ATTACKING PREMATURELY

Junior vs Justin LIM
FLAMES Cup

MERALCO, Pasig City

1 e4 e5
World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals, "These moves both control central squares and open the diagonal for a Bishop."
2 Nc3
In opening theory, this is called the VIENNA GAME. It was named after the city of Vienna, the capital of Austria, whose masters like World Champion Steinitz, Spielmann and Tartakower played the opening with regularity.
2 ... Nc6 3 d3 Nf6 4 Ne2

World Champion Emanuel Lasker in Manual of Chess, which is one of the "Five Best" chess books of all time according to The Wall Street Journal, "Get the knights into action before both bishops are developed."

4 ... Bb4 5 b3 Nd4 6 Bb2

Chernev in Logical Chess, "Develop pieces with a view to controlling the center, either by occupying it or bearing down on it from a distance, as fianchettoed bishops do."

6 ... d6 7 Qd2
Tarrasch in The Game of Chess, "It is best, in the opening, to make but one move with the Queen, and that to a square where she is not exposed to any direct or indirect attack, so especially not to a file in which there is an opposing Rook, no matter how many men may be in between."

7 ... O-O














8 g4???
Reinfeld in The Complete Chess Player, "Don't attack prematurely. An attack should be undertaken, as a rule, only when one's development has been completed or well advanced."
And Weeramantry & Eusebi wrote in Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, "Development is not complete until Rooks ar connected."

Completing one's development before attacking sounds like Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the Kingdom and the righteousness of God and all these things shall be yours as well."

8 ... BxP?

The premature pawn advance created a "hole" on the f3 square which is available for the dark knight. But Justin missed the royal fork and an outright win.

9 h3??? BxN? 10 BxB BxN 11 BxB NxB 12 QxN d5 13 PxP NxP 14 Bb2 Re8 15 O-O-O


15 ... f6 16 h4
Nunn in Secrets of Practical Chess, "The main factor governing the success of an attack on the enemy King is whether you can bring more attacking pieces to bear on his King position than he can muster for the defense."

Thus, a better plan is to bring the Queen and Rooks to the g-file which leads right into the enemy King.
16 ... Re7 17 h5 Qd6 18 h6 g6 19 Rdg1 f5 20 Re1 Nf4














21 QxP??? [0-1]

Shipman in Portable Chess Coach, "Avoid impulsive and snap judgments. A single hasty move can lose a game you spent hours trying to win."

Some classical examples of such blind spots are Alekhine vs Euwe in the 1937 World Championship Match where World Champion Euwe blundered a Knight, Petrosian vs Bronstein in the 1956 Candidates Match where then future World Champion Petrosian blundered a Queen, and Fisher vs Larsen in Santa Monica 1963 where then future World Champion Fischer blundered a Rook.

Will Junior become a World Champion?

The DARK KNIGHT

FLAMES Cup
MERALCO, Pasig City
W: Junior SOL CRUZ
B: Julian SABULARSE

1 e4 e5 2 Nc3
World Champion Emanuel Lasker wrote in Manual of Chess,"Get the N's into action before both B's are developed."

 In opening theory, this is known as the VIENNA GAME. It was named after the city of Vienna in Austria probably because of Wilhelm Steinitz who became the first World Champion and whose game with Lang in Vienna 1860 using these move order was highlighted by a Q sacrifice.

De Firmian wrote in Modern Chess Openings, "The idea behind 2 Nc3 is to develop while leaving open the options of f4 & Qh5 or Qf3."

2 ... Nc6 3 d3
The favorite Vienna set-up of Super-GM Wesley So is 2 Bc4, 3 d3 & 4 Nc3; vs El Taher in Dubai Open 2006, Yang Shen in Asian Individual Championship 2007, Shrestha in MAIG 2007, Mamikonian in World Jr 2007, and Djuraev in World Junior 2008 .

3 ... Nf6 4 Ne2 g6 5 g3 Bg7 6 h3 O-O 7 g4
Reinfeld wrote in The Complete Chess Player, "An attack should be undertaken, as a rule, only when one's development has been completed or well advanced."

7 ... d6 8 g5 Nh5 9 h4 a5 10 Bh3 b5 11 b3 Qe8 12 Bb2
World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca wrote in Chess Fundamentals, "Placed on the long diagonal, the B is posted for its maximum potential control of the central squares as well as eyeing the opposite wing of the enemy's camp."

12 ... Ne7 13 Qd2 Be6 14 f3 Rd8 15 Bg4 f5 16 BxN
Nimzovich wrote in My System, "We exchange in order to seize or open a file or diagonal without loss of time."

16 ... PxB 17 O-O-O
Watson wrote in Mastering The Chess Openings, "One of the most important guidelines in chess is to protect your K from harm."

