Tactics Time Newsletters. Vol.1 Chess Tactics From The Real Games of Everyday Chess Players PDF

Newsletter Issue # 1 Tactics Time
You should never, unless of necessity or to gain an advantage, move the pawns in front of
the castled king, for each pawn move loosens the position. - Tarrasch
T his idea was really drilled into my head

when reading the book "Logical Chess
Move by Move" by Irving Chernev. This
book, first written in 1957, literally explains
every single move in various chess games.
In the position on the right it is White to

move.
Answer below.
In the position on the right, black has just

played Bh6 to add a second attacker to the pawn
on f4. Can you see what white played in this
position?
During the 2011 "Tribute to Bobby Fischer"

tournament that was held in Palmer Lake, Colorado, my opponent Alex Freeman made several
weakening moves against his kingside, which eventually lead to tactical possibilities for me. Some
of these weaknesses were provoked, and some were not.
Here is the complete game:
[Event "Tribute to Bobby Fischer"]

[Site "The Inn at Palmer Lake,"]
[Date "2011.05.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Brennan, Timothy"]
[Black "Freeman, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "1769"]
[BlackElo "1580"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2011.05.21"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg5 e6 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. exd4 Be7 8.

Nbd2 h6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Qc7 12. Rc1 a6 13. Bb1 g6 14. Nb3 Na5
15. Nxa5 Qxa5 16. Qd2 Bg7 17. Ne5 Qd8 18. f4 Bd7 19. Re3 Bb5 20. Rg3 Qf6 21.
Re1 Be8 22. Qe3 h5 23. Rf1 Bh6 24. Qf3 Rc8 25. Qxh5 Bg7 26. Qg4 Bb5 27. Rf2 Be8
28. f5 exf5 29. Bxf5 gxf5 30. Rxf5 Qh6 31. Rg5 Kh8 32. Rh5 Qxh5 33. Qxg7# 1-0
You can play through the moves of the game here:
http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=1937
Answer:
25. Qxh5 wins a pawn. The g pawn is pinned to the king because of the rook.
Randy Reynolds asked an interesting followup question/comment: What if after 25. Qxh5 black
goes ahead and plays 25...Bxf4 anyway?
The answer is that white could then retreat the Queen to g4 with Qg4, double attacking the
bishop, which is now pinned to the queen on f6 by the rook on f1. This would lead to a win of
more material.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.
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Why do I want to give chess lessons? ~ Bobby Fischer (on why he didn't have a trainer)
I n the previous newsletter we looked at

a position from one of my games
played in the "Tribute to Bobby Fischer"
tournament played in the beautiful town of
Palmer Lake, Colorado, located between Denver
and Colorado Springs.

move.
Answer below.
This was a really well run tournament, and

probably the nicest one I have seen in many
years of playing here.
Here is my report card:
Location: A+: very beautiful scenery, centrally located, very pretty hotel, tons of close free
parking, nice restaurant. Only minor complaint is that there were no pop machines (there was
one, but it was broken). Another very small complaint is that the hotel was sold out Saturday
night, for any chess players who didn't book a room well in advance.
Amenities: A: Nice tournament playing area, lighting was good, noise was minimal. Bathroom
ran out of paper towels a few times was the only microscopic complaint.
Extras: A+: Nice place cards for all of the players with their names and ratings, free coffee and
water, nice board number signs, nice pictures and memorabilia about Bobby Fischer.
Directing: A: Rounds started on time, cash prizes paid as soon as games were over, TDs were
dressed in nice ties, no long rambling announcements. Only microscopic complaint was the "rule"
that only the official tournament photographer was allowed to take pictures. That seemed quite
odd. This isn't some classified government bunker or something. I had my camera with me, and
might have taken some for my blog or website.
Prizes: A+: This was truly unreal - 100% of entry fees were paid out in prizes. Not sure how
this is a viable economic model, but it worked for the dot com start-ups (for a while)!
Overall it was an amazing tournament. Highly recommended.
But enough about that - lets talk about my favorite topic - TACTICS!!
In our last newsletter we looked at a position where White had built up an attack on Black's
kingside. This position is from the same game.
Black tried to get some counter-play by activating his dark square bishop, but ended up
dropping a pawn in a relatively simple tactic.
This was a long time control game, where each player gets to make 40 moves in 2 hours,
followed by an additional hour of sudden death.
Black was not in time trouble, and probably just failed to ask himself what tactics there were on
the board.
I on the other hand was behaving like a Tactical Terminator - A human-looking, apparently
unstoppable cyborg, sent back in time, whose only thought was looking for tactics on every move
:-)
After winning a pawn, I still had to find another way to finish the game, and convert to a win.

[Site "The Inn at Palmer Lake,"]
[Date "2011.05.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Brennan, Tim"]
[Black "Freeman, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "1769"]
[BlackElo "1580"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2011.05.21"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg5 e6 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. exd4 Be7 8.
Nbd2 h6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Qc7 12. Rc1 a6 13. Bb1 g6 14. Nb3 Na5
15. Nxa5 Qxa5 16. Qd2 Bg7 17. Ne5 Qd8 18. f4 Bd7 19. Re3 Bb5 20. Rg3 Qf6 21.
Re1 Be8 22. Qe3 h5 23. Rf1 Bh6 24. Qf3 Rc8 25. Qxh5 Bg7 26. Qg4 Bb5 27. Rf2 Be8
28. f5 exf5 29. Bxf5 gxf5 30. Rxf5 Qh6 31. Rg5 Kh8 32. Rh5 Qxh5 33. Qxg7# 1-0
You can play through the moves of the game here:
Answer:
In the above position I played 28. f5! which Fritz rates as the best move, with a 5.29 +- score.
This move causes all sorts of problems for black.
White has his rook right behind the pawn pinning it to the queen. The bishop is also backing up
the pawn as well.
If 28...exf5 then the bishop comes crashing in, hitting the undefended rook on c8.
If 28...gxf5 then the queen moves over to the h file, and continues operations on that file, and
the bishop on g7 is pinned by the rook on g3.
If black does nothing, then white plays 29. fxe6 breaking up the kingside shield even more,
with a killer position.
The key is to realize that even though the f5 square is "defended" by two pawns, the
weaknesses that are caused by either of these pawns capturing leaves black much worse off.
I ended up mating black a few moves later.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. - Clint Eastwood (Heartbreak Ridge)
T oday's newsletter is a little different,

that the usual "white to play and win"
type of tactics problem.
Instead of finding the "best" move, I want you

to decide if the position to the right is a Win,
Loss or Draw for white. Black to move.
Also, think to yourself - if I was in a

tournament game - with hundreds of dollars on
the line, could I win this game? Could I draw
this game?
Could I win or draw this game against

someone rated 100 points higher? Could I beat
or draw a computer?
Answer below.
This was my from my third round game from the Tribute to Bobby Fischer tournament.
Here is the complete game score:

[Site "The Inn at Palmer Lake"]
[Date "2011.05.22"]
[Round "3"]
[Black "Kohler, Tim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "1769"]
[BlackElo "1437"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. Nf3 Ne4 4. Bf4 e6 5. e3 Bd6 6. Bxd6 cxd6 7. c3 Nc6 8.

Nbd2 f5 9. Be2 O-O 10. Qc2 Bd7 11. O-O a6 12. Nxe4 fxe4 13. Ne1 Qf6 14. f3 Qg6
15. Qb3 b5 16. Qa3 e5 17. Rc1 exf3 18. Bxf3 e4 19. Be2 Rxf1+ 20. Bxf1 Ne7 21.
Qb3 Qg5 22. Nc2 Nc6 23. Qa3 Qh6 24. Re1 Ne7 25. Qa5 Qe6 26. Nb4 Nc6 27. Nxc6
Bxc6 28. Be2 Qc8 29. Qa3 Qd7 30. Rf1 Bb7 31. Qb3 Rf8 32. Qd1 Rxf1+ 33. Qxf1 Qf7
34. Qe1 Bc8 35. Qg3 Qe6 36. h3 Qg6 37. Qxg6 hxg6 38. Kf2 Kf7 39. Kg3 g5 40. Bg4
Bxg4 41. Kxg4 Kf6 42. b4 Kg6 43. g3 Kf6 44. Kh5 Kf5 45. g4+ Kf6 46. a3 g6+ 47.
Kh6 Kf7 48. Kxg5 Kg7 49. h4 Kf7 50. Kh6 Kf6 51. g5+ 1-0
You can play through this game here:
Answer:
This is a clear win for white.
In the game black had a great position, but white held on, and eventually black allowed white to
double his pawns in order to trade queens, thinking it would still be at least a draw.
In this position black will most likely defend the g pawn with a move like Kf6 or Kg6. White can
then play b4! which prevents black from making any more pawn moves on the queen side, but
white still has "waiting moves" like g3 at his disposal, whereas black will run out of waiting moves,
and white will be able to advance, killing time if needed, and forcing black to step away from the
pawns. This tactic is known as zugzwang.
One other tip that helped me in this endgame is the idea of counting moves.
Instead of thinking "I go here, he goes there, I go here, he goes there, etc" - COUNT how long it
takes each side to do something. For example - it will take me 6 moves to queen a pawn - I go
here, here, here, here, here, here; and him 8 moves to queen a pawn - so I know I will queen
first. This can make the mental math a lot easier to juggle in certain cases.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. If you have any questions, comments, games or feedback I would love to hear it! Feel free
to forward these newsletters to your friends, and encourage them to sign up for the newsletter as
well!
Best play for white against the Sicilian? 1.d4! - Thomas Codispoti
A fter this game, my opponent and good

friend, Anthea Carson, said to me on
the facebook chat, "Your tactics totally
wiped me out too. I should have realized you
would be tactics on steroids after a month with
that database."
She was referring, of course, to my Tactics

Time Database of more than 4000 tactical
problems that I created. See my Product
Information page for more details on how you
too can inject yourself with my barely legal,
non-FDA approved, tactical steroids :-)
In the position on the right it is white to

move.
Answer at the bottom.
This was the last round of the Tribute to Bobby Fischer tournament. There were four people tied
for first with 2.5 out of 3 points.
Anthea had just played an exhausting, grueling 6 hour game against Rhett Langseth that ended
up in a draw, with both players only having a few minutes left on their clock.
After their game was over, the TD told Rhett and Anthea that they could take a half an hour
break, since the last round was starting for everyone else, and their game had just ended.
Anthea and I had played lots of rated games against each other before. According to the USCF
MSA page we have now played 40 rated games against each other: http://main.uschess.org
/datapage/gamestats.php
But this game was different.
It was a long time control.

It was the last round.
We were both tied for first.
There was a lot of money on the line with 450 dollars for first, and 250 for second, and two
other players with identical scores.
A draw wasn't going to cut it. We both needed a win.
Our ratings were almost identical. We knew each other's playing styles. I felt I had two
advantages.
One was that I was not as exhausted as Anthea due to her long third round game. After
my game I had a chance to eat lunch, relax, and even take a little cat nap.
The second was that I had been working on my Tactics Time website, database, and
newsletter in all my spare time for the past several weeks. I had been seeing the board
really well, and felt like I was in "the zone".
In the above position there is a lot going on. There is a battery of bishop and queen pointing at
h7, where it can check the black king. There is a bishop on the same diagonal as the queen, and
a rook on a open file for white.
Here I used all of these ideas together. I

wanted to get the black queen on the same file
as the rook, so I first played 19. Nxd6!
Fritz 12 evaluates this move as +3 for white

(white is winning by three pawns), and all other
moves as even. So this was the only move that
gave white an advantage.
Anthea recaptured with the Queen 19. ..Qxd6

(see second diagram).
Now the second step of the plan - 20. c4!

This forces the dark square bishop to move to
e6, and then allows white to play Bh7+, giving a
discovered attack on the black queen, trading a
bishop and rook for the queen.
Anthea actually didn't allow this, and played 20. ..Qxb4 which nets two pawns for the bishop,
but is still better for white.
This was a complicated tactic, that actually contained several smaller tactics - pins, discovered
attacks, batteries of pieces, uneven trades, removing the defender, and several other ideas.
So don't feel bad if you didn't see it. I spent quite a lot of time on this move, and preparing for
it.
You can see Anthea's very interesting analysis of the game and position here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Chess-Tactics-Time
There are also some good comments given by Brian Rountree, who was the 4th person tied for
first place going into the last round, and tied for first place, after being Rhett Langseth.
After all of the smoke cleared, I came ahead with a bishop for two pawns, and some positional
considerations, like having the bishop pair, which I was able to convert into a win, and tie for first
place.
Hope you enjoyed this position!

[Date "2011.05.22"]
[Round "4"]
[Black "Carson, Anthea"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "1769"]
[BlackElo "1760"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. e3 d6 5. Bd3 c6 6. c3 Nbd7 7. Nbd2 e5 8. dxe5

Nxe5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Qc2 h6 11. Bh4 Be6 12. O-O Qc7 13. a4 Rd8 14. Rfd1 O-O
15. b4 Rfe8 16. h3 Rd7 17. Bg3 Bd6 18. Nc4 Bd5 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. c4 Qxb4 21.
cxd5 Nxd5 22. Rab1 Qa5 23. Rbc1 Rde7 24. Bc4 Nf6 25. Bh4 e4 26. Bxf6 gxf6 27.
Rd6 Qg5 28. Qb2 Kg7 29. Rcd1 Qf5 30. Qd4 c5 31. Qd5 Qxd5 32. R1xd5 Rc7 33. Rd7
Rec8 34. R5d6 b6 35. Bxf7 Kf8 36. Bg6 c4 37. Rxf6+ Kg8 38. Bh7+ Kh8 39. Rxc7
Rxc7 40. Bxe4 c3 41. Bc2 Rd7 42. Rxh6+ Kg8 43. Rc6 1-0
You can play through the moves of this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=1952
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. I read each e-mail response personally. They don't go into some customer service "black
hole" like several chess companies I have dealt with! I'm a software engineer by profession, so I
am on the computer all the time, and will give you a fast, personal response to any questions that
you might have!
There are only two kinds of moves in the opening: moves which are wrong and moves
which could be wrong. - Saviely Tartakower
O ne phase of the game (along with the

middlegame, and endgame), where
chess players tend to miss tactics is in the
opening.
In the position on the right it is black to move.
One reason for this is because I think a lot of

chess players like to follow "rules of thumb" and
"opening principles" such as:
Castle early and often

Develop all of your pieces
Don't move the same piece twice
etc
These are all good general rules, and they are

helpful in general.
But you always have to be on the lookout for tactics, and ways to punish your opponent, even
if it means breaking a "rule".
It is so easy to be on auto pilot, and miss a lot of quick kills. Personally I love looking at games
where one side wins in less than 20 moves, and the fewer moves the better. There are a lot of
these in the Tactics Time database that I created. People on RedHotPawn.com, where I like to
play correspondence chess, are pretty obsessed with them. They have one forum thread, that has
been going on for years, with hundreds of them, which I collected and analyzed.
This position comes from a blitz game that was played on ICC with 5 minutes for each side and
a 3 second increment.
The Tactics Time database that I created contains all sorts of games ranging from blitz games
played on the Internet, to correspondence games that took months to play and go over 100
moves. The main criteria was that they were played by class players, and that they were not
already in an existing database such as the "Megabase" that chessbase publishes (which are
mostly Grandmaster and International Master games).
I wanted real TACTICS from real games and real players.
No composed problems.
No endgame studies.
No copy and paste from existing tactical puzzles.
Here is the complete game.
[Event "ICC 5 3"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2011.04.03"]
[White "BlackTop"]
[Black "m6rk"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "1416"]
[BlackElo "1583"]
[PlyCount "28"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. d4 d6 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. Qe2 Bg4 10. Rd1 Qc8 11. Nc3 Nd4 12. Qe3 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Qh3 14. f4 Nf3+
0-1
You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=1958
Answer:
In the above position it would be very easy for black to just be on auto pilot and think "It is the
opening. I haven't castled yet. I need to castle. Let's castle. 0-0. Your turn."
But instead, black noticed the awkward position of White's queen. It is pinned to the white
knight on f3, and on the same diagonal as the white rook.
This led black to find the best move, which is 11...Nd4! attacking the queen, and adding a
second attacker to the pinned knight.
White can avoid immediate material loss, but his position is going to be really destroyed after
Bxf3, and the knight on d4 is very nicely placed, and the black queen can quickly jump over to the
queenside.
So remember, keep an eye out for the best move, even in the opening!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. I am constantly adding new games to my Tactics Time database. If you have any games
that you would like to share with me, I would love to have them. Games in PGN format work the
best for me. Individual games are fine, and collections of games are even better!
The player who plays best in a tournament never wins first. He finishes second behind
the guy with the most luck. - Saviely Tartakower
T his position came from one of the many

tournaments played once in a month in
Pueblo, Colorado.

move.
About once a month there is a rated chess

tournament held in Pueblo, CO at a Coffee Shop
called "The Daily Grind".
Anthea Carson wrote an interesting "hub"

about these Pueblo tournaments, and the
location.
Anthea writes about a wide range of

interesting topics on chess, ranging from
celebrities who play chess (such as Sting, Ray Charles, and Humphrey Bogart), unusual openings,
endgames, and book reviews. Be sure to subscribe to her posts.
The thing I like about this position is that it is very atypical of the types of tactics problems that
you see published in books. Generally the material is very even to begin with in a tactics
problem. It is very easy to not get in the habit of even looking to see who is winning, and assume
the position is even to begin with.
Part of the reason for this is that most published tactics problems come from the games high
rated players. The reason for this, is because high rated players tend to have their games
published and more widely available for chess authors to use to make puzzles (especially in the
days before the Internet). It is easier for chess authors to use games already widely available,
than to go out and find games on their own - or even worse - just steal someone else's tactics
problems (a surprising number of people do this and is one thing I have never done).
I wanted to turn this "institution" on its head, and is part of the reason I created Tactics Time.
[Event "The Road to Perfection"]

[Site "Colorado Springs"]
[Date "2011.02.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Frenzel, Gary"]
[Black "Maier, Jerry"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A02"]
[WhiteElo "1073"]
[BlackElo "1386"]
[PlyCount "82"]
1. f4 b6 2. Nf3 Bb7 3. e3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nc6 5. O-O e5 6. fxe5 Ng4 7. d4 Ne7 8. c4
Nf5 9. Qd3 g6 10. e4 Ng7 11. Nc3 Ne6 12. h3 Nh6 13. Nd5 c5 14. Nf6+ Qxf6 15.
exf6 cxd4 16. Nxd4 Nxd4 17. Qxd4 Bc5 18. Qxc5 bxc5 19. Bf3 Ng8 20. e5 Bxf3 21.
Rxf3 h5 22. Bg5 h4 23. Rd1 a5 24. Rfd3 O-O-O 25. a4 Rh5 26. Bf4 Rf5 27. Bh2 Nh6
28. Rf1 Rh5 29. Rd5 Nf5 30. Rxc5+ Kb7 31. Rxa5 Ng3 32. Bxg3 hxg3 33. Rb5+ Kc6
34. Re1 g5 35. Re4 d6 36. e6 Re8 37. e7 Rh6 38. Rxg5 Rxf6 39. Rxg3 Re6 40. Rxe6
fxe6 41. Rg7 Kc5 1/2-1/2
Answer:
So the first thing you have to do when looking at the position is figure out what is going on.
White's queen is pinned to the king, but black doesn't even have a queen.
The black knight on h6 is en prise, and can be captured by the bishop on c1.
There is nothing protecting or supporting the white queen.
All of this information helps you to find the best move 18. Qxc5. This is the best move for
several reasons. If white plays something like 18. Bd3 this takes away the threat to the hanging
knight on h6 if black plays 18. ..Bxd4. By playing 18. Qxc5, black has to recapture (otherwise he
is down a whole queen), then white has time to take the knight on h6 the next move. This
leaves white up a whole piece.
Amazingly in the game, white missed 19. Bxh6 and played 19. Bf3 protecting the pawn on e4,
and the game ended with a draw.
Alright now. If you haven't downloaded your copy of my 101 Tactical Tips eBook, and ordered
your RISK FREE copy of my Tactics Time Database, then get to it...
You'll learn more in a few hours of studying my materials than most chess players will learn in
their whole LIVES about how to play chess tactics.
They come with an "offer you can't refuse" and I'm serious...
If you're not thrilled and you don't raise your rating, you don't have to pay a dime.
You can download the database here right now:
I'll talk to you again in a couple of days.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
When you see a good move, look for a better one - Emanuel Lasker
T his is one of my favorite chess quotes,

and a great lesson, that many chess
players do not have a habit of doing.
In the position on the right it is black to

move.
Answer below.
This game was played on Red Hot Pawn, in the

Colorado group. There are quite a lot of
Colorado players on there. Some of the
tournaments have really long time controls, such
as having 21 days to make a single move! This
game was played at that über slow time control.
FrolickingFerret is Jerry Maier, and

RedwoodPete is Pete Short. I recently did a podcast interview with Pete, which you can see here:
Pete Short Interview. You can download an MP3 or read the transcript, or listen to it right on the
webpage. There are some funny stories in the interview, such as the time I visited Pete in Florida,
and some kid stole my sunglasses, and we hunted him down like a dog :-)
[Event "CCOUSA Long Haul I - Oct2009"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2009.11.25"]
[Round "1"]
[White "FrolickingFerret"]
[Black "RedwoodPete"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "1223"]
[BlackElo "1548"]
[PlyCount "110"]
1. Nf3 f5 2. b3 Nf6 3. Bb2 e6 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Na3 b6 7. Nc4 O-O 8. Ng5
Bb7 9. Ne5 h6 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. Bxc6 dxc6 12. Nxe6 Qd5 13. O-O Qxe6 14. f4 Rad8
15. a4 Rfe8 16. Rf3 Ng4 17. h3 Nf6 18. Re3 Qxe3+ 19. dxe3 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 Kf7
21. Bxf6 Bxf6 22. Rd7+ Re7 23. Rxe7+ Kxe7 24. Kf2 Kd6 25. Kf3 g5 26. g4 fxg4+
27. Kxg4 gxf4 28. exf4 Ke6 29. e4 Kf7 30. Kf5 Bc3 31. e5 b5 32. axb5 cxb5 33.
h4 c5 34. Ke4 c4 35. bxc4 bxc4 36. Kd5 a5 37. Kxc4 Bb4 38. c3 Be7 39. f5 a4 40.
Kd3 Bxh4 41. c4 Be1 42. c5 h5 43. c6 Ba5 44. Kc4 Bc7 45. Kb4 Bxe5 46. Kxa4 h4
47. Kb5 h3 48. Kc5 h2 49. Kd5 Kf6 50. Kc5 h1=Q 51. c7 Bxc7 52. Kb5 Kxf5 53. Ka6
Qb1 54. Ka7 Qb6+ 55. Ka8 Qb8# 0-1
You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=1965.
Answer:
In the above position black played 18. ..Qxe3, which seems logical. Black is up a piece, and can
trade down into a winning endgame. Black eventually won 37 moves later.
But a more brutal move would have been 18...Bc5 pinning the rook to the white king. Black
can then take the rook (19...Bxe3) on his next move, and white cannot recapture, because the d
pawn protecting the white rook on e3 is pinned to its queen on d1, which could be captured by the
black rook on d8.
This leaves black up an entire rook, and really destroys white's position. In a game where each
person gets 21 days per move, (and against an opponent who is famous for never resigning), this
can save literally months, and possibly years, of effort.
If white does move his queen to get out of the d file pin, instead of getting the king out of the
bishop pin, then white can play Rxd2, and the white rook on e3 is still pinned. Note that the
bishop moving to c5 created a nice queen and rook battery on the e file as well.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. It is amazing how playing better chess can improve other areas of your life. After I won
first place in the Bobby Fischer tournament (thanks to all the accidental "study" I did while
creating Tactics Time) I had an extra spring in my step, and the added confidence to ask out this
cute girl who goes to my gym :-)

Newsletter Issue #8 Tactics Time
Playing chess is harmless, right? It's not like eating diseased pork, which could be pretty
dangerous. That could lead to productive lives being totally wasted, and chess is nothing like
that at all". - Alex Davies
T his game was played on Red Hot

Pawn, on one of the "ladders". On the
ladders you can challenge anyone that
is higher on the ladder than you (who isn't
already being challenged), and people below you
can challenge you. If you win, you take their
spot on the ladder.
You can only challenge someone a few rungs

up on the ladder. It can be a lot of fun.

move.
Answer below.
[Event "Ladder"]
[Date "2010.11.24"]
[White "Hawaiianhomegrown"]
[Black "TimmyBx"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "1241"]
[BlackElo "1774"]
[PlyCount "128"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bc5 5. O-O Ng4 6. d3 d6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8.
Qe2 Be6 9. Na4 Bb6 10. Bg5 f6 11. Bd2 Qe7 12. a3 g5 13. c4 d5 14. Bb4 c5 15.
Bd2 d4 16. Rab1 h5 17. b4 h4 18. h3 Nh6 19. Nh2 Kd7 20. bxc5 Bxc5 21. Nxc5+
Qxc5 22. Bb4 Qc6 23. Qf3 a5 24. Bd2 Ke7 25. Rb5 Rhb8 26. Rxa5 Rxa5 27. Bxa5 Kf7
28. Bb4 Qb6 29. Rc1 c5 30. Bd2 Kg7 31. a4 Qb2 32. Qd1 Bd7 33. Ra1 Rb3 34. Be1
Rxd3 35. Qxd3 Qxa1 36. Qe2 Bxa4 37. Kf1 Qd1 38. f3 Bb3 39. Qxd1 Bxd1 40. Ba5
Bb3 41. Bb6 Bxc4+ 42. Ke1 Nf7 43. Bxc5 Nh8 44. Ng4 Kf7 45. Bb6 Ng6 46. Bd8 Ne7
47. Kf2 Be6 48. Ke1 Bxg4 49. hxg4 Ng6 50. Ba5 Nf4 51. Kf2 Ke6 52. Bd2 Kd6 53.
Bb4+ Kc6 54. Be7 d3 55. Bb4 Kb5 56. Be1 Kc4 57. g3 hxg3+ 58. Kxg3 Kb3 59. Kf2
Kc2 60. Ke3 Ng2+ 61. Kf2 Nxe1 62. Kxe1 d2+ 63. Ke2 d1=Q+ 64. Ke3 Qe1# 0-1
Answer:
Black wins a pawn with 1. ..Rxd3. The white queen can't maintain a defense of the
Rook on a1 and capture the rook on d3 at the same time. This is a deflection tactic.
This game took quite a long time to eventually win, but the extra passed pawn on the d
file proved to be the prom queen in the end.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Inexperienced players have a fear of this piece, which seems to them enigmatic,
mysterious, and astonishing in its power. We must admit that it has remarkable
characteristics which compel respect and occasionally surprise the most wary players. -
Eugene Znosko-Borowski
T his game contains one of my favorite

tactics from my own games.
In the position on the right it is Black to

move.
Answer below.
In this game I was playing an opponent who

was several hundred points lower than me. I
had not played him before.
I went through the opening and middlegame

without getting any kind of advantage, and went
into an endgame with even material.
At one point my opponent offered me a draw.

I felt that with best play for both sides, it probably would be a draw. I was not familiar with my
opponent. So I got up, and looked at the pairing sheet to see what his rating was. When I saw it
was 300 points lower than mine, I decided to decline the draw, assuming that he would probably
make some sort of tactical mistake at some point, which I could take advantage of.
[Event "Pikes Peak Open"]

[Site "Manitou Springs, CO"]
[Date "2008.08.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Wokurka, Michael"]
[Black "Brennan, Tim"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "1384"]
[BlackElo "1695"]
[PlyCount "98"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. e3 exd4 4. exd4 d5 5. Nf3 Be7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 O-O 8.
O-O Nbd7 9. Nc3 Nb6 10. Bb3 Bg4 11. Re1 Re8 12. h3 Bh5 13. Qd3 c6 14. Bd2 Bxf3
15. Qxf3 Qxd4 16. Be3 Qd8 17. Rad1 Nbd7 18. Qe2 Bc5 19. Bxf7+ Kxf7 20. Qc4+ Kg6
21. Bxc5 Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 Nxc5 23. Qxc5 Qd2 24. Re2 Qc1+ 25. Kh2 Qf4+ 26. g3 Qf3
27. Qe3 Qxe3 28. Rxe3 Rd8 29. Re7 Rd7 30. Rxd7 Nxd7 31. Kg2 Ne5 32. f4 Nd3 33.
b3 b5 34. Kf3 Nc1 35. Ke4 b4 36. Na4 Nxa2 37. Nc5 Nc3+ 38. Ke5 Nb5 39. g4 a5
40. h4 Kf7 41. f5 Ke7 42. g5 Nc7 43. f6+ gxf6+ 44. gxf6+ Kf7 45. Kf5 Nd5 46.
Nb7 a4 47. Nd6+ Kf8 48. bxa4 b3 49. Nc4 Ne3+ 0-1
Answer:
The move 49...Ne3+!! is a rare fork of knight against knight and king. Fritz 12 gave
me the coveted double exclam for this move in the Full Analysis mode. If white takes the
knight, he will not have time to stop the b pawn from queening. If he moves his king out
of check, then Nxc4 and the pawn still cannot be stopped. My opponent immediately
resigned.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Drawn games are sometimes more scintillating than any conclusive contest. - Savielly
Tartakower
T his game is my favorite swindle of all

time. I originally published this
position in the July 2004 Tactics Time
Column, which you can read here:
http://tacticstime.com/?p=298

move.
Answer below.
My good friend Paul Grimm used to be a

tremendously active tournament player. He
would play in pretty much every tournament
within 100 miles.
Paul has since gotten into ultra marathons and

has competed in events such as the Bad Water race, which is a 135 mile run across death valley!
This game was played during the 2004 US Game 60 Championship which was held in Durango,
Colorado.
Paul was famous for never resigning in any game, and always making his opponents checkmate
him. He would look for every shameless cheapo possible. He even devised a plan that he called
"Operation Swindle Master", where he planned to get to 1800 by only playing much weaker
players, and getting there 1 rating point at a time.
There is something to be said for this "no retreat, no surrender" and "never give up" sort of
attitude. I personally don't recommend playing every game out until mate, but it works for some
people, and you will occasionally get an extra half a point here and there.
I did a podcast with Paul where he talked about this position, and his experiences in the chess
world. You can listen to the podcast, or read the transcript here: http://tacticstime.com/?p=791.
[Event "US G60 Championship"]

[Site "Durango, Colorado"]
[Date "2004.11.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Grimm, Paul"]
[Black "Ponomarev, Mikhail"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "1691"]
[BlackElo "2206"]
[PlyCount "82"]
1. e4 d5 2. e5 c5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. f4 Bf5 8.

c3 e6 9. Nf3 Bxb1 10. Rxb1 Qa5 11. a3 c5 12. Qd3 c4 13. Qc2 Bc5 14. Ke2 Ne7 15.
Be3 Bxe3 16. Kxe3 Qc5+ 17. Ke2 Nf5 18. Qd2 h5 19. Nd4 Nxd4+ 20. Qxd4 Qxd4 21.
cxd4 Rb8 22. Rhc1 Rb3 23. Rc3 Rb7 24. b4 Kd7 25. a4 Rhb8 26. Kd2 Rxb4 27. Ra1
Rb2+ 28. Rc2 R8b3 29. Rxb2 Rxb2+ 30. Kc3 Rxg2 31. Rb1 Kc7 32. a5 Rxh2 33. Rb6
Rh4 34. Rxa6 Rxf4 35. Kb4 c3 36. Kc5 c2 37. Rc6+ Kb8 38. Kb6 Rxd4 39. Rxc2 Rb4+
40. Ka6 g5 41. Rb2 Rxb2 1/2-1/2
Answer:
Here Paul found 41. Rb2! which forces a stalemate. His King and pawns cannot move. Black
cannot move his own rook, because it is pinned to his king on b8. Black cannot give up the rook,
even though he has several extra pawns, because he will get checkmated. Black is forced to play
41. ..Rxb2 which is a stalemate.
This was a brilliant move, and the fact that it was against a Master, who was probably on cruise
control at this point, shows how his spirit of never giving up can really pay off.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. If you enjoy my newsletter, please feel free to forward it to your friends, and encourage
them to sign up as well on my website! http://tacticstime.com
Grab this Headline Animator
No matter how much theory progresses, how radically styles change, chess play is
inconceivable without tactics. - Samuel Reshevsky
T his game comes from my good buddy

and chess wingman Francisco Baltier
AKA "ZonaGrad" on Red Hot Pawn.

move.
Answer below.
Francisco is probably best known for defeating

Grandmaster Walter Browne in a simul in Reno
with the "Fishing Pole" opening.
I was there for that moment, and it was really

amazing. You can see a video of him playing GM
Browne on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=pnN9mqed3l0
This was the first YouTube video I ever posted. It has gotten thousands of hits at this point,
and the game has become somewhat famous.
Along with the Fishing Pole opening, Francisco also loves the Budapest Defense. He even got
me to start playing it! This opening has a lot of tricks and traps in it. I have seen Francisco use
the above tactic in several different variations.
[Event "January 2009 Grand Three Seven I"]

[Date "2009.01.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Renegade Hotspur"]
[Black "Zonagrad"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A51"]
[WhiteElo "1557"]
[BlackElo "1656"]
[PlyCount "24"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. d5 Bc5 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Na6 6. Bg5 O-O 7. Bd3 Nb4 8. Nge2

Bxf2+ 9. Kxf2 Ng4+ 10. Kg1 Qxg5 11. h3 Qe3+ 12. Kf1 Qf2# 0-1
Answer:
The keys are:
Uncastled White King

Knight deployed to a square such as e2, where it is not protecting the bishop on g5
White King is the only defender of the f2 square.
Which leads to the move 8...Bxf2+! winning a pawn. If white captures the bishop the
next move is Ng4+ followed by Qxg5. In this case it would have been best for white to
not capture the bishop, and he got quickly mated in the game.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. I have posted Tactics Time columns that appeared in past issues of the Colorado Chess
Informant, dating back to 2004. Be sure and check it out! You can selected "Tactics Time
Column" from the categories on the right, or use this link. http://tacticstime.com/?cat=43
Every pawn is a potential queen. - James Mason
T his is quite an interesting tactic, and

the fact that a person rated under 1000
at the time found it, is quite
impressive.

move.
Answer below.
This game was played between Alexander

Freeman and Fred Spell. You may have seen my
interview with Fred on my Tactics Time website.
http://tacticstime.com/?p=244
Fred is editor of the Colorado Chess Informant,

publishes a monthly newsletter of games from
"Colorado Springs Chess Night" and runs his own tournaments under the "Gentleman's Chess
Club", which does allow women to play in its events.
Alexander was rated below 1000 at the time, and since this game, has gained hundreds of
rating points. Games like this are part of the reason why.
Here is the game:
[Event "East Coast Deli Oct 2009"]

