Chess Classes in Fremont, California

FREMONT ACHIEVER CHESS TEAM: August 23^rd through October 25th

Brought to you by The Achiever Institute and the Torres Chess and Music Academy, a non-profit organization

 

Children at Achiever Institute focusing hard at chess.

 

The Fremont Achiever Chess Team chess program meets every Saturday from 1:00 until 3:00, beginning August 23, 2014.

Held at The Achiever Institute.

43475 Ellsworth St. Fremont, CA 94539

Register at Achiever this Saturday

 

The Fremont Achiever Chess Team has a very special chess program taught by the nationally renowned chess instructors from the Torres Chess and Music Academy.  This course will provide experienced tournament players with instruction that will quickly increase their ability and understanding of chess. In addition, we will also teach newer students the skills necessary to excel in competitive chess. Participants will begin their afternoon by participating in an exciting chess class taught by the top chess instructors from the area. Students will then play 1 USCF rated chess game as part of the ongoing tournament and receive 1-on-1 analysis of their play. Lower rated players will play at g/30 time controls while higher rated players will be using g/45. Every five weeks, the tournament will be reported to the USCF in order to be rated. All participants must be members of the USCF. If your child is not a member, your child can join or renew their USCF membership at the first meeting.

The tuition for this program is $180 for ten weeks.

Drop-In for a single class for $20.

If you miss the first week or inform us during registration that you will be missing a week we will prorate the tuition. No refund will be given for unscheduled student absences.

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Fremont Summer Chess Camp: Week 4

Below are photographs of my favorite moments from week four of the Fremont Summer Chess Camp. I wish to thank all of our students, coaches, Steve and Kate’s Camps,  the Wild Cat Education and Conservation Fund and Grandmaster Susan Polgar. It takes a lot of great people to make the Fremont Summer Chess Camp as successful as it is and without these great groups and individuals many kids from Northern California would have missed out on an experience of a lifetime.

 

Thanks to Coach Tans for doing a great job teaching our youngest campers.

 

 

For four straight years, Coach Francisco has been teaching our campers confidence through attacking chess.

 

 

International Master Emory Tate managed to greatly improve the chess skills of every child in the advanced group.

 

 

Coach James proved daily why he is the Director of Instruction for the Torres Chess and Music Academy.

 

 

James Pacquette also managed the technological aspects of our Esteemed Guest Series.

 

 

MSJE Head Coach Joe Lonsdale was always available to help kids review their USCF rated chess games.

 

 

The Wild Cat Education and Conservation Fund put on a great show for our kids.

 

 

Everyone in attendance will never forget the day Susan Polgar (The World’s Top Chess Trainer) challenged every mind in the room with an extremely thought provoking chess lesson.

 

 

Most of all, it was all the awesome young chess players that made the 2014 Fremont Summer Chess Camp so fantastic.

 

Want to see more?

Fremont Summer Chess Camp: Week 3

Fremont Summer Chess Camp: Week 2

Fremont Summer Chess Camp: Week 1

 

 

 

 

Coach Joe’s Report on the 2014 USCF National Elementary Chess Championships

MSJE Head Coach, Joe Lonsdale, Provides a Brief Summary of  Fremont’s Achievements At the 2014 National Elementary Chess Championships.

The MSJE Chess Team wins another National Championship!

The 2014 National Elementary School Chess Championships were held the weekend of May 9^th to 11^th in Dallas, TX.  More than 2,200 students from 107 schools competed in these championships. 17 MSJE (Mission San Jose Elementary School, Fremont, CA) students attended these championships.  MSJE won first place in the K-3 Championship section.  The MSJE Chess team is the 2014 National Primary School Chess Champion.  MSJE tied for fifth place in the K-1 section and tied for fourth place in the K-5 section.

Gomes Elementary School, also of Fremont won the Elementary school (K -6) division.  This is the second time in two years that two of the major elementary school sections were won by schools from Fremont, CA.  Last year Gomes won K-5 and MSJE won K-6.  In K-6 Joanna Liu and Jason Zhang each had five wins and a draw in seven games and tied for six place.  Ganesh Murugappan scored 5 points and William Sartorio scored 4.5 points.  The Gomes Elementary team is now the National Elementary School Chess Champions.

Coach Joe Lonsdale stands with the MSJE k-1 Chess Team.

