Spiders excel at positions where there's not much choice, but the earlier a good opportunity arises to use them the more powerful they become, an effectively used spider just means you have another more powerful piece still available
Could you do same thing for grasshoper please ? It's the only piece I can't use effectively. I always use it late game, either for finishing moves to fill spots around opponent queen or for direct drop. Is their any situation for example early game where you would place grasshoper instead of another piece ? I find it really hard to justify Thx !
The grasshopper is actually mostly useful in the late middlegame and endgame but there might me some exceptions.. I'll keep it in mind for a new video :)
Thanks for the video! I really liked how there were multiple examples which overlapped in S uses. One thing I took away from this video, is that when using the spider as a pin replacement, in all the examples, the opponent could not get a double pin without giving up some pin somewhere else.
Thanks for watching! The pin replacement would need a series of videos itself :D of course many times the opponent has the chance to stop it in different ways but as you said there is usually a downside and it's not easy to understand pros and cons!
Good video, maybe I would added the defensive use, for example in a antispawn opening sometimes you could place a spider in line with your pillbug and in this is a good space to defend some opponent ant or beetle in attack. 🕷🕸
The spider is great because it focuses your opponent's attention. Your spider might have limited options but that means your opponent's reactions will also be limited.
The point is that it's not hard to stop a spider but it requires an investment. If this is an ant to pin it for instance, in the long run that investment (in terms of tempo and hive strucure) might be costly even if it seems only a nuisance at first. Also threatening to pin an ant or a beetle with a spider is always effective as it can create material deficit in the endgame if not addressed.
You're perfectly right. I might call it that way sometimes too. But it was formalised by Jewdoka in his first book and he doesn't have much of a chess background I think or he just didn’t want to recycle the term. So since then most people call it ambiguous although spider fork sounds good and clear to me! (Fun fact: often we call zugzwang 'bugzwang' ahah)
The spider sucks so hard we made up our own house rule. Twice per game the spider can devour an opponent and take its place. The devoured piece is taken out of the game. That turned the spider from a joke to a serious threat.
it's fun to give spiders special abilities but it's also satisfying to be able to use a spider to win or gain a big advantage in a game using the standard rules :)
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Nice video!
Thanks! :)
Spiders excel at positions where there's not much choice, but the earlier a good opportunity arises to use them the more powerful they become, an effectively used spider just means you have another more powerful piece still available
Yes! It's all matter of relative value of the pieces :)
Could you do same thing for grasshoper please ? It's the only piece I can't use effectively. I always use it late game, either for finishing moves to fill spots around opponent queen or for direct drop.
Is their any situation for example early game where you would place grasshoper instead of another piece ? I find it really hard to justify
Thx !
The grasshopper is actually mostly useful in the late middlegame and endgame but there might me some exceptions.. I'll keep it in mind for a new video :)
Thanks for the video! I really liked how there were multiple examples which overlapped in S uses.
One thing I took away from this video, is that when using the spider as a pin replacement, in all the examples, the opponent could not get a double pin without giving up some pin somewhere else.
Thanks for watching! The pin replacement would need a series of videos itself :D of course many times the opponent has the chance to stop it in different ways but as you said there is usually a downside and it's not easy to understand pros and cons!
As ever, a good video. Grasshopper next please
I'm thinking about it! :) thank you!
Good video, maybe I would added the defensive use, for example in a antispawn opening sometimes you could place a spider in line with your pillbug and in this is a good space to defend some opponent ant or beetle in attack. 🕷🕸
You're right! Maybe there will be a part 2😁
The spider is great because it focuses your opponent's attention. Your spider might have limited options but that means your opponent's reactions will also be limited.
The point is that it's not hard to stop a spider but it requires an investment. If this is an ant to pin it for instance, in the long run that investment (in terms of tempo and hive strucure) might be costly even if it seems only a nuisance at first. Also threatening to pin an ant or a beetle with a spider is always effective as it can create material deficit in the endgame if not addressed.
Instead of ambiguous spider, couldn’t we call it a spider fork? Like knight fork in chess?
You're perfectly right. I might call it that way sometimes too. But it was formalised by Jewdoka in his first book and he doesn't have much of a chess background I think or he just didn’t want to recycle the term. So since then most people call it ambiguous although spider fork sounds good and clear to me!
(Fun fact: often we call zugzwang 'bugzwang' ahah)
The spider sucks so hard we made up our own house rule. Twice per game the spider can devour an opponent and take its place. The devoured piece is taken out of the game. That turned the spider from a joke to a serious threat.
it's fun to give spiders special abilities but it's also satisfying to be able to use a spider to win or gain a big advantage in a game using the standard rules :)
The spider is very useful. Check out any game between strong players