VIRGINIA CHESS Newsletter The bimonthly publication of the Virginia Chess Federation 2013 - #4 Alexander Alekhine (see page 13) Send in your World Open Games and win Book Prizes (see page 5) Virginia State Championship coming up Labor Day weekend (see page 8) VIRGINIA CHESS Newsletter 2013 - Issue #4 Editor: Circulation: Macon Shibut Ernie Schlich 8234 Citadel Place 1370 South Braden Crescent Vienna VA 22180 Norfolk VA 23502 [email protected] [email protected] k w r Virginia Chess is published six times per year by the Virginia Chess Federation. Membership benefits (dues: $10/yr adult; $5/yr junior under 18) include a subscription to Virginia Chess. Send material for publication to the editor. Send dues, address changes, etc to Circulation. The Virginia Chess Federation (VCF) is a non-profit organization for the use of its members. Dues for regular adult membership are $10/yr. Junior memberships are $5/ yr. President: Andrew Rea, 6102 Lundy Pl, Burke VA 22015 andrerea2@yahoo. com Treasurer/Membership Secretary: Ernie Schlich, 1370 South Braden Crescent, Norfolk VA 23502, [email protected] Scholastics Coordinator: Mike Hoffpauir, 405 Hounds Chase, Yorktown VA 23693, [email protected] Virginia/Maryland/DC Tournament Clearinghouse: Mike Atkins, [email protected] VCF Inc Directors: Mike Hoffpauir (Chairman), Ernie Schlich, Adam Weissbarth, Andrew Rea, Adam Chrisney. otjnwlkqbhrp 2013 - #3 1 otjnwlkqbhrp 2013 Charlottesville Open by Ernie Schlich HE CHARLOTTESVILLE OPEN was played July 13-14. Quentin Moore Tswept through a strong Open Section with a 5-0 score. Jay Shapiro won the Under 1700 section 4½ points. Round one kicked off with two upset draws in the Open. VCF President Andy Rea surrendered half a point to Nathan Lohr, and Duy Minh Nguyen drew with Stephen Malott. Duy Minh is part of a family of three young brothers and a sister who visited from Texas. Keith Carson had a very nice tournament, drawing #2-seeded Ruifeng Li (2326 - also from TX) and beating #5-seeded Franco Jose (2155) in round 4. Unfortunately for Kieth, he was also on the other end of an upset that put #28 Nathan Lohr (1757) into the prize pool. In the final round, the last remaining undefeated players met on board 1. Moore won a hard fought game against Adithya Balasubramanian. The loss dropped Adithya into a tie for 2nd-4th with Advait Patel and Justin Lohr. Patel beat Alex Draifinger in the final round while Lohr topped Larry Larkins in a time forfeit where Larry may have had a won game. Other Open prizewinners included Duy Minh Nguyen & Alex Draifinger (=5th-6th); Sean Senft (top class A); and Jonathan Yu, Nathan Lohr & Gerardo Alcantara (= top B). There were even more upsets in the first round of the Under 1700 Section. #3-seeded Tim Harlow could only draw #22 Christie Nolan, while #4 Charles Huffman, #10 Raponyer McClaine and #14 Anh Nhu Nguyen (the sister from the Texas crew) lost to #23 Avijith Rajan, #29 Wesley Kandare and #33 Franklin He, respectively. Both the He boys cashed in this event, and I would not be surprised if they both find themselves in the Open group next year. Shapiro drew Andrew Mao in the final