Chess Position Practice #4: Candidate Moves

[CerebralAssassin1983]

wooo....I got the Rybka move :) can't believe it :p

[MrPelotinha]

what if Qg3 was to be played, forcing the queens trade then Rxg3 he should respond Re8, Rf1. that would put a lot of pressure in the pawn. if he takes the pawn on e2 I would trade my bishop and when Rxe2, fxg6. Would that be any good?

[Wuzzysbrand06]

For some reason the first thing I thought of was Ra1-f1...kinda seemed logical to me :)

[Rufus702]

I'd start by f takes g6. If then f7 takes g6 I move Qfg6 kicking Q on f4. I will then develop my rooks into a more active position by Rad1 then d6. This allows then Rgg6 placing my rooks on the 6th rank.

[GLowMat]

I thougt about Rg2, getting ready to double up the rooks, when the black rook is still under attack.

[surfinsquirrel2008]

Nice vid....I also decided on fxg5. Looked at Rg5 for about 2 secs, but saw no advantage (didn't think to double rooks).. Didn't think of Rf1 at all...

[UnholyMasterOfMetal]

I came up with the GM move. Yay.

[dipbabu]

Nice idk why.. but I came up with the computer move ...

[goodderf]

Interestingly my first thought was Rook to g5, but I thought that it gave black a beat.

[nikobrown1990]

the move that jumped out at me first would be moving white queen to g3, offering queen trade. if accepted then the black queen could be taken with which g1 rook, bringing it forward for the a1 rook to slip in behind but at the same time having the a8 rook still under attack from the white bishop (which could also be taken if the black player declines the queen trade) this could lead to the advance of the f5 pawn to either g6 or f6, covered by the rook that took the queen if queen trade accepted.

[Nemesishk]

that was the only move that i thought good enough - Rf1 :)

[Entela96]

WHat programs where you using in this video

[jrobichess]

Aquarium with Rybka 3.

[tave2344]

are there any chess resources, for us mac users on your site?

[jrobichess]

Unfortunately no - all PC here. But if you know of a good one that is more than just playing against a computer (i.e. PGN database functions, engines, etc) let me know and I will add it to the site.

[luciferlocke]

@jrobichess -Not sure if you're still interested, since that comment's a year old now, but SigmaChess for Mac is great - strong engine and full featured front end - and it's free.

[KungFuBlitzKrieg]

What about rook takes pawn on g6 check? Then pawn takes rook, pawn takes pawn, King takes pawn, Queen to g2 check, King moves, bishop takes rook on a8. Of course, the King does not have to take the pawn on g6 I guess. I just thought it was a cool tactical move, but in the end I am not sure it would work out. What do you think?

[smatba3]

my first move was moving the rook up which i was pleased to find out at the end of the video was the computer move :-)

[lilaziz3]

Hey jrobichess. I was wondering what other program/software i could use instead of Rybka to get the best move possible.

[jrobichess]

I have a list of chess resources on my personal site. Thanks for checking out the vid!

[lilaziz3]

what software/program do you use that figures out the best move possible?

[pallybynight]

I had a couple of canidates here...

The most obvious move is Rg5 guarding the hanging pawn and clogging blacks king side pawn island quite nicely.

If this was a blitz game I would most likely go with a5. Simply because It would take black at least a little thinking time to work out what threat that flank pawn would bring. And if he ignored it could lock down that rook with that pawn sitting securely on b7.

I also liked e4 to help break up blacks pawn structure. Then I changed mymind

[dhundupdolker]

computer played my move lol

[shinta4ever]

I really enjoy your vBlogs. I think they really help me think about positions and the openings lines are a great tool. I have Chessmaster 9000, but I think it lacks opening line explanation which you do well. Waitzkin does a great job at explaining the mid to end game. I also love the trap vidz. Keep up the good work. I plan on finishing all your vidz!

[SaddestSound]

One thing to keep in mind is that computers have incredible tactical strength but they suffer strategically. Playing with the King's Indian Attack or the Caro-Kann defense against a computer gives you a lot of chances because you can accomplish all of the subtle manuevering that closed positions require that the computer cannot. That being said, I don't think Rybka had more of a plan than just a draw, and it's important to remember that computers do not always find the best or most dynamic moves

[jrobichess]

Prior to Kasparov's vs. Deep Blue, I would totally agree with you. Nowadays, unless the GM is given odds (as in extra material) the top engines seem to be unstoppable when playing human opponents. They do a lot more now than just fight for a draw.

That being said, I agree to a point about your distinction between tactics and strategy, but there's no question that computers nowadays play a huge role in training. Top level players use them to work on opening ideas, post analysis etc.

