Is Black Cursed?

 "Black is a slave that is forced into oppression, unless it lashes out skillfully to free itself of tyranny."   ~The Dark Knight

   IS BLACK TRULY CURSED?

 Yes it is absolutely cursed, but it is also very blessed. Simply put, there can be both pros and cons to being black rather than white in chess. For starters for those of you who may not have realized it by now, black is hopeless to win a positional game if both players are equal in playing solely positional chess. You may have heard the terms "tactical" and "positional" being opposites in chess strategy, but let me clarify what is meant by positional. A positional game is a tactical game, but it simply lacks many of the tactics that are often used in chess games. Tactics such as pins, skewers, forks, discovered attacks, and other forms of double attacks will not be seen in a strictly positional game. In a positional game, players will simply be vying for the center and trying to protect their center pieces with more pieces than their opponent. Now the reason why black is cursed to lose in this fight is rather simple: white goes first so white creates the position while black tries to maintain it. In other words, black is always going to wind up the loser because white will always have him out manned, out gunned, and out numbered. So what can be done to fix this injustice? 

Well the first thing that should be done is having the right kind of attitude going into a game with black. It's very easy to become a sore loser and tell yourself that you have a handicap just because you are black. You need to realize that someone has to go first in just about every sport. In football, soccer, basketball, baseball, etc, some team will have the ball first. But does that improve their odds in winning the game? Absolutely not! Instead of thinking that you are doomed, start playing solid defense until the ball is in your possession. In fact, one of the keys to winning a great many chess games is having a solid defense. The first thing a player should do when faced with a defensive decision is to not panic and realize that the game may not be lost. The next thing that the defense needs to do is to hold its ground. You would be surprised how frustrating a game can be for white when black holds its ground just waiting for white to slip up. But it's that kind of attitude and determination that wins games for black more times than not. Also black needs to have an aggressive defense and be looking for ways to throw white off of its positional game. Tactics such as undermining and deflection may accomplish this and give black the edge it needs to take over the game. With so many tactics that can be employed in a game of chess, white is actually limiting itself if it seeks to play just positional tactics. Black may also have an advantage of going after white as well. Since white has to lead, its placement of pieces may alert black of white's next move. Hence black can sometimes anticipate white's moves enough in advance to strategize ways to outsmart white. 

So in conclusion, yes black does have to take the rear seat behind white, but is equally capable of reaching its destination, that is victory lane. 

Tactics: Fork

A fork is an offensive tactic designed to attack 2 or more of your opponent's pieces from a single square.

• Any piece can perform a fork, (including the king) which makes the fork a prime weapon to keep in mind during game play. 

The purpose of a successful Fork Attack is to:

1. Attack 2 or more pieces with the goal of capturing one of the pieces.

Below are several diagrams of 
positions involving the fork tactic.

A green colored box represents the attacking piece(s)
A blue colored box represents the path of attack
A red colored box represents the target(s) of the attack

Diagram 1

Pawn fork against 2 knights  

Diagram 2

Knight fork against a rook and king 

Diagram 3

Bishop fork against 2 rooks  

 

Diagram 4

Rook fork against a queen and king

 Diagram 5

Queen fork against a king and rook

 Diagram 6

 King fork against a bishop and knight

Tactics: Battery

A battery is an offensive tactic where 2 or more pieces can move and attack along a shared path, situated on the same rank, file, or diagonal. 

• Batteries on the ranks or files are made up of either Rooks only, or Rook(s) and a Queen.
• Batteries on the Diagonals are made up of either Bishops only, or a Bishop and a Queen.

The purpose of a successful Battery Attack is to either:

1. Increase the focus of power onto a single point or enemy piece that is blocking access to the enemy's King.

2. Build up a majority of powerful pieces, in order to gain in the exchanges.

Below are several diagrams of 
positions involving the battery tactic.

