If The Board Says ATTACK, Then ATTACK!

The Chess.com member kergnou said: “Can you take a look at my games and give me some advice?”

Jeremy Silman: Okay, I’m going to review one game that shows many of your weaknesses. However, this game is actually one of the longest and hardest fought games I’ve seen between non-masters. In fact, the battle goes right into a very difficult endgame which would likely be botched by a master.

Chess.com members, please share this game with me. It’s often frustrating, very instructive, and the lessons change from moment to moment, right into the endgame!

Instead of Black’s horrible 12...h6, which completely misses the position’s needs, what do you think was better?

Back to the actual game!

I have to admit that I have howled and bayed at the moon due to Black's refusal to go all-in with his attack.

AwoooOOOooo! NoooOOOooo! Not a queen exchange!

Remember: if you have an attacking position, don’t trade off your attacking pieces for no reason. This is even more true if you’re opponent’s king is uncomfortable. In that case, every trade puts a happy grin on the enemy king’s face.

Once again, please improve on Black's play.

Again, even if this puzzle is too advanced to solve in its entirety, just keep your heavy pieces on the board, and the White king would, eventually, die an unpleasant death.

Let’s see how the position might look like if Black didn’t play the unfortunate ...g7-g5.

And, for seemingly the millionth time, we will return to the game.

Can you save this position?

And, for time number 1,000,001, we return to the game.

Black can win, but it's not easy!

Time for diagram 1,000,002.

What a game! We saw a very sharp opening in which White had no idea what was going on. Unfortunately, instead of going for glory, Black combined attack with unnecessary safety measures. 6...e6, 7...Be7, 9...a6, and 12...h6 were, at best, sub-optimal.

It also seems that Black has trouble with tactics; he missed quite a few tactical moments. That's not good if you are playing gambits as Black did in this game. When Black started trading off his good pieces for White’s inferior ones, his advantage crumbled away.

Where did it all go wrong?

When an endgame appeared, Black destroyed his kingside majority by pushing his g-pawn to g5. That alone is a valuable lesson since the move 41...g5?? should never be played.

I will also repeat this:

When you choose an opening, you need to know the usual pawn structures, how to make use of them, where your pieces usually go, and whether your opening is a dynamic or static system. That’s why openings are NOT just about memorizing moves. If you know the moves but don’t understand their purpose, then you’ll be playing blind.