Newsletter Issue #101 Tactics Time

Decide tactics first and only apply positional criteria if no tactic exists. -NM Dan
Heisman

T his game was also featured in the April

2004 Tactics Time Column, and was
played in the 2003 Edward Levy
Memorial.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

In this newsletter I present another article

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

The Principle of Tactical Dominance

(http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman57.pdf)
This is a great article that discusses "Positional considerations" (such as weak squares, isolated
pawns, etc) versus "Tactical considerations" (such as winning a pawn).

Dan states the rule as follows:

Tactical criteria dominate positional criteria. Therefore, use of positional criteria is

almost always useless if there is a tactic that wins material or checkmates; decide
tactics first and only apply positional criteria if no tactic exists.

Dan gives several examples where his students (poorly) chose moves based on positional
considerations such as "A knight on the rim is dim", instead of tactical considerations such as
"This move loses a pawn".

Dan also mentions how weaker players will often waste time and energy in games thinking
about obscure or unimportant positional considerations, then make a move that loses tactically!

The article mentions how chess players, who have never learned the basics of tactics, such as
counting, are studying openings, and learning positional rules, that are basically useless without a
good tactical foundation.

I really like this article a lot, and how Dan has a real knack for pointing out the "Elusive
Obvious" that many weaker players suffer from.
 Here is the complete game:

[Event "Levy Memorial"]

[Site "Denver"]
[Date "2003.09.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Firman, Nazar"]
[Black "Salinas, Chad"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2513"]
[BlackElo "1920"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2003.09.18"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2

cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bc5 10. O-O-O O-O 11. Qf2 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Qc7 13. h4 b5 14. h5 b4
15. Na4 Bxd4 16. Qxd4 Qa5 17. b3 Bb7 18. f5 Bc6 19. f6 gxf6 20. exf6 Kh8 21.
Bd3 e5 22. Qg4 Rg8 23. Qf5 e4 24. Bxe4 dxe4 25. Qxa5 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2172.

Answer:

White can safely take the pawn with 24. Bxe4 because the d pawn is pinned to the Queen on
a5. In the game black should have played 24 ...Nf8 protecting against mate, but instead
played 24. ...dxe4 and resigned after 25. Qxa5.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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 If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

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Newsletter Issue #102 Tactics Time

Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off! - John J. Rambo (First Blood 1982)

T his game was played online by my good

friend Francisco Baltier (ZonaGrad) in a
3 minute blitz game.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Francisco has an outstanding attitude when it

comes to playing losing positions. Most people
just start pushing wood, waiting to resign, with a
helpless feeling that there is nothing that they
can do to save the game.

Not Francisco. He goes into what I call

"RAMBO MODE".

He says to himself a quote from the original Rambo movie, "First Blood". In the scene the
commander is telling him that the mission is over. Rambo screams back "NOTHING IS OVER!!
NOTHING!!" Here is a 6 second YouTube video showing that quote (http://youtu.be
/71vqGyWTs3c).

Here is the dialogue, taken from the Internet Movie Database (IMDB):

Trautman: You did everything to make this private war happen. You've done enough damage.
This mission is over, Rambo. Do you understand me? This mission is over! Look at them out there!
Look at them! If you won't end this now, they will kill you. Is that what you want? It's over
Johnny. It's over!

Rambo: Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off! It wasn't my war! You asked me, I
didn't ask you! And I did what I had to do to win!

Chris Peterson and Brian Wall made an outstanding video called "Fishing Pole: First Blood"
(http://youtu.be/exGSXjvKej0) , which features Francisco's win against GM Walter Browne in a
simul in Reno, with a brilliant Rambo theme.

Francisco even has an award named after him called the "Jim Burden - Francisco Baltier Award"
given out each year by Life Master Brian Wall. This award goes to the best game where the player
lost their queen for no good reason, and then still won the game. The award is given out on April
1 (April Fools Day), each year by creator Brian Wall.

The next time that you have a bad position say to yourself "NOTHING IS OVER!" (Sylvester
Stallone accent is optional). I have done this myself, and saved a lot of games where I was
losing!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Rated blitz match 3 0"]

[Date "2011.11.02"]
[White "ZonaGrad"]
[Black "sTpny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "1470"]
[BlackElo "1313"]
[PlyCount "47"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d3 Bc5 4. h3 Bxf2+ 5. Kxf2 c6 6. Bg5 d5 7. Nc3 Bg4 8.

hxg4 dxe4 9. Nxe4 Qb6+ 10. Ke1 Nxg4 11. b3 O-O 12. Qd2 Nd7 13. Kd1 f5 14. Kc1
fxe4 15. dxe4 Nc5 16. Be3 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 Rad8 18. Kb2 Nd3+ 19. Bxd3 Qxe3 20.
Bc4+ Kh8 21. Rae1 Qc5 22. Ng5 b5 23. Nxh7 Rf2 24. Nf6# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2174

Answer:

Black has a nasty check with 18. ...Na4+ discovering an attack on the unprotected queen on
e2.

Black can also check with 18. ...Nd3+ (which was played in the game), but this check is not as
good, because it gives white the option to trade his queen for knight and rook, which is a pretty
even trade, and white was already ahead in material.

After 18. ...Nd3+ Francisco played 19. Bxd3? which hung his queen. But in true Rambo mode,
he came back and won the game!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

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Newsletter Issue #103 Tactics Time

I get more upset at losing at other things than chess. I always get upset when I lose at
Monopoly. - Magnus Carlsen

T his game was played at a standard time

control at the 2003 Edward Levy
Memorial in Denver, between 2 strong
players in the open section.
In the position on the right it is White to
move.

Answer below.

Today, I wanted to share some links and

resources where I get a lot of the quotes, ideas
and games that I use.

Chess Quotes is a great website that has a lot

of chess quotes organized by topic, as well as a
chess quote of the day.

Chessville Chess Quotes is a huge collection of quotes, not all related to chess, but many related
to sports, success, improvement, and competition.

Brainy Quotes is an enormous collection of quotes on a huge range of topics.

Many quotes that I use are just taken from articles or chess books that I have read that I really
liked, that no one else has really labeled as a "quote" before. The articles on chesscafe.com
normally provide me with a lot of food for thought.

I also use Wikipedia quite a lot when looking up chess information, or information about
openings or famous chess players. The amount of chess knowledge that is now in Wikipedia has
grown enormously the past couple of years. You can learn a lot about chess just from Wikipedia.

Many of the play on words that I have used in the titles were from chess team names, used in
tournaments such as the U.S. Amateur team tournaments.

I find a lot of fun positions and ideas from The Planet Greenpawn blog, and redhotpawn forums.

I get a lot of Colorado games and ideas from the Denver Chess Club, Fred Spell's Colorado
Springs Chess Night Newsletter, Paul Anderson's Colorado Springs Chess blog, Brian Wall's
newsletter, Anthea Carson's Hubpages, and the Colorado State Chess Association page where
many games are contributed by Richard Buchanan.

I could not do this newsletter without all the people out there publishing games, and writing
their own blogs and websites, and I am grateful and thankful to live in a time when such amazing
resources are available.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Levy Memorial"]

[Site "Denver"]
[Date "2003.09.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ivanov, Alexander"]
[Black "Simms, Gary"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2272"]
[PlyCount "13"]
[EventDate "2003.09.18"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 d6 5. d3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. Nxe5 1-0

You can play through the game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2176.

Answer:

White took advantage of Légal's Trap with 7. Nxe5! The move 6. h3 loosen the bishop, getting
it to retreat to h5, so that 7. Nxe5 would work.

If the bishop were still on g4, then after 7. ...Nxe5 the knight would be protecting this bishop.

If black gets greedy and grabs the queen on d1, he will be mated after 8. Bxf7+ Ke7 9. Nd5#
with a Légal' Mate.

This is a very important tactical pattern to know! Note that it was a master rated 2272 who
missed this move!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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Newsletter Issue #104 Tactics Time

It doesn't require much for misfortune to strike in the King's Gambit - one incautious
move, and Black can be on the edge of the abyss. ~ Anatoly Karpov

T his position comes from one of my

games played on Redhotpawn.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk a little bit about one of

my favorite openings to play, the King's Gambit.

From Wikipedia:

The King's Gambit is one of the oldest

documented openings, as it was examined by the
17th century Italian chess player Giulio Polerio.
It is also in an older book by Luis Ramirez de
Lucena.

A common mistake in the King's Gambit is that Black puts their dark square bishop on a
square that gives white a free tempo. This can be either:

Bb4 - often a mindless check, which allows c3, forcing the bishop to move again
Bc5 - which often allows white to play d4 with tempo, and the bishop has to move
Bd6 - which is often used to protect the pawn on f4, but allows e5 either with tempo, or
opening the e file.

e7 is actually normally a good square for the dark square bishop when playing against the
King's Gambit. A lot of black players don't like to play this move because it seems "passive", but
the other squares are often not good.

In fact playing Be7 has it's own name and ECO code - C35: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Be7
(Cunningham Defense)

In this game black wasted a lot of time with his dark square bishop. He played:

3. ..Bd6
4. ..Bc5
5. ..Bd6
6. ..Be7
 moving this poor piece 4 times in a row, giving white lots of time to:

develop his pieces

gain space
open lines

Not surprisingly, after making so many wasteful moves, black was checkmated quickly.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "December 2009 Sprint 64 I"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2010.01.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Timmybx"]
[Black "Grabman"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C34"]
[WhiteElo "1708"]
[BlackElo "1189"]
[PlyCount "43"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Bd6 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. d4 Bd6 6. e5 Be7 7. Bxf4 f6 8. O-O fxe5
9. Nxe5 d5 10. Qh5+ g6 11. Nxg6 Nf6 12. Qe5 hxg6 13. Bd3 Ng4 14. Qxh8+ Kd7
15. Qxd8+ Kxd8 16. Bxg6 Nc6 17. c3 Nf6 18. Bg5 Ne4 19. Bxe7+ Kxe7 20. Rf7+ Kd6
21. Na3 Be6 22. Nb5# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2178.

Answer:

White has a lot of good moves in this position, and is already clearly winning. I played 10.
Qh5+ which is good enough for government work, but a better move was 10. Nf7! forking the
queen and rook.

If black grabs this knight with 10. ...Kxf7, then white can play 11. Bxc7+ winning another
pawn, and the queen with a discovered check.

If black gets their queen out of the way with 10. ...Qd7, white can just take the rook with 11.
Nxh8

This is a good tactical idea to know when you have an open f file, and a lead in development.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

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Newsletter Issue #105 Tactics Time

Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponents mind ~ Bobby
Fischer

T his game was sent to me in an email

entitled "Pins, Back Rank, Oh My", by
Bob Crune, who reads my Tactics Time
column in the Colorado Chess Informant
magazine, which comes out 4 times a year.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Bob writes: I see a lot of redhotpawn in Tactics

Time and CO Informant. Here's one from
chess.com. Yeah, it's bullet...which is chess
equivalent to junk food...but it's fun to see how
quickly one can recognize the needed patterns.

Diagram after black's 24th, so white to move. At this point white had 5 seconds left, black at a
stately 20 seconds. White sees chances against the black queen but needs more.

Thanks Bob!

I would also like to share another good Novice Nook column by NM Dan Heisman.

The Most Important Tactic (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman35.pdf) - This is another

article on the topic of "Counting".

Dan writes:

players rated less than 1400 USCF make about as many counting errors as they do
for all the other tactics put together!

which makes this a very important concept to understand, and one that is not talked a lot about
by chess writers, or mentioned in chess books.

There are a lot of good tips sprinkled throughout the article such as this one, which I really
liked. For example:

Remember, when your opponent takes a piece, you usually have to take a piece
 back, but it does not always have to be the recapture!

Even if you have read Dan's other articles on counting, this is a good one to "Sharpen the Saw".

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.10.20"]
[White "JetSetter"]
[Black "shaahint"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1841"]
[BlackElo "1887"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[TimeControl "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. b3 e6 3. Bb2 Nf6 4. Nf3 d5 5. d3 d4 6. e3 b6 7. exd4 cxd4 8. Nxd4

Bc5 9. Nf3 Bb7 10. Nbd2 Na6 11. Be2 Nb4 12. d4 Bd6 13. O-O Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Rc8
15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Qc7 17. Qh5 g6 18. Qh3 a6 19. d5 O-O 20. dxe6 fxe6 21.
Qxe6+ Rf7 22. a3 Nc6 23. Bd5 Rcf8 24. Rad1 Ne7 25. Qf6 Be5 26. Bxe5 Qxe5 27.
Bxf7+ Rxf7 28. Rd8+ Rf8 29. Qxf8# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2180.

Answer:

White has a forced mate with 27. Bxf7+ Rxf7 28. Rd8+ Rf8 29. Qxf8# (29. Rxf8#)

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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 © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #106 Tactics Time

By trying often the monkey learns to jump from the tree - African Proverb

T his game was played at the July 2011

East Coast Deli tournament in Colorado
Springs.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to share a story about Monkey

Traps.

In parts of Asia, and other places in the world

as well, indigenous people use a method for
trapping monkeys that is simplicity itself.

To make the trap, you must first hollow out a

gourd, leaving an opening just large enough for a monkey's open paw to go through. Place a
sweet treat--or some other food monkeys are partial to--inside the gourd, then attach a vine to
the gourd and stake the other end of the vine to the ground somewhere out of sight.

An unsuspecting monkey smells the treat inside the gourd and reaches in to collect it. However,
the opening, which was just large enough for the critter's open paw to go in, is too small to allow
its clenched paw to pass back through. No matter how much the monkey yanks, he cannot escape
as long as he tries to hang on to the treat.

Meanwhile, the hunter who set the trap comes along, collects the monkey, and, presumably,
heads back home in search of a cooking pot and a fire. There will be monkey meat tonight.

The Monkey trap works because the monkey is focused on obtaining the food inside and doesn't
understand that the price of trying to obtain that particular morsel will be its own freedom, its own
survival. Monkeys are programmed by evolution to forage and grab food wherever they find it. It's
not that the monkey is stupid. It's just that letting go seldom occurs to it.

What does this have to do with chess?

Well I think that the same principle sometimes applies in positions where one player is ahead in
material.
 For example in the Halloween Attack, which we talked about a few newsletters ago, Black goes
up a whole piece in the opening. In exchange, white gets a tremendous attack.

As IM Andrew Martin said, the best strategy for black is often to give back some of the material
at some point. The same is often true when playing against gambits.

Last night I played against an opponent who played "The Bird" (1. f4) against me. I played the
really sharp "From's Gambit" (1. f4 e5), and gave up a pawn for development. After the game, I
asked her why she didn't do a certain line, which I felt would give her a huge advantage. She
replied that she also thought it was winning, but didn't want to risk losing a pawn. I pointed out
that she was already up a pawn, since I gambited a pawn on the first move of the game, but she
said she didn't want to risk possibly giving it back, even if it gave her an advantage.

Don't fall into this monkey trap. Sometimes when you are up material, you have to give some
back, or you can end up like the monkey, who refuses to let go of his treasure :-)

Here is the complete game:

[Event "July 2011 East Coast Deli"]

[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2011.07.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "McGough, Mark"]
[Black "Freeman, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C13"]
[WhiteElo "1782"]
[BlackElo "1612"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Bxf6 gxf6 6. Nxe4 Nc6 7. Nf3 Bh6
8. Bb5 Bd7 9. Nc5 Qe7 10. c3 O-O-O 11. Qa4 Kb8 12. Nxb7 Kxb7 13. Qa6+ Kb8
14. Bxc6 Bxc6 15. Qxc6 e5 16. dxe5 Rd6 17. Qe4 fxe5 18. O-O Bf4 19. Rad1 Rh6
20. Qb4+ Qxb4 21. cxb4 1/2-1/2

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2182.

Answer:

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

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #107 Tactics Time

If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always got.
~ Jim Rohn

T his position was played at the June

2011 Wednesday night East Coast Deli
tournament in Colorado Springs.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about an idea I learned

from T. Harv Eckr, author of Secrets of the
Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of
Wealth.

Eckr says that ""The three most dangerous

words in the English language are 'I know that'".

"You may hear or read about something, or talk about it, but unless you live it, you don't really
know it." Success, according to Harv, is a learnable skill and to be continually successful (and
wealthy), you need to be continually learning and growing.

In the book he gives lots of examples of the difference in mindsets between wealthy people, and
poor people. These mindsets are the "inner game" of wealth.

For example one of the differences in mindset is:

Rich people constantly learn and grow.

Poor people think they already know.

I think that this same rule could be applied to many chess players

Strong chess players constantly learn and grow.

Weak chess players think they already know.

His rule about not knowing something, unless you are living it, can be applied to chess tactics
as well.

If you are missing a certain type of chess tactic in your games then you aren't living it, and
therefore don't know it.
 For example everyone "knows" what a knight fork is. But if you are missing 1-2 move knight
fork tactics in your games, then you aren't living it, therefore don't really know it.

The solution of course is to keep studying your tactics, with lots of repetition.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "June 2011 East Coast Deli"]

[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2011.06.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Brown, Richard"]
[Black "Spell, Fred"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E43"]
[WhiteElo "1247"]
[BlackElo "1441"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 b6 6. e3 Bb7 7. Nf3 d5 8. Bb2 Nbd7

9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Ne4 11. Be2 Qg5 12. O-O dxc4 13. f4 Qg6 14. Bxc4 Nxc3
15. Qd2 Rd8 16. Qf2 Ne4 17. Qf3 Nd6 18. Bb5+ Kf8 19. Bc6 Nc4 20. Rfd1 Ke7
21. Bxb7 Nxb2 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Be4 f5 24. exf6+ Qxf6 25. Rb1 Nc4 26. Rd1 Rxd1+
27. Qxd1 Nxe3 28. Qf3 Qa1+ 29. Kf2 Nd1+ 30. Kg3 Qc3 31. Bxh7 Qxf3+ 32. Kxf3 Nc3
33. g4 c5 34. h4 Nd5 35. Be4 Nf6 36. Bd3 Kd6 37. g5 Nd7 38. Be4 Ke7 39. h5 Kf7
40. Bg6+ Kg8 41. Be8 Nb8 42. Bb5 a6 43. Bc4 b5 44. Bxe6+ Kf8 45. Ke4 c4
46. h6 gxh6 47. gxh6 a5 48. Bxc4 bxc4 49. Kd4 c3 50. Kxc3 Nc6 51. Kc4 Kg8
52. Kb5 Nd4+ 53. Kxa5 Kh7 54. Kb6 Kxh6 55. a4 Nb3 56. a5 Nxa5 57. Kxa5 Kg6 1/2-1/2

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2184.

Answer:

14...Nxc3! 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.

I got a question about this position when it first appeared in the October 2011 Colorado Chess
Informant about why Nd6, attacking the bishop was not the correct move.

I wrote a blog post response (http://tacticstime.com/?p=1230) answering this question.

My response was:

After 14...Nd6 white could play 15. Qa5+ then black has to get out of check (and the Knight
on d6 is attacked by the pawn on e5, and cannot be used to stop the check).

Once black gets out of check, white can play 16. Rf2 preventing the mate on g2. Black can then
save his knight, but did not win a pawn in this variation like he did with 14...Nxc3 (which was the
solution given, winning a pawn, because of the threat of Qxg2#).

So for example 14....Nd6 15. Qa5+ Kf8 16. Rf2

Hope this helps!

Happy Tactics!

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Newsletter Issue #108 Tactics Time

Dad taught me everything I know. Unfortunately, he didn't teach me everything he

knows. - Al Unser

T his game was played between David

Hartsook and Life Master Brian Wall at
the Denver Chess Club in May 2011.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about another chess

tactics book that I really enjoy, How to Beat Your
Dad at Chess (Gambit Chess) .

A few newsletters ago I talked about Lev

Albert's Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most
Important Positions and Ideas (Comprehensive
Chess Course Series) and how it had an
embarrassing cover photo. How to Beat Your Dad tops it by having an embarrassing Title AND
Cover!

Here are some snippets of a review from Chessville.com that I thought was very well written,
and mimics my opinion about the book:

There are times when a wonderful chess book gets published with an odd title and all "serious"
chess players treat it as if it had some highly contagious form of bubonic plague.

For a book publisher though, the title might be critical to attract the attention of the non-chess
player, the novice chess player, or the novice chess player's mother.

This is the case with How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, one of the best books on tactics and
mating patterns since Renaud and Kahn's The Art of Checkmate.

Rather than dwell on the calculation of variations, How to Beat Your Dad talks about pattern
recognition and then proceeds to give 47 different mates, one perpetual check to save a draw, and
two patterns that win material, all from actual play with an emphasis on learning the mating
patterns.

To further help the student, the book contains a total of 263 diagrams, making it possible to
study the positions without the aid of a board.

Chandler has also attempted to name and classify all fifty positions, many of which were
unnamed in the past although they have been around for a long time. It remains to be seen
whether his terminology will catch on but it is an interesting concept.

Some of the titles include "Petrosian's Draw", "Korchnoi's Maneuver", and "The Fischer Trap".
Many of these patterns have been around for a very long time but have never been systematically
classified. Others, such as the "Greek Gift" and "Damiano's Mate" have been around forever and
are more familiar to most players.

While this book is not a detailed manual on the attack, such as Vukovic's The Art of Attack in
Chess, it is much more understandable for the novice and intermediate player.

However, don't let the title fool you; this is a book that almost anyone below the Expert level
would benefit greatly from. Chandler has a very clear idea of his audience and I think that almost
anybody who studied this book closely would improve his or her tactical vision.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "May 2011 DCC Tuesdays"]

[Site "Denver"]
[Date "2011.05.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hartsook, David"]
[Black "Wall, Brian D"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B83"]
[WhiteElo "2082"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2011.05.24"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[WhiteTeam "12469048"]
[BlackTeam "10923344"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. O-O O-O
9. a4 Nc6 10. Nb3 b6 11. Qd2 Bb7 12. Rfd1 Qc7 13. f3 Rfb8 14. Qe1 Nb4 15. Qf2 Bc6
16. Bf1 d5 17. a5 bxa5 18. Nxa5 dxe4 19. Nxc6 Qxc6 20. fxe4 Ng4 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2186.

Answer:

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.
Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #109 Tactics Time

Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent. ~ Ambrose Bierce

T his position was played at the 2008

Colorado Open between Larry Wutt,
and Anthony Cordova.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk a little bit about finding

time to study chess tactics.

Most teachers recommend studying tactics on

a daily basis for 10-15 minutes for the maximum
benefit.

This sounds easy in theory, but we are all very

busy, and it is easy to skip.

Here are some places I have studied tactics in the past

On transportation, buses, trains, airplanes, etc

While exercising at the gym, stairmaster, exercise bike, etc
In the Bathroom (I know, "TMI")
During lunch breaks/smoke/coffee breaks at work
During commercials of TV shows, intermission/half time of sporting events
Waiting rooms, waiting for movies to begin at a theater
Before going to bed

If you always carry a chess tactics book around with you, this can make it easier. You can keep
one in the trunk of your car, in your jacket pocket, in your office desk, briefcase, backpack, etc.

With notebook computers, tablets, nooks, kindles, iPads, iPhones, and iPods getting smaller and
smarter you can use these as resources as well.

Another idea is to set up a reminder at HabitForge.com. You could set up a new habit entitled
"Study Tactics for 15 minutes". Every day the website will send you an email asking you if you
achieved your goal, and you answer "Yes" or "No", and it tracks your success.
 You could also set up reminders with your cell phone, calendar software, or get an
"accountability buddy". Many of the techniques that people use for other goals, such as getting
more exercise, can be used to build your tactical muscles as well!

One of the reasons I created this newsletter is because I know it can be hard to find time to
study tactics. By getting a new tactic right in your email inbox, it makes it a painless reminder to
take a few minutes a put a new pattern in your brain, or reinforce a tactical pattern that is already
in there.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2008 Colorado Open"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2008.08.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Wutt, Larry"]
[Black "Cordova, Anthony"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "1860"]
[BlackElo "1477"]
[PlyCount "95"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 d5 4. Bb5+ Nc6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. Nf3 Ba6 7. d3 Nf6 8. e5 Nd7

9. O-O c4 10. d4 c5 11. Ne2 Qb6 12. c3 cxd4 13. cxd4 Be7 14. Qe1 O-O 15. Nc3 Rfe8
16. Qg3 f6 17. Rf2 Rab8 18. Be3 Nf8 19. h4 Qd8 20. h5 f5 21. Qh3 Bc8 22. g4 Bb4
23. Kh2 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Qa5 25. Rc1 Qa3 26. gxf5 exf5 27. Qg2 Be6 28. Ng5 Rb7
29. Nxe6 Nxe6 30. Qxd5 Rb2 31. Rcc2 Rxc2 32. Rxc2 Qa4 33. Rg2 Kh8 34. Qf3 Qa5
35. d5 Nc5 36. Bxc5 Qxc5 37. Rd2 Qe7 38. d6 Qd7 39. Qd5 Re6 40. Rb2 g5
41. hxg6 hxg6 42. Rb8+ Re8 43. Rxe8+ Qxe8 44. e6 g5 45. Qxf5 gxf4 46. e7 Kg7
47. Qg5+ Kf7 48. Qh5+ 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2188.

Answer:

29. Nxe6 followed by 30. Qxd5 wins a pawn with the remove a defender technique.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

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Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #110 Tactics Time

The ideal attitude is to be physically loose and mentally tight. ~ Arthur Ashe

T his game was played in the 2008

Colorado Open between Michael
Dempsey, and Kevin Lucas.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about a simple concept

that can help you in finding tactics, and avoid
having tactics used against you in your own
games - LPDO!

LPDO stands for "Loose Pieces Drop Off".

Dr. John Nunn created this phrase in his

book Secrets of Practical Chess (New Enlarged Edition) about the danger of loose pieces;
they tend to drop off the board to various tactics.

A loose piece is simply a piece that has no protection. It is common for players to leave pieces
unprotected here and there; as long as they aren't being attacked, they look safe enough. But
loose pieces make perfect targets for the double threats.

The idea is that even among strong players, all the opening theory and middle game strategy
often comes to nought as the game is decided when an undefended piece falls victim to a tactic. If
players learn early on to be circumspect about leaving loose pieces on the board, they would find
their results improving more rapidly.

Here is the story GM Nunn tells in Secrets of Practical Chess, which I really like:

"Once I played 100 games against Mike Cook at 10 minutes (for him) vs 5 minutes (for me).

At that time, Mike was about 2300 strength. About half-way through the series (which I
eventually won 88-12) he explained his disappointment:

"I thought that I would see lots of advanced strategic concepts in these games, but actually all
I've learnt is LPDO."
 "LPDO?"

"Loose Pieces Drop Off."

During the remaining games, I saw what he meant. Most of the games were decided by
relatively simple tactics involving undefended pieces, when the LP would duly DO."

Remember to look for loose pieces in your opponent's positions, and try to keep as many of
your pieces loose as possible. Be aware of loose pieces on the board at all times. Any piece your
opponent has left unguarded is a possible target for a tactical strike; any piece of yours that is left
unguarded is a vulnerability.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2008 Colorado Open"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Dempsey, Michael"]
[Black "Lucas, Kevin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "1354"]
[PlyCount "65"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. O-O Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. d4 d6 7. d5 Na5 8. Be2
b6 9. Nh4 Nb7 10. f4 Nc5 11. fxe5 Nfxe4 12. Nf3 Bb7 13. Qe1 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Bxd5
15. c4 Bb7 16. a4 a5 17. Bb2 Qd7 18. Bd3 Nxa4 19. Rxa4 Qxa4 20. exd6 Bxd6 21.
Qh4 h6 22. Qg4 f6 23. Qe6+ Kh8 24. Qf5 Kg8 25. Qh7+ Kf7 26. Bg6+ Ke6 27. Re1+
Kd7 28. Qxg7+ Kc6 29. Be4+ Kc5 30. Bd4+ Kxc4 31. Bxb7 Rad8 32. Qg4 Qxc2 33.
Bxf6+ 1-0

You can play through the complete game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2190.

Answer:

Black, who was unrated at the time, missed 9. ...Nxe4, which wins a pawn after 10. Nxe4
Bxh4 taking advantage of the LPDO principle. The knight on h4 is loose, with no pieces or pawns
protecting it, making it a perfect target for a tactic.

I have found that knights on the rim in general are good targets for tactics, and can often be
trapped with moves like g4 and g5 as well, because of the knights limited mobility on the side of
the board.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #111 Tactics Time

Combinations have always been the most intriguing aspect of Chess. The masters look
for them, the public applauds them, the critics praise them. ~ Reuben Fine

T his game was played at the 2008

Colorado Open between Stephen
Endersbee and Stephen Wilson.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to share some words of wisdom

on the subject of chess tactics from Reuben
Fine's Chess Marches On! : A Vivid Record of
Chess Activities in the Leading Centers of the
World in 1942

"Thirty years ago, Teichmann said that chess is

99% tactics.

And despite the enormous strides of chess theory since then, his percentage can only be
reduced a few points .

Many amateurs think that master games are usually decided by some deeply-laid plan covering
all possibilities for at least ten moves. That is what they conceive the grand strategy of
tournaments to be.

Actually, however, strategical considerations, while quite important, do not cover a range or
depth at all comparable to the popular notion. Very often, in fact, sound strategy can dispense
with seeing ahead at all, except in a negative or trivial sense.

And it is still true that most games, even between the greatest of the great, are decided by
tactics or combinations which have little or nothing to do with the fundamental structure of the
game.

To take one striking example, look at the games of the Euwe-Alekhine matches. Euwe is a
player who analyzes openings ad infinitum, i.e., one who wants to settle everything strategically.

Alekhine is likewise adept at the art of building up an overwhelming position. And yet in almost
all cases the outcome depended not on the inherent structure of the play, but on some chance
combination which one side saw and the other side did not.

Tactics is still more than 90% of chess."

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2008 Colorado Open"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wilson, Stephen"]
[Black "Endersbee, Steven"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "1268"]
[BlackElo "1235"]
[PlyCount "89"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. c3 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nbd2 d5 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. O-O

c4 9. Bc2 h6 10. Bxf6 Nxf6 11. Ne5 Qc7 12. Ng4 Nxg4 13. Qxg4 e5 14. Qg3 Bd6 15.
dxe5 Bxe5 16. f4 Bf6 17. Rad1 b5 18. Nf3 Bb7 19. Nd4 a6 20. a4 Bxd4 21. Rxd4
Rfe8 22. Re1 Qa5 23. axb5 Qxb5 24. Rb1 Qd7 25. Qf3 Qe6 26. Re1 Rad8 27. b3 Bc6
28. bxc4 dxc4 29. Qd1 Rd7 30. Rxd7 Qxd7 31. Qxd7 Bxd7 32. e4 Rb8 33. Rb1 Rxb1+
34. Bxb1 a5 35. Ba2 Bb5 36. Kf2 a4 37. Ke3 Kf8 38. Kd4 Ke7 39. Kc5 Ba6 40. Kb6
Bc8 41. f5 g6 42. g4 Kf6 43. Bxc4 a3 44. h3 Ke7 45. Ba2 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2192.

Answer:

This is an interesting tactic. 34. ...Ba4! cuts off the white's bishop's threat of Ba2 threatening
the pawn on c4, and will force white to sacrifice their light square bishop to stop the runaway a
pawn.

Black's plan will be to play Ba4, a5, Bc3, a4, a3, a2, etc.

One sample line might be 34... Ba4 35. Kf2 a5 36. Ke3 Bb3 37. Kd4 a4 38. Kd5 a3 39. g4 a2
40. Bxa2 Bxa2 and black is up a bishop.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #112 Tactics Time

For any player who has yet to reach the expert level, tactics should remain the
principal area of study. You will probably notice in your own games that tactical situations
provide the majority of decisive moments." ~ Chesswire, Newsletter for
KasparovChess.com

T
his game was played on the Internet
Chess Club by Life Master Joel Johnson
(FearNoEvil).

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Some interesting excepts from an online

interview with Michael de la Maza, who I have
mentioned before in these newsletters. He wrote
the "400 points in 400 days" articles, which
really emphasized the importance of studying
tactics...

This is by Howard Goldowsky, 2001, for the

Massachusettes magazine, Chess Horizon:

Most of Michael's philosophy and approach to chess can be found in his 400 Points articles.

If you read them, you'll see that he recommends focusing study on nothing but tactics. I asked
him how he came to this conclusion.

"I wrote the articles because I saw things that basically broke my heart. I saw a 1000 level
player reading Kotov's middle game book. That's like someone who's just learned how to add
reading a calculus book.

"That's one of the fundamental fallacies of chess, that there's just no structure to the learning
process. If you go anywhere else, if you want to learn about mathematics, you first learn how to
count, then you learn how to add, then you learn how to multiply, then you learn how to do long
division.

"In chess, you learn how to play, and then someone says, 'Well, after you learn how to play,
you can read Silman, or you can read Kotov, or you could read a tactics book, or you could read
NCO...' One hundred thousand books, any one is good, you're expected to learn them all, and how
can that possibly be?

"In every other subject, there is a very clean progression. You go to first grade, then you go to
second grade, then you go to third grade, etc. How could learning Kotov at 1000 be good for you
at 1500, and good for you at 2000, and good for you at 2500? There's nothing else like that. In
chess, there's no order, and that's why I wrote the article. [The order is], it's basically all tactics
until you're a 2000 plus player."

"The first book I actually read from front to back cover was Silman [How to Reassess Your
Chess], and I actually got worse. I would spend half an hour thinking about where to put my
knight, and then I would drop a piece...[Silman] has ten or fifteen move variations...if you're a
class player, you're going to drop a piece while you make those ten to fifteen moves... I don't
mean to dis Silman. I think that he's a great chess author. But first, class players should stop
dropping pieces, and then they should read Silman."

Here is the complete game:

[Event "ICC"]
[Date "1999.02.12"]
[White "FearNoEvil"]
[Black "Pahumius"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C56"]
[WhiteElo "2200"]
[BlackElo "1815"]
[PlyCount "15"]

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e5 Qe7 6. O-O Ne4 7. Re1 Nc5 8.
Bg5 1-0

You can play through the game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2194.

Answer:

White traps the black queen with 8. Bg5. Black could block with 8. ...f6, but after 9. exf6 the
white rook on e1 pins the black queen to the black king.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

 Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #113 Tactics Time

The future belongs to he who has the bishops. ~ Siegbert Tarrasch

T his is another game where Hikaru

Nakamura crushes an extremely
powerful chess computer program on
the ICC in a 3 minute blitz game, with 1 second
increment. Instead of promoting to 6 knights,
this time he finishes the game with 5 bishops!