In the K-1 section Arnav Lingannagari was the top scorer for the MSJE team with five wins and a draw in seven games (5.5 points).  Arnav tied for 12^th place and won a large trophy.  Allyson Wong scored five points, tied for 22^nd place and won a large trophy.  Shreyas Jay scored four points and Siddharth Arutla scored 3.5 points.  Ayaan Kassamali and Jolene Liu also competed for our K-1 team.  Shreyas, Siddharth, Ayaan, and Jolene all won trophies.

The Final Standings in the K-3 Section at the 2014 USCF National Elementary Chess Championships.

In the K-3 Section MSJE was the top rated team, but several teams from New York City were close behind.  Rishith Susarla was our top rated player at 1701 and came in with the top score of 5.5 points tying for 7^th place and winning a large trophy.  Second grader Kevin Pan (1534) and Annapoorni Meiyappan (1508) each scored 5 points tied for 17^th place and won large trophies.  Second grader Stephen He (rated only 925) was paired against a 1337 third grader from a top New York team in the last round.  Stephen won his game to give MSJE a perfect four point round and a clear first place.   We usually do well in the last round and our motto is “MSJE owns the seventh round!”  Atul Thirumalai, Shree Jay, and Amulya Harish each scored 3.5 points in the K-3 Championship section.  The MSJE team is the 2014 Primary School Chess Champion.

MSJE’s David Pan tied for second place in the k-5 section.

David Pan (1839) was the top rated player on our K-5 team and scored a fantastic 6 out of seven points.  David tied for second place and won a large trophy.  Kavya Sasikumar and Mihir Bhuptani each scored 4 points and Jeffrey Liu scored 3 points in this very tough section.  Our K-5 team tied for fourth place in the tournament.

Congratulations to the Chess Team for a great result at the National Championships.

 

*Former MSJE Student, Joseph Wan, took first place in the k-6 Championship division.

 

Chess students in Fremont get exciting lessons from Chris Torres.

 

The best chess experiences of a lifetime occur at the Mission San Jose Elementary School Summer Chess Camp. The camp will take place from June 30 through July 24 at MSJE in Fremont, California. In addition to all the great chess teachers detailed above, the 2014 Summer Chess Camp at MSJE will feature all the other highly accomplished Torres Chess and Music Academy coaches as well as a formidable line up of special guest lecturers. Every child who attends all four weeks will receive a camp T-shirt, a personalized study plan, a follow up private lesson with a Torres Chess and Music Academy instructor, and a diploma presented by Susan Polgar. All school aged chess players are welcomed to sign up but this camp is expected to fill up quickly. Sign up today to avoid missing out on all the chess magic the worlds best chess coaches bring to the Mission San Jose Summer Chess Camp in Fremont, California.

Sign up today at www.ChessAndMusic.com

The Tenth Rank

The Top Ten Chess (CC) Players in the United States for May 2014.

Source: United States Chess Federation

1	Menke, John R	IL	USA	2489
2	Buss, Michael	IN	USA	2430
3	Brandhorst, Wesley	FL	USA	2416
4	Ingersol, Harry Walter	IA	USA	2415
5	Tracz, James G	OH	USA	2405
6	Tseng, Wilbur	IL	USA	2403
7	Kain, Anthony James	SC	USA	2398
8	Mcgregor, Stephen Dean	TX	USA	2391
9	Sogin, David Warren	KY	USA	2386
10	Torres, Chris	CA	USA	2375

 

Of course it was never about rank or rating but rather the happiness and enjoyment that I derive from playing chess at a high level. Still, it is nice to be ranked in the top 10… Although, I still have work to do as there is no tenth rank in chess.

 

 

The MSJE Chess Team’s Dynasty Continues at the 2014 Calchess Super States

MSJE Head Coach Joe Lonsdale Reports on the 2014 Calchess Super States

 

A proud head coach poses with the State Championship Kindergarten team from MSJE.

The 2014 Northern California Scholastic Chess Championships were held the weekend of April 26^th and 27^th at the Santa Clara convention center.  Over 600 students and more the 50 schools competed in these championships.  Mission San Jose Elementary school (MSJE) of Fremont was the big winner in the Elementary School Division.  MSJE swept all of the Championships sections and won many of the Junior varsity sections and rookie sections.

The closest and most exciting championship was the Kindergarten (K) section.  Saint Marks School of San Rafael entered a nine player team in the K section.  The MSJE team won first place with 13 points versus 12.5 points by Saint Marks.  St Marks has been a scholastic powerhouse for more than 25 years.  Shreyas Jay lead the MSJE team with four wins out of five games.  Shreyas won his first four games and was playing for the state championship in the last round.  Shreyas lost in the last round but he still tied for third place.  Siddharth Arutla, Ayaan Kassamali, and Yiwen Gong each scored three points and tied for 12^th place.  Jolene Liu, Zachery Easow, Vivdh Goenka, and Jasper Li also competed for the team.  All of our kindergarten students won trophies.

