Chess Skills

Mood Swings

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:45:00 +0000

Yesterday afternoon, I threw away an easy draw against a player rated 400 lower. How I found myself playing for a draw is another matter. A bit later, a player rated 200 higher than me threw away an easy win.

White to move

81.Ra3+??

81.Kxe5 and Black's winning chances are gone.

81...Kd4?

Black returns the favor.

82.Ra4+ Ke3 83.Ra3+ Rd3

Now Black is winning and had no difficulty converting what remained of the ending.

It was a painful loss.

Then, early for a chess lesson with some young students, I sat in my truck in the parking lot and played a game on my phone. The opening went poorly after I played the French Defense in an unusual manner.

Black to move

16...Bxa2?

1...O-O was better, but I remain down a pawn.

17.Ne5

White's plans are clear.

17...O-O

17...Rc8 at least shows recognition of White's threats.

18.Rd7?? Ne5!-+

Now I am winning. The next ten minutes sitting in my truck moving chess pieces on my phone brought pleasure as I ground out a win.

Neither Winning, Nor Losing

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 19:48:00 +0000

My young students this week are seeing this position from an online game played a couple of days ago.

White to move

White has many ways to win this game with overwhelming material superiority, but Black's last move, 40...Rf8, presents White with a problem. A student's immediate suggestion of 41.Nf7+ is good enough to move towards checkmate. 41.Ng4 or 41.Rf7 leads to a shorter forced checkmate sequence.

In the game, White played 41.d6?? oblivious to the purpose behind Black's last move. The game was soon drawn by repetition: 41...Rf1+ 42.Kg2 Rf2+ 43.Kg3 Rf3+ 44.Kg2 Rf2+ 45.Kh3 Rf3+ 46.Kg4 Rf4+ 47.Kg3 Rf3+ 48.Kg2 Rf2+

Taking the rook at any point leaves Black in stalemate.

The second position arose in the Spokane Chess Club's Fall Championship 20 years ago.

White to move

Again, White has an overwhelming advantage. The simple 54.Rc6 would end things quickly.

My opponent played 54.h7??

After 54...Rxb7 55.Rd6 Rg7+ 56.Kh6 Rxh7+ 57.Kg6 Rg7+ we agreed to a draw.

Zugzwang

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 15:16:00 +0000

Black is busted, as only pawns can move.

White to move

One winning idea would be to march the king to b7 or d6. Black can do nothing to prevent this. Even pushing the majority is rooted in illusion.

For instance, 38.Kf2 g5 39.Ke3 f5 40.Kd3 f4 41.Kc4 g4 42.Kc5 f3 43.gxf3 gxf3 44.Kd6

Black to move

44...f2 45.Rb1 Nb5+ 46.Ke5

Black can capture the passed a-pawn, giving up the knight. White's extra piece would still prevail.

Inexplicably, White played 38.Ne7?? After 38...Ke7 39.Rxe8+ Kxe8, Black was in complete control.

Beginner's Club: This Week

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 17:01:00 +0000

Many of the young students in my after school club have only begun playing chess when they joined the club. Others have more experience and more skill, but very few have played in tournaments and with limited success. My focus in these sessions is teaching elementary skills and cultivating enjoyment of the game. Most sessions begin with a short lesson that consists of a small number of problems on the demo board, or a short game. Sometimes, I show a simple technique and ask them to practice, such as building a shrinking box to force checkmate with heavy pieces.

This week, I pulled two checkmate exercises from the Facebook group Chess Teachers & Learners.

The first was presented as a difficult checkmate in one.

White to move

Obviously White has overwhelming force, but the stipulation is that there is a mate in one.

There are many possible checks, including some that would be illegal. One young student immediately suggested Bb3+, so I pointed out that the bishop was pinned by the queen. Beginners need to learn that pieces pinned to their king cannot move off the rank, file, or diagonal along which the pin occurs. Although this bishop cannot move, it still defends the h7 knight from capture. But, as we will see with the solution, the immobility of a pinned piece reduces its power.

The correct answer took me half a minute when I saw this position on Facebook because I subconsciously rejected moving the pinned queen. Then, I saw that the rook attacking the queen is also pinned.

With the young students, we looked at every possible check except the correct one and saw why it does not achieve checkmate. Then, a student saw the correct answer, 1.Qb3#.

We moved on to the second problem--a mate in two.

White to move

This one proved difficult. The students tried several ideas. I stressed the importance of the pin on Black's pawn by the queen to help. After we had spent fifteen minutes on the lesson without finding the answer to this problem, I had the get chess sets and play chess, leaving the position on the board.

They played for 30-40 minutes and started to seem a little restless, so I brought them back to the demo board and showed them the solution (it turns out that there is a second solution that I missed).

1.Qd4 is an elegant move that forces Black to move a rook, the capture of which delivers checkmate.

1.Rd7 is the alternate solution that I missed.

Then I set up a position from William Lewis, Elements of the Game of Chess (1822) that I use with some frequency (see "Teaching Elementary Checkmates"). It is mate in five.

White to move

Students were directed to work in teams solving this. If they found the correct solution, each member of the team would earn a chess pencil. Several came close.

After they struggled a bit with simple forcing moves that were not forcing enough, I offered some hints: find a move that leaves Black only one legal move, force the defending king to remain in the quadrant of the board in which it begins (of course, I had to explain the word quadrant).

Two Exercises

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 15:15:00 +0000

This position, which arose in my tactics training session this morning reminded me of a position that I had in a tournament game 25 years ago.

White to move

From Stripes -- Brownlee, Spokane 2001

How would you play?

