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Newsletter Issue #155Tactics Time Outrunning the Lion After The Wizard Of Oz I was typecast as a lion, and there aren't all that many parts for lions. ~ Bert Lahr T his position features an interesting uneven endgame with queen versus two bishops. In the position on the right it is White to move. Answer below. Today I want to tell you a little story. A good way to understand the nature of competition in the world of chess is the story of the lion and the two chess players. The story goes that there were two chess players traveling through the African savannah when they unexpectedly turned a corner and came face to face with a hungry lion. As the lion began to circle them, the first chess player sat down on a nearby rock, took off his hiking boots and started putting on a pair of sneakers which he had been carrying in his backpack. The second chess player looked puzzled and said, "What are you doing, you'll never be able to outrun a lion" The first chess player looked up and replied, "I don't need to outrun the lion, I just need to outrun you!" The moral of this story to me is that in order to win a chess game, you don't need to play perfect chess, you just need to be a little bit better than your competition. When I started looking at a large number of class player games, I realized that they contain tons of errors and mistakes in them. Simple mistakes - 1 to 2 move combinations that are missed. Most of these tactics are so simple, that if I included them as a problem in this newsletter I would be getting complains! Often my only real strategy in a game is just "don't mess up first", and wait for my opponent to make some sort of tactical weakness, and then exploit it. Even if I have an even position with a person for 30-40 moves, I will keep playing, and see if they mess up. Maybe they won't, and the game will be a draw, but I am going to see if they can "outrun me against the lion" in terms of making as many moves as possible without a tactical mistake. Here is the complete game: [Event "1"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2007.08.30"] [Round "?"] [White "IanPlens"] [Black "vasil_buglov"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C62"] [WhiteElo "1679"] [BlackElo "1459"] [PlyCount "107"] [TimeControl "1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. Bxc6+ bxc6 5. Nc3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. d3 h6 8. Be3 Nf6 9. g4 Bg6 10. d4 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Qxd8+ Rxd8 14. Ke2 Be7 15. Rhd1 O-O 16. Nxe5 Bg2 17. f3 Rxd1 18. Rxd1 Bd6 19. Nxc6 f5 20. Rg1 Bxh3 21. gxf5 Bxf5 22. c3 Be6 23. b3 Kh7 24. Bd4 g6 25. Nxa7 Bd5 26. Nb5 Bxf3+ 27. Ke1 Bh2 28. Rf1 Re8+ 29. Kd2 Bf4+ 30. Kc2 Re2+ 31. Kb1 Be4+ 32. Ka1 g5 33. a4 h5 34. a5 h4 35. c4 Bc2 36. b4 Bb3 37. c5 h3 38. Nc3 Rd2 39. Bf6 Kg6 40. a6 Kxf6 41. Ne4+ Kg6 42. Nxd2 Bxd2 43. b5 Bc4 44. a7 Bxf1 45. a8=Q Bf4 46. b6 cxb6 47. cxb6 Bg2 48. Qe8+ Kf5 49. Qc8+ Kg6 50. b7 h2 51. Qc2+ Kf6 52. Qxg2 Kf5 53. Kb2 Ke5 54. b8=Q+ 1-0 You can play through this game here: http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=44491 Answer: White has a queen fork with 51. Qc2+ forking the King and Bishop on g2, winning a piece. White doesn't want to promote the b pawn just yet, and actually ended up with three different queens in this game. Happy Tactics! Your Friend, Like Tactics Time on Facebook. Follow Tactics Time on Twitter. Check out the Tactics Time Blog. If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them! Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read? Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at http://tacticstime.com! © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved. Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical TipsUnsubscribe to this newsletter 1340 Farnham Point, Apt 206, Colorado Springs, CO 80904, USA Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

Newsletter Issue #33 Tactics Time Anastasia's Mate A weak enemy in the fortress is more fearsome than the strongest outside. - Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse M any checkmate patterns have their own names, just as openings and tactical patterns have their own names. In the position on the right it is Black to move. Answer below. The solution to this problem is an example of "Anastasia's Mate". According to Wikipedia the checkmate got its name from the novel Anastasia und das Schachspiel (English: Anastasia and the game of chess) by Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse, who wrote the quote above. There is a very brief Wikipedia entry for the Anastasia checkmate pattern, which has several other useful checkmating pattern's on the same page. Ward Farnsworth also has an excellent section on Anastasia's Mate on his Predator at the Chessboard site (which I HIGHLY recommend). Here is the complete game: [Event "Open invite"] [Site ""] [Date "2008.05.27"] [White "foomip"] [Black "Scobie"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C02"] [WhiteElo "1576"] [BlackElo "1461"] [PlyCount "60"]1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 Nge7 7. a3 Nf5 8. Bb5 Bd7 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. O-O g6 11. Nc3 Bg7 12. Bg5 Qb6 13. Rb1 O-O 14. Bf6 Bxf6 15. exf6 Rfe8 16. Ne5 Nxd4 17. Nxc6 Nxc6 18. Na4 Qd8 19. Nc5 b6 20. Nd3 Qxf6 21. Rc1 Rac8 22. Qa4 Nd4 23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Qxa7 Qf5 25. Qa6 Rc6 26. Nb4 Rc4 27. Qxb6 Ne2+ 28. Kh1 Qf4 29. Nd3 Qxh2+ 30. Kxh2 Rh4# 0-1 You can play through this game here: . Answer: 29 ..Qxh2+ sets up an Anastasia's Mate. 30. Kxh2 Rh4# Scobie deserves a Scooby Snack for such a nice checkmate! Happy Tactics! Your Friend, Like Tactics Time on Facebook. Follow Tactics Time on Twitter. Check out the Tactics Time Blog. If you know someone who could benefit from this, please feel free to forward it to them! Not a subscriber yet? Like what you read? Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you at ! © Copyright 2011-2012 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved. Tactics Time | Podcasts | Product Information | 101 Tactical Tips Unsubscribe to this newsletter 1340 Farnham Point, Apt 206, Colorado Springs, CO 80904, USA To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: