Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Twenty Five Chess Players on a Cold Week 20314

What better way to spend a winter evening than in our warm, clean and well-lit location for some chess with friends.

We had is all too. We had some league make-up games, some Ladder tournament games, some skittles games (friendly chess), some Fischer Random 960 chess and some speed chess!

We had all ages from 7 to …..well, it is a Senior Center….and I will let it go at that. It was a fun evening, and if you like chess at all, your Monday nights should be reserved for LCCC.

With round 7 completed, it is time to see how the league standings were affected. The Flames tried gallantly, but could only manage a drawn match with the league leading Rabid Squirrels. But they did move into 2nd place alone as the Tigers (3rd) lost to the Sonics. In other action, the 49’ers beat the Thunder.

The league returns next week – Feb. 10 – as the Sonics play the Thunder, the Tigers play the Flames and the Rabid Squirrels take on the 49’ers. But remember, there are still other players milling about looking for challengers. So whether you want to watch some league action or get in the game yourself, stop by.

The ladder action saw some players climb up the rungs. Luke S. made a big move. He is now in challenging distance of the Ladder Leader – Vince V.

Dave S also moved up a few rungs. The Ladder Tournament is a great way to play different people in the club and eventually find opponents near your strength for very exciting games. And that is what the Ladder is all about.

In other schedule news, the Senior Center finally confirmed that they will be open on February 17. So with Feb. 24 and March 3, that gives us three straight Mondays with no league action. So, our Tournament Director Ken T. is planning to hold a Blitz Tournament somewhere in there. Stay tuned for details!

And our chess master from Australia sends this along. I will post Jason’s solution in a few days in the comment section. Until then, enjoy!

Jason says, “I ran into one guy that was very strong, maybe 2200 FIDE. I lost a number of close games before I got him "dialed in" ;-)

This is a position from one of the blitz games we played.

Black's attack looks menacing, but White has a shot. Find it!

2 comments:

  1. White plays Rxb6, black replies with Kxb6, white plays Rb3+ and it is a fairly easy checkmate after that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yep... Rxb6! That was it! Too bad I didn't have the full game score...I just recall that he castled long into a pawn storm that rendered his black bishop useless. Once I got a grip on the white squares, it was very difficult for him. The Nf1 hold the fort on the king side while the rooks crash through. He opted to end the game quickly with 1. .. Kxb6 2. Rb3+ Kc6 3. Qd5#. In any case, 1. ... Kxb6 2. Rb3+ Ka6 3. Qxc7 Rb8 4. Rb5! is prettier than the mundane 4. Rxb8 winning.

    ReplyDelete