R ob B r uni
uniaa
Cor van W ijgerden
ijgerden

Learning
Learni ng c
chess
hess
M a n u a l fo r

c h e s s ttrr a iin
ne rs
 

Learning chess

M a n u a l fo r

chesstrainers

Step2
 

Copyright <9 Cor van Wijgerden 2004

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any other fonn or by a ny mea ns without pennission in writing from
the publisher.

ISBN 90-77275-36-3

Information: www.stappenmeth
www.stappenmethode.nl
ode.nl

E-mail: info@stappenmethode.nl

Publisher: Van Wijgerd

W ijgerden
en
English translation: David Fitzpatrick
Drawings: Rupert van der Linden
Cover design: Eric van der Schilden
 

Contents

Preface ......................................................................................................... 4

The second step.............................. ....................................................... ...... 5

Chess development of a child ......................................................................6
Characteristics of children's games ............................................................. 9
Ma terial in the sec
second
ond step ........
.................
..................
..................
..................
..................
..................
..................
........... 11
Sequence of the teaching material........................................................ ..... 12
Teach ing............. ..................
Teaching............. ................................
.................
... ............
................
.... ............ ..... ................... 13
- Orie ntation....................
ntation...............................
......................
......................
......................
......................
....................
......... ........... 14

- Prior know ledge ..........

....................
....................
.....................
....................
......... .............
.......................
....................
.............
... 14
- A{;CJ
A{;CJllisiti
llisiti()11
()11 ................
.................................
..................................
..................................
..................................
...........................
.......... 15
- Practice......................
Practice....................................
.............................
.............................
............................
............................
.....................
....... 18

- Testing...... ....................................... ............................ .... ..... .... .... .... ....... 24

The discussion of children's games........................................................... 26
Certi fi cate .................................................................................................. 32
Indications for the use of this manual........................................................33
Lesson 1: Activity...................................................................................... 34
Lesson 2: Double attack (1)....................................................................... 40
Lesson 3: Double attack (2)....................................................................... 48
Lesson
Les son 4: The pin..............
pin......................
................
................
................
..............
...... ...........
.................
...... ..........
.................
....... 54
Lesson 5: Eliminating of defence.............................................................. 61
Lesson 6: The 3 golden rules..................................................................... 68
Lesson 7: M ate in two ............ ......
...................
..........................
............. .... ........
.................
......... ........ ...... 78

Lesson 8: Double attack: knight.......................................................... ...... 85

Lesson 9: Mating with the rook ................................................................. 90
Lesson
Lesso n 10: Double
Doub le attack: 1: it. ..................
....................................
.....................................
......................
... 96
Less on 11: Disco vered attack........................
attack.................................
..................
..................
..............
..... ..........
.......... 10 2

Lesson 12: Defending against mate......................................................... 109

Lesson 13: Short notation. ......... .................................................... .......... 113
List of conc epts................
epts.......................... ...................
...................
................ ...... ...................
............................ ..................
......... 1 19
Ordering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 124
 

Preface

The Step by Step learning system is an offi official

cially
ly acknowledged m ethod by
the Dutch Che ss Federation. It has been suc cessfully adopted by the majo-
rit
rityy of chess clubs and schools in the N etherl
etherlands
ands and Belgium.

The course consists of six manuals, specifically for chess teachers and

trainers, and six workbooks that can be used by the students themselves.
trainers,
The course introduces
introduces the game of chess in a no-nonsense, common-sense
way to all budding players from ages 6 up. It introduces many psycho-
logical aspects of the game and avoids the pitfalls that characterise many
less-extensivee courses. It would allow anyone of average and above ave-
less-extensiv
rage ability to absorb - at one's own p ace - all the rules and skills of chess
that are necessary to become a strong club player. It also tries to remove
most impediments that often cause players to play b elow their strengt
strength.
h.

The 'real' work begins in the second step. After the rul
rules
es of the ga me and
the basic skills from the previous step the first principles of tactics and
positional play are on the program now. Weare going to teach attacking
techniques and winning material in a clever way. Tactic is very important
in playing chess. Tactical possibilities of the advanced chess players ori-
ginate from
from a good positi
positional
onal play, in case of the students of step two they
come out of thin air. At this level all games are decided by tactics, so it is
logical to pay a lot of attention to this matter. Positional play is still being
inferior comparing to tactics. The problem is that even the most simple
positional concepts are aiming too high. The introduction is made in the
second step but at the beginning it is better to point out the positional
elements analysing the children's games.

At this mome nt not all books of the ch ess cou rse are translated int
intoo En gli
glish
sh
yet. You will find updated information on our web site at:
www.stappenmethode.nl
For m ore information,
information, please contact info@stappenm ethode.nl

Enjoy your chess lessons.

Rotterdam, M ay 2004
Rotterdam,
Cor van W ijijgerden
gerden

4
 

The second step

step
We go from the standpoint that the lessons of this step can only be of use
when children have first successfully finished the first step. This entails
mo re than a sufficient result at the exams . The basic skills of the first step
also have to be applied by the children in their games. When there is in-
sufficient skill, the offering of new knowledge will only backfire.
F or t he t eac her t hi s m eans t hat he ha s t o be aw are of t he di dac t iic
c al

approach, as desc ribed in the manual of the first step.

In the manua l of tthe

he secon d step, the str
stress
ess is on enhan cing the students'
skills.
skills. The stress lies on the attack. We teach targets and attack techniques
because:

. A further mastery of the material becomes possible (capturing material

in a clever way)
. In chess the attacker wins
. Attacking works as an incentive
Mastering which were before unknown possibilities, stimulates the young
chess players.

Basic techniques as the double attack, the pin and eli

eliminating
minating the defence
fonn the building blocks for the combination. That's why we need to offer
these techniques as struct
structured
ured as p ossible. A good un derstanding, llinked
inked to
a well-practised skill is the basis for future success with more difficult
parts.

All the articles from Step 1 are about 'The chess development of a child'
and 'Teaching' (adapted
(adapted to the second step) are also adopted here. Many
teachers begin in Step 2 because the child has already learned chess of
grandpa or uncle Bob. They don't face the first manual. Although almost
all childr
children
en who come to a chess club and already know how to play chess
can profit a lot from the exercises of the first step.
 

The chess development

deve lopment of a chil
child
d

The game of chess has an enormous attraction on children. Chess pieces

fascinate them by their shape and by the way they m ove over the boa rd. IItt
fascinate
is a game in which you can act as your own boss, and where you face the
consequences of your own actions, which therefore are entirely for your
own account. Good or bad luck, as you would experience in games like
'Bingo' or 'Monopoly', does not exist in chess. In short, children think it is
a nice - even cool - game.

Capturing
After learning the way the pieces move and how to capture,
cap ture, playing
become s a real treat. For chil
children,
dren, the fi
first
rst aim of the gam e then bec omes
capturing pieces of the opponent. The captured pieces are then neatly
arranged in order of battle alongside the board, preferably on their own
side. The loot is counted regularly. Children will
w ill even count them if
nothing has been captured in the meantime.
Capturing becomes the aim of the game for children. It does not really
matter a lot to them whether material is lost. Even if they are aware of the

concept of mating and partially know how to apply it, they will remain so
fascinated by capturing that this is what they are after in the first place.
They w ill sel
select
ect a piece (each child has their ow n preference) and w ill start
hunting with it. If the
the piece is kill
killed
ed in a ction, then it is the turn of the next
piece. When one of the players is mated, it is often
often by accident and it comes
as a surprise to both players. They would rather continue! "You are mated"
is countered by "Yes, but I got your queen."

Material phase
The period in which children are occupied like this with the material itself
is easily identifiable. We call this period: the material phase. The children

explore the pieces and the way they work and gradually become more
skilful in their play. They do not hesitate anymore about the way the pieces
skilful
should go.
A total overview over the board is however far away. The understanding
which pieces are in danger and
an d which ones can be safely captured, is
developing much more slowly. Playing many games is the most natural
way to imp rove this 'board vision'.
It assists
assists the children enormously in their chess development, if they get the
chance to wo rk through this material phase at their own pace as com pletely

6
 

as may be possible. One of the benefit

ben efitss (among
(amon g others) will be that they
they do
not continue to give pieces away in later game s.

Spatial phase
Mastering the mating concept and focusing on finding a mate are only
sufficiently effective if a child gets sufficient insight in the s patial division
sufficiently
of the board during the material phase. It has to discover that the way the
pieces move does not only extend to other pieces but also to squares. Only
then do w e speak o f (an attempt to) spatial contr
control.
ol. The students reach a
new plateau: the spatial phase, of course without completely leaving the
previous one.
one . To start with this phase without taking the previous on
onee into
account, will
will lead to more and unnecessary m istakes
istakes in the gam es of the
children. After that it will take the children quite some time to reach the
next phase

Time phase
We play m oves in chess with a certain goal iinn mind. We need time to reach
that specific purpose.
Time is expressed in m oves. Chess players call a move a tempo (i.(i.e.
e. 'time'
'time'
in Italian, with its plural: tempi). The stronger we start playing, the more
important a tempo becom es. Even playing as W hite is
is then an advan tage,
because White is the side that starts the game (even if it is only half a
move). We therefore call the third phase of development the time phase.
The fact that it takes a number of years before a child reaches that level
requires some explanation
Students do not have any notion of the importance of time in the first step.
step.
They som etimes invent wonderful plans that are a few move s deep, e.g. to
catch a paw n with their King. The opponen
op ponentt unfortunately is
is able to counter
the threat in just
just one m ove w hen cap ture is near. A waste of time (in our
eyes!) but children do not yet experience that they cou ld have better utilised
those lost moves. Even children in the second step bravely pursue an
oppon ent's pawn with their King (White: a4 - Black: Kb3: 1. a5 Kb4 2. a6
Bb5 3. a7 Kb6 4. a8Q ). We may con clude from the way they react that they
not even consider that strange: "That was close!"
This insufficient
insufficient understanding of the concept time is in a way rem arkable.
Children do not like it when they have to lose a turn during 'Monopoly'.
They m ost certainly do realize
realize that they are at a disadvantage as regards to
their opponents. You never have to pass a single move during chess : you
play whenever it is your turn. That you nevertheless may have to pass - i.e.
lose a tempo - after all because of 'stupid'
'stupid' moves m ay occur to them, but

7
 

the expectation that the opponent will overlook a threat tends to overrule
that thought.
As a result of the lessons and comments on their games, they will start to
gradually realise during the second step the real truth
gradually truth that a ch ess gam e is
more than just a sequenc e of separate move s. They learn, with
with help of the
exercises, the impo
impo rtance of looking a few moves ah ead; and children learn
as a result of the lessons about the opening (gambits) that you may
'exchange' material for space and time. By that time however we have
arrived in step 3. Only then do the concepts of gaining or losing a tempo
become clearer
clearer.. When comm enting on their games, we shall then fol follow
low up
on this point: "You
"You ca n gain a temp o by playing this. You will lose
lose a tem po
in developm ent. That is
is going to lose you a tempo ."

None of the three ab ove phases are clearl

clearlyy defined and visible periods, but

 
they run partially along parallel tracks. Only the beginning and ending
stages of each phase lie differently. Let's clarify
clarify this by making the follo-
Ing companson:

Material phase: from

from January through June
Spatial phase: from March through September

Time phase: from May through December

It appears that children ne ed all their att
attention
ention and energy a t the start of a
certainn phase , so that there
certai there is no room and ene rgy left for the
the next one . As
soon as there is a certain manner of control after a while, you may slowly
start with the next phase.

Relevance for the chess lesson

A chess trainer
trainer is wise to take these stages into account during his lessons.
He is able to help the children by allowing them to play sufficient games
and by h aving them do the exercises during the material phase. The right
conce pts and skills
skills will thus be acqu ired and practised at the right
right mom ent.
It is a waste of time if students have to learn a spatial aspect like mate, if
they still
still have to think about the m ovem ent of a certain piece.
The duration of each phase tnds
t nds to depend on the individual. This is the
reason that our aim should be to adapt chess teaching as much as pos sible
to suit the individual child. This will conflict of course in practice due to a
lack of man powe r, but we can get quite far in the
the right direction
direction using the
exercise sheets, and especially by playing enough games.

Consequences for practice

The a bove-mentioned phases also have a certain importance for the practi
practi--

8
 

cal game. It does not ma ke sense to point out all kinds of aspects regarding
regarding
the spatial division of the board during the material phase or about giving
mate in a certain positi
position.
on. Just as u seless is forci
forcing
ng the c hil
hildren
dren to pon der
their moves for a long time. The problematic nature of the game is, name ly,
represented by the m aterial
aterial on the board and no t by any o ther factors.
factors. In
practice, we often notice many well-meaning people who think that they
are promoting a positive development, by forcing children to think a long
time about their moves. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. The child gets
bored until the mom ent that it is all
allowed
owed to m ake his mo ve and w ill lose

interest in the game.

It is evident that playing with a clock at this stage is not appropriate and
only causes the child to lose concentration.
Assistance during a friendly game with the trainer in the manner of: "Just
have a g ood look, you ca n capture a piece " is in
in a different category alto-
gether and is the right thing to do. During teaching and when commenting
on children's games, we always need to remain aware in which phase the
children presently are, so that we m ay correct the error
children errorss being m ade m ore
effectively.

Characteristics of children's games

The children in the begin phase m ake m istakes
istakes of course. A ch ilild's
d's game
has the following characteristics.
Children:
. play at the edge of the board.
They sea rch for tthe
he safety of the edge. You can on ly be attacked on one
side and there is less danger.
. play with only a few pieces.
This aspect is linked to the limited oversight that they have in the game.
Only a few p ieces can be w atched at the same ti time.
me. The possibil
possibiliti
ities
es of
one piece are more than interesting enough. There is hardly any
cooperation between pieces. This manifests itself in 'many pawn moves'
and 'aimlessly giving check'.
. are focussed on m aterial.
Squares without anything on them are not interesting. They are more
prone on capturing all the opponent's pieces. The relative value of the
pieces doesn't playa role for now. A child will without any hesitation
trade his super active bishop for a rook.

9
 

. play quickly.
Moving and capturing are the attractive sides of the game. When you
playa move quickly, your turn will be up soon. The time the opponent
spends on thinking is not appreciated ("Your turn!").
Characteristically a child wants to quickly execute the ideas in their
head, m aybe out of fear of forgetting them.
. see only their own possibilities.
They don't take the probable chances of their opponent into account,
only their own action is of importance. The feeli
feeling
ng of dange r is therefore
largely not present. This is evident from a sudden mate or a passed
pawn, which moves to the opposite side, unhindered.
. only use a limited part of the board.
They think that in limiting your world the problems will be less.
. have difficulty with the distances on the board.
The orientation at a distance is limitedly present. This doesn't only lead
to errors in long moves, but also to errors like 'going into check or re-
maining in check'.
. oft
often
en think that only one move has a p urpose.
Black takes a paw n but they overlook that something is att
attacked
acked at the
same time.

. sometimes see ghosts.

They are exces sively afraid
afraid of, for example passed pa wns.
. don't look for a better move.

When children can capture two pieces then they will capture the piece
they n otice first.
. are unnece ssarily afraid of a ''better'
better' opponent.
He already has the second step!

Whe n guiding these children we have to w atch these 'chil

'children's
dren's mistakes'
mistakes'..
It is good to take knowledge of this without immediately wanting to
intervene. Explaining that playing along the border has no use remains
futile if we do not teach them how the pieces work optimally. Only then it
is useful for the children to let go of this kind of play, just as playing with
few pieces. Being focussed on m aterial
aterial is a natural necessary development.
Intervening is not directly necessary. Playing quickly will stop when they
know more. In that moment they have a reason to think. Well-meant com-
ments to think longer are therefore futile in the begin period. The child
howeve r will wait with playing
playing a move but only because he is told to. The
danger exists that interest in the gam e w ill be pa rti
rtially
ally lost.

10
 

Material in the second step

After the rules and the basic skills in the previous step we will move on to
the first principles
principles of tactics and positional play.

Tactics

Tactics leads to success (mate or a win in material) within a series of

moves. We call this series of moves a combination. In the second step these
combinations
combinations are 1 moves deep (3 ply). White makes a move, Black
Black
responds, White scores. Tactics plays a large role in chess. Tactical possibi-
lities come from good positional play with advanced chess players, with a
second stepper they simply just fall out of the sky. All games at this level
are decided by tactics. (We will count capturing an unprotected piece to
tactics as well!) The means, which instantly cause a positive effect, can be
divided into
into three groups. The combinations lead to:
. mate

. gain in material (double attack, pin, eliminating the defence, trapping)

. draw

Positional play
Positional play for now is strongly subordinated to tactics. A problem is
that even the simplest positional concepts (i.e. strong square) are still out of
their league. We can explain them, but children will not be able to apply
them usefully in the fir
first
st years.
In this step there are two lessons devoted to positional play (lesson 1 and
6). Most important conce pts that we w ill introduce are:
. Activity of the pieces
. Vulnerability
Pieces are only able to prove their relative value when they do 'som ething
useful'. This 'usefulness' has to be explained so well that they can apply

this in their
their games. W e have to answ er the question:
Where are the pieces positioned best?
A piece is active if:
. It can play many moves (mobility).
. It attacks
attacks one or m ore enemy pieces.
. It controls many squares (preferably in the centre and on the opponent's
half) .
. It cooperates with other pieces:
- They com plement each other when control
controlliling
ng squares (so that a con-

11
 

nected area arises)

- They supp ort one and other at an attack (twofold attack).
- They protect each other when attacked by the opponent.
- They divide the tasks (i.e. chasing and gua rding).
- They are not in each other's way.

Actively placing our pieces is a first step towards good positional play.
That doesn't mean we are there yet. A piece which is active, can also be
vulnerable, a concept which plays a large role in tactics.

What is vulnerabl
vulnerable?
e?
. A target (king, material or square - see lesson 2)
. Valuable pieces (the queen and to a lesser degree the rook w hich practi
practi--
cally with every attack have to move away)
. A target for a combination (pieces of the same colour in the same line -
lesson 4 and 11)
. An important defender (lesson 5)
. A piece with little mobility (step 3)
- Because of the position on the board (in the comer or on the edge;
one's own pieces being in the way)
- Many enemies
. Being bound (a piece has a function -lesson 5)

The mentioned concepts have to be introduced very gradually. The first

start is given in the first
first lesson but suc h positional elemen ts can repea tedly
come to order when discussing the chil children's
dren's games. The abstract concepts
will then be more concrete because it concerns their own games.

Sequence of the teaching material

Some teachers don't follow the lessons in the manual in order. They first
choose the subjects they do like. Sometimes that doesn't matter, another
time it does. Therefore here follows a short motivation for the order of the
tactical subjects. The order of the other subjects is not that important, they
are placed betwe en the tactical ones for variety.
variety.

Sequence of the tactical subjects

We teach b ecause w e want to learn tthe
he students how to play chess better. ItIt

12
 

would be great if the learned knowledge could be applied straight away.

That of course b enefits the children's motivation. This is
is the reason tha t the

double attack of the queen is the first combination motive. In practically

any game on this level there is a possibility of a double attack by the queen
(unless the queens have b een exchan ged). With the double attackattack of the
queen, the three targets (king, material, square) are easily explained using
not too difficult and natural positions. The order of the pin and elimination
of the defence has mo re or less been chosen at random . Pins are more often

seen in ch ilildren's
dren's games. The double attack of the knight and other pieces
are necessary to repeat the subject. The discovered attack will be dealt with
last because it is a lot more diffi
difficult.
cult.

Teaching

Teaching is not easy, e specially

specially not for an inexperienced
inexperienced teacher. He has to
d e a l w i th th e l e s s o n m a te ri
ria
a l a n d th e c h i l d re n a n d h e w i l l h a v e to s e e

whether he can lead the learning process in a good way. Merely following
the ready-made lessons in this manual is not eno ugh for that purpose. It is
necessary to know what you are doing.

Stru c tu re o f a le s s o n

The results of learning are determined by m any factors. A personal charac-

teristic like intelligence can't be decisively influenced, we do however have
a direct influence in the way the lessons are structured and presented, the
help, which the students receive, and the feedback during the learning
process (see schedule of the teaching structure further
further on).
In this manual the structure of the matter is such that, there is a logical
follow up of the whole, in the build up of a separate lesson as in the whole
lesson cycle of the second step.
W e will be able to accompan y the learning process of the chil
children
dren better by
using a lesso n structure. We diff
differentiate:
erentiate:
. Orientation

. Prior knowledge
. Acquisition Feedback
. Practice

. Testing

For each lesson he will conduct, the teacher has to ask himself what he

13
 

wants to achieve, which goal he has in mind and w hich material he wants to
convey. For students also, the lesson has to have a goal.
The seco nd step is recollection
recollection of prior knowledge; the children are asked
which is esse ntial iinn dealing w ith the subject.
The children need this prior knowledge to ma ster the new knowledg e. After
the explanation phase the students will practice with what they have
learned, i.e. by doing the exercises. The teacher gets an insight till
till how far
the matter has become clear. In addition, it is important that he checks if the
students apply the learned in their games.
It is further desirable that after a period it is tested whether the discussed
ma tter iiss still ready to be ap plied.
In any mom ent in the llesson
esson feedback w ill have to be given to the students.
Stress what is correct and wh at isn't and especially why not.
We w ill now discuss eve ry part of tthe he lesson mo re extensively.

ORIENT A TION

Orientation is indicated in the lessons with: goal of the lesson. For the in-
structor it is
is important to realise the use of the lesson to be g iven and w hy
the students have to learn this now. If he is not sufficiently aware of this,
then there is a chance that the focus points are not sufficiently dealt with.
The sum mary with each lesson and if necessary the reminders are a good
aid. The students also have to see the use fulness of the lesson. Why do they
have to know this and what can they do with that. They have to be
stimulated to actively take part.
A goo d start by drawing their att attention
ention is a good be ginning. That can be
done by going into their world of experience , using a suitable litt little
le story, a
ri
riddle
ddle or an analogy with a sp ort ('Manch
('Manch ester United fends of the dou ble
attack'). ItIt has to co nnect to the su bject that will be discussed. If this is not
possible then placing a position on the dem onstration board is a good alter-
native. A game that has been played by the children can also give many
leads.

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Recollection of prior knowledge is much more important than many a

teacher thinks (it is
is conveniently skipped no w an d then). The sp ecific pri
prior
or
knowledge: what does the student already know of the subject he needs to

14
 

know, is stated in the manual. Sometimes we can draw on general prior

knowledge: what ca n the students use of other areas (i.e. other sports)
Having sufficient prior
prior knowledge ensures that the new informa tion can be
processed quicker and easier. The learned is linked to that which has
already been acquired.
We don't only have to repeat the present necessary knowledge but also
fortify it. Strengthening the structure of the material with the students
makes it easier for them to take in the new infor
information
mation and to rem ember it.
Becau se of that, tthe
he chan ce for practical application is not ensured but has
increased.

ACQUISITION

Concepts
In this header are the (possible) unknown (ch ess) terms wh ich will be dealt
with in the lesson. We can't just assume that the students already know
concepts, which we also come ac ross in daily life.
life.

In s tru c ti o n

Conveying a new subject can be done in several ways: by telling, ex-

plaining and by showing. The demonstration board is an enormous help
with this. Verbal material can always be supported by an example. The
positions for each lesson are stated in this man ual. It is
is safest to copy them
exactly.
The teacher has to learn to move a step backwa rds from the demon stration
stration
board when executing a move. He won't be standing in the line of sight of
the students and thereby also has a good view of the position on the
demonstration board.

The teacher should definitely not reflect the text from the manual literally.
It goes w ithout
ithout saying that use of language
language and spee ch tempo sh ould be
suited to the level of the
the group .
The explanation must not strand in a prepared monologue. Children don't
want to be a pas sive crowd. They w ant to actively part
participate.
icipate. Alt
Although
hough the
students seem to pay attention, they can men tally be totally absent. Every-
one has to be involved in the lesson. Examples can be placed on their own
board and solved, or a child can come to the demonstration board to show a
solution. Interaction is the key.
From the very first moment the preparation has to be adapted to the

15
 

reactions of the students. They either understand something or not, so a

new explanation can be necessary. A short summary can also be en-
lightening. Furthermore the nature of the children's questions can be an
indication wh ether an explana tion of the material needs to be repea ted or
indication
explained in a different way.
The m ain points of tthe
he lesson, when po ssible, have to be writ
written
ten down on a
school board or flip-over during the lesson. The offered amount of verbal
information is otherwise too huge. It is of importance that the students
during the instruction learn as less as possible by heart. Later during prac-
tice the
the students can use the sum mary on the blackboa rd. Of iimpo
mpo rtance is
the fact that a part of the children like to process the material by reading.
Many s ubjects lend themselves for a schematic representation:
o king
t a r g e t s 0 m a t e r iia
al
o square
Important is realising that learning is not a passive process but requires
men tal acti
activity
vity of tthe
he students. They hav e to relate tthe
he new knowledge with
the already present knowledge. Independently forming these conn ecti ections
ons
can happe n in a variety of ways. This will now be exp lai lained
ned in the sections
'Asking questions' and 'Assignments'.

