RussianBear's 1 0 Tutorial

Welcome to RussianBear's 1 0 tutorial. It is written for players, 
whose FICS lightning rating is below 1900, but I hope that even 
higher-rated people can learn something from it. I will not teach 
you to play chess here - I will discuss the 1 0-specific 
strategies. If you can't see the diagrams(or parts of them), 
click "refresh" button in your browser.


1. TECHNICAL STUFF.
-------------------

Mouse.

Some like Logitech mice; others (like me) found that even the cheapest mice 
can do the job. Wireless and optical mice are cool technologies, but they 
are too unreliable for 1 0, in my opinion. What I do to choose a mouse 
is I try to click different mice's buttons in a store. I choose the 
one that has buttons that click the loudest and are the hardest to press - 
that shows that the mouse is robust. The cheapest mice are usually 
the best ones for me.

Interface.

The best way to pick an interface is to try them all for yourself. 
They all have different advantages, for example SLICS shows legal 
squares, CClient says "check", etc. The interface choice also 
depends on where you stand on premove. If you want to make it clear 
you are not using premove, you may want to choose CClient or 
earlier version of Slics or Winboard. Obviously, if you want to 
play 1 0, you need an interface that has timeseal.

Board Size.

How large should the board in your interface be? It should not be too 
large, because that would mean you have to move your mouse more, and 
that obviously is a loss of time. The board should not be too small, 
either, cause it would increase the chances of you moving a piece to 
a square other that the one you wanted. Personally, I like the board 
that has a side that measures about 5 inches on my monitor (see the
screenshot).

Animation.

You also want to turn off any move animation options that your 
interface has, because animation can slow things down considerably.

Legality check.

With most interfaces, there are two ways to check if your move if 
legal. You can have your interface make the check, and you can have 
the server do it. Since the server does it anyway, I think that having 
your interface do the check is a waste of time because your interface 
will do that for every single move you make instead of sending that move 
to the server right away! It is not that simple however. Lets see what 
happens if you make an illegal move in an interface that does not check 
if the move is legal. The move is sent to the server, the server itself 
rejects it and sends the "Illegal move" message back to you. So, the 
time wasted is ping*2 + the time it took the server to check if the move 
was legal. This waste could have been avoided by performing a check 
within your interface. In other words, turning legality checking off 
should save you some time, but only if you don't make illegal moves often.

Sound.

Always have the sound on when you play. Sound is so important in 1 0 
that serious players wont play unless they have sound. It is proven that 
even though light travels much faster than sound, humans respond to audio 
stimulus faster than to visual stimulus. 

Have autoflag and autoqueen on at all times.


2. STRATEGY.
------------

Never resign.

Thou shalt not resign. There is absolutely no place for resigning in 1 0. 
Too much can happen in a 1 0 game for you to just give up. Your opponent 
may forfeit on time, blunder, mouseslip, or die. And there is always a 
chance that he will stalemate your king. Take a look at this game:

venomous -- RussianBear
ICS Game ICS

1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Be7 7.Bd3 Bf5 8.Bxf5 Nbd7 9.Nf3 Nb6 10.Qc2 O-O 11.O-O h6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Bd3 Nc8 14.a3 Nd6 15.b3 a6 16.Rac1 b5 17.Na2 Rc8 18.Qd2 Qd7 19.Nb4 Nb7 20.Nxa6 Na5 21.Qxa5 Qa7 22.b4 Ra8 23.Rxc6 Qb7 24.Rc7 Qxa6 25.Qxa6 Rxa6 26.Ra1 Rb6 27.Kf1 Ra8 28.Ke2 Bd8 29.Rc5 Be7 30.Rxb5 Rxb5 31.Bxb5 Bxb4 32.a4 Ba5 33.Rc1 Rb8 34.Rc5 Bb4 35.Rxd5 Re8 36. Bxe8 f5 37.Bd7 f4 38.exf4 Ba5 39.Rxa5 Kh7 40.Re5 Kg6 41.a5 Kh7 42.a6 g5 43.a7 Kg6 44.a8=Q Kh5 45.Qe4

# Stalemate!

1/2-1/2

{Game drawn by stalemate} 1/2-1/2

Common sense strategies.

