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.