Jeremy's Chess Ascent · The Coach Key
Model answers and scoring, for whoever sits with him. Book One, to 1600.
Prepared by Dad.
How to use this key
This key is for whoever sits beside Jeremy, including me. Its purpose is not to catch him out, but to reward honest, sound thinking.
Let him finish first. Have him set the position up, work it, and say his whole answer out loud before you open this key. Only then compare his idea with the model answer below. Reward a sound thinking process over exact wording: many of these exercises, especially in Units 2, 3 and 4, accept any well-reasoned answer, and the model given here is one strong version rather than the only one. Where a single move is required, it is named.
| Score | Award it when |
|---|---|
| 0 | No usable idea. |
| 1 | A partial idea, or the right instinct with the wrong reason. |
| 2 | The correct idea, clearly stated. |
| 3 | The correct idea, plus clean calculation or a full spoken explanation. |
A unit is scored out of 18. Treat 70% (about 13) as the target, but never promote on a workbook score alone: the gate is three scores of 70% or more on three different days, together with evidence from his serious games. The book measures understanding; only real games prove it has become skill.
The most valuable question in this whole book is not “what is the move?” but “why?”. Ask it gently and often, and let him teach you the answer. A boy who can explain a thing has truly learned it, and a boy who is listened to learns that his thinking matters. Score the chess; but treasure the child.
The answers
Each answer names what earns full marks. The exercise numbers match the workbook exactly.
Six sharp moments from your own repertoire. Some are blunders to sidestep in your own hands; some are gifts to punish. Every board is shown from your side.
1You are Black in your French, a move from grabbing the b2-pawn with ...Qxb2. Should you take it? Calculate White's reply first.
Model answer
No. ...Qxb2?? loses your queen to Bxb2, because b2 is guarded by the c1-bishop, so your queen would walk onto a defended square with no escape. Never send your queen pawn-grabbing onto a guarded square; count the defenders first. (Curiously, the other grab here, ...Nxd4, does work, and you meet it again in Unit 4.)
2You are Black in the Caro-Kann and want to develop naturally with ...Ngf6. Is it safe here? Look hard at what White would have.
Model answer
No! ...Ngf6?? walks into 6.Nd6, a smothered checkmate: the knight covers the escape and your own pieces block every flight square. In these ...Nd7 lines, play ...e6 first, or bring the other knight, so the f6-square stays safe for your king. One careless developing move, and it is over.
3You are Black in the Accepted, a pawn up after ...dxc4. You are tempted to defend the extra pawn with ...b5. Is holding on wise? Look a few moves ahead.
Model answer
No. Clinging with ...b5 is refuted: 3...b5?! 4.a4 c6 5.axb5 cxb5 6.Qf3! skewers your a8-rook down the open diagonal, and the rook is boxed in by your own a7-pawn and b8-knight, so you lose material. Never build your game around keeping the c4-pawn; hand it back and develop.
4You are Black in a Queen's Gambit Declined. White has just snatched on d5 with 7.Nxd5, betting your f6-knight is pinned to the queen. Punish it: win a piece.
Model answer
7...Nxd5! springs the Elephant Trap. After 8.Bxd8 Bb4+ 9.Qd2 Bxd2+ 10.Kxd2 Kxd8 you emerge a clean piece ahead, because the check on b4 wins back the queen with interest. The pin was an illusion: the g5-bishop was overworked.
5You are White in your Italian and tempted to sacrifice with Bxf7+. Calculate Black's reply and decide: is the sacrifice sound?
Model answer
No, it is unsound. After Bxf7+ Rxf7 you have given a whole bishop for a single pawn with no follow-up, and Black is a clean piece for a pawn ahead. Never make a sacrifice you have not calculated to a clear gain; if there is no concrete attack, keep your bishop.
6White to move. Mate in one. Then write one sentence on how Black should have prevented it.
Model answer
1.Ra8 is checkmate. The back rank is fatal because Black's f7-g7-h7 pawns never made 'luft', an escape square. Black should have played ...h6 or ...g6 at a quiet moment. Guard your own back rank before you go attacking.
One position from each of your six openings. Not a move to find, a plan to explain: say the idea out loud.
7You are White in the Italian. Name the central break you are preparing, the move that supports it, and why you play slowly.
Model answer
The break is d4. You prepare it with c3 (often adding Re1 and Nbd2-f1-g3), building up before you strike. That is the Giuoco Pianissimo idea: a slow, sound build-up, then d4 to open the centre once every piece is ready. Effort and patience, then the blow.
8You are Black in the Advance French, and you have just played ...c5. What square does it attack, what usually follows, and what is your long-term plan for the light-squared bishop?
Model answer
...c5 attacks d4, the base of White's pawn chain. It is followed by ...Nc6 and ...Qb6 to pile onto d4, and later ...f6 to strike the head of the chain on e5. The bad light-squared bishop is freed by ...b6 and ...Ba6, or comes to life once a timely ...f6 opens lines.
9You are Black in the Classical Caro-Kann and have played ...Bf5. Why is getting this bishop out before ...e6 the whole point of the Caro?
