TheBestOfTacticsTime PDF

Tactics Time!
306 Chess Tactics taken from Real Amateur Games
Tim Brennan
TacticsTime.com
www.tacticstime.com
Tactics Time!
306 Chess Tactics taken from Real Amateur Games
By Tim Brennan
http://tacticstime.com
Version 1.09
December, 2014
This material contains elements protected under International and Federal Copyright laws and treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this
material is prohibited.
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About the Author

TIMOTHY BRENNAN has been writing about chess improvement
and creating chess tactics problems from amateur chess games since
2003 when he took over duties as Editor of the Colorado Chess In-
formant magazine.
Tim created his website, Tactics Time, http://tacticstime.com in May

2011 as a way to help class players out there improve their chess
game, build their tactical muscles, and have fun while doing it.
Tim enjoys playing in over the board USCF rated tournaments, and
correspondence chess online at redhotpawn.com.
In addition to chess , Tim enjoys computers, self improvement, and

working out.
You can reach Tim via at Tim@tacticstime.com.
You can follow him on Twitter under the handle TacticsTime, https://
twitter.com/TacticsTime.
Tactics Time is also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/

TacticsTime.
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Table of Contents
About the Author .................................................................................................. 3
Table of Contents ................................................................................................. 4
Tactics Problems .................................................................................................. 5
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Tactics Time!
1. Steve Kovach - Ken Dail 2. R. Rountree - Klaus Johnson 3. Kenneth Carabba - Pete Short
Winter Springs Open 2008 Winter Springs Open 2008 Reggie Boone Memorial 2009
White to Move White to Move Black to Move
4. Tom Corbett - Shannon Fox 5. Scott Massey– Tim Brennan 6. S. Bommireddy - F. Baltier
Denver Chess Club Feb 2009 Allen Ufer Memorial 2009 ESCC Championship 2009
White to Move Black to Move Black to Move
7. P. Anderson - M. Anderson 8. VICKY21 - RedwoodPete 9. Frank Deming– Cory Foster

Cabin Fever Reliever 2009 Redhotpawn.com Feb Duel 2009 Loveland Open 2009
Black to Move Black to Move White to Move
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Answers:
1. 1. Qg5 leads to a forced mate. Black does not have enough time to defend his position. One line might be
1...g6 2. Qf6 Qe6 3. Qg7#
2. Robert delivered a Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kick with 1. b4 leaving the knight on c5 with no safe squares.
3. Pete fell asleep at the wheel earlier in the game and got his queen pinned to his king, but fought his way back
to this position. 1. ...b5! puts white in a lose-lose situation, where black is going to get a queen, while white is
too far away to do anything.
4. 1. Nc5 unleashes all sorts of double discovered attacks and more problems than a math book to deal with.
5. Elvis has left the building with 1...Rxb3! Which leaves white with all sorts of problems to deal with. In the
game white played 2. axb3 and black mated on the next move 2...Qa1# (not 2...Nxb3+ forking the King and
Queen)
6. 1...e4 is a good old fashioned pin it and win it.
7. Black played 1...Qg3+ which looks like it sets up a fork of king and queen, but the problem is that the queen
on f6 is protected by the pawn on g5, so black ends up losing a knight for a pawn, and locks his own king in.
Much better was 1...Nxe5 first, which sets up a mating net, threatening Qg3# on the next move.
8. This position was so absurd that I had to include it. It was played on the correspondence chess website
redhotpawn.com. White refused to resign, so black started underpromoting to knights. 1...Ng5# is a mate that
you don’t see everyday.
9. This game was broadcast live over the internet on monroi.com from the Loveland Open, which I think is very
cool! White nabbed a free pawn with 1. Nxe5! If 1...Bxe5 2. Qh5+ picks up the bishop.
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Tactics Time!
10. John Mitchell - J. Caldwell 11. Nazar Firman - C. Salinas 12. Pedro Tidoy- Jaan Elvest
Denver Chess Club 2003 Edward Levy Memorial 2003 Edward Levy Memorial 2003
White to Move White to Move White to Move
13. Dylan Lehti - Denny Dennis 14. P. Grimm - Curtis Crockett 15. Brian Wall - Paul Grimm
Denver Chess Club 2003 Denver Chess Club 2004 Foundation Cup 2004 (variation)
16. Anthea Carson - Steve Towbin 17. Steve Towbin - Jesse Hester 18. R. Cordovano - S. Hornyak
Denver Chess Club 2004 Denver Chess Club 2003 Winter Springs Open 2003
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Answers:
10. 1. Ne8! Forces checkmate. Black has a ton of spite checks he can throw in first to delay the inevitable like
1...Ne2+ 2. Kh1 Nxg3+ 3. hxg3 Rh4+ 4. Kg1 Rh1+ 5. Kxh1 Bf7 6. Qxf7+ Kh8 7. Qg7#
11. White can safely take the pawn with 1. Bxe4 because the d pawn is pinned to the Queen on a5. In the game
black should have played 1...Nf8 protecting against mate, but instead played 1...dxe4 and resigned after 2.
Qxa5.
12. In a more than 400 point upset, GM Ehlvest resigned after 1. Rxd2! The rook cannot be recaptured by the
queen because of 1...Qxd2? 2. Qxg6+ Kh8 3. Rh3+ Qh6 4. Rxh6#
13. Thanks to Dylan Lehti for this contribution! He writes: “I recently played this game and would like to share
part of it with a great tactical move. I think it would make a good puzzle in the Tactics Time! Section of the
Colorado Chess Informant magazine. This was the position with white to move. The move is 1. Ne4, imme-
diately winning material. I played this at DCC on a standard Tuesday game.”
14. Paul found a nice smothered mate with 1.Nf7+ Kg8 2.Nxh6+ Kh8 3.Qg8+ Rxg8 4.Nf7#
15. This position did not occur in the game, but could have if Paul would have played Kex6. Brian would have
followed up with the nice and neat Qf5#
16. This game was played in a Friday night 5 minute game at the DCC 1.Qxf7+ Kd8 2.Bg5+ Be7 3.Qxe7#
17. This position, which was reached in a 5 minute game, looks like it can straight out of a Fred Reinfeld 1001
tactic book. White has his choice of 1.Qxg6+ hxg6 2.Bxg6# or 1.Bxg6+ hxg6 2.Qxg6# Sacing the queen,
and mating with a lone bishop is more fun though :-)
18. 1. Nxf7 wins a pawn in a tricky position. If 1...Kxf7 2. Bxg6+ forks the King and Rook.
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Tactics Time!
19. Paul Grimm - Tom Corbert 20. Brian Wall - Renae Delaware 21. Ed Timmins - Pete Short
Rated Match 2004 Geezer vs Teaser Training 2004 Denver Chess Club 2004
22. Paul Anderson - Brian Wall 23. Cory Foster - Randy Reynolds 24. P. Ponomarev - M. Shridhar
Colorado Springs CC 2004 Fort Collins Spring Fling 2004 Boulder Open 2004
25. A. Gitis - Gary Bagstad 26. Tim Brennan - J.C. MacNeil 27. Anthea Carson - Gary Frenzel
Boulder Open 2004 Denver Chess Club 2004 Winter Springs Open 2004
Black to Move White to Move White to Move
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Answers:
19. Paul (White) missed a chance for a brilliant stalemate with 1. Rb1+, and instead played 1. Rxb7 hoping for 1...Kxb7 with
stalemate. After 1. Rxb7 Tom played 1...g5+, then took the rook with an easy win. After Rb1+ the white rook keeps
checking the black king, and there is no where to hide. The white rook can never be captured because it will be stalemate.
20. This was a training game in which Brian got 49 seconds (his age at the time) and Renae got five minutes. They were pre-
paring for a thematic tournament in Colorado Springs, in which each player started with the same position in the Nim-
zovich-Larsen attack: modern variation after the moves 1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bd6. In this position Black
mates with 12...Qh4+ 13.Kf3 Nh2# the queen and knights working well together.
21. 1...Nxf4+ unleashes a nice discovered attack on the queen.
22. Fritz 8 gave the move 1. Qxh2+!! a double exclam, and wrote “The nicest combinations are those leading to mate.”
1...Kxh2 2. Rh5#
23. 1...Qh7# is an interesting mate.
24. 21. Bg6+! Double discovered checks can be nasty! The Black King must move to e7, but the bishop falls after 21...Ke7
22.Qf7+ Kd8 23.Qxg7. All other moves lead to mate. 21...Ke6 22.Qf7+ Ke5 23.Nf3# or 21...Kxg6 22.h5# or 21...Kg8
22.Qf7#
25. 1...Nxd5 snags a nice center pawn. The Rook on d2 appears to be guarding it, but is overloaded with guarding the pawn
on b2.
26. 1. Qb6+ is the quickest way to mate. In the game I got flashy and played the overly complicated 1. Qe8+, which mates in
seven, because I did not see the easier mate in two.
27. 1. Qf5# mates the king in the middle of the board after sacrificing two bishops, which dragged the black king from a safe
home on g8 to a deadly exposed spot on g5.
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Tactics Time!
28. Derek Fish - E. Barkmeyer 29. Brian Wall - Julian Evans 30. Paul Anderson - T. Nichols
CO Class Championship 2009 DCC March Madness 2009 Cabin Fever Reliever 2009
31. Fred Spell - Kevin Seidler 32. R. Langseth - P. O’Rourke 33. M. Anderson - K. Leeds-Tilley
Colorado Springs Open 2009 Colorado Springs Open 2009 Colorado Springs Open 2009
34. R. Rountree - Julian Evans 35. Joe Aragon - Gary Bagstad 36. Shannon Fox - Billy Willson
Colorado Springs Open 2009 Colorado Springs Open 2009 DCC Club Championship 2009
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Answers:
28. 1. Nxb7! leaves black in a dilly of a pickle, threatening Nxd8 and Ba5+. Fritz points out that 1. Ba5+ also
leads Dorothy down the yellow brick road.
29. 1. Bxf6! gxf6 2. Ne4 leaves black with a problem an economic stimulus package can’t even solve—he can’t
save his oddly placed rook on c5, and prevent the sweet smothered mate Nf6# at the same time.
30. In the position, white just played Nxd5 and black missed the chance to play 1...e4 forking the knight and bish-
op, and being up a piece for 2 pawns.
31. 1...h5! is the game changer. After 2. g5 or 2. gxh5, Black’s king can exploit the white squares via h7 and start
gobbling pawns. White is going to have to waste time hunting the lone wolf b pawn, before he can try and
save his army on the kingside.
32. Rhett frankly didn’t give a gosh darn and burned down the Black King’s mansion with 1. Qxh5 which leads to
a forced mate after 1. ..h6 2. Qxh6 Re8 3. Qh7+ Kf8 4. Qxf7# or for extra style points 3. Bh7+ Kh8 4. Nxf7#
33. 1. f6! is a nice discovered attack on the queen, and attacks the bishop on e7, which would then fork the rooks
on the next move and make a new queen. As Dick Vitale would say “It’s awesome baby!”
34. 1. ..Qc4 sets up an assault and battery on the open file. There is no painless way for white to stop black, and
the threat of 2...Qc2+ 3. Ka1 Qb2# If 2. Rc1 Qxc1+ 3. Rxc1 Rxc1# with the knight doing a great job helping
the major pieces.
35. 1. Bxf4! brings home the bacon, and fries it up in a pan. The black rook has no safe squares to run away, and
if 1...exf4 White comes crashing in with 2. Qxe6+.
36. Shannon was a menace to Mr. Willson with 1. h3 leaving the bishop with no where to run, no where to hide,
after 1...Bh5 2. g4 Bg6 3. f5
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Tactics Time!
37. Shannon Fox - Rim Yurkus 38. Tim Brennan - Jerry Maier 39. Andrew Rea - Joe Fromme
Denver Chess Club 2007 Poor Richards November 2007 Pikes Peak Open 2007
40. Jim Fety - Francisco Baltier 41. Anthea Carson - T. Brennan 42. Terry Powell - John Mauger
Reno Western States Open 2007 Poor Richards Extra Game 2007 Colorado Chess Festival 2006
43. Daoud Zupa - Tyler Hughes 44. Evan Aprile - Brian Wall 45. Pete Short - A. Porukumati
Colorado Closed 2007 Blindfold Borders Kids CC 2007 BAH December Frenzy 2006
White to Move Black to Move White to Move
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Answers:
37. 1. Rxf6 removes the defender of h5. If black recaptures with 1...gxf6 2. Qxh5+ leads to a quick mate 2...Kg8
3. Qh6# Otherwise white is simply a piece up.
38. The Poor Richards Bookstore tournaments in Colorado Springs were a lot of fun. They were well run by Jerry
Maier, who took a midfield QB sack here with 1. Rb4#, ignoring the hanging bishop on g7. Jerry does a great
job as TD, always rating the games immediately online.
39. Andy came all the way from Kuwait to unleash his own private “War of Terror”, as Borat would say, with
1.Rd8+ Kc7 2. Rc8#
40. After 1...Bxf2+ Francisco is telling white they forgot to bring one thing - “A good supply of body bags”. The
game ended on the 9th move after 2. Kxf2 Ne4+ 3. Kf3 Qh4 4. e3 Qf2#
41. Anthea showed me “How to Play Chess Like an Animal” by playing The Crab Opening and put some horse
meat in the crab dip after 1. Bh3 (1. Nxe6 also works) doing the old “pin it and win it” tactic.
42. Black posts his b2 rook too aggressively, and 1. Bxh7+ punishes this with a discovered attack.
43. After a very long hard fought game the knight was trapped on the 82nd move with 1. Re7
44. Brian wasn’t “fooling around” against this 9 year old beginner at the Borders Kids chess club in Denver un-
leashing his most dangerous weapon—the fishing pole! That is practically cheating! Black mates after 1...Qh4
white can drag it out after 2. f4 g3 3.Qh5 Rxh5 4.Bxd7+ Bxd7 5. Rf2 Qh1#
45. Pete Short, who was living in St. Pete Florida at the time this was played, makes the black kingside look like a
post apocalyptic war zone after 1.Rxg7+! If black takes the rook with 1...Kxg7 then white wins the black
queen 2.Qg4+ Kh6 3.Nc6 f6 4.Nxd8. If black decides to not take the rook, he gets sent to bed without dessert
with 1...Kh8 2.Nxf7+ Rxf7 3.Rxh7+ Kxh7 4.Qh5+ Kg8 5.Qh8# After this game Pete proceeded to steal a
rascal scooter from the parking lot and drove straight to an early bird special dinner to celebrate.
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Tactics Time!
46. Brian Wall - Shaun MacMillan 47. Alexander Yu - Dan Picard 48. R. Anderson - Ivan Wijetunge
Pikes Peak Open 2009 Pikes Peak Open 2009 Pikes Peak Open 2009
49. Fred Spell - Jiri Kovats 50. Pete Short - Scott Mayer 51. Joe Haines - Shannon Fox
Pikes Peak Open 2009 June Denver Chess Club 2009 Sept Denver Chess Club 2008
Black to Move White to Move Black to Move
52. Igor Melnykov - T. Brennan 53. A. Ogunmefuni - J. Baffo 54. Virgil McGuire - P. Anderson
Colorado Springs Open 2008 Colorado Open 2009 Cabin Fever Reliever 2002
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Answers:
46. 1. Ra6! Overloads the black queen like a dishwasher on Thanksgiving.

