Recognizing Patterns in Atomic Chess: Part 2

Defending Against a Centralized Queen: Introduction

Take a look at the position below:

This is a common position in atomic chess that arises in many different lines. Note that black's g and c pawns have been pushed, giving white's queen many squares that it can infiltrate to: g7, f6, c7 & d6. At first glance, it may seem impossible for black to defend all of these squares. But alas, there is often a resource in these positions. See below black's main idea:

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Indeed, there is often no way to defend all of these squares. Rather, black's idea is often to trade off queens. This can be accomplished by threatening to explode white's king while black maneuvers their queen to a square that allows them to trade the queens off the board. The resulting position is often relatively equal, since black's pushed pawns are hardly a weakness now.

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Once you fully understand this concept, take a look at this position where it's white to move and decide what white's best move is and why:

Before discussing white's best move, we must first understand all of black's threats. Black's immediate threats appear to be Qg2 and Qxc2. Qg2 in this position is indeed much better for black, as black will get a knight, a bishop, and a rook for the queen, plus black will have a pleasant initiative. Qxc2 is also a big threat, since black would go up an enormous amount of material. There are a couple tries that attempt to defend both of these ideas:

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You may be tempted to try Qf3, which would defend the g2 square and stop black from winning your queen should they take on c2. You may also be tempted to try Ng5, making Qg2 a silly looking sacrifice and Qxc2 much less effective, since you'll guarentee an infiltrated knight. These moves both lose to the same idea. The move Bb4! opens up weaknesses on both d3 and c2 for black's queen to infiltrate. See, the right way to analyze this position is to view it as if it was the original position we looked at. Since black's bishop can come out to b4 with a tempo, black's queen is actually threatening to land on all the same squares we mentioned in the first position: c2, d3, g2 & f3 (just flipped, since we are on the white side now). Knowing this, the right idea in this position is just like the first: 5. Qh5 g6 6. Qxf5! and white is better.

Qf4 or Qd4?

At this point, I hope you're comfortable defending against an opponent's queen in the center of the board. Now let's take it a step further by deciding precisely how to trade off our queen for our opponent's queen. Take a look at the two positions below:

The key difference in these positions is that, in the first one, the white knight is on h3 and, in the second one, the white knight is on g1. This is important to understand: If the opponent has a knight on g1, you must play Qd4, since playing Qf4 would allow white to block with Nf3. After you trade the queens on e5, the knight can jump in to g5 or e5 and likely end the game. If the opponent does not have a knight on g1, you must play Qf4. Playing Qd4 would allow white to castle, giving them a valuable tempo. These principles of course apply if you are playing the as white pieces as well.

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Lastly, I will add that in rare cases, you may find that the best way to defend a queen on e5 may be a different idea. For instance, I know of a rare line where Qf6 is actually the best idea to hold, since, in that line, Qxe6 gives too much activity to black. However, these cases are rare enough that I won't bother covering them. I would estimate that roughly 90% of centralized queens can be stopped by the ideas discussed in this blog.

Conclusion

To recap, here are the main ideas discussed in this study:

• The best way to defend a centralized queen is often not by defending all of the squares it's attacking, but instead by finding a way to trade off your queen for the opponent's centralized queen
• Even if the opponent has not played Bb4/Bb5 yet, a centralized queen is still technically threatening to come in to d3 & c2/d6 & c7
• Play Qf4 if there is no knight on g1, and play Qd4 is there is a knight on g1

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