[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2009.10.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Freeman, Alexander"]
[Black "Spell, Fred"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "998"]
[BlackElo "1519"]
[PlyCount "101"]
1. e4 c6 2. c4 g6 3. d4 d5 4. e5 e6 5. c5 Ne7 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. f4 Nd7

8. Nf3 b6 9. b4 bxc5 10. bxc5 Bb7 11. Nc3 Nf5 12. Qc2 Nh4 13. O-O Nxf3+
14. Rxf3 Qh4 15. Rb1 Rb8 16. Qa4 a6 17. Bxa6 Bxa6 18. Qxa6 Qe1+ 19. Qf1 Qh4
20. Qf2 Qd8 21. Rxb8 Nxb8 22. Na4 Qa5 23. Ra3 Qc7 24. Nb6 O-O 25. Qb2 Qe7
26. Ra8 Qh4 27. g3 Qe7 28. a4 Qb7 29. a5 Na6 30. Rxf8+ Bxf8 31. Kf2 Be7
32. Ke3 Bd8 33. Kd3 f6 34. Bd2 fxe5 35. Na4 e4+ 36. Kc2 Qg7 37. Nb6 Qf7
38. Nc8 Nc7 39. Qb7 Nb5 40. Qxf7+ Kxf7 41. a6 Nxd4+ 42. Kc3 Nb5+
43. Kb4 Nc7 44. a7 Na8 45. Ka4 Ke8 46. Ba5 e3 47. Nb6 Nc7 48. Nxd5 Na8
49. Nxe3 Bf6 50. Nc4 Bd4 51. Kb4 1-0
Answer:
I like this tactic, because white has to respond differently, but correctly based on how black
plays.
The best move is 48. Nxd5! grabbing a pawn and threatening to queen his own pawn.
48... Na8 49. Nxe3 catching the run away black pawn.
48... cxd5 or exd5 49. Bxc7 followed by a8=Q
48... Nxd5 49. a8=Q
Nice work Alex!
The key is to see that the black knight on c7 is preventing the pawn from queening, and getting
the knight out of the way, forcefully, so the queen can pawn. If black blocks the a pawn from
queening, white simply grabs another pawn.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. If you enjoyed the interview above with Fred, you can subscribe to my free Tactics Time
podcast on iTunes. Just search for "Tactics Time" in the iTunes store.
The pleasure to be derived from a chess combination lie in the feeling that a human mind
is behind the game, dominating the inanimate pieces ... and giving them breath of life. -
Richard Reti
M ichael Valvo was a very strong

International Master who used to play
in Denver. His opponent in this game
is a young Philipp Ponomarev who would later
become a very strong Master himself.

move.
Answer below.
Michael Valvo has his own wikipedia page with

some interesting stories on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Valvo
I thought this was really interesting:
By 1976, Valvo had essentially dropped out of tournament chess and his rating was no longer
published in the USCF rating lists, until Bill Goichberg and Jose Cuchi invited him to a futurity
tournaments. Valvo did well, earning a rating of 2440. However, Professor Arpad Elo refused to
award Valvo the rating he had earned, because Elo had never heard of Valvo and suspected that
the tournament had been rigged. This matter was debated at the 1978 FIDE Congress in Buenos
Aires and FIDE voted to give Valvo his 2440 rating. Valvo quickly proved that he really was a 2440
strength player and earned the International Master title.
After Valvo died in 2004, I received some old, interesting pictures from his sister, which I
published in the Colorado Chess Informant. I was editor of the magazine at the time.
Here is the game:
[Event "1999 Colorado Open"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "1999.09.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Valvo, Michael J"]
[Black "Ponomarev, Philipp M"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2417"]
[BlackElo "1985"]
[PlyCount "53"]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nxd5 4. d4 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. g4 Bg6 7. Ne5 e6 8. Bg2

c6 9. h4 f6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. a3 Bd6 12. Qd3 f5 13. h5 Bf4 14. c4 Bxc1 15. cxd5
Bxb2 16. Ra2 Qb6 17. Qe2 Bxd4 18. Qxe6+ Kd8 19. O-O c5 20. d6 Nc6 21. Nd2 Re8
22. Qxg6 Ne5 23. Qg5+ Kd7 24. Qxf5+ Kxd6 25. Rb1 Qa5 26. Rxb7 Rf8 27. Nc4+ 1-0
Answer:
Here Valvo found a very cute mate in 2, which Fritz gave a double exclam - 27. Nc4+!!
If black plays 27. ..Nxc4 (the only legal move to get out of check), white mates with 28. Rd7#
or 28. Qd5#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. If you would like to take you game to the next level check out my Tactics Time database
training product, available for download now! http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2
I give 98 percent of my mental energy to Chess. Others give only 2 percent. - Bobby
Fischer
B obby Fischer Teaches Chess is one of

my favorite chess books. In it he starts
with very simple examples of a back
rank mate, which is a crucial tactic for all chess
players to know. He slowly builds on each
example.

move.
Answer below.
In the book he does not use any algebraic

notation, only arrows drawn on the board. Each
page has a problem, and the answer is on the
next page. No space is wasted in the book, and
when you get to the end you flip it over and
continue reading from back to front. After you go through this book a few times you will never
miss a back rank mate thread again.
In this game I played "The Grob", 1. g4, one of my favorite openings. There are a lot of tricks,
traps and tactics in the opening, so black needs to be careful. I wrote an article that I posted on
Hubpages.com called Chess Tactics in the Grob that you might find interesting.
Here is the game:
[Event "Clan league"]

[Date "2011.01.26"]
[White "Timmybx"]
[Black "Czewiske"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1779"]
[BlackElo "1336"]
[PlyCount "107"]
1. g4 d5 2. Bg2 Nc6 3. h3 e5 4. c4 Be6 5. cxd5 Bxd5 6. Bxd5 Qxd5 7. Nf3 e4 8.

Nc3 Qc4 9. b3 Qe6 10. Ng5 Qe5 11. Ngxe4 Bb4 12. Qc2 Nd4 13. Qd3 O-O-O 14. Bb2
Nf6 15. Nxf6 gxf6 16. Ne4 Nf3+ 17. Qxf3 Qxb2 18. O-O Bxd2 19. Nxf6 Qe5 20. Rad1
Bg5 21. Rxd8+ Kxd8 22. Rd1+ Kc8 23. Ne4 f6 24. Nxg5 Qxg5 25. Rd5 Qc1+ 26. Kg2
Qc6 27. Qf5+ Kb8 28. Kg3 h5 29. Qxh5 Rc8 30. Qf5 a6 31. h4 b5 32. h5 b4 33. Rd4
Qc3+ 34. Rd3 Qb2 35. Qe6 Kb7 36. Qd5+ c6 37. Qf7+ Kb6 38. Qe6 Rc7 39. h6 a5 40.
Qe3+ Kb5 41. Rd2 Qe5+ 42. Qxe5+ fxe5 43. g5 Re7 44. g6 Re6 45. g7 Rg6+ 46. Kf3
Rf6+ 47. Ke3 Rxh6 48. g8=Q Rh3+ 49. f3 a4 50. Qc4+ Kb6 51. Qxb4+ Kc7 52. Qa5+
Kb7 53. Rd7+ Kc8 54. Qc7# 1-0
You can play through the moves here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=1988.
Answer:
White can grab the h pawn with 29. Qxh5. If black plays 29. ..Rxh5 then 30. Rd8# with a
back rank mate.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
...little things make big things happen. In fact...there are no big things, only a logical
accumulation of little things done at a very high standard of performance." -John Wooden
O ne of the most important things about

the study of tactics is to do it on a
consistent basis. It is just like
exercising your body - it is best to do it on a
consistent basis, and every day if possible.

move.
Answer below.
One website that might help you to form

the habit of working on your tactics every day is
http://habitforge.com.
This is a free website that I first learned about

from the book The 4-Hour Body by Timothy
Ferris. Ferris also wrote the book The 4-Hour Workweek and is always looking for ways to do
things in a more efficient manner and has some really good time management techniques. I
highly recommend both books if you like that sort of thing. His blog is also quite entertaining.
The way habit forge works is - you set up a new habit that you want to have. For example you
could create a habit that says "I will study tactics problems for at least 10 minutes each day".
Each day you will get an e-mail asking you if you achieved your goal or not. You click on either
"Yes" or "No". It will then track how often you were successful or not. You can add notes to each
day, create and modify goals, share your goals, etc.
This extra little bit of accountability can really help you to create new habits. Once you start
doing something on a frequent basis it will become easier and easier.
If you are having trouble finding the time to study tactics each day (or anything else) this
website might help.
Here is the game:
[Event "2011 Colorado Springs Open"]

[Date "2011.03.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Rossi, Ronald"]
[Black "Powers, James"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "1822"]
[BlackElo "1626"]
[PlyCount "59"]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 c6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Nbd7 8.

a3 Qc7 9. h3 c5 10. Nb5 Qb6 11. Be3 Nd5 12. dxc5 Bxc5 13. Bxc5 Nxc5 14. c4 Bd7
15. b4 Ne4 16. cxd5 Bxb5 17. Bxb5+ Qxb5 18. dxe6 O-O 19. exf7+ Rxf7 20. Qb3
Raf8 21. Rae1 Qc6 22. Ne5 Nd2 23. Qa2 Qc7 24. Nxf7 Nxf1 25. Ng5+ Kh8 26. Kxf1
Qh2 27. Nf7+ Kg8 28. Nh6+ Kh8 29. Qg8+ Rxg8 30. Nf7# 1-0
Answer:
This is a classical smothered mate - a tactic you must know by heart. 29. Qg8+ Rxg8 30.
Nf7# is a beauty.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The weaker the player the more terrible the Knight is to him, but as a player increases in
strength the value of the Bishop becomes more evident to him, and of course there is, or
should be, a corresponding decrease in his estimation of the value of the Knight as compared
to the bishop. - Jose Capablanca
O ften it is not enough to just get your

pieces all pointed at the opponent's
king. You have to find some sort of
tactical shot to finish the job.

move.
Answer below.
This game was played in the Reno Club

Championship. Black in this game is Jerry
Wiekel, who runs big tournaments in Reno each
year.
I have played in several of Jerry's Reno

tournaments, and they are always a great time.
Each year Jerry holds the Far West Open during Easter weekend, and in the fall holds the Western
States Open, usually the weekend after Columbus Day.
The tournaments are very well run, and lots of fun. Jerry has a large collection of state flags
that he puts next to the player's boards, and also gives each player a pin for each tournament,
which are really nice. There is always free coffee and coffee cake in the mornings which is nice,
and a book dealer with a large collection. Jerry's family always helps out with the tournament,
which is really nice as well.
The only possible drawback is that the hotel where he holds the tournament, The Sands, is
really run down. But it is very cheap. For a good laugh, you can read some of the reviews of this
hotel on yelp.com. http://www.yelp.com/biz/sands-regency-casino-and-hotel-reno
But overall I would highly recommend one of Jerry's Reno tournaments! You can find out more
information about them at http://www.renochess.org.
Here is the game:

[Event "Club Championship"]
[Site "Reno Chess Club"]
[Date "2003.03.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Reyes, E."]
[Black "Weikel, Jerome"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[WhiteElo "1799"]
[BlackElo "2044"]
[PlyCount "63"]
1. f4 d5 2. e3 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. d4 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 e6 7. Bd3 Nd7 8. O-O

Ngf6 9. Nd2 c5 10. c3 O-O 11. Rf2 Rb8 12. g4 b5 13. h4 h5 14. gxh5 Nxh5 15. Qh3
Kh7 16. Nf3 Rh8 17. Ng5+ Kg8 18. Bxg6 Qe7 19. Bxf7+ Kf8 20. Bxe6 Ndf6 21. f5
Ne4 22. Rg2 Nxg5 23. hxg5 Rb6 24. Qg4 Rxe6 25. fxe6 Kg8 26. Bd2 Bf8 27. Rf1 Ng7
28. Rf6 Ne8 29. Rf7 Qd6 30. Be1 Ng7 31. Bg3 Qxe6 32. Rxg7+ 1-0
Answer:
Here white played 18. Bxg6! winning a crucial pawn in front of Black's king. The bishop cannot
be recaptured because of 18. ..fxg6 19. Qxe6+ Kf8 20. Qf7#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Chess is a sport. A violent sport. - Marcel Duchamp
A lejandro isn't just the name of a Lady

Gaga song. It is the first name of one
of the most talented and creative
tactical players I have seen in Colorado,
Alejandro Torres

move.
Answer below.
This game was played between Paul Anderson

and Alejandro. You may have heard my Podcast
Interview with Paul. If not, you can check it out
here: http://tacticstime.com/?p=113
You can listen to the podcast on the website

itself, download the MP3 to your computer, iPod, or other MP3 player, or read the interview
transcript.
Paul actually specifically mentions Alejandro in the interview, describing him as the type of
player he has difficulty playing against. Paul is a rather "positional" type player, and Alejandro is
a "no retreat, no surrender" piece sacrificing warrior.
Here is the game:
[Event "March Swiss"]

[Date "2010.03.16"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Anderson, Paul"]
[Black "Torres, Alejandro"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A44"]
[WhiteElo "1974"]
[BlackElo "1582"]
[PlyCount "96"]
1. d4 c5 2. d5 e5 3. e4 d6 4. c4 Be7 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Bd3 a6 7. Nc3 Bg4 8. h3 Bh5

9. g4 Bg6 10. Be3 Nd7 11. Qd2 h6 12. O-O-O Rb8 13. Kb1 Ngf6 14. g5 hxg5 15.
Nxg5 b5 16. f3 b4 17. Ne2 a5 18. Rdg1 a4 19. Ne6 Qb6 20. Nxg7+ Kd8 21. Ng3 Nf8
22. N7f5 N8h7 23. Nxe7 Kxe7 24. h4 Nh5 25. Nxh5 Bxh5 26. Rg3 Rhg8 27. Rhg1 Rg6
28. Bf1 Rbg8 29. Qf2 a3 30. b3 Qb8 31. Bh3 Qf8 32. f4 exf4 33. Bxf4 Qg7 34.
Rxg6 fxg6 35. Qd2 Rf8 36. Bh6 Qe5 37. Bxf8+ Kxf8 38. Re1 Kg7 39. Be6 Nf6 40.
Qf2 Bf3 41. Re3 Bxe4+ 42. Kc1 Qa1+ 43. Kd2 Qxa2+ 44. Ke1 Qb1+ 45. Ke2 a2 46.
Qf4 Qc2+ 47. Kf1 a1=Q+ 48. Re1 Bd3+ 0-1
Answer:
In this position above Paul was the swashbuckling one, and played 19. Ne6! forking the queen
and g7 pawn. If 19. ..fxe6 then 20. Rxg6 with a nice attack, and black's kingside is in
shambles. In the game Alejandro played 19. ..Qb6 and white grabbed a pawn with 20. Nxg7+.
This was a very creative, and hard to find move, and Fritz rated it as the best move for white.
While Paul got an advantage here, Alejandro refused to quit, and later went on to win the game.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Let the perfectionist play postal. - Yasser Seirawan
T his game is one of the longest I have

ever seen - 105 moves - and it wasn't
even played out until Checkmate.

move.
Answer below.
This is another game from Paul Anderson. We

talked about his game in my Podcast Interview
with Paul.
Paul played this game against his father. He

started playing email chess, as a way to keep in
touch with his family, and to ensure that he
always had some email to read. This eventually
led to playing OTB (Over the Board) chess in tournaments.
Note that all of the games that appear in the Tactics Time newsletter are in "PGN" format, which
stands for "Portable Game Notation". You can copy and paste the text, and open the game in any
of the various PGN readers that are available for download on the Internet.
With Chessbase (or any of its family of products) you can "copy" the text, and "paste" it right
into the board window.
Here is the game:
[Event "6-4-2"]
[Site "Glenwood Springs"]
[Date "1999.02.08"]
[Black "Anderson, Douglas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D20"]
[PlyCount "209"]
[EventDate "1998.08.04"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 c5 4. d5 e6 5. Bxc4 e5 6. Nf3 Bd6 7. Nc3 a6 8. O-O h6
9. Be3 Bg4 10. Qa4+ Nd7 11. Be2 Ngf6 12. Qc2 O-O 13. Nh4 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 Nxd5 15.
Nxd5 Qxh4 16. Rad1 Bb8 17. g3 Qh3 18. Ne7+ Kh7 19. Nf5 Nf6 20. Bxc5 Re8 21. f3
b5 22. Qe3 g6 23. Qb3 Kg8 24. Nd6 Bxd6 25. Rxd6 Kg7 26. Rfd1 Qc8 27. Be3 Ng8
28. Qd5 Re7 29. Rc1 Qb7 30. Rcc6 f6 31. Rb6 Qc8 32. Rdc6 Qh3 33. Rxf6 Nxf6 34.
Qxa8 Rd7 35. Rb7 Qe6 36. Rxd7+ Nxd7 37. Bxh6+ Kf7 38. Qb7 Kf6 39. b3 Qd6 40.
Qa7 Qc6 41. Be3 Qd6 42. Bf2 Qc6 43. Qe3 Qe6 44. h4 Ke7 45. Qg5+ Kf7 46. g4 Nf6
47. Kg2 a5 48. Qd2 a4 49. bxa4 bxa4 50. Bc5 Nxe4 51. fxe4 Qxg4+ 52. Kf1 Qxe4
53. Qd7+ Kg8 54. Qe8+ Kh7 55. Qf7+ Kh6 56. Be7 Kh5 57. Bg5 Qf5+ 58. Qxf5 gxf5
59. Kf2 Kg4 60. Bf6 f4 61. Bd8 e4 62. Bc7 Kxh4 63. Bxf4 Kg4 64. Ke3 Kf5 65. Bh2
Ke6 66. Kxe4 Kd7 67. Kd5 Kc8 68. Kc6 Kd8 69. Bd6 Ke8 70. Kc7 Kf7 71. Kd7 Kf6
72. Be7+ Ke5 73. Bd8 Kd5 74. Bb6 Ke5 75. Bc7+ Kf6 76. Kd6 Kf7 77. Bd8 Ke8 78.
Be7 Kf7 79. Kd7 Kg6 80. Ke6 Kg7 81. Bd6 Kg6 82. Bf8 Kg5 83. Bg7 Kg6 84. Bf6 Kh6
85. Kf7 Kh5 86. Be7 Kg4 87. Kf6 Kf4 88. Ke6 Ke4 89. Bf6 Kf4 90. Bh4 Kg4 91. Be7
Kh5 92. Kf5 Kh6 93. Bf8+ Kh5 94. Bg7 Kh4 95. Bh6 Kg3 96. Bg5 Kf3 97. Bf4 Kf2
98. Ke4 Kg2 99. Kd4 Kf3 100. Bh2 Kg4 101. Kc4 Kf5 102. Kb4 Ke6 103. Kxa4 Kd7
104. Ka5 Kc8 105. Ka6 1-0
Answer:
In the position above Paul played 37. Bxh6! winning a pawn for white. If black captures the
Bishop with 37. ..Kxh6 he will be mated with 38. Qh8+ Kg5 39. Qh4# or 39. h4# which gets
more style points :-)
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. Believe it or not there are actually several games in the Tactics Time database that go over
100 moves. Claim your copy TODAY!!
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more
common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is
almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence
and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will
solve the problems of the human race. -Calvin Coolidge
H ere is another game that went really

long - 99 moves! White played the
Orangutan, 1.b4, which is a really fun
opening to play.

move.
Answer below.
I recently discovered some really interesting

chess videos on YouTube by Grandmaster
Andrew Martin. I had seen some of his videos
previously in the "Foxy Opening" video series.
These videos are similar in that it is just him

speaking, with a chessbase chess board. In fact
it is the same board and pieces I use in my newsletters. He does a really outstanding job going
over some very interesting games and openings. One video features the "Fried Liver Attack"
which is a fascinating opening by itself, and then has a shocking queen sacrifice.
The videos are very well organized and professionally done, and all for free. Each one is about
12 minutes long, and very entertaining. Highly recommended. Check out his channel at
http://www.youtube.com/user/YMChessMaster.
Here is the game:
[Event "Open invite"]

[Date "2008.12.08"]
[White "Anconfin"]
[Black "Zonagrad"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1492"]
[BlackElo "1656"]
[PlyCount "198"]
1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. Ng5 Bf5 8.
Bb5 c6 9. Ba4 h6 10. Nf3 Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nh4 Bh7 14. Nc3 Nxg4 15.
hxg4 Bxh4 16. Qf3 Qf6 17. Qg2 Nb6 18. Bb3 Bg6 19. a4 Bg5 20. a5 Nd7 21. Na4 a6
22. f4 Bh4+ 23. Kd1 O-O-O 24. Qh3 Bxc2+ 25. Bxc2 g5 26. fxe5 Nxe5 27. Nb6+ Kc7
28. Nc4 Qe7 29. Nb6 Qe6 30. Rf1 Rhf8 31. Bf5 Qb3+ 32. Kc1 Nd3+ 33. Bxd3 Qxd3
34. Ra3 Qe4 35. Ra4 Qe6 36. Rf5 Qb3 37. Bc3 Rde8 38. Bg7 Rg8 39. Bxh6 Re4 40.
b5 Rxa4 41. Nxa4 Qxa4 42. Rxf7+ Kb8 43. Rf8+ Rxf8 44. Bxf8 Qxb5 45. Bxd6+ Ka8
46. Bc7 Qe2 47. Qh1 Qxg4 48. Qh2 Qd7 49. Bb6 Qe7 50. Qh3 Kb8 51. Qf3 Qg7 52.
Bd4 Qg8 53. Qe4 Bg3 54. Qg4 Bc7 55. Bc3 Bd8 56. Be5+ Bc7 57. Bc3 Qd5 58. Qb4
Qf5 59. Kb2 g4 60. Qe7 Bxa5 61. Qe8+ Ka7 62. Bd4+ Bb6 63. Be5 Bd8 64. Bd4+ Bb6
65. Be5 Bd8 66. Bd4+ c5 67. Be5 Qg5 68. Bf4 Qe7 69. Qh5 Qd7 70. Qxc5+ Bb6 71.
Qc2 g3 72. Bxg3 Qg7+ 73. Qc3 Qxg3 74. d4 Qg2+ 75. Ka3 Qd5 76. Kb2 Ba5 77. Qd3
Qb5+ 78. Qxb5 axb5 79. Kb3 Bd2 80. e4 Be3 81. d5 Bf4 82. Kc3 Be5+ 83. Kb4 Kb6
84. Kb3 Kc5 85. Ka3 Kc4 86. Ka2 Kc3 87. Ka3 b6 88. Ka2 b4 89. Kb1 Kb3 90. Kc1
Ka2 91. Kc2 b3+ 92. Kd3 b2 93. Ke3 b1=Q 94. Kf3 Qf1+ 95. Ke3 Qf4+ 96. Kd3 Kb3
97. d6 Bxd6 98. Kd4 Bc5+ 99. Kd5 Qd6# 0-1
Answer:
71...g3! gets the pawn rolling towards a queen. If white tries to stop the pawn with 72. Bxg3
Qg7+ forks the king and bishop
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. If you own a digital book reader such as an iPad, Nook, Kindle, Sony Reader, or any other
mainstream equipment, Tactics Time comes with an eBook version that contains all of the tactics
problems in eBook format for you to enjoy!
Since amateurs don't always play the best moves, isn't it more sensible to review the
mistakes that tend to occur repeatedly in their own games? Learning to recognize illogical
play, and to pounce on it is accomplished through systematic study of inconsistent moves
and how to counter them. - Bruce Pandolfini
T his game was posted on reddit.com

under the title "The best 4 move game
ever".

move.
Answer below.
Here is a link to the original posting:

redd.it/hh12x
Normally I only post original, class player,

games from my Tactics Time database, but this
one was so amusing that I had to share it.
Apparently, this is the "Lazard Gambit" and

Lazard is the one actually playing black in this game.
I tried to find out some more information about Lazard, his gambit, or this trap, but there was
surprisingly little information about it on the internet.
I did find an interesting wikipedia article that contains a list of chess traps.
After I sent this email to Richard "Buck" Buchanan he wrote me back:
Tim,
The authenticity of this 4-move game is very much in doubt.
The outstanding chess historian Edward Winter, in his book Kings,Commoners, and Knaves, gives a
quotation from Chess magazine, July 14, 1937:
"Monsieur Gibard ... never lost any tournament game in four moves. Searching his memory, he
recalls a "skittles" he once played against Lazard, a game of the most light-hearted variety, in which, his
attention distracted ... , he played a move which allowed a combination of this genre - but certainly not
four moves after the commencement of the game. Rumour, he said, must have woven strange tales
about this game..."
Buck Buchanan
So I am not sure that this game is real, but I think that it is still a great tactic to look at, and
trap to know.
Here is the game:
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "1924.??.??"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Amedee Gibaud"]
[Black "Frederic Lazard"]
[ECO "A45"]
[PlyCount "8"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nd2 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.h3 Ne3 0-1
Answer:
4...Ne3! either wins the queen, or allows checkmate after 5. fxe3 Qh4+ 6. g3 Qxg3#
What a great move!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

I've loved the life around chess - the new friends, the atmosphere, the struggle. - Garry
Kasparov
T oday we are going to look at a variation

from the position that was in
Newsletter #4 "Tactics on Steroids" and
answer a question that a reader has about it.
This was my game against Anthea Carson from
the Tribute to Bobby Fischer Tournament that
was played in Palmer Lake, CO.

move.
Here is the really nice e-mail I received:
Hi Tim,
I have been reading your newsletters and I

must compliment you on them. I think they are
well written and interesting. Looking forward to reading more from you.
I have a question... After 19. Nxd6, why doesn't Black recapture with the rook [Tim: 19.
..Rxd6 see diagram for position after this move] instead of with the queen?
Thanks,
Saajan
Tim's Response:
Hi Saajan!
Thanks so much for the nice complements :-) I really appreciate that!
Great question... so after 19. Nxd6 if Black takes with the rook 19. ..Rxd6, I will basically do a
similar thing and play
20. c4
which attacks the bishop on d5. The only safe square for this bishop is on e6. So black will
likely play
20. ..Be6
But this move blocks the rook that is on e8 from protecting the pawn on e5, which is attacked
from the bishop that is on g3.
So now white can play
21. Bxe5 (see second diagram for position after this move)
which is attacking the rook on d6 now. The

rook on d6 is now pinned to the queen on d6, so
black is going to lose a rook for a bishop (and
just lost the pawn on e5).
This was a pretty complicated tactic :-) Most

of the later ones are easier than this one. But
great job asking these kinds of questions! That
is a great skill to develop!
Hope this helps :-)
Thanks again!
Tim
Here is the game:

[Date "2011.05.22"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "1769"]
[BlackElo "1760"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. e3 d6 5. Bd3 c6 6. c3 Nbd7 7. Nbd2 e5 8. dxe5

Nxe5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Qc2 h6 11. Bh4 Be6 12. O-O Qc7 13. a4 Rd8 14. Rfd1 O-O
15. b4 Rfe8 16. h3 Rd7 17. Bg3 Bd6 18. Nc4 Bd5 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. c4 Qxb4 21.
cxd5 Nxd5 22. Rab1 Qa5 23. Rbc1 Rde7 24. Bc4 Nf6 25. Bh4 e4 26. Bxf6 gxf6 27.
Rd6 Qg5 28. Qb2 Kg7 29. Rcd1 Qf5 30. Qd4 c5 31. Qd5 Qxd5 32. R1xd5 Rc7 33. Rd7
Rec8 34. R5d6 b6 35. Bxf7 Kf8 36. Bg6 c4 37. Rxf6+ Kg8 38. Bh7+ Kh8 39. Rxc7
Rxc7 40. Bxe4 c3 41. Bc2 Rd7 42. Rxh6+ Kg8 43. Rc6 1-0
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
If you aren't going to go all the way, why go at all? - Joe Namath
O n June 23, 2011 the Denver Chess Club

held a special event in which
Grandmaster Alexander Fishbein gave a
simultaneous exhibit.

move.
Answer below.
Anthea Carson wrote an interesting Hubpage

article about the event, including a brief video
interview that she did with Grandmaster
Alexander Fishbein.
GM Fishbein was born in the Soviet Union, and

moved to the U.S. when he was an adolescent.
He lived in Denver, and was Colorado State Champion several times.
The Denver Chess Club organized this simul while Fishbein was visiting the west on summer
vacation. It was a really nice event. There were 18 players who Fishbein played at the same
time. The final result was 14 wins and 4 draws for Fishbein. I was one of the players who was
able to get a draw, along with Chris Peterson, Isaac Martinez, and Ted Doykos.
The above position is from Chris Peterson's game. Chris is a really active member of the Denver
Chess Club, and organizes and directs many of their events. Chris also created their website,
which has helped to attract a lot of new members to the club.
Chris has also created some chess videos that he posted on his YouTube channel at
http://www.youtube.com/user/sagacious00004.
Chris subscribes to my newsletter, and wrote about this one:
Hey Tim,
Thanks for using my game in your newsletter. There was another tactic, one that Fishbein
missed, instead of 21...Ne7. Also, I wrote an article that was published in the Colorado informant
about this game. A long but comprehensive commentary on the game by me can be found
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq6iOW3netM.
Anyway thanks for the attention,
Chris Peterson
[Event "Denver Chess Club GM Fishbein Simul"]

[Site "Grant Avenue Community Center"]
[Date "2011.06.23"]
[White "Peterson, Chris"]
[Black "Fishbein, Alex"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B64"]
[WhiteElo "1928"]
[BlackElo "2568"]
[PlyCount "91"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qd2

O-O 9. O-O-O h6 10. h4 a6 11. Be2 Qb6 12. Nb3 Rd8 13. g4 d5 14. Bxf6 dxe4 15.
Na4 Qc7 16. Qe3 Rxd1+ 17. Rxd1 Bxf6 18. Nb6 Rb8 19. g5 hxg5 20. fxg5 Be5 21.
Qc5 Ne7 22. Kb1 Qxc5 23. Nxc5 Bc7 24. Nxc8 Rxc8 25. Rd7 Nf5 26. g6 fxg6 27.
Nxe4 Nxh4 28. Ng5 Be5 29. Rxb7 a5 30. c3 Bf6 31. Bc4 Kh8 32. Bxe6 Re8 33. Nf7+
Kh7 34. Bd5 Nf5 35. Ra7 Re1+ 36. Kc2 Re2+ 37. Kb3 Ne7 38. Bc4 Rd2 39. Rxa5 Rd7
40. a4 Nf5 41. Ra8 g5 42. Be6 Rb7+ 43. Kc2 Ne3+ 44. Kd3 Nd1 45. b4 Nxc3 46. b5
1/2-1/2
Answer:
In the above position Chris played the move b4, but missed a killer combination with:
45. Rh8+ Kg6 (only legal move)

46. Nd6 (threatens the rook on b7 and Bf5#)
Black can't protect the rook on b7, and prevent the mate at the same time, so will lose the rook
for nothing.
Chris did end up getting a draw, but missed a great chance for a win, against one of the top 50
players in the country.
This tactic shows the importance of always looking at the forcing moves, especially checks.
Chris was under some pressure at this point, as there were not a lot of games left, and there were
several people watching his game.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Tactics are it. People under 2000 shouldn't study anything else. You need to work on the
ability to count and calculate. - Mig Greengard
T he following position and game was

sent to me by Daoud Zupa, who is the
President of the Denver Chess Club.

move.
Answer below.
This game was played in the World Open, which

is normally the largest tournament held in the
U.S. each year. It is played in Philadelphia, PA
around the 4th of July weekend. The entry fees
are pretty expensive - around 350 dollars, but
the prizes are also quite large - with 225,000
dollars in prizes being given out.
It is a 9 round tournament, with lots of different options for schedule. You can play in a 3 day, 4
day, 5, day or 7 day schedule. People come from all over the world to play in it. I played in it
once, and it was a lot of fun! Having that many people at one tournament is a blast.
[Event "35TH Annual World Open"]

[Site "King of Prussia, PA"]
[Date "2007.07.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Cima, Joe"]
[Black "Zupa, Daoud"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "1927"]
[BlackElo "1988"]
[PlyCount "74"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d6 3. Bd3 e5 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. Be3

Ngf6 9. Qe2 Bb4 10. Bd2 b5 11. O-O O-O 12. Rad1 Ba5 13. a3 Bc7 14. Bg5 a6 15.
Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Bxb5 Nc5 17. Bc4 Rab8 18. b4 Ne6 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Rd3 Rf7 21.
Na4 Rbf8 22. Qd2 Qg6 23. Ng5 Rf4 24. Nc5 R8f6 25. Rg3 h6 26. Ngxe6 Qxg3 27.
fxg3 Rxf1+ 28. Kh2 Rd1 29. Qe3 Bg430. Nd3 Bxe6 31. g4 Rf8 32. Qc5 Bd8 33.
Qxc6 Ba2 34. Qxa6 Bh4 35. g3 Rd2+ 36. Kg1 Bxg3 37. Qb6 Bh2+ 0-1
Answer:
This was a complicated tactic. I actually started this tactic in the middle, and it is still really
complicated. The combination actually started on move 25. The above position is just the final
move of that part, but is not easy to find.
The move 29. ..Bg4! does a lot of things at one time.
Adds a second attacker to the knight on e6, which is already attacked once by the rook on
f6.
Black wants to play the moves Rff1 followed by Rh1# However after Rff1, White could
play g4 and give himself an escape square. Bg4 prevents the pushing of the g3 pawn to
g4.
Even if white plays 30. hxg4 black can play 30. ..Rff1, and White cannot prevent the
checkmate Rh1# The tripled pawns on the g file lock in the white king.
In the game white correctly decided it was better to just lose a piece, rather than get
checkmated, and lost the knight on e6, and black eventually won with his material advantage.
Nice job Daoud!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
"We are either kings or pawns of men" - Napoleon Bonaparte
T he following position and game was

played at the Denver Chess Club, which
holds a G/90 tournament each month,
with games taking place on Tuesday nights.

move.
Answer below.
This game shows what can happen when you

play an opening, but don't understand some of
the weaknesses in that opening. In this case
that opening was the King's Gambit (1. e4 e5
2. f4)
I wrote a HubPage article called "Tactics in the

