Common misunderstandings of the opening basics.
Surprisingly, even top players sometimes don't get the basic principles of the action chess right. Let's see some most frequent mistakes at the very beginning of the game.
Placing the pawns side by side in the opening is good. This is what should be done every time.
This frequently seen mistake denotes the lack of awareness of the pawns' basics. Having pawns side-by-side in the opening may sometimes lead to an immediate loss of the pawn. Have a look:
Here the black was faster to move the pawn on f5 before the white moved their own on e4. The white loses its pawn right off the bat.
Now let's count the pawns. The black has one more. Amazing, right? Not at all. It's obvious. What is not obvious is that if the black moves its pawn on f5 first, there's no way that the white can save the pawn. Probably this is where the misunderstanding comes from: as the white think it can save the pawn the following way:
The idea is that this move by the pawn prevents two pawns attacking the black as shown above. And guess what? It doesn't work.
Let's see what comes next.
Count the pawns one more time. And again, the black has one more- a passed pawn; hence, we may conclude: by choosing such an opening, the white can immediately lose the game. The basics, people!
The real game might have been like this:
Easy win of the black.
The bishop sacrifice is good. (That's why we haven't mentioned it in the 6th topic)
This mistake is less common first of all because people do not understand what it is (which is good, by the way, as it's not a sound game). What we mean is:
The bishop sac always takes place when your opponent moves his b or g pawns on two squares and is supported by the only pawn. The marked pawn is the very one that will be sacrificed for the bishop. By the way, the black may immediately lose in the opening like this, as we've already seen. But not by bishop sac.
Why on earth would you want to make this sacrifice? Well, because it instantly will give you two passed pawns, which may be extremely strong. (see Strategy Examples in Click-Storm Action Chess. Part 10)
Looks pretty sharp, right? And it really would be unless the black has a better position by sacrificing the bishop.
Such continuation leaves the white pawn unprotected; it's easy to capture. That equals the number of pawns of both sides, although the white has one isolated pawn (that's no good). The basics, people, the basics!
Strategy Examples in Click-Storm Action Chess. Part 14
Other Click-Storm Action Chess content is in the article below.
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