THE DOUBLE FREDDIE

Do you know Freddie, Gerry and Harry? If you know them, and know how to make the most of them, they'll help you win lots of games. But you'll only know who they are if you've got the board the right way round. So first of all check that you've set up the White pieces on the RANKS numbered 1 and 2 on your board, and the Black pieces on the RANKS numbered 7 and 8 on your board.

In most of your games it will be best for you to CASTLE on the KING-SIDE, moving your King to the g-FILE (g1 or g8) and your Rook to the f-file (f1 or f8). You'll remember that we call the pawns after their files: a-pawns, b-pawns and so on.

Freddie, Gerry and Harry are your f-pawn, your g-pawn and your h-pawn. Imagine that you're playing football. The King is the goal. If you're White and you've castled King-side your defenders are your Rook on f1, your Knight on f3 and ... Freddie, Gerry and Harry.

Try, if at all possible, not to move Freddie, Gerry and Harry early on in the game. Every time one of them moves up the board it weakens squares and opens lines for the enemy strikers to attack and put the ball in the net.

In this lesson we look at an attacking plan designed to force your opponent's Gerry to change his name to Freddie. When this happens your Queen comes in, and, with the help of a Bishop or a Knight, scores the winning goal.

Here's an example.

1. e2-e4 e7-e5

Both players move the pawn in front of their King two squares.

2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6

White's Knight THREATENS the Black e-pawn and the Black Knight DEFENDS.

3. Bf1-c4 Bf8-c5

Both players move their Bishops onto strong diagonals, attacking the weak f-pawns.

4. d2-d3 Ng8-f6

White prepares to develop his other Bishop, while Black develops a Knight.

5. Nb1-c3 d7-d6 (Diagram)

White develops a Knight while Black prepares to develop his other Bishop.

You'll see that we have a SYMMETRICAL position. Both sides have developed their pieces in the same way. This makes the opening easier to learn because the plans for both players are the same.

Stop here and decide what move you'd play next for White.

I wonder how many of you played Nf3-g5 here? It's very tempting, isn't it, to THREATEN a lovely KNIGHT FORK on f7? But the move isn't very good, as you'll find out later in the course. Black can DEFEND simply by CASTLING and later gain time by driving the Knight back.

Reasonable moves for White include 0-0 (although, as you'll see, White will have to be careful after this move), Bc1-e3 and Nc3-d5, but the move we recommend you play here is...

6. Bc1-g5

What's the big idea of this move? White develops his Bishop on the same diagonal as the Black Queen. If the Knight on f6 moves at any time, for instance to g4, what will White do? Of course, he'll zap the Queen on d8! We say that the Bishop on g5 PINS the Knight on f6.

Good moves for Black here are Nc6-a5, h7-h6 and Bc8-e6. Bc8-g4, continuing to copy White, is also possible. But let's see what happens if Black castles here.

6.... 0-0 (Diagram)

What should White play in this position? Don't forget the Black Knight is PINNED.

Imagine you're wrestling someone and you've got them PINNED to the ground so that they can't move. You can then hit them with everything you've got and eventually they'll have to give up. How can you ATTACK the PINNED Knight here? There's only one way to do it...

7. Nc3-d5

Now it's very easy for Black to make a mistake. If he takes your Knight on d5 with his Knight what will you do? Will you recapture the Knight? Of course not: you'll take the Queen instead.

Sometimes Black sees this and decides to move his Queen to get out of the PIN! What would you do if Black played his Queen to e8 here? The answer is you'd play Bg5xf6, and if g7xf6 in reply, what then? You'd play Nd5xf6+, CHECKING and THREATENING the Queen on e8: a FORK!

Instead of these moves we'll give Black a fairly useless move on the other side of the board.

7... a7-a6

In this sort of position White has two plans: take on f6 with the Knight and mate on g7 with Bishop and Queen or take on f6 with the Bishop and mate on h7 with Knight and Queen.

We'll start with Plan A

8. Nd5xf6+ g7xf6

Black's best defender, the Knight on f6, has been shown the red card. Gerry, the centre back, has changed his name to Freddie and moved over to the wing. There's an open goal just waiting for White.

9. Bg5-h6 Rf8-e8 (Diagram)

If you could put your Queen anywhere on the board, where would it be? That's right: g7 which is CHECKMATE - THE KISS OF DEATH, with the Bishop on h6 holding the Queen's hand. So how can we get her there?

10. Nf3-h4

The Knight moves out of the way to let the Queen come out. At the moment the Black Bishop controls g4 so the Knight heads for f5 to cut the Bishop off.

10... b7-b5?

11. Nh4-f5!

Don't get too excited and play Qd1-g4+ too soon!

11... Bc8xf5

12. e4xf5 b5xc4 (Diagram)

And you know what happens next. White's Queen does her impersonation of Michael Owen and scores the winning goal.

13. Qd1-g4+ Kg8-h8

14. Qg4-g7#

Let's go back to the start and see if you remember the moves of the opening.

1. e2-e4 e7-e5

2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6

3. Bf1-c4 Bf8-c5

4. d2-d3 Ng8-f6

5. Nb1-c3 d7-d6

6. Bc1-g5 (PIN!)

It's easy to remember how to play this opening: Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Pawn, Knight, Bishop! In that order!

6... 0-0

7. Nc3-d5

ATTACKING THE PINNED PIECE!

7... a7-a6

This time we'll look at PLAN B. Now the Bishop captures on f6.

8. Bg5xf6 g7xf6 (Diagram)

Again, the Black Knight has been sent off, and Gerry has turned into Freddie.

Where do you want the White Queen this time? Now the answer's h6, when Black will not be able to defend f6. How do we get her there? Via d2.

9. Qd1-d2 b7-b5?

Black's best move was Bc8-e6, to get rid of the Knight.

10. Qd2-h6 b5xc4 (Diagram)

And again you know what to do, don't you?

11. Nd5xf6+ Kg8-h8

The only other move was Qd8xf6, losing the Queen.

12. Qh6xh7#

1. It's easy to remember how to play this opening for White: PAWN, KNIGHT, BISHOP, PAWN, KNIGHT, BISHOP!

2. In most openings you'll learn on this course it's important to castle as soon as possible. This one's the exception: the player who castles first often loses.

3. You can use the DOUBLE FREDDIE ATTACK in many different positions: 1. Use your Bishop to PIN the Knight on f3 or f6. 2. Attack the PINNED Knight. 3. Capture to smash up the enemy Pawns, turning Gerry into Freddie. 4. Bring your Queen in to deliver checkmate!

4. If your opponent's moved some pawns in front of his King, look for ways for getting your big guys in round the gaps he's left in his position.

5. When you've castled don't make pawn moves in front of your King without a very good reason.