IDENTIFYING YOUR #PROBLEMS. PART 1

Beginner vs Beginner A00 Clemenz Opening 1. h2-h3 h7-h6 2. c2-c3 c7-c5
600+ vs 600+ C47 Four Knights Game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nd5?
#1 Moving the same piece twice in the opening without good reason instead of focusing on development
#2 Leaving piece undefended
#3 Giving away game initiative and losing the first-move advantage given to white by default
#4 Control of the center
#5 Positional advantage
781 vs 786, 15+10 game D20 Queen’s Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Alekhine System (Semi-Open Game) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 Nf6 4. Nf3 e5 5. g3 exd4 6. Nxd4 c5 7. Bxc4 cxd4 8. Bb5+ Nc6 9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10. O-O Bd6 11. Nd2 O-O 12. b3 Bh3 13. Re1 Nxe4 14. Rxe4 Bxg3 15. Qh5 Bxf2+
#6 A prospect of giving a random check to the opponent’s king
#7 Pawns are strong when linked together to form pawn chains
#8 The 15+10 time format is not very much friendly for a beginner player. Beginner chess players should best play long-time control games
# 9 When strategy conflicts with tactics
# 10 King safety. Weak king
# 11 Inadequate trade
# 12 Giving a random check. Excitement of delivering checks. A prospect of giving a random check to the opponent’s king
# 13 Stuck in the center king
# 14 Pawn structure. Taking into account the pawn structure at the opening stage is always useful
# 15 Castling is a sign of development done with the two major aspects achieved: king safety (the boss moves into his castle), connection and activation on the last line of defense
# 16 When strategy (a plan) conflicts with a tactical opportunity
# 17 Giving the opponent time to better organize their piece
# 18 Giving the opponent a hand in development
# 19 A pair of black’s bishops on the board presents immense power
# 20 Tactics missed
Reminder: Importance of post-game computer analysis
A closer look on the problem solutions
Tactical training
Neglecting to control the center with pawns and playing the knight instead of pawns in an elaborate manner at the very beginning of the game can end badly. Classics! Alexander Alekhine vs Frank Marshall, 1925, D06 Queen’s Gambit Declined: Marshall Defense

ULTIMATE REMINDER

(1) As a beginner player you need to play more long time control games on LICHESS.ORG like 60+ or at least 30+20. Only that way you have enough time for thinking, calculations, avoiding blunders, pattern recognition, position assessments, decision-making, etc. Short-time control games are for you to just occasionally test your way of getting better in chess and your ability to play chess under time pressure and anxiety.
(2) Computer-analyze the game you have just played!
(3) Identify your mistakes and give them real names like it is done in Problem ID series in this book!

My students are playing vs Stockfish and reading the engine’s thoughts

I would like to recommend you periodically go back to the Starter kit for a beginner in this book and read new things. If you are of average ability, learning to play chess will require playing thousands of games and spending thousands of hours.

There are two paths to mastery in chess:

(1) Don’t analyze your games, just play chess for a fun and time killing. Down that path you will be making useless and inconsistent moves, you will, probably, try to study openings, you will rush about in search of the right path, etc. YouTube videos for beginner players can be very helpful on your way up and through, but those videos are mostly done for entertainment and easy time, thus offer a passive way of learning things and concepts without hard thinking, deep calculations and visualization practice you, as a beginner, absolutely need to hard work and deep dig in order to achieve progress. This is not the path for an ambitious person.

(2) You can play against the computer without any real fight with live opponents on the internet. On this path, the computer will teach you positional chess and show you the right moves for both white and black. Gradually increasing the level of the computer’s game, you will also increase your level of understanding the game of chess. Games played with people can be firstly analyzed by yourself, and only then on the computer: this is the best path for you to improve your visualization and tactical skills. Playing against a computer is very tiring, irritating, discouraging, frustrating and disheartening… until you find it helpful for your improvement through its easy focusing on your current problem. You will learn to read the engine’s thoughts by making different candidate moves on the LICHESS.ORG’s Analysis board (top menu – TOOLS – Analysis board). Try to spend most of your time on analyzing your games instead of chain-playing on the internet.
Analyzing games is made easy on lichess.org’s Analysis board. There you can see and follow candidate moves and lines suggested by lichess.org’s Stockfish (2600+). Just hover your mouse over the moves one by one to see things changing right there on the fly (check mouse cursors on the screenshots below).

Learning chess from computer has a lot going for it and the number one is the 24/7 computer’s availability for absolutely free anytime, anywhere. Download the lichess.org app on your smartphone and get going.

Rating estimates of lichess Stockfish are: level 1 – 800-1000, level 2 – 1100, level 3 – 1400, level 4 – 1700, level 5 – 2000,
level 6 – 2300, level 7 – 2500, level 8 – 2600+

Lichess.org – CREATE THE GAME – PLAY WITH THE COMPUTER – Standard – Time control: Unlimited – Strength 1 – select black pieces

The Philidor Defense with 3. Bc4

e2-e4. Black to play. Which move should black play? Black can stop white’s e-pawn with theirs: 1… e7-e5.
Bf1-c4. All right. Black wants to defended their e5-pawn and open their light-squared bishop’s diagonal: 2… d7-d6.

Qd1-h5. Black’s e5-pawn is defended. What about making two threats with one single move: 3… Ng8-f6. That way black attacks white’s queen and the e4-pawn at one go. Not bad.
Qh5xf7#. Black did something wrong because you can see Bobby Fischer screaming. Level 1 computer won the game, but it won’t tell you about your mistakes. So how can you learn from the computer? By clicking on the ANALYSIS BOARD and doing the top important thing for your chess education—analyzing the game you just played. Do not run for the rematch. Analyze the game.

There you will see that after its 3. Qd1-h5, computer was -0.3 with small disadvantage and your best option was 3… g7-g6 barring the white’s queen from landing the big hit on f7. There you can see, as well, white’s options after your 3… g7-g6.

