Right Place, Wrong Time

Game Of The Week

This week's game comes from the Colorado Springs Chess Club's 26th Annual City Speed Chess Championship.  The club has normally held this special event in January at our long-time home in the Acacia Apartments.  However, this past year and a half has not been normal.  So, we had to find a new place.  The COATI at 514 S. Tejon St turned out to be the right place.

Right Place for the 26th Speed Champ

Of course, some problems can occur with changes, as chess players adjust to new surroundings.  Some players like the ambient lighting and the occasional sounds of motorcycles driving into the bar.  Some players are a little more inflexible.  One of the problems was the time I chose to start the event, which doesn't seem to exist in the COATI world.

Find the blunder

Despite the hurdles, the Over-The-Board events for the club this year are out-performing our tournaments from last year.  So, we are planning to continue meeting monthly at COATI until our regular location re-opens.

Year	Total	Events	Average
2021	68	4	17.00
2020	55	5	11.00
2019	280	19	14.74
2018	323	20	16.15
2017	232	18	12.89
2016	201	16	12.56
2015	157	13	12.08
Grand Total	1316	95	13.85

Another problem with the events we have run is that the time control is too fast for anyone to keep score.  So, it has made it more difficult for me to get games from the players.  However, Will Wolf has been able to re-create a couple of his games to give me some potential for the Game Of The Week.  Will is the one in the photo on the far right playing Rick Hensley.  His pieces spent so much time on Rick's back ranks that Will didn't even bother to sit down, but rather he played on Rick's side of the board.  Rick was a good sport about it as he was mainly there to support his son's new interest in chess.

Wolf & The Hunter

In the photo, you can see Will playing the wrong Mate in this position.  He went for the Mate-In-3 rather than the far superior Mate-In-2.  I guess it was just a case of right place, wrong time.

White to Mate in 2

Right Place, Wrong Time

[Event "City Speed Chess Consolation"]

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

[Date "2021.06.30"]

[Round "1.2"]

[White "Wolf, Will"]

[Black "Hensley, Rick"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "C26"]

[WhiteElo "1375"]

[BlackElo "553"]

[PlyCount "33"]

[EventDate "2021.06.30"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bd6 4. d3 O-O 5. Bg5 a6 6. Nd5 Nxd5 7. Bxd8 Rxd8 8.

Bxd5 c5 9. Qf3 Rf8 10. Nh3 g6 11. Ng5 Nc6 12. Bxf7+ Kg7 13. h4 Kh6 14. Qf6 Kh5

15. g4+ Kh6 16. h5 Rxf7 17. hxg6# 1-0

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=116747

This Week In Chess

On June 30th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held the 26th Annual Colorado Springs City Speed Chess Championship (Double RR, G/5+0).  Daniel Herman won the Championship section and became the 12th City Speed Champ.  Jose Llacza earned the 2nd place prize.  

In the Consolation section, Will Wolf went unbeaten and untied to win the 1st place prize, and Shirley Herman and Max Kronstadt split the 2nd place prize.

Place, City Speed Chess Championship, Score, Prize, $ Type

1 Daniel Herman 9.5 $39.00 1st

2 Jose Llacza Magno 7.0 $26.00 2nd

3 Mark McGough 4.0

4 Geo Krasnopolskiy 4.0

5 Richard Buchanan 3.5

6 Clinton Eads 2.0

Place, City Speed Chess Consolation, Score,  Prize, $ Type

1 William Leo Wolf 10.0 $17.00 1st

2 Peter Barlay 6.0

3 Shirley Herman 5.0 $10.00 2nd

4 Max Kronstadt 5.0 $10.00 2nd

5 Hagan Hensley 4.5

6 Alec Lane 4.0

7 Max Cupp 4.0

8 Rick Hensley 1.0

9 Santell Davis 0.5

Lucky Charm

Game Of The Week

This week's game comes from the Colorado Springs Chess Club's Sunday night event, Pin Is Mighty Rapid Online (4SS, G/10+10).  The game was played by Jeff Fox, ex-City Champ and ex-officer of the Colorado Springs Chess Club, and Ayush Vispute, current President of the Panda Chess Club.  I chose this game because Jeff hasn't had the best luck in regards to having his wins published in my blog.  He is currently in 25th place with two wins published.  

