A King on the Rampage

Yesterday at the Club Todd Durham and I were looking at some of his games, and one game had him with a bishop and knight vs two knights.  The ending was very interesting and ended in a draw, but in the course of analyzing it we talked about the concept of king activity.

I have read multiple times (but now can't find the exact references) that the normal sequence of activating pieces in an endgame should be:

1. Queen
2. Rooks
3. King
4. Knights
5. Bishops

I am in the midst of re-reading GM Lars Bo Hansen's Foundations of Chess Strategy (absorbing ideas on the second pass that I missed in the first), and unfortunately it was not until I was in the car on the way home that I remembered the MOAKE (mother of all king endings) known around the world as Browne-Smyslov, Las Palmas Interzonal, 1982.

It prompted a little research when I got home, and I found three books with annotations to the game.  They are:

Foundations of Chess Strategy by GM Lars Bo Hansen
Vasily Smyslov: Endgame Virtuoso by GM and Former World        Champions Vasily Smyslov
The New Bogo-Indian by IM Shaun Taulbut

I suspect that I could also find it in other books, but three will suffice for us here.

The link to the game is below.  I extracted commentary from the above games, citing the author in each case, and I added some "merely mortal" comments where I thought there was an additional idea worth noting.

Before we go to the game, I would like to intentionally bias your viewpoint by recommending that the following ideas be kept in mind:

1) Economy of force is an under-appreciated commodity in chess.  We understand economy of force when applied to defense, but it is rare to see it involved in an attack.  Enjoy it when you can!
2) Prophylaxis can also be an offensive weapon, if it prevents potential defensive forces from participating in the action.
3)  Smyslov is what we "Hansenites" refer to as a Reflector, but even though he is very positional in the game, his moves have very concrete purposes.  His king moves with energy and purpose throughout the game, completely devoid of stereotyped thinking.
4) Smyslov was 63 when the game was played.  Throw your senior stereotypes out the window!

Enough blabber- here is the game!:

Click here to see Smyslov's King kick #$^5434!!

Beat Your Opponents with a Club!

Beat Your Opponents With A Club!

A chess club, that is!  

This weekend I played in the Southern Open in Orlando, sponsored by the Continental Chess Association and directed by David Hater, Krista Alton,  Harvey Lerman, and Harold Scott. 

[My last round game (the $$ game) is linked at the bottom.  The GM games in the notes are really cool, and worth seeing alone.]

The attendance was huge, and the event was an extremely well-run affair. Harold Scott gets a special "shout out" for details such as updating the results sheets in almost "real time", so it was always easy to see how rounds were progressing as games ended.

I attended the event with my fellow Clermont Chess Clubmates Todd Durham, Jim McTigue, and Connor Eickelman.  I was fortunate to score 3.5/5 in the U2100 section, which was good for the U1900 1st prize of $500- the full payout, as the tournament paid 100% due to the excellent attendance.

I have been especially fortunate in that it is my second 1st place finish in as many months (I had a stinker tournament in the middle - gotta keep it real!).  Luck is a big factor, of course, whether we admit it or not.

However, I attribute my primary success to two factors.  First, I have been a big beneficiary of the arrival of GM Lars Bo Hansen and WIM Jen Hansen to Orlando- and I am not the only one.  Attending some of his Master Class sessions, and then especially working with his books, has changed my thinking and approach to the game.  I am the same person, but I am not the same player.

Second, I am very fortunate to belong to a chess club that meets regularly, and to work with other players who share my passion for chess and learning.  The three guys mentioned above, along with Norm Meintel, Joe Sanderlin, and Garry Day, have been my constant sparring partners.

Our club is not a normal club.  For one, we are more talkative than usual.  We want to get better, and we collaborate on our work.  In fact, the Thursday before the tournament, the four of us who planned to play met on Thursday night and discussed positions from GM Chris Ward's Chess Choice Challenge, which gives positions with 5 different assessments, and you have to decide which one is correct (a concept I was introduced to by Lars, I should add).  We would look at a quiz position, we would each weigh in on it, then we would check the answer and discuss/debated it.  It was a great way to get the creative chess juices flowing, and both times we have done it, I have been successful- to the tune of $1100 in prize money in 45 days.

My point is this- working with my buds at the club makes me a better player.  We kibbitz all the time, we play into each other's openings to help each other learn, we work on endgames (read that again!) and we give each other honest feedback to help us all improve.  I also play on the internet, but it is not the same- there is no substitute for sitting across the board from someone and playing a person, not an engine, an icon, or emoji.

If you live close by, come by and see us.  If not, find a club or start one of your own.  Here's a link that might help:

Click here for the USCF list of Chess Clubs in Florida

And as I mentioned, here is my final round game from the tournament.

Leggett-Buyo 2017 Southern Open U2100 Round 5

Chess Puzzle Sites Reviewed ...

...by Johan Salomon, a young Norwegian Grand Master, on his blog. If you're looking for websites to work on puzzles, his review is an excellent place to start.

Congratulations to Martin Hansen

Local expert (and soon to be master) Martin Hansen finished tied for first in the U2200 section of the World Open in Philadelphia! The tournament ended yesterday, and Martin shared first through third with two other players. The section included 244 players, including re-entries, so I'm not going to bother figuring out what his average opposition was, and who cares anyway? Giving up only three draws over nine rounds in that field it's guaranteed he played a rough schedule! (ADDED: Hansen was the only one of the three winners to finish undefeated.)

Congratulations, Mr. Hansen!

...

If you want to see how other players did, you can find links to the standings at this link. I saw at least a couple of other familiar names in the lists, but that's a LOT of players to sort through.