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Where Organized Chess in America Began
EMPIRE CHESS
Spring 2016 Volume XXXIX, No. 1 $5.00
State Scholastic Champion FM Justus Williams
Empire Chess
P.O. Box 340969
Brooklyn, NY 11234
NEW YORK STATE CHESS ASSOCIATION, INC. www.nysca.net
The New York State Chess Association, Inc., America‘s oldest chess organization, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting chess in New York State at all levels. As the State Affiliate of the United States Chess Federation, its Directors also serve as USCF Voting Members and Delegates.
President Bill Goichberg PO Box 249 Salisbury Mills, NY 12577 [email protected]
Vice President Polly Wright 57 Joyce Road Eastchester, NY 10709 [email protected]
Treasurer Karl Heck 5426 Wright Street, CR 67 East Durham, NY 12423 [email protected]
Membership Secretary
Phyllis Benjamin P.O. Box 340511 Brooklyn, NY 11234-0511 [email protected]
Board of Directors
Upstate Downstate William Townsend Phyllis Benjamin Bill Goichberg Dr. Frank Brady Shelby Lohrman Margarita Lanides Karl Heck Lenny Chipkin Ron Lohrman Ed Frumkin Brenda Goichberg Polly Wright Steve Immitt Dolly Teasley Sophia Rohde Harold Stenzel Carol Jarecki Joe Felber Sunil Weeramantry
Tournament Clearinghouses
Zip Codes under 12000 (downstate) Bill Goichberg [email protected] NYS Zip Codes over 11999 (upstate) Karl Heck
Deadlines December 15 for the Winter Issue March 15 for the Spring Issue June 15 for the Summer Issue September 15 for the Fall Issue
Advertising Manager Contact the Editor.
The Next Generation
NYSCA hosted another successful State Scholastic in Saratoga with over
900 players. With our new Champion, FM Justus Williams, not only
winning the tournament outright but also being featured in an advertisement
for Cadillac during the Academy Awards, the future of chess players in the
Empire State is strong. Tough competitors like James Black and former
Scholastic Champion Joshua Colas pushed Justus all the way throughout
the tournament.
The future of tournament directing and organizing, though, is not as secure.
Many of the “stars” of tournament direction in the State are reaching the
twilight of their careers, and a new generation is needed to carry the torch
in the same way that Justus Williams and Joshua Colas followed in the
footsteps of Aleksandr Lenderman and Alexander Ostroisky.
NYSCA would like to encourage younger people to not only play, but pick
up the torch for organizing events and holding tournaments. Online chess
may always be with us from now on, but there remains no substitute for
tournament play, and tournament numbers have stabilized around the
country after a decline when online play first became common. Major
scholastic tournaments such as the Greater New York Scholastics and the
New York State Scholastics, both featured in this issue, are setting
attendance records and are more vibrant and successful than ever.
There are many ways to get involved. Ask to help at a local event. Host a
small local tournament at your school or club. Not every tournament is, or
have to be, a Continental Chess style event. Small local events not only can
build the success of a new tournament director. They are greatly
appreciated by the participants, and normally can be run with very little
financial risk
NYSCA, and New York chess, needs you. If you can lend a hand, we can
find a place for you. New York chess depends on it.
.
EMPIRE CHESS
Where organized chess began in America
Volume XXXIX, Number 1 – Spring 2016
Cover: FIDE Master Justus Williams with his Championship trophy at the New York State Scholastic Chess Championship in
Saratoga Springs.
From the Editor.............................................................................................................................................................. 2
Table of Contents …....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Justus Wins the State Scholastics by Bill Townsend…………………………………………………………………..…………..4
Long Island Chess Club Now by Neal Bellon………………………………………………..................................................12
Greater NY Scholastic Reaches Gold by Colonel David Hater and Danny Rohde……....................................16
Klug wins Watertown Championship by Don Klug………………………..……………….………………..........................21
Kraztat and Prieto Share 2016 Watertown Blitz Championship by Don Klug………………..….…..…….22
Notes from the Marshall by Frank Romano……......................................................................................................23
Open Lines by Karl Heck………………………………..…..……………………………….................................................................24
The Outside Passed Pawn by Zachary Calderon………………………………………………………….................................25
Rochester News from staff reports…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…26
Evans Gambit: Cordel Varitaion by Richard Moody……………………………………………..........................................27
New York Tournaments………………………………...................................................................................,,,,,.……....29
Editor: Karl Heck, [email protected].
Webmaster: Daniel Heck, www.nysca.net.
Empire Chess, the official publication of the New York State Chess Association, Inc., is published quarterly. No liability is
assumed with respect to the use of any information contained herein, or for any advertised products. Opinions
expressed are solely those of the contributors, and not necessarily those of NYSCA. Empire Chess is COPYRIGHTED,
2015.
Empire Chess accepts articles, games, tournament reports, art work and photos. No responsibility is assumed for
unsolicited material. All material submitted for publication becomes the property of Empire Chess, and will not be
returned unless accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Letters received by Empire Chess are accepted &
subject to editing. Please send to: Karl Heck, [email protected].
Membership in the NYSCA: $20/year with four printed Empire Chess; $12/year with online Empire Chess (two printed).
To join, write to: Phyllis Benjamin, P.O. Box 340969, Brooklyn, NY 11234.
NYSCA membership now gets you discounts at Continental Chess Association events in New York State and all New York State Championship tournaments.
Please send articles and advertisements in camera-ready format for publication. (TIF file, Adobe Photoshop, 100 lines per inch). Chess games should be in ChessBase, with boards and positions in final form. Articles should be sent via e-mail, in Microsoft Word, Times New Roman font, size 11. Deadline for the Summer issue is June 15, 2016, although earlier submissions are
appreciated, and will more easily guarantee a space in the next magazine.
4
49th NY State Scholastics in Saratoga Sets
Another Record FM Justus Williams is the new High School Champion; Max Li takes
Junior High section with perfect 6-0 score with turnout over 900 again.
By Bill TownsendThe 49th Annual New York State Scholastic
Championships took place March 12 and 13 in
Saratoga Springs. The total of about 925 players
narrowly beat last year’s upstate record-breaker of
921 players. It’s still a little short of the 990 players
at the 2000 scholastic championships downstate, but
this is still the biggest chess tournament of any kind
ever held in upstate New York. Incidentally, this is
the tenth year in a row the tournament has been held
in Saratoga.
If I may be permitted to indulge in a metaphor, even
though the NY State Scholastics is almost half a
century old, it is still a child in that you are constantly
buying it new clothes only to find that before you
know it, they are too small again. Last year I wrote
about the problems of finding space for such a big
tournament. The tournament had spread from the
Saratoga Hilton to the City Center next door, to the
Courtyard by Marriott just down the road. This year
the tournament was moved from its usual date at the
end of February two weeks into March so there was
no scheduling conflict at the City Center. More
sections were moved to the City Center, so that there
were only two sections instead of four at the Marriott.
On top of that the tournament itself expanded from
nine sections to ten with the addition of the
Elementary Intermediate section.
Now, on to the results. The High School
Championship section had a clear winner in FM
Justus Williams, who was the only player to score
5½-½. This outcome was in doubt until the very end:
going into the final round four players had 4½ -
Williams, top-rated FM Joshua Colas, NM James
Black and NM Alexander Crump. Williams was able
to beat Crump, while Black and Colas could only
draw.
Besides the trophy Williams also gets free entry to
the State Championship proper, held in September in
Albany, and he is also the nominee to play in the
Denker Tournament of High School Champions held
at the U.S. Open at the end of July in Indianapolis.
Incidentally this is the latest in a list of Justus
Williams’ impressive accomplishments. He was in
the 2012 movie Brooklyn Castle, he was recently
featured in a Cadillac commercial about “Daring
Origins,” and if you look on YouTube you can see a
video of Justus beating World Champion Magnus
Carlsen in a casual game. I should also point out that
Williams previously won this tournament in 2011,
when he was in seventh (!) grade.
Five players tied for second through sixth with 5-1, in
tiebreak order they are: Maili-Jade Ouellet, James
Black, Olivier Chiku-Ratte, Joshua Colas and Nancy
Wang. The New York nominee to the 2016 National
Girls’ Tournament of Champions, also held at the
U.S. Open, is Nancy Wang. Although Ouellet had
better tiebreaks, she is a Canadian resident.
Incidentally I can’t remember one woman ever
finishing tied for second in this event before, much
less two. Shown below is Nancy Wong receiving her
trophy.
Seventh through 13th with 4½-1½ were: Alexander
Crump, Ethan Li, Alisher Podavonov, Lev
Paciorkowski, Mengnan Chen, Nicklas Breskin and
Martha Samadashvili. Daniel Ivanov and Will
5
Gahrman were 14th and 15th with 4-2. Jacob Hetman
was Top Under 1600 with 3-3. Austin Kossow was
Top Under 1400 with 2½. Amier Hassan was Top
Under 1200 with 2 points.
Top team with 17 points was Brooklyn’s Edward R.
Murrow High School. Second with 16½ was
Brooklyn Technical High School. NEST+m was third
with 15½. Fourth with 12 points was Wilson Magnet
High School Commencement Academy from
Rochester. Jericho High School was fifth with 11½
points. National Master James Black (shown below
in “uniform”) led the charge for Murrow.
The High School Reserve section was won by
Alexander Soiefer with a perfect 6-0 score. Second
through sixth with 5-1 were: William Chin, Erica Li,
Keegan Kempf, Reanna Phillips and Hakim Hicks.
Seventh and eighth with 4½-1½ were Khassan El
Debek and Adam Aleksic. Ninth through fifteenth
with 4-2 were: Carl Zheng, Ramla Mohammed,
Michael Jozoff, Todd Thompson, Jason Zabre,
Chhoten Sherpa and Douglas Ward. Taylor Ngo was
top player under 900 with 3½. Top Unrated with 3
points was Justin Cao. Alexander Young was 2nd
Unrated, also with 3. Jacky Chan was Top Under 700,
also with 3 points.
Top school was Pioneer High School from Yorkshire,
NY with 17 points. Right behind them with 16½
points was IS 318 from Brooklyn. Third with 13½
points was Success Academy Charter School Harlem
North West. Albany High School was fourth with 13
points and Edward R. Murrow High School was fifth
with 12½.
There were Mixed Doubles prizes for the best male-
female, two-player teams in the two High School
sections. This was made a little more difficult by the
fact that the two high school sections weren’t playing
in the same place this year. Nevertheless, first prize
went to the team of Mengan Chen and Alisher
Podavonov, who scored 9 points together. Two teams
tied for second with 8½ with their places determined
by tiebreaks. Ella Papanek and Olivier Chiku-Ratte
narrowly beat Nancy Wang and Matthew Kluske.
Fourth with 7½ were Yvonne Scorcia and Will Shane
Gahrman,
The Junior High championship was dominated by
Max Li who was the only player to score a perfect 6-
0 there. If he chooses to accept, Max will be the New
York representative at the Barber Tournament of K-8
Champions at the U.S. Open.