However, he is in 4th place by number of games published, which means most of his published games are losses.  The reason he got so many losses published was just bad luck.  It is not always easy to choose the Game Of The Week.  So, I came up with some themes to help me sort through my 1,027 USCF, rated-games database.  One theme was my Best Upsets.  Well, since I didn't travel to tournaments away from the club very often, it turns out that most of my upsets came from 2 players, Jeff Fox and Buck Buchanan.

Rank, Name, Rating, Wins/Games Published

  2 Anderson,Douglas                15.0/29

  3 McGough,Mark              1839  12.0/23

  7 Brown,Dean                1388   7.5/26

 25 Fox,Jeff                  1867   2.0/20

 26 Buchanan,Buck             2000   2.0/19

If 2020 was a lucky charm, it'd be a rabbit's foot.

Jeff must have found his lucky charm because I chose to publish his win from this Sunday where he won with 1. Nf3.  I was impressed enough to go over it, as it is an opening with which I have had a lot of bad luck.  I have been playing my version of LM Brian Wall's 40 Move Challenge (#40MC) the past 2 years in the Colorado Springs Chess Club's Sunday night events.  

The #40MC is to win with all legal opening moves for White and Black.  

I have been torn apart in 3 openings so far.

Move	Color	Attempts	Score	Success %
H3	White	7	2.0	28.57%
H6	Black	9	3.0	33.33%
Nf3	White	4	1.5	37.50%

I am not sure why I have been so unlucky with these openings, but I am looking for something to change my fortune.  I know a lot of sports professionals have their specific lucky charms and rituals like growing beards to rally caps.  

But what about chess players?  Do they subscribe to luck?  So, far my lucky charm has been failing me.

If you don't think luck plays a role in chess games, just look at Jeff's third time getting a win publish.  Like they say, "Third time is the charm."

Jeff only has a Pawn advantage with opposite-colored Bishops.  It could be hard to force the win if Ayush had found one of three lucky moves.  See if you can find them?

Black to move

Lucky Charm

[Event "Pin Is Mighty Online"]

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

[Date "2021.06.27"]

[Round "3.6"]

[White "Fox, Jeff"]

[Black "Vispute, Ayush"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "A37"]

[WhiteElo "1686"]

[BlackElo "1605"]

[PlyCount "65"]

[EventDate "2021.06.27"]

[TimeControl "600+10"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 e6 6. e4 Nge7 7. O-O a6 8. d3 O-O 9. Be3 Nd4 10. Qd2 d5 11. exd5 exd5 12. cxd5 Nef5 13. Bxd4 cxd4 14. Ne2 Qxd5 15. Nfxd4 Qe5 16. Nxf5 Bxf5 17. d4 Qb5 18. Nc3 Qb4 19. Rad1 Rfd8 20. d5 Rd6 21. Ne4 Qxd2 22. Rxd2 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Re8 24. Bf3 Bh6 25. Rc2 Rf6 26. Kg2 Rd6 27. Rc7 b5 28. Rc6 Red8 29. Re1 Kg7 30. Re7 Bg5 31. Ra7 Bf6 32. b3 Bc3 33. Raxa6 1-0

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=116698

This Week In Chess

On June 27th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held the Pin Is Mighty Rapid Online (4SS, G/10+10). Jose Llacza won the silver, and I got the bronze.

Place, Pin Is Mighty Rapid Online, Score

1 "#1 RecurringMiss (2246)" 3.5
2 "#2 JJ7X (1948)" 3.5
3 "#3 cschessnews (1771)" 3.0
4 "#4 pretbram (1564)" 3.0
5 "#5 KingVed (1572)" 2.0
6 "#6 jfoxhoot (1691)" 2.0
7 "#7 bazinga2 (1566)" 1.5
8 "#8 Honeybrook (1335)" 1.5
9 "#9 linuxguy1 (1824)" 1.0
10 "#10 msmcgough (1612)" 1.0
11 "- GLeong (1757)" 1.0
12 "#11 albertgardner (1471)" 1.0
13 "- CosmicNovaGalaxy (1605)" 0.0

Chess In The Fast Lane

Game Of The Week

This week's game comes from Colorado Springs Chess Club's event at COATI, 4th Wednesday May Unrated Blitz (6SS, G/5+0).  It was our second chance for the club to test out a new location since our long-time home at the Acacia Apartments Ballroom is still closed.  Will Wolf won the first event when our boards were split between the upstairs bar and the back alley.  I was the house player that night to focus on directing (TD) the event.

