How to make happy yawns‎. Make chess sexy again, or how to lose less often if you don't understand chess Strive for simplicity

No one is immune from a strong opponent and bad positions. From time to time, all players face them - both grandmasters and beginners. The difference is that chess professionals know how to deal with such situations and in most cases "get out". At the amateur level, the opposite is true. More often than not, if the game "goes wrong" and goes into a "deaf" defense, beginners lose, and pretty quickly. Hence the question - how to improve defensive skills?

First, you can include in your regular training schedule tasks to find the best protection. Secondly, periodically play games looking for the best ways to resist for the weak side. The games of Viktor Korchnoi can be a good start, where you will find many wonderful positions.

1. Don't panic!

Perhaps this advice is the most important. Psychology plays a very important role in the game of chess. If you have already entered a state of panic and feel that there is nothing to move, then the game is most likely lost.

Try to calm down. Perhaps you should get up and walk around for a few minutes to get a fresh look at the position.

If you have not blundered a piece, then there is every chance to save the game or even win. Admit to yourself that you are in a worse position, and - fight!

2. Try to find a defense that will make life as difficult as possible for your opponent.

So, you realize that your position is weaker. And if your opponent does not accidentally make a mistake, then apparently for some time you will be in a worse position. This fact cannot be changed. But you should not give up, because you can still make the game as difficult as possible for your opponent.

Try to find such moves that will make the opponent "sweat" and doubt his advantage. Believe me, this tactic works very well even against strong opponents. Consider this example:

Suarez Garcia, C–Collados, L

White is "sitting" down a pawn and will probably lose if the game is calm. So d5 followed, sacrificing one more pawn to activate the pieces. Then White went Ke4-f5 and later e6. As a result, this made life difficult for the Blacks, and they even lost!

3. Strive for Simplification

If you are under pressure, then mass exchanges in most cases will help you. Of course, it is necessary to pay attention to the emerging endgame. For example, eliminating rooks in an endgame greatly increases the chances of a draw.

4. Avoid creating new weaknesses

Getting into a worse situation, many players become too active - and in doing so, make new mistakes. Often this leads to the opening of the position and the creation of many weaknesses, which only benefits the stronger side. Of course, the search for initiative is always commendable, but before that it is always worth carefully assessing the situation. Perhaps the best strategy would still be to wait and maintain your position as a compact fortress?

5. Don't hold on to excess material if a victim can fix the situation.

Did your opponent sacrifice material to launch an attack or increase pressure? But you can always do the same! If you see that you can equalize the position at the expense of the sacrifice, then do not hold on to excess material and return it.

We hope that these practical ideas will be useful to you, and in the future you will easily be able to better cope with the most difficult positions. Thanks for reading!

How to learn to play in order to lose as little as possible? Most often, the fault of your defeats are blunders.

Usually you expose your piece to combat or do not remove a piece after an opponent attacks it. These are gross mistakes leading to loss. in chess language gross mistakes called yawns.

How to avoid yawns? Very simple! We must try to be careful. We will give you some tips and immediately analyze them with examples. Millions of chess players before you have been wrong in this way. But it is better to learn from the mistakes of others so that you do not have to learn from your own.

Let's say the opponent is going to checkmate you with the familiar "children's" checkmate.
1. e2-e4 e7-e5
2. Qd1 - h5 . . .

When the bishop comes out first, followed by the queen, it is very good to drive the queen away with a pawn move. 2. Bf1-c4 Nb8-c6 3. Qd1-h5 g7-g6 4. Qh5-f3 Ng8-f6.

What is good a move later, does not pass immediately. See what happens if a pawn moves.
2. . . . g7-g6??

A gross error is indicated by two ?? .
3. Qh5: e5+ . . .

The queen attacked the king, and looks at the rook with his right eye. The king is more valuable to Black than the rook, and it has to be covered. 3. . . . Bf8-e7 4. Qe5: h8 . . .

Black is left without a rook, and in return he gets a queen-robber in his camp.

