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R aR aR ank & File MAY-JUNE 2007 VOLUME XXX, NO. 3 $3.00

24th Annual

U.S. Amateur Team West

ALEXANDRE KRETCHETOV ILIA SERPIK

TAKASHI IWAMOTO KRISHNA KALIANNAN

Orange County Chess Club

2 RANK & FILE MAY-JUNE 2007

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3 RANK & FILE MAY-JUNE 20073 RANK & FILE MAY-JUNE 2007

CONTENTSAROUND THE NATION ........... .........................................................324TH ANNUAL U.S. Amateur Team West ...............................................S. Amateur Team West ...............................................S. Amateur Team West 5

TACTICSby TIM HANKS .................................TIM HANKS .................................TIM HANKS .....................................................................11

HERE & THEREClub news, local tournaments,

scholastic scholastic schol eventsastic eventsastic and more .............................................................................and more .............................................................................and more 14REVIEWS ....................................................................................................................19STATE CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERSSTATE CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERSSTATE CHAMPIONSHIP Q .................20

UPCOMING EVENTS ...............................................................................21CHESS QUIZ ................................................ .......................................................24

Around the Nation

Amateur Team Playoff

The four 2007 U.S. Amateur Team Playoff, a U.S. Chess Federa-tion (USCF) National Event, con-cluded March 24, 2007 with “Four Found Fischers” from the winning securing this years title of 2007 U.S. Amateur Team Champion!

Play took place in cyberspace, Saturday, March 24th on the Inter-net Chess Club (ICC) web site under the direction of TD Duncan Oxley. International Arbiter and Chief Tournament Director was Carol Jarecki.

In the first round, “Four Found Fischers” - South Team beat “Bea-vis and Buttvinnik” - East Team with 2½-1½. The “Repeat Offenders”

- North Team beat the “Orange County Chess Club” - West Team with a score of 2½-1½.

In the Final round, “Four Found Fischers” beat “Repeat Offenders” with a final score of 2½-1½ to clinch the title. The “Four Found Fischers” team receive the title of 2007 U.S. Amateur Team Champion and each member of the team will receive an engraved watch.

Team rosters:USAT-SouthFOUR FOUND FISCHERS 2191.25Bd. 1 Daniel Ludwig (Captain) 2388 Bd. 2 Corey B. Acor 2254Bd. 3 Jeffrey De Jesus 2017 (substituted for Eric Rodriguez)Bd. 4 Anthony Felicione 1914

USAT-EastBEAVIS AND BUTTVINNIK 2159Bd. 1 FM James Critelli 2311Bd. 2 Evan Turtel 2206Bd. 3 Evan Rabin (Captain) 2076Bd. 4 Alt. Alan Kantor 2000(substituted for Nick Panico III 2043)

USAT-NorthREPEAT OFFENDERS 2199Bd. 1 John Cole 2330 Bd. 2 John Langreck 2250Bd. 3 FM Jim Dean (Captain) 2234 Bd. 4 Drew Hollinberger 1982

USAT-WestORANGE COUNTY CHESS CLUB2177.75Bd. 1 Alexander Kretchetov 2365Bd. 2 Ilia Serpik 2307 Bd. 3 Takashi Iwamoto (Captain) 2269 Bd. 4 Krishna Kaliannan 1770

Congratulations to all players! – USCF news release

National High School Championship

The 2007 USCF National High School (K-12) Championship broke a record with 1447 young chess com-petitors in Kansas City, Missouri! The U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) held this 7 round national champi-onship at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in their new Exhibit Hall April 13-15, 2007. Each player in the five sections: K12 Championship; K12 Under 1500; K12 Under 1200; K12 Under 900 and K12 Unrated played under a G/120 time control. In addition to individual competi-


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page is located at: www.scchess.com

President President President Joe Hanley Vice President Elliot Landaw Vice President Elliot Landaw Vice President Elliot Landaw Elliot Landaw Secretary Chuck Ensey Secretary Chuck Ensey Secretary Treasurer John Hillery Executive Board