Tested

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 18:35:00 +0000

Sometimes you must test your opponent's ability to demonstrate what should be elementary skills, especially when time is running short. In the penultimate round of a local tournament a few years ago, the top two players--both experts--were running short of time. The one defending sacked his rook to test his opponent's ability to deliver checkmate with knight and bishop. The gamble worked and they drew. My online opponents often test my ability to deliver checkmate with a queen and king against a lone king in under 15 seconds. I usually pass this test.

This morning, my opponent tested my ability to force checkmate with two bishops in under a minute. I had 59 seconds left when my last pawn was captured and 51 when I finished eliminating his pawns. When checkmate was delivered, 29 seconds remained on my clock. I made 24 moves in 22 seconds to finish the game.

After 69 moves and just over 18 minutes of play in the game 10, we had the following position. My opponent had 53 seconds left to 60 for me.

White to move

70.Nd6 Bxd6

Stockfish would pushed the pawn.

71.Kxd4 Bc5+ 72.Kc4 Bf7+ 73.Kc3 Ka5

I hasten to eliminate White's pawns so that I can begin the mating sequence.

74.Kd3 Kxa4 75.b6 Bxb6 76.Ke4

Black to move

76...Kb4

76...Kb5 leads to mate one move faster.

77.Ke5 Bc4 78.Ke4 Bc5

78...Kc3 is faster

79.Ke5 Kc3 80.Ke4

Black to move

80...Bd4

I teach students to place a protected bishop next to the king because it is easy to see and forces the defending king closer to the edge.

However, 80...Bd6 leads to checkmate two moves faster, and if White does not move towards the edge, 81.Ke3, then 81...Bd3 is the same sort of move.

81.Kf3 Kd3 82.Kf4 Bd5

Again, there is a move that leads to checkmate two moves faster, 82...Be6

83.Kf5 Ke3 84.Kg4 Be4 85.Kg5 Be5

Time remaining: 0:35 -- 0:42

86.Kg4 Bf4

The recurring pattern that forces the king to the edge.

87.Kh5 Bf5

87...Kf3 is easy to find and two moves faster.

88.Kh4

The rest of my play was perfect and used 12 seconds.

Black to move

88...Kf2 89.Kh5 Kf3 90.Kh4

Those learning how to finish this checkmate should observe the simple way that my bishops drive the king to the corner.

90...Bg6 91.Kh3 Bg5 92.Kh2 Kf2

My king must end up here.

93.Kh3 Bf5+ 94.Kh2 Bf4+ 95.Kh1 Be4#

As is happens, one of my students is finishing the Bishop Award and has this checkmate and two pawn endings remaining.

Difficult Breakthrough

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:32:00 +0000

I had Black and the move in this position, found my way to a sacrificial breakthrough that led to a win, and ended feeling good about my skill. Stockfish was critical and brought me back down. My breakthrough idea was flawed and only my opponent's defensive errors gave me the win.

Black to move

30...Kf8 31.Kh2 Ke8 32.Kh3 Rc1 33.Kg3

My moves so far have been fine, although lots of deep computer analysis and dozens of games played against Stockfish on my iPad have convinced me that it would have been more accurate to place my rook on the first rank before moving my king towards the queenside.

Black to move

33...Rd1

This move does not yet squander the advantage, but would have been an appropriate moment for the correct sacrifice.

34.Rf4 Rd3+ 35.Rf3

Black to move

35...Rdxd4??

This sacrifice, which I was proud of during the game, was a blunder that should have led to a draw.

36.Bxd4 Rxd4 37.Rb3

Black to move

My thinking may have been that my centralized king's ability to help my center pawns made them more powerful than White's queenside pawns.

37...Rg4+ 38.Kh3??

This unfortunate error restored my advantage. Had White's king stayed near my central pawns, soon to advance, they would have been stopped.

39...Re4?

39...d4 retains the advantage

39.Rxb5 Rxe5 40.Rb8+ Ke7 41.a4 d4 42.Rb3 Rd5

Placing my rook behind a passed pawn.

White to move

43.Rd3 e5 44.Kg3 e4 45.Rd1 Ke6

White to move

46.Kf4??

The final error.

46.b4 Ke5 47.Kf2 e3+ 48.Kf3=

46...e3-+ 47.Ke4 e2 48.Re1 d3 49.Kf3 Re5 White resigned 0-1

Computer Training

After running quick analysis using the website's analysis feature, I realized my play was not as brilliant as it had felt while playing. But, it was not clear to me what I should have played to convert the clear advantage Stockfish found in the position.

Running the engine and playing its favored moves seemed to involve a great deal of shuffling and often unforced weakening moves by White.

I was intrigued.

The key idea that I missed was a pawn sacrifice to open the a-file with the idea of getting both Black rooks on the first rank. Black then aims to force the exchange of rooks.

Having learning the correct idea from computer analysis, I began playing and replaying the position against the machine. I spent one evening playing more than a dozen games against Stockfish on my iPad. White's resources were revealed in games ending in a draw and even one loss. I won a few, too.

Over the course of several weeks, I analyzed these games on my computer. Then, while writing this article, I played Stockfish 17 on my computer from the position the top of this post.

30...Rc1 31.Kg3 Kf8 32.Kf2

The beginning of a maneuver that the iPad version of Stockfish never found.

32...Ke8 33.Ke3 b4

The correct idea, but here, perhaps, timing is off. Possibly better is 33...Rg1 34.Rf2 Rh1 35.g3 Rg1 36.Rf3 b4

34.axb4

Black to move

34...Rh1

My first effort continued 34...Rc7 35.Kd2 Rg1 36.Kc2 Rxg2+ 37.Kb3 and I did not find the only move that holds an advantage: 37...Rg1

35.g3 Rc7

Better than 35...Rc8 due to White's attack on the f-pawn.

36.Kd2 Ra7

36...Rh2+ is better 37.Kc1 Ra7

37.Kc2 Raa1 38.b5 Rhf1

The f-pawn must be protected so that the king can get in front of White's passed pawn.

White to move

39.Re3

Perhaps 39.Rf6 was a better choice.

39...Kd7 40.Bb4 Rf2+ 41.Kb3 Kc7 42.Bc5 Rb1 43.Ba3 Kb6 44.Rc3 Kxb5 45.Rc5+ Kb6 46.Kb4

Another slight inaccuracy, according to Stockfish when it has more time to analyze this position than it did to play it.

46.Ka4 is more stubborn.

Black to move

46...Rbxb2+

In this position, my original exchange sacrifice is now correct.

47.Bxb2 Rxb2 48.Ka4

48.Kc3 drops the g3 pawn, but it seems to me that the d-pawn is more important and it soon falls.

49.Rb5+ Kc6 50.Rc5+ Kd7 51.Ra5 Rxd4+ 52.Kb5 Rc4

White to move

53.Ra7+ Rc7 54.Ra3 Rc2 55.Ra7+ Ke8 56.Ra8+ Ke7 57.Ra7+ Kf8 58.Ra8+ Kg7 59.Ra3

Black to move

I stopped playing against Stockfish here because I had places that I needed to go, but I was confident that after 59...Re2 I would have the sort of rook ending that I can win against the engine. Maybe I will continue at a later datew.

Forcing Moves

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 14:29:00 +0000

From this morning’s tactics session while I drank my coffee.

White to move

Solve at the link: https://www.chess.com/puzzles/problem/1188690

I spent a little over four minutes working out the full sequence.

A Pattern

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 16:25:00 +0000

The relationship between two puzzles on chess.com surprised me Wednesday morning and I made it that afternoon's lesson for my beginning students. Sometimes I use this feature of the website and iOS app regularly. During the first fifteen years that I was a member of chess.com, I only did puzzles occasionally, completing fewer than 5000. That changed in December 2022 and I've completed nearly 17,000 in the past three years.

Wednesday, I completed 41, failing 13. One that came up early in the session took me five seconds. This mating sequence crops up most days, as it did again this morning. It also appeared in the last puzzle Wednesday morning, but with a twist that took me nearly a minute to recognize that it was essentially the same.

Because the website only shows me the past 30, I was not able to put the early position in front of my students. Instead, I found a game played by Adolf Anderssen in 1861 that finished with the same idea.

White to move

The first student to offer a solution suggested 21.Bxg7, but after 21...Nxf2+ 22.Rxf2 Kxg7, it was clear that White was worse. We did not look at 22.Kg1 Nh3+ 23.Kh1, but Black has two good choices that neutralize the attack.

The students then saw the correct 21.Rxg7+, but I had to show them the key idea after 21...Kh8 22.Rg8+! and mate follows when the other rook comes to the g-file.

This morning's version took me six seconds.

Black to move

20...Rxg2+ 21.Kh1 Rg1+ 22.Kxg1 Rg8+ 23.Bg5

Sometimes, in the puzzles that chess.com feeds me, there are several pieces that can step into the line of fire and increase the move count.

23...Rxg5#

Seeing the same pattern in this next exercise took longer and brought a pleasant surprise. My young students did not see it until I showed it to them.

Black to move

30...Rxg2+ was obvious, but I did not play it until I saw the follow up after 50 seconds. 31.Kh1 Rg1+ 32.Kxg1 (32.Kh2 also leads to mate on the move) 32...Qxg3#.

Chess patterns are familiar ideas in slightly different positions. Good puzzle books and sometimes chess websites help aspiring players learn and train recognition of these ideas. The first two volumes of The Manual of Chess Combinations by Sergey Ivashchenko are particularly good in this respect.

Blind Swine

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:53:00 +0000

Early this month, I wrote about the term "blind swine" as it is used in chess literature with links to Edward Winter's historical inquiries. Logically, it seems to me, rooks on the seventh rank that can find checks, but not checkmate are blind pigs (or swine). Two rooks who cannot find checkmate still might prove their worth as a drawing resource.

This morning, an opening blunder dropped some pawns and I struggled on, reaching a rook ending that should have been hopeless.

White to move

35.Rb7

I prepared to double my rooks on the seventh. Black cannot prevent this, but can render my rooks ineffective several ways:

35...h5 creates checkmate threats

35...Kh8 allows Rg8 to defend the g-pawn

35...a5 protects on pawn and leaves open the possibility of meeting 36.Rcc7 with Rg4

35...e4??

My opponent made one of the few moves possible to throw away the win.

36.Rcc7 Ra2+ 37.Kh3

Black to move

Black can no longer prevent endless checks from my rooks and the game was drawn by repetition after 37...g5 38.Rg7+ Kf8 39.Rbf7+ Ke8 40.Re7+ Kf8 41.Rgf7+ Kg8 42.Rg7+ Kf8 43.Rgf7+ Kg8 44.Rg7+ Kf8

The Soul of Chess

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 14:45:00 +0000

After dropping a couple of pieces in a ten-minute game, my position was near hopeless. My only chance was the difficulty my opponent faced in finding the correct defense.

White to move

34.Rg1!

The only move to preserve the win.

34.Re1, which looks reasonable on the surface, fails. 34...d2! 35.Rfxe2 Rc1 36.Kg1 Rxe1+ 37.Kf2 d1Q 38.Rxe1 Qd4+ picks up the knight and leaves queen vs. rook with pawns on both sides.

34...Rc1

A desperate gamble.

35.Rxc1 d2 36.Rff1

Black to move

Black can take either rook, but not both. White wins.

