February 2012 uschess.org
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TheThe EighthNinth Annual All-Girls
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April April 8–10, 20 – 22, 2011 2012 – Chicago,- Chicago, IllinoisIllinois
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Chess Life
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2 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_CLO_AKF_r6_chess life 1/11/12 9:34 AM Page 3
Contributors February on uschess.org
Al Lawrence (“Looks at Books,” p. 12) is a former executive director of both USCF Team Time and the World Chess Hall of Fame. The U.S. Amateur Team Championships His latest book with GM Lev are widely considered the most fun Alburt, Chess for the Gifted and Busy tournament series in the national , can soon be previewed CLO at www.chesswithlev.com. calendar of events. will feature coverage from all four events, held Macauley Peterson over President’s Day weekend from February 17-20 in Northbrook, Illinois (“Looks at Books,” p. 14) is a (North), Parsippany, New Jersey (East), freelance mediamaker, currently Fort Lauderdale, Florida (South) and for hire. His written work has Santa Clara, California (West). Also look appeared in New in Chess for U.S. Chess Scoop videos from the magazine and Matten (The Netherlands), 64 (Russia), Chess U.S. Amateur Team East in Parsippany. (U.K.), Peón de Rey (Spain) and Schach (Germany).
Eric K. Arnold (“Cover Story,” p. 20) is a freelance photojournalist based in Oakland, California. A lifelong chess aficionado, Arnold won a 2011 Improve Your Rep award from the Society of IM Greg Shahade follows up Professional Journalists for multimedia arts and culture his piece on opening books with coverage of Oakland’s hip-hop scene. an essay on opening repertoires, and the kinds of openings he Nelly Rosario believes most suitable for various playing strengths. (“Chess and Love,” p. 26) is the author of Song of the Water Saints and currently teaches creative writing in the MFA program at Texas State University.
GM John Fedorowicz Chess on the Rock (“2011 World Youth,” p. 30) is in the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame, has The 10th year anniversary Gibraltar captained the U.S. Olympiad team Chess Congress features a star-studded on two occasions and has field including many Americans such as frequently acted as a second or Varuzhan Akobian, reigning Women’s advisor to Gata Kamsky. Champ Anna Zatonskih, Irina Krush and Marc Arnold. Top seeds include Jamaal Abdul-Alim Peter Svidler and Judit Polgar—look (“2011 K-12,” p. 36) is a for reportage by Macauley Peterson. journalist and chess teacher in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Tim Redman Jonathan Hilton on Chess (“Education,” p. 42) has been a Around the World contributor to this magazine for more than 35 years. He served From chess cosmopolitanism to his adventures twice as president of the USCF. in Central America, Jonathan Hilton continues to reveal how chess has influenced his education Dr. Alexey Root, WIM off the board. In February’s installment, he completes his piece on learning firsthand about (“Education,” p. 44) is the author of The Living Chess Game: Fine the experience of being an immigrant in Belgium. Arts Activities for Kids 9-14 As usual, a blindfold chess game is involved! (Libraries Unlimited, Santa Barbara, CA; 2011) and a frequent Chess Life contributor to and Follow Chess Life and Chess Life Online on Facebook®! Chess Life Online. Get regular updates as part of your newsfeed, post comments, and easily communicate directly with the editorial staff.
uschess.org Chess Life — February 2012 3 CL_02-2012_TOC_AKF_r6_outlines_chess life 1/11/12 10:36 AM Page 4
February Chess Life
Columns
12 LOOKS AT BOOKS Small Scenes with Big Players Behind the Old Iron Curtain By Al Lawrence 14 LOOKS AT BOOKS Still Going Strong: Yuri Averbakh By Macauley Peterson 16 CHESS TO ENJOY Will You Walk Into My Parlour? By GM Andy Soltis 18 SOLITAIRE CHESS The Great Vera Menchik By Bruce Pandolfini 46 BACK TO BASICS Corporal Aventura’s Borodino By GM Lev Alburt 48 ENDGAME LAB A Master of the Endgame By GM Pal Benko
Departments
3 PREVIEW 6 COUNTERPLAY 8 USCF AFFAIRS 10 FIRST MOVES 52 TOURNAMENT LIFE 70 CLASSIFIEDS 71 SOLUTIONS
On The Cover
It is hard to believe that at one time the dominant image the public had of a chess player was an old man with a long, gray beard. Perhaps he had a pipe. My, how things have changed. The Hip Hop Chess Federation is the latest organization combining chess with pop culture elements, in this case hip hop and martial arts. Adisa Banjoko’s organization celebrates its fifth anniversary this month; our report begins on page 20. Cover photo by Eric K. Arnold Design by Frankie Butler PHOTO: ERIC K. ARNOLD PHOTO:
4 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_01-2012_membership_ad_AKF_r8_Layout 1 12/8/11 1:32 AM Page 1
2012 Membership Options Choose Between Premium and Regular USCF Memberships
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Counterplay
A sour Dutch treat? 16. Bh6 Rg8 17. Qh5 Qe8 which also clearly favors White but does not represent an Corrections In Bruce Pandolfini’s normally excellent immediate winning attempt like my main “Solitaire Chess” column, I have noticed line) 16. ... Kg8 (or 16. ... Kg7 17. Bh6+, In the January 2012 issue, “USCF a couple of errors, the most striking of where 17. ... Kg8 gets mated in two and the Affairs,” IM John Donaldson has which occurs in the analysis to White’s other king moves lose the rook with check replaced John McCrary as the chair 14th move (“Dutch Treat,” September while White continues the assault) 17. Bh6 for the Professional Players Health 2011). White played 14. Be6+, certainly (threatening mate in two) after which there and Benefits committee. Donald- a reasonable move, and after 14. ... Kh8 is no defense that does not lose a lot of son’s e-mail is [email protected]. 15. Qe2 White won a nice game. But in material. The only real try is 17. ... Bf6 (17. Donaldson is also chair of the the notes, Pandolfini only gives 2 points ... Qe8 gets mated by 18. Qg4+) and White Awards committee using the same e- part credit for the (significantly stronger) just captures on f6, 18. exf6, after which mail address. Further, in the same sacrifice 14. Bxg6 hxg6 15. Qxg6+, writ- Black is totally lost, much more so than in committee list, there was a typo in ing, “The queen, by herself, can effect a the game continuation. Rules committee chair David Kuhns’ draw ... But there is probably no more e-mail address, which should read attack. ... Accept 1 bonus point if you Christopher Girardo via e-mail [email protected]. realized this.” In the December 2011 issue, ICCM Simple but profound? rsn-wq-trk+ Bart Gibbons’ article “Retreat To The zpp+-vl-+- There are an unlimited number of chess First Rank ... And Win!” incorrectly -+pzp-+Q+ variants we can imagine—the Fischer Ran- stated that the 1957 U.S. Champi- dom position is just one, but the one rule’s onship game Bobby Fischer/James +-+-zP-+- change that may impact the royal game Sherwin was included in Fischer’s -+P+-+-+ the least is to give the second player, the My 60 Memorable Games. Thanks choice of color i.e. even though he/she to many readers for pointing out +-+-+-zP- moves second, he/she can have the white that it was actually their game three PzP-+-zP-zP pieces so that the first move goes to the months earlier at the New Jersey player with the black pieces. Open that Fischer used in his book. tR-vL-+RmK- For tournaments the player who moves After 15. Qxg6 first is identified on the chart with the player In the December 2011 “Endgame of the black pieces getting to choose the Lab,” the game Coen Zuidema/Pal In fact I think White should take penalty color. To a computer it won’t matter, but I Benko was incorrectly identified as points for stopping his analysis at this predict that a player who moves second being played at the 1972 U.S. Cham- point, as there is a forced win to be had: 15. with the white pieces will play more aggres- pionship. It was played at Skopje, ... Kh8 16. Qh5+! (Pandolfini only analyzes sively. It might make for an interesting Yugoslavia, at the 20th Olympiad. 16. Qh6+, which wins by repeating the psychology experiment. Thank you to IM Anthony Saidy and position and then playing Qh5, but this Richard Moody, Jr. Howard Sample for the correction. move is necessary at some point, as well as Schoharie, New York In the November 2011 issue, reader Vladimir Zelevinsky caught two errors: In “Chess to Enjoy,” the play- ers’ cities were reversed; Vladimir Lyavdansky played for Leningrad and Anatoly Volovich played for Moscow. Also, in our Reshevsky cover story, we listed the 1948 World Championship (The Hague - Moscow) as a “quadruple,” but the event had five rather than four rounds.
Send your letters to [email protected]. If Chess Life publishes your letter, you will be sent a copy of Test, Evaluate and Improve Your Chess (see ad to the left). Letters are subject to editing for content and length.
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USCF Affairs February
USCF EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT SUSAN HOUSTON Position: Accounting Associate
Susan started as a USCF employee in February, 2005. For those of you who remember the phrase “gal Friday,” Susan is ours! Working in our accounting department, not only does she take care of daily accou- ting duties including invoicing advertisers with USCF publications, she also assists in the membership/ratings department with the processing of memberships, inputtting tournaments, and assisting organizers with getting set up in our TD/Affiliate area of uschess.org. Susan just recently added overseeing the Junior Grand Prix, Grand Prix and chess coach program to her duties. Susan is very active in the Cumberland County Chess Club with running chess events and inputting the tournaments and memberships. We are delighted with and proud of the dedication that Susan shows to the USCF and all of our mem- bers and organizers.
USCF Remembers
ART WANG: 1942-2011 married and started a family. He returned BOB DONALDSON, 1920-2011 By JIM EADE to chess as a member of the famous Cas- By STEVE DOYLE tle Club in the late 1960s. Members Art Wang passed would take turns hosting events in their away on Monday, homes, and Art recalled those days December 12, 2011. fondly. Those were good memories, in The cause of death part, because he won or was co-champion was esophageal of the club nine times. cancer. Art was a Art’s other main hobby was golf. He chess master when was not very good at golf (one mutual chess masters were friend said it was more like watching few and far between. polo) but he was very good at betting. He was born in Whenever he was behind, he would offer Chungking, China a new bet, and more often than not in June of 1942. He came to the United would figure out a way to break even, if States in 1946 with his mother and older not come out ahead. brother, Harvey. His father stayed behind The following game was played against Bob Donaldson with his son Robert as head of security for Chiang Kai-shek. another promising junior player at the His father did not survive the year. time. The two players remained friends Things were difficult for Mrs. Wang, who to the very end. Bob Donaldson, a long-time New Jersey had lost everything but a small inheri- chess leader, died at the age of 91. Bob was tance. They ended up in Berkeley, active in the Wilmington YMCA Chess Club Queen’s Gambit Declined (D30) California, where Art grew up. in the ’50s and ’60s before moving to Toms Art learned to play chess at a Koltanowski Art Wang River, New Jersey and starting the Toms chess festival in Sonoma. Koltanowski Don Sutherland River Chess Club in 1964. Bob was instru- was an extremely active chess promoter, Oakland YMCA Invitational, 1960 mental in representing New Jersey to the and there was always someplace to play USCF and attended many delegate meetings chess in northern California when Art 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 c6 5. Nbd2 and U.S. Opens. He was active in chess up was a kid. He became a regular at the Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Nxc4 b5 8. Nce5 Bb7 until nine years ago as illness prevented Berkeley YMCA, and later at the Mechan- 9. 0-0 Bd6 10. a3 0-0 11. e4 Qc7 12. Nxd7 him from going to tournaments and clubs. ics’ Institute of San Francisco. Nxd7 13. e5 Be7 14. Ng5 g6 15. b4 a5 16. Bob promoted chess in a small shore Art participated in the 1957 U.S. Jun- Rb1 axb4 17. axb4 Nb6 18. Qg4 Nd5 19. community and the club that he founded ior, which was won by Bobby Fischer. Art Ne4 Rfd8 20. Bg5 Ra4 21. Qh4 Rda8 22. eventually grew to 200 plus members and was one of the largest chess clubs in later won the California Junior Champi- Bc2 R4a7 23. Bb3 Bxg5 24. Nxg5 h5 25. the country. Through the 1980s Bob onship in 1960. Art considered a 1960 Bxd5 cxd5 26. Qf4 Qe7 27. g4 hxg4 28. f3 Mechanics’ tournament to be his best stayed involved with the club on its advi- g3 29. Qxg3 Kg7 30. h4 Ra2 31. h5 Rh8 32. ever. He tied for first with Bill Addison, sory board. He was a gracious and kind hxg6 Rhh2 33. f4 fxg6 34. Rfc1 Ba8 35. Rc5 who later became one of the leading man that loved chess and will be long players in the United States. Bb7 36. Rbc1 Rag2+ 37. Qxg2 Rxg2+ 38. remembered by all who touched this Art enlisted in the Army in 1962, got Kxg2 Kg8 39. Rh1, Black resigned. knight of our royal game.
Chess Life’s obituary policy: Generally, only players who impacted the national chess scene are eulogized. Occasionally, as space allows, players of local or regional importance are included. The USCF maintains an “In Passing” section of uschess.org at the “About USCF” link. Send Joan DuBois the obituary at [email protected].
8 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org Chess Magnet new:chess life 12/3/2008 5:28 PM Page 1 CL_02-2012_First_Moves_AKF_r6.qxp_chess life 1/9/12 10:22 AM Page 10
First Moves
dozens of games including several chess-based competitions, such as speed chess, Chess960 and bughouse. Over tea near Etan’s art gallery, Tenderpixel, he explained the rules and inspiration behind Diving Chess. Players compete using a floating chessboard and waterproof set—you can only think about your moves underwater. Once a player emerges from the water, he must move within five sec- onds. If he fails to, he receives a penalty. Three penalties equals a time forfeit. “If someone surprises you with a tactical trap, it’s hard to hold your breath for over a minute [to analyze the lines].” Etan said, “It’s a way to bring the physical into chess.” When you hear chess and physical, I can’t blame you for thinking of chess- boxing (though in my case, I think of hula chess!). Chessboxing, a striking visual combination, was invented by Berlin-based artist Iepe B.T. Rubingh and has since exploded into a phenomenon, with its own organization and clubs from India to Los Angeles. The hybrid sport has been featured in news networks all over the world, and draws hundreds to events for the fight cards, and also to London, which has one of the most active clubs. Malcolm Pein, organizer of the London Chess Classic, said it’s thrilling to call the play to hundreds of spectators at chessboxing matches. It’s the most accessible analysis he has ever ventured. Malcolm points out the most esoteric things for non-chessplayers is algebraic notation. “I never call out the name of a square (i.e.- g5) unless I’m sure it’s highlighted on the screen.” Malcolm is also the manager of the London Chess Centre, which was just a block away from my hotel on the famous Baker Street, home of fictional Sherlock Holmes. At the shop I met Sabrina Chevannes, an energetic chess expert, promoter and founder of the Chevannes Academy. She also works with Malcolm on various proj- ects, including publicity for the London Chess Classic. Sabrina told me about her passion for promoting women in chess. Like in the U.S., many people she spoke to about sponsorship and support took a hyper-logical approach that constantly asked questions like “Why support a female player who would not get any special atten- tion for her accomplishments if she was male?” rather than asking a question we both felt more connected to: “Why is promoting women in chess important to bringing more players and attention to chess?” Sabrina organized the 1st English Women’s Rapid Play, which featured over a dozen players including Jovanka Houska, the number one woman player in England. Although I’d love to see a higher ratio of female players in all tour- Diving chess: The latest idea for combining naments, there is much to be proud of stateside. When I told physicality with our mind game. Sabrina about the prize fund, structure and publicity scope of the U.S. Women’s Championship, she was impressed. At the British Championship, women play in the overall competition along with the men. The women’s prizes and title goes to the player who scores the From Diving Chess most points. In 2011, IM Jovanka Houska scored 7/11 and received 1,000 pounds (about $1,600) for winning the British and English women’s titles. Anna Zatonskih earned over ten times more ($18,000) to Painted Games: at last year’s U.S. Women’s Championship at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. My final adventure in British chess promotion was at the Univer- Adventures in sity of Greenwich at a gallery show by Lizi Sanchez and Tom Hackney, The Knight Turns its Head and Laughs. Many of Tom Hack- ney’s paintings were abstract works, painted according to chess games. Paint is applied whenever a piece travels through a partic- British Chess ular square, leaving a visual impression of the most heavily trodden paths of a chessboard. Over traditional pub fare by the river Thames, Hackney and I spoke about his work and the intersections of chess Chess Life Online Editor and art. He told me he uses the moves of a chess game to “gener- Jennifer Shahade reports from England ate form, whereby that form is encoded.” His painted abstract works feature games from the Spassky versus Fischer match as well as two victories by Marcel Duchamp. “Working with Duchamp games is kind of like playing a guitar Johnny Marr (of The Smiths) played.” This was more than just a cute metaphor—Hackney once CHESS CAN LITERALLY take your breath away in “diving chess,” strummed the legend’s guitar at a friend’s apartment. a new form that Etan Itfeld debuted at the Mind Sport Games in Lon- The annual London Chess Classic made the city an interna- don last August. Imagine being engrossed in the intricacies of a pawn tional chess center, piquing American interests as we watch our endgame or a complex Sicilian, while your thinking time is limited Hikaru Nakamura battle the likes of Magnus Carlsen and by the strength of your lungs. Itfeld, who previously lived in Cali- Viswanathan Anand. From diving chess to painted chess games, fornia, is the organizer of the Mind Sport Games. The one-week my trip to London showed there are plenty of chess adventures
competition series held annually in London in August consists of to explore under the surface. . ITFELD ETAN PHOTO:
10 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org 02-2012_USCFSales_inside2_Layout 1 1/4/2012 12:33 PM Page 1
Tracing the life of the troubled chess genius from brilliant beginning to shocking endgame.
Bobby Fischer Against the World is a documentary feature exploring the tragic and bizarre life of the late chess master Bobby Fischer. The drama of Bobby Fischer's career was undeni- able, from his troubled childhood, to his rock star status as World Champion and Cold War icon, to his life as a fugitive on the run. This lm explores one of the most infamous and mysterious characters of the 20th century.
In 1972, an epic chess match took place in Iceland between representatives of the two great super-powers of the world: Bobby vs. Boris. Boris was backed by the Mighty Soviet Union, with late night phone calls coming from his handlers in Moscow, telling him what his next move should be.
Meanwhile, Bobby stood alone against the might of the oppos- ing nation. But, Bobby was not exactly alone. The Americans did not need to tell him what moves to make on the chessboard. Bobby already knew how to do that. Rather, what the Americans needed to do was somehow to get him to sit down at the board and play the game.
Here is the story of that titanic struggle: One half of the world trying to get Bobby to play, while the other half was trying to defeat him assuming that he did play.
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All Purchases Bene t 1.800.388.KING (5464) www.USCFSales.com e US Chess Federation CL_02-2012_books_AKF_r8_chess life 1/11/12 8:07 PM Page 12
Small Scenes with Big Players Behind the Old Iron Curtain Yuri Averbakh has been influencing many important aspects of chess for the better part of a century.
AVERBAKH AT 90 Yuri Averbakh, the world’s oldest living grandmaster, turns 90 this month. He was of worldwide impor- tance in no fewer than four areas of our game—playing, writing, coaching, and governing. He won the Moscow Championship in 1949, became a grandmaster in 1952, and was a candidate for the world championship at Zurich in 1953. He competed in the USSR championship (the most powerful national chess championship that ever existed) 16 times, winning the title in 1954, ahead of a constellation of now legendary stars—including Mark Taimanov, Viktor Korchnoi, Tigran Petrosian, Efim Geller and Salo Flohr. He tied for first in 1956 with Boris Spassky and Taimanov. In 1958, Averbakh qualified for the Potoroz interzonal, barely missing the cut for the candidates tournament. For decades he edited the highly influential Shakhmaty v SSSR (Chess in the USSR) and Shakhmatny Bulletin (which Bobby Fischer called the world’s best chess magazine). The publication of Averbakh’s five-volumeCom- prehensive Chess Endings cemented his reputation as a renowned expert on the endgame. As a trainer and second, he aided, among others, four world champions—Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Petrosian, and Spassky. Averbakh held important positions within the Soviet Chess Federation, becoming its president in 1972.
Over the next few pages, Macauley Peterson provides a brief profile of Yuri, while Al Lawrence reviews Averbakh’s autobiography, just this year translated into English.