Randy Hough Mike Nagaran Rick Aeria Jim Bullock Ivona Jezierska

Ron Rezendes Essam Mohamed Takashi Iwamoto Rank & File Editor John Hillery Editor John Hillery Editor 835 N. Wilton Pl. # Los Angeles CA 90038 [email protected]

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Contributing Editors Jack Peters Tim Hanks Al Pena Contributors Chuck Ensey Randy Hough Chris Roberts Cyrus Lakdawala Tyrone Liddell Jerry Yee Subscriptions/Address Changes

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Rank & File — ISSN 8750-964 USPS Rank & File — ISSN 8750-964 USPS Rank & File738-230, published bimonthly by the Southern California Chess Federation, 300 Ballista, La Puente CA 9744. Periodical postage paid at Industry, CA. POSTMAS-TER: Send changes of address to SCCF, PO Box 205, Monterey Park CA 9754. Subscriptions: $4 adult, $9 junior.

Copyright © SCCF 2007. One-time only publication rights have been obtained from signed contributors. All other rights are hereby assigned to the authors. Th e opinions expressed are strictly those of the contribu-tors and do not necessarily refl ect the views of the SCCF, its offi cers or members.

Rick Aeria Jim Bullock

Essam Mohamed Takashi Iwamoto

Southern California Chess Federation

tion, team competition was at stake in each section.

All five sections for individuals ended in a time and a variety of tie-break systems were used to deter-mine who would receive the trophy. Players that tied do share the sec-tion title of Co-Champions!

K12 Championship: Alex Len-derman (NY) won the tie-break against Alexander Barnett (MD) and Michael Zhong after a tied score of 6½ points.

K12 Team Championship:Catalina Foothills H.S. from Tuc-son, AZ won the trophy after a tie-break with the Edward R. Murrow H.S. from NY. Tied score was 22.0 points. Catalina has won two of the past three National High School Championships!

K12 Under 1500: Nick Graves (MN) took home the trophy after a tie-break with Joshua D. Miller of WI. Tied score after seven rounds was 6½.

K12 Team Under 1500: Min-neapolis Southwest secured the title of Team Champion, second year in a row, with a final score of 20½!

K12 Under 1200: Dominique Myers and Alfonso Chie tied with 6½ scores. Myers secured the trophy after tie-break.

K12 Team Under 1200: Arch-bishop McCarthy H.S. from Ft. Lau-derdale, FL took the title and trophy with a score of 20.0.

K12 Under 900: Mark A. Salita (MD) tied with Deborah Simoes also from Maryland with 7.0 scores. Sali-ta took home the trophy.

K12 Team Under 900: North-west H.S. from Germantown, Mary-land secured the title with a final score of 25½.

K12 Unrated: Justin Bernard Braddy of Illinois won the tie-break

with Fedor M. Titov also from Il-linois to secure the trophy. Braddy and Titov tied with 6½ scores.

K12 Team Unrated: Mcclintock High School from Tempe, Arizona won the K12 Team Unrated title with a final score of 22.0.

MyChessPhotos.com (official photographer) awarded a $250.00 scholarship to Caleb Molitoris of California for the biggest upset prize. Caleb rated 1073 beat his opponent rated 2016!

The USCF congratulations all participants on their outstanding ac-complishments. A complete list of all players can be found at: http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2007/hs/and click on “Results” for section winner and standing listings. Cross-tables for each section can be found at: http://www.uschess.org/msa/Xt-blMain.php?200704156731 – USCF news release

Khachiyan wins Far West Open

The 2007 Far West Open, held at Sands Regency Hotel in Reno April 6-8, ended in a four-way tie for first place among GMs Melik-set Khachiyan and Alex Yermolin-sky, and IMs Enrico Sevillano and Dmitry Zilberstein. The four win-ners faced off in a blitz playoff on Sunday night for the trophy and an extra $100. Khachiyan played Yermolinsky and Sevillano played Zilberstein in the semifinals of the tiebreaker. Khachiyan and Sevilla-

Photos: Cover: Tim Hanks. Pp. 14, 17, 18: Chuck Ensey. P. 15: John Hillery

Continued on page 13 ...


