Diagram 1
Diagram 2
White's choices of moves in that case were limited to just one move. Having only a single good move to choose from does simplify the selection process quite a bit. What happens, though, when you are faced with more than one choice, more than one good move? Look at the position (Diagram 2), which occurred after the opening moves of 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.Nc3 Bb7 4.a3 g6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Nf3 Ne7 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 d6 9.Re1 c5 10.d5 Nd7 11.Bc2 Nf6. I'm not going to comment on these opening moves, that would be an entire article in itself, but White has reached a position where there are several possibilities. To review, let's do a quick SCAN to see where White stands at this point.
S - Save the King
If we look at the kings, we see that both sides have castled and the relative safety of both kings is the same. Black's castled position is, however, inherently weak. I'm going to come back to this later on and explain why, but for now both kings are safe (Diagram 3).C - Control the Center
White's pawns are dominating the center, but the control is just an illusion. White is bad on the dark squares, a result of playing 10.d5. This poses potential problems for White. In addition, Black's pieces are hitting pretty hard along the a8-h1 and a1-h8 diagonals with the fianchettoed bishops. If Black can open the center to his advantage, then White faces some serious center issues (Diagram 4).
Diagram 3
Diagram 4
A - Analyze the Piece Positions
When we look at Black's side of the board, we see that:1) What to Attack:
A) Unprotected pieces - The b7 bishop is unprotected, but unreachable (Diagram 5).
B) Pieces with only one defender - The bishop on g7, knights on f6 and e7, pawns on a7, d6 and on e6 have only one protecting piece each (Diagram 6). The e6 pawn is a reachable target.
Diagram 5
Diagram 6
C) Key pawns - There are no isolated pawns and the pawn chain of a7-c5 can only be attacked by playing 12.b4. The capture of Black's e6 pawn with 12.dxe6 and could create an unprotected pawn on e6 after the response, 12…fxe6 (Diagram 7). This would further weaken Black's castled position, but would also give Black a half-open file for the rook on f8. The move 12.dxe6 is a possible move and further analysis would be needed to see if it would be the right move or not.
D) Squares on open files or diagonals - The only intrusion into White's space is …Ng4, not much of a threat now, so White has no real need of something like 12.h3. White could play 12.Ba4 (Diagram 8), which would hit at the e8 square.
E) The opponent's King - There is no way for White to attack Black's king directly at this time.
Diagram 7
Diagram 8
The only useful moves to come out of this are the moves 12.dxe6 and 12.Ba4, and before we consider them as candidate moves, we need to finish up the SCAN analysis.
2) How to Defend a Piece - Is Black directly attacking any of White's pieces? The only direct attack is on White's pawn at d5.
A) Is the threat real? - Yes. Black could play 12…exd5, and if White responds with 13.cxd5, Black has a three pawn majority on the queenside. The other option, 13.exd5, opens up the e-file, which is not all that bad as White's bishops get better in fact. However, it still leaves the dark squares in Black's control. This is the part that I don't like.
B) Does it matter? - Tough to call? Maybe. Keep this issue in mind as we look at moves.
C) Decide- White could remove the threat by playing 12.dxe6, with the resulting position (Diagram 7), which stills needs to be examined further.
N - Next Move
What are all the possible moves that White could make here? Start by listing each move and then each can be evaluated on it's own merit. We'll start with the pieces and work down to the pawns.
12.Kh1 or 12.Kf1 - No point in either of these moves. Discard both.
12.Qd2, 12.Qd3 or 12.Qe2 - Again, not much point in any of these either. It's not clear where the queen belongs and I always caution students to hold off on moving their queen this early.
12.Rf1, 12.Re2, 12.Re3, 12.Rb1 or 12.Ra2 - Still no good moves, and 12.Re3 would invite …Ng4.
12.Bd3, 12.Bb3 or 12.Ba4 - Here, the move 12.Ba4 is not without some merit as it hits at the e8 square which would prevent Black from placing a rook here (Diagram 8). Keep this one.
12.Bd2, 12.Be3 - Not much point in either of these.
12.Bf4 - Would leave the piece open to attack with …e5, giving Black solid control of the dark squares, but blocking in his own bishops at the same time. The response …Nh5 could attack the bishop as well. This is a standard developing move, and we could consider this move as a possible candidate.
12.Bg5 - Another standard developing move. It doesn't pin the f6 knight, but it has some value. Keep this as well.
12.Na4 or 12.Nb5 - Neither of which is that good at present.
12.Nd2 or 12.Nh4 - Again, not good.
12.Ng5 - I don't see anything in this move right now.
That pretty much covers the pieces and we have the moves 12.Ba4, 12.Bf4 and 12.Bg5 as possible candidate moves. Now the pawns…
12.a4, 12.b3 or 12.b4 - Look bad at first sight. White really isn't set up for Queenside play.
