Norths Reserves A - Final Result

I lost my final game against Rex Simmonds at Norths. Rex to his credit played well and I blundered in the most crucial moment - well, that's what you get for playing sharp lines, one misstep and down you go.

So I ended up with +4-3=4 .... a very very average mid-table performance and nothing worth shouting about.

I'm still kicking myself over this week's loss. It's one thing to play badly but quite another when you know you have a winning advantage and throw it all away in 1 move.

Puzzles With Imbalances

These are actual games I've played (don't scroll past the diagrams if you don't want to look at the solutions).

Game 1 - Winning Attack

Black (Me) has a winning attack, time to bring home the bacon....

(Black to play)


Game 2 - Find The Best Move

White had traded a Knight+Bishop for a Rook+Pawn to pry open my King position. I knew that Black has a slight advantage but I was thinking of how to best activate my pieces here. I sank into a deep long think.... and came up with a move. What move was it?
(Black to play) :


Game 3 - I Didn't See It Coming

My opponent thought that he could defend with Black and played 1.... Qd6. What did he miss?

(White to play)



Answers:

Game 1

1... Bf1+ 2. Rxf1 Rh2#

Game 2:


The move I played was 1.... Nh4! Suddenly the dawn of realisation came when my opponent realised that the Knight on h4 is untouchable. White tried 2. Qb3+ Bd5 and resigned a few moves later.

Added Question: Can you figure out why White cannot play 2. gxh4? Because it ends in mate!

1... Nh4
2. gxh4 Qxh2+
3. Kg1 Qh1+
4. Ke2 Qf3+
5. Kg1 e3!! and mate cannot be prevented

Game 3 -


The winning move was 1. f4! And mate cannot be stopped as the the next move is Qh7#. If
1. f4 Nxf4 (else 1.... Rh8 2. f7=Q+ Bxf8 3. Qg5#)
2. Rxf4 also results in mate after Qh7+ and Qh4#

The Final Stretch For North Sydney

Just a short blurb, with my final game for the North Sydney Reserves A due next week, I'm up against Rex Simmonds as Black.

This week, my game against 2nd placed Chris Sparks ended peacefully. That leaves me on 3rd place with John Pepping (winning his game against Peter Brennan). With 1st placed Clive Allen still having to play 2 more games, he is almost 100% certainty to win 1st place in our group.

My current score is +4-2=4 or 6 pts out of 10 pts so far. Not a great performance so far but as this was my first competition for over a year, I guess it can be considered a decent performance given the rustiness that has set in.

Rex was kind enough to invite me to a weekly training session that him together with a few other players (around my strength) but unfortunately, it takes place every Wednesday afternoon and I am working.

Thanks for the gracious invitation, Rex!

Congratulations, Anand

In case, anyone is wondering whatever happened to Aruna (Vishy's wife) and why she has been conspicuously absent for the last few months, well, the current World Champion just had a son to add to his list of achievements!

Congratulations to the new parents!

More details at Chessvibes.