Chess, like life, is all about decision making. We have a number of options, but which do we choose? How do we decide how we make decision – what are the criteria? What if we make a mistake?
It’s all pretty difficult, so today I thought you might like a chance to fine tune your decision making skills.
Have a look at the position below. White has just played 1.e6+ and now Black must decided between 1…Nxe6 to get his pawn back; 1…Kc8 to hide his King away in the corner or 1…Kc6 to keep his a8 rook in the game. (I’ll ignore 1…Kc7 as even I can see 2.Bxd8+ is no good for Black). One move is OK, one is pretty bad and one is a shocker! Which would you choose?
r2q1bnr/pp1k1Bpp/3pP3/2p3B1/3nP3/3P1b2/PPP3PP/RN1Q1RK1 b KQkq – 0 1
ANSWER:
1…Kc8 2.Qd2 Be7 3.Bxe7 Qxe7 isn’t too bad for Black.
1…Nxe6 2.Bxe6+ Kxe6 3.Qxf3 Nf6 4.Qf5+ Kf7 5.Nc3 followed by 6.Nd5 is pretty bad for Black,
so that leaves…
1…Kc6?? 2.Bxd8 Bxd1? and now White has a very good move. Can you find it?