Asking questions
Asking questions when explaining is an important skill of which the
teacher has to avail himself of frequently. The art of asking good q uestions
implies being adept at listening. We ask questions with specific purposes.
Firstlyy to know w hether a certain knowledg e or skill has been achieved (i.e.
Firstl
when recollecting prior knowledge), further more to wake the interest of
the children, to 'draw them in'. An important purpo se of asking qu estions is
to have the students process the material actively. The material will be
remembered better and is available whenever necessary. Focus points when
asking questions:
. Ask the questions in such a w ay that every one ge ts the titime
me to think.
Ask a question, pause and only then give someone a turn. During the
break think of who sho uld get the turn and anticipate
anticipate the answ ers.
. The time they are thinking about it should not be interrupted.
In every grou p, som eone will rraise
aise their finger directl
directlyy after the question
has been ask ed. The tendency to quickly have an answ er come out of the
group is great, 'the finger', will disrupt the order in the class. To give
every one a c hance to think., tthe
he students can w rite
rite down the answe rs (in
chess the answer is short, mostly amove) or give the answer to the

16
 

neighbour. Eve ryone actively participates.

. Formulate the question as clearly as possible.
Ask single questions: Don't ask, "How can yo u save the bishop and w hat
is White threatening after that?" but ask the que stions after each other.
. The teacher shouldn't unnecessarily break the answer or add to it him-
self.

Student: "I think I will play the bishop." Teacher: "Very good, because
on g5 it is safe and gives check." Better is to ask further.
. The answer has to be judged.
The correct feedback is essential. The way of reacting strongly deter-
mines whether the desired learning effect will manifest itself. "You are
giving away your bishop" is a different approach then "The front piece
attacks the rook, but do you see that the back piece is unprotected?" Try
to get the right aspects out of the answer.
. Don't constantly work with the same children.
Also choo se passive ch ildren; don't let only tthe
he best studen t answer, but
also ask children w ho do no t raise
raise their finger.
finger. And m ake sure that, from
time to time,
time, you give som eone a turn twice in a row!
. The sequence of the questions has to be didactically well-founded.
A principal is that the build up of questions should be from easy to
difficult, from simple to complicated.

For the application of the latter, there is some insight required into which
aspects of che ss are difficult for children. An overview:
. A move forwa rds is often
often easier than a move backw ards.
. A move over a long distance regardless of the nature of a move (captu-
ring, playing, protecting) is much more difficult to see than over a short
distance.

. The amount of pieces on the board is also determining; the more crow-
ded a position is, the more difficult.
difficult.
The technique 'passing on questions'
q uestions' fits
fits in well in the chess lesson,
particularly in enumerations. "In which ways can you defend yourself
against mate?" More children will respond to that. All children are forced
to stay alert. Also 'to keep on asking questions'
qu estions' is useful. If a student
doesn't know the answer or com es with an incorrect answer, the
the questions
can becom e m ore specific
specific to still obtain the right answer.

Assignments
During the instruction the children can be pu t to work in a variety of useful
ways.

17
 

Solve a position
The position on the demonstration board is placed on their own boards.
Every one can solve the assignment in their own tempo. The answer can
easily be checked. T his form suffi
easily suffices
ces ma inly
inly when there is more than one
solution. "Place the queen o n the board for a succe ssful double attack" is a
simple example. Other positions where a piece has to be placed on the
board are also suitable..

Com pose a position

position yourself
yourself
This form can be used with nearly every lesson. "Compose a position in
which you can capture the defender."
defender." Fun and educational. Pairs
Pairs compose a
position in turn with
with the provided them e and so lve it.

Finishing a game positi

Finishing position
on
The students practice along on their boards and a pair plays a move in turn,
i.e. with mating the king with the rook. It can also be a short game to
practice the golden rules.

Cooperation
Learning together can be useful, students sometimes know better where the
difficulty lies for understanding the material or for solving the problem.
They are closer to each other in developme nt. This for form
m of coope ration
ration can
be use ful, particularly
particularly if the teacher is a strong ches s player.

PRACTICE

An important means is the workbook with reminders and exercise sheets.

Each child needs a wo rkbook, so that everyone can work and practise what
was learned at his own level and at his own pace.

Reminders

The verbal instruction given by the trainer is briefly summarised for the
students by means of reminders.
rem inders. Part of the instruction is lost for the
children, even with the best teacher. From the part, which does come
across, they make a random selection, some things they remember,
unfortunately not always the most important of the lesson. The reminder
does p rovide all the essential information.
information.
Further it is important that the child next to the oral explanation
explana tion can read
the material at home. At home, when the possibility for asking questions

18
 

has disappeared, the reminder can refresh lost knowledge. An added

advantage is that the parents see what their child is learning at the chess
club and can if necessary brush up on thei
theirr own knowledge.

Exercise sheets
The purpose of the exercise sheets is that the chil
children
dren work them selves in
to the ma terial.

The amount of exercises the child does per lesson depends on the time
duration, the degree of difficulty, the
the level and the student's interest.
Keeping them quiet is definitely not the purpose for doing the exercises. It
is certainly not necessary to always have them do a complete page. In all
positions it is White's move, except in the positions with a black dot at the
top right (e), in which it is Black's move.
Unde r the header 'Explanation' is stated what the purpose o f the
the exercise
sheet is and in which
w hich way it is to be don
done.
e. In certain cases it is also
indicated which problems can be expected.

Board and pieces

A board and pieces for each child is desired so that all exercises can be
placed on the real board if necessary. Gradually more chil
children
dren will be able
to solve the position in the diagram. The mental act will take shape
although little fingers and pencil dots will still often be an aid. With more
difficult exercises, the possibility to set up an assignment must always be
present. Solving the position is easier in that case b ecause the child can fall
back on executing a move. For the teacher using the chessboard by the
students is an im portant indication.
indication.

Search and solution

solution strategy
On most exercise sheets there are assignments with a certain theme.
Through a keen instruction we teach the children not to do these exercises
at random. We teach them what they have to look for, we point out a
search strategy. The students have to learn how they c an solve a problem
of a certain type. This is especially useful for the practical game in which
each situation is different.

The correct way of acting can be divided in:

. Orientation (determine the characteristics of a position)
. Finding moves and trying them out (on the actual board, verbally or in a
latter stage just by heart)
. Ponder on found moves and choose the best one
. Check up (att
(attained
ained the goal?) and execute the m ove

19
 

The orientation is an important sub act, which the children unfortunately

skip all to often. With each lesson the questions which the student can ask
are indicated, i.e. 'Which pieces are unprotected?" "Where can the king go
to?' Such qu estions are nece ssary for the correct orientation in a position.
position.
Besides the se arch strategy, tthe
he solution strat
strategy
egy is o f importance. Unpro-
tected pieces can be w on w ith
ith a do uble attack; pieces with a function
function have
to be eliminated. You don't only search for the possibilities on the board
when orientating but also for ways you know how to solve a certain situa-
tion.

Students will quickly automate certain acts. When giving mate with the
queen the sub acts (fencing in, watching for stalemate, bringing the king
closer and giving mate) don't have to be cons ciously followed
followed .
Important is that we teach the correct search strategies! It is useful when the
teacher has an ey e for the wrong solution methods, which the children use.
A wrong 'strategy' is looking for moves using a trial and error method.
Guessing and missing. A move is tried out and when it is the correct one
(sometimes by accident) than that is lucky. If the move is wrong then the
student will move on to the next move
m ove just as long till the right move is
found.

A step further is the

the child, which adopts a simp le search strategy and looks
for one certain characteristic in a position (i.e. a battery). In simple posi-
tions this strategy will suffice. If the student sees more characteristics in a
position than it is acting a lot better. A full orientation will be necess ary for
the mixed sheets and the actual game.

The use of exercise sheets

There are many reasons for having the exercise sheets done. An incomplete
enumeration:

. The learned can actively be processed (further integration of know-

ledge)
. Teaching to use a search strategy
. Broadening the learned concept
. Utilising the learned in other situations
. Teaching the examples (i.e. mating patterns, characteristic combina-
ti ons )
. Learning to apply rules, techniques
. Learning to visualise
. Building self-confidence through a success experience
. Repeating old knowledge and skills

20
 

These arguments d on't playa

playa role in every exercise sheet. It is
is the task of
the trainer to place the right stresses. The trainer who has his bright stu-
dents work ahead in the workbook does not optimally utilise the possi-
bilities.

Giving aid (general)

Directly after the instruction it is useful to walk amongst the working
students, not to give aid, but to check whether everyone has understood the
assignment and has gone to work. After that there shouldn't be any support
for some time! Students have the tendency to ask anything that they
mom entarily
entarily don't understand.
During practice the teacher has to be on the go. W alk around, give aid and
correct. A direct feedback yields the h ighest learning results. By seeing the
amount of m istakes the instr
instructor
uctor can determine wha t a child has and hasn't

seen during and a fter practi

practice,
ce, so that he can d elve into the material deeper.
A general guideline should be that the children correctly answer at least
70% -80% o f the assignments that they do. If this
this percentage is lower than
the chan ce is big that the student hasn 't taken
taken in everything, will continue
to make many mistakes, which can result in losing some motivation
motivation..
Having the students muddle on is pointless, they will continue to make
many mistakes resulting in a gradual decrease of motivation.
In such situations it is advisable to repeat a lesson or to delve dee per in the
situations that the child doesn't understand. With that it is important to
analyse the nature of the mistakes. If with assignments in the exercise sheet
Double attack: queen the child repeatedly attacks one target then the
essence h as not com e across. It iiss then certain that many assignm ents will
be wrong.
Another approach is based on the assignment, which has been done
correctly. Wondering why 'it went correctly this time', helps to understand
the other mistakes better. Together with the coach the student learns the
rules, which do apply. W ith this approach, the student will be less sensitive
to continuously changing situations
situations and there w ill be fewer m istakes when
something changes. For applying the learned, adjusting to continuously
changing situations in the trainings
trainings but also in the actual gam e, it is mostly
necessary that the child is made conscious of how he go es to work.
In exercise sheet under the headers 'error' and 'aid' there is some specific
aid pointed out.

Giving aid (in practice)

A child that finds difficulty in solving the exercises should get
g et aid. The

21
 

i
made mistakes indicate where the borders
.Ii. .!
of insight and skill lie.
iii
Here follow some examples tapered to the
second step. The first position (1)') is pro- i i
blem 8 of the e xercise
xercise sheet Double attack!
Queen:D. i\
At first the position has to be placed on
one's own board. We have them search for
iL'ili
the targets. IfIf necessary we can ask d irect
questions. Can we p ut the king iinto
nto check? : :
Can he b e put into mate? Are there piec
pieces
es
unprotected? Have these pieces encircled.
Giving check and mate are not in this
position,
position, unprotected pieces are. Th e child
will find
find Rb8 and N a5. The move I. Qa7
will then follow automatically.
automatically. E
i i.i
The position (Q) is problem 12 of the exer-
i i i
cise sheet The pin / Pin: C. With this posi-
tion the technique of placing in will come i i
in handy. Take the bishop of g2 and have i iL
the child place it in such a way that Black i i
is mated. After some pondering the bishop
 !J EijLi
will be placed on a6. This is nothing else
than composing mate in one from the first  :I
 : I
step. With the bishop back on g 2 again the
answer 1. Dft will be found swiftly.

The p osition (.0.)

(.0.) is problem 7 of the exe r-
cise sheet Eliminating the defence / Luring
away + material: B. The aid will come by .

asking direct questions. Which of Black's E .. .

i i i
pieces are under attack? The child points to
i i
Nc5 and Be5 (possibly also d6). Which
piece is protecting these pieces? The ans- il Z J +
wer is pawn d6. A way to eliminate a de-
fender is to lure it away. This is possible
with Bxc5. After taking back on c5 the
  iL
bishop on e5 is unprotected.
The move 1. Rxe5 is wrong. We have the :

22
 

moves executed and we count how many points White wins in both cases.
The search strategy is:
. What is under attack?
. Who is the
the defender ?
. How d o we eliminate the defender?
In the given examples it is clear that the aid is provided step by step. The
direct search strategy make s use of the contents of a lesson and rea lising
lising
what the targets are. In almost each lesson there is a search strategy
indicated for the ch ildren.
ildren.

The child should always experience the aid in a positive way so that it will
also call on aid from
from n ow on.

Differentiation
Of course in any group there is one student quicker and han dier in solvi
solving
ng
the problems . For these students there are the in depth exercise she ets. In
the manual are the exercise sheets from the workbook under the header

'workbook'. The d egree of difficult

difficultyy is indicated with the nam e.
It is the idea, that the sheets with an tZJ can be done by everyone after the
lesson has been conducted. The sheets with tZJtZJ are more difficult and
only necessary for the occasional student. They are strongly advised for
everyone, only in a later stage of the training. Most children will not come
to the sheets with tZJ tZJ tZJ. Only at the end of the step, or even at a follo-
wing step, are they ideal test exercises.
It is necessary that children who are faster than average get tougher pro-
blems. This shouldn't be seen as a way to keep them at peace. There will be
an occas ion that the lesson has to be differentiated in such a w ay that the
faster and the slower students alike are challenged eq ually. That'
That'ss why yo u
should offer the faster children the possibility to maintain their own pace.
With this last group testing will be of great importance. It should indicate
whether they have really mastered the material and are able to apply it, or
that they have only rushed through it.

Playing
Practice doesn't always of course have to take place in written form.
Playing out positions is of vital importance.
Firstly some gam es from the first step can serve a good pu rpose at this level
(i.
(i.e.
e. queen catches kn ight, queen and rook catch bishop). There are alwa ys
few pieces left on the board w ith the games, this provides a co rrect view. IInn
a real game the children each play their own game w ithout paying
paying too much
attention to their opponent. With the games you soon learn that you should

23
 

watch the opponent's game.

Furthermore the children should playas many games as possible. The
playing of games shou ld be the main part of the chess hour. The relation
between the chess lesson and the gam es should at least be 1 :3. This is
is not
an absolute given. Also determining is whether the children play chess
apart from the organized chess lessons.

Simultaneous display
A fine alternative to playing amongst each other is playing against the
teacher (or an ex-student or a higher stepper). A position can be simul-
taneouslyy played against a maximum of 12 childr
taneousl children.
en. More than 12 are not
advisable. The students have to wait their turn too long and also with this
amount there is not too much time to individually explain something. With
this practice
practice the teacher ca n look up closely in which asp ects the children
have a quick insight. but also which parts give problems or are even too
difficult. He demonstrates out loud the way of thinking in a question and
answer monologue. When playing of one's own move, he can audibly
speak his thoughts to indicate the correct way of thinking. This model
learning proves its worth on each level. "I see a vulnerable king and an
unprotected piece. How can I m ake use of that?"
In the games the trainer
trainer can also deliberately come back to the lessons. H e
can allow a pin or double attack. "What do you play when 1 do this?" is a
good form to integrate as many educational points as possible.
Appropriate subjects for the simultaneous form are pred ominately the out-
numbered positions. Playing the weaker side (that always loses when
played correctly) is not so motivating for the students. Especially when
giving mate with the rook, the other side can't do much then simply
moving away his king one step. In that case we can make it more exciti
exciting
ng
by having them count the moves. There is something to gain for both
parties. For the
the defende r it iiss the art of enduring as long a s possible and for
the attacker it is
is the assignm ent to get the job done as soo n as possible.
poss ible.

TESTING

Every teacher has to watch whether the students apply the learned know-
ledge in their games. It is of importance to not have the knowledge level
and the skill level run too far apart. Temporarily stopping with teaching
new knowledge is the correct solut
solution
ion if that is the case.
It is
is advisable to have the ch ildr
ildren
en write down their gam es m ore frequently.

24
 

This will not be easy in the beginning. Initially writing down the first 15
moves w ill suffice. This amo unt can gradually be extended.

It is also of importance to watch the knowledge level. After 5 lessons it is

wise to revise the discussed material.
material. The easiest way is to make a com pi-
lation of already done practice material. This has been done with the
exercise sheets Repetiti
Repetition.
on.
The familiarity with the material coincides with the familiarity of the
positions. The familiar
familiar gains the upper hand and a good result is most
likely. A lot more difficult is solving the subjects in new positions. The test
sheets with Mix are appropriate for this. The mixed exercises are difficult
but most resemble an actual game.
It is
is unwise to just skip these sheets. An analysis of the made m istakes can
be useful. If a child
child m akes 6 e rrors in three
three m ixed sheets then that is not
bad, except when all the errors are of the same nature. In that case it is
correct that that part is discussed again.

.-,.

,,"I/lm,II'I
) "u I '..
'.....
... . --, J
.-.!.!I...l.l...." JlJ.=
. _.110.'_.&1 "".'..... "'Ig
.' . 'II'IUI'", ',UIILI.....tll"lr . I!\
"

t. J!
 "I
 "IIII 11/1,.,...
1UI
III n 'IU'J UI ,.... .....
, 11_
[
_.11_ .lIl1l1l l '-J/IIIII;,IlJII.,' mu
) ....."'..-;...... ... .,,:...;)::...U.'.......lau.fU.......'.U.... ..,
Q'

IT,.

 I'h ,",'M

,. . . . ;, "' . I,' I ' I . I

t." r'" I

25
 

The discussion of children's games

Besides the normal lessons we will reserve some time for discussing the
children's games. Unfortunately that isn't really applied in reality. Discus-
sing the games should be an add on for the lessons from the manual. It is
the way to help the children advance. What will the children expect from
discussing a game?
. Approval
. Help in a position they do not understand
. Comm on sense remarks w ith concret
concrete
e variants
. An understandable evaluation of a position or move
For this last concept it is handy to maintain the concepts of the schedule
'Positional
'Positional play' on pages 11 a nd 12.

The teacher has to enjoy exam ining the chil

children's
dren's games himself. He has to
create understanding for playing chess and maintain the pleasure.
A good comm unication is a first
first requirement.
requirement. The teache r should:
. Work up the patience
Much explanation will have to be dealt with time and time again.
. Know about the children's point of view
A child appreciates
appreciates other matters in a chess gam e than an adu lt.
lt.
. Give the student space
There has to be a balanced contribution between the teacher and the
child. When discussing a gam e, both parties should come to turn.
. Estimate the level of playing strength
strength as ac curate as possible
It is of no use to bring chess technical matters to light for which the child
is not ready.
. Take the child's
child's em otional st
state
ate into account
Don't take away the pleasure of the winner by announcing that just
before the end of a game the op ponent missed a mate in three. In general
the amo unt of positi
positive
ve remarks sho uld have the upp er hand, regardless
the result of the gam e. The p ositive
ositive approach is necessary, praise three
times and on ly then give a criti
critical
cal remark.

To provide correct guidance during

during a game, the contents should be clear.
We quickly play the game over before we look at it together.
The fifirst
rst game is between two children that are still at the
the be ginning of the
second step. By replaying thi
thiss beforehand the following
following stands ou t:
. Many pawn moves

26
 

. Aimlessly giving check

. Playing with a limited amount of pieces
. Capturing instead of a smart move

We should not try to cure all wrong aspects in one session. We limit
ourselves to on e item, in this game 'using all the pieces'. We try to achieve
that the children answer the question: "What other move you could have
played?" with "Bring in a new piece". In that case they have learned from
their game.

Josina-Danielle
1. d2 -d4 fi-f6

Aimless pawn moves such as this move

take away the place for the knight on g8.
That is, for children of this level an under-
standable argument.
2. e2-e4 e7-e5
3. d4-d5 c7-c6
4. f2-fJ

Man y pawn mo ves in tthe

he opening are very
us ual w i t h c hi ldren.
ldren. A t t hi
hiss m o m ent w e

will not go into that. Only when later there

is a missed developing mo ve, will we com e
back to that.

4 . ..
. . .... Q d 8 - a 5 + ( d iia
agram )
Beginners love to give check. Black
doesn't achieve anything with this. After
White's response, Black will understand
that. Step by step a beginner will have to
learn to play his
his moves m ore focused.
5 . B c l-
l- d 2 Q a 5 - d 8
6 . f J - f4
f4 c 6 x d 5 " i.
  e.t.
i i i i i
7. e4xd5 BfB-d6
i i
The bishop on d6 is the vassal of his pawn.
We try, iinn general to give the pieces a more 'YJH t!Ji
active role. t!J
8. Qdl-h5+ g7-g6 t!J
9 . Q h 5 - fJ
fJ e5xf4
t!J ;. t!J t!J
1 0 . B d 2 x ff4
4 Qd8-c7
11. Bf4xd6 Qc7xd6 : lD lD ' 11

27
 

12. g2-g4 (diagram 1)') K 1. 1_'

12. Qd6-e7+
This is the mom ent to look at the posit
position.
ion.
i i i
tv i i
 1
Where are the pieces? What are they
doing? When the double attack of the
queen has been discuss
discussed,
ed, we can look at
the move 12. ... Qb4+ and the correct
response to that 13. Qc3.
13. Kel-dl f6-f5  t.

14. g4xf5 g6 xf5 :l2J  2 J k I

1 5 . Q f J x ff5
5 Q e7-f7
Again a look at the pos ition.
ition. Wh ere are the
pieces and what are they doing?
16. Qf5-e5+
A double attack with the queen. The king
and rook are attacked at the same time.
! .i. @ tv r
Black attacks the white bishop on fl. After
ii il
lSS i
a king move, white doesn't have the time
to capture the rook. After the played knight
move, W hite can capture by giving check.
16..... Ng8-e7
17. Qe5xh8+ Q f7-fS
f7-fS (diagram Q)
18. Qh8xh7
 !J
A typical 'error'.
'error'. Capturing an unprotected
pawn is preferred to a safe exchange of 2J 2J
queens. The white player is only paying
attention to her own game and oversees the
hanging bishop on fl.
18..... Ne7xd5

Wh en cap turing the attention

attention first
first goes out
to the nearest piece. Moves over a greater
distance (18. ... Qxfl+) are more difficult.. E

i
"
19. Qh7-e4+ Nd5-e7
20. h2-h4 Nb8-c6 i i
21. Bfl-b5 d7-d5

2 2 . Q e 4 - ffJ
J a7-a6
23. Bb5xc6 + b7xc6
.i
.i..
24. QfJxfS+ Ke8xfS
2 5 . h 4 -h
-h 5 B c 8 - g 4 +   l2 J I
26. Ngl-e2 Bg4-fJ (diagram ) :l2J :

28
 

One's own chances are being observed

well; moves of the opponent are not taken
into consideration.
27. Rhl-h4

Here a psychological approach would be

appropriate. If the white player is extre-
mely proud of this move, because the mo ve
was played w ith the
the purpose 28. Rf4+, then
caution is advised. We praise the move
because 27. Rh3 was too obvious. We can
spoil her fun by telling her that 27.
27 . Rfl
would have been better.
27 . ..
.... Ne7 -f5

2 8 . R h 4 - ff4
4 BfJ-g4!
Of course we ask why this is a good move.
29. h5-h6 Ra8-e8
:I ab
30. Rf4xg4 (diagram
(diagram Q )
30. ... N f5xh6
i i
Foolish in our eyes, but completely under-
standable. Capturing is almost always more i it)
attractive for players of this level than :
another move. The m issed chance: 30. ...
...
Ne3+.
 tiJ
31. Rg4-f4+ N h 6 -1 i
32. b2-b4 Re8-e4 l: t t iJ
33. Rf4xe4 d5xe4
34. a2-a3 N Ii -e5
35. c2-c3 N e5-c4
and White won.

In the second examp le the chil

children
dren play more focussed. They are already
applying the golden rules. The g rave errors, which are still
still being mad e, are
mainly due to m isdi
isdirected
rected att
attention.
ention. When discussing this game w e stress
the importance of the opponent's move. It is not enough to execute your
own plans. You have to pay attenti
attention
on on w hat the opponent is doing. What
is threatening?
threatening? M ainly look
look at the m ove played last.

Anne- Alessandr a

1. e2-e4 e7-e5

2 . N g l - fJ
fJ N b 8 - c 6

29
 

3. d2-d4 e5xd4
4. Nf3xd4 Bf8-c5

5. Bcl-e3 Qd8-f6
I! ! r. , , , " , , ,
6. c2-c3 Ng8-e7 (diagram 'Ct) 'YW I
Till thus
thus far the girls are following the w ise .t
l e s so
s o n s o f t h e t r a in
in e r . T h e n e x t m o v e
l;j
shows that they have to make up their own
i iL
moves.
 i i i
7 . N d 4 x c 6 Q f6 x c 6
This move is not the best one, but Black l:tl;j L :
does not capitalise on that. The played cap-
turing move draws all attention to itself es-
pecially because there has been a capture.
Looking beyond this doesn't happen. There
is a simple capture back. After 7. ... Bxe3
8. fxe3 Nxc6, Black has developed two
pIeces.
8. Be3xc5 Q c6xc5
9 . Q d l --tt 3
The good times of scholar's mate are still
f re
re s h o n o u r m e m o r iie
e s ! B e t t e r iis
s deve-

loping the bishop in order to castle quickly.