As in Newsletter #97, this time find all of the

mates in one that black has.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Some interesting facts about Rybka from

Wikipedia:

designed by International Master Vasik Rajlich

Vasik's wife, Iweta, is an International Master, and the tester of the software.
won four consecutive World Computer Chess Championships from 2007 to 2010
was stripped of these titles after an International Computer Games Association panel
concluded in June 2011 that Rybka plagiarized code from both the Crafty and the Fruit
chess engine
The word rybka means little fish in Czech
On the March 2010 SSDF rating list Deep Rybka 3 was first with a rating of 3227.
Vasik started working on Rybka at the beginning of 2003

Here is the complete game:

[Event "ICC blitz 3 0"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2008.03.15"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Rybka (Computer)"]
[Black "Hikaru Nakamura"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "2697"]
[PlyCount "510"]

1. g4 d5 2. h3 h5 3. g5 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Nc3 c6 6. Nf3 Bf5

7. Nh4 e6 8. Nxf5 exf5 9. Bf4 Ne7 10. e3 O-O 11. Qd2 Nd7
12. O-O-O Re8 13. Bg2 Nf8 14. Be5 Ne6 15. f4 Nc8 16. Kb1 Nd6
17. Bf1 Qd7 18. a4 b6 19. Ba6 Nc7 20. Be2 a6 21. Bd3 b5 22. h4
Ne6 23. Ne2 Re7 24. Ka1 Ree8 25. Qa5 Nb7 26. Qd2 Nd6 27. Rh2
Bf8 28. Rf2 Ng7 29. a5 Nb7 30. Ng1 Qd8 31. b4 Qd7 32. Nf3 Nd6
33. Bxd6 Bxd6 34. Ne5 Qb7 35. Kb2 Rac8 36. c3 Re7 37. Be2 Ree8
38. Bf3 Re7 39. Qc2 Rd8 40. Rfd2 Bb8 41. Be2 Re6 42. Bd3 Re7
43. Rf2 Re6 44. Qd2 Re7 45. Rg1 Re6 46. Rff1 Re7 47. Qd1 Re6
48. Rg2 Re7 49. Qc2 Re6 50. Rfg1 Re7 51. Rf2 Re6 52. Qe2 Re7
53. Qf3 Re6 54. Rd2 Re7 55. Rgd1 Re6 56. Qg3 Re7 57. Kb1 Re6
58. Bc2 Re7 59. Nd3 Re6 60. Nc5 Qc8 61. Nxe6 Qxe6 62. Kb2 Re8
63. Re1 Qd7 64. Qf3 Re7 65. Bd3 Re8 66. Rg2 Re7 67. Kb3 Re8
68. Ra2 Re7 69. Rc1 Re8 70. Rca1 Re7 71. Rg1 Re8 72. Rh2 Re7
73. Qg3 Re8 74. Ka3 Re7 75. Rb1 Re8 76. Rd2 Re7 77. Kb3 Re8
78. Ra1 Re7 79. Kb2 Re8 80. Re2 Re7 81. Ree1 Re6 82. Qf3 Qe7
83. Qf2 Qe8 84. Be2 Qe7 85. Bd1 Qe8 86. Bf3 Qe7 87. Qd2 Qe8
88. Kb3 Qe7 89. Kc2 Qe8 90. Kb2 Qe7 91. Rab1 Kf8 92. Qf2 Ke8
93. Be2 Kd8 94. Bd3 Qe8 95. Qf3 Ke7 96. Kb3 Kf8 97. Ra1 Qe7
98. Bc2 Kg8 99. Kb2 Qe8 100. Qf2 Qe7 101. Qd2 Qe8 102. Bd3 Qe7
103. Be2 Qe8 104. Rad1 Qe7 105. Rc1 Qe8 106. Bf3 Qe7 107. Qf2
Qe8 108. Rcd1 Qe7 109. Be2 Re4 110. Bd3 Qe6 111. Bxe4 fxe4
112. Ra1 Nf5 113. Kb3 Kf8 114. Rh1 Ke8 115. Rh2 Kd7 116. Qe1
Kd8 117. Rd1 Kd7 118. Rc2 Kd8 119. Qf2 Nd6 120. Ka2 Qf5
121. Rh1 Kd7 122. Qg3 Ke6 123. Qh3 Ke7 124. Qxf5 Nxf5 125. Rh3
Ke6 126. Kb3 Bc7 127. Re2 Bb8 128. Re1 Bc7 129. Ra1 Bb8
130. Rd1 Bc7 131. Re1 Bb8 132. Re2 Bc7 133. Rg2 Bb8 134. Rg1
Bc7 135. Rb1 Bb8 136. Rbh1 Bc7 137. Rg1 Bb8 138. Kb2 Bc7
139. Kc2 Bb8 140. Kd2 Bc7 141. Rh2 Bb8 142. Rc1 Bc7 143. Ra1
Bb8 144. Ke2 Bc7 145. Rg1 Bb8 146. Rhh1 Bc7 147. Kd2 Bb8
148. Rc1 Bc7 149. Rh3 Bb8 150. Ra1 Bc7 151. Rhh1 Bb8 152. Rae1
Bc7 153. Rh2 Bb8 154. Rh3 Bc7 155. Ra1 Bb8 156. Kc2 Bc7
157. Rf1 Bb8 158. Kb3 Bc7 159. Rf2 Bb8 160. Kc2 Bc7 161. Rg2
Bb8 162. Kd2 Bc7 163. Rh1 Bb8 164. Rf2 Bc7 165. Rfh2 Bb8
166. Rd1 Bc7 167. Rf1 Bb8 168. Re1 Bc7 169. Ke2 Bb8 170. Rh3
Bc7 171. Kd2 Bb8 172. Kc2 Bc7 173. Rb1 Bb8 174. c4 dxc4
175. Kb2 Bd6 176. Ka3 Ne7 177. Rb2 Nd5 178. Rg3 Kf5 179. Rb1
Be7 180. Rh3 Bd6 181. Kb2 Be7 182. Re1 Bxb4 183. Re2 Bxa5
184. Kc1 Bb6 185. Kc2 a5 186. Rh1 a4 187. Kc1 a3 188. Rc2 Ba5
189. Rh3 Bb4 190. Re2 Bd6 191. Re1 b4 192. Kb1 b3 193. Rh2 c3
194. Rc2 Bb4 195. Ka1 bxc2 196. Ka2 Nxe3 197. Kb3 Kxf4
198. Rc1 c5 199. dxc5 Bxc5 200. Rh1 Kg3 201. Ra1 Kxh4 202. Rc1
Kxg5 203. Rg1+ Kf4 204. Rh1 g5 205. Ra1 h4 206. Rc1 h3
207. Kxc3 g4 208. Kb3 g3 209. Ka4 g2 210. Kb5 Bd4 211. Ka6 Bb2
212. Ka7 Bxc1 213. Kb7 Bb2 214. Kb8 h2 215. Kb7 f5 216. Kb6
Ke5 217. Kc6 f4 218. Kb5 f3 219. Kb6 a2 220. Kb7 f2 221. Kc8
f1=B 222. Kb7 g1=B 223. Kb8 h1=B 224. Kb7 c1=N 225. Kc6 a1=B
226. Kd7 Nd5 227. Ke8 Ne7 228. Kxe7 Nd3 229. Kf7 Nc5 230. Ke7
Nd7 231. Kxd7 e3 232. Kd8 e2 233. Kc7 e1=B 234. Kd8 Ba5+
235. Ke8 Bd8 236. Kf8 Be7+ 237. Kxe7 Bb5 238. Kf8 Bd5 239. Ke7
Bb6 240. Kf8 Bd8 241. Kg7 Ba3 242. Kh6 Bf8+ 243. Kh5 Bf7+
244. Kg4 Bf1 245. Kg3 Bd4 246. Kg4 Bf2 247. Kf3 Be1 248. Kg4
Bg6 249. Kf3 Bh5+ 250. Ke3 Bh3 251. Kd3 Bg6+ 252. Kc4 Bd7
253. Kb3 Bb5 254. Ka2 Bda5 255. Kb2 Bfb4 256. Ka2 Bec3
257. Kb3 Bbd3 258. Ka4 Bc2+ 259. Kb5 Be8+ 260. Ka6 Bc6
261. Ka7 Bd3 262. Kb8 Bdb5 263. Kc8 Kd6 264. Kb8 Bf6 265. Kc8
Kd5 266. Kb8 Bd6+ 267. Kc8 Bd7+ 268. Kb7 Bd4 269. Ka8 Bac7
270. Kb7 Bdb6 271. Ka8 Bbc6# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.chessgames.com

/perl/chessgame?gid=1497429&kpage=6.

Answer:

Black has 4 mates in 1 here:

250...Bc5#
250...Bb6#
250...Bg5#
250...Bh6#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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Newsletter Issue #114 Tactics Time

Repetition is the soul of learning. ~ Mike Franett

T his game was played in the A section of

the 2011 Colorado Class Tournament
between Anthony Telinbacco and John
Irwin.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Here are some more snippets from the

Interview with Michael de la Maza, author of
Rapid Chess Improvement.

"What are the logical reasons why you need to

do tactics before anything else? One of them is,
a material change when you lose a tactical
combination is far greater than the evaluation change when you lose a 'positional combination'".

He (de la Maza) refers to this reading of the wrong material and meaningless study of strategy
as "class player hell". As much as we would all like to stay out of there, there is no doubt that the
habitual study of strategy (and openings) keeps pulling us back in.

Where Bobby Fischer loved the feeling of crushing his opponent's ego, de la Maza doesn't
believe that the ego should be involved at the class level. "It's just not about the ego. At the class
level you're losing games because you're missing three move combinations, it's not some guy
strategically out thinking you, or crushing your brain down, or anything like that.

If you're losing to a three move combination, you're losing to a three move combination. I don't
feel sorry for you. If you beat me, you beat me because you see a three move combination that I
don't see."

"Below 2000, if you get to an endgame, that's because you missed a tactical opportunity before
then. Rook and pawn endgames are actually highly tactical. You penetrate into your opponent's
position with your rook, he penetrates your position with his rook, and the question is who's going
to gobble up the pawns first, and which pawns are going to be passed pawns? That's not a
positional question. It's purely a tactical question."

"People shouldn't be scared about improving. [There's a myth that] the normal player sits and
thinks where the knight should be, and after half an hour figures it out, while the grandmaster just
throws up the knight in the air and it magically lands on the right square.

"I don't believe that. Chess is like any other thing, like becoming a chemist, becoming an
archeologist, or becoming a zoologist, you have to work hard, and you have to study. There isn't
some magic piece of your brain that's devoted to chess that some people have and some people
don't. Anyone who can ride a bicycle and who can speak a language, can become a very good
player."

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2011 Colorado Class"]

[Site "Colorado Springs"]
[Date "2011.03.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Telinbacco, Anthony"]
[Black "Irwin, John"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "1881"]
[BlackElo "1990"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventType "swiss"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 e5 5. Bg2 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. O-O Be7 8.

Nxe5 Be6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. d3 Rb8 11. Qd2 h5 12. b3 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 Bf6 14. Bxc6+
Bd7 15. Qxc5 Bxa1 16. Bf4 Rc8 17. Bxd7+ Qxd7 18. Qe3+ Qe7 19. Rxa1 Qxe3 20.
Bxe3 a6 21. b4 Kd7 22. Bc5 a5 23. a3 axb4 24. axb4 Ra8 25. Rxa8 Rxa8 26. h4 Ra2
27. e3 Ke6 28. Kg2 f5 29. Kf3 g6 30. e4 Ra3 31. Ke3 Rb3 32. Kd4 Rb2 33. Kc3 Re2
34. exf5+ gxf5 35. Be3 Kd5 36. b5 Re1 37. Ba7 f4 38. gxf4 Rh1 39. Bb8 Rxh4 40.
Kd2 Kc5 41. f3 Kxb5 42. f5 Kc6 43. Ke3 Rb4 44. Be5 Kd5 45. d4 Rb1 46. Kf4 Rg1
47. f6 Ke6 48. d5+ Kf7 49. Kf5 h4 50. d6 h3 51. d7 Rd1 52. Kg4 h2 53. Bxh2 Kxf6
54. Bg3 Rxd7 1/2-1/2

You can play through this game here.

Answer:

8. Nxe5 wins a valuable center pawn.

Be careful in positions where one side has a fianchettoed bishop behind a knight. The knight
can often move with a discovered attack, such as in this position.

Black does not have time to capture the knight on e5, because his own knight on d5 is attacked
twice by the bishop on g2, and the knight on c3.

Tactics like this often come up in openings like the English, and Sicilian Dragon.
Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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Newsletter Issue #115 Tactics Time

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. ~ Albert Einstein

T his position comes from one of my

games on RHP.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about an idea that I

learned from Eben Pagan and Wyatt Woodsmall
on the subject of learning itself.

Wyatt says that "Learning is behavior change".

For most of us, Learning just means that you

know something. It's a simple thing to
understand, right?

If someone tells you how to lose weight, for example, then you've 'learned' how to lose weight,
right?

Not so, according to Wyatt and Eben.

What they teach is that "Learning equals Behavior Change". In other words, learning isn't
learning, and matters very little if it doesn't effect some change in you.

So if you read how to do an Arabian Mate, solve a puzzle, but then miss a similar mate a week
later at your chess club, you haven't really learned anything, because your behavior didn't change.

They also teach that 'Education' means literally 'drawing out' what's already inside a person, not
'filling' them up with information they don't need or want.

That is really what I would like to do with these Tactics Time newsletters. Many of you can find
the right moves in these positions when they are presented as a chess puzzle. Most of them
aren't really that difficult.

And I have no desire to fill your brain with useless chess knowledge just for the sake of it.

What I would really like to draw out of you is the behavior change of always seeing these
same types of tactics in your real games.

To look for tactics on every move.

To never miss a tactic, or an opponent's tactic.

To just see the tactic automatically through pattern recognition.

The skills to find the tactics are already in most of you, they just needs to be used on a highly
consistent basis - i.e. behavior change, and true learning.

This will cause you to win more games, raise your rating, and have more fun playing
chess!

That is my goal :-)

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Ladder"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2011.01.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tsloan"]
[Black "Timmybx"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C20"]
[WhiteElo "1155"]
[BlackElo "1779"]
[PlyCount "98"]

1. e4 e5 2. d3 Bc5 3. c3 d6 4. b4 Bb6 5. a4 a6 6. Bd2 Nf6 7. Bg5 Be6 8. Bxf6

Qxf6 9. Qe2 O-O 10. c4 Nd7 11. Nf3 c5 12. bxc5 Bxc5 13. Qc2 Bg4 14. Nbd2 Rfe8
15. h3 Bxf3 16. Nxf3 Re6 17. Be2 Qf4 18. g3 Qh6 19. Qd2 a5 20. Qxh6 Rxh6 21. h4
Rf8 22. g4 Re6 23. g5 f5 24. gxf6 Rexf6 25. Rh2 Bb4+ 26. Kf1 Nc5 27. Rh3 Nxd3
28. h5 Nf4 29. Rh2 Nxe2 30. Kxe2 Rxf3 31. Rg2 Bc5 32. Kd2 Rxf2+ 33. Rxf2 Rxf2+
34. Kd3 Bd4 35. Re1 Rh2 36. Rb1 b6 37. Rg1 Rxh5 38. Rg3 Rh2 39. Rg1 Ra2 40. Rb1
Rxa4 41. Rd1 h5 42. Rg1 Bxg1 43. Kc3 h4 44. Kb3 Rb4+ 45. Kc3 Bd4+ 46. Kd3 h3
47. Ke2 h2 48. Kd2 h1=Q 49. Kd3 Qd1# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2200.

Answer:

27...Nxd3 picks up a pawn. The Bishop is e2 is overloaded and cannot protect both the d3
pawn, and the knight on f3, which is attacked twice by the battery of rooks on the f file.

Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #116 Tactics Time

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. ~ Jim
Rohn

T his position comes from a game I

played against Eric Massey at Billy
Willson's Regis Jesuit Grand Prix #6
tournament in Denver in 2007.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

In this game I played one of my favorite

openings, 1. g4, The Grob!

Today I would like to talk about an interesting

chess player, Claude Bloodgood, who wrote a
book on The Grob called "The Tactical Grob".

Some interesting facts from Wikipedia:

was sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering his mother

He was scheduled for execution 6 times, but received a reprieve each time.
played over 2,000 postal games simultaneously. The postage was paid by the State
of Virginia.
published three books on chess openings, including The Tactical Grob
In 1974 received a furlough to play in a chess tournament with another prisoner. They
overpowered the single guard assigned to them and escaped, but were recaptured after a
few days.
His escape led to the resignation of Virginia's director of prisons, and the Virginia
Penitentiary Chess program was dismantled.
Raised his rating in to 2702, making the 59-year-old Bloodgood the second-highest rated
player in the nation in 1996 behind only Gata Kamsky.
His large rating qualified him for the invitation only U.S. Chess Championship, but he was
not invited (and could not have attended anyway)
He accomplished this huge rating by playing thousands of games against fellow prisoners
with inflated ratings, discovering and showing a "bug" in the rating system.
The USCF later changed their rating formula to prevent such "closed pool" ratings inflation.

Additional Links
 Claude Bloodgood player profile at ChessGames.com
Robert T. Tuohey article
Hans Ree Chesscafe article (pdf)

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Regis Jesuit Grand Prix #6"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2007.02.24"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Brennan, Tim"]
[Black "Massey, Eric"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1769"]
[BlackElo "1373"]
[PlyCount "19"]

1. g4 e5 2. c4 c6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Qb3 Ne7 6. h3 g6 7. Nc3 e4 8. d3 d4

9. Nxe4 Nbc6 10. Nf6# 1-0

You can play through the complete game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2202.

Answer:

White has a cute checkmate with 10. Nf6#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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 © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #117 Tactics Time

If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. ~ Lewis Carroll

T his was a correspondence game played

on chess.com, and the position
appeared in their excellent Tactical
Trainer tool.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk about setting goals

when it comes to your chess tactics study.

Having goals can often help to keep you on

track, keep you motivated, and prevent
frustration.

One method that I like for goals is the SMART criteria for goal setting.

SMART stands for

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-Bound

You can use the above link to the Wikipedia article for more details on each of these.

Here are some possible goals related to chess tactics training that might be useful:

Gain 75 USCF rating points in the next 6 months with play in the weekly local chess club
G/90 tournaments, and 1 weekend tournament per month.
Study 2-3 move chess tactics problems for 15 minutes per day for the next 4 weeks.
Play in B section of the 2012 World Open tournament (5 day schedule), and finish with a
score of 7.5 points out of 9.

Setting goals like these can help your brain (especially the subconscious) know what you would
like to accomplish, and help propel you in the right direction.
 Here are some goals that are not as useful

Get better at chess (not specific, not measurable, not time bound)
Become a Grandmaster (probably not attainable, not relevant for most of us)
Raise my chess rating (not specific, not time bound)

Writing down your goals can be especially powerful. Writing down your goals multiple times, in
the form of affirmations is even more powerful, and is a technique I have used in my life a lot.

Goal setting is a huge topic in itself, and one I find very interesting. Brian Tracy and Tony
Robbins both have some excellent books and audio programs on the subject that you might enjoy,
if you would like to explore this topic further.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Let's Play!"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2007.10.08"]
[White "Louis0007"]
[Black "Kang"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1656"]
[BlackElo "1461"]
[PlyCount "24"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 f6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 Nd7 7. e6 Nb6 8. Bd3 Qd6 9. Bf5 Qb4+
10. c3 Qd6 11. Bf4 Qd8 12. Qh5+ g6 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2204.

Answer:

11. Bf4 traps the black queen, or forces checkmate if the queen retreats to their only safe
square on d8.

if 11. ...Qd8 white checkmates with 12. Qh5+ g6 then the choice of

13.Qxg6+ hxg6 14.Bxg6# or

13.Bxg6+ hxg6 14.Qxg6#

I prefer the Queen sac, and mating with the Bishop for extra style points :-)

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #118 Tactics Time

Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other
problems. ~ Rene Descartes

T his position was sent to me by

Newsletter reader Robert Botelho, who
plays under the handle "Natural
Science" on RHP. White has just played 36. Rb4.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

I got a really nice e-mail from Robert Botelho

who writes (edited into smaller paragraphs):

Tim,

I have a game you may find interesting

enough to add to your database. I played it on
RHP a number of years ago.

It was my rook and knight vs. his rook and bishop, and though I'm up a pawn, it's not clear how
I'll be able to press my advantage into a win.

At first glance, White's 33.Rc7+ looks like a very powerful move. It gets his rook to the seventh
rank with tempo where it can eye 2 of my pawns, and it sets up a dangerous-looking discovered
check should I decide to move my King to d8.

But it turns out that 33.Rc7+ is a serious mistake which costs White the game. If you'd like,
play the position up to that point and try to figure out what I did to win the game. (As far as
tactics go, it may not be terribly challenging, but it is pretty.)

Robert

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Clan challenge"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2004.08.13"]
[White "godzillion"]
[Black "Natural Science"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1771"]
[BlackElo "1949"]
[PlyCount "72"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. g4 Be4 5. f3 Bg6 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 e6 8. g5

Ne7 9. f4 Nf5 10. Nf3 c5 11. b3 Nc6 12. c3 Qb6 13. Bb2 cxd4 14. cxd4 Bb4+ 15.
Nbd2 Rc8 16. O-O Bxd2 17. Qxd2 Kd7 18. Kf2 Rc7 19. Rfc1 h6 20. h4 Nce7 21.
Rxc7+ Qxc7 22. Rc1 Qb6 23. Ba3 hxg5 24. fxg5 Ng6 25. Qc3 Ngxh4 26. Nxh4 Nxh4
27. Bc5 Qc6 28. Bxa7 Qxc3 29. Rxc3 Ra8 30. Bb6 Rxa2+ 31. Kg3 Nf5+ 32. Kf3 Ra6
33. Rc7+ Kd8 34. Rc6+ Rxb6 35. Rxb6 Kc7 36. Rb4 b5 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2206.

Answer:

36...b5!! traps the white rook. I told Robert that I was not sure that I had ever seen a tactic
like this!

If white takes the b5 pawn with 37. Rxb5?, black forks the king and rook with 37...Nxd4+!

Black's plan is to play 37...Kb6 followed by 38...Ka5 and 39...Kxb4

White actually has time to defend the rook with 37. Ke2, 38. Kd3, 39. Kc3 but then finds
himself in zugszwang, and any move by black wins.

Nice job Robert, and thanks for sending me the game!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!
 © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #119 Tactics Time

It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential. ~ Bruce
Lee

T his game featured the From's Gambit

(1. f4 e5), which if played incorrectly,
can be very dangerous for either side.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about an idea called

"Addition by Subtraction".

The basic idea is that something can become

better (addition) by doing or having less
(subtraction).

Often times chess players feel that they need

more in order to improve at the game. They need:

More opening knowledge

More endgame knowledge
More strategic knowledge
More positional knowledge
More chess books
More chess lessons
etc

And often, these new things bring problems without being the solutions we desired.

If you want to be successful, limit your diversions and concentrate on things helpful in achieving
success.

I think that this idea of "addition by subtraction" can be applied to chess study.

Instead of spending time to learn the subtle nuances of popular openings, study famous
grandmaster games, perfect your technique of how to checkmate with a bishop and knight against
bare king, etc, why not just pick one thing and focus on that.

Why not try to get better at chess (addition) by studying less things (subtraction)?
 My belief is that the study of chess tactics, and just chess tactics, can be a great way of applying
the "addition by subtraction" method to chess improvement.

With the study of chess tactics, you can see massive improvement, without cluttering your
brain, and stressing yourself out.

I think in the world we live in now this idea is more important than ever. I have read that more
information has been created in the last 3 years than in all of human history, and that it will
double in the next 18 months.

I am not sure how accurate that is, but we are all getting overwhelmed with information, and
the amount of chess information out there is also growing at a tremendous rate.

The Fritz 13 program, for example. introduced a "cloud" feature that is currently storing
computer analysis for thousands of new chess positions per day, with hundreds of computers
around the world working 24 hours a day collecting this. With just this alone, chess information
is growing at a rate faster than ever before.

So don't try and overwhelm yourself with chess knowledge. There is no way you can learn it
all. I think that the study of chess tactics will give you the most "bang for the buck" :-)

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.timeforchess.com"]
[Date "2007.01.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Chufty Jones"]
[Black "chessicle"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A02"]
[WhiteElo "1422"]
[BlackElo "1819"]
[PlyCount "16"]
[EventDate "2007.??.??"]

1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nf3 g5 5. d4 g4 6. Nfd2 Qh4+ 7. g3 Qxg3+ 8. hxg3 Bxg3#

0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2208.

Answer:

Black can mate white with 6....Qh4+ 7. g3

and either

7...Qxg3+ 8. hxg3 Bxg3#

or

7...Bxg3+ 8. hxg3 Qxg3#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Newsletter Issue #120 Tactics Time

When you learn, teach. When you get, give. ~ Maya Angelou

T his game was played on chess.com,

and the white player was playing the
Kings Gambit for the very first time.
He posted this game on reddit.com seeking
feedback.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about another idea that I

think you can use to improve your chess game.

That idea is to teach others.

Most of the time when we learn something, we

quickly forget it.

learners retain approximately:

5% of what they learn when they've learned from lecture.

10% of what they learn when they've learned from reading.
20% of what they learn from audio-visual.
30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration.
50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion.
75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned.
90% of what they learn when they teach someone else/use immediately.

So when you teach someone, you learn it the best. This is because you are forced to actively
use your brain when teaching.

I know that just writing these newsletters has helped me in my own chess games. I can think
of specific games, and positions where a tactical motif came up that I had written about.

For example, recently I was playing Isaac Martinez in a USCF rated G/90, when I thought to
myself, "Self, There is a possible Hook Mate!" I understood this pattern really well from writing
about it.
 When I got the chance to play it, I whipped it out, and Paul Covington, who was watching the
game said "Nice Checkmate!" My girlfriend was there that night too, so I felt extra cool ;-)

Some ideas how you can use the idea of teaching to improve your own chess game

Write an article for your local chess club or state chess magazine. As a former editor, I
know they are always looking for good content. I was normally happy to even get bad
content :-)
Write a chess blog, or comment on other people's blogs.
Create a YouTube video where you explain some chess idea. You can even do it using
puppets and costumes, like Anthea Carson and I did when promoting her book, How to Play
Chess Like an Animal :-)
Answer questions on chess forums, such as the one on reddit.com, which tends to have a
lot of beginners.
Teach a child or friend to play.
Ask yourself "If I had to explain this idea to someone, how would I do it"?
Print out some of my newsletters, and explain the tactics in them to someone who is just
learning the game.
Teach your cat if no one else is around :-)

I am sure you can come up with lots of additional ideas yourself.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2011.12.02"]
[White "Riebeckite"]
[Black "kukRIP"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C33"]
[WhiteElo "1367"]
[BlackElo "1430"]
[PlyCount "43"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. d4 Bb4+ 4. c3 Ba5 5. Bxf4 d6 6. Nf3 Qf6 7. Bg5 Qg6 8.
Bd3 h6 9. e5 Qh5 10. Be3 dxe5 11. dxe5 Be6 12. h3 Ne7 13. Kd2 Bf5 14. g4 Qg6
15. gxf5 Nxf5 16. Nh4 Qg3 17. Nxf5 Qg2+ 18. Kc1 Nc6 19. Rg1 Qxh3 20. Nxg7+ Ke7
21. Bc5+ Kd8 22. Bf5+ 1-0

You can play through this game here.

Answer:

16. Nh4! forks the Black Queen on g6, and the Black Knight on f5. The Black Knight on f5 is
pinned to the queen by the White Bishop on d3, so cannot move.

I always love knight forks, when one of the pieces being forked is another knight!

Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

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Newsletter Issue #121 Tactics Time

What you resist, persists. ~ Carl Jung

T his game features a quick kill that was

played on redhotpawn.com

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today, I would like to talk about the above

quote from Carl Jung.

If you are not familiar with Jung, he was a

Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical
Psychology. He came up with many brilliant
ideas about how the mind works.

I think that some people try to "resist" having

chess tactics come up in their chess games, and therefore problems and holes in their chess game
"persist".

For example, some chess players will try to play "safe" or "closed" openings, such as the
English, or Colle, etc, because they know that they are not very tactical players.

By playing these types of systems, they hope that they can delay, and possibly even prevent,
the tactical battles from occurring. They strive to win the game by:

getting an opening advantage

positional techniques
better strategy
endgame techniques
etc.

Which are all great, and things we should all try to do in our games. If a tactic does come up
however, they will most likely lose.

I understand this mentality, because I used to have it myself.

The problem is that there often will be some sort of tactic in the game. It is almost inevitable.
True, some games do not feature many tactics, especially if both players are using this sort of
mentality and strategy, but most do.

You don't have to play crazy gambits (I enjoy playing openings like the Colle and English myself
sometimes), but don't go out of your way to keep positions locked up, because you fear tactical
encounters.

Play the best move in each position, and build your tactical muscles, so you are prepared should
they come up in your games.

Key point: If you try to resist having tactical battles or making a dedicated study of chess
tactics, your tactical skills will remain weak, and the problem will just persist.

You will be playing with fear.

You will dread certain opponents.

The only way to solve this problem, is to take on the challenge of learning tactics head on.

Don't resist having tactics in your games.

Having tactical skills will eliminate your fear. It will make you feel empowered.

Jung's idea of "What you resist, persists" is really powerful, and something that you can use in
many areas of your life.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Ladder"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2011.03.23"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Proper Knob"]
[Black "rabnes"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C40"]
[WhiteElo "1733"]
[BlackElo "1450"]
[PlyCount "11"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 a6 3. Bc4 f6 4. Nxe5 fxe5 5. Qh5+ Ke7 6. Qxe5# 1-0

You can play through this game here : http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2212.

Answer:

Black wasted time with moves like 2...a6, and created huge weaknesses with 3...f6.

White took it to the hizzy with 6. Qxe5#

This is a good mating pattern to know. Black played 5...Ke7 because he wanted to avoid:
5...g6 6.Qxe5+ Qe7 7.Qxh8

losing the rook, but obviously this was better than getting mated.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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Newsletter Issue #122 Tactics Time

I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I love to play ~ Boris Becker

T his game was an exhibition match

played between Grandmaster Nigel
Short, and Tennis Legend Boris Becker.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

You can watch this game here.

Some interesting facts about Boris Becker from

Wikipedia:

former World No. 1 professional tennis

player from Germany
six-time Grand Slam singles champion
Olympic gold medalist
youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17.
game based on a fast and well-placed serve, and volleying skills at the net
had frequent emotional outbursts on court and often swore at himself and occasionally
smashed his rackets, but rarely showed aggression toward his opponents or officials.
one of the most effective players in his era on grass courts and carpet courts, had less
success on clay.

Some interesting facts about Nigel Short from Wikipedia:

English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19.

was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 - July 1989
in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess Championship, in London
Currently the oldest player in the world top 50
Short is also a chess columnist, coach and commentator.
first attracted significant media attention, as a 10-year-old, by defeating Viktor Korchnoi in
a simultaneous exhibition.
became (at the time) the youngest International Master in chess history, by scoring 8/15 in
the Hastings Premier in 1979/80 and thus breaking Bobby Fischer's record of 1958

Here is the complete game:

[Event "London Classic Exhibition"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.03"]
[EventDate "2011.11.03"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Boris Becker"]
[Black "Nigel Short"]
[ECO "C63"]
[PlyCount "32"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. exf5 e4 6. Ne5 Bxf5 7. O-O Qd4 8.
Qh5+ g6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qe2 Bd6 11. g3 O-O-O 12. c3 Qd5 13. f4 Bc5+ 14. d4
exd3+ 15. Qf2 Bh3 16. Qxc5 Qg2# 0-1

You can play through the game here.

Answer:

Black has a mate in 3 with,

15...Bh3 16.Be3 Bxe3 17.Nd2 Qg2#

White is in a lot of trouble, with his Queen pinned to the king. Bh3 threatens a mate on g2,
which cannot be stopped.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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Newsletter Issue #123 Tactics Time

You can study chess openings, study endgames, study how to improve your piece
placement, all of which are very important, but without tactics you're not really improving
your chess. ~ Anthea Carson

T his position comes from a game played

between Anthea Carson, and
Kevin McKenzie at the 2011 Winter
Springs Open in Manitou Springs, CO.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Anthea Carson wrote an interesting HubPage

article entitled "Chess: How to Spot Tactics",
which I really enjoyed. I posted a link to this
article on reddit.com, and it got a 100% up vote
score, with no down votes (which is very rare).

The article is available online here,

http://antheacarson.hubpages.com/hub/Chess-How-to-Find-Tactics and I will try to summarize
the high points.

In the article, Anthea lays out the thinking process she uses to find tactics in her game, and
uses a specific example, which is the position above.

Anthea writes:

"Lee Simmons of Colorado's Rocky Mountain Chess has a method of calculation that he teaches
called "The Compulsion Scale." Using the Compulsion Scale I found the right move in this
position during a real game.

Finding a tactic in a real game is actually a lot harder than finding one in a tactics puzzle. In a
puzzle you know it's there, so you know to look for it.

In a real game you don't know it's there. But if you use the Compulsion Scale you will find it."

She then goes into details about the types of moves that she looks for. These include:

Checks
 Threats of Checkmate
Heavy Material Threats (Queens, Rooks)
Light Material Threats (Bishops, Knights, Pawns)
Threats to Improve your position

I am a big fan of using mental checklists, and most importantly looking for tactics on every
move.

Anthea's idea about Tactics Problems being a lot easier than finding them in a real game are
spot on. If you can treat each move in a game as if it is a tactics problem this can help as well, as
long as you realize there isn't always going to be a tactic there.

I do not have a full PGN record for this game. Anthea is notorious for keeping score sheets that
are impossible to read afterwards. Life Master Brian Wall is the only known chess archaeologist
who is able to decipher the hieroglyphics that Anthea calls "notation" :-)

But you can use this to get the position.

[Event "Winter Springs Open"]

[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2011.12.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carson, Anthea"]
[Black "McKenzie, Kevin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1784"]
[BlackElo "1244"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b1k2r/pp2bppp/2p5/q2p4/2nP1B2/2NB1Q2/PPP2PPP/1R2K2R b Kkq - 0 0"]
[PlyCount "0"]

Answer:

1...Nxb2 is a nice remove the defender tactic that wins a pawn. If 2. Rxb2 Qxc3+ forks the
king and rook.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

 Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

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Newsletter Issue #124 Tactics Time

"If do right, no can defense" - Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid"

T his game was sent to me by super

active chess player Dean Brown, where
he scored a 200+ point upset at the
2011 Winter Springs Open.

I also featured this position in an article I

wrote entitled "The Barry Bonds of Colorado
Chess".

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to share an idea about the

study of chess tactics that I read on the
"Confessions of a Chess Novice" blog, entitled
Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution.

The author was following the de la Maza method of chess improvement, where you take a
selection of about 1000 chess tactics problems, and solve them over and over again in "7 circles",
where each circle involves more problems per day, repeating the same problems in each circle.
The idea is that you burn the patterns into your head with lots of repetition.

In this article the author has the insight that "spending a lot of time staring at the original
position is a mistake. While staring at a position for 10 minutes without moving is a good way to
practice calculation (looking ahead in one's mind), I now believe it is not the best way to quickly
learn the problems."

He adds, "This suggests there is something quite inefficient about the de la Maza stare-for-ten-
minutes method for learning new problems. If all I remember is the position, but not the solution,
then I am learning, but not what I want to learn! My new technique, which I've been using for a
few days now, is to spend the majority of my time and mental energy focusing on the solution to
the problem."

He then outlines a new approach for really understanding each tactic with the 5 steps of

1. Fast repetitions - Quickly mouse through the answer many times.

2. Once through - Work once more through the solution, slowly, visualizing each move .
 3. Visualize entire solution
4. Explain the solution to yourself verbally
5. Alternative moves - understand why certain variations don't work

You can check out the article for a more detailed explanation.

I think his ideas for learning new chess tactics patterns are very valuable and insightful.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Winter Springs Open"]

[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2011.12.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Brown, Dean"]
[Black "Llacza-Magno, Jose"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "1462"]
[BlackElo "1676"]
[PlyCount "43"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bd3 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nf5 Bxf5 8.
exf5 Nc6 9. Nc3 Ne5 10. Bf4 Nxd3 11. Qxd3 c6 12. Rad1 d5 13. Qh3 Qb6 14. b3
Rad8 15. Rd3 Ne4 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. Rg3 Bc5 18. Rxg7+ Kxg7 19. Qh6+ Kh8 20. Qf6+
Kg8 21. Be5 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 0-1

You can play through the game here.

Answer:

Dean got a double exclam from Deep Rybka 4.1 x64 (rating ~3150+) with 18. Rxg7+!!

This leads to a forced mate in 6. The game continued 18...Kxg7 19. Qh6+ Kh8 20. Qf6+
Kg8 21. Be5 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 0-1

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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 Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

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Newsletter Issue #125 Tactics Time

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone
going faster than you is a maniac? ~ George Carlin

T his game was posted on facebook by

Rob Hartelt who wrote, "I would like to
thank Timothy Brennan for his Tactics
Time. I just started studying this great resource,
and found a cool tactic... ;) "

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to share a story from Jack

Canfield that he tells in "The Secret".

"Think of this. A car driving through the night,

the headlights only go a hundred to two hundred
feet forward. And you can make it all the way
from California to New York driving, through the dark, because all you have to see is the next two
hundred feet.

And that's how life tends to unfold before us. And if we just trust that the next two hundred feet
will unfold after that, and the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, your life will keep
unfolding. And it will eventually get you to the destination of whatever it is you truly want,
because you want it".

I think that this is a great life lesson, and can be applied to chess.

Everytime it is our turn to move in a chess game, this is like being in the car with the headlights
that can only go a hundred to two hundred feet in front of us. We are only going to be able to see
a few moves ahead, just like the driver of the car.

When you are driving, you need to watch out for other cars on the road, pedestrians crossing
the street, animals running across the road, etc.

When it is your turn in chess, you need to watch out for your opponent creating similar dangers
- forks, skewers, checkmates, double attacks, etc.

In life people sometimes get really wrapped up about the future, when all they need to worry
about is the next step in front of them. If they do this, they can achieve their goals.

In chess it is the same way. Players can get wrapped up in their "plans", and do not see simple
tactics that they can do, or that their opponents can do to them.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "ChessCube Game"]

[Site "http://www.timeforchess.com"]
[Date "2011.12.26"]
[White "purerwandb"]
[Black "moehabibi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D07"]
[PlyCount "19"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e4 Qxd4 5. Qa4 Bd7 6. Bxc4 Ne5 7. Bxf7+ Nxf7
8. Qxd4 O-O-O 9. Qxa7 b6 10. Qa8# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2222.

Answer:

Rob found a nice discovered attack with 7. Bxf7+ which moves the bishop out of the way, with
tempo, so that white can take the queen the next move with 8. Qxd4.

Nice work Rob!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

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If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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 © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

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Newsletter Issue #126 Tactics Time

"Ordinary things consistently done produce extraordinary results ~ Keith Cunningham

T his is a game that was posted on the

reddit.com chess group under the title
"Not much, but I am quite happy with
this mate."

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about the above idea,

"Ordinary things consistently done, produce
extraordinary results". I think this is a great
quote, and great idea.

Sometimes people want things to be "perfect"

before they start taking action.

For example, they want to find the perfect gym, or perfect workout routine, or perfect shoes,
etc, before they can start exercising.

Or they may be too hard on themselves, or try to plan everything in their head, instead of just
taking action - any action.

One of the common misconceptions of those seeking great success, wealth, and other
extraordinary results is the idea that these things come from single moments of luck, windfalls,
etc. The fact is that most extraordinary results come from many small, ordinary efforts done
consistently over time.

You want wealth? Contribute religiously to your 401K.

You want health? Stretch and walk and eat good foods every day.

You want to have expertise? Learn & practice something every day in your area of interest.

With chess tactics - working on them in a consistent manner is very important, and over time
will lead to you becoming a much strong player.

Albert Einstein said that he was not smarter than most people but that he just worked with a
problem longer.
 While doing just a few problems per day might not seem like much, the compounding effect of
doing this "ordinary" action, will lead to the eventual "extraordinary result".

There is no "perfect" way to study chess, and you are never going to play each game
"perfectly", but making progress each day in your game can be very rewarding.

Here is the complete game:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Bg4 4. d3 Nd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. Nc3 c6 7. b4 b5 8. Bb3

h6 9. a4 a5 10. axb5 cxb5 11. Nxb5 Be7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Ra7
15. Bd2 Qb6 16. bxa5 Qc5 17. Be3 Qc7 18. Bxa7 Qxa7 19. h3 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Nf6 21.
Bc4 Rc8 22. Bb3 Qd4 23. c4 Qc5 24. Ra4 Nh7 25. Qd1 Ra8 26. Qd2 Bg5 27. Qc3 Bd8
28. a6 Bb6 29. Kh1 Ba7 30. f4 f6 31. Ra5 Qe3 32. c5+ Kf8 33. fxe5 dxe5 34. Qc4
Ng5 35. h4 Qd4 36. hxg5 Qxc4 37. Bxc4 hxg5 38. c6 Ke7 39. g3 Rh8+ 40. Kg2 Kd6
41. Bd5 Kc7 42. Rb5 Bb6 43. Rfb1 Bd4 44. Rb7+ Kd6 45. Rxg7 f5 46. c7 f4 47. Rb8
f3+ 48. Kxf3 g4+ 49. Kxg4 Rh2 50. c8=N+ Kc5 51. Rc7# 1-0

You can play through this game here.

