Things that make it easier for me to see mate
1. The enemy King's movement is blocked by material (i.e., few empty squares around the King).
2. At least two major pieces in the vicinity of the enemy King.
3. It isn't the opening.
Take the opposite of each of the above, and we have ingredients that make it more likely for me to miss mate.
2. At least two major pieces in the vicinity of the enemy King.
3. It isn't the opening.
Take the opposite of each of the above, and we have ingredients that make it more likely for me to miss mate.
posted by Blue Devil Knight at 4/19/2009 12:29:00 PM
14 Comments:
The prompt "White to move and mate in 1" helps me a lot! :)
"Mate in one" might help but I go strictly by the # sign
I once played an opponent who had hsi girlfriend, a stiking blond in a mini-skirt, stand right next to our board. Despite cupping my eyes into a pseudo tunnel vision of just the board, the only mate I could see was NOT with my opponent's king!
Oh and as for those f-tards that play 2.f4 agaisnt the C-K, I go into chameleon mode and drag them into a weird psuedo Queen's pawn slavish game. I take advantage early on of the fact that f4 weakens the g3 and e3 square. Making it easier to deploy a bishop on f5 or g4. I'll play d4 but 9/10 times they advance... again, I get teh bishop out before locking it in with the e6 move. But then harrasing the f3 knight is fun. Once he figures out that I am messing up his king side, then a Qb6 starts the process on the queens side. Show no mercy for wimps. Show them that at thier level they SHOULD NOT ADVANCE THE f-pawn in the opening... those shoes simply don't fit.
BP: Was that the Queens Gambit Accepted?? :-) Fortunately my female opponents don't have a have counter gambit to use against me.
most of the time i only see mate if im told
More often then not I'll kinda feel my way around in the dark looking for the mate, frequently stubbing more than my big toe.
@Blunderprone: But did you win? If not, did you go with the Cowley excuse?
Ha! Not the cowley excuse... for me, I never made it up past her skirt... Damn! Her boyfriend had a grin and after HE BEAT ME... I joked " I see you brought your secret weapon with you." "Honestly," he said, " she's just learning the game and wanted to watch ours."
BP: awesome stuff on the CK! I talked to someone who said 2...c5 is killer against white when white plays 2 f4.
BDK, 2...c5 cannot be a killer. After 3.Nc3 white just has a sicilian GPA with a full extra tempo. Maybe you meant 2...e5 hoping for the blunder 3.fxe?? Qh4+ wins. Or black can go for a sort of Falkbeer 3.Nf3 d5 4.exd e4 with seemingly OK compensation.
katar: right I left out two moves.
It goes
1 e4 c6
2 f4 d5
3 e5 c5!
In practice this scores very well for black, and this is the most common continuation. See Hebert v Davies 1981. This is taken as the standard "refutation" of 2 f4 (note I know that is basically meaningless at my level, but overall 2 f4 scores horribly for white in this line).
Blue Devil Knight said...
katar: right I left out two moves.
It goes
1 e4 c6
2 f4 d5
3 e5 c5!
In practice this scores very well for black, and this is the most common continuation.
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Curious! The 2 online opening databases I consult the most often -- http://chessok.com/?page_id=352 and http://www.365chess.com/opening.php -- list the most common reply by Black after 1.e4 c6 2.f4 d5 3.e5 as being 3...Bf5. (With 173 or 216 games containing 3...Bf5, vs just 24 games with 3...c5.) Is 3...c5 supposed to be much better than 3...Bf5?
-- Hank
Ahh OK. Resembles the "anti-Scandinavian" with a tempo less for black. 1.e4 d5 2.e5? c5 3.f4 also reached by the "Tal gambit" 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.e5?
A 2000 player played the above against me and he got a losing position after 10 moves.
Hank: I should have said 3 e5 is most common continuation, and you are right 3...c5 is not the most common response.
3...c5 is very good for black in the databases. Again, those databases are mostly games from master-level players, so it isn't clear what to make of it. The score doesn't tell you what your plans should be :)
Basically, black doesn't do well when he plays standard Caro developing moves against 2.f4 3. e5. He has to pull the rabbit ...c5 out of his hat. Strangely, that is also a common response in the advance variation of the Caro, but in that variation it doesn't score nearly as well as the f4 variation.
My hunch is people play f4 who like the KG and GPA, but don't read any opening books. That means they are likely dangerous, tactical players so you can't get cocky (at my level) when you see 2 f4. But the really high-level players I've talked to about 2 f4 are like "That's just a positional blunder."
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