Make-Believe Moves Part 1 (Adventure)

Hi Folks!

As you know, in my article I usually show some famous games by good players. Sometimes I have shown some beautiful moves. But all of these were real games played by players who are battling each other to try to win. Serious chess players can see art in chess moves, like a painting or song. But when players are playing, they are usually just doing what they can to win. So that's the funny thing about chess - if you play a "beautiful game", it usually wasn't intentional!

Today I am going to show you something different. These were make-believe positions, thought up by a composer. So instead of being part of a game where players were trying to beat each other, these are positions which someone invented to show some beautiful idea. Even though they didn't happen in a real game, they all could have happened.

They are called "etudes", or "studies". From the starting position, the composer shows the best play for both sides, usually with one side winning or drawing from a position which seems impossible to win (or save). You can find some amazing things here!

Like, a single pawn all by itself defeating a king and rook, even though they are blocking it:

White wins by a "Zugzwang". This means that every move Black can make will lose. He would be ok if he could skip a move, but since he cannot...

Amazing checkmates are a favorite type:

White sacrificed all of his pieces, and then checkmated with just a pawn! WOW!

You can learn alot about forks and pins from the next one, which is like an adventure:

Every move by White was either a pin or a fork. But most of the time the pinning (or forking) piece could simply be captured. These tactics were supported "invisibly"! All of these things happen in real games quite often - just usually not one after another like here.

I hope you have enjoyed these make-believe chess adventures. In Part 2 we will see some more made up games, but instead of drama, it will be comedy! So long for now! - Bryan