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Q&A Column

2002.09.01

by Kelly Atkins, et al.

[Submit Your Question]

Q: Chess is full of strange words like “en passant”, “fianchetto” or “fegatello” which came to us from the romantic chess players of the past. Chess also has many openings named after persons or places by who or where these openings were first played on a serious basis. But could you please try to tell me what is the origin of the Benoni name? – Balkan, from Brazil

A: It’s a Hebrew term meaning “son of my sorrow”, originating in the Old Testament with reference to Benjamin, whose mother Rachel, called him Ben-Oni due to the fact that she was dying from giving birth to him, and alluding to the Egyptian town of On, where Osiris, the Lord of the Dead reigned. Its entry into the lexicon of chess comes from Aaron Reinganum’s preface to his 1825 book on the defense in which he said, “Whenever I felt in a sorrowful mood and wanted to take refuge from melancholy, I sat over a chessboard, for one or two hours according to circumstances. Thus this book came into being, and its name, Ben-Oni, “Son of Sadness”, should indicate its origin.” It’s an appropriate name for a defense which can lead to crushing defeats for Black if he doesn’t understand and execute the correct ideas and plans for it. If he does though, you get to see the other edge of the sword – brilliant attacking games for Black where White often never knows what hit him.

Q: From previous experience, I’ve mostly found the same faces at chess clubs now as were there about 3 yrs ago. No matter how popular the game on the net at club level, I think the game is stagnating a bit. I have to confess I don’t play the game much as I play draughts now (yes, you heard right, I play draughts!). After playing at the MSO site, it opened my eyes to the other two main forms of chess, Shogi and Xianqgi, plus some other games played in other countries. Do you think chess clubs are helping kids get into the game, and is the Internet taking players away from clubs and causing them to have a hard time keeping their membership up? - Tony from England

A: Promoting an over-the-board chess club is a complex task and requires a lot of energy on the part of the people who actually run the club. The club I belong to has been in existence since 1945 and has had a series of ups and downs over the years, depending on who was running it. I think the Internet has generally had a very positive influence on chess, making it accessible to virtually everyone, but chess clubs provide direct human interaction. To be successful, they must encourage participation by running club events such as speed chess tournaments, quadrangular tournaments, club championships and ladder tournaments. Existing members must go out of their way to welcome new players and to treat them in a friendly manner. Screaming “Die Fish Die” during mate tends to make the new player’s visit brief and a solitary affair! Encouraging kids to play is worth an essay but the main thing there is making sure that they have fun. Younger children need adult supervision and it’s important that their parents come with them. It’s even better if they learn to play as well!

Q: I would like to check my perception of chess generally, if I am right or wrong. Up till now, I felt that it was best to play according to a plan laid out in advance, and from this point on, all the consequent moves will have to be part of this plan. If I have to choose between the "best" move on the board or a move which will promote my original plan, what should I choose? The "best" move may be a contradiction to my plan. While it still may be a good move, it may set me back in my plan, I may win a piece, but will take my own pieces away from the target. Should I change my plan? Then all the moves I have made towards attaining my plan have been lost. So I am confused in this. Plan or "best move"? Tactics or strategy? – Arie Talmi.

A: Flexibility is the key to judgment and planning in chess. If someone just leaves a piece en prise or hanging, you can generally be assured that the extra material will allow you to alter your plan quite successfully. You must play the position as it exists, being willing and able to change plans when called for. I can pretty much tell you that no plan ever survives contact with the enemy! If you are rated below Expert, tactics are usually much more important than strategy. When I was starting out, my instructors were constantly telling me what a wonderful job I had done with my game, how it was “won”, etc. Unfortunately, this was usually during the postmortem when we were going over it and they were consoling me because I had overlooked a tactic and dropped a piece. Short answer = Tactics!

Q: What type of pawn structure would you find in the Pirc Defense classical variation? Is attacking in the center the best idea? – Doug, from the US

A: I have always found the Classical Pirc (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 B7 5.Be2 00) one of the most difficult lines for Black to meet because White builds a strong center, develops his pieces, and waits for a counter attack on e5 or c5. Black must attack the center with one of these two moves or be gradually ground down. Unfortunately for White, this is not hard to do. Today, players on the White side are searching for more aggressive ways to attack Black’s position.

Q: Lisa Lane was once the USA women’s chess champion. Whatever happened to her? Where is she today?

A: Lane Hickey, Lisa (1938- ) OK, you win the “Stump the Chump” contest for this week. Lisa Lane was something of a sensation in the late 50’s and early 60’s. She was the U.S. Women’s Champion in 1959. Born in 1938, she is still alive as far as we can tell. She was featured in Sports Illustrated in 1960 and gained some notoriety because Robert J. Fischer refused to play in a tournament in which she participated. We know that she married Neil Hickey and her last known endeavor was a chess club called the Queen Pawn in New York City in 1964. After that, she seems to have vanished from the chess world. If any of our readers know more about her, or if Lisa herself should read this, please contact us because we would love to do a feature on her. She was one of the pioneers of women’s chess in this country and I think a lot of players today would like to know more about her career.

Q: I am pretty sure that I am trying to reinvent the wheel. Examples and study materials in the area of my focus have doubtlessly been compiled and analyzed. I want the information in as much totality as is available. Simply expressed, I wish to find a list of the basic recognition patterns of positions which provide a player the opportunity to gain material. For instance, the most passive opportunity to gain material is to jump on hanging material, with discernment of course regarding the consequences, such as would occur if the taking of the piece turns out to be a trap.

The overall tool for gaining material is the double attack. The divisions and patterns are multiple, from simple check, then capture, to more intricate classes of maneuvers... forks, deflection or pinning of protectors, to acquiring more attackers than defenders, to the use of other pins, double check techniques, uncover attacks and checks, and the concept of capturing a protected piece (sacrifice) which, if taken, allows a recovery of the sacrificed material with interest or a winning attack.

I am teaching chess to 6th graders. My intent is to name these basic methods, to present many of them in a stripped-down format, and offer enough of these examples to get the student into as close to an automatic response as possible. – Steve Rasmussen, Texas

A: Steve, there are several resources available to you to meet the requirements you speak of. What you’re looking for, if I understand you correctly, is an explanation of basic tactics & tactical patterns, followed by intense drills to sharpen pattern recognition. I’d recommend GM Murray Chandler’s How To Beat Your Dad At Chess (Gambit), followed by Laszlo Polgar’s Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations And Games (Tess Press). Chandler’s book is the best intro to chess tactics I’ve seen, and does a wonderful job of explaining all the basic ideas, as well as categorizing and naming the different themes & mates (many of which had been unnamed before). Polgar’s book, affectionately known as “The Brick” due to its size & weight, is an invaluable tactical manual for teaching pattern recognition. The reader is presented with 5334 positions and games, which repeatedly present him with tactical patterns and themes, starting with the basics and increasing in complexity. The repetition of seeing these patterns & themes will make them easily recognizable in your own games. I think these two books would accomplish exactly what you’re wanting to achieve. In addition, for more advanced study, Renko’s Intensive Tactics Training CD from Chessbase is an excellent choice for further tactical training, as it also groups problems by theme with thousands of examples.

Q: You guys have created a great site, but none of you are professional chess players. Who's really the brains behind Chessville? – Randy, North Carolina

A: Bobby Fischer. We also get some help by channeling the spirits of Howard Staunton for our newsletter & book reviews, Wilhelm Steinitz for the game annotations, Richard Reti for most of our articles, and Alexander Alekhine for when we just want to party.

Yours Truly,

Saviely Tartakower