Where Organized in America Began

EMPIRE CHESS Spring 2016 Volume XXXIX, No. 1 $5.00

State Scholastic Champion FM Justus Williams

Empire Chess P.O. Box 340969 Brooklyn, NY 11234

NEW YORK STATE CHESS ASSOCIATION, INC. www.nysca.net

The State Chess Association, Inc., America‘s oldest chess organization, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting chess in New York State at all levels. As the State Affiliate of the United States Chess Federation, its Directors also serve as USCF Voting Members and Delegates.

President Bill Goichberg PO Box 249 Salisbury Mills, NY 12577 The Next Generation [email protected]

Vice President NYSCA hosted another successful State Scholastic in Saratoga with over Polly Wright 900 players. With our new Champion, FM Justus Williams, not only 57 Joyce Road Eastchester, NY 10709 winning the tournament outright but also being featured in an advertisement [email protected] for Cadillac during the Academy Awards, the future of chess players in the Empire State is strong. Tough competitors like James Black and former Treasurer Karl Heck Scholastic Champion Joshua Colas pushed Justus all the way throughout 5426 Wright Street, CR 67 the tournament. East Durham, NY 12423 [email protected] The future of tournament directing and organizing, though, is not as secure. Membership Secretary Many of the “stars” of tournament direction in the State are reaching the Phyllis Benjamin twilight of their careers, and a new generation is needed to carry the torch P.O. Box 340511 Brooklyn, NY 11234-0511 in the same way that Justus Williams and Joshua Colas followed in the [email protected] footsteps of Aleksandr Lenderman and Alexander Ostroisky.

Board of Directors Upstate Downstate NYSCA would like to encourage younger people to not only play, but pick William Townsend Phyllis Benjamin up the torch for organizing events and holding tournaments. Bill Goichberg Dr. Frank Brady may always be with us from now on, but there remains no substitute for Shelby Lohrman Margarita Lanides Karl Heck Lenny Chipkin tournament play, and tournament numbers have stabilized around the Ron Lohrman Ed Frumkin country after a decline when online play first became common. Major Brenda Goichberg Polly Wright Steve Immitt scholastic tournaments such as the Greater New York Scholastics and the Dolly Teasley New York State Scholastics, both featured in this issue, are setting Sophia Rohde attendance records and are more vibrant and successful than ever. Harold Stenzel Carol Jarecki Joe Felber There are many ways to get involved. Ask to help at a local event. Host a Sunil Weeramantry small local tournament at your school or club. Not every tournament is, or

have to be, a Continental Chess style event. Small local events not only can build the success of a new tournament director. They are greatly Tournament Clearinghouses appreciated by the participants, and normally can be run with very little Zip Codes under 12000 (downstate) Bill Goichberg financial risk [email protected]

NYS Zip Codes over 11999 (upstate) NYSCA, and New York chess, needs you. If you can lend a hand, we can Karl Heck find a place for you. New York chess depends on it. [email protected]

Deadlines December 15 for the Winter Issue March 15 for the Spring Issue June 15 for the Summer Issue September 15 for the Fall Issue

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EMPIRE CHESS Where organized chess began in America Volume XXXIX, Number 1 – Spring 2016

Cover: FIDE Master Justus Williams with his Championship trophy at the New York State Scholastic Chess Championship in Saratoga Springs.

From the Editor...... 2 Table of Contents …...... 3 Justus Wins the State Scholastics by Bill Townsend…………………………………………………………………..…………..4 Long Island Now by Neal Bellon………………………………………………...... 12 Greater NY Scholastic Reaches Gold by Colonel David Hater and Danny Rohde……...... 16 Klug wins Watertown Championship by Don Klug………………………..……………….………………...... 21 Kraztat and Prieto Share 2016 Watertown Blitz Championship by Don Klug………………..….…..…….22 Notes from the Marshall by Frank Romano……...... 23 Open Lines by Karl Heck………………………………..…..………………………………...... 24 The Outside Passed by Zachary Calderon…………………………………………………………...... 25 Rochester News from staff reports…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…26 Evans : Cordel Varitaion by Richard Moody……………………………………………...... 27 New York Tournaments………………………………...... ,,,,,.……....29

Editor: Karl Heck, [email protected]. Webmaster: Daniel Heck, www.nysca.net.

Empire Chess, the official publication of the New York State Chess Association, Inc., is published quarterly. No liability is assumed with respect to the use of any information contained herein, or for any advertised products. Opinions expressed are solely those of the contributors, and not necessarily those of NYSCA. Empire Chess is COPYRIGHTED, 2015.

Empire Chess accepts articles, games, tournament reports, art work and photos. No responsibility is assumed for unsolicited material. All material submitted for publication becomes the property of Empire Chess, and will not be returned unless accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Letters received by Empire Chess are accepted & subject to editing. Please send to: Karl Heck, [email protected].

Membership in the NYSCA: $20/year with four printed Empire Chess; $12/year with online Empire Chess (two printed). To join, write to: Phyllis Benjamin, P.O. Box 340969, Brooklyn, NY 11234.

NYSCA membership now gets you discounts at Continental Chess Association events in New York State and all New York State Championship tournaments.

Please send articles and advertisements in camera-ready format for publication. (TIF file, Adobe Photoshop, 100 lines per inch). Chess games should be in ChessBase, with boards and positions in final form. Articles should be sent via e-mail, in Microsoft Word, Times New Roman font, size 11. Deadline for the Summer issue is June 15, 2016, although earlier submissions are appreciated, and will more easily guarantee a space in the next magazine. 49th NY State Scholastics in Saratoga Sets Another Record FM Justus Williams is the new High School Champion; Max Li takes High section with perfect 6-0 score with turnout over 900 again.

By Bill Townsend The 49th Annual New York State Scholastic at the U.S. Open at the end of July in Indianapolis. Championships took place March 12 and 13 in Saratoga Springs. The total of about 925 players Incidentally this is the latest in a list of Justus narrowly beat last year’s upstate record-breaker of Williams’ impressive accomplishments. He was in 921 players. It’s still a little short of the 990 players the 2012 movie Brooklyn Castle, he was recently at the 2000 scholastic championships downstate, but featured in a Cadillac commercial about “Daring this is still the biggest of any kind Origins,” and if you look on YouTube you can see a ever held in upstate New York. Incidentally, this is video of Justus beating World Champion Magnus the tenth year in a row the tournament has been held Carlsen in a casual game. I should also point out that in Saratoga. Williams previously won this tournament in 2011, when he was in seventh (!) grade. If I may be permitted to indulge in a metaphor, even though the NY State Scholastics is almost half a Five players tied for second through sixth with 5-1, in century old, it is still a child in that you are constantly tiebreak order they are: Maili-Jade Ouellet, James buying it new clothes only to find that before you Black, Olivier Chiku-Ratte, Joshua Colas and Nancy know it, they are too small again. Last year I wrote Wang. The New York nominee to the 2016 National about the problems of finding space for such a big Girls’ Tournament of Champions, also held at the tournament. The tournament had spread from the U.S. Open, is Nancy Wang. Although Ouellet had Saratoga Hilton to the City Center next door, to the better tiebreaks, she is a Canadian resident. Courtyard by Marriott just down the road. This year Incidentally I can’t remember one woman ever the tournament was moved from its usual date at the finishing tied for second in this event before, much end of February two weeks into March so there was less two. Shown below is Nancy Wong receiving her no scheduling conflict at the City Center. More trophy. sections were moved to the City Center, so that there were only two sections instead of four at the Marriott. On top of that the tournament itself expanded from nine sections to ten with the addition of the Elementary Intermediate section.

Now, on to the results. The High School Championship section had a clear winner in FM Justus Williams, who was the only player to score 5½-½. This outcome was in doubt until the very end: going into the final round four players had 4½ - Williams, top-rated FM Joshua Colas, NM James Black and NM Alexander Crump. Williams was able to beat Crump, while Black and Colas could only . Seventh through 13th with 4½-1½ were: Alexander Besides the trophy Williams also gets free entry to Crump, Ethan Li, Alisher Podavonov, Lev the State Championship proper, held in September in Paciorkowski, Mengnan Chen, Nicklas Breskin and Albany, and he is also the nominee to play in the Martha Samadashvili. Daniel Ivanov and Will Denker Tournament of High School Champions held 4

Gahrman were 14th and 15th with 4-2. Jacob Hetman was Top Under 1600 with 3-3. Austin Kossow was Top school was Pioneer High School from Yorkshire, Top Under 1400 with 2½. Amier Hassan was Top NY with 17 points. Right behind them with 16½ Under 1200 with 2 points. points was IS 318 from Brooklyn. Third with 13½ points was Success Academy Charter School Harlem Top team with 17 points was Brooklyn’s Edward R. North West. Albany High School was fourth with 13 Murrow High School. Second with 16½ was points and Edward R. Murrow High School was fifth Brooklyn Technical High School. NEST+m was third with 12½. with 15½. Fourth with 12 points was Wilson Magnet High School Commencement Academy from There were Mixed Doubles prizes for the best male- Rochester. Jericho High School was fifth with 11½ female, two-player teams in the two High School points. National Master James Black (shown below sections. This was made a little more difficult by the in “uniform”) led the charge for Murrow. fact that the two high school sections weren’t playing in the same place this year. Nevertheless, first prize went to the team of Mengan Chen and Alisher Podavonov, who scored 9 points together. Two teams tied for second with 8½ with their places determined by tiebreaks. Ella Papanek and Olivier Chiku-Ratte narrowly beat Nancy Wang and Matthew Kluske. Fourth with 7½ were Yvonne Scorcia and Will Shane Gahrman,

The Junior High championship was dominated by Max Li who was the only player to score a perfect 6- 0 there. If he chooses to accept, Max will be the New York representative at the Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions at the U.S. Open.

Second through sixth with 5-1 were: Justin Chen, Katherine Davis, Ananda Saha, Steven Xue and Arjun Rai, Seventh through eleventh with 4½ were: Samantha Dong, Akash Kumar, Li Heng Wang, Justin Dalhouse and Wang Chen. Twelfth through fifteenth with 4-2 were: Wesley Wang, Daniel Levkov, Malcolm Galpern and Ankit Raparthi. Sarina Motwani was top player under 1400 with 3½. Top player under 1200 was Christian Shiels with 2½. points.

Top team by a commanding margin was Brooklyn’s The High School Reserve section was won by IS 318 School with 19 points. Collegiate School was Alexander Soiefer with a perfect 6-0 score. Second second with 16 points. Third was Dalton School with through sixth with 5-1 were: William Chin, Erica Li, 13½. Avenues: The World School was fourth with Keegan Kempf, Reanna Phillips and Hakim Hicks. 12½ while Pelham Middle School was fifth with 8 Seventh and eighth with 4½-1½ were Khassan El points. Debek and Adam Aleksic. Ninth through fifteenth with 4-2 were: Carl Zheng, Ramla Mohammed, The Middle School Reserve section had two perfect Michael Jozoff, Todd Thompson, Jason Zabre, scores. Their final place was determined by a playoff Chhoten Sherpa and Douglas Ward. Taylor Ngo was game under State Scholastics rules for perfect score top player under 900 with 3½. Top Unrated with 3 ties, which was won by Angel Chavarria over Jaidyn points was Justin Cao. Alexander Young was 2nd Paulino. Third through eighth with 5-1 were: Rodney Unrated, also with 3. Jacky Chan was Top Under 700, Marte-Ledesma, Silas Smith, Kenneth Thompson, also with 3 points. Ryan Tucker, Charlotte Peterson and Atharva 5

Srinivas. Ninth through fifteenth with 4½ were: Caleb Kinmartin, Richard Xu, Andrew Shane, Johnny Third through sixth with 5-1 were: Brandon Wang¸ Dawson, John Mittiga, Adam Senhaji and Abraham Qiuyu Huang, Francis Durette and Vincent Tsay. Porschet. Top player under 700 was Aiden Fallo with Seventh through fifteenth with 4½ were: Jack Levine, 4-2. Aryana Ramos-Vazquez was top unrated, also Nathaniel Shuman, Harris Lencz, Dylan Challenger, with 4-2. Omani Brown was top under 500 with 3 Merlin Gogolin, Sumit Dhar, Avery Hood, Tyler points. Kirill Nikolaev was second unrated, also with Tanaka and Malcolm Whites. Top Under 1300 was 3 points. Samuel Lumelsky with 3½ points. Margaret Stacey was Top Under 1100 with 3 points. Top school here was Success Academy Charter School Bronx 1 with 20 points, a full 2½ ahead of Top school in this section was Greenwich Village second place school Geneva Middle School. Third PS41 with 16½ points. Tied for second and third with with 16½ was Success Academy Charter School 16 were Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School Harlem East. Fourth with 15½ was Trinity School. St. and Dalton School. Fourth was Mary Lindley Murray Joseph’s of Kingston was fifth with 14 points. School PS116 with 14 points. Chelsea Prep PS33 was fifth with 12½. Shown below is new Junior High Champion Max Li in Action. The new section in this year’s event was the Elementary Intermediate section open to players in grades K-6 rated below 1200. Two players scored 5½-½ to top the event with Melodie Loya beating Bromme Cole on tiebreaks. Third through ninth with 5-1 were: Aidan Bart, Rachel Bochman, Kieran Eldredge, Henry Greengrass, Ryan Dieterle, Max Crespo and Donovan Lamonte-Stewart. Tenth and eleventh with 4½ were Alexander Joy and Noni Hardaway. Twelfth through fifteenth with 4-2 were: Triton Oh, Andrew Yuen, Cooper Guzy and Maximo Kim. Top Under 900 was Sage Sewell with 4 points. Jordan Braha was top Under 700 with 2½ points.

