title: What should I study?

text:
# Question
Title: What should I study?
My ELO is 2050. I had not played chess for 4 years until I moved to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam I joined a chess club which has many strong players. Every Tuesday we play 90min + 15sec incremental games each other.(I played 6 games)

I noticed that I could not calculate well enough for the last 3 games which I lost. Also I do not have solid opening knowledge. I started to study tactics from chesstempo. Am I on the right track?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Whenever I haven't played for a while I go through a book with 200 mate in two exercises. Easy stuff, but quite a lot, just to get into gear again. Chesstempo will serve a similar function for you.

But that is just to shake off the rust and not blunder too much. To get back to the playing strength from four years ago or to become even stronger, you should rather train calculation instead of tactics. I.e. not just combinatorial vision but the systematic calculation of long lines. The Dvoretzky books have exercises for that, but those are pretty difficult.

The main point is that in my experience servers on which you solve timed problems aren't really suited to improve calculation. Even just picking random positions from these 10000 puzzles and calculating them like you would in a game is a better way.

You should also reacquaint yourself with your openings, by looking up your old repertoire lines and then play some internet blitz to get a feel for the variations again.

You are in the enviable position of living in Amsterdam so you don't really have to spend money on books yet. The Max Euwe Centrum has a library of chess books in many languages, entry is free and you'll find the newest books on every possible opening and avenue of chess improvement.

# Answer
> 0 votes
There are numerous books that might help you but the best way to get better is to practice, practice, practice. Play as much as you can and try to keep track of the moves in games which you play so you can go back and review what you did wrong if you won a game or what you did right if you won.

# Answer
> -1 votes
I would recommend the book by Polgar "5334 Problems, Combinations and Games." It is good way to get into the habit of calculation.

I recommend studying openings with a computer. This will help you identify why many moves are bad, something opening books don't tell you. It is a lot more important to know why a move in the opening is bad, than why a move is good.

For players of all levels, including masters, it is often a good idea to study the endgame because usually that part of their skill is the weakest, so you stand to get the most by studying it. In other words, it is low-hanging fruit.

I would recommend Nunn's books, especially "Secrets of Rook Endings".

Also, "Secrets of Pawn Endings" by Karsten Muller.

Learn just those two books solid and you will be amazed how you can beat the crap out of anybody in an endgame.

One final comment about the endgame: often in modern swisses with short time limits you have to play the endgame really fast, somethings blitz sudden death. In those situations the guy who knows the endgame ahead of time will CRUSH the other guy. Even with time on the clock it can be really hard to find the right move in an endgame. You have to know it ahead of time. In a blitz situation, people will play just incredibly bad moves one after the other in an endgame.

---
Tags: opening, middlegame
---


title: Books for IM Norm

text:
# Question
Title: Books for IM Norm
I have recently hit the FM title, and this year I plan to try and make IM norms and potentially IM title. Last year I struggled around 2300 USCF because I was usually getting killed by lower rated players. It always takes me a long time to warm up, so I usually destroy my tournament in the first few rounds.

What books should I read? What preparation should I do?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Just out of curiosity: Do you know more precisely why you lost against lower rated opponents? Did you lose in the opening, middlegame or endgame? Did you lose because of time management issues? Also, what do you mean by long time to warm up? What changes for you from "not warmed up" to "warmed up"? Is it level of focus, some mental block dissapearing, or something else?

If you answer questions such as this you may find some things you can improve upon, which may be more important than anything you can read in a book. It may not even be directly related to chess, but it could still affect your chess in an unexpected way.

If you're already an FM, I have a feeling that you already have a good idea of areas of your games that are weak, so I would suggest reflecting about that and then add some details about your specific chess strengths and weaknesses. You may, for example, be an opening expert who isn't really as consistent in endgames as is expected of an FM. Then you may want to study some endgame litterature. Or it may be the other way around; nobody here can know that better than you.

A general advice though, is to try to contact an experienced chess coach, and also, if you have the possibility, talk to strong players(FM+) about ideas for improvements. One other thing you should probably do regardless of your specific situation is to write down and analyze your thoughts during a game as soon as possible after a game. Then it might get easier to pinpoint precise answers to questions like the ones I asked in the beginning, which may hold the key for your improvement plan.

Also, if you're physically unfit, but able to exercise, I suggest you build up some basic fitness. This would most definitely affect your chess in a positive way.

Good luck with your IM ambition. I hope you find a way to get there.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Far be it from me to make recommendations to an FM, but in my contact with a top Soviet trainer who has trained many grandmasters, he has expressed the belief that a good trainer can make a huge difference in developing skill and helping the candidate focus their study efforts appropriately. A trainer can assess your personal weaknesses objectively and recommend ways to overcome them.

For players of all levels, including masters, it is often a good idea to study the endgame because usually that part of their skill is the weakest, so you stand to get the most by studying it. In other words, it is low-hanging fruit.

Personally I have benefitted a lot from endgame study, even though I just an average endgame player, just because other players are so bad at it. Once I beat a candidate master who was 2 pawns up against me in a simple position just because his endgame play was so incredibly bad. The one draw I got against a grandmaster was because I began to outplay him in the endgame (where he had the advantage) and he became frightened so he offered me a draw.

I would recommend Nunn's books, especially "Secrets of Rook Endings".

Also, "Secrets of Pawn Endings" by Karsten Muller.

Learn just those two books solid and you will be amazed how you can beat the crap out of anybody in an endgame.

One final comment about the endgame: often in modern swisses with short time limits you have to play the endgame really fast, somethings blitz sudden death. In those situations the guy who knows the endgame ahead of time will CRUSH the other guy. Even with time on the clock it can be really hard to find the right move in an endgame. You have to know it ahead of time. In a blitz situation, people will play just incredibly bad moves one after the other in an endgame.

---
Tags: books
---


# Question
Title: Rook ending with single distant passed pawn
```
6k1/1R5p/6p1/p7/8/7P/r5P1/6K1 w - a6 0 33

```

Is it possible for White to hold a draw in this position? If so, what is the strategy?

Typically I lose these ones and draw when it's me with the extra pawn...

# Answer
This should be a draw as far as I know and the first step is to get behind the pawn with your rook. Now if black pushes the pawn to the second rank it is an easy draw, because he can never move the rook without you taking the a-pawn and if he tries to protect the a-pawn with the king you will just give checks from behind.

```
8/R6p/6p1/8/8/1k5P/p5PK/r52 w - a6 0 33

```

In this position you just check with Rb8+ and go on checking until his king leaves the a-pawn. Then you go straight back to attacking the a-pawn otherwise Rh1+ wins for black.

So what he might try is pushing the pawn only to a3. Then he has a place on a2, to hide his kings from the checks. But now the problem for black is that he doesn't threaten to move his rook away and queen the pawn, therefore your rook isn't shackled to the a-pawn. That means as soon as his king leaves the kingside pawns, you just snatch them off with your rook.

```
8/8/R5p1/5k1p/7P/p5K1/6P1/r52 w - a6 0 33

```

Something like …Ke4 Rxg6 Kd4 Rg5 Kc3 Rxh5 Kb2 Ra5 ...

Given that his king has to run all the way to the a-line, then move the rook and make two pawn moves to queen the pawn, this should give you enough time to push your own kingside pawns. When you finally have to give your rook for the a-pawn, ideally your kingside pawns (supported by your king) are so far advanced that his rook cannot deal with them.
> 10 votes

# Answer
I would recommend reading Nunn's "Secrets of Rook and Pawn Endgames."

There is no simple answer to your question, because some positions are draws, others are wins. Also, skill makes a huge difference. A player who knows the right techniques will always outplay someone else in this kind of position.

For example, BlindKungFuMaster is pretty typical in making a lot of incorrect assumptions. Even though I am the same strength as him, I bet I would easily beat him as Black in this position even though we have the same rating. First of all, Black will not move his pawn and box in his rook as shown in that answer, but will fight with his rook in front of the pawn.

There are a lot of subtleties in these positions.

Your best move: study Nunn's book cover to cover.
> -2 votes

---
Tags: endgame, rook-endgame
---


title: How can I check the Stockfish version?

text:
# Question
Title: How can I check the Stockfish version?
I downloaded Scid vs PC to analyse my games and I want to check what version of Stockfish is included - how can I check if it is Stockfish 6?

# Answer
Double-click on the Stockfish executable, type "uci" (without the quotes) and hit Enter. You should get some output, near the top of which should be a line beginning with "id name", and this line gives the name of the engine, including the version number. (You may need to scroll up to see the "id name" line, if there's a lot of output.)

The same method works with any UCI engine.

Note that the Stockfish executable supplied with Scid vs PC is in the bin\engines\stockfish subdirectory of the Scid vs PC installation directory. The version of Stockfish included in my (recent) copy of Scid vs PC identifies itself as Stockfish 240813 64, which is a bit odd (perhaps it's a version compiled from source by the developers of Scid vs PC), but the file date suggests that it's roughly the same as Stockfish 4.
> 3 votes

---
Tags: stockfish, scid
---


# Question
Title: Looking for a good chess program with a couple of features
I'm looking for a good chess program with the following features. The game should

1. Randomly select whether I take white/black
2. Allow me to have a handicap against the computer
3. Have different difficulty levels

Any suggestions?

# Answer
> 1 votes
Ubisoft's *Chessmaster: Grandmaster* Edition fits the bill:

1) Randomisation

This is available as an option in ranked play:

2) Handicaps

Are dealt with in the setup position mode (but unfortunately there isn't a randomised colour option in this part of the software. I would suggest rolling a dice)

3) Difficulty levels

Elo ranges from 0 to 2928 with a range of personalities (attackers, defenders etc.)

---
Tags: software
---


# Question
Title: What's a good website to study recent grandmaster games?
I would like to study some opening theory on the Grand Prix Attack. What is a good website to study recent grandmaster games?

# Answer
Chessgames has all the games from recent top GM tournaments.

Chess24 has live transmissions of the top tournaments.

And the Opening Tree at Chessok has opening variations with statistics and engine evaluations.

You can also find a lot of opening material on Chess.com, ChessPub or blogs like the Kenilworthian.
> 4 votes

# Answer
I think the Week in Chess website is the best place to find recent GM games. It is updated weekly, and the games are usually available for download in ChessBase format or PGN format by Monday evening every week. The usually gather the most important GM events and some minor events throughout the chess world.
> 2 votes

# Answer
I suggest Chess Tempo too. Here you can play a against ches GMs (Find Move training), searching games and openings. I recommend this site for chess training.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: opening, learning, training, grandmaster
---


title: Why is Qg4-Qe6 the correct move here?

text:
# Question
Title: Why is Qg4-Qe6 the correct move here?
Given this board setup:

```
6k1/1p3rpp/1q1p4/p2Pp3/P5Q1/1P3PP1/2R3KP/8 w - - 3 13

```

Puzzle states: White to move, find the best move. The puzzle solution says Qg4-e6 and the rationale is that Rc2-c8+ cannot be stopped. It seems to me, and some computer programs agree, that going directly for Rc2-c8+ is better because it forces a response of Qb6-d8 followed by Rc8xd8+ Rf7-f8, Qg4-e6+ Kg8-h8, Rd8xf8#. I am no master, I barely can call myself novice. So why is the solution saying that Qg4-e6 is better?

