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EMPIRE CHESS Spring 2014 Volume XXXVII, No. 1 $5.00

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

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

President Bill Goichberg PO Box 249 Salisbury Mills, NY 12577 We're simply the best! [email protected]

Vice President Thank you for the almost 800 players and caravan of parents and coaches Polly Wright that made the 2014 State Scholastics in Saratoga Springs the best-attended 57 Joyce Road Upstate scholastic ever. We congratulate our champion, IM Alexsandr Eastchester, NY 10709 Ostrovsiky, who will be representing the Empire State in the Denker [email protected] Tournament of High School Champions in Orlando, Florida this summer. Treasurer Karl Heck Our other representatives will be Daniel Brodsky in the Barber K-8 5426 Wright Street, CR 67 East Durham, NY 12423 Champion Tournament and Lilla Poteat in the National Girl's Invitational [email protected] Championship. This will be the third year that Ms. Poteat will be representing New York at an invitational national. We wish them all the Membership Secretary best in Orlando. Phyllis Benjamin P.O. Box 340511 Brooklyn, NY 11234-0511 Along with our scholastic being the best, New York also has the richest [email protected] chess history of any state in the Union. Practically every great chess player in the country's history, from Marshall to Kamsky, has spent at least some Board of Directors of their career in New York State. Upstate Downstate William Townsend Phyllis Benjamin Bill Goichberg Dr. Frank Brady The Annual Meeting of NYSCA last fall approved using 2014 as a year to Shelby Lohrman Mark Kurtzman Karl Heck Lenny Chipkin find a way to honor some of our historical figures through our Hall of Ron Lohrman Ed Frumkin Fame. Sorting through Fischer, Reshevsky, Marshall and so many others Carrie Goldstein will be a multi-year process, and I am requesting the assistance of Steve Immitt Gata Kamsky membership in making some selections and developing a process to go Sophia Rohde through our rich historical record. Harold Stenzel Carol Jarecki Polly Wright The general theme from the meeting was to honor one or maybe two historical persons each year, along with potentially a current nominee. When the New York State Chess Hall of Fame was started in the 1990's, Tournament Clearinghouses Zip Codes under 12000 (downstate) current players and organizers were inducted. Now is the time to look at Bill Goichberg the historical figures. [email protected] Please e-mail any suggestions you have to me at NYS Zip Codes over 11999 (upstate) Karl Heck [email protected], which is the new e-mail for Empire Chess. I [email protected] appreciate your assistance, and look forward to the next honoree at our

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2 EMPIRE CHESS “The magazine of America’s oldest chess organization” Volume XXXVII, Number 1 – Spring 2014

Cover: Part of the Upstate-record crowd plays at the 2014 New York State Scholastic Chess Championship in Saratoga Springs. Courtesy Karen Merker.

From the Editor...... 2 Table of Contents …...... 3 Ostrovisky wins NYS Scholastic by Bill Townsend...... ………...... ………...... 4 NYSCA's Discount Program ...... …...... 11 Harmony in Chess – The Scholastic Column by Zachary Calderon…...... 12 Central New York News by Don Klug and Karl Heck...... 13 Mid-Hudson Chess League by Larry ...... 15 The Case for Random Pairings by Neil Bellon...... ,,,,...... 17 GM Kamsky and Dean-Kawamura win Marchand Open by Josh Rafrano…...... 19 Fried Liver Indigestion by Richard Moody, Jr...... 24 Notes from the Marshall by Frank Romano...... 25 Greater New York Scholastic Sets Record by Steve Immitt………………………………...... 26 New York Tournaments………………………………...... ,,,,,....29

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

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3 47th NY State Scholastics in Saratoga

3 Smashes Attendance Record Again IM Alexander Ostovskiy wins High School; Daniel Kostovetsky wins High

by Bill Townsend

The 47th Annual New York State Scholastic Championships took place March 1 and 2 in Saratoga By virtue of her high finish here Lilia Poteat will be the Springs. The total of about 775 players in the nine New York representative to the National Girls K-12 sections easily beat last year’s record total of 686. Championships, held in April in Illinois. While some downstate scholastics have had four-figure turnouts, this total is probably the biggest chess Top High School team was Brooklyn’s Edward R. tournament ever held in Upstate New York, never mind Murrow with 20 points. They so dominated the the Capital District. It was clear from the start that the competition that they won first place with a round to turnout would be huge, and the tournament organizers spare – three of the top four players were from were ready for it: the High School and Junior High Murrow. In second place with 14 points was sections were not held at the Saratoga Hilton as in Rochester’s Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School previous years, but at the much larger convention Commencement Academy. Brighton High School, also center next door. from Rochester, was third with 13.

Last year IM Alexandr Ostrovskiy finished second in In the Junior High championship section there were the High School Section, but this year he dominated, two players who finished with 5½-½. Daniel being the sole player to finish with 5½-½. This result Kostovetsky took the first place trophy on tiebreaks. was sort of to be expected since Ostrovskiy was the David Brodsky was second, and he will be the New only player rated over 2500 and outrated the rest of the York representative to the Barber tournament of State field by over 200 rating points. However, this was not K-8 champions. Kostovetsky, a ninth grader, was not readily apparent until the very end: Ostovskiy drew eligible. Like the High School Section there was also a with Canadian player Olivier Chiku-ratte in round five player that outrated the rest of the field by over 200 and then managed to beat Joshua Rubin in the last rating points, and that was Nicolas Checa. However he round while Chiku-Ratte lost to Joshua Colas. wound up losing to Brodsky in round five and so finished third with 5-1. Fourth and fifth, also with 5-1 Like all section winners, IM Ostrovskiy gets a free were Spencer Ha and Jack Wen. Sixth through eighth entry to the state championship in September. More with 4½-1½ were: Florizelle Songco, Teseo Torras, and importantly he now becomes the New York Markus Pond. Ninth through twentieth with 4-2 were: representative to the Denker Tournament of High Jacob Chen, Pranav Kumar, Ananda Saha, Daniel School Champions, which will be held at the U.S. Mintz, Jonathan D’Alonzo, Nicholas Lombardi, Omar Open in Orlando, Florida in late July. Cunningham, Isaiah Lewis, Mubassar Uddin, Calvin Yang, Lennin Antunish and Rashad Baugh. Top player Second through fourth with 5-1 were: Joshua Colas, under 1200 was Ryan Chang with 3-3. First under 1000 James Black and Azeez Alade. Fifth through seventh was Andrew Kalyvas with 2-4. with 4½-1½ were: Olivier Chiku-ratte, Joshua Rubin and Shawn Swindell. Eighth through eighteenth with Top school in this section was Nest-M School with 18 4-2 were: Isaac Barayev (last year’s JHS champ), points while IS 318 of Brooklyn was second with 16 Alexis Paredes, Gabriel Katz, Lev Paciorkowski, points. Pelham Middle School was third with 10½ Connor Wagner, David Hauge, Lilia Poteat, Philip Van points. Scheltinga, Zachary Calderon, Jonathan Baccay and The High School Reserve section, open to players with Sam Cherin. Joshua Benham was top player under ratings under 1200, ended in a five-way for first 1500 with 3-3 while Philip Raftopoulos was top player place at 5-1 with the final standings determined by under 1300 with 2½-3½. tiebreaks. First through fifth were: Abudurazaq

4 Aribidesi, Bradley Schrock, Daniel Han, Benjamin Garozzo. In thirteenth through twenty-fifth place were: Chernjavsky and Jayden Reaves. Sixth through ninth Ryan Tucker, Kyle Liptak, Michael Edwards, Anderson with 4½-1½ were: Siraat Mustafa, Kristian Payne, Miles, Taylor Kramer, Justin Macey, Ashley Kong, Alexander Solton and Lucas Grisanti. No fewer than Jack Jewell, Arjun Patel, Mia Chandy, Jake Steinhauer, 14 players tied for tenth through twenty-third with 4-2, Landon Thompson and Bryce Boyd. but only the top fifteen players in each section get trophies. In tiebreak order they were: Malachi Myers, From the players above Landon Thompson was top Nafitul Bhuiyan, Jovanna D’Alonzo, Sezer Benoit- player under 700 and Taylor Kramer was top unrated. Savci, Vignesh Vattigunta, Todd Thompson, Jordan Best player under 500 was Arianna Cardi with 3-3. Rodriguez, Malcolm Whites, Shane Alston, Bryant Ulloa, Rocco Franklyn, Bennett Boakye, Alexander Top team in this section was Success Academy Harlem Campbell and Alexander Liptak. East with 17 points. Park Slope PS282 was second with 16½. Also with 16½ but third on tiebreaks was St. Killian Whyte (3-3) was top player under 900, Richard Joseph’s School from Kingston. Geneva School was Greene (3-3) was top player rated under 700 and fourth with 15½. Jungjing Guo was top unrated with 2-4. In the Elementary Championship Justin Chen was the only player to score a perfect 6-0 to take first place. Top team was Yorkshire’s Pioneer Valley HS with 17 Second through seventh with 5-1 were: Maili-jade points. Just a half point behind was I318 from Ouellet, Martha Samadashvili, Jacob Ehrenkranz, Brooklyn with 16½. Third and fourth with 15½ were Katherine Shaw Davis, Max Jiahua Li and Lucian Promise Academy II and Geneva School, both of New Hicks. Eighth through fifteenth with 4½-1½ were: York City. Daniel Levkov, Maury Ahram, Tyler Roonprapunt, Akash Kumar, Harris Lencz, Aidan Ahram, Zachary Below: St. Joseph's Mighty Pawns of Kingston Morris and Ethan Joo. In places sixteen through thirty- surround their trophy after the award ceremony. three with 4-2 were: Haruki Izumi, Shawn Rodrigue- Lemieux, Anthony Wong, Mario Tutuncu-Macias, Grey Sheer, Hudson Beaudoin, Andrew Chen, Akira Nakada, Brandon Wang, Sam Santora, Maxwell Beem, Stefan Jelenkovic, Ethan Minikes, Darren Li Jung, Alex Harris, Thomas Pannett, Lucas Foerster-Yialamas and Kaelyn Ha.

The Top player under 1000 was Arya Patel with 2½- 3½. Nell Bernarducci was top player under 800 with 1- 5.

Top team here was Dalton School with 18 points. Nest+m School was second with 17. Third with 16½ was Speyer Legacy School and PS124 was fourth with 14 points.

The Elementary Reserve section, for players rated under 800, was the largest of the nine sections with 125 In the Middle School Reserve section Jordan Burt and players, nevertheless there was only one person at the Reanna Phillips won their first five games and then top: Edward Morales was the sole player with a perfect drew each other in the final round (see game below) to 6-0 score. In second through eleventh place with 5-1 take first and second place, respectively, with 5½-½. were: Sabina Levkov, Melodie Loya, Hewitt Ho, Third through sixth with 5-1 were: Alexander Crocket, Samuel Eyre, Kevin Ourvan, Zidane Marinez, Jacob Hercules Sotos, Michael Armonious and Owen Teitelman, Mohamed Barry, Maria Long and Elliot Marakovits, Seventh through twelfth with 4½-1½ Deutou. Twelfth through sixteenth with 4½-1½ were: were: Ethan Morgan, Maya Doron-Repa, Yvonne Juliette Moreland, Allan Elson, Colin Senat, Hannah Scorcia, Keegan Kempf, Ashton Keith and Joseph Moskowitz and Alexis Jade Schlaak. Seventeenth

5 through thirty-ninth with 4-2 were: Trevhon Cox, School and Park Slope PS282 were second and third Philipos Mekonen, Ryan Chen, Peter Rooney, Sachin respectively with 16½. PS139 was fourth with 15 Perna, Dylan Li, Michelle Muniz, Marco Smith, points. Rafael Gavrielov, Laura Chan, Bally Sissoko, Ottavio Pasquini, Haru Takeo, Isaiah Garland, Renee Scorcia, Another change this year dealt with the K-1 Ethan Moses, Alison Chan, Jayden Theodat, Will Championship. In previous years it was a five-round Steddin, Matthew Cappello, Isaac Forson, Jacob Elkins one-day section, but this year it was more like the other and Amelia Frank. Among those players Dylan Li was sections – two days with six rounds. There was just one top player under 500. Top player under 300 was Jayllyz winner here too, also with 6-0: Nico Chasin. In clear Vasquez (3-3). second with 5½-½ was Jack Levine. Third through ninth with 5-1 were: Maximilian Pesha, Toshinori Top team here was PS116 with a score of 17½. Success Underwood, Prince Bopala, Blaise Loya, Alexander Academy Harlem West was second and Park Slope Weinberg, Jesse Roonprapunt and Salil Jain. All alone PS282 was third, both with 17. Fourth and fifth places in tenth place was Alexander Mash with 4½-1½. In were also decided by tiebreak as Success Academy eleventh through twenty-ninth (!) place were: Aidan Charter School Harlem 3 PS385 and Harlem North Bart, Finnegan Sheridan, Harris Roessner, Jonathan Central Success Academy Charter School both scored Henkin, William Safranek, Nikhil Pande, Derek Lee, 16½. Luis Casenas, Semai Ralph, Aeneas Merchant, Charles Xue, Anton Wagner, Dylan Dolotta, Avi Gulati, Ryan The Primary Championship also had a clear winner, Feder, Dane Lafollette, Daniel Ma, Kyle Hahn and and that was Benjamin Medina with a perfect 6-0 Oscar Turner. Among those players Charles Xue was score. Second through fifth with 5-1 were: Nathaniel top Under 200 and Daniel Ma was top unrated. Second Shuman, Caden Li Jung, Henry Burton and Zachary and Third Unrated were Jonluke Pencille and Danny Yan. Sixth through tenth with 4½-1½ were: Jonathan Shing, both with 3-3. Manta, Davis Zong, Jonathan Waldorf, Jason Xia and Karthik Tambar. In eleventh through twenty-third place Top team here was Greenwich Village PS41 which with 4-2 were: Anish Saxena, Davyn Ari De Jongh, scored an amazing 20½, practically the best score Hamilton Shillingford, Nittai Huberman, Jack Milazzo, possible, which isn’t too surprising considering the top Eliot Levin, Eric Tang, Robert Shibata, Charles Hua, three finishers all came from this school. Collegiate Adi Murgescu, Jordan Leung, Gus Huston and Avery School was second with 18 while Dalton School was Hood. third with 17½.

