his position comes from the game Christofer Peterson (2227) vs Akshat Jain, (1827), Round 5, Denver Open, played April 17, 2016.

 

   In the position on the right it is White to move. 

 

   Answer below.


   This past weekend was the 2016 Denver Open, held at the Embassy Suites Southeast.

   The tournament was organized by Randy Schine, who did a fantastic job putting it together.

   The Denver Open has once again become one of the premier events on the chess calendar in Colorado, with really big prizes, and a large number of players.

   This year there were around 123 players participating in three sections (open, U1800 and U1500). 

   This number was especially good considering Colorado got hit with a snow storm this past weekend!  The guy that I share a cubicle with told me he got 4 feet of snow at his house in Castle Rock (just south of Denver).   I parked my little Miata Friday afternoon, and didn't move it until Monday morning when I had to go back to work, and the snow had stopped.  It took me about 10 minutes to clear all the snow off of it!

   Randy Schine told me that only 3 people cancelled, so there were a lot of dedicated chess players who braved the wintery conditions to get there!

   The tournament featured a special guest, WIM (Women's International Master) Mariam Daniela (USCF rating 2363).  Mariam is currently the 9th highest rated woman in the USCF. 

   Mariam is 22 years old and is a Junior studying finance at the University of Texas at Dallas on a chess scholarship.   She is from Georgia ("the country not the state!").

   She gave a lecture on Friday night, which was very interesting.  She went over one of her games against an IM.

   After the lecture, she gave a 25 board simul, which went until 1:30 AM in the morning! 

   Mariam is very charming, and it was great to have such a special guest at the tournament!

   In the Open section Chris Peterson won clear first with 4.5 out of 5.  Chris was in tactical beast mode, and had some crushing attacks going. 

 

   Here is the complete game:
 

[Event "2016 Denver Open"]
[Site "Embassy Suites Southeast"]
[Date "2016.4.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Peterson, Christofer"]
[Black "Jain, Akshat"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "2227"]
[BlackELO "1827"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. b4 Nxb4 4. c3 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d5 7. exd5 Qxd5
8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Bd2 e6 10. Nb5 Bb4 11. Nd6+ Ke7 12. Nc4 Bxd2+ 13. Nfxd2 Qd8 14.
Qb3 Kf8 15. Nf3 Nge7 16. Be2 Na5 17. Qa3 Nxc4 18. Bxc4 b6 19. O-O Bb7 20.
Rac1 g6 21. Ng5 h6 22. Nf3 Kg7 23. Ne5 Nd5 24. f4 Nf6 25. Rcd1 Bd5 26. Bd3
Qf8 27. Qb2 Qd6 28. Qb1 Qa3 29. Bxg6 Qxa2 30. Qxa2 Bxa2 31. Bxf7 Rhf8 32. Bg6
Nd5 33. Be4 Ne3 34. Rf3 Nxd1 35. Rg3+ Kf6 36. Rg6+ Ke7 37. Rg7+ Kf6 38. Rh7
Bd5 39. Nd7#

1-0

 

   You can play through this game here: https://denverchess.com/games/view/15739

 

   Answer:

   Chris told me after the game "I have a perfect Tactics Time - a $700 mate in two!" ($700 was the prize money Chris got for first)

   After 38. Rh7! Black cannot stop the mate threats of 39. Nd7# and 39. Ng4#.  If 38...Rf7 39.Rf7#

   White sacrificed a rook 4 moves earlier to set up this mating net, which was really impressive.

   Nice work Chris, and congrats and thanks to the Denver Chess Club to putting on such a great event!


 

   Happy Tactics!

 

   Your Friend,