Occupy the Center. Is this a Protest? No, It’s a Strength Test for Your Chess Contest!

The concept of the Center of Gravity (CoG) developed by Carl von Clausewitz is a powerful war-fighting tool that can also be applied in chess.

It’s a practical method for determining a specific, most critical target in the opponent’s position to attack. Thus, CoG gives your war-campaign efforts more focus and increasing chances for a success.

The CoG is the source of power that creates a force, or a critical capability that allows an entity to act or accomplish a task or purpose.

Samuel Bak, Sheltering Myths, 1998. Finding the Center of Gravity: How strong was this center? Maybe too much, as it seemed to implode!

The CoG and the CoB

Essential to understanding the CoG are critical factors.

The critical capability generates force. In chess it is power to perform an action possessed by pieces .

Critical requirements are essential for a critical capability to be fully operative. The center of the board (CoB) is one such key requirement. For pieces stationed there have increased fighting potential in terms of superior activity and mobility. The center is a decisive point, an area of the chessboard that, when acted upon, allows the player to gain a marked advantage over the adversary to achieving success. Or it may be that opening of d-file is critical for success of your campaign.

Another CR is coordinated effort of pieces. They must establish a certain degree of unity and cohesion through mutual contacts. “It’s all about a teamwork, or division of labor, or as Tal’s trainer Koblenz put it, it’s a wonderformula in chess,” (want to thank to William van Zanten for his contribution on piece cooperation here and on LinkedIn.)

One can apply the CoG only where such interdependence exists (without it, you are facing just a horde of individual warriors easy to handle.) May I remind you that it’s imperative for you to coordinate the action of your troops, as this is “a main principle that runs throughout,” Capablanca.

How do you discover a CoG? Sun Tzu gives a hint, “Know the enemy and know yourself.” You as a commander-in-chief need to know how your and the opponent’s army operate and determine strengths and weaknesses on both sides. Using a holistic approach, you need to identify a critical vulnerability, a component vulnerable to attack or disruption. Focus your effort against the opponent’s CoG, while protecting your own. Finally you decide on the plan of action (attack, neutralization, or any operation that diverts, disrupts, delays, or destroys the enemy’s potential against your army.)

Basically, the CoG is always found where the mass and power are concentrated most densely.

The above clearly shows how the CoG is closely related to the CoB and the cooperative action of pieces.

Strategic importance of the CoB

To wrap up, let’s take a look at the strategic relationship between the critical capability, or power of pieces to act (attack, defense) and the center of the board as promised last time.

We saw then that in order to achieve strategic objectives you must act from the position of strength, to be able to attack. For that, you need to construct a solid structure in the middle of the board.

There are two main approaches here:

1. Center occupation by pawns (or less often by pieces),
2. Pressure toward the center from sidelines (without a direct confrontation, in a hypermodern fashion, sort of guerrilla war keeping the opponent’s center immobile, chipping away on it here and there)

By getting your troops out toward the center to build up a strong point, you do two important things strategy-wise:

1) in defensive terms, the center is a wall against the enemy attack — this supports the first principle of strategy laid down by Sun Tzu, which is to stall the enemy plans, to put the brake on them, to limit their options; if one side controls most of the important squares in the center, it will be increasingly difficult for the other side to develop their pieces to meaningful locations; domination of one player in the center almost always rules out activity by the other,

2) in attacking terms, the strong point creates preconditions for a future expansion and breakthrough in the center with an offensive at the moment when your troops has reached an optimal level of coordination; an advantage in the center almost always allows an attack to be obtained, whether in the center itself, or on one of the flanks; if that thrust goes through the middle, then the second most important principle of strategy may be seen in vivo – breaking the coordination of enemy forces, here by cutting them in two.

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Center your efforts toward the Centers, the CoG and the CoB, for best results, guaranteed!

* * *

“Chess is a terrible game. If you have no center, your opponent has a freer position. If you do have a center, then you really have something to worry about!”  Dr. Tarrasch

___________________________________________________________________________________

Follow @chessContact

I give a 30-minute free consultation on how to get started in chess most effectively to get your game on the fast track. Forget about a boring and confusing 30-page introduction with all those rules on how pieces move, en-passant, 50-move draw, threefold repetition rule etc., most chess books start with.