Many things about real chess can be applied to 1 0. You still want to 
develop your pieces as soon as possible, you want good squares in the 
center of the board for your knights, you open files for your rooks and 
you want your rooks to end up on the 7th rank.

Become fast, think fast and play fast.

How does one become fast? Botvinnik suggested that players who tend to get 
themselves into time trouble play some games where they pay the most 
attention to the clocks and not to the board. This also applies to 1 0. If 
you are slower than most lightning players, follow Botvinnik's advice. Just 
play some games as fast as you can, without worrying about the board. Of 
course, if you are not used to this kind of speed, you will lose a lot in 
the beginning (that is why it may be a good idea to play unrated). But you 
will see for yourself what the pace of a 1 0 game should be. Soon you will 
notice that you are able to make the same moves in half a second that used 
to take you several seconds.

Also, you want to rationalize the way you think. I will give just one 
example, but it will make clear what I have in mind. Lets say you are 
playing a 1 minute game and your opponent just checked your king with his 
queen. It would be a waste of time to start thinking by looking for the 
squares where you king may go to in order to get away from the check. If 
you spend half a second figuring out which escape square is best, this half 
second will be useless if later you realize than you can just capture his 
queen with your knight. So here is the way your mind should work if your 
king is in check: first, you make sure that the checking piece cannot be 
captured, then, you look for the moves with pieces that can shield your king 
from the check (and may be also attacking the checking (or some other) 
piece of your opponent), and, finally, you look at the king moves.

Win a piece in opening.

RussianBear - pdeck
FICS Game
2001.05.14

1.d4 e6 2.c3 d5 3.Bf4 f5

4.Bxc7

4...Nf6

5.Bxd8

{pdeck resigns } 1-0

What happened to black's queen? Why has pdeck (who is a 1900+ player) 
played 4. ... Nf6 instead of the obvious 4. ... Qxc7? The answer is simple- 
he made his move without looking at his opponent's move first. 1 0 puts one 
into a lot of time pressure from the very start of the game. Very often 
people start to move very fast right from the start in order to win some 
valuable seconds and thus put themselves into a situation, where they are 
liable to moves such as Bxc7. Here is a short list of other ways to win a 
piece in the opening:

1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 e6 3. Bxd8
1.d4 g6 2.Bh6 Bg7 3.Bxg7
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qh5 Nf6 Qxf7#
1.e4 d6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Be2 Bg4 4.Bxg4
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 e6 3.e3 c6 4.Bxb8 Nf6 5. Bf4

How can one take advantage of opponents' careless play in the opening?
First of all, know when to play Bc7, Bh6, Bg5, etc. You don't just go 
after your opponent's pieces in the opening of each game - if you do, 
your opponent will adjust and you will just lose material. You should 
pick your spots. When should you go after his pieces? After years of 
playing 1 0 I observed the absolute best time to win a piece in the 
opening. The best time for opening horseshit is in a game just after 
your opponent lost a very close one on time. It is a natural human 
reaction to play faster after a close loss on time - one tends to try 
to "make up" for the loss by playing very fast in the opening of the 
next game. He tends to say to himself, "ok, I lost, but if I play very 
fast from the very beginning of the next game, I sure won't lose on 
time again". So he starts to play very fast right from the opening moves
without looking at what you do. And that is where you come in with your 
dirty opening trick and take his piece! This tends to be very 
frustrating for a lot of players.