In the game, White, with 4 1/2 minutes remaining, spent half a minute and did not find the critical Rg1. He took my rook and then resigned after 34...e1Q+.

One of my students who also did not find 34.Rg1, did find 36.Rff1 after my 34...Rc1?? 34...d2! would have won for Black.

My pawns rolling down the center of the board were inspired by many historic games. My students are seeing the well-known game McDonnell,A. De Labourdonnais, L. 1834

White to move

After 31...Bd8

32.Qc4 Qe1 33.Rc1 d2 34.Qc5 Rg8 35.Rd1 e3 36.Qc3

Black to move

36...Qxd1 37.Rxd1 e2 0-1

I am also showing students the end of Petrosian,T. -- Fischer,R. 1958

Black to move

63...Kd2 64.Rxc2+ Kxc2 65.Kg5 c4 66.f6 c3 67.f7

Here Fischer offered a draw and Petrosian agreed, but with my students, we carry the game further to assure than they understand why the resulting queen vs. c-pawn endgame is a draw.

Of course, François-André Danican Philidor's analysis in Analyse du jeu des Échecs (1849) also inspired my play. It was in this book that Philidor offered his famous line, "pawns are the soul of chess."

White to move

38.f7 Rf8 39.Nf4+ Kg7 40.Bh5 and White's pawns cannot be stopped.

Checkmate Pattern: Two Pigs

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 14:56:00 +0000

The pattern that I call Two Pigs is usually referred to as the “Blind Swine Mate”. It is an unfortunate and illogical term that violates an unsourced quote credited to Dawid Markelowicz Janowsky (1868-1927). The unsourced quote has been in circulation at least since 1953, the original publishing date of The Art of Attack in Chess.

“The pair of rooks which “grunt out check” on the seventh rank but cannot get a sight of mate were once nicknamed ‘blind swine’ by Janowski” (Victor Vukovic, The Art of Attack in Chess [1993], 73).

If they are blind, they do not find checkmate.

I knew less about the history of this pattern name when I created my self-published A Checklist of Checkmates twenty years ago. The contents of page 15:

Edward Winter often has written about the appalling number of unsourced quotes in chess literature.* Regarding the Janowsky quote, see Chess Notes 3494, 3525, and 5160 (scroll down). The last of these was prompted by my correspondence with Winter, noting two instances when Janowsky had two rooks on the seventh rank and could manage only a draw. Although the quote is unsourced, one can imagine Janowsky grumbling about pigs that cannot see checkmate. However, in the game that I cited in A Checklist of Checkmates, his blind pigs saved an otherwise lost game.

Such was my idea in a blitz game yesterday, when blind to the advantage that I had, I set up a draw that was not forced until my opponent returned the favor.

White to move

39.Rff7??

39.Rc8+ Kd7 40.Rg8+- was the winning line.

39...b1Q??

After 39...Rxe4+, Black still gets a queen, while White's blind swine cannot force a draw.

40.Rfe7+ and the game was quickly drawn by repetition as Black cannot escape endless checks.

In another online game in July, I was on the receiving end of the Two Pigs checkmate, except that in this case another piece (knight or king) was needed, and so the pattern is not the same.

White to move

29.a6

This desperate try failed.

29.Rxd5 was another possibility that fails.

29...b6 30.Rc1 Rg2+ 31.Kh1

31.Kf1 Ne3+ 32.Ke1 Rbe2#

This is a pattern that Raf Mesotten, The Checkmate Pattens Manual (2022) calls Vukovic's Mate (45-49). It appears to be an instructive book, but like every other book on the subject, it passes on common attributions grounded in bad history and unsourced quotes (see "Pillsbury's Mate"). To Mesotten's credit, he notes clearly that his sources for the pattern names were chessgames.com, Wikipedia, and Chess Tempo (7).

31...Rxh2+ 32.Kg1 Rbg2+ and I resigned as a knight-assisted "Ladder mate" was coming.

The Two Pigs Mate pattern appears in this game played on Internet Chess Club in 2001.

White to move

21.O-O?

White is much worse, but castling here gives Black a forced mate in three, which I promptly executed.

21...Rgxg2+ 22.Kh1 Rxh2+ 23.Kg1 Rcg2#

*I also have some articles on the topic and related topics, such as "Plagiarism and Related Crimes".

Be Alert

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 14:09:00 +0000

It is one thing to solve tactical exercises, but quite another to seize such opportunities when they arise in our games. Often we get caught up in our plans to such an extent that we carry on with a sequence of moves unaware that an opportunity for advantage arose.

I noted in "Two Donner Quotes" that A Class players have defects in their game. Yesterday, in the last round of the Eastern Washington Open, my opponent, a strong A Class player, missed an opportunity after my 23...Ng4? I had considered 23...b5, which Stockfish sees as slightly better for Black.

White to move

Five moves later, it was my turn to miss a chance for a decisive advantage.

Black to move

What would you play in these two positions?

Checkmates Missed; Checkmates Found

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 22:47:00 +0000

This morning during a momentary lapse of reason, I threw away a game.

Black to move

I played 40...Bxh2?? and was mated.

A couple of days ago, in a game that I won, I missed not one, but two forced checkmates in two moves.

White to move

30.Be4+ did not throw away the decisive advantage, but did extend the distance to mate. After 30...Kb8 31.d7 Bxe4 32.d8Q+ Kxb7, I had a second opportunity to play a simple mate in two.

White to move

The game continued 33.Rc7+ Kb6 34.Rxf7+ Black resigns.

Later that same day, I found a mate in four after my opponent threw away a winning position with 28.Ng6??

Black to move

Last night, just before bed, I managed to find a forced mate in six in a three minute game after my opponent played 31.Rcc7

Black to move

I have not given any of the checkmate sequences, leaving them for the reader to find.