Let’s go right away to the heart and core of the whole chess thing…

You may contact me at iPlayooChess(at)gmail(dot)com

What is CoG in Chess Actually? Interestingly, US Military is Using the Same Concept Too

According to U.S. Army Doctrine for Joint Planning Operations, CoG is “those characteristics, capabilities, or localities from which a military force derives its freedom of action, physical strength, or will to fight.” (Now, chess people, just replace a military force with a chess force, okay?)

US military doctrine is using the CoG concept that is developed by Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz. “Out of the characteristics [of the conflict] a certain center of gravity develops, the hub of all power and movement, on which everything depends. That is the point against which all our energies should be directed.”

Chess students defining the concept of the center are like blind men describing an elephant. They know the center is huge one, but they describe it according to their own understanding. “The center [of gravity] is too important a concept to guess at,” Colonel Dale C. Eikmeier, U.S. Army, assures us. It’s OK Colonel, we’ll take a look at it and revisit the chess center again in this post (only I’m not quite sure should we report back to him?)

The center in the traditional chess doctrine

Under a common definition in the chess doctrine, centralized pieces are: (1) more active and having greater fighting value (=activity), and (2) can be quickly transferred to either of the flanks (=mobility), which makes the center the most important place on the whole chessboard.

True, but once again we look at one of critical concepts in chess too simplistically.

Stronghold, by Samuel Bak (see how the enemy is drowning after failing against our stronghold constructed in the right of the picture? and this Bak guy is so helpful for us to see chess concepts! after seeing this picture you'll never ever forget how strong points are vital for your battles)

As we know, every complex system consists of:

1. Parts
2. Interrelations
3. Goal, or purpose

In very much the same way as we start teaching chess with a focus on individual piece movements, we make another similar mistake by looking at the center in terms of individual parts only. We are ignoring (2) and (3) above, conveying an amputated view of chess reality.

Let’s try to come up with a better view by using what we’ve already covered in this blog: strategy, attack and defense, piece harmony — we need them all to bring forward a more adequate definition of the role of the center.

Act from the position of strength!

Let’s start with Sun Tzu:

“One attacks when his strength is abundant. One defends when his strength is inadequate.”

To possibly accomplish the goal of the game and win, it is clear from above that we need to act from the position of strength.

How do we achieve this? By building up a strong structure in the center of the battlefield. We want a source of power from which our chess forces derive physical strength and freedom of action to act. We want to establish a source of power that will provide strategic focus and order (think coordination of troops) for our army. The center gives our fighting forces unity and cohesion.

How is the strength, or structure we are talking about built up? It is done by constructing a strong point in the center. For White it is either e4 or d4. Black may oppose it by a similar strong post at d5, which should be well protected, say, with this set-up: pawns at e6 and c6, Nf6 and Qd8, as in Queen’s gambit, so it can’t be easily destroyed. And all this should be part of the strategy implemented.

(By the way, have you noticed that strength, structure, construct, strong, destroy, and strategy all derive from the same Indo-european root? — Latin structura, past participle of the verb struere, meaning pile up, heap up, build! — it’s all about building up strength!)

And this strength in the center is not about locality only. All forces, from the opening till deep in the middle game, are directed toward the center where a great deal of power is concentrated. Additionally, forces should achieve effective coordination (think d5, c6, e6, Nf6, Qd8 set up) during the battle for the center. So CoG is about locality, and concentration of power, and coordination of troops!

All this is in sync with Nimtzovich’s overprotection concept where we should systematically overprotect our own strategically important strong points from which our entire position receives energy and vitality.

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To recap, CoG, or Center of Gravity, is a chess source of strength, power and resistance. It creates a critical capability (superiority, usually in the middle board, in terms of space,  maneuverability, power, and piece harmony) that allows the player to act effectively and accomplish the aim.

* * *

Next time more about the center from the perspective of strategy and its main principles and how attack and defense fit in.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Follow @chessContact

I give a 30-minute free consultation on how to get started in chess most effectively to get your game on the fast track. Forget about a boring and confusing 30-page introduction with all those rules on how pieces move, en-passant, 50-move draw, threefold repetition rule etc., most chess books start with.