Nest+m School was top team here with 17½ points. As if all of this wasn’t crazy enough – on Saturday Dalton School was second with 17 points. Third was evening there was a bughouse event with 23 two- Speyer Legacy School with 15½. person teams competing. The top team, Paredes – Alade (Alexis Paredes & Azeez Alade) outrated their This year the state scholastics saw the addition of a nearest rival by over 350 points, so it’s not too Primary Reserve section for players rated under 600. surprising that they scored a perfect 5-0. In second and Once again there was a clear winner as Ryan Casey third place with 4-1 were SPED (Tenzin Kalden & scored a perfect 6-0. Second through seventh with 5-1 Christopher Rush) and Dalhouse (Tristan & Justin were: Arjun Dharan, Leandro Wainberg, Julien Maki, Dalhouse). In fourth place with 3½ - 1½ were Wong John Steddin, Andrew Shane and Deon Santhosh. In (Yates Wong & Robbie Galpern-Levin). Fifth and sixth eighth and ninth place with 4½-1½ were Hayden Lucas with 3-2 were The Mate-rix (Katherine Davis & and Elijah Patterson. In tenth through twenty-second Thomas Pannett) and Chessmates (Ryan McClymont & place with 4-2 were: Jack Rosen, William Sohn, Edwin Lucero). Nicholas Samowitz, John Griffin, Claire Adams, Balaji Mahadevan, William Leon, Kyle Chang, Jules Varin, The chief tournament director was Steve Immitt for the Callum Rodin, Malek Assef, Alexander Reddish and New York State Chess Association. Aowyn Schneider. As I’ve pointed out in previous years, it’s not easy getting games from this event. Young players are not so Top team in this section was the Collegiate School of good at writing down their games, and due to the fast with 17 points. Avenues: The World (Game in 60 minutes with 10 seconds

6 added for each move) the ends of games are often time A serious mistake. White has to work for the win after scrambles and frequently not recorded. However, this 47...a5. year I got an unprecedented 88 games, many of them 48.Ke4 Re6+ 49.Kd5 Re2 50.Rd6+ Kf5 51.a4 Rd2+ of high quality. One reason for this was that the top 52.Kc6 Rb2 53.Rd3 b5 54.axb5 Ke4 boards were in the hall with the rest of the players, and white won on time shortly. For the last 8 moves or instead of being off in a separate room, therefore it was so Colas had only one second left on his clock. easier to get them to hand over their scoresheets. 1–0

I’ve always had a difficult time getting IM Ostrovskiy drew his next game, against Olivier Chiku- Ostrovskiy’s games in previous events, but here I used Ratte. This short surprised me somewhat – the the brilliant and devious plan of actually asking him for players didn’t even get to an original position. his scoresheets, and he handed them over without However I think that Ostrovskiy had a somewhat complaint. Here is probably his toughest battle, against inferior position at the end, and he probably figured Joshua Colas in round four. IM Ostrovskiy gets a there was no harm in giving a draw to a player who positional advantage out of the opening, and then just couldn’t win the title because he was from Quebec. squeezes and squeezes. NM Olivier Chiku-Ratte (2351) – IM Aleksandr IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2532) – NM Joshua Ostrovskiy (2532) [D47] QGD-Slav Colas (2398) [B52] Sicilian Defense NYS Scholastic Championships NYS Scholastic Championships High School section High School section Round 5, March 2, 2014 Round 4, March 2, 2014 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.0–0 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.a3 b4 10.Ne4 Nxe4 Ngf6 6.Qe2 g6 7.c3 Bg7 8.d4 e5 9.dxe5 11.Bxe4 bxa3 12.0–0 Nf6 White has done better with 9.Rd1. Black has had better results with 12...Bd6. 9...dxe5 10.Rd1 Qc7 11.Bg5 0–0 12.c4 h6 13.Bxf6 13.Bd3 axb2 14.Bxb2 Bb4 15.Qb3 a5 16.Ba3 Qb6, Bxf6 14.Nc3 Agreed drawn ½-½ With ironclad control of d5, White is clearly better Now the game Moiseenko-Huzman, Montreal 2008 here. continued: 17.Ne5 0–0 18.Nc4 Qc7 19.Bxb4 axb4 14...Rad8 15.Nd5 Qc6 16.Rd3 Rfe8 17.Rad1 Nb6 20.Qxb4 Rfd8 21.Ne5 g6 22.Rxa8 Rxa8 23.Rc1 18.b3 (23.Rb1!) 23...Nd5 24.Qb2 Ra4 25.h3 Rb4 26.Qa3 Qb6 White can actually ignore his hanging c-: 18.Qd2 27.Be4 Rb3 28.Qd6 Qc7 29.Qc5 Ne7 30.Ng4 Kg7 Nxc4 19.Nxf6+ Qxf6 20.Rxd8 Nxd2 21.Rxe8+ Kg7 31.d5 Nxd5 32.Bxd5 exd5 33.Qd4+ Kf8 34.Nf6 c5 22.Rxd2. 35.Nxh7+ Kg8 36.Nf6+ Kf8 37.Qa4 Rb2 38.Qe8+ Kg7 18...Nxd5 19.Rxd5 Rxd5 20.Rxd5 39.Qg8+ 1–0 Black resigned because of 39.Qg8+ Kxf6 The exchanges have eased Black's game somewhat, but 40.Qh8+.) his remains a problem piece. 20...Kg7 21.g3 a6 22.Qe3 b6 23.h4 Qe6 24.Qd3 Qh3 Going into the final round there were three players 25.Nh2 g5 26.hxg5 hxg5 with 4½ points. Ostrovskiy faced Josh Rubin who was 26...Bxg5 has to be better. rated almost 400 points below him, while Chiku-Ratte 27.Qf3 Re6 28.Ng4 Qh7 29.Nxf6 Rxf6 30.Qg4 played the highest rated player with 4 points- Joshua Black finally is shed of his dreadful Bishop, but it costs Colas. In the Ostovskiy-Rubin game the players stayed him a pawn. in the opening books for quite a while, but almost as 30...Rg6 31.Rxe5 Qh6 32.Kg2 Kh7 33.Rf5 Qg7 soon as they were out Rubin gave up the and 34.Qh5+ Kg8 35.Rd5 Qf6 36.Qg4 Kg7 37.e5 Qc6 it was all downhill from there. 38.Qd7 Qa8 39.Qd8 Qc6?! White would still be better after 39...Qxd8 40.Rxd8 Re6 IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2532) – Joshua Rubin 41.Rd5 Kg6 but this is clearly better than the game. I (2145) [C95] believe time was already a problem for Black. 40.Kg1 NYS Scholastic Championships Qe6 41.Qd7 Qxd7 42.Rxd7 Re6 43.f4 gxf4 44.gxf4 High School section Kg6 45.Kf2 f6 46.exf6 Kxf6 47.Kf3 Rc6? Round 6, March 2, 2014

7 Things would be even worse for Black after 21...Qxf5? 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 22.Bxh5. Ah, the infamous Spanish Torture. The Ruy Lopez has 22.Bd3 Ng4 23.Ne4 Bf8 24.f6 Nh6? been so deeply analyzed that this game doesn't feature Black was probably already lost anyway, but this seals a new move until White's 22nd turn. the deal. 24...h6 seems like the best of a bad lot. 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.h3 d6 25.Bxh6 Bxh6 26.Nxd6 Qf8 27.f7+ 1–0 9.c3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Ng3 g6 15.a4 Bg7 16.Bg5 h6 17.Bd2 As I mentioned before, this year the top boards for the c5 18.d5 c4 19.Qc1 Kh7 20.Be3 Qc7 21.Nh2 Nc5 High School and Junior High championship were in 22.a5N the room with the rest of the games. The top four The game Heimann-Zherebukh, Moscow 2008 boards for both sections were right next to each other, continued 22.Ng4 h5 23.Nxf6+ Bxf6 24.Qd1 h4 25.Nf1 and I noticed something curious about them. In the Reb8 26.Qf3 with a slight advantage to White, but High School section the top players nearly all used the Black later won, probably on time. provided scoresheets that made copies, so I got a good 22...Bc8 23.f3 Rb8 24.Qd2 Ng8 25.Rf1 Rb7 26.f4 percentage of those games. However on the top four exf4 27.Bxf4 Re5?! boards of the Junior High section everyone was writing This looks totally unnecessary. Black appears down their games in scorebooks so hardly any games to be just fine after 27...Nf6 28.Rae1. got turned in from those players. However, I did get 28.Bxe5 Bxe5 29.Ne2 Qe7 30.Nf3 one pivotal contest. 30.Nd4! was even better. 30...Kg7?! 31.Ned4 Nd7 32.Nc6 Qe8 33.Qf2 g5 34.Nfd4 Ndf6 35.Rae1 Re7 36.Nxe7 Nxe7 37.Bd1 Ng6 38.Nc6 Nf4 39.Nxe5 Qxe5 40.Qd4 Nd7 Here Black could have swiped a pawn with 40...Nxh3+ and White can't play 41.gxh3 because 41...Qg3+ is a draw. 41.Bg4 Nd3 42.Re2 f6 Around this point Ostrovskiy had 4 minutes left while Rubin had 2.5. One of Ostrovskiy's team mates took down the rest of the game. 43.Qxe5 N3xe5 44.Be6 Kf8 45.Rxf6+ Nxf6 46.Bxc8 Ne8 47.Bxa6 Nc7 48.Bb7 Nd3 49.e5! 1-0 Black gives up because White wins after 49.e5 Nxe5 50.Rxe5 dxe5 51.d6 Ne8, etc.

The game between Chiku-Ratte and Colas was resolved much more quickly – black made an error right out of the opening and after that just couldn’t seem to get his feet under him.

NM Joshua Colas (2396) – NM Olivier Chiku-Ratte (2351) [A65] Benoni Above: Looking up from the position at the New York NYS Scholastic Championships State Scholastics. High School section Round 6, March 2, 2014

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 Like Ostrovskiy in the High School Section, current g6 7.Nge2 Bg7 8.Ng3 0–0 9.Be2 a6 10.a4 Re8 11.0–0 New York State Champion Nicholas Checa had a Nbd7 12.Be3 Rb8 13.Qd2 Qe7 14.f3 Nh5?! serious rating advantage over the rest of the field in the Pointlessly weakening. Junior High. However he was stopped cold by an upset 15.Nxh5 gxh5 16.Kh1 Ne5 17.Bg5 f6 18.Be3 f5 loss to David Brodsky in round five. My thanks to 19.Bg5 Qf7 20.f4 Nd7 21.exf5 Nf6 David Brodsky for making an extra copy of this game

8 for me. to less than five minutes. Black eventually won.

NM Nicholas Checa (2317) – David Brodsky (2164) Here is the game that decided first place in the Middle [D11] QGD-Slav School Reserve Section. I like to call this the “Peek-A- NYS Scholastic Championships Boo” variation. Junior High section Round 5, March 2, 2014 Reanna Phillips (856) – Jordan Burt (807) [A05] NYS Scholastic Championships 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Qb3 Qb6 6.Ne5 Middle School Reserve section Bf5 7.Nc3 e6 8.c5 Round 6, March 2, 2014 Frankly I think that White gives up important counterplay with this move, but that's just my opinion. 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.Ng1 Ng8 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Ng1 Ng8 5.Nf3 8...Qc7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Nxd3 Nbd7 11.0–0 b6 Nf6, Draw agreed ½–½ 12.cxb6 axb6 13.f4 Be7 14.Ne5 0–0 15.Bd2 c5!N This seems to be the first new move of the game and it My first thought when I saw this game was: “I guess may just be an improvement over 15...Ne8. young novices CAN learn something from 16.a4 Nxe5 17.fxe5 Nd7 18.Ne2 f6 19.exf6 Nxf6 grandmasters after all!” Seriously though, in a 20.Nf4 Qd6 21.Bc3? tournament like this where all the places are decided by Things were already going in Black's favor, but this tiebreaks and the only prizes are trophies, a move allows the second player to land a knockout draw is not such a wise idea. Instead of punch. splitting the top prize, the player with the worse 21...g5!! tiebreaks (in this case Phillips) is essentially ceding Tactical alertness pays off. The idea is when the first place to her opponent without a fight. Since both retreats black wins at least a pawn with ...Ng4. players turned in their scoresheets it seems they were 22.dxc5 bxc5 23.Ne2 Ng4 24.Ng3 Nxe3 25.Rxf8+ both pleased with this result. Nevertheless it would Rxf8 26.a5 Qf4 27.Be1? have been hilarious if Black had played 2…e5! in An uncharacteristic from Checa, allowing a effect playing White with an extra to boot. mate in two. White is winning anyway after 27.Kh1 Ng4. Here is another game from the Middle School Reserve 27...Qf1+ 28.Nxf1 Rxf1, mate. 0–1 section, a more authentic draw. It’s certainly not a brilliant deduction to say that players rated under 1000 Here is the only game I have from new Junior High tend to miss a lot of tactics, but this game is so fraught champion Daniel Kostovetsky, courtesy of Canadian with complexities that it was almost like watching a player Ananda Saha, just about the only person on the couple of puppies frolicking in a mine field. Black Junior High School top boards who turned in his really should have won this game, but probably a draw scoresheets. is a just result.

Ananda Saha (1846) – Daniel Kostovetsky (2074) Ashton Keith (990) – Edison Routh (770) [B10] [A53] Old Indian NYS Scholastic Championships NYS Scholastic Championships Middle School Reserve section Junior High section Round 4, March 2, 2014 Round 4, March 2, 2014 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d3 Bg4 4.h3 Bh5 5.Nbd2 Nf6 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ 6.Be2 Kxd8 6.Bg5 c6 7.0–0–0+ Kc7 8.Bxf6? 6.e5! looks strong here. Ceding Black the two Bishops proves to be a bad idea. 6...Nbd7 7.d4? dxe4 8.Ng5 Bg6 9.Bc4? Qb6 Better was 8.Nf3. 9...h6! and the Knight has nowhere to go. 8...gxf6 9.Ne4 Be7 10.Nf3 Be6 11.e3 Rg8 12.Ng3 Nd7 10.c3 e6? 11.0–0 Qa5 12.Re1? Qxg5 13.Nxe4 Qf5 13.Bd3 h6 14.Bf5 Rad8 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.Kc2 Nc5 14.Nxf6+ Nxf6 17.b4 Nd7 18.a3 f5 19.Rd2 c5! 20.Rb1? e4! 21.Ne1 Black is now comfortably up by a piece, so it looks like Ne5 22.Rxd8 Rxd8 0-1 the win is a sure thing for him. However, below "C" The players stopped recording because they were down level there is no such thing as a sure thing.

9 15.Re3 Bd6 16.Rf3 Qh5 17.Be2 Be4? 6.0–0 c6 7.h3 0–0 8.Be3 Qc7 9.Qe2 Re8 10.Kh1 Bf8 Now it's Black's turn to lose a piece. He'd still be 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.a4 a5 13.Rad1 Nc5 14.Nd2 Ne6 winning after a move like 17...Qh4. 15.Nc4 Nd4 16.Qd2 b5 17.Nxe5!? 18.Rxf6 Qh4 19.Rf3 Qh5? This wins a pawn, but the tactics are a little flawed. Why not 19...Bxf3? 17...Qxe5 18.f4 Qc5 19.Bxd4 Qxd4 20.e5 Qb4? 20.Rf4 Qg6 21.Rg4 Qf5 22.Rxg7 0–0–0 23.Bg5? It looks like Black gets his pawn back with the nervy White would actually have a small advantage after 20...g6! 23.Rg5. 21.exf6 bxa4 22.Ra1 Qc5 23.Nxa4 Qh5 24.Nb6 Ra7 23...Rdg8 24.Rxg8+ Rxg8 25.Bh4?? 25.Nxc8 Rxc8 26.fxg7 Bxg7 27.Qe3 Raa8 28.Ra4 Should be the losing move. 25.h4 seems to be forced. Qh4 29.Re4 Qf6? 25...Qg6?? Why not 29...Bxb2? 25...Qxh3! with a forced mate. 26.Bf3 Rxg2+ 27.Kf1 30.b3 c5 31.Re5 Qd6 32.Qg3 h6 33.Rfe1 Kf8 34.Re7 Rg1+ 28.Kxg1 Bh2+ 29.Kh1 Bg3+ 30.Kg1 Qh2+ Rc7 35.Qf3 Rb8 36.Rxc7 Qxc7 37.Bc4 Re8 38.Rxe8+ 31.Kf1 Qxf2, mate Kxe8 39.Bb5+ Ke7 40.Qe4+ Kf6 41.Bd3 Qd6 42.g4 26.g3 Qf5 27.Bg4 Qd5 28.Bh5 Bg2? 29.Kh2? Qe6 43.Qxe6+?! 29.c4! would have been awkward for Black. My computer thinks this is a big mistake, and instead 29...Qe4 30.f3? prefers keeping the Queens on with 43.Qg2. 30.f4 would stop all the monkey business at g3, and 43...fxe6 44.Kg2 Bf8 Black is in some trouble. It looks like the drawing method for Black is to set up a 30...Qd5? blockade like so: 44...e5 (this move seems to be Admittedly this is even harder to see than the last one, essential) 45.f5 Ke7 46.Kf3 Bf6 47.Ke4 Kd6. but Black has another forced mate with 30...Qxh4! 45.Kf3 Bd6? 31.Qe1 Qxh3+ 32.Kg1 Bxg3, etc. Allowing 46.h4 is the beginning of the end for Black. 31.Kxg2 46.h4! Kf7 47.g5 hxg5 48.fxg5 Be5 49.h5 Bb2 50.h6 The text seems obvious, but white is close to winning Bc3 51.g6+ Kf6 52.g7 Kf7 53.Bc4 Bxg7 54.hxg7 after 31.Bxf7. Kxg7 55.Bxe6 1–0 31...Qxh5 32.Kf2 Qg6 33.g4 Qh6 34.Bg3 Bxg3+ 35.Kxg3 f5 36.c4?! All White needs to do is consolidate and he's a solid pawn up. Therefore 36.Qe2 suggests itself. Give the gift of 36...fxg4 37.hxg4 Qg5 38.f4 Qf6 39.Qf3 h5 40.g5 Qh6? The game looks even after 40...h4+. The h-pawn is a NYSCA! gift White can’t accept because black wins after 41.Kxh4? Rxg5! 41.Kh4?! $20 gets you tournament 41.Qe4! and White looks to be winning. 41...Qg6 42.Rf1 Rf8 43.b4 a6 ½–½ discounts, a chance to play Here the players agreed to a draw, but White has a for State Championships, very strong move with 44.d5! and Black is in trouble, and may be lost. But then again, who knows? four issues of Empire Chess and the best way to An interesting game that shows that all opposite colored bishop endings aren’t easy draws. support chess from Montauk to Niagara! Isaac Barayev (2201) – Shawn Swindell (2143) [C41] Old Indian NYS Scholastic Championships Join today at High School section www.nysca.net. Round 4, March 2, 2014

1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bd3 Be7

10 NYSCA's Discount Program – A New Direction for Membership

The NYSCA annual meeting approved a new way for affiliates and organizers of the New York State Championship and New York State Open to support NYSCA events. Organizers that offer a significant entry fee discount for the NYSCA events as well as other tournaments that the organizer holds. The State Scholastic Championship, which is the largest funder of NYSCA, is unchanged by this change in membership criteria. It is worth noting that the traditional membership-required model remains in effect, and may be used by any organizer, as has been the case throughout NYSCA's history.

There are two goals with the change. One is to make the State Championship a profitable tournament. The long-time organizer of the tournament has reported that the tournament, NYSCA's flagship event, has lost money since membership costs were absorbed into the entry fee. There has been a slow decline in the entries at the State Championship even with the current entry fee structure, so an increase may well lead to a further decline in entries. The pool of potential sites to hold the State Championship is not particularly large on Labor Day weekend, and by and large, the membership is satisfied with the Albany Marriott and the Capital Region location for the tournament. Therefore this new direction is being tried.

In 2014, membership at the State Championship and State Open will not be required, but members will be offered a $7 discount on their entry fee to the event. Continental Chess Association (CCA) is also offering a $5 discount at its other tournaments in New York, including the Long Island Open andManhattan Open. It should be noted that CCA revived the New York State Open in May in Lake George, and the event has been a success for NYSCA. NYSCA is willing to work with any other organizer on other NYSCA events.

NYSCA wants to work with organizers to expand the discounts. Organizers that offer the discounts will have their events advertised in Empire Chess, posted on the NYSCA web site and advertised through NYSCA's facebook and twitter feeds. By accessing NYSCA's group of committed tournament chess players, the discounts in entry fee will more than pay for itself with increased entries and the ability to obtain entries from further away. NYSCA is also working on internet options for membership verification and purchase.

Help us make NYSCA the best chess organization it can be in the best chess state in the country. It will make us better, and your events better as well.

NEW YORK STATE CHESS ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP FORM

Name:______Address:______City:______State:______Zip:______

E-Mail:______USCF ID:______

$20 for four printed issues $12 for two printed issues (Winter and Summer)

Mail to: Phyllis Benjamin, Secretary, NYSCA, PO Box 340969, Brooklyn, NY 11234. (please note new address)

11 Pawn Power: The Scholastic Column by Zachary Calderon Philidor once stated that “Pawns are the soul of the board can totally change the game. chess.” Pawns define the character of a game, and the type of ideas that follow. They influence endgame positions, and often times decide who wins a chess game and who loses. The relative value of pieces even changes depending on the ! Because of the limited movement of pawns along a single file unless they capture, the pawn positions are usually harder to change than piece play. Let me give you an example. (diagram one below).

In Diagram Two above, the Bishops dominate the Knights. After White plays Ba3, White’s Bishops will be raking Black’s Kingside. Black's f7 pawn is a major weakness as well, and Black's Knights are subject to pawn pushes making them move around the board. The pawns can change piece value even beyond what is thought to be possible. It is often said that two pawns on the sixth rank have the strength of a

, as demonstrated in our next example diagrammed below.

Typically, a Bishop is worth about 3.5 pawns, while a Knight is worth about 3 pawns. However, in this closed type of position, the Knights will prove to be much more useful.The only way to move the center pawns in this position is to capture with pieces or with the wing pawns. Both King's Bishops are limited in scope. One Black strategy in this type of position is to play ...Bg5 and try to trade off the “bad” Bishop.

They can easily maneuver around the pawns, probing for weaknesses and making threats. Think of a jeep in a forest compared to soldiers in a forest. In an open setting, the jeep would be able to outperform the soldiers in every way possible. Despite being up quite a bit of material, the two However, surrounded by trees, the jeep becomes pawns easily outweigh the Rook in this position slow and cumbersome, and easily falls prey to the because on the move, they can force a to nimble individual soldier. The a (or even two Queens if Black does not take functions in the same way. The number of pieces with the Rook). With White to move, there is no and pawn can be the same, but where they are on way Black can stop the infantry after 1.e7 Kf5 2. d7 Rxe7 3. d8=Q or 1. d7 Ke5 2. e7 Rxd7 3. e8=Q. 12 The only trick in the position is that 1...g3+ must be Here White just moves around his King. The Rook met by 2.Kf1. If 2. Ke2?? then 2...Kf5 3.Kd2 Kf6 and pawn hold down the fort with the pawn 4.d7 Kxe7 allows Black to defend. defending the Rook and the Rook blocking the Black King from getting into the game. Black can Although a Queen versus a Rook is a theoretical get nowhere with just his Queen. win, one pawn is sometimes all the defending side needs in order to hang on and claim a draw Remember, pawns have a lot more venom then they (diagram below). seem to have. They can demolish Rooks, shut down pieces, and make other ones shine. They can save

seemingly lost positions, and be that last push that you need for victory. When moving a pawn, be wary; once moved, that pawn can only go forward unless it captures. Whenever you move a pawn you are permanently changing the characteristic of that game. Be careful, and make sure that this change ends up in your favor.

