Chess Teaching » Opening

Aseev – Bagirov 1989

Chess Teacher — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 10:52:37 +0000

The game between Konstantin Aseev (2520) and Vladimir Bagirov (2475) played in Leningrad 1989 is one of the games that perfectly illustrates some of the main concepts of the endgame with bishops of opposite colour.

Bishops_Endgame

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 The Ruy Lopez 3... Nd4 This variation is called the Bird’s defence.

( Instead of this variation most of the time something like 3... a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 is played. )

4.Nxd4 exd4 5.Bc4 ( 5.O-O is played more frequently, but White has a lot of good alternatives like c3, d3 or Bc4. )

5… Nf6 6.O-O Nxe4 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qd5+ Kg7 10.Qxe4 Qf6 11.d3 Bc5 12.Nd2 Rf8 13.Nf3 h6 14.b3 Bb6 15.Bb2

These are probably the most logical moves but I don’t like to play this position with the black pieces. Black normally continues with c5 because the pawn has to be defended.

15… d6?! This already enables 16.Nxd4, but White continues with 16.Rae1 g5?! 17.Bc1

( 17.Nxd4! looks very promising, but let’s stop annotating the whole game and continue with the interesting position that arises after the 70th move. On the other hand I won’t stop you if you want to analyze the whole game. )

17… Rb8 18.Nd2 Bf5 19.Qf3 Rf7 20.Re2 Ba5 21.Qd5 Bxd2 22.Bxd2 and now both players have a bishop of the opposite colour on the board 22...c6 23.Qf3 Rbf8 24.Qg3 Qg6 25.Rfe1 c5 26.h3 b5 27.Re7 Kh7 28.Ba5 c4 29.Bb4 cxd3 30.cxd3 Rxe7 31.Rxe7+ Rf7 32.Rxf7+ Qxf7 33.Qxd6 Bxd3 34.Qxd4 Bb1 35.Qc5 Qd7 36.Qc1 Be4 37.Qe3 Bb1 38.Bc3 Qd1+ 39.Kh2 Qd6+ 40.Be5 Qd7 41.Qc1 Be4 42.Qc5 a5 43.a4 bxa4 44.bxa4 Kg8 45.Qxa5 Bc6 46.Qa6 Qd5 47.Qc8+ Kf7 48.Qf5+ Ke8 49.f3 Bxa4 50.Qg6+ Kd7 51.Qg7+ Kd8 52.Bg3 Qe6 53.h4 g4 54.fxg4 Bc6 55.Qh8+ Kd7 56.Qh7+ Ke8 57.Qh8+ Kf7 58.Qd4 Qe4 59.Qf2+ Kg8 60.Bf4 Kh7 61.Kg3 Bd7 62.h5 Bc6 63.Be3 Bd5 64.Bf4 Qd3+ 65.Kh4 Qe4 66.Bd2 Be6 67.Qf3 Qxf3 68.gxf3

An endgame with bishops of opposite colour arises. These endgames are mostly drawn, even when one side has a pawn advantage. In this case White is even two pawns ahead, but it is not trivial to open this position.

68… Bb3 69.f4 Bc2 70.f5 Kg7

This is a very interesting position. It is clear that White has the advantage, but at first sight the fortress seems to be well defended. Without looking at the next move can you see White’s winning move?

71.Bxh6+! The sacrifice of the bishop was needed to open the position. 71... Kxh6 72.f6 Bd3 73.g5+ Kh7 74.f7 Kg7 75.g6 1-0

More chess lessons? An index of all chess lessons can be found here.

Noah’s Ark Trap

Chess Teacher — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:32:42 +0000

Noah’s Ark Trap is not just an opening trap. The name is used for a lot of openings in which the white bishop is trapped on b3 by black pawns. Most of the games that contain this trap can be found in the Ruy Lopez.

Noahs_Trap

1.e4 e5

( I start with this trap in the Sicilian defence since this variation very clearly demonstrates the trap 1...c5 2.Bb5 Not a very good move. 2...a6 3.Ba4 ( 3.Bc4 is better, but also makes it very clear that White should not have played Bb5 in the first place. ) 3… b5 4.Bb3 c4 and Black wins the bishop like in Widmer – Moheni, 1982. )

( and even in The Pirc and other openings the trap can be found 1...d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be3 c6 6.Qd2 Nbd7 7.O-O-O Qc7 8.Bc4 b5 9.Bb3 h6 10.h4 a6 11.Nh2 Bb7 12.f4 e6 13.Nf3 O-O-O 14.d5 exd5 15.exd5 c5 16.Rhg1 c4 like in Riezu – Rodrigo, 2003. )

2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 as mentioned before Noah’s Ark Trap is mostly found in the Ruy Lopez.

