Collaboration between pieces

When we are speaking about the best place for a piece, we think not only at the best place
for each piece individually, but also at a square from where:
- the piece does not limit the mobility of other pieces of its own camp
- together with other pieces target important/key squares/areas on the board,
creating problems to the opponent.

Position 1 XABCDEFGHY
This position also appears in the lesson about
calculation in chess from this month of training
8-+-wq-trk+(
and is an excellent example for this lessons 7+p+-zppvlp'
theme too. 6-+-sn-+p+&
White has the pair of bishops, a good half open
5+-+-+-+-%
file for his rook, a good position for the queen 4-+-zPP+-+$
and a mobile pawn centre. This sounds really 3vL-+Q+-+-#
good, but all these pieces do not work together;
their places are good only individually and not
2-+-+L+PzP"
create a good team. 1+-+-+RmK-!
Instead, Black will concentrate his pieces to xabcdefghy
target the white centre, especially the d4-pawn. Black is to move
After 1Qa5, Black already threatens to gain a second pawn by Nxe4 or Bxd4.
2.Bc1 Rd8 (and e4-e5 is not good because of Nd6-f5)
Now, all Blacks pieces have very efficient positions: they defend everything and together
put a real strong pressure on Whites pawns. Very strong weapons in chess as the bishop-
pair and mobile pawn centre are made inoffensive by the strong collaboration between
black pieces.

Position 2 XABCDEFGHY
In this position, arisen in the game Hort Fischer,
1970, Black plays on the queenside. However,
8r+-+-trk+(
without restructuring his pieces, it is hard for him 7+pwq-+pvlp'
to obtain the initiative. 6p+nzpp+p+&
Fischer finds a way to improve the position of the
5zP-zp-+-+-%
c6-knight: 1c4! 2.dxc4 Ne5 4-+-snP+-+$
Now, the black knight will occupy the much better 3+-+P+-zPP#
square on c4 and, in the same time, he opened the
c-file for the major pieces.
2-zPPvL-zPL+"
With the 2 knights on c4 and d4, the bishop on g7 1tRQ+N+RmK-!
and the open c-file, the piece collaboration is xabcdefghy
perfect and offers Black a strong initiative. Black is to move

1
Position 3 XHGFEDCBAY
Whites last move was 18.f2-f3 against threats as
g5-g4 and f4-f3. Also, the second file is now open 1-mKR+R+-+!
in the eventuality White needs to protect the h2- 2zPL+-wQ-vLP"
square. 3-zPP+N+P+#
Blacks attack on the kingside has no chances to 4+-zpP+P+-$
succeed with only a target (the h2-square). 5qzp-zpP+-zp%
Using the consequences of Whites last move (the
drawback of weakening the dark-square diagonal 6+-vl-zp-+-&
g1-a7), Black finds a very interesting plan to bring 7p+-+-zpp+'
his bad bishop from f6 on the weakened
diagonal and to participate to the attack on the
8+ktr-snl+r(
kingside. With such an improvement of the xhgfedcbay
position, Blacks attack will become real strong. Black is to move

So, what Black has TO DO? He needs to move the

c7-pawn and the d8-knight in order to play Bf6- XHGFEDCBAY
d8-b6. In the same time, he doesn't need to concern 1-mKL+-tR-+!
about opening the position on the queenside as
here is White's only chance of counterplay, so he
2zP-tR-+-+-"
will even fight to open the position there. 3-+P+QvLPzP#
4+-zPP+p+-$
The game went:
18...c5 19.Bc3 b6 20.a3 Ba6 21.Rc1 Nb7 22.Rf2 5qzp-zpP+-zp%
b5 23.cxb5 Bxb5 24.Bf1 Bd8 25.gxf4 Bxd3 6+-+-zp-+-&
26.Qxd3 c4 (see diagram 2)
7p+-+-+n+'
and now the black bishop comes in force on the 8+ktr-vl-+r(
very good position from b6, or White will be a xhgfedcbay
pawn down after 27.Qe3
Position after 26.c4

In this example, we saw a strong technique: the player determines which is his worst
piece and plans to improve its position. Blacks worst piece was the f6-bishop which was
blocked behind his own pawns. By a hidden maneuver which took into consideration that
White wants the opening of the queenside, Black succeeded to make from his bad bishop
the most dangerous piece on the board.

We will analyze the collaboration between pieces in much more detail when we study the
complex endgames (starting with the 6th month of our course). During the endgame, the
collaboration between pieces is a factor of first importance and we will be able to see
very nice maneuvers and ideas which are instructive for the middlegame too.