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Ask the Tiger
with GM Nigel Davies
April 6th, 2003
Your chance to pick the brain of one of the world's leading GMs, chess
teachers, and authors!
Learn
more about Nigel's teaching philosophy and check out his very
reasonable rates. Visit his website,
Tiger Chess, loaded with instructional articles.
Ask the Tiger Your
Question Now!
------------------------
Q: My question is: is there any benefit in trying to solve
chess problems
just looking at them on the book itself or should I try them on the board?
My very best regards, Balkan Jundiai - SP - Brazil
A: If they're fairly lightweight problems try solving them from the book as
it's
messy and time consuming to set them up on a board. But if you want to
analyze a position which doesn't have a straightforward answer, it might be
as well to use a board and pieces.
------------------------
Q: I play the line 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. e5 c5, 5. a3 Bxc3+,
6. bxc3 Qc7, 7. Nf3 b6, as black, but after 8. Bb5+ Bd7, 9. Bd3 I find it
difficult to see a convincing plan.
      
   
 
    
I don't like to play ... c4, and ...f6 seems some way off.
What should black be trying to do in this position other than engineering
... f6? – Alexander, England
A: The idea of ...c4 and ...Ba4 is quite a key one in the Winawer and it
looks
appropriate here. It restricts White's dark-squared bishop, ties him down to
the c2 pawn and makes Black's king much more secure on the queenside. If you
definitely want to play for ...f6 you might be better off with the lines
following 7...Ne7.
-------------------------
Q: What ever happened to Tim Harding's daily chess newsletter? Subscribers
used to get it daily, then it began to have a lot more advertising on it,
and then I stopped getting it. Did it cost too much? Become too much of a
burden to produce? Harding happens to be one of my favorite chess authors;
he gives great practical advice. Thanks, Wayne
A: I suggest going direct to the horse's mouth -
editor@chessmail.com.
I suspect that life got in the way - it probably took quite a while to put
together.
---------------------------
Q: What do you think of the "Killer Grob" opening (1.g4)? Thanks!
Tim Brennan, Denver CO, USA
A: I don't think it's very good objectively - pawns can't move backwards
and White's kingside is immediately rendered less habitable for his king.
Of course Black shouldn't treat it with contempt or feel he has to punish
White immediately for any perceived 'insult'.
----------------------------
Q A friend of mine and I was discussing about minority attack in chess.
Could you please try to explain what does this concept mean and how useful
it can be? Thanks in advance. Warmest regards, Balkan Jundiai - SP -
Brazil
A: "The so-called minority attack is a procedure by which one uses a pawn
lever in order to render a half open file fully open. It is most commonly
associated with the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined:
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 cxd5 exd5 and now 5 Bg5 Be7 6 e3 0-0 7 Bd3 Nbd7
8 Qc2 c6 9 Nf3 Re8 10 0-0 Nf8 is typical...
...in which White aims to pry open the c-file with the
advance b2-b4-b5."
Nigel Davies in "The Power-Chess Program: Book 1",
signed
copies being available from me for the knock-down price of £10 plus postage.
-----------------------
Q: What exactly a combination is? Just a series of moves which leads to
gaining a piece? My very best regards! Balkan Jundiai - SP -
Brazil
A: There have been a number of attempts to define this over the years. I've
always liked Botvinnik's definition: "A combination is a forced variation
with sacrifice". This distinguishes it from a mere 'forced variation'
which has no sacrifice or 'intuitive sacrifices' which have no forced
variation.
----------------------
Q: Lisa Lane was once the USA women's chess champion. Whatever happened to
her? where is she today? - no name or location given
A: I have no idea!
-----------------------
Q: I have read chess for dummies and my rating is about 1000 are there any
books that you recommend that can give me a a boost in my rating?
- no name or location given
A: I wouldn't count on any single book doing the trick. It's good to play a
lot and if you study focus on tactics and endgames.
-----------------------
Q: A friend and I were playing and ran into this problem - I made a move to
capture his queen and at the same time unknowingly put him in check. He
moved to save his queen. Then when it was my turn again, I happened to
notice the check from last turn. What's the right move now? Does he have
to move his queen back and save his king? Thanks! - Dave Nash
A: It depends if you're playing the 'touch move' rule. If so, and he has a
legal move with the queen (e.g. capturing the checking piece) he has to move
the queen.
