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TROUBLE ON THE E-FILE

Do you remember what three letters teach you how to play the opening? DCK! DEVELOPMENT, CENTRAL CONTROL, KING SAFETY! And King Safety usually means this: IN POSITIONS WHERE ONE OR BOTH E-PAWNS HAVE DISAPPEARED OR COULD DISAPPEAR YOU MUST CASTLE AS SOON AS YOU CAN!!

Imagine this. You have a Rook or a Queen on the e-file. The e-pawns have been exchanged. Your opponent, silly fool, hasn't yet got round to castling so his King is stuck on e8. If one of his pieces is in the way it's PINNED. You know what to do when you've PINNED an enemy piece? ATTACK IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT! If one of YOUR pieces is in the way, if you move it you will be CHECKING your oppo. This is a DISCOVERED CHECK. One piece moves out of the way to DISCOVER check from another piece.

Let's see how it works.

1. e2-e4 e7-e5

2. Ng1-f3 Ng8-f6

This is the PETROFF DEFENCE, a good, if rather boring opening for Black. It's named after Alexander Petroff, a 19th century Russian player. Good, that is, as long as he avoids the tricks on the e-file.

3. Nf3xe5

And why not? There goes Eddie No. 1!

3... Nf6xe4? (Diagram)

And there goes Eddie No. 2! Black's playing the Copycat Defence. How would you continue for White? Think CCT and remember that two threats are better than one.

4. Qd1-e2!

Qd1-h5 is not good enough: only one threat which Black can meet easily with Qd8-f6. Qd1-f3 is a QUEEN FORK but Black can defend with Ne4-f6. No, the move is Qd1-e2, with a threat against the Knight and a hidden threat against the King. (This position is an exception to the rule about not bringing your Queen out early!)

4... Ne4-f6?? (Diagram)

Black's Knight is attacked, so, naturally enough, he moves it. Over to you! CCT!

You might not see any CHECKS at first until you look at the line-up of pieces on the e-file. White Queen, White Knight and Black King. If White moves his Knight it will be DISCOVERED CHECK. Where should he move it?

Not Ne5xf7+ or Ne5xd7+: the Black King can just take it. Ne5-g6+ is good, CHECKING and THREATENING the Rook on h8, but there's something better. The best move is Ne5-c6+, which wins the Black Queen. The Queen can block the check on e7 but the White Knight can still take her. So White wins a Queen for a Knight. REMEMBER THIS. YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

Now go back to the position after Black's fourth move and try to find something better for him. Suppose Black plays 4... d7-d5, to defend the Knight. What then? The Knight is PINNED in a way: if it moves Black, as you have seen, loses his Queen. If you have a PIN what do you do? ATTACK THE PINNED PIECE AGAIN. The best way to do this is to play d2-d3 (better than f2-f3, which weakens the King - DON'T TOUCH FREDDIE!), kicking the Knight, and, if it moves away, of course you play Ne5-c6+, again winning the Queen.

Instead, Black can copy White for one more move:

4... Qd8-e7

5. Qe2xe4 d7-d6 (Diagram)

Look again at the e-file. Now White's Knight is PINNED: if it moves he loses his Queen. So he plays d2-d4 to get a pawn for his Knight and finishes up a pawn ahead.

Now let's look at the right way for Black to play the PETROFF DEFENCE.

1. e2-e4 e7-e5

2. Ng1-f3 Ng8-f6

3. Nf3xe5 d7-d6

This is Black's best move here. Don't be tempted to play Qd8-e7 instead. Yes, White might fall for a trap and lose his Queen but if he plays well he'll gain time later on because Black will have to move the Queen again.

4. Ne5-f3 Nf6xe4

Now it's safe to take the pawn. The most popular move in this position is d2-d4, to gain space in the centre. It's also possible to play d2-d3 to drive back the Knight. But White can choose a different move which gives Black another chance to go wrong.

5. Qd1-e2 (Diagram)

Black's Knight is attacked and PINNED. What should he do about it? d6-d5, for instance, would be a mistake. White wins the pinned Knight with d2-d3. 5... f7-f5 and 5... Bc8-f5 would be equally poor for the same reason. No, the only good move is 5... Qd8-e7, defending and UNPINNING at the same time. This leads to a level position.

In our next example, White chose a different 5th move. This game broke two records: the shortest ever loss by a Grandmaster and the shortest ever loss by a reigning World Champion. The loser, an Indian Grandmaster who is now one of the world's strongest players, was World Junior Champion at the time of the game. His opponent was a Grandmaster from Colombia.

White: Alonso Zapata Black: Vishy Anand

Biel 1988

Opening: Petroff's Defence

1. e2-e4 e7-e5

2. Ng1-f3 Ng8-f6

3. Nf3xe5 d7-d6

4. Ne5-f3 Nf6xe4

5. Nb1-c3 Bc8-f5?? Diagram)

5... Ne4xc3 is the correct move here. What's the move that beats a World Champion?