# Answer
> 3 votes
You're absolutely right. Qe6 only seems to draw:

```
6k1/1p3rpp/1q1p4/p2Pp3/P5Q1/1P3PP1/2R3KP/8 w - - 3 13

1. Qe6 g6 2. Rc8 Kg7

```

There's no forced win for white here as far as I can see.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Often there are several strong moves and the puzzle solution lists just one of them.

In this case however, it seems to be a mistake. Possibly the second move was given instead of the first, with the intended solution being 1.Rc8 Rf8 2.Qe6+.

---
Tags: analysis, learning
---


title: Types of Checkmates

text:
# Question
Title: Types of Checkmates
I have heard of different types of checkmates, but don't know how to do them. What kinds are there and how can I perform them? I recently found out that there are names for different types of checkmates from How do I learn to understand the middlegame?. It mentions:

* Back Rank checkmate
* Lolli’s checkmate
* Epaulettes checkmate
* Shepherd’s checkmate
* Fool’s checkmate (fool’s mate or 2-move checkmate)
* Scholar’s checkmate ( or 4-move checkmate)
* Two Rooks checkmate
* Mayet’s checkmate
* Smothered checkmate
* Anderssen’s checkmate
* Pillsbury’s checkmate
* The Arabian checkmate
* Legal’s checkmate
* Anastacia’s checkmate
* Greco’s checkmate
* Gueridon’s checkmate
* Blackburne’s checkmate
* Boden’s checkmate
* Damiano’s checkmate

Out of all of those, I think I only know of the Scholar's Checkmate, which is a four-move checkmate (I will still want to know more about that one). The answer on that question in the link only mentioned them, but didn't explain them at all. Could someone explain these checkmates to me?

# Answer
There aren't really different "types" of checkmates, the things you have listed are different patterns that are used to achieve checkmate.

Checkmate occurs when one player cannot play a move that can prevent their king from being captured. This signifies the end of the game.

A list of these different patterns can be found on Chess Tempo or Wikipedia. Each pattern has very good description on both websites, so you should take the time to understand exactly how they work if you are new.

In regards to how to do them, many of them are fairly complicated for new players. I'd recommend learning "basic" checkmates as white against a lone black king. Learn how to checkmate with 2 rooks, then queen+king, then rook+king, then bishop+queen. Overtime, your pattern recognition abilities will improve, and you will be able to understand the other more complicated checkmates.
> 3 votes

# Answer
There are 3 books that might interest you:

1. *How to Beat Your Dad at Chess* by Murray Chandler. Don't be put off by the title! It covers 50 checkmating patterns with a quiz at the back
2. *1001 Deadly Checkmates* by John Nunn is in a similar vein to the *Dad* book, with a forward by Murray Chandler, but a lot more emphasis on exercises
3. *The Art of Checkmate* by Renaud and Kahn. Similar to the *Dad* book in naming the mates, showing examples and giving quizzes. This has been updated into algebraic notation and republished in February 2015
> 2 votes

---
Tags: checkmate
---


# Question
Title: How do you study opening theory using Stockfish?
Any tips to be up to date with recent opening theory?

# Answer
> 4 votes
As noted by Penguin chess engines aren't really a good tool to use to learn opening theory. You could create an opening book based on the opening you want using chessbase, or polyglot and practice the opening against the engine. The Fritz interface does have some training capabilities for learning openings, but that isn't tied to the engine so any uci engine, such as stockfish, could be used for that.

More common would be to use a chess database and filter it for games within an opening line, and play through the games.

Another possibility is to use software specifically made for learning openings, such as Chess Position Trainer, and Chess Openings Wizard.

# Answer
> 3 votes
Usually, computers are not very accurate in the openings. I'd suggest using a good database of grandmaster games like Chessbase or Chess365. If you're trying to prepare against somebody or against a variation I'd recommend using Chessbase while running an engine. For example:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 h5 9. Nd5 Bxd5 10. exd5 Nbd7 11. Qd2 11... g6 12. O-O-O 12... Nb6 was the position I was preparing against.

The main line goes 13. Qa5 Bh6 14. Bxh6 Rxh6 but in many games White just gets a worse position. This is unsatisfactory, and Stockfish 6 found an improvement.

13. Kb1!

If you're curious, go check out how white gets a forced advantage.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I would disagree with the other two answers here. Computers are an excellent way to study openings. I think Kasparov would agree with me because he did all of opening preparation with computers once they got strong enough.

Computers can quickly show you all the viable lines of play in an opening. An opening book will usually only focus on two or three key variations. Thus, you can get a much more thorough understanding of an opening with a computer. More importantly, the computer will show you why particular moves are bad, which opening books often do not do. The books assume everybody plays perfectly all the time. In reality players will often make serious mistakes, but unless you know how to punish those mistakes, the book is not very useful.

I find computers very good for giving the "feel" of an opening. Some openings are so sharp you die if you make any little deviation from perfection, but others are very tolerant, and you might have a choice of 15 different moves, all OK. A computer will quickly identify the plausible moves so you can tell if a line is sharp or relaxed. Often what you want is an opening that is relaxed for you (easy to play), but sharp for your opponent.

---
Tags: opening, engines, software, theory
---


title: When is Deep Fritz 15 release date?

text:
# Question
Title: When is Deep Fritz 15 release date?
I try searching the release date, but I couldn't find it. How much later do the deep version of a chess software come out?

# Answer
> 1 votes
According to the website for This Week In Chess, the release date for Fritz 15 is November 27, 2015. Also note that now they only sell one version of the product. There no longer is a separate Deep version.

---
Tags: engines, fritz
---


# Question
Title: Closed Sicilian Problem if Black Fianchettoes His Light-Squared Bishop
Help! Please.

After Bb7, I often play f4, followed by g4-g5 and h5. But the Bishop at b7 always gives me problems because it seems that my position after playing f4 will be too open after Black exchanges some pawns in the center and my kingside can be attacked easily.

I've been searching for several books but all books that I have seen so far on Amazon or chessbase.com only cover the variation where Black either fianchettoes at the kingside only or the variation where Black fianchettoes both Bishops. I am only interested in the variation where Black doesn't fianchetto in the kingside but fianchettoes in the queenside.

After the last move by Black. I am often confused where to put my a-Rook. When I push d4-d5 after few moves, my opponent often maneuver his Knight to c4 via a5, attacking my Queen and Bishop. Or in some cases, after playing f5, my opponent puts his Knight to e5 since it cannot be attacked by the f-pawn anymore. What is the common plan for White in this position? What should I do with Black's b7-Bishop?

```
[fen ""]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 e6 4. Nge2 d6 5. Bg2 a6 6. O-O Qc7 7. d3 Be7 8. Be3 Nf6 9. h3 {Preventing Black from harrassing my Bishop} O-O 10. Qd2 b5 11. a3 Bb7

```

# Answer
I think one of the biggest issues with the Closed Sicilian is that many players of the white pieces often feel that they should somehow be able to roll Black off of the board. However, if Black seeks active counterplay, such as the expansion on the Q-side with ...a6 and ...b5, then he is usually equal, if not slightly better.

Once the stereotypical moves of the closed Sicilian are made by white, the position is usually equal, and it's up to white to either outplay his opponent, or get dominated on the Q-side. Your line isn't a bad line, it's just that with the majority of your pieces located on the K-side, Black will usually have more than sufficient Q-side counterplay.

One of the reasons why many people play Open Sicilians is because it allows more variety on how you want to play the position, and often, which side of the board you want to play on. The closed Sicilian, in the manner that you played it, for the most part, only leaves you with one option. A K-side attack that can be negated with a few adjustments. Once Black counters that strategy, you are simply left with an even position where you may even have to relocate your pieces to the Q-side. Even more difficult to have to find a strategy for...at any given moment, Black will get in the move ...d5, followed by a possible ...f6 at some point as well. This position doesn't really hold any dangers for Black unless he grossly misplays it.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: sicilian-defense, pawn-structure, center, closed-position
---


title: Javascript based Chess engine

text:
# Question
Title: Javascript based Chess engine
In one of my previous questions I asked about comparison of the strongest chess engines and got a really good answer. While there are little or no doubts that chess engines are stronger than humans, I am curious: Is there any strong javascript implementation of a chess engine that performs well (what is the ELO of the engine)?

Knowing that a lot of high level chess engines are opensource, has anyone made an effort to port something like stockfish or critter to JS?

# Answer
> 2 votes
After a detailed look on the web, the only project I was able to find is Garbochess. It is BSD licensed, but it looks like it is not longer under development (latest commit was a year ago). I also was not able to find anything about the strength of the engine (ELO).

# Answer
> 6 votes
Stockfish has been ported to Javascript:

https://github.com/exoticorn/stockfish-js

# Answer
> 1 votes
Depends what your definition of strong is, but my basic Javascript engine is probably about 2400 now (v1.16) and is still in development.

UI: http://op12no2.me/toys/lozza

Source: http://op12no2.me/toys/lozza/lozza.js

Typed arrays can be used for the hash table. It's client side browser based. The UI fires up a web worker which then uses UCI for comms, meaning the same code can also run offline in node.js (or jxCore), which in turn means it can be used in Arena and Winboard etc.

While Lozza is hand-written, another route (licence permitting) is to use Emscripten and asm.js etc to automate trans-compilation from C/C++. Some people have done this for Stockfish. I'm unsure the resulting ELO (probably better than Lozza) but the code is of course unreadable.

https://github.com/kripken/emscripten

http://asmjs.org/

From a coding perspective one of the biggest drawbacks of Javascript is the lack of native 64bit unsigned integers.

# Answer
> 0 votes
*Edit: This answer has been written by someone who is unexperienced in JavaScript programming (me). Please note the comments shed a slightly different light on the topic.*

One of the reasons there are not many JS chess engines out there is that JavaScript is quite unsuited for heavily parallelisable tasks, especially complex minimax analysis.

Major drawbacks JS has (in my opinion) are:

1. JavaScript is a high level language, making writing fast code difficult. (Of course I have to add that coding in ASM or C isn't going to be faster if you don't know what you are doing. But chess programmers know.) Additionally, performance optimisation details depend on the browser you are using.
2. No real multithreading support. (That's a damn hard limit on computation speed.)
3. No real memory management. (JS does it for you, but I imagine you as a programmer can allocate much more efficiently.)
4. Apparently, limits on stack size, CPU usage etc. are imposed on JavScript Code (although Icannot give hard evidence right now).
5. I cannot imagine JS being very efficient with hash tables.
6. I imagine it being difficult to load opening books or endgame tablebases during runtime (slow) or preloading it on startup (still slow and your bandwidth won't like it).

Well, technically, these are reasons why it would be hard to code a *good* chess engine - but who wants an engine with 1800 Elo? (Well, still enough for one or two standard deviations of players' practical purposes.)