Second, the move should not disturb the flow of the game. If you play it 
too fast, opponent will see it and if you play it too slow, he will become 
suspicious and he would want to take a look at the move you've played 
instead of (pre)moving without looking at the board. The trick is to make 
him think like you are going to play your regular move while you actually 
will try to win his piece. So it is very important that the rhythm not be 
disturbed. Play it without hesitation at your normal opening speed.

How to choose a strategy against a particular opponent.

It is rare that two players just play one game. More often series of games 
is played. Such a series could last anywhere from 2 to hundreds of games. 
It is, therefore, very important to choose a right strategy against your 
opponent. More often than not, in a series, you will notice a pattern. For 
example, it may happen that you win most games that come down to a mouse 
race (that is, the games that are decided by a flag) and your opponent wins 
other games (that is, games decided by checkmate). Such a match between a 
chess expert and a speedster is what usually happens in a match between 
people whose ratings are close (i.e., within 100 points). It is important to 
recognize if your advantage against a particular opponent is speed or chess 
skills - it is usually becomes clear after several games. After you decide 
which of the two types you belong to, you choose your strategy accordingly. 
It should be obvious that a player who is faster, but who is weaker at pure 
chess should try to exchange pieces, especially the queens, because this 
greatly increases the chances that he will not be checkmated, and, 
therefore, it increases his chances of winning the game. In fact, he may 
even sack a pawn or two if that would lead to queen exchange! For the same 
reasons, a person who is stronger at chess, but who is slower, should 
avoid such exchanges, even if it means not playing what otherwise would 
be the "best" moves.

Trades.

Just like in regular chess, lightning has a simple rule: you want to trade 
when you are up on material and you don't want to trade when you are down 
on material. If you are down on material, you should do everything you can 
to avoid trades. The only times you can trade is when your opponent's 
attack becomes too dangerous, only then it is reasonable to trade the 
most dangerous piece(s) of your opponent. The rationale for this rule 
is simple: it is a lot easier to convert a material advantage when there 
are only a few pieces left. This rule is very important in lightning (and 
in chess in general) and yet it is remarkable how many people ignore it.

Repeat the position when up on time

When you are up on time (or when clocks are about even but you know that you 
are a faster player than your opponent), it is to your advantage to repeat 
moves, because it wastes time and puts your opponent under even more time 
pressure. Be careful, however, not to repeat the position 3 times, as it 
gives your opponent an opportunity to claim the draw.




3. ENDGAME.
-----------

Check.

Check often. Checks are good for 2 main reasons. Reason number one: you 
impose your will onto your opponent because he has to react and his 
reaction is more predictable than otherwise. Reason number two: it may 
be a checkmate.

Secure yourself a draw first.

Now is time for one of the most important rules of 1 0. Capture all of your opponents pieces before you go for checkmate. What that accomplishes is that you avoid a loss on time because, according to the server rules, the side that has only a king left can get at most a draw.

RussianBear -- ATE
ICS Game ICS
2002.08.04 *

1.d4 e6 2.c3 Nf6 3.Bf4 d5 4.Bg3 Bd6 5.e3 Bxg3 6.hxg3 c5 7.Bd3 cxd4 8.exd4 Nc6 9.Nf3 Bd7 10.Nbd2 h6 11.Qc2 Qc7 12.Nb3 a6 13.Nc5 b6 14.Nb3 O-O 15.a3 e5 16. dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 Qxe5+ 18.Qe2 Qxe2+ 19.Kxe2 Rfe8+ 20.Kd2 Ne4+ 21.Bxe4 dxe4 22. Nd4 Rad8 23.Ke3 f5 24.Rh5 Kh7 25.Rah1 Rf8 26.R5h2 Bb5 27.Rd1 Bd3 28.Rd2 b5 29. Rh1 a5 30.Ne6 Rfe8 31.Nxd8 Rxd8 32.Rhd1 b4 33.axb4 axb4 34.f3 bxc3 35.bxc3 Rc8 36.fxe4 Bxe4 37.Rc1 Re8 38.Kf2 Rf8 39.c4 Rc8 40.c5 Rc6 41.Rd6 Rc8 42.c6 Rc7 43. Rd7 Rxc6 44.Rxc6 Bxc6 45.Rd6 Be4 46.Rd4 h5 47.Rd2 h4 48.Rd1 Kh6 49.gxh4 Kh5 50. g3 Kg4 51.Rd4 g5 52.Rd1 gxh4 53.gxh4 Kxh4 54.Rg1 Kh5 55.Rg8 Kh6 (D)

