Feb 28 Results and problems (corrected)

Results
This week Heritage was playing with #1 #2 #3 #4 and 4 alternates
Friendly Hills had #1, #2, #3, #5, and #6. so both teams had their A-Team there.
Here were the results - Winner in  Bold
FHMS                  Heritage
Luke    1014->1015 vs Maize   637->636
Shanmuka 890->862  vs Boomer  579->607
Elijah   786->788  vs Silas   431->429
Amanuel  606->579  vs Jackson 328->355
Sam      493->498  vs Dylan   211->206
Final Score FHMS 3-2 over Heritage 
FHMS retains the ISD197 Championship trophy and also placed 2nd in the league.

Heres an interesting position from Maize vs Luke on board 1. Maize has just taken Luke's rook on f8.
Problem #1: Black's turn. What move should Luke make?

#2.

Problem #2. Here's an easier problem from Amanuel vs Jackson. Amanual gets his queen out before controlling the center with his knights and Jackson makes him pay. Where should the queen go to?

Answer to problem #1: This features a beautiful move known as a swischenzug move (German for in-between move.) If you prefer Italian, call it an "intermezzo".  Here's the idea: we're going to capture the bishop - just not yet. We're going to slip in an "in-between move" (that's English). But the move has to be forceful or it won't work because the Bishop will get away. The move is cxd3. Luke saves his pawn, takes one of Maize's pawns and forces the queen to move. Next turn we might take the Bishop unless we find another zwischenzug. For example, if Maize plays Qe1, we might slip in d2 or Nc2 before we take his Bishop. (In the actual game, Luke made a lot of fine moves, but he did miss this one.)
Answer to problem #2: The queen must guard c2, so in this case Qd1 is best. Amanual played Qd3 which also guards c2, but that queen is getting onto the battlefield. Jackson played Ba6. Now what should Amanuel do? He should take the bishop, give up the c pawn and the rook and take the knight with his bishop. If that had happened, Amanual would be ahead by a small amount. Instead he blundered by moving Qe3. After the royal fork and trade, Jackson's bishop took the bishop, pawn and rook and Amanual resigned.

Round 10 FHMS lost to Metcalf B by a score of 0-5 
Heritage beat Faithful Shepherd by a score of 5-0 by forfeit. 
Luke    1015->1012 Harrison 1346
Shanmuka 862->857  Soren    1155
Elijah   788->773  Kenny     816
Amanuel  579->577  Mason     946
Sam      498->497  Owen S.   900

FINAL STANDINGS
Team       Matches  Games
Metcalf A  9.5- 0.5 45.0- 5.0
Metcalf B  8.5- 1.5 38.5-11.5
Metcalf C  6.0- 4.0 29.5-20.5
FHMS       4.0- 6.0 15.0-35.0
Heritage   2.0- 8.0 15.0-35.0
FaithShep  0.0-10.0  7.0-43.0

Outstanding Player Award Winners

Harrison Stage -95pts, Gerald Johnson-95 points, Owen Krick-85 pts, Jake Schoenbauer-85 pts, Mitch Kellen-85 points…These students all attend Metcalf Middle School

Feb 21 Results

Results

We're better at chess than our record shows. We just have trouble showing up!
I was hoping we'd do well against MetC, but neither Heritage nor FHMS had their A Team there.
Heritage was playing with #2 #8 #10 #20 and one forfeit.
FHMS was playing with #3 #8 #14 and forfeited 2 games. I think we have a shot at Metc B if we have our A-Team there.

Team      Match Games
Metcalf A  8-0 38.5- 1.5
Metcalf B  7-1 31.0- 9.0
Metcalf C  5-3 23.5-16.5
FHMS       3-5 12.0-28.0
Heritage   1-7  8.0-32.0
FaithShep  0-9  7.0-33.0

Friendly Hills vs Heritage next week! If Heritage can win both matches and win 7 games they will take over 4th place

Ratings Changes
FHMS Elijah and  Dhanush -4, Jose -2
HERITAGE Boomer +31, John, Aiden and Leo -2

Remaining Schedule 

Friday Feb 28 at Heritage 3:40-6:00
  ROUND9 Heritage vs FHMS, MetcA vs MetcB, FS vs MetcC
  ROUND10 FS vs Heritage, MetA vs MetC, MetB vs FHMS

Remaining League Schedule

The previous post shows some upcoming opportunities to compete, but now let's focus on finishing strong in our match play.

Remaining Schedule 
Notice that Heritage has a realistic chance to win 3 of its  last 4 matches
Friendly Hills has a good chance to win 2 and end up with a respectable 5-5 record.

Friday Feb 21 at Metcalf  3:40-6:00
  ROUND 7 MetcC vs Heritage, MetcB vs FS, FHMS vs MetcA
  ROUND 8 Heritage vs MetcB, MetcC vs FHMS, MetcA vs FS

Friday Feb 28 at Heritage 3:40-6:00
  ROUND9 Heritage vs FHMS, MetcA vs MetcB, FS vs MetcC
  ROUND 10 FS vs Heritage, MetA vs MetcC, MetcB vs FHMS

Positiions from Feb 7

1. Shanmuka from Friendly Hills has just played Nd4 attacking Ssoren's queen. What's Soren;s only good move?
In the actual game he played Qe3??
What should Shanmuka do?

