Lessons from the Dragonslayer

The Dragonslayer is Spokane's oldest youth chess tournament, dating back to the late-1990s. I have been coaching at the host school since 2011. The prior coach was my opponent in the game featured in the inaugural post for Chess Skills in November 2007.

The 2025 Dragonslayer was held yesterday. There were 36 players representing 17 teams.

Some observations:

New players made a difference. A newcomer playing his first tournament led four 4.0 finishers to take home the second place trophy. Two of the second place team's top scorers were playing their first event as well.

Time management made a difference. One player won on time with only two pawns against two queens, a rook, and at least another pawn.

Basic checkmate skills mattered. One game ended in stalemate when the player with the queen did not see the mate in one and moved the queen to the wrong square. Another player in time pressure missed a mate in one. One player who drew a difficult game where both players in time pressure missed chances, did not see a forced mate in two with Nf6+ followed by Rg8# (Arabian mate).

Endgame skills made a difference. There were dozens of pawn promotions, many preventable by the opponent. There were as many as three queens in the possession of one side in games that I witnessed.

Many of my students this next week will see some positions that I recall or was able to capture with my phone.

White to move

Here or a few moves later, White brought the knight to g5. Also over several moves Black's rook on f8 went back to its starting square, Black's queen went to c8, and an exchange of bishops left White's queen on e7 with a mate in one. Black won the game.

I was called to the board by a player who was offered a draw and wanted to know whether acceptance was obligatory. I said it was not, and with the material on the board, the offer could be considered rude. This was the position.

Black to move

Black played Qc7?? instead of Qh6#.

In the last game of the tournament to finish, one of my students missed an opportunity here (creating the position from memory, I reversed the colors).

White to move

Earlier is this game, they had this position (reconstructed from a photograph, hence the colors are correct).

Black to move

Readers, especially young chess players, are encouraged to consider how they would play these positions. Any comments left with suggestions will receive a response.