Thursday, April 10, 2014

LCCC Monday 040714 – Open Chess Night – And a Lesson


Sixteen players enjoyed some chess and some lessons. It was a very nice evening.
We welcomed a new full member to the club – Paul D. Welcome Paul.

Take a look at the following position and find a good move for White.
The answer sometimes is a tip-off to a serious weakness in many club player’s thought and analysis process.
One typical response is that White should play Bg5……because is fxg5, then Qf7 mate!
Another response is White should play Bh6 as …..gxh6 allow Qh5 mate!.

In both situations the White dark squared bishop is immune from capture all right. And both moves may trick your opponent into a quick loss. But does that fact make those moves worthy of being played?

Or - with these moves - is White simply playing "Hope Chess" - where he hopes his opponent falls into a simple trap?

A move should be made because it fits into your strategic game plan (if you don’t have one – you need to have one!), or it improves your position some how - develop your pieces, improve your worst piece, restrict squares of your opponent, or gain squares of your pieces, or safe-guards your king.

Do either of those moves accomplish any of those goals? The answer is of course .....no.
White has a big lead in development – which will evaporate if White drags his feet. White’s moves should be forceful to keep Black so busy defending, he can’t catch up in development. Bg5 and Bh6 doesn’t do that. In fact, they allows Black time to improve their position.

If you suggested a move like Bd2 or Be3, helping to complete White’s development – that is a much better idea. Bf4 is the best move.

However, White should focus his attack on e7 for several reasons:
A)    the e-file is open to White’s rooks.
B)     The e7 pawn can’t move without being captured
C)    The Black king is stuck on e8

White should be anticipating Black’s plans of ….a6  and then Ne5 or hoping for the simplification of Bxd7, Qd7  and White’s strong bishop is no longer a problem.

Study the board……write down your thoughts. We will follow how the game actually went in the next article.

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