Back to Basics / Reader annotations
A 700 Player Knows His Threats
Some practical advice for players rated under-1000 By GM LEV ALBURT
AS A RULE, I ONLY USE WELL- annotated games by the submitting players themselves. What a player thought dur- ing, and after, the game is as important to me and to readers as are the actual moves. And while this month’s column has been submitted to me not by the player but by his teacher, we can clearly discern the player’s thoughts from the teacher’s words. Writes Kevin Swanger’s master-rated teacher, Leonard Dickerson (my further comments are in italics): I have taught chess for decades, and
your articles are one of the main features that I read monthly because it gives me some insight into what lower-rated play- ers think. A 12-year-old student of mine, Kevin Swanger, recently played a decent game in a 60-minute club Swiss that I think your readership will enjoy. While he didn’t make any spectacular moves against his much higher-rated opponent, he did demonstrate the art of making decent, simple moves while searching out vulnerabilities. Just a month prior to this January tour-
nament, we had been concentrating on recognizing threats and avoiding one-move blunders. I emphasized to him that if he can remain alert enough to avoid the one-move blunder, then he can play a com pet itive game against anyone under, say, 1000. My chess tutorial attempts to focus the player on threats: “What is he directly attacking or planning to threaten?” After this you systematically step through this progression when considering your threats provided by his move:
• Are there any checks available? • Are there any chessmen that I can presently capture? • Are there any unprotected enemy men
or badly-placed pieces on awkward squares? • What direct attack can I now make? • What threat can I set up to complete on my following move(s)?
Applying this methodology, he not only
beat his higher-rated opponent but simul- taneously provided stiff competition to
42 July 2013 | Chess Life
6. Nge2 d6 7. 0-0 Be6 8. d3 White has erected the Botvinnik varia-
tion of the English opening. Because he has a very stable center and a grip on the white squares, he will soon be trying to expand with f2-f4 to pursue a kingside attack.
8. ... h6 This is certainly OK, but a little better
would be an immediate ... a7-a5 because it would forestall any plans that White
another higher-rated opponent. You see, he was playing both higher-rated oppo- nents at the same time! (He missed playing his first opponent the previous week and so would forfeit that game if he didn’t simultaneously play it now.) Kevin states that when both of his oppo-
nents made a move on his time, he would respond to Mr. Bynum’s move first since Mr. Bynum was consuming so much time while thinking. Kevin says that things went “according to plan!” So I guess we can credit him with a time-management tidbit.
English Opening (A25) Kipp Bynum (1342) Kevin Swanger (724) Steve Higgs Memorial 2013
This game shows the value of simply making threats and allowing your oppo- nent to err in defense.
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 Nc6 4. g3 Bc5 5. Bg2 0-0
might have of expanding on the queenside, as well as ensuring that the black-squared bishop couldn’t be swapped off by Na4.
9. a3 a5
10. Kh1 This is premature. Best was Be3 or even
the preparatory h2-h3. Still, Black would have an even game.
10. ... Ng4 Kevin alertly pounces on his first oppor-
tunity to attack. 11. h3?
White should admit that he made a mis- take and return his king to g1. After 11. Kg1 f5?! Black is much better,
with a strong attack. Relatively better is 11. Qe1, with only a small edge for Black. And, of course, 11. h3 is a terrible blunder—giv- ing away an Exchange and a pawn.
11. ... Nxf2+ 12. Rxf2 Bxf2 13. Bd2
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76