King's Gambit", and this was one of the examples.
Here is what I wrote about this position:
Playing fxe5 for white
One common mistake that players on the white side of the King's Gambit make is when Black
declines the gambit, and then white plays fxe5 grabbing a pawn himself. This is a bad move, and
a waste of time, and gives black some tactical possibilities.
White has to realize that by playing f4 early in the game, they have left their king somewhat
vulnerable to attack, especially from the black queen on the square h4.
It is very important to play the move Nf3 as soon as possible - normally on the 3rd move of the
game. This is because putting the knight on f3 protects the h4 square. There are some variations
where white plays 3. Bc4 (This is known as "The Bishop's Gambit"), and Bobby Fischer himself
played this variation, but white has to be willing to put up with Qh4+ in this line.
Black will also often play Qh4+ on the second move of the game. 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Qh4+. In this
case white can play 3. g3 blocking the check, and forces the Black Queen to move a second time.
This may cause a slight weakness in the white kingside, but has also caused Black to waste some
time.
Here is a game where white played fxe5 at the wrong time - opening his king up for attack, and
was promptly punished.
[Event "September 2010 Denver Chess Club Tuesdays"]

[Date "2010.09.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Corbett, Tom"]
[Black "Fisch, Dimitriy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C31"]
[PlyCount "14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "4"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. fxe5 Qh4+ 4. Ke2 Qxe4+ 5. Kf2 Bc5+ 6. Kg3 Qxe5+ 7. Kf3 Qh5+ 0-1
Answer:
In the diagram black played 3. ..Qh4+ and promptly punished white. White is totally lost
already. Note that 4. g3 loses to 4. ..Qxe4+ forking the king and the rook on h1.
Remember: If black declines the gambit, don't grab the black e pawn with your f pawn right
away. It is too dangerous!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
"When you strike at a king, you must kill him" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
T he following position is taken from a

recent game of mine against Isaac
Martinez, played at the Daily Grind
Coffee Shop, in Pueblo, Colorado.

move.
Answer below.
Isaac, the son of super active Chess player,

and chess author Anthea Carson, is a rapidly
improving teenager in Colorado. Isaac attended
his first chess tournament (as a spectator) when
he was only a few days old :-)
This position is also from my article about

common tactics in the King's Gambit, and this was one of the examples.
Here is what I wrote about this position:
Bxf7+ Tactics
In the King's Gambit there are often tactics involving a Bishop check on f7. There are several
reasons for this:
The light square bishop for white is often deployed to c4, where it has direct aim at f7
The f file is often open for white
The f7 square is naturally weak in any opening, since only the black king protects it
White is striving for rapid development, and often can punish the black king if it gets stuck
in the middle of the board.
[Event "2011 Pueblo Open"]

[Site "Pueblo CO"]
[Date "2011.06.04"]
[Round "4"]
[Black "Martinez, Isaac"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C34"]
[WhiteElo "1769"]
[BlackElo "1812"]
[PlyCount "55"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. e5 Qe7 6. d4 Ne4 7. O-O Ng5 8. Bxf4 Nxf3+
9. Rxf3 Qb4 10. Bxf7+ Kd8 11. Rb3 Qxd4+ 12. Qxd4 Nxd4 13. Nc3 Nxb3 14. axb3 Bc5+
15. Kh1 h6 16. Bg6 d6 17. Rd1 Rf8 18. Bg3 Bg4 19. Re1 dxe5 20. h3 Bf5 21. Rxe5 Bxg6
22. Rxc5 Ke8 23. Rxc7 Bxc2 24. Nb5 Bxb3 25. Nd6+ Kd8 26. Nxb7+ Ke8 27. Nd6+ Kd8
28. Nb7+ 1/2-1/2
Answer:
In this position, the game got rather crazy, rather quickly. Here white can play 10. Bxf7+
winning a pawn. If Black recaptures with 10. ..Kxf7? then white has a discovered check with 11.
Bd2+ which wins the Black queen. This position shows several of the above ideas.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
In chess, attention is more important than concentration. - Frank J. Marshall
T his position features a very valuable

position for you to become familiar
with.

move.
Answer below.
This position is from a Hubpage article I wrote

about Légal's Mate, and this was one of the
examples.
Légal's mate is really a pseudo sacrifice in

which white can win a pawn, and give checkmate
if black is greedy, and not careful.
One of the most important things to learn when studying this tactical motif, is to learn the subtle
positional differences when it works, and when it doesn't work, which is one of the topics I
cover in the article.
The wikipedia article for this opening trap is good also, and I recommend reading it. This
article mentions the idea of playing h3 to possibly get the black bishop to h4, where it cannot be
protected after Nxe5 Nxe5, which is something that I didn't mention in the article as one of the
ideas for white.
The main things to look for are:
No knight on c6 or d7 (if so you can try the h3 trick that wikipedia mentions)
No knight on f6 (which prevents the Nd5# move)
No queen check on h4 (which happens if white hasn't castled in the kings' gambit
variations)
and white's pieces need to be:
Bishop on c4
Knight on f3
Knight on c3
black's pieces need to be:

Bishop on g4
Pawn (or knight) on e5
King still on e8
Of course, these are just "rules of thumb", and the seeds for the tactics. You still need to do a
sanity check that it works with analysis.
Even if black doesn't grab the queen, white can still win a pawn in a lot of variations.
[Event "December 2008 Hardcore Grand IV"]

[Date "2008.12.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "British Telecom"]
[Black "SurroundedByCats"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "1115"]
[BlackElo "686"]
[PlyCount "13"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Bg4 4. Bc4 e5 5. Nxe5 Bxd1 6. Bxf7+ Ke7 7. Nd5# 1-0
You can play through the game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2015.
Answer:
In the above position white can safely play 5. Nxe5.
if 5. ..Bxd1 as in the game, 6. Bxf7+ Ke7 7. Nd5#
Instead, black should not grab the queen, and should play:
5. ..dxe5 allowing white to play 6. Qxg4 losing a pawn.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The passed Pawn is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures,
such as police surveillance are not sufficient. - Aaron Nimzowitsch
T his position is from the winning game

of the 2011 Denver Open.

move.
Answer below.
Anthea Carson wrote two interesting articles

about this tournament:
The New Denver Open Chess Champion

2011 Robert Ramirez
The Return of the Denver Open
In the first one Anthea talks about Robert Ramirez who is white in the position on the right.
Anthea writes:
"When Robert Ramirez was a teenager he played chess on the 16th street mall which meant
playing a lot of speed chess. He didn't have parents who sent him to chess camp every year or
paid for private chess lessons, he had one book on the Scandinavian and he studied it to pieces
because that's all he had. One book. He came from tough circumstances and not much money but
his spirit always shined through. With that one book he created his own system and became one
of the best chess players in Colorado.
Now he is the Denver Open Chess Champion. His goal now is to go from 2100 to 2200 and
become a master."
[Event "2011 Denver Open"]

[Date "2011.06.26"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ramirez, Robert"]
[Black "Kondracki, Kurt"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2090"]
[BlackElo "1929"]
[PlyCount "97"]
1. e4 c5 2. Na3 Nc6 3. f4 e6 4. Nf3 d5 5. e5 Nge7 6. g3 Nf5 7. c3 d4 8. Bd3 Be7

9. O-O O-O 10. Be4 a6 11. d3 Qc7 12. g4 Nh6 13. Ng5 g6 14. Nh3 Kg7 15. Nf2 Ng8
16. g5 b5 17. Ng4 Bb7 18. Nf6 Rfd8 19. c4 b4 20. Nb1 h5 21. Nd2 a5 22. Rf3 Kf8
23. Rh3 Rdb8 24. Nf1 Nxf6 25. gxf6 Bd8 26. Bd2 Ke8 27. Ng3 Kd7 28. Qf3 Qc8 29.
Kf2 Bc7 30. Qe2 Qf8 31. Rg1 Rd8 32. Bf3 Kc8 33. Ne4 Kb8 34. Ng5 Rd7 35. Be4 Bb6
36. Bxg6 fxg6 37. Nxe6 Qe8 38. Ng7 Rxg7 39. fxg7 Qf7 40. Rxg6 Ka7 41. Qxh5 Nxe5
42. Rxb6 Nxd3+ 43. Kf1 Qxg7 44. Rxb7+ Qxb7 45. Rxd3 Rg8 46. Qxc5+ Kb8 47. Qe5+
Ka7 48. Qxa5+ Kb8 49. Qxb4 1-0
Answer:
40. Rxg6!! got a double exclam from Fritz 12.
White clears the way to protect his passed pawn on g7.
If 40. ...Qxg6 41. Rg3 Black Queen moves, and then White Queens a pawn with 42. g8=Q+
This was a clever way for Robert to protect his passed pawn.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

It doesn't require much for misfortune to strike in the King's Gambit - one incautious
move, and Black can be on the edge of the abyss. - Anatoly Karpov
T his position is from an article I wrote

about Tactics in the King's Gambit.
The King's Gambit is one of my favorite

openings.

move.
Answer below.
This game features the Quaade Gambit and

one reader on reddit.com wrote: "That last game
is an absolute beauty"
This King's Gambit game has just about every

beautiful tactical motif that you can think of.
Miniature - only 13 moves

Discovered check on move 7 for black
White sacrifices his rook on move 8
Black sacrifices his queen on move 8
Pawn Promotion - black queens a pawn on move 8 to get back his queen
Quiet move 9. Qh5
Double Discovered Check! with 11. Nd6+
Queen sacrifice with 12. Qe8+
Smothered mate, down a rook and a queen for a pawn, with 13. Nf7#
If you don't find this game interesting, I highly suggest taking up a new hobby :-)
[Event "Challenge"]
[Date "2005.03.16"]
[White "Jfkjmh"]
[Black "Propawnkiller"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C37"]
[WhiteElo "2167"]
[BlackElo "1855"]
[PlyCount "25"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Nc3 g4 5. Ne5 Qh4+ 6. g3 fxg3 7. Qxg4 g2+ 8.

Qxh4 gxh1=Q 9. Qh5 Be7 10. Nxf7 Nf6 11. Nd6+ Kd8 12. Qe8+ Rxe8 13. Nf7# 1-0
Answer:
This game ends with a textbook smothered mate.
Solution to the diagram: 11. Nd6+ Kd8 12. Qe8+ Rxe8 13. Nf7#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Theory regards this opening as incorrect, but it is impossible to agree with this. Out of
the five tournament games played by me with the King's Gambit, I have won all five. ~
David Bronstein
T his position comes from the "Thematic

tournament" that was played on Red
Hot Pawn.

move.
Answer below.
A thematic tournament is one where every

game is started from the same opening position.
In this case it was the "Pantelakis Counter
Gambit of the King's Gambit", which I had never
heard of.
A counter gambit occurs when black gambits a

pawn of his own in response to White Gambiting
a pawn.
This counter gambit occurs after the moves 1. e4 e5 2. f4 f5!?
This does not seem like a very sound move to me, but I have no doubt that it leads to some
fun, and tactical games.
Often thematic tournaments will feature odd or off beat openings, that players do not feature on
a normal basis, but want some practice playing against. In years of playing the King's Gambit, I
have never seen the response 2. ..f5.
[Event "King's Gambit - Pantelakis Counter Gamb"]

[Date "2011.05.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Gapa, Sylwia"]
[Black "Probey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1147"]
[BlackElo "1230"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppp2pp/8/4pp2/4PP2/8/PPPP2PP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "52"]
1. exf5 exf4 2. Qh5+ Ke7 3. Qg5+ Nf6 4. Qxf4 Nc6 5. Bc4 d5 6. Be2 Kf7 7. Nc3
Bd6 8. Qf3 Re8 9. Nxd5 Nxd5 10. Qxd5+ Kf8 11. Nf3 Bg3+ 12. Kf1 Qxd5 13. d3 Qc5
14. hxg3 Bxf5 15. b3 Qe7 16. Bd1 Bg4 17. Rh4 Bxf3 18. Rf4+ Kg8 19. gxf3 Qe1+
20. Kg2 Qxd1 21. Bb2 Qxc2+ 22. Kh3 Qxb2 23. Rf1 Re2 24. Kg4 h6 25. Rf5 Ne5+ 26.
Kf4 Qd4# 0-1
Answer:
11. ..Bg3+ is a check that discovers an attack against the undefended White Queen. This kind
of attack where the bishop moves out of the way with check leaving an attack against a hanging
Queen is actually very common. Often the checks are with the light squared bishops on the h2
and h7 squares. This is a good tactical motif to know.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
"timeo danaos et dona ferentes" ("I fear the Greeks even [when they are] bringing
gifts"). - Virgil
T his position was also taken from one of

the games played at the Grandmaster
Alex Fishbein simul that was played at
the Denver Chess Club.

move.
Answer below.
This position and tactical motif, where White

plays Bxh7+ (or Bxh2+ for Black) is known as
the "Greek Gift Sacrifice". It is also knows as the
"Classical Bishop Sacrifice".
White gives up his bishop for a pawn that is

protecting the enemy king, and plans to launch
an attack against the exposed king with followup checking moves.
Several things that can point to this being the best move for white include:
White Bishop can capture a pawn on h7 that is only defended by the king
White Knight can safely jump to g5 with a followup check after Kxh7
White Queen can move to the h file to help in the attack (most often on h5)
Note how in the above position the black knight is not on the usual defensive square of f6,
where it would prevent the Bxh7 sacrifice.
This is a complicated tactical motif, and entire books have been written on the Classical Bishop
Sacrifice, and some of the related sacrifices, such as the Double Bishop Sacrifice. This is a good
tactic to become familiar with, and is a great idea for attacking players to know about.
[Event "GM Alexander Fishbein simul"]

[Site "216 South Grant"]
[Date "2011.06.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Fishbein, Alex"]
[Black "Butcher, Steve"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2563"]
[BlackElo "1421"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2011.06.23"]
[WhiteTeam "12077910"]
[BlackTeam "12480161"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 Bb4 5. e5 Ne7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Bxh7+ Kh8 8. Bd3

c5 9. Ng5 g6 10. Qf3 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Kg7 12. Qf6+ Kg8 13. Qf4 Kg7 14. Nf3 Rh8
15. Qf6+ Kg8 16. Bg5 Nbc6 17. Qf4 Qf8 18. Bf6 cxd4 19. Bxh8 Kxh8 20. cxd4 Nb4
21. O-O Nxd3 22. cxd3 Bd7 23. Qh4+ Kg8 24. Rac1 Nf5 25. Qf4 Rc8 26. Rxc8 Qxc8
27. Rc1 Qd8 28. g4 Ne7 29. Ng5 Qe8 30. h4 Bb5 31. h5 gxh5 32. gxh5 Nf5 33. Kh2
Qf8 34. Rg1 Kh8 35. Nf3 Bxd3 36. Qg5 a5 37. Qf6+ Ng7 38. h6 Bg6 39. hxg7+ Qxg7
40. Qxg7+ Kxg7 41. Nh4 b5 42. Nxg6 fxg6 43. Rc1 1-0
Answer:
7. Bxh7+ launches the Greek Gift sacrifice. There are lots of different ways to follow up
depending on black's response. I imagine that GM Fishbein played this move more on intuition
and experience than anything else, recognizing the pattern of when the move works.
Analysis by Fritz 12:
1. +- (5.38): 7...Kxh7 8.Ng5+ Kg6 9.h4 Qa5 10.Qd3+ Nf5 11.g4 Kh6 12.Nxe6+ Kh7 13.Nxf8+
Kg8 14.gxf5 Bxc3+ 15.bxc3 Kxf8 16.f6 gxf6 17.exf6 Nd7 18.Bg5 Qb5 19.Qh7 Ke8 20.h5
2. +- (7.91): 7...Kh8 8.Ng5 Nf5 9.Bxf5 g6 10.Bd3 Kg8 11.Qg4 f5 12.Qh4 Qe7 13.Bd2 c5 14.a3
Ba5 15.dxc5 Nc6 16.b4 Bc7
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

One of the advantages of the King's Gambit over other, more mundane openings, is that
even when you lose it can occasionally be enjoyable. - Joe Gallagher
T his position features a position from an

opening known as "The Raccoon".

move.
Answer below.
Anthea Carson recently wrote an interesting

article called "Chess Openings: The Raccoon"
that discusses this unusual defense against the
King's Gambit.
The Raccoon comes after the moves 1. e4 e5

2. f4 h5?! and was featured in the book "How to
Play Chess Like an Animal" that was written by
Anthea and Life Master Brian Wall, who played
black in the position at the right.
Brian is what the USCF (United States Chess Federation) calls an "Original Life Master", which
was a special title awarded to players who played 300 rated games above a Master level of 2200.
Brian has his own e-mail list that he has run for many years. You can read his archive of
messages at http://www.taom.com/pipermail/brianwall-chesslist/.
[Event "DCC Spring Fling"]

[Date "2011.04.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Scott, Sean"]
[Black "Wall, Brian D"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C30"]
[WhiteElo "1946"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[PlyCount "26"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 h5 3. Nf3 exf4 4. Bc4 h4 5. d4 g5 6. Nc3 d6 7. Qe2 Bg4 8. Bd2 Nc6 9. Qf2 Bg7 10.
d5 Ne5 11. Bb5+ Kf8 12. O-O-O h3 13. Rdg1 hxg2 0-1
Answer:
with 13. ..hxg2 the Raccoon bites into White's position giving him Rabies, and an unpleasant
trip to the Emergency Room. This move removed the defender of the Knight on f3, which can now
be captured by the black bishop on g4. If white recaptures with 14. Rxg2 (pretty much the only
move) 14. ..Bxf3 wins a piece, and then will win one of the rooks on g2 or h1.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
A Chess game is divided into three stages: the first, when you hope you have the
advantage, the second when you believe that you have an advantage, and the third ... when
you know you're going to lose ! - Savielly Tartakower
W hile reading the chess news on twitter

this morning I saw a familiar name...

move.
Answer below.
There was a tweet from @ColumbiaChess

Columbia Chess Club Klaus Johnson wins
Ashland XXI. Rd 5 #CHESS game is
http://columbiachess.com/D GT/Live/tfd.htm
Casual night next week. Ashland XXII July 14.
Klaus Johnson was a former President of the

Colorado State Chess Association, organized
many tournaments in Colorado and the Boulder
area, and started the Colorado Correspondence Championship, now in its third year. He did great
work for Colorado Chess, and it was great to see he is doing well now in South Carolina. Although
Klaus lost this game, he won the tournament. Congrats Klaus!
I was also really impressed with the Columbia Chess Club's website. They have a live broadcast
of their games, and a database of over 1000 games that were played at their club. Check it out at
http://columbiachess.com.
I also did a podcast with Klaus that you might find interesting.
[Event "Ashland XXI"]

[Site "Columbia, SC"]
[Date "2011.06.16"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Shaw, Adam"]
[Black "Johnson, Klaus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B99"]
[WhiteElo "1796"]
[BlackElo "1831"]
[PlyCount "101"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3

Qc7 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. g4 b5 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Bxb5 Rb8 13. Ba4 Rb4 14. Qe3 Qb6
15. Bxd7+ Bxd7 16. e5 dxe5 17. fxe5 Be7 18. Qd3 Bg5+ 19. Kb1 Qb7 20. b3 Be7 21.
Ne4 Qd5 22. c3 Rb6 23. c4 Qxe5 24. Nf5 Bc6 25. Nfd6+ Kf8 26. Rhe1 Bxe4 27. Nxe4
f6 28. Nxf6 Qxf6 29. Rf1 Rd6 30. Rxf6+ gxf6 31. Qf3 Rxd1+ 32. Qxd1 Kf7 33. Qf3
Rd8 34. Kc2 a5 35. Qe4 Bb4 36. Qxh7+ Kf8 37. Qh6+ Kf7 38. Qe3 e5 39. h4 Rd4 40.
Qe2 Rf4 41. h5 Bc5 42. Kb1 Bd4 43. Qg2 e4 44. h6 Kg6 45. h7 f5 46. gxf5+ Kxf5
47. h8=Q Bxh8 48. Qh3+ Rg4 49. Qxh8 Kf4 50. Kc2 Rg2+ 51. Kc3 1-0
Answer:
28. Nxf6! wins a pawn that appears to be defended by both the queen, bishop and g pawn. But
all three recaptures fail:
28...Qxf6 29. Rf1 (pins the black queen to the black king)
28...Bxf6 29. Rxe5 (Nxf6 gave a discovered attack on the Queen by the white Rook)
28...gxf6 29. Rxe5
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
A weak enemy in the fortress is more fearsome than the strongest outside. - Johann
Jakob Wilhelm Heinse
M any checkmate patterns have their

own names, just as openings and
tactical patterns have their own names.

move.
Answer below.
The solution to this problem is an example of

"Anastasia's Mate". According to Wikipedia the
checkmate got its name from the novel
Anastasia und das Schachspiel (English:
Anastasia and the game of chess) by Johann
Jakob Wilhelm Heinse, who wrote the quote
above.
There is a very brief Wikipedia entry for the Anastasia checkmate pattern, which has several
other useful checkmating pattern's on the same page.
Ward Farnsworth also has an excellent section on Anastasia's Mate on his Predator at the
Chessboard site (which I HIGHLY recommend).

[Date "2008.05.27"]
[White "foomip"]
[Black "Scobie"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "1576"]
[BlackElo "1461"]
[PlyCount "60"]
1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 Nge7 7. a3 Nf5 8. Bb5

Bd7 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. O-O g6 11. Nc3 Bg7 12. Bg5 Qb6 13. Rb1 O-O 14. Bf6 Bxf6
15. exf6 Rfe8 16. Ne5 Nxd4 17. Nxc6 Nxc6 18. Na4 Qd8 19. Nc5 b6 20. Nd3 Qxf6
21. Rc1 Rac8 22. Qa4 Nd4 23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Qxa7 Qf5 25. Qa6 Rc6 26. Nb4 Rc4 27.
Qxb6 Ne2+ 28. Kh1 Qf4 29. Nd3 Qxh2+ 30. Kxh2 Rh4# 0-1
Answer:
29 ..Qxh2+ sets up an Anastasia's Mate. 30. Kxh2 Rh4# Scobie deserves a Scooby Snack
for such a nice checkmate!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake. - Savielly
Tartakower
T his position was so interesting that two

different people here in Colorado
Springs wrote articles about it (and now I am the
third).

move.
Answer below.
Paul Anderson wrote a hilarious article (and

came up with the title I used above) about this
game for his weekly Colorado Springs Chess
Newsletter, and Anthea Carson wrote a funny
hubpage article about it as well where she asks
What does Chess Have to Do With the Blues?
You can read those articles here: http://cschess.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/7547859-

more-powers-to-you and http://hubpages.com/hub/Chess-Born-Under-a-Bad-Sign-or-What-does-
Chess-Have-to-Do-With-the-Blues.
I enjoy subscribing to both Paul and Anthea's writing. They both have a fun, light hearted
approach to chess. Both have played hundreds of rated games, and love to write about the
game. They both love to use videos, analogies, and pictures to make the game fun, and both
inspire me to try to make chess fun and interesting as well, and not take it too seriously.
[Event "June Panera"]

[Date "2011.06.16"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Powers, James"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A57"]
[WhiteElo "1721"]
[BlackElo "1773"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2011.06.02"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Qc2 bxc4 5. e4 e6 6. Bxc4 exd5 7. e5 dxc4 8. exf6 Qxf6 9. Qxc4

Bb7 10. f3 Be7 11. Ne2 Nc6 12. Nbc3 Ne5 13. Qb5 Bc6 14. Qa6 O-O 15. O-O Rfb8 16. Ng3 Rb6
17. Qe2 c4 18. Nh5 Bc5+ 19. Kh1 Qf5 20. Re1 d6 21. Nf4 Re8 22. Ncd5 Rb7 23. Qe4 Ng6 24.
Nxg6 Rxe4 25. Rxe4 hxg6 26. Ne7+ Rxe7 27. Rxe7 Bxf3 (27... Qxf3 28. Re8+ Kh7 29. Rh8+ Kxh8
30. gxf3 Bxf3#) 28. Be3 Bxe3 29. Rxe3 Qg5 30. Rxf3 d5 31. Re1 Qd2 32. Re8+ 1-0
Answer:
Anthea missed a beautiful, killer move with 27... Qxf3! threatening 28. ..Qxg2# if 28. gxf3
Bxf3# is a beautiful checkmate with the two bishops.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Repetition is the mother of skill -Tony Robbins
T his position is from a game I played

against Liz Wood who is a very active
organizer of tournaments in Pueblo,
Colorado.

move.
Answer below.
Liz runs monthly tournaments in Pueblo which

are a lot of fun. Liz uses a lot of creative names
in her tournaments. This one was called the
Steel City Summer Sizzler. It was about 90
degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius) in Pueblo
during the tournament, so it lived up to it's
name!
I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, which is also known as the "Steel City", so I like how Pueblo is also
a "Steel town". Because of this shared bond, some people from Pueblo are fans of the National
Football League team the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is my favorite team :-)
I played this position just a few days after I wrote Newsletter #33 on Anastasia's mate. So I
am not sure if it was a coincidence, or the fact that I has just studied this position, that I got a
chance to use it in a rated over the board game just a week later.
[Event "Steel City Summer Sizzler"]

[Site "Pueblo, CO"]
[Date "2011.07.09"]
[Round "3"]
[Black "Wood, Liz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C30"]
[WhiteElo "1769"]
[BlackElo "1056"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 Nc6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. f5 Nh5 8. Nxe5

Nxe5 9. Qxh5 Nxc4 10. dxc4 c5 11. Nc3 Bf6 12. Nd5 Bd4+ 13. Kh1 Bd7 14. Bg5 Qe8
15. Rf3 Qxe4 16. Ne7+ Kh8 17. Qxh7+ Kxh7 18. Rh3+ 1-0
You can play though the game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2033.
Answer:
16. Ne7+ sets up the Anastasia's mate pattern. Black needs to capture the knight with the
queen to avoid checkmate. 16. ..Kh8 17. Qxh7+ Kxh7 18. Rh3+ Qh4 19. Rxh4#
This is a great mating pattern to know, and queen sacrifices are always fun to play :-) Even
though I just sent a newsletter on this same mating pattern, I think it is important to look at
different examples, to really drill the patterns into your head.
The nice thing about learning these patterns is that it can really cut down on your calculation
time and effort. When I played 15. Rf3 I was able to see the 4 move combination of Ne7+, Qxh7
Rh3 and Rxh4 as one "chunk", and didn't have to calculate it.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. As I mentioned above, writing this newsletter helped me later in one of my own games. If
you have an experiences oh how Tactics Time has helped you, I would love to hear it!
Nothing can seem foul to those who win. - William Shakespeare
T his position was featured in a hubpage

article that my good friend Anthea
Carson wrote.

move.
Answer below.
In chess a "postmortem" (literally meaning

"after death") is similar to the medical
examination, or autopsy, of a corpse in order to
determine cause of death. Chess players will
pick apart a game after it is played to discuss
what they were thinking during the game, and
look at different variations.
Anthea wrote a really funny article called "Chess: Winning the Postmortem"
(http://antheacarson.hubpages.com/hub/Chess-Winning-the-Post-Mortem) where she discussed
this position, and the art of saving your self esteem after the game is over. She even includes a
video of a live postmortem of this game.
Anthea talks about techniques such as using the computer to find a win after the game is over
and how to make your opponent feel diminished even after the game is over. Pretty funny stuff,
and something that is (unfortunately) rather common at chess tournaments!
[Event "July 2011 DCC Tuesdays"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2011.07.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carson, Anthea"]
[Black "Kohler, Tim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D05"]
[WhiteElo "1755"]
[BlackElo "1502"]
[PlyCount "63"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 d5 4. Bd3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 a6 7. O-O b5 8. dxc5

Bxc5 9. Qe2 Bb7 10. e4 e5 11. exd5 Qxd5 12. Ne4 O-O-O 13. Nxc5 Qxc5 14. Be3 Qd5
15. Bf5+ Kc7 16. Rfd1 Qc4 17. Bd3 Qe6 18. Ng5 Qe7 19. Ne4 Rxd3 20. Qxd3 Rd8 21.
Qc2 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Nxe4 23. Qxe4 g6 24. Qc2 f5 25. f4 e4 26. a4 Na5 27. axb5
Nc4 28. b6+ Nxb6 29. Qb3 Qf6 30. Bd4 Qc6 31. Be5+ Kc8 32. Qg8+ 1-0
You can play though the game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2040
Answer:
In the game Black missed the move (but won the postmortem) 17...Rxd3 18. Qxd3 Qxd3 19.
Rxd3 e4 which is a pawn fork of rook and knight. This would have allowed black to get back in
the game with two minor pieces for the rook.
White doesn't have to exchange queens, and 17...Rxd3 18. Rxd3 e4 with the same pawn fork
a move earlier works also.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. If you are looking for a cute book for introducing chess to kids, enjoy unusual openings, or
collect chess books, I highly recommend Anthea's book "How to Play Chess Like an Animal". The
illustrations are the best chess artwork I have ever seen, and the openings are really fun to play.
"Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail." - Oprah Winfrey
I n this position we are going to do

something a little different...

move. Instead of finding the winning move, the
challenge is to count how many mates in one
white has.
Answer below.
This position is taken from a real game that

was played on the website Red Hot Pawn by my
good friend Francisco Baltier who lives in Tucson,
AZ. His opponent would not resign, so Francisco
(who plays under the handle "Zonagrad")
decided to start queening pawns. Then he
decided he wanted to checkmate his opponent
with a king move.
I thought this game was pretty hilarious. There was a thread on the Red Hot Pawn forum about
checkmates with a King move, and I posted this game. One commentator started commenting on
how many checkmates white missed in this position, which I thought was an interesting topic.
There are quite a few, and I had a hard time finding them all.
[Event "October 2009 Grand Split Three Seven II"]

[Date "2009.10.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "ZonaGrad"]
[Black "Diapason"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2044"]
[BlackElo "1487"]
[PlyCount "155"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 h6 4. d3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bc5 6. Be3 Bxe3 7. fxe3 O-O 8.
O-O d6 9. h3 a6 10. a3 g5 11. Nh2 b5 12. Ba2 b4 13. axb4 Nxb4 14. Bb3 a5 15.
Ne2 Bd7 16. c3 Nc6 17. Ng3 Ne7 18. Nf5 Bxf5 19. exf5 e4 20. d4 c5 21. Ng4 Rb8
22. Nxh6+ Kg7 23. Ng4 Qb6 24. Ra3 Rh8 25. Rf2 Nxg4 26. hxg4 Rh7 27. f6+ Kg6 28.
fxe7 Rbh8 29. Bxf7+ Kg7 30. Bh5 Qb8 31. Rf7+ Kh6 32. Rf6+ Kg7 33. Qf1 Rxh5 34.
Rf7+ Kg8 35. Rf8+ Qxf8 36. exf8=Q+ Kh7 37. Qxd6 Kg7 38. gxh5 Rxh5 39. Rxa5 cxd4
40. exd4 e3 41. Qe2 Rh6 42. Ra7+ Kg8 43. Qxh6 g4 44. Qexe3 g3 45. Ra1 Kf7 46.
Qhf4+ Kg7 47. Qexg3+ Kh7 48. d5 Kh8 49. d6 Kh7 50. d7 Kh8 51. d8=Q+ Kh7 52. Qd1
Kh8 53. c4 Kh7 54. c5 Kh8 55. c6 Kh7 56. c7 Kh8 57. c8=Q+ Kh7 58. Qcc1 Kh8 59.
b4 Kh7 60. b5 Kh8 61. b6 Kh7 62. b7 Kh8 63. b8=Q+ Kh7 64. Qbb3 Kh8 65. Qbf3 Kh7
66. Qcd2 Kh8 67. Qdf2 Kh7 68. Qdf1 Kh8 69. Kh2 Kh7 70. Kh3 Kh8 71. Kh4 Kh7 72.
Kh5 Kh8 73. Qfh4 Kh7 74. Q1e1 Kh8 75. Kg6+ Kg8 76. Kf6+ Kf8 77. Ke6+ Ke8 78.
Kd6# 1-0
Answer:
There are 12 different mates in one here!
1. 76.Qe6#
2. 76.Qd5#
3. 76.Qe8#
4. 76.Qf7#
5. 76.Qb3#
6. 76.Qb8#
7. 76.Ra8#
8. 76.Qf8#
9. 76.Qa8#
10. 76.Qa2#
11. 76.Qd8#
12. 76.Qh7#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. I play on Red hot pawn as "TimmyBx". Feel free to challenge me any time to a game :-)

"Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation ... even so does inaction
sap the vigour of the mind." - Leonardo da Vinci
T his position was played in the 1999

Colorado Open. Black is my friend
James "J.C." MacNeil.

move.
Answer below.
J.C. worked for years as a welder, and has

created some beautiful chess tables over the
years. Anthea Carson wrote an interesting
article and filmed a video about it entitled,
Denver Artist JC MacNeil Shows The Process He
Used To Make A Decorative Chess Table.
I also posted one of J.C.'s Tables on my

website: Marble Chess Table. This is a real high quality luxury item.
Additionally, J.C. and I did a podcast together that you might enjoy listening to. He talked
about the process he uses to make his chess tables, how he got into chess, and his love of
unorthodox openings.

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "1999.09.??"]
[White "Cronin, Ed"]
[Black "MacNeil, James"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventType "swiss"]
1. Nf3 b5 2. e4 Bb7 3. e5 a6 4. d4 e6 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 d6 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Qc2

cxd4 9. cxd4 Rc8 10. Qb1 Qa5 11. O-O dxe5 12. dxe5 Ne7 13. Bxh7 g6 14. Ng5 Nxe5
15. f4 Qb6+ 16. Kh1 Ng4 17. h3 Nf6 18. b3 Nxh7 19. Bb2 Nxg5 20. Bxh8 Qe3 21.
fxg5 Qxh3+ 0-1
Answer:
21. ..Qxh3+ (the g pawn is pinned by the Bishop on b7) 22. Kg1 Qxg2#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
No army has ever done so much with so little - Douglas MacArthur
T his position comes from a game that I

saw in the book "Formation Attacks" by
U.S. Senior Open Champion Joel
Johnson.

move.
Answer below.
Normally I only publish tactics that are taken

from my Tactics Time database, played
between amateur class players, but this position
was so interesting, I had to share it.
Anthea Carson did a Chess Book Review of

"Formation Attacks" by Joel Johnson. It is a
pretty interesting book. It has a section on "The Fishing Pole", which is a popular opening here in
Colorado, and includes a game with that opening that my good friend Francisco Baltier used to
beat GM Walter Browne in a simul in Reno (although the book incorrectly states it was in Las
Vegas). Joel's followup book, "Formation Attack Strategies" has an entire chapter devoted to the
Fishing Pole!
The website http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1218922 shows this game

where you can click through the moves, along with some interesting comments.
There was a recent controversy regarding positions where one player has only a knight, and if
this should be an automatic draw or not. See the wikipedia article Monika Soćko and the
helpmate for an example.
[Event "ch-CUB"]
[Site "Las Tunas CUB"]
[Date "2001.04.14"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Jesus Nogueiras"]
[Black "Maikel Gongora"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2557"]
[BlackElo "2417"]
[PlyCount "167"]
[EventDate "2001.04.01"]
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Qd1 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. Bd3 Nf6 8.

