Review on moving and capturing with some quiz problems! We will commence with using the standard French Defense after 4 moves same as from Moving & Capturing Review Lesson 1 and through various tutorials.
DIAGRAM MR-2A:
Review Problem 1: Study the board above. To which squares may each player’s Knights move and not move (excluding moving & capturing)? (diagram and answers provided below, but work it out first and then check your answers!).
DIAGRAM MR-2B:
White’s Knight at b1 (Queen Knight):
- a3
- c3
- d2
White’s Knight at f3 (King Knight):
- d2
- g5
- h4
- g1 (retreat to home square)
- cannot move to h2 because it is occupied by a White pawn
- cannot move to d4 because it is occupied by a White pawn
- cannot move to e5 because it is occupied by a White pawn
- cannot move to e1 because it is occupied by the White King
Black’s Knight at c6 (Queen Knight):
- a5
- b4
- b8 (retreat to home square)
- e7
- cannot move to a7 because it is occupied by a Black pawn
- cannot move to d8 because it is occupied by the Black Queen
Black’s Knight at g8 (King Knight):
- e7
- f6
- h6
Review Problem 2: Look at the first board again. Which Bishop has the most mobility to safely move? (answer provided below, but work it out first and then check your answer!)
Answer: White’s Queen Bishop has the most mobility because it has the most safe open squares available along a diagonal (squares d2, e3, f4, & g5). Square g5 is safe in the sense that although Black’s Queen could capture the White’s Queen Bishop if it moved to g5, White’s King Knight at f3 could then just simply capture Black’s Queen! Therefore, White’s King Knight at f3 is in controlof the g5 square. If White’s Queen Bishop moved to h6, it would simply be subject to capture by Black’s pawn at g7 or Black’s King Knight at g8. White’s King Bishop may only safely move to e2, d3, & b5; if it moved to c4 or a6, then Black could just simply capture White’s King Bishop with Black’s pawns at d5 and b7 respectively. Both of Black’s Bishops are significantly blocked in with little mobility at this point.
Review Problem 3: Look at the first board again. How many times are the squares in front of each player’s King protected (King safety) and by which pieces? (answer provided below, but work it out first and then check your answers!)
Answers:e2 is protected three times (did you answer two?). The square is protected by White’s Queen at d1, the King Bishop at f1, and of course…White’s King at e1. You should also have noticed that by moving the King Knight to f3, White removed one of e2’s defenders (the King Knight protected e2 from its home square at g1).
e7 is protected five times!!! The square is protected by Black’s Queen at d8, the King Bishop at f8, the Queen Knight at c6, the King Knight at g8, and Black’s King at e8. You should also have noticed that by moving the Queen Knight to c6, Black removed one of d7’s defenders (the Queen Knight protected d7 from its home square at b8).
Review Problem 4: Look at the first board again. May either player create a pin? (answer provided below, but work it out first and then check your answer!)
Answer: Yes. White may pin Black’s Queen Knight at c6 by moving White’s King Bishop from its home square at f1 to b5 (Bb5). The pin is a relative pin. Black’s Queen Knight at c6 will not be able to move on Black’s next move because doing so would expose Black’s King to check by the White’s King Bishop at b5. Black also cannot reposition the King by moving it out of the diagonal path being attacked by White White Bishop at b5 pinning Black’s Queen Knight at c6, because both d7 and f7 are occupied by Black pieces (Black’s Queen and King Bishop respectively). However, Black can block the diagonal attack line with either Black’s Queen Bishop by moving from c8 to d7 (Bd7) or Black’s Queen by moving from d8 to d7 (Qd7). You should also remember counterattack is available for Black by advancing his or her a7 pawn to a6 (a6), creating an attack and threat of capture against White’s King Bishop at b5.
Review Problem 5: Look at the first board again. May White safely threaten Black’s Queen by an attack? (answer provided below, but work it out first and then check your answer!)
Answer: Yes! White may move his or her Queen’s Bishop to f5, thereby attacking Black’s Queen at d8 with the threat of capture on Black’s Queen on the next move. Black may avoid the attack and threat by moving Black’s Queen, or blocking the attack with the King Knight by moving it from its home square at g8 to f6 (Nf6) or advancing Black’s pawn from f7 to f6 (f6), or with his or her King Bishop by moving it from its home square at f8 to e7 (Be7).
- True or False? A Bishop and a King alone can never checkmate the opponent’s King.
- True or False? Avoiding the loss of the Queen to capture even at the risk of losing minor pieces or a Rook and minor pieces is very important because it is the player’s strongest piece without which the chances of winning are very slim.
- True or False? The phrase en prise is the procedure used when a game is played with malfunctioning timeclocks, or the players start play with the wrong pieces and pawns.
- True or False? A passed pawn is strongest in a Rook endgame.
- True or False? A Rook is sometimes called a HOG (or PIG).
- True or False? A Queen and a Knight are better to have for an endgame than a Queen and a Bishop.
- True or False? Pieces are least mobile when they are in the a and h files at the sides of the boards.
- True or False? Proceeding with much caution in bringing the King into play in an endgame is important.
- True or False? Knights and Bishops are the only pieces for which we can always accurately predict the color of the square upon which they will land upon moving before they move.
- True or False? Generally, it is better to have two minor pieces than a Rook and a pawn in an endgame?
- True or False? The Knight is the best piece to block an opponent’s passed pawn.
- True or False? The shortest checkmate possible is in three moves.
- True or False? A player’s Rook belongs behind his or her passed pawn and not in front of it.
- True or False? En passant capture can occur a maximum of eight times in a game.
- True or False? A Queen sandwich can only be effectuated when the opposing King is located in one of the wings (a file or h file) or one of the back ranks (1st rank or 8th rank).
Answers:
- True, it is one of the three combinations of pieces which cannot force a checkmate.
- While generally true, especially in opening or midgame phases, there are tactical and strategic reasons for engaging in a trade (exchange) of Queens or even sacrificing one’s Queen to gain a checkmate or a win, so the answer is false.
- False, the phrase en prise means a piece or a pawn is able to be captured, usually by being left in a position where it may be captured accidentally or through through inattention, such as a bad move or blunder (but sometimes this is done on purpose for tactical & strategical reasons).
- Generally false, a passed pawn usually is strongest in a Queen endgame, although depending on the position on the board this may not necessarily be true.
- True, because it generally has an ability to begin “gobbling” up an opposing player’s pawns and pieces.
- Generally true, although some prefer a Bishop and a Queen because of the Bishop’s ability to control diagonally frm afar.
- False, while this is true for the Bishop, Knight, Queen, and King, it is not true for the Rook. No matter what square upon which the Rook is located on the chessboard, it always will have a maximum of 13 possible squares to move to or move and capture upon assuming there are no intervening pieces or pawns of the Rook’s player on any of the squares in the vertical and horizontal lines from that square.
- False, this is when a player should hasten and mobilize his or her King to the center of the board or area of primary battle because the King can become a significant defender as well as offensive fighting unit (for blockading escape of the opposing King). There are obvious exceptions of course.
- True, Bishops always move on their own color and Knights always change the color of the square upon which they are located upon being moved.
- True.
- True.
- False, the shortest checkmate possible is in two moves.
- True, in front of the passed pawn the Rook blocks the pawn from reaching the eight rank and promoting, and therefore the Rook has to move out of the line of defensive protection for the pawn to be able to advance and promote, leaving the pawn possibly subject to being attacked and captured.
- True.
- True.