Answer:

White has a huge material advantage, and lots of ways to win, but the fastest is the cute
underpromotion, 50.c8N+ Kc5 51.Rc7#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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Newsletter Issue #127 Tactics Time

For he that is not against us is on our part. ~ Mark 9:40 (KJV)

T oday's newsletter is written by special

guest Paul Anderson of Colorado
Springs!

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Here is a position from my game with an up

and coming young chess player, Jason Loving. It
was black to move here but just imagine that it
was white to move and find the best move.

I think tactics have been on my mind so much

recently because I have been arguing with Tim
Brennan about the definition of a tactic.

Tim Brennan and I have been friends long enough now that I can't remember when we met. It
had to be before May 2005, as that is the first time he shows up in my database. He always
seems to like my statistics, and I definitely like my stats against him (7 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw).

He started a webpage and newsletter about chess called Tactics Time this year. I figured it was
going to be good, as he has written for my webpage and newsletter for 6 years in my Tim Brennan
Week and has always done an excellent job.

However, my initial response to him invading my territory was much like the Apostles, "we saw
a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."

I was the guy running a chess webpage and newsletter out of Colorado Springs. That is my
thing. There can't be two. Of course, I realized that just because we weren't on the same team
didn't mean we weren't working towards the same goal.

Regarding tactics, Tim is a bit different in his thinking than myself. He is more liberal. I am
more conservative.

He believes that all tactics contain double threats, yet includes such ideas as zugzwang and
zwischenzug.
 I am far more orthodox. I like to think of tactics as single moves that attempt to take
advantage of material value. Of course, coming up with a definition into which I can cram all the
tactical ideas out there is not easy. It is like trying to unify all the laws of physics into one grand
equation to describe the universe.

For example, the pin is one of the basic and most fundamental of the chess tactics. However,
when does it become a tactic? In my mind, it doesn't have a double threat. You pin pieces all the
time, sometimes unintentionally. Then your opponent unpins the piece. Was a tactic played, just
unsuccessfully? Or did the tactic never materialize because the double threat didn't occur (like the
pawn push to win the pinned piece)? Is the double threat a fundamental part of a tactic? Or is it
just the part that makes it successful?

This was on my mind as I played this game. In fact, Jason even used the term "double threat"
in the postmortem when he described 14. Qd2. But it bothered me that it didn't work. How can
you create a double threat and not win something? Isn't the double threat what makes the tactic
work? I had played Qd2 intentionally trying to set up a double threat and get an advantage out of
it.

When Jason reached for his rook, I could hardly contain myself. I thought that I really shouldn't
be at the table now, as he is going to see my excitement. However, if I leave now, that might tip
him off too, as why would I leave the table right when he is making his move? So, I sat there
with my hand over my mouth trying to muffle the squeals of delight, as I imagined my brilliant
tactic appearing in another issue of Tactics Time.

I know the game was only G90, but it still felt like Jason hovered over that rook for about 2
hours. His idea was Rhd8. He would allow the fork (Qg5+) and move the king out of check to not
only protect the pawn but also get his king out of the center and connect his rooks. However,
something made him pull that hand back.

It is interesting to note that the fork tactic was the most obvious threat for both Jason and I. I
had almost rejected playing Qd2 as the fork tactic wasn't that strong and it would leave my knight
pinned to the queen. Only when I realized that the relative pin was actually part of the discovered
check tactic did I decide to play it. I figured that I was threatening a fork on one side of the board
and a discovery on the other side of the board. I had a double threat; Tim said that was the basis
of all tactics. It had to be winning. I was so disappointed when Jason finally played Kd7 and
answered both threats with one move. I felt like I was mislead by all of Tim's "double" talk.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "December Panera"]

[Site "Colorado Springs"]
[Date "2011.12.08"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Anderson, Paul"]
[Black "Loving, Jason"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2011.12.01"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bh4 d5 4. f3 Nd6 5. Nc3 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Bd3 Qa5 8. Nge2 Nd7 9. O-O
Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. e4 Be7 12. Bxe7 Kxe7 13. Rae1 Nb6 14. Qd2 Kd7 15. b3 Rad8 16. Qd3 a6
17. a3 Na8 18. Ra1 Nc7 19. Na4 b6 20. Nec3 b5 21. b4 1-0

You can play through this game here.

Answer:

Discovery. 1. Nxd5+ creates a double threat by attacking the black king with the white
knight and the black queen with the white queen. Since the queen will fall, it is best for her to
take out the knight and end both threats, but with a huge loss of material. The other tactic is a
fork (Qg5+), which creates a double threat by attacking the black king and a black pawn with the
white queen. However, this tactic is not successful as the king can answer check and defend the
pawn with one move.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Paul

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Newsletter Issue #128 Tactics Time

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. ~ Wayne Gretzky

T oday's newsletter is written by a special

guest, my good friend Shannon Fox,
who writes under the handle "The
Kosher Patzer".

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Chess is often compared to events in life, work

& sports and usually in the context of strategy.

However, most chess players know it's the

combination of strategy and tactics that really
define the nature of the game. In this game
played on ICC (Internet Chess Club) it is White
who has a clear plan of attack against the backward pawn on b7.

Not only is this a solid plan to win the b7 pawn, but the break through into the Black position
would give White strong winning chances. Black however, has been pushing a counter attack on
the King-side with interesting pins and sacrifice offerings. As it turns in this game, the Bishop
plays a key role in Black's tactical threat.

Why is it so difficult see tactical threats or opportunities?

The surprise or stealth factor I believe is quite often the key characteristic to tactics. The
hardest tactics to see are the ones that are well disguised and it's surprising how even good
players will fall victim to pins, forks, skewers, back rank mate, etc.

How many times have you heard someone say "I didn't see that one coming" in a game of chess
or an event in one's life. It's odd that I can't always remember how I fell for a tactic but, I always
remember how it felt!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "ICC 5 3"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2011.12.19"]
[White "PolarBear1"]
[Black "BlackTop"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "1444"]
[BlackElo "1436"]
[Annotator "Fox,Shannon"]
[PlyCount "78"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 c6 4. Bd3 Bg4 5. c4 e6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. O-O Be7 8. a3

O-O 9. b4 a6 10. Nc3 Nbd7 11. Na4 Ne4 12. Nc5 Ndxc5 13. bxc5 Ng5 14. Be2 Ne4
15. Qc2 h5 16. h3 Be6 17. Bd3 f5 18. Ne1 Qc7 19. Bxe4 fxe4 20. f3 Bf5 21. f4 g5
22. Qe2 g4 23. Kh1 Bf6 24. Rb1 Rab8 25. Bd2 Qg7 26. Rg1 Kh7 27. Nc2 Rg8 28. Ba5
Qd7 29. Kh2 Bh4 30. Be1 g3+ 31. Kh1 Qf7 32. Ba5 Kh6 33. Rb3 Qd7 34. Rgb1 Bxh3
35. Nb4 Bg4 36. Qb2 Bf3 37. Nxa6 Qh3+ 38. Kg1 Qh2+ 39. Kf1 Qh1# {White
checkmated} 0-1

You can play through this game here.

Answer:

37...Qh3+ mates in 2. The absolute pin on the g2 pawn gives the Queen a lethal entry into
the King's position leaving White no choice but to move to it's final resting place on f1.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

The Kosher Patzer

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Newsletter Issue #129 Tactics Time

We are the yin and yang of the creative process. ~ Cynthia Weil

T oday's newsletter features a special

guest writer, Randy Reynolds of Fort
Collins. Thanks Randy!!

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Hi there. This is actually not Tim Brennan, as

you can tell from the distinct lack of wittiness in
starting the chess story part. I'm Randy
Reynolds, writing my first guest newsletter for
Tim. I've always enjoyed these tactical emails
Tim sends out and wanted to try to make my
own. After all, if he can make over 100, I should
be able to do one myself, right?

Anyway, Yin and Yang are Taoist ideas that represent polar opposite forces that are actually
interconnected and dependent on each other. One gives rise to the other. It's a beautiful concept
that can be seen in nature in several different ways -- light and dark, water and fire, and so on.

And so, it makes sense that there should be a Yin and Yang in the chess world, too. Personally,
I think the best representation of this concept in chess exists in the queen and the knight. The
queen is the all-powerful piece, able to move in any straight direction as many squares as she
wishes. And yet, how many times early on in our own chess career have we found ourselves
losing our queen due to a fork? A fork with a knight. The knight moves slowly, especially
compared to the queen, but it moves in that special L-shape that no other piece can replicate.

And thus we have the fast-moving straight lines of the queen as our yin and the slow-moving,
curvy, jumping over other stuff movement of the knight as the yang. Or is it the other way
around? Meh, I guess it doesn't matter all that much. But it's incredible how strong the
combination of yin and yang become when they are brought together to work as one. I've one
many a chess game with the powerful combination of the knight and queen working together, and
you'll find when you use them together, your attack power increases tremendously.

Below is a game I played in Cheyenne against Elizabeth Scott, who is a talented player and
definitely had me over a barrel in this position. Fortunately, I managed to wriggle out of her
clutches. Notice how well they start to work together around move 36, while my pieces as Black
are extremely uncoordinated.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Cheyenne Open"]

[Site "Cheyenne"]
[Date "2010.10.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Scott, Elizabeth"]
[Black "Reynolds, Randy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1456"]
[BlackElo "1686"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nc3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. Be2 a6 8. Ne5 Bxe2 9. Qxe2 cxd4
10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. exd4 e6 12.O-O Bd6 13. Be5 Qc7 14. Rab1 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Nd7 16. f4 g6 17.
Qg4 Nc5 18. b4 Nd7 19. a3 c5 20. b5 Qa5 21. Rf3 Rb8 22. a4 Qd8 23. Rff1 h5 24. Qe2 Qa5 25.
bxa6 c4 26. Rxb8+ Nxb8 27. Nb5 Nxa6 28. Nd6+ Ke7 29. Rb1 Rb8 30. Rxb8 Nxb8 31. g4 Qxa4
32. gxh5 Qa1+ 33. Kg2 Qd4 34. h6 Qxf4 35. h7 Qh6 36. Qf2 Qxh7 37. Qf6+ Kd7 38. Nxf7 Nc6 39.
Ng5 Qe7 40. Qf4 Nd4 41. c3 Nf5 42. Kf3 Qa3 43. Qd2 d4 44. Ne4 d3 45. Nf6+ Ke7 46. Kg4 Qc5
47. Kg5 Qe3+ 48. Qxe3 Nxe3 49. Ne4 Nf1 50. Kxg6 d2 51. Nxd2 Nxd2 52. h4 Ne4 53. h5 Kf8 54.
h6 Kg8 55. h7+ Kh8 56. Kf7 Nxc3 57. Kxe6 Nb5 58. Kd7 Nd4 59. e6 Nxe6 60. Kxe6 Kxh7 0-1

You can play though this game here.

Answer:

37. Qf6+ was played, which definitely wins a pawn after the King has to run away from the
pawn. Notice the yin and yang here, too, though, for if 37. ... Kf8?? 38. Qd8+ Kg7 39. Ne8+
Kh6?? 40. Qh4#. Any other king move at move 39 drops the king right into a discovered check,
and 40. Nf6+ will win the queen on h7! So that's the power of the queen and knight working in
harmony right there!

But amazingly, 37. Qc5! is a quiet little move that readies a deadly discovered check. The
threat becomes: 38. Nf5+ Kd7 39. Qa7+ Kc8 (Kc6 fails to Nd4#!) 40. Nd6+ Kd8 41. Qxb8+ Kd7
42. Qc8+ Ke7 43. Qe8#. Any attempt to get out of this will generally lead to the loss of Black's
queen (try 37. ... f6 38. Qc8 if you don't believe me and try to stop Qe8# and the Qxb8 and Qc7
skewer at the same time!)

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Randy
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Newsletter Issue #130 Tactics Time

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ~
Blaise Pascal

T his position was played between Eric

Montany and Joshua Jex at the 2011 Tri
Lakes Open, in Monument Colorado.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

I send out a survey in December 2011 to my

newsletter readers. I am really thankful to the
people who took the time to respond!

I really enjoyed reading the results. My

favorite question was the last one which was
"What do you like best about chess"?

Here are some of the great and interesting responses that I got:

It is a game that uses your mind that also helps you in many other areas of life too.
Chess is the ultimate thinking-man's game.
A set of new puzzles every time.
The challenge it presents to my mind
Problem solving that leads to a win
It is fun and helps me become more smart.
The realization that there is a great tactical forced mate or winning combination on the
board.
At my age (I am 70) the challenge helps me to stay mentally active.
The beauty of a well-played game, the sense that I am a chessplayer win, lose, or draw;
the total focus helps me deal with my bi-polar
Sometimes, the beauty.
Playing, searching for the perfect move is any position, the history
I enjoy the game
Everyone starts equals - a true test of ability.
great game for all ages!
It's always different challenge.
Endless variety
 The spiritual side: peace, meekness, patience, faithfulness, joy, and self-control
Winning!
The beauty of it
Chess knowledge limitless.
No two games are the same!
Nice distraction from work
The ultimate mental break from the everyday.
The competition and the companionship of the players. I have been part of the Colorado
chess scene since 1978.
Every move is a puzzle.
Intellectually stimulating... seeking the truth in a position, and the beauty, or art in a well
played game, with all the variations.
It teaches a person how to think
Applying battlefield-like strategy to a board game
Attacking the enemy king.
Tactics!
HOW SIMILAR IT IS TO LIFE PROCESSES
The beauty of ideas and infinite possibilities: everyone can deep inside chess and enjoy it
and explore it (as science, sport, education, art, composition, studies, research, etc.)
playing against smart people help me become a little smarter. I hope!
Winning a well played game.
mental exercise...
Solving problems and tactics
Intellectual game where you can always be learning
Battle! Thanks!
It's fun in fast games and very satisfying when I do well in long time controlled games.
Successful Sacs
games of famous people
Best adrenaline rush you can get whilst sitting in an armchair...
Friendships, beauty of the game, and competitions.
the players and beating toads.
Pulling off a swindle that allows a draw or win against a superior opponent, or against an
opponent who has held the advantage throughout the game.
the symphony of moves
When I first started out: End games. Nowadays, tactics and strategy related you middle
games.
The intellectual challenge. I am 77 and mental exercise is the best exercise.
exercises mind
Pretty much everything.
The challenge, the adventure and the fact that you almost never know for sure what is
going to happen next.
Winning!
The challenge of finding the best move
the passion of the game and the friends I have made through my association with Chess
that it is possible to get better by practice
International friendships through chess.
depth of the game
both sides know everything about the state of the game.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2011 Tri Lakes Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.10.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Montany, Eric"]
[Black "Jex, Joshua"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D07"]
[WhiteElo "2084"]
[BlackElo "1981"]
[PlyCount "105"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Bg5 Bg4 6. d5 Na5 7. Ne5 Bd7 8. e4
b5 9. Qf3 h6 10. Be3 b4 11. Ne2 e6 12. Rd1 Ba4 13. Nxf7 Qd7 14. Nxh8 Bxd1 15.
Kxd1 Qa4+ 16. Ke1 Qxa2 17. e5 Qb1+ 18. Nc1 Nb3 19. Bxc4 Nxc1 20. Bb5+ Kd8 21.
Qd1 Nxd5 22. Qxc1 Qxc1+ 23. Bxc1 a5 24. Ng6 Bc5 25. b3 Nc3 26. Nf4 Ke7 27. Bc4
Rd8 28. Nd3 a4 29. Bb2 a3 30. Bxc3 bxc3 31. Ke2 Bd4 32. b4 Rb8 33. Ra1 c5 34.
b5 Ra8 35. Ra2 Ra5 36. Kd1 Ra4 37. Bb3 Ra5 38. Kc2 Ra8 39. Bc4 Ra5 40. Kb3 Ra8
41. Rxa3 Rxa3+ 42. Kxa3 c2 43. Kb3 c1=Q 44. Nxc1 Bxe5 45. h3 Bd4 46. Nd3 e5 47.
f3 g5 48. Bd5 Kd6 49. Kc4 Bg1 50. Be4 Bd4 51. b6 Bg1 52. b7 Kc7 53. Nxc5 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2364.

Answer:

Eric Montany gave black the full monty with 13. Nxf7! which takes a pawn and forks the queen
on d8 and rook on h8.

if 13...Kxf7 14. dxe6+ discovers an attack on the black queen on d8 from the rook on d1, with
14...Kg8 (or any other king move) 15. Rxd8.

White is up a queen and a pawn for a rook and a knight in this variation.

If black moves his queen, which happened in the game, white wins the rook on h8 with 14.
Nxh8.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

 Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #131 Tactics Time

It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark. - Unknown

T oday's game features a game played on

RHP with "The Noah's Ark Trap".

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Noah%27s_Ark_Trap

The Noah's Ark Trap is a chess opening trap in

the Ruy Lopez.

The name is actually used to describe a family

of traps in the Ruy Lopez in which a white bishop
is trapped on the b3-square by black pawns.

The origin of the name is uncertain. The shape of the black pawns on a6, b5, and c4 may
resemble an ark, or the name may suggest that the trap is "old as Noah's Ark".

Even chess masters have occasionally fallen victim to this trap. An example is Endre
Steiner-José Capablanca at the Budapest tournament in 1929.

I found a 30 second video on YouTube that quickly shows the trap: http://youtu.be/r1drBVzlDec

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Grand Long Haul"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2004.05.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Prefect"]
[Black "Mephisto2"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C71"]
[WhiteElo "1873"]
[BlackElo "2201"]
[PlyCount "20"]
[EventDate "2004.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. d4 b5 6. Bb3 Nxd4 7. Nxd4 exd4 8.

Qxd4 c5 9. Qd5 Be6 10. Qc6+ Bd7 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2399.

Answer:

8...c5 is the Noah's Ark trap. The black queen will have to move, and then c4 will trap the light
square bishop. This is a great trap to know!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #132 Tactics Time

The easiest way to win is to stop making yourself lose ~ David Zinczenko

T his game was played by my favorite

blogger "greenpawn34" and was
featured in his blog post here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=85

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

I recently read a thought provoking letter from

the editor in Men's Health Magazine, which you
can read online here:
http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/nothin-
stupid.

The editor tells this story:

"My college wrestling coach was a man of few words, which was fine, because sometimes a few
words are all you need.

I wasn't the best wrestler on the team, but I was the go-to guy in clutch situations. At the end
of a meet, if we were clinging to a lead, I'd often get the nod to close out the final match--even
though my opponent might outweigh me by as much as 110 pounds. Coach would smack me
upside the head and send me out with one simple instruction: "Nothin' stupid."

In this case, he just meant "Don't get pinned." He didn't need me to win; he needed me not to
lose. It wasn't the kind of "win one for the Gipper" speech that inspired dreams of Olympic gold,
but as a piece of coaching advice, those two words have saved my ass many times over".

He later adds: "So here's the single tip I propose we all remember in the New Year: If it sounds
like a dumb move, don't make it."

I thought that this was great advice for chess players, as well as life in general. I often focus on
"winning moves" in these newsletters, but just as important is not to be the one who makes a
"dumb move".

So remember, the next time you are playing, "Nothin' stupid" :-)
 Here is the complete game:

[Event "November 2011 Octet V"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2011.11.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "greenpawn34"]
[Black "VanemGrenberg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C70"]
[WhiteElo "2028"]
[BlackElo "1806"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 h6 6. d4 exd4 7. Nxd4 Nxd4 8.

Qxd4 Bb7 9. c4 bxc4 10. Qxc4 Qe7 11. O-O O-O-O 12. Nc3 Nf6 13. Bf4 d6 14. Rac1
g5 15. Be3 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Bd4 Rh7 18. Bf6 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2402

Answer:

18. Bf6! attacks and overloads the black queen.

The queen cannot take the bishop on f6, because she needs to guard the c8 square, preventing
Qc8#. The queen is also protecting the bishop on e4, and can no longer do both.

After 18...Qd7 (the only way to move the queen and still protect c7) 19. Qxe4 white is now up
a piece, attacking the rook on h7, and threatening mate on a8, so black will lose even more
material, and resigns.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

 Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #133 Tactics Time

The finest compliment I can receive is a referral -Donna Harris

T his position was played between

unrated Chase Yarbrough and Dragan
Plakalovic at the 2011 Tri Lakes Open
in Monument Colorado.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to ask you a favor.

If you enjoy this newsletter, could you help me

"spread the word" and tell your chess friends
about it?

There are many ways that you could do this.

Here are a few ideas...

Post a link on your facebook status to http://tacticstime.com and encourage your friends to
sign up.
Spread the word with a twitter post about the newsletter.
Send an e-mail to your 5-10 closest chess friends and encourage them to check out this
newsletter.
Post a message to any online chess related forums/chat rooms/bulletin boards that you
participate in.
Add a link to a chess related website or blog that you write (I am happy to add a link back
to your site as well!).
Tell your friends in person at your local chess club.
Add a link or recommendation to you online chess profile.
If you have any chess students let them know about the newsletter.
If you are in any chess related e-mail lists, send a shout out to the list.
Mention the site in your state or local chess newsletter.
"Like" Tactics Time on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tactics-
Time/275412842501613.
Put up a sign up sheet at a chess tournament.
Hang up a flyer if your club has a permanent location.
Any other ideas you might have!
 I really appreciate the support! Thanks so much!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2011 Tri Lakes Open"]

[Site "Monument, CO"]
[Date "2011.10.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Yarbrough, Chase"]
[Black "Plakalovic, Dragan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[BlackElo "1667"]
[PlyCount "83"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.

Qc2 Re8 9. O-O c6 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Nf6 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6
Qxf6 15. Rfe1 Bg4 16. Re3 Bxf3 17. Rxf3 Qxd4 18. Bh7+ Kh8 19. g3 Re7 20. Rd1
Qc5 21. Rc3 Qe5 22. Re3 Qf6 23. Qf5 Qxf5 24. Bxf5 Rxe3 25. fxe3 Bc5 26. Kf2 g6
27. Bh3 Re8 28. Re1 Kg7 29. Kf3 Rd8 30. Rc1 Bb6 31. Ke2 f5 32. b4 Kf6 33. a4 a5
34. b5 cxb5 35. axb5 Re8 36. Rc3 Re5 37. Bg2 Rxb5 38. Bxb7 Bxe3 39. Rc6+ Kg5
40. h4+ Kh5 41. Rb6 Rd5 42. Bxd5 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2487.

Answer:

41. Rb6 is a nice tactic that 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.

Very nice!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Newsletter Issue #134 Tactics Time

Everyone rises to their level of incompetence. ~ Laurence J. Peter

T his position comes from a game my

buddy Francisco Baltier played at the
2008 National Open, which is a very fun
tournament that is held each summer in "Sin
City", Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about an idea related to

learning called the the "conscious competence"
learning model.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence) The
conscious competence model relates to the psychological states involved in the process of
progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill.

The Four Stages

1. Unconscious Incompetence
The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not
necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The
individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill,
before moving on to the next stage.The length of time an individual spends in this
stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.
2. Conscious Incompetence
Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she
does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit.
The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.
3. Conscious Competence
The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating
the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and
there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.
4. Unconscious Competence
The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second
nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while
 executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending
upon how and when it was learned.

I think that this is a very useful model to use whenever learning a new skill, and in this case the
skill is "chess" and "chess tactics".

Most of the time when learning a chess tactic or idea you will go through these stages.

For example, take a player who doesn't know what a "smothered mate" is.

They are in the first stage - They don't know what is smothered mate is, and they don't know
that they don't know what a smothered mate in.

In the next stage they might learn about a smothered mate, but they cannot always do it
themselves in a game, and will often do it incorrectly, or miss the opportunity to do one in a game
or puzzle situation. So they are aware that a smothered mate idea exists, but cannot perform it
themselves with competence.

In the next stage the player would become consciously competent at a smothered mate. They
can perform it, but are still calculating about it at a conscious level of thinking. They have to
concentrate, and calculate all of the moves, but can normally execute it correctly.

In the final stage the player has unconscious competence at the tactic. They just "see it". They
don't even have to think about it. They can glance at the board for 1/2 a second, and instantly
see the 4-5 move smothered mate pattern. This is how a Grandmaster can play a simul - because
they have unconscious competence at thousands of chess patterns.

So when working through chess puzzles (or any new skill), the goal is really to get to the
unconscious competence level.

You also have to be careful because many strong players will be operating at an unconscious
competence level, so they are not always the best teachers. They just "see" the answers, and
often don't know how to consciously solve the answer, because the answer is just "there" at an
unconscious level.

I think that this is part of the reason that many strong players fail to stress the importance of
chess tactics study when making recommendations on how to get better, because they are
already at this 4th level of learning, and can no longer relate, or remember what it was like to be
at the earlier stages.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2008 National Open"]

[Site "Las Vegas, NV"]
[Date "2008.06.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Baltier Jr, Francisco"]
[Black "Trapp, Richard"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "1618"]
[BlackElo "1700"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Nxd5 4. c4 Nb6 5. Nc3 c6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Be3 e6 8. h3

Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 10. c5 Nd5 11. Nxd5 exd5 12. Ne5 Be7 13. Nxg6 fxg6 14. Qd2 Nd7
15. g5 b6 16. cxb6 Qxb6 17. Qc2 Bb4+ 18. Bd2 Qxd4 19. O-O-O O-O 20. Bxb4 Qxb4
21. Kb1 Rab8 22. Bg2 Qb6 23. Rhf1 Ne5 24. b3 Nc4 25. Ka1 Na3 26. Qb2 Nb5 27.
Rc1 a5 28. Qd2 a4 29. Rxc6 Qd4+ 30. Qxd4 Nxd4 31. Bxd5+ Kh8 32. Rc3 axb3 33.
axb3 Rf5 34. Rfc1 Rxd5 35. Rc8+ Rd8 36. Rxd8+ Rxd8 37. Rc3 Rb8 38. Kb2 h6 39.
Rd3 Nf5 40. gxh6 gxh6 41. Kc3 Kg7 42. b4 Kf6 43. Kc4 Ke6 44. Kc5 Ne7 45. b5 h5
46. b6 Rc8+ 47. Kb5 Nd5 48. b7 Rb8 49. Ka6 Nb4+ 50. Ka7 Rxb7+ 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2489.

Answer:

29. Rxc6 grabs a pawn that looks protected, but really isn't. If 29...Qxc6 30. Bxd5+ would fork
the King and Queen.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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Newsletter Issue #135 Tactics Time

We don't bother much about dress and manners in England, because as a nation we
don't dress well and we've no manners. ~ George Bernard Shaw

T his game was played between Andy

Rea and Josh Bloomer at the 2004
Colorado Springs Open.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to share my thoughts about

what to say at the start of a chess game, and the
often awkward handshake.

I recently had an opponent on

Redhotpawn.com tell me "Play well........but not
THAT well." which is pretty funny. It made me
think of different comments people make when
starting a game of chess.

My favorite of all time is Dan Avery's "Let's have fun". It is original and kind of silly, but I think
Dan actually means it, and put thought into what he is saying. I remember one time former
Denver Chess Club manager LaMoyne Splichal was making signs for the boards at Anthea Carson's
24 Hour Tournament and he made one for Dan that said "Let's have fun, on board one!"

I personally like to say "Good Luck <Person's name>". This seems like the most normal and
natural thing to say. It also follows Dale Carnegie's rule that everyone's favorite word in the
world is their first name.

It seems like some people don't say "Good Luck", because they don't actually want their
opponent to have good luck. I can understand this. I don't literally want my opponent to get
lucky, but it is a polite thing to say. Some people might say there is no luck in chess, but I think
that there is.

In one of my games at the 5th Al Ufer Memorial I accidentally touched the wrong piece. I had
an obvious response, but I started day dreaming about the future position where my king would
be in check, and where I would move it to. I touched my king for a brief nanosecond in a trance
like daze, and realized oh sh*t!
 I actually moved the piece I wanted to move (my bishop) to see if my opponent would call me
on it. He did. I immediately resigned, because I was going to lose a piece, and was so mad at
myself for spacing out like that. Did my opponent get lucky? Perhaps.

Some people say "Let's have a good game". This seems a little long winded to me. And they
probably don't mean it, any more than they would mean "Good Luck". They most likely would be
happy to win the game with a fools mate, which would not be a good game, but would give them
a full point.

Some people don't actually say anything, and just stick out their hand, and maybe nod their
head. This is acceptable to me.

Some people just kind of mumble something.

Some people (especially kids) give a really weak handshake.

I am not sure how many people wouldn't bother to shake my hand if I didn't stick it out first.

I have had a couple people make lame attempts at jokes that are along the lines of "I actually
hope you lose, but I will try to be funny". I rarely find these humorous. They normally come from
the socially awkward weirdos that give chess a bad name in the first place.

Anyway - my recommendation - stick with "Good Luck" :-)

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2004 Springs Open"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2004.03.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Rea, Andrew"]
[Black "Bloomer, Josh S"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E63"]
[WhiteElo "2059"]
[BlackElo "2142"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2004.02.28"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. g3 d6 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. O-O a6 8. h3

Rb8 9. Kh2 b5 10. Ng1 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Ng4+ 12. Qxg4 Bxg4 13. hxg4 bxc4 14. Bd5 e6
15. Bxc4 d5 16. Bb3 c5 17. Nf3 c4 18. Bc2 d4 19. Ne4 f5 20. gxf5 gxf5 21. Neg5
Qe7 22. Nh3 e5 23. Rd1 Qb7 24. Nd2 Qc6 25. b3 c3 26. Nc4 Rbd8 27. b4 Kh8 28.
Na5 Qg6 29. Ba3 Rf6 30. b5 Qh5 31. Kg2 Re8 32. Bd3 axb5 33. Bxb5 Ra8 34. Bb4
Rb6 35. a4 Qf7 36. Rh1 Qd5+ 37. f3 Rxb5 38. axb5 Qxb5 39. Nc4 Rxa1 40. Rxa1 h6
41. Ra8+ Kh7 42. Nxe5 Qxe2+ 43. Nf2 Qxe5 44. Ra7 c2 45. Bd2 Qe2 46. Bf4 Kg6 47.
Ra3 Be5 48. Bc1 Qe1 49. Ra6+ Bf6 50. Bb2 c1=Q 51. Rxf6+ Kxf6 52. Bxd4+ Kf7 0-1
 You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2624.

Answer:

10...Nxd4! grabs a nice center pawn. If white captures the knight 11. Qxd4 Ng4+! discovers
an attack on the white queen with check.

Josh did a great job in this game looking for tactics in the opening, and figuring out a way to
exploit and punish some of the unusual moves and piece placement that white made, and use his
strong bishop on g7.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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Newsletter Issue #136 Tactics Time

Chess is the most elaborate waste of human intelligence outside of an advertising

agency. ~ Raymond Chandler

T his game was played at the Denver

Chess Club between my good friend
Shannon Fox, and Rim Yurkus.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

The following is an excerpt from an article my

good friend Paul Grimm wrote in the April 2003
Colorado Chess Informant magazine on how his
mindset changed in the time he went from being
a 1300 player to a 1700 player.

I find it funny how Paul refers to himself in the

third person, and by his last name! You can read
this magazine online here: http://www.timmybx.com/Informants/Apr2003.pdf.

The 1353 Grimm: Ratings are everything in predicting who wins

The 1732 Grimm: Ratings - schmatings! If I'm within 500 points of someone, an upset is
entirely possible with sound play by the weaker side (and lousy play by the stronger)

The 1352 Grimm: If I'm down to 5 minutes, I'm in serious time trouble!
The 1732 Grimm: Five minutes - no problem! Pressure doesn't kick in until the last minute.

The 1352 Grimm: My opponent's in time pressure; I'm going to blitz my moves out and
hope!
The 1732 Grimm: My opponent's in time pressure; I'm going to take my sweet time finding
the absolute best move and only worry about my own clock.

The 1352 Grimm: What material is off the board

The 1732 Grimm: what material is on the board, and what is it doing?

The 1352 Grimm: Find the most impressive combination possible! Set wicked traps.
The 1732 Grimm: Build a good position first; combinations will flow from there. Don't set
traps if they weaken your position against an opponent's best move.

The 1352 Grimm: I'm down material or facing checkmate - time to resign!
 The 1732 Grimm: I'm down material or facing checkmate - where's my counterplay! (If
none, then I still won't resign if my opponent is under the slightest time pressure, even if
he's about to queen a pawn)

Here is the complete game:

[Event "DCC Tuesday Night"]

[Site "Denver, CO"]
[Date "2007.09.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Fox, Shannon"]
[Black "Yurkus, Rim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "1601"]
[BlackElo "1622"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2007.09.18"]
[EventType "game"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. d3 d6 8. Bg5

Bg4 9. Nbd2 h6 10. Be3 Nh7 11. d4 Bf6 12. Qc2 Ne7 13. Rad1 c6 14. Bb3 Ng6 15.
h3 Be6 16. Rfe1 Bh4 17. Nf1 Qf6 18. Ng3 Bxg3 19. fxg3 Bxh3 20. dxe5 dxe5 21.
Rf1 Be6 22. Nd4 Bxb3 23. Qxb3 Qe7 24. Nf5 Qc7 25. Bb6 Qc8 26. Rd6 Nf6 27. Qc4
Kh7 28. Rfd1 Qe8 29. Qe2 h5 30. Rxf6 gxf6 31. Qxh5+ Kg8 32. Qh6 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2628.

Answer:

30. Rxf6! takes away the key defender of Black's position. Rim loves to put two knights in
front of his king's pawn to build a fortress type position, but here Shannon comes crashing in,
turning the knight into a delicious and nutritious bowl of Purina Dog Food.

The game ended quickly with 30...gxf6 31. Qxh5+ Kg8 32. Qh6 and mate with Qg7# cannot
be stopped.

Nice job Shannon!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #137 Tactics Time

I object to being called a chess genius because I consider myself to be an all around
genius who just happens to play chess, which is rather different. ~ Bobby Fischer

T his game was played at the 2011

Winter Springs Open in Manitou
Springs.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

I was recently reading the RedHotPawn forum,

when I came across this funny little story written
by a user named Thabtos on the thread subject
of "Does Tactics help with Strategy", which you
can read here: http://www.redhotpawn.com
/board/showthread.php?&threadid=144634.

Thabtos writes:

"Tactics are absolutely necessary to even begin to use strategy. There was a very weak chess
player at my club who read Silman, a lot.

I beat him with Queen odds, because he just didn't pay attention to what was attacking what.

So we played a game together, but I made him talk about the position before he made a move.

Him: "Well, let's see. I have an active dark square bishop, and my pawns are controlling the
light squares. I'd say I have a positional advantage here. Now I'm going to control the center!"
(Moves pawn)

Me: "Huh? Dude, I just attacked your knight with my pawn on the last move and you didn't
move it. Lolz."

Fischer said that tactics flow from a superior position, but the irony is that you can't get a
superior position without taking tactics into account."

I found this little story rather amusing, but it is also somewhat sad that there are players like
this spending a lot of time and energy honing their thinking process in the wrong direction.
 Here is the complete game:

[Event "2011 Winter Springs Open"]

[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2011.12.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Herman, Daniel"]
[Black "Creazzi, Victor"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "1149"]
[BlackElo "1330"]
[PlyCount "82"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 d6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bb5 a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d3 e6 8. O-O

Be7 9. Qe1 O-O 10. Ng5 h6 11. Nf3 Bd7 12. Qg3 Nh7 13. h4 f5 14. e5 d5 15. h5
Rf7 16. Rf2 Nf8 17. Qh3 Kh7 18. g4 fxg4 19. Qxg4 g6 20. Rg2 Rg7 21. Bd2 Be8 22.
Be1 Bf7 23. Bh4 Nd7 24. Kf2 Bxh4+ 25. Nxh4 Qb6 26. hxg6+ Bxg6 27. Na4 Qa7 28.
Rag1 c4+ 29. Ke2 Bxd3+ 30. cxd3 Rxg4 31. Rxg4 cxd3+ 32. Kxd3 Nf8 33. f5 exf5
34. Nxf5 Ne6 35. Rg6 Nf4+ 36. Kc3 Nxg6 37. e6 Qxg1 38. e7 Nxe7 39. Nxe7 Qg7+
40. Kb4 Qxe7+ 41. Ka5 h5 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2733.

Answer:

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.

Black has a material advantage, so white cannot afford a series of trades, like 2 rooks for the
queen.

White has to be careful because the black queen is attacking the rook on g1, and there are
potential knight forks as well

For example, 35. Rg6 looks like it threatens mate, but walks into 35...Nf4+

35. Rh4 looks like it threatens mate, but loses to 35...Qxg1.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #138 Tactics Time

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm ~ Sir
Winston Churchill

T his game was played between Mark

McGough and Brian Rountree. The
game started off normally, then quickly
became very wild and crazy.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Here is an interesting story that I really

enjoyed called "Tactics Should Never Take a
Backseat" that I read on the weaksquare blog at
http://weaksquare.blogspot.com/

The story is reprinted here with the author's

permission.

"Chess is 99% Tactics" - Teichmann

Last year I wrote a well-received article on how I gained over 400 USCF rating points in one
year. The bulk of my hard work during that year span was related to intense tactical training. My
tactical acumen got sharp, really sharp. I showed a few of my games to an International Master
who told me that my tactical ability was equal to an expert.