Let’s go right away to the heart and core of the whole chess thing…

You may contact me at iPlayooChess(at)gmail(dot)com

Have You Ever Fallen Victim of Distorted Perception?

It’s all about perception. Our brain understands any situation based on what it’s been trained to see and what it thinks is out there [1]. Two chess players can see the same position and come away with vastly different perceptions.

I have posted the below position from Teichmann – Chigorin, Cambridge Springs 1904, in a few Facebook groups inviting comments about how valuable the e5-bishop really is – is it “good”, or “bad”?

Well, most chess books tell us about the center very much the same (for example, see [2]), and based on that amputated view of reality, the e5-bishop in the diagram below should be perceived as dominant and strong.

Actually, this bishop is miserable!? – Really, you gotta be kidding me!

A powerful bishop freezing the blood of the enemy, or just a fake? (Thanks to Samuel Bak for another great piece of chess art, "Bishop, Knight, Rook")

What’s wrong with the bishop “strong”? What is missing from the picture if we can’t seem to see things clearly here? Could it be that our brain doesn’t perceive something very important, perhaps something we haven’t been given due attention during  our primary chess education? Maybe something we don’t take into picture consistently every time we think the next move, and we should?

To find out, let’s take a look at the game (with the game commentary from Vladimir Alatortsev, [3])

Richard Teichmann – Mikhail Chigorin

Cambridge Springs 1904

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. cxd5 Bxf3 5. dxc6 Bxc6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Bf4 Nf6 8. e3 Bb4 9. Qb3 Nd5 10. Bg3 O-O 11. Bd3 Qg5 12. Qc2 f5 13. Be5 Rf7 14. O-O-O Bxc3 15. bxc3

Teichmann-Chigorin, 1904, after 15.bxc3

A very instructive position. White has a centralized bishop occupying a classic outpost. Moreover, it’s eyeing at the black king’s position. Yet, the bishop can’t be considered as an attacking piece. Why? Because it’s detached from the rest of the army. Even its pressure at g7 is fictitious as the bishop isn’t coordinated with other team members. For that purpose, White needs to have other pieces taken part in the attack, by playing Rg1 and g2-g4 to open the g-file, for instance. The pressure on g7 will mean something only after the rook joins the attack. But White simply has no time for it as his king needs defense. And for that the bishop is better placed at b2.

Here’s Botvinnik’s comment: “The basic weakness of White’s position is the “strong” position of his bishop at e5, even though it is evident that White pinned all his hopes to it! For the bishop is badly placed at e5, as it can’t share in the defense of its king when Black begins an energetic counter-attack… only four moves were necessary and Black’s attack was irresistible,” [4]

It’s a completely different story with the black knight which too is occupying a central position. The knight soon becomes one of principal attackers, together with the black queen, bishop and b-pawn. The knight hasn’t established an effective coordination with friendly troops yet, however, Black can ensure it much faster than White on the K-side (Rg1, g2-g4). The coordination of pieces is dynamic in nature.

15. …b5! 16. Rhg1 Qe7 17. Rdf1 Qa3+ 18. Kd2 b4! 19. c4 Ba4 20. Qb1 Nc3 21. Qa1 Rd8!

Almost all black pieces including b-pawn have achieved a harmonious cooperation. They are all after the white king. Coordination between white pieces is deteriorating with each move.

22. g3 Ne4+ 23. Ke2 Nc5 24. Qb1 Nxd3 25. Qxd3 Qxa2+ 26. Kf3 Bc2 0-1

Black pieces have completed a successful attack on the white king. On the other hand, the “strong” e5-bishop has never taken part in the battle. We’ve seen an exemplary coordination of black troops, and a lack of coordination on the other side. Formally speaking, the position of the e5-bishop was ideal, but the form was at odds with inner meaning of the situation – the bishop has not played part in defending the Q-side at all.

In a game of chess, there should not be spectators. If chessmen of one side are not participating in offensive operations (piece cooperation in attack), they should be standing on defensive positions (piece cooperation in defense).

