SPOT CHESS PUZZLES Sunday March 12th, 2023 Review of Lasker versus Bauer, the takeaways and tactics and then an explanation of the endgame for the folks who were wondering why Bauer resigned when he did. Enjoy todays edition ~ Sean Tobin.

Greetings! Five chess puzzles for you today! We start off with the Easier puzzles and then finish off with a final challenging puzzle in the Intermediate category. As always people will have their strengths and weaknesses in tactical understanding so you may find some of these puzzles to be more or less challenging than advertised. But no matter what - solved or not - you will sharpen your tactics by tackling puzzles on a daily basis. So with that… Enjoy! ~ S PS Looks like Nepomniachtchi is on his way to winning game 14… Ding played sharply out of the opening and the game has gone back and forth between them both. Exciting game!

GREAT CHESS EVENTS from the PAST that I had ORGANIZED: FIDE MASTER NICK RAPTIS SIMULTANEOUS CHESS EXHIBITION from Sunday 03/03/2013. A truly great event - FIDE MASTER NICK RAPTIS really generates a lot of interest in chess... and always puts on a good show. Each and every chess game. In this event Nick played way more chess games than merely "26"... many participants would play one game after the other against and Mr Raptis acquiesced to each and every time. We also had many passersby stop in and jump into the event after it had begun. Folks would take over a board as players were defeated and bowed out. The official tally was 26 games - but there were way more games than that played that Sunday! I used to run a chess club at the Cedar Hills Crossing until the Mall management team lost interest in fully supporting chess events and meetings at that location. The club would later go on to meet at many other locations and would successfully promote chess and bring many more players to the table. Giving people something constructive to do was a source of great pleasure for me. To all of the folks that hosted the club we owe a debt of gratitude. Many thanks to them, one and all. And I want to especially thank every single person that ever attended the chess club and showcased good sportsmanship and camaraderie. Ultimately the chess club would cease meeting as life circumstances changed my schedule. But the historical record still stands - we made chess fun and accessible to many, many Oregonians. Something I am still proud of til this day! Enjoy the Photo Gallery presentation from this excellent event. Perhaps someday I will get back to organizing chess and will be able to put on such great events again! Many thanks to one and all former members of the club! You made it fun and you made it all worthwhile. Stay healthy, be well and always play the best moves in the greatest game of all: the game of life! ~ Sean Tobin. (c) All photos Sean Tobin. All rights reserved.

Andy Woodward defeated the GM Hans "International Man of Mystery" Niemann down in the World Junior Open Championship being held down in Mexico City! We present this interesting game for your chess satisfaction and entertainment. With a little puzzle at the end of all leaving you with the question "How would you have settled matters had Niemann forced you to checkmate his King?". Many talents in this year's event... and we have many top level chess players being forged there that we can look forward to seeing their future chess art. Stay healthy, be well and always play the best moves in life ~ S.