Weak Squares in Chess

Today we have an interesting topic to discuss. It is called the weak squares in chess. And the immediate question that comes to mind is – what are weak squares?
Weak Squares in ChessA perfect definition would be: a square is weak when it is controlled by your opponent and you have little or no chance of regaining control of that square, due to a lack of pieces that can effectively fight it.

Typically, pawns that could have controlled the square would have moved past it and, of course, cannot move backwards to help guard it. Single weak squares are often called “holes”. Now, let me show you a practical example of a weak square:
Weak Squares in ChessIn the above position, you can see that most of the light squares (for Black) on Black’s kingside are controlled by the White pieces and pawns. Those squares are called weak squares or holes for your pieces.

It is an important positional advantage for you if your opponent has weak squares. Here comes the next series of questions:

  • What to do with your opponent’s weak squares?
  • How to control or occupy them?
  • How to launch an attack against them?
  • How to use your pieces effectively?

To answer these questions and to discuss lots more, our new guest coach IM Boroljub Zlatanovic has prepared a very instructive lesson for you. :)
IM Boroljub ZlatanovicIn this lesson, Boroljub shows you an excellent example from one of his own games where he destroyed his opponent just because of the fact that his opponent had a lot of weak squares.

Aren’t you excited to see that game? :) Then watch the video lesson below:



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Creating ideas in chess

This is the final part of the series of articles “Interpretation of chess moves” prepared by Srikanth G., a friend of the RCA Academy Manager. Missed the first two parts? Don’t worry, you can read them now:


Now, let’s go to the final part of this series, which is about creating ideas in chess.
Chess Ideas
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In the concluding part of this series of articles, let us examine two games which are considered ‘twins’ for the finishing idea and how it was conceived!

Chess is all about conceiving ideas which could be and not which will be… there are no guarantees, but a master always tries to conjure up what he envisions!

Axel Bachmann - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
World Rapid, 2015
Chess Puzzle
Black to play
16…Bf3!

A fine move! The idea reveals itself in the follow-up to it.

17.Bf3 Ne5 18.Be2 Nc4 19.Rbd1 Bd6! 20.Ba1 Bb8 21.ab5 ab5 22.g3 Ba7!? 
Chess Puzzle
White to play

White is doing fine, maintaining considerable pressure on b5 and having his pieces neatly placed. Black is also doing fine and his pieces, especially the knight on c4, are doing a great job! There is no second weakness for both sides, except for their primary b-pawn weakness.

With this bishop repositioning, which needs to be looked at with a bit of skepticism, Black at least succeeds in creating some doubt in White’s mind.

23.Rd3 Qb7? 24.Nb1?

Time… or too much pessimism!? It happens most of the time that when one side is trying to do something… a chance is spilt. With his 23…Qb7?, Black allows the White knight to capture the b-pawn, which fell on a blind spot for both players! 23.Nb5 Qb5 24.Rc3!
Chess Puzzle
Black to play

The only explanation that can be given for this move is that White did not want to allow… Nc4-e5-f3

24…e5 25.Rfd1 h5!
Chess Puzzle
White to play

Obviously! The light squares in front of White’s king are sending an invite!

26.Rc3 h4 27.Bf1 Qf3 28.Nd2?

Jumping straight into the fire. 28.Bg2 was probably a lesser evil; but after 28…..Qh5 with hg3 to follow, White will still feel the heat.

28…Nd2 29.Rd2 Ne4
Chess Puzzle
White to play

30.Rc8 Rc8 31.Rc2

Else the Black rook lands on c1 with devastating effect.

31…Rc2 32.Qc2 Nf2!

A riddle: is the meaning of… Bd6-b8-a7 conceived by Black or was it provided by White!?

33.Qe2 Nh3! 0-1

In the next game, we move back to 1978.

Werner Hug – Victor Kortchnoi
Switzerland, 1978
Chess Puzzle
Black to play

Well, in some ways this is dissimilar to the game we have considered above; but in the spirit of the finish we will witness, it is the same! Kortchnoi started weaving a fine net with…

15…Nf3 16.Bf3 Rfd8! 17.Qb3

A natural response by White to a natural move by Black.

