CHESS UPSETS

Spassky vs. Rodgaisky, 1948

2008-09-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

White: Boris Spassky
Black: Rodgaisky
URS 1948
Sicilian Four Knights (B45)

Spassky was about 11 years old when he lost this, so it may be excusable. But it goes to show that even future World Champions played like mortals before they got to be World Champions.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be2Bb4 7. Bf3 Qa5 8. Ndb5 Qxb5 0-1

Huzman vs. Kasparov, 2003

2008-09-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

The former World Champion is bested by a player 300 Elo points below him -- in 22 short moves!

White: Alexander Huzman
Black: Garry Kasparov
European Clubs Cup, Crete, 2003
Semi-Slav Accelerated Meran (D45)

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 a6 6. b3 Bb4 7. Bd2 O-O 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. Qc2 Bd6 10. Ne2

Simply to regroup, seeking better squares for Bishop at c3 and Knight at f4 or g3 as the case may be.

10…c5 11. O-O b6 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Ng3 Bb7 14. Nf5

To gain the two-Bishop advantage.

14…Bc7 15. dxc5 bxc5 16. b4

Immediately attacking the hanging pawns.

16…c4 17. Be2

Black’s d-pawn is now weak.

17…Ne4 18. Bc3 Nxc3 19. Qxc3 Nf6 20. Rfd1 Bc8?

The crucial mistake, removing a defender of the d-pawn.

21. Rxd5! Qe8 22. Bxc4 1-0

The hanging pawns have been wiped out.

Capablanca vs. Kevitz, 1924

2008-08-28T23:42:00.000-07:00

Here we see a Manhattan Chess Club Champion trouncing a World Champion who has a career tournament loss record of only 35 games.

White: Jose Raoul Capablanca
Black: Alexander Kevitz
Simultaneous Exibition, Brooklyn, 1924
Polish Opening

1.b4 d5 2.Bb2 Bf5

Black releases the Bishop first before closing the diagonal with …e6. Post your pieces in active positions.

3.e3 e6 4.f4

White now has to be on guard against the check …Qh4+. Capa is trying to strengthen his control of the dark squares (a1-a8 diagonal, e5, d4).

5.Nf6 Nf3

A deliberate invitation to take the b-pawn. White hopes to use the half-open b-file later. Surely, Capa must have been relying on his superior technique and experience to make the gambit pay off later.

6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.Ne2

It may have been better to develop the Bishop 7.Be2 then castle 8.O-O. Don’t move a piece twice in the opening unless there is a good reason to do so. Develop first.

7…Ng4 8.c3

White now has a weak d3.

8…Be7 9.h3

Now, the dark square g3 is weakened as well. OK. 1)Black has a check at h4. 2) The Knight’s attack on e3 is our red flag. 3. There is a threat to occupy the “hole” at d3, or exploit the one at g3. Consider the undefended Bishop on b2. On the other hand, Black’s Knight is attacked. What do you do?

9…Nc5!

Indirect defense! The Knight attacks the hole at d3, on which he can mate 10…Nd3++!.

10.Ng3

If 10.Nc1, there is no way to plug the other gap at g3.

10…Bh4
To answer 11.hxg4 with 11.Bxg3+ 12.Ke2 Bd3 mate!

11.Nxh4 Qxh4 12.Qf3
Our tactical red flags: 1)White’s attack on the Knight, 2)Black’s attack and pin on the g3 Knight, 3) the Knight’s attack on e3, 4)the threats to occupy the weaknesses at d3 and e4, 5) the undefended Bishop on b2. Put them all together and they spell…

12…Nxe3!

Examine ALL possible captures, no matter how silly-looking.

13.Qf2?

Better was to accept 13.Qxe3 or 13.dxe3 Ne4 regaining the piece with two pawns up.

13…Nxf1 0-1

Doom will come to White on d3.