______

Central New York Chess News Prieto, USCF rated 1866 ( +22-8=8). Dr. Kistler and Mr. Prieto each won semi-final matches against by Don Klug and Karl Heck number 4 seed Don Klug and number 3 seed Robert PRIETO WINS 2014 WCC BLITZ Kratzat respectively, to advance to the finals. CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE Mr. Prieto forced a game 3 with a surprising win in Adolfo Prieto held defending champion Bob Kratzat game two the previous week. The surprise was due to a draw in the last round to claim the 2014 to the fact that Dr. Kistler had a 59 game unbeaten Watertown Blitz Championship on streak over 14 tournaments at the club that stretched March 4 at the Watertown Chess Club. Mr. Kratzat back to the Watertown Open Tournament in April of was defending his consecutive 2012 and 2013 titles, 2012. The three match games follow. but a loss to Mr. Prieto in round 3 and a draw with Don Klug in round 4 left Mr. Kratzat a half-point Watertown Chess Club 2013 Championship behind Mr. Prieto entering the last-round game. This Match, Round 1 is Mr. Prieto’s third Blitz Championship, having White: Dr. David Kistler (2086) Black: Adolfo shared the 2012 title with Mr. Kratzat after winning Prieto (1866) Ruy Lopez Defense outright in 2011. This was the first of 10 club 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O tournaments scheduled for the 2014 season. Mr. Bd7 6. c3 Nf6 7. Re1 g6 8. d4 b5 9. Bb3 Bg7 10. Prieto’s win earned him a point and the early lead in Nbd2 O-O 11. Nf1 Re8 12. Ng5 Rf8 13. Nf3 Re8 the 2014 club standings. 14. Ng3 Na5 15. Bc2c5 16. d5 Nc4 17. h3 h6 18. b3 Nb6 19. Be3 Kh7 20. Qe2 Qc7 21. Nh2 Ng8 22. Kistler wins Club Championship Match, 2-1 Nf3 Rec8 23. c4 b4 24. a3 a5 25. Ra2 Ra7 26. Bd3 David Kistler crushed Adolfo Prieto in game 3 of Rca8 27. Qb2 Nc8 28. Nh2 Nce7 29.Qc2 Qc8 30. their Watertown Chess Club 2013 Championship f4 match in January to win his fourth straight club title. 30. Rea1 Qb7 31. Qd2 Dr. Kistler had easily won game one of the 2013 30… f5 Club Championship match and needed only a draw Black misses an opportunity to re-direct action to in game 2 or 3 to win the title. Dr. Kistler, USCF the Queenside.} (30… a4 31.f5 axb3 32. Qxb3 Rxa3 rated 2086, was undefeated at the club in 2013 with 33. Rxa3 Rxa3 34. Qb1) a record +31-0=2, including seven wins against Mr. 31. Rf1 fxe4 13 31… a4, and again the Queenside attack remains WCC 2013 Championship Match, Round 3 possible. White: Dr. David Kistler (2086) Black: Adolfo 32. Bxe4 Nf5? Prieto (1866) Ruy Lopez Defense Now White will win a pawn. 32… a4 was better. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O 33. Bxf5 Bxf5 34. Nxf5 Qxf5 35. Qxf5gxf5 36. Bd7 6. c3 Nf6 7. d4 g6 fxe5 Bxe5 37. Rxf5 Kg6 ? 7…Nxe4 8. Re1 37… a4 !, as Black still has the Queenside threat, 8. Re1 b5 9. Bb3 Bg7 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 continued with 38.bxa4 Rxa4 39. Rf1 Rxa3 40. Re2 dxe5 12. Be3 Ng4 13. Bc5 Qh4? Rc3 41. Nf3) 13… Qf6 14. h3 Bf8 15. Bxf8 Qxf2+ 16. Kh1 Rxf8 38. Rf3 Nf6 ? (Mr. Prieto suggests 16… h5 17. Bb4 Qg3 18. hxg4 38… a4 39. Bc1 Nf6= hxg4+ 19. Kg1 O-O-O, but Black is minus two 39. a4 h5 40. Re2 Re7 41. g4 hxg4 42. Nxg4 Nxg4 pieces for two pawns.) 17. hxg4 Bxg4 18. Qd2 43. Rg2 Bd4 Qh4+ 19. Kg1 Rd8 20. Qe3 f5 21. Rf1. 43… Kh7 44. Rxg4 Rae8 45. Rf5 Rg7 46. Rh5+ 14. h3 44. Rxg4+ Kh7 45. Bxd4 cxd4 46. Rxd4 1-0 Played immediately!…but if White plays 14. Qd5 Qxh2+ 15. Kf1 Qh4 16. Qxf7+ Kd8 17. Be6 crushes WCC 2013 Championship Match Round 2 Black's plans. Any attempt to hold the position White: Adolfo Prieto (1866) Black: Dr. David seems futile. For example… 17… Nf6 (not 17… Kistler (2086) King's Indian Defense Bxe6 18. Qxe6 Nxf2 19. Bxf2 Qe7 20. Rd1+ Ke8 21. 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 Qc6+ Kf7 22. Rd7) 18.Bxd7 Nxd7 19. Rd1 Qh1+ 6. h3 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Be3 exd5 9. cxd5 Re8 10. Nd2 20. Ke2 ends any hope for Black. Nxe4 14… Bf8? If 10… a6 11. Bd3 Nxe4 12. Ndxe4 f5 13. Nxc5 dxc5 The Black King is a huge target sitting in the center. 14. O-O. If Black had played… 14… Nf6 15. a4 O-O-O 16. 11. Ndxe4 f5 12. Nxd6 Qe2 Nh5 17. axb5 Nf4 18. Qf3 Bxb5 19. Be3 gives Giving up White’s advantage, better is 12. Bb5 Re5 White an edge in a two-way bloodbath. 13. Nxc5 dxc5 14. Qf3 Bd7 +0.38. 15. Bxf7+ ! 12… Qxd6 13. Be2 f4 14. Bd2 Na6 15. O-O Nb4 The crushing blow If 15… Nc7 16. Bf3 Bf5. 15...Kxf7 16. a3 Nxd5 17. Bc4 Be6 18. Bxd5 Bxd5 15… Kd8 16. Be6 Nf6 17. Bxf8 seems no better. If 18… Bxc3 19. Bxe6+ Rxe6 20. Bxc3 will lose the 16. Qxd7+ Kf6 17. Qc6+ Kg5 18. hxg4 Bxc5 19. piece. Qxc5 forces Blacks’ resignation 1-0 and wins the 19. Bxf4 Qxf4 20. Qxd5+ Qf7 match 2-1. 20…Kh8 21. Qxb7 Rab8 22. Qxa7 Rxb2 23. Qa5 Be5! The 53rd Binghamton Open was won by 21. Qxc5 Rec8 22. Qb4 a5 23.Qe4 Rc4 24. Qd3 Pennsylvania Expert Antonio Scalzo, who won the Rac8 25. Rac1 b5 26. Qd2 Bxc3 truncated three-round event with 2 ½ points. Robert If 26… Bd4 27. Ne2 Rxc1 28. Nxc1 Bb6. McGuinness of Elmira was clear second with two 27. bxc3 points, pulling a major upset by defeating Expert Ed 27. Rxc3 Rxc3 28. bxc3 Qb3 29. Re1 Qxa3 30. Kelley in the last round. John Cordisco directed. Qd5+ Kf8 31. Re3 Qc5 32. Qd7 27… Kg7 28. Rfd1 R8c7 29. Qg5 R4c5 30. Qe3 h6 The Cornell University Chess Team placed fifth in 31. Rd6 Rd5 32. Re6 the World Amateur Team Championship in 32. Rxd5 Qxd5 33. Qb6 Rf7 34. Rf1 a4 Parsippany, NJ over the President's weekend. The 32… Qf5 33. Re1 Qf8 ? team was FM Adarsh Jayakumar (4 ½ points), NM 33… Rcd7 James Critelli (5 ½ points, including wins in the 34.Qb6 first five rounds), Tom Riccardi, and William 34. Qg3 Qf7 35. Rxg6+ Giguere. Cornell was the top finishing team made 34… Qf7 35. Rxg6+ Qxg6 36. Qxc7+ Qf7 37. Re7 up of entirely New York players, and we are proud 1-0 to recognize the Red on their achievement.

14 Cornwall Central High School wins Fifth Straight Championship by Larry King

Cornwall Central High School Team One became the first team in the Mid-Hudson Scholastic Chess League's (MHSCL) 12-year history to win five consecutive championships when it defeated Rondout Valley Team One, 5- 4, in a very tough match. Cornwall broke Newburgh Free Academy's four-peat record (from 2004 to 2007). The championship match went down to the wire, lasting almost three hours.

Matches in the MHSCL are played in three, three-game sets for a total of nine points in each match. Winning a match means getting five or more points, and drawn matches are drawn at 4 1/2-4 ½. There were two drawn matches, both involving Middletown High School, in the 2013-14 season. Matches are generally played on Saturdays at Cornwall Central High School, which is roughly in the middle of the Mid-Hudson League area. Twelve teams played in the MHSCL during the year.

In the regular season, The Mount Academy Team One won the Fischer Conference with an undefeated 4 ½ match point score, drawing Middletown. Rondout Valley High School Team One won the Kasparov Conference with a perfect 5-0 score. Ribdout Valley also had the top two individual scorers in the MHSCL during the season. Thomas Roddy had 14 out of a possible 15 points, and Ian Fade certainly didn't fade with 13 ½ points. Both players were a perfect nine for nine the last three weeks of the season. A total of 66 players participated in the MHSCL during the season.

Four teams qualify for the playoffs, and they occur in crossover fashion, with the winner of the Fischer Conference playing the second-place finisher of the Kasparov Conference and vice-versa.

Final Standings

Fischer Conference

Team Matches Matches Matches Match Won Drawn Lost Points The Mount Academy Team One 4.0 1.0 0.0 4.5 James O'Neill HS 3.0 1.0 1.0 3.5 Cornwall Central HS Team Two 3.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 Middletown HS 2.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 Rondout Valley HS Team Two 1.0 0.0 4.0 2.0 Sacred Heart Elementary 0.0 0.0 5.0 0.0

Kasparov Conference

Team Matches Matches Matches Match Won Drawn Lost Points Rondout Valley HS Team One 5.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 Cornwall Central HS Team One 4.0 0.0 1.0 4.0 Monroe-Woodbury HS 3.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 The Mount Academy Team Two 2.0 0.0 3.0 2.0 Kingston High HS 1.0 0.0 4.0 1.0 Highland Falls Middle School 0.0 0.0 5.0 0.0

15 Semi-Final Matches Rondout Valley High School Team One vs James O'Neill High School: Thomas Roddy's three wins and Ian Fade's two wins guided Rondout Valley to a 6 1/2-2 1/2 match victory over James O'Neill. As Rondout was undefeated during the season, this result was not surprising.

Cornwall Central High School Team One vs The Mount Academy Team One: Kyle Emanuelle’s three wins and Chase Huestis' one-and-a-half points led Cornwall to a 5 1/2-3 1/2 victory over The Mount Academy Team One. Shawn Burnett’s two points and Titus Decker’s one-and-a-half points accounted for The Mount Academy points.

Consolation Match James O'Neill clinched third place as a result of its 5-4 win over The Mount Academy Team One. Denthew Learey won three games and Timothy.Mills had two victories for James O’Neill. Titus Decker won two games for The Mount Academy. The Mount Academy's leading scorer during the season and the highest-rated player in the game, Kostya Shetekauri, was unavailable for the playoff matches, and it clearly affected Mount Academy's performance. O'Neill won the last set 2-1 to win the match.

Championship Match The top two teams in the Kasparov Conference met in the championship match. Chase Huestis and Ella Collins won their three-set games to give Cornwall Central High School Team One a 5-4 win over Rondout Valley Team One. Ian Fade and Thomas Roddy had two victories apiece for Rondout Valley. Rondout had to substitute Asa Witt in the last round, and Cornwall won that round 2-1 to win the match and the Championship for the fifth straight year.

End-Of-Season Swiss Tournament As the playoffs matches were being played in the Cornwall High School’s library, the 29-player End-Of-Season Swiss tournament games took place in the school’s cafeteria. The above event was also a team tournament in which the top four scores from individuals attending the same school counted for that school's team score.

Carl Thomson of The Mount Academy won the event with a perfect 5-0 score. Second through fourth-place finishers, in tie-break order and all with four points, were Sam Fisher of Monroe-Woodbury High School, Lucas Donnellan of Cornwall Central High School, and Jesine Orcullo of Cornwall Central High School. Players with 3 1/2 points were Asa Witt of Rondout Valley High School, Aman Patel of Kingston High School. and Scott Abbot of Monroe-Woodbury High School.

The team portion of the End-Of-Season Swiss tournament, which was very competitive, was won by Cornwall Central High School on tiebreaks over The Mount Academy High School. Both teams scored 13 points. Monroe- Woodbury High School, finished third, scoring 12 1/2 points. Rondout Valley High School finished in fourth with 11 points.

Please view the league's website mhscl.lktechnodude.com for detailed information on the 2013-14 season and the league.

Attention Mid-Hudson Valley Scholastic Chess Players: We are looking for teams for the 2014-15 season. If your school is interested in participating in the league, please contact me at [email protected].

