Pick Six

Game Of The Week

This week's game comes from the Colorado Springs Chess Club's Sunday-night, online, rapid tournaments.  I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to play in this week's event since I was flying home from the Cal vs TCU football game on Sunday.  My cousin, Daniel Scott, is the starting safety for the University of California at Berkley's Golden Bears.  Go Bears!

Cal vs TCU - Pick Six

Daniel had the game of a lifetime with 5 tackles, 2 assists, and an interception of a 2-point conversion.  In addition, he forced the only turnover of the game in the 2nd quarter.  

With Cal leading 6-0, Bears safety Daniel Scott intercepted a Max Duggan pass at the TCU 9-yard line and returned it for a touchdown to make the score 12-0 with 10:02 left in the first half.

In football jargon, an interception that is returned for a touchdown is known as a pick-six.

Well, that became my mission this week:  To find the chess equivalent of a pick six.

When I was a child, my first post-mortem was not with chess, but rather with football.  Instead of rising early Saturday mornings to watch cartoons, I got up to watch the NFL's tv show, "Week In Review."  My favorite episode was after Super Bowl XX when the Bears clobbered the Patriots 46-10.  It was like watching one of LM Brian Wall's chess emails come to life with music, narration, and football highlights.  The narrator, Harry Kalas, even included humorous, sarcastic remarks like, "The good news for the Patriots was the first half was over.  The bad news was that the 2nd half was yet to come."  The 2nd half included a pick six from Bears' defensive back, Reggie Phillips.

My first thought was that a pick six could be related to the number of times your chess game was selected for the Game Of The Week.  So, I looked at whose games I had chosen this year.  I had already picked more than 6 of my wins and games this year.  So, picking one of my games this week was out.  Things looked hopeless for the pick six tie-in since no one was even close to 6 wins or games. 

Rank, Name, Rating, Score/Games

1 Anderson,Paul 1674 7.5/9

2 McGough,Mark 1515 2.0/3

3 Wolf,Will 1398 2.0/3

4 Beaver,Koen 1109 2.0/2

5 Fox,Jeff 1686 1.5/3

6 Brezina,John 1703 1.0/2

7 Rountree,Brian 1862 1.0/2

8 Llacza,Jose 1962 1.0/1

9 Fischer,Robert James 2785 1.0/1

10 Quant,Kurtis 1648 1.0/1

11 Idol,Lorna 623 1.0/1

12 Weeramantry,Sunil 1.0/1

13 Whitaker,Norman Tweed 1.0/1

14 Vispute,Ayush 1611 0.5/2

15 Gardner,Albert 1497 0.5/2

16 Torres,Alex 1643 0.0/1

17 Maier,Jerry 1254 0.0/1

18 Oragel,Rowen 1094 0.0/1

19 Anderson,Douglas 0.0/1

20 Langseth,Rhett 1939 0.0/1

21 Herman,Shirley 883 0.0/1

22 Hensley,Rick 553 0.0/1

23 Wagner,John 1418 0.0/1

24 Coston,Emory 615 0.0/1

25 Spassky,Boris V 2660 0.0/1

26 Wall,Brian 1881 0.0/1

27 Rjgragg 540 0.0/1

28 Fiaccabrino 0.0/1

29 Showalter,Jackson Whipps 0.0/1

However, I noticed that if I picked the Mark McGough vs Jeff Fox game this week that would bring their combined total of games published to 6.  The fact that it had a pick six tie-in was enough for me to look at the game.  Plus, it was a last round game that determined the silver medal winner, and Mark had just asked me how I beat Jeff Fox.

I told him, "If you can't beat him, join him."

As I looked over the game, it just got better.  I was cracking up when Jeff sacrifices his Queen, already down material, but Mark rejects the Mate-In-2 line.  I am guessing there was a mouse slip and a time-pressure, panic-move involved, but you never know.

However, what clinched this pick as the Game Of The Week was when Mark found the pick-six tactic in this position.  The good news was that Mark found the right moves.  The bad news was that the rest of the game was yet to come.

White to move

Pick Six

[Event "Hall Of Shame Online"]

[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]

[Date "2021.09.12"]

[Round "4.3"]

[White "McGough, Mark"]

[Black "Fox, Jeff"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "B06"]

[WhiteElo "1642"]

[BlackElo "1718"]

[PlyCount "75"]

[EventDate "2021.09.12"]

[TimeControl "600+10"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 g6 3. f4 Bg7 4. Nf3 d6 5. Be2 Bg4 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Nc4

Qc7 9. a4 Ngf6 10. Nfd2 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 O-O 12. O-O Rab8 13. c3 b5 14. axb5 cxb5

15. Na5 Rfc8 16. Rfc1 Nb6 17. d5 Nfd7 18. Nc6 Rb7 19. Nxe7+ Kf8 20. Nxc8 Qxc8

21. Bd4 Nc4 22. Nxc4 bxc4 23. Bxg7+ Kxg7 24. Ra4 Nc5 25. Qxc4 Rxb2 26. Rxa7 Qa8

27. Qd4+ Kg8 28. Rca1 Rb1+ 29. Rxb1 Qxa7 30. h3 h5 31. Qb4 Nd3+ 32. Qb6 Qa2 33.

Kh2 Nxf4 34. Rb2 Qc4 35. Qb4 Qc7 36. Qb8+ Qxb8 37. Rxb8+ Kg7 38. Rb6 1-0

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=116906

This Week In Chess

On September 12th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held the Hall Of Shame Rapid Online (4SS, G/10+10).  Paul Anderson won his 7th gold and 15th overall medal of the 2021 season, pulling into 1st place in the medal count.  Mark McGough notched his 2nd silver and 5th overall.  Scott Massey joined for the final 3 rounds and earned a bronze medal.

Place, Hall Of Shame Rapid Online, Score

1 "#1 cschessnews (1823)" 4.0

2 "#2 msmcgough (1642)" 3.0

3 "#3 knightmassey (1704)" 2.5

4 "#4 NM BrianWall (1908)" 2.5

5 "#5 johnny3sport (1400)" 2.5

6 "#5 Gosu1000 (1672)" 2.5

7 "#7 agapatos1 (1819)" 2.0

8 "#8 jfoxhoot (1718)" 2.0

9 "#9 albertgardner (1537)" 2.0

10 "#9 Cocomcfrecal (1202)" 2.0

11 "#11 Miteel (1250)" 1.0

12 "#11 e_m_c_o (610)" 1.0

13 "#11 SolyarisZ (1140)" 1.0

14 "- tristancruz (1286)" 0.0

15 "#14 Tsaffold (824)" 0.0