The Evanston Township High School chess team won many games and matches in 2021. For each of the positions shown below, see if you can find the decisive moves that were played by ETHS players on their way to victory. The winning moves are shown at the bottom of this article, below the diagrams.
Black to Move
Taft HS vs. Rohil Bose, ETHS
White to Move
Jonah Chen, ETHS vs. Whitney Young HS
Black to Move
Niles North HS vs. Nathan Melnikov, ETHS
White to Move
Christopher von Hoff, ETHS vs. Naperville North HS
White to Move
Elijah Platnick, ETHS vs. Andrei Skorobogatykh
Winning Moves Solutions:
Rohil Bose: Black checkmated with 30…Rh2+ 31Ke1 (or 31Rf2 Rxf2+ 32Ke1 Bd3 33Ne2 Rxe2+ 34Kf1 Nd2 checkmate) 31…Bd2+ 32Kd1 Ne3 mate.
Jonah Chen: White checkmated with 26Rd3! exf4 27Rc3 (27Re3!! fxe3 28Rg1 forces checkmate) 27…Qxd5 (Black could have played 27…Qxc3, sacrificing his queen, to delay mate for a few more moves) 28Rc8 mate.
Nathan Melnikov: Black won a rook and a pawn for a knight after 16…Qxc4! 17 Bxc4 Bxh3 18Rxh3 (or 18gxh3) Nxf2.
Christopher von Hoff: White won material with 23Nxe6! Kxe6 23Rxd7! Bb6 (or 23…Rxd7 24Nxc5+ Ke5 25Nxd7+ Kf4 26Nxf6 and white is 3 pawns ahead) 24Nxc5+ Ke5 25R1d5+ Kf4 26Ne6+ Ke3 27Nxd8 and white was a rook ahead.Elijah Platnick: White won black’s queen after 23Rxd6! fxg5 24Rxg6+ Kh7 25Rxg5! Rxf1+ 26Nxf1 Qf6 27Qh4+ Qh6 28Rh5.
Keith Holzmueller has been the head coach of the Evanston Township High School Chess Club and Team since 2017. He became a serious chess player during his high school years. As an adult player, he obtained a US Chess Federation Expert rating for over-the-board play and was awarded the Senior International Master title by the International Correspondence Chess Federation. Keith now puts most of his chess energy into helping young chess players in Evanston learn to enjoy chess and improve their play. Please email Keith at news@evanstonroundtable.com if you have any chess questions.