The top elementary school section at these championships is the 4-6 Championship Division.  MSJE won the section with 18.0 points versus 11.5 points for the second place school. (Bullis Charter school of Los Altos.) MSJE also beat all of the chess clubs (Teams made up of players from numerous schools) in this section.  The individual 4-6 championship came down to two MSJE players.  3^rd grader Rishith Susarla (Who was “playing up” in the 4-6 section) was in second place with four wins and a draw.  David Pan was in first place with five wins.  Usually teammates do not play each other, but this prohibition is eliminated in the last round for the top players.  David won the final game vs. Rishith to finish with a perfect 6-0 score and won the individual Championship and the title on Northern CA Elementary School Chess Champion.  Rishith tied for fourth place.   Annapoorni Meiyappan (another third grader playing up) scored four points, won a trophy, and tied for 9^th place.  Kevin Zhu scored 3.5 points and won a trophy.  Andy Tong, Max Wang, and Sriram Bharadwaj also competed for the MSJE 4-6 Championship team.

Calchess President Tom Langland with MSJE head coach Joes Lonsdale and the k-5 State Championship Team from MSJE.

The 4-5 Championship section was also won by the MSJE team by a large margin.  MSJE scored 16.5 points versus 6 points for Marin School of Marin the second place school.  This score tied MSJE with the first place club, Berkeley Chess School.  Berkeley Chess School runs chess programs at more than 50 schools and their team is an all-star team from these schools.  Kavya Sasikumar was top scorer on the MSJE K-5 team.  Kavya scored five wins in six games and tied for second place.  Jeffrey Liu and Mihir Bhuptani each scored four points, tied for seventh place, and won trophies.  Jaisuraj Kaleeswaran scored 3.5 points and Alex Liu scored 3 points.  Both Jaisuraj and Alex won trophies.

The 4-6 JV (junior varsity) section is for players with ratings below 800 and above 500.  The top 12 MSJE players were playing in 4-6 championship or 4-5 championship sections.  None of the competing schools in the 4-6 JV section had more than one or two players in the championship sections.  Also MSJE only had three players in the 4-6 JV section.  The team score is the sum of the scores of the top four players on each team.  Despite these handicaps the MSJE team of Siddharth Mukherjee, Alvin Lee, and Nivedha won the first place team trophy in 4-6 JV.  Siddharth scored a perfect 5/5 and won the first place trophy.  Alvin scored 3.5/5 and won the 7^th place trophy.  Nivedha scored 3/5 and won the 23^rd place trophy.

The 4-6 rookie section is for players that do not have a rating.  There were several three and four player teams in this section.  Saharsh Goenka and Kevin Ma were the only two MSJE players in this section.  Kevin and Saharsh won all of their games until they had to face each other in the last round.  (Again the prohibition against team members playing is removed in the last round for the top of the ladder.)  Saharsh won the all MSJE game and the first place trophy.  Kevin tied for second place with four wins.  MSJE won the first place team trophy in the 4-6 rookie section.  I believe that this is the first time that a two player team has won first place in any division.

MSJE won the K-3 Championship section with 15 points versus 9.5 points for second place Gomes Elementary of Fremont.  Kevin Pan won his first five games and was playing for the individual championship in the last round.  Kevin lost the game, but still tied for second place and won a large trophy.  Atul Thirumalai scored four points, won a trophy, and tied for 8^th place. Leo Jiang, Stephen He, and Amulya Harish scored 3 points, won trophies and tied for 25^th place.  Allyson Wong, Arnav Lingannagari, Edwin Thomas, Henry Liu, Shree Jay, and Maxwell Yu also competed for the K-3 Championship team.

The k-3 Calchess State Champions from Mission San Jose Elementary School.

The 1-3 JV section is for players with ratings between 500 and 799.  MSJEs top 13 1-3 players were playing in higher sections (4-6 Championship and 1-3 Championship).  Most of the schools competing in the 1-3 JV section had very few students playing in higher sections.  MSJE won the 1-3 JV section with 13.5 points vs. St Marks with 10.5 points.  Nicholas Jiang won his first four games and was playing for first place in the last round.  Nicholas drew his game and finished in second place.  Vasu Rao, Dhruv Susheelkar, and Carolyn McNay scored three points, tied for 13^th place and won trophies.

