Basic Strategy

There are four simple things that every chess player should know:

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Nxd5 Nf6 5. Nxc7+ Kd8 6. Nxa8 Ne4 7. f3 Bf5 8. fxe4 Bxe4
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#1 Protect your king

Get your king to the corner of the board where he is usually safer. Don’t put off
castling. You should usually castle as quickly as possible. Remember, it doesn’t matter
how close you are to checkmating your opponent if your own king is checkmated first!

#2 Don’t give pieces away

Don’t carelessly lose your pieces! Each piece is valuable and you can’t win a game
without pieces to checkmate. There is an easy system that most players use to keep
track of the relative value of each chess piece:

• A pawn is worth 1
• A knight is worth 3
• A bishop is worth 3
• A rook is worth 5
• A queen is worth 9
• The king is infinitely valuable

At the end of the game these points don’t mean anything – it is simply a system you
can use to make decisions while playing, helping you know when to capture, exchange,
or make other moves.
1. e4 a6 2. d4 h5 3. Nf3 Rh6 4. Bxh6 Nxh6 5. Bc4 b6 6. O-O f6 7. Nc3 g6 8. Re1 Bg7 9. Qd3 Bb7
10. Rd1 Qc8 11. e5 Qd8 12. Qxg6+ Kf8 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. Qxh6+ Ke8 15. Qg6+ Kf8 16. Qf7#
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#3 Control the center

You should try and control the center of the board with your pieces and pawns. If you
control the center, you will have more room to move your pieces and will make it
harder for your opponent to find good squares for his pieces. In the example below
white makes good moves to control the center while black plays bad moves.

#4 Use all of your pieces

In the example above white got all of his pieces in the game! Your pieces don’t do any
good when they are sitting back on the first row. Try and develop all of your pieces so
that you have more to use when you attack the king. Using one or two pieces to attack
will not work against any decent opponent.

Getting Better at Chess

Knowing the rules and basic strategies is only the beginning - there is so much to learn
in chess that you can never learn it all in a lifetime! To improve you need to do three
things:

#1 – Play

Just keep playing! Play as much as possible. You should learn from each game – those
you win and those you lose.
How to advance in chess

If you've read all the tutorials so far, then you are familiar with the rules of chess. So, you
can setup the chess board and start moving the pieces. But, as you'll see, this game is not
all about just moving the pieces around the board and capturing enemy pieces.

I've talked in the previous lessons about the three parts of the game: the opening, the
middle game and the end game. I've said that what makes these parts different is the
number of pieces and their positions. Because the number of pieces reduces during the
game, the objectives of the game also changes.

In the opening each player concentrates on developing his position as faster and as
harmoniously as possible while trying to stop his opponent developing his position.

In the middle game much of the action revolves around trying to control the center of the
chess board, trying to exploit any weakness in the opponent's position and of course
around protecting your own position.

The end game is characterized by a small number of pieces on the board. Because of the
small number of pieces the result of the end game is sometimes more predictable than
that of the middle game. In this part of the game sometimes even the smallest advantage
could be exploited into helping you win the game.

In order to play chess at a more advanced level you will have to learn a little bit about the
theory of the game. This way you will learn how to identify the main objectives of the
game, you will be able to correctly evaluate the position of the pieces and their values. By
understanding this you will know how and where to attack your opponent or how to
defend your own positions.

A very important thing you need to know when playing a game is how to evaluate the
distribution of forces on the chess board. That means that you have to understand who
has a better situation : you or your opponent, so you can then know what to do next.

You already know that some pieces are more valuable than others and that their values
depends on the number of pieces on the board and on their position. Because of this, their
values will vary along the three parts of the game. I'll be talking about this in the next
article.

There are a few criteria which you have to take under consideration when estimating the
status of the game. Some of the most important are:

• Taking in account the pieces on the board (their number, strength and so on)
• The assessment on the mobility of each individual piece
• The safety of the king
You can determine the mobility of the pieces on the board by looking at their freedom of
movement and at the pawn's structure. You can read more about how you can evaluate
and play the game in the following articles.

How to play the middle game

The study of the middle game is different from that of the opening. In the opening it's
useful if you study and understand all the theoretical possibilities. In the middle game,
however, you cannot study all the theoretical possibilities due to the great complexity of
the game at this point. That is why in this part of the game you have to know how to
evaluate the position. If you read piece hierarchy you already know how to evaluate the
strength of your pieces. Your situation in the game is not only given by the number of
your pieces and their strength but also by their mobility and their position on the chess
board.

Once you've estimated your situation you can start developing a plan. But what kind of a
plan should you do? What exactly is this plan? Your plan will be composed of a
succession of strategic operations. It could be large and very complex or it could be
smaller and simpler. When making the plan you can decide whether you should attack or
defend. You can also decide whether you will exchange pieces so you can get to the end
game faster. Your plan will almost always contain other smaller plans. They might have
as their objective capturing an enemy piece, isolating an enemy piece, controlling some
strategic square or some other immediate action.

When you make the plan you have to take in consideration the main element that
characterize the current position. For example: if you have an extra piece than your plan
will have to focus on taking full advantage on that extra piece; if you have some
positional superiority you must use it in your advantage. On the other hand if you have a
weakness your plan has to focus on strengthening your game and eliminate that particular
weakens.

You should always remember an important rule : if you discover that you have some sort
of superiority in the game than you have to take full advantage of it immediately and not
wait. If you wait and don't attack, your opponent might find some extra resources and
reinforce his position. On the other hand if you have a weakness you have to play in such
a manner that you will eliminate that weakness.

A good way you can protect yourself against enemy attack is by exchanging the pieces
(this is usually a good thing to do only when your enemy has a positional superiority; if
he has an extra piece then by exchanging the pieces you will usually make him a favor
and take the game faster to the endgame where that extra piece will make a huge
difference).

In order to make your plan you have to be familiar with tactic and strategy.
 When we talk about strategy we talk about establishing the purpose,
about developing the long term plan. Strategy is a more abstract notion than tactic. Tactic
involves the short term plan; it's a solid notion that usually has as its final purpose
gaining an immediate advantage.

Many new players spend a lot of time learning a lot of strategy notions and openings. My
advice to you is to first start learning tactic. This way you will escape from the rigid rules
of strategy and learn to think independent of those rules.

