improve both long and short range planning.
* Analyze more deeply, accurately and efficiently.
* Increase concentration and attention span.
* Sharpen board visualization.
* Develop patience and perseverance
* control impulsive tendencies.
For the full article please go to: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5055
For those of you who follow Dan Heisman, this training technique is very similar to Stoyko Exercises.
Stoyko Exercises
from Dan Heisman’s Exercises page
A summary of Stoyko exercise:
1) Find a fairly complicated position
2) Get out a pen/pencil and paper
3) You have unlimited time
4) Write down every (pertinent) line for as deep as you can see, making sure to include an evaluation at the end of the line. This will likely include dozens of lines and several first ply candidate moves. Evaluations can be any type you like:
a) Computer (in pawns, like +.3)
b) MCO/Informant (=, +/=, etc.)
c) English (”White is a little better”)
5) At the end state which move you would play and it’s “best play for both sides” line becomes the PV
6) When you are done, go over each line and its evaluation with a strong player and/or a computer. Look for:
a) Lines/moves you should have analyzed but missed
b) Any errors in visualization (retained images, etc.)
c) Any lines where you stopped analyzing too soon, thus causing a big error in evaluation (quiescence errors)
d) Any large errors in evaluation of any line
e) Whether the above caused you to chose the wrong move
etc.
