DECOY - ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON IN CHESS

You are absorbing the news from GAZA when suddenly the strike on the MH17 takes your eyes away from it. While you are trying to deal with the new information, GAZA is attacked again. This is the art of decoy used widely in the game of chess, and whoever masters this art wins almost every time. 

However, I cannot actually say that the two are interrelated as I don't really have the evidence to link between them. This post is only to demonstrate what decoy means in chess, and I will use examples from my own games, not from the masters. 

Perhaps the most memorable decoy I employed was against Lim Yeang Khee in 1998 during the Grand Asean Chess Challenge:

Yours Truly - Lim Yeang Khee, GACC III, 1998

The Black King was sitting comfortably in his castle when suddenly 27.Rxh7+ came crashing. It lured the King into the corner where he was eventually taken on a terror ride towards his doom. Once the King has left his guard of f7, I took the liberty to gatecrash the castle starting with 28.Qf7+. The rest was history. 

In recent games also, especially online games because I don't enter many tournament games nowadays, I have successfully deployed the decoy with deadly effects. Take for example a game against dedanikola in 2014:

dedanikola - Yours Truly, chess.com, 2014

I was playing black in this sharp position. I could actually take the e5-pawn but chose to take the King for a walk instead with 18... Nxf2!? where the open King position was subject to checks from my Bishops and Rooks. Coupled with his weak defending, I managed to checkmate him 12 moves later. 

KELANTAN CLOSED 2013

Masterskill College saw a grueling fight among players aiming to be the Kelantan representatives for this year's National Closed which is scheduled to be held at Terengganu. Once the registration closed at 10 a.m. Friday morning, 41 players in the Male Category and 7 players in the Female Category started the first round at 3 p.m. Only 4 male players and 2 players needed, so the 7 rounds produced high quality games despite the time allocation of 30 minutes plus 10-second increments. There were sacrifices everywhere, and Abdul Haq produced the best sacrifice of the tournament when he sacrificed himself for the third round game by giving the opponent a win without playing! When the dust has settled, the emergent winners were announced by the President of the Persatuan Catur Negeri Kelantan (PCNK), Mr. Nik Mohd Azrihan on the eve of the second day. The reps are:

HOW MUCH DOES A QUEEN WORTH?

This position is taken from a game I played last night at chess.com. Black just moved 23...Bg7. What is the best move for White?

KNIGHT ENDGAME STUDY

Knight endgame is always fascinating. Those who dances gracefully and purposefully will win the game beautifully. Here is a position I was in last night against an online opponent. I was down a pawn, but I managed to put my King in a commanding position. His last move was 55.Nb6, attacking my d5 pawn. What is the best move for Black?

MY BEST GAME AT KELANTAN CLOSED

Obviously, the revenge I took against Bakri Jusoh at the recent Kelantan Closed was the sweetest. I lost to him twice already, and surely the third would confirmed his status as my bogey opponent. I was black this time, and I opted for more piece play rather than pawn push. The final position reminiscent of Topalov - Anand last championship game, with the battery of the Queen, a Bishop and a Rook completely toppled Bakri's King. He resigned on move 36.

This was my final attack. He took the poisoned pawn at a6 and thought that he could get away with it. But his escape was imaginary...

White: Bakri Jusoh
Black: Yours Truly
Kelantan Closed 2010
Round 4

33.Nxa6 ...

This Knight is doomed after taking this poisonous pawn. The blockade at d4 is necessary to prevent the opening of the dreaded diagonal.

33... d4!

A very powerful move, opening the diagonal at the cost of a pawn. An attack on the Queen, coupled with the threat of threatening the a6 Knight and at the same time threatens a checkmate on g2 should decide the game.

34.exd4 Qb7

The point. However, 34...Qd5 is better (see diagram).

35.Rf3 Rxf5!

An elegant finish! White resigns. 0 - 1

SOLUTION TO 'HOW TO BEAT NICHOLAS CHAN'

From the above position, I continued with 29.Ba5. Granted, it was not the winning move you have been searching for. Moreover, Nicholas Chan was not beaten just because he took the b-pawn, but for the subsequent blunder on move 32 when he exchanged the Rook. The game continued 29...Rxb3 30.Rb1 Rxb1 31.Rxb1 Nb6 32.Bxb6 Rxb6 33.Rxb6 axb6 34.Nc8 Ke8 35.Nxb6 Kd8 36.Kf2 Kc7 37.a5 Kb7 38.Ke2 Bf8 39.Kd3 Ka6