This time, we were in the upstairs game area and not split up.  With less players, I was able to play and be the TD.  Also, John Brezina, President of the Parker Chess Club, volunteered to be the house player so he could take photos.  I chose a couple of his pictures for the blog, but you can view the rest online:

Surely make you lose your mind

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rHDxiv2yB1SAz8M8A

Over the past year, I have played a lot of Blitz, which is fast chess.  When I get my taco and water for lunch, I will play a game or two on my phone while I am eating.  Usually when I am opening the mild salsa, I blunder my Queen and have to try to win LM Brian Wall's Burden Award for dropping your Queen but still winning the game.  In addition, since I have been organizing online tournaments for the club on Chess.com, I will play a game or two of fast chess to relieve the stress of trying to find the club features on the site's complicated website.

I was surprised to see I got my Chess.com rating over 2200 and in the 99th percentile.  It is also surprising that I have so many strong chess players as friends.  I am only in the 97th percentile among my friends.

Blitz

2207

Friends (742)

 #20

 

Global 

 #14623

 

Percentile

 99.5%

Highest Rating

 2214

Apr 20, 2021

In addition, my Chess24 rating is over 2200.

c24 Blitz

2233

Does that mean I am a Blitz Master?

I guess Will has been playing a lot of fast chess online during the pandemic too. He won our first Blitz event and was steam-rolling through the field again when we met in round 4, both unbeaten. He seems to know all the tricks of playing chess in the fast lane. He was pre-moving and auto-queening. When I was down to 13 seconds on my clock, he claimed stalemate despite having a Bishop and King with legal moves.

Chess In The Fast Lane

I didn't fall for any of it. I knew he had a nasty reputation as a cruel dude.

When I got low in time, I just decided to get the extra Queen and leave him the Bishop to avoid that dreaded stalemate. However, I missed a quicker win. It is Mate-in-5, but I doubt if I could have found it in 13 seconds. See if you can do better and you only have 13 seconds!

Black to move

With Will in the rear-view mirror, I was on cruise control. I just had to pass the master tortoise, Mark McGough. But Mark had been getting advice from Joe Pahk about how to beat me in Blitz. The first trick was to get home-board advantage. Mark uses a glowing, neon board that will surely make you lose your mind and places his pieces in between two squares rather than in the center of a square so that you can never really tell where his pieces are supposed to be.

Was it really any wonder that I couldn't see the darken clock display showing the flag and 0:00 on his side?

On which square is that King supposed to be?

Then the tortoise shouts, as he passes the hare, "Time!" I was just stunned that 0:00 was showing on my side too.

I guess that slow and steady doesn't always win the race.

Chess In The Fast Lane

[Event "4th Wednesday May COATI"]

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

[Date "2021.05.26"]

[Round "4.1"]

[White "Wolf, Will"]

[Black "Anderson, Paul"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "E62"]

[WhiteElo "1398"]

[BlackElo "1951"]

[PlyCount "84"]

[EventDate "2021.05.26"]

[TimeControl "300"]

1. c4 c6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. g3 Nf6 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Nf3 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Nbd7 10. O-O Qc7 11. Bg2 e5 12. d5 c5 13. Nb5 Qb8 14. a4 a6 15. Nc3 Qc7 16. a5 b6 17. axb6 Nxb6 18. Qe2 Rfb8 19. f4 exf4 20. gxf4 Nfd7 21. Qg4 Nxc4 22. f5 Nde5 23. Qg3 Nxb2 24. fxg6 hxg6 25. Bg5 Nbd3 26. Bf6 Bxf6 27. Rxf6 Qe7 28. Raf1 Rb3 29. Ne2 c4 30. Nf4 Qxf6 31. Nxd3 Rxd3 32. Qxd3 cxd3 33. Rxf6 d2 34. Rf1 Rc8 35. Kh2 Rc1 36. Rxc1 dxc1=Q 37. h4 a5 38. h5 a4 39. h6 a3 40. h7+ Kxh7 41. Bf3 a2 42. Bd1 a1=Q 0-1

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=116589

This Week In Chess

On May 26th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held the 4th Wednesday May Unrated Blitz. I won the mug and sunglasses, in overall 1st, while Josh Markowicz and Jacob McCloud split the unrated prize.