4.Ba4 d6 5.d4?! b5 6.Bb3 Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4 8.Qxd4?? c5 9.Qc3 ( 9.Qd5 doesn’t help either 9...Be6 10.Qc6+ Bd7 11.Qd5 c4 and the white Bishop is trapped. ) 9… c4 like in Bruned Segura Mario ( 2255 ) — Duran Albareda Xavier ( 2290 ) , 1999. 0-1

More chess lessons? The next lesson in this series is about the King’s Gambit.

The Lasker Trap

Chess Teacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:50:17 +0000

As a kind of followup on the lesson about the minor promotion I have added this lesson on the Lasker Trap in the Albin Countergambit. The underpromotion plays an important role in this trap and probably contributes to the success of it.
The Albin Countergambit starts with the moves 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 after which we can find the following position on the board.

The best option is to accept the gambit 3.dxe5 after which black probably continues with 3…d4. If White continues with 4.e3? he’ll find himself in deep trouble.

Lasker_Trap

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.e3?

( 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.g3 Be6 6.Nbd2 Qd7 7.Bg2 is the main continuation )

4… Bb4+ 5.Bd2 dxe3 in this Albin, Lasker Trap of the QGD White has three options. 6.Bxb4? is a blunder. This is called the Lasker Trap.

The best option for White is 6.fxe3 with a bad pawn structure, but White may still have some chances after 6... Nc6 7.Nf3 Bg4 for example by playing 8.Nc3 instead of the more frequently played 8.Be2

Another alternative is 6.Qa4+ but this is also something that White should avoid, because of 6... Nc6 7.Bxb4 ( 7.fxe3 Qh4+ 8.Kd1 Bg4+ 9.Nf3 O-O-O ) 7… exf2+ 8.Kxf2 Qh4+ 9.g3 Qd4+ 10.Kg2 Qxb2+

6… exf2+ 7.Ke2

( After 7.Kxf2? Black can capture the queen 7... Qxd1 )

7… fxg1=N+ a nice example of a situation in which promotion to a minor piece is indeed the better move 8.Ke1

( After 8.Rxg1 Black also wins the queen 8... Bg4+ )

8… Qh4+ 9.Kd2 Nc6 10.Bc3 Bg4 11.Qe1 O-O-O+ 12.Kc2 Nd4+ 13.Kc1 Qxe1+ 14.Bxe1 as played in 1965 by Boris Bereschnoj against David Lees. White resigns. 0-1

You may also want to read the lesson about the underpromotion or about the Elephant Trap or continue with the lesson about Noah’s Ark Trap.
A complete overview of the chess lessons at this site can be found in the chess lessons index.

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The Elephant Trap

Chess Teacher — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:24:08 +0000

The Elephant Trap is a famous trap in the Queen’s Gambit Declined. I am not sure why it is called the Elephant Trap, but the name reminds me to an oil painting of Eddie William Powell. The picture above shows a part of this painting. More information about this and other paintings of this artist can be found at this website.
But OK, let’s continue with the trap.

Elephant_Trap

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7

It seems that White is able to win a pawn by 5.cxd5 exd5 followed by 6.Nxd5??

It seems that the knight is pinned, but White should have sticked to something like 6.e3

6… Nxd5! Black just captures the knight 7.Bxd8 and White takes the queen. At this moment it turns out that after the check 7...Bb4+ White has only one legal move 8.Qd2 Bxd2+ 9.Kxd2 Kxd8 and Black has won a piece

Another interesting trap is the Lasker Trap, but for now we continue with explaining some of the more difficult Chess Notation Symbols.

Kieninger trap

Chess Teacher — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:53:37 +0000

The Budapest Defence is a chess opening that starts with the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5. This is one of the rare gambit lines for Black, because almost all of the gambit lines are for White. It is rarely played at grandmaster level, but for the amateur it may be a nice way to immediately attack White’s centre. During most games the sacrificed pawn will be given back, because the alternatives are giving Black a nice advantage in the development of his pieces.
In this lesson we will focus on showing the Kieninger trap, which is one of the reasons to play the Budapest gambit at all. In addition the most important variations of the Budapest gambit are shown.

