In the next two chapters, you will learn how to use and to be aware of your opponent using many “tricks of the trade”—ways to win material. But before we close this chapter we should consider one more thing: Just how do you defend against a threat to one of your pieces? After all, we’ve been looking at all the ways to capture material.
But what about when you are the one who is being threatened with capture? What should you do?
There are five ways to meet a threat to one of your pieces:
1. Move the piece that is being attacked.
2. Defend the piece that is being attacked.
3. Block the attack on the piece.
4. Capture the piece that is attacking you.
5. Attack something else in your opponent’s position.
Let’s illustrate each one of the ways to meet a threat to one of your pieces with an example.
Moving the Piece That Is Being Attacked
Look at Diagram 19. Suppose you are Black, and you notice that your queen on b6 is being attacked by the bishop on e3. It’s your move. What do you do? Well, the
simplest thing to do is to move it away to where it’s no longer being attacked, right?
Diagram 20 shows the position after Black has done just that. It is White’s turn again, and the Black queen can’t be captured because it has moved away.
Diagram 19: Black to move: The queen is attacked by the white bishop on e3.
Diagram 20: Black plays 1 . . .Qc7, moving the queen out of the attack.
Defending the Piece That Is Being Attacked
This works well so long as the piece of yours that is being attacked is not more valuable than whichever one of your opponent’s pieces is attacking it. But if your piece is more valuable, this is not a good way to meet the threat.
Blunders
Don’t capture one of your opponent’s pieces if your opponent can recapture your piece, and your piece is more valuable than the piece it captured!
Suppose you are White in Diagrams 21 and 22. In Diagram 21, Black is attacking the rook on c1 with his queen on f4. White defends that rook with his other rook, as shown in Diagram 22. Now it would be a mistake for Black to capture the rook on c1,
because White would recapture the queen with the rook on d1, and White would win a queen for a rook—a very good trade for White!
But in Diagram 23, Black is attacking the rook on c1 with his bishop on f4. Now it would be a bad idea for White to defend this rook, because if Black takes the rook with his bishop, then even if White recaptures the bishop, Black has won “the
exchange” (a rook for a bishop), which is a good trade for Black and a bad trade for White.
Diagram 21: White to move: The rook on c1 is attacked by Black’s queen.
Diagram 22: White defends the rook on c1 by playing 1.Rdd1.
Diagram 23: White to move: The rook on c1 is attacked by the bishop on f4.
Blocking the Attack on the Piece
You must keep two things in mind if you want to do this. First, if a knight attacks a piece, there is no way to block it. (Remember, knights jump over pieces!) Second, the piece that blocks the attack must be defended, and it must be of lower or equal value to the piece that is attacking. Diagrams 24 and 25 illustrate this second point. In the first Diagram, White attacks the queen on c7 with his bishop on g3. In the second Diagram, Black defends the attack by moving his bishop to d6. White can capture the bishop, but then Black will recapture the bishop with his queen, and the result will simply be an even trade.
Capturing the Piece That Is Attacking You
Again, whether this is a good idea depends on whether the piece you are thinking
about capturing is protected, and what the relative value of the pieces is. Look again at Diagram 24. It would be a very bad idea for the black queen to capture the bishop on g3, because White would recapture with either the h-pawn or the f-pawn, and Black would lose a queen for a bishop.
But Black has another piece that can capture the bishop.
Certainly it is a bad idea for Black to take the bishop with his queen, but what about taking it with his knight on h5? In Diagram 26, Black captures the bishop with the knight. White will recapture the knight with one of his pawns, and the result will be an even trade—this time knight for bishop, rather than bishop for bishop as in Diagram 25.
Diagram 24: Black to move: The black queen is attacked by the bishop on g3.
Diagram 25: Black plays 1 . . .Bd6, blocking the attack to the queen.
Diagram 26: Black plays 1 . . .Nxg3, and after 2.hxg3 or 2.fxg3 material will still be even.
Attacking Something Else in Your Opponent’s Position
The final way to meet an attack on one of your pieces is just to ignore it altogether and do something else. In that case, just make sure that whatever you do is important
enough to be to your advantage if you both carry out your threats! Also, be sure that your threat can’t be parried in such a way that you leave yourself vulnerable to the original threat.
Consider Diagram 27. Black attacks the knight on c3 with his rook on c8. White decides to parry this threat by attacking the queen on f8 with his bishop. In Diagram
28, White has attacked the queen. Now it would be a very bad idea for Black to capture the knight, because White would capture the queen, and even after Black recaptured the bishop with his king, White would have won a queen for a knight and a bishop—an excellent trade (see Diagram 29).
Diagram 27: White to move: the knight on c3 is attacked by the rook on c8.
Diagram 28: White attacks Black’s queen by playing 1.Bd6.
Diagram 29: Position after 1 . . .Rxc3?? 2.Bxf8: White has won a queen for a knight. Even after 2 . . .Kxf8, White will have a material advantage.
