Tactics Time Newsletter: Secret Sauce

Published: Tue, 12/16/14

Newsletter Issue Tactics Time Newsletter Secret Sauce

Tactics Time

Secret Sauce

I'm so optimistic, I'd go after Moby Dick in a rowboat and take the tartar sauce with me. ~ Zig Ziglar


T

his position comes from the game Cory Foster (1615) vs Alex Freeman (1774) from the 2014 Winter Springs Open, played in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

White to move.

Answer below.

Today I would like to answer a "frequently asked question" that I get.

Q. How do you do make your "click and move" webpages.

A. Jeffrey Baffo was recently asking me about this, and others have asked me in the past.

So now I will share my "secret sauce", which took me a while to figure out.

I actually use a multiple step process. First I analyze the game using Fritz and the "Full Analysis mode" and the settings "Verbose", "Graphical", "Erase old annotations", Side: Both, Storage: Replace

This first step will annotate the game with text and variations.

Then I do a second pass through the game in "Blunder Check" mode, with the settings Side: Both, Output: Annotate as variations, Storage: Replace, Write Full variations, "Store Evaluation", "Check Main Line", "Check Variations".

What this second step does is assign a numerical value to each move - AND when you publish it to the interwebz, it makes a nice graph that shows what the numerical value was after each move.

The third step is that I open in the game in Chessbase (has to be Chessbase 12 or later), and I use the one click "Publish to Web" option.

So for example, here is a recent game of Jeff's http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2014/12/14/Game97017988.html

Just looking at the chart (in the bottom left corner), you can see that the game was basically even until around move 25 when Baffo unleashes a bone crusher.

I can pretty much just glance at this, and know there was probably a tactic at move 25 for black. Then, I can look at move 25, by clicking on it, and see what happened. Here, Jeff played a brilliant tactic 25...Re3!!

I have found that most class player games look like this one. They are pretty even during the opening and early middle game, then there are huge spikes where there is a tactical shot. Sometimes the players miss this shot (25...Re3 for example, would have been very easy to miss), and sometimes they find it. These are the types of positions I like to put in the books, newsletter, and now calendar :-) http://tacticstime.com/s/2015-daily-chess-calendar/

Speaking of calendars..., Anthea and I quickly sold out of the first batch of 60 calendars that we made. We have been trying to keep our heads above water with the orders, and ordered another batch of calendars once we realized we had drastically under estimated the demand.

So if you would like one, they are still available! I think they make a great gift and are a lot of fun. When you mom, girlfriend, wife, loved one, significant other, cult leader, etc, says "I don't know what to get you for Christmas", send them to http://tacticstime.com/s/2015-daily-chess-calendar/ :-)

Here is the game in PGN

[Event "Winter Springs Open"]
[Site "Manitou Springs, CO"]
[Date "2014.12.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Foster, Cory"]
[Black "Freeman, Alex"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "1615"]
[BlackElo "1774"]
[PlyCount "59"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Qxd5 4. Nf3 c6 5. Be2 Bf5 6. O-O e6 7. c4 Qd8 8. Nc3
Be7 9. Nh4 Bg6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Bf4 Nbd7 12. d5 exd5 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Nxd5
Nxd5 15. Qxd5 Nf6 16. Bb5+ Kf8 17. Qxb7 Rh4 18. Qf3 Rc8 19. Rac1 Rc5 20. Rfd1
Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Kg8 22. Ba6 Qb6 23. Rc8+ Kh7 24. Qa8 g5 25. Rh8+ Kg6 26. Bd3+ Ne4
27. Bxe4+ f5 28. Qe8+ Kf6 29. Rf8+ Bxf8 30. Be5# 1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2014/12/14/Game96337668.html

Answer:

Cory has a very nice mate in 3 with 28. Qe8+ Kf6 29. Rf8+! Bxf8 30. Be5#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,