Tactics Time Chess Newsletter: Check All Checks

Published: Sat, 01/11/14

Newsletter Issue Check All Checks Tactics Time 
Check All Checks

Check all checks! ~ Geoff Chandler

tactics position
 
 
T
 
 
 
his position comes from the game Brett Kildahl (1987) - Donna Alarie (1832), GWCC, Jan 9, 2014.
 
   In the position on the right it is Black to move
 
   Answer below.
 
 
   Today I would like to share a nice game and email that I got yesterday from Donna Alarie [edited for brevity]:
 
   Donna writes:
 
   Hi Tim,

    I'm going to send you one of my games from last night in which I can honestly say I would never have won if not for your tacticstime newsletters.  :)  I can put it into a pgn file if that's best for you.

   Thanks for your help.  :)

   Cheers,

   Donna
 
 
   Tim's comments:
 
   I really LOVE this tactic that Donna sent.  The position is very interesting.  Black is up a pawn, but their pawn structure is a little messed up, with doubled pawns, isolated pawns, etc.  Their King appears safe at first glance, but might not be that safe!  Black is about to queen a pawn, potentially.
 
   These are the kind of "critical positions" that often win or lose games.  If you make the right move, you win.  If you don't you lose.  
 
   In this case, there is really only one kill shot, and Black has to be very careful.  This is the point of the game that is tactics time.  You can't just play "hope chess" (as Dan Heisman says), and just make an obvious move.  You have to "crunch the numbers", and calculate the forcing lines.
 
   Donna was very vigilant about examining her opponent's threats, and not just playing the obvious and mindless move of queening the pawn.  She also took the time to examine her checks, threats and captures, which is critical.
 
 
   Here is the complete game:
 
[Event "GWCC"]
[Site "Microsoft"]
[Date "2014.01.09"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kildahl, Brett"]
[Black "Alarie, Donna"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A08"]
[WhiteElo "1987"]
[BlackElo "1832"]
[Annotator ",Donna"]
[PlyCount "90"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. d3 Bd6 6. Nbd2 Nge7 7. e4 d4 8. Nc4
f6 9. Nh4 O-O 10. f4 Be6 11. fxe5 Nxe5 12. Nxd6 Qxd6 13. Qe2 Rac8 14. b3 b5 15.
a4 a6 16. axb5 axb5 17. Bf4 Ra8 18. Nf5 Nxf5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. exf5 Bd5 21.
Bxe5 fxe5 22. Bxd5+ Qxd5 23. Qg2 Qxg2+ 24. Kxg2 Kf7 25. Kf3 c4 26. Ke4 cxb3 27.
cxb3 Kf6 28. g4 Ra2 29. h4 Re2+ 30. Kd5 h6 31. Ra1 Re3 32. Ra6+ Kf7 33. Ra7+
Kg8 34. Ke6 e4 35. Ra8+ Kh7 36. g5 hxg5 37. hxg5 exd3+ 38. Kf7 d2 39. Ra6 Re7+
40. Kxe7 d1=Q 41. Kf8 Qxb3 42. Rh6+ gxh6 43. g6+ Kh8 44. f6 Qe6 45. f7 Qxg6 0-1


 
   You can play through this game here: http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2014/1/11/Game1003327809.html
 
 
   Answer:
 
   My response to this tactic (which Donna sent in a new email)
 
   Oh wow!  VERY NICE!!  That is a great one!  Black had no time to waste - it was a race to see who could sac their rook first!!

   The cool thing about that position is really you can make it a puzzle with both White to move, and Black to move!

   Thanks Donna!

   Nice work!
 
   The first thing to see in this position is that Black cannot queen their pawn.  If they play 39...d8=Q?? they get checkmated with 
 
   40.Rh6+ gxh6 41.g6+ Kh8 42.g7+ Kh7 43.g8Q#
 
   White's pawns are dangerous.
 
   So Black has to find time to Queen their pawn, and escape this mating net.  And she did it with the Rook sacrifice 39...Re7+!!  BOOYAH!!
 
   Now after either 40.Kxe7 or 40.Kf8 (the only two ways to get out of check), the mating net is gone, and Black can continue their walk down the red carpet with 40...d1=Q, trading down into a winning endgame.
 
   Donna wrote about the move  39...Re7+!!
 
   This is the move I made because of Tactics time.  When Brett played Ra6, I thought it was a particularly strange move because I had been anticipating something like the variation above with Rg8.  Then I thought, "What are all the checks he can make even if it looks stupid?" I then saw the forced mate in the below variation and figured the only way to prevent it was
to pull the King off for a tempo which actually would then let me Queen first
and gain tempo and a save by Qxb3. 
 
   Thank you Tim!  Without tactics time, Brett would have been a much happier camper!  :)
 
 
 
   Happy Tactics!
 
   Your Friend,
 
  Tim
 
   P.S. My Tactics Time co-author Anthea Carson is playing at the Boston Chess Congress this weekend, so if you are playing, be sure and stop and say hi to her!  There is also an educational expo being held at the same time, and same location.  More info on the tournament here: http://www.chesstour.com/bcc14.htm
 
 
Tactics Time
 
     Like Tactics Time on Facebook.
     Follow TacticsTime on Twitter!Follow Tactics Time on Twitter.
     Check out the Tactics Time BlogCheck out the Tactics Time Blog.
     Check out the Tactics Time eBookRead the Tactics Time Kindle eBook.
     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 2011-2014 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.
Tactics Time   |   Podcasts   |   Product Information   |   101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter