I celebrated my birthday this past Sunday by playing  chess online at ICC (wwww.chessclub.com). When you hang out in the  3 0 blitz random pool long enough, you will get to play FMs and IMs. But I didn't expect to face a strong  Turkish grandmaster Suat Atalik. He made my day when we drew in a position with opposite colour bishops. What a thrill!

Final position below.
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​[Event "ICC 3 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2020.03.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "GM Suat Atalik"]
[Black "NCM Vas Sladek"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2269"]
[BlackElo "1935"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. Ne5 e6 8. e3
Bd7 9. Bd3 Rc8 10. O-O Be7 11. Qf3 b5 12. Rac1 b4 13. Ne2 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Ne4 15.
Rxc8 Qxc8 16. Rc1 Qb7 17. Nd4 O-O 18. Qe2 Rc8 19. Rxc8+ Bxc8 20. f3 Nc5 21. Bc2
a5 22. Qb5 Qxb5 23. Nxb5 Ba6 24. Nd6 Nd3 25. Bxd3 Bxd3 26. a3 bxa3 27. bxa3 a4
28. e4 dxe4 29. fxe4 Kf8 30. Bd2 Bxd6 31. exd6 Ke8 32. e5 Kd7 33. Bc3 Be4 34.
Kf2 Kc6 35. g4 h6 36. h4 g6 37. h5 g5 38. Ba5 Kd7 39. Kg3 Bc6 40. Kf2 Bd5 41.
Ke3 Bc6 42. Bd2 Bd5 43. Kd4 Bf3 44. Bxg5 Bxg4 45. Bxh6 Bxh5 46. Kc4 Bd1 47. Kb4
Bc2 48. Bg5 Bd1 49. Bf6 Bc2 1/2-1/2

Today I managed to catch a free simul online at ICC against chess coach IM Vojislav Milanovic. He played ten people at 30 30 time control. Please look at the final position and figure out why it's a draw. 

White will play 1. Kg1 and Black can't really make progress. If 1. ...Ra1 + 2.Kg2 (not Kf2 because after a2 Black has the threat of Rh1, if 3. Rxa2 Rh2+ wins) and White will keep his King on the second rank.
​If the Black King attacks the White rook, he will allow the f pawn to promote.

Holding endgames against titled players can be stressful. Don't forget to study endgames, otherwise you'll be stressing like me.

See you online: you can challenge me on ICC, my handle is Sloggi

Doubled rooks on the seventh or second rank are deadly. Here White carelessly opted not to exchange rooks on f2 and look how hard he went down. 


33. Bb8 (33. Rg1 doesn't help: Rxc2 34. Rxg2 Rxg2 35. Bb8 Rxb2+ 36. Kc1 Rxa2 +-) Rxc2 34. Rd6 Rxb2+ 35. Kc1 Rxa2 36. Rxf6 Ra1# 0-1

I'm a bit torn, it's a strange time to be playing online chess on a sunny spring day. I love to play but it's not easy to concentrate with everything that's going on.
Tactics win games! Take a look at the position below and knockout Black. Level: easy. Hint: don't be shy.

White to play!
​

Solution: 26. Rh8+!! Bxh8 27.Qh6 and White will mate on h8 or h7.

With COVID19 raging globally, ICC, the internet chess club is offering two free months on their server. That's perfect if you're stuck at home. Just contact them and install their free software. 

I used to be a member but quit when I was too busy and had memberships on several servers. It just didn't make sense. But now, two free months on ICC is great. Give it a try.

You can challenge me if you see me online. My handle is Sloggi.

​BLACK to play and mate. Easy level.

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?

​


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. 

​