Colorado Springs Chess News

Game Of The Week

Last year, I came up with a method to organize chess tactics.  I called it the DROP Method (http://cschess.webs.com/apps/blog/categories/show/1378181-drop-method).  The DROP method is an acronym for the basic kinds of tactics.  It is meant to remind you not to drop your pieces and help you get your opponent to drop theirs.

I said that the DROP Method was a work in progress, and it was.  So, I thought I would revisit each of the four kinds of chess tactics to clarify and improve the method.  The first kind of tactic in the DROP Method is Discovery, which I revisited on April 8th (http://cschess.webs.com/apps/blog/show/25494358-d-is-for-discovery).  The second kind of tactic in the DROP Method is Removal.

Removal is a chess move that attacks a support. 

The Removal is played when the player stops an opponent's piece from supporting the actual target.  The supporting piece will typically be of an equal or lesser value than the attacking piece.  However, the Removal can give up material, as the protection on the real target is now gone and creates a second attack that cannot be defended.

The target can be the King (Mate threat), a valuable piece (Material threat), or even a square (Mobility threat).

Different types of Removals are referred to by different names, but the idea is the same:  The support of the target is removed.  Here are some names for the different types of Removal:

• Clearance (Removal by passing support)
• Deflection (Removal by forcing support to move)
• Interference (Removal by interposition; Interception)
• Undermining (Removal by capturing support; trade)
• Sacrifice (Removal by capturing support; Exchange; Greek Gift, Desperado)

Here is an example from a recent game I played against Brian Rountree.  Brian is now one of my top 10 USCF opponents with 9 games.  He is #2 in the past 12 months.  He writes about his games on his own blog.  Here is the write-up of our game:  http://linuxguyonfics.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/time-pressure-against-an-expert/

It is White to move.  I found a killer move by thinking about using a Removal.  Brian sat for a while and decided the move was good enough to give me the game.

As I looked at the position, I thought it would be much better if the h7 Pawn was gone.  My Rooks would swoop in with Mate.  So, the h7 Pawn is a support for not just the g6 Pawn but also the h8 square.  If I can encourage the h7 Pawn to move, it would be removed from blocking h8.  So, I sacrificed my Queen for a Pawn!

"A good sacrifice is one that is not necessarily sound but leaves your opponent dazed and confused."

(Rudolph Spielmann)

Brian knew he could not take the Queen, but he also saw that blocking check or moving out of check would not save the position.

R Is For Removal II

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=81107

[Event "May Panera Wednesday"]

[Site "http://cschess.webs.com/"]

[Date "2013.05.08"]

[Round "2.1"]

[White "Anderson, Paul"]

[Black "Rountree, Brian"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "A46"]

[WhiteElo "2015"]

[BlackElo "1819"]

[PlyCount "45"]

[EventDate "2013.05.01"]

[TimeControl "5400"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. e3 b6 5. Bd3 d5

6. c3 O-O 7. Qa4 Bb7 8. Ne5 Nfd7 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Qc2 g6 11. f4 Nxe5 12. dxe5

c5 13. Nd2 Nd7 14. Nf3 c4 15. Be2 Nc5 16. h4 Ne4 17. Rh3 f6 18. exf6 Qxf6 19.

Ng5 Nxg5 20. hxg5 Qe7 21. O-O-O b5 22. Rdh1 Rf7 23. Qxg6+ 1-0

This Week In Chess

On June 4th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held a Speed event.  Fifteen players joined the double, Round Robin tournament (G5, 2RR).

I survived with single losses to Peter Grigg, Mark McGough, Tom Richardson, and Katie Wise to claim the 1st place points.

Here are the results:

Score, Player:

22.0 Paul Anderson

20.0 Mark McGough

18.5 Isaac Martinez

17.5 Daniel Herman

16.5 Jeff Fox

16.0 Kevin Kaaoush

14.0 Katie Wise* (w/ Imre Barlay)

13.0 Sara Herman

12.5 Randy Canton

12.5 Peter Grigg

9.5 Buck Buchanan

8.0 Mike Madsen

6.0 Shirley Herman

4.0 Tom Richardson

* substitution in 5th round

Tuesday Night Chess Tour Cumulative and 2nd Quarter Standings

Current Standings (rank, name, total, quarter): 

1    Paul Anderson    56.00    31.00

2    Isaac Martinez    30.50    25.50

3    Mark McGough    30.25    18.25

4    Mike Madsen    24.50    17.00

5    Jeff Fox    14.75    10.25

6    Koji DelConte    13.50    7.00

7    Daniel Herman    13.50    9.50

8    Alex Torres    13.00    5.00

9    Dean Brown    12.50    5.50

10    Tim Brennan    12.00    0.00

11    Peter Grigg    12.00    9.00

12    Josh Bloomer    10.50    8.00

13    Shirley Herman    9.00    7.00

14    Richard Buchanan    7.75    7.75

15    Sara Herman    7.00    3.00

16    Randy Canton    6.00    6.00

17    Alex Freeman    5.00    0.00

18    Tom Richardson    5.00    5.00

19    Josh Divine    4.25    4.25

20    Brian Rountree    4.00    0.00

21    Scott Williams    4.00    4.00

22    Eugin Pahk    4.00    1.00

23    Kathy Schneider    4.00    3.00

24    Joe Pahk    4.00    2.50

25    Peter Barlay    3.50    3.50

26    Joe Polanco    3.00    3.00

27    Kevin Kaaoush    3.00    3.00

28    Anthea Carson    2.00    0.00

29    Mike Wanek    2.00    0.00

30    James Powers    2.00    0.00

31    Wes Smith    2.00    1.00

32    William Wilken    2.00    2.00

33    Imre Barlay    2.00    2.00

34    Rebecca Herman    1.50    0.00

35    Mike Toth    1.00    0.00

36    Buddy Diamond    1.00    0.00

37    Curits Holsinger    1.00    1.00

38    Evan Baron    1.00    1.00

39    Teppei Monjiyama    1.00    1.00

40    Nicholas Wyle    1.00    1.00

41    Katie Wise    1.00    1.00

    MAX POSSIBLE    68.00    40.00

Superman On Chess

This month the new Superman movie is coming out.  It has been 75 years since the comic was released and 35 years since the first movie was released.  It is the only movie I remember standing in line for as a child.  I snuck a peek into the theatre, as we waited, to see Superman flying off to catch Lois Lane and the helicopter.

Now he has reached even greater heights as the King's Rook in the DC vs Marvel Chess set created by John Leaf.  I have added 5 new pictures to the Images album (http://cschess.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=8233724).

In addition, Superman makes a brief appearance in this chess clip by the Justice League.