Tactics and Techniques #4

Hello friends,

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas and will wish you a Happy New Year in advance!

We have gone through a variety of tactics and techniques, but that is not the end.  we have so many tactics that I might have to borrow you for some more weeks!

Till now we have seen tactics to attack but one to defend!

4.Blockade

When I hear the word of blockade this position comes to mind:

If you are seeing this position for the first time, your thoughts might be that the b pawn is attacked, and the g file is open so black can invade and win the game. But think again, white can play the crazy looking 1.Ba7+!! and for one second that might look like making a bad position worse. But if you look carefully and imagine through, if you place the king on h1, after the move of b6, black ultimately can not do anything because if he tries to invade it would be stalemate. So after Ba7+!! black has no option but to accept it with thee king or the rook. It does not matter which piece takes it because after b6, the piece which takes has to move back to its original square form where it came from. After this crucial moment white begins to move the king towards h1, and luckily gets there in time before black invades, which draws.

Now let me show you some more ideas:

• Knights are the best blockaders
• When blockading, use rooks to cutoff ranks and files so that enemy pieces will not be able penetrate.
• Bishops are used to defend during a blockade because it can defend the following pawn colour with no flaws.

I'll give you a position you can solve, so we can understand next week's topic better:

White to move and win material:

Bye! See you next week!!