12 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_books_AKF_r8_chess life 1/11/12 8:07 PM Page 13
Looks at Books
Yuri Averbakh, walking treasure-house of chess history, championship match. Two years later, after Korchnoi’s defec- comrade and confidant of the greatest generations of Soviet tion while in Holland, then-federation president Averbakh champions from Andor Lilienthal and Mikhail Botvinnik to was asked to sign an official letter of condemnation. “Failing Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, and for many years one to return from a trip abroad was then considered a criminal of the most powerful men in the USSR’s chess apparatus, has offence, tantamount to defecting from one’s nationality,” Aver- hundreds of historically revealing insider-stories to tell. bakh writes. Next come two sentences exquisitely framed to But he’s keeping those to himself. confess the pettiest instincts of man. “But that was not the Instead, with the less-than-modestly entitled Centre Stage and main thing, of course. Given that Korchnoi had only recently Behind the Scenes: The Personal Memoir of a Soviet Chess Leg- written me an apologetic letter, I had absolutely no desire to end, he gives us chatty, jumbled reminiscences of small scenes support him now.” Averbakh signed. And he catalogs some with the big chess players—enjoyable enough for a real fan of notables who had also signed—Tal, Vassily Smyslov, Pet- the game. Along the way, we get a taste of what it was like to steer rosian, Taimanov, and others—, and goes on to write that “Only a wary course through the Kafkaesque chambers of the old a few failed to sign”—Botvinnik didn’t, Gulko, who “immedi- Soviet hierarchy, with divisions like the “Department of Propa- ately fell out of favor,” and David Bronstein, who then “became ganda and Agitation,” a phrase a neviezdny for a long time.” right at home in an old Monty Averbakh shrugs off the arranged Python skit. But it wasn’t funny at draws between Soviets during the time. A scribbled note made “in interzonals with an “after-all- your file” could wreck a career or, they’re-friends” attitude, never during Stalin’s reign, get you sent acknowledging the USSR’s “col- right to the Gulag or even shot. lective” approach to producing And the “offense” needn’t be communist challengers while con- important or even political. structing a Berlin Wall of collusion In 1954, despite being national to block the progress over three champion, Averbakh himself was decades of Western threats like made a neviezdny—one who was- Sammy Reshevsky and Fischer. n’t allowed abroad—because, Averbakh cruises through a quick cranky and tired from losses to recollection of 1953 Zurich with- Donald Byrne in the USA-USSR out even a whisper of the match, he refused instructions to conspiracy now acknowledged help with teammate Alexander (with at least ostensible repen- Kotov’s adjournment. Averbakh tance) by the super-tournament’s rehabilitated himself by joining chief chronicler and second-place the Communist Party. Always and finisher, Bronstein. everywhere, life is a series of Ironically, Bobby Fischer made accommodations. Averbakh president of the USSR The next year he served as Chess Federation. Soviet chess teenage Boris Spassky’s second apparatchiks were diving out of to the 1955 World Junior Cham- the way before the bulldozer pionship. After winning the event, Bobby was driving left them try- Spassky, channeling his salty- ing to explain the shambles to tongued trainer Alexander Tolush, their bosses. There were no oth- issued a barrage of foul language ers who “wanted to put their neck while playing billiards in Antwerp on the line.” That left Yuri. So with the Soviet ambassador, who they made him an offer he could- dutifully reported the lapse in n’t “refusenik.” comportment to the Sports Com- Centre Stage and Behind the Scenes: The Personal Averbakh felt compelled to visit mittee. Spassky was immediately Memoir of a Soviet Chess Legend by Yuri Averbakh. Spassky’s training camp, and the recalled to Moscow for a hearing— New In Chess, 2011, 272 pages, $32.95 from uscf- peek we get confirms the legend of sales.com (catalog number B0109NIC). which would have kept him from Boris as the loveable, lazy Russ- going to the Interzonal in Stock- ian bear of chess. “The table was holm and perhaps derailed his career. Luckily for his charge, covered with dominos and playing cards, and when it came to Averbakh knew how to ooze just the right oil on the perilous lunchtime, a smiling Boris produced a bottle of whisky.” With waters, and the young champ went on to play in Sweden. all the pressure from the Kremlin to stop Fischer, you might Like anyone, Averbakh seeks to put himself in a good light. expect instead a dour cadre of Russian theoreticians laboring Three-time U.S. and Ukrainian champion GM Lev Alburt, who into the wee hours to uncover ambushes in the Najdorf Sicil- defected in 1979, told me that “Averbakh never did anything ian. So I asked Alburt if he could verify Averbakh’s image. hurtful unless he was really forced to.” High praise, I suppose, “Well, not exactly,” he laughed. “When I visited, it was only a for a long-term Soviet apparatchik. After all, few have the con- bottle of vodka.” victions and courage of a Boris Gulko, who, in The KGB Plays Oddly, there’s nary a diagram or a chess move in the book, Chess—a truly revelatory and important book—, recalls Aver- which seems a strange omission when the onboard position is bakh as a willing KGB-collaborator. Sometimes, even in central to a specific reminiscence. Just a dozen or so well-placed Averbakh’s own version, we can see through the cracks in the game snapshots would have added a lot of interest for the book’s persona. book’s target audience. In 1974 Viktor Korchnoi had written Averbakh an insult- If a book, like a restaurant meal, has to be judged in part ing letter blaming him for the late starting time for his finalist based on its potential, then this one is like getting a plate of match with Anatoly Karpov, which turned out, when Bobby beans at Morton‘s Steakhouse. They’re nice beans, but you’d Fischer refused to defend his title, to be the de facto world expect a meatier dish. PHOTO: MACAULEY PETERSON PHOTO:
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Looks at Books
Still Going Strong: Yuri Averbakh By MACAULEY PETERSON
This month a great chess player, historian, tant to win, but to do so artistically. Each whereby he or she may hit that peak of author and trainer turns ninety years old. chess game is an opportunity for artistic concentration and creativity. Yuri Lvovich Averbakh lives in Moscow, expression. The Russian grandmaster Finding a personal approach is impor- and during a visit to the Tal Memorial in Vladimir Simagin was one. tant for Averbakh. In the West we have November, he invited me to the Moscow often heard lauded the “Botvinnik school,” Sometimes a player doesn’t fit neatly Central Chess Club (now dedicated in the training methods followed by many of into one category, but is instead a hybrid honor of Mikhail Botvinnik) on Gogolevsky today’s top grandmasters—including Kas- of two. David Bronstein and Mikhail Tal, Boulevard, for a friendly chat. parov and Kramnik. But Averbakh stresses for instance were both fighters and artists. In a hall flanked by black and white that Botvinnik’s method only works for Averbakh counts himself among the sci- portraits of grandmasters and formal Botvinnik, citing as an example Taimanov’s entists, and in fact he studied engineering world champions, with a chessboard in crushing defeat at the hands of Bobby before becoming a professional chess player. front of him, Averbakh shared some of his Fischer in their 1971 Candidates Match. “I discovered immediately when I insights into professional chess, and how “[Botvinnik] wrote ‘this is my method’ started ... that I have not enough motiva- he approaches the game, both as a com- and you can see the story of Taimanov ... tion to be a real champion. But from petitor, and now as a coach and mentor. He asked Botvinnik to help him and another point [of view] I like to analyze, I Of particular interest to me was his Botvinnik gave him lots of advice. This like to work on chess, and of course my characterization of players based on sty- advice was very good for Botvinnik but not approach was scientific.” listic archetypes. He has six: for Taimanov, because Taimanov was a As a professional, Averbakh tried completely different man—completely dif- Killers: Marked by the desire not only to methodically to improve his game by exer- ferent—in approach to life [and] to chess.” win, but to score decisive knockout blows. cising his subconscious mind, and Taimanov, a concert pianist has an Alexander Alekhine, Viktor Korchnoi, and intuition. “It is very important to raise con- “artistic personality,” says Averbakh, and Mikhail Botvinnik were killers. sciousness when you are working in therefore an artist such as Mikhail Tal chess,” he explains. Theatre has long Fighters: Have an extreme will to win, but would have been better suited to aid his played an important role in Russian cul- not necessarily by knockout. “[Garry] match preparation. Nevertheless, ture, and Averbakh found inspiration as Kasparov is a fighter with strong motiva- Taimanov counted himself as a pupil of a player in the method-acting training tion. Let’s say he’s half fighter, half killer.” Botvinnik and so sought his help instead. approach of Constantine Stanislavski. Avarbakh sees this as a mistake. Averbakh notes that the necessary qual- It turns out a relative of Averbakh’s “It was necessary to think about Fischer ities of fighters and killers may be harmful wife was a student of Stanislavski, and too, because [Botvinnik] gave advice, not to a player’s life away from chess. Kas- recommended that the young Averbakh thinking about what personality Fischer parov, he suggests, isn’t a successful examine Stanislavski’s oeuvre. “May I [had], because he wanted to fight Fis- politician because he’s too much of a say I was looking for what I have found in cher on Fischer’s territory. And Fischer on killer, too eager to score that knockout Stanislavski’s work—a way how to his territory was too strong for Taimanov blow, which runs counter to the political approach chess [analysis]. To use the —too strong,” he emphasizes. requirement of compromise. same system which Stanislavski used in Nowadays, Averbakh says he is trying [the] theatre. The same approach.” Sportsmen: View chess like any other to combine the scientific and artistic “For instance I was working on some game. They play to win, but lack any approaches. “When I look at chess, I try ideas in endings ... I had one problem to obsessive tendencies, and away from the to represent games as theatre. You can solve and I couldn't find the solution. chessboard are readily able to lead a nor- show on a chess board, any kind of play And when I was not working on this ... I mal life. José Raúl Capablanca and Boris —drama, tragedy, comedy, ballet. All what was away somewhere, not over the chess- Spassky are two. is typical for art, you can represent on a board, but immediately I found the Gamblers: chess board.” Enjoy many games, such as bil- solution, because my mind was working. In the theatre you may find a tragedy liards or cards. Karpov is the classic example. The gap between a strong grandmaster in four acts, but Averbakh showed me the and a world championship candidate is These first four groups all have strong “tragedy of one tempo.” partly a difference in the ability to attain motivation, endemic to their character. peak performance during the game. Aver- Scientists (also known as Explorers): bakh thinks this is about more than just -+-tr-+r+ Approach chess the way they would sci- study of positions, but it lies in the subcon- +-+-+-+k ence, with a particular fondness for scious churning away while the player is, analysis. Chief among their aims is the for instance, walking in a park or sitting in -+-+-+-+ accumulation of knowledge—they seek the theatre watching a performance. +-+-+-+K to understand chess, but may lack the “I believe it is the best way to create real single-minded focus on victory that it chess masters: To use Stanislavski’s system.” -+-+-+-+ takes to reach the absolute summit of But what does this mean in practice? It’s +-+-+-+- the chess hierarchy. These include Aron clearly an individual process, which may Nimzowitsch and Akiba Rubinstein. not be amenable to sweeping generaliza- -+-+-+-+ tions. Averbakh seemed to be describing And finally: +-+RtR-+- the need for a player to get himself into a White to move and win or Artists: For artists, it is not only impor- particular frame of mind at the board, Black to move and draw
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If it were Black to play after exchang- White has two rooks against the queen, 1993 at age 71, but since then he has ing rooks he would reach an easy draw. and the move. worked extensively as a coach. He relates But White to move can win. an observation working with children 1. Rg2+ Kf8 (Of course 1. ... Kh8 allows from remote areas of Russia during a 1. Re7+ Kh8 2. Kh6 Rge8 is forced. 3. Rdd7! mate on the h-file.) summer camp. Kg8 4. Kg6 and the rooks will soon mate. “And now the ballet starts.” “I discovered these children are not Averbakh moves on to a “comedy.” developed—not on the same level as [chil- 2. Kg5+! Kg7 Moving to the e-file allows dren in] Moscow or [St. Petersburg] or a -+-+-+-+ the king and queen to be skewered. big city ... And chess can help them to +-+-+-+K 3. Kf4+ Kf6 4. Kg3+ Kg5 5. Kf2+ Kf4 6. take the necessary level,” not with the Kg1+! And Black finds himself without a aim of training new chess professionals, but simply to prepare them academically. -tR-+-+-vL partner, and soon without a queen! “Teaching in chess is also an art,” +-+-+k+- “It means that you can represent on the Averbakh suggests, “because it’s neces- -zp-+-+-+ chessboard, all kinds of dramas—of the- sary to have an individual approach. atrical exhibitions. And this is a very Let’s say you have thirty people, and [not +PzP-+-+- interesting approach because it shows all of them can] be world champion. pvl-+-+-+ that chess is not only a sport, but chess Maybe one from thousands. But for many is an art. It is very good for teaching, for people it is just amusement, practically, +-+-+-+- instance, girls, because not every girl and good spending of time.” White to move likes to fight, but for them a theatrical For a child to succeed “it’s necessary approach is more interesting.” [that] he must be interested in it. If he’s White has an extra rook, but Black Averbakh finds the pedagogical device not interested, it will be no good really.” threatens to queen his a-pawn. is equally effective amongst young children Chess has the advantage that it’s such a 1. Rb5+ and his work with elderly people, using rich game, allowing for a variety of styles chess as a means of fending off Alzheimer’s and approaches. Unlike cards or other Black cannot move the king to the disease. Middle-aged women have no inter- games, Averbakh thinks, “chess can help fourth rank because of Rxb4+ and Ra4 est in fighting either, but show them a anybody with the right approach.” stopping the pawn. Therefore: position where the movement of the pieces If a child is to move on to study chess mirrors a ballet or comedy and they can 1. ... Ke6 2. Ra5 more seriously, he adds, “first of all it’s become happily engaged. necessary to understand what he wants,” Now if 2. ... a1=Q, 3. Rxa1 Bxa1 4. Of course, Averbakh retains a wealth of whether it be to become world champion, cxb4, and only White can win. So ... first hand knowledge about chess as a or simply to use chess as a means of sport. In his professional career, the high 2. ... Ba3 self-development. “And after you discover , renewing the threat. point was his 1954 win of the USSR [that], it’s necessary to work to develop his 3. Bg7 a simple move, but one which Championship, at the age of thirty-two. best qualities in this direction.” doesn’t obviously solve White’s problem. “In my time, the best time to be a world As he moves into his ninth decade, champion was before forty. Thirty-two or 3. ... a1=Q 4. Re5+ Kd6 Averbakh remains active, busying himself (4. ... Kf7 5. thirty-three is best. Bronstein, Geller, with work on the history of chess. Inter- Rf5+, etc.). Taimanov, and Petrosian were all within estingly, the memoir, recently published 5. Rd5+! Kc6 five years of each other. Petrosian was the in English by New in Chess, was written best because he was younger.” in Russian a few years ago, but it has yet The rook cannot be captured in view of Thirty years later, in 1984, Averbakh to be published in Russia. Averbakh c4+ winning the queen! served as an arbiter of the first Karpov- reports that he now has a contract with 6. Rc5+! Kb6 Again the rook is immune. Kasparov World Championship match. a Russian publisher and expects the work “Theoretically [the] first match should 7. Rb5+! Ka6 8. Ra5+! to appear there sometime this year. be a win by Karpov, because at that time Averbakh is in remarkable shape for his At the end of this illustration, it’s nearly Karpov was practically much stronger. age, a fact he attributes to an athletic impossible to hide my amusement. Yuri But Karpov wanted not only to win, Kar- lifestyle. “When I was a young boy, I was Lvovich pounces: “You are smiling! It is pov wanted to win 6-0, to crush Kasparov. a sportsman. I played volleyball, hockey a comedy!” But it was too much. Karpov was not so and skating. I was in a school where strong to play five months, and in the sport was on a very high level.” He was Even dance can be found on the chess- final he couldn’t play. He was in very bad also a strong swimmer, and a boxer. board, and here is an example of a “ballet”: condition. His people were trying very Ironically, it was only after he began to much to help him but he was helpless. He focus on chess that Averbakh experi- -+-+q+k+ overestimated himself.” enced an unusually late growth spurt; Averbakh believes that the controver- he says he grew more than three inches +-+-+-+- sial decision by FIDE President Florencio between the ages of eighteen and twenty- -+-+-mK-+ Campomanes to stop the match was inap- five. As a volleyballer, he could have really propriate, in part because Karpov had a used that height! +-+-+-+- rematch clause in the rules. The interven- The chess world can hope that, from -+-+-+-+ tion “was not sportsmanlike,” he says. this giant of the game, still of sound body He marvels at the effect the epic match and mind, his memoir will not be the +-+-+-+- had on Kasparov, who was still just last word. . R+-+-+-+ twenty-one at the time. “Kasparov began These books by Averbakh are also avail- this match as a young boy, and finished able on uscfsales.com: Chess Endings +-+-+R+- as a man.” Essential Knowledge and Chess Tactics White to move Averbakh played his last tournament in For Advanced Players.
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Chess to Enjoy Will You Walk Into My Parlour?
By GM Andy Soltis Greed is punished most dramatically in opening traps. But these days it’s other transgressions that can cost you the game.
Opening traps used to be the morality c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6. tales of chess. They were mini-parables After 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 c6 rsn-wqkvlntr about the wages of sin, particularly the sin 7. Qc2 Black usually castles and looks for zp-+-zppzpp of avarice: an opportunity to simplify his way to One side delays development to win a safety by trading pieces, such as 7. ... 0- Nzpp+-+-+ pawn. He knows the dangers of pawn- 0 8. Nf3 Ne4, e.g. 9. Nxe4 dxe4 10. Qxe4? +-+-+l+- grabbing but goes ahead anyway—and Bxg5. gets crushed. -+-zP-+-+ The moral was clear. Don’t be greedy. rsnlwqk+-tr +-+-+-+- Play safe moves and live a clean life. But a new generation of devilish traps zpp+-vlpzpp PzPP+-zPPzP punishes players for making ... well, safe- -+p+-sn-+ tR-vLQmKLsNR looking moves. Consider the following After 6. Na6 position, which appears hundreds of +-+p+-vL- times in databases. It can come about -+-zP-+-+ The other Fischer Trap arises in the from several openings, including 1. c4, 1. Sicilian Defense’s Accelerated Dragon, 1. Nf3, and 1. d4. One popular route is 1. d4 +-sN-zP-+- e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qc2 dxc4 5. Qxc4 PzPQ+-zPPzP and now 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 0- Bf5 6. Nc3 e6 7. g3 Nbd7 8. Bg2 Be7 9. 0. Bobby loved to set up an attacking 0-0 0-0. tR-+-mKLsNR After 7. Qc2 formation, with Qd2, f2-f3, Bb3, 0-0-0 r+-wq-trk+ and h2-h4-h5. But Petrosian chose the immediate 7. To reach the desired position, White zpp+nvlpzpp ... Ne4?? and discovered to his horror should play 8. Bb3 and then 8. ... d6 9. -+p+psn-+ that he was lost after 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. f3 and 10. Qd2. But in his first Inter- Nxd5! cxd5 10. Qxc8+. zonal in 1958, Fischer played 8. f3? and +-+-+l+- Accident? Yes, but in the 60 years since was surprised by 8. ... Qb6!. -+QzP-+-+ it was first sprung, more than 60 other Black’s obvious threat is 9. ... Qxb2 players have blundered exactly this way, but he also has two subtle ones, 9. ... +-sN-+NzP- according to databases. Nxe4 and 9. ... Ng4, followed by 10. ... PzP-+PzPLzP This could be called the “Petrosian Bxd4. Fischer thought for more than an Trap.” He’s not the only world champion hour—his longest ever “think”—and man- tR-vL-+RmK- with that kind of dubious distinction. aged to draw after 9. Bb3 Nxe4?! (9. ... After 9. ... 0-0 There are two candidates for the title of Ng4!) 10. Nd5!. Since he already had a the “Fischer Trap.” reputation as an opening expert, the trap White needs a solid, developing move. One occurs in the Caro-Kann, 1. e4 c6 should have become world-famous. What is more solid than 10. Rd1 ? 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5. Bobby Yet 8. f3? Qb6! has occurred more than But this is a losing blunder because 10. experimented with 5. Nc5. It’s not a bad 1,000 times(!), according to databases. ... Bc2! threatens the rook and also cuts move. But twice on his Fischer’s cele- Among the victims was Paul Keres. off the queen’s retreat (11. ... Nb6!). White brated 1964 simultaneous exhibition tour Today’s traps occur in modern openings is lost. At least 15 strong players, includ- he met 5. ... b6 with 6. Na6?. but they often use tactical tricks that are ing grandmasters like Maya Chiburdanidze (see diagram top of next column) well over a century old. One arises in a and Istvan Csom, have fallen for this. trendy line of the Trompowsky Attack, This is another feature of today’s traps. Neither of his opponents found the 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. c3 Qb6. They often claim a great player as their punishing 6. ... Nxa6 7. Bxa6 Qd5!, which A natural move is the innocent-looking victim—even their first victim. That was threatens to win the bishop with 8. ... 5. Qb3. How could offering to go into an the case when Tigran Petrosian, in his Qa5+ and to raid the kingside with 8. ... endgame be risky? first game in a Soviet championship, met Qxg2. White may not be completely lost The answer lies in 5. ... cxd4, so that 6. 1. d4 with the safest defense there was, after 8. Be2 Qxg2 9. Bf3 Qg6 but his cxd4 Qxd4. White can avoid this with 6. the Queen’s Gambit Declined, 1. ... d5 2. position isn’t promising. Qxb6 axb6—but would be in trouble after
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Problem I Problem II Problem III Olaf Olaf Ulvestad Larry Yeager Olaf Ulvestad Al Horowitz Olaf Ulvestad Anthony Santasiere
This year marks the 100th anniver- -+-+-+k+ -+-+rtrk+ -+-tr-+-+ sary of the birth of one of America’s zpL+-zpp+p zppzp-+pzpp zpl+-vl-mk- least known stars. Olaf Ulvestad won Pzp-trl+p+ -+-vl-wq-+ -zpq+p+-+ no titles higher than Washington +-+-+-+- +-+-+-+- +-zp-zP-+Q state champion but amassed an impressive record over 40 years that -zP-+-+-+ -+Lsn-+-+ -+-+-zP-+ included wins over Lajos Portisch +-+-vL-zPn +P+-sN-+P zP-+-vL-mK- and David Bronstein and a tie for -+-+-zPKzP P+-wQ-zPP+ -zPP+-+-+ third place in the 1948 U.S. Cham- +-tR-+-+- tR-+-+RmK- +-+-+R+- pionship. The Two Knights Defense line that runs 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. White to play Black to play White to play Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 b5!? could Problem IV Problem V Problem VI be known as the Ulvestad Variation, Olaf Ulvestad Olaf Ulvestad Herman Hesse thanks to his extensive analysis. The Arpad Elo Herman Steiner Olaf Ulvestad Chessmetrics website figures he was the 81st strongest player in the world lsn-+kvl-tr -+q+-trk+ r+-wq-trk+ at his peak, in 1946. Ulvestad, who +-+p+pzp- +-+ntRp+p +-zp-+p+- spent his later years in Spain, pro- -+-+-+-zp -+-zp-+p+ p+n+-+pzp vided us with games for this month’s quiz. In each of the following posi- +LzpPzP-+- +-zp-+-wQP +p+-+-zP- tions you are asked to find the fastest -wq-+-+-+ -zp-zP-+-+ Pvl-+-+nzP winning line of play. This will usually +Q+-+N+- +L+-+-+- +PsNp+N+- mean the forced win of a decisive -+-sN-zPPzP -zPP+-zPP+ -zP-+-zP-vL amount of material, such as a rook or minor piece. For solutions, see +-+-+RmK- +-+-+-mK- +-+RwQK+R page 71. White to play White to play Black to play
7. cxd4 Nc6 8. e3 Nb4. So he tries to 6. Nd2 (and then 6. ... Nxd4 7. Ndxe4) or escape with 7. Bxb8. something else. He decided to play more rsnlwqkvl-tr sharply and looked at 6. d5. zpp+-+pzpp rvLl+kvl-tr The point is that 6. d5 exf3 7. dxc6 -+-+psn-+ +p+pzppzpp fxg2 seems to win material (8. Bxg2 bxc6) but White can avoid that by inserting a +-+p+-vL- -zp-+-+-+ check, 8. cxd7+. -+PsN-+-+ +-+-+-+- “Instantly I played the moves. In my cal- culation I supposed that after 8. ... Qxd7 +-sN-+-+- -+-zpn+-+ or 8. ... Bxd7 I’d get the better endgame,” Shakhmaty v SSSR PzP-+PzPPzP +-zP-+-+- he wrote in . “As soon as my hand released the pawn I realized tR-+QmKL+R PzP-+PzPPzP with horror that it loses.” Black to play Black won a piece after 8. ... Nxd7!, tRN+-mKLsNR threatening both 9. ... Qxg5 and 9. ... After 7. Bxb8 10. Bxf6 Bb4+ turned the tables. gxh1=Q. He was more upset when he Fine’s game began 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. realized the trap had occurred in another Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. Bg5? cxd4 6. Nxd4 But now 7. ... dxc3! threatens to queen Soviet event that year. (In fact, two of after 8. ... cxb2. White can stop that with and the moral seemed to be that White them.) just had to avoid his faulty fifth move. 8. Be5 but then 8. ... Rxa2! won in sev- What makes some modern traps so But there have been dozen of victims of eral master games. If the idea seems diabolical is that you can fall into them via 6. ... e5 since Fine—because they kept familiar it’s very similar to what might different move orders. That didn’t happen reaching the diagram by other sequences: have happened in a celebrated game of much with old-style traps, which typi- Some fell into it via 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 Karl Schlechter’s back in 1911. cally began with 1. e4. But it occurs a lot 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 c5 and now 5. Nf3? A Russian master named Vladimir in today’s 1. d4 games. For example, cxd4 6. Nxd4 e5. Doroshkevich explained how he became check out this position. Others got there via the Benoni, 1. d4 one of the victims of a trap that begins 1. (see diagram top of next column) Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 and now 4. Nc3 c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 f5. He was white cxd4 5. Nxd4 d5 6. Bg5? e5. in a Soviet championship game in 1970 Seems routine, right? Wrong. Black is And in a 1984 match, Sammy and recalled that 4. d4 and then 4. ... e4 better after 6. ... e5! as Reuben Fine Reshevsky began a game with 1. d4 e6 2. 5. Bg5 had been played before. But his learned when he lost a miniature as White Nf3 c5 3. c4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d5 memory gave out when Black replied 5. after 7. Ndb5 a6 and then 8. Nxd5? axb5 6. Bg5?—and was punished by Larry ... Nf6. 9. Nxf6+. Christiansen’s 6. ... e5!. . Doroshkevich spent 15 minutes trying He expected to win after 9. ... gxf6 10. to recall whether the right response was Qxd8+ and 11. Bxf6+. But 9. ... Qxf6! Read Chess Life Online’sdaily news updates.
uschess.org Chess Life — February 2012 17 CL_02-2012_pando_JP_r8_chess life 1/11/2012 2:42 PM Page 18
Solitaire Chess The Great Vera Menchik
By Bruce Pandolfini Join the club!