Second through sixth with 5-1 were: Justin Chen,
Katherine Davis, Ananda Saha, Steven Xue and
Arjun Rai, Seventh through eleventh with 4½ were:
Samantha Dong, Akash Kumar, Li Heng Wang, Justin
Dalhouse and Wang Chen. Twelfth through fifteenth
with 4-2 were: Wesley Wang, Daniel Levkov,
Malcolm Galpern and Ankit Raparthi. Sarina
Motwani was top player under 1400 with 3½. Top
player under 1200 was Christian Shiels with 2½.
points.
Top team by a commanding margin was Brooklyn’s
IS 318 School with 19 points. Collegiate School was
second with 16 points. Third was Dalton School with
13½. Avenues: The World School was fourth with
12½ while Pelham Middle School was fifth with 8
points.
The Middle School Reserve section had two perfect
scores. Their final place was determined by a playoff
game under State Scholastics rules for perfect score
ties, which was won by Angel Chavarria over Jaidyn
Paulino. Third through eighth with 5-1 were: Rodney
Marte-Ledesma, Silas Smith, Kenneth Thompson,
Ryan Tucker, Charlotte Peterson and Atharva
6
Srinivas. Ninth through fifteenth with 4½ were:
Caleb Kinmartin, Richard Xu, Andrew Shane, Johnny
Dawson, John Mittiga, Adam Senhaji and Abraham
Porschet. Top player under 700 was Aiden Fallo with
4-2. Aryana Ramos-Vazquez was top unrated, also
with 4-2. Omani Brown was top under 500 with 3
points. Kirill Nikolaev was second unrated, also with
3 points.
Top school here was Success Academy Charter
School Bronx 1 with 20 points, a full 2½ ahead of
second place school Geneva Middle School. Third
with 16½ was Success Academy Charter School
Harlem East. Fourth with 15½ was Trinity School. St.
Joseph’s of Kingston was fifth with 14 points.
Shown below is new Junior High Champion Max Li
in Action.
Two players were at the top of the Elementary
Championship with 5½ with Shawn Rodrigue-
Lemieux edging out Nico Werner Chasin on
tiebreaks. It was tournament policy to only have
tiebreak games between perfect scores. Incidentally,
Nico is in third grade, but had a post-tournament
rating of 2067 (!) yet another sign that players are
getting better younger and faster.
Third through sixth with 5-1 were: Brandon Wang¸
Qiuyu Huang, Francis Durette and Vincent Tsay.
Seventh through fifteenth with 4½ were: Jack Levine,
Nathaniel Shuman, Harris Lencz, Dylan Challenger,
Merlin Gogolin, Sumit Dhar, Avery Hood, Tyler
Tanaka and Malcolm Whites. Top Under 1300 was
Samuel Lumelsky with 3½ points. Margaret Stacey
was Top Under 1100 with 3 points.
Top school in this section was Greenwich Village
PS41 with 16½ points. Tied for second and third with
16 were Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School
and Dalton School. Fourth was Mary Lindley Murray
School PS116 with 14 points. Chelsea Prep PS33 was
fifth with 12½.
The new section in this year’s event was the
Elementary Intermediate section open to players in
grades K-6 rated below 1200. Two players scored
5½-½ to top the event with Melodie Loya beating
Bromme Cole on tiebreaks. Third through ninth with
5-1 were: Aidan Bart, Rachel Bochman, Kieran
Eldredge, Henry Greengrass, Ryan Dieterle, Max
Crespo and Donovan Lamonte-Stewart. Tenth and
eleventh with 4½ were Alexander Joy and Noni
Hardaway. Twelfth through fifteenth with 4-2 were:
Triton Oh, Andrew Yuen, Cooper Guzy and Maximo
Kim. Top Under 900 was Sage Sewell with 4 points.
Jordan Braha was top Under 700 with 2½ points.
Top team was Success Academy Bronx 1 with 17½
points. Second with 15 points was Columbia
Grammar and Preparatory School. Brooklyn’s PS139
was third with 14½ points. PS11 was fourth, also
with 14½. Lower Lab School PS77 was fifth with
13½ points.
The Elementary Reserve section was the largest, and
it ended with four players at the top with 5½ points.
In tiebreak order they were: Kyle Chang, Jayden
Shum, Tobias Carmel and Joshua Ho. Fifth through
tenth with 5-1 were: Lucas Brown, Lila Espinoza,
Shane Saber, Shaan Cheruvu, Mishca Braswell and
Xan Meister, Eleventh through fifteenth with 4½
were: Elijah Patterson, Brendan Paul Moran, Peyton
Choi, George Best and Eli Lindenbaum. Top player
Under 500 was Alexander Little with 4 points. Ayden
Wefer was top player under 300 with 3½. Top
Unrated was Samarth Sahota with 2½ while Yashna
Hasija second unrated, also with 2½.
The competition for top team in this section was
7
intense with four schools within a half-point. In first
place with 18½ was Collegiate School. Second
through fourth with 18 were: Douglaston School
PS98, Success Academy Union Square and Park
Slope PS282. Fifth with 15½ was Colonial School.
The Primary Championship was won by Liran Zhou
with a perfect 6-0 score. Second and third with 5-1
were Kevin Zhong and Nathan Wu. Fourth through
ninth with 4½ were: Toshinori Underwood, Frank
Prestia, Ellen Wang, Jesse Roonprapunt, Prince
Bopala and Maxwell Massiah. Tenth through
fifteenth with 4-2 were: Jed Sloan, Alexander Kempe,
Johji Nakada, Maxwell Silvers, Nikhil Pande and
Thomas Fini. Top player under 500 was Alessandro
Imundi with 1-5.
Top team in this section was Dalton School with 15½
points. Second was George A. Jackson Elementary
School from Jericho, NY with 14½ points. Collegiate
School was third with 14 points. Fourth with 13½
was Chelsea Prep PS33 while Greenwich Village
PS41 was fifth with 11½.
Rebecca Rha won the Primary Reserve
Championship with a perfect 6-0 score. Second
through ninth with 5-1 were: Karthik Narayan, Krish
Patni, Roein Butts, Charlie Friedland, Matthew
Hann-yun Chin, Aaditya Mathur, Jonah Lehman and
Max Kirschner. Tenth through twelfth with 4½ were:
Spencer Yang, Ryan Chiu and Sarah Korff. There
were many players with 4-2, but trophies were only
handed out to thirteenth through fifteenth: Rachel
Prizant, Armistead Williams and Quinlan Hood. Top
Under 200 was Brady Ellis Metzger while Blake
Jason Mcknight was top Unrated. Both scored 3½.
Second and third Unrated were Aayushi Kejriwal and
Abigail Grizzle, both with 3 points.
Top team in the Primary Reserve was Lower Lab
School PS77 with 18 points. William T. Harris PS11
was second with 17½. Third was Columbia Grammar
and Preparatory School with 16½. Success Academy
Union Square was fourth with 15 points and Packer
Collegiate was fifth with 14 points.
There was another 6-0 at the top of the Primary K-1
section as Brewington Hardaway was the only player
to win all his games. Second through fifth with 5-1
were: Sebastian Prestia, Daniel Luo, Bowe Siegelson
and Charles Doyle. All alone in sixth place was
Jonathan Nallengara with 4½ points – at this level
there aren’t a lot of draws. Seventh through fifteenth
with 4-2 were: Nathaniel Mullodzhanov, Andre Bart,
Royal Buchanan, Jordan Lee, Spencer Chin, Aiden
Teitelman, Oliver Boydell, Oliver Hua and Raunak
Sondhi. Top player under 200 was Viggo Vanaselja
with 2 points. Earl Carr was top unrated with 1½
while Sabella Faccio and Asher Friedman were
second and third unrated.
Two teams tied for first in this section with 15½
points. First on tiebreaks was Lower Lab School
PS77 while Dalton School was second. Third with 15
points was Avenues: The World School. NEST+m
School was fourth with 13½ points and William T.
Harris PS11 was fifth with 12 points.
The license plate below says it all about the weekend
in Saratoga. Chess players were everywhere in the
Spa City.
On Sunday there was a Parents and Friends
tournament for non-scholastic players. Four people
participated with Empire Chess Editor Karl Heck
winning with a score of 2½. Zaza Samadashvili was
second with 1½.
Finally on Saturday night there was a Bughouse
tournament for those who value their sanity lightly.
Top two player team was Damn Magnus (Wang Chen
& Anthony Saquisili) with a perfect 4-0 score. Three
teams tied for second through fourth with 3-1: Yates
Leesem (Yates Wong & Leesem Joseph), Noob4life
(Justin Dalhouse & Steven Xue) and Resellers (Jacob
Carranza & Edwin Lucero).
In spite of its immense size and complexity the
tournament was tightly run – in the hall where I was
stationed all the rounds started on time. Chief
Director was Steve Immitt for the New York State
8
Chess Association.
This year I tried a different approach to getting games
from the players – I noticed that many of the players
on the top boards in the High School Championship
were using the scoresheets that made copies, so after
they finished I asked them for the copy and nearly all
of them complied without complaint. Thanks to all of
you! In the Junior High Championship things were
not so simple – most players were using hardcover
scorebooks. I was generally able to copy down the
games on the top two boards and had to hope for
charity on the rest. I got most of the games on the
top boards, and other players seemed more inclined
to turn in their scoresheets without any prodding
from me. Last year I got 14 scoresheets, this year I
got nearly 70, many of them of high quality.
However, there is the usual caveat: because of the
fast time control (Game in 60 minutes with 10 second
time delay) many games ended in time scrambles
with their final moves unrecorded.
Here is the game that gave Justus Williams the
championship. Both players conduct the opening
very gently, almost as if they are afraid to open
hostilities. Finally White begins attacking around
move 20, and very shortly he has a winning game.
FM Justus Williams (2402) – NM Alexander
Crump (2265) [A39] NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 6, March 13, 2016
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0–0 0–0 5.c4 c5
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...
6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nc6 8.Nc3 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 d6
10.Qd3 Nd7 11.b3 Ne5 12.Qc2 Bf5 13.e4 Bg4 14.f3
Qb6+ 15.Kh1 Be6 16.Bd2 Rac8 I would prefer 16...Nc6 targeting the weak dark
squares b4 and d4.
17.Rad1 a6 18.h3 Qc5 19.f4 Nc6 20.f5! Finally White commits to an attack, and this is
stronger than it looks.
20...gxf5 21.Na4 Qa7? This is a safe place to put the queen, but Black needs
to do better than that to survive. For better or worse
he had to play 21...Qe5!? and he is worse, but better
than the game after 22.Bc3 Qxg3 23.exf5 Bxc3
24.Nxc3 Bd7 25.f6.
22.exf5 Nd4?! From bad to worse. Better was 22...Bd7 23.Nc3 Nb4
24.Qb1 Bc6 and Black is still fighting.
23.Qd3 Bxf5 Giving up two pieces for a Rook is the best that black
has.
24.Rxf5 Nxf5 25.Qxf5 b5? The final mistake. Black has to chase the queen away
with 25...e6.
26.Be4 f6 You can run, but you can't hide…
27.Qxh7+ Kf7 28.Qh5+ 1–0 Black is looking at mate in a couple moves, so he
gives up.
Here is the other last-round money game, which
wound up being drawn. It looks like Colas, the
event’s highest rated player and previous winner in
2013 and 2015, should have won this game.
However, according to the chief director for this
section, Bob Messinger, it still looked as if Justus
Williams still had the better tiebreaks.