Storming_the_Castle

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 The Budapest Defence 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3

( 4.Bf4 is the Rubinstein variation, often continued like 4...Nc6 5.Nf3 Bb4+ 6.Nc3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Qe7 )

( 4.Nf3 is the Adler variation, which can transpose to the Rubinstein by 4... Nc6 5.Bf4 )

( The Normal variation with 4.e6 is hardly played )

4… Nc6 5.Bf4 Bb4+ So here we are back at the main line of the Rubinstein variation 6.Nbd2

( A less frequently played alternative 6.Nc3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Qe7 )

6… Qe7 7.a3

( 7.e3 Ngxe5 8.Nxe5 Nxe5 is about equal )

7… Ngxe5 8.axb4?? This is the famous Kieninger trap resulting in a mate in one. It seems that this trap is the reason for some players to play the Budapest.

( 8.Nxe5 Nxe5 9.e3 )

8… Nd3# 0-1

Liked this game? You will probably like the Immortal Game even more.

Storming the Castle

Chess Teacher — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:42:30 +0000

This is an old, but very illustrative game that shows how to take care of a development advantage and some mistakes of your opponent.

Storming_the_Castle

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 The Vienna game 2...Bc5 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6

( I prefer the move 4...d6 )

5.Be3 Bb6 The most logical continuation 6.Nge2 d6 7.O-O O-O White has finished his opening. All the minor pieces are developed and the king is moved to safety. Black on the other hand still needs two moves to accomplish the same. White can start the attack. 8.Bxb6 axb6 9.f4 exf4

( 9… Ng4 is better )

10.Nxf4 Nc6 11.Ncd5 Nh7?

( A serious mistake. Do I have to mention that after 12.Ng6! the move 12…fxg6 is not allowed because of 13. Ne7+ Kh8 14. Nxg6#. After 11...Nxd5 12.Bxd5 the position is about equal. )

12.Ng6! Re8

( 12… Be6 is better, but in this continuation it is very clear that Black gives a Rook for a Knight. 13.Nxf8 Nxf8 ) 13.Rxf7 Kxf7

( 13… Be6 14.Rxc7 doesn’t help Black either )

14.Qh5

( 14.Qf3+!! is even better. Please note that Black is unable to capture the Knight 14...Kxg6 because of 15.Nf4+ Kf6 16.Ne2+ Kg5 17.Qf4+ Kh5 18.Bf7+ g6 19.Ng3# )

14… Be6

( The mate in inevitable now. The alternative 14... Re6 15.Ngf4+ Kf8 16.Qf5+ Kg8 17.Nxe6 results in a game in which White still has to fight. )

15.Nge7+ Kf8 16.Rf1+ Nf6 17.Rxf6+ gxf6 18.Qxh6+ Kf7 19.Qxf6# 1-0

In the next lesson we are going to create a passed pawn.

How not to play the … ?

Chess Teacher — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:01:19 +0000

During the previous lessons we have created some opening reports as well as an opening analysis of the Lolli attack. We have done this while learning how to use a chess database in general and ChessDB in particular. But by creating this opening analysis we are looking for the good games, in fact almost always ignoring the bad games. And these games contain a lot of chess lessons to be learned, especially when these are you own games. But even when you know the right moves it has to be interesting to know why. In other words to know why the other moves are bad.
For example when we look at the opening report of the Lolli attack we notice that Black succeeded in winning eight of the games and by now we now that White must have done something wrong during these games.
The exercise of this lesson is to figure out why White lost the game for each of these eight games.

As an example I have added some annotations to one of these games (the game Jacko, Tomas – Smistik, Milan) leaving you with seven games to annotate by yourself.