How to avoid this error? Don't remember how to defend against the queen's attack, but start thinking right away. Ask yourself: “Why did the queen come forward? Who did he attack?

After that you need:

1. swipe away from the enemy chess queen MUSTACHE in all directions. This is difficult, since the queen has up to eight "whiskers". Leave a "mustache" that looks in your direction. It turns out that the "mustache" of the queen rests on your pawns h7, f7, e5;

On the h7 pawn - one queen attack and one rook defense. So it’s not scary - they won’t “eat”.

The same with the pawn f7 - it is still protected by the king. The white bishop hasn't moved to c4 yet. But the pawn e5 has no defenses at all.

So you need to bring protection to the pawn. Best 2. . . . Nb8-c6; but also compares the number of attacks and defenses: 2. . . . d7-d6; 2. . . . Qd8-e7; 2. . . . Qd8-f6; 2. . . . Bf8-d6. The e5-pawn is protected.
3. Bf1-c4 . . .

After the lunge of the elephant, we find a dangerous mustache. This is the second attack on the f7-pawn. 4. Qh5xf7X threatens.

There are two ways. Either add the number of defenses to two, or reduce the number of attacks.

How to defend yourself?
2 n. = 1 z. + 1 z. 2 n. - 1 n. = 1 z.
Simple arithmetic!
Second defense 3. . . . Qd8-f6 or 3. . . . Qd8-e7.
A pawn move 3. . . . g7-g6! this is the reduction of attacks, which blocks the way for the queen. Now one of the "whiskers" of the g6-pawn touches the white queen.

Let's get acquainted with a popular opening for beginners - defense of two knights.
1. e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3. Bf1-c4 Ng8-f6 4. Nf3-g5 . . .
There are two attacks on the f7-pawn. Often, children equalize the number of attacks and defenses with the queen's move, believing that now the capture is not threatening. 4. . . . Qd8-e7?

1 n. elephant + 1 n. horse = 1 z. queen + 1 g. king.
Nevertheless, the white knight still breaks into the black camp.
5. Ng5: f7 Qe7: f7?? 6. Bc4: f7+ Ke8: f7

It turns out that in this case a completely different arithmetic is needed. A queen is worth 10 pawns, a knight and a bishop are worth three each, and a pawn is worth 1.
1 + 10 = 3 + 3 + ...
pawn + queen = knight + bishop + ...
And black lost five pawns or a rook!

Play it right 4. . . . d7-d5! This move blocks the way for the white bishop, and the number of attacks on the f7-pawn decreases from 2 to 1.

What should be done to avoid yawns?