A green colored box represents the Attacking Piece(s)
A blue colored box represents the Path of Attack
A red colored box represents the Target(s) of the Attack

Diagram 1

Battery attack with dual rooks   

 

Battery Tactic Problem #1

Below is a real life example of a game where black was losing materially, but managed to use a battery attack to win the game and swindle his opponent out of a much deserved win. 

Game Information

--Black's 34th move was setting up the final cell of the battery on E8.

--White's 35th move in the game was a pawn capture on the G4.

Problem 1: What is black's 35th swindle move?

Problem 2: How could white respond to black's 35th move?

Problem 3: What is black's 36th move and checkmate after white misses its chance to win?

Problem 4: What lessons do we learn from both black's technique and from white's negligence? 

Bonus Problem: If white and black both played their best what is white's quickest checkmate strategy?

Click here for the answers to problems 1-4. (Not yet posted :-)

Drunken Knights of Chess

Top 10 things to consider while playing chess intoxicated:

1. Knights are not invincible. If you move a knight and it's not 

protected your opponent will snuff it out and not apologize. 

2. Each Bishop moves along one color diagonal. Enough said there.

3. Rooks are NOT pawns. Sure they are the same color as your pawns 
but with closer examination they do look like miniature castles.

4. NEVER move your queen at all while playing intoxicated. 

5. The object of the game isn't for your king to reach the finish line.

(See number 9 for "king me" rule.)

6. The pawns are in the game so you can capture one while losing 

miserably and still feel like you've accomplished something worthwhile . 

7. The beer bottle caps....oh wait never mind, they aren't a chess piece.

8.  Playing hungover the next morning will not fix the mistakes you made the night before.

9. There is no "kitty corner" or "king me"  or "double jumps" involved 
unless your opponent is drunk too. In that case House Rules apply.

10. And finally if you think you have a good move, rethink that move. 

Then once you have a better move you need to rethink that one too.
Repeat this step indefinitely until you pass out or vomit onto the chessboard.

The Opening: Pawn Structure

If you've taken a look at the information under The Opening then you've noticed that I've listed Pawn Structure as the number 9 principle to consider during the opening phase of a chess game. After painstakingly gathering advice from both old and new chess grand masters (okay I actually enjoyed doing the research) I have come to the conclusion that while I feel comfortable mentioning the pawns very last in my opening principles, I also feel that they deserve as much attention as the king, queen, rooks, knights, and bishops. I mean the pawns equate to half of your chess pieces (for those of you who cannot count:) so to play an opening that doesn't involve good pawn moves is like throwing out half of your chess game! But what can you do to improve your opening game when it comes to the pawns?

For starters you need to understand that the pawn structure you plan on building early should not interfere with the other 8 principles that we've talked about in The Opening. By now you may have realized that mobility (which is perhaps the single most important thing in a chess opening) can be restricted by your pawns. Your development of bishops and knights can also be slowed down or even stopped altogether if 1 or 2 pawn movements block these pieces on the back row from moving out onto the field. Bad pawn formations can also create opportunities for your opponent to easily check your king (or worse) or capture a rook before you can successfully castle to safety. Therefore players should avoid making careless pawn moves or simply relying on popular pawn openings that grand masters use regularly. Sure those openings have excellent pawn moves perhaps, but if a players doesn't know how to build onto that opening, he or she will fail to use the pawn structure to his or her advantage. Players should also keep in mind that your middle pawns work wonders in controlling the center of the board. They also can be used as attackers, defenders, or simply blockers all at once, which makes them an intrinsic part of the game. So do not underestimate their worth, especially in the early part of the game.


In a future article I we will go over practical ways to build your pawn structure and examine what works and what doesn't work in the opening game.

The Opening: Minor Piece Dynamics

If you've taken a look at the information under The Opening then you've noticed that I've listed Minor Piece Dynamics as the number 8 principle to consider during the opening phase of a chess game. For starters I want to clarify what the minor pieces are for those of you who may not know what they are. The minor pieces we are referring to are the knight and bishop respectively. There are many differing views as to the point value of these 2 minor pieces (the standard valuation places a 3 point value on each piece). But trying to calculate the value of these pieces in the start of a game of chess is like trying to decide whether the left wing of a bird is worth more than its right wing. Yes, both are crucial in getting you off of the ground early in the game and you should never underestimate what each piece is capable of.