Don't get me wrong: strategy is not a bad thing; Because it is an abstract notion it's just a
good idea if you start studying it more seriously later on, after you get more comfortable
with chess. Remember : in order to have great games you have to combine tactic and
strategy; this way you'll know how to make your long term plan and how to immediately
take advantage of your current position.

The endgame in chess

The end game is the last phase of a chess game. This part of the game is characterized by
a relatively small number of pieces on the chess board.

The end game is the most analyzed part of the game. There is a huge volume of
information about it, many chess books focusing specifically on this part of the game.
The reason for this is that in end games certain patterns in positions appear to repeat
themselves during games. That means that, because there are relatively few pieces on the
board, a particular position may appear more than once in your games.

Many beginners make the mistake of overlooking this part of the game as they believe it
to lack any spontaneities. They believe that this phase of the game is only about
calculating the possible moves. That is not true. Although it involves the cold,
mathematical like, analysis of the game, the end game can also contain amazing tactical
procedures and combinations. If you don't believe me just look at the grandmasters : they
all exceed at this part of the game.

Another argument in favor of studying more careful the end game is that in this part of
the game, supposing you know how to play it, you could take benefit of even the smallest
advantage you gained during the opening and middle game. Of course ,if you have a
disadvantage you can sometimes end the game as a draw.

For example if you reach to a point where on the chess board there are only your two
bishops your king and your opponent's king do you think you can checkmate his king? If
you are familiar with this kind of an end game you probably will. But if you aren't I'm
almost sure that you won't be able to checkmate. And this is just a basic example of a
chess end game. There are countless more end games that you need to know in order to
really know how to play chess.
This site has only a few basic end game examples for now. If you are really serious about
wanting to learn the game I suggest you look for a good book that necessarily must
contain more end games studies.

In the next articles you will learn about a few

About the opening

The opening is the first phase of the game and in which both players develop their pieces
and engage them in battle.

A harmonious developing of the pieces in this phase of the game will lead to a good
game for you further on. This is why you should be familiar with the basic concepts that
rule the game and the ideas behind the openings.

Even from the 15th century a series of openings have been studied like : The Spanish
game, The bishop's Opening, The French Defense, mostly opened and semiopened
games. With time closed and semiclosed openings started to by analyzed. This kind of
openings lead to a positional game and at least some notions of strategy were required in
order to play the game. This days there are many books and publications written solely on
this subject.

If you are a beginner it's a good idea to start out with learning just a few openings. It's
also a good idea if those openings lead to opened and semiopened games; while playing
this kind of games you will be able to develop your tactical sense. You should start
studying closed and semiclosed games after you have learned a few notions of strategy.

A set of rules you should follow

The main idea behind all openings is to develop your pieces as harmonious and as
fastest as possible and in the same time to disturb your opponent's positional
development.

There are a few general rules you should follow when developing your pieces:

• Make one of your first priorities the control of the center of the
board using the pawns and your other pieces.
• When moving the pawns you should have in mind a good structure for them. This
is very important as the pawns dictate where your strongest squares are
(Remember : the squares that are under the control of the pawns are your
strongest ones).
• Don't move the same piece more than once in the opening unless it's necessary.
This way you won't lose any precious tempo and you will focus on developing
your pieces.
 • Don't get the queen too fast in the game
• Activate the knights first and then the bishops
• Choose the best square for a piece and move it directly there. Don't waste your
time by doing some intermediate moves.
• Castle as soon as possible
• Don't move too many pawns in the opening
• While deciding your move choose the one that is more active, that threatens
something or that puts the opponent in difficulty
• Don't sacrifice a piece without a clear motivation.

Chess tactic

Tactic in chess usually involves a succession of moves which are based on forcing the
opponent into making moves that disadvantage him. The purpose behind the tactical
procedure is to gain material or positional advantage or to save the game. This
combination of moves is usually spectacular because at a less careful analysis of the
board it is hard to spot the objectives behind it.

In order to control the middle game you have to be familiar with elements of tactic and
strategy (strategy involves establishing the purpose of the game and making the general
plan by analyzing the position and is a more abstract notion than tactic). Tactic and
strategy must be combined together in order to help the player to determine what must be
done and how that will be done.

There is a common misconception that you can only learn strategy and that
tactic is a matter of talent. That is not true. You can learn tactic just like you would learn
strategy. All the way from the beginning of the history of modern chess there have been
noticed recurring positions that kept appearing in the game. This positions lead to the
theory of the end game and that of tactic. It's easy to imagine such typical positions in the
end game (where because of the limited number of pieces on the board the same ending
can occur again and again). Well, pretty much the same thing is happening in the central
game too (although there are a great number of pieces on the chess board, in this part of
the game, only a few actively participate at the tactical operation; the great number of
pieces on the board also implies that the typical positions in the central game have a more
general aspect then the position from the ending).

You may have heard about the notion of combination. A combination is a particular case
of a tactical maneuver in which a sacrifice is being done. One of the great chess players
of the world, Botvinnik, gave a good definition of this notion: " The combination is a
forced version of sacrifice". Botvinnik states that the forced tactical maneuver, without a
sacrifice, must not be mistaken with the combination. So, in the end, you could say that
the thing that characterizes the combination is the sacrifice.

When you want to apply a tactical maneuver, you have to focus on two elements:
On determining wether you should start the maneuver. You have
to take this decision based on the position on the board (an
exposed king, a piece which has no protection and so on).
Remember: you should start a procedure that involves a
sacrifice of some sort only when your opponent has a weakness
The double attack

This tactical procedure is very common in many games. As you might have guessed this
procedure involves attacking two (or more) pieces or squares simultaneously. In a normal
attack a player could defend by moving the piece, exchanging it or protecting it. The
double attack has bigger chances of causing a weakens in your opponent's game. You can
use the double attack in any phase of the game. Because the queen is the piece with the
greatest range of action and mobility it can execute this procedure more easily than the
other pieces.

Checkout the following games to understand how to apply this procedure.

In the next game it's Black's turn to move. With 1...Qe5! he attacks both the bishop from
f5 and the rook from a1. But White has an escape; he can capture the knight at d7 with
check : 2. B:d7+ and Black is forced to protect the king 2... K:d7 giving this way, his
opponent the chance to move the rook 3. Rd1. This time White found resources to defend
himself.