* * *

Let’s remind ourselves once again of what the great Capablanca told us:

“The main thing is the coordination of pieces, and this is where most players are weak. Many try to attack with one piece here and another piece there without any concerted action, and later they wonder what is wrong with their game. You must coordinate the action of your pieces, and this is a main principle that runs throughout“, Capablanca, My Chess Career.

On the scale of the value of pieces (see section E-2-v), perhaps the coordination should move up to the top of the list…  After all, it all may be about the coordination of troops, piece harmony, team play, working together. Chess is a team sport…

* * *

Sources and references:

[1] How your chess vision works, “What actually happens under your skull when you read a chess position?”

[2] “Any piece placed in the center is controlling more squares than it would elsewhere, which means that this is where it possesses its greatest fighting value. Furthermore it is from the center that pieces can be transferred to either of the flanks in the smallest number of moves,” Isaac Lipnitsky, Questions of modern chess theory, Quality chess, 2008, p.14 (this widely accepted view on the value of a centralized piece doesn’t take into account that piece value and dynamic position evaluation are dependent on chess contacts, that is, how pieces interact during the game and what kind of relationships they establish at any time)

[3] V. A. Alatortsev, Coordination of pieces and pawns in the game of chess, Moscow, Fizkultura and sport, 1956, p.41

[4] M. Botvinnik, One hundred selected games, Dover publications, p.17

___________________________________________________________________________________

Follow @chessContact

I give a 30-minute free consultation on how to get started in chess most effectively to get your game on the fast track. Forget about a boring and confusing 30-page introduction with all those rules on how pieces move, en-passant, 50-move draw, threefold repetition rule etc., most chess books start with.

Let’s go right away to the heart and core of the whole chess thing…

You may contact me at iPlayooChess(at)gmail(dot)com

Chess Structure of Hierarchy Levels [originally: How to Build a Better Chess Teacher?]

Why early teaching in chess seems to be so inefficient?

Case in point. Remember the game from the previous post? 1.e4 d5 2.Bd3 Bg4 3.exd5 Bxd1, where both players had been in a chess school program for more than a year?!

What is better teaching?

And how to build a better chess teacher anyway as there is no such thing as a bad learner?

The learner is always as good as we give them the chance to be. (Remember that the human brain is the most powerful learning machine in the known universe. While computer is a moron, your brain is the most amazing thing in so many ways. Stick to it. Use it. Don’t rely on technology which just is to serve you and your brain to make smarter decisions)

How does the Grand Scheme of Hierarchy in Chess Come to Life?

Let’s take a look at the hierarchy of various functional levels in chess in a bit more detail. Below five levels are defined, from basic pieces effects (A) and basic piece contacts (B) to piece cooperation (C) and tactics and strategy (D-E).

More attention is given to Levels (A), (B) and (C), in contrast with Levels (D) and (E) that are quite extensively covered in chess manuals and publications. Surprisingly, the basic levels are so important to teaching chess, yet one can find very little on the topic (go Google and check out for yourself).

The key to put the beginner on the fast track and start developing a strong board vision is mastering (A) and (B) levels. It’s the alphabet of chess on which the entire edifice rests upon. You can’t build up knowledge on shaky foundations.

Breaking things down this finely into the elementary contacts is indispensable before moving on, ensuring an effective start and better understanding at the micro-level for the unconscious primitive brain. It’s like the foundation of a house – it’s below the surface. And if you want a loftier building, the deeper must the foundation be laid.

Learning is like a ladder. If you miss a step, sometimes you can’t go on. Then you start losing confidence and you simply give up. That’s how chess has been losing a lot of people.

Again, we need to break chess down to its component parts first and build them back up. More than anything else, we love success. As we grow more confident, as we get more excited, we request harder challenges. We love getting to higher levels, like in video games. That way hierarchies emerge and develop. That’s how we become experts.

Hierarchy of chess. Shaky or steady? Dream world, by Jacek Yerka

Some layers below overlap across levels. For example, the piece coordination (C) may well be seen as stretching across multiple levels, from level (B), as protecting contact (B3), then all across levels (D) and (E).