Since that time I started focusing on improving other parts of my game. I began some intense
endgame training, as well as trying to improve my middlegame play. I have been studying
Capablanca's 60 Best Chess Endings as well as 100 Endgames You Must Know. I have also been
reviewing hundreds of annotated Grandmaster games throughout history.

My understanding of chess has reached a level I never imagined, and my rating has plummeted
over the last six months. In my last 30 rated, long games I am 8 wins, 17 losses, and 5 draws. At
one point during the last six months, I realized a span of six losses in a row. This of course is very
frustrating to someone who is as intensely competitive as I am. Not to mention considering the
amount of work I put into chess, the results are very disappointing.

A worse fate than constantly losing, is not being able to accurately pinpoint the problem. So it
finally occurred to me in one of my recent losses that just about all of my 17 losses in the last six
months have been due to miscalculating a combination, not seeing a line that gives my opponent
an out, or underestimating the strength of my opponents possible response. In short, my tactical
vision has gotten soft.

What used to be a strength in my game, that forged the way for me to experience a 400+ point
surge, is now contributing to my dwindling rating. Yes, it's true, I have not done any tactical study
or exercises in nearly a year.

I foolishly thought that my tactical ability had reached a strong place and that effort in other
parts of my game was now required to improve. I made the mistake of putting a sharpened knife
in a case, and leaving it there to rust. I realize now that endgame study, middlegame study, and
continued tactical study was required to improve.

At the beginning of this rant, I reference the Teichmann quote that "Chess is 99% tactics". It
seems silly to me now that I forgot about the 99% and started focusing solely on the other 1%. I
truly believe that the 99% that Teichmann references separates 2400 from 400. The other 1%
separates 2400 from 2800.

There's nothing wrong with spending some time, learning about the other 1%, but not at the
expense or detriment of the 99%.

Here is the complete game.

[Event "January 2012 Panera Bread Wednesday"]

[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2012.01.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "McGough, Mark"]
[Black "Rountree, Brian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "1776"]
[BlackElo "1852"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. f3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nc6 7. Qa4 Nxd5 8.

Bd2 Bc5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. b4 Bxb4 11. Bxb4 Qh4+ 12. Kd2 Qd4+ 13. Kc2 Qxa1 14.
Bc3 Qxf1 15. Bxg7 Rg8 16. Bf6 Bf5+ 17. e4 Rxg2+ 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2737.

Answer:

Black is down a piece for a pawn here, and could capture the bishop on b4 to regain his piece,
and be a pawn up, with a better position. This is probably what white was expecting.

But better is the fork of King and Rook with 12...Qd4+.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #139 Tactics Time

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than
you seem, and smarter than you think. ~ A.A. Milne

T his game was played between Fred

Spell and Anthea Carson at the January
2012 Wednesday night Panera Bread
tournament in Colorado Springs.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

When I was little I would sleep with a Winnie

the Pooh doll that my mom made for me. I
loved that doll! Today I would like to share with
you the beginning of the book "Winnie the Pooh"
by A. A. Milne.

HERE is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now,

bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.

It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there
really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.

And then he feels that perhaps there isn't. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom, and ready to be
introduced to you.

Winnie-the-Pooh.

This is a great start to the story, and a great metaphor!

Aren't we all Winnie the Pooh?

Don't we all need to stop and think about what we're doing, and how we could probably do
things a little bit better?

With our chess games, playing game after game, and making the same mistakes over and over,
never correcting them, can be like bumping our heads going down the stairs.

Being stuck at the same rating for years, and never making any progress, but knowing in the
back of your head that there might be a better way is similar to what went through Pooh's brain
for a brief moment.

The next time you play a chess game, why not put into a chess computer, like Fritz, and see
what it says about it. Or show it to a stronger player and get their feedback. Or really look
closely at it yourself to see where you went wrong.

Don't just look at your best games, victories and brilliant moves, but also look closely at the
blunders, and learn from them, and vow to never make the same mistake twice in a game!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "January 2012 Panera Bread Wednesday"]

[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2012.01.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Spell, Fred"]
[Black "Carson, Anthea"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "1556"]
[BlackElo "1699"]
[PlyCount "71"]

1. e4 d5 2. e5 Bf5 3. d4 e6 4. Bb5+ c6 5. Be2 Nd7 6. Bd2 Qb6 7. Bc3 Bb4 8. Qd2

Bxc3 9. Qxc3 Ne7 10. Nf3 Rc8 11. b4 f6 12. O-O fxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. dxe5 O-O
15. Qb2 c5 16. b5 c4 17. c3 Nc6 18. a4 a5 19. Qa3 Nxe5 20. Qe7 Nd3 21. Qh4 Bg6
22. Qd4 Qd6 23. Bf3 Ne5 24. Nd2 Nxf3+ 25. Nxf3 Rf4 26. Qe5 Qxe5 27. Nxe5 Bd3
28. Rfe1 Be4 29. f3 Bf5 30. g3 d4 31. gxf4 dxc3 32. Re3 c2 33. Rc3 Rd8 34. Re1
Rd1 35. Kf2 Bd3 36. Nxc4 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2739.

Answer:

30. g3 gets the Black rook stuck like Pooh in a "Hunny" Pot.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #140 Tactics Time

was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? ~ John Belushi, Animal House

T his game was featured in

Greenpawn34's blog post "10 Missed
Checkmates + A Suicide King", which
you can read here: http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=87, which has
some really humorous examples of playing
turning forced checkmate wins into perpetual
check draws.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to share something interesting I

recently learned about the Navy SEALs.

This is taken from: http://blog.usnavyseals.com/2009/08/navy-seal-colors-of-awareness.html

There is a general color code that has been used to describe the specific stages of awareness
which Navy SEALs, and in some cases common people act under.

These four colors are:

white
yellow
red
black

The white phase of awareness can almost be compared to the awareness of a "zombie." A
person in this phase of awareness will not take notice of anything around them. They will simply
go about their business in a daze. They will not be unaware of the actions of others around them,
or events going on in their general area.

In the yellow phase of awareness a person is semi-alert. People who are under this color of
awareness can tell you where they are and take slight notice of the things going on around them.
However, they don't look deep into their environment.

With the red phase of awareness a person is very alert. They know what is going on around
them and they take note of the positions of other people. They generally see many things all at
once and take in the positioning and standing of every person, both foe and friend around them.
They are also very aware of changes in mood and also are alert to any other changes in their
environment.

The black phase of awareness is also known as the "kill" phase. In this phase a person acts on
those things which they have seen and noticed in the red phase and they will take immediate
action.

The majority of people in the world fall somewhere between the yellow and red phase of
awareness. However, a Navy SEAL who is on mission or carrying out training exercises must
always be alert and fall into the red phase of awareness. Once a mission is under way they have
no choice but to be red and black in the same instant.

I thought this was very interesting.

I think that a lot of times people lose chess games simply by "dumb mistakes". Some of these
mistakes are due to a lack of awareness.

We are "zoned out", and not paying attention. We are in the yellow "semi-alert" and white
"zombie" phase.

Obviously, most of us will never have the training that a Navy SEAL does, but I think just being
aware of this idea can be valuable.

So next time you sit down at the chess board, make sure that you aren't in the white and yellow
zones, but the red and black "Kill Phase"!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2006.06.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sci Fi West"]
[Black "Negascout"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1245"]
[BlackElo "1356"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2006.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Bc4 Bxc3 4. dxc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 O-O 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6
8. O-O d6 9. a4 Bg4 10. Qd3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Qxf3 12. gxf3 c6 13. Rad1 Rd8 14. Bb3
Na6 15. Ba2 Nc5 16. b3 a6 17. Rd2 b5 18. Rfd1 bxa4 19. Rxd6 Rxd6 20. Rxd6 axb3
21. cxb3 Rc8 22. Kf1 Kh8 23. b4 Na4 24. Bxf7 Nxc3 25. Be6 Rc7 26. h4 Nb5 27.
Rd8+ Kh7 28. h5 c5 29. bxc5 Rxc5 30. Bg8+ 1/2-1/2

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2744.

Answer:
 In the game white played 30. Bg8+ which is the correct move, but then the game was drawn.

I have no idea why, because white had a forced mate after 30...Kh8 31.Bf7+ Kh7 32.Bg6#

Check out the blog post, http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=87, for 9

other examples of games where the play took a draw instead of a forced mate.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
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Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #141 Tactics Time

The past has no power over the present moment. ~ Eckhart Tolle

T his game was played on FICS, the Free

Internet Chess Server,
http://www.freechess.org/

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about some of the ideas

of Eckhart Tolle.

I have mentioned Tolle before, with "The 2

Monks" story, which is one of my favorite
metaphors.

Tolle is a spiritual teacher, whose books

include "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth". Everytime I listen to him speak I see the world
with a slightly different perspective. I would highly recommend reading his books or listening to
his audio programs.

His ideas can be somewhat "deep", so it is not easy to convey them in an e-mail newsletter, but
his idea of "The Power of Now" is one I think that can be applied to chess.

Tolle talks about how all we have is the present moment. We are always in the present
moment. He says that things like the past and future, are really just concepts that we have
created, but actually don't exist. It is always just a continuous "now".

I think this can help with chess if you look at each position as the "present moment" and "now".

Not get wrapped up with the moves that happened in the past.

Not get wrapped up with a 3 move combination in your head, then push the wrong piece which
is the 2nd move of the combination (which I have done myself).

Not get so wrapped up with your "plan", or the position in your head, that you don't see your
opponents threats, and what is actually on the board in front of you.
 This idea can also help deal with the "Monkey Mind" that can affect your play. You are worried
about remembering to pay the rent next week, or rehashing the obnoxious comment that your
boss made at work, or something else that happened in the past, or will happen in the future.

Instead try to focus and be "present" in the current moment. Try to get in the "Flow" and "The
Zone" of the game.

These are "advanced" ideas, and ones you might want to explore. Yoga and meditation can help
as well if you have a "Monkey Mind", and your brain is scattered all over the place.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "FICS unrated blitz game"]

[Site "FICS"]
[Date "2011.12.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "tolou"]
[Black "barcelr"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A02"]
[WhiteElo "1242"]
[BlackElo "1293"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. f4 f5 2. e3 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. b3 Be7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. c3

Nc6 9. e4 fxe4 10. Bxe4 Qe8 11. O-O Rb8 12. Ng5 Bxg5 13. fxg5 d5 14. Bc2 e5 15.
Rxf8+ Qxf8 16. g6 h6 17. d4 cxd4 18. Qf3 Qxf3 19. gxf3 dxc3 20. Nxc3 Be6 21.
Re1 Rf8 22. Kg2 Nd4 23. Bd1 Nc6 24. Re2 Bf5 25. Nxd5 Bxg6 26. Re1 Bf7 27. Ne3
Bg6 28. Ng4 Re8 29. Rg1 Kh7 30. Kg3 e4 31. fxe4 Bxe4 32. Re1 Nd4 33. Kf4 g5+
34. Kg3 Kg6 35. h4 Nf5+ 36. Kh2 Nxh4 37. Nf2 Bc6 38. Rxe8 Bxe8 39. Ne4 Bc6 40.
Nd6 Kf6 41. Bg4 Nf3+ 42. Bxf3 Bxf3 43. Kg3 Bc6 44. Nc4 h5 45. Na5 Bd5 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2746.

Answer:

I remember one time I was in college taking a "graph theory" math class. The teacher called on
a friend of mine to go up to the board, and solve the problem. Instead of doing that, my friend
got up and walked right out of the classroom!

Everyone was rather stunned. I later asked him why he did this. He quipped, "Sometimes it is
better to retreat, and live to fight another day!"

37...Bc6 is the only move for black here. The bishop retreats, and lives to fight another day.

This was possibly a little bit of a "trick" question, because you might be used to looking for
offensive moves, such as a knight fork, such as Nf3+ but they don't work here.
 White is double attacking the Bishop on e4, and that bishop is pinned to the undefended rook on
e8.

The move Bc6 solves both problems at the same time - it moves the bishop out of harms way,
and defends the rook on e8.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #142 Tactics Time

Whether you think you can or you can't...you're right ~ Henry Ford

T his position comes from a blitz game

played on FICS, and features a tactical
mistake that comes up all the time in
class player games.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about facilitating change.

In many of these newsletters you might notice

I am not talking about the traditional topics
related to chess.

I think most of us already have more than

enough "chess knowledge" in our brains.

And I have no desire to cram your brain with more of it.

I think that most of us need to work on getting that information out, and applying it in "the real
world" and over the board.

I want you to UNLEASH this chess knowledge!

I am not really a big fan of a lot the traditional models of "teaching". To me learning is about
"behavior change", as I have said before.

Today I want to ask you, and for you to think about, a couple questions that you can use to help
your chess game, and facilitate your chess growth and change.

Question 1: What's your biggest problem or frustration in chess?

Example Answer: "My biggest frustration is dropping pieces for no reason."

Question 2: Turn that into a "how" question...

Example Answer: "How can I stop dropping pieces in my chess game?"

 Question 3: What's the result you want to achieve, specifically?

Example Answer: "I would like to gain 100 rating points in the next year"

Question 4: What would you need to do to create that result?

Example Answer: "I would need to study chess for 15 minutes per day, and stop losing games
to careless mistakes"

Question 5: What's your current strength?

Example Answer: "I am very good at openings".

Question 6: How can you leverage that strength to create the result you want?

Example Answer: "I can play the entire game with the precision and attention to detail that I do
in the opening to the rest of the game to avoid blunders"

This is just an example that I made up, and everyone's frustrations, goals and strengths in
chess are obviously going to be different.

The point is that asking these types of questions can be very useful in pointing your brain in the
right direction. Asking "How" questions especially can turn your brain from being in "victim
mentality" mode asking yourself questions like "Why am I such a loser?" or "Why am I so stupid"
into a more powerful questions like "How can I improve myself, and win more games?".

The brain is incredibly powerful, and asking yourself the right kinds of questions can really
supercharge your outcomes!

I think that the many of the answers to the questions you have are already inside you. Asking
questions like these can help bring them out!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]

[Site "FICS"]
[Date "2011.12.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "cdot"]
[Black "jsssstplayinn"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A02"]
[WhiteElo "1527"]
[BlackElo "1639"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. f4 Nc6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 d6 4. Bb5 Bg4 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. d3 e5 7. fxe5 dxe5 8.

e4 Nh5 9. Bg5 Be7 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nf4 12. Qe1 O-O 13. Nbd2 Qc5+ 14. Kh1
Qxc2 15. Rc1 Qxb2 16. Rxc6 Nxd3 17. Qe3 Bxf3 18. Nxf3 Rad8 19. Rxc7 Nf4 20.
Qxa7 Qxg2# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2748.

Answer:

White had just played 9. Bg5, which attacks the black queen.

However black can refute this move, and win a piece here with 9...Bxf3 which attacks the white
queen, while taking a knight in the process.

White now has a problem. They are down a piece. If they capture the Bishop on f3 with 10.
Qxf3, black plays 10...Qxg5 and remains up a piece, because 9...Bxf3 also removed the
defender of the bishop on g5.

If white captures the black queen with 10. Qxd8, black mirrors this with 10...Qxd1 and is still
up a piece.

In the game black missed this opportunity, and played 9...Be7.

This pattern comes up all the time, and is a good one to know.

Sometimes a series of exchanges like this will happen, and then 5 moves later one person asks
"How did I lose a piece"?

The key in this case is the Bxf3 move, which wins the knight, and then white never has time to
get this piece back.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

P.S. As you may have noticed, the above questions are great ones to ask in any area of life in
which you might have challenges, not just chess :-)

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

 If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #143 Tactics Time

It's like all guys want to do is make a dunk, grab their shirt and yell out and scream -
they could be down 30 points but that's what they do. Okay, so you made a dunk. Get back
down the floor on defense! ~ Oscar Robertson

T oday's position comes from a

chess.com blitz game was played by
Rob Hartelt (pureredwhiteblu) that he
posted on Facebook.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk to you about chess

tactics problems, and the main problem I have
with a lot of tactics books, and tactics
collections:

They have tons of "flashy" moves, where one

side sacrifices his queen, or lots of double
discovered attacks, smothered mates, etc.

The main problem with these is that, although they are cool, they don't happen very often in
real games.

The "Windmill" for example, is a very fun chess tactic, and I hope everyone gets to play one at
some point in their chess career, but they are very rare, so it is not really valuable to have a
bunch of chess tactics problems with this motif.

Windmills are fun, but chess isn't an NBA slam dunk competition.

The same is true of Queen sacrifices, smothered mates, etc.

I try to have a lot of "real" positions, even if they tend to be kind of boring, and repetitive.

The Flashy tactics reminds me of the first time I went to an National Basketball Association
(NBA) game when I was living in Dallas.

I had never sat and watched an NBA game before, only highlights on TV. I grew up in
Pittsburgh, which doesn't have an NBA team, so didn't have much exposure to it.

So I was expecting all kinds of cool windmill dunks, spread eagles, behind the back passes, and
stuff you see on Sports Center and other sports highlight shows.

After the game I was a little disappointed. I was expecting something out of the Harlem
Globetrotters!

In reality maybe one or two of those cool things happen in a game, and the other 60 minutes is
just normal fundamentals.

Kind of like chess, lol :-)

I do tactics training on chess.com sometimes, and it is cool, because people can leave
comments.

One of the running jokes is "When in doubt, sac your queen". This can create a lot of lazy
thinking when solving problems, because they have too many cool queen sac problems, that in
real games maybe happens 1 in 10000 moves or even less.

My recommendation would be to find a set of tactics that mostly focuses on positions from real
games, to get the most "bang for your buck", when it comes to study.

Check out my Tactics Time Training Program which contains exactly these types of tactics
problems, which will super charge your chess game and raise your rating to new heights!
http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.02.05"]
[White "Strelec"]
[Black "pureredwhiteblu"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "1040"]
[BlackElo "1199"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[TimeControl "3"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. cxd5 Bxf3 7. gxf3 Bc5
8. b4 Bd6 9. Nb5 O-O 10. Nxd6 cxd6 11. Bb5 Nb6 12. Qa5 Nfxd5 13. Bb2 Qe7 14.
Rc1 Rac8 15. Rxc8 Nxc8 16. Rg1 Nc7 17. Bc4 b6 18. Qa3 d5 19. Bd3 b5 20. Qc3 d4
21. exd4 exd4+ 22. Be4 dxc3 23. Bxc3 Nd6 24. Rxg7+ Kh8 25. Rxf7+ Kg8 26. Rxe7
Nxe4 27. fxe4 h6 28. Rg7+ Kh8 29. Rxc7+ Kg8 30. Rg7+ Kh8 31. Rf7+ Kg8 32. Rxf8+
Kxf8 33. e5 Ke7 34. f4 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2808.

 Answer:

White went into "Windmill Dunk" mode and played the discovered check 25. Rxf7+, which is
winning, and fun to play.

But the better move is the forced mate in two: 25.Rxh7+ Kg8 26.Rh8#

White was probably so excited to actually get the chance to play the rare Windmill tactic, that
they missed the checkmate.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #144 Tactics Time

The only normal people are the one's you don't know very well. ~ Alfred Adler

T his blitz game was played by my good

friend Anthea Carson (slimedog) on
chess.com. She sent me this game,
and commented on it "was that the coolest or
what. That had to be my best win ever."

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

The following is an excerpt from GM Nigel

Davies' excellent chess blog, which I thought
was an interesting little story. You can read the
full post here: http://chessimprover.com
/?p=2954.

Davies writes (slightly edited for formatting):

"A couple of weeks back my son asked if we could go through some normal games rather than
those with sacrifices. I thought this was interesting because, he'd realized that queen sacrifices
and the like don't happen that often.

Thinking about it I find that I agree with him.

I've come across many players, especially young ones, who are forever looking for some wild
sacrificial idea because of an early diet of "brilliancies". So they:

sacrifice when they should be capturing,

attack when they should be defending, and
keep the queens on when they should exchange into a favorable endgame.

But aren't "brilliancies" vital for our all important tactical vision?

This is certainly the story line, but actually I'm unconvinced that they develop chess vision any
faster than a well played game together with some astute questions."

I thought this was very interesting that a Grandmaster, one of the best players in the world, had
never considered the idea that you shouldn't just study games with brilliant sacrifices, and it was
his son who wanted to look at things besides Queen sacrifices.

This story ties in with my previous newsletter where I discussed the idea of not just studying
rare tactics like windmills, queen sacrifices, and smothered mates.

Yes you should know these things, but along the lines of the "80-20" rule, it is much more
practical to study the types of tactics that come up over and over. These are the types of tactics I
focus on in my tactics time database, which you can purchase here: http://tacticstime.com
/?page_id=2.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.02.05"]
[White "slimedog"]
[Black "Skorceni"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "1579"]
[BlackElo "1706"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[TimeControl "10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e4 dxe4 4. f3 exf3 5. Qxf3 Qxd4 6. Be3 Qb4 7. O-O-O Bg4
8. Nb5 Nbd7 9. Qxb7 Rb8 10. Qxb8+ Nxb8 11. Nxc7# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.chess.com/livechess

/game.html?id=245695741

Answer:

So after ranting so much about not studying too many queen sacrifices, this position features
what else - a brilliant queen sacrifice! lol :-)

Anthea found the brilliant mate in two: 10. Qxb8+ Nxb8 11. Nxc7#

The game is worth playing through, and is a beauty! Well done Anthea!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #145 Tactics Time

The trees in Siberia are miles apart, that is why the dogs are so fast. ~Bob Hope

T his position comes from a game played

on Red Hot Pawn, and features the
"Siberian Trap" in the Smith Morra
Gambit, which has claimed lots of victims.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Smith-Morra_Gambit.

In chess, the Smith–Morra Gambit (or simply

Morra Gambit) is an opening gambit against the
Sicilian Defense distinguished by the moves:

1. e4 c5
2. d4 cxd4
3. c3

White sacrifices a pawn to develop quickly and create attacking chances. In exchange for the
gambit pawn, White has a piece developed after 4.Nxc3 and a pawn in the center, while Black has
nothing but an empty square at c7.

The plan for White is straightforward and consists of placing his bishop on c4 to attack the
f7-square, and controlling both the c- and d-files with rooks, taking advantage of the fact that
Black can hardly find a suitable place to post his queen.

The Smith–Morra is not common in grandmaster games, but at club level chess it can be an
excellent weapon.

The Smith–Morra is named after two players, Pierre Morra from France (1900–69), and Kenneth
Ray Smith of the Dallas Chess Club (1930–99). Hence in Europe the name Morra Gambit is
preferred; names like Tartakower Gambit and Matulovic Gambit have disappeared.

Morra published a booklet and several articles about the Smith–Morra around 1950. Smith wrote
a total of nine books and forty-nine articles about the gambit.
 When Smith participated in an international tournament against several top grandmasters in
San Antonio in 1972, he essayed the Smith–Morra three times, against Donald Byrne, Larry
Evans, and Henrique Mecking, but wound up losing all three games. (In fact, when Mario Campos
Lopez played the French Defence, 1...e6, instead of the Sicilian against Smith, Bent Larsen gave
Lopez's move a question mark along with the comment "stronger is 1...c5 which wins a pawn",
presuming Smith would play his d4 gambit.)

More about the Siberian Trap, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Sicilian_Defence,_Smith-Morra_Gambit,_Siberian_Trap.

The Siberian Trap is a chess opening trap. After a series of natural moves in the Smith-Morra
Gambit of the Sicilian Defence, White can lose a queen. The name appears to result from Boris
Schipkov of Novosibirsk.

The trap has occurred at least twice in tournament play: Kolenbet–Schipkov, Khabarovsk 1987,
and Tesinsky–Magerramov, Budapest 1990.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Open invite"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2005.10.07"]
[White "DreamKrusher"]
[Black "arash"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1406"]
[BlackElo "1486"]
[PlyCount "18"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Bc4 e6 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. O-O Qc7 8.

Qe2 Ng4 9. h3 Nd4 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2879.

Answer:

9. ... Nd4! is the key move in the Siberian Trap.

The Black threat of 10...Nxf3+ followed by 11...Qh2# wins White's queen, at least.

If 10.Nxd4?, Qh2#.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #146 Tactics Time

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the
noise before defeat." ~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War

T his position was sent to me by Ed

Stoddard from Burien, Washington.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to share an excerpt from an

article written by NM Dan Heisman, that I would
highly recommend called: "My Top Tips for Chess
Improvement", which you can read here:
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman133.pdf.

Here is his tip #16 (slightly edited, and

formatting changed):

"To improve your tactical vision, start by mastering the 2,000 or so basic tactical ideas upside
down, inside out, backwards and forwards.

Treat them like learning the multiplication tables.

Most intermediate players don't know these patterns nearly as well as they should, and they
believe that just because they can "solve" them all fairly easily that they are not worth studying
any more.

In most cases, this is a big mistake; solving is not the issue; recognition is.

And remember that most difficult problems contain one, or more likely more than one, basic
idea within, so mastering the easy ones will make it much easier to solve the hard ones.

This activity will help enhance your ability to recognize critical positions. That in turn should
trigger better time management, so you can spend more time on the critical decisions".

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Washington Open"]

[Site "Seattle"]
[Date "1996.??.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Stoddard, Ed"]
[Black "Day, Brian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "1785"]
[BlackElo "1925"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Ndf3 Nc6 7. c3 Qb6 8. Ne2

Be7 9. Qc2 cxd4 10. Nexd4 a6 11. Be2 Nxd4 12. Nxd4 O-O 13. O-O f6 14. exf6 Nxf6
15. Be3 Qc7 16. Kh1 Bd6 17. Bd3 Bd7 18. Rf3 Rae8 19. Raf1 e5 20. fxe5 Rxe5 21.
Nf5 Bxf5 22. Bxf5 Rfe8 23. Bd4 Re2 24. Qd3 Rxb2 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Qxd5+ Kg7 27.
Rh3 h6 28. Rh4 Bf4 29. Rg4+ Bg5 30. h4 h5 31. Rc4 Qe7 32. hxg5 fxg5 33. Qd4+
Kh6 34. Rc7 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2885.

Answer:

34. Rc7!! is a very clever move, which leads to a forced mate.

If black captures the rook with 34...Qxc7 35. Qf6#

If black moves the queen with 34...Qf8 , then 35. Rh7#

black's best defense is

34...Rb6 35.Qxb6+ Kg7 36.Qg6+ Kh8 37.Qh6+ Kg8 38.Be6+ Qxe6 39.Qg7#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

 Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #147 Tactics Time

Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone. ~ Robert Allen

T his game is from the 2012 Loveland

Open, and put Tournament Director
Randy Reynolds over 1800 for the first
time. Nice work Randy!

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk to you about the above

quote's idea, and getting out of your "comfort
zone" when it comes to chess.

Have you heard about the "comfort zone"?

These the areas in your life in which you feel

comfortable.

Examples:

Are you comfortable with going into the supermarket? If so, it's inside your comfort zone.
Do you feel comfortable when you talk to a friend? If so, it's inside your comfort zone.
Do you feel comfortable to speak in front of an audience? If so, it's inside your comfort
zone.

Oh, you don't feel comfortable doing that? It's unusual for you and maybe you're even a little
scared? Then it's outside of your comfort zone.

All habits and things you usually do are inside your comfort zone. Everything new, everything
you don't usually do is outside.

A lot of personal development experts will tell you that it's important to get outside of your
comfort zone. But why?

It's important because if you want to have different results in your life, you have to do different
things. You can't just do the same things you've always done and hope that anything will change.
It won't.
 If you keep eating junk food, you probably won't lose weight soon. If you keep training with the
same weights, you probably won't get any stronger. If you keep hanging out with the same people
all the time, you won't make any new friends.

The same actions will get you the same results.

If you want to get new results in your life, you have to do things you don't usually do - maybe
even things you've never done before. That's means that you have to step out of your comfort
zone.

With chess this could mean a lot of things.

Perhaps you are only comfortable playing 1. d4. Playing 1. e4 would be outside your comfort
zone.
Perhaps you only play online, and the idea of playing in a tournament is outside of your comfort
zone.
Perhaps you only like "closed" positions, and open positions scare you, and would be outside
your comfort zone.

Every player will be different of course, but I encourage you to think about where your "comfort
zone" is, and push the boundaries every once in a while. That is where the real growth and
learning will occur.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Loveland Open"]

[Site "Loveland"]
[Date "2012.02.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Martinez, Norbert"]
[Black "Reynolds, Randy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "1626"]
[BlackElo "1798"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 Bg4 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 c6 6. h3 Bh5 7. Be2 Nbd7 8. cxd5

cxd5 9. O-O a6 10. Nh2 Bg6 11. Bd2 Bd6 12. f4 Ne4 13. Nxe4 Bxe4 14. Nf3 Qf6 15.
Ng5 Bg6 16. Qb3 O-O 17. Rac1 Qe7 18. Nf3 Nf6 19. Ne5 Be4 20. Nf3 Rfc8 21. Ng5
Bg6 22. Bd3 h6 23. Rxc8+ Rxc8 24. Bxg6 fxg6 25. Nf3 Ne4 26. Qd3 Qc7 27. Rc1
Qxc1+ 28. Bxc1 Rxc1+ 29. Kh2 Rh1+ 30. Kxh1 Nf2+ 31. Kg1 Nxd3 32. b3 Nc1 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2891.

Answer:

Randy wrote to me:

 "Tim,

Here's tactic game #1, against Norbert Martinez. The key move is Qc7 on move 26, which
usually is an awful move because the other rook takes control of the open file and the queen has
to leave the c-file.

But here, I saw the tactic, and thought, "Moving 27. Rc1 is exactly what I would play if I were in
this position (and didn't look ahead first)." And sure enough, that's what happened.

Then the next 5 moves just came automatically, which is why I was especially pleased with this
tactic."

The followup moves Randy is referring to are 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.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #148 Tactics Time

A guest has not to thank the host, but the host the guest ~ Russian Proverb

T his game was sent to my by Jeff Baffo,

and was a 5 minute blitz game played
on http://chesscube.com.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

I am currently looking for people who are

interested in writing a special guest Tactics Time
Newsletter!

Are you up for it?

I already received ones from Randy Reynolds,

Shannon Fox, and Paul Anderson, and they all
turned out great, and would love to see more!

The format is pretty simple, and you are probably used to it by now

Headline
Quote
Tactic
Story
Game
Answer

I normally try to make the Headline some sort of pun or play on words, but it doesn't have to
be one.

The Quote is normally some wisdom, or somewhat related to the topic, but doesn't have to be.

The Tactic can be any chess position that you find interesting. Could be anything from a mate
in one to a 4-5 move combination. It should be something that the computer thinks is clearly the
best move, although there could be more than one answer - like if white can play Bxg6# or
Qxg6# It doesn't have to be a"brilliancy" or anything fancy.

The Story can be something about chess that you find interesting. If it is related to chess
tactics that is great, but doesn't have to be. Could be about:

an opening
some valuable lesson you learned
best advice that you have for others
an analogy or metaphor
favorite chess memory or story
what you like best about chess
tribute to a friend, coach, mentor
your favorite chess book
pet peeves or chess humor
etc

It doesn't have to be long - even 2-3 paragraphs is fine. I normally break them into really small
bite size chunks for readability, since we live in an A.D.D. culture (even though it is not
grammatically correct to do so).

The Game is just the chess game in PGN format. It can be any type of game - blitz game,
correspondence game, OTB (Over the Board) tournament game, etc. The tactic doesn't have to
have been played in the game either, and could even have been in one of the variations.

The Answer is obviously the solution, with some explanation if necessary. Any information
about the game is good too.

If you get stuck on any, I can help. Like if you can find all of the above except a quote, I can fill
that part in.

You don't have to worry about the formatting - just e-mail me the pieces, and I will fill in the
template that I use. You don't have to worry about making a diagram either - if you have the
game score, you can just tell me which move the tactic was on.

You can feel free to promote your chess club, website, twitter feed, etc!

I think it is fun to have some other "voices" in the newsletter, besides just mine, and would love
to hear what you have to say on the topic!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "www.chesscube.com"]
[Site "www.chesscube.com"]
[Date "2011.12.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "[email protected]"]
[Black "[email protected]"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B02"]
[WhiteElo "1875"]
[BlackElo "2075"]
[PlyCount "26"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[TimeControl "300"]
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 g6 7. Be3 Bg7 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. Nc3 Bf5 10. Nf3 Qd7 11. O-O-O O-O-O 12. a3 $2 Na5 13. c5 $4 Nb3# {MATE}
0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2941

Answer:

12...Na5 sets up a nasty threat of 13...Nb3# which both forks the king and queen, and
delivers checkmate. White can stop the mate, but cannot avoid losing his queen.

For example, 13. b4 gives the king an escape square, but black can still fork the king and
queen with 13...Nb3+.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #149 Tactics Time

Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.
~ Anonymous

T his game comes from the 2012

Loveland Open.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to share with you an ancient

fables called, "The Fox and the Cat".

A fox was bragging to a cat of its clever ways

of escaping its enemies.

"I have a whole bag of tricks," he said, "which

contains a hundred ways of escaping my
enemies."

"I have only one," said the cat; "but I can generally manage with that."

Just at that moment they heard the cry of a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the cat
immediately scampered up a tree and hid herself in the boughs.

"This is my plan," said the cat. "What are you going to do?"

The fox thought first of one way and started to scamper off. But then another, even better trick
popped into his head and he started in the other direction. Then the fox stopped. Another trick
had come to him but he wasn't quite sure if it was better than the second one he'd had.

While he was debating the hounds came nearer and nearer.

At last, the fox in his confusion as to which plan was best was caught by the hounds, putting an
end to all of his clever plans.

You can read more about this fable on Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Cat_%28fable%29.
 In chess, we can sometimes be the Fox, trying to be too clever with all of our "tricks" and
"plans", when the correct move might be staring at us right in the face, and we need to be more
like the Cat, who has one trick.

In Grandmaster Alexander Kotov's 1971 book Think Like a Grandmaster, he described a

situation when a player thinks very hard for a long time in a complicated position but does not find
a clear path, then running low on time quickly makes a poor move, often a blunder.

If you have just one trick in chess, make it to be "look for tactics on every move", and don't get
stuck in "Analysis Paralysis" or trying to be too clever, like the poor Fox did.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Loveland Open"]

[Site "Fort Collins"]
[Date "2012.02.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Reynolds, Randy"]
[Black "Kohler, Cory"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "1798"]
[BlackElo "1428"]
[PlyCount "69"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. O-O d6 6. Bg5 f6 7. Bh4 Nge7 8.

Re1 Ne5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Nd2 b6 11. Qh5+ Ng6 12. Bd5 Rb8 13. a3 a5 14. Nf3 Bd7
15. Nxe5 Ke7 16. Nf7 Nf4 17. Qf3 Qe8 18. Qxf4 Rf8 19. Qxc7 Rxf7 20. Bxf7 Kxf7
21. Bg3 Rc8 22. Qf4 g5 23. Qd2 h5 24. h3 h4 25. Bh2 Qe6 26. e5 Bc6 27. Qd3 f5
28. Qe2 Qd5 29. Qh5+ Kg7 30. Qxg5+ Kf7 31. e6+ Ke8 32. Qg8+ Ke7 33. Qf7+ Kd8
34. e7+ Kd7 35. e8=Q# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2936.

Answer:

Randy had already secured an all time high 1800 rating in the first round, and was directing the
event. But since the event was not rated yet, it was not official. Just like Ted Williams, who kept
playing, even after securing a .400 baseball batting average, Randy put this new rating on the line
in round 4 when he played to avoid anyone having to take a bye.

Here Randy faced the "paradox of choice", similar to the Fox in the above story. White has
several things to consider, with hanging pawns, his knight double attacked, various pins, and
possible pawn pushes.

The best move, which was missed in the game, is to punish the king being stuck in the middle
with the 2 move checkmate, 19. Qe5+ (the f pawn is pinned by the dark squared bishop on h4)
19...Be6 (only way to get out of check) 20. Qxe6#

Randy later went on to win the game, and kept his new 1800 rating!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

P.S. I have a pet cat, Lucy, who is my baby. I found this page of funny cat quotes that you
might enjoy also if you have a cat of your own :-) http://www.cat-urine.net/cat_quotes.html

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #150 Tactics Time

We are free to choose our actions, . . . but we are not free to choose the consequences of
these actions. ~ Stephen Covey

T his game was played between Jeff Fox

and Paul Anderson at the Colorado
Springs "Cabin Fever Reliever"
tournament in February 2012, and was featured
in Paul's excellent blog, under the title "Mean
Streak", available here, http://cschess.webs.com
/apps/blog/show/12636531-mean-streak.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk to you about an idea from

Stephen Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People", he calls "Big Rocks, put
First Things First".

You can watch a video of Covey demonstrating this principle here: http://video.google.com
/videoplay?docid=-357998200076562861.

In the video Covey takes a bucket filled with gravel (small rocks), and asks a woman to insert
several large rocks, which represent certain important areas of life.

The woman is unable to squeeze in the big rocks, because the small rocks are taking up so
much space.

He then suggests a paradigm shift, of putting the large rocks in first. Then pouring the smaller
rocks in around them.

Only by putting the large rocks in first, does everything work together.

To me, in chess, the "Big Rocks" are tactics. You must first put these "Big Rocks" (learning
tactics) in your "Bucket" (Brain), before adding in all the small rocks.

The Big Rocks would be things like avoiding and eliminating blunders, 1-3 move tactical
combinations that win material, checkmating patterns, etc.
 The smaller rocks would be things like understanding pawn structures, positional play, strategic
considerations, opening improvements, endgame techniques, etc.

Tactics Time is focused on the "Big Rocks".