6. Qd1-e2 (PIN!)

If Black defends the attacked Knight with 6... d6-d5, 7. d2-d3 wins the poor beast, while if 6... Qd8-e7, there comes 7. Nc3-d5, when 7... Qe7-e6 loses to 8. Nd5xc7+ (FORK!) and if, say, 7... Qe7-d8, 8. d2-d3 again wins the Knight. The Knight is doomed and you don't play on a piece down against a Grandmaster. So Black resigned.

The best way to head for this sort of position with White after 2... Nb8-c6 is to play the Ruy Lopez. Here's a simple example which will show you how easy it is for Black to go wrong.

1. e2-e4 e7-e5

2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6

3. Bf1-b5

If you've read the previous lesson you'll know something about this opening.

3... a7-a6

Black's most popular reply. White usually plays Bb5-a4 here, but taking the Knight, the EXCHANGE VARIATION, is also good.

4. Bb5xc6 d7xc6 (Diagram)

When White exchanges Bishop for Knight on move 4 he's playing the EXCHANGE VARIATION of the RUY LOPEZ. It's slightly better for Black to take with the d-pawn rather than the b-pawn because it opens up a line for his Bishop and keeps his Pawns together. It's not a very good idea for White to take the Pawn on e5 at once. Why not? Black has several ways of getting the pawn back at once: a QUEEN FORK (Qd8-d4), another QUEEN FORK (Qd8-g5) or a SKEWER (Qd8-e7). But instead of taking the pawn at once White can try a different idea.

5. 0-0

Now Black should defend the e-pawn with a move like f7-f6, Qd8-d6, Bf8-d6 or even Bc8-g4 (PIN!). If he decides to attack White's e-pawn instead he can easily run into TROUBLE ON THE E-FILE.

5... Ng8-f6?!

6. Nf3xe5

Now there are two ways Black can go badly wrong.

Firstly, he can try a QUEEN FORK, but this time it doesn't work because the White Rook is already in play.

6... Qd8-d4? (Diagram)

Choose a move for White here.

7. Ne5-f3

Simple and good: moving the THREATENED Knight and in turn THREATENING the Black Queen.

7... Qd4xe4??

It's your move again. Think CCT!

8. Rf1-e1 (PIN!)

PINNING and winning the Queen.

Or secondly he can take the e-pawn at once. (Go back to move 6)

6... Nf6xe4? (Diagram)

What now for White? Over to you!

7. Rf1-e1

It's better to use the Rook rather than the Queen on the OPEN FILE in this sort of position.

7... Ne4-f6??

And you know what to do now, don't you? 8. Ne5xc6+ (DISCOVERED CHECK), winning the Queen.

This sort of thing happens a lot in the Ruy Lopez. You see how important it is to castle early when the e-file is open. Number one, you get your King into safety, and number two, your Rook can reach the e-file and harass the enemy monarch. Why not try playing some games with the Ruy Lopez yourself? The key moves are: 0-0, to bring the Rook into play, Rf1-e1, to line up your Rook against the enemy King, and either Bb5xc6 followed by Nf3xe5, or, if he doesn't allow this, d2-d4 to get rid of his e-pawn. Don't bother to defend your e-pawn. You want the file to be clear of pawns for your Rook.

Just to show you that this sort of thing really does happen look at the first few moves of two games played by Luke McShane a few days after his sixth birthday. They both started 1. e2-e4 e7-e5 2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3. Bf1-b5 Ng8-f6 (The Berlin Defence to the Ruy Lopez) 4. Bb5xc6 (The usual move here is 4. 0-0.) Now one of his opponents played 4... b7xc6 5. 0-0 Nf6xe4 6. Rf1-e1 d7-d5 7. d2-d3 Ne4-f6 8. Nf3xe5 Bf8-d6? 9. Ne5xc6+ (DISCOVERED ATTACK!) winning the Queen. The other game continued 4... d7xc6 5. 0-0 Nf6xe4 6. Rf1-e1 Qd8-d5? 7. d2-d3 Ne4-f6 8. Re1xe5+ (FORK!), again winning the Queen. Luke is now England's youngest ever International Master.

HELPFUL HINTS

1. In any opening where one or other e-pawn might disappear from the board you MUST CASTLE AS SOON AS YOU CAN!

2. It's often a good idea to put your LINE PIECES (Queen, Rooks, Bishops) on the same line as more valuable enemy pieces. For instance, try to put a Rook on the same file as your opponent's King or Queen. With a bit of luck this will set up PINS and DISCOVERED ATTACKS for you.

3. The PETROFF DEFENCE is a good (but boring) opening for Black, but if you play it watch out for danger on the e-file.

4. The RUY LOPEZ is the strongest opening in the world! LEARN, REMEMBER, UNDERSTAND and PLAY it!

5. Think CCT at all times: every move, every game. At the same time look down the lines of your Queen, Rooks and Bishops to see what's at the end.