KO by Kevin O’ Connell
KO by Kevin O’ Connell
I concluded last time with the exhortation“ Do not make your students weaker!” and the promise of concrete advice.
When teaching beginners, try to moderate, or even avoid the shabby worn out piece value system of 3-3- 5-9 in terms of“ pawns” or“ units”( units of what?).
Staunton |
said |
that |
trying |
to |
determine |
piece |
values |
“ with |
mathematical exactitude … appears |
to be an expenditure of ingenuity and |
research |
upon |
an |
unattainable |
object.” |
|
|
|
3-3-5-9 |
illustrates |
the |
law |
of |
unintended |
consequences. |
The |
constant |
reinforcement |
that |
beginners |
experience |
sets |
the |
concept |
in |
stone. |
They |
are |
repeatedly told“ you must not play |
that, she just takes it” or“ you can ' t |
take that pawn with your rook, he ' ll |
recapture and you ' ll be lost – the |
rook is worth 5 and the pawn only 1” |
and so on, and on. Thus the rule of |
“ can ' t” is established. |
Once established, the“ can ' t” syndrome blights the further development of club and intermediate level players, and even affects the play of masters and Grandmasters.
Spielmann wisely pointed out that pieces have values like shares on the Stock Exchange – they can be static, but most of the time they go up and down.
Maria Schoene( WIM, 2251)- Vlastimil Babula( GM, 2554), Bundesliga 2010, is typical. It’ s obvious that“ she can ' t take on f7,” isn’ t it?
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My next example is from a 2007 French League game Florian Ranc( 1860) – Guy Cesbron( 2105). White had given up a rook because Black can ' t avoid losing the queen after 1 Bb2xd4.
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Sometimes there ' s a panto style“ can – can ' t sequence” as in Klyukin- Gergel, USSR 1971. White to play.
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Overcoming“ can ' t” can pay big dividends. Look at Mark Heidenfeld
( IM, 2365) – Roberto Cechhetti( 1930), Turin Olympiad 2006. White to play.
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That was great, but the ultimate“ can ' t” was seen in GM Paul Motwani ' s first tournament game. He was a small boy. The game: 1 e2-e4 d7-d6 2 Bf1-b5 mate. White( a little girl) said " your king is in check and it can ' t move, so it ' s checkmate." Black gracefully accepted.
**************
Schoene- Babula. But she could and did: 1 Bc4xf7 + Rh7xf7 2 h6-h7 1-0, although White ' s last move wasn ' t best( Qb3-e6).
Ranc- Cesbron. Oh yes he can! 1... Be7-c5! White had the temerity to limp on for four moves before resigning.
Klyukin- Gergel. 1 g5-g6 f7xg6 2 Rf6xe6 Qd8xh4 3 Re6xc6 + Kc5-b4 4 a2-a3 + Kb4-a4. Oh yes I can: 5 Rc6- c4 + b5xc4 6 Be4-c6 mate.
Heidenfeld- Cechhetti. 1 d4-d5! e6xd5 2 Nc3xd5! Bf7xd5 3 Rd1xd5 +! c6xd5 4 Bc4-b5 + Black resigned( 4... Qa4xb5 5 Qf4-c7 + Kd7-e6 6 Rh1-e1 + Qb5-e2 7 Re1xe2 mate).
More next time... 35 | P a g e I r i s h C h e s s J o u r n a l