Welcome to our 85th issue.

Something new – the start of an

occasional series looking at the
history of tactics.

But first we look at some dragons!

In this issue:
2 In the Beginning
by Igor Sukhin
3 Young Dragons – Yu Yangyi &
Wei Yi
4 History of a Tactic
– Smothered Mate
by FST Kevin O’Connell
6 Glossary – part 2
Ancient Chinese form of ‘dragon’
See page 3 for their young dragons.
8 Puzzles (Yu & Wei)
by FST Kevin O’Connell
& the Dragon Variation of the Sicilian:

Nepal-China chess in schools match

1.e2−e4 c7−c5 2. g1-f3 d7−d6 Gens Una Sumus

3.d2−d4 c5xd4 4. f3xd4 g8−f6 (We are one family)
5. b1-c3 g7−g6

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In the Beginning Chess Camp 4 by Igor Sukhin
King + queen vs. King + bishop
In the Beginning – 237 (Chess Camp 4-361) In the Beginning – 239 (Chess Camp 4-368)
Black to move. Black wins the bishop in two White to move. White wins the bishop in two
moves. moves.

In the Beginning – 238 (Chess Camp 4-362) In the Beginning – 240 (Chess Camp 4-369)
Black to move. Black wins the bishop in two White to move. White wins the bishop in two
moves. moves.

237. 1... b8−h8+. 239. 1. h2−a2+.

238. 1... e4−e7+. 240. 1. c1-g5+.

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 Young Dragons – Yu Yangyi and Wei Yi

YU Yangyi WEI Yi
photos Wikipedia (Athens 2012)

The Chinese team that won the Olympiad Wei Yi is much younger – just 15. He
in Tromso is a very young team and it was racked up an 80% score as first reserve,
their three youngest players, all unbeaten, adding 7 points to his 2638 rating.
who scored 21/26 between them (+16 =10
Wei has played in the last two World
-0) while the two ‘wrinklies’ (ages 27 &
Junior (under-20) Championships, finishing
31!) only added 10.5/18 (+4 =13 -1).
respectively 11th (age 12 at the time!) and
Yu Yangyi is the reigning World Junior 10th. Currently 9th on the world ranking
Champion. Just 20 years old and still list for players under 20.
technically a junior for this year, he
On the November 2013 FIDE rating list,
captured the overall gold medal in Tromso
Wei, aged 14 years, four months and 30
– playing on board three, he scored 9.5/11
days, reached a rating of 2604, thus
with a performance rating of 2912 (his
becoming the youngest player in history to
actual rating was 2668 but gained 32
achieve a rating of 2600+.
rating points with his fantastic result).

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History of a Tactic – Smothered Mate by FST Kevin O’Connell
Probably you will recognize the following positions as examples of smothered mate.
However, we all have to start somewhere and maybe you are not yet familiar with this
tactical device. It has been known for more than 500 years. The first known example was
published more than 500 years ago.

This is how the diagram looked when it was 1. c6−e6+ g8−h8 2. e5−f7+ h8−
published in 1497 in Lucena’s Repetición de g8 3. f7−h6+ g8−h8 4. e6−g8+
amores y arte de ajedrez b8xg8 5. h6−f7#.

Did you notice the letters (A-E) in the original Lucena position? They indicate White’s moves.
Do you see how they match up with our modern notation? A few years later there was
another famous book that featured this mate.

Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi

1. h4xh7+ g6xh7 2. g5−f7# et de li partiti by Damiano (1512).

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Gioachino Greco was one of the very best players. We do not know much about him (he
lived from about 1600 to about 1634), but he recorded many of his ‘games’ (maybe played
but more likely composed).

1... h4xf2+ 2. g1-h1 f2−g1+ 1... g4−f2+ 2. d1-e1 f2−d3+ 3. e1-

3. f3xg1 (3. e1xg1 g4−f2#) 3... g4− d1 [3. e1-f1 g3−f2#] 3... g3−e1+
f2#. 4. f3xe1 d3−f2#.