[SaddestSound]

You are right, they do play a huge role in training. I myself love playing against computers to steel myself, to force me to play like a computer, because if you make tactical mistakes, the computer will really punish you for it. I have also been in numerous games with Fritz, in a very closed position out of the King's Indian, where Fritz did not know what to do and just moved rooks back and forth while I set up piece combinations. It's that inability to form a plan, that computers need.

[DriftingAimlessly]

I've watched all your vids now. You do a great job of explaining your thought process not only in the games but also regaurding your study of chess in general. Your vids are very helpfull and informative so, thank you and keep up the good work!

[jrobichess]

Thanks DriftingAimlessly!

[YhinaPlay]

Great video

[numbcore]

my first thought was same as the computer move :P

[markfitz93]

i got it

[jrobichess]

Nice catch markfitz93!

[jakedocsnake1]

hi thanks for the lesson,for me i think,rg5 is the best move.thanks

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking out the vid jakedocsnake1 - glad to hear you got it!

[shedless]

hey, I got Rg5! thanks for the instruction.

[jrobichess]

Good catch!

[ralphdowneyiii]

I appreciate the hard work into this series. Another helpful lesson.

RDIII

[jrobichess]

Thanks!

[bullrock74]

Nice video, but it seemed a bit rushed...why not post on a chess-based website where you can take your time with your presentations?

[quickstrike93]

vesselin topalov-greatest player ever

bulgaria is so beautiful

[jrobichess]

I am looking forward to the Topalov / Anand match coming up later this year for the world championship match. I think Topalov has a very good chance winning. Thanks for checking out the vid!

[csritchie]

Great series. Very well done. You present well. You provide detailed explanations, and you offer excellent insight.

[jrobichess]

Thanks csritchie - I appreciate the feedback!

[nebulous87]

i had the same move pawn g6.

[LinkFreak01]

I would have play Qg3, this way queen cant take the pawn on f5, cuz the bishop would take rook..... but in that line it would have end up in a queen trade

[jboogie713]

i second that. i was thinking the same thing the whole time

[Kaintyrant]

Rg5 was the first move I considered, so I'm happy it had some merit. My reasons for playing Rg5 were a) threatening Qg2 immediately, forcing Black to do something about the double attack of my Queen, b) supporting the pawn on f5 and c) preparing to double up rooks on the g-file - something which would give me prospects of an attack or penetration of the Black position later, possibly after a Queen trade.

My engine evaluates the position after Rg5 as 0.12 better for Black. Thanks for the video!

[Chick6517]

Hmm interesting video I might say. haha cool video. you should make more. try adding more effects?

[idlenessss]

Quickly seeing that black has perfectly good places to move his rook on a8 i dismissed any lines involving unpinning the bishop. I considered fg, which seemed logical, since the pawn was weak i wanted to trade it off. But i was actually concerned about black playing fg, opening the f file where my queen and bishop feel vulnerable and creating threats of Bxe2 or Bd5.. I actually missed that i would have qg2. i then actually started looking at Rg5 and settled on that as the best move

[Davisdigi]

you need to make more video's like this. they're awesome!

I also considered e4, but i probably would have played:

Qg2 Rd8

Qg5+ Qxg5

hxg5+ K..7 Rad1

[hayeder]

@ 9:36 why doesn't black capture the bishop witht he pawn? Black's bishop is protecting the f7 square form mate and surely a pawn and the ensuing checks is a good trade for a bishop???

[Nikronius]

Because it is at 9:24 when the bishop is moved. and the only one that can take that bishop is the pawn which if he moves it opens the g file allowing Qg7#... what black did was moving the rook up to e5 threatening the bishop with his rook.

[hayeder]

yes but it is no longer mate as the white rook recaptured on f1, which would leave the queen en prise if it were to move to g7. After looking a few moves deeper black would loose a rook and a pawn for the white bishop, which is obviously not good. so it wouldn't be the move to play, but not for the reason you stated

[Nikronius]

again... the problem is that when white moved Bxh5 there was a threat of mate at Qg7... AFTER the exchange of rooks still taking the bishop with the pawn ends up in mate at Qg7, so black attacks the bishop with the rook at ...Re5, because he would lose if he takes with the pawn so he wants to take it with the rook instead. If that is not clear then thats it, Jrobic explains the same thing at 9:23. It should be clear.

[totempoll27]

check mate with Qg7

[Devilsnightforlife]

Interesting.

A bit sad you only upload videos once in a while but we cant have chess on our minds every day and who has time anyways.

Yet again, a fine video, sir.