16 inequitable and creates “double dipping” for the top The Case for Random Pairings rated players: They have the advantage of a high by Neal Bellon rating AND a much lower-rated opponent. Isn’t their high rating enough? Aren’t they supposed to If you want to create a lively, robust debate among do well regardless of who their opponent is? In tournament players and directors, bring up the issue addition, getting that first round win is a tremendous of digital clocks, time delay, Grandmaster draws, psychological boost, a point no one seems to and cheating, to name a few. Everyone is more than mention. This flaw is so outrageous that is has willing to share an opinion on these topics and do so caused many players in the mid-low rating range to in a passionate manner. However, no one seems to deliberately take a first round bye to avoid a game be talking about the traditional Swiss System they will likely lose, and enter round 2 with a half- method of pairing players – in particular, how point, and most likely, a better pairing. This tactic inequitable and flawed it is at the club level, as I is so common it has been given a name, though will posit here. First, I will discuss the standard often in jest: the Swiss . Think about that. Swiss System and its inherent deficiencies, and then The SS is so terrible that it causes some players to I’ll define the random pairings variation and why strategically avoid round one. it’s a better system. A common refrain at this point is that random Unless an event is a round-robin, virtually all clubs pairings favor the lower-rated players. Huh? The use the Swiss System (SS) of pairing players against key word is random – nobody is favored! one other. This system is used for one reason: tradition. This is how it’s always been done. If it’s Again, the top-half-versus-bottom half aspect of the not broken, don’t fix it. But it is broken and it does SS is what makes it so brutally unfair. It becomes need fixing. Kirt Herbert Adler said "Tradition is difficult to play opponents of similar rating, with what you resort to when you don't have the time or most players going back and forth between much the money to do it right." I would put it a little higher and lower rated players. In a 5-round event, more sternly: “Tradition is what you resort to when you may only get two opponents in your rating you’re too unimaginative or uninformed to do category. Furthermore, since most local clubs something better.” It is my firm contention that feature the same regulars, the pairings remain many tournament directors use the Swiss System practically unchanged from one event to the next! without fully understanding its inequities, or if they More than once at the Queens Chess Club here in do, they dismiss them fearing trying something else. NY several years ago, I was paired against IM Jay Bonin in round one, since my rating at the time put I want to make clear at the outset that I am me just below the halfway point and he was the top advocating the use of random pairings at the club rated. But I manned up and played him (and even level, where a typical event will have about 25 drew him one time). No Swiss Gambit for me! As players or so. In major events with a huge turnout, a TD, players would ask me (before I used random it’s necessary to whittle the field quickly, and so the pairings), “Why do I always play the same person in traditional Swiss is appropriate. However, when round 1?” or something along those lines. The you’re dealing with about 20-25 players at your traditional SS is the reason. typical local club, the problems with the SS are glaring. Allow me to demonstrate why that is. An explanation of random pairings The use of random pairings (RP) is a variation With the Swiss System, rating is the determining within the Swiss System method of pairing players. factor in how players are paired. The players are With RP, players are paired randomly within listed in rating order from highest to lowest, and the each score group. So the terminology is clear, top half plays the bottom half. For example, if there score group refers to the players’ scores in the are 20 players, #1 plays #11, #2 plays #12, etc. This tournament, not their ratings. For example, all the top-half-versus-bottom-half is precisely the problem players with 1 point are a score group. All those with this system. It rewards the higher rated players with ½ point are another score group, etc. The main by giving them a “gift” pairing against an opponent tenets of the standard Swiss System (SS) such as rated much lower, and consequently punishes the color equalization, not playing the same player lower-rated players because they have to play a twice, etc. are still in place. With RP, pairings are much higher-rated opponent. This is egregiously based strictly on each player’s performance (score) 17 in the tournament. The “top half plays bottom half” 2. Fear and stubbornness. Many TDs won’t pull aspect of a standard SS – where most of the the trigger and try something new, even if they inequities occur – is eliminated. The larger point is agree with my premise about the traditional SS’s that RP adjust the standard SS to make it more flaws. It goes back to whole “but that’s how I’ve equitable. I will now demonstrate RP as it would be always done it” argument. used in an actual tournament. 3. Membership worries. Some TDs, I suspect, may ROUND 1: fear that adding the variation of RP may turn off Everyone in round 1 is in the same score group (all some players, but I think that’s an overrated have zero points), which means that it’s like picking concern. In fact, it may increase membership. out of a hat (anyone can play anyone) and so the software will randomly assign opponents. 4. Pairing software. At this writing, not all pairing software has a RP option. SwissSys, (the program I ROUND 2 & subsequent rounds: use) has it, but it’s a fairly recent addition. Different score groups are now established: the “1s” “1/2s” and “0s”. All the 1s are randomly paired I am not alone in my strong support of the random against each other, all the 1/2s are randomly paired pairing variation within the Swiss System. It is my against each other, etc. understanding that other TDs and organizers throughout the country advocate for them as well, Now, let’s explore some advantages of RP at the including IM Greg Shahade, who wrote an excellent club level, in no particular order. Some of these I piece on RP for Online a number of touched on earlier, but they bear repeating. years ago. To his credit, IM Shahade’s article is what inspired me to research RP further and You’ll play a variety of opponents instead of the eventually use them at my club. same circle of players resulting from a standard SS. At this point, using random pairings is still a fringe movement among TDs and my hope in writing this You have a better chance of playing more piece is to create awareness and help move the players of similar rating. conversation forward. Sometimes “tradition” doesn’t cut it. There will presumably be fewer quick, Greater NY Scholastics (from page 27) “Grandmaster” draws between higher rated The Tournament’s Directors and key staff in this players since they may meet in earlier year’s Greater New York Scholastics were: Steve rounds and will be less likely to have a Immitt, Sophia Rohde, Nils Grotnes, Colonel Dave . Hater, Dan Rohde, Hector Rodriguez III, Jabari McGreen, Alex Beltre, Harold Stenzel, Aaron In round one, higher-rated players will not Kiedes, Steven Flores, Hector Rodriguez IV, Polly automatically be “rewarded” by being paired down Wright, Ron Young, Brother John McManus, Joe several hundred points and conversely, lower-rated Lux, Hal Sprechman, Dr. Marcus Fenner, Oscar players will not automatically be “punished” by Garcia, Gregory Keener, Kofi McGreen, Corey Yu, having to play up several hundred points. Mariah McGreen, Maya McGreen, Beena McGreen, Brian Poteat, Tucker Ewing, Gerald Towns, Nagib Endgame Gebran, Aaron Rohde and Eugene Amankwah. As for the practical aspect of implementing RP into The tournament is indebted to Michael club events, it was well received by the members at Khodarkovsky and the Association, my club – even the complainers didn’t complain. which makes the tournament possible each year. Why aren’t more TDs using RP in their events? In For 2015, we are hoping to have the 49th no particular order, I offer my opinion on this: edition of America’s longest-running, rated scholastic tournament back at our new venue at the 1. Lack of awareness. RP is a relatively new Brooklyn Marriott, on both Saturday and Sunday, concept that has not yet reached the mainstream January 10-11, with some of the Varsity Sections at chess scene. Many TDs and organizers simply a slower time control and with a two-day schedule don’t know that this option even exists! option.

18

GM Kamsky & Dean-Kawamura Top Marchand Open By Josh Rofrano (used with permission of the author, portions appeared in Chess Life Online).

The second weekend in March was the 36th Marchand Open tournament. The Marchand is held every year in Rochester to honor the memory of Dr. Erich Marchand, who was a prolific author and the player with the most rated games in history at the time of his death. Dr. Marchand is a New York State Chess Hall of Famer, and the Memorial plaque is named in his memory.

This year we were fortunate to have what was the strongest field ever, among the 148 players, with US Champion and former World Championship candidate GM Gata Kamsky playing as well as four other GM’s. Kamsky tied for first with 4.5 points in the five-round event, along the way defeating GM Mikheil Kekelidze and drawing GM Aleksandr Lenderman. FM Ben Dean- Kawamura also scored 4.5 points and defeated GM Kekelidze (more about this later).

The first round saw a young local player, Jacob Chen, playing in the first round against GM Gata Kamsky. What impressed me most about GM Kamsky was his professionalism.US Champion He wasn’t Gata blitzingKamsky out signing the mo ves against the lower-rated players he was sitting there, focusing, attempting to burrowautographs into the heart of the positions. His focus is something that we should all be trying to emulate when we are playing against anyone regardless of their rating. Additionally the guy came dressed to the nines wearing a blue suit with a tie on the first day. Clearly it was a great experience for a young, quickly-rising player to get the opportunity to meet and face a star like Kamsky, and learn from the experience.

The second round saw the first major upset of the tournament with Syracuse University student Tae Kim (2101) defeating GM Alexander Ivanov. The other GMs won their games with Gata showing his dominance in an old line of the Sicilian against a local expert. For those of you wondering I lost my game to my friend and former New York State Scholastic Champion Matt Parry in a wild line where I was punished for leaving my King in the center (I haven’t quite figured out yet; the struggle is real).

The Marchand is one of those weekend tournaments where we cram twelve hours of chess in one day. You can see the fatigue by observing the players and it’s clear many have seen enough chess for one day. The five GM’s seemed fresh and won their games leaving GM Kamsky, GM Lenderman, GM Kekelidze, GM Paragua as the only players in the tournament with a perfect score. Perhaps I’m getting old but in this round in particular I felt especially exhausted and had a bad migraine from the previous game. My opponent played with a youthful vigor and obtained a good position out of the opening. I eventually won but not without some trepidation.

The next morning on the top two boards the GM’s finally met with GM Kamsky defeating GM Kekelidze and GM’s Paragua and Lenderman playing to a hard fought draw.

In the final round the top boards GM Kamsky (4.0) and GM Lenderman (3

19 1/2) played to a fighting draw (note: not the dreaded “GM” draw). GM Paragua (3 1/2) drew with FM Nikolayev(3 1/2), GM Ivanov (3) defeated his opponent and FM Ben Dean-Kawamura (3 1/2) defeated GM Kekelidze (3). There was a tense struggle with Dean-Kawamura playing Black in a complicated King's Indian. Their game was the last to finish and with Kekelidze having three and Ben having 3.5 both players were pushing for a win. A few of us were discussing the game outside and a few strong players believed that GM Kekelidze could hold a draw (down an exchange) but that he would likely be pushing for a win. Ben had only five or six minutes on his clock to Kekelidze’s 20+ minutes and the position was unclear.

As we discussed the game I learned a new Russian word/phrase: “Zeitnotchik”. Zeitnotchik comes from the German word “Zeitnot” which means “/pressure” by appending the Russian suffix “chik/chick” we get “Guy who gets into time trouble”. If I were to use it in a sentence I could say, “Walter Browne Zeitnotchik” which would roughly translate as, “Walter Browne is a guy who gets into time trouble”. In some time pressure GM Kekelidze grabbed a pawn he should not have and Ben was able to win a minor piece so Kekelidze resigned. This win catapulted FM Dean-Kawamura into shared first with GM Gata Kamsky. Quite a dramatic finish; here is the game with FM Ben Dean-Kawamura’s annotations:

GM Kekelidze, Mikheil--FM Dean-Kawamura, Ben I went into this last round game with a score of 3 1/2. However, I didn’t have high hopes of winning a prize since I was paired against a strong grandmaster. My main goal was just to get a decent position out of the opening and play a good game. One important thing to note is that Kekelidze only had three points and only a win would earn him prize money for the tournament. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 Na6 7. f4 White plays an enterprising line of the Averbakh. I could only vaguely remember the theory at this point and chose a move that doesn’t have a great reputation. 7... Qe8 8. Nf3 e5 9. fe5 de5 10. d5 White gets a big space advantage and prepares to castle. At this point I knew that I needed to play actively to avoid being squeezed out of the game. 10... Nh5 This discourages castling because after Nf4 I can pick up the bishop pair. Also it removes some pressure from the f-file because my knight won’t be a target there. 11. Qd2 Nf4 (diagram)

One thing I did well this game was playing actively and posing problems for my opponent. Black should be able to get back the pawn if White takes the Knight, but in any case I was happy to get rid of his dark-squared Bishop and open up the long diagonal for mine. 12. Bd1 White plays to keep all of his advantages, but I think this move might be a bit too slow. [=12. Bf4 ef4 13. Qf4 Nc5 14. e5 Nd7 15. O-O Ne5 16. Rae1]. Boris Alterman chose to play this way and eventually won the game against a lower rater opponent. I think Black should have decent chances from this position though. 12... h6 13. Bh4 g5 14. Bg3 Qe7 At this point I was very happy about the result of the opening. My Knight is nicely planted on f4 and it’s difficult for White to castle. 15. Bc2 Qc5 16. b3 Bg4 Continuing to try to keep White’s King in the center and setting up a nice cheapo which my opponent missed. 17. h4? [17. Bf2 Qa5! 18. O-O? Qc3!] White's best move might be [17. O-O-O!? I thought I could get some play against his King there. I also thought I could play as in the game but missed that 17... Ng2 18. Qg2 Qe3 19. Qd2 Qf3 fails big time after 20. Rhf1] 17... Ng2 18. Ne2 18. Qg2 Qe3 and Black is getting back the piece with interest. 18... Nf4 19. Bf4 ef4 I now had an advantage which I was totally unprepared for. I start making some bad decisions based on the

20 fear of losing from this position. I see the g and h files getting open and then me getting mated in some embarrassing fashion. I also only have 30 minutes for the rest of the game while my Kekelidze has an hour. So I go into panic mode and play to win a modest amount of material and go into an endgame. There is a lot wrong with this strategy but the main issue is that I don't actually rid myself of any complications. [19... gf4 20. h5 Kh8 21. Rag1 Bf3 22. Kf3 Bf6] My King is more-or-less safe and I have a clear path to getting my pieces active and then attacking the White King. 20. hg5 Qe3? A bad mistake. I saw that this forces the Queen trade and wins because of the pressure along the long diagonal. However, White gets very good . I should have trusted myself and went with one of my other candidate moves. [20... h5 21. Na4 Qe7 22. Raf1 c6] Black's King is safe and White's is in trouble. [20... Qa5 21. Rh6 Qc3 22. Qc3 Bc3] Similar to the game continuation, but here I'm up a full piece. 21. Qe3 fe3 22. Nb5 Ba1 23. Ra1 hg5 24. Rg1 Bf3 25. Kf3 f6 26. e5 (diagram) At this point I realize that this was far from a simple win. Black is up the exchange, but White’s pieces are super active while Black's are not coordinating well at all. White has a nice central majority while Black’s Kingside pawns are weak. I need to get some activity so I play to get my rooks working along the h-file. 26... Kg7 27. Ke3 Rh8 28. Nd4 Rh3 28... Rae8 This was the most accurate move here because it avoids the drawing line that will pop up in a few moves. 29. Kd2 Rah8 30. Bf5 30. Ne6 Kf7 31. Rf1 This basically forces a draw because of the odd double attack on my Kingside pawns. 31... Rh2 32. Kc3 R2h6 33. Ng5 Kg7 34. Ne6 Kf7 This repetition would have been the logical conclusion to the game. However, a draw was not what my opponent was going for. He may have even seen this line and discarded it. Instead he goes for complications. 30... Rh2 31. Kc3 fe5 At this point I was pretty sure that I could win the game. My Rooks are active and I couldn’t see any way to successfully attack my King. However, I was still scared that my opponent would uncork some brilliancy that I missed. Also we were getting down to our last 5-10 minutes on the clock. 32. Rg5 Kf6 33. Ne6 33. Rg6 Kf7 34. Ne6 Looks scary but I have a very nice reply 34... R8h3 35. Bh3 Rh3 36. Kd2 Rh2 37. Ke3 Kg6 33... Nc5 After sitting on the side of the board for 33 moves the Knight comes into play to nice effect. White has no way to protect all of his pieces. 34. Nc5 Kg5 35. Bd7 b6 36. Ne6 Kf6 37. Nc7 R2h7 This seals the game. If 38. Ne8+ Ke7 wins White's last 2 pieces. 0-1

In addition to his richly annotated game Ben added this postscript:

Obviously I was very happy with this game. It was my first win against a grandmaster and it earned me a nice finish. However, if I reflect a bit more I realize I got lucky because of the tournament situation. The lesson I hope to take away from this game is to play based on the needs of the position, not out of the fear that my opponent will play better in a sharp position. After all, a strong opponent can outplay you in an endgame as easily as a middlegame. If someone is stronger than me, I definitely don’t need to do them the favor of playing a move that I think is sub-optimal but “safe” (20… Qe3?).