You want to have as many rocks in your bucket as possible as you climb the chess improvement
ladder, but it is important to put the big rocks in first.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Cabin Fever Reliever"]

[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2012.02.14"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Fox, Jeff"]
[Black "Anderson, Paul"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A25"]
[WhiteElo "1904"]
[BlackElo "2000"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2012.02.14"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e3 Nc6 6. Nge2 Re8 7. O-O a6 8. d4

Ba7 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. b3 Rb8 11. Bb2 d6 12. Qc2 Bg4 13. h3 Bf3 14. Rad1 Nfd7 15.
Bxf3 Nxf3+ 16. Kg2 Nde5 17. Nf4 Qg5 18. Nce2 Nh4+ 19. Kh1 Nf5 20. Bd4 Nxd4 21.
Nxd4 g6 22. Nd3 Bxd4 23. exd4 Nf3 24. Nf4 Qe7 25. Kg2 Ng5 26. Rfe1 Qxe1 27.
Rxe1 Rxe1 28. Nd5 c6 29. Qd2 Re6 30. Qxg5 cxd5 31. Qxd5 b5 32. Qc6 bxc4 33.
Qxc4 Rb5 34. Qc8+ Kg7 35. Qxa6 Rf5 36. Qc4 Ref6 37. Qc2 h5 38. a4 Rd5 39. Qc3
Re6 40. b4 Re4 41. b5 Rexd4 42. b6 f6 43. b7 Rd3 44. Qc7+ Kh6 45. b8=Q Rc5 46.
Qh8+ Kg5 47. h4+ Kg4 48. Qxf6 g5 49. Qxc5 dxc5 50. Qxg5# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-

game-replayer.php?id=60185.

Answer:

Before this game Paul had a streak of 26 rated games without a loss, including 18 wins in a
row.

In this game, his luck ran out, in part because he missed the kill shot 29...Rg1+! which forces
the white king to a square where they black knight can fork the King and Queen with 30. Nf3+.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #151 Tactics Time

With the right set of beliefs you can experience SUCCESS in all areas of your life... If
there is an area in your life that needs improvement. Pay attention to the beliefs you have
in this area, and change those beliefs that do not serve you! - James Dean Armstrong

his position comes from one of my

games on Redhotpawn.com.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk to you about the idea

of "Self Image", and how this can play an
important role in your chess improvement.

The 'self image' is a mental picture of how a

person sees themselves.

One of pioneers in the field of self image was a

plastic surgeon named Maxwell Maltz.

There is a story in his book Psycho-Cybernetics: A New Way to Get More Living out of Life that
illustrates the importance of self image really well.

Dr. Maltz had a patient come in who wants to get a nose job. Dr. Maltz performed the surgery,
and afterwards the patient had a perfect nose. When the patient looked at her new nose, she said
"Oh, I am still ugly".

From the website for 50 Self Help Classics (which I would highly recommend if you like this sort
of thing) http://www.butler-bowdon.com/psychocybernets.

"Distinguished as he was in the field, he (Maltz) was at a loss to explain why a minority of
patients were no happier after operation than before, even if disfiguring scars or other
malformations had been removed. He found himself drawn into the new self-image psychology,
which held that we generally conform in action and thought to a deep image of ourselves. Without
a change to this inner image, patients would still feel themselves to be ugly, however excellent the
cosmetic work. "

In 1960, "Psycho-Cybernetics: A New Way to Get More Living out of Life" was first published. The
book introduced Maltz's views where a person must have an accurate and positive view of his or
her self before setting goals; otherwise he or she will get stuck in a continuing pattern of limiting
beliefs.

This key idea is: Behaviors will not change unless inner beliefs are changed.

Maltz's ideas focus on visualizing one's goals and he believes that self-image is the cornerstone of
all the changes that take place in a person. According to Maltz, if one's self-image is unhealthy or
faulty -- all of his or her efforts will end in failure.

So what does this have to do with chess?

Well if you have a self image and inner beliefs of yourself such as:

"I'm a bad chess player"

"I always blunder"
"I'm a positional player, and not very good at tactics"
"I'm someone who can never get better"
"I always choke"
etc

it is going to be more difficult for you to improve.

If you have bad inner beliefs about chess, or your ability to improve, these can really hinder your
improvement.

Some of the best players I know have a self identity that includes beliefs such as:

I always do my best on every single move

I am a tactical chess player
I will never give up until I am checkmated
I am constantly learning, and improving my chess game

Maltz's book contains lots of "reframing" techniques that you can use to get rid of bad beliefs.

For example if you may have a limiting belief that you can "never beat a higher rated player"
you could blast away this negative belief by asking yourself questions such as

Does the higher rated player always win every single game?
Have I ever beaten a higher rated player?
Has a lower rated player ever beaten me?

Once you rewire your brain by asking these types of questions it can become obvious that this
negative belief is a foolish one, and it will be replaced with a more empowering belief such as "I
am capable of winning against higher rated opponents".

Changing negative beliefs is a very important topic, and I would recommend checking out his
book if you are interested in it.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "October 2010 Duel IV"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "TimmyBx"]
[Black "griselda"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "1963"]
[BlackElo "1816"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bh4 g5 4. f3 gxh4 5. fxe4 c5 6. e3 Qb6 7. Nc3 Qxb2 8.

Nd5 Kd8 9. Nf3 e6 10. Nf4 Bg7 11. Kf2 cxd4 12. exd4 Nc6 13. Bc4 Nxd4 14. Bd3
Nxf3 15. Qxf3 d6 16. Rab1 Bd4+ 17. Ke2 Qxa2 18. Qh5 e5 19. Qxh4+ Kc7 20. Qe7+
Bd7 21. Nd5+ Kc8 22. Rxb7 Bg4+ 23. Kd2 Qa5+ 24. c3 Bxc3+ 25. Nxc3 Qd8 26. Ba6
Qxe7 27. Rxe7+ Kd8 28. Rxf7 Be6 29. Rg7 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9090289.

Answer:

This game is from a redhotpawn tournament that I won after 6 rounds and a year and a half of
play! It was the October 2010 Duel IV tournament which started in October 2010, and finished in
March 2012. You can see the results here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/tournament
/view.php?tid=10557.

In this game I was getting crushed - I was down two pawns, with no compensation.

But I was able to find some counterplay with the move 22. Rxb7! which threatens 23. Qxd7#.

If 22...Kxb7 23. Qxd7+ Kb8 (only legal move) 24. Qc7#

So black cannot take the rook, and white wins a pawn, and creates a mating net. Fritz 13 says
that it is actually a forced mate in 22.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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 Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
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Newsletter Issue #152 Tactics Time

Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make. ~ Donald Trump

his game comes from the 2012 Red Hot

Pawn Championship, and was featured
on Greenpawn34's excellent chess blog,
in the post "It's Viking Week + The F Pawn",
which you can read here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=95.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk to you about the idea of

"Strategic Planning", and not in regards to
strategy or planning in a chess game, but how
businesses use this idea, and how you can apply
it to your chess improvement.

I am a big fan of Brian Tracy, who is a "self help guru", who teaches courses on time
management, selling, goal setting, and many other topics.

He recently send out a free "special report" to his newsletter readers, called "Discovering Your
Talents", which you can read here: http://media.briantracy.com/downloads
/pdf/discoveringyourtalents_assessment.pdf.

In there was a section called "Strategic Planning", which says:

"When we do strategic planning for corporations, we begin with the premise that the whole
purpose of the exercise is to reorganize and reallocate people and resources to increase the rate of
return on equity, or capital invested in the business.

Invariably, this is done by emphasizing some areas and de-emphasizing others, by allocating
more resources to areas with higher potential return and by taking resources away from those
areas that represent lower potential returns.

By developing or promoting newer and better products and services and by discontinuing those
products and services that are less profitable, the company and all the people in it can channel
their resources to maximize their returns."
 Notice that the focus is on "ROI" - Return on Investment. They look at what is making the most
money for the costs put into it and do more of it, and look at what is not making money, and get
rid of it.

They do not try to improve everything.

I think that the idea of "ROI" can be very valuable to chess study, and chess improvement, and
is the main reason that I focus on chess tactics so much.

My belief is that a study of chess tactics will give you the best "ROI" - the most rating points and
won games in the least amount of time and energy spent.

Studying other areas of chess might take up a lot of time, but may not give you any increase in
rating points, and may even cause you to lose rating points!

You might want to do some "Strategic Planning" on your chess study approach, and focus more
on what is giving you a high "ROI", and eliminate the areas that are giving you a low "ROI".

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[EndDate "2012.03.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "whythelongface"]
[Black "Chucker"]
[WhiteRating "1452"]
[BlackRating "2288"]
[WhiteElo "1452"]
[BlackElo "2288"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "9038726"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 e6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 Nc6 6. b3 Nf6 7. Bb2 Qc7 8. d4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Be7 10.
O-O O-O 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 d5 13. exd5 Bc5 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9038726.

Answer:

White created a weakness with 11. f4 that was punished with 11...Nxd4 which draws the Queen
to the same diagonal as the king

12. Qxd4 (otherwise white is down a piece)

12...d5 (threatening the bishop)

 13. exd5 Bc5 pinning the Queen to the king. White could have avoided and prevented the pin,
but would have lost a piece at some point.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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Newsletter Issue #153 Tactics Time

It is always your next move. ~ Napoleon Hill

T his position was played in the 2012 Red

Hot Pawn Championship.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to share with your the

perspective of a chess writer, and how it can
affect you the chess reader.

I think there are a couple problems with a lot

of the chess writing and teaching that is out
there right now.

Topics are too obscure for a mass

audience
Topics are interesting, but will not actually help the audience win more games or gain rating
points
Topic is made overly complicated

Many chess writers are very strong players (Grandmasters, International Masters, etc). So they
don't want to waste time on topics like basic chess tactics. This is not interesting to them. It
would be like a college Math professor with a PhD writing about the simple multiplication tables.

So instead they write about more complicated topics to show the world how smart they are, or
simply because these more complicated and "deep" topics are what is interesting to them.

This is fine, except then the average wood pushing chess player comes along and sees it.

They think to themselves - "Oh a Grandmaster wrote this! So it must be of high value to me! I
will spend the next month reading and studying this! And it will improve my game!"

And nothing could be further from the truth.

For example, one topic that I see a lot of chess writers talk about at some point is the "Lucena
position". Supposedly this is a "very important endgame" position to know.
 Personally I have played thousands of chess games, and have never once used this idea, or had
someone use it against me.

I have looked through thousands of other class player games, and have never seen an example
of someone using this.

I have never heard a chess player say "I just won that game with a Lucena technique".

But almost every chess writer at some point does a "column", blog post, or adds a chapter in
their book about this position. They claim it is important, but really it probably isn't that
important.

Being a chess writer it can be challenging to come up with ideas to write about. So they take
some existing chess idea, put a slightly different spin on it, and then stress the importance of it.

Personally I get most of my ideas, from outside the chess world, and then apply them to the
chess world. And I think most chess ideas are not that important - other than know your tactics!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "stoffels"]
[Black "Azimut"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C21"]
[WhiteElo "1376"]
[BlackElo "1730"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. d4 f6 2. e4 e5 3. dxe5 Nc6 4. exf6 Nxf6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nf3 Qe7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Bg5 d6 9. Nc3 Nb4 10. Bc4+ Be6 11. Bxe6+ Qxe6 12. a3 Na6 13. Qd3 Rf7 14. Be3
Bxe3 15. Qxe3 Ng4 16. Qd2 Raf8 17. Ng5 Qe5 18. f4 Qc5+ 19. Kh1 Qxg5 20. h3 Rxf4
21. Rxf4 Rxf4 22. Qd5+ Qxd5 23. Nxd5 Nf2+ 24. Kg1 Rf7 25. Nc3 Nc5 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9042936.

Answer:

This game was a pretty good example of "Tactics Rule". Black played the dubious "Barnes
Defense" 1. d4 f6, which is not to be recommended, but if you are know what you are doing,
might be fun, because white might get overconfident.

White's previous move was 18. f4, which stops the mate, attacks the Queen, protects the Knight
and loses.
 In this position 18...Qc5+ sets up a one-two punch. Black checks the king, 19. Kh1 appears to
put the king on a safe square, but 19...Qxg5 wins a piece because the f pawn is now pinned,
because of the back rank mate threat which wasn't there when the king was still on f1.

If 20. fxg5 Rxf1 leads to mate 21. Rxf1 Rxf1#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

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Newsletter Issue #154 Tactics Time

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we
think we become ~ Buddha 562-483 B.C.

T oday's game was sent to me by Rob

Hartelt with a position he played on Red
Hot Pawn.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk to you about a part

of your brain known as the Reticular Activating
System, or "RAS".

The RAS is the part of your brain which is

responsible for filtering out what pieces of stimuli
your reality is focused on at any given time.

All around us at any time there is way too much for us to focus on. For example right now as
you read this the stimulus around might include:

The sound of the hum of the fan in your computer

The touch of your sock against your left foot
The sight of the of the Black Queen in the position above
The smell of the deodorant under your right armpit
The taste of the gum that you are chewing right now.

Basically at any moment our 5 senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) are taking in gigabytes
of information.

The brain cannot possibly handle all of this information at one time. So what it has to do is get
rid of 99% of it. It can really only handle about 1% of this information at one time, and the RAS
is the part of the brain that handles this.

The brain is basically creating our reality, based on the 1% that we are focused on (this this
"reality" is going through all sorts of other filters in the brain as well.

The RAS can be trained and developed. For example you might know the "cocktail party
effect". If you are at a party where 30 people are talking, but someone says your name, you will
hear that word through all the noise. For me it would sound like "Blah, blah, blah, blah, TIM,
blah, blah, blah."

This is why training with tactics is so important. You can basically training your RAS so that it
will correctly filter a position in a way that you will see the combination.

So when a GM is playing a simul against a bunch of weaker players, his brain is seeing "blah,
blah, blah, knight fork, blah, blah, blah, back rank mate, blah blah, etc".

The patterns are jumping out at him, just like your name jumps out at you in a sea of noise.

With lots of repetition of the basic patterns, your brain will be rewired in such a way that this
will happen to you too!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.15"]
[EndDate "2012.02.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PureRWandB"]
[Black "dhdenbow"]
[WhiteRating "1397"]
[BlackRating "1451"]
[WhiteElo "1397"]
[BlackElo "1451"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "9075491"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 e6 4. c5 Be7 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Qc2 O-O 7. e4 dxe4 8. Nxe4 Nd5 9. h4 h6 10.
Ng5 Bd7 11. Bc4 b5 12. Bxd5 exd5 13. Nf6 Bxf6 14. Qh7 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9075491.

Answer:

I got a nice message from Rob Hartelt (PureRWandB) on Red Hot Pawn with the subject "Tactics
Time!" which said:

Hi Tim,

I got a message on FB yesterday about the April (Colorado Chess) Informant ready for
download, (http://www.coloradochess.com/informant/April%202012.pdf)

So, I immediately printed it out and when to Tactics time.

#2 Wall-Montany reminds me of one of my recent games.

Game 9075491 ... Great minds think alike, huh?! :-D

Thanks Rob for the nice message! Well played!

Here white has a nice mate in two with the clearance sacrifice 13. Nf6 Bxf6 14. Qh7#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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Newsletter Issue #155 Tactics Time

After The Wizard Of Oz I was typecast as a lion, and there aren't all that many parts for
lions. ~ Bert Lahr

T his position features an interesting

uneven endgame with queen versus
two bishops.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to tell you a little story.

A good way to understand the nature of

competition in the world of chess is the story of
the lion and the two chess players.

The story goes that there were two chess

players traveling through the African savannah
when they unexpectedly turned a corner and came face to face with a hungry lion.

As the lion began to circle them, the first chess player sat down on a nearby rock, took off his
hiking boots and started putting on a pair of sneakers which he had been carrying in his backpack.

The second chess player looked puzzled and said, "What are you doing, you'll never be able to
outrun a lion"

The first chess player looked up and replied, "I don't need to outrun the lion, I just need to
outrun you!"

The moral of this story to me is that in order to win a chess game, you don't need to play
perfect chess, you just need to be a little bit better than your competition.

When I started looking at a large number of class player games, I realized that they contain
tons of errors and mistakes in them. Simple mistakes - 1 to 2 move combinations that are
missed. Most of these tactics are so simple, that if I included them as a problem in this newsletter
I would be getting complains!

Often my only real strategy in a game is just "don't mess up first", and wait for my opponent to
make some sort of tactical weakness, and then exploit it.

Even if I have an even position with a person for 30-40 moves, I will keep playing, and see if
they mess up. Maybe they won't, and the game will be a draw, but I am going to see if they can
"outrun me against the lion" in terms of making as many moves as possible without a tactical
mistake.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2007.08.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "IanPlens"]
[Black "vasil_buglov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C62"]
[WhiteElo "1679"]
[BlackElo "1459"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[TimeControl "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. Bxc6+ bxc6 5. Nc3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. d3 h6 8.

Be3 Nf6 9. g4 Bg6 10. d4 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Qxd8+ Rxd8 14.
Ke2 Be7 15. Rhd1 O-O 16. Nxe5 Bg2 17. f3 Rxd1 18. Rxd1 Bd6 19. Nxc6 f5 20. Rg1
Bxh3 21. gxf5 Bxf5 22. c3 Be6 23. b3 Kh7 24. Bd4 g6 25. Nxa7 Bd5 26. Nb5 Bxf3+
27. Ke1 Bh2 28. Rf1 Re8+ 29. Kd2 Bf4+ 30. Kc2 Re2+ 31. Kb1 Be4+ 32. Ka1 g5 33.
a4 h5 34. a5 h4 35. c4 Bc2 36. b4 Bb3 37. c5 h3 38. Nc3 Rd2 39. Bf6 Kg6 40. a6
Kxf6 41. Ne4+ Kg6 42. Nxd2 Bxd2 43. b5 Bc4 44. a7 Bxf1 45. a8=Q Bf4 46. b6 cxb6
47. cxb6 Bg2 48. Qe8+ Kf5 49. Qc8+ Kg6 50. b7 h2 51. Qc2+ Kf6 52. Qxg2 Kf5 53.
Kb2 Ke5 54. b8=Q+ 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=44491

Answer:

White has a queen fork with 51. Qc2+ forking the King and Bishop on g2, winning a piece.
White doesn't want to promote the b pawn just yet, and actually ended up with three different
queens in this game.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #156 Tactics Time

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. ~ David Beckham

his game was played on chess.com

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk to you about a

cognitive bias that we all have called the
"Hindsight Bias".

From the wikipedia page,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindsight

The hindsight bias is defined as a tendency to

change an opinion from an original thought to
something different because of newly provided information.

In tests for hindsight bias a person is asked to remember a specific event from the past or recall
some descriptive information that they had been tested on earlier.

In between the first test and final test they are given the correct information about the event or
knowledge.

At the final test he or she will report that they knew the answer all along when they truly have
changed their answer to fit with the correct information they were given after the initial test.

From the website "You Are Not So Smart", http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/06/14/hindsight-

bias/, which talks about the Hindsight Bias:

The Misconception: After you learn something new, you remember how you were once
ignorant or wrong.

The Truth: You often look back on the things you've just learned and assume you knew them or
believed them all along.

Very interesting!
 So what does this have to do with chess and chess tactics?

Well, basically there is going to be a tendency for you to think "Oh yeah, I knew that", once you
see the answer to a chess tactics problem where originally you really didn't know the answer at
all!

We all do this, even once we are told about the Hindsight Bias!

So be careful about the "Hindsight Bias" getting in the way of your chess improvement.

Remember the amateur says "I already knew that". The master says "Thanks for the reminder".

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Let's Play!"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2009.03.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "asakar"]
[Black "ooloth"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "1324"]
[BlackElo "1683"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[TimeControl "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. g3 g6 3. Bb5+ c6 4. Be2 e5 5. b3 Nf6 6. d3 d5 7. c3 dxe4 8. d4 exd4

9. cxd4 c5 10. Bg5 cxd4 11. Bb5+ Nc6 12. f3 e3 13. Ne2 Bb4+ 14. Kf1 O-O 15. a3
Ne5 16. Bxf6 Bh3+ 17. Kg1 Nxf3# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=17592081.

Answer:

Black ignores the threat to their queen, and has the cute checkmate 16...Bh3+ 17. Kg1
Nxf3#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #157 Tactics Time

It's not going to help my rating if everyone else improves their game as well. ~ Pete
Short

his position comes from a game that I

saw posted on http://reddit.com
/r/chess.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Based on some feedback that I got from one of

my customers, Dan in England, I wrote a Tactics
Time User's Guide. You can read for free here:
http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2527.

My good friend Pete Short wrote an awesome

Foreword for the book, which is presented here.
Thanks Pete!

Pete wrote:

When Tim asked me to write the foreword for "Tactics Time User's Guide" that he had just
completed, I asked "why me?" on the inside. But to Tim, my answer of "Yes!" might have seemed
too eager and abrupt. After all, I am not a titled player, coach, author, innovator, or
entrepreneur. I'm just a chess enthusiast.

I will admit that at times I have been one of the most enthusiastic chess players that Tim has
ever known. But I am just that, a friend who has played thousands of speed chess games against
him; talked for endless hours about chess, its history, and its great players; and traveled with him
to countless tournaments coast-to-coast.

But in actuality, I am the perfect person to write the foreword because this program and user's
guide was written specifically for me, a player with average playing ability who wants to improve
his game and his rating through a healthy regimen of studying tactics.

Tim was the first person I knew who solved the riddle that countless grandmasters like Tal,
Nimzowitsch, Fischer, Tartakower, Reshevsky, and Kasparov have known all along. To quote
Rudolph Teichmann, "Chess is 99% tactics".
 For the last decade, I have shared Tim's passion for learning that the essence of chess strategy is
taking advantage of the tactics it produces. You should spend time learning opening theory, middle
game strategy, and understand how to win in the endgame.

But if you spend all of your time memorizing the lines that result from 1.e4 and do not appreciate
the beauty of pins, forks, gambits, and well-timed sacrifices, you may find yourself feeling violated
by a swindler like Tim Brennan.

No one ever re-won the lost game in post-mortem analysis. "Yes, at move 28 you did have a
better position, your pawns were stronger, materially you were ahead, and my hats off to you for
playing the exact line that Karpov implored at Linares in 1985 well into the middle game. But a
smothered mate is a smothered mate."

If you are a tournament player and if I could dissuade you from using this product and following
Tim's program, I would. After all, it's not going to help my rating if everyone else improves their
game as well.

Pete Short

Elizabeth, Colorado

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.04.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "bassposaune"]
[Black "franciscoalfaro"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D07"]
[WhiteElo "1409"]
[BlackElo "1318"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[TimeControl "15"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Bf5 5. h3 Nb4 6. e4 Bg6 7. Bxc4 e6 8. a3

Nc6 9. O-O Be7 10. Bf4 f5 11. e5 a6 12. Re1 Bf7 13. b4 b5 14. Bb3 a5 15. Qd3
Rb8 16. Nxb5 axb4 17. a4 Nxd4 18. Nfxd4 Bc5 19. Red1 Ne7 20. Bg5 O-O 21. Bxe7
Qxe7 22. Nc6 Qh4 23. Qc2 Rbe8 24. Qxc5 Qe4 25. Ne7+ Kh8 26. Nxc7 Rd8 27. Rxd8
Rxd8 28. Bxe6 Bxe6 29. Nxe6 Re8 30. Ng5 Qb7 31. Nf7# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3123.

Answer:

This game was posted under the thread "Checkmate with two knights following three consecutive
moves by the same knight! Had to share", which you can read here: http://redd.it/rtxhx.

White has a beautiful checkmate with the 2 knights with 31. Nf7#.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

P.S. Be sure to check out the "Tactics Time User's Guide" - there are lots of great tips for tactics
study in there! http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2527.

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #158 Tactics Time

I like the moment when I break a man's ego. ~ Bobby Fischer

T his position comes from a Fischer

Random game played by Rob Hartelt
that he posted on facebook, and played
on chesscube.com.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Chess960

Chess960 (or Fischer Random Chess) is a

variant of chess invented and advocated by
former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer,
introduced in Buenos Aires, Argentina in June
1996.

The game employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of
the pieces along the players' home ranks is randomized. The random setup (if not the same as the
classic starting position) renders the prospect of obtaining an advantage through the
memorization of opening lines impracticable, compelling players to rely instead on their talent and
creativity.

Randomizing the main pieces had long been known as Shuffle Chess, but Chess960 introduced
new rules preserving full castling options in all starting positions, resulting in 960 unique positions.
To maintain the character of standard chess, a player's bishops start on opposite-color squares,
and the king starts on a square between the rooks.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "ChessCube Game"]

[Site "www.chesscube.com"]
[Date "2012.04.06"]
[White "[email protected]"]
[Black "[email protected]"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "bnnrkbrq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BNNRKBRQ w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "11"]

1. Nc3 e5 2. Nd3 Nc6 3. Nb5 e4 4. Nxc7+ Ke7 5. Nf4 Nd6 6. Nfd5# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3117.

Answer:

I thought this was a really fun position. White has only moved his knights, and delivered a
really cool looking checkmate with just his knights! Nice work Rob! Here, white delivers a kill
shot with 6. Nfd5#.

When two knights are on different colored squares like in the final position, they can cover a lot
of squares.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #159 Tactics Time

When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a King. ~ Fiona Apple

T his game, which was played on

Redhotpawn.com, was posted on
facebook by Rob Hartelt

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk about our friend the

pawn.

The pawn is a pretty interesting piece.

Some people don't really consider the pawn a

"piece", but the official rules of chess do not
actually differentiate between pieces and pawns.
Pawns are kind of odd and interesting when you think about them compared to every other
piece

They can't move backwards.

They move differently depending on the situation (first move, en passent, promotion, etc).
They attack differently than they move.
There are more of them than any other piece.
They are used as units of measurement - i.e. a bishop is worth three pawns.
Their value fluctuates wildly
They have lots of labels associated with them - isolated pawn, doubled pawn, tripled pawns,
passed pawns, etc

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawn_%28chess%29

In medieval chess, an attempt was made to make the pieces more interesting, each file's pawn
being given the name of a commoner's occupation, from left to right:

Gambler and other "lowlifes", also messengers (in the left-most file, that direction being
literally sinister)
City guard or policeman (in front of a knight, as they trained city guards in real life)
Innkeeper (bishop)
Merchant/Moneychanger (always before the king, whether or not he is to the left or right of
the Queen, which depends on the colour of the pieces)
Doctor (always the queen's pawn)
 Weaver/Clerk (in front of the bishop, for whom they wove or clericked)
Blacksmith (in front of a knight, as they care for the horses)
Worker/Farmer (in front of a castle, for which they worked)

I think that would be fun to play with all sorts of different pawn characters!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Clan challenge"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PureRWandB"]
[Black "donkey hotay"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1446"]
[BlackElo "1262"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 h6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 Nc6 6. Bg5 hxg5 7. Nxg5 Rh5 8.

Bxf7+ Ke7 9. Bxh5 Nxh5 10. Qxh5 Kd7 11. Nd5 Nd4 12. O-O Kc6 13. Nb4+ Kb5 14. c3
Ne6 15. a4+ Kb6 16. Nd5+ Kc6 17. Nf7 Qd7 18. d4 exd4 19. Qe2 a6 20. Nb4+ Kb6
21. a5+ Ka7 22. Nh8 Qe8 23. cxd4 Nxd4 24. Qe3 c5 25. Nd5 Kb8 26. Rad1 g6 27.
Rxd4 cxd4 28. Qxd4 Be6 29. Nf6 Qc6 30. Nxg6 Bg7 31. Ne7 Qc7 32. Nf5 Bxf5 33.
exf5 Qxa5 34. Rc1 Qd8 35. Qc3 Bxf6 36. Qa3 Qb6 37. b4 Bd4 38. Rc2 Ka7 39. Ra2
d5 40. Rd2 Rd8 41. Rc2 Kb8 42. Re2 Qf6 43. Qd3 Bb6 44. Qb1 d4 45. Re6 Qxe6 46.
fxe6 d3 47. e7 Re8 48. Qxd3 Rxe7 49. g3 Rf7 50. Kg2 Rxf2+ 51. Kh3 Rb2 52. Qg6
Rxb4 53. Qd6+ Ka7 54. Qxb4 a5 55. Qb5 Bc7 56. Kg2 b6 57. g4 Kb7 58. g5 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9025890.

Answer:

Rob wrote: "I was looking through some of my recent games and found a missed "Assassin's
Pawn" checkmate. I eventually won the game, but would have preferred to win it with the AP on
move 20."

He was referring to the checkmate: 19.Nb4+ Kb6 20.a5#, which is a pretty mate with the
assassin pawn.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #160 Tactics Time

Not only strike while the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking. ~ Oliver Cromwell

T his game was played in the 2012 Red

Hot Pawn Championship, and was
featured in the blog post "It's Skull
Crushing Week", by Geoff Chandler, AKA
greenpawn34, which you can read here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=96.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

The expression "Warts and All" comes from

Oliver Cromwell, who was Lord Protector of
England in the 1600s.

Cromwell was scheduled to have a portrait done.

At the time it was typical for artists to make their paintings flattering to the people who they
were painting (in a similar manner to how magazines these days use photoshop with pictures of
celebrities).

Cromwell, however was not a fan of vanity, and did not believe in this. When Cromwell sat for
his portrait he told the artist, "Paint me as I am, warts and all!"

When I first became editor of the Colorado Chess Informant I had people send me their games
to be published. Often these games were the best games these players had ever played. They
contained brilliant miniatures of less than 20 moves, really cool sacrificial combinations, or
dazzling king hunts.

If you read any chess forum you will see amateur class players asking for "feedback" on a game
they played. Most likely this is a game where they had a brilliant victory, and they are not really
looking for "feedback" or "comments" as much as they are looking for complements about how
well they played.

Once I started writing my Tactics Time column, I had to go through a large number of class
player games in order to find tactics to use. What I discovered is that most chess games are
"covered with warts"! There were lots of games being lost due to simple 1-2 move tactics. Many
of these tactical mistakes were so simple, I couldn't even include them in a tactics column,
without people complaining they are "too easy".

In my tactics time database I include 10,001 of these types of games. They are not all brilliant,
but they are all real. They show how games are really being won and lost by players rated under
2000.

One of my customers, Matt, wrote to me, "Also spent some time going through your tactics
database. Nice work, the positions are certainly dirty, so much so they look like my games!"

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "odvarsarah"]
[Black "DrRobotnik"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1599"]
[BlackElo "1874"]
[PlyCount "36"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Qc2 d6 7. Bg5 Bg4 8. Nbd2
Bh5 9. h3 h6 10. Bh4 a6 11. O-O Rb8 12. a3 Qe7 13. d4 exd4 14. Nxd4 Nxd4 15.
cxd4 Bxd4 16. Kh1 Qd7 17. Nf3 Bxf3 18. Bxf6 Qxh3+ 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9043163.

Answer:

On the previous move White played 18. Bxf6, instead of gxf3, recapturing the Bishop on f3.
This was presumably an attempt at an "in between move", so they would not have to double their
pawns.

Life Master Brian Wall, a true tactical genius, once told me that class players screw up "in
between moves" more than any other tactical idea.

Here 18. Bxf6 doesn't work because of 18...Qxh3+! taking advantage of the pinned g2 pawn.
Black will mate White on the next move with 19...Qxg2#.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #161 Tactics Time

A good idea is about ten percent and implementation and hard work, and luck is 90
percent. ~ Guy Kawasaki

his position was played in the 2012 Red

Hot Pawn Championship, and was
featured in the blog post 6,200 RHP
Championship Games, which you can read here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=97.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk to you about an

important business idea called "Speed of
Implementation", and how I think it ties in with
your chess study and chess improvement.

This is an idea I learned from Eben Pagan, and you can see a video of him talking about this idea
here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1641096986231502647.

In the video Eben says that there was a study done of successful business people. The study
found that the one trait that all of the successful business people had in common was "speed of
implementation".

That means that once they learned an idea, they immediately tried it, and put it into action.

They didn't:

debate the merits of the idea in their head.

wait around, and try the idea a month later.
think about the idea, then do nothing and forget about it.

They took it and immediately put it into use.

The value of this is that they started to get immediate feedback on the merits of the idea. They
also didn't have a chance to forget the idea, since we tend to forget a very high percentage of the
things that we learn if we don't apply them.
 That is part of the reason that I think that chess tactics are such an important thing to study
compared to other areas of chess.

With chess tactics you can immediately apply and have a high "speed of implementation". This is
because there is a high chance that there will be some sort of tactical opportunity in your next
game.

If you study something like how to checkmate with bishop and knight versus king, you might
spent hours learning it, but then it might take a lifetime before this position ever comes up in one
of your games. This would be a low speed of implementation.

However if, for example, you spend a few hours looking at knight forks, then get online and play
some blitz, there is a good chance that you will either threaten a knight fork, or see your opponent
threatening one, or even get a chance to play one.

This "speed of implementation" idea can be used in other areas of chess learning as well. For
example, if you read an article on the Kings Gambit, and learn about a new counter gambit that
looks interesting, get out there and try it immediately. Don't argue with yourself if it is good or
bad. Try it, and see what happens.

Look for ways that you can take new ideas you learn, and apply and implement them
immediately. This will accelerate your learning and progress in all areas of life.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "MikeWallace"]
[Black "Jardreamer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2210"]
[BlackElo "1497"]
[PlyCount "45"]

1. d4 d6 2. e4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. c3 Nd7 5. Bd3 e6 6. O-O Ne7 7. a4 a5 8. Be3 b6

9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. h3 Nf6 11. Bb5+ c6 12. Bd3 e5 13. dxe5 dxe5 14. Nc4 c5 15. Nd6+
Kf8 16. Nxb7 Qd7 17. Nxe5 Qxb7 18. Qb3 Neg8 19. Bxc5+ Ke8 20. Bb5+ Kd8 21.
Nxf7+ Kc7 22. Bd6+ Kc8 23. Qc4+ 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9042658.

Answer:

White has an unusual looking and very creative knight fork with 15. Nd6+!! forking the King and
the Black Bishop on b7.

The d6 square appears to be defended, but it really isn't.

 If the Black Queen were to take the knight, then 16. Bb5+ would leave a discovered attack
against the queen.

Undefended bishops on b7 and b2 often make good targets for middle game tactics!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #162 Tactics Time

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. ~ Ralph Ellison

oday's newsletter was written by Life

Master Joel Johnson, author of the
books "Formation Attacks" and
"Formation Attack Strategies". Thanks Joel!

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

What is an Invisible Defender?

It is a piece that defends another piece

indirectly.

Or another way to look at it is you can move

your piece to a square that looks unprotected,
however if your opponent decides to capture it you will either win material or checkmate. Thus the
piece looks undefended but in reality there is an Invisible Defender.

When attempting this tactic you MUST be sure to have a solid threat or plan. Putting a piece on a
square because you hope your opponent will take it is not a good idea. You will be just setting
yourself up for a bad fall.

The critical concepts with Invisible Defender tactics are:

1) Invisible Defenders enable your pieces to navigate onto seemingly undefended squares,
carrying your attack into enemy territory; and

2) Invisible Defenders can be utilized to drag your opponent's pieces onto "bad" squares or away
from key squares.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Armenia Championship"]

[Site "Yerevan, Armenia"]
[Date "2007.01.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Arman Pashikian"]
[Black "Arsen Yegiazarian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2532"]
[BlackElo "2498"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2007.01.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. d5 exd5 8. Nh4

c6 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nf5 Nc7 11. e4 d5 12. Re1 Bf6 13. e5 Bc8 14. exf6 Bxf5 15.
fxg7 Re8 16. Rxe8+ Nxe8 17. Nc3 Nd7 18. Nxd5 cxd5 19. Qxd5 Ne5 20. Qxa8 Qd1+
21. Bf1 Bd7 22. Bf4 Nf3+ 23. Kg2 Ne1+ 24. Kg1 Qxa1 25. Qe4 Qd1 26. Be2 Nf3+ 27.
Kg2 Qg1+ 28. Kxf3 Bc6 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3250

Answer:

Black drags the White Queen away from his King with 28. ... Bc6!! so he can skewer it on the
next move.

After White plays 29. Qxc6 Black can skewer the White Queen with 29. ... Qh1+ 30. Ke3
Qxc6. If Black had played Qh1+ immediately White could have countered with Ke3 still protecting
his Queen.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Life Master Joel Johnson

2007 U.S. Senior Champion
Author of "Formation Attacks" and "Formation Attack Strategies"

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!
 © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #163 Tactics Time

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?" ~
William Arthur Ward

T his game was posted on reddit.com's

chess group under the title "Beginner
asking for analysis - my first
tournament game ", which you can read here:
http://bit.ly/IlWrwk.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

I would like to thank the following people who

helped me with my Tactics Time project by
sending me games to use over the years:

Paul Anderson,
Pete Short
Francisco Baltier
Fred Spell
Jerry Maier
Bill Chandler
Anthea Carson
Shannon Fox
Dean Brown
Chris Peterson
Brian Wall
Richard "Buck" Buchanan
Joel Johnson
Andy Pineda
Bob Crume
Robert Rountree
Carl Hamre
Ed Stoddard
William Parker
Eric King
Geoff Chandler
Rob Hartelt
Jeff Baffo
Kenzie Moore
 Many other people sent me games as well, and I am very thankful!

Entering games by hand from scoresheets into a PGN format can be a painful job, and I am
fortunate that there are a lot of people who spent hours doing this.

I am also grateful to the following websites that helped to provide me with games:

http://www.coloradochess.com
http://www.renochess.org
http://www.redhotpawn.com
http://www.nwchess.com
http://www.metrowestchess.org
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/UnorthodoxChessOpenings/
http://wyomingchess.com/
http://www.taom.com/pipermail/brianwall-chesslist/
http://cschess.webs.com/
http://eagleandking.webs.com/
http://www.angelfire.com/co/cscc/
http://www.chessclub.com
http://www.timmybx.com
http://www.denverchess.com
http://columbiachess.com/
http://kansaschess.org
http://georgiachess.org
http://www.scchess.org/
http://www.pscfchess.org
http://www.sdchess.org/
http://www.lincolnchessfoundation.org
http://nsca.nechess.com/
http://www.burlingamechessclub.com
http://www.westmichiganchess.com
http://ficsgames.com/
http://www.reddit.com/r/chess/
http://www.chess.com

I would also like to thank everyone who

took the time to subscribe to this newsletter

reads it
offers helpful suggestions, and feedback
comments on my blog
listens to my podcast
purchases my Tactics Time Training Product
follows me on Twitter
is a fan of my Facebook page

I really appreciate all the support!