In the next example White has its turn to move. From this position he has no way to
perform a double attack. But if you watch more carefully you can see that he has this
move: 1. Qb3. Now the knight at f7 is under attack; Black has to protect him somehow:
1... Rf8. The first's move purpose wasn't only to attack the knight. White wanted to bring
the queen in such a position that he can perform the following double attack : 2. Qf3!.
Now the queen threatens two places : the knight at f6(which is also attacked by the bishop
from b2) and the checkmate at a8 so.. it's obviously Black will lose the knight. Observe
how the first move didn't allowed Black to protect himself against the double attack
because it forced him to protect the knight at f7.

This tactical procedure can appear in the openings too.

These are usual moves in the Sicilian Defense : 1. e4 c5 2. d4 c:d4 3. Nf3 e5. And now
the position from the next example resulted.

If you are not careful you might be tempted to capture the pawn at e5 with the knight.
That would be a mistake because after N:e5 Qa5+ the queen attacks both the knight and
the king with check. (So you are forced to protect the king and therefore you lose the
knight).
The double attacks performed by the knights can be quite astounding.

In the next game White moves 1. Ba3:d6!. Black can't capture the bishop 1... c7:d6
because 2. Ne4:d6+ with check and multiple attack over the queen and the rook; and of
course after the king is moved 3. Nd6:b5.

The fork

You can also perform double attack with the pawns. In this case the double attack is
called a fork.

In the following example it's Black's turn to move. He currently has no possibility of a
double attack. But that doesn't stop him from creating the possibility : 1... d5 2. e:d5 c:d5
3. Bb3 and now he is able to perform the fork: 3... d4 (the pawn attacks both the knight
and the queen; White has to give up the knight).
The double check

The double check is another particularity of the double attack. It's called double check
because the king is being checked by both the piece which moved and the piece whose
path was freed. In this case the king can be made safe only by moving it. It can't be made
safe by capturing a piece or by placing a piece between the king and the attacker.

In the game below Black performs a double check with Nd4:f3++ and captures a bishop.
The king can only be made safe by moving it because both the bishop from b6 and the
knight from f3 are checking it. This allows Black to perform the next double attack over
the queen and the two rooks: Nf3-d2 forcing White to give up a rook. Black wins because
he now has an extra rook.

1. and only when you know that this procedure will bring you and advantage.
 2. On actually applying the tactical maneuver.

Now that we made this short introduction to tactic it's time to move on to introducing and
explaining each tactical procedure.

Pinning

Pinning it's a tactical procedure common to many games. You can use it in any phase of
the game; in fact many openings use this tactic to disturb the opponent's piece
development. Pinning involves the participation of three pieces: a piece is attacking
another one which is being protected by a third one placed between the two.

In the following position we have more than one of these tactical procedures.

The white pawn at b4 is pinned by the black rook at a4. Now you can
understand why it's called pinning: the pawn is unable to move because then the white
rook would be captured with 1. Ra4:c4. The white pawn at f3 is also pinned because it's
placed between the king at e2 and the black queen at h5 (the pawn can't be moved
because then the king would enter under the range of action of the queen). Some of
Black's pieces are also pinned. If it were Black's turn to move then he wouldn't be able to
capture the rook at f6 with the knight from d5 because the knight is pinned by the queen
from d1. As a side remark: capturing the pawn at b4 with the rook 1...Ra4: b4 is wrong
because after Rc4:b4 Black is unable to capture the white rook with the knight from d5 .
The black rook at e5 is pinned by the bishop from g3.

You can see, of course, that if a piece is pinned to the king, it is unable to move; if it's
pinned to another piece it can move.
The following moves are common to the queen's Gambit 1. d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 and
with 4. Bg5 White pins the black knight to the queen; the resulted position is shown in the
next example.

In the example below after 1... Rg8:g4 White is unable to capture the rook because the
pawn at f3 is pinned by the bishop from b7.

In the next example White pinned, with his queen, the black knight at g5 which was
protected by his queen. But with 1...Nf3+ Black checks the white king and after g:f3
Black captures the unprotected white queen : Q:d2 .
In the next position White moved the queen at g3 and pinned the pawn from g7. Black
didn't give much attention to this and took no actions. That allowed the following move:
1.Bc1:h6. Black can't capture the bishop with his pawn because that would place his king
in check from the white queen. Now White won a pawn and not only that: he now
threatens checkmate with the queen at g7. This type of pinning (the pinning of the pawn
in front of the castled king) is quite frequent so pay attention to it in your games.

Here is another example of pinning the pawn in front of the castled king:
Example of pinning combined with discovered attack

This example shows you the full power of tactic.

You'll see here how a few combined tactical procedures can help you win the game. It's
Black's turn to move. You can see that the pawn in front of the white king can be pinned
by the black rook from g7 if that knight from g5 wouldn't interrupt the rook's range of
action. Black moves: 1... Ng5-h3!! This is an excellent move as it allows the black rook
to pin the pawn and perform a double attack over the king and queen.(Remember the
pawn in front of the king is unable to capture the knight because it's pinned.). But this is
not the end! A less careful player could be tempted to capture the queen and miss out on a
much greater gain. If you look more careful you can see that the f2 square is under the
control of the black queen . White is unable to move his king at f1 because then it would
be checkmated. The only place where he can move is 2. Kg1-h1 Now Black takes
advantage of his superior position and 2... Nh3:f2+ The white king has nothing to do but

to go back to the exposed square 3. Kh1-g1 Now

White can check the king by an discovered attack with the knight: 3... Nf2-h3+ double
check from the knight and queen (notes how the white king is constrained only to the
exposed squares h2 and g2). What follows it's a great execution that brings out the artistic
side of chess : 4. Kg1-h1 Qb6-g1!! 5. Re1:g1 Nh3-
f2 Checkmate. This type of checkmate is called etouffe; the term comes from french an
means suffocated. (The king is obstructed from moving from the attacked position

because he is suffocated by it's own pieces).

What is the discovered attack

The discovered attack is a very effective tactical procedure. It involves the use of two
pieces; when a piece is moved, it frees the direction of the second one so that this one can
attack its objective. The power of this procedure lies in the fact that it can attack two
places at the same time: first, it attacks with the piece whose path has been released and
second, it could attack with the piece that has been moved. That means that if the
attacked player can't defense both objectives he will lose something. That is why,
sometimes, the player who performs this procedure can sacrifice a piece knowing that he
will recover it with an advantage or that he will checkmate the opponent! A particular
form of this attack is the discovered check (when the piece whose path is freed, checks
the king) or the double check (when both pieces checked the king).

