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Round 1 - level 3 - 84% (397 -617)

Progress

Round 1 - level 2 (ex.111 -396) - 92 %

Round 1 - part1

Tactics exercises 1- 111 - round 1: 98%

Restart circling

I have decided to pick up chess again. Life has changed a lot over the last 4 years. I have two new queens. Lost a couple of times my job. Took on  a complementary study to obtain my teacher diplome.(still working on it) My income has been cut in halve  and I have become a certified potter in the meantime.

I will do the same as in the past. I just pick up the circles again and off we go.

Spotting weaknesses

What do I find very interesting in this position?



Black threatens the capture of the bishop on the next move, followed up with a double attack on the g2-pawn (threatens mate in 1) and the queen. For white it seems that these are desperate times. There is no good way to prevent the capture of the bishop. Retreating the queen to e4 would result in a loss of material. One can try from this position to induce an eternal check on the king but a calculation error, or missing a move is easily made. So only a forced sequence which can overrride the threat can save him the game. Forced sequences have the advantage that only limited amount of moves are possible, which eases one's calculation. It can also relieve pieces from their normal duty without a loss of time. Furthermore it is a very good exercise in visualization and assessing a position. Some people do not like to sacrifice material. In this case, one is forced to.



If we look at this position we see furthermore that black's king is in the center and is a bit exposed. White's rooks are on the center files exerting pressure on the king's position.Black's f-pawn is not really free and is the last flank protection to shield off the king. Black's king rook is badly placed and has only a limited function.



So why is rook taking the knight (1. Rxe6) an obvious move for white?

I can only come up with one answer. The reduction clarifies the position. Counting the amount of black pieces really being able to protect, shield off and assist the king in its protection, Black has to say only one can really protect him and that is the queen. The rooks are not really helping.They are exerting pressure on files not important to the protection of his king. They do not challenge the white pieces on any account. White has three pieces in the attack. The bishop is preventing the king its access to the f -file and also preventing the Queen of intervening on the e5 square. The King cannot hide himself behind the f-pawn. It seems that white has three pieces he can use in his attack on the king. A surplus of 2 pieces.

On the capture black has only 2 choices: either recapture or move his king out of the check.

1.Rxe6+



game continuation

Kxe6 2.Qe4+ Kd7 3.Qxb7+ Ke6 4.Re1+ Kf5 5.Qxf7+ Kg4 6.Qf3+ Kh4 7.Qh3# 1-0

Somewhere our Champ missed a mate in one?

[5.Qe4#]

I especially enjoy the variation where black's king is trying to play hide and seek.

[1...Kd7 2.Rexd6+ (2.Rdxd6+ Kc7 3.Qc2+ Qc5 (3...Kb8 4.Rd7 Qa5 5.Ree7 Rxg7 6.Rxb7#) 4.Qxc5+ Kb8 5.Rd8+ Rxd8 6.Be5+ Rd6 7.Bxd6#) 2...Kc7 (2...Ke7 3.Qe4+ Qe5 4.Qxe5#) 3.Qc2+ Kb8 4.Rd8+ Rxd8 5.Be5+ Qxe5 6.Rxd8#; 1...fxe6 2.Bh6+]


I calculated the following combination.

1...Kd7 2.Rdxd6+ Kc7 3.Qc2+ Kb8 4.Rd8+ Rxd8 5.Be5+ Qxe5 6.Rxe5 +/-

I did not calculated in anyway 2.Rexd6+? Why? It did not crossed my mind in anyway. I missed the threat 4.Rd7 and black should have no good answers.

It seems that I still miss plenty!

Steinitz - Strauss, 1860

What happens when your king is in a rat trap?

White just played Rfe1, pinning the knight against the king. Black answers with Qg5, eying a tactical blow against the bishop on g7 and the pawn on g2.

How can one save the bishop?

Valeri Beim latest shot

Currently going through the book " How to calculate chess tactics", written by Valeri Beim and published by Gambit.





It consists of two parts which ends with exercises for both parts: Part 1 - Tactics in chess ; Part 2 - The technique of calculating variations.

There seems to be a lot of new material in the book. Yours truely wonders if it will improve his calculation mussle dramatically. We will see said the blind man

I conclude with the words of Tigran Petrosian as stated in the book: I believe that in chess, everything depends on tactics.

Some other books by Valeri beim

-How to play Dynamic chess
-Lesson in chess strategy
-Chess recipes from the Grandmaster's Kitchen