9. … Ne7 Vera Menchik (1906-1944) was possibly that the note to Black’s move is over and the first woman to compete successfully White’s move is in the next line.** Not 9. ... Nd4?, dropping a pawn after with the top male players. She captured 5. f3 Par Score 4 10. Nxd4 exd4 11. Bxd4 (1 bonus point). the first official women’s title in 1927 and If 9. ... Na5, then 10. b3, with 11. g4, and wound up defending her women’s world White plays the Sämisch Variation, then 12. Ng3 offers full play on the king- championship all six times it was con- full credit securing e4 and g4. Receive for side. Sir George’s countrymen, Amos tested. It was master Albert Becker who the alternatives 5. Nf3, the Classical Sys- Burn and F.D. Yates, retreated 9. ... Nc6- supposedly made up the concept of the tem; 5. f4, the Four Pawns Attack; 5. b8, following up with ... a7-a5, ... Nb8-a6, Vera Menchik Club, which consisted of top Be2, the Averbakh System; and 5. g3, and ... Na6-c5. It’s awfully slow, and men Menchik defeated. Soon thereafter the Fianchetto Variation. when the knight reaches c5, it butts up Becker became its first member. In the fol- 5. … 0-0 against the solidly guarded e4-pawn.** lowing game between Menchik and George 10. g4 Par Score 5 Thomas (Black), played in London in 1932, 6. Be3 Par Score 5 Thomas is added to the club very nicely. White stakes out space on the kingside. The game began: full credit Accept for 6. Nge2 e5 7. Bg5. 10. … Nd7 If 6. Bg5, there follows 6. ... c5. Kings Indian Defense, 6. … e5 Black is thinking about reposting the Sämisch Variation (E70) knight at c5, but there’s also the idea of Even here 6. ... c5 can be played as a Vera Menchik following with the advance ... f7-f5. As we gambit, but no one knew that in 1932. George Thomas already know, c5 is not a great square ver- Well, no one talked about it in public.** London, 1932 sus the Sämisch, so maybe 10. ... Ne8, 7. Nge2 Par Score 5 guarding g7, with the idea of playing ... f7- ** 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 f5, is probably better. This was Alekhine’s recommendation in 11. Rg1 Par Score 5 rsnlwqk+-tr place of the immediate 7. d5 (for which we award full credit). The idea 7. dxe5 dxe5 Often the rook remains on h1 to sup- zppzp-zppvlp 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 (only 4 points part credit) port the advance, h2-h4-h5. But as the -+-zp-snp+ was Botvinnik’s choice versus Tal, 1961. present game shows the h-pawn can It doesn’t offer advantage, but against advance without rook support. It’s place- +-+-+-+- Tal it usually wasn’t a bad notion to get ment at g1 is to discourage f7-f5. Now -+PzPP+-+ queens off the board. White is poised to open the g-file against 7. … b6 the black king. +-sN-+-+- 11. … a5 PzP-+-zPPzP Black’s choice is a rightly forgotten move that reduces options on the queen- Black aims to prevent b2-b4, thus tR-vLQmKLsNR side. Today, 7. ... c6, with 8. ... Nbd7, is securing c5 for the knight. Despite White’s Your starting position the main line. Perhaps Sir George wanted last move, 11. ... f5 should be played, to avoid 7. ... Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. c5.** because without this advance Black is Now make sure you have the above 8. Qd2 Par Score 5 sure to get out-spaced on the kingside. position set up on your chessboard. As After 11. ... f5 12. gxf5 gxf5 13. Bh6, the move 13. ... Ng6 defends and even threat- you play through the remaining moves in Menchik prepares 0-0-0 in the short ** this game, use a piece of paper to cover run and Bh6 in the long run. Add 1 bonus ens ... Qd8-h4+. the article, exposing White’s next move point for each thought. 12. 0-0-0 Par Score 5 only after trying to guess it. If you guess 8. … Nc6 correctly, give yourself the par score. To quote the great Fred Reinfeld: “Cas- Sometimes points are also rewarded for 9. d5 Par Score 5 tles queenside!” second-best moves, and there may be 12. … Nc5 bonus points—or deductions—for other Menchik is agreeable as the advance moves and variations. Note that ** means comes with tempo on the knight. 13. Ng3 Par Score 5
18 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_pando_JP_r8_chess life 1/11/2012 2:42 PM Page 19
Problem I Problem II Problem III ABCs of Chess Pin Pin Skewer -+-wq-+k+ -+-mk-+r+ -mk-tr-+-+ These problems are all related to +-+-+pzpp +-zpq+-+- +pzpq+-+- key positions in this month’s game. -+-+-+-+ -+-+-+-+ -+-zpl+-+ In each case, Black is to move. The answers can be found in Solutions +-+pzp-+- +-+-+-zp- +-+-+-+- on page 71. -+-+P+-+ -+-+-vL-+ -+-+-+-sn February Exercise: +-+P+-+P +-+P+-+l +-+P+-vL- Create a spe- -+-+-zPP+ -+-+-zPL+ -+P+-+L+ cial book or file. Every time you play a game, or analyze through one, sum- +-+Q+-mK- +-+Q+RmK- +-+Q+RmK- marize the three most important ideas you’ve derived from that experience. Problem IV Problem V Problem VI The notations might refer to moves, Trapping Trapping Mating net maneuvers, plans, techniques, pit- falls, or anything of consequence. -+-+-+-mk -+k+-+r+ -+-+-+-+ You may even go elsewhere, if the chess material suggests useful or +-+-snr+p +-zp-+-+- +-+k+-+- intriguing matters in other areas of -+-+-zppwQ -+-zpq+n+ -+-+-+-+ your life. Make a habit of reviewing +-+-+-+P +-+-zp-wQ- +-+-zp-+- this mounting register at least several -+-+-+-+ -+-+-+-zP -+-zpPsn-+ times a week. Such reinforcement will naturally strengthen your game +-+-+-+- +-+-+-+- +-+-+KvLq as it suggests something else: that so -zP-+-+-+ -+P+-vL-mK -+-wQ-zP-+ much of learning has to do with +K+-+-+- +-+-+R+- +-+RtR-+- relearning.
16. Bh6 Par Score 5 No credit for 13. Bxc5 bxc5. This would Deduct 2 points for making either bad be a misuse of the dark-square bishop, choice. White eliminates a key defender, after which has a more important role to play. which the dark squares around the black 20. … Kh8 13. … Bd7 king are weak. If 20. ... Kxf6, then 21. Qg5+ Kg7 22. 16. … Qa7 Now it’s too late for 13. ... f5, which h6+ Kg8 23. Qf6 and mate at g7 to follow (1 bonus point).** would have been answered by 14. gxf5 If 16. ... Bxh6, then 17. Qxh6 brings the gxf5 15. Nh5 Ng6 16. Nxg7 Kxg7 (16. ... queen too close to the king.** 21. Qh6 Par Score 5 f4 17. Bxc5) 17. Bh6+, winning the 17. Bxg7 Par Score 5 Exchange (accept 2 bonus points for so White infiltrates on the weak dark ** squares and threatens mate. analyzing). 17. … Kxg7 14. h4 Par Score 5 21. … axb2+ 18. Nf5+! Par Score 6 White seeks contact with the g6-pawn 22. Kb1 Par Score 5 (1 and the eventual opening of the h-file 18. … Nxf5 bonus point). Here the white king is safe. 14. … a4 If 18. ... Kf6, then 19. g5 is mate (1 22. … Rg8 bonus point). On 18. ... gxf5 there follows Better 14. ... f6, to answer 15. h5 with 15. 19. gxf5+ Kh8 20. Qh6 Rg8 (20. ... Ng6 21. 23. hxg6 Par Score 5 ... g5. That would have kept the lines closed. hxg6 fxg6 22. fxg6) 21. Qf6+ Rg7 22. Threatening Qxh7 mate (1 bonus point). There’s also the trap 14. ... f6 15. Bh6 Qxg7 mate (2 bonus points). Bxh6 16. Qxh6 Kh8 17. h5? g5, with Ne7- Better would have been 18. ... Bxf5, 23. … fxg6 1 g8 catching the entombed queen. Add since the bishop plays no role in the sub- bonus point If 23. ... Rxg6, then 24. Rxg6 (1 bonus if you saw through that one. On sequent proceedings.** point).** 14. ... f6 White would probably have played 19. gxf5 Par Score 5 15. Be2 and 16. f4 (1 bonus point). Note that 24. Qxh7+ Par Score 5 15. ... Qc8 16. f4 exf4 17. Bxf4 Bxg4 fails 19. … a3 On 24. ... Kxh7, it’s over with 25. Rh1+ to 18. Bxg4 Qxg4 19. Nf5 and wins.** Bh3 26. Rxh3 mate (1 bonus point). This 15. h5 Par Score 5 There is no satisfactory way to is more potent than 24. Rh1 (only 3 points strengthen the kingside defenses, so Black part credit), allowing 24. ... Bh3 25. Rxh3 White maintains the general plan of a goes all out on the queenside.** c6, delaying mate. kingside attack, thinking of opening lines. 20. f6+ Par Score 5 24. … Black resigned. . 15. … Qb8 If 20. bxa3, then 20. ... Qxa3+ plays into Perhaps Black eyed some hope of sack- Black’s hands. The same would have For scoring box, see page 71. ing on a3, opening the b-file.** been true for 20. b3 Nxb3+ 21. axb3 a2.
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Cover Story
20 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_hiphop_AKF_r8_FBOUTLINES_chess life 1/10/12 1:13 PM Page 21
uschess.org Chess Life — February 2012 21 CL_02-2012_hiphop_AKF_r8_FBOUTLINES_chess life 1/10/12 1:14 PM Page 22 CL_02-2012_hiphop_AKF_r8_FBOUTLINES_chess life 1/10/12 1:14 PM Page 23 CL_02-2012_hiphop_AKF_r8_FB_1-885923504.e$S_chess life 1/12/12 2:27 PM Page 24
Cover Story
24 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_hiphop_AKF_r8_FB_1-885923504.e$S_chess life 1/10/12 1:17 PM Page 25
Adisa Banjoko: “I’m not trying to really cultivate competitive chess players out of these kids. I just want them to survive.” Behind Banjoko, left to right: Sam Martin, Shanghua Zhong, Warren Medina, Jesus Medina.
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By NELLY ROSARIO
February is the month for lovers, including, and especially, chess mates.
26 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_Valentinest_AKF_r9_chess life 1/12/12 2:37 PM Page 27
Chess & Love
HESS PLAYERS, REJOICE. The Medieval troubadour was in part responsible for landing You would have been sexy in the Middle Ages, when skills the queen on the chessboard and thus sexualizing the game, on the chessboard was what separated the wheat from according to Yalom. It was the troubadour’s verses that put the chaff among singles looking for mates of distinction. women on pedestals and at the center of romantic conquest. He The chessboard came to qualify as a sexual space after the sang of checkmate in the game of love, of suffering under the queen’s appearance drew more and more women and girls to multi-squared wiles of his beloved, of woman as the object of the game, according to historian Marilyn Yalom in Birth of the conquest and as the font of a male bliss earned valiantly Chess Queen. For the nobility in Europe, a highly ritualized and through knightly trial and tribulation—jousting, difficult jour- hierarchical game like chess, where each piece moves in its pre- neys, pain, injury, and other acts of chivalry that further scribed directions, served as the perfect excuse for lovebirds to popularized the erotic nature of chess. spar their hearts out on a level playing field. Chess and romance are no longer bedfellows in our collec- Circa 2003, Carl sits in my apartment in Brooklyn. We’re lis- tive psyche. Online dating sites like www.chesslover.co.uk, tening to Dead Prez, warily measuring the strange chemistry which markets itself as helping singles find their “perfect between us. match,” elicit chuckles from chess players and non-players alike. Definitely not my type, this ‘round the way boy. Way too young. The crudest and most literal image I have of chessboard as sex- Uniformed in baggy jeans, baseball caps, sneakers, and T- ual space is from Brian Kaplan, a high-school classmate who shirts. Line of work unclear. Built like a football player. Not much told me that he “once saw two homeless people [embraced] on of a talker, either, save for the occasional disyllabic phrase: the chess tables in Washington Square Park back in the ’80s.” “whattup,” “don’t know,” “hey ma.” Far more telling of the contemporary divorce of chess from sex “You play?” he says, fiddling with the chessboard on my cof- or romance is the fact that Kaplan prefaced this anecdote with: fee table. “Why else would I have a set?” I say. “Probably inappropriate for [Chess Life]”. “True, true.” For those who live and breathe chess, discussing the game No sir, no way, no how, I’m thinking. in relation to that other game describes a game unto itself. He sets up the pieces. Queens on their colors, white square “In most games, I am thinking about girls for about 50-75 per- to the right, all that jazz. He chooses black. When I offer a switch, cent of the time,” says Grandmaster and American champion he shrugs, says, “Nah. White makes the first mistake, ma.” Alexander Shabalov in Jennifer Shahade’s 2005 book Chess And then we spar our hearts out, right beside the fica tree Bitch, “another 50 percent goes to time management, and with in the living room.
Love and War are the same thing, and stratagems and policy are as allowable in the one as in the other. —Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
what’s left over I am calculating.” He plays like his build, steadily forging ahead and gaining ter- “It’s actually a sexy game,” British international master ritory with his quarterbacks. Oh, how he works those little men. Jovanka Houska tells The Telegraph. “It’s the clash of wills, the It’s sexy as all hell, the leaden simplicity and perseverance of intellectual battle, the power struggle between a man and a his game. woman. That’s quite romantic.” Touchdown, checkmate, whatever ... Guardian writer Stephen Moss’ view is that the true nature of chess is “a Darwinian struggle for power and sexual Serbian Woman GM Maria Manakova had her own sweet sur- supremacy.” He echoes the common Freudian view that the render. Here’s how she describes to The Telegraph her first game desire to play chess in males is born out of a subconscious desire against ex-husband Serbian grandmaster Miroslav Toši : to kill the father, that the importance/impotence of the king is “I made a move. I didn’t go with my king to the corner, I went what attracts boys to the game, whose rules mirror those of sex. to the center, and my ex-husband thought, ‘Oh, she’s so brave.’ Shahade scoffs at these kinds of Oedipal models. The writer He fell in love with me immediately, because in this move was and woman grandmaster prefers a more Jungian reading of the my character, my wish to be with him. Maybe I didn’t want to game “as a system of opposites ... knowing when it is time to show it, but maybe I wanted him to win a little bit. I surren- attack and when to defend.” dered myself to him. He liked that.” Then there’s the love story of Zhu Chen, which Shahade White or black, yin or yang, Freud or Jung—whichever side writes about in her book. China’s second women’s world chess of the board one chooses, most talk of chess can be boiled down champion and the country’s 13th grandmaster first met her hus- to coded definitions of courtship and sex. band at a 1994 Asian youth tournament in Malaysia. Mohammad Al-Modiahki was Qatar’s first grandmaster and named player of the century within the Arab countries. Before Chen could Queen’s Gambit, Accepted or Declined improve her English, which Al-Modiahki speaks fluently, chess It’s time for some mind sex, we ain’t got to take our clothes off and love was their lingua franca. yet ... Relax, I got the good vibrations ... Before we make love let’s Their parents disapproved of the union, believing that there have a good conversation ... African princess, tell me yo’ inter- were too many differences between them—a sentiment that ests ... we can play a game of chess on the futon ... When you Chen refers to as a “cold war.” But Chen and Al-Modiahki show me your mind, it make me wanna show you mines…Before stayed together. “There are many combinations with the king and the night’s through, we could get physical too ... Opposites queen that are quite beautiful,” she says in an Asian Times inter- attract that’s the basis ... Our sex is the wind that separates the view. And in her own autobiography she writes, “Chess is a good yin from the yang way to bridge different cultures in a peaceful way, and my rela- —“Mind Sex”, Dead Prez tionship with Al Modiahaki is a great example of this.”
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Chess & Love
Chess is also a good way to bridge gay characters with about spirituality and the state of the Middle East. straight moviegoers. But Carl had taught me a thing or two about perseverance. “[C]ultural divisions over race have been supplanted in the pop- One day, two of my queens mated peaceart’s king to death, and ular American consciousness by a debate over gay rights,” says I haven’t played him since. E! Online writer Jennifer Arrow. She’s referring to the tacit love affair between future archenemies Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) of Marvel Comic’s X-Men saga. The Kibtizin’ 2011 summer blockbuster X-Men: First Class includes a chess The mating game seems to amount to a certain type of chess game between them that’s all too reminiscent of the famous problem addressed by Vladimir Nabokov in the preface to his sexually-charged scene between Faye Dunaway and Steve novel The Luzhin Defense: McQueen in the 1968 crime thriller The Thomas Crown Affair. “... the point is not merely the finding of a mate in so many Arrow points to scenes in which the two mutants (i.e., gay) “loll moves, but what is termed ‘retrograde analysis,’ the solver around together on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial while ‘play- being required to prove from a back-cast study of the diagram’s ing chess’ and gazing at the oh-so-phallic Washington Monument. position that Black’s last move could not have been castling or No, seriously, ‘playing chess’ is obviously PG-13 movie code for must have been the capture of a white knight en passant.” ‘And then Magneto and Professor X did it ... again.’” And there it is, a modern-day take on the Medieval associa- In other words, a good part of the pleasure we derive from tion of the image of the (mixed-sex) chess match with romance. romance is not merely in the culmination of the sex act itself In fact, according to Yalom, the image of chess play between a (a petite mort lasts seconds), but in the chase (pre-mort) and in man and a woman came to be so strongly linked to romance the Monday-morning quarterbacking (post-mort). in the Middle Ages that the mere use of it as cover art suggested Before and after the king is dead, then, it’s off to the skittles love and sex as subject matter, whether or not actual game play room for all matter of pre- and post-mortem kibitzing, of wheel- factored in the content. ing and dealing and quickies. In The Chess Artist, writer and But alas, though it’s 2011, proponents of gay marriage believe chess enthusiast J. C. Hallman recalls his first visit to a World that we’re still living in the Dark Ages. Unlike Chen and Al-Modi- Open skittles room in Philadelphia with the kind of melancholy ahki, Professor X and Magneto must remain closeted forevermore. a church boy would on being introduced to a brothel: “They should be married and living happily ever after,” insists Arrow, but for now “they’ll spend the rest of their lives in mis- “I watched them play for a time, two or three dollars a game ... erable devotion ... facing each other from across the line, instead and the room’s mood was lively. But I found the Skittles Room of living together in Westchester mansion splendor, ‘playing depressing ... I wanted organized chess to be a thing that elevated chess’ until they’re too old and creaky to ‘move the pieces’.” culture ... Here in the Skittles room, chess was still just a toy ...”
My own miserable devotion was to an online player named Yes, kid, sex is just a toy, is the message proposed by a good “peaceart.” That “marriage” lasted a month. He was a trash-talk- number of self-published “dating-advice” books geared towards ing, 45-year-old Aquarius from Canada, miles ahead of me in men. I’ll reluctantly mention Bettor[sic] Off Single: Why Commit- rank. A rather abusive relationship. Our chat box would be just ment Is A Bad Gamble For Men by one Ray Gordon, if only as often littered with at-sign bleeps as with civil digressions on because it’s chess-sex kibitzing gone wild. In this e-clunker, a mid- the nature of peace and art. He had a crush on my avatar, a dle-aged, self-avowed “PUA” (pick-up artist) and amateur chess curly-haired brown girl in a blue halter top, back-dropped by player performs “a meticulous post-mortem on his entire career.” soaring dolphins. Yes, I’m a blundering fish of a player. And The manual, priced at a whopping $0, is geared towards the peaceart’s aggressive game aroused me. We flirted in English, “seduction community” and divided into two volumes, comprised Spanish, and Italian. He mentioned his amazing trip to the of 44 lessons further subdivided into Field Reports. Each field Dominican Republic, the beaches, the music, the women, how report concludes with an Obligatory Postgame Network Press an Italian stallion and a Dominicana would be explosive—a Conference, followed by an After Further Review. (It’s worth men- remote possibility, further sabotaged by his constant play on tioning here that the character of Grandmaster Luzhin in the word “checkmate,” along with a porn clip he e-mailed that Vladimir Nabokov’s novel suffers a nervous breakdown). went straight to my spam folder. “Chess was my way of making seduction my top priority ... After two weeks of humiliating games, peaceart was the devil and this is why I was getting results: I was actually trying, while I knew. He played in that romantic chess style of the 19th cen- most of my peers were living on autopilot, not developing any tury, gambits galore. Cheap tactics included chats in all-caps alpha gimmicks,” writes Gordon in what has to be the most Gift ideas for the afficionado... • White- and milk-chocolate chess sets—$45 to $300 • “Love Chess Heart” sticker by HappyDoggies—$6 • RockLove Jewelry’s “King and Queen” sterling-silver earrings (or any same-sex pair from the Chess Earring collection)—$96 • Donation to 9Queens, an organization that “provides chess instruction to those most in need of the game’s benefits, especially girls and at-risk youth”—$1 and up.
28 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_Valentinest_AKF_r9_chess life 1/11/12 12:58 PM Page 29
TMI’d, bizarre, and psychotic PDFs I’ve ever scrolled through— kiss is made further secretive by the framing of the couple inside an endless string of projected moves, crackpot tactics, and the product bottle, which stands rather erect in the foreground. strategies on how to find “love,” or at least try to. Behind the couple and partly framed within the bottle is a Chess is not an easy [conquest], says even Burt Hochberg, naughty little voyeur—the black bishop (f5)! Refraction bends game expert and former Chess Life editor. Apparently, neither the bishop’s upper body to suggest that he’s leaning towards are women, because it takes Gordon 591 pages to demon- the couple in a gesture of curiosity and disapproval. strate to the grandmaster the delicate art of picking-up “SHBs” Meanwhile, beyond the frame of the bottle, the game of life (smoking-hot babes). appears to be in stasis for those chess pieces not immersed in At one point, Gordon considers quitting chess altogether, evok- vodka or in the throes of lust. These poor souls include: 1) a ing Hallman’s realization that he no longer wanted to be a black pawn standing alone (c3), 2) a black rook (a8) facing a serious chess player after panning the “watered-down machismo white bishop (a5) and a white pawn (b6), 3) a white pawn (d5) and bent personalities” of the Skittles room. singlehandedly confronting the black king (d8), and 4) the A woman plays chess with the devil in the 14th-century God-fearing half of the aforementioned black bishop (f5). moral treatise The Edifying Book of Erotic Chess by French I leave it to the chess analyst to divine any other subliminal mes- physician Evrart de Conty. First meant as commentary on the sages from the board positions of this ridiculously staged game: allegorical work of a poet, the extensiveness of de Conty’s notes made it a popular work in its own right. This “manual of seduc- White and Black to mate after choosing tion” offered highly symbolic descriptions of a series of “love to drink love potion. battles” between the narrator and his lady. The move-by-move narrative was meant to clarify respective—and respectable—gen- der roles in courtship (and to guide a future narrator during her r+-mk-+-+ online games with a so-called peaceart). One of the original man- +-+-+-+- uscripts was destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden in 1945. -zP-+-+-+ vL-+P+l+- Knights in Shining Armor: -+-+-+-+ Love Triangles on Squares +-zp-+-+- Back to square a1: Chess and romance are no longer bedfel- -+-+-+-+ lows in our collective psyche. However, the game pieces still +-+-+-+- embody the notions of chivalry and romance that are still big (Smirnoff, 1997) players in Western consciousness. Women are to wait (in vain) for their knights in shining armor, having been raised on Dis- ney-princess paraphernalia. A king-sized bed is a requisite of the consummate bachelor pad. Men are to be knightly and fight for a woman’s honor, be it in a sports arena, on the silver Making Moves screen or in a nightclub in Turin. Chaste or not, the bride is to The most talked about convergence of alcohol, chess, love and say ‘yes!’ to the corset and white dress, made popular during battle took place in 2006, after the 37th World Chess Olympiad the Middle Ages by Anne of Brittany as a symbol of virginity. in Turin, Italy. In this contemporary legend, coined ‘Gormally- And because illicit affairs never go out of fashion, we’re still in gate’ by the media, British GM Danny Gormally punches love with legends of knights who squarely gallop into triangles. Armenian GM and world number three Levon Aronian in a jeal- Many films have revisited the legend of Tristan and Iseult. King ous fit after Gormally sees Aronian dancing with Australian Mark (Rufus Sewell!) sends his nephew Tristan (James Franco!) Woman International Master Arianne Caoili. The duel takes place to Ireland to fetch the princess Iseult (Sophia Myles!), who is at a nightclub with the impossible name of Hiroshima Mon betrothed to the king. On the trip back, Tristan and Iseult acci- Amour. Revenge comes a few days later, when Gormally is dentally drink a love potion meant for the bride and groom, after allegedly assaulted by several of Aronian’s teammates. In the which viewer discretion is advised. Instead of depicting the lovers end, the chess world gets more press coverage than ever, the in flagrante delicto, a 14th-century carving renders them, well, dueling knights patch up, and Aronian and Caoili live on hap- engaged in a game of chess. pily ever after as a couple. The legend of Tristan and Iseult is said to have influenced that Caoili has since won the London Chess Classic Women’s other one we treasure, Lancelot and Guinevere. It’s a familiar story: Invitational Tournament and appeared as a celebrity dancer in Lancelot, King Arthur’s trusted knight, falls in love with the king’s Australia’s fifth season of “Dancing with the Stars.” wife Guinevere. A 14th-century painting depicts Lancelot send- “When two people make moves, like in sex, like in love, they ing Guinevere his prize after winning a chess game: a magic do some moves to win,” says Maria Manakova, ex-wife of chessboard in which the pieces move on their own accord. Yugoslav grandmaster Miroslav Toši . “Yes, not only he, but she, the woman.” The lasting power of these legends is especially not lost on The Erotic Book of Chess encourages women to play an active marketing forces. In 1997, Playboy ran a Smirnoff’s print ad that role in seduction. According to Yalom, not only does the woman was captioned “Pure Mate.” The photograph captures a chess make the first move by playing white, but “she initiate[s] the game in progress, during which the white queen (e1) is swept course of love through her most strategic weapon,” a weapon off her pedestal by a black knight (e2). Manakova deployed when she posed nude for the Russian Their embrace is made to look illicit in a number of dramatic men’s magazine Speed. ways. That the queen is white and the knight is black imme- “Once people see that chess is not just for nerds,” says diately appeals to taboos about crossing class and racial lines, American International Master Jeremy Silman, “but also for real not to mention the implied “beauty and beast” (white-princess people who love all that life has to offer, more people might give and black-horse-man). And whether positioned deliberately or [chess] a serious try.” by artistic license, the black king stands in his queen’s square If he’s right, Chess and Romance might just be pausing their and the white queen in her king’s square (‘off her color’). The game to open a bottle of wine. .