1. After the move of the opponent's piece - DRIVE from this piece the MUSTACHE in all directions.

2. EQUALIZE the number of attacks and defenses.

3. Defenses must be EQUAL.

• Battery- two (or more) pieces, the combined strength of which enhances the attack (pressure) potential, for example, the “queen + bishop” battery, “rook + queen”, etc.
• Blitz- lightning-fast game, which uses extremely short time control (as a rule, five minutes for each for the whole game, but there is a blitz control and three minutes for each and even a minute). The one who misses the time first (or, of course, the one who gets a checkmate) loses.
• Rapid chess (rapid)- a game of chess with a shortened time limit for reflection (usually 15 minutes each for the entire game).
• Vertical- checkerboard fields with the same letter index (for example, vertical f).
• Perpetual Check- a situation in which the side to which checks are announced cannot evade them in any way. In the event of such a situation, the game is considered a draw.
• Fork- a move of a knight or a pawn, in which two or more enemy pieces are under attack.
• Gambit- a sacrifice in the opening of the material (usually pawns, less often pieces) for the sake of the fastest development.
• Garde- In chess: an attack on the queen (the announcement of "garde" is not necessary).
• Handicap- English, In a chess game, a competition between many players of different strengths, and the strong ones give some kind of advantage (handicap: forward 1-2 moves, pawn or piece) to weaker players for a relative balance of power.
• Horizontal- fields of a chessboard with the same number index ("first horizontal", "fifth horizontal", etc.).
• Two Bishops Advantage- a situation in which one of the parties has two bishops, and the opposite side has an elephant or a knight, or two horses. This advantage is especially pronounced in open positions, where the range of the bishops allows them to be used to their full potential.
• Debut- the beginning of a chess game, aimed at the speedy mobilization (development, deployment) of forces.
• demarcation line- a line conventionally drawn between the fourth and fifth horizontal lines and dividing the chessboard into two equal halves.
• Diagonal- fields of the chessboard of the same color, located on the same line.
• Children's mat- Checkmate in the opening, which White announces by making the following moves: 1.e4 2.Bc4 3.Qh5 (or Qf3) 4.Qxf7X. The pieces can move in different sequences, but the main idea is that the queen and bishop attack the f7 square.
• stupid mate- checkmate in the opening, which White gets by making the following moves: 1.f4 e6 2.g4?? Qh4X.
• Victim- non-equivalent exchange, giving away any material (pawn, pieces, several pieces) to obtain a decisive (or positional) advantage, to declare a checkmate or draw the game.
• The victim is correct- that is, justified, correct, justifying itself even with the best protection.
• The victim is incorrect (bluff)- a sacrifice calculated on the mistakes of the defending side, on time pressure, etc., that is, having a fairly obvious refutation.
• Chess problem- a product of a chess composition, the solution of which involves finding a strictly unique way to declare a checkmate to the weakest side in the indicated number of moves. Depending on the number of moves required for solving, the tasks are divided into two-movers, three-movers and multi-movers.
• yawn- a rough look, most often leading to the loss of the game.
• Combination vision (tactical)- the ability to see the opportunities lurking in the position to gain an advantage with the help of various sacrifices of the material.
• Blindfold- a game without looking at the board, one of the varieties of demonstration performances. Recently, in order to increase entertainment, the game "blindly" is included in the program of international tournaments ("Amber Tournament"). However, it allows players to use the image of an empty chessboard (on a computer display) for convenience.
• Initiative- the advantage of the active side, which can impose on the defending side the style and pace of the struggle, prepare and carry out an attack, etc.
• "Trap"- a trap that leads the “fallen” side to the inevitable loss of a queen or a piece.
• Quality- “weight”, which distinguishes a heavy figure from a light one; "Win an exchange" or "sacrifice an exchange" means an operation in which one of the players wins (or sacrifices) a rook by giving (getting) a minor piece for it.
• Chess qualification- recognized in accordance with the rules (code) level of strength of a chess player. It is fixed in the form of assignment of the corresponding titles and ranks (eg National Master, FIDE Master, International Master, International Grandmaster). The corresponding ranks and titles are awarded not only to chess players, but also to chess composers.
• Combination- forced variant with sacrifice.
