Tricks, Tactics, and Tips in the Chess Opening: Practical Lessons for Ambitious Improvers

By Dean Ippolito

A good start is half the battle. Experienced American chess coach Dean Ippolito has trained thousands beginners and adult improvers and knows exactly how you should build your opening knowledge.

Each chapter focuses on a concrete tactical theme. Those will allow you to set traps, and play tricks, but will also develop your general understanding of opening play with concepts as development and the importance of the center.

In this first book of a series of three, Ippolito gives you the tools you need to start your chess games with confidence. Delve into the exciting world of the Center Fork Trick, the Fried Liver Attack, and many more powerful openings tips and tactics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: New in Chess
• Release date: Jul 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9789493257443

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Early f-pawn moves

Introduction

Moving the f-pawn before castling is a typical mistake seen in many games, particularly those played by younger players. In some closed positions (mainly in queen’s pawn openings starting with the move 1.d4 or 1.♘f3), moving the f-pawn before castling can be OK. In Book Two we will look at a famous example, Game 9 of the 2013 World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, with the f-pawn moving on the fourth move.

In open positions, however, moving the f-pawn before castling opens the diagonal to where the king is now (e8-h5 for Black) and the diagonal to where the king wants to be after castling (a2-g8 for Black). This makes attacking the king with a queen on h5 easy. Additionally, it’s possible to prevent the king from getting to safety by castling with the move ♗c4, attacking the g8-square for White, or ...♗c5, attacking the g1-square for Black.

One rule that is very simple to remember is that it is almost never a good idea to move the f-pawn to defend something before castling. It may be justified to use the f-pawn to attack.

Let’s start with a lesson from the best player of the 1600’s: Gioacchino Greco.

Greco was an Italian chess player who also wrote many instructive manuscripts. In the following game, in which his opponent goes unnamed, Greco quickly punishes Black for moving the f-pawn. The moves of the game have occurred exactly, or in a similar way, thousands of times.

Game 1King’s Pawn Opening

Gioacchino Greco

NN

Rome 1620

1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 f6

This is Damiano’s Defense – not a very good way to defend the e-pawn.

3.♘xe5! fxe5

3...♕e7 is objectively better, but if Black wasn’t going to recapture the knight, then why defend the e5-pawn with 2...f6 ?

4.♕h5+

4...♔e7

If 4...g6, then 5.♕xe5+ would be a double attack on the king and rook on h8. This is a typical trap that also happens after 1.e4 e5 2.♕h5 g6?? 3.♕xe5+.

5.♕xe5+ ♔f7 6.♗c4+

A new piece joins the attack.

6...♔g6

6...d5 was better so that the bishop on c8 can defend the important f5-square. We will see why that matters shortly.

7.♕f5+ ♔h6 8.d4+

White makes a discovered check. 8.d3+ is just as good.

8...g5

The pawn on g5 is stuck in an absolute pin. An absolute pin occurs when a smaller piece is attacked and lined up in front of a king.

The pawn is pinned down to the black king by the bishop on c1. It absolutely cannot move since the king would be in check. Had the pawn been attacked and lined up in front of another piece bigger than itself but not the king, then we would have an example of a relative pin. This is because the piece in front is of relatively smaller value than the piece behind it.

9.h4

White attacks the pinned piece with the smallest possible piece and threatens a double and discovered check with the move 10.hxg5+.

Question: I had the same position in a simultaneous exhibition in 2018. A simultaneous exhibition is where one person plays multiple games on different boards against multiple players at one time. My opponent played 9...♗e7. How did I checkmate her in 2 more moves?

Answer: 10.hxg5++ ♔g7 11.♕f7#.

9...♔g7

Question: Find the mate in 2.

10.♕f7+

Always look at the weak spot!

10...♔h6 11.hxg5#

The pawn on g5 checks the king as does the rook on h1. The only way to escape from a double check is to move the king, but unfortunately for Black, that’s impossible here.

1-0

Now we’ll see a much more recent, very common example of moving the f-pawn.

Game 2Scotch Opening

Pau Martin Perez 1849

Pau Salinas Garcia 1780

Roncana 2011

1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.d4

This opening will now be either a Scotch Game (if 3...exd4 4.♘xd4) or a Scotch Gambit (if 3...exd4 4.♗c4).

3...f6?

This is very similar to Damiano’s Defense. When someone puts a pawn in the center of the board and has no replacement pawn defending it (i.e. here if a white pawn were on c3), then the opponent should capture it.

4.♗c4!

This position has occurred many times. White is preventing Black from castling.

4...♗e7??

Black is losing after only 4 moves! 4...exd4 5.♘xd4 was bad for Black, but not losing.