Some later on your road to perfection you would find out that your tunnel vision was failing you: playing chess you need to play it with your both eyes wide open. For now you need to analyze the game you have just played. You should put your emotions away and focus on the why. Why you lost the game? Then there goes remembering those losing (you) and winning (computer) ideas. There are some questions for you to find answers for, like: playing white pieces should you go for this idea in your online chess games? Well. If it wins your games, then why not? Until you reach the level where your opponents will already use your excessive passion for quick checkmates against you. By playing the right defensive moves black can use white’s excessive haste to their (black’s) advantage and quickly develop their (black’s) pieces. Black would have to be very careful after the white’s queen retreated to f3, because this move keeps the threat of checkmate on f7 actual and black would have to take care of that. That is after 4. Qh5-f3 black must cover the f-file (the vertical column of squares) with black’s knight: 4… Ng8-f6. Playing and remembering lines on the Analysis board you’ll see all the lines and good/bad candidate moves for each side.

Rating estimates of lichess Stockfish are: level 1 – 800-1000, level 2 – 1100, level 3 – 1400, level 4 – 1700, level 5 – 2000,
level 6 – 2300, level 7 – 2500, level 8 – 2600+

Lichess.org – CREATE THE GAME – PLAY WITH THE COMPUTER – Standard – Time control: Unlimited – Strength 1 – select black pieces

All right. FastAn is a 600 chess player and she is still not sure how to start a game. She wouldn’t play the first hand so she plays black pieces. Stockfish level 1 plays white pieces.

e2-e4. Which move should a 600 player choose to play to respond for the white’s aggressive 1. e2-e4? You can play defensive chess or active chess. FastAn plays active chess: 1… e7-e5. Nice.
Ng1-f3. Computer attacks black’s undefended e5-pawn. In order to keep it safe black should defend it. Which way?
2… d7-d6. Blacks want to defend their pawn the natural way—with another pawn. This way blacks feel fully protected.
Bf1-c4. Out for something? I am going to play the active move, too.

3… Bc8-g4. FastAn pins the white’s f3-knight. Now if knight moves, FastAn takes the white’s queen with her g4-bishop.

4. Nb1-c3. Whites develop their queen’s knight bringing it into the game. Blacks to play and blacks want to play symmetrical move:
4… Nb8-c6. Why not?

5. 0-0 (Ke1-g1, Rh1-f1). The 800-1000 level computer castles. Computer takes the white’s king into the castle, into the safety, taking the king out of the center. Development first! In this game computer (whites) is not jumping on me on blacks from the very beginning of the game like it happened in the previous game.

5… Ng8-f6. FastAn is busy with development and is getting ready to castle 0-0. Computer plays

6. d2-d3 defending the e4-pawn and making a way for the c1-bishop into the game.

6… Bf8-e7 7. h2-h3. FastAn’s 6… Bf8-e7 clears space for the king to castle. Whites’ 6. h2-h3 asks the FastAn’s bishop a question. Should she trade her light-squared g4-bishop for white’s f3-knight or just retreat, take her bishop back to somewhere? (1) If she doesn’t like the white’s light-squared c4-bishop’s heat on her f7-square then she can put her light-squared bishop on e6. She is supposed to remember the Chessculator’s f7-disaster from the previous game. She is supposed to hate white’s light-squared bishop on c4. (2) If she moves her bishop to h5, then her bishop will continue pinning the white’s f3-knight and her bishop will defend the f7 as well.

7… Bg4-h5. Well, FastAn (playing black pieces) would keep her opponent’s situation hanging and keep the pin actual by moving her bishop to h5. That way she asks the whites her question: would you hit my bishop with your g-pawn jumping full two squares forward or would you live with the pin forever? That’s what I am talking about. I know that in chess, once I have gained some advantage, I must hold on to it.

8. Qd1-d2. Stockfish level 1 unpins its queen and welcomes blacks to capture the f3-knight. Then white’s kingside pawn structure will look ugly and white’s king appears exposed. What should FastAn do now? Should FastAn keep her bishop on h5 and castle her king right now? Perhaps, right now she is busy talking to her pieces like: From h5 my light-squared bishop keeps an eye on my f7-square which is good for me as white’s light-squared bishop keeps its eye on it with no particular job on that long light-colored diagonal but to keep generating light-colored concerns for me. Once my king castles 0-0 my king is on the light-colored g8-square under the x-ray from white’s light-squared c4-bishop. My king says that it wouldn’t feel outstandingly happy on g8. In order to avoid the situation my king should move then g1-h1 leaving my f7-square undefended, which is no good if my light-squared bishop is gone from the board. So I better keep my light-squared bishop on h5 and castle my king… Wait a minute. If I take white’s f3-knight, then, to retake the material, white has to take my bishop g2-pawn takes on f3 and after the trade white king’s castle is gone. The g-file (the vertical line of squares) is half open and white’s king is kinda unsafe among those ruins of what once was a Castle. Can I make use of that positional advantage? To take or not to take. That is the question. Unlike the Hamlet situation everything is right here on the board before my eyes. I can spend my time on figuring that out or I can analyze my chances some later, after the game. All right. I will keep my light-squared bishop and just castle my king. I will learn this position soon later. Talking to your pieces is always good.

8… 0-0. FastAn sticks to her plan and castles her king. 9. Nc3-d5. She needs to check her squares now under attack. (1) Her f6-knight is two-time defended against one-time attack, so it is safe. (2) Her dark-squared e7-bishop is queen-defended, so it is safe. (3) Her c7-pawn is queen-defended, so it is safe.

A bishop is more predictable unlike an always tricky a knight. Anyway, the 800-1000 level computer (whites) created a burden for FastAn to keep in mind… I got a plan: I put my b7-pawn on b6 to defend my knight from white’s queen, then I move my knight c6-a5 and attack the annoying light-squared c4-bishop. It has no ways to safely retreat and keep the light-colored diagonal and my f7-square under control. That way I remove the burden. Then I’ll take care of the white’s d5-knight. I am going to check the line moving my pieces in my head…

9… b7-b6. All right. FastAn goes for it.

10. g2-g4. Predictable move. Computer wouldn’t give FastAn second chance to worsen its king’s castle. Perhaps, computer wants the Castle expanding and transforming into the attacking force. FastAn is ok with that. Her f6-knight has the f6-square to retreat to. Later, if any, her g6-bishop will retreat to h7 after she moved her h7-pawn to h6. Right now her bishop and knight are passive spectators in front of her king’s castle, but she can move them behind her pawns and use them in defensive mode if white’s kingside pawns go advancing on her king’s position. The dark-colored h6-c1 diagonal is potential of making problems for her king safety (can she see it?), but after she moves her knight f6-g8 it will defend the h6-square. Sorry about my long speech: it always takes a million of seconds to explain what a human brain sees inside of a couple of seconds… 10… Bh5-g6. Now if white’s h3-pawn moves forward to hit the FastAn’s bishop on its next move, she can move her h7-pawn to h6 and make the space for her bishop to retreat.