Knight over Bishop

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 16:31:00 +0000

I had this position this morning. I was White.

Black to move

41...Bd3??

It is clear that 41...Be2 would have prevented, or at least delayed my plans to remove Black's g-pawn, but 41...Ba2 also keeps the draw in hand. To wit, 42.Nf3 Kc4 43.Ne5+ Kb4 44.Nxg6 Kxa4 45.Ne5 Bg8 46.Kxf5 c4 and White will be forced to give up the knight for Black's last pawn.

42.Nf3+- c4 43.Ne5 Bc2 44.a5!

This move was necessary to the win.

44.Nxg6 Bxa4 45.Ne7+ Ke6 46.Nxf5=

Black to move

Analysis diagram

Black's only drawing move may not be so easy to find here. What would you play?

44...Kc5 45.Nxg6 Kb5

White to move

46.Ne5

Stockfish favors 46.a6! The lines following are pure engine.

46...Bb3 47.g6 Kxa5 48.g7 c3 49.bxc3 Bg8 50.Kxf5 Kb5 51.Kf6 Kc5

White to move

52.c4

White wins more quickly with a simple technique: Ke7 or Nf7 with the idea of trapping the bishop. 52.Nf7 Kc4 53.Kg6 Kxc3 54.Nh6 Be6 55.Nf7 and the pawn promotes.

52...Kd4 53.Kf5

I appeared to be oblivious to the technique mentioned above.

53...Kc5 54.Ke4 Kd6 55.Kd4 Ke7

White to move

56.c5!

I found the only winning move.

56...Kf6 57.Nd7+ Kxg7 58.c6!

And again, only one move wins.

58...Be6 59.Ke5

59.Kc5 also wins

60.Nc5! Be2 61.c7 Bg4

White to move

62.Ne6+

Black's last few seconds of time ran out.

1-0

National Grade Level Championships

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:55:00 +0000

A national youth event is coming to my city in December. Registration is open for the National K-12 Grade Chess Championships, which will be held 12-14 December 2025 at the Spokane Convention Center.

Website for the event: K-12 Championships.

Errors Aplenty

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 16:58:00 +0000

Misplaying a Rook Ending

Why are rook endings difficult? The rook's move is arguably the simplest in chess, yet a rook ending where one side has an advantage of one pawn can prove vexing.

This ending arose in a game-10 Arena on chessdotcom. Both players had slightly more than three minutes remaining after 67 moves. I had Black.

White to move

68.Kf5?

Now, the position is equal. 68.Kd5 leads to a win.

68...Rh1

68...Rd1 also holds the draw.

69.Kg4 Rg1+ 70.Kf5 Rh1 71.Ke4

Black to move

71...Kf6?

71...Rf1 was the only move.

After the subsequent 72.Rf5+, Stockfish gives 72...Ke6 as equal, but an advantage of two pawns after 72...Ke7. However, experience analyzing many rook endings with Stockfish has taught me that anything under +4 should not be considered a decisive advantage. 72...Ke7 likely also hold the draw.

72.d5!+-

White is again winning. The next errors cam after thirteen more moves.

72...Ra1 73.Re6+ Kf7 74.Ke5 Re1+ 75.Kd6 Rf1 76.Re7+ Kf6 77.Re8 Kf7 78.Re7+ Kf6 79.Re4 Rc1 80.Kd7 Kf7 81.d6

Black to move

81...Rc5 82.Re7+ Kf8 83.Kd8 Rxh5 84.d7 Rc5

White to move

85.f5?

85.Re5 secures the full point

85...Rxf5?

Black puts White back in the driver's seat. Four possible moves along the c-file would have held the draw.

Despite Black's failure here, White did not find the right idea, although he came close.

86.Re8+ Kf7 87.Kc7 Rc5+ 88.Kd6 Rc1

White to move

89.Re7+

This move does throw away the win, but White nonetheless missed the right idea.

89.d8Q Rd1 90.Kc5 Rxd8 91.Rxd8 Kf6 92.Rd5 and Black's king cannot help the advance of his pawns.

89...Kf6

Three moves later, the game was drawn by repetition.

Thematic Obsession

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Sat, 09 Aug 2025 14:30:00 +0000

On Thursday at youth chess camp, I taught a short session on the minority attack and another on hanging pawns. On Friday, I tried to initiate a minority attack when the position did not call for it. Later in this game, my opponent had hanging pawns. By this point in the game, I already had a clear advantage.

The game was played in Arena at chessdotcom. 10 minutes.

Stripes,J. (1796) -- Internet Opponent (1968) [E08]
Live Chess Chess.com, 08.08.2025

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.Rd1 h6

A rare move

White to move

9.a3N

Perhaps I'm hoping to conduct a minority attack.

9.Nbd2 is natural and best b6 10.e4 Bb7 11.e5 Nh7 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.h4 appeared in Nepomniachtchi,I (2779) -- Tabatabaei,M (2689) Julius Baer Play In Match Chess.com INT rapid 2023, which Black won in 93 moves.

9...Re8 10.cxd5?!

10.Nc3 dxc4 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Nd7 13.Ne4

10...exd5 11.b4

Hastily initiating a minority attack that lacks support of pieces

11...Nb6 12.Nbd2

White will have difficulty getting the light-squared bishop into play.

12...Bf8 13.e3

13.Ne5 may be better

13...Bg4

White to move

14.Nb3

14.Re1 is better. White's opening cannot be deemed a success, as Black seems to be the one making threats.

14...Nc4 15.Nc5 b6 16.Nd3 Qc7 17.Re1 Nd6

White to move

18.Nfe5

The wrong knight. 18.Nde5 is equal.

