Defensive Tactics to Save The Day and Rescue You From the Fray

Defensive Tactics to Save the Day and Rescue You From the Fray...by Mrs Jessica E. Prescott (aka BoundingOwl)

Buenos dias!  Have you ever played a great game, then noticed you were about to get checkmated?  Suddenly your queen is trapped?  Well keep calm!  It's not over till the fat lady sings, whatever that means.  Don't resign!  Instead, look for tricks or tactics.

    Tricks are strong!     

 

Today we will look at a few saving tricks that can completely turn a game around.  We'll do the first one together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looked like your queen was trapped, but you had resources.  Search your position for resources and never give up!!  Discovered checks are fantastic resources.  See if you can figure out why you are not back rank mated here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forcing moves are another way of getting out of trouble.  They are not allowed to checkmate you or eat your queen if THEY are in check.  So check away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discovered attacks are similar to discovered checks.  They are almost always shocking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh no, you're pinned!  That's okay, PIN THEM BACK!  Absolute pins are more powerful than relative ones.  Do you know why?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is sneaky.  Both black and white are about to make new queens by promoting their pawns.  Fortunately, white has a cool decoy sacrifice to stop black's plans, and continue with her own promotion!

 

 

 

 

Great job!  Can you think of another way to save the day?  What about stalemate?  Never give up; never resign (until you get to let's say 1000USCF then you have permission if their rating is 400 points higher than yours).   Because you never know what could happen!  You might still have tricks up your sleeve!

                                   

Stay tuned next week for some even harder defensive tactics!