11. Rf1-e1. Just putting the rook in the center file to put pressure on it? Dunno. Whatever. She is on her plan now. 11… Nc6-a5. She wants to remove that light-squared bishop.

Bc4-b5 c6. I am doing according my plan. It is better to have a bad plan than no plan.
Nd5xf6 Be7xf6. 13… g7xf6 opens the g-file, which could be useful for a FastAn attack on the white’s king, but white’s queen on d2 is backed up with the dark-squared c1-bishop and with the f3-knight it looks quite a scary team.
Bb5-c4 Na5xc4. That’s what I’m talking about. White’s light-squared bishop is gone. Good. Now FastAn has only front threats for safety of her king.

Qd2-c3? What? Wha-a-a-t? Is this just a stupid computer-simulation of a human’s stupid move? Computer leaves the FastAn’s knight on the board. She is a piece up after she retreats her knight back to its safety on a5. Well. Thank you, Stockfish. 15… Nc4-a5.
Bc1-d2. The FastAn’s a5-knight is pawn-defended so white’s queen wouldn’t jump on it until the computer plays another pissant move. Now FastAn is going to play 16… c6-c5 for keeping her c-pawn defended from the heat of the white’s queen. 16… c6-c5.

The black is a piece up and should win the game

Analyzing games is crucial to your improvement as you can identify where things went wrong and figure out & learn the best follow-up.
Analyze you first, engine second!

Keep your thoughts written on a paper or gadget. Document your stuff off: why you made that particular mistake, etc. That way you better understand your current decision-making model.

You need to understand ideas behind moves. Do not just judge them.

Consider your repeating mistakes as crimes against your logics.

Save your stuff on lichess.org STUDY section to keep it organized and 24/7 ready to check.

Now let’s check this short game on the LICHESS.ORG’s Analysis board. For that way I copy and paste the PGN (Portable Game Notation—see it below) to the PGN box below the chessboard and click the Enter key. The analysis will be done by full-power Stockfish, not the level 1 Stockfish! That changes everything. Though lichess Stockfish is less powerful than desktop Stockfish (the version you have on your computer), the analysis will be of around 2600+.

The game PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Bg4 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 Be7 7. h3 Bh5 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Nd5 b6 10. g4 Bg6 11. Re1 Na5 12. Bb5 c6 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Bc4 Nxc4 15. Qc3 Na5 16. Bd2 c5. Right now, try to mentally reproduce part of this game by following the PGN with your eyes and mentally moving the pieces on an imaginary board! Try to use any moment to diversify your practice!

2… Nf6 gives the white 3/10 advantage, a couple more hairs on the scale.
2… d6 is the worst move for black.

Despite the fact that this is considered a weak move for black, 2… d6 still occurs even in games of top chess Grandmasters. You can see it by clicking the Masters database above the name of the opening.

… Which is not bad for black, after all, but not very much practical, because in the beginning of a game you are supposed to think of development. White’s advantage jumps to +0.6 from +0.2. Now let’s read the engine’s thoughts by playing computer-suggested moves and check some lines to learn why it is so. This is how you will understand all the nuances of any opening. By analyzing computer moves you will understand the ideas behind the moves and lines. This is a time-consuming business demanding a significant amount of time to operate and succeed. Your Visual Skills will help you absorb information with the help of your eyes. On my end it is this:

(1) The computer’s first-line move 4. d4 starts white’s activity in the center: +0.6.
(2) The computer’s second-line move 4. h3 ALSO has +0.6 advantage for white.
Now grab the white’s h2-pawn with your mouse and put it on h3-square: 4. h3. You will see options for black to play. On my screen, engine’s best suggestion is to retreat the bishop: 4… Bh5. Play it with your mouse and see computer’s suggestions for white.

Take a hard look at the diagram on the right. White has grabbed the space on the kingside, they have two pieces out and prospects for the kingside attack with their pawns as ramming bats aggressively advancing on the black’s kingside where the black’s king is supposed to castle. After white’s 5. d2-d4 black will have to find precise moves to slow down white’s activity. Now toggle the engine OFF and play 5. d2-d4 for white. Give the position your hardest look and find the best response for black. Play it and toggle the engine back to ON and check your success.

Black to play

Back to the actual game

Icons at the bottom of LICHESS.ORG’s Analysis board
(reminder)

shows opening names and tablebase (a database of pre-calculated, perfect analysis for chess endgames with seven or fewer pieces)

You can practice with computer from any move of your analysis. You can try to exploit material advantage or play against the computer being down with material

Menu provides tools to customize the analysis interface, including toggling inline notation, which displays move evaluations directly on the board (see screenshot below)

Make your guess. Judging moves

Black just played 2… Bc8-g4 hitting white’s knight on f3 intending to double white’s pawns on the f-file after exchange on f3. Is this move an attack or waste of time and tempo?
Black is going to play 9… h7-h5 planning to put their light-squared bishop on h5 after exchange 10. g4xh5 Bg6xh5. What’s your hunch on this plan?
White to play. White is going to move their e-pawn 28. e3-e4. (1) Why this move is not such a good idea? (2) Do you have a better positional idea? Think positional!

