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<br>Hi
<br>
<br>First some pictures of me giving a recent lecture to twelve of Scotland’s
<br>future strong players. Great fun.
<br>
<br>[imgleft=/imgu/blog/1/b4u437199-1330821560.jpg]Cheapo Man](/imgu/blog/1/b4u437199-1330821572.gif)
“I’ll trick you, I’ll trap you, I’ll sac you. I am Cheapo Man!”
“I cannot trick if you are going to play developing moves!”
Stats Update.
So far 3173 games completed.
White wins 1658
Drawn 86
Black wins 1429
The average grade is 1478 based on the grades of
the 795 players who have finished at least one game.
Opening Stats:
1.e4 has been played 2066 times.
White wins 1057
Drawn 59
Black wins 950
1.d4 has been played 709 times.
White wins 399
Drawn 18
Black wins 292
1.c4 has been played 135 times.
White wins 76
Drawn 3
Black wins 56
1.Nf3 has been played 86 times.
White wins 55
Drawn 4
Black wins 27
Ok let’s look at this weeks tales of woe and misery.
S0AP - Roller RHP Ch 2012.
Soap puts a piece of soap in the path of Roller to slip on. Roller spots it
but then forgets it’s there.
1. Nf3 f6 {One square too short. 1...f5 controlling e4 and then Nf6 was better. 1...f6 robs the g8 Knight of it's natural developing square and does nothing to hinder White's development.}
2. e4 {See the previous note. White was possibly intending 2.d4 or 2.c4 or even 2.g3. He changes his opening plan knowing 1…f6 is a wasted move and quick development is the way.} 2...g5 {Another non-developing pawn move that opens up the King to attack. White jumps in.}
3. Nxg5 d6 {Black spotted the threat of Qh5 checkmate (3...fxg5 4.Qh5 mate.) and gives his King some running room.}
4. Bb5+ {4.Qh5+ and 5.Nf7 wins a whole Rook. This check has a sneaky idea behind it.}
4... Nd7 {One of the dangers of net chess with days in between moves. You forget what you were doing and why you played a particular move. Here Black forgets why he played 3...d6.}
5. Qh5+ {3...d6 gave him a flight square. Now it's blocked this is checkmate.}
Afraid we have had another book draw shunned.
Ian John Campbell - LusoCanuck RHP Ch 2012 White to play.
White played 1.Kd5 and after 1…Kxf5 White resigned.
1.Kf3 and head for h1 draws. Black has the wrong Bishop for h1.
The White King laughs at Black’s extra piece.
Black has a left handed screw but a right handed thread.
We have had another Championship Stalemate.
shailen7 - fogie RHP Championship 2012.
White played 72. c8=Q Stalemate.
The bright-eyed players will be ahead of me by now.
“Why not promote to a Knight with Check?”
Yes indeed, why not?
[FEN "8/k1P5/8/P7/1RN5/8/8/7K w - - 0 1"]
2. c8=N {Now 1....Ka6 2.Rb6 mate.}
2... Ka8 3. Ne7 {This is the only move to mate in two,}
3... Ka7 4. Nc6+ Ka8 5. Rb8+ {Checkmate}
And speaking of successful opening traps….
One well worth knowing in the Fritz variation of the Two Knights.
(one victim in the 2012 championship - 18 in the main 1400 DB.)
caissa100 - Avrelii RHP Ch 2012.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 {Hitting the tender spot f7 the only square defended by the Black King.}
4... d5 {The most natural and good move.}
5. exd5 {The Fried Liver attack which White was going for starts with 5....Nxd5 6.Nxf7. Don't allow this as Black. One of the best ways to meet a trick is to play a counter trick.}
5... Nd4 {This is known as the Fritz variation. Named after the German analyst Alexander Fritz (1857-1932) I always add that bit just in case someone thinks Fritz the chess playing program has started contributing to opening theory.}
6. d6 {A good trap must have a plausible move for the unwary to play. White aimed at f7 on move 4 no reason to think he has forgotten the idea. This looks good.}
6... Qxd6 7. Nxf7 {And this looks even better. Many White players would have stopped their analysis here smelling a quick kill. Infact now he's losing.}
7... Qc6 {A big hello to the c4 Bishop, the real target is the g2 pawn.}
8. b3 {White just refuses to believe he's up the creek. 8.0-0 Qxc4 8.Nxh8 White has the exchange but Black has all the play.}
8... Qxg2 9. Rf1 Qe4+ 10. Be2 Nf3+ {An end very similar to the Blackburne Shilling Trap.}
Welsh Witch - fudge RHP Ch 2012
I could wag lyrical here by saying the Welsh Witch put a spell on fudge. But I won’t.
Instead....
