Sunday 19 December 2021

My opinion about chess

(Originally posted on Saturday, 20 October 2018; updated most recently on 19 December 2021)

In this post I now use the Chesstempo PGN viewer that can be found on this site:
https://chesstempo.com/pgn-viewer/

Currently the Chesstempo PGN viewer is the best free online PGN viewer that I know of, but it's not perfect. For some reason it makes the first move by default and I don't know how to turn it off. I added a “null move” at the start, but You have to avoid “taking this move back” because the PGN viewer “gets confused” then and messes up sides. I also don't know how to make the move list window smaller, but there is “a vertical height resize handle” at the bottom, so you can make it smaller (or larger) yourself.

Recently my opinion about chess have improved significantly. I have always known that chess is called “the royal game”, but I didn't like the fact it relies heavily on memorizing things. Now I have learned that chess prevents or at least slows down some mental diseases, for example Alzeimer's disease and other cases of dementia. Interestingly even people suffering from schizophrenia benefit from playing chess – it was an even bigger surprise for me. I learned about it here:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/health-benefits-playing-chess-louay-alzaher

From my own experience I can say that chess:
1. Helps you to handle your own failures/mistakes.
2. Improves your concentration and your time management.
3. Teaches you that some things may be improved just by altering the order of your actions.

Chess is a fascinating game because a relatively small number of rules transforms into a very complex analysis. Moreover there is no “proper strategy” in amateur chess – every player is different and every player can play the way it suits his skills.

One of the best things about chess is the fact that even relatively simple endgame positions can be played in many different ways.

My favourite, by far, endgame is the Lucena position – as the stronger side you can always win it, but you have to know what you are doing.

1. Mate threat.
The losing side makes a mate threat, but after one additional move by the winning side the defending king has only one square to go without being checked on the very next move.
[FEN "2K5/2P1k3/8/8/8/8/3R4/1r6 b - - 0 1"] 1...-- 1.Re2+ Kd6 2.Kd8 Rh1 3.Rd2+ Ke5 4.c8=Q Rh8+ 5.Kc7 Rxc8+ 6.Kxc8 1-0
2. Capture.
It's not quite the Lucena position because the defending rook is on the same file as the attacking pawn, but it shows why the defense in the proper Lucena position is as it is.
[FEN "2K5/2P1k3/8/8/8/8/3R4/2r5 b - - 0 1"] 1...-- 1.Re2+ Kd6 2.Kd8 Rxc7 3.Rd2+ Kc6 4.Rc2+ Kb6 5.Rxc7 1-0
3. Building a bridge.
This is the proper Lucena position – the losing side waits for the attacking king to move and then keeps checking him.
[FEN "2K5/2P1k3/8/8/8/8/3R4/1r6 b - - 0 1"] 1...-- 1.Re2+ Kf7 2.Re4 Rb2 3.Kd7 Rd2+ 4.Kc6 Rc2+ 5.Kd6 Rd2+ 6.Kc5 Rc2+ 7.Rc4 Rxc4+ 8.Kxc4 Ke7 9.c8=Q 1-0
4. Anti-bridge defense – rook.
The losing side wants to prevent the bridge by using the rook on the crucial rank – it ends up with a bridge anyway, but with a different move order.
[FEN "2K5/2P1k3/8/8/1r6/8/3R4/8 b - - 0 1"] 1...-- 1.Re2+ Kf7 2.Kd7 Rd4+ 3.Kc6 Rc4+ 4.Kd6 Rd4+ 5.Kc5 Rd1 6.Re4 Rc1+ 7.Rc4 Rxc4+ 8.Kxc4 Ke7 9.c8=Q 1-0
5. Anti-bridge defense – king.
The losing side wants to prevent the bridge by using the king.
[FEN "2K5/2P1k3/8/8/8/8/3R4/1r6 b - - 0 1"] 1...-- 1.Re2+ Kf6 2.Re4 Kf5 3.Re7 Kf6 4.Kd8 Rd1+ 5.Rd7 Rh1 6.c8=Q Rh8+ 7.Kc7 Rxc8+ 8.Kxc8 1-0
6. Anti-bridge defense – capture.
The losing side hopes that the winning side will recapture with the king instead of with the rook. It could happen in blitz chess with very little time on the clock.
[FEN "2K5/2P1k3/8/8/8/8/3R4/2r5 b - - 0 1"] 1...-- 1.Re2+ Kf6 2.Re4 Kf5 3.Re7 Kf6 4.Kd8 Rxc7 5.Rxc7 1-0
7. Building a bridge – stalling defense.
I must admit that I missed this variation in my earlier analysis and I wonder if I would see the “obvious answer” with very little time on the clock.
[FEN "2K5/2P1k3/8/8/8/8/3R4/1r6 b - - 0 1"] 1...-- 1.Re2+ Kf7 2.Re4 Rb2 3.Kd7 Rd2+ 4.Kc6 Rc2+ 5.Kd6 Rc1 6.Re5 Kf6 7.Rc5 Rxc5 8.Kxc5 Ke7 9.c8=Q 1-0
8. Anti-bridge defense – stalling defense.
Another missed variation in my earlier analysis. It combines three elements: anti-bridge defense with the rook, anti-bridge defense with the king and a stalling move. If the winning side plays the same way as in the previous stalling variation (Re5) it would end up drawing – the losing side would simply take the pawn.
[FEN "2K5/2P1k3/8/8/1r6/8/3R4/8 b - - 0 1"] 1...-- 1.Re2+ Kf6 2.Kd7 Rd4+ 3.Kc6 Rc4+ 4.Kd6 Rc1 5.Rd2 Kf7 6.Kd7 Rc3 7.c8=Q Rxc8 8.Kxc8 1-0
Below is my own game with the Lucena position. The endgame was started as in the variation 1, but my opponent didn't actually make the mate threat and he (or she) resigned right away. The game is interesting for a whole different reason – it was 94 moves long! I was playing white, so the precise number of single moves was 187. It was a blitz game, but with time increment – the clock was set as 3 minutes + 5 seconds per move and it lasted 17 minutes overall!

