Strategy

Kings and Queens

  1. Kings and Queens vulnerable
  2. Domination by the queen
  3. Active king in the ending
Now, each of the pieces we have considered so far - pawns, knights, bishops and rooks - have peculiarities which make certain positions more or less suitable for them to operate. Kings and Queens move in each direction with equal ease, and so have no such rules - although Queens do like a bit of space to get into their stride.

  Their flexibility gives them value, and because they are

Pawn formations

  Based on: The Middle Game I by Euwe and Kramer.
[Currently out of print; Batsford's have the publishing rights for this title and I am grateful for their permission to use this material]

A Planning Challenge

Submitted by DrDave on

With my usual arrogance, I was offering Charlie some notes on a game, and he remarked afterwards:

"The move I sweated over for so long, you passed over without comment, as though it was the most natural move in the game!"

What would you have played?  Make your mind up (that is, write it down) before reading on!

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Minority attack?

Actually, I am. There comes a point (about 150) when the serious threat represented by a minority attack becomes a realistic game plan. And at master level, there is a school of thought that suggests the best way to win with the Queen's Gambit Declined as White is to play the minority attack in the Exchange Variation. I can remember several Swiss tournaments where Keith Arkell ground out a couple of his valuable wins using this line, without apparent effort. The other classic setting for the minority attack is the Sicilian Defence, and Pal Benko has been a great exponent of this winning

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Strategy