2. In that same game Shanmuka reached this position. What's Black's bet move?

3. Here Boomer from Heritage playing black carefully avoided checkmate and now has a chance to gain material. How?

Answers:
#1) a) Nxd4 ?? results in Bxe2 losing the queen
      b) Qd3 ?? results in Nxc2+ lsoing the queen
      c) Qf1 ?? results in Nxc2+ losing the rook
      d) Qd2 ?? results in Bxf3 losing the knight (Soren can't take back lest Nxf3+ forking the queen
      e) Qe1 is the only move that doen't lose material.
In the actual game, Soren played Qe3, but Shanmuka missed the opportunity to get his queen and played Bxf3 which is a good move and wins the knight. However, Soren could castle and save his queen, but he played gxf3 allowing Shanmuka one more chance to get the queen and that time Shanmuka played Nxc2+ followed by Nxe3.

#2. White's biggest assets are his rook and his passed pawn on the f-file. Black can eliminate one with Nh5 forking both. The game might have continued: 1. ... Nh5 2 Re3 Nxf4+ 3.Kkd2 Nxh3

#3. 1. ... Qa5+ 2. c3  Bxd6

Feb 7 Results

Results

Friday Jan 31 at Friendly Hills 3:40-6:00
  ROUND 3 MetcB 4, Heritage 1; MetcC 4, FHMS 1; FS 1,  MetcA 4
  ROUND 4 FHMS 3, Heritage 2;  MetcB 0 MetcA 5; MetcC 5, FS

Friday Feb 7   at Metcalf  3:40-6:00
  ROUND 5 Heritage 3 FS 2, MetcA 4.5 MetcC 0.5, FHMS 0.5 MetcB 4.5
  ROUND 6 Heritage 0 MetcA 5, FS 1 FHMS 4, MetcB 4 MetcC 1

Team      Match Games
Metcalf A  6-0 28.5- 1.5
Metcalf B  5-1 21.5- 8.5
Metcalf C  3-3 14.5-15.5
FHMS       3-3 12.0-18.0
Heritage   1-5  7.0-23.0
FaithShep  0-6  6.5-23.5

Metcalf C has to play both FHMS and Heritage next time!

Remaining Schedule 

Friday Feb 14 no games

Friday Feb 21 at Metcalf  3:40-6:00
  ROUND 7 MetcC vs Heritage, MetcB vs FS, FHMS vs MetcA
  ROUND 8 Heritage vs MetcB, MetcC vs FHMS, MetcA vs FS

Friday Feb 28 at Heritage 3:40-6:00
  ROUND9 Heritage vs FHMS, MetcA vs MetcB, FS vs MetcC
  ROUND 10 FS vs Heritage, MetA vs MetcC, MetcB vs FHMS

PUZZLES
PROBLEM #1 Here's a complicated position from Claire of Friendly Hills vs Aidan of Heritage.
It turned out to be the decisive game in a 3-2 victory for Friendly Hills.
It's Black's turn. He has two pieces in trouble. Can he save both or at least escape with minor damage?

PROBLEM #2
Chase of Heritage has checked the Black king. Shanmuka of Friendly Hills has blocked with his bishop. Before thinking about your next move, count the points in pieces (Q=10, R=5, B=3, P-=1).
a) who is ahead? b) What should White' plan be? c) What should Black's plan be? d) Finally, in accordance with the plan, how should Chase save his queen?

PROBLEM #3
It's Luke's turn as black against J. Sharma from Metcalf on Board 1. What's the correct move?

#4 EASY Black's last move was Kb5 attack White's b pawn. This was Shanmuka's last chance for an easy win. (He missed it!)

ANSWERS
#1.  First notice that if the bishop retreats, White cannot take the knights because of Bxg4+ winning the queen. However, White could exchange Queens first, allowing the capture of the knight.
But Black can prevent the Queen trade by playing Bd4 saving both pieces. If White plays c3 attacking the Bishop, Black counters with Bf5 threatening exf3+ with a discovered attack on the rook.
Black has the upper hand after Nc3 with threats of Nxd4+ followed by Qa4+. So the correct move is Bd4. However, Black can also reverse the order of the first two move and play exf3+ first.

#2. a) both sides are equal in material
     b) White has 3 passed pawns on the d and e files. His goal should be to promote one to a queen.
     c) Black has 3 passed pawns on the g and h files. His goal should be to promote one to a queen.
     d) White's correct move is is e5! (The computer has White ahead by a significant amount. Unfortunaely Chase played Qd2 losing control of the e5 square and giving Black, a significant advantage,)

#3 Nx e4 (Not Bxe4 which White answers with an undermining move - Bxf6)

#4. Nd4+ forking the King and Rook! From there the plan is take the Rook, take the f-pawn with the rook take the g-pawn with the N, Nh7 and march the pawn to queendom.

