From the experience of a playing coach. Part 1 (In Siauliai, 14.09.-15.09.2022)
“In order to teach something, you have to own it!” – my martial arts coach spoke. Professing this principle on the football field, I tried to transfer it into my small draughts practice. As it turned out, it was not easy for me to do this. Sometimes, taking part in tournaments, I experiment more and try to figure out which of these would be useful to my student. And I came to the conclusion…
Practically NOTHING! And in my notes I will try to pay more attention to the inner feelings of the parties than to calculation and knowledge (of which I have a little). At some point, a coach has a very important component of the coaching process – CONTEMPLATION. And, apparently, this is close to professional KNOWLEDGE, because it is much higher than tips and recommendations, since the game process is incredible.
However, to practical examples.
Great players gathered in Siauliai, besides playing only checkers on a small board. It was not easy for me, as a international draughts player, considering that I knew the theory for a “3”
.In the first round, the draw brought me together with Vilius Aleknavicius
The first game:
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The choice seemed to me quite good. The debut aspired to gambit positions. Deciding not to look for anything complicated, I began to start from the position: 1.g3-h4 b6-a5 2.f4-g5 h6:f4 3.e3:g5 |
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Considering that white’s a1 checker is worth less than my battle column e5, f6, g7, I decided to switch to b4, even more counting on leaving the gambit rails. But….
3. … a5-b4 4.a3:c5 d6:b4 5.b2-a3 g7-h6 6.a3:c5 h6:f4 7.f2-e3 h8-g7 8.e3:g5 g7-h6 9.g1-f2 h6:f4 10.f2-e3 |
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10. … c7-d6
Assessing White’s attack, the first impulse was to make a change to g5. But after ed4 for white, I didn’t see any game for black, besides, I would have to defend myself until the end of the game. Therefore, the gambit symmetry continued. 11.e3:g5 d6:b4 12.a1-b2 b8-c7 13.h2-g3 b4-a3 14.g3-f4 c7-d6 15.d2-e3 a7-b6 16.b2-c3 b6-a5 |
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17.e1-f2!
A technical move. Before that, I evaluated the position in my favor with a slight advantage. After White’s last move, if I hadn’t known about the original move I read in the gambit positions, I would have had to admit defeat 17. … dc7? It would follow 18.cd4! ab4 (the only one) 19.gh6 with the victory of black 17. … dc5? It would follow 18.cd4,and black would be faced with a difficult choice between two endgames after the moves: 18. A … ab4 19.db6 bc3 18. B … ab4 19.db6 fe5 20.fd6 ea7 There is no prospect. And so it’s good that this wonderful move turned out to be 17. fg7! Then the whole struggle became forced, and a peace agreement was quickly signed. 18.e3-d4 g7-h6 19.f4-e5 d6:f4 20.g5:e3 e7-d6 21.e3-f4 d6-c5 22.d4:b6 a5:c7 23.c3-d4 c7-d6 24.f2-e3 d8-e7 |
| Conclusion for students | It is useful to know about the reception in gambit positions. |
| The second game | |
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In the second game with my opponent, I decided to use a small template prepared in advance:
.After the move 4. e3d4 to Black’s response 4. c7b6, I saw that it was possible to continue 5. fe3 6. ab4. Having superficially counted the “meeting”, I saw a slight advantage of white |
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4. e3-d4 c7-b6 5. f2-e3 b6-c5 6. d4:b6 a5:c7 7. a3-b4 a7-b6 8. b4-a5 b6-c5 9. a1-b2 h8-g7
Black’s last move surprised me a little. I considered the exchange for b4 (9….. bc5) more, with possible options for blocking the opponent’s right flank and using the “hovering” checker h8. Now after my move 10. ef2, it won’t be possible to swap 10….. cb6? because of the inconspicuous. but a simple effective combination: 10. …… c7-b6? 11. a5:c7 d8:b6 12. f6g5! h4:h2 13. h4-g5 f6:h4 14. e3-d4! c5:e3 15. f2:a5 and white must win. And on the move 10. … b6-a7, I considered a good option, which suited me quite well. 10. …. b6-a7 11. b2-a3 c7-b6 12. a5:c7 d8:b6 13. c3-b4 b6-a5 d2-c3 and the position seemed to me very promising for victory. |
