Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Position Tactics -- Position 8

One of the common tactics happens when the C pawn is put in play. This obviously happens in the Sicilian Defense, but also happens in the Queen's Gambit, The English, Reti Systems, The Caro-Kann, and The Slav. And I am sure a bunch more.

The Key to the tactic is to remember that your Queen starts on the same color as your opponents King. And that when the Queen moves diagonally to either the H-file, or in this case to the A-file it either places the opponent's king in check, or creates an absolute pin. And remember, that check is often a fork with everything that is on the same rank!

This is the cornerstone to many known opening traps, and even fundamental to some openings like the Benoni.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i like that move, i am always consious of it and i try to use it often....funny thing is, it seems so obvious, now that i know it, but before i saw it, it never occured to me...

Pawn Shaman said...

I used to like it. Then I realized how many games I lost because my queen was trapped on queenside. It takes two or three moves to get her back in a good defensive position which is too long. I always end up losing a tempo from it eventually. Maybe Im missing it but its definately not my style.

Anonymous said...

And remember, that check is often a fork with everything that is on the same rank!

This is the key sentence of your post. Getting the Queen out soon may not be advisable, but when you can win a piece by doing this...

Anonymous said...

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