Fox In The Chicken Coop - Jeremy Silman

Fox in the chicken coop is a simple technique by which you convert a position up a pawn. I was first introduced to this idea by my favorite author Jeremy Silman in his book 'Silman's Complete Endgame Course'. It can also be said as an 'outside passed pawn' but Silman's witty books make sure that the content is fixed in your mind.

In this technique, you combine the threat of pushing the passed pawn and threatening to win the other pawns. Because the enemy king is overwhelmed by the existence of such a pawn, he often leaves his monarch to die!

On move 5 I remembered what Jeremy Silman had taught in his book and hence traded the queens and went on to win the game. One interesting story is that after she (my much older opponent) lost her game, she went on to brag to his students that she lost on time when in fact she purposely made me wait about 2 minutes and let it purposely bleed out! Is this the OTB version of stalling? Where can I report it? Comment and have fun.

I hope you found this idea helpful and happy learning.