The Importance of Quiet Moves
"Always look for forcing moves"
-Every Chess teacher ever
As should be implied above, Chess players are trained to look for forcing moves: checks, captures, and threats. These are the basis of tactics: forcing sequences of moves designed to gain some sort of advantage.
But what if your forcing moves don't get you anywhere? What if you try to lash out only to realize your opponent's threat all too soon? How about that king hunt where you're checking and checking only to let the king run to safety and maybe become an attacker itself? How about that one game where you made a seemingly crushing sacrifice to rip open your opponent's king only to realize you haven't completely thought this through?
We have experienced all of these at some point or another, and in positions where forcing moves fail, quiet moves are what you have to resort to. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as "checking a bunch of moves"; there is often a lot of subtlety involved in how you play quietly, as well as a lot of ways to do so. For the purposes of this blog, I have devised five categories:
Double Threats
Undefendable Threats
Mating Net
Prophylaxis
Zugzwang
Double Threats
The name explains it all: one move threatens two things at once. Note how I'm using the term double threat instead of double attack: double attack usually refers to when one piece directly threatens two different things, like pieces or a mating square. With a double threat, one or both of the threats can be more subtle, as shown by this next example.
Undefendable Threats
This a very broad category that can include moves with the aim of delivering checkmate and winning material. Moreover, can't a double threat fall into this category?
The distinction I make between undefendable threats and double threats is the fact that undefendable threats will have a single aim in mind. We'll start with threats to win material. Can you find Black's winning move?
Undefendable threats can also be used for delivering checkmate. Can you find White's winning idea in the following position?
The main thing that allowed these combinations to work is a combination of poor piece coordination from the opposing side and a lack of counterplay.
In the first example, the white queen lacked any good escape squares, and the bishop on d3 was already under attack by both knights. There were also no pieces that could cover any possible escape squares; only a pawn could do so.
In the second example, the bishop blocking the f-pawn as well as the poor placement of the queen - the rook on f8 won't be able to free up an escape square - allowed White to build up a huge attack based on the weakness of h7 and a knight coming to f5.
Of course, oftentimes, things aren't this simple and your opponent could have many, many counterplay options at their fingertips. This is something that becomes important in the next topic,
Mating Nets and "Long" Threats
This is used to describe a move that restricts the movement of an attacked king. Oftentimes, these types of moves will come with multiple threats, depending on how the defender responds.
These types of moves also tend to be some of the least forcing - similar to the undefendable threats from earlier that can take multiple moves (Fischer's Rf6!! against Benko comes to mind when I think of this).
Let's see an example of a mating net in this queen endgame. White is down a pawn, but Black's king is rather vulnerable. How should he proceed?
Oftentimes, simply cutting off an escape square will pose a much stronger threat than just checking. After all, there are many attacking positions where there is a clearly defined attacker and defender. Take this attacking masterpiece by Smyslov. How should White counter Black's act of greed with 18...Kxg5?
Wow! That was a lot to go through, but this should get you used to the ideas of cutting off escape squares and mating nets.
For most of this blog, we have encountered positions in which the defender has little to no counterplay. But what about positions that do? Sometimes, it's very helpful to take one little move to prevent that before delivering the final blow. This brings me into the next type of quiet move,
Prophylaxis
This word is used to talk about prevention.
Let's start with a little test for what you've learned: can you find Timman's winning combination in this position?
Good job if you found this the whole way through! However, there is a small thing I left out: in the game, Timman actually played 41. Qf6+?!, which is also winning, but makes things a lot harder. This is where prophylaxis comes into play.
If you've been paying attention, you would've noticed that this is basically an extension of undefendable threats. The difference is that the opponent's defense has to be taken into account before continuing with your own.
Another form of this can occur when one side needs to get rid of an important defensive piece. Take this example: how does White win?
This section is more of an extension of the previous themes - you are anticipating your opponent's defense and know that your threat will eventually win out.
Zugzwang
This is a weird concept when you first hear it; Zugzwang describes a position in which one side is at a disadvantage because it is their move. With the way Chess works, it is impossible to "pass" your turn: you either play a move or lose on time.
Here's a basic example to warm you up:
This position is a mutual Zugzwang: whoever is to move loses, as they are forced to move away from their pawn.
Pawn and Minor Piece Endgames are the most common place for Zugzwangs to appear, but they can appear with higher value pieces as well. Let's take this position - how did GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave take advantage of his opponent's passively placed pieces?
Zugzwang can also describe position in which one side has severely restricted mobility, leaving the other to prepare a winning breakthrough with basically all the time in the world. I won't pressure you to be able to solve this one, but it's still fun to see nonetheless.
This position arose from the analysis of the game Kasparov-Topalov, Wijk aan Zee 1999.
Conclusion
Forcing moves are big part of the game of Chess, but quiet moves can play a large role as well, whether they win material, checkmate, or hopelessly tangle your opponent's pieces. Hopefully, this blog will leave you with a new insight on how Chess is played.