This year’s ATW, the 24th annual (where does the time go?), saw 44

teams and 198 players gather at the Doubletree Marina San Pedro Hotel February 19-21. As the tournament began, everyone had his own favor-ite. Sentimental favorites No Patrick No Problem (last year’s winning Cal Tech team minus first Board Patrick Hummel, who had graduated). Jour-nalist favorites Yung Gunz (four ju-nior stars, two from California, one from Florida, and one from Hawaii, who had met at a chess camp and formed a team).

And, the winners. After six hard-fought rounds, three teams finished with 5-1, and the tiebreaks yielded:

1st place: Orange County Chess Club – Alexandre Kretch-etov, Ilia Serpik, Takashi Iwamoto, and Krishna Kaliannan

2nd place: Knights of the Re-public – IM Enrico Sevillano, John Daniel Bryant, Michael Yee, and Vincent Huang

3rd place: Hoo’s the Next ’s the Next ’American Idol? – Jouaquin Bana-wa, Joel Banawa, Takashi Kuro-saki, Melinda West, and Jonathan Soo Hoo

The one-day Scholastic Team at-tracted a record 34 teams, and was won by Troy High 1 (Dingchao Lu, Alex Truong, Botaa Jiang and Eric Tung) with 4-0.

A unique feature of the USATW is the awarding (by player vote) of special prizes for best team name. This year we had some good ones (mostly even printable) – “James Pawn 007 in Casella Royale,” (led by master Michael Casella), “Hoo’s the Next American Idol?” (with

Jonathan Soo Hoo), “Wee Pawns of Mass Destruction,” and “The Good Passed Pawn Shepherds.” But when the votes were counted, the win-ners were “e2 Brute” (from a team that specializes in winning the Best Team Name prize, Dan Gertmenian, Aezed Raza, Stan Chow and Carey Fan), while second place went to

“CP: Anand Plays Second Board for Chess Palace” (Randy Hough, Anand Kesavaraju, Henry Yan and Daniel Gong).

John Hillery and Elie Hsiao di-rected. Complete standings and a selection of games may be found on line at www.scchess.com.

The Best Game prize went to Michael Casella for this blitz attack against junior star Jeremy Stein. White grabs Space and even some Force (an extra pawn), but Time proves more important.

Jeremy Stein – Michael Casella USAT West, San Pedro 2007E73 KING’S INDIAN DEFENSE,

Averbakh Variation1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7

4. e4 d6 5. Be2 0–0 6. Bg5 Na6 7. Qd2 e5 8. d5 Nc5 9. f3 a5 10. h4 c6 11. Nh3 cxd5 12. cxd5 Bd7 13. 0–0–0

Too optimistic, as Black’s attack on the b- and c-files will be faster than anything White can do on the Kingside. Instead, Schandorff-Mortensen, Roskilde 1998 contin-ued 13. Nf2 Qe8 14. g4 b5 15. h5 b4 16. Ncd1 Bb5, with chances for both sides.

13. … b5 14. Bxb5 Bxb5 15. Nxb5 Qb6 16. Na3

In view of what happens in the game, it is easy for the annotator to recommend 16. Nc3 instead, but after 16. … a4 the White position is far from attractive.

16. … Rab8 17. Nf2 Instead, 17. Kb1 Nfxe4! 18. fxe4

Nxe4 overloads the Queen, e.g. 19. Qc2 Rfc8 20. Qb3 Nc3+! 21. bxc3 (or 21. Ka1 Qxb3 22. axb3 Nxd1 23. Rxd1 Rxb3, with the deadly threat of … e4) 21. … Rxc3 22. Qxb6 Rxb6+ 23. Ka1 e4.

