In chess and in life, it’s not a victory until you cross the finish line. Throughout the history of chess there are numerous examples of players overcoming bleak circumstances with one extraordinary move which was overlooked by their opponent. However, few are as stunning as the combination that GM Lenier Dominguez Perez used to escape a seemingly imminent checkmate during Round 2 of the 2024 US Chess Championship. Can you spot his game saving combination?
White to move and draw (Lenier Dominguez Perez vs Sam Shankland, R2 of the United States Championship in Saint Louis, 10/12/2024).
Examples like this one remind us that chess can be extraordinarily brutal game where one miscalculation can undermine hours of effort. I train the chess players I coach to maintain absolute focus until the game is over as anything less can spell disaster. “Zoning out” at the chessboard, even when it’s your opponent’s turn, is never an option!
Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted players of strengths ranging from rank beginners to world champions. A chess professional since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California. Chris Torres served as the President of the Torres Chess and Music Academy from 2005-2020 and currently is recognized as a correspondence chess master with the United States Chess Federation. Since 1998 Chris Torres has taught 6 individual national champions as well as led multiple school teams to win national championship titles. In addition, Chris Torres has directed and taught at 10 different schools which have been California State Champions at chess. In 2011 and 2012, several former and current students of Chris Torres have been selected to represent the United States at the World Youth Chess Championships. Mr. Torres’ hobbies include playing classical guitar and getting his students to appear on the national top 100 chess rating lists.
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