Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Marty Chess

So my girlfriend and I have been playing a lot of chess recently, and I have begun teaching her Philidor's Defense. Basically, Philidor's Defense is a system for Black. Anyone who plays chess knows that many games open with White pushing his king's pawn two squares forward, to e4, and Black responding by pushing his own king's pawn, also two squares, to e5. Usually—again, if you are even the least bit familiar with chess, you have probably seen this before—White will then bring his king's knight to f3, attacking Black's pawn on e5. If Black responds to this threat by moving his queen's pawn one square, to d6, in an effort, of course, to support his center pawn on e5, then the opening moves of Philidor's Defense have been played. 

Anyway, Marty and I have been playing games in the Philidor's Defense recently (with her as Black), and below is a game we played tonight. In my opinion, Marty had some great moments. Her first impressive move was 9…knight to c5. She was going after my dangerous bishop and eventually got it! 11…pawn to b5 was also new for her (with this move she grabbed some space on the queenside), and 14…queen to b6 was also impressive, as it stationed her powerful female monarch on a good attacking square. 

Marty's best move in my mind, though, was undoubtedly 19…knight to f6. Marty was under heavy attack at this point, and she had the presence of mind to ignore the threat on e6 and instead go after my queen on g4. This was a high-class move because it both attacked my queen and brought her knight to a much better square. 

In the end, I did win, but, hey, Marty put up a heck of a fight. 

Go Marty! 

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