17 ... Ng6 18 PxP BxP 19 Rdg1 Be6 20 Rf1 Qf7 21 Qe3 Qd7 22 Ng3 Bh3 23 Rf2 NxP 24 NxP Bg2???















25 RxN BxP 26 Nd5??? Rf5??? 27 Ndf6+ Kf8??? 28 NxQ +- [1-0]
Evans wrote in The 10 Most Common Chess Mistakes, "Skill, in fact, might be defined as the ability to exploit the other guy's mistake."

THE TEN MOST COMMON CHESS MISTAKES

by GM Larry Evans
Cardoza Publishing, 2002


For beginners, this book would be an excellent companion to a chess primer. The lessons of bad development, pawn-snatching, etc. could be reinforced with the examples from Evans’ book. The only caveat here is that some of the mistakes reviewed in the book are very subtle and may not be very apparent to the novice. However, even if you don’t attempt to find the answer, just reading Evans’ explanations of why each move is good or bad makes for a worthy learning experience. For more experienced players, the examples are reminders to stay alert and not forget basic ideas in their zest to learn more complex issues such as opening lines or endgame techniques (it is much harder to study calculus if you don't remember your algebra).

Review by Tom Codispoti of www.chessville.com

2nd Casiano Sol Cruz Jr Memorial Cup

Juniors & Seniors Games

MANUAL of CHESS

FIVE BEST

The Wall Street Journal
As of Sat, March 22, 2008

Five Best
These chess books make all the right moves, says Gabriel Schoenfeld
March 22, 2008; Page W10

1. My 60 Memorable Games
By Bobby Fischer
Simon & Schuster, 1969

The great chess books are great less for their prose style than for their insight into the application of highly controlled violence. "My 60 Memorable Games" was written while Bobby Fischer was still on his steep ascent to the world-champion title -- and long before the slide into madness that ended with his death in January. He recounts his eviscerations of some of the most brilliant minds of the mid-20th century. But Fischer was never content with victory alone; he aimed to inflict agony on his opponents -- in his own words, "I like the moment when I break a man's ego." Where did such ferocity come from? Fischer, who never knew his own father, once explained that "children who grow up without a parent become wolves."

2. Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors
By Garry Kasparov
Everyman, 2003-06

Before Garry Kasparov ended his playing career in 2005 to battle for democracy in Russia, he was rightly considered to be the greatest grandmaster of all time. But here he humbles himself charmingly before giants such as world champions Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) and José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942). In this comprehensive study of grandmaster play -- from the "Italian school" of the 16th century to our current postmodern synthesis -- Kasparov aims to connect his forebears' playing style with "the values of the society in which they lived and worked" and the "geopolitical reality" of their respective eras. The result is a work of unparalleled depth, spirit and ambition -- it already stretches into five volumes, and a sixth is on the way.

3. Tal-Botvinnik, 1960
By Mikhail Tal
Russell Enterprises, 1970

How exactly do grandmasters think? Mikhail Tal's account of his struggle for the world championship title nearly a half-century ago is not merely an analysis of 21 thrilling games. It is an intimate view of the chessboard fantasies of a supreme tactical genius. Tal (1936-92) was pitted against Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-95), the world's foremost "scientific" player, the defending title-holder and the dean of the Soviet school of chess. In the resulting clash of styles, Tal prevailed by a convincing margin. His victory was a vindication of unfettered imagination and a demonstration that chess can be scientific only in the way that Soviet socialism was scientific, which is to say not at all.

4. My System
By Aron Nimzowitsch
1925

Aron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935) described "My System" as a "chess manual" based "on entirely new principles." His idea that pawn masses at the center of the board might be a liability -- vulnerable to attack from the flanks -- was revolutionary, toppling verities and generating fierce resistance. "The reward for my new ideas consisted of abuse," he wrote bitterly, "or at best systematic silence." Today, nearly a century later, he would delight to know that his "hypermodern" approach is widely accepted. But if Nimzowitsch's "My System" aimed at rationalizing chess, as the title suggests, its premise was supremely romantic: "For me," he wrote in a characteristic passage, "the passed pawn possesses a soul, just like a human being; it has unrecognized desires which slumber deep inside it and it has fears, the very existence of which it can but scarcely divine."

5. Lasker's Manual of Chess
By Emanuel Lasker
Dutton, 1927

The German mathematician Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) wrote in his "Manual of Chess" that the game "would be laughable, were it not so serious." After decades of studying philosophy, he came to believe that truth could be found only in mathematics and chess. Of the contest of wills between two players manipulating 32 wooden pieces on 64 squares, he wrote: "Lies and hypocrisy do not survive long. The creative combination lays bare the presumption of a lie; the merciless fact, culminating in a checkmate, contradicts the hypocrite." Lasker, a close friend of Albert Einstein's, won the world championship in 1894 and held the title for 27 years, the longest reign so far.

Mr. Schoenfeld, the senior editor of Commentary, is a chess columnist for the New York Sun.

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