• Countergambit- a kind of opening in which a counter sacrifice of material is made to counter the plans of the opponent. For example, Falkbeer's countergambit in the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5).
• Counterplay- the possibility of a counter game against the weaknesses of the opponent.
• Co-op checkmate- a kind of chess problem in which the side receiving the checkmate assists the mating side.
• Fortress- a kind of drawn positions in the endgame, in which the stronger side cannot win even if there is a large material advantage (for example, some positions in which the rook and pawn form an impregnable fortress against the queen).
• Tacking- maneuvers of a positional nature, during which the general tension, uncertainty is maintained, and the parties do not reveal their intentions to the end.
• "Lasker compensation"- compensation for the queen in the form of a rook, a pawn and a minor piece (usually a bishop). The term is derived from the name of the second official world chess champion Em. Lasker, who repeatedly and successfully carried out such an exchange of the strongest piece.
• Trap- one of the fighting techniques in a practical game, when the side setting the trap is counting on the recklessness of the opponent, who will be tempted by a “poisoned” pawn or a queen left under attack and receive a checkmate “in return” or suffer significant material damage.
• Checkmate Legal- a checkmate construction that involves sacrificing the queen and declaring checkmate with three minor pieces (the scheme of this construction is: 1.e4 e5 2.Kf3 d6 3.Cc4 Cg4 4.Kc3 h6 5.K:e5! C:d1 6.C:f7+ Kpe7 7 .Kd5x). The name of the checkmate comes from the name of Kermur Cyr de Legal, who first carried out this checkmate in a practical game against the Chevalier Saint-Bris (1787, Paris, cafe "Regence"). However, legal made the move K:e5 with the black knight on c6, and Saint-Brie could win by taking not the queen on d1, but the knight on e5.
• Mat- in chess, a situation where the king is in check and there is no way to avoid this check.
• Linear mat- a checkmate on the extreme verticals (horizontals), which is placed by heavy pieces (two rooks, a rook and a queen, two queens).
• Mat stale- a checkmate declared by a knight, while the checkmate king is limited in movement by his own pieces and pawns.
• Mat epaulette- a checkmate, which is placed by the queen, while the mated king is limited on both sides by its own rooks (“epaulettes”) (for example, the white queen from e6 checkmates the black king on e8, and the black rooks, respectively, are on the squares d8 and f8).
• Matte network- a position in which the king of the weakest side cannot avoid checkmate due to the fact that all possible squares for retreat are blocked by their own pieces or controlled by the attacking side.
• Material- pieces and pawns that a player has in a chess game. Possession of excess material predetermines a material advantage. The return of material in the name of obtaining a decisive advantage is a combination, a sacrifice.
• Miniature- 1) a game won already in the opening or at the beginning of the middlegame (that is, in no more than 20-25 moves) as a result of blunders of the losing side; 2) chess problems or studies with a small number of participating pieces.
• Middlegame- the middle, the main part of a chess game, usually following the opening. Massive exchanges in the opening can lead to the fact that the game immediately goes from the opening into the endgame.
• Target- a piece or field that is the object of a combination or attack.
• Draw- the result of a chess game in which none of the players could win. For a draw, each player receives half a point.
• New- a new move (new development scheme) in known variants (tabiah).
• Knockout system- the principle of competitions (including the world championship), in which the winner of each of the pairs determined by lot goes to the next round. Moreover, games with classical control are played first, then (if the winner has not been determined) - in "rapid" chess, then (if the rapid has not determined the winner) - blitz.
• Chess notation- a generally accepted notation, through which a chess game or a particular position is recorded. Recording in full notation implies the designation of the square from which the pawn or piece makes a move - and, accordingly, the square on which this move is made (for example, 22. Kra4-b3 means that the white king from the a4 square made a move to b3). Recording in abbreviated notation is limited to indicating the square on which the move is made (for example, 56. ... Rg7 - the black rook moved to the square g7). There is a difference between alphabetic and purely digital notation (the latter is used when playing by correspondence).
• Pat- a position in which a check is not declared to any side, but it has no moves.
