Crucial Games and Tactics for SIG’s 1st Place NACCL Chess Team

TAGS: Board Games, chess, Strategy Games

Over 6 Thursdays in late January and February, the inaugural online North American Corporate Chess League took place, with over 400 players and 40 teams competing on lichess.org. The league awarded prizes to both the top 15 individuals and the top 5 teams, with each team’s score equal to the combined score of its top 4 individuals.

SIG fielded a full team of 15 chess players, and after the lead changed hands multiple times, SIG’s top 4 scorers won all 8 of their games on the final day, catapulting the team to first place! In this article, we present some crucial games and tactically instructive positions of the SIG players.

SIG’s top performer was Brian, who placed 3rd overall with 9 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss, defeating two masters along the way. He won this wild game in the penultimate round against Vijaykanth from IBM:

   [Event "NACCL"]  [Site "https://lichess.org/T0SzxzME"]  [Date "2021.02.26"]  [White "bluo"]  [Black "malevijay"]  [Result "1-0"]  [TimeControl "900+5"]  [UTCDate "2021.05.13"]  [ECO "B73"]  [Opening "Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Classical Variation"]  [Annotator "Brian"]   1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be2 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. Be3 O-O 9. f4 a6 10. Bf3 Qc7 11. Kh1 Bd7 12. a4 Nb4 13. Qd2 Rac8 14. f5?! { Everything up to this point has been more or less a quiet, standard Sicilian Opening setup by both players. This move is my aggressive attempt to attack and open up the kingside. } 14... e5 15. Nde2 { En passant (special chess move that would capture the e-pawn with my f-pawn) looks tempting, but I want to keep his f-Rook out of the game and lock up the center, so I can isolate the action on the kingside. } 15... Bc6?! { There are ideas where he tries to push d5 and regain control of the center, which would weaken my kingside attack. Alternatively, he could've taken my pawn on f5, winning a pawn at the end, but it opens up the g-file and overall just "feels scary". It's actually the move I was most scared of, because I think he has enough to protect himself in this case. } 16. Bh6 { I want to act fast here and get rid of a key defender on the kingside. } 16... Rfd8 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Ng3 { He's trying to play d5, but I'm threatening to play fxg6 -> Qg5 -> Nf5+ and attack on the now weakened dark squares which is a bit faster here. But he's not going to let me do that so easily. } 18... h6 19. Rad1 { The timing of fxg6 is important because if I do it too early, he can swing his rook back to f8 and easily control the f-file. His move h6 prevents my follow-up of Qg5, so fxg6 here isn't that appealing to me anymore. }  19... a5 20. Be2 { I can't really stop him from playing d5, so I'm just trying to improve the positions of my Rook and Bishop so that they are more useful. Moving the bishop also unblocks the f-file, which is indirectly targeting his weak f6 knight. } 20... Qe7 { I think he should be trying to play d5 at some point to break open the center, especially before my bishop can improve position to c4. Not sure if this is the best time or not. } 21. Bc4 Be8? { d5 for Black even here is still annoying for me to deal with. This kind of passive play is exactly what I'm hoping for. } 22. Bb3 Ng4 23. Rf3 { I'm running pretty low on time here (32 seconds, with a 5 sec increment/bonus every move), so the most obvious plan for me is to consolidate as much as I can on the weak f-file to break open there. } 23... Qg5 24. Qe2 { I didn't really want to trade queens after all my effort of building up this attacking position. } 24... h5 25. fxg6 fxg6 26. Rdf1 { Mission accomplished, I have my rooks doubled on the f file and Rf8 -> Rg8+ is an annoying threat for Black. His bishop is blocking his rooks from controlling the back rank on the kingside and he can't move his bishop due to Rf7+. But I have 16 seconds compared to my opponent's 190 seconds. } 26... Nh6 27. Qf2 Rd7? { Looks like my opponent didn't see what I had planned, or decided it wasn't dangerous. I think he should play Ng4 again to kick my queen off of the f-file, or at least something like Bc6 to prevent Rf8. } 28. Rf8 Re7 29. Rg8+ { The winning combination, just in time with 12 seconds! But there's one tricky part I have to get right and almost missed when calculating this. } 29... Nxg8 30. Qf8+ Kh7 31. Bxg8+! { The key move, as 31. Qxg8+?? actually draws the game, since the rook can come to h7 to block. The best I can do in that case is a perpetual since I am down material. } 31... Kh8 32. Bf7+ { I need this specific bishop move to block the Rook from swinging over to h7. Luckily it's not a draw if I mess this up, since I can repeat one more time with Bg8+. } 32... Kh7 33. Qg8+ Kh6 34. Qh8#

During the twitch stream commentary on the final day of play, NACCL Director Peter Giannatos noted that SIG was the only team with all of its four highest scoring players in the top 15. Delen, John, and Justin all scored 9 wins and 3 losses. Here are some illustrative tactics from the games of the SIG players, ranging from easier to more challenging. Can you find the winning moves?

