oday's newsletter is guest written by Dave Couture, author of the book Progressive Tactics: 500 Progressively Challenging Chess Tactics.  Thanks Dave!

 

   First things first - I want to thank Tim for giving me (and all of his readers) an opportunity to write a guest column.  I'm honored to do this because I look at Tim pretty much as the guru of chess tactics and chess improvement.  So thanks for letting me do this Tim.

   Regarding the quote, it has nothing to do with the tactic or any lesson I'm trying to impart - it's just a favorite quote.  (Note from Tim, I love that quote as well!)

 

   And now on to the position and the story behind it.  My opponent was Alan Condon, who is both a great guy and a great competitor.  We almost always have very interesting games.  I had just played 53. Nf5+ and was pretty much reveling in my all-around awesomeness and the beauty and wonder of the move I had just played.  Alan looked at the position for a good 10-15 minutes, during which I "knew" that there was no way for him to avoid losing the rook, but...

   Well, see if you can find what Alan found.  As for the remainder of the game, I was so stunned and flustered by Alan's response that 2 moves later I blundered into a mate-in-2.

 

   Last (and certainly not least), I'm especially grateful to Tim for giving me the chance to blatantly self-promote my own tactics e-book, "Progressive Tactics: 500 Progressively Challenging Chess Tactics" which is available on Amazon at (http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Tactics-Progressively-Challenging-Chess-ebook/dp/B00K4IFBVQ/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=tacti-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=VJBWMPC5YNEGK2NA&creativeASIN=B00K4IFBVQ). 

 

   Like Tim and Anthea's books, all of the tactics are from actual games (in this case all of them are from my own games) and I've added a feature that I believe is unique among chess tactics books.  On the "answer page" I repeat the original diagram except that the diagram shows the position AFTER the move has been made with an arrow showing where the piece was moved from which one reviewer called "a great help for beginners".

   I hope you enjoyed the column and I hope you buy a copy of the book!

 

   Dave Couture

   Here is the game in PGN

[Event "Edmund Wheeler Memorial"]
[Site "Fitchburg, MA"]
[Date "2010.10.20"]
[Round "1 of 5"]
[White "Dave Couture"]
[Black "Alan Condon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "1801"]
[BlackElo "1533"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[TimeControl "G/110(5)"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qd8 5. d4 e6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Nd5 8. O-O Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bd6 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bg5 Be7 12. h4 Bxg5 13. Nxg5 h6 14. Nh3 Na5 15. Nf4 Re8 16. Qh5 Nc4 17. Be4 Nd6 18. Bd3 Qf6 19. Kh2 g5 20. Nh3 gxh4 21. gxh4 Bd7 22. Rg1+ Kh8 23. Rg3 Nf5 24. Bxf5 exf5 25. Nf4 Rg8 26. Nd5 Qd6 27. Rag1 Rg4 28. Nb4 Rag8 29. Qxf7 Rxh4+ 30. Kg2 Rxg3+ 31. 31. fxg3 Rg4 32. Kf2 f4 33. Nd5 fxg3+ 34. Ke1 Qe6+ 35. Qxe6 Bxe6 36. Nxc7 Bxa2 37. d5 Rg7 38. d6 Rd7 39. Rxg3 Rxd6 40. Nb5 Re6+ 41. Kd2 a6 42. Nd4 Rd6 43. Kd3 b5 44. Rh3 Bc4+ 45. Kd2 a5 46. Kc1 a4 47. Nf5 Rf6 48. Nxh6 Kg7 49. Ng4 Ra6 50. Rf3 a3 51. Kb1 Rd6 52. Ne3 Rc6 53. Nf5+ Kf7 54. Nd4+ Rf6 55. Re3 {??} Rf1+ 0-1
 

 

 

 

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