FM Igor Nikolayev also annotated his last round game as well:

21 GM Mark Paragua---FM Igor Nikolayev Rochester, NY 2014 Marchand Open 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 ed4 4. Nd4 Qf6 My pet way to deter the 4... Bc5 5. Nb3 line. It leaves the c7 pawn unprotected though, but Black is okay in all tactical encounters there. 5... Qf6] 5. Be3 Bc5 6. c3 Nge7 7. Bc4 Ne5 8. Be2 d6 9. O-O Qg6 One may be surprised that my knowledge of the book ended on move 7. ..Ne5. This is why the last two moves and related calculations took me about half an hour. But when you play a GM well known for his attacking style, in such a position, you better off be good at calculations earlier. Otherwise soon there will be already nothing to calculate. 10. f3 O-O 11. Kh1 Kh8 12. Nd2 This move was made quickly... I was curious about [12. f4!? Qe4 13. Nd2! Qe3 14. Nc2 Ng4! 15. Ne3 Ne3 16. Qb3 Nf1 17. Rf1 Nf5] It seems Black is okay here. 12... f5!? 13. f4 Ng4!? 14. Bg4! Leads to a comfortable endgame for White. [14. ef5? Nf5 15. Nf5 Be3] with an advantage for Black 14... Qg4 15. Qg4 fg4 16. Nc2 Be3 17. Ne3 Bd7 White is better but not much. And in the long run I liked my Bishop. Plus, keep in mind my potential time trouble. Then you’ll understand that I was satisfied to get this kind of endgame. Black has the only weakness - his g4 pawn. But 1) it easy to defend so far and, 2) there are scenarios with this bishop when this pawn is very useful. 18. c4 Ng6 19. g3 Rae8 20. Rae1 Rf7! (diagram) I’m proud of this move. Soon you’ll see why. 21. Kg1 h5 22. Nd5 Bc6 And the c7 pawn is protected. The first goal of my 20th move. 23. Nb3 Nf8! Vital resorce to hold this position. And it explains the 2nd goal of my 20th move. 24. Nd4 Ne6 25. Ne6 On 25. Nc6 bc6 26. Nc3 Nd4!? (26... Rfe7) is good too. 27. Rd1 Nf3 28. Kg2 g5 29. f5 Kg7] Black has good counterplay. 25... Re6 26. e5! (diagram) A good move. White's dilemma is that must consolidate quickly. For example, 26. b3 Kh7 27. Re3 g5!? (27... b5!?) is another active option. 28. f5 Re5 29. Kf2 Bd5 30. cd5 c6 31. dc6 bc6 32. Ke2 Rfe7] And Black has nothing to worry about. 26... Rd7! The most accurate reaction and the third goal of my 20th move, and quite aggressive too. [26... de5? 27. fe5 Rf1 28. Kf1] would give White a big advantage. 27. ed6? Only [27. Nb4 Bf3 28. Nd3] would allow my opponent, not real winning chances but rather a symbolic edge and opportunity to play this game for longer. 27... Red6 Now it’s Black who is slightly better. 28. Re5 With a draw offer which I accepted. White should be able to hold a rook endgame a pawn down: [28. Re5 g6 29. Rd1 but not (29. f5? Bd5 30. cd5 Rd5 31. Rd5 Rd5 32. fg6 Kg7! 33. Rf7 Kg6 34. Rc7 Rd1 35. Kf2 Rd2 36. Ke3 Rb2 37. a4 a5) which still should be a draw but difficult one. 29... b5 30. b3 Bb7 31. Rc1 bc4 or (31... Bd5 32. cd5 Rd5 33. Rc6! Re5 34. fe5 Kg7 35. Kf1 Kh6 36. Rc5 Rd1 37. Ke2 Ra1 38. Rc7 Ra2 39. Ke3) 32. bc4 Bd5 33. cd5 Rd5 34. Rd5 Rd5 35. Rc7 Rd1 36. Kf2 Rd2 37. Ke3 Ra2 38. Kd4]

22 The picture above shows the Good Doctor battling for the State Championship when the event was a more intimate affair and conducted as a round-robin.

I had a great time playing this year and it was nice to see my friends from all around New York come out to support Rochester’s and Western New York's biggest tournament. A big thanks to all the GM’s who showed up and participated. Hopefully we’ll see you all of you next year at the 37th Annual Marchand Open!

Fried Liver (from page 24) Now it is White who is a pawn up. His is somewhat blunted, but he is clearly much better. 29...Ra6 30.Qc5 Ra5 31.Qc1 Re8 32.g3?! A second-best move. White still has the whip hand after 32.Rd4. 32...Bf5 33.f3? Sadly, this move seems to give up the majority of White's advantage. The first player seems to be winning after 33.Nd2! Rxe1+ 34.Rxe1 Nc3 35.Nc4. 33...Bxe4 34.Rxe4 Rxe4 35.fxe4 Nc3 36.Re1 White is still a pawn up, but his e4 pawn is very weak and c3 is a powerful post for the Black Knight. The game is just about even again. 36...Re5 37.Qf4 Qe7 38.Bc2 c5 39.Qf1 Kb7 40.Qc4 Qd8 41.Rf1 Qd4+ Now the Queens have to come off. 42.Qxd4 Ne2+ 43.Kg2 Nxd4 44.Bd3 Re7 45.Rf6 b3 Suddenly Black's Queenside pawns are dangerous. 46.Rf2? The main advantage that computers have over humans is that they never tire or get discouraged, and they never blunder due to fatigue or other “human” factors. This natural-looking retreat is actually the losing move for White. After 46.Kf2 Nc2 47.a5 Kc7 48.Rf5 the position still looks even - the White King is close enough to stop any monkey business on the Queenside. 46...Rc7 47.Bc4 Kb6 48.Rf8?! Admitting that his 46th move was an error, but White also seems to be lost after 48.e5 Ka5 49.e6 Kb4, etc. 48...b2 49.Rf1 Better is 49.Bd5 but Black, being a computer, would then find the tricky 49...Rb7! and White is lost after 50.Rf1 Rb8. 49...Nc2! Threatening a vicious knight on e3. It's game over. 50.Rf6+ Ka7 51.Ba2 c4 52.Rf2 Ne1+ 53.Kf1 Nd3 54.Rc2 c3 55.Ke2? Loses at least a piece but the game was hopeless anyhow. 55...Nc1+ 0–1

23 Fried Liver Indigestion by Richard Moody, Jr.

This article continues our investigations into the The Fried Liver Attack, a sacrifice known for over Fried Liver Attack of the , 500 years. While it's considered not quite correct, in which is one of the wildest and most complicated practice it's very hard to play against in a practical openings on the chessboard, particularly in a sense or tournament game. tournament setting with the clocks running and 6...Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3 Ncb4 9.0–0 without the aid of computers. In the Fried Liver, While this makes perfect sense, the most common White sacrifices a piece in the opening in exchange move here is actually 9.Qe4. for a substantial attack and poor King safety for 9...c6 10.d4 Qf6 11.Qd1 Black. Like the Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez, Moody's main idea, although he's not quite the first Black has to allow the opening to be played with person to play it. Most common here is 11.Qe4?! 5...Nxd5 (it can be side-stepped with 5...Na5, or and now the online game Garcia Gonzalvez,J 5...b5), so White cannot ever be sure he will get the (2270)-Morin,S (2347) IECC 2002 continued: opportunity to play in. When the opportunity arises, 11...Qf5 12.Qe2 Kf7 13.f4?! exd4 14.Ne4 b5 15.Bb3 though, the sparks fly! Be7 16.Ng5+ Kf8 17.h3 d3 18.Qf2 and White is lost. 11...exd4N The first known chess scoresheet using the Fried This makes the game unique. Previously seen here Liver Attack was found in Rome in 1610, so the was 11...b5 and now the game Monteiro theoretical debate on this opening started before the Rodrigues,C (1696)-Haarkotter Martin,M, Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. It's definitely Vecindario 2011 continued: 12.dxe5 one line you don't want to see without some Kxe5? (Suicidal. Black had to play something knowledge beforehand. like12...Qg6.) 13.Re1+ Kd6 14.Ne4+ and Black is lost. He was checkmated some 20 moves later. For the record, the line's recorded history started 12.Ne4 Qf5 13.c3 dxc3 14.bxc3 with a White victory in Polerio vs. Domenico, Interestingly enough my analysis engine considers Rome 1610. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4.Bg5 this position dead even, but it is far from "equal." d5 5.exd5 Bxd5 6.Bxf7 Kxf7 7. Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3 Black is still a piece up, but his King is very unsafe. Be7 9. d4 c6 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bxe7 Bxe7 12.O-O-O One reason Black doesn't often allow this opening Rf8 13.Qe4 Rxf2 14.dxe5 Bg5 15.Kb1 Rd2 16.h4 in tournament games is simply the practical Rxd1 17.Rxd1 Bxh4 18.Bxd5 cxd5 19.Rxd5 Qg5 difficulty of defending for a long time to reach a 20. Rd6+ Ke7 21.Rg6 1-0. better endgame. 14...Kd7 15.Re1 b5 16.Bb3 Kc7 17.cxb4 Bxb4 The following game is Empire Chess contributor White now has his sacrificed piece back, at the cost Richard Moody, Jr. battling Fritz14. The human vs. of a pawn. Black's King is somewhat safer than it computer battle does an excellent job of showing was before, but the balance seems to be tipping the strengths and weaknesses of not only the toward White. opening, but the ability of even a booked-up human 18.Bd2 Rd8 19.Rc1 a5 20.a4! to use it in a tournament setting. White doesn't let up. His whole army is now in the field while Black's Queenside pieces are still at Richard Moody, Jr. (1697) - Comp Fritz14 home. (3140est) [C57] 20...Bxd2 21.Qxd2 b4 22.Qd4 Ra6?! West Berne, NY match, Game one 22...g6 looks like a better idea here January 16, 2014 23.Nc5 [Bill Townsend annotations] Why not simply 23.Qxg7+ Kb8 24.Rc5 - White gets 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 his pawn back and his attack continues. Nxd5!? 23...Rb6 24.Qxg7+ Kb8 25.Rcd1 Rf8 26.Qd4 Qf4 For White to sacrifice a piece on move six, Black 27.Ne4 has to do something provocative, and this is it. Most White is correct in not trading Queens, but better is common is 5...Na5 with the main line continuing 27.Re4 Qd6 28.Re5 Rd8 29.f4 and Black is in 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 , etc. trouble. 6.Nxf7 27...Qc7 28.Qc5 Rd8 29.Qxa5 27...Qc7 28.Qc5

