Tactics Time Newsletter: Opening Trap, New in Chess

Published: Sat, 01/18/14

Today's Tactic: White to Move

White to Move.

From the game Brian Wall vs IM Ruslan Yandarbiev, ICC, Jan 12, 2014

New in Chess Magazine goes digital!

Press Release from New in Chess (the publisher of my paperback book, Tactics Time!)

AMSTERDAM - New In Chess, the world's premier chess magazine, is now available as a digital, interactive edition. The publisher will give away 50.000 free copies of issue 2013#8.

In the first digital chess magazine with a gameviewer the reader can play through all games that are annotated by top GM's. New In Chess has regular contributions by Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Svidler, Nigel Short, Anish Giri, Jan Timman and many more.

"I am delighted that you can replay all games without the need of a chess set", says editor-in-chief Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam. "This digital edition travels well. It is great that our readers can now choose between a paper and a digital edition. Or enjoy both!"

Issue 2013#8 has a special report on the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand. Top-GM Anish Giri analyses the crucial games of the match. Vishy Anand explains why he lost and Russian GM Sergey Shipov points out why Carlsen won.

This free digital issue, with a value of 11,99 euro, is now available as an app for iPad. The apps for Kindle Fire and Android tablets will be available soon.

To download the app and the free issue, please click here

What's your chess personality

I played a fun quiz the other day - you answer 20 questions related to chess, and it tells you what your "Chess personality" is. Some of the personalities include a "Grinder", " Genius", "Prodigy", "Mad Scientist", "Magician", etc.

here is the definition for Magician for example:

Magicians are the ultimate attackers. Magicians don't care too much if their play is objectively correct - they prefer to follow their intuition and fancy, creating complications and confusing their opponent. A Magician sees chess as a creative art, and creative art cannot be held captive by stern and fixed principles. Magicians can calculate well, but they sometimes do so quickly and carelessly, using their calculation to support what their intuition tells them. Magicians enjoy the unusual and spectacular, and can often become bored by slow maneuvering.

Check it out - takes a few minutes to go through, and is pretty fun!

http://www.chesspersonality.com/

Tactic Answer

This is an opening trap in what Brian Wall calls the "Nymphomaniac Attack" (1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5!)

David Kane, creator of the coffeehouse chess video series has even created a Nymphomaniac Attack video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaHKGIvTMFQ

This video is outstanding, and shows all kinds of cool tricks and traps in this opening. I watched several of his videos and loved all of them. Very well organized, with a great sense of humor, and not taking himself (or the openings) too seriously.

As Brian's game below shows, even strong players (here an International Master!) can fall for these types of traps.

I have played similar traps and tactics in the Grob opening.

Here is the complete game:

[Event "ICC 3 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2014.01.12"]
[Round "-"]
[White "BrianWall"]
[Black "IM : Ruslan Yandarbiev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2080"]
[BlackElo "2034"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann defense"]
[ECO "B10"]
[NIC "CK.01"]
[Time "02:49:39"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 Bg4 4. d4 e6 5. c3 c5 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. Qa4+
{Black resigns}
1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2014/1/18/Game203142224.html

Answer:

7.Qa4+! forks the Black King and Bishop on g4.

This is a great tactic pattern to know. The keys are:

* black has played e6, which prevents the bishop from doing a retreat to block the check.

* black has not played Nf6, which would protect the bishop,

* the fourth rank is clear.

Happy Tactics!

Your friend,

Tim Brennan

tim@tacticstime.com