Wednesday Workout: Play like a High Schooler!

Today we feature six positions from the 2019 National High School Championship, contested this weekend in Schaumburg, IL. We’ll warm up with an easy one first, but then you might want to get that cup of coffee and settle in for some work.

Problem 1:

Problem 2:

Problem 3:

Problem 4:

Problem 5:

Problem 6:

ANSWERS

[pgn]

[Event "2019 US HS Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.16"]
[White "Yu, Jennifer"]
[Black "Raparthi, Ankit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A21"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3n1k1/2r3pp/1qb5/R4p2/2P1p3/2P1P3/Q3BPPP/R5K1 w - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

{Problem 1: Let's start with an easy one. White to play and win.} 29. c5+ 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "2019 US HS Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.16"]
[White "Kumar, Nikhil"]
[Black "Bonam, Saigautam"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A06"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r2k1/4qppp/R1b3r1/1p1nB3/2B1pP2/1P2P3/3Q2PP/3R2K1 w - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "27"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

{Problem 2: Pay attention to Black's back rank.} 27. Bxd5 $1 Rxd5 (27... Bxd5
28. Qxd5 Rxa6 29. Qxd8+) 28. Rxc6 Rxc6 (28... Rxd2 29. Rc8+ Qf8 30. Rxf8+ Kxf8
31. Rxd2) 29. Qxd5 Rc8 30. Qxb5 h6 31. Qd7 Qc5 32. Qd4 Qc2 33. Bxg7 Rc6 34. Be5
Qxb3 35. f5 (35. Qd8+ Kh7 36. h3 {with mate to follow}) 35... Rc8 36. Bh8 Kf8
37. Qg7+ Ke7 38. f6+ Ke6 39. Qg4+ Ke5 40. Qf4+ 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "2019 US HS Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.16"]
[White "Tanenbaum, Zachary"]
[Black "Furfine, Jacob"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B80"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1k2r/1b3ppp/p2ppbP1/7P/1q1NPP2/2NQ4/1PP5/2KR3R w k - 0 22"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

{Problem 3: Attack like Zach(ary)!} 22. e5 $1 dxe5 (22... Be7 23. gxf7+ Kxf7
24. Rhg1 {with a huge attack.}) 23. Nxe6 $1 Qe7 (23... fxe6 24. Qd7+ Kf8 25.
Qf7#) 24. gxf7+ Qxf7 (24... Kxf7 25. Qf5 {and if} Qxe6 26. Rd7+) 25. Qh3 Rc6
26. f5 Bc8 27. Nd5 Bxe6 28. fxe6 Bg5+ 29. Kb1 Qf2 30. Qb3 Qa7 31. Qa4 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "2019 US HS Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.16"]
[White "Nydick, Brandon"]
[Black "Mangalam, Shreya"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D60"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r3/pp2r2k/5q2/3Rp1p1/2P1R1Pn/3Q4/P4B2/6K1 w - - 0 50"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

{Problem 4:} 50. Rexe5+ (50. Bxh4 gxh4 51. Rd6 {is also strong. Full credit if
you chose this route. The main idea is} Qg7 52. Rxe5+) 50... Kh6 $6 (50... Ng6
51. Rf5 Qa1+ 52. Kg2 {and with Qh3+ coming, Black is in trouble.}) 51. Rxe7 $1
Rxe7 52. Bxh4 gxh4 53. g5+ 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "2019 US HS Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.17"]
[White "Guo, Arthur"]
[Black "Balakrishnan, Praveen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r1k1/1p3qbp/2p1R3/p4P2/P2rB3/1P4P1/4QRK1/8 w - - 0 45"]
[PlyCount "13"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

{Problem 5:} 45. Bd5 $3 Kf8 (45... Rxd5 46. Rxe8+ Bf8 47. Rf4 $18) (45... Rf8
46. Bc4 b5 47. Re7) (45... cxd5 46. Rxe8+ Bf8 47. f6 $1 {wti Qe7}) 46. Bc4 b5
47. f6 $1 Bh6 48. Re7 Qg6 49. Bf7 Qxf7 50. Rxf7+ Kxf7 51. Qh5+ 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event "2019 US HS Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.03.17"]
[White "Kumar, Nikhil"]
[Black "Wei, Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E73"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r4rk1/1pp3bp/3p4/2nP3n/2PB4/1P6/PpB1NP1P/1K1R3R w - - 0 23"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]

{Problem 6:} {Trainers may want to file this position away for lessons on the
pin.} 23. Rhg1 Kh8 24. Rxg7 $1 Nxg7 25. Rg1 Rf7 26. Nf4 Rg8 27. Nh5 Nd7 28. f4
b6 29. Kxb2 Ne5 30. fxe5 Nxh5 31. e6+ Rf6 32. Rf1 Kg7 33. Rf5 1-0

[/pgn]