47. 1. Bxf5 picks up a pawn, and offers a trade of bishops.
48. White goes for the jugular with a nifty minor piece checkmate 32. g5+ fxg5 33.hxg5+ Kh5 34.Ng7#
49. 1...Nxc5 puts the biscuit in the basket, removing the defender of the knight on e5.
50. White takes it to the hole with 1. Ba3 skewering the Queen and Rook.
51. 1...c4 traps the bishop like R. Kelly in the closet.
52. 1. Bxd5 puts the knight on a death panel, because of black’s weak back rank.
53. Jeff Baffo sent in this puzzle, and writes: “Allowing black a chance to draw. Here I played the slightly silly 27...Rg6
and lost when I made another very tired old man blunder 3 moves later. The first move (of the saving combo) is some-
thing most players would at least look at, but finding the shocking follow up is so counter intuitive most of those same
players would also quickly dismiss it. This I did to my lasting regret. Not to take anything away from Mr. O. He had
a fantastic tournament and was the well deserved victor in our game. The solution is 27...Rxf3! 28.exf3 Qxf3+ 29.
Kg1 Nf4!! and White can not avoid perpetual check.”
54. Paul Anderson published this game in his June 30, 2009 newsletter after Virgil McGuire, a long time member of the
Colorado Springs Chess Club, passed away. In this game Paul missed 1...Qxc1+ which overloads the rook on c7, un-
pinning the king, and allowing the queen on e6 to be captured. Virgil went on to win this game, which can be found at
http://home.att.net/~cs.chess/games/mcguireanderson02192002.htm. RIP Virgil.
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Tactics Time!
55. S. Fox - Wolfgang Kern 56. Jeff Fox - Paul Anderson 57. B. Weihmiller - A. Duran
Denver Chess Club Oct 2009 Colorado Sp Chess Champ 2009 Ft Collins vs Col Springs 2007
58. Lee Lahti - Dean Brown 59. James Greene - T. Brennan 60. Dan Avery - Randy Reynolds
Ft Collins vs Col Springs 2007 October East Coast Deli 2009 Col Springs Fundraiser 2006
61. Randy Schine - Richard Herbst 62. C. Grubel - Gordon Randall 63. C. Neuhaus - M. Martinson
Colorado Open 2009 Colorado Open 2009 Monument Open 2009
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Answers:
55. Shannon’s foxy pieces ganged up on black before he could call in the Wolfe 1. Nxf5 Qxb2+ 2. Kxb2 Nf7 3.
Nh6+ Nxh6 4. Qg7#
56. Just about anything white does here wins, but 1. Qc1 would have been fastest, discovering an attack on the
queen, which cannot move, and still defend the unprotected rook behind it.
57. After 1...Nd3+ it’s Miller Time for Black. The overloaded white queen cannot protect the Rook on a1 and get
stalemated king out of check at the same time. After 1...Nd3+ 2. Qxd3 Qxa1+ white resigned.
58. In this position the black bishop just captured a piece on e5, and white needs to recapture. He has two ways
to do this. Lee flipped a coin and picked 1. dxe5, but 1. fxe5! is better, because it discovers an attack on the
hanging h6 pawn, and helps launch a deadly kingside attack. The game ended in a draw.
59. I help mated myself on the previous move with Rg8 allowing 1. Qf6+ Rg7 2. Qxg7# It’s not easy beating
Greene.
60. Randy Reynolds created this problem for the October 2006 Tactics Time column in the Colorado Chess In-
formant, and writes “Already hurting from a horrible pawn structure, Randy puts his knight on d5 and Dan
quickly picks it up with 1. Nxd5. 1...cxd5?? only results in more pain with 2. Rxc8+ 3. Rxc8 Qxc8+ and a
lost rook.”
61. Randy shined after 1. Qb6 trapping the white queen on the next move with 2. Bb7 and eventually won the
uneven endgame with Queen and two bishops versus Rook and 3 minor pieces.
62. Charles gave Gordon’s King a dishonorable discharge after 1. Qa8+ Kc7 2. b8=Q+ (2. b8=B+ works as well
and earns additional style points for the reader) 2...Rxb8 3. Qc6+ Kd8 4. Qd7#
63. Chai took it to the house with the surprising and creative 1. Nb8 adding a third attacker to the rook on d7 in
an unusual manner.
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Tactics Time!
64. T. Brennan - Isaac Martinez 65. Alex Freeman - Tom Mullikin 66. G. Laird - Andre Patin
Pueblo Open 2011 April East Coast Deli 2011 Denver Chess Club May 2011
67. K. Kondracki - Z. Bekkedahl 68. Brian Wall - Eric Montany 69. Damian Nash - Randy Canney
DCC King Hunt 2011 DCC King Hunt 2011 Colorado Closed 2011
70. A. Telinbacco - J. Irwin 71. Fred Spell - Ken MacRae 72. Rhett Langseth- D. Zhu
Colorado Class 2011 May East Coast Deli 2011 Scholastic Closed 201
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Answers:
64. White can play 1. Bxf7+! If 1...Kxf7 2. Bd2+ discovered check, wins the black queen. Isaac and I ended up drawing this
game, and he went on to be the new Pueblo Open champ! Nice work Isaac! Plus we racked up tons of Colorado Tour
Points! Sweet!!
65. 1. g6+ makes blacks position about as comfortable as Shaq’s feet in a pair of size 6 stiletto high heels.
66. 1. Bg5 is a nice developing with tempo deflection move against the black queen The bishop can’t be captured, because
the rook on c8 would be hanging with check. Either 1...Qe8 or 1...Qc7 should be followed up with 2. Be7+ Qxe7 3.
Qxc8+ winning the exchange.
67. Bxh3! is a nice little tactic that wins a pawn that is guarding the king 2. gxh3 Qf3+ 3. Kh2 (or Kg1) Rxd3 hands out an
old-fashioned woodshed whippin'.
68. Taking time out from his starring role in “Bobby Fischer Against the World”, Brian had time to play 1. Nxe6! Which
grabs a pawn that appears to be protected, but really isn’t. If 1...Qxe6?? 2. Bd5 pins the queen to the black king.
69. 1...Rxe5 nabs white’s passed pawn, activates the rook, and takes control of the open file. White can’t capture the rook—
2. Qxe5 Qb2# If Mad Money’s Jim Kramer was describing this move, he would give it a studdering Bababababa
BOOYAH!
70. 1. Nxe5! steals a valuable center pawn like a kleptomaniac.
71. 1...Bxh2+ is like the credit card reward program - “It pays to Discover”. This move discovers an attack against the knight
on d4, which will put the queen on a killer square in the middle of the board, while all of white’s pieces are stuck on the
fringe. 2. Kxh2 Qxd4
72. 1...Nxc4 takes a trip to the pawn shop 2. Qxc4 Bxf3
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Tactics Time!
73. 2023 player - Shannon Fox 74. ZonaGrad -philosophyofchess 75. Anthea Carson - T Brennan
ICC Blitz game 2010 RedHotPawn.com 2010 Dean Brown AFA Aug Quad 2010
76. B Rountree - Isaac Martinez 77. Alex Freeman - Jerry Maier 78. Tim Brennan - Jerry Maier
Aug East Coast Deli 2010 July East Coast Deli 2010 Harvest Moon Pueblo 2010
79. D Plakalovic - Ken MacRae 80. Dan Hoffacker - Jackson Chen 81. Tom Mullikin - Ken MacRae
East Coast Deli March 2010 Pikes Peak Open 2010 East Coast Deli March 2010
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Answers:
73. Shannon got a Dutch Oven in this game. 1. Rxh7 Rxh7 2. Qg6# - the complete game went 1.d4 f5 2.h3 Nf6
3.g4 fxg4 4.hxg4 Nxg4 5.Qd3 Nf6 6.Rxh7 Rxh7 7.Qg6# Ouch!
74. Fishing Pole connoisseur Francisco Baltier also loves the traps in the Budapest opening. Here black punishes
white for developing his bishops before knights with 1. Bxf2+ (1. Ne4 also works) winning a pawn, and ex-
posing the white king for more abuse.
75. I needed some insect repellent as Anthea was playing one of her favorite Animal openings—The Horsefly—1.
f4 Nh6!? In this position 1...Bxf3 2. Qxf3 Qd4+ wins a piece
76. 1. d6+ is a bone crushing discovered check.
77. 1...Qxc4 puts points on the scoreboard after 2. Qxc4 Nd2+ winning a piece.
78. 1. Rc1 punishes black for developing the queen too early, and grabbing poison pawns. The game ended
1...Qb6 2. Rxc8+ Qd8 3. Nc7# with a nice smothered mate.
79. Bf4 is a nice in between move that skewers the Queen and c pawn, which is already under attack from the
knight
80. Jackson sprung into action with 1. Rxd8+ Bxd8 2. Bxg6 winning a valuable kingside pawn
81. Tom wasted no time mating his opponent in the opening with 5. Bxf7+ Kxf7 6. Ng5+ Kf6 7. Qf3#
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Tactics Time!
82. Mark McGough - A. Freeman 83. D. Plakalovic - B. Buchanan 84. Daoud Zupa - Ted Doykos
July East Coast Deli 2011 July East Coast Deli 2011 Denver Open 2011
85. Tim Brennan - Liz Wood 86. Anthea Carson - James Powers 87. Richard Brown - Fred Spell
Steel City Sizzler 2011 June Panera Bread 2011 June East Coast Deli 2011
88. Abe Grinberg - Rob Hartelt 89. Chris Peterson - Alex Fishbein 90. David Hartsook - Brian Wall
June DCC Tuesdays 2011 GM Alex Fishbein Simul 2011 May Denver Chess Club 2011
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Answers:
82. 12. Nxb7 is gonna leave a Mark! This move wins a pawn, weakens the protection of the Black King, and
removes a defender of the knight on c6. 12...Kxb7 13. Qa6+ Kb8 14. Bxc6
83. The Buck stops here with 45. ..Rg3+!! 46. fxg3 Rf1#
84. I did a podcast interview with Daoud Zupa, that you can check out on my website, http://tacticstime.com.
Daoud talked about how he owns 800-900 chess books, and shows he learned a thing or two from them with
the clever move 29. Rxc5 which wins an additional pawn.
85. 16. Ne7+ pushes Wood, and 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#
86. Anthea missed a Powerful brilliancy with 27... Qxf3! threatening 28. ..Qxg2# if 28. gxf3 Bxf3# is a beautiful
checkmate with the two bishops. White cannot stop the checkmate.
87. 14...Nxc4+ asks the inverse of the UPS question “What can Brown do for you” in the form of “What can I do
to Brown”, winning a pawn, as white needs to defend the threat of Qxg2# and doesn’t have time to capture the
knight.
88. 22...Rxf2 picks up an additional pawn. The rook cannot be captured because of the weak back rank.
89. Chris missed a chance to beat the GM 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. The game ended in a draw.
90. Brian is famous world wide for his brilliancies with the Ng4 move in the Ruy Lopez Berlin Defense (Fishing
Pole), and it serves him well here as well. 20...Ng4! causes major problems for white. After the queen
moves, for example 21. Qe2 Nxe3, and if the queen captures the knight, 22. Qxe3 Bc4 pins the queen to the
king.
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Tactics Time!
91. Jose Llacza - Javier Holliness 92. Isaac Martinez - Dean Brown 93. Ted Doykos - Jacob Ornelas
Winter Springs Open 2012 Winter Springs Open 2012 Winter Springs Open 2012
94. Amrita Nag - Tim Brennan 95. Chris Peterson - F. Greus 96. Anthea Carson - P. Anderson
Wild Boar December 2012 Denver vs Ft. Collins 2012 Nov Wed Panera Bread 2012
97. James Powers - D. Herman 98. Mark McGough - Fred Spell 99. Brian Rountree - I. Martinez
Nov Wed Panera Bread 2012 Nov Wed Panera Bread 2012 Nov Wed Panera Bread 2012
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Answers:
91. 36. Rd7+ forks the Black King and Queen.
92. 24. Qxf4!! Got a well deserved double exclam from Deep Rybka. If 24...exf4 25.Rxg7+ and White windmills like an
NBA slam dunk contest winner 25. ...Kh8 26. Rg5+ winning the Black Queen. White wins a piece.
93. White has a nice mate in three with 35. Rxh8+ Kxh8+ 36. Qh6+ Kg8 37. Qg7#
94. 8. Qa4+ double attack, picking up the bishop on g4, which is looser than a thrift store turtleneck.
95. 14...Nxd4 snatches a pawn if 15. cxd4 Bxd4+ 16. Kh1 Bxa1
96. Black’s King invades Fort Carson with 45...Kd4 forking the White Rook and Bishop, and adding a second attacker to the
White Bishop. White loses a piece.
97. 24. Nxf6 forks the Black King and Rook. The e7 pawn is pinned.
98. Mark casts a Spell with 14. Nb6 threatening the Black Rook on a8, and the mate threat Qf7#
99. 11. g3 and Brian spins the Queen right round baby, right round, like a record baby, right round round round.
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Tactics Time!
100. saint1 - TimmyBx 101. BillyDean - rossw 102. Andrew Kerr - jbaffo
Redhotpawn.com 2009 Redhotpawn.com 2009 Redhotpawn.com 2010
103. N2H4 - Eagle and King 104. FrolickingFerret - cliffgaroup 105. DocSynder - RedwoodPete
Redhotpawn.com 2010 Redhotpawn.com 2010 Redhotpawn.com 2008
106. Zonagrad - Diapason 107. Nocky69 - Klaus Johnson 108. SapanRinpoche-DracoMalfoy

