Road to Grandmaster

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Thomas.

You must not just talk about these games and positions. Show them.

Even if you cannot recall the exact position just showing the bones will do.

Here is the bones of the swindle that stop the tournament.
(I have the exact score somewhere it's Chandler - Hunter 1984.)

I'm White and had been saving up my discovered check
for a few moves till it meant something.

My opponent checked me on c1...



....I played Ke2 inviting the Rook check on e7.
he checked and I interposed the Bishop.



If Carl is not going to give us a Fen-Gen then the one I use it at:

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-diagram-generator.php

It is easy to use. You are given the choice of 5 links.
Use the one that has the brackets.

eg:

[img]http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/flv1qi29zo4b.png[ /img]

[ThomasThorpe]

Oh it was a while ago. It was a back rank thing. Will get a very rough FEN of it:

1r4k1/p4ppp/q7/8/8/8/2PB1PPP/4R1K1 w - - 0 1

Something like this.
I played Bb4 hoping for a miracle, and he played Rxb4. Then Re8# swindled for me

[ThomasThorpe]

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Oh it was a while ago. It was a back rank thing. Will get a very rough FEN of it:

1r4k1/p4ppp/q7/8/8/8/2PB1PPP/4R1K1 w - - 0 1

Something like this.
I played Bb4 hoping for a miracle, and he played Rxb4. Then Re8# swindled for me

Not so sure that is a swindle, rather than an outright blunder by your opponent. For me, a swindle has to involve at least some level of threat to distract or trick the opponent. Here, the bishop move doesn't even set up a threat. But it must have been nice to win that game!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

If Carl is not going to give us a Fen-Gen then the one I use it at:

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-diagram-generator.php

Is it not better to download the image and then upload it here? I have a swindle I may post at some point, and there is an image generator I use, but I can't remember the link right now (it is at work). But before I post a diagram, I want to make sure I'm doing it the 'right' way.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Here's quite a nice one. I don't think I was necessarily losing when the idea came to me, but I was certainly worse. Gosling-Rudd, Reinfeld Memorial 1994:

I've somewhat screwed up the black side of an Exchange Ruy Lopez, and got myself into this position, where white has a ferocious attack brewing:



So I play 1...Nf4, with the double threat of 2...Ne2+ winning the exchange, and 2...Ne6, defending against the advance of the e-pawn.

Not perturbed by this, white continues with 2.Qd6+ Ke8 (Kg8 gets mated after 3.Qd8+), and threatens mate on e7 with 3.Bd8



Now 3...Ne2+ just allows 4.Rxe2, and the defences of e7 with the knight don't work either: 3...Nd5 4.Rxd5 or 3...Ng6 4.Qd7+ Kg8 5.Be7+ Nxe7 6.Qd8+. It's obviously all over...

Oh, sorry, did I say double threat? I meant to say triple threat. Must have missed the last one out...

[Rob Thompson]

Beautiful Jack. Just beautiful

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Beautiful Jack. Just beautiful

Very nice mate!

[Arshad Ali]

3 ... Qf1+. Bitter indeed must have been his tears and audible the gnashing of his teeth.

[Michael Jones]

Absolutely brilliant.

[Matt Mackenzie]

That would be an excellent one for the chessgames.com puzzle page!!

[Thomas Rendle]

I'm going to contribute my favourite swindle from my own games:

Armstrong,M (2126) - Rendle,T (2416) [A80]
Open Liverpool ENG (4), 05.09.2007

1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 4.Nbd2 Be7 5.c3 b6 6.e3 Bb7 7.Bd3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qc2 Nxd2 11.Nxd2 Qg5 12.e4 f4 13.f3 e5 14.a4 a5 15.Nc4 d6 16.Rfd1 Nd7 17.dxe5 dxe5? [17...Nxe5=] 18.Nxa5! Bc8 19.Bc4+ Kh8 20.Nb3 Nf6 21.a5 bxa5 22.Rxa5 Bb7 23.Rxa8 Bxa8 24.Nc5 Qh5 25.Nd7 Bxe4!??! [25...Nxd7 26.Rxd7+-] 26.fxe4 Ng4 27.h3 Ne3 28.Qe2? [28.Nxf8 Nxc2 29.Rd8 h6 30.Ng6+ Kh7 31.Bf7 Qxg6 32.Bxg6+ Kxg6 33.Rc8 and it's all over;
28.Qa4+-] 28...f3 29.Qxe3?? [29.Rf1! Nxf1 30.Qxf1± Rd8] 29...f2+ 30.Kh2 Qxd1 31.Nxf8 Qg1+ 32.Kg3 f1N+ 0-1

