Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Attacking pieces

This post is a collaboration with Mr Andrew Crosby who is an expert in chess gambits.
Andrew usually plays them in his games with great success. In addition, he is an active member of our virtual Chess.com club taking part in our online tournaments and matches..

Fighting is the fundamental feature of a chess game. Moves, threats, plans, … are the elements of that fight. We talk about attack, defence, and strategy. Strategy is the ability to properly coordinate the pieces contributing to the attack and defense. Taking into account that after each move a new position appears on the board, players need to adjust their plans and react accordingly.

Every chess player knows how important the development of pieces is. It is also necessary to identify weak squares in the enemy’s field and how to take advantage of them. As players progress in mastery, they understand that the material value assigned to every piece is something relative. Other factors also influence the evaluation of pieces. For example, a pawn is more valuable as it approaches the last rank. An active piece is more valuable than a passive one and so on.

Today’s game is an example where we can learn about the activity of pieces. White played the opening according to the general rules and achieved space advantage while Black’s king remained in the center. However Black’s active play of pieces gave him enough counterplay to completely stop his opponent’s attack.

Black allowed himself to fall behind in development, but his position was safe. Ironically his undeveloped piece decided the end of the fight.

If you enjoy chess but are unable to attend a local club, then join our virtual Chess.com club. On our site, we regularly play online tournaments and team matches. More than 880 members enjoy that chance and new players join every week. There are new tournaments for the coming months that need players! Join now! Limited slots!