The day I beat Grandmaster Sam Shankland in a 5 minute blitz game

Hi all

Disclaimer: Sam Shankland is a great guy and often represents the US in Olympiads, and this is kind of "tongue in cheek" - please treat it as such!

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Back in the old days when ICC was a major online chess provider, I used to actually play more 5-minute chess on the ICC "auto-pairing". One morning, I got to play US Grandmaster Sam Shankland. Here is the game played back in 2012 :

https://youtu.be/ZyxCcYq7DGI

( Edit: BTW if you get time, do check out my special "scalps" playlist - some fun games here vs titled players https://kingscrusher.tv/scalpalerts )

I know it is only a blitz game, but I think it will probably be the longest time control I will encounter Shankland in online chess or otherwise, so I am kind of fond of this memory and video.

It seemed after Nd4 White's position was "Smugly positional". This level of positional smugness annoyed me actually.

The "authority" of the smug Nd4 hit me. It took me back to a time of being a rebellious child when all the other kids were crying seeing the doctor because of some painful injection with a gigantic needle of some sort. I didn't cry, instead, I gave a mean look to the doctor which my father found very amusing at the time. When other's cry, I get angry. I recommend this on the chessboard. Don't cry - just get angry. If you are losing positionally to a smug positional player, that is the time to get the angry face out and start creating angry counterplay tactics. Think of the great dynamic aggressive players of the past and present - Tal, Bronstein, Shirov, Morozevich, Kasparov. Do you think they would be disheartened when faced with smug positional play? Certainly NOT.

Smug Nd4 - declaration of war!

That is the declaration of war my chess friends :) If Nd4 had not been played with such smugness, then maybe I would not muster my angriest tactical resources possible. You think David Bronstein wouldn't find some amazing resources and counterplay - think again. he undoubtedly would in such situations.

The tactical player's onus of responsibility is to put those smug positional players in their place - to prove their tactical complacency. Anything else is a derelection of your tactical duty! Think of Kasparov's liberating d5 against Karpov in those moments causing Grandmasters in the commentary room to bang their fists at the dynamic rebellious audacity of such moves, and ending up featured at the start of Batsford Chess Openings :

And we all know the final position there:

Back to the story

So anyway, later I play h5 saying basically "I am going to wreck you - note how your Smug Nd4 placement doesn't do anything about h4"

Later Qc8:

Yes, I will sac a bishop if needed..... But I chickened out playing in fact Qc8-d8! Let us see his plan first before I "Burn the bridges" into the irreversibility of a piece sacrifice.

But still with a fighting spirit! Tempered by not yet sacrificing a piece! I played g5 basically getting the "battering ram" out to break through potentially into the King Castle's defences!

Is this a fatal "weakness of the last move" I see before me?. The knight had been dutifully protecting f3. How dare that knight move. I pounced like a Cat not buying the soundness of the Queen sacrifice if it was intended:

Take that Shankland! - The Knight is not so smug now is it!

Hang on a sec - don't tell me it was an intentional Queen sacrifice. Oh, man. Give me a break!.

Now a flashback occurred to a British championship game where I got hammered by someone playing a Rook sac which was made worse by IM Andrew Martin featuring it in the game bulletin of the day. And not mentioning technically I had been winning. Anyway, "What goes around, comes around", and I used this time a rook sac myself:

Ha! Didn't see that did you?

Starting to take out the attacking pieces:

Final position

I revisited the game for analysis later here:

https://youtu.be/wIzCLNjmR%5FY

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Takeaway points

• When other's cry, that is the time to get angry!
• When you see smug positional moves, that is the time to get angry!
• When you want to think tactically dynamically, think of the dynamic aggressive heroes - Tal, Kasparov, Bronstein, Shirov, Morozevich for a start. Let them inspire you! Let them take you to the mindset you need to be resourceful on the chessboard!
• When you see smug positional moves, let that be your caffeine to find amazing resources on the chessboard!
• Don't necessarily "burn the bridges" too quickly - wait for a little to see the opponent's plan sometimes. Burning the bridges with tempting moves like Bxh3 could just lead to refutation. Maybe wait until the opponent has less time on the clock before burning those bridges, so even if they do refute it, you can still win on time.

Cheers, K

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Hope you enjoyed this blog :). Any likes and follows are really appreciated. Also, I also have some interesting chess courses at https://kingscrusher.tv/chesscourses to check out.Cheers, K

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