Thank YOU!!
 Here is the complete game:

[Date "2012.04.28"]
[White "Myron"]
[Black "ratspajamas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "81"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 e6 4. f4 Nh6 5. Bd3 Nf5 6. Bxf5 exf5 7. Ne2 Nd7 8. Ng3

g6 9. O-O Qb6 10. b3 Bg7 11. Ba3 Nf8 12. Bxf8 Bxf8 13. Qd3 Qa5 14. Nd2 b6 15.
c4 Bb4 16. Nf3 O-O 17. Rfc1 Be6 18. Nf1 Rfd8 19. Ne3 Ba3 20. Rc2 Rdc8 21. Kh1
b5 22. h3 Qb4 23. g4 fxg4 24. hxg4 a6 25. f5 bxc4 26. bxc4 dxc4 27. Nxc4 Bd5
28. Kh2 Bxc4 29. Qxc4 Qxc4 30. Rxc4 c5 31. dxc5 Bxc5 32. Rac1 Rab8 33. Rxc5
Rb2+ 34. R1c2 Rcb8 35. Rxb2 Rxb2+ 36. Kg3 Rb5 37. Rc8+ Kg7 38. f6+ Kh6 39. g5+
Kh5 40. Rh8 h6 41. Rxh6# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.chesspastebin.com/2012/04/28/myron-

ratspajamas-by-ratspajamas-first-tournament-game/

Answer:

Black missed a kill shot "X-ray" attack with 34...Rxc2+! which puts the king in check, and also
attacks the rook on c5.

White has to recapture with 35. Rxc2, then black captures with 35...Rxc2+ - the black rook on
c8 was "X-ray" attacking the c2 square.

The result is that black wins a rook - and goes into an endgame with a rook against a knight,
and can win the a2 pawn on the next move, which gives him a passed pawn on the a file, and
should be a fairly easy win.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
 Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #164 Tactics Time

The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck. ~
Tony Robbins

his game was sent to me by Christofer

Peterson, club manager of the Denver
Chess Club,
http://www.denverchess.com. Thanks Chris!

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to share with you an exercise

that I learned from Tony Robbins, when I
attended his "Unleash the Power Within" seminar
a few years ago in Colorado Springs.

It is hard to do over an e-mail, but it makes a

good point. Tony mentions this technique in an
interview he did with the Huffington Post, which you can read here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com
/marianne-schnall/life-purpose_b_1461184.html.

Tony said:

"Look around the room right now and I'm going to give you a quick test.

I want you to notice everything that's brown.

Every single thing that's brown.

Look behind you.

Look around you.

Try it right now wherever you are.

Now close your eyes.

Now tell me everything that is green!

 (Crowd starts laughing)

And so what happens is you saw more brown.

Now open your eyes and look for green. More green than when you were looking before,
because you get what you look for -- right?"

The same is true in chess.

We get what we look for.

If we are always looking for tactics, we will see them. If we are only looking for things like
"Which is my bad bishop", or "Which of my pawns are backwards" we are going to see stuff like
that, and possibly miss the 2-3 move tactic.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Boulder Winter Grand Prix"]

[Site "Boulder, CO"]
[Date "2008.01.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Peterson, Christofer"]
[Black "Bagstad, Gary"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "1876"]
[BlackElo "1700"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2008.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bd3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Ne5 c5 8. c3

Re8 9. Nd2 Bf8 10. Ndf3 g6 11. Ng5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Nd7 13. Qh5 h6 14. Bxg6 Qxg5
15. Bxf7+ 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3281.

Answer:

After reading newsletter #66, Blackburne's Mate, Chris wrote:

"Hey Tim,

I enjoyed this tactics time. I liked the tactic and learned something. It actually reminds me of a
game I played against Gary Bagstad a while ago. I knew the pattern but didn't know its name."

In the above position Chris played the beautiful move 13. Qh5! which threatens both mate on h7
with 14. Qxh7# and a Blackburne mate with 14...gxh5 15. Bxh7#
Black doesn't have any good responses. Here are some of the variations from Fritz 13

1. +- (4.61): 13...h6 14.Bxg6 Qxg5 15.Bxf7+ which is how the game continued
2. +- (5.95): 13...Nf6 14.Bxf6 h6 15.Bxg6 Qxf6 16.Bxf7+ Kh8
3. +- (8.69): 13...Qxg5 14.Qxg5
4. +- (14.56): 13...Bh6 14.Qxh6
5. +- (#3): 13...Bg7 14.Qxh7+ Kf8 15.Qxg7+ Ke7 16.Qxf7#
6. +- (#2): 13...Bd6 14.Qxh7+ Kf8 15.Qxf7#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #165 Tactics Time

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never
know. ~ Groucho Marx

T his game was featured on

Greenpawn34's blog post "The Lewis
Men and the Titanic"
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=98 and features
a very important mating pattern to know.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

The bishop and queen work well together to

deliver checkmate.

This pattern is known as Damiano's Bishop

Mate.

Some interesting facts about the Bishop from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Bishop_%28chess%29

The bishop's predecessor in shatranj (medieval chess) was the alfil, meaning elephant,
which could leap two squares along any diagonal, and could jump over an intervening piece.
Each alfil was restricted to eight squares, and no alfil could attack another.
The modern bishop appeared first shortly after 1200 C.E. in Courier chess. English.
In all other Germanic languages, except for Icelandic, the bishop is called various names,
all of which directly translates to English as "runner" or "messenger".
In Romanian, the bishop is known as "nebun" which refers to a crazy person.
The use of the term "bishop" in Icelandic predates that of the English language, as the first
mentioning of "biskup" in Icelandic texts dates back to the early part of the 14th century
The 12th century Lewis Chessmen portray the bishop as an unambiguously ecclesiastical
figure.
In The Saga of Earl Mágus, which was written in Iceland somewhere between 1300-1325, it
is described how an emperor was checkmated by bishop.
The piece's deep groove symbolizes a bishop's (or abbot's) mitre.
The groove originates from the original form of the piece, an elephant
The British chose to call the piece the bishop because the projections at the top resembled
a mitre.
 In France the groove was taken to be a jester's cap, hence in France the bishop is called
"fou" (the fool).
In some Slavic languages (e.g. Czech/Slovak) the bishop is called "střelec/strelec", which
directly translates to English as a "shooter" meaning an archer,
In some languages it is still known as "elephant" (e. g. Russian slon, Turkish fil).
In South Slavic languages it is usually known as "lovac", meaning "hunter".

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Pariah325"]
[Black "Lightbug"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1513"]
[BlackElo "1578"]
[PlyCount "36"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 O-O 7. a3 Be7 8.

Be2 Bf5 9. O-O c6 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. Nxd7 Qxd7 12. Re1 Bd6 13. h3 Bxh3 14. gxh3
Qxh3 15. Bf3 Bh2+ 16. Kh1 Bg3+ 17. Kg1 Qh2+ 18. Kf1 Qxf2# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9043058.

Answer:

Black has a forced mate in four with 15...Bh2+ 16.Kh1 Bg3+ 17.Kg1 Qh2+ 18.Kf1 Qxf2#

If black were to check with the queen first, the king would escape.

So black has to first check with Bh2+ to force the king to it's only safe square on h1.

The key move is then Bg3+, which gives a discovered check, and puts the bishop in position to
support the queen for the mate.

This is a very valuable pattern to know, and comes up all the time.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #166 Tactics Time

There is an epidemic failure within the game to understand what is really happening. _
Peter Brand in the movie Moneyball

T his game was played on Red Hot Pawn

in the 2012 Club Championship.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

I recently watched the movie "Moneyball"

starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. You can see
the IMDB page here: http://www.imdb.com/title
/tt1210166/.

I had previously listened to the book that it

was based on.

I enjoyed both versions of the story very

much.

Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland A's, was able to figure out, and take advantage
of, the things in baseball that were most important to winning games, which other teams did not
fully appreciate at the time.

It turned out these things were

Getting on base (high on base percentage)

Scoring runs

Pretty much nothing else mattered.

The scouts who were recruiting players were using their "intuition" and "experience" to
determine which prospects would make good baseball players.

They looked at all kinds of information such as

defensive fielding ability

ability to steal bases
how confident the player was
if he had the "look" of a baseball player
 Billy Bean didn't care about any of these. He didn't care if the player was old, fat, couldn't play
defense, had no confidence, etc as long as he could get on base.

He threw the conventional wisdom out the window, and focused on what worked based on the
numbers and the statistics.

Most of the older coaches, managers and scouts did not like this idea. They did not like the idea
that baseball could be boiled down to just one or two things that are really important, and that the
rest of it really isn't that important.

I think a similar idea exists in the chess world - and that idea is study chess tactics to raise your
rating, and win more games.

Chess tactics are the "on base percentage" to baseball.

It is the one thing that is the most important in determining who the winner is in a game
between two class players.

Chess openings, endgames, strategy and positional play are similar to a baseball player's
defensive skills, confidence, and base stealing ability - nice to have but probably overvalued, and
ultimately not what will win or lose games for you in the long run.

So take a lesson from Moneyball - look closely to see what the most important factors are in
determining winning or losing, and focus on those to exclusion of everything else!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "rockatansky"]
[Black "jcozec"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1441"]
[BlackElo "1960"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bd3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. c3 Bg4 8. h3

Bxf3 9. Qxf3 e5 10. d5 exf4 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. Qxf4 Nh5 13. Qf3 Be5 14. Na3 Nf4
15. Bc4 Qe7 16. Ba6 Rab8 17. Nc4 d5 18. exd5 cxd5 19. Nxe5 Qxe5 20. Rae1 Qd6
21. Bd3 Nxd3 22. Rd1 Nxb2 23. Rxd5 Qe6 24. Rd2 Rfd8 25. Re2 Qd5 26. Qf6 Re8 27.
c4 Nxc4 28. Qc3 Rxe2 29. Qg3 Rbe8 30. Qxc7 Re1 31. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 32. Kh2 Qe5+ 33.
Qxe5 Rxe5 34. f3 Ra5 35. g4 Rxa2+ 36. Kg3 a5 37. Kf4 a4 38. Ke4 a3 39. Kd3 Rh2
40. Kxc4 a2 41. f4 a1=Q 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9037718.
 Answer:

White, who is down a knight, missed a kill shot, and a chance for a 500 point upset with 26.
Re8+! which would overload the black rook on d8, which is protecting the back rank, and the
Queen on d5.

Black has two ways to get out of check, both of which lose material.

26...Kg7 27.Qxd5 Rxd5 28.Rxb8 which picks up a rook

or

26...Rxe8 27.Qxd5 which wins the queen for a rook

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #167 Tactics Time

It's not easy being cheesy - Chester Cheetah

T oday's newsletter was written by my

great friend Pete Short. Thanks, and
take it away, Pete!

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

I'm no psychologist, but I did stay in a Holiday

Inn Express recently.

So I think my self-diagnosed Obsessive

Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is accurate.

Why would I jump to the conclusion that I

have OCD?

It is very evident in the way I approach hobbies.

I started out collecting matchbox cars and stamps. Later, it was Olympic pins. Now I try to see
how many different states and countries I can collect a "geocache" in
(http://www.geocaching.com).

When I was an active tournament player, I had an obsession to play a rated game
of chess in as many different states as I could.

Chess, like geocaching, is the ultimate outlet for those of you like me who obsess about
collecting things.

A good test to see if you have OCD is to ask yourself a few questions.

Have you ever spent time counting the number of "fourteeners" you have climbed in
Colorado and then wondered if you could climb the remaining ones?
Have you ever counted the number of different states you have been to and wondered in
your lifetime if you would go to all 50?
Have you ever caught yourself looking for an obscure music cd to complete the discography
of your favorite artist?

If you came up with any similar questions on your own, then you my friend may have OCD.
 I don't purport to have a treatment plan, but take stock in knowing that you are not alone.

Being at a chess tournament can be as comforting to people with self-diagnosed OCD as an AA

meeting is to an alcoholic.

Just ask some guy with an expensive wooden chess set how many chess sets he owns.

If he is old enough, he might regale you with stories of the several Franklin Mint sets he has
collected over the last 20 years.

And if you play this guy in a rated game, remember a trick I tried many years ago at a
chess tournament in Memphis when I played an older gentleman who would not let
me touch his pieces while he meticulously set them up.

The venue, the University of Tennessee Medical Center, had a vending machine that sold my
favorite snack food, Cheetos Puffs.

I ran my hand under the water fountain and then sunk my hand into the bag and made all my
moves with orange encrusted fingers.

After watching the veins on his forehead pulse for a few moves, he ran off to get the
tournament director.

I simply wiped my hand on my blue jeans, blew the cheesy crumbs from the board, and looked
plaintively at the TD while he told the old gentleman (who was wearing the same polyester leisure
suit he wore on Saturday) to continue playing.

I think I lost the game in the end, but I learned a valuable lesson about chess psychology -
people with expensive chess sets do not like Cheetos.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Wachusett CC Championship"]

[Site "Fitchburg State College, MA"]
[Date "2008.04.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Short, Pete"]
[Black "Bennett, Joseph"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[WhiteElo "1539"]
[BlackElo "1820"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]

1. f4 d5 2. e3 g6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. b3 Bg7 5. Bb2 c5 6. Bb5+ Nc6 7. O-O O-O 8. Bxc6 bxc6
9. Ne5 Qb6 10. c4 d4 11. Qc1 Nd7 12. Nf3 e5 13. fxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5 15. e4 f5
16. d3 Qc7 17. Qh6 Bg7 18. Qf4 Qxf4 19. Rxf4 fxe4 20. Rxf8+ Bxf8 21. dxe4 Bh6
22. Ba3 Be3+ 23. Kf1 Bg4 24. Bxc5 Re8 25. h3 Bd7 26. Na3 Rxe4 27. Nc2 Rf4+
28. Ke2 Rf2+ 29. Kd1 Rd2+ 30. Kc1 Rxc2+ 31. Kxc2 d3+ 32. Kxd3 Bxc5 33. Re1 Bf5+
34. Ke2 Kf7 35. Kf3 Bb4 36. Rd1 Ke7 37. g4 Be6 38. Ke4 h5 39. gxh5 gxh5 40. Rd3 Ba3
41. Rf3 a5 42. Rg3 h4 43. Rf3 Bb2 44. Re3 Ba3 45. Rf3 Bd6 46. Kd3 Bg3 47. Kd4 Bxh3
48. Kc5 Bd7 49. Kb6 a4 50. bxa4 h3 51. Rxg3 Kd6 52. Rd3+ Ke7 53. Rd2 Kd8
54. Rh2 Kc8 55. c5 Kb8 56. a3 Kc8 57. a5 Kb8 58. a6 Ka8 59. Kc7 Bg4 60. Kxc6 Ka7
61. Rb2 Kxa6 62. Kc7 Ka5 63. Kd8 Ka4 64. c6 Kxa3 65. Rh2 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3284.

Answer:

After a long day of business travel in Boston in 2008, I drove over an hour to Fitchburg State
College to play in a weekly event that the Wachusett Chess Club hosts,
http://wachusettchess.org/.

A great club to play at if you are ever in Massachusetts and they love when "out-of-towners"
drop by. This was my first game and victory in New England. In the above position, the higher
rated opponent need only make one move to seal the victory...

48...Bg2! which would have guaranteed a safe passage for the passed h pawn. Instead, he
played 48...Bd7, and I was able to eventually win the game.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Pete

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #168 Tactics Time

Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple. ~
Barry Switzer

T his is an interesting position featuring

the dreaded "Tripled Pawns", that was
played in the 2012 Red Hot Pawn
Championship, and was featured in the blog post
"Topolav + Endgame Ernie + QNP" by Geoff
Chandler, which you can read here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=99.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Tripled pawns are a pretty rare thing in chess.

Unlike doubled pawns, which are sometimes
beneficial, tripled pawns are almost always
useless.

I remember one time I was playing my friend Shannon Fox, and I tripled his c pawns. After the
game my friend Pete Short, who likes to be a trouble maker, sent an email picture of tripled
pawns, with the headline "Shannon's view from the C file" lol.

Thinking about tripled pawns, makes me think about "Triples" in other sports, and how they
tend to be rare or important.

Baseball has

the triple (getting to third base),

the triple play (where you get three outs on the same play, which is quite rare),
and the triple crown; leading the league in home runs, run batted in (RBI), and batting
average

Bowling has the "Turkey" which is 3 strikes in a row

Basketball has the 3 point shot, and "triple double" (when you have a double digit number total
in three of five statistical categories--points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots--in a
game).
 Track and Field has the triple jump

Scrabble has the "Triple Word Score"

Golf has a triple crown also, which is winning the world's three oldest golf tournaments in the
same year.

The British Open,

The U.S. Open,
The South African Open.

Thoroughbred Racing has the Triple Crown

Kentucky Derby
Preakness Stakes
Belmont Stakes

In the chess world the triple crown normally refers to winning these events:

Corus
Linares
Dortmund

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "dartsman"]
[Black "inkdot"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1649"]
[BlackElo "1578"]
[PlyCount "70"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Bc4 Bb4 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Ba6 7. d3 Bxc3 8.

bxc3 h6 9. Be3 d6 10. Re1 Nd7 11. a4 Nb8 12. axb5 Bxb5 13. Qd2 c5 14. Reb1 Qe7
15. Bd5 Bc6 16. Bxc6+ Nxc6 17. d4 exd4 18. cxd4 Nf6 19. e5 dxe5 20. dxe5 Ng4
21. Bf4 Rd8 22. Qe2 g5 23. Bg3 h5 24. Qb5 Rc8 25. Ra6 Rh6 26. h3 h4 27. hxg4
hxg3 28. fxg3 Kf8 29. Qd3 Kg7 30. Qf5 Rch8 31. Qxg5+ Qxg5 32. Nxg5 Rh1+ 33. Kf2
Rxb1 34. Rxc6 Rhh1 35. Rxc5 Rbe1 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9043161.

Answer:

Black sets up a mating net with 35...Rbe1 which cuts off the white king. His own tripled g
pawns are preventing his escape.
White has a few spite checks like 36. Ne6+, but will eventually get mated with ...Rhf1#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

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Newsletter Issue #169 Tactics Time

Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler. ~ Albert Einstein

T his game was sent to me by one of my

newsletter readers, Priyav, Chandna,
who is 11 years old, and lives in
Botswana, Africa.

He writes:

I enjoy your tacticstime newsletter!

I played an amazing game in a tournament

and I would like to share it with you.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk to you about Gall's Law, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%27s_law.

Gall's Law is a rule of thumb from John Gall's Systemantics: How Systems Really Work and How
They Fail:

"A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that
worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch
never works and cannot be made to work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple
system". --p. 71

I work as a software engineer, and Gall's Law is very important. When I write a piece of code, I
make a small piece, make sure that it works, and only then add more functionality. If you try to
write something large and complicated from the start, it will be much more difficult to get it to
work.

I think the same is true with chess tactics. Most "complicated" tactics are really built from
smaller chess tactics.

If you master all of the smaller and simpler tactics first, you can then use them as "building
blocks" for larger more complicated tactics.
 Here is the complete game:

[Event "Capablanca Chess Festival"]

[Date "2012.04.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "CM Priyav, Chandna"]
[Black "Abhirami, Sasitharan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "1789"]
[BlackElo "1757"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. f4 Ngf6 6. Nf3 e6 7. d3 Be7 8.

O-O O-O 9. Qe1 Rb8 10. a4 b6 11. Qg3 Kh8 12. Qh3 a6 13. Ng5 h6 14. Nf3 e5 15.
g4 exf4 16. Bxf4 Nh7 17. Kh1 f6 18. Nh4 Rf7 19. Ng6+ Kg8 20. Nd5 Bf8 21. Qh5
Ne5 22. Bxe5 dxe5 23. Nxe5 Ra7 24. Nc6 Qd6 25. Nxa7 Ra8 26. Qf5 Rxa7 27. Nf4
Ng5 28. Qd5+ Qxd5 29. Nxd5 Rb7 30. h4 Ne6 31. Nf4 Nd4 32. c3 Nc6 33. Ng6 Bd6
34. Kg2 Nd8 35. Rf5 Ne6 36. Raf1 Kf7 37. h5 b5 38. e5 Be7 39. exf6 gxf6 40.
Nxe7 Rxe7 41. Rxf6+ Kg7 42. Rg6+ Kh7 43. Rff6 Nc7 44. Rxh6+ Kg7 45. Rfg6+ Kf8
46. Rh8+ Kf7 47. Rh7+ Ke8 48. Rxe7+ Kxe7 49. Rg7+ Kd6 50. Rxc7 Kxc7 {
Black resigns} 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3294.

Answer:

This was a great game, and had multiple positions in it that I could have used as tactics
puzzles, including a 3 way fork of 2 rooks and a queen!

In the above position Priyav found 23. Nxe5, which picks up a pawn. If black recaptured with
23...fxe5, white would play 24. Rxf7 or 24. Qxf7 picking up a rook and a pawn for the knight.

Thanks Priyav for sending me the game!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

 If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

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Newsletter Issue #170 Tactics Time

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose
our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. ~ Viktor E. Frankl

T his was a very interesting back and

forth game that was played in the
Redhotpawn.com 2012 Club
Championship

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk about the idea what

a player can do when attacked, and the idea of
"Zwischenzug".

When attacked, one has several options:

Capture the attacking piece.

Move the attacked piece.
Interpose another piece in between the two, if the attacker is not a knight and is not
directly adjacent to the piece attacked.
Guard the attacked piece and permit an exchange.
Pin the attacking piece so the capture becomes illegal or unprofitable.
Use a zwischenzug (create a counter-threat).

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_tactics#Zwischenzug.

Zwischenzug (German for intermediate move) is a common tactic in which a player under
threat, instead of directly countering, introduces an even more devastating threat.

The tactic often involves a new attack against the opponent's queen or king.

The opponent then may be forced to address the new threat, abandoning the earlier attack.
The concept of a zwischenzug is often listed as a tactic, but might properly be called a counter-
tactic instead.

The effect of a zwischenzug is to change the status quo before a tactic can come to fruition. The
near ubiquity of the zwischenzug makes long combinations all the more rare and impressive.
 Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "tacomakeeg"]
[Black "highmush"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1490"]
[BlackElo "1335"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nxd4 5. Qxd4 c5 6. Qe5+ Be7 7. Qxg7 Bf6
8. Qg3 d6 9. Bf4 Bxb2 10. Bc4 Bxa1 11. Bxd6 Qa5+ 12. Ke2 Be6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14.
Nd2 Nf6 15. Qg7 Qb5+ 16. c4 Rg8 17. Qe7# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9042008

Answer:

White has given up a rook, and hasn't recaptured the bishop on a1 hoping to build a mating
net, and is threatening Qe7#.

Black missed a brilliancy with 15...Qxd2!! 16. Kxd2 Nxe4 which discovers an attack on the
queen on g7, and allows black to remain a piece up.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!
 © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #171 Tactics Time

It is enjoyable to make things visible which are invisible. ~ Eric Cantona

T his newsletter was guest written by

Life Master Joel Johnson, and
features a beautiful example of the
"Invisible Defender Tactic". Joel's 2nd book
"Formation Attack Strategies" was released in
June 2012, and is highly recommended. Thanks
Joel!

One quick little side note from Tim...

I love this tactic Joel sent me, because this

position also comes from one of my favorite
chess tournaments, the Reno Western States
Open, and involved one of my favorite chess
players, Emory Tate.

I once met Emory Tate at a bar in San Diego,

and had a really pleasant conversation with him. Tate was playing in the US Championship at the
time, and I was in San Diego for work with Raytheon. I recognized some of the chess players,
who were also enjoying some adult beverages. They were all shocked that someone actually
knew them!

Thanks again Joel for sending this tactic to me, to share with my newsletter readers! Take it
away...

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

Answer below.

What is an Invisible Defender?

It is a piece that defends another piece indirectly. Or another way to look at it is you can move
your piece to a square that looks unprotected, however if your opponent decides to capture it you
will either win material or checkmate. Thus the piece looks undefended but in reality there is an
Invisible Defender.

When attempting this tactic you MUST be sure to have a solid threat or plan. Putting a piece on
a square because you hope your opponent will take it is not a good idea. You will be just setting
yourself up for a bad fall.
 The critical concepts with Invisible Defender tactics are:

1) Invisible Defenders enable your pieces to navigate onto seemingly undefended squares,
carrying your attack into enemy territory; and

2) Invisible Defenders can be utilized to drag your opponent's pieces onto "bad" squares or
away from key squares.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Western States Open"]

[Site "Reno, NV"]
[Date "2001.10.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Yermolinsky, Alex"]
[Black "Tate, Emory A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2634"]
[BlackElo "2425"]
[PlyCount "17"]
[EventDate "2001.10.20"]

1. d4 c5 2. d5 e6 3. Nc3 exd5 4. Nxd5 Ne7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Qa5+ 7. c3 Nf5 8.

Qa4 Qxa4 9. Nc7# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3299.

Answer:

8. Qa4!! White checkmates Black as in the game or loses his Queen if he prevents the
checkmate with say 8. ...Nxh4.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Joel
Life Master Joel Johnson
2007 U.S. Senior Champion
Author of "Formation Attacks" and "Formation Attack Strategies"
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

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Newsletter Issue #172 Tactics Time

Every master was once a disaster - T. Harv Eckr

T his game was played in the 2012 Red

Hot Pawn Club Championship.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today lets go "back to basics", and talk about

the back rank checkmate.

The book "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" is my

favorite book for learning the back rank mate
patterns.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Back-rank_checkmate.

In chess, a back-rank checkmate is a checkmate delivered by a rook or queen along a back rank
(that is, the row on which the pieces (not pawns) stand at the start of the game) in which the
mated king is unable to move up the board because the king is blocked by friendly pieces (usually
pawns) on the second rank (Burgess 2009:16). It is also known as the corridor mate.

Back-rank mates occur quite often in games at fairly low levels, as it occurs out of carelessness.
This is because beginners typically lack the skill to realize that such a fate could occur based on
the laws of the game. At higher levels of play, though the mate itself does not occur very often,
play is often affected by the possibility of it--the fact that a player has to spend time guarding
against the mate may leave him vulnerable to other tactical ideas.

Back-rank mates are often guarded against simply by virtue of a friendly rook or queen
protecting the back rank. However, it may be possible for the attacking side to deflect one of
these pieces away from defensive duties.

Back-rank threats can be guarded against more permanently by moving one of the pawns in
front of the king to give the king a flight square (such a move is sometimes said to "give the king
some luft").

It is often not a good idea to play such pawn moves unless there is a pressing need to do so, as
they can represent a loss of time. In many chess openings, however, they are often played for
some other purpose, before any back-rank threats have emerged (...h6 is often played to bother a
white bishop on g5, for example.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "FlexyLexy111"]
[Black "sagator"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B27"]
[WhiteElo "1207"]
[BlackElo "1235"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 b6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Qd1 e6 6. Bb5 Bb7 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8.

O-O Bxe4 9. Nc3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Nf6 11. Bg5 Be7 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14.
Qxe4 O-O 15. c4 f5 16. Qd3 e5 17. Rad1 Rad8 18. Rfe1 d6 19. b4 Kh8 20. Rd2 e4
21. Qd4 Rf6 22. Red1 Re6 23. c5 bxc5 24. bxc5 d5 25. Qb4 Rc6 26. Rxd5 Rdc8 27.
Qb7 R6c7 28. Qb4 f4 29. Qxe4 Qf8 30. Qd4 Re8 31. Rd8 Rc8 32. Rxe8 Rxe8 33. c6
h6 34. Rc1 Qe7 35. Kf1 Qe2+ 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9038961

Answer:

Black forces white into a back rank mate with 35...Qe2+ which forces the King to 36. Kf1 then
allows 36...Qe1+ 37.Rxe1 Rxe1#

This is a great pattern to know.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

 Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #173 Tactics Time

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication ~ Leonardo da Vinci's

his game was played in the Redhotpawn

2012 Championship, and was featured
on the RHP blog under the post "The
Duck", which you can read here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=100.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk to you about the

"KISS principle".

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/KISS_principle

KISS is an acronym for the design principle articulated by Kelly Johnson, Keep it simple,
Stupid!

The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made
complex, therefore simplicity should be a key goal in design and unnecessary complexity should be
avoided.

The acronym was coined by Johnson, lead engineer at the Lockheed Skunk Works (creators of
the Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes, among many others).

While popular usage translates it as 'Keep it simple, stupid', Johnson translated it as 'Keep it
simple stupid', and this reading is still used by many authors. There was no implicit meaning that
an engineer was stupid; just the opposite.

The principle is best exemplified by the story of Johnson handing a team of design engineers a
handful of tools, with the challenge that the jet aircraft they were designing must be repairable by
an average mechanic in the field under combat conditions with only these tools. Hence, the 'stupid'
refers to the relationship between the way things break and the sophistication available to fix
them.
 The acronym is used by many in the United States Air Force and field of software development.

In chess players often fail to "Keep it simple". Instead of doing something like an obvious
recapture, they will try to get too clever, and do an "in between move", or will fail to follow simple
"rules of thumb" such as to trade down material if they are up a piece, instead leaving the position
needlessly complex.

Being too "clever" in cases like this can give the opponent counter play, and can throw away a
win and even turn it into a lose.

This is what happened in this game - white did things like offering an unsound piece sacrifice
hoping to create a mating net (17. Bf4) failed to capture a piece that was free for the taking,
instead choosing a fancy knight move (30. Nxc7). Later he offered a queen sacrifice, instead of
just moving the queen to safety (34. Rae8), which allowed his opponent an unexpected in between
move in the above position.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "equimanthorn"]
[Black "legendnz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1400"]
[BlackElo "1216"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Bd6 3. d4 Nc6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bb4 6. a3 Ba5 7. b4 Bb6 8. Ng5
O-O 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bd3 d6 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Qf6 13. Bxh7+ Kh8 14. O-O
Nf3+ 15. Nxf3 Kxh7 16. Ng5+ Kg8 17. Bf4 Qxf4 18. Qh5 Bf5 19. g3 Qd2 20. c4 Bg6
21. Qh4 f6 22. Ne6 Rfe8 23. a4 a6 24. a5 Ba7 25. Qg4 Kf7 26. Nf4 Bh7 27. h4
Qxb4 28. Ne6 Bg6 29. h5 Ke7 30. Nxc7 Qd2 31. Qe6+ Kf8 32. Qxd6+ Kg8 33. hxg6
Rad8 34. Rae1 Bxf2+ 35. Kh1 Bxe1 36. Qb6 Bxg3 37. Qg1 Re5 38. Qxg3 Rh5+ 39. Kg1
Rg5 40. Qxg5 Qxg5+ 41. Kh1 Qh6+ 42. Kg2 Qxg6+ 43. Kh1 Qe4+ 44. Kg1 Qxc4 45. Ne6
Re8 46. Nf4 Re4 47. d6 Rxf4 48. Rd1 Qc5+ 49. Kh1 Qh5+ 50. Kg2 Qg5+ 51. Kh3 Rh4#
0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9038095.

Answer:

34.... Bxf2+! ignores the hanging queen, which would have walked into a checkmate
(34...Rxd6?? 35. Rxe8#) and instead captures the pawn on f2 with check.
 The rook on f1 is overloaded, and cannot protect both the f2 pawn, and it's brother on e1 at the
same time, which is also now attacked by the black bishop.

White had a lot of winning chances in this game, but failed to "Keep it Simple Stupid", and lost in
the end.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #174 Tactics Time

All things are difficult before they are easy. ~ Thomas Fuller

his game was sent to me by my

newsletter reader Priyav Chandna from
a game that he played online. Thanks
Priyav!

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to share an idea that I

learned from Lou D'Alo, who is a business coach,
and helps people with their internet marketing.
His website is http://powerupcoaching.com

Whenever someone is trying to do a new

project, something like building a new website for
example, Lou often gives the advice:

Get it working.
Get it working right.
Get it working fast.

Lou has a computer science background, like I do, so this advice really resonates for me in the
world of computer programming as well.

You often can't just sit down and do something perfectly the first time - especially when it is
something fairly complicated. So Lou's idea is to get started, then find and fix the problems, and
once it is working - then optimize and automate the whole thing.

I think that this idea can be applied to the world of chess improvement and chess tactics.

First you need to just get started. Get it working. Get out there, play some games, and try
some tactics problems. Some might work, and some might not. You might get the move order
wrong for example, but you had the right idea for a combination.

The next step is get it working right. At this point you can do something like a 4 move
smothered mate combination, although it might take you a few minutes, but you come up with the
right moves.
 The final step is get it working fast. This is where the repetition comes into play. At this point,
not only do you see the tactical idea, and see it correctly, but you see it instantly.

You instantly see the back rank mate.

You instantly see the double attack of bishop and king with your queen.
You instantly see the knight fork on c6
etc.

This is ultimately where you want to get with your chess tactics study.

Here is the complete game:

[Date "2012.05.08"]
[White "Priyav Chandna"]
[Black "Backo Madova"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1789"]
[BlackElo "1899"]
[PlyCount "33"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 Nf6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bb5 Bg7 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. O-O O-O 8.
d3 d5 9. e5 Nd7 10. b3 e6 11. Ba3 f6 12. exf6 Bxf6 13. Qd2 Qa5 14. Bb2 Bb7 15.
Nxd5 $1 Qxd2 16. Nxf6+ Nxf6 17. Nxd2 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3308.

Answer:

15. Nxd5! wins a pawn that appears to be protected, and discovers an attack on the black
queen.

Black can play 15...Qxd2 but then white has the nice "in between move" 16. Nxf6+ (instead of
recapturing the queen right away with 16. Nxd2) 16...Nxf6 17. Nxd2

The key is to see that the knight can grab the pawn, then trade for an equal piece with check,
before having to recapture the queen. If you play the moves in the wrong order, the tactic doesn't
work. For example if 15. Nxd5 Qxd2 16. Nxd2 cxd5 then white is down a piece for a pawn.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #175 Tactics Time

Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition! ~ Monty Python

his game was played by my really good

friend Pete Short on RHP. Pete's
opponent would not resign, so Pete
started under promoting pawns into knights,
which lead to this funny position.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk again a little bit about

goals.

Brian Tracy has an excellent and simple 7 step

process that he outlines for goals.

The Seven Step Process for Setting and Achieving Your Goals

First, decide exactly what you want in each area of your life. Be specific!
Second, write it down, clearly and in detail.
Third, set a specific deadline. If it is a large goal, break it down into sub-deadlines and write
them down in order.
Fourth, make a list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do to
achieve your goal. As you think of new items, add them to your list.
Fifth, organize the items on your list into a plan by placing them in the proper sequence and
priority.
Sixth, take action immediately on the most important thing you can do on your plan. This is
very important!
Seventh, do something every day that moves you toward the attainment of one or more of
your important goals. Maintain the momentum!

I think that when studying chess, and seeking to raise your rating, having goals can be really
valuable.

You chess goals might be:

to get to a certain rating

to beat a certain opponent
 to win a certain tournament

When you set a goal, and achieve it, that can be a great feeling!

If you ever want help with setting your chess goals, please feel free to contact me, and I would
be happy to work with you on that!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "February 2009 Duel II"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2009.02.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "VICKY21"]
[Black "RedwoodPete"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "683"]
[BlackElo "1506"]
[PlyCount "144"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nxd5 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. gxf3 Nb6 7. d3 Nxc4
8. dxc4 Qxd1+ 9. Kxd1 Nc6 10. Re1 O-O-O+ 11. Bd2 Nd4 12. Nc3 Nxf3 13. Re2 Rxd2+
14. Rxd2 Nxd2 15. Kxd2 e6 16. Re1 Bb4 17. a3 Rd8+ 18. Ke3 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Rd6 20.
c5 Rd5 21. c6 Re5+ 22. Kf4 Rxe1 23. cxb7+ Kxb7 24. Kg5 Re2 25. f4 Rxc2 26. h4
Rxc3 27. a4 Ra3 28. a5 Rxa5+ 29. Kg4 Ra4 30. h5 g6 31. hxg6 hxg6 32. Kg5 Rxf4
33. Kxf4 f6 34. Ke3 g5 35. Kf3 f5 36. Ke3 e5 37. Kd3 g4 38. Ke2 f4 39. Kf2 e4
40. Ke2 g3 41. Kd2 g2 42. Kc3 g1=Q 43. Kc4 f3 44. Kd5 Qb1 45. Ke5 f2 46. Ke6 e3
47. Ke5 e2 48. Kf4 Qd3 49. Ke5 c5 50. Kf4 c4 51. Kg5 c3 52. Kh4 c2 53. Kg5 a5
54. Kf4 a4 55. Ke5 a3 56. Kf4 a2 57. Kg4 f1=N 58. Kf4 e1=N 59. Ke5 c1=N 60. Kf4
a1=N 61. Ke5 Nf3+ 62. Kf6 Nc2 63. Ke6 Ncd4+ 64. Kf6 Ne3 65. Ke7 Ncb3 66. Kf6
Ng4+ 67. Ke7 Nf5+ 68. Ke6 Nbd4+ 69. Kf7 Nfe5+ 70. Kf8 Ne6+ 71. Kg8 Nf6+ 72. Kh8
Nf7# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=5972496

Answer:

68...Ng5# is the only mate in one in this crazy position.

In the game, Pete forced his opponent into the corner and mated him with just the knights, which
was pretty funny.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #176 Tactics Time

The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world's joy. ~
Henry Ward Beecher

T his position was playing on RHP, and

featured in the blog post "Anand v
Gelfand (The Instructive bits.)", which
you can read here: http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=102.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk to you about an idea from

the world of small business, and internet
marketing, which is called "Shiny Object
Syndrome".

Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) happens when a

person gets distracted by too many ideas or the latest fad, going off in a million directions and
never completing anything.

This loss of focus can result in lost productivity, lost hours, lost dollars.

What happens is that a new idea captures the imagination and attention of the business owner
in such a way that they get distracted from the bigger picture and go off in tangents instead of
remaining focused on the goal.

For example a small business owner might read one week that "Pinterest" is the hot new social
media site. So they drop everything they are doing, and learn all about Pinterest, becoming an
expert on it. Then the month after that, they are redesigning their website because they heard
how important "keyword optimization" is. This cycle repeats over and over.

Instead of jumping on the latest fads, the business owner should be focuses on the things that
give them the most leverage, not the latest "shiny object".

In the chess world it is the same way. For example in the chesscafe.com e-mail newsletter they
probably have 15-20 new chess products that they offer PER WEEK.

I am sure that most of these products are of excellent quality, but the question is:
 Will they help my chess game?
Will they help me gain more rating points?
Will they help me win more games?

If the answer is "no", then they are just "chess infotainment".

For example, I recently saw that chessbase had a DVD called "The Berlin Defense Endgame" and
I think that it was by GM Alexei Shriov.

So in this DVD, you will have one of the greatest players in the world teaching the subtle
aspects of this very specific endgame.

I was thinking to myself, this DVD probably has brilliant insights, great production value, and
will not help the average chess player gain one single rating point!

I was picturing a player sitting down to face my good friend Francisco Baltier after studying this
DVD. The game starts 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc3 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 and the person with white thinking
"Great! The Berlin Defense! I will finally get to put all those hours of study to use!"

And then Francisco plays the "Fishing Pole" defense 4... Ng4?! which throws all that endgame
theory out the window! Black proceeds to do a 3 move tactic to white 5 moves later, winning a
miniature in under 15 moves.

The chess world has a lot of "shiny objects" out there, so be careful! There is nothing "wrong"
with learning about something if you enjoy it, just be aware not everything will help your rating to
grow!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "gregsflat"]
[Black "nonkel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "1312"]
[BlackElo "1377"]
[PlyCount "115"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 c6 4. Nc3 b5 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bf4 Bb7 7. e4 e6 8. Be2 a6

9. O-O Bb4 10. a3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nf6 12. e5 Nd5 13. Bd2 O-O 14. Qc2 a5 15. a4
Re8 16. Qe4 bxa4 17. Bxc4 Qd7 18. Bd3 g6 19. Bxh6 Nxc3 20. Qh4 Qe7 21. Ng5 f6
22. Bxg6 fxg5 23. Bxg5 Qg7 24. Bxe8 Na6 25. Bf6 Qh7 26. Qg4+ Kf8 27. Qxe6 Rxe8
28. Qd6+ Kg8 29. Rfe1 Ne4 30. Rxe4 Qxe4 31. Qd7 Qg6 32. Qxb7 Nb4 33. f4 Nd5 34.
Bg5 Rf8 35. Rxa4 Qc2 36. Rxa5 Qd1+ 37. Kf2 Qd2+ 38. Kg3 Qxa5 39. Qxc6 Qc3+ 40.
Qxc3 Nxc3 41. h4 Ne2+ 42. Kg4 Nxd4 43. h5 Ne6 44. Bf6 Rf7 45. f5 Nd4 46. Kg5
Kf8 47. g4 Nf3+ 48. Kg6 Rb7 49. e6 Rb8 50. h6 Nh2 51. e7+ Ke8 52. h7 Kd7 53. g5
Ng4 54. h8=Q Rxh8 55. Bxh8 Kxe7 56. f6+ Kf8 57. Bg7+ Ke8 58. f7+ 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9038192

Answer:

29...Nb5, which was missed in the game, traps the White Queen.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

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Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #177 Tactics Time

Be ready when opportunity comes...Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity
meet. ~ Roy D. Chapin, Jr

T his game was sent to me by my

newsletter reader John Worthington,
who wrote, "I recently played an online
chess game (it finished today) in which my
opponent pulled a surprisingly good move on
me. I got his permission to send you the game
(actually, he was flattered). Anyway, here it is:"

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk to you about a concept

from Economics called "opportunity cost".

From Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Opportunity_cost

"Opportunity cost is the cost of any activity measured in terms of the value of the next best
alternative forgone (that is not chosen). It is the sacrifice related to the second best choice
available to someone, or group, who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices.

What this means is that when you choose something, you have to take into consideration not
only what you chose, but what you didn't chose".

Billionaire Warren Buffett is famous for always considering opportunity costs. For example, he
won't buy a more expensive home, because he knows he could invest that same money in other
ways, and get a much better return on investment. He can't use that money to both buy a new
house, and invest in the stock market.

Most people don't really think about opportunity costs.

So what does this have to do with chess?

My main target audience for this newsletter are adults, who want to improve their chess game.

If you are a busy adult who has responsibilities like a job, kids, wife, girlfriend, family, classes,
or other adult responsibilities, your time for chess is very limited.
 So you can't afford to waste this time!

You have to take the opportunity costs of your chess time into consideration.

For example, If you spend 15 minutes a day studying a chess book on variations of the Roy
Lopez, this is 15 minutes a day that you are not spending on chess tactics.

If you spend 30 minutes a day learning rook and pawn endgames, this is 30 minutes a day that
you are not directly spending on chess tactics.

Even with normal chess moves there is an opportunity cost. For example, you can't legally
move your bishop and knight at the same time. So choosing to move the bishop on your turn,
comes with the opportunity cost of not moving the knight. We just normally don't think of it this
way.

So always keep the opportunity cost in mind when making decisions.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Board 4"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.05.13"]
[White "woodmage"]
[Black "sivat"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1578"]
[BlackElo "1614"]
[PlyCount "162"]
[TimeControl "1"]

1. e4 e6 {Thematic Game - This is the starting position.} 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Nc6 4.

Nf3 f6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. O-O Qd7 8. Bf4 O-O-O 9. Bg3 Bb5 10. Re1 fxe5
11. Nxe5 Qe8 12. Nc3 Ba6 13. Qf3 Nh6 14. Bh4 Rd6 15. Bg5 Nf5 16. Qd1 Rb6 17. b3
Bb4 18. Bd2 Ba3 19. Na4 Rd6 20. c3 Bb5 21. Nc5 Rf8 22. b4 b6 23. Qb3 bxc5 24.
Qxa3 cxd4 25. Qxa7 Ra6 26. Qc5 dxc3 27. Bxc3 Nd6 28. f3 Ba4 29. Bd2 Qb5 30. Qc3
Nf5 31. Rac1 Qb6+ 32. Kh1 Bb5 33. Qc2 Qa7 34. Ra1 Re8 35. Rec1 Re7 36. Bg5 Re8
37. g4 h6 38. Bf4 Nd4 39. Qb2 Ne2 40. Rc5 Nxf4 41. Rxb5 Qe3 42. Rc5 Nd3 43.
Nxd3 Qxf3+ 44. Qg2 Qxd3 45. b5 Ra5 46. Rac1 Re7 47. R5c3 Qxb5 48. Qf2 Ra8 49.
Qf8+ Qe8 50. Rxc7+ Kd8 51. Qf4 e5 52. Qf3 Qg8 53. R7c5 Rd7 54. Rb5 Ke7 55. Qc3
Qe6 56. Qc5+ Kf7 57. Rb6 Qxg4 58. Rf1+ Kg8 59. Rb4 Qh3 60. Rf2 e4 61. Rg2 Qd3
62. Qb6 Rf7 63. Qe6 Qf1+ 64. Rg1 Qf3+ 65. Rg2 Qf1+ 66. Rg1 Qf5 67. Qxh6 Qf3+
68. Rg2 Qxg2+ 69. Kxg2 Rxa2+ 70. Kg3 gxh6 71. h4 Rf3+ 72. Kg4 Rg2+ 73. Kh5 Kh7
74. Rb7+ Rg7 75. Rxg7+ Kxg7 76. Kg4 d4 77. Kh5 d3 78. Kg4 d2 79. Kh5 d1=Q 80.
Kg4 h5+ 81. Kxh5 Rf5# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3428.

Answer:
 On the previous move, white had played 67. Qxh6, which appears to win a pawn, because of the
pin on the g file.

However, Black can break this pin with 67...Qf3+ 68. Rf2 (The only way to get out of check),
68...Qxg2+! which removes the pin on the g file 69. Kxg2 and then black will play gxh6 now
that the pin is gone, leaving black up a rook.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #178 Tactics Time

Even the laziest king flees wildly in the face of a double check. ~ Aron Nimzowitsch

T his position comes from one of my

games, played on the 7 day ladder on
redhotpawn.com.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to get "Back to Basics", and talk

about an important tactical motif, the Double
Check.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Double_check

In chess, a double check is a check delivered

by two pieces at the same time. In chess notation, it is often symbolized by "++".

The most common form of a double check involves one piece moving to deliver check, at the
same time revealing a discovered check from a piece behind.

The only replies to a double check are king moves.

Capturing the checking piece is not an option since there are two of them. Interposition is
likewise impossible as there would be two lines of attack to block.

Again, a double check forces the defending king to move without giving the option of either
taking the attacking piece or interposing. This concept gives a tremendous advantage of gaining
tempo and placing the attacking piece especially the one that is uncovering the discovered check
in the most favorable square.

Most all double checks are also "discovered checks". Technically not all double checks are also
discovered checks, because of en passant, which can create double checks, where the pawn move
does not give a check.

Fred Reinfeld said, "The best advice on discovered check is: Avoid them! This is even more
important in the case of double checks, which often, as you will see, wind up in checkmates."
 Here is the complete game:

[Event "Ladder"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.04.27"]
[White "markcardis"]
[Black "TimmyBx"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "1152"]
[BlackElo "1993"]
[PlyCount "58"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 e6 4. d3 d5 5. Bb5 Qa5+ 6. Nc3 d4 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8.

Ne5 Bd7 9. Nxd7 Kxd7 10. Bd2 dxc3 11. Bxc3 Qb6 12. Be5 f6 13. Bc3 Bd6 14. O-O
Ne7 15. Qg4 Ng6 16. Rae1 Qc7 17. e5 fxe5 18. Re4 Rhf8 19. a3 Rf7 20. b4 Raf8
21. Qh5 cxb4 22. axb4 Qb6 23. d4 Bxb4 24. Rb1 Rxf2 25. Ree1 a5 26. Bxb4 axb4
27. c3 b3 28. c4 Qxd4 29. Rbd1 Rf1# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3431.

Answer:

On the previous move white pinned the black queen to the King, which is normally a good
move. Black though, has the double discovered checkmate 29...Rf1#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

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If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #179 Tactics Time

Most of the time - and this includes naps - I'm an F-18, bro. And I will destroy you in
the air. ~ Charlie Sheen

T his position was featured in the

redhotpawn.com blog post "World Title
Wrap Up + Why You Blunder.", by
Geoff Chandler, which you can read here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=103

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about an interesting

tactical idea that is fairly rare, but might be
useful in getting you out of a jam.

First let's talk about the concept of "Luft".

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luft

Luft, the German word for "air" (sometimes also "space" or "breath"), is used by some chess
writers and commentators to denote a space left by a pawn move into which a castled king may
move, especially such a space made with the intention of avoiding a back rank checkmate. A move
leaving such a space is often said to "give the king some luft". In German itself, however, such a
space would be called a Luftloch (air-hole).

It is usually better to move the h-pawn (or the a-pawn if the king is on the queenside) because
moving the f-pawn can weaken the king's position and moving the g-pawn creates holes at f3 and
h3 (or f6 and h6 for Black on the kingside).

A related idea is the "flight square". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_square

In chess, a flight square or escape square is a safe place or a square to which a King or other
piece can move if it is threatened.

One way to get a king out of check is to move to a flight square on the next move. (The other
ways to get out of check are to capture the checking piece or to interpose a piece to block the
check.) If the checked king has no flight square and there is no other way to get out of check, it is
checkmate.
 One way to win material from an opponent (that is to say, end up with more pieces or more
valuable pieces left on the board) is to dominate a piece by removing all of its flight squares
(through attacking or occupying them), then threatening to capture it.

Let's review the idea of tempo also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo_%28chess%29

In chess, tempo refers to a "turn" or single move. When a player achieves a desired result in
one fewer move, one "gains a tempo" and conversely when one takes one more move than
necessary one "loses a tempo". Similarly, when one forces one's opponent to make moves not
according to the initial plan, one "gains tempo" because the opponent wastes moves. A move that
gains a tempo is often called a move "with tempo".

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "cabandmush"]
[Black "Zenic"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1698"]
[BlackElo "1399"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. Nxe5 Qe7 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bc4 O-O
8. Nc3 Nxe4 9. Nxe4 Qxe4 10. d3 Qg6 11. d4 Bb6 12. c3 Bb7 13. Bd3 Qf6 14. Be3
c5 15. dxc5 Bxc5 16. Bxc5 Qg5 17. g3 Qxc5 18. Qg4 Qd5 19. f3 Qxd3 20. Rad1 Qb5
21. Rf2 d6 22. Re1 Qc5 23. Kg2 Rae8 24. Rfe2 Rxe2+ 25. Rxe2 Ba6 26. Re1 d5 27.
h4 Bd3 28. h5 Qb5 29. b3 Qc6 30. Qd4 Bb5 31. Re5 Rd8 32. c4 Ba6 33. cxd5 Qc2+
34. Kh3 Qxa2 35. d6 cxd6 36. Qxd6 Bc8+ 37. g4 Rf8 38. b4 Qa6 39. Qc5 Qb6 40.
Qc3 f6 41. Rc5 Qb8 42. Rc7 a6 43. Qc4+ Kh8 44. Rc5 Re8 45. Qc3 Be6 46. Rc6 Qb5
47. Rc5 Qf1+ 48. Kg3 Qg1+ 49. Kh3 Qh1+ 50. Kg3 Qg1+ 51. Kh3 Bd7 52. Qc4 Bb5 53.
Rxb5 axb5 54. Qxb5 Qh1+ 55. Kg3 Qe1+ 56. Kh3 h6 57. Qc5 Rb8 58. b5 Qf1+ 59. Kg3
Qxb5 60. Qe7 Qe5+ 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9039830

Answer:

In the above position white has a very simple threat - to play Qxd8# with a backrank mate.

If black were to take the queen with 36...Rxd6?? 37. Re8#

If black creates luft right away with 36...h6?? he avoids getting mated, but just loses a rook

Here is where the idea of "Luft with Tempo" comes in. If black could play two moves in a
row, then he could play a move like h6 and Rxd6, and win the queen.

He does this by playing 36...Bf1+! which forces the King to either g4 or f5. If 37. Kg4, then
black can play 37...f5+! which creates luft with tempo.

If 37. Kh4, then black can chase the king to g5 with 37...Qh2+ 38. Kg5 then plays the luft
with tempo move 38...f5+!

After f5+ black has given himself an escape square. After white gets out of check, black can
play Rxd6, and is clearly winning.

This position really does a nice job of showing how powerful checks and tempos can be.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #180 Tactics Time

A jug fills drop by drop. ~ Buddha

T his game was played by Life Master Joel

Johnson, author of "Formation Attacks"
and "Formation Attack Strategies", who
wrote: "A game I played in last night's tourney
that is very similar to a famous historical game. I
have never seen another game like this one
before".

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to introduce you to an idea of

classifying chess tactics by Paul Anderson called
"The DROP Method".

DROP is an acronym which stands for:

Discovery
Removal
Overload
Pin

Paul writes, "The DROP method is a way to focus on those key tactics that appear most often
and are most successful in chess games and cause a player to drop pieces. Hopefully, by
mastering this method you will drop less material and cause your opponent to drop more."

This appeared as a four part series in Paul's Colorado Springs Chess Newsletter, which you can
read here:

http://cschess.webs.com/apps/blog/show/12962454-drop-method

http://cschess.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/14228365-r-is-for-removal-

http://cschess.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/14420236-o-is-for-overload

http://cschess.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/15122687-p-is-for-pin

In each article Paul goes into more details about each of the DROP pieces.
 I like the DROP method, and think that it is a very clever acronym! Nice job Paul!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Valley Chess Thursday Swiss"]

[Site "Phoenix, AZ"]
[Date "2012.05.31"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Martynenko, Ivan"]
[Black "Johnson, Joel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2142"]
[BlackElo "2300"]
[PlyCount "42"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. c3 Bd6 6. Ne2 O-O 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4

Nbd7 9. Nd2 c5 10. Qc2 Re8 11. Nf3 c4 12. Bf5 Nf8 13. Bxc8 Rxc8 14. O-O Ng6 15.
Bg3 Ne4 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. Ng3 Nf4 18. Nd2 f5 19. Nxf5 Qg6 20. Ng3 Nxg3 21. Qxg6
Nfe2# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3470.

Answer:

20...Nxg3!! uncovers a discovered attack on the white queen on c2, but also leaves the black
queen on g6 hanging.

White took the bait, 21. Qxg6 and was mated with the beautiful 21. ...Nfe2#

White has no way to save his queen, and stop the mate threat.

Joel wrote that after Nfe2# he stopped the clock, and his opponent asked, "why are you
stopping the clock? I did not resign!"

Joel also compared his game to this famous game by Paul Morphy in a blindfold simul:

[Event "New Orleans blindfold sim"]

[Site "New Orleans"]
[Date "1857.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Marache, Napoleon"]
[Black "Morphy, Paul"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C52"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "1857.??.??"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. e5 d5 8. exd6

Qxd6 9. O-O Nge7 10. Ng5 O-O 11. Bd3 Bf5 12. Bxf5 Nxf5 13. Ba3 Qg6 14. Bxf8
Qxg5 15. Ba3 dxc3 16. Bc1 Qg6 17. Bf4 Rd8 18. Qc2 Ncd4 19. Qe4 Ng3 0-1

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Newsletter Issue #181 Tactics Time

Bobby Knight told me this: 'There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better
offense.' In other words a good offense wins. ~ Dan Quayle

T his game was featured in the

redhotpawn.com blog post "Bait on b8",
which you can read here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=104.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to introduce you to a group

called "The Knights Errant".

The group appears to be inactive now, but

they have a website at:
http://knightserrantfaq.blogspot.com/ where you
can read their FAQ.

The group is dedicated to following the teachings of Michael de la Maza, who advocates studying
nothing but tactics.

I found these two questions interesting:

14. This seems like a very narrow approach to chess. Isn't there more to chess than tactics?

This is the most common criticism of the Circles. Jeremy Silman voices it quite stridently in a
review of de la Maza's book here. Clearly, in practice chess involves more than tactics. Strategy,
opening theory, and the endgame are important aspects of the game. The Circles are a kind of
Intensive Care Unit for those of us who are especially challenged in the area of tactics. If you are
dropping pieces every game, then studying the subtleties of an arcane opening is probably not the
best remedy. However, the Circles are only one of many possible avenues to tactical competence,
and we always enjoy a good discussion of alternative methods that we might incorporate into our
study.

15. Do the Circles actually work? Have your ratings improved?

This is the big question, and deservedly so! Most who have finished the Circles say it has
improved their tactical vision in games, and hence their rating. Quantitatively, the average rating
increase amongst the 18 Knights who have finished the circles is 186 (with a standard deviation of
112). You can see the original data here. Note that de la Maza's rating jump is unusually high,
especially for nonbeginners (he devoted himself to chess full time during the Circles). Based on
the data, it is more realistic to expect your rating to go up by a bit under 200 points. Each
individual must decide whether this justifies the amount of effort involved in the Circles.

I designed my Tactics Time Training Program to work with de la Maza's program, so if you
haven't got it yet, be sure to check it out now! http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=2

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "wes420"]
[Black "THPaladin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1634"]
[BlackElo "1324"]
[PlyCount "63"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. Nh4 Ne7 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qf3 d6 8.

Qxf6 Rg8 9. d3 Bg7 10. Qf3 Rf8 11. Qe2 Be6 12. h3 c5 13. Nc3 a6 14. Nf3 Qd7 15.
Ng5 h6 16. Nxe6 Qxe6 17. O-O g5 18. Qh5+ Rf7 19. a3 Kd7 20. b4 Raf8 21. bxc5
dxc5 22. Be3 Kc6 23. Rab1 Ng6 24. Na4 Bf6 25. Nxc5 Qd6 26. Qxg6 Rg7 27. Qxh6
Rfg8 28. Nxa6 g4 29. hxg4 Rxg4 30. g3 Rh8 31. Qxh8 Bxh8 32. Nb8# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9042215

Answer:

White removes the defender with 31. Qxh8!

In the game black played 31...Bxh8 and was mated with 32. Nb8#

Black can avoid the immediate mate, but is then down massive material.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Newsletter Issue #182 Tactics Time

That's what chess is all about. One day you give your opponent a lesson, the next day
he gives you one - Bobby Fischer

T his game was sent to me by my good

friend Shannon Fox, from a game that
he played on the Internet Chess Chess
(ICC)

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about the idea of having

rivals in chess.

In today's politically correct world, we often

hear about things like "participation ribbons",
and the idea that "everyone is a winner".

There are no winners and losers, and everyone is equally good, and the most important thing is
that no one's feelings are hurt, and their self esteem is boosted at every opportunity, reminding
them that they are a special snowflake.

For a lot of people from the "old school" these ideas make them sick to their stomach.

I think having rivals is good. I think clearly winning and losing is good. If you want to build
your self esteem, listen to some Tony Robbins tapes.

The sports world has lots of famous rivalries. There is even a wikipedia page that lists them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports_rivalries.

There have been studies that show having a rival can boost performance. Kasparov has said
that his rivalry with Karpov made him a much stronger player than he would have been without
this rivalry.

My friend Paul Anderson keeps a "list of enemies", which is a tip he learned from Richard Nixon.

I have had rivals over the years in the chess world, and they have motivated me to play my
best, and were often some of my closest friends off the board.
 So don't be afraid of having rivals. They can help take your game to the next level.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2012.06.10"]
[Round "?"]
[White "fkzlcm"]
[Black "BlackTop"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B38"]
[WhiteElo "1613"]
[BlackElo "1513"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[TimeControl "300+3"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Be3 Bg7 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. f3

O-O 9. Qd2 e5 10. Nb3 Be6 11. Be2 Nh5 12. Nd5 Bxd5 13. cxd5 Nd4 14. Nxd4 exd4
15. Bxd4 Qh4+ 16. Bf2 Qf6 17. Rb1 Nf4 18. O-O Rfc8 19. b3 Qg5 20. Kh1 Qxg2# {
{Game 860 (fkzlcm vs. BlackTop) fkzlcm checkmated} 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3483.

Answer:

Shannon wrote:

Hey Tim, the attached game from ICC is a game against a player from Turkey who has over
60,000 blitz games! The tactic I used in this game I found on move #19 which has a double
threat of losing a queen or mate. So, it's a question of finding the right square and not actually
doing a combination. From past games against strong players, I've been the victim of not seeing
these type of threats.

The winning move is 19...Qg5 which threatens 20...Qxg2# and the discovered attack
20...Nh3+ which wins the queen on d2.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Newsletter Issue #183 Tactics Time

How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing? ~ Allen Iverson

T his game was posted on the chess

forum on http://chess.about.com,
along with an interesting discussion on
chess tactics, and practice.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

The title of today's newsletter comes from a

rant that basketball player Allen Iverson made a
few years ago about practice. You can watch
this rant here: http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI. I can watch this over
and over, and laugh every time.

Here is an interesting post that I read, which discusses the idea of doing chess tactics practice,
and an analogy to guitar practice. You can read this post here, http://forums.about.com/n/pfx
/forum.aspx?tsn=27&nav=messages&webtag=ab-chess&tid=1909.

"praxis" writes:

"The de la Maza program works, and I won't bore you with the details of my own success with it
again. But I will use an analogy to guitar playing, which was the hobby that used to consume my
free time before chess did.

Back in the 80's, it was quite fashionable for guitar players to be able to play lots of notes very
quickly and cleanly during their solos. Yngwie Malmsteen probably best personified that whole
movement. Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and others could be mentioned, too. From a purely technical
standpoint, all of these players were virtuosos.

Anywho, you read a lot of articles in guitar magazines back then about how to get to that level.
Amateurs wanted to know how they could achieve this awesome technical prowess. All of the
articles said basically the same thing: do such-and-such drills every day in order to improve the
speed and accuracy of your picking technique. This usually meant playing scales over and over
again. As your technique got better, you could play the scales at increasing speeds. If you were
dedicated enough, eventually you could start to play those blazing solos that you heard on the
records (yes, we had records then).
 The "de la Maza method" is the same thing. Tactics is a technical aspect of the game that can
be learned through relentless, mind-numbing repetition. The more you do it, the better you'll get,
assuming that your practice is quality practice. This technique works with many, many things in
life, so it's really not surprising that it works in chess, too. We assume that chess is different, but
it isn't. True, chess is more than just tactics--which is why lots of tactical study only gets you so
far--but learning through repetition can certainly be adapted to chess.

I'm posting a game I played last night. It shows that de la Maza is right about one thing: at the
class level, games are won and lost on simple tactical errors. After my opponent's greedy 17. ...
Nc2? (forking my rooks), I delivered a five-move tactical sequence that would have resulted in a
forced mate-in-two had my opponent not resigned. That's a seven-move sequence! I don't think
I could have done something like that without having spent endless hours doing tactical drills."

Here is the complete game:

[Event "mmeics rated standard game"]

[Site "mmeics, Boston, MA USA"]
[Date "2002.07.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "aschepler"]
[Black "PapaDDS"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1683"]
[BlackElo "1816"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2002.??.??"]
[TimeControl "1500+10"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d4 Bd7 5. c3 a6 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. d5 Bd7 8. c4

h6 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. O-O Be7 11. Re1 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. Qd3 Qd7 14. Nh4 Nxd5 15.
Nf5 Nb4 16. Nxg7+ Kf8 17. Qg3 Nc2 18. Nxh5 Rh7 19. Bxh6+ Rxh6 20. Qg7+ Ke8 21.
Qg8+ Bf8 22. Ng7+ Ke7 23. Nd5+ {Black resigned} 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/?page_id=3485.

Answer:

White has a force mate with:

19.Bxh6+ Rxh6 20.Qg7+ Ke8 21.Qg8+ Bf8 22.Ng7+ Ke7 23.Nd5+ Kd8 24.Qxf8+ Qe8
25.Qxe8#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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Newsletter Issue #184 Tactics Time

Until you are at least a high Class A player: Your first name is 'Tactics', your middle
name is 'Tactics', and your last name is 'Tactics'. ~ Ken Smith

T his position comes from a game played

on Red Hot Pawn, where Black
incorrectly played Alekhine's Defence
(1. e4 Nf6) http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Alekhine%27s_Defence

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

In the early 2000s I worked for Raytheon in

Aurora, CO, a suburb of Denver. It was a pretty
big campus, with around 1500 employees.

I was lucky to have a bunch of tournament

caliber chess players as coworkers, and
somehow we all found each other. These coworkers included Pete Short, Shannon Fox, Francisco
Baltier, and a few others.

We would play blitz games against each other during lunch, after work, and would all go to the
Denver Chess Club (DCC) together on Tuesday nights, which was a lot of fun. We played together
in a team tournament once, and even took out of state trips together to big tournaments in places
such as Reno and Washington D.C.

During our blitz games things could get obnoxious, with lots of "smack talk", insults, piece and
clock slamming. We developed our own lingo and catch phrases that we used during and after
games.

At the time I was really into working on my tactics, and was drinking kool aid from the Michael
de la Maza school of thought, which is based on doing nothing but tactics study until you reach
an Elo rating of around 2000.

One phrase that become popular in our circle was "getting de la Maz'ed". This expression
meant that the person was doing well in the game, but then fell for a tactic.

You might say things like:

 "I had a really good opening, and was up a pawn, but then got de la Maz'ed and lost a
knight"
"My opponent was totally winning, but got in time trouble, and I de la Maz'ed him".

At the time the DCC would have two sections in their Tuesday night games: an Under 1500, and
over 1500 section. Once I understood and applied the power of learning tactics, I started crushing
opponents, and quickly my rating was too high to be in the under 1500 section.

Often after a G/90 at the DCC Pete would ask me how my game went, and my response would
just be a smirk with the comment, "he got de la Maz'ed" :-)

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Open invite"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2007.10.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sam The Sham"]
[Black "generationnexus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1325"]
[BlackElo "1548"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2007.??.??"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 g6 4. c4 Nb6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. c5 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=4124202.

Answer:

This position was featured in Geoff Chandler's Blog Post, "Rain + c3 Sicilian + The Chess
Magazine", which you can read here: http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=106.

Black on his previous moves played g6 and Bg7, missing the move 6. c5 which traps the black
knight.

Be careful when "following your plan" of moves like g6, Bg7, 0-0, that can be normally be
played with no danger, and always be on the lookout for tactics, even in the opening!

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #185 Tactics Time

The better we get at generating great ideas--new insights and novel solutions--in our
field of expertise, the more unnatural it becomes for us to communicate those ideas clearly.
~ from the book "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" by Chip and
Dan Heath

T
his position comes from a
correspondence game played on
chess.com

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to talk to you about a

cognitive bias called "The Curse of Knowledge".

I think that the Curse of Knowledge can help

explain why so many chess books and chess
teachers fail to help class chess players actually
improve their chess rating, and win more games.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge

"The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias according to which better-informed agents find it
extremely difficult to think about problems from the perspective of lesser-informed agents. As
such added information may convey some disutility. The term was coined by Robin Hogarth.

In one experiment, one group of subjects "tapped" a well-known song on a table while another
listened and tried to identify the song. Some "tappers" described a rich sensory experience in their
heads as they tapped out the melody. Tappers on average estimated that 50% of listeners would
identify the specific tune; in reality only 2.5% were able to.

It has been argued that the curse of knowledge could contribute to the difficulty of teaching."

This page also does a nice job of describing the Curse of Knowledge and the above experiment:
http://guymuse.blogspot.com/2007/02/curse-of-knowledge.html

The book "Made to Stick" describes it like this:

 "And that brings us to the villain of our book: The Curse of Knowledge. Lots of research in
economics and psychology shows that when we know something, it becomes hard for us to
imagine not knowing it. As a result, we become lousy communicators. Think of a lawyer who can't
give you a straight, comprehensible answer to a legal question. His vast knowledge and
experience renders him unable to fathom how little you know. So when he talks to you, he talks in
abstractions that you can't follow. And we're all like the lawyer in our own domain of expertise."

Basically what this is saying is that once you reach a certain level of skill and ability, you can no
longer relate or remember what it was like to not have that ability, and can no longer
communicate with people who are not at your level.

In the chess world most of the materials weaker players use to learn the game are written by
the strongest players. But according to the Curse of Knowledge, these strong players can no
longer even remember what it was like to be a weak player!

So these strong players are writing about all these deep, subtle, positional considerations in a
game, with tons of variations and subvariations for each move. But they don't realize that games
at the class level are being won and lost by much more primitive means. Ironically, their superior
knowledge makes them incapable of clear communication to weaker players.

So be aware of the "Curse of Knowledge", especially when dealing with the "experts" in any
given field.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Let's Play!"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2007.09.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "nleo"]
[Black "ROBSR1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1501"]
[BlackElo "1530"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2007.??.??"]
[TimeControl "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. a3 e6 4. Nc3 Qc7 5. d3 Nge7 6. Be3 d6 7. Nb5 Qd8 8. Nf3

a6 9. Nc3 b5 10. Bb3 Ng6 11. O-O Be7 12. h3 O-O 13. Nh2 d5 14. exd5 exd5 15.
Nxd5 Bg5 16. Bxc5 Bxh3 17. gxh3 Re8 18. d4 Bf4 19. Nxf4 Nxf4 20. Qg4 Re4 21. c3
Ne2+ 22. Kg2 Rxg4+ 23. Nxg4 Qc7 24. Rfe1 Nf4+ 25. Kf3 Na5 26. Bxf7+ Qxf7 27.
Re7 Qh5 28. Kxf4 Rf8+ 29. Kg3 Qf5 30. Re5 Qf3+ 31. Kh2 Rd8 32. Rae1 Nb3 33.
R5e3 Qf4+ 34. Kg2 Nxc5 35. dxc5 h5 36. Nh2 Qc4 37. b4 Rd3 38. Rxd3 Qxd3 39. Re3
Qc4 40. Nf3 Qb3 41. Nd4 Qxa3 42. c6 a5 43. c7 a4 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=283021

Answer:
 On the previous move, black moved their queen too far away from the action with 41. ...Qxa3
grabbing a pawn. This allowed 42. c6 and the pawn Could!...go!...all!... the!...way!

Be careful when playing against passed pawns. They can become queens very quickly if you are
not careful.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

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Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #186 Tactics Time

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. ~ Buddha

T his game was played on chesscube.com

by Jeffrey Baffo, former Colorado
Correspondence Chess Champion, who
is a specialist in the "Dunst Opening" 1. Nc3

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to share an excerpt from an

excellent article in Inc. Magazine called "9 Keys
to Business & Career Success", which you can
read here: http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/9-
beliefs-of-remarkably-successful-people.html

--------

"5. Failure is something I accomplish; it doesn't just happen to me.

"Ask people why they have been successful. Their answers will be filled with personal pronouns:
I, me, and the sometimes too occasional we.

Ask them why they failed. Most will revert to childhood and instinctively distance themselves,
like the kid who says, "My toy got broken..." instead of, "I broke my toy."

They'll say the economy tanked. They'll say the market wasn't ready. They'll say their suppliers
couldn't keep up.

They'll say it was someone or something else.

And by distancing themselves, they don't learn from their failures.

Occasionally something completely outside your control will cause you to fail. Most of the time,
though, it's you. And that's okay. Every successful person has failed. Numerous times. Most of
them have failed a lot more often than you. That's why they're successful now.

Embrace every failure: Own it, learn from it, and take full responsibility for making sure that
next time, things will turn out differently."

---------
 I think that this is a great lesson, and something that chess teaches very well. There is not a lot
of "luck" in chess, so if you lose, it is something that you accomplished.

I like the idea that you should embrace each failure, and learn from it. No one can get good at
chess without losing lots of games. Even the best players in the world have lost hundreds and
thousands of chess games during their life.

Take responsibility when you lose a game, and learn from it.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "ChessCube Game"]

[Date "2012.07.01"]
[White "[email protected]"]
[Black "[email protected]"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Annotator "Brennan,Tim"]
[PlyCount "25"]

1. Nc3 d5 2. e4 d4 3. Nce2 c5 4. Ng3 e5 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bc4 a6 7. O-O Ne7 8. Ng5

O-O 9. Qh5 h6 10. Nxf7 Rxf7 11. Qxf7+ Kh7 12. Nh5 Qh8 13. Nf6# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-

game-replayer.php?id=66953

Answer:

12. Nh5 creates a dangerous threat of mate with Qxg7#

Black has no good way to stop this. In the real game black was mated with 12...Qh8 13.Nf6#

12...Nf5 just loses the knight after 13.exf5

12...Qg8 walks into the fork 13.Nf6+

12...Qf8 gets mated with 13.Nf6+ Kh8 14.Qxf8+ Ng8 15.Qxg8#

All other moves lose immediately to 13. Qxg7#

Jeff posted this game on Facebook, and said it was "100% book".

Life Master Brian Wall, knowing Jeff has been playing and studying the Dunst for years, quipped,
"looks like you're getting the hang of that opening".

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #187 Tactics Time

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by
altering their attitudes of mind. ~ William James

his game was posted on reddit.com

under the title "Still pretty low-rated
but definitely my one of my favorite
victories. (Check the clocks.)", which you can
read here: http://redd.it/vvy4f

In the position on the right it is White to move

AND Black to move.

Find the best move for each color.

Answer below.

Today I want to share some "Success Tactics"

from Inc. Magazine, from their article "Want to
Succeed? Answer These 10 Questions", which you
can read here, http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-
james/success-tactics-answer-these-10-questions.html

In the article, which is based on the book "Attitude is Everything" by Jeff Keller, they give 10
questions that people should ask themselves about their goals. As you probably know by now, I
am a big fan of setting goals.

The questions they propose asking yourself include:

1. Is my timetable realistic?
2. Do I have a workable plan?
3. Am I truly committed?
4. Am I prepared to be patient?
5. Am I wasting time frivolously?
6. Are my friends and family supportive?
7. Is my goal achievable?
8. Am I willing to fail?
9. Am I honing my skills?
10. Am I emotionally ready for success?

I often see people on chess forums posting things like "I have been studying for 2 weeks, and
haven't gotten better, what am I doing wrong?" This would be someone with an unrealistic
timetable, and isn't prepared to be patient.

Or someone in the 1100s might say "I want to be a Master by this time next year" - this person
might not have a goal that is achievable, and also has an unrealistic timetable.

Players will give up after a few losses because they are not committed, and are not willing to
fail. Players will waste time, and not hone their skills, so do not see improvement. If your family
hates the idea of you playing chess, that can hurt your chances for improvement as well. All of the
things on the above list can hurt your chances for getting better at chess.

Getting good at chess takes time, energy and effort. There are no quick fixes. I try to focus on
the most efficient ways of getting better (lots of tactical study), but there is no magic pill to success
in any area.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.07.01"]
[White "NPeat"]
[Black "macbates"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "744"]
[BlackElo "740"]
[TimeControl "10|0"]
[Termination "macbates won by checkmate"]

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Qe7 3.Nc3 g6 4.Qd1 Bg7 5.d4 Nc6 6.Nd5 Qe6 7.Nxc7+ Ke7 8.Nxa8 Nxd4
9.Bd3 b6 10.Bg5+ f6 11.Bh4 g5 12.Nf3 h6 13.Nxd4 Qd6 14.Nb5 Qb4+ 15.c3 Qxb2
16.Rb1 Qxa2 17.Bg3 Bb7 18.Nac7 Qf7 19.Nxa7 f5 20.exf5 Nf6 21.Ba6 Bxg2 22.Rg1 Bh3
23.Bxe5 Bxf5 24.Bxf6+ Bxf6 25.Nab5 Bxb1 26.Qd6+ Kd8 27.Ke2 Qc4+ 28.Kd2 Rf8
29.Kc1 Bxc3 30.Kxb1 Rxf2 31.Na7 Qa2+ 32.Kc1 Qa1# 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.chess.com/livechess

/game.html?id=321509783.