FM Joshua Colas (2487) – NM James Black (2266)
[A07]
NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 6, March 13, 2016
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.g3 Bg4 4.Bg2 e6 5.0–0 Nd7
6.Nbd2 f5 7.c4 Bd6 8.b3 Qf6 9.Bb2 Ne7 10.Ne1 0–0
11.f3 Bh5 12.e3 Qh6 Here Black misses a chance to punish White for his
somewhat slow development: 12...e5! 13.Nc2 e4 with
a small advantage for the second player.
13.Qe2 Rae8 14.Nd3 Nc8 15.Rae1 Qf6 16.Qd1 Qe7
17.Qc2 e5?! Now this is not such a good idea.
18.cxd5 cxd5 19.dxe5 Nxe5 20.Bxe5 Bxe5 21.f4 Bf6
22.Bxd5+ Kh8 23.Nc4 Nb6 24.Nxb6 axb6 25.Nf2
Qd6 26.Bg2
9
It looks like White can get away with 26.Bxb7.
26...Rc8 27.Qd3? It looks like this was White's last winning chance. He
looks much better after 27.Qxf5 Bg6 28.Qd5.
27...Qxd3 28.Nxd3 Bc3 29.Bxb7 Rcd8 30.Ne5 The only path to equality. Not as good is 30.Nf2 Bxe1
31.Rxe1.
30...Bxe1 31.Rxe1 Rd2 32.a4 Rb2 33.Bd5 Rd8
34.Rc1 h6 35.Bf7 Rd1+ 36.Rxd1 Bxd1 37.Ng6+
Kh7 38.Nf8+ ½–½ White can check Black forever, so it's a draw.
Murrow High School got everybody in the picture
for their High School Championship trophy
presentation, shown below.
This is Williams’ sole draw in this event, and it looks
like he should have won it. His opponent here, Maili-
Jade Ouellet, was part of a strong contingent from
Quebec, and would up in second place.
FM Justus Williams (2402) – Maili-Jade Ouellet
(2172) [E18]
NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 4, March 13, 2016
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0–0 0–0 6.d4
b6 This essentially makes the game a Queen's Indian.
Black generally has to suffer awhile to get equality
here.
7.Nc3 Bb7 8.Ne5 c5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Bxd5
11.e4 Bb7 12.d5 My chess computer prefers 12.dxc5 but the game
looks pretty even after 12...Bxc5 13.Bf4 Qe7 14.Qc2
Nd7.
12...Bf6 13.Nc4 exd5 14.exd5
The age-old question - is the isolated d-pawn a
strength or a weakness?
14...b5 15.Ne3 Nd7 16.Qe2 16.a4 looks a bit better
16...a6 17.Rd1 Re8 18.Qc2 Rc8 19.a4 Ne5 It looks like Black has equalized after 19...b4 20.Nc4
Ne5 21.Nxe5 Bxe5 22.Qc4 Qd7.
20.axb5 axb5 21.Bd2 c4 22.Ba5 Qd7 23.Bc3 Ra8
24.Rxa8 Bxa8 25.b3 Rc8?! Considering the possibilities after this move, it seems
Black should play 25...cxb3.
26.Bxe5 Bxe5 27.bxc4 bxc4 28.Nxc4 Qd8? This should lose.
29.Qe2?! White has a win here with: 29.d6! Bxg2 30.Kxg2 Bf6
31.Qe4 Qd7 32.Nb6 Qe8 33.Qxe8+ Rxe8 34.d7 Rd8
35.Nc4 Kf8 36.Na5 g6 37.Nc6 Ra8 and White has a
pawn endgame with an extra Knight.
29...Bd6 30.Bh3 Rb8 31.Qf3 g6 32.Ra1 Bf8 33.Ne3
Rb5 34.Bg2 h5 35.h4 Bd6 36.Qe4 Bc5 37.Qc4 Ra5
White is still better, but I suspect that peace was
concluded because time was short. ½–½
With a five-hundred point rating difference you
wouldn’t think there would be much to look at here,
but if Williams’s opponent had been a bit more of a
risk taker, who knows what might have happened? I
guess the lesson is – don’t disregard promising
tactics, even if the player is much higher-rated than
you.
Joris Katz (1973) – FM Justus Williams (2402)
[A45]
NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 3, March 12, 2016
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.f3 Bf5 5.Qd2 a6 6.g4
Be6 7.h4 h5!? Tempting fate - a risky way to play.
8.g5 Nfd7 9.0–0–0?! Considering Black's backward development, I think
White is justified in playing 9.e4!? c6 10.0–0–0 Bg7
11.Bg3 with a promising attack.
9...c6 10.e4 Bg7 11.Nge2 Nb6 12.Ng3 N8d7 13.Rh2
Rc8 14.Qe1 Na8 15.Re2 b5 16.Kb1? White, perhaps overawed by his opponent, plays
passively and lets slip an opportunity to set things on
fire: 16.exd5! cxd5 17.Rxe6! fxe6 18.Qxe6 Qb6
19.Qxd5 Qc6 20.Bd3 with a great game for White.
16...Nab6 17.exd5 cxd5 18.Rd3?! After this the game looks pretty even, but White has
one last chance to play like a hero: 18.Nxb5! (18.
10
Rxe6 is not nearly so strong without playing this
first.) 18...axb5 19.Rxe6 fxe6 20.Qxe6 Nf8 21.Bxb5+
Nbd7 22.Qxd5 Now, is this position worth a Rook? I
think so - White has a lot of attacking ideas here.
18...Rc6 19.Rh2?! For no good reason I can detect, the Rook abandons
his post, and very soon the traffic is all going Black's
way.
19...Nc4 20.Re2 0–0 21.Be5 Ndxe5 22.dxe5 b4
23.Nd1 Qa5 24.Rd4 Qb6 Even better is 24...Qc5 25.Rd3 Bxe5.
25.Rd3 Rfc8 26.Ne3 Qa5 27.f4 Nxe3 28.Rdxe3 d4!
And White is lost - he has to throw away a Rook to
save his King.
29.Ra3 Qc7 30.Qxb4 Rxc2 31.Rc3 Rxc3 32.bxc3
Rb8 33.Rb2 Rxb4 34.cxb4 Qc3 35.Bxa6 Qxg3
36.a4 Qe1+ 37.Kc2 Qg3 38.Kb1 d3 39.Bxd3 Qxd3+
0–1
How many other state scholastic championships have
three titled players in them? Not many, I bet! The
third FM, besides Justus Williams and Joshua Colas
was Canadian player Olivier Chiku-Ratte. Actually,
now that I think about it, there are four titled players:
Martha Samadashvili is a WFM. Anyway, a loss to
Alexander Crump in Round Four kept Chiku-Ratte
out of the winner’s circle, but before that he played
the following sparkling game.
Sophie Morris-Suzuki (1881) – FM Olivier Chiku-
Ratte (2453) [B22]
NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 2, March 12, 2016
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 Nc6
6.cxd4 g6 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Bb3 Bg7 9.Bf4 0–0 10.h4?!
This off-center move allows Black to counter-attack.
Better was 10.d5.
10...d6! 11.e6?! Attractive from a positional point of view, but it just
doesn't work tactically. 11.h5 was probably a better
idea.
11...fxe6 The problem - White can't gang up on e6 because his
bishop on f4 is hanging.
12.Qd2 Nd5 13.Bh6? Another tactical error, but Black is still in the shade
after 13.Be3.
13...Rxf3! 14.Bxd5 Bxh6 15.Qxh6 exd5 16.gxf3
Nxd4 Black has two pawns for the exchange, but white's
position is wrecked.
17.h5 Nxf3+ 18.Kf1 g5! 19.Nc3 Qd7 20.Rd1 Qg4
21.Nxd5 Nh2+ 22.Ke1 Qe4+ 23.Kd2 Qxd5+ 24.Kc1
Qc5+ 25.Kb1 Ng4 The sting at the end of the tail - white's queen is
trapped.
26.Rc1 Qf5+ 27.Rc2 Bd7 28.Ka1 Nxh6 29.Rhc1
Rc8 30.Rxc8+ Bxc8 0–1
Shown below is the Golden Knights YMCA club
from Lockport with Director Michael Mc Duffie
(back right) an GM Joel Benjamin.
Here is the decider from the Junior High
Championship, and I have to admit, one of my
favorite games from this event. It is very much a
positional game, and Max Li, playing the Black
pieces, moves from strength to strength until he has a
winning ending. Isn’t this how chess is supposed to
be played? Also, Li played very fast, much quicker
than his opponent. While I was watching the game at
several points I was astonished, thinking “Black
couldn’t have possibly seen all the consequences of
that move!” but it turned out he had.
Justin Chen (2174) – Max Li (2075) [D43]
NYS Scholastic Championships
Junior High School section
Round 6, March 13, 2016
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c6 5.Qb3 Na6
6.Bg5 Be7 7.g3 Qb6 8.c5 Qxb3 9.axb3 b5 The first surprise - Black saw that it wasn't best for
White to play 10.cxb6 axb6 11.Bg6 h6.
10.e3 Nb4 11.Kd2?! Ne4+! Another surprise, and also played very quickly. This
basically is the reason that White should have played
11.Ke2 instead.
12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Bxe7 Kxe7 14.Ne1 e5!
11
White is allowed no time to consolidate and complete
his development.
15.Nc2 Nxc2 16.Kxc2 exd4 17.exd4 Rd8 Black gets a lot of mileage playing against the d-
pawn.
18.Rd1 Bg4 19.Rd2 Bf5 20.Kc1 Can't let Black play ...e4–e3 with check.
20...a5 21.Be2 21.Bg2 was better but 21...a4 is still a pain to deal
with.
21...a4 22.b4 a3 23.bxa3 Rxa3 24.Rhd1 Rda8?! A slight slip on Black's part. First he should play
24...Be6.
25.d5! Rc3+ 26.Kb2 Raa3 27.dxc6 Rab3+ 28.Ka1
Rxb4 29.Ra2 Rxc5 Black is about to be two pawns up - he has a won
game.
30.Ra7+ Kf6 31.c7 Ra4+ 32.Rxa4 bxa4 33.Rd4
Rxc7 34.Rxa4 Rc2?! Black misses a tactic: 34...e3! 35.Ra6+ Ke7 36.Ra5
Rc1+ 37.Kb2 Rc2+ with a pretty straightforward
win.
35.Ra2 Rxa2+ 36.Kxa2 Ke5 37.Kb2 Kd4 38.Kc1 e3
39.fxe3+ Kxe3 Black won in a time scramble, but this ending is
obviously won for him. 0–1
As a devotee of the French Defense I found the
following game very upsetting. Black plays
ordinary-looking French moves in a well-known
variation then suddenly on move nine, White
sacrifices a Knight and wins in swashbuckling
fashion. That can’t be right, can it? Is the French
Defense busted? Well, not exactly, but this is a
sacrifice Black players should be aware of.
Wesley Wang (left) proudly wears his All-American
Chess Team sweatshirt during the Sunday rounds in
Saratoga, shown below playing against Justin Chen
in the Junior High School section.
Wesley Wang (2155) – Li Heng Wang (1777) [C06]
NYS Scholastic Championships
Junior High School section
Round 3, March 12, 2016
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3
Nc6 7.Ngf3 This is known as a gambit line - in many variations
White sacrifices the d4–pawn for development.
