Speed King

Sunday, February 28th, 2016

I am back for another season of chess news and games.  Last year, I set my record for peak rating (USCF 2102), and earlier this year, I won the Colorado Springs City Speed Chess Championship.

As club President, I was happy to present the plaque to the Speed King for 2016.

I asked him, "Is this your last rodeo?"  He just responded, "THIS ONE'S FOR PAUL!"

In the past year, the videos on Colorado Springs Chess News' Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/cschessnews) had 99,780 views.  During that time, the channel went over a half million views!

One of those videos getting views was a video blog I did with my son called, "Speed King."  It seemed appropriate to share it again with my new title under my belt.

Game Of The Week

This week's game comes from the Colorado Springs Chess Club's Tuesday night event.  It was a month-long tournament with one round per night.  This game came from the first round, which was played only 2 days after the Denver Broncos won their 3rd Super Bowl.

I must have been inspired by Broncos' linebacker, Von Miller, when I came upon this position.  It is white to move and find the Von move:

White to move

Von Miller's Most Valuable Player performance included 2.5 sacks.  In football, a sack is a tackle of the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage while he is trying to pass.  Only 10 defensive players have won the Super Bowl MVP award in 50 years.  Von's last sack ended any question about whether the Broncos were going to win.

If it had been a chess game, the Panthers would have resigned.

However, in chess, a sac means something else.  It is short for sacrifice and occurs when a player intentionally gives away a higher value piece for a lower value one.  It is hard to win chess games giving away material.  So, they are rare, but they can be impressive when they occur.

One example is the Super Rook.  This type of chess position occurs when a player is losing and has no legal move for his King (or any other piece).  His only piece that can move is the Rook.  However, the Rook has unlimited checks on the opponent's King, often moving right next to the King (and taking anything on that square).  The King (or any other piece) cannot capture the Rook or cause stalemate (a draw) and cannot get away from the Rook, which causes a 3 fold repetition (a draw).

However, Super Bowl 50 showed us that Von is more unstoppable than the "Super" player on the Panthers.  So, I have given up on the Super Rook and have embraced the Von Rook, which gets at least 2 sacs and claims the Most Valuable Piece!

The Von Rook

[Event "CSCC February Swiss 90"]
[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]
[Date "2016.02.09"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Anderson, Paul"]
[Black "Herman, Sara"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2050"]
[BlackElo "1653"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2016.02.09"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 c5 5. c3 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nbd2 Nc6 8. e3 b6 9. Re1 Ba6 10. a3 Rc8 11. Bf1 Bxf1 12. Nxf1 c4 13. N1d2 b5 14. e4 dxe4 15. Nxe4 Nd5 16. Bd2 a5 17. Qc1 b4 18. axb4 axb4 19. Bg5 Bxg5 20. Nfxg5 Na5 21. Qc2 Nb3 22. Ra7 Rc6 23. Rd7 Qa5 24. Rxd5 1-0

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=106007

This Week In Chess

On February 23rd, the Colorado Springs Chess Club finished its February Swiss 90 (3SS, G90+30).  15 players joined.

Here are the results:

Standings. February Swiss 90

# Name ID Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Tot Prize

1 Mark McGough 11366481 1829 W14 W11 W2 3.0 $31.00 1st
2 Brian Jo Rountree 12477167 1877 W13 W5 L1 2.0 $5.25 2nd
3 Richard Buchanan 10273030 2000 W9 D7 D4 2.0 $5.25 2nd
4 Paul Dou Anderson 12728345 2050 W6 H--- D3 2.0 $5.25 2nd
5 Daniel Herman 14345456 2062 W10 L2 W12 2.0 $5.25 2nd
6 Sara Herman 14345441 1653 L4 W14 W10 2.0 $14.00 U1800/UNR
7 Larry Turner 10303931 1810 W15 D3 U--- 1.5
8 Peter Barlay 14700831 1899 H--- U--- W9 1.5
9 Scott Ch Williams 15755696 1107 L3 W15 L8 1.0
10 Dean W Brown 10224098 1554 L5 W13 L6 1.0
11 Arthur Rand Knize 15442152 1882 U--- L1 W13 1.0
12 Joseph H Pahk 12795426 1732 H--- H--- L5 1.0
13 Shirley Herman 14812654 980 L2 L10 L11 0.0
14 Daniel J Rupp 15768473 917 L1 L6 U--- 0.0
15 Doug Clark 15941617 unr. L7 L9 U--- 0.0