Class C Tournament Tactics

A little over a year after returning to tournament chess (after a 4 year hiatus), I have become a relatively regular tournament player, if you consider a tournament every month or two to be regular. My rating at the beginning of the year was 1551, so I entered the Class C section of the Bay Area Amateur tournament in Santa Clara, CA. The tournament was across the street from the Bay Area International tournament which had all the famous masters.

I will give a few mostly tactical puzzles from my games. They may be useful to lower rated class players looking to move up to Class C. Or they may be useful to nobody at all. They might be enjoyable for players who want to see what real games of this level (USCF 1400-1600) are like (you may be surprised to hear that pieces are very rarely hung for nothing at this level, although tactics are missed frequently). Or they might not be enjoyable at all. Anyway, these games were fun and interesting to play and I felt like posting my first puzzle. Feedback is more than welcome as always.

After scoring a draw and a win in my first two games, I am now playing against one of the leaders in round 3 of the 6 round tournament. The middlegame has been even so far, but my opponent has just made the first big mistake of the game: 17. Ned4. This first one's short and sweet- more to come later.

got it first

Here's another one; these aren't in chronological order, so we're skipping forward to the last round- now I'm paired with the tournament director himself with significant money on the line! I have been nursing an advantage of one pawn for a long time and my opponent and I have just entered into a line that could completely liquidate the queenside, which would wipe out my advantage and probably cause a draw. Black is attacking a pawn- how can I create a passed pawn and win this knight endgame?

Let's rewind to round 4; after my opening round draw I had righted the ship and won two straight games to join the leaders at 2.5/3. In this game I have the white pieces (for some reason my lifetime record as black is MUCH better) and, after making several bad positional errors, have to defend against a kingside attack. The puzzle is from Black's perspective- how did my opponent convert his positional advantage into a material one?

The next tournament I played in was the Golden State Open, a big tournament out in Concord, CA. At 1569 (live rating 1602) I was one of the rating favorites for my class. Paired down in the first round, I got an unpleasant surprise after missing a tactical shot and was unable to save the game. This puzzle is from the perspective of my opponent.

I lost three of my first four games at the Golden State Open. Desperate for a good game and/or a win to balance out my score, I faced another guy who was playing up. This endgame tactic got me that point- nothing earth-shattering but a nice way to make my extra pawn's presence felt.

By the last round, it was clear I wouldn't make the prize list, but I still wanted to win my last game to get a winning record for the tournament. This is a position from the middlegame and I am playing Black. Can I take the proffered pawn?

4.Bh7+ wins in your line, so 2...Qf8 was necessary.

That's terrific, did not see that one (in the game or afterward). I'll take solace in the fact that Kramnik missed the same tactic in his second game with Svidler at the Candidates Tournament. In the actual game my opponent continued with Qe3 and I was able to trade rooks into a winning ending. But I guess I should regard this as a bullet dodged!

Yeah I played 2... Qf8 in the puzzle too for the same reason. Nice games though!

thanks! My next tournament was last month in Milpitas, at the headquarters of Bay Area Chess- the Michael Aigner Open, where I again played in the CDE section. I was the top seed, which was a bit daunting in a tournament with so many talented elementary school kids, but I started well, overcoming severe time trouble to win my first two games. Next I faced another young kid against whom I got a rare opening advantage. I won a clean pawn with this sequence, although I was worn out from my first two games and accepted a draw offer 15 moves later to take a nap in my car (to his credit my opponent defended energetically and accurately).

In the fourth round, I was paired on the top board against the leader, another elementary school kid who was undefeated. I sacrificed several tempi to get an IQP position for the first time, and thanks to reading Silman's articles, I knew the theory, namely trading minor pieces and maintaining the blockade, but that proved very difficult in practice, as my opponent played energetically and my progress slowed to a crawl. His positional pressure began to tell and I failed to find the right defense, allowing him to win a pawn. Disclaimer: Houdini prefers Qc3 but my opponent played a different move, possibly accounting for any difficulty in finding that move.

Here is the horrendously suicidal sequence of moves whereby I lost my fifth round game and removed myself from contention for first place. The puzzle is from the perspective of my opponent, who easily won our section with five wins and a bye. I faded to 3-2 with one draw- a disappointing finish given how strongly I had started.

This brings us (us? me? am I just posting for my own indulgence? don't answer that) to my most recent tournament. The Michael Aigner Open ended on a disappointing note, as I lost to a middle schooler who has improved significantly since I played him last summer. It was a fine positional game and I felt thoroughly outplayed, so I congratulated my opponent, drove home without prize money, went for a run, ate some ice cream, and plotted my next moves.

The aforementioned tournament was intended to be my warmup for the Larry Evans Memorial in Reno, held over Easter weekend. I have family in Reno, which made my arrangements much easier and gave me a place to stay between rounds, along with making my weekend more pleasant in general. The tournament conditions were terrific and will be expounded upon later.

My first game was against a true tournament veteran with over 500 tournaments to his name! I had to wait a few minutes, so I went to the other side of the ballroom to watch the master games. I've never seen so many famous players- watching these guys work was fascinating and I almost forgot I had a game to play. When I returned I found the move 1. b3 on the board. My opponent played a very restrained opening, not even reaching the fourth rank until the 12th move. I told myself to stay solid and continue building. Both sides castled queenside and no pieces have been exchanged...then came the first tactical opportunity of the game:

As the game went on, I began trading pieces and activating my king. Then I faltered and allowed what looked like a perpetual check! My opponent offered a draw and left the board. I saw a way to avoid the perpetual, so I politely declined... White has just played Rc3+, a discovered check, and if I play Kb4, White will play Rc4+, trying to entice me into grabbing the pawn. Find the way to a winning endgame:

This tournament was unlike any I had played before- it was held in a very classy ballroom with separate rows for each rating class, and the top five boards of the master section were in a separate area with a velvet rope and demonstration boards. All the players in the top section got cards with their names and ratings to put by their boards in addition to the flags of their countries. In my section (although not in all sections) we got our state flags by our boards, which was really cool. And the tournament was directed by Jerry Weikel, who has a tradition of reading the names of all the titled players before the first round so they can be applauded. I thought this was a great idea which I would like to see elsewhere as well.

In Round 2 I found myself on the top board. Because I never have "played up" a section in any tournament, I have frequently been on the top board in my recent tournaments because my rating had stagnated in the 1550-1570 range for a while. Even so, it's always a bit of a thrill to be featured on Board 1, even if nobody else cares about my game. This game featured my single favorite tactic from all my games this tournament, despite the fact that I was on the receiving end.

I had won a pawn after obtaining my usual slight positional pressure as White out of the opening and was trying to neutralize my opponent's threats. My opponent has untangled his pieces and is threatening to deploy them in the direction of my kingside, so I decided to take action, playing 30. d6 and 31. Rd1, seemingly leaving my knight out to dry. How did my opponent liquidate into an equal endgame?

Postscript: My opponents from the first two rounds, Piper and Crenshaw, tied for top senior at 4/6- richly deserved in my opinion.

Some very nice chess tactics here. 

Thanks very much; I consider myself a pretty quiet player, rarely inclined to dive into complications, but the story of chess at the C level is largely determined by tactics. There are very few boring games at my level... Glad you enjoyed them- more to come

Due to my second-round draw, I had fallen out of the lead pack and was playing on a lower board. I played a kid for the only time in the tournament- he couldn't have been older than 7 or 8 and was bravely playing up a section. He got a promising center out of the opening and started a kingside attack, which I defended with difficulty. Once I stabilized the game, we began a very positional phase, in which my opponent couldn't find the right plan as I improved my pieces. I was happy to get a break from calculating tactics, as I surmised that an inexperienced kid with a lower rating was likely to be better at tactics than strategy. The position below is not a tactic or a puzzle. I decided to improve my knight to create a superior minor piece imbalance; how did I accomplish this? Where does the knight belong, and how does it get there? In the next post I will reveal the course of action I took and the resulting tactics.

The knight should probably go to c4