Topic 23 (Intermediate) – Unreliable Moves (Game Analysis 2)

An unreliable move is an attempted capture where you don’t know the result ahead of time—it depends on whether or not your opponent dodges. Unreliable moves are often called newb moves because every newbie tries a lot of them before quickly learning that no, you shouldn’t go for pieces that are going to dodge. Here’s an example of an unreliable move:

You probably discovered early in your KFC career that newbie moves such as this don’t work against an opponent with a functioning neuron. Or you may want to get your neurons checked out.

Most of the time you have to play reliable moves attacking pieces that cannot dodge, but here’s a tip you may not have discovered yet: it’s often correct to play an unreliable move. Expert players play newb moves all the time!

We’ve already looked at some expert uses of unreliable moves throughout the guide. In this topic, I’ll be analyzing R_A_G_E vs. Devilant (May 1, 2003), which is an awesome game featuring many a newb move. But first, here are a couple of positions to get you thinking (and make up for the lack of a puzzle in Topic 22).

You’re white. How would you play? (Hint: If you’re not making a newb move, you’re misplaying it.)

Easy.

No problem.

Piece of cake.

A little tougher.

If you can’t figure these out, do not be afraid to ask the friendly experts of the shizmoo.com strategy forum. But I think you should have no problem with them.

Unfortunately, recognizing an opportunity for an unreliable move is only half the battle. Black belts will often plan ahead (see Topic 17) and specifically play for a position where an unreliable move will win. So, let’s look at some examples, including a game won by unreliable moves.

Example 1

Here black trapped his bishop on the a1-h8 diagonal with his own king move. White can set up an unreliable attack to win the bishop.

The knight on h5 cuts off one of the two available escape squares for the black bishop. It must retreat to the corner!

White wins the bishop now by simply attacking it. It has nowhere to dodge!

Example 2

Here white would love to capture black’s rook on e6 with his rook and defend with his other rook.

Obviously, this won’t work. The black king could capture the rook before white’s other rook can arrive to defend it. You’ll never guess what kind of move is called for here.

An unreliable move! White forces the king to dodge away.

Black can’t dodge anywhere else without abandoning his rook.

Now that the black king has to recharge, white has enough time to capture the black rook and defend it with his other rook.

Sweet play!

Example 3

Kung Fu Chess Rated Game May 1, 2003

R_A_G_E v. Devilant

You can download this game and others to play using Epikur's Movie Player by going To My Website. You can also Watch the Game on Youtube, courtesy of Epikur.

R_A_G_E v. Devilant 12 seconds

R_A_G_E plays the same opening as Hawked (see Topic 22), but in this game I was slow with my first pawn and so was unable to play a stonewall to win a pawn. I played a flanked center opening instead.

R_A_G_E v. Devilant 16 seconds

R_A_G_E decides to trade away his d and e pawns, and then makes the mistake of capturing my h pawn with his bishop and defending with his pawn. This move doesn’t actually win my pawn, as you’ll see. Instead, it just gives R_A_G_E isolated pawns.

R_A_G_E v. Devilant 21 seconds

When R_A_G_E captures my bishop with his pawn, I’ll be able to capture back, and R_A_G_E will be left with isolated pawns.

I move my rook to h8 and knight to h5, intending to capture R_A_G_E’s pawn after it takes my bishop and then attack R_A_G_E’s pawns on h4 and f4.

Planned Attack

This was my planned attack to exploit R_A_G_E’s isolated pawns.

Fortunately for me, while I was setting up for this attack, R_A_G_E moved his knights, abandoning his defense of the f4 pawn. He also advanced his a and b pawns, which poses no real threat.

R_A_G_E v. Devilant 25 seconds

25 seconds in and the game is already over. Or it would have been had I played this devastating attack:

It doesn’t matter what moves white makes here—he’s toast.

The moves I actually made are inferior to this strike, but lead to a position where I could use unreliable moves to crush R_A_G_E.

R_A_G_E v. Devilant 32 seconds

White is in some serious trouble here, but this attack probably would have failed if R_A_G_E had responded correctly. Now we come to the first unreliable move of the game: the attack on the undefended knight.

R_A_G_E v. Devilant 38 seconds

Always go for the undefended knight.

R_A_G_E dodged out of the way of the first unreliable attack. If he hadn’t, the game is completely lost for him.

Not 5 seconds later, I launched unreliable attack #2:

R_A_G_E v. Devilant 43 seconds

I attacked R_A_G_E’s queen with my knight and immediately captured the c4 pawn with my rook, defending the knight. I made this attack just as R_A_G_E was capturing my bishop, hoping to catch him off guard (see Topic 10 for more on this type of unreliable attack).

R_A_G_E dodged out of the way of the second unreliable attack. If he hadn’t, the game is completely lost for him. Note that both unreliable attacks so far were completely risk free for me—neither knight is in any danger of getting captured.

I continued to put the pressure on R_A_G_E, making my third unreliable attack seconds later. R_A_G_E’s rook on e1 was defending both his knight and his rook on e3.

R_A_G_E v. Devilant 48 seconds

The knight was again undefended because the rook has to recapture my queen, so I went for it. R_A_G_E again successfully dodged out of the way of this third attack, but my unreliable attacks, while unsuccessful, forced R_A_G_E out of position so I could now capture all his remaining pawns.

R_A_G_E v. Devilant 57 seconds

The game’s over, but there’s a fourth unreliable move I could still make:

The knight is free to capture for the third time in a row! My pawn will defend the square after capturing R_A_G_E’s rook. R_A_G_E resigned.

There were 4 unreliable attacks in this game, and not a single one successfully captured its target! I won anyway because of R_A_G_E’s opening mistake, which lost him his isolated f and h pawns, and because the unreliable attacks forced R_A_G_E out of position to defend his a, b, and c pawns. A thrilling game!

Next time on Devilant’s Strategy Guide—Topic 24, which will be chock full of strategy puzzles!