• Plan in chess- the core of the chess strategy, which links together the opening, the middle of the game (middlegame and endgame). The plan is formed on the basis of a dynamic (changing) assessment of the position and includes setting an adequate goal of the struggle (struggle for a win, for a draw), an assessment of the need to regroup the pieces, assessment of the acceptability (unacceptability) of a series of exchanges, the need for certain maneuvers, maneuvering, etc.
• Position- a situation that happened in a practical game or represents a task in a chess composition. The ability to adequately evaluate a position is one of the essential components of chess mastery.
• Field- a unit of chess space, the same as "point", "checkerboard cell". Possession of key fields in this particular position determines the positional advantage. "Weak" field - that is, a field available for invading enemy forces.
• half way- one move by White or one move by Black, the unit of measurement and the minimum unit of change of position on the chessboard. Two half-moves make up a move, which is one line in the notation of a chess game on paper.
• transformation- substitution of a pawn upon reaching the last rank by any piece of its color (except the king).
• Transformation "weak"- the promotion of a pawn not into the strongest piece (that is, not into a queen, as usual), but, for example, into a knight, bishop or rook. That is, a "weak" transformation can be the strongest move (!).
• Chess program- a kind of game computer programs capable of evaluating a position and making (offering) a move in accordance with the underlying algorithm. The best modern programs (Freetz, Deep Blue, Deep Thought, etc.) play at the level of strong grandmasters and successfully fight world champions (both Kasparov and Kramnik lost matches to computers ...). They are also indispensable when preparing for competitions and when analyzing games or technical positions.
• passed pawn- a pawn that has no enemy pawns in front of it (including those on adjacent files) and that can move towards the promotion square.
• Advantage- superiority over the position of the enemy in one of the components (material or positional advantage).
• Exchange- a move (a series of moves), in which (a series of moves) the parties exchange approximately equivalent material (exchange of a minor piece for a minor piece, a pawn for a pawn, a minor piece for three pawns, a queen for two rooks or three minor pieces, etc.) .
• Rating- the current level of the relative strength of a chess player, expressed in a numerical coefficient (since 1972 - the Elo coefficient by the name of Arpad Elo, who proposed a methodology for calculating and using coefficients). Master level - from about 2200. Grandmaster level - from 2400 and above. Extra-class grandmasters - from 2600 and even from 2700 and above.
• Rokada- a vertical open for rook maneuvers.
• Castling- a move in a chess game aimed at taking the king away from the center; with a short castling, the king is evacuated to the kingside, with a long castling - to the queenside. When castling is carried out, the king is transferred over one square (respectively, for the white king to the fields g1 (for short castling) or c1 (for long)), the rook is placed on the square over which the king “jumped”.
• Row- same as horizontal. The “gluttonous” row is the second (for black) or seventh (for white) rank, on which heavy pieces can “eat” pawns.
• Bundle- a position when a piece cannot make a move due to the fact that after its move the square on which the king stands will be beaten.
• Scacography- a genre of chess composition, in which the arrangement of chess pieces forms the outlines of letters, numbers or some kind of drawings (for example, the outlines of a Christmas tree).
• "Blindness" chess- "eclipse" during the game, in which the player does not see obvious winning continuations or makes a rude "blunder" leading to a loss or loss of a decisive advantage.
• Chess strategy- a long-term plan, the implementation of which is aimed at specific moves and operations. The general line of strategy is determined primarily by the requirements of the position and includes an assessment of the position, determination of the ultimate goal (struggle for a win or a draw), methods for achieving the latter (aggravation of the game, bluff, transition to an endgame, etc.).
• tabia- a well-studied opening position, upon reaching which the players begin to make their own, not "bookish" moves. In ancient chess, the pieces were not distinguished by modern dynamics and range, and it took a lot of time to play the opening. Therefore, by agreement, the game immediately began with tabi.
• Tactics chess- a system of tricks (primarily using combinations) that allow you to gain an advantage or reduce the game to a draw. The methods of chess tactics include a variety of typical means ("distraction", "lure", "destruction of defense", etc.).
• Theory of chess- the sphere of analysis and generalization of practice, the identification of certain patterns inherent in the chess game at its various stages (the theory of openings, the theory of endings, etc.).
