Hey there, -- Hope you had a nice Christmas, and are enjoying the holiday season, and are all ready for the new year!

I just got done playing in Shirley Herman's 24 Hour "Insanity" Chess Tournament and wanted to share 2 tactics from the tournament! 

The tournament was a lot of fun, and very exhausting.  Towards the end the chess computer in my brain was computing like a cheap roll of toilet paper - only one ply!

Shirley did an amazing job organizing and planning the whole event, which she held in her home.  She spoiled us rotten with cookies, pizza and lots of pots of coffee!

Here is the first tactic.

White to Move.

From the game Life Master Brian Wall vs Tim Brennan.

The tournament was a lot of fun - there were 25 players who participated.  The event has already been rated, and you can see the results here: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201312295702-12718954

There were 20 rounds.  The event started at 10AM on Saturday morning, and ended around 10AM on Sunday morning.  Each person played their opponent twice - once with each color.  The games were USCF duel rated (Quick and Regular) with 30 minutes per game, with a 5 second increment.

Here is Tactic #2 - from my game against Sara Herman.  The picture below is me playing Sara (I am in the middle with the sweater vest).

White to move

Brian sacrificed his Queen to set up this mate, which is really beautiful.  I told Brian that I would be sure to include this mate in Tactics Time 3!

I gave Brian a copy of the new Tactics Time paperback as thanks for all of his hard work over the years (get your copy here: http://www.newinchess.com/Tactics_Time-p-991.html or search "Tactics Time" on amazon, barnes and noble, etc), and for all the help that he has done to promote the book.  Anthea and I both signed it for him.  We also signed copies for Dean Brown, Kathy Schneider and Todd Burge, which was fun.

Here is the complete game:


[Event "24 HOUR INSANITY 201312295702"]
[Site "Herman home, Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2013.12.28"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Brian Wall"]
[Black "Tim Brennan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "2249"]
[BlackElo "1847"]
[Opening "Scandinavian defense"]
[ECO "B01"]
[NIC "SD.03"]
[Time "1:30 PM Saturday when everyone was still chipper"]
[TimeControl "Game/30 minutes plus a 5 second delay"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. dxc6 Bxc6 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. d4 e6 8. O-O Rc8 9. Bd3 Bd6 10. Re1 O-O 11. Nbd2 Bb8 12. Ne4 Qc7 13. c3 Ng4 14. h3 Nh2 15. Nh4 f5 16. Ng5 Ng4 17. Qxg4 Qh2+ 18. Kf1 fxg4 19. Bxh7+ Kh8 20. Ng6#

1-0


Brian Wall vs Tim Brennan, Round 4 2013 24 Hour Insanity

click and move with embedded notes by Brian Wall

https://denverchess.com/Games/ViewPGN?id=5083

Answer:

White has a beautiful mate in 2 with 19. Bxh7+ Kh8 20. Ng6#

[Event "24 Hour Insanity"]
[Site "Colorado Springs, CO"]
[Date "2013.12.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Brennan, Tim"]
[Black "Herman, Sara"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1882"]
[BlackElo "1240"]
[PlyCount "25"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]

1. g4 d5 2. Bg2 e5 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Qb3 Ne7 6. Nc3 Bxg4 7. Nxd5 Nxd5 8. Bxd5 Nc6 9. Bxf7+ Kd7 10. Qxb7+ Kd6 11. b3 Qf6 12. Ba3+ Nb4 13. Bxb4# 1-0

Normally in any tournament I am the only one playing the Grob, but in this tournament both Chris Peterson and Brian Wall also played it.  Chris scored a quick kill against Katie Wise with it.

You can play through this game here: http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2013/12/30/Game995755520.html

Answer: You can't stop the Grob, you can only hope to contain it!  12. Ba3+ Nb4 13. Bxb4# 1-0


.