18...Bd7

18...Bf5 pins the other knight.

19.Bb2=

White missed an opportunity to gain a pawn. 19.Nxd7 Qxd7 20.Ne5 Qe6 21.Qxc6 Rec8 22.Qa4.

19...Nde4?

This error helps White to gain the advantage. 19...Bf5

20.Rac1 Rac8 21.Nxd7 Qxd7 22.Ne5

22.f3 Nd6 23.e4 was better.

22...Qf5

White to move

23.Qe2

White missed an opportunity to take control.

23.f3!+- Nd6 24.Qxf5 Nxf5 25.Bh3 This pin is the key to the tactical sequence 25...g6 26.e4 Ne7 27.Bxc8 Rxc8 28.Re2

23...Ng5 24.h4 Ne6 25.Qf3?

25.Rxc6 Rxc6 26.Nxc6+-

25...Qxf3 26.Bxf3 Nd8

26...c5 27.dxc5 bxc5 28.b5 would keep some chances for equality.

White to move

27.b5!

Although the minority attack that I tried to force led only to handing Black equality or perhaps even a slight advantage, shackling my opponent with hanging pawns was a good decision. Even here, though, the routine 27.Rc2 was slightly stronger, according to the engine.

27...c5 28.dxc5 bxc5+-

Now Black has hanging pawns. These are not always a defect in the position, but here they present White with vulnerable targets without offering Black any dynamic counterplay.

White has superior minor pieces, as well as more space and mobility.

29.a4

It is not terrible to secure the majority, but there are much better opportunities on the board. For instance, 29.Nd3 Nb7 30.Bxf6 removes a defender, although giving up one of the "superior" minor pieces 30...gxf6 31.Bxd5 Na5 32.Bc4 Rcd8 33.Nf4

29...Bd6 30.Ng4

30.Nd3

30... Nxg4 31.Bxg4 Rc7 32.Red1 Be5

White to move

33.Ba3! d4 34.exd4

34.Rxc5! Nb7 35.Rxc7 Bxc7 36.Rxd4+-

34...Bf6 35.dxc5 Nb7 36.c6

Black's position is resignable. See "Two Donner Quotes".

White to move

The game went on another 25 moves. I kept my advantage. 1-0

Bishop vs. Knight

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 13:09:00 +0000

This week is Inland Chess Academy's annual August Youth Chess Camp and I'm teaching three sessions each of the three days.

My first session on Tuesday covered a few situations where a bishop or knight was a poor piece, such as a bishop's ineptitude when it does not control the promotion square of an a- or h-pawn. We also looked at some games where a good minor piece was able to dominate its rival.

The first position was from a game I played on Lichess seven years ago.

White to move

White knew that Black's h-pawn had no future and quickly reached a textbook draw with 53.Nf7 Ke4 54.Nxd6+ Bxd6 55.Kg1 Kxd5 and there were thirty moves of shuffling as Black tried to run White's remaining 48 seconds down to zero. It was futile. Black had less time and White knew how to hold the draw. The game was drawn by repetition after move 86.

Another somewhat more difficult position comes from a game that I annotated in "Excelling at Technical Chess" 14 years ago, a game that is memorable both because I played reasonably well and because it was my revenge after I lost to my opponent in 20 moves a few months earlier.

White to move

I had plenty of time, but perhaps was rushing things because my opponent was short of time.

56.Be2 traps the knight and I should have won quickly. Instead,

56.g4?? Nf3 57.Kf4 Nd4 58.Kg3 Ne6 59.Bf5 Ng7 60.Bc8

Black to move

My opponent erred in this position, returning the advantage I had squandered earlier. Twenty moves later, he resigned.

What would you play if you had Black here?

Two Donner Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 17:06:00 +0000

On Friday, 16 May, someone shared on Facebook a quote by J. H. Donner concerning the difficulty of converting a winning position into a win. Donner's words were that he "cannot stand" such positions, while he "loves" all other types of chess positions, even "a bad position". The statement comes from an article, "On the Justice of Chess", that he wrote in 1950 and that was reprinted in The King: Chess Pieces (2006), 17-20.

The shared quote inspired me somewhat two days after I read it on Facebook. While going through a long and difficult game that I won, my opponent and I were examining a position that had occurred one-third of the way through the game. I was clearly worse. "You should have resigned," Mark said. My position was quite bleak. I was down an exchange plus pawn and my pieces had no play.

Black to move

Havrilla -- Stripes 2025

Perhaps it was about this time that I walked over to the wall charts to see Mark's rating. It was close to mine (ten points lower). We were both low-A Class. I've been A-Class long enough to know that anyone at such a level probably has defects in their game.

My position was clearly worse, but my opponent still had some work to perform. A resignable position in my view is one where I could turn the board around, take my opponent's side, and defeat Magnus Carlsen, or Stockfish, or Carlsen and Stockfish working together.

Donner's assertion, which I could no longer find where I'd remembered seeing it on Facebook, was made in the context of two games he played against Borislav Milic in a match between Yugoslavia and the Netherlands. Although Donner reached a clearly superior position in both games, he managed only half a point.

Black to move

Donner -- Milic 1950

In comments on the position above, he wrote, "Decent players resign in such a position. Black did not and managed a draw" (19).

Knowing that my opponent was quite strong, but not so strong that a few errors might led me swindle a draw from my nearly hopeless position, I opted to play on.

Twelve moves after the position that Mark and I were examining postgame when he thought that I should resign, I snatched an important pawn with 33…Nxa4.

White to move

Havrilla -- Stripes 2025

My game remained objectively worse, but at least my pieces had some play. While discussing the game afterwards with some others at the tournament, I described my knight as a fly buzzing in my opponent's face. I expressed some empathy for the difficulty of contending with such irritation.

