Hi

On another thread we were discussing castling Queenside.
This was said:

Remember that it takes two moves to Castle Queenside.



If you have time (if not make time) use a tempo to play Kb1.

Of course I can tell you that all day and everyday for the next 12 months
but it won't be until you have been caught on the exposed diagonal
that the lesson has been learned.

You only learn from your losses.

I'm going to give a game where I forgot this golden rule and lost
a game which was published in THE SCOTSMAN because of the opening
idea I employed, (it was not new to me), the fact I never played Kb1 and
got caught on the digaonal and the unsuccessful swindling attempt I tried.

Here is the game'

G. Chandler - J. Henderson National League, 1994

The opening idea was I avoided the Alkhine Defence by 2.f3



If 2...e5 then 3.f5 and I have a Latvian Gambit.

I had been using this idea for about 10 years but rarely met
an Alekhine so it it was new to John. (prior to this game played 3 won 3).

Now the 0-0-0 without Kb1 blunder.

Here I have just played 16.Ng5 and Black has played 16...Bh6



I felt gutted for making such a silly error.
I must have won dozens of games catching dopes who
never play Kb1 and now I'm the dope.

It turns out that I can play Qe3 and have a level position.
But I was not going to put my Queen on the same diagonal
as my King after making such a gaff on the the same diagonal.
So the thought never crossed my mind.

(another lesson there - if you have made a mistake then
calm down - it may not be too bad. Bad chess from me that day.)

I lost a piece and it was only because that the people who were
giving me a lift home were still playing that I played on.

And I nearly pulled off the swindle of swindles.

I remember John's face. For about 5 seconds he thought I had.

Position after 34.e6+



Good game - good lesson.

But as I've said.

You have seen what I have written and you have seen the game.

But it won't sink in till you do it. Here is the game.

Damn! your situation wasn't so bad after all (one piece for two pawns...)
What about 25. Rdh1, instead of Rh4? it spontaneously seems stronger no?

"It takes two moves to castle queenside"???

How's that?

Good point. This must have happened to most of us. However, I would rather rephrase: "0-0-0 doesn't gain a tempo compared to 0-0".

On one hand, you need an extra move to put the king safe on b1 (there are exceptions, of course), but on the other hand you save a move on putting your rook to an open file (for instance, as compared to Rfe1 after 0-0). The trick is that Kb1 looks like a waste of time, wheras Rfe1 looks like an active 'development' move.

Originally posted by Macpo
Damn! your situation wasn't so bad after all (one piece for two pawns...)
What about 25. Rdh1, instead of Rh4? it spontaneously seems stronger no?