Model answer
Because it solves the one problem that dogs the French: the light-squared bishop. By developing ...Bf5 before ...e6, you avoid burying it behind your own pawns, so you get French-like solidity but with your good bishop already active outside the chain. Then ...e6, ...Nd7 and ...Ngf6 complete a rock-solid house.
10You are White, offering the Queen's Gambit with 2.c4. You are not truly giving away a pawn, so what is the real point of c4?
Model answer
c4 challenges Black's d5-pawn to win a foothold in the centre. If Black takes (...dxc4) you regain the pawn easily and get a strong centre with quick development; if Black declines (...e6, ...c6) you keep lasting pressure on d5. It is a gambit in name only: the pawn comes back, and the fight is for the centre.
11You are Black in the Queen's Gambit Declined, your house complete. Name your two freeing breaks and the one condition that must be true before you play either.
Model answer
The two breaks are ...c5 and ...e5 (the second usually prepared by ...dxc4 first). The single condition is that your development is complete and your king is safe. A break from a finished position is a hammer; the very same break from an unfinished one is a crack in your own wall.
12You are Black in the Queen's Gambit Accepted. You took on c4 but do not intend to keep the pawn. What did you gain instead, and what is this ...c5 doing?
Model answer
By handing the pawn back you bought fast, free development and open lines, and you avoided tying your whole game to a pawn you cannot hold. ...c5 strikes the base of White's little centre on d4; after ...cxd4 you either play against White's isolated d-pawn or open the position for your active pieces. Open hands, then strike.
The pawn skeletons your openings produce. Learn what each side wants, and the middlegame will teach itself.
13White has an isolated queen's pawn on d4, exactly the kind you meet in your Accepted, and you are Black, playing against it. In which phase is it weak, and what are your two main methods to exploit it?
Model answer
An isolated queen's pawn is weak in the endgame, a fixed target that cannot defend itself. Against it you do two things: blockade the square in front of it, d5, with a knight that no pawn can chase, and trade pieces to steer toward the endgame where the pawn falls. Meanwhile you deny White the freeing d4-d5 advance.
14Here you are Black and you OWN the isolated queen's pawn on d5. In which phase is it strong, and how should you play?
Model answer
The isolated pawn is strong in the middlegame: it grants space and supports your pieces on the e4 and c4 outposts, and it hands your rooks half-open files. So keep the pieces on, play actively toward the enemy king, and avoid trades. Spend its energy while the board is full, before the endgame arrives.
15This is the Carlsbad structure (after cxd5 exd5). As the defender with the black pieces, what is White's standard plan, and name your three answers to it.
Model answer
White's plan is the minority attack: b4-b5 to trade and leave you a weak, backward c6-pawn on a half-open file. Your three answers: restrain the advance with ...a5, simplify with ...Ne4 to ease the cramp, and counter-attack on the kingside (...Re8, ...Nf8-g6, ...f5) where White has committed nothing.
16This is the Advance French pawn chain. Explain the 'attack the base' principle: where do you strike, and why not begin with ...f6?
Model answer
You attack the base of the chain, d4, with ...c5, ...Nc6 and ...Qb6, because the base is what holds the head on e5 up. You delay ...f6 (a strike at the head) until your pieces are developed and d4 is under real pressure; play ...f6 too early and you simply open lines for White's better-developed kingside. Base first, head second.
17Compare bishops: your light-squared bishop has reached b7 in the Accepted. Why is it a 'good' bishop here, and what is the general rule for good versus bad bishops?
Model answer
It is good because it sits outside your own pawn chain, raking the long diagonal toward White's king, with no friendly pawns fixed on its colour to block it. The general rule: a bishop is bad when your own pawns sit on its colour and hem it in, and good when they do not. Trade off your bad bishops; keep and use your good ones.
18Black's knight sits on d5. What makes a square a genuine outpost, and why is this knight so strong there?
Model answer
An outpost is a square, usually in or near the enemy camp, that no enemy pawn can any longer attack. Here d5 cannot be challenged by a white pawn (the c- and e-pawns are gone), so the knight cannot be chased and dominates the centre, supporting your play and eyeing key squares. A knight on a secure outpost is worth a rook's weight in influence.
The habits of choosing a move: candidates, calculation, prophylaxis, the honest blunder-check.
19White to move in a quiet Italian middlegame. Practise candidate moves: name three candidates of different types, forcing, improving, and prophylactic, and say which you prefer and why.
Model answer
A sample set: forcing = d4 (strike the centre); improving = Nf1-g3 (re-route the knight toward f5 and the kingside); prophylactic = h3 (stop ...Bg4 pinning your knight). In a quiet position the improving and prophylactic moves usually come first; you play d4 once your pieces are ready. Reward any three sensible, correctly labelled candidates and a reasoned choice.
20Black to move in the Advance French. Two grabs tempt you: ...Qxb2 and ...Nxd4. Calculate carefully, all the way to the checks: is either one safe right now?
