Training Program
Chess- Game of the Mind
Months 1-9 - Positional Conditioning
Months 10-13 - Calculation and Analysis
Month 1 – “THINK LIKE A STRONG PLAYER”
I.
The Correct Way of Thinking in Chess
-
start to think like a strong player
-
learn about the TO DO list
-
consequences of the moves
-
recognizing real threats
-
what you have to do after your opponent’s moves
-
how to correctly evaluate a position
-
making decisions in chess
a. start to think like
a strong player
-The correct thinking
method is of first important in improving your chess.
b. the TO DO list
Once every 3-10 moves (this
varies a lot according to the position’ characteristics), in the key-positions,
you should make a “TO DO” list. In this list, you should add all you want to
realize in the given position.
Therefore you might add:
finishing development,
occupation of an open file/diagonal,
creating weaknesses in the opponent’s position,
improving the position of your pieces (one of the most important
things to be taken into consideration) and so on.
“TO DO” list should be created at some given moments,
when the characteristics of the position have changed or when some of your “to
do” tasks became “completed” jobs.
An excellent explanation on what this list is
about is given in the following example:
1) Make the king safe by
bringing him to the queenside (a maneuver which is possible due
to the total control of the only open file
on the board);
2) Advance the kingside
pawns in order to destroy the black king’s protections. This is
possible because the black pawns are weak
and White will be able to force
exchanges on
that side;
3) Bring the major pieces to their best
positions, ready for the decisive transition on
the kingside at the right moment … and the final attack.
CONSEQUENCES and TO DO LIST
The Consequences of the moves and the
“TO DO” list are very strongly connected. You will see that identifying the consequences of your opponent’s moves
can extend your TO DO list with new elements such as: a newly weakened square
may serve one of your pieces as a good outpost, etc.
c. consequences of the
moves
Immediately after every move by your opponent, you should answer the following two
questions:
1) What are your opponent’s THREATS?
A
threat can be:
a mate attack or other threats against the king,
a gain in material,
gaining a very good position for a piece,
getting control of an important square, line, or diagonal, or
any other tactical or strategic advantage that the opponent can
gain on the next move.
2) What are the CONSEQUENCES of your opponent’s last move?
Almost every move has a
good effect and a collateral effect which may be negative (chess moves have
pluses and minuses). For example, by moving the bishop from c8 to f5, Black
gains control over the b1-h7 diagonal, BUT at the same time, he loses the protection
of the b7-pawn.
Also, you should always
evaluate the consequences of your own moves before playing them.
The consequences of moves
usually have a geometrical nature and they can be:
opening a file or a diagonal,
blocking one piece with another,
weakening a square or a pawn structure,
leaving a piece undefended, and
many others that you will soon learn to notice very clearly.
A strong chess player
should be used to evaluating these consequences in a matter of few seconds or
even in fractions of a second. It is something you should train your mind.
d.
recognizing real threats
Then, you should evaluate which of the threats are real. Not all threats are REAL and in this regard many chess players
often make mistakes. For example, if your opponent is threatening to gain the
bishop-pair, you should evaluate whether this is really negative for you in the
concrete, exact position that you have on the board. Only real threats
should be taken into consideration.
e.
how to correctly evaluate a position
Positioning
of a piece is also a very important characteristic.
Usually
a knight placed in the center of the board controls more squares than a knight
placed on the edge of the board, while the linear pieces (the queen, the rooks
and the bishops) have a better positioning when occupying an open line.
A linear piece is also very strong
in the center.
f. making decisions in chess
Choose
the best moves and look for in every position the plan of play.
Here
are some questions you must ask and answer to find the potentially best plans
and moves.
· Is
my king safe? How could I ensure its defense?
· Is
my opponent’s king safe? How could I benefit from its weakened position?
· Is
my opponent threatening to achieve a material advantage?
· Can
I achieve a material advantage by force?
· Where could I create a superiority of
forces in order to challenge a local battle? How about
my
opponent?
· How could I increase the qualitative
value of my pieces and pawn structure?
· How could I reduce the qualitative
value of my opponent’s pieces and pawn structure?
· Where could I achieve/increase a space
advantage? How about my opponent?
· How could I use the space advantage I
have in order to increase the qualitative value of
· my pieces and create a local
superiority of forces?
· What pieces must I exchange in order to
reduce the importance of the space advantage
my
opponent has?
· Could I create immediate threats or
seize a long-term initiative? How about my opponent?
Month 2 – “THE TWO CENTERS”
The “two centers in chess” :the real
center of the board and the central figure in chess, the king.