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2011 World Youth
Awonder Liang takes gold and Ruifeng Li takes silver at the 2011 World Youth Championship
By GM JOHN FEDOROWICZ
or the first time the World Youth Chess Championship was played in South America. Previous tournaments were played in Spain, Greece, Turkey, France, The Republic of Georgia, and Vietnam. This year’s event was hosted from November 17th to the 27th by the Brazilian town Caldas Novas, famous for it’s water parks and hot springs. I traveled with Aviv Friedman, Armen Ambartsoumian, Gennady Zaitchik and Michael Khodarkovsky. FWe always leave a few days early just in case we encounter travel snafus. JFK airport got us off to a bad start with our flight depart- ing two hours late. We made up some time on our way to Sao Paulo, but not enough to save our connection. After a seven-hour wait in Sao Paulo we finally made it to Goiânia where we were met by a small car. With poor Aviv cramped into a backseat we made our way to Caldas Novas in a driving rain storm. We conversed in Spanish with our enthusiastic young driver. GM Joel Benjamin had bigger problems as his ride from Brasilia to Caldas Novas failed to find him. The tired grandmaster arrived about 10 hours later than he should’ve after some unwanted adventures, but in one piece. Just like a year ago in Halkidiki, Greece, we had our largest delegation ever. With over 60 players, it was about 20 more than last year. Also like last year, the group was dominated by our under 8 and under 10 (30 players), making for a very inexperienced team something like we are used to. Our two highest-rated players were Eric Rosen, 2305 FIDE, and Michael Vilenchuk at 2219 FIDE. Despite this we felt we still had good medal chances. Good experienced coaches of course can help a lot and we had quite a strong crew. In addition to this author and my four travel companions we were helped by GMs Joel Benjamin, Nick de Firmian, Sam Palat- nik, Yury Shulman, and IM Andranik Matikozyan. I can’t imagine any country coming too close to this staff of coaches. In addition, Yury Shulman and Shaun Smith helped out with Justus Williams, James Black and Rochelle Ballantyne who were sponsored by Chess In the Schools. The coaches were responsible for six players each with 20 to 30 minutes of preparation time. Thanks to organ- izer GM Darcy Lima and the Thermas di Roma Hotel for providing us with a team room; with 10 coaches we needed a good-sized room and we got one. We gathered there for our all important post-game analysis. The way Team USA is set up, as in past world youths, our strong medal contenders come from relatively unknown young- sters. This year was no different. Wisconsin’s Awonder Liang dominated the boys under 8 section. He started with seven wins then had a draw followed by a last round loss to Ram Aravind L N of India. His tiebreaks were so strong he had clinched the gold medal before the last game. I chose these two Awonder games because he won the games while exhibiting different styles. His round five game took a positional path while his round seven win flashed big tactics (with help from his opponent).
Sicilian Defense, Bg5!? is more to the point. 12. ... Re8?! Scheveningen Variation (B83) 11. ... a5!? Awonder Liang (FIDE 1872, USA) Black keeps playing moves without CM Matvey Pak (FIDE 1860, RUS) finding a constructive plan. 12. ... a4 13. World Youth 2011 (5), 11.22.2011 r+-wq-trk+ Nc1 a3 14. b3 Nb4 gives Black good coun- terplay. 1. e4 +p+-vlpzpp 13. Kh1 h6?! -+nzplsn-+ This is my favorite game from Awon- Black’s best is again 13. ... a4 14. Nc1 der’s event. For such a young player he zp-+-zp-+- a3 15. b3 Nb4. showed a Karpovian positional sense. -+-+P+-+ 14. a3! 1. ... c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be3 Be7 7. Be2 Nc6 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Qd2 +NsN-vL-+- As we’ve seen in previous notes, it’s impor- PzPPwQLzPPzP tant to keep Black from pushing to a3. Typical of the Boleslavsky variation is 14. ... a4? 9. f4 e5 10. Nb3 exf4 11. Bxf4 Be6. +-+R+RmK- 9. ... e5?! After 11. ... a5 The pawn on a4 is easy pickings. 15. Nc1 Qa5 16. Nb5 This move can be played if White’s Black should charge this pawn down pawn is on f4, when Black would secure to a3. White sees that the trade of queens e5 for a knight. 12. f3 leaves Black with two targets on a4 and d6. 10. Nb3 Be6 11. Rad1 16. ... Qxd2 17. Rxd2 Red8 18. Rfd1 Ne8 19. Black’s main idea is 12. a4 Nb4 playing Nc3! Bf6 20. Bb5 Nd4 21. Bxe8 Attacking the d5 point with positional for a fast d5; 12. a3!? slowing down Black’s ideas similar to the Sveshnikov with 11. a5-pawn keeps things under control. Taking with 21. Bxa4!? looks like it
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2011 World Youth
snags a pawn, but Awonder elects to Closed Ruy Lopez, play it safe. r+lwq-trk+ Chigorin Defense (C96) Ruifeng Li (FIDE 1919, USA) 21. ... Rxe8 22. N1e2 Nxe2 23. Rxe2 Bc4 24. zpp+-+pzpp Erdemdalai Yondonjamts (FIDE UNR, MGL) Red2 Be7 25. Nd5 Bxd5 26. Rxd5 -+nvlpsn-+ World Youth 2011 (1), 11.18.2011 White is clearly better here. Black’s +-zpp+-+- queenside will come under heavy Ruifeng got the ball rolling towards pressure. -+-zP-+-+ medal contention with this round one win. 26. ... Rec8 27. c3 Rc6 28. Rb5 Rc7 29. Rdd5 zP-zPLzPN+- Ra6 30. Ra5! 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. -zP-sN-zPPzP 0-0 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 0-0 8. h3 tR-vLQ+RmK- -+-+-+k+ The so called “Anti Marshall” system is After 8. a3 a good way for White to channel Black +ptr-vlpzp- into normal Ruy lines. 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 r+-zp-+-zp position requires. The d5 point is an Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 excellent outpost. Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Be3 Bg4 tR-+Rzp-+- 15. Rc1 Qd7 16. Bb1! 16. Qd3 Rae8 is an example of main line p+-+P+-+ Marshall theory. If anyone is looking for White correctly keeps this important a solid defense versus 1. e4, this variation zP-zP-vLP+- attacking piece. must be considered. -zP-+-+PzP 16. ... Bd5 17. Qd3 f5 18. Rce1 Nc6 8. ... d6
+-+-+-+K Playing 18. ... Be4!? would force an Playing 8. ... d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 After 30. Ra5 important decision for White ... sac or Nxe5 11. Rxe5 Bb7 12. d3 with an not sac? 19. However, after Rxe4 fxe4 improved version of the Marshall Gambit Forces the a win of clear pawn with no 20. Qxe4 g6 21. Ng5 collapsing e6 looks for White since his c-pawn is on c2 not compensation for Black. very good for White. hampering his development. 30. ... Rcc6 31. Rxa6 Rxa6 32. Rb5 Bg5 33. 19. b4 a6 20. Bc2 Bxf3?? 9. c3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Nc6 12. d5 Nb8 Bxg5 hxg5 34. Rxb7 The beginning of a “chess blindness” Now it’s just a mopup operation. combination that loses a piece and the rsnlwq-trk+ game. 34. ... g6 35. Kg1 Kg7 36. Kf2 Kf6 37. Ke3 Ke6 +-+-vlpzpp 38. Kd3 f5 39. c4 Ra8 40. h3 fxe4+ 41. fxe4 21. Qxf3 Nxd4 p+-zp-sn-+ Rf8 42. Rg7 Kf6 43. Ra7 Rb8 44. Kc2 Rb3 45. Rxa4 Rg3 46. b4 Rxg2+ 47. Kd1 Rg3 48. b5 r+-+-trk+ +pzpPzp-+- Rxh3 49. b6 Rh7 50. Rb4 Rb7 51. a4 g4 52. a5 -+-+P+-+ Kg5 53. Ke2 Rf7 54. b7, Black resigned. +-+q+-zpp pzp-vlp+-+ +-zP-+N+P +-+-+p+- PzPL+-zPP+ Colle System (D05) tRNvLQtR-mK- Awonder Liang (FIDE 1872, USA) -zP-sn-+-+ After 12. ... Nb8 Cenker Eren Tan (FIDE Unrated, TUR) zP-+-+Q+- World Youth 2011 (7), 11.24.2011 -vLL+-zPPzP 13. Nbd2 This was Awonder’s seventh straight win +-+-tRRmK- and virtually clinched the championship. 13. a4!? gives White a potential target After 21. ... Nxd4 on b5 and takes advantage of Black’s 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 suspicious move order. 13. ... Bb7 (13. ... 22. Bxd4 Bxh2+ 23. Kxh2 Qxd4 Better in this position is 3. Bg5 or 3. Bd7 14. axb5 Bxb5 15. Na3 Bd7 16. Nxe5! dxe5 17. d6) 14. axb5 axb5 15. Bf4, getting the bishop out before playing Black must’ve been wondering, “How e2-e3. Rxa8 Bxa8 16. b4 c4 is one of my favorite did this happen”? Ruy Lopez games of all time, Karpov- 3. ... d5 4. Bd3 c5 5. c3 24. Rxe6 Rad8 25. Kg1 Rc8 26. Bb3 Kh8 27. Unzicker, Nice 1974, where White won in Rfe1 h6 28. Qe3 Qb2 29. Rxh6+ gxh6 30. The Colle System is a popular, but pas- painful positional style. Qxh6 mate. sive opening. 13. ... Nbd7 14. Nf1 Nb6 15. b3 h6 16. Ng3 5. ... Nc6 6. 0-0 Bd6 7. Nbd2 0-0 8. a3 Kh7?! Another young player that finished with This doesn’t feel right in principle. Black (see diagram top of next column) a medal was Ruifeng Li. I helped Ruifeng is looking for trouble from the Bc2. and his dad with some opening prepara- 8. ... b6 tion for his late-round games. I was 17. Be3 impressed with his systematic way of There is a slight edge after 8. ... e5!?, Moving the knight with 17. Nh2!?, play- studying and all the ChessBase work he freeing the position. ing for a rapid f2-f4, is a good alternative. had done. Having organized openings 9. b3 Qc7 10. e4 cxd4 11. cxd4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 and a willingness to study will help 17. ... Re8 18. Qd2 Bf8 19. Nh2 g6 20. f4! Nxe4 13. Bxe4 Bb7 14. Bb2 Ne7! Ruifeng’s progress a lot. As a rule, White should play this when So far he is playing the moves the (see game top of next column) Black can’t establish a strong ... Ne5.
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20. ... exf4 21. Bxf4 Bg7 Bg7. Black could also try 6. ... b5 7. Bb3 King’s Indian Defense, Na5 gaining the bishop pair, but falls Classical Variation (E92) Black is under heavy pressure with behind in development after 8. d4 Nxb3 WCM Sarah Chiang (FIDE 2056, USA) 21. ... Nfd7 22. Rf1 Qe7 23. Ng4. 9. axb3. Julia Alboredo (FIDE 1813, BRA) 22. Rad1 Ng8 23. Nf3 7. c3 0-0 8. h3 b5 9. Bc2 d5?! World Youth 2011 (2), 11.19.2011
Playing for a timely e4-e5. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e4 Bg7 23. ... Bb7 24. h4! r+lwq-trk+ +-zp-vlpzpp The King’s Indian Defense is a popular, complicated, and somewhat antiposi- r+-wqr+n+ p+n+-sn-+ tional opening. +l+-+pvlk +p+pzp-+- 5. Be2 0-0 6. Nf3 e5 7. d5 psn-zp-+pzp -+-+P+-+ The Petrosian Variation, named after +pzpP+-+- +-zP-+N+P the former world champion, the late great -+-+PvL-zP PzPLzP-zPP+ Tigran Petrosian. +PzP-+NsN- tRNvLQtR-mK- 7. ... a5 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 Bd7 P+LwQ-+P+ After 9. ... d5 With 9. ... g5 10. Bg3 Nh5 11. Nd2 Nf4 12. 0-0, White has the positional idea of +-+RtR-mK- An odd-looking move, getting into some Bg4 or play on the queenside. After 24. h4 kind of Marshall but down some time. 10. Nd2 Na6 11. a3 Qe8 12. b3 Nh7 13. f3 g5?!
White is picking apart Black’s kingside. 10. d4!? This move weakens crucial light 24. ... Nf6 25. h5 Bc8 26. hxg6+ fxg6 27. Bb1 Compare the position after 10. exd5 squares near Black’s kingside. Better is Bg4 28. Qc2 Nxd5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Rxe5 c6 13. d4 13. ... h5!? 14. Rb1 Nc5 15. 0-0 Bh6 16. to a Marshall and we must agree this is Qc2 f5 17. b4 axb4 18. axb4 Na4 19. Loading up for e5! good for White. Nb5 with some advantage for White. 28. ... Nh5 29. Nxh5 Bxh5 30. Rf1 Rf8 31. Be3 10. ... Nxe4 11. dxe5 f5 14. Bf2 f5 15. exf5 Bxf5 Bxf3? After 11. ... Nc5!? the game has trans- r+-+qtrk+ The ... Bh5 was holding things together. posed into an Open Ruy Lopez-type of 32. gxf3 Qh4 33. Rd2 Nd7 34. Rh2 Qg3+ 35. position. +pzp-+-vln Rg2 Qh3 36. Rh2 Qg3+ 37. Qg2 Qe5? 12. exf6 e.p. Nxf6 13. Bg5 Bc5 14. Nbd2 Qd6 n+-zp-+-zp White has chances to blast g6 after 37. 15. Nb3 Bb6 16. Nbd4 Nxd4 17. cxd4 Ne4 18. zp-+Pzplzp- ... Qxg2+ 38. Rxg2, but at least Black is Bxe4 dxe4 19. Rxe4 Qg6? still playing. -+P+-+-+ 38. Qh3! r+l+-trk+ zPPsN-+P+- +-zp-+-zpp -+-sNLvLPzP This simple double attack does the job. pvl-+-+q+ tR-+QmK-+R 38. ... Nf6 39. Bxh6 Nh5 40. f4 Qf6 41. e5, Black resigned. +p+-+-vL- After 15. ... Bxf5 -+-zPR+-+ Black has given White a strong out- One of our oldest representatives was +-+-+N+P post on e4 for no good reason. Eric Rosen, who competed in the open 16. Nde4 Nf6 17. Bd3 Bg6 18. 0-0 Nh5 19. under 18. Eric started the tournament PzP-+-zPP+ c5!? with a rank of 27, meaning a lot of hard tR-+Q+-mK- I felt that Black’s lack of active play work and highly-ranked opponents lay After 19. ... Qg6 ahead of him. He was up to the task. Con- means White was better off keeping the gratulations to Eric for making an The bishop move 19. ... Bb7!? 20. Be7 tension. 19. Rb1! followed by b3-b4 leaves international master norm. Seven out of Qd7 21. Bxf8 Bxe4 leaves Black down a the Na6 looking ridiculous was the patient Eric’s nine opponents were higher-rated, pawn, but with some chances. approach. It’s hard to find a decent plan making his 6-3 score an impressive achieve- for Black. 20. Qb3+ Kh8 21. Rae1 h6 22. Be7 Bf5 23. ment. Here is one of Eric’s easier victories: Ne5, Black resigned. 19. ... Nxc5 20. Nxc5 dxc5 21. Bxc5 e4!? Why not? Black confuses the issue. Black’s queen lacks a good square. Closed Ruy Lopez (C87) 22. Bb5 FM Eric Rosen (FIDE 2305, USA) FM Toms Kantans (FIDE 2338, LAT) Our highest-scoring girls were WCM Safer was 22. Nxe4!? Bxa1 23. Qxa1 World Youth 2011 (5), 11.22.2011 Sarah Chiang, Mariya Oreshko and Agata with White still holding on to a slight Bykovtsev. Take a look at Sarah’s han- advantage. dling of the Petrosian variation against her 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. 0-0 a6 5. Ba4 22. ... c6 23. dxc6 Bxc3 24. cxb7 Qxb5 25. Brazilian opponent. The game starts off Nf6 6. Re1 Be7 Qd5+ as a positional struggle favoring White, but the early c4-c5 push allowed crazy A good way for Black to develop in the (see diagram top of next page) Steinitz system is 6. ... Bd7 7. c3 g6 8. d4 complications.
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2011 World Youth
4. d4 g6 7-2 score, good enough for fifth place in r+-+-trk+ the open under 12. Still it had to be a bit This was Mariya playing white two of a disappointment after last year’s unbe- +P+-+-+- rounds earlier versus Nominerdene: 4. lievable 9-2 and second on tiebreak finish ... d6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 e6 7. 0-0 (7. c3 -+-+-+lzp (tied for first place). I like Jeffrey’s style: Be7 8. Qe2 0-0 9. e5 dxe5 10. dxe5 Nd5 good, crisp, aggressive chess mixed with zpqvLQ+-zpn 11. h4 It might be easier for White to good preparation. He’ll be a perennial create kingside threats without castling. -+-+p+-+ contender as he moves up in the age The Rh1 could help with Bh7 Ng5 ideas) groups. This game shows Jeffrey catch- zPPvl-+P+- 7. ... Be7 8. Bxa3 0-0 9. e5 Ne8 10. Nc3 ing his opponent in a theoretical spin with attacking chances in a French -+-+-+PzP cycle. Black was in trouble early with no Defense type position. chance to defend. tR-+-+RmK- 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Bc4 d6 7. 0-0 Nf6 8. e5!? After 25. Qd5+ White needs to play aggressively or the Ruy Lopez (C77) 25. ... Bf7?? compensation could dry up. FM Jeffrey Xiong (FIDE 2056, USA) 8. ... dxe5 9. Nxe5 0-0 10. Bxa3 Joshua Johnson (FIDE 1862, TRI) Black falls apart in the complications, World Youth 2011 (2), 11.19.2011 losing a lot of material. 25. ... Kh7! Going White’s bishops are exerting great pres- over the game afterwards this move con- sure on Black’s kingside, making developing In this game Jeffrey takes care of his cerned us. It seems that it wins for Black. difficult. Trinidadian opponent in tactical style. 26. bxa8=Q Rxa8 27. Qxa8 Qxc5+ 28. 10. ... Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Re1 Re8 13. Bc5 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Kh1 Bxa1 (28. ... e3!?) 29. Rxa1 e3. a5 14. Qf3 Bb7?? d4!? 26. bxa8=Q Rxa8 27. Qxa8+ r+-wqr+k+ One of the many “trappy” tactical lines All of a sudden Sarah is up two White can try. Exchanges. +l+-zppvlp 5. ... b5 27. ... Be8 28. Qd5+ Bf7 29. Qd8+ Kh7 30. -+p+-snp+ Qe7 Qxb3 31. Qxe4+ Kg8 32. Rad1 Nf6 33. Black’s results from this position are Rd8+ Kg7 34. Bf8+ Kg8 35. Bxh6+ Be8 36. zp-vL-+-+- horrible. 5. ... exd4!? 6. e5 Ne4 7. 0-0 Be7 Qg6+, Black resigned. -+LzP-+-+ 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Nc5 is a much better and safer path than what Black Mate follows on g7. +-+-+Q+- played in the game. -+P+-zPPzP 6. Bb3 exd4 7. e5 Ng4 8. 0-0 Be7 9. Bf4 Bb7 Mariya employed her favorite anti-Sicil- tRN+-tR-mK- ian weapon (the Wing Gambit) to good White has compensation after 9. ... effect in the following game. White’s devel- After 14. ... Bb7 h5!? 10. c3 g5 11. Bd2 Ngxe5 12. Nxe5 opment and pressure caused a terrible Nxe5 13. cxd4 Nc6 14. Qf3 because of Black cracks under the pressure. 14. ... blunder. Black’s unsafe king. Ba6 gives Black good defensive chances. 10. Bd5 Qb8 11. Bxc6 dxc6 12. Nxd4 Sicilian Defense (B20) 15. Qb3! Mariya Oreshko (FIDE 1694, USA) This nasty double attack wins a lot of rwq-+k+-tr Karamcheti Priyamvada (FIDE 1782, IND) material. World Youth 2011 (5), 11.22.2011 +lzp-vlpzpp 15. ... Ba6 16. Bxf7+ Kh8 17. Bxe8 Nxe8 18. p+p+-+-+ Mariya was one of our top scorers in the c3 Bf6 19. Qa3 Bd3 20. Bxe7 Bxe7 21. Qxe7 girls under 12 along with Agata Bykovt- Qxe7 22. Rxe7 a4 23. Na3 Nd6 24. Re6 Rd8 +p+-zP-+- 1 sev, both at 6 ⁄2. 25. f3 Kg7 26. Re7+ Kh6 27. Rc7 Bb5 28. h4 -+-sN-vLn+ 1. e4 c5 2. b4!? How about 28. Rc1!. +-+-+-+- 28. ... Re8 29. g4 g5 30. hxg5+ The Wing Gambit is a tricky gambit PzPP+-zPPzP that isn’t seen much nowadays. The idea With 30. Nxb5!? cxb5 31. Rc6 Black’s tRN+Q+RmK- is to clear out Black’s wing pawn and remaining forces will be tied up. After 12. Nxd4 gain control of the center. 30. ... Kxg5 31. Kf2 Kf4 32. Nxb5 cxb5 33. 2. ... cxb4 3. a3 bxa3?! Rd7 Re6 34. Rb1 Rh6 35. Rxd6! Already Black is in big trouble. 12. ... Nh6 13. Bxh6 gxh6 14. e6 c5 15. exf7+ White gets too much play after this. This simplifying combo takes care of Kf8 16. Ne6+ Kxf7 17. Nxc5! Declining the gambit is best with 3. ... d5 Black’s small hopes. 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Nf3 (5. axb4?? Qe5+ 0-1 35. ... Rxd6 36. Rxb5 Winning a pawn and leaving Black with was the unfortunate game Shirazi-Peters, a leaky king position. 1984 U.S. Championship, Berkeley) 5. The mate threat allows White’s rook to ... e6 6. Bb2 Nf6 7. c4 bxc3 e.p. 8. Nxc3 get behind Black’s passed pawn. 17. ... Rg8 18. Nxb7 Qxb7 19. g3 Qd8 was coach Armen’s excellent prepa- 36. ... Rf6 37. Ra5 h5 38. Rxh5 a3 39. Ra5 a2 This forced defensive move ends any ration from last year’s World Youth in 40. Rxa2 Rh6 41. Kg2, Black resigned. hope Black has for attack or defense. Greece. In Vetoshko-Troff, White was down a pawn in an isolated-pawn position 19. ... Rg5 20. Nd2 Bf6 21. c3 Rd8 22. Qc2 with zero attacking chances. Jeffrey Xiong finished with an excellent Rg6 23. Rad1 Qc8 24. Ne4 Rdg8 25. a4 h5
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26. axb5 h4 27. bxa6 h3 28. Qd3 Be7 29. a7 Nb5 Qd7 19. Nd4 Qc7 20. c3 Qc4 21. Qf2?? little ones going for a subway ride!) The Kg7 30. Qd7 Qf8 31. a8=Q! tournament hall was a short 100 yard walk from the hotel lobby. Across the This deflection wins the bishop and -+r+-trk+ street from our hotel was an enormous the game. zp-+-zppvlp water park with some incredible pools 31. ... Qf3 32. Qxe7+ Kh8 33. Ng5, Black -zp-zp-snp+ and water slides. The atmosphere was resigned. always festive and upbeat, conducive for +-+-snP+- relaxation and good chess. The accom- modations were fine as was the food, with Last up in our game section is a game -+qsNP+-+ many choices. played by one of our youngest partici- +-zP-+-+P One thing that bothered me was FIDE pants, seven-year-old Jason Metpally, changing the format from 11 rounds to showing a tactical alertness that will serve PzP-+-wQLmK nine rounds. I figure if we’re traveling him well in future battles. tR-vL-+R+- that far, more games are better. Most After 21. Qf2 sections were decided by tiebreak, 11 Sicilian Defense, rounds would most likely bring a clear White is having problems with tactics Dragon Variation (B70) winner. I hope next year it reverts back to on the g4-square and this one ends the Dmitry Minko (FIDE 1375, RUS) 11 games. game. Jason Metpally (FIDE Unrated, USA) I’d like to extend a special thanks to the World Youth 2011 (5), 11.22.2011 21. ... Neg4+! 22. hxg4 Nxg4+ 23. Kg1 Nxf2 U.S. Chess Trust for their generous con- 24. Kxf2 Bxd4+ 25. cxd4 Qxd4+ 26. Ke1 tribution of $11,000. With many coaches At SEVEN years old Jason was our Qb4+ 27. Kd1 Kg7 28. Rh1 Qd4+ 29. Ke1 and travel expenses it was greatly appre- youngest representative. Here he takes Rxc1+! ciated. The chess is very serious, but care of his Russian counterpart. when it’s done it was fun hanging out with Jason continues to play accurately. friends and parents thanks to them. The 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. group of players I was assigned were hard Nc3 g6 30. Rxc1 Qxb2 31. Kd1 Qxg2 32. Re1 Qxa2 33. Re2 Qb3+ 34. Rec2 Qd3+ 35. Rd2 Qxe4 working and cooperative. We didn’t win The Dragon Variation is very popular 36. fxg6 Qxg6 37. Rcc2 Qg1+ 38. Ke2 Qg2+ any team medals, but we fought hard with young players. 39. Kd3 Qf3+ 40. Kc4 Rc8+ 41. Kb4 Rxc2 42. and won some nice games. Thanks to Emily, Joshua, Michael, Apurva, Kadhir, 6. g3 Bg7 7. Bg2 0-0 8. 0-0 Nc6 9. Nce2 Bd7 Rxc2 Qe4+ 43. Kc3 h5 44. Rc1 h4 45. Rg1+ Josiah and Ben for making my job easy. 10. h3 Rc8 11. Be3 b6 12. f4 Be6 13. Kh2 Kh7 46. Kd2 Qd4+ 47. Ke1 Qxg1+ 48. Kd2 Qg3 49. Ke2 h3 50. Kd2 h2 51. Ke2 h1=R 52. Next year’s tournament will be played in About equal is 13. Nxe6 fxe6. Kd2 Rh2+ 53. Kd1 Qg1 mate. Maribor, Slovenia. I wish all of our kids the best of luck, keep playing and study- 13. ... Na5 14. g4?? ing! See you all in Maribor! . The city of Caldas Novas is a Brazilian Walking into a nice tactic that wins an tourist attraction because of it’s agua Read more USCF reporting from Brazil on important pawn. quente (“hot water” in Portuguese). Hot Chess Life Online, November archives, 14. ... Bxg4! 15. f5 tub springs were everywhere. Most of the including Andrea Rosen’s “Sucesso in USA contingent stayed at the Thermas di Brazil” where she wraps-up the World With 15. hxg4 Nxg4+ White’s game col- Roma Hotel. For safety reasons, the best Youth and declares it “Sucesso” even lapses. world youth venues are always self-con- beyond fantastic quantifiable achieve- 15. ... Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Nc4 17. Bc1 Ne5 18. tained. (It wouldn’t be good to have the ments such as Liang's gold medal.
