LCCC Still Closed - But Come Join Us On-Line!

Monday Night is Chess Night!

The Club is closed due to the quarantine effort. But you can still join us for chess action on line!

We at LCCC have some innovative members. They have set up a Monday Night Tournament on a site called Li Chess!

All you need to do is make an account on Li Chess. It is completely free!

Then head to the LCCC page on Li Chess:

https://lichess.org/team/Livingston-county-chess-club

and join us by clicking on the "Join Team" button.

Then in the center of the LCCC page you will see a listing of our previous and future tournaments. The next one will be at the top.

Sign up or sign up Monday night before 6pm and get ready for a couple of hours of chess action!
The tournament runs from 6pm to 8:30pm
Time control is 15minutes with a 5 second increment.
During the tournament, you will be paired with the next available player.
You can be there at the start, you can come late and you can leave whenever you wish with no penalty.
You can also take a break and watch other games
There is also a chat feature so feel free to ask questions if you have any problems, or if you just want to say hello!
After the tournament has finished at 8:30, the site will announce the winner, 2nd and 3rd.
But this is just really for fun and to keep the Club going.

See you Monday Night!

LCCC Shut Down Until at Least April - and an Interesting Game

If they can do it, you can!

LCCC is at the mercy of the State of Michigan, the State of Michigan Board of Education, and the Hartland School System. 

The Hartland Senior Center graciously allow us to use their facility on Monday evening. But as the school system goes, so goes the Hartland Senior Center. School is closed, so the Senior Center is closed, so we are closed.

When we get the green light to re-open, this site will let you know.

But feel free to play chess on line. Chess .com and Lichess .com are great sites on which to play. Both have a Livingston County Chess Club to join on their sites. Register and sign up for our chess club. Then you can challenge club members to games!

Now for a game I found on the internet. In an actual tournament game, a 3 year old beat a 6 year old! This game you can actually search on You Tube and see it for yourself. Very cute video. But here is the game with my commentary.

1.   e4          e5

2.   Qh5?

Which is a terrible move as Black can develop with tempo (an extra move) with 2. …..Nf6 attacking the queen and making her move again. White is up the equivalent of 6 pawns already (+6).

2.   .......            g6??

3.   Qxe5+        Be7

4.   Qxh8          d6??

Black just leaves the knight there to die. (+9)

5.   Qxg8          Kd7

6.   Qg7            Kc6?

Letting another pawn fall.  (+10)

7.   Qxf7           Bd7?

Black walks into a mate in three: 8. Qc4+, Kb6  9. Qb4+, Kc6 10. Qb5 mate. But these are very young beginning chess players. Missing this is understandable. But moving your queen for 9 straight moves is not understandable or acceptable. White has a huge material and positional advantage. He needs to bring those extra resourses into the battle AND get his king out of the center of the board. Ohterwise, his king may end up as exposed as Black's king is right now.

8.   Qf4?            h6  

9.   Qxh6          Na6

10. Qxg6          Bh4?  (+12.5)

11.  g3              Be7

12.  Qh6?         Bg5    (+10)

13.  Qh7           d5

14.  exd5+        Kxd5?  (+15.5)
Black is completely lost with his king in the center of the board. White just needs to bring some of his vast army advantage into the fight. Beginning chess players often fall in love with their queen and can't stop moving her every or nearly every move! 15. Nc3 and Black has no hope at all.
  

15.  Qd3+         Kc6    (+12)
16.  Qf3+          Kb6
17.   h4             Be7
18.   Qb3+        Nb4?
19.   c3             a5
20.   cxb4         axb4
21.   Qe3+        Bc5
22.   Qf3?         Bc6
White has no plan at all. (+9.5)

23.   a3??          Qe8+ ??
24.   Be2           Bxf3
25.   Nxf3         Qe7
Black has something up his 3 year old sleeve, which is fine because the best move for Black 25. ….Bd6 doesn't save anything after 26. d4. (+10)

26.   axb4?          Re8?
(+3.5) after White's move and then (+14.5) after Black's move. But a trap is set.

27.   bxc5+        Kxc5
28.   Ra5+         Kb6
29.   Ra4???      Qxe2++

And one of the greatest come from behind victories ever videoed is complete!

Chess Club Kid's Night March 9, 2020 - and Chess Ethics

This coming Monday is Kid's Night at the chess Club. It is the night once a month where we focus on the younger chess players.
Bring your aspiring Grandmaster to the club for friendly games with players more his age, or against more seasoned opponents. Or maybe your child wants a chess lesson. Either way, the club is here for you every Monday night. But especially on Kid's Night.

Ethics Questions


Let’s check your chess ethics shall we?

Problem I – You are a spectator at the last round of a weekend Swiss tournament. The pairings go up and you see Player A – a friend of yours – is paired with Player B. You suggest what opening he should play. Is there anything wrong with that?

A no-brainer right? Not a problem. Your friend can take your advice or ignore it. Ok, let’s tweak it a bit.

Problem II – You are not a spectator but playing in the tournament. If Player B loses, you get a prize. You don’t know Player A very well.

Should you give him opening advice if he asks you?

Should you offer the advice if he doesn’t?

It’s getting a little troublesome now.

Problem III – It’s very late in the last round of a major tournament. The A vs B game is adjourned by the tournament director and the two players will resume playing in the morning. You want that prize so you go uninvited to Player A’s hotel room and offer to study the position with him.

Is that ethical?

This situation actually happened in the 1962 Candidate’s Tournament to determine who would play Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Championship. Paul Keres was tied with Tigran Petrosian in 1^st place with one round to go. Petrosian drew his game and Keres would pass him with a victory over Pal Benko. The Benko-Keres game was adjourned until the next day.

That evening Petrosian and his friend GM Yefim Geller went up to Benko’s hotel room and offered to help analyze the position. Benko was disgusted and told them to leave.

The game resumed in the morning, Keres lost, Petrosian was crowned the Candidate and he went on to defeat Botvinnik for the title.

Like most people, your humble scribe was offended by Petrosian and Geller’s actions, and was very proud of my fellow American Pal Benko. The thinking is no third party should provide help. However, at the world class level, when games were adjourned, it was considered normal.

Let’s put a human face on it like Problem II. What if Keres best friend GM Max Euwe had gone to Keres room to help him?

So let’s ask an expert in Ethics studies, who is also an international chess player – IM Dr. Stuart Rachels.

The verdict is that despite their dubious motives, Petrosian and Geller did nothing wrong. As Dr. Rachels puts it, saying that Petrosian and Geller acted for bad reasons is not exactly to say that what they did was wrong – because the same thing, if done for different reasons, could have been just fine.

Life is confusing sometimes.