ARE KNIGHTS REALLY ARE BETTER THAN THE BISHOPS?

This is a recent endgame I played against an online opponent. A thorough assessment on this kind of position is essential if you are to be a good chess player. Pawn structures, king position, minor piece arrangement should be considered very accurately. Knight versus bishop always has been, and will be, debated fiercely as who is better, but really, it is only a matter of who realizes the advantages better.

From the above position, white made a mistake when he played 43.f4? to which black strongly replied 43...e4! creating a passed pawn. The play continued 44.h4 b5, 45.axb5 axb5, 46.h5

White tried to create his own passed pawn by exchanging his pawn majority on the Kingside. 46...gxh5, 47.g5 Nd6! The black knight blockaded the passed pawn. 48.Ba7 Nf5+, 49.Kh3 e3, 50.Kg2 The King scrambled back to stop the intruder. 50...Ke4, 51.Kf1 Kxf4, 52.Ke2 Kxg5, 53.Kf3 h4, 54.Bc5 h3, 55.Bb6 e2!

The pawn marched on, knowing that it cannot be captured because of the threat of 56...h2 queens. 56.Bf2 White tried to stop both pawns with the bishop and the King, but yet the knight delivered a stunning blow 56...Nd4+!

57.Kg3 Nxb3 Creating another passed pawn. 58.Kxh3 Nc1!

This knight heading for d3 to control the queening square e1. Game over. 0 - 1

Here we can see that the knight was powerful enough to jump all over the place creating havoc and defending at the same time, while the bishop was helpless when all the opponent's pawn were on the light squares. The King was tied to defend the queening of the two passed pawns, but the third one proven to be too much.

However, when both bishops are still on board, they pose powerful threats. The next game shows the power of the two bishops against the two knights.

In this diagram, the knights movement were severely restricted by the bishops and the phalanx of pawns. Even after exchanging all the rooks the bishops will still dominate the knights. Nothing fancy about black's attack - it was straight forward towards the King. Enjoy.

Yours Truly vs Computer (FIDE 2400)

SLAYING THE FRENCH

Beating a computer chess programme is very hard. It has the ability to refer to its books, make long calculations, and obviously no fear factor. All these make an unfair game against a human player like me. Nevertheless I managed to get the above position against a computer chess programme. I attacked Black's castle position with 16.h6 in order to force his hand. Black replied 26... g6 and suddenly his castle became fragile.

27.R1b5

I noticed that the Queen and the Bishop had multiple defending tasks and they could not leave their respective position.

27... Qf8
The Queen dare not leave the diagonal in order to defend the checkmate.

28.Nd4 a3, 29.R5b6 a2, 30.Nxe6 Bxe6, 31.Rxe6 a1=Q+, 32.Ke2 Ra6
Black must defend against the threat of 33.Rxg6+ which will lead to mate.

33.Ree7

Pigs (or hogs) on the seventh rank! A dream of every chess player.

34... Ra2, 35.Rg7+ Qxg7, 36.Rxg7 Kh8, 37.Rc7!


A bolt from the blue! Fortunately, I found this move even though I was in severe time trouble. The Rook was immune because of the threat of mate. Now Black must surrender most of his troops to defend his King (a human opponent will resign here).

37... Rxc2+, 38.Bxc2 Qa6+, 39.Bd3 Kg8, 40.Bxa6 Rxc7, 41.Qd8+ Kf7, 42.Qxc7+ Kf8, 43.Qxb8+ Kf7, 44.Qc7+ Kf8, 45.Qg7+ Ke8, 46.Bb5+ Kd8, 47.Qd7# 1-0

Yours Truly vs Kuala Krai Champion

WEIGHING THE RISKS

This position arose from the Reti Opening after a middle-game mistake from me which cost me a pawn. Playing against a good opponent who recently won at Kuala Krai, I had to take risks in order to counter his pawn majority on the Queen-side. However, it was not easy, as his Rook was attacking my Knight. After a little while, I moved ...

28.axb5
It was not the best move, but I reckoned 'What the heck'...

28... Rxc3
He obviously wanted me to prove the soundness of my sacrifice.

29.bxa6 Rc8
The champ moved it hastily without thinking that the Rook was in the same line with his King which allowed some tactical chances. 29... Rc7 was a better try.

30.a7
The point. If the Rook was on c7 this move was not possible. Now the passed pawn guaranteed me at least a Knight.

30... Na5?


A gross blunder. In his try to save his Knight, he forgot that he did not have time to take the menacing passed pawn.

31.Ra4 and black resisted for another 10 moves before surrendering the throne.