Top team was Success Academy Bronx 1 with 17½ points. Second with 15 points was Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School. Brooklyn’s PS139 was third with 14½ points. PS11 was fourth, also with 14½. Lower Lab School PS77 was fifth with 13½ points.

The Elementary Reserve section was the largest, and it ended with four players at the top with 5½ points. In tiebreak order they were: Kyle Chang, Jayden Shum, Tobias Carmel and Joshua Ho. Fifth through tenth with 5-1 were: Lucas Brown, Lila Espinoza, Shane Saber, Shaan Cheruvu, Mishca Braswell and Xan Meister, Eleventh through fifteenth with 4½ Two players were at the top of the Elementary were: Elijah Patterson, Brendan Paul Moran, Peyton Championship with 5½ with Shawn Rodrigue- Choi, George Best and Eli Lindenbaum. Top player Lemieux edging out Nico Werner Chasin on Under 500 was Alexander Little with 4 points. Ayden tiebreaks. It was tournament policy to only have Wefer was top player under 300 with 3½. Top tiebreak games between perfect scores. Incidentally, Unrated was Samarth Sahota with 2½ while Yashna Nico is in third grade, but had a post-tournament Hasija second unrated, also with 2½. rating of 2067 (!) yet another sign that players are getting better younger and faster. The competition for top team in this section was 6 intense with four schools within a half-point. In first with 4-2 were: Nathaniel Mullodzhanov, Andre Bart, place with 18½ was Collegiate School. Second Royal Buchanan, Jordan Lee, Spencer Chin, Aiden through fourth with 18 were: Douglaston School Teitelman, Oliver Boydell, Oliver Hua and Raunak PS98, Success Academy Union Square and Park Sondhi. Top player under 200 was Viggo Vanaselja Slope PS282. Fifth with 15½ was Colonial School. with 2 points. Earl Carr was top unrated with 1½ while Sabella Faccio and Asher Friedman were The Primary Championship was won by Liran Zhou second and third unrated. with a perfect 6-0 score. Second and third with 5-1 were Kevin Zhong and Nathan Wu. Fourth through Two teams tied for first in this section with 15½ ninth with 4½ were: Toshinori Underwood, Frank points. First on tiebreaks was Lower Lab School Prestia, Ellen Wang, Jesse Roonprapunt, Prince PS77 while Dalton School was second. Third with 15 Bopala and Maxwell Massiah. Tenth through points was Avenues: The World School. NEST+m fifteenth with 4-2 were: Jed Sloan, Alexander Kempe, School was fourth with 13½ points and William T. Johji Nakada, Maxwell Silvers, Nikhil Pande and Harris PS11 was fifth with 12 points. Thomas Fini. Top player under 500 was Alessandro Imundi with 1-5. The license plate below says it all about the weekend in Saratoga. Chess players were everywhere in the Top team in this section was Dalton School with 15½ Spa City. points. Second was George A. Jackson Elementary School from Jericho, NY with 14½ points. Collegiate School was third with 14 points. Fourth with 13½ was Chelsea Prep PS33 while Greenwich Village PS41 was fifth with 11½.

Rebecca Rha won the Primary Reserve Championship with a perfect 6-0 score. Second through ninth with 5-1 were: Karthik Narayan, Krish Patni, Roein Butts, Charlie Friedland, Matthew Hann-yun Chin, Aaditya Mathur, Jonah Lehman and Max Kirschner. Tenth through twelfth with 4½ were: Spencer Yang, Ryan Chiu and Sarah Korff. There were many players with 4-2, but trophies were only handed out to thirteenth through fifteenth: Rachel Prizant, Armistead Williams and Quinlan Hood. Top Under 200 was Brady Ellis Metzger while Blake On Sunday there was a Parents and Friends Jason Mcknight was top Unrated. Both scored 3½. tournament for non-scholastic players. Four people Second and third Unrated were Aayushi Kejriwal and participated with Empire Chess Editor Karl Heck Abigail Grizzle, both with 3 points. winning with a score of 2½. Zaza Samadashvili was second with 1½. Top team in the Primary Reserve was Lower Lab School PS77 with 18 points. William T. Harris PS11 Finally on Saturday night there was a Bughouse was second with 17½. Third was Columbia Grammar tournament for those who value their sanity lightly. and Preparatory School with 16½. Success Academy Top two player team was Damn Magnus (Wang Chen Union Square was fourth with 15 points and Packer & Anthony Saquisili) with a perfect 4-0 score. Three Collegiate was fifth with 14 points. teams tied for second through fourth with 3-1: Yates Leesem (Yates Wong & Leesem Joseph), Noob4life There was another 6-0 at the top of the Primary K-1 (Justin Dalhouse & Steven Xue) and Resellers (Jacob section as Brewington Hardaway was the only player Carranza & Edwin Lucero). to win all his games. Second through fifth with 5-1 were: Sebastian Prestia, Daniel Luo, Bowe Siegelson In spite of its immense size and complexity the and Charles Doyle. All alone in sixth place was tournament was tightly run – in the hall where I was Jonathan Nallengara with 4½ points – at this level stationed all the rounds started on time. Chief there aren’t a lot of draws. Seventh through fifteenth Director was Steve Immitt for the New York State 7

Chess Association. Qb6+ 15.Kh1 Be6 16.Bd2 Rac8 I would prefer 16...Nc6 targeting the weak dark This year I tried a different approach to getting games squares b4 and d4. from the players – I noticed that many of the players 17.Rad1 a6 18.h3 Qc5 19.f4 Nc6 20.f5! on the top boards in the High School Championship Finally White commits to an attack, and this is were using the scoresheets that made copies, so after stronger than it looks. they finished I asked them for the copy and nearly all 20...gxf5 21.Na4 Qa7? of them complied without complaint. Thanks to all of This is a safe place to put the , but Black needs you! In the Junior High Championship things were to do better than that to survive. For better or worse not so simple – most players were using hardcover he had to play 21...Qe5!? and he is worse, but better scorebooks. I was generally able to copy down the than the game after 22.Bc3 Qxg3 23.exf5 Bxc3 games on the top two boards and had to hope for 24.Nxc3 Bd7 25.f6. charity on the rest. I got most of the games on the 22.exf5 Nd4?! top boards, and other players seemed more inclined From bad to worse. Better was 22...Bd7 23.Nc3 Nb4 to turn in their scoresheets without any prodding 24.Qb1 Bc6 and Black is still fighting. from me. Last year I got 14 scoresheets, this year I 23.Qd3 Bxf5 got nearly 70, many of them of high quality. Giving up two pieces for a is the best that black However, there is the usual caveat: because of the has. fast (Game in 60 minutes with 10 second 24.Rxf5 Nxf5 25.Qxf5 b5? time delay) many games ended in time scrambles The final mistake. Black has to chase the queen away with their final moves unrecorded. with 25...e6. 26.Be4 f6 You can run, but you can't hide… 27.Qxh7+ Kf7 28.Qh5+ 1–0 Black is looking at mate in a couple moves, so he gives up.

Here is the other last-round money game, which wound up being drawn. It looks like Colas, the event’s highest rated player and previous winner in 2013 and 2015, should have won this game. However, according to the chief director for this section, Bob Messinger, it still looked as if Justus Williams still had the better tiebreaks.

FM Joshua Colas (2487) – NM James Black (2266) [A07] Here is the game that gave Justus Williams the NYS Scholastic Championships championship. Both players conduct the opening High School section very gently, almost as if they are afraid to open Round 6, March 13, 2016 hostilities. Finally White begins attacking around move 20, and very shortly he has a winning game. 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.g3 Bg4 4.Bg2 e6 5.0–0 Nd7 6.Nbd2 f5 7.c4 Bd6 8.b3 Qf6 9.Bb2 Ne7 10.Ne1 0–0 FM Justus Williams (2402) – NM Alexander 11.f3 Bh5 12.e3 Qh6 Crump (2265) [A39] Here Black misses a chance to punish White for his NYS Scholastic Championships somewhat slow development: 12...e5! 13.Nc2 e4 with High School section a small advantage for the second player. Round 6, March 13, 2016 13.Qe2 Rae8 14.Nd3 Nc8 15.Rae1 Qf6 16.Qd1 Qe7 17.Qc2 e5?! 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0–0 0–0 5.c4 c5 Now this is not such a good idea. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... 18.cxd5 cxd5 19.dxe5 Nxe5 20.Bxe5 Bxe5 21.f4 Bf6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nc6 8.Nc3 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 d6 22.Bxd5+ Kh8 23.Nc4 Nb6 24.Nxb6 axb6 25.Nf2 10.Qd3 Nd7 11.b3 Ne5 12.Qc2 Bf5 13.e4 Bg4 14.f3 Qd6 26.Bg2 8

It looks like White can get away with 26.Bxb7. The age-old question - is the isolated d-pawn a 26...Rc8 27.Qd3? strength or a weakness? It looks like this was White's last winning chance. He 14...b5 15.Ne3 Nd7 16.Qe2 looks much better after 27.Qxf5 Bg6 28.Qd5. 16.a4 looks a bit better 27...Qxd3 28.Nxd3 Bc3 29.Bxb7 Rcd8 30.Ne5 16...a6 17.Rd1 Re8 18.Qc2 Rc8 19.a4 Ne5 The only path to equality. Not as good is 30.Nf2 Bxe1 It looks like Black has equalized after 19...b4 20.Nc4 31.Rxe1. Ne5 21.Nxe5 Bxe5 22.Qc4 Qd7. 30...Bxe1 31.Rxe1 Rd2 32.a4 Rb2 33.Bd5 Rd8 20.axb5 axb5 21.Bd2 c4 22.Ba5 Qd7 23.Bc3 Ra8 34.Rc1 h6 35.Bf7 Rd1+ 36.Rxd1 Bxd1 37.Ng6+ 24.Rxa8 Bxa8 25.b3 Rc8?! Kh7 38.Nf8+ ½–½ Considering the possibilities after this move, it seems White can Black forever, so it's a draw. Black should play 25...cxb3. 26.Bxe5 Bxe5 27.bxc4 bxc4 28.Nxc4 Qd8? Murrow High School got everybody in the picture This should lose. for their High School Championship trophy 29.Qe2?! presentation, shown below. White has a win here with: 29.d6! Bxg2 30.Kxg2 Bf6 31.Qe4 Qd7 32.Nb6 Qe8 33.Qxe8+ Rxe8 34.d7 Rd8 35.Nc4 Kf8 36.Na5 g6 37.Nc6 Ra8 and White has a pawn endgame with an extra . 29...Bd6 30.Bh3 Rb8 31.Qf3 g6 32.Ra1 Bf8 33.Ne3 Rb5 34.Bg2 h5 35.h4 Bd6 36.Qe4 Bc5 37.Qc4 Ra5 White is still better, but I suspect that peace was concluded because time was short. ½–½

With a five-hundred point rating difference you wouldn’t think there would be much to look at here, but if Williams’s opponent had been a bit more of a risk taker, who knows what might have happened? I guess the lesson is – don’t disregard promising tactics, even if the player is much higher-rated than you.

This is Williams’ sole draw in this event, and it looks Joris Katz (1973) – FM Justus Williams (2402) like he should have won it. His opponent here, Maili- [A45] Jade Ouellet, was part of a strong contingent from NYS Scholastic Championships Quebec, and would up in second place. High School section Round 3, March 12, 2016 FM Justus Williams (2402) – Maili-Jade Ouellet (2172) [E18] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.f3 Bf5 5.Qd2 a6 6.g4 NYS Scholastic Championships Be6 7.h4 h5!? High School section Tempting fate - a risky way to play. Round 4, March 13, 2016 8.g5 Nfd7 9.0–0–0?! Considering Black's backward development, I think 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0–0 0–0 6.d4 White is justified in playing 9.e4!? c6 10.0–0–0 Bg7 b6 11.Bg3 with a promising attack. This essentially makes the game a Queen's Indian. 9...c6 10.e4 Bg7 11.Nge2 Nb6 12.Ng3 N8d7 13.Rh2 Black generally has to suffer awhile to get equality Rc8 14.Qe1 Na8 15.Re2 b5 16.Kb1? here. White, perhaps overawed by his opponent, plays 7.Nc3 Bb7 8.Ne5 c5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Bxd5 passively and lets slip an opportunity to set things on 11.e4 Bb7 12.d5 fire: 16.exd5! cxd5 17.Rxe6! fxe6 18.Qxe6 Qb6 My chess computer prefers 12.dxc5 but the game 19.Qxd5 Qc6 20.Bd3 with a great game for White. looks pretty even after 12...Bxc5 13.Bf4 Qe7 14.Qc2 16...Nab6 17.exd5 cxd5 18.Rd3?! Nd7. After this the game looks pretty even, but White has 12...Bf6 13.Nc4 exd5 14.exd5 one last chance to play like a hero: 18.Nxb5! (18. 9

Rxe6 is not nearly so strong without playing this 17.h5 Nxf3+ 18.Kf1 g5! 19.Nc3 Qd7 20.Rd1 Qg4 first.) 18...axb5 19.Rxe6 fxe6 20.Qxe6 Nf8 21.Bxb5+ 21.Nxd5 Nh2+ 22.Ke1 Qe4+ 23.Kd2 Qxd5+ 24.Kc1 Nbd7 22.Qxd5 Now, is this position worth a Rook? I Qc5+ 25.Kb1 Ng4 think so - White has a lot of attacking ideas here. The sting at the end of the tail - white's queen is 18...Rc6 19.Rh2?! trapped. For no good reason I can detect, the Rook abandons 26.Rc1 Qf5+ 27.Rc2 Bd7 28.Ka1 Nxh6 29.Rhc1 his post, and very soon the traffic is all going Black's Rc8 30.Rxc8+ Bxc8 0–1 way. 19...Nc4 20.Re2 0–0 21.Be5 Ndxe5 22.dxe5 b4 Shown below is the Golden Knights YMCA club 23.Nd1 Qa5 24.Rd4 Qb6 from Lockport with Director Michael Mc Duffie Even better is 24...Qc5 25.Rd3 Bxe5. (back right) an GM Joel Benjamin. 25.Rd3 Rfc8 26.Ne3 Qa5 27.f4 Nxe3 28.Rdxe3 d4! And White is lost - he has to throw away a Rook to save his . 29.Ra3 Qc7 30.Qxb4 Rxc2 31.Rc3 Rxc3 32.bxc3 Rb8 33.Rb2 Rxb4 34.cxb4 Qc3 35.Bxa6 Qxg3 36.a4 Qe1+ 37.Kc2 Qg3 38.Kb1 d3 39.Bxd3 Qxd3+ 0–1

How many other state scholastic championships have three titled players in them? Not many, I bet! The third FM, besides Justus Williams and Joshua Colas was Canadian player Olivier Chiku-Ratte. Actually, now that I think about it, there are four titled players: Martha Samadashvili is a WFM. Anyway, a loss to Alexander Crump in Round Four kept Chiku-Ratte out of the winner’s circle, but before that he played the following sparkling game. Here is the decider from the Junior High Championship, and I have to admit, one of my Sophie Morris-Suzuki (1881) – FM Olivier Chiku- favorite games from this event. It is very much a Ratte (2453) [B22] positional game, and Max Li, playing the Black NYS Scholastic Championships pieces, moves from strength to strength until he has a High School section winning ending. Isn’t this how chess is supposed to Round 2, March 12, 2016 be played? Also, Li played very fast, much quicker than his opponent. While I was watching the game at 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 Nc6 several points I was astonished, thinking “Black 6.cxd4 g6 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Bb3 Bg7 9.Bf4 0–0 10.h4?! couldn’t have possibly seen all the consequences of This off-center move allows Black to counter-attack. that move!” but it turned out he had. Better was 10.d5. 10...d6! 11.e6?! Justin Chen (2174) – Max Li (2075) [D43] Attractive from a positional point of view, but it just NYS Scholastic Championships doesn't work tactically. 11.h5 was probably a better Junior High School section idea. Round 6, March 13, 2016 11...fxe6 The problem - White can't gang up on e6 because his 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c6 5.Qb3 Na6 on f4 is hanging. 6.Bg5 Be7 7.g3 Qb6 8.c5 Qxb3 9.axb3 b5 12.Qd2 Nd5 13.Bh6? The first surprise - Black saw that it wasn't best for Another tactical error, but Black is still in the shade White to play 10.cxb6 axb6 11.Bg6 h6. after 13.Be3. 10.e3 Nb4 11.Kd2?! Ne4+! 13...Rxf3! 14.Bxd5 Bxh6 15.Qxh6 exd5 16.gxf3 Another surprise, and also played very quickly. This Nxd4 basically is the reason that White should have played Black has two pawns for the , but white's 11.Ke2 instead. position is wrecked. 12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Bxe7 Kxe7 14.Ne1 e5! 10

White is allowed no time to consolidate and complete his development. Wesley Wang (2155) – Li Heng Wang (1777) [C06] 15.Nc2 Nxc2 16.Kxc2 exd4 17.exd4 Rd8 NYS Scholastic Championships Black gets a lot of mileage playing against the d- Junior High School section pawn. Round 3, March 12, 2016 18.Rd1 Bg4 19.Rd2 Bf5 20.Kc1 Can't let Black play ...e4–e3 with check. 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 20...a5 21.Be2 Nc6 7.Ngf3 21.Bg2 was better but 21...a4 is still a pain to deal This is known as a gambit line - in many variations with. White sacrifices the d4–pawn for development. 21...a4 22.b4 a3 23.bxa3 Rxa3 24.Rhd1 Rda8?! 7...cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 A slight slip on Black's part. First he should play A pretty common response for Black, but most 24...Be6. common is 8...Qb6. 25.d5! Rc3+ 26.Kb2 Raa3 27.dxc6 Rab3+ 28.Ka1 9.Ng5!? Rxb4 29.Ra2 Rxc5 When I saw this, I was shocked, and then later I Black is about to be two pawns up - he has a won vaguely remembered seeing it before. It is a known game. gambit, played a couple dozen times before, 30.Ra7+ Kf6 31.c7 Ra4+ 32.Rxa4 bxa4 33.Rd4 according to my database. Rxc7 34.Rxa4 Rc2?! 9...fxg5 Black misses a tactic: 34...e3! 35.Ra6+ Ke7 36.Ra5 If you want to test the gambit, you have to take the Rc1+ 37.Kb2 Rc2+ with a pretty straightforward Knight. However as near as I can tell the most win. common response is 9...Ndxe5. 35.Ra2 Rxa2+ 36.Kxa2 Ke5 37.Kb2 Kd4 38.Kc1 e3 10.Qh5+ Ke7? 39.fxe3+ Kxe3 Just plain bad. Black has to play 10...g6 11.Bxg6+ Black won in a time scramble, but this ending is hxg6 12.Qxg6+ (Better than 12.Qxh8 apparently.) obviously won for him. 0–1 12...Ke7 13.Nf3 Ndxe5! and my computer thinks Black is close to winning, but White has a lot of play As a devotee of the French Defense I found the here. following game very upsetting. Black plays 11.Nf3 Nf6? ordinary-looking French moves in a well-known After this Black is just lost. He had to play something variation then suddenly on move nine, White like 11...h6. sacrifices a Knight and wins in swashbuckling 12.Bxg5 Kd7 13.exf6 gxf6 fashion. That can’t be right, can it? Is the French White has his sacrificed piece back, and Black's Defense busted? Well, not exactly, but this is a position is a mess. Black players should be aware of. 14.Bd2 h6 15.0–0 f5 16.Bb5 a6 17.Ne5+! Kc7 18.Bxc6 bxc6? 19.Ba5+ Kb7 20.Bxd8 Bd7 21.Ba5 Wesley Wang (left) proudly wears his All-American Black resigned in a couple more moves. 1–0 Chess Team sweatshirt during the Sunday rounds in The tournament was made possible by a large number Saratoga, shown below playing against Justin Chen of tournament directors. NTD Steve Immitt was the in the Junior High School section. chief TD. NTD David Hater was the floor chief. Section and pairing chiefs were Harold Stenzel, Bob Messenger, Polly Wright, Al LeCours, Jabari McGreen, Brother John McManus and Hector Rodriguez III. Floor TDS were Ron Young, Bill Townsend, Andy Rea, Santhosh Abraham, Valicio Palha, Taraqur Rahman, Maya McGreen, Mariah McGreen, Steven Flores, Hector Rodrguez IV, Beenmati McGreen, Kofi McGreen, Mel Romero, Other staff and volunteers Kim Doo (who also represented US Chess Women’s Chess) Daniel Rohde and Sophia Rohde. Nils Grotnes served as the Webster. Chess sets were provided by Little House of Chess and The Right Move 11

Long Island Chess Club News by Neal Bellon ([email protected])

The Long Island Chess Club, located in East Meadow, completed its five-round, G/90;d5 January Open Tournament. Twenty players of various rating levels participated in this event, which featured some very exciting games. LICC regular Joe Felber swept the event with five straight wins. One of his games below was against semi-regular Joseph Merolle, who opens every game (literally) with 1. h4 or 1...h5.

That seems like an odd and unsound first move, but Merolle has had much success with it. Remember, at the club level, just about any opening is playable. To quote GM , "All openings offer good winning chances in amateur play." In fact, in his game versus Felber, Merolle had an advantage for most of the middlegame. He found an excellent Bishop sacrifice, but blundered the game away after 9. Bxe6! an incorrect follow-up. I don't usually play an open Sicilian with White, this type of sacrifice looked vaguely familiar to me I While Felber went 5-0 for clear first, Jarrod Tavares wasn't sure if it was some sort of thematic trap, but it and Matthew Kubelle split the second place/Under looked good so I played it. 2000 prize with four points each. Club newcomer 9…fxe6 10. Nxe6 Qa5 11. Bd2 Qb6 Justin Greenwald won the Under 1500/Unrated prize Probably where the Queen belonged the whole time with three points. Honorable mentions include Kyle instead of allowing the Bd2 gain Grasser, Jay Kleinman, Neal Bellon, Joseph Merolle, 12. Nxg7+ Kf7 13. Nf5 and Noah Flaum, each of whom finished with three I greatly considered Nd5 to distract the Black Knight points. on c6 and follow with Qh5+ invasion but I wasn't sure it would work. Silicon friend suggests ... 13... Below, in no particular order, are various games from Nxd5 14. Qh5+ Kg8 15. Nf5 Bf8 16. Nh6+ Bxh6 17. this event, some of which are annotated. Personally, I Bxh6 N5f6 18. Qg5+ Kf7 19. Qg7+ Ke6 20. Qxh8 was surprised at the difficulty I had in getting players and White wins, somehow I missed all this and to submit their games for this column, but was able to played the safer move. procure seven of them. 13…Ne5 14. Be3 Qc6 A game-losing mistake, Black must either take the Knight pawn to attack the Knight or protect his dark- [White "Jarrod Tavares (2065)”] [Black "Kyle Grasser (1939)"] squared bishop with the Queen, Allowing White to play Knight takes Bishop and forcing the King to the [Result "1-0"] Sicilian Defense notes by J. Tavares center is deadl 15. Nxe7 Kxe7 16. f4 The lines for the major pieces will open 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Be7 8. O-O Nbd7 (diagram) 16…Bg4 17. Qe1 Nc4 18. Bd4 Be6 There are many ways to win, I think the following is the easiest and most elegant. 19. f5 Bf7 20. Nd5+ Taking advantage of a tactic unique to pawns, using a Knight to draw an enemy piece to a square capture-able by pawn with discovered check and an attack on the Queen] ... Black played a move but then immediately resigned. 12