Model answer
No, both fail here, and the second is the instructive one. ...Qxb2?? simply loses the queen to Bxb2 (the c1-bishop guards b2). And ...Nxd4? runs into a zwischenzug: after ...Nxd4 Nxd4 Qxd4 White plays Bb5+!, and the in-between check wins your queen (Bb5+ Bd7 Bxd7+ Kxd7 Qxd4). The d4-pawn only becomes winnable once you have played ...Bd7 first, taking the b5-check away, and that is the whole point of the Milner-Barry move-order. The lesson: before you grab, always look for the in-between check.
21White to move. Before you make your own plan, ask: what does Black want, and can you stop it cheaply? Find a prophylactic move.
Model answer
Black would like ...Bg4, pinning your f3-knight, and ...Na5, hitting your c4-bishop. A good prophylactic move is h3 (taking g4 away from the bishop), or Bb3 (side-stepping ...Na5 in advance). Prophylaxis means spotting the opponent's idea and preventing it before you build your own.
22You are Black, playing against White's isolated d4-pawn in your Accepted, and a pair of knights can be traded. Do you trade, and why?
Model answer
Yes. As a rule, when you fight against an isolated pawn you welcome exchanges: every trade brings the endgame closer, where the isolani is simply weak, and removes a piece that could have generated activity for its owner. The owner of the isolated pawn wants the opposite, to keep pieces on. Trade toward the pawn's weakness.
23Black to move in a Classical Caro tabiya. Evaluate the position with one sentence for each of the five elements: material, king safety, activity, structure, space.
Model answer
Material: equal. King safety: both sound; Black will castle shortly. Activity: roughly balanced, with Black's light bishop well placed on g6. Structure: Black is very solid with no weaknesses, while White has a touch more central space. Space: White is slightly ahead thanks to d4 and h4. Overall: balanced and comfortable for Black.
24White to move in a symmetrical Italian. Run the blunder-check out loud before you choose: name every black check, capture and threat, then give one safe move.
Model answer
Checks: none for Black right now. Captures: ...Nxe4 (loses a piece to Nxe4, since e4 is defended) and ...Bxf2+ (unsound). Threats: the ...Bg4 pin and ...Nd4 ideas. A safe move: h3 (stopping ...Bg4) or Bg5/Be3 to finish developing. Always run checks, captures, threats, and only then choose your move.
The handful of endings that decide games at your level. Technique you can trust, not luck you hope for.
25White to move: king e6, pawn e5, black king e8. Is this a win or a draw with best play? Explain using the opposition.
Model answer
It is a draw. With the kings facing on the e-file and White to move, Black holds the opposition. After 1.Kd6 Kd8 2.e6 Ke8 3.e7 Kf7 the king must abandon the pawn, and 1.Kf6 Kf8 is the same story. The rule: the defender draws by keeping the opposition with the king in front of the pawn.
26The same position, but now it is Black to move. Who wins, and what does that teach about the opposition?
Model answer
Now White wins, because Black must give way: 1...Kd8 2.Kf7 or 1...Kf8 2.Kd7, and the king shoulders Black aside to escort the pawn from e6 to e8. The only thing that changed was whose move it is, and that single tempo is the whole power of the opposition. Take it and you win; concede it and you draw.
27White to move: pawn a4, black king f6. Does the pawn promote, or is it caught? Use the rule of the square, no counting of moves.
Model answer
The pawn promotes. The black king is outside the 'square' of the a4-pawn (the box a4-a8-e8-e4), and after 1.a5 the box shrinks and the king falls further behind. The rule of the square: draw the box from the pawn to its queening square; if the enemy king is not in it, and cannot step in on its move, the pawn runs home.
28King and queen versus king. Describe the mating technique in two sentences, and name the one thing you must never do.
Model answer
Keep the queen a knight's-move from the enemy king to herd it to the edge of the board, then march your own king up to support the mate on that edge. The one thing to avoid is stalemate: never take the enemy king's last free square unless your own king already guards the mating square.
29King and rook versus king. What is the method, and why can the rook not do it alone?
Model answer
Use the rook to cut the enemy king onto one rank or file, then walk your own king up until it faces the enemy king in opposition; the rook then delivers mate along the edge. The rook cannot mate alone because it needs the king to remove the escape squares. That is the 'shrinking box' method.
30White to move with a three-versus-two queenside majority (a2, b2, c2 against a7, b7). How do you make a passed pawn, and what is the golden rule?
Model answer
Advance the unopposed 'candidate' pawn first: the c-pawn has no black pawn in front of it, so push c4-c5, supported by b4, to manufacture a passed pawn. The golden rule of majorities: push the candidate (the pawn with no enemy pawn opposing it) first, keep your king in support, and never begin with the pawn the enemy can simply blockade.
A closing word
Whoever you are, reading this beside him, thank you. If you are his mother, a coach, a friend, or me on a later evening, you are doing the most important thing in this whole programme, which is simply to be present while he works.
Keep one thing above the chess. The scores in this book measure his understanding of a game. They do not measure him. A low mark is information, never a verdict; a high mark is encouragement, never the point. What we are truly building, one honest exercise at a time, is a boy who does careful work when no one is watching and grows into a man who can be trusted with far more than a chessboard.
So mark the answers fairly, ask him why, and let him see you are proud of the effort long before the result.
Dad