17. … Rfc8 18. Kb1 Na4 19. Nd3

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19. ... Rc3 20. Be3 Qb7 21. Qf2 Rxa3 22. Ka1 Qb3 23. bxa3

On 23. Nc1, Black finishes the game with the spectacular 23. … Nc3!

23. … Qc3+ 24. Nb2 Rxb2 25. Rc1 0–1

Eric Ferguson – Joshua Freeland USAT West, San Pedro 2007A57 BENKO GAMBIT

Another strong contender for the best-game prize was this sacrificial feast by Eric Ferguson. As Morphy knew, development counts more

24th Annual

U.S. Amateur TeamWest


1 Orange County Chess Club (2177.8)Orange County Chess Club (2177.8)Orange County Chess Club (2177.8) 5Alexandre Kretchetov (2365) Alexandre Kretchetov (2365) Alexandre Kretchetov (2365) Ilia V Serpik (2307)Ilia V Serpik (2307)Ilia V Serpik (2307)Takashi Iwamoto (2269)Takashi Iwamoto (2269)Takashi Iwamoto (2269)Krishna Kaliannan (1770)Krishna Kaliannan (1770)Krishna Kaliannan (1770)

2 Knights Of The Republic (2161.5)Knights Of The Republic (2161.5)Knights Of The Republic (2161.5) 5IM Enrico Sevillano (2574)IM Enrico Sevillano (2574)IM Enrico Sevillano (2574)John Daniel Bryant (2169)John Daniel Bryant (2169)John Daniel Bryant (2169)Michael A Yee (1992)Michael A Yee (1992)Michael A Yee (1992)Vincent Huang (1911)Vincent Huang (1911)Vincent Huang (1911)

3 Hoo’s The Next American Idol? (2175.5)(2175.5)(2175.5) 5

Jouaquin B Banawa (2392)Jouaquin B Banawa (2392)Jouaquin B Banawa (2392)Joel Cholo Banawa (2383)Joel Cholo Banawa (2383)Joel Cholo Banawa (2383)Takashi Kurosaki (2184)Takashi Kurosaki (2184)Takashi Kurosaki (2184)Melinda M West (1743)Melinda M West (1743)Melinda M West (1743)Jonathan Soo Hoo (1740)Jonathan Soo Hoo (1740)Jonathan Soo Hoo (1740)

4 James Pawn 007 In Casella Royale (2199.3)(2199.3)(2199.3) 4½

Michael Casella (2340)Michael Casella (2340)Michael Casella (2340)Julian W Landaw (2289)Julian W Landaw (2289)Julian W Landaw (2289)Chris Lee (2141)Chris Lee (2141)Chris Lee (2141)Tianyi He (2027)Tianyi He (2027)Tianyi He (2027)

5 Yung Gunz (2164.8)Yung Gunz (2164.8)Yung Gunz (2164.8) 4½Elliott Liu (2301)Elliott Liu (2301)Elliott Liu (2301)Ray S Robson (2254)Ray S Robson (2254)Ray S Robson (2254)Christian Tanaka (2123)Christian Tanaka (2123)Christian Tanaka (2123)Robert M Lau (1981)Robert M Lau (1981)Robert M Lau (1981)

6 No Patrick No Problem (2020.0)No Patrick No Problem (2020.0)No Patrick No Problem (2020.0) 4½Eugene Yanayt (2303)Eugene Yanayt (2303)Eugene Yanayt (2303)Joshua Gutman (2129)Joshua Gutman (2129)Joshua Gutman (2129)Nikita Panasenko (1856)Nikita Panasenko (1856)Nikita Panasenko (1856)Michael W Kaye (1792)Michael W Kaye (1792)Michael W Kaye (1792)