And in the end: it's client side. If you need something client side, don't do it in a browser. If it can be done on the server, use it! E. g., using PHP, pipes and the UCI protocol, you'll get much further and you can let the server compute it for all clients (and I know it has been done before, but can't tell exactly where I've seen it).

---
Tags: engines, programming
---


# Question
Title: Is there some method to show attacks and defends and other statistics on board?
I want to teach children basic rules of openings and show them some critical point in formation with some kind of visualization.

How can I show attack, defends, weak points or other statistics on board?

# Answer
> 2 votes
You could use Chessbase on a laptop to show games and positions. That would allow you to highlight critical squares and show possible moves with colourful arrows. Here is a description how to do this.

---
Tags: analysis
---


# Question
Title: Programs to help beginners to practice Chess
I'm a beginner in chess and I want to get better at this game. I was wondering if there are some programs that help you to practice your game. For example: practicing the openings, that contains checkmate puzzles, etc.

# Answer
Chess Tempo has a great section on openings used by real players as well as statistics regarding the openings(player win %, draw %, opponent win %, etc.) and also an interactive board which lets you step through each move of the opening.
> 4 votes

# Answer
There are some great resources available both online and for download (programs or apps). Some worth checking out:

chess.com \- free (for a basic account, paid for additional features like videos and "chess mentor", which have been well worth the money for me).

chesstempo.com \- free - mostly tactics problems, also endgames, database, etc.

Lucas Chess \- a free chess program with various engines included. Has tons of features, including tactics, openings, various types of "competition" against the computer, mate practice, etc...

That should definitely get you started, and some additional future resources include the "chess tutor" programs from Shredder Chess and the Peshka software which has various training modules (lots of interesting and useful stuff, but a bit of a clunky interface).

There are also lots of IOS/android apps available. Stockfish is a free chess engine, and if you don't mind paying a few bucks, Shredder or Hiarcs are both excellent.

Good luck!
> 3 votes

# Answer
I don't think a new version has been made in a while, but there used to be Chessmaster. Chessok offers a number of programs, and some of them have been converted to Android apps. This includes some tactics programs, and a guide that is supposed to take a player from beginner to club player.

Chesstempo.com, as mentioned, is a great site to work on tactics and they have been adding other features. lichess.org has a training feature where it gives you an opening position and you have to pick a certain number of good moves in the position. I'm not sure if there is a site that actually drills you on openings though.
> 2 votes

# Answer
You can find a lot of apps on chessok.com: training apps (for PC) for training openings, middle games, ending and more for any chess player from beginner to advanced player.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I have started adding training UIs into my online Javascript engine. Currently just a mate-in-one trainer:-

http://op12no2.me/toys/lozza

Please do feel free to say how it can be improved.

PS: I find it harder than it sounds!
> 1 votes

---
Tags: software, beginner
---


title: How to show captured pieces in Arena?

text:
# Question
Title: How to show captured pieces in Arena?
I'm using Arena 3.5 on Windows. When playing, I want to see a list of the captured pieces beside the board in Arena. How do I do that?

# Answer
> 2 votes
There is a checkbox for it:-

Options | Appearance | View *tab* | Material difference

You may need to make the opening classification panel taller and then use the splitter on its left to see the material difference panel.

---
Tags: software, arena, windows
---


# Question
Title: How to measure strength of my own chess engine?
I'm wondering how can I estimate ELO ranking of my own written engine. I figure out that I have to connect my engine with some well known engine (via UCI protocol?) to be able to play automatically many games. My first thought was to adjust ELO ranking of well known engine to finally have draw, eg. If I the result of 1000 games match between my program and other is about 500 - 500 then I'll know that my program has the same strength. The problem is that, as far as I know, we are not able to set any engine to play on particular ELO level. Do you have any other idea how to measure own engine ELO rating?

# Answer
Implement UCI or Winboard protocol (just enough to play games). Download some engines (e.g. via CCRL) stronger than your estimate and run a Gauntlet tournament in Arena/Winboard/Cutechess etc. Hundreds of games at least. Feed the resulting PGN output file into Ordo and it'll give you an ELO (for the time control you used). Try different time controls etc if needed - depends on your target competitors.

https://www.chessprogramming.org/UCI

http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/

http://www.playwitharena.de/

http://hgm.nubati.net/

https://github.com/cutechess/cutechess

https://github.com/michiguel/Ordo

For an initial quick ELO you could use Ferdinand Mosca's tool that makes an estimate based on your engine's performance with the Strategic Test Suite EPDs.

http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56653

https://www.chessprogramming.org/Strategic\_Test\_Suite
> 8 votes

# Answer
You can do a test on

http://www.elometer.net

This is a test based on problems
> -1 votes

---
Tags: engines, software, elo, programming, uci
---


# Question
Title: Is this a good site for learning to play chess?
Is this a good website for a mature adult who picks up new topics quickly to self-teach chess?

# Answer
> 11 votes
**No, it's not,** but it might still be very beneficial to you. (Chess) Stack Exchange is a question and answer site, so:

> You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face.

(taken from here).

So *don't* expect any tutorials here, or the possibility to play an actual game against someone. However, browsing through the site you will find a lot of resources which might help you - this question for example. If you need a resource on a specific topic, and nobody has asked it before, please go ahead and ask for it.

---
Tags: learning
---


# Question
Title: Understand some of my positional mistakes
Would somebody mind taking a look at my game that I annotated below. I am having difficulty understanding a few of my mistakes. (Namely on moves 5,7,12,17). Thanks.

```

      [FEN ""]
    1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 O-O {This is the Nimzo-Indian Three Knights Variation.} 5.Bg5 {My goal with Bg5 was to pin the knight to the queen in order to prepare for e4. Supposedly it is better to just defend d4 with e3 but I don't see why that is.}
        ( 5.e3 b6 6.Be2 )
    5...c5 6.e4 d5 {...d5 is a bit of a blunder because it then allows e5 to attack the knight.} 7.e5 h6 {Bh4 may have been better here. I was imagining that after Bh4 black could then play ...g5 to chase my bishop away and then give him time to move the black knight.} 8.Bxf6
        ( 8.Bh4 cxd4
            ( 8...g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 )
        9.a3 dxc3 10.axb4 cxb2 11.Rb1 dxc4 12.exf6 Qxd1+ 13.Kxd1
            ( 13.Rxd1 c3 14.Bd3 Nc6 )
        )
    8...gxf6 9.Bd3 {This is a blunder if black would have seen it.} 9...h5 {This is a nice blunder by black that allows me access to the kingside. Though for now castling is the right move.}
        ( 9...cxd4 10.Nxd4 fxe5 11.Nc2 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 dxc4 {It is difficult for me to see why this line makes Bd3 such a blunder, but it could just be because it makes a mess of my queenside pawn structure. But to me this does not look like losing because I can still castle safely, and black's kingside is a mess. Perhaps there is a tactic black has that I am not seeing. It could also be just that I am down two pawns.} 13.Bxc4 Qxd1+ 14.Rxd1 Bd7 15.O-O )
    10.O-O cxd4 11.Nxd4 dxc4 {This is a blunder that allows me to get into the kingside.} 12.Bc2
        ( 12.Qxh5 {Getting the queen into the kingside early is quite advantageous. I did even feel that I was just holding the queen back for too long while worrying more about other moves.} 12...cxd3 13.Qg4+ Kh8 14.Rad1 Rg8 15.Qh4+ Kg7 16.Rxd3 Ba5 17.Rfd1 Qd5 18.Rg3+ Kf8 19.Qh6+ Ke7 20.Nxd5+ Kd7 21.Qxf6 Re8 22.Qxf7+ Kd8 23.Qf6+ Kd7 24.Rg7+ Re7 25.Qxe7# )
    12...b6 {Be4 if a good alternative to Qxh5 because it exploits black's blunder exposing the rook, but still moving the queen into the kingside is far better.} 13.Be4 Be7 14.Bxa8 fxe5 15.Nc6 {Nc6 is actually the right move, because it forces an exchange with my knight. I was unsure if this is right because black has the option (which is the best option it has) of exchanging the knights when its knight was not even developed in the first place, and therefore slightly weaker than mine.} 15...Qd6 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.Qxh5 {Here I finally capture the h5 pawn, but I should have done this a few moves earlier. Though there is still a blockade into black's kingside which is advantageous to me.} 17...Na6 {Here I was thinking that it would now be best to get a rook into the black kingside, but was trying to figure which rook was better to move. I was thinking that if I keep my f1 rook where it was it could provide some defense if black's f-pawn could ever capture away from its file and then the queen and rook could double up and attack my f-pawn. But I decided that it was best to have the a1 rook on the queenside to defend my two pawns instead. (Apparently the right move but not sure of the logic.)} 18.Rfe1 f5 19.Re3 Rf7 20.Nd5 {This is the right move, I was figuring that I could try and push the queen away from the kingside fight if I put pressure on it. If black captures, I can then pin the rook to the king with my bishop.} 20...exd5 21.Bxd5 Be6 {Here I was having difficulty. I was thinking there had to be some checkmate (which there is in 17 moves) but I just couldn't see it, so I figured simplifying would help.} 22.Qg6+ Kf8 23.Bxe6 Qe8 {Miss a M8 here which I almost saw. I was thinking through about 4-5 moves in the mating line, but just couldn't quite see it.} 24.Rg3
        ( 24.Rh3 Ke7 25.Rd1 Nb4 26.Rh8 Nd5 27.Rxe8+ Kd6 28.Bxf7+ Kc7 29.Bxd5 c3 30.Qc6# )
    24...Nc7 {Just figure trade off some pieces and gain material and figure out the checkmate later.} 25.Bxf7 Qxf7 26.Qxf7+ Kxf7 27.Rd1 Ke6 28.Rg6+ Kf7 29.Rc6 Nb5 30.Rd7+ Ke8 31.Rh7 Nd6 32.Rxd6 e4 33.Rc6 a6 34.Rc8# 1-0

```

# Answer
> 1 votes
From a positional perspective for your fifth move the following is quite a good explanation. Your 5.Bg5 move doesn't quite tackle with the following implications:

> The most positionally significant of these is that the pin nullifies White's control of the e4 square. White would like to play e4 at some point, but Black's knight on f6 dominates the square for now, since the c3 knight cannot recapture when pinned. Consequently, Black may be able to install his knight on e4 or otherwise use the square for his own purposes if White does not fight for it.
>
> A second implication of the pin is that Black is threatening to exchange bishop for knight and double White's pawns. The resulting position would be unbalanced, with White trying to open the position to utilize the power of his two bishops, and Black working to keep the position closed and exploit White's pawn weaknesses. White must decide how he feels about this prospect when choosing his next moves.

---
Tags: annotation
---


# Question
Title: How to setup a chess engine to play itself?
I'm participating in some engines-on correspondence games at ficgs.com. To assist in my analysis of my games, I'd like to set up a chess engine (probably Komodo9 which I own) to play moves against itself after a certain time interval. Do any of the UI's like SCID or Arena support this? (Droidfish on my phone does but that won't do) And if so, what are the steps to achieve this?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Yes, Arena can do what you want.

