because I have a positional advantage and his pieces are all clogged up. 15. … f6 16. h6 g6 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Bg5 Bxg5 19. Nxg5 Nxd4


WHITE TO PLAY


8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1


a b c d e f g h When my knight took his bishop,


the d4-pawn was hanging and he took it with his knight—which I didn’t see. 20. Qe3? It was a bizarre move for me. I


was thinking of … Nxc2, Qe5, but Black has … Qd4. Then I saw a much better move. As I pressed the clock, I barely realized that 40 minutes had passed. 20. … Nxc2 21. Nxd5!! If he didn’t take the knight, then I


would play Nf6 or Ne7, Kh8, Nf7 checkmate. So he had to take with the pawn. 21. … exd5 22. Qe7 He only had two options, ... Qxb2


or ... Qd4. 22. … Qxb2 23. Rab1 Qc3 24. Re5


The main reason for Nxd5 was to


move Qe7 then Re5, blocking the black queen from protecting the g7 square. 24. … Qxe5 25. Qxe5 Ne6 26. Nxe6 Kf7 27. Ng5+, Black resigned. He resigned because in two moves it was checkmate (27. … Kf8 28. Qg7+ Ke8 29. Qf7 mate). - Carlos de Leon


Forsyth – Edwards Notation Last issue we asked you to look at


the cover and write it down in Forsyth Notation, and you did! K7/8/2Np4/2P5/4q3/8/8/8 That’s the proper way to do it. Two of you gave it a good effort and will receive a copy of The Complete Chess Course by Fred Reinfeld, 21st century edition: 11-year-old Oluwafemi Olosunde and 12- year-old Gabriel Kramer-Griffith, both of New York.


Pin It and Win It! We also asked you to try and determine who’s move it was in the position on the cover. Maybe that was too much like homework, because no one answered! It’s really simple if you set up the pieces.


WHOSE MOVE?


8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1


a b c d e f g h It really has to be be Black to


move. He has already “pinned” it and will now “win” it. If it were White to move, the king could simply advance to g2 and while the knight is still pinned, it isn’t “won.” We also asked you to exercise


your little grey cells to see if you could come up with a position where Black can’t “win” the knight. If you are weasly, underhanded, sneaky, conniving, and prone to thinking outside the box (being creative), you might have come up


National


Elementary School (K-6)


Championship May 6-8


Nashville, Tennessee


with the following or something similar:


WHOSE MOVE?


8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1


a b c d e f g h Pin and counterpin! All part of the


game. There are dozens of books out there on tactics and just as many websites. If you want to be a good chessplayer—weasly, underhanded, sneaky, and conniving—and successful, you have to know your tactics. Make the effort and pretty soon you’ll be finding the right moves, just like Carlos de Leon.


Chess Life Kids April 2016 23


See TLAs for complete details


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24