24 Rd8 29.Qxa5 Lenderman to win the tournament with a perfect 4-0 Now it is White who is a pawn up. His initiative is score. Mena raised his rating to 2467 with the somewhat blunted, but he is clearly much better. triumph. Lenderman, GM Mikheil Kekelidze, New 29...Ra6 30.Qc5 Ra5 31.Qc1 Re8 32.g3?! York State Chess Hall of Famer IM Jay Bonin and A second-best move. White still has the whip hand NM Adam Maltese all tied for second with 3-1 after 32.Rd4. scores. Kekelidze also fell victim to the upset bug, 32...Bf5 33.f3? with fast-rising junior NM James Black (2298) Sadly, this move seems to give up the majority of beating the veteran GM in the first round. Bonin White's advantage. The first player seems to be also lost to Mena, in the third round. winning after 33.Nd2! Rxe1+ 34.Rxe1 Nc3 35.Nc4. 33...Bxe4 34.Rxe4 Rxe4 35.fxe4 Nc3 36.Re1 Expert Bora Yagiz was clear fifth with 2 ½ points. White is still a pawn up, but his e4 pawn is very The tournament was directed by Gregory Keener for weak and c3 is a powerful post for the Black Knight. the Marshall. The game is just about even again. 36...Re5 37.Qf4 Qe7 38.Bc2 c5 39.Qf1 Kb7 GM Maxim Dlugy made one of his rare forays into 40.Qc4 Qd8 41.Rf1 Qd4+ tournament chess with a victory in the March 13 Now the Queens have to come off. Marshall Four Rated Games tournament on March 42.Qxd4 Ne2+ 43.Kg2 Nxd4 44.Bd3 Re7 45.Rf6 13, and won the 20-player event outright with 3 ½ b3 points. Dlugy drew GM Mark Paragua in the third Suddenly Black's Queenside pawns are dangerous. round, and won the remainder of his games, 46.Rf2? defeating GM Aleksandr Lenderman in the last The main advantage that computers have over round to win first prize. Paragua, GM Mikheil humans is that they never tire or get discouraged, Kekelidze, IM Jay Bonin and NM Alexander King and they never blunder due to fatigue or other all tied for second with 3-1 points, with none of the “human” factors. This natural-looking retreat is players losing a game. actually the losing move for White. After 46.Kf2 Nc2 47.a5 Kc7 48.Rf5 the position still looks even - the King, the tournament director, did not play the first White King is close enough to stop any monkey round and won three straight./ Parague drew Bonin business on the Queenside. and Dlugy, and Kekelidze drew Bonin and NM 46...Rc7 47.Bc4 Kb6 48.Rf8?! Boris Privman. Privman and Ted Belanoff tied for Admitting that his 46th move was an error, but sixth with 2 ½ points. White also seems to be lost after 48.e5 Ka5 49.e6 Kb4, etc. The March 6 edition of the Marshall Four Rated 48...b2 49.Rf1 Games Tonight drew 25 players and was won by Better is 49.Bd5 but Black, being a computer, would GM's Mark Paragua and Alexander Stripunsky. The then find the tricky 49...Rb7! and White is lost after GM's scored 3 ½ points, drawing in the last round 50.Rf1 Rb8. after sweeping the field. Four players tied for third 49...Nc2! with 3-1 scores: FM Leif Pressman, IM Jay Bonin, Threatening a vicious knight fork on e3. It's game Vladimir Bugayev, and Logan Brain. Alexander over. King directed for the Marshall. 50.Rf6+ Ka7 51.Ba2 c4 52.Rf2 Ne1+ 53.Kf1 Nd3 54.Rc2 c3 55.Ke2? The Marshall March Tuesday Action drew 15 Loses at least a piece but the game was hopeless players to the world-famous club and was won by anyhow. former New York State Champion NM Raven Sturt, 55...Nc1+ 0–1 back home from McGill University in Montreal where he is a student. Sturt went 4-0. GM Maxim Dlugy and NM Boris Privman tied for second with News from the Marshall 3-1 scores. Privman upset Dlugy in the second by Frank Romano round, and then lost to Class-A player Cameron Hull in the third. Gregory Keener directed for the FM Carlos Mena pulled the big upset in the Marshall. February edition of the Marshall Masters on February 18 by beating 2697-rated GM Aleksandr (continued on page 31) 25 The Greater New York Scholastics This is the first time in over three decades, and probably ever, when all four divisions (Primary, Has Largest Turnout In At Least Elementary, Junior High and High School) were not Three Decades— In Brooklyn! only held in the same place, but on the same day. by NTD Steve Immitt Sunday, January 12, 2014 would be the new venue’s test of fire. With all 975 players just barely fitting The annual Greater New York Scholastic into the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, and all the awards Championships, the USCF’s longest-running ceremonies finishing as scheduled that evening, a scholastic , has virtually seen it all new and stronger tournament had indeed been in its storied, 49-year history. But this year, it saw forged. something new. A new borough. Over 187 schools were represented this year, from Since 1966, the tournament, either as one complete as far away as Pennsylvania and Delaware (15 tournament or in its four constituent parts (Primary, players represented the First State), with the largest Elementary, Junior and High School) has contingents coming from New York’s Trinity meandered along the streets of Manhattan, starting School (63), Brooklyn’s PS 282 (57), and New York at the Broadway Central Hotel near Herald Square City’s Dalton (40), Browning (35) and Columbia in the 1960s, visiting 14th Street in the 1980s, up to Grammar (35) Schools. the Manhattan Chess Club in Carnegie Hall on 57th Street in the 1980s, to Hunter College High School By far the largest section was the gargantuan on East 94th Street in 1987, then down to the now Primary Novice, with no less than 187 players! Not defunct Sloan YMCA on 34th Street in 1988-89, too surprisingly, this resulted in a large playoff stopping to rest at the Trinity School on 91st Street among the perfect 5-0 scores. Dan Rohde, a veteran in the early 1990s, then once more back to the of the Greater New York Scholastics himself, Manhattan Chess Club (this time on West 46th having played in each edition from 1996 through Street) in 1993, then all the way downtown to the 2007, faced the unenviable challenge of running a Borough of Manhattan Community College speed playoff of no less than six players to produce (BMCC) from January 1995 – January 1999 (all a clear order of finish in time to hand out the four divisions have been held on the same weekend trophies. No small feat, and the following is the and on the same place since 1995), then to the final order of finish: Aliyah Baugh of Brooklyn’s World Trade Center Marriott Hotel (which was later PS 282 probably won the most number of games of destroyed in the September 11th attacks) in anyone in the hotel that day to come home with the December 1999 – December 2000, then back once First Place trophy. Robert Trief of New York’s more to 34th Street, this time at the New Yorker Columbia Grammar was Second, Natalia Hotel in January 2002, then back downtown one Zduniewicz of PS 153 in Queens was Third, Amadi final time to BMCC in December 2002. It even Utak of Columbia Grammar took 4th, followed by went no place at all in 2004. Zane Greene of Manhattan’s PS 334 and Jared Virasami of New York’s PS 124 (Yung Wing But since January 2005, the tournament has been School) in 5th and 6th, respectively. firmly anchored at New York’s historic New Yorker Hotel on 34th Street and Eight Avenue. In January New York’s Columbia Grammar School scored 17½ 2013, it celebrated its final visit to Midtown with a points to triumph in the team competition, 2 points turnout of 942 entries-- the largest in the current ahead of New York’s PS 116, Manhattan’s Avenues century. School and Brooklyn’s PS 282, who tied for 2nd- 4th team, respectively. Until this year. New York’s oldest scholastic tournament began its 48th edition with a trip east Benjamin Medina of Brooklyn’s PS 748 won the across one of New York’s oldest bridges. The playoff to win the 83-player Primary Varsity Section Brooklyn Bridge Marriott Hotel, just beyond its over Advay Kumar of Greenville Elementary in namesake, proved to be a well-suited and hospitable Scarsdale, after they each had won all five of their host. But it wasn’t just the location which was new preliminary tournament games. Sam Korff of New this year. It was also the format. York’s Columbia Grammar finished in 3rd with 4½. New York’s NEST + m School just squeaked past

26 the Speyer Legacy School in Manhattan on Manhattan (14) and New York’s Trinity School tiebreaks (they each finished with 15½ points) in the (13). team competition, while Dalton took 3rd team with 14 points. Spencer Ha of New York’s Upper Lab School took first on tiebreaks in the 36-player Junior High The tournament’s second-largest section was the Varsity Section with 4½ points, over Amir Moazami 150-player K-1 Section. Three players finished of Horace School in the Bronx. Three with 5 points: James Oh of New York’s PS 199, players scored 4-1 (in tiebreak order): Eldridge Nico Chasin of New York’s PS 41 and Blaise Loya Calixte (IS 318 in Brooklyn), Florizelle Songco (who hails all the way from Bainbridge, NY) then (New York’s Hunter High School) and Nancy Wang finished in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively, after their of IS 318 in Brooklyn. In the team competition, playoff. Lucas Foerster-Yialamas of New York’s perennial powerhouse Intermediate School 318 in Anderson School (PS 334) finished in 4th on Brooklyn continued its dominance of junior high tiebreaks over Jack Levine of PS 41 in Greenwich school chess, scoring 15 points en route to the First Village, which also scored 17½ out of 20 points to Place Team prizes. New York’s NEST + m school win the team competition over Dalton (16) and finished second with 12, while the Upper Lab Collegiate (15). School in Manhattan took 3rd with 11 points.

Four players scored 4½ out of 5 points in the 94- Jefferson Huang of IS 237 in Queens won all five player Elementary Varsity Section (in tiebreak games in the 52-player Junior High Junior-Varsity order): Max Li of Greenville Elementary in Section, and Andrew Cramer of Trinity School, Scarsdale, Andrew Chen of Robert Seaman Manhattan finished in second with 4½. In order of Elementary in Jericho, Grey Sheer and Justin Chen their tiebreaks, the six players who tied for 3rd-8th of PS 124 in Chinatown. The Dalton School took with 4 points are: Avery Hood (Hudson Country First Place Team with 14 points; New York’s Speyer Montessori School in New Rochelle); Grace Xu Legacy finished 2nd with 13, while PS 124 (Chapin School, New York); Joey Liu (PS 334, Manhattan came in 3rd with 12½ points. Manhattan); Hao-Rui Xia (IS 223, Manhattan); Takanori Underwood (PS 282, Brooklyn) and Denis Christopher Wun of New York’s Anderson School Shlqa (IS 228, Brooklyn). New York City’s Trinity did not disappoint, winning no less than five times School won the team competition with 12½ points; to take 1st in the 80-player Elementary Junior- Manhattan’s Mott Hall School (IS 223) took 2nd Varsity Section. In tiebreak order, three players tied with 10 points, while PS 282 in Brooklyn’s Park for 2nd-4th with 4½ points: Alex Luckanish (one Slope finished in 3rd with 9½ points. of a surprisingly large number of Delaware participants), John Louzonis and Masai Williams of In the 42-player Junior High Novice Section, the PS 282 in Brooklyn. PS 282 of Park Slope bested four top-scoring players had one thing in the team competition with 15 points; New York’s common— they all came from Brooklyn’s IS 228 Anderson School (PS 334) scored 14 for 2nd and (the David A Boody School). Bryce Boyd edged Brooklyn’s Alexine A Fenty School (PS 139) out his teammate Andrew Zhong on tiebreaks after finished with 13½ points for 3rd place school. they both finished with 4½ points, while Walter Guerra did likewise with his teammate Tony Sze, The Elementary Novice Section had 114 players, who each scored 4-1. After they won the top five the tournament’s third-largest section. Dylain individual prizes, it was no surprise that IS 228 also Reiner of PS 151 in Manhattan’s Yorkville swept crushed the team competition: scoring 17½ points the section 5-0, and five players tied for 2nd-6th to win the First prize with one round to spare! The with 4½ (in order of tiebreaks): Thierno Diallo of team from neighboring Brooklyn Friends School Brooklyn’s PS 40; David Nachman of PS 166 in probably had the shortest commute to the Manhattan; Aidan Da Grace of the Ethical tournament; they might have carried their 2nd Place Community Charter School in Jersey City, NJ; trophy back home after scoring 11 points. Sakura Laporte of New York’s St. Bernard School Manhattan’s NEST + m School scored 9½ points to and Theodore Fahey of PS 217 in Brooklyn. PS finish in 3rd. 166 in Manhattan was the First Place School Team with 14½ points, followed by 2nd place PS 59 in Nafitul Bhuiyan of Edward R Murrow High School

27 in Brooklyn swept the 35-player High School (4th); James Black (2300) of Edward R Murrow Novice Section 5-0, and six players tied for 2nd High (5th) and NM Justus Wiliams (2374) of the with 4-1 (in order of tiebreaks): Ian Fade; Jonathan Bronx Center for Science and Math. Owens (Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft, NJ); Thomas Roddy (Rondout Valley High School, This year another perennial powerhouse was back Accord, NY); Gabriel Aguilar (Christian Brothers as well. Hometown Edward R Murrow High Academy); Adam Chang (Northport High School, School in Brooklyn had already clinched First Place Northport, NY) and James Panullo (Christian before the last round had started, finishing with 16½ Brothers Academy). New Jersey’s Christian out of 20 possible points. Fellow long-time New Brothers Academy also “lapped” the others in the York City High School powerhouse Stuyvesant team competition, chalking up 15½ points, ahead of High in Manhattan scored 12 points to clinch 2nd, the three-player contingent from Massapequa (8½) while the Bronx Center for Science and Math team in second, and St. Raymond’s High School in the finished in 3rd with 10 points. Bronx (7½), which took third. This was also the second year for Mixed Doubles The 56-player High School Junior-Varsity Section prizes in the High School Sections. The average saw yet another perfect player emerge: 7th grader rating had to be Under 2000 this year and the male- Michael Koufakis of Manhattan’s Booker T female two-player teammates could each play in Washington School (JHS 54). Christopher Haack of any of the three sections, and did not have to be New York City’s Browning School took clear from the same school. The First Place Mixed Second with 4½ points, while three players tied for Doubles Team was Edel Cuate and Alex Ostrovskiy 3rd-5th with 4-1 (in tiebreak order): Stefek Yurgel (average rating 1860), who scored 8 out of a (IS 318, Brooklyn); Benji Weinstein (New York’s possible 10 points. Second Mixed Doubles Team Solomon Schechter School) and Vicki Yang was Anne Gail-Moreland and Alex Spinnell (Brooklyn’s IS 318). The Christian Brothers (average rating 1579), who scored a combined 7 Academy returned home to Lincroft, NJ with points. The third team was Kristina Girdano and another First Place Team trophy as well, although Luke Skurka (average rating 881), who scored a this one was somewhat more exciting than their total of 6 points. High School Novice triumph: they scored 13 points to edge out 2nd-place IS 318, who scored 12½ One of the traditions of the Greater New York points to outscore their fellow Brooklynite rivals Scholastics is the large number of free entry prizes Brooklyn Tech High School, who ended up in third awarded to the top-scoring individuals and teams. with 10 points. Through the cooperation of the Marshall Chess Club, the free entries awarded to the winners are for The flagship High School Varsity Section had 46 use in most of the Club’s tournaments. Through the players, five of whom were rated over 2200— more years the free entry winners of the Greater New than many states have competing in their state York Scholastics include Hikaru Nakamura, Mark championships. This year would be the final Arnold, Robert Hess, Alex Lenderman, Igor opportunity for 12th grader IM Alex Ostrovskiy to Shliperman, Dmytro Kedyk, Joshua Colas, Justus win this title. Alex had had some bumpy finishes in Williams and Alex Ostrovskiy, a Who’s Who among previous years’ editions of the High School Varsity, the nation’s top scholastic talent. These prizes are and this year the Board One of Edward R Murrow an important and unique feature of the tournament. High was determined not to falter. His persistence The top individual prizes are good for several paid off, and Alex defeated all five opponents to months’ worth of free entries, providing invaluable turn in an impressive 2569 performance rating en opportunities to practice and improve at one of the route to his long-sought victory this year. The level world’s most active tournament centers. This year of competition in this section could be gauged by the big free entry winner was, not too surprisingly, the fact that the average rating of the five players IM Alex Ostrovskiy, who won First Prize in the who tied for second with 4 points was well over High School Varsity (free entries through August 2200: Azzez Alade (2124) of Edward R Murrow 1st) plus First Place Team, Board One (eight more High (2nd on tiebreaks); NM Joshua Colas (2372) weeks of free entries) plus First Prize, Mixed of White Plains High School (3rd); NM Alisher Doubles Team (12 more weeks of free entries)! Podavonov (2202) of Brooklyn Tech High School (continued on page 18)

28 Upcoming NYSCA-Sponsored and Major Tournaments

Most third Saturdays of month there will be the Monthly Buffalo Grand Prix Events at the Main Place Mall in Buffalo.4-SS, TL: Rounds 1 & 2,G/45, Rounds 3 & 4 G/60 Prizes: 1st-2nd Guaranteed $250-150-100, Class $75. Reg.: 8:30-9:15 a.m., Rounds.: 9:30-11:20-1:10-3:30 EF: $50. U1600 EF: $35, $150-90-60, ALL PRIZES EXCEPT 1st & 2nd in OPEN, BASED ON 20 ENTRIES. Scholastic EF: $15, Trophies for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place. Adv. Entries/Info: Archangel 8 Chess Academy, [email protected], 60F Guilford Lane, Buffalo, NY 14221. See www.buffalochess.blogspot.com for future dates and details.

