Ask Coach Jessica: Did Your Opening Trick Not Work? Here's What You Do

 

This is going to seem obvious to you. Especially since, if you know me or read my articles, I'm always repeating it. CDC! That means: DEVELOP your pieces toward the CENTER so that you can CASTLE. (DCC?) Opening traps do work sometimes, and boy is it fun when someone falls into your trap and you immediately win! But they don't work all the time. That's why they are just tricks - not necessarily good, solid chess moves.

So ExcitedKarate played the trick I taught, for Black. And actually, things were going pretty great, until his opponent played a different move from what I had shown. He still could have won though, a few different ways! Both sides should have focused on CDC to avoid tricks. By, Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl).

 

Not going as planned? Can't remember the line? Opponent play something unusual? Fall back on what you know: CDC.

See if you can find the awesome tactics in this game! Here's how it started.

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It's important to remember tricks and opening lines precisely, and that's why often I recommend just playing normal developing moves! If you forget and confuse two lines, you could make a mistake! Surprisingly, Black made the wrong check here, and got a little behind. Here is the correct variation.

Black is still winning. The queens are about to be traded. But before trading, Black has a nice fork that wins a rook! Do you see the zwischenzug here?

 

 

Back to the game...wait a sec. Where is that white queen going? Doesn't she seem a little, trapped?

 

 

Here is how the game progressed. Black's king started, er, traveling...

 

White ended up making Black's king go for a hike, and there was no hope at the end there! Do you see White's next move?

 

How could both sides have played better? Did you read all the comments within the game? To avoid tricks, play what you know, mainly, get your pieces out and your king safe! Looks like your trick could have actually won, ExcitedKarate! But probably not against haytham next time.

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