12.h3 or 12.h4 - The move 12.h3 is timid and does nothing, but 12.h4 looks interesting. The idea of an h4/h5 assault is one that has a certain amount of appeal to it. OK, maybe keep this as a possible move.
12.g3 - No point to that move, and 12.g4 just loses a pawn.
12.e5 - Advancing this pawn would give Black way too many center possibilities. If the center is to be opened, then I don't want Black to pick the method. I want White to keep control, not give it away.
12.dxe6 - This is a possible move, one which we've partly discussed.
We now have the "possible" candidate moves of 12.Ba4, 12.Bf4, 12.Bg5, 12.h4 and 12.dxe6, which are shown (Diagram 9).
Diagram 9
When you are playing a correspondence chess (CC) match, you could easily sit down and work out the lines for each move and find the correct one. Might take a while, but in CC you have the luxury of time. Over the board (OTB), you do not. You may well spend a half hour looking at all of these and calculating variations three or four moves deep, or you could play it safe with a simple developing move, and that might be your worst mistake. Wouldn't it be nice to have a quick way to eliminate all but one (or two), of these moves?
What we need to do when faced with multiple move choices is add one extra step to the "A - Analyze the Piece Positions" stage of SCAN. We need to go back and look at the "structural" nature of the board. The term "structural" is used to define the current setup of each side's pieces and pawns. The structure of each player's position determines how he/she functions in relationship to his/her opponent. Think of it in terms of a medieval castle. If your battlements are sound, you make them even stronger, staying put behind the walls. If your walls have collapsed, then you attack and fight out in the open. I'm not the first to suggest this type of thinking, I've just put the procedure into a format that can be followed by the average player.
A - Analyze the Piece Positions
In addition to "1) What to Attack" and "2) How to Defend a Piece":
3) Structure Advantage. This usually occurs when you are faced with multiple move choices, or have simply run out of "book" moves. Most players in this situation will play any move that"looks" good without structural considerations. Recognize that you need to find out what "type" ofmove you are looking for by analyzing the board's key "structural" points.
Now by "type," I mean moves which either keep the basic structural features from changing (a small developing move of some sort), or a move which changes the structural features enough to allow new options for play. If we look over our candidate moves, we see both types of moves. The first three candidate moves are developing moves which keep the basic structure of the board intact. The major pawn structures are unchanged and no real attacks are made (trade the possible g5 bishop for a knight, with no other compensation?). The last two candidate moves each make a change in the pawn structure (12.dxe6 makes a major change in the center), and hence, the "structural" nature of the board. We need to first find out which type of move we are looking for and then pick the best move from that group.
A) King safety is the #1 priority.
White's king is safe, castled behind his pawns. All the pawns are on their original squares, which is good. Never move any of these pawns unless it's absolutely necessary or unless you can gain a strong attack with the advancement of the g and h-pawns (doesn't happen that often). Black's king is also castled, but his structure has an inherent weakness. If the dark squared bishops are traded off, then there will be holes on the f6 and h6 squares. These holes could be a problem for Black in the event that the dark bishops are removed from the board. Add to that, on 12.dxe6 fxe6, Black's castled structure is compromised. Something to keep in mind for the future. Both kings are safe at the moment, so I don't give either side the advantage at this stage of the analysis (Diagram 10).
Diagram 10
One other point needs to be made here with respect to the king's position. Any concrete weakening of a player's king would necessitate the exchange of the queens. This would be required to eliminate the greatest possible threat to a poor "king" position. After the exchange, you would need to evaluate the position again.
B) Material advantages. Is either side ahead in material?
No captures have been made at this time, so material is even. The material issue can be minor (the difference of a single pawn), to major (down the exchange of pieces), to critical (down a whole piece). Each situation is different, but a good rule of thumb would be:
The side which is down in material needs to consider aggressive play until the balance has been restored.
C) Pawn structures. Look for strengths and weaknesses in the overall pawn formations of both sides. The side with the better pawn structures has the advantage (all other things being equal).
This is where the real nature of positional play stems from. The pawn structures control more than just space, they control how that space is being used by both sides. The positive and negative aspects of each pawn structure must be considered as a unit and then as part of the overall whole.
- Positive pawn structures. Protected passed pawns, pawn majority in the center, pawn majority on the queenside (this can be a decisive factor), or a half-open file outpost (an outpost is a square on a half-open file in front of an enemy pawn, situated on the 6th rank for White [3rd rank for Black]).
- Negative pawn structures. Doubled and tripled pawns (except in special situations), pawns islands, hanging pawns, weak squares (a square is called "weak" when it cannot bedefended by pawns, and when it can be occupied by the opponent's pieces), isolated pawns, backward pawns, or a group of weak squares of one color.
