The good player is always lucky. This famous quote attributed to the third World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca means that one way or another, the stronger player will always find a way to scape and get a good result. We see it all the time in tournament practice or even casual play against experienced players. One of the main qualities of a strong player is the resistance they put when they are under pressure.
“I don’t believe in fortresses.” – Magnus Carlsen
I understand Carlsen’s famous quote, not at face value, but rather as an understanding of chess’s nearly infinite possibilities. Carlsen himself has shown in a lot of his games and how seemingly easily drawn games can be won by finding hidden resources in the position.
Still, fortresses do exist in chess. Even Carlsen himself has stumbled upon one or two in his career. Perhaps the costliest one was in the fourth game of the match with Karjakin, when in a relatively easily won position he allowed Karjakin to build one. Later in the match, the missed chances of an early lead could have cost Carlsen dearly.
The hanging pawns structure is a very common one in the chess game. By definition, we call hanging pawns when there are two pawns joint together but isolated from the rest of the pawn chain. They are usually on the fourth rank; if found already beyond they are no longer hanging, but two very dangerous passed pawns! Just like the Isolated Queens Pawn structure, the hanging pawns have a similar character. They can be very strong or they can be a target for the opponent. It all depends on the dynamic factors of the position.
One of the most important tasks every chess player needs to do in order to improve his level is to analyze carefully his own games, regardless of the result. Analyzing your own games has existed since forever. Mikhail Botvinnik was one of the most notable world champions to recommend this practice as the essence of chess improvement. If we look back to the days when it was possible to adjourn games, chess players spent nights and days analyzing a position.
Typical maneuvers that every chess player must know. The Isolated Central Pawn or IQP (isolated queen’s pawn) is one of the classic structures that every player must learn how to play with both sides. It is a unique structure with established characteristics and plans of playing with it or against it. Part of the chess mastery is to know what to do in both situations and how to asses correctly these type of positions.
Improving at chess takes a lot of hard work and determination. You must study a lot, solve many exercises and memorize openings. This may sound boring, but it doesn’t have to be like that. You have to keep yourself entertained, so to speak, in order to keep your focus and interest in what you are doing.
A good way of changing the routine and learn something new or simply consolidate the information you have been accumulating over your training sessions is to see games of the strong players, especially those of the classics’.
The pawn structure in the diagram above is very familiar in chess practice. It can arise from openings like Slav and Semi Slav, Alekhine, Scandinavian, French and of course Caro Kann, the latter being the most common source of appearance. The special thing about such structure is that although white has more space, black is rock solid and his plans are very clear. Such a scenario always produces tense positional battles where both players need to understand the demands of the position and know well what the typical plans to follow are.
The question that gives the title to this article is one of those to which every chess player has his own opinion and answer. It is an extremely complicated matter. Sometimes we are in a tournament situation where the full point is the only acceptable result. The most common reasons are the chase for a norm, a title, or worthy prize money. It is never clear what advice to give when someone asks “how do I win tomorrow?” which should be translated into “how do I avoid getting drawn” or “how do I create more winning chances”. The practice has shown many examples by World Champions on what their approach to must-win games is. In this article, we will discuss them as well as the openings that can be considered to play in such games.
One of the most difficult things to measure in chess is progress. No matter how much you train at home, how confident you are or how many blitz games you win online it is the tournaments that will put a note on your efforts. As explained in several previous articles, improvement relies on many different qualities, not only on well-sharpened skills but also on a strong mind, capable of overcoming any difficult situation that may arise. It is hard to imagine that one can achieve success at a tournament without having previously worked hard in a consistent way.
Getting a good positional understanding is an important step to improving your play and becoming a stronger player. Studying the basic themes, seeing the positional masterpieces played by the great players and solving many exercises can help you in this direction. One of the most important concepts, which appears in probably every single game is weaknesses and understanding how to identify and use them in your advantage. Not only this, but you have to also try to create as little as possible in your position and know how to get rid of them if you have any.