Chess Magnet School Junior Grand Prix! MARCH 30 & APRIL 6 5th Annual Broome County Championship/Francis Cordisco Memorial 6SS, G/75 d5. PRIZES: $500 GUARANTEED. Open: $150-$75-$50. Reserve: $125-$60-$40(U1700). Trophies 1st - 3rd both sections. All participates receive award. EF: Open $40 Reserve $35. 1st place trophies county residents only. Non county residents welcome. Reg.: Sun. 9AM-9:45AM 3/30/14. RDS.: 10am-1PM- 4PM both days. Checks payable: "Cordisco's Corner Store, 308 Chenango St., Binghamton, NY 13901. 607- 772-8782. [email protected].

APRIL 5, 12, 19, 26 MAY 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 JUNE 7, 14, 21, 28 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.

APRIL 11 Memorial Blitz Tournament (BLZ) TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 40 (ENHANCED) 9-SS, G/3 +2 sec increment. Marshall CC, 23 W. 10th St., NYC. 212-477-3716. $$G 2500: $600-400-300-200, top U2400/unr, U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600: $150 each, Best Senior born in or before 1953: $100-50, Best Junior born in or after 1999: $100. EF: $40, members $30. FIDE & USCF Blitz-rated, but highest available rating used for pairings & prizes. Reg. ends 6:45 pm. Rds.:7-7:30-7:50-8:10-8:40-9-9:20-9:40-10 pm. Three byes available, request at entry. Please bring clocks if possible! www.marshallchessclub.org. This tournament has been made possible through the generosity of Mr. Paul M. Albert Jr.

Chess Magnet School Junior Grand Prix! APRIL 26 2014 Watertown Open Chess Tournament 4 rounds-Swiss System Pairings, G/75 d5, H pt Bye rds. 1-3. Location: American Red Cross, 2d Flr. Conference Rm., 203 N. Hamilton St., Watertown, NY. $125 Prize fund b/10 total paid entries. $75, first, $30, 2nd & $20, class. Reg.: 8:30-9:20 AM. Rds.: 9:30 AM, 12:15, 3 and 5:30 PM. EF: $23, $25 at door ($20 for WCC members), send to Don Klug, 518 Sherman St., Watertown, NY 13601. D. Klug 315-785-8800.

Chess Magnet School Junior Grand Prix! MAY 16-18 OR 17-18 22nd annual New York State Open TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 20 (ENHANCED) See Back Cover.

May 18: 53rd Binghamton Monthly Tournament 4-SS, G/65 d5. Prizes: $300 b/26. Open-$100-$60-$30; Reserve-$50-$40-$20 (U1700). Trophies: 1-3 Reserve section. Advance Entry: EF's Reduced! Open-$20 Reserve-$15 (U1700) $5 more on site-cash only on site. Schedule: Registration on site 8:45–9:15 AM. Rounds: 9:30-12Noon-2:30-4:45. Free & board to all new players under 18 years of age. Mail Entry: checks payable to: "Cordisco's Corner Store", 308 Chenango St., Binghamton, NY 13901 (607) 772-8782, [email protected].

29 Chess Magnet School Junior Grand Prix! JUNE 7-8 2014 Tree Doctor International Chess Tournament TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 40 “Chess is growing in Western NY!” Presented by The Amateur Chess Association of WNY in affiliation with The Archangel 8 Chess Academy. 5SS, G/120 d5. Location: Old First Ward Community Center, 62 Republic St., Buffalo, NY 14204. $4000.00 Guaranteed Total Prize Money 2 Sections: Open: $1000, 750, 500. U1800: 750, 500, 300. $100 bonus prize for top score in each section among ACAOWNY members. You play opponents in your section only. Unrated players in the U1800 Section can only win $125. Entry fee $42 if received by June 1st, $50 thereafter (cash only at the door). Rounds at: Saturday 10:00; 2:30; 7:00 Sunday: 10:00; 2:30. Byes will be available for rounds 1, 2, 3, and, 4, if requested prior to round 2. Register no later than 9am on Saturday. Bring sets, boards, and, clocks. None will be supplied. Complimentary food and refreshments will be available on both days. Mail entry to: Brian Sayers, 4746 Shisler Rd., Clarence, NY 14031. Checks payable to: The Amateur Chess Association of WNY. Inquiries: call Gary Boye at 716-799- 5655 or email: [email protected].

Chess Magnet School Junior Grand Prix! JUNE 12-16 2014 North American Youth Championship 9SS, G/90 + 30-sec Inc., Doubletree Tarrytown Hotel, 455 South Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591, USA. Hotel Rate: $139, mention CHESS. Reserve by May 10, 2014, 1-914-631-5700. Free Parking, Free Internet and Complementary Shuttle Service within a 5-mile radius. FIDE Titles and Norms Awarded! 12 Sections: Under 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 and 8, both Open and Girls. Age as of January 1, 2014. Trophies to Top 5 in each Section. Titles and Norms Awarded: U18: Gold (1st, on Tie-Breaks, if Necessary) – IM/WIM Title; 1st Equal (down to 3rd place on tie-breaks) – IM/WIM ; Silver & Bronze (2nd and 3rd on Tie-Breaks, if Necessary) – FM Title. U16: Gold – IM/WIM Norm; 1st Equal (down to 3rd place on tie-breaks) – FM Title; Silver & Bronze – CM Title. U14 & U12: Gold – FM Title; Silver & Bronze – CM Title. U10 & U8 – First Equal (down to 3rd place on tie-breaks), Silver & Bronze – CM Title. Sections with less than 8 players may be combined. FIDE Rules. USCF and FIDE rated. Highest Rating (FIDE, USCF, Canadian, Mexican) used for pairing purposes, June Rating Lists. Tournament Entry Fee: $100 Per Player by April 11, $115 by May 16, $135 after May 16. USCF Membership is required for USA Players. No half-points byes, only zero-point byes.On-site registration June 12 from 9:30am- 4pm. Players registering after 4pm will receive a zero-point bye for Rd. 1 and will commence play on Rd. 2. Schedule: Thursday, June 12: -In starts at 9:30am, Round 1 – 6pm. Friday: Round 2 – 11am, Round 3 – 5pm, Saturday: Round 4 – 10am, Round 5 – 6pm. Sunday: Round 6 – 11am, Round 7 – 5pm. Monday: Round 8 – 8:30am, Round 9 – 1:30pm. Awards Ceremony – 6pm.Blitz: Thursday, June 12 at 11am (Onsite registration until 10am). Countries may register only one official player in each of the 12 main event sections but may register any number of additional players. For more information please visit the official event website:http://www.chesseducators.com/2014/01/09/the-north- american-youth-chess-championship-returns-to-the-usa/. Contact: IO Beatriz Marinello, [email protected], (917) 553-4522.

Chess Magnet School Junior Grand Prix! JUNE 18-22 7th New York International TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 200 (ENHANCED) Open to all players rated 2200 or above (USCF or FIDE) and special invitees. 9 rounds, Swiss System, 40/90, SD/30, 30 second increment. Prizes: $12,500 unconditionally guaranteed: $5000-2500-1500-1000, U2500 FIDE $1,000, U2400 $1,000, U2300 $500, plus special brilliancy prize.Entry fee: $400 in advance, $450 on site. Players with USCF ratings over 2200 with no FIDE rating: $350 advance/$400 at site. Players with USCF ratings over 2200 and FIDE rating U2200: $300 in advance/$350 at site. USA players with FIDE ratings over 2200: $250 in advance, $300 at site. USA IMs, USA WGMs, and foreign FIDE rated players: $200 in advance/$250 at site. GMs, foreign IMs, and foreign WGMs: free, no money deducted from prize fund. $25 less for Marshall Chess Club members. Registration: Advance: must be received by 6/13 (call MCC with credit card, mail check, or online). On site: Until one hour before round. Rounds - 6/18, 7 pm, 6/19-6/22: 11 am & 5 pm. Byes: limit 2, must commit before round 3; limit 1 bye rounds 8-9. FIDE IM/GM norms possible, must play all rounds. FIDE Rating used for pairings and prizes. We expect this tournament to be a Super Swiss as in the

30 previous years with norms possible independent of opponents' federation. Last year 2 GM- and 3 IM-Norms were achieved! For details on New York City playing site, special hotel rate and additional sections please refer to May CL or to www.marshallchessclub.org.

Third Tuesday of each month. Marshall Masters at the Marshall Chess Club. 4-SS, G/30. 23 W. 10th St., NYC. 212-477-3716. Open to players rated over 2100 (plus all players scoring 2 ½ or more from CCNY at the Marshall's Thursday Night Action) EF: $40, members $30, GMs $10 (returned on completion of tournament). Top three prizes guaranteed. $$Guaranteed 250-150-100. Top Under 2400 and Top Under 2300 prizes. Special prize for biggest upset. Reg.: 6:15-6:45. Rounds.: 7-8:15-9:30-10:45 p.m. One bye available, rounds 1 or 4 only.

Labor Day Weekend: the 136th New York State Chess Championship. Albany Marriott, Wolf Road, Colonie, NY. America's Labor Day Tradition. See the Spring issue for full information. www.nysca.net -- your source for New York State Chess Information. Now on Twitter at #nystatechess, and on facebook.

News from the Marshall (from page 25) The February 28th Marshall $500 FIDE Blitz tournament was a triumph for GM Alexander Stripunsky, who won the 25-player event outright with a 7-2 score. GM's Aleksandt Lenderman, former World Championship runner- up GM Gata Kamsky and FM Carlos Mena tied for second with 6 ½ points. Lenderman defeated Kamsky in dramatic fashion in the last round of the tournament to move up the standings and deprive Kamsky of a victory. Stripunsky beat SM Alexander King in the last round. FM Rico Salimbagat was clear fifth with six points, and he beat Lenderman while losing only to the other leaders.

Alexander King directed and scored 5 ½ points in this event, for a truly impressive performance.

The February 27th edition of Marshall Four Games Tonight ended in a three-way tie with 3 ½ points between GM Aleksandr Lenderman, IM Akshat Chandra and FM Carlos Mena. All three leaders in the 25-player tournament drew in the third round, with Lenderman and Chandra drawing while Mena drew IM Jay Bonin. IM Justin Sarkar was clear fourth with an undefeated 3-1 score which includes a half-point bye and a draw to NM Boris Privman.

GM Michael Rohde, IM Jay Bonin and NM Oliver Chernin tied for fifth with 2 ½ points. Alexander King directed.

In honor of President's Day, and as a bow to the scholastic campers studying at the Marshall for the break week, the Marshall hosted a President's Day Grand Prix, which drew 39 players. The five-round event was a triumph for GM Aleksandr Lenderman and FM Leif Pressman, both of whom finished with 4 ½ points. Lenderman conceded a draw to FM Svetoslav Dorobanov in the third ronnd, while Pressman had a half-point bye “Swiss Gambit” in the first round and won four straight to go to the top. FM Carlos Mena was clear third with four points, lsoing to NM Oliver Chernin. Chernin, NM Adam Maltese, NM Gary Huang, Yefrem Zats and Spencer Ha. Dr, Marcus Fenner directed for the Marshall.

The March 18th edition of the Marshall Masters drew 24 players to the world-famous club. The tournament was won by GM Mikheil Kekelidze with 3 ½ points, which was enough for a clear first-place finish. The regular Marshall Grandmaster drew IM Akshat Chandra in the third round, but won his last-round game against NM Levy Rozen. Top-rated GM Aleksandr Lenderman was upset in the first round by Illinois NM Gopal Menon in the first round, and then won three straight to tie for second with Chandra, GM Mark Paragua, GM Maxim Dlugy and SM Joshua Colas with three points each. All of the other second-place finishers were undefeated. The tournament was directed for the Marshall by Bryan Quick.

31 Chess Magnet School Junior Grand Prix MAY 16-18 OR 17-18, 2014

22nd annual NEW YORK STATE OPEN at beautiful Lake George, NY TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 20 (ENHANCED) 5-SS, 40/110, SD/30, d10 (2-day option, rounds 1-2 G/60, d10). Tiki Resort, 2 Canada St., Lake George, NY 12845. $3000 GUARANTEED PRIZES. In 3 sections. Open Section: $$ 400-200-150, Top Under 2010/Unrated $210-110, Top Under 1810/Unrated $200-100. Senior Section: Open to under 1910 or unrated born before 5/20/64. $$ 300-150-70, top Under 1710 $120-60. Under 1610 Section: $$ 250-130-70, Under 1310 $120-60, unrated limit $150; trophies to top Under 1200, Under 1000, Under 800, Unrated.

Mixed doubles bonus prizes: best male/female 2-player "team" combined score among all sections: $200-100. Team must average under 2200; teammates may play in different sections; teams must register (no extra fee) before both players begin round two; teammate pairings avoided but possible.

Entry fee: $79 online at chessaction.com by 5/14, $85 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 5/12 (entry only, no questions), 3-day $83, 2-day $82 mailed by 5/7, $90 online until 2 hours before game or at site. ADVANCE ENTRY OR LATE ONLINE ENTRY $7 LESS TO NYSCA MEMBERS (NYSCA dues $12/year, may be paid with entry fee). No checks at site, credit cards OK.

Special one-year USCF dues with magazine if paid with entry- online at chessaction.com, Adult $30, Young Adult $20, Scholastic $15. Mailed, phoned or paid at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $30, Scholastic $20. Re-entry $40, not available in Open Section. GMs free, $60 deducted from prize.

Three-day schedule: Registration ends Friday 6 pm, rounds. Friday 7 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. & 5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. & 3:30 p.m. 2-day schedule: Registration ends Sat 10 am, rounds Saturday 11 a.m., 2 & 5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. & 3:30 p.m.. Half-point byes OK all, must commit before round two; limit two byes (limit one bye if under 1810/unrated in Open).

Hotel rates: $80-80, call 518-668-5744 Mon-Fri 9 am-5pm, reserve by 5/2 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.

Entry: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803. Questions: chesstour.info, DirectorAtChess.us, 347-201-2269. $15 service charge for refunds. Advance entries posted at chessaction.com (online entries posted instantly).

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