round on the top board to wrap up the tourney. Mao tied for 2nd-3rd with Avijith Rajan. Stephen Tucker, Chris Giofreda, Charles Huffman, William Moore Jr & Gavin Moore shared the 4th place prize, while Eathan Zhou & Douglas Extrada split top Under 1500. Other prizewinners in the section included Alexander He, Franklin He, Triya Venkataraja & Dana Fraley. Ernie Schlich directed the event with assistance from Mike Cornell. The Charlottesville Open drew 80+ players for the third year in a row. The VCF was pleased to be able to increase the advertised prize fund from $2000 to $3000. (The previous year’s event paid $2700.) Several players commented that they had fun and enjoyed the chess. 2 Virginia Chess Newsletter otjnwlkqbhrp The annotations for the following Charlottesville Open games came without attribution. Presumably they are by Jay Shapiro, who won both games. —ed Jay Shapiro - William Moore Jr Ruy Lopez 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 d6 4 c3 Bd7 5 O-O Nf6 6 Re1 Be7 7 d4 exd4 [Giving White the center he strives for; 7...O-O is the strongest and most natural move here.] 8 cxd4 O-O 9 Nc3 a6 10 Ba4 [This move is an inaccuracy. 10 Be2 gives White a pleasant edge and avoids the irritating pin arising from Bg4] 10...Bg4 11 Be3 Qc8 [This move doesn’t seem to do anything at all. 11...d5, to contest White’s strong central pawns, seems more prudent.] 12 Bxc6?! [Intending to create targets on the c-file for White’s rook and queen, but perhaps Rc1 first was stronger.] 12...bxc6 13 Rc1 Rd8 14 Qe2 [Getting the queen off the d-file prevents tricks and prepares e5] 14...Qb7 15 b3 Rab8?! [The rook does nothing here. Perhaps best is to admit that fact and -------- spend two moves (Re8 and Rad8) to centralize/ T +t+l+\ the rooks.] 16 h3 Bh5 17 Bf4 [strengthening/+wO NoOo\ control over e5] 17...Re8 18 e5 [Trying to force 18...dxe5, which would stick Black with/o+oO + +\ doubled, isolated c-pawns.] 18...Nd5? [Black/+ +jP +n\ tries moving the knight instead, but this runs/ + P B +\ into some tactics.] (diagram) /+pH +h+p\ 19 Nxd5 cxd5 20 exd6 [20 g4 Bg6 and only then 21 exd6 is stronger, but the text /p+ +qPp+\ is sufficient.] 20...Bxd6? [20...cxd6 21 /+ R R K \ Bxd6 Bxf3 is a better try here, but White ________ still gets White a winning position after 22 Qxe7! Rxe7 23 Rxe7 Qxe7 24 Bxe7] 21 Qxe8+ [Now Black is hopelessly lost.] 21...Rxe8 22 Rxe8+ Bf8 23 Rxc7 Qb4 24 Rcc8 h6 25 Rxf8+ Kh7 [By declining to trade his queen for the two rooks, Black presumably hoped to harass White’s king and go for perpetual, but he never gets the chance.] 26 Rh8+ Kg6 27 Nh4+ Kf6 28 Rc6+ Ke7 29 Bd6+ [29 Nf5+ Kd7 30 Rc7+ Ke6 31 Nxg7+ Kf6 32 Nxh5+ leads to mate, eg 32...Kg6 33 Rxh6+ Kf5 34 Ng3+ Kxf4 35 Rxf7+ Kg5 36 Rg7+ Kxh6 37 Nf5+ Kh5 38 g4mate. However, the simple move played seals the deal anyway.] 29...Qxd6 30 Nf5+ 1-0 Stephen Tucker - Jay Shapiro English 1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e6 3 e4 Nc6 [3...d5 right away is more normal and probably more accurate.] 4 Nf3 Be7 5 d4 d5 6 cxd5 exd5 7 e5 Ne4 8 Bd3 Bg4? [This is a blunder that could have been punished by simply 9 Nxe4; fortunately for Black, White overlooks this.] 9 Be3 Bb4 10 Qb3 Bxf3? 