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Hi guys, I'm going to be showing you a way to draw an endgame where your opponent is up a pawn. This is called the Philidor drawing method. There are two phildor drawing methods; the active philidor and the passive philidor method. Active philidor works for every pawn from A to H file, Passive philidor only works for the A,B,G and H pawns. This is the active philidor it works for every pawn: Philidor Passive method In Conclusion: The passive philidor works only with Knight pawns, As I demonstrated it doesnt work with C,D,E,F pawns. The Active method works with all pawns. I hoped that this helped you, I will come later with more posts and more content. Take Care, Aleks

Hi guys, I will put in some of my games in this thread. Hope you enjoy :)

Hi guys, today I'm going to show you an important rook ending called the Lucena. The Lucena postion is always winning for the side who has that has the extra pawn. Pawn can be on the B to F file. There are also positions where you can have and extra pawn on 5th or 6th ranks but the key to get to the Lucena is to have your king in front of the pawn. I hope that this helped you, this is a very common crucial postion that you need to know. I will come back later with more rook endgames topics and much more! Take care, Aleks

3 Parts of a chessgame - Opening,endgame, middlegame Hello Chessfriends, many players rated around 800-1500 ask themself how they can improve their chess to get to the next level. But most of them forget to stand to the basic rules, for example how a chessgame is constructed. A game of chess can be divided into 3 phases, the opening, the middlegame and the endgame. Each of this phases has his own rules and its important to stick to them. In this post I will try to show you the important prinicples of each phase of the game. I hope it will help all players who frequently forget about them. I will start with the opening. The Opening: - There are 2 important factors you have to consider: Development and Space/Center -Always try to balance pros and cons between those 2 factors and try to get as much space and as much development in the opening as possible. On one side you need space to have enough squares to place your pieces on good squares but on the other side you need your pieces to be involved in the fight early to attack the opponents king and to bring your own king into safety. So the balance between Space and Development is extremly important. - Try to place your pieces on the most active squares and place them so that they have a direct bearing on the center. -The main goal of the opening is to be ready for the coming middlegame. A simple example for a quick and logical opening phase is a line in the slow Italian game: The Middlegame: - The middlegame begins when the development has finished and when all or at least most pieces are inbuilt in the game -In the middlegame both sides should generate a plan whilst taking into account 1. Time: How long will it take to implement my plan? 2. Efficiency: Will I have a conspicuous benefit by the use of my plan? 3.Counterattacks in favor of the opponent: Has my opponent a chance to start a counterattack which might be possibly faster than my own plan/attack ? -The realization of the plan takes place whilst taking into account 1: Weaknesses(of my opponent or of myself): Has my opponent any usable weaknesses, how exactly can I make use of them? Or have I myself weaknesses that I should better stamp out? 2: Tactical resources: Can I resort to some tactical resources to implement or to confirm my plan in a tactical way? 3: Logical candidate moves: Which logical moves are shortlisted to realize my plan? Which of these possible candidate moves is the best? 4: The best replies of the opponent(!): Always assume the best moves of your opponent and never calculate with the moves that would win for you. Chess is NOT Hope-Chess! Here is a very typical and easy example for plan finding: The Endgame: - Always try to find ways to process into a for you beneficial endgame. Never exchange pieces and never process into a endgame when this is obviously worse or even lost for you! -In the endgame you need concrete knowledge. But even more important then this knowledge is the ability to calculate very precise lines. Exspecially in rook and pawn endgames every move can lead to an instant loss for you, even when you were completly winning one move earlier. Conclusion: 1.Opening: get as much space and fast development as possible, place your pieces on actives and usefull squares 2.Middlegame:Develop a decent plan , use your all of your pieces and follow the mentioned rules 3.Endgame: The last phase of the game, calculate correct lines and use your endgame knowledge, look out to process into winning endgames but never process into losing ones Here is an example where white was able to process into a winning endgame: I hope I could help everybody here with this very important basics of the chessgame. Only when you master the basic rules you can try to use advanced knowledge. Cheers and please give me your feedback, Till :)

Here I will start a series about the Kingsindian Defence( KID) for black. I will start with the Sämisch system. This is the starting position, whites last move was f3. But there are several ways to reach this position for white: The normal way to get to the Sämisch system. Another way to get there. Just remember to play always Nf6,G6, Bg7,0-0 against everything white plays. I will recommend you a very nice and interesting line against the Sämisch which starts with the move Nc6. Its a very tricky but perfectly playable line for black: So you see Nc6 is a perfectly playable line which many white players dont know. So a perfect line for you :) Cheers

Hi guys, I'm going to start a new daily study. Please tell me what you think about this idea. Now lets examine why the simple h3 h2 is not going to bring black the point.

