tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113900012008-10-24T20:27:01.382-06:00En PassantNotes in passing on my life as a chess playerAntone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-8114879417833575192008-10-24T20:22:00.002-06:002008-10-24T20:27:01.391-06:00Knight ForksHere's a video I found on YouTube that does a great job of illustrating knight forks. Most of it is pretty elementary, but at the end, it shows a great example of how to not just find forks, but force your opponent into a position where you can for them.
At least when playing against less experienced opponents who aren't accustomed to noticing when they're in danger of a fork, knights are Antone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-73745665065927872202008-10-10T11:06:00.002-06:002008-10-10T11:18:23.541-06:00Queens Gambit Game With AnalysisHere's a nice queens gambit game with analysis and lots of nice little pointers. What really struck me was how strong white's outpost position at B6 was -- with black's A and C pawns advanced, white had no fear of losing pieces on B6 to pawns, so it became very easy to support his minor pieces there with the assurance that at worst he's get even exchanges for them.
Antone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-47379221140647115652008-10-10T09:32:00.001-06:002008-10-10T09:33:47.511-06:00Watch Out For The Back Rank Mate Black's king is trapped behind his wall of pawns. If white moves his rook to a8, the king has nowhere to run. In this particular case, black will postpone checkmate for one turn by moving his bishop to c8, but since the bishop won't have anyone to protect him, the rook will capture it on the next turn and the game will be over.
If black had another piece that could move to c8 or a piece that heAntone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-97606551151546922008-10-10T09:30:00.000-06:002008-10-10T09:31:53.515-06:00Counter Attacking Often when faced with a potential check, or when a piece other than the king is being attacked, it is more effective to defend by counter-attacking than by moving to safety. For example, if black promotes his pawn to a queen at h1, he checks white's king in the process. After white moves his king to safety, black's new queen takes white's knight, and material is even.Antone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-77893941123106740582008-10-10T08:58:00.002-06:002008-10-10T09:30:16.189-06:00Protecing Your Attacking Pieces White can checkmate with his queen at g5 because his knight will protect his queen from being taken by black's king. This can be a very effective method of checkmating, because only one piece is needed to cover all of the squares to which the king might move.
(Ignoring options for black's pawn) black could protect himself from checkmate by moving to h6. Then, when white moved his queen to g5, Antone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-7015929301857184212008-10-10T08:54:00.002-06:002008-10-10T08:57:45.814-06:00Watch For The Pinned Protector White has two pawns, one positioned to protect the other. But black's bishop has pinned the pawn at f2. If black's queen takes the pawn at g3, white cannot use the f2 pawn to take back, because doing so would expose the king to a check from black's bishop.
If it is white's move, he can protect against this attack by moving his king from behind the f2 pawn, for example, by advancing to g2, whereAntone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-1126984610000790632005-09-17T13:16:00.000-06:002005-09-17T13:16:52.076-06:00Attacking too soonWhy is it usually important to complete development of your chess pieces before going on the attack? For one reason, consider the following hypothetical sequence of moves:
1. e4 Nf6
2. d3 Ng4
3. Be3 Nxe3
4. fxe3
What is the single most obvious fact about the state of the board? Black has no development (other than being one empty space closer to castling), while white has a strong presence in Antone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-1123166943243448942005-08-04T08:49:00.000-06:002005-08-04T08:49:03.250-06:00Taking notes during chess gamesIn chess tournaments, players are required to record each move that is made, but forbidden from taking notes to assist them in remembering their analysis. Outside of tournaments, the rules of the game are often relaxed somewhat--for example, players may choose not to enforce touch play, clocks may not be used, etc. So, how about note taking during online games?
Any rule that the players agree onAntone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-1112644922970740212005-04-04T14:02:00.000-06:002005-04-04T14:02:02.970-06:00Nursing my ChessMaster rankingThe other day, in spite of how few chess games I've played recently, I gathered my courage and played a ranked game against ChessMaster 8000. I lost. Then I played another, accidentally choosing blitz game instead of the slower game that I prefer, and lost again. After a few losses, choosing weaker opponents each time, and knocking my rating down a ways, I got to a level where I could beat the Antone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-1110642824860669492005-03-12T08:54:00.000-07:002005-03-12T08:56:19.046-07:00Farewell Garry Kasparov. Don't go too far.Garry Kasparov, the world's top ranked chess player 20 years running, announced his retirement from professional chess after winning the Linares tournament in Spain. I'll let others cover his reasons for retiring and plans for the future, and instead share the role Garry played in the beginnings of my interest in Chess.
This is a photo of two ads I framed together while working at the company Antone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11390001.post-1110605221730131992005-03-11T22:27:00.000-07:002005-03-11T22:32:08.260-07:00Don't forget, that pawn is pinned!I was playing a game against ChessMaster 8000 today, and made a little blunder. I'd been piling up pressure on my opponent's e-pawn, and with everything ready to roll, pushed a pawn to attack it. I also had a knight and my queen attacking it, while ChessMaster had a knight and bishop protecting it. It couldn't avoid the confrontation by capturing my pawn because my queen had it pinned to it's Antone Roundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10291726297351842428noreply@blogger.com0