A weekend with Atanas – A CCL Chess Camp

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• • Date:  Saturday/Sunday   November 4-5, 2015

  • Time:    9:00 – 5:00

  • Where:
    The home of Carrie Casden
    736 Watterton Drive
    Westerville, Ohio

    Open only to CCL members and members of a Mulligan Chess Club.
    Lectures, game reviews, camp review book, tournament, and many prizes.
    Draw or beat Atanas in a 5-1 game or Alan in a 5-2 game and win a $1 coin, tournament trophies, free chess lessons, books, etc.
    All chess equipment and snacks will be provided but bring your own lunch.
    Free snacks and drinks.
    For more details, or questions call Alan (614) 561-2718 or email acasden@insight.rr.com

    100% refunded if you cannot make it to the camp, no questions asked.

    We have a full house.  If a student cannot behave, they will be asked to leave the camp and the camp fee will be refunded on a proportional basis.

    • IM Atanas Kizov will be teaching these 6 sections!:
      • Controlling the Open File
        • Burst into the opponent’s camp and, for example, double heavy pieces on the 7th or 8th ranks (2nd and 1st for Black), where they will become especially efficient and formidable.
        • Limiting the mobility of the opponent’s heavy pieces and attacking on one of the flanks. In such situations it is hard to defend successfully since your opponent’s pieces will be paralyzed by guarding key squares in his/her camp.
        • Attack the opponent’s king (if the open file allows it). For instance, in the Dragon variation Black often faces serious problems along the h-file (remember Fischer’s “h4-h5-sac-sac-mate”?).
        • Doubling (tripling) heavy pieces (while the opponent can’t act likewise) and gain control over the file. The queen is usually placed behind rooks, so as not to get attacked by the opponent’s rooks.
        • Attacking an opponent’s heavy pieces with a light piece (pawn, knight, bishop), making him/her remove the rook or queen from the open file.
      • Isolated Pawn Endgames – 4 Things to Keep in Mind
        • When playing against the isolated pawn and liquidating into the endgame, try to keep a knight and leave your opponent with a bad bishop. Keep in mind that these endgames are easier to win, as your advantage will increase. 2) In order to win this endgame, attacking the pawn is most of the times insufficient. The principle of the two weaknesses comes to our attention yet again, so what you will have to do is create another target in your opponent’s camp. It will be easier for you to attack both weaknesses than for your opponent to defend them. 3) Rook endgames are often difficult to win, but not impossible. Try to activate your rook and create a second weakness in order to try to convert this slight positional advantage. 4) Don’t desperate! Put as much pressure as you can on your opponent. It might be a long term work and it might take a lot of patience, but remember that it will be easier for you to find new plans to improve your position than for your opponent to constantly foresee and try to stop them.
      • Opening a File
        • An open file in chess is a file with no pawns of either color on it An open file can provide a line of attack for a rook or queen. Having rooks or queens on open files or half-open files is considered advantageous, as it allows a player to attack more easily, since a rook or queen can move down the file to penetrate the opponent’s position.
        • According to Nimzowitsch, “A file is said to be open for the Rook when no pawn of his [own color] is in it.” Elsewhere, “From the definition of an open file, it follows that a file will be opened by the disappearance of one of our own pawns.” This defines what others call a half open file.
      • Positional Sacrifice – Sacrifice of Minor Pieces
        • In a general sense, the aim of all real sacrifices is to obtain a positional advantage. However, there are some speculative sacrifices where the compensation is in the form of an open file or diagonal or a weakness in the opponent’s pawn structure. These are the hardest sacrifices to make, requiring deep strategic understanding.
        • A positional sacrifice implies giving away material for long-term positional advantages. Such exchange operations don’t lead to a straightforward win of the game or material. While any piece can be positionally sacrificed, the most common victims are pawns and exchanges . There are all sorts of advantages one can gain by performing a positional sacrifice: control over key squares/files/ranks, rapid development, spoiling the placement of the opponent’s pieces and his pawn structure and so on.
      • Positional Sacrifice – Sacrifice of a Pawn
        • In chess we have certain aims – coordination and the activation of one’s own pieces. Sometimes we need a special little something to speed up one of these processes – a small material sacrifice, mainly a pawn or pawns. A dynamic pawn sacrifice is easy to see, as the idea is to get clear gains for the pawn. Positional pawn sacrifices are much more difficult, as their real purpose does not become clear immediately, but only during the development of the plan.
        • Ideas : Pawn sacs for initiative, tempo, open up diagonals, enable manoeuvering, free squares
      • Simplifications and Transposing to the Endgame
        • The line between middlegame and endgame is often not clear, and may occur gradually or with the quick exchange of a few pairs of pieces.
        • Not all games reach the endgame, since an attack on the king, or a combination leading to large material gains can end the game while it is still in the middlegame. At other times, an advantage needs to be pursued in the endgame, and learning how to make favorable exchanges leading to a favorable endgame is an important skill. The last thing that happens in the middlegame is the setup for endgame. Since many endgames involve the promotion of a pawn, it is usually good to keep that in mind when making trades during the middlegame.

 

Schedule

 

Saturday

Camp starts Free Time	9:00
Overview of camp	9:15
Topic 1	9:30
Round 1 Free Time	10:30 11:30
Round 1 Review	11:45
Topic 2	12:00
Round 2	1:00
Free time	2:00
Round 2 Review	2:15
Topic 3	2:30
Round 3	3:30
Free Time	4:30
Round 3 Review	4:45
pick up	5:00

 

Sunday

Camp starts Free Time	9:00
Topic 4	9:15
Round 4 Free Time	10:15 11:15
Round 4 Review	11:30
Topic 5	11:45
Round 5	12:45
Free time	1:45
Round 5 Review	2:00
Topic 6	2:15
Round 6	3:15
Round 6 Review	4:15
Prizes plus free time	4:30
pick up	5:00