Sometimes Caro Kann, and Sometimes Caro Can't

Sometimes Caro Kann, and Sometimes Caro Can't...by Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl)

Howdy y'all!  Today we are going to look at a game that was played one hundred years ago.  Why do we keep showing you stuff that is so old?  Because chess is the oldest game ever invented!  It's older than your parents!  It's older than computers!  It's older than baseball!  It's older than the United States by 1,000 years!!  Chess was invented in approximately 600 A.D.

                                           

The ideas in chess are the same even though Grandmasters continue to discover better moves sometimes in the openings.  Chess is still fun after 1400 years!  No one has ever been able to discover ALL of the secrets of chess because there are more possible moves than there are stars in the sky!                                                                           

This game was played by two great players:  Reti and Tartakower, in 1910.  Tartakower played black and used a still common opening defense called the Caro-Kann.

Something, however, went wrong.  See if you Kann find it.  Laughing  This trick should be very much a part of your inner chess being by now:  the double check!

Here we go:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The knight on e4 is pinned and attacked twice.  But is black ready to castle?  White makes a counterattack and protects his own king!  Castling long is a great way to develop your rook.

 

 

 

 

The next move is a decoy sacrifice.  Whoosh!  Off with her head!

 

 

 

After the king takes, do you see a disco double check that leads to mate next?  
 It's mate in two, no matter what!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great job!  What did we learn?  That Tartakower was a bad player?  Nope!  That the Caro-Kann was a bad opening?  No way!  What you should notice, is that black is not completely developing his pieces.  Remember, CDC = center, develop, castle.  When black said CHECK, he really just helped white to develop another piece.   Some people are obsessed with checks.  My friend Macauley was going to write this book Check is Not Checkmate.  And it's true!  Check isn't everything.  Tip of the week:  If you see that the center is about to be opened up (no pawns) you had better CASTLE QUICK!

 

See you next week!  Keep watching chesskid videos!