- Center space. Center control determines who can get from point "a" to point "b" the quickest. When the center is not fixed (fluid), it is difficult to analyze the overall effect of the center pawn structures.
- Bad pieces. This factor is directly linked with the pawn structures. In general, a piece may be considered bad when it's position cannot be improved in the next move or so.
Diagram 11
Diagram 12
Black's side of the board looks much better. His a7-c5 pawn chain is working just fine. The supportive d6 pawn adds strength to the grouping, but might need attention later on. There is a remote possibility that some pawn exchanges could leave the d-pawns on both sides isolated (very remote). The only real downside to Black's pawn structures are the e6 and f7 pawns. These pawns are the only weak spot that Black has at present (Diagram 12).
As to the pieces and how they relate to the pawn structures, White's pieces are not that functional. The c2 bishop has no real purpose, the c1 bishop has only f4 and g5 as possible locations, and the knights are just sitting there with nothing to do. White's a1 rook is dormant in the corner. White's queen and e1 rook are lined up on the center, but are doing nothing aggressive. Black's pieces, on the other hand, are very functional. With the ability to put pressure on the center (control of d4 and e5), and better movement of rooks, Black only needs to open up the center and clear lines of attack to get his game rolling along. Since Black has the better pawns overall, and his pieces are better at this point, I'd have to give Black the structural advantage. This doesn't mean that Black is winning, only that his setup is currently looking better than White's. Remember, this step doesn't determine which side is winning the game, but is used to determine the "type" of move that you need to look for.
The last step is to determine the type of move that we are looking for.
D) Move Type. Is determined on the structural evaluation.
- If you have the better structure, then don't mess that up. Look for a move that keeps your structure basically unchanged. Look for a simple developing move which improves your piece placement.
- If your structure is worse, then look for a move that will cause changes in the structures.
In this position, I determined that White was structurally worse, so I wanted a move that would make changes in the structures and allow for new options. Now go to the "N - Next Move" stage of SCAN.
What are the candidate moves that fit the bill? Of the five candidate moves, only 12.h4 and 12.dxe6 make the required changes to the structures (Diagram 13). The move 12.h4 really doesn't do anything except weaken the structure around White's king. That leaves us with only one remaining candidate move, 12.dxe6 (this now supports the possible "decision" in Step 2C). After the sequence 12.dxe6 fxe6, what has changed? I've done another quick SCAN (Diagram 14), to see if this has helped White's game.
Diagram 13
Diagram 14
S - Both kings are still currently safe, but Black's castled position has been compromised. A plus for White.
C - The center has become fluid again. Black now has the f-file for use. Control will be decided in the upcoming moves and White has to continue to play aggressively.
A - Black has several pieces up for grabs, namely the pawn at e6. White can follow up with 13.Ng5 and threaten to capture this pawn. An idea worth pursuing. White can also play Nb5 and get somewhere with the attack on the d6 pawn, depending on how Black handles the e6 pawn. By pushing the e4 pawn, White gets the full use of both the b1-h7 and c1-h6 diagonals for the bishops. Black's attempts at opening up the center will have to wait as Black will be on the defensive, answering White's threats.
N - White's possible next moves of 13.Ng5/14.Nb5/15.e5 forces the play, which is what I'm looking for.
All of this means that 12.dxe6, is the correct move. There are times when you will have a number of moves to choose from during a game and steps 1 through 3 under "Analyze the Piece Positions" will usually narrow it down to a single move.
The actual game continued with:
12.dxe6! fxe6 13.Ng5 Bc8 14.Nb5 Ne8 15.e5 d5 16.cxd5 exd5 17.e6 Nd6 18.Nxd6 Qxd6 19.Nf7 Qc6 20.Qg4 a5 21.Qh4 Ra7 22.Nh6+ Kh8 23.Bg5 Re8 24.Bxe7 Raxe7 25.Bxg6! (this move was covered in the last article) 25…Rxe6 26.Bxe8 Rxe8 27.Nf7+ Kg8 28.Rxe8+ Qxe8 29.Nd6 Qf8 30.Nxc8 Qxc8 31.Re1 Qd7 32.Qg5 Kf7 33.Qh5+ Kf8 34.Qxh7 Qg4 35.h3 Qg5 36.Re3 and Black resigned. 1-0
How long did it take, using SCAN, to find the correct move during the game? To be honest, it took about ten minutes to find and confirm 12.dxe6, and to look at moves 13 through 15. The only variable that I had to contend with was Black's answer to 13.Ng5, and there was no need to deal with that until it actually happened.
As a side note, this is the type of position where computers can make mistakes. Put in the position after 11…Nf6 into any playing program and see what happens.