1. Download Arena 3.5

http://www.playwitharena.com/?Download
2. Adding Komodo (or any other engine) to Arena:

On the menu select Engines -\> Manage Open the Details tab Click the new button Point it at the executable Select Ok
3. If you want it to play itself from a certain position you can set up an engine tournament using an epd file to set the position you want the engine to play from, and then in the settings for the tournament if you hit the level button you can set a fixed time intveral, or fixed depth for the engine to play. To create an epd file, you can copy the position from Scid using Edit-\>Copy to FEN, and then in Arena using Position-\>Get FEN from Clipboard, and then EPD-\>Save Position in EPD Format. This file would then passed to the engine tournament dialog.

There might be a way to get it to play itself from a position without using the engine tournament, but I'm not that familiar with the interface.
4. If you want to have it analyze a game that has already been played, or what has been played so far can use automatic analysis under the Engines menu.

Arena seems to have a pretty thorough help file, so most of your questions will probably have answers in there.

Edit: It was pointed out in another question that the demo button in Arena will have the engine play itself. So you can just set up the position, make sure komodo is loaded, Go into Level-\>Adjust to set the time interval you want for moves, and then hit the demo button.

# Answer
> 1 votes
If you use Arena 3.5, you can set an engine to play a game by itself or even two different engines to play a game between them.

Just go to **Engines-\>Manage...** and there add any engines you want on the **Loaded Engines**.

---
Tags: engines, uci
---


# Question
Title: Colle System - Stonewall. Why not c4 and b4 after b5 and c6 for black in this game?
i'm wondering why black doesn't play c4 and b4 after b5 and c6 in this game. Wouldn't that be a tempo, i.e. the bishop on d3 had to move? Additionally it would gain black central and on the queens site room advantage, right? So why doesn't black play that?

# Answer
> 1 votes
If white plays `e4` with out black having played `...c4`, then black can trade the central pawns with `cxd4` to reduce white's central control.

```
[StartFlipped "0"]
[fen "r1bq1rk1/p2nbppp/1p2pn2/2pp4/3P1B2/2PBPN1P/PP1N1PP1/R2Q1RK1 b - - 0 1"]

1... Bb7 2. Re1 Rc8 3. e4 cxd4 4.cxd4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Nxe4 6.Bxe4 Bxe4 7.Rxe4 Nf6

```

(Black can play 2...Ne4, which is stronger, but that's a different story.)

However, when black has played `...c4`, then `e4` is especially strong because when black takes with `dxe4`, white's increased control of the center is difficult to challenge, as black lost the option of `cxd4`.

```
[StartFlipped "0"]
[fen "r1bq1rk1/p2nbppp/1p2pn2/2pp4/3P1B2/2PBPN1P/PP1N1PP1/R2Q1RK1 b - - 1 1"]

1... c4 2. Bc2 b5 3. e4 dxe4 4. Nxe4

```

If black does not trade with `...dxe4` then white will play `e5` and gain an easy attack on the black king.

```
[StartFlipped "0"]
[fen "r1bq1rk1/p2nbppp/1p2pn2/2pp4/3P1B2/2PBPN1P/PP1N1PP1/R2Q1RK1 b - - 1 1"]

1... c4 2. Bc2 b5 3. e4 Bb7 4. e5

```

Black can try to use his queenside space advantage and play for `b5-b4xc3` to target `c3`, but this plan is slow and black is likely to get mated if he tries this.

# Answer
> 0 votes
From a positional viewpoint it is okay to keep the tension at the centre and instead of playing c4, Bb7 is preferable. The reason is that Black develops his bishop and lets White to wonder his/her next move. The position is quite equal and the loss of a tempo at this position doesn't give much

After Bb7, Black could play immediately a5 and try for an attack on the queenside.

The plan you propose doesn't seem to do anything since after

**9... c4 10.Bc2 b5 11.e4 dxe4 12.Nxe4**

Black doesn't have an attack in the queenside and instead white has a strong centre. As for the space "advantage" you say, Black has most of his pieces at kingside so there is not way to capitulate the "advantage".

---
Tags: strategy, pawn-structure, colle-system
---


# Question
Title: How do I know what squares I need to control in a given position?
I'm never quite sure what squares I'm suppose to control, especially in positions that aren't official openings or unconventional openings?

# Answer
> 6 votes
The best way to know what needs to be done is to grasp how the pawn structure in the center affects the course of the game. Read "*The Art of The Middle Gam*e" by *Alexander Kotov* and *Paul Keres*. Kotov's chapter explaining the five possible pawn centers and how to proceed is the finest source ever written on this topic.

Those possible centers are: open, closed, fixed, mobile, and dynamic.

* **An open center** is where only one or no K or Q pawns are still on the board. Fast attacks on the K and Q files are required and immediate castling for safety.
* **A closed center** is where pawns lock in mutual pawn chains such that neither side can advance a central pawn. Wing attacks become necessary and castling can be delayed.
* **A fixed center** is where the two K pawns face each other so neither can advance and the Q pawns are off the board. Or, the Q pawns exist in the same manner and the K pawns are gone. Play will result where each side tries to place a piece(usually a Knight) on the strong point protected by the central pawn such that the piece cannot be attacked by an enemy pawn advance. This is called an advanced outpost and when it occurs, victory for that player is likely.
* **A mobile center** is when one side has both central pawns and the opponent has none. The constant threat of these pawns advancing keeps the enemy too busy defending and lacking time to mount a counter-attack.
* **A dynamic center** exists when the other four possibilities have not yet been decided. You should try to play for the type of center that will be stronger for your side.

Finally, look at your central pawns. If the K pawn is further advanced, look to attack on that side or in the center. When the Q pawn is further out, attack on the queen side. Kotov can provide much more detail. Read the book!

# Answer
> 5 votes
Usually you try to control squares to prevent your opponent from putting a piece or a pawn there. Or, the other way round, because you want to put a piece or a pawn there.

To me that is the way to think about this problem. "Controlling squares" is a very abstract concept. "I really don't want his knight to come to c4, so I play b3.", that's a very concrete idea.

Often this means controlling central squares, because if your opponent puts pawns there, he will get a strong centre. Or you control the square in front of an backward pawn, to avoid it being pushed and exchanged. And of course you try to control the squares close to your king, otherwise you'll fall under an attack.

Try to find out which moves of your opponent you want to prevent. Don't worry about controlling squares.

---
Tags: positional-play
---


# Question
Title: Recommendation of a book for learning strategic concepts
I am looking for a book to help me with strategic concepts, how to exploit small advantages in the long term and long term plans in general. I would like it to have as much exercises as possible. What would be a good book for this?

I am rated around 1800.

# Answer
There are two new and well received books in that direction:

At least the latter contains 50 exercises as well.

Strategic Play by Aagaard is very close to your specifications, it contains a lot of exercises and is pretty much about 'the long plan'. Unfortunately it's extremely difficult. (I gave my book away to a friend, who is close to his last GM-norm).

Positional Play is much easier, but still tough for an 1800 player. And of course the focus is more on correct piece placement and the like.

And Techniques of Positional Play is supposed to be quite good as well.
> 4 votes

# Answer
I give *Mastering Chess Strategy* by Johan Hellsten my highest recommendation. He breaks up middlegame strategy into about 30 topics and surveys each with some well-chosen examples and lots of exercises (382 in total). He also tends to annotate all the way from the example position to the end of the game (or until the situation has clarified) so you get a sense of how the strategic plan worked in practice. I think 1800 is certainly in the target range of the book, though if anyone else is reading this I would recommend it all the way up to 2200 (I learned a lot as a 2000).
> 3 votes

# Answer
I strongly recommend you to buy a copy of

* **Judgement and Planning in Chess by Max Euwe**

It was recommended by my coach while I was an intermediate. It is definitely a classic work on middle game. The author provide analysis on frequent endgame positions that one must aim at achieving while he is still in the middle game.

Second book would be

* **Attack and Defence by Mark Dvoretsky.**

I am sure a player at your level must have heard of him, the star Russian Coach, many of his students are among the cream. This book, if you study seriously will equip you with various tools on how to **think efficiently** during a game (which is very important). There are numerous exercises which the author used to train his students.

Some chess trainers advocates studying as many positions as possible for a particular theme in the middle game. I recommend you to study these two books, going through each theme one at a time, carefully absorbing the ways to carry out a plan.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: strategy, books
---


title: Any ideas for this interesting problem?

text:
# Question
Title: Any ideas for this interesting problem?
Any ideas for this interesting problem?

# Answer
The black king threatens to escape via e4, so

```
8/2Q5/8/3k2K1/8/8/4NP2/8 w - - 3 13

1. f3 Ke6 {(forced)}
2. Nf4#

```

(sidenote: I'm really divided into putting the solution in a 'spoiler' block with `>!` (as is customary on Puzzles.SE)

> like this

and the current way, with a diagram to allow playback. It would be very nice if we could put the diagram *inside* the spoiler.)
> 6 votes

---
Tags: analysis, problems
---


# Question
Title: Analysis of Pawn Endgame from Amateur to IM
I started reading the book "From Amateur to IM". In one of the first chapters an analysis is given of Casablanca's Pawn Endgame.

```
[StartFlipped "0"]
[fen "6k1/7p/8/8/8/8/6PP/6K1 w - - 0 1"]

```

Now, the book starts by describing several building blocks for going about to win this position. One of them (if black pushes his pawn to h6) is to reach the following position with Black to move and an then do an outflanking maneuver.

```
[StartFlipped "0"]
[fen "8/8/5k1p/8/5KPP/8/8/8 b - - 0 1"]

1...Ke6 2.Ke4 Kf6 3.Kd5 Ke7 4.Ke5 Kf7 5.Kf5 Kg7 6.Ke6 Kg6 ( 6...h5!? 7.g5 Kg6 ) 7.h5+ Kg7 8.Ke7 1-0

```

The line given in the book is printed in bold, but in move 6 the pawn h5 push seems to really kill any winning possibilities. Am I overlooking something? Is the analysis in the book flawed?

If indeed the analysis in the book turns out to be flawed, I would appreciate an alternative strategy to win Casablanca's pawn endgame when h7 is played.

# Answer
White will be able to force the black King away and make progress.

Something like 8.Kd6 Kf7 9.Ke5 Kg6 10.Ke6 Kg7 11.Kf5 Kf7 12.g6+ Kg8 13.Kg5 Kg7 14.Kxh5
> 3 votes

# Answer
White can take the opposition by playing Kd6. To keep the opposition after 8. Kd6 Black would need to play 8...Kf6 or 8...Kh6, but both those squares are controlled by White's g-pawn, so Black will lose the opposition: 8. Kd6 Kf7 9. Kd7 (White now has the opposition) Kg6 10. Ke6 Kg7 11. Kf5 Kf7 12. g6+ Kg7 13. Kg5 winning the h-pawn.

