Online Guide to Progressive Chess

VI. Economy: Making It Count

What is a packet?

What is a rampage?

What is a swarm?

What is the spare move?

So what is the ideal series?

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What is a packet?

By this time, you should be familiar with all the basic elements of a progressive chess series. Now I wish to discuss a bit of the theory of the progressive chess series itself. Every series can itself be divided into one or more distinct subseries. In fact, this is the way the human brain tends to analyze a progressive chess position.

Consider the following position, for example, arising after 1. e4 2. e5 f6 3. d4 Nc3 Bb5 4. exd4 d3 dxc2 cxd1Q+:

This is the way a typical player analyzes this position. First, he says, "My king is in check. I must take the queen." So he considers first 5. Kxd1 or 5. Nxd1, most likely picking up the king and placing it on d1. Having done this, he begins to stare at the position some more. Now he says, "Well, I sure would like to take that queen on d8." Although this can be done in 4 moves with the e-pawn or a knight, he most likely settles on either 5...Bg5 Bxf6 Bxd8... or 5...Bf4 Bxc7 Bxd8... Now the white player is happy, because he has gotten his king out of check and taken the enemy queen. But hold on, there is still one move left! Now what? The player stares at the position, trying to find a useful final move. Does he get the king off the back rank with Kd2? If this isn't necessary, maybe threatening to promote a pawn with a4 or h4 is better? What about developing the final knight with Nf3? Maybe saving the d8 bishop by retreating it to h4? At this point, the player also considers 5. Kxd1 Bh6 Bxg7 Bxf6 Bxd8 and 5. Kxd1 Bg5 Bxf6 Bxd8 Bxc7. Which is best? The white player has to look at many 6's to come up with a final answer.

In this example, white essentially subdivides his thinking process into 3 series. These subseries, or packets, represent the fundamental way progressive chess players think about a series. In the absence of a mate or ghost, a player formulates mini-goals, such as "I want to take that a8 rook" or "That d4 knight is really annoying and I must get rid of it." Choosing a series often consists of comparing the efficiency of these different packets. For example, a packet of 5 moves within a 7 might eat a lot of material, but then there are no really useful moves to be made on the other 2 moves. On the other hand, there might be a packet of 3 and a packet of 4 that can be joined together to eat even more material than the packet of 5, thus making that the ideal series.

The three packets in our hypothetical example can be described as follows:

1. White escapes from check (Nxd1 or Kxd1)
2. White's bishop takes the queen (a rampage, Bg5 Bxf6 Bxd8 or Bf4 Bxc7 Bxd8)
3. White tries to do something constructive with his final move (the spare move, a4, h4, Nf3, Ne2, Kd2)

The human brain naturally thinks this way, in packets, because it is the easiest way to understand a long series of moves. In this section, I will discuss the various types of packets and how they can be combined in the most ECONOMICAL fashion to construct the series that does the most in the least amount of moves.

What is a rampage?

A rampage is a packet consisting of all moves made by a single piece. Often it is the most efficient means of obliterating the enemy army. Because pieces that are moved forth can often be captured more easily, it makes sense to dispatch as small a force as possible to take out the maximum number of enemy troops. While this may seem rather obvious, and you may be questioning whether or not there should be a technical term for just moving something around capturing a bunch of stuff, the truth of the matter is this: a rampage is the most efficient possible series in all of progressive chess. Often, the simplest, purest, and easiest-to-calculate series are rampages made by a single piece. Often, it is on the 7 and 8 that rampages are really let loose upon the opposing camp. Let's look at some examples.

WIPCC 1998 Semifinals
White: Hyatt, Doug
Black: Brodie, Hugh

1. d4
2. d5 Nf6
3. e4 e5 Bb5+
4. Qd7 Qxb5 Qd3 Qxd1+

5. Kxd1 exf6 fxg7 gxh8Q Qxf8+
6. Resigns

Here the e-pawn performs a rampage in which it eats a knight, a rook, a pawn, AND a bishop!! Combined with the first move, white takes all 5 possible kinds of chess piece in a mere 5 moves! It is no wonder that black resigns on the spot!

Correspondence Game, 1999
White: Hyatt, Doug
Black: Ming, Liong Sauw

1. e4
2. d5 dxe4

In a sense, the first rampage: black moves only the d-pawn.

3. Qg4 Qxc8 Qxd8+

And here is another: white only sends out the queen.

4. Kxd8 e3 e2 exf1Q+

And here again, we see the e-pawn doing all the work.