#1 (Beginner): Black just made the fatal mistake Ne7, can you find the winning combination for White?

   [Event "NACCL"]  [White "Marcus"]  [Black "Bridgewater"]  [FEN "3b3k/4npp1/1qNp3p/3Pp3/Q1P3P1/8/P3BPKP/8 w - - 0 1"]  [SetUp "1"]   1. Nxe7 { Black is forced to play } 1... Bxe7 { and now Marcus delivered the final blow, } 2. Qe8+ { forking the black king and bishop. One should always analyze captures and checks, and look for unprotected pieces. }

#2 (Beginner): Black has just played e5. How does Bill win a pawn with the white pieces?

   [Event "NACCL"]  [White "Bill"]  [Black "gnirut"]  [FEN "rnbq1rk1/p3bpp1/1p1p3p/2pPp2n/2P1P3/1N1BBN2/PP3PPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 1"]  [SetUp "1"]   1. Nxe5! { This move opens up the queens discovered attack upon the knight on h5. Bill gives up one knight for a pawn, but quickly wins back the black knight, leaving him up a center pawn with a big advantage. } 1... dxe5 2. Qxh5 { This is a rather simple example of a discovery tactic, but is rather common when black has played Nh5, and the knight is undefended. The lesson is to be very careful when you put your knight (or other piece) on an unprotected square, and make sure your opponent can't capture it, or fork it with another piece. }

#3 (Intermediate): It’s white to move, can you figure out how Delen was able to win one of the black pieces that was trapped?

   [Event "NACCL"]  [White "Delen"]  [Black "nageshgp"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "r1nqr1k1/p2b1ppp/1pp1p1n1/2P5/2BPP3/5NB1/P1Q2PPP/1R1R2K1 w - - 0 1"]  1. Ba6 { after which black is powerless to save his trapped rook on a8, despite having a free move. The game continued } 1... b5 2. Bb7 Nce7 3. Bxa8 { leaving White ahead a rook for a bishop, (2 points). Notice that Black’s cramped pieces (especially the knight on c8) prevented the rook from escaping. This tactic illustrates why one should try to avoid a cramped position. }

#4 (Intermediate): Black just played the blunder Ne3, giving white a forced mate in 2, can you find it?

   [Event "NACCL"]  [White "John"]  [Black " BrilliantBlunder"]  [FEN "4rrk1/pqp1p2p/1pb1P1p1/4B3/6QR/2N1nP1P/PP4P1/5RK1 w - - 0 1"]  [SetUp "1"]   1. Qxg6+ { John plays this devastating queen sacrifice, } 1... hxg6 { is Black's only legal response, and John finishes the game with } 2. Rh8# { checkmate. The key to finding this tactic is to imagine the board with black's h7 pawn missing, in which case white can just play Rh8 checkmate all at once. Therefore one just has to remove the h7 pawn by capturing the piece it's defending, the pawn on g6. Sometimes tactics require a bit of imagination. }

#5 (Expert): Here Black has just played the move f5, which looks strong given the threat of e4 forking white’s bishop and knight, however, this opens up the black king to attack.

   [Event "NACCL"]  [White "Justin"]  [Black "gnirut"]  [FEN "r2q1rk1/pppn2bp/3p4/4pp1n/3P4/2PBBN1P/PP3PP1/R2QR1K1 w - - 0 1"]  [SetUp "1"]   {Justin played} 1. Bc4+ { forcing black to move his king } 1... Kh8 { Justin then played } 2. Ng5 { threatening a fork with Nf7 and exposing a discovered attack on the knight on h5 by the queen. Black has only one move to defend against both of these threats. } 2... Qe8

How did Justin win material from here?

   [Event "NACCL"]  [White "Justin"]  [Black "gnirut"]  [FEN "r3qr1k/pppn2bp/3p4/4ppNn/2BP4/2P1B2P/PP3PP1/R2QR1K1 w - - 4 3"]  [SetUp "1"]   3. Bf7! {temporarily sacrificing the bishop, as Black is now forced to play } 3... Rxf7 {blocking the queen's defense of the knight on h5. This advanced tactic is called ‘interference.’ Now Justin played } 4. Qxh5 { winning back the piece and threatening checkmate on h7 and the rook on f7. } 4... Kg8 5. Qxh7+ Kf8 6. Nxf7 Qxf7 { White is now up a pawn and rook for a knight (3 points) and went on to win easily. This tactic required the exploitation of two weaknesses in black's position, the unprotected knight on h5, and the exposed diagonal to the king on g8 created by the weakening move f5. Coincidentally, in a nearly identical position the exact same tactic occurred during a game between Hikaru Nakamura and Vladislav Artemiev in a chess.com Tilted Tuesday tournament!}

#6 (Expert): In the following position Black has just played the move Bd7, at first glance his position looks fine, however, Eric finds a remarkable win. Do you see it?

