Dancing Queens

Some preliminary notes about the game: for the past few weeks I've been experimenting with random openings and their variations. This is probably my second time playing the French Defense: Advanced Variation. I remember the first time I tried playing the French Defense (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5), it was in a tournament, and I accidently played/transposed Philidor's Defense (1. e4 d6 2. d4 d5) by mistake! I was happy with the opening overall. I was able to make it out of the opening phase with equality, and managed to secure myself the Bishop pair in the middle game (to be continued in next post):

And Win?? in how many moves... I don't see it yet

Here is where the Black Queen starts dancing around the board, and wins a pawn with the tactical shot: 1. ... Qc1+ 2. Nf1 Ba6 (this is the reason why Black had to play the seemingly random b6 a few moves ago) 3. Qf2 Qd1 4. g3 Bxf1 5. Qxf1 Qxd4+

I was very proud of my move 6. ... Qc3! At first, I thought I could just trade Queens and simplify to an endgame where I'm up a pawn. But then I realized that my d-pawn was a passed pawn, and that if I was able to keep White's King from cutting in, I could just march that pawn to victory.

My opponent falls for the bait with 7. Qa6? My last move leaves my a-pawn, and subsequently the b-pawn and f-pawn ripe for the picking. After 7. Qa6? d4 White realizes that his immediate priority is to stop the d-pawn from promoting, but the wasted tempo proves to be the fatal. The Queens dance around the Black pawn for a few turns more, and White resigns:

kic57690,

I know "Black to move and win" is a little confusing. That's how books publish it. What they really mean is "Black to move and win (material)". Because when they mean win, they write "Black to move. Mate in x".

Is the pushing of the pawn while the two queens fight over it a typical thing in endgames... I have never tried to do that in a game, and after seeing that, I'm thinking I've been missing a good strategy.

I'm basically asking: Is it possible to force a passed pawn up the board if both queens are on the board?

Well, the idea I was working with in this game is that if you have more pieces than your opponent AND they're all active, then you'll win: the golden rule of chess :)

Normally, when I'm up material in the endgame, I want to simplify the game by trading Queens, Rooks, and a lot of the major pieces, etc. But in this case, I saw that I could run an isolation play with my Queen + d-pawn vs. his Queen. By making my push on the Queenside, I made it so his King couldn't enter the game. If that were to happen, my forces would be outnumbered Q + P = 10 to Q + K = 12. But I treated this game as if it was Queen + pawn vs. Queen rather than Q + 7 pawns vs. Q + 6 pawns.

Obviously there is no way a Q can win a fight against a Q + P; the two Queens will trade, and the pawn will be free to promote at his leisure.

RainbowRising,

Thanks :) I think the most basic tips are, if you have a material advantage, you should simplify the game and trade pieces so you can convert your extra material into a winning position. If you're down material, you should try to keep the major pieces on the board, avoid trading Queens, maintain pawn tension, and things like that so you can complicate the board, and make it more likely for you to find a tactical shot or increase the odds of your opponent blundering.

The most important thing in the endgame is how active your pieces are. It does no good to have an extra pawn, if that pawn is doubled, because it's not going anywhere. You want all your Bishops and Knights as centralized and active as possible. You want your Rooks to control the open files, and other key positions like the 7th/2nd rank.

You want your King (which can be stronger than a Bishop or Knight in the endgame) centralized and ready to attack and defend both sides of the board. But if Queens are Rooks are on the board, you want to make sure your King is safely tucked away in the corner. Exposing your King to random checks is a great way for the opponent's Queen to start picking off your own Rooks and pawns.

But then again, you're a good player so you know this stuff :)

I think the endgame is the most mathematical part of the game. All those wasted tempos earlier in the game really come to a head in this phase. And any wasted tempos in the endgame could be game over, especially when both players are racing to Queen pawns. Make sure to count moves in your head visualize them before you move. Unless your opponent did something you didn't plan for, you should be the one making moves that give you the edge (though your opponent almost always has some counter-play).

This game was pretty equal because while I think my Bishop is stronger than his Knight, his Queen is more active than mine, playing both offense and defense. But by him wasting tempos by moving pawns rather than activating his pieces (centralizing his Knight and attacking my castled position with Knight and Queen), he gave me time to set up and execute a 5-move-combo for the win :)