If Black plays Kf5, Kg4 then the White g-pawn will queen long before Black's pawn will reach h2.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: endgame, pawn-endgame
---


title: Plan from the position

text:
# Question
Title: Plan from the position
I am not asking for analysis, just want to know what are the plans to continue for black .(white to move)

# Answer
> 4 votes
A plan without (extensive) analysis can only be given in very stable structures. Here, the position is pretty tactical and volatile. White might be able to round up the e3-pawn with Nd1 and h3. Then black has to calculate hard to not wind up in a very bad endgame.

So here my "plan" during a game would look like this: Use any tactical trick you can find to not lose the e3-pawn, and if you cannot avoid losing it, grab as much material for it as you can.

Concretely, after 1.Nd1 Bf4 looks like a decent move. Then one "tricky" line would be: 1.Nd1 Bf4 2.g3 {2.h3 Bg3} Bb8 3.Kg2 {3.Nxe3 Ba7} Ba7 4.h3 Nf2 5.Nxe3 Nd3 6.Rd2 Nc1 hitting both rooks.

All this depends on white playing the most obvious move, Nd1, but she might try to strengthen her position in any other way and then you have to come up with different tricks. What you might want to keep in mind is:

* The bishop is happier on the a7-g1 diagonal.
* The rook might want to invade the second rank or hit the a4-pawn.
* The knight wants to jump around and fork things up.
* All considered: Active play is necessary.

# Answer
> 4 votes
It's hard to ask for plan when opponent is on the move.

This is my understanding without help of engine. White is now exchange up but 2 pawns down. However, Black's 3 isolated pawns look worrying. White needs to keep his knight in contact with e2 to stop the pawn advancing. My plan for white would be to put knight on e2, activate both rooks to attack the isolated pawns and counter-advance his king side pawn majority.

Black has the initiative here because of his close-to-king knight and white's backrank problem. So black should try attack and put pressure on white. If white makes a mistake, he might be able to checkmate/win material/advance pawn to e2. Be very careful when white put two rooks/king in the same colour, that's when your bishop and knight can fork them

# Answer
> 1 votes
One way to approach the strategy in this position is to just play one side. So, starting with Black and starting with most powerful piece first, the rook:

(A) Rd4 would put pressure on the a-pawn

(B) Rd2 and Nd6 would put pressure on the b-pawn

That's about it for the rook. Trading the rook does not help, because Black's rook is more active than either of White's rooks. Next most powerful piece, the Bishop:

(C) Bf4 pressures the h-pawn and improves the bishop

(D) Bg7, Bd5 would improve the bishop

(E) Bb4 would make the bishop more active, but would put less pressure on White because the e-pawn would be less defended; in other words the pin on the knight does not appear to be worth much

Next, the knight:

(F) Nd6 would win if White played Re2 (because of Nc1), but if White plays Rf1, nothing has been accomplished

(G) Nd5 would win the exchange and the game, but it takes 4 moves to reach that square (eg Bf4, Nh6-f5-d5); note that Nd5-c2 might force a draw by repetition

(H) Nc4 would be a big improvement for the knight because it paralyzes White's Rb3 and makes the knight immune from attack; also the knight pressures the pawn on b2 from c4.

Finally consider the pawns. Moving the e-pawn would not be useful, except to support a knight on d4. Moving the b-pawn would be counter productive because it would activate White's rook on b3.

Considering (C) and (G) let's look at one line: 1...Bf4 2. h3 Nh6 3. g4 stops the knight from reaching d5. Hmm...

Okay, now consider White's strategies. White would like to trade a pair of rooks, since both of his rooks are passive. Giving back the exchange for a pawn would lead to a roughly equal game. White can use his king to defend potentially, but Kf1-e2 is problematic because of ...Rd2 or ...Rf2. Improving the knight to c5 would increase the scope of the Rb3. In fact, Ne4-c5 followed by Rd3 would be a big improvement to both pieces, but if the knight leaves the protection of e2 then, e2 followed by Rd1 could be a threat.

So, Black's main strategy should be to prevent Ne4 either by Rd4 or Nf6 and to try to get his own knight to c4. Black should also avoid exchanging rooks. If White plays 1. Ne4?? e2 wins because 2...Rd1 cannot be prevented (2. Nc3 Bd2 wins).

---
Tags: strategy, tactics, positional-play, planning
---


# Question
Title: Is any rating information available for human/computer hybrid players?
So we know that the right computer can beat the best human. And computer players are rated as well as human players.

Is there any rating information available for hybrid players? (Humans moving the pieces, augmented by software doing analysis in the background)?

Is there support for the claim that human/computer hybrids are ranked the highest in the world? (Higher than either humans or computers alone)

# Answer
> 3 votes
Computer-human hybrid chess is known as Advanced Chess or Freestyle Chess. There used to be Advanced Chess tournaments in Leon (now it's normal rapid chess, I think), and Chessbase reported on some "anything goes" online Freestyle tournaments, that were generally won by "Centaurs", i.e. computer-human-hybrid players, not by sole engines.

In recent years there hasn't been much coverage of these kind of events, but apparently Freestyle chess is going strong as ever. Based on PAL/CSS, Infinity Chess and FICGS tournaments there even exists a rating list. (Keep in mind that you cannot compare the absolute values of the ratings on this list with the Fide rating list or the engine ratings.)

---
Tags: rating, computer-chess
---


title: Average number of moves per game

text:
# Question
Title: Average number of moves per game
What are the average number of moves per game with regards to what opening has been played?

# Answer
> 2 votes
I wrote a simple PHP script which parses ELO codes and the corresponding number of moves from chess games in PGN files. This script will output the ELO code and number of moves into a CSV file. The averages can then easily be evaluated in Excel for example.

I ran my script on a PGN file with about 6000 games which I downloaded from The Week in Chess. You can view the result here:

Full size

If you want to evaluate millions of games, to get better averages, I suggest you use Pig script or some other scripting languages which can easily handle big chunks of data.

# Answer
> 2 votes
It's not about opening, it's about level of players in game. Beginner vs beginner game tends to have more moves on average, because they do not surrender easily. One forces second to mate him with his rook or something and it lasts forever. Games of serious players are mostly drawish, so let's say 20-40 moves on average. Of course, there are so many exceptions, long endgames etc, but they are rarely met in comparision to "fast" draws. It is really hard to give you exact answer on this. Try to ask more precisevely so we might figure out something

# Answer
> 2 votes
Chessbase already performs this function in "Opening Report" feature. Telling avg # of moves of the games occurring in the database.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I've heard that in high level games the average move count is about 40. It is important to note that there are some quick draws and resignations, thus if a game was played to checkmate, the move count would be higher than 40. I would expect that closed games last longer than open games.

# Answer
> 1 votes
If you consider the ChessGames.com database, whose statistics are posted on http://www.chessgames.com/chessstats.html, that would be around 40 moves. I do not posses the program, but on ChessBase you may use any Mega Database, as pointed out on the thread What is the average length of a game of chess?, check it yourself: you can introduce the first moves of the opening you desire and look up the "median move value".

---
Tags: opening, statistics
---


# Question
Title: Database of analysed positions with corresponding scores
I am looking for a database with many various chess positions with a corresponding engine score. Something like (position, score):

* `6r1/3k4/4b1rB/p2p1R2/1pp5/8/PP5Q/7K w - - 1 39` **1.25**
* `rn2nrk1/1b2qppp/p3p3/1p2P3/3N4/2NB2Q1/PPP3PP/2KR3R w - - 1 15` **0.49**
* `4nr2/r4p1k/4p1p1/p2qP2P/1p6/3B1P2/PPP5/2K3RR w - - 0 25` **6.91**
* `2kr2nr/1bq2p1p/ppp1p1p1/2b5/N3P3/4BP2/PPP2QPP/1K1R1B1R b - - 1 13` **-10**

I am hoping to have a database with significant amount of positions (~1 million), where positions are evaluated with at least 3 seconds of thinking of a strong engine.

The

* bigger the number of positions
* the longer the thinking time of an engine (or the ply lookahead)
* the stronger the engine
* the more different score of positions (+0.1, +4.2, + 9.1, -8.7)

the better. I know that I can write a program that gives stockfish tasks to calculate the score of various positions, but it will take a couple of months to calculate scores for 1 million positions.

# Answer
Here you can find a database with 50,000 games and engine scores after every move. That should translate to 80\*50,000 = 4 million positions. Unfortunately the engine evaluations are by stockfish with only one second per position, which isn't very much.

You might also try to parse the Chessok Opening Tree, or to get the commercial version of it. Those evaluations are possibly better.
> 4 votes

---
Tags: engines, database, evaluation
---


# Question
Title: Tactical challenge #2 - Attacking the kingside
The previous challenge was solved very quickly so here I am with a new one. Still a very easy one but hopefully a bit more challenging that the previous one. Black has just played Qb6 and it is White's turn. **What move should White do to win the game?**

```
[FEN "r3brk1/pp3pp1/1qn4p/3B4/8/P1R2N2/1PQ2PPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 1"]

```

I saw this puzzle from Chess24 Tactics Trainer and I liked it, so I decided to post it here.

# Answer
> 7 votes
> `1. Ng5` threatening `Qh7#` `1... hxg5 2.Rh3` `1... g6 2. Qxg6`

---
Tags: tactics, checkmate, problems
---


# Question
Title: Strategic challenge #1 - C.Hansen - J.Hellsten
This is the first of a series of strategic challenges. The answers are supposed to provide a move (or sequence of moves) and the right plan for the corresponding player. In this occasion we have the following diagram:

```
[fen "r3kb1r/1p2qp1p/p1p1npp1/2P5/3P4/4BN2/PP3PPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 1"]

```

I took this position from *Mastering Chess Strategy* by Johan Hellsten. This position arose in a game between Curt Hansen and the author in 1996. The author says about the position:

> Black just need a few moves like Rd8, Bg7 and 0-0 to achieve safety. However, it is White to move ...

**What is the right move and plan for White in this position?**

# Answer
To me d5 would be pretty much an automatic move. There might be a better idea in the position, but I don't see it.

The reasoning is as follows:

* Longterm black is more than ok, with Bg7, 0-0, Rd8, f5 …
* d4 is a weakness which also limits the Be3 and the Nf3.
* I don't have to worry about losing c5, because black is way too underdeveloped to grab a pawn like that.

Based on that I would be inclined to just play it without calculating anything. Then I would force myself to at least calculate one or two lines:

* 1.d5 cxd5 2.Qxd5 Nxc5 3.Bxc5 Qxc5 4.Re1+ and black loses her queen.
* 1.d5 cxd5 2.Qxd5 Rd8 3.Qc4 (black still can't take on c5 and I'm ready for c6, when blacks queenside falls apart.) 3…Qc7 4.Rac1 and I don't know how much this is, but black has to solve some problems (c6 is a threat. Qc6 Nd4 doesn't look good).

Basically, given that black needs at least two more tempi to get his king into safety, if you open the position with white nice things will happen.