Nge2 Ng4 9. f3 Nge5 10. O-O Be6 11. b3 Nxd3 12. Qxd3 Qd7 13. Bb2 O-O-O 14. Qd2
f5 15. exf5 Bxf5 16. Ng3 Bd4+ 17. Kh1 Qg7 18. Rad1 Be5 19. Ba1 h5 20. Nd5 Bxa1
21. Rxa1 h4 22. Nxf5 gxf5 23. h3 Ne5 24. f4 Nc6 25. Rae1 Rde8 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8
27. Re1 Qh8 28. Qf2 Rxe1+ 29. Qxe1 a5 30. Kh2 Kb8 31. Qc3 Qd4 32. Qxd4 Nxd4 33.
g4 c6 34. Ne7 Kc7 35. Ng6 b5 36. Nxh4 a4 37. Nxf5 Nxb3 38. cxb5 cxb5 39. g5 Nc5
40. g6 Ne4 41. g7 Nf6 42. Ne7 Kd7 43. Nd5 Ng8 44. f5 Ke8 45. Nc7+ Kf7 46. Nxb5
d5 47. Kg3 Kxg7 48. Kf4 Kf6 49. h4 Ne7 50. Nd4 Ng8 51. Ne2 Ne7 52. Ng3 a3 53.
h5 Ng8 54. Nf1 Nh6 55. Ne3 d4 56. Nd5+ Kf7 57. Kg5 Kg7 58. f6+ Kh7 59. Kf4 Nf7
60. Ke4 Kh6 61. Kxd4 Kxh5 62. Nb6 Kg6 63. Nd7 Nh6 64. Kd5 Kf7 65. Ke5 Ng4+ 66.
Kf5 Ne3+ 67. Kg5 Nc4 68. Kf5 Ne3+ 69. Kf4 Nd5+ 70. Kg5 Ke6 71. Nc5+ Kf7 72. Ne4
Ke6 73. Kg6 Nf4+ 74. Kh6 Nd5 75. Kg5 Nxf6 76. Nxf6 Ke5 77. Nd7+ Kd4 78. Kf4 Kc3
79. Ke3 Kb2 80. Kd2 Kxa2 81. Kc2 Ka1 82. Nc5 Ka2 83. Nd3 Ka1 84. Nc1 1-0
Answer:
84. Nc1 a2 85. Nb3# is a rare checkmate of a lone knight against a king.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. If there is a certain type of chess tactic that you would like to see featured, or type of
game, or certain opening let me know! I have a huge collection of games and tactics at this point,
so I am sure I can find something!
I wasted time and now does time waste me. - Shakespeare, Richard II
T he position on the right came from an

opening that is often known as "The
Patzer's Opening".

move.
Answer below.
The Patzer's Opening occurs after the moves

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5. White brings their queen out
early, hoping for a quick checkmate on f7, or at
the higher levels of chess to get their opponent
"out of book".
Wikipedia has an interesting page on this

opening http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Parham_Attack
This opening is also known as The Parham Attack, The Wayward Queen Attack, and Danvers
Attack according to wikipedia.
Black does have to be careful in this opening, and avoid tactical tricks such as playing g6 to
block the queen but getting a fork of the King on e8 and the rook on h8 after Qxe5+. This
opening is often seen with children, and beginners, so it is a good opening to know how to play
against.
In this game black gambitted a pawn with 2. ..Nf6, but gained time by attacking the white
queen, which is a good strategy for black to employ.
When playing the Black side however keep in mind that 2. Qh5 might not be as bad as you
think. GM Hikaru Nakamura plays it as white, and wrote "I do believe that 2.Qh5 is a playable
move".
This may even be a fun weapon for you to try in your games, especially ones with faster time
controls, or blitz.

[Date "2009.11.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Marvinni"]
[Black "Joan Barrina"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C20"]
[WhiteElo "1553"]
[BlackElo "1432"]
[PlyCount "20"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "3"]
1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nf6 3. Qxe5+ Be7 4. Bc4 d6 5. Qf4 O-O 6. d4 d5 7. Bd3 dxe4 8.

Bxe4 Nxe4 9. Qxe4 Re8 10. Qd3 Bb4+ 0-1
Answer:
10... Bb4+ is a nice double discovered check that will lead to mate on the next move. 11. Kd1
or 11. Kf1 is followed by 11...Rd1# These types of double discovered checkmates with bishop
and rook in the openings are a good combination to know.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Keep your friends close - hold your enemies closer. - Arabian Proverb
T his position features one of the oldest

mating patterns in the game of chess -
the Arabian Mate.

move.
Answer below.
Ward Farnsworth has some nice examples of

the Arabian Mate on his Predator at the
Chessboard website.
According to Ward's site, "The Arabian mate

dates back to at least the 1400s and probably
much earlier; the three pieces involved in it have
moved the same way since well before that
time."
He is referring to the King, Knight and Rook, which are the three pieces involved in the
checkmate pattern.
[Event "ICC 5 0"]

[Date "2009.07.28"]
[Round "-"]
[White "ITurnYouOn"]
[Black "B-Wall"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "2038"]
[BlackElo "2085"]
[Opening "Reti opening"]
[ECO "A04"]
[NIC "QP.11"]
[Time "02:21:46"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
1. Nf3 g6 2. Ne5 f6 3. Nf7 Kxf7 4. g3 d5 5. Bg2 e5 6. O-O c6 7. f4 e4 8. d3

f5 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. dxe4 fxe4 11. e3 Bg4 12. Qe1 h5 13. h3 Bf5 14. b3 Qd7 15.
Bb2 Bxh3 16. Rd1 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Qf5 18. Ne2 Bc5 19. Nd4 Bxd4 20. Rxd4 Nbd7
21. c4 h4 22. gxh4 Qg4+ 23. Qg3 Rxh4 24. cxd5 cxd5 25. Qxg4 Rxg4+ 26. Kf2
Rh8 27. Rd2 Rh2+ 28. Ke1 Rgg2 29. Bc3 Ng4 30. Rxg2 Rxg2 31. Bd2 Nc5 32. Rh1
Nd3+ 33. Kf1 Rf2+ 34. Kg1 Rxd2 35. Rh7+ Kf6 36. Rxb7 Nxe3 37. Rxa7 Ne1 38.
Ra6+ Kf5 39. a4 Nf3+ 40. Kh1 Rh2# {White checkmated} 0-1
Answer:
39... Nf3+ 40. Kh1 Rh2# is an example of an Arabian Mate
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
- J. R. R. Tolkien in The Hobbit
T his move in this position got a double

exclam from Fritz 12.

move.
Answer below.
White in this game is Dragan Plakalovic, who

lives in Colorado Springs, and has consistently
raised his rating over the past couple of years
from a beginner into a solid "B" player. You can
see Dragan's USCF rating history here.
Black in this game is USCF Life Member, and

National Master Richard "Buck" Buchanan,
who has been an important member of the
Colorado Chess scene for many years. Buck has served as President of Colorado Chess, editor of
the Colorado Chess Informant. He is an Associate National Tournament Director and directs and
organizes several weekend tournaments per year, including the Winter Springs Open, Pikes Peak
Open, and Colorado Springs Open. His contributions to Colorado Chess are enormous. You can
see his USCF members page here.
Buck is also very active in the community. I recently went with Anthea Carson, and her son
Isaac to see Buck perform in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". Buck played the sadistic Judge John
Hathorne, and did an outstanding job. Buck is also one of the Chess Playing Monks at the
Renaissance Festival each year in Larkspur, CO. Click on the link to see a really great article and
video interviews that Anthea did about the monks.
[Event "July 2011 East Coast Deli"]

[Date "2011.07.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Plakalovic, Dragan"]
[Black "Buchanan, Richard"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "1707"]
[BlackElo "2000"]
[PlyCount "90"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. a3 Qb6 7. b4 cxd4 8. cxd4

Be7 9. Bb2 Nh6 10. Nc3 a6 11. Na4 Qd8 12. Nc5 Rb8 13. Be2 O-O 14. O-O f6 15. h3
fxe5 16. dxe5 Bxc5 17. bxc5 Nf7 18. Re1 Rc8 19. Rc1 Qe7 20. Qd2 Rc7 21. Rc2
Rfc8 22. Rec1 Na7 23. Qa5 Bb5 24. Bxb5 Nxb5 25. a4 Na7 26. Kf1 Nc6 27. Qd2 a5
28. Bc3 Ra8 29. Bd4 Nb4 30. Rb2 Qd7 31. Qd1 Qc6 32. Rcb1 Nh6 33. g4 Rf8 34.
Rxb4 axb4 35. Rxb4 Rcf7 36. Rb6 Qd7 37. Ng5 Re7 38. Qd3 g6 39. a5 Nf7 40. Nxf7
Rexf7 41. Qc2 Rf3 42. Kg2 Qe7 43. Qb2 Qh4 44. Rxe6 Qxh3+ 45. Kg1 Rg3+ 0-1
Answer:
43...Rg3+ is a brilliant move, forcing checkmate. White is forced to recapture with 44. fxg3
(only legal move), and then black mates on the next move with 44...Rf1#.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. I found this game from Fred Spell's monthly Colorado Springs Chess Night newsletter that
he puts out. Fred does a great job collecting games, and putting his newsletters together. You
can visit his website at http://eagleandking.webs.com/ and ask to be put on his mailing list if you
are interested in getting his monthly newsletter.
The Evans Gambit was the Ruy Lopez of the 19th century - Jan Pinski
T his tactic came out of an opening

known as the Evans Gambit, which is
characterized by the moves 1. e4 e5 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4.

move.
Answer below.
I recently went to the top of Mt. Evans here in

Colorado with two of my chess playing friends,
Paul Grimm and J.C. MacNeil. I posted some
pictures, and wrote a little about the trip. We
played chess at the top of the mountain, but it
didn't dawn on me, until after we were done
playing, that we should have played the Evans
Gambit!
"Greenpawn" who writes a hilarious chess blog on Red Hot Pawn, wrote a really funny post
about us playing on top of the mountain. He calls us wimps because we drove to the top of the
mountain (as opposed to climbing it), and blasted us for not playing the Evans Gambit. Really
funny stuff!
I am not really an expert on chess openings, (which is why this is the Tactics Time newsletter,
and not the Openings Analysis newsletter lol). Honestly I wasn't even sure what the moves were
to the Evans Gambit after we started talking about it. I was confusing it with the Benko Gambit,
which I couldn't remember either.
So after I got back home I did a little research about the Evans gambit. I found a bunch of
games played on Red Hot Pawn in a Evans Gambit Accepted Thematic tournament (including this
one), added them to my database, and did some analysis of them with Fritz. These games will be
included in the next release of Tactics Time.
The Evans is a lot of fun, and I encourage you to investigate it as well, if you are looking for
something new to add to your openings! There are a lot of great tactics in the opening, and white
gets a nice piece setup in exchange for his pawn.
[Event "Evan's Gambit Accepted Thematic"]

[Date "2006.11.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Dwot"]
[Black "MerchantParkPro"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1286"]
[BlackElo "2061"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1bqk1nr/pppp1ppp/2n5/4p3/1bB1P3/5N2/P1PP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "31"]
1. a3 Bc5 2. d4 exd4 3. O-O d6 4. h3 Nf6 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Re1 Be6 7. Bxe6 fxe6 8.
Ng5 Qe8 9. Bb2 e5 10. c3 dxc3 11. Bxc3 Bxf2+ 12. Kxf2 Nxe4+ 13. Kg1 Nxg5 14.
Qb3+ Qf7 15. Qxb7 Qd5 16. Rad1 1-0
You can play through this game here.
Answer:
11...Bxf2+ is a nice tactic that wins a pawn. I liked this move because it shows a lot of good
tactical seeds that you should be looking for in your games:
The white knight on g5 is "loose" without any pieces or pawns defending it

Black looked for a check. The only check black can give is Bxf2+ which was the best
move.
White had moved his rook from f1 to e1, which often makes moves like Bxf2+ even more
likely to succeed, as now the king is the only one defending the f2 pawn.
Black follows up the check with 12. ..Nxe4+ (assuming 12. Kxf2) which is a double,
discovered check, one of the most powerful moves that you can make. The only way that
white can get out of such a check is to move the king, which gives black time to capture the
knight with 13...Nxg5
Sadly black stopped making moves, and lost on time, with a much better position.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
If the student forces himself to examine all the moves that smite, however absurd they
look at first glance, he is on the way to becoming a master of tactics. - Cecil Purdy
T his is another game from the Evans

Gambit Accepted Thematic Tournament
that was held on RedHotPawn.com,
with a very useful tactic to know.

move.
Answer below.
This is a position that could very easily come

up in one of your games, and especially with an
Evans Gambit.
It would also be very easy to miss this tactic

for several reasons:
It is still the opening, and often players are focused more on king safety and piece
development in the opening, rather than looking for tactics.
The correct move involves winning a pawn that appears to be protected.
The followup move involves a long fork that covers the entire board, and that is not
currently an option in the diagram.
You have to be able to visualize where all of the pieces will be after the first move, and then
see if there are any tactics in that position
The first move is not a check, so might not be one that you are considering as a candidate
move, if you are in the habit of always looking for checks in a position (a good habit to
have!)
[Event "Evan's Gambit Accepted Thematic"]

[Date "2006.11.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "mtthw"]
[Black "bishop33"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2130"]
[BlackElo "1498"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1bqk1nr/pppp1ppp/2n5/4p3/1bB1P3/5N2/P1PP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "37"]
1. c3 Ba5 2. d4 Nxd4 3. Nxe5 Ne6 4. Nxf7 Kxf7 5. Bxe6+ Kxe6 6. Qd5+ Ke7 7. Qxa5
Nf6 8. e5 Ne4 9. Qb4+ Nd6 10. Bg5+ Ke6 11. Bxd8 Rxd8 12. exd6 cxd6 13. O-O d5
14. Re1+ Kf5 15. Qe7 Rg8 16. Qf7+ Kg4 17. Re5 Rd8 18. Qh5+ Kf4 19. Qg5# 1-0
Answer:
4. Nxf7! wins a pawn that appears to be protected by the Black King.
After black plays 4...Kxf7 (any other moves lose the Queen or Rook, which are forked)
5. Bxe6+ is the most accurate move, which draws the king out even further, and helps trade
down material
5...Kxe6 (5...dxe6 6. Qxd8 loses the black queen)
6. Qd5+ forks the Black King on e6 and the hanging Black Bishop on a5.
Note that White also could have forked the King and Bishop with 5. Qh5+ which is also good for
white, and a tactical motif that comes up often, and is good to know. The above line is slightly
better because it helps trade off pieces (following the rule to trade when ahead), and drags the
black King further into the middle of the board.
One key to help find these types of tactics is to note how the Black Bishop on a5 was not
protected by anything. If there had been a knight on c6 to protect it, the whole thing wouldn't
work.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

Chess is a fairy tale of 1001 blunders - Savielly Tartakower.
I f you have ever felt bad about one of

your losses, this game is sure to make
you feel better.

move.
Answer below.
This game was much talked about here in

Colorado back in 2004. White is David Wallace,
who was known for an unorthodox,
"coffeehouse", attacking style, and Black is Life
Master Brian Wall, who is probably best known
as an expert on the "Fishing Pole" opening
variation of the Roy Lopez.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this game.
Always look for tactics on every move, even in the opening

Take your time in unusual positions (3. g4 in this game qualified)
Don't make rote developing moves (7...Bb7)
Always look at checks that you can give your opponent (or they can give you)
Anytime the f pawn is missing, your king becomes exposed
Don't take your opponent for granted (there was a 200 rating point difference here)
Everybody makes blunders, even very strong players. So don't be too hard on yourself
when you make them in your game.
Take your time (this was played in a long time control)
Brian was a great sport, and was able to laugh about the game, which I really admired.
[Event "Winter Springs Open"]

[Site "Manitou Springs"]
[Date "2004.12.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Wallace, David A"]
[Black "Wall, Brian D"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2002"]
[BlackElo "2213"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2004.12.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "4"]
1. d4 c5 2. e3 f5 3. g4 fxg4 4. Qxg4 Nf6 5. Qg2 Nc6 6. c3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. Bg6+

1-0
Answer:
8. Bg6+ or 8. Qg6+ forces mate the next move.
8. Bg6+ hxg6 9. Qg6#

8. Qg6+ hxg6 9. Bg6#
Personally I like playing the Queen sac move first, but David Wallace chose the more subtle
Bishop check first.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Mankind at its most desperate is often at its best. - Bob Geldof
T his position features a rare, but useful,

resource that every chess player should
know.

move.
Answer below.
The tactic in this position has several names.

It might be called a "desperado", "suicide rook",
"crazy rook", or "kamikazi rook".
In this position, white has a clear material

advantage, with 2 extra pawns, one of which is
about to be promoted, but black has a clever
tactical resource.
[Event "Hilton Head #1"]

[Site "Hilton Head, SC"]
[Date "1991.??.??"]
[White "Gregory, Curtis"]
[Black "Roberts, John"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "100"]
[BlackElo "1499"]
[PlyCount "121"]
1. e4 c5 2. b3 d6 3. Bb2 e6 4. Nf3 a6 5. Be2 Nd7 6. O-O b6 7. d4 Bb7 8. Nbd2

Qc7 9. c4 Ngf6 10. d5 Be7 11. dxe6 fxe6 12. Ng5 Nf8 13. Bg4 Nxg4 14. Qxg4 Bxg5
15. Qxg5 Ng6 16. Rae1 O-O 17. f4 Qe7 18. Qg3 b5 19. f5 exf5 20. exf5 Ne5 21.
Bxe5 dxe5 22. Rxe5 Qf6 23. Rxc5 Qd4+ 24. Qf2 Rad8 25. Qxd4 Rxd4 26. Nf3 Rf4 27.
cxb5 axb5 28. Ne5 Rd4 29. Rc7 Be4 30. Nc6 Bxc6 31. Rxc6 Rd5 32. g4 Ra8 33. f6
gxf6 34. Rcxf6 Rg5 35. h3 Kg7 36. Rf7+ Kg8 37. R7f5 Rxf5 38. Rxf5 Rxa2 39. Rxb5
Ra1+ 40. Kg2 Rb1 41. Kg3 Kg7 42. Kh4 Rg1 43. Rb7+ Kh6 44. b4 Kg6 45. b5 Kh6 46.
b6 Rb1 47. Rb8 Rb4 48. b7 Rb5 49. Rg8 Rh5+ 50. Kg3 Rxh3+ 51. Kf4 Rf3+ 52. Ke5
Re3+ 53. Kd6 Re6+ 54. Kc5 Rc6+ 55. Kd5 Rd6+ 56. Ke5 Re6+ 57. Kf4 Re4+ 58. Kf5
Re5+ 59. Kf6 Re6+ 60. Kf7 Re7+ 61. Kxe7 1/2-1/2
Answer:
Here black can go "crazy" checking the white king with his rook. 49...Rh5+ starts a barrage of
checks against the black king. As soon as the rook is captured, the game is over with a
stalemate.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
A fishing pole is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool on the other - Samuel
Johnson
T his position came from an opening that

is very popular and well known in
Colorado, known as "The Fishing Pole"

move.
Answer below.
The "Fishing Pole" opening is a variation of the

Berlin Defense of the Ruy Lopez. The moves
are:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Ng4
The Ng4 move is what is unusual about this

opening. Ng4 is violating several "chess
principles" such as "Don't move the same piece twice in the opening", "Don't attack before your
king is safe" and "don't play for cheapos".
For these reasons this opening can be classified as an "Unorthodox Opening", and Eric Schiller
has featured this opening in his book "Unorthodox Openings". It is also featured in Joel Johnson's
"Formation Attacks" book.
I know several people that have had great success with this opening, and I have played it
myself both in rated USCF games, and on redhotpawn.com, with mixed results. My good friend
Francisco Baltier beat GM Walter Browne with it in a simul. It can be a very tactical opening, and
is a good idea to understand the piece coordination that can occur. It is very easy for White to
underestimate the danger.
In the game above black sacrifices a piece, to get an open file for this rook, an advanced pawn,
and his queen is able to quickly get into the attack. These types of attacks are very common in
the Fishing Pole.
An entire book could be written on this opening and attacking idea. Life Master Brian Wall has
annotated hundreds of games with his variation, and spend hundreds of hours doing computer
analysis of it.
[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]

[Site "FICS, San Jose, California US"]
[Date "2011.04.18"]
[White "Brasilpenta"]
[Black "Jooler"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "1432"]
[BlackElo "1318"]
[PlyCount "18"]
[EventType "schev (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Ng4 5. h3 h5 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. hxg4 hxg4 8.
Nxe5 Qh4 9. f3 g3 0-1
Answer:
9...g3 creates a mating net around the white king. White cannot stop 10...Qh1#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The pin is mightier than the sword. -Fred Reinfeld
T his game features one of the most

active players I have ever met, Dean
Brown of Colorado Springs.

move.
Answer below.
Looking at Dean Brown's USCF Rating History

page, you can't help but be impressed at how
many events he has played in.
Dean is also a real road warrior, and likes to

"collect" counties. He tracks all of the counties
that he has visited in the US. You can see a
detailed map here of all the counties that Dean
has visited.
Dean has attended the US Open on multiple occasions, and has served as the Colorado
Representative to the delegates meeting for years. He helps to direct, organize, and run
tournaments in Colorado. He was running quad tournaments at the US Air Force academy, which
unfortunately had to be cancelled because of security concerns.
Dean is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, is a true lover of the game of chess, and
does a great job with his contributions to the chess world.
[Event "Winter Springs Open"]

[Date "2002.12.07"]
[Round "1.2"]
[Black "Brown, Dean W"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "1755"]
[BlackElo "1504"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2002.12.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "4"]
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 c5 5. e3 O-O 6. Nge2 e6 7. b3 d5 8. cxd5

Nxd5 9. Ba3 Qa5 10. Qc1 Nb4 11. O-O Nd3 12. Qc2 Nb4 13. Qc1 Nd3 14. Qb1 Rd8 15.
Bb2 Qa6 16. Nc1 Nxb2 17. Qxb2 Nc6 18. N1e2 Qxe2 19. Rad1 Qd3 20. Bf3 Bd7 21.
Qc1 Bxc3 22. dxc3 Qf5 23. Bg2 Rab8 24. e4 Qf6 25. f4 e5 26. Rd5 Qe7 27. f5 Qf8
28. Qg5 f6 29. Qh4 g5 30. Qg4 Be8 31. Qe2 Ne7 32. Rdd1 b5 33. Bf3 h6 34. h4 Bf7
35. hxg5 hxg5 36. Kf2 Rxd1 37. Rxd1 c4 38. b4 Rd8 39. Bh5 Rxd1 40. Bxf7+ Qxf7
41. Qxd1 Nc8 42. Qd8+ Qf8 43. Qd5+ Kh8 44. Qxb5 Nd6 45. Qd5 Qd8 46. Kf3 Kg7 47.
a4 Qc7 48. Qe6 a6 49. Qd5 Qb6 50. Qe6 Qd8 51. Qd5 Qd7 52. Qc5 Nxe4 53. Qe3
Qxf5+ 54. Kg2 Kg6 55. b5 axb5 56. axb5 Nd6 57. b6 Qc8 58. Qf3 Qb7 59. Qxb7 Nxb7
60. Kf3 Nc5 61. g4 Kf7 62. b7 Nxb7 63. Ke4 Ke6 0-1
Answer:
18...Qxe2 wins a piece. The knight on c3 is pinned to the queen on b2, so cannot capture the
Queen on e2. If 19. Nxe2 Bxb2.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
"When the mouse laughs at the cat there is a hole nearby" - Nigerian Proverb
T his game features a position from two

of the most active players in Colorado
Springs, Tom Mullikin and Jerry Maier.

move.
Answer below.
Just like the cartoon, Tom and Jerry have

battled against each other countless times, each
one taking turns coming out the victor, and good
friends at the end of the day.
Currently, they have played each other 44

times, with Jerry winning 24 games, drawing 2,
and losing 18. So it is always a close battle, with
a lot of decisive finishes.
Both are two of the nicest people I have met playing chess, and both are great sportsmen.
[Event "East Coast Deli Oct 2009"]

[Date "2009.10.28"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Maier, Jerry"]
[Black "Mullikin, Tom"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "1288"]
[BlackElo "1192"]
[PlyCount "89"]
1. g3 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Bc4 O-O 6. Bf4 c6 7. e5 dxe5 8. Bxe5

Ng4 9. Bxg7 Kxg7 10. d5 Qb6 11. Nh3 cxd5 12. Nxd5 Qd6 13. Qf3 Ne5 14. Qc3 Bxh3
15. O-O-O f6 16. Nf4 Qc6 17. Nxh3 Nxc4 18. Rhe1 Re8 19. Ng5 e5 20. Ne4 b5 21.
g4 Nd7 22. h4 Nc5 23. Ng3 Rad8 24. b3 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Nd6 26. b4 Nde4 27. Nxe4
Qxe4 28. Qxc5 Qf4+ 29. Kb2 Qxg4 30. Qxa7+ Kh6 31. Rd7 Qxb4+ 32. Kc1 Qf4+ 33.
Qe3 Qxe3+ 34. fxe3 Rc8 35. Kb2 Rc4 36. Rb7 Rxh4 37. Rxb5 Kg5 38. Kc3 Ra4 39.
Kb3 Re4 40. c4 Rxe3+ 41. Kb4 Re2 42. a4 h5 43. a5 Rb2+ 44. Kc5 h4 45. Rxb2 1-0
You can play through the game here.
Answer:
Black has several good moves here, but the best is 11...Ne5 which double attacks the bishop
on Bc4 and discovers an attack to the knight on h3, taking advantage of the loose pieces in whites
position.
White can protect the Knight on h3 with 12. Bf1, but this involves retreating the bishop all the
way back to f1. Black then can capture the b2 pawn with 12...Qxb2 which also attacks the knight
on c3.
Black has a nice position, is up a pawn, but white's king is still stuck in the middle of the board,
and is at least 2 moves from being able to castle, if he will be able to castle at all.
This variation was not played in the game, but would have given black excellent winning
chances.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The only good Rook is a working Rook! - Samuel Reshevsky
T his game features a position played on

ICC from one of my best friends,
Shannon Fox (blacktop on ICC).

move.
Answer below.
Shannon subscribes to my newsletter, and

after Newsletter 14 where I had a quote from
Bobby Fischer he wrote:
Hey Speaking of Bobby Fischer, I played

"Bobby1" on ICC as White with an interesting
tactic. Not sure if you can open the attached but
if you can, let me know what you think of the
"chasing Rook sacrifice".
Shannon and I used to work together in Aurora, Colorado, before I moved to Colorado Springs a
couple of years ago. I was lucky to work on a large campus there which had several active chess
players including Shannon, Pete Short, and Francisco Baltier. We would often play at lunch, and
after work, which was a lot of fun.
If you have a game with an interesting tactic, I would love to include it in a future newsletter!
In this position the material is even, but black has a dangerous passed pawn on the 7th rank.
The question is, how to queen the pawn?
[Event "ICC"]
[Date "2011.08.10"]
[White "BOBBY1"]
[Black "BlackTop"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "1522"]
[BlackElo "1447"]
[PlyCount "76"]
1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6 6. O-O Ne7 7. Bg5 O-O 8. Qe2

Nbc6 9. Rd1 d5 10. exd5 exd5 11. Bb3 Qc7 12. cxd4 Be6 13. Nc3 a6 14. Rac1 Qb8
15. h3 b5 16. Bh4 a5 17. Bg3 Qb7 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 a4 20. Bc2 b4 21. Nb5
Ra5 22. Bd3 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Nf5 24. Rc7 Qb6 25. Rdc1 Ng3 26. Qe3 Qxe3 27. fxe3
Ne4 28. Bxe4 dxe4 29. R7c5 Rb8 30. Nd6 Rxc5 31. Rxc5 Bxa2 32. Nxe4 a3 33. bxa3
bxa3 34. Nf6+ Kg7 35. h4 Bb1 36. Ra5 a2 37. Nd7 Rb5 38. Ra7 Rb7 0-1
You can play through the complete game here.
Answer:
Black forks and deflects the white rook with 38...Rb7! White cannot protect the knight on d7
and keep an eye on the a pawn at the same time.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Football is like chess, only without the dice -German footballer Lukas Podolski
I thought the above quote was quite

funny. It turns out there actually is a
variant of chess called "Dice Chess",
which I had never heard of. It actually sounds
pretty fun.

move.
Answer below.
Here are the rules to Dice Chess according to

wikipedia:
The players alternate rolling the dice and, if

possible, moving. On each of the dice, the one
represents a pawn, two a knight, three a bishop,
four a rook, five a queen, and six a king. The player may move either of the pieces indicated on
the two dice.
For example, a player rolling a one and a two may move either a pawn or a knight. A player who
rolls doubles (the same number on both dice) may play any legal move. Otherwise, standard
chess rules apply, with these exceptions:
a player who has no legal move with either of the pieces indicated by the dice loses that
turn (passed turn);
if castling is otherwise legal, a player may castle upon rolling a four, six, or doubles;
an en passant capture of a pawn is possible only if the player rolls a one, or doubles,
immediately once the opportunity for the en passant capture arises;
a player who is in check can only play a legal response to that check (capturing the
checking piece, moving the king, or interposing a piece);
a player who is in check but does not make a roll allowing a legal response to the check
loses that turn, but does not automatically lose the game;
except in the unlikely event that the game ends in a draw pursuant to the standard rules of
chess, the game ends when one player either checkmates the opponent or captures the
opponent's king.
There is a sample game on the wikipedia entry, which helps show how it is played. If you ever
try it out, let me know how it went!
[Event "Challenge"]
[Date "2010.06.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Dicer"]
[Black "Gmontel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1300"]
[BlackElo "1038"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2010.??.??"]
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. d5 Qa5 5. Bd2 Qb4 6. Qc1 Nxe4 7. Nxe4 Qxe4+ 8.

Be3 cxd5 9. Ne2 e5 10. Nc3 Qb4 11. Bd2 d4 12. Nd5 Qc5 13. Nb4 e4 14. h3 a5 15.
Nd3 exd3 16. cxd3 Qe5+ 17. Be2 Nc6 18. f4 Qe7 19. Qc4 Be6 20. Qb5 Qh4+ 21. Kf1
O-O-O 22. Rc1 Bxa2 23. Qxa5 Be6 24. Qa8+ Kc7 25. Ba5+ b6 26. Qxc6+ Kb8 27.
Qxb6+ Ka8 28. Bf3+ d5 29. Qc6+ Ka7 30. Bb6+ Ka6 31. Ra1+ Ba3 32. Rxa3# 1-0
Answer:
Dicer got sliced and diced like a piece of celery in a late night Ginsu infomercial with 14...a5
which traps the knight on b4. Pawn pushes are often good for trapping knights, and can often be
easy to miss.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
"Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That's the only way it happens -- and
when it happens, it lasts." --Coach John Wooden
R eddit.com is one of my favorite

websites. People post various links or
subjects, and others can vote them up
or down. So you can quickly find the most
popular articles, photos, and links.
There is a chess forum on there, which I read

and post to frequently. I recently posted a game
on my website that one "redditor" asked for
feedback on.

move.
Answer below.
I got an email from one of my newsletter

readers, Saajan, about this position, which was
in the reddit game I posted. He found a good tactic in the above position. Saajan writes:
I was looking at your blog post titled "Reddit poster requests feedback on his game..." (June 21,
2011). After White's 6th move (6. 0-0 ), why doesn't Black move (Answer below)?
I saw the original Reddit post you have linked to and nobody mentioned this there either, so I
was wondering if I am missing something in this position.
Thanks,
Saajan
My response:
haha yeah - that looks winning to me! Nice catch!! I might include this one in a future
newsletter. It is a good tactic to know. My friend Anthea who I have played a lot of rated games
against once missed a similar tactic against me in a game played at the Air Force Academy. It is
pretty common in Kings Gambit type positions (which I play myself as white).
Cheers,
Tim
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Qe7 4. Nc3 f6 5. Bc4 Nh6 6. O-O c6 7. d4 b5 8. Bd3 Na6 9. Bxf4 g5 10.
Be3 Ng4 11. Nxg5 Nxe3 12. Qh5+ Kd8 13. Nf7+ Kc7 14. Nxh8 Nxf1 15. Rxf1 Bb7 16. d5 Qd6 17.
Bxb5 Nc5 18. dxc6 dxc6 19. Nf7 Qd4+ 20. Kh1 a6 21. Bd3 Ne6 22. Qa5+ Kd7 23. Qf5 Re8 24.
Qxf6 Be7 25. Ne5+ Kc7 26. Qxe6 Qb4 27. Qc4 Qxc4 28. Bxc4 Bf6 29. Rxf6
Answer:
6...Qc5+ winning the White bishop
Thanks Saajan!!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
My opponent left a glass of whisky 'en prise' and I took it 'en passant'. - Henry
Blackburne
O n the weekend of July 15-17 I played in

the Saratoga Resort Wild West Chess
Tournament in Saratoga Wyoming. It
was played at the Saratoga Resort and Spa.
This position featured is from one of my games
at the tournament.

move.
Answer below.
It was a really great event that included
Simul with GM Sergey Kudrin

4 Round G/90 tournament over 2 days
US G/15 Championship
Picnics and BBQs
I wrote a full review of the event on my website, including my draw against GM Kudrin in his
simul.
Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend a trip up to Saratoga Wyoming for the Wild West
tournament. It is a great bang for the buck, and a tournament that you will never forget!
Lee Lahti (The TD and Organizer) told me that the tournament will be held against next year in
2012, during the third week of July, which would be the 20-22. I am certainly planning on going
again. This was the best chess tournament I have ever been in, and would highly recommend it
to anyone.
My opponent in the game was Andrew Pineda, who I met for the first time at the Wild West
tournament. Andrew told me that he was a fan of my website, and podcasts, and told me that he
would be interested in doing a podcast with me. We later got together over the phone and
recorded one. Click here to check it out!
[Event "Wild West 2011"]

[Site "Saratoga, WY"]
[Date "2011.07.16"]
[Round "2"]
[Black "Pineda, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1787"]
[BlackElo "1744"]
[PlyCount "59"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bh4 d5 4. f3 g5 5. Bg3 Nxg3 6. hxg3 Bf5 7. e3 Qd6 8.