5. Kxf1 Ke2 d4 d5 Nf3

An inferior series, after which black could win the game with 6. g5 g4 Bh6 Bxc1 Nf6 gxf3+!! At the time of this game, however, I hadn't yet found this strong counterseries.

6. e5 e4 Ba3 Bxb2 Bxa1 Ke7

Here black plays a bad series. Note the rampaging packet in this series, namely Ba3xb2xa1.

7. Ng5 Nxf7 Nxh8 Nc3 Nxe4 Nf6 Nxg8+

An incredible double rampage!! One knight makes the first three moves, clearing out a rook. Then the second knight sweeps in for the kill, snagging a pawn and a knight and ending with a powerful harassing check.

8. Kd7 h5 h4 h3 hxg2 gxh1Q Qxd5 Qh5+
9. Ke1 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8Q Ba3 Ne7 Qc8#

WIPCC 1996 Finals
White: Galvin, Fred
Black: Tolonen, Jouni

1. d4
2. c5 cxd4
3. Bd2 Nf3 Nxd4
4. d5 e5 Kd7 exd4
5. Bg5 Qxd4 Qxg7 Qxf8 Qxd8+

A bizarre-looking series, but effective. The bishop goes to g5 (guarding against the mate threat on c1 and clearing the way for the white queen). Next comes the rampaging queen, which captures pieces on all 4 of her moves.

6. Kc6 f6 fxg5 Ne7 Rxd8 d4
7. Kd2 h4 hxg5 Rh4 Rxd4 Rxd8 Rxc8+

What I love so much about this series is the final Rxc8+. Here we see a spare move (Kd2), a rampage by the h-pawn (h4 hxg5), followed by a killer rampage with the rook (Rh4-d4-d8-c8). Notice how yet again Galvin ends his series with check.

8. Kd7 Kxc8 b5 b4 b3 bxc2 cxb1Q Qxa1

An interesting try! White cannot mate, nor can he make a queen or rook, so he will have to win with an underpromotion.

9. Kc2 b4 g3 g6 gxh7 h8B Bxa1 Bg2 Bxa8 !!

A series of breathtaking beauty!! Of course, we knew white must be winning with all those pawns, but it is still nice to see two knights with 10 free moves left so helpless against the white forces! Here, white played two spare moves which utilize check defense to hold the queenside. Then he played 2 rampages, one with an underpromoted dark squared bishop and the other with the lightsquared bishop, taking a queen and a rook, respectively.

10. Nf5 Nxg3 Nxe2 Nc1 Nd3 Nxf2 Na6 Nc7 Nxa8 Kb7

Black could try Kc7, but white wins easily with Kxa7xa8-a6 Bd4xf2-c5 and white controls all the squares in front of the b-pawn (and can control the queening square with his bishop). The position would be won even without the a-pawn.

11. Kc3 Kc4 Kc5 Kd6 Kd7 Be5 Bc7 b5 a4 a5 a6#

Simply a fantastic game!

What is a swarm?

A swarm is exactly the opposite of a rampage! Instead of moving a single piece for the purposes of garnering material, a player attempting to swarm moves many different pieces for the purposes of development! Because progressive chess is so much more about material than development, MOST SWARMS FAIL. This cannot be emphasized strongly enough! Many players have tried appetizing-looking series that eat absolutely no material but end with the appearance of having vastly unsettled the enemy king or position! But beneath the facade of the swarm lies harsh reality. Most attempts to superdevelop are soundly smashed by relentless vacuuming of material (in many cases, just a bit of material with a few moves to untangle and catch up in development.)

Swarms occur in their simplest form in the opening:

