Hello chess fans, welcome to another Hivechess Lecture where I share my knowledge about the game with you all. Just a simple form of helping others to improve their game. Here are some Hivechess lectures I have posted in the past. You could go through them. Also, do not forget today is another round of the Friday Hivechess Tournament hosted by @stayoutoftherz. Details below as well.
HiveChess Lecture - Smith Morra
HiveChess Lecture - Endgame Tip 4
Hive Chess Lecture: The Benko Gambit
And details for the Hivechess tournament taking place today:
Reminder: Round 6 of the Hivechess Tournament S21 , Friday 19h GMT
Today's topic: Activating a Major piece is one that came to my mind when I was watching a game played at the Coventry International Chess Opens 2025. It was one where the opening played was quite interesting, and there is something to be learned from it.
In the game of chess, two major pieces are the queen and the rook, which makes sense why they are placed behind the pawns and requires the creation of space before they can move. For the queen, you have to push a pawn or two to give her space to move, while the rook, you have to do the same, but this piece also has the opportunity to be activated once the king is castled. It takes the king and the rook for castling to take place.
The opening goes like this:
1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 g5 4. e3
From the position above, this is why I said the opening played in this game is quite interesting. It is called the Dutch Defense: Hopton Attack, and on move 4, white already has a checkmate threat. If black goes ahead to capture the bishop on a4, the white queen moves to h5 and delivers a checkmate on the chessboard.
Without dwelling too much on it. There are two vital points when white went ahead to activate a major piece, the rook.
First off, 11. Rc1
At first glance, white is simply attacking the black queen on c3; that is what you see, but there is more to what meets the eye. The rook on c1 is also controlling the semi-open file. A semi-open file is an almost open file, with just a single piece left on the file. In this case, the pawn is on c5. When black's queen moves away from the attack, the c-file is opened to the white rook on c1. What a nice file to control. More control of the game, the better your chances of winning.
Next, 25. Rh5
Here, white has activated another major piece again, the second rook. Bringing the second rook to a befitting square and introducing the piece into the fight is something worth doing. These little details compounded into a victory for white. Activation of major pieces is a means to press on your edge. Press on that advantage you have by bringing out your major pieces to fight. They are not meant to stay at the back, looking pretty.
Here is the link to the game if you want to watch the entire game:
Game Link
And here is the Game PGN
[Event "ECF Coventry International 2025"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/broadcast/ecf-coventry-international-2025--open/round-8/UQDkwuRg/xRbxBK3f"]
[Date "2025.10.30"]
[Round "8.6"]
[White "Harikrishnan.A.Ra"]
[Black "Shearsby, Jude"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2534"]
[WhiteTitle "IM"]
[WhiteFideId "5081483"]
[BlackElo "2330"]
[BlackTitle "FM"]
[BlackFideId "462527"]
[TimeControl "G90+30"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "A80"]
[Opening "Dutch Defense: Hopton Attack"]
[UTCDate "2025.10.30"]
[UTCTime "14:52:36"]
[BroadcastName "ECF Coventry International 2025 | Open"]
[BroadcastURL "https://lichess.org/broadcast/ecf-coventry-international-2025--open/round-8/UQDkwuRg"]
[GameURL "https://lichess.org/broadcast/ecf-coventry-international-2025--open/round-8/UQDkwuRg/xRbxBK3f"]
1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 g5 4. e3 Bg7 5. Bg3 c5 6. c3 Qb6 7. Nd2 Nf6 8. Bd3 Qxb2 9. Bxf5 Qxc3 10. Bg6+ Kd8 11. Rc1 Qa3 12. dxc5 Qa6 13. Nc4 Nd5 14. Qxd5 Qxg6 15. Ne5 Qe6 16. Qxe6 dxe6 17. Nf7+ Ke8 18. Nxh8 Bxh8 19. Ne2 Bd7 20. f3 Na6 21. h4 Bf6 22. hxg5 hxg5 23. f4 gxf4 24. Nxf4 Rc8 25. Rh5 Kf7 26. Bh4 Bxh4+ 27. Rxh4 Nxc5 28. Rh5 b6 29. Kf1 Kf6 30. Kg1 e5 31. Nd5+ Ke6 32. Rd1 Ne4 33. Rh7 Rc2 34. Rxe7+ Kd6 35. Rxd7+ Kxd7 36. Nf6+ Ke6 37. Nxe4 Rxa2 38. Rd2 Rxd2 39. Nxd2 a5 40. e4 b5 41. Kf2 a4 42. g4 Kf6 43. Kg3 Kg5 44. Nf3+ Kf6 45. g5+ Kg6 46. Kg4 b4 47. Nxe5+ Kg7 48. Nc4 1-0
See you in the next class.
I am @samostically, a chess player and writer. I love to share the experience I have gained from different battles over the 64 squares and the knowledgeable insights from books I have read. But most importantly, I am a Midnight Owl and I founded the community Midnight Letters.
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