Make It So

All Things Chess
1

Greetings,

The Colorado Springs Chess Club started the April Swiss 75 (G/75+30, 4SS, $10 entry, prizes) this past Tuesday. There is still time to join and get 3 games of rated chess! Also, this Friday will be another Quick chess night at IHOP, along with slow chess on Wednesday and Thursday. See the club calendar for details.

The USCF sent out a reminder about the Denver Open:

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

2015-06-13 The Denver Open Denver CO 2015-06 CL A5016762

This week’s position comes from guest writer, Tim Brennan. He has been very helpful with my newsletter, often writing some very encouraging things about me. So, I thought I would return the favor and give you my #5greatthings about Tim:

Giving:  He loaned me his demo board.
Selfless:  He would rather have some kids use the board instead of it collecting dust.
Patient:  He has never asked for his board back.
Clever:  He can give you a guilt trip without you even knowing it.
Funny:  He actually thought he was going to win my March Madness pool but lost, in 6th place (out of 7), to "Random" Randy Reyonlds.  Nice job, Randy!

It is white to move.

See the diagram and answer here:
cschess.webs.com/apps/photos/pho … =198102806

Read The Newsletter!
cschess.webs.com/apps/blog/show/ … make-it-so

  1. Game Of The Week: Make It So
  2. This Week In Chess: April Swiss standings

2015 Calendar Of Events for the Colorado Springs Chess Club:
cschess.webs.com/apps/calendar/

For additional events, see the following websites:

Denver Chess Club: DCC (denverchess.com)
Colorado State Chess Association: CSCA (colorado-chess.com/)
Wyoming Chess Association: WCA (wyomingchess.com/)

Make It So

chessvideos.tv/chess-game-re … ?id=101159

[Event “Colorado Springs Open”]
[Site “http://cschess.webs.com/”]
[Date “2015.03.07”]
[Round “2.1”]
[White “Brennan, Tim”]
[Black “Wall, Brian”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “B00”]
[WhiteElo “1816”]
[BlackElo “2278”]
[PlyCount “104”]
[EventDate “2015.03.07”]

  1. e4 a6 2. d4 e6 3. c4 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bd6 6. Nc3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. f4
    Bc7 9. Qe2 d6 10. Be3 Nf6 11. g4 d5 12. cxd5 exd5 13. exd5 O-O 14. O-O-O Re8
  2. Nc2 Bxf4 16. Qf2 Bxe3+ 17. Nxe3 Nfd7 18. Rhf1 Ne5 19. Bc2 Nbd7 20. Qf5 g6
  3. Qf4 Qh4 22. h3 Rf8 23. Kb1 Rab8 24. Bb3 Kg7 25. Ne4 h6 26. Ng2 Qd8 27. g5
    h5 28. Nf6 b5 29. Qe4 Nc4 30. Nf4 Nxf6 31. gxf6+ Kh6 32. Bxc4 bxc4 33. Qe3 Re8
  4. Ne6+ Kh7 35. Nxd8 Rxe3 36. Nxf7 Rf8 37. Ng5+ Kh6 38. h4 Bc8 39. f7 Kg7 40.
    Rde1 Bf5+ 41. Kc1 Rd3 42. Ne6+ Kxf7 43. Nxf8 Kxf8 44. Rd1 Ke7 45. Rxd3 cxd3 46.
    Kd2 Kd6 47. Rf4 Kxd5 48. Ra4 Ke5 49. Rxa6 Kf4 50. Ra4+ Kg3 51. Rd4 g5 52. hxg5
    h4 1/2-1/2
2

Is there a plausible move that doesn’t win in the above position?

53.Rd8 might be the most human move. There’s only one easy line to calculate.

  1. Rd8 h3 (everything else is too slow) 54. Rh8 h2 (threatens 55…Bh3) 55. Rxh2 Kxh2 56. b4 Kg3 57. b5 Kf4 58. b6! Be4 59. g6! and the poor bishop is overworked.
3

53 Rd6 is better because it supports pushing the g pawn.

  1. Rd6 h3 54. Rh6 Kf4 (A:54… Kg2 55. g6 Be6 56. a4 h2 57. g7 h1=Q 58. Rxh1 Kxh1 59. a5 Kg2 60. a6 Kf3 61. a7 Bd5 62. g8=Q Bxg8 63. a8=Q+; B:54…h2 55 g6! Bh3 57 g7 h1/Q 58 g8/Q+ and White will mate, or win the Bishop, or win the Queen) 55. g6 Be6 56. g7 and its all over.
4

And yet the game was actually drawn!