1. d4 2. c5 cxd4 3. e4 e5 f4
This series and all like it involving e4 e5 are attempts to swarm the opponent. They attempt to say "your c5 cxd4 did not develop your king at all, so I am going to develop quickly and try to swarm you, ignoring your d4 pawn altogether". This particular swarm appears to be sufficient for a draw, but all other moves besides f4 (except Bd2) probably lose for white.
1. e4 2. d5 d4 3. Na3 Nf3 Bb5+
A swarm that I originally thought to be a strong one, before Prentos tried it against Tolonen, who defused it with 4. c6 e5 Bxa3 Qe7!
1. e4 2. e5 f6 3. Nc3 Nd5 Qh5+
Again, a harmless attempt at a swarm; black merely takes the queen and laughs at the d5 knight.
1. e4 2. e5 f6 3. f3 g4 Nh3 4. Nc6 Nd4 f5 Qh4+!
A good version of a swarm, as it ends with a harassing check!
1. d4 2. d5 Nc6 3. Bf4 Bxc7 Bxd8 4. Kxd8 Nh6 e5 Bb4+
An attempt to swarm the enemy king with knights and a bishop and gain time. However, this series is soundly refuted by 5. Qd2 Qxb4 Qxb7 Qxc6 Na3 and black has no real tries.
1. e4 2. d5 dxe4 3. d3 dxe4 Qxd8+ 4. Kxd8 c5 e5 h5 5. Bd2 Nc3 Bb5 Rd1 Bg5+
An extremely dangerous series; how does black stop mate? Can he? I haven't analyzed this one, but you see the idea of the swarm most often on 5's like this one...
1. d4 2. c5 cxd4 3. e4 e5 Na3 4. e6 Qg5 Qxc1 Qxd1+ 5. Rxd1 f4 f5 Bb5 Ke2
A completely harmless swarm, but one that looks extremely dangerous at first glance! (6. a6 ab d5 Kd7 Rxa3 Re3+ is the refutation.)

Refuting a swarm attempt is often like walking a tightrope--you want to eat as much of the offensive material as you can without having to spend your whole series just avoiding mate. Often, finding the one series that weathers the storm is extremely difficult. Consider the following game:

WIPCC 1998 Semifinals
White: Vargiu, Ottavio
Black: Hyatt, Doug

1. e4
2. e5 d5
3. d4 Bg5 Bxd8
4. Kxd8 Bg4 Bxd1 Bxc2
5. Na3 Nxc2 exd5 dxe5 O-O-O

An interesting swarm try, and a very very difficult one to refute! White ignores the enemy rooks and instead swarms in the center, capturing both pawns and castling long. I spent many many hours on this position before finally arriving at a setup which didn't get mated or lose material. The key to the position was seeing the power of the move c5!, a move which creates an enormous amount of threats while also defending against mate! The key in many lines is underpromotion on the eight to a bishop, as well as a beautiful line involving a double-check mate. I will let the reader try to find these 7's and their refutations on his own, however.

6. Nd7 c5 Ngf6 Nxd5 Nc3 Nxd1
7. Kxd1 Bc4 Kd2 Ne3 Nf3 e6 exd7
8. Kxd7 Re8 Rxe3 Rxf3 Rf4 Rxc4 Rc1 Rxh1
9. h4 h5 h6 hxg7 gxh8Q Qxh7 Qxh1 f3 Qd1
10. a5 a4 a3 axb2 b1Q Qe4 b5 b4 Bd6 Bf4#

Finally, an example of a beautiful swarm that succeeds admirably (albeit admittedly in a Fischer Random position that is probably hopeless for black).

For the complete annotated version of this game, follow this link.

PFRCC 1998 (Setup = BNQBNRKR)
White: Hyatt, Doug
Black: Cassano, Robert

1. b4
2. b5 e5
3. e4 f4 f5
4. g5 g4 Kg7 h6

An extremely unusual situation! Nothing has been captured on the first four series!! White takes advantage of this on his 5 to create such a powerful swarm that it does not appear black has any 6's to avoid mate on the 7!!

5. Nc3 Nd5 Rf4 Kf2 Rxg4+!

Only a pawn has been captured on the entire board, yet black might as well resign! I challenge the reader to find any 6 that does not get mated!

6. Kh7 Qa6 Qa3 Qxc1 Qxd1 Qxg4
7. Ne7 Bxe5 h3 hxg4 Nf3 Ng5#

What is the spare move?

In the above section on rampages, I made repeated references to something called the spare move. Often, after everything has been captured that you are able to capture in a series, you will have 1 or even 2 moves left over. So how do you economize your series and make maximum use of these moves that are not going to capture anything? The spare move refers to a move that does not fall into any packets that capture enemy pieces. It is most often used for defense, and its uses in this manner have been described in detail in the section on defense in progressive chess. However, there is more to the spare move than mere defense.

