Online Guide to Progressive Chess

The flash point for progressive chess occurs naturally on white's 7 series. A typical game goes like this:

1. White moves a center pawn
2. Black moves a center pawn
3. White captures black's queen with a piece.
4. Black captures white's queen with a piece and captures the white piece that captured his queen.
5. White captures a rook and the black piece that captured his queen.
6. Black captures another rook and a piece.
7. White reduces black to 2 minor pieces, or a rook and a minor piece, or, in some rare cases, 2 rooks.
8. Black eats all but one knight or eats everything but leaves a promotable pawn.
9. White performs a knockout after either promoting a pawn or eating all of black's pieces with his knight.

The above looks humorous, and you may be shaking your heads right now. But those of you who have played a lot of progressive chess are nodding your heads and thinking of all those games you lost with black where white just captured pieces and rolled smoothly on to victory.

Here is an example of a typical white "material win":

WIPCC 1996 Finals
White: Elkies, Noam
Black: Geissler, Norbert
1. Nf3
2. Nc6 d5
3. Nd4 Nxc6 Nxd8 <--Eats queen and piece
4. Kxd8 Bf5 Bxc2 Bxd1 <--Eats queen and piece
5. Kxd1 e4 Ba6 Bxb7 Bxa8 <--Eats rook and piece
6. d4 d3 a5 e5 Bd6 Ne7 <--Doesn't eat anything
7. a4 Bc6 Ra3 Rxd3 Rh3 Rxh7 Rxh8+ <--Flash point! BOOM!
8. Resigns

And here is another:

WIPCC 1996 Finals
White: Tolonen, Jouni
Black: Gordon, Scott

1. d4
2. d5 e5
3. Bg5 Bxd8 Bxc7 <--Captures the queen
4. Bf5 Bxc2 Bxd1 Kd7 <--Captures the queen
5. e4 Kxd1 Ba6 Bxb7 Bxa8 <--Gets piece and rook
6. Kxc7 Ba3 Bxb2 Bxa1 exd4 dxe4 <--Gets piece and rook
7. Nh3 Ng5 Nxf7 Nxh8 Bxe4 Bxh7 Bxg8 <--Flash point! BOOM!
8. Na6 Nb4 Nxa2 Nc1 Ne2 Ng3 Nxh1 Nxf2+ <--Walks into mate in a lost position
9. Ke2 Bd5 Nf7 h4 h5 h6 hxg7 g8Q Qd8#

What did black do wrong, according to principles we have already discussed? He always ended his series up material. He had at least equal development every step of the way. So why did he lose?

He lost because if black does not attempt to disrupt white's strategy, white will win the game. While the game of progressive chess may be a win for white (probably a draw, but a difficult one), it is extremely complicated. Black has many chances to confuse, thwart, baffle, and befuddle the white player. The goal of the black player is to MOVE the flashpoint back to the 8, or even the 10, in some extreme cases.

Thus we have a situation where both sides can end their series up in material and development, and yet one side will still lose! Clearly, another ingredient must be thrown into the pot. That missing element is the art of disruption, of making it impossible for your opponent to carry out his plans. Progressive chess is particularly fun because in most cases the white player plays to win on strict material, and the black player attempts to use the elements of disruption to stop him! This is one of the unique, exciting aspects of progressive chess, namely that the different colors pursue different strategies!

The most usual form of disruption is to end your series with check, thus forcing your opponent to waste his first move dealing with your check. Another form of disruption which is fairly self-evident is that of promoting a pawn to create additional material. In addition, disruption also includes defense, or, more specifically, placing your pieces where they will thwart your opponent's intentions.

What is a promoting disruption?

13th Italian Progressive Chess Championship, 1988
White: Del Frate
Black: Davide

1. e4
2. d5 Nc6
3. Qg4 Qxc8 Qxd8+
4. Kxd8 Nf6 dxe4 h5
5. Bd3 Bxe4 Bxc6 Nh3 Ke2

White has taken a queen and two pieces, gotten his king safe, and stopped the h-pawn. He is up in both material and development. If black tries to capture pieces on his 6, white will win on the flash point of the 7. However, black has a promoting disruption available, namely:

6. g5 g4 gxh3 hxg2 g2xh1Q Qxc6 !

The effect of this wonderful 6 is to "turn back the clock". It is as though white has never captured black's queen. By adding material to the board, black went on to win the game. In addition, black also follows all our rules about material and development! Promoting is very powerful, but is often thwarted by mate. One must check for mate carefully before cashing in on a new queen.

What is dangling pawn disruption?

AISE Grand Prix 1992
White: Scestakov
Black: Salvadori

1. d4
2. c5 cxd4
3. Na3 e4 e5
4. e6 Qg5 Qxc1 Qxd1+
5. Rxd1 Rxd4 Rxd7 Rxf7 Rxf8+

6. Kxf8 Nh6 b5 b4 bxa3 axb2 !

White is lost, because he has to waste time capturing or blocking the annoying b-pawn.

7. h4 Rh3 Rb3 Rxb2 Rxb8 Rxa8 Rxa7
8. Bb7 Ke7 Rd8 Ke8 Bf3 Rd1#

There are other types of disruption, namely the harassing check, scattering, blocking, and the check defense, each of which merits its own section.

What is a harassing check?

However, it is worth foregoing a little material to end a series with a harassing check. The definition of a harassing check is somewhat subjective, but here is how I define it. A harassing check is any check which makes the enemy king go somewhere where it doesn't want to go. The optimum use of a harassing check is to force a king into a mating net, usually on the back rank or the third rank, either of which is much less safe than the second rank.