Lolli

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nf3 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.O-O Nc6 7.Ng5 Be6 8.Re1 Qd7 9.Nxe6 +/-

( 9.Nxf7 +- is the better and more frequently played move )

9… fxe6 10.Qh5+ Kd8 11.Bg5+ seems to be not the best move 11...Be7 12.Bxe7+ Ncxe7 13.Nd2 b5 This is the first move that makes the game different from all other games in the database 14.Bb3

( I prefer 14.Bxd5!! Qxd5 15.Re5 Qc6 16.Nb3 )

14… Ng6 15.Rxe6 Ngf4 16.Qg5+ Kc8 17.Re5

( 17.Ree1 is stronger, but White is still better )

17… h6 18.Qg3 Kb7 19.Bxd5+ Nxd5 20.Ne4

( 20.Nb3! +- )

20… Qc6 21.Re6? +=

( 21.a4 is a better alternative. After the text move White only has a slight advantage left )

21… Qxc2 22.b4 Rae8 23.Nc5+ Ka8 24.Qxg7 Qc3 25.Rf1 Qxb4 26.Rxe8+ Rxe8 = Now it is about even. The rest of the game may be interesting, but not from the perspective of an opening analysis.

27.Qd7 Qxc5 28.Qxe8+ Kb7 29.h3?! d3 30.Rd1 Qc4 31.Qh5 Qe4 =+ 32.Kf1 a6 33.Re1 Qc4 34.Kg1 d2 35.Rd1 Qe4 36.Kh2? Nc3 -+ 37.Qxh6 Nxd1 38.Qxd2 Qa4 39.Qd5+ Kb6 40.Qe6+ c6 41.Qf6 Qc2 42.Qd8+ Kc5 43.Qe7+ Kc4 44.Qe6+ Kb4 45.Qd6+ Ka4 46.a3 a5 47.f4 b4 48.axb4 axb4 49.Qd4 Ka3 50.f5 Nc3 51.f6 Qf5 52.Qd6 Nd5 53.Qxc6 Qf4+ 54.Kh1 Nxf6 55.Qa6+ Kb2 56.Qe2+ Kc3 57.Qe1+ Kd3 58.Qb1+ Kc4 59.Qc2+ Kd4 60.Qb2+ Kd5 61.Qb3+ Qc4 62.Qf3+ Ne4 63.Qd1+ Kc5 64.Qh5+ Kd4 65.Qd1+ Qd3 66.Qa1+ Kc4 67.Qa2+ b3 68.Qa6+ Kc3 69.Qa5+ Kc2 70.Qc7+ Nc3 0-1

Next chess lesson is about Luring.

A new Opening Report

Chess Teacher — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:26:06 +0000

As you have seen in the previous post one of the most important steps in writing an opening analysis is to select some of the most representative games. But instead of merging the into one game you can also load the games and copy them to the clipboard enabling you to add them to your database of representative opening lines.

Doing this with the ten selected games of the previous post results in the following opening report from ChessDB.

You can see that two games seem to have disappeared. This is caused by the fact that the selected opening position doesn’t occur in two of these games.
When comparing all these opening reports and analysis you will see that trying to write a good analysis has everything to do with trying to find a balance between adding enough details without losing the overview.

Now we know how to play this opening we continue wit a lesson about how not to play this opening.

The Lolli Attack

Chess Teacher — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:57:05 +0000

This purpose of this post is to show you the result of the opening’s analysis of our previous lesson. This is one of the reasons that all the moves are taken from the ICOfY database instead of my own database.

The result is an Opening analysis of the Lolli Attack. You can compare it with the opening report that we have created before, with the most exhaustive analysis of this opening on the Web by Michael Goeller on his very nice looking website and with the analysis that you have done by yourselves. I suppose that the best method will be to generate your own lesson based on for example the ICOfY database and add your own comments to it. This time I didn’t add any personal, other people’s or general knowledge about this opening to the post, because the main purpose is to show how you can make your own analysis (probably even for another opening).

As we have seen in the automatically generated opening report there are at least 14 move orders reaching the position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O and Black has least eleven alternatives to continue, but only two of them are frequently played and I will limit myself to the three most important ones in this post, but feel free to add the missing continuations to your own chess material. Adding them to this post will make the post more dificult to read. Maybe even now the post is rather difficult to read, because of the fact that I show an example game for each continuation.

