438 games have finished since the last blog where I gave the download.
Most of the games this week have came from the new batch.
The leader board. (the top 20) looks like this.
In the Championship you get 3pts for a win.
In the above table I have made it 1pt so you can get clearer indication
of what has happened. (Anyway most of you cannot divide by 3.)
So without further ado let us trail though the swamp of misery and despair
of this weeks selected games and positions.
What one player sees and another player misses is what Chess is all about.
White to play.
This position appeared in two games.
st40 (2191) as White saw it but albinos as White (1951) missed it.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nxd4 5. Qxd4 c5 6. Qd3 {Black has a think. If I play Nf6 then e4-e5. If I play d6 to stop e4-e5 my f8 Bishop is miserable, I know I'll fianchetto my c8 Bishop then hit e4 with Nf6.} 6... b6 {Perfectly logical and bad.} 7. Qd5 {Hello a1 Rook.} 7... Rb8 {You won't catch me that easily.} 8. Qe5+ {Peek a Boo the Rook is in the stew. White missed this trick in albinos - jharker RHP 2012. albinos went on to win in 59 moves.}
And now two games where Castles (0-0) supplies all the fun.
In the first one castles is a roll of the dice.
Looker - Fylgja RHP Ch 2012
We join the first game with Black to move and he comes up with a pin-breaker.
FEN
2rr2k1/p3qppp/6b1/2n1P3/5P2/B3PQ2/P3B1PP/R3K2R b KQ - 0 1
[FEN "2rr2k1/p3qppp/6b1/2n1P3/5P2/B3PQ2/P3B1PP/R3K2R b KQ - 0 1"]
1... Nd3+ {Black breaks the pin with a check and...} 2. Bxd3 Qxa3 {..due to the attack on the d3 Bishop White has no time to castle. Good play.} 3. Be2 Rc1+ {White should now play 4.Kf2. He is two pawns up and can contest the open files the Black Rooks command. Well that is perhaps what he should do. It is correct to condemn a bad move that leads to such an entertaining win?} 4. Rxc1 Qxc1+ 5. Bd1 {Black should now just wrap up with 5...Qd2+ 6.Kf1 Qxd1+ and White resigns. Instead....} 5... Bc2 {...this pressure on the pinned piece should still give Black excellent winning chances.} 6. O-O {I wonder if Black forgot White could still castle. Now 6...Bxd1 is the win but Black did not want his Bishop pinned to his Queen. So....} 6... Rxd1 7. Qa8+ {OOPS! For those of you that are about to be Back Rank Mated....} 7... Rd8 8. Qxd8 {....We salute you.}
This is good. I’ll add the grades to show the lads that grades of 2000+ do not
mean that you do not miss things and that anybody can be caught with an uppercut.
Let this one sink in. Always look at least one move past the winning move.
(and …Check all Checks.)
Phillidor284 (2036 )- adje (1887) RHP Ch 2012
1. d4 f5 {The Dutch Defence. (Why don't they call it the Holland Defence?)} 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 d5 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. e4 Be6 6. exd5 Bxd5 7. Nxd5 Qxd5 8. Qh5+ Qf7 9. Qxf5 e6 10. Qb5+ c6 11. Qb3 {The White Queen has had some fun. She has nicked a pawn, pulled a pawn to c6 where a Knight should be and now she is having a rest.} 11... Bh6 {This stops White from castling Queenside. White likes the idea of preventing people from castling....} 12. Bc4 {Not only hitting the e6 pawn but this too prevents Black from castling. If Black plays 12...0-0 then 13.Bxe6 pins the Queen to the King.} 12... O-O {Huh! I just said you could not do that. Does nobody listen to anything I say?} 13. Bxe6 {The pin that wins....I hate to say I told you so….But I told you so…onto the next game.} 13... Re8 {OOPS! (memo to greenpawn - delete last note.) The Pin that wins. White is not winning the Queen. White is losing a Bishop. White resigned. A classic blunder}
On Planet Greenpawn a few orbits ago we saw a game where Black had
checkmate in one move, missed it, and was checkmated on the next move.