Kf2 Nd7 9. Bd3 Qg6 10. Ne2 Bxd3 11. cxd3 Bg7 12. Nbc3 c6 13. g4 O-O-O 14. b4 f5
15. gxf5 Qxf5 16. Rc1 Nf6 17. Ng3 Qg6 18. b5 Rhf8 19. bxc6 b6 20. Qa4 Qxd3 21.
Rhe1 Ng4+ 22. Kg1 a5 23. fxg4 Rf7 24. Qb5 Qd2 25. Qxb6 Qf2+ 26. Kh2 e5 27. Qa6+
Kc7 28. Nb5+ Kb8 29. c7+ Rxc7 30. Rxc7 1-0
Answer:
I missed a forced mate in 3 with 25. Qa6+ Kc7 26. Nb5+ Kb8 27. Qb7#
I should have looked at checking moves first, which might have lead me to the solution. I did
win the game, but could have done it faster.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
This Halloween the most popular mask is the Arnold Schwarzenegger mask. And the
best part? With a mouth full of candy you will sound just like him. - Conan O'Brien
T his position came from a tournament

played in Missouri known as the "Trick
or Treat Open".

move.
Answer below.
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It is

always fun to dress up in costumes, even as an
adult.
Many Chess Clubs have special Halloween

tournaments. The Denver Chess Club has held
several Halloween tournaments over the years.
If you came in costume, you would get a
discounted entry fee. I have found memories of dressing up and playing in these tournaments. I
loved seeing my friends dressed up, like Paul Grimm dressed as a Grimm Reaper, Brian Wall and
Renae Delaware dressed in a king and queen outfit, and Anthea Carson dressed as a witch.
If you local club has never held a Halloween tournament, I would highly recommend it!
[Event "TrickOrTreatOpen"]
[Site "Columbia, MO"]
[Date "2004.10.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nathaniel S Fast"]
[Black "Kevin D Vogt"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B70"]
[WhiteElo "1653"]
[PlyCount "82"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. g3 Bg7 7. Bg2 Qb6 8.

Nde2 Nc6 9. O-O Bd7 10. h3 Rc8 11. a4 Qd8 12. Be3 b6 13. f4 O-O 14. Qd2 e6 15.
Qxd6 Na5 16. b3 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Bxa1 18. Rxa1 Rxc2 19. Qd3 Rc8 20. b4 Nb7 21.
Qxd7 Rc7 22. Qxd8 Rxd8 23. Nf6+ Kg7 24. Bd4 Rxd4 25. Nxd4 Kxf6 26. Nb5 Re7 27.
Rd1 a6 28. Nc3 Rc7 29. Bxb7 Rxb7 30. Kf2 Rc7 31. Rd3 Rc4 32. b5 a5 33. Ke2 e5
34. fxe5+ Kxe5 35. Kd2 Rd4 36. Rxd4 Kxd4 37. Ne2+ Kc4 38. h4 Kb4 39. Nc3 h5 40.
Kd3 f6 41. Nd5+ Kxa4 1-0
You can play though this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2077.
Answer:
21. Qxd7!! wins the bishop. If 21...Qxd7 22. Nf6+ forking the Black king and queen
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. I got a really nice email from David Costantino. He started a meetup group for people
interested in learning chess in Denver. The link to the group is http://www.meetup.com/Learn-
to-Play-Chess/.
I do not play chess - I fight at chess. Therefore I willingly combine the tactical with the
strategic, the fantastic with the scientific, the combinative with the positional, and I aim to
respond to the demands of each given position ... - Alexander Alekhine
T his position occurred at the World Open

in a game played by Sam Sloan, which
features the unusual Damiano Defense.

move.
Answer below.
Sam Sloan, has his own Wikipedia page, which

makes for some interesting reading.
Some interesting facts about Sam:
Appeared in the recent film "Bobby Fischer

Against the World", and was a friend of
Fischer
Converted to Islam, and is also know as Haji Mohammed Ismail Sloan
In 2010, Sloan ran for the Libertarian Party nomination in the 2010 New York gubernatorial
election
Although not a lawyer, successfully argued a case before the Supreme Court
Spent 18 months in a state prison after being convicted for abduction
Has 8 children from 5 different women
Has run for USCF office on multiple occasions, and is known as a political gadfly in the chess
world.
Plays"unorthodox" openings such as The Grob (1. g4) and Damiano's Defense (1. e4 e5 2.
Nf3 f6)
[Event "World Open"]

[Site "Philadelphia USA"]
[Date "2003.07.06"]
[Round "08"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Michael Thaler"]
[Black "Sam Sloan"]
[ECO "C40"]
[WhiteElo "1950"]
[BlackElo "1924"]
[PlyCount "56"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.Nxe5 fxe5 4.Qh5+ Ke7 5.Qxe5+ Kf7 6.Bc4+ d5

7.Bxd5+ Kg6 8.Bxb7 Bd6 9.Qd5 Nf6 10.Qb3 Bxb7 11.Qxb7 Nbd7
12.d3 Ng4 13.f4 Qh4+ 14.g3 Qh3 15.e5 Rhe8 16.f5+ Kf7 17.d4
N7xe5 18.dxe5 Rxe5+ 19.Kd2 Rae8 20.Qf3 Nxh2 21.Kd3 Rxf5 22.Bf4
Bxf4 23.Rxh2 Qxh2 24.gxf4 Rxf4 25.Qd5+ Kf8 26.Qc5+ Kg8 27.Nc3
Qg3+ 28.Kd2 Rf2+ 0-1
Answer:
White did a good job punishing Black's unusual opening, with the move 3. Nxe5! proving that
the f6 pawn is not really protecting the e5 pawn at all. However White missed the followup 8. h4!
in this position.
The threat is to play 9. h5+ Kh6 (only move) 10. d4+ (or 10. d3+) g5 (only other way to
prevent mate besides blocking with the queen) 11. hxg6+ (en passant discovered check with the
rook) Kxg6 (only move) 12. Qh5+ Kg7 (or 12 ...Kf6) 13. Qf7#
Black's only defense to this forced mate is to play 8...h6 or 8...h5, but this allows 9. Bxb7!
overloading the bishop on c6, which is the only piece preventing mate on f5. Since the Bishop on
b7 cannot be captured, it can then win the rook on a8 for free.
This is a pretty challenging move to find, if you don't know the theory already, but shows how
one bad move by black (2...f6?) can be punished if white knows what they are doing.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
You cannot teach a crab to walk straight. - Aristophanes 450-385 BC
T his game features an unorthodox

animal opening knows as "The Crab"
(1. h4 2. a4)

move.
Answer below.
I once asked Anthea Carson, author of "How to

Play Chess Like an Animal" what her favorite
Animal Opening was. Without hesitation she said
"The Crab"!
Anthea became obsessed with the Crab several

years ago, and we even played a "Crab Match",
where she played "The Crab" in every game.
After it was over, we went to Joe's Crab Shack to celebrate :) We also watched the 1957 Roger
Corman "B" Movie "Attack of the Crab Monsters", which was one of the worst movies I ever saw.
National Master Josh Bloomer once commented on The Crab that the move order "1. a4 2. h4"
(instead of 1. h4 2. a4) was "slightly more accurate", which I thought was hilarious. I used to
joke that "You can't stop The Crab, you can only hope to contain it", based on Dan Patrick's catch
phrase on ESPN.
The Crab is rather annoying to play against, and is a lot of fun.
Anthea wrote a Hubpage article called "Chess: The Crab Opening", which shows some of the
beautiful, creative artwork from her book.
Anthea even made a video encouraging people to "Play The Crab" - which is totally hilarious!
[Event "Poor Richards Extra Game"]

[Date "2008.02.27"]
[White "Carson, Anthea"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1691"]
[BlackElo "1685"]
[PlyCount "110"]
1. h4 e5 2. a4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. c3 f5 5. d4 e4 6. Nh3 Qxh4 7. g3 Qf6 8. Nf4 Ne7

9. dxc5 Be6 10. Na3 Nd7 11. Nb5 Kf7 12. Nc7 Nxc5 13. Nxa8 Nc6 14. Nc7 Bd6 15.
Ncxe6 Nxe6 16. Nxd5 Qg5 17. Bc4 Ne5 18. Nf4 Nxc4 19. Nxe6 Kxe6 20. Qb3 Rc8 21.
a5 Ke7 22. Qxb7+ Rc7 23. Qd5 Rc5 24. Qd1 h6 25. b4 Rc8 26. Rh5 Qf6 27. Qb3 Ne5
28. Ra2 Rxc3 29. Qb2 Rxc1+ 30. Ke2 Re1+ 31. Kxe1 Nd3+ 32. Kf1 Nxb2 33. Kg2 Qc3
34. Rxf5 Nd3 35. b5 Ne1+ 36. Kh3 Qc8 37. g4 g6 38. Rd5 h5 39. Rg5 Kf6 40. f4
Nf3 41. Rxg6+ Kxg6 42. f5+ Kg5 43. Rg2 Bc5 44. b6 axb6 45. a6 Qa8 46. gxh5+
Kxh5 47. Rg7 b5 48. Rh7+ Kg5 49. a7 Bxa7 50. Rg7+ Kxf5 51. Rh7 Bxe3 52. Rh5+
Ke6 53. Rh7 Qg8 54. Rh6+ Kd5 55. Rd6+ Kc4 0-1
Answer:
28...Rxc3!! got a double exclam from Fritz 12 and turns white's position into a steaming pile of
week old Maryland Crab Cake. The Rook cannot be captured with 29. Qxc3 because of the
discovered attack 29...Nf3+ winning the white Queen.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Never miss a check, it might be mate. - Joseph Henry Blackburne
T his position came from a challenge I

received on the RedHotPawn 21 day
ladder.

move.
Answer below.
I recently received a really nice email from

Dean Mitchell (MrBrewDude) from Fort Collins,
CO, after I thanked him for his comments on my
blog. Here is it, with my response.
Dean writes:
Sure Tim- I enjoy it! It's always interesting to

see/hear what everyone is discussing about chess. I enjoy reading your tactics newsletters also.
So far, my only comment is I think the tactics to-date have been a little on the easy side, but
that's not to say I haven't missed some of them or learned anything. For instance I had no idea
there were names for all the different mates. I also like how the tactics are not anonymous,
there's always a personal touch to them.
cheers!
Dean.
Tim's response:
Oh thanks Dean!
Yeah, it is a tough balance... It is kind of funny because I have had some people tell me the
complete opposite, that a lot of the problems are too difficult lol.
It is tough too, because a lot of times, the person might miss the tactic in the game, but as soon
as you present it as a "tactics problem", then it automatically becomes easier. Even from some of
my own games I have noticed this. I missed a mate in 3 at the Wild West tournament, but when I
look at it as a "tactics problem", I can't believe I missed it! lol
It is tough for me to tell too what some people find easy or hard. For example, I tend to find
pawn forks really hard to see. But stuff like smothered mates are simple. But if you have never
seen a smothered mate, it is tough.
There is one tactic that Anthea missed, which was a brilliant queen sac. But again, once you
say it is a "tactics problem", finding the right move is pretty easy.
To me, studying tactics is kind of like practicing layups or foul shots in basketball. They can be
fairly easy, but the practice really helps a lot once you are in a game situation.
I never knew a lot of the mating pattern names either, before writing the newsletter. I got a
copy of "The Art of Checkmate" (or something similar in the title) from one of the Pueblo
tournaments. They were giving away lots of books, and it listed a lot of the mates by name.
Thanks again, I appreciate the comments!!
Cheers,
Tim
[Event "Ladder"]
[Date "2011.07.18"]
[White "kes29"]
[Black "TimmyBx"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2006"]
[BlackElo "1819"]
[PlyCount "80"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 e6 4. Nd2 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. exd4 Bd6 8.

Bxd6 Qxd6 9. Ngf3 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. Rc1 Rac8 12. Re1 a6 13. Ne5 Rc7 14. Ndf3
b5 15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. Ne5 Nd7 17. Qh5 g6 18. Qh6 Nxe5 19. Rxe5 f6 20. Re3 e5 21.
dxe5 fxe5 22. Rg3 e4 23. Be2 Rcf7 24. Bh5 Rf6 25. h4 R8f7 26. Rg5 Qc5 27. Bg4
Qxf2+ 28. Kh1 Qxb2 29. Rg1 Qxc3 30. h5 Bd7 31. Bxd7 Rxd7 32. hxg6 Rxg6 33.
Rxg6+ hxg6 34. Qxg6+ Qg7 35. Qe8+ Kh7 36. Rf1 Qh6+ 37. Kg1 Rg7 38. Rf8 Qe3+ 39.
Kh1 Qe1+ 40. Kh2 Qg3+ 0-1
Answer:
Black has to be careful here, because there are lots of ways to screw up this position, turning it
into either a win or a loss. White is threatening checkmate with Rh8#. The only win is
39...Qe1+ 40. Kh2 Qg3+ 41. Kg1 Qxg2#
Sample lines from Fritz:

kes29 - TimmyBx, Ladder http://www.redhotpawn.com 2011
4QR2/6rk/p7/1p1p4/4p3/4q3/P5P1/7K b - - 0 1
Analysis by Fritz 12:
1. -+ (-#3): 39...Qe1+ 40.Rf1 Qxf1+ 41.Kh2 Qxg2#

2. = (0.00): 39...Qc1+ 40.Kh2 Qc7+ 41.Kh1
3. = (0.00): 39...Kh6 40.Qe6+ Kh7 41.Qe8
4. = (0.00): 39...Qh6+ 40.Kg1
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. I would love to hear your feedback too! Are the puzzles too easy? Too hard?
It's a trap! - Admiral Ackbar, "Return of the Jedi"
T his position came from a game played

in a tournament that was called the
"Jedi Knights" in Reno, NV.

move.
Answer below.
There have been several tie ins between Chess

and Star Wars over the years. I found a Youtube
video of the Star Wars Chess Video Game, where
the pieces would fight each other with bloody
battles when they captured each other. This
game was for Sega, and came out in 1993.
According to the product description:
Luke Skywalker is your King and Princess Leia is actually a Queen in this 3D animated chess
game. You can choose, however, to govern the evil Galactic Empire and then have Darth Vader as
your King. After you've selected your move, each character comes to life and has special skills
that'll have this chess match seem like more than just a board game. Chewbacca can take out a
stormtrooper with his crossbow as he helps you take over the board. The game is complete only
after Luke and Darth Vader have a final lightsaber duel to the death. Original sound effects and
background music will stir memories of the classic film.
Sounds fun!
[Event "Jedi Knights"]

[Site "Reno, NV"]
[Date "2005.06.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Mccomas, Bill"]
[Black "Mann, James"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C66"]
[WhiteElo "1480"]
[BlackElo "1537"]
[PlyCount "63"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d3 Bd7 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. h3
Ne8 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. c4 Nf6 12. Kh2 a6 13. Ba4 h6 14. b4 Bc8 15.
Qb3 Nxd5 16. cxd5 Ne7 17. b5 axb5 18. Bxb5 Ng6 19. Rac1 b6 20. Rc2 f5 21. a4
Rf7 22. Ra1 Ra5 23. Nd2 fxe4 24. Nxe4 Qh4 25. Nxd6 Bxh3 26. Nxf7 Bd7+ 27. Kg1
Bxb5 28. Rxc7 Qd4 29. Rb1 Bxd3 30. d6 Bf5 31. Nxh6+ Kh7 32. Nxf5 1-0
Answer:
25. Be8 skewers the Rook and Knight. The Rook cannot move, and still protect the knight on
g6.
25. Nxd6, which was played in the game, is also an interesting tactical idea, but doesn't really
work, because the move Bxh3 is a good response.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Whenever my wife complains about my chess book addiction, I threaten to take up golf!
- J. D. Marino
T his game was chosen by Paul Anderson

as his "Game of the Year VIII" in his
weekly Colorado Springs Chess
Newsletter.

move.
Answer below.
Paul Anderson writes a weekly chess

newsletter about the chess scene in Colorado
Springs. He has been doing this for many
years. You can read his newsletters at
http://cschess.webs.com/.
When football season begins, he takes a break

from his newsletter, so that he can focus on his Fantasy Football team.
At the end of each newsletter year, he chooses a game of the year. This game was played
against Kurt Kondracki, who is a rapidly improving teenager. Kurt was the discussion of debate
earlier in the year when he was rated 1952, and lost to a player rated 872 in the State Scholastic
Championships. Some people were saying this may have been the largest rated upset in Colorado
history. Despite this loss, Kurt won all of his other games, and finished in first place in the grades
7-9 section with a 5/6 score to finish in first place. Well done Kurt!
One funny thing about Paul is that he likes to announce "mate in X" when possible. We had a
light hearted email discussion about announcing mate, and the etiquette surrounding it. Should
you move first, then announce "mate in 4" or say "mate in 5", then proceed to make the move. I
will leave the answer to the chess philosophers :-)
[Event "June Panera"]

[Date "2011.06.23"]
[Round "4.2"]
[Black "Kondracki, Kurt"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D53"]
[WhiteElo "1938"]
[BlackElo "1956"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2011.06.02"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Qc2 Nbd7 7. O-O-O c6 8.

Kb1 Rb8 9. e4 Nxe4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Qxe4 Nf6 13. Qh4 b5 14. c5
b4 15. Bd3 h6 16. g4 Nd5 17. g5 Nc3+ 18. bxc3 bxc3+ 19. Ka1 Rb2 20. Rb1 Qb7 21.
gxh6 Qb4 22. Bc2 Rxa2+ 23. Kxa2 Qa5+ 24. Kb3 Ba6 25. Bh7+ 1-0
Answer:
White has a mate in 5 with
22.Bh7+ Kxh7 23.hxg7+ Kg6 24.Rbg1+ Kf5 25.Qg4+ Kf6 26.Qg5#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
It is with justice that he spent his final days in Iceland, the site of his greatest triumph.
There he has always been loved and seen in the best possible way: as a chessplayer. - (on
Bobby Fischer) - Garry Kasparov
T his game was played in Iceland, on an

Iceberg, and features the Icelandic
Gambit!!

move.
Answer below.
You may recall a few newsletters ago I posted

about playing the "Evans Gambit" on top of Mt.
Evans here in Colorado.
Greenpawn34 wrote a blog post about it,

mocking me and my friends because we drove all
the way to the top of the mountain, and didn't
even play the Evans Gambit.
This started a chain of comments and challenges to play certain openings in places that are
named after them.
The followup blog post by Greenpawn34 shows some chess players playing the Icelandic
Gambit, on an Iceberg, in Iceland! This will be hard to top! The photos are beautiful!! They were
in Jökulsárlón (lit. "Glacier Lagoon") the largest glacier lagoon or lake in Iceland.
Here are some interesting facts about chess in Iceland:
Has the highest per capita chess population in the world.

A government-run lottery helps finance chess and handball tournaments.
Iceland had 9 Grandmasters, 7 International Masters, and 16 FIDE masters in a country of
only 250,000 inhabitants.
It is the only country that has more grandmasters than international masters.
Professional chess players receive a government state pension to support their chess
playing.
In 1997, Iceland staged the first national Internet championship in the world.

[Event "Iceland Iceberg Icelandic Gambit "]
[Site "Jökulsárlón"]
[Date "2011.??.08"]
[White "morgski"]
[Black "morgski's sister"]
[Result "0-1"]
[PlyCount "54"]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. dxe6 Bxe6 5. d4 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Qe7 7. Bxb4 Qxb4+

8. Nd2 Qxb2 9. Ngf3 O-O 10. Rb1 Qc3 11. Rxb7 Na6 12. d5 Nb4 13. Be2 Rfe8 14.
O-O Nxa2 15. Qa1 Qxa1 16. Rxa1 Nc3 17. Bd3 Nfxd5 18. Rbxa7 Rxa7 19. Rxa7 h6 20.
h3 Nf4 21. Rxc7 Bd5 22. Rd7 Bxf3 23. Nxf3 Nxd3 24. c5 Ne2+ 25. Kh2 Nxc5 26. Rc7
Ne4 27. Ra7 Rd8 0-1
Answer:
11...Re8 sets up a common attacking idea in the icelandic gambit (which I have played myself
as black).
The idea is that black is threatening Bxc4+ taking advantage of their lead in development, and
white's king still being stuck in the board.
One possible variation is 12. Be2 (blocking the check) Bxc4 (winning the pawn, since both the
knight on d2 and bishop on e2 are pinned to the king)
Black has won back the gambitted pawn, has a huge lead in development, and white still has
not castled, and is under serious attack. Fritz gives this position as totally winning for black.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Those over there are not giants but windmills. -Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spanish
novelist, poet and playwright in his novel Don Quijote de la Mancha
T his was an interesting game posted in

one of the forums on Red Hot Pawn.

move.
Answer below.
"Tilting at windmills" is an English idiom which

means attacking imaginary enemies, or fighting
unwinnable or futile battles. The word "tilt", in
this context, comes from jousting.
The phrase is sometimes used to describe

confrontations where adversaries are incorrectly
perceived, or courses of action that are based on
misinterpreted or misapplied heroic, romantic, or
idealistic justifications.
The phrase derives from an episode in the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. In the
novel, Don Quixote fights windmills that he imagines to be giants. Quixote sees the windmill
blades as the giant's arms, for instance. A relevant portion of the novel states:
Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And
no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, "Fortune is guiding
our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder,
friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay
them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the
removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."
"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza.
"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them
have arms well nigh two leagues in length."
"Take care, sir," cried Sancho. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those
things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by
the wind, turn the millstone."
--Part 1, Chapter VIII. Of the valourous Don Quixote's success in the dreadful and
never before imagined Adventure of the Windmills, with other events worthy of
happy record.
[Event "August 2011 Hardcore Grand I"]

[Date "2011.08.25"]
[Round "1"]
[White "SasuserX"]
[Black "Haufpunk"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1767"]
[BlackElo "1754"]
[PlyCount "41"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. e5 Ne4 5. Bb5 Bb4+ 6. c3 dxc3 7. O-O O-O 8.

Qd4 cxb2 9. Bxb2 Bc3 10. Nxc3 Nxc3 11. Bxc3 c6 12. Bd3 f6 13. exf6 Qxf6 14.
Qxf6 gxf6 15. Rfe1 d5 16. Re7 f5 17. Rg7+ Kh8 18. Rxb7+ Kg8 19. Rg7+ Kh8 20.
Rxa7+ Kg8 21. Rxa8 1-0
Answer:
The subject line was a bit of a "bait and switch". White's best play is not to do a windmill at all,
but has a forced mate in four.
The windmill tactic is what was played in the game, and is winning:
17. Rg7+ Kh8 18. Rxb7+ Kg8 19. Rg7+ Kh8 20. Rxa7+ Kg8 21. Rxa8
But better is the forced mate:
17.Rg7+ Kh8 18.Rg6+ d4 19.Bxd4+ Rf6 20.Bxf6#
Both are good tactical motifs to know.
One of the responders, pijun, on RHP wrote a song sung to the tune of "Waterfalls" by TLC
Don't gooooooo chaaasssing windmills now,

Please stick to the mates in 4 that you are used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
A Queen's sacrifice, even when fairly obvious, always rejoices the heart of the chess-
lover. - Savielly Tartakower
T his position was featured in the movie

"Queen to Play".

move.
Answer below.
I recently watched the movie "Queen to Play",

and wrote a review of it on my website.
The movie is very interesting, and I would

recommend it to all chess players. If you have
seen it, I would love to know what you thought.
After I posted about the movie, Daoud Zupa,

who I recently did a podcast with, pointed out to
me that one of the positions that was used in the movie, was actually from a famous game. He
helped me to track down the game, which is where the above position is from.
Daoud also had some interesting theories about the movie, which I don't want to share, because
they are sort of "spoilers", but it was interesting food for thought, and I would be glad to share
them with you in a private message if you are interested.
I didn't really catch how brilliant the move actually was while watching the movie, but looking at
the real game, it is a real beauty.
[Event "Moscow ch-URS"]

[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1991.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Evgeni Sveshnikov"]
[Black "Ruslan Shcherbakov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "1991.??.??"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 d5 8. e5 d4

9. Be4 Bb7 10. a4 Ng6 11. axb5 axb5 12. Rxa8 Bxa8 13. Na3 Na7 14. Bxa8 Qxa8 15.
Qb3 Qb7 16. cxd4 cxd4 17. Nxd4 Bxa3 18. bxa3 Nxe5 19. Bb2 Nc4 20. Qg3 O-O 21.
Bc3 g6 22. d3 Nb6 23. Qe5 Nd7 24. Qg7+ 1-0
Answer:
White plays a brilliant queen sacrifice, followed by a double discovered check, then minor piece
checkmate - beautiful!!
24.Qg7+ Kxg7 25.Nf5+ Kg8 26.Ne7#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
We learn by Chess: the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in
the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of persevering
in the secrets of resources. -Benjamin Franklin
T his game was sent to me by Rob

Hartelt of Denver, CO, AKA
PureRWandB on RedHotPawn.com.

move.
Answer below.
Rob says the above quote is his favorite about

chess, and has it posted on his facebook page,
and redhotpawn profile.
Some interesting facts about Ben Franklin and

chess. Taken from Bill Wall's website.
In 1732, he drafted an essay called "The Morals of Chess" for his own newspaper, The
Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin considered chess as a metaphor for both diplomacy and life.
He had learned chess about this time. In his essay on "The Morals of Chess," Franklin
attributed chess being introduced into the United States by Spaniards, who spread chess
over their part of America.
Franklin played chess almost nightly until almost dawn. During one of Franklin's late-night
chess matches, a messenger arrived with an important set of dispatches from America.
Franklin waved him off until his chess game was finished.
Franklin blamed his gout from too much sitting playing chess and not enough exercise.
In June, 1779, he wrote "The Morals of Chess" while in London.
In 1783, Franklin played "The Turk" automaton at the Cafe de la Regence in Paris and lost.
In December 1786, he published an essay called "The Morals of Chess" in the Columbian
Magazine in Philadelphia.
In 1999, Benjamin Franklin was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.
[Event "May 2011 One Zero Split I 1375-1400"]

[Date "2011.08.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "PureRWandB"]
[Black "bootoyou"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1412"]
[BlackElo "1460"]
[PlyCount "31"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nc3 g6 4. e4 Bg7 5. Be3 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Bxc4 Nb4 8.

O-O Nf6 9. e5 Nfd5 10. Ne4 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nxe3 12. Qxf7+ Kd7 13. Qe6+ Ke8 14.
fxe3 Rf8 15. Rxf8+ Bxf8 16. Nf6# 1-0
Answer:
15.Rxf8+ Bxf8 (15...Kxf8 16. Qg8#) 16.Nf6# is a nice miniature.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
In general there is something puzzling about the fact that the most renowned figures in
chess - Morphy, Pillsbury, Capablanca and Fischer - were born in America. - Garry
Kasparov
T his position features a game taken from

the "The Planet Greenpawn", my
favorite chess blog, which is featured
on RedHotPawn.com

move.
Answer below.
One of the things that I love about

Greenpawn's blog is that he uses lots of
examples from real games played between
amateur's just like I enjoy doing. He also
publishes lots of original chess tactics problems,
which I also enjoy!
In this blog post, he gave lots of examples of the Pillsbury Mate, which is named after Harry
Nelson Pillsbury. I would encourage you to go through his examples so that you can really drill
this pattern into your brain. This is the best way to ensure that you will be able to find them in
your own games.
Some interesting facts about Pillsbury, taken from the wikipedia page.
At age 22, he won one of the strongest tournaments of the time (Hastings 1895 chess
tournament), but his illness and early death prevented him from challenging for the World
Chess Championship.
Pillsbury became a celebrity in the United States and abroad by winning the tournament,
finishing ahead of reigning world champion Emanuel Lasker, former world champion
Wilhelm Steinitz, Mikhail Chigorin, Siegbert Tarrasch and many other very strong players.
Poor health would prevent him from realizing his full potential throughout the rest of his
life. He died of syphilis in 1906.
Pillsbury was a very strong blindfold chess player, and could play checkers and chess
simultaneously

[Event "Clan challenge"]
[Date "2010.02.16"]
[White "helltrekker"]
[Black "rayjordan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D24"]
[WhiteElo "1497"]
[BlackElo "1350"]
[PlyCount "32"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Ne5 Bb4 6. Bd2 O-O 7. e3 Nbd7 8.

Bxc4 Nxe5 9. dxe5 Bxc3 10. Bxc3 b6 11. exf6 gxf6 12. Bd3 Bb7 13. Qg4+ Kh8 14.
O-O Rg8 15. Qd1 Rxg2+ 16. Kh1 Rg1+ 0-1
Answer:
15...Rxg2+ sets up the Pillsbury mating pattern. 16.Kh1 Rg1+ 17.Kxg1 Qg8+ 18.Bg6
Qxg6+ 19.Qg4 Qxg4#
The key move is really 16...Rg1+ No points if you didn't see this followup move :-)
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Begone! Ignorant and impudent knight, not even in chess can a King be taken. -
(reputedly stated to one of his knights in 1110 after he was nearly captured by enemy
forces) - King Louis VI
T he following position comes from one of

my newsletter readers, Eric King from
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

move.
Answer below.
I received a very nice email from Eric who

writes:
Tim,
Attached is a pgn file of game I played last night

at a local club. Our club in Parma, Ohio meets
every Tuesday evening and play Quads in G/30.
Last night however was game 1 of our 8 game club championship. We play one G/90 game a week. As
white is Dave Kowalczyk who is rated around 1750 and myself as black and I am rated 1630. Going
through the game using the chess engine Houdini I found two tactics that maybe you can use in your
database. At move 38 white misses an opportunity to win the exchange (lucky for me), and at move 41
I was able to win a pawn.
I played a hard fought battle to finally win a pawn after move 43 but then I was pressed for time in a
superior end game. I am always pressed for no matter if it is G/30 or G/90. Anyway I screwed the
pooch in my game and lost.
Thanks for the newsletter, I find it informational and fun to read (you were looking for quotes, use that
if you would like)
Eric King
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Thanks Eric! I always love hearing from my newsletter readers!

[Event "Parma, Ohio Tuesday CC"]

[Date "2011.09.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kowalczyk, Dave"]
[Black "King, Eric"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "1743"]
[BlackElo "1640"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. g3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 c6 8. Bf1

Nbd7 9. Bg2 Nb6 10. O-O Bg4 11. h3 Bf5 12. Re1 Ne4 13. Nh4 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Be6
15. e4 Qc8 16. Kh2 c5 17. Nf3 Rd8 18. Bb2 Nc4 19. Qc1 Rb8 20. Bf1 Nxb2 21. Qxb2
cxd4 22. cxd4 a6 23. Rad1 Bc4 24. Bg2 b5 25. a3 Rb6 26. Qc3 Rbd6 27. e5 Rc6 28.
Qe3 e6 29. Qf4 Bd5 30. Ng5 Qb7 31. Bxd5 Rxd5 32. Ne4 Qc7 33. Kg2 Rc4 34. Qe3
Qd8 35. Nd6 Rc7 36. Rc1 Bf8 37. Rxc7 Qxc7 38. Rc1 Qd7 39. Ne4 Bg7 40. Nd6 Bf8
41. Rc8 Rxd6 42. Rxf8+ Kxf8 43. exd6 Qxd6 44. Qc3 Qd5+ 45. Kg1 Qc4 46. Qe3 Ke7
47. Kg2 Qd5+ 48. Kg1 f5 49. Qg5+ Kf7 50. Qf4 Kf6 1-0
Answer:
White missed a clever way to win the exchange with 38.Ne8 (forcing the queen to move) Qc4
39.Nf6+ (forking the King and Rook) Kg7 40.Nxd5
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The money and the women. - Jeremy Silman (when asked what had attracted him to
chess)
T his position features a mating pattern

known as "Blackburne's Mate".

move.
Answer below.
According to Wikipedia: Blackburne's mate is

named for Joseph Henry Blackburne and is a rare
method of checkmating. The checkmate utilizes
the black rook (it could be a bishop or queen
instead) to confine the black king's escape to the
f8 square.
One of the bishops confine the black king's

movement by operating at a distance, while the
knight and bishop operate within close range. Threatening Blackburne's mate can be used to
weaken Black's position.
My favorite chess blogger, RHP's greenpawn34, recently did a blog post entitled "Blackburne's
Mate + A Chess Book in Two Languages" (http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=73), where he featured some nice examples of this mating
pattern, and is where I got this example from.
I also found a nice 5 minute YouTube video by Chess.com (http://www.youtube.com

/watch?v=x0pfG7_IOIs) about Blackburne's mate, which explains the mate, and shows the
original game from which the mating pattern is named.
Although rare, this is a great, and beautiful mating pattern for you to know, and hopefully get a
chance to play some day in one of your games!

[Date "2006.02.09"]
[White "Weadley"]
[Black "LightWarrrior"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1389"]
[BlackElo "1835"]
[PlyCount "36"]
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nc6 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4 Bg4 6. Be2 O-O-O 7. c4 Qf5 8.

d5 e6 9. O-O Nf6 10. Nc3 exd5 11. Bd3 Qh5 12. Be2 Bd6 13. g3 Rhe8 14. cxd5 Rxe2
15. dxc6 Bxf3 16. Nxe2 Ng4 17. h4 Qxh4 18. gxh4 Bh2# 0-1
Answer:
17...Qxh4!! 18. gxh4 Bh2# is a nice example of Blackburne's Mate
White can throw in a check, since Qxh4 is not a forcing move, with the variation 17...Qxh4
18.cxb7+ Bxb7 19.gxh4 Bh2#
Black needs to be careful to avoid 18...Kb8 19.Qxd6+ Rxd6 20.gxh4 while getting out of
check.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
We must despise our opponents strategically, yet respect them tactically. - Mao Tse
Tung
T his game comes from the 2011

Colorado Open's winner, State
Champion Eric Montany from Fort
Collins, CO.

move.
Answer below.
Every year Colorado holds its state

championship tournament over Labor Day
weekend. The winner of the Open (highest)
section is declared the state champion for the
year.
2011 saw a changing of the guard with first

time winner Eric Montany taking first place by a full point. You can see the tournament results
here. Congrats Eric!
During the tournament the Colorado State Chess Association (CSCA) also holds its annual
elections. Congrats to Paul Covington of Colorado Springs, who replaces Lee Lahti of Fort Collins
as President.
Here are the other election winners:
Randy Reynolds of Ft Collins - Secretary,

Buck Buchanan of Colorado Springs - Treasurer
Joe Fromme of Colorado Springs - Vice President.
Rhett Langseth - Junior Representative.
Congrats, and thanks to those willing to serve!