I will show you a few examples so you can get a better idea how this is done.
In the next example Black moves 1... Re1. With this move he released the queen's path,
which is now threading checkmate at a1, and in the same time moved the rook to the
strategical square e1. Now White is unable to take the black rook 2. R:e1 because of the
checkmate 2...Qa1 nor he is able to protect himself from the queen's checkmate with
Kb1 because then R:d1 checkmate. White has, however, the move c2-c3; and with this
he manages to defend his position!

In the next example the pawn from c4, when moved, will create a lot of troubles for
Black: 1. c4-c5. This way he frees the b3 bishop and attacks the black bishop from b6.
The queen is unable to move because she's pinned to her king by the white bishop; the
only move that can save the queen is 1... Ne7-d5, and so the queen is made safe. But,
unfortunately, this didn't save the bishop: 2. c5:b6 and White wins a bishop.
The following game was played in 1934, at Hastings, between Euwe and Thomas. White
plays 1.Bd5. This is a good move; not only it threatens to capture the queen but also to
checkmate at the second move with R:f8. If Black tries 1... R:f2 then 2. Qg8. Black has
no escape from this nasty situation!

I said earlier that a particularized case of the discovered attack is the discovered check.
The next position shows you what this mean.

Black makes a surprising move: 1...Qb5:f1!. The white king has no choice but to capture
the queen 2. Kg1:f1 and thus entering under the potential range of action of the rook from
f8. Now Black performs the discovered check 2... Bf7:b3+ 3. Qc2-f2 Rf8:f2 4. Kf1:f2
Bb3:a4 and ends up with an extra bishop and an extra pawn. The first move Black made
is a part of a tactical procedure called deflecting. We'll talk about it later.
In the next position White takes advantage of Black's bad position and makes a
discovered check 1. Rf3+ (or Rb1+) and black loses the rook.

The X-ray attack

The x-ray attack is implemented by attacking a piece through the body of another. Follow
the examples below so you can better understand this concept.

In the position below White moves 1. Bb3+ Kh8. With this move White placed the
bishop in a position were he can execute the following x-ray attack :Bd5. Now you can
understand why this attack is called x-ray: the Black queen and the rook from a8 are on
the same diagonal; when the bishop attacks the queen she will be moved but the rook
will, nevertheless, remain under the bishop's scope (It's just like attacking the rook
through the body of the queen). After the queen is moved, the rook will be captured.
In the next example Black moves 1... Qb4-e1+. The queen is supervised by the rook from
c1 through the white rook's body. Therefor 2. Rd1:e1 Rc1:e1 checkmate!

Here is a position you may run into in your endings. You probably know that usually, in
the rooks and marginal pawns endings, the marginal pawns don't get promoted. The
position below is an exception to this rule. Black moves 1...Ra3+. The white king can't
move to the 4th rank because then with 2...Ra4 Black would perform an x-ray attack on
the white rook over the king. The king can only be moved to the 2th rank; 2. Kc2 Ra1.
Black is about to promote his pawn. White can't capture the pawn because Black would
just apply the x-ray attack: 3. R:h2 Ra2 4.Ke1 R:h2 and Black loses the rook. As you can
see, White has no defense; he will lose this game.
Interception

Interception is one of the most astounding tactical procedures. It involves the blocking of
a direction (rank, file or diagonal) in the idea of reducing the range of action of an enemy
piece. It is often done with a piece sacrifice.

In the next example the black king has a very bad position. The fastest way he can be
checkmated is 1. Bg3-d6!. With this move White blocked the black queen (the a3-f8
diagonal); 1... c7:d6 2. Qh4-h8+Now the Black queen isn't able to move to f8; 2...Ke8-f7
3. Qh8:g7+ Kf7-e6 4. Qg7-e7 Checkmate!

The game below was played in 1924 between Reti and Bogolliubov at New
York. White played Rf1. With this move he threatens checkmate at f8. The black bishop
can't be moved (if 1...Be7 then 2. Qf7+ Kh8 3. Qe8 ). The only thing left to do is to
protect the f7 square. Black chose to move 1...Rd8; with 2. Bf7 the Black king is forced to
the h8 square and with 3. Be8 White performs the interception. With this final move
White manages to isolate the bishop's defense. Even if the black queen comes to protect
her bishop is too late: 3...Qe7 4. Q:f8 Q:f8 R:f8, checkmate! (The same thing happens if
Black chose to capture the white bishop from e8.) Had Black chosen to protect the bishop
using the queen 1...Qe7 then Bf7+ Kh8, and this time Bd5 would interrupt the black rook
which could come to protect the bishop.

In the next ending White has a good move. A less careful player could be tempted to
move 1. Bd4; that would be wrong as it would give Black the chance to better control the
transformation square. The right move is Bf8; this interception allows White to promote
his pawn. If the rook captures the bishop then the pawn will capture the rook and will be
promoted into a queen or rook (the only pieces with which Black can be checkmated)
The next position is interesting. Black moved his knight to e4 in the idea of threatening
the double attack on c3 over both white rooks. But White has a surprise! The only thing
protecting the knight is the queen. With 1. Nb4-c6+ White has intercepted the direction
over which the black knight was protected and checked the opponent, so that he is forced
to move the king: 1... Kd8-d7. Now White performs a double attack over the king and
knight 2. Qh5-f5+ e7-e6 3. Qf5:e4 and White wins a knight.

previous next

Removing the defender

As you may have noticed most of the pieces on the chess board are, at some time, under
the protection of other pieces from the same team. This procedure is based on
suppressing a piece which is protecting another piece or another square on which a
potential attack could occur.

The next examples should make everything more clear.

The following game appears to be balanced: both sides have an equal number of pawns
and two pieces with the same value. But things aren't always what they seem to be, h:g5!.
With this move White has now an extra pawn. Black is unable to capture the white pawn
f:g5 because he would remove the knight's defense and then B:e5.
 In the next example White attempts to remove the defender of the black rook
from f5 with 1. Rf1:f5. But Black has a good response; he will make the intermediate
move 1...Rd4:d1 2.Kc1:d1 Bc8:f5. So, in the end, Black has the advantage by having the
extra bishop. White made a mistake when he removed the defender of the knight. This is
another argument in favor of the idea that in chess you always have to pay attention to
what you're doing.

