Paul Keres to appear on a coin

Joining the Eurozone was moronic, but at least Estonia is putting Paul Keres on its €2 coin next year.

16 December 2015: the winter of the Pirate's discontent

For the first time in a year and two days, the Gabridoodle and the Chess Pirate did battle over the board.  The action took place at Derby Joe (see Twitter and Facebook), a new café in Salem (it's on Derby Street a couple blocks east of Derby Wharf) that hosts an informal blitz tournament every Wednesday at 5:30.

The Gabridoodle enjoyed two wins and suffered two losses in his games with the non-CHESS-CLUB players.  Based on what he overheard, the Pirate also had a mixed performance, though with the players struggling to adapt to her maniacally aggressive opening play.  She had at least one en passant problem.

After several days of tense negotiations, the Pirate and the Gabridoodle agreed on a 10 minute game for The Shiny (officially, the Incumbent Champion's Medal).  Despite lots of big talk and pre-game summoning of "energy," the Pirate was systematically dismantled by the Gabridoodle.  He also helpfully instructed her on how to castle queenside.  Anyway, the Gabridoodle thus retains the Shiny -- and for at least three months since the Pirate is going to be wintering in a tropical hell-hole again.  They then played a 5 minute game just for fun; in this one, a thoroughly chuffed Gabridoodle shredded the hapless Pirate.  The psychological impact of these defeats was severe enough that she had trouble finding her car afterward (it was parked on the same block).

An amusing, brutal, pin-it-to-win-it mate

This is from an on-line game with a CHESS CLUB member I shan't name.

First some bait: I move my a-rook to b8.  My opponent snaffles it up with the bishop and I recapture with my other rook.

Next up: I give check with rook to b1. The poor devil's only legal move is to block with the queen !

A grandmaster recently joked that if you have to choose between capturing your opponent's queen or giving mate, capture the queen.  However, I stick with orthodox chess theory.  My brutal intermezzo queen to e4 gives check and forces the king to f1 (note that blocking with the queen isn't an option because of the pin).  Pin-it-to-win-it, indeed !  Now I can take the queen with my rook, simultaneously delivering mate.

Mean, amusing, cute tactical thing

Mean, amusing, cute tactical thing from an on-line game....  After I gave check with my horse on a7, my opponent's only legal move was to take it with his queen.  He did this and then made an outrageous draw offer (it's someone I know).

Grandmaster versus Commander: the impossible happens

What everyone at Salem CHESS CLUB thought was impossible has happened: the Gabridoodle has claimed his first grandmaster scalp !  GM Larry Christiansen was giving a simultaneous exhibition at Boston's South Station when he suffered this shocking and scarcely believable defeat at the sweaty hands of the Gabridoodle.

Once again, we thank the Boylston Chess Club for organizing the event.

Bonus: someone on the Twitter caught me in direct confrontation with the GM.

We aren't in the habit of publishing entire games, perhaps due to Piratical shyness, but we're making an exception for this one.

Christiansen, Larry - Gabridoodle, 0-1

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxd7 Nxd7 7. Ne2 Ngf6 8. Nbc3 Be7 9. Ng3 O-O 10. O-O h6 11. Qf3 a6 12. Nf5 Ne8 13. Nd5 Bf6 14. Rd1 b5 15. Qg3 Bg5 16. h4 Bxc1 17. Raxc1 Kh7 18. c4 Ndf6 19. Nxf6 Qxf6 20. Rxd6 Nxd6 21. Nxd6 Qxd6 22. c5 Qe6 23. c6 Rac8 24. c7 Qd6 25. Qc3 Rfe8

After a sharp Sicilian opening, Christiansen developed some concrete threats by move 14.  Severe danger is lurking on the g7 and e7 squares (highlighted in yellow).  The bishop is eyeing the pawn at h6 and the queen is ready to scoot over to the g file.  It's going to take some fancy defensive footwork for the Gabridoodle to survive this onslaught.

Sometimes a counter-attack is the best way to meet an attack.  Here the Gabridoodle concluded it was time to pull the trigger and went a bit berzerk, moving his bishop to g5.  Christiansen, a famous pawn-pusher, responded with h4 (green arrow).  The Gabridoodle continued the counter-attack, grabbing the bishop at c1.  After Christiansen recpatured with the rook, the Gabridoodle moved his king to h7 (yellow arrows).  This was perhaps the key defensive move, getting his king off the horrendous g file.

Some more fancy defensive footwork came at moves 18 and 19.  Our friend the pawn pusher pushed his c-pawn; the Gabridoodle ignored this and thrust his knight to f6 (yellow arrows).  Christiansen took (green arrow) and the Gabridoodle recaptured with his queen (red arrow).  Note that the black knight at e8 absolutely could not be moved because it was defending the critical g7 square.  After all this, the Gabridoodle's position remained precarious, but two attackers (the dangerous bishop and a pesky knight) were eliminated and a lot of pressure taken off the e7 square.