17…b4 18.Ne4?!
Chess Puzzle
Black to play

Played with all naivety! This natural move turns out to be the starting point for a great finish. 18.Nb1 was better. Well, it is always easy to offer an opinion in hindsight, but that is precisely the commentator’s job!!

18…Ne4! 19.Be7 Rc1 20.Rc1 Qf2 21.Kh1 Rc8! 22.Qd1
Chess Puzzle
Black to play

If 22.Rc8 Bc8, then 23.Qd1 Qf3! followed by Nf2.

22…Rc1 23.Qc1 Bc6! 24.Bb4 Qe2!! 0-1

After 25.Be2…
Chess Puzzle25…Ng3! 26.Kg1 Ne2 followed by Nc1 wins a piece. And so White resigned

The final position deserves a diagram!
Chess PuzzleYou can watch the complete games here.

Did you enjoy this series of articles by Srikanth? What is your opinion of the writer and the lessons? Did you learn something new or interesting? :)

Feel free to discuss this in the comments below. Also, please share this article with your friends.


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How to approach a position from a different angle?

A few days ago, we published the first part of the article “Interpretation of chess moves” prepared by Srikanth, a friend of the RCA Academy Manager, in which we saw the “reason” behind the blunders made by Bobby Fischer and Vishy Anand. If you missed it, you can read it here.

Now you can continue reading the article with the second part.

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In this part, we shall observe a couple of games on how a similar position is approached from different angles.
perceptionThe human mind is good at creating trouble … more for oneself than for others. Hence, Einstein said, “We cannot try to solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that we had when we created it!!”

Therefore, any serious learner of this game needs to study… rather seek… what were the preconditions for getting into trouble! Though this is a difficult topic, one cannot hope to become a master and sustain mastery without doing it!

Vassily Ivanchuk – Yuriy Kryvoruchko
World Rapid, 2015
Chess Puzzle
Black to play

White has just sacrificed a pawn on c5 to gain some activity… a typical theme in such a type of position.

19…Be7?!

First of all, this is a very human response: defending the bishop in a direct way. The basis of putting it on e7 (and not on d6??) is to cover the path for White’s rook to e8 and exploit the undefended bishop on b2, after White’s queen finally captures on c6. If the bishop were not on e7, then White’s rook would land on e8 with the support of his queen on c6… and Black would lose an exchange.

But he could have played right away the move he made one move later!

20.Qa4 Nd8!
Chess Puzzle
White to play
 
Though this move is still good, the move that was played earlier, shutting in the queen, has compromised the position a bit – yet Black hangs on in!

21.Ne5! Bc8 22.Bd5 
Chess Puzzle
Black to play
 
22…Kh8? And this is why we are human beings!

A machine would automatically play 22…Ne6 or 22…Be6; and though Black’s position would still look clumsy, it would not be without hope!

23.Bf7 Bf5 24.Qe8 Qe8 25.Be8 
Chess Puzzle
Black to play
 
25…Rb2 26.Ng6 Bg6 27.Bg6 1-0

In the next game, we travel back almost 80 years!

Salo Flohr – Landau Salo
Kemeri, 1937
Chess Puzzle
Black to play
 
A similar setup to what we saw in the previous game and the typical pawn sacrifice on c5. The difference is that the Black rooks have different placements and, instead of the queen, it is the rook that has become tucked in on f8. This is a placement that is good only if Black wishes to expand his f-pawn at some point, which, of course, cannot even occur as a ‘bad plan’ here!

15…bc5 16.de5 Ne5 17.Ne5 Be5 18.Be5 Qe5 19.Rfc1! Qg5
Chess Puzzle
White to play

A pseudo activity and pseudo threat. But, paradoxically, in such simple positions the point is that the defending side finds it more difficult to conceive a decent move… forget a plan of action.

20.Qc5 Re5 21.Qa7!

At times, grabbing a corner pawn with the queen is also prudent – but this is only an exception to the rule! In this position, all the Black pieces that now appear to have assumed active positions will be forced to retreat.

21…Bh3 22.Bf1!
Chess Puzzle
Black to play
 
Economical and very effective defence against Black’s only threat! Salo Flohr and Tigran Petrosian are great at such economy of moves!

22…Qg6 23.Rc5!

