Sonam's Game

At long last we present in its entirety the game with the cool mating attack from our January 20 post. The winner was eight-year-old Sonam Ford, a member of the Ray School Chess Club, who had the White pieces. His valiant opponent was an adult man who had the misfortune to sit down across the board from Sonam at the Hyde Park Border’s on 53rd Street in December.

Notice how in the game’s exciting finish Sonam relinquishes both of his rooks to win his opponent’s queen, technically a sacrifice, since it represents a slight loss of material. (queen = 9 pawns; two rooks = 10). Yet the sacrifice was well worth it because it left White with a commanding positional advantage that quickly led to checkmate. (Black retained both of his rooks, but they were out of position.) That’s tactical chess at its best.

Incidentally, last week at the Touch Move Chess Center Sonam completed the 25 rated games he needed for an established U.S. Chess Federation rating. He is now rated officially at 1243, which, when the federation’s new leader lists come out in April, should land Sonam in the top 100 nationally in his age group.

Have you played an interesting game lately? If so, please send it to us and we'll publish it.