Everybody makes mistakes

...especially when the clock is ticking. The reigning Women's World Champion, Anna Ushenina, joins the large and distinguished group led by Grandmaster Vladimir Epishin who have failed to mate in fifty moves with king, bishop, and knight against king.  It's really not that hard if you've studied the ending. (I think I could do it on increment alone, but I'm honestly not sure: I saw games between strong class players in the 2012 U.S. Open and a recent Chicago Open in which the game was similarly drawn.)

Ushenina knew the "W" technique for driving the defending king to a corner controlled by the bishop. But she didn't understand the one position in which the defender seems to escape the side of the board, only to be caught in a net that includes the "danger corner" controlled by the bishop.

Suppose you want to drive the defending king from a1 (a dark corner) to h1 (a light corner controlled by your bishop). 

• You will want to put your knight on c2 to keep the defender from returning to a1. (Ushenina did this this on move 78.) 
• Then you will want to put your bishop on a2 (star move!) to keep the defender from returning to b1. (Ushenina did this on move 79.) 
• Now the horse on c2 is freed to execute the "W-manuever" to transfer the knight from c2 to e2. (A knight always controls squares of the opposite color, so you want to hurry your horse from c2 to e2 as quickly as possible: it's not doing you any good when it's controlling squares of the same color as the bishop.) 
• Ushenina's first major inexactitude was 82.Bd5?! The correct move here is 82.Ne2, and if Black tries to break toward freedom with 82...Kf3, then 83.Be6! Now White controls e4 with king, f4 and g3 with knight, and g4 and h3 with bishop: that's a very effective force field!
• Olga Girya ran away from the dangerous h1 square to the relative safety of the h8 square. 
• On move 101, Ushenina seems to have lost confidence in her technique, as she fails to implement the winning 101.Bh7! (an idea she'd already used earlier.) 

I was an expert for many years before I learned the correct technique from a beginner's book: thank you, Pandolfini's Endgame Course.

A trap in the London System

In the game below, 4...e5!, forking White's knight and bishop, wins a piece since Black's pawn, seemingly hanging, is indirectly guarded by ...Qa5+. My inspiration for this trap was NN-Pandolfini, a Kan Sicilian with the same motif: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bf4?? e5! The concept was also seen in Zaitsik-Zichulidze, Tiflis 1976 , which is the same as my game, but with colors reversed and White having the extra move g3.

A trap in the Vienna Gambit (II)

In the Vienna Gambit, after 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5! (rather than 3...Nc6? or 3...exf4?, which I looked at previously), play usually continues 4.fxe5 Nxe4. Then 5.d3!? (the second most common move, behind 5.Nf3), tempts Black to play 5...Qh4+ 6.g3 Nxg3. At first blush, this looks very attractive, winning a pawn, further weakening White's king position, and attacking White's rook. Appearances are deceiving: White's counterattack is stronger. After 7.Nf3 Qh5 8.Nxd5! (threatening Nxc7+), Black will be in trouble whether he tries to save his rook, or takes White's rook, allowing White to win his.

The first alternative was seen in Perez Pietronave-Campagnoni, 1996, where Black tried 8...Na6. White chased Black's queen around, beginning with 9.Nf4!, and won Black's knight on g3. Bruce Pandolfini in Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps gives a similar line after 8...Kd8. Note that in either case (8...Na6 or 8...Kd8) if Black responds to 9.Nf4 with 9...Qg4, White wins the queen with 10.Bh3!

The second alternative was seen in Sax-Petran, 1973, where Black played 8...Bg4 (the immediate 8...Nxh1 9.Nxc7+ scores even worse for Black) 9.Bg2 Nxh1. After the dust settled White was left in an endgame a piece up.

The moral of the story: resist temptation with 5...Nxc3! 6.bxc3 and now the most common move, 6...d4, or better yet 6...Be7 7.Nf3 O-O 8.d4 f6, which scores very well for Black.

Traps and Zaps: Ruy Lopez (Noah's Ark Trap)

Before we say goodbye to Bruce Pandolfini, let's look at a trap that's as old as Noah's Ark (whence the name): 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. d4 b5 6. Bb3 Nxd4 7. Nxd4 exd4 8. Qxd4? 

Black to move

 Answer below!

Traps and Zaps: Two Knights, Max Lange Attack

You probably saw enough silverware yesterday, but please don't forget the "fork"! 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Bc5 6. e5 d5 7. exf6 dxc4 8. Re1+ Be6 9. Ng5 Qxf6?

White to move

I should mention that Pandolfini's answers in Chess Openings: Traps And Zaps are far more complete than the fragments I'm quoting here.  He's very good at explaining the tactical specifics, then drawing a general conclusions that you can use in similar opening positions.  Anyway, click below for the answer.
 

Traps and Zaps: Four Knights' Game

You won't be a turkey if you recognize the trap motif (you've seen it before in Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps). 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bc4 Bb4 5. O-O d6 6. Nd5 Bg4 7. c3 Bc5 8. d3 Ne7?

White to play

Click for the answer!

Traps and Zaps: Philidor Defense

If you've been reading the last few posts quoting from Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps, you might recognize a familiar opportunity after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Bg4 4. Nc3 h6? 

White to play 

Click below for the answer!

Traps and Zaps: King's Gambit Declined (Desperado)

Here's another classic tactical idea, the desperado, as illustrated in Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps. 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 d6 5. c3 Bg4 6. Bxf7+? Kxf7 7. Ng5+

Black to play

Click on the arrows below to see the solution!

Traps and Zaps: Vienna Game (Légal's Mate)

Another chestnut from Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps.  1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 d6 4. Nf3 a6?! 5. Bc4 Bg4?! 6. fxe5 Nxe5?

White to play and win

And here's the answer!

Traps and Zaps - Center Game

From Bruce Pandolfini's Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps. 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Ne5 6. Bb3 Bb4+ 7. c3?! Bc5 8.Qg3?

Black to play and win

Play through the board to see the answer!

Domination for beginners

It's not what you think! When one of our pieces takes all (or virtually all) squares away from its enemy counterpart, we say that our piece dominates the enemy piece.

White to play: the Bd5 dominates the Nd8

The Kc6 dominates the Na8

The poor Na8 has no legal moves, and the White king can eat at his leisure.

So knights are weak and pathetic, right?

Black to play and win

 
Here's another goodie from Beginning Chess.

For absolute beginners

White to play and win

From Bruce Pandolfini's Beginning Chess: Over 300 Elementary Problems for Players New to the Game.  (These "simple" positions make it easier for us to understand the relations between the pieces; enabling us to avoid blundering into mate in one.)

Did Ben Kingsley ever discuss this position?

White to play and win

With obligatory plug for Bruce Pandolfini's Beginning Chess.

Bruce Pandolfini's Beginning Chess

If you're looking for chess books for beginners this holiday season, Bruce Pandolfini's Beginning Chess: Over 300 Elementary Problems for Players New to the Game definitely belongs in the mix.  It's a good first, second, or third book for young players..

My sister-in-law's brother (who's not a patzer) had the good sense to give this book to our nephew the beginner.  So Nephew and I spent a couple hours this summer working through several  chapters.  Even I enjoyed Pandolfini's selections: he has a gift for boiling ideas down to their simplest tactical elements.  These are simple shots (some are crude en prise exercises, others are aesthetically pleasing), but all of them are shots that win games.  Bright preteens will not find this material too difficult:.  A few may even find 90% of the positions too trivial.  That's OK: they'll discover that chess will get hard enough soon enough, and they need to practice the 10% of positions that they can't solve on sight.

White to play and win

White to play and win 

 White to play and win