Bishop Vs Pawns Four or more pawns almost always overwhelm a bishop. Therefore bishop v 2 pawns and bishop v 3 pawns are the most practical situation. Lets look at the following example. A bishop struggles against three non connected passed pawns except when the pawns are not far advanced. Howewver it still takes precise play. Usually getting three pawns to the 5 th rank if one of the pawns doesn't include a rook pawn is enough to win. When the bishop controls the square in frony of the pawns, the position is usually drawn even if the pawns reach the 6 th rank. However it is easy to go wrong. The next 2 examples will illustrate that.

Hello guys, I will start a new series about the strategic ideas behind classical openings after d4. I will analyse some of the games ,that impressed me the most, for you. We will start today with the classical stonewall formation. I am not only talking about the dutch stonewall line but about the typical stonewall formation. It can be reached with booth coulors and is typical for d4-openings. The Stonewall Formation The stonewall formation is deemed to be one of the most solid and most dynamical setups. The structures are very typical and can be found in many d4 openings. Lets look at some examples that you can use for your own opening repertoire: The Trompovsky: Some Slav/Queensgambit line with Bg4: Queensgambit with Bf4: Classical Dutch Stonewall: Modern "delayed" Dutch Stonewall: -above you see my chess table ...Not... Lets look at the pawn structure and the plans from a theoretical side now: The above position is a very typical position in the classical stonewall system. Both sides have their own plans: White: -Try to exchange the dark squared bishops with either Bf4 or b3-Ba3 -Conquer control over the e5 square with the knights -start a queenside attack with c5-b4-b5 to make the c6 pawn weaker - get in the move f3 to get control over the e4 square and try to play the very strong pawn break e4 -try to exchange all pieces except the light squared bishop as a long term goal to have a clearly better endgame/middlegame. -play Qc2 and threaten to take on d5 when the f5 pawn is unprotected Black: - invade on e4 with a knight -bring the light squared bishop to a better spot with the route over d7-e8-h5 or with the simple moves b6. In the best scenario black does even want to trade of the dark squared bishops on a6. -start a kingside attack with g5-f4 and eventually even h5 -attack whites center with the pawn break c5 and put the rooks on the d- and c- file -transfer your rook to h6 via Rf6-h6 Brilliant strategical Masterpiece: Schlechter-Walter,Barmen Master 1905 I will put in my thoughts and analysis later, Cheers, Till

Hi everyone, recently I beat a player rated nearly 2050 in correspondence chess (my opponent's Blitz rating is about 1950 and Bullet 2000 so he's not one of those "only good at correspondence" players) using ideas taught to us on Saemisch variation of the King's Indian Defense. Although I annotated it a little bit, I welcome any analysis. Here is the link to the lesson: http://www.chess.com/groups/forumview/kingsindian-defence-1-saumlmisch-system-f3

Here are my notes on how to play against the 4 pawns attack on KID from chessmentor. The course is by Thomas Wolski.Hope it will be useful

In this thread you can ask questions about the endgame. Everybody can post problematic endgames that arent clear to you. Have Fun :)

Hello, and welcome to the 'Improve Your Chess' group competition! Rules: This is a correspondence format (Online turn-based) with a time control of 3 days (originally two). The competition is a single round robin format, with 2 groups of 7 competitors with each player playing 3 games as White and 3 games as Black (originally a 'swiss-system' format, with 12 players and 5 rounds). The groups will be posted by myself in this thread, in a cross-table format. Each round will start as soon as the final game in the previous round has finished. The games will be sent through challenges sent by either player; just make sure that each person has the correct colour pieces. Please make the title of your challenge "'Improve Your Chess' Group Competition", so that you know what that game is for. When your game has finished, please post it here so that myself and others know the result. No cheating (but that's obvious) HAVE FUN!!! If I have missed anything out, then please do let me know. Groups and current standings: Please make sure that the colour you are playing with is the one on your row (e.g. Oraoradeki will play as white against t_taylor, as black against CardSure etc.) Good luck to all!