Jr High Chess League 2020 Schedule

Scroll down to find some interesting postions from Jan  24, 2020. Or look at the previous blogs - there are some good problems from last year.

Results (corrected)

Friday Jan 24 at Friendly Hills 3:40-6:15
  ROUND 1 MetcA 5 Heritage 0, FHMS 3.5 Faithful Shepherd 1.5,  MetcB 5 MetcC 0
  ROUND 2 Heritage 1 MetcC 4, FS 1 MetcB 4, MetcA 5 FHMS 0

Team      Match Games
Metcalf A  2-0 10.0-0.0
Metcalf B  2-0  9.0-1.0
Metcalf C  1-1  4.0-6.0
FHMS       1-1  3.5-6.5
FaithShep  0-2  2.5-7.5
Heritage   0-2  1.0-9.0

Remaining Schedule
Friday Jan 31 at Friendly Hills 3:40-6:15
  ROUND 3 MetcB vs Heritage, MetcC vs FHMS, FS vs MetcA
  ROUND 4 FHMS vs Heritage, MetcB vs MetcA, MetcC vs FS

Friday Feb 7   at Metcalf  3:40-6:15
  ROUND 5 Heritage vs FS, MetcA vs MetcC, FHMS vs MetcB
  ROUND 6 Heritage vs MetcA, FS vs FHMS, MetcB vs MetcC

Friday Feb 14 no games

Friday Feb 21 at Metcalf  3:40-6:15
  ROUND 7 MetcC vs Heritage, MetcB vs FS, FHMS vs MetcA
  ROUND 8 Heritage vs MetcB, MetcC vs FHMS, MetcA vs FS

Friday Feb 28 at Heritage 3:40-6:15
  ROUND9 Heritage vs FHMS, MetcA vs MetcB, FS vs MetcC
  ROUND 10 FS vs Heritage, MetA vs MetcC, MetcB vs FHMS

PROBLEMS
1. DIFFICULT Here's an interesting position from Board 1 Shanmuka of Friendly Hills is playing White against Mayotte from Faithful Shepherd. Mayotte has just moved his bishop from h6 to e3. The f pawn is pinned and helpless. What's White's best move?

2.  EASY Here's a position where T. Spencer, as Black, had a checkmate in two, but he missed it and let Graham Styles of Friendly Hills fight on for another 20 moves. Can you find the mate in two?

3. EASY Heres a common error. Chase of Heritage made a mistake against David Santos of Metcalf, but David playing White didn't capitalize on it. What move should David have made?


4. MEDIUM Beckham from Heritage has just lost his rook on a1. Time to resign?

ANSWERS
1. c6!  wins the bishop because if Black does not take the pawn immediately, it queens.
2. 1. Nf3+ covers the escape square 2. Bd2 Qxd2#
3. e5 forking the Knight and Bishop.
4. Beckham didn't resign, but he missed a good move - Nbc3 wins the queen for a rook which would have evened the score.

RULES
1. All games must be notated.

2. We will play with the touch-move rule. If you touch a piece with the intent to move it, you must move that piece if it is legally possible to do so. If you touch an opponent's piece, with either your hand or your piece, you will be required to capture that piece if it is legally possible to do so.

3. All games will be played with a clock if we have enough. Bring your fully charged I-Pad and become familiar with the chess clock application, which you can find with the link in the upper right. Time control will be announced at the beginning of the round - probably 30 minutes with 5-second delay or 35 minutes with no delay. That means a game may last 1 hr 10 min. There is a link to a nice chess clock from our chess club blog.

4. Players will be assigned a board based on their rating. If a teammate is not present, all players move up one board and a sub will play on board 5. If a team is short a player or two, that team will forfeit the game. If both teams are short a player, both teams will forfeit the game. To win a match a team must score 3 or more points. If a team scores 2.5 points the match is considered a draw.

Round 5 Results and Final Standings

Metcalf A 4-1 over Metcalf B
Metcalf C 3-2 over Salem Hills
Friendly Hills 4-1 over Faithful Shepherd
1st place trophy - Metcalf
2nd place trophy - Salem Hills
3rd place trophy - Friendly Hills

Place		MA	MB	MC	SH	FH	FS	Pts	games
1	MetA	/	4-1	5-0	3.5-1.5	5-0	5-0	5	22.5
2	MetB	1-4	/	4-1	3.0-2.0	5-0	5-0	4	18
3	MetC	0-5	1-4	/	3.0-2.0	2.5-2.5	4-1	2.5	10.5
4	Sal H	1.5-3.5	2.0-3.0	2.0-3.0	/	4.5-.5	4.5-.5	2	14.5
5	FrH	0-5	0-5	2.5-2.5	.5-4.5	/	4-1	1.5	7
6	FaithS	0-5	0-5	1-4	.5-4.5	1-4	/	0	2.5