More Chess...

Well, I've begun getting others back into playing chess again. My friend, Jim, and I used to play a lot, but then we stopped years ago around the time when we joined new companies, or something like that. Anyway, we decided to set aside some time each week to play a few games then go over them and run analysis software to learn a bit more. No idea if this is a good way to learn, but it's at least a fun way to go about it.

So, we played 3 games tonight (15 minute). I basically got lucky in a few key spots, and managed to win two of them. The one that I lost, I resigned after I was put in a hopeless spot after some miscalculation.

Well, there was one game that was actually really good. It was close for most of the way (even the analysis software said so!). That is, until I blundered and allowed Jim to give my King a nasty check. Here's the position after that "game-winning" check (I think it's still a game-winning move despite the ultimate outcome of the game).


In the actual game, I moved Kf8, which incidentally leads to a forced mate with White playing Rd7 (there is a straightforward mating sequence for both g6 and Re7). Lucky for me, Jim did not see this, and I went on to win despite missing a forced mate myself later in the game. It's awesome being mediocre.

But, that's not what I wanted to share about this position. It turns out that even if I had not walked into the forced mate position, the checking play is so good that I will actually lose my Queen following a really slick combination. So, Black must move Ke7 to avoid immediate loss. White starts the deadly attack with Re6+. Here's the position after that move.


King takes the Rook, and Queen takes the Rook back with check. The only move is Kd5. And, the lovely finish is Qg8+, which wins Black's Queen via an eventual skewer. Pretty sweet... too bad neither of us were good enough to actually play the game out to see this awesomeness unfold. Haha.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and I really hope the two of us can keep it up. Maybe we will get better over time. I guess we'll see.