The game is a very good example of my playing style and of my personality as well. I played a very quiet and safe opening (the London System – the “boring system” – the “old man’s system”). When my opponent castled queen-side I did the same – he planned an all-out attack on my king, but I didn't let him do it. He got too relaxed and he missed a simple combination that gave me his rook for my knight. Staying in my style I gave back the exchange right away, but for a pawn – I would have to do it sooner or later anyway. Soon after that I managed to win another pawn, but later I messed up the endgame and the position became drawn again. Well, it was drawn with proper defense, but my opponent messed things up himself and we ended up in the Lucena position. A position I knew I would win. Cool feeling.
1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Nc6 4. c3 Nf6 5. h3 a6 6. Nbd2 h6 7. Qc2 Bd6 8. Bxd6 Qxd6 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Qxe4 Bd7 12. Be2 O-O-O 13. O-O-O f5 14. Qe3 Qd5 15. Kb1 g5 16. g3 Na5 17. Qe5 Bc6 18. Qxd5 Bxd5 19. Rhe1 Nc4 20. Bxc4 Bxc4 21. Ne5 Bd5 22. Nf7 Bf3 23. Rd2 Be4+ 24. Kc1 Rdf8 25. Nxh8 Rxh8 26. Rde2 Bd5 27. Rxe6 Bxe6 28. Rxe6 Kd7 29. Rf6 g4 30. Rxf5 gxh3 31. Rh5 Rf8 32. f4 Re8 33. Kd2 Rg8 34. Rxh3 Rg6 35. Ke3 Ke6 36. Kf3 Kf7 37. Rh2 Rb6 38. g4 a5 39. Re2 Rc6 40. Re5 b6 41. Ke3 a4 42. a3 Kf6 43. Rh5 Kg7 44. g5 hxg5 45. Rxg5+ Kf6 46. Rb5 Rc4 47. Rb4 Rc6 48. Rxa4 Re6+ 49. Kd3 Re1 50. Kd2 Rf1 51. d5 Ke7 52. Rd4 Kd6 53. Kc2 Rf2+ 54. Kb3 b5 55. a4 bxa4+ 56. Rxa4 Kxd5 57. Rd4+ Kc5 58. Rc4+ Kd6 59. Ka3 c5 60. b4 cxb4+ 61. Rxb4 Kc5 62. Kb3 Rf3 63. Ra4 Kb5 64. Re4 Kc5 65. Rd4 Kb5 66. Re4 Kc5 67. Re5+ Kd6 68. Re4 Kd5 69. Ra4 Kc5 70. Ra2 Rxf4 71. Ra5+ Kb6 72. Rd5 Kc6 73. Rd8 Kb5 74. Rh8 Kc5 75. Rh5+ Kc6 76. c4 Kb6 77. Kb4 Rf1 78. Rh6+ Kc7 79. Kc5 Rc1 80. Rh7+ Kd8 81. Kd6 Ke8 82. c5 Rd1+ 83. Kc6 Rc1 84. Rh8+ Kf7 85. Rd8 Ke7 86. Rd2 Ke6 87. Kb6 Rb1+ 88. Kc7 Rc1 89. c6 Ke7 90. Kb7 Rb1+ 91. Kc8 Rc1 92. c7 Rb1 93. Re2+ Kd6 94. Kd8 1-0
PS. To be clear: I am strongly AGAINST teaching chess at schools as an obligatory subject. A game of chess is still just a game – a child can be perfectly fine without chess. There are LOTS of other games that improve concentration, mind abilities and things like that. Promotion of chess is good, but obligation of learning chess is unacceptable to me.

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