At this point, we both have 5 seconds left. Now that I dont have to worry about him checking me, I try to check him as much as I can.

56.Rg1 Kh7 57.Rg3 Kh6 58.Rg1 Kh7 59.Ke1 f4 60.Kd2 Bg6 61.Ke1 Kg7 62.Kf2 Kf6 63.Rg4 Kf5 (D)

Now ATE still has 5 seconds, I have 2.

64. Rg1 f3 65.Re1 Kf6 66.Ra1 Bf5 67.Ra5 Be6 68.Ra7 Ke5 69.Ra5+ Bd5 70.Ra4 Kd6 71. Ra3 Bc6 72.Rd3+ Kc7 (D)

My rook manoeuvres won me a few seconds and the clocks are now even - 1 seconds each. Here we are both under a time pressure and I use it to make sure that I am not going to lose this game. So I simply take the pawn and hope that ATE is so worried about making his move quickly that he doesn't see my move before he makes his. Also note that his mouse pointer is half a board away and with one second on the clock it is risky to try to recapture on f3 even if he DOES see my next move.

73.Rxf3 (D)

Now I have at least a draw.

73...Kb6 74.Re3 Bb5 75.Kg1 Bc6 76.Re1 Kc5 77.Kh2 (D)

Ate forfeits on time.

Go for your opponent's pieces when he is under time pressure.

You will either win those pieces and make your job easier or put your opponent under even more time pressure. Take a look at the following game:

Rovertje -- RussianBear
ICS Game ICS
2002.10.25 *

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Be7 7.Qc2 Bg4 8.Bd3 Bh5 9.Nge2 Bg6 10.O-O Nbd7 11.Rab1 O-O 12.b4 a6 13.a4 Nb6 14.b5 Nc4 15.Rb3 Na3 16.Qd1 Nc4 17.Bxg6 hxg6 18.bxc6 b6 19.Nf4 Qd6 20.Bxf6 Bxf6 21.Ncxd5 Rfc8 22. Nxb6 Nxb6 23.Rxb6 Rxc6 24.Rxc6 Qxc6 25.Qc1 Qxc1 26.Rxc1 Rb8 27.Nd5 a5 28.Nxf6+ gxf6 29.h3 Rb4 30.Rc6 Rxa4 31.Rxf6 Kg7 32.Ra6 Ra1+ 33.Kh2 a4 34.Kg3 a3 35.d5 a2 36.f3 Kf8 37.e4 Ke7 38.e5 Kd7 39.Ra7+ Ke8 40.d6 Re1 41.Rxa2 Rxe5 42.Rd2 Kd7 43. f4 Re3+ 44.Kg4 Ra3 45.Kg5 Ra8 46.Kf6 Rf8 (D)

Rovertje now has only 4 seconds left, I have a few more. This amounts to huge time pressure for my opponent.

47.g4 Rh8 48. h4 Rxh4 49.g5 Rg4 50.Kg7 Rxf4 51.Kh6 Rf5 52.Kg7 Rf4 53.Kg8 Rh4 54.Kg7 Rf4 55. Kg8 Rf5 56.Kg7 (D)

Now white has 1 second left, black has 4. Time pressure has caused white to make useless king moves(7 of them in a row, to be exact), which led to a loss of two kingside pawns. By now, black has made sure that white is content with premoving his king back and forth and hoping that premoves will get him a win on time. Black can now safely refute that plan.