A
good player must see the board, pieces and correct moves in his mind’s eye or
simply board visualization.
a.
evaluate the
king’s safety
There
is nothing more important in chess than the king’s safety. A moment is enough
to forget about it and for the effect to be fatal.
When you decide the plan of play you must always be careful
to have your king well protected. Moreover, you must try to endanger the
position of the opponent king.
b.
pawn
structures in front of the king
c.
evaluate the
role of pieces
The role played by a piece has a great importance. On a
scale sorted from the worst to the best, there are four main situations:
1. A piece out of play.
This is the worst situation and it occurs when a piece
is far
away from a local battlefield and it is unable to quickly arrive
there.
2.
A piece that plays a defensive role,
namely a piece whose main task is to
protect
a certain objective.
3. A piece that plays an offensive role,
namely a piece that attacks an
objective
in the opponent’s field.
4. A piece that simultaneously plays an
offensive role and one or more
Defensive roles. This
is the best case, better than the third one. While
defending
an objective, a piece can have a supplementary role as it
indirectly helps another piece by freeing it from its defensive task.
MONTH 3-4 - “MASTER PIECE PLAY”
Calculation is a tool that the chess player uses on
almost every move to reach his goal in a given position. In month 4, learn to
investigate the sources of committing bad moves (mistakes) and how to eliminate
them from your play.
a. lead in development
b. local force superiority
c. better piece collaboration
d. opponent’s piece out of play
The
Chess Pieces
If
the chess board can and should be learned in a shorter period of time, the
pieces, with
their
interactions, roles, cooperation, methods of play constitute a very large and
important part of chess theory.
MONTH 5-6 - “MASTER PAWN PLAY”
In month 5, learn to develop pawn combinations and
in month 6, learn how to defend inferior, even desperate positions.
a. create weak pawns and weak squares in an opponent’s
camp
Like
the other pieces, pawns have their qualitative value too. You must not treat a
pawn as an individual entity; the pawns act together as a unit. When referring
to the qualitative value of the pawns, we talk about the qualitative value of
the pawn structure. Indeed, the qualitative value of the pawn structure is
influenced by the presence of doubled pawns or isolated pawns or islands of
pawns, but your goal is to have a strong pawn formation and not strong
individual pawns.
b. learn the importance of space advantage
c. immobile pawn structure
d. aim for a dynamic formation
MONTH 7-8 - “PAWN STRUCTURES EXPLAINED”
Middlegame play is very much influenced by the pawn
structure. In these two months, learn to develop tactical collaboration between
pieces in making decisions in complicated positions.
An Isolated Pawn
An isolated pawn
is cut off from the other pawns, so it can only be protected by its
pieces.
General
Considerations
Let
us assume that White has the isolated “d4” pawn (see the 2 diagram above).
A.
When you have the isolated pawn
1.
The isolated pawn gives better control of the centre (e5-, c5- squares).
Because of this, White has
more active squares on which to develop
his pieces and has some space advantage.
2.
White can make the breakthrough d4-d5 (the major strategic threat),
giving him the
initiative.
3.
Kingside attack possiblities:
3.1. an attack on the f7-square (usually a knight sacrifice
happens there);
3.2. a transfer of the rook along the 3rd file to the
kingside;
3.3. sacrifices, either with the bishop on h6, or with the
knight on e6;
3.4. an attack by advancing the h-pawn (very rare);
3.5. very good play along the e-file.
4.
Queenside attack and play along the c-file.
B.
When you play against the isolated pawn
1.
Control over the d5-square which should be occupied especially by a knight.
2.
The king is usually protected with g7-g6 (to stop threats along the b1-h7
diagonal and as long as
Black still has the dark-square bishop,
there are no real threats on the weakened dark squares.).
3.
The possibility of passing into the “isolated pawns structure” (pawns on c3 and
d4 without
pawns on the b- and e- files, if Black
makes the exchange on c3).
4.
Knowing which endgames offer better prospects of winning:
4.1. King’s endgame- draw
4.2. Opposite color bishops – draw
4.3. Same color bishops:
4.3.1. Bishop’s having the same color as the isolated pawn:
usually draw, but
also good
prospects for win;
4.3.2. Bishop’s having the opposite color of the isolated
pawn: draw.
4.4. Knight endgames – draw
4.5. Knight vs. bishop:
4.5.1. Knight vs. bishop with the same color as the isolated
pawn: draw, but
the one who
has the isolated pawn must play very precisely.
