his position was played in the final round game between Jeff Baffo and Rhett Langseth, at the Springs Fundraiser played last Saturday in Colorado Springs.

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

 

   Answer below.

 

 

   As you may know, I currently am working at FedEx as a software engineer/contractor, and have been there since August of last year. 

 

   I really enjoy working at FedEx, and I think that it is a really amazing company

 

   The people who work there are all very nice, the company does a TON of charity work, and the technology that they use to deliver the packages is amazing. 

 

   It was 40 years ago today that FedEx delivered their very first package.  

 

   From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx_Express

 

   The company started overnight operations on April 17, 1973 with fourteen Dassault Falcon 20s that connected twenty-five cities in the United States. That night, 18 packages were carried.

   We are having a party at work today, and everyone is wearing purple shirts.  It is a fun place to work.

 

   One of my favorite stories involves the founder and CEO of the company, Fred Smith.

 

   Fred was a student at Yale in the 1960s (interestingly he attended Yale at the same time as George W. Bush and John Kerry and was friends with both.  He was also president of the "Skull and Bones" secret society at Yale).

 

   While taking an Economics course Smith wrote a paper in which he outlined his ideas for how packages could be delivered more efficiently by using new models and advances in the upcoming age of computers.  

 

   The professor gave him a "C" on the paper, because the professor thought the ideas were not feasible, and that no one could compete with the post office.

 

   The paper became the idea of FedEx (for years, the sample package displayed in the company's print advertisements featured a return address at Yale). 

 

   I really love this story!

 

[Event "Springs Fund Raiser"]
[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2013.04.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Baffo, Jeffrey"]
[Black "Langseth, Rhett"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A02"]
[WhiteElo "1858"]
[BlackElo "1879"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2013.04.13"]

1. Nc3 d6 2. f4 Nf6 3. Nf3 c6 4. e3 Nbd7 5. Be2 e5 6. fxe5 dxe5 7. O-O Qc7 8.
e4 Ng4 9. Kh1 Bc5 10. Na4 Nf2+ 11. Rxf2 Bxf2 12. Qf1 Bb6 13. Bc4 Nf6 14. d3 Be6
15. Bxe6 fxe6 16. Ng5 O-O 17. Nxe6 Ng4 18. Bf4 Rxf4 19. Qxf4 exf4 20. Nxc7 Bxc7
21. h3 Ne5 22. Nc5 Kf7 23. Rf1 g5 24. d4 Nc4 25. e5 b6 26. Ne4 h6 27. g3 Ke6
28. c3 Nxb2 29. gxf4 Rf8 30. Nf6 Rxf6 31. exf6 Bxf4 32. h4 Kxf6 33. hxg5+ hxg5
34. Re1 Bd2 35. Rf1+ Ke6 36. Rf3 Kd5 37. Kg2 Kc4 38. Rf6 Kxc3 39. Rxc6+ Kxd4
40. Kf3 Nc4 41. Rc7 Ne5+ 42. Ke2 Bf4 43. Rb7 g4 44. Rg7 0-1

   Answer:  Here Rhett (Black) looks like he is in trouble.  Jeff's Knight on e6 just grabbed a pawn, and is attacking his Queen and Rook.

 

   But Rhett, just like the Gone with the Wind character he was named after, frankly didn't give a darn, and ignored Jeff's threats with 17...Ng4! creating threats of his own (17...Nxe4 also works).

 

   This moves creates a discovered attack on White's Queen on f1 (from the Black Rook on f8), threatening a back rank mate with 18...Rxf1#  White has no good squares to move his Queen, doesn't have time to take Black's hanging Queen, and has weak back rank problems.  

 

   In the game Jeff chose the best move, which is 18. Bf4 giving up a piece to avoid getting mated, forked, or losing his queen.

 

   This is a fairly tricky position, so don't feel bad if you didn't see it.

 

   To me, an important point is that Black found the best move, which wasn't the obvious retreat of his Queen, but created threats of his own, which is a good thing to look for.

 

   Rhett finished the tournament with a perfect 4-0 score, and picked up 50 rating points!  You can see the final tournament results here: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201304132072. 

 

   Nice work Rhett!

 

   Happy Tactics!

 

   Your Friend,