Tips to Focus Your Chess Thinking

2008-08-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

You may have experienced it. Way into the middlegame, complex position, innumerable possibilities. What to do? Well, there is nothing more damaging to concentration than allowing your thoughts to stray from one idea to another. Order and Method are the keys to streamlined thinking. Here are tips to jump-start your thought process.

TACTICS
Tactics should always take precedence over strategic thinking. One can be so mesmerized in gaining a few positional points and miss a sockdolager of a mate in one. To avoid this, consider first the forcing moves:
a. Checks (King Safety): Does the opponent have a check? Is it serious, can my King find safety? Do I have a check? Can the opponent parry adequately?
b. Captures: Can I/the opponent capture any piece? Every piece in contact with an enemy piece is a tactical red flag.
c. Threats: A threat is an attack on a weak point or exposed piece. Where are my/the opponent's weaknesses (consider pawns, squares, files and ranks, especially the back rank)? Which of my pieces are exposed (subject to attack)? Which are undefended? Which are inadequately defended (pieces whose defender might be lured away)?Do/es I/the opponent have an immediate threat (a threat that can be carried out next move)? Is it serious --can it be ignored or answered by a bigger threat (indirect defense)? Do/es I/the opponent have an intermediate threat (a threat that can be carried out after a few preparatory moves)?
STRATEGY
Once you have satisfied yourself that there are no forcing moves on the horizon, you can settle back and focus on long-term planning -- strategy. Consider:
a. Piece activity: Are all your pieces posted actively?
Moves to consider:
1.Take your least active piece and put it on a better square.
2. Exchange off your bad, inactive pieces for your opponent's more valuable ones.
3. Drive away enemy pieces from their good posts, preferably with pawns.
b. Pawn structure: What kind of pawn structure do you have? Is the position open, semi-open, or closed? Where do/es you/the opponent have a majority of pawns (center, queenside, kingside)? The pawn structure will dictate the strategy you will follow.
Moves to consider:
1.Advance your pawn majority.
2. Initiate a minority attack.
3. Make a freeing pawn move to open up a closed position (pawn exchanges).
4. Make a pawn advance to control a key square.
c. Imbalances, Advantages and Disadvantages: How do your pieces compare with the opponent's? On which area of the board (center, kingside, queenside) do you have an advantage/disadvantage? You have an advantage on the area where you control more space (i.e., your pawns are more advanced than the enemy's, and your pieces have more maneuvering room and can control key squares, ranks or files). Attack on the side where you have the advantage.
I hope you keep these questions in mind and return to this post again and again as we study games where we shall see how to apply them in practice.

Hurrah for the underdog!

2008-08-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Larry. No, I'm not a grandmaster. Just someone who enjoys chess as a hobby and an intellectual challenge, not to mention a way of staving off dementia and Alzheimer's. I love teaching others, especially children, about the game, and I have written the insructional book The Chess Workout as a "hands-on" approach to learning basic chess strategy and tactics. This blog is dedicated to another matter altogether. As its name suggests, I will be dealing exclusively with games where a strong player gets a sound whipping from a lower-ranked player. What's the point, you ask? Why, everybody roots for the underdog, don't they? The psychological reason is simple. At least some of the time (for other people, unfortunately, most of the time) in our lives, we feel like underdogs. Sympathy for the underdog, whether in the movies or in real-life, is more common than we might think. I don't know about you, but whenever I watch sports, I always root for the lower rated player or team (unless the other player happens to be Ana Ivanovic). It's always more exciting to watch the underdog gaining on the stronger player and crushing him, than watch a one-sided game where the champion lazily coasts to inevitable victory.
This blog is all about giving hope to us chess "dummies". Yes, I include myself, because I can't help but feel like one when trying to second-guess the grandmaster's moves. These are games to cheer us up, with the realization that champions are after all, human -- fallible and not invincible. For this purpose I will try to select games where the disparity between the opposing players are as wide as possible. But for instructional value and quality, I may have to settle from time to time for a narrower gap between the antagonists. I will be analyzing the first game now. I hope to post it as soon as possible.