Where Organized Chess in America Began EMPIRE CHESS Summer 2017 Volume XL, No.2 $5.00
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Where Organized Chess in America Began EMPIRE CHESS Summer 2017 Volume XL, No.2 $5.00 Boys from Syracuse Roll in North Country Empire Chess P.O. Box 340969 Brooklyn, NY 11234 NEW YORK STATE CHESS ASSOCIATION, INC. www.nysca.net The New York State Chess Association, Inc., America‘s oldest chess organization, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting chess in New York State at all levels. As the State Affiliate of the United States Chess Federation, its Directors also serve as USCF Voting Members and Delegates. President Bill Goichberg PO Box 249 Chess Rising in NY and US Salisbury Mills, NY 12577 [email protected] It wasn’t that many years ago that the rise of computer chess was seen as the Vice President death knell for the Royal Game. Why would humans play and study a game Polly Wright only to fall short against electronics? 57 Joyce Road Eastchester, NY 10709 [email protected] Deep Blue beat World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. New York State Chess Hall of Famer Grandmaster Joel Benjamin was a key member of Treasurer the project team for the Deep Blue victory. That win was a major publicity Karl Heck 177 Broad Street #C success for IBM, the largest computer company in the world at the time. Catskill, NY 12414 [email protected] Twenty years later, NYSCA hosted the largest New York State Scholastic Membership Secretary Championship ever held with over 1,000 players, and US Chess hosted the Phyllis Benjamin largest scholastic chess tournament ever held in the United States with almost P.O. Box 340969 6,000 players. The US Supernationals may outgrow the largest convention Brooklyn, NY 11234-0511 [email protected] hotel in the United States. Board of Directors Not one of those players was born at the time of the Deep Blue victory over Upstate Downstate William Townsend Phyllis Benjamin Kasparov. All of them chose to study and invest in chess anyway. Why? I Bill Goichberg Dr. Frank Brady am sure there are many and varied reasons. Chess helps develop your mind. Shelby Lohrman Margarita Lanides Chess is an interesting and ever-rich intellectual game for the masses that is Karl Heck Lenny Chipkin Ron Lohrman Ed Frumkin not “solved,” despite the brute-force nature of computers. The advent and Brenda Goichberg Polly Wright expansion of scholastic and college teams have made chess more of a school Steve Immitt Dolly Teasley activity like sports teams. Sophia Rohde Harold Stenzel People still ultimately care about the brilliance of humans in a human activity, Carol Jarecki Joe Felber though. Baseball could replace increasingly frail pitchers with a pitching Sunil Weeramantry machine on the mound that could deliver a strike every time. Do the fans want to see that happen? Of course not. The competition is between two human teams, and mistakes are part of the human game. Tournament Clearinghouses Zip Codes under 12000 (downstate) The same is true in chess. All chess players strive to be as good as they can Bill Goichberg [email protected] be, and “play the perfect game.” It rarely happens, but the goal is a worthy one that players have strived to achieve for hundreds of years. More books NYS Zip Codes over 11999 (upstate) Karl Heck [email protected] have been written on chess than all other games combined, and there is no “answer” to the game yet. In recent years, the 500-year-old Giuoco Piano Deadlines opening has gained in popularity as new ideas are discovered. December 15 for the Winter Issue March 15 for the Spring Issue June 15 for the Summer Issue You play an amazing game. One that won’t be exhausted in our lifetimes. Go September 15 for the Fall Issue out and enjoy! Advertising Manager Contact the Editor. 2 EMPIRE CHESS Where organized chess began in America Volume XL, Number 2 Summer 2017 Cover: Syracuse’s Roger Weiskopff considers a move against Watertown’s Steve Dunn in the 2017 Watertown Open. Wesikopff was one of the “Boys of Syracuse” that swept the North Country event. Photo by Don Klug. From the Editor 2 Table of Contents 3 Samadashvili wins NY Open Battle of Lake George by Bill Townsend 4 The Boys from Syracuse Win Watertown Open by Don Klug 9 Second Kreitner Tournament by Neal Bellon 11 Breaking Opening Stereotypes by Zachary Calderon 13 Notes from the Marshall from staff reports 15 Open Lines by Karl Heck 18 Rochester News (including Marchand Open) by Karl Heck 21 Three-Way Tie at 17th Queens Team by Ed Frumkin 24 Evans Gambit: Normal Position by Richard Moody 26 Updated New York State