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2011.09.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Kondracki, Kurt"]
[Black "Montany, Eric"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A81"]
[WhiteElo "1944"]
[BlackElo "2097"]
[PlyCount "56"]
1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Ne2 d6 7. O-O e5 8. c4 a5

9. Nbc3 Kh8 10. Qc2 Nc6 11. Rfd1 Qe8 12. a3 Qh5 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Nd5 Bd8 15.
b4 Ne7 16. Nxe7 Bxe7 17. Nc3 f4 18. Nd5 fxe3 19. fxe3 Bg5 20. Qd3 Bg4 21. Re1
Rf7 22. bxa5 Raf8 23. Ra2 Bf3 24. Bxf3 Rxf3 25. Nxc7 Bxe3+ 26. Rxe3 Rxe3 27.
Qxe3 Qd1+ 28. Kg2 Qf1# 0-1
Answer:
25...Bxe3+ causes all sorts of problems for white.
it wins the pawn on e3

forks the king and pawn on d4
sets up a discovered attack on the queen on d3
puts the white king in check
brings another piece into the attack
creates a mating net around the white king
forces white to trade off his only defender on the back rank
26.Rxe3 is the only defense that doesn't lead to a forced mate, but white has to give up a lot of
material to keep playing.
While not forced, the game continued, 26...Rxe3 27. Qxe3 Qd1+ 28. Kg2 Qf1#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the
same time with a steady eye. - Winston Churchill
T his game features a game that was

played at the Wild Boar Coffee Shop in
Fort Collins, CO.

move.
Answer below.
Black in this position is Randy Reynolds of Fort

Collins. Randy is a former editor of the Colorado
Chess Informant magazine, and has served on
the board of the Colorado State Chess
Association many times.
Randy tied for first place in this tournament.

Nice work Randy!
I also played in this tournament. This was my first time playing in one of the Wild Boar
tournaments, which are held about once a month. The coffee shop is right next to the CSU
(Colorado State University) Campus, so has that fun college town feel to it. Although some people
don't like the crowds and potential for noise and distractions, I personally love playing in coffee
shops. The Wild Boar seems to be really popular, and the reviews on yelp.com for it are very
positive!
I also wrote a review of the tournament on my website.
[Event "Wild Boar Coffee Rapid #6"]

[Site "Fort Collins, Colorado"]
[Date "2011.09.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Julien, Pierre"]
[Black "Reynolds, Randy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "1797"]
[BlackElo "1737"]
[PlyCount "62"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8.

Qc2 c6 9. Nge2 h6 10. Bh4 Ng4 11. Bg3 Bh4 12. h3 Bxg3 13. hxg4 Bd6 14. O-O-O
Nb6 15. f3 Qg5 16. f4 Qxg4 17. Kb1 Nc4 18. Bxc4 dxc4 19. Ne4 Bf5 20. N2g3 Qxg3
21. Nf6+ gxf6 22. Qxf5 Qg6 23. g4 Qxf5+ 24. gxf5 Kh7 25. Rd2 Rg8 26. Rdh2 Bf8
27. e4 Rd8 28. Rd2 Rg4 29. Rf1 Bd6 30. e5 fxe5 31. fxe5 Bxe5 0-1
Answer:
White is down a bishop and a pawn, but has an amazing drawing resource with 25.Rxh6+!!
Black cannot stop the checks, For example 25...Kxh6 26.Rh1+ Kg7 27.Rg1+ Kh6
The wall of pawns and pieces on the f file prevent the king from ever stepping forward, and the
white king cannot stop the checks from the rook.
Randy and I were exchanging emails about this game, and he wrote, "Yeah, that drawing
chance was one in a million.. I mean, who expects doubled pawns to actually be beneficial??"
I have never seen a chess tactics problem like this before. This position is very unusual and
instructive, showing how there are often hidden resources, even in losing positions!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

There are only two things I can't stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other
people's cultures... and the Dutch. -Nigel Powers, "Austin Powers in Goldmember"
T his is a game that was sent to me by

my friend Shannon Fox, that he played
on ICC.

move.
Answer below.
This position was featured in the October 2010

Tactics Time column (http://tacticstime.com
/?p=421) in the Colorado Chess Informant.
I also recently saw a Youtube video with the

title "OMG! like.. best Dutch trap everrrrr - a
chess miniature" (http://youtu.be/nB4uxh8LTJQ)
that features an exact version of this game.
Some of the comments to the video are quite funny.
I am a big fan of chess miniatures and chess "traps". Most of these openings boil down to
unexpected or uncommon openings or piece developments. Remember to always be on the
lookout for tactics, even in the opening!
I do not have all of the game information for this game, so I am using "N.N." for the white
player, which is a standard in chess literature. I recently learned the meaning of this.
From Wikipedia:
Nomen nescio, abbreviated to N.N., is used to signify an anonymous or non-specific person.

From Latin nomen, name, and nescire, not to know, be ignorant of. Together, I do not know the
name.
N. N. is commonly used in the scoring of chess games, not only when one participant's name is
genuinely unknown but when an untitled player faces a master, as in a simultaneous exhibition.
[Event "ICC Blitz Game"]

[Date "2010.??.??"]
[White "N.N."]
[Black "blacktop"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2023"]
[BlackElo "1700"]
[PlyCount "13"]
1. d4 f5 2. h3 Nf6 3. g4 fxg4 4. hxg4 Nxg4 5. Qd3 Nf6 6. Rxh7 Rxh7 7. Qg6# 1-0
Answer:
6. Rxh7! is a clever move which takes away the defender of the g6 square, and attacks the
black rook on h8 at the same time. Black cannot defend the rook on h8, and prevent mate with
Qg6# at the same time.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. -Henry Ford
T his game was sent to me by Bob

Rountree, from a tournament that was
played in Pueblo, Colorado, called the
"Tin Lizzie Special".

move.
Answer below.
I didn't know what Tin Lizzie meant, but it was

a colloquialism for the Ford Model T automobile.
I am assuming the tournament was called this,
because the organizer is named "Liz", and they
like to use unusual names for the their
tournaments :-)
Bob Rountree wrote me a really nice email that said:
Hi Tim,
First I want to thank you for the Tactics Time emails. We go over them at our chess club in
Westcliffe (Colorado). I also enjoyed the game that Anthea had with Scott. You included a link to it in
a recent email.
I have attached my game with Jack Woehr from the Tin Lizzie Special. I ran a full analysis on it with
Fritz 12. All the annotations are from Fritz. I think this game is interesting for several reasons. First, it
is my first victory over an Expert.
Second, it is one of my least favorite versions of the King's Gambit accepted with 4 h4. This line
really exposes the Black King before he can castle, but it also exposes the White King. See Fritz's
comment after move 12. (I started playing 5 ... Qe7 against this line after a loss to Paul Grimm a few
years ago.) (Fritz's comment was"That doesn't look like a safe castle").
Finally, Fritz gave me an exclamation on move 29. I thought this was an interesting tactic, but I do
not know what to call it. The Black Knight effectively removes the White Rook defending the White
Knight by blocking with check. It also produces a discovered attack on the hanging White Knight. If
the White Bishop does not capture the Black Knight, the White Knight is toast. But when the White
Bishop captures the Black Knight, the Black Rook then captures the hanging White Knight and the
White Bishop is in trouble. Notice that there is no good square for the White Bishop because of 31 ...
Rf8+. Anyway, Jack was in time trouble and missed this. He resigned after move 31.
Best regards,
Bob Rountree
Tim's Response:
Thanks Bob!!
That is a great tactic!! Congrats on the win against an expert!
I am not sure exactly what to call it either - it is sort of an interference tactic, and a double
attack. Very nice!
I like the line that you played against the Kings Gambit. I play that as white myself, so I am
making a mental note to myself not to play that against you lol :-)
On the black side I sometimes play the "Bobby Fischer refutation" line with an early d6. I like
the way you played that a lot.
That is really cool that you guys go over the newsletters at your chess club :-) I am flattered!
Cheers!
Tim
[Event "Tin Lizzie Special"]

[Site "Pueblo, CO"]
[Date "2011.09.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Woehr, Jack"]
[Black "Rountree, Robert"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C39"]
[WhiteElo "2016"]
[BlackElo "1714"]
[PlyCount "62"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Qe7 6. d4 d6 7. Nd3 Qxe4+ 8. Qe2

Qxe2+ 9. Bxe2 h5 10. Bxf4 Nc6 11. c3 Bh6 12. O-O Bd7 13. Nd2 Bxf4 14. Rxf4 f5
15. Nc4 O-O-O 16. d5 Nce7 17. Nb4 Nf6 18. Bd3 Nexd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Rxf5 Bxf5
21. Bxf5+ Kb8 22. Be4 Nf6 23. Bf5 c6 24. Re1 Kc7 25. Rf1 Rdf8 26. Rd1 d5 27.
Ne5 Rhg8 28. Re1 Re8 29. Kf2 Ne4+ 30. Bxe4 Rxe5 31. Bh7 Rf8+ 0-1

Answer:
29...Ne4+! is an interesting interference tactic, which blocks the defense of the white knight on
e5, and helps black trade down into a winning endgame.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
(Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)
T his position features a game, with a

very rare and unusual theme.

move.
Answer below.
As I have mentioned before, I am a big fan of

greenpawn34 who writes a blog on the website,
Red Hot Pawn (http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blog.php?blogid=4).
A thread came up on the forums there where

greenpawn34 was looking for games that began
and ended in checkmate with the same move.
For example, the game starts with 1. Nf3 and
ends with the move Nf3#.
Games like this are very rare because:
most games are not actually played out until mate

the person doing the mate has to chase the king all the way to his side of the board
(probably missing shorter mates along the way)
if it is a mate by a pawn, that pawn would have to have been doubled at some point, since
the same pawn, cannot make that move again (can't play e4 twice with the same pawn, has
to be either the d pawn or f pawn, doubled to the e file).
Mating with a knight is more common than with a pawn, but few games start with a knight
move on move 1.
Along the same lines, most games start with a pawn push, and checkmates with the pawn
are rare.
Greenpawn34 was able to find 2 games that were played on the site that began and ended with
the same move. One with with white playing 1. c4 and mating with 30. c4# and the other was
the position above.
He called these "Hammersmith" games, after a subway line in England, which begins and ends
in the same place, making a circle. You can read the full blog post here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=75, which I highly recommend.

[Date "2007.12.28"]
[White "Open2Knight"]
[Black "purk"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1359"]
[BlackElo "1606"]
[PlyCount "60"]
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. a3 a5 4. d4 c6 5. Bf4 d6 6. Nf3 h6 7. h4 a4 8. Nxa4 Ne4

9. Be3 d5 10. Bf4 dxc4 11. e3 Qa5+ 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. Qd2 Ne4 14. b4 Bxb4 15.
Qxb4 Qxb4+ 16. axb4 Rxa1+ 17. Ke2 Ra2+ 18. Nd2 Rxd2+ 19. Kf3 f5 20. Be2 Na6 21.
Bd6 g5 22. g4 Nxd6 23. b5 fxg4+ 24. Kxg4 e5+ 25. Kh5 Nxb5 26. Bxc4 Rxf2 27. Kg6
Nd6 28. Bb3 Bf5+ 29. Kh5 Ne4 30. Rg1 Nf6# 0-1
Answer:
Black started the game with 1. Nf6 and ended it with 30. Nf6# making it a Hammersmith
game!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

One has to be extraordinarily handsome! - Yasser Seirawan (on what it takes to rise to
the top in chess)
T his game features an interesting tactic

sent to me by one of my newsletter
readers.

move.
Answer below.
I received a nice email from Eric King of Ohio.

Eric writes (slightly edited to take out the section
where he reveals the tactic):
Tim,
Here is a game I played last Tuesday (9-20-11)

for the Parma Chess Club Championship in Parma,
Ohio. I played as white against a player who is rated approximately 200 points higher than me.
Unfortunately I played the ending poorly and ended up with a draw.
Thanks
Eric King
Tim's response:
Thanks Eric for the game!
Besides the interesting tactic above, this ending is a really good one to know. In the end Eric is
up a piece and a pawn, against a bare king, but it is still a textbook draw! He has a bishop, and a
pawn on the h file, but it is the wrong colored bishop! This is a great saving resource to know.
The last name King is a great chess name as well! It is funny, because my dad wanted to name
me "King", but my mom wouldn't let him. Instead I was named after a dachshund dog that my
mom had while growing up named "Timmy" lol :-)
[Event "Parma Chess Club"]

[Date "2011.09.20"]
[White "King, Eric"]
[Black "Niemira, Justin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B70"]
[WhiteElo "1640"]
[BlackElo "1780"]
[PlyCount "107"]
1. e4 d6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Be2 c5 6. Be3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 O-O 8.

O-O Nbd7 9. f4 Nc5 10. Bf3 Ne6 11. Kh1 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Nd7 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Re1
Nc5 15. b4 Na6 16. a3 Nc7 17. Qe2 Ne6 18. Qe3 a5 19. Nd5 Bd7 20. f5 Nc7 21.
Qc3+ Kg8 22. Qxc7 Qxc7 23. Nxc7 Rac8 24. Nd5 axb4 25. Nxb4 Ba4 26. Rac1 Rc3 27.
Nd5 Rxa3 28. Nxe7+ Kh8 29. Nd5 Rc8 30. Ra1 Rxa1 31. Rxa1 b5 32. Nb6 Rxc2 33.
Nxa4 bxa4 34. Kg1 Rc4 35. fxg6 hxg6 36. Kf2 f5 37. exf5 gxf5 38. Bd1 Kg7 39.
Bxa4 Kf6 40. Bb3 Rd4 41. Rd1 Rxd1 42. Bxd1 Ke5 43. Kf3 d5 44. g4 fxg4+ 45. Kxg4
Kf6 46. h4 Kg7 47. Kf4 Kh6 48. h5 d4 49. Ke4 d3 50. Kxd3 Kh7 51. Ke4 Kh6 52.
Kf5 Kh7 53. Kf6 Kh6 54. Kf7 1/2-1/2
Answer:
20. f5! pushes the knight to the square c7 (all other moves lose the knight. 20...gxf5 just
delays the knight having to move after 21. exf5) followed by 21. Qc3+ double attacking the king,
and the same knight wins a piece.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Death is the only adventure you have left! - Captain James Hook (in the movie Hook
1991)
T his newsletter features a tactic known

as the Hook Mate in a "Clan
Challenge" game that was played on
Red Hot Pawn.

move.
Answer below.
This is another game, and tactical theme that

was featured on one of greenpawn34's blogs,
entitled, "My Most Treasured Chess Possession +
Hook Mates." (http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=74)
Greenpawn34's most treasured chess position

by the way, is a Bobby Fischer trading card, which is pretty cool!
In the blog, he shares several good examples of the Hook Mate, which is a useful mating pattern
to know. I recommend that you go over these patterns, and really drill the hook mate idea into
your head, so that you won't miss it if it comes up in a real game.
Dan Heisman, who writes the Novice Nook column on chesscafe.com, thinks that there are
about 2,000 basic tactics patterns.
He recommends that:
* All of the problems should be easy enough to eventually be solved on recognition, within
reason. They should also be basic enough to either be single motif, or very easy double motif.
They should be building blocks for more difficult problems.
* Most of the problems should be to win material not checkmate. In chess, most games are
won by attrition, not checkmates with equal material (what percentage of the games has the
reader won with checkmate from a position of even material?). So a problem set that is 75% or
more material wins ("X to play and win") and less than 25% checkmates seems about right.
* Most of the problems should be from normal looking positions that may occur frequently in
games. No crazy positions; instead lots of problems featuring trapped pieces, removal of the
guards, double attacks - normal stuff - not too many queen sacrifices, etc.
I agree with Dan's ideas and guidelines completely. My Tactics Time Database that I sell,
provides a set of original problems that would work perfectly with these ideas.

[Date "2003.07.16"]
[White "RegisMan"]
[Black "PigBenis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1563"]
[BlackElo "1378"]
[PlyCount "64"]
1. c4 d6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Nbd7 4. Bg2 e5 5. d3 Be7 6. Bd2 h6 7. b4 c6 8. Qb3 a5

9. b5 Nc5 10. Qc2 Bd7 11. a4 O-O 12. e3 Ng4 13. Nge2 f5 14. d4 Ne4 15. Nxe4
fxe4 16. O-O d5 17. bxc6 bxc6 18. Rab1 exd4 19. Nxd4 Ne5 20. cxd5 cxd5 21. Rfd1
Rc8 22. Qa2 Bg4 23. Rdc1 Rxc1+ 24. Rxc1 Nd3 25. Bxe4 Nxf2 26. Bxd5+ Kh8 27. Nc6
Nh3+ 28. Kh1 Qd6 29. Bxa5 Qf6 30. Bc3 Qf1+ 31. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 32. Kg2 Rg1# 0-1
Answer:
PigBenis (lol) delivers a nifty queen sacrifice followed by a Hook Mate with: 30. Bc3 Qf1+ 31.
Rxf1 Rxf1+ 32. Kg2 Rg1#
The knight supporting the rook, and also covering up the escape square of f2 is what makes it a
"hook mate".
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

When you come to a fork in the road, take it - Yogi Berra
T oday we are going to go back to basics,

and talk about forks in chess.

move.
Answer below.
From the Wikipedia page on Fork (Chess):
In chess, a fork is a tactic that uses a single

piece to attack multiple pieces at the same
time. The attacker usually hopes to gain
material by capturing one of the opponent's
pieces. The defender often finds himself in a
difficult position in which he cannot counter all
threats. The attacking piece is known as the
forking piece. Conversely, the pieces that the forking piece is attacking are said to be forked.
A piece that is defended can still be forked. In this situation, material gain is still possible, if the
forking piece has lower value.
Forking piece
The type of fork is commonly named after the type of forking piece. For example, in a knight
fork, a knight moves to attack two or more opponent's pieces in the same move. Any type of
piece may perform a fork, including a king, and any type of piece can be forked.
Knights are often used for forks; they jump to a position where they simultaneously attack
two pieces and cannot be counterattacked.
A queen move also often attacks two pieces at the same time, but this typically gains material
only if both pieces are undefended, or if one is undefended and the other is the opposing
king. Since the queen is usually more valuable than the pieces it is attacking, it usually only gains
material forking undefended pieces. The possibility of a queen fork is a very real threat when the
queen is out in the open, as is often the case in an endgame. A fork by a protected queen of the
opposing queen and king (or an undefended piece) can be useful if the forking player wants to
force an exchange of queens.
Pawns can also fork enemy pieces. By moving a pawn forward, it may attack two pieces: one
diagonally to the left and the other diagonally to the right. In the diagram to the upper-right, the
black pawn is forking the two white rooks.
The term royal fork is sometimes used to describe the situation where the king and queen are
forked - thus being the highest material-gaining fork possible. Another term, the grand fork, is
sometimes used to describe the situation where the king, queen, and one (or both) rooks are
forked.
Forks are often used as part of a combination which may involve other types of chess tactics
as well.

[Date "2008.06.11"]
[White "Paulisfree2be"]
[Black "jotapina"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1404"]
[BlackElo "1805"]
[PlyCount "31"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Bc5 4. d4 Bd6 5. Be3 Nf6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Bb5 Ng4 8.
Qe2 Nxe3 9. Qxe3 exd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. cxd4 a6 12. Bd3 b5 13. e5 Bb4 14. Qe4
f6 15. Qxa8 fxe5 16. Qd5+ 1-0
Answer:
13. e5 forces the black bishop to move, and gives white the time needed to play 14. Qe4 which
forks the hanging rook on a8, and threatens checkmate on h7 with Qxh7#. Black cannot respond
to both threats at the same time, and will lose the rook on a8.
As mentioned above, queen forks work well when one of the pieces is the enemy king, and the
other piece is undefended, since the queen is so valuable.
This is a great tactical pattern to know, and one that greenpawn34 calls the Queen Fork Trick.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck - Tony
Robbins
T his game that was played on

RedHotPawn, and featured in
greenpawn34's blog, Mating Patterns
and....More Mating Patterns.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk about an idea that I

learned from self help guru, and motivational
speaker, Anthony "Tony" Robbins, that I think
can be helpful with your study of chess tactics.
First of all, I am a huge fan of Tony Robbins.

He helped me tremendously in my own life. I
would highly recommend his books, tapes, and seminars if you like "self help" type stuff. I
attended his "Unleash the Power Within" seminar a few years ago when he came to Colorado
Springs, and it had a huge impact on my life. Two weeks later I played in the Reno Far West
Open, and won first place in the B section, which I give almost 100% credit to the impact that
Tony Robbins had on me.
The idea that I want to talk about is called "Kaizen". It is a Japanese term that doesn't have an
exact English equivalent, but can basically be translated as "Constant Improvement". Tony
Robbins talks about the idea of "Constant and Never Ending Improvement" a lot.
Tony talks about the idea of getting 1% better at something each day. For example, you could
try to get 1% better at your chess tactics today. Then tomorrow, same idea, try to get just 1%
better. If you can't get 1% better, strive to get .05% better.
The key is that each day you are making small improvements in the area that you want to focus
on. If you do this, over time the results will start to multiple and compound, just like interest in a
bank account. Getting 1% better at something is a reasonable goal, and will help you avoid
getting frustrated if you aren't seeing instant results.
Lots of people want "quick fixes" ("L0se 10 pounds in 10 days"), but the reality is that this is
really difficult, if not impossible, and the real key is making improvements each day in small
chunks, rather than huge leaps forward with huge chunks.
This is an idea that you can apply to any area of your life, but I think it is very applicable to
chess tactics, since you can work on just a few problems each day to try and get 1% better than
you were the day before.
That is part of the reason that I designed this newsletter the way I did - it comes out every
other day to help remind you to keep up with your chess studies, and give you a small bite sized
chunk that you can work on to help you get your 1% tactics improvement for the day. If you can
internalize each of the patterns that I present in the newsletter (and external resources that I link
to), you will get your 1% each day, and after time should see your rating going up!
[Event "Challenge"]
[Date "2005.10.26"]
[White "Banongrfg"]
[Black "Artos"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1667"]
[BlackElo "2032"]
[PlyCount "60"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O a6 6. a3 d6 7. c3 Qe7 8. Bg5 h6

9. Bh4 Bb6 10. Re1 g5 11. Bg3 h5 12. h4 gxh4 13. Bxh4 Rg8 14. d4 Bg4 15. d5 Nb8
16. Nbd2 Nbd7 17. a4 Qf8 18. a5 Ba7 19. Qa4 Qh6 20. Kh2 Bxf3 21. Nxf3 Rg4 22.
Bf1 Rxh4+ 23. Nxh4 Ng4+ 24. Kh1 Qf4 25. Nf3 Nxf2+ 26. Kg1 Nxe4+ 27. Kh1 Ng3+
28. Kh2 Nxf1+ 29. Kh1 Qh2+ 30. Nxh2 Ng3# 0-1
Answer:
Black has a beautiful smothered mate in 4 with:
27...Ng3+ 28.Kh2 Nxf1+ 29.Kh1 (29.Kh3 Qg3#) Qh2+ 30.Nxh2 Ng3#
This one is tricky, because it appears there are multiple ways to mate, but this is the only one.
27. Nf2+ is a very tempting move to make, but doesn't lead to a forced checkmate the way that
Ng3+ does.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning
from failure. - Colin Powell
T his position comes from a game that I

saw posted here, (http://redd.it/kyheh)
on reddit.com, that received a lot of
upvotes.

move.
Answer below.
Here is an except from a post by IM David

Pruess on a chess forum where he is discussing
some of his ideas on the study of chess tactics.
This was taken from NM Dan Heisman's Adult
Lesson chess page (slightly edited for
readability). I think that this is outstanding
advice.
David writes:
When I give players in the 1000-1800 range advice on improving their tactics, viz: 10-15 min
per day of solving simple tactical puzzles, the goal is to increase your store of basic patterns,
not to work on your visualization, deep calculation.
Remember that is your goal. You are not trying to prove that you can solve every problem.
If you don't solve a problem within 1 minute, stop. It's probably a new pattern or you would
have gotten it by now. (with private students I'll take the time to demonstrate this to them: show
them through examples that they can find a 3-4 move problem in 10 seconds if they know the
pattern, and that they can fail to find a mate in 2 for 10 minutes if they don't know the pattern).
Look at the answer, and now go over the answer 3 more times in your head to help the
pattern take hold.
Your brain can probably take on 2-3 new patterns between sleeping, so you should stop once
you've been stumped by 2 or 3 problems (usually will take about 10-15 min).
There is no point in doing more than that in one day, and any day you miss, you can't make up
for. A semi-random estimate on my part is that you need about 2000 of these patterns to
become a master. So you need to do this for 2 years or more.
[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.10.02"]
[White "CuzinVinny"]
[Black "pbernh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E29"]
[WhiteElo "1515"]
[BlackElo "1464"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[TimeControl "5"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 O-O 6. Nf3 c5 7. e3 Nc6 8.

Bd3 b6 9. O-O h6 10. e4 d6 11. Re1 cxd4 12. cxd4 Bb7 13. Bb2 Qc7 14. d5 Nd8 15.
Bxf6 gxf6 16. Qd2 Kg7 17. Qf4 e5 18. Qg3+ Kh7 19. Nh4 Rg8 20. Qe3 Qd7 21. Nf5
Rg6 22. h4 Ne6 23. h5 Rg5 24. g3 Rag8 25. Be2 Nf4 26. Kf1 Nxh5 27. Bxh5 Rxh5
28. Ke2 Ba6 29. Kd3 b5 30. cxb5 Bxb5+ 31. Kd2 Qb7 32. Rh1 Ba4 33. Qxh6+ Rxh6
34. Rxh6# 1-0
Answer:
CuzinVinny tells black he can "fuhgeddaboudit!" with 33. Qxh6+ Rxh6 34. Rxh6#
Note that 33. Rxh5 is refuted by a beautiful mate Qb2+ 34. Ke1 Qxa1+ 35. Kd2 Qd1+ 36. Kc3
Qb3+ 37. Kd2 Qc2+ 38. Ke1 Qd1#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

Why buy a book when you can join a library? - Ricky Gervais
T his game was included in Fred Spell's

September 2011 issue of his always
excellent, Colorado Springs Chess Night
newsletter, which is located at
http://eagleandking.webs.com.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk about what I think is an

under appreciated chess resource - your local
library!
Full disclosure: My mother has a degree in

Library Science from Clarion University, and has
worked as a librarian her entire life, both in the public schools, and at Northland Public Library in
Pittsburgh, PA, in the Children's Department :-)
So I am somewhat biased!
But I think that you can probably find a lot of great chess books in your local library. Doing a
search for "chess" in the Pikes Peak Library returned 337 titles. This included books, e-books,
DVDs, and CD-ROMs. I think that is quite a lot, and Colorado Springs only has about 500,000
people who live here.
Here are some reasons I love getting chess materials from the library:
It can save you a lot of money, since the library does not cost anything.
Since you have a limited amount of time to borrow the resource, it forces you to read it
during the time the library is loaning it to you, taking advantage of Parkinson's Law, which
basically means "Work contracts or expands given the time to complete it".
You don't have to worry about storing the book after you get it (which can get out of hand
for many chess players).
You can find many chess resources that you might never had heard of, or know about
otherwise. Since there is no cost or risk to check them out, you don't have to worry about
"buyers remorse", if it turns out to not be useful.
I enjoy supporting my local library in general :-)
One tip: Make sure you reserve the book or resource you want to check out. Don't just show
up expecting a large selection of books like you would have found at a Borders in the 1990s.
Reserving the book can be done over the internet or at the library. The librarians will be glad to
help you if you have never done it before. My local library even has an iPhone app that you can
use to reserve books!
The nice thing about reserving the book, is that they will tell you when it is ready, and you can
pick it up within a week. One of the branches here in Colorado Springs, even has a drive thru
window at the Library! Although they don't ask if you "want fries with that" :-)
[Event "September 2011 East Coast Deli"]

[Date "2011.09.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Spell, Fred"]
[Black "McGough, Mark"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "1588"]
[BlackElo "1754"]
[PlyCount "42"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Nf6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 Bd7

8. c3 Ne7 9. Ba4 Bxa4 10. Qxa4+ Qd7 11. Qb3 g5 12. Bg3 Ng6 13. h3 Nf4
14. Bxf4 gxf4 15. Nh4 O-O-O 16. Nf5 d5 17. Re1 dxe4 18. dxe4 Nxe4
19. Rxe4 Qxf5 20. Qc2 Rhg8 21. Nd2 Qxh3 0-1
Answer:
18...Nxe4 is a textbook "Remove the Defender" tactic 19. Rxe4 Qxf5 wins a pawn for black.
Despite losing this game, Fred Spell (white in this game) crossed over the 1600 Elo mark for the
first time in his career after this tournament was rated. Nice work Fred!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
"The past has no power over the present moment." ― Eckhart Tolle
T oday's tactics problem contains a motif

that I always have a hard time seeing,
when I am solving problems.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk about the subject of

dealing with your losses, and letting go of them
after the game is over.
I recently wrote about this in a blog post called

"Forgetting and recovering from your losses in a
chess tournament". In that post I wrote:
One problem that I have seen chess players have is recovering from a loss in a tournament.
They lose a close game, or a game that they should have won, and it affects their future games.
I have seen both children and adults crying, storming out of a room, pouting, withdrawing,
yelling, and obsessing about their losses. I know people who have quit chess because they could
not handle losing.
I love this parable from Eckhart Tolle, who wrote "The Power of Now". I think that it contains a
very powerful idea that you can use to let go of losses both on and off the board.
In the post I embedded a YouTube video of Tolle telling this story to Oprah Winfrey
(http://youtu.be/QN5ljFuQ58k), which I highly recommend. Here is a text version of the story as
it appears in "A New Earth":
==
CARRYING THE PAST
The inability or rather unwillingness of the human mind to let go of the past is beautifully
illustrated in the story of two Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, who were walking along a country
road that had become extremely muddy after heavy rains.
Near a village, they came upon a young woman who was trying to cross the road, but the mud
was so deep it would have ruined the silk kimono she was wearing.
Tanzan at once picked her up and carried her to the other side.
The monks walked on in silence.
Five hours later, as they were approaching the lodging temple, Ekido couldn't restrain himself
any longer.
"Why did you carry that girl across the road?" he asked. "We monks are not
supposed to do things like that."
"I put the girl down hours ago," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?"
==
The parable can apply to your chess losses as well. Once the game is over, it is over, and there
is no need for you to mentally carry this weight and burden around.
[Event "September 2011 DCC Tuesdays"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2011.09.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Hartsook, David"]
[Black "Ramirez, Robert"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2057"]
[BlackElo "2130"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2010.??.??"]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Bb5+ Nbd7 4. Nc3 a6 5. Be2 Nb6 6. Bf3 Nbxd5 7. Nxd5 Nxd5
8. Ne2 Bf5 9. a3 Rb8 10. Ng3 Bg6 11. d4 e6 12. O-O Be7 13. c4 Nf6 14. Qa4+ Nd7
15. Bf4 Bd6 16. Bxd6 cxd6 17. Rac1 O-O 18. Ne4 Nb6 19. Qa5 Nxc4 20. Qxd8 Rfxd8
21. Rxc4 d5 22. Nf6+ gxf6 23. Rc7 b5 24. Rc5 b4 25. Rfc1 bxa3 26. bxa3 Rb3 27. Ra5 Bd3
28. Bd1 Rb2 29. Rac5 Bc4 30. h4 Rd2 31. Bh5 Rd7 32. Rc3 Bd3 33. Bf3 Bg6 34. h5 Bf5
35. h6 Kf8 36. Rc8+ Ke7 37. Ra8 Rxd4 38. Rxa6 Rb7 0-1
You can play through this game on the Denver Chess Club Games Page:
http://www.denverchess.com/games/viewpgn.php?id=389.
Answer:
19... Nxc4! wins a pawn that appears to be protected. After 20. Qxd8 Rfxd8 21. Rxc4 d5! is
a nice pawn fork that gets back the sacrificed piece. I personally have a hard time seeing pawn
fork tactics, and really liked this combination that Robert unleashed!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The 80/20 principle - that 80 percent of result flow from just 20 per cent of the causes -
is the one true principle of highly effective people. - Richard Koch
T his game was played at the Denver

Chess Club Tuesday night September
2011 G/90 tournament.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk about the "Pareto

principle", also known as the "80/20 rule".
This is an important idea that I have read

about in books such as the "Four Hour Work
Week" by Tim Ferriss, and "The 80/20 Principle:
The Secret to Achieving More with Less", by
Richard Koch. I recommend both books.
From Koch's Book:
What is the 80/20 Principle?
The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority
of the results, outputs, or rewards.
Taken literally, this means that, for example, 80 percent of what you achieve in your job comes
from 20 percent of the time spent.
Thus for all practical purposes, four-fifths of the effort - a dominant part of it - is largely
irrelevant.
This is contrary to what people normally expect.
So the 80/20 Principle states that there is an inbuilt imbalance between causes and
results/inputs and output, and effort and reward.
==
I am of the opinion that chess players can apply this rule to their chess study.
For example, if you are currently studying openings, middlegames, endgames, strategy and
tactics in equal proportions, by the 80-20 principle, 80% of this is largely irrelevant to how well
you are doing when actually playing chess.
Or put another way, only 20% of these area of study is actually having an effect on your
outcomes in games.
I am of the opinion that chess tactics are the 20% that have the most impact on your game. By
taking this 20%, and focusing on it, you can achieve faster results on your path to chess
improvement.
I am giving a very brief, vast over simplification of the "80-20 principle", which has entire books
written about it, but hopefully this can be food for thought, and possibly plant the seeds for
further exploration on your part.