In the next example White moves 1. R:g7; this removed one of the black knight's
defender. Now the next move is possible 1...B:f6 Qh7 2. B:h8 Q:h8. After his
combination White won a pawn (remember that many times an extra pawn is enough to
help you win the game).
Look at the example below. Black moves 1...B:f3!. This is a good move because White
has to capture the bishop in order to win back the lost value (the knight); but when he'll
capture the bishop he'll leave the pawn from h3 defenseless. 2. g:f3 3. R:h3+ Kg2. White
has now a bad situation: he's down a pawn and those two he has are on the same column!

In the next game it's White's turn to move. If you payed attention until now you won't
have many troubles in spotting the best move: 1. Qh8+ Qg8 (the only possible move)
2.Q:g8 K:g8, and now that the knight from c4 no longer has the queen to protect him, he
will be captured and thus White will end up with an extra knight N:e4.
Blocking the king's escape

This tactical procedure involves blocking the square on which the king could escape.

In the next game White has more valuable pieces than his opponent. But, Black
compensates that by having the possibility of a good move. If Black were to check his
opponent's king by moving the queen at a1 then the king could escape to b5 and then
perform a powerful counterattack which would lead to White's defeat (the Black king is
under serious pressure from both rooks and the knight). The Right move Black should do
is 1...b6-b5+. This move blocked the white king's escape. Now White has no possibility
of defending himself; even if he captures the pawn c4:b6 the escape square the king still
remains blocked and Black can still perform the checkmate: Qe5-a1
What follows is a classic example of using blocking. White has his turn to move. He will
force Black to block his own king by moving 1. Qg8! R:g8 (the only possible move) and
now that the king is blocked he can be easily checkmated Nf7 . This type of checkmate
is called etouffe; the term 'etouffe' is french and it means suffocated. It's called this way
because the king is stopped from moving by its own pieces (he is suffocated).

previous next

Freeing

This tactical procedure involves removing your own pieces from certain squares in order
to open certain directions or to occupy that square with another piece that may be more
suited for the current position.

In the next game White moves 1. N:b6+. If Black captures the knight with 1... a:b6 then
White will move Re8+!; with this move White frees the queen's diagonal and stops Black
from protecting himself by forcing him to capture the rook. So, after the e4 square is
freed the queen is able to checkmate with Qa8 . That is why Black won't capture the
knight and will have to move his king 1... Kd8
The move White should do in the next position is fairly simple. Nf7!. This freed the d8
square; now White threatens a powerful attack on this square and ,in the same time,
capturing the rook from h8. Black has no way of defending both objectives and has to
defend against the attack on the freed square (an attack which can end up with a
checkmate after the black rook will be captured). 1... Kc8 2. N:h8 R:h8 and White wins a
value (he won a rook and lost only a knight). If Black would have moved the rook from
h8 then checkmate would have been possible with: 2. Rd8+ R:d8 3. R:d8

In the following game Black is able to move R:d3 because with this he frees the main
white diagonal and threatens checkmate with the rook at h1. White is forced to defend
against the checkmate and is unable to capture the black rook and therefor Black manages
to balance the game.
 previous next
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Overloading

It often happens that a piece may protect two or more objectives at the same time. When
this happens we refer to that piece as being overloaded. Usually, when your opponent has
an overloaded piece you can use it in your favor by performing powerful attacks on his
position (more exactly on the overloaded piece).

Here is a common mistake found throughout many beginners game. White moved Rc3-
c6 ?? and the position below resulted. This was a very bad move because the rook from
c1 has been overloaded (it now protects both the rook from c6 and the checkmate on the
back rank Re8-e1). That is why Black wins the rook 1...Rf6:c6 and of course, with that,
he wins the game!
Look at the example below. The black queen from c3 is protecting both the possible
checkmate Q:e7 and the black rook from c6. With Rc1! White performs both an attack on
the black queen and an x-ray attack on the black rook from c6. Black will have to give up
his rook in order to protect the g7 square.

Look at the example below. You can see that the white queen protects the white rook
from a4 and the knight from e4. Black tries to take advantage of this by attacking the
queen 1... Ra8-c8 but White can easily defend with 2. Ne4-c3. With this White stopped
the rook's range of action and got the knight from the exposed square e4. This proves that
attacking an overloaded piece (and generally using any other tactical procedure) won't
always bring you the advantage if your opponent has enough resources to protect himself.
This was an example of how you can protect your position against certain attacks of this
kind.
The intermediate move

The intermediate move is one of the most refined tactical procedures. This
maneuver comes in the form of a move which interrupts an apparently forced sequence of
moves, improving the position of the player making the intermediate move. It often
comes in the form of a counterstrike when a piece is being attacked.

This next example shows you a classic example of an intermediate move. You may have
been in a similar situation before. The black knight from b4 performs a double attack on
the white rooks from a2 and d5. Now White is forced to give up one of his rooks in order
to save the other one. Not quite! White has a little trick: 2. Rd8+, check, and now Black
must protect his king 2... Kg7. This way the rook was moved away from danger and
allowed the move of the other rook as well 3. Rb2 . This way, using an intermediate
move, White manages to save both of his rooks.
In the following game White attacked the queen from d7 so that when Black captures the
bishop 1... Q:f5 the knight will attack at c7 both the king and the rook and thus capture
the rook. But Black is able to make the intermediate move 1...Nf3+ so that when 2. g:f3
the black queen captures the bishop with check and, at the next move, captures the knight
from b5 with the pawn from a6.

You can see in the example below that the white bishop from c5 is under the threat of
being captured by the black rook. But before he defends it, White makes the intermediate
move 1. Rd8+ Kg7 and with 2. Rd5 he defends the bishop and threatens 3.Bf8+ (a
combination of a discovered and double attack followed by the capture of the black
rook). Black gives up because after 2... Bd6 follows 3.Bd4+.
 Learn how to use deflection in
chess

Deflection is a widely used tactical procedure. It is a maneuver that seeks to

guide away an enemy piece, which defends a position, in order to perform a checkmate or
win a piece.