Edit: Then I would make the move, write it down, get up from the board and look at the positions of my friends and then suddenly realise that black can also immediately take on c5, without taking on d5 first. That would give me a little jolt, but wouldn't worry me too much, because after all "black is way too underdeveloped to grab a pawn like that". But I would still hurry back to my board and calculate stuff like 1.d5 Nxc5 2.dxc6 bxc6 3.Bxc5 Qxc5 4.Re1 Be7 5.Rc1 Rd8 6.Qe2 Qb4 7.a3 Qb7 8.Rxc6 and relax.
> 5 votes

---
Tags: strategy, pawns, pawn-structure, problems
---


title: Complete book of chess search

text:
# Question
Title: Complete book of chess search
I have read a number of chess books by now, which either contained a number of analyzed games, or some tactics. But I am a little underwhelmed with completeness. What I am hoping exists is a really complete book that contains a bit of everything. I am reading silmans A-Z, which gets kind of close. But coming from academia I'm thinking of something more similar to a 2000pg textbook format, which after reading will have provided a relatively complete understanding many chess concepts.

# Answer
The Steps Method is a graduated series of books that attempts to provide all material necessary to take a player from complete beginner to expert. I have not used it but it has a strong reputation.

To proceed past that, the best thing I can think of is Yusupov's 9-book course (Build Up Your Chess et al), which is around 2700 pages in total and attempts to take a player from about 1500 FIDE to master. I am a bit more than halfway through and give it a great deal of credit for my rise from 1800 to 2000 USCF.

Of course, either (or both) of these series must be supplemented by actually playing games.
> 5 votes

# Answer
I found The Mammoth Book of Chess to be a good all round book, if you're going to only buy one, it pretty much covers everything. It has a Tactics section with easy/hard/medium, endgames tactics section, openings overviews with example games separated into open/semiopen/closed openings, mid game and end game strategies sections, and I think a history section and a computing section. You can get a second hand one quite easily.
> 3 votes

# Answer
Chess has had more books written about it than any other topic except the Bible. It is a highly complex game and volumes have been written on just a single topic, so I think expecting one book to provide a complete examination of all concepts is probably unrealistic.

Having said that I can also tell you that you are on the right track reading Jeremy Silman's books because he is superb at explaining ideas with clarity. Few authors have this ability. Check out his endgame manual.

Of course, Bruce Pandolfini is also known as a good teacher.

Also, I have read many books and can recommend a few. Aron Nimzovich's "My System" offers many useful ideas. Nimzovich invented many of the terms still used today to describe various important principles.

Next, V. Vucovic's " The Art of Attack in Chess" is a unique guide to learning how to spot and exploit weaknesses on the board so that you may understand why a move is good or bad.

Alexander Kotov and Paul Keres have a definitive book with " The Art of the Middle Game". It is one of a kind!
> 0 votes

---
Tags: books
---


# Question
Title: How is this a winning position for white?
```
[FEN "r4r1k/pbq2p1p/1p1ppPp1/8/2P3P1/PP6/R2Q2P1/1B3R1K w KQkq - 0 1"]

1. Qh6 Rg8 2. Rf4 e5 3. Rf3 Bxf3 4. gxf3

```

This is what I got from "ChessCademy -\> Attack and Defence -\> Attacking Castled King -\> Combining Focal points" lesson. After this small play, I got :

> Excellent! After attacking the g7 square, black is forced to close off g8 as an escape square for his king. From there, you opened up the h-file, resulting in a decisive attack.

I don't understand how White got an advantage and there why Black did the moves he did. Sadly, I didn't find a way to get the more in depth analysis on the website, or have variations of games that I could play. It would be wonderful if someone could explain to me, or show, why White is winning and was this the best course of action? Is there anything else Black could have done to better himself?

# Answer
Qh6 threatens Qg7 mate, so Rg8 was the only way to defend.

Now if white finds a way for a rook to get to the h-line, Qxh7 Kxh7 Rh+ would be mate.

One idea would be 2.Rf3 Bxf3 3.gxf3 and then execute this idea with 4.Qxh7 and Ra2-h2. Unfortunately in this line 3…d5 attacks the h2 square and 4.Qxh7 Kxh7 5.Rh2 is foiled by 5…Qxh2.

So white plays 2.Rf4 first, this threatens g5 and then the execution. Therefore black forces the rook away with 2…e5. But now the Rf3-idea works because d5 no longer allows the queen to attack h2. No more way to prevent Qh7 and mate.

```
[FEN "r4r1k/pbq2p1p/1p1ppPp1/8/2P3P1/PP6/R2Q2P1/1B3R1K w KQkq - 0 1"]

1. Qh6 Rg8 2. Rf4 e5 3. Rf3 Bxf3 4. gxf3 d5 5.Qxh7 Kxh7 6.Rh2

```
> 8 votes

---
Tags: analysis, strategy, tactics
---


title: Chess tactics #4: Black to play and win

text:
# Question
Title: Chess tactics #4: Black to play and win
After the last problem which was very hard I'm bringing you another one which is easier than the previous one. The position is:

```
[fen "K4R2/RQ4B1/2n5/3q2p1/4PP1p/3p4/pp6/1kr5 w - - 0 1"]

```

White has just played Qg2 and it's going to lose very quickly. **What is the winning move for Black in this position?**

This problem is taken again from the Chess Tactics Server.

# Answer
> 4 votes
White threatens mate on g7, but

> 1. ... Ne1 pins the queen (and threatens Rf1#; Qxe4 won't stop that) 2. Rxe1 Qxe1+ 3. Qg1 Rf1 wins the queen

and the remaining endgame is easily won for Black.

---
Tags: tactics, problems
---


title: Mate vs timeout

text:
# Question
Title: Mate vs timeout
I've read about "mate prevails" here on this site, but I couldn't get a clear view on one odd point. I get that the mating move prevails, but if you couldn't do it before your flag falls, you lose.

Let's say it's my opponent's turn. I'm about to mate in 1. They hit the clock, and I run out of time. Then he notices it and claims it while I'm performing checkmate, **at the exact same time**.

Under FIDE rules, what happens?

# Answer
> 7 votes
Theoretically the situation is very simple, whichever happens first stands. In practice it is often difficult to determine what happened first though.

If you insist that both the flag falls and the mating move is made at exactly the same time (the same nanosecond say) then my answer would be that this can never happen. It is as in statistics - the probability of a single point is zero, i.e. two events cannot happen at the same time.

As an arbiter you need to decide according to what you believe happened first. How to determine that is an old question (with no clear answer obviously) but that is not what your question is about if I understand it correctly .

# Answer
> 1 votes
If no arbiter saw this happening and there is a dispute, then the player who claims the flag fall can't prove that it happened before the move. The player who checkmated the opponent can show that he did (the position is on the board). So the checkmate will win.

If an arbiter saw what happened, a solution is probably possible, after all the claim of a win on time (or the arbiter announcing same) *will happen slightly after the flag fall*. If the claim and the checkmate occur at the same time, then the flag fell first and he lost on time. If the flag fall and the checkmate occur at the same time, then the claim was late and the checkmate stands (the game is already over, so claims are irrelevant).

---
Tags: rules, checkmate, fide
---


# Question
Title: What are some helpful chess tactics training websites?
I like Chesstempo and chess.emrald.net\[1\].

Are there any others?

**Edit (25.12.2020)**: Since at least 2018, chess.emrald.net has often not been responsive.

# Answer
Chesstempo.com is the one I use. It's pretty excellent. I'd like to hear if there's a better one, though.
> 13 votes

# Answer
http://www.chess.com/tactics/myhome.html

Free: 5 problems/day
> 7 votes

# Answer
Lichess.org has both tactics and opening training.
> 3 votes

# Answer
chessity.com is fun, and the free membership offers 20 puzzles/day and access to multiplayer games.
> 2 votes

# Answer
chess24.com 5 free problems a day.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Take a look at this.This chessbase site is pretty useful.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: tactics, recommendations
---


title: Chess challenge #3: Pinned knights

text:
# Question
Title: Chess challenge #3: Pinned knights
Here it is a new chess problem much more difficult than the previous one. The diagram position is the following:

```
[fen "3rr2k/6pp/p2q1p2/5P2/3Nb3/1P1RQ1NP/6P1/7K w - - 0 1"]

```

Black has just played Bxe4 but that is not a good choice. **How should White continue in this position?**

I took this problem from the Chess Tactics Server. I hope this takes more time to be solved than the previous one.

EDIT:

> After Nxe4 Black plays Qd4 instead of Qe4, giving White the choice of playing a powerful movement.

# Answer
> 4 votes
Attempting to answer the revised puzzle:

> 1.Nxe4 Qd5 2.Qg3 with the threat of 3 Ne6 winning due to double threat (4 Qxg7 and discovered attack from the Rd3). White still carries out this threat if Black answers 2.Qg3 with either Qxe4 or Rxe4. Presumably this is strong enough that the engines didn't even let Black answer 1.Nxe4 with Qd5. Note that this tactic also depends on Qg3's access to d3 (after Qxe4 3 Ne6 Qxe6 4 fxe6 Rxd3) and the 8th rank (for Qxe4 3 Ne6 Rxe6 4 Rxd8+ Re8 5 Qb8!).

# Answer
> 3 votes
This is what I would play:

> 1. Nxe4 (removes the threat to the Rook) Qe5 (pins the knight) 2. Ne6 (discovered attack to weaken the back rank) Rxd3 3. Qxd3 Qxf5 4. N6c5 (note the e4 knight cannot be taken by the Rook due to the weak back rank). It is nominally even material (2 knights vs. Rook and Pawn), but White has much more active pieces.

---
Tags: tactics, problems
---


title: Chess tactics #5: Yugra Governor's cup

text:
# Question
Title: Chess tactics #5: Yugra Governor's cup
I took this position from a game that has been played today at the Yugra Governor's Cup between GM Aleksej Aleksandrov from Belarus and GM Ivan Bukavshin from Russia. White (Aleksandrov) has just played 27. Rc2 and that's a huge blunder. **How did Bukavshin win the game?**

```
[fen "1r6/5kpp/3qpb2/1Bpb4/8/5N1P/1PR1QPP1/6K1 w - - 0 1"]

```

# Answer
@Bad\_Bishop is almost correct, and this illustrates a general pattern in chess tactics: if a sequence of moves almost works, try changing the move order:

> 1 ... Bxf3! 2. gxf3 Rxb5 3. Qxb5 Qd1+ winning the rook, or 2. Qxf3 Rxb5 winning a piece.
> 5 votes

# Answer
This is my gut feeling:

> 1... Rxb5 2. Qxb5 Bxf3 3. gxf3 Qd1+ 4. K moves Qxc2. Black ends up a piece ahead.
> 2 votes

---
Tags: tactics, problems
---


# Question
Title: Jin chess pieces, how to obtain higher resolution?
There are a set of good chess piece graphics at: https://code.google.com/p/raptor-chess-interface/wiki/AdditionalChessSets. In particular, I'm interested in the graphics used by the Jin Chess client, e.g.: JinAlpha.

Unfortunately, the highest resolution is at 132x132, which is too little in the 2015 standards. I'm looking for something like 256x256, or even SVG (resolution independent).

Anybody has any idea where to get the source for the graphics (e.g.: Adobe files)? Who created those graphics? Is there any way to increase the resolution without image loss? Who would have the skills to enhance the graphics?

Free or paid solutions are welcome.