A few guidelines to help you choose how best to use your spare move(s):

First and foremost, the spare move should be used to avoid mate or ghost. Often, on say a 7, you can munch tons of material in 6 moves, leaving the last move to defend against a mate threat.
When there are several moves to choose to avoid mate, choose the one that leaves the king in the best defensive position. This often means moving a pawn in front of the king or placing a knight or bishop in front of the king rather than moving the king itself. Often, it is a beginner's mistake to use the spare move to move the king off the back rank, where it can no longer defend against promotion or rampaging rooks.
If there is no mate threat, ask yourself if any of the opponent's pawns can promote. Often the spare move should be used to prevent the promotion of enemy pawns. Barring promotion, the spare move at advanced stages in the game should be used for defense, i.e. to scatter pieces or place them in such a way that check defense protects them.
In the first 5 series, it is almost always better to move a pawn as the spare move than to move a piece. There are numerous examples of random Nf3's, Nf6's, Nc6's, Bc4's, etc., where these pieces just make themselves easier for the opponent to capture. Unless these types of moves are part of a coherent strategy or swarm, they should be eschewed in favor of moves like h4, a4, h5, a5, etc.
Always be on the lookout for the desperado check, where the spare move is used solely for the purposes of delivering check with an undefended piece. Even though the piece (usually a pawn checking on e6/d6/e3/d3) can simply be captured, the desperado check often buys enough time to win the game by depriving the opponent of one move of his series.

The following game illustrates the importance of choosing the right spare move:

11th Italian Progressive Chess Championship, 1986
White: Mazza
Black: Dipilato

1. d4
2. e5 exd4

We begin our discussion of the spare move here. White can take the queen in a mere two moves (Bg5xd8), but what is he to do with his final move? There is a mate threat of 4. d3 dxc2 cxb1Q Bb4#. Qxd4 would defeat the purpose of the opening, since it makes the white queen easier to capture. Bg5 allows ideas with h6 hxg5. e4 allows black to take the white queen faster (by opening the d1-h5 diagonal). Nd2 allows black to play 4. Kxd8 d3 dxc2 cxd1Q+, the series he would very much like to play. However, f4! not only guards against mate but prevents black from playing 4. Kxd8 d3 dxc2 cxd1Q+ because of the checkmate with 5. Kxd1 f5 f6 fxg7 gxf8Q#. So f4 is the ideal "spare move".

3. Bg5 Bxd8 f4
4. Kxd8 Nc6 Nf6 Bb4+

An interesting attempt to swarm.

5. c3 cxb4 Qa4 Qxc6 Qxf6+ ?

A very reasonable looking series! White is way ahead in material. Black, however, has one thing going for him: 2 rooks. If he can scatter his rooks such that one of them will survive to the 8, he will be doing very well. In order to do this, two ideas come to mind which scatter the rooks and take out one of white's rooks. First, gxf6 a5 axb4 Rxa2 Rxa1. Secondly, gxf6 Rg8 Rxg2 Rxg1 Rxh1. With either of these two series, there remains the problem of the spare move. Black wishes to avoid mate, of course, so he might try Ke7 as the last move. However, white demolishes either of those tries. 6. gxf6 Ke7 Rg8 Rxg2 Rxg1 Rxh1 is met by 7. a4 a5 a6 axb7 bxc8Q Qxa8 Qxh1, while 6. gxf6 Ke7 a5 axb4 Rxa2 Rxa1 is met by 7. h4 Rh3 Ra3 Rxa1 Ra8 Rxc8 Rxh8. In either case, black is completely lost. Tries with d5 do not avoid mating patterns, nor does c5 work with gf Rg8 Rg2 etc. There is only one series to refute white's idea, and Dipilato plays it masterfully!

6. gxf6 a5 axb4 Rxa2 Rxa1 c5 !

c5 is the ultimate spare move!! The king defends the back rank while the c-pawn creates new threats. White cannot even get both rooks off the board, so his position is, surprisingly, hopeless!

7. h4 Rh3 Ra3 Rxa1 e3 exd4 dxc5 ??
8. Rg8 Rxg2 d6 dxc5 c4 c3 c2 c1Q#

So what is the ideal series?

There is no simple answer to that question! By now, I have elucidated many principles in this guide to help you select the best series, but, ultimately, that decision is up to you! Choosing the right series means weighing all the factors: offense, defense, swarms, blocking, promoting disruptions, harassing checks, EVERYTHING!! The beauty of progressive chess is that the puzzle is always there, and it HAS a solution! Unlike regular chess, where there are often several viable candidate moves and concepts like "in trouble", "has the initiative", "in a difficult position", here there is only TRUTH. And, as Keats wrote, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty". Good luck with your series!

Here ends the discussion of the ideas that flow together to make a progressive chess series. The remaining sections of this guide focus on the underlying theory of progressive chess endings and openings.

By now, you are ready to learn about progressive chess endings.
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