At move 20, Christiansen made a hideous blunder, capturing the d6 pawn with his rook (green arrow).  At first the Gabridoodle thought his queen was trapped but then saw the obvious: he could simply capture the offending rook with his knight (red arrow) !  Note that this knight, previously unmovable, was free to move now that the queen was defending g7.  Christiansen, expressing frustration non-verbally, recaptured with his knight, which the Gabridoodle in turn captured with the queen (yellow arrows).  With the second knight out of the way, that critical g7 square could now be defended by the king !

With Christiansen down a rook, the Gabridoodle now had a winning position.  Perhaps the grandmaster could have tried to soldier on, playing for tricks, but with the scheduled end of the simul approaching, he decided to throw in the towel at move 25 and give the Gabridoodle his prize: a free tournament entry at the Boylston Chess Club.

The Gabridoodle's triumph on the actual board:

And the scoresheet:

The other game:

The Gabridoodle's triumph came in the day's second game.  Here in the first game, GM Christiansen waltzed to victory, although it took 31 moves.  In a downright instructional moment, Christiansen has used his bishop, along with the f and h pawns to toss the Gabridoodle's king in jail and throw away the key

Horsing around, a funny mate, and Boston Magazine at South Station

There was excellent turnout at today's simultaneous exhibition at South Station given by grandmaster Larry Christiansen -- so much so that he and the Gabridoodle only played two games (needless to say, the grandmaster won both).

In a true, if non-theoretical, novelty, Boston Magazine had a reporter covering the event. Here's the post at their blog:

Boston Magazine article.

There was also coverage by the Boston Globe:

Boston Globe article.

In game 1, Christiansen subjected the Gabridoodle to a quick strangulation

The only really notable thing about the game was that the Gabridoodle made 12, count 'em, 12 knight moves in a row.

The Gabridoodle resigned at move 17. It's not quite mate, but it might as well be.

Game 2 was more interesting and one in which the Gabridoodle survived much longer.

At move 7, the Gabridoodle is already in trouble. Christiansen has a powerful, potentially deadly bishop-queen battery aiming at f7. Without much else to do, the Gabridoodle sends a horse to the glue factory and then castles.

At move 21, the Gabridoodle has a chance to "play for tricks." He can move his horse to c6 with impunity since, if Christiansen captures it, a back rank mate would ensue.  Needless to say, the grandmaster didnt't fall for it. However, I can think of at least one greedy, aggressive member of CHESS CLUB who would have.

Christiansen wins the game at move 39 with a funny mate.

South Station: taunted by a grandmaster

As always, Salem CHESS CLUB extends a hearty thank-you to the Boylston Chess Club for organizing the simultaneous exhibitions given by grandmaster and former US champion Larry Christiansen at South Station.  These events usually take place on the second Tuesday of the month from 5:00 to 7:00. This one had to be rescheduled due to ongoing commuter chaos.  It was a small crowd and the games were brisk.

Game one can be written off as a warm-up.  This miniature went all of 15 moves, the Gabridoodle resigning before the inevitable mate.

Here, in game two, after Christiansen's pawn push, the Gabridoodle exhibited a bit of classic CHESS CLUB bravado and said, "Sure, I'll spot you a pawn," before moving his horse out of the way.  Christiansen replied, "It's the book."  Indeed it was: he gains a pawn after knight takes knight, pawn takes, queen takes.

This game was something of a marathon, going 34 moves and reaching something of an endgame.  That queenside pawn duo was unstoppable, however.

Game 3: the Gabridoodle gets all torn up.

Game 4: at move 16 it isn't quite mate yet, but the Gabridoodle surrenders.

For Christiansen, game 5 was a nice little mate-in-16.  Note that the grandmaster didn't lose his rooks: toward the end of the game, he voluntarily removed them from the board, giving the Gabridoodle a well-earned taunting !

Noobs lesson: knight as knife

In this game between the Pink Queen (white) and the Gabridoodle (black), we see another demonstration of the classic chess addage: if you see a good move, look for another.

The Gabridoodle does something that might seem highly counterintutive to a noob: leaving his queen exposed to Pinkums' rook.  In fact, he does this not for one move, but for two.  This is okay because each time he has a zwischenzug (in-between move) that's also a forcing move.

Since this is a "noobs lesson," actual chess jargon is in red.

The Gabridoodle moves his queen to b1, skewering the Pink Queen's rook.  The obvious continuation would be to simply grab the rook.  But when you see a good move, look for another...

...instead, knight to f4 (maybe we should say "knife to f4") wins even more material.  This forks Pinkums' queen and king (a royal fork).  She moves her king to e3.  Note that moving her king to d2 instead wouldn't save her bacon as the Gabridoodle would just give check with his queen and proceed with his plan.

The Gabridoodle now snaffles up the white queen with his knight/knife, a move that also gives check !  No matter how she saves her king (either moving it or capturing the Gabridoodle's knight/knife with the pawn), her rook now falls to the Gabridoodle's queen.

South Station beatdown: pawn finale

Nothing terribly interesting at South Station this time, just the usual beatdowns administered by GM Larry Christiansen.

For his grand finale, Christiansen mated the Gabridoodle with a freakin' pawn !