Place, 4th Wednesday May Unrated Blitz, Score, Prize, $ Type

1 Paul D Anderson 5.5 Mug & Sunglasses 1st place
2 William Leo Wolf 5.0
3 John Micha McCann 4.0
4 Mark McGough 3.5
5 Joseph H Pahk 3.0
6 Josh Markowicz 3.0 Sunglasses 1st Unrated
7 Jacob McCloud 3.0 Mug 1st Unrated
8 Yuna T Pahk 3.0
9 Jose Llacza Magno 2.0
10 Anu Sharavdorj 2.0
11 Tim Saffold 1.0
12 John Jose Brezina 1.0
13 David Mueller 0.0

COATI Uprising

Game Of The Week

This week's game comes from the Colorado Springs Chess Club's first over-the-board (OTB) event in more than a year.  It was a rousing success and jumped to the top of the best events I have run for the club since 2015.  

Ren Thorpe at the projector

Of course, it is just one event and the average may come down over time, but it did finish just one shy of the largest event at the club (25, 2019 City Champ).

Event	Total	# of events	Average
COATI Blitz	24	1	24.00
City Champ	84	4	21.00
AFACC vs CSCC	20	1	20.00
November Swiss	87	5	17.40
February Swiss	85	5	17.00
May One Night	16	1	16.00
March Swiss	78	5	15.60
December Swiss	78	5	15.60
June Swiss	62	4	15.50
September Swiss	74	5	14.80
May Swiss	71	5	14.20
August Swiss	71	5	14.20
July Quick Six	53	4	13.25
April Quick Six	53	4	13.25
Annual Meeting	52	4	13.00
Speed Qualifier	74	6	12.33
July Swiss	12	1	12.00
July One Night	23	2	11.50
June Mating Game	11	1	11.00
Feb Flash	11	1	11.00
April Swiss	11	1	11.00
July Mating Game	43	4	10.75
Cabin Fever Reliever	43	4	10.75
June Speed	10	1	10.00
January One Night	29	3	9.67
Jan Speed	20	3	6.67
Speed Championship	36	6	6.00
Speed Consolation	33	6	5.50
Speed Quad	4	1	4.00
Extra Speed	4	1	4.00
Grand Total	1272	92	13.83

I am just guessing, but the main reason the event did so well was because a pandemic locked-up chess players at home for more than a year.  Even chess players like to get out every once in a while.

However, a lot of the reason for the great turnout was that I got a lot more help in putting this event together than usual.  

First, there was the location.  A hearty handshake goes to Ren Thorpe, Experience Coordinator at COATI Uprising, for letting us use their space.  Even though the chess boards were split up between the upstairs bar and the back alley and the COATI equipment was too cutting-edge for my humble netbook, we got 10 blitz games done with limited troubles.  You can see Ren fighting with my netbook just to the right of the screen.  We needed a USB to USB cable (is that a thing?) to connect the netbook.  If anyone has one of those and can bring it next Wednesday, that would keep me from going complete hoarse.

Also, we got split up for a couple of reasons.  One, we had a lot more players than expected.  Two, COATI runs a Nerd Fest once a month on Wednesdays and they had the larger space.  You gotta hate nerds!  Chess players are so much better.

Secondly, some of the success has to be credited to my new marketing team of Diego Arnedo and Adhya Spencer from Jaguart Art Experience.  They were inspired by the "Queen's Gambit" to create chess-themed art for a live event on April 30th.  Many of the exhibits are still on display until the end of June at COATI.  They wanted the Colorado Springs Chess Club to donate some books to be a part of the one of the exhibits.  I had to get up early and run downtown to get into the Acacia Apartment office, when the maintenance staff was there, and agonize over which of the club's books and magazines would be appropriate on Beth Harmon's bed from the orphanage.  What I won't do for my art!

Name all 4 chess items on Beth's bed and win a prize!

Ok, you can kind of see the bed on top of the bar, and if you squint really hard, you can see the club's stuff in the center of the bed.  Many visitors to the art event commented that these items were their favorite part of the exhibit.  I was just glad I could do my part.

Diego and Adhya also wanted me to create a chess puzzle for them to use with the advertising.  Of course, that wasn't hard since I already had one from my last newsletter.  When they got the diagram, they wanted me to translate the algebraic notation into something a beginner could understand and describe my motivation.  Sometimes I forget that not everyone speaks chess, and I just told them my motivation was not to lose to Mark McGough.

