Two Exercises

Lesson of the Week

Knowledge of tactical motifs open a chess player's imagination to the possibilities. Accurate calculation verifies whether such possibilities should be played. These two exercises may prove difficult for scholastic players, but they are almost routine for strong class players. They both stem from play on the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS).

White to move

Black to move

Blowing It

In a blunderfest during my lunch break, my opponent and I reached a rook and pawn ending that should be drawn. Suddenly, however, I found myself with a clear advantage and seized the moment, only to toss it away a few moves later.

Black to move

After 37.Re2??

37...Ra3+ 38.Kd2 Rxa2 39.Kd3 Rxe2 40.Kxe2 Ke6 41.Kd3

Black to move

Black's d-pawn will become the queen. The plan is simple: both kings move towards the a-file, which will be the only opening for the kings. As White yields way, the a-pawn advances until the Black king can occupy c4. That's how it worked when I replayed the game from the first diagram against Hiarcs after the game concluded.

I played the game on FICS through the Chess-Wise Pro iPad app. Having some time for review after the game, I reviewed how and why I blew a simple ending.

41...f5?! 42.Kc3 g5? 43.Kb4 f4??

White to move

44.g4 not only deprives Black of the win that he had a few moves ago. It presents Black with an unresolvable set of problems. After rounding up Black's a-pawn, the White king will outflank the Black king to win the d-pawn and the game.

44.Ka5??

White returns the favor. instead of winning the game.

44...fxg3 45.hxg3 h5 46.Kxa6 h4 47.gxh4 gxh4 0-1

It is almost embarrassing to evaluate the truth of the positions that occur during blitz in the light of the result of these games. It sometimes appears that players lack rudimentary skills that every elementary student should know. Indeed, faced with the position in the first diagram this afternoon, a fourth grader that I coach was able to win the game from the Black side against my best efforts while carrying on a conversation concerning Valentine's candy with his classmates.

Lightning Milestone

One-minute chess is not chess. It does use chess, however, to help the body manufacture adrenaline. It is a junkie's game. In the past few months, I have been playing bullet on Free Internet Chess Server (FICS), where they call it lightning. Whether called bullet or lightning, it is a game of reflexes and anticipation. Often the winner is the one who uses premove* most effectively.

After several weeks of slowly elevating my highest lightning rating on FICS through the upper 1600s, and then dropping back into the 1500s, I broke 1700 for the first time yesterday afternoon.

My last game ended when my opponent missed my sole threat: a back rank checkmate threat.

He played 25.c4. I expected 25.Qa4+ to which I would have been required to reply 25...Qa5, followed by half a minute of suffering.

The game was over in a few more seconds.

*In online chess, it is possible to move before it is your turn. If that move is legal, it will then be executed by the server or website when it is your turn. Premove reduces the time used on a given move to a fraction of a second. It is also a fine way to set a piece en prise.

Blunders

After several years away, I started playing on FICS (Free Internet Chess Server) again recently.

There are reasons to avoid FICS, as exemplified in a game played last week. In a 3 0 game, my opponent ran out of time three times. Each time, it was either due to disconnection or to severe internet lag. Each time that he or she reconnected, it seemed that my time was going down further. Waiting more that nine minutes for my opponent to move in a three minute game is unacceptable. But so it was. My opponent kept running out of time, and I kept getting further behind on the clock. I lost the sense of the rhythm of the game. Eventually, I made some bad moves. On the fourth disconnect, I adjourned the game. Yesterday, it was adjudicated as a loss for me. Never on ICC (Internet Chess Club) has anything of this sort occurred to me. On FICS, it happens every few weeks of active play.

There are also many good reasons to play on FICS. It is free. There are thousands of players at all hours of the day and night. Getting a challenging game rarely takes more than a moment.

I started playing on FICS in 2004, was most active in 2005, and continued playing well into 2008. I did not play there 2009-2011. In the past few months, and mostly in the past month, I have played over 300 games on FICS. This past week, I have played mostly 15 0. Yesterday, I gained a new peak standard rating (1861) over my previous high from 2008 (1854). Today, I have set five new peaks: 1863, 1866, 1868, 1876, 1883.

All of these standard games featured blunders. Here are five howlers.

Black to move

I played 10...Qa5?? My opponent, rated 1719, failed to find the refutation. I won by checkmate on move 38.

Black to move

My opponent, rated 1968. missed a simple win and played 46...Ng6?? Due to further errors, my queenside pawns ran over the top of the Black king. When it was mate in five, Black gave up.

Black to move

Despite a standard rating of 1938, Black played 7...Na5?? Further errors gave White an overwhelming advantage.

White to move

I set a trap with 59...Rxf7+. White, rated 1738, threw away the win with 60.Kxf7.

Black to move

I was a little worse when I made matters easy for my opponent with 69.a5?? Somehow, Black, rated 1709, lost this game.

Long Think

Certain positions require deeper calculation, whether they are tactical or positional. Sometimes there is the need  to find a plan. Other times one must find an only move in a critical position. Then, there are efforts to find the most convincing continuation in a superior position. In a 15 0 game on Free Internet Chess Server this morning, I reached the following position with 9:57 remaining on the clock.

White to move

r3r1k1/pp2bppp/4b3/2pN4/2N1B3/1R4P1/q2P1P1P/3Q1RK1 w - - 0 22

My opponent might have suspected that I abandoned the game. After several minutes, I saw the message "hello" pop up in the chat box. I replied, "I'm thinking," and he left me to my work. When I finally moved, I had 3:51 remaining on the clock. That's slightly more than six minutes in a fifteen minute game.

After the game ended, I brought up the game in ChessBase 11, navigated to this position, and opened Rybka 4. Rybka favors the move that I actually played +3.41 to +3.00. When the game was over thirty-one moves later, I had 1:58 remaining on the clock. That is just over five minutes for the first twenty-one moves, six minutes for move twenty-two, and less than two minutes for the rest of the game.

It is satisfying to go into a long think and come out having made the strongest move.