Now you may wonder why I prefer to use the term "dynamics" instead of a generic word like "movement" instead. Well this brings us back to the first opening principle we discussed on Mobility. The idea behind minor piece dynamics is not simply to move a piece somewhere on the board, but somewhere that allows that piece to be useful the next following move. In other words, dynamics conveys the idea of continuous movement that is productive. Also a player should avoid needlessly hindering the dynamics of another minor piece in the game. For instance, a bishop could block a square that will prevent the knight from moving. Or a knight could occupy a square that could keep a bishop from being able to travel across the board. Of course, sometimes strategy may dictate another piece of yours be purposely blocked, but in the early stages of a game it is wise to let both your bishop and knight attack as many squares as possible.

In a future article I will discuss more about each the knight and bishop and how to use their dynamic abilities to the full in your opening game.

The Opening: Connect Rooks

If you've taken a look at the information under The Opening then you've noticed that I've listed Connect Rooks as the number 7 principle to consider during the opening phase of a chess game. Now this is one aspect of the game that the grand masters usually all agree on. It makes sense that if you have a powerful chess piece such as a rook that is sitting on the sidelines in a typical opening game that you would try to protect it dearly. Your pawns will offer you absolutely no assistance because they are progressing forward. Likewise your bishops and knights typically will not be a great long term defender of your rooks either because they are always on the move and fighting above and among your pawns. Okay so what does that leave us with? Your queen could act as a protector to one of your rooks early on, but eventually you will be able to bring her out into the playing field and she will leave that rook high and dry. But do not despair because if you are truly developing your pieces correctly and if you have already castled your king, chances are you do not need to be even worried about these rooks being protected because they will be protecting each other already! It is sort of like a buddy system where each rook has the other rook's back in the early stages of the game. Just how important is rook protection though? Well in most evenly matched games, losing a rook early on with no compensation for it usually spells defeat for you. Yet, if your rook is protected and you are able to compensate it with a minor piece, then you may still have a fighting chance. So connect your rooks and keep them connected until you have a good reason to break one off from its protection partner. This simple principle is even effective in the middle game and endgame because your rooks become more of a target and thus still require protection.

In a later article I will dive a little deeper into connecting the rooks and where and when to move each rook on the back row during the opening phase of a game.

The Opening: King's Position

If you've taken a look at the information under The Opening then you've noticed that I've listed Kings Position as the number 6 principle to consider during the opening phase of a chess game. I love it when I see grand masters giving advice on opening principles and they typically will say "castle as early as possible" or "castle before move 10" implying that castling is a must in every chess game. While it's true that most games will require each player to castle either early on or perhaps later in the game, on occasion there will be games where you'll want to refrain from castling altogether. That's why merely calling castling an opening principle is rather generic and sometimes downright misleading. What players should be giving attention to from the very start of the game until the finish is how safe is their king's position not simply on how soon castling should take place. Now obviously there are very good reasons why these grand masters keep stressing the importance of castling. For starters, these astute chess gurus know that both players will be attacking and defending pieces in the center of the chessboard, so it would make sense now for them to warn players to get their king away from the center where all of the action is taking place. A further benefit to castling is that it connects both of a player's rooks together which is another important opening principle.

However, as I mentioned above, the king doesn't always need to be castled immediately, but players should avoid letting their opponents force them into castling on a specific side (especially a dangerous one). So while I do not feel the need to tell players that they should always castle, I do suggest that they are at least prepared to castle on either or both sides so if the need arises they can do so without needing to wait until the coast is clear.

In a future article we we dive deeper into the king's position and go over strategies in keeping the king safe in the early stage of the game.