My Fast Hour Chess Recap: This Week
Introduction:
Hi ChessKids! I am Shreyas! But you may know me best from my ChessKid username "crushmaster2019'" which you may have challenged a few times before during my weekly fast chess hour. I have decided to do a recap for this week's fast chess where I will be showing the highlights of this week which may cover a good position, attacking chess, and tactics. To keep up with my schedule you can refer to the calendar. Enjoy!
Game 1:
This first game where I was White consists of a nice tactic from a fairly simple opening. I even managed to miss a simple tactic just after the opening!
Can you spot a basic tactic that helps black win material for Black?
The answer is Nc3! which forks my queen and rook and had he found this he would not have allowed me to play such a good game...
Despite that simple miss, I played quite flawlessly after that and managed to slowly get a much better position, before finding the killer blow...
Can you find the killer blow here for White?
The answer is Bg5! trapping the Black queen.
This example shows how important pattern recognition can be. Once, I was preparing against an opponent and he fell for this exact thing just in a different position. Find the full ChessKid game here.
Game 2:
This game was also against a very strong ChessKid. It was the King's Indian Defense which is known for its sharp games and exciting sacrifices and complications for both sides!
I went for an attack on the kingside with h4 and Be2 with the idea of opening his king and activating my rook on the h-file via h5, but he blocked h4 with h5 himself. After this slight halt, I went for an attack with Rb1, a3, and b4. I felt I had a good grip over the center and his pieces and I went for a nice maneuver which would help open up the kingside and cause his king problems.
Can you find a nice maneuver here for White? Clue: Look for some of my misplaced pieces and how to improve it.
The answer is Nf1! with the idea of getting it to e3 where the plan is g4 and h5 to open up his kingside.
Soon after this, I opened up his kingside and played a nice quiet move to almost end the game off.
Can you find the quiet, decisive move for White? Hint: When attacking try to bring as many pieces into the attack as possible.
I played Qc1! with the idea of Bh6 and Qg5. Soon after this, he resigned
Game 3:
To finish this article, I decided to play the 'Botez Gambit' which some of you may be familiar with this reference if you watch popular Chess.com streamer, Alexandra Botez (she's even been on ChessKid before!)
For those that do not know about this, the Botez Gambit is a queen sacrifice or blunder which can be used for trolling or just as an accidental blunder. In this case, it was an intentional queen sacrifice.
I was white here and decided to have fun. DISCLAIMER: Please do NOT try this at any of your games ESPECIALLY at serious chess tournaments.
The gambit was short-lived as I managed to find a nice tactic that helped get my queen back via a fork:
Can you find a simple fork here for white that helps me regain my queen?
It is Ne5+!
After this, his king went for a fun ride in the center which helped me win material and eventually wins the game. You can view the full game!
Conclusion:
I know it has been a while since I have made articles, that is because I have been playing OTB tournaments and even became a FIDE Master! But I am back and will upload more regularly, with more tactics from my games. I really hope you enjoyed this article and stay tuned for more!