Here one of my newest OTB games. Hope you enjoy it: Cheers, Till

Hello dear chessfriends, this post will be about games that you, the members of the IYC group, played. I will analyse them as detailed as I can and try to give you some extra knowledge about the played openings and the plans in the middlegames. I will add at least one game per day. Many people ask me about how to find good moves and plans, so I will shortly dwell on it here. I already did a blog about this topic, where i explained the method you should use. How to find candidate moves/plans in critical positions: 1.Understand the position -strategical or tactical type of position? -Weaknesses for your opponent and for you -strategical aspects like bad and good pieces and so on... 2.find plans and candidate moves -find long term plans based on the knowledge of step 1 -try to find ways to make use of the weaknesses you found -improving your own position/pieces can also be a good plan -try to find around 3 moves that might fulfill your ideas,these moves are called candidate moves -dont caluclate long variations, just check shortly if your candidate moves are at least working 3. Check the candidate moves -calculate all of your candidate moves -try to find the best moves for you and the best answers for your opponent -here its of course important to be able to calculate long lines correctly and to be tactically good, patterns are often important to know because a candidate move might only be working because of this tactical shot sometimes -after your calculation you have to pick the best candidate move based on your analysis 4.Play your chosen move -when none of your candidate moves is making you happy, then go back to step 2(!) and try to find other possible candidate moves that you might have missed. When you found one then of course also go to step 3 and calculate the move properly. Its important that you play the best move you found at the end, but you also have to consider the time. So watch out that you arent losing to much time for calculating. Now lets start with the games analysis, here the first game: 1. Member Chessattackman - EN-johnpeter101, benko gambit: The next game will follow tomorrow, you can post links in the comment section below, so I can analyse those games. Cheers, Till

This thread is about the middlegame. You can ask questions about the optimal thinking process, chess strategy or concrete middlegame positions. Have Fun :)

Theres also alot of crap that White can throw at you in the KID. The most common ones I've encountered while playing Blitz are London System (1.d4 2.Nf3 3.Bf4 by White) Torre Attack (1.d4 2.Nf3 3.Bg5 by White) Stonewall Attack (1.d4 2.e3 3.f4 move order by White) but that is not it. There are also:Colle System (1.d4 2.Nf3 3.e3 4.Bd3 5.c3) More on this later. Veresov (1.d4 2.Nc3) for those who play modern/pirc the problem is solved with 1...g6 move order. Trompowsky (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5) 1...g6 move order avoids this, but can transpose to the torre attack. If White gives up the Black bishop for your knight, then objectively you are winning because your Kings Indian bishop will remain unopposed. Bird (1.f4) may transpose to stonewall, but I think the black knight which usually goes to f6 should go to h6 instead. More on this later, including the stonewall, classical and leningrad reversed ideas. There is also 1.c4 without d4 but that will be discussed somewhere else. UPDATE: The Bird Opening ideas If there is any ideas, I will appreciate it

Hi, in this thread you can post your games. I and all other guys here will help you to analyse your games here. Have Fun:)

Hi guys, some people asked me to write an article about my thinking process in crtical middlegame positions. For this article I would like to choose some of your positions, because many of the positions that I could pick from a book might never appear in one of your games. So please post me in the comments some critical positions ( maybe some harder ones that I have more to say about it) for which I should explain you my thinking process. Try to choose positions that are instructive and where I can show you my typical thinking process.I need at least 10 positions. Cheers, Till :)

So this is a correspondence game I was playing, and I was pretty much worse off for the whole game. I was surprised by my opponent's resignation since the final position looked equal... Also, any analysis is welcome! KG lovers shall unite!

In my last game I had the following situation (I was playing White): I played Bxa8, and according to the computer that was a blunder; I had to move Bxc6. Okay, I realize that if I moved Bxc6 I could have gained a knight without sacrificing my bishop, but then Black could have taken away his rook, and I thought that it was probably worth more to exchange a bishop for a rook than just gaining a knight. What am I missing here?