Pandolfini’s Ultimate Guide to Chess

by Bruce Pandolfini

  Diagram 76. White to play, mates in one move.

  Teacher: Correct. The White queen checks the Black king, the White queen cannot be captured legally because it’s protected by the White bishop on c4, the White queen can’t be blocked, there are no escape squares for the Black king, and the Black king would be captured on the next move if the game didn’t stop here—which it does. Since the White queen is supported in its invasion by the bishop at c4, this type of mate falls into the support mate category. Now in diagram 76, White can mate Black in one move. How does White do that?

  Student: It looks like the solution is Ra8#.

  Teacher: Why?

  Student: Because the White rook checks the Black king, the White rook can’t be captured legally since it’s protected by the White bishop on h1, the White rook can’t be blocked, all the squares the Black king could move to are guarded by White, in that the White rook guards a7 and c8 while the White bishop guards b7, and the Black king is going to be captured on the next move—if the rules allowed another move to be played, which they don’t. The game is over by checkmate—a support mate.

  Teacher: Great. You’re ready for a test. Let’s see if you can figure out twenty common mating patterns. Cover the answer diagram on the right and figure out which piece can be moved in the diagram on the left to mate the Black king in one move. Study the diagrams closely—they show how units work together to give mate. Notice that units not directly involved in the mating patterns are not shown, which is why the White king is sometimes absent. Let me know how you scored when you’re finished, all right?

  Diagram 77. The rook gives a support mate.

  Student: Actually, you’ll have to let me know how I’ve done.

  Teacher: Actually, I think there’s a good chance you’ll know before I say anything.

  Diagram 78. How does White mate?

  Diagram 79. Solution: The rook mates.

  Diagram 80. How does White mate?

  Diagram 81. Solution: The queen mates.

  Diagram 82. How does White mate?

  Diagram 83. Solution: The knight mates.

  Diagram 84. How does White mate?

  Diagram 85. Solution: The queen mates.

  Diagram 86. How does White mate?

  Diagram 87. Solution: The queen mates.

  Diagram 88. How does White mate?

  Diagram 89. Solution: The knight on c2 mates.

  Diagram 90. How does White mate?

  Diagram 91. Solution: The bishop mates.

  Diagram 92. How does White mate?

  Diagram 93. Solution: The light-square bishop mates.

  Diagram 94. How does White mate?

  Diagram 95. Solution: The rook on el mates.

  Diagram 96. How does White mate?

  Diagram 97. Solution: The rook on g7 mates.

  Diagram 98. How does White mate?

  Diagram 99. Solution: The queen mates.

  Diagram 100. How does White mate?

  Diagram 101. Solution: The queen mates.

  Diagram 102. How does White mate?

  Diagram 103. Solution: The rook mates.

  Diagram 104. How does White mate?

  Diagram 105. Solution: The pawn on c7 mates.

  Diagram 106. How does White mate?

  Diagram 107. Solution: The knight mates.

  Diagram 108. How does White mate?

  Diagram 109. Solution: The rook mates.

  Diagram 110. How does White mate?

  Diagram 111. Solution: The bishop mates.

  Diagram 112. How does White mate?

  Diagram 113. Solution* The knight mates.

  Diagram 114. How does White mate?

  Diagram 115. Solution: The knight mates.

  Teacher: So how’d it go?

  Student: Nineteen out of twenty correct.

  Teacher: That’s a passing grade. Let’s move on then, but be forewarned. Mating problems to be solved in one move usually aren’t so very tough. Mating problems to be solved in two moves often are.

  Student: I’ve seen books filled with just mating problems. They seem to start with the same words almost every time, namely “White to play and mate in two.”

  Teacher: That just means that White plays a move, Black responds, and then White gives mate. To put it another way, White plays two moves and Black plays one move. “Black to play and mate in two” means that Black plays a move, White responds, and then Black gives mate. In other words, Black plays two moves and White plays one move.

  Student: Sounds like a lot of jargon.

  Teacher: You haven’t heard anything yet. In more specifically artificial language—say, for example, the lingo of chess programmers—a full move consists of a move for each side. If just one side plays a move it’s thought to be half a move, often expressed as one ply. The full move, with both sides responding, is described as being two ply, but most chessplayers don’t usually refer to their moves in this fashion.

  Student: Fortunately, I don’t have to think or talk like a chess programmer. Thinking like a beginner, and fearlessly expressing myself as such, why are some chess problems apparently more difficult to solve than others?

  Teacher: The difficulty of a chess problem depends on all kinds of factors, but for the newcomer it often has to do with the number of possible enemy responses. The more enemy responses, the more difficult the problem tends to be. The easiest problems to solve usually are those that force the enemy to respond with a particular move.

  Student: Which kinds of moves can force particular responses?