Lolli_Attack

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O f6

( 7… Be7 is the most frequently played move, almost always followed by 8.Nxf7 Kxf7 9.Qf3+ ( 9.Qh5+ is another frequently played move, but 9.Qf3+ is better. But the advantage for White is enough to win the game. A nice illustration is given in the following continuation 9...g6 10.Bxd5+ Ke8 11.Qf3 Qd6 12.Bf4 Ne5 13.Qe4 c6 14.Bb3 Bf6 15.Re1 Bf5 16.Bxe5 Qc5 17.Qxd4 Qe7 18.Nc3 c5 19.Bxf6 cxd4 20.Rxe7+ 1-0 Vliembergen Marina van – Einarsen Rune / ( 3 ) , 2005 ) 9… Ke8 ( 9… Bf6 10.Bxd5+ Be6 11.Bxe6+ Kxe6 12.Qb3+! is the best move, followed by 12...Qd5 as in this example game 13.c4 dxc3 14.Re1+ Kd6 15.Rd1 Nd4 16.Qxd5+ Kxd5 17.bxc3 Rhe8 18.cxd4 Bxd4 19.Be3 c5 20.Bxd4 cxd4 21.Nd2 Rac8 22.Nf3 Rc4 23.Kf1 Rec8 24.Rd2 Ra4 25.Rb1 b6 26.Rbd1 Rcc4 27.h4 g6 28.g3 h6 29.Kg2 b5 30.Re1 a6 31.Re5+ Kd6 32.Re8 Kc5 33.Rg8 Rc3 34.Nxd4 Rxd4 35.Rxd4 Kxd4 36.Rxg6 Ra3 37.Rxh6 Rxa2 38.h5 b4 39.Rb6 Kc3 40.h6 Ra5 41.g4 1-0 Urban A – Kallenberg E / ( 2 ) , 1978 ) 10.Bxd5 Rf8!! The best move, but completely ignored by M. Goeller. 11.Bxc6+ bxc6 12.Qxc6+ Bd7 and now I suggest to play 13.Qc4 A nice continuation showing a mate threat 13... c5 14.Re1 Rc8 15.Bg5 Rf7 16.Rxe7+ Rxe7 17.Qg8# 1-0 Hatarik Robert – Grienitz Kai Oliver / ( 1 ) , 1999 )

( 7… Be6 8.Re1 Qd7 ( 8… Be7 isn’t any better 9.Rxe6 fxe6 10.Nxe6 Qd6 11.Bxd5 Bf6 12.Na3 Ke7 13.c4 a6 14.Bf4 Ne5 15.Nxd4 g6 16.Qe2 c6 17.Nf3 cxd5 18.Nxe5 1-0 Sharafiev Azat – Mingachev Mansur / ( 8 ) , 2004 ) 9.Nxf7 Kxf7 10.Qf3+ Kg8 11.Rxe6 Rd8 ( 11… Ncb4 12.Re5 c6 13.a3 Re8 14.Rxe8 Qxe8 15.Qd1 b5 16.Bf1 Na6 17.a4 Ndc7 18.Nd2 Nc5 19.axb5 cxb5 20.Rxa7 Qb8 21.Ra1 N5e6 22.Nf3 Bc5 23.Qd3 h6 24.Bd2 1-0 Medveski Mike – Berrisford Shaun, 1999 ) 12.Qe4 h6 13.Bd2 Rh7 14.Na3 Kh8 15.Re1 g5 16.h4 gxh4 17.Qxh4 Be7 18.Qh5 Nf6 19.Qf5 Ng8 20.Bd3 Bb4 21.Qxh7+ Qxh7 22.Bxh7 Bxd2 23.Rd1 Kxh7 24.Rxd2 Rd5 25.c3 Kg7 26.Nc2 Kf7 27.Re1 1-0 Harding Timothy David – Knol Everdinand, 2000 )

7…f6 seems to be the best move according to Crafty, the database and Michael Goeller, but he also mentions that no real games can be found and limits his analysis to some quotes of Fritz and Heisman. Even in the free available database that we are using today we will find eight recent games. 8.Nc3

