Chess Teacher Lessons » Chess

The Halosar Trap

Admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:59:10 +0000

Halosar_Trap

1.d4 d5 2.e4

The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (BDG)

2… dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Qxf3

( The main line of the BDG continues with 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 but this time we are going for the Halosar Trap )

5… Qxd4

( 5… c6 is played almost as often )

6.Be3 Qb4

( 6… Qg4 7.Qf2 e5 8.a3 is played more often )

7.O-O-O Bg4?! Black falls into the trap. Most people do as it looks such a nice combination. 8.Nb5 Na6

( 8… Nbd7?! doesn’t look good, but may still be playable 9.Qxb7 Qe4 10.Nxc7+ Kd8 11.Qxa8+ Qxa8 12.Nxa8 Bxd1 13.Kxd1 Kc8 )

( Black can’t capture the knight because this loses the queen. 8...Qxb5 9.Bxb5+ c6 10.Qg3 )

9.Qxb7 Qe4 10.Qxa6 Qxe3+ 11.Kb1 Qc5 12.Nf3 Rb8 13.Qxa7 Qxa7 14.Nxa7

More than 100 chess lessons

Chess Teacher — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:38:29 +0000

This post is a replacement for the more than 80 chess lessons post that has been published before.

At the moment there are more than 100 chess lessons on almost all stages of the game and for all levels of play on Chess Teaching. You can get a quick overview by looking at the chess lessons index page, but you can also navigate through this site by using the tags or categories or by using the search option on this site.

It is my believe that the interactive way this site offers the chess tutorials gives you something that books are unable to accomplish.
New lessons are added on a regular base and are linked together by links at the end of each lesson about how to continue. At the footer of each lesson you can also find a link to the previous and to the next lesson. This offers you an easy possibility to study all the lessons in the right order. This is not the order based on the publication date, because I am going to continue adding chess lessons on all levels.

Don’t try to learn all the lessons in a couple of days. Take your time. Replay and try some of the things learned on a board and stop after one or two lessons. Keep note of where you stopped, bookmark the page, and return for more when you can give your complete attention to the (next) lesson.

If you are new to chess and not familiar with the rules of the game the chess tutorial about the starting position may be a good start.

Bird – Steinitz (1866)

Chess Teacher — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:45:32 +0000

This position occurred in the game Bird -Steinitz (1866) and Steinitz played the winning move 66…b5+.
Bird reacted with 67.Kc3 and now we get an even more interesting position.

Should you also have played 66…b5+ or would you have tried something like 66…a3?
Are you able to win this won game? What are Black’s next moves?

Be careful. Some moves will result in a draw.

Black to move and wins.

More chess lessons? The next lesson in this series is about the King’s Gambit.

ChessX 0.6

Chess Teacher — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:09:52 +0000

A couple of months ago and two years after the previous version ChessX has released a new version. This is version 0.6, which can be downloaded for Windows and Mac on the download section of the ChessX site.
I decided to try this version and I started by saving the games of the IJ105 database as a PGN file, which is currently the format that is needed for ChessX, but a Native Database Format is planned for the next release. I also made a PGN file that contained the first 1000 games of this Database.

As you can see the PGN file uses a lot of memory when compared to the SCID or ChessDB database files.

I was unable to use the large database. It started to load the games, but after waiting for more than an hour it was still busy loading.
Loading the file with the first 1000 games went rather smooth and I like the way it looks and how you can position everyting as you wish.

If you only need something like this for your own games (with a rather small database) than this may be a very interesting multi platform alternative, but for large databases it will probably not be usable. However, the next release promises to add a Native Database Format, which may solve these problems.

The Classical Bishop Sacrifice

Chess Teacher — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:21:57 +0000

In the game Colle – O’Hanlon, Nice 1930 we have seen one of the most famous examples of the Classical Bishop Sacrifice. In this lesson we will focus on some of the aspects of such a position that will help you to determine whether or not the sacrifice will be sound. I am going to use the game Kothe Harry G – Lewis James W, 1974 as an example.

Classical

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 e6 4.e4 b5 5.a4 c6 6.Bd2 a5 7.axb5 cxb5 8.b3 Bb7 9.bxc4 b4 10.Bd3 Bd6 11.Be3 Ne7 12.O-O O-O 13.e5 Bc7

The main conditions for the sacrifice are met:
- A bishop is able to capture the pawn on h7
- A knight is able to move to the g5 square
- This g5 square is defended
- The queen can reach h5

We even have some additional conditions that make it more likely that the sacrifice will be correct:
- Black’s Queen on d8
- Black’s Rook on f8
- White’s pawn on e5 will prevent an escape to f6

But there is also an indication that the sacrifice will not be sound:
- Black’s bishop on b7 may be able to defend h7

As we will see the sacrifice will be sound. Black’s bishop is rather harmless and will be attacked and undefended on e4.