  Teacher: The most compelling moves tend to be threats to capture units, because if they’re not answered the attacker will execute his threat and indeed capture the unit. Real threats should be answered. Apparent threats, those that contain no true menace or bite, can often be ignored or even exploited. The most serious threats tend to involve checks, since by the rules of the game they must be answered. So when considering a mating problem, try to find moves such as checks that force precise responses. This limits your opponent’s options and makes it easier to look ahead, because then you have some sense what to anticipate. If you can’t control your opponent’s responses you can’t really see into the game’s future, which means you’re not playing chess.

  Student: Okay. Give me another problem, no matter what it is I’m playing.

  Teacher: The next problem allows the defender only one possible response to the correct first move. Remember my earlier advice?

  Student: I should look for a check.

  Teacher: Right. Diagram 118 illustrates a position where White can play and mate Black in two moves. Try to solve the problem, but don’t be alarmed if you have difficulty. The ability to look ahead comes with experience.

  Diagram 118. White plays and mates in two moves.

  Teacher: Any ideas?

  Student: I suspect that White’s correct first move is Re8+.

  Diagram 119. After 1. Re8+.

  Teacher: That’s correct. Black’s only possible response is to capture the White rook with his rook: 1 … Rxe8. So he must do that. But how should White then continue on his second move?

  Diagram 120. After Black has taken the rook, 1 … Rxe8.

  Student: For his second move, White continues by capturing the Black rook, which gives mate simultaneously: 2. Rxe8#.

  Diagram 121. After the rook takes back, 2. Rxe8#.

  Teacher: Just to make sure, let’s review why this is mate.

  Student: It’s mate because the White rook checks the Black king, the White rook cannot be captured or blocked, the Black king cannot escape and get out of check, and the Black king would be captured on the next move, if only the game were to go that far—which it can’t because of the rules ending the game right now.

  Teacher: My goodness, you really have learned something.

  Student: Good. Maybe I can use it to understand Lesson 4.

  LESSON 4

  THE ELEMENTS

  Student: I’m curious about something. I know we’d planned t
o start talking about how to start a chess game. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to discuss that earlier, before getting into tactics and mating patterns? Then we could have dealt with those topics after learning some good beginning moves.

  Teacher: I understand your point. But chess is an unusual discipline. It can be studied backward or forward with equal profit, though the methods of presentation would necessarily have to be different. But I had my reasons for showing you some essential tactics and mating patterns before we got started. Chess is goal-oriented. It’s easier to reach for something if you know what you’re reaching for. Furthermore, the game is complex enough without initially having to focus on all the forces at once. By breaking the process up into smaller bits, we arm ourselves with some weapons before tackling the entire edifice. But enough about the theory of chess teaching. Let’s get on with our game.

  Student: How long do you think it will take to play?

  Teacher: Some games are over in a few moves, and some seem to go on forever.

  Student: I’m not sure I’m for either extreme. I guess I could hope for a happy medium, right?

  Teacher: You can relax. Typical chess games last between 30-50 moves and have three phases: opening, middlegame, and endgame.

  Student: Okay, I can figure out when the game starts, and I can see when it actually ends, but how do you know when you’re in the thick of things—that is, when you’re in a middlegame?

  Teacher: You don’t have to be in a middlegame to be in the thick of things. You’re always capable of being enmeshed in complications, no matter what part of the game you’re in. The position can be simple or complex, whether you face opening, middlegame, or endgame.

  Student: Let me rephrase the question. What are some of the key differences between phases, and how do you know when one phase ends and another begins?

  Teacher: There are no hard-and-fast boundary lines between phases. Moreover, the transitions between phases can be subtle, even difficult to perceive and appreciate. During the opening, which usually lasts from ten to fifteen moves, players gather their forces and prepare for action. In some cases, if one side neglects king safety and normal build-up, the other can deliver checkmate before the opening is over.

  Student: So what is the middlegame mainly concerned with?

  Teacher: Practically everything. Planning and strategy are certainly important there, but so are everyday tactical operations. To achieve the opening’s objectives, pieces are often maneuvered and repositioned throughout the middle stage in hopes of luring the opponent into exploitable situations. In some cases the middlegame seems like an extension of the opening, with no definite break to distinguish the two phases.

  Student: Where does this leave the endgame?

  Teacher: At the end, but let me be clear here. A game can end without there ever having been an endgame. The two-move Fool’s Mate we went over at the conclusion of Lesson 1 didn’t even have an opening. It was over before it got started.

  Student: Long before a chess game is over, no matter which phase they’re in, players seem to know who has the advantage and who’s in trouble. How do they determine which side has the upper hand?

  Teacher: By considering the elements, and this doesn’t mean checking the weather outside. There are five main elements that interact and overlap throughout a chess game. They are time, space, material, pawn structure, and king safety. Each component affects the others. Each is related. Their relationships are dynamic, and they can change on virtually every move.