7...cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 A pretty common response for Black, but most
common is 8...Qb6.
9.Ng5!? When I saw this, I was shocked, and then later I
vaguely remembered seeing it before. It is a known
gambit, played a couple dozen times before,
according to my database.
9...fxg5 If you want to test the gambit, you have to take the
Knight. However as near as I can tell the most
common response is 9...Ndxe5.
10.Qh5+ Ke7? Just plain bad. Black has to play 10...g6 11.Bxg6+
hxg6 12.Qxg6+ (Better than 12.Qxh8 apparently.)
12...Ke7 13.Nf3 Ndxe5! and my computer thinks
Black is close to winning, but White has a lot of play
here.
11.Nf3 Nf6? After this Black is just lost. He had to play something
like 11...h6.
12.Bxg5 Kd7 13.exf6 gxf6 White has his sacrificed piece back, and Black's
position is a mess.
14.Bd2 h6 15.0–0 f5 16.Bb5 a6 17.Ne5+! Kc7
18.Bxc6 bxc6? 19.Ba5+ Kb7 20.Bxd8 Bd7 21.Ba5
Black resigned in a couple more moves. 1–0
The tournament was made possible by a large number
of tournament directors. NTD Steve Immitt was the
chief TD. NTD David Hater was the floor
chief. Section and pairing chiefs were Harold
Stenzel, Bob Messenger, Polly Wright, Al
LeCours, Jabari McGreen, Brother John
McManus and Hector Rodriguez III. Floor TDS were
Ron Young, Bill Townsend, Andy Rea, Santhosh
Abraham, Valicio Palha, Taraqur Rahman, Maya
McGreen, Mariah McGreen, Steven Flores, Hector
Rodrguez IV, Beenmati McGreen, Kofi McGreen,
Mel Romero, Other staff and volunteers Kim Doo
(who also represented US Chess Women’s Chess)
Daniel Rohde and Sophia Rohde. Nils Grotnes
served as the Webster. Chess sets were provided by
Little House of Chess and The Right Move
12
Long Island Chess Club News by Neal Bellon ([email protected])
The Long Island Chess Club, located in East
Meadow, completed its five-round, G/90;d5 January
Open Tournament. Twenty players of various rating
levels participated in this event, which featured some
very exciting games. LICC regular Joe Felber swept
the event with five straight wins. One of his games
below was against semi-regular Joseph Merolle, who
opens every game (literally) with 1. h4 or 1...h5.
That seems like an odd and unsound first move, but
Merolle has had much success with it. Remember, at
the club level, just about any opening is playable. To
quote GM William Lombardy, "All openings offer
good winning chances in amateur play." In fact, in
his game versus Felber, Merolle had an advantage for
most of the middlegame. He found an excellent
Bishop sacrifice, but blundered the game away after
an incorrect follow-up.
While Felber went 5-0 for clear first, Jarrod Tavares
and Matthew Kubelle split the second place/Under
2000 prize with four points each. Club newcomer
Justin Greenwald won the Under 1500/Unrated prize
with three points. Honorable mentions include Kyle
Grasser, Jay Kleinman, Neal Bellon, Joseph Merolle,
and Noah Flaum, each of whom finished with three
points.
Below, in no particular order, are various games from
this event, some of which are annotated. Personally, I
was surprised at the difficulty I had in getting players
to submit their games for this column, but was able to
procure seven of them.
[White "Jarrod Tavares (2065)”]
[Black "Kyle Grasser (1939)"]
[Result "1-0"] Sicilian Defense
notes by J. Tavares
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6
6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Be7 8. O-O Nbd7 (diagram)
9. Bxe6! I don't usually play an open Sicilian with White, this
type of sacrifice looked vaguely familiar to me I
wasn't sure if it was some sort of thematic trap, but it
looked good so I played it.
9…fxe6 10. Nxe6 Qa5 11. Bd2 Qb6 Probably where the Queen belonged the whole time
instead of allowing the Bd2 tempo gain
12. Nxg7+ Kf7 13. Nf5 I greatly considered Nd5 to distract the Black Knight
on c6 and follow with Qh5+ invasion but I wasn't
sure it would work. Silicon friend suggests ... 13...
Nxd5 14. Qh5+ Kg8 15. Nf5 Bf8 16. Nh6+ Bxh6 17.
Bxh6 N5f6 18. Qg5+ Kf7 19. Qg7+ Ke6 20. Qxh8
and White wins, somehow I missed all this and
played the safer move.
13…Ne5 14. Be3 Qc6 A game-losing mistake, Black must either take the
Knight pawn to attack the Knight or protect his dark-
squared bishop with the Queen, Allowing White to
play Knight takes Bishop and forcing the King to the
center is deadl
15. Nxe7 Kxe7 16. f4 The lines for the major pieces will open
16…Bg4 17. Qe1 Nc4 18. Bd4 Be6 There are many ways to win, I think the following is
the easiest and most elegant.
19. f5 Bf7 20. Nd5+ Taking advantage of a tactic unique to pawns, using a
Knight fork to draw an enemy piece to a square
capture-able by pawn with discovered check and an
attack on the Queen] ... Black played a move but then
immediately resigned.
13
[White "Joe Felber (2000)”]
[Black "Joseph Merolle (1749)"]
[Result "1-0"] Irregular Opening
notes by N. Bellon
1. e4 h5 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 Nh6 5.Be2 c6 6.0–
0 Na6 7.Be3 Nc7 8.Qd2 d5 9.Rfe1 dxe4 10.Nxe4
Nf5 11.Bc4 Be6 12.Bxe6 Nxe6 13.Rad1 Qc7 14.Nc5
Nxc5 15.dxc5 Rd8 16.Qe2 Rxd1 17.Rxd1 0–0 18.c3
e5 19.Bg5 f6 20.Bc1 Qf7 21.Rd3 Qc4 22.b3 Qxc5
23.Rd7 Rf7 24.Rxf7 Kxf7 25.Qd3 Qd5 26.Qe2 Bf8
27.h3 Bc5 28.b4 Bf8 29.c4 Nd4 30.Nxd4 Qxd4
31.Bb2 Qd7 32.a3 Qf5 33.Qd2 g5 34.Bc1 Qe6
35.Qc2 e4 36.Qd1 Kg6 37.Qd4 Bd6 38.g3 b6 39.h4
c5 40.Qe3 Qxc4 41.hxg5 f5 42.Qd2 Qd4 43.Qa2
(diagram)
43…c4–+ 44.Be3 Qd3?
= 44...Qd5 is better 45.Qb2 c3 46.Qb3 Kg7 47.Qe6
Qd1+ 48.Kh2
Bxg3+! 49.Kxg3 Qg1+?? 49...Qg4+ locks the draw with a forced repetition.
The Bishop sac was sound and impressive, but Black
dropped the ball on the follow-up and threw the game
away.
50.Kf4 Qh2+ 51.Kxf5 Qh3+ 52.Ke5 Qxe6+
53.Kxe6 h4 54.Bd4+ Kg6 55.Bxc3 Kxg5 56.Bf6+
Kg4 57.Bxh4! Liquidating into a won King and pawn ending
57...Kxh4?
57...Kf4 is best, but Black is lost anyway.
58.Ke5 Kh3 59.Kxe4 Kg4 60.f4 Kh5 61.Ke5 Kg6
62.Ke6 Kg7 63.b5 Kf8 64.Kf6 Ke8 65.f5 Kd7
66.Kg7 Kd6 67.f6 Kc5 68.f7 1-0
[White "Noah Flaum (1714)”]
[Black "Neal Bellon (1770)"]
[Result "½-½ "]
notes by Fritz 10
C13: French: Classical System: 4 Bg5 Be7,
Alekhine-Chatard Attack
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be7
6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Nf3 Bd7 8.Bd3 Last book move.
8...0–0
Black castles and improves King safety
9.Qd2 Bc6 10.c3 Bxe4 10...Nd7 11.0–0²
11.Bxe4± c6 12.g4 Qb6 12...Qa5!?±
13.g5+- Be7 14.h4 c5 15.0–0–0 Nc6 16.Qc2 cxd4
17.Bxh7+ 17.Nxd4 Nb4 18.cxb4± (18.Bxh7+?! Kh8 19.Qb3
Kxh7 20.cxb4 Qxb4.
17...Kh8= 18.c4??
A transit from better to worse [¹18.Be4 would be a
reprieve 18...Nb4 19.Qb3 dxc3 20.bxc3=].
18...Nb4–+ 19.Qb1 Rad8? ¹19...Qa6 would have made live much easier for
Black 20.Bd3 Rac8–+
20.a3³
White threatens to win material: a3xb4
20...Nc6 20...Rc8 21.Bd3 Qc6 22.Ne5³
21.Qd3 21.Qc2 Qc7 22.Kb1 Qf4²
21...Bd6 21...Rc8 22.Qc2 f5 23.Bg6³.
22.h5
White prepares the advance g6.
22...Bf4+ 22...Na5!? 23.Kb1 Rc8²
23.Kb1± Ne5 23...Qc5 24.Be4±
24.Nxe5 Bxe5 25.Rdg1
14
White prepares g6.
25...Qc6? 25...Qc7±.
26.g6??
Releasing the pressure on the opponent. 26.Be4
finishes off the opponent 26...Qc7 27.g6+-.
26...f5² 27.f3 ¹27.Re1!?² has some apparent merit.
27...Bf4³ 28.h6 Bxh6??
Hands over the advantage to the opponent. [¹28...a6³
would hold out.
29.Rxh6+- gxh6 30.g7+??
White forks: f8, f8, f8, f8, h8, h8, h8+h8. White is
ruining his position [¹30.Qxd4+! White has a
promising position 30...e5 31.Qxe5+ Qf6 32.g7+
Kxh7 33.g8Q+ (33.gxf8R?! Qxe5 34.Rxd8 Qe6²;
‹33.gxf8Q Rxf8 34.Qc5 Rf7±) 33...Rxg8 34.Qxf6
Rxg1+ 35.Kc2 Rg2+ 36.Kc3+-]
30...Kxh7= 31.gxf8Q Rxf8 32.Qxd4
White has a mate threat.
32...Rf7 33.Qf4 ½–½
[White "Neal Bellon (1770)"]
[Black "Benjamin Roche (1733)"]
[Result "1-0"]
notes by Fritz 10
D02: 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 sidelines, including 2...Nf6 3 g3
and 2...Nf6 3 Bf4
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 c5 5.c3
Last book move.
5...Bd7 6.Ne5 a6
Consolidates b5 [6...Qb6 7.b3²].
7.Be2 Be7 8.Nd2 0–0 9.0–0 h6
Controls g5 [9...Bb5 10.Bxb5 axb5 11.dxc5 Bxc5
12.Nd3=].
10.h3
Covers g4 [10.Re1 Nc6²].
10...Qb6
Black threatens to win material: Qb6xb2
11.Qc2 cxd4 12.exd4
White has an active position.
12...Nc6 12...Bb5 13.Nd3².
13.a4 Rfc8 14.Qb1 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Qd8 16.Qd3 b5
17.axb5 17.Bd1 Bc6².
17...Bxb5= 18.Qe3 Nd7 19.Nf3 Nxe5 20.Nxe5 Bxe2
20...Bd6 21.f4=.