# Answer
> 2 votes
I found this link to Github which could be useful: https://github.com/lukasmonk/lucaschess/tree/master/Pieces/JinAlpha

They seem to have the pieces in SVG format.

---
Tags: pieces
---


# Question
Title: What are some examples of promoting a pawn to a rook or bishop?
I understand the theory, and have seen examples, of endgames where a pawn promoted to a queen creates a draw and instead the player typically promotes to rook. My question is, has this ever occurred in a game at the international level?

Instances of a pawn promoted to a knight would be interesting, but not really the target of this question. I am interested in notable games where a pawn was promoted to either a rook or a bishop.

# Answer
The wikipedia entry on promotion gives a position from a 2006 game at the Irish Chess Championship, in which a promotion to queen would allow stalemate:

```
[FEN "8/8/4Q3/8/5q2/8/1p2K2k/8 b - - 0 1"]
[StartFlipped "0"]

1...b1=R! $19 (1...b1=Q?? 2.Qh3+! Kxh3 $10)

```

The same entry also points to the 1972 game between Aron Reshko and Oleg Kaminsky, where promotion to a queen or rook would allow stalemate, and promoting to a knight would be insufficient to win:

```
[FEN "4Q3/Pq4pk/5p1p/5P1K/6PP/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

1.a8=B! (1.a8=Q?? Qf7+! 2.Qxf7 $10) (1.a8=R?? Qf7+! 2.Qxf7 $10) 1...Qb3 2.Qd7 $18

```

Rook and Bishop promotion is very rare in world class play. Knight promotion is more common, but not as much as Queen promotion. From the looks of it, it looks like Knight promotion is popular when promoting to any other piece would result in its immediate capture where as a Knight promotion would often be used to fork a King and a another piece resulting in material gain.
> 15 votes

# Answer
Here's another example each of a rook promotion and a bishop promotion from actual play. Neither specific promotion was *quite* absolutely necessary (you'll see what I mean), but neither one was at all a superfluous underpromotion either.

In the game Sajtar-Benko (Budapest 1954), the following position was reached after `85...Kh6`:

```
[FEN "8/5KP1/7k/8/6P1/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.g8=R! (1.g8=Q??=) (1.g8=B?? Kg5=) (1.g8=N+ Kg5 2.Nf6 $18) (1.g5+ Kxg5 2.g8=Q+ $18) Kh7 2.Rg6 Kh8 3.Rh6#

```

Here promotion to a queen is stalemate, while promotion to a bishop allows Black to capture the remaining pawn with a draw by insufficient material. So the only promotions that win here are `86.g8=N+` (which is a long, drawn out win after `86...Kg5 87.Nf6`) and `86.g8=R!`. Unfortunately, neither underpromotion is strictly necessary, as White could instead win more prosaically by just releasing the stalemate trap with, say, `86.g5+` followed by promotion to queen. But still, the rook promotion is the move Sajtar played, and it's also the best, yielding mate in three.

The next position is from the game Tomic-Winzbeck (Dortmund Open 1993):

```
[FEN "2rRb2k/2P4p/6pP/p2B1pP1/Pp2pP2/1P2K3/8/8 b - - 0 1"]
[StartFlipped "0"]
[Result "1-0"]

1...Rxd8 2.cxd8=B! (2.cxd8=Q?? $10) (2.cxd8=R?? $10) (2.cxd8=N $18) 2...Bf7 3.Bf6+ (3.Bxf7?? $10) 3...Kg8 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Bd8 $18

```

Black played `43...Rxd8`, to which White responded `44.cxd8=B!`, since promotion to either queen or rook would yield stalemate. Not unlike before, while promotion to anything stronger would give up a draw, it's also the case that the bishop promotion wasn't the only option: a knight promotion would win easily enough here too. Still, the bishop promotion was actually played, and is the most natural, immediately threatening `45.Bf6#`. Black resigned after the promotion, but could have set up one more not-so-subtle trap by playing `44...Bf7`, when `45.Bxf7??` would again be stalemate. White would instead need to play something like `45.Bf6+ Kg8 46.Bxf7+ Kxf7 47.Bd8` and win easily with the extra bishop.

---

This is a bit off-topic, but since we're talking bishop promotions, I can't resist mentioning another example from "actual play," this one the rather silly online blitz game Rybka-Nakamura (ICC 2008). The six bishop promotions in this game are of course entirely unnecessary, but the game itself is a good illustration of how an engine can go horribly wrong in a completely closed position in which it insists on trying to win with an entirely illusory material advantage that it has. The final position after `271...Bbc6#`:

```
[FEN "K7/2bb4/1bbb4/3k4/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

```
> 14 votes

# Answer
There are a number of examples from international level games on this page: Practical Underpromotion

Here I have copied some of the more interesting ones.

**Vasuikov - Tukmakov, Erevan 1976**

```
[FEN "8/5p2/4p3/4P3/4K1k1/7r/7p/7R w - - 0 1"]

1.Rg1+ hxg1=R! ( 1...hxg1=Q??= )

```

**Simonson - Lasker, New York, 1892**

```
[FEN "2k5/8/2PK4/P7/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 1"]
[StartFlipped "0"]

1...Kb8 2.Kd7 ( 2.c7+?? Kc8= ) 2...Ka8 3.c7 Ka7 4.c8=R! ( 4.c8=Q??= )

```

**Badestein - Otto, Wernigerode 1952**

```
[FEN "5R2/8/4k3/8/8/8/5p1K/6r1 b - - 0 1"]
[StartFlipped "0"]

1...f1=R! ( 1...f1=Q?? 2.Re8+ Kd6 ( 2...Kd7 3.Rd8+ Kxd8= ) )

```

**Sokolsky - Ravinsky, USSR 1938** This is a very interesting game, but unfortunately, a *lot* of variations have been analysed, and unfortunately, I do not have the patience to convert them to PGN. :)
> 11 votes

# Answer
Tim Krabbé has an extensive page on B- and R-promotions in his Chess Curiosities site, including many examples from actual play:

http://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess2/minor.htm
> 9 votes

---
Tags: pawn-promotion
---


# Question
Title: Is e5 an usual move in positions like this in the King's Indian?
I have played a game this morning where I reached the following position:

```
[fen "r1bq1rk1/1p1nppbp/p2p1np1/2pP4/2P1P3/2N1BN2/PP2BPPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 1"]

```

I was playing with White. In this position my opponent played e5 which is a very bad move because I can take the pawn *en passant* and then take the d6 pawn which is unprotected.

I went on to win the game and afterwards I was talking to him and he told me that he thinks that it is an usual move and that taking on d6 is not supposed to be good.

I checked the position with my computer and it gives White an advantage of +2 after taking the d6 pawn. I assume that he forgot his analysis and mixed different lines.

I don't usually play the King's Indian so I'm wondering, are there any lines where Black can play e5 in a position similar to this one and then is bad to take on d6?

I'm just interested in positions which arose from the King's Indian where Black has already played c5.

# Answer
> 1 votes
...e5 is indeed a typical move in King's Indian, but it's usually done when:

* The white pawn is on d4
* The white pawn is on d5 but there is something defending the d6 pawn, usually the Black queen.

I think your opponent simply confused the position and blundered.

# Answer
> 1 votes
In KID positions like this with pawns on c5 and d6, knight on d7 I have never seen e5 without either Re8 or Qe8 first. e5 in this position is just a blunder,

---
Tags: opening, kings-indian
---


# Question
Title: Chess tactics #6: Yugra Governor's cup again
The one that I posted yesterday Chess tactics #5: Yugra Governor's cup wasn't the only blunder that happened yesterday in this tournament. In the game between Alexey Sarana (2426) and GM Pavel Ponkratov (2604) the following position was reached:

```
[fen "5rk1/1bn1q1bp/p2p4/2pP1P2/1rB5/2NQ2BP/RP3PK1/5R2 w - - 0 1"]

```

White has just played 25. exf5. **How did Ponkratov win the game?**

# Answer
It seems like

> 1. ... Bxc3 2. Qxc3 Rxc4 picks up a piece, because Qxc4 loses the queen to Bxd5+.
> 6 votes

---
Tags: tactics, problems
---


title: Endgame Databases

text:
# Question
Title: Endgame Databases
I am looking to practice endgames against a computer by having a decent number (lets say 500+) of positions loaded into a database. Currently I am taking positions from various endgame books as well as positions found online and inputting them one by one. I am wondering if such a database already exists online. I want to be able to load a random endgame position from this database, and be able to quickly play against the computer.

If there are good, free online resources to do this I would be happy to hear them as well. I know Chess Tempo has endgame practice but I don't like that I can only do 2 positions a day.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Chessgym allows you to train a number of positions, without registration or a daily limit.

---
Tags: endgame, database, study
---


title: Software to train attacks-vision

text:
# Question
Title: Software to train attacks-vision
I'd like to train a sort of "chess vision". For a given position, I should find all the figures under attack, something very similar to schach-schlägerei: https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/id428235830

Unfortunately, this application is iOS-only. Suggestions for alternatives are welcome.

# Answer
Chess Gym allows you to do that and much more (you can also try to find all the defended pieces in a given position). It's free and you can play without having to register.
> 0 votes

---
Tags: software
---


# Question
Title: What is the best way to play chess via terminal?
I've recently learned about gnu chess, but it's poorly documented, and I'm having difficulties:

* Setting a reasonable difficulty level;
* Saving an entire game to a pgn: it's only saving the last move;

How can I do this? Is there an e-book or a good tutorial I can follow?

Thanks in advance

Update (2/8/15): Actually, it's the version of gnuchess that's packaged with Debian 7 (6.0.2) that has a bug; after compiling 6.2.1 pgnsave worked normally.

# Answer
You can save games with:

```
pgnsave FILENAME

```

This saves the game played so far from memory to a file.

You can find some documentation here: http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/chess/
> 3 votes

---
Tags: engines, pgn, beginner
---


# Question
Title: Chess challenge #7: Women's European Team Championship
In the recent Women's European Team Championship Anna Muzychuk won a quick game against Almira Skripchenko.

```
[fen "r3qrk1/1b3ppp/ppp5/2nBp1N1/P3P3/7P/1PP1QPP1/R2R2K1 w - - 0 1"]

```

Skripchenko has just played 15 ... c6 and resigned a few moves later because of a beautiful tactical sequence played by Muzychuk. **How did White win the game?**

# Answer
I think the winning tactical combination is the following:

> 1.Qh5! h6 2.Bxf7+ Rxf7 3.Qxf7+ Qxf7 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 5.b4 Nxe4 6.Rd7+
> 7 votes

---
Tags: tactics, problems, women
---


# Question
Title: A tactic on the Chekhover variation of the Sicilian?
Recently I found the game Tal vs. Byrne (1976), that opens with Chekhover Variation of the Sicilian Defense. What got my attention in this variation was move **7**, for, just like Tal did, every engine says that the best move is **7. Nc3**, but for some reason I like how **7. Ng5** looks:

```
[FEN ""]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Ng5!? (7. Ng5 e5 8. Qc4 Qd7)

```

Stockfish 6 says it is slightly better for black (-0.8 at depth=22 to be precise), but the main idea is simply to explore the weakness of the f7 pawn. The main line I was thinking was **7... e5 8. Qc4**, the natural urge to punish the white queen at the center creates the threat of mate on f7, so black is somewhat obligated to lift the queen to the 7th rank. Anyway, if this "trick" fails, for example after **8... Qd7**, there is no immediate advantage for white, and it seems that the only difference from Tal's 1976 variation is that here white is behind in development (and ready to be punished!).

