defence · recognise → explain → apply

Maintain the blockade with a replacement piece

The opponent can exchange your first blockader, but another piece can recapture onto the same square.

Explanation styleChoose any style. Age is not playing strength; no birth date is needed.

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Notes and replay positions are saved. Practice games are temporary; export their PGN to keep them.

Choose an example

Viktor Korchnoi – Anatoly Karpov

World Championship, Merano · 1981.??.?? · 0-1

27... Rxd5 · White to move

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What to notice at 27... Rxd5

The knight blockade becomes a rook blockade. Karpov later converts his activity into a win.

A legally replayed historical example, not a claim that every move is best. A game’s result does not prove every defensive position was lost or drawn.

Game source ↗

Your thinking first

Name the signal, choose a plan, and test the opponent’s most challenging response.

What do you notice?What is your plan, and why?How could the opponent resist?

Recall and explain

1. Who inherits the d5 blockade after Bxd5?

Explain it in your own words before revealing.

Make it memorable

When one guard leaves, another takes the post.

Teach this to a friend in one minute. Then return to a different example and look for the same signal without being told its name.

Reflect and revisit

This is your self-assessment, not an engine grade or a promise of mastery.

Connect the ideas

Sources and further reading

Original LumaChess teaching and game analysis. Topic references are credited below; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

Exeter Chess Club — Weak pawns ↗