The Difference

Young players who wish to participate in the Washington State Elementary Chess Championships must qualify. They need to score 3.0 out of 5.0 possible in a qualifying event. I ran one of these qualifying events last Saturday. It was small so elementary students were playing in the same section as middle school and high school, making qualifying for elementary state more difficult. Nonetheless, two students succeeded!

Both of those elementary students who finished with 3.0 checkmated an opponent while I was watching their game. A young girl under immense pressure as the clock neared zero showed her mastery of the elementary checkmate with king and rook against king, although there were several other pieces on the board. When she slid her rook over to the a-file for checkmate, she had four second left.

A sixth grade boy provoked a confused look from his opponent as he appeared to have blundered his queen.

Black to move

After looking at him in confusion and looking at the queen, his opponent shrugged her shoulders and took the bait, 19...Qxf7. He answered quickly with 20.Rd8#.

In contrast, some of the players who finished with 2.5 points had a game where overwhelming force led only to a draw. In at least two cases, a player with two queens managed to leave their opponent no legal moves when not in check.

Black to move

White also had two bishops and a knight, but I do not recall the placement of all of them. Watching this particular game, I noticed that White systematically drove the lone king to the edge without checks, a vital skill when a single queen and king battle a lone king. With two queens, however, and other pieces on the board, the safest course is to deliver check every move.

My after school students this week see the checkmate trap set by one of their own, and they complete worksheets with mate in two. Last week, they did the mates in one.

This problem proves difficult for young players. From Bledow--Schorn, Berlin 1839.

White to move

This exercise is part of Rook Checkmates 4. RC 1 and 2 are mates in one. RC 3 and 4 are mates in two.