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2011.09.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Seidler, Kevin"]
[Black "De La Victoria, Mario"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2086"]
[BlackElo "1770"]
[PlyCount "63"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. c5 a6 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bd3 Nc6

9. a3 O-O 10. O-O Rb8 11. Bf4 Ra8 12. b4 Bd7 13. h3 Na7 14. Qe2 Qe8
15. a4 Nc6 16. Rab1 Nh5 17. Bh2 f5 18. b5 axb5 19. axb5 Nd8 20. Rfe1 Nf6
21. Bxf5 exf5 22. Qxe7 Qg6 23. Ne5 Qe8 24. Nxd7 Qxd7 25. Qxd7 Nxd7
26. Nxd5 Ra2 27. Bd6 g6 28. Bxf8 Kxf8 29. Ra1 Rxa1 30. Rxa1 Ne6 31. c6 bxc6
32. bxc6 1-0
You can play through the moves of this game here: http://www.denverchess.com/games
/viewpgn.php?id=375
Answer:
21. Bxf5 wins a pawn. After 21...exf5 white wins back the bishop with 22. Qxe7 using his
battery of queen and rook on the e file.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Don't judge a cover by its book. - Woody Paige, Denver Post Columnist
T his game was played by Phillip Brown,

and long time DCC member Randy
Schine at the Denver Chess Club.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk about one of my favorite

chess tactics books: GM Lev Albert's "Chess
Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important
Positions and Ideas (Comprehensive Chess
Course Series)".
You might know this book by its cover that

features Lev Alburt with a blonde beauty in a
LBD (Little Black Dress) standing behind him with her arms draped around him as he looks at the
chess board. This cover is somewhat silly, but maybe contains the not-so-subtle marketing idea
that beer sellers have been using for years - buy our product and get the girl!
One reviewer on Amazon.com wrote: "Don't be put off by the dreadful Madame Tussauds style
cover, it's a great book".
Another reviewer wrote (directed at Lev Alburt): "this cover is an insult to all chessplayers, men
and women who take the game seriously, respect your work, and hate to see it denigrated by
some misogynist book cover designer."
It is funny also, because they recently came out with a sequel, Chess Training Pocket Book II:
How to Spot Tactics and How Far Ahead to Calculate (No. 2), which features the same picture of
Lev Alburt, but the girl has been photoshopped out!
Here are some of the things I like about this book:
The physical size of the book is great, and very easy to carry around (which is why it is
called a "Pocket Book").
The left side of the page contains 4 chess tactics problems, with a nice easy to view board,
and the right side of the page contains the answers. This avoids having to flip to the back
of the book to find the answers.
The answers contain some text and explanations (similar to my newsletters) and tell who
the players are, and if the winning move was actually played. To me this makes it more
interesting. Some tactics books are so terse, they will only give you the first move of the
answer!
The problems are common themes that occur over and over in actual games (very
important!).
Not all the problems have a solution. Some are trick questions, where the apparent solution
fails because of a hidden resource. This makes you look at each position more critically.
This is something that I should do more of myself to keep you guys on your toes :-)
And for the record, I actually like the cover of the book. The reviews on Amazon gave me quite
a few good belly laughs! I might try to replicate a similar photo for my blog :-)

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2011.09.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Brown, Phillip"]
[Black "Schine, Randolph"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E65"]
[WhiteElo "1607"]
[BlackElo "1699"]
[PlyCount "51"]
1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. d4 Nbd7 7. O-O c5 8. e3 a6

9. Rb1 Rb8 10. b4 cxd4 11. exd4 b5 12. c5 dxc5 13. dxc5 Bb7 14. Bf4 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 e5
16. Bg5 h6 17. Be3 Re8 18. Rfd1 Qe7 19. Qc6 Qe6 20. Qd6 Bf8 21. Qxe6 Rxe6
22. c6 Nb6 23. Bxb6 Rxb6 24. c7 Rec6 25. Bxc6 Rxc6 26. Nxb5 1-0
You can play through this game on the Denver Chess Club site here:
Answer:
26. Nxb5 clears the way for the white rooks to get behind the passed pawn on c7. Fritz 12
called this move "a forceful and devastating end". In the game, black resigned, because of 26.
...axb5 27. Rdc1 Rxc7 (only way to stop the pawn from queening) 28. Rxc7
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
P.S. If there is a favorite chess tactics book that you would like to review, recommend, or have
me review, let me know!
Chess knowledge is not the same as chess ability. -Michael de la Maza
T his is another game played at the

Denver Chess Club. White in this game
is long time DCC member Paul
Kullback, who runs "Kullback Discount
Stockbrokers".

move.
Answer below.
Today I would like to introduce you to one of

my chess heroes, Michael de la Maza.
From Wikipedia:
Michael De La Maza began playing chess

competitively in July 1999, and by July 2001 had improved such that his provisional chess rating
had risen from 1164, beginner level, to 2041, expert level.
In his last tournament he won the Under 2000 section of the World Open and has not played a
rated game since.
After the tournament, he wrote a two part article entitled 400 points in 400 days for the Chess
Cafe web site, which became the basis for the book Rapid Chess Improvement (Everyman Chess)
(ISBN 1-85744-269-5).
The article and book are about his methods of improvement, which involves working through a
large set of chess puzzles multiple times until they can be solved very quickly.
This book and its lessons have generated much interest among improving chess players.
There are many critics of De La Maza's training methods and of his harsh criticism of chess
teachers that emphasize positional concepts. For instance, his method involves focusing
exclusively on tactics, with little attention paid to strategy, openings, or the endgame. Some (e.g.,
Jeremy Silman, see below) have argued that this leads to an overly narrow view of chess.
External Links:
USCF Member Details
Review by International Master Jeremy Silman critical of de la Maza's book
400 Points in 400 Days Part 1
400 Points in 400 Days Part 2
In a future newsletter I will talk more about what I like about de la Maza's teachings. I
encourage you to check out his "400 points" articles - they were a huge influence on me!

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2011.09.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Kullback, Paul"]
[Black "Godoy, Ahriel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1477"]
[BlackElo "1404"]
[PlyCount "34"]
1. Nf3 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. e3 e5 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. d3 Be7 6. h3 a6 7. e4 O-O 8. Nd5 b5

9. Nxf6+ Bxf6 10. Bd5 Ra7 11. Be3 Nd7 12. Qd2 Nb6 13. b4 Nxd5 14. exd5 e4
15. dxe4 Bxa1 16. c3 cxb4 17. Qd4 Bxc3+ 0-1
You can play through this game on the Denver Chess Club website here:
Answer:
13...Nxd5 14.exd5 e4 15.dxe4 Bxa1 is a nice discovered double attack with the pawn push
to e4 hitting the knight on f3 and the bishop attacking the rook on a1. White cannot stop both
threats at the same time, and will lose a piece.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
At lower levels of play...tactical awareness (or a lack of it) usually decides the outcome
of the game... - GM Jonathon Levitt
T his game features another unusual

motif that was discovered by
greenpawn34 on his chess blog post
"Five Books and a Film Review + Chess
Spotting".

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk some more about the

teachings of Michael de la Maza.
In part 1 of his article "400 points in 400 days"

he shares several insights that he learned on his
path to chess (and ratings) improvement.
Insight #1: Chess knowledge is not the same as chess ability.
I think that this is a profound insight.
There is A LOT of chess knowledge out there waiting to be learned, and people wanting to sell it
to you. Unfortunately, a lot of this knowledge, even if you acquire it, may not help you increase
your rating, or help you win more games.
What I like about de la Maza was that he had a clear outcome in mind with his chess game. He
wanted to have a higher rating. Period.
He basically followed Tony Robbin's Ultimate Success Formula, which is:

1. Know your outcome. What are your goals.
2. Know the reasons why it is a MUST. If it is a must an absolute must there can't be any
other alternative
3. Take MASSIVE ACTION. If you want absolute success immerse yourself!
4. Know what you are getting. Constantly keep track of your results.
5. If it's not working, CHANGE YOUR APPROACH! If it's still not working... Change your
approach!
De la Maza's outcome was to get a higher rating.
He took massive action, hiring chess coaches, researching chess books, talking to other chess
players, following the advice of others.
He tracked his results (wins and losses, and rating), and noticed it was NOT WORKING. So he
CHANGED his approach.
Eventually he found something that was working - which was to study nothing except chess
tactics. He continued to take MASSIVE ACTION, spending hours per day on his study of chess
tactics, drilling the patterns into his brain.
This plan took him all the way to the expert level.

[Date "2007.12.29"]
[White "Kardia"]
[Black "AmidaTong"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C46"]
[WhiteElo "1382"]
[BlackElo "1331"]
[PlyCount "93"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Bc5 4. Qe2 d6 5. d3 Bg4 6. Be3 Bxe3 7. Qxe3 Nb4
8. Qd2 Bxf3 9. gxf3 Qf6 10. Be2 Ne7 11. a3 Nbc6 12. h4 Ng6 13. Nd5 Qd8
14. f4 Nxh4 15. O-O-O Nd4 16. Rxh4 Qxh4 17. Nxc7+ Kd7 18. Nd5 Rac8
19. Kb1 Rxc2 20. Qa5 Ra8 21. Nb6+ axb6 22. Qxa8 Rc7 23. Qa4+ b5
24. Qb4 Nxe2 25. Qxb5+ Ke6 26. Qe8+ Re7 27. Qc8+ Rd7 28. Qe8+ Qe7
29. f5+ Kf6 30. Qa8 Rc7 31. Rd2 Rc1+ 32. Ka2 Nd4 33. f3 g6 34. Qh8+ Kg5
35. Qxh7 Nxf3 36. Rg2+ Kf4 37. Rxg6 Qh4 38. Qxf7 Qe1 39. Qg7 Ra1+
40. Kb3 Nd4+ 41. Ka4 Qd1+ 42. Ka5 Nc6+ 43. Kb6 Rc1 44. Qh6+ Kf3
45. Qh3+ Kf2 46. Rg2+ Ke1 47. Qh1# 1-0
Answer:
Black missed a mate in one with 41. ...b5# and ended up getting checkmated himself a few
moves later.
This game is unusual because at the end of the game the Black King is on the square where the
white King started the game (e1), and the Black Queen ended the game on the same square
where the White Queen started (d1).
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Tactics are king for anyone whose rating begins with a '1'. - Michael S. Kerry
T his position comes from the game GM

Boris Gulko vs NM Tyler Hughes, played
in the 2009 US Championship in St
Louis, Missouri.

move.
Answer below.
Some interesting facts about Tyler Hughes:
Tyler has been well known on the

Colorado Chess Scene since he was a
small child.
learned chess at 5 and became more
interested after reading his first chess
book and realizing study would improve his game.
2002 National Elementary Blitz Champion
2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Colorado High School Champion
represented the U.S. at the World Junior Chess Championship in Turkey.
Life Master Brian Wall gave him the nickname "The Incredible" Tyler Hughes.
currently attends the University of Texas at Dallas, where he plays on the chess team.
won a spot to the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship by winning the 2008 U.S. Junior
Championship tournament the year before. You can read about that in the USCF article
"Holt and Hughes Win in Lindsborg"
This article from the USCF website entitled "US Champs Round One: Upsets and Steller
Games by Top Two" has Tyler's game against Gulko featured.
Some interesting facts about Boris Gulko:
Became an International Master in 1975, and a Grandmaster in 1976

He won the USSR Chess Championship in 1977
immigrated to the United States in 1986
won the U.S. Chess Championship in 1994 and 1999.
He is the only chess player ever to have held both the American and Soviet championship
titles.
holds a positive score against Garry Kasparov, with three victories, four draws, and only
one defeat
[Event "2009 U.S. Championship"]

[Site "St Louis"]
[Date "2009.05.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Gulko, Boris"]
[Black "Hughes, Tyler"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2631"]
[BlackElo "2293"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Bg5 d6 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. d5 Bf5

9. f3 g5 10. Bf2 e6 11. h4 exd5 12. hxg5 hxg5 13. cxd5 Qa5 14. Bd3 Bxd3 15.
Qxd3 Nbd7 16. Nge2 Rfe8 17. Kf1 Ne5 18. Qf5 Nc4 19. Qxg5 Re5 20. Qf4 Nxb2 21.
Rb1 Nd3 22. Qc4 Nxf2 23. Kxf2 Rae8 24. e4 R5e7 25. Rh4 Nd7 26. Rxb7 Ne5 27.
Rxe7 Rxe7 28. Qb3 Qd8 29. Nd1 c4 30. Qe3 Rb7 31. Rh5 Nd3+ 32. Kg3 Rb1 33. Nf2
Be5+ 34. Rxe5 Nxe5 35. Nd4 Qf6 36. Nf5 Rb3 37. Qf4 Qg6+ 38. Ng4 Qxg4+ 39. Qxg4+
Nxg4 40. Kxg4 c3 0-1
Answer:
Tyler scored a huge first round upset against the famous Grandmaster with 38. ...Qxg4+!
After 39. Qxg4 (the f pawn is pinned by the rook on b3) Nxg4 40. Kxg4 c3, black's pawn
cannot be stopped without giving up the knight, leaving black up a whole rook.
Well done Tyler!!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

Strategy and tactics both are important, but tactics are more important. -Ward
Farnsworth
T his game was played between my good

friend Shannon Fox, and long time
Denver Chess Club manager, La Moyne
Splichal.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to share a chess tactics website

that I really love, and highly recommend, Ward
Farnsworth's Predator at the Chessboard, A Field
Guide to Chess Tactics.
Ward Farnworth is the Associate Dean for

Academic Affairs, Professor and Nancy Barton
Scholar for the Boston University School of Law.
His website is truly amazing. Here is a description taken from the site:
Spectacular chess moves produce the same sorts of satisfactions as the climactic moments of
other great games: the slam dunk, the thirty-foot putt, the home run. In chess these moves are
known as tactics. This web site teaches them in detail
It assumes you know only how the pieces move and builds step-by-step from there. Every idea
is illustrated with lots of examples, and every example is explained in plain language that
describes a train of thought leading from a problem to its solution.
Funny-looking notation is held to a minimum. You can treat each example as a puzzle and try to
solve it before reading the explanation, or just read the explanations as you go. The object
throughout is to provide a teaching tool that makes the secrets of chess easy for anyone to
understand. It's a chess book for people who think they don't like chess books.
There are five large sections, one for each of the great families of chess tactics: the fork; the
discovered attack; the pin and skewer; the removal of the guard; and mating patterns.
Within those sections are a total of twenty chapters; within the twenty chapters are nearly two
hundred topics. Each topic is illustrated with about a half-dozen positions--occasionally fewer, and
sometimes quite a few more.
This site aspires to be the most detailed and systematic treatment of basic chess tactics yet
published. It also is meant to be the most congenial to those who like things explained in English.
[Event "Denker Fund Raiser"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2008.09.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Fox, Shannon"]
[Black "Splichal, La Moyne"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B02"]
[WhiteElo "1670"]
[BlackElo "1625"]
[PlyCount "49"]
1. e4 Nf6 2. d3 h6 3. f4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 Bxf3 6. Bxf3 e5 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Be3 Qd7
9. Qd2 Be7 10. h3 exf4 11. Bxf4 g5 12. Be3 g4 13. hxg4 Nxg4 14. O-O-O Nxe3
15. Qxe3 Bg5 16. Qxg5 hxg5 17. Rxh8+ Ke7 18. Nd5+ Ke6 19. Bg4+ Ke5
20. Bxd7 Rxh8 21. Rf1 Kd4 22. Kd2 Rh2 23. Rf2 Ne5 24. c3+ Kc5 25. d4+ 1-0
Answer:
Black had just pinned the White Queen to the White King and probably wasn't counting on 16.
Qxg5, which takes advantage of the h pawn being pinned to the black rook on h8, and the fact
that black hasn't castled yet.
After 16. ...hxg5 17. Rxh8 Ke7 18. Rxa8 white has two rooks, and a bishop for his queen.
I have noticed that when either side castles queenside, pins like this come up often, and it is a
good tactical pattern to know. It just doesn't work in this particular case, because of the
semi-open h file, and uncastled black king.
Black is also busted after the moves Shannon played 18. Nd5+ Ke6 19. Bg4+ skewering the
black king and queen!
Shannon's checkmate at the end with his pawns is very pretty as well!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The most important idea in chess is the double threat. -Ward Farnsworth
T his is a position from a game I played

against Derek Fish in the 2008
Colorado Open.

move.
Answer below.
Some more words of wisdom from the highly

recommended Predator at the Chess Board
website:
Strategy and tactics both are important, but

tactics are more important.
If you're a whiz at finding clever moves that

take your opponent's pieces, you will be a terrifying opponent, have a good time playing chess,
and win lots of games regardless of whether you know a great deal about strategy.
If you're a whiz at strategy but not much good at tactics, you will have trouble winning or
having fun because your pieces will keep getting taken. You certainly want to know something of
strategy; you need ideas about what you can do with your pieces that will create eventual tactical
opportunities for them.
The point is just comparative: if you want satisfaction, you had best start by learning how to
play tactics―how to spot and execute sequences of moves that allow you to take your opponent's
pieces.
What was said about strategy can be said as well about openings.
You can spend enormous time mastering the details of an opening―say, the Italian Game or the
French Defense. The yield of those efforts, in victories and in fun, probably will be small.
You frequently will find that your opponent's play drags you away from the opening you studied;
and even if not, the payoff of a successful opening usually is a minor advantage in position.
By itself the advantage will not win you anything or bring you much pleasure.
What will bring you immense pleasure, whether or not you know much about openings, is taking
your opponent's pieces. And to do that you need to learn how to use tactics―the weaponry of the
chessboard.

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2008.08.31"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Fish, Derek"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A52"]
[WhiteElo "1635"]
[BlackElo "1706"]
[PlyCount "64"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. e4 Ngxe5 6. Nxe5 Nxe5 7. Nc3 Be7
8. Be2 O-O 9. Nd5 d6 10. O-O Be6 11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. b3 Rad8 13. f4 Nc6
14. Bb2 f5 15. exf5 Bxf5 16. Rf3 Rfe8 17. Rf2 Qe3 18. Kf1 Qc5 19. Rc1 Re3
20. Bg4 Rde8 21. Qd5+ Qxd5 22. cxd5 Bxg4 23. dxc6 bxc6 24. Bd4 Re2
25. h3 Rxf2+ 26. Bxf2 Bd7 27. a4 Rb8 28. Rb1 c5 29. Rd1 Rxb3 30. Bxc5 Bxa4
31. Bxa7 Rb7 32. Be3 Bxd1 0-1
Answer:
31...Rb7 is a double discovered attack. White cannot respond to the threat to both his bishop
on a7 and the rook on d1. Black wins a piece.
More from Ward Farnsworth on the idea of the Double Threat:
"Generally speaking a double threat is any move you make that presents your opponent with
two problems at the same time. Since each player can make just one move per turn, your
opponent only has time to address one of the threats you have made. On your next turn you
execute the other one."
While this is a simple, and possibly obvious idea, most tactics boil down to creating a double
threat, and is a really important idea to really understand!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Attacking is the single most difficult skill to acquire in chess. It requires both tactical
and positional knowledge along with a vast and extensive knowledge of mating patterns.
-Joel Johnson
T his game was played on the Internet

Chess Club by Life Master Joel Johnson,
author of the book Formation Attacks.
Joel's handle is "FearNoEvil" in this game, and is
playing white.

move.
Answer below.
I recently did a podcast with Joel Johnson,

which was very interesting and informative. Joel
is a Life Master, currently living in Phoenix,
Arizona, where he is a full time chess
professional.
Some interesting links for Joel:
Joel's USCF Rating History which contains hundreds of tournaments.

USCF Online Article Joel Johnson Wins U.S. Senior
Chessville review of Formation Attacks
United States Chess League Arizona Scorpions Player Profile Page for Joel Johnson
Formation Attacks Amazon.com link with excepts you can read
Formation Attacks stressed the importance of pawn structures when creating an attack. The
pawns help determine where the weaknesses are, and when the attacking pieces can best exploit
these weaknesses, or create further weaknesses.
Here are the steps that Joel gives for creating an attack
Play an aggressive opening

Create Weaknesses
Mobilize your pieces
Exploit the Weaknesses
Complete the Attack
The book contains hundreds of examples of successful attacks against various pawn structures
and king positions that your opponent has. Each page is sprinkled with chess wisdom. Looking at
Joel's games he certainly knows how to follow his own advice!
Thanks to Anthea Carson, who loaned me her copy of the book.
[Event "ICC 3 0"]

[Date "2007.05.12"]
[White "FearNoEvil"]
[Black "yair"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2342"]
[BlackElo "2261"]
[PlyCount "29"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Bc4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. f5 e6 7. fxg6 hxg6 8. d3 Nge7

9. O-O a6 10. a4 Rb8 11. Qe1 Nd4 12. Ng5 Rf8 13. Nh7 Nxc2 14. Qf2 Bd4 15. Qxd4 1-0
Answer:
Fritz 12 gave 15. Qxd4!! a double exclam, and probably would have given it a triple exclam if
there was such a thing! This move removes the defender of f6, and threatens 16. Nf6# with a
sweet checkmate with just the knight.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
I don't believe in psychology. I believe in good moves. -Bobby Fischer
T he following game was played by my

good friend and "wingman", Francisco
Baltier at the 2011 Western States
open in Reno.

move.
Answer below.
Recently there was an amusing thread on

reddit.com entitled, Asking r/chess: what are
some mind games you play with your opponent,
that was kind of fun.
I don't advocate trying to play "mind games",

but I posted a list of things that I have seen over
the years that I have seen other players do, and things that have annoyed me, or other players in
the past. I got a couple comments that my list was funny, so I thought I would repost it here for
your enjoyment.
Possible "Mind games" I have seen other people do (Some might just be poor sportsmanship, or
being odd):
Complain about the pieces or board before the game

Eating at the Table (I have seen people eating full meals, not just snacks)
Constantly offering Draws (Kids love to do this)
Wearing sunglasses at the table
Making comments before the game to psych out the opponent
Wearing unusual or distracting clothing (cleavage for women)
arguing about stuff like the clock, use of a Monroi, etc
Not keeping score, or other rules violations, requiring a TD interaction
constantly moving around, sniffing, coughing, making noise
slamming the person's clock/slamming pieces
setting up your board, even if you have the white pieces.
Setting up your board, even if boards are already provided
Writing question marks after a person's move on your scoresheet
Having an attractive woman watch your game
Walking behind your opponent, and looking at the board over their shoulder
playing really slow on obvious moves/forced recaptures, etc
poor personal hygiene
constantly "adjusting" pieces
Playing with a non standard, or overly fancy board
Bringing a pet to the tournament
Having small children running around
Hovering chess parents
One person noted that most of these are actually illegal according to the rules. Any distraction
(most of the unsportsmanlike behavior of your opponent can result in the referee warning them
and if such behavior continues he will disqualify them).
I had one kid (prob 12 years old) stand right behind me, hover and bend over and peer over my
shoulder as I was making my move. Like we were posing for a picture or something. Was very
distracting, and I told him to get out of my personal space. I don't think he was doing "mind
games", but it certainly was annoying. Of course, just looking at the board from a reasonable
distance is legal, and acceptable :-)
As far as Hygiene, there is one guy my friend Pete calls "Stinky Bob", who plays at a lot of the
major tournaments - National Open, World Open, etc. He smells and looks like he just came out of
a dumpster. I probably would not be able to play a 6 hour game against him without getting sick
from the smell.
Even if the "mind games" are illegal, it is still a hassle to go and get a TD involved, stop the
clock, etc. It can screw up your train of thought, and most of the time the penalty will not be very
severe (just a warning).
[Event "2011 Western States Open"]

[Site "Reno, NV"]
[Date "2011.10.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Baltier Jr, Francisco"]
[Black "Parshall, Randy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "1576"]
[BlackElo "1468"]
[PlyCount "103"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Qc7 6. d3 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Nd4
9. Qf2 e6 10. O-O Be7 11. Nb5 Nxb5 12. Bxb5+ Nd7 13. f5 O-O-O 14. fxe6 fxe6
15. Qf7 Bf6 16. Qxe6 Kb8 17. Bxd7 Bd4+ 18. Kh1 Rxd7 19. c3 Bf6 20. Bf4 Rhd8
21. Qd5 h6 22. Bxh6 Re8 23. Bf4 Be5 24. Rac1 a6 25. d4 Bxf4 26. Rxf4 cxd4
27. Qxd4 Qc6 28. Rcf1 Rde7 29. Rf8 Rxe4 30. Rxe8+ Rxe8 31. Qxg7 Qe4
32. Qg3 Re6 33. Kh2 Rg6 34. Rf8+ Kc7 35. Rf7+ Kc8 36. Qf3 Qe5+ 37. Qf4 Qd5
38. Qf5+ Qxf5 39. Rxf5 Kc7 40. g4 Re6 41. Rf2 Kc6 42. Kg3 b5 43. g5 a5 44. Kg4 Kc5
45. h4 b4 46. cxb4+ axb4 47. h5 d5 48. g6 Re1 49. Rd2 d4 50. b3 Kd5 51. h6 Ke5
52. g7 1-0
Answer:
22. Bxh6! Wins a pawn. If 22. ...gxh6 then 23. Rxf6 taking back the bishop, leaving white up
a full pawn. The g7 pawn gets overloaded protecting the h6 pawn, and bishop on f6, once the
rook's file is opened after Bxh6!
Francisco had a great tournament in Reno! He scored 4.5 out of 6 points and reached an all
time high on his rating. He said his only preparation for the tournament was playing on
Redhotpawn, and reading my newsletters :-)
Francisco is also mentioned in the USCF article about the Western States Open. Great job
Francisco!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Pawns are like buttons. Lose too many and the pants fall down by themselves. - George
Koltanowski
T his position was featured in

greenpawn34's blog post entitled, "The
Assassin Pawn".

move.
Answer below.
Greenpawn34 asked himself, "we have

Doubled Pawns, Isolated Pawns, Passed Pawns,
Outside Passed Pawns, Backward Pawns, Weak
Pawns, Pawn Forks, Pawn Storms... What do we
call a Pawn that checkmates a King?"
One forum poster, torten, suggested "killer

pawn - king killer - king buster - royal buster -
assassin - ninja - sniper - voodoo pawn - jester".
Greenpawn34 decided on Assassin Pawn, which he describes as "pawn that does it

(checkmates) from a level position and is part of plan/combination."
I really like this new creative term. For example, here it is used in an annotation: "The Black
King thinks he has escaped and that White has run out of material but there is an Assassin Pawn
lurking in the shadows."
Checkmates with a pawn are rare, beautiful, and always fun!

[Date "2005.12.14"]
[White "Nallapuh"]
[Black "rcstas"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "1910"]
[BlackElo "1490"]
[PlyCount "84"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qd2 dxc6 7. Nc3 Bd4
8. Nd1 Be6 9. Qg5 O-O-O 10. Qxf6 Nxf6 11. f3 h6 12. c3 Bb6 13. Ne3 Rhe8
14. Bc4 Bxe3 15. Bxe6+ Rxe6 16. Bxe3 Nd5 17. Bd2 Nf6 18. O-O-O g5 19. h4 g4
20. Bxh6 gxf3 21. gxf3 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Nxe4 23. fxe4 Rxh6 24. Rh1 Kd7
25. Kd2 Ke6 26. Ke3 Ke5 27. a3 f5 28. exf5 Kxf5 29. Kf3 Rd6 30. Rh2 a5
31. Ke3 c5 32. h5 Kg5 33. h6 Rxh6 34. Rxh6 Kxh6 35. Ke4 Kg6 36. Kd5 Kf6
37. Kxc5 Ke6 38. Kb5 Kd5 39. Kxa5 Kc4 40. Ka4 b6 41. b4 c6 42. b5 cxb5# 0-1
Answer:
41. ...c6! creates an Assassin Pawn Zugzwang! 42. b5 is the only legal move for white
42....cxb5#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Once there is the slightest suggestion of combinational possibilities on the board, look
for unusual moves. Apart from making your play creative and interesting it will help you to
get better results. - Alexander Kotov
T his position comes from my last round

game in the 2011 Western States Open
in Reno, NV.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk about the clearance

sacrifice tactic, which is an important tactical
motif to know.
Clearance is a sacrificing tactic used when

one of your own pieces happens to be in the way
of another piece, preventing it from taking up a
superior position on the board.
In order to achieve what you want, the obstructing piece must be moved - or "Cleared" - out of
the way.
To do so will allow capture of that moved piece. However, the ultimate benefit(s), from your
subsequent moves, are well worth the initial loss.
Here is the definition from Winning Chess Tactics for Juniors:
This tactic is used to clear a square or uncover a line (rank, file, or diagonal) in order for an
effective follow-up to take advantage of the newly cleared square or squares. Very often the piece
which clears the way for the followup-actions of another will sacrifice itself in the process. If this
sacrifice involves an attack on the enemy King, then the effect is intensified.
[Event "Reno Western States Open 2011"]

[Site "Reno, Nevada"]
[Date "2011.10.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Fajardo, Maximo"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "1779"]
[BlackElo "1729"]
[PlyCount "64"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. cxd3 c6 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Nbd2 Qc7
8. e4 dxe4 9. dxe4 e6 10. e5 Nd5 11. Ng5 c5 12. Qf3 N7b6 13. Nde4 cxd4
14. Bd2 h6 15. Rac1 Qd7 16. Qh5 Rg8 17. Nf3 Nb4 18. Nd6+ Bxd6 19. exd6 Nc6
20. Ne5 Nxe5 21. Qxe5 Nd5 22. Rfe1 Kd8 23. Rc4 Rc8 24. Rxc8+ Kxc8 25. Qxd4 Kb8
26. Qe5 g5 27. h4 gxh4 28. Bxh6 Ka8 29. Bg5 h3 30. g3 Qc6 31. Rc1 Nc3
32. Kf1 Qh1# 0-1
Answer:
Fritz gave 31. ...Nc3!! a double exclam. This is a clearance sacrifice, giving up the knight, to
clear the path for the queen to threaten mate on g2. The knight moving to c3 also blocks the rook
on c1 from capturing the Queen.
The only way to prevent mate is 32. f3 but black has an easy win after 32. ...Qxf3 33. Rc2
Qd1+ forking the king and rook, winning the rook.
In the game my opponent played 33. Kf1, and I checkmated him with 33. ...Qh1#. I am
guessing that he missed that the knight on c3 covers the King's escape square on e2.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
The combination player thinks forward; he starts from the given position, and tries the
forceful moves in his mind. - Emanuel Lasker
T his game was played at the Monument

Open III tournament, in August 2011.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk about another chess

tactics book, Winning Chess Tactics for Juniors,
that I have spent a lot of time studying.
Here are some things I like about the book:
Good collection of problems, with a

difficulty of 2-3 moves long.
Problems are organized by themes
Cheap price (10 dollars)
Good methodology presented on how to study the problems.
The only thing I don't like about the book is that many of the chess problems are taken from
two of Fred Reinfeld's enduring classics of chess literature, 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate
(Chess lovers' library) and 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations. While this book
contains some improvements on these classics (see table below), it would have been nice to see
the authors give some credit to Reinfeld. It also is someone misleading to someone (like me) who
already owned the original 2 books, and then sees the same problems.
Improvements over the Reinfeld books:
Reinfeld 1001 books Chess Tactics for Juniors
Answers written with descriptive notation Answers in Algebraic Notation

("B-KN5 dbl ch")
Answers contain a fair number of mistakes in Answers checked by a computer.

them
Problems have a huge range of difficulty. Problems are mostly 2-3 moves long.
They teach a simple 4 step system of study in the book:

A) Try to spend some time every day on the diagrams.
B) Solve directly from the book, not on your chessboard
C) Do not spend more than 5 minutes at a time on any one diagram
D) Each time you go through the book, place a checkmark by the diagram if you answer it
correctly.
This last idea is one I really like, and haven't seen recommended in any other chess tactics
books. Solving the same problems over and over, and keeping track of which ones you get
correct is a great way to practice chess tactics.
[Event "Monument Open III"]

[Site "Palmer Lake, CO"]
[Date "2011.08.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wall, Brian"]
[Black "Rountree, Brian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C21"]
[WhiteElo "2223"]
[BlackElo "1817"]
[PlyCount "59"]
1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 d6 5. Nf3 Qe7 6. Nxc3 Nf6 7. O-O Nc6 8. Bg5 Be6
9. Nd5 Bxd5 10. exd5 Ne5 11. Bb5+ Kd8 12. Re1 h6 13. Bh4 g5 14. Nxe5 dxe5
15. Bg3 Nd7 16. Bxd7 Qxd7 17. Bxe5 Rg8 18. Qb3 Kc8 19. Rac1 Bd6 20. Bxd6 Qxd6
21. Qf3 Rf8 22. Re3 Kd8 23. Rce1 b6 24. Qf5 Qg6 25. Qg4 h5 26. Qc4 a6 27. d6 cxd6
28. Qc6 Rc8 29. Re8+ Rxe8 30. Rxe8# 1-0
Answer:
27. d6! is a nice move that causes all sorts of problems for black.
It threatens 28. Qxc7#

If 27. ...Qxd6 28. Rd3 pins the queen to the king
If 27. ...cxd6 28. Qc6 attacks the rook on a8 sets up a mating net, threatening 29.Re8+
Rxe8 30. Rxe8#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
A player surprised is half beaten. - Proverb of unknown origin
T his position comes from my first round

game at the Western States Open
played in Reno in October 2011.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to go back to basics and review a

little bit about the very important idea of pins in
chess.
From the Wikipedia page on pins:
In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an

attacking piece in which a defending piece
cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the
attacking piece.
To "pin" refers to the action of the attacking piece inducing the pin, and the defending piece so
restricted is described as pinned.
Only pieces that can move an indefinite number of squares in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal
line, i.e., bishops, rooks and queens, can pin opposing pieces.
Kings, knights, and pawns cannot pin. Any piece may be pinned except the king, as the king
must be immediately removed from check under all circumstances.
An absolute pin is one where the piece shielded by the pinned piece is the king. In this case it
is illegal to move the pinned piece out of the line of attack, as that would place one's king in
check.
A relative pin is one where the piece shielded by the pinned piece is a piece other than the
king, but typically more valuable than the pinned piece. Moving such a pinned piece is legal, but
may not be prudent as the shielded piece would then be vulnerable to capture.
If a rook or queen is pinned along a file, or a bishop or queen is pinned along a diagonal, the pin
is a partial pin: the pinned unit can still move along its line but cannot leave that line.
A partially pinned unit may break its own pin by capturing the pinning piece; however, a partial
pin can still be advantageous to the pinning player, for instance if the queen is pinned by a rook or
bishop, and the pinning piece is defended, so that capturing it with the queen would lose material.
Note that a queen can only ever be partially pinned, as it can move in any linear direction.
It is possible for two opposing pieces to be partially pinning each other. It is also possible for
one piece to be pinned in one direction (line of attack) and partially pinned in another, or
otherwise pinned in two or more directions.
The act of breaking a pin is unpinning. This can be executed in a number of ways:
the piece creating the pin can be captured;

another unit can be moved onto the line of the pin;
the unit to which a piece is pinned can be moved.
Although a pin is not a tactic in itself, it can be useful in tactical situations. One tactic which
takes advantage of a pin can be called working the pin. In this tactic, other pieces from the
pinning piece's side attack the opposing pinned piece. Since the pinned piece cannot move out of
the line of attack, the pinned piece's player may move other pieces to defend the pinned piece,
but the pinning player may yet attack with even more pieces, etc.
Pinning can also be used in combination with other tactics. For example, a piece can be pinned
to prevent it from moving to attack, or a defending piece can be pinned as part of tactic
undermining an opponent's defense.
A pinned piece can usually no longer be counted on as a defender of another friendly piece (that
is out of the pinning line of attack) or as an attacker of an opposing piece (out of the pinning line).
However, a pinned piece can still check the opposing king - and therefore still can defend friendly
pieces against captures made by the enemy king.