14.Bxh7+ Kh8 Probably the best move, but we are mainly interested in the other alternative ( 14… Kxh7 15.Ng5+ Kg8

( 15… Kh8 is a mate in two 16.Qh5+ Kg8 17.Qh7# )

( 15… Kg6 16.Qg4 f5 17.exf6 gxf6 18.Nxe6+ Kf7 and White will win the queen 19.Nxd8+ )

( 15… Kh6 results in a mate in five 16.Qg4 Bxe5 17.dxe5 Nf5 18.Qh3+ Nh4 19.Qxh4+ Kg6 20.Qh7# )

16.Qh5 Be4 17.Nxe4 )

15.Ng5 g6 16.Bxg6 fxg6 17.Qg4 Kg8 18.Qxe6+ Kg7 19.Qh3 Rh8 20.Ne6+ Kg8 21.Nxd8 Rxh3 22.Nxb7 winning a piece

But the game continues for a while.

22… Rh7 23.Nc5 Nbc6 24.Ne4 Rh4 25.Nbd2 Nf5 26.Nf6+ Kg7 27.Nf3 Rxd4 28.Nd5 Rxd5 29.cxd5 Nxe3 30.fxe3 Nxe5 31.Rfb1 Re8 32.e4 Bb6+ 33.Kf1 Nc4 34.Ke2 Na3 35.Rc1 Rxe4+ 36.Kd3 Re3+ 37.Kd2 b3 38.Rxa3 b2 39.Rb1 Rxa3 40.Rxb2 Be3+ 41.Kc2 Kf6 42.Rb3 Ra2+ 43.Kd3 Bc5 44.Rb5 Bd6 45.Rb6 Ke7 46.Nh4 Kd7 47.h3 Ra3+ 48.Kc2 Rg3 49.Ra6 g5 50.Rxd6+ Kc7 51.Rg6 a4 52.Nf3 Rxg2+ 53.Kb1 Rf2 54.Nxg5 Rd2 55.d6+ Rxd6 56.Rxd6 Kxd6 57.h4 Ke5 58.Nf3+ 1-0

A final exercise:
Is the classical bishop sacrifice sound for the following position? The answer will be given in the comments.

More chess lessons? An index of all chess lessons can be found here.

Aseev – Bagirov 1989

Chess Teacher — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 10:52:37 +0000

The game between Konstantin Aseev (2520) and Vladimir Bagirov (2475) played in Leningrad 1989 is one of the games that perfectly illustrates some of the main concepts of the endgame with bishops of opposite colour.

Bishops_Endgame

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 The Ruy Lopez 3... Nd4 This variation is called the Bird’s defence.

( Instead of this variation most of the time something like 3... a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 is played. )

4.Nxd4 exd4 5.Bc4 ( 5.O-O is played more frequently, but White has a lot of good alternatives like c3, d3 or Bc4. )

5… Nf6 6.O-O Nxe4 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qd5+ Kg7 10.Qxe4 Qf6 11.d3 Bc5 12.Nd2 Rf8 13.Nf3 h6 14.b3 Bb6 15.Bb2

These are probably the most logical moves but I don’t like to play this position with the black pieces. Black normally continues with c5 because the pawn has to be defended.

15… d6?! This already enables 16.Nxd4, but White continues with 16.Rae1 g5?! 17.Bc1

( 17.Nxd4! looks very promising, but let’s stop annotating the whole game and continue with the interesting position that arises after the 70th move. On the other hand I won’t stop you if you want to analyze the whole game. )