[White "Joe Felber (2000)”] dropped the ball on the follow-up and threw the game [Black "Joseph Merolle (1749)"] away. [Result "1-0"] Irregular Opening 50.Kf4 Qh2+ 51.Kxf5 Qh3+ 52.Ke5 Qxe6+ notes by N. Bellon 53.Kxe6 h4 54.Bd4+ Kg6 55.Bxc3 Kxg5 56.Bf6+ Kg4 57.Bxh4! 1. e4 h5 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 Nh6 5.Be2 c6 6.0– Liquidating into a won King and pawn ending 0 Na6 7.Be3 Nc7 8.Qd2 d5 9.Rfe1 dxe4 10.Nxe4 57...Kxh4? Nf5 11.Bc4 Be6 12.Bxe6 Nxe6 13.Rad1 Qc7 14.Nc5 57...Kf4 is best, but Black is lost anyway. Nxc5 15.dxc5 Rd8 16.Qe2 Rxd1 17.Rxd1 0–0 18.c3 58.Ke5 Kh3 59.Kxe4 Kg4 60.f4 Kh5 61.Ke5 Kg6 e5 19.Bg5 f6 20.Bc1 Qf7 21.Rd3 Qc4 22.b3 Qxc5 62.Ke6 Kg7 63.b5 Kf8 64.Kf6 Ke8 65.f5 Kd7 23.Rd7 Rf7 24.Rxf7 Kxf7 25.Qd3 Qd5 26.Qe2 Bf8 66.Kg7 Kd6 67.f6 Kc5 68.f7 1-0 27.h3 Bc5 28.b4 Bf8 29.c4 Nd4 30.Nxd4 Qxd4 31.Bb2 Qd7 32.a3 Qf5 33.Qd2 g5 34.Bc1 Qe6 [White "Noah Flaum (1714)”] 35.Qc2 e4 36.Qd1 Kg6 37.Qd4 Bd6 38.g3 b6 39.h4 [Black "Neal Bellon (1770)"] c5 40.Qe3 Qxc4 41.hxg5 f5 42.Qd2 Qd4 43.Qa2 [Result "½-½ "] (diagram) notes by Fritz 10 C13: French: Classical System: 4 Bg5 Be7, Alekhine-Chatard Attack

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Nf3 Bd7 8.Bd3 Last book move. 8...0–0 Black castles and improves King safety 9.Qd2 Bc6 10.c3 Bxe4 10...Nd7 11.0–0² 11.Bxe4± c6 12.g4 Qb6 12...Qa5!?± 13.g5+- Be7 14.h4 c5 15.0–0–0 Nc6 16.Qc2 cxd4 17.Bxh7+ 17.Nxd4 Nb4 18.cxb4± (18.Bxh7+?! Kh8 19.Qb3 Kxh7 20.cxb4 Qxb4. 43…c4–+ 44.Be3 Qd3? 17...Kh8= 18.c4?? A transit from better to worse [¹18.Be4 would be a = 44...Qd5 is better 45.Qb2 c3 46.Qb3 Kg7 47.Qe6 reprieve 18...Nb4 19.Qb3 dxc3 20.bxc3=]. Qd1+ 48.Kh2 18...Nb4–+ 19.Qb1 Rad8? ¹19...Qa6 would have made live much easier for Black 20.Bd3 Rac8–+ 20.a3³ White threatens to win material: a3xb4 20...Nc6 20...Rc8 21.Bd3 Qc6 22.Ne5³ 21.Qd3 21.Qc2 Qc7 22.Kb1 Qf4² 21...Bd6 21...Rc8 22.Qc2 f5 23.Bg6³. 22.h5 White prepares the advance g6. 22...Bf4+ 22...Na5!? 23.Kb1 Rc8² Bxg3+! 49.Kxg3 Qg1+?? 23.Kb1± Ne5 49...Qg4+ locks the draw with a forced repetition. 23...Qc5 24.Be4± The Bishop sac was sound and impressive, but Black 24.Nxe5 Bxe5 25.Rdg1 13

White prepares g6. 23...Qe8= 25...Qc6? Black intends a4. 25...Qc7±. 24.Rae1 a4 26.g6?? White has a new : b2. Releasing the pressure on the opponent. 26.Be4 25.Rf3 finishes off the opponent 26...Qc7 27.g6+-. 25.f5 Rab8 26.Nd3 Qb5=. 26...f5² 27.f3 25...a3 ¹27.Re1!?² has some apparent merit. 25...f6 26.Ng6 Kh7 27.Rg3³. 27...Bf4³ 28.h6 Bxh6?? 26.bxa3 Hands over the advantage to the opponent. [¹28...a6³ 26.Ng4 Qf8 (‹26...axb2 27.Nxh6+ gxh6 28.Qxh6 would hold out. Rxc3 29.Rxc3±) 27.bxa3 g6³ (‹27...Bxa3 28.f5 exf5 29.Rxh6+- gxh6 30.g7+?? 29.Qxf5±; 27...Rxa3?! 28.f5 Rcxc3 29.Rxc3 Rxc3 White forks: f8, f8, f8, f8, h8, h8, h8+h8. White is 30.fxe6 fxe6 31.Qg6=. ruining his position [¹30.Qxd4+! White has a 26...Rxa3³ 27.Ree3 Bxe5 promising position 30...e5 31.Qxe5+ Qf6 32.g7+ 27...Ra1+ 28.Rf1 Rxf1+ 29.Kxf1³. Kxh7 33.g8Q+ (33.gxf8R?! Qxe5 34.Rxd8 Qe6²; 28.fxe5 Kh7 ‹33.gxf8Q Rxf8 34.Qc5 Rf7±) 33...Rxg8 34.Qxf6 28...Ra1+ 29.Kh2 Rb8 30.Rd3=. Rxg1+ 35.Kc2 Rg2+ 36.Kc3+-] 29.Qg4 g6 30...Kxh7= 31.gxf8Q Rxf8 32.Qxd4 Black has a new backward pawn: f7 [29...Ra1+ White has a mate threat. 30.Kh2=]. 32...Rf7 33.Qf4 ½–½ 30.Rg3 Rc7 31.Qf3 31.Ref3 Ra2². 31...Qb5 32.Kh2 Qb1 [White "Neal Bellon (1770)"] White King safety dropped. [Black "Benjamin Roche (1733)"] 33.Rg4 Qc1 [Result "1-0"] The pressure on the backward pawn c3 grows notes by Fritz 10 34.Rf4 White threatens to win material: Rf4xf7. D02: 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 sidelines, including 2...Nf6 3 g3 34...Kg7 35.h4 and 2...Nf6 3 Bf4 ¹35.Rh4 Kh7 36.Qf2=. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 c5 5.c3 35...Raxc3?? Last book move. ¹35...Rb3³ had to be tried to avoid defeat. 5...Bd7 6.Ne5 a6 36.Rxc3+- Qxc3 Consolidates b5 [6...Qb6 7.b3²]. 36...Qxf4+ is still a small chance 37.Qxf4 Rxc3+- 7.Be2 Be7 8.Nd2 0–0 9.0–0 h6 Controls g5 [9...Bb5 10.Bxb5 axb5 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nd3=]. 10.h3 Covers g4 [10.Re1 Nc6²]. 10...Qb6 Black threatens to win material: Qb6xb2 11.Qc2 cxd4 12.exd4 White has an active position. 12...Nc6 12...Bb5 13.Nd3². 13.a4 Rfc8 14.Qb1 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Qd8 16.Qd3 b5 17.axb5 17.Bd1 Bc6². 17...Bxb5= 18.Qe3 Nd7 19.Nf3 Nxe5 20.Nxe5 Bxe2 37.Rxf7+!! 20...Bd6 21.f4=. : f7. 21.Qxe2² a5 22.f4 Bd6 23.Qh5 37...Kg8 White threatens to win material: Qh5xf7 [23.f5!? 37...Rxf7 38.Qxc3 Deflection (38.Qxc3 Bxe5 24.Qxe5². ).] 14

38.Rf8+ Kh7 39.Qf6 Rg7 40.Qd8 tempo, but what did he have to lose? 40.Qd8 g5 41.h5 Rg8 42.Qe7+ Rg7 43.Qe8 Qg3+ 18... Bf5 19. Rf4 Rd8+ 20. Kc1 Qe3+ 44.Kxg3 Rg8 45.Rxg8 g4 46.Qg6#] 1–0 White resigned in lieu of everything. 0-1

[White "Michael Deane (1388)"] [White "Matthew Petrulli (1723)"] [Black "Matt Kubelle (1833)"] [Black "James Philippou (729)"] [Result "0-1"] Trompowsky [Result "1-0"] notes by M. Kubelle 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.d5 Nb8 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Ne4 4. Nbd2 6.Qe2 a6 7.Bd3 c6 8.Nc3 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Ignoring Black’s threat of trading the Bishop. Bishop Nf6 11.Be3 Qe7 12.0–0 cxd5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 f4 or h4 was necessary, allowing the trade 14.exd5 Nd7 15.Rfe1 Nf6 16.Bg5 h6 17.Bh4 g5 consequently also misplacing his Knight. 18.Bg3 Bg7 19.c4 0–0–0 20.c5 Rhe8 21.c6 e4 4... Nxg5 5. Nxg5 e5 22.Qf5+ Kb8 23.Rac1 bxc6 24.Rxc6 Ng8 25.Rxe4 Anything else and Black loses his opportunity for Qb7 26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Bxd6+ Ka7 28.Rc7 Qxc7 winning chances from the opening. 29.Bxc7 Ne7 30.Qxf7 1–0 6. Ngf3 e4 7. Nxe4 A bad reaction to Black's aggression. I was [White "Jarrod Tavares (2065)"] concerned, until I calculated, if White sacked the [Black "Joe Felber (2000)"] Knight Ne5.f6 trapping the Knight followed by e3, [Result "0-1"] Bird’s Opening pawn x Knight and Qh5+. White gets some but not enough. 1. f4 Nf6 2. e3 g6 3. d4 c5 4. c3 Bg7 5. Bd3 d5 6. 7... dxe4 8. Nd2 Nf3 Qc7 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe1 Bxf3 10. Another inaccuracy and a center pawn lost; the game Rxf3 Nbd7 11. Rh3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Rac8 13. Nf3 was over in my book. Ne4 14. Qh4 Ndf6 15. Ng5 Qxc1+ 16. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 8... Qxd4 9. Rb1 e3 $1 {just sayin} 10. fxe3 Qxe3 17. Bf1 Nd2 18. Kf2 h5 19. Bd3 Nde4+ 20. Ke2 11. Nf3 Bc5 12. Qd2 Qf2+ 13. Kd1 Rg1 21. Kf3 Rc8 22. Nxe4 dxe4+ 23. Bxe4 Nxe4 24. O-O 14. b4 Nc6 Kxe4 Rxg2 25. Qxe7 Rxb2 26.Qa3 Rcc2 27. Qxa7 This was to be cute, but technically not the best. f5+ 28. Kd5 Rb5+ 29. Ke6 Rc6+ 30. Kd7 Rd5+ { 15. bxc5 Rd8 16. Qxd8+ Nxd8 17. Rb4 Nc6 18. Re4 White Resigns} Going for the cheesy back-rank . losing a

Greater NY Scholastics (from page 20) McGreen, Hector Rodriguez and Polly Wright. Other staff included: Brother John McManus, Hal National Tournament Director (NTD) Steve Immitt Sprechman, Ron Young, Pito Rodriguez, Steve was the Chief Tournament Director. NTD David Flores, Valicia Palha, Maya McGreen, Mariah Hater served as floor chief. Section chiefs were McGreen, Kofi Mcgreen, Beena McGreen, Mel NTDs Harold Stenzel and Susan Breeding. Sophia Romero, Oscar Garcia, Jim Mullanaphy, Danny Rohde assisted with site coordination. Danny Rohde Mason, Harry Heublum, Jack Heublum, Nicholas served as assistant organizer and event coordinators. Oblak, Karsten McVay, and Dr Lisa Griesman. The Nils Grotnes performed the webmaster duties. Other tournament could not have succeeded without them staff members included pairing chiefs Jabari An event of this size is a logistical nightmare without experienced personnel. Full tournament details can be found at www.gnyscc.com.

Like NYSCA on Facebook. See us at www.nysca.net on the web.

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Greater NY Scholastics Reaches Gold By Colonel David A. Hater and Danny Rohde|

The longest continuously running US Chess rated Scholastics! scholastic championships are the Greater New York Former World Champion , KCF’s Scholastic Championships. It is the only scholastic Chairman, visited the Golden Anniversary event both event that is both an American Classic and a Heritage days. The legendary champion toured team rooms event! This year was the Golden Anniversary as the chatting with players, coaches, parents and signed event was originated by Bill Goichberg in 1966 and books, boards, score books, and even wore some has been held every year continuously except 2004. fashionable chess shoes.

Bill and the Continental Chess Association passed on I have been serving as the floor chief for this the tournament to Steve Immitt and former NYSCA tournament for the past three years. Every year I President Alan Benjamin in 1986 with Steve have had a small child come to me and ask for my combining all four events (High School, Junior High, autograph thinking I was Garry Kasparov! I don’t Elementary and Primary) into one large tournament think there is much resemblance and there is certainly in 1995. In 2005 the Foundation no resemblance in my games! came to the rescue due to financial constraints of the event and has been the sole sponsor and owner ever This year I was chatting with Kasparov Chess since. Sophia Rohde of the Little House of Chess and Foundation Executive Director Michael Steve Immitt of the Chess Center of New York have Khodarkovsky and a small child and his parent asked performed the organizational duties. This year was for Michael’s autograph thinking he was Garry! At the largest event in the 50-year history at over 1,200 least that one was MUCH closer! players, which rivals or even surpasses many USCF

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Garry also had time to chat with another invited guest, U.S. Women’s Champion, GM Irina Krush. They both found time to stop by the booth and gave encouragement and advice to young up and coming girls.

