Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The Well Spring of Talent...

...as exhibited by the youthful. IMAGINATION!

In the position given down below a young student of mine had just played the move 24. ...Qe7 when the move 24. ...d5 would win the Bishop. But now something remarkable takes place.

DIAGRAM # I

25. Rad1 is played by another young student of mine. As you can see in Diagram II...
DIAGRAM # II



So young player two plays a probing move... seeing a mate already before hand.

DIAGRAM # III
25. ...Qc5.


Now the move 26. b4 attacks player two's Queen. Do you see his mate?

DIAGRAM # IV

Wait for it...
DIAGRAM # V



26. ...Qe3 CHECKMATE!

GAME OVER ROVER!

Do you know what my young Kindergartner student, the captain of the Black Pieces, said to me after this game? He said to me... "This was like one of the mates in the homework". So I double checked his homework also remembering an epaulet checkmate having been amongst the problems to solve. Guess what I found?




The actual problem that helped him to remember this checkmating pattern! That is talent!! He is only in Kindergarten right now too... imagine the combinations this youngster will be pulling off in a years' time!

-Coach Sean.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

THE POWER OF THE PIN~!

PROBLEM #1:

White to play and win.
PROBLEM #2:


Black to play and win.

Enjoy'em -Coach Sean.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Two additional problems before Tuesday! :P

White to play...
...in both problems
MATE in TWO!




Ok... one more problem then!

WHITE TO PLAY & WIN
?
:P
-Enjoy it, -Coach Sean.

WHITE to play and CHECKMATE in TWO MOVES!


WHITE TO PLAY
Checkmate in two moves!
Enjoy ~Coach Sean.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

An interesting K-3 U600 Game from two of my really good students.

Would anyone like to go over an interesting Scholastic chess game?

Well then, here you go!

Here is the big round three game from today's Supergroup tournament.
Round 3 S09 Feb/March SG D***** vs A*** CHESS GAME :

[Event "S09 Feb/March Supergroup Swiss"]
[Site "Chess Emporium, 10801 N 32nd St, Phoenix AZ 85028"]
[Date "2009.03.15"][Round "3"]
[White "Player 1"]
[Black "Player 2"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez: Alapin's defense"]
[ECO "C60"][NIC "RL.01"]
[Time control "G25 w/ 5 seconds delay"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5




We have a perfect RUY LOPEZ opening everyone! I am impressed... this is the opening that we should all want to play.

3. ...Bb4

Player 2, In the future we do not want to put the Bishop out on this b4 square when our opponent has yet to play his/her Knight to the c3-square. Player 1 gained some time by attacking your piece with his pawns... he could have built a "big center" which would have helped him a lot more than it would have helped you.

4. c3 Bc5 5. b4 Bd6



This square is not the best place for the Bishop. Let us take a look at what it is doing here.

The positives:

1.) It protects the e5 pawn. Good.
2.) It is not so easily attacked right now. This is also good.

The negatives:

1.) His friend, the other black Bishop, is blocked in.
2.) Kind of hard to move that d-pawn now.
3.) Your Bishop has become a big "pawn". It just looks at the pawn on e5 and cannot see very far into the distance.

Player 1, you did a very good job in chasing this Bishop. This is what you should have done and you did a good job in how you went about doing it.

Out of the opening Player 1 had stated his case a little better than Player 2. But let us not forget that there are three stages to the game of chess:

The OPENING

The MIDDLEGAME

and finally the ENDGAME.

Time for a timeless chess quote now! :P


"Before the endgame the gods have placed the middlegame!" -- TARRASCH

In most scholastic chess games you have to win not one, not three but only two of three chess "arguments" usually. Most Scholastic "debates" or chess arguments are won either in the opening or in the middlegame.

When playing chess, not just in scholastic chess events, it is always good to have "fighting spirit". If you are losing play on for the cheapo. Nothing wrong with it... remember chess is a contest of wills too... E. Lasker was of this opinion.

6. O-O Nf6



7. g3 O-O




I like King safety. Player 1's move six is perfect. But then he moved Gary pawn... not the best idea! Remember that FRANK, GARY & HARRY do not want to be moved unless they really, really must be moved. Their job is to guard the King.

Player 2 now has some light squares with which to use around player 1's King. A bit drafty those white squares! I would say that this is where we start to see the argument go in favor of player 2. His King is just a bit safer now.

8. Re1 Re8 9. Ng5 Be7 10. Bc4 d5

BLACK HAS GOOD DEVELOPMENT NOW!

Sorry, but we are all out of "FRIED LIVER ATTACKS" today! Black has too many pieces developed now so his 10. ...d5 move is a really good rebuttal to Player 1s statement of "I will attack your f7-square!" With the move 10. ...d5 Black says "No you shall not attack my f7-square!".