[jrobichess]

Thanks Devil - they should be rolling out a bit more frequently now. I spent some time adding an endgame practice section to my personal site that people can practice staple endgame patterns against the computer right from the web page. That took a bit of time to do but it's pretty much done now. Thanks for checking out the vid!

[cstinlay]

First time in all of your vids like this I played the Grandmaster line.

Thanks for your help J.

[jrobichess]

That's great cstinlay - glad to hear it!

[Tiwaking]

I didnt even realize that the pinned bishop was attacking the rook. I only came up with two lines

Rg5 (Same as the computer) and e4, which is a terrible move. fxg6 didnt seem to be a good option straight away because he has too many defences on g5

[boulderbum7]

If fxg6, how would you respond to the pressure created by fxg6 on the part of black? All of a sudden you'd have a rook supporting the queen and staring down the f file with the looming threat of bd5 and the second rook making its way over.

My first inclination was what was played (raf1), but I didn't see it out to its conclusion.

[Deepia28]

if white starts by moving the queen to g3 what can black possibly do because he then has to decide on either saving the rook or the queen.

[jrobichess]

Black takes the queen, and after white recaptures black can put the rook onto E8 or even D8 and begin to take advantage of the position.

For instance: 30. Qg3 Qxg3

31. Rxg3 Rad8 32. Rag1 Rd6 33. Rg5 Re8 34. e4 Rd3

[ChrisTheGreenMage]

Great video, I saw the queen over to g2 and rook to the open file as a different line.

Is there any chance you can do a video on a pawn game? I'm not doing so well with my pawns lately. Thanks

Also, do you recomend getting Bobby Fischers my 60 most memorable games?

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking out the vid Chris! I am planning on doing more about pawns in the future so stay tuned. As for the book, you should check out my video called "Rare Chess Book Find" and that should answer your question.  =)

[Myleanne14]

I have carried out some work on your vid, i could not get PGN from your website, so i just copied the position into my own engine. Best, keep up the novel ideas for vids.

[jrobichess]

Great vid response Myleanne14! I have placed the full PGN now on my blog, so if you would like to have the entire game it's there now. Take care and thanks for checking out the vid!

[tlnelson1]

At 9:31, how is that checkmate? I played that through and it wasn't checkmate.

[tlnelson1]

Nvm

[Deepia28]

I would have gone with Qg3 for white as his first move why didn't any one suggest that?

[jrobichess]

It's definitely an option, but it's the nasty rook placed on E8 again that begins to swing things black's way in terms of positional strength. Thanks for checking out the vid!

[kris10paige]

in the play by the computer 8:26 , you could have save your Qf2 if you played the pf3 first. that would leave you with your Qf3 attacking Ra8 & ph5...did i miss something there?

[topshonuff]

I say black has the advantage.. Continue--- black takes white bishop at H5.. Black has a skewer attack with the black bishop attacking white queen and king on G2.. Good video

[yaerav]

I went with Rg5, but was not really able to see the continuation.

Anyway, nice video!

[jrobichess]

Good catch yaerav - thanks for checking out the vid!

[ggaeta91]

Loved the video and the series. By all means, keep it up!

[jrobichess]

Thanks ggaeta91!

[jimijimi3]

I played Rf4

[maddawg1235294]

nice will help i am doing a semester class of chess this year

[jrobichess]

Awesome maddawg - you teaching or taking the class yourself?

[maddawg1235294]

i am taking the class along with 9 other people

[SoulObject]

Feedback on the seires: excellent!

My choice for the first move was the same as the computer, but I did not see far enough ahead to make it work, as I expected a different outcome.

Keep these coming, man. They're great.

[jrobichess]

Thanks SoulObject - I appreciate the feedback!

[Cardcontroller94]

I made the same move as Arronain (sp most likely) though the continuing line was different from the one i imagined.

[jrobichess]

That's great Cardcontroller94! Thanks for checking out the vid!

[agmm1985]

i´ve played e4, but i guess it would have been the same result as e3

[jrobichess]

Pretty similar, a pawn is taken on A4 by black after 30. e4 Rad8 31. Rad1 Rxd1 32. Rxd1 Bb3 33. Qd2 Qxd2 34. Rxd2 Bxa4.

That bishop is nicely placed in the initial position.

[thunderhead27]

Very interesting video

This one surely did catch my eye

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking it out thunder!

[Vonzi0000]

I would have played Raf1 too.

[jrobichess]

Good catch Vonzi0000!

[jrobichess]

Good catch Dynamite8888!

[jrobichess]

Thanks alec3232!

[cnazario10]

Hi all white moves...

fxg6

g7

Rg5

R1g1

[Royalemperorblue]

Wow, I actually got the Grand Master move for once. That's a good sign. Hey jrobi, what's your ELO rating on FICS and at your club?

