Improving Your Chess: Analysis, Calculation, and Evaluation. #2
Hello once again! This is the second post of my series to help improve the analytical ability of players. I will post analytical situations, complete with answers, analysis, and evaluation. The exercise will help train a players analytical abilities, and then, the analysis afterwards will help correct the readers thought process mistakes in order to improve their abilities in analytical positions. For those who have not read the first post in the series I leave a link below, along with the instructions for the following exercise.
Instructions:
1. Each post will consist of one position with a question. You need to analyse and evaluate the question to reach your answer.
2. After you have done the task (please calculate in your head) there will be a complete answer, outlining the evaluation, analysis, and calculation techniques in full.
3. You will be awarded points for your performance. Add them up to see how you did. There will also be an answer list at the end of the analysis.
4. Have fun and learn! The series will help you improve, or at the very least, just provide some entertaining material. The positions I use will not be from top game play. These will be from studies and games I have played, or from some interesting games I have seen at the 2300-1400 rating levels.
Link: https://www.chess.com/blog/DMGame/improving-your-chess-analysis-calculation-and-evaluation
Great! Now that we have that covered, lets get started. For today's post I will actually post multiple positions taken from the same blitz game. As a result, the analysis following positions will be less dense then the first posts analysis was. The first position of interest is shown below.
Task the first: Your first task is a fairly easy one. You must evaluate the position, and when you have come to your conclusion, spend 3-5 minutes deciding on the move you believe to be best. Tip: You don't need to go overboard on the calculations in this first position. The evaluation will point you in the correct direction, and it is my belief that this position can be solved using your intuition. (Intuition is built by reviewing many master games, tactics, and studies. This position will be helpful in training your intuition.)
Great! Now lets see the answer. Warning: Only continue if you have completed the above exercise.
Answer the first: The first thing we need to do is give an evaluation. If we examine the position we see that black is up a pawn. White has no apparent way to win back the pawn, and if he can not find any counter play, he will be doomed to a passive position, and, barring a mistake by black, forced to take the loss. This means that we should be looking for an active plan to counter blacks material advantage. If we look closely at the piece placement, we can see that black has most of his pieces on the queenside, while white has a queen aimed at Blacks king, and two knights that can easily join the party. (Award yourself 5 points for a correct evaluation of the position. You get 2 points for getting it partly correct)
Before we delve into the plans suggested by our evaluation we should always analyse our forcing moves first (Checks, Mate threats, captures, and threats). (You get 3 points for analyzing forcing moves first.) The evaluation has told us what to look for, so now we start crunching moves that achieve our active plan on the kingside. If you looked at forcing moves, then you might have found the move that threatens mate in two 1.Nfg5! (Award 3 points for concluding this move was the way to go) Upon a light inspection, we see that this move is solid, and is in fact the best move here, and the answer to this position. A strong player will immediately notice this move due to their intuition. By first analyzing, and then receiving answers, you have just added to your intuition. On another note, you receive 2 points if the move 1.Nc3 was your answer. This move is good and is the only other move that keeps the position equal.
On to the next position!
Task the second: This task is a bit harder. Your job is to evaluate the position, and then take a quick look at the move 1.Nh5+?! and decide if it is correct or not.
Once again, only proceed if you have completed the above task.
Answer the second: If we look at the position we see that white must look for a forcing move, or else he will be worse. (2 points if you noticed this) If we find that white is worse without a forcing move then the move 1.Nh5+ checks that box (and the black king, am i right 
...Okay just ignore that). If we calculate the most forcing response (1. Nh5+ gxh5 2. Qxh7+ Kf6 3. Qh6+ Ke7) we can see that white ends up better. (This evaluation earns you 3 points. Also if you can't see this, then you should analyze it with a stronger player, or an engine.) Once we see that black can't respond with 1...gxh5, and must instead play 1...Kh8, we can analyze the line 1.Nh5+! Kh8 2. Nf6! and we can see that black has nothing better then 2...Kg7 and repetition (if not then white gets a winning position). If you concluded that 1. Nh5+! is correct, then you get 5 points.
On to the next position.
The third task: This is bit of a bonus position before my intended final position. Your job is to find whites best move. Just evaluate the position and then analyze until you find what you believe is the best move.
Okay, you get the idea. The answer is below (that's why it reads "Answer") so only continue if you have finished the assigned task.
Answer: If we do even a quick evaluation we should spot that white is winning pretty comfortably. We can see this due to the fact that white has two knights and a queen attacking blacks unprotected king, and that white has the move. (Correct evaluation only gets you 2 points here) If we analyze forcing moves first, we should quickly find 1. Ne6!!. If you spot that it leads to mate in four, 1.Ne6!! Bf4 2. Qxf4 g5 3. Qf5 fxe6 4. Qh7#, then you get 3 points. (If you concluded with the flashy 1.Nxf7+ or the tactical retreat 1.Nge4 then you get 1 point)
Time for the final position.
The final task: You must calculate whether 1.Nxf8 or 1.Nxg5 is better. Since it is pretty obvious, I will say that the evaluation of this position is that white is winning. To correctly complete this task, you will need to first calculate 1.Nxf8 and evaluate the end position, and then do the same with 1.Nxg5. Compare the end positions of the lines, and decide which position you prefer (which evaluation is better).
I don't think that I need to point out that the answer is right below...
Answer: First we must calculate 1.Nxf8. If we do we end up with, 1.Nxf8 Qxf8 2.Qc3+ (You get 1 point if you remembered to calculate forcing moves first. This is important even when you are calculating lines) 2...Kh7 3.Qc2+ Kg7 4.Bf3 Ne5, and we can see that white has a small plus. He is up material, and has an active position. But if you compare this evaluation to the evaluation of the starting position where white is winning, you can easily notice that white must have more. How does white go from winning, to a slight plus with best play? Since the answer is he doesn't, we must realize 1.Nxf8 can't be the best move, and now calculate 1.Nxg5. (You get 5 points if you used the above cross evaluation, and 2 points if you weren't satisfied with 1.Nxf8 but didn't cross evaluate.)
If we now calculate 1.Nxg5, we should spot the forcing line after 1...hxg5 2.Qxg5+ Kh7(h8) 3.Qh6+ Kg8 4.Qxd6 and see that white has equaled material, but has a dominating position due to piece activity, the weak black king, potential targets, and the inactive black pieces (Correct evaluation is 4 points if it is for all the listed reasons, and 2 points for noticing some of the reasons that white is better). Once we see that black can't play 1...hxg5, we can see that white will keep his attack no matter what black plays, and he will still be winning due to the reasons listed in the above evaluation. If you realized that 1.Nxg5! was better then 1.Nxf8? then you get 5 points.
Today's post covered several key ideas in analysis and evaluation, such as cross evaluation in key lines, and even just the repetition of analyzing forcing moves first. We improved our analytical abilities, and even helped to build our intuition. Now then start adding up those points you got, and lets see how you scored!
Scoring out of 39:
0-7: 1250 and below
8-14: 1251-1450
15-21: 1451-1650
22-28: 1651-1899
29-34: 1900-2150
35+: 2151 or higher