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10. e1-f2 c5-d4 11. e3:c5 d6:b4 12. f4:d6 c7:e5 13. g1-h2 b4-a3 14. f2-e3 e5-f4 15. e3:g5 h6:f4 16. g3:e5 f6:d4 17. c3:e5 d8-c7
In the position that arose, I quickly figured that after the poor move 18. b2-c3, you can’t immediately answer 18 ….. c7-b6, since black gets a lost position after White’s answer 20. c3-d4. I watched and analyzed the opponent’s move 18. … e7-d6, and as an answer I planned a “sucker” 19. a5-b6. But as Arunas Norvaixas pointed out after the game, in this variant, White, although they have an advantage, cannot win. My opponent chose an attack from the other side, where for a clear win, accuracy was required, which I lacked. |
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18. b2-c3 e7-f6 19. e5-d6 c7:e5 20. d2-e3 f8-e7
Here you could get a huge advantage and try to win the game. But in my calculations, for some unknown reason, I did not find a clear realization of the advantage, after 21. e3-f4 e5:g3 22. h2:f4 b8-c7 23. c3-d4 e7-d6! 24. ?? a) 24. c1-d2 c7-b6 25. a5:e5 and black’s move a3-b2 completely threw me off balance… b) 24. f6-g5 d6-e5 25. g5:e7 e5:c3 and again a crossroads with an ending unknown to me. . As a result, I had to look for a more difficult way. 21. h2-g3 b8-c7 22. e3-d4 g7-h6 23 .g3-f4 e5:g3 24. h4:f2 e7-d6 25. f2-g3 h6-g5 26. g3-h4 g5-f4 27. c1-d2 f6-g5 28. h4:f6 f4-g3 29. d2-e3 g3-h2 30. f6-g7 h2-g1 Fighting draw. |
| Conclusion for students | Fight with any opponent, regardless of qualifications and polish the sketches. Not relaxing at the end of the game. |
| V. Teterin – L. Vengelis | |
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The debut, which does not cause me a creative impulse to start implementing a secret plan, sometimes plunges me into a depressive state. However, this is just a lyric. As many coaches say, teach – match. Since I am not strong in theory, I had to play the position on a whim here.
1.c3-b4 b6-a5 2.d4-c5 a5:c3 3.b2:d4 f6-g5 4.c1-d2 e7-f6 5.g3-f4 d8-e7 6.d2-c3 e7-d6 7.c5:e7 f6:d8 |
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For me, such positions always look deceptive. You seem to own the center, but how to develop it and in which direction to move positions is a mystery. Therefore, driven by thoughts to lead to a more understandable position, I made several obvious moves towards black (as it seemed to me)
8.d4-c5 g7-f6 9.a1-b2 d8-e7 10.c3-d4 e7-d6 11.c5:e7 f6:d8 12.b2-c3 a7-b6 |
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Very often, when teaching children, we have to talk about the desire of some to go forward with a checker f4 or d4 on the e5 field. We give examples. we say the saying – one in the field is not a warrior, but… we do not explain when it is still possible to play actively. and here is a “living example”. If we delay, then perhaps White’s position will quickly sag. Having a tactical idea in reserve, I moved my f4 checker to the e5 field!
13. f4-e5 f8-e7 14.c3-b4 b6-a5?? |
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Black’s last move surprised me. Yes, somewhere in the subconscious the thought flashed that the opponent might get caught. but…. Maybe my opponent had little choice. On the attack of 14. … e5-d6, I planned to sacrifice 15. e5-f6 and 16. b4-c5 with a good game. And for the exchange of the opponent 14 . …. e7-f6 with a fight on h6:f8, I planned to play 16. b4-c5 and for Black’s answer 16. …. b6-a5, set the trap again with the move 17. h2-g3, with the threat to take the checker and for a quick response 17. h8-g7, make a simple combination on the h8 field.
Apparently, because of this, the opponent decided to make an attack and missed a small tactic. 15.d4-c5 a5:c3 16.e5-d6 c7:e5 17.e1-d2 c3:g3 18.h2:f8 With a sigh of relief that I got off so easily at the theoretical beginning of the game for me, I plucked up the courage to proceed to the second part of this article. |
| Conclusion for students | No matter how scary the theory may seem, you should never forget about tactics.
And I almost forgot! Access to e5, as it is, and when it is really needed. |