Tactics Time Chess Newsletter: Lets go Bucs
Published: Thu, 09/26/13
| Newsletter Issue Lets go Bucs | Tactics Time | ||||||||||
| Lets Go Bucs! | |||||||||||
his position comes from the game
Jules Carter vs Andre Patin, Denver Chess Club, Round 3, August 20, 2013
In the position on the right it is Black to move.
Answer below.
Today I would like to take a detour, and talk about the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team.
As you may know, I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA.
Baseball was always my favorite sport to watch, even though Pittsburgh is known more as a Football town. My favorite player was always Kent Tekulve, who was a side arm relief pitcher, and now works on the broadcast team.
The Pirates were a pretty good team when I was in high school. They made the playoffs for several years, and had a promising future, with great players like Barry Bonds leading the team.
Then in 1992, they lost a devastating game to the Atlanta Braves, where they blew a 2-0 lead in the 9th inning. There was a close call at the plate, but former Pirate Sid Bream, who was slow as dirt after 5 knee surgeries, was called safe. You can see this play here: http://wapc.mlb.com/play?content_id=3251567 After this heart breaking loss, the team went into a horrible losing streak. They had 21 consecutive losing seasons! This was 21 seasons where they lost more games than they won. This was the most EVER of ANY major sporting team in North America (Football, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball).
To put this in perspective, the New York Yankees have had only 21 losing seasons TOTAL from 1903 to 2013. The Pirates had this many IN A ROW!
The Pirates tried everything - they built a new stadium, managers came and went, there were new owners and general managers, etc. The Pirates became a joke, while the other sports teams in the city (The Penguins of the NHL, and Steelers of the NFL) continued to win championships and have success.
Finally, this year, the Pirates ended the losing streak! Not only that, they clinched a spot in the playoffs!
I think there is a good lesson from Tony Robbins that I really like, which you could apply to this situation, and to your chess game.
Robbins says "Your past does not equal your future".
Just because you lost 21 seasons in a row, doesn't mean that your 22nd has to be a loser as well.
The Pirates tried a lot of different things. Some worked, and many didn't work, but they finally found a winning formula.
Often in the chess world, I have seen players go on a downward spiral. They suffer a bad loss in one game, and they are so upset that it causes them to lose the next game as well.
Or some players just give up, and feel they can no longer improve. They like to play, but they give up on trying any form of improvement.
You have to BELIEVE that you can win. I heard manager Clint Hurdle saying that this was one of the biggest challenges for the Pirates. They had been losers for so long, that they had to break out of this mindset, which wasn't easy.
Many times players will see they are paired with a higher rated player, and they get a feeling that there is no way they can win. The game is over before it even begins.
You have to BELIEVE that improvement is possible. Don't make excuses. If something that you have been doing is working - keep doing it! If something you are doing isn't working - stop doing it! Many times someone finds something that works, then stops doing it. Don't do that! For example, if studying tactics is helping your game - keep doing it!
So, congrats to my Pirates! Good luck in the playoffs!!
Here is the complete game: [Event "Denver Chess Club August 2013"] [Site "Denver, CO"] [Date "2013.08.20"] [Round "3"] [White "Carter, Jules"] [Black "Patin, Andre"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "1412"] [BlackElo "1825"] [PlyCount "75"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Be2 Qa5 5. Bd2 e5 6. Nd5 Qd8 7. Nxf6+ Qxf6 8. d5 Qg6 9. Bf3 cxd5 10. exd5 Bf5 11. Rc1 e4 12. Qe2 Be7 13. g4 exf3 14. gxf5 Qxf5 15. Qxf3 Qe5+ 16. Be3 Qxb2 17. Ne2 Nd7 18. Bd4 Qxa2 19. Bxg7 Rg8 20. Bd4 Qc4 21. Qf5 Rg6 22. c3 Nc5 23. Rd1 a5 24. Nf4 Rg5 25. Qxh7 O-O-O 26. h4 Rg4 27. Qf5+ Kb8 28. Qxg4 Re8 29. Ne2 Bf6 30. Rd2 Ne4 31. Rb2 Nxc3 32. Ba7+ Kxa7 33. Qxc4 a4 34. Rxb7+ Kxb7 35. Qc6+ Ka7 36. Qxe8 a3 37. Nxc3 Bxc3+ 38. Ke2 1-0 You can play through this game here: http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2013/9/26/Game598766141.html
Answer: In this position both queens are under attack by pawns. Here Black played the instinct move 14...Qxf5 to save his queen, then white saved their queen with 15. Qxf3.
But Black missed a chance to win a piece with the move 14...Qxg1+! taking the knight with check, THEN capturing the white queen. Black comes out ahead a piece.
This is one of my favorite positions from Tactics Time 2 (http://www.amazon.com/Tactics-Time-Chess-Games-ebook/dp/B00F2NOCTU) actually. I like it because it is not the type of position that you see in a lot of typical tactics books, but is the kind of thing that happens a lot in real games, and is VERY easy to miss, as was the case in this game. When your queen is attacked, your first instinct is - I better move this! Always be on the lookout for in between moves like this, especially ones that are checks and captures!
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
 P.S. Fred Spell's Gentlemen's Chess Club is having the "Tri Lakes Open" Chess tournament next weekend, October 5-6 in Monument, CO. I will be there, and I am looking forward to it! You can get more info at http://www.gentlemenschessclub.com/4852.html
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� Copyright 2011-2013 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.
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The past does not equal your future ~ Tony Robbins