You can see in the next game a simple example of how deflection is made. As you can
see, White is under the threat of being checkmate on the back-rank; the only thing
stopping this is the presence of the white rook form c1. Black moves 1... Qc2. With this
move he is trying to deflect the rook from the 1'st rank by sacrificing his queen. This is a
simple trick, as any intermediate player could spot the trap behind the move. The right
move White must do, is 2. Qe1. This way he'll prevent the black rook from moveing at
d1.
This next deflection is not so obvious. The game was played in 1934 between Esteban
Cajal and an amateur. Black just castled on the queen side. This gave White the
opportunity to perform a superb combination: 1.a:b4 Q:a1+ 2.Kd2 Q:h1. By giving away
his two rooks, White lured the black queen away from file 'e'. After that followed yet
another sacrifice 3. Q:c6 which forced the 3... B:c6 and then 4. Ba6 checkmate. This was
yet another perfect example of how tactical maneuvers bring out the best in chess.

In this next game (Botvinnik-Keres [1996]) White could perform checkmate at h6 with
the queen if he were to get his queen on the 'h' column. But, as you can see, he is stopped
from doing that by the pawn from h4 which is protected by the queen from d8. White
moves 1. Rb1-b8 and now the queen is forced to give up the pawn because it has no
where to move on the d8-h4 diagonal.
 Decoying in chess

Decoying, unlike deflecting, is not trying to lead pieces from certain positions but to lead
them to certain squares in order to checkmate or gain material advantage.

Black moves 1... Qb1! . This way the white king is forced to capture 2. K:b1. You can see
how the king was lead to the b2 square (where he was exposed to checkmate) away from
d1 thus making possible for the black rook to move 2... Rd1 checkmate.

This next game was played between Holzhausen and Tarrasch at Berlin in 1912. As you
can see White developed his position better than Black, his pieces having a greater range
of action. Black has his pieces placed in a closed position and with a small range of
action. White takes advantage of this and of the weakness from f7 and makes a beautiful
combination of moves. 1. B:f7+ K:f7 2. Ne6 K:e6 (This last move is forced otherwise
Black lose his queen) 3. Q:d5+ Kf6 4.Qf5 .
King's pawn structure

This tactical maneuver focus on destroying the structure of the pawns that are protecting
the king. This maneuver is made possible only when the position of the king is not well
defended by its pieces.

Look at the next game. This is a simple example of what this maneuver implies. White
has his turn to move and sacrifice his queen: 1. Q:h6+ g:h6 (This last move was forced
because White threaten checkmate with 2. Qh7). By sacrificing his queen, White
removed the defender of the f6 pawn and made possible this move: 2.B:f6+ Kg8 3. Ne7
The maneuver to be executed by Black in the next game it's harder to spot than in the
previous game? With 1... B:g2! Black removes the pawn that and clears the way for the
queen. 2. K:g2 Q:g4+ 3. Kh1 Qf3

Forcing stalemate

This tactical procedure is used by the side which has the disadvantage and it usually
involves a piece sacrifice. A player uses this maneuver when he realizes that he has no
chance of recovering the gap between himself and the opponent.

Black is in a lot of trouble. White has an extra knight and rook and the pawns from b5
and d5 are dangerously close to the promotion squares. But Black has the resources to
end the game a draw. He moves 1....Q:d5!. White is forced to capture the queen 2. N:d5
(otherwise after the white king would move on the h column 3...Rh7 ). You can see now
that the king would be stalemate if it weren't for the rook at f7, but that can be easily
fixed: 2... Rf2+ 3.Kh1 Rh2+ 4.Q:h2 and now Black is not able to move any of the piece.
Do you think is possible for White to end the game a draw? White has its turn to move.
You can see that the black pawn is one square away from being promoted and that the
white rook can't stop it by moving at c7. The answer is 'yes' and comes in the form of a
very ingenious maneuver. 1. Rb7+ Kc8 (if 1... Ka8 than 2. Rg7 Qc1 3. Rg8+ Qc8 4. R:c8
) 2. Rb5 Qc1 3. Rc5+ Q:c5 stalemate.

How to advance in chess

If you've read all the tutorials so far, then you are familiar with the rules of chess. So, you
can setup the chess board and start moving the pieces. But, as you'll see, this game is not
all about just moving the pieces around the board and capturing enemy pieces.
I've talked in the previous lessons about the three parts of the game: the opening, the
middle game and the end game. I've said that what makes these parts different is the
number of pieces and their positions. Because the number of pieces reduces during the
game, the objectives of the game also changes.

In the opening each player concentrates on developing his position as faster and as
harmoniously as possible while trying to stop his opponent developing his position.

In the middle game much of the action revolves around trying to control the center of the
chess board, trying to exploit any weakness in the opponent's position and of course
around protecting your own position.

The end game is characterized by a small number of pieces on the board. Because of the
small number of pieces the result of the end game is sometimes more predictable than
that of the middle game. In this part of the game sometimes even the smallest advantage
could be exploited into helping you win the game.

In order to play chess at a more advanced level you will have to learn a little bit about the
theory of the game. This way you will learn how to identify the main objectives of the
game, you will be able to correctly evaluate the position of the pieces and their values. By
understanding this you will know how and where to attack your opponent or how to
defend your own positions.

A very important thing you need to know when playing a game is how to evaluate the
distribution of forces on the chess board. That means that you have to understand who
has a better situation : you or your opponent, so you can then know what to do next.

You already know that some pieces are more valuable than others and that their values
depends on the number of pieces on the board and on their position. Because of this, their
values will vary along the three parts of the game. I'll be talking about this in the next
article.

There are a few criteria which you have to take under consideration when estimating the
status of the game. Some of the most important are:

• Taking in account the pieces on the board (their number, strength and so on)
• The assessment on the mobility of each individual piece
• The safety of the king

You can determine the mobility of the pieces on the board by looking at their freedom of
movement and at the pawn's structure. You can read more about how you can evaluate
and play the game in the following articles.
Piece hierarchy

You probably know by now that on the chess board there are 6 types of pieces, each one
moving and capturing according to different rules. The value of a piece is given by its
ability to capture other pieces and by its importance for the game.

A piece's ability to capture other pieces is given by its mobility, or range of action, in
other words by the number of squares on which the piece could move on. From this point
of view the queen is the most powerful piece on the board because it has the biggest
range of action.

But although the queen is the strongest piece it is not the most important. The most post
important piece on the chess board is the king because the entire game revolves around
checking the opponent's king.

Many beginners make the false assumption that the value of a piece remains constant
throughout the game. That is not true. The fact is that the value of the piece depends a lot
on the surrounding pieces and their position. The more pieces there are on the board the
more limited they are in their movement. Because the number of pieces decreases
throughout the game the mobility of most remaining pieces increase and thus, so does
their value.

