Lessons From Bad Bertrich

I CAN recall reading an article by Cecil Purdy, the first chess world correspondence champion, in which he stated that, though it is hard to believe, novices can struggle with mate-in-one problems.

It is easy to laugh at such difficulties, but I suppose the equivalent among experienced players would be to miss a mate-in-two.

Unfortunately, that happened to me in the 50+ at Bad Bertrich in game one, in which I was Black against Jürgen Dieter (1769).

The critical position arose after White's 40th move

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Knowing something is on, it is not difficult to find 40...Rb3+! 41.axb3 Rxb3#.

The situation of the white king, and specifically its inability to retreat, is a little unusual, but hardly unprecedented.

I have preached in previous blogs about how I try to follow a mantra, Captures-Checks-Hangers-Threats, at every move.

This entails firstly looking at every possible capture, not matter how apparently absurd, followed by looking at every possible check, again no matter how foolish-looking.

I am then supposed to look at hangers, ie pieces and pawns that are not protected, and so are 'hanging' or 'loose'. If a player has two or more, a forking combination may be in the air.

And finally I look at threats, eg a minor piece that can 'hit' the opponent's queen, or a pawn advancing against a piece short of squares, or a move lining up a checkmate.

The mantra takes longer to explain that it usually takes to carry out - most possible captures, for example, can be dismissed at once as of poor value, and lots of possible checks are either pointless or downright harmful to the checking side.

But if, in the diagrammed position, I had seriously considered, just for a moment, ...Rb3+, I would surely have seen that it was by no means as ridiculous as it might appear at first sight.

LESSON: there is no point in having a mantra if you do not use it.