7 We’re Searching For Bobby Fischer (2022.3)(2022.3)(2022.3) 4½

Francis Chen (2176)Francis Chen (2176)Francis Chen (2176)Derek J Tan (2126)Derek J Tan (2126)Derek J Tan (2126)Jared E Tan (1968)Jared E Tan (1968)Jared E Tan (1968)Nathaniel Lagemann (1819)Nathaniel Lagemann (1819)Nathaniel Lagemann (1819)

8 We Have Reggie On Speaker Phone (2044.0)(2044.0)(2044.0) 4½

Madhavan Vajpetyam (1624)Madhavan Vajpetyam (1624)Madhavan Vajpetyam (1624)IM Jack Peters (2464)IM Jack Peters (2464)IM Jack Peters (2464)Simon Nielsen (2059)Simon Nielsen (2059)Simon Nielsen (2059)Colin Field-eaton (1901)Colin Field-eaton (1901)Colin Field-eaton (1901)Reza Gholizadeh (1752)Reza Gholizadeh (1752)Reza Gholizadeh (1752)

9 The Arcadians (1930.0)The Arcadians (1930.0)The Arcadians (1930.0) 4Joseph L Roth (1874)Joseph L Roth (1874)Joseph L Roth (1874)John W Hale (2074)John W Hale (2074)John W Hale (2074)Jeff R Schroeder (1900)Jeff R Schroeder (1900)Jeff R Schroeder (1900)Matthew J Hayes (1872)Matthew J Hayes (1872)Matthew J Hayes (1872)Ronald S Turner (1710)Ronald S Turner (1710)Ronald S Turner (1710)

than the number of pieces.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. b6 d6 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. e4 Nxb6 8. a4 Rb8 9. a5 Na8 10. f4 g6 11. Nf3 Bg7 12. e5 Ng8 13. Bc4 Rb4 14. Qe2 Nc7 15. 0–0 Bg4 16. b3 Nh6 17. Ba3 Rb8

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18. exd6! Bxc3 19. Bxc5 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Bxa1 21. dxe7 Qd7 22. Rxa1 Nf5 23. Qc3 Rg8 24. Qe5 f6?

The only chance of survival was 24 ... Rc8 25. Rd1 Nb5, but White retains excellent chances after 26. b4! Nfd6 27. Bd3.

25. Qxf6 Nxe7 26. Re1 Ne6 27. Rxe6 Rb7 28. Rxe7+ Qxe7 29. Bxe7 Rxe7 30. d6 1–0

Ray Robson – Ilia Serpik USAT West, San Pedro 2007B78 SICIIAN DEFENSE, Dragon VariationThe Dragon Bishop has a long neck.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 0–0 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. 0–0–0 Rb8 11. h4 b5 12. Ndxb5 Ne5 13. Be2 Qa5 14. Nd4 Rfc8 15. Rde1 Be6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Bd4 Nc6 18. Bc4 Nxd4 19. Qxd4

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19. ... Nd5 20. Qd2 Bxc3 21. bxc3 Qa3+ 0–1

Ron Bruno – Joshua Freeland USAT West, San Pedro 2007B01 CENTER COUNTER DEFENSE

When playing in the center, don’t forget about the flanks.


10 Awake & Unafraid (2185.8)Awake & Unafraid (2185.8)Awake & Unafraid (2185.8) 3½Garush Manukyan (2360)Garush Manukyan (2360)Garush Manukyan (2360)Gevorg Vardanyan (2169)Gevorg Vardanyan (2169)Gevorg Vardanyan (2169)Maximilian Landaw (2115)Maximilian Landaw (2115)Maximilian Landaw (2115)Mike Y Zaloznyy (2099)Mike Y Zaloznyy (2099)Mike Y Zaloznyy (2099)Arkadiy Onikul (2015)Arkadiy Onikul (2015)Arkadiy Onikul (2015)

