Joshn Waitzkin's Attacking Chess pgs 13-17 (Father-Son rivalry)
Let's consider the short-lived but brutal rivalry of Waitzkin vs. Waitzkin. For the first two months of my chess life, my father and I played nearly every day. We had some terrific battles. Dad thought he was pretty good and in our games he never held back. Some afternoons he beat me three or four times and afterwards I felt numb. But by the next day, after school, I was ready to fight him again. We must have played a hundred games before I finally beat him. After that, our competition changed in almost every respect. I recall that after my first win Dad was thrilled ... but this didn’t last. For the next couple of weeks, as I began to win more often, he read chess books to get the upper hand. He was terribly proud of my chess ability, but at the same time he seemed frustrated. He didn't like losing to me. For my part, I didn't really want to play him so much anymore. I felt uneasy about checkmating my own father, but for an uncomfortable several weeks or so, we kept playing until he realized that this competition was not very good for either of us.
We would square off seated on the floor on opposite sides of a stubby-legged coffee table in the living room of our apartment. I couldn't quite reach all the way across the board and on long moves more often than not knocked over half the pieces. More than once, Dad suggested that I did this after he had built a winning position. Maybe this was so. For sure, Dad couldn't reconstruct the position once it was scrambled, and in those early games of my career I was at my wit's end trying not to lose.
Anyhow, at the time of the following game, I had turned the tables on Dad and was winning most of our games. By now he had become a little gun-shy. In this game he figured he'd play it safe and copy my moves surely if his position were identical to mine nothing terrible would happen to him. Lots of beginners try the copycat strategy, but it is a critical error.
Here is the game:
Waitzkin-Waitzkin, 1983. I was White.
1 .e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Bc5
4.Nc3 Nf6
5.0-0 0-0
8.d3 d6
7.Bg5 Bg4
8.Nd5 Nd4
9.Nf6+ gf6
10.Bh6 Re8.
I had noticed that my father was copying my moves up to this point, so I set a little trap. You might try to find it.
Waitzkin-Waitzkin, 1983
(http://i.imgur.com/B1DuN.jpg)
HINT: I figured that his predictability would persist and his next two moves would be ... Nxf3 and Bh3. The question to ask yourself is: how can I change my position so that after he copies me I can take advantage?
I played 11.Kh1 ! and he played right into my hands:
11 ... Nf3 12.gf3 Bh3?
Now I used the small difference in the positions to win Black's queen. What did I play?
(http://i.imgur.com/EOJ9X.jpg)
HINT: Notice that Black's king is exposed to check on the g-file, while my king is safely tucked away behind the h-pawn. The rook can escape the bishop's attack and check the king, gaining a tempo. Then, check and check to win the queen.
I played 13.Rg1 +! Kh8 14.Bg7+ Kg8 15.Bf6+ (discovered check-the bishop has moved away exposing the king to the rook's attack. This is a double threat because the bishop is also attacking the black queen. We will look at these concepts again and again.) 15 . .. Kf8 16.Bxd8, and White is up a queen. Soon after this my father and I stopped battling on the coffee table.
In my chess life my father moved very quickly from major rival to passionate coach. He had misgivings about our early slugfests and would be the first person to say that unless your little kid is very, very good, don't try to beat him every game. Chances are, repeated thrashings will kill his or her love for chess rather than kindle it.
As a coach, my father was terribly earnest about my early games, and I believe that this helped instill in me a sense for the importance of chess. When I was eight or nine and had suffered a bad defeat, he would not talk about chess moves. He would say to me things like, "You know, Josh, instead of looking at the game you were looking all around the room." Even today he watches my face and body English for clues about the quality of my focus. Before important tournaments we talk a lot about the kinds of things I must do to bring myself into top form, and afterwards we try to figure out what I might have done better: Did I study enough? Too much? Did I study the wrong material? Had I done enough physical training before the tournament? Had I slept enough? This, I believe, is the best way for a coach or a parent to help a young player. I am always appalled when I hear a frustrated dad scolding his four-foot son for playing queen to h6 instead of rook to a7. I wonder if that parent believes that he is helping his little warrior. His chess player will play brilliantly and make mistakes in the course of learning to attack and defend. It is the role of a parent to bring a healthy, well-rested child to the game, and then to focus on the psychological aspects of chess: to encourage good concentration, coolness under pressure, stamina, and patience to turn an advantage into a win. Sometimes a dad or mom should be no more than a shoulder to lean on, someone with a strong, fresh perspective. Life goes on. You win and you lose. You'll get 'em next time. Let's go get an ice cream cone.
SG's note: I scanned and OCR'd the pages... please forgive me for any typos and/or spacing I may have missed.