Image: Wikimedia, Levan Ramishvili from Tbilisi, Georgia, Public Domain

Tactics. White’s knight is ok to jump 3. Nf3-e5 and attack the annoying bishop. Once it is done, the too fast bishop needs to get away from the heat to either f5 or e6 (worse idea as it stops development of black’s kingside), which can be followed by white’s 4. c2-c4 advancing pawn and hitting black’s center pawn on d5. White’s c4-pawn is defended by e5-knight, so the material can be recaptured, though it is not absolutely mandatory due to other opportunities for white to grab the control of the center, like d2-d4 with multiple tactical consequences. White retakes the game initiative, black is behind on development… You should consider consequences responsequences before you make your move. The game is equal, anyway.
Strategy. Positional chess. The man with a plan… “Things may not always go as planned perfectly” fits the game of chess. Actually the game of chess is an excellent planning tool making you foreseeing things that happen in a seeable future after your input on the chessboard is made… If things don’t go as planned, the player on whites turns black’s kingside setup into a mess after 10. Bd3xg6 f7xg6 11. g4-g5 Nf6-d7. Now both flanks of black’s setup (the position) are in shambles (voluntarily organized) and the boss on e8 is not very much happy about his future (stuck in the center king!)… The right answer is black’s plan for moving their h-pawn is no good. The much better plan for black according to the computer is put their a8-rook on b8 to stop white’s d3-bishop from coming to b5 after black’s c6-pawn moved forward to c5 hitting white’s center. If white captures black’s c5-pawn, then black’s dark-square bishop gets its development at one go after Bf8xc5. Good for black. Black’s king is ok to castle 0-0. If white, then, ok’s bishops exchange Bd3xg6, black should recapture material with center-oriented vector pawn h7xg6. -0.8 (black is slightly better but in the world of beginner to intermediate chess the game is equal).
Strategy. Positional chess. Whites have rook and two minor pieces. Blacks have two rooks. In an endgame like that the side which has two minor pieces against a rook should make use of the combined flexibility of their two minor pieces, their attacking potential and support of friendly queening pawns… So it would be much better for white to split black’s setup in two to provide operational space for white’s pieces then blow the e1-a5 dark-colored diagonal open to provide even more operational opportunities. Here goes a long line if you are ready to digest it. Stockfish suggests 28. b2-b3 followed with the advance of the white’s a-pawn after the pawn exchange on c4. Black would double their rooks on the 2nd rank to target white’s d2-bishop and force white’s rook to come f1-d1 to defend the bishop, while the king, the Maker, moves closer to the white’s queening a-pawn to care of the lucky pawn… Nice positional chess deriving from the engine’s brutal force.

Million years ago dinosaurs roamed the earth. Fifty years ago, only Grandmasters could give a more or less reliable assessment of a position like that. Now, anyone can see the assessment of a position just a couple of seconds after a move is made on the board in a live game.

Mastering board coordinates on LICHESS.ORG (reminder)

Keywords: lichess training coordinates

You CAN’T learn anything in chess if you still can’t read a chessboard. PERIOD.

Image: Wikipedia, Lewis chessmen, a warder

While putting the image above into my book, my eyes met the warder’s and I was surprised with the 12th century master’s degree in the psychology of eye movements. The warder looks at right, if this is the original image and it is not flipped left to right. As we know it in the 21st century, a look to the right is a sign of creative thoughts. Given the fact and the face impression, the warder seems to be thinking of the gloomy future ahead, or, perhaps of leaving the skirmish. How could the 12th century bone carver know human psychology, physiology, whatever in those dark, ancient times? Any ideas?

The 12th-century Lewis chessmen, the chess pieces, were discovered in 1831 on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Various sizes, three to six centimeters tall they are carved from walrus ivory with amazing skill. Their body language, their faces suggest meanings, thoughts, psychological states. Astounding! Bewitched bothered and bewildered is the modern keen eye observing the Lewis chessmen. They truly “speak with themselves when left at night” (BBC documentary on Lewis Chessmen).

Image: Wikimedia, the 12th-century Lewis chessmen in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland
National Museum of Scotland © CC BY-SA 2.0 de

The three things you need to start with:

(1) For really getting better play long-time control games like 60+ or at least 30+20
(2) Computer-analyze the game you have just played
(3) Identify your mistakes and give them real names like it is done in Problem ID series in this book

Whatever moves you make at the beginning of a game, whatever strategic plans you make (or you do not because you don’t know nothing), whatever color you play… your aim is to bust your opponent’s king! You have to drive the game to the certain position (the pattern) you know best to launch an attack on your opponent’s king.
Almost everything and almost always is decided by tactics. You need to develop your tactical vision. You need to solve tactical puzzles daily by tons. Puzzles with positions of the beginning of the game, middle of the game, end of the game, positions that never occur in your games. You may never play a position on a tactical puzzle diagram in your live game, but the tactical patterns and ideas behind tactics are always the same.
The games below are to make you hate nonsense and start making plans from the very first moves of a game.

Problem ID. Part 1

There’s no point in beginners learning chess from grandmasters’ games. Grandmasters have long since left behind the wide and deep gap of misunderstanding that every beginner has. Beginners should study chess logic from the games of beginner players. You’ll be ready to move on only after you’ve acquired a basic understanding of what’s happening on the board.

Further in this chapter you will find solutions to all the problems identified (#). I suggest that you first think about the logical solution to the problems yourself, and only then look at the answer (#) offered later in the book.

Beginner vs Beginner

In the 2014 film Pawn Sacrifice, while watching Chess Informant, which usually published serious tournament games of serious players, Fischer also made the first moves with his pawns on the h-file. It sent me airborne: these guys are spouting nonsense again! Can’t they pay attention to such details at all!?

These days in games between beginner players and grandmasters, as well as modern super-grandmasters, moves like that are common, but in those distant, now almost legendary times, coaches were very offended by flops like that! Such moves were simply impossible in those distant times because they were considered to go against Opening Basics and simply contradict chess logic, immediately giving the game advantage to the opponent playing with the black pieces. Computers have long since shown that white is not at all inferior in development after this absurd move 1. h2-h4, but in those distant times when young Fischer was moving pieces on the board such moves in serious games were simply impossible. No way and no how.

Well, here we go again. There are a million dresses in the closet, but nothing to wear. No ideas behind moves. These guys are just throwing bricks at each other while they are supposed to be bricklayers. Just littering the chessboard. Haven’t these fellas been told to have something in their heads before playing a move? I suppose they have. William Steinitz, the father of modern chess, used to say “He evidently has an extraordinary good memory, for he always makes the same mistakes”. These guys were told how not to play chess three hundreds games ago, but still put their pieces on vacated squares instead of playing well thought out moves. One of the typical beginner-level games gives me impression… like the original motion picture soundtrack “Launch” by Daniel L.K. Caldwell for “Prospect”, the 2018 film. There is nothing more depressing than watching a lousy chess game and wasted chances.

