QC vs NIC BOOK CHALLENGE: In sickness...

In sickness...

The last week and half I was sick, battling the flu. All I could do was

and

Chess wasn't on my mind, never thought for a second about it.

... and in healt

TYCTA: Signal 2: Unprotected Pieces

Today was the first day back in 100% healt. Time to study again. in an earlier post I described the first signal namely King Position. The second signal is Unprotected Pieces. Now what can we do with this signal?

Here we must learn about that tactic "double attack". What is a double attack? Is the tactic in which one attacks two targets threatening to make a benificial capture on the next move since all attacks cannot be met. Beginners mistakenly think that both targets are pieces. Wrong offcourse.

Targets of attack

1. The king (check or mate threat)

An attack on the king always forces the opponent to react at once.

2. Material is the target

An attack on a piece is less forcing than an attack on the king. An attack on material (pieces and pawns) makes sense when they are: unprotected, pieces with higher value or insufficient protected pieces

3. A square is the target

The third target is an attack on a square. It must be an important square! For example a mating square. It's not important wheter these squares are empty or occupied.

Some examples

? - ?

Result: *

Site: ?

Date: ?

[...] 1.£e4Threatens mate on h7 as well as 2. Qxe7 so the black bishop is lost because

? - ?

Result: *

Site: ?

Date: ?

[...] 1...£g5

? - ?

Result: *

Site: ?

Date: ?

[...] 1.¦d1 The rook attacks the bishop. However the bishop cannot move because it would be mate in two.

1...¥b5 2.¦d8+ ¥e8 3.¦xe8#

Have fun!