56...Rf2! (D)

This trick (going after your opponent's piece by puting a piece en prize to attack it) works not only when opponent has little time left; it also works when time is about even and it can be used as a last resourse even when you are desperate - for example when you are down 4 seconds to 10.

There are two conditions for this trick to be successful:

1) You have to make sure your opponent went into premove mode. (Note that by premove I mean both actual premoves and the moves one makes without looking at opponents previous move - because the effects of both of these are the same)

2) It has to be a suprise for your opponent. Even if he went into the premove mode, he may still stop and look at your move if he feels something suspicious. That is why such manoeuvres can not be used too often in a series, because if you do use them too often, your opponent will learn to expect them and you will just lose pieces. However, if you use this trick wisely, you can achieve great results. Not only will you win your opponent's pieces in decisive situations, but the very threat of such trick (without the execution of the threat!) may slow your opponent down considerably, because he would have to see your moves (prior to his own moves) to make sure he won't lose a piece, thus abandoning premoves altogether!

57.Kg8 (D)

White responded in just the way black hoped he would - with another senseless premove. White lost the rook, then both pawns and then forfeited on time. It is obviously not a wise strategy for white to move his king. However, had white chosen to play his waiting game by premoving his rook from (for example) d1 to d2 and back, black would choose a moment when white rook was on d2 to play Rf1!, with the idea to refute Rd1 by Rxd1.

57...Rxd2 58.Kg7 Rxd6 59.Kg8 Rd5 60.Kg7 Rxg5 61.Kf6 Rf5+ *

Knight is better than a bishop when both sides have little time.

When both you and your opponent have little time left, side with a knight 
has an advantage over a side with a bishop. Everybody tends to check a lot 
in the final seconds and a side with a knight will just put a king on a 
square of the color opposite to that of the opponent's bishop and then 
check the other side's king to death with a knight.

Draw offers.

Do not waste your time by offering draws in drawn position. If you are up 
on time, try to win the game on time. Even if you are down on time, 
offering a draw is not a good idea. Your opponent may not realise you are 
offering a draw cause he moves too fast to even notice a draw offer in 
time and even if he does see the offer, he probably would still want to go 
for a win on time. The only good time to take a draw is when you are down 
on time and you want to claim a draw by 3 move- or 50 move- rule. 
Otherwise a draw offer is just a waste of your time. The same can be said 
about takeback requests. To better illustrate my point, I will quote player 
"myhandle": while I was offering draw, you took advantage of it on 
time      



4. PSYCHOLOGY.
--------------

Do everything in your power to annoy your opponent.

Do the things he dislikes. Thank him if he doesnt like to be thanked. 
Trashtalk. Rub it in if you win. If you play a series of games, he 
might not like if you wait too long between games - if you know he hates 
that, then be sure to wait a few seconds before typing "rematch". If you 
have mate in 1 and you still have 30 seconds left on the clock, take you 
time and checkmate him when you only have 1 second left - he may not like 
that. If he is about to lose on time, sack a few piece just to make him 
realise that he is to slow to take advantage of those sacks.

Know your opponents.

Know their strength and weaknesses, their likes and dislikes. For example, 
I played a lot of games against player "theblob", and I noticed that he 
really hates lag. When, from time to time, my connection lagged out for 
5-10 seconds, theblob resigned if he was down on material. I noticed that 
and later tried to use it to my advantage in one of our later games - I 
was up on material after opening moves, but I wasn't in the mood to grind 
out a win against a fast and dangerous opponent. So I just sat there and 
pretended that I was lagging. Surely enough, 5-7 seconds later theblob 
resigns.

Stay cool under time pressure.

 
One loses the most time off the clock when he starts to panic. Have 
faith in you lightning ability and let your opponent worry about the 
outcome.


