Cameron's Swindle

It’s Tuesday, boys open chess day at St. Peter the Apostle Middle School in Houston. I have ten boys show up. After a lesson and some problems in zugzwang/stalemate, they settle down, as much as middle schoolers ever settle down, to their games. Cameron walks in late. He’s always late. He a fifth grader from the elementary school at St. Mary’s, an adjacent parish. They don’t have a chess program, so his grandfather trucks him over to St. Peter’s for chess. His grandmother teaches social studies here.

Cameron is the eleventh player, the odd man out. “Sit down Cameron. I’ll teach you something.” “Aw, Mr. Marcely. Do I hafta?” “Yes Cameron. You hafta.”

Cameron chooses white. He opens

1. e4. I respond e5.

He plays

2. a4.

“Cameron. That’s a terrible move. How many times have I told you it’s too early to bring out your rook. I’ll trap it, or chase it all over the place. You’re gonna lose control of the center.!”

I’m disappointed. Cameron has been really developing as a player. He took the sixth place trophy in a tournament just last Saturday. I play

2. ….. Nf6 threatening his e4 pawn.

He plays

3. Bc4.

“Cameron! You didn’t protect your pawn. You just lost control of the center!”

I scoop up the pawn.

3. ….. Nxe4.

Cameron plays

4. Ba2.

I shake my head in dismay. What’s wrong with him today? Have I been too hard on him? With measured calm, I say, “Cameron, that’s a timid move. There’s no reason to retreat. I haven’t even tried to threaten your bishop. You’re making multiple moves with the same piece for no good reason.” Cameron gives me his sullen glance. I’ve seen it before when I lean too hard on him. I play

4. ….. d6, opening up my c8 bishop.

Cameron plays

5. Nf3 Well, that makes a little more sense.

Now I’ll proceed to show him the consequences of poor center play in the opening. I’ll play some Ruy Lopez.

5. ….. Bg4, pinning his knight against his queen.

He responds

6. h3, threatening my bishop. “A decent response, Cameron,” I think to myself.

An animated conversation has erupted among the eighth grade boys. “Pipe down, guys! This is chess, not the social hour!”

I return to the game. I can back my bishop off to h5, He’ll likely respond g4, threatening my bishop again, and it will be forced back to g6. I’ll lose the initiative, but disrupt his castle position kingside. However he can castle queen-side, and he’ll have a half developed pawn storm on my king-side castle position. I prefer to castle king side.

At the next table fidgety Damon is kneeling on his chair trying to balance it on one leg as he plays chess.

“Damon! Sit in that chair like a human being. This is chess, not gymnastics 101!”

I return to the game. If I capture the pinned knight, he’ll capture back with the pawn or the queen. Cameron’s a good enough player that I think he’ll capture with the queen. Having his queen at f3 can be a powerful position, but also a vulnerable position. His opening has been so poor that I’m sure that he won’t be able to use his queen effectively from f3. Perhaps I can give Cameron an object lesson on the folly of premature development of the queen. I decide to trade. I capture his pinned knight.

6. ….. Bxf3.

He captures back with the queen.

7. Qxf3

Now my knight is threatened. If I retreat my knight to f6, his queen will swoop down on my b7 pawn and subsequently capture my queen-side rook or knight.

Daniel and Yovanni are involved in a touch-move dispute. I mediate.

Back to the game. If I retreat my knight to c5, I protect the b7 pawn and the integrity of my queen-side position. That’s a sensible move.

7. ….. Nc5.

Cameron responds quickly.

8. Qxf7, capturing the pawn next to my king.

I can’t believe he has made such a foolish move. After all my lectures on playing slowly and deliberately. As I reach for my king to capture the offending queen, Cameron blurts out,

“Checkmate!”

Checkmate? Checkmate? How can this be? I look up. Cameron has his big “Gotcha!” grin. His left index finger is tapping on his stealthy bishop at a2. He extends his right hand across the board. That devious, sneaky, conniving, underhanded young whippersnapper has checkmated his coach in eight moves. I’ve been conned! Bamboozled! Snookered! Hog-tied! Sliced and diced!

I shake Cameron’s hand and smile. “Great game, Cameron!” I’m proud to be his coach.

At team practice on Thursday, Cameron beats our second-best player with the same trap. Cameron also tells me he won one of his games at the last chess tournament using it. I ask if he read about this elegant and stealthy variation on the scholar’s mate in his chess magazine. He assures me he figured it out himself. I’m sure others have played it over the centuries, and perhaps named it, but I call it Cameron’s Swindle.

* The stories are all real, but we use pseudonyms to protect the students' online privacy.

James A. Marcely

Chess Coach

St. Peter the Apostle Middle School

Houston, TX

Ph: 713-440-7995

jimmarcely@aol.com