By their first move whites give away their first-move initiative to blacks, which is supposed to be bad according to the common sense and the opening basics. Whites, as well, give the blacks opportunity to grab the control of the center, but the player on blacks in this game seems to be having zero knowledge on the opening basics and ignores the true gift offered. Both players just have very little idea of what is happening on the board, they are just moving their pieces on the board with no plans in their heads.

Depending on your cognitive abilities and motivation, you can learn basics of chess faster by looking at the games of experienced chess players. Why do experienced chess players on whites move their pawns in the center and try to get their pieces into play as fast as they can? Why do they try to castle their kings ASAP? Why aren’t they afraid of open clashes with their opponent’s pawns?

Do people really play moves like that at the very beginning of a game? Yes, they do. In modern chess, anything is possible: computers confirm this fact … But you need to know what to do in such cases, playing both white and black pieces. In this way, you can learn from the computer by playing sparring matches against it to master chess mechanics. Or you can simply start studying Opening Basics and try playing openings that go with chess logic to develop an orderly learning process with orderly moments that your beginner’s brain is able to perceive thanks to the very order and harmony for which we love chess.

The very first moves of a game are very important. On whites you want to mobilize your pieces for the action the fastest way. On blacks you want to mobilize your pieces for defense and keep an eye on your opponent to seize the game initiative.

Development! Keep your pieces operating! In the beginning of a game you should think on development of your pieces! Getting your pieces out into active positions (white) or defensive positions (black) is the most important goal of the opening! Learn to play chess the right way! If you don’t know how, then look for information on openings and choose your opening.

In the very short game below we have a different story. First moves by both opponents are played on the e-file (vertical column of squares). Given the very short practice (only just a couple of thousand games played… gee) and no theory studied it is quite possible that the player with the white pieces did not even know all the opportunities the 1. e2-e4 gives to whites. As well as the opponent on the other end of the board (blacks) had no idea of all the threats emerge after back’s symmetrical response to white’s 1. e2-e4. It is quite possible that the player on whites did not pursue their main objective—to cause problems for the opponent’s king. Just putting pieces on vacant squares, just playing a chess game. What the heck.

600+ vs 600+
C47 Four Knights Game

What is this? Are both players testing each other’s patience, both waiting for the other to make a mistake? This game variation is very sharp and dangerous for both whites and blacks, but still more so for blacks. The ability to use the opponent’s mistakes is a completely different topic. White’s 4. Nc3-d5? (move your eyes to the correspondent diagram!) is bad because of a bunch of reasons below:

#1Moving the same piece twice in the opening without good reason instead of focusing on development. (A) Moving the f1-bishop out of its home-square and let the king to castle… where to? 4. Bf1-b5 attacks black’s c6-knight and keeps the game initiative; (B) Launching the d-pawn forward 4. d2-d4 claims control of the center and puts pressure on black’s e5-pawn. Then black should best trade pawns on d4: 4… e5xd4 and let their king castling after 5… Bf8-b4. Black is fine, so is white. Equal game so far.

#2 Leaving piece undefended (the e4-pawn). Now blacks are free to capture whites’ e4-pawn left undefended after the crackpot knight jumped Nc3-d5.

#3 Giving away game initiative and losing the first-move advantage given to white by default. Unless the player on whites has a carefully thought out game plan or relies on his tactical superiority over his opponent. Game initiative is a dynamic advantage when one of the players dictates the game and makes opponent responding to them, forcing opponent to defense and react. This type of initiative is often short-term, but can lead to a tactical hit if your initiative distracts your opponent from recognizing patterns on the board.

#4 If blacks go for now-undefended white’s e4-pawn, they put an end to the white’s control of the center.

#5 In case of 4… Nf6xe4 blacks have positional advantage, they have the game initiative on their side, they are a pawn up (material advantage)…. Just a single hustle move by whites 4. Nc3-d5 has completely turned tables. But it is still a long a go for blacks to exploit the advantage, anyway. Beginner players make bad moves because of a number of things and the psychological state is not the very last on the list.

White’s stupid 4. Nc3-d5? made me angry. Then I put my eyes on the lichess.org database (bottom right from the Analysis board) and saw this:

Do really 2800+ players make moves like that!? Yes, they do. No comments. Let’s check another game!

781 vs 786, 15+10 game
D20 Queen’s Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Alekhine System (Semi-Open Game)

Playing a gambit, a player on whites sacrifices material to gain a positional advantage by quicker development after taking control of the center, opening up opportunities for pieces to enter the action on diagonal or files (vertical column of squares), etc. If you have no idea how to play against a gambit, just don’t take the offered material and focus on your development (send your kingside pieces on their way into the game, knight first, and castle your king, i.e. take your Boss out of the center).

4… e5? Reciprocity? Perhaps eager to check the other guy’s king by bishop f8-b5+. CHECK! I dare say that the prospect of giving a #6 Random check to the opponent’s king dictated this move to the player on blacks. I don’t see any other reason. And if we ask the player, we wouldn’t get much in return. So. Check your opponent’s king and let the grass not grow is the passionate desire of most beginner players. CHECK!!! There is nothing unusual about this: a beginner needs to play his/her thousands of games before he/she will start worrying about the mistakes made because of which the whole building collapsed, all the mind work wasted. In this and the following articles we are giving names to the problems. Giving names to problems is beneficial. The beginner on black pieces cannot see the free-to-take white’s pawn on e4 which leaves white’s d4-pawn hanging alone with no prospect of linking with another pawn to form a pawn chain: #7 Pawns are strong when linked together to form pawn chains. Perhaps if the player on blacks had thought for a while longer, the correct idea would have come to mind. #8 The 15+10 time format is not very much friendly for a beginner player. Beginner chess players should best play long-time control games.