21.Qxe2² a5 22.f4 Bd6 23.Qh5
White threatens to win material: Qh5xf7 [23.f5!?
Bxe5 24.Qxe5².
23...Qe8=
Black intends a4.
24.Rae1 a4
White has a new backward pawn: b2.
25.Rf3 25.f5 Rab8 26.Nd3 Qb5=.
25...a3 25...f6 26.Ng6 Kh7 27.Rg3³.
26.bxa3 26.Ng4 Qf8 (‹26...axb2 27.Nxh6+ gxh6 28.Qxh6
Rxc3 29.Rxc3±) 27.bxa3 g6³ (‹27...Bxa3 28.f5 exf5
29.Qxf5±; 27...Rxa3?! 28.f5 Rcxc3 29.Rxc3 Rxc3
30.fxe6 fxe6 31.Qg6=.
26...Rxa3³ 27.Ree3 Bxe5 27...Ra1+ 28.Rf1 Rxf1+ 29.Kxf1³.
28.fxe5 Kh7 28...Ra1+ 29.Kh2 Rb8 30.Rd3=.
29.Qg4 g6
Black has a new backward pawn: f7 [29...Ra1+
30.Kh2=].
30.Rg3 Rc7 31.Qf3 31.Ref3 Ra2².
31...Qb5 32.Kh2 Qb1
White King safety dropped.
33.Rg4 Qc1
The pressure on the backward pawn c3 grows
34.Rf4
White threatens to win material: Rf4xf7.
34...Kg7 35.h4 ¹35.Rh4 Kh7 36.Qf2=.
35...Raxc3?? ¹35...Rb3³ had to be tried to avoid defeat.
36.Rxc3+- Qxc3 36...Qxf4+ is still a small chance 37.Qxf4 Rxc3+-
37.Rxf7+!!
Deflection: f7.
37...Kg8 37...Rxf7 38.Qxc3 Deflection (38.Qxc3
Overloading).]
15
38.Rf8+ Kh7 39.Qf6 Rg7 40.Qd8 40.Qd8 g5 41.h5 Rg8 42.Qe7+ Rg7 43.Qe8 Qg3+
44.Kxg3 Rg8 45.Rxg8 g4 46.Qg6#] 1–0
[White "Michael Deane (1388)"]
[Black "Matt Kubelle (1833)"]
[Result "0-1"] Trompowsky
notes by M. Kubelle
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Ne4 4. Nbd2
Ignoring Black’s threat of trading the Bishop. Bishop
f4 or h4 was necessary, allowing the trade
consequently also misplacing his Knight.
4... Nxg5 5. Nxg5 e5
Anything else and Black loses his opportunity for
winning chances from the opening.
6. Ngf3 e4 7. Nxe4
A bad reaction to Black's aggression. I was
concerned, until I calculated, if White sacked the
Knight Ne5.f6 trapping the Knight followed by e3,
pawn x Knight and Qh5+. White gets some
compensation but not enough.
7... dxe4 8. Nd2
Another inaccuracy and a center pawn lost; the game
was over in my book.
8... Qxd4 9. Rb1 e3 $1 {just sayin} 10. fxe3 Qxe3
11. Nf3 Bc5 12. Qd2 Qf2+ 13. Kd1
O-O 14. b4 Nc6 This was to be cute, but technically not the best.
15. bxc5 Rd8 16. Qxd8+ Nxd8 17. Rb4 Nc6 18. Re4 Going for the cheesy back-rank checkmate. losing a
tempo, but what did he have to lose?
18... Bf5 19. Rf4 Rd8+ 20. Kc1 Qe3+ White resigned in lieu of everything. 0-1
[White "Matthew Petrulli (1723)"]
[Black "James Philippou (729)"]
[Result "1-0"] Ruy Lopez
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.d5 Nb8
6.Qe2 a6 7.Bd3 c6 8.Nc3 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3
Nf6 11.Be3 Qe7 12.0–0 cxd5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5
14.exd5 Nd7 15.Rfe1 Nf6 16.Bg5 h6 17.Bh4 g5
18.Bg3 Bg7 19.c4 0–0–0 20.c5 Rhe8 21.c6 e4
22.Qf5+ Kb8 23.Rac1 bxc6 24.Rxc6 Ng8 25.Rxe4
Qb7 26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Bxd6+ Ka7 28.Rc7 Qxc7
29.Bxc7 Ne7 30.Qxf7 1–0
[White "Jarrod Tavares (2065)"]
[Black "Joe Felber (2000)"]
[Result "0-1"] Bird’s Opening
1. f4 Nf6 2. e3 g6 3. d4 c5 4. c3 Bg7 5. Bd3 d5 6.
Nf3 Qc7 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe1 Bxf3 10.
Rxf3 Nbd7 11. Rh3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Rac8 13. Nf3
Ne4 14. Qh4 Ndf6 15. Ng5 Qxc1+ 16. Rxc1 Rxc1+
17. Bf1 Nd2 18. Kf2 h5 19. Bd3 Nde4+ 20. Ke2
Rg1 21. Kf3 Rc8 22. Nxe4 dxe4+ 23. Bxe4 Nxe4 24.
Kxe4 Rxg2 25. Qxe7 Rxb2 26.Qa3 Rcc2 27. Qxa7
f5+ 28. Kd5 Rb5+ 29. Ke6 Rc6+ 30. Kd7 Rd5+ {
White Resigns}
Greater NY Scholastics (from page 20) National Tournament Director (NTD) Steve Immitt
was the Chief Tournament Director. NTD David
Hater served as floor chief. Section chiefs were
NTDs Harold Stenzel and Susan Breeding. Sophia
Rohde assisted with site coordination. Danny Rohde
served as assistant organizer and event coordinators.
Nils Grotnes performed the webmaster duties. Other
staff members included pairing chiefs Jabari
McGreen, Hector Rodriguez and Polly Wright. Other
staff included: Brother John McManus, Hal
Sprechman, Ron Young, Pito Rodriguez, Steve
Flores, Valicia Palha, Maya McGreen, Mariah
McGreen, Kofi Mcgreen, Beena McGreen, Mel
Romero, Oscar Garcia, Jim Mullanaphy, Danny
Mason, Harry Heublum, Jack Heublum, Nicholas
Oblak, Karsten McVay, and Dr Lisa Griesman. The
tournament could not have succeeded without them
An event of this size is a logistical nightmare without
experienced personnel. Full tournament details can
be found at www.gnyscc.com.
Like NYSCA on Facebook. See us
at www.nysca.net on the web.
16
Greater NY Scholastics Reaches Gold By Colonel David A. Hater and Danny Rohde|
The longest continuously running US Chess rated
scholastic championships are the Greater New York
Scholastic Championships. It is the only scholastic
event that is both an American Classic and a Heritage
event! This year was the Golden Anniversary as the
event was originated by Bill Goichberg in 1966 and
has been held every year continuously except 2004.
Bill and the Continental Chess Association passed on
the tournament to Steve Immitt and former NYSCA
President Alan Benjamin in 1986 with Steve
combining all four events (High School, Junior High,
Elementary and Primary) into one large tournament
in 1995. In 2005 the Kasparov Chess Foundation
came to the rescue due to financial constraints of the
event and has been the sole sponsor and owner ever
since. Sophia Rohde of the Little House of Chess and
Steve Immitt of the Chess Center of New York have
performed the organizational duties. This year was
the largest event in the 50-year history at over 1,200
players, which rivals or even surpasses many USCF
Scholastics!
Former World Champion Garry Kasparov, KCF’s
Chairman, visited the Golden Anniversary event both
days. The legendary champion toured team rooms
chatting with players, coaches, parents and signed
books, boards, score books, and even wore some
fashionable chess shoes.
I have been serving as the floor chief for this
tournament for the past three years. Every year I
have had a small child come to me and ask for my
autograph thinking I was Garry Kasparov! I don’t
think there is much resemblance and there is certainly
no resemblance in my games!
This year I was chatting with Kasparov Chess
Foundation Executive Director Michael
Khodarkovsky and a small child and his parent asked
for Michael’s autograph thinking he was Garry! At
least that one was MUCH closer!
17
Garry also had time to chat with another invited guest, U.S. Women’s Champion, GM Irina Krush. They both found
time to stop by the Women in Chess booth and gave encouragement and advice to young up and coming girls.
18
One other entertaining episode was retold. Kimberly
McVay, member of the US Chess Women’s
Committee who was running the Women in Chess
booth: Michael joined me at the booth and one girl
approached him and asked to sign her scorebook.
Michael said – I’m not Garry Kasparov. I know the
girl replied. “Do you know my name?” Michael
asked smiling, “Yes, you are Michael Khodarkovsky”
– she smiled back to him. The dialogue continued:
“What is your name?” – “Erica”, “I will gladly sign
your scorebook” – said Michael and graciously wrote
encouragement words to Erica.
This tournament does not yet have a World
Champion among its alumni, but we are getting
close! Hikaru Nakamura is a past Champion, and
Fabiano Carauna has played four times when he was
a child (though surprisingly he never won it)!
Because this year was the Golden Anniversary, we
invited GMs and IMs who have won the tournament
in each of the past decades to be honored at the
opening ceremony. Unfortunately, GM Nakamura
was unable to attend due to his tournament schedule,
but we did have several representatives. We wanted
to have a representative present from each decade.
One of the honorees was IM Danny Kopec who
played in the first even in 1966! Here are the
GMs/IMs who were representing all past players:
1960s IM Danny Kopec
1970s GM Joel Benjamin & GM Michael Rohde
1980s GM Joel Benjamin
1990s GM Irina Krush
2000s GM Alexandr Lenderman & GM Robert
Hess
2010s IM Alexander Ostrovskiy
Due to the sheer size of the tournament, it is held in
multiple sections with Championship Sections being
conducted with six games over two days at G/60 and
“Under” sections being conducted with five games in
one day either Saturday or Sunday at G/30. This year
the Kindergarten, Primary and one Junior High Under
sections were Saturday and the Elementary and High
School Under sections were on Sunday. Younger
players would be eligible for a section on Saturday
and an Under section on Sunday. Many took
advantage of this and played five games each day!
Late Sunday afternoon, I was approached by a parent
and asked if anybody had ever entered two separate
tournaments and gone 10-0. Given my limited
history (and even more limited memory), I didn’t
immediately know the answer. However, at least one
player has accomplished this feat: Current World
Championship Candidate GM Hikaru Nakamura won
the Primary Championship and the Elementary
Varsity in 1997 both with 5-0 scores.
This year a young child who wants to be like
Nakamura, or more accurately (Magnus Carlsen –
sorry Hikaru) nearly equaled the feat. Seven-year-old
second grader Henry Greengrass was a Primary
Under 1000 Co-Champion on Saturday at 5-0. His
score also led his team, PS 166 to the team title. As
an individual champion and team champion, he won
16 months of free entries into CCA tournaments!
On Sunday, Henry nearly did it again. He started 4-0
and was on Board One of the Elementary Under 1000
section. Had he won the last round it is possible he
would have had four firsts in the two weekends of the
Greater NY Scholastic, two team and two individual.
Unfortunately, he lost the last round (as did some
teammates) and though he still won an individual
trophy and helped his team win a team trophy, he
didn’t sweep the event in 2016! Hikaru’s record is
safe for now, but young Henry has many more tries in
order to try and tie it.