I couldn't find any game with the move **7. Ng5** in chessgames.com, but I still think that it is a natural looking move that seems to have a possible tactic behind it, even if I wasn't able to find. So my question is:

> Is **7. Ng5** really *only* a bad move? The downside is that obvious? Or there is a possible tactic behind it? (besides the threat of mate on f7 after **7... e5 8. Qc4**)

# Answer
Strategically the knight is misplaced on g5. When black plays e5 in the Sicilian, the ideas revolve around white trying to control the d5 square, and black trying to play d6-d5. Simply put, if black can play d5 damaging his position (i.e. sometimes if the king is still in the center d5 opens up the black king) black will have a clear advantage due to the central pawn majority.

In order to control the d5 square, white usually plays Nc3 and Bg5. Bg5 is important because it will either pin black's knight to the queen or allow white to trade off black's knight that controls d5. With the white knight on g5, black will eventually gain a tempo by playing h6 which will also prevent access to g5 by the dark square bishop.

Additionally, with the queen out of the way on d7, black can quickly play Ra8-d8 in order to take better control of the d file and help support the eventual d5 push. All of this would be pretty comfortable for black anyways, but in the Chekhover, black also has the bishop pair which will benefit from the opening of the center when black plays d5.

Long story short, white is ceding a fairly large positional edge to black in exchange for some very short term tricks. That's not to say that white is losing, but after Ng5, black can easily claim equality straight out of the opening, and black has very good prospects to consolidate an advantage.
> 4 votes

# Answer
The move 7. Ng5 is bad because Black can defend f7 easily with e5 and Qd7, which is an improvement of the queens position and then chase away the knight with h6. White has played two moves Nf3-Ng5-Nf3 and ended up in the same configuration, but Black has played only one move, h6, and thus White has lost a move. For example, imagine White played 7. Bd2, then 7...e5 8. Qc4 Qd7. We have basically the same position, except White has his bishop on d2 instead of c1. By playing Ng5 you are just losing a move, what is called a loss of tempo in chess.

Also, the Queen is exposed on c4. Black can get a big advantage by putting pressure on White's e-pawn. For example, one line is 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. Bd2 h6! 11. Nf3 b5! 11. Qe2 Qb7 with a big advantage for Black.

The only possible point I can see for 7. Ng5 is to play f4, but Black can answer in the same way: 10. f4 b5! 11. Qd3 Qb7 once again with an advantage for Black due to the uncomfortable pressure on the e-pawn.

This outcome only occurs because White has lost a move. If White plays Nc3 and 0-0 he can easily defend the e-pawn and the same maneuver by Black will not work.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: tactics, sicilian-defense, minor-variations
---


title: Which side has the advantage?

text:
# Question
Title: Which side has the advantage?
In this game, I made an early exchange of my queen for his rook and bishop. At the time, I was ahead, though he managed to bring it back to roughly even with an effective threat on the queen side.

Here is the position now. I traded a knight for his pawn on c7. White to move; who has the advantage now? My feeling is this is a draw position, but I'm unsure.

```
[FEN "6k1/Q6p/2P1n1p1/5p2/4r3/8/6K1/8 w - - 1 57"]

1.c7 Nxc7 2.Qxc7 h5

```

# Answer
> 3 votes
It is a draw. The only way to avoid perpetual check is to place the rook on f7/g7 and the king on h7. When Black does this, White will put his queen on f6, preventing the pawns from advancing and this is a draw, because Black can only sit in his fortress and repeat moves.

Note that even if Black succeeded in advancing his pawns further it would still be a draw, because that would only make it easier for White to check Black using the squares g8 and h8.

---
Tags: analysis, endgame
---


# Question
Title: What is the largest amount of players at once that can play during a single chess game?
I understand there is 3 man and 4 man chess but is there anything higher?

# Answer
> 2 votes
I've played 3- and 4-board "bughouse" with 6 or 8 people total, and can imagine higher counts though the logistics must soon become unmanageable.

In another direction, you can have a consultation game on a single board. Such games used to be 2-on-1 (handicap) or 2-on-2 affairs, but in the Internet age the number of players on a side is virtually unlimited, as was already seen in this famous game back in 1999.

---
Tags: chess-variants
---


title: Thinking to solve the puzzle

text:
# Question
Title: Thinking to solve the puzzle
I came across a puzzle on lichess.org, *(Black to move)* , I was unable to solve it. But I know the solution now,

I don't wasn't the solution or analysis. I just want to know how should one think while looking at this position to find the correct path since there are so many options to choose.

\]

**Spoiler: solution below**

>

# Answer
The essential thing is that sooner or later you have to come up with the move Re8. You only need the mental flexibility to take a step back after you have failed to find a solution via a series of checks, and look for additional motives.

Personally I saw Re8 immediately, but discarded it because it didn't seem to inconvenience the white queen too much. Then I tried to find a mate with forced checks. When this didn't seem to work, I remembered Re8 and found the solution.

In my experience solving tactical positions often come down to finding the necessary motives and putting them in the right order. If you don't find the right order, maybe you are still missing a motive.
> 2 votes

# Answer
You should always think how the last move played by your opponent has weakened his position.

In this game, f5 limits the mobility of the White king forcing it to stay confined in the g and h files.

That gives black a chance to checkmate using the rook and the queen. If the queen is moved the king can get to the f file and then it would be much more difficult to deliver checkmate. So you move the rook, and the solution is clearly the best choice because it forces white to exchange the queen to not get mated.
> 1 votes

---
Tags: tactics, puzzles
---


# Question
Title: Chess challenge #8: British knockout championship
The British Knockout championship is taking place now as a warm-up to the London Chess Classic that starts this Friday. There have been very interesting games (especially the ones played by Nicholas Pert) like this one between Jonathan Rowson and Gawain Jones.

```
[fen "5rk1/4R3/1pQp4/3Pp3/4B1pp/4q1P1/PP3rPK/3R4 w - - 0 1"]

```

Gawain had a huge advantage but has just played ...h4 letting it slip away. Rowson has one chance to avoid losing the game. **What should he play?**

# Answer
The tags seem to give a big hint . . .

> 1 Rg7+! Kxg7 (Kh8 can't be better, since White can at least repeat with 2 Rh7+ Kg8 3 Rg7+) 2 Qd7+ Rf1-f7 (Rf8-f7 3 Qxg4+ and perpetual check since White has access also to c8; K-moves get mated: Kf6? 3 Qe6+ and 4 Qg6, or Kh6/g8/h8? 3 Qh7+) 3 Qxg4+ Kh8 4 Qxh4+ Kg8 and White can either take the perpetual starting 5 Qg4+ (checks from h3/g4/e6/c8) or go for more with 5 Rf1!?
> 6 votes

# Answer
> `1. Rg7+!!` if `1 .. Kh8 2. Rh7+ Kg8 3. Rg7+ etc` if `1 .. Kxg7 2. Qd7+` followed by perpetual check from the white queen on the white squares (`e6` & `g4`).
> 4 votes

---
Tags: tactics, problems, check, perpetual
---


# Question
Title: Do players play "boring" openings before an important tournament?
The London Chess Classic is being held at the moment, just three months away from the Candidates, with some of the best players of the world and 6 of the participants of the candidates (Giri, Nakamura, Topalov, Anand, Caruana and Aronian).

So far the openings have been a bit "dull" in the majority of the games without any really sharp line or theoretical novelty. I feel that in the previous stages of the Grand Chess Tour the openings were much more sharper and fun to watch as an spectator.

Might this be caused because the Candidates is really close and the players don't want to show their preparation or is it just a coincidence? Is it usual for the players to play "boring" and well known lines before a big tournament?

# Answer
"Hiding prep'" is a well known cliche in the chess world. When Anand had a slump in form a few years back, it was joked that he has been hiding his preparation for several years now.

I believe there are two sides to this phenomenon:

Especially going into world championship matches, players sometimes revamp complete parts of their opening repertoire. For example Leko going for 1.d4 against Kramnik, or Gelfand taking up the Sveshnikov and Grunfeld against Anand, or Kramnik playing the Berlin against Kasparov … Obviously in these cases the whole purpose of the preparation would have been defeated if they had tried the lines in some preliminary tournament.

On the other hand, if a top player doesn't plan to spring such a big surprise, arguably it doesn't make too much sense to hide single novelties or variations from your opponents. After all in every single game only the tiniest part of the preparation of a top GM is revealed. Showing one tricky line doesn't rip a big hole into your repertoire and you never know whether anybody will walk into your trap again. GM Gustafsson has repeatedly argued that even right before very important tournaments, top GMs are happy to spring a trap before a different player grabs that opportunity, after all they are all using the same engines ...
> 4 votes

---
Tags: opening, novelties, candidates
---


# Question
Title: Is there an engine which tries to find moves that forces the opponent to find the best move?
For example:

```
1r1q2k1/1p3rpp/b1pn4/P5N1/1B1P4/1Q6/1P3PPP/2R3K1 w - - 0 1

```

Here, the best move is not 1.Bxd6 but White plays it anyway in a swindle attempt to win, since Black is forced to take on g5 (and not d6) to keep the advantage.

# Answer
The short answer is no (as far as I know). You're adding together two concepts, so let me try to address them both:

1. Moves that have responses that are **hard to find**. This is a tough problem because it basically means running a regular computer engine and a more human-like engine at the same time, and seeing what moves are found by the first but not the second. People gave up on human-like engines a while ago because the more brute-force was so much more effective. So this is a tough research problem (one that people worked on for decades in the 20th century) without a big payoff.
2. Moves that are **forcing**. If the opponent has only one good response, that increases the chance that she'll play a bad move, right? Well, not really; if I play a capturing move and the only good move is a recapture, chances are my opponent will find it. So just using the number of good responses as a measure of how tricky a move is problematic. (Forcing moves are usually good to consider because they limit the search tree and increase the chance that all leaves in it are good for you, but that's a different reason from trying to induce a mistake.)

It would be nice to have an engine whose evaluations were "How likely would I be to win from this position against another 2000 player?" rather than "How likely would a computer be to win from this position against another computer?" but people have overwhelmingly concentrated on the later. (I would be delighted to be wrong about this.)
> 5 votes

---
Tags: engines
---


# Question
Title: Why did Valery Salov quit competitive chess?
Why did Valery Salov stop playing in chess tournaments in the last 15 years?

# Answer
> 3 votes
According to this article, it was because he was a pain in the ass and offended too many of chess' elite players. In fact, he seems unstable, not merely eccentric.

And more here. Looks like he decided he wasn't going to get along with people.

---
Tags: grandmaster, famous-players
---