17… Rb8 18.Nd2 Bf5 19.Qf3 Rf7 20.Re2 Ba5 21.Qd5 Bxd2 22.Bxd2 and now both players have a bishop of the opposite colour on the board 22...c6 23.Qf3 Rbf8 24.Qg3 Qg6 25.Rfe1 c5 26.h3 b5 27.Re7 Kh7 28.Ba5 c4 29.Bb4 cxd3 30.cxd3 Rxe7 31.Rxe7+ Rf7 32.Rxf7+ Qxf7 33.Qxd6 Bxd3 34.Qxd4 Bb1 35.Qc5 Qd7 36.Qc1 Be4 37.Qe3 Bb1 38.Bc3 Qd1+ 39.Kh2 Qd6+ 40.Be5 Qd7 41.Qc1 Be4 42.Qc5 a5 43.a4 bxa4 44.bxa4 Kg8 45.Qxa5 Bc6 46.Qa6 Qd5 47.Qc8+ Kf7 48.Qf5+ Ke8 49.f3 Bxa4 50.Qg6+ Kd7 51.Qg7+ Kd8 52.Bg3 Qe6 53.h4 g4 54.fxg4 Bc6 55.Qh8+ Kd7 56.Qh7+ Ke8 57.Qh8+ Kf7 58.Qd4 Qe4 59.Qf2+ Kg8 60.Bf4 Kh7 61.Kg3 Bd7 62.h5 Bc6 63.Be3 Bd5 64.Bf4 Qd3+ 65.Kh4 Qe4 66.Bd2 Be6 67.Qf3 Qxf3 68.gxf3

An endgame with bishops of opposite colour arises. These endgames are mostly drawn, even when one side has a pawn advantage. In this case White is even two pawns ahead, but it is not trivial to open this position.

68… Bb3 69.f4 Bc2 70.f5 Kg7

This is a very interesting position. It is clear that White has the advantage, but at first sight the fortress seems to be well defended. Without looking at the next move can you see White’s winning move?

71.Bxh6+! The sacrifice of the bishop was needed to open the position. 71... Kxh6 72.f6 Bd3 73.g5+ Kh7 74.f7 Kg7 75.g6 1-0

More chess lessons? An index of all chess lessons can be found here.

Enjoy the game

Chess Teacher — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:25:49 +0000

Every now and then one of our pupils turns out to be very promising. Tim was such a rather talented boy and seemed to grasp a lot of aspects of the game without even explaining them to him. He loved the game right from the start when he joined our chess club. He was almost always one of the first pupils that found the right answer to the given exercises.

But when I observed some of his first games he surprised me. He had a chance to win the game in a rather easy to see mate in two, but he just captured a pawn. Some time later he even missed a mate in one.
OK, in the end he won the game, but it surprised me that he was unable to take advantage from this kind of possibilities in his own game.
Afterwards I told him that he had missed a mate in one. He answered that he had seen it. And he also has seen some opportunities for a mate in two and a mate in three. But he also said that the game would have come to an end if he had checkmated his opponent. This should have been a pity, because there were so much pieces left on the board to capture. So he just wanted the game to continue.

I only could say he was right. He was right for the moment. It is far more important to enjoy the game in itself instead of enjoying winning a game.

Kasparov – Topalov (1999)

Chess Teacher — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:17:11 +0000

The game between Garry Kasparov (2812) and Veselin Topalov (2700) in the fourth round of the 1999 edition of the Hoogovens tournament in Wijk aan Zee is called Kaparov’s Immortal. The most noteworthy move of this game is the rook sacrifice on the 24th move. It is nice to replay the game and try to evaluate this position for yourself.
An annotated version of this game by Kasparov himself can be found here.

Kasparovs_Immortal

1.e4 d6 The Pirc

2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 In ChessDB this line is called the Pirc: 4Be3, 150 Attack and its normal continuation is 5..c6 6f3 b5

5… c6 6.f3 b5 7.Nge2 Nbd7 8.Bh6 Exchanging the Bishops

8… Bxh6 9.Qxh6 Bb7 10.a3 e5 11.O-O-O Qe7 12.Kb1 a6 13.Nc1 O-O-O 14.Nb3 exd4 15.Rxd4 c5 16.Rd1 Nb6 17.g3 Kb8 18.Na5 Ba8 19.Bh3 d5 20.Qf4+ Ka7 21.Rhe1 d4 22.Nd5 Nbxd5 23.exd5 Qd6 24.Rxd4!! When Kasparov made this move, he already saw the idea 30…Rd6 31.Rb6 as well the move 37.Rd7 and he was hoping for 24…cxd4.