I’d like to put up a call to readers for feedback on what follows, so we together may come up with the best possible scheme of hierarchy in chess.

A. BASIC PIECE EFFECTS

1. Control (power) effect

The effect by which pieces and pawns exert their power over the board

2. Body effect

The effect chessmen produce by mere occupation of squares on the board which reduces the power, activity and mobility of other pieces, both friendly and enemy ones.

3. Rule of capture

B. ELEMENTARY BOARD CONTACTS

The basic contact are made between chessmen of both sides, as well as chessmen and squares. It’s mere geometry, we just need to see and identify two points on the same straight line. It can’t be simpler than that.

This is the critical level for getting on the fast track and to guarantee an effective learning experience in chess. It gives the unconscious brain the meaning of how pieces interact and what roles they have in the chess conflict. Yet, this level seems to be mostly non-existent in early stages the way we teach chess now. And this is where the secret lies in how to modernize chess education to make it more successful for the 21-st century.

Once these basics are mastered by the subconscious brain and have become its second nature, you no more think about it. It stays under the surface allowing your brain to unleash its full potential elsewhere. Your chess vision is now strong and you are stepping into the realm of creativity, intuition and imagination. The most sophisticated and powerful tools of the power brain.

In the parentheses is the number of pieces involved in each elementary contact:

1. Attack, or attacking contact (2)

Contact established between a piece (or pawn) and another enemy unit in its line of fire (this is actually the only contact existing in chess – stay tuned for an upcoming post – but it is more efficient for human brain to talk roles of pieces, such as attacking, protecting, blocking, etc.)

2. Threat of attack (2)

Indirect, concealed attack, or the attack which is one-move away. GM Averbakh considers the threat of attack as one of elementary contacts – it is important to be aware of how enemy attack develops over time and see things coming as it gives you more time to react appropriately and put up your defenses in time

3. Protection (2)

Contact between friendly pieces for mutual support (friendly pieces kind of “attacking” each other)

4. Restriction (2)

Develops when both friendly or enemy units are lying in the line of fire of a piece, thus reducing its activity and mobility. Also between a piece and the squares within its scope of action when these squares are attacked by hostile troops

5. Blocking (3)

Occurs when one pieces is attacked and another friendly chessman shields it by stepping in the line of fire of an enemy piece. This is also known as the pin and may be considered as a combined contact, or double attack consisting of a direct attack on the pinned, or blocking piece and the threat of attack on the piece behind it lying on the same line of attack

6. Promotion square contact (2)

Contact pawns make with the promotion square

C. PIECE HARMONY/COORDINATION

“The main thing is the coordination of pieces, and this is where most players are weak. Many try to attack with one piece here and another piece there without any concerted action, and later they wonder what is wrong with their game. You must coordinate the action of your pieces, and this is a main principle that runs throughout“, Capablanca, My Chess Career.

1. Double attack

This term is broader than a “two-fold attack” where two pieces directly attack. It covers all various ways of attacking and threats of attack, even the combination of two threats (for example, the most famous K+P vs K+P study in chess by Reti w:Kh8, Pc6/b:Ka6, Ph5 is actually double attack consisting of two threats of second order, or two moves away, one being the threat to catch the h-pawn getting in its Berger’s square, the other being the threat to support white Pawn for promotion). Anything from direct attack to strong threats, including mate threats, stalemating and perpetual check threats may constitute a double attack. Basically, double attack can be of two flavors:

1a. Concentrated attack when two or more pieces are attacking/threatening the same target: a square, or an enemy piece.

“There is no higher and simpler law of strategy than that of keeping one’s forces concentrated. In short, the first principle is: act with the utmost concentration”, Carl Von Clausewitz, On War.

1b. Multi-target attack . One piece, or pawn is attacking two enemy units (fork), or two pieces are attacking two or more targets (discovered attack).

The multi-target approach has obvious merits – instead of striving for single targets, strategy simultaneously aims at multiple aiming points. Very rarely can the opponent defend multiple targets successfully.

2. Combined attack

Coordinated attack against hostile army where one piece or pawn is attacking, while the other pieces of the attacking army restrict freedom of movement of the side under attack.