11 gxf3 Ng5? [Black has managed to get himself into hot water. After White castles his king to safety, Black will have to 2013 - #4 3 otjnwlkqbhrp defend accurately against White’s threats and cannot castle safely on either side.] 12 Ke2? [White inexplicably leaves his king in the center of the board, despite 12 O-O-O being available and very strong.] 12...Ne6 13 Bb5 O-O [13...Bxc3 14 Qxc3 Qd7 was the safest way for Black to proceed. The text sacrifices a pawn for piece activity but the soundness of the sacrifice is uncertain.] 14 Bxc6 Bxc3 15 Qxc3 bxc6 16 Qxc6 Rb8 17 b3 Rb6 18 Qc2 [White has an extra pawn but Black has the superior minor piece, better pawn structure, and White’s king is stuck in the center of the board.] 18...f6 [Black plays to open files for his rook and queen to get at White’s king.] 19 f4? [White understandably wants to get rid of his doubled f-pawns and keep his center intact, but he allows Black to take the initiative and mount an attack.] 19...fxe5 20 fxe5 Qh4 [Incredibly, White is already losing! The extra pawn does him no good if his king is executed in the center.] 21 Qc3? [Trying to defend d4, but allowing a crushing response.]-------- 21...Qe4! Black misses 21...c5! to break up the central / + + Tl+\ pawn stronghold and open even more files, but the move played also poses many strong threats /O O + Oo\ which Black does not find an answer for. / T +j+ +\ Now most tries by White (22 Qd2, 22 /+ +oP + \ Kd2, 22 Rad1, etc) lose immediately to …Nf4+, …c5, and/or …Rc6. The only / + Pw+ +\ move that isn’t immediately losing is 22 /+pQ B + \ Rhd1! but after 22...Rf3 Black would have /p+ +kP P\ a formidable attack. He can yet play …c5 and get the other rook into the attack. /R + + +r\ 22 Rhg1?? [White doesn’t recognize the danger________ and tries to start his own attack.] 22...Rc6! The rook is immune to capture due to 23 Qxc6 Nxd4+ winning the queen. White sees that he must lose either king or queen, eg 23 Qe1 Nf4+ leads to mate; or 23 Qa4/Qb5 Rc2+ 24 Ke1 (or 24 Kf1 Rfxf2+ 25 Bxf2 Qe2+; or 24 Kd1 Qd3+ 25 Bd2 Nxd4) Rfxf2 leads to mate; or finally 23 Qd2/Qb2 Rc2 wins the queen. Therefore… 0-1 Ajitha Balasubramanian - Andrew Mao French 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6 6 Qc2 cxd4 7 cxd4 Nxd4 8 Nxd4 Qxd4 9 Bb5+ Bd7 10 Bxd7+ Kxd7 11 Qe2 Bb4+ 12 Bd2 Bxd2+ 13 Nxd2 Qb6 14 O-O Ne7 15 a4 Rhc8 16 a5 Qc7 17 Rfc1 Nc6 18 f4 Ke8 19 Qh5 h6 20 Nf3 Qd8 21 f5 exf5 22 Qxf5 Ne7 23 Qh7 Kf8 24 Rf1 Ng8 25 e6 Rc7 26 Ne5 Nf6 27 exf7 Rxf7 28 Qh8+ Ke7 29 Nxf7 Kxf7 30 Qxd8 Rxd8 31 Rac1 Rd7 32 Rc2 Ke7 33 Rfc1 Kd6 34 b4 a6 35 Rc5 Ne4 36 R5c2 Rf7 37 Rf1 Re7 38 Rf8 Nf6 39 Rd8+ Nd7 40 Rdc8 Re4 41 Rb2 Ne5 42 b5 Nd3 43 Rb1 axb5 44 Rc3 Nb4 45 Rcb3 Kc5 46 Rc1+ Rc4 47 Rcc3 Nc6 48 Rxc4+ dxc4 49 Rg3 Nxa5 50 Rxg7 c3 51 Rf7 c2 52 Rf1 Nb3 53 Rf5+ Kb6 54 Rf1 c1Q 55 Rxc1 Nxc1 56 Kf2 Kc5 57 h4 Kc4 58 g4 b4 59 g5 hxg5 60 hxg5 Nd3+ 61 Ke3 Ne5 62 Kf4 Ng6+ 63 Kf5 b3 64 Kxg6 b2 0-1 4 Virginia Chess Newsletter otjnwlkqbhrp Virginia Senior Open by Adam Chrisney HIRTY-FOUR PLAYERS entered the 2013 Virginia Senior Open, held in TAlexandria June 8-9.