Although a piece's value may change during the game it will always have a potential
value, a so called absolute value. This is the main reference that indicates to you whether
a piece is normally more valuable than another. The absolute value of a chess piece is
estimated by analyzing its range of action if it were alone on the chess board. Here is the
piece hierarchy constructed by taking in consideration the absolute value of each piece:

• The queen : it has the biggest range of action of all pieces, being able to move
along the diagonals, ranks and files;
• The rook;
• The bishop and the knight are both at the same level. The fact that the knight has
fewer squares on which to move is compensated by the fact that it can jump over
other pieces;
• The king: it has a small value because it doesn't have a great mobility but it is the
most important piece in the game;
• The pawn ;

Beside the absolute value, a piece also has a relative value given by its position on the
chess board and by the current phase of the game.

There are certain ratios between the relative values of the pieces that change while the
game passes from one phase to another.
In the opening and the central game:

• the knight and the bishop have the same value, each of them being a little more
valuable than three pawns. Many players have the prejudice according to which
the bishop is a little more valuable than the knight. That couldn't be more false!
As I said earlier the knight compensates its small range of action with the fact that
it can jump over other pieces.
• The rook is somewhat equivalent with a knight or a bishop plus two pawns.
• The queen's value is equal with that of two rooks but is smaller than that of three
bishops or knights.

In the end game the ratios change :

• the pawn's value increases;

• Three pawns are equivalent with a bishop or a knight;
• The rook has the same value as a bishop or knight and a pawn;
• Two rooks are more valuable then a queen;
• A queen is equivalent with three knights or bishops;
• A queen is equivalent with a rook a bishop or a knight and a pawn;
• The closer a pawn is to the promotion square the more valuable it is ;

It is very important that you know the values I've presented earlier. By knowing the value
of each individual piece you will be able to evaluate whether you should exchange a
piece or whether you should capture a piece. You'll also know wether you have more
material resources than your opponent.

The conclusion is that the value of a piece is dictated by its strategic position and by its
ability of working together with other pieces. So the fact that a player has less pieces
could be compensated by their superior position on the board.

You will see how to apply what you've learned here in your game in the next article.

Learn to capture

You've learned in the previous tutorial how to evaluate the strength of your pieces. You
are going to see here some examples on how knowing the values of the pieces can help
you in your game.

In the following example White has his turn to move. The white bishop at f4 is able to
capture the black knight at h6 and the black rook at b8. But which one should he capture?
The answer to that is very simple. As you know, a rook is more valuable than a knight or
a bishop. That is why the best move in our case is to capture the rook : 1. B:b8
In the next example it's White's turn to move. You can see that he can capture the knight
at c5 as well as the rook at f6 with the bishop from d4. If he chooses to capture the knight
than he will not accomplish much, he'll just exchange a bishop with a knight and pawn :
1. Bd4:Nc5 b6:c5 2. Nb3:c5 . But if he captures the rook he will gain a greater advantage;
he will change a bishop with a rook (which is more valuable than the knight or the
bishop) :1. Bd4:f6 Qd8:f6. That is why the second option it's better. You may have notes
that White can also capture the rook at b8 with the queen. But that would be a very bad
move as he would lose the queen for a rook.

In the next game again it's White's turn to move. You can see that the knight at
d5 is under considerable attack from the white pieces. But at the same time it is also
protected by a relatively big number of black pieces. The question is : should White
capture the knight? Let's see what happens if the black knight is captured:1.Nf4:d5
Nf6:d5 2. Nc3:d5 Bb7:d5 3. Bb3:d5 and Black can't go any further and capture the bishop
from d5 with the queen without losing the queen. So, as you can see White had enough
resources to perform that capture. As you probably observed the side that has more pieces
controlling the square on which the capture will happen, will win. In this situations (when
you have more resources than your opponent) you should start capturing using the less
valuable pieces. For example, it's a bad idea if in the previous position White makes his
first capture using the queen because Black would just capture the queen with the knight
or the bishop and after that would just stop continuing capturing (so White exchanges the
queen with a bishop... not the best thing to do...!).

As a general rule you should avoid making captures if they don't bring you any advantage
and you should make captures even if you gain a small advantage (Sometimes you only
need an extra pawn to win a game).

In the following game the black pawn is sustained by the king and is about to be
promoted. That makes its value very big. White has no choice but to capture the pawn
after it's promoted into a queen : 1... b2-b1 2. Rg1:b1 and the game ends in a draw. If the
queen at b2 wouldn't have been captured then White would have lost the game (queen
and king wins against rook and king)
Space in chess

The space in chess (the chess board) is made up by the 64 squares on which the
pieces move. As you may have noticed, this space is fragmented unlike the contiguous
space from our world with which we are all familiarized . The fact that space in chess is
fragmented gives it some special properties. Look at the images below. According to
Pythagoras the length of c is greater than the length of a or b (this is in the normal space,
which is contiguous). But in the fragmented space on the chess board all those distances
are equal (that means that the distance on the lines and columns is equal to the distance
on the diagonals) This is very important to know especially in pawns endings.

There is another important thing you

should know. A piece has an absolute value (the ones we've talked about in the articles on
which we presented each piece) and a relative value (given by the position of the piece on
the board). The strength of a particular square is given by the number of the pieces that
control that square and by their value and ,at the same time, by the pieces that occupy that
square. At the same time the relative value of a piece is given by the position of the
square it occupies. As you can see from the next images the range of action of a piece is
larger when it occupies the center of the board and shrinks down if moved near the edge
of the board. The only piece that doesn't follow this rule is the rook which's range of
action is the same regardless of its position on the board.

This is why the central squares are more valuable than those on the edge of the board and
that is why most games have as their long term plan the objective of controlling the
center.
Time in chess

Time is a fundamental element in chess. Pay attention that we are not talking about about
the duration of the game nor the time allocated to each player to make his moves. That is
the time which we all are used with (measured in hours, minutes, seconds, millenniums..
and so on..). The time we are talking about is a special kind of time whose measure unit
is the move. That is why this time is determined by the succession of moves each player
does. Notes that time, just like the space in chess, is fragmented (made up by more than
one separated parts)

As you may guess there is a strong connection between the fundamental

concepts of chess: the space, the pieces and the time. Each piece is moved to a particular
square one time. In the battle that takes place on the chess board each side tries to
develop its position as faster and as better as possible. This is usual done by trying to
control as much as possible the center (as we saw in the previous article). From this point
of view White has an advantage because he always makes the first move and, normally,
he should always finish first developing his pieces and occupying the best squares. So,
because of that first move, White has a big enough advantage which, in theory, should
help him win the game. In reality, because of the great complexity of the game and the
huge number of possible moves the advantage of the first move has only the value of an
initiative. That initiative could, during the game, pass to Black if White makes a mistake.