New York State
Championship
Labor Day Weekend
September 2-5, 3-5 or 4-5
Albany Marriott, Colonie, NY
Make Your Plans Now!
19
Henry has only been playing chess two years. I
asked him what he wants to be when he grows up and
of course he said a GM and a chess player! His
favorite player is World Champion Magnus Carlsen
because he said Magnus plays good games. Even
though Henry has been playing a short time, he said
he gains experience playing in Washington Square
Park (think Searching for Bobby Fischer). I asked
Henry if he was taking the money from the hustlers,
but he said he is not. Somehow I think they better be
careful!
Any tournament report of course must cover the top
section champion. This year the tournament’s highest
rated player took him clear first. Tenth grader from
Ethan Li from Melville High School scored 5 1/2 out
of 6 in the two day High School Championship
section. His only draw was to second seeded James
Black in the last round. The game ended in a draw
on move 28, but the times used by the players may
have been a bit surprising. On move 13, both players
had only used two minutes each! By the end of the
game, Li used 30 minutes and Black 14 minutes.
While it is G/60, I thought that a bit surprising.
Greater NY Scholastics January 10, 2016
NM Li, Ethan 2370
NM Black, James 2267
QGD-Slav Defense
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf55.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4
Be4 7.f3Bg68.Qb3Qc79.Bd2 Be710.Nxg6 hxg6\
11.OOO dxc4 12.Bxc4 b5 13.Be2 a6 14.Kb1 c5
15.dxc5 Nbd7 16.c6 Qxc6 17.Qc2 Rc818.Rc1 OO
19.Ne4 Qxc2+ 20.Rxc2 Rxc2 21.Nxf6+Bxf6
22.Kxc2 Rc8+ 23.Kb1Kf8 24.Rd1Ke8 25.e4 Bd4
26.Rc1Rxc1+27.Kxc1 Nc52 8.Bb4 Kd7½–½
While the last game may have been somewhat anti-
climactic, the penultimate round was not. Going into
the round, there were two perfect scores, Li and 3rd
seeded Alisher Podavonov from Brooklyn Tech. Li
won an interesting game. The position was relatively
equal for the first 30 moves, but with both players
running a bit short of time, Li found a way to win.
Greater NY Scholastics January 10, 2016
NM Li, Ethan2370
NM Podava nov, Alisher 2252
Modern Bononi (by transposition)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6
6.Nc3 g6 7.e4 Bg78 .h3 O-O 9.Bd3 Nbd7 10.O-O
Ne811.Bf4 Ne5 12.Nxe5 dxe5 13.Be3 b6 14.a4 f5
15.f4 Nd6 16.fxe5 Bxe5 17.Bf4 Bxf4 18.Rxf4 fxe4
19.Rxf8+Qxf8 20.Nxe4 c4 21.Bc2Nxe4 22.Bxe4
Qc5+23.Kh1 Bb724.Qd2 Re825.Bf3 Re3 26.Rf1 c3
27.bxc3 Qxc328.Qf2Re8 29.Rd1Qb3 30.Qh4 a5
31.Qd4 b532.Rc1Qxa4 33.Qf6 Qb43 4.Rc7
Qe1+35.Kh2 Qe5+36.Qxe5 Rxe5 37.Rxb7 b4
38.Rb5 1–0
Two other games of note are James Black’s win over
Tyrone Davis in round 5 and Isaac Bareyev’s win
over John Chen from Stuyvesant. Black and Davis
finished tied for 3rd as did Bareyev. Chen finished in
the top 10 finishing in a tie for 8th.
Greater NY Scholastics January 10, 2016
NM Black, James 2267
Davis, Tyrone 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4
dxe4 7.fxe4 e5 8.d5 Ng4 9.Nf3 Bc5 10.Na4 Be7
11.Bd3 O-O 12.O-O Nd7 13.h3 Ngf6 14.Be3 c5
15.Rb1 Ne8 16.b4 Qc7 17.Kh1 b6 18.Nd2
Nd619.Qe2 Ba6 20.g4 Rac8 21.b5 Bb7 22.Nc3 Qd8
23.Nf3 g5 24.Qh2 f6 25.h4 h6 26.Ne2 Re8 27.Ng3
Nf8 28.hxg5 hxg5 29.Kg2 Qd7 30.Rh1Nf7 31.Nf5
Bd8 32.Qh5 a6 33.a4 axb5 34.axb5 Ra8 35.Ra1Bc7
36.Bxg5R xa137.Rxa1 Nxg5 38.Nxg5 1–0
Greater NY Scholastics January 10, 2016
Chen, John 2013
NM Barayev, Isaac 2204
French Defense
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.e5 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Ndf3
f67.Bd3 Qa5 8.dxc5 fxe5 9.b4 Qc710.Bc2 Nf6
11.Ne2 O-O 12.Bb2 e4 13.Nfd4 Ng4 14.f3
Ne315.Qb1Nxg2+16.Kf2 Nh4 17.Bxe4 dxe4
18.Qxe4 Nxd419.Nxd4 e5 20.Nb3 Rxf3+21.Ke2 Bf5
22.Qd5+Kh8 23.c4 Rd8 24.Qxe5 Bd3+25.Kd2
Rf2+26.Kc1Rc2+27.Kd1Be4+0–1
Often the best scholastic players bypass scholastic
tournaments because they are too good and it is not
worth their time. The Greater NY Scholastics have
found a way to incentivize top players. The top four
individuals and top two teams receive free entries to
select CCA tournaments for up to a year! Of course a
player wining a top individual prize can be on a team
and can win more than a year. This prize can be
worth thousands of dollars in free entries!
Another player of note is third grader Nico Chasin.
As an Expert, he could have easily won the Primary
Championship section. He probably could have won
the Elementary Championship section. However, he
wanted to play in a more competitive section. He
20
played in the Junior High School section (without his
team). Though he was seeded fourth, he “only” won
fifth place, he didn’t win CCA entries. He started 4-0
and only lost to the first and fourth seeds. Playing
two sections up was a conscious decision on his part
because he wanted to test himself against better
players rather than go for the short term prizes. One
has to admire the “purist” attitude!
.
Unfortunately, we were not able to start the rounds on
time. The first day we ended the event two hours late
and the second day we were one hour late. For the
inconveniences experienced by the players we
sincerely apologize and because we were continually
asked why (given we have a pretty good track record
of starting on time), I feel we owe a brief
explanation. One of the biggest reasons is that this
tournament set a modern record for attendance. This
year we had over 1,200 players versus 973 last year.
Over 300 extra players with the same amount of staff
and same size tournament venue caused numerous
challenges. We may have to plan for a much larger
tournament even though this tournament has “only”
drawn 1,000 players for most of the last decade. We
thank the players, parents, and coaches for their
understanding and appreciate their support.
Now on to more happy news. In any scholastic
tournament, I am continually amazed by all the
unique incidents that happen especially with young
inexperienced children. This tournament is no
different. I’d like to share a few – though I’m sure
many more occurred. This is almost a Ripley’s
believe it or not though I can assure you they are all
true. Names have been withheld to protect the
children.
The first funny story occurred in the championship
room which is unusual since this is usually the most
experienced players. Nonetheless during a round a
young child came into the room dribbling a
basketball. Section chief, National Tournament
Director, Harold Stenzel was not amused and
immediately put a stop to this behavior. You might
even say that Stenzel went ball – istic!
Toward the end of the round, TDs start watching the
last games in order to get the rounds going. In the
Under 1000, Under 500 and Under 400 sections, you
just never know what you will see. Fortunately, we
now have rules which can help us. Many players
may not know there is a 75-move rule and a 5-fold
repetition rule that allows a TD to declare a draw
after 75 moves without a pawn move or a capture an
after five repetitions even if the players do not claim
a draw. These rules are invaluable! I watched a K+Q
versus lone King. The player with the Queen did not
know how to checkmate and just chased the king
around the board. After 75 moves, we could stop
this. Similarly we had a five-fold repetition on which
the young child had no plan!
Not all games end with these rules though. I saw a
K+R versus K+R. I told a TD to start counting.
Shortly after that (not enough time for 75 moves), I
saw the game was over. I said, so they agreed t a
draw. No, one player got checkmated. In fairness
this happened to me once 35 years ago in a scholastic
tournament. We got to K+R versus K=R and I
offered a draw. My opponent declined and lost!
Another game from this year went to K, R, N. versus
K+R. I told a director to count, but it was not
necessary – one player hung a rook!
However, the most unusual case was a castling
situation. I was called to the board. White castled
with his King from d1 to f1 and his Rook from H1 to
e1. Both players agreed the King and Queen were set
up incorrectly and the King had not moved. So now
the question is can the King still castle (blitz rules).
Six NTDs could not agree. I eventually was about to
rule that the King could not castle (this is not a blitz
game). I was originally annoyed because I told all
directors to make sure starting positions were correct.
I thought maybe a director missed it because Black
had the pieces set up correctly. Then just as I was
about to make the ruling, I determined that the K+ Q
were set up correctly and the K moved to d1. I
pointed this out to the players and they both said Oh
you are right!
Mixed doubles prizes are now becoming quite
popular. We only offered them in the High School
Sections this year. The winning mixed doubles was
Ella Papanek and Anthony Asseviro . Ella and
Anthony both tied for second in the High School
Under 1900 section. One interesting thing is that the
best players (particularly in the high school sections)
tend to be good in many aspects of their lives and
tend to be trying to balance academics and chess.
This tournament was no different and often players
used their time between rounds to catch up on their
academic work rather than chess.
(continued on page 15)
21
Don Klug Wins Watertown Holiday Invitational Tournament
Watertown Chess Club member Don Klug (pictured above) won the 2015 Holiday Invitational Tournament in
December with a score of +3-0=1. The annual Holiday Invitational Tournament traditionally invites local area non-
member chess players to the club to try their skills against club members. The Invitational runs concurrent with the
Club Championship, won by perennial champion David Kistler, documented in Empire Chess, Winter 2016.
Mr. Klug received a first round half-point bye as is custom for club players involved in the club championship
semi-finals. Mr. Klug succeeded in scoring two wins against invitees Andrew Powers, Ft. Drum and local player
John Kunz before winning a fourth round match against defending 2014 Invitational Champion Robert Kratzat, +3-
1=0.
In first round action, third place finisher John Kunz notes his move while facing invitee
Andrew Powers. Robert Kratzat, rear, considers his move against SSG Joshua Christie.
22
Kratzat and Prieto Share 2016 Watertown Blitz Championship By Don Klug
Bob Kratzat and Adolfo Prieto opened the 2016 Watertown Chess Club Championship Season by
sharing the 2016 Blitz Championship round-robin tournament. The Blitz Championship counts as
a Classic or Quick Chess win in the standings. In this case it counts as a half-point towards the 29
game schedule that lasts till October. The cross table of players is shown below. Mr. Kratzat
scored +5-1=2, Mr. Prieto +6-2=0. Mr. Prieto defeated organizer Don Klug (+5-2=1) in Round 8
to gain the split championship. This is a repeat of their split of the 2012 Championship. Tie-breaks
will be established for the 2017 tournament.