5. g3. #9 When strategy conflicts with tactics. Strategy goes with long-term ideas. Tactics is a short-term opportunity to get immediate advantage or even to win the game. Strategy, a plan may be ruined by a tactical mistake or, on the other hand, may be rejected in favor of a winning tactics. To get better in tactics you need to do tactics. It is tactics that makes us excited about chess. Tactics wins games. In this book you’ll find tons of tactical puzzles on the most important Tactical Patterns. Even just remembering the names of tactical patterns makes you a stronger in chess. This blunder may be a result of white’s lack of focus on the game. A conflict between the Opening Basics and a tactical opportunity (to capture the black’s c4-pawn with the f1-bishop) could be another reason for the blunder move of whites 5. g3. Opening basics say us develop your pieces as soon as you can and move your king out of the center. That’s what white did with their 5. g3 clearing space for their bishop to come to g2 and their king to castle, playing the game by the book, on the autopilot, sort of, and missed better ideas: 5. Bf1xc4 and 5. Nf3xe5.

I have to put it here because you have no idea of your capacity yet. Second. It is good for your Visualization Skills.

The worst line for white is:

(10… Bxc3+ 11. Ke2 Qd3#)

How about that story just above? Welcome to the jungle. Out of nothing white landed in hot water.

Now let’s give the name to the Tactical Pattern I missed to spot despite of my feeling of a fundamental flop has been introduced. Black to play. Check the position below:

#10 King safety. Weak king. The root of the evil. The tactical pattern, tactical idea I failed to spot as I didn’t see no pattern there despite the white’s violation of the Opening Basics (do not move same piece twice in the opening) and the spark in my head caused by that 6. Nxd4 Opening Basics infringement. I consider it is excusable, because for me the idea is too deeply buried. Same happened even to phenomenal Mikhail Tal (keywords: chessgames.com 1973 Tal vs Sveshnikov).

Back to our game

6. Nxd4. All right now we know that this move is bad and gives hard to spot opportunity to the black.

6… c5. Black misses the opportunity and attacks the white’s knight instead of much better 6… Bb5+. I cannot read the beginner’s thoughts here. It was played just for a kick. This is one of the typical beginner mistakes: making flops in the very beginning of a game instead of development. 6… Bf8-e7 is one of those development moves defending the f6-knight and vacating space for king to castle 0-0.

7. Bxc4. Encouraging black’s 7… cxd4. # 11 Inadequate trade. Whites leave their d4-knight under attack and takes a chip pawn on c4. Huge blunder. It occurs when a beginner player makes a move based on a quick gut feeling without fully considering the consequences. A solution can be this. Playing a game on the physical chessboard with physical pieces, keep your hands off the table and bring your hand up only after you have considered your opponent’s reply on the move you are going to play. I remember the story of one outstanding grandmaster of the past who kept his hands clamped between his chair and his thighs. Playing online, keep your hand off your mouse. There is no excuse for quick moves unless you are playing a blitz game… Your psychological and physical condition is also important. If so you need to work on your well-being, your psychological state. Check the internet for mental and physical exercises. Go meditating. Try yoga. You can fix the problem if you get busy with it.

7… cxd4.

8. Bb5+. #12 Giving a random check. Excitement of delivering checks. A prospect of giving a random check to the opponent’s king. Beginners are excited to deliver checks because it brings up positive vibes! And this option immediately catches the beginner’s eye. And since you know that “He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence”, the opponent’s king will most likely be in check. It is powerful and sweet, it gives a sense of control of things and sense of accomplishment, it makes me proud and supposed to shock my opponent… it boosts my confidence!.. Well. Why some bishops are lucky, while this guy is trying? This erratic 8. Bb5+ gives the opponent a hand in development after 8… Nc6. White is not doing very well already so they should have looked for a better idea. Trying to exploit the f7-idea was better for white than wasting their nice light-squared bishop: 8. Qd1-b3 attacking the f7-square and making the player on blacks nervous. #13 Stuck in the center king is the memo chess players of all levels should keep in their minds. In this very moment in this particular game it is capable of making tactical complications: (1) white’s bishop + queen battery puts pressure on f7 and b7; (2) white’s e4-pawn is ready to hit the black’s f6-knight while the knight has no good squares to go to escape from the threat. The beginner player on whites misses an opportunity to tease and challenge the opponent on blacks.

8… Nc6 is good for black as it is not interfering with the queen’s defense of the d4-pawn. 8… Bd7 would have blocked the queen from defending the pawn. I presume black rejected 8… Bd7 because the line after 8… Bd7 was too long for black’s to play and visualize inside their head as well as calculate all the white’s countermoves and could-have-beens in case of 8… Bd7. Now, after 8… Nc6, if white’s bishop takes the black’s knight, the player on blacks gets a nice center-oriented two-pawn chain. It is good for black as it gives a queening candidate pawn for blacks to use somewhere in the endgame. Great! #14 Pawn structure. Taking into account the pawn structure at the opening stage is always useful. Famous for that approach Capablanca is proud of you!

9. Bxc6 bxc6. Yeah, that’s what I am talking about. Nice pawn-chain.

10. 0-0. #15 Castling is a sign of development done with the two major aspects achieved: king safety (the boss moves into his Castle), rook connection and activation on the last line of defense.

10… Bd6? Dumping the advantage black has achieved but, apparently, had no idea of how good they had. Hustle move (once again). Bad at utilizing positional advantage. Now white can pick up the black’s creative mushroom in the center with their queen from d1: 11. Qd1xd4.

11. Nd2? If white was on the plan, like, I need to develop my queenside pieces then I have my tag for this particular situation and position. It happens #16 When strategy (a plan) conflicts with a tactical opportunity.

11… 0-0. Black is done with their development. The game is entering the middlegame phase (the stage between the opening and the endgame).

12. b3. Clearing space for the dark-squared bishop to come to b2 to control the longest dark-colored diagonal? Not too bad.

12… Bh3. A shot into sky. Giving-a-check-to-the-king-alike passionate move of a beginner player on blacks. Checking the opponent’s king at the first opportunity. This particular move is #17 Giving the opponent time to better organize their pieces. After the white move their rook off the heat, the black’s bishop will be completely out of the action down there on h3. Bad move… That was my evaluation. But after I toggled Stockfish on, the computer showed it as the computer-first-line move! Wow. Anyway, putting the bishop on e6 instead of h3 was also good idea. Why the c8-h3 light-colored diagonal is the best for blacks to bet their money on? Because 12… Ba6 attacks the white’s f1-rook, which is good, but #18 Giving the opponent a hand in development: 13. Rf1-e1 putting pressure on the center file. To come on one of the center files and put the pressure on it is the every rook’s wildest dream. Once the f1-rook moves to e1, the black’s light-squared bishop has been bamboozled on a6 and has no role in this blockbuster.

