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Please let me know if these links do not work. Rubric https://docs.google.com/document/d/12LXmp62mMpEQBQ-pbnB4ZB4APaWpIB66NKdAnxIZ0PQ/edit?usp=sharing Syllabus https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WK--PVQrAQfZq_twG1VQJbyidQ78qYuvAaBhyOHkQW0/edit?usp=sharing

One of the most fundamental ideas in chess is to castle early to protect the king. But that begs the question: How can we attack the King if it hasn't castled yet? The basic point is that the king is too weak to defend itself, especially when there are pieces flying in to attack it. The weakest square on the board is f2/f7. The only thing defending it is the King. So, the attacker looks to attack on f2/f7. But also, the attacker seeks to open up the e-file, the file that the King is on. Let's see some of those ideas in action. First of all, let's see the fastest checkmate possible. This is known as the Fool's Mate, and BLACK is the one who delivers checkmate! Of course, the above opening is given its name because "only a fool would play this way". The next mate is the Scholar's Mate. Here, it takes someone who knows something about developing in the center to fall into the mate. But again, we see the attacker taking advantage of the weakness on f7. It's important to learn this famous checkmate, and how to stop it. The next famous mating net is called "Legall's Mate" (or "Legal's Mate"). It was invented by the French master, Legall de Kermeur. Legall was probably the best player in the world around the year 1730, and taught Philidor, the most dominant player of all time. (Philidor was the best player in the world from 1747 until his death in 1795. No player dominated his contemporaries as thoroughly or for as long as Philidor did.) Legall's mate again takes aim at the key f7 square, but it requires precise timing to work. Here's a cute checkmate idea, taking advantage of the open e-file But perhaps one of the most famous attacks against the opposing uncastled King on an open file occurred on the d-file. Here is Reti-Tartakower: There are many more examples of successful attacks on the uncastled king. Next time, we will look at another famous game attacking the uncastled King.

Hi! In chess, there are three basic phases of the game: The Opening, Middlegame and Endgame. In the opening, the basic goals are to control the central four squares (e4, e5, d4 and d5), develop pieces democratically towards the center (pawns aren't pieces, they're piece wannabes), protect the king by preparing to castle early (as with all moves, deciding whether to actually castle or do something else depends on the position) And keep your opponent from achieving those same goals We will be looking at how to play the opening in future lessons The Middlegame occurs when most of the pieces have been developed and we are creating targets to attack. The single most important middle game principle is Always Analyse Forcing Moves First (AAFMF). The most forcing moves are checks and threats of checkmate, followed by attacks on the most valuable piece, the Q, and so on down the line. Part of understanding the middle game is learning the vocabulary of chess tactics. We will study those as we go along. We have seen pins and some attacks on the king in the Opera Box game. The third phase of the game is the Endgame. The endgame is generally defined as the phase of the game when there are few pieces on the board and the king can come out from its protected place to help win the game. If you win a pawn in the early part of the game, you will want to know how to convert that pawn into a win, or if you are down a pawn, how to salvage a draw. That is the focus of today's lesson. Learning the basics of the endgame is essential for all chess players. No Matter whose move, WHITE WINS As long as the pawn is not on the rook files (a or h files), White needs to accomplish at least TWO out of three preconditions to win. White's King must be in front of the pawn, White must have the opposition, and White's King must be on the sixth rank. If White has only one of those three conditions, the position is drawn. But if BLACK has the move in the same position, he cannot maintain his opposition to the White King and must give ground. In the following position, White to play can win:

Hi, Our first club meeting was on October 22. We covered the basics of chess notation and the famous Opera Box Game played by Paul Morphy against the Allies in Paris, 1858. Here's the game. Pay special attention to the names of the moves, White's democratic development of his pieces, how he took advantage of Black's pinned pieces, and the beautiful combination at the end.

Today, we will begin to look at some basic mating patterns. These patterns are extremely useful in breaking down and killing the opponent's king. Many of these mating patterns are designed to attack the king which has already castled. By learning to recognize and set up these mating patterns, you will become a much stronger and more confident player. And they're FUN!Mating on open lines and Back Rank Mates There are many times when the king is stuck on the back rank and can't get out. Here are several more examples:

This lesson is based on a video by GM Igor Smirnov.

This lesson borrows heavily from Artur Yusupov’s book, Build up Your Chess 1: The Fundamentals (2014) pages 8-28. Today, we will learn some of the classic Che mating patterns that have become so famous they all have cool names! We start with one of the very oldest mating patterns in chess. In fact, it is so old it predates the game as we know it! Back before modern chess was played, the Persians played a similar game where the Knights, Rooks and Kings still moved the same way they do today. Muslims in modern Arabia used to ride around composing poetry and chess problems! This next problem is known as the Arabian Mate, and fittingly uses Knights, Rukhs (the Persian name for the castle-y pieces) and the Kings. Here is the same idea, but disguised a bit.