• Tournament- a kind (along with a match) of a chess competition in which a number of participants play with each other. A typical example is a round robin tournament in which each participant plays with all the others. A Swiss system tournament allows you to compete with many dozens (and even hundreds) of participants through a draw after each round (in each new round, participants with an approximately equal number of points play among themselves).
• Phalanx- pawn chain.
• Fireworks- a cascade of victims in the implementation of the combination.
• Fianchetto- or fiancheting, a term denoting the development of the bishop on the long diagonal under the protection of the pawn "house" (for example, the bishop on g2 with pawns f2, g3 and h2).
• Wing- the edge of the board, bounded by verticals a, b, c and f, g, h.
  • kingside- the flank closest to the king at the beginning of a chess game, on the f, g, h-files.
  • Queenside- the flank closest to the queen at the beginning of a chess game, on the a, b, c-files.
• Fischer chess(random-chess) - chess in which the pieces stand in their original positions in a different way (but symmetrically for white and black) than in classical chess (pawns still occupy the second row) - moreover, the bishops always stand on fields of different colors and rooks on opposite sides of the king. The positions in this variety of chess are not sufficiently studied by theory and are of a more "fresh" and original character.
• Outpost- a piece advanced into the enemy camp (that is, beyond the demarcation line) (usually a knight), protected by a pawn. For example, a knight on the e6 square, protected by a pawn on d5 or (and) f5.
• Forcing- the implementation of a series of moves to which the opponent is forced to respond only in a certain way (for example, during exchanges, when declaring checks, etc.). Forced variants facilitate preliminary calculation.
• window leaf- the square to which the king can retreat in the event of a check along the first (last) rank. Accordingly, "to make a window" is to make a move of one of the pawns covering the castling position. In the absence of a window, it is customary to talk about the possible weakness of the first (for whites) or last (for blacks) ranks.
• move- moving a piece or pawn from one square to another. A move is considered to be made if the player has placed a piece or pawn on the field and released it. The moves of a chess game played in official competitions are recorded using chess notation. In the case of castling and capture, two pieces can participate in the course. See also half move.
• Time trouble- lack of time to think about the move.
• Center- fields with indexes e4-e5-d4-d5. The concept of extended center also includes adjacent fields.
• Zugzwang- a position in which one of the parties or both at once (mutual zugzwang) has no useful moves, so that any move of the player leads to a deterioration in his own position.
• chess clock- a special kind of clock in which two dials are combined and when making a move, a special mechanism switches the clock in such a way that the clock of the one who is considering the move is running. Lack of time causes time trouble, and its exhaustion (if the required number of moves is not made) means time delay and defeat.
• Fisher clock- hours, which provide for the addition of several seconds for each move made (that is, the possibility of delay in time in a winning position is minimized).
• Shah- a position in which the king is attacked by an enemy piece or pawn. Double check - a position in which the king is declared a check by two pieces at once.
• Chess composition- the area of ​​chess art, in which artists (chess composers) compose positions (problems and studies), in which certain ideas, principles and techniques are expressed in their pure form and have a pronounced aesthetic coloring.
• Chess piece
  • Horse
  • King
  • Rook
  • Pawn
  • Elephant
  • Queen
  • Light figure- a light figure is called a horse or an elephant.
  • heavy figure- a heavy piece is called a rook or a queen (unlike light pieces, a separate heavy piece can, with the support of the king, checkmate the opponent's lone king).
• "Frolov's Chess" - a kind of chess game invented by A. Frolov. The game starts on an empty board. Opponents alternately place their set of pieces on the board (their pawns - only on their half of the board). The "regular" game begins when all the pieces are placed on the board. It is easy to assume that determining the possible position of one's king causes the greatest problems.
• Endgame- the final stage of the chess game.
• Etude chess- a product of a chess composition, an artificially composed position in which it is necessary to find the only true way (as a rule, non-obvious, paradoxical) to achieve the task (achieving a win or a draw).

