Hello chess players,
Welcome to yet another HiveChess Lecture where we will be looking at a new topic that could help you to better understand chess and even get you your next game win. Before I get started. Let me remind you to join us tomorrow in the Hive chess event. It’s free and open to all levels. Even if you win a game, you might win a prize. We have prizes for the top 8 spots and also category prizes and if you play a spectacular game, you can get to earn when that game is featured too. Cause a big upset? You can earn too. Join us tomorrow, for more information read;
@sam.chess/hivechess-season-1-round-9-reminder
In today's lecture, we will be looking at Coordination. As we all know chess is a game of patterns and as I like to look at it, it is a game of battles where you are at war with your opponent seated across you on the board, or the other side of the screen if you are playing online.
With this established, it is vital to know that there is a strong power that comes when two or more pieces are in harmony. That is they are combined to achieve a given purpose. For example when your knight and bishop are both at work, hitting on a particular square, or when your queen and rook are working closely in the kingside attack against your opponent. These things are the coordination in chess that we will be looking at today. Using your pieces to attack and to defend. Coordination can be useful as well when defending against an attack.
The game we will be discussing in today's case study is the game between Alireza Firouzja and former World Chess Champion Ding Liren in the 2024 Sinquefield Cup. Also, the 2025 Sinquefield Cup just started recently.
You can use the link below to follow up on the games:
Meanwhile, let's look at a game from 2024.
Alireza vs Ding
A typical position that springs from the Italian game where both sides played e4 e5. Black has expanded on the kingside while white tries to maintain control of the center with the bishop on c4 controlling d5 and the pawn on e5 doing the same. Now that's the first example of a coordination between pieces. But this time it was done by the bishop and pawn.
Here white has forced the black knight to g7 which disrupts Black's coordination and on the other hand he has calmly coordinated his pieces together. Notice how the rook on e1 is supporting the pawn on the e file, and both white knights are backing one another while controlling the center squares. That's what coordination looks like.
Lastly white makes use of coordination to grab a pawn in the position above, since he has his pieces placed on good squares. It's like Magnus Carlsen says, tactics come from when you place your pieces on good squares. If you want you could try looking for the good move that was played by Alireza.
If not, let this be your takeaway. Try to make your pieces work together in harmony, and avoid obstructing a piece with another piece of yours. Finally, above all try to count how many squares your pieces control together, the more squares, the merrier your chance of winning.
Here is the game link if you would like to watch the game I used in this lecture:
And here is the Game PGN
[Event "Grand Chess Tour: Sinquefield Cup 2024"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.08.26"]
[Round "07"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "*"]
[GameId "qBCc2a9h"]
[WhiteElo "2751"]
[BlackElo "2745"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[ECO "C54"]
[Opening "Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with d6"]
[Termination "Unterminated"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. a4 a5 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 Qe7 9. O-O g5 10. Bg3 Bg4 11. Nbd2 Ba7 12. Bb5 O-O 13. Re1 Nh5 14. Kh1 Ng7 15. h3 Bh5 16. Bc4 Kh8 17. Bd5 Nd8 18. d4 f6 19. Nf1 c6 20. Ba2 Nde6 21. Ne3 Rad8 22. Ng4 Kh7 23. Bb1 Bg6 24. Qd2 Nf4 25. Bc2 Qe6 26. Rad1 h5 27. Ngh2 Qf7 28. Nf1 Nfe6 29. Ne3 exd4 30. cxd4 d5 31. exd5 cxd5 32. Bxg6+ Qxg6 33. Qxa5 Bb8 34. Bxb8 Rxb8 35. Qxd5 Nf4 36. Qb5 g4 37. hxg4 hxg4 38. Nh4 Qg5 39. Nef5 Nxf5 40. Qxf5+ Qxf5 41. Re7+ Kh6 42. Nxf5+ Kg6 43. Nh4+ *
Goodbye for now and see you in the tournament Tomorrow!
Link: https://lichess.org/tournament/K3OW2zuYB
I am 
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