The Chess Mind

There was a game played recently in the championship of one of the clubs here, and it turned out to be instructive - unintentionally so, from the participants' perspective. The players reached a knight vs. bishop ending, with the knight side enjoying a clear extra pawn. Despite this advantage, which should be enough to win, the game wound up as a draw. How did this happen?

Several factors were at work. A bit of time trouble was one of them, but there's not much to say about that in this context. Another factor may have been a lack of understanding about how to arrange the pawns on both sides of the board. We will look at that aspect of the ending with some care. Finally, a third factor was at play, one which can afflict a player at any stage of the game.

To grasp it, think of an analogy. Suppose someone arranges your couch so it's right in the middle of your living room, practically dividing it in half and make it difficult to get to the other side - or anywhere else, for that matter. If that happened, would you leave it there indefinitely, squeezing around or climbing over it? Of course not! You'd rearrange the furniture for your convenience and purposes. Man was not made for the sofa, but the sofa for man.

But when it comes to the placement of one's chess pieces, that common-sense adage is often overturned. If a piece is well placed, then players will often treat it like an immovable object, even if it gets in the way of everyone else doing their job. This is essentially what happened in this game, and while it cost the player with a knight half a point in his game, it can save us points in ours.

Enough preview - you can see the real thing here. It's free and available on-demand, so have a look!

The Catalan (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 and other move orders) has a reputation for being stodgy, and it's not wholly undeserved. There are lines where the position is simple and free of complications, with nary an attack nor even a tactic on the horizon. That's true, but there are lines in practically every opening (possibly excepting 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5??) where that's true. It's also true, however, that there are lines in the Catalan that are as sharp as any Najdorf, where both kings are threatened, material is imbalanced and the structure is crazy.

In my ChessVideos show this week, we'll get a bit of both. The Catalan is a rich opening, and although we're focusing on just one variation, it's a line that has a little of everything. I think you'll both entertained and instructed, and if you're not careful, you might consider taking up the Catalan for yourself.

The show is here, it's free and it doesn't require any special software.

Featured topics: the Winawer Poisoned Pawn, a Scotch king and pawn ending, sacrificing the queen for minor pieces, and more. Have a look - it's free and requires no special software.

It has been a long time since I did a show on the (in)famous Berlin Wall, but as the first one was better received than one might expect, it seemed worthwhile to offer a second presentation on the opening that helped Kramnik dethrone Kasparov. So here it is, free and available on-demand. Enjoy!