The game continued, 34.Rc8 Bc5+ 35.Kg2 Rxc8 36.Bxc8 Nxc3 37.Rc1 Ne2 38.Rf1 b6

White to move

Havrilla -- Stripes 2025

I began to feel that a draw was a real possibility. After 39.Kf3 Nd4+ 40.Kg4 a4! I was certain that I could hold the game.

Neither of us played the best moves from this difficult position, but after another twenty moves, I was clearly winning. My opponent was also desperately short of time.

White to move

Havrilla -- Stripes 2025

Five moves later, my pawn was sitting a2, I had my queen near to hand, and my opponent's clock expired.

In Donner's first game with Milic, he spent an hour on this position.

Black to move

Milic -- Donner 1950

Stockfish 17 favors the move that he played, 22...Rg8, but he suggested several others as better, writing without the benefit of computer analysis in 1950. Nonetheless, his advantage began to slip away and the clock also had become an issue by the time Milic had a clear advantage.

This loss and the draw that followed led Donner to offer what became an inspirational quote for me after Mark's postgame comment.

I love all positions. Give me a difficult positional game, I'll play it. Give me a bad position, I'll defend it. Openings, endgames, complicated positions and dull, drawn positions, I love them all and will give them my best efforts. But totally winning positions I cannot stand. (19)

Later in the same paragraph is the statement that I used as an epigraph last week while annotating an ending where imperfect play on both sides gave me drawing chances that I missed, followed by my opponent missing his winning chances, and eventually the draw falling into my lap (see "Comedy of Errors"): "It is much better, in fact, to play an objectively less correct game but to be able to win once you've got a winning position" (19).

Comedy of Errors

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Wed, 28 May 2025 17:12:00 +0000

It is much better, in fact, to play an objectively less correct game but to be able to win once you've got a winning position.
J.H. Donner, "On the Justice of Chess" (1950), rpt. The King: Chess Pieces (2006), 19.

White to move

White clearly has a winning advantage. After ten moves, the advantage is still there.

White to move

White struggled to find the correct plan to bring home the full point. The correct idea is to march the king to a7 in order to activate the rook. See a discussion of this idea in "Knowledge".

52.f4??=

52.Kg2 Ra2+ 53.Kf1 Kg6 54.Ke1+-

52...Ra2 53.Ra7 Kh6??

Black also seems to be confused about the demands of the position.

53...Kg6 was necessary.

54.f5+- Ra3 55.Ra8 Kh7 56.Ra7 Kh6 57.Ra8 Kh7

White to move

58.a7??=

This move clarifies matters for Black. Moreover, the correct plan mentioned above is no longer an option. White's only hope is that Black will err.

58...Ra2 59.g4 Ra3+ 60.Kg2

Black to move

60...hxg4??

60...Ra2+ holds. White's king cannot both find refuge from checks and prevent Black from getting a passed pawn that becomes a queening threat. But, Black's haste to get a passed pawn here was a critical error.

To Black's credit, he now knew that his position was lost and what White should do to win. After nine more moves, the critical moment arrived.

White to move

70.f6??=

70.h6 would win. The f-pawn will deflect either the rook from it's critical spot behind the pawn, or the king from security against a skewer.

Although the draw is now assured, the game continued for another 20 moves. I was Black and played this game this morning online at ten minutes for the game.

The Sidebar

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Mon, 19 May 2025 17:04:00 +0000

Chess Skills was started in 2007. At the time, most readers accessed the content on a regular computer. Now, more and more use mobile devices, which often deprives them of access to the sidebar. It contains much that is useful: a link to my self-published books, links to posts that are receiving traffic, an archive list, an index of topics, and links to other sites.

Particularly useful for some of my regular visitors are the links concerning scholastic chess in Washington state where I coach and work as an event organizer.

There is also a contact form for those who would like to email a personal communication to me.

Alas, many of the links, especially to blogs, are no longer active. This morning, I'm spending some time eliminating dead links and adding a few new ones. I'm keeping a few blogs on the list that are no longer active because they offer good content.

Seek the Truth

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Sun, 18 May 2025 13:23:00 +0000

Many years ago I was going through a game played by two others at the Spokane Chess Club with the one who lost the game. We were looking for improvements in his play when his opponent stopped by, stating, "but, this is what happened in the game." That player who won that game never got his rating substantially above where it was then. The other player continued to improve. Both of them have far better records against me than anyone else rated 500 points lower, but that's another story.

Yesterday, at the Inland Empire Open, my second round opponent resigned at move 22. In the post game analysis, our task was to find his errors and improve upon them rather than celebrate my performance. Analyzing with Steve and other opponents is also one of the central pleasures of weekend chess tournaments.

In 2006, Steve and I tied for first in the Reserve (u1700) section of the Washington Challenger's Cup. It was my first significant success in a weekend Swiss (see "My Chess Journey"). Our game in that event had one of the longest chess moves ever played in one of my games--his 37 minutes and my 23 minutes. The last time we played, two years ago, the game was even until he made an endgame error (see "Bishop vs. Knight").

Stripes,James (1831) -- Brendemihl,Steve (1557) [A80]
Inland Empire Open Spokane (2), 17.05.2025

1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 4.e4 h6?!

4...fxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 is the normal continuation.

White to move

5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.Nf3

6.exf5 appears in several games.
6.e5 Qf7 7.h4 d6 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Bb5 Bd7 10.Qe2 0-0-0 11.0-0-0 and White won after a long struggle 1-0 Melkumyan,H (2640) -- Kamsky,G (2623) Titled Tuesday intern op 27th Feb Late Chess.com INT blitz 2024.