4.5.2. Knight vs. bishop of opposite color as the isolated
pawn: draw.
4.6. Bishop against knight - draw
4.7. Queen endgames – draw
4.8. Rook endgames – usually a draw
4.9. Two Rooks + Queen versus two Rooks + Queen – usually
win
All these considerations about endgames assume that nobody
has other strategic
advantages
or disadvantages (e.g. an active king, control of open files, other
weaknesses).
MONTH 9
- “ADVANCED FIGHTING STRATEGIES”
In the last month of the first part, learn more of
the modern dynamics of play and very complex techniques of play such as the
mobility of the pieces, piece dynamics, initiative, and cooperation between
pieces and pawns.
Explanations and tips about the forms
of piece interactions
The attack
The attack is a very well known form of
interaction, so we won’t dwell upon it. However, you should know that the
attack can take multiple forms (simple attack, double attack, triple attack,
discovered check, double strike and so on). For less trained students in the field
of tactics, we highly recommend a book with tactical exercises (combinations)
in order to learn and exercise these forms of attack.
The defense (sustainment)
As we just mentioned the attack, we
will now address the defense, which is the contrary form of interaction. This
is also very well known, but associated especially with sustainment (“My
opponent has attacked my knight with the queen. I will defend my knight”).
However, the defense can take more forms and at least one of them is underestimated.
Without taking into account actions
against the attacking piece (such as capture or pinning), there are four forms
of defense against an attack:
The protection
The pieces of the same army can protect
each other by interposing. Of course, the best
protection is offered by the pawns which are of the lowest
value. A protection assured by pieces (not pawns) is not the best because this
form of defense reduces the qualitative value of the pieces.
The king is the only piece which cannot
be sustained (defended) against an attack (check) and this is why the king’s
protection (usually assured by the pawns) is very important. After castling,
the king enters a zone where his own pawns are less important in the fight for
the centre and space, so they are usually intact, in their initial position.
Who said chess is not extremely logical?! In the king’s case, the pawns can
also limit the monarch’s moves. Therefore, when there
are open files and major pieces are threatening to enter the
back-rank, the king’s pawns should move (h2-h3 / h7-h6 or g2-g3 / g7-g6) to
create a “window” for the king.
The obstruction
Obstruction
of the opponent pieces is a form of interaction between pieces like attack and
defense.
Almost everyone uses it at a low value and only intuitively most of the times.
The simplest usage of obstruction is often used in defense, when, for example,
one hampers an opponent piece to keep it from a decisive attacking position.
The
obstruction is realized by using our own pieces to attack or control some important
squares
where the opponent pieces could move. In this way, we avoid the activation of opponent
pieces, we try to get them out of play or, at least, we block their good collaboration.
In its high level of usage, obstruction is known as “prophylaxis”.
MONTH 10-13 - “THE ART OF A MASTER:ANALYSIS”
This is the most important stage of preparation for
serious improvement. Focus on developing your analytical skills.
Every
week you will have 2 sets of problems:
a. 2 simple tactical exercises (total:10 minutes)
b. 1 position that requires concrete calculation of
variations (total: 20 minutes)
A. PIECES IN ATTACK
The attacking pieces and their most common ways
to attack the opponent king.
1. The queen
Of course, the queen is the most important piece
to use for attacking during the middlegame. The best attacking positions for
the queen are the kingside squares (any of them where she can be safe – not
attacked by opponent pieces).
Other common squares for attack are d3 and b3
usually supported by a bishop on the b1-
h7 or a2-g8 diagonals (creating the well-known queen + bishop
“battery”). An advantage would be to have the 3rd rank clear, to be able to
transfer the queen on a more active square on the kingside.
B.
HOW TO DEFEND
While the safety of the
king is a very important element to be considered during the chess
game, it is important to know that an overly
defensive strategy for the king is far from good. A superiority of forces with
defensive tasks results in a minority of forces which can fight for the
initiative. So, we will end the king’s safety presentation by giving ways to
defend the king, directly or indirectly.
1.
Usually,
positions where Black has the pawn structure f7, g7, h7 (or h6), with knight
on f6 are not easily broken as long as Black conducts an active strategy on
the center.
2.
The fianchetto
structure (f7, g6, h7, Bg7) and Nf6 is also usually enough as long as Black
can react in the center.
Source
and Reference:
Prepared by:
Mr.
Dennis Mark A. Dela Cruz
Mr.
Ramiro B. Perez
MPES
Student
Submitted
to:
Dr.
Carolina A. Panganiban
Chairperson,
MPES