To begin with, let's figure out how yawns differ from views. In his book Practical Chess Secrets, John Nunn wrote the following:

“Views and yawns are two varieties of the same phenomenon. If you have overlooked something and, thanks to good luck, the consequences were not too serious, then you have made a review; if the results are catastrophic, then you blundered.

From the foregoing, we can conclude that a blunder leads to a sharp deterioration in the position, or a checkmate. In the games of amateur chess players, it is not uncommon for one of the opponents to lose a queen. Less often, opponents "exchange pleasantries", i.e. first one blunders the queen, then the second. Examples of such parties are presented in the article.

In commentary on moves, yawns are indicated by two question marks "??" - "gross mistake".

No matter how strange it may sound, grandmasters, who are among the best chess players in the world, sometimes yawn. We gave similar examples in the article.

In this article, we decided to collect tips from professionals to combat views and yawns.

Blumenfeld's rule

"Blumenfeld's rule" - the definition was invented and formulated by Alexander Kotov in his book. Here are excerpts from this book.

“Many mistakes of chess players have “…one reason, and we consider this reason to be the most effective: most often it lies at the basis of the most rude overlooks and blunders. When calculating a long variation, a grandmaster is naturally afraid of not noticing something, of missing out on some opportunity that may arise in the position in five or six moves. It is not so easy to see the subtleties, to foresee everything from afar, so the chess player devotes all his attention to that distant future position. And it happens that already on the first move, so to speak, at the foot of the calculation tree, a chess player does not notice an elementary blow, the simplest threat. Remember, reader, how often this was the main reason for your chess mistakes. Personally, in my practice, such blindness, viewing what lies close, "underfoot", is a frequent phenomenon.

How to prevent this serious danger? Many years ago we discussed this problem with Veniamin Markovich Blumenfeld, a prominent Soviet master who did a lot to elucidate the psychological laws of chess combat. He defended his thesis on the psychology of chess. Blumenfeld also complained that he often did not see “under his nose”, and argued that such a phenomenon, to one degree or another, occurs among the strongest among the strong. To combat this serious scourge, Veniamin Markovich deduced the following rule, which I will allow myself to call the Blumenfeld rule (let the reader not be offended by its long wording). Having finished the calculation of variations, having run through all the branches of the calculation tree, you must first of all write down the proposed move on the form. Just before you make a move! I have watched many of my colleagues and noticed that most grandmasters first write down the move, then make it on the board, and only a few do the opposite. You need to write in full notation, calligraphic handwriting. Look at the record of moves - each letter, each number on their form is displayed extremely clearly. By writing down the move on the scoresheet, you are somehow distracted from the distant world of the future of your game, to which you have just given half an hour of precious time, and return to the world of the present, to the position standing on the board. And when you, after writing down the move, look again at the arrangement of the pieces, it will no longer be the look of a science fiction writer, a look directed to the future: you will begin to look at the position through the eyes of a fighter present in the tournament hall, a person who feels reality, clearly imagines the concerns of the present moment.

This was your first step back into reality. And yet, even then, do not move the figure on the board, take your time. Spend one more minute - you won't regret it later - and look at the position "through the eyes of a beginner", as if you are not a grandmaster, not a master, but a beginner chess player. Checkmate in one move does not threaten me? And at two? My queen is not under attack, but are my rooks? Am I missing a pawn? Such an elementary check of the position will certainly save you from looking at the first move and will be a reliable reinforcement for the deep position research that you have just completed. Following this rule, you will successfully combine the depth of thinking with practical accuracy and infallibility.

Following the Blumenfeld rule, after each move, you need to look at the position with a new look and ask yourself basic questions related to your own safety:

• Does checkmate threaten in one move?
• Is checkmate in two moves a threat?
• Is the queen under attack?
• Are the rooks under attack?
• Am I missing a pawn?

Gross mistakes as a result of oversights ruined many excellent games, many hopes for a successful performance were cut short because of them. Many chess players are afraid of them. Even the American grandmaster Robert Fischer, who was compared to a computer for error-free play, before returning to the tournament fight again in 1970 after a two-year break, had previously insured himself in one company ... against views over the board.

“I was assured that this was madness on my part,” the head of the firm once said, “but my intuition told me that in this case I was not taking too much risk.

His intuition did not fail him, Fischer played beautifully and two years later became the world champion.

Jose-Raul Capablanca did not indulge in the mistakes of his rivals. In Sweden, in 1964, a collection of Capablanca's games, which he lost, was published. This book turned out to be a thin, pocket size. There are only 36 parts in the collection.

Here is one of them, played by the ex-world champion as black with grandmaster Friedrich Sämisch during the Carlsbad International Tournament (1929).

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bc d6 6. f3 e5 7. e4 Nc6 8. Be3 b6 9. Bd3

As always, elegant and self-assured, Capablanca contemplated his next move. However, having shifted his gaze to the auditorium for a moment, he froze in surprise. Along the aisle in the direction of the stage, his wife, who had flown in from America without warning, was walking unexpectedly.

Meanwhile, according to eyewitnesses, one spectacular person was already sitting in the front row ... The confused ex-world champion quickly made the first move that came to hand, stood up and hurried to meet his wife.