11 Ancient Spartans (2156.5)Ancient Spartans (2156.5)Ancient Spartans (2156.5) 3½Richard L Borgen (2256)Richard L Borgen (2256)Richard L Borgen (2256)Mark A Pinto (2217)Mark A Pinto (2217)Mark A Pinto (2217)Jonathan B Goetze (2153)Jonathan B Goetze (2153)Jonathan B Goetze (2153)Tom A Ludwinski (2000)Tom A Ludwinski (2000)Tom A Ludwinski (2000)Jan M Ludwinski (1960)Jan M Ludwinski (1960)Jan M Ludwinski (1960)

12 Men Of Steel (1891.8)Men Of Steel (1891.8)Men Of Steel (1891.8) 3½Edward L Sanjenis (2042)Edward L Sanjenis (2042)Edward L Sanjenis (2042)John R Wright (2036)John R Wright (2036)John R Wright (2036)James Humphrey (2032)James Humphrey (2032)James Humphrey (2032)Michael B Ross (1457)Michael B Ross (1457)Michael B Ross (1457)

13 The Good Passed Pawn Shepherds (2090.8)(2090.8)(2090.8) 3½

Robert Hurdle Jr (2218)Robert Hurdle Jr (2218)Robert Hurdle Jr (2218)John R Williams (2120)John R Williams (2120)John R Williams (2120)Matthew Robertson (2065)Matthew Robertson (2065)Matthew Robertson (2065)Chris Roberts (1960)Chris Roberts (1960)Chris Roberts (1960)

14 Banananut Coffeecake With No Sugar Added (1886.3)Added (1886.3)Added (1886.3) 3½

Jonathan Maxwell (2027)Jonathan Maxwell (2027)Jonathan Maxwell (2027)Jeffrey A Cohen (1932)Jeffrey A Cohen (1932)Jeffrey A Cohen (1932)Blake R Goodwin (1878)Blake R Goodwin (1878)Blake R Goodwin (1878)Michael A Rocke (1708)Michael A Rocke (1708)Michael A Rocke (1708)

15 The Best Moves Of Our Lives (1862.5)The Best Moves Of Our Lives (1862.5)The Best Moves Of Our Lives (1862.5) 3½Jeremy A Stein (2082)Jeremy A Stein (2082)Jeremy A Stein (2082)Austin E Cambon (1839)Austin E Cambon (1839)Austin E Cambon (1839)Nisha Deolalikar (1819)Nisha Deolalikar (1819)Nisha Deolalikar (1819)Sunil Deolalikar (1710)Sunil Deolalikar (1710)Sunil Deolalikar (1710)

16 The Pursuit Of Checkmate (1826.8)The Pursuit Of Checkmate (1826.8)The Pursuit Of Checkmate (1826.8) 3½Michael Taylor (1782)Michael Taylor (1782)Michael Taylor (1782)Ike S Miller (2161)Ike S Miller (2161)Ike S Miller (2161)Eric R Zhang (1760)Eric R Zhang (1760)Eric R Zhang (1760)Ryan P Polsky (1604)Ryan P Polsky (1604)Ryan P Polsky (1604)

17 Touch Me Nuts (2182.0)Touch Me Nuts (2182.0)Touch Me Nuts (2182.0) 3Hugo Villanueva (2281)Hugo Villanueva (2281)Hugo Villanueva (2281)Roel Yumol (2278)Roel Yumol (2278)Roel Yumol (2278)Jose Romero (2176)Jose Romero (2176)Jose Romero (2176)Aldrin J Vidal (1993)Aldrin J Vidal (1993)Aldrin J Vidal (1993)Danilo Jorda (1961)Danilo Jorda (1961)Danilo Jorda (1961)

18 San Diego A (Duesterwald) (2192.5)San Diego A (Duesterwald) (2192.5)San Diego A (Duesterwald) (2192.5) 3Alejandrino Baluran (2006)Alejandrino Baluran (2006)Alejandrino Baluran (2006)Marc Duesterwald (2344)Marc Duesterwald (2344)Marc Duesterwald (2344)Ronald Bruno (2244)Ronald Bruno (2244)Ronald Bruno (2244)Ulric Aeria (2089)Ulric Aeria (2089)Ulric Aeria (2089)Bradley Salz (2012)Bradley Salz (2012)Bradley Salz (2012)Ryan Richardson (2093)Ryan Richardson (2093)Ryan Richardson (2093)

