Sense of Danger

As I mentioned in yesterday's post (Sunday Book Review) I have been reading Amatzia Avni's Danger in Chess, subtitled How to Avoid Making Blunders.

When I played through a recent Italian Four Knights Jerome Gambit game that reached the following position, I thought about what Avni had written about "when the opponent plays badly in the opening."

comport - mrquestionmark
FICS, 2011

Suppose you play against someone who makes some silly moves, right from the start. He sheds material, or plays not in accordance with development rules, or he makes apparently self-destructive moves... Most chess players, when faced with such an enemy, tend to relax and expect an early success. It is a human trait to count on consistency in behaviour; if our adversary played weakly until now, so we reason, he is likely to demonstrate the same low quality in the following phases of the game as well.

This line of thought is devoid of empirical justification. Our opponent may possess poor openings knowledge, but still be a strong middlegame player. Or he may have deliberately made early provocations to lead us to think that our victory is assured.

Whatever our impression about our rival's level of play, we must stay on guard!

8.Qb3+ Kf8 9.Qf7 checkmate

Sunday Book Review: Surprise in Chess

Surprise in Chess
Amatzia Avni
Cadogan (1998)
softcover, 112 pages
figurine algebraic notation

I have a long-term interest in chess psychology (see "My Chess Psychology Bookshelf" for examples), and I have enjoyed the writings of psychologist and FIDE Master Amatzia Avni, reviewing several (Devious Chess, The Grandmaster's Mind and Practical Chess Psychology: Understanding the Human Factor) of his books.

Surprise in Chess is not a new title (in fact, its publisher, Cadogen Chess, has since morphed into Everyman Chess) but I have been reading it lately (along with its companion, Danger in Chess) to better understand the impact of the Jerome Gambit and its relatives.

Contents
Symbols
Introduction
Surprise in Chess
The Theory of Surprise
The Five Faces of Surprise in Chess
Special Cases of Chess Surprise
More About Surprise in Chess
The Way Players Experience Surprise
Summary
Assorted Surprises
Solutions
Index of Players and Composers

Avni's writing style is aimed toward the average chess player, more conversational, rather than being technical. He has a sense of humor that lifts the more serious discussions (e.g. how can a "logical" game like chess, where "information" about what is happening on the board is equally available to both players, have any surprises?). His examples of surprise help fill out the theory that he outlines.

Jerome Gambit Gemeinde members regularly surprise their opponents, and, adding insult to injury, often seem to know how the player across the board is going to respond, and even what he or she will do next... There is nothing "magical" about what is going on, only the fact that the gambiteer knows something about "The Way Players Experience Surprise".

Two quotes, amongst many, got me thinking

The last four examples provide abundant proof that chess is not always as logical, coherent and ordered as we might like to think...
In a world where pure chess weapons are in the posession of a wide public, nuances in non-chess weapons can make the difference between succcess and failure.
Surprise is such a weapon.

It is well worth the effort to pick up Surprise in Chess from the local public library, or perhaps it sits on your chess club library's shelf. The local bookstore may have a copy. It is certainly available online.
 

Psychology... and the Jerome Gambit?

The title of a very interesting article at Chessville is "Do Not Overestimate the Role of Psychology in Chess" by FM Amatzia Avni.

While I don't agree with everything the author says, he certainly has the background to say it (check out "Inside Avni's Mind" and my reviews of his books Practical Chess Psychology, The Grandmaster's Mind, and Devious Chess; as well as Chessville editor David Surratt's review of Chess Tips for the Improving Player ) and he doesn't mince words, for example

Yet a new psychological jargon appears to delude people to think that they act cleverly, while this is not the case.

By the way, many players have made comments about playing against my Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) but none have actually suggested that they thought I was being clever...