Saturday, May 7, 2011

positions from nationals

some long-awaited quiz positions from nationals:

Rashawn Williams is white. How can he turbocharge his attack?

Rashawn is black here, and has a forced win. Try to see the whole variation.

Former IS 318 student Rochelle Ballantyne (black) won this game against current 8th grader David Kim, but she missed black's best move here. 

From the game that made me cry: Danny (white) finds the only winning move in this rook ending.

Danny got lucky here. Daniel Rasmuson (white) failed to find this crushing move.

answers soon

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

(1) It would seem that 1.Bc2 keeps up the pressure, but I wouldn't call it "turbocharged." After dismissing other obviously aggressive moves, I thought about 1.Nc4!, which opens up the c1 bishop to capture in h6 with tempo. The two main variations are

1.Nc4! dxc4
2.Bxh6! gxh6
3.Bxh7+ followed by 4.Rf6 with mate soon.

1.Nc4! fxg6
2.Rxf8+ Nxf8
3.Nxb6 gxh5
4.Nxa8 leaving White with a big material advantage.

(2) The main variation is

1.Rc1+ Ke2
2.Re1+ Kf3
3.Rxe4 Kxe4
4.f5+ Ke3
5.f4+ winning a piece.

(3)

1.Nb4! Qd2 [1...cxb4 2.Bxa2! wins the queen]
2.Bxa2+ Ka1
3.Rd8 and black's queen will be lost.

(4) The white rook must stay on the f-file to prevent the enemy king from getting in front of the pawn.
1.Kg5?? Rxf4 2.Kxf4 Kf6 is a draw. That leaves

1.Rf5! Rxf5 (otherwise the white king to g5-h6-g7.)
2.Kxf5 Kf8 [2...Ke8 3.Ke6!]
3.Kf6! taking the opposition and queening.

(5) 1.Bh6! is a clearance allowing the white queen to reach g5 or h6. Possible lines:

1.Bh6 Nh7
[1...Kh8
2.Bxg7+ Bxg7
3.Qg5 Rg8
4.Rxf5 with mate to follow.]
2.Bxh7+ Kxh7
3.Bxg7 Bxg7
4.Rxh5+ Kg8
5.Rxg7+ Kf8
6.Rh8+ Ke7
7.Qg5+ Kd7
8.Rxf7+ winning.

Brian Lafferty said...

He Liz, I saw that the disgraced cheater/former USCF Board Member Robert Tanner was the TD in Dallas for Section 1 K6. How can the USCF allow someone like that near a national event with kids? The USCF appears to be one of the most ethically challenged organizations in the United States.

Brian Lafferty said...

He Liz, I saw that the disgraced cheater/former USCF Board Member Robert Tanner was the TD in Dallas for Section 1 K6. How can the USCF allow someone like that near a national event with kids? The USCF appears to be one of the most ethically challenged organizations in the United States.

Elizabeth Vicary said...

I heard Tanner faked a match, and that's not good, agreed, but also way better than suing people, stealing money, or cheating children.

On the plus side, he's a nice guy, competant and extremely professional. I'm always happy to see he's chief TD at Nationals.

Brian Lafferty said...

Mr. Tanner falsified tournament rating reports and also falsified his qualification as a National Master. He resigned from the USCF EB in disgrace because of this. I don't think his being a nice guy and a competent tournament director (when actin honestly) should qualify him to be a TD at any USCF national championship. It's not a lesson in ethics I would want Elementary school kids to be exposed to. Would your middle school hire him to work with kids knowing what he's done?