5. HOW TO PLAY WHEN YOU ARE DOWN ON MATERIAL.
---------------------------------------------

Do not resign. Do not trade pieces. Now when material is in his favor, 
you have to put some other kind of pressure on him - namely, time 
pressure. Play as fast as you can. Close the position up by blocking the 
pawns. Deny his pieces entry points in your camp. Fight for every square, 
every rank, every diagonal. Try cheap threats like attacking his queen 
with you minor pieces. Check his king if you can. Do some cheesy mate 
threats. And - I stress this point again - don't trade pieces when you 
are down on material unless you absolutely have to.


6. HOW TO WIN CLOSE GAMES.
--------------------------

Check.

Check often, especially in the final seconds of the game. It is 
unbelievale how many games are decided by a check that is made when 
both players are very low on time. Checks are also usefull, cause a 
check may turn out to be a checkmate, which one could have easily 
missed when he/she is very low on time. Also, checks are usefull as 
in-between tactic - like if your opponent attempted a pawn 
breakthrough at the very end of the close game, you might have 
missed it and allowed him to promote a pawn, but if you checked him 
just when he was attempting to do so - you would notice this 
attempted breakthrough and stop it.

Near checks.

Sometimes, it is best not to check your opponent's king in the last seconds of the game. If your opponent expects the checks, he will move his king to safety without losing much time. If he premoves, and if the checks are predictible, then your checks will play into his hands, because premove is most effective in the situations where a premover can guess what move will be played next. In order keep your opponent guessing, you have to mix up checks with what I call near-checks. Take a look at the following example.

RussianBear -- vonson
ICS Game ICS

1.d4 f5 2.Bf4 h6 3.Bg3 g5 4.h4 f4 5.Bh2 Nf6 6.Nf3 g4 7.Ne5 d6 8.Nc4 b5 9. Nca3 e5 10.e3 d5 11.exf4 exf4 12.Bxf4 Bxa3 13.Nxa3 Qe7+ 14.Be3 O-O 15.Bxb5 c6 16.Bd3 h5 17.O-O Ne4 18.Bxe4 Qxe4 19.Qd3 Bf5 20.Qxe4 Bxe4 21.c4 Nd7 22.cxd5 cxd5 23.Nb5 a6 24.Nc7 Rac8 25.Ne6 Rf7 26.Ng5 Re7 27.Nxe4 Rxe4 28.Rac1 Rb8 29.b3 Nb6 30.Rc7 a5 31.Ra7 a4 32.bxa4 Nc4 33.Rc1 Rb2 34.a5 Rxa2 35.a6 Re6 36.Rb7 Rexa6 37.Bg5 (D)

Both players now have 5 seconds left.

37... Re2 38.Kf1 Raa2 39.Rb8+ (D)

Now both players have 1 second left on the clock. Black is about to start his own checks on the second rank and the position looks lost for white as after 39. ... Kf7 40. Rb7+ Kg6 white can't play 41.Rb6 because of 41. ... Nxb6. Vonson is a premover and one second is more than enough time for him to have his king escape and then check white to death with his rooks. However, white can save this game...

39...Kf7 40.Rb6 (D)

Excellent move! Instead of the usual Rb7 check (which vonson expected, as he admitted after the game), white plays Rb6 and vonson's likely premoves Kg6 or Ke6 are now illegal. {vonson forfeits on time } 1-0

Blocks.

An example will make clear what I mean.

1...Nxe6 (D)

White to move. Each side has only 1 second left on their clocks. What should white do? It is clear that black will play Rd2 next, with the idea of following it up with Rxg2 check, and, if white captures the rook by Kxg2, Nf4 check.

White doesnt have any checks of his own in sight - black's king is on a dark square, which makes him safe from checks by the light-squared bishop on a4, and the white's knight is too passive to do any damage. Yet, white is able to find a game winning trick.