5.dxe5! fxe5 6.♕d5

White is aiming for a typical queen and helper checkmate on the f7-square. Black was lost, but the finish shows an important pattern. A queen and helper checkmate is one of the most common checkmate patterns. The queen moves right next to the enemy king and is defended by another piece so that the king cannot capture it.

Question: If 6...d6, then White can checkmate in 2. How?

Answer: 7.♕f7+ ♔d7 8.♗e6#.

analysis diagram

6...♘h6

Black has to give up a lot of material in order to avoid immediate checkmate.

7.♗xh6

This removes the guard so the threat of ♕d5-f7# is renewed.

7...♖f8 8.♗xg7 ♖f4 9.♘xe5 ♘xe5 10.♗xe5 c6

Black tries to make an intermediate move. An intermediate move is a move which creates an equal or greater threat to the one that the opponent is making.

11.♕g8+ ♖f8

11...♗f8 would have avoided mate but lost the rook.

12.♗f7#

Black’s rook was stuck in an absolute pin, so the bishop cannot be captured.

1-0

Here is one of my student’s games showing that even when an advance of the f-pawn is playable, the side doing it must be very careful to avoid early defeat.

Game 3Italian Game

Eric Li 1535

Caleb Chabris 1586

Philadelphia 2019 (2)

1.e4 e5 2.♗c4 ♘f6 3.♘f3

This position normally comes from the Petroff Defense after 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘f6 3.♗c4.

3...♘xe4 4.♘c3 ♘xc3

Note that 4...♘c6 transposes into the Center Fork Trick from Chapter 7.

5.dxc3

When two pawns can capture a piece, it is better to take away from the center if it opens up a bishop’s diagonal (here the bishop on c1). Now White threatens both 6.♘xe5 and 6.♘g5, going after f7.

5...f6

Black has to make this dangerous move, moving the forbidden f-pawn. The blunders 5...♘c6?? or 5...d6?? would allow 6.♘g5 and the bishop on c1 would then defend the knight.

6.0-0

Now 7. ♘xe5 is threatened.

6.♘xe5?? immediately didn’t work because of 6...fxe5 7.♕h5+ g6 and the typical double attack doesn’t work here as after 8.♕xe5+, 8...♕e7 pins White’s queen to his king.

6.♘h4, threatening 7.♕h5+, is another reasonable idea.

6...c6??

Black wants to play 7...d5, but there is no time. Instead, 6...♕e7! is a good move preventing White’s immediate threats, and also making the eventual breakthrough f2-f4 by White impossible since ...♕e7-c5+ will be a double attack. White can play 7.♘h4 but then 7...g6 stops 8.♕h5+. Black’s position is objectively better, but White gets to attack and Black needs to play some accurate moves to ensure his king’s safety. 6...c6?? just walks into White’s plan.

7.♘xe5!

As we will see many times, opening the diagonal for the queen to reach the h5-square in order to attack the enemy king is a typical idea once the f-pawn has moved.

7...fxe5 8.♕h5+ ♔e7?

8...g6 was best, but now 9.♕xe5+ wins Black’s rook on h8, after which he will have a completely winning position. We will see this double attack on the king and rook on h8 many times.

9.♕xe5# 1-0

In the next game, I try to take advantage of the very provocative King’s Gambit by controlling the a7-g1 diagonal on move two.

Game 4King’s Gambit

Philip Dequina 1177

Dean Ippolito 2427

New Jersey 2014 (30)

1.e4 e5 2.f4

Against any gambit, there are three choices. One is to accept the gambit, one is to decline it, and one is to offer a counter-gambit.

2...♗c5

Against the King’s Gambit all three choices are good: accepting the gambit (2...exf4), declining the gambit (there are many good choices including the one in the game), or countering the gambit (2...d5).

3.♗c4?

3.♘f3 is better, while 3.fxe5?? ♕h4+ leads to our typical idea. After that, 4.g3 runs into 4...♕xe4+, winning the rook with the common double attack mentioned in Game 1. 4.♔e2 is even worse due to 4...♕xe4#. This is similar to the Damiano’s Defense game played by Greco in Game 1.

3...d5!

3...♗xg1? allows the saving intermediate move 4.♕h5!. White threatens 5.♕xf7# and covers the h4-square. 4.♖xg1? would run into 4...♕h4+ with a triple attack!

4.exd5?

4.♗xd5 c6 is a better try for White. If 5.♗c4 ♗xg1 6.♖xg1 then 6...♕d4 is a double attack.

4...♗xg1 5.♕h5

5.♖xg1 ♕h4+ and 6.g3 ♕xh2 is the best that White can do since 6.♔f1 ♕xf4+ wins the bishop and 6.♔e2 ♗g4+ wins the queen by using a skewer. A skewer is just the opposite of a pin. A bigger piece is in danger, and upon moving it, a smaller piece will be captured. If two pieces of equal value are lined up and attacked, this is also considered a skewer.

