his position comes from the game Yu Yangyi (2736) vs Magnus Carlsen (2834), Qatar Masters (Tie-Breaks), played December 29, 2015, and was sent to me by my newsletter reader Barak Y.  Thanks Barak!

 

   In the position on the right it is Black to move. 

 

   Answer below.

   Happy New Year!  I hope that you have a wonderful 2016!
 

   The basic idea is to inch you way up to the level one rating point at a time (or fractional rating points!), by joining a tournament at a time when you are likely to get an "easy" opponent.

   For example, the first round of an open tournament, or by joining a tournament late (such as the last round of a weekly event), which is what Chris did.

   Of course this strategy could backfire if you were to lose or draw to the weaker opponent, but I find it kind of amusing.  Brian Wall calls Jackson a "Panera Master" after he crossed 2200 by driving hundreds of miles to go to the weeknight Colorado Springs Panera Bread tournaments, and Shirley Herman coined the term "Smash Master" since last night's event was played at Smash Burgers.  Chris picked up .39 rating points last night by beating Dean Brown who was rated 652.58 points lower than him :-) 

   Best of luck to Chris in his journey to 2200!

 

   Here is the complete game:

[Event "Qatar Masters (Tie-Breaks)"]
[Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2015.12.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Yu Yangyi"]
[Black "Magnus Carlsen"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "32"]
[EventDate "2015.12.29"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Na4
cxd4 9. exd4 Re8 10. a3 Bf8 11. Bf4 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Nc6 13. d5 exd5 14. cxd5 Ne5
15. Qd1 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Re4 0-1

 

   You can play through this game here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1812472

 

   Answer:

   Barak writes:

   Hi Tim,

   I saw this and immediately thought of your tactics emails.

   I don’t know if you caught the blitz playoff of the Qatar Masters.  Yu Yangyi was white against Carlsen and he had this position:

   r2qrbk1/p2p1ppp/1p3n2/3Pn3/N4B2/P2B1Q2/1P3PPP/R4RK1 w - - 1 15

   He had one move that doesn’t lose and he missed it.  I like this sort of thing as a tactics puzzle because it’s more realistic of the sort of thing you more often need to do, which is AVOID tactics for your opponent rather than find tactics for yourself.

   15. Qd1 was played in the game which loses to 15...Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Re4 0-1 forking the two loose pieces.  The only move that doesn’t lose is 15. Bxe5.

   Best,
   Barak

   Thanks Barak!  Great tactic!  Appreciate you thinking of me!

 

   Happy Tactics!

 

   Your Friend,

 

   P.S. We still have a few more 2016 Daily Chess Calendars for sale.   I think they are a great way to show your love of chess in the new year. 

   Ken D. wrote to me, "Merry Christmas Tim! My wife gave me your Tactics Time one-a-day calendar for the second straight year and it is my favorite gift!"