Essai sur le jeu des echecs (1737) by Philip 1. a2−a1 works some magic [1. e6−c7+ a8−
Stamma of Aleppo (now Syria). b8 2. c7xa6+ (2. c7xd5+ b8−a8 and White
1. d3−e4+ h7−b7 2. f4−b8+ c8xb8 can't play the smothered mate on b6 because
3. a1xa7+ b6xa7 4. b5−c7#. the knight is pinned.) 2... b8−a8 3. f4−b8+
f8xb8 does not work because the Na6 is pinned
This next one is a much more recent (1966) and so can't deliver mate from c7.; 1. e6xf8 is
composition by Alois Johandl that good enough to win, but not much fun.]
1... b4−a5 defending against the threat of (for
deservedly won a prize in the Deutsche
example after [1...b6−b5 2. e6−c7+ a8−b8
Schachblätter competition of that year: 3. c7xd5+ b8−a8 (3... b8−c8 4. f4−c7#)
4. d5−b6#] 2. e6−c7+ a8−b8 3. c7xa6+
b8−a8 and now there's no pin, so 4. f4−b8+
f8xb8 5. a6−c7#.

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Glossary – part 2

COMBINATION - a sequence of forcing moves with a specific goal, and

grounded in TACTICS.

CONNECTED PAWNS - a connected pawn is a pawn that can guard or be

guarded by a pawn on an adjoining file. The term is almost invariably used
in the plural to define a group of two or more such pawns.

CORRIDOR MATE - most often on the back rank, when a horizontal line
piece (Q, R) checks on the back rank and the king's seventh (or second)
rank flight squares are blocked or otherwise attacked.

DECOY - to lure an enemy man from its defensive role.

DEFEND - make a move to defend against a threat, whether by protecting

something, moving it, or making an even bigger threat.

DEFLECTION - a tactic that forces (or induces) an opposing piece to

leave the square, rank or file it occupies.

DEMONSTRATION BOARD - A large 2-dimensional chessboard which

hangs on the wall, used by teachers and coaches to show chess games
and positions to a group. Often called "demo" board.

DESPERADO - a piece, EN PRISE or trapped. that is used to inflict as

much damage as possible before it is captured.

DEVELOPMENT - Dodgy term, indiscriminately used for simply shifting a

piece from its starting square to another one (usually nearer the centre).
The pieces are part of your team and yes, generally speaking, they are
better on the field of play than left on the bench or in the dressing-room
but it is efficacity that counts.

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DI - Development Instructor - a lower rung of FIDE trainers.

DIAGONAL - A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from

one edge of the board to an adjacent edge, is called a ‘diagonal’.

DIAGRAM - akin to a photograph, this is a pictorial representation of the

pieces on a chessboard, using small pictograms (or pictographs)
representing the chessmen. By convention they are invariably shown with
White at the "bottom" and Black at the "top." Every square has its unique
name (the same idea as the grid reference you find on maps - there is
more on this under "Notation") as you can see in this diagram:

DISCOVERED - see under ATTACK, CHECK.

DOUBLE - see under ATTACK, CHECK.

DOUBLED PAWNS - two pawns of the same colour on the same file.
Tripled pawns are also seen on occasion.

DRAW – A game may be drawn by agreement between the players, by

stalemate, by three-fold repetition (see Article 9.2 of the Laws of Chess)
or under the 50-move rule (Article 9.3). See also CHECK (PERPETUAL).

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 Puzzles selected by FST & FM Kevin O’Connell (www.kochess.com)

1 Black to move. 3 White to play.

Zoltan ALMASI – YU Yangyi YU Yangyi – Eltaj SAFARLI

st
41 Chess Olympiad, Tromso 2014 41st Chess Olympiad, Tromso 2014

2 Black to move. 4 White to play.

Laurent FRESSINET – YU Yangyi WEI Yi – Estuardo LORENZANA WILSON

41st Chess Olympiad, Tromso 2014 41st Chess Olympiad, Tromso 2014

SOLUTIONS TO PUZZLES

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