Averbakh points out  that all chess combinations basically depend on double and/or combined attacks.

3. Protection

This is mutual protection established between friendly units, basically the same as the basic protecting contact (B3)

4. Tactical cooperation

The three ways of piece coordination above are relatively simple. However, the coordinated action may be less obvious and show itself in a more or less complex set-up. Tactical coordination may be quite complex and disguised in the form of an indirect attack or protection of a key square. Here is a simple example of the tactical cooperation.

Tactical piece coordination

At first sight, the white pieces are dispersed and not well coordinated. But tactical coordination helps one of the pawns get promoted without the white King helping out. For example, 1. g5 Kf5 2.c5!  and so on.

5. Strategic cooperation

Let’s use an example to demonstrate:

Strategic coordination. Smyslov - Rudakovsky, 1945, after 13.f5 Bc4

White’s strategic plan aims at creating an outpost at d5 for the Knight. Strategic coordination here is ensured by coordinated action of white Bishops in two different directions with the idea of removing defenders of d5-square (exchanges at c4 and f6) with its consequent occupation by white Knight.

14.Bxc4! Qxc4 15. Bg5! Rfe8 16.Bxf6! Bxf6 17.Nd5 and White created a strong outpost in the center which would soon serve for a direct attack on the black King.

D. TACTICS

The tactical devices are well-known. Some are listed here:

1. Double attack (pin, skewer, discovered attack are all forms of double attack)

2. Drive-on (attraction)

With the aid of this tactical device a piece (or pawn) is pulled onto a particular square (the motives behind the operation may vary)

3. Drive-off (decoy)

A tactical device that forces the opponent’s piece or pawn to leave its position and give access to an important square (or line)

4. Removing the defender

5. Square and line clearing

6. Line closing and blocking

7. Giving over the right of move (zugzwang) etc.

8. Perpetual attack

E. STRATEGY

The main principle of strategy is to forestall the enemy plans. Whatever they try to do in the battle, you need to see it in advance, frustrate it from the onset, make it of no use for them and suppress it. Once enemy pieces under (some) restraint, you achieve the freedom and activity for your men to be able to gain some advantage and prevail.

A few other major strategic ideas are given below:

0. Selection and maintenance of strategic aim

1. Effective mobilization of pieces and central pawns (in the opening)

2. Improving position of pieces

Means increasing qualitative value of pieces, such as:

i. Mobility (freedom of movement)

ii. Activity (occupation of the center, important squares, open lines)

iii. Stability (vulnerability) of pieces on their posts

iv. Vicinity to critical battlefield sectors

v. Cooperation with other team members (see (C))

3. Stalling the enemy plans to achieve (2) above

4. Exchange of pieces

Trading your “bad” pieces for the enemy “good” ones.

“The process of chess is based essentially on interlinking exchanges. The objective of these interlinking exchanges is a relative gain of material or positional value. There are no other and cannot be any other objectives. At the end of the game these exchanges must lead to a gain of infinitely large magnitude (to checkmate)”, Mikhail Botvinnik

5. Strengthening the position

a. Creating strong points and their protection, and

b. Protecting or eliminating weaknesses in your position are important strategic tasks.

There may even be few weak points in your position, but without strong points no position can hold. You should always act from the position of strength. It’s your-strengths-against-their-weaknesses game as in any struggle, or conflict.

6. Weakening of the enemy position

7. Eliminating the opponent’s counter play, etc.

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Again, I put up a call to you, the reader, for feedback on this. We must change things for true progress in how we teach chess. We need to bring more people to this wonderful absorbing game. But that’s impossible with rotten teaching we have in place.

No more 1.e4 d5 2.Bd3 Bg4 3exd5 Bxd1 games!

We can do better than that!

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Comments and suggestions welcome.

I give a 30-minute free consultation on how to get started in chess most effectively to get your game on the fast track. Forget about a boring and confusing 30-page introduction with all those rules on how pieces move, en-passant, 50-move draw, threefold repetition etc. every chess book starts with.

Let’s go right away to the heart and core of the whole chess thing…

You may contact me at iPlayooChess(at)gmail(dot)com

Follow @chessContact