Opening Principles According to Dr. Tarrasch: Must Read

Opening Principles According to Dr. Tarrasch: Must Read(the best)

Written by Yury Markushin

Wednesday, 01 October 2014 00:00

There are three the most important factors at chess that every player needs to take into account. These are material, space and time. Most chess players know what the material is: pieces and pawns. Each of the pieces has a relative pawn value that can be assigned to it. For example, a minor piece is equal to 3 pawns, while a pawn is equal to roughly 3 tempos. That means if you sacrifice a pawn without any material gain, you better get at least three tempos ahead. Next we will describe the importance of each of the chess pieces from the opening perspective according to Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch. The King is the most important chess piece on the board. We all know that if it gets checkmated the game is over. In the opening stage of the game, after the central pawns d and e move forward, the king becomes somewhat vulnerable at the center of the board. That is why castling early in the game to put the king to safety is typically a good idea and a plan of most openings. Losing the ability to castle is often equivalent to losing a pawn or 3 tempos. In most games players prefer king-side castle. Queen-side castle is usually recommended when: 1.  It is impossible to castle king’s side since the pawn structure is destroyed or other threats exist. 2. The rook becomes immediately active after occupying the file (open or semi-open). 3. You have a clear plan how to attack your opponent’s position on the king’s side via rolling your pawn (assuming he is castled short). In the middle-game, with many pieces on the board, the king is typically a target and needs protection. However, in the endgame things change and the king starts playing an important role as an attacking piece that is capable of supporting its own pawns and pieces as well as attacking the opponent’s. At the final stage of the game, the king is worth more than a minor piece: about 3.5 pawns. The Queen is by far the most powerful chess piece on the board. That makes the queen vulnerable to threats, since losing a queen often equivalent to losing a game. In the opening, the queen should not be developed too early. Many novice players make this mistake because they think that by introducing the queen into the game early on, they obtain a serious advantage. However, by attacking the queen with pawns and minor pieces, their opponents can win many important tempos and develop much faster. General tips: 1. If you want to develop the queen early in the game you need to keep her majesty safe and not vulnerable to attacks (usually that means on your side of the board). 2. Don’t spend more than one move in the opening developing the queen; there are other more important things to focus on (minor pieces, pawns, center, castling, etc.) 3. Avoid placing your queen opposite to your opponent’s rook, even if the file is blocked by pieces or pawns. You will save yourself from a lot of trouble. 4. The queen’s job to participate in an attack on the opponent’s king and to deliver a final blow: the checkmate. Note: In our training program we focus a lot on the attacking chess by going over many examples of how the king's pawn structure can be destroyed and how the king can be extracted from the center involving typical maneuvers and sacrifices.  The Rook is the most effective when occupying an open file. Remember that rule and always place your rook on an open file.  Another great location for the rook is 7nd (2nd) rank where it can be used to pick opponent’s pawns and threaten the king. Even though the rook usually plays a defensive role in the middle-game there is a possibility of placing it on h3 or g3 (h6 or g6 from black) and threaten the opponent’s king safety.  It is a typical and powerful maneuver, called rook lift and you always need to expect it. It is usually a good idea to line up both of your rooks occupying an open file. That is called doubling the rooks. Doubled rooks are worth more because they can work together and support each other. Another advantage of quick castling, among from keeping your king safe, is connecting the rooks. This is also a great way to improve your position and coordination of the pieces. The Bishop is primarily an attacking piece. The most effective placement for the bishop is when it controls two diagonals, one of which is the long-diagonal. In many cases we want to point our bishop at the opponent’s castle. The king’s bishop is typically the more important of the two; therefore you should always think twice before exchanging it off.  A bishop pair is considered to be a valuable asset at chess. Keeping it is often a good idea. In closed and semi-closed positions bishops lose their powers due to diagonals being closed, making them not as effective as on the open field. The Knight is a great defensive piece and a good attacker. In the opening, the knight is typically placed on the 3rd (6th) rank where it defends the castled king.  The center is the best location for a knight, since it controls the most important squares on the board and can be used for a subtle attack on the king. A knight is also the best blockading piece, and should be your first choice when it comes to an isolated pawn positions. Note: the isolated pawn positions are one of the most important middle game themes in chess. They appear from many different openings and it is important to know how to play in this positions (sometimes fairly sharp) for both sides. In our training program we also focus on typical isolated pawn structures and going over GM games that involve it. On the edge of the board, however, a knight doesn’t control that many squares, so this kind of placement should be avoided if possible. The knight usually does a better job than bishop protecting multiple squares at once. However, for a single square protection, bishop does a better job, making it a superior piece in most endgame positions. The Pawn is the strongest at the center, losing its value towards the side of the board. That said the e and d pawns are superior to a and h pawns. When you’re trying to decide what pawn to keep or to capture you should give the preference to the central pawns, since they are more valuable. In the opening you should not make too many pawn moves, since every unnecessary pawn move weakens your position. Remember, pawns do not move backwards! Move only the pawns needed to occupy the center and to finish the development. Don’t make a mistake of falling for unprotected pawns and disregarding developments. Many games were lost that way. You will have an extra pawn, but what’s good of it if you get checkmated before you can use it? Opening is a stage of the game where you should develop pieces and put the king to safety, not to hunt your opponent's pawns down. Some notes: There is a lot of confusion when it comes to what’s stronger the Queen or Two Rooks or 3 Minor Pieces.  Many players easily give up both rooks or 3 minor pieces for the queen. In fact, either the two rooks or the 3 minor pieces are typically stronger than the queen. The only situation when the queen is stronger than the 2 rooks or 3 minor pieces is when the king is exposed and can be checked with a queen, attacking and capturing other pieces and pawns. Always think twice before giving up 2 rooks or 3 minor pieces for the queen, it’s often a bad idea. Tarrasch wrote that in endgame difference between the rook and a minor piece is about 1.5 pawns, and not 2 as most players think. The difference between 2 minor pieces and a rook is also 1.5 pawns. The bishop is generally stronger than the knight: 3.5 pawns vs. 3 pawns, especially if bishop pair is present on the board. Central pawns are not always stronger that the flank ones. It is only true in the opening and the middle-game. In the endgame however, an isolated a-passer is superior to the central pawns. Note: in our training program we approach the most important endgames that every tournament player should know by understanding the concepts and not memorizing the theory.  Credits: The Game of Chess by Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch.