2016 Watertown Chess Club Blitz Championship
Club
Opponent
Total
Chmp
3/1/2016 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 Score W-L=D Points
1 Kratzat, Rbt x x 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 6.0 5-1=2 0.5
2 Klug, D C 1.0 0.5 x x 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 5.5 5-2=1 0
3 Kunz, John 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 x x 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0-8=0 0
4 Christie, Josh 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 x x 0.0 0.0 2.5 2-5=1 0
5 Prieto, Adolfo 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 x x 6.0 6-2=0 0.5
23
Notes from the Marshall by Frank Romano The Marshall March Masters drew 26 players on
March 15, and the tournament was won by GM
Oliver Barbosa and IM Yaacov Norowitz. Both
players scored 3 ½ points in the four-round event,
drawing in the last round to remain atop the table.
Six players tied for third with three points in a very
closely contested tournament. GM;s Zviad Izoria and
Mark Paragua drew in the last round on Board Two.
US Women’s Champion GM Irina Krush, FM Hans
Niemann, FM Leif Pressman, and Eric Balck joined
the group of players at three points with last-round
wins.
Bryan Quick, the director of the Marshall, directed
this tournament for the club.
Forty-five players gathered at the Marshall on March
4-6 for the Marshall’s March FIDE Weekend. The
five-round, FIDE time control event was won
outright by NM Brandon Jacobson with 4 ½ points.
Jacobson scored an upset in Round Three over former
New York State Champion FM Nicolas de T Checa,
who was the tournament’s highest-rated player
entering the event at 2502. After drawing current
NYS Junior High Champion FM Marcus Miyasaka in
the fourth round, Jacobson closed out the event
beating NM Todd Bryant.
FM Aravind Kumar was clear second with an
undefeated four points, taking a half-point bye in the
first round and drawing Jonathan Munnell in the
fourth round. Six players tied for third at 3 ½ points:
Checa, scholastic star FM David Brodsky, FM Boris
Privman, NM Ekaterina Bogdan, Bryant and NM
Kadhir Pillai.
Gregory Keener directed for the Marshall.
February 26th marked the FIDE Blitz tournament at
the Marshall, and one of the all-time greats at Blitz,
GM Maxim Dlugy, won the tournament with a score
of 8 1/2 – ½, besting the field by a full point and a
half. His only draw was in Round Five to NM Anton
Osinenko, who finished second with a 7-2 score. GM
Oliver Barbosa was clear third with 6 ½ points after
being upended by Expert Alex Eyldeman in the
second round.
Bryan Quick directed for the Marshall.
February 18th brought the return of a long-standing
Marshall tradition to the club: a four-round Action
Chess tournament. As the former home of Four
Rates Games Tonight for almost two decades, the
Marshall has likely hosted more Action Chess events
than any other venue in America.
A player who played in more of those events than any
other in all likelihood, New York Hall of Famer IM
Jay Bonin, won this 18-player tournament outright
with 3 ½ points. Bonin took a first-round, half-point
bye and then won three straight, including a last-
round win against SM Carlos Mena in the last round
giving “draw odds.”
Mena, FM Boris Privman, and NM Raphael Nitsche-
Hahn tied for third with three points. Mena and
Privman both lost to Expert Jonathan Corbbalh, who
earned the most rating points in the event with a 2 ½
point result playing against three internationally-titled
players. Eric Balck directed for the Marshall.
The Marshall February Masters on the 16th brought
24 players to the club. Two Grandmasters won the
event with 3 ½ points: Zviad Izoria, and Vladimir
Romanenko. Romanenko won three straight after
taking a half-point bye in the first round, while Izoria
drew GM Michael Rohde in Round Four with first
place on the line.
Three former New York Champions: GM’s Aleksandr
Lenderman and Michael Rohde, and FM Nicolas de T
Checa, all tied for third with three points. Rohde and
Lenderman were undefeated.
Gregory Kenner directed for the Marshall.
The January edition of the Marshall FIDE Blitz
tournament was held on January 29, and was a
perfect 9-0 sweep for GM Zviad Izoria. Israeli GM
Analtoly Bykhovsky was clear second with 7 ½
points, losing only to Izoria. Canadian IM Jonathan
Tayar finished third with seven points, losing to the
top two in Rounds Five and Six, respectively.
Veteran FM Asa Hoffmann was fourth with 6 ½
points.
The 25-player tournament was directed by Gregory
Keener.
24
Open Lines..tidbits about the chess world. by Karl Heck
FM Justus Williams, a former New York State champion, was featured in a commercial for Cadillac during
the Academy Awards as part of their “Dare Greatly” campaign. The Bronx native is part of a series on
outstanding achievers that is designed to highlight the excellence of the Cadillac brand.
The World Chess Championship is coming to New York City in November. The winner of the current
Candidates’ Tournament being held in Moscow will face World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a 12-game
match from November 11-30 at a yet to be determined site in the Big Apple. The Championhips will be the
first held in New York City since 1995, when Garry Kasparov defeated Viswanathan Anand in 18 games at
the World Trade Center.
The 2016 Absolute (correspondence) Championship has begun with eleven of our top players
competing. Leading the list at 2425 is Harry Ingersol followed by Dan Woodard at 2393. Chris Torres,
New York’s Gary Walters, Kristo Miettinen, Keith Rodriguez, and New York’s Gordon Magat make up the
list of 2300-plus rated players. Danny Horwitz, John Procopi, Charles Jacobs, and Andrew Bussom
complete the roster. It is a fine collection of Masters, and should be a hard-fought event.
New York’s former Scholastic Championship and GM Aleksandr Lenderman won the Washington DC area
George Washington Open, held from February 26-28 in Dulles, Virginia. Lenderman scored an undefeated
4 ½ points out of five, obtaining a 2748 performance rating while playing three of the top five players in
the tournament. The key victory was his fourth-round triumph over GM Sergey Erenburg. The tournament
was run bv Continental Chess, and drew 242 players.
The Academy for Talented Youth 1, featuring New York scholastic stars NM Ethan Li and Wesley Wang,
along with Henry Qi and Warren Wang, won the World Team Championship in New Jersey over
President’s Weekend. The Aacdemy won on tiebreaks after drawing their last-round match against the
Komodo Dragons 2-2 to go 5 1/2 – ½ for the event. Another New York youth team, the
ChessNYC All Stars, finished third. That team was composed of New York State Scholastic
Champion FM Justus Williams, NM Isaac Barayev, Matheu Jefferson and Tyrone Davis Lii.
Despite a winter storm affecting the region, 277 teams participated in the annual classic.
Williams won the Board One prize, and New York State Chess Hall of Famer GM Joel Benjamin
was the King of Board Two. Tyrone Lii of the Chess NYC All Stars was a Board winner on Board
Four.
Twenty-four players will be competing in the US Championships in Saint Louis April 13-30. The Open
Championship field is led by former New York Champion and World Championship Candidate GM Hikaru
Nakamura, and 2014 New York State Champion GM Gata Kamsky will also be in the field along with
former New York stat GM Fabiano Carauna, who will be participating in his first US Championship. GM
Aleksandr Lenderman will also represent New York in this event.
GM Irina Krush, a long-time New York star and seven-time Champion, leads the women’s field.
Current US #1 women’s player IM Anna Zatonskih returns to the Championship to attempt to
dethrone Krush. Both Championships will be streamed at the website www.uschesschamps.com,
with full commentary from GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Maurice Ashley and WGM Jennifer
Shahade. The Open Championship will be the highest-rated US Championship in history. Both
tournaments are 11-round, 12-player round robins.
25
The Outside Passed Pawn By Zachary Calderon
King and pawn endgames are notoriously tricky.
There are not very many consistencies within them,
but one element that remains true is the incredible
value and power of the outside passed pawn, as its
ability to move and threaten to Queen requires the
King to move to pay attention to it.
White wins this position on the move, despite the
equal material. Because Black must waste time
moving his King to the outside of the board to round
up the a5 pawn, White can slip in behind Black's
pawns, take them, and win without breaking a sweat.
A sample line would go 1. a6 Kb6 2. Kxc4 Kxa6 3.
Kc5 Kb7 4. Kd6 Kc8 5. Ke7 And Black's pawns are
finished, allowing White to win.
With Black to move, though, the Black King can get
back in time with 1…Kb5 2.a6 Kxa6 3.Kd4 Kb6
4.Ke5 Kc7 and Black’s pawns are effective at
keeping the White King out of the position. Black’s
passed pawn must be captured before the White King
can begin offensive play.
When possible in these kinds of endings, keeping the
opposite King as far away as possible for as long as
possible helps the winning chances. As shown in the
next diagram, Black’s King is still on the Queenside
when White’s King is ready to begin to capture the
Black pawns. In this particular position, it is
impossible for Black to advance the pawns in a way
to trade them off before the White King can penetrate
the Black position.
Because White's passed pawn was farther away from
the Kingside pawns than Black's was, White was able
to get to them faster, thereby winning the game.
While this example clearly started in a King and
Pawn endgame, it doesn't mean you should ignore
your outside passed pawn in all scenarios minus a
King and Pawn endgame. Often times, the pawn
structure will help you decide when is a good time to
enter into such an endgame.
This example is a very sharp position, with Black
having a one-pawn advantage with Bishops of
opposite color. However, White should be able to win
this position. Take a minute and try to figure it out for
yourself. (continued on page 28)
26
Rochester News from staff reports
The highlight of the Rochester chess season every
year is the Marchand Open. The 38th annual event
was once again held at the Strong Museum of Play,
the only place on Earth where chess is in the Hall of
Fame as a game. While full coverage will be
provided in the Summer Issue, I will note here that
there was a seven-way tie in the Open section
including top GM’s Alexander Stripunsky and Sergey
Kudrin, both of whom made the trip to play.
A total of 26 players participated in the March 12
Saturday tournament at the Rochester Chess Center
Jason Stein and Ethan Yung tied for first with 2 ½
points in the 16-player Open section. They did not
play each other, with Stein drawing John Manning in
the first round and Yung drawing Expert Derek
Linton in the second round. David Kistler and Sam
Santora tied for third with two points each.
Linden Burack and Judith Ugalde tied for first in the
Youth section with 4-1 scores. Ron Lohrman and
Kenneth McBride directed the tournament.
On March 5th, a total of 28 players came to the Chess
Center for the weekly tournament, and the Open
section was a triumph for Binghamton Expert Daryll
Weatherly with a perfect 3-0 score. Lev
Paciorkowski, the tournament’s highest-rated player,
and David Campbell tied for second with 2 ½ points,
drawing each other in the second round. Josh
Rofrano, John Manning and Theodore Bogin tied for
fourth with two points.
Judith Ugalde won the Youth section with four
points. Ron Lohrman and Kenneth McBride directed
the tournament.
The February 27th edition of the Rochester Chess
Center weekly tournament was in one section, and
drew 15 players. The closely-contested event ended
with a three-way tie at the top among Expert Lev
Paciorkowski and Jacob Chen along with class-A
player Andrew Bridy, with all players finishing with
2 ½ points. Paciorkowski and Bridy drew in the last
round, while Chen took a half-point bye in the first
round.
Four players tied for fourth with two points: Derek
Linton, Jamshed SAhmed, Jeffrey Shi and Theodore
Bogin. Ron Lohrman and Kenneth McBride directed
the tournament for the Rochester Chess Center.