2011 World Youth Championship At A Glance
Date: November 17-27, 2011 Location: Caldas Novas, Brazil 1 U.S. Results: Under 8 Girls: 6 points—Kaavya Ramesh, Naomi Bashkansky, Chenyi Zhao; Under 8 Open: 7 ⁄2 points—Awonder Liang, 1 1 1 6 ⁄2 points (GOLD)—David Peng, 6 points—Brian Gu, 5 ⁄2 points—Ben Rood, 5 points—Josiah Stearman, Ethan Joo, Aydin Turgut, 4 ⁄2 points—Jason Metpally, Ajay Krishnan, 4 points—Arman Baradaran Hosseini, Nguyen Dang Minh; Under 10 Girls: 6 points—Annie 1 Wang, 5 ⁄2 points—Emily Nguyen, Katherine Davis, Devina Devagharan, 4 points—Sadia Qureshi; Under 10 Open: 7 points—Ruifeng 1 1 Li (SILVER), Tianming Xie, 6 ⁄2 points—Albert Lu, 6 points—Tanuj Vasudeva, John Burke, 5 ⁄2 points—Michael Wang, Bovey Liu, Mar- 1 1 cell Szabo, Thomas Knoff, 4 ⁄2—Nicolas Checa, 4 points—Brandon Nydick; Under 12 Girls: 6 ⁄2 points—Mariya Oreshko, Agata 1 Bikovtseva, 6 points—Simone Liao, 5 ⁄2 points—Kimberly Ding, 5 points—Maggie Feng; Under 12 Open: 7 points—Jeffrey Xiong, 6 1 1 points—Cameron Wheeler, 5 ⁄2 points—Kesav Viswanadha, Michael Chen, Allan Beilin, 5 points—Jonathan Chiang, 4 ⁄2 points— 1 1 Andrew Tang, 4 points—Kadhir Pillai; Under 14 Girls: 7 points—Sarah Chiang, 5 ⁄2 points—Rachel Gologorsky, 4 ⁄2 points—Lillia Poteat, 1 1 Apurva Virkud; Under 14 Open: 6 ⁄2 points—Kevin Wang, Varun Krishnan, 6 points—Michael Bodek, 5⁄2 points—Justus Williams, Jarod 1 Pamatmat, Michael Brown, Tommy He; 4 ⁄2 points—James Black, 4 points—Jialin Ding, Joshua Colas; Under 16 Girls: 5 points— 1 1 Jessica Regam, 4 ⁄2 points—Rochelle Ballantyne; Under 16 Open: 4 ⁄2 points—John Hughes; Under 18 Girls: 5 points—Emily Tallo; Under 18 Open: 6 points—Eric Rosen, 5 points—Michael Vilenchuk. Full results can be found here: http://www.wycc2011.com/
Coaching Staff: —IM Armen Ambartsoumian, GM Joel Benjamin, GM Nick de Firmian, GM John Fedorowicz, FM Aviv Friedman, FST Michael Khodarkovsky, IM Andranik Matikozyan, GM Sam Palatnik, GM Yury Shulman, GM Gennady Zaitchik.
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2011 K-12
Perfect scores abound in Texas, led by 12-year-old Christopher Wu, with 17-year-old Matthew Dahl taking top honors in the National K-12 Championships.
By JAMAAL ABDUL-ALIM
f all the youths who’ve com- November 18-20 at the opulent Hilton The others who achieved perfect scores peted in the National K-12 Anatole in Dallas, Texas, by securing his were fifth-grader Christopher Chen, of Championships over the third perfect score of 7 points at the Texas; third-grader Marcus Ming Miyasaka, years, few have matched the national scholastic tournament. of New York; and first-grader Aryaman accomplishments of 12- Even though he was the highest-rated Bansal, of Texas. year-old Christopher Wu. player in his section, which he entered with The top honor went to 17-year-old Ever since he first came on the chess an official rating of 2256, Christopher says Matthew Dahl, a senior at Saint Thomas scene as a young tyke in 2004, Christo- achieving a perfect score during this last go- Academy in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. pher has won first place at the K-12 round was more difficult than a simple Though one point shy of a perfect score, Championships on four different occa- calculation of the odds might suggest. Dahl emerged as the sole victor in the sions—and three times he did so with “A lot of people think that it is very 12th grade section, thereby securing a perfect scores. easy for the top seat to win first place,” four-year scholarship to the University of The first perfect score took place when Christopher told Chess Life. “However, it Texas at Dallas (UTD). Christopher competed in his National K- is actually harder if you are the first seat. “It’s a great opportunity for chess play- 12 Championship as a kindergartner in You're expected to win first place and ers to get a full-ride to college and really 2004. He accomplished the feat again in beat everyone else ... and if I don't it will continue their chess careers beyond the 2005 as a first-grader. be a disappointment.” high school level,” said Chief Tourna- Over the past few years, he never At the time of the tournament, Christo- ment Director Jonathan David Shacter. finished the grade-level competition in pher was a full 120 rating points higher “The USCF really appreciates having UTD less than second place, and he won than the second-highest-rated player, provide that for the students.” first place for a third time in 2009 with Andrew Liu, whom he defeated in an Dahl, a student of Life Master Victor 1 6 ⁄2 points—just a half point shy of a exciting round six game that is anno- Adler, told Chess Life he plans to accept the perfect score. tated on page 38. Only one other youth in scholarship and study business at UTD. Now a seventh grader at Walter R. Satz the seventh grade section had cleared The K-12 Championship, he said, was School in Holmdel, New Jersey, this past the 2000 rating threshold. really tough. fall, Christopher regained his status as Christopher wasn’t the only youth who “A lot of games I got really lucky in,” undefeated champion in his section of the finished the 2011 K-12 Nationals as a Dahl said, recounting one game in which National K-12 Championships, held sole victor with a perfect score. he and his opponent agreed to a draw
36 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_K12_AKF_r10_chess life 1/11/12 11:06 AM Page 37
Matthew Dahl wins, and plans to accept, a four-year scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas.
when Dahl had only one second on his clock and his opponent had five seconds. Although chess is a big part of the culture at UTD, Jim Stallings, Director of the Chess Program at UTD, told the youths that there are easier ways to get into the university than battling it out on the chessboard: “And that is through good academics,” Stallings told the youths. “We have far, far more scholarships for good academics. So just because we only give out one scholar- ship here today doesn’t mean you can’t get an academic scholarship.” Judging by his sheer dominance at the K-12 Championships over the years, Christopher, a student of GM Alexander Shabalov, seems well-positioned to col- lect the UTD scholarship should he decide to compete for it as a high school senior in 2016. Asked how he won so many K-12 Championships at such an early age, Christopher attributed his suc- cess to natural talent and a simple love for the game. “Ever since I started playing, I have enjoyed the game and thought it was interesting,” Christopher said. “There was
PHOTOS: JAMAAL ABDUL-ALIM PHOTOS: also a natural talent involved. Christopher Wu: His fourth first K-12 first-place finish and third perfect score.
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2011 K-12
Coach Tim Tusing of Oak Hall School in Gainesville, Florida: “We just have a nice family network that sticks together and helps support me and support chess.” Left to right, with Tusing: Kindergartners Hailey Griffis, Emory Ezzell, Will Guan, Aryaman Sriram, Rikhil Venkataperumal.
“Some people are good at certain things, Modern Defense (B06) 9. ... b6 and other people are good at different Christopher Wu (2256) If 9. … b5 then I could attack with 10. things. I just happen to have a natural tal- Andrew Liu (2136) a4 and break open the queenside. ent for chess, and that is how I got so good National K-12 Championships, Round 6 when I was young.” Notes by Wu 10. Ne2 Bb7 11. Nh2 On a more specific level, Christopher Opening up the c- and f-pawns. credits his various K-12 Championship 1. e4 g6 victories over the years to the fact that he 11. ... Nf6 12. Ng3 c5 13. c3 Nd7? always gets a good rest before each game I prepared against this. Why does he go back? and regularly reviews his openings. At 2. d4 d6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Be3 a6 5. Bd3 e6 6. Nf3 larger tournaments, he occasionally 14. h5 g5?! reviews opponents’ games as well. I wasn't sure if my setup was good, Not sure if this is necessary; he could “But, by far, the most important thing because it blocks the f- and c-pawns. just leave the pawn structure as it is. I do that helps me succeed is that I always 6. ... Ne7 7. Qd2 h6 This allows the f2-f4 lever. focus as hard as I can, every round at the board,” Christopher said. “Even if I’m Stops Bh6 but now he can’t castle. 15. Bc2 exhausted, I keep pushing at the board, 8. h4 (see diagram top of next column) and sometimes can salvage a win out of a losing position.” Maybe playing for h4-h5. Defending d4 to prepare for f2-f4 (15. Here are notes from Christopher’s 8. ... Nd7 9. 0-0 f4 gxf4 16. Bxf4 e5 17. Be3 cxd4 18. cxd4 round-six game against Andrew Liu; he exd4 19. Bf4 Ne5). says. “Strength wise, this was the hard- Castling queenside he could play 15. ... e5! est game to play because my opponent ... b7-b5 and ... c7-c5 and open up the was the strongest.” queenside, weakening my king. He has to play this to stop f2-f4 to OF TIM TUSING COURTESY PHOTO:
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Bansal’s father estimates that in the past r+-wqk+-tr r+-+-trk+ year, Aryaman has spent about 300 hours +l+nsnpvl- +lwq-+pvl- on study, another 300 hours at or traveling to tournaments, and about 200 hours of pzp-zpp+-zp pzp-+-+-zp “just fun play-chess-at-home time.” +-zp-+-zpP +-+pzpPzpP “This last part does not contribute to chess, and is just poor discipline on our -+-zPP+-+ -+-zPP+-+ part,” Bansal explains apologetically. +-zP-vL-sN- +L+-vL-+- In his peer group, Bansal’s son is a rel- ative rarity in that his only coach is his dad. PzPLwQ-zPPsN PzP-wQ-+P+ “Almost all my son’s chess friends have tR-+-+RmK- +-+R+RmK- coaches weekly, though,” Bansal said. Below is an annotated game from After 15. Bc2 After 23. gxf5 round six between Bansal’s son and break open the center. Rishith Susarla. 24. dxe5 Qxe5 25. exd5 Qg3? “I think this game was pretty good,” 16. Rad1 Maybe a better defense could have been Bansal said. “Short, dynamic, full of tac- Thinking about cracking open the d-file. offered. 25. ... Qd6 blockades the pawn tics and counterplay, with some instructive and keeps on applying pressure. tactical errors from both sides.” 16. ... Qc7 17. Bb3 The father and son regularly review 26. Bd4 Bd8 27. Qc3 Qh4 Aiming for the f7-weak spot so he can’t Aryaman’s games together. castle queenside (17. dxc5 dxc5 and not Trying to come up with something. “Any lines missed we look through using much play on the d-file. 18. Qd6 Rc8). Fritz,” Bansal says of the computer-based 28. Bg7 chess program. “The commentary is all 17. ... Nf6? Not the most precise, but I felt the what my son says, and I type it up in Goes back again to try to attack pawns. endgame was winning after 28. ... Rc8 29. Fritz for him, mostly to remember what Qd4 Qxd4+ 30. Bxd4. was going through his mind while he 18. f3 0-0 played the game.” 28. ... b5? Brings his king to relative safety so that he can try something in the center. No better is 28. ... Re8 29. Bh8 f6 30. Elephant Gambit (C40) 19. Ng4 Nxg4 Bxf6 Bxf6 31. Qxf6. Aryaman Bansal (1413) 29. Bxf8 Bb6+ 30. Bc5 Rc8 31. Bxb6 Rxc3 Rishith Susarla (1422) He doesn’t really have a choice. (19. ... 32. bxc3 Qg4 National K-12 Championships, Round 6 Rad8 20. Nxh6+ [20. Bxg5 hxg5 21. Qxg5 Notes by Bansal also a possibility] 20. ... Bxh6 21. Bxg5 A little better is 32. ... g4, but he is still Bg7 22. h6 Bh8 23. Bxf6 Bxf6 24. Nh5 lost. 33. Rd4. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 Bd6 Bh8 25. Qg5+ Ng6 26. Qxg6+). 33. Rde1 Kh7 34. f6, Black resigned. 20. fxg4 cxd4?! He plays an opening that I don't know! White is completely winning since when A bad move, he has to play 20. ... c4 to his rook arrives on e7 his bishop can 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bb5+ c6 6. dxc6 bxc6 7. Bc4 lock out my key bishop. check on c2 and eventually he will dou- 0-0 8. 0-0 e4 ble up on the e-file and play Re8. 21. cxd4 d5? rsnlwq-trk+ Looks good, but White is better devel- Many parents of children who com- oped so any center break is bad for Black. peted in the K-12 Championships in zp-+-+pzpp 22. Nf5 Dallas this year said they believe strongly -+pvl-sn-+ in the benefits of hired coaches. Getting the knight out of the queen’s Dilesh Bansal, a management consult- +-+-+-+- range. ant in Dallas and father of first-grade, -+L+p+-+ 22. ... Nxf5 first-place winner Aryaman Bansal, is not one of them. +-sN-+N+- Pretty much forced because I can take “I have strong opinions on this, and I PzPPzP-zPPzP out his good bishop and have some have surveyed so many chess parents sacrifice ideas. here in Dallas so I will say this,” Bansal tR-vLQ+RmK- After 8. ... e4 23. gxf5 said. “For my son, Aryaman, I self coach.” He relates that he hired three different (see diagram top of next column coaches on different occasions, paying 9. Nd4? them each for about two or three lessons My best move is 9. Ng5 Bxh2+ 10. Kxh2 23. ... Bf6 for Aryaman. “But I did not find value for money in Ng4+ 11. Kg1 Qxg5 (11 ... Qd6 12. g3?? Has to stop the powerful f6 from trap- them at $50 an hour,” Bansal said. “Using Qh6) 12. d4 Qh5 13. Bf4. ping is bishop. (23. ... dxe4 24. f6 Bh8 tactics books, online video lessons is 9. ... Bxh2+ 10. Kxh2 Qxd4 25. Bxg5 hxg5 26. Qxg5+ Kh7 27. Be6 much better.” Bc8 28. Rc1; 23. ... Rfe8 24. f6 Bf8 25. Whatever one thinks about Bansal’s My opponent missed the Greek-gift exd5 e4 26. Rf5 White is still better disdain for hired chess coaches, the fact mating line.
because of more space and potential remains that his son not only took first 11. d3 Qe5+ 12. g3 Ng4+? sacs on g5; 23. ... Rad8 24. f6 Bh8 25. place in the first grade section, but did so dxe5 dxe4 26. Bd4). by achieving a perfect score. Too late for the Greek gift; there is no
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2011 K-12
more mate threat (12. ... Bg4 bishop could When Praveen drew in the seventh onships for the experience—said he own the weakened light-square complex round, too, it enabled Rayan to finish with enjoyed making himself available to help 1 13. Qd2 Qh5+ 14. Kg1 Bf3 leads to mate). clear first at 6⁄2 points to Praveen’s 6 points. the young players improve. 13. Kg2 Qh5? 14. Rh1 Rayan and Praveen—who have become “I like looking at games, looking at what friendly rivals—both represented the United they did, and I like to have something to Now his queen is under fire! States and finished with seven out of 11 offer them,” Gater said. 14. ... Qe5 15. Qe2 Re8 16. dxe4 Qc5 17. Be3! points at the World Youth Chess Champi- Gater had plenty to offer young Ben- onships in Greece (held in 2010) and jamin, including some tips on how he finished 22nd and 21st place, respectively. could have taken a strong position and rsnl+r+k+ Both youths plan to compete at made it even stronger in a game that he zp-+-+pzpp the World Youth Chess Championships was clearly winning. set to take place this November in “He’s really tied down,” Gater said of -+p+-+-+ Maribor, Slovenia. Benjamin’s opponent. “I don’t know if it’s +-wq-+-+- Another one of Castro’s students, Vig- clear you can checkmate him by force, but nesh Panchanatham, tied for first in the you’ve got some good stuff going on.” -+L+P+n+ sixth grade section at this year’s National But instead of moving his queen to e6, +-sN-vL-zP- K-12 Championships. Like Rayan, Vig- Ben played queen to f3, traded away a nesh won clear first at the National Junior bishop that he had positioned on a “very PzPP+QzPK+ Congress Championships, even though he dangerous diagonal,” and missed an tR-+-+-+R played up in the 13-and-under section. opportunity to gain tempo and a better After 17. Be3 He also finished ninth at the 2010 position with a check. World Youth Chess Championships in Still, with Black’s king stuck in the With the idea of baiting his knight to get Greece, and, like Rayan, plans to compete center, Gater said, Benjamin did a good an open file against f7. at the World Youth in Slovenia this year. job of “trading off all the pieces that were Castro notes that 20 of his other stu- defending his king.” 17. ... Nxe3+ 18. fxe3 Nd7 19. Raf1 Ne5 20. dents also fared well in various sections “So now you need to get the rest of Bb3 Bg4 at the K-12 Championships. your attacking pieces in,” Gater said. “In the sixth grade section, five out of But in a series of trades, Benjamin An overloaded knight and a free f7-pawn. the top ten are my students and unfortu- mistakenly left his king vulnerable to a 21. Bxf7+! Kh8?? nately had to play against each other,” stunning back-rank checkmate, a last- Castro said. “In the final round, Vignesh chance opportunity to win that his The decisive blunder giving a mate in had to play another student of mine, otherwise losing opponent saw and seized. two. Check-Sac-Mate! Kevin Moy, who also did pretty well in that “Black got really lucky,” Gater told Ben- 22. Rxh7+ Kxh7 23. Rh1+, Black resigned. tournament. Two of my students—Jef- jamin. “No one likes to lose like this.” frey Tao and Kevin Moy—who ended up Though not everyone believes in hired in the top five, only lost to Vignesh.” The K-12 Championships aren’t always coaches, it’s hard to make a case against about scoring the most points as an indi- private lessons when you consider the The K-12 Championships were about vidual. Sometimes, it’s about scoring the success of the students of NorCal House far more than just wins and losses. It most points as a team. of Chess instructor Ted Castro. Three of was largely about learning. One person who knows something his students won first place at the K-12 As youths played out their games in the about putting together a good chess team Championships, and many others would various ballrooms on the ground floor of is Tim Tusing, chess coach at Oak Hall have done better were it not for the fact the hotel, dozens of chess educators from School in Gainesville, Florida, which won that they had to play each other. across the country—including this writer first-place team trophies in the kinder- In the kindergarten section of this year’s —gathered for the 2nd George Koltanowski garten and first-grade sections after they 1 K-12 Championships, one of Castro’s Memorial Conference on Chess and Edu- scored 10 ⁄2 and 13 points, respectively. students, Maurya Palusa, of Fremont, cation (see story on page 42). The winning Oak Hall first-grade team California, tied for first place. Just outside the chess and education con- members were Nicholas Dang, Avery Another student, Rayan Taghizadeh, ference, members of the University of Texas Bernstein, and Frederick Huang. The won first place in the fourth grade section, at Dallas team set up a table and made kindergartners were Richard Ezzell, Arya- and boosted his rating from 1970 to 1984. themselves available to play matches with man Sriram, and Hailey Griffis. “This is his third national title,” Castro youths or go over their tournament games. Tusing, their coach, is a military aircraft says of Rayan, who also finished first with “Priceless,” said Robert Friedlander, parts broker by day and front man in a a perfect score at the National K-12 Cham- when asked what he thought of the fact fledgling Florida-based rock band called pionships in 2009. More recently, he that his two sons, Benjamin, 7, and Radio Ghost by night. finished first place with a perfect score in Justin, 5, were able to go over their games “You gotta be a front man if you’re the 11-and-under section of the National with UTD chess team player Daniel Gater going to be a chess coach,” Tusing said Junior Congress Championships in Santa (2174), a freshman majoring in econom- after he and his kindergarten and first- Clara, California last October. ics and pre-med. grade students collected their first-place “Both he won convincingly and won “We’re kind of here on our own without team trophies. clear first,” Castro says. a coach,” Friedlander said. “Our coaches Chess is serious business at Oak Hall At the most recent National K-12 are involved with a tournament in Ari- School. Championships, the only thing that zona. Our coaches are very upset they “We do chess club four days a week,” stopped Rayan from achieving a perfect could not travel with us to help the boys Tusing said. “Kids do a lot of puzzles, a score was a round six draw against the during their tournament in Dallas.” lot of homework, a lot of private lessons.” higher-rated Praveen Balakrishnan, who Gater—in an interview with this writer’s The average chess student at Oak Hall, dropped slightly at the K-12 Champi- daughter, Hadiyah Abdul-Alim, 10, who he said, puts in up to two hours of study onships, from 2031 to 2029. also competed in the K-12 Champi- per day. Computer programs aren’t a
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part of the chess team. Tusing says pre- At tournaments such as the K-12 The USCF was deeply saddened to learn vious awards won by Oak Hall students Championships, Tusing says, he has stu- of the death of K-12 participant 17-year- help motivate current students to win. dents ask themselves a series of basic old Quinton Smith from Lubbock, Texas. “They see what the other kids have questions before every move. Our sincere condolences to his family done,” Tusing said. “That’s a good confi- “There is a list of ‘idiot’ questions that and friends. For information, including dence builder.” they ask,” Tusing said. “Like, ‘Can he a link to a memorial fund, please see Parents play a major role, too. take my queen?’ ‘Can he checkmate me?’ main.uschess.org/content/view/11492/3 “We just have a nice family network ‘Can I checkmate them?’” 19/. For scholarship information, please that sticks together and helps support me Evidently, asking the “idiot questions” see main.uschess.org/content/view/ and support chess,” Tusing said. has its rewards. . 8164/131.
