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 !