We arrived at a position where White was clearly winning. The Bishop was cornered, and the passed a-pawn could not be taken without a huge loss of material. The game concluded 40.Nd7 Be7 41.Nb8+ Kb7 42.Nd7 Kc7 43.a6 Kc6

44.a7 Kb7 45.Nb6 Kxa7 46.Nc8+ Kb7 47.Nxe7 Kc7 48.Ng8 Kc6 49.Nh6 Kd7 50.Nxf7 Ke7 51.Nh8 Kf8 52.Nxg6+ Kf7 53.f5 exf5 54.Nf4 1-0

THE POWER OF TWO ROOKS

Last night, I was lucky to slam a Queen sacrifice against an online opponent. Starting from the above position, I exchanged my Queen for his two Rooks. The rest, as they say, was history. I'll leave it to you to calculate the remaining moves.

HOW TO BEAT NICHOLAS CHAN

From the above position, you (playing White) have the move. What is your next move in order for you to beat one of Malaysia's top player?

Dasher (2450) vs Yours Truly

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Last night I got a good position against the Dasher. I was an exchange down but the Queen and the Knights had a good opportunity to put a sucker punch. However, in time scramble, I did not find the best continuation. From the position I moved 26... Rf8 and lost. White replied 27.Qc4 and the Queen got to the defense just in time. After I made some analysis, I found the idea of retreating the Bishop to attack another diagonal. I should have moved..

26... Bb7


27.Qxb6 Ba6
The point. Black threatened mate at f1.

28.Nd3

White must defend f4, or else my Knight will take this spot with devastating effect. For example 28.Nc2 Nf4! (diagram right) 29.gxf4 Qxf3, 30.Rf1 Qh3

28.... e4, 29. Qc6 Bxd3, 30.Qxa8+ Kh7 and Black should win.

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.

Xabi celebrated his goal after the final whistle (pic from LFC official site)

RECORD BREAKING

Chelsea 0 - Liverpool 1. Do not adjust your computer screen, it is true. Liverpool had done what other teams could not do for the past 86 games (4 and a half years) by beating Chelsea at their own turf - the Stamford Bridge. Xabi Alonso's deflected goal was enough for the Reds to maintain their unbeaten run this season thus confirming their title credentials despite what others said or would say about them. One interesting fact I want to share with you - IM Malcolm Pein (picture right) is a Liverpool fan and last night he commented on the 9th game of Anand vs Kramnik from the stand at the Stamford Bridge.

Enough said. Now let us ponder upon Kramnik's record of going without a win for nearly 2 years now with the black pieces. He needed to win this game to have a chance of ever winning the championship. However, the game was delayed for about half an hour because of the daylight saving time. But this did not deter Anand from playing the ultra sharp anti-Moscow gambit in order to kill Kramnik off. Even a novelty with 11...Bb4 and a Bishop sacrifice could not stop Anand from getting the result he wanted. So, Kramnik's waiting continues.

Anand played the anti-Moscow gambit

Kramnik sprang a novelty

Kramnik sacrificed a Bishop

MEMORABLE COMBINATIONS

Yours Truly - Lim Yeang Khee
GACC III (Round 6), 28.10.1998

This position arose from the Pirc Defense, and both sides were attacking their opponents King vigorously. Black has just played 26...Nd5, attacking my Queen. Do I run away, or do I plot another move?

27.Rxh7+
My first coach was an ex-National player who drills everybody into sacrificing, sacrificing and sacrificing your pieces in order to gain an advantage, or to burn your opponent's castle. Moves like this were filling my head during that time due to many exercises he gave us during the training sessions. Actually, if you really look into the position deeply, you can see that there is a possibility of a King hunt. You only have to pry open the castle's door by sacrificing a piece.

27...Kxh7 28.Qf7+ Kh6 29.Rh1+ Kg5 30.f4+ Nxf4
Even 30...Kg4 cannot help in view of 31.Qxg6+ Kxf4 32.Rh5 and mate is not that far away. I cannot help but smiled when he moved the Knight and captured the sacrificed (yes, another sacrifice, and its called 'clearance sacrifice' - according to some books) little pawn. It only made my task easier. By now there were many spectators gathering around our table; our teammates included.

31.Nf3+ Kg4 32.Rh4+ Kg3 33.Qxf4+ Kf2 34.Nd4+ 1-0
Boy, what a great feeling to come out victorious after the see-saw battle! Black surely had nightmares afterward, I know I will after being defeated by a junior like me (I was still in matriculation when summoned to play for the University team).

Final position