Redhotpawn.com 2009 Redhotpawn.com 2010 Redhotpawn 2010
White to Move - King moves only Black to Move White to Move
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Answers:
100. 1...Bxf2+ (1. ..Ne4 also works) 2. Kxf2 (2. Kd2 Ne4+ wins a piece) Ng4+ 3. Ke1 Qxg5 wins a pawn, and
leaves white’s king stuck like Toyota break pedal in the middle of the board.
101. BillyDean, aka Dean Brown, is an animal on RHP. You don’t want to mess with him! His rating is over
2000, and he is the king of time out wins, earning him the nickname “Mr. Timeout”. Dean plays as slow as
a dead snail, and wins games on timeout after his opponents die of old age. In this wild game Dean got the
party started right with 1. Qh5+ g6 2. Nxg5 hxg6 3. Qxh8 which is a good tactic to know, as this theme
comes up often.
102. Jeff Baffo is really fun to play against because me makes lots of fun comments quoting people such as Frank
Castle the Punisher, Weird Al, and the ghost of Fred Reinfeld during the games. Here Jeff aka “1. Nc3”
punishes his opponent with 1...Bxc3 2. Kf1 2. Bxb2 picking up two pawns.
103. Eagle and King, aka YHE (Your Humble Editor) of the Colorado Chess Informant Fred Spell, removes the
defenders of the back rank with 1...a5 2. Bc5 b4! In the game white played 3. Na4 which allowed the spell-
check Rd1+ and mate on the next move.
104. FrolickingFerret is uber TD Jerry Maier, best known for playing oddball openings, never ever resigning a
game and pairing players who are out of town. We love you Jerry! Thanks for all your hard work. Here
white can pin it and win it with 1. f5.
105. RedwoodPete is my BFF Pete Short. Pete’s hobbies include skiing, geocaching, and writing “Clogs and
Plungers” stories about the DCC for my blog. Here the discovered attack 1. ..Rc1+ is gonna leave a mark.
106. Yes this position really happened! It is so absurd, I had to include it. My buddy and chess wingman Fran-
cisco Baltier, aka zonagrad, was quite proud of himself for mating with the moves 1. Kg6+ Kg8 2. Kf6+
Kf8 3. Ke6+ 4. Kd6# Of course there are dozens of ways to mate here.
107. “Klaus Johnson” aka Klaus Johnson, wins a pawn with 1. ..Nxe4 discovering an attack on the queen.
108. The founder and fearless leader of the Club Colorado group on RHP, SapanRinpoche, wins 10 points for
Gryffindor with 1. Qe6#
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Tactics Time!
109. Ken Doykos - Brian Wall 110. S. MacMillan - M. Hilgers 111. Josh Bloomer - T. Brennan
Boulder Open 2008 Colorado Springs Open 2008 Poor Richards 2008
112. Paul Anderson - Joe Pahk 113. Dean Brown - R. McCardell 114. Josh Divine - Anthea Carson
CSCC March Quad 2008 Colorado Springs Open 2008 Pikes Peak Open 2007
115. K. Schneider - D. McLaughlin 116. Paul Grimm - Cory Foster 117. Randy Reynolds - Cory Foster
Winter Springs Open 2005 Loveland Open 2008 Col Springs Fundraiser 2006
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Answers:
109. During his lesson on how to play against the “Walrus” in The People’s Republic of Boulder, Ken attacked
Brian’s Queen with 1. e3. Brian ignores this, and plays the in between move 1...Nxe5! threatening the king
and queen fork with Nf3+. Black wins a piece.
110. Shaun did a cool Bxh7 Bishop sac a few moves earlier. The only way for black to survive was to bring his
king out to defend itself just like Macaulay Culkin did in Home Alone. “Keep the change you filthy ani-
mal!!!” After 1. Qh5 it’s over. For example 1...Qxg5 2.hxg5 f6 3 g6 fxe5 4.Qh7#
111. During this game the staff at Poor Richards was serving coffee, and Josh was serving PAIN! 1.Re8+ Kg7
2.Re1 (clearance, double attack theme—threatening the knight fork Ne8+) Kg6 3.Rxb1 wins a piece.
112. The shortest path to victory is 1. ..Nc6 followed by 2. ..R7d4# Be sure and join Paul’s excellent newsletter
at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/cs_chess/ if you haven’t already.
113. The “Dean” of Colorado Chess took a timeout from playing 100 games at one time on RedHotPawn.com to
unleash a mate in 7 with 1.Rxe7+ Rf7 2.Rxf7+ Kh6 3.Rxh7+ Kg5 4.h4+ Kf5 5.Qf2+ Rf3 6.Qxf3+ Ke5
7.Qf4#
114. To err is human, to win a queen, “Divine”. After 1. b3 Anthea does not have time to save her queen, and
stop the mating net after 2. Qf6. Check out funny and educational videos of Anthea at www.youtube.com/
TimmyBx teaching openings from her book “How to Play Chess like an Animal”, now available at a Bor-
ders bookstore near you, or chesslikeananimal.com.
115. Kathy’s opponent screamed “Don’t taze me bro” after 1. Qd7+ Kf8 2. Nh7+ Kg8 3. Qf7#
116. 1. ..Qb4 protects the dangerous criminal passed pawn on b2 and threatens Re1+. White’s best defense is 2.
c3 Qxc3 3. Bxd5+ Nxd5 4. Qxc3 Nxc3 5. Rxb2 and white is down a piece. This game was a long battle
that eventually ended in a draw.
117. Randy Reynolds created this problem for the October 2006 Tactics Time Column. Randy writes: “Back
rank mates and forks play in perfect harmony here with 1. Nc6! Black’s best play is to leave the rook where
it is and go down the exchange, but 1...Rd7? was played and 2. Ne7+ forks king and rook and 1...Rxe7??
results in 2. Rxc8 with mate to follow.”
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Tactics Time!
118. Gene Lucas - Isaac Martinez 119. Cory Foster - Jose Llacza 120. D. Plakalovic - Zack Vasilj
121. Sean Scott - Anthea Carson 122. Mark McGough - D Brown 123. Alex Freeman - Fred Spell
Winter Springs Open 2010 East Coast Deli Oct 2010 East Coast Deli Oct 2010
124. archship - jbaffo 125. PureRWandBlue - Frock- 126. TimmyBx - fogie

