I think for the second part you are meant to place (or bash) the queen down where it will execute a pin or skewer. For example, if the king is on e4, and the R is on a4, then the queen can execute a (safe) skewer from h4 and g4.
M. de la Maza's Concentric drills
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honestly i'm too stupid to understand this drill, is there any place where it is explained for idiots?
So if I'm doing this the way I think I'm supposed to. There is no forking or skewering opportunities until the rook travels along the concentric square to Rf3, at which point there are skewers at Qb7 & Qa8. In other words, it's impossible for the queen to take the rook without allowing the king to recapture the queen through the first 10 or so positions the rook is placed in on the concentric square. Is this correct? Or am I doing something wrong?
Feb 14, 2021
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#7
@grabbinbish, I understand it the way you do, and agree. I think the guy on the linked YouTube video is not honoring de la Maza’s statement, “Note that positions in which the black king can re-capture the queen after the queen captures the rook are not valid. Focus only on positions in which the capture of the rook is safe.“
I’ve just got myself a 2nd hand copy (£1.90) of M.de la Maze’s rapid Chess improvement which is a padded out version of his article 400 points in 400 days which was initially published at chess cafe. Over the Xmas period I’ve decided to try out his chess vision drills, in particular his concentric square drills. My concern at this moment is realising 2 months down the road that I’ve been using his materials incorrectly.
So if anyone out there has or is undertaking his concentric square exercises could tell me if I’ve got his method spot on,
For example, the 1st part of the exercise he asks the student to confirm the fact that it is impossible with the white queen moving sequentially through all 64 squares to safely skewer/pin the black King which is permanently placed on the d5 square and the black rook which is on the d4 square. (....the positions in which the black king can recapture the black rook are not valid). I completed the exercise and found it to be true.
It’s the 2nd part of the poorly explained exercised that is confusing.
He continues the black rook starting out on d4 goes round the black king from square to square anticlockwise. E.g., d4, e4, e5, e6, c6, c4, c3, etc until if finally reaches the edge of the board. During this step by step process you are constantly searching for pins and skewers and whenever you hit upon a square that forks /skewers the king you bash down with the queen hard on your (glass) table. Repeating this and other drills over a 2 week period should eventually scorch these skewers/forks patterns into your brain cells. The result is that your ability to recognize forks and skewers at a glance at a chessboard should have greatly improved.
I’ve completed moving the rook around the king via all 64 squares whilst the white queen is on the a1 square. There are no pins/skewers.
My question is Do I then move the queen on to the a2 square and repeat the whole process again.
In other words do I repeat the whole process with the queen throughout the whole 64 squares?
Ps Have a great Xmas and New Year