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Greetings!

I hope this months edition finds everyone enjoying the beginning of spring.

Normally, the games I include here dont reach a long endgame. This Benko Gambit from Golden Knights Semifinal 18Ns02 is an exception. James noted in his email when submitting that hed only seen this rook, knight, and h-pawn versus rook endgame once before in his (long) career. So I thought Id include it for the instructional value. Enjoy!

In this skirmish, Blacks sacs a knight early in a speculative attack on Whites king. However, Black is not developed enough to quickly use Whites shattered kingside. So White counters by forcibly evicting Black from the center. Whites pieces swirl around Blacks king, sweeping him toward the center of the board for a mate-in-one.

In Passing

Ive recently been notified of the passing of several members of our correspondence chess family.

Mr. Lewis Hucks of Tacoma, Washington passed away on March 1, 2020. He carried a CC rating of 1833.

Mr. Charles Greger of Mayer, Arizona passed away on March 6, 2022. He had a CC rating of 2105.

Dr. Rose Marie Stutts of Tuscaloosa, Alabama passed away on February 8, 2022. She carried a CC rating of 1406. Of note, Dr. Stutts was awarded the Hometown Hero by WVUA23, a local TV station, for her work as the director of the Freedom Chess Academy. Dr. Stutts started the charity in 2010 whose purpose was to teach chess to elementary and middle school youth at local schools and YMCAs. In 2010 she collaborated with the University of Alabama to provide a class to students at the university focusing on learning to teach kids the positive role chess can play in their lives. Ultimately Dr. Stutts aimed to have chess added to the West Alabama public school curriculum.

This sly, strategic game spoke to me as an example of the accumulation and conversion of small advantages. A small slip by White at 11.Re1 allows Black to win a tempo by near-forcing Whites rook back to f1. In doing so, Black cemented his knight onto e4. He quickly parlayed that into a passed c-pawn in a rook and knight endgame. Take a look at the instructive way Patrick continuously repositions the knight with threats, to keep it in position to support the pawns advance and never give Black a chance to mount a defense. No fireworks, but clarity and force.

Closing out the month, the following game does feature some fireworks! As my comments would not do this game justice, Ill let Mr. Kuspas notes speak for themselves.

Next month, more games!

Regards,

Larry

Recent Event Winners

John W. Collins Class Tournaments19C15, Brian Flowers, 4-2.520C01, Andrew Boho, 6-0

Walter Muir E-Quad21W41, Mack Pokorny and Kenny Drombosky, 4.5-1.522W02, Brandon Vila, 6-022W03, Patrick Gordon-Davis, 6-0

Victor Palciauskas21VP14, Rick Johnson, 5-1.521VP16 Yashaswini Ayithi, 4.5-1.5

More here:
Check Is In The Mail: May 2022 | US Chess.org - uschess.org