Diagram 30: White to move: The knight on c3 is attacked by the rook on c8.
But just a small change in the position can make all the difference! Consider Diagram 30. Once again the knight on c3 is attacked, and once again White decides to meet the threat by attacking the queen on f8 with his bishop on d6. Diagram 31 shows the position after White does this. But this time the white queen is on a slightly different
square—f2 instead of g2—so now Black can capture the queen with his own queen, and with check! White has to meet the check, so he recaptures the queen, but then the threat to Black’s queen is gone, and Black can capture the knight on c3 with his rook.
See Diagrams 32 and 33.
Diagram 31: White plays 1.Bd6??, attacking the queen.
Diagram 32: Black plays 1 . . .Qxf2+!.
Diagram 33: White plays 2.Kxf2, but now Black will win a knight for nothing with 2 . . .Rxc3.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
It is so important to develop the skills of winning material (and not losing material) that the next two chapters are devoted entirely to teaching you the most common tricks for winning (and losing) material. Before you start the next chapter, I recommend that you do the exercises at the end of this chapter. Yes, I know there are a lot of them, but they are there for your benefit! Don’t worry if you have some trouble with them. You can always turn back to the relevant section of the chapter if you are unclear about something. By trying to solve the exercises, and studying the answers if they give you trouble, you will develop the skills you need to win at chess. And believe me, chess is always most fun when you win!
Exercise #1:It’s White’s turn. List all the pieces and pawns the knight on d4 attacks. Should White capture any of them?
Exercise #2:It’s White’s turn. Do either 1.Rxb7 or 1.dxc5 win a pawn?
Exercise #3:It’s White’s turn. What two pawns does he attack? Should he capture either of them?
Exercise #4:It’s White’s turn. Do either 1.Nfxd4 or 1.Nbxd4 win a pawn? Does 1.Qxd4 win a pawn?
Exercise #5:It’s Black’s turn. What is his best move?
Exercise #6:It’s Black’s turn. Which knight should he capture?
Exercise #7:It’s Black’s turn. Can he win material by capturing the bishop on c3 with either the rook or the knight?
Exercise #8:It’s White’s turn. Will White have a material advantage after the sequence 1.dxc6 Rxc6, and if not is 1.dxc6 still the best move?
Exercise #9:It’s White’s turn. List all of the captures White can make. Do any of them give White a material advantage?
Exercise #10:It’s White’s turn. List all of the captures White can make. Do any of them give White a material advantage?
Exercise #11:It’s White’s turn, and he attacks both the knight on f6 and the rook on b6. Should White capture either of them?
Exercise #12:It’s White’s turn. Should he capture any of Black’s pieces?
Exercise #13:It’s White’s turn. Should he capture the knight on d7?
Exercise #14:It’s White’s turn. Should he capture the knight on d7?
Exercise #15:It’s Black’s turn, and the rook on f6 is attacked by the bishop on b2.
Does Black have any other way to defend against this threat than by moving the rook?
Exercise #16:It’s Black’s turn, and once again the rook on f6 is attacked by the pesky bishop on b2. Does Black have any way to defend against this threat than by moving the rook?
Exercise #17:Once again it’s Black’s turn, and once again the rook on f6 is
attacked. Now does he have any other way to meet the threat of its capture than to move it?
Exercise #18:It’s Black’s turn. What is his best move?
Exercise #19:It’s Black’s turn. What is his best move?
Exercise #20:It’s Black’s turn. Can he prevent White from capturing his rook next turn?
Exercise #21:It’s Black’s turn. How can he prevent White from capturing his rook next turn?
Exercise #22:What happens if Black tries to save the rook the same way he did in Exercise #21?
Exercise #23:It’s White’s turn. Which knight should White capture, and why?
Exercise #24:It’s White’s turn. Can White win material by capturing the rook on e8?
Exercise #25:It’s White’s turn. Can White win material by capturing the rook on e8?
Exercise #26:It’s White’s turn. Can White win material by capturing the rook on e8?
Exercise #27:Black to move. White has just played his knight from c3 to d5. Black’s queen is now attacked, as well as his bishop on e7. How can Black defend both pieces at once? What is his best move?
Exercise #28:Black to move. What should Black play? Who will be ahead in material?
Exercise #29:Black to move. What should Black play? Who will be ahead in material?
Exercise #30:This is a very hard one! Black has just played his knight to f3 from d4. How can White save his queen (attacked by the bishop on g7) and rook (attacked by the rook on f3) at the same time? What is White’s best move?
The Least You Need to Know
Having a material advantage is all about having a more powerful army to fight with.
Chess is such a finely balanced game that when grandmasters play, having a material advantage of one pawn is often enough to win.
Knowing how to judge who has a material advantage is a crucial skill, so always remember the scale of the relative value of the pieces.
Practice the skills you need to judge when a capture wins or loses material.
Practice the skills you need to recognize when one of your pieces (or pawns) is attacked, and how to parry the attack.