CHESS

Hi Chess fanatics and advanced tournament players!  Welcome to my blog all about chess!  I will be discussing the rules of chess, basic definitions of chess, tactics & strategies of chess, and my games against the super hard chess engines Stockfish, Houdini, Komodo, Shredder, Fritz, Rybka, Hirarcs, and Junior.  All masters are welcome but this blog is created for the casual player.  I play at chess.com if anyone would like to challenge me to a game.  The chess.com site is the best chess education that I have received since Chess Master 2010 and Majestic Chess.  The new drills:  checkmates, endgame fundamentals, endgame practices, advantages, attacking, defending, odds, imbalances, & master games really helped me improve my game.  The lessons so far about strategy, tactics, attacks, openings, endgames, games, and miscellaneous chess topics continually help improve my game too.  You should subscribe to chess.com and start competing with people from around the globe.

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The Chess Pieces

The Chess Board

Common Chess Openings

 Checkmating Patterns

The Stalemate

 



Stay tuned for future posts and updates!


Sunday 10-202019 08:15:10 AM

Chess Questions:

Whenever I review the basics of chess like how to set up the board, the rules of the game, and the terms that are used when talking and thinking about chess, I sometimes find myself stumped on a simple question like, what are all the ways in which a player can checkmate and win the game?  What are all the stalemating patterns?  What are all the traps?  What are all the gambits?   What tactics can I use to win the game?  What strategy can I use to win the game.   What are all the pawn structure categories?  What are all the common chess openings?  How do I become a better tournament player?   What are the advantages and disadvantages of a backward pawn?  Connected pawn?  Doubled pawn?  Isolated pawn?  Maroczy Bind?  Passed Pawn?  How do I know when to transpose?

What RULES?  Castling, Checking, Checkmating, Drawing (by agreement or 50 move rule), Perpetual checking, Stalemating, Threefold repetition, En Passant, Pawn promoting, Time control, and touch move rule.   How many types of checkmate are there?  There are 28 checkmates that every Chess Master should know.  How many Stalemates are there?  There are 10 stalemates that every Chess Master should know.  What other types of draws are there besides stalemate?   Institutionally when both  players repeat a move three times, it is a draw.  There are 10 checkmate positions that have to be completed in 50 moves or less.  If more than 50 moves are needed to checkmate in these ten positions then it is a draw.  Lastly, when one player or both players don’t want to play anymore and they decide to stop, it is a draw by agreement.

Questions I ask myself while I play:

Am I attacking or am I defending?

If I am defending, am I blocking, deflecting, & interfering with the incoming attack? 

If I am attacking, am I creating batteries, decoying, double checking, forking, overloading, pinning, skewering, x-raying, undermining or combination attacking my opponent?

What opening did I start with?

What pieces are favored in this opening?

What checkmating patterns apply to the position that I am in?

How can I think deeper?

What end game positions are possible?

What pieces do I want to use in the endgame?

I have lost the initiative what do I do to regain it?

What is the point score?

Who has the better pawn structure?

Where are the weak pawns?

Who has the safest King position?

Who controls the middle of the board?

Who controls the open files?

Who controls the diagonals?

Are there any outpost on the board?

What are the key squares?

What are the “in between” moves?

What are the “in passing” moves?

What are my strong pieces?

What are my weak pieces?

As you are attacking when will it be possible for your opponent to attack?

Is the attack game ending?

Will the attack on your king  deliver checkmate before you deliver checkmate?

What pieces are being attacked?

Your opponent is counter attacking you, how is it affecting your attack?

What pieces are attacking?

What pieces are defending?

How do I make my attack powerful?

How can I win with this attack?

How can I attack with all my pieces?

How can I defend with all my pieces?

Are my Knights together?  Bishops?  Rooks?  Pawns?

Is my Queen together with my King?

Where is all the action?  Middle?  Left?  Right?  Left Flank?  Right Flank?

I solve for checkmate and win!

I solve for checkmate but opponent stops checkmate.

I solve for checkmate but opponent stops checkmate and delivers it to me.

I solve for checkmate but opponent draws.

I solve for checkmate but opponent stops checkmate and attempts to checkmate me but I stop it and attempt to checkmate him.

I solve for checkmate but opponent stops checkmate and attempts to checkmate me but I stop it and attempt to checkmate him but either win, lose or draw?

Form any position:

Did I make the winning move?

Did I make the losing move?

Did I make the drawing move?

There are 17 common Pawn Structure categories to understand in the game of chess.  In order that I adapt to the other Chess Masters playing style, learning the Pawn Structure categories and using them in my game will help me win.  Why?  Because my awareness of how the pawns are interacting in the very beginning of the chess match determine which pawns end up on the promotion line in the end game.