Tactics From the U.S. Women's Championship

She is the most cool-headed 13 year old I have heard of: Ashritha Eswaran.

Round 1 of her first U.S. Women's Championship just happened in St. Louis, Missouri! Let's see just how awesome this young lady from California is. She must have amazing stamina, because her game lasted five and a half hours and went 83 moves long! By, Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl).

Here are five puzzles from her game against Viktorija Ni. Ni had White and Eswaran had Black.

At first, White had the advantage when she found a queen trap. White plays Rc3 here. After Black takes, should White play Nxc3 or does she have better?

Then, as White is about to mate-in-one, Black finds the perfect move! It's a forcing move, and it equalizes the game.
White is about to promote! Black, not wanting White to get a new queen, found the quickest way to win the pawn, by forking with Bd5+. But she missed a much stronger move, that will actually lead to BLACK promoting! Can you find it?
White resigned here, after Black has just played Kh3 (on move 83!). Do you see why?
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If White tries 84. Rc2 it makes no difference. How do you mate here?
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Ta da!
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Keep your eyes on this girl - she is fantastic!

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Here is what she says: “I feel really happy and excited (for the 2014 U.S. Women’s Championship), and I have a lot of respect for everyone who is coming - despite the age difference. I think it’s important to play against players of all ages; you can learn something from everyone. Lately, chess just feels like a door that’s opening, where I can explore new things still unknown to me around the world, meet new friends and just treat my chess career like a learning experience.”
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That's a great attitude to have!
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Do you have questions about your games? Send them to Ask Coach Jessica!

RELATED STUDY MATERIAL

  • Ashritha is "GoldenPuppy" on ChessKid.com - watch her round 7 game from last year's ChessKid Online National Champinship;
  • Now play through her win in round 3;
  • Finish it out with her round 2 win - she went on to win the tournament!