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 a6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. g3 b5 7. Bg2 Bb7 8. Bf4 Qb6 9. a4 Nd5 10. Nxd5 Bxd5 11. axb5 axb5 12. Rxa8 Bxa8 13. d5 Nd7 14. 0–0 c6 15. d6 e6 16. Qa1 Bb7 17. b3 c5 18. c4 f6 19. Re1 Kf7 20. Bh3

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9+l+n+kzpp0

9+pzp-+-+-0

9-wq-zPpzp-+0

9+pzp-+-+-0

9-wq-zPpzp-+0

9-+P+-vL-+0

9+pzp-+-+-0

9-+P+-vL-+0

9+pzp-+-+-0

9+P+-+NzPL0

9-+P+-vL-+0

9+P+-+NzPL0

9-+P+-vL-+0

9-+-+-zP-zP0

9+P+-+NzPL0

9-+-+-zP-zP0

9+P+-+NzPL0

9wQ-+-tR-mK-0

9-+-+-zP-zP0

9wQ-+-tR-mK-0

9-+-+-zP-zP0

xiiiiiiiiy

9wQ-+-tR-mK-0

xiiiiiiiiy

9wQ-+-tR-mK-0

20. ... e5 No better was 20. ... f5 21. Ne5+ Ke8 22. Bxf5 21. Bxd7 Qxd6 Equally hopeless were: i) 21. ... exf4 22. Ng5+; ii) 21.

... Bxf3 22. Rxe5 Bxd6 (22. ... fxe5 23. Qxe5) 23. Re6; and iii) 21. ... Bxd6 22. Nxe5+ fxe5 23. Bxe5.

22. Bg4 exf4 23. Qa7 Qa6 24. Qb8 h5 25. Qe8+ Kg8 26. Be6+ 1–0

Mehrdad Miralaie – Bradley Salz USAT West, San Pedro 2007 B08 PIRC-ROBATSCH DEFENSE

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Be3 0–0 6. Qd2 Bg4 7. Ng5 c6 8. Bd3 h6 9. h3 Bc8 10. Nf3 Kh7 11. g4 Ng8 12. 0–0–0 Nd7 13. Kb1 b5 14. g5 h5 15. e5 Nb6 16. Qe2 f5 17. gxf6 exf6 18. Nh4 f5

XIIIIIIIIY

9r+lwq-trn+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9r+lwq-trn+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9zp-+-+-vlk0

9r+lwq-trn+0

9zp-+-+-vlk0

9r+lwq-trn+0

9-snpzp-+p+0

9zp-+-+-vlk0

9-snpzp-+p+0

9zp-+-+-vlk0

9+p+-zPp+p0

9-snpzp-+p+0

9+p+-zPp+p0

9-snpzp-+p+0

9-+-zP-+-sN0

9+p+-zPp+p0

9-+-zP-+-sN0

9+p+-zPp+p0

9+-sNLvL-+P0

9-+-zP-+-sN0

9+-sNLvL-+P0

9-+-zP-+-sN0

9PzPP+QzP-+0

9+-sNLvL-+P0

9PzPP+QzP-+0

9+-sNLvL-+P0

9+K+R+-+R0

9PzPP+QzP-+0

9+K+R+-+R0

9PzPP+QzP-+0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+K+R+-+R0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+K+R+-+R0

19. Nxg6 Kxg6 20. Rhg1+ Kh7 21. Qxh5+ Nh6 22. Qg6+ 1–0

Jonathan Maxwell – Patrick Bollig USAT West, San Pedro 2007D07 TCHIGORIN’S DEFENSE

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 e5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 e4 8. Ng1 Nf6 9. e3 Qg5 10. Ne2 Bg4