2011 National Scholastic (K-12) Championship At A Glance
Date: November 18-20, 2011 Location: Hilton Anatole, Dallas, Texas Chief Tournament Director: Jonathan David Shacter 1 Top Finishers: 12th grade—1st, 6: Matthew Dahl, 2nd-4th, 5 ⁄2: Ben Gershenov, Jason Altschuler, Zhou Fang; 11th grade—1st, 1 1 1 6 ⁄2: Christopher Heung, 2nd, 6: Kevin Chandra; 10th grade—1st, 6 ⁄2: Sam Schmakel, 2nd-3rd, 5 ⁄2: Derek Chang, Eve Zhurbin- 1 1 1 skiy; 9th grade—1st, 6 ⁄2: Bryan Hu; 2nd, 6: Tyler Rhodes; 8th grade—1st, 6 ⁄2: Mika Brattain, 2nd-3rd, 5 ⁄2: Andy Shao, Akshay 1 Malhotra; 7th grade—1st, 7: Christopher Wu, 2nd, 6: Andrew Liu; 6th grade—1st-2nd, 6 ⁄2: William Graif, Vignesh Pan- 1 chanatham; 5th grade—1st, 7: Christopher Chen, 2nd, 6: Rishi Rajendran; 4th grade—1st, 6 ⁄2: Rayan Taghizadeh, 2nd-3rd, 6: Praveen Balakrishnan, Dante Peterson; 3rd grade—1st, 7: Marcus Miyasaka, 2nd-5th, 6: Akshita Gorti, Maanav Ganthapodi, Akash Vijay, Anirudh Ganesh; 2nd grade—1st-6th, 6: Christopher Shen, Daniel Levkov, Rohan Suryawanshi, Constantine Oskiper, Corwin Cheung, Luke Robitaille; 1st grade—1st, 7: Aryaman Bansal, 2nd-4th, 6: Rishith Susarla, James Cooper, Milind Maiti; Kindergarten—1st-2nd, 6: Chinguun Bayaraa, Maurya Palusa. 12th grade team—1st-2nd, 14: Solomon Schechter 1 Westchester, University High; 11th grade team—1st, 15 ⁄2: Plano East High School, 2nd, 15: Horace Mann; 10th grade team— 1 1 1st, 14 ⁄2: Westwood, 2nd-3rd, 12 ⁄2: St. John’s School, Hanna High School; 9th grade team—1st, 15: Catalina Foothills High School, 2nd, 13: Trinity Prepatory School; 8th grade team—1st, 14: I.S. 318, 2nd, 10: Canyon Ridge Middle School; 7th grade 1 team—1st, 13 ⁄2: Hunter College Campus School, 2nd, 2nd, 13: I.S. 318; 6th grade team—1st, 14: Canyon Vista Middle School, 1 1 2nd, Quail Valley Middle School; 5th grade team—1st-2nd, 13 ⁄2: Scicore Academy, Dalton; 4th grade team—1st-3rd, 12 ⁄2: Dal- 1 ton, Aspen Elementary, Skaggs Elementary; 3rd grade team—1st, 17: Universal Academy, 2nd, 15 ⁄2: Dalton; 2nd grade 1 team—1st-2nd, 14 ⁄2: Scicore Academy, Columbia Grammar; 1st grade team—1st, 13: Oak Hall, 2nd, 12: Dalton; Kindergarten 1 team—1st, 10 ⁄2: Oak Hall, 2nd, 10: Dalton.
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Education
Reaching the Next Level The Second Koltanowski International Conference on chess and education
By DR. TIM REDMAN
fter a ten-year interval, Kolty 2 started at Kolty 1. In an essay based on to find skill transfer—that learning chess was held Friday and Saturday, their talk, William Bart and Michael Ather- will help student performance in math, A November 18 and 19 at the Hilton ton gave an introduction to the reading, science, and social science. With Anatole Hotel in Dallas, in conjunction neuroscientific basis of chess playing and some limited evidence to support the ben- with the National K-12 Championship. A provided fMRI (functional magnetic reso- efit of chess on reading (Margolies, Rifner) lot has happened in the field of chess nance imaging) scans that were published which is my own area of interest, nothing and education in the last ten years. in the conference book, Chess and Educa- has been found to demonstrate that domain Joseph Eberhard, in one of the two talks tion: Selected Essays from the Koltanowski mastery in chess transfers to other aca- in plenary session on Friday afternoon, Conference. At Kolty 2, Stephen Lipschultz demic areas. Anecdotal evidence abounds described a key change: “Neuroscience is spoke on “Advances in Cognitive and Neu- and we teachers can see the benefits of taking us to the next level.” He observed rosciences: the Impact on Educational chess for our students, but scientific evi- that cognitive neuroscience is helping us Chess.” Acknowledging that he is a physi- dence is lacking. So concluded several understand how people papers from both learn, but he also chal- Koltanowski conferences. lenged: “Can we now use The United States has a neuroscience to better “More artists fail proud tradition of local understand affective devel- control of schools so opment?” Dr. Eberhard was for lack of character than research is needed to make one of the returning veter- the case for chess one ans. His talk in 2001 was for lack of intelligence.” school district at a time. on the benefit of chess We don’t have a national instruction for economically ministry of education. disadvantaged children. In ~EZRA POUND And yet, Dr. Lipschultz his talk at the one-day pointed out, we are con- Chess in Education workshop held in con- cian not a neuroscientist, Dr. Lipschultz fronted by the absolutely terrifying data junction with the U.S. Open in Oakbrook, then proceeded to give a bravura sum- on low socio-economic status children Illinois, in 2006, his thinking had evolved. mary of the current state of cognitive who enter school with deficient language There he suggested a change in the lan- neuroscience with particular emphasis on skills. As David Barrett pointed out in guage of the claims we are making for chess. Although he said that there is not his study about “Using Chess to Improve chess, from “chess makes you better in much science to support our claims that Math Achievement for Students Who math, reading, etc.” to “chess develops chess helps with reading and math skills, Receive Special Education Services,” the the thinking skills that are at the founda- he pointed to a promising area of research gap, as registered on the TAKS (Texas tion of improvement in math and reading.” that could demonstrate the educational Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) At Kolty 2 he said simply: “Much has been benefits of chess. exam widens as time goes on. The gap learned about how we learn.” Until now, the Holy Grail of research in between the special education students This discussion about neuroscience chess and education has been the attempt and the overall student score for math is
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-6.0 in third grade growing to -35.4 in his students to deal with these obstacles. and specifically about how skills and char- eleventh grade. We could expect the same David’s approach is to highlight the pri- acter formation acquired through chess worsening problem in other areas. Eco- macy of character in his preparation. transfer into the world of investment bank- nomically disadvantaged students begin Dr. Teresa Parr presented the most tan- ing. To remind us that Kolty 2 was an their education with poor “cultural cap- gible evidence of the promise contained in academic conference, not a cheerleading ital,” the subject of another university this new approach in her talk “Exploring convention, University of Texas at Dallas conference on chess and education held the Malleability of Executive Control.” (UTD) undergraduate Saheli Nath reported in Aberdeen, Scotland, a few years ago After touching on the problems with exist- on “The Effects of Playing Chess on Self- and covered in Chess Life. These stu- ing research in chess and education, she esteem: A Case-Control Pilot Study.” Her dents begin the game giving rook odds. narrowed her focus to exploring the ques- project was funded through a scholar- Dr. Lipschultz believes that poverty tion: How and why does chess have its award by the UTD Office of the Vice affects brain development in a potentially impact? She and her colleagues have just President for Research and it was super- reversible way. The single most important received a million-dollar grant from the vised by Dr. Alexey Root. The group new approach coming out of Kolty 2 has Department of Education to explore the studied consisted of forty college students to do with the potential benefit of chess impact of chess on beneficial character ages 18-40 divided into chess players and not on skill transfer but on improved traits, grouped under the umbrella term non chess players (experimental and con- “executive functions.” Inhibition, what “executive control.” These include habits trol groups) and it concluded that there we call self control, positively affects life promoted through chess such as metacog- were no significant differences between the success in areas such as health and nition (thinking about thinking), inhibition self-esteem scores of the two groups. Julie wealth. To the extent that chess can versus impulsivity (consider the “touch- Blasingame disagreed, arguing that chess improve metacognition, impulse control, move” rule), and immediate feedback on builds self-esteem. planning, and restraint, it can be of great hypotheses tried over the board. Funding Returning to the increasing importance benefit to children. agencies don’t want to hear about chess, of neuroscience in chess and education, David MacEnulty’s talk on “Preparing she advised, thus the indirect approach three cognitive psychologists from the Uni- Children for Tournament Play” had noth- taken. Her work, aside from the promise versity of Texas at Dallas, James Bartlett, ing to do with openings, middlegames, or of its research, inaugurates a new rhetor- Amy Boggan, and Daniel Krawczyk, spoke endgames and everything to do with psy- ical basis for arguing for the benefits of about their work. UTD Chess Program chological preparation. After regaling the chess, an approach advocated by Dr. Eber- Director James Stallings approached Pro- audience with a number of horror stories hard five years ago. [See Dr. Root’s fessor Krawczyk after hearing him talk from his experience as a coach—intimidat- interview with Dr. Parr in this issue.] about brain health and suggested that he ing behavior before the game and during Of course, Fernando Moreno has been use chess in his research. UTD has two the game, breaking rules, and other exam- saying this for some years now. He spoke centers, The Center for Brain Health and ples of unethical behavior, not just on the about the perspective from counseling, the Center for Vital Longevity whose part of the children playing, but also on the and how he uses chess metaphors to help research interests can coincide with inter- part of parents, coaches, and tournament students make good life choices. Dmitry ests in chess and education. With an assist directors—he explained how he prepared Schneider spoke about chess and finance from IBM executive Rodney Thomas, the
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Education
chair of the Chess Program Advisory Board When the essential funding for the Kolty Conference on Chess and Education was at the University, the research went for- 2 Conference was in place, Dr. Alexey sponsored by the U.S. Chess Trust and the ward. Professor Bartlett gave a general Root approached UTD alumnus Clemente University of Texas at Dallas. The U.S. orientation to their work on face recogni- Rendon about additional support. As a Chess Trust chair, Harold Winston, has tion, UTD Ph.D. student Amy Boggan result, the Texas Chess Association pro- been a tireless advocate for the value and explained how chess is an area particularly vided significant funding. We decided that importance of this kind of academic con- suited for this kind of study, and Profes- those funds would be best used for Texas ference. As a proud member of the board sor Krawczyk gave a detailed explanation teachers. As a result, and due to Dr. Root’s of the U.S. Chess Trust, I am particularly of brain function and chess perception. Dr. efforts, four ninety-minute sessions on grateful for its support. Myron Lieberman Krawczyk noted that “chess is a very emo- Friday (so teachers could get excused par- wrote an article about the Conference that tional game” and Dr. Bartlett confirmed ticipation) were available to provide can be found at the Chess Trust website that “emotional-affective systems play a six-hour potential clock hours for Texas www.uschesstrust. org. The University of critical role in chess.” gifted and talented teachers (G/T). The Texas at Dallas was an equal sponsor with A traditional subject of discussion in the sessions were comprised of 45 minutes on the Trust. From the outset of the chess pro- field of chess and education—chess as the nature and needs of G/T Learners, 45 gram at UTD, Provost Hobson Wildenthal social good—was also prevalent. Texas minutes for creativity and instructional has stressed that the function of a univer- Chess Association President Clemente strategies, 90 minutes for social and emo- sity is not just to field a championship Rendon gave an uplifting talk about how tional needs, 90 minutes for differentiated chess team, but to do research, hold con- chess made a difference in Brownsville curriculum, and 90 minutes for identifi- ferences, and teach online courses on County, Texas, one of the poorest coun- cation and assessment. The latter session chess and education. His vision has held, ties in the United States. He correctly was a plenary session in which Dr. Eber- and although we are very proud of the pinpointed the rhetorical interest in the hard presented his ideas (see above) and great successes of our chess team, UTD Brownsville story on the part of the Dr. Root presented some intriguing lesson also values the academic side of chess. I national media as the timeless appeal of plans that will be included in her next have already noted the great value provided the underdog. Kevin O’Connell in the sec- book, Thinking with Chess: Teaching Chil- by the co-sponsorship of the Texas Chess ond plenary session presented an account dren Ages 5-14, forthcoming from Mongoose Association. The U.S. Chess Federation of the runaway success of the scholastic Press in October 2012. also contributed by providing us with meet- chess program in Turkey. Professor Frank Brady’s personal memories of ing rooms during their national K-12, as Charles Moura Netto of Brazil gave a mov- Bobby Fischer provided a great close in they did for Kolty 1 in 2001. ing presentation about the use of chess in his keynote address. I am proud to have served as Conference prisons in the Brazilian state of Espirito As you can well imagine, much more of chair for this second Koltanowski Confer- Santo. Noting a partnership between the great worth was presented. PDFs of all the ence on Chess and Education. But I must municipality of Santa Maria de Jetibá’s talks or powerpoint presentations are emphasize that the entire Conference was pro-chess pedagogical program and the available at The University of Texas at an effort by Team UTD. Associate Chair State Secretary of Justice to place chess Dallas chess website, www.utdallas.edu/ Dr. Alexey Root organized all of the Texas in prisons in Espirito Santo, Professor chess/kolty2. Association for the Gifted and Talented Netto described a classic win-win out- George and Leah Koltanowski were sessions and chaired several sessions. come. The scholastic program developed dear friends of mine for several decades. Associate Chair James Stallings handled cognitive ability in students and the prison I enjoyed reminiscing with Myron and all matters of logistics flawlessly, helped program reduced prisoner violence and Rachel Lieberman, also their good friends, by Assistant Chair Luis Salinas. And aimed to reduce the rate of recidivism. about stories we recalled. It is fitting that eleven (11!) UTD students from the chess UTD Senior Lecturer Tom Lambert a second Kolty Conference be dedicated club and the chess team all volunteered assisted with a simultaneous translation to their memory. their time to make this event happen. To from and into Spanish for Professor Netto. The Second International Koltanowski all, my thanks. .
Chess and the Marshmallow Test By Dr. Alexey Root, WIM
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded $1,049,094 to research how chess might help with executive control and, also, with academic achievement. GM Maurice Ashley and Teresa Parr, Ph.D. (photo, left), are part of the research team. The grant’s title is Exploring the Malleability of Executive Control1. Just before I learned of this grant, I read the marshmallow test chapter of Daniel Akst’s We Have Met the Enemy: Self-control in an Age of Excess. In typical experiments, a four-year-old child would be left alone with “a single marshmallow, a pair of marshmallows, and a bell. The experimenter would explain that he had to leave for a bit and that the child would have a choice. If he waited for the adult’s return, he could have the pair of marshmallows. But if he didn’t want to wait, he could summon the grown-up by ringing the bell—in which case he could only have one marshmallow.” Waiting longer for two marshmallows is associated later in life with good grades in school and getting along well with others. Akst wrote, “If self-control is so important for kids, can it be taught? There is every reason to believe that it can. ... Martial arts, music lessons, or other activities requiring sustained attention probably help.” When I read that last sentence, I thought that chess, like martial arts and music, might teach self-control. I interviewed Dr. Parr via e-mail to find out more. ALEXEY ROOT PHOTO:
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Are self-control and executive control leads to improvements in achievement. similar? However, I did not find a single study Dr. Teresa Parr Executive control is an umbrella term that directly examined this which includes our ability to reason, relationship. Since executive functions plan ahead, multi-task or switch is not my area of expertise, a colleague Dr. Teresa L. S. Parr has a doctor- between tasks, sustain attention, of mine recommended that I talk to ate degree in clinical psychology. delay gratification, and make complex Dr. Ellefson, who was, at the time, She has spent years working with decisions. So, depending on how a faculty member at nearby Virginia families and children of all ages in a broadly you are using the term Commonwealth University. She variety of therapeutic, educational, ‘self-control,’ you could say that it specializes in executive functions and medical, and research settings. Dr. is an aspect of executive control. curriculum development, so she was the perfect person for me to consult. Parr’s undergraduate and graduate What do you hope to find about After several conversations, we began work was completed at Virginia connections between chess, executive Commonwealth University. Her clin- control, and academic achievement? to concoct a plan to conduct this What implications will this research research ourselves. As our study ical internship was completed at the have for chess in schools? started to take shape, we realized University of North Carolina Medical we needed additional expertise, so Those of us who work in the field have School at Chapel Hill. Her scholarly we reached out to Dr. Serpell at no doubts that broad-based writing has been published in book Virginia State University. Dr. Serpell implementation of chess programs chapters and research articles in also has expertise in the area of across the country would have a the field of psychology. Dr. Parr lives executive functions, but has additional dramatic impact on academic outside of Richmond, Virginia with expertise and experience in conducting achievement. Schools, however, are school-based research in urban her husband and three children. inundated with such claims, and are settings. Our next goal was to find a looking for evidence before they invest school system interested in partnering ever-decreasing funds into a program or curriculum. There is a lot of with us. Fortunately, we found a large urban subjects, as well as activities that anecdotal and correlational research might appeal to students with different that supports the benefits of chess as a school system in the mid-Atlantic region willing to work with us. They interests and learning styles. It is way of boosting success; however, important that we provide a uniform correlational research can only tell already had chess programs in some of their schools and a strong commitment experience to all of the students us whether changes in one variable involved in the project, so we have (in this case, chess) are associated with to chess, so they were a natural fit. The next step was to find a funding agency. to use a very detailed curriculum changes in another variable (academic and provide rigorous training and performance). So, in our case, we The Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences was oversight. Most chess coaches have cannot know with certainty whether other responsibilities which would other factors cause the relationship another good fit. Their mission, as stated on their website, is to provide prohibit their involvement in such we see. Perhaps, for example, the a comprehensive project. relationship between the coach and “rigorous and relevant evidence on the students, rather than playing which to ground education practice and What roles do you [Teresa] and GM chess, causes students to study harder. policy.” We applied to their program on Ashley have in the research? cognition and student learning which We are interested in whether chess Drs. Serpell and Ellefson and I worked focuses on research designed to might have its impact by improving together to write the proposal, and, improve educational practices through executive functions. If that is the case, now, to run the research project. the use of advances in cognitive science it would help explain why playing chess GM Ashley’s primary responsibilities which matched well with the focus of seems to impact performance in so are curriculum design and training. many areas. If we can begin to narrow our study on executive functions. down the mechanisms of change involved, the case for chess in schools What chess curriculum (software, The initial U.S. Department of Education’s is that much stronger. teacher instruction) will be used with Institute of Education Sciences grant the subjects? is listed at http://ies.ed.gov/funding/ Tell me about how the grant came about, We are working with graduate students grantsearch/details.asp?ID=1202. Where since one of the collaborators is from the from Virginia State University and will Chess Life readers be able to learn more University of Cambridge in England. Morgan State University to run the about this research as it progresses? My training is in clinical psychology, program. They will be using a Chess Life readers can follow our progress so when I became interested in the curriculum designed by GM Ashley via our blog at www.mauriceashleycham- potential of chess to enhance academic and me. The curriculum is based on pions.com/researchnews. . success, I naturally started combing methods GM Ashley has used for over journals to learn more. I found twenty years. A key component of his 1The program is funded by the Institute of numerous studies from all over the approach is the disaggregated teaching Education Sciences, U.S. Department of world that reported correlations method in which complex subjects are Education, through grant R305A1 10932 to the between playing chess and broken down into their constituent University of Cambridge for an internationally improvements in academics and parts and studied in depth before being collaborative project between the University of behavior. I was intrigued that playing taught as a whole. So, for example, Cambridge, Virginia State University and chess seemed to impact subjects not participants will work on gaining Ashley-Parr, LLC. The opinions expressed here obviously related to chess. Intuitively, fluency with each piece before playing are those of the author(s) and do not represent we assume that playing chess a full game. We also include opportu- views of the Institute or the U.S. Department enhances skills such as planning nities for students to explore of Education, University of Cambridge or ahead and focusing which likely connections between chess and other Virginia State University.
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Back to Basics Corporal Aventura’s Borodino
By GM Lev Alburt At Borodino (September 7, 1812) Napoleon, ill and uncharacteristically overcautious, allowed a Russian army under Kutuzov to escape to fight another day—a sort of chess draw.
The winner of this month’s award, Rene Signaling my intent to reposition my Aventura (U.S. Army) filled his annota- -vlrwq-trk+ knight in preparation for an attack against tions with military terms, which I found +p+-+pzpp my opponent’s kingside. quite contagious. 18. Qe2 b5 19. Rac1 h5 20. h4 Qd6 21. Na2?! (My further comments are in italics). p+n+psn-+ +-+p+-+- Slav Defense (D15) -vlr+r+-+ Enrico Balmaceda (2037, U.S. Navy) -+-zP-+-+ +-+-snpmk- Rene Aventura (1720, U.S. Army) zP-sNLzPQ+P 2011 U.S. Interservice Chess p+-wqpsnp+ Championship, 06.15.2011 -zP-vL-zPP+ +p+p+-+p tR-+R+-mK- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a6 -+-zP-+-zP After 13. ... Bb8 zP-+-zP-zP- The Slav Defense is not my favorite opening as black in response to 1. d4. I the passive position after move 14, so I NzP-+QzPL+ played this Slav simply because it was decided to make a weakening move 14. ... g6 in front of my king with the intention +-tRRvL-mK- fashionable in the 2011 All Army Chess After 21. Na2 Championship held May 15-19. of positioning my pawn in support of my pieces to attack first before he can react. 5. e3 Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 e6 Mr. Aventura is quite correct in the At first, I was surprised to see the assessment of the game and in the chosen Sailor’s move, it does not seem right to rsn-wqkvl-tr plan (to play ... h7-h5). retreat an active piece during the battle. +p+-+pzpp 16. Bf1 History check! Navy Admiral Nimitz did not retreat during the Battle of the Mid- p+p+psn-+ At this time, I took a badly needed way, General MacArthur retreated to break, closing my eyes for 25 minutes Australia in the Battle of the Philippines. +-+p+-+- I like 21. Na2, as it allows the activation as my headache was unbearable and the of the otherwise very passive bishop. The -+PzP-+-+ medicine didn’t seem to work. The knight could be brought into the fray then. +-sN-zPQ+P headache continued to linger with little relief. After the break I made the casual 21. ... Nf5 22. Bb4! PzP-+-zPP+ move … Re8. tR-vL-mKL+R 16. ... Re8 17. Bg2 A nice counterattack from the Sailor, After 7. ... e6 taking control of the a3-f8 diagonal. -vlrwqr+-+ 22. ... Qd7 23. Qe1 The Navy’s two-bishop advantage is purely academic. +p+-+pmkp -vlr+r+-+ 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. Bd3 Nc6 10. 0-0 Bd6 11. Rd1 p+n+psnp+ +-+q+pmk- 0-0 12. a3 Rc8 13. Bd2 Bb8 +-+p+-+- p+-+psnp+ (see diagram top of next column) -+-zP-+-+ +p+p+n+p Around this time, I was quite happy zP-sN-zPQzPP -vL-zP-+-zP with my position as all my pieces are -zP-+-zPL+ developed to reasonable squares. I felt zP-+-zP-zP- that I had equalized the position. tR-+RvL-mK- NzP-+-zPL+ 14. Be1 g6 15. g3 Kg7 After 17. Bg2 +-tRRwQ-mK- 17. ... Ne7 My opponent seems to be content with After 23. Qe1
46 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_alburt_JP_r7_chess life 1/11/2012 2:13 PM Page 47
23. ... Ng4 24. e4 Too slow. White had to play 30. d5 and 41. d7 Qh3+ 42. Kf2 Rf4+ 43. Ke1 Qh1+, (if allowed) 31. d6. Draw agreed. Suddenly the quiet positional game opens up and becomes very sharp and 30. ... f4! tactical. -+-+-+-+ A key move. The Army intends to use +-+P+-mk- 24. ... dxe4 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26. Bxe4 the light squares of the h3-c8 diagonal with the intended target on the g4-square p+-+-+p+ -vlr+-+-+ for his powerful queen. Then the weak- +p+-zp-+p ness on h4 and f4 will tell. The Navy will +-+q+pmk- not be able to mount a counterattack -+-+-tr-+ p+-+p+p+ with an extra pawn on d4 quickly enough zP-+-+-+- to deflect the Army’s plan. (31. gxf4 Nf6, +p+-+n+p followed by ... Qg4+.) -zP-+Q+-+ -vL-zPL+nzP 31. Ne2 fxg3 32. Nxg3 Bxg3 33. fxg3 Re3 +-+RmK-+q zP-+-+-zP- Final position NzP-+-zP-+ -+-+-+-+ +-+q+pmk- This is the first time in my life that I +-+RwQ-mK- played a game of chess for more than After 26. Bxe4 p+-+-+p+ five hours. I never knew that chess con- centration could last this long. All I 26. ... Ba7? +pvL-+-+p -+-zP-+nzP wanted was to rest my head and I offered Black should either take the pawn on d4 him a draw for the second time despite my (why not?) or block it with 26. ... Ne7 and zP-+-tr-zP- positional and material advantage and my friend gladly accepted it. The ending then 27. ... Nf6—eventually, with ... N -zP-wQ-+-+ would have been 44. Kd2 Rd4+ 45. Kc2 (either) d5. +-+R+-mK- Qc6+ and 46. ... Rxd7, winning. 27. Bxf5 exf5 A good chessplayer, like a good Soldier, After 33. ... Re3 should train himself to be able to play/fight reasonably well even when sick or tired. A big mistake, paving the way for a 34. d5 winning naval passed pawn. Kibitz ... (chess) History check! About Correct. 27. ... gxf5 weakens the black Other moves also lose, e.g. 34. Qg2 (or twenty years ago British-American Grand- king’s guard—but White’s strong passer is 34. Kg2) 34. ... Qc7. master Tony Miles played all his games in a greater evil. a super-strong Wijk aan Zee tournament 34. ... Rxg3+ 35. Kh1 Qf5! lying on his stomach (due to a serious 28. Bc5?! With the threat to mate in three moves. back injury)—and came in first! But, in fairness, both players can be My opponent missed the opportunity to 36. Qe2 proud of this game—and learn a lot from take advantage of my mistake. The Sailor it. was short on time with less than five -+-+-+-+ . minutes left on his clock while I had 14 minutes. A better move for White would +-+-+pmk- have been 28. Bc3, grabbing a tempo p+-+-+p+ Send in your games! while solidifying the center. If 28. ... Qd5 +pvLP+q+p If you are unrated or were rated then 29. Nb4 followed by f2-f3 and Kg2 1799 or be low on your Chess Life with a comfortable position for the Navy. -+-+-+nzP (CL) label, then GM Lev Alburt invites 28. ... Re8! zP-+-+-tr- you to send your most instructive game with notes to: A fine move by this Soldier, forcing the -zP-+Q+-+ Back to Basics, c/o Chess Life Sailor’s queen to go to a passive square. PO Box 3967 Crossville, TN The Soldier seized the initiative. +-+R+-+K 38557-3967 After 36. Qe2 29. Qd2 Bb8 Or e-mail your material to 36. ... Ne5?? [email protected] -vl-+r+-+ GM Alburt will select the “most +-+q+pmk- White has 19 seconds left and I have instructive” game and CL will award five minutes. I completely missed check- an autographed copy of Lev’s newest p+-+-+p+ mating Black in three moves. 36. ... Nf2+ book, Chess Training Pocket Book II 37. Bxf2 Qh3 checkmate (37. Qxf2 Qe4+ (by Lev Alburt and Al Lawrence) to +pvL-+p+p 38. Kh2 Qxh4 checkmate). The last checkmate is tricky and difficult the person submitting the most in - -+-zP-+nzP structive game and annotations. to see in time pressure. Do not send games with only a zP-+-+-zP- 37. Bd4 f6 38. Bxe5 fxe5 39. d6 Rh3+ 40. few notes, as they are of little instruc- NzP-wQ-zP-+ Kg2 Rxh4 tive value and can’t be used. Writing skills are a plus, but instructiveness +-+R+-mK- At this time I offered a draw to my is a must! Make sure your game (or After 29. ... Bb8 friendly colleague in the U.S. Armed part of it) and your notes will be of Forces despite my superior position, but interest to other readers. 30. Nc3 he refused.