White methodically pushes back Black’s pseudo active pieces! 23…Rc5 24.Qc5 Rc8?!

It is very difficult to suggest a decent move for Black, but surely this is not the one. The very ‘active’ play by Black, putting his bishop in the mouth of the g-pawn, prevents him from dissolving the position further and securing his pawn! If the bishop were not on h3, Black would have had a successful defence with Qd6!

25.a4 h5 26.a5 h4
Chess Puzzle
White to play

The pawn push by Black on this side is irrelevant.

27.Qd5 Bf5 28.a6 Be4 29.Qd7 Bf5 30.Qe7 h3
Chess Puzzle
White to play
 
31.a7 Be4 32.Qd7 Ra8 33.Qh3 c5 34.Qd7! Qc6
Chess Puzzle
White to play
 
35.Qc6 Bc6 36.Ra5! Be4 37.f3 Bb7 38.Rc5! Ra7
Chess Puzzle
White to play
 
39.Rc7 f6 40.Kh2! Kh8 41.bb5 1-0

A very good example for comparing the ideas of two different players. Though all games fall under this category, some are more pronounced in the way one side succeeds through simple moves and the other fails miserably!

Both these games are also a good example of the utilization of space – a nebulous concept like the very science of space itself!

You can check all complete games here.
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Interpretation of chess moves

Some time ago, we published an article about stress during a chess game and lots more. It was prepared by Srikanth, a professional chess player and a friend of the RCA Academy Manager. If you missed it, you can read it here.

Today, I’d like to publish another article for you prepared by Srikanth. It is called “Interpretation of chess moves”. So, let’s go! :)
Interpretation of chess moves
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Chess Rules for Beginners


chess rules for beginners
Chess is the most intelligent game ever invented. It has a lot of things that are similar to life. It trains you to use all your resources to the maximum extent. Learning chess rules will help you build a strong foundation in chess.

Many students do not have clear picture on these rules at their beginning stages. That is why RCA decided to help beginners with basic chess rules. Chess teaches you administration and to extract work from your subordinates. It is a battle between two monarchs. The king manages the troops. He plans the operation and executes it.

Evolution of chess rules


The rules of chess have evolved much over the centuries, from the early chess-like games played in India in the 6th century. For much of that time, the rules varied from area to area. The modern rules first took form in Italy during the 13th century, giving more mobility to pieces that previously had more restricted movement (such as the queen and bishop). Such modified rules entered into an accepted form during the late-15th or early 16th century.

chess rules for beginners
The basic moves of the king, rook, and knight remain unchanged. Pawns originally did not have the option of moving two squares on their first move and when promoted by reaching the eighth rank, could become a queen only.

The chessboard


Chess is played on a square board divided into 64 squares (eight-by-eight) of alternating color. No matter what the actual colors of the board, the lighter-colored squares are called “light” or “white” and the darker-colored squares are called “dark” or “black”.

Sixteen White and sixteen Black pieces are placed on the board at the beginning of the game.The board is placed so that a white square is in each player’s bottom-right corner.

Horizontal rows are called ranks and vertical rows are called files. According to FIDE equipment standards, the length of side of a square should be twice the length of the diameter of the base of a pawn.

BLACK SIDE
chess board
WHITE SIDE
Symbols of chess pieces
symbol of chess piecesA chess piece, or chessman, is any of the 32 movable objects deployed on a chessboard used to play the game of chess. In a standard game of chess, each of the two players begins a game with the following 16 pieces:

  • 1 king
  • 1 queen
  • 2 rooks
  • 2 bishops
  • 2 knights
  • 8 pawns

Arrangements of pieces

At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged as shown in the diagram: for each side one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The pieces are placed, one on a single square, as follows:

  • The rooks are placed on the outside corners, right and left edge.
  • The knights are placed immediately inside the rooks.
  • The bishops are placed immediately inside the knights.
  • The queen is placed on the central square of the same color of that of the player: White queen on the white square and Black queen on the black square.
  • The king takes the vacant spot next to the queen.
  • The pawns are placed one square in front of all of the other pieces.
starting position of chess game
This is the starting position of the game

You cannot place more than one piece on a square at any time.


You can also download the PDF version of the above slide here

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