Tweet
Occasionally someone who does not know how to play chess very well will ask me to show them a move. I know what they are asking for, something equivalent to where to aim the basketball to make a three point shot or how to put enough English on a cue ball to draw it back. They want a one time fancy trick to impress an opponent with, something that signifies a mastery of the game of chess – or at least an aspect of it. And when I am unable to give them something, when I fumble about with explanations about how every position is a specific position and a move in one may not work in another, indeed, may change from a winning to a losing move, or may not even be available. When I say things like that I feel their estimation of me drop and can almost hear the rebuke: “Hey aren’t you a chess player? Or at least pretending to be? Well you’re not much of one if you can’t show me a move.”
It bothers me. I know what is asked for, but it does not seem to be available. Were it advice about mechanics I might say ‘pull, don’t push the wrench’; or carpentry, ‘measure twice, cut once.’ Lately I’ve come up with “The King Knight is your best friend,” but this hardly suits the rabbit from the hat move that is being asked for… Then it hits me – NxP!: The jump that brought gambits into the game. Consider Damiano’s Opening and how it transformed a plodding game into the whirlwind of modern chess… or NxP in the Two Knights Fried Liver Attack… or NxP in the Kieseritzy-Allgaier… or the lazy Muzio. For what is the Muzio after all, but the lazy man’s version of NxP.
A sophisticated player may object that these examples of old king pawn openings are rarely seen today. So what? I am addressing those people who come asking for a move and you have nothing to show them. In each of the above openings NxP was ‘the move’ (or PxN in the Muzio), and these openings entertained – and instructed – the master players of the time. If it was good enough for the masters of old, it is good enough for the don’t know a zugzwang from a zwichenzug player of today who wants to impress his friends or the local chess champ with a startling move. NxP does the trick. And if NxP can be followed up with a check or an attacking move or even a quiet developing move, well you got the other player thinking… And that’s all that’s needed to convince someone you know what you are doing.
Now what’s that again? NxP! Play it as soon as possible. Add a little follow up to get them thinking. And now is the perfect time to make an exit; say something like you’re late for work. They will be practically begging you to play on.
It bothers me. I know what is asked for, but it does not seem to be available. Were it advice about mechanics I might say ‘pull, don’t push the wrench’; or carpentry, ‘measure twice, cut once.’ Lately I’ve come up with “The King Knight is your best friend,” but this hardly suits the rabbit from the hat move that is being asked for… Then it hits me – NxP!: The jump that brought gambits into the game. Consider Damiano’s Opening and how it transformed a plodding game into the whirlwind of modern chess… or NxP in the Two Knights Fried Liver Attack… or NxP in the Kieseritzy-Allgaier… or the lazy Muzio. For what is the Muzio after all, but the lazy man’s version of NxP.
A sophisticated player may object that these examples of old king pawn openings are rarely seen today. So what? I am addressing those people who come asking for a move and you have nothing to show them. In each of the above openings NxP was ‘the move’ (or PxN in the Muzio), and these openings entertained – and instructed – the master players of the time. If it was good enough for the masters of old, it is good enough for the don’t know a zugzwang from a zwichenzug player of today who wants to impress his friends or the local chess champ with a startling move. NxP does the trick. And if NxP can be followed up with a check or an attacking move or even a quiet developing move, well you got the other player thinking… And that’s all that’s needed to convince someone you know what you are doing.
Now what’s that again? NxP! Play it as soon as possible. Add a little follow up to get them thinking. And now is the perfect time to make an exit; say something like you’re late for work. They will be practically begging you to play on.