Redhotpawn challenge 2010 lingFerrett Redhotpawn ladder 2010
Black to Move Redhotpawn Challenge 2010 White to Move
White to Move
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Answers:
118. White has two ways to capture the bishop on h4. One works, the other doesn’t. 1. Rxh4 is the correct way
to capture. If 1. Nxh4 then d5! Removes the defender of the knight on h4.
119. 1. f4! forces the knight off of its central square, and clears the 3rd rank for the queen to be able to swing
over to g3 forming a battery against the king.
120. White did a nifty rook sac to set up 1. Qc4+ Qd4+ 2. Qxd4+ Kg5 3. Qg4#
121. White has lots of good options in this version of “When Fried Liver attacks”. In the game white played 1.
Bxe7 which wins a piece due to all of the overloads.
122. 1. Rxf3 overloads the white rooks and wins a piece.
123. After sacrificing a lot of material in the opening for an attack, white gets some of it back after 1. Qf3+ forc-
ing white to give a piece back in order to get out of check.
124. Black missed a chance to “pin it and win it” with any move that safely gets the black bishop out of the way
such as 1. ..Bg7, followed by 2. ..f5 winning the light squared bishop.
125. 1. Qh5+ exploits the weakness on f7 1. ..g6 2. Nxg6
126. I missed the move 1. Bd4 which traps the rook on h8.
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Tactics Time!
127. Larry Wutt - A. Cordova 128. Amarbayasgalan - Splichal 129. Morgan Robb - R. Blaha
Colorado Open 2008 Colorado Open 2008 Colorado Open 2008
130. Jeff Baffo - Paul Anderson 131. Derek Fish - Tim Brennan 132. Lee Lahti - Chai Neuhaus
Winter Springs Open 2008 Colorado Open 2008 Colorado Open 2008
133. Steve Wilson - S. Endersbee 134. Daoud Zupa - Klaus Johnson 135. M. Dempsey - K. Lucas
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Answers:
127. 1. Nxe6 followed by 2. Qxd5 wins a pawn with the remove a defender technique
128. 1...e3 sets up the dangerous threat of Qxh3 which white must defend against and doesn’t have time to save
the knight on d2
129. 1. Nxf6 unleashes great vengeance and furious anger on the black king. The game continued 1...gxf6 2.
Bh6+ Ke8 3. Qg7 Ng6 4. Bf7+ Kd8 5. Bxg6 hxg6 6. Qxh8+
130. White forks the King and Rook with 1. Nd7+ and starts a mating net as well.
131. 1...Rb7 is a double discovered attack
132. 1...Nf3 threatens Rg1+ skewering the king and rook and will win the pawn on h2.
133. 1...Ba5 would make it impossible for white to stop the a pawn without giving up his bishop, giving black a
winning endgame, up a piece.
134. 1. Rxd7+ overloads the black king, and leads to a quick mate after 1...Kxd7 2. Qxf7+ Kc6 ( 2...Kd8 3.
Rd1#) 3. Rxe6#
135. 1...Nxe4 or 1...Nxd5 will win a pawn with the discovered attack on the unprotected knight on h4.
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Tactics Time!
136. P. Anderson - Bongee Boyce 137. Tom Mullikin - Alex Torres 138. Ken Dail- Daniel Gonzales
Pikes Peak Open 2008 Pikes Peak Open 2008 Pikes Peak Open 2008
139. Mike Wokurka - T. Brennan 140. A. Carson - Chris Hanagan 141. R. Anderson - Ted Doykos
Pikes Peak Open 2008 Pikes Peak Open 2008 Boulder Club Championship 2008
Black to Move Black to Move Black to Move
142. M. Dempsey - R. Rountree 143. Larry Wutt - Munir Hammad 144. Brian Wall - Joe Fromme
Bobby Fischer Memorial 2008 Bobby Fischer Memorial 2008 Pikes Peak Open 2008
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Answers:
136. Paul was down several 2-3 points according to Fritz for most of the game, but finds a nice mate at the end, and diso-
beyed Patrick Swayze by putting Baby in a corner with 1. Nf6+ Kh8 2. Rg8#.
137. 1. h7+ doesn’t follow Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by creating a lose-lose situation for
black—which Fritz actually gives as mate in 17 for white. Zero credit for a correct answer if you did not calculate the
full mating sequence :-)
138. Black is down material, but has a nice perpetual check with 1. ..Ng3+ 2.Kg1 Ne2+ 3.Kh1 Ng3+ ½–½
139. 1. ..Ne3+ is a rare fork of king and knight with a knight, and just like George W. Bush is “The Decider”.
140. 1. ..Qb7 sets up a clever unstoppable mate with the idea of Qe7+ and Rh3+. In the game Black played ..Qe3, but this
gave white time to defend with Qa8+ and Qg2.
141. Ted ignores the potential checks on the next several moves from a former 2400+ and plays 1. ..dxe3 setting up danger-
ous checks of his own against the exposed white king.
142. 1. Qd5+ follows the principle—”Always check—it might be mate”.
143. 1. f6 is kid tested and mother approved, threatening mate and the bishop on e7. If 1. ..Bxf6 2. Rxf6. If 1. ..Bf8 2. Bh6
and black will have to give up major material to avoid getting mated, which is what happened in the game.
144. 1. Qb3 is what Willis was talking about, and double attacks white on the weakened light squares.
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Tactics Time!
145. Dan Avery - Brian Walker 146. R. Reynolds - O. Herrmann 147. Joe Aragon - Peter Grigg
Pikes Peak Open 2004 King Hunt 2004 Pikes Peak Open 2004
148. Gary Bricher - Tim Brennan 149. R. Reynolds - Vijaya Surla 150. Al Gardner - Paul Grimm
Western States Open 2004 Fort Collins Spring Fling 2004 Winter Springs Open 1999
151. Aaron Rubi - Dean Brown 152. Jay Schaefer - Lee Lahti 153. P. Grimm - M. Ponomarev
Winter Springs Open 1999 Col Springs Fundraiser 2006 US Game 60 Championship 2004
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Answers:
145. Be5 is a double attack on the Queen, and the bishop on e6