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One other entertaining episode was retold. Kimberly tournaments and gone 10-0. Given my limited McVay, member of the US Chess Women’s history (and even more limited memory), I didn’t Committee who was running the Women in Chess immediately know the answer. However, at least one booth: Michael joined me at the booth and one girl player has accomplished this feat: Current World approached him and asked to sign her scorebook. Championship Candidate GM Hikaru Nakamura won Michael said – I’m not Garry Kasparov. I know the the Primary Championship and the Elementary girl replied. “Do you know my name?” Michael Varsity in 1997 both with 5-0 scores. asked smiling, “Yes, you are Michael Khodarkovsky” – she smiled back to him. The dialogue continued: This year a young child who wants to be like “What is your name?” – “Erica”, “I will gladly sign Nakamura, or more accurately (Magnus Carlsen – your scorebook” – said Michael and graciously wrote sorry Hikaru) nearly equaled the feat. Seven-year-old encouragement words to Erica. second grader Henry Greengrass was a Primary Under 1000 Co-Champion on Saturday at 5-0. His This tournament does not yet have a World score also led his team, PS 166 to the team title. As Champion among its alumni, but we are getting an individual champion and team champion, he won close! Hikaru Nakamura is a past Champion, and 16 months of free entries into CCA tournaments! Fabiano Carauna has played four times when he was a child (though surprisingly he never won it)! On Sunday, Henry nearly did it again. He started 4-0 Because this year was the Golden Anniversary, we and was on Board One of the Elementary Under 1000 invited GMs and IMs who have won the tournament section. Had he won the last round it is possible he in each of the past decades to be honored at the would have had four firsts in the two weekends of the opening ceremony. Unfortunately, GM Nakamura Greater NY Scholastic, two team and two individual. was unable to attend due to his tournament schedule, Unfortunately, he lost the last round (as did some but we did have several representatives. We wanted teammates) and though he still won an individual to have a representative present from each decade. trophy and helped his team win a team trophy, he One of the honorees was IM Danny Kopec who didn’t sweep the event in 2016! Hikaru’s record is played in the first even in 1966! Here are the safe for now, but young Henry has many more tries in GMs/IMs who were representing all past players: order to try and tie it.

1960s IM Danny Kopec 1970s GM Joel Benjamin & GM Michael Rohde 1980s GM Joel Benjamin New York State 1990s GM Irina Krush 2000s GM Alexandr Lenderman & GM Robert Championship Hess 2010s IM Alexander Ostrovskiy

Due to the sheer size of the tournament, it is held in Labor Day Weekend multiple sections with Championship Sections being conducted with six games over two days at G/60 and “Under” sections being conducted with five games in one day either Saturday or Sunday at G/30. This year September 2-5, 3-5 or 4-5 the Kindergarten, Primary and one Junior High Under sections were Saturday and the Elementary and High School Under sections were on Sunday. Younger Albany Marriott, Colonie, NY players would be eligible for a section on Saturday and an Under section on Sunday. Many took advantage of this and played five games each day! Make Your Plans Now!

Late Sunday afternoon, I was approached by a parent and asked if anybody had ever entered two separate

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Henry has only been playing chess two years. I 19.Rxf8+Qxf8 20.Nxe4 c4 21.Bc2Nxe4 22.Bxe4 asked him what he wants to be when he grows up and Qc5+23.Kh1 Bb724.Qd2 Re825.Bf3 Re3 26.Rf1 c3 of course he said a GM and a chess player! His 27.bxc3 Qxc328.Qf2Re8 29.Rd1Qb3 30.Qh4 a5 favorite player is World Champion Magnus Carlsen 31.Qd4 b532.Rc1Qxa4 33.Qf6 Qb43 4.Rc7 because he said Magnus plays good games. Even Qe1+35.Kh2 Qe5+36.Qxe5 Rxe5 37.Rxb7 b4 though Henry has been playing a short time, he said 38.Rb5 1–0 he gains experience playing in Washington Square Park (think Searching for ). I asked Two other games of note are James Black’s win over Henry if he was taking the money from the hustlers, Tyrone Davis in round 5 and Isaac Bareyev’s win but he said he is not. Somehow I think they better be over John Chen from Stuyvesant. Black and Davis careful! finished tied for 3rd as did Bareyev. Chen finished in the top 10 finishing in a tie for 8th. Any tournament report of course must cover the top section champion. This year the tournament’s highest Greater NY Scholastics January 10, 2016 rated player took him clear first. Tenth grader from NM Black, James 2267 Ethan Li from Melville High School scored 5 1/2 out Davis, Tyrone 2020 of 6 in the two day High School Championship 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 section. His only draw was to second seeded James dxe4 7.fxe4 e5 8.d5 Ng4 9.Nf3 Bc5 10.Na4 Be7 Black in the last round. The game ended in a draw 11.Bd3 O-O 12.O-O Nd7 13.h3 Ngf6 14.Be3 c5 on move 28, but the times used by the players may 15.Rb1 Ne8 16.b4 Qc7 17.Kh1 b6 18.Nd2 have been a bit surprising. On move 13, both players Nd619.Qe2 Ba6 20.g4 Rac8 21.b5 Bb7 22.Nc3 Qd8 had only used two minutes each! By the end of the 23.Nf3 g5 24.Qh2 f6 25.h4 h6 26.Ne2 Re8 27.Ng3 game, Li used 30 minutes and Black 14 minutes. Nf8 28.hxg5 hxg5 29.Kg2 Qd7 30.Rh1Nf7 31.Nf5 While it is G/60, I thought that a bit surprising. Bd8 32.Qh5 a6 33.a4 axb5 34.axb5 Ra8 35.Ra1Bc7 36.Bxg5R xa137.Rxa1 Nxg5 38.Nxg5 1–0 Greater NY Scholastics January 10, 2016 NM Li, Ethan 2370 Greater NY Scholastics January 10, 2016 NM Black, James 2267 Chen, John 2013 QGD- NM Barayev, Isaac 2204 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf55.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 French Defense Be4 7.f3Bg68.Qb3Qc79.Bd2 Be710.Nxg6 hxg6\ 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.e5 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Ndf3 11.OOO dxc4 12.Bxc4 b5 13.Be2 a6 14.Kb1 c5 f67.Bd3 Qa5 8.dxc5 fxe5 9.b4 Qc710.Bc2 Nf6 15.dxc5 Nbd7 16.c6 Qxc6 17.Qc2 Rc818.Rc1 OO 11.Ne2 O-O 12.Bb2 e4 13.Nfd4 Ng4 14.f3 19.Ne4 Qxc2+ 20.Rxc2 Rxc2 21.Nxf6+Bxf6 Ne315.Qb1Nxg2+16.Kf2 Nh4 17.Bxe4 dxe4 22.Kxc2 Rc8+ 23.Kb1Kf8 24.Rd1Ke8 25.e4 Bd4 18.Qxe4 Nxd419.Nxd4 e5 20.Nb3 Rxf3+21.Ke2 Bf5 26.Rc1Rxc1+27.Kxc1 Nc52 8.Bb4 Kd7½–½ 22.Qd5+Kh8 23.c4 Rd8 24.Qxe5 Bd3+25.Kd2 Rf2+26.Kc1Rc2+27.Kd1Be4+0–1 While the last game may have been somewhat anti- climactic, the penultimate round was not. Going into Often the best scholastic players bypass scholastic the round, there were two perfect scores, Li and 3rd tournaments because they are too good and it is not seeded Alisher Podavonov from Brooklyn Tech. Li worth their time. The Greater NY Scholastics have won an interesting game. The position was relatively found a way to incentivize top players. The top four equal for the first 30 moves, but with both players individuals and top two teams receive free entries to running a bit short of time, Li found a way to win. select CCA tournaments for up to a year! Of course a player wining a top individual prize can be on a team Greater NY Scholastics January 10, 2016 and can win more than a year. This prize can be NM Li, Ethan2370 worth thousands of dollars in free entries! NM Podava nov, Alisher 2252 Modern Bononi (by ) Another player of note is third grader Nico Chasin. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 As an Expert, he could have easily won the Primary 6.Nc3 g6 7.e4 Bg78 .h3 O-O 9.Bd3 Nbd7 10.O-O Championship section. He probably could have won Ne811.Bf4 Ne5 12.Nxe5 dxe5 13.Be3 b6 14.a4 f5 the Elementary Championship section. However, he 15.f4 Nd6 16.fxe5 Bxe5 17.Bf4 Bxf4 18.Rxf4 fxe4 wanted to play in a more competitive section. He 19 played in the Junior High School section (without his repetition rule that allows a TD to declare a draw team). Though he was seeded fourth, he “only” won after 75 moves without a pawn move or a capture an fifth place, he didn’t win CCA entries. He started 4-0 after five repetitions even if the players do not claim and only lost to the first and fourth seeds. Playing a draw. These rules are invaluable! I watched a K+Q two sections up was a conscious decision on his part versus lone King. The player with the Queen did not because he wanted to test himself against better know how to checkmate and just chased the king players rather than go for the short term prizes. One around the board. After 75 moves, we could stop has to admire the “purist” attitude! this. Similarly we had a five-fold repetition on which . the young child had no plan! Unfortunately, we were not able to start the rounds on time. The first day we ended the event two hours late Not all games end with these rules though. I saw a and the second day we were one hour late. For the K+R versus K+R. I told a TD to start counting. inconveniences experienced by the players we Shortly after that (not enough time for 75 moves), I sincerely apologize and because we were continually saw the game was over. I said, so they agreed t a asked why (given we have a pretty good track record draw. No, one player got checkmated. In fairness of starting on time), I feel we owe a brief this happened to me once 35 years ago in a scholastic explanation. One of the biggest reasons is that this tournament. We got to K+R versus K=R and I tournament set a modern record for attendance. This offered a draw. My opponent declined and lost! year we had over 1,200 players versus 973 last year. Another game from this year went to K, R, N. versus Over 300 extra players with the same amount of staff K+R. I told a director to count, but it was not and same size tournament venue caused numerous necessary – one player hung a rook! challenges. We may have to plan for a much larger tournament even though this tournament has “only” However, the most unusual case was a drawn 1,000 players for most of the last decade. We situation. I was called to the board. White castled thank the players, parents, and coaches for their with his King from d1 to f1 and his Rook from H1 to understanding and appreciate their support. e1. Both players agreed the King and Queen were set up incorrectly and the King had not moved. So now Now on to more happy news. In any scholastic the question is can the King still castle (blitz rules). tournament, I am continually amazed by all the Six NTDs could not agree. I eventually was about to unique incidents that happen especially with young rule that the King could not castle (this is not a blitz inexperienced children. This tournament is no game). I was originally annoyed because I told all different. I’d like to share a few – though I’m sure directors to make sure starting positions were correct. many more occurred. This is almost a Ripley’s I thought maybe a director missed it because Black believe it or not though I can assure you they are all had the pieces set up correctly. Then just as I was true. Names have been withheld to protect the about to make the ruling, I determined that the K+ Q children. were set up correctly and the K moved to d1. I pointed this out to the players and they both said Oh The first funny story occurred in the championship you are right! room which is unusual since this is usually the most experienced players. Nonetheless during a round a Mixed doubles prizes are now becoming quite young child came into the room dribbling a popular. We only offered them in the High School basketball. Section chief, National Tournament Sections this year. The winning mixed doubles was Director, Harold Stenzel was not amused and Ella Papanek and Anthony Asseviro . Ella and immediately put a stop to this behavior. You might Anthony both tied for second in the High School even say that Stenzel went ball – istic! Under 1900 section. One interesting thing is that the best players (particularly in the high school sections) Toward the end of the round, TDs start watching the tend to be good in many aspects of their lives and last games in order to get the rounds going. In the tend to be trying to balance academics and chess. Under 1000, Under 500 and Under 400 sections, you This tournament was no different and often players just never know what you will see. Fortunately, we used their time between rounds to catch up on their now have rules which can help us. Many players academic work rather than chess. may not know there is a 75-move rule and a 5-fold (continued on page 15)

20

Don Klug Wins Watertown Holiday Invitational Tournament

Watertown Chess Club member Don Klug (pictured above) won the 2015 Holiday Invitational Tournament in December with a score of +3-0=1. The annual Holiday Invitational Tournament traditionally invites local area non- member chess players to the club to try their skills against club members. The Invitational runs concurrent with the Club Championship, won by perennial champion David Kistler, documented in Empire Chess, Winter 2016.