( The alternative 8.Re1+ is considered almost equal by Crafty after 8...Be7 9.Nf7 Kxf7 10.Qh5+ Kf8 ( But it seems that most players will be tempted to play 10...g6 11.Bxd5+ Ke8 12.Qf3 but even in this line White only has a small advantage, which may be enough as shown in the game 12... Qd7 13.Bh6 Ne5 14.Qe4 c6 15.Bb3 Kd8 16.f4 Bd6 17.fxe5 Bxe5 18.Nd2 Re8 19.Qd3 Qf5 20.Qxf5 Bxf5 21.Nf3 Kc7 22.Nxe5 fxe5 23.Bg7 Kd6 24.Bf6 c5 25.a4 Rac8 26.Bf7 Rf8 27.Bxe5+ Kc6 28.Bb3 h5 29.a5 b6 30.axb6 axb6 31.Ra7 b5 32.Bf7 Ra8 33.Rc7+ Kb6 34.Bd5 Bxc2 35.Rc6+ Ka5 36.Rxc5 Kb4 37.Rxc2 Rae8 38.Bg3 Rd8 39.Bf3 Kb3 40.Rd2 Rf7 41.Red1 Rfd7 42.Bc6 Ra7 43.Bxb5 Kb4 44.Bd3 g5 45.Rc1 h4 46.Be1 g4 47.Re2+ Kb3 48.Bc4+ 1-0 Verges Joerg – Hubel Katrina / ( 7 ) , 1999 ) )

7…f6 8.Nc3 8... dxc3 ( 8… Nxc3 9.Bf7+ Ke7 10.bxc3 +- as in this game with a very nice mate 10...fxg5 11.Qf3 h6 12.Re1+ Kd6 13.Qd5# 1-0 Moessle Harald – Thos Jens, 2001 ) 9.Bxd5 fxg5 10.Re1+ Be7 11.Bxg5 ( Even 11.bxc3 may be playable, but the chances seem to be equal here 11...Qd6 12.Bxg5 Kd8 13.Bxc6 Bxg5 14.Qh5 Qxc6 15.Qxg5+ Qf6 16.Rad1+ Bd7 as in the game De Boer Willem J – Bosmans Joost L / 1-0 ( 42 ) , 1997 ) 11… cxb2 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.Qxd8+ Kxd8 14.Bxe7+ ( as in 14.Bxe7+ Ke8 15.Ba3+ Kf7 16.Re7+ Kf6 17.Rb1 Rd8 18.Rxc7 Be6 19.Be7+ Ke5 20.Bxd8 Rxd8 21.f4+ Kxf4 22.Rxc6 Bd5 23.Rc5 Be4 24.Rb5 Bxc2 25.Rf1+ Ke3 26.Rxb2 Rd2 27.Rf3+ Kd4 28.Rf7 Kc3 29.Rbb7 Be4 30.Rfc7+ Kd4 31.Rd7+ 1-0 Freytag Walter – Rosner Dirk / ( 1 ) , 2003 )

Next lesson we will create a New opening report based on the functionality that ChessDB is offering, but only based on the most important games.

How to create an opening analysis?

Chess Teacher — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:12:37 +0000

This lesson is based on the use of ChessDB, but for other Database programs similar approaches can be used. I suppose that in the future some tutorials will be added to the ChessDB site, so make sure that you also check this site.
I will give a very short explanation and you probably need the program to be able to understand all the steps. Please note that ChessDB also enables you to generate an opening report. If such a report fulfills your needs don’t take the time to create a much more time consuming opening analysis.

We start by opening our lessons database or by creating such a database. In addition we will also open the large database. By means of the Database switcher it will be rather easy to switch between these two databases.
Switch to the large database and open the Tree Window. In this Tree Window we will check the Lock checkmark.
And since we are here we can also click on the little button on the left which will open the Best Tree Games window.

Now we select the lessons database by means of the Database switcher. Here we start to enter a new game.
You make the initial moves of the opening you are going to analyze on the board and make the decision if you want to analyze the opening for White or for Black. My advice is to analyze an opening for one side at a time.

By selecting the first mentioned move in the Tree window you are able to enter the main line. You can enter as many moves as you like, but try to remember that the purpose was to analyze an opening.

At this moment we also open the (PGN) Game Notation view. In this view select the first move for which the tree view showed more than one interesting continuation. If such an alternative exists for our own side we only have to add it if it looks very promising. Comments can easily be added by means of the Comment Editor.
If an alternative exists for the opposing side that is frequently played we have to add it too, because the purpose is to create material that assists us in learning an opening. Choose Add New Variation in the ChessDB’s pop up window.

The Best Tree Games window can be used to check which players have played the selected continuation and also to merge some example games in our analysis.
In addition one of the chess engines can be used to analyze the positions and you may want to add some comments or annotation symbols by means of the Comment editor.

Don’t forget to save the game you entered.

In the next lesson we will create an opening report of the Lolli Attack.