146. Rxg7+ is a deflection, which forces the king to remove its defense of the queen on e6
147. Nxg3+ leaves white in a tough position with two knights in his face. If the rook takes the knight, then Nf2+
forks the king and queen. The game ended very nicely with 18. Kg1 Ne2+ 19. Kf1 Nh2+ 20. Kf2 Qh4+
with mate on the next move.
148. This game was played in Reno, with really long time controls (no sudden death!). After the game James
Drebenstedt asked me “Why didn’t you play Nd3+”, which is the best move. I had just won a pawn on the
previous move after a lot of maneuvering, and didn’t even consider this move, which wins an exchange!
James saw it by just casually observing my game! Instead I played Ng6 and eventually won in 58 moves
and two time controls. D’oh!
149. Qxh6+ leads to a perpetual check with Qh7 2. Qf8+ Qg8 3. Qxh6+ etc. Randy sacrificed a rook on f6 to
setup this perpetual check on the previous move, to avoid a losing endgame with black’s three passed pawns
on the queenside.
150. 1. Qh2+ Kg1 2. Qh1+ Nxh1 3. Rxh1# is a nice mate in three back rank mate. This game can be found on
the Colorado Springs Chess Club website, http://jeffreyfox.addr.com/CSCC/
151. 1. Bc3+ Ke3 2. Qf3# is the end to a nice game where white gave up his rook to leave the black king with no
protection. This game is also available on the CSCC website.
152. Randy Reynolds included this problem in the October 2006 Tactics Time column, which he authored. He
wrote: “1. Bxh7+ and this time it’s the black queen that’s history. Amazingly, Lee fought on even after los-
ing his queen and almost won the game from his active piece play alone!”
153. Mikhail just played g5, and it looks like his passed pawns will be unstoppable, but “no retreat, no surrender”
Paul pulled off one of his trademark “swindles” with Rb2!. After ..Rxb2 the game ended in a stalemate
draw.
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Tactics Time!
154. N. Biesterfield - Ron Rossi 155. fogie - TimmyBx 156. Jason Loving - A. Carson
Colorado Open 2009 Redhotpawn ladder 2011 US Air Force Quads 2011
157. P. Anderson - Alex Torres 158. Brian Rountree - Ken MacRae 159. T. Mullikin - D. Plakalovic
Cabin Fever Reliever 2011 East Coast Deli Feb 2011 East Coast Deli Feb 2011
160. Jerry Maier - John Irwin 161. Mark McGough - I. Martinez 162. F. Baltier - Scott Massey
East Coast Deli Feb 2011 East Coast Deli Jan 2011 Road to Perfection 2011
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Answers:
154. 1...Nxd4 2.Qxd7 Nxf3+ 3.Bxf3 Nxd7 picks up an important center pawn with a nice in between move that is
total freaking rock star from Mars.
155. I really got a kick out of this checkmate. Black first has to kill a move to force the white bishop to move
without giving check with either 1. ..e5 or 1. ..Ke7 then white has to move the bishop 2. Bxf7 (if black takes
the white bishop it is stalemate) and black delivers mate with the #winning 2. ..g5!
156. Love is a battlefield in this game 1. gxf6! Nxf3 2. fxe7 Qc7 3. gxf3 leaves white with 3 minor pieces and a
pawn for the black queen, the black king unable to castle, and white with better development, and an annoy-
ing pawn on the 7th rank..
157. 1. Ra7+ is a “Bud Light Real Men of Genius” move that shows Paul Anderson has tiger’s blood and Adonis
DNA. 1. ..Rf7 2. Bg5 wins a piece
158. 1.Bf4 Bd6 12.Bxe5 Bxe5 3.f4 is an assassin warlock.
159. 1. ..Bxc4 2.Bxc4 Ne5+ wins so radically, before our first cup of coffee, it's scary.
160. 1. ..Nxf2 is an F-18 bro, busting up the kings protection and opening lines for the queen, pawn and rook to
all attack.
161. 1. Nd5 is on a quest to claim absolute victory on every front
162. The moves 1. ..Qc6+ followed by 2 ..Re8 are battle tested bayonets.
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Tactics Time!
163. Larry Wutt - Josh Bloomer 164. R. Reynolds - T. Brennan 165. Tom Mullikin - Joe Evoniuk
Winter Springs Open 2007 Allen Ufer Memorial 2008 Larimer County Open 2007
Color to Move White to Move White to Move
166. P. Anderson - Markus Petters 167. Dean Brown - Paul Grimm 168. R. McCardell - G. Sunderland
CSCC vs FCCC Club Match 2007 Winter Springs Open 2007 Colorado Springs Open 2007
169. Fred Spell - Bongee Boyce 170. R. Anderson - B. Weihmiller 171. Anthea Carson - Tim Brennan
Winter Springs Open 2007 Colorado Springs Open 2007 Carb Match 2007
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Answers:
163. 1. ..Qh5 exploits the light square weakness in white’s position, and double attacks the bishop and pawn.
164. 1. Bxg7 must be the bus driver coz he was taking me to school.
165. 1. Rf7+ is a bone crushing double discovered check leading to mate the next move. Unfortunately Tom, one
of the nicest guys on the Colorado chess scene, played the real life “mouse slip” Rf6+, and turned the thrill
of victory into the agony of defeat.
166. The knight works its mojo with the in between move 1. Nc7+ removing the defender of the rook, and win-
ning the exchange.
167. Dean’s pawn is En Fuego after 1. h7 After 1...Rxh7 2. Rb7+ skewers the King and Rook like a shrimp for
the barbie. In typical “Swindle Master” fashion, Paul somehow managed to draw this game.
168. 1. Rxd7 would have transposed into a winning endgame. 1...Kxd7 2. e6+ fxe6+ 3. Kg6, and the f pawn—
could—go—all– the– way. Instead white went for the mate in one with Rh1, and lost 30 moves later in a
tough fight.
169. Spell got checked with 1...Re2+ 2.Kf3 Rf2+ 3.Kg4 h5+ 4.Kg5 (or 4. Kh4) Bf6#
170. 1. e6 is the fastest win, threatening 2. Qd8+ Be8 3. Qxe8#
171. 1...Rxc3 crashes the party. The queen cannot recapture, because of the discovered check with the knight,
and the Bishop on c1 is hanging, and cannot be defended.
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Tactics Time!
172. Jesse Hester - Randy Schine 173. Tom Corbett - Pete Short 174. Francisco Baltier - D. Walker
Denver Chess Club August 2004 Denver Chess Club 2004 New Mexico Memorial 2005
175. C. Lohmer - Richard Petrino 176. Michael Varney - C. Foster 177. T. Mullikin - L. Pastuszczak
Denver Chess Club Jan 2005 Loveland Open 2005 Denver CC Halloween 2004
178. Chris Mink - Tim Brennan 179. Terry Powell - Tom Corbett 180. Allen Ufer - Paul Grimm
DCC Club Championship 2003 Denver Chess Club Feb 2005 DCC Club Championship 2004
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Answers:
172. White’s bishops and rooks work well together here with a nice mate in 4: 1.Rh3 Kg8 2.Rg1 any 3.Rxg7+
Kf8 4.Rh8#
173. Tom fell asleep at the wheel on the previous move playing 6. b3?? Allowing 6...Qe5+ forking the king and
rook. The complete game went 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nxd5 4. Nxd5 Qxd5 5. Qf3 e6 6. b3 Qe5+ 7.
Qe2 Qxa1 8. Kd1 Ba3 0-1. The position where Tom played b3 can be reached via the Alekhine’s Defense
as well. Vassily Smyslov once played as white 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 Nxd5 4. Nxd5 Qxd5 5. Qf3 e6
6. Qxd5 and took the queen instead of playing b3 after reaching the same position from a different move
order.
174. This position did not occur in the game, but was one of the variations that Fritz pointed out, and is a nice
mate starting with the always dangerous discovered check. White is threatening mate in one, but black
fights back with 1...Ne3+ 2. Rg2 (2. Qg5 is the only other legal move to get out of check, which gives
black a large material advantage and longer forced mate after 2...Qxe8) 2...Rxg2 3. Kh1 Rf2+ 4. Kg1 (or 4.
Qd5, 4. Re4) Rf1#
175. This was a swashbuckling game featuring the Budapest Gambit, Fajarowicz Variation. In the game Chris
missed mate in one with 1. Bh5#, but still won after 1. Qd6 Rh7 (Richard is following Chapter 14 of “My
System” by Aron Nimzowitsch “Overprotection” adding an extra defender to the d7 square) 2. Qf8# oops.
176. It appears that white is in trouble, because both their bishop and knight, which is pinned, are attacked.
However, White can wiggle out of it with 1. Bxf6. In the game White played 1. Qxd4?, saving the knight,
but losing the bishop.
177. This short game went 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Na5 4. Nxe5 Nxc4 5. Nxc4 Nf6 6. e5 Nd5 7. d4 Be7 8.
Qf3 c6 9. Bg5 Bxg5 (Diagram) 10. Nd6+ Ke7 11. Qxf7# The Denver Chess Club Halloween tournaments
used to be a lot of fun, where players got an entry fee discount if they came in costumes!
178. Chris cracked my skull with the move 1. Nxd5, and the game quickly was over after 1...Qd8 2. Nf6+ Ke7 3.
Qc5+ Qd6 4. Qxd6#
179. 1.Rc7+ Ke6 2.Nbd4# is a pretty mate
180. Black can smother mate with 1...Nf2+ 2.Kg1 Nh3+ 3.Kh1 Qg1+ 4.Nxg1 Nf2# and also has 1...Rc1+ 2.Qd1
Nf2+ 3.Kg1 Nxd1+ 4.Kf1 Qf2#
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Tactics Time!
181. Dylan Lehti - Ryan Snodgrass 182. Rhett Langseth - Dan Avery 183. Maximo Fajardo - T. Brennan
Colorado Open 2011 Col Springs Championship 2011 Reno Western States Open 2011
184. Pierre Julien - R Reynolds 185. Grant Miller - Randy Schine 186. Fred Spell - Mark McGough
Wild Boar #6 September 2011 October Denver Chess Club 2011 September East Coast Deli 2011
187. K. Seidler - M. De La Victoria 188. D. Hartsook - Robert Ramirez 189. Bill O’Neil - Dalton Ross
Sept Denver Chess Club 2011 Sept Denver Chess Club 2011 Sept Denver Chess Club 2011
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Answers:
181. Fritz 13 describes 1. h6! as “an unpleasant surprise”. If 1...Bxh6 2. Bxh6 gxh6 3. g7 will queen the pawn.
If 1...gxh6 2. g7 promotes a pawn. If 1...Kxg6 2. hxg7 Kxg7 3. Bxg5 wins a piece, as the black king gets
overloaded trying to protect the bishop, and stop the passed pawn.
182. Rhett took advantage of Dan’s weak back rank, grabbing a pawn with 1. Qxd5! Joel Johnson, author of
“Formation Attacks” would refer to the e6 pawn as being “threat pinned”, since it is the only thing prevent-
ing a back rank mate threat of Re8#. Although he lost this game, Dan went on to win the chess club cham-
pionship for 2011. Congrats Dan!
183. Fritz 13 gave the clearance sacrifice 1...Nc3!! a double exclam. Black is threatening Qg2#. The only way
to slow down this mate is 2. f3, but after 2...Qxf3 (still threatening Qf2#) 3. Rc2 Qd1+ 4. Kf2 Qxc2+ white
is up a rook. In the game my opponent played 2. Kf1?? And I checkmated him with 2...Qh1# to tie for first
in the Under 1800 section with 5 out of 6 points.
184. White is down a bishop and a pawn, but missed an amazing drawing resource with 1. Rxh6+! After
1...Kxh6 white has endless checks with Rh1+ and Rg1+. The wall of doubled isolated pawns on the f file
prevent the black king from ever moving forward, and nothing can block the checks.
185. Black got a “buy one, get one free” with 1...Rxc2 2. Qxc2 Qxf4 picking up a knight and bishop for a rook,
overloading the white queen.
186. Mark grabs a pawn with 1...Nxe4! removing the defender of the white knight on f5. If 2. Rxe4 Qxf5.
187. 1. Bxf5! wins a pawn. If 1...exf5 2. Qxe7 wins back the bishop, using the queen and rook battery on the e
file.
188. Robert found a very nice combination to win a pawn with 1...Nxc4! For example, after 2. Qxd8 Rfxd8 3.
Rxc4 d5 is a nice pawn fork that gets back the knight.
189. White gets a fork stuck in him, because he’s done after 1...Nxe2 2. Qxe4 d4
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Tactics Time!
190. Joe Haines - Ann Davies 191. T. Brennan - Steve Towbin 192. Ted Doykos - Jim Hamblin
Loveland Open 2004 Denver Chess Club 2004 Colorado Springs Open 2004
193. G. Crites - Kathy Schneider 194. P. Anderson - R. Buchanan 195. R. Delaware - E. Schultheiss
Winter Springs Open 2004 CSCC Championship 2000 Casual Game 2004
196. D. Weissbarth - A. Carson 197. Brian Wall - Renae Delaware 198. Brian Wall - Larry Wutt
Pikes Peak Open 2004 Pikes Peak Training Game 2004 Colorado Open 2004
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Answers:
190. Ann opened a can, and Joe said “oh no”, after 1...Ng3+! A forced mate follows with 2. hxg3 Qxf1+ 3. Kh2
Qg1#
191. Fritz 8 gave a generous double exclam to 1. Qxd5!! Qxd5 2. Ne7+ Kh7 3. Nxd5 forking the king and
queen, leaving white up a piece. This was my first time beating a USCF Expert in a rated game.
192. 1...e3 puts white in a tough position. The f pawn is pinned, and the e pawn cannot be taken because of the
family fork Nxc2+.
193. Kathy, a Colorado Chess Road Warrior, found a nice mate in two with 27...Rh3 28. any Rh1#
194. This game concluded with 1. Rf8+ Kxf8 Theme: Deflection from d7 2. Kxd7 1-0
195. White has a forced mate with 1. g7+ Ke7 2. Qe5+ Kf7 3. gxh8=N# with a pretty underpromotion. In the
game, Renae played the non forced variation 1. g7+ Ke7 2. gxh8=N Nf6 3. Qe5#, which shows amazing
women’s intuition! Brian Wall called this a “Twilight Zone” moment—why would Renae promote to a
Knight instead of a Queen, unless she knew what Eruna was going to play?
196. Brian Wall annotated this game in one of his e-mails, and recommended 1. Bxf7+!, which Fritz 13 also
agrees with. If black gets greedy, and tries to take the Bishop, she will lose her Queen with a smothered
attack after Ng5+, or get mated by the White Queen. One variation is 1. Bxf7+ Kxf7 2. Ng5+ Kf6 ( if
2...Ke8 3. Ne6 will win the Queen, if 2...Kf8 3. Ne6 forks the Black King and Queen) 3. Qf3# Black does
not have to take the bishop, and can play 1...Kf8, where white is safely up a pawn. In the game, white
played missed 1. Bxf7+ and played 1. Ng5, which is the second best move according to Fritz.
197. Brian got one minute in this game, and Renae got eight. Brian found a beautiful mate starting with a queen
sac. 1. Qf8+ Rxf8 ( 1...Kh7 2. Bd3+ leads to mate) 2. Rxf8+ Kh7 3. Bg8+ Kh8 4. Bf7+ Kh7 5. Bg6#
198. White just underpromoted to a knight with check. Larry played the most obvious move, Bxd8, but missed a
brilliant forced mating net, taking advantage of white’s stalemated king with either 1...Kf6 2.d7+ Kf5
3.Rf6+ Bxf6 4.b5 Rg2# or 1...Kg6 2.Ra2 Rxa2 3.Rg1 Kf5 4.c6 h4# in what would have been a 400+ point
upset.
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Tactics Time!
199. M. Abresch - W. Chandler 200. Ted Doykos - Billy Willson 201. Tim Brennan - Josh Smith
Boulder Open 2003 Boulder Open 2003 Denver Chess Club 2003
202. Pete Short - RimYurkus 203. Vinh Nguyen - Tyler Hughes 204. Tim Brennan - Walter Gerash
Denver Chess Club 2003 Denver Chess Club 2003 Denver Chess Club 2001
205. J. Schultz - Paul Grimm 206. Pete Short - Tim Brennan 207. Cory Foster - Jerry Maier
Boulder Open 2003 Denver Chess Club 2002 Larimer County Open 2006
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Answers:
199. 1...Bxf3 2. gxf3 Qxd4 nets a nice center pawn.

