The official publication of the Texas Association Volume 58, Number 3 P.O. Box 151804, Ft. Worth, TX 76108 Jan-Feb 2017 $4 Texas Teams 2017!

En Passant Chess Team (Tied for Second Place) Polo Stein - 9th Grade, Carlos De Leon - 7th Grade , WIlliam McNutt (Team Captain) - 6th Grade and Michael Casas - 5th Grade. Table of Contents From the Desk of the TCA President ...... 4 2017 Texas Team Championships ...... 6 7th Annual Austin Championship by Drew Sarkisian ...... 8 Boris Spassky: Caissa’s Goodwill Ambassador by Kay Hale ...... 12 Tactics Time! by Tim Brennan (answers on page 18) ...... 15 Leader List ...... 16 Opinion by Jim Hollingsworth ...... 19 2016 Denker Tournament by Bovey Liu ...... 20 2016 UT-Dallas Fall Open ...... 23 Coach’s Corner - e4! by Robert L. Myers ...... 25 Upcoming Events ...... 30 facebook.com/TexasChess texaschess.org

TEXAS CHESS ASSOCIATION www.texaschess.org

President: Eddie Rios, [email protected]. Vice-President: Forrest Marler, [email protected]. Secretary: Lori Balkum, [email protected]. Treasurer: Barb Swafford, 2709 Longhorn Trail, Crowley, TX 76036-4719; [email protected]. Editor: Jeff French, P.O. Box 151804, Ft. Worth, TX 76108; [email protected]. Webmaster: Jeff French, [email protected]. Tournament Clearinghouse: Lori Balkum, [email protected] Texas Chess Association is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit corporation dedicated to promoting chess in Texas.

Membership Dues (annual): Regular: $10, Family: $15. Non-subscribing: $5. Patron: $25. Family Patron: $30. (18 and under) or Student: $7.50. Lifetime Regular: $200. Lifetime Patron: $500. Foreign: Canada and Mexico $12.50, Others $17.50. Club: $25. Scholastic Club: $10. Foreign Club: $40.

Ad rates: $50/page, $35/half, $20/quarter (Club membership includes 1 free quarter-page ad a year), $1/line.

Send to TCA Treasurer, 2709 Longhorn Trail, Crowley, TX 76036-4719. Give name, address, city, state and zip code; also phone and e-mail. Contributions beyond membership fees are tax deductible.

TCA Hall of Honor Selby K. Anderson JJ Guajardo Marcus Roberts Ruben Arzaga Edward G. Guetzow George Rohrer Clarence Callaway, Jr. Danny and Brenda Hardesty Luis Salinas Michael E. Carpenter James Houghtaling Jr. Clayton Swafford Family Carmen Chairez Peter Kappler Rodney J. Thomas George W. Church, Jr. R. Lynn Leone Family Harmon Throneberry Darby Cox Patrick C. Long Louis Thurston Renate Garcia Family Mark E. McCue Lakshmana Viswanath Family George A. Mota

Contributors: Tim Brennan, Kay Hale, Peter Kappler, Jim Hollingsworth, Howard Lee McNutt, Robert Myers, Drew Sarkisian Cover photo: Howard Lee McNutt

Game annotations, if not attributed, are a collaboration of Jeff French and Fritz 15.

Send submissions by e-mail to [email protected], or mail to P.O. Box 151804, Ft. Worth, TX 76108 (please include contact information). All contents of Texas Knights ©2016 by the Texas Chess Association, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way without express consent of the editor.

 Articles  Results Content for the next issue needs to be  Photos  Games delivered to the Editor by March 10th!

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From the Desk of The Editor

Hello and Happy New Year!

It looks like 2017 has the potential to be an active year for Texas Chess. The event list in this issue, which only covers February, March and a little of April, is full of opportunity for players of every age and playing strength to compete.

We have some new authors in this issue as-well-as familiar submitters. Regardless of whether your are an old hand or new face, I appreciate everyone that participates in the creation of our publication. A big thank you, as always, for your support.

In this issue, you will find:  Results from the Texas Teams Tournam