Online Guide to Progressive Chess

If you cannot checkmate your opponent, your next goal should be to FORCE YOUR OPPONENT TO GIVE CHECK on the first move of his next series. Since delivering check ends the series, this means he would lose all of his remaining moves. If you get 5 moves in a row, and then your opponent only gets 1, and then you get *7* more, that is a 12:1 ratio of moves in your favor! In almost all cases, this is a win for the player. This tactic is called a GHOST, a term shortened from "Galvin's ghost" (named after Fred Galvin, the 1996 WIPCC champion). A player who loses in this manner is said to have been "ghosted".

Delivering a mate or ghost should be your first objective.

What are the most common mating patterns?

Mating patterns in progressive chess are dictated by series length. In the first 4 moves of the game, there is little potential for mate, and most of it centers around the weakness of the f2/f7 square. Here are some brief examples:

1. d4 2. b6 f6 3. Qd3 Qxh7 Qg6#
1. e4 2. e5 Ke7 3. Qh5 Qxe5#
1. e4 2. e5 Nf6 3. Bc4 Qh5 Qxf7#
1. e4 2. d5 Nh6 3. d4 Bxh6 Be3 4. Bg4 dxe4 Qxd4 Qxd1#
1. d4 2. e5 exd4 3. Bg5 Bxd8 h4 4. d3 dxc2 cxb1Q Bb4#

Early game mates typically resemble one of the above. Either one side gets mated on f2 or f7, or on d1 or d8. The last case, that of the promotion mate, is one of the trickiest mates in 4 and is often overlooked.

At the 5 or 6 level, two more mates appear quite frequently... knight mates on c2/c7 with a rook to cover the remaining squares, and promotion mates on the back rank. In addition, rooks can become active, producing back rank mates and/or double check mates (w/B's or N's). Here are some more examples:

1. e4 2. g5 Nh6 3. d4 Qe2 g3 4. b6 Ba6 Bxe2 Bxf1 5. d5 d6 dxe7 Bxg5 exd8Q#
1. e4 2. d5 e5 3. d4 Bg5 Bxd8 4. Bg4 Bxd1 Be2 Bxf1 5. exd5 d6 dxc7 c8Q Bh4#
1. d4 2. e5 exd4 3. Qxd4 Qf6 Qxd8+ 4. Kxd8 Nf6 d5 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxb4 Nc3 Nxd5 Nxf6 6. a5 Ra6 Rd6 Nc6 Nd4 Nxc2#
1. d4 2. e6 Be7 3. Bg5 Bxe7 Bxd8 4. Nf6 Ne4 Nxf2 Nxd1 5. a4 Ra3 Rh3 Rxh7 Rxh8#
1. Nc3 2. Nc6 d5 3. e4 exd5 f3 4. Qxd5 Qxf3 e5 Qxd1+ 5. Kxd1 d4 dxe5 Bb5 Bxc6+ 6. Bd7 O-O-O Bb4 Bxc3 Bg4#

Starting at the 7, mates become difficult to categorize. They occur in all kinds of interesting and beautiful patterns. Often a king with 8 empty squares around it can nonetheless be mated! Following are a couple of "long mate" problems to give you some practice honing your mating skills. Solutions are not given; you can email Doug Hyatt if you get desperate.

Problem 1 -- Composer: Doug Hyatt -- White to mate in 7

Problem 2 -- WIPCC98 Tilkin-Hyatt -- Black to mate in 8

Problem 3 -- Composer: Doug Hyatt -- Black to mate in 8

Problem 4 -- From analysis of Jens Baek Nielsen -- White to mate in 7

What are the different kinds of ghosts?

The first type of ghost is the discovered ghost. This ghost occurs when a king places itself in front of one of its own pieces, i.e. on the diagonal in front of a bishop or queen, or on a rank or file in front of a queen or rook. These types of ghosts are usually very easy to find. Following are two example games illustrating the discovered ghost:

WIPCC 1998 Preliminaries
White: Linnemann, Russell
Black: Kowalczyk, Marek

1. e4
2. e6 Nf6
3. Qf3 Qxf6 Qxd8+
4. Kxd8 b5 b4 c5
5. d4 Bd2 Bxb4 Kd2 Ba5+
6. Ke7 Ba6 Bxf1 Nc6 Nxa5 Nc4+
7. Kc3 dxc5 c6 Kb4 Na3 Rd1 Rxd7+
8. Resigns

WIPCC 1998 Preliminaries
White: Hansen, Brent
Black: Saukkola, Juha

1. e4
2. Nc6 d5
3. Qg4 Qxc8 Qxd8+
4. Kxd8 dxe4 Nf6 h5
5. Nc3 Nxe4 Nxf6 h4 Ke2
6. exf6 Ke7 Kd6 Kc5 Kc4 Nd4+
7. Ke3+
8. Ne2 g5 g4 Re8#

Whereas the discovered ghost corresponds to a king's movement out of check, the second type of ghost corresponds to the other defenses to check---capturing and blocking. This is known as the near-mate ghost, since such ghosts typically occur when one side is in checkmate and his only defenses to mate involve capturing the enemy piece with check or interposing with a piece that delivers check.

The near-mate ghost follows most of the normal mating patterns. The most common example is a backrank mate, where a rook or queen must capture or interpose with check. There are numerous, beautiful examples of near-mate ghosts. Following are some problems, all taken from actual games. The first problem is actually a combination of a discovered ghost and a near-mate ghost!

Problem 1: WIPCC96 Finals, Galvin-Lorinc -- White to ghost in 5

Problem 2: 1998 Fischer Random Championship, Pfeiffer-Cassano -- Black to ghost in 6

Problem 3: 10th International Italian Progressive Chess Championship, Trusov-Hyatt -- Black to ghost in 8

Problem 4: WIPCC 1998 Preliminaries, Prentos-Yang -- White to ghost in 9

There is actually a third kind of ghost, a zugzwang ghost, but I omit this because it has no relevance in practical play. An example of this ghost is W: Kd5, B: Kb7, Ba8, where black to move is not in check but all his moves deliver check.

I can't mate or ghost, so what now?

The space around your king at any given time is referred to as your kingfield. The number of squares in the kingfield is equal to the number of squares not occupied by one of your own pieces nor attacked by an enemy piece. The maximum possible kingfield is an 8-square kingfield. As the game progresses, it becomes imperative to provide the king with a large enough kingfield to avoid getting mated. This is usually accomplished by moving the pawns in front of the king and bringing him up to the second rank. Castling is not particularly safe in progressive chess, since it involves leaving the king on the back rank.