The Secret to Bobby Fischer’s Success

Hi Alfred,

One question I hear a lot is “how can I beat strong players? Players that don’t make tactical mistakes?”

This is a serious point, every improver will reach the stage where wins are tougher to come by. Most players try to progress by doing more of what got them to where they are. They train tactics more intensively, memorize the Sicilian a few moves deeper.

But there is a better way, one beautifully demonstrated by Bobby Fischer.

Bobby burst on to the national chess scene with his spectacular “Game of the Century” win aged just 13. This brilliancy got him an invite to the US Championships. What few know is Bobby only scored 4 ½/11 in that tournament. His USCF rating was just 1726.

Bobby knew he needed more than his tactical ability to win against the best players in the country. He sought out the games of Capablanca, Steinitz and Morphy to study, impressed by their ability to outplay their opponents even from level positions. What he learned transformed him as a player…

At the 1958 US Championships he destroyed the field - 8 wins, 5 draws, no losses - to become the youngest ever national champion by a clear point. His next published USCF rating: 2626!

This is the answer to the question. If you want to outplay even the strongest players then you need to do what they’re not doing: master positional chess.

Yury Markushin 

Chess is not all about WINNING!

What is common among Chess players!

The only thing Chess players have in common is Chess.  -  Lodewijk Prins 

Effective Training Methods According to Mark Dvoretsky

3 Effective Training Methods According to Mark Dvoretsky

Written by Yury Markushin

Monday, 10 November 2014 00:00

According to a famous chess coach Viktor Goncharov, today's chess training methods have multiple serious flaws. The most significant one is probably theinability of chess coaches (very strong chess players themselves) to understand the difficulties that their students are facing when studying chess. Due to their own high chess level they make assumptions based on their own chess ability, which not always directly translates to their student-players, making educational process more difficult. In simple terms, not every strong chess player is capable to teach one to become a strong player. Another problem according to Goncharov, is greatly related to the absence of the right materials which can teach chess coaches about how to train amateur players. Lastly, any chess exercise should have a meaning which should be beyond simply finding a solution. The student needs to realize the point of that exercise, capture the main idea and to be able to apply it in his own chess games. Otherwise, the knowledge is useless. The main goal of a student is to change their thinking process and to be able to start using common chess algorithms for assisting in decision making process. The main question is how to do that? Mark Dvoretsky suggests three training methods which can help in realizing this goal. Method 1. “Guess a move” approach This method was used by many masters and grandmasters including Bronstein, Gort and Nimzovich himself. The idea is to find a well annotated chess game, and to start guessing the moves right after the opening for one of the players. You should also write down your thoughts and compare them with the annotator’s analysis at the end of the game. Based on this comparison you can draw conclusion about your own understanding of the game. This training approach can help to you to greatly improve positional vision. It will also make sure that you actually understand the game you’re studying in a much greater extent than if you just skim through the moves and read the annotations, without applying yourself. Method 2. Endgame blitz In order to improve endgame play you need to practice in conditions that simulate real games. First, Dvoretsky suggests to think about the position on the board for a few minutes. Then, the position should be played out against a sparring partner, coach or a chess engine. The key of this exercise is to pick meaningful positions to be analyzed and later played out against a human or a computer opponent. By meaningful positions, Dvoretsky means the ones that are common at chess and have a clear way to achieve a win or a draw. Note: If you want to learn how to play common endgames well, I suggest you checking out our premium training course where we spend a lot of time drilling most often occurring chess endings so that you will not have to guess on the winning approach, but simply would know how to win these positions.  Method 3. Analysis algorithm Sometimes it is hard for an amateur chess players to evaluate a complex chess position. In order to simplify this task, Dvoretsky suggests removing all black pieces from the board and focusing only on white pieces at first. The analysis should be done from left to right and position should be evaluated according to importance of pieces. First the position of the King is taken into account, then the Queen, Rook, etc. Next, the white pieces are removed from the board and only the black pieces are setup. The position is evaluated analogous to the previous step but only for black pieces. Finally, both white and black pieces are setup and the analysis is done by comparing the sides, in order to identify what side possesses an advantage. This technique is called a ‘ladder’ technique because first we focus just on white pieces, then just on black pieces and finally we make our way to the complete position.

As an educational tool

Chess as an educational tool.

Chess, after 1, 2 or 3 moves

After each player makes just one move there 400 different positions possible!  After 2 moves – about 72,000 positions possible. After 3 moves – 9 million. After 4 moves – 288 billion (yes, billion with a “b”) positions can arise on a chess boards. There are about 10^50 legal positions in chess possible!