Following are some examples of the harassing check. It is well worth studying these examples, as the harassing check is one of the most powerful and frequently occuring elements of progressive chess.

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+

The harassing check. Black's king is shoved into a box. Notice how white doesn't have to capture any pieces on his 5, just disrupt his opponent.

6. Ke7 Ba6 Bxf1 Nc6 Nxa5 Nc4+
7. Kc3 dxc5 c6 Kb4 Na3 Rd1 Rxd7+
8. Resigns

WIPCC 1996 First Round
White: Galvin, Fred
Black: Honkela, Timo

1. e4
2. e6 Nf6
3. Nh3 d4 Bd2
4. Nxe4 Nc3 Nxd1 Ke7
5. Ng5 Nxf7 Nxd8 Bb5 Bg5+

A perfect example - it's the third rank or the back rank.

6. Ke8 h6 hxg5 Nc3 Nxb5 Bb4+
7. Nc3 0-0-0 d5 d6 h4 hxg5 Rxh8#

WIPCC 1998 Preliminaries
White: Tilkin, Daniel Jon
Black: Hyatt, Doug

1. d4
2. d5 Nc6
3. Bg5 Bxe7 Bxd8
4. Kxd8 Bf5 Bxc2 Bxd1
5. e4 Ba6 Bxb7 Bxa8 Bxc6

White is up enormous amounts of material. If black simply echoes white's captures, he will lose the game. But black wins with a harassing check that leaves the enemy king on the back rank.

6. Ne7 Nxc6 Nxd4 Bc2 Bxb1 Bb4+

7. Kd1 Nf3 Nxd4 Rxb1 exd5 d6 dxc7+

(7. Kf1 Rxb1 Rd1 Rxd4 Rxb4 exd5 Ke2 8. g5 g4 g3 gxh2 hxg1Q Qxh1 Qh4 Qxb4 wins, as does 7. Kd1 Nf3 Nxd4 Rxb1 a3 axb4 Ne2 8. dxe4 e3 exf2 Re8 Rxe2 Ke7 Kf6 f1Q+ !!)

8. Kxc7 f5 f4 f3 fxg2 Rf8 Rxf2 gxh1Q#

WIPCC 1998 Preliminaries
White: Sicker, Rolf
Black: Bombek, Gregor

1. e4
2. d5 e5
3. Qg4 Qxc8 Qxd8+
4. Kxd8 dxe4 Bb4 Ne7
5. b3 Ba3 Bxb4 Nc3 Bxe7+
6. Kxe7 a5 a4 axb3 Rxa2 Rxa1+

An example of dangling pawn disruption, in this case the b3 pawn.

7. Ke2 g3 Bg2 Bxe4 Nf3 cxb3 Rxa1
8. f5 fxe4 Nd7 Ra8 Rxa1 Rc1 Rxc3 exf3+

White's king is forced onto the back rank, losing time.

9. Kd1 d4 dxe5 e6 exd7 d8R Rd3 Rxc3 Rxf3
10. h5 h4 hxg3 gxf2 f1N Nxh2 Nxf3 Nd4 Nxb3 Kf7
11. Resigns

1998 Fischer Random Championship (Setup = BNRBKRNQ)
White: Hyatt, Doug
Black: Forzoni, Fabio
1. e4
2. e5 b5
3. b4 f4 fxe5
4. f6 fxe5 Nh6 Rxf1+
5. Kxf1 Bxe5 Bxg7 Bxh8 Kf2
6. Bxe4 Bxg2 Bxh1 d5 Kd7 Bh4+

An attempt at a disrupting check, but notice how white responds!

7. Ke3 Nf3 Nxh4 Nf5 Nd6 Nxc8 Bg4+

An extremely powerful harassing check, which drives the king onto a square where it can be mated with the barest minimum of material.

8. Kc6 a5 axb4 b3 bxa2 axb1Q Qxc1 Nxg4+
9. Kf4 Kf5 Ke6 Bd4 Nd6 c4 cxb5#

WIPCC 1998 Preliminaries
White: Pfeiffer, Alfred
Black: Boniface, Steve

1. e4
2. Nc6 d5
3. Qg4 Qxc8 Qxd8+
4. Kxd8 dxe4 Nf6 h5
5. Bb5 Bxc6 Nf3 Ng5 Nxf7+

A harassing check which forces the king to c8! However, white has not taken much material. More importantly, his pieces are left near the enemy king where black can easily capture them. Black's most effective line here has been 6. Kc8 bxc6 Kd7 Ke8 Kxf7 g6, equalizing material and sitting on a huge lead in development. The burden shifts to white to keep the flash point on his 7; black gambles he has moved the flash point back to the 8. One wonders what Pfeiffer had planned!

6. Kc8 bxc6 g6 Rh7 Rxf7 a5
7. a4 Ra3 Rf3 Rxf6 Rxf7 Nc3 h4

Flash point! Black's pawns are stopped, and he is reduced to 2 pieces.

8. c5 Ra6 Rf6 Rxf7 Rxf2 Rxg2 Rh2 Rxh1+
9. Kf2 Nc3 Nxe4 Nxc5 d4 d5 d6 dxe7 exf8Q#

The harassing check is one of the most delightful tactics of progressive chess. Brilliant constriction of the enemy king occurs time and time again. Learning how to recognize the difference between a nuisance check and a truly powerful harassing check is essential to becoming a master of the game.