[jrobichess]

No ELO yet - planning on doing official tournaments this summer so will be blogging about it then. For my online rating I generally default to my last game vid - thanks for checking out this one!

[halamantariel]

If I had been in this situation in a game, I probably would have played Queen to G3. I'm not too sure how this would turn out in the long run, but I think it puts pressure on the black queen AND the rook on A8.

Black couldn't really take the unprotected pawn because he'd lose the rook, he couldn't move the rook away from danger or he'd lose the queen. He probably would've gone for the queen trade I think. If he doesn't you have a menacing attack on the pawn on G6.

Am I missing something?

[jrobichess]

Queen to G3 is definitely an option. The computer seems to favor black after several moves, but it takes it 13 moves to win a pawn beginning with 30. Qg3 QxG3 31. RxG3 RaD8 32. RaG1 Rd6 33. Kg2 Bb3 34. RG5 Bc2 35. FxG6 FxG6 36. Kg3 BxA4

[theoriginalanomaly]

fxg is what I came up with as the best. I see I was wrong.

[Kroytz1]

Jrobi, on Rybka 3 [ I have Deep Rybka 3 ], where do you go to see the how points are favoring which side?

[jrobichess]

It has a + or - score right where it puts the line recommendation. + is good for white (1.0 would be equivalent of a pawn, etc) and - is better for black.

[GreenCastleBlock]

At 10:02 instead of Rg2, White can play Rg5 Bxe2 Rxh5+ Kxg7 Rg1+ Kf6 Rh6+ Qxh6 Bc6+ Ke2 Qxe2+ Qe6 Qxe6+ fxe6 Bxe8 Rxg1+ Kxg1 Kxe8 Kf2 (all forced) but it turns out this pawn ending is drawn. I wonder if the players saw this?

[jrobichess]

Nice line recommendation Castle!  Maybe it was thought of in the game but the potential draw took it off Aronian's list. Would be nice to know, though. Thanks for checking out the vid!

[cubestack]

I got the initial moves of the rybka3 line:) Anyway, great video jrobi!

[jrobichess]

Good catch cubestack! Thanks for checking out the vid!

[KazaBullx]

Ohhh, was debating between which rook to move to f1...but I've been distracted by some crazy malware that found my computer....I'll probably take another look at it later, but I just can't resist when I see a new video posted!

[jrobichess]

Malware is annoying .... hope you get it cleared up!

[ArtThroughtheAges]

the Rg5 really does spark out, doesn't it. Me, too.

But then, I liked the Qg3 Qxf5,Qg5+QxQ,PxQ+...(is the Rook up for grabs, here?)

On the other hand, if you're so brave as to poke the bear with f5xg6? then the reply f7xg6 connects the Q with R and that's really going to pressure White.

Is e2e4 so bad? I mean, it seems like the obvious g6xf5, Qg3 QxQ, RxQ....hmmmm.

Maybe not. Yeah, I like that Qg3 right off, too. the connected Ps are pretty good looking, eh?

[jrobichess]

The connected pawns definitely caught my eye when I was thinking about it. But that rook bearing down that file didn't seem too good with the bishop where it was. Thanks for the comments and checking out the vid!

[writetokinshuk]

Hi..Nice Video...I thought of a new line:

fxg6 fxg6

Rxg6 Kxg6

Qg2+ Kh6 or Kh7

Bxa8 and black is down a pawn..

What do you think? did I miss anything?

[jrobichess]

That appears to definitely be a playable line writetokinshuk! The extra pawn seems to get snagged back by black with QxA4 but it's still an equal position in terms of positional strength, meaning that it's definitely a solid option. Excellent line idea!

[Syncdev]

I played rybkas move, I thought it would be good since you cant easily evict the rook, and you can protect your g pawn.

[jrobichess]

Good catch!

[bored719]

Rook G5 was the first move I saw...but I am by no stretch of the imagination good haha

[jrobichess]

Nice catch!

[karibola]

I never even considered Rg5. My final decision was to go with Rf1, so that was a success in my mind. these videos are great, thanks.

[jrobichess]

Definitely - great decision. White ended up winning the game. Thanks for checking out the vid!

[bored719]

I missed you Jrobi!!

[midasfan8888]

Nice!

[jrobichess]

Thanks midasfan8888! What did you end up settling on?

[midasfan8888]

What do you mean?

[jrobichess]

Just the move you picked while watching - thanks for checking out the vid!

[AndyMH182]

pro

[jrobichess]

Thanks for checking it out AndyMH182!