Lesa Lessons

CHESS can be thought of as a series of trade-offs in which almost every action has a downside as well as an up.

The opening move 1.e4, for example, gains space, fights for the squares d5 and f5, and opens lines for the king's bishop, queen and probably, at some point, a rook.

But 1.e4 also exposes the e pawn to attack and slightly weakens White's control of the d3 and f3 squares.

Another trade-off comes in the shape of the ideal pawn-formation in front of a king that has castled short.

In Black's case, this is pawns on f7, g7 and h7, which defend the king and have maximum flexibility to react to White's threats.

Black's ideal kingside defensive formation

The downside here is that Black can become vulnerable to back-rank mate.

That is why players, when they get past the beginners' stage, like to flick in an early ...h6 (h3 as White) to give the king luft.

Later we are taught not to do this as a matter of routine as ...h6 can be a waste of time (if it does not hit an enemy piece), provides a target for a pawn-push, and weakens the g6 square.

My round-one game at Lesa featured a variant on the back-rank theme.

Black to make his 32nd move in Spanton (1937) - Diego Olivieri (1715)

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Black is better after 32...Ba5! 33.c3 Qe4, but my opponent played 32...h6??, realising his mistake almost as soon as he let go of the pawn (but he did not resign until I actually played 33.Qxg8+).

LESSON: since no sacrifice is too great to achieve checkmate, it is essential to stay alert when the threat of a back-ranker is in the air.