11. Bd3 dxe4 12. Bxe4 Nxe4

Right about here there was a bit of a touch move controversy. Player 1 had to admit that he had clicked the e4-pawn with his Bishop and so this is why he played that move. This is why we must restrain "The thinking hand"!

In the future, no "thinking hands" please! Let us all take our time... use our "SYSTEM" and find the best moves at the board. Double check them... and only then play them!

13. Nxe4 Bf5 14. d3




14. ...Bxe4 15. dxe4 Qd6 16. Bd2 Rad8

Now it is the second player who has better placed pieces. This may have been avoided... by picking some good squares for our team players to go sit on while they wait for the order to attack. That white Bishop on d2 looks kind of "pinned" now, doesn't he?

Who has the better placed pieces?
What should the first player's plan have been?
... and what plans do you like for the second player now?


17. Qg4 Bf6 18. c4



I sense an impatient move! There is a weak diagonal on the board for the first player now... can you see which diagonal it is of which I am speaking?

18. ...Re6 19. Bc1

The only defender of the a1 to h8 diagonal went to sleep... now his friend the a1 Rook is a goner!



19. ...Qd4 20. Be3 Qxa1

This is what I mean by "Is my team working together now?" If player 1 had developed ALL of his pieces and had his Rooks looking at each other then this would never have happened to him. That a1-Rook would be protected by his twin on the e1-square.

We now had touch move controversy number two. Here the move 21. Bc1 was played by that evil creature "THE THINKING HAND"! Do not let your hand think for you... use your brain and restrain that evil "THINKING HAND"!

21. Bc1 Qxb1

Of course... the Knight on b1 cannot be seen by the Rook on e1 and so it goes lost.

22. Kf1 Qd3+

This position is such a good one to show when you want to talk about the power of centralized chess pieces.

23. Re2 Nxb4 24. ... Now player 1 went below the five minute mark and so neither player recorded the game from here on out.



FINAL "RECORDED" POSITION


It eventually transpired that Player 1 created a back rank mate threat while Player two was hunting the White Monarch and playing power moves. He kept that King on the move with a lot of checks! Then he took some time to defend against the back rank checkmate.

In the final attack, Player 2 managed to overpower player 1's King and was about to deliver a checkmate when player 1 "flagged" which is to say lost on time.

I was really very much impressed by player 1's fighting spirit. Even when he was clearly losing the game he still managed to create some deadly threats against his opponent's King. Against a much less aware opponent he may very well have delivered checkmate to the Black Monarch via a back rank checkmate.

Player 2 impressed me with his handling of "material". I have noticed that when he goes up points he tries to control the position and to just liquidate into a won endgame. Very advanced sense of how to play actually.

Both player's played a really interesting game.

However in the future even if your opponent should go below the five minutes mark you should record your game and try to find the best moves. That is if you have a lot of time as did player 2 during this game. It was he who showed very good clock management skills and that made a really big difference in the end. What I am saying here really applies to anyone who finds them self in this situation. A really good move will cause a player who is short on time to, more than likely, play a mistake. One that you, the player with more time, will be able to take advantage of.

{White eventually was about to be checkmated but lost on time} 0-1

Enjoy the game -Coach Sean.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Some additional positions for everyone to solve... Enjoy'em!

White to play and win:
What is the quickest method?

White to play & Mate in 2 moves!

White to play and win.


White to play and win!
Name that tactic!!



Find the quickest win for White here...


White to play and win...
What is the quickest checkmate here?



White to play and win!


White to play and win... rather quickly here!






ENJOY!
Coach Sean.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Additional Problems for & by my Students.


PROBLEM #1:
White to play & win.
PROBLEM #2
Black to play & win material/points.

PROBLEM #3
Black to play and defend his extra piece.

PROBLEM #4
Black to play & Checkmate in 2 moves!



Variations on a student game... positions that could have ocurred in their game.

Enjoy -Coach Sean.



A problem for one of my students!

White to play and win!
From a game that we have "hopefully" looked at!
Coach Sean.

Endgame problems for everyone!


White to play and win!



Black to play and win!
This one is a little more complicated :P


Enjoy'em folks!
-Coach Sean.

1st posting, March 13th, 2009

Welcome one and all...

Ok, my last blog lasted all of one month... not so long! I think part of the problem was my work load and my extremely high levels of stress from these past eight hectic months. Well I am a bit healthier and wiser now and so on with the show!

This blog will be about all things chess that interest me, Coach Sean. I will post problems for my students here from time to time and I will post some of my games on occasion as well. I might even post some of my students games too!

As of right now I am located in Phoenix Arizona but who knows where my journy will take me next? Many places to be seen and many games to be played yet in this life. So on that note let us all make the most of the journey and hopefully you find my postings here to be worth your while.

Make it a great day
Coach Sean.