The 2012 RHP Championship has given us another one.
topgunner - pawntificate RHP Ch 2012.
FEN
5rk1/6p1/4R2p/3pN3/r4pK1/5P2/6PP/8 w - - 0 1
[FEN "5rk1/6p1/4R2p/3pN3/r4pK1/5P2/6PP/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Kh5 Ra7 2. Rd6 {Was this a trap or a blunder? Let's go trap. White offers his Knight to gain a tempo on the Rook and at the same time sets up a well known mating pattern.} 2... Rf5+ 3. Kg6 {Now we see it. White threatens Rd8 mate. It's a pity it is Black's move and Black can now play 3...Rg5 Checkmate.} 3... Rxe5 {Incredible.} 4. Rd8+ Re8 5. Rxe8 {Checkmate.}
Back rank mates seem to be the theme this week. Here is another.
topgunner - smokers21 RHP Ch 2012
Black here played 22…Rxa2?? 23. Rd8 Checkmate.
When you have two tanks on the rank it nigh impossible to lose.
If you cannot drum up at mate. You usually have what they call…
rdhopeca (1251) - chuphone (1446) RHP Ch 2012
…..Blind Swine.
White, as what happened in the rdhopeca - chuphone game, just keeps checking
with the Rooks.
He could have gone for a possible a win here but it would mean taking a tank of the rank.
That is why I’ve added the grades. White took the Blind Swine draw.
So what could have (and should have) happened in topgunner v smokers21
FEN
6k1/5ppp/4b3/p3B3/8/1P4PP/P1r2r2/R2R2K1 b - - 0 1
[FEN "6k1/5ppp/4b3/p3B3/8/1P4PP/P1r2r2/R2R2K1 b - - 0 1"]
1... f6 {The Black King opens the window to get some air and has a free knock on the White Bishop. OK where shall we put it? I don't think it matters. All moves lose.} 2. Bf4 Rg2+ {If 3.Kf1 Bxh3 and the coming discovered check would either mate White or pocket a Rook. The Discovered Check is the Dive Bomber of the Chessboard. (Rueben Fine). Tanks and Dive Bombers. Good. That is the title of this Blog sorted out.} 3. Kh1 Rh2+ 4. Kg1 Rcg2+ 5. Kf1 {Now a few moves to show you Blind Swine in action.} 5... Rf2+ 6. Ke1 Re2+ 7. Kf1 Ref2+ 8. Kg1 Rhg2+ 9. Kh1 Rh2+ 10. Kg1 Rfg2+ 11. Kf1 {You get the idea. OK Blind Swine demo over. Let’s wrap it up.} 11... Bxh3 {That is the winning pattern. You protect the front Rook (sorry Tank) and the rear Tank mates.}
“You protect the front Tank and the rear Tank mates.
vorgod - Julses RHP Championship 2012
FEN
1R6/6pk/7p/1P1Bp3/4p2n/P6r/4r3/R5K1 b - - 0 1
[FEN "1R6/6pk/7p/1P1Bp3/4p2n/P6r/4r3/R5K1 b - - 0 1"]
1... Rg2+ 2. Kf1 Rh1
The last game is usually reserved for Cartoon Time. But this week we end with
a nice game. OK it’s one sided and a shot was missed.
But it’s neat nifty finale (plus the tragedy in the notes just before it) and the ease
with which Black built up his powerful position should inspire.