Mr. Klug received a first round half-point bye as is custom for club players involved in the club championship semi-finals. Mr. Klug succeeded in scoring two wins against invitees Andrew Powers, Ft. Drum and local player John Kunz before winning a fourth round match against defending 2014 Invitational Champion Robert Kratzat, +3- 1=0.

In first round action, third place finisher John Kunz notes his move while facing invitee Andrew Powers. Robert Kratzat, rear, considers his move against SSG Joshua Christie.

21

Kratzat and Prieto Share 2016 Watertown Blitz Championship By Don Klug

Bob Kratzat and Adolfo Prieto opened the 2016 Watertown Chess Club Championship Season by sharing the 2016 Blitz Championship round-robin tournament. The Blitz Championship counts as a Classic or Quick Chess win in the standings. In this case it counts as a half-point towards the 29 game schedule that lasts till October. The cross table of players is shown below. Mr. Kratzat scored +5-1=2, Mr. Prieto +6-2=0. Mr. Prieto defeated organizer Don Klug (+5-2=1) in Round 8 to gain the split championship. This is a repeat of their split of the 2012 Championship. Tie-breaks will be established for the 2017 tournament.

2016 Watertown Chess Club Blitz Championship Club Opponent Total Chmp

3/1/2016 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 Score W-L=D Points

1 Kratzat, Rbt x x 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 6.0 5-1=2 0.5 2 Klug, D C 1.0 0.5 x x 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 5.5 5-2=1 0 3 Kunz, John 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 x x 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0-8=0 0 4 Christie, Josh 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 x x 0.0 0.0 2.5 2-5=1 0 5 Prieto, Adolfo 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 x x 6.0 6-2=0 0.5

22

Notes from the Marshall by Frank Romano

The Marshall March Masters drew 26 players on February 18th brought the return of a long-standing March 15, and the tournament was won by GM Marshall tradition to the club: a four-round Action Oliver Barbosa and IM Yaacov Norowitz. Both Chess tournament. As the former home of Four players scored 3 ½ points in the four-round event, Rates Games Tonight for almost two decades, the drawing in the last round to remain atop the table. Marshall has likely hosted more Action Chess events than any other venue in America. Six players tied for third with three points in a very closely contested tournament. GM;s Zviad Izoria and A player who played in more of those events than any Mark Paragua drew in the last round on Board Two. other in all likelihood, New York Hall of Famer IM US Women’s Champion GM Irina Krush, FM Hans Jay Bonin, won this 18-player tournament outright Niemann, FM Leif Pressman, and Eric Balck joined with 3 ½ points. Bonin took a first-round, half-point the group of players at three points with last-round bye and then won three straight, including a last- wins. round win against SM Carlos Mena in the last round giving “draw odds.” Bryan Quick, the director of the Marshall, directed this tournament for the club. Mena, FM Boris Privman, and NM Raphael Nitsche- Hahn tied for third with three points. Mena and Forty-five players gathered at the Marshall on March Privman both lost to Expert Jonathan Corbbalh, who 4-6 for the Marshall’s March FIDE Weekend. The earned the most rating points in the event with a 2 ½ five-round, FIDE time control event was won point result playing against three internationally-titled outright by NM Brandon Jacobson with 4 ½ points. players. Eric Balck directed for the Marshall. Jacobson scored an upset in Round Three over former New York State Champion FM Nicolas de T Checa, The Marshall February Masters on the 16th brought who was the tournament’s highest-rated player 24 players to the club. Two Grandmasters won the entering the event at 2502. After drawing current event with 3 ½ points: Zviad Izoria, and Vladimir NYS Junior High Champion FM Marcus Miyasaka in Romanenko. Romanenko won three straight after the fourth round, Jacobson closed out the event taking a half-point bye in the first round, while Izoria beating NM Todd Bryant. drew GM Michael Rohde in Round Four with first place on the line. FM Aravind Kumar was clear second with an undefeated four points, taking a half-point bye in the Three former New York Champions: GM’s Aleksandr first round and drawing Jonathan Munnell in the Lenderman and Michael Rohde, and FM Nicolas de T fourth round. Six players tied for third at 3 ½ points: Checa, all tied for third with three points. Rohde and Checa, scholastic star FM David Brodsky, FM Boris Lenderman were undefeated. Privman, NM Ekaterina Bogdan, Bryant and NM Kadhir Pillai. Gregory Kenner directed for the Marshall.

Gregory Keener directed for the Marshall. The January edition of the Marshall FIDE Blitz tournament was held on January 29, and was a February 26th marked the FIDE Blitz tournament at perfect 9-0 sweep for GM Zviad Izoria. Israeli GM the Marshall, and one of the all-time greats at Blitz, Analtoly Bykhovsky was clear second with 7 ½ GM Maxim Dlugy, won the tournament with a score points, losing only to Izoria. Canadian IM Jonathan of 8 1/2 – ½, besting the field by a full point and a Tayar finished third with seven points, losing to the half. His only draw was in Round Five to NM Anton top two in Rounds Five and Six, respectively. Osinenko, who finished second with a 7-2 score. GM Veteran FM Asa Hoffmann was fourth with 6 ½ Oliver Barbosa was clear third with 6 ½ points after points. being upended by Expert Alex Eyldeman in the second round. The 25-player tournament was directed by Gregory Keener. Bryan Quick directed for the Marshall. 23

Open Lines..tidbits about the chess world. by Karl Heck

 FM Justus Williams, a former New York State champion, was featured in a commercial for Cadillac during the Academy Awards as part of their “Dare Greatly” campaign. The Bronx native is part of a series on outstanding achievers that is designed to highlight the excellence of the Cadillac brand.

 The is coming to in November. The winner of the current Candidates’ Tournament being held in Moscow will face World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a 12-game match from November 11-30 at a yet to be determined site in the Big Apple. The Championhips will be the first held in New York City since 1995, when Garry Kasparov defeated in 18 games at the World Trade Center.

 The 2016 Absolute (correspondence) Championship has begun with eleven of our top players competing. Leading the list at 2425 is Harry Ingersol followed by Dan Woodard at 2393. Chris Torres, New York’s Gary Walters, Kristo Miettinen, Keith Rodriguez, and New York’s Gordon Magat make up the list of 2300-plus rated players. Danny Horwitz, John Procopi, Charles Jacobs, and Andrew Bussom complete the roster. It is a fine collection of Masters, and should be a hard-fought event.

 New York’s former Scholastic Championship and GM Aleksandr Lenderman won the Washington DC area George Washington Open, held from February 26-28 in Dulles, Virginia. Lenderman scored an undefeated 4 ½ points out of five, obtaining a 2748 performance rating while playing three of the top five players in the tournament. The key victory was his fourth-round triumph over GM Sergey Erenburg. The tournament was run bv Continental Chess, and drew 242 players.

 The Academy for Talented Youth 1, featuring New York scholastic stars NM Ethan Li and Wesley Wang, along with Henry Qi and Warren Wang, won the World Team Championship in New Jersey over President’s Weekend. The Aacdemy won on tiebreaks after drawing their last-round match against the Komodo Dragons 2-2 to go 5 1/2 – ½ for the event. Another New York youth team, the ChessNYC All Stars, finished third. That team was composed of New York State Scholastic Champion FM Justus Williams, NM Isaac Barayev, Matheu Jefferson and Tyrone Davis Lii. Despite a winter storm affecting the region, 277 teams participated in the annual classic.

Williams won the Board One prize, and New York State Chess Hall of Famer GM Joel Benjamin was the King of Board Two. Tyrone Lii of the Chess NYC All Stars was a Board winner on Board Four.

 Twenty-four players will be competing in the US Championships in Saint Louis April 13-30. The Open Championship field is led by former New York Champion and World Championship Candidate GM Hikaru Nakamura, and 2014 New York State Champion GM Gata Kamsky will also be in the field along with former New York stat GM Fabiano Carauna, who will be participating in his first US Championship. GM Aleksandr Lenderman will also represent New York in this event.

GM Irina Krush, a long-time New York star and seven-time Champion, leads the women’s field. Current US #1 women’s player IM returns to the Championship to attempt to dethrone Krush. Both Championships will be streamed at the website www.uschesschamps.com, with full commentary from GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Maurice Ashley and WGM . The Open Championship will be the highest-rated US Championship in history. Both tournaments are 11-round, 12-player round robins. 24

The Outside By Zachary Calderon

King and pawn endgames are notoriously tricky. There are not very many consistencies within them, but one element that remains true is the incredible value and power of the outside passed pawn, as its ability to move and threaten to Queen requires the King to move to pay attention to it.

Because White's passed pawn was farther away from the Kingside pawns than Black's was, White was able to get to them faster, thereby winning the game.

While this example clearly started in a King and Pawn endgame, it doesn't mean you should ignore White wins this position on the move, despite the your outside passed pawn in all scenarios minus a equal material. Because Black must waste time King and Pawn endgame. Often times, the pawn moving his King to the outside of the board to round structure will help you decide when is a good time to up the a5 pawn, White can slip in behind Black's enter into such an endgame. pawns, take them, and win without breaking a sweat. A sample line would go 1. a6 Kb6 2. Kxc4 Kxa6 3. Kc5 Kb7 4. Kd6 Kc8 5. Ke7 And Black's pawns are finished, allowing White to win.

With Black to move, though, the Black King can get back in time with 1…Kb5 2.a6 Kxa6 3.Kd4 Kb6 4.Ke5 Kc7 and Black’s pawns are effective at keeping the White King out of the position. Black’s passed pawn must be captured before the White King can begin offensive play.

When possible in these kinds of endings, keeping the opposite King as far away as possible for as long as possible helps the winning chances. As shown in the next diagram, Black’s King is still on the Queenside This example is a very sharp position, with Black when White’s King is ready to begin to capture the having a one-pawn advantage with Bishops of Black pawns. In this particular position, it is opposite color. However, White should be able to win impossible for Black to advance the pawns in a way this position. Take a minute and try to figure it out for to trade them off before the White King can penetrate yourself. (continued on page 28) the Black position.

25

Rochester News from staff reports

The highlight of the Rochester chess season every round, while Chen took a half-point bye in the first year is the Marchand Open. The 38th annual event round. was once again held at the Strong Museum of Play, the only place on Earth where chess is in the Hall of Four players tied for fourth with two points: Derek Fame as a game. While full coverage will be Linton, Jamshed SAhmed, Jeffrey Shi and Theodore provided in the Summer Issue, I will note here that Bogin. Ron Lohrman and Kenneth McBride directed there was a seven-way tie in the Open section the tournament for the Rochester Chess Center. including top GM’s Alexander Stripunsky and Sergey Kudrin, both of whom made the trip to play. February 20th fell on the President’s weekend, and turnout for the Saturday event was a higher-than- A total of 26 players participated in the March 12 normal 34 players. Lev Paciorkowski won the Open Saturday tournament at the Rochester Chess Center section with a perfect 3-0 score. John Manning was Jason Stein and Ethan Yung tied for first with 2 ½ clear second with 2 ½ points, yielding a draw in the points in the 16-player Open section. They did not second round to Pranav Kumar. Kumar, Jason Stein play each other, with Stein drawing John Manning in and David Stearns tied for third with two points. the first round and Yung drawing Expert Derek Linton in the second round. David Kistler and Sam Aidan Kharroubi won the Youth section with five Santora tied for third with two points each. points. Linden Burack and Thomas Gargan tied for second with four points. Linden Burack and Judith Ugalde tied for first in the Youth section with 4-1 scores. Ron Lohrman and Ron Lohrman and Kenneth McBride directed the Kenneth McBride directed the tournament. tournament.

On March 5th, a total of 28 players came to the Chess The February 13th Valentine’s Saturday tournament Center for the weekly tournament, and the Open drew 19 players and was won by Expert Derek section was a triumph for Binghamton Expert Daryll Linton with 2 ½ points. Linton drew John Manning Weatherly with a perfect 3-0 score. Lev in the second round. Theodore Bogin and Jonah Paciorkowski, the tournament’s highest-rated player, Green tied for second with two points, with Linton and David Campbell tied for second with 2 ½ points, defeating both second-place finishers. drawing each other in the second round. Josh Rofrano, John Manning and Theodore Bogin tied for Arianna Kharroubi won the Youth section with four fourth with two points. points. Tanush Kumar and Judith Ugalde tied for second with three points. Judith Ugalde won the Youth section with four points. Ron Lohrman and Kenneth McBride directed Ron Lohrman and Kenneth McBride directed the the tournament. tournament for the Chess Center.