The 1-3 beginner section is for players with ratings under 500.  Vaibhav Wudaru won all five of his games and tied for first place. Evan Yang and Jack Lee each won three games and won trophies.  Suhan Khan, Lillian Ma, Soham Patti, and Varun Rao also competed for our 1-3 beginner team which took the third place team trophy.

The 1-3 rookie division is the division for players that have not played in a tournament before.  Sandeep Salwan tied for first place in this section with 5 wins out of five games. Monish Jonnadula and Aditi Sagi each scored 4 points, tied for fourth place and won trophies.  Chris Liu also competed for our 1-3 rookie team which won the first place team trophy.

Congratulations to the MSJE chess team for a great result at the State Championships.  In two weeks much of the team will be in Dallas competing in the Elementary School National Championships.

 

Don’t forget to sign up for the annual Fremont Summer Chess Camp at MSJE. 

 

Chris Torres: A Chess Coach, a Music Teacher, and an Advocate for Quality Education.

Chris Torres has been successfully managing and creating school chess programs for his entire adult life. His most recognized accomplishments include the co-founding of Success Chess Schools, the creation of the Torres Chess and Music Academy and consistently coaching the best young chess players in California for 15 years.

Chris found himself drawn into chess education in 1998 when

Chris Torres is California’s chess coach.

Dr. Alan Kirshner needed a replacement teacher for his famous Weibel Chess Club. Chris was an obvious choice beause he had been teaching Alan’s son classical guitar and often played chess with the Kirshners. Soon after joining a group of chess instructors at Weibel, Chris coached his first state champion student. Copying from the success of the Weibel Chess Club, Chris went on to establish State Champion chess programs at Argonaut Elementary School in Saratoga and the Harker School in San Jose. Shortly later, Alan Kirshner promoted Chris to Vice President of Success Chess and Chris turned all of his independently run programs over to the newly formed nonprofit.

As vice president of Success Chess, Chris Torres established chess programs and taught chess at schools all around the Bay Area. Many of the schools still have chess programs to this day. Some of these chess programs are at: Warm Springs Elementary School(Fremont), Leitch Elementary School(Fremont), Mission Valley Elementary School(Fremont), Ardenwood Elementary School(Fremont), Gomes Elementary School(Fremont), Blue Hills Elementary School(Cupertino), Collins Elementary School(Cupertino), Dilworth Elementary School(Cupertino), Muir Elementary School(Cupertino), Regnart Elementary School(Cupertino) Matsumoto Elementary School(San Jose), Meyerholz Elementary School(San Jose), Silver Oak Elementary School(San Jose), Covington Elementary School(Los Altos), Duveneck Elementary School(Palo Alto), Palo Verde Elementary School(Palo Alto), International School of the Peninsula(Palo Alto), Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School(Palo Alto),  Laurel Elementary School(Atherton), Las Lomitas Elementary School(Atherton), John Muir Elementary School(San Bruno), Crestmoor Elementary School(San Bruno), Dougherty Elementary School(Dublin) and quite a few other schools. During his time at Success Chess, Chris Torres also became a notable tournament director and a board member for Calchess. Through Success Chess, Chris Torres was able to achieve his goals of bringing scholastic chess to children all over the Bay Area.

After leaving Success Chess Schools in 2004, Chris Torres spent several months working for Richard Peterson of the Chess Education Association. After the school year concluded, Richard suggested to Chris that he set up his own organization and offered to sell all of the chess equipment from the CEA at a discount price. A couple months later, the Torres Chess and Music Academy was born.

Through the Torres Chess and Music Academy, Chris Torres has brought world class instruction to California’s most talented young chess minds. Some of his accomplishments included running a “Chess Study” with the Kern County Superintendent of the Schools and U.C. Berkeley from 2006-2008. In addition to the study, Chris was able to educate the children in Kern County’s migrant farm worker community in chess and even coach them to prestigious Southern California regional chess titles. In the Bay Area, Chris was able to instruct several individual National Chess Champions as well as coach for the Mission San Jose Elementary School chess team alongside Joe Lonsdale, which in 2009 and 2013 took first place at the USCF Super Nationals Chess Championship. To date, no other elementary school from California has ever placed first in the Elementary Championship division of the USCF Super Nationals.