There is this notion you will surely run into when studying different publications: the
tempo.(Which is basically the time we've talked about until now). So, for further
understanding of the concept of time ("tempo") proceed in reading the next article

Tempo

Tempo is a term that originated from Italy. It means time (the chess time we talked about
in the previous article). We will go more into detail on this notion in this article.

You may have run into this notion by now and, if you haven't, it's alright, you'll learn all
you need to know about it in this article. When you'll find this term you will may find it
in expressions like : "the move was made with tempo" or "the player lost a tempo" or
something similar to that.

You should know that time in chess (tempo) can be won or lost . How is that, you may
ask? Very simple! I said earlier, that in the beginning of the game both players try to
develop their pieces as better and as faster as possible. If a player is forced to make a
retreat of his piece than that means that he lost a tempo. Basically, if he moves a piece to
a square and then he moves it back is like he never performed that particular move (so, he
lost a move, a tempo; is like his opponent made two moves while he had made only one)
In the next game White attacks the black queen with 1. Bg5. But Black has a good
response: 1... f6. Now the bishop must be taken to a safe location 2. Be3. You can see that
the bishop could have been moved at e3 from the beginning. Now White had lost a tempo
(it's like Black had made two moves while White made only one)

As a side note: although you should always avoid making this kind of moves if
you happen to be in such a position don't be afraid of taking back your move (don't do
something rushed like capturing the pawn from f6 in the example above). Usually it's
better to lose tempo than to lose a valuable piece.

Common opening traps

You will see here a few examples of traps in the opening. They are the best argument that
in chess, you always have to pay attention to what happens, otherwise you may lose the
game when you least expect. You will see here that there are a great number of
possibilities even at the beginning of the game.

I will only show you a limited number of this positions (only the most common).

Scholar's Mate1. e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Bf1-c4 Bf8-c5 Nothing special until now. 3. Qd1-h5
Closes in for the kill! 3... Ng8-f6?? This is a very bad move. This doesn't help Black at
all. The right move is 3... Qd8-e7 to protect the f7 square or 3... g7-g6 to block to queen's
path. But since none of those moves were done the queen has no problem and :
 4. Qh5-f7 . There are several ways this
technique can be applied : using a knight instead of a bishop, moving the queen at f3
instead of h5 and so on.. Black can use this technique as well. Fool's MateThis is the
worst possible combinations of moves White can do! 1. f2-f3 e7-e5 2. g2-g4 And with
this, White manages to completely remove his king's defense! Black takes advantage of

this and: 2... Qd8-h4 Black wins! This is

sometimes called Fool's mate; you might guess why that is!
Legal MateThis checkmate is famous. The game was played in 1750 at Paris
between the Legal and the Saint-Brie knight. The opening is called Philidor Defense. 1.
e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Ng1-f3 d7-d6 3. Bf1-c4 Bc8-g4 4. Nb1-c3 g7-g6 5. Nf3:e5 White sacrifices
the queen! Black doesn't understand the consequences of what he is about to do and
captures the queen!
 5... Bg4:d1 After this the mate will immediately

occur! 6. Bc4:f7+ Ke8-e7 7. Nc3-d5! Checkmate! A

very interesting game1. e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3. Bf1-c4 Nc6-d4 There are many
ways White can react to this move. But this move hides a trap: if White captures the
pawn at e5 instead of developing his pieces or exchanging the knight at d4, then he will

have a surprise! 4. Nf3:e5? Qd8-g5 Now the queen

has a simultaneous attack over the knight at e5 and the pawn from g2. 5. Ne5:f7 With this
he attacks both the rook at h8 and the queen. But now Black puts in action his surprise :
5... Qg5:g2 6. Rh1-f1 Qg2:e4+ 7. Bc4-e2 Nd4-f3 And White is checkmate in a beautiful
manner with etouffe mate!

As you can see, White has several occasions to avoid checkmate, but doesn't take
advantage of them due to the fact that the end result is hard to spot. For example, White
can move the queen in front of the king instead of moving the bishop 7. Qd1-e2. But by
loosing his queen 7... Nd4:e2 and having a week position White doesn't really stand a
chance. Of course, if Black is a beginner in chess, than White might still go on playing,
hoping his opponent will make a mistake. A game all the way from the
17th century from the Greco collection.1. d2-d4 Ng8-f6 2. Nb1-d2 e7-e5 3. d4:e5 Nf6-g4
4. h2-h3 As you can see White made many mistakes.

4... Ng4-e3 ! White is forced to do the following

move otherwise he loses the queen. 5. f2:e3 Qd8-h4+ And now, of course 6. g2-g3
Qh4:g3! White is now checkmated. The fact that White made some mistakes allowed his
opponent to make his ingenious moves. A game
played at the 1982 OlympicsThis game was played between Nisimura (White) and
Marco(Black) 1. e2-e4 c7-c6 2. Ng1-f3 d7-d5 3. Nb1-c3 d5:e4 4. Nc3:e4 Nb8-d7 Until
now all the moves are specific to the Caro-Kann defense. The next move, however, is not
the usual one for this opening; as you may guess it hides a trap!

5. Qd1-e2 Ng8-f6? Black makes the mistake White

was expecting. 6. Ne4-d6 A beautiful etouffe mate!

A trap you could use

when playing the queen's Gambit1. d2-d4 d7-d5 2. c2-c4 e7-e6 3. Nb1-c3 Ng8-f6 4. Bc1-
g5 Nb8-d7 These are the usual moves for this opening in the Cambridge Springs version.
The game normally continues with 5. e2-e3 c7-c6 6. Ng1-f3 ...... If a beginner who is not
familiar with this position captures the pawn at d5 he'll have a big problem on his hands!

5. c4:d5 e6:d5 6. Nc3:d5 Nf6:d5!!

7. Bg5:d8 Be7-b4+ A good move! Now White has

no other defense than : 8. Qd1-d2 And Black wins a piece after: 8. Bb4:d2 Ke1:d2 and 9.

Ke8:d8