How many times did you hear chess players talking about weaknesses? I had a weak pawn structure, he had a weak castle, the weaknesses on the light squares. The weakness is often fatal if a player can and know how to exploit it.
The "can" part is a requirement to define a weakness. You might well have a "weak" king in a structurally compromised castle, but if the opponent has no artillery to attack it, the king is safe and not weak. You need to be able to exploit a weakness in order for that to be one. The other thing is that you must know how to exploit it. In my opinion the first step is to train yourself identifying weaknesses. Can you spot the weakness in the position below?
Black moves.
Sometimes it helps to look at the position from your opponent's side. This is because we change our approach when we think what we will do if our opponent play that move, rather than analysing lines hoping that the opponent will cooperate. Can you see it now?
The weakness is the square f2. Sometimes the weakness is a pawn, sometimes a square. In this case I would say that it is both. Can we exploit this weakness? Yes, we can.
1...Qh4!
The position is already over, as White's pieces are too uncoordinated to help the king defending the position. However, we have to know how to capitalise the position.
I will show you a few lines. In the game, my opponent played
2.g3 Qf3!
Now the bishop is under attack.
At this point White has two choices. He can play, as in the game,
3.Bxe4 Bxe4 4.f4
To avoid Qf3. But after Qf5 or Qe6 with the threat of Qh3, the game is over. Notice how White's pieces are helpless. The alternative was not to trade bishops.
3.Kg2 Ng5! 4.Qb7 c6!
Cutting off the connection between the queen and the bishop.
5.Bg4 Be4+ 6.Kf1 Nf3
And the invasion has been completed. White is lost. For example:
7.h4 Rd1 8.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 9.Kg2 Nxh4+ 10.Kh2 Rh1#
Maybe long but not very difficult to find. These were all forcing moves.
Let's go back to the position when Black just played 1...Qh4! attacking the weakness. Can White defend another way? Yes, he can...
2.Bxe4 Bxe4
The trade of minor pieces create a sort of transformation. Notice in fact that now the weakness is no longer the square/pawn f2, but the one in g2 (the weakness is define by the ability of your pieces to exploit it!). Black is threatening ...Rg6 and if g3 Qxh2+!!, Kxh2 Rh6+, Kg1 Rh1# with a beautiful checkmate pattern.
Unfortunately for White, he has no resources to stop Rg6 and the position is just lost. Notice that Black has sacrificed material (1 pawn) and allowed to play with a compromised pawn structure (c7, c5) in order to get the initiative and the possibility to build an attack. All Black's pieces coordinate magnificently, while White can only look at the game as a spectator. Did you find Qh4 by yourself? If you did, congratulations! You have the killing instinct. If not, what other move where you considering? You should compare your move with Qh4 to understand why you miss it. In this position (material and positional imbalances) Black cannot tergiversate. His advantage is now, and he allows White's pieces to develop or come back to defence, it will vanish. Train your killing instinct.
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