306 Chess Tactics taken from Real Amateur Games

72 Pages·2014·32.54 MB·English

by  Timothy E Brennan

Tactics Time!

306 Chess Tactics taken from Real Amateur Games

Tim Brennan
TacticsTime.com
www.tacticstime.com
Tactics Time!
306 Chess Tactics taken from Real Amateur Games

By Tim Brennan
http://tacticstime.com

Version 1.09
December, 2014
This material contains elements protected under International and Federal Copyright laws and treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this
material is prohibited.
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About the Author
TIMOTHY BRENNAN has been writing about chess improvement
and creating chess tactics problems from amateur chess games since
2003 when he took over duties as Editor of the Colorado Chess In-
formant magazine.

Tim created his website, Tactics Time, http://tacticstime.com in May
2011 as a way to help class players out there improve their chess
game, build their tactical muscles, and have fun while doing it.

Tim enjoys playing in over the board USCF rated tournaments, and
correspondence chess online at redhotpawn.com.

In addition to chess , Tim enjoys computers, self improvement, and
working out.

You can reach Tim via at [email protected].

You can follow him on Twitter under the handle TacticsTime, https://
twitter.com/TacticsTime.

Tactics Time is also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/
TacticsTime.

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Table of Contents
About the Author .................................................................................................. 3
Table of Contents ................................................................................................. 4
Tactics Problems .................................................................................................. 5

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Tactics Time!
1. Steve Kovach - Ken Dail 2. R. Rountree - Klaus Johnson 3. Kenneth Carabba - Pete Short
Winter Springs Open 2008 Winter Springs Open 2008 Reggie Boone Memorial 2009
White to Move White to Move Black to Move
4. Tom Corbett - Shannon Fox 5. Scott Massey– Tim Brennan 6. S. Bommireddy - F. Baltier
Denver Chess Club Feb 2009 Allen Ufer Memorial 2009 ESCC Championship 2009
White to Move Black to Move Black to Move
7. P. Anderson - M. Anderson 8. VICKY21 - RedwoodPete 9. Frank Deming– Cory Foster
Cabin Fever Reliever 2009 Redhotpawn.com Feb Duel 2009 Loveland Open 2009
Black to Move Black to Move White to Move
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Answers:

1. 1. Qg5 leads to a forced mate. Black does not have enough time to defend his position. One line might be
1...g6 2. Qf6 Qe6 3. Qg7#
2. Robert delivered a Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kick with 1. b4 leaving the knight on c5 with no safe squares.
3. Pete fell asleep at the wheel earlier in the game and got his queen pinned to his king, but fought his way back
to this position. 1. ...b5! puts white in a lose-lose situation, where black is going to get a queen, while white is
too far away to do anything.
4. 1. Nc5 unleashes all sorts of double discovered attacks and more problems than a math book to deal with.
5. Elvis has left the building with 1...Rxb3! Which leaves white with all sorts of problems to deal with. In the
game white played 2. axb3 and black mated on the next move 2...Qa1# (not 2...Nxb3+ forking the King and
Queen)
6. 1...e4 is a good old fashioned pin it and win it.
7. Black played 1...Qg3+ which looks like it sets up a fork of king and queen, but the problem is that the queen
on f6 is protected by the pawn on g5, so black ends up losing a knight for a pawn, and locks his own king in.
Much better was 1...Nxe5 first, which sets up a mating net, threatening Qg3# on the next move.
8. This position was so absurd that I had to include it. It was played on the correspondence chess website
redhotpawn.com. White refused to resign, so black started underpromoting to knights. 1...Ng5# is a mate that
you don’t see everyday.
9. This game was broadcast live over the internet on monroi.com from the Loveland Open, which I think is very
cool! White nabbed a free pawn with 1. Nxe5! If 1...Bxe5 2. Qh5+ picks up the bishop.
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Tactics Time!
10. John Mitchell - J. Caldwell 11. Nazar Firman - C. Salinas 12. Pedro Tidoy- Jaan Elvest
Denver Chess Club 2003 Edward Levy Memorial 2003 Edward Levy Memorial 2003
White to Move White to Move White to Move
13. Dylan Lehti - Denny Dennis 14. P. Grimm - Curtis Crockett 15. Brian Wall - Paul Grimm
Denver Chess Club 2003 Denver Chess Club 2004 Foundation Cup 2004 (variation)
White to Move White to Move White to Move
16. Anthea Carson - Steve Towbin 17. Steve Towbin - Jesse Hester 18. R. Cordovano - S. Hornyak
Denver Chess Club 2004 Denver Chess Club 2003 Winter Springs Open 2003
White to Move White to Move White to Move
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Answers:

