You may know that there is a Kossacks chess team active on chess.com. This diary is a collaborative documentation by two members of the team, OkieLawyer and rhutcheson, of a recent game in which OkieLawyer schooled rhutcheson.
The full game can be viewed interactively here. The game is progressively annotated by OkieLawyer below the fold.
___________________________________________________________________________
Kossack players of all skill levels are welcome to join the team. To do so:
1) go to http://www.chess.com/;
2) register as a user (it's free for a basic membership) - click "Register" at the upper right of the screen, then enter the required information on the "New Member Registration" screen;
3) once you've registered, log in on the Home screen, click "Groups" type"Kossacks" in the "key words" area of "Search Groups" area, and click "Search";
4) click on the "Kossack" group, then click "Join this Group" under "Group Actions" at the right of the screen.
One of the group administrators will soon OK your request and you'll be able to begin your Kossacks chess career.
_____________________________________________________________________________
For those of you not familiar with chess notation, you can find out what some of the symbols mean from Wikipedia
[Event "Kossack Deathmatch - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.08.15"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 d6 6. Nxg4 Be7 7. d4 Bxh4+ 8. Nf2 Qg5 This is known as the King's Gambit Accepted, Kieseritsky Variation, Kolisch defense. :
9. Nc3 Bxf2+ (9... Nf6 is the normal move here. However, 9. ... Nc6 has also been tried. After 9... Nf6, 10. Qf3 is the only move now as the Queen needs to clear the d1 square for the Knight on c3 to come back to defend the Knight on f2.) :
10. Kxf2 Qg3+ 11. Kg1 Nf6 12. Qf3 (12. e5! is a hard move to find, since White has not completed his development (usually an important reason to play a gambit opening). It also seemingly leaves a pawn isolated and advanced (usually a weakness). :
12... dxe5 13. dxe5 f3 {threatening f2 checkmate. (13... Ng4?? wins for white after 14. Ne4, trapping the the black Queen.) 14. Qxf3 Qxe5 15. Rh4!!) 12... Qxf3 13. gxf3 Nc6 14. Bb5 pinning the Nc6 to defend the pawn on d4. This kind of pin is known as a "absolute pin" because the King can never be exposed to a check when a pawn or piece moves. :
14... Bd7 Breaking the pin and forcing a trade. This is generally better for black, as he will keep his Bishop in an "open" position. Generally speaking, Bishops are better than Knights in wide open positions because they can move all the way across the board in a single move; whereas Knights are generally better in closed positions (where the pawns are locked up and cannot be traded). :
15. Bxc6 Bxc6 16. Bxf4 Getting the sacrificed pawn back. White has a very slight advantage due to his better pawn structure, as black has two "isolated" pawns on f7 and h7, which are weaker because they have to be defended with pieces, rather than other pawns. :
16... Rg8+ See a check, give a check; but this helps White move his King to a
square he wants to move to anyway. :
17. Kf2 Rg7 18. d5 Driving the Bishop back into its cubbyhole. Now the Bishop has very little free movement, reducing its advantage in an open game.:
18... Bd7 19. e5! Creating a catch-22 for Black, as capturing the e5 pawn allows a pin on the Nf6. This kind of pin is known as a "relative pin" as opposed to a "absolute pin" that occurred earlier in the game. The Knight could move, but only at the expense of the loss of the Rook (worth 5 points in chess, versus the Bishop, which is worth about 3 to 3.5). :
19... Ng8 (19... dxe5 20. Bxe5 Rg6 21. Bxf6 Rxf6 22. Rae1+ This move is an example of an "intermezzo" check, also known in chess as a zwichenzug (in-between move). In this case, it increases White's advantage because it takes Black's ability to castle away and allows White to make a move he wants to make, anyway (centering his Rook on an "open" file -- a file with no pawns). 22... Kf8 23. Rxh7 {and threatening a "skewer" tactic with Rh8 next move.}) :
20. exd6 O-O-O 21. dxc7 Re8 Getting his Rook to the other open file.} 22. Rae1 {And White rightly challenges the control of the file. :
22... Rxe1 23. Rxe1 h5 "Passed pawns must be pushed." Black's h-pawn, known in the old days as the King's Rook pawn, cannot be stopped by any of White's pawns. Fortunately for me, I have a Bishop, Rook and potentially a Knight to stop the pawn. However, notice how Black's Rook on g7 prevents me from using my King to stop the pawn, as it acts like a laser beam down the g-file. :
24. Ne4 h4 25. Nd6+ Winning Black's Rook through the "discovered attack / discovered check" tactic. What would follow, had Black not resigned here would be: :
25... Kxc7 26. Ne8+ Kd8 27. Nxg7 and now my King can also act in defense against Black's h-pawn. At this point, being a Rook and pawn up should be an easy win. I dare say I could beat any World Champion with my position as White here. 1-0 :