his position comes from a game that Joel Johnson emailed to me with the subject "One for your newsletter", from a 3 minute game he played on the internet chess club.

 

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

 

   Answer below.


   Last week one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, announced his retirement.

   I was reminded of a GQ article that Kobe did earlier in the year, in which he talked about the price of greatness.

   Kobe's accomplishments in the world of basketball are remarkable:

   One of the things that the GQ article talks about is the price that Kobe had to pay for this greatness.  This meant spending countless hours playing and practicing.  This came at a cost, for example sacrificing personal relationships.

   A quote from the article:

   So how much are you willing to give up? Have you given up the possibility of having friends? Do you have any friends?

   I have "like minds." You know, I’ve been fortunate to play in Los Angeles, where there are a lot of people like me. Actors. Musicians. Businessmen. Obsessives. People who feel like God put them on earth to do whatever it is that they do. Now, do we have time to build great relationships? Do we have time to build great friendships? No. Do we have time to socialize and to hangout aimlessly? No. Do we want to do that? No. We want to work. I enjoy working.

   This kind of mentality has been true in the chess world as well.  Bobby Fischer was also known as an unyielding workaholic who made a lot of sacrifices to get to the top.  Many Masters have spent thousands of hours practicing and playing to get to where they are.  If you want to become world class at something, you have to ask yourself if you are willing to pay this price. 

 

   Here is the complete game:

[White "MassCarnage"]
[Black "jchr"]
[WhiteElo "2200"]
[BlackElo "1943"]
[Event "ICC 3 0 Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2015.12.05"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A09"]

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.e3 dxe3 4.fxe3 Nf6 5.d4 Bg4 6.Nc3 e5 7.Be2 exd4 8.exd4 Nc6 9.d5 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Ne5 11.O-O Bc5+ 12.Kh1 Nxf3 13.Qxf3 O-O 14.Bg5 Be7 15.Rae1 Nxd5 16.Bxe7 Nxe7 17.Qxb7 Rb8 18.Qe4 Rxb2 19.Qxe7 Qd2 20.Qxf7+
1-0

   You can play through this game here: http://www.chess.com/emboard?id=2790492

 

   Answer:

 

   20.Qxf7+and Black gets mated with either 20...Kh8 21.Qxf8#

   or 20...Rxf7 21.Re8+ Rf8 22.Rfxf8# (or 22.Rexf8#)

  
   This is a good mating pattern to know, and similar to ones in the classic "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess", which covers many variations of the back rank checkmate, and was one of my first chess books.

 

 

   Happy Tactics!

 

   Your Friend,

 

   P.S. A quick funny story...

   This past weekend was the Winter Springs Open, held in Manitou Springs (at the base of Pikes Peak).

   It was held at the Manitou Art Center.  They had some decorative glass plates hanging on the wall, which patrons could purchase.

   Unfortunately some art got accidentally broken during the tournament.

   After the tournament was over, I jokingly posted in the Colorado Chess Facebook group, "If you didn't already blow your entire Christmas budget paying for broken plates at the Manitou Art Center, be sure and pick up a 2016 Chess Calendar!"
 
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01741W1Q8/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B01741W1Q8&linkCode=as2&tag=tacti-20&linkId=OYQ4SPZ25TNYXLPE

   (also available here: http://tacticstime.com/s/2016-daily-chess-calendar/ )