Answer:

This game was won with 0.01 seconds on the clock by Black with the move 32...Qa1#
(32...Qc2# also works) At the same time White was threatening 33. Nc6#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #188 Tactics Time

Trying is the first step toward failure. ~ Homer Simpson

his position was featured in Edward

Winter's Chess Notes #5087, which you
can read here,
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter
/winter37.html

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about a valuable mindset,

which is the idea that there is no such thing as an
"overnight success".

In today's society lots of people wants to "get

rich quick", l0se ten pounds in a week, and have
everything spoon fed to them with no effort or energy.

Unfortunately the world doesn't work that way.

I often see things on chess forums where people will say something about how they have been
studying chess "a long time", and haven't seen any success. Then you find out that "a long time"
means two weeks or a month.

Dan Sullivan says "There are no unrealistic goals, only unreasonable deadlines". I really like this
quote, and I think it is very useful. Gaining 100 rating points is a reasonable goal. Gaining 100
rating points in a week is a reasonable goal, with an unreasonable deadline.

Most people that have success in any area have that success because they worked long and hard
behind closed doors. They often had many failures along the way.

I recently listened to Steve Job's biography (which is fascinating) during my commute. Steve
Jobs has many well known success stories such as the iPod, iPhone, Apple, etc, that you are
probably familiar with.

But he also had a lot of "failures" along the way, such as the Apple Newton, the Apple Lisa, and
the NeXT computer, which you might not be as familiar with. Jobs was even kicked out of the own
company that he founded! Pixar, the company that makes movies such as Toy Story, lost millions
of dollars, and never saw any profits for years and years, until it was finally a huge "overnight
success".

But in hindsight Jobs said that many of these things, including getting kicked out of Apple, were
the best thing that could have happened to him, and that he learned a lot in the process, and let to
his later successes.

It is the same in the chess world. You have to put in the time and hard work. You have to
experience some failures to get good. You won't win every game, and it can be painful. But after
working at it, and keeping it, maybe you too can be the next "overnight success"!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Berlin"]
[Date "1937.??.??"]
[White "Karff, May"]
[Black "Lugatsch, O."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[Annotator "Brennan,Tim"]
[PlyCount "18"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Qg4 cxd4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Be2 f5 7. Qg3 Bd7 8. Nxd4

Nxd4 9. Bh5+ Ke7 10. Qa3# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/karff-lugatsch/

Answer:

10. Qa3# was described as an "airplane mate" on page 292 of The Fireside Book of Chess by
Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (New York, 1949).

This position was also featured in Geoff Chandler's blog on redhotpawn with the post, A Joke, A
Trap, Missed Mates in One, which you can read here: http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=108

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

 Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #189 Tactics Time

The first step toward developing better calculation skills is to train yourself to always
analyze the most forcing moves first. ~ Charles Hertan

T his position comes from the book

Forcing Chess Moves, by Charles
Hertan, page 50, from the game
Rabinovich - Goglidze, Leningrad 1939.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

This past weekend, I checked out an

interesting chess book from the library called
"Forcing Chess Moves: The Key to Better
Calculation" by Charles Hertan. It was published
in 2008 by New in Chess.

Here is an excerpt from the Introduction,

which mimics some of my own thoughts about the subject of chess tactics:

------------

"Introduction

The vast majority of tactics and combination books have three glaring limitations.

1. They give great coverage of key themes like forks, pins, and typical sacrifices, but fail to
address the crucial question, "How can I find these themes more consistently in my own games".

2. They tend to REHASH the same 'classic' tactical examples over and over, for the obvious
reason that it is far easier to draw from existing works, than to comb raw game scores for fresh
illustrations.

3. Most combination books devote almost all of their attention to mating attacks, neglecting the
simple 2-4 move MATERIAL WINNING FORCING MOVES which occur far more frequently in
practical play"

--------------
 As soon as I read just this section, I felt like I was reading from someone who "gets it".

The book is filled will tons of original tactics problems, from real games, which I really
appreciate, and try to do myself. While most of my tactics problems come from the games of
class players (AKA patzers), most of the examples in this book come from Grandmaster games.

The problems are pretty challenging. A lot of focus is on hard to find, yet forcing, moves. The
author uses the term "computer eyes" to describe these types of moves which are hard for
humans to see. For those who complain my problems are "too easy", this is a good book for
advanced players looking for tactical bones to chew on.

The reviews for Forcing Chess Moves on amazon.com are quite good, with mostly 5 star
reviews. If you are looking for a chess tactics book to add to your chess library, that doesn't just
copy and paste positions from Fred Reinfeld, this looks like a good one!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Leningrad/Moscow"]
[Site "Leningrad"]
[Date "1939.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "I Rabinovich"]
[Black "Goglidze"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E48"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "1939.01.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nge2 dxc4 7. Bxc4 a6 8.

O-O c5 9. a3 Bxc3 10. bxc3 Qc7 11. Bd3 e5 12. dxe5 Qxe5 13. Rb1 Nc6 14. Ng3 b5
15. c4 bxc4 16. Bxc4 Qe7 17. Qf3 Be6 18. Nf5 Qd7 19. Bxe6 Qxe6 20. Bb2 Ne5 21.
Qf4 Ng6 22. Qg5 Ne4 23. Qh6 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/rabinovich-vs-goglidze/

Answer:

23. Qh6!! forces checkmate

if 23...Qxf5 24. Qxg7#

if 23...gxh6 Nxh6#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,
 Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #190 Tactics Time

I was killing him until he mated me. ~ David Affeld

T his winning move in this position has

been called "The most beautiful move
of all time", and was featured in the
Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy movie "Tower Heist" as
the "Marshall Swindle".

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Levitsky_versus_Marshall

Levitsky versus Marshall was a game of chess

played by Stefan Levitsky (as White) and Frank
Marshall (as Black), won by Marshall.

It was played in Breslau (now Wrocław) on July 20, 1912, during the master's tournament of the
DSB Congress. It is said that after Marshall's last move of the game, gold coins were tossed onto
the board by spectators, although this is contested by other accounts.

It is unclear whether the legend that the winning move (see below) triggered a shower of gold
coins is true. Marshall himself insisted it was true that "the spectators...threw gold pieces on his
board at the conclusion of his brilliant win over Levitsky," but Israel Horowitz reported that
"Marshall's wife, Caroline, disclaims even a shower of pennies." Eric Schiller said, "others say they
were just paying off their wagers."

Tim Krabbé, in his post the 110 Most Fantastic Moves of All Time, considers this the third-most
brilliant move of all time, http://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess/fant100.htm.

You can watch a video explanation by "Kingcrusher" of this brilliant and famous move by
Marshall here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPOYFsPivVs.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "DSB Kongress XVIII"]

[Site "Breslau"]
[Date "1912.07.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Stefan Levitsky"]
[Black "Frank James Marshall"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[PlyCount "53"]

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nc3 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. exd5 exd5 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8.

Bg5 O-O 9. dxc5 Be6 10. Nd4 Bxc5 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Bg4 Qd6 13. Bh3 Rae8 14. Qd2
Bb4 15. Bxf6 Rxf6 16. Rad1 Qc5 17. Qe2 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Qxc3 19. Rxd5 Nd4 20. Qh5
Ref8 21. Re5 Rh6 22. Qg5 Rxh3 23. Rc5 Qg3 24. Qxg3 Ne2+ 25. Kh1 Nxg3+ 26. Kg1
Ne2+ 27. Kh1 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.chessgames.com

/perl/chessgame?gid=1094915

Answer:

This is a very difficult move to find, so don't feel bad if you missed it.

23 ... Qg3!! threatening mate on h2.

all three ways of capturing Black's queen would lose:

if 24. fxg3 Ne2+ 25. Kh1 Rxf1#

if 24. hxg3 Ne2#

if 24. Qxg3 Ne2+ 25. Kh1 Nxg3+ 26. Kg1 (26 fxg3 Rxf1#) Ne2+ 27. Kh1 Rook somewhere,
and black is up a piece.

Now the very best for last! if 24. Qe5 (guarding h2) Nf3+ 25. kh1 Rxh2#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

 If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #191 Tactics Time

The will to win is nothing without the will to PREPARE to win ~ Vince Lombardi

T oday's newsletter was guest written by

my friend Jeff Baffo. Jeff is former
Colorado Correspondence Chess
Champion, a chess organizer, chess teacher, and
former editor of the Colorado Chess Informant.
Thanks Jeff!

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

The Decision-Tree or Triage method of Chess

Planning

On every move the student begins with 3

questions designed to categorize the chess
position he/she sees before them.

A) Am I attacking?
B) Am I defending?
C) Am I building up (or waiting)?

These questions can be helpfully restated so;

A) Do I have an opportunity?
B) Am I in danger?
C) Is this a quiet (normal) position?

Once this initial assessment is made, thinking perforce branches out:

A) If the student decides that they are attacking, they must be able to give a specific answer
to the follow up question; what is my target? If the student is unable to answer that question,
they must go back to the first step and reassess the position. Perhaps there is no attack and
situation B or C is a more appropriate diagnosis?
B) If the assessment is that he/she is defending the logical follow on is; what is my opponent
threatening?
C) If the chess situation on the board is judged to be a quiet/normal position this assumes
that it is devoid of imminent dangers or ripe opportunities. In that case the most suitable
strategic move is sought, so as to strengthen or maximize the potential of one's position.

For "A" and "B" situations the student is taught a "Tools" checklist, to look for these six types of
moves;

1. Checkmates and Checks (Show them all three types; simple, double and discovered!)
2. Captures
3. Multiple attacks (forks)
4. Pins/Skewers
5. Pawn Promotions
6. Threats

A key concept here is that all these various attacking tools can be shown to have essentially
binary goals; they seek either Checkmate (By direct assault against the King) or the Safe win of
material to facilitate an elementary mate achieved later.

For "B" positions the student is alerted to these six types of moves;

1. Captures (The attacking piece is removed from the board. It helps to acknowledge how
fundamental capturing pieces can be by pointing out that this type of move is a powerful weapon
for BOTH attack and defense.)
2. Guarding (The concept of "counting" should be covered here; how many times is a piece or
pawn attacked and how many times is it guarded? A twice attacked piece usually needs two
defenders, and winning normally requires one more attacker that the number of defenders, etc.)
3. Running (This is the most literal/intuitive defensive resource, meaning exactly what it
says; moving away from danger.)
4. Pinning (An attacking piece is paralyzed by this maneuver. And yes, the student is again
encouraged to notice that this type of move is so strong and versatile that it appears on both
lists!)
5. Blocking (Placing a shield between the threat and it's intended victim)
6. Counter-Threat (This is a perfect time to reinforce the concept of piece/pawn value; 1 point
for the pawn, 3 for the minor pieces, etc. By this the student is introduced to the idea that a
threat can be defused or even removed by a more dangerous threat taking priority. You threaten
my pawn? I threaten your Knight! And so on...)

The scenario for "C" is even more complicated. If the student judges the placement of pieces
and pawns to be "normal/quiet" then a myriad of positional factors come into play. For this type
of reasoning, I recommend an understanding of the "7 Imbalances" as described best by Jeremy
Silman in his "How to Reassess Your Chess" books. To wit;
1. Space
2. Development
3. Pawn Structure
4. Material
5. The Superior Minor Piece
6. Initiative
7. (Key) Lines and Squares

Each of the above 7 things have been much discussed and detailed examinations of them are
available not only in Silman's books, but the works of many other chess thinkers as well. With
so many permutations of overlapping, mutually exclusive, or synergistic combinations, the
possibilities are virtually limitless. Such is the beauty of chess. If we wanted something simple
we would have stuck with tic tack toe.
 One final note. Before attempting to impart this or any type of chess knowledge and I
apologize for what may be seen as superfluous. Though it may seem to be stating the patently
obvious to say this, but it can easily be overlooked when working with those new to the game.
The instructor must be sure their student knows how chess games are decided!

In all my time working with new players, I have always asked this and have almost NEVER
gotten a negative reply. "Of course I know how!!" is the universal answer. Only a small amount
of probing questions need be asked before it is clear that the neophyte has knowledge of only one
method (checkmate) and a shaky one at that!

In my experience many newbies always play on until mated, resignation being unthinkable.
Most have also have never heard of a "draw"! I have had students adamantly assert that
stalemate wins the game or that a King may not capture enemy pieces or that stalemate exists
solely based on whether the King has a move, regardless of any other pieces on the board!

The teacher must be rigorous in exterminating these chess myths! Care must be taken to instill
the (correct!) knowledge of the difference between mere check and checkmate. At this point it is
necessary to repeatedly demonstrate the "Three ways to get out of check" (Run, Block or Take).
The pneumonic "Run, block or take, or else it's checkmate!" can be helpful here.

Only when all possible outcomes of a chess game are firmly grasped by the student; decisive
methods (Checkmate, resignation, time forfeit) as well as the concept of a "tied" (drawn) game,
should any teaching of tactics or strategy begin.

Answer:

This position appeared on reddit.com under the title "Help me find the fork", which you can read
here: http://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/ww6pe/can_anyone_help_me_find_the_fork/

1. Bxd7 wins a piece. If 1...Qxd7 2. Qc4+ forks the king and bishop on c5. The black queen
was overloaded, trying to protect the white bishop on d7, and guard the dark bishop on c5.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Jeff

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
 Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #192 Tactics Time

A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five. ~ Groucho
Marx

T his position comes from a game played

in the 2012 Redhotpawn championship,
and was featured on Geoff Chandler's
blog post, "A Joke, A Trap, Missed Mates in One",
which you can read here:
http://www.redhotpawn.com
/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=108.

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk about an interesting

experiment from the world of child psychology.

In the experiment a 3 year old child is shown a

closed crayon box. The 3 year old is then asked to guess what is in the box. The child naturally
guesses "Crayons".

The experimenter then opens the box, to show that it actually contains a piece of candy, and not
crayons.

Then the 3 year old is asked "If you mom came in the room, and saw the closed crayon box,
what would she think was in it?"

The 3 year old typically will respond "Candy"!

When they do this experiment with a 5 year old, the five year old will answer "Crayons",
realizing that their mom will likely make the same mistake that they did.

However the 3 year old cannot think about the problem from someone else's position. Now that
they know there is candy in there, they assume everyone knows there is candy in there.

So, somewhere between ages 3 and 5 humans develop the ability to see things from another
persons point of view.

I think that this same development process happens when you learn to play chess. When you
first start playing you are only concerned with your plans, and what you want to do. You cannot
think of your opponents point of view, and what they are trying to accomplish at the same time.
This is like the 3 year old who doesn't get that their mom would have no idea that there is candy
in the crayon box.

Even with experienced players it is easy to get wrapped up with your own "plans", and fail to
see what your opponent is up to.

So, remember to look at things from your opponent's point of view. Look at what their threats
are. Look at what they are attacking. Look at how their pieces are lined up.

Making this shift to seeing things in terms of only your plans and threats, to include both you
and your opponent's is a critical step to improvement.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "2012 Championship"]

[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "thaughbaer"]
[Black "yournightmare"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1825"]
[BlackElo "1777"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Qg4 cxd4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bb5 Qa5+ 7. Nbd2 Qxb5 8.

Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Ne7 10. Nb3 Ng6 11. Bd2 Be7 12. O-O-O O-O 13. f4 Bd7 14. g4
Rac8 15. h4 Bc5 16. Nxc5 Qxc5 17. Qxc5 Rxc5 18. Bb4 Rc4 19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. f5
Nxe5 21. fxe6 Bxe6 22. g5 Nf3 23. Rd3 Nxh4 24. Rdh3 Bxh3 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalysis

/boardhistory.php?gameid=9040670

Answer: 6. ...Qa5+ is a tactic that comes up all the time, is a good one to commit to memory.
The black queen forks the bishop and king, winning a piece.

The keys to these types of tactics are:

A "loose" bishop on its fifth rank, that doesn't have a piece such as a knight on f3 or c3
protecting it.
The black c pawn that has moved, which allows the black queen to come out.
The white d pawn has moved, so when the black queen comes out it gives a check.
The white king hasn't castled yet.

Sometimes these tactics involve a first step, where the knight protecting the bishop is
deflected, often with a pawn move. Then the queen gives check.
Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #193 Tactics Time

Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but
uncomfortable actions. ~ Tim Ferriss

T his game is one I found by accident

searching the internet actually looking
for a more famous game.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk with you about the

subject of "multitasking".

In today's world we are all just getting

bombarded with distractions and interruptions.
Cell phones, SMS text messages, Facebook,
iPods, satellite radio, cable television, computers,
magazines, books, YouTube, digital assistants,
advertising, tablet PCs, e-mail, twitter, instance messengers, e-Book readers, etc, etc.

Something is always fighting for our attention.

Most people like to think of themselves as good "multitaskers". They are able to do more than
one thing at a time.

This can be a good skill to have, especially in areas such as cooking, where you have to do two
things at the same time. Like start the water boiling, heat the oven, and peel the potatoes all at
the same time.

But in the world of chess I think multitasking can be a disaster.

Tim Ferriss wrote an interesting blog post a few years ago, where he said that smoking pot
actually lowers your IQ LESS than multitasking.

They tested people who were high on drugs against people who were using their blackberry
during an IQ test, and the people who were high did better!

You can read the blog post here, http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/24

/marijuana-trumps-blackberries-for-productivity-and-amazon-challenge/
 Tim talks a lot about ideas such as doing an "e-mail detox", and "low information diet".

I see people at chess tournaments these days texting during games, reading e-mails, posting to
facebook and twitter, listening to their iPods etc. These things are fun, but may be costing you
rating points.

My suggestion is to "unplug from the matrix" during your game, and focus on just one thing -
winning!!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Rated game"]

[Site "http://lichess.org/"]
[Date "2011-02-27"]
[White "robi"]
[Black "toma-st"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1719"]
[BlackElo "1390"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[Variant "standard"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 d5 3. Nf3 f6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e4 Bb4 6. exd5 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 exd5 8. Bd3 Be6 9. Qe2
Kf7 10. O-O Nh6 11. Bxh6 gxh6 12. cxd5 Bxd5 13. Rae1 Nd7 14. Nh4 Nf8 15. Qh5+ Kg8 16. Qxh6
Rc8 17. Nf5 Rc7 18. Qg7+ Rxg7 19. Nh6# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/robi-vs-toma-st/

Answer:

White has a cute little smothered mate, and queen sacrifice with 18. Qg7+ Rxg7 19. Nh6#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

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 If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #194 Tactics Time

Tactics are the heart of chess. They are always there, all of the time. ~ John Herron

T oday I want to introduce you to a new

chess tactic idea created by John
Herron, author of the excellent book
"Total Chess: Learn, Teach and Play the Easy
1-2-3 Way".

In the position on the right (from John's book,

page 332) it is White to move.

Answer below.

John was nice enough to send me a copy of his

book, which has some really interesting ideas on
the subject of chess tactics.

We did a podcast together a while ago, where

we discussed some of John's ideas. You can
listen to that here: http://tacticstime.com/books/john-herron-podcast/

John breaks tactics down into different categories, one of which are "delay tactics".

John writes (page 332), "Delay tactics do not occur immediately, but happen some time after
the initial move. They all come from the the German word "zug" (pronounced 'tsook') meaning to
pull or tug.

Nachzügler can be translated as "latecomer" and John defines it as a tactic coming after another
tactic.

In section 5.8.1 John writes "A nachzügler tactic pronounced 'NAHK-tsook-luhr') happens when
a tactic by one player leads to a position allowing a tactic by the other player. The first player
does not look ahead far enough to see what will happen after his tactic. A nachzügler is also
called a latecomer, a straggler, or a comeback".

John's book is a real labor of love, and would be a great tool for teaching children chess. It has
a great section on tactics, as well as openings, endings, strategy, rules and all aspects of the
game. I highly recommend it. You can check it out here: http://hairballpublishing.sharepoint.com
/Pages/default.aspx
 Answer:

John writes,

"White wins a bishop, but black plans to get back a rook with a skewer tactic. 1. gxf5 Rg1+ 2.
Ke2 Rxa1

This is as far ahead as black looked. He thinks he has won the exchange, but black's king and
rook are now in position for a fork tactic.

3. Bd4+! Kf8 4. Bxa1. Win wins a bishop.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
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Newsletter Issue #195 Tactics Time

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later. ~ Og Mandino

T his position comes from the book

"Combinations: The Heart of Chess"
(1967) by Irving Chernev, page 21 in
the chapter "Simple and Pleasing".

In the position on the right it is Black to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to share a great exercpt from

Brian Tracy's book "No Excuses". You can read
the first chapter here (highly recommended):
http://media.briantracy.com/downloads
/pdf/NoExcusesChp1.pdf

In this section Brian Tracy is talking about

getting to the top of your chosen area.

---

The Great Law

Then I learned the "Iron Law of the Universe," which made getting into the top 20 percent
possible. It was the Law of Cause and Effect, or sowing and reaping. This law says that "for every
effect, there is a specific cause or series of causes."

This law says that if you want to achieve success in any area, you must determine how success
is achieved in that area and then practice those skills and activities repeatedly
until you achieve the same results.

Here's the rule: "If you do what other successful people do, over and over again, nothing can
stop you from eventually enjoying the same rewards that they do. But if you don't do what
successful people do, nothing can help you."

The law of sowing and reaping, from the Old Testament, is a variation of The Law of Cause and
Effect. It says that "whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap." This law says that
whatever you put in, you get out.
 It also says that whatever you are reaping today is a result of what you have sown in the past.

So if you are not happy with your current "crop," it is up to you, starting today, to plant a new
crop, to begin doing more of those things that lead to success--and to stop engaging in those
activities that lead nowhere.

---

I loved this section, and the whole book is fantastic.

To me with chess tactics they key sections are "over and over" and "sowing and reaping". With
chess tactics you have to do them over and over. With each new pattern that you put in your
brain you are planting a seed. These seeds later turn into crops of rating points!

If you want to start planting more seeds now, check out my tactics time training database,
which you can find on my website at http://tacticstime.com under "Product Information".

Answer:

This books' description is "Explanations for the famous and less well-known combinations of
Tarrasch, Botvinnik, Nimzovich, Steinitz, Rubinstein; the dazzling brilliancies of Morphy, Keres,
and Alekhine; the deadly attacks of Marshall; the unfathomable plays of Lasker; and the
matchless creations of Capablanca and many others. 356 diagrams."

The book contains many famous chess positions which are now considered "classics", including
this one, from the game Gygli - Henneberger, Zurich 1941.

Here black played the brilliant 1...Ne2+ 2.Kh1 Qxg4! 3. hxg4 Rh5+! 4. gxh5 Rh4# which is
sometimes called a "corridor mate".

Black gives up both the queen and rook to deliver this beautiful checkmate. Chernev wrote: "A
great deal of material may sometimes be sacrificed for the sake of getting in one healthy check on
an open file."

White can avoid the checkmate, but then will be down either a knight or queen.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

 Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #196 Tactics Time

A deep study is forcing moves is probably the single most important task toward
achieving chess mastery ~ Charles Hertan

T his game was played on gameknot.com

and was posted on reddit.com under
the title "Must admit, I was proud of
this trap and the subsequent mate (I'm white)",
which you can read here: http://redd.it/wzhgy

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

This game shows some good examples of

"forcing moves". White missed a forcing move
early in the game, but won on a completely non
forcing move later in the game, when his
opponent missed a threat, and grabbed a piece
that appeared to be "free".

From the excellent chess book "Forcing Moves" by Charles Hertan:

"A forcing move is a move which limits the opponent's options. Nothing more or less. Many
players think only of checks, captures or flashy sacrifices when they hear this term. While checks
and captures do tend to be forcing, frequently the are far from the most forcing choices."

"The first step towards developing better calculation skills is to train yourself to always analyze
the most forcing moves first. This is not always because they are the best! The most forcing
move may lose outright, and usually does! There are three compelling reasons why analyzing
forcing moves first is necessary:

1. Forcing moves have the potential to transform the game, by leading to gains of material,
checkmate or other concrete gains. When they do work, they tend to work better and quicker
than non forcing options.

2. Analyzing the most forcing moves saves precious time. If they work, there is no need to look
any further! Countless winning positions have been squandered by players who wasted huge
amounts of time examining obscure ideas, when a clearly decisive forcing move was available.

3. Forcing moves limit the opponent's options, and thereby reduce the risk of a calculation
error. Fewer replies to calculate means less chance of slipping up, so all things being equal, the
most forcing option is simplest and best."

Here is the complete game:

[Event "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?b"]
[Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?b"]
[Date "2012.07.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "ruhurt"]
[Black "h_e_m_m_e"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C70"]
[WhiteElo "1408"]
[BlackElo "1371"]
[PlyCount "41"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 h6 6. c3 Nf6 7. O-O Na5 8. d4

Nxb3 9. Qxb3 Nxe4 10. Nxe5 d5 11. Re1 Be7 12. Nd2 Be6 13. Nxe4 O-O 14. Ng3 Qd6
15. Bf4 g5 16. Bd2 Kg7 17. Nh5+ Kh8 18. Qc2 Rg8 19. Re3 c5 20. Rh3 Bxh3 21.
Nxf7# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/ruhurt-vs-h_e_m_m_e/

Answer:

In the game White missed 12. Rxe4! which would win a piece. If black recaptures with
12...dxe4 they would be mated with 13. Qxf7#

White sets a cute trap at the end, with a nice checkmate as well that is worth checking out.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

 If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com!

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

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #197 Tactics Time

Of Chess it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life,
not chess. - William Ewart Napier

T his game appears in Bill Wall's book

"500 Caro-Kann Minatures".

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Today I want to talk with you about a mating

pattern called "Boden's mate", which is
characterized by a king being mated by two
bishops on criss-crossing diagonals, with possible
flight squares blocked by friendly pieces.

From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Boden%27s_Mate

Boden's Mate is a checkmating pattern in chess characterized by bishops on two criss-crossing

diagonals (for example, bishops on a6 and f4 delivering mate to a king on c8), with possible flight
squares for the king being occupied by friendly pieces.

Most often the checkmated king has castled queenside, and is mated on c8 or c1. Many variants
on the mate are seen, for example a king on e8 checkmated by bishops on g6 and a3, and a king
on f1 checkmated by bishops on h3 and b6.

Often the mate is immediately preceded by a sacrifice that opens up the diagonal on which the
bishop delivers checkmate.

The mate is named for Samuel Boden, who played a famous early example of it in Schulder-
Boden, London 1853. However, it had been known previously from the game Horwitz-Popel,
Hamburg 1844.

The wikipedia article has several good examples, and this is a great tactical pattern to know. At
the very first game I played at the Denver chess club years ago, I thought I had a totally winning
position, but fell for a Boden's mate that came out of nowhere.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Bordeaux"]
[Date "1915.??.??"]
[White "Gundin"]
[Black "Guerineau"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B19"]
[PlyCount "29"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 e6 8. Ne5

Bh7 9. Be2 Nd7 10. Bf4 Ngf6 11. Bf3 Nd5 12. Bxd5 exd5 13. Qe2 Qe7 14. O-O O-O-O
15. Nxc6 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/gundin-vs-guerineau/

Answer:

15. ...bxc6 16. Qa6# is a Boden's mate if 15. ...Qxe2 16 Nxa7#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #198 Tactics Time

I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander. ~ Isaac Asimov

T his position comes from two top

Grandmasters, with a tactic that was
missed from the 2012 Biel Chess
Festival.

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

Some software and websites that offer chess

tactics to solve have a timer to go along with the
problem. You get more or less points based on
how long it takes you to solve it.

This sometimes gets players in the bad habit of

just making a move quickly, and guessing so
that they can get the maximum amount of "points".

This type of system introduces a second reward, which can have unintended consequences.

The normal reward for doing a chess problem is getting it correct. Now you have to get it
correct, and fast. So people might sacrifice the first reward (solving the problem), to try and get
the second one (speed bonus). If they guess right, they get both rewards. If they get it wrong,
they just go to the next problem, and repeat this process.

This obviously builds bad habits.

I saw this excellent comment on one of the chess tactics on chess.com regarding the speed of
solving chess tactics, and thought it was brilliant.

Ralifnator writes:

"One of the fallacies of chess improvement (as is the case in many endeavors), is that in order
be able to do something quickly you should practice it quickly. The truth is that in order perform
quickly you must practice OFTEN! Speed comes with practicing something often. There is really
nothing you can do to "speed up" your ability to solve tactics other than solving a awful lot of
problems.
 Seeing tactical possibilities in chess is a matter of pattern recognition. You are not likely to
quickly find patterns you haven't seen before.

Also, don't make the mistake of trying to solve every problem no matter how long it takes.
Unless you are trying to train your ability to calculate variations (which is different from the tactics
training we're talking about here), you should spend no more than two minutes on any puzzle. If
you can't find the solution by then, look it up, as you clearly do not recognize the pattern.

If you study a book of tactics where most of the problems take you more than 5 minutes to
solve, the puzzles are too hard for you. You simply are not recognizing the patterns. Tactics
training is all about increasing the number of patterns you can recognize, which means volume,
volume, volume!!! I can't stress that enough. If you want to get better at chess, make it a
life-long habit of solving 30 or more problems every day, taking no more than 1 - 2 minutes per
each."

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Biel Chess Festival"]

[Site "0:11:33-0:13:33"]
[Date "2012.07.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Alexander Morozevich"]
[Black "Anish Giri"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D97"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Be6 8.

Qb5 Bd7 9. Qc5 b6 10. Qg5 c5 11. dxc5 Bc6 12. Qh4 bxc5 13. Be2 e6 14. Bg5 h6
15. Bxh6 Nxe4 16. Qf4 Nxc3 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. bxc3 Qf6 19. Qe3 Nd7 20. O-O Rab8
21. Rfd1 Rfd8 22. h3 Bd5 23. a4 a5 24. Rab1 Bb3 25. Rd6 Bxa4 26. Ra1 Qe7 27.
Ra6 Bb5 28. Bxb5 Rxb5 29. Ra7 Rdb8 30. Ne5 R8b7 31. Rxb7 Rxb7 32. Rxa5 Qd6 33.
f4 Rb1+ 34. Kh2 Nxe5 35. fxe5 Qd1 36. Qf2 Qh1+ 37. Kg3 Rf1 38. Qxc5 Rd1 39. Qe3
Qf1 40. Kh2 Re1 41. Qd2 Qg1+ 42. Kg3 Re3+ 43. Kf4 g5+ 44. Kg4 Kh6 45. Ra4 Rxe5
46. h4 f6 47. Kf3 Qh2 48. hxg5+ fxg5 49. Re4 Rf5+ 50. Ke3 Qg3+ 51. Kd4 0-1

You can play through this game here: http://www.chessgames.com

/perl/chessgame?gid=1672613

Answer:

Morozevich missed 33.Qh6+ Kxh6 34.Nxf7+ king moves, 35. Nxd6, winning a pawn, and
screwing up black's pawn structure, leaving him with 3 isolated pawns.

If 33.Qh6+ Kg8 34. Qh8+! Kxh8 35. Nxf7+ king moves, 35. Nxd6

Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

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Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #199 Tactics Time

I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence. ~ Ayrton Senna

T his game was played on chess.com

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

The "C-D" Gap is an idea that I learned from

business coach Lou D'Alo.

Whenever we want to accomplish something

we start off with this great desire - which is
what the "D" stands for in C-D Gap.

So for chess, we might decide - I am going to

become really good at chess! And we start off
with all this confidence, and excitement and energy about this goal.

However, we may lack the competence that is really needed to achieve this desire.
Competence is the "C" in C-D gap.

So, then we realize that this is all this stuff that we don't know about chess that is out there.
We realize need to learn openings. Then gap between what we desire and what we know gets
bigger.

Then we realize there is a huge body of knowledge about endgames that we don't know. So our
gap grows bigger still.

Then the same pattern appears for pawn structures, and middle game strategy, and planning,
and tactics, etc, etc.

So what we are talking about is the gap between what we desire (getting good at chess), and
the competency that we lack.

You could think of it as a graph with Desire on the "Y" axis, and competence on the "X axis.

High Desire Low Competence = Frustrated High Desire High Competence = Joy
Low Desire Low Competence = OK Low Desire High Competence = Bored

If you desire is low, and your competence is low, then you really don't care, and you don't
have skills, so everything is ok.

If you desire is low, but your competence is high, then you are really good, but you don't care,
so you will be bored.

When you have high desire, and high competence, then this is joy. This is the "flow state".
You love what you do, and you are really good at it.

However where a lot of chess players get frustrated and overwhelmed is where your desire is
high, and your competence is low.

The deeper this gap is - the more unhappy and frustrated you can become. It can make you
feel stuck, and possibly even want to give up chess.

Meanwhile you may be spending time, money and energy on things like chess books, software,
lessons, etc, and possibly not even seeing any progress!

So this just makes the situation worse.

So what is the solution? The key is to know what steps to do, and what order to do them in,
and then do those steps.

One way to do this is to set your desire to be the next level. So if you are a 1200 rated player,
your desire should be to be a 1300 player (not a master or grandmaster, which has too large of a
C-D gap).

Figure out the skills that 1300 players have that you do not have, and work toward those.
Along the way play in tournaments against other 1200-1300 rated players so that you get some
confidence, and avoid frustration.

So instead of having one huge competence desire gap, you break it down into smaller
competence desire gaps. This will allow you to avoid getting overwhelmed, frustrated, and
experience some successes on your chess journey.

By creating a smaller C-D gap you can create a pattern where you accomplish, achieve and
celebrate. Then set a new small C-D gap, accomplish, achieve and celebrate!

Here is the complete game:

[Event "SEA vs BOBBY FISCHER - Board 12"]

[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2009.03.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "bigdoug"]
[Black "StellaWong"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2048"]
[BlackElo "1896"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]
[TimeControl "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. d4 Bg4 7. dxe5 Bxf3 8.

Qxf3 dxe5 9. O-O Bd6 10. Qc3 a5 11. Qxc6+ Kf8 12. Bg5 f6 13. Be3 Ne7 14. Qc4
Qd7 15. Nc3 c6 16. Rad1 Qc7 17. Na4 Rb8 18. Bc5 Nc8 19. Rxd6 Nxd6 20. Rd1 Rd8
21. Rxd6 Rxd6 22. Qe6 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=17496764

Answer:

22. Qe6 adds a second attacker to the pinned piece, and will win it. Worse is taking the rook
right away, and just trading the bishop for a rook, only winning the exchange.

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,

Like Tactics Time on Facebook.

Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.

Check out the Tactics Time Blog.

If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them!
Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read?
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© Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.

Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter
Newsletter Issue #200 Tactics Time

A man might play a million games of chess and never duplicate Canal's feat. ~ Irving
Chernev in Wonders and Curiosities of Chess on the game below

T his is the 200th issue of the Tactics

Time Newsletter! Today I want to
share a special and beautiful tactic
known as the "Peruvian Immortal".

In the position on the right it is White to

move.

Answer below.

When I first started putting out my newsletter,

I only had 3 subscribers, all good friends of mine
here in Colorado - Fred Spell, Anthea Carson,
and Randy Reynolds. So I had no idea if people
would like it, or if I would run out of things to
say.

Now I have subscribers from literally all over the world, including kids, adults, strong players,
those just learning the rules, chess teachers, journalists, and everything in between.

So thank you so much for your support! These newsletter have been a lot of fun for me to do,
and I love hearing stories from people who have made ridiculous improvement in their chess game
from just making small adjustments to their play and study.

Lately I have been getting more into looking at some of the "classic" and "famous" games and
tactics in chess history. Many of the positions I had seen in chess problem books before, but
never knew the stories behind them.

This position comes from a game that has its own wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Peruvian_Immortal.

From that page: [includes spoilers about the position, so solve it first if you haven't already]

The Peruvian Immortal is the name given to a spectacular chess game played by the Peruvian
master (later grandmaster) Esteban Canal against an unknown amateur in a simultaneous
exhibition he gave at Budapest in 1934. In just 14 moves, Canal sacrificed both his rooks and his
queen, finishing with Boden's mate.
 Julius du Mont in 200 Miniature Games of Chess calls it, "A charming game."

Irving Chernev writes in Wonders and Curiosities of Chess, "In 13 moves, Canal sacrifices both
Rooks and his Queen--and then mates on his 14th move! ... A man might play a million games of
chess and never duplicate Canal's feat."

Fred Reinfeld writes in Chess: Win in 20 Moves or Less,

"When Anderssen sacrificed two Rooks, the Queen etc. against Kieseritzky, the finished product
was described as 'the immortal game'. It might be more accurate to call it 'an immortal game', for
since that time there have been many claimants to the title. Not the least deserving is [this] little
gem, on which Canal may have lavished something less than five minutes. The game has the
blazing quality of a Liszt improvisation."

Here is the complete game:

[Event "Budapest Simul"]

[Date "1934.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Canal, Esteban"]
[Black "N.N."]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "27"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 c6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bf4 e6 7. h3 Bxf3 8.

Qxf3 Bb4 9. Be2 Nd7 10. a3 O-O-O 11. axb4 Qxa1+ 12. Kd2 Qxh1 13. Qxc6+ bxc6 14.
Ba6# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://tacticstime.com/peruvian-immortal/

Answer:

White sacrifices 2 Rooks and a Queen to deliver a Boden's Mate!

11. axb4!! Qxa1+ (gives up rook 1) 12. Kd2 Qxh1 (gives up rook 2) 13. Qxc6+!! (gives up
queen) bxc6 14. Ba6# 1-0

Happy Tactics!

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