uschess.org Chess Life — February 2012 47 CL_02-2011_benko_JP_r8_chess life 1/11/2012 1:55 PM Page 48
Endgame Lab A Master of the Endgame
By GM Pal Benko GM Gedeon Barcza (1911-1986)
1911 was a good year for grandmaster births. Besides Sammy Reshevsky, -+-tr-+k+ -+-+-+-+ Mikhail Botvinnik and Andor Lilienthal, zp-+-+p+- +-+-+-+- the strong Hungarian GM Gedeon Barcza also entered this world. Champion of -+-+pzp-zp -+p+-+r+ Hungary eight times and a member of +-+-+-+- +p+-+p+R his country’s Olympic team (among other -+R+-+-+ -+-+k+-zP international successes), he was a math- ematics professor who later became editor +-+-+KzP- +-zP-+-+- of the Hungarian chess magazine. As a PzP-+-zP-zP -+-+-mK-+ teacher he left his mark on multiple gen- erations. Endgame students will find his +-+-+-+- +-+-+-+- games valuable for study since he was, After 27. ... gxf6 Black to play first of all, an endgame specialist. the queenside pawn minority, but two Also good was 58. ... f4 59. Rc5 f3+ then Barcza Opening (A11) other factors demonstrate the inferiority after 60. Ke1 Ke3 61. Re5+ Kf4 62. Rc5 GM Gedeon Barcza of the black position: Black is unable to Kg3 63. Rf5 Rd3 etc. GM Vasily Smyslov create a passed pawn on the kingside 59. Rh8 Kg4 60. Rh7 Re6+ 61. Kd3 Moscow Ol, 1956 because of his doubled pawns, and the 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Bf5 (?) king is confined to his feeble h-pawn. If 61. Kf2 Re4! followed by 62. ... Rc4 28. ... Rd5 29. b4! Kg7 30. a4 e5 wins. This opening used by GM Barcza (and 61. ... f4 62. h5 Kf3 63. h6 c5 64. Rh8 named after him) often transfers into 30. ... a5 31. Rc5! other systems. The bishop excursion is 31. b5 Rd1 After 64. c4 b4 65. Rh8 b3 66. h7 Re7 one of these transpositions, but it is safer wins. to prepare for it with … c6 first. In case of 31. ... Rd7, 32. a5 followed 64. ... Rd6+ 65. Kc2 c4 66. Kb2 Re6 67. Ka3 4. c4 c6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Qb3 Qc8 7. Nc3 e6 8. by b4-b5-b6 and Rb4 wins. Ke3 68. Kb4 f3 69. h7 Re7 70. Kxb5 f2 71. d3 Nc6 9. Bf4 Be7 10. 0-0 0-0 11. Rac1 Qd7 32. Rc7 a6 33. bxa6 Rd4 34. a7 Rxa4 35. Kd3 Rf8 Rxh7 72. Re8+ Kd3 73. Rf8 Rh5+ 74. 12. e4! f5 36. Kc3 Kf6 37. Kb3 Ra1 38. Kb4 Kg5 39. Kb4 Ke3 75. Re8+ Kf4, White resigned. Kb5 Kh5 With a significant development advan- Whenever GM Barcza found himself a tage, White is correct in opening lines to In time trouble Black realized only after pawn up, he usually managed to win secure an endgame edge. touching the king that 39. ... Kg4 is los- even theoretically drawn positions. ing after 40. Rc4+ followed by 41. Ra4. 12. ... dxe4 13. dxe4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. King Misstep 40. Kb6, Black resigned. Ne5 Nxe5 16. Bxe4 Nc6 17. Rfd1 Qc8 18. Gedeon Barcza Qa4 Rd8 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Barcza played very accurately. Petar Trifunović Qxc6 h6 22. Be5 Bg5 23. Rc4 Qd1+ 24. Kg2 Budapest, 1948 Rd8 25. Qf3! Qxf3+ 26. Kxf3 Bf6(?) Mutual Passed Pawns GM Paul Keres (see diagram top of next column) Trading for White’s strong bishop but GM Gedeon Barcza weakening his own pawn-structure. The position is drawn but transferring Tallin, 1957 Instead 26. ... Rd5 followed by … a7-a5 theory into practice does not always go was more advisable. (see diagram top of next column) smoothly. 27. Bxf6 gxf6 1. Ke4 Kg3 57. ... Rd6 (see diagram top of next column) Either 1. ... Rh8 or 1. ... Rg5 were still Black plays carefully. Either 57. ... Kd3 playable. 28. Ke3! or 57. ... c5 58. Rh8 Rb6 look forceful. This is a draw, but converting theory Black’s difficulty will mainly be due to 58. Ke2 Kf4 into practice does not always go smoothly.
48 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2011_benko_JP_r8_chess life 1/11/2012 1:55 PM Page 49
Problem I Problem II Benko’s Bafflers O. Pervakov R. Becker Harold van der Heijden 50 JT, 2010 Harold van der Heijden 50 JT, 2010 Most of the time these studies -+-+-+-+ -+-+-+-+ resemble positions that could actu- +-+-+-+- +-+-+-+p ally occur over the board. You must simply reach a theoretically won or -+-+-+-tr -+-+-+-+ drawn position for White. +-trk+-+- +-+-+-+l Solutions can be found on page -mK-+R+-+ -zpR+-+-+ 71. +-+-+-+- +-zp-+-+K Please e-mail submissions for Benko’s Bafflers to: p+-+-tR-+ -+-+-+-+ [email protected] +-vL-+-sN- +-+-+-+k White to play and win White to play and draw
-+-+-+-+ -+-+-+-+ -+-+-+-+ tR-+-+-+- +-+-+-+N +-vL-+-+- -+-+-+-+ -+-+-+-+ -+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+r +-+n+-+- zP-+-+kzpp -+-+-+k+ -+-+-+-+ -+-+-zp-+ +-+-mK-+- +-+-+-mK- +-+-+P+P -+-+P+-+ -mk-+-+-zP r+-+-+P+ +-+-+-+- +-+-+-+- +-+-+-mK- White to play Black to play White to play
1. Ke4 Kg3 52. Kf3 Nf5 53. Nf8 Kc3 54. Kf4 Nh4 55. Kg3 Rf4 67. Kh3 Kf3 68. Bc7 Rxf5 69. Kxh4 Ke4 Nf5+ 56. Kg4 Ne3+ 57. Kg5 Kd4 70. Bd8 Rb5 71. Bc7 Kf5 72. Bd6 Kg6 73. Bc7 Both 1. ... Rh8 and 1. ... Rg5 are playable. Rb4+ 74. Kh3 Rg4 75. Bd6 Kf5 76. Bc7 Ke4 2. Re7 Ra5 3. e3 Kg4?? Again, simpler and better was 57. ... 77. Bd6 Kf3 78. Bc7 Rg1 79. Kh2 Rc1 80. Bb8 Ng2 58. Ne6 Kc4, etc. Kg4 81. Be5 Rc2+ 82. Kh1 Kh3 83. Kg1 Rc5 The losing move as the black king gets 58. h4 Ke5 59. h5 Nf5 60. Ng6+ Ke6 61. Nf4+ 84. Bb8 Rg5+ 85. Kf1 Rg4!, White resigned. pushed to the side of the board. Either 3. Ke5? 62. Nd3+ Ke6 63. Nf2 Ke5 64. Ng4+! ... Rc5, 3. ... Rg5 or even 3. ... Rh5 are Ke6 It is useful to be aware of the fact that good, but 3. ... Rb5? would lose to 4. Rg7+ Kf2 5. Kf4 Rb8 6. Rf7 Rb3 7. Kg4+ After 64. ... Ke4, 65. Ne3 would quickly the position is drawn if the pawn is on h4. Kxe3 8. Rf3+. Computers are required win. Turn back to the above diagram, the for such finesses. 65. Kg6 Nh4+ 66. Kg7 Nf5+ 67. Kf8! Kd6 right defensive method could have been: 4. Rg7+ Kh5 5. Kf4 Ra8 6. e4 Kh6 7. Rg1 Kh7 Zugzwang 8. Kf5 Ra7 Mutual . If 67. ... Kd5, then 53. Kf1 Ra3 again 68. Ne3+! would win. After 8. ... Rf8+ 9. Ke6 Re8+ 10. Kf7 68. Kf7 Kd7 69. Kf6 Ne7 70. Ne3 Kd6 71. Kf7 Now after 53. ... g4 54. hxg4+ hxg4 55. wins. Nc6 72. Nc4+ Kd7 73. h6 Nd8+ 74. Kf6 g3! fxg3 56. Bxg3 gxf3 57. Bc7 the posi- 9. e5 Ra2 10. Kf6 Rf2+ 11. Ke7 Ra2 12. e6 Black resigned. tion is a theoretical draw. Re2 13. Kf7 Rf2+ 14. Ke8 Ra2 15. e7 Rd2 16. 54. Bb6 g4 55. hxg4+ hxg4 56. fxg4+ Kxg4 Rg4, Black resigned. 57. Bf2 Rxa5 An Exchange Up Since he sees the “Lucena position” GM Jan Hein Donner GM Barcza proved that this position 16. ... Rd1 17. Kf7 Rf1+ 18. Ke6 Re1+ 19. GM Gedeon Barcza cannot be won. Budapest, 1967 Kf6 Rf1+ 20. Ke5 and the coming win. 58. Ke1 Zugzwang (see diagram top of next column) GM Gedeon Barcza Not 58. Be1? Hans-Joachim Hecht 53. g4+? 58. ... Ra1+ 59. Ke2 Rc1 Budapest, 1962 White feared the g5-g4 breakthrough. If 59. ... Rh1 then 60. Be1! But, as we will see later, this fear was (see diagram top of next column) 60. Kd2! Rh1 61. Ke2 Rh2 62. Kf1 f3 63. Kg1!! unfounded. Now Black wins with long, Rxg2+ 64. Kf1 Here 52. Kf3 would be winning but it is accurate, and instructive play. Black’s turn. 53. ... fxg3 e.p. 54. Bxg3 Rxa5 55. Bc7 Ra2 And again the so-called “del Rio posi- 51. ... Ne3 56. Bg3 Ke6 57. Bc7 Rc2 58. Bb8 Kd5 59. tion” draw appears. This endgame, a Ba7 Ke5 60. Bb8+ Kd4 61. Ba7+ Kd3 62. Bb6 This is OK since 52. h4 meets 52. ... valuable addition to endgame theory, was Ke2 63. Kg2 Rc8 64. h4 gxh4 65. f4 Rc4 66. f5 Nf5+ but 51. ... Kc3 was simpler. later confirmed by computer. .
uschess.org Chess Life — February 2012 49 CL_02-2012_gp_AKF_r7_chess life 1/11/12 11:11 AM Page 48
2011 TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX SUMMARY Trophies Plus awards $12,500 in cash prizes in the 2011 Grand Prix!
2011 TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX STANDINGS
The following point totals reflect all rated event information as of December 28 for the 2011 Grand Prix. All Grand Prix updates are unofficial and subject to change during the year or until year-end tabulation is complete.
Several strong tournament finishes, including the 42nd Annual OVERALL STANDINGS National Chess Congress and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis Invitational, helped elevate IM IRINA KRUSH to a NAME STATE PTS. current 15th place in the 2011 Grand Prix. 1 GM Sergey Kudrin CT 356.77
2 GM Timur Gareyev TX 290.56
3 GM Mikheil Kekelidze NY 276.07
4 GM Tamaz Gelashvili NY 271.60
5 GM Alexander Shabalov PA 205.20
6 GM Alexander Ivanov MA 195.58
7 GM Alejandro Ramirez TX 174.83
8 GM Melikset Khachiyan CA 173.28
9 GM Aleksandr Lenderman NY 169.67
10 IM Enrico Sevillano CA 127.22
11 GM Mesgen Amanov IL 120.76
12 IM Justin Sarkar NY 111.10
13 IM Yury Lapshun NY 101.50
14 GM Varuzhan Akobian CA 97.33
15 IM Irina Krush NY 93.20
CATEGORIES AND PRIZES Trophies Plus: IT’S NOT JUST A TROPHY. $12 ,500 IT’S THE BEGINNING OF A LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT. Proud sponsor of USCF National Scholastic IN CASH PRIZES! tournament awards since 1999. FIRST PRIZE: $5,000! Proud sponsor of the USCF 2007-2011 All-America Team. 2nd: $2,500 | 3rd: $1,000 4th: $900 | 5th: $800 6th: $700 | 7th: $600 8th: $500 | 9th: $300 JEFF WEISS BY 10th: $200 315 W. 1st St., Templeton, Iowa 51463 | 800.397.9993 | www.trophiesplus.com IRINA KRUSH CL_02-2012_jgp_JP_r4_chess life 1/11/2012 2:28 PM Page 51
ChessMagnetSchool.com is the sponsor of the 2011 Junior Grand Prix (JGP). Official standings for events received and processed by January 4, 2012 are unofficial and subject to change during the year or until year-end tabulation is complete. 2011 JGP prizes were not available as of press time and will be announced at a later date. The method for calculating points has been modified; see uschess.org for the most up-to-date information. Chess Magnet School provides computer-based online chess training for both adults and children, including those who study independently and those who study under the guidance of a coach or teacher, as well as support for chess coaches and others who teach chess. Chess Magnet School has been a partner with USCF on a number of projects and activities since 2006, and has provided the free program that teaches the rules of chess to newcomers in the “New to Chess” section of USCF’s website. USCF members are invited to learn more about Chess Magnet School at www.Chess- MagnetSchool.com. 2011 CHESSMAGNETSCHOOL.COM JUNIOR GRAND PRIX TOP OVERALL STANDINGS
Name State Pts. Name State Pts.
KORBA, NICKY CA-S 11735 YAN, KEVIN NY 6086 SHUBEN, MATTHEW CA-S 10888 CHEN, JASMINE NY 6066 MIZUSHIMA, DEREK MD 8556 KOENIG, JAKE MD 5907 ROACH, ANDREW UT 8512 ZHAO, CHENYI CA-N 5728 ZHONG, HOWARD OK 8437 GORTI, AKSHITA VA 5698 BANERJEE, ABHIMANYU FL 7848 QAZI, RAFEH R IL 5684 KUMAR, ARAVIND NJ 7712 LUO, MAGGIE VA 5666 SOHAL, TANRAJ S 7152 CAO, JONATHAN VA 5623 CAO, ALVIN VA 6909 PETERSON, DANTE CA-S 5479 VISWANADHA, KESAV CA-N 6700 MOON, KYLE NY 5477 MOTURI, SOUREESH PA 6650 GAN, ERIC VA 5451 REEDER, CHARLIE PARKER NY 6649 MOORTHY, SRINIVAS RAMANUJA MD 5413 SETIADIKURNIA, SLOAN WA 6525 ESWARAN, ASHRITHA CA-N 5407 RICHMAN, JONATHAN NY 6373 HAIRAPETYAN, ARMAN CA-S 5406 LIANG, ADREAM WI 6345 LEVKOV, DANIEL NY 5394 ATTANAGODA, ISURU ADEEPA VA 6261 TURE, TANER NY 5332 SCHEIN, AARON O NY 6207 GHATTI, SANJAY GA 5320 KADAVERU, AJIT VA 6128 SANT, AMIT CA-N 5267 WIENER, ALEXANDRA CT 6120 RIVES, HAL NY 5142 SCHNEIDER, THOMAS G WI 6120 PETERSON, GIA CA-S 5140
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*Please note that there is a required amount in order to be listed as a Future Legacy Donor. Write or send an email to Barbara DeMaro, [email protected] for this amount. Donations to the U.S. Chess Trust are tax-deductible. A 501(c)(3) organization. BD:08/03
uschess.org Chess Life — February 2012 51 CL_02-2012_TLA_JP_r6_chess life 1/6/2012 12:39 PM Page 52
Tournament Life
USCF National Events Bids Note: Tournament memberships not valid for National events Note: Organizers previously awarded SEE TLA IN THIS ISSUE FOR DETAILS options for USCF National Events must still submit proposals (including sample 2012 U.S. Amateur Team Championship - South Feb. 17-19 or 18-19 • Ft. Lauderdale, Florida budgets) for their events. 2012 U.S. Amateur Team Championship - North Feb. 17-19 or 18-19 • Northbrook, Illinois NOW PAST DEADLINE OF 2012 29th Annual U.S. Amateur Team Championship West Feb. 18-20 • Santa Clara, California JULY 1, 2011: 2012 42nd Annual World Amateur Team & U.S. Team East Championship Feb. 18-20 • 2012 U.S. Amateur Parsippany, New Jersey (North, West) 2012 U.S. Class Championship 2012 U.S. Game/15 Championship Feb. 26 • Albuquerque, New Mexico 2012 U.S. Masters Championship 2012 U.S. Junior Chess Congress March 3-4 • Burlingame, California 2012 National High School (K-12) Championship April 13-15 • Minneapolis, Minnesota DEADLINE JULY 1, 2012: 2013 U.S. Amateur Team Championship 2012 All-Girls National Championships April 20-22 • Chicago, Illinois (North, South, West) 2012 National Junior High (K-9) Championship April 27-29 • San Diego, California 2013 U.S. Amateur (East, North, South, West) 2012 National Elementary (K-6) Championship May 11-13 • Nashville, Tennessee 2013 U.S. Senior Open 68th Annual (2012) U.S. Amateur East Championship May 26-28 or 27-28 • Somerset, 2013 National Open New Jersey 2013 U.S. Game 10 Championship 2012 U.S. Amateur South Championship June 9-10 • Memphis, Tennessee 2013 U.S. Game/15 Championship 2012 U.S. Game/10 Championship June 14 • Las Vegas, Nevada 2013 U.S. Game 60 Championship 2012 National Open June 15-17 or 16-17 • Las Vegas, Nevada 2013 U.S. Action G/30 Championship
FUTURE EVENTS (Watch for details) DEADLINE JULY 1, 2013: 2014 U.S. Senior Open 2012 U.S. Senior Open Championship July 9-14 • Houston, Texas 2012 U.S. Junior Open Championship July 13-15 • Houston, Texas OVERDUE BIDS 2012 U. S. Open Aug. 4-12 • Vancouver, Washington Please contact the National Office if you are interested in bidding for a 2012 U. S. Game/60 Oct. 27 • Pleasanton, California National Event. The USCF recom- 2012 U. S. Action Game/30 Oct. 28 • Pleasanton, California mends that bids be submitted ac- 2012 National Scholastic (K-12) Nov. 30-December 2 • Orlando, Florida cording to the following schedule. However, bids may be consi- dered 2013 SuperNationals V April 5-7 • Nashville, Tennessee prior to these dates. *USCF reserves 2013 National Scholastic (K-12) December 13-15 • Lake Buena Vista, Florida the right to decline all bids and organize the event itself. 2014 National High School (K-12) Championship April 4-6 • San Diego, California 2014 National Elementary (K-6) Championship May 9-11 • Dallas, Texas 2014 National Scholastic (K-12) December 12-14 • Orlando, Florida The TLA pages “Information for Organizers, TDs, and 2015 National Elementary (K-6) Championship May 8-10 • Nashville, Tennessee Affiliates” and “Information for Players” can now be 2015 National Scholastic (K-12) December 5-7 • Orlando, Florida found online at main.uschess.org/ go/tlainfo.
Rating supplements will be updated EACH MONTH on the USCF website, and each monthly rating supplement will be used for all tournaments beginning in that month, unless otherwise announced in Chess Life. The USCF website at www.uschess.org also frequently lists unofficial ratings.The purpose of unoffi- cial ratings is to inform you of your progress; however, most tournaments do not use them for pairing or prize purposes. If you would otherwise be unrated, organizers may use your unofficial rating at their discretion, even without advance publicity of such a policy.
Tournament Life Abbreviations & Terms
All tournaments are non-smoking with no comput- CC: Chess club. Memb. req’d: Membership required; cost fol- RR: Round robin (preceded by number of rounds). ers allowed unless otherwise advertised by S EF: Entry fee. lows. Usually refers to state affiliate. SD/: Sudden-death time control (time for rest of and/or C (see below for explanations). Ent: Where to mail entries. Open: A section open to all. Often has very game follows). For example, 30/90, SD/1 means QC: Quick Chess events . strong players, but some eligible for lower sec- each player must make 30 moves in 90 minutes, FIDE: Results submitted to FIDE for possible tions can play for the learning experience. $$Gtd: Guaranteed prizes. rating. then complete the rest of the game in an hour. $$b/x: Based-on prizes, x = number of entries Quad: 4-player round robin sections; similar SS: Swiss-System pairings (preceded by number G/: Game in. For instance, G/75 means each strength players. needed to pay full prize fund. At least 50% of the side has 75 minutes for the entire game. of rounds). advertised prize fund of $501 or more must be RBO: Rated Beginner’s Open. T/Dx: Time delay, x = number of seconds. awarded. GPP: Grand Prix Points available. Rds: Rounds; scheduled game times follow. For Unr: Unrated. Bye: Indicates which rounds players who find it HR: Hotel rates. For example, 60-65-70-75 means example, 11-5, 9-3 means games begin 11 a.m. & inconvenient to play may take ½-point byes $60 single, $65 twin, $70/3 in room, $75/4 in 5 p.m. on the first day, 9 a.m. & 3 p.m. on the sec- W: Site is accessible to wheelchairs. instead. For example, Bye 1-3 means ½-point room. ond day. WEB: Tournaments that will use a player’s on-line byes are available in Rounds 1 through 3. JGP: Junior Grand Prix. Reg: Registration at site. rating.
52 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_02-2012_TLA_JP_r6_chess life 1/6/2012 12:39 PM Page 53
See previous issue for TLAs appearing February 1-14
The Tournament Announcements on the following pages are provided Event EF: $188/team or $47/player by 2/14, 2/15-17: $197/team, sections (11 & under, 20 & under). Bughouse: Sunday Registration: 5- for the convenience of USCF members and for informational pur- $56/player, Onsite: $217/team, $66/player. Main Event Sched: Regis- 5:30pm, Games 6-8pm. 1 section. Side Event Fees: Blitz $15, Bughouse poses only. Unless expressly indicated otherwise, neither the U.S. tration: Sat 9:30-10:30am. Rounds: Sat 11:30 5, Sun 11:30 5, Mon 10, $15, Bughouse team $25. Onsite +$2. Side Event Prizes: Top 3 play- Chess Federation nor Chess Life warrants the accuracy of anything 3:30. Info/flyer: BayAreaChess.com/usatw12. Scholastic Side Event: ers and top 3 teams in each section. USCF Membership required for all contained in these Tournament Announcements. Those interested 5SS, G/30. Four-player teams plus optional alternate, may be from same events except bughouse. March 2012 Supplement & TD discretion to place in additional information about or having questions concerning any or different schools. Jan 2012 Supp, CCA min & TD discretion to place players accurately. Commemorative T-shirts: $15 pre-order, $20 onsite. of these tournaments are directed to contact the organizer listed. players accurately. Prizes:Trophies to each player in Top 3 teams over- Organizers/TDs: S. Azhar, R. Koepcke, T. Langland, & J. McCumiskey. Spon- Chess Life will exercise all due diligence in providing accurate all, Top team u900, u800, u700, u600, u500, u400, u300, u200, Top scorer sored by CalChess and Bay Area Chess. More info & flyer: BayArea typesetting of non-camera-ready copy but assumes no responsibil- Chess.com/usjr12.php. Register online at BayAreaChess.com/my/usjr12. ity for errors made in such work. on each board (1-4). EF: $156/team or $39/player by 2/14, 2/15-17: $175/team, $48/player, Onsite: $185/team, $58/player. Registration: Mon php. Mail entries to Bay Area Chess, 1639A S. Main St., Milpitas, CA 95035. 8-9am. Rounds: 10am, 11:30am, 1pm, 2:30pm, 4pm. Info/flyer: Register early to save. Questions: [email protected]. NS, NC, W. Effective with TLAs submitted after November 10, 2010, the fol- BayAreaChess.com/usatws12. Blitz Event: Registration Mon 7-8pm, Chess Magnet School JGP for G/90 rounds. lowing additional rules apply to Grand Prix tournaments: Rounds 8:30-10:30pm. EF: $12. 75% of entry fees returned as prizes. Apr. 13-15, Minnesota Info/flyer: BayAreaChess.com/usatw12. Help in forming teams: a player 2012 National High School (K-12) Championship 1) The guaranteed first prize must be at least $150. and see bayareachess.com/events/12/usatw or email teamhelp@Bay (Apr. 12 – Bughouse & Blitz) 7SS, G/120. Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, 2) No more than one prize under $100 may count towards the AreaChess.com for teams seeking players & players seeking teams. 1300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403, 612-370-1234. Chess Rate Grand Prix point total. Contact: For all these events, online entry at BayAreaChess.com/my/ $125. 5 Sections: K-12 Championship, K-12 Under 1600, K-12 Under usatw12 and contact Bay Area Chess, 1590 Oakland Rd., Ste B213, San 1200, K-12 Under 800, K-12 Unrated. April Rating Supplement will 3) Prizes below the maximum entry fee do not count towards Jose 95131. T: 408-786-5515. E: [email protected]. NS, NC, W, F. be used. Unrated players may play in the Championship or Unrated sec- the Grand Prix point total. Chess Magnet School JGP. tion only. One 1/2-point bye for any round, except Rd. 7, if requested in advance. EF: $50 if by March 25, $70 if by April 8, $85 by 6 PM CDT on A Heritage Event! April 12 or $90 at site. Mailed entries must be p/m by April 8. $5 extra SUBMISSIONS: If possible e-mail your tla to: [email protected] Feb. 18-20, New Jersey for all phone registrations, $20 change fee for roster or section changes 42nd Annual World Amateur Team & U.S. Team East (Joan DuBois). For tla deadline schedule, formatting help and Grand after April 8. Onsite registration: Thurs. 9am-10pm & Fri. 8am-10am. Prix information see January 2012 Chess Life pg. 48-49 or check 6SS, 40/2, SD/1. Parsippany Hilton, 1 Hilton Ct., Parsippany, NJ 07054. Players registering after 10am will get 1/2-point for Round 1. Awards: Chess Rate valid until 1/16. Reserve early http://main.uschess.org/go/tlainfo. Payment can be done online 973-267-7373 or 1-800- A minimum of 1 individual trophy per 10 players and 1 team trophy per through the TD/Affiliate area or sent to: U.S. Chess, TLA Dept., PO HILTONS. Morris/Essex train to Morris Plains 1.5 miles. Open to 4- 15 players (average attendance in the past two years, not incl. SN IV) Box 3967, Crossville, TN 38557. player teams with one optional alternate. Team average (4 highest rat- plus plaques for 4 players and coach of top five teams in each section. EF: ings - 2012 January Rating list) must be under 2200. $150 postmarked Class trophies to the top three in the following classes: K-12 Cham- by 2/5/12. Scholastic teams College and below $145 per team, ALL-$185 pionship: 1900-1999; 1800-1899; 1700-1799; 1600-1699; 1500-1599; Nationals after or at door. - all teams, any changes at site $25 charge. Check out 1400-1499; 1300-1399; 1200-1299; U1200, K-12 UNR. All participants will Prizes: 4 official website www.njscf.org. 1-5th Place teams, plaque and receive a commemorative medal at the completion of the final round. Feb. 17-19 or 18-19, Florida digital clocks; (Denis Barry Award) Top Team U2100, 2000, 1900, Teams: A team must have at least two players, although no maximum 2012 U.S. Amateur Team Championship - South 1300, 4 Dig- 1800, 1700, 1600, 1500, 1400, 1200, 1000 each plaque and number of players. The top four scores in any section will count for the 5SS, G/120 (2-day option, Rd. 1 G/60). Universal Palms Hotel, 4900 ital Clocks; 4 Digital Clocks & plaque; Top college team (same school) team score. All on team must attend the same school. Opening Cere- Powerline Rd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309. Only 10 mins. to the Beach. Top HS team (grades 9-12 same school), Top Middle School (grades 5-9 HR: $69 hotel chess rate expires Dec. 14, then $89 is the hotel chess mony: 12:30pm Friday. Main Event rounds: Friday 1pm, 7pm; Saturday same school), Top Elementary School (grades K-6 same school), Top 2 9am, 2pm, 7pm; Sunday 9am, 2pm. Awards Ceremony: Approx 7pm Sun- rate, 954-776-4880. 4-player teams (with one optional alternate). Team Scholastic Teams (mixed schools okay) (Collins Award), Mixed Doubles average (4 highest ratings - January rating list) must be under 2200. Win- day. Special Events: National High School Bughouse Championship: (2 males, 2 females-no alternates), Seniors (all players over age 50), Mil- Thursday 11am; EF: (On site only) $25 per team. Bughouse registration ning team qualifies for National playoff online. EF per player: $40 by 2/10, 4 Digital Clocks itary, each plaque & to top team; Company Team (same ends at 10am Thurs. National High School Blitz Championship:Thurs- $49 later. SPECIAL EF: Team (one entry must be made for all players) Old Timers Trophy employer) (all players over 65), Family (4 family mem- day 5pm; EF: $15 per player, $20 after April 8 or on site. Scholastic $150 by 2/10, $190 later (any team changes $10). Teams from outside bers), State teams - CT, DE, MD, MA, NJ, NY (Benjamin Award), PA, VA, Florida will receive $25 off team entry fee. PRIZES:Top 1-3rd place teams; Meeting: 3pm Saturday. Parents and Friends Tournament: 4SS, G/30, NC, RI, OH, Canada, each plaque top team; Special Plaque to Top College Saturday 10:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm, 4:30pm. Onsite registration only. Top class teams: U2000, U1800, U1600, U1400, U1000, U800; Top Sen- Best Player 1-4 and top alternate, (NJ , NY, Pennsylvania), All 6-0 scores Rated and Unrated sections. Trophies for Parents/Friends, participant and ior team (all 50 & above), Top Female team, Top College team (same each Digital clock. Biggest Individual upset each round Engraved Cross school), Top High School team (same school), Top Middle School team student combined results. ALL: Please bring clocks. Sets and score pen; Entry fee refunded to team with Best “Chess related” name, Sun- sheets provided. USCF membership required. Mail entries to: U.S. (same school, grades 6-8), Top Elementary School team (same school); day night-- Best “Chess Related costumes or gimmick—gourmet dinner Top Boards 1-4. Schedule: 3-day: 1st Rd. Fri. 7:30, 2-Day 1st Rd. Sat. Chess Federation, Attn: High School, P.O. Box 3967, Crossville, TN 38557. for four. Reg. 9-12 Sat 2/18: Rds. 1-7:30, 11-6, 9-3:30. Special Additional details, updates, corrections and on-line registration: 10; Rds. 2-5 Sat. 1:30, 6:45, Sun. 9:30, 2:45. Free parking and Free Inter- Events!! Surprises and special give-aways each round. Mystery net. Ent: Boca Raton Chess Club, 2385 Executive Ctr. Dr., Ste. 100, Boca www.uschess.org/tournaments/2012/hs. Chess Magnet School Guest and special Sunday morning panel on 72 match! Sunday night JG P. Raton, FL 33431. Online entry & add'l info: www.bocachess.com, 561- - Bughouse $20 per team. Cash prizes. HR: Parsippany Hilton, chess rates 479-0351. Chess Magnet School JGP. expire 1/16/2012. Rates $119 (up to 4 in room) 2nd hotel now attached Apr. 20-22, Illinois Feb. 17-19 or 18-19, Illinois to Hilton also up to 4 in room $126 per night-Hampton Inn---includes 2012 All-Girls National Championships presented by the Kasparov 2012 U.S. Amateur Team Championship - North breakfast for 4 each day. Back up hotel - Sheraton Parsippany-about 2 Chess Foundation in association with the Renaissance Knights One section: Open. Sets-Boards-Clocks provided for USAT only by miles. 973-515-2000. $99 per night. For help forming teams and more Chess Foundation & USCF North American Chess Association. Open: 5SS, G/90+30/increment, 2- information contact: [email protected] or Facebook: ATE- 6SS, G/90 d5. Swissotel, 323 E. Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60601, 888-737- day: rd.1-2 G/60. Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2875 N. Milwaukee Ave., Team. Chks payable to NJSCF, mail by 2/05 to: E. Steven Doyle, 17 9477, Hotel Rate includes full breakfast & children under 18 stay Northbrook, IL 60062. 847-298-2525. $83.00 chess rate single-double- Stonehenge Road, Morristown, NJ 07960. (Include Team name, Cap- free. 6 Sections: 8 years old and younger; 10 and younger, 12 and triple-quad until 2/3/12, FREE BREAKFAST BUFFET INCLUDED WITH tain, players full names, USCF Expiration, ID numbers and ratings in board younger, 14 and younger, 16 and younger, 18 and younger. Age as of ROOM! Please reserve early. Open to 4 player teams with one optional order). No team can include more than two GM's. Include SASE for con- alternate. Team average (4 highest ratings - January Rating List) firmation if wanted, No registered or certified mail accepted. NS, NC, W. must be under 2200. EF: 3-day $140, per team if received USPS or on- Chess Magnet School JGP. line 6 PM by February 4th, $160 if received USPS or on-line 6 PM by Feb. Feb. 26, New Mexico USCF Membership Rates 14th, $180 on-line until Feb. 16th 6 PM and at door. Individuals wishing Trophies Plus Grand Prix Points: 10 (enhanced) Premium (P) and Regular (R) to play, send $35 and request to be put on a team by USPS (received by 2012 U.S. G/15 Championship (QC) 2/14) or on-line by 2/16 6 PM, $45 thereafter. Team changes on site or 6SS, G/15. University of New Mexico – Student Union Building, Albu- (U.S., CANADA, MEXICO) after 2/16 6 PM $20. Check out official website www.chessweek querque, NM 87131. USCF Membership required - available onsite. One end.com for more info and complete prize list. Prizes:Awards to top section, all players have an opportunity to win a U.S. Championship! Type 1 yr 2yr 3yr two teams, top teams with average rating u1900, u1600, and u1300. $$400-200-100 (B/50) U2400, U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600, U1400, Adult P $46 $84 $122 Award for Best Team Name. Winning team qualifies for national play-offs. U1200: $100 each, unrated: $50. Higher of regular or quick rating used Prizes to best team composed of juniors (high school and younger-must for prize eligibility. EF: $39. $10 late fee if after 1/23. Free entry to GMs, Adult R $40 $72 $104 declare eligibility to win prize). Prizes to top score on each board. IMs, and WGMs. Rds.: 6:30pm, 7:10pm, 7:50pm, 8:30pm, 9:10pm, Senior (65+) $40 $72 $104 Rounds: 3-day: on-site registration/check-in 5:30-6:30pm, rds.: 7pm, 9:50pm. Up to 2 half point byes upon req. before rd 1. NS NC W. ENT: Wired 10:00am & 4:00pm, 10:00am & 3:30pm. 2-day: on-site registration/check- Kings CC; 12004 Prospect Ave NE; Albuquerque, NM 87112. HR: $71 505- Young Adult P (U25)* $33 $61 $88 in from 8:00-9:30am, rds. 10:00am & 1:00pm then merge with 3-day. 944-2599 Hilton Homewood Suites – ABQ Airport, available until 2/1/12 Young Adult R (U25)* $26 $47 $67 Illinois Blitz Championship on Saturday night, $25 received by 2/14 or room block full. Online Entry & add'l info: www.SouthernRockyOpen. USPS or on-line (2/17), $30 at site. Illinois FIDE titled players get free com, [email protected], 505-550-4654. Part of the 2012 Youth P (U16)* $28 $51 $73 entry-contact us for more info. First round 8 PM, 2 games with each oppo- Southern Rocky FIDE Open Chess Festival. See 2012 Southern Youth R (U16)* $22 $40 $57 nent, 5 rounds, bring sets, clock, & boards for Blitz. See www.chessweek Rocky FIDE Open in Grand Prix for more information. end.com for details. All: Checks made payable to and sent to: Chess Cen- Scholastic P (U13)* $24 $43 $61 Mar. 3-4, California, Northern tral, 37165 Willow, Gurnee, IL 60031. Please include Team's name and Scholastic R (U13)* $17 $30 $42 roster (plus ID#s), captain's email and phone number, and desired 2012 U.S. Junior Chess Congress (Blitz on Mar. 2) San Francisco Airport Hyatt Regency, 1333 Bayshore schedule. Info: www.chessweekend.com, 847-773-7706 before 6 PM. Premium membership provides a printed copy North American Chess Association will provide Sets-Boards-Clocksfor Highway, Burlingame, CA 94010. Experience Spring in San Francisco! Hotel USAT only. Chess Magnet School JGP for US Amateur Team – North, rate $99 only. 8 sections based on age:6 & under, 8 & under, 10 & under, of Chess Life (monthly) or Chess Life for Kids Open Section. 12 & under, 14 & under, 16 & under, 18 & under, 20 & under. Individual (bimonthly) plus all other benefits of regular Trophies: All (6 & under), top 20 (8 & under, 10 & under, 12 & under), top membership. Regular membership provides Feb. 18-20, California, Northern 15 (14 & under), or top 10 (16 & under, 18 & under, 20 & under). “Super 29th Annual U.S. Amateur Team Championship West Performance” trophies to players tied for last place with a trophy award online-only access to Chess Life and Chess Life (Blitz/Scholastic Feb. 20 only.) Main event: 6SS, 30/90 sd/60. Hyatt and the top player(s) in each rating class who did not get a place trophy. for Kids; a tournament life announcement Regency, 5101 Great America Pkwy., Santa Clara, CA 95054. Free Park- Participation medals to all entrants. Team Trophies:Top 10 (6 & under, newsletter will be mailed to adults bimonthly ing! Hotel: Free Parking! $109 call 800-233-1234 for chess rate. Reserve 8 & under, 10 & under, 12 & under) or top 5 (14 & under, 16 & under, 18 and to scholastic members three times per by Feb. 4 or rates may increase. Four-player teams plus optional alter- & under, 20 & under) based on section. Winning record required for all nate, average rating of four highest must be under 2200, difference trophies. Time control: G/90 except G/30 for Ages 6 & under and Ages year. Youth provides bimonthy Chess Life, between ratings of board 3 & 4 must be less than 1000. January 2012 8 & under) Schedule: Onsite Registration: Saturday 7:30-8:30am. Scholastic bimonthly Chess Life for Kids, oth- Supp, CCA min & TD discretion to place players accurately. Main Event Rounds: Saturday 9am, 12:45, 4:30pm, and Sun 9, 12:45pm. Ages 6 & ers listed above monthly Chess Life. See Prizes: Exclusive commemoratively inscribed digital clocks to each under: Saturday 9:00am, 10:45am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm, 3:30pm. Ages 8 & www.uschess.org for other membership cat- player and trophy to the team for top 3 overall teams, top team u2000, under: Onsite Registration: Sunday 7:30-8:30am. Round: Sunday 9:00am, egories. Dues are not refundable and may be u1800, u1600, u1400, and u1200; top “industry” team (all players from 10:45am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm, 3:30pm. Byes: Max one 1/2-point bye the same company), top “family” team (siblings, cousins, parents, except last round (must request before start of 1st round). Entry Fees changed without notice. uncle/aunts, grandparents), top junior team, and top school team; top by 2/18: 1-day $48, 2-day $60, Add $10 (2/19-25), $20 (2/26-3/1), $40 *Ages at expiration scorer on each board (1-4). Gift certificates for best 3 team names. Main (3/2-3 & onsite). Blitz: Friday Registration: 5-5:30pm, Games 6-8pm. 2
uschess.org Chess Life — February 2012 53 CL_02-2012_TLA_JP_r8_chess life 1/11/2012 4:25 PM Page 54
Tournament Life
4/1/2011. USCF membership required. EF: $50 if postmarked/online by 3/25; $70 if by 4/8; $85 by 4/19; $90 after/ on-site Do not mail after 4/13 as your entry may not be received on time. Opening Ceremony: 6pm, Friday. Rounds: Rd. 1 – 6:30pm Fri; Rounds 2-4 – Sat 10am, 2:30pm, 6:30pm; Rounds 5-6 – Sun 9am & 1pm. Awards Ceremony: Sun. 5pm. NATIONAL SPRING Trophies to top 15 indiv & top 3 teams (top 3 players added for team scores). Bye: One 1/2-pt bye available, any round, if requested before end of Rd. 2 and if player has not received a full-point bye. Side Events: Bughouse Tournament – Fri. 1pm, EF $25/team. Blitz Tournament – Fri. 3pm, EF $15 by 4/19, $20 after or on site. HR: $169-169 includes full SCHOLASTIC breakfast, children under 18 stay free, 888-737-9477, reserve by 3/15 or rate may increase. Entries: online/info at: www.renaissanceknights. org/allgirls or mail to RKnights, Attn: All Girls, PO Box 1074, North- brook, IL 60065, include name, section, rating, USCF ID#, date of birth, CHAMPIONSHIPS grade, school name city & state. Chess Magnet School JGP. Apr. 27-29, California, Southern 2012 National Junior High (K-9) Championship (Apr. 26 – Bughouse & Blitz) 7SS, G/120. Town and Country, 500 Hotel Circle North, San Diego, CA 92108, 1-619-291-7131 or 800-772-8527, Chess Rate $125. 6 Sections: K-9 Championship, K-9 Under 1250, K- 9 Unrated, K-8 Championship, K-8 Under 1000, K-8 U750. April Rating Supplement will be used. Unrated players may play in the Cham- pionship or Unrated sections only. One 1/2-point bye for any round, except Rd. 7, if requested in advance. EF: $50 if by April 8, $70 if by April 22, $85 by 6 PM PDT on April 26 or $90 at site. Mailed entries must be p/m by April 22. $5 extra for all phone registrations, $20 change fee for 2012 roster or section changes after April 22. On-site registration:Thurs. 9am- 10pm & Fri. 8am-10am. Players registering after 10am will get 1/2-point for Round 1. Awards: A minimum of 1 individual trophy per 10 players NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL and 1 team trophy per 15 players (average attendance in the past two years, not incl. SN IV) plus plaques for 4 players and coach of top five (K-12) CHAMPIONSHIP teams in each section. Class trophies to the top three in the follow- ing classes: K-9 Championship: 1400-1599; 1200-1399; 1000-1199; U1000; Unrated. K-8 Championship: 1500-1599; 1400-1499; 1300-1399; APRIL 13–15, 2012 1200-1299; 1100-1199; 1000-1099; U1000; UNR. All participants will receive a commemorative medal at the completion of the final round. Hyatt Regency Minneapolis Teams: A team must have at least two players, although no maximum 1300 Nicolett Mall number of players. The top four scores in any section will count for the team score. All on team must attend the same school. Opening Cere- Minneapolis, MN 55403 mony: 12:30pm Friday. Main Event rounds: Friday 1pm, 7pm; Saturday 9am, 2pm, 7pm; Sunday 9am, 2pm. Awards Ceremony: Approx 7pm Sun- 612-370-1234 day. Special Events: National Junior High Bughouse Championship: Thursday 11am; EF (on site only) $25 per team. Bughouse registration Chess rate: $125 ends at 10am Thurs. National Junior High Blitz Championship:Thurs- single/double/triple/quad day 5pm; EF $15 per player, $20 after April 22 or on site. Scholastic Meeting: 3pm Saturday. Parents and Friends Tournament: 4SS, G/30, Saturday 10:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm, 4:30pm. Onsite registration only. Rated and Unrated sections. Trophies for Parent/Friends participant and student combined results. ALL: Please bring clocks. Sets and score NATIONAL JUNIOR HIGH sheets provided. USCF membership required. Mail entries to: U.S. Chess Federation, Attn: Junior High, P. O . Box 3967, Crossville, TN 38557. (K-9) CHAMPIONSHIP Additional details, updates, corrections and on-line registration: www.uschess.org/tournaments/2012/jhs. Chess Magnet School APRIL 27–29, 2012 JGP. May 11-13, Tennessee Town and Country Resort 2012 National Elementary (K-6) Championship (May 10 – Bughouse & Blitz) 7SS, G/120, K-1 G/90. Gaylord Opryland, 500 Hotel Circle North 2800 Opryland Dr., Nashville, TN 37214. 615-889-1000 or 888-777-6779 Chess Rate $139. 9 Sections: K-6 Championship, K-6 Under 1000, K- San Diego, CA 92108 6 Unrated, K-5 Championship, K-5 Under 900, K-3 Championship, K-3 U800, K-3 Unrated, K-1Championship. May Rating Supple- 1-800-772-8527 ment will be used. Unrated players may play in the Championship or Chess rate: $125 Unrated sections only. One 1/2-point bye for any round, except Rd. 7, if requested in advance. EF: $50 if by April 22, $70 if by May 6, $85 by 6 single/double/triple/quad PM CDT on May 10 or $90 at site. Mailed entries must be p/m by May 6. $5 extra for all phone registrations, $20 change fee for roster or sec- tion changes after May 6. On-site registration:Thurs. 9am-10pm & Fri. 8am-10am. Players registering after 10am will get 1/2-point for Round NATIONAL ELEMENTARY 1. Awards: A minimum of 1 individual trophy per 10 players and 1 team trophy per 15 players (average attendance in the past two years, not incl. (K-6) CHAMPIONSHIP SN IV) plus plaques for 4 players and coach of top five teams in each sec- tion. Class trophies to the top three in the following classes: K-6 Championship: 1300-1399; 1200-1299; 1100-1199; 1000-1099; 900-999; MAY 11–13, 2012 800-899; U800; UNR. K-5 Championship: 1300-1399; 1200-1299; 1100- 1199; 1000-1099; 900-999; 800-899; U800; UNR. K-3 Championship: Gaylord Opryland Resort and 1100-1199; 1000-1099; 900-999; 800-899; 700-799; 600-699; U600; UNR. K-1 Championship: All players in this section receive a trophy. All Convention Center participants will receive a commemorative medal at the completion of the final round. Teams: A team must have at least two players, although no 2800 Opryland Drive maximum number of players. The top four scores in any section will count Nashville, TN 37214 for the team score. All on team must attend the same school. Open- ing Ceremony: 12:30pm Friday. Main Event rounds: Friday 1pm, 7pm; 615-889-1000 or 888-777-6779 Saturday 9am, 2pm, 7pm; Sunday 9am, 2pm. Schedule for K-1: Friday 1:30pm, 6:30pm; Saturday 9:30am, 1:30pm, 6:30pm; Sunday 9:30am, Chess rate: $139 1:30pm. Awards Ceremony: Approx 7pm Sunday. Awards Ceremony for K-1: Approx 5:30pm Sunday. Special Events: National Elementary single/double/triple/quad Bughouse Championship: Thursday 11am; EF (on site only) $25 per team. Bughouse registration ends at 10am Thurs. National Elementary Blitz Championship:Two sections: K-6 and K-3. Thursday 5pm; EF $15 per player, $20 after May 6 or on site. Scholastic Meeting: 3pm Satur- day. Saturday. Parents and Friends Tournament: 4SS, G/30, Saturday 10:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm, 4:30pm. Trophies for Parents/Friends, par- ticipant and student combined results. Mail entries to: U.S. Chess Federation, Attn: Elementary, P. O . Box 3967, Crossville, TN 38557. Addi- tional details, updates, corrections and on-line registration: www.uschess.org/tournaments/2012/elem. Chess Magnet School JGP. A Heritage Event! FOR MORE DETAILS VISIT USCHESS.ORG May 26-28 or 27-28, New Jersey 68th Annual U.S. Amateur East Championship 6-SS, 50/2, SD/1. Crowne Plaza Hotel, 110 Davidson Ave., Somerset, NJ,
54 Chess Life — February 2012 uschess.org CL_01-2012_TLA_JP_r7:chess life 12/2/2011 1:30 PM Page 53
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February 18-20, 2012 | Parsippany Hilton | Parsippany, New Jersey
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