19 Who Captured Alaa-Addin? (2155.0)Who Captured Alaa-Addin? (2155.0)Who Captured Alaa-Addin? (2155.0) 3Shivkumar Shivaji (2290)Shivkumar Shivaji (2290)Shivkumar Shivaji (2290)Craig Allen Faber (2130)Craig Allen Faber (2130)Craig Allen Faber (2130)Ralph Gholmieh (2115)Ralph Gholmieh (2115)Ralph Gholmieh (2115)Mehrdad Miralaie (2085)Mehrdad Miralaie (2085)Mehrdad Miralaie (2085)Essam Mohamed (1913)Essam Mohamed (1913)Essam Mohamed (1913)

20 Beyond Chess 1 (1812.0)Beyond Chess 1 (1812.0)Beyond Chess 1 (1812.0) 3IM Kong Liang Deng (2482)IM Kong Liang Deng (2482)IM Kong Liang Deng (2482)Richard Yang (1642)Richard Yang (1642)Richard Yang (1642)Wen Wu (1590)Wen Wu (1590)Wen Wu (1590)Kelly Zhang (1534)Kelly Zhang (1534)Kelly Zhang (1534)Jeffrey Ding (1269)Jeffrey Ding (1269)Jeffrey Ding (1269)

21 CP: The A Team (2157.0)CP: The A Team (2157.0)CP: The A Team (2157.0) 3Reynald Del Pilar (2292)Reynald Del Pilar (2292)Reynald Del Pilar (2292)Nicanor Navarro (2146)Nicanor Navarro (2146)Nicanor Navarro (2146)Melandro Singson (2144)Melandro Singson (2144)Melandro Singson (2144)Anthony Ong (2046)Anthony Ong (2046)Anthony Ong (2046)Jaime A Gutierrez (1918)Jaime A Gutierrez (1918)Jaime A Gutierrez (1918)

22 CP: Gotta Have Faeth (2003.0)CP: Gotta Have Faeth (2003.0)CP: Gotta Have Faeth (2003.0) 3David J Kerman (2200)David J Kerman (2200)David J Kerman (2200)R C Rice (1996)R C Rice (1996)R C Rice (1996)Herbert F Faeth (1926)Herbert F Faeth (1926)Herbert F Faeth (1926)Wayne K Griffi n (1890)Wayne K Griffi n (1890)Wayne K Griffi n (1890)Joseph Scherzinger (1800)Joseph Scherzinger (1800)Joseph Scherzinger (1800)

23 Fergusons’s Team (2032.5)Fergusons’s Team (2032.5)Fergusons’s Team (2032.5) 3Eric M Ferguson (2136)Eric M Ferguson (2136)Eric M Ferguson (2136)Rob Feldstein Esq (2000)Rob Feldstein Esq (2000)Rob Feldstein Esq (2000)Roger Dellaca (2032)Roger Dellaca (2032)Roger Dellaca (2032)Darrell Y Yap (1962)Darrell Y Yap (1962)Darrell Y Yap (1962)Randy K Higa (1918)Randy K Higa (1918)Randy K Higa (1918)

24 Hinrichsen Team (1911.5)Hinrichsen Team (1911.5)Hinrichsen Team (1911.5) 3Dane E Hinrichsen (2000)Dane E Hinrichsen (2000)Dane E Hinrichsen (2000)Dave E Matson (1952)Dave E Matson (1952)Dave E Matson (1952)L Gordon Brooks (1900)L Gordon Brooks (1900)L Gordon Brooks (1900)John R Anderson (1794)John R Anderson (1794)John R Anderson (1794)

25 CP: Check Please (1690.5)CP: Check Please (1690.5)CP: Check Please (1690.5) 3John Rinaldo (2027)John Rinaldo (2027)John Rinaldo (2027)Alfred Ong (1628)Alfred Ong (1628)Alfred Ong (1628)Eren Karadayi (1573)Eren Karadayi (1573)Eren Karadayi (1573)Alfredo Ong (1534)