-----------------------
Q: It is very well know that studying master games is one of the main
important ways to improve the play. Could you describe how to study a
master game in order to get the most of it. Kind regards, Alfredo Lido
-Buenos Aires, Argentina
A: There are several ways to do it. One is to play through
the whole thing
at speed; a more effective but more time consuming way is to cover the moves
of the game up and try and guess them one by one. If your guess doesn't
agree with the master's actual move you might want to study the position and
try to figure why it is that he played as he did.
------------------------
Q: Most questions are on improvement, but mine is on the opposite.
What are some good ways to get worse at chess? - Thomas Brown
A: Drink 3 bottles of whisky a day and cease all chess
activity for six months;
when you come back you should be a lot worse.
Editor's note: This one is too easy: He should
start his own chess website. He'll never have time to study again.
-------------------------
Q: My, question is, how do I win a game if my opponent uses the French
opening. I am having a lot of difficulty with this, and although to dominate
the center of the board is the rule I can not seem to block attacks, or
avoid his, or her aggressive and affective attacks. I am slowly
gaining some ground by trial and error, but there has to be a rule of thumb
to follow, a basic and simple rule to follow that I am not aware of. It
would be appreciated if you could shine some light on this problem I am
having. Sincerely, Wayne Hollands
A: It sounds as if you are gradually gaining experience in
French 'structures'
(White pawns on d4 and e5 vs Black ones on d5 and e6) but the process could
be accelerated by playing through some nice master games in this opening.
Sergei Dolmatov is very good in these positions, as is Britain's Nigel
Short. White's main pawn lever is f2-f4-f5 but it would be a gross
oversimplification to say that this was his 'plan'.
An alternative approach would be to avoid the French 'structure' by opening
the game up. After 1.e4 e6 you could play either 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 or 2.c4 (d5
3.exd5 exd5 4.cxd5).
---------------------------
Q: My 8 years old son started playing chess last summer and made a very
good progress. We all understand that Tactics is most important thing!
Here is a question for you: My son has read and done a lot of Tactics
exercises including studying CT-ART 3.0. He can fairly easily complete these
quizzes, but he still missed a lot of very simple tactics (fork, pin, two
move checkmate, etc) in his games. Is that normal? How can he use his chess
tactics knowledge in his real games? Your answer would be greatly
appreciated!!! Oliver
A: Yes, it's quite normal that he shouldn't see everything and I wouldn't
look for any direct application of this newly acquired tactical knowledge.
Good chess consists of many different types of thinking; don't forget about
the importance of endgames and simple strategic concepts such as fast
development, control of the centre etc.
----------------------------
Q I am interested in investing some time and money in this addicting
sport. I am also thinking about paying for a coach. I want to know...Is
it really worth it? I know this might sound very frugal of me but before I
jump on the tournament scene I want to know how deep the waters are. What I
really want to know...
Do professional players make a lot of money on chess? If you could give me a
couple of OTB player examples. I also heard that masters don't get that much
either. And is it possible to be a master at 20? Or is this sport just
good for juniors? Thank You, Michael, USA
A: I take the view that if people have enough time they can study the best
books, play lots of tournaments and they will become stronger. Having said
that a lot of learning in chess tends to be trial and error unless you have
someone to help facilitate and guide the learning process. So to answer the
first part of your question, I think it depends largely on how highly you
value your time.
As far as rewards are concerned, chess isn't a massively lucrative field of
endeavour unless you get to be one of the very top players. So even for
juniors to have coaching it's probably a bad investment risk if eventual
financial reward is the only motive. Having said that people can
improve their game at any age and get pleasure and satisfaction from doing
so. And youngsters can learn many things from chess that are often difficult
to get across in a traditional schoolroom setting, such as fairness,
patience and
concentration.
Last but not least, I don't think chess is a sport no matter how
'politically incorrect' that makes me. Chess is chess!
- GM Nigel Davies,
Tiger Chess
Ask the Tiger Your
Question Now!
[Index of Ask the Tiger Columns]
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