10. 1. Ne8! Forces checkmate. Black has a ton of spite checks he can throw in first to delay the inevitable like
1...Ne2+ 2. Kh1 Nxg3+ 3. hxg3 Rh4+ 4. Kg1 Rh1+ 5. Kxh1 Bf7 6. Qxf7+ Kh8 7. Qg7#
11. White can safely take the pawn with 1. Bxe4 because the d pawn is pinned to the Queen on a5. In the game
black should have played 1...Nf8 protecting against mate, but instead played 1...dxe4 and resigned after 2.
Qxa5.
12. In a more than 400 point upset, GM Ehlvest resigned after 1. Rxd2! The rook cannot be recaptured by the
queen because of 1...Qxd2? 2. Qxg6+ Kh8 3. Rh3+ Qh6 4. Rxh6#
13. Thanks to Dylan Lehti for this contribution! He writes: “I recently played this game and would like to share
part of it with a great tactical move. I think it would make a good puzzle in the Tactics Time! Section of the
Colorado Chess Informant magazine. This was the position with white to move. The move is 1. Ne4, imme-
diately winning material. I played this at DCC on a standard Tuesday game.”
14. Paul found a nice smothered mate with 1.Nf7+ Kg8 2.Nxh6+ Kh8 3.Qg8+ Rxg8 4.Nf7#
15. This position did not occur in the game, but could have if Paul would have played Kex6. Brian would have
followed up with the nice and neat Qf5#
16. This game was played in a Friday night 5 minute game at the DCC 1.Qxf7+ Kd8 2.Bg5+ Be7 3.Qxe7#
17. This position, which was reached in a 5 minute game, looks like it can straight out of a Fred Reinfeld 1001
tactic book. White has his choice of 1.Qxg6+ hxg6 2.Bxg6# or 1.Bxg6+ hxg6 2.Qxg6# Sacing the queen,
and mating with a lone bishop is more fun though :-)
18. 1. Nxf7 wins a pawn in a tricky position. If 1...Kxf7 2. Bxg6+ forks the King and Rook.
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Tactics Time!
19. Paul Grimm - Tom Corbert 20. Brian Wall - Renae Delaware 21. Ed Timmins - Pete Short
Rated Match 2004 Geezer vs Teaser Training 2004 Denver Chess Club 2004
White to Move Black to Move Black to Move
22. Paul Anderson - Brian Wall 23. Cory Foster - Randy Reynolds 24. P. Ponomarev - M. Shridhar
Colorado Springs CC 2004 Fort Collins Spring Fling 2004 Boulder Open 2004
Black to Move Black to Move White to Move
25. A. Gitis - Gary Bagstad 26. Tim Brennan - J.C. MacNeil 27. Anthea Carson - Gary Frenzel
Boulder Open 2004 Denver Chess Club 2004 Winter Springs Open 2004
Black to Move White to Move White to Move
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Answers:

19. Paul (White) missed a chance for a brilliant stalemate with 1. Rb1+, and instead played 1. Rxb7 hoping for 1...Kxb7 with
stalemate. After 1. Rxb7 Tom played 1...g5+, then took the rook with an easy win. After Rb1+ the white rook keeps
checking the black king, and there is no where to hide. The white rook can never be captured because it will be stalemate.
20. This was a training game in which Brian got 49 seconds (his age at the time) and Renae got five minutes. They were pre-
paring for a thematic tournament in Colorado Springs, in which each player started with the same position in the Nim-
zovich-Larsen attack: modern variation after the moves 1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bd6. In this position Black
mates with 12...Qh4+ 13.Kf3 Nh2# the queen and knights working well together.
21. 1...Nxf4+ unleashes a nice discovered attack on the queen.
22. Fritz 8 gave the move 1. Qxh2+!! a double exclam, and wrote “The nicest combinations are those leading to mate.”
1...Kxh2 2. Rh5#
23. 1...Qh7# is an interesting mate.
24. 21. Bg6+! Double discovered checks can be nasty! The Black King must move to e7, but the bishop falls after 21...Ke7
22.Qf7+ Kd8 23.Qxg7. All other moves lead to mate. 21...Ke6 22.Qf7+ Ke5 23.Nf3# or 21...Kxg6 22.h5# or 21...Kg8
22.Qf7#
25. 1...Nxd5 snags a nice center pawn. The Rook on d2 appears to be guarding it, but is overloaded with guarding the pawn
on b2.
26. 1. Qb6+ is the quickest way to mate. In the game I got flashy and played the overly complicated 1. Qe8+, which mates in
seven, because I did not see the easier mate in two.
27. 1. Qf5# mates the king in the middle of the board after sacrificing two bishops, which dragged the black king from a safe
home on g8 to a deadly exposed spot on g5.
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