200. 1...Nxd5! with a double attack on the bishop on g5. 2. Bxe7 Nxe7 bringing the knight back to safety, with
black up a pawn. This is a good trick to remember.
201. 1...exd3+ double discovered checks are always fun! 2. Ke1 Qa1+ 3. Qd1 Qxd1# Josh Smith showed this
game to some of his students to teach them how to play against oddball openings, like the Killer Grob (1
g4!?), which I played against him in this game.
202. 1. Nxh6+ winning the Black Queen with a discovered attack from the White Bishop on h3.
203. Assuming that white is not allowed to castle queenside, white has a mate in 3 with 1...Rg1+ 2.Bf1 Bh3
3.Rd1 Rxf1#
204. This was my first game that I ever played at the Denver Chess Club. I was rated in the 1200s at the time. I
thought that I was winning, when all of a sudden my opponent said “checkmate”. I was totally stunned! I
completely missed the mate 1...Ba3#
205. 1 ..e3 with mates all over. 2.Rxh2 Qxh2 3.Ke1 Qh1# ; 2.Kg2 Rg8+ 3.Kf1 Qf2# ; 2.a5 Qf2# ; 2.Qd2
Qh3#
206. Sorry Pete! 1...Nf3+ 2.Rxf3 Qh2+ 3.Kf1 Qh1# or 2.Kh1 Qh2# or Rh2#
207. Randy Reynolds came up with this problem for the January 2007 Tactics Time column, which he authored.
He writes “this is exactly why promotion to queen should not be automatic. Out of force of habit, Cory
played 1. f8=Q? and Jerry forced the stalemate with 1...Rh1+. 1. f8=R wins, along with many others”. Fritz
13 likes 1. Nf6+ Kh6 2.f8=Q+ the best, promoting with check.
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Tactics Time!
208. Zach Bekkedahl - T. Brennan 209. Brian Wall - Eric Montany 210. Gerry Morris - Ron Rossi
Loveland Open 2012 Wild Boar Coffee Rapid #9 2012 Colorado Springs Open 2010
211. N. Martinez - R. Reynolds 212. C. Yarbrough - D. Plakalovic 213. A. Carson - Alex Freeman
Loveland Open 2012 Tri Lakes Open 2011 Feb Wed Panera Bread 2012
214. Ted Doykos - Karl Irons 215. Dean Brown - Jose Llacza 216. Dan Herman - Victor Creazzi
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Answers:
208. The Zach Attack 12.Nd6+!! got a double exclam from Fritz 13. This move checks the King, and will win the
Queen. If 12...Kf8 to get out of check, white mates with 13. Qxf7#. The only other way to get out of check is
12...Bxd6, which allows 13. Bxd8 winning the Queen for a knight and a bishop. White ends up with a nice
material advantage, and I ended up with a nice tactic for this book!
209. Brian also got a double exclam from Fritz 13 for the clearance sacrifice 19. Nf6+!! Bxf6 (19...gxf6, 19...Kh8)
20.Qh7#
210. Instead of recapturing the bishop (...Qxd7), Black goes for the deflection 37...Qf2! Now attempting to trade
queens with Qxf6+ doesn’t work. Play continued 38. Qf8+ Kc7 (not 38...Kxd7?? Which leads to perpetual
checks from the queen) 39. Qc8+ Kb6 40. Qd8+ Ka6 41. Rg1 Re1 Resigns 0-1
211. Randy set up a nice tactic here on the previous move, with the trappy 26. ...Qc7 inviting white to play 27.
Rc1, which is what happened in the game. Randy then unleashed Tim Tebow style with 27...Qxc1+! 28.
Bxc1 Rxc1+ (black has traded queen for rook and bishop, but isn’t done yet) 29. Kh2 Rh1+!! Black gives up
his rook to force 30. Kxh1 Nf2+ forking the queen and king. Black ends up a bishop ahead.
212. 41. Rb6! is a nice tactic that cuts to the Chase, and accomplishes multiple things at one time.
 It attacks the Black Rook on b5
 It threatens Bf3#
 The Rook move protects the White Bishop on b7, which was hanging.
It is pretty because the rook can be captured in two different ways by both the rook and bishop, and also
ignores the bishop that is hanging.
213. This game features an opening trap I had never seen before - 1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Qh5+ g6 4. Be2 gxh5 5.
Bxh5# 1-0 Alexander is normally great, but here missed the threat like The Biggest Loser contestants miss
high fructose corn syrup.
214. Karl has too many Irons in the fire after White’s forced mate in three with 28. Ra8+ Kb7 29. Bg2+ Kb6 30.
Rd6# 1-0
215. Dean was tested for performance enhancing drugs after he played 18. Rxg7+ Kxg7 19. Qh6+ Kh8 20. Qf6+
Kg8 21. Be5 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 1-0 Very nice!
216. This is an interesting position, because the material is unbalanced, and white has a lot of "candidate moves" to
consider. The only move that works here is 35. Rh1 which threatens mate with 36. Rxh6# Black is going to
have to give up major material to stop the mate.
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Tactics Time!
217. Jeff Fox - Paul Anderson 218. R. Reynolds - Cory Kohler 219. Brian Wall - Phillip Brown
Cabin Fever Reliever 2012 Loveland Open 2012 Denver Chess Club Feb 2012
220. Dalton Ross - Dean Clow 221. Mitesh Shridhar - P. Kullback 222. Jeff Baffo - Tim Brennan
Denver Chess Club Feb 2012 Denver Chess Club 2012 Colorado Class 2012
223. Shirley Herman - Will Wolf 224. Mark McGough - A. Carson 225. Imre Barlay - Alex Yu
Panera Bread Wed March 2012 Panera Bread Wed March 2012 Colorado Class 2012
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Answers:
217. Black has a complicated position where his rook is hanging, his knight is hanging, and he has to worry about a check from
the white knight, which is also hanging. 29...Rg1+! Solves all these problems, deflecting the king to a square where black
can then fork the King and Queen with 30...Nf3+. Paul missed this continuation, and brought his 26 game non-losing
streak to an end.
218. Randy put his newly earned, but not yet official, 1800 rating on the line in this game. Here has a complicated position,
and the paradox of choice, with lots of pins, hanging pawns, and possibilities. He ended up winning, but missed a QB sack
with 19. Qe5+ Be6 20. Qxe6#
219. 15...Nb4! overloads the white queen like a New Delhi bus at rush hour. The queen cannot maintain protection of the bish-
op on e4, and defend itself from the knight at the same time.
220. White can snag a pawn with 14. Nxa6. If 14...Rxa6 15. Bxb5 forks the rook and knight on c6, which is also attacked by
the rook on c1.
221. Mitesh’s two knights were checking like a hockey team, 21. Nd5 Ke6 22. Ng5#
222. Jeff force fed me some Fried Liver, fava beans and a nice chianti with 7. Ng5 which adds a second attacker to the weak f7
square. Black has no way to add a second defender, and will lose a pawn. Jeff made me feel better after the game by tell-
ing me he has sprung this opening traps hundreds of times, and even Masters fall for it.
223. Black has no need to call in the Wolf. They can just win a piece right away with 16...Qxf4+. The g pawn is pinned by the
bishop on h4.
224. Mark found a clever way to add an extra attacker and remove a defender to the pinned knight on e6 with 24. Ng5+! The
knight cannot be taken because of 24...fxg5 25. Qg7#
225. Fritz 13 gave Imre ‘s clearance move 26. Nc7!! a double exclam and the comments “This energetic sacrifice causes the
opponent great unpleasantness”. This move clears the square d5 for the bishop to pin the queen to the King, and forks the
Rook and Queen. Very nice!
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Tactics Time!
These positions came from recent games played in Colorado. Answers on
the next page.
226. Daniel Herman - Ken MacRae 227. Mark McGough - F. Spell 228. P. Anderson - Isaac Martinez
August Panera Bread 2012 August Panera Bread 2012 August Panera Bread 2012
229. Katie Wise - C. Peterson 230. Tim Brennan - Cory Foster 231. D. Alter - Matt Reichenbach
Pikes Peak Open 2012 Rocky Mt Team Tournament 2012 Denver Open 2012
232. K. Lucas - Gary Frenzel 233. Ann Davies - Cory Kohler 234. Aiden Bub - Gary Crites
The Road to Perfection 2011 Denver Open 2012 Denver Open 2012
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Answers:
226. Deep Rybka 4.1 gave Daniel a double exclam for 39...Re1+!! Deflecting the white king away from the white queen.
227. There is a lot going on in this position. Black’s King isn’t very safe, his queen is attacked by the rook on e1, his bishop on
f6 is pinned to the king and attacked by 3 pieces, but Fred spells relief with 20. ...Qxe1! which creates threats of his own.
White then has to deal with the threat of ...Qxf1# and if 21. Rxe1 Bxd4 leaves black up major material. Black wins a
rook.
228. Paul (white) had played 8. Bxf6, and instead of recapturing right away, Isaac (black) played 8...Qb6 threatening the pawns
on f2 and b2. Both players missed that white can defend f2 with the defensive move 9. Bh4! which gets the bishop out of