February 20th fell on the President’s weekend, and
turnout for the Saturday event was a higher-than-
normal 34 players. Lev Paciorkowski won the Open
section with a perfect 3-0 score. John Manning was
clear second with 2 ½ points, yielding a draw in the
second round to Pranav Kumar. Kumar, Jason Stein
and David Stearns tied for third with two points.
Aidan Kharroubi won the Youth section with five
points. Linden Burack and Thomas Gargan tied for
second with four points.
Ron Lohrman and Kenneth McBride directed the
tournament.
The February 13th Valentine’s Saturday tournament
drew 19 players and was won by Expert Derek
Linton with 2 ½ points. Linton drew John Manning
in the second round. Theodore Bogin and Jonah
Green tied for second with two points, with Linton
defeating both second-place finishers.
Arianna Kharroubi won the Youth section with four
points. Tanush Kumar and Judith Ugalde tied for
second with three points.
Ron Lohrman and Kenneth McBride directed the
tournament for the Chess Center.
The Chess Center is also gearing up for April break
and Summer break camps. The Chess Center runs
camps with a finishing tournament during each
school break during the year. For further information
on the Chess Center and all of its tournaments and
programs, please check their web site at
www.nychess.com.
27
Evans Gambit: Cordel Variation By Richard Moody Jr.
After studying the Evans Gambit for years I would
send question after question to the Ask The Masters
column in Chess Life. An exasperated GM Joel
Benjamin posed the following question to me, “When
was the last time you saw a Grandmaster lose on the
Black side of the Evans Gambit?” Before answering
that question I'd like to point out that the Evans
Gambit has spectacular practical results. From an
online source we learn that between 1829-2015 the
Evans scored at the rate of +52.8 -32.5 =14.8. GM
Benjamin's question was answered resoundingly
when World Champion Garry Kasparov crushed
future World Champion Vishy Anand in the Evans
Gambit. Here is that great attacking game:
Kasparov-Anand Riga Tal's Memorial (4):
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Be7
6.d4 Na5 7.Be2 White can regain the pawn here with 7.Nxe5 Nxc4
8.Nxc4 d5 9.exd5 Qxd5 10.Ne3 Qa5, but Black has
the Bishop pair and fewer pawn islands. Maybe
White can expand in the center but this position looks
closer to = to =/+)
7...exd4 8.Qxd4 Nf6 9.e5 Nc6 10.Qh4 Nd5 11.Qg3
g6 12.O-O Nb6 13.c4 d6 14.Rd1 White begins to pressure the Black position
14…Nd7 15.Bh6
Where does Black place his King?
15…Ncxe5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.Nc3 f6 18.c5! Nf7
19.cxd6 cxd6 20.Qe3 Nxh6 21.Qxh6 Bf8 22.Qe3+
Kf7 23.Nd5 Be6 24.Nf4 Qe7?? Anand cracks under the pressure. With Bf5 it is still a
game although Deep Fritz 14 evaluates the position
as +/-)
25.Re1 1-0
There are too many threats e.g. 25...Qd7 26.Bb5!
Qxb5 27.Qxe6+ Kg7 28.Rab1 Qf5 29.Rxb7+ +-
The second game in the Cordel variation is Halkias-
Kramnik Qatar Masters 2014 where we see a recent
game in the Evans Gambit. The relative unknown
player of the White pieces missed just one move
against the former World Champion that would have
given him good winning prospects according to Deep
Fritz 14.
Halkias-Kramnik Qatar Masters 2014
AnderssenVariation Cordel line
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Be7
6.d4 Na5 Black can play 7...exd4 8.Qb3 Na5 9.Bxf7+ Kf8
10.Qa4 Kxf7 11.Qxa5 c6 and White will find it
difficult to exploit the awkward placement of the
Black King.
7.Bd3 b6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Just like that White regains the gambit pawn.
9…Nf6 10.O-O O-O 11.Qc2 Nd7 12.Nxd7 Qxd7
13.e5 g6 14.Nd2 b6 15.Nf3 Bb7 16.Be4 Bxe4
17.Qxe4 Qc6 18.Qg4 Rad8 19.Bg5 Qc5 20.Qh4
Nc6 21.Rae1 h5 22.Re4 Rd3 23 Rc4 Fritz now claims advantage White---+/=.
23…Qd5 24.Bxe7 Nxe7 25.Rxc7 Now White is better with a solid pawn advantage.
25…Nf5 26.Qc4 Qxc4 27.Rxc4 Re8 28.Re1 Rd5
29.h3 Kf8 30.g4?
According to Deep Fritz 14 this is a critical mistake.
With 30. Ree4 Ng7 31.Ra4 Re7 32.Red4 +/=.
30…hxg4 31.hxg4 Ng7 32.Rc7 Re7 33.Rc8+ Re8
34.Rc7 Re7 35.Rc8 Re8 =.
The fact that a relatively unknown player could draw
the former World Champion in the Evans Gambit in
2014 indicates that the Evans is still a playable
opening at any level. Here are some additional games
in the Evans Gambit:
Short-Sokolov 37th Bosna Chess Tournament 2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Be7
6.d4 Na5 7.Be2 exd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.Qxg7 Bf6 10.Qg3
Ne7 11.O-O??
11.Bg5= This is a mistake. After the simple 11...Rg8
12.Qf4 Bh3 13.g3 Ng6 -/+.
11…Ng6 12.Nd4 Qe7 13.Nd2 Bd7 14.N2b3 Nxb3
15.axb3 O-O 16.Bg4 Kh8 17.Bxd7 Qxd7
18.Ra5 Rae8?
18…Rfe8=.
19.Rh5
19.Qf3+/-.
19…Bxd4?
19…Rxe4=.
20.cxd4 Re4 21.Bh6?
21. f4 +/-.
21…Rfe8 22.Qf3 f6?
22…Qe7=.
23.Qxf6+ Kg8 24.d5 Qf7 25.Qxf7+ Kxf7 26.Rf5+
Kg8 27.f4 Re1 28.g3 Rxf1 29.Kxf1 a5 30.Rg5 Kf7
28
31.f5 Ne7 32.Rg7+ Kf6 33.g4 Nd5 34.Rh7 b5?
34…Ne3+ =.
35.Kf2 a4 36.bxa4 bxa4??
36…Rg8=.
37.h4??
37.Bg7+ +/-.
37…Ke5??
37…Rg8=.
38.Kf3 Kd4 39.f6 Nxf6 40.Bg7 Rf8 41.g5 a3
42.Rh8 1-0
In order to test whether Deep Fritz 14 could find a
convincing refutation with the Cordel Variation I
chose to play White. Here is a game that illustrates
computers can blunder:
Moody Deep Fritz 14
1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Be7
6. d4 Na5 7. Be2 exd4 8.
Qxd4 Nf6 9. e5 Nc6 10. Qh4 Nd5 11. Qg3 O-O??
This was played after 25 minutes of crunching out to
a depth of 27; the vast majority of human players
would reject this at a glance. The computer believes
its piece activity is worth close to a pawn; thus g6
yields an equivalent evaluation.
12. Bh6 g6 13. Bxf8 Bxf8 14. Bc4 Nb6 15. Bb3 d5
16. O-O Qe7 17. Nbd2 a5 18. a4 Bh6 19. Rfe1 Qc5
20. Rac1 Qe7 21. Ra1 Qc5 22. Rac1 Qe7 23.
Ra1 1/2-1/2
The computer played 11...O-O in two out of three
tries playing g6 only once. In the first game after
12.Bh6 g6 13.Bxf8 Bxf8 I tried 14.O-O when Deep
Fritz 14 suggested Bc4 instead which was what I
played in this game. After 14.O-O the computer was
able to hobble my Queenside and win material after
about 15 moves. The only real question is whether
White has any winning chances in this game, and that
is questionable at this point in the game.
The Outside Passed Pawn (from page
25)
White's best, and arguably only move to play for a
win, is 1. Qxf7+! Now all of Black's moves are
forced as the f8 Rook is pinned and cannot recapture
the Queen or Bishop.. 1...Qxf7 2. Bxf7+ Kxf7 3.
Rxf8+ Kxf8 4. Kxf2
Even though Black has the only passed pawn in the
game, White is going to make a passed pawn on the
Queenside, giving us a very similar position to the
previous example.
After 4...Ke7 5. Ke3 Ke6 6. Ke4 Kd6 7. c3!
A very important move. The obvious move 7. b3?!
makes the game unnecessarily complicated for White
after 7...b4! when some accurate play is required to
still score the full point.
7...Ke6 8. b3 Kd6 9. c4
And White once again creates his passed pawn.
Should Black play 9...b4 then the game may continue
10. h3 Ke6 11. c5 g6 12. c6 Kd6 13. c7 Kxc7 14.
Kxe5 and with his superior King and the weak b4
pawn, White should have no problem wrapping up
the game shortly.
When playing, remember that your pawn structure is
extremely important. Always keep an eye on what
sort of pawn chains and islands are forming, and look
for ways to get yourself into a favorable King and
Pawn endgame should the opportunity arise
www.nysca.net Your source for New
York chess information
from Montauk to
Niagara!
29
Upcoming NYSCA-Sponsored and Major Tournaments
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30
US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX!
APR. 17 & 24 7th Annual Broome County Chess Championship - Francis Cordisco Memorial
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8782, [email protected]. $$: $500 Prize Money GUARANTEED. Two sections - Open Section: $150 - $75 -
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US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX!
MAY 7 2016 Watertown Open Chess Tournament
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MAY 20-22 OR 21-22 24th annual New York State Open
TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 15 (ENHANCED)
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31
Club. Registration: Call MCC with credit card, mail check, or online.Limited to 70 players! Register
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US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX!
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US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX!
JUNE 10-12 Can-Am International Chess Tournament
TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 80
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sections; Open [FIDE rated]: $1500, 1000, 700, 500, 300; U2000:$1100, 800, 550, 350, 200; U1700: $1000, 700,
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JUNE 22-26 9th New York International - Championship Section
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Labor Day Weekend – Albany
The 138th New York State Championship. Two, three and four-day schedules for the longest-running chess
tournament in the United States. Full details are on the back cover.
www.nysca.net -- your source for New York State Chess Information. Now on Twitter
at @nystatechess and Facebook.
32
A Heritage Event
US Chess Junior Grand Prix
A State Championship Event
Sept. 2-5, 3-5 or 4-5 138th Annual NY State Championship Trophies Plus Grand Prix Points: 100 (Enhanced)
Out-of-state players welcome. 6-SS, 40/100, SD/30 d10 (2-day option in Under 2100 & below, rounds. 1-3 G/40
d10). Albany Marriott, 189 Wolf Rd., Albany 12205 (Thruway Exit 24, I-87 north to Wolf Rd, Exit 4). Free
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$$G 13,000. In 5 sections. Open: $1500-700-500-300, Top Under 2300/Unr $800-400. State title & $100 bonus to
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Top 3 sections EF: $99 online at chessaction.com by 9/2, $110 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 8/31 (entry
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Bye: all, limit 2, Open must commit before Round 2, others before Round 4.
HR: $102-102, 800-443-8952, 518-458-8444, reserve by 8/25 or rate may increase. NYSCA meeting 9 a.m.
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Entries: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803. Questions:
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NYS Blitz Championship Sunday 10 pm, enter by 9:45 pm.