2.Bd7!! (D)

Excellent move! Useless bishop sacrifices itself in order to stop the enemy attack. Black was probably alreay holding the rook over d2 and now he has to drag it all the way back to d7 in order to capture white's bishop that is in the way. This is a big loss of time. Note that if black premoved Rd2, then he wastes even more time than if he had just hold the rook over d2.

2...Rxd7 3.Nd3! (D)

Knight repeats the bishop's heroic feat! The d2 square is again off-limits to the black rook.

3...Rxd3 4.a4

Black forfeits on time.

Don't recapture.

innocentone -- RussianBear

1.Bxg3 (D)

Here, innocentone has 4 seconds, I have 2. It is clear now that in this game neither of us will get checkmated, the game will be decided by flag. innocentone is one of the fastest lightning players out there and it would be very difficult to win this game. However, there is a trick that helps me here. With his last move, innocentone captured my bishop on g3. I do not recapture and I do not even think about it. It is because now both players have to move as fast as possible and recapturing a bishop on g3 could potentially be a huge loss of time. For example, if white decides not to capture on g3 in the first place, the piece I hold over g3 to recapture will have to be put back to another square or, even worse, to its original square. So, what I do is I do not recapture and let MY OPPONENT worry about if I recapture or not, instead of worrying about his captures of my pieces. With the next couple of moves, I move my d and e pawns on the b8-h2 diagonal to repeat this trick.

1...d6 2.h4 e5 3.Bxf4 Rh8 4.Bxe5 Rf8 5.Bxd6 Rd8 6.Bc7 Nd7 (D)

By now, innocentone captured all the pieces that I threw at his bishop on the b8-g3 diagonal, but it made him lose a few seconds and now both of us have 1 second on the clock. A simple trick of not recapturing won me some valuable seconds and later innocentone lost on time.

7.Bb8 Kxb8 White forfeits on time.

Summary: putting all horseshit together.

The following game illustrates the techniques that I discussed above and that can help you win close games. lagster -- RussianBear
ICS Game ICS

1.e3 d5 2.f4 Bf5 3.Nf3 Bg6 4.Bd3 c6 5.Bxg6 hxg6 6.O-O e6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.d4 Nf6 9.Bd2 Nbd7 10.Qe2 Nb6 11.Ng5 Nc4 12.b3 Nxd2 13.Qxd2 Nd7 14.e4 dxe4 15.Ncxe4 Nf6 16.Rad1 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 Bf6 18.Qb4 Qe7 19.Qxb7 Qxb7 20.Nd6+ Kd7 21.Nxb7 Be7 22.Na5 Bf6 23.Nc4 Kc7 24.Ne5 Rhf8 25.g3 Rac8 26.Kg2 Kd8 27.Rde1 Ke7 28.Kf2 c5 29.dxc5 Rxc5 30.c4 Bxe5 31.Rxe5 Rc6 32.Kf3 Ra6 33.Rf2 Rh8 34.c5 Rc8 35.Rc2 Rcc6 36.Ke3 Ra5 37.Kd4 Rb5 38.Rc3 a5 39.a3 a4 40.b4 f6 41.Re2 Kf7 42.Kc4 Rb8 43.b5 Rc7 44.Rb2 Rbc8 45.c6 e5 46.fxe5 fxe5 47.Kd5 (D)

White has 16 seconds at this point, black has 12. Black is about to lose the e5 pawn, and white's passed pawns look dangerous. Black seems to be in trouble.

47...g5 48.Kxe5 Kg6 49.Kd6 Rf7 50.c7 Rf6+ 51.Kd7 Rcf8 52.c8=Q (D)

White promotes his pawn, but that allows black to start checking white's king for as long as black wants. However, black is in no hurry to claim the draw by repetition. White now has 12 seconds to black's 8, but black knows he is a faster player so he tries to repeat position and keeps checking white by moving his rook from f8 to f7 and back.

