Lesson of the Week

Since the beginning of November, my weekly chess lessons for Spokane area youth have come from the games of Paul Morphy. It is Winter Break for most of my students, so this week's lesson was limited to the groups that met on Tuesday. Likewise, the first lesson in January will be missed by others. In January, lessons will come from Seigbert Tarrasch, 300 Chess Games.

When Adolf Anderssen missed the correct defensive move, Morphy exploited the error.

Morphy,Paul - Anderssen,Adolf [C65]
Paris, 1858

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d4 Nxd4 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 c6 7.0–0 cxb5 8.Bg5 Be7 9.exf6 Bxf6 10.Re1+ Kf8 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.c3 d5 13.cxd4 Be6 14.Nc3 a6 15.Re5 Rd8 16.Qb3 Qe7 17.Rae1 g5 18.Qd1 Qf6 19.R1e3 Rg8

Anderrsen should have played 19...Kg7

White to move

20.Rxe6 1–0

As has become the routine this fall, chess club begins with a set of elementary exercises. These exercises prove challenging, but not out of reach, for the majority of the young players. Those who have completed every Beginning Tactics worksheet, have solved 78 problems. The Beginning Tactics 10 worksheet was given out as holiday homework last week for those who would not be meeting this week. A sample is posted below.


Beginning Tactics 10

Find the correct move for White in each diagram. Draw an arrow showing the move.

Update 22 March 2017: The entire set of Beginning Tactics worksheets have been published as a Kindle book with detailed solutions as Essential Tactics: Building a Foundation for Chess Skills (2017).