👋 Hi Chess Enthusiast

In Today’s Newsletter, we will learn about a concept called Zugzwang in chess

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Zugzwang

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Zugzwang is a German term which means compulsion to move. In certain positions it would be beneficial if your opponent plays the move.

For example, whatever he plays on his turn, he would end up losing.

So, zugzwang in chess is a situation in which whoever plays the move would be losing.

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Let us see an example to understand this better

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Here, white can play Kc7, with this move, black cannot move any of his pawns and the king. So, black has to move his bishop somewhere away,

When this happens, white can do Bb7 checkmate.

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More puzzles to learn

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Here, the white can play Kb3, with this black is under zugzwang. As black bishop doesn’t have a move to escape as B2 and A3 squares are controlled by the B3 white king. Now, if black king moves away, White can capture the C1 bishop and win the game.

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White plays Bf7 and black is in Zugzwang.

The black king cannot move, and the black knight doesn’t have a square to escape freely.

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Puzzle of the day

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Share your answers to [email protected]

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Explore our curated Selection of free PDFs/E-Books to enhance your chess knowledge and skills

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Download the below file to solve more pin puzzles and share your answers or doubts to [email protected]

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Download and try these interesting puzzles and share your answers writing to [email protected]

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That concludes this edition of our newsletter. Keep practicing, keep learning, and keep pushing the boundaries of your chess skills.

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In the next newsletter on Thursday, we will learn some basic ending puzzles.

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Author,

Ramalingam Karthik

Chess With Ramkar

 [email protected]