  Student: Can’t practically everything in chess change?

  Teacher: That’s a rhetorical question, right?

  Student: What do you mean by time?

  Teacher: Time is not limited to the minutes on a chess clock. Generally, it refers to this chessic rule of thumb: Try to gain time, and try to avoid losing it. If you make your opponent move a piece to a poor square, or back to where it came from, without making any concessions yourself, you gain time. If you force your opponent to stop his plans and start responding to yours, you gain time. If your pieces are better developed than your opponent’s, you’re probably ahead in time. If you have freedom and can do whatever you want, you most likely have the edge in time. But if you must wait to see what your opponent is going to do before doing what you’d like, and then can’t do what you’d like anyway, you’re probably behind in time.

  Student: I often hear the words initiative and time used interchangeably.

  Teacher: You also have a time advantage if you can attack and your opponent must defend. Having such superiority—being able to attack, not having to defend—is known as having the initiative.

  Student: Can you make time last?

  Teacher: Mostly, time flies. And in chess, time advantages tend to be temporary. If you don’t take advantage of them now, the other side is likely to catch up and your ephemeral time advantage will disappear. For example, if you have more pieces out than your opponent does, you should gain something tangible as a result soon. Otherwise, the other side will eventually get the rest of his pieces out and your superiority will dissipate.

  Student: If time is temporary, which elements tend to be more long-lasting?

  Teacher: Material and pawn structure are more tangible and therefore more permanent. If you’re ahead by a pawn, you’re likely to remain a pawn ahead unless something radical happens. If, however, you’re ahead by merely a unit of time, which is called a tempo, you should use it or lose it.

  Student: I’m thinking I read something about a space-time continuum once.

  Teacher: I hope so, because I was beginning to fear a space-time warp. But let’s just stay with the concept of chess space and the final frontier. Do one player’s pieces have more options and more mobility? Do they influence and control more squares on the board? If so, that player probably has an advantage in space. You can also have an advantage in space if your opponent is particularly constricted by feebly placed pawns, which hinder their own pieces from moving freely.

  Student: It’s fairly easy to see who’s ahead in material. I guess you just have to count and compare to what the other player has. Can you also count up differences in time and space?

  Teacher: Not exactly. But you can usually tell who’s ahead in time by seeing who has more pieces out and whether they are positioned meaningfully. You can try to count your opponent’s wasted moves, assuming you haven’t wasted any yourself. And as far as space goes, you can usually sense who possesses more territory by seeing which side has farther-advanced center pawns. These sight indicators are not absolute, but they tend to be trustworthy.

  Student: You’ve explained time, space, and material. What about pawn structure and king safety?

  Teacher: Pawn structure and king safety include some specific positional issues. Take pawn structure first. In judging which side has stronger and more elastic pawns, you’ll want to determine if your pawns can guard key squares easily enough, and without repercussions; if they can defend each other satisfactorily; if they can move flexibly and with support; if they are subject to harassment; and finally, whether they provide sufficient shelter to shield their own king.

  Student: How does pawn structure relate to king safety?

  Teacher: The two are aligned in a very intimately defined way. In comparing your position to your opponent’s, you’ll want to figure out which king is more exposed. You’ll also have to hope your own king isn’t exposed at all; how easy it might be to get at your king in the future; if you still must waste time to get your king to safety, or if it has ways to get out of potential trouble; which part of the board is safest for your king—whether kingside, queenside, or center; and whether your king’s need to be secure reduces your options significantly. The degree to which a king is safe from attack is a major aspect to chess, and it’s largely determined by the strength and flexibility of sheltering pawns. You can have the greatest game going, but if your king has no shielding pawn refuge and is suddenly menaced, a mountain of advantages can collapse under the
weight of royal vulnerability.

  Student: Let me change direction a bit. How come White always gets to go first?

  Teacher: That’s just a convention. In fact, before the rules were set in writing, game circumstances varied. Many people played with Black going first. And as far as why the pieces are called White and Black instead of Yellow and Blue, that too is a convention. It probably stems from the fact that white and black are natural colors, readily part of the substances used to make early chess pieces. It was simply easier to find light and dark materials and call them White and Black. Moreover, by insuring that the pieces were of two distinct colors, it became easier to distinguish them, regardless of playing conditions. Nothing was otherwise ever implied by the colors or their respective names. Anyhow, no matter the actual colors of the pieces, the lighter-colored army is always called White and the darker Black. Moreover, White always goes first. This balances out because the players usually alternate colors from game to game.

  Student: Is it an advantage to go first?

  Teacher: At the start of a game it’s advantageous to go first, because choosing the opening move defines ensuing options for both players. The first move offers the ability to start attacking. It tends to be much harder to defend than to attack, particularly because the attacker gets to act while the defender must be prepared to react. Moreover, the consequences of a letdown are usually much greater for the defender than for the attacker.