danger, and protecting f2 at the same time, leaving white up a piece. Instead Paul played 10. e3 and Isaac captured the
bishop with 10...gxf6
229. 29. Bh7+ overloads the black king and wins the exchange. In the game Katie played 29. Rxf8 and the game was eventual-
ly drawn.
230. Black is threatening to play e4 forking the bishop and knight. White has an interesting way to avoid this threat, and create
a threat of his own with 14. Ba6! which adds a second attacker to the b7 pawn and pins it to the Black king. Black cannot
take the bishop because of 14...bxa6 15. Qxa6+ Kb8 16. Qxb7# If black defends the b7 pawn with 14...Na5, then 15. b4
removes this defender. I later screwed up this position thinking I had a brilliant queen sac for mate, which turned out to
be a horrible blunder! D’oh!
231. This position has pieces hanging like a wizard’s sleeve. The best move is to avoid these distractions with 22. Qg7#
which was missed in the game on move 22, but found on move 23.
232. 21...Bc5 drops a pin like a bowling ball on the Queen to the White King
233. 16. h3 traps the knight on g4 who went fishing without a pole.
234. 9...Na5 forks the Queen and Bishop. If the 10. Qa4 to protect the bishop, then 10. ...b5 forks the bishop and queen again!
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Tactics Time!
235. Dean Brown - Paul Anderson 236. Ken MacRae - Paul Covington 237. Mark McGough - R. Langseth
October Wed Panera Bread 2012 October Wed Panera Bread 2012 October Wed Panera Bread 2012
238. E. Montany - G. Andersen 239. D. Bolshakov - Steve Kovach 240. A. Haskins - Sam Honeycutt
241. Matthew Lira - Richard Ray 242. W. Holmes - Paul Covington 243. Rhett Langseth - Ken MacRae
Colorado Open 2012 October Wed Panera Bread 2012 October Wed Panera Bread 2012
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Answers:
235. Dean wrote, "Scored my (1472) highest rated win in my 39 year rated chess "career" tonight with a win over Paul Ander-
son (2043) at the Power's Panera Bread Wednesday G/90 tournament. Wish I could play like this every game." Here
Dean dished out an upper cut with 24. Rxd6! The rook cannot be captured because of the "threat pin" on the e pawn of
Qg7#. White wins a full piece in an already crushing position.
236. Paul alertly grabs the valuable d4 pawn. With 10...Nxd4! White cannot recapture because the c pawn is now pinned to the
Queen by the Black Rook on c8.
237. Mark played 14. Bxf2 in this position, but much better was 14. Qf1 pinning the Black Knight, which is now attacked
twice, and only defended once, and cannot be defended for a second time. White wins a piece.
238. Gunnar shoots to kill with 45...Nxf2+ (45...Nxg3+ also work) removing the defender of the White Knight on e3. White
loses a pawn. Gunnar had a nice upset in this game, delaying Eric’s quest for Master, which he did eventually get after
the 2012 Winter Springs Open. Congrats Eric!
239. 25...Nxd4 is a menace to Dennis, grabbing a critical pawn in the chain. If 26. cxd4 Rc2 forks the White Queen and Bish-
op, and Black gets his piece back, which is what happened in the game.
240. 17...Nf2+!! Got a double exclam from Deep Rybka. This move dishes out a Honey Boo Boo forking the White King and
Queen, winning the Queen. 18. Kg1 Nxd1. If 18. Rxf2 Qxd1 19. Rf1 Qxf1#
241. 30. Rxh7+ Rxh7 31. Rxh7+ Kxh7 32. Nxf6+ forks the Black King and Queen.
242. Paul snipes a piece from Wesley with 30...Qxd7! and exclaims “What’s up Holmes?” If 31. Bxd7 Rxc1+ and Black has
two Rooks against a Bishop.
243. Rhett has a reputation for playing unusual openings like 1. d3 and castling late or never. Here he played 20. 0-0-0 instead
of the easier kill shot 20. Rxd8 Kxd8 21. Nxf7 forking the Black King and Rook.
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Tactics Time!
244. Paul Anderson - I. Martinez 245. Tim Brennan - Aiden Marco 246. Robert Cousins - M. Ginat
May Panera Bread 2013 Memorial Day Denver G/30 2013 Colorado Closed 2013
247. Daniel Herman - Jason Lee 248. Shirley Herman - Dean Brown 249. Alex Freeman - A. Carson
May Panera Bread 2013 May Panera Bread 2013 May Panera Bread 2013
250. G. Andersen - Nabil Spann 251. R. Swerdlin - B. Barkemeyer 252. Jason Loving - Daniel Herman
Scholastic Closed 2013 Scholastic Closed 2013 May Panera Bread 2013
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Answers:
244. On the previous move Black played 32...Rh7?? hoping for 33. Rxh7 Kxf6 with an even trade, but missed 33. Re6+!! If
33...fxe6 34. Rxh7+ skewering the Black King and Black Knight on b7 winning a piece. If the Black King moves to get
out of check, then simply 34. Rxh7 and the g7 pawn is still pinned to the Knight. Paul featured this position in his excel-
lent Colorado Springs Newsletter at http://cschess.webs.com
245. On the previous move Black played 10...Be6 to develop his bishop, stop the threat of Qxf7# and attack White’s Queen.
The move 11. Bxc6+ buys time for White, and wins a piece for White, removing the defender of the Bishop on b4,
11...bxc6 12. Qxb4. Remember, you can’t stop the Grob, you can only hope to contain it!
246. 34. Nb5 attack the Black Rook on d4 and threatens the mate Rf8#. Black cannot meet both threats. The game continued
34...Rc4 35. Rf8#
247. On the previous move black played 14...b6?? weakening his knight. Herman’s Munster of a Knight jumps in with 15. Ne5
attacking the Knight on c6 and Queen on d7. The Knight on c6 is pinned to the Queen, so cannot capture. White wins a
piece.
248. 17...Nxc3 removing the defender of the Knight on e5 and Shirley’s Temple, becomes a Temple of Doom.
249. Alex was a free man after Anthea missed a mate in one with 37...Qe1# and played 37...Qe7?? instead. The game ended
in a draw.
250. Gunnar’s Bishop spans the board with 40. Bg8+!! Discovered attack on the Queen on a3. 41...Rxb8 42. Qxa3
251. Ryan found the brilliant 39. Rg5+!! Clearing the e5 square for the Queen to enter the attack, and creating a mating net
around Brady’s bunch. If 39...Nxg5 40.Qg7# otherwise there is mate in five—for example, 39...Kf7 40.Qg7+ Kxe8
41.Re5+ Qe6 42.Rxe6+ Kd8 43.Qe7+ Kc8 44.Rxc6#
252. Jason was loving his position after 16. Bf1 trapping the Black Queen.
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Tactics Time!
253. Anthea Carson - Gary Bagstad 254. William Shand - Gene Lucas 255. Alex Mekonnen - Rhett Langseth
Winter Springs Open 2013 Nov Panera Bread Academy 2013 Nov Panera Bread Academy 2013
256. Alex Mekonnen - Isaac Martinez 257. Brian Rountree - Justice Myers 258. Kevin Kaaoush - Paul Anderson
Nov Panera Bread Academy 2013 Nov Panera Bread Powers 2013 CSCC December Quad 2013
259. Ekrem Tamkan - Mark Krowczyk 260. Mike Madsen - Richard Handoko 261. Ed Sedillo - Suhaas Narayanan
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Answers:
253. Anthea wins a piece with 1. Bxb8 Rxb8 2. Nd4 with a discovered attack on the Black Queen and Black
Knight on g4.
254. This is another position where the hanging Bishop is first traded off to gain a time, before the kill shot.
19...Bxc3 20. bxc3 f5 with a Noah’s ark style trap 21. Rd4 f4 trapping the White Bishop on g3.
255. Rhett missed a cute mate in 3 with 14...Nxh3+!! 15.gxh3 Qxf2+ 16. Kh1 Qxh2# [15.Kh1 Ngxf2#] [15.Kf1
Nxh2#]
256. White overloads the Black Queen with 36. Rxd7! The Black Queen cannot capture the White Rook and
maintain the protection of the Black Rook on h4.
257. 31.Qf8#
258. 20...Bh6 pins the White Rook to the King .
259. 36.Qxh4!! Got a well deserved “!!” from Fritz 13. Black cannot recapture because of 36...gxh4 37.Rxg8
and Black cannot stop 38.R1g7#
260. 33...Rc2+ with a text book X-Ray attack
261. Suhaas took it to the house with 23...Bh6+ 24.Qe3 Bxe3+ 25.Bd2 Qb2#
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Tactics Time!
262. William Wolf - Tim Brennan 263. Barry Hepsley - Randy Reynolds 264. Todd Burge - Devon Wall
July Panera Bread Powers 2013 Summer Solstice Showdown 2013 Colorado Open 2013
265. Gene Lucas - Jason Lee 266. Brian Wall - Sandor Kustar 267. Chris Peterson - Andy Wu
Aug Panera Bread Powers 2013 Colorado G10 Champion 2013 Colorado Open 2013
268. Brian Rountree - William Shand 269. Buck Buchanan - Tim Brennan 270. Jason Lee - Tim Brennan
Aug Panera Bread Academy 2013 Colorado Springs CC Quad 2013 Aug Panera Bread Powers 2013
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Tactics Time answers:

262. In this position I noticed that if I could play Qb4+ I would fork the White King and Bishop, winning a piece. But if I did
this right away, White could block the check with Nd2 which also defends the Bishop on c4. So I first played 10...Bxf3
removing this defender, 11. gxf3 only way to recapture 11...Qb4+ forking the White King and Bishop, winning a piece.
263. 15...Rd1+!! sets up a deadly double discovered check. 16. Kxd1 Ba4+ 17. Ke1 Qd1# Randy saw this tactic, which
allowed him to put his knight safely on e4, which looked like it was an unsafe square, but actually was safe because of
this tactic. His opponent did not fall for this little trap.
264. 19. g4 forks the Black Queen and Bishop
265. 27. Qxf5, which wasn’t played in the game, wins a valuable pawn, and attacks the vulnerable rook on g6. The e6 pawn
is pinned like a tail on the donkey.
266. 23. Bxf7+ turns Black’s position into a steaming pile of Hungarian goulash. 23...Rxf7 24. Qg8+ Rf8 25. Qxg6+ Rf7
26. Qxe4 and White is up 2 pawns.
267. 20. Rc7 forking the Black Queen and Bishop
268. 19. Qxb6+ takes the Rook. The Knight on d7 is pinned, and cannot recapture.
269. 29...Na3+!! is a buckshot forced mate 30.bxa3 Rc1+ 31.Kb2 Qc3# or 30.Ka1 Rc1+ 31.Qb1 Rxb1#
270. In this game I blundered my Queen early, and fought back to eventually win. Here I started my comeback with
24...Rxd6. If White recaptures with 25. Nxd6 I have the Knight fork 25...Nf2+ forking the White King and Queen.
Paul Anderson told me that I am the Anthony Weiner of Colorado Chess—I don’t know when to resign!
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Tactics Time!
271. Jeff Baffo - Larry Turner 272. Brian Wall - Tim Brennan 273. Archie Shipp—ciupilica
Colorado Correspondence 2013 24 Hour Insanity 2013 Free Internet Chess Server 2014
274. Devon Wall—Miles Brown 275. Tim Brennan - Shirley Herman 276. S. Narayanan - C. Santillan
Winter Springs Open 2013 Dec Panera Bread Academy 2013 Tri Lakes Open 2013
277. Victor Huang - Joshua Jex 278. Chris Peterson - Tim Brennan 279. B. Wall - Ruslan Yandarbiev
Tri Lakes Open 2013 24 Hour Insanity 2013 ICC 3 0 January 2014
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Answers:
271. Jeff had a dominating performance in the 2013 Colorado Correspondence Chess Tournament, scoring a per-
fect 7-0 record. In this game he finished it off with the great move 36. Qxf8+!!, which wins a piece. If
38...Kxf8 Nd7+ forks the Black King and Queen. You can see the complete crosstable here: http://www.iccf
-webchess.com/event?id=32747
272. Brian sacrificed his Queen to set up this knock out blow, 19. Bxh7+ Kh8 20. Ng6#, which is a very pretty
mate with the Bishop and two Knights. I should have followed J.C. MacNeil’s advice “When Brian sacrific-
es his Queen, never accept it!”
273. Archie sent me this tactic, with the comments 33.Nxe6! Qxe6? (Other responses also lead to heavy loses by
Black) 34. Rxg6!! All response by Black lead to forced mates or Black losing the Queen.
274. Devon found a cute smothered mate with 23. Qg8+! Rxg8 24. Nf7#
275. Black surely wishes she had found 29...e4+ with a discovered attack on the White Rook, 30. Kxe4 Rxc5
276. 23. Re4 Qh5 24. g4 forks the Black Queen and Knight
277. Suhaas was down material, but none of that matters, when you have a mating net like 45. Rf8+ Ke5 46.
Nf3#
278. This game was played at around 3AM, when my brain’s chess computer was like a cheap roll of toilet pa-
per—only one ply! Brian Wall said that my eyes almost popped out of my head when Chris played 28.
Qxh5#
279. Brian snagged another IM scalp with this trap in the “Nymphomaniac attack”. Here 7. Qa4+ forks the
Black King and Bishop on g4, winning a piece. The complete game went 1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 Bg4 4. d4
e6 5. c3 c5 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. Qa4+
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Tactics Time!
280. Andy Wu - Anthea Carson 281. Tim Brennan - Joshua Jex 282. Corbin Gustafson - Jules Carter
C.S. Chess Center April 2014 Tribute to Bobby Fischer 2014 New Mexico G/15 Ch. 2014
283. Jude Quintana - Kevin Seidler 284. Will Shand - Alex Freeman 285. Alex Freeman– Jason Lee
Feb Denver Chess Club 2014 Panera Academy April 2014 Panera Academy April 2014
286. Web McNairy - Atharva Vispute 287. Eugin Pahk - Isaac Martinez 288. Will Shand - Daniel Herman
Panera Academy April 2014 Panera Powers April 2014 Panera Academy April 2014
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Answers:
1. 19.Qh6!! is a brilliant move by Andy! White has some checks, but cannot stop the duel threats of Qxg7# and
if 19...gxh6 20.Nxh6#
2. White had just grabbed a "poison pawn" with 29. Qxb7?? which allowed 29...Rxe2+! removing the defender
of the f3 pawn and winning a piece. After 30. Qb8+ Kh7 if White recaptures with 31. Rxe2 Qxf3 threatens
mate on g2 and f1. For example: 32. Re1 Qg2# or 32. Be3 Qf1#
3. 1...Rxh2+!! 2.Kxh2 Rh4+ 3.Kg3 Bf4+!! 4.Kxh4 Qf2+ 5.Kg4 Qg3# or 2.Kg1 Rh1+ 3.Kf2 Rg4+ 4.d4
Qxd4+ 5.Ke2 Rxg2# There are some other variations that work as well. A real brilliancy by Jules!
4. Hey Jude! Nice 450 point upset with 31.Rxd4 pinning the Queen to the King, and preventing the mate
31...Qh2# at the same time!
5. Where there is a Will, there’s a way! 17.Bxh7+ deflects the Black King 17...Kxh7 Qxf7 picks up a Rook and
pawn for the Bishop. If 17...Kf8 18.Ng6#
6. The Black Knight on b4 has no escape squares. 11.Bxf6! eliminates the idea of playing 11...Nbxd5. 11...gxf6
or 11...Qxf6 12. c3 traps the Black Knight. White wins a piece.
7. 22. Rec1 (or 22. Rac1) attacks the Black Queen, and adds a second attacker to the Bishop on c6 through an
Xray. 22...Qe5 23.Rxc6 wins a piece.
8. 18...Qc5+ forks the White King and Bishop
9. 16.Rc3 traps the Black Queen
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Tactics Time!
These positions came from recent games played in Colorado. Answers on
the next page.
289. Justin Alter - Brian Wall 290. A. Carson - Gunnar Andersen 291. Victor Huang—Jeff Serna
June DCC 2014 First North Gate Open 2014 Rocky Mountain Team 2014
292. Jude Quintana - Kevin Seidler 293. Chris Peterson - Victor Huang 294. Paul Covington - Brad Lundstrom
April Denver Chess Club 2014 Colorado Open 2014 Colorado Class, 2011
295. Paul Covington - Brian Wall 296. Rebecca Herman - Anthea Carson 297. F Baltier - Atharva Vispute
Panera Bread Powers Aug 2014 Panera Powers June 2014 Colorado Open 2014
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Answers:
289. Knock knock. Who’s there? 1300 Brian Wall. 1300 Brian Wall who? 25. Qc6# checkmate.
290. Anthea took advantage of Gunnar's time trouble with the mating net, 47.Rc8 Re8 48.Rxe8 d2 49.Rg8#
291. 29...Qxg4!! got a double exclam from Fritz 13. This move wins a rook. If 30. hxg4 Ng3+ forks the White
King and Queen. If 30. Qxd3 Qxh3#
292. 22. Qd3!! was missed in the game (White actually resigned in this position!) After this move, Black has
no way to move the Black Queen, and protect the back rank threat of Rf8#.
293. White has several good moves, but Chris found the computer’s best move, the brilliant interference move
21.Bg7!! You can see Chris’s annotations and analysis here: https://denverchess.com/Games/ViewPGN?
id=5926
294. Congrats to Paul and Brad on being elected CSCA President and VP! White has mate in 2 with 26. Rg7+
Kh8 27. Rxg6#
295. Brian has been having lots of fun playing "The Lemming" opening, 1...Na6, in Colorado in 2014. Here
the Lemming Knight delivers a nice smothered mate with 28...Nf2+ 29.Kg1 Nxh3+ 30.Kh1 Qg1+
31.Nxg1 Nf2#
296. Anthea somehow missed a mate in two and went for a perpetual check with Rf7+ Re7+ Rf7+, etc. Better
was moving the rook anywhere on the e-file (d7 works also), forcing the king to g8, then back rank mating
with Re8# such as 60...Rxe3+ 61.Kg8 Re8#. This was a pretty crazy game where Black was playing with
three pieces against a Queen, so was probably pretty mentally exhausted after 60 moves.
297. 40. Rxe7 removes the knight from defending the c8 square. 40...Kxe7 41. c8=Q.
Page 70
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Tactics Time!
298. Brian Wall– Brian Walker Sr. 299. Richard Brown - Javier Holliness 300. Andrew Smith - Mark Krowczyk
DCC Saturday #1 2014 Colorado Open 2014 Colorado Open 2014
301. Katie Wise - Gunnar Andersen 302. Ryan Green - Jon Wooldridge 303. K.W. Cowen - Todd Burge
304. Kurt Kondracki - Brian Wall 305. Billy Willson– Tom Corbett 306. Andrew Lin - Ted Doykos
Pikes Peak Open 2014 Colorado Open 2014 Colorado Open 2014
Page 71
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Answers:
298. Brian was alert for tactics in the opening and found 5.g4! which traps the black bishop. For example
5...Be4 6.f3 Bg6 7.h5
299. Richard found a really nice tactic here 16.Bxf7+! Kxf7 (if 16...Kf8 17.Bxh5 wins a piece) 17.Rxc6! re-
moving the knight from defending e5 and if 17...Rxc6 18.Ne5+ family fork, and if Black doesn't capture
the rook, then white is up a pawn with very active pieces and multiple threats.
300. (Variation from the game) 17.Ne5 discovered attack on the black queen and black knight on c4. Black
cannot meet both threats. If 17...Nxe5 Bxh5
301. (Variation from the game) 8...b5 forks the bishop and queen.
302. 31...Qc2+ 32.Ke1 Qb1+ 33.Bc1 Qxc1#
303. 23.d6! Deflection and interference. 23...Qxd6 24.Qd8+ Qf8 25.Qxd7 wins a piece.
304. 15...Nd5 forks the bishop and queen, winning a piece.
305. 11.Nh4 traps the Black Queen.
306. 26...Qa5+ forks the White King and Knight
Page 72

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Tactics Time!

306 Chess Tactics taken from Real Amateur Games

About the Author

Tim created his website, Tactics Time, http://tacticstime.com in May

In addition to chess , Tim enjoys computers, self improvement, and

You can reach Tim via at Tim@tacticstime.com.

Tactics Time is also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/

Table of Contents ................................................................................................. 4

Tactics Problems .................................................................................................. 5

7. P. Anderson - M. Anderson 8. VICKY21 - RedwoodPete 9. Frank Deming– Cory Foster

46. 1. Ra6! Overloads the black queen like a dishwasher on Thanksgiving.

106. Zonagrad - Diapason 107. Nocky69 - Klaus Johnson 108. SapanRinpoche-DracoMalfoy

124. archship - jbaffo 125. PureRWandBlue - Frock- 126. TimmyBx - fogie

145. Be5 is a double attack on the Queen, and the bishop on e6

199. 1...Bxf3 2. gxf3 Qxd4 nets a nice center pawn.

Tactics Time answers:

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