Anne has developed her own 'strategy' to
consciously play towards mate. This is
evident from
from this gam e.
9. ... 0-0
10. Bfl-e2 d7-d6

1 1 . 0 - 0 Q c 5 - b 6 ( d iia
agram )
Not a bad move. Black's development has
not yet been completed, but the played
move forces White to protect b2. What the
opponent does then is less interesting. .! .t !@

 
, , , "",
Pawn b 2 is not protect
protected.
ed.
1 2 . Q f 3 -h
-h 5 Q b 6 x b 2
'Y W ,
1 3 . B e 2 -d
-d 3 Q b 2 x a l
14. e4-e5 h7-h6

The queen threatened to capture on h7 and

that's why most children at this level will
8 iL
play h6 and not g6.
15. e5xd6 c7xd6 l:tl;j :

30
 

16. Qh5-e2 (diagram 1}) K .i. 1.* 16. ... Ne7-d5 i i "ii
lessandra sees threats better than Anne.
She has the tendency to move a threat
threatened
ened i i
piece away. She chooses other forms of
defence less often. Nearly all children do

this. Here 16. . . Be6 with an attack on a2 i L would be a fine move. Al 
though the '
curr entf i
current
move is amply sufficient.
1 7 . Q e 2 - e 4 Q a lx
l x a 2 (d
( d ia
ia g r a m Q ) 2 J :
That's a shame. Capturing and protecting,
which is more obvious? The error may
have another explanation. The attack on the
knight on d5 is more direct and therefore
more visible then the threat on h7. There is

not even anything placed there. In general, .i. I..

attacks on material
m aterial are m
much
uch m
more
ore concrete i i i i
than an attack on a square. Add itionally
itionally we
see that the attack on h7 is a twofold attack.
The se a re m ore d if
iffi
ficult.
cult. Be tt
tter
er is 17 . ..
.... "
N f 6. 'fi
'fi
1 8 . Q e 4 -h 7 # iiL
Black
earned.
is mated, one more
m ore mating
ma ting pattern 'iV
'iV i 8
l2 J :

In conclusion
conclusion an example on how it should
should not be done. On the internet
internet a
chess teacher discusses a beginner's game. The game starts with 1. e4 e5 2.
NfJ Ne7. The knight move gets two question marks. The move is indeed
not the strongest one; Black gives away a pawn and the knight on e7 is
blocking its own pieces. White followed on with 3. d4. This move a lso gets
two question marks, with the addition: terrible move. Such a remark is of
course misplaced. The m ove is not absolutely wrong for a beginning chess
player; there is just
just a better one: 3. Nxe5. Tha t't'ss not a reaso n to put down
the played move. Even in computer programs 3. d4 is noted as one of the
best 4 moves. Especially stronger players should refrain themselves; they
have a tendency to judge a move according to their own measures.

31
 

Ce rtific a te

The children may take an examination after the lessons of 'step one.' The)
will get a certificate (see picture - the real one is in full colour) when the)
pass. The certificate is not a goal in itself. We give chess lessons in the firs'
place to build and to raise their skil
skills
ls ('how to learn and p lay better chess')
not to get certificates.
certificates. But these can be a good stimulus to co ntinue with th€
course material to the end.

We also have to realize that to give children the prospect of the certificat€
at the beginning of the year will not be a stimulus for very long. The poin'
at which they will receive the real certif
certificate
icate lies too far in the future. Goah
that are closer by have to serve as a real stimulus.

Wh en prepa ring for tthe

he exam ination it is sensible to let tthe
he children m ake (
test examination first, and if necessary a second time. However, try t(
prevent that them doing test examinations too many times. It will put (
severe strain on their enthusiasm, and it put too much emphasizes on th€
examination and the certificate.
certificate.

--..

.
"

{i}'9 ..

. .', .'
.1 I. .1
.... .1.

.'

... ,...
 .
...

32
 

Indications
Indicati ons for the use of this
thi s m anu al

The manual contains a great number of . 'iV

split diagrams. These have to be read and
split
i
set up on the board as separate diagrams.
The left side of this diagram has to be set
i
op on an e mpty dem onstrati
onstration
on board (thus
without the position on the right). When  t!
 t !J
discussing
left has to the right part, the
be removed. position
Leaving theon the
posi-
8
K
tion is not recommended, because this
often leads
leads to unneces sary misunderstand- <Ett
ings. If the
the quee n rem ains on d4 , then 1. ...
Dg8 would fail to 2. Rh8. This would not
be the solution that we had in mind.

The following sym bols, which refer to diagrams, are of crucial importance:
1} refers to the diagram on the top of the page.
 refers to the diagram in the middle of the pag e.
 refers to the
the diagram at the bottom of the page .
The m oves in the answers araree sometimes accom panied by an exclamati
exclamation
on
mark o r a question m ark, e.g.. 1. Rxe8! or 1. ... Ne4?
The exclamation
exclamation mark means a good move.
The question mark means a bad move.

The name of the reminder - if given - and the exercise sheets of the
relevant lesson can be found in the exercises under the heading W orkbook.
The diamond is the name of the reminder, the square is the name of the
exercise sheet. They can be found in the workbook that is meant for the
students.
o Double attack: queen
D Opening / Golden rules: A ttJ
The meaning of the knight (ttJ) was explained on page 23.

33
 

1 Activity

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning
learning ho w to use the piece s optimally
. realising
realising the importance of the centre

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
. movement of the pieces

ACQUISITION

Concepts
activity, mov eme nt, mobility, attacker,
attacker, cen-
tre, dominate, vulnerab ility,
ility, control

Instruction

The games of children with their first step

certificate are more or less random. They
play their own little plans, but they are not
according to our ideas of what is 'correct'.
With this lesson as our starting point we
will gradually bring
bring a ch ange to this.
We start the lesson with an empty demon-
stration board and place the knight on gl
(diagram .{).). We ask the students how
many different moves this knight is
allowed to play. The knight can be played
to the squares w ith a plus sign: e2, ff33 and
h3. The e dge of the board is obstructing the
way for more m oves. We place the knight
8 1
on c2 and ask the same question. The
7 2
knight can make more jumps (6). Finally
we place the knight on e4 and we allow the lZJ
lZ J
answer 8 to come out of the group. If we 6 + 3 +

now ask what is the best place for the 5 + 4

knight, then everyone will
w ill indicate
indicate e4
because there the knight has the most lZJ
lZ J

34
 

potential. The more moves a pIece can

play, the stronge r it is.
We perform the same calculating game
using the bishop (diagram '(t).
'(t). The mo ves
are calculated respectively for the bishop
on cl (7), d2 (9), e3 (11) and d4 (13). Here
also, we may conclude that we would
wo uld
rather place the bishop in the m iddle of the
b o a r d f ro
ro m w h e r e h e w i ll
ll h a ve t h e mo st

firepower.
The sam e goes for the queen. For the rook
it doesn't matter where it is placed.
The middle of the board is important in
chess. We call the middle part of the board
the centre and those are the squares indi-
cated with a dot d4, d5, e4 and e5. The
squares with an open dot around them,
from f3 to f6 and from f6 to c6 and c6 to c3
o 0 0 0
a n d f r o m c 3 b a c k t o f 3 a r e c a l le
le d t h e
o . . 0
central squares (diagram Q ). We would
rather place our pieces in or around the o . . 0

centre. The battle in chess largely takes o 0 0 0

place in or around the centre. The differ-

ence in the number of possibilities for the
knight on gland on e4 reflects a difference
in mobility. Additionally the knight aims at
a few squares o n the oppone nt's half of the
board and therefore has more activity.
activity. The
knight controls these squares. A knight on
e4 will be involved in an attack sooner,
than a knight on g 1. The sam e goes for a
bishop on cl and d4.
d4 . In the centre the
bishop aims at more squares and therefore
aims at more squares on the opponent's
half. The centrally placed bishop is there-
fore more active and more offensive. Be-
cause in chess the attacker wins, it will be
clear that
that we aim to place as m any pieces
as active and attacking as possible.
A piece is active whe n it:
 

. can play many moves (mobility)

 .
. controls many squares (preferably on the

 
i
opponent's halt)
. attacks an enemy piece i J l
In the diagram ( 1}), there is a big difference I lZJ
in activity between the white and black
pieces. The white bishop and the knight
control many squares on black's
b lack's half.
8
Beca use of this, tthe
he black king and kn ight
can do little. The black bishop can only
play 3 moves. He is directly facing his own
11-
pawns a nd besides that he has to protect the
pawn on d5. The position doesn't have to
be dealt with extensively Gust in general)
but with 1. Kd4 (followed by Ne5-d3-f4)
or by 1. Nc6 White proves his larger acti-
vity to be fruitful.
Black's position is vulnerable because of
limited mobility of his pieces. This is be-
cause of:

. the position of the knight on the edg e

. many enemies (white bishop, knight and
pawn on f6)
. his own pieces being in the way
(especially pawns can be particularly
annoying for a bishop)
On the left in the diagram ()
( ) the white
bishop is completely dominating the knight
on the edge. The knight's vulnerability
b e c o m e s e v e n m o r e o b v io
io u s w h e n w e

place a white pawn on b4. The knight will

be lost after 1. b5.
In the lower right part, the bishop cannot
be played because of an enemy knight and is
his own pawn on c4.
We n eed to ensure that in
in our chess games 8 "
the pieces are placed actively. W e need to
take care however, that we do n ot hamper
the mobility of the pieces by obstructing
them with our own pieces.

36
 

Examples from games played by students "I.

are more appealing in dealing with this
i . i
abstract subject than strange positions.
Should this not be possible, then take the i i i
next two examples. i
Allow someone, in the position of the dia-
gram (1}), to indicate the pieces that are in- t!J t!J t!J
active and which pieces are ob structing.
9  8
The white king is awkwardly positioned
and must make way for the rook, i.e. with
the move 1. Kg2. The bishop on b2 has to
be played around the pawn to e3. With
black, it is pawn f6, which is in the way. It
has to be played to f5 to make way for the
knight.
We do the same for the
the diagram (Q). Both " . :I
:I
parties must place their pieces more acti-
i .t i i
vely. White can start with 1. d4 (otherwise
i i i
1. ... Bf5 will follow and the white bishop
will keep facing his paw n)
1. ... Kf7 (to
(to involve the rook) 2. N d2
Re8. 1. Db3 is also a plausible move to
make things more difficult for the black
t!J 8
king. A form of activity, which is also im-
portant to mention, is cooperation ofo f the I:jj n
pieces. Most possibilities are already
known from the first step:
. protect each other at an enemy attack
( defend)
. support each other (with supporting
mate or a twofold attack)
. complement each other (with comple-
mentary mate)
. divide the tasks (i.e. chasing and guar-
gua r-
ding)
. not obstructing each other

This lesson is important; it doesn't have to

be taught in one go. The terms activity
(mobility, controlling squares, attacking)
 

and vulnerability are necessary to explain

the right
right and wrong m oves in a comprehen-
sible manner when discussing the students'
games.
The activity of which children avail them-
selves most, attacking a target will be dis-
cussed in the next lesson

PRACTICE

Reminder

<> Activity of the pieces

Workbook

D Test / M ix (1 st st
step):
ep): A tZJ
Explanation: The subjects are 'mate in one', 'defend', 'mate or stale-
mate' and 'capture a piece which is attacked twice'.
Discuss the possibilities beforehand.
- Can you give mate?
- Is there
there a piece in dan ger?
- Can you gain material? (unprotected piece, profitable
exchange o r a twofold att
attack)
ack)
Mistake: The position is too difficult.
Help: Give assistance when it's a single position. Ask specific
questions. Stop with the exercises when nearly all posi-
tions are too difficult. Let the student play more games
first.
Mistake: Position 5 is wrong.

Help: The bishop on

the position one7
theisboard
protected in the wrong
and execute way. Set
the given up
move.
Ask for a good move of the opponent. Turn round the
board if necessary.

D Test
Te st / Mix (1 st step): B tZJtZJ
Explanation: The subjects are 'gain of material' (profitable exchange
and capture a piece which is attacked twice), 'mate in
one', 'and 'getting out of check'.

38
 

ANSWERS

D Test / Mix (1 st step): A

1) 1. Qd5-a8# 7) stalemate
2) 1. Ne6-c7# 8) mate
3) 1.... Be2-f3# 9) stalemate
4) 1. ... b7-b6 10) 1. Bg3xc7 or 1. Nd5xc7
5) 1. ... Rf8-f7 11) 1.... Nf6xe4 or 1. ... Bb7xe4
6) 1. Bg2-fl 12) 1. Bb3xf7+; 1. Rflxf7? a4xb3

D Test / Mix (1 st step):

step ): B
1) 1.... Bc5xf2+ 7) 1.... Rh6-a6
2) Drawing 8) 1.... Ne5-c6
3) Drawing 9) 1. Rclxc2
4) 1. Bb2-g7# 10) 1. Ne4-f6#
5) 1.... Qh4-el# 11) 1.... Rh3-f3#
6) 1.... Qd4xb2# 12) 1.... Bf8xb4

39
 

2 Double attack (1)

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning to recognise targets

. using the queen as an attacker

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
. attacking and taking
. worth of the pieces

ACQUISITION

Concepts II
target, double attack, mutual attack, ma-
king a gap
I
Instruction

We begin the lesson concerning the double

attack by repeating the attack. The purpose
is to make clear what the targets of attack .' .
in chess are.

Left in the diagram () ( ) we see the first II

target. The white queen gives check; the
'king' is the target. Black has neutralize
the attack on his king.
In the right part the black rook gives check.
Giving check can be a powerful weapon
because the opponent has no choice: he has
to get out of check.
.t
In the diagram (.{).) the king has been re-
I
placed by other pieces. Now the queen at
tacks the bishop and the rook the knight.
The attack on the pieces is only dangerous II
because they are not protected.
protected. Black has
to get his bishop to safety, white his knight.
lb
Subsequently replace the bishop by other
pIeces.

40
 

Point ou t tthat
hat with a m utual attack it is
is
i.
important whose m ove it is.
The second target is material. (a piece or
!. il
pawn). In this series
series w e use the short and .
powerful term 'material'. "\
Next to unprotected pieces, insufficiently
protected pieces and pieces with a higher
value are suitable targets. In the diagram
( 'ft) in the left part the rook on b3 is in
danger.
On the right tthe
he rook is being attacked and
although it is protected it has to be played .
These two attacks (on the king and on
material) will be easily recognised by
children and they will be able to find them
without any d iffi
ifficulty
culty in practice positions. *'
The third target is more difficult. In the
i i i
upper part of the diagram ()
( ) the queen
threatens
threatens to m ate on c8. Black has to de-

fend against the threat by playing the pawn

forward ('making a gap'). The queen is .
attacking an important square.
In the lower part, a square is also the target.
Black threatens mate with the rook on h4,
"
however White can defend himself by
playing g2-g3.
The third target is a 'square', in this step
almost always a square on which mate is
imminent. Against all these attacks a defen-
ce is possible. It would be convenient if a
def enc e c oul d be a v oi ded. T iim
m e f or tthe
he
i n t ro
ro d u c t io
io n o f t h e d o u b l e a t t a c k : two
two .
targets are being attacked at the same time.
To illustrate this we set up the position in
the diagram ().
(). The white queen is attack-
ing both the king and the rook.
ro ok. The king .
has to get out of check and the rook can be
taken.
Execute the moves o n the demon strat
stration
ion
board and show the lute.

41
 

The combination of goals: king + piece.

For the children we speak of king + mate-

rial (K + M). It is the most simple and
most compelling form of the double attack.
In the diagram ('0') are are more examples. O
Onn
the left the black king h as to m ove , after
after l2J
which the queen w ill take the bishop.

On the right
right the same sam e result, now a knight
ill be lost. Both positions are of the cate-
gory king + material.
Having the children perform these moves
on their own board stimulates recognition.
With young children, asking questions and
refraining from making too much tempo is
necessary .
The next phase is learning to apply the
newly acquired concepts.
concep ts. During the in- .
struction we do this w ith positions in which
the queen has to be placed in them.
We ask the students where we have to .-

place the queen so we get a double attack.

Provided of course that White does not lose

its queen. The rook therefore has

h as to be at- .
tacked diagonally. In the diagram (()) the
queen gives a correct double attack on a7
as we ll as on fl.

Positions with unprotected pieces and a

king in an open field are asking for a
double attack. With placement exercises,
we provide the c hildren with a direct search

strategy, notown
course for their
their only for
game s. the drills
d rills but also of ,.. X
The diagram (.0.) gives a few more exam-
ples. Instruct the children to set up the
positions on their own boards and try out .
the p os sibili sibiliti ties
es . .
I n tth
h e u p p e r p a r t o f th
t h e d i a g r a m , th
th e q u e e n .
can only win a rook from a5.

In the lower part Qh 1, Qh3 and Qc4 are correct. Incorrect is check on f4, the bishop .
42
 

can save himself

h imself by interposing on fl. . .. In the upper
uppe r part of the diagram (fi) there
are two correct solutions: Qg6 and Qd8.
W rong would be Qd5 because B lack could .
interpose his knight on f7. White also wins /S)
the knight with the queen on g4 . That is not
a double attack.

In the lower part, the gain is achieved by

Qcl or Qel. Wrong would be Qc3 and Qa5 respectively because ofRb2 and Ra2. . .
It is an easy step from placing a piece to
executing a move in simple positi
positions.
ons.
In the diagram ()
( ) in the left part, White
can gain a bishop with 1. Qa7+. An easy
assignment, because there is no temptation.
In the right part there
there is; Black m ay choose.
Correct are the moves
m oves 1. ... Qh5+ and
... Qf3+. Incorrect is 1. ... Qfl + because
a nd 1. . 'iV
'iV
i
White has the defence 2. Rg2.

The d ouble attack on 'material + m ate-

rial' can still
still be de alt with in this less
less on o r
wait till the next one. This depends on the
:
level and attention, which the students can
still bring up.
The form 'material + material'
material' is less com-
pelling, bu t also n ot difficult.
pelling, difficult. The cond ition
ition
for a gain in ma terial is
is that both targets are
unprotected and can't protect each other.

Left
attacks in
itwo
n the
piecesdiagram (.0.)
(.0.)
at the same time, the
the w hite
W hite hite que en /S) :

w i ns
On the a black
right the bishop
queen gives a o r a knight.
double kni ght.
attack. The white pieces can protect each
o t h e r , b u t n o t w ith o u t b e i n g t a k e n . T h e "
black queen controls the vital squares g6, +
f8 and h4.

43
 

Search strategy @
Teach the search strategy
strategy by employing the
i i
diagram ('0'). Black is to move. First we
look for the targets. We do this with the llllJJ
following questions: I i .

1. Where can the queen give check? i

2. Which pieces are unprotected?
The queen can give check and the bishop
on f2 and the knight on a6 a re unprotected. Ji
Two moves are applicable: 1. ... Qf4+ and
1. ...
... Qh6+. W hat does W hite
hite play after 1.
... Qf4+. The bishop is in danger but
luckily White can play 2. Kgl (2. Bg3
Qxd4) protecting the bishop. More success-
ful is 1. ... Qh6+ because also now 2. Kgl
is forced and Black will take the knight on
a6.

PRACTICE

Reminder

<> Double attack: queen

Workbook

D D ouble attack / Setti

Setting
ng up a double attack: A tZJ
Explana tion: It is the objective to fir
first
st provide one go od solution.
Placing the letter D is a simple way, but also a cross on
the correct square will suffice. Those in favour may also

annotate (i.e. Qa5)

Finding more or all possibilities (attack and defence) is
best left for
for later and of course for those who already have
a comm and of the subject. Pins and x-ray checks can be
appreciated but are not the purpose.
Mistake: The queen is only attacking one target.
Help: Place the queen on the board and ask which pieces are
under attack. Move the threatened piece if necessary and
ask for the move, wh ich gains material.
Mistake: There is a p ossible defence against the double attack. The

44
 

queen can be taken or the attacked piece can be inter-

posed.
Help: Place the queen on the given squ are and ask wh ich possi-
bilities the opposite side has. Give help by asking direct
questions:
"Can you take the queen?"
"Can you interpose a piece?"
Mistake: The target is protected.
Help: Instruct the children to get out of check and play the
move. At this mom ent the chances are that the error
error has
already been discovered, otherwise
otherwise we ask what the
opposite side can play.

D D o u b l e a t ta
ta c k / Q u e e n : A t Z J
Explanation: The purpose is to gain material by a queen move. The
targets are king and material. First encircle the king and
unprotected pieces, only then should be searched for a
solution. The queen must give check and attack an
unprotected piece. An arrow for the winning move is not
enough, also have them indicate the second move (this
should be a ca pturing move ). Useful is
is also writing
writing dow n
the gain. (i.e. rook).
Mistake: The wrong pieces have b een encircled.
Help: Find out whether the students know the difference be-

tween protected and unprotected. Point

Pointing
ing out the unpro-
tected pieces should not really pose any problems. S hould
this be the case then fall back on a n exercise she et from

the first step (Capture an unp rotected piece).

Mistake: The queen move is wrong.
Help: Set up the position on a board and ask which targets are

being attacked. Afterwards go back to the initial position

and use a step-by-step approach.
- Where can you give check?
- Which pieces are unprotected?
- Which queen move gives check and attacks an unpro-
tected piece?

D D o u b lle
e a t tta
a c k / Q u e e n : B tZ J t Z J
Explanation: The purpose is to gain material by a queen move. The
targets are unprotected pieces: so material + material.

45
 

First encircle the unprotected pieces, only then should be

searched for a solution. The queen can attack two un-
protected pieces at once. A n arrow for the w inni
protected inning
ng m ove
alone is not enough, h ave them also indicate the capturi
capturing
ng
move a nd what the g ain is (i.e.
(i.e. bishop).
bishop). The arrows can be
numbered 1 and 2.
Mistake: The queen is only attacking one unprotected piece, the
other piece is protected. The queen can be taken after exe-
cution of the move.

Help: The m oves are executed on the board. Have the students
find out for themselves, which move the opponent can
play now. Th at's the assignment 'capture an (unprotected)
queen.' Ask how you can take a rook, bishop or a knight
with a queen without the queen being placed un der attack
herself.
Mistake: Position 4 or 12 cannot be solved.
Help: 'Simplify' the position by removing the black pawn,
which has to be taken. The fact that the queen may cap-
ture in a double attack may sometimes com e as a surpri
surprise.
se.

ANSWERS

D Do uble attack / Setting

Setting up a do uble attack: A
1) d7, f7 Wrong: Qdl Nb3, 10) d6, e6, f6, gl
Wrong: Qb3 Rb6, Qd7 Nb5 11) a2
Q d 5 R c 6 5 ) e 4 , f4
f4 , g 8 Wrong: Qf5 (Nf4
2) b8, f6, h2 6) a5, d5 , g2 is protected)
3) a8, b7, f5, g8 7) a2, a8, d5, d8, g5 12) b6,f4
W rong: Qd8/d7 8) c l , c
c55 Wrong: Qd8/d6

N d6 9) bl,
,cc2,f
f22 Nd5, Qh4 Ne4
4 ) a I,
I, a 7 , c 4 W r o n g : Q b 5 B e 5

D D ouble att
attack
ack / Queen: A
1) 1. Qe7-el + 5) 1. Q c2-c7+ 9) 1. Qelxb4+
2) 1. Qc2-c6+ 6) 1. Qe2-b5+ 10) 1. Qfl-c4+
3) 1. Qg7 -b2+ 7) 1. Qd2-h6+ 11) 1. Qd I-d6+
4 ) 1 . Q g 4 - d 4 + 8 ) 1 . Q f 3 --d
d5+ 12) 1.... Qf6-c6+

46
 

D Double attack / Queen: B

1) 1. Qc2-c7 5) Draw ing 9) 1. Qd6-dl
2 ) 1 . Q e 2 - b 5 6 ) 1 . Q f 3 --d
d3 10) 1. Qd4-h8
3) 1. Qd I-d6 7) 1. ... Qd 8-e 7 11) 1. ... Qd 1- h5
4 ) 1 . Q f3 x b 7 8 ) 1 . Q d 2 - f2 12) 1. Qf2xh4

: "':
..-..... f . -

  \ \ :. \ - ". '1. .> I ' ·

i \

! e

.t.
,.'

- .' I
&:. .. .:......-
 .....,
-- - ;- "r,{.'=-
..<t-j(-! - - - \
.. . ,.-.r
...". .> ... .... 'f
"'-% ::-! -' L.-n'
L. -n' -
 --:3" J. ,.- ... 4- '- -- .
fJi - .- ""7'
_ """
' - '"
. '!£=
'!£=-:,
. . f-:,
.J: -..';'
r .,J.- . "'!:-  ..... . -,t - - ;)0.
_- .