The February 27th edition of the Rochester Chess The Chess Center is also gearing up for April break Center weekly tournament was in one section, and and Summer break camps. The Chess Center runs drew 15 players. The closely-contested event ended camps with a finishing tournament during each with a three-way tie at the top among Expert Lev school break during the year. For further information Paciorkowski and Jacob Chen along with class-A on the Chess Center and all of its tournaments and player Andrew Bridy, with all players finishing with programs, please check their web site at 2 ½ points. Paciorkowski and Bridy drew in the last www.nychess.com.

26

Evans Gambit: Cordel Variation By Richard Moody Jr.

After studying the for years I would 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Be7 send question after question to the Ask The Masters 6.d4 Na5 column in . An exasperated GM Joel Black can play 7...exd4 8.Qb3 Na5 9.Bxf7+ Kf8 Benjamin posed the following question to me, “When 10.Qa4 Kxf7 11.Qxa5 c6 and White will find it was the last time you saw a lose on the difficult to exploit the awkward placement of the Black side of the Evans Gambit?” Before answering Black King. that question I'd like to point out that the Evans 7.Bd3 b6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Gambit has spectacular practical results. From an Just like that White regains the gambit pawn. online source we learn that between 1829-2015 the 9…Nf6 10.O-O O-O 11.Qc2 Nd7 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 Evans scored at the rate of +52.8 -32.5 =14.8. GM 13.e5 g6 14.Nd2 b6 15.Nf3 Bb7 16.Be4 Bxe4 Benjamin's question was answered resoundingly 17.Qxe4 Qc6 18.Qg4 Rad8 19.Bg5 Qc5 20.Qh4 when World Champion Garry Kasparov crushed Nc6 21.Rae1 h5 22.Re4 Rd3 23 Rc4 future World Champion Vishy Anand in the Evans Fritz now claims advantage White---+/=. Gambit. Here is that great attacking game: 23…Qd5 24.Bxe7 Nxe7 25.Rxc7 Now White is better with a solid pawn advantage. Kasparov-Anand Riga Tal's Memorial (4): 25…Nf5 26.Qc4 Qxc4 27.Rxc4 Re8 28.Re1 Rd5 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Be7 29.h3 Kf8 30.g4? 6.d4 Na5 7.Be2 According to Deep Fritz 14 this is a critical mistake. White can regain the pawn here with 7.Nxe5 Nxc4 With 30. Ree4 Ng7 31.Ra4 Re7 32.Red4 +/=. 8.Nxc4 d5 9.exd5 Qxd5 10.Ne3 Qa5, but Black has 30…hxg4 31.hxg4 Ng7 32.Rc7 Re7 33.Rc8+ Re8 the Bishop pair and fewer pawn islands. Maybe 34.Rc7 Re7 35.Rc8 Re8 =. White can expand in the center but this position looks closer to = to =/+) The fact that a relatively unknown player could draw 7...exd4 8.Qxd4 Nf6 9.e5 Nc6 10.Qh4 Nd5 11.Qg3 the former World Champion in the Evans Gambit in g6 12.O-O Nb6 13.c4 d6 14.Rd1 2014 indicates that the Evans is still a playable White begins to pressure the Black position opening at any level. Here are some additional games 14…Nd7 15.Bh6 in the Evans Gambit: Where does Black place his King? 15…Ncxe5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.Nc3 f6 18.c5! Nf7 Short-Sokolov 37th Bosna Chess Tournament 2007 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.Qe3 Nxh6 21.Qxh6 Bf8 22.Qe3+ 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Be7 Kf7 23.Nd5 Be6 24.Nf4 Qe7?? 6.d4 Na5 7.Be2 exd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.Qxg7 Bf6 10.Qg3 Anand cracks under the pressure. With Bf5 it is still a Ne7 11.O-O?? game although Deep Fritz 14 evaluates the position 11.Bg5= This is a mistake. After the simple 11...Rg8 as +/-) 12.Qf4 Bh3 13.g3 Ng6 -/+. 25.Re1 1-0 11…Ng6 12.Nd4 Qe7 13.Nd2 Bd7 14.N2b3 Nxb3 There are too many threats e.g. 25...Qd7 26.Bb5! 15.axb3 O-O 16.Bg4 Kh8 17.Bxd7 Qxd7 Qxb5 27.Qxe6+ Kg7 28.Rab1 Qf5 29.Rxb7+ +- 18.Ra5 Rae8? 18…Rfe8=. The second game in the Cordel variation is Halkias- 19.Rh5 Kramnik Qatar Masters 2014 where we see a recent 19.Qf3+/-. game in the Evans Gambit. The relative unknown 19…Bxd4? player of the White pieces missed just one move 19…Rxe4=. against the former World Champion that would have 20.cxd4 Re4 21.Bh6? given him good winning prospects according to Deep 21. f4 +/-. Fritz 14. 21…Rfe8 22.Qf3 f6? 22…Qe7=. Halkias-Kramnik Qatar Masters 2014 23.Qxf6+ Kg8 24.d5 Qf7 25.Qxf7+ Kxf7 26.Rf5+ AnderssenVariation Cordel line Kg8 27.f4 Re1 28.g3 Rxf1 29.Kxf1 a5 30.Rg5 Kf7 27

31.f5 Ne7 32.Rg7+ Kf6 33.g4 Nd5 34.Rh7 b5? The Outside Passed Pawn (from page 34…Ne3+ =. 35.Kf2 a4 36.bxa4 bxa4?? 25) 36…Rg8=. 37.h4?? White's best, and arguably only move to play for a 37.Bg7+ +/-. win, is 1. Qxf7+! Now all of Black's moves are 37…Ke5?? forced as the f8 Rook is pinned and cannot recapture 37…Rg8=. the Queen or Bishop.. 1...Qxf7 2. Bxf7+ Kxf7 3. 38.Kf3 Kd4 39.f6 Nxf6 40.Bg7 Rf8 41.g5 a3 Rxf8+ Kxf8 4. Kxf2 42.Rh8 1-0

In order to test whether Deep Fritz 14 could find a convincing refutation with the Cordel Variation I chose to play White. Here is a game that illustrates computers can :

Moody Deep Fritz 14

1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Be7 6. d4 Na5 7. Be2 exd4 8. Qxd4 Nf6 9. e5 Nc6 10. Qh4 Nd5 11. Qg3 O-O?? This was played after 25 minutes of crunching out to a depth of 27; the vast majority of human players would reject this at a glance. The computer believes its piece activity is worth close to a pawn; thus g6 Even though Black has the only passed pawn in the yields an equivalent evaluation. game, White is going to make a passed pawn on the 12. Bh6 g6 13. Bxf8 Bxf8 14. Bc4 Nb6 15. Bb3 d5 Queenside, giving us a very similar position to the 16. O-O Qe7 17. Nbd2 a5 18. a4 Bh6 19. Rfe1 Qc5 previous example. 20. Rac1 Qe7 21. Ra1 Qc5 22. Rac1 Qe7 23. Ra1 1/2-1/2 After 4...Ke7 5. Ke3 Ke6 6. Ke4 Kd6 7. c3! A very important move. The obvious move 7. b3?! The computer played 11...O-O in two out of three makes the game unnecessarily complicated for White tries playing g6 only once. In the first game after after 7...b4! when some accurate play is required to 12.Bh6 g6 13.Bxf8 Bxf8 I tried 14.O-O when Deep still score the full point. Fritz 14 suggested Bc4 instead which was what I 7...Ke6 8. b3 Kd6 9. c4 played in this game. After 14.O-O the computer was And White once again creates his passed pawn. able to hobble my Queenside and win material after Should Black play 9...b4 then the game may continue about 15 moves. The only real question is whether 10. h3 Ke6 11. c5 g6 12. c6 Kd6 13. c7 Kxc7 14. White has any winning chances in this game, and that Kxe5 and with his superior King and the weak b4 is questionable at this point in the game. pawn, White should have no problem wrapping up the game shortly.

www.nysca.net When playing, remember that your is extremely important. Always keep an eye on what Your source for New sort of pawn chains and islands are forming, and look for ways to get yourself into a favorable King and York chess information Pawn endgame should the opportunity arise from Montauk to Niagara!

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Upcoming NYSCA-Sponsored and Major Tournaments

APR 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, MAY 7, 14, 21, 28 JUN 4, 11, 18, 25 Rochester Chess Center Saturday Tournaments! 3-SS, G/60 d5. Rochester CC, 221 Norris Dr., Rochester, NY 14610. 585-442-2430. Prizes based on entries. EF: $15, RCC members $13. $2 less for HS and Pre-HS. Reg.: 1-1:45 pm. Rds.: 2-4-6. One bye available, request at entry. www.nychess.org. Also, Youth tournament, G/30 d5, every Saturday morning 10am-1pm, trophies and prizes. EF: $5.

APR. 19, MAY 17, JUN 21 Marshall Masters TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 10 4-SS, G/25 d5. Open to 2000+ players. FIDE Rapid rated. $750 GTD: 250-150-100. Top U2400 125, Top U2300 100, Biggest upset $25. EF:$40, MCC Mbrs $30. GMs Free. Reg.: 6:15-6:45pm. Rds.: 7-8:15-9:30-10:45pm. Max one bye, for round 1 or 4 only. Request at entry. 23 W. 10th St., NYC. 212-477-3716. www.marshallchessclub.org.

US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX! APR. 1-3 OR 2-3 Bill Little Memorial TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 20 (ENHANCED) 5SS, 40/100, SD/30 d10 (2-day option, rds. 1-2 G/60 d10). Siena College, 515 Loudon Rd., Loudonville, NY 12211. $2000 guaranteed prize fund. In 3 sections. Open: $400-200-150, top U2000/Unr $180. Under 1800: $250-130-70, top U1600 (no unr) $140. Under 1400: $160-80-50, top U1200 (no unr) $90. Unrated may not win over $100 in U1400. Mixed doubles: $100 bonus to best male/female combined score among all sections. Team average must be under 2200; may play in different sections; teams must register by 2 pm 4/2. Top 2 sections EF: $59 online at chessaction.com by 3/30, 3-day $63, 2-day $62 if check mailed by 3/23, $70 at site, or online until 2 hours before round 1. Online entry $5 less to NYSCA members (may join with entry).U1400 Section EF: all $20 less than above. No checks at site, credit cards OK.GMs, IMs & WGMs free, $50 deducted from prize. All: Re-entry $40; not available in Open Section. Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated. Special 1 year USCF dues with paper magazine if paid with entry. Online at chessaction.com, Adult $35, Young Adult $22, Scholastic $15. Mailed, phoned or paid at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $25, Scholastic $17. 3- day reg. ends Fri 6 pm, rds. Fri 7, Sat 11 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:15. 2-day reg ends Sat 10 am, rds. Sat 11, 2 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:15. Bye:all, limit 2; must commit before rd. 2. HR: Many hotels/motels 1.5 to 2.5 miles from college; see travel websites.Ent: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803. $15 service charge for refunds. Questions: www.chesstour.com, DirectorAtChess.US, 347-201-2269. Advance entries posted atchessaction.com (online entries posted instantly). Blitz tournament Sat 9:30 pm, reg. by 9:15 pm.

APR. 9 17th Annual Bruce Bowyer Memorial TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 15 (ENHANCED) 4SS, G/45 d10. **NEW LOCATION!** ESTONIAN HOUSE, 243 East 34th Street between Second and Third Avenues. 212.684.0336. **Note: Saturday Grand Prix and Sunday Scholastic • Info:[email protected] or (Pat Bowyer) 516.641.4521. EF: $20. $$G: $250-$175-$125, U2200 $100, U2000 $75, U1800 $60. Reg.: 10am- 10:45. Rds.: 11-1:30-3:45-5:45pm. Limit 2 byes (1 bye if U2000), must commit by 1:30PM. Ent: Cks or MO payable to Pat Bowyer (be sure to specify "Grand Prix, Saturday"), c/o APS, 3500 North State Road 7, Ste 400, Lauderdale Lakes, FL 33319. • NO door ents. You *MUST* bring clocks and sets, none will be provided. $$$ Payment & entries must be received by Monday, April 1st at the latest.