13. Re1. Taking the rook off the bishop’s heat and putting it on the center file by the way to defend the e4-pawn.

13… Nxe4?? Blundering away all the material advantage. A hustle move? Break the bad habit!

Reminder: Importance of post-game computer analysis

Post-game computer analysis is the cornerstone to your building you are about to begin to construct. It gives you a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction of learning from mistakes, learning new things. It makes you sure, broadens your horizons, identifies your weakness, suggest you new strategy, etc.

When to trade pieces, why to trade pieces… the understanding will come to you with time. For now, you can mentally calculate the options developing your Visualization Skills and Counting Ability while moving pieces back and forth on the Analysis board. Play longer time control games. Computer-analyze your games.

Image: Wikipedia, Lewis chessmen, Bishops, Public domain

A closer look on the problem solutions

(if you want to work this out a little better)
Duplicate topics are excluded from the list

Any ideas?

(1) Before making a move ask yourself what is the purpose of your move? You cannot and you shouldn’t do that literally by speaking your question aloud. Ask yourself mentally by thinking it. For educational purposes you must play longer time control games not less than 30+ so you’ll have enough time to do that and make it a rule. Ideas are taken from example games with a chess opening that you like. On whites, say, you want to play 1. e2-e4. On blacks you want to reply 1… e7-e5 to whites’ 1. e2-e4 and 1… d7-d5 to white’s 1. d2-d2. Example games you will find on lichess.org.

(2) After your opponent makes a move, ask yourself: What is the purpose of this move?
At first, you’ll literally be asking yourself these questions. Then, once you’ve gotten used to this procedure and made it a ritual, you’ll automatically be asking yourself these questions before you make your move. You will now follow this ritual without questions.

#1 Moving the same piece twice in the opening without good reason instead of focusing on development
#2 Leaving a piece undefended
#3 Giving away game initiative
#4 Lost control of the center
#5 Positional advantage
#6 A prospect of giving a random check to the opponent’s king
#7 Pawns are strong when linked together to form pawn chains
#8 The 15+10 time format is not very much friendly for a beginner player. Beginner chess players should best play longer-time control games
#9 When strategy conflicts with tactics
#10 Castling is a sign of development done with the two major aspects achieved: king safety (the boss moves into his Castle), rook connection and activation on the last line of defense
#11 Inadequate trade
#12 Giving a random check. Excitement of delivering checks. A prospect of giving a random check to the opponent’s king
#13 Stuck in the center king
#14 Pawn structure. Taking into account the pawn structure at the opening stage is always useful
#15 Castling is a sign of development done with the two major aspects achieved: king safety (the boss moves into his Castle), rook connection and activation on the last line of defense
#16 When strategy (a plan) conflicts with a tactical opportunity
#17 Giving the opponent time to better organize their pieces
#18 Giving the opponent a hand in development
#19 A pair of black’s bishops on the board presents immense power
#20 Tactics missed

#1 Moving the same piece twice in the opening without good reason instead of focusing on development. There are tons of advices and the best one seems to be this: To avoid moving the same piece twice in the opening, focus on your piece development. The exception is when by moving your same pawn twice in the opening you grab space, when you make or avoid capture, when you respond to an opponent’s threat as well as avoid or force weakness, when you just capture your opponent’s more valuable piece without any danger for yourself.

#2 Leaving a piece undefended. Solution: As a beginner, play only longer time control games and keep talking to your pieces asking questions like Are you ok up there? Are you safe? Talk to your pieces! Checking if your piece is defended can be a part of your Premove Checklist if you like this idea, as well. Just check things before making your move. You will screw up millions of pawns and pieces along your way and that is no problem. The problem is if your pieces are constantly being captured and you never ask yourself why the heck this keeps happening. Develop your discipline. Chess is all about building intense focus and discipline. Playing a long time control game you’ll have enough time to get your eyes and attention from the board and have a rest.

#3 Giving away game initiative. Solutions. (1) First of all, you need to understand the concept. (2) Don’t do that. (3) Go create threat(s) and make your opponent give you back the initiative by playing a shy move or by making a mistake (best for you).

After 5… exd4 whites have quite a bunch of options to complicate the game and regain lost initiative (gray arrows). From the day one of your life in chess, do not hesitate to play Open Games with tons of tactical hits. That way you learn Opening Basics the best practical way. Enjoy reading the engine’s thoughts! Engine, LICHESS.ORG’s 2600+ Stockfish is your huckleberry.

#4 Lost control of the center . Solutions: (1) Check the Starter kit for a beginner. Part 1 of this book for the center control info. (2) If you have launched center activity in your last game but lost control of it, run the game on the engine and see the moment you lost it as well as ideas to avoid it and regain it. Among other benefits control of the center gives you ways to play on both sides of the board, you can bring your pieces closer to your opponent’s king, you can launch a flank attack with secured center giving no counterattack chances for your opponent.

#5 Positional advantage is a sum of good piece coordination, piece activity, space control, better pawn structure, lead in development, etc. Positional advantage is considered a long-term factor, but some experts say that the space control is more lasting. If you stop your opponent from coming to important squares, box or squeeze your opponent’s pieces, install your knight closer to your opponent’s king, create structural weakness then you have positional advantage. Positional advantage gives an opportunity to beat your opponent, but making use of it is absolutely different story. This ability comes with experience backed up with studies.
You can learn how to make use of your positional advantage when you know what is happening on the board. It takes time. You may find interesting to check games of the greatest positional players like Jose Raul Capablanca, Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Botvinnik and Magnus Carlsen. But for a beginner it is better to focus on tactical puzzles because, again, unfortunately, you still have little idea of what is happening on the board. Learning tactical patterns is much easier than learning positional or intuitive chess.

#6 A prospect of giving a random check to the opponent’s king. Over time, this tendency will just disappear. Good news. Just ask yourself one big question, do you really need it.

#7 Pawns are strong when linked together to form pawn chains. That way pawns protect each other. Beginning players usually cannot bring themselves to study pawn endings. “Silman’s Complete Endgame Course” by Jeremy Silman is good for under 1800 players. Another recommended book is “Fundamental Chess Endings” by Karsten Müller and Frank Lamprecht.