24… cxd4

( 24… Kb6! would have spoiled the fun unless he had found the move 25.Nb3! ( But he later told that he intended to play 25.b4 that will probably would have resulted in a draw. After 25... Qxf4 26.Rxf4 Nxd5 27.Rxf7 cxb4 28.axb4 Nxb4 29.Nb3 Rd6 Black has even a clear advantage ) )

25.Re7+ Kb6 26.Qxd4+ Kxa5 27.b4+ Ka4 28.Qc3 Qxd5 29.Ra7 Bb7 30.Rxb7 Qc4 31.Qxf6 Kxa3 32.Qxa6+ Kxb4 33.c3+ Kxc3 34.Qa1+ Kd2 35.Qb2+ Kd1 36.Bf1 Rd2 37.Rd7 Rxd7 38.Bxc4 bxc4 39.Qxh8 Rd3 40.Qa8 c3 41.Qa4+ Ke1 42.f4 f5 43.Kc1 Rd2 44.Qa7 1-0

More chess lessons? An index of all chess lessons can be found here.

Noah’s Ark Trap

Chess Teacher — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:32:42 +0000

Noah’s Ark Trap is not just an opening trap. The name is used for a lot of openings in which the white bishop is trapped on b3 by black pawns. Most of the games that contain this trap can be found in the Ruy Lopez.

Noahs_Trap

1.e4 e5

( I start with this trap in the Sicilian defence since this variation very clearly demonstrates the trap 1...c5 2.Bb5 Not a very good move. 2...a6 3.Ba4 ( 3.Bc4 is better, but also makes it very clear that White should not have played Bb5 in the first place. ) 3… b5 4.Bb3 c4 and Black wins the bishop like in Widmer – Moheni, 1982. )

( and even in The Pirc and other openings the trap can be found 1...d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be3 c6 6.Qd2 Nbd7 7.O-O-O Qc7 8.Bc4 b5 9.Bb3 h6 10.h4 a6 11.Nh2 Bb7 12.f4 e6 13.Nf3 O-O-O 14.d5 exd5 15.exd5 c5 16.Rhg1 c4 like in Riezu – Rodrigo, 2003. )

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 as mentioned before Noah’s Ark Trap is mostly found in the Ruy Lopez.

4.Ba4 d6 5.d4?! b5 6.Bb3 Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4 8.Qxd4?? c5 9.Qc3 ( 9.Qd5 doesn’t help either 9...Be6 10.Qc6+ Bd7 11.Qd5 c4 and the white Bishop is trapped. ) 9… c4 like in Bruned Segura Mario ( 2255 ) — Duran Albareda Xavier ( 2290 ) , 1999. 0-1

More chess lessons? The next lesson in this series is about the game Morphy – Isouard (1958).

The Lasker Trap

Chess Teacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:50:17 +0000

As a kind of followup on the lesson about the minor promotion I have added this lesson on the Lasker Trap in the Albin Countergambit. The underpromotion plays an important role in this trap and probably contributes to the success of it.
The Albin Countergambit starts with the moves 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 after which we can find the following position on the board.

The best option is to accept the gambit 3.dxe5 after which black probably continues with 3…d4. If White continues with 4.e3? he’ll find himself in deep trouble.

Lasker_Trap

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.e3?

( 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.g3 Be6 6.Nbd2 Qd7 7.Bg2 is the main continuation )

4… Bb4+ 5.Bd2 dxe3 in this Albin, Lasker Trap of the QGD White has three options. 6.Bxb4? is a blunder. This is called the Lasker Trap.

The best option for White is 6.fxe3 with a bad pawn structure, but White may still have some chances after 6... Nc6 7.Nf3 Bg4 for example by playing 8.Nc3 instead of the more frequently played 8.Be2

Another alternative is 6.Qa4+ but this is also something that White should avoid, because of 6... Nc6 7.Bxb4 ( 7.fxe3 Qh4+ 8.Kd1 Bg4+ 9.Nf3 O-O-O ) 7… exf2+ 8.Kxf2 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qd4+ 10.Kg2 Qxb2+

6… exf2+ 7.Ke2

( After 7.Kxf2? Black can capture the queen 7... Qxd1 )

7… fxg1=N+ a nice example of a situation in which promotion to a minor piece is indeed the better move 8.Ke1

( After 8.Rxg1 Black also wins the queen 8... Bg4+ )

8… Qh4+ 9.Kd2 Nc6 10.Bc3 Bg4 11.Qe1 O-O-O+ 12.Kc2 Nd4+ 13.Kc1 Qxe1+ 14.Bxe1 as played in 1965 by Boris Bereschnoj against David Lees. White resigns. 0-1

You may also want to read the lesson about the underpromotion or about the Elephant Trap or continue with the lesson about Noah’s Ark Trap.
A complete overview of the chess lessons at this site can be found in the chess lessons index.

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