Hivechess Lecture: Look for the Opponent’s Threats

Hello chess players, I intend to resume the HiveChess tournament by the start of October, However before then, I’d drop some lectures.

Welcome to a new Hivechess lecture, where we'll look at a lesson on identifying the opponent's threats. This is something that is very vital in the establishment of good chess principles, especially at the start of one's chess journey. We tend to forget at the start that chess is a two-player game and not just in the sense that two players can play the game only, but it is a clash of ideas between two persons. So you have to think about the other person's plan as well while playing.

Over time, it has come to my attention through several game play online and over the board that there are certain positions where the best move is simply to prevent your opponent's plan, not attack a piece, aiming for a checkmate or play some extravagant tactical blow on the chessboard, but just defend your position.

In today's Hivechess lecture, we will be looking at the game played between International Master Flores Quillas from Peru with the white pieces against Grandmaster Sindarov, Javokhir from Uzbekistan with the black pieces.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 b6 4. Bb2 Bb7 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4

The game was a Sicilian Defense for the opening, and by move 11, white has a pretty decent position where his pieces were developed, the king castled, a strong bishops on b2 and g2, controlling the long diagonals, which is a good sign or something you want to have at the beginning of any chess game. These are the kind of things that make up the opening principles of chess: good piece placement.

11. Qxd4 Qc7 12. e5 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Ne8 14. Ne4 Qc6 15. f3 Qxc2+ 16. Rf2 Qc6 17. Rc1 Qb7

Things remained evenly balanced after the exchange of pieces, but the Grandmaster did not take long to make the threats more severe, starting by exploiting the open c-file.

Qb7 18. Rfc2 Rd8 19. Nd6 Qa6 20. a4 Bg5 21. f4 Be7 22. Kh3 Nxd6 23. exd6 Bf6 24. Qe4 Bxb2 25. Rxb2 Rc8 26. Rc7 Qf1+ 27. Rg2 f5

With the queen coming in, this was the point white failed to keep track of black's idea and reason for the queen moving in, because this is where it took the game to a precise position. Black was aiming for a kingside attack and plans of bringing in more pieces, but the best part was sacrificing his queen when he got the white king trapped.

Here is the link to the game:
Game Link

And here is the game PGN

[Event "Olymp 2026 Open"]
[Site "Samarkand, Uzbekistan"]
[Date "2026.09.17"]
[Round "2.170"]
[White "Flores Quillas, Diego Saul Rodri"]
[Black "Sindarov, Javokhir"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2398"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[WhiteTitle "IM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteTeam "Peru"]
[BlackTeam "Uzbekistan"]
[WhiteFideId "3822508"]
[BlackFideId "14205483"]
[ECO "B40"]
[Opening "Sicilian Defense: French Variation, Westerinen Attack"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 b6 4. Bb2 Bb7 5. Nc3 Nc6
6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4
Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Qc7 12. e5 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Ne8 14. Ne4 Qc6
15. f3 Qxc2+ 16. Rf2 Qc6 17. Rc1 Qb7 18. Rfc2 Rd8
19. Nd6 Qa6 20. a4 Bg5 21. f4 Be7 22. Kh3 Nxd6
23. exd6 Bf6 24. Qe4 Bxb2 25. Rxb2 Rc8 26. Rc7 Qf1+
27. Rg2 f5 28. Qc2 Rcd8 29. Qe2 Rf6 30. Kh4 Rh6+
31. Kg5 Kf7 32. Qxf1 Rh3 0-1

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_{I am @samostically, a chess player and writer. I love to share the experience I have gained from different battles over the 64 squares and the knowledgeable insights from books I have read. But most importantly, I am a Midnight Owl and I founded the community Midnight Letters.}

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Thanks For Reading!