I offered a draw on move 18 (felt pretty annoyed at myself) but Malcolm rightly turned me down. I soon realised that he was simply exchanging off pieces one by one and that my chances in any ending were very slim.
25...Bxe4 was all I could find to complicate the game. The main reason I was pleased with the move was that I saw the line with 28.Nxf8 and realised I'd have to resign at the end of it (I missed 28.Qa4 was also winning) but felt it was my best chance. It's a pity at the end that 32...f1/Q is also -+ but the chance to under-promote doesn't come around too often.

[matt_ward]

I'm also going to contribute this game I played on the 13th of October!

I am white in the following game:

Matt ward 156- Mike Redmond 150 Sandhurst B against Reading A. Division two. S.B.L

1.e4, c6 2. d4, d5 3. Nc3, dxe4 4. Nxe4, Ngf6 Bronstein of the caro kann not often seen. 5. Nxf6+, gxf6 6. c3, Bf5 7. Nf3, Nd7, 8. Bf4, Qb6/ Bf4 was positionally wrong.

9.Qd2 another mistake, 0-0-0 10.Rd1, Bg7 11. Be3, Qc7 12. Bc4, Nb6 13.Bxf7, Bg4, 14.h3, BxNf3
15. Be6+, Nd7 16. gxf3, Qd6 17. Bc4 should of played immediate Bb3 Nb6. 18.Bb3, Nd5 19. Rg1, Bf8
20. a3, h5 21. c4, Qh2.

Here I should of played the following continuation: 22 CxNd5, QxRg1+ 23. Ke2, Qb8 24. Qa5, Rxd5 25.Qxa7, Qe6. ANd I believe I have a superior finish more than enough compensation. But played the following line instead.

To avoid all complications. 22. Ke2, Nxe3 23. Qxe3, Qd6 24. c5, Qc7 25. Be6+, Kb8 26. b4, Bh6 27. Qe4, f5!? 28. Qc2, Qf4 29. Qc3, Bg5 30. Qe3, Qxe3+ 31. fxe3, Bf6 32. Bxf5, Rh6.

I finally won he resigned being two pawns down. And the time situation was follows I had 50 minutes to his 51 seconds.

1-0 I thought as white it was a moderate game but needs alot of improving! Hope you enjoy looking at it.

Matt.

[Keith Arkell]

I don't think I've ever seen that mating theme before Jack!

Anyway,back to the main topic of this thread:I was 16 years 8 months old,and graded 171 when I made the decision to focus on chess.It took me a further 18 years to become a GM.
How about we ask the same question re other activities?
What about the challenge of quite a good golfer becoming someone who plays in majors,or quite a good footballer becoming a premiership player;
or how about Joe average becoming a top lawyer or a sought after brain surgeon?
Or someone who was quite good at physics at school becoming a top scientist?
Back to chess,and my own feeling is that everyone has a natural level which they get to without any particular effort,and that level differs from person to person.I think that if someone was gifted enough to naturally get to 2350 or 2400 just by playing chess for years and years,then if that person worked very hard at chess then they could make GM norms. Of course it is difficult to demonstrate this because most people who get to 2350 or 2400 have already worked at least quite hard on their chess. I'm not sure that any amount of hard work can bridge the gap if for example a player doesn't get above 200 despite many years of playing the game.
Of course when it comes to people relatively new to the game then we don't have any of the above information about them,so it might be that they have the talent of an Adams or Anand. I don't know how long Will Taylor has been playing for,but anyway good luck!

[Arshad Ali]

Or someone who was quite good at physics at school becoming a top scientist?

Chess is egalitarian in a way academic science is not. For a successful career as, say, a top-notch theoretical physicist, you want to have gotten into Oxbridge, earnt a first, then earnt a distinction in Part III, then been both savvy and lucky in your choice of research advisor, who hopefully has given you a research problem that is both manageable and fruitful. Once you've got your PhD, you need to be lucky enough -- despite your brilliance -- to win one of the handful of positions available at any given time. A lot of ifs, many of them beyond your control. In chess, you have but to pay an entry fee to enter a tournament.