Monday, January 23, 2017

Take No L's


Winning Chess

Its been a while since my last post and I am really starting to understand the rules and mechanics of the game. I've started to play against other people online and its been very fun trying to beat really good players. I'm a very competitive person and have been for a very long time now, so I hate to lose when I play against people. In this blog post I will be showing you some of the new moves I've learned to make sure you never lose while playing chess.

Everyone knows that the most important part of chess is getting checkmate. Some people struggle to ever get a checkmate and some do it without breaking a sweat. Getting a checkmate can either take hours or minutes to accomplish. One of the most deadly checkmates in chess is known as the back rank.

In the book winning chess: strategies Yasser Seirawan brings up a checkmate known as the back rank which if done right, can do some serious damage. This checkmate is delivered by the Rook or Queen along a back rank where the King is unable to move because it is blocked by friendly pieces.

In this picture you can see that I was clearly a
victim of the back rank checkmate. My king is in the very back with no options. I am unable to move forward in anyway because my own friendly pieces are blocking my way. The only move I can make is move my queen next to the Rook blocking its way to my king However after the Rook takes down my Queen its checkmate.

This is one of the most common mistakes made by rookie players because they worry to much about protecting the king often leading to the king being surrounded by its own friendly pieces leading to the king having no way to escape.

Have you ever been a victim of the back rank checkmate and what do you think is the best way to prevent it from happening?

6 comments:

  1. Hey Gurshan,
    First I want to say that your title was very creative. I myself have been playing chess for a long time and I understand what strategies helps lead to a win. I saw that you used your book to help make paths for your pieces to move. Playing chess, you need to be patient and being able to see your consequences before it happens. This also goes for basketball. Having the ability to see what plays would to in the future.
    I haven't been a victim of a back rank checkmate so I don't know what to do.

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    1. Thank you Kalid for replying to my blog I can see that you really enjoyed my blog. Its nice to see that you also know how a much a strategy can help a player. I totally agree with about needing patience when it comes to chess or anything that requires a lot of time to master. I really enjoyed the basketball reference you made. Thanks for commenting on my post

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  2. I have been reading a few of your posts and I wanted to say how good of a job you have been explaining the complicated game of chess. I can obviously see the time and passion you have been putting in each post. I just wanted to ask if there was any other ways to get checkmate besides the back rank checkmate. I have enjoyed playing chess and I have learned a lot.
    Tyler

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  4. Hello Gurshan!
    I enjoyed reading your blog post. I could totally relate to you when you were talking about being competitive and hating to lose because I myself am a athlete and losing is hard for me to handle most of the time. I really liked how you showed with the picture and explained the "back rank checkmate," because it was very evident what you were talking about.

    I have played chess quite a bit before. I learned all the rules and what pieces were allowed to be moved what way when I was about 10 years old or so and then I kept on just playing from then on. I have also been a soccer player for a very long time and in soccer quick decisions need to be made just like in chess because chess is all a mind game so I really enjoy playing chess in my free time.

    I am just curious and want to know how long have you been into chess? I hope that you continue to do well with chess and keep getting better, and maybe someday we could play together!

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    1. Thank you very much for replying to my blog post I really appreciate you commenting on one of my blogs. im glad you interested in knowing how long I've been playing chess and to be honest I have really only been playing for a couple months now but im getting really good at it

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