The party did not last long. After 10. Qa4 Bb7 11. d5 Capablanca resigned.

"Search a woman!" - advise the French, if you can not find the true cause of inexplicable phenomena.

There were two of them here!

Is it a yawn or a victim? This question often arises from the player, if there is an opportunity to take a substituted pawn or piece from the opponent.

– Did you sacrifice an exchange or missed it? one of the spectators asked the master during a tournament game.

“I can’t answer your question yet,” the master said to the surprise of the amateur. - If I win, then I donated, and if I lose, I overlooked it.

But one day it was the spectators who helped grandmaster Vladimir Simagin figure out whether he blundered a pawn or sacrificed it. There was another round of the USSR championship. Considering the options during the opponent's move, Simagin suddenly noticed that he was losing an important pawn. With a depressed mood, he sat in anticipation of the inevitable punishment. Suddenly, from the auditorium came clapping, which all intensified.

“Someone is making a combination,” thought Simagin and looked at the demonstration boards, but everything was calm there. Suddenly, an emotional exclamation of some fan was heard:

Bravo, Simagin!

The Grandmaster went deeper into his position. Oh miracle! It turns out that a pawn cannot be captured because of a forced mate, and if you do not take it, then it can be queened without hindrance!

So Simagin won the game he was about to resign.

Playing with Oleg Romanishin in the Kiev International Tournament (1978), Alexander Belyavsky had an extra exchange and an easily won position, but unexpectedly made a rude blunder. Romanishin managed to "pick up" a whole rook. Fortunately for Alexander, this allowed his mighty opponent only to prolong the resistance, but not to save the game.

- Did you deliberately give up this rook or "blundered"? fans asked Belyavsky after the game.

- I just take it on purpose! Grandmaster replied.

The English grandmaster Joseph Blackburn, playing with the Polish maestro Shimon Vinaver at the London International Tournament in 1883, "yawned" on purpose. Vinaver had a hopeless position, he decided to use his last chance: he set up his knight. If Blackburn takes it, then a pawn attack on the queen will follow, winning the game.

One of the spectators asked Vinaver:

- Why did you frame the horse?

- Who knows? Maybe Blackburn will take it!

As soon as this was said, Blackburn smiled and, to Winawer's amazement and the great amusement of the spectators, actually took the horse. In a moment, Vinaver understood his colleague's joke, attacked the queen with his pawn, and immediately... resigned! Truth has triumphed.

The most unexpected "yawns" can be found in the practice of amateurs. A long tournament with a large number of participants was coming to an end. Among all the chess players, only one stood out with her cheerful appearance. Still, in the endgame she had a decisive advantage: two knights and two pawns for a rook.

White decided that he was inflicting the final blow and played 1. Nc6+?, but did not take into account that the d5-pawn was pinned. The capture followed 1. ...Rxc6. All this was seen by the coach of the chess player who substituted the knight. At first he was very agitated, but then he calmed down. Winning chances are lost, but White has no problems on the way to a draw. The party continued. On 2. Nb4 Black put the rook back in place 2. ...Rc8, and White again, this time the second, put the knight on c6. 3. Nc6+?? Naturally, the second sacrifice was also accepted 3. …Rxc6.

The coach walked around the tournament hall, removed several white horses from the tables and, going up to his ward, said:

- Take some more!

Belarusian chess player Elena Zayats became an international master at the age of 18 (1988). As a child, she loved to step on. With a direct attack on the king, in which the queen played the main role, Lena completed most of the games. One of the first official meetings (Baranovichi, 1979), 10-year-old Lena began confidently. Her coach Tatyana Alexandrovna Poznyak calmly left the tournament hall, but less than two minutes later she heard someone sobbing behind her back. The coach turned around and saw the pupil.

- You lost?

“No,” Lena answered, and began to explain something through tears.

From all that was said, Tatyana Alexandrovna understood only one word "queen".

- The queen "yawned"? the coach asked.

– No, I “blundered” the exchange of queens.

The exchange of queens at that time for the young chess player was tantamount to… his loss.