'l ;..b:::,_ - _: )." · .- .- .- .-,

. -,-
_ :.>-\ . :-.
-'-. >.'r- . =:-
l' ...... .:;!" .\ . ': _ c_ ...;. ...... Jrt.... :-.
! :'; .-'
I f -or ..:... ." ;" -:;;- -"If;:": -- - ....? ...o;:..-.:.
...o;:..-.:.
f J;:: . - - ."r-.-
I, j 1 -
."-.
r-.- :.: ,... -- -. _':. ----=--..: - .
f J, . . - -- --..---.
'I 'i'.r:..
  :..' -fi. . . .
.. -J ".' "': ';:.:
- .......... ------
..................
........ .::= .-- :.:..;-
- -::--
-::- -

Il-''! \:vof
\ ' I!i ,i 1.."".\',
- .n ',I Y' 1":,1.'
:,1ii}qtih/j'IH,,!
.' :,j:,jTTh/j'IH,,!
m F ) ' f=--__._
1 --;;
--;;::::--
-- ---''''----'-
- --''''----'-
. , - t ) · i a f)l.r \1 i
v of .."".\ ii}qti
.- h '.u- ... L innt\ta!:.' f=--_ _._
innt\ta!:.' ,-. , " i' t::"d , . 1
. :.:.tt C:)f f r- .,,, ?",
?",_.y.,jI
_.y.,jI \if I U .... f · - '
if:fr-
;
..9 ...t f ...
1- '0._-"-". ''jj -:I
'
'.1
:..j..J-4
A. r.; ! 'i
A.r.;
r:-;-..,.r.
'\
( OP"(J S
1.3 - 1- 'c

47
 

Double attack (2)

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning to recognise targets

. using the queen as an attacker.

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
. targets
. double attack (lesson 2)

ACQUISITION

Instruction
B e f o r e t h e m o r e d i f ffii c u lltt f o r m s o f t h e

double attack are being d iscussed, we w ililll

a s c e r ta
ta i n w h a t h a s r e m a i n e d f r o m t h e

previous lesson on the same sub ject. For a

good explanation goes that little influences
the studying more as that what the student
already knows.

We build the following schedule together

with help of the students:
o king
targets: 0 material
o (important) square
After this have a child explain the form in

the diagram
In the ( .0.the
left part ) king + material.
queen has to give ch eck
 .
and at the sam e time attack the knight.
This is possible
possible with 1. Qc5+ (not 1. Qa4+
because black saves his knight with 1. ...
Na6). The king can only move away and 1& E
the knight w ill be lost.
On the right 1. Qh5+ is the correct move to
win the rook. Incorrect is 1. Qf5+ because
of 1. ... Rg6.

48
 

With the help of the position in the diagram

( 1)'), we can treat a lot of double attacks in a
useful way. On which square can the queen
deliver a correct
correct double attack? We can put
the rook anywhere ou tside tside the frame. The .I
actual position has some temptations
(Qc4+ / Rb3; Qe2+ / Rb2), but also two
correct solutions: Qa4+ and Qa6+.
The grade of difficulty of the position can
.
depend on the quality and the rate of the
answers. A difficult question is: On which
squares outside the frame is the rook safe?
On the squa res fS, h8 and h2 the rook is out
of danger. Repeat this kind of exercise in a
lesson later on.
Th e f o rm m a t e ria
ria l + m a t e ria
ria l c a n a l s o
.i
briefly
briefly be repeated (or dealt with = see last
lesson).
In the diagram (Q) all Black's pieces are
L 'iY
'iY
unprotected. That is an important precon-
dition. On the left there is no defence any
more for Black and one o f the minor pieces .:, 'iY
will be lost. On the right the pieces can
protect each o ther yet not without directly
being lost.
In the diagram ( .0. ) the students have
hav e to find
the correct double attack. They will
w ill not
have any trouble with it. In the upper part
White gains material with 1. Qb8. Wrong
is 1. Qc5 Rb 7.

Point out that a queen can only attack a

rook diagonally and a bishop straight OD. 'iY
.i
This aid will help to solve the position
below. After 1. ... Qg3 White loses mate-
rial. iL
The third form of the double attack (mate-
rial + square) is a lot more difficult and
should only be dealt with when the exer-
.i i
cise sheets with the other forms have been
done correctly. For the time being attacking 'i f

49
 

an important square entails only a mate .'.

threat.
di f ferent
Only in lesson 9 we will find a i j
ferent k i nd of t hreat an d t hat f or now

remains an exception.
I n th
th e d i a g r a m ( i)
i) '')) i s tth
h e f o r m m a t e r iia
al + I 1 ::J
J
square. On the left the queen not
n ot only

threatens mate on c8, she also attacks the 1 rook. Black has to defend himself against
fj
mate and he has no time to save the rook.

On the right the double attack is formed by 'iY 1t

the attack on the knight and a mate threat
on fl. White can prevent mate but the
knight will be lost.
The familiarity with the mating pattern de-
fines for a large part the degree of difficul-

tyfor ofanaimportant
position.
on.square
.... W ithandthethediagram (Q ) we practise searching IiIi n
unprotected
j
piece. White
White can give mate on c8 and Ra2
s not protected. With 1. Qc4 White wins a I
rook. (on the dem ons tration
tration bo ard, without 'iYifj
'iYifj ;
the position on the right 1. Qh8+ is also fj
possible; a black pawn on f6 suffi
suffices)
ces) K fj
Not always will the queen be able to give
mate on her own.
ow n. She needs the suppo
support
rt of
another piece. The cooperation can be
supportive or complementary.
On the right the mate threat might not be
directly visible.
visible. Black plays 1 . ...
... Qg8. Th e
twofold attack on g2 can be viewed as an

attack
just on an
barely protimportant
protect
ect from
f rom msquare.
ate by White
Bfl,
Bfl, can
how- , :ii .i
I1:J
ever, the rook on h7 will be lost.
This type of the double attack remains dif-
ficultt and that's why there are two
ficul tw o more
mo re i
e x a m p l e s i n t h e d i a g r a m ( .0
. 0 . ) . O n t h e l e fftt ffjj ffjj

Black can attack the rook and

an d threaten m ate fj 'iiYY .I on bl wit
withh 1. ... Qb7.
 'i 'iYY On
O n the right
right Whit
W hitee plays 1. Qe6.
Q e6. There is a
ate threat on g8 and the rook on h3 is

50
 

attacked an additional time.

.iA*
i¥ iii
Search strategy
Teach the search strat
strategy
egy by employing the i
diagram ( '0'). Black is to move.
+

1. Can the queen give check?

2. Which pieces are unprotected?
l:iJ
3. On which square can you give mate?
4. Which pieces are insufficiently pro-
tected? a:
Instruct the students to look at the assign-
men ts in tthis
his way. There is no useful check
yet. White's bishop and kn ight are
unprotected. This provides Black with the
possibility for a double attack. After 1. ...
Qb5 White will llose
ose a piece.
Positions with unprotected pieces and an
open king, also in one's own games are
asking for a double attack.

PRACTICE

Reminder

<> Double attack: queen

Workbook

D D o u b l e a t tta
ack / Q uee n : C tZJ
Explanation: All double attacks are of the category 'king + square'. The

queen ca n give
the students mathe
cross te 'somew
square here'. It isthe
on which good to first
queen canhave
give
mate. Subsequently the unprotected pieces are next. In
some positions (i.e.
(i.e. where mate can be given on the back
rank) there are
are more squa res on which the queen can give
mate. The students may have difficulty with the mating
patterns for which a doub le attack is required.
Mistake: The solution is not found.
Help: Take the queen of the board and have her placed on a
square where the opponent is mated. Subsequently we

51
 

will look for an other target: unprotected pieces.

Mistake: There is a defence.

Help: Instruct
Instruct the position to be set up on the board and e xecute
the given solution. Ask for a defence. After that have the
position
position solved step by step.

D Do uble attack / Setting

Setting up a do uble attack: B tZJ
Explanation: The queen has to give a winning double attack. Mostly
there is only one correct solution (the alternative gains
less material). Writing down the letter Q is an easy way
but also a cross on the square will suffice. The odd student
will want to write
write down the moves.
Mistake: The que en is only att
attacking
acking one target.
Help: Have the position set up on the board and execute the
queen move. Which pieces are attacked? Move the
threatened piece away and ask for the move which wins
material. There isn't one. Have them try again or provide
step-by-step aid, if necessary.
Mistake: The so lution
lution in position 11 is 1. Qc5.
Help: The correct pieces are being attacked, only from the wrong
square. Have the students indicate,
indicate, which moves White can
play now. Besides the strong 2. Qg4xg7#, 2. Re7-e3 is also
a possible defence. From which square can the queen attack
Re7 and Nc3 and simult
simultaneously
aneously prot
protect
ect g7?

D D o u b l e a tt
tt a c k / Q u e e n : D t Z J t Z J
Explanation: On this sheet all fonns of the double attack are incorpo-
rated. 'king + material', 'material + material' and 'mate-
rial + square'. They are nicely placed in order: 4x K+M,
4x M+M and 4x M+S. Only if the students have trouble

Mistake: with the assignments

The solution may this be pointed.
is not found.
Help: Work towards the solution step by step. First have them
indicate the targets and only then look at possible queen
moves.

Mistake: The positions with 'material +square" are wrong.

Help: Have the que en placed correctly
correctly for mate. Then try again.

D D o u b le
l e a t ta
t a c k / Q u e e n : E t Z J tZ
tZ J
Explanation: All fonns of the double attack are mixed. The method

52
 

remains the sam e as in the previous exercise sheets. First

look for the targets
targets and only then for queen m oves.

D D o u b l e a t tta
a c k / Q u e e n : F ttZ
ZJtZJtZJ
Explanation: In this sheet there are a few difficult assignments. It is a
good repetition exercise at the end of step 2. T he students
won't have that much difficulty with it any more.

ANSWERS

D Double attack / Queen: C

I) 1. Qfl-c4 pawn.) 8) 1. Qd2-g5
2) I. Qe2-e5 4) 1. Qa2-f2 9) I.... Qf7-b7
3) 1. Qdl-d6 (1. 5) 1. ... Qb5-g5 10) 1. Qb2-c3
Qd l-h5 and 1. 6) 1. ... Qa5-c3 11) 1.... Qd8-h4
Qdl-d5 only win a 7) 1. ... Qd7-b5 12) 1. Qd4-f2

D D ouble attack / Setti

Setting
ng up a double attack: B
I) Qd5 4) Qb5 7) Qa4 10) Qf5

2) Qcl 5) Qh7 8) Qe4 11) Qf6

3) Qd5 6) Qf2 9) Qd8 12) Qf4

D Double attack / Queen: D

I ) 1. . .... Q e7 xc5 + 6) 1. . .... Q e3 - e2 (I. Qa8-f3 Nf2xhl)
2) 1. Q f 3 - ff8
8 + 7 ) 1 . .... . Q e 8 - c 6 II) 1.... Qf6-c6
3) 1. Q d l - h 5 + 8 ) 1 . Q f 2 --a a7 12) Drawing
4) 1. Qd7-h3+ 9) 1. Qe2 -e4
5) 1. Q c4-a4 10) 1. Qa8-a7

D D ouble att
attack
ack / Queen: E
1 ) 1 . ..
.. . Q e 7 - b 4 + 5 ) 1 . Q d l --b
b3+ 9) 1.... Qd7-e7
2 ) 1 . Q d 2 - h 6 6 ) 1 . Q d l -a -a 4 10) 1.... Qb8-g3
3) 1. Qc4-d4 7 ) 1. Q e2-d I + 11) 1.... Qd7-g4
4 ) 1 . Q d l --a
a 4 + 8 ) 1 . .... . Q a 2 - d 5 12) 1. Qe2-e5+

D Dou ble attack / Queen : F

1) 1. Qf3-f6 5) 1. Qcl-hl 9) 1.... Qe6-c4
2 ) I ..
.. .... Q c 7 x c 2 6 ) 1 . Q d 2 - b 4 10) 1.... Qe8-d8
3 ) I .... .... Q f 7 - a 7 + 7 ) I . Q f 2 - c 2 + II) 1.... Qd8-b6
4 ) 1 . Q g 7 - b 2 8 ) 1 ... . Q f7 - a 2 12) 1. Qe3-c5

53
 

4 T h e P in

GoAL OF THE LESSON

. learning an offensive weapon

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

. value of the pieces

. targets

ACQUISITION

Concepts
pinning, front piece,
piece, back piece

Instruction

The pin is a difficult form of attack, which

requires an extensive explanation. This is
why the lessons concerning the pin have
been divided in three different segments
(part 2 and 3 will follow
follow in step 3).
Pin is derived from to pin, to attach
a ttach with
pins. In the diagram (.{).)
(.{).) we see a pin. The
black knight on e4 may not be played be-
cause B lack would put himself int
intoo check.
White wins the knight with this pin be-
cause it is not protected and can also not be
protected.
c. .

In the begin phase we will use the pin ex-

clusively as an offensive weapon which is
used to win m aterial.

W itithh a pin there are three pieces of impor-

I
tance. In this example:
1. the rook, the piece which pins
2. the knight, which is pinned
3. the king is the piece behind
For the children the terms front piece and
back piece provide more stability. The :! .... . .

54
 

king is the back piece, the knight the front I-

pIece.
The sa me terms w ill return later with
with the
.
discovered attack. Stress the importance of I.
the correct terminology from the start. In
the foregoing position, the rook pins the

knight; the
the black knight is pinned against
aga inst the kinng.g.
One example of course is not enough. To
broaden the concept of pinning and not to
cause any confusion we explain the ('0')
diagram in the same fashion. On the left the
rook pins the bishop, on the right the
bishop pins the rook. White wins material
although the rook is protected. Point out
that a pin is also effective,
effective, when the pinned
piece is protected, bu t isis of a higher value
then the pinning piece, as shown in the
right part.
Have the children identify the front piece
and the bac k piece time and time ag ain. ItIt
is of importance to show the pin in all its
forms (horizontally, vertically and diago-
nally). Have the children set up a p in with
the king as a back piece.
When the examples have come across
clearly enough, we will move on to the
second form of the pin. This pin is directed
at the target: material.
In the diagram (.0.) Black may move the

knight although it is not wise. If the knight 'iW

is played the black queen on d8 will w ill be
i
lost.
i/t)
There is a pin here, however W hite will not
win any m aterial because Black is not obli- 9,-
 9, -
ged to play his knight. The queen protects
the knight. If we replace the queen for a
rook, the pin will cost a piece.
(We will not discuss relative pins and we
will not go into moves with the knight,

55
 

w h ic h w ill be c or r ec t . The lat t er w ill be

tf
dealt with in the discovered attack.)
iii
In the diagram ('0'
('0')) we see a pin on the third
target: an important square. This pin is
found to be more difficult by the students,
espe cially
cially if the
the m ating pattern is not clear
yet.
It is obvious that when the black knight
mo ves, Wh it
itee will gi
give
ve m ate with the rook
on d8. Here we see that the knight is pin- n
ned because an important square is at-
tacked behind the knight.
The same targets, which we already saw
with the double attack, come back with the
pin: the king, material or a square.
After presenting positions with an existing *
pin we now will deal with the positions in
which you pin with a move. In order to
recognize the pins w e will return to the first
diagram. The only difference being, that I
we now place the rook on al (diagram ).  ,

By playing the rook to e 1 we pin the

knight. We can follow
follow the sam e procedure

with the remaining diagrams. Only in the position with the pin against a square we :
will let
let the rook com e from hI. The ch ild-

ren will see that the move, wh ich places the

pin on the board, can be utilized as an of-
fensive weapon. Th e students will have to
find the pinning moves themselves in the

following positions. In this phase we only

take positions in which the pin gains mate-
rial.
It is important to keep the instruction as
varied as possible. Have the students set up
positions
positions w it
ithh w inning
inning pins. Check the po-
sitions yourself or have a neighbour solve
the position. The best examples can be
placed on the demonstration board and
dealt with shortly. With no doubt, there

56
 

will be an enlightening error in the exam-

ple, or even a very instructive one.
.t
A different kind of example is explained in
the diagram ('0'). Because of the mutual at-
tack of queen and rook it is necessary that
after 1. ... Re4 the rook is protected.   'iV
Although the queen is protected, Black will t!J
win material because of a pin.
With pins the back piece is always more
valuable than the front piece. The reverse x
version is x-ray check or the x-ray attack.
(see step 3). For now this is not of im-
portance for the children. They learn that
the attack on the pinned piece is direct
directed
ed
against the back piece. If the
the ch ildren
ildren ca n
solve the examples quickly and correctly,
they will not encounter any problems with
the exercise sheets.

Search strategy
A search strategy is only nece ssary with the
somew hat crowded positi
positions.
ons.
1. Find pieces of the opponent, which are
placed in the same line (file, rank or
diagonal). Certainly look at the position
of the king.
2. Which piece is unprotected? Can you
pin it?
3. No unprotected piece? Look at impor-
tant pieces like
like a queen or the rook. -. -. -. -,

First we will apply it to a placement exer-

cIse.
.t
. .t ii
In the diagram (.0.) White has to place a
i&
rook (of course on an empty square,
nothing may be cap tured)
tured).. We see that tthe
he i
black king and the unprotected bishop on
e7 are placed on the same rank. We can, t!J t!J
with the placement of the rook, set up a
t!J  !J
 ! J
winning pin. Black can't protect the bis-
hop. The p in therefore result
resultss in a piece for

57
 

Black. : I A search
sea rch strategy IS also required In '*
ssignments where the students have to
play a move.
m ove. In the diagram ('0') there are , t!J ,
various
vari ous u nprotect
nprotected
ed pieces. The d ouble , i¥
attack with 1. ... Qb 1 + wins a pawn but the :

white d-pawn is almost on the other side. A t!J t!J t!J more attractiveve catch would be the rook on

t!J t!J d4, which is placed on he same diagonal as the king and above all it is unprotected.
Black takes advantage from this with 1. ...
Qc5, after which the rook will be lost.

PRACTICE

Reminder

<> The pin

Workbook

D Thepm /Pm:A tZJ

t ZJ
Explanation: The side to move has to pin a piece. An easy exercise
sheet. Indicate that not eve ry pin will win material.
Mistake: No pin is produced.
Help: If the student only makes a single mistake, this might
indicate a careless way of working. An additional look
should be sufficient or have a look at the reminder.
More mistakes indicate that the concept of the pin is not

clear
sary .
yet. More explanation with easy positions is neces-

D The pin / Setting up a pin: A tZJ

Explanation: The piece next to the board has to be drawn in (a cross or
the beg in letter
letter of the piece is also c orrect) resulting in a
winning pin. Point out the search strategy from the lesson.
Mistake: The pinning of a protected piece is not found.
Help: Simplifying
Simplifying the position by removing redu ndan t pieces
pieces is
a po ssibility.
ssibility. Another approach is directly
directly indicating a pin

58
 

on an important piece.
Mistake: The placed piece gives a correct double attack.
Help: Have the pin indicated. Mostly this will be sufficient in
letting
letting the student realise that he was m istaken.

D The pin / Pin: B tZJtZJ

Explanation: The side to move has to produce a winning pin. Point to
the search strategy in the lesson. On the exercise sheet
there are pins with different targets: king, material and
square. For s ome students encircli
encircling
ng the targets is useful.
In some positions
positions it is possible to pin with more than one
piece (positions 4, 5, 9 an d 12). Point is to do this with the
'cheapest' piece.
Mistake: The pin to a square is not found.
Help: Take the piece that has to pin and hav e the student place it
in such a way that the opponent is mated. That is, after
some searching an obtainable goal. Place
Place the piece back to
its initial square and ask if the piece with a pin can be
played to the mate square.
Mistake: The pin with support cannot be found. The student sees
the pin but thinks that the piece can be cap tured.
Help: Too much attention is directed to the pin itself. Return to
the workbook to Pin: A and point ttoo a similar example.
Em pty positions explain the purpose of a supporting piece
much more clearl
clearly.
y. After this lilittl
ttlee ex cursion the chance a
solution is found, is enhanced. If not, indicate the sup-
porting piece.

D T h e p i n / P in : C t Z J t Z J t Z J
Explanation:
Explanation: The side to move has to give a winning pin. Point out the
the

search strategy from

from the lesson. On the exercise sheet are
pins with three d iff
ifferent
erent targets: king, material, square.
Mistake: The pin against a square is not found.
Help: Try the approa ch of the B-shee t or simplify tthe
he position.
Mistake: The pin is placed on the board but there is a defence
against the pin.
Help: In position 5, for example, the bishop can be captured after
1. ... Qf4 and in positi
position
on 11 1. Qd2 is a pin, but Black has
the winning 1. ... Bxf2+. We set up the position, execute
the move and ask wh at the opponent can play now.

59
 

ANSWERS

D The pin / Pin: A

1) 1. ... Be8-b5 6) 1.... Qd6-c5 10) 1. Bfl-b5
2) 1. Ral-a5 (c6, c7) 11) 1.... B g 7 -e5
3) 1. ... Qh8-h6 7) 1. Bf2-h4 12) Drawing
4) 1. Bd6-c5 8) 1. ... Rh4-c4
5) 1. Ra4-d4 9) 1. Bc2-e4

D The p in / Setting up a pin: A

1) Ra8 5) Bc5 or Bd4 9) Rc4
2) Be5 6) Q a8 10) Qa4
3) Q e6 7) Bhl 11) Bg5
4) Rh2 8) Qa3 12) Ra4

D The pin / Pin: B

1) 1. Qe2-e4 5) 1. Bcl-b2 9) 1. Be2-fl
2) 1. ... RfS-c8 6) 1. Bd3-b5 10) Drawing
3) 1. ... Qd6-c5 7) Drawing 11) Drawing
4) 1. Rc5-c7 8) Drawing 12) 1.... RfS-e8

D The pin / Pin: C

1) 1. Ra I-d 1 6) 1.... Be7-c5 11) 1. Qc2-d 1 ! (1.
2) 1. ... Be7-b4 7) 1. Qel-b4 Qc2-d2? Bd4xf2+)
3) 1. Rfl-e 1 8) 1. Bh3-fl 12) 1. Bg2-fl
4) 1.... Ba4-c6 9) 1.... QfS-a8
5) 1.... Qd4-d6 10) 1. Qe 1- b 1

,,';- ,,/
, -,'"

  i"'/ ';',
.
t ,
 .

j?;{ t .',
-----= -
,.

. ,  
. .0 " .' -'.. '

 ,. " II "':'" I --- -:." ==

.. - ..,
- -.
-

lilt I I ' . .:=: =-

 \ -

1) - , - -
-

60
 

5 Eliminating the defence

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning an offensive technique

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
. forms
forms o f defence

. value of the pieces

ACQUISITION

Concepts
defender, defence, eliminate, task, sacn-
fice, function
i
Instruction "
With help of the diagram ()
( ) we will veri-
fy ifif the concepts, which are nec essary for .t
eliminating the defence, are sufficiently
known. The attack and defence b y protect-
ing are evident. The rook attacks
a ttacks the
bishop. The knight protects the bishop and l 1:
the pawn the knight. The knight is an
important defender because it protects a
piece, which is under attack. Black can
play the g-pawn without any worries, but
not the knight, he has a function.

If White wants to accomplish anything,

then the defender, the knight, will have to .
i
be eliminated; it has to move aw ay from its
spot or maybe of the board. We place a "
bishop on g5 (diagram .0.). W hite to
to mov e
can eliminate the defender by capturing .t
him with 1. Bxf6. Black takes back on f6

with his pawn and White takes the bishop

on e4 which is now u nprotect
nprotected.
ed. The result
is White gaining a piece. There w ill always a:

61
 

be a student who will suggest saving the

bishop on e4 but in that case the knight on
f6 is the gain.
The action in words: capturing the defender
eliminates the defence of the bishop on e4.
We call this combination the elimination of
the defence. The means is capturing, the
goal is a gain in ma teri
terial.
al.
We speak of 'capturing + material'. This
short formulation is a good verbal suppo rt
for the studen ts. For adults, it will take
some time getting used to.
The example in the diagram ()() gives a
similar situation. We ask what part the
pieces play in this position.
position. We see that the
white rook a ttacks the knight; the knight is
protected by the bishop. We point this
bishop out to be the defender, which we
can eliminate by taking w ith 1. Nxe 6. After .t
taking back on e6, the kn ight on g4 will be
unprotected and the rook can take on g4 ljj IS
without retaliation.
We stil
stilll have to point out two aspects. In a
mutual attack it is important that the de fen-
der is captured by giving check. Left in the :
diagram (.0.) Wh ite will accomplish nothing
w it h 1. N x b6 R x c 1. H e ha s t o t ak e t he

bishop on b6 giving check: 1. Bxb6+ cxb6

2. Rxc4.
Black first has to invest m aterial on the

right. Sacrificing first is not so easy for the i

students. However the gain can be exten-
a 9 0 i
sive. After 1. ...
... Rxh2+ 2.Kxh2 Q xg4
IS
Black has earned 7 points.
It is
is of impo rtance that the ch ildren learn to ljj WJJ
distinguish this form of eliminating the E
defence from the second form, which still
h a s t o b e d e a l t wi t h . Th e c o m b i n a t io
io n
jj
'capturing + material' therefore has to be
practiced at this moment.

62
 

Search strategy .! .
Using the diagram (tt) we look at an exer-
cise like on an exercise sheet. The correct
i i i i i

search strategy is. i i

1. Which pieces are under attack? "
 
2. Find the defender of those pieces. .i.
.i .
3. Can I capture a defender?
!:iJ8 jL I
The knight the
the bishop and the pawn on b6
 & 8
 
are under attack. The solution will not pose
any problems. After
After 1. DxeS RxeS 2. Qxg4 :
White has won a piece.

PRACTICE

D Elimination of the defence / Capturing

+ m aterial: A

If after six positions everyone seems to

understand the conc ept, we can start with
with i
the instruction of the second fonn. This can
also wa it ti
till
ll next time. "

Instruction
.i.
Now the chil
children
dren have gained some expe-
rience in eliminating the defence, pointing
out the defender in the diagram ()( ) will be
child's play.
The knight on f6 protects the bishop on e4.
If the pawn on g7 is pointed out, then we
will have to explain that the pawn is defen-
ding but that this defence plays no signifi-
cant role. The knight on f6 is not being at-

tacked. The knight is however an important

defender because the bishop is under at-
tack. White can attack the knight with 1.
i
gS. The knight has to move aw ay and give
up the defence on B e4 or it will be lost.
lost. We
chase the defending piece aw ay in order to
win m aterial:
aterial: chasing away + m aterial.
aterial.
In the diagram (.0.) the rook on c8 is the
defender of Bc7. Wh ite can chase the rook
away w ith 1. Dg4 in order to capture on c7. jL

63
 

Another way to eliminate a defender is to ' WH ' @

lure it away. In the diagram (tt)
(tt) the bishop
i "
on b6 is the important defender. He
protects the knight on c5. With 1. a5 White .i
.i.. ,II j ,

lures the bishop away. After 1. ... BxaS 2. " jL

RxcS W hite has won a piece.
piece.
On the right White lures the black king as a
defender away with 1. Bh7+. After 1. ...
Kxb7 2. QxfB W hit
hitee wins the queen.
A bit confusing is that luring the defender
away is also possible with a capturing
move. In the diagram ()( ) we find two
examples.
The black knight on c6 on the left has got a
too heavy a task. It has to defend two pie-
ces Bb4 and N d4. White can take advan-

tage with
with 1. Nxb4 Nxb 4 2. Rxd4. i
This also is 'chasing away + m aterial',
aterial', and
, i
not 'capturing + material', because the
defender is not captured. A common term I .i.&
is overload. The defender is overloaded. + "
On the right, the
the pawn o n g6 is overloaded. I
White wins a piece with 1. BxbS gxhS 2.
RxfS.
! :i
:i J j L 1 :

With the help of the diagram (.().) we can 1:

point out an important difference between
line pieces (queen, rook or bishop) and the
knight. The bishop on d3 is the essential
defender of the knight on g6. Black can
chase the bishop away with
w ith 1. ... c4 (or

luring him away if the black bishop would

be on b7). The su prema cy of a liline
ne piece is
, @
that the protection can remain intact. In this
case with 2. Bc2. A knight that is chased i !:iJ
away must always give up the protection. I i.i.8
By the way, Black can win a piece in the 8
diagram by 1. ... Nel. White has two pos-
I 8 jL "
sibilities: 2. Bc2 Nxc2 (capturing + materi-
al) or 2. Be2 Kxg6 (chasing away + mate-
rial) .

64
 

Capturing, chasing
chasing aw ay and luri
luring
ng aw ay I. I. '*
are not the only ways to eliminate the
i i i
defence. O ther forms will be dealt with in
the following steps. .i.i
i
Search strategy i
Using the diagram (1)') we look at an exer- I:£ j
cise like on an exercise sheet. The correct
 88
 8 8
search strategy is.
1. Which pieces are under attack? : :
2. Find the defender of those pieces.
3. Can I chase away or lure away a defen-
der?

The rook on a8 and the bishop on d6 are

under attack. The rook on d8 is the impor-
tant defender. His task is protecting both
attacked pieces. We c an't capture or chase
him away, however we can lure hi him
m aw ay.
Not 1. Qxa8 Rxa8 2. Rxd6 and White loses
1 point, but with 1. Rxd6 Rxd6 2. Qxa8+
and W hite wil
willl have won a piece.

PRACTICE

Reminder

<> Elimination of the defence

Workbook

D Elimination of the defence / Capturing + material: A tZJ

Explanation: Material can be earned with the correct capturing move.
The students have to look at the position in the correct
way. Point out the search strategy as discussed in the
lesson. First have the students encircle
encircle the attacked pieces.
Only then do they have to make the cho ice which piece is
an important defender. After that the correct capturing
move will not be a problem
problem any more.
Mistake: The moves are in the wrong order.
order.
Help: Execute the moves on the board and ask w hat the gai
gained
ned

65
 

material is. There isn't any. Have the student find out for
himself that he has to capture the defender.
Mistake: Position 11 is wrong.
Help: Point out that sometimes you have to give some points
awa y first
first..

D Elimination of the defence / Chasing away+ material: A tZJ

Explanation: Have the students e ncircle
ncircle the attacked p ieces. Only after
that will they have to make a choice which piece is an
important defender. The defender can be eliminated by
chasing away.
Mistake: The defender is chased away incorrectly (positions 9, 10,
11 and 12 - see answers).
Help: Execute the wrong move and have them find the correct
move for the opponent. Gain of material is not possible.
The correct solution will not pose a problem any more
because the correct defender has been found.

D Elimination of the defence / Capturing + material: B tZJtZJ

Explanation: See the A -sheet. The positions are hardly mo re diff

difficult.
icult.
D E liminati
limination
on of the defence / C hasing away + material
material:: B tZJtZJ
Explanation: First have the students encircle the attacked pieces. Only
then do they have to make the choice which piece is an
important defender. The defence can be eliminated by
chasing away utilising a sacrifice. Point out that a captu-
ring move is also possible!
Mistake: The positions 7, 8 or 9 are wrong.
Help: First have them find the defender. He has two functions in
this position:
position: he protects two piece s. By capturing on e of
these pieces the defender is overloaded. The problem is
that the students are not looking for a capturing move
because the assignment isn't 'capturing + material'. In
position 9 the extra difficulty is that you have to give
away points first
first..

66
 

ANSWERS

D Elimination of the defence / Capturing + material: A

1) 1. Bb2xf6+ Ke7xf6 2. Rdlxd5 7) 1. Re8xd8 Bf6xd8 2. Bb3xd5
2) 1. ..
.... Nb6xc4+ 2. b3xc4 8) 1. Nd3xc5 b6xc5 2. Ba4xd7 ; 1.
Re8 xe2+ . .
... Bd7xa4 2. Nc5xa4

3) 1. Bd3xg6 + Kf7xg6 2 . 9) 1....

1.... Qg6xc2 2. Rclxc2
Nflxe5+ Bd7xa4

4) 1....
1.... Ra2xg2 2. Khlxg2 10) 1. Ng4xf6 R f8xf6 2. Re3xc3
Kh7xg7 11) 1.... Ra2xe2 2. Relxe2
5) 1. Rhlxh7 Kg8xh7 2. Kflxe4 Be6xc4
6) 1. Be3xb6 a7xb6 2. Rdlxd7 12) 1. Rclxc7 Na6xc7 2. Relxe7

D Elimination of the
the defenc e / Chasing aw ay + m aterial:
aterial: A
1 ) 1 ..
.. . . b 5 - b 4 7 ) D r a w in g B g 6 - h 5 ? R e 2 - e 5 .
2 ) 1 . ..
. . . g 5 - g 4 8 ) D r a w i n g 1 1 ) 1 . .... . N c 6 - a 5 ; 1 .
3 ) 1 . c 2 - c 4 9 ) 1 . .... . B f 8 - h 6 ; 1 . . .... N c 6 - e 5 ?
4 ) 1 . B f 2 - c 5 . ..
. . B f 8 - a 3 ? 2 . 1 2 ) 1 . . .... R a 8 - d 8
5) 1. Rd2-f2+ Ral.
6) 1....
1.... Rh8-h4+ 10) 1. Bg6-d3; 1.

D E lilimination
mination of the defence / C apturing + m aterial:
aterial: B
1) 1. B b 3 x d 5 + 5 ) 1 . .... . Q g 7 x g 2 + 9 ) 1 . N f 5 x h 6 +
2) 1. R g l x g 6 6 ) 1 . R h 6 x c 6 + 1 0 ) 1 . .. .. . Q c 5 x e 3 +
3) 1. R a7xf7+ 7) 1. Nc7 xe8 1 1) 1. e6xf7+
4) 1. .. . B c 5 x d 4 8 ) 1 . R e l x e 6 1 2 ) 1 . R e 6 x f 6
..

D E lilimination
mination of the defence / Luring away + m aterial:
aterial: B
1) 1. b5-b6 9) 1. ... Rd2xdl 2. Qf1xdl
2) 1. Re 2-e5+ Qe 3xf2

3 ) 1 . N c 3 - d 5 1 0 ) 1 . ..
. . . b 7 -b
-b 5 2 . Q c 4 x b 5 R e 8 x e 4
4 ) 1 . f5 f 5 - f6
f6 + 1 1 ) 1 . .. . R a 8 - a l + 2 . B d 4 x a l
5 ) 1 .... . . B a 5 - d 2 + Q c 7 x c 5 ; 2 . B d 4 - g 1 Q c 7 x c 5 ;
6) 1.... d5-d4 1. ... Qc7xc5? 2. Bd4xc5
7) 1. Bf2xc5 d6xc5 2. R elxe5 Ra8-al+ 3. Bc5-gl
8) 1. ... Rf8xf2 2. Be3xf2 12 ) 1. Nfl-g5+ Bd8xg5 (other-
Kg6xg5 wise 2. Ng5xe6) 2. Rclxc7+

67
 

6 The 3 golden
go lden rules
rules

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning
learning to play sound opening moves

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

. activity of the pieces

. safety for the king

ACQUISITION

Concepts
developing, development

Instruction

It is not easy for the children to start a

chess game. Without help they will keep
making 'child's mistakes' like playing on
the edge and playing the same piece repea-
tedly. We therefore give three supporting
rules. These 'golden rules' aid in playing
the opening a bit better.
In the first lesson, we learned to place our
pieces as actively as possible. We place
them in or around the centre, from where
they aim at our opponent's half. Because
the battle is about the centre, we must

strive
strive to
in the place oas
middle

the opening is:

mu board.
f the ch influence
influence as wrrule
Th e first eule
can
of
Ii & .t .t " i Iii i i i i i il
1. Pawn in the centr e

(preferably the
the mov e 1. e4 - diagram D.)
Advantages of this move are:
. The pawn aims at d5 and f5 (important
8 8
  8
squares on the opponent's half which
Black therefore cannot use for his own :lZJ ZJ:

68
 

pIeces.
.".*..... ".
. The bishop on f1 can be played as well
iiiiiii'
as the queen. Together they control 3
+
squares on the op ponent's half.
. White on his first
first move ha s 30 m oves to + + + +

choose from.
t!J
With one move White already gains some
control in enem y territory (di
(diagram
agram i)'
i)').
).
t!J i t t!J i t i . t!J
t! J i t
Counting the number of moves is fun for
the students (skip the counting with child- :ltJ
:lt J tJ :
ren which are too young). The number of
different moves is 20, 16 pawn m oves and
different
4 knight moves. After the
the mo ve 1. a3 (or 1.
13, 1. h3) Whites mobility has even de-
creased with 1 move! After a 'beginner's
move' like 1. a4 W hite has the choice of21
.".*.....+6.
moves only. iiiiii"

2. Pieces out

The first pieces

bishops: pi2.
eces
Nf3we play
and 3. are
Bc4the knights and
(diagram Q). t!J
We try to playas many pieces to the ltltJJ
middle of the board as possible, so they can
t!J it t!J it it t!J it
be as active as possible. After this we will
have to bring the bishop on eland the :ltJ n
knight on bl into play.

3. King to safety
This means that in the opening we place
the king out of the dangerous middle by

castling (diagram ). The rook all of a sud-

den has also come int
intoo play. If you neglect
1.".*......*.".
one of these three, you m ay get into
i i i i i i i il
trouble.

We can find these three elements in every

good opening. W e already indicate that we t!J
should complete the opening. Before we
ltJ I
begin any attack we make sure that all of
t!Jt!Jt!J  !J
 ! J
our pieces a re participating.
participating.
If some pieces are left on their initial j ltJ :

69
 

position, you only play with half your

strength. In football you don't see half of
the players on the bench. Soldiers don't
remain in the barracks during the war.
Clear should be: all pieces should partici-
pate. We will now repeat the rules. We
play 1. e4 and go on playing moves for
White. To show the three rules explicitly,
we will not pay attention on what Black
could do. In the second rule the knight on
gl and the bishop on fl will be placed on
the familiar spot.
The third rule will not be difficult any-
more: 4 0-0. The other pieces however are
still place d in the ir initial
initial position. It
cannot be stressed often enough that White i: .t * ", I
still has to complete the opening. Good
I.l.il.iiil.
moves a re d4, Nc3 and after that
that Bf4
(diagram ) or also Bg5.

Of course the moves willWe

depend on what
the opponent will play. will now play c i& t!Jci
from the initial position for White and lZ
lZJJ ltltJJ
Black: 1. e4 e5 2. NO Nc6
N c6 (the attacked
t!J & t!J & t!J &
pawn on e5 is protected) 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. 0-0
Nf6 5. d3 0-0 (see diagram ). Both : n
players have now applied the three golden
rules as quickly as possible. Their task is
now to bring other pieces into playas we llll..
Children sometimes have the tendency to
play with a limited number of pieces and

only after the piece, which was played E .t It

It
with, with
with so much enthusiasm, disappears i i i i iii
in the box, w ill they resort to another p iece.
The activity of all the pieces has to be
increased in such a way that they are as + i
active a possible. That means: ci t!J
. Pieces have to control as many squares t!J ltJ
as possible (preferably in the centre)
t!J & t!J & t!J
. Pieces have to attack the op ponent's pie-
ces and squares when possible. .r!ltJci
.r!ltJci 1:t

70
 

. Pieces have to protect each other.

. Pieces have to work together in an attack
(with a twofold attack)
. Pieces should not be in each other's

way.
The points me ntioned above are fairl
fairlyy ab-
stract for the children.
children. They s lowly have to
play a bigger role when discussing the
games so the m oves in their own gam es are
chosen m ore precisely
precisely..
Now a warning is in its place. The queen
and to a lesser degree the rook are worth
more and they are therefore more vulne-
rable.
rable. They have to move away when other
pieces attack them. The discussion of the
following game is therefore extremely x t'i8..t,,
instructive.
iiii iii
1. e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Qdl-h5 (diagram)
(diagram)
A popular move amongst young people.
i
The queon
capture en e5
is active on attacks
and also h5, shethe
threatens to
pawns on t3J
t3 J
f7 and h7. These for now are sufficiently
protected. The disadvantages of the queen
t3Jt3Jt3Jt3J 8t3J8
move will soon come to light.
2. ... Nb8-c6 :l2J <;t>
A fine move. Black protects the pawn on
e5 and develops a piece to the centre. An
often-made mistake is 2. ... g7-g6 which
after 3. Dh5xe5+ loses a rook.
3 . B n -c 4

W ith
ith a m at e t hr eat on f 7! This iis
s of t en
overlooked. Black plays 3. ... Ng8-f6 and
is mated after 4. Qh5-f7#. The nam e of this
mate is 'scholar's mate'.

3. ... g7-g6
With an attack on the queen. She has to
move again and W hite has no titime
me to deve-
lop a new piece.
4. Qh5-fJ Ng8-f6
Now thi
thiss is a good developing move. Black

71
 

defends himself again against mate on f7.

 
;I ..t e . 7 ;II
5. g2-g4
i i i i i i
White plays further for mate. Also appli-
cable is 5. Qf3-b3 (diagram '0') and now 5. ", "i
. .. Qd8-e7 is a good defence. If you look i
further then Black can win the bishop (if
White takes the bait): 5. ... Nc6-d4 6.
Bc4xf7+ Ke8-e7 7. Qb3-c4 b7-b5 and the
& & & &
defender of the bishop is chased away.
5. ... Nc6-d4 6. Qf3-d3 d7-d5 7. e4xd5 :ltJ <;t> ltJn
Bc8xg4.
Black's position is better and threatens
with 8. ... Bg4-f5.

Before we teach more about the opening,

the children
children will have to gain an am ount of
experience to apply one and the other in
their own games. Without this experience
it'
it'ss diffi
difficult
cult to apply the learned conc epts.

PRACTICE

Reminder

<> The 3 golden rul

rules
es

Playing format
Play a simultaneous display from the begin position in which extra atten-
tion is placed on the discussed rules. Taking back a move can be allowed. If
there are more than ten students it's better to let them play against each

other or another strong player has to be ava ilable.

Workbook

D Opening / Golden rules: A tZJ

Explanation:
Explanati on: W hich of these three moves be neath the diagram is the
best one. The students can un derli
derline
ne or encircle the move.
The students can indicate why precisely that move is the
best one, when discuss ing the exercise sheet ttogether
ogether and
what the disadvantage is of the other moves. There is a

72
 

short motivation with the answers.

Mistake: The w rong move is indicated.
Help: Study all three moves beneath the diagram. Weigh the
pros and cons of the moves. Different criteria are indica-
ted with the answers.
Mistake: Position 12 is wrong.
Position
Help: The alternatives
alternatives are also good mo ves but the queen move
wIns In every way.

D T e s t / R e p e t it
i t io
io n : A t Z J
Explanation:
Explanation: The positions are known. Problems can only be expected
when the material is insufficiently mastered. This can be
the case if the lessons have been conducted in a high
tempo. In that cas e it is better not to proceed with the new
material but to plan some revisions first and above all to
let them play more.
Mistake: Positions 7, 10 and 11 will most often be wrong.
Help: Give som e general aid. Have the student find out for him-
self why the answer is incorrect. Check if other assign-
ments w ith the same theme are also incorrect. In that case

revision is certainly in its place.

D T est / Mix: C tZJtZJ

Explanation:: This is the first exercise sheet with mixed assignments
Explanation
from the second step. They are still
still grouped (see answers)
but don't indicate this for now.
now . Utilising
Utilising the sea rch
strategy is required if the answer is not directly found by
recognising the position.
position. First have them name the
characteristics of the position (targets!) and ask them to
come up with a solution. Most students will come to the

right move in this way. Should this aid lead to nothing,

than more direct
direct questions are in order. These depend on
the theme of the exercise.

1. Which pieces are unprotected?

2. Can I give a useful check?
3. Can I use a p in?
4. Which are the important defenders?
5. Can I give mate?
Mistake: The answer is wrong.
Help: Have the student motivate his answer and use this answer

73
 

as yo ur starting point for the help. Direct your attention to

the right elemen
elemen ts in the answer.
Mistake: The answer is not found.

Help: Help the student by asking questions. Have the targets

indicated or directly pose the question: "Can you put the
king in check?" or "Could you give mate?"

D Te st / M ix: D tZJtZJ
Explanation: The themes on this exercise sheet are also sorted by three
after each other. Only have this sheet done if the last mix
has been done with reasonable success.
Mistake: Position
Position 9 do esn't work or has 1. Qh4-f6+ for an answer.
Help: A difficult position. It is so tempting to give check on f6.
Have the studen t name the relevant characteristics iin
n the
position (vulnerable king
king and un protected bishop on d2 ).
Take the queen of the board if necessary and ask her to be
placed in such a way that Black is mated. If the st
student
udent
finds square f8 then the so luti
lution
on is also nea r.
Mistake: Position 10 is wrong.

Help: First
Shouldtry this
try a genbe
eral approach then
insufficient by naming the characteri
characteristics.
the position can be stics.
sim-
plified by taking the queens of the board. The function of
the defending bishop on c4 will be more obvious then.

D Tes t / Mix: E tZJtZJtZJ

Explanation: The themes are spread throughout the exercise sheet.
Mistake: The answer is wrong.
Help: Ask qu estions that will lead to the mo st important
characteristics in the position: "Do you see an important
defender?" Which pieces are unprotected?"
unprotected?"

ANSWERS

D Op ening / Golden rules: A

1) Bfl-c4: The bishop controls the centre and has some control over
the opponents side of the board
Bfl-d3: The bishop is in the way of the pawn on d2.
Nb l-a3: On a3 the knight has less mobility and no co
control
ntrol of the
centre.

74
 

2) Bfl-c4 The bishop controls the centre and has som e influence over
the opponents side of the board.
B f l -b5+ Giving check is no t correct in thi
thiss position. Black can play
1. ...
... c7 -c6 and the bishop m ust move aga in.
Bfl-e2 This move is too modest. The m ove makes castling
possible but the bishop do es not control the centre.
3) Nb8-c6 The best way to protect the pawn on e5.
f7-f6 The p awn o n f6 is in tthe
he w ay of the knight on g8 . It is sti
stillll
too early to explain the consequences of2. Nflxe5.
Qd8-e7 The queen protects tthe
he pawn on e5 but prevents the bishop
on fS from com ing out.
4) Nb8-c6 A developing move attacking the queen. White must lose
time
time now because the queen has to m ove again.
c7-c5 The pawn m ove attac
attacks
ks the queen, but on c5 the pawn is
somewhat obstructing the bishop on fS.
d7-d6 Not a bad move, but not the best one. White plays 2.
Ngl-fl and can play 2. ... Nb8-c6 3. B flfl-b5
-b5 next. He keeps
the queen on d4.
5) Ngl-fJ The best place for the knight. White can castle next move.

Qd 1- f3 Only if Black is not careful, is this a good move, but after

1. ... Ng8-f6 Black has parried the mating threat. The
queen on f3 is in the way of the knight on g 1.
Qdl-h5 Black plays 1. ... Qd8-e7 and on the next move chases
away the queen w ith
ith 2. ... Ng8-f6.
6) 0-0 Black protects f7 with a good developing move.
Qd8-e7 The quee n doesn't really prot
protect
ect f7. She is too va luable.
Rh8-fS Not a p roper protecting
protecting m ove. Black cannot castle kingside
any longer.
7) 0-0 The king is safe. A fine move.
Bg5-e3 The bishop is well placed on g5. There is no reason to

move the sam e piece twice in the opening.

Bg5xf6 An unne cessary exchange. Don 't exchange w hen it is
is not
necessary.
8) Ng8-f6 The correct move. Here the knight controls two centre
squares.
Ng8-e7 The knight has less mobility on e7 than on f6. From there it
controls two squares in the centre.
Bc8-d7 A developing m ove, but the bishop is not so active on d7.
9) 0-0 Wh ite correctly applies the thir
thirdd golden rule.
Nf3xe5 The paw n on e5 can not be taken so e asily. Black wins the

75
 

knight by the double attack: 1. ... Qd8-aS+.

Nfl-gS A prem ature attack on f7. Black plays 1. ... d7-d5.
10) Ngl-fJ The move of the knight enables castling. On fl the knight
attacks eS and he controls two centre squares.
Bfl-bS This is a good mov e only when there is a knight on c6. The
bishop can be chased away by a pawn.
d2-d3 Not a bad move but the bishop on fl can not be developed
to an active square anymore.
11) e2-e3 Wh ite must parry the threat Qh4xf2#. This is the only way.
d2-d4 Counters mate on f2, but after 1. ... BcSxd4 White is a
pawn beh ind and there is a mate threat again.
Ngl-f3 Sometimes developing is not correct. Black gives mate on
f2.
f2 .

12) Qdl-d5 Once in a while, a quick attack on f7 is correct. Black can

protect f7 only by 1. ... Ng8-h6, but with 'capturing +
material' (2. Bclxh6). White wins material.
Nb l-c3 Good m ove but not tthe
he best one. There are al
always
ways excep-
tions to the rules.
0 -0 Good m ove but not the best one.

D T est / Repe tition:

tition: A
1) 1. ... Ra8-d8 S) 1. ... Rf8-c8 9) 1.... RfS-e8
2) Ra8 6) Qa2 10) Qf4
3) 1. Qe2-e4 7) Drawing 11) 1. ... Qa6- f6
4) 1. ... Qg6xc2 8) 1. Rhlxh7 12) 1. Bd3-bS

D Tes t / Mix: C

1) 1. Bfl-bS (pin) 8) 1. ... Qg6-c2+

2) 1.... BfS-h6 (pin) (double attack: queen)
3) 1. Rfl-e 1 (pin) 9) 1.... Qd7-b7

4) 1. RelxeS (double attack: queen)

(capturing + material) 10) 1. ... Ra 1 xe 1
S) 1. Ng3xe4 (luring away + material)
(capturing + material) 11) 1. Be3-h6+
6) 1.... Rf8xf3 (luring awa y + material)
(luring
(capturing + material) 12) 1. Nf3-eS
7) 1. Qe7-e3+ (chasing away + material)
(double attack: queen)

76
 

D Tes t / Mix: D

1) 1. ... Bh4-f6 (pin) 8) 1. Qe2-hS

2) 1. Qd4-dl (pin) (double attack: queen)
3) 1.... Ra8-d8 (pin) 9) 1. Qh4-d8
4) 1. Rglxg7+ (double attack: queen)
(capturing + material) 10) 1. ... b7-bS
S) 1. Qd4xf6+ (luring away + material)
(capturing + ma terial
terial)) 11) 1. Rhl-h8+
6) 1. RelxeS (luring away + m aterial)
(capturing + material) 12) 1. NeS-c4
7) 1. ... Qg6-f6 (chasing away + m aterial)
aterial)
(double attack: queen)

D Tes t / Mix: E

1) 1. ... Qc7-f4+ (double attack: queen)

(double attack: queen) 7) 1. NfSxg7
2) 1. Bg2xdS (pin) (capturing + material)
3) 1. ...
... QaSxd 2+ 8) 1. Rdl-d8+
(capturing + material) (luring away + material)

4) 1. Bc2-b3+1.(chasing
material); Bc2-h7+away + is
Kg8-f7 9) Drawing
10) 1. ... RfS-d8 (pin)
not working. 11) 1. ... Qe3 -e4
S) 1. Bg3xd6+ (double attack: queen)
(capturing + ma terial
terial)) 12) Drawing
6) 1. Qdl-a4+

 - .. .,
'. \

I jl\
jl \
,

-
,

...........

I,
, ..,J -,
". 1
. ) i 't
\ , e!. \ :"Lt l  -;
· ' I ' Co ,A]) - I,
... \.'
\.' .Gc:.O
I',\' M Ariom
IJ' IJ
I 1-..' ,reeV '

I .
I"
-

""

1t .-.:- \

, .F:Jy."
"" . 1U'
s

77
 

7 M a t e in
in tw
tw o

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. finding mate quickly

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
. mate

. attacking techniques

ACQUISITION

Concepts
mating p attern, flflight
ight square

I n st r u ct i o n

The following elements are of importance

when teaching of
1. recognition m ate in two:
two:pa ttern
a mating
(the end position with mate)
2. cooperation of the pieces
(with supportive or complementary
mate)
First we will practice recognising mate,
which also played an important role with
the mate in one exercises. The depicted
positions in the diagram (.{).) can serve to
recall some relevant knowledge. We have

to place the piece, which gives m ate. This .. K

chaser (a term we already used in step 1)
i J :t
can perform several other tasks besides

:
ci
giving mate: take away flight squares and
protect one's own pieces (and he performs
the function of a guard as well). The guard K
keeps the flight squares under control but  .t
at the same time he can protect the chaser.
8
Have the students make up their own exer-
cises on their own board. -

78
 

Only when these mate-in-one exercises do .i .I '* not cause any problems any more
i
wil iwe
turn to positions with mate in two.
In most cases the cooperation between the
pieces will consist of alternately chasing .t
and guarding.
gu arding. The point is to close in the [
king. Left in the diagram ( 1)' ) the rook gives

check first: 1.. . Rb8+ 2. Kal Bc3#. On the right the roles have been reversed:
1. Bf6+ Kg8 2. Tgl#. The loser has no
choice, so the effect of the move s is easy to
1:t
oversee.

The first condition for giving mate is the

accessibility
accessibility of the black king. Giving
check has to be possible. Second is the
cooperation
cooperation between the pieces. They have

to divide the tasks. One piece chases the '* king to a ssquare
quare so another piece can
ca n inter- -
i vene. The tasks of the guards weigh
w eigh hea-
vier
k n i gin
h tthe
p rdiagram t s t(Q).
o t e c ts h e rOn
o o the
k a fleft
t e rthe
1. Nc6+ Ka 8 i
2. Rb8# and takes away the square a7 from
the king:
supplementary
supplementa
a com
combinati
ry mate.
bination
on of suppo
supporti
rting
ng and t
On the right a similar picture after 1. . . .
Bg3+ 2. Kfl Rel#. Note that the rook also
takes the square g l for his account.
Cooperation entail
entails:
s:
. supporting one another
. controlling together the flight squares of

th e e n e m y k i
inng .
When giving mate with two pieces 'help' i i of enemy pieces, which are in the way, is
a l m o s t a l w a y s r e q u i re
re d . I n th
t h e f o l lo
lo w i n g +
exam ple (.Q (.Q .) i n both parts the bishop bi shop and
the knight work together.
On the left White plays 1. Bc6+ in order to

give mate after 1. ... Kb8 2. Na6. On the jJ right the roles
roles have been reversed. Now the
knight has to give ch eck fi
first,
rst, only after
after
79
 

that the bishop takes action: 1. ... Ng3+ 2. .I

Kgl Be3#.
ii .I
Pieces can also help each other in another
way: by sa crif
crificing
icing themselves! On the left IS
in the diagram (1)') we find
find an easy exam-
ple. Black's vulnerable back rank gives
invitation
invitation to a mate with 1. Rc8+ Nxc8 2.
,,
Rxc8#. White gives mate because of the
double attack on c8. :
The s ituation is hardly more d ifficult
ifficult on the a:
right. The bishop on g3 protects h2. Black
has two attackers and that is sufficient to

take out the bishop: 1. ... Rxh2+ 2. Bxh2

Rxh2#.
The two fold attack is more difficult whe n

the mating pattern is more unusu al. On the

left in the diagram (Q) White gives mate
.tt "
with 1. QbS+ BxbS 2. cxbS#. Not difficult,
but the students have to hav e seen this type  .i.
.i .
i ii
a couple of times before. Giving up your
queen just like that is not the first thing   ,,
they will look for.
The attacker also has a reserve player on
8
standby in the position on the right: 1. ...
NtbS+ 2. gxhS NxhS # (but not 2. ...
... f4+ 3.
Kg4).
The B-exercise sheet with this lesson is full
with mate-in-two exercises utilising the
twofold attack.
In the diagram ( .Q. ) there are three positions
in which one piece retains the role of the !!! .
hunter. They are very common and worth
. i
remembering.
On the left top White gives mate with 1.
Qb6+ Ka8 2. Qa6#.  l J
On the right top Black is lost after 1. ,"j ,

Qxh7+ K f8 2. Qf7# or 1. Qf7+ Kh8 2.

Qxh7#.
'!Vi
In the bottom half Black can also give mate
in two ways: 1. ... Qa2+ 2. Kcl Qc2# or 1.  a :

80
 

... Qc2+ 2. Kal Qa2#.

.,
Especially the queen is a very suitable
.t.
piece to place the king in a worse position
giving check and then giving mate. .a:
.a :  
The rook can also do the job alone. In thethe
top half in the diagram (1)') Black is m ated .t i
after
after 1. Rd8+ Kh 7 2. Rh8#.

A well known mating pattern comes to

I
existence in the bottom part after 1. . . .
R a l + 2 . K f l R f l#
l# . <Et>
For a first encounter the given examples
are sufficient.
sufficient. The stud ents will have to

gain more skill in giving mate on their own

by practising.
Important points are:
. coming closer to the
the enem y king
. the cooperating (supportive
(supportive and comple-
mentary or a combination)
. recognizing typical mating patterns (in

which the colour and place principally

are insignificant)

PRACTICE

Workbook

D Mate / Composing mate: A tZJ

Explanation: The two pieces next to the board have to be positioned in
such a way that the opponent is mated. The first letter of

the piece will suffice.

There will be big differences between the students. With
such an ex ercise the spatial aspect plays a huge role. Not
all students are as ad vance d in this area. In particular tthe
he
positions where the king is in the
the m iddle of the board are
difficult
difficult for them .
Mistake: The solution is wrong.
Help: Have the students indicate which flight squares are still
available to the king. The main piece principally has to
take away the most squares. The lower piece mo stly has a

81
 

protective function or will take care of giving check

Mistake: The position is too difficult. Spatial influence of pieces is
difficult. It's possible that a student who usually makes
few mistakes in his exercises now has many.
Help: We will simplify the exercises by:
- a hint (the
(the knigh t gives check ; the bishop has to p rotect,
it is supportive mate)
- showing a similar mating pattern
- telling
telling where a p iece should be

D M a t e / M a t e in
in t w o : A t Z J
Explanation: Have them indicate both moves until it is mate. Young
children still drawing arrows can number these with 1 and
2. In all positions one piece will give check first after
which another piece gives mate.
Mistake: The solution is not found.

Help: Explain which mating pattern appears on the board (i.e.

rook and bishop). Should this hint be insufficient show a
similar mating pattern
pattern on another part of the board.

D M a t e / M a t e in
in t w o : B t Z J
Explanation: In all positions the side to move can give mate by initia-
ting a twofold attack.
Mistake: The answer is wrong.
Help: Probably not very necessary. Rem ove an attacker and de-
fender if necessary so a ma te in one position
position remains.

D M a t e / M a t e iin
n two: C tZJtZJ
Explanation: The hunt on the king (check) and the final
final blow (ma te) is
is
carried
carried out by the sa me piece.
Mistake: The solution is not found.
Help: Which piece can give check? W here can the king still go?

D M ate / Mate in two: D tZJtZJtZJ

Explanation: See the A-sheet.

82
 

ANSWERS

D M ate / Composing mate: A

1) Qa4, b3 4) Ra6, Na3 Qh3, Rfl 11) Kb4, RdS
2) Qf6, c4 / S) Re7, Ne6 8) QdS, ReS 12) Qg7 , f6, h6
Qd6, eS 6) Q d4, Rf6 9) Qg6, Bh6 / Qd7, g7
3 ) R g l ,,N
N f l 7 ) Q h 3 , R f l/
l/ 10) Qd6, Bg6

D Ma te / Mate in ttwo:
wo: A
1) 1. RfS-f7+ Ka7-b8 2. Rg6-g8#; RfS-fl#
smart is 1. RfS-bS Ka7-a8 2. 8) 1.... Bg4-fl+ 2. Kg2-fl
Rg6-a6# Rh8-h 1 #

2) 1. Rbl-b7+ Kh7-g8 2. Ral-a8# 9) 1.... BfS-h3+ 2. Kg2-g1

3) 1. Rb2-g2+ Kg7-h6 2. Ral-hl# RfS- fl #

4) 1. Qh2-g2+ Ka8-b8 2. Qg2- 10) 1. ... Rd8-g8+ 2. Kg2-h 1

b7 # Nd3-f2#

S) 1. Qfl-t7+ Kg8-h8 2. Qt7xg7# 11) 1. NdS-e7+ Kg8-h7 2. Rg2-

6) 1. ... Qd3-e3+ 2. Kf2-fl h2 #
Qe3-el# 12) 1. ... Nd4-fl+ 2. Kgl-hl
Ra2xh2#
7) 1. ... Be7-cS+ 2. Kgl-hl
D M ate / Mate in two: B
1) 1. ... Re8xe 1 + 2. Rd 1 xe 1 6) Drawing
Re8xel# 7) 1. Ne4-f6+ Kg8-g7 2. QfS-h7#
2) 1. Qc7-c8+ Rb8xc8 2. 8) 1. ... Qf4-fl+ 2. Kg2-g1
Rclxc8# Nd4-e2#
3) 1. Rclxc8+ Re8xc8 2. 9) Drawing
Qa6xc8# 10) 1. Qa4-e8+ Kh8-h7 2. Qe8-g8#
4) 1. ... Qe3-el+ 2. Rdlxel 11) 1. Qe3-a3+ Ka7-b7 2. Qa3-a6#
Re8xe 1 # 12) 1. ... Qd7-dS+ 2. Kg2-fl

S) 1. Qc3xeS+ Qc7xeS 2. QdS-fl#

Bb2xeS#

D M ate / Mate in two: C

1) 1. Qd7-dl+ Ka4-b4 2. Bb2xf6#

Qd I-d4# S) 1. Qh6xh7+ Kg8xfS 2.

2) 1. Rel-e8+ Kb8-a7 2. Re8-a8# Qh7-h8#
3) 1. ... BhS-fl+ 2. Khl-h2 6) 1. ... Re8-el + 2. Ralxel
BfS-d6# Qh4xel#
4) 1. Qd4xf6+ Ne8xf6 2. 7) 1. Ne8-f6+ Bd4xf6 2. Rel-e8#

83
 

8) 1. ... BeS- f4+ 2. Kd2-c3 10) 1. Nf4-e6+ KfS-e8 2. Rb7-e7#

Qfl-al + 11) 1. Qh7-h8+ KfS-e7 2.
9) 1.... Rb3-a3+ 2. Ra4xa3 Qh8xg7#
QbS-b2# 12) 1. Qe6-c8+ KfSe7 2. Rh6-e6#

D M ate / Mate in ttwo:

wo: D
1) 1. Na4-b6+ Kc8-d8 2. Ral-a8# 7) 1. Bc3-aS+ Kc7-c8 2. Rdl-d8#
2) 1.... Re8-e 1 + 2. Kb l-c2 8) Drawing
Qa3-cl# 9) Drawing
3) 1. Qhl-h8+ KfS-e7 2. Rc4-c7# 10) 1.... Rd3-a3+ 2. Ka4-bS c7-
4) 1. ... Qh6-c6+ 2. Khl-g1 c6 #

Qc6-g2# 11) 1. ... Qf2-f3+ 2. Khl-h2

S) 1. Qd4-b6+ a7xb6 2. Be3xb6# Qf3-h3#
6) 1.... Rd8-dl + 2. Kfl-e2 12) 1.... Ne4-g3+ 2. Khl-gl
Rdl-el# Rd2xg2#

.; =-
-:

= -=
=:;-

.,( .,...."
....,....
.,....." " _ '......"
'......" ,..
,..:: = = = = - :
.. C6......'.!.r.1-.. -

. ..::/:?
..::/:? l!.;... ,' - . .,'. 1..: 1 : : .,.
l.{j.I ::i..:: 1"'...,\ ....' ....'\..
.. :.' _.... ....)0
 .' .. . :' - ..... . --
.....:, \..
\.. t".. .. "': . , ,....
:.' \...:c ".')"
: ... ..... ... -
"': ,.,. - ..'.
..'. II. ,.. .,. ....
... " ' .\(
M4I ,....
'un
',.....:'
.'''.'UtL'''
.., 'f:'" ' . - " ,..."
. - ' ' ' I . . . , o. , . . . . f

84
 

8 Double
Dou ble attack: knight

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning the attacking po ssibil

ssibiliti
ities
es of a knight

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

. targets
. double attack with the queen

ACQUISITION

Concepts
exchange, knight fork, hanging

Instruction

We ask the students the best position for

lj j
the knight on
doubtedly thewill
they demplace
onstration
onstrati
theonknight
board.on
Un-a
square from which it can jump to eight
squares, i.e. on d5. Is it possible for the
knight to
to aim at m ore squares at the same
time? No this is not possible. Still we can
let a knight cover much more than 8
squares.
We build the position of the diagram (Q)
further by placing the black queen on c8.
Can, White to move, take the queen with

the knight? No but after placing the black 'iV '*

king on g8 (diagram .Q.) it appears that the
black queen on c 8 is not so safe. Have the
children name the other squares themselves
where the black queen is lost by a double lj j
attack. The knight gains strength signi-
ficantly by use of a double attack because it
indirectly (through check) covers more
squares.
In the first example the g oals 'king +

85
 

material', is a terminology which the child- . .!.!

ren already have come to know . We will
build further on this already
already e xisting
xisting kno w-
ledge.
The positions in the diagram (1}) serve to
indicate the differences in the double attack
between the queen an d the knight.
On the left the double attack of the queen
falls
falls on barren e arth 1. ... Kc8.

In the right part the

the knight does win m ate-
rial by giving check on f6 because it is of
less value than the rook. The double attack
of the knight can win material by attacking
the u nprotected pieces, insuffici
insufficiently
ently pro-
tected pieces and more important pieces
(queen and rook). When using a double la'.

attack with the queen only the first one

.t
applicable and the second one only under
certain circumstances.
i
An other difference is that the
the knight whe n
executing the double attack
attack can be un der l2J.tl2J
attack (protected of course), the queen I
can't.
The form 'ma teri
terial
al + m ateri
aterial'
al' wil
willl cause

just as little problems. On the left in the

diagram (Q) 1. Nb6+ results into nothing
because of 1. ... Bxb6. Correct is 1. Nd6,
which wins a rook for a knight. The differ-
ence between a rook and a knight or a
bishop is called an exchange.
On the right after 1. Ng5 Black cann ot give .! :s.t 1
:s.t1

 
an adequate response to the double attack
attack

li i i i i
of the knight. The rook can't safely
safely protect
t
the bishop.
Apart from unprotected pieces insufficient
protected pieces can be a target. A piece
which is attacked and protected once is a
suitable target. We take a somewhat more
crowded position (diagram .0.). Some stu-
dent s w ill at onc e hav e m or e t r oubles . l2J.tt

86
 

After 1. ... Nf6 Black attacks thehe queen and the bishop. The queen mustl-
move
mov e and i
the
4. black knight can capture the bishop on 1& .
The third form of 'material + squa re' is
is yet I
again the most difficult
d ifficult.. In the diagram (1)') <Et>
the ma ting patt
pattern
ern is known and therefore
the soluti
so lution
on 1. ... Nb4 is not difficult
difficult..
squares,
As soon aswhich also has
the knight is the case intwo
to attack thei exer- <Et> .i. .
cises, the degree of difficulty increases
significantly. Certainly, White has also a
winning double attack in the right part,
which is not immediately evident. Only
when we discover where the knight should
be placed for mate will things become
clear. After 1. Ne3 Black can't escape from
losing the bishop because of mate on f5.
The knight fork, as the double attack of the

knight also is called, does not differ as such

from the double attack with the queen. Due
to the surprising leap of the knight a sepa-
rate discussion is in its place, also because
of the reoccurring aspect of the double
attack.

Search strategy
For this assignment the students have to
search for pieces, which are in the knight's
leap range. T hat's also a better strategy in
games as opposed to simply trying out all I. ...t1&1-
the knight's moves. The targets are obvi- i.t i i
ously always on the squares of the same
i i i
colour! The diagram ( .Q. ) gives an example. Most of the students wil play 1. . . Nc2+
with a rook w in. O nly when first
first al
alll tthe
he 1& 8i
possibilit
pos sibilities
ies are looked
loo ked a t, will it be clear
that 1. .. .... Nd3+ is a muchmu ch stronger move 8 i J
(the queen
ook hangs iiss worth more,
on h8) mo re, furthermo
furthermore
re the .:t <Et> tt
87
 

PRACTICE

Workbook

D Double
Dou ble attack / Knight: A tZJ
Explanation: The side to move can win material by using a double
attack with the knight. Indicating one move is sufficient
when a lso is pointed out what is won. The alternative iiss to
have them write down two m oves.
Mistake: The knight is only attacking one target.
Help: Execute the move on the board and have them come up
with the right move for the opponent. Gain of material re-
mains forthcom ing. An additional look suffices.
suffices.
Mistake: The promotion to a knight is missed.
Help: A hint in the right direction will work miracles.
Mistake: A defence is possible. See the alternat
alternatives
ives to the answers.
Help: Have them come u p with the rright
ight move for tthe
he oppone nt
on the board.

D Double attack / knight: B tZJ tZJ

Explanation: See the A-sheet.
Mistake: A defence is possible. See the alternatives to the answers.
Help: Have them come up with the right move for the opponent
on the board.

ANSWERS

D Double attack / Knight: A

1) 1. Nd Sxc7+ 7) 1. Ne4-d6 ... Nf4-d3?
Nf4-d3? 2 .

2) 1. Nc4 -d6+ 8) 1. NbS-c7 (1. Nb3xcS+; I. ...

3 ) 1 . N fS - d 6 + N b S - d 6 ? NcSxb3 2.

4) 1. Nb Sxc7+ (1. Re8-e7) Bdlxb3 Nf4-d3 is

Bf4xc7 only wins 9) 1. Nf4-e6 (1. correct too)

a pawn) Nf4-dS Nb8-a6) 12) 1. Nf4-dS
S) 1. Nc 4xb6) 10) 1.... Ne6 -gS (1. Nc3-dS?
6) 1....
1.... Nf5-d6 11 ) 1. ...
... NcS-d 3 (1. Qc7xc2#)

D Double attack / Knight: B

1) 1. N c4-e3 2) 1. NcS-e6+

88
 

3) 1.... Ne5xd3+ 9) 1.... Ne5-fl+

4) 1. Ne4-d6+ 10) 1.... Nf6-g8 (1. ... Nf6-d5?
5) 1. e7-e8N+ (1. Nf4-e6+ is 2. Bg2xd5)
against the rules; 1. e7-e8Q 11) 1. Nf4-g6+
Qc7xc2#) 12) 1.... Nh5-g3 (1. ... Nc6-d4?
6) 1. Ne5xf7+ 2. Qe2-dl but Black is
7) 1.... Nc4-d6 better)
8) 1. ... Ne5-fl

(j.

: - A0 o. \
 .: . - c ,. "\ I /
'. /
 _ .r..

.::' /

/( J)

89
 

9 Mating with the rook

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning skills in giving mate

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
. mate

. stalemate

. giving mate with the queen

ACQUISITION

Concepts
waiting
waiting m ove

Instruction

As an exception the rook in this lesson is

more vu lnerable than
than the qu een. It can be
attacked by the enemy king and therefore
cannot force the king to the edge on his
own. The aid of one's own king is indis-
pensable.
The plan for giving mate consists of three
phases:
. creating a cooperation between the king
and the rook.

. chasing the enemy king to the edge

(corner).
.'.

. giving mate. .

Just like in giving mate with the queen we

follow the reverse order, from beginning
with mate to a position with the black king
in the middle to explain the plan.
On the left in the diagram (.Q.) the black
king is in the corner and on the right
.!
somew here on the edge. M ati
ating
ng in one will
not cause a problem. I :

90
 

In the diagram ('0') the question is: how *'

does White get the black king in the cor-
1:
ner? The solution requires two steps. If
Black is to play, the king has to go to the
corner. White to play plays a waiting move
so the king can't escape over fS. White
retreats his rook over the f-file to a random
square.
The same kind of problem we see in the
diagram ().
(). In the upper part the black
king threatens to leave the edge. The move
1. Kf6 is obvious but after 1. ... Kh7 W hite
faces the same dilemm
dilemm a. The rook must

close in the king with

w ith 1. Ra7. It will be
mate after 1. ... KhS 2. Rh7#.
In the lower part 1. ... Kd3 2. Kdl Tbl# is
the correct approach.

The second phase is to force the king to the 1 :

edge or to a corner (diagram .Q.). After the *
instruction we will have the children prac- X
tice this in a simultaneous display. This is
good skill trai
training.
ning.
In this position the cooperation between the
king and the rook is already present. White
can't directly make Black's prison smaller.
A possible continuation is: I. Kd3 KfS 2.
Re4 (sm aller pri
prison)
son) 2. ... KgS 3. Ke3 K fS
4. Kf3 KgS S. Rf4 (smaller prison) S. ...
KhS 6. Rg4 (Black's king is on the edge)
6. ... Kh6 7. Kf4 KhS 8. Kf5 Kh6 9. RgS
Kh7 10. Rg6 (smallest prison: two
squares) 10. ... Kh8 11. Kf6 Kh7 12. Kf7
Kh8 13. Rh6 mate. .
Of course the king can already voluntarily i

m o v e bac k on t he f ir s t m o v e w it
ithh 1. . ..
..

Ke6. White gains space by 2. Ke4 Ke7 3.

KeS (the kings
kings are now facing
facing each other)
3. ... Kti 4. Rd6 (smaller prison).

91
 

The third phase is creating a cooperation

between the king and rook. From the dia-
gram (tt) this will go as follows: 1. Kd2
Kc5 2. Kc3 Kd5 3. Td4+ Ke 5 4. Kd3 and

we have arrived to a similar position as

seen in the last diagram. After 2. ... Kb5 3. .tX
Rc4 the prison is already not too big any
more. The following may follow 3. ... Kb6
4. Kb4 Kb7 5. Kb5 Ka7 6. Rc7+

(consistent however 6. Kc6 Kb8 7. Kb6 is c;t>

quicker) 6. ... Ka8 7. Kb6 Kb8 8. Tc6 and
mate will follow.

Finally in the diagram (Q) we play 1. Kf5

Kd6 2. ReI Kd5 3. Re4 and the coope-
ration has been established.

This method of giving mate is of course not I

the fastest! Experience teaches us that all
children do learn how to give mate using

this way. The advantages of this method lie I

in the following: c;t>
The concrete and visual form of coope-
ration
ration between the king and rook.
. The phase structure makes the whole
easy to oversee. :
. The problems surrounding the spatial
phase is made clearer step by step.
Knowledge and skill go hand in hand. A
faster way can be taught in a later stage.
Clever players by the way, will start doing
this by themselves.

PRACTICE
The exercise sheet with ma te in two with

the rook is useful as a preparation.

The actual practice is a simultaneou
simultaneous
s dis-
play with the discussed material. The stu-
d e n t s w i ll
ll t a k e t h e s i d e w i th
th t h e r o o k .

Errors can be pointed out during the dis-

92
 

play. Should the same error occur repeat-

edly, then a g eneral instruction for the
whole group can be fitted
fitted in.
With large groups the children will have to
ma te each. In this case the instructor will

have to walk around as m uch as possible in

order to see if not too many strange things
happen. At home the children can practise
against a computer.

Workbook

D M ate / Mate in two (rook): A tZJ

Explanation: This shee t serves as a running start to a simultaneous w ith
the sam e ma terial
terial.. In the beginning coming to the so luti
lution
on
will be a b it dif
difficul
ficultt but w hen the students learn the trick
trick

of using the waiting move the other positions will not

pose a problem any more.
Mistake:
The po sitions
sitions 1, 2, 3 an d 12 ca n't be solved (with students
on the right level this will hardly be the case ).
Help: Look at the position with Black to move. What is he going
to do? Can you playa wa it iting
ing move?
Mistake: The positions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 aren't solved.
Help: The enemy king is threatening to escape. How do you
retain him in a clever way?

D Tes t / M ix: F tZJtZJ

Explanation: The themes of the lessons thus far from the second step
have been m ixed throughout the exerci
exercise
se sheet. The name
of the theme is indicated with the answers.
Mistake: The answer is wrong.
Help: The student ha s to discover himself why his answ er is in-
correct. Subsequently ask questions that lead to the impor-
tant characteristics
characteristics in the position: "Do you see an impor-
tant defender?" "Which pieces are unprotected?" "Can
you give check or give mate somewhere?"
Mistake: The answ er in position
position 4 is 1. Qe4xa8+.
Help: A s k w hat t he s t udent w i ns w i t h t hi
hiss m ov e. I s tthat
hat an

important win? Yes, White wins a lot of material, but not

93
 

enough for advantage. In such positions you can look for

mate. Don't let the
the king get awa y!

D T e s t / M ix : G t Z J t Z J
Explanation: See the last exercise sheet M ix: F
Mistake: Position 10 is wrong.
Help: Pins to a square are often difficult. The position can be
simplified
simplified by placing the black king on h7.

ANSWERS

D Mate / Mate in two (rook):E

1) 1. Rf7 - fl 7) 1. Rd I-d 7
2) 1. Rf6-a6 or 1. KfS-f7 8) 1. Ra l-a2
3) 1.... Rcl-dl 9) Drawing
4) 1.... Kc4-b3 10) 1. KdS-e6
S) 1.... Kc6-c7 11) 1. Ke2-d3

6) 1. KaS-b6 12) 1. Rh2-h8 or 1. Kc2-b3

D Test / M ix: F

1) 1. BfSxd7 Rc7xd7 2. Nd3xeS Qe2xeS+; 1. Qe2xeS+ wins a

(capturing + material) pawn (luring away + material).
2) 1....
1.... QaS-a2+ 2. Kb l-c 1 8) 1. NeS-d7+
Qa2xc2 # (mate in two) (double attack: knight)
3) 1. Qd2-d7 9) 1.... eSxd4+ 2. Nf3xd4
(double attack: queen) Rc8xcS (capturing
(capturing + m aterial)
aterial)
4) 1. Qe4-c6+ Ke8-fS 2. Qc6xa8# 10) 1. Ral-a8 and if tthe
he bishop
(mate in two) move s, itit's
's mate on h8 (pin)
S) 1.... Rb8-e8 (pin) 11) 1. Qc3-eS+ Kb8-a8 2. QeS-e8#
6) 1. Qdl-a4+ (mate in two)
(double attack: queen) 12) 1. ... Qf6-b2
7) 1. Rhlxh6+ Bg7xh6 2. (double attack: queen)

D Test / M ix: G
1) 1. Bfl-dS (pin) 4) 1. ... Qc7xc4 2. Nd2xc4
2) 1. Qf7 -g8+ (mate in two) Rd8xdS (capturi
(capturing
ng + m aterial
aterial))
3) 1.... NcS-d3 with mating threat S) 1. Qdl-c2
on b2 (doub le attack: knight) (double attack: queen)

94
 

6) 1. Re6-a6+ Ka7-b8 2. NcS-d7# (chasing away + m aterial)

aterial)
(mate in two) 10) 1. Ral-a7 (pin)
7) 1. ... Ra8 -a2 (pin) 11) 1. ... Qg6-d6 (pin)
8) 1. Qe2-g2 12) 1. NhS-f6+
(double attack: queen) (double attack: knight)
9) 1. b2-b4 en 2. Rf2xfS

'I.
tt\ //'
,.'
? ....s- .
-
-a, h-

 -:::=- rib .,.,.... , @ "'.

".,

  ..
-/}1-!_
Ii -"-
-?''/"./
::r "'-/ . ... ;-_. _

'\.. ... . .
--
,.
""I
-
II!!
-
. "
:.}1-!
:. _
y
",J _ _ 11 'lt 1
.,,' =-
f =: :. ;i,'.  i"r.,
1'
=- -= 1 1 11'1 :..
-=-Iffr.!JII...."..jj'..'.I.,I'jl.!!.
../ 11I",
11-..I","I(':J1.
;:- rt" "I!H:f!'
""" I 'S .1";,
[) :lhA
. r!'!I
"111 " 'IfJ
ijt-,.i:' , '': ..?f---r;_
..?f---r;_ ;. ...;
. :1:r. :- :,!' ''.;
\-:.;;.
= --;
'-. ./'"
./' "
;;:-:. $.."!:-",-
$.."!:-",-
.iliff'....,
.iliff'...., " :':i;. ":'ii ,,:!!ii;i:
,,:!!ii;i:SS: , " .4...... II _;:.::.-___ - ,,,:.
,:.

",.,i. --;r
--; r / ___
  " . II:,:;;,:!,!;../ 'I"
'I" ....
. J' '. f,:;,,'Sia .. l i'Uif ll .;,
/'

' iliifi.'if!!r;j!
."I,'Id:m
."I,'"I,II"n
"I,II"n
;i#::;I "",!!,;fl,;,lr
fl,;,l r .""",'1'"'' :.i:;::j! ":." ..
/ if!!r;j! i ':Iljlffii!iliIifIfimliff1f!fji'
mliff1f!fji'" .,I!!lf J::: . .:., Jfli ..; ;-
.ji:Mlf,' .' ,," iiil: , :iiij;iJJi!!:,i
i!!:,i !!:i;!!!i:!i;rJt;it.') '!HI::ii:ii, ! ;:iUIIJ('=i;:'\( ':i;iii!it ... ..... L
,. . r:::i::!ifr=i
r:::i::!ifr =i i!ii:i:i'i 1:;:'!:::iif I . 1"

_'i l' f 1ts. '!, i Hfi f it1f !i!f :f! , li f 4 1 'ii. , iifiW i ii' .;.,. "' : ,'I:, , :i':::"I!!';:'. "" .
! " S d . ; I , " ''"" iJ C f ,,1'; i f
:':,.':' I. (,I ' J'f H, '.'., ::;?4 ".
.f :'
:'=I",
=I", . ". 6 ;' -.:' I",V" <:-"
'cIJIJ ":iili'i: ".: -:;J. z /
/ ,-,"';' '. ''':
 
i::m. ::!f;,1 l!..{ /
"",I",S"''iJ' .
"",I",S"''iJ'
","",,,,, I'j '! i,1i,1 _..6
.,1' i'" I' '! ' I'!, J 'I, #i ,"'.,,,,
, "i JI:!rl!f,'J!i:!im
. I I"
, !lj!!:ri:J;,;
I" ,f , ." J' ," f I "",' , i :'U r t- /
"

95
 

10 D o u b le a tta c k : :.i.

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning
learning to use the rook, bishop, pawn and king as an attacker

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

. targets
. double attack (queen and knight)

ACQUISITION

 
Concepts
Inor pIeces, maJor pIeces

I n st r u ct i o n

The double attack of the queen and knight

are know n. Other pieces will be brought to

the attention in this lesson. These pieces
will subsequently be reviewed in which the
3 known combinations of targets King +
Material, Material + Material and to a les-
ser degree Material + Square will emerge
again. In fact there is little that is new as
opposed to the already discussed double
attacks. A discussion of the subject is still
in its place. Viewing the examples and
practising with them helps the children to
track the combination pattern more easily. 6
W hat is new in this lesso
lesso n is the double

attack using two pieces.

We se t up the position (.0.)
(.0.) on the board and
ask which move White should play. After
t h e co r r e ct a n sw e r 1 . R h 5 + a st u d e n t i s .i
.i..
allowed to say with which combination we
are dealing with here. Describing the goals
will cause no problem.
Have the children set up their own exam-
ex am- II

96
 

pIes on their own board. The neighbour can

then solve the problem.
In the example with the form 'material +
material' ()
( ) there IS a tem ptation to
provide a m ore difficult
difficult problem. Only 1 . .i. "
Re4 works.
wo rks. The double attack of the rook :
on the bishop and knight can't be preven-

ted without
d5 beca use ofthe
1. ...loss of1.a...piece.
Nc6 or Bc3 as Wrong is 1. .i.
we ll as I. ....
.. Bc7.

The third form 'material + square' does not

appear on exercise sheet A, because the
rook and the minor pieces (the term for
bishop and knight; the queen and rook are
the major pieces) are less forceful and a lot
of assistance of the opponent
opponen t is necessary *K
for a mating pattern. A few examples will i
of course not harm anyone.
8 tiJ
On the left in the diagram (Q). O n the a-file
a-file

White
s q u a rcan
e s .give
H emate
w i l l with
only the
berook
s uon
c c four
e s s .i.
f u l w it h K
t h e d o u b l e a t ta
ta c k 1 . R c 5 . N o w W h i te
te

threatens to take the bishop as well as to : t!J8 give mate on a5. The pawn on d6 serves to
efend against 1. ... Rd8.
The m ating pattern in the right part will be
most frequent in reality. The rook can by
attacking a piece threaten mate on the back
r ank . The dou ble at t ac k w it h 1. . .... R f 4

wins a knight.
Now , also have the children set up their
own positions
positions on their own board. Inst
Instruc-
ruc- I
ti
tive
ve and funny.
K

:
The double attack with the bishop can be dealt with in the same way. This
T his can be I K .i.itiJ
skipped in
in good groups. The diagram (.0.)
(.0.) i
gives two examples.
exa mples. In the left part the I
double attack needs the aid of the bishop. 8 White wins an exchange with 1. Bc6+.
n the right Black plays 1. ... Bg4.

97
 

Win of a knight and mate on f3 is immi-

nent. Wh ite will lose the knight.
Examples of the double attack with the
king are on the exercise sheet but can be
left out in the instruction.
instruction. He c
can
an only
attack pieces at the same time.
With the double attack of the pawn, two
forms seem to exist
exist.. The exam ples of King
+ Material and Material + Material speak
for themselves. E specially the latter
latter one is
very frequent in children's
children's gam es. Already
in the opening a numb er of pieces
pieces vanish
from the board because of the pawn fork.
An example from the initial position: 1. e4
eS 2. NfJ Nf6 3. d4 Bd6? 4. dxeS. Black
c annot s af e hi m s el f w i t h 4. . ..
.. B b4+ be-

cause after s. c3 two pieces are attacked at i

the same time.

The combination material + square must

8 ie

now not be looked for in a mate (that "i

would be rather artificial with a pawn), but
in an attack on a piece combined withw ith a t!J8
promotion threat.
 t
In the diagram (Q) White plays 1. b7 (and
not 1. f4 Bd4+). He threatens 2. b8Q as n
well as 2. bxc8Q. With the rook's pawn
paw n
anyway this is the only plausible form of
the double attack.
Cooperation between the pieces is required
when besides the double attack there is also

a twofold attack present. c..'

This type is new for the students (diagram i

.ij.). In order to have a successful double
i
attack White needs a t least ttwo
wo pieces. H e
plays the strong 1. BgS. The queen on h4 is
under attack and there is a m ate threat on l 2 J ' Y l llII
d8. Both pieces d o their job. Att
Attacking
acking the
queen is the bishop's task, the rook will
t!J
provide mate, for which aid o f the bishop is
needed. n

98
 

The cooperation between the queen and a .'. i.

minor piece often appears in practice. In
iii\iV
the left diagram (i)') White wins with 1.
Nc5. The knight attacks the queen on d7 "
and aids the own queen in the attack. Black +\iV
must give up his queen or all
allow
ow m at on b7. /1j
/1 j L
Have the students refute 1. ... Na5 (2.
iY
Nxd7 check!).
8
 
On the and
on h2 rightgain
1. ...ofQh5 is the on
a piece decider.
e2 areMate
the
threats. White can limit the damage a bit
with 2. f3.

The double attack of the rook, bishop,

pawn and king has been discussed in one
lesson. None of these pieces plays such a
dominating role
role as the queen or has its own
distinctive character like the knight. These
are much more frequent in practi
practical
cal games.
Enough reasons to discuss these pieces

separately.

Search strategy
The search strategy in order to solve the
exercIses:

1. Find pieces that are in the same line

(file, row o r diagonal) of the king.
(file,
2. Which pieces are unprotected?
3. Which pieces are insufficiently protec-
ted?

4. On which square can you give mate?

5. Which important pieces can you attack? I .
6. On which squares are pieces working i
i \iVA
together?
 i i i.
In the diagram ()( ) the knight on b5 is in
danger. It's attacked once and protected /1j i
once and that is sufficient for Black to win £ 3 J /1 j .t
.t
it with 1. ...
... Bd3+. Th is fonn of the dou ble

attack with the bishop is only successful

1:t
1: t  
because of the aid of the queen. The
assignm ent is therefore a litt
little
le bit diffi
difficult.
cult.

99
 

PRACTICE

Workbook

D Double attack / Rook, bishop, pawn, king: A tZJ

Explanation: The exercise sheet-A without the form 'material + square'
is easy. Besides the move w ith tthe
he winning double attack,
the students can indicate how much material is captured.
This is a good exercise in thi
thinking
nking ahead.
Mistake: The assignment can't be solved
Help: Point out the search strategy and work towards a solution
step by step.
Mistake: The cooperation between the pieces is missed out. The
piece that has to execute the double attack needs the aid of
another piece.
Help: Simp lify tthe
he position in such a wa y that the double attack
will work even without help of one of it's own pieces.
That assignment will not be a problem. After that, the
original position
position can b e solved.

D Double attack / Rook, bishop, pawn, king: B tZJtZJ

Explanation: The positions
positions are a bit more crowded on exercise sheet-B
and are therefore m ore difficul
difficult.
t. It
It's
's better to have this

sheet done at a later stage.

Besides the move with the winning double attack, the
students can indicate how m uch m aterial is captured. This
is a good exercise in thinking ahead.
Mistake: The m ating pattern
pattern is not found.
Help: Take a piece that has to give mate and ask the student to
place it in such a way on the board that the opponent is
mated. If that works then the original position will all of a
sudden be much easier.

D Do uble attack / Cooperation of two pieces: A tZJ tZJ tZJ

Explanation: In order for the double attack to be successful two pieces
have to work together. This significantly increases the
degree of difficulty. The search strategy also has to be
directed to protected pieces (a piece which is attacked but
also protected) and s quares. By initiating
initiating an extra attack, a
successful double attack can be set up.

100
 

Mistake: The assignment can't be solved.

Help: Have the students search for the targets. Especially the
insufficiently protected pieces play a role in this theme.
Check if necessary whether the double attack is ade-
quately mastered.
Mistake: Assignment 12 has 1. Nf4-g6+? Kh8-g8 2. Qa7-a2+ as an
answer.

Help: Execute the moves on the board and ask for a possible

defence. Black can prevent the loss of material with the

surprising 2. ... Qc7-f7+. G ive the genera l advice that if a
comb ination doesn't work, it pays off to
to play the m oves in
a different order. The accepted term is: 'reversing the
moves' .

ANSWERS

D D ouble attack / Rook, bishop, pawn, king: A

1 ) 1 . R d 2 - d 8 + 5 ) 1 . B f ll-- d 5 + 9) 1.... d5-d4

2 ) 1 . R f l-
l - ff5
5+ 6) 1. Bg 2xc6 10) 1.... flxg2
3 ) 1 . R e 4 - c 4 7 ) I.I. B a 4 - d 7 11) 1. c4-c5
4 ) 1 . R c l -c -c 7 8 ) 1 . B g 3 - d 7 12) 1. Kd2-c3

D Do uble attack / Rook, bishop, pawn, king: B

1) 1.... Rc8 -c2+ 5) 1 ...
..... Bd6xg 3+ 9) Drawing
2 ) 1 . B g 3 - e 5 + 6 ) 1 . B t J -d
-d 5 10) 1. Be2-c4
3 ) 1 . R d l- d 7 7 ) 1 . c 2 - c 4 11) Drawing
4 ) 1 . R h 5 - g 5 + 8 ) D r a w in g 12) Drawing

D Do uble attack / Cooperation of two pieces: B

1) 1. Qd2-d4 f7-f6
f7-f6 2. Ng3xe4 B e7xg5
2) 1. QtJ-e3+ Qd7-e6 2. Bg5xh6 8) 1. Qdl-cl 0-
0-02.
02. Be3xh6
3) 1. ... Bg6-d3 9) 1. Q fl-g3
4) 1. Qf8-c5 Ra7-b7 2. Na6xc7 10) 1. ... Bb7-e4
5) 1. Nd5-e7 11) 1. Bg7-d4
6) 1. Qb3-c2 g7-g6 2. Rc3xc8 12) 1. Qa7-a2;
Q a7-a2; 1. Nh4-g6+? Kh8-
7) 1. ...
... Qb6 -a5 2. Bcl-e3
Bcl-e3 g8 2. Qa7-a2+ Qc7-f7+

101
 

11 D i s c o v e r e d a t tta
ack

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning an attacking technique

. learning an indirect attack

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

. targets
. double attack

ACQUISITION

Concepts
battery, discovered attack, indirect

Instruction

In this lesson
this
attack w il
a sp ecial form of tthe
he do uble
illl be introduce d. N ot the e asiest I:[j
tv
I:[j I:[j
I:[j
one because w e are dealing with an indirect
indirect
attack. For the students however every new

attacking
sing the diagram weapon
( ) the conditions is
() will welcome.
welcom e. : : n
come to order.

On the left in the diagram the rook is

attacking the queen. In the middle the rook
is indirectly attacking the squares behind
the knight. On the right the queen is only
under attack if the knight moves away.

 
Here
He re we see an indirect attack. In this .
position, moving with the knight is not a
mart move yet. This will only be when the
knight has a su itable target of att
attack.
ack.
In the diagram (.0.) on the left we see an- iL
other indirect attack. The white pieces on
the b-file
b-file fonn a ba ttery. A battery is made

up
ook,of
theaback
front piece
piece
piece and
an d aattacking
is indirectly back
b ack piece. The : :
102
  
 

a target. F or the front piece, the bishop , a 0

target has to be found. W e find this

this on the
0 ooi.l
right. White plays 1. 8f5+ and the queen
will be lost. The king and queen are both 1:iJ
being attacked at the same time by two
different
different pieces. We call this combination a o 0

discovered attack. This is a special fonn

 t3J
of the double attack where two pieces

attack
In the two targets.
diagram (ft) there are a few exam-
ples of batteries.
batteries. The back pieces are Q b5,
Rh7, Bb2 and Bg2. The front pieces are
Nb6, g7, Rc3 and fJ. The indirectly
attacked squares a re also indicated (these
are more num erous without tthe
he other posi-
tions! )
We can ask the children to make up a few
batteries on their own board. They will
discover that only
only a queen, rook or b ishop
can function as a back piece. Every piece
however can function as a front piece.
Choose some examples for discussion (if
possible by the student himself) for the
demonstration board.
A discovered attack is an attack on two

targets. The back piece is indirectly

indirectly attack-
ing a goal; the front piece has to be aime d
on a goal. The targets are known in this
double attack:
. material + king
On the left in
in the diagram (.0.) White plays i
1. c4+ by which he attacks the king and the if
queen. This is a discovered attack and not
discovered check, for that the king and the
queen would have to switch places (see '*
Step 3). 1:iJ
. m at er ial + m at er ial

On the right in the diagram ( .0. ) White

Wh ite plays
: t3J
1. Ng6 w ith an att
attack
ack on the queen and the
rook. Black has to give up an exchange. In 11
 

103
 

this form it is almost always important that . .I

the back piece is protected.
ii
. material + square
In the discovered attack with a mate threat, :
there are two forms. The front piece
threatens mate as shown in the left of the
diagram (ft). After 1. Rc2 there is a mate
threat on c8 and Black will have to say
.

goodbye to his
On the right therook.
the rook, as the back piece, is L <;t>
now threatening m ate after 1. ...
... Bg7 (or 1.
... Bg5 ) and that is once aga in too bad for
the rook.
We m ake the discovered attack
attack a bit more
difficult. The move by the front piece was
so far an ordinary move. In the diagram .I ,,\
( ) the front piece must sacrifice himself ii
to make the discovered attack a success.

In the left part Black can free the line of the .t..

back piece with 1. ... Bd3+. That the

bishop will be lost is a pity, but Black will iY iL l2 J
get the queen in return. If White doesn't iY
take the bishop but instead plays 2. Kb3
<;t>
then eliminating the defence by chasing
away can be repeated: 2. ...
... Bc2+.
On the right side White can make use of
the battery QrJ/Ng4. Wrong is 1. Nf6+
Nxf6 and the black queen is protected.
Correct is 1. Nh6+ Qxh6 (the best, other-
wise 2. Qxh5) 2. Bxh6 gxh6 and White has
earned three points. In the exercises the .t..

!
front piece has to sacrifice himself more
than once.
I i.t..
i "
In the next diagram (.0.) we will deal with
sacrifices again. We will see that the front  i iL
piece can capture as well! It is odd that
some students don't discover that. This can
:t
happen with an exchange or a sacrifice.
White wins a pawn with 1. Rxb6 cxb6 2.
Bxa4. On 1. ..
.... Rc4 W hite saves his bishop

104
 

w i t h 2 . R b 2 a n d o n 1 . . . . R a 2 f o ll
ll o w s 2 .
Bbl.

On the right we see a common formation.

The knight on f6 is pinned, but at the
the sam e
time the black bishop and the knight form a
battery. Because of the pin Black cannot
play 1. .. Nxe4. This costs a piece. He can,
however, play 1. ... Nxd5. The knight

takes a protected pawn and protects his

own bishop; the black bishop attacks the
white one on g5. Black wins a pawn.

By solving the exercises finding a (work-

ing) battery could be a difficulty. Broade-
ning the con cept of a battery is still neces-
sary. In order to play the discovered attack,
the children w ill after all, need to recognise
the battery. They will have to realise that
king, knight and pawn can't be a back
pIece.

Search strategy
The last examples serve to offer a search
strategy. The positions are, just as with the
assignments, more compact. Setting up of
the following three positions will not cost
too much time, because of the resemblance
between them.

First the diagram (D.) will come to order.

1. Where is the batter
battery?
y?
The battery is on the e-file.
e-file. The rook an d X ..
the bishop form the battery. ii i i
2. Is there a target for the front piece?
ii
For the bishop (the front piece) there are
two targets: the
the king and m ateri
aterial
al (pawn
a7 ) t3J 'iV
3. Is the back piece protected? t3J
The rook is not protected, so 1. Be3xa7
t3J \IIj, t3J .'.
is not applicable.
The right solution will not cause any pro-

105
  
 

blems: 1. Be3-h6+ winning a queen. !: .

In the diagram (ft) some slight modifica-
tions
tions have been m ade. We go through the ii i i1
search strategy again. White can choose l i i i
from 1. Be3xa7 and, for the children the
little bit surprising, 1. Be3-b6. The second  W !I
possibility is by far the best.
In the diagram ()
() also we maintain a step-
 i fj ]
by-step approach
not possible a gain.the
because Capturing
rook ononea7 is
1 is :t
unprotected. The win of a pawn is a bit
meagre, White heads with nothing. Only
when a n important square is looked for as a
target, will the answer be clear 1. Bh6
Qxel 2. Bg7#.
i: 4
Special fonns of the d iscovered attack are
ii i i
discovered
discovered check and double check. These
ii 8i
two will be discussed in the third step. The
indirect attack
attack is then aimed tow ards the

 i
king. In discovered check the back piece  W !I
gives check. In double check the front
piece as well as the back piece give check.

:t
PRACTICE

Reminder
<> Discovered attack

Workbook

o D oubl e at t ack / D i scover ed at t ack: A t Z J

Explanation: It's important that the students first look for the battery
(ies) in the position. Encircling the front and back piece
can be a su pport for the students. After that a target for the
front piece must be looke d for. Only the targets king
king and
material will come to order in this exercise sheet.
Mistake: The front piece is attacking, however there is a defence
becaus e the target of the back piece can cap ture the fr
front
ont

106
 

pIece.
Help: Set up the position on the board and have them think of a
counter move.

D D ouble attack / Discovered attack: B tZJ

Explanation: See exercise sheet-A. On this exercise sheet there are
positions with an attack on a square.
Mistake: The front piece can be captured.

Help:
Mistake: Ask
The for the opponent's
answer move, then have them look again.
is not found.

Help: Have the battery located and look for a target for tthe
he front
piece. "Can you give check?" "Can you attack an unpro-
tected or important piece?" "Can you capture a piece?"
"Can you threaten mate?"

D Double attack! Discovered attack: C tZJtZJ

Explanation: See exercise sheet-A. On this exercise sheet there are
positions with an attack on a square.
Mistake: The s olution of position 9 is 1. ... Ne5 -d7.
Help: The battery has bee n found and the correct tar
target
get is being
attacked. Unfortunately, Black has 1. ... Qb8-g3 for a
defence. Have them look for this. Can the knight, in the
initial
initial positi
position,
on, attack the q ueen in another w ay?

D D ouble attack / Discovered attack:

attack: D tZJ tZJ tZJ
Explanation: See exercise sheet-A. On this exercise sheet there are
positions with an attack on a squ are. A few pos iti
itions
ons are
difficult.
Mistake: The a ssignm ent is too diff
difficult.
icult.
Help: Also in difficult positions it still remains the case to have
the battery located. What should happen to the front piece
afterwards? Give check? A ttack an unprotected or impor-
impor-
tant piece? Capture a piece? Threaten ma te? With a step-
by-step approach the children will come to the right
answer.

107
 

ANSWERS

D D ouble attack / Discovered attack: A

1) 1. N d4-f5+ 5) 1 . . ..
.. N f l-
l- h 4 + 9) 1. Kf2-g3
2) 1. Ne 4-d6+ 6) 1. Rf7xa7+ 10) 1.... Kc5-b5
3) 1. Rc4-c8+ 7) 1. e4-e5+ 11) 1.... Bd6-h2+
4) 1. Ne 5-c6+ 8) 1 . ..
.. . d 4 - d 3 + 12) 1. Bd3xh7+
D D ouble attack / Discovered attack: B

1) 1. ... Bb 6-d4 + 5) 1. ... Bc 6xfl 9) 1. Be4-c6

2 ) 1 . d 3 - d 4 + 6 ) D r a w in g 10) 1. ... d5xc4
3) 1...
1..... Re5-g5+ 7) 1. Ne 4-c 5 11) 1. ... N d6-e4
4 ) 1 . B d 3 - b 5 + 8 ) 1 . .... . R c 4 x d 4 12) 1. ... c6-c5

D Double attack / Discovered attack: C

1 ) 1 . ..
.. . d 4 - d 3 + 1 . N e 4 - f 6 + ? 9) 1. Ne5xc6
2) 1.... d7-d5 Nd7xf6 10) 1.... Re6-h6
3) 1. Re4-e8+ 6) 1. Re5-b5+ 11) 1. Ne4-f6+
4 ) 1 . d 4 - d 5 7 ) 1 . .... . N g 5 - e 4 12) 1.... Re4-el +
5) 1. Ne4-g5 +; 8) 1...
1..... Bd6xh 2+

D Double attack / Discovered attack: D

1) 1. Bb4-e7 8) 1. Nc3-dl
2) 1. ... Bc5-b4 9) 1. ... N d5 -c3
3) 1. ... Nd4-e2+ 10) 1. Rf4-fS
4) 1. ... Bc5 -b4 11) 1. Ne4-d2!; 1. Ne4xc5?
5) 1. Ne3-f5 b6xc5 2. QiJ-a8 Qb3-b8
6) 1. Nd4-f5 12) 1. Be4-f5; I. Be4-g2? Qh3-d7
7) 1. Re4-e7
".

;r ,

::a

 \ "
, 1

[\.
Korchnoi

'"

108
 

12 Def
De f ending against mate

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. repeating forms of defence

. learning
learning new forms of defence

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
. basic forms of defence

ACQUISITION

Concepts
x-ray, gain in tempo, clearance

Instruction

The lesson about defending from Step 1

lies already far behind us. With some stu-

dents, the knowledge about it has sunk a nd
the application in their own games leaves
much to be desired. It's high time for a
revIew.

W hether this
this lesson is really
really necessa ry or
just useful will become clear
clea r from the
answers to the question: "In what ways can
you defend in chess?"
Just to be clear: mo ving away, protecting,
capturing
capturing an d interposing
interposing are the answe rs. -
It depends strongly on the time
time nec essary, .t .
the completeness and the correctness of the
I.
answers if all the examp les from this lesson
must be dealt with or only a part of them. 'tW .t.1W
By using the diagram (.{).) all forms can b e
discussed. Black to move has smart pos- t!J I.
sibilities
sibilities and stupid ones.
one s. Correct are t!J
protecting 1. ... Qe7 (c7, d7) or capturing
(exchanging) of the piece, which threatens
mate: 1. ... Qg3+, even though it win lose

109
 

a pawn. Incorrect is capturing the helping .'.

attacker (1. . . . Qxd5), interposing the

iW .t i
queen on e6 and moving away with the
king (1. ... Ke7 2. Df7#). In the last case i ' I
o
the difference in defending from a normal ......=--

attack comes to light. Square f7 does not

II
go away b ut the threatened king does.
ltJ i W . t!
t! .
Protecting usually happens with the piece
.t .t
that
sary isisbeing
taughtplayed.
by theThat
upperthis is not
part neces-
of the dia- II
gram (i)(i)')
').. Black solves his problems with a
bishop mo ve. The 7 th rank
rank IS being
'cleared' is the chess term.

In the lower part the mate on g2 can be

prevented with 1. Qf1 but that loses points.
The correct move is 1. Qe4. The queen on @
e4 wo rks straight
straight through the queen to g2. i i
All children will only come to see
se e this
i i
when the black queen has actually arrived

on g2. A n appropriat
appropriatee nam e for this kind
kind of
protection is 'x-ray' protecting. .t
An other clever way In defending IS .t .t.t
protecting
protecting with a gain of tempo.
.t .t
In the diagram (Q) the white queen can't
reach square f1 in one move. Thanks to a
check on c4, White gains a move. Those
who want to play even smarter with 1.
Qb3+ will be disillusioned after 1. ... Bd5.
Protecting by clearing, x-ray and a gain of
tempo can be handy in an actual game.
The first example of the lesson showed that
defending by moving away is different, i
W lI
when dealing with mate. There are two
forms.

In the upper pa rt of the diagram (.{).) Black ltltJJ

has to move with the king to g8 to protect --

from mate. After 1. ... Kg8 2. Qh7+ Kf8

3. Qh8+ Black saves
save s himself by inter-
t!J t!J
posing the knight.
Moving away doesn't really help the king

110
 

in the lower part. After 1. Kb 1 mate still . follows with 1. ... Qdl#. White has to
i i defend himse
himselflf by providing an escape
squa re for the  for =
the king (so the p reparation
moving aw ay). There is nothing
nothing to w orry
ab ou t af
ftter 1. a3 . t3J
In the diagram (i)'
(i)')) there are two sim
simple
ple .t
exam ples dealing w ith
ith interposing. Child-
.t
ren
onlychoose
wheinterposing
n there as a is
formno
of defence
other op tion.
tion. This is
the case in the left part, capturing on d5
can't obviously be considered. Black can
defend himself against mate on b7 with 1.
. .. c6.

On the right, White has to prepare inter-

posing the rook in between with 1. Khl.
The king move is not so easy, but it is the
only way to prevent mate on f1 without
w ithout
loss of material. Some students will not

come furt
further
her than the defence with 1. Rg2,
which unn ecessarily loses material. After
After 1.
Khl Rfl 2. Rgl the mate threat has been
countered.

A simple form o f defending against mate is

by capturing the attacker. First of all you
can capture the piece, which is threatening
mate. You can also capture the guard of the
fli
flight
ght squares as show n in the diagram (.{).
(.{).).
).
White threatens 1. Ra8 mate, but Black
can't prevent this move. Exchanging the
rook on b7 w ith
ith 1. ..
.... Rxb7 , how ever, is
is .
adequate.
In the lower part of the diagram, W hit
hitee can
i
prevent mate by capturing the supporting piece: 1. RxfJ. This loses material but the I.
alternative is mate. i
Have the students come up with their own
positions
positi ons on their own
ow n board
boa rd with defences
against
osition. The mate. The
nicest positions
positi neighbour
ons can be set up can solve the :
111
 

on the demonstration board.

!. - *'

 
.t.t ii
Search strategy
The search strategy has to be directed to i 't!V
the square where mate is imminent. In the £
diagram (i)') Black wants to mate on h2.
Then we go through the list off all the
possibilities of defence. White can choose
.'V)jjl1:Jn8
from protecting, interposing and moving ]:I
awa y with the king. IInterposing
nterposing only loses
material, moving the king away leads to
mate (1. Kgl Qh2+ 2. Kfl Qhl#). Have the
students discover on their own tha t 1. Nfl

is sufficient.
sufficient. On fl the knight would be
more active but also more vulnerable. (1.
Nfl? Bxfl).

PRACTICE

Reminder

<> Defending against mate

Workbook

D Defending / Defending against mate: A tZJ

Explanation: The opponent threatens mate. With the right move the
ma te threat can be ade quately countered. Material should
not be lost unne cessarily in doing so (unless there is no
other po ssibility
ssibility like in position 11).
Mistake: Mate is not prevented.
Help: Execute the move played on the board and ask if the
opponent can give mate. The threat is now known. Go Go
through the list of defensive possibilities and see which
one works.
Mistake: The defence loses m aterial.
aterial.

Help: Have them fifind

nd out why the answe r is
is wrong and h ave it
solved once again.

112
 

D Defending / Defending against mate: B tZJ

Explanation: The second sheet with defending against mate is a
multiple-choice exercise. The students have to indicate
whether there is defence against the m ate threat. If that is
the case then the right move has to be indicated. If there is
no defence possible then making the little circle black,
meaning "no" will suffice. The answer is also no, when
mate can be postponed with one move. It also goes for

this sheet that no material may be lost. Point out the

search strategy: first find the mate threat and after that
look for the various defensive possibilities.
Mistake: The little
little circle 'no' has been m ade black.
Help: There is a defence against mate. Have the student point
out the mate threat. Can you capture an attacker? Can you
escape w ith
ith the king or ma ke a flight
flight square? W it ithh such
questions, we go through the various p ossibil
ossibiliti
ities.
es.
Mistake: The little circle
circle 'yes' has been made black. The move
doesn't defend against mate.
Help: Set up the position on the board and execute the move.
The op posite side is now still able to give mate. H ave the
student look this up. There is seemingly no defence
against the mate.

ANSWERS

D D efending / Defending against mate: A

1 ) 1 . h 2 - h 3 5 ) 1 . ..
.. . Q f 4 - h 6 + 9) 1.... Nd7-f6
2 ) 1 . Q b 5 - d 5 6 ) 1 . . ..
.. R d 6 - d 4 10) 1. Khl-gl
3 ) 1 . . ..
.. f 5 x g 4 7 ) 1 . R e 8 - e 1 11) 1. Ra3xf3
4) 1. ... Q f6-d8 8) 1 . ...
... Nd4-e6 12) Drawing

D De fending / Defending against mate: B

1) no 7) 1. e7-e8N +
2) 1. Q b2xb7 8 ) no
3 ) 1 . ..
.. . R d 6 - d 1 + 9 ) 1 . N g 5 - h 3
4 ) n o 1 0 ) 1 . K c l- b l
5) no 11) no
6) 1. ...
... Q d 3xb3 2 . Rcl-c8+ 12) no
Qb3-g8

113
 

13 S h o r t n o t a t io
io n

GOAL OF THE LESSON

. learning to use the sh ort notation

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

. the long notation

. being able note down moves qu ickly

ACQUISITION

Concepts
notation, to record moves

Instruction

In the last lesson of the first step we have

discussed the long nation. While giving

this lesson, the students have to be able to
note down m oves rapidl
rapidlyy in their games or
solving the exercises. If they still have to
point with their finger to the coordinates
than it's best to wait a bit longer with this
lesson.

The short notation is easy. We set up the

position in diagram (.{).) on the board and
we ask the students to write down the cor-
rect answer in the long notation. After the
proper search strategy (battery, target front II
piece) we come to the move 1. Bd4-g7+.
'Y1lI
Which data is not specifically necessary?
After a short discussion, everyone will i.
agree that d4- can surely be removed. A i
clever person will remark that the B for
bishop is also not strictly necessary here. :
That is true, but in m ost positi
positions
ons the piece
indication will be essential. The move in

the short notation will be: 1. Bg7+. The

114
 

chess sign remains as in the long notation.

We will practi
practise
se with the black m oves for a
while. A capturing move is preferably
written with the times sign: 1. ... Kxg7 or
1. ... Qxg7. If Black takes on g7 with the
queen 2. Rh3 mate will follow. For mate 'tW
we can put a hash (#) just like in the long
notation.
"
Castling is written down in the same way :
as in the long no tation. In the diagram ('0')
('0') .
1. 0-0+ is indicated and that is just enough
f o r a d r a w . H a v e t h e r e s t o f th
th e m o v e s
written dow n in the sho rt notation
notation 1 . ....
..

Kd2 2. Rxfl+ Qxfl+

Q xfl+ 3. Kxfl or 2. ... Ke3
3. Rxf4 Kxf4.

K. .I
Thus far the sh ort notation is exceptionally
]:I n
easy. Only with rook moves and knight
moves (and of course with a second pro-

moted queen) where the same two pieces

are played to the same square, we do have "
to pay attention. There are two forms. "
In the diagram (Q) White can give mate in
!;jjt!J"
the upper part. Both rooks on the 7 th rank
can m ove to d7. Insufficient is the notation
1. Rd7+ . The letter of the
the file
file wh ere the
r o o k co me s f r o m n e e d s t o b e a d d e d : 1 .
Rad7+ Ke8 2. Rhe7#.
In the lower part both knights can move to
e2. The most convenient is undoubtedly 1.
... N fe2#. K

 .
In the diagram ( .{). ) the pieces are positioned
on the same fil
file.
e. In that case the number of
the rank needs to be added. On the left 1. ... 'tW
R8b2# suffices and on the right 1. N3f4+ liJ
Kf3 2. Nxg6 is the best one.
Have the students come up with some 8 iliJ
examples with this type of notation.
n otation. It is
the only awkward part of the notation that
also doesn't appe ar that frequently. I

115
 

The diagram ( i)' ) explains two special

moves. In 'en passant' capturing we can
t!J
leave out the letters e.p. without any ques-
tion, i.e. 1. a4 bxa3. We write 1. d8Q if we
promote a pawn.

Easy practice possibilit

possibilities
ies are:
. Writing down one's own games in the
8
short notation.
. Using the short notation when solving
the exercise sheets.

We are app roaching the end of the second

step. A good opportunity to repeat the
material using the repetition- and mixed
sheets. The correct approach is important.
The acquired knowledge of Step 2 also has
to be applied in the actual game. This is
only possible if the students look at a
position in the correct way. First think, and
then make the moves.
1. Which pieces are unprotected?
2. Can I give a useful check?
3. Are enemy pieces placed on the same
fil
file,
e, rank or diagon al? Can I pin?
4. Which pieces need to defend?
5. Are important pieces placed a knight's
leap away?
6. Is there a battery present?
7. Do you see a mating pattern?
For the diagram (.().) the answers for the first - I.'

two que stions are sufficient.

sufficient. The knight on ii iii
a4 is unprotected and Black's queen can
.i.i i.:,
give check. Black wins a piece using the
double attack: 1. ... Qf4+ 2. Kbl Qxa4.
Exercise sheets with mixed problems are Cjj
difficult for the students, however excepti-  t!J
onally useful. Choosing the way with the
t!J8
t! J8 VJfJ8 .
least resistance, skipping the sheets is un-
wIse.   ]:I

116
 

PRACTICE

Reminder
<> The short notation

Workbook

D T e s t / R e p e t iitt i o n : B t Z J

Explanation: The
doneassignments are
once already. reviews
The and
student willhave therefore
remember forebeen
sure
some o f the positions.
positions.
Mistake: The solution is not found.
Help: Aid can remain general by asking which characteristics
there are in the position. The student then has to indicate
the targets, i.e. which pieces are unprotected. M ore direct
help consists of giving the correct search strategy: "What
battery do you see?" (Of course depending on the posi-
tion.) A last resort is
is indicating the them e.

D Test / Mix: H, I, J tZJtZJ

Explanation: Recall the subjects from the second step with the students.
Point out the search strategy.
Mistake: The answer is wrong.
Help: Direct them on the right way with questions like "What
targetss do you see?" or "Do you see an important defen-
target defen-
der?" The last resort is prompting the theme.
The themes of the assignments are indicated
ind icated with the
answers.

ANSWERS

D Te st / Repetition:
Repetition: B
1) 1.... Bd6xh2+ (discovered 5) 1. Rc l-c7 (double attack: rook)
attack) 6) 1.... Nc5-d3 (double attack:
2) 1. Nf5-d6+ (double attack: knight)
knight) 7) 1. Kd2-c3 (double attack: king)
3) 1. Bg3-c7 (double attack: 8) 1. Ne5-g6 (double attack:
bishop) knight)
4) 1.... Bf5-h3+ (mate in two) 9) 1.... Bh5-f3+ (mate in two)

117
 

10) 1. ... Bc6xf3 (discovered attack) 12) 1. ... Nd5-c3 (discovered

11) 1. ... Nd4-f3+ (mate in two) attack)

D Te st / Mix: H

1) 1. Ng5-e6+ (double attack: bishop)

knight) 7) 1. ... Qa4-c2+ (mate in two)
2) Drawing 8) 1. Rb7-e7+ (mate in two)
3) 1. f7-f8N+ (double attack: 9) 1. ... Qd4-h4+ (mate in two)

knight) 10) 1. Bb3xf7+ (discovered attack)

4) 1. ... Kf2-g3 (double attack 11) 1. ...
... Ne5xf3+ (discov ered
with two pieces) attack)
5) 1. b2-b4 (double attack: pawn) 12) 1.... Nf5-d4 (discovered attack)
6) 1. Bc6-e4 (double attack:

D Te st / Mix: I

1) 1. Ne3-f5 (double attack w ith 8) 1. ... Bf5-c8 (double attack:

two pieces) bishop)
2) 1.... Nc5-d3 (double attack: 9) 1. Qd2xh6+ (mate in two)
knight) 1. Rf6xh6? Kh8-g8
3) 1. Re6xh6+ (discovered attack) 10) 1.... N e2xg3+ (discovered
4) 1. Qf5-f6+ (mate in two) attack)
5) 1. d4-d5 (discovered attack) 11) 1. ... Nd6 -e4 (doub le att
attack:
ack:
6) 1. Bf3xd5+ (double attack:
attack: knight)
bishop) 12) 1. Be4-d5+ (discovered attack)
7) 1. Ne4-f6+ (mate in two)

D Test / M ix: J
1) 1. Bb3-d5 (pin) bishop)
2) 1.... Re8xe3+ (capturing + 8) 1.... Rf8xf2+ (capturing +
material) material)
3) 1.... Nf4-e2+ (double attack: 9) 1. Be2-b5 (pin)
knight) 10) 1...
1..... Rh8-h4+ chasing aw ay +
4) 1. Bf4-e5 (double attack: material)
bishop) 11) 1. Qd3-b5+ (double attack:
5) 1. Bc2xh7+ (discovered attack) queen)
6) 1. e4-e5 (discovered attack) 12) 1.... Ne5-f3+ (discovered
7) 1. ..
.... Bc4-d5 (dou ble attack: attack)

118
 

List of concepts
conc epts
activity See page 11 and lesson 1.
agreeing to a draw To come to a draw before
before the game has ended by
taking up the draw offer of the opponent.
alternative A move, which besides the move played, comes
into consideration.
back rank The 1 8t and 8 th rank of the chess board. The
phrase is primarily used for 'mate (delivered)
along the back rank. '
battery Two pieces of the same c olour on the same line.
A battery consists
consists of a front and a ba ck piece. The
piece behind must be a line piece.
blunder A very bad m ove. The term is relative.
relative. At a lower
level, a blunder allows ma te or loss of a piece. At
a higher level, a serious positional error is also
considered to be a blunder.

centralising Playing the pieces to the middle of the board so

that they gain m ore m obility.
obility.
centre The middle of the chess board (the squares d4,
d5, e4 and e5).
combination A forced series of moves leading to m ate, loss of
material or a draw.

cooperation Pieces of the same player may protect, support or

complement each other.
developing Bringing pieces into play in the opening of the
game.
development The art of bringing out one's forces.
diagram A miniaturised image of a chess position with
some what m odifi
odified
ed pieces (figuri
(figurines).
nes).
discovered attack See lesson 11.
double attack See lessons 2, 3, 8, 10 and 11.
double pawn Two pawns of the same colour on the same file.
draw The che ss term for a titie.
e. A game e nds indecisive,
so in (or with) a draw.
draw . The players get half a
point each. It is
is a draw w hen the eva luation of a
position means it's a draw.
eliminating
eliminating the defence See lesson 5.

119
 

en pnse A piece (other than the king) which is under

attack is 'en prise ' .
escape square A term that is mostly used to indicate a square
where the king may esc ape to. Less oft
often
en used for
other pieces.
exchange As a nou n it is tthe
he difference between a rook a nd
a bishop or a knight. The player who captures a
protected rook with his bishop or knight, wins the

exchange, i.e. he has m ade a p rofitable

rofitable exchange
(or is the exchange up). It makes a difference of
two points.
exchange As a verb, a synonymous for 'trade'.
exercise sheet A page with exercises in a workbook. Synony-
mous for work sheet.

fli
flight
ght sq uare A term that is mostly used to indicate a square
where the king may escape to. Less often used for
other pieces.
force a draw To round it up to a draw from a w orse position
forced move The only move which doesn't straight away lead
to a loss. The re is no reasonable alternative.
alternative.
fork A double attack with a knight (knight fork) or
with a pawn (pawn fork).
gain of tempo A move with which time is gained, because the
opponent has to playa more or less forced move.
getting
getting a q ueen Popular term for moving the pa wn to the oppos ite
side. Strictly speaking an inaccurate term because
other pieces besides the queen may be chosen.
gIvIng up Ending the battle before it is mate. This hardly
happens with students in the second step.
grabbing Popular term for capturing.
hanging To be in danger. A hanging piece threatens to be
lost.

illegal move A move contradicting the rules, i.e. a move in

which the king is put into check.
It is
is also a typical excuse for a gam e one h as lost:
"I simply
simply blundered." Such e xcuses are no t consi-
dered good manners.
jail The part of the board from which the enemy king
can't escape any more. Especially used in giving
mate to a bare king (see lesson 9).

120
 

line piece The queen, rook or bishop.

line File, rank or diagonal.
luft German word for 'air'. A flight square for the
king (mostly in a castled position). To make 'luft'
is to advance one of the pawns in front of the
. . castled king.
major pIece A queen or a rook.
make a draw Forcing a draw from a wo rse position.
material
Any chess piece or pieces other than the king. If
White is ahead in material, this means that White
has more points. 'White has gained material'
means that White has gained points by capturing
an insufficiently
insufficiently protected or unprotected piece or
. . by a profitable exchange.
mInor pIeces Bishops and knights.
minor promotion The promotion of a pawn to a rook, bishop or
knight. Normal is a promotion to a queen because
its worth the most.
mobility The num ber of moves that a piece can play. There
is a difference
difference b etween p otential mobilit
mobilityy (on an
empty board) and actual mobility
m obility (the actual
poss ibili
ibilities
ties in a position).
notation book Special book for noting chess games.
noting The writing
writing down of the move s of a chess game .
openIng The beginning phase of a game in which both
sides develop their pieces.
overload A piece is overloaded w hen it has to protect two
pieces at the
the sam e time. The opponent can take
this piece out by luring it away (see lesson 5).
passed pawn A pawn which has no enemy pawns ahead of it
on the sam e or adjacent file.
pIece We should only use this for the king, queen, rook,
bishop or knight. In this manual, the expression
'pieces' is also used to refer to pieces and p awns
collectively. Which of the two meanings is
intended will be clear from the context.
pI n See lesson 4.

ply This term from com puter chess is an accurate iin-

n-
dication
dication for a 'half move': a move of Wh it
itee or
Black.

121
 

pnson The part of the board from w hich the enemy king
can't escape any more. Especially used in giving
mate to a bare king (see lesson 9).
recapture Responding to the opponent's capture by taking
back.
refute To show that a cert
certain
ain move (or series of moves)
is not correct.
resIgn Stopping the battle before being mated. This

sacrifice hardly ever happens during step two.

The voluntarily giving up of material in order to
gain an other advantage or to avoid a greater
disadvantage.
side White or Black.
simultaneous display A m atch in which one player plays against more
than one player at the same time.
Synonymous for exerci
exercise
se sheet.
tactics A move or series of moves to force gain of mate-
rial, mate or a draw.
taking Synonymous for capt
capture
ure or grab.
target An attacking goal. There are three targets In
chess: king, material and a square.
tempo Indication for a move (Italian for time).
threat An unpleasant m ove of the opponent that isis loom-
ing, e.g. he threatens to deliver
deliver a d ouble attack.
Most of the time, a defence against a threat is
possible; only mortal threats
threats cannot be c ountered.
touch-move rule A rule of the gam e that says that if it'
it'ss your m ove
and you touch a piece on the board, you have to
make a m ove with that piece.
piece. If you ttouch
ouch one of
your opponent's pieces, you m ust capture it.
trading Synonym ous for exchanging.
trap A move which, while perhaps not objectively the
best, entices the opponent to play an obvious but
wr ong m ove.

vulnerability See page 11 and lesson 1.

waiting move A move with the only purpose to pass the move
to the opponent. The m ove itself achieves
achieves nothing
positive,
positive, but does not weaken the position.
work sheet A page with exercises in a workbook.

122
 

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123
 

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124
 

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