Why You Ought to Examine Quick Video games

One of my first chess books had a really attention-grabbing function: Every three to 4 chapters, it might current a couple of dozen quick video games. Initially, I simply loved taking part in by them, however as I began collaborating in tournaments, the considered trapping one in every of my opponents on the very starting of a recreation got here to thoughts.

But right here I encountered an issue: My opponents merely would not play the traces featured in these video games. Well, I wasn’t shocked that nobody fell into this lure (attempt to determine it out by yourself):

Of course, no one performed 1…a6 within the opening in my chess membership, however why could not I lure anybody into the next line if nearly everybody performed this opening?

Slowly, I noticed the rationale. The transfer 4…Nge7? could be very unnatural, and that is why everybody performed 4…Nf6 in opposition to me. If it had been the opposite manner round and this very natural-looking transfer 4…Nf6 was shedding, then it might be a killer lure certainly! So, lengthy story quick, whereas I loved these quick video games and realized rather a lot from them, I wasn’t in a position to make use of any of them in my very own video games.

Yet I established a behavior: at any time when I studied a brand new opening, I’d begin by learning quick video games. This manner, I might be taught the standard combos and traps for this explicit opening. And because it was manner earlier than chess engines and databases, the guide Catastrophe In The Opening turned a cornerstone of my opening preparation. There, the writer was offering a bunch of quick video games for nearly each recognized opening!

I used to be getting higher in chess, and in some unspecified time in the future, chess databases utterly modified the best way we be taught openings. Yet one factor remained the identical: I at all times began studying a brand new opening with quick video games. This is precisely what I like to recommend to all my college students, and I want I might advocate it to some tremendous grandmasters since they might positively profit from this method. The following current recreation is a living proof:

I keep in mind that after I began to play the Sveshnikov Sicilian, one of many first video games I realized was a brief recreation the place the originator of the system, GM Evgeny Sveshnikov, was on the receiving finish:

Sometimes a lure performed in a single opening can be utilized in one other one. You might discover the next recreation in that guide for inexperienced persons that I discussed at first of this text:

As I already stated, I used to be by no means in a position to catch anybody in these traps. You can think about my amazement when, nearly 50 years later, I noticed this recreation:

As you possibly can see, learning quick video games pays off even when your opponent avoids the precise lure you ready. Recognizing typical opening combos will enable you to spot tactical concepts in comparable conditions. A very good instance is the next lure:

It is no surprise that the good Alexander Alekhine trapped his opponents twice, however it’s really stunning that among the best gamers of his time, GM Akiba Rubinstein, fell for a similar lure twice!

Now, when this lure, it ought to be straightforward so that you can discover a good combo missed by each opponents in one in every of my scholar’s video games:

The lesson right here is kind of easy. These days, because of chess databases, it’s simpler than ever to search out quick video games performed within the opening of your selection. It ought to be your first step whenever you begin studying a brand new opening!