5...♗b6 6.♕xe5+ ♕e7

It is generally a good idea to trade when up material.

7.♗b5+ ♗d7 8.♘c3 ♗xb5 9.♘xb5 a6

It is wise to kick the knight away before it becomes a problem. We will see that theme in several games in the next book where the aggressive knight move is played to target the primary weak spot after castling.

10.♘c3 ♘d7 11.♕xe7+ ♘xe7 12.a4 ♘f6 13.a5 ♗a7 14.♖a4 0-0-0

Why not capture the pawn on d5 immediately, you ask? That’s fine too, but White can’t stop it and it’s a good idea to castle in order to avoid ♖a4-e4+ by White at some point.

15.b3 ♘exd5 16.♘xd5 ♖xd5 17.♗b2 ♖e8+ 18.♔d1 ♘e4

This makes two threats: 19...♘f2+ and capturing on d2.

19.♔c1 ♘xd2 20.♗xg7 ♖e2

Black brings the rook to the deadly second rank.

21.♖d1 ♘xb3+

This discovered attack immediately finishes the game.

22.cxb3 ♗e3+ 23.♖d2

23.♔b1 ♖xd1 is a ladder checkmate. A ladder checkmate is a checkmate where two different major pieces (queens or rooks) trap the enemy king on one edge of the board.

23...♖dxd2

White resigned as 24...♖e1 mate next move cannot be stopped.

0-1

Now, let’s have a look at a game from the eleventh official World Champion Bobby Fischer. Fischer became the youngest Grandmaster in the world at age 15, a record which took more than three decades to break. He won the World title in the 1972 match against Boris Spassky, in what became known as the Match of the Century.

Here, Fischer takes advantage of Black’s aggressive opening play. This was part of a simultaneous exhibition tour that Fischer did in 1964, playing multiple exhibitions in multiple cities.

In this game, Black will not only move the f-pawn early, but also the queen!

Game 5King’s Pawn Opening

Bobby Fischer

Ross Nickel

Fischer simultaneous tour 1964

1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 f5

This is the Latvian Gambit. If 2.f4 (the King’s Gambit) is risky for White, then surely 2...f5 where Black is behind a move is even more dangerous. This is hardly played at master level today. Still, it is an attacking move rather than one defending something, so it is at least playable.

3.♘xe5 ♕f6

This is Black’s idea. Instead, 3...fxe4?? walks into a common trap.

Question: How does White win?

Answer: 4.♕h5+ g6 (since 4...♔e7 5.♕f7+ will likely lead to a quick checkmate) 5.♘xg6!. This is an important theme when the h7-pawn is pinned to the rook. Now 5...hxg6 6.♕xh8 just wins material.

4.d4 d6 5.♘c4 fxe4 6.♘c3

6.♕h5+ is just blocked with 6...g6 and there is no follow up.

6...♕f7

Black can play 6...♕g6, which defends the e4-pawn, keeps an eye on g2, and gets the queen off of the f-file, which may open up soon. That last problem is why Black loses quickly. After 6...♕g6, White can react by opening the position with 7.f3. The white king is perfectly safe.

7.♗e2

7.♘xe4 walks into the double attack 7...d5.

7...♘f6 8.0-0 ♗e6 9.♘e3 d5 10.f3

White wants to open the f-file. Notice how he waited to castle before moving the f-pawn.

10...exf3 11.♗xf3 c6 12.♘g4

12...♗d6?

Black wants to prevent 13.♘e5, but this just loses. 12...♘bd7 was better. If 12...♘xg4, then 13.♗xg4 is a discovered attack on the queen.

13.♘xf6+ ♔d8

Black realizes that the knight cannot be captured.

Question: How does White win the queen after either capture on f6?

Answer: 13...♕xf6 loses the queen to the discovered attack 14.♗h5+ and 13...gxf6 loses to the absolute pin 14.♗h5.

14.♘a4

The game is over and it being a simultaneous game, Fischer doesn’t need to play 14.♘fxd5! cxd5 15.♗xd5, blowing up the center. The simple retreat 14.♘g4 just leaves White up a piece as well. Fischer wanted to finish the game faster by bringing the other knight to c5.

14...♕c7

It would have been better to take the knight on f6, but Black must have sensed a trap. After 14...gxf6 15.♘c5 the position is too open for Black’s king to survive. 14...♕xf6 is even worse since 15.♗xd5 makes a discovered attack on the queen.

15.♗g4

Black has a bad position and is down a ton of material, so he resigned. If 15...♗xg4 16.♘xg4 or 15...gxf6 16.♗xe6 White is up a minor piece and winning based on the position as well. A minor piece is a bishop or a knight.

1-0

Now for