Featured Game

Here's entry #12 in my Featured Game series. You will find on this page:

• A double board puzzle, using a position taken from the game. Try to find a way for DKiller and TheRaven to force mate.

• A downloadable annotated version of the game in .bpgn format

If you don't have the BPGN viewer on your machine, then head over to my first Featured Game, which has links that can be used to download the viewer.

Featured Game #12:

Whose Turn Is It Anyway?

This month's game features Olaudah, a strong bugger whose rating usually hovers around 2200, although his rating at the time this game was played was a mere 1945. He must have recently had an off night or a PUI (that would be a Partner Under the Influence). A more ratings conscious player wouldn't have dared challenge Olaudah with a 1945 rating, but let's give that notorious trash-talker TheRaven some credit for daring to accept the challenge.

The game is a wild one, particularly on the TheRaven/Olaudah board -- a crazy seesaw battle where both players fight hard to get their respective attacks started. As so often happens in these battles to gain the initiative, the deciding factor is the clocks. Olaudah is the one with the time disadvantage, and at one key point (the diagrammed position) we see a nice example of why creating piece flow is generally bad when your team is down on time. (I can recall some games when an inexperienced partner told me to force a queen exchange and got mad when I didn't. Of course, the reason I didn't was because the clocks were against us, and I knew all that would happen was that our opponents would sit and force my partner to move, then trade queens and mate my partner -- man, a bugger's life can be so frustrating sometimes...)

Well, using the clock well is a nice way to get the upper hand, but there is still the matter of forcing checkmate. TheRaven has some trouble putting Olaudah away and Olaudah fights his way back into the game. Finally, the other board joins in the fun and the whole game turns into a glorious tactical mess. Here's the game

LilBugger 02:22	Olaudah 01:28
DKiller 01:41*	TheRaven 02:39*
* indicates player to move next