Colorado Springs In The Pro Chess League = Mate In 11

All Things Chess
1

Greetings,

The Colorado Springs Chess Club has selected new officers for 2019!

Mark McGough has joined the board for his 1st term as Treasurer. President, Paul Anderson, and Vice President, Peter Barlay, return for their 4th terms.

2019 Colorado Springs Chess Club (CSCC) Annual Meeting

  1. 2018 Officers’ Report by Paul Anderson (President), Peter Barlay (Vice President), and Brian Rountree (Treasurer)
  2. 2019 Officer Appointments by Nomination Committee: Paul Anderson (President), Peter Barlay (Vice President), and Mark McGough (Treasurer)
  3. 2019 Rules Committee Meeting
    A. Brian Rountree motioned: Repeal 2018 motion (5th Tuesday of a month shall be a one-night event with a time control other than G/90+30) and 5th Tuesday of a month-long tournament shall be the 5th round.
    B. Dean Brown seconded.
    C. Rules Committee vote: 14-3 [motion PASSES]

The first event run by the new board is the 2019 Colorado Springs City Speed Chess Championship! The top six players to qualify for the Championship section were Paul Anderson, Campbell Dobbs, Alex Bozhenov, Mark McGough, Mike Smith, and Brian Rountree. I was able to go unbeaten and claim my 3rd title. 2nd place came down to the final round when Alex Bozhenov held a half game lead on Mike Smith but couldn’t hold off the upset, giving Mike Smith the money. In the Consolation Section, Kevin Kaaoush took 1st place and Peter Barlay earned 2nd place.

This event goes back eons to the time of Jerry Maguire! Here are the 10 Champions who said, “Show me the money!”

Colorado Springs City Speed Chess Champions

1996 Bruce Monson 1
1998 Ron Smits 3
2003 Jason Caldwell 5
2004 Brian Wall 6
2009 Mitchell Anderson 8
2010 David Meliti 9

2007 Richard Buchanan 7
2013 Richard Buchanan

2016 Paul Anderson 10
2018 Paul Anderson
2019 Paul Anderson

1997 Dan Avery 2
2000 Dan Avery
2001 Dan Avery
2008 Dan Avery
2011 Dan Avery
2012 Dan Avery

1999 Josh Bloomer 4
2002 Josh Bloomer
2005 Josh Bloomer
2006 Josh Bloomer
2014 Josh Bloomer
2015 Josh Bloomer
2017 Josh Bloomer

LM Josh Bloomer could not attend the Speed Championship to vie for his 8th title since he was recruited to play in the 2019 PRO CHESS LEAGUE, which pits our local master against the best in the world on Tuesday afternoons on the St Louis Arch Bishops with teammates GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Wesley So. Currently, the Arch Bishops are tied for the lead in the Atlantic Division with 41.5 points. Josh has personally added the 0.5 points when he survived mate in 11 to get the draw (see below).

The new board has created the 2019 schedule for the CSCC to include 8 month-long tournaments (G/90+30) and 4 special events for the first month of each quarter (JAN: Speed Champ, APR: Cabin Fever Reliever + April Quick Six, JUL: July Mating Game + July Quick Six, OCT: 55th City Champ). Look for our ads in Chess Life!

The events shown below are ones that are part of US Chess’s free Online TLA Service

Date Event Location Affiliate
2019-01-31 January One Night Quick Colorado Springs CO A5012031
Weekly February Swiss 90 Colorado Springs CO A5012031

The events shown below are ones that have been or will be advertised in Chess Life or Chess Life for Kids:

Date Event Location TLA in Affiliate
2019-04-26 2019 Denver Open Centennial CO 2019-03 CL A5016762

The events shown below are ones that have been or will be advertised in Chess Life or Chess Life for Kids:
Date Event Location TLA in Affiliate
2019-04-02 Cabin Fever Reliever Colorado Springs CO 2019-03 CL A5012031

The events shown below are ones that are part of US Chess’s free Online TLA Service. There may be some duplication between events in this list and in the list of events in Chess Life:
Date Event Location Affiliate
Weekly March Swiss 90 Colorado Springs CO A5012031

This week’s game comes from LM Josh Bloomer and the 2019 PRO CHESS LEAGUE. It is white to move and mate in 11.

See diagram and answer here:

cschess.webs.com/apps/photos/ph … =205531096

[Event “PRO League Group Stage”]
[Site “https://cschess.webs.com/”]
[Date “2019.01.16”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Cervantes Landeiro, Thalia”]
[Black “Bloomer, Josh”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “WIM”]
[WhiteElo “2159”]
[BlackElo “1950”]
[ECO “E84”]
[Opening “King’s Indian”]
[Variation “Saemisch, Panno main line”]
[WhiteTeam “Webster Windmills”]
[BlackTeam “Saint Louis Arch Bishops”]
[WhiteFideId “3520498”]
[BlackFideId “2020416”]
[EventDate “2019.01.08”]

  1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Nge2 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2
    Rb8 9. d5 Ne5 10. Nd4 c5 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. f4 c5 13. Nb3 Nc6 14. Be2 a5 15. O-O
    a4 16. Nxa4 Nxe4 17. Qd5 Nf6 18. Qd1 Nb4 19. Nc3 Bf5 20. Rc1 Ne4 21. g4 Nxc3 22.
    bxc3 Nxa2 23. gxf5 Nxc1 24. Nxc1 Bxc3 25. fxg6 hxg6 26. f5 Kg7 27. Bd3 Bd4 28.
    Bxd4+ cxd4 29. Qg4 Qa5 30. fxg6 f6 31. Ne2 Rb3 32. Nxd4 Qa7 33. Kh1 Rxd3 34.
    Ne6+ Kg8 35. Nxf8 Qb7+ 36. Kg1 Qb6+ 37. Kh1 Qc6+ 38. Kg1 Qc5+ 39. Kh1 Qc6+ 40.
    Kg1 Qc5+ 41. Kh1 Qc6+ 42. Kg1 Qc5+ 1/2-1/2
2

You know the mate in 11 is not immediately obvious, except to a computer, but the key move so obviously wins (Black has to give up gobs of material to stave off immediate mate) that I’m stunned WIM Cervantes didn’t try it. Was she very low on time?

Alex Relyea

3

Alex, maybe missed c5 which stops the perpetual?

…scot…

4

She must have been down to seconds on her clock and missed the c5 move.Shame

5

I didn’t see the game live, but I would guess time was a factor.

Does anyone know what time control the PRO CHESS LEAGUE uses?

6

I think I saw that the games are Rapid 15/2 and 10/2.

7

Anybody know how to set up Fritz 14 to check for a mate? I can’t figure out how to find the Mate engine in Fritz. Apparently it’s been part of the Fritz program since at least the 2007 version.