Acknowledged today as a pioneer in the field of chess and education, Chris Torres has been invited to speak at numerous educational forums and events. Aside from his reputation as a successful chess teacher, Chris is also known throughout the Silicon Valley as a top notch classical guitarist who still finds time to teach groups of youngsters the enjoyment of playing classical music.

On the Eve of Greatness: Part Three

It has now been several years since I first reported on the three California chess prodigies that I had the pleasure of coaching during the 2010 school year. My first article, “On The Eve of Greatness: Three California Chess Prodiogies Competing in their First National Chess Championship” shined the national spotlight onto Milind Maiti, Chenyi Zhao and Ben Rood. Since then,  the United States has been honored to have all three players selected to represent their country at World Youth Chess Championship Tournaments. “On The Eve of Greatness: Part Two,” followed the adventures of Ben Rood and Milind Maiti in Slovenia at the World Youth Chess Championship in 2012. This weekend, all three are entered to play in k-3 Championship division of

Chenyi’s chess future is as bright as her beautiful smile.

the USCF Supernationals in Nashville, Tennessee.

Milind Maiti, is a first rate chess talent who, sadly for this coach, no longer attends Collins Elementary School. However, any student I have ever coached, I remain a fan of for life. Besides, Milind’s natural chess abilities and pleasant personality make it virtually impossible not to be a fan of his chess.

I still play chess with Chenyi Zhao every Thursday at Achiever Institute in Fremont, California. Even after all these years, I still am constantly impressed with her chess prowess and work ethic. After I play a game with Chenyi, she usually volunteers to help my four year old daughter improve her chess game as well. I have no doubt that Chenyi’s chess future is as bright as her beautiful smile.

Ben Rood is scary good at chess. He has already won a couple National Championships but after barely missing a medal in Slovenia, Ben definitely has something to prove. When he has his “A” game going there is no one his age that can match his ability at chess. I predict another top finish for Ben in Nashville and a medal run at the next World Youth Chess Championships in Dubai.

USCF SuperNationals 2013

Just one of the playing halls. (Photo by Elliot Liu)

The time has come for the most exhilarating scholastic chess tournament of the year to commence. Over 5000 children from all over the United States have descended upon Nashville, Tennessee to decide who the best chess players in the country are. All of them have dreams and most of their dreams will be crushed. But somewhere between headache and heartache, there is chess glory. It is this glory that keeps the talented chess kids training all year for just one event.

I will have regular updates on this blog with a focus on Northern California participants. Stay Tuned throughout the weekend.

Torres Chess and Music Academy All Star Team

Congratulations to Amir Dhami, Daniel Mendelevitch, Iddo Zohar, Adrian (Adi) Kisieu and Amar Dhami for being selected onto the 2013 Torres Chess and Music Academy’s All Star Team. The Torres Chess and Music Academy has many talented young chess players and the process of picking five All Stars was very difficult. These players will receive special training, comemorative shirts and free entry into the 2013 USCF United States Amateur Team West chess tournament.

Torres Chess and Music Academy All Star Team 2013

AMIR DHAMI

DANIEL MENDELEVITCH

IDDO ZOHAR

ADI KISIEU

AMAR DHAMI

It’s a Great Time to Play Correspondence Chess in the United States

The United States is truly becoming one of the greatest countries in the world of correspondence chess. Our Olympiad team has made the world finals in every Correspondence Chess Olympiad from the thirteenth to the eighteenth in 2012. Since the year 2000, the ICCF has awarded 80 international titles to correspondence chess players living in the United States. Our country is perhaps the only nation to have two ICCF affiliates. One of these affiliates is the Correspondence Chess League of America which has been running rated correspondence chess tournaments since 1897. The other affiliate is the United States Chess Federation which operates its competitions under the guidance of the correspondence director Alex Dunne.

The U.S.C.F. recently opened its own online correspondence chess server and now offers correspondence chess by mail, email and chess server. Alex Dunne does an outstanding of creating playing opportunities that fit the needs of all levels of chess players. Alex also masterfully covers all of the events in his monthly column humorously titled the “Check is in The Mail.” The June 2012 edition of Chess Life magazine even featured correspondence chess master Abe Wilson on its cover.  The USCF is making it very clear that it supports correspondence chess and is doing everything possible for its players.

I strongly encourage those thinking of trying their hand at correspondence chess to consider joining the USCF’s Golden Knights Championship. The Golden Knights is the United States’ Open Correspondence Chess Championship and is a great way for over the board players to get their feet wet in a large pool of strong correspondence players. Below is a game from the finals of the 2006 Golden Knights Chess Championship. I hope it inspires some of my readers to give USCF correspondence chess a try.