#8 The 15+10 time format is not very much friendly for a beginner player. Beginner chess players should best play long-time control games. Playing longer time control games like 30+ you improve your chess. Playing 15+10 games you improve your decision-making. A beginner chess player’s brain needs time to synthesize the info it has been accumulating… However, if you are naturally gifted super hero and you grab everything on the fly, then even blitz chess is ok for you. There are always two sides of the same coin worlds apart.

Beginner players love chess for its action. Thus long time format like 30+ can be considered too slow and less entertaining. That is a common newbie’s approach not interested in improvement. The real problem is that the 15+10 time format gives too little time to consider the candidate moves and make decisions over the board, where the rubber meets the road. The brain simply does not have time to reach its optimal operating mode. Work to the limit of your brain’s capabilities / give it a rest / work again / give it a rest… can be only performed in a long time control game. This can be done, as well, in a training game against the lichess.org’s engine set to a minor level of strength (see Engine is your best sparring partner article in this book).

#9. When strategy conflicts with tactics . Opening Basics are not mandatory. If you see an opportunity to safely capture an opponent’s pawn or piece in the very beginning of a game go and take it. If it’s not a Gambit, then everything is fine. If your opponent is luring you into a Gambit and you have no idea how to deal with the gambit, just ignore the gift, do not take the material offered and focus on your development. One of the famous chess quotations says having a bad plan is better than having no plan at all. Well. Beginner players need to play their thousands games for learning opening strategies and formations. It takes time.

#10. King safety. Weak king. In this book you’ll find quite a number of tactical puzzles related to the king safety. Even just looking at the king safety puzzles will suggest you ways of busting up your opponent’s weak king. The only problem with tactical puzzles is that cracking tactical patterns (knowing it is really there) and playing a game is not the same. When playing chess you should always keep your eyes on your opponent’s king situation and smell the opportunity. I did not smell no opportunity. If I had sensed opportunity I would have started looking for a solution to this puzzle. But I did not see the topic and did not see the puzzle that needed solving… and I passed by. For beginners all this is completely incomprehensible… but not for everyone. Someone is still able to grasp everything on the fly.

#11 Inadequate trade. At the beginner level it happens all the time. Some later you will learn that before trading pieces it is necessary to assess the material balance the trade ends up with. And then, a little later, you will learn that you need to evaluate the position itself that will result after the piece exchange.

#12 Giving a random check. Excitement of delivering checks. A prospect of giving a random check to the opponent’s king. No comments.

#13 Stuck in the center king. There are tons of tactical puzzles on this topic. Similar things happen even in top chess world. For me personally, the hardest thing in a live game is not finding a solution, but realizing that there is no solution at all as the weakness of the opponent’s king is only apparent. A lot of time can be spent on this, because to bust the other guy stuck in the center of the board is like answering a teacher’s question in class under the inquisitive gaze of the teacher with the expression all over the teacher’s face suggesting that any fool knows the answer, even one like me.

#14 Pawn structure. Taking into account the pawn structure at the opening stage is always useful. Oh, this is well beyond the beginner’s level. Does this mean it’s too early for you to try to find out? Not at all. Aim for the moon, you’ll hit the stars. Or take a break from work by doing other work, as Honore de Balzac once had in one of his letters, according to “Prometheus: The Life of Balzac” by André Maurois in the version of the translation that fell into my hands. And if chess is not work for you but pleasure, then you are really lucky… This topic is in relation with #7 Pawns are strong when linked together to form pawn chains. Books to check: “Silman’s Complete Endgame Course” by Jeremy Silman is good for under 1800 players. Another recommended book is “Fundamental Chess Endings” by Karsten Müller and Frank Lamprecht.

#15 Castling is a sign of development done with the two major aspects achieved: king safety (the boss moves into his Castle), rook connection and activation on the last line of defense. No comments.

#16 When strategy (a plan) conflicts with a tactical opportunity. Being on a plan is good but focusing on it too can lead to tactics missed.

# 17 Giving the opponent time to better organize their pieces. A strategic mistake can lead to a loss of the game initiative… or a deliberate approach that allows the opponent to make mistakes. Let the other guy play it. Then I’ll see it. Such a strategy best needs to be backed up with tactical ability and understanding of positional subtleties. This is your future!

#18 Giving the opponent a hand in development. The faster your opponent develops their pieces, the faster they will have a chance to stir up trouble. You should not allow this. Keep your eyes open when you play chess. Play against engine and learn from engine. Engines are best in developing their pieces.

#19 Power of two bishops. Classics. * Adolf Anderssen 1 vs 0 Emil Schallopp, 1864. C31 King’s Gambit: Falkbeer Countergambit. Blackburne Attack * Samuel Rosenthal 0 vs 1 Wilhelm Steinitz, 1873. C46 Three Knights Opening: Steinitz Defense * David Janowski 1 vs 0 Frank Marshall, 1908. D11 Slav Defense: Modern Line * Books: “Two Bishops Save the Day: A World Champion’s Favorite Studies” by Sergei Tkachenko, “Exploiting the Bishop Pair” by Cyrus Lakdawala.

#20 Tactics missed. Do more tactics!

You cannot solve one of the problems discussed in this book and have been identified (ID’d) in these articles? Ask your question on the internet. There you will find real stories and solutions people have employed.

Tactical training

#1. 1. e4 Bxe4 2. Qa4+ Nc6 3. Qxe4 +3.1
#2. 1. Qxe5+ Kf8 2. Qxh8 +5.7
#3. 1… Nxd5 2. Bxd8 Nb4 3. Bxc7 Nxc2+ 4. Kd2 Nxa1 -2.7
#4. 1… fxg1=N+ 2. Ke1 Qh4+ 3. Kd2 Nc6 5. Kc3 Qf2 -5.8

Neglecting to control the center with pawns and playing the knight instead of pawns in an elaborate manner at the very beginning of the game can end badly

The classics of the excellent center control by white pieces from the very beginning of the game

Alexander Alekhine vs Frank Marshall, 1925

Here it goes. The more attacks you stick, the more chances you give to your opponent to blow the game.
Dark arrows are the Stockfish’s suggestions.

End of the 45-page article

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