6...Bb4 7.exf5 Bxc3+

7...0-0 was worth considering 8.fxe6 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 d6 White is slightly better.

8.bxc3

Black to move

8...exf5N

I expected 8...Qxf5, which my database shows me was played in a short draw in 2015.

8...0-0 is probably best 9.fxe6 Qxe6+ 10.Qe2 Qf7 11.Ne5 Qf6 12.Qf3 (White should have played 12.Qc4+ d5 13.Qxd5+ Be6 14.Qxe6+ Qxe6 15.Bc4) 12...d6 13.Bc4+ Be6 14.Qxf6 Rxf6 15.d5 Bf5 16.Nd3 Nd7 and Black won in 76 moves 0-1 Naegeli,O -- Diemer,E SUI-ch 57th Thun 1956.

9.Bc4 d6 10.0-0

White has a comfortable game

10...Nc6

10...Kf8 is a computer recommendation. 11.Re1 g5 12.Re3 f4 13.Re2

11.Re1+ Ne7

11...Kf8

12.Qe2

12.Qd3 might be better 12...g5 13.Re2 Rh7 (13...g4 14.Rae1 gxf3 15.Rxe7+ Qxe7 16.Rxe7+ Kxe7 17.Qe3+ Kd8 18.Qxf3+-) 14.h3 g4 15.hxg4 Rg7 16.Rae1 and White is slightly better.

12...Kd8

12...g5 and I might have played 13.d5 to open d4 for my knight.

White to move

13.Rad1!+/=

A move that the computer likes better after seeing it played.

13...Re8 14.Ne5

Hope chess: take my knight, please. 14.Bb3 is probably better.

14...d5

14...c6 15.Bf7 (15.Nf7+? Kc7) 15...Rf8 16.Bh5 Kc7 and Stockfish wants to sacrifice the knight
14...-- I had this fantasy 15.Nf7+ Kd7 16.Be6+ Kc6 17.Qc4+ Kb6 18.Rb1+ Ka5 19.Qb5#

15.Bb3

Before placing my knight on e5, I thought I could play 15.Bxd5 Nxd5 16.Nc6+ but after my opponent's move. I saw that 16...Qxc6 protects the rook.

Black to move

15...c6

It was difficult to find an improvement for Black at this point in the game. White's advantage is clear and the moves come easy.

15...a5 16.a3

16.c4+- Be6

16...dxc4 17.Bxc4 Kc7 18.d5+-

17.cxd5 Nxd5 18.Qd2

I almost played 18.c4?? Nc3 19.Qd2 Nxd1 20.Bxd1 and White may have compensation for the material wantonly thrown away.

18.Bxd5 Bxd5 19.c4 Bf7 20.d5+-

18...Kc7 19.c4

Black to move

19...Ne7

We looked at 19...Nb6 20.Qa5 Kc8 21.c5 Bxb3 22.axb3 Nd5 and White does not seem to have much of an attack, even though Black's positional difficulties remain.

20.d5 Red8

20...Rad8 21.Qa5+ Kb8 22.dxe6+-
20...cxd5 21.cxd5 Bxd5 22.Bxd5 Rad8 23.Qc1+ Kb8 24.Bf7+-

21.d6+ Kb8

We looked at 21...Kc8 22.dxe7 Qxe7 23.Qxd8+ (23.Ng6 is better) 23...Qxd8 24.Rxd8+ Kxd8 25.Nxc6+ White is a piece to the good.

White to move

22.dxe7!

It's nice to be able to play such a move. Black resigned.

22.dxe7 Rxd2 (22...Re8 23.Qd6+ Kc8 24.Nxc6; 22...Qxe7 23.Qxd8+ Qxd8 24.Rxd8+ Bc8 25.c5) 23.e8Q+ Kc7 (23...Rd8 24.Rxd8+ Kc7 25.Rxa8) 24.Qxa8

1-0

Two Endings from Informant

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Fri, 16 May 2025 16:12:00 +0000

Yesterday, I put one of my stronger students through five endings from Chess Informant 163. They proved challenging. This morning, I had three candidate moves for number six. I rejected the move played in the game, but chose the wrong one of the other two.

White to move and win

From Putnam,L.--Kaliksteyn,A., New York 2025

After some discussion concerning efforts that did not work, I found how Anton Korobov drew against Bogdan Deac.

Black to move

How would you play these two endings?

Some Problems in the French

noreply@blogger.com (James Stripes) — Thu, 15 May 2025 11:07:00 +0000

This position has arisen perhaps a dozen times in master play.

Black to move

The most recent instance of this position was in Lu,M.--Svane,F., Wijk aan Zee 2025. Svane played 10...dxc4. In ChessBase Mega 2024, Black has played this move seven times, limiting White's score to 42.9%.

10...c6 is more common and was suggested as better by Milos Perunovic in Chess Informant 163/104.

10...Bf4 appears four times in CB Mega, including in a blitz game, Topalov,V.--Nepomniachtchi,I., Zagreb 2022, which was drawn in 70 moves. In none of these games did White play 11.cxd5, which Stockfish 17 recommends.

This position appears in 35 games in ChessBase Mega 2024.

Black to move

The most popular replies have been:

a) 10...Bd7
b) 10...Qb6
c) 10...O-O

Black has not done well with Stockfish's top choice.

This position occurs with some frequency.

Black to move

Black has two ways to capture the pawn on c5, or the capture can be postponed. What are the merits of each of the main options?

a) 9...Bxc5
b) 9...Nxc5
c) 9...Qa5

Bonus Positions

What would you play?

Black to move

From Gukesh,D.--Harikrishna,P., Wijk aan Zee 2025, CI 163/105

Black to move

From Tabatabaei,M.--Mamedyarov,S., Deutschland 2025, CI 163/108