   [Event "NACCL"]  [White "Eric"]  [Black "axedrex3005"]  [FEN "r4rk1/pp1b1ppp/1n2p3/4P3/5q2/1B3N2/PP2QPPP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 1"]  [SetUp "1"]   1. Rd4 { and the black queen is going to be trapped. } 1... Qf5 { is blacks best try, if 1... Qh6, then 2. Rh4 traps the queen immediately. } 2. Bc2 Bb5 { hoping for 3. Qxb5 Qxc2, however Eric just plays } 3. Qd2 Qh5 4. Rh4 { and Black is forced to play the wrong kind of Queen's Gambit! When you place your queen in enemy territory always be careful that she doesn't get trapped. }

Ultimately the league championship came right down to the wire with several teams having a shot to win. Going into the last round, SIG and Deloitte were neck and neck at the top of the standings, making the following game between Delen from SIG and Chase from Deloitte, a must win for both players’ respective teams.

   [Event "NACCL"]  [Site "https://lichess.org/6IXrhLkv"]  [Date "2021.02.26"]  [Round "12"]  [White "delen"]  [Black "cknorooks"]  [Result "1-0"]  [UTCDate "2021.02.26"]  [TimeControl "900+5"]  [ECO "A84"]  [Opening "Dutch Defense: Rubinstein Variation"]  [Termination "Normal"]  [Annotator "Delen"]   1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bf4 $6 {My lack of opening knowledge starts to show here, I think a3 or g3 are the better lines.} 5... Bb7 $6 6. e3 $6 Bb4 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 {Showing why a3 is supposed to be played, I've sort of given away my advantage here but during the game this still felt ok to me.} 8... Ne4 9. Qc2 O-O 10. Bd3 d6 11. O-O Nd7 12. Nd2 Nxd2 13. Qxd2 g5 14. Bg3 Qf6 {My opponent and I had both played very quickly up until this point.} 15. f3 {The idea here was to block his bishop's possible kingside pressure.} 15... f4 $6 16. Bf2 e5 17. e4 $2 {My biggest blunder of the game so far, I wanted to keep his bishop out of things by blocking off the white squares but it turns out blocking my own light squared bishop is just wrong.} 17... h5 $6 18. Be2 $6 {Another questionable move, I wanted to stop his kingside attack but I should just be getting the queenside rolling with the somewhat obvious c5.} 18... Qg7 $6 19. h3 $6 {another unnecessary defensive move} 19... Kf7 $2 {This felt like a blunder even at the time, he wanted to move the rook over but this makes the king too exposed.} 20. c5 {(finally)} 20... Rad8 $2 {Letting me open things up and fix my pawn structure for free.} 21. cxd6 cxd6 {I was feeling good about my position now.} 22. a4 Nf6 23. dxe5 $6 {I played a4 to play a5 which is crushing here but then somehow thought opening up the middle was better, oops.} 23... dxe5 24. Qa2+ {Showing why putting the king on f7 was not a great idea.} 24... Kg6 25. a5 g4 26. axb6 gxf3 $4 {I’m not sure why he decided this was the time to take on f3.} 27. gxf3 $6 {I totally missed Bxf3, I thought e4 would be too weak but after 27 … axb6 the move 28. Qe6, pinning the knight and hitting all the pawns, is crushing.} 27... axb6 28. Kh2 {Continuing my idea of opening the file to stack my rooks there.} 28... Qc7 29. Qe6 $2 {Now I dive the queen in but unfortunately in this variation it gives Black too many chances to counterattack with moves like Rd2.} 29... Bc8 30. Rg1+ Kh6 31. Qxb6 $6 {Throwing away my advantage as black should be able to hold down a pawn in the endgame, better is 31. Bxb6! leading to an incredibly complicated line trading down into a winning endgame for White.} 31... Qxc3 $4 {Black commendably plays for the win but this move unfortunately loses almost immediately.} 32. Bh4 $4 {Still winning but missing the game ending 32. Rc3 with Rc6 to follow, my idea was to pressure the pin in the most straightforward way.} 32... Qd2 $4 {Not the most accurate defense but black is lost.} 33. Rg2 $4 {Again missing the most obvious continuation of 33. Bxf6 but I was trying to play it safe.} 33... Rd6 $6 34. Qc7 Rg8 35. Rag1 {At this point I was sure I was winning but there were still chances to mess up.} 35... Rxg2+ $6 36. Rxg2 Bd7 37. Bxf6 Rxf6 {Now I was quite sure it had to be over and I still had plenty of time left on the clock.} 38. Qxe5 Qd6 39. Qg5+ {With 39 … Kh7 40. Qg7 checkmate to follow, Black resigned.} 1-0

This win put SIG in first place with 37 points, while Wells Fargo and Deloitte were tied for second with 35.5 points, meaning Delen’s victory ultimately clinched the championship. Congratulations to the SIG chess team!

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