52...R8f7+ 53.Ke8 Rf8+ 54.Kd7 R8f7+ 55.Ke8 Rf8+ 56.Kd7 R8f7+ 57.Kd8 Rf8+ 58.Ke7 R8f7+ 59.Ke8 Rf8+ 60.Kd7 R8f7+ 61.Kd8 Rf8+ 62.Kd7 (D)

This is the 5th repetition of this position. White is still up on time (6 seconds to 4), but black's strategy of gaining time by move repetition is starting to pay off, as white starts to get into time trouble and as black is about to catch up with him on the clocks and surpass him. This is of concern to white and he probably starts to think of claiming draw just about now. However, black realises this and decides to trade his rook for white's queen in hope that his speed and possibility of a few more checks may prove decisive. Note that according to FICS server rules, white can still claim the draw after his queen is captured, and even though he is about to be in major time scramble, lagster decides to play on - afterall, he is up a rook and 2 seconds!

62...Rxc8 63.Kxc8 Rf8+ (D)

Another check. White now has 5 seconds, black has 3.

64.Kd7 (D)

64...Rf6! (D)

A near-check! Lagster's projected premove Kc6 is now illegal, his king cannot escape and is still in danger of being checked by that same rook.

65.b6 (D)

65...Kh6! (D)

Again, black does not check for the very same reason - Rf7 check is what most players would do here, so lagster is likely to premove his king to c6 or d6. Thats why black does not check and keeps the rook on the 6th file so it continues to cut off white king's escape squares - now white's premoves are illegal again and he is forced to move the king to a different square and lose more time off the clock.

66.Kc7 Rf7+ (D) !

Another check! The rook keeps annoying the white king. The combination of checks and near checks is very hard to deal with, as the opponent is left wondering where to move his king or whether to move it at all. Not only is it annoying, but it also messes up premoves badly. Clocks are now even - both players have 3 seconds left.

67.Kc8 Rf6 68.b7 Rf7 (D) !

Another near-check. And once again it takes a second off lagster's clock, as he probably expected a Rf8 check. Black is now up on time - 2 seconds to white's 1! Note that the next move white makes is Kb8 and not the obvious b8=q promotion. This means black's near-check worked to perfection - white chose to make a move with the king that he was probably already holding over c7 rather than to risk putting king back and moving the pawn, which would take much more time.

69.Kb8 Rf8+ (D)

What else, but check again? That rook is on a horseshit mission.

70.Ka7 Rf7 (D)

PIN. The rook does it all.

71.Ka8 Rf8+ (D)

Doh! Check! Now black has 1 second on his clock, white has less than a second.

72.b8=Q (D)

72...Rg8!! (D)

Best move on the board! Prior to this move, white was probably wondering whether black would capture his queen with a check, or move the rook away from the 8th rank. Black does neither. White's most likely premove recaptures Rxb8 and Kxb8 are now illegal. It is also possible that white thought that black was going to keep the rook by moving it away from the 8th rank. A good response to that would have been getting the new queen into action - perhaps by Qd6 check. But Rg8 makes that illegal, too, as the queen is pinned! Another possibility (assuming the rook would leave the 8th rank) would be to premove Qh8 check - but Rg8 makes that illegal, too. The rook is doing both pinning and blocking at the same time while making 4 most probably premoves illegal! Thus, Rg8 refutes all things white could have assumed black would do. Such suprise moves are very usefull, especially against premovers and especially in games that are close and when both players have less than a second on the clock. Also note that there are other moves that would serve the same purposes as Rg8, - Rc8, Rd8 and Re8, (or any king or pawn move, for that matter) but Rg8 is superior because after whatever premove lagster made was shown to be illegal, g8 is the farthest square to drag his queen to.

This game had everything - virtually every strategy that I mentioned could win you a close game was used. Thats why I chose this game as a summary.

White forfeits on time.

Thats about it - I think I covered the major 1 0 issues. If 
you found this article helpful or if you have questions or comments - 
send me a message on FICS, I would like to hear from you.

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