Another masterpiece by coach Vas. The Knight on e4 has no way to avoid capture but White also blundered. 1. Nxg6?? Qg3+ 2.Kf1 Qf2 mate, 0-1.

Because I'm on holidays I was able to play a nice USCF-rated Friday double. I played in two online events on two different servers starting at 5pm Pacific time. It's not easy but it can be done. I finished ten USCF-rated rapid rounds with 6.5/10, including a loss to one National Master.

ICC (15 5) went fairly well and I finished 2nd on tie-breaks with 4/5. Chess.com (15 10) didn't go so well. I failed to hold two endgames and I took a draw offer as Black: 2.5/5. 

Still, I recommend these events because you can get USCF rated from the comforts of your home. All you need to do is pay your annual membership fee to the US Chess Federation which comes with a magazine subscription to Chess Life. 

Here are a few positions from my Friday double.


A. Black to play
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1. ...Ng4+ wins the Queen. Easy. 0-1.

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B. A pin from hell, Black to play, 1-0.

​C. Black to move. There is no way to avoid mate on e5. Sad.

What do you do when your wife goes out to sing karaoke with her girlfriends? Well, you ignore the kids and hang out on ICC (www.chessclub.com) in the 3 0 randomized pool. That's where most of the titled players hangout. So stay patient and enjoy the free lessons. I lost on time to Cuban GM Frank de la Paz, took out one WIM and IM Alfonso Almeida. 

I ended my evening session with a rare GM scalp against GM agokoy.

Exercise: Look at the final position and try to find mate quickly because time is ticking. This was a 3 0 game.

Final position. WHITE TO MOVE. Find all of the possible mates.

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[Event "ICC 3 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "(GM) agokoy"]
[Black "(NCM) Vas Sladek"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A12"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bg4 5. d3 Nbd7 6. Nbd2 e6 7. b3 Be7 8. Bb2
O-O 9. c4 Rc8 10. Rc1 b6 11. a3 c5 12. Qc2 d4 13. b4 e5 14. b5 Bf5 15. Ng5 h6
16. Nge4 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Bg6 18. a4 f5 19. Nd2 Bf6 20. a5 Qe7 21. axb6 axb6 22.
Ra1 Rfe8 23. Ra7 e4 24. Kh1 Qe6 25. Rfa1 Bg5 26. Nf1 f4 27. gxf4 Bxf4 28. Ng3
Bxg3 29. hxg3 Rf8 30. Kg1 Qf5 31. f4 e3 32. Qd1 Qg4 33. Qe1 Nf6 34. Re7 Nh5 35.
Raa7 Rce8 36. Reb7 Nxg3 37. Rxg7+ Kh8 38. Bf3 Nxe2+ 39. Kh2 Qxf4+ 0-1

Chess players have to make decisions all the time and sometimes mistakes happen. Check out this basic mistake from my rapid 15 10 event. I had just played 1. Bd3 and Black had to make a decision. Bg6? was a bad square for his bishop because after 2.Bxg6 fxg6 3. Qd3 Black has a weak g6 square and the whole king side is struggling.
 Best would have been 1. ...Bxd3.  

Black to play​

9. Bd3 Bg6? 10. Bxg6 fxg6 11. Qd3 {hitting the weak g6 square} Ne4 12.
Nxe4 dxe4 13. Qxe4 Qa5+ 14. Nd2 Kf7 15. a3 Nf6 16. Qd3 Nd5 17. O-O e5 18. Nc4
1-0

It's easy to miss tactics in blitz and IMs have no mercy, they bury you. Quickly.

NCM Vas Sladek- IM Manuan

Black to play

No hints required. 1. ...Bxd5 2. Rxd5 Bh2+ 3. Kxh2 Rxd5 4. Nd4 f4 -+

This happens to me a few times a year. I play against a FIDE titled player with White and the final position looks like this. It's not pretty but, hey, I held my own against a Czech IM. I will take it any day.

Note how Black has to equalize first and then try to win. When White doesn't press for more, it often ends up like this. But again, getting a draw against an IM is great for me. I can't think of better practice and it's free on ICC. I love my winter holiday chess sessions.

If you hang out in the randomized 3-0, 5-0 blitz pools, you're guaranteed to play against FIDE titled players. Have fun! Just don't squeeze your mouse as hard as I do.

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[Event "ICC 3 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2018.12.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NCM Vas Sladek"]
[Black "IM Michal Konopka"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2013"]
[BlackElo "2098"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 Nd7 3. Nf3 Ngf6 4. e3 e6 5. c4 Be7 6. Nc3 c6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O
h6 9. Bh4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 b5 11. Bd3 Bb7 12. e4 a6 13. e5 Nd5 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15.
Nxd5 cxd5 16. Rc1 Rac8 17. Qd2 Nb6 18. Bb1 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Rc8 20. Rxc8+ Nxc8 21.
Qc2 g6 22. h4 h5 23. g3 Qd7 24. Nd2 Nb6 25. Nb3 Na4 26. Nc5 Nxc5 27. Qxc5 Qc6
28. Qxc6 Bxc6 29. b4 Kg7 30. f4 f5 31. a3 1/2-1/2

Chess.com, round 6, 7 round USCF-rated 3 2 blitz tournament and coach Vas was cruising, only losing to a master and the eventual winner. Then came round 6 and everything was under control until I fell asleep and blundered an exchange. I was losing but my knight was active and as my opponent got low on time, I kept him busy. 
The final position diagram (see below) shows my comeback of the year! So don't resign your game when there is still some hope. Against titled players it doesn't  make sense to play on in lost positions because they will never play you again. In a USCF-rated blitz event, things can change pretty quickly.

In the end I tied for 2nd-3rd with 5/7 but after tie-break I finished 3rd. Playing USCF-rated events from my home is fantastic. Try it! ​

[Event "*** US Chess 3|2 Blitz"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2018.12.26"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Al-Amin Shams"]
[Black "NCM Vas Sladek"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "1805"]
[BlackElo "1944"]
[Annotator "Vas"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[EventType "blitz"]
1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8.
Ne5 e6 9. O-O Bd6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Qf3 O-O 12. Bf4 Qc7 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. Rfd1
c5 15. dxc5 Qxc5 16. Qe3 Qxe3 17. fxe3 Rab8 18. b3 Rfc8 19. Rd3 Rc7 20. Rad1 h6
21. R3d2 Rbc8 22. Nb5 Rxc2 23. Nxa7 Rc1?? 24. Nxc8 +- Rxc8 25. Kf1 Ne4 26.
Rb2 Kf8 27. a4 Ke7 28. a5 Rb8 29. b4 Nd6 30. b5 Nc4 31. Rb3 Nxa5 32. Ra3 Nc4
33. Ra7+ Kf6 34. Ke2 Rxb5 35. Rf1+ Ke5 36. Rfxf7 Rb2+ 37. Kf3 Nd2+ 38. Kg3 Ne4+
39. Kh4 Rxg2 40. Rxg7 Rxh2+ 41. Kg4 h5+ 42. Kf3 Rf2# 0-1

Chess.com recently added a new fun feature called puzzle rush. You get 5 minutes to solve as many puzzles as you can, the puzzles get harder and you're out after three mistakes. It starts out with basic back rank mates and free pieces and then there's more blood on the board.

I spent one longer session on puzzle rush and it was fun. So far the best I could do is 30 puzzles. GMs and IMs run into the low 40s. I think it will get very competitive as players discover this new feature.

Solving puzzles is very important for your chess improvement so give it a try. If you beat my best score of 30 puzzles, leave me a message. 

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