[FEN "2r4r/2pkn3/p2p3p/1p3PpB/1P1R2P1/2q2P1P/2P1Q3/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
1. Qe6+ Kd8 {1...Kc6 and Black is OK and thanks to him being a Rook up he is still winning.} 2. Rxd6+ {Have another Rook. I’m glad to see at least one player is checking all checks.} 2...cxd6 4. Qxd6+ {Mate.}
Championship Endgame Errors No. 147
Quanto - Tequila RHP Ch 2012 Black to play.
1…Kxb8 then Rc7 and Rxb7 draws.
Instead Black took the b6 Rook and White could now win with:
2.Rc8! Threatening to promote 3.b8=Q+ and 3.Rxc5.
White missed it and played 3.Kd3 the game was drawn a few moves later.
Now how good are you at visualising Knight tours?
nelsongil - scottmd64 RHP Ch 2012 Black to play.
How about Ne4 - Nc3 - Nxa2 - Nc1 - Nxb3. Looks good.
So Black sets off 39…Ne4 and…
40.Nd7 Checkmate.
In the Chess Forum Patanjali posted a Majestic Fork. (not from an RHP game).
That is a Knight forking a King, A Queen and both Rooks. It is a very rare event.
A ‘Family Fork’ catching a King, a Queen and a single Rook is not
too uncommon. Here is a good game featuring a ‘Family Fork Mate.’.
drunkenmorphy - Chris S RHP Ch. 2012
1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 {The overture to the Morra Gambit. White sacs a pawn for a lead in development. Quite deadly at the lower levels where Black has to tread very carefully, often he has to return the pawn….}
3... dxc3 {…..so why put yourself at risk for a pawn you will be giving back? 3...d3 or 3...g6 cuts across White’s opening idea.}
4. Nxc3 e5 {This turns the game into a 'normal' 1.e4 e5 game. The big difference is that White already has piece out, Black has an extra pawn. The game is afoot.}
5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bc4 h6 {To keep the f6 beast off g5. It's playable 6...Bb4 7.Ng5 Nh6 was a developing alternative.}
7. Qd5 {White goes for it. (wait till you see what is coming next.)}
7... Qf6 8. Ng5 {The appropriately named drunkenmorphy plays a move only a drunken Morphy would play. It sets one of the most diabolical traps ever seen on RHP. I love it.}
8... hxg5 9. Bxg5 {The point. If Black stumbles with 9...Qxg5 then White mates in 4 starting 10.Qxf7+. Now I know what you are thinking. "Is that the trap?"}
9... Qe6 {No. Black steps over this trip wire.}
10. Nb5 {This is the trap and Black puts his foot in the noose.}
10... Qxd5 {10...Bb4+ giving the King square f8 was the answer. (checks all checks….Please&hellip}
11. Nc7+ {Black has been Family Forked and Checkmated. Drunk or not, Morphy would have had a chuckle at that one.}
Finally the problem that was set with at the opening of this Blog.
dsmith - funkydunky71 RHP Ch 2012
[FEN "4r1k1/1pq2pp1/p6p/2p5/P2r1n1N/8/1PQ2PPP/R4RK1 b - - 0 21"]
22... Ne2+ {Clears the h2-b8 diagonal and chases the King to h1.}
23. Kh1 Qxh2+ {Sets up a mating pattern known in the trade as Anastasia Mate.}
24. Kxh2 Rxh4+ {Checkmate. Perfect.}
The thread accompanying this blog is
Thread 145492
The only time I've ever underpromoted (I think) was to a rook, when a queen would have been stalemate.
I haven't looked at every group, but I see scottmd64 in group 81 has qualified for round 2.
The reason why taking a Knight appeals is because it
promotes with a check. When a guy is in stalemate territory
you are on safe ground making a check.
The first stalemate I was actually thinking "why not promote to a rook with mate next move." I actually like underpromotions to pieces other than a knight which actually make sense especially to rooks since it almost never makes sense to promote to rook instead of a queen.
Many years ago my son was playing in the Welsh junior champs and he was much stronger that all of his opponents. One of his opponents played the white side of the Fritz 2 knights and after taking on f7 and forking the queen he ran to get his father to see the game.
Unfortunately by the time his father got to the board it was smothered mate and he'd lost the game.
I immediately spotted 22 ...Ne2+, but I would have continued by taking the h4 knight with my rook. And then I would probably have blundered back the piece soon after 24. g3 Qc6+ (check one check) 25. f3 Rh5 (never notice the second check).
Richard
A blog full of so many bad moves is bound to affect you. 🙂
I suspect the lads are doing it on purpose just to appear in the blog 😉
I do say:
"10...Bb4+ giving the King square f8 was the answer."
I've not edited it. It was there all the time.