Design Art by Diego Arnedo and 

Adhya Spencer - Chess Art by Paul Anderson and Mark McGough

Thirdly, a round of applause goes to John Brezina, who came down from the Parker Chess Club to photograph our event.  I am new to Google Photos, but I think you should be able to view his art with the following link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/J1f5FXzZaZGxgHpj6

And, yes, Virginia, there was chess.

I was hoping the players would be an even number all night, and I would be able to just direct (TD) the event.  However, players did drop out, and I jumped in 4 times.  In the first round, I was on board one and got paired with Erika Strnad.  She was one of our unrated newcomers to the club.  When I told her we were playing, she just sighed, "Oh great, I get to play the guy running this thing."

Erika vs Paul

Of course, it could have been worse.  I had printed out some score sheets, as Adhya wanted the full "Queen's Gambit" feel.  However, I forgot to mention them to the players, and I was the only one to use one.  Fortunately for Erika, I didn't record her game.  Unfortunately for Alex Torres, I did record his game and only his.  Therefore, he gets the game of the week prize, a Corona beer, for helping me create this position.  I immediately thought I had smothered mate!  I was wrong.

White to Move

COATI Uprising

[Event "3rd Wednesday May COATI"]

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

[Date "2021.05.19"]

[Round "2.1"]

[White "Anderson, Paul"]

[Black "Torres, Alex"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "A40"]

[WhiteElo "1957"]

[BlackElo "1643"]

[PlyCount "37"]

[EventDate "2021.05.19"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb7 4. e4 Nf6 5. Bd3 d5 6. e5 Nfd7 7. f4 Be7 8. Nf3

O-O 9. O-O a6 10. Be3 f5 11. Qb3 Nc6 12. cxd5 Na5 13. Qc2 exd5 14. Bxf5 Rxf5

15. Qxf5 Nf8 16. Ng5 Bc8 17. Qf7+ Kh8 18. Qxd5 Bb7 19. Nf7+ 1-0

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=116565

This Week In Chess

On May 19th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held the 3rd Wednesday May Unrated Blitz OTB.  Will Wolf took home 1st place and the sunglasses and mug donated by COATI.

I wear my sunglasses at night

Place, 3rd Wednesday May Unrated Blitz OTB, Score

1 William Leo Wolf 9.0

2 Peter Barlay 7.0

3 Joseph H Pahk 7.0

4 Jose Llacza Magno 7.0

5 John Jose Brezina 6.0

6 Mark McGough 6.0

7 John Micha McCann 6.0

8 Alejandro Torres 6.0

9 Eugin E Pahk 5.5

10 Drew Tirado 4.5

11 Yuna T Pahk 4.5

12 David Mueller 4.5

13 Paul D Anderson 4.0

14 Ian Taruc 3.0

15 Mason Wilkinson 3.0

16 John Marshall 3.0

17 Erika Strnad 3.0

18 Tim Saffold 2.0

19 Patru Dumitru 2.0

20 Marcus Mazerall 1.0

21 Koen Beaver 1.0

22 Jacob McCloud 1.0

23 Jessica Diosdado 0.0

24 Case Regan 0.0

Colorado Senior Open

By Buck Buchanan

2021 Colorado Senior Open Championship

Open to players over age 50 at tournament date June 5

4 Round Swiss Tournament

Date:  June 5 - 6, 2021

Time Control:  G/90 plus 30 second increment

City:  Manitou Springs

Site:  Art Center 515 Manitou Avenue Manitou Springs

Entry Fee:  $35 if rec'd by 6/4 (mail), $40 at site. 

Prizes:  Cash prizes per entries.

Registration:  8:30 - 9:30 AM.

Round Times:  10 AM, 3 PM Saturday; 10 AM, 3 PM Sunday

Entries:  Make checks payable to CSCA c/o Richard Buchanan

Address:  1 Sutherland Rd., Manitou Springs CO 80829

Phone:  (719) 685 1984

Email:  buckpeace@pcisys.net

Second day Byes must be requested before Round 1.

We will be following the El Paso County CDC guidelines.

Under current guidelines all players will be required to wear a mask 

in the building.

Players completing Covid vaccinations prior to this tournament is 

strongly encouraged.