Chess Club Directory 28 New York Tournaments 30 Editor: Karl Heck, [email protected]. Webmaster: Daniel Heck, www.nysca.net. Empire Chess, the official publication of the New York State Chess Association, Inc., is published quarterly. No liability is assumed with respect to the use of any information contained herein, or for any advertised products. Opinions expressed are solely those of the contributors, and not necessarily those of NYSCA. Empire Chess is COPYRIGHTED, 2017. Empire Chess accepts articles, games, tournament reports, art work and photos. No responsibility is assumed for unsolicited material. All material submitted for publication becomes the property of Empire Chess, and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Letters received by Empire Chess are accepted & subject to editing. Please send to: Karl Heck, [email protected]. Membership in the NYSCA: $20/year with four printed Empire Chess; $12/year with online Empire Chess (two printed). To join, write to: Phyllis Benjamin, P.O. Box 340969, Brooklyn, NY 11234. NYSCA membership now gets you discounts at Continental Chess Association events in New York State and certain New York State Championship tournaments. Please send articles and advertisements in camera-ready format for publication. (TIF file, Adobe Photoshop, 100 lines per inch). Chess games should be in ChessBase, with boards and positions in final form. Articles should be sent via e-mail, in Microsoft Word, Times New Roman font, size 11. Deadline for the Fall issue is September 15, 2017, although earlier submissions are appreciated, and will more easily guarantee a space in the next magazine. 3 The battle of Lake George WFM Martha Samadashvili wins the 25th New York State Open by Bill Townsend WFM Martha Samadashvili (2183) The 25rd Annual New York State Open took place David Finnerman (2006) [A25] English May 19 to 21 in Lake George Village, a summer 25th New York State Open, Round 5 resort community in the southern Adirondacks, about Lake George Village, NY, May 21, 2017 an hour north of New York’s Capital District. Overall about 88 players competed in the four sections, which 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 d6 6.0– was down sharply from last year’s record turnout of 0 Nge7 105. Nevertheless, this is still the event’s second After 6...Nf6?! 7.d4! looks strong for White. highest player count since it moved upstate in 2005. 7.e3 0–0 8.d4 exd4 9.exd4 Bg4 After this awkward pin, I would say the game is However, the downturn is still a puzzle – this event roughly equal. has a lot of appeal. Lake George Village is a summer 10.Ne2 Nf5 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Nfxd4 vacation destination and is usually packed in July and Since this doesn't, in fact, win a pawn, continuing to August. The week before Memorial Day many of the build the pressure with 12...Re8 looks better for attractions are open but free from the stifling summer Black. crowds. The weather was good most of the weekend 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Bxb7 Rb8 15.Bg2 Re8 16.Be3 c5 – sunny and in the high 60s until rain finally moved 16...Nf5 17.Bxa7 Rxb2 seems like an improvement for in late Sunday. Black. 17.Rb1 Nf5 18.Bc1 Bd4 19.Kh2 Qf6 20.b3 Be5 Nowhere was the turnout more puzzling than in the 21.Qf3 Nd4 22.Qd5 Qe6 23.Bb2 Qxd5 24.Bxd5 Open section. Last year the winner was former U.S. Now that the Queens are off the game is starting to Champion Joel Benjamin, who was not the first GM look drawish. to win here. This year the winner was WFM Martha 24...Re7 25.Bxd4 Bxd4 26.Bf3 Samadashvili, who at 2183 was the event’s highest The opposite-colored Bishops and only one open file rated player. In fact there were only four players for the Rooks make a draw even more likely, but the rated over 2000 present. Where was everyone? players try to resist the inevitable for a while. 26...Re6 27.Bg4 Re7 28.Bf3 Re6 29.Kg2 Kf8 Anyway, Martha won her first four games, and then 30.Rfd1 Be5 31.Bg4 f5 32.Bf3 a5 33.Bd5 Re7 gave up a draw against David Finnerman in the final 34.Bc6 Rc8 35.Bb5 Bd4 36.Re1 Rcc7 37.Kf1 Rxe1+ round to end up as the only player with 4½. Michael 38.Rxe1 Re7 39.Rxe7 ½–½ W. Mockler was clear second with an undefeated 4-2. Here White offered a draw which Black accepted. Third through fifth with 3½ were David Finnerman, Once the last pair of Rooks is gone, nobody is Michael Ny Cheng and Peter Craig. Sixth through winning this opposite-colored Bishop ending.) tenth with 3-2 were: Immad Sadiq, Brian Furtado, Spencer Martin, David Khaitov and Luis-Jaime Here’s a more lively game, an upset from the first Casenas.