I love this game. Down a full point in the last game of the match, GM Goryachkina had to win! I think this was her first game with 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 and she did it. 


​[Event "FIDE Women's World Championship"]
[Site "fide.com"]
[Date "2020.01.23"]
[Round "12.1"]
[White "Goryachkina, Aleksandra"]
[Black "Ju, Wenjun"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2578"]
[BlackElo "2584"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeam "China"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CHN"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. Nb5 Na6 5. e3 Bb4+ 6. c3 Be7 7. a4 O-O 8. Bd3
c6 9. Na3 c5 10. Nf3 Ne4 11. h3 f5 12. Nb5 c4 13. Bxe4 fxe4 14. Ne5 Nb8 15. O-O
a6 16. Na3 Nd7 17. Nc2 Qe8 18. f3 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Bd7 20. Ne1 Qh5 21. Kh2 exf3
22. Nxf3 Be8 23. Qe1 Qg6 24. Bf4 Qe4 25. a5 h6 26. Nd2 Qh7 27. e4 dxe4 28. Be5
Rc8 29. Rxf8+ Bxf8 30. Qe2 e3 31. Nxc4 Bb5 32. b3 Qe4 33. Rf1 Qc6 34. Qxe3 Qe8
35. Qe2 Qg6 36. Rf3 Kh7 37. Qf2 Bc6 38. Rg3 Qf5 39. Qe2 Rd8 40. Ne3 Qf7 41.
Qd3+ g6 42. Rg4 Bg7 43. Bxg7 Kxg7 44. Nc4 Bb5 45. Qg3 Bxc4 46. bxc4 Rd7 47. Re4
Qf6 48. Qe3 Rd6 49. c5 Rc6 50. Kg1 Qf5 51. Rf4 Qg5 52. h4 Qe7 53. Qe5+ Kg8 54.
Rf6 Kh7 55. h5 gxh5 56. Qf4 e5 57. Qxh6+ Kg8 58. Qg6+ Kh8 59. Qxh5+ Kg8 60.
Qg5+ 1-0

This is an easy pattern to recognize. The f6 square cuts off the Black King and the h-file is an obvious attacking line. We just have a small problem with the black knight. So, .....do you see White's best move?

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1. Qxd5! exd5 2. R1h1 and there will be mate on h8. Beautiful. Wei Yi vs. Tigran L Petrosian, 2020

Check out the position below. Black is a Polish GM rated 2500+ and he has just played cxd4. But there is a glitch. What's wrong? Can you find it?

​White to play

Here are important summer notes.

1) The club meets on Tuesdays from 5-7:45pm. So, the day changes and the hours are shorter.  Please stop by.

2) Chess coach NCM Vas Sladek is available for private lessons so please contact me if your kids want to improve their game over the summer holidays and beyond. Purchasing a set of 5 or 10 lessons is cheaper. Single 1 hour lesson is only $20 per hour. Paid students can also play me online for free.

3) The rapid chess league starts in the fall and my team, Chess First! Academy is always looking for new and strong team mates. Please contact Vas if you want to play rapid league games monthly against the best players in Metro Vancouver. 

See you at the club on Tuesday.

I have a perfect example of a zwischenzug which refers to an intermediate move, in German. Basically, instead of playing an expected move, you first play an unexpected one. 

White to play
 

So, now what? The expected move would be recapturing the knight with bxc6. But White has a crushing zwischenzug. Do you see it?

1. Ra6!! and the Black Queen has no place to go. 1-0.

​Try to look for these intermediate moves in your games. Don't just play expected moves. 

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It's always fun to play hard and hold International Masters to draws, even if it's just in online play on ICC. I can't think of better practice than playing against FIDE titled players. Sadly, this is also why I don't make it down to the club that often.

A. Black to play

​IM Maltan Hiram vs NCM Vas Sladek

22. ...Rb8 (and Black will get his pawn back)
23. Ra1 h6! (Don't rush, especially against IMs. 23. ...Qxb5?? 24.Qxb5 Rxb5 25. Ra8+ and Black will get mated on the back rank. Always give your King room to move.)
24. c4 dxc4
25. Bxc4 Qxb2
​26. Qxb2 Rxb2 and draw agreed 1/2-1/2

B. Black to play
​
IM Jose Luis Vilela vs. NCM Vas Sladek

58. ...Nf5+ 59. Kf2 Ne7 Draw agreed. 
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C. White to play

NCM Vas Sladek vs. IM Jose Luis Vilela 

29. Be2+ Kb6 30. Bd1 and draw agreed. Black can't really afford to give up the a pawn.

​

1. Kf3 and White just makes it to h1 where he stops the h pawn from queening. Black stalemated the White King in the game. Draw.


White to play
​

1. f4! wins by keeping the Black King away from e5. This was a bullet game and with a few seconds left White played 1. Kg6? and soon there weren't any pawns on the board. Draw?!

Don't neglect endgame study. It will get you lots of points in the future.

My friend FM Cecil Moncur is the first FIDE Master in the Bahamas and plays on their Olympiad team. We played a 15 10 four game match on ICC. I was still pumped after drawing IM Ray Kaufman in the rapid league quarterfinal and won the match 4-0. 

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To avoid depression bishops require open diagonals but here all of Black's pieces are dominated by the White rook; another example of rooks on the seventh rank. It was easy to find the winning plan: Nb5 and Nd6 since the bishop isn't going anywhere. 

Take good care of your bishops!

Play in the Vancouver rapid chess league quarterfinal required a different mind set because losers get eliminated. So, in round one I took advantage of the White pieces while my teammates suffered with Blacks. We took the lead 2-1 after the first round......

On board 3 I took on an expert Lex Lawless and at the end we reached this position. I had just played 1. gxf5 forcing the Queen off. Where would you put the Queen? Lex actually ran out of time here and lost.

​Black to play

1. ...Qxf7 2. Rxf7 is still winning for White

1. ...Qh5 2. Rh7+ Kg8 3. Reg7+ Kf8 4. f6 +- and mate on h8 next, if Qg4+ 5. Kh1 Qd1+ 6. Qf1 +-

1. ...Qxd6 2.f6 +-

NOTE: the doubled rooks on the seventh rank totally dominated Black's position, his rook a8 never moved!
Always try to double your rooks on the seventh or, if playing Black, on the second rank. 
Black's last move was c5 but it was too late to free his pieces.

This was a fun way to start the quarterfinal.

It's extremely satisfying to hold a draw against an experienced international master. It's like an early birthday gift to myself. 
When I lost my last remaining pawn on the b file, I knew that the best I could do was draw. Luckily I remembered the correct set-up: The White King is in front of the e pawn and the White rook is behind it, far enough to avoid getting molested by the enemy King. Make note of this set-up, so you too can hold the draw against FIDE IMs. Below is the final position; White to play. IM Kaufman offered a draw.....

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1. Rf8+ and if the Black King stays by the pawn we keep on checking; if the Black King walks, we attack the e-pawn again. Black can't make progress here. Note that the White rook is far away to avoid any King attacks.

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