Online Mate In One Test

Test your ability to solve mates in one using this fun web application. You get 10 seconds to find the correct move. If you're right, then you immediately get another position. The program stops when your move is not checkmate, or when your time expires.

Many of the positions are trivially winning, but the goal is to checkmate in one. Multiple solutions exist for some problems, and the program will accept any of them. After you have solved several hundred, you may notice that some positions repeat.

Parental warning: This game is addictive. I know several young masters who solved over 100 in a row. At least two have reached 500! At this time, yours truly only achieved a modest 41. If you wish to brag to your friends, then save a screenshot immediately after you messed up.

Finally, if 10 seconds is too fast, then simply edit the number at the end of the URL.

Grandmaster Falls Into Stalemate Trap

GM Alex Bachmann - FM Yian Liou
National Open 2012
Comments by GM Alex Baburin of the internet newsletter Chess Today. 

White to move.

White wins easily after 107.h6! Qd7 108.Qe5+ Kg8 109.Qg7+! Qxg7 110.hxg7 Kh7 111.Kh5! Kxg7 112.Kg5. Instead of that he made a natural-looking move:

107.g5?? The passers are marching together! Yet, this move is a terrible mistake as now the white king is too exposed and White no longer has the option of going into a pawn endgame with one pawn left.

107...Qd7 108.h6 Kg8 109.Kh5 Qf7+ 110.Qg6+

Black to move.

110...Kh8! 1/2-1/2 (because 111.Qxf7 is stalemate!)

What (many people) missed is that both players made an additional mistake – White could win by playing 110.g6!, while Black had to play 109...Qd1+! 110.Kg6 Qd6+ 111.Kf5 Qc5+ 112.Qe5 Qc2+ =.

Do YOU Have What It Takes to be a Master?

White to move and achieve a clear advantage. Do you see a tactic in this position? Would you have found that tactic if nobody had told you to look for one?

This position comes from round 5 at Pacific Coast Open, a game between brand new master Yian Liou and NM Julian Landaw (2283). Arguably this single move pushed Yian above the master threshold last weekend. Most people would automatically play Bf4 or Bd4, but there is something deeper in the position. Can you find it?

I will post the solution in the comments section below.

Practice Tactics at ChessTempo.com

(Black to move and win. Final position from Mamedyarov vs Kurnosov at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow. White resigned in disgust and then accused his opponent of cheating. Instead of being a bad sport, maybe he should have worked on tactics puzzles instead.)

This post has been reprinted from May 2008. The internet has so many cool websites that it is impossible to know each one. Sometimes you stumble on a new site either by luck or upon a suggestion. I came across the chess tactics server www.chesstempo.com on advice from one of my opponents. This chess tactics website is nearly everything that I could have dreamed of!

This Chess Tactics Server allows users to solve tactics puzzles and receive a rating. The standard rating requires only accuracy (get the correct solution) while the blitz rating requires accuracy plus speed (lose points if you take too long). The interface is quite easy to use. They are still growing; since last year, they added two endgame puzzle categories. Best of all, registering for this exciting website is free!

Advantages:

1. Nearly 40,000 problems! You won't run out anytime soon.
2. A new problem pops up automatically (click on "last problem for session" to stop).
3. Wide variety of puzzles so that you won't get bored.
4. Harder problems have a higher rating and you get more points for solving.
5. All problems are from real games.
6. Some positions are easy (e.g. 1-movers) but the correct move is difficult to spot.
   
7. Can view your solving history and go back to problems you missed.
8. Solve endgame puzzles, both theoretical and practical.
   

Disadvantages:

1. A few problems are dumb (e.g. a piece is hanging).
2. It is frustrating when you find an easily winning move, but there is a better one (e.g. winning queen instead of checkmate or different mates in 2). This has improved.
   
3. There is no partial credit if you get the first move but mess up in the full variation.
   
4. Standard ratings are lower than USCF. Ratings seem to be closer to USCF now.
   
5. Blitz ratings are higher than USCF.
6. Can't search the database for specific types of tactics. Premium option.
   

I highly recommend this site to all of my students as well as other chess players. One hint: When you find a good move, first stop and try to find a better one!

Earth vs Space Reaches Critical Position

Earth vs Space after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Bb5 Qa5+ 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.O-O Nxc3 9.Qd2. Black to move.)

The ongoing correspondence chess match between astronaut Greg Chamitoff (on left in NASA photo, posing with fellow American Richard Garriott) and us Earthlings has become tactical by move 9. After Earth voted for Qa5+ on move 5, White's resources along the a5-e1 diagonal were limited. Humanity has seized the initiative. On the bright side, the resident of the International Space Station still has a development advantage and even managed castled. Is that enough?

If you read this post by Sunday at noon Pacific time, please surf to the USCF website to vote on move 9. You do not have to be a member to participate. The champions from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington selected four candidate moves: Ne2+, cxd4, Bg4 and Ba6. I won't reveal which one I chose; instead, I urge the reader to calculate the tactical possibilities after each option.

• Click here to vote on the official match website!
• NASA webpage featuring astronaut Chamitoff and his velcro chess board in space.
• All Earth vs Space posts on this blog.

What Is Wrong with Kramnik?

(Can white take the d4 pawn, intending to skewer the black queen and the knight on d7?)

The World Chess Championship in Bonn, Germany has taken an unexpected turn. Please stand up if you predicted that Vishy Anand would lead by three games at the midway point of his 12 game match against Vladimir Kramnik. The relevant question today is not "Will Anand win?" but rather "What is wrong with Kramnik?" For all practical purposes, the final games of the match merely serve as Anand's coronation as the 15th undisputed World Chess Champion.

The match turned with a pair of victories by Anand from the black side of Meran, which is a sharp variation of the semi-Slav defense (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6). The semi-Slav is Anand's favorite opening against 1.d4 and he is not afraid to mix it up. Black's king was stranded in the center in both contests, but he had counterplay on the g-file. In Game 3, Anand crashed through on the kingside and Kramnik subsequently blundered in a wild position. In Game 5, Anand again equalized and then Kramnik allowed a spectacular combination by capturing the poisoned pawn on d4 (see diagram at top of article). The game ended with 29. Nxd4?? Qxd4 30. Rd1 Nf6! 31. Rxd4 Nxg4 32. Rd7+ Kf6 33. Rxb7 Rc1+ 34. Bf1 Ne3!! 35. fxe3 fxe3 0-1
In between these two wins, Anand played the white pieces in Game 4. Perhaps content to just consolidate his lead, white achieved nothing in the Queen's Gambit Declined and a draw was agreed before move 30. By the time Game 6 began, Kramnik was two points in the hole and desperate for a win with either color. He overpressed in a position that he should have looked for ways to draw and Anand calmly scored another point. The score now stands at 4.5-1.5 in favor of the Indian superstar. After three misses, Kramnik is like the hero in Ernest Thayer's famous sonnet about America's pasttime: "mighty Casey has struck out."

The next two games are scheduled for Thursday and Friday at 6am PDT. Due to the end of summer time in Europe, the final four games on Sunday and next week begin at 7am. However, the match will immediately end when (if) one player achieves an insurmountable score of 6.5 points. Regardless of the winner, both players will split the 1.5 million Euro purse evenly. The catch is that the World Champion is guaranteed another rich purse soon while the loser fights his way through the complicated qualification cycle.

IM Ooops!

(White just retreated Nb2 to attack the c4 pawn. Black to move and win!)

No, this position is not an optical illusion, although I did spend a full minute to double, triple and even quadruple check all of the possibilities. Merely a couple of moves out of theory, white hung a piece to an elementary tactic and immediately resigned after black played the correct response. The shocking part of the story is that white is not an amateur, but rather an International Master! The Mongolian IM Odondoo Ganbold, rated 2380 FIDE, gave me this gift win with the black pieces on Monday afternoon in the Alan Benson IM norm tournament played at the Mechanics' Institute.

This quick victory improved my score to 50% after four games. On the bright side, I already played against all of the three youngsters in the 10-player round robin, drawing with both FM-elect Sam Shankland and FM Daniel Naroditsky but losing badly to NM Gregory Young. My performance rating going into the 2-week break in my playing schedule is 2324. However, to earn a norm, I will need to score 4.0 out of the remaining five games, including contests versus International Masters Vladimir Mezentsev (as black), Ricardo DeGuzman (as black) and John Grefe (as white). While not entirely impossible, this does seem like an incredibly steep mountain to climb. Wish me luck!

Yeager 0-1 Young (Round 3)

(Black to move and win! The white monarch is not very happy on h4.)

NM Gregory Young (2213) just defeated the top seeded player in the US Junior, FM Daniel Yeager (2373), with the black pieces. The opening was a main line Leningrad Dutch with the somewhat unusual move 8.Nd5. White's king got stuck on the h-file on move 26. In the above position, Gregory played 30... Rbd1! (Rgd1 is equally good) threatening the bishop on d5 and checkmate via Rd2 and Rxh2. Seeing nothing better, white surrendered the bishop and resigned ten moves later. Click here to play through the entire game.

The California kid now has 2-0 plus a bye. Gregory gets black against Sawyer tonight and white versus Hughes tomorrow morning to complete the first half of the double round-robin.

US Junior after Round 3: Gregory Young 2.0/2, Tyler Hughes 2.0/3, Bradley Sawyer 1.0/2, Daniel Yeager 1.0/3, Edward Lu 0.0/2

Luck and Determination to Win in Las Vegas

(It is White to move. Black has just offered a draw. What to do? What can you do? It sure looks dead drawn, doesn't it? Not so fast says 10 year old whiz kid Yian Liou!)

Sometimes a little bit of luck and a lot of determination can go a long ways in a chess game. The person who wants to win more and is willing to take some chances tends to get his way. Many masters believe in playing out positions that others would call a draw. When his higher rated opponent offered draw, perhaps young Yian Liou remembered something about the fighting style of IM Ricardo DeGuzman. The game finished as follows:

52. d4!? A bold sacrifice. cxd4 53. Bd3 Kf7 54. Be1 Ke7 55. Be4 Qh8 56. Kg2 Qb8 It still looks dead drawn. 57. Bb4 Setting a trap. Qb7?? And Black falls right into it! Any bishop move was preferred. 58. Bxd6+! Kxd6 Move Kd8 holds out a bit longer. 59. Qa3+ Black resigned since Kc7 loses the queen to d6+. 1-0

Click on this link to Chess Publisher for the entire game. Yian finished the National Open with a respectable score of 2.5 out of 6 while playing up in the U2200 section, facing only experts to gain tons of experience and even +8 rating points to 1964. Thanks to Yian's mom for the photo below of Yian and me in front of the stage.

Yermolinsky Stuns Shabalov in Round 1 of US Championship

(Final position of today's game Yermolinsky-Shabalov. White to move and win.)

What do GM Alexander Shabalov and IM Ricardo DeGuzman have in common? They both overlooked the same elementary knight tactic to lose material. DeGuzman blundered at the People's Replacement tournament (click here for the game) to end an undefeated streak of 27 games against me. Shabalov's gaffe, however, was far more painful as it came during round 1 of the US Championship, a tournament which he impressively won last year. The solution to the position above appears at the end of this column.

The 2008 Frank K. Berry US Championship began today in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sponsored once again by the financial generosity of Mr. Berry, the tournament drew 24 men and 10 women to the geographic center of the nation for nine days of intense chess. The players will compete for a first place award of $8,000 (and $5,000 for women) out of a total prize fund of $80,000. The rounds begin daily at 12:30 Pacific time and may last up to six hours under the time control of 40 moves in 100 minutes followed by the rest of the game in 30 minutes, plus an increment of 30 seconds starting on move 1. At the end of the tournament next Wednesday, May 21, the new US Champion shall be crowned.

Five masters with ties to Northern California are participating: GM Alex Yermolinsky, IM Josh Friedel, IM David Pruess, NM Sam "Shanky" Shankland and WIM Batchimeg "Chimi" Tuvshintugs. The Yermonator, who moved to South Dakota last fall after many years at the Mechanics' Institute, stunned the defending champion Shabalov in 18 moves in the above featured game. Batchimeg outplayed Esther Epstein (2194) with the black pieces. David did well to draw with the very strong Cuban-American Grandmaster Julio Becerra. Unfortunately, Josh and Sam both lost to veteran Grandmasters and, as punishment, are paired against each other in round 2. Check out the MonRoi website for all of the games (registration is free).

Each day, I will pick one Game of the Day for the readers of this blog to enjoy, with a bias towards the games involving CalChess players. While I was tempted by the Yermolinsky miniature, it was decided by just one blunder. Instead, I chose the wild and imperfect tactical slugfest Tuvshintugs-Epstein in the Ponziani opening (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3). The position after move 7.Ke2 looks more like a game between scholastic players than the country's top women. I dedicate my choice to chess teacher extraordinaire Richard Shorman (see photo) and the hundreds of players attending this weekend's CalChess Scholastics who have been touched by his many lessons.

Some of my readers have inquired which players that I selected for the US Championship fantasy contest. I picked a mixture of veteran players and younger up-and-coming stars: GM Yury Shulman, GM Julio Becerra, IM Josh Friedel, IM David Pruess, IM Irina Krush, FM Daniel Ludwig and NM Sam Shankland. Despite a slow start of 3.0/7 in round 1, I have high expectations for my lineup.

Solution to the position: The black queen and knight on e7 are both undefended, so white can play the double attack 19.Nxd5. If Qxd2 then 20.Nxe7+ Kf7 21.Rxd2 Kxe7 22.Bc5+ wins an exchange plus a pawn. Objectively best is the response Nc6 when white is simply two pawns up after 20.Qxa5 Nxa5 21.Nxf6+ gxf6 22.Bxa7.

Chess Tactics Server

(Black to move and mate. Position from Inarkiev vs Kamsky, FIDE Grand Prix in Baku.)

The internet has so many cool websites that it is impossible to know each one. Sometimes you stumble on a great new site either by luck or upon another person's advice. When my round 4 opponent last Saturday suggested that I check out www.chesstempo.com, I was a bit puzzled. When I checked it out later, I was stunned. This chess tactics website is nearly everything that I could have dreamed of! Thanks to Alvin Pulley for this tip.

This Chess Tactics Server allows users to solve tactics puzzles and receive a rating. The standard rating requires only accuracy (get the correct solution) while the blitz rating requires accuracy plus speed (lose points if you take too long). The interface is quite easy to use. Best of all, registering for this exciting website is free!

Advantages:

1. Over 25,000 problems! You won't run out anytime soon.
2. A new problem pops up automatically (click on "last problem for session" to stop).
3. Wide variety of puzzles so that you won't get bored.
4. Harder problems have a higher rating and you get more points for solving.
5. All problems are from real games.
6. Some positions are easy (e.g. 1-movers) but the correct move is difficult to spot.
   
7. Can view your solving history and go back to problems you missed.

Disadvantages:

1. A few problems are dumb (e.g. a piece is hanging).
2. It is frustrating when you find an easily winning move, but there is an equal or better one (e.g. winning queen instead of checkmate or two different mates in 2).
3. There is no partial credit if you get the first move but mess up in the full variation.
   
4. Standard ratings are much lower than USCF (I'm about 1800).
5. Blitz ratings are higher than USCF (I'm about 2400).
6. Can't search the database for specific types of tactics.

I recommend this site to all of my students as well as other chess players. With the CalChess Scholastics coming up in two weeks, now would be a great time to sharpen your tactics by solving a few hundred positions on www.chesstempo.com! One hint: When you find a good move, first stop and try to find a better one!

You've Gotta Be Kidding Me!

This game today from the Melody Amber rapid tournament began innocently enough with 6.Bc4 in the Scheveningen/Najdorf. However, on move 14, Vassily Ivanchuk uncorked a stunning queen sacrifice against Sergey Karjakin and won in the endgame. Some of us might have considered Nxe6 or Bxe6, but not Qxe6! I have heard stories over the years that Ivanchuk is crazy. If so, this game adds credibility to the theory that there is a fine line between insanity and brilliance.

To play through the entire game, click on this link to Chess Publisher.