APR.9 2016 Springfest USCF Open. Main Place Mall, Upper Level, 390 Main Street, Buffalo. 4-SS, G/50, d/5 in three sections. Cash prizes based on 42 paid entries are Open: $200-100-60 Under 1800: $130-60-30 (EF: $20 by 4/7, $25 at the door) Under 1400: $100-50-25, with EF: $15 by 4/7 and $20 at the door. Roiunds: 9:15, 11:30 a.m.,1:15 and 3:00 p.m. Entries: Archangel 8 Chess Academy, 607 Guilford Land, Buffalo, NY 14221 or email to [email protected] Wednesdays Adult Chess Night, Starts on March 30, 2016, The Players Chess Club, Main St. Gallery, 515 Main St. Buffalo, NY, Games start at 8:30pm to 11pm. Casual Chess Games, every Wednesday nights. Sponsored by The Players Chess Club. 29

US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX! APR. 17 & 24 7th Annual Broome County Chess Championship - Francis Cordisco Memorial 6 Round Swiss, G/75 d5. CORDISCO’S CHESS CENTER, 308 Chenango St., Binghamton, NY 13901, (607) 772- 8782, [email protected]. $$: $500 Prize Money GUARANTEED. Two sections - Open Section: $150 - $75 - $50 trophies 1st – 3rd. Reserve Section (under 1700): $125-$60-$40 (under 1700) trophies 1st – 3rd. US Chess Federation Membership required. Entry fee: Open- $40 Reserve- $35. Non Broome County residents welcome. Schedule: Registration on site 9:00-9:45AM Sun. 4/17/16. Rounds: 10AM–1PM–4PM both days. Mail entry: checks payable to “Cordisco’s Corner Store”, 308 Chenango St., Binghamton, NY 13901. Non Broome County residents welcome- 1st place trophy Broome residents only.

US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX! MAY 7 2016 Watertown Open Chess Tournament 4 round-Swiss System Pairings, G/75+delay 5 seconds, Half pt. bye rds. 1-3 available with advance notice. Sponsored by the Watertown Chess Club, see our web site at: www.watertownchessclub.com Location: American Red Cross, 2d flr. Conference Rm., 203 N. Hamilton St., Watertown, NY 13601. A United States Chess Federation Sponsored Event, USCF membership required. $125 Prize fund b/10 total paid entries. First $75, 2nd $30, & class $20. Registration: 8:30-9:20 AM, Rds.: 9:30 AM, 12:15, 3 and 5:30 PM. EF: $25, ($22 for WCC members), send to Don Klug, 518 Sherman St., Watertown, NY 13601. D. Klug 315-785-8800.

US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX! MAY 20-22 OR 21-22 24th annual New York State Open TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 15 (ENHANCED) 5SS, 40/100, SD/30 d10 (2-day option, rds. 1-2 G/60 d10). Tiki Resort, 2 Canada St., Lake George, NY 12845. $$G 3000. Free lectures by IM Danny Kopec, Sat 9 am & Sun 9 am, also game analysis in afternoons. In 4 sections. Open: $$ 400-200-100, top Under 2010/Unr $210-110, top Under 1810 $200-100. Senior, open to under 1910 or unrated born before 5/22/66. $$ 300-150-70, top Under 1710 $140-70.Under 1610: $$ 240-120-60, Under 1410 $120-60, unrated limit $150. Under 1210: $100-50, trophies to top 3, 1st U1000, U800, U600, Unr. Mixed doubles bonus prize: best male/female 2-player “team” combined score among all sections: $200. Team average must be under 2200; teammates may play in different sections; teams must register (no extra fee) before both players begin round 2. Top 3 sections EF:$79 online at chessaction.com by 5/18, $85 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 5/16 (entry only, no questions), 3-day $83, 2-day $82 mailed by 5/11, $90 online until 2 hours before round 1 or at site. Under 1210 Section EF: all $40 less than top 3 sections EF. All: Advance or online entry $7 less to NYSCA members (NYSCA dues $12/year with 2 issues Empire Chess, $20/year with 4 issues, may be paid with entry fee). No checks at site, credit cards OK. Special 1 year USCF dues with magazine if paid with entry- online at chesstour.com, Adult $35, Young Adult $22, Scholastic $15. Mailed, phoned or paid at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $25, Scholastic $17. Re-entry $40, not available in Open Section. GMs, IMs & WGMs free, $60 deducted from prize. 3-day schedule: Reg ends Fri 6 pm, rds. Fri 7, Sat 11 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:15. 2-day schedule: Reg ends Sat 10 am, rds. Sat 11, 2 &, 5, Sun 10 & 3:15. Half point byes OK all, must commit before rd. 2; limit 2 byes (limit 1 bye if under 1810/unr in Open). HR: $80-80, call 518-668-5744 Mon-Fri 9 am-5pm, reserve by 4/30 or rate may increase. Car rental: Avis, 800-331-1600, use AWD #D657633, or reserve car online through chesstour.com. Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803. Questions: www.chesstour.com, DirectorAtChess.us, 347-201-2269. $15 service charge for refunds. Advance entries posted atchessaction.com (online entries posted instantly). Blitz tournament Sat 9:30 pm, reg. by 9:15 pm.

US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX! JUNE 9-12 9th New York International - U2200 Section 7-SS, 40/90, SD/30 +30. Open to all players rated U2200 and unrated. No FIDE ratings over 2200. USCF Ratings used for pairings and prizes. FIDE Rated. Prizes $8,000 based on 70 paid entries. $3000-2000-1000, U1900: $1000-500, U1600: $500. Entry Fee: $200 if received by May 30; $250 in June. $25 less for MCC members. Schedules: 4-day: Thurs. 7pm, Fri. – Sun. 12:30pm & 6pm. 2-day: Sat. 9-10:10-11:20am (G/25 d5) then merge with 4-day. Byes: 2 byes available, must commit before round 3. Playing site: The historic Marshall Chess

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Club. Registration: Call MCC with credit card, mail check, or online.Limited to 70 players! Register early! www.marshallchessclub.org. 23 W. 10th St., NYC. 212-477-3716.

US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX! JUNE 10-12 Can-Am International Chess Tournament TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 80 5SS; G/115 d5. Wick Student Center, 4380 Main St., Buffalo, NY 14226. $10,500 guaranteed prize fund in 4 sections; Open [FIDE rated]: $1500, 1000, 700, 500, 300; U2000: $1100, 800, 550, 350, 200;U1700: $1000, 700, 500, 250, 150; U1400: $350, 250, 150, 100, 50. Unrated limited to 3rd place prize in their section. EF [by June 3]: Open - $75, U2000 - $65, U1700 - $60, U1400 - $50. After June 3, add $10 each section. Cash only on site. Early Canadian entries at par. GM’s free entry. On-site registration Sat. 8:30 - 9:30 am. Registrants after 9:30 Sat. must take a 1/2 point bye 1st round. Rounds at: Saturday10:00; 2:30; 7:00 Sunday: 10:00; 2:30; 1/2 point byes available for rounds 1, 2, 3, and, 4, if requested prior to round 2 (limit of 2 byes). US Chess membership required. FIDE rules apply to Open section, all other sections, US Chess Official Rules, 6th ed. in effect. Must use highest of US Chess, FIDE or CFC rating & US Chess ‘back’ rating if renewing. Friday 6:00 pm blindfold- simul event with GrandmasterRobert Hungaski – 6 boards, spectators welcome. Accommodation, direction and registration information at www.LivngWoodChess.com. Bring sets and clocks; none provided.

US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX! JUNE 10-12 Can-Am International Chess Tournament TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 80 5SS; G/115 d5. Wick Student Center, 4380 Main St., Buffalo, NY 14226. $10,500 guaranteed prize fund in 4 sections; Open [FIDE rated]: $1500, 1000, 700, 500, 300; U2000:$1100, 800, 550, 350, 200; U1700: $1000, 700, 500, 250, 150; U1400: $350, 250, 150, 100, 50. Unrated limited to 3rd place prize in their section. EF [by June 3]: Open - $75, U2000 - $65, U1700 - $60, U1400 - $50. After June 3, add $10 each section. Cash only on site. Early Canadian entries at par. GM’s free entry. On-site registration Sat. 8:30 - 9:30 am.Registrants after 9:30 Sat. must take a 1/2 point bye 1st round. Rounds at: Saturday 10:00; 2:30; 7:00 Sunday: 10:00; 2:30; 1/2 point byes available for rounds 1, 2, 3, and, 4, if requested prior to round 2 (limit of 2 byes). US Chess membership required. FIDE rules apply to Open section, all other sections, US Chess Official Rules, 6th ed. in effect. Mustuse highest of US Chess, FIDE or CFC rating & US Chess ‘back’ rating if renewing. Friday 6:00 pm blindfold- simul event with Grandmaster Robert Hungaski – 6 boards, spectators welcome. Accommodation, direction and registration information at www.LivngWoodChess.com. Bring sets and clocks; none provided.

US CHESS JUNIOR GRAND PRIX! JUNE 22-26 9th New York International - Championship Section 9-SS, 40/90, SD/30 +30. Only open to players currently rated 2000+ (USCF or FIDE). FIDE ratings used for pairings and prizes. FIDE rated. Prizes $9,000 unconditionally guaranteed! $4000-2000-1000, U2400 FIDE: $1000-500, U2300 FIDE $500. Entry Fee: $200. Players not rated USCF or FIDE over 2200: $300. GMs/Foreign IMs: Free. Local IMs: $125. $25 less for MCC members. All $50 more if received after June 15. Foreign players who play all 9 rounds receive $75. Schedule: Wed. 7pm, Thurs. – Sun. 11am & 6pm. Byes: 2 byes available, must commit before round 3; limit 1 bye in rounds 8-9. FIDE GM/IM norms possible; must play all rounds. Last year 1 was achieved! Playing site: The historic Marshall Chess Club. Registration: Call MCC with credit card, mail check, or online. Limited to 70 players! Register early! 23 W. 10th St., NYC. 212-477- 3716. www.marshallchessclub.org.

Labor Day Weekend – Albany The 138th New York State Championship. Two, three and four-day schedules for the longest-running chess tournament in the United States. Full details are on the back cover. www.nysca.net -- your source for New York State Chess Information. Now on Twitter at @nystatechess and Facebook.

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A Heritage Event US Chess Junior Grand Prix A State Championship Event Sept. 2-5, 3-5 or 4-5 138th Annual NY State Championship Trophies Plus Grand Prix Points: 100 (Enhanced)

Out-of-state players welcome. 6-SS, 40/100, SD/30 d10 (2-day option in Under 2100 & below, rounds. 1-3 G/40 d10). Albany Marriott, 189 Wolf Rd., Albany 12205 (Thruway Exit 24, I-87 north to Wolf Rd, Exit 4). Free parking, free airport shuttle, indoor/outdoor pool, fitness center, many restaurants nearby.

$$G 13,000. In 5 sections. Open: $1500-700-500-300, Top Under 2300/Unr $800-400. State title & $100 bonus to top NYS resident (both decided on tiebreak if tied). Under 2100: $1000-500-300-200, Top Under 1900 $400-200. Under 1800: $1000-500-300-200, Top Under 1600 $400-200. Under 1500: $700-400-200-100, Top Under 1300 $300-150. Under 1200: $400-200-100-50, trophy to first 3, Top Under 1000, Under 800, Under 600, Unrated.

Mixed doubles bonus prizes: Best male/female two-player “team” combined score among all sections: $600-300. Team average must be under 2200; teammates may play in different sections; teams must register at site (no extra fee) before both players begin round 2; teams including an unrated cannot win over $300. Unrated may not win over $150 in Under 1200, $300 Under 1500 or $500 Under 1800.

Top 3 sections EF: $99 online at chessaction.com by 9/2, $110 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 8/31 (entry only, no questions), 4-day $109, 3-day $108, 2-day $107 if check mailed by 8/26, all $120 at site, or online until 2 hours before game. GMs free; $90 deducted from prize. Under 1500 Section EF: All $20 less than top 3 sections EF. Under 1200 Section EF: All $40 less than top 4 sections EF.

All: Online entries $7 less to NYSCA members (NYSCA dues $12/yr with 2 issues Empire Chess or $20/yr with 4 issues; join or renew together with entry.)

Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated. Special 1 year USCF dues with paper magazine if paid with entry. Online at chessaction.com, Adult $35, Young Adult $22, Scholastic $15. Mailed, phoned or paid at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $25, Scholastic $17. Re-entry $60, all sections but Open. GMs free, $90 deducted from prize. No checks at site, credit cards OK. 3-day schedule: Reg. ends Sat 11 am, Rounds. Sat 12 & 6, Sun 12 & 6, Mon 10 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. 4-day schedule: Reg. ends Fri 6 pm, Rounds. Fri 7 pm, Sat 6 pm, Sun 12 & 6, Mon 10 a.m. & 3:15 p.m. 2-day schedule: Reg. ends Sun. 10 am, Rounds Sun 11, 1:30, 3:30, 6, Mon 10 & 3:15, no 2-day schedule in Open. Bye: all, limit 2, Open must commit before Round 2, others before Round 4. HR: $102-102, 800-443-8952, 518-458-8444, reserve by 8/25 or rate may increase. NYSCA meeting 9 a.m. Sunday. Car rental: 800-331-1600, use AWD D657633, or reserve car online through chesstour.com.

Entries: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803. Questions: www.chesstour.com, DirectorAtChess.US, 347-201-2269. Advance entries posted at chessaction.com (online entries posted instantly).

NYS Blitz Championship Sunday 10 pm, enter by 9:45 pm.

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