QuickDrawd4 - VinceNet RHP 2012
1. d4 c6 {The Caro-Kann. Horatio Caro was born in Newcastle (true look it up) and Marcus Kann hailed from Vienna. So why not call it the Geordie Vienna? (Note for non-UK readers. Geordie is a non offensive nick for someone who comes from Newcastle.)} 2. e4 d5 3. e5 c5 {This double shove of the c-pawn is accepted theoretically because White has pushed his e-pawn twice.} 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 e6 {It is now an Advanced French except Black has got his 'Bad Bishop' the traditional problem in the French Defence, into the game.} 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Bxf3 Nc6 8. Be3 Qb6 {Black has a ready made opening plan. This is all standard Advance French stuff. But without the Knight on f3 to hold d4 White is now dropping a pawn.} 9. b3 cxd4 10. Bf4 Bb4+ 11. Bd2 Nxe5 {Whoops. There goes another one. Look at the Black centre. Centres like that coming towards you give you nightmares.} 12. O-O Ne7 13. Bf4 N7g6 14. Bg3 O-O 15. a3 Nxf3+ 16. Qxf3 Be7 17. Nd2 Rac8 18. Qd3 Rc3 19. Qe2 {Black misses a good shot here. 19...Rxg3. It nets a piece. White cannot re-take. 20.fxg3 d3+ wins the White Queen. 21.Qf2 Bc5.} 19... Rxc2 20. Qd3 Rfc8 21. b4 {Black's position is tremendous. It matters not what White does he is going to lose material. We are just waiting for the cute close.} 21... R8c3 22. Qe2 Bg5 {The Pin does it. White tries make a fist of it.} 23. f4 Rxg3 24. fxg5 d3+ 25. Qf2 {It can still end in tears. If Black were to play 25...Qd6 here. Plausible it protects the g3 Rook and stops a any checks on f8 after ...Qxf7+ . Then White will mate in 4 moves 25...Qd6 26.Qxf7+ Kh8 f8 is covered twice but 27.Qe8+ mates.} 25... Rxd2 {Perfect. The Tanks on the Rank mating pattern. Thank you.} 26. Qxb6 Rgxg2+ 27. Kh1 Rh2+ 28. Kg1 Rdg2
OK. Let us stay with tradition. A cartoon.
(often the most instructive part of the Blog.)
cabbages - xela RHP Ch 2012.
White had the chance to go for the classic Double Rook sacrifice.
This was not seen. Black then offered the minor classic One Rook Sacrifice.
White saw that one. He took the Rook and was mated.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Ne4 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd6 Qxd6 {This leaves a Knight hanging which White declines. But Black finds another way to lose it.} 9. Qf3 Ng5 10. Bxg5 Qb4+ 11. Nc3 Qxb2 {It was here White had the chance for a Double Rook Sacrifice.} 12. O-O Qxc3 13. Qe4 e6 14. Rab1 Bd6 15. Rb3 Qe5 16. Bf4 Qxf4 17. Qxc6+ Ke7 {Now 18.g3 and then see what happens. Always best to check your King's position every now and then.} 18. Qxa8 Qxh2 {White has been checkmated.}
Here is the Missed ‘possible’ Double Rook sac,
FEN
r1b1kb1r/p3pppp/2p5/6B1/8/2NB1Q2/PqP2PPP/R3K2R w KQkq - 0 1
[FEN "r1b1kb1r/p3pppp/2p5/6B1/8/2NB1Q2/PqP2PPP/R3K2R w KQkq - 0 1"]
1. Be2 {Instead of castles as in the main game. This backward retreat holding the c3 Knight looks like a good Blunder. (A good Blunder? A bad Blunder is one you don't mean.) A good Blunder is a trap. I don’t know why I never said trap. That was a grammatical blunder } 1... Qxa1+ 2. Kd2 Qxh1 {Both Rooks have gone. White now takes over.} 3. Qxc6+ {3...Bd7 4.Qxa1+ and mate next move.} 3... Kd8 4. Qd6+ {Always look for ways to exploit pinned pieces. At the lower levels players often miss tricks against them due to their pieces or pawns being pinned to their King. } 4….Bd7 {4....Ke8 5.Bb5+ and mate next move.} 5. Bb5 {And mate cannot be avoided.}
And that is that for another week. Time for an advert.
There are still a few copies of my book left.
Scottish Chess Supplies have reduced it to £9.95 so go here: