
Chess Personality: Assertiveness
Strong calculation, amazing board sight, and intuition are some of the typical traits that a coach tries to build in his students. But what I want to discuss today is how being assertive on the chess board is just as important as any of the above skills.
Let's start with the usual preface:
We must get acquainted with the following somewhat well known but otherwise extremely fancy tactical scheme:
Now let's finally move to our main example which will discuss the use of assertiveness in a more practical setting:
Q1: What are the differences between this current position and that of the preface?
While he can spend time sulking and regretting this mistake, he insteads follows an important concept:
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Let's point out an obvious, but important back-to-reality fact about chess. Chess is a game, not a mathematical equation. Thus, winning or losing occurs from competition, and not from some physical law or theorem.
Q2: What are the factors in the position favoring White?
(take about a minute to answer)
Answer: White is slightly ahead in development, and Black's king is a bit exposed.
Let's move a little further along in the game:
When one is ahead in material, the usual approach is to slow down the game and slowly trade off material into a winning endgame, when the material advantage makes the win more clear.
note: Bxh8 would give white a 2 rook vs queen material imbalance that favors white, but White sees that he can play for checkmate with just his R vs Q imbalance!
This is, of course, because his pieces are of much greater quality than Black's. Just look at Black's kingside bishop and rook.
Here are some starters that were brought up in this lesson:
Simply developing your pieces is not enough. Their value increases as their reach of influence increases, and it doesn't hurt to have them in prime position to attack the king!
2. Play the position by knowing what you want and doing everything you can to make that happen.
One critical moment is 13...Kc7 when Black allowed White to develop his dark squared bishop to f4 with tempo.
White unintentionally gave Black a chance to get back in the game with his interesting move 18. b4, which would have allowed a simplifying 18...Qxe5. He should have first played 18. Nxg4 and then follow with 19. b4 - we saw how this continuation could have played out.
Thanks a lot and until next time,