Chess Boot Camp for the Busby Grand Masters

Chess Boot Camp for the Busby Grand Masters Gwilym Pryce (Chess board images produced using Chessmaster and Fritz software)

Introduction • Q/ How can you improve at chess?

• A/ You can improve your chess by: – Playing against opponents better than you – Learn how to think ahead. – Learn techniques that will help you make a good opening. – Learning how to finish a game – how to checkmate. – Recognise Patterns – that’s how the grandmasters do it! – Read chess books and learn chess notation. – Get yourself a chess coach!

Coaching Strategy • Each Boot Camp session has three parts: – A. Improve Your Openings • Tips and strategies for a killer start • Know your way round the classic openings – B. Get Tactical • Sneaky tactics to trap your opponent – Move-combinations to fast-track you into chess stardom – C. Check-up on your Check-Mates • How to spot a check mate at 20 paces – Piece-patterns you can exploit to demolish the enemy • We shall try to make progress on each of these three strands in each Boot Camp session.

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

A. Improve your Openings Tips for a Good Opening 1. Try to develop your pieces in as few moves as possible – try not to move the same piece more than once • • What does “develop your pieces” mean? Why is it important to develop pieces quickly? How many pieces has white developed here? How moves did it take white get to this position?

Q/ What does Developing pieces mean? • This means getting your most powerful pieces (knights, bishops, rooks, Queen) into positions where they can control and attack – i. e. not stuck behind a row of pawns.

Q/ Why develop pieces quickly? • Chess is a bit like a race: – Black and White are racing to gain control of the board and gain a superior position – If your opponent can keep your best pieces trapped behind a row of pawns it can stop them being effective • … and take control of the game! – Try to stop your main pieces getting trapped • Your pieces are of no use if they are stuck on the back row – Try to stop your opponent developing their pieces – But remember: some pieces are usually best kept safe until later in the game • If you develop your Queen or Rooks too soon, there’s a chance they will get taken or chased round the board! – In fact, a good tactic is to chase your opponents queen around the board while developing your own pieces…

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

A. Improve your Openings Tips for a Good Opening 2. Control the centre • • Q/ Why? Q/ How many of the four central squares does white control? Q/ How many of the 16 central squares does white not control? Q/ What’s the total number of squares that white controls?

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

A. Improve your Openings Tips for a Good Opening 3. Get your king safe – which usually means castling as soon as you can! • Q/ What’s the fewest number of moves White could castle in this example?

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

A. Improve your Openings Tips for a Good Opening 4. Protect your pieces • It makes it much harder for your opponent to plan an attack if all your pieces are protected • • Q/ Which of White’s pieces are unprotected? Q/ Which of Black’s pieces are unprotected?

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

A. Improve your Openings Tips for a Good Opening 5. Develop knights before bishops • • Q/ Why? Q/ On a clear board, how many moves would it take to get from a 1 to f 8 using: • • • A bishop A knight Q/ Are there occasions when you should deveope bishops first?

Why develop knights before bishops? • Bishops work best when the diagonals are free of pieces – They tend to be most powerful towards the end of the game when there are few pieces. • Knights are good at jumping over pieces and so work well when the board is cluttered. – So knights tend to be slightly more powerful than bishops at the start of the game, when there are lots of pieces around. • But knights can’t cover as much ground as a bishop on an open board – So bishops tend to be slightly more powerful than knights at the end of the game. • Conclusion: – Some advantage in developing your knights first. – Exchanging a knight for a bishop early in the game might give you a slight advantage later on.

Q/ Are there occasions when it’s better to develop your bishops first? • Yes: – developing knights before bishops only gives you a slight advantage – So if you can gain a piece or some other type of advantage by developing your bishop early on, then it’s usually best to do so.

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

B. Get Tactical Forking out 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

1. Pawn Forks The cruellest attack in chessdom… • White is a bishop and a knight down – How can it reduce the deficit in just two moves?

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

2. Knight Forks A lethal lesson in horse stealth… • White is about to capture the black pawn and permanently end the enemy’s chance of winning. – But it’s Black’s turn and the tables are about to turn. – How?

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

3. Queen Forks Destruction from a Distance • The game has only just started and Black is just getting comfy, when out of nowhere comes a blistering attack. The Ice Queen cometh… – How can White gain an early advantage?

Training Session 1 • A. Improve Your Openings – Tips for a good opening: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • Develop your pieces Control the centre Get your King safe Protect your pieces Knights before bishops B. Get Tactical – Forking out: 1. Pawn forks 2. Knight forks 3. Queen forks • C. Check-up on your Check-Mates 1. Knight on e 7

C. Check-up on your Check. Mates 1. Knight on e 7, prepare for heaven. Go back to B. Get Tactical

1. Anastasia’s Mate* Knight on e 7, Prepare for Heaven Believe it or not, White can win in two moves. • Can you see how? * Name taken from an example in a novel by Wilhelm Heinse, 1903, “Anastasia und das Schachspiel” (cited in Chandler, 1998, p. 14)