Positions of the Week

Usually I like to present a reasonably close game, but this was a week of drubbings. Therefore, rather than an entire game transcript, here are some interesting positions (anonymized to protect my sources):

Game No. 1

Route 20 Chess Club

Freeport, Ill., May 17, 2011

White to move. White has just played 1.Bb5+, which black has answered with 1...c6. Has white played a clumsy, thoughtless check that dooms him to lose a tempo -- and his d-pawn, and another tempo after that -- or does he have an ace up his sleeve? (Highlight to reveal answer.)

Black's queen is a goner after 2.Nd5!! White already has an almost insurmountable winning advantage, but black can salvage some dignity with 2...Qxb5 3.Nc7+ Kd7 4.Nxb5 cxb5, taking two white pieces for the doomed queen.

Black, hopelessly outgunned, is after a stalemate. Can he get one? (Highlight to reveal answer.)

Sadly, no: 1.Qf4! (1.Qf6+ g5 2.Qc3 g3+ 3.Qxg3#) 1...g5 46.Qg3#. The actual game went 1.h3!? gxh3? (1...Kg5 2.h4+ Kxh4 3.Qd8+ g5 4.Qd6 g3+ 5.Qxg3#) 2.gxh3?! (2.Qf4#) 2...Kxh3 (2...Kg5 3.h4! Kxh4 4.Qf4+ Kh3 5.Qg3#) 3.Qf3+ Kh4 4.Qg3#.

Game No. 2

Route 20 Chess Club

Freeport, Ill., May 17, 2011

This time it's black's turn to be tricky. In this otherwise equal-looking position, what can black do to give white a real headache? (Highlight to reveal answer.)

1...Nd2! threatens a royal fork on f3. 2.Nd4 stops the threat; 2...Nxb3 3.Nxe6, and black has the advantage.

Game of the Week

Wow! Major churn this week in our usually placid ladder. Eighth-grade up-and-comer John Werkheiser scored a point against the encyclopedic Gary Sargent, then got his own bell rung by our resident park hustler, Steve Black, who in turn let one go to Monica Kearney; while Ken Conter caught me zoning out in an endgame and beat me with a king-rook fork. At least one thing remains constant: It's very, very difficult to beat Will Engel.

K.Ammann–W.Engel

Route 20 Chess Club

Freeport, Ill., May 10, 2011

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3

I know this is a perfectly legit book move and all, but I always mean to play 4.Bg5, and I always forget. Grrr.

4...b6?!

An odd moment, and an odd way, to go out of book. And kind of an odd choice in general -- I know so little book, there's no real advantage in going out of it against me.

5.Bg5 c5 6.e3 Bb7?

The fianchetto seems natural, but if I were playing more aggressively, 7.cxd5 Be7 (≤7...exd5 8.Bb5+ Bc6 9.Qa4 Bxb5 10.Nxb5+−) 8.Bb5+ Kf8 9.dxe6 would set me up pretty nicely.

7.Bd3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0

9.Qc2

I'd call this my first real miscue of the game. It's not even that serious an error, more like a missed opportunity to do the most right thing: 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Nxd5 Bxd5 12.dxc5 Nd7. I guess I just don't feel ready to set off the fireworks yet.

9...h6

Incidentally, by not setting off the fireworks, I leave Will a chance to grab a slight advantage with 9...dxc4!? 10.Bxc4 Bxf3 11.gxf3 cxd4.

10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.cxd5 exd5 12.e4 cxd4 13.Nxd5 Nc6 14.Rac1 Rc8 15.Qa4 Ne5 16.Nxe5 Bxe5

Will should preempt 17.Rxc8 Bxc8 18.Qxa7 with 16...Rxc1 17.Nxf6+ Qxf6 18.Rxc1 Qxe5 19.Qxa7 Bxe4.

I've been playing a competent game so far. Time to do something about that.

17.Ba6??

Seeking to trade my bad bishop for Will's sniper. Alas, not only does a rook trade give him the tempo he needs to dodge my attack . . .

17...Rxc1 18.Rxc1 Bxd5

. . . but, in fact, if he calls my bluff with 18...Bxa6!? 19.Qxa6, then 19...Qh4! wins my e-pawn.

19.exd5 Qxd5 20.Bc4

20.Bd3 is slightly better.

20...Qd6

I see the battery, and I see the easy way to thwart it (21.g3). But now, reasoning spuriously that I'm unlikely to win against Will anyway and so may as well try something and see what I learn from it, I play my next bonehead move:

21.Qxa7? Bxh2 22.Kh1 Bf4 23.Bxf7?? Rxf7

It's good to remember that kings can in fact defend other pieces.

24.Rc8+ Rf8 25.Rc7

A piece down, but clinging to a bad idea like a terrier.

25...Qf6 26.g3

What's the move that wins the game for Will? (Highlight to reveal answer.)

26...Bxg3! 27.fxg3 (27.Rxg7+ merely postpones the inevitable: 27...Qxg7 28.Qxg7+ Kxg7 29.Kg2 d3 30.f4 Bxf4 31.b4 d2 32.a3 d1Q 33.Kf2 Bd6+ 34.Ke3 Rf3+ 35.Ke4 Qd3#) 27...Qf1+ 28.Kh2 Rf2# 0-1

Northwest Illinois $5 Open

With 26 entrants in two sections, the Northwest Illinois $5 Open was our most successful rated tournament to date. For the first time, I'm pleased to say, we drew players from Iowa, a milestone we've been hoping to pass for some time. In addition, many of our participants were new to rated chess: 11 out of the 18 players in the U1000 section were unrated, including Juan Meraz of Rockford, who won the section. Congratulations, Juan! (His daughter Yesenia, a veteran of the Rockford Chess Challenge, finished eighth.)

Our eight-player open section was won by Luis Peralta of Moline. Both Luis and Juan finished the day with perfect 4.0 scores. (Complete standings may be found on our tournament results page; click here for official crosstables and post-event ratings.)

Also, there were doughnuts. Lots and lots of doughnuts. And snow. What was up with that?

W.Engel (1684)–L.Peralta (1922)

Northwest Illinois $5 Open (3)

Freeport, Ill., April 16, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 h6 4.f4 d6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.fxe5 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 dxe5 8.Qg3 Qd6 9.Nc3 Nbd7 10.0-0 0-0-0 11.Be3 a6

12.Bxf7 Qb4 13.Bb3 Kb8 14.Rf3

Will is clearly trying to double his rooks on the f-file, but 14.Rf2 is the better move for this. 14.Rf3 cuts the bishop off from the queen, leaving it defenseless. Even better than 14.Rf2 is 14.a3, chasing away Luis's bold queen before centralizing Will's queen's rook.

14...Nh5

Passing up the opportunity to challenge Will's momentarily defenseless dark-square bishop, thereby forcing him to trade that good piece away.

15.Qg6 Nhf6

15...Nf4!? 16.Bxf4 exf4 17.Rxf4 Ne5 blunts Will's advantage by forcing him to trade away some kingside cover, leaving open the diagonal his king is sitting on.

16.Raf1 Nc5 17.Nd5
It's not too late to chase that queen away with 17.a3.

17...Nxd5 18.exd5

Why weaken an active bishop by dropping a pawn in its path? Better to retake with the bishop, even though it means giving up the pawn on b2.

18...Nxb3 19.axb3 Qb5 20.Qe6 Bd6 21.Rf7 g5

21...Rhe8 drives Will's impertinent queen back to the kingside: 22.Qg4 Bc5 23.Bf2 Rxd5 Qxg7.

22.R1f6

As an alternative, 22.c4!? gains queenside space while patching the gap in Will's pawn structure.

22...Rde8 23.Qh3 Qxd5 24.c4 Qa5

25.Kf2

Not the piece-losing 25.Rxh6?? Rxh6 26.Qxh6 Qe1+ 27.Rf1 Qxe3+ 28.Kh1 Qe2.

25...Bc5 26.Bxc5 Qxc5+ 27.Qe3 Qb4 28.h4?

Will gained a significant advantage early on, but it's been dwindling away. This miscue allows Luis to turn the tables on him. 28.Qe1 Qxb3 29.Qc3 is Will's best chance to keep the game close.

28...Qxb3 29.hxg5 hxg5 30.Qd2 e4 31.dxe4 Qxc4

32.Qxg5??

Oof. Will isn't normally one to miss something like the two attackers trained on his e-pawn. He can defend it directly with 32.Qe3 Qc2+ 33.Qe2, or take a subtler damage-control approach with 32.Qc3 Rxe4 33.Qxc4 Rxc4 34.Kg3.

32...Rxe4

With Will's queen out of the way, 32...Qxe4! is the superior capture. The continuation 33.Qd2 Qh4+ 34.Kf3 Rhg8 reminds me of Spider-Man whipping around, wrapping up a bad guy in webbing. Ain't no getting out of that.

33.Rf8+ Rxf8 34.Rxf8+ Ka7 35.Qh5

Another dangerous misstep: 35...Qd4+ 36.Kg3 Qd6+ 37.Kh3 Qxf8 wins Will's rook.

35...Qc2+ 36.Kg1 Qxb2 37.Rd8

37.Qc5+ Qb6 38.Qxb6+ Kxb6 39.Rf6+ c6 40.Kf2 is the best of a lot of bad choices.

37...Qc1+ 38.Rd1 Qe3+ 39.Kh1 Re5

The slick 39...Qf2 40.Qg5 Rh4+ 41.Qxh4 Qxh4+ 42.Kg1 wins Will's queen for a rook.

40.Qf7 Qe2 41.Rf1 c5 0-1

There's still some fight left in the position, but none in Will -- he resigns.

K.Conter (589)–J.Meraz (unr.)

Northwest Illinois $5 Open (4)

Freeport, Ill., April 16, 2011

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.h3 Bxf3 4.exf3 a6 5.g4 Nc6 6.c3 e6 7.Bd3 h6 8.Bf4 g5 9.Be3 Bd6

10.0-0

Ken's kingside pawn structure is too badly damaged for castling to seem like a good idea, especially with that bishop on d6 staring right down an open diagonal into the king's corner. Qb3, Nd2 and castling queenside seem like a better plan, perhaps accompanied by a pawn push on the h-file.

10...h5 11.Bd2?

Missing the danger. Ken has the option of gumming up Juan's pawn attack with 11.h4 gxh4 12.g5.

11...Qf6

Better to precede this with 11...hxg4 12.hxg4, bringing the king's rook into the attack.

12.f4?

Moving the pawn from relative safety to a thrice-attacked square. Eep.

12...gxf4 13.gxh5 Qg5+

Ken has only three possible replies. The worst is 14.Kh2?? f3+ 15.Kh1 Qg2#. The best is to block with his queen, daring Juan to trade. Juan will take the dare, but not without exacting a price first: 14.Qg4 Qxh5 15.Qxh5 Rxh5 16.Be2.

14.Kh1 (That's the third.) Rxh5 15.Kh2

A bitter error, placing the king directly in the sights of a discovered attack. Better to blockade the f-pawn with 15.Qf3.

15...f3+ 16.Bf4 Bxf4+ 17.Kh1 Qg2# 0-1

...Qg2# is also possible on move 16.

Thanks to all our players and other guests, and special thanks to Carl Woll, who generously agreed to take notation for a player with a motor disability.

See you in May at the Pecatonic Octads!