For ease of reading, copy the text below and paste it into your favorite chess program.

[Event “2006 Golden Knights Finals”]

[Site “correspondence”]

[Date “2011.01.??”]

[Organization “USCF”]

[White “Torres, Chris F.”]

[Black “Walker, Barry Wood”]

[Result “1-0”]

[WhiteElo “2315”]

[BlackElo “2232”]

[ECO “B01”]

[Opening “Scandinavian”]

[Variation “2…Qxd5, Main Line, 8.Qe2”]

[PlyCount “51”]

1. e4 d5 {Barry Walker chooses the Scandinavian Defense.} 2. exd5 Qxd5 {The other choice for black here is to not capture the pawn but develop the knight to f6 instead.} 3. Nc3 {Develop with threats.} Qa5 {The overwhelming favorite choice among strong players. On a5, the queen will remain active and pin the c3 knight if white chooses to play d4.} 4. d4 {I have access to over 29,000 games where white decided to control the center with this move.} Nf6 {Black has two pieces developed. White has a pawn in the center and one pinned piece in the game.} 5. Nf3 {Once again, I adhere to classical principles and develop a piece.} c6 {Often times, the Scandinavian player ends up with a Caro–Kann (1 e4 c6) pawn structure (pawns on c6 and e6).} 6. Bc4 {Now I have three pieces developed and a pawn in the center.} Bf5 {Black is keeping up on development.} 7. Bd2 {The most logical move. Now my knight is no longer pinned and I have a discovered attack on my opponent’s queen.} e6 {Now black really does have a Caro–Kann style structure.} 8. Ne4 {Supposedly, this is just an alternative to Nd5 with the same basic ideas. However, I use this to start an attack I have been waiting to try in a high-level game.} Qd8 {This is black’s second favorite choice behind Qc7.} 9. Ng3 {The main line here is Nxf6+. White can reach that position by playing 8 Nd5 as well. I have discovered some new attacking resources for white following 9 Ng3.} Bg6 {If black plays Bg4 then white should play c3.} 10. h4 {White wins 74% of the time with this aggressive move.} h6 {This creates the escape square of h7 for the bishop but creates a small weakness for white to attack.} 11. Ne5 {White wins 94% of the time he plays this move.} Bh7 {This is forced.} (11. .. Be7 12. Nxg6 fxg6 13. Qe2 Qd6 14. O-O-O Nbd7 15. Bxe6 {and black is in serious trouble.}) 12. Qe2 Qc7 (12. .. Be7 13. Nxf7 Kxf7 14. Qxe6+ Ke8 15. Nf5 Qd7 16. Nxg7+ {Objectively speaking black is doing all right. However, white is having all the fun.}) 13. Bf4 {This is a new move. Before this game 13 0-0-0 was played twice with one win and one draw. 13 Bf4 is an improvement.} Nd5 {This or Qe7 are the best choices for black.} 14. Nh5 {This is strong tobasco.. The bishop on f4 is now defended which means that my knight on e5 is no longer pinned. Also, now the Ne5 can move and reveal an attack on my opponent’s queen. The knight on h4 is threatening two checks and adds to the complexity of black’s problems.} Nxf4 {The obvious choice to render white’s attack impotent. The only problem is that it doesn’t.} 15. Nxf4 Bd6 {Now black is starting to look ok.} 16. Nxf7 {Bam! Looks can be deceiving.} Qxf7 (16. .. Kxf7 17. Nxe6 Qe7 18. Rh3 {and black is in hot water.}) 17. Nxe6 Qf6 {Qe7 is an improvement. White would castle queenside and still be in the driver’s seat.} 18. Rh3 Nd7 {Black could have tried the exciting 13 … b5.} 19. Rf3 Qxh4 20. O-O-O {The white king is perfectly safe. The black king… not so much.} Nb6 21. Bb3 {Allowing my opponent to trade pieces would weaken my attack.} Qe7 {This defensive manoeuvre takes away my discovered check.} 22. Re1 {But sets up other ideas.} Kd7 {This move nearly saved black’s game.} 23. Rf7 {A good chess player must analyze all checks, captures and threats. Without forcing myself to do this I would have missed this killer tactical combination.} Qxf7 {Pretty much forced.} 24. Nc5+ {The purpose of 23 Rf7 is revealed.} Bxc5 25. Bxf7 Bd6 26. Qg4+ {Barry Walker has had enough and resigned here. Hats off to my friend for a hard-fought game} *