Last week, we studied decoying tactics, also known as "attraction" sacrifices. Those tactics sought to bring the victim closer, like a magnet. The opposite type of tactic is known as a deflection or removing the guard tactic. In this tactic, we seek to repel the key defender of the position, or remove it completely. These are extremely common and often quite beautiful tactics. The key to the deflection sacrifice is recognizing which piece is the key to the opponent's defense. Deflection doesn't have to lead to mate. Sometimes it just leads to the win of material Here's a pretty example of Black sacrificing to deflect the defenders away from the key squares. In this case, White seems to be defending against both ...Qf2 and ...Qf1, but one move ruins that idea. The next position is with BLACK to move: The next example is known as Boden's Mate. This was played in Schulder-Boden, 1860. Black to move. The next is "Anastasia's Mate". In this case, the key defender is the pawn on h7. And finally, we will finish with one of the most famous and beautiful examples of a deflection sacrifice, Fischer-Benko, 1965. This is such an iconic combination that the Encyclopedia of Chess Middlegames Combinations used it to define deflections! There are many, many more examples of deflection or removing the guard. Remember the keys are: Identify the target. Where do you want to deliver checkmate or attack Work out what key pieces are stopping you from delivering that attack Look for a way to remove or deflect that key defender

Again, almost all of these positions are from Build Up Your Chess: The Fundamentals 1  This is the chapter 2 quiz.

1: Legall's Mate. Damiano's Mate: Greco's Mate: Lolli's Mate:

Learning openings is one of the most dangerous things one can do in chess! Many novices learn a few tricks and traps and get hooked on learning openings. But the problem is that chess is much more than a few opening zingers and players quickly learn ways to avoid the most common traps and to set up their own traps. When novices who only study openings reach a plateau they often decide their opening is the reason they aren’t winning as much as they would like, so they switch openings. BUT, we should still learn something about the opening! We have already learned the goals of every good opening: • Control the center • Develop the pieces democratically toward the center • Protect the King, usually by castling • try to keep your opponent from achieving the same goals! We have learned that the f2/f7 squares are weak, and some ways to attack on the e-file. Now it’s time to learn a specific opening! Probably the single best opening to learn is the Spanish. It is known as “The Queen of Openings”, and was made famous by the Spanish priest Ruy Lopez de Segura who lived only about 50 years from 1530 to 1580.

We have discussed how the f2/f7 square is the weakest square at the start of the game because it's the only pawn that is defended only by the king. and advancing the pawn often leads to a quick loss for unsuspecting souls! In 1512, the Portuguese chess master Pedro Damiano wrote a book which demonstrated how to punish Black when they push their f-pawn against 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6? And so naturally, the bad move became known as the Damiano variation, even though he knew it was bad! Here's how to punish it! Now, let's look at what happens when Black defends slightly better

This game was played in 1895 by the first official World Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz who was already well past his prime, and a relatively young professional player named Curt von Bardeleben from Berlin, Germany. After the game, Steinitz said, even this old lion still has teeth!

The race for the April 2023 most games is at the halfway point. Again, only current students of Compass Montessori in Golden are eligible for prizes. Any live rated game counts. Standard time Control games are worth 3 points Blitz games are worth 2 points Bullet games are worth 1 point. 1. @Hendrix_Walsh 180 points 2: there is a large group with very similar scores with @crazyrook2010 currently in 2nd. I will post the exact points for each player this weekend.

In chess, the basic elements are space, material, time and position. If we have an advantage in one element we can often transform it into another. This alchemy of chess occurs surprisingly often, and forms the basis of many of our openings. Today, we will focus on opening traps and gambits that focus on gaining time. Time is generally measured by the number of pieces developed. We call each move gained or lost a “tempo”. A gambit is an opening where one side sacrifices material for an advantage in time. Before looking at mainstream gambits, let’s look at a couple of non-standard openings.

Here's Nakamura playing puzzle rush. The first example is in "survival mode", that is, untimed mode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMdp-8sWUWs Here's another, where he goes for +50 in 3 minute PR: Watch at 2:08:12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMVMmo00TuM

Pawns are born free and everywhere are put in chains. ~Andy Soltis Pawns are the Soul of Chess ~Philidor I've said before that pawns are the foot soldiers, the weakest things on the board. They aren't even pieces, they're piece wannabes. That's all true. And yet, pawns define the structure of chess itself. A strong master can often win a game if they have just a single pawn advantage. Today, we are going to see how pawns can break through seemingly impossible walls and overcome the opposition. But first, let's start with one of the most stunning and memorable feats in the history of pawns! In the 1830s, there was no such thing as "world champions". Nobody had heard of Paul Morphy yet, and the center of the chess world were coffee houses and salons in England and France. This is no surprise, since the salons and coffeehouses of these great nations were the place to be for all sorts of intellectual activity! The best player in the world from about 1820 was a French man, Louis Charles de la Bourdonnais. He was born a minor aristocrat and survived the French Revolution mostly by keeping his head down and away from the guillotines. It helped that he was born and spent his formative years on the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. When he came to Paris, he discovered La Café de la Régence, which was the center of the chess world. He learned to play better and quickly became the best player there. In the 1830s, an Anglo-Irishman named Alexander McDonnell challenged him for the unofficial bragging rights of who the best player was. The two played six matches totaling 85 games. They shaped the understanding of chess and their games were studied around the world. One game in particular shocked everyone with its brilliance is still rated as one of the most beautiful games ever played. We will begin our discussion of pawns here. Wow. In 2021, this was ranked as one of the 100 greatest games ever played. Today's main lesson is the pawn breakthrough. This is when a pawn breaks through the opposing pawn chain and queens. This often involves a sacrifice. Let's begin with one of the most famous examples that everyone should know: Here's the same idea in a slightly more complicated position: Here's an example from a real game, Svacina-Müller, 1941: The Encylopedia of Chess Middlegames: Combinations first came out in 1980, and it listed 16 distinct tactics. One of those tactics is the Pawn breakthrough. Literally, next to the term, the following diagram shows the quintessential pawn breakthrough! Sometimes, the breakthrough is against an invisible wall put up by an opposing piece. Here's an example: