Category Archives: CLINIC

JUNE 2019 CLINIC: ENDGAMES

July 5, 2019 NigelD

The June's endgame clinic is now out and can be accessed here by full members. The endgame is one of the most important aspects of the game for those who want to improve, which is why I give it so much attention here at Tiger Chess. Not only do endgames help players to save losing positions and win drawn ones, they also benefit other aspects of our game such as calculation technique and positional play. It's no accident that several World Champions have highlighted their importance to those who want to improve.

One of the examples given was a great example of how a bishop can dominate a knight in the endgame. After 46 moves the following position had been reached:

At first it seems as if the position must be good for White due to his active king and outside passed pawn, yet due to the poor position of his knight the best he has is 47.gxf5 exf5 48.Kd5 Bb6 followed by ...g4 with a draw. In the game he tried for more with 47.f3?, but after 47...fxg4 48.fxg4 e5 found that his knight was completely boxed in. The final moves were 49.Kd5 Ka7 50.Ke4 Kxa6 51.Kf5 Kb5 52.Kg6 e4 53.Kxh6 Be3 54.Kg6 Kc4 55.Kf6 Kd5 56.Nxg5 Bxg5+ 57.Kxg5 e3 58.Kf4 e2 59.Kf5 and White resigned (0-1). Tragic but also very instructive.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, NEWS, UPDATES

MORE BEST GAMES: MAY 2019 CLINIC

June 7, 2019 NigelD

The May clinic is now online and members can access it here. Besides some excellent members games (especially by L. J.) I was asked to show a couple of my own from my recent 'comeback tournaments' in Rhyl and Crewe. Crewe was particularly successful because I managed to win the tournament with 7 straight wins and a 2850 rating performance!

Here's a position from one of the games against FIDE Master and Welsh International Jonathan Blackburn. He enterprisingly sacrificed two pieces early on, though I managed to get my king to safety by returning one of them and then took the initiative on the kingside. In the position in the diagram White had just played 22.Bc1-g5:

Here I saw that I could force mate with 22... Qxg5+ 23.Nxg5 Rxg5+ 24.Kh2 Bf2# 0-1, which my opponent was kind enough to allow.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, TACTICS

APRIL 2019 CLINIC: BEST GAMES

May 10, 2019 NigelD

The April clinic is now online here and features members 'best games'. There were quite a few submissions this time round so the May clinic will also be on the 'best games' theme.

Here is an episode from one of them which featured my son Sam playing Black. White had just played 26.Bg2-h3 to reach the following position:

Rather than move his rook, Sam played 26...Qc6 here so that after 27.Bxf5 Nxf5 he will get the knight on f3 when White moves his queen. This puts White in serious trouble after which the game continued 27.Re4 R5f7 28.Kh2 Qb6 29.Ree1 Bxf3 30.Qxf3 Bg5! 31.Re4 Bxf4+ 32.Rxf4 Rxf4 33.Bxf4 Nd5! 34.Rg1 Nxf4 35.Qg3 Qc7 36.Qg5 Kh8 37.Qg3 Ne2 0-1. This was one of his best games of the year so far with the sharp tactical finish crowning some good play earlier in the game.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, TACTICS

MARCH 2019 CLINIC: TACTICS

April 11, 2019 NigelD

The March clinic is now online and is devoted to tactics. This is one of the most vital aspects of chess because tactics punctuate every stage of every game. Without good tactical play it is very difficult to get very far. During my teenage years I spent a lot of time on tactics using puzzle books though these days its easier because there are quite a few websites which have interactive tactical problems.

The following position is taken from the clinic with White to play:

White to play opened Black's king up with 19.Bxh7+ Kxh7 20.Qh5+ Kg8 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 and then finished the game off with 22.Qg5+ Kh7 and now a rook lift with 23.Re3. Black tried the desperate 23...Bxg2 but after 24.Qh5+ Kg7 25.Rg3+ resigned (1-0) because of 25...Kf6 26.Qg5 mate.

This was a really nice finished that I'm sure White was very pleased to have pulled off. I don't recall ever having the opportunity to use this theme myself.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, ENDGAMES, POSITIONAL PLAY

JANUARY CLINIC ON BEST GAMES

February 9, 2019 NigelD

The January 2019 clinic is now out and features members' best games. There was quite a mix sent in, from a violent tactical game to several purely positional games.

The following position was reached in one of the positional games in which U. S. had established a stranglehold on the position after getting a pawn duo on e4 and d4 in the Colle and then turning this into an e4/d5 wedge. He closed in for the kill:

White now played 37.Qc6!, with the game ending with the moves 37...f6 38.Rc8 Qxc6 39.dxc6 1-0. Black's knight has no squares so he must lose a piece.

I like to focus on positional play and endgames at Tiger Chess because this is where many players at club level can improve. Brilliant tactical ability tends to be more dependent on innate gifts rather than methodical learning.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, ENDGAMES, TIGER CHESS ENDGAME COURSE

THE LATEST CLINIC ON ENDGAMES

January 4, 2019 NigelD

I just posted the latest clinic on endgames which members can find here. As usual I should stress the importance of this part of the game which can benefit a player's chess as a whole by offering a safe and logical way to convert advantages as well as develop what I would term micro-patterns. My own chess improved a lot when I devoted more time to the endgame in the 1990s. It is also one of the main things that I have studied with my son Sam.

Sam has two of his games in this clinic with the first of them showing how the endgame is neglected at club level. In the Preston Congress he reached the following position as Black having just captured the pawn on b7:

One maxim states that all rook endgames are drawn, which while not being true certainly indicates the drawish nature of rook endgames even one or two pawns down. Yet instead of keeping his rook on the board White exchanged with 44.Rxb7?? which leaves him with a completely lost pawn endgame. The game concluded with the moves 44... Kxb7 45.Kb5 Kc7 46.Kc5 Kd7 47.g3 f5 48.h4 gxh4 49.gxh4 g6 50.f4 Kc7 51.Kc4 Kc6 52.Kd4 Kd6 0-1.

How should someone go about studying the endgame? Well Tiger Chess just happens to have a 160 lesson endgame course that covers both technical endgames and endgame strategy, plus there are downloads which help practicing different positions against the computer. You need to join to access it or course...

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, ENDGAMES, TIGER CHESS ENDGAME COURSE

OCTOBER 2018 CLINIC: ENDGAMES

November 2, 2018 NigelD

The October clinic came out today with the topic being endgames again. Tiger Chess members know the importance I place on this area of the game as it has profound effects on the rest of a player's game. Many of the greatest players in history have recommended putting endgame study before anything else, most notably Jose Raul Capablanca. This is what he said: "In order to improve your game you must study the endgame before anything else; for, whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middlegame and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame."

Pawn endgames are particularly important as all the other endgames can end up as pawn endgames. In this clinic there was one very nice one played by J. T. who reached the following position as Black:

White's connected passed pawns look imposing here and in endgames with other pieces on the board they might have promised him an advantage. Yet in a pawn endgame it is Black's kingside pawn majority and distant a-pawn that give him a decisive advantage as White's king is unable to control both. The game continued with the moves 1...f5 2.g5 ( 2.f3 fxg4 3.fxg4 h6 4.Kd2 g6 5.Kd3 h5 6.gxh5 gxh5 7.Ke4 h4! also wins for Black) 2...h5 3.gxh6 gxh6 4.Kd2 h5 5.Ke3 h4 6.Kf3 a5 7.c6 Kd6 8.Kf4 a4 9.Kxf5 a3 10.Kf6 a2 0-1.

Members can access the clinic here and four years of monthly clinic archives here.

Nigel Davies

CLINIC, ITALIAN GAME, OPENINGS, TACTICS, UPDATES

LLANDUDNO SIMUL

September 7, 2018 NigelD

On August 22nd I visited the ICCF Congress in Llandudno to give a simultaneous display. It went quite well despite my lack of tournament practice with 15 wins and 3 draws against a field which included two ICCF Grandmasters, two Senior International Masters and some young Welsh stars. I confess that I have been playing a lot of blitz (5 minutes with a 3 second increment) against my son Sam and it does seem to have sharpened us both up. There were several moments where I found some strong tactical sequences, such as this one:

Here I sacrificed a knight with 23.Nxf7! Kxf7 24.Ng5+, seeing that after 24...Kg8 I had 25.Re8+! and that after 24...Kf6 I had at least a draw with 25.Nh7+. When my opponent did play 24...Kf6 I found 25.Qf4! threatening 26.Re6 mate, and when my opponent failed to find a defence he graciously asked me whether I would prefer him to take the queen or allow the mate. I plumped for the latter and the game ended with 25...Nxf4 26.Nh7#.

The opening is worth noting as I think that the quiet Italian Game (the game started with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3) is an excellent option for those who open with 1.e4 but prefer to learn strategy rather than opening analysis. For members interested in the complete game I have included it in the August 2018 members clinic. If you are not a member but would like to join you can do so here.

It was also interesting to play over the board games against very strong correspondence players, not least because I have suffered against them when playing them at their own time limit. For many years I have used secret correspondence games to test openings, a practice I believe other over-the-board GMs use as well. My impression was that they have a good understanding of chess and better openings than players of a similar strength who just play over-the-board. At the same time they might benefit from faster time controls where fast reactions and tactical awareness are at a premium.

Nigel Davies