[Site "Reno, Nevada"]
[Date "2011.10.21"]
[Round "1"]
[Black "Tamondong, Cesar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "1729"]
[BlackElo "1623"]
[PlyCount "79"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. Bd3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. c3 h6 8. Bh4 Qe8
9. Qb3 e5 10. Bxg6 Qe6 11. Qxe6 fxe6 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 dxe5 14. Nd2 b5
15. Bg3 Nd5 16. Nf3 Ba6 17. Rfd1 b4 18. cxb4 Be2 19. Rd2 Bxf3 20. gxf3 Nxb4
21. Rc1 Rac8 22. a3 Nd5 23. Be4 Ne7 24. Rd7 Nd5 25. Bxd5 exd5 26. Rxd5 e4
27. fxe4 Bxb2 28. Rxc7 Rxc7 29. Bxc7 Rf7 30. Bd6 Rg7+ 31. Kf1 Kf7 32. Be5 Bxe5
33. Rxe5 Kf6 34. f4 Rb7 35. Ra5 Re7 36. Ra6+ Kg7 37. e5 h5 38. Kf2 h4 39. Kf3 Kf8
40. Rh6 1-0
Answer:
10. Bxg6 wins a valuable pawn in front of black's king. The f7 pawn is pinned to the black
king by the white queen on b3, so cannot capture the bishop on g6.
This is a valuable tactical pattern to know. The f7 pawn often gets pinned by a bishop or queen
on the a2-g7 diagonal. For example, a bishop placed on c4, or queen on b3, will often pin this
pawn to a castled king. This will weaken the g6 square.
Another interesting point in this one is that I had to move the bishop because Black was
threatening a pawn fork in the next move. :)
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Chess you don't learn ... chess you understand! - Viktor Korchnoi
T his position came from my second

round game at the Western States
Open in October 2011.

move.
Answer below.
Today lets talk about the X-Ray chess tactic.
From chess.com's chessopedia:
An x-ray is an uncommon and rarely used

chess tactic. It is way too easy to overlook and
it is not used much. The only pieces that can
perform the x-ray are the long range pieces: the
queen, rook and bishop. X-rays happen when it seems like something is safe but it isn't. They are
common on the back rank.
From Wikipedia's page on X-ray (chess):
In chess, the term X-ray or X-ray attack is sometimes used as:
1. a synonym for skewer.

2. a tactic where a piece indirectly attacks an enemy piece through another piece
3. a tactic where a piece indirectly defends a friendly piece through an enemy piece.
The third usage is given by the American master and writer Bruce Pandolfini, who states in
Chess Openings: Traps And Zaps (Fireside Chess Library) that one usage of "X-Ray" is "a skewer
defense along a rank, file, or diagonal" that "protects a friendly man through an enemy man in the
middle along the same line of power"
Jeremy Silman in his Complete Book of Chess Strategy: Grandmaster Techniques from A to Z
states that the X-ray "takes advantage of pieces that appear to be adequately defended but really
aren't".
I found a good YouTube video as well called Chess Tactics: X Ray, which gives a nice video
example of some X-Ray Tactics. The video gives the following X-Ray definition:
The x ray is a very useful tactic that chess players can use to indirectly attack their opponents
pieces and add pressure to their opponents setup without directly attacking any pieces in some
situations. X rays can be used with all your pieces and should be looked at any time during the
middle game.

[Site "Reno, NV USA"]
[Date "2011.10.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Titus, Michael"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "1625"]
[BlackElo "1729"]
[PlyCount "56"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 Be7 4. Nc3 b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. Bd3 h6 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. e5 Be7
9. Be4 Bxe4 10. Nxe4 O-O 11. Qd2 d5 12. Ng3 Nd7 13. O-O c5 14. c3 Rc8 15. Rac1 Rc6
16. Ne1 Qc7 17. Nd3 f6 18. f4 fxe5 19. fxe5 Bg5 20. Rxf8+ Nxf8 21. Nf4 cxd4
22. Re1 dxc3 23. bxc3 Rxc3 24. Nge2 Rc2 25. Qd3 Rxa2 26. Qd4 Qc5 27. g3 Bxf4
28. gxf4 Rxe2 0-1
Answer:
I missed a potential X-Ray opportunity with 27. ...Rxe2! after 28. Nxe2 Be3+ would be an
X-Ray attack of the Queen and King.
If 28. Rxe2 Qxd4 wins the queen, because 27. ...Rxe2 removed the knight that was defending
the queen.
I ended up doing a similar tactic on move 28, but could have played ...Rxe2 a move earlier.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
I've got the brain of a four year old. I'll bet he was glad to be rid of it. - Groucho Marx
T his game was played by SwissGambit,

who is very good at creating chess
compositions, and posts them on the
Redhotpawn.com forums.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk about a book that I

borrowed from the library, and listened to
recently, called Brain Rules: 12 Principles for
Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and
School.
Obviously when playing chess, the brain is the

main weapon that we are using to try and win the game. However most of us know very little
about how the brain works, or what we can do to get the most out of our brains.
In the book the author, John Medina, gives 12 different "Brain Rules". Here is the list:
Exercise - Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.

Survival - Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
Wiring - Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
Attention - Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things.
Short-Term Memory - Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
Long-Term Memory - Rule #6: Remember to repeat.
Sleep - Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.
Stress - Rule #8: Stressed brains don't learn the same way.
Sensory Integration - Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses.
Vision - Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses.
Gender - Rule #11: Male and female brains are different.
Exploration - Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.
The main sections that I feel are most related to chess improvement would be related to sleep,
stress, multitasking, and the importance of repetition in learning. The entire book is interesting,
and I would recommend it.
Here are some quick tips that might help your chess game.
Make sure that you get a good night sleep, and take a nap before an evening game if
possible. A short nap in the afternoon can do wonders for our concentration and
productivity. Even if you can't fully fall asleep, giving your brain a rest between rounds can
be very beneficial.
Avoid multitasking. The brain is not good at this, even if people like to think of themselves
as "multitaskers". I know a lot of chess players love to listen to their iPods during a game,
but this may have a negative impact on your play.
Repetition in learning. The relationship between repetition and memory is clear.
Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information if you want to retrieve it later.
Medina has a nice Brain Rules website with videos and articles, where you can get more
information about his findings.
[Event "October 2009 Sprint Split V"]

[Site "http://www.chessatwork.com"]
[Date "2009.10.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "SwissGambit"]
[Black "adalia bipunctata"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C70"]
[WhiteElo "1680"]
[BlackElo "1349"]
[PlyCount "59"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Nf6 6. Ng5 d5 7. exd5 Nd4 8. c4

Nxb3 9. axb3 bxc4 10. bxc4 Qe7 11. Nf3 Qc5 12. Nxe5 Ne4 13. Qe2 Qd4 14. Nf3
Qxf2+ 15. Qxf2 Nxf2 16. Kxf2 Bc5+ 17. d4 Bb4 18. Bd2 Bxd2 19. Nbxd2 Rb8 20.
Rhe1+ Kf8 21. b3 f6 22. Re3 Bf5 23. Rxa6 Kf7 24. Ra7 Rhc8 25. d6 Kg6 26. Nh4+
Kg5 27. Ndf3+ Kf4 28. Ra5 Be4 29. h3 g5 30. g3# 1-0
Answer:
White uses his assassin pawns to force an unstoppable mate with 29. h3 and 30. g3#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe. - Abraham
Lincoln
T his game was played in the Colorado

Springs Club Championship in October
2011 between Rhett Langseth and Dan
Avery.

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to share an idea from Stephen

Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Covey discovered over years of reading and

studying success that certain underlying themes
seemed to recur. These weren't superficial
behavioral "how to's", but went deeper, relating
more to one's ethics or way of life.
His seventh habit is "Sharpening the Saw". This powerful idea can really only be described by
Covey's word-picture:
Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.
"What are you doing?" you ask.
"Can't you see?" comes the impatient reply. "I'm sawing down this tree."
"You look exhausted!" you exclaim. "How long have you been at it?"
"Over five hours," he returns, "and I'm beat! This is hard work."
"Well why don't you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?" you inquire. "I'm
sure it would go a lot faster."
"I don't have time to sharpen the saw," the man says emphatically. "I'm too busy sawing!"
====
To me in regards to chess, "Sharpening the saw" is shorthand for anything you do that isn't
playing chess, necessarily, but (theoretically) makes you a better chess player.
Often times I see chess players who spend years at the same rating level, and spend hundreds
of hours playing games, but never take any time to "sharpen their saw".
I've actually know a few players with the opposite problem as well - they spend most of their
time studying chess (sharpening the saw), but never actually playing chess (using the saw).
This is a very valuable principle that can be applied to chess improvement, and all areas of life.
[Event "Colorado Springs Championship 2011"]

[Date "2011.10.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Langseth, Rhett"]
[Black "Avery, Dan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "1796"]
[BlackElo "1979"]
[PlyCount "79"]
1. d3 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c3 c5 4. Nbd2 Nc6 5. e4 Bg4 6. Qa4 Qd7 7. Be2 e6 8. a3

Rb8 9. b4 b5 10. Qc2 Rc8 11. bxc5 Bxc5 12. d4 Bxd4 13. cxd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Bxe2
15. Qb1 Bc4 16. Nxc4 Rxc4 17. e5 Ng4 18. Be3 a6 19. Nf3 Qc7 20. Qb2 Rc2 21. Qd4
Rc4 22. Qd1 Nxe5 23. Nxe5 Qxe5 24. O-O O-O 25. Re1 Rfc8 26. Bd2 Qb2 27. Re3 Rc2
28. Be1 Rc1 29. Rxc1 Rxc1 30. Qxd5 h6 31. Qa8+ Kh7 32. Qe4+ g6 33. h3 Rc4 34.
Qf3 Rc7 35. Bc3 Qb1+ 36. Kh2 Qf5 37. Qg3 Rd7 38. Qb8 g5 39. Qh8+ Kg6 40. Qg8+
1-0
Answer:
Rhett, who was named after the "Gone with the Wind" character, has an unusual, but effective
playing style. He plays 1. d3 with white, and doesn't believe in castling his king early in the
game. When it comes to traditional opening rules of thumb, Rhett, frankly, doesn't give a damn!
Here Rhett found a nice tactical shot with 30. Qxd5! which wins a valuable center passed pawn,
taking advantage of black's weak back rank.
Joel Johnson in Formation Attacks, describes the e pawn as being "threat pinned", because it
cannot capture the queen on e5 because of the threat of Re8#
Dan likes to start chess games with the phrase, "Let's have fun". Hope Dan still had fun in this
game :-)
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn't even
the star of his own Halloween special. - Chris Rock
T his position came from a crazy and fun

opening known as the Halloween
Gambit

move.
Answer below.
I first learned of the Halloween Gambit, when

Anthea Carson and I made a funny YouTube
video (http://youtu.be/KzALeHw_rUU) about it a
couple years ago. The video now has over 2000
views, and a lot of people found it amusing! I
laughed pretty hard after watching it again!
From Wikipedia:
The Halloween Gambit, also known as the Müller-Schulze Gambit or Leipzig Gambit, is an
aggressive gambit in chess, in which White sacrifices a knight for just one pawn.
It is a branch of the normally staid Four Knights Game. The theoretician Oskar Cordel reported
in 1888 that Leipzig club players used it to dangerous effect but he did not believe it was sound.
The opening is characterized by the moves
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Nc3 Nf6
4. Nxe5
The goal of the gambit is to seize the center with pawns and drive back Black's knights
IM Andrew Martin wrote about this opening:
This is crazy chess, although if Black doesn't understand that he is in danger he can be blown
away by White's pawn avalanche. It is probably playable for White as a complete surprise weapon
or on a regular basis if you just play chess for fun. As usual, the master recipe is to give back
what has been gained to obtain a good position .
[Event "RHPIC 02/2009 1400-1700 banded"]

[Date "2009.03.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "junnujannu"]
[Black "beatlemania"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "1838"]
[BlackElo "1709"]
[PlyCount "45"]
1. Nf3 Nc6 2. e4 e5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5 Nxe5 5. d4 Nc6 6. d5 Ne5 7. f4 Ng6 8. e5

Ng8 9. d6 cxd6 10. exd6 Qb6 11. Nb5 Kd8 12. Bc4 f6 13. Qe2 Bxd6 14. Be3 Bc5 15.
Bxc5 Qxc5 16. O-O-O Nxf4 17. Qe4 Ng6 18. Rhe1 N8e7 19. Nd6 Kc7 20. Nxb7 Bxb7
21. Rxd7+ Kxd7 22. Qxb7+ Kd6 23. Re6# 1-0
Answer:
21. Rxd7+ overloads the King's protection of the Bishop on b7. After 21. ...Kxd7 22. Qxb7+
the king is forced to the back rank, when white can then also pick up the rook on a8 with 23.
Qxa8.
In the game black responded to 22. Qxb7+ with 22. ...Kd6 and was mated with 23. Re6#
This was a really fun game, and shows the dangers of the Halloween Gambit!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

I have seen hundreds of games lost by intermediate players who allow a basic tactic
that was too easy for them to study. - NM Dan Heisman
T he following game was sent to me by

my newsletter reader Kenzie Moore
(Golfergopher), from a game played on
the Internet. Thanks Kenzie!

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to talk about some of the ideas

from NM Dan Heisman on the subject of chess
tactics.
I am a big fan of Dan Heisman's Novice Nook

column on Chesscafe.com, and have been
reading it for years.
Dan has some really excellent ideas on the subject of chess tactics, and I would encourage you
to check out the following articles:
Tactical Sets and Goals (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman109.pdf) - I really love the

story that Dan tells at the beginning of this article where he has a student that his gives some
tactics problems to solve.
The student says that the problems are "too easy", and then proceeds to miss similar types of
moves in his own games. I think this is part of the "I know that" syndrome that surrounds many
subjects, and prevents people from getting better.
The key is that you have to overlearn the tactical patterns, until you can just recognize them,
and not calculate them.
I also love Dan's analogy to recognizing a tactical pattern is similar to knowing that 8x7=56,
instead of calculating 8+8+8+8+8+8+8.
Dan also discusses various levels of chess tactics abilities, and recommends various resources
for chess tactics study. He says that there are about 2000 basic patterns that you should know.
These basic patterns are what I try to use in my chess tactics newsletter.
The Most Common and Important Use of Tactics (http://www.chesscafe.com
/text/heisman106.pdf) - In this article Dan talks about how a really good understanding of tactical
patterns can make up for having a faulty thought process.
Again Dan mentions how:
"I have seen hundreds of games lost by intermediate players who allow a basic tactic
that was too easy for them to study."
I think that this is such an important point. In looking over thousands of class player games
myself while working on my database, and newsletters, I am often surprised at the simple tactics
that "good" players miss.
Often the tactics are even "too easy" for me to include in my newsletters, and I have even heard
"complaints" that my tactics problems are "too easy", so I understand what Dan is talking about.
This paragraph is wonderful also:
The moral of the story is clear: you want to be as intimately familiar with as many
tactical ideas as possible, not just be able to solve them when given a "Play and win"
position. That may require you to practice an enormous number of "easy" play and
win positions, but, just like knowing the multiplication tables, this repetition will come
in very handy each and every game!
This is basically why I created Tactics Time - to provide an enormous number of "easy" play and
win positions from real games that chess players could study, so that they could become familiar
with the basic tactical ideas with lots of repetition.
[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.10.30"]
[White "EdgeHunter"]
[Black "Golfergopher"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1599"]
[BlackElo "1643"]
[PlyCount "94"]
1. e4 e6 2. d3 c5 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. Nd2 Nf6 6. Ngf3 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. Re1

Qc7 9. Nf1 O-O-O 10. e5 Nd7 11. Bf4 h6 12. h4 Be7 13. h5 Bg5 14. Qd2 Bxf4 15.
Qxf4 f6 16. exf6 Qxf4 17. gxf4 Nxf6 18. Rxe6 Nxh5 19. Bh3 Kb8 20. Bg4 Nxf4 21.
Ree1 h5 22. Be6 Rde8 23. Bd7 Ne2+ 24. Kh2 Re7 25. Bxc6 Bxc6 26. Ng5 d4 27. Nd2
Rhe8 28. Nde4 Bxe4 29. Nxe4 Nf4 30. Rg1 g6 31. Rg5 Re5 32. Rag1 Rf5 33. R5g3
Ne2 34. Rxg6 Nxg1 35. Rxg1 Rf3 36. Rg2 h4 37. Kg1 h3 38. Rh2 Kb7 39. Kf1 Ref8
40. Ng5 Rxf2+ 41. Rxf2 h2 42. Rxf8 h1=Q+ 43. Kf2 Qh2+ 44. Kf3 Qxc2 45. Kg4 Qxd3
46. Rf7+ Ka6 47. Ne6 Qd1+ 0-1

Answer:
Black nicely liquidates into a winning endgame with 40. ...Rxf2+ 41. Rxf2 h2 42. Rxf8
h1=Q+
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
There is no point in taking draws. - GM Hikaru Nakamura
T oday we are going to do something a

little different. Instead of finding the
correct move, I want you to find all
the mates in one black has.

move.
Answer below.
This position comes from a real game, played

on the Internet Chess Club between Hikaru
Nakamura (Smallville) against a computer
known as Beast with a rating at the time of
3709! The time control was 3 minutes with a 1
second increment.
I first learned of this game from Life Master Joel Johnson's book, Formation Attacks.
This game went an incredible 155 moves, and Nakamura humiliated the computer by
underpromoting 5 pawns into knights!
Nakamura used a textbook "anti-computer" strategy of keeping the board closed, and shuffling
his pieces around slowly.
Some interesting facts about Nakamura from Wikipedia:
born in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, to a Japanese father and an American mother.
At the age of two, he moved with his parents to the United States.
began playing chess prior to the age of five and was coached by his Sri Lankan stepfather,
FIDE Master and chess author Sunil Weeramantry.
At age 10 years and 79 days, Nakamura achieved the title of chess master from the United
States Chess Federation (USCF), becoming the youngest American ever to earn the title at
the time.
first supertournament victory came at Wijk aan Zee 2011, finishing clear first ahead of the
four top-rated players in the world in a performance described by Kasparov as better than
any tournament by Bobby Fischer, and the best by an American in more than 100 years.
He has been ranked among the top six players in the world
has been described as having an uncommon enthusiasm for chess and as being much more
approachable than other players of his ability. For instance, just after winning his first U.S.
Championship in 2005, he played numerous 1-minute games with all comers in the lobby of
the hotel where the competition had taken place.
[Event "ICC 3 1"]

[Date "2005.06.08"]
[White "Beast"]
[Black "Smallville = Nakamura"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "3709"]
[BlackElo "3348"]
[PlyCount "310"]
1. Nc3 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Bc4 e6 4. Nf3 Ne7 5. O-O d6 6. d4 O-O 7. Bg5 h6 8. Be3

b6 9. Qd2 Kh7 10. d5 e5 11. Ne1 f5 12. f3 f4 13. Bf2 g5 14. Nd3 h5 15. Rae1 Ng6
16. Re2 Bh6 17. Ne1 g4 18. Qd3 a6 19. a4 Nd7 20. Kh1 Nf6 21. b4 Rf7 22. Rg1 g3
23. hxg3 fxg3 24. Bxg3 h4 25. Bxh4 Nxh4 26. g3 Ng6 27. Rh2 Kg7 28. Kg2 Rf8 29.
Nd1 Rh8 30. Rgh1 Bg5 31. Rxh8 Nxh8 32. Nf2 Ng6 33. c3 Qe8 34. b5 a5 35. Nc2 Ne7
36. Nh3 Bxh3+ 37. Rxh3 Qg6 38. Kf2 Rh8 39. Rxh8 Kxh8 40. Ba2 Nd7 41. Ne1 Nc5
42. Qc2 Qh6 43. Ng2 Ng6 44. Bc4 Qh2 45. Bf1 Kg7 46. Qa2 Nf8 47. Bc4 Nh7 48. Kf1
Qh1+ 49. Kf2 Qc1 50. Be2 Nf6 51. Qc4 Bd2 52. g4 Qxc3 53. Qxc3 Bxc3 54. Bd1 Bd2
55. Nh4 Ng8 56. Ke2 Bg5 57. Nf5+ Kf7 58. Bc2 Ne7 59. Ng3 Nd7 60. Kd3 Ng6 61.
Nf5 Kf6 62. Kc3 Nh4 63. Nxh4 Bxh4 64. Kd2 Kg5 65. Bd1 Kf4 66. Ke2 Nf6 67. Kf1
Nh7 68. Kg2 Be1 69. Kf1 Bg3 70. Be2 Ng5 71. Kg1 Nxf3+ 72. Kg2 Ne1+ 73. Kf1 Nc2
74. Kg2 Ne3+ 75. Kh3 Be1 76. g5 Kxg5 77. Kh2 Kf4 78. Bd3 Ng4+ 79. Kg2 Nf2 80.
Bc2 Nxe4 81. Bb3 Nc5 82. Kf1 Nxb3 83. Kxe1 Nc5 84. Ke2 Nxa4 85. Ke1 Nc5 86. Kf2
Ke4 87. Kg2 Kxd5 88. Kg3 Kc4 89. Kg4 Kxb5 90. Kg3 a4 91. Kf3 a3 92. Ke3 a2 93.
Kf2 a1=N 94. Ke3 Kc6 95. Kf3 Nab3 96. Kg4 Nd4 97. Kg5 Nde6+ 98. Kf5 Kd7 99. Kg4
b5 100. Kf3 b4 101. Kg3 b3 102. Kf3 b2 103. Kg4 b1=N 104. Kf5 Na3 105. Kg4 Nb7
106. Kf5 Nf8 107. Ke4 Nd8 108. Kd3 Nb5 109. Kc4 Na7 110. Kd3 Nc8 111. Ke4 Ke6
112. Ke3 d5 113. Kd2 c5 114. Kd1 e4 115. Kc2 d4 116. Kb2 Kd5 117. Kc1 c4 118.
Kd2 e3+ 119. Ke1 Ke4 120. Kf1 d3 121. Ke1 c3 122. Kd1 c2+ 123. Kc1 e2 124. Kd2
Kd4 125. Ke1 c1=N 126. Kd2 Nb3+ 127. Ke1 Kc3 128. Kf2 Nc5 129. Ke1 Nce6 130.
Kf2 Nc7 131. Kf3 e1=N+ 132. Kf2 Nc2 133. Kf1 Ne8 134. Kg2 Nfe6 135. Kf2 Nf6
136. Kf3 Nd6 137. Kg3 Nc6 138. Kg2 N2d4 139. Kh3 N4f5 140. Kg2 Nfe7 141. Kf2
Ng6 142. Ke1 Kc2 143. Kf2 d2 144. Kg2 d1=N 145. Kf1 Nc3 146. Kf2 Ncd5 147. Kg2
Nce5 148. Kg1 Nde4 149. Kg2 Nd4 150. Kg1 Ngf4 151. Kh1 Nfg4 152. Kg1 Nde3 153.
Kh1 Ndf5 154. Kg1 Nf3+ 155. Kh1 Nfg3# 0-1
You can play through the moves here: http://www.chessgames.com

/perl/chessgame?gid=1480850.
Answer:
Black has 4 unique mates in one:
155...Nfg3#
155...Neg3#
155...Nef2#
155...Ngf2#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
Study tactics, not openings, until you almost never lose pieces to simple tactical motifs.
-NM Dan Heisman
T his position comes from "johnny mac"

on RedHotPawn, who was nice enough
to send me a bunch of his games in
PGN format, so I could look at them for tactics!
Thanks Johnny!

move.
Answer below.
Today I want to share another good article

from NM Dan Heisman's Novice Nook column on
chesscafe.com
A Counting Primer -
(http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman15.pdf)
This is a VERY important topic, that I had never seen discussed before. Knowing, and really
understanding this idea, can save you a lot of time in games, and prevent you from making simple
mistakes.
Dan defines counting as:
the process of determining whether any sequences of captures on a square might

lead to loss of material. If not, the piece on the square is considered "safe."
I see this happen a lot in games between class players. They put a piece on a square that is not
"safe", and it is simply taken. Or they spend too much time calculating if a square is safe for them
to put their piece on. They may even waste time making a square safer than it needs to be for
what they are trying to accomplish.
I like how Dan starts with a very basic example of a rook attacking a pawn and asking if the
pawn is safe. The answer is "no", then he adds a defender, and the answer is "yes". He builds
upon this example.
This example is great, and is something I had never seen explained this well, even in books like
"Chess for Dummies". You should not be studying more advanced tactical ideas, if you have not
mastered the idea of counting.
Dan has a great followup to this article called: The Two Types of Counting Problems
(http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman75.pdf) which gives more examples of counting, and
common mistakes that players under 1800 commonly make.

[Date "2011.09.04"]
[White "johnny mac"]
[Black "orgelsimon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1480"]
[BlackElo "1598"]
[PlyCount "96"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bg5 Qa5+ 6. Nd2 Qxg5 7. N2f3 Qc5
8. Qd3 Nc6 9. Nb3 Qb6 10. Be2 d6 11. O-O Be7 12. a3 O-O 13. h3 h6 14. c4 Nxe4
15. Qxe4 Qxb3 16. Rab1 d5 17. cxd5 exd5 18. Qd3 Qxd3 19. Bxd3 Bf6 20. Rfd1 Be6
21. Bf1 Rad8 22. Re1 Bf5 23. Rbd1 Bxb2 24. a4 Ba3 25. Re3 Bc5 26. Rc3 Bb4 27.
Rcc1 a6 28. g4 Be4 29. Nd4 Ne5 30. Rc7 b6 31. Bxa6 Bc5 32. Ne2 Nf3+ 33. Kg2
Ng5+ 34. Kf1 Nxh3 35. Nc3 Nxf2 36. Rd2 Nxg4 37. Nxe4 dxe4 38. Rxd8 Rxd8 39. Ke2
e3 40. a5 Rd2+ 41. Kf3 h5 42. axb6 Bxb6 43. Rc8+ Kh7 44. Rc6 Rf2+ 45. Kg3 Bd4
46. Bd3+ g6 47. Rc4 Be5+ 48. Kh3 Rh2# 0-1
Answer:
Black can snag a pawn with 14. ...Nxe4!
The White queen is overloaded, and cannot protect the pawn on e4, and knight on b3 at the
same time.
The game continued 15. Qxe4 Qxb3 leaving black up a pawn.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
.
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. - Robert
Louis Stevenson
T oday I will present a few more articles

from the chesscafe.com "Novice Nook"
archive that I would recommend
related to the topic of chess tactics.

move.
Answer below.
One quick comment: While the title "Novice

Nook" might imply that the column is for true
beginners, who barely know how the pieces
move, the column is really geared towards
players below the Master level.
The Seeds of Tactical Destruction

(http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman05.pdf) - This article does a great job of answering the
question, "How do I know if the position contains a tactic in the first place". I have had readers of
my chess tactics newsletter ask me this question. They can find the answer when presented with
a "White to Play and Win" problem, but will often miss the same tactic in a real game situation.
This is a common problem.
Dan provides a good list of these "seeds", which include:
Loose (unguarded) pieces

Weak back rank
Pawns near promotion
Overworked pieces
He adds some good rules such as
In tactical positions, one should always consider checks, captures, and threats,
usually in that order
and shows a nice example from one of his own games on how to implement this thinking
process.
The Most Important Tactic (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman35.pdf) - This is another

article on the topic of "Counting". Dan writes:
players rated less than 1400 USCF make about as many counting errors as they do
for all the other tactics put together!
which makes this a very important concept to understand, and one that is not talked a lot about
by chess writers, or mentioned in chess books.
There are a lot of good tips sprinkled throughout the article such as this one, which I really liked:
Remember, when your opponent takes a piece, you usually have to take a piece
back, but it does not always have to be the recapture!
Even if you have read Dan's other articles on counting, this is a good one to "Sharpen the Saw".
Each of these articles should be read, reread, and applied to your tactical study!

[Date "2011.09.18"]
[White "Quanto"]
[Black "johnny mac"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1468"]
[BlackElo "1480"]
[PlyCount "89"]
1. e4 e5 2. d4 d6 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. dxe5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Nc3 c6 8.

Bd2 Be7 9. O-O-O h6 10. Bxh6 Qc7 11. Bxg7 Rh7 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Qxf6 Nd7 14.
Qf5 Rg7 15. g4 O-O-O 16. h4 Rg6 17. g5 Rd6 18. Rxd6 Qxd6 19. Qxf7 Qf8 20. Qxf8
Rxf8 21. Rh2 Kd8 22. g6 b5 23. Be6 Nf6 24. h5 Re8 25. Bf7 Rf8 26. h6 Ne8 27. h7
Ke7 28. h8=Q Rxh8 29. Rxh8 Nf6 30. Ra8 b4 31. Rxa7+ Kf8 32. Na4 Kg7 33. f3 Nh5
34. Ra6 Kh6 35. Rxc6 Kg5 36. Nc5 Kf4 37. Re6 Ng7 38. Rf6+ Ke3 39. Nd7 Kd4 40.
Rd6+ Ke3 41. Nxe5 Kf4 42. Rd5 Nh5 43. a4 bxa3 44. bxa3 Ng7 45. a4 1-0
Answer:
Black had just played what seemed like a harmless move, 9. ...h6, but this allowed a discovered
attack on the queen with 10. Bxh6. After the black queen moves, white can pick up even more
material, with 11. Bxg7 forking the knight on f6 and rook on h8.
Moves like h6 can seem harmless, but can often be used as a target for the bishops, and can
often weaken the kings protection, and can waste time that could be used on more fruitful
developing moves. In this case, black probably should have just castled, or played Nbd7, instead
of playing h6.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. -Emo
Philips
T his is the 100th Tactics Time

Newsletter! Congratulations on getting
this far, and for all of your hard work
on improving your chess game!

move.
Answer below.
Today we are going to list some of the ideas

and themes we have looked at over the first 100
Tactics Time Newsletters.
Mating Patterns
Hook Mate
Anastasia Mate
Arabian Mate
Blackburn's Mate
Smothered Mate
Back Rank Mate
Légal's Mate
Fun Openings
The Crab
The Fishing Pole
Halloween Gambit
Evans Gambit
King's Gambit
Unusual chessmates
Checkmate with lone King and Knight against King and Pawn
Checkmate with 6 Knights against King
Assassin Pawns
Checkmate with multiple queens
Traditional Tactical Patterns

Pins
Skewers
X-Rays
Windmills
Forks
Stalemates
Discovered Attacks
Overloaded piece
Great job!! If you have got this far, this means for the past 200 days you have gone over 100
new chess tactics problems and patterns. Some of them you might have known already, and
some were harder than others, but hopefully they all helped you build and reinforce your chess
pattern recognition skills.
It is a good idea to review the e-mails again, and go back and look at and review any ideas that
you may have struggled with the first time around. Some email programs will allow you to "flag" a
message. You may want to "flag" any problems that you did not solve correctly the first time, so
you can review them again.
If there were reference articles that you didn't have time to look at the first time around, this
might be a good time to go back and look at them.
[Event "Levy Memorial"]

[Site "Denver"]
[Date "2003.09.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Tidoy, Pedro"]
[Black "Ehlvest, Jaan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E52"]
[WhiteElo "2221"]
[BlackElo "2587"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2003.09.18"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. cxd5

exd5 9. Ne5 Bd6 10. f4 c5 11. Bd2 Nc6 12. Nb5 Be7 13. Rc1 a6 14. Nxc6 Bxc6 15.
Nc3 Re8 16. Rf3 cxd4 17. exd4 Ne4 18. Rh3 Bf6 19. Be3 Bd7 20. g4 g6 21. Nxd5
Bxg4 22. Qxg4 Qxd5 23. Bc4 Qd6 24. f5 Bxd4 25. fxg6 hxg6 26. Rd1 Bxe3+ 27. Rxe3
Nd2 28. Rxd2 1-0
Answer:
This game was played at the "Edward Levy Memorial" tournament, which was a huge Bill
Goichberg Continental Chess Association tournament with hundreds of people, including top GMs,
and thousands of dollars in prizes.
Unfortunately for Colorado, the tournament was not a financial success, and was cancelled after
two years.
After the tournament was over I corresponded with IM John Donaldson, who sent me a bunch of
games that he had entered into chessbase (including this one), and also submitted to TWIC (The
Week in Chess).
This position was featured in the April 2004 Tactics Time Column.
In a more than 400 point upset, GM Jaan Ehlvest resigned after 28. Rxd2! The rook cannot be
recaptured by the queen because of 28. ..Qxd2 29. Qxg6+ Kh8 30. Rh3+ Qh6 31. Rxh6#
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

Tactics Time Newsletters. Vol.1 Chess Tactics From The Real Games of Everyday Chess Players PDF

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Newsletter Issue # 1 Tactics Time

T his idea was really drilled into my head

In the position on the right it is White to

In the position on the right, black has just

During the 2011 "Tribute to Bobby Fischer"

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Tribute to Bobby Fischer"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg5 e6 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. exd4 Be7 8.

You can play through the moves of the game here:

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Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

I n the previous newsletter we looked at

In the position on the right it is White to

This was a really well run tournament, and

Here is my report card:

Overall it was an amazing tournament. Highly recommended.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Tribute to Bobby Fischer"]

You can play through the moves of the game here:

This move causes all sorts of problems for black.

I ended up mating black a few moves later.

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Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. - Clint Eastwood (Heartbreak Ridge)

T oday's newsletter is a little different,

Instead of finding the "best" move, I want you

Also, think to yourself - if I was in a

Could I win or draw this game against

Here is the complete game score:

[Event "Tribute to Bobby Fischer"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. Nf3 Ne4 4. Bf4 e6 5. e3 Bd6 6. Bxd6 cxd6 7. c3 Nc6 8.

You can play through this game here:

This is a clear win for white.

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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

A fter this game, my opponent and good

She was referring, of course, to my Tactics

In the position on the right it is white to

Answer at the bottom.

But this game was different.

It was a long time control.

A draw wasn't going to cut it. We both needed a win.

Here I used all of these ideas together. I

Fritz 12 evaluates this move as +3 for white

Anthea recaptured with the Queen 19. ..Qxd6

Now the second step of the plan - 20. c4!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Tribute to Bobby Fischer"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. e3 d6 5. Bd3 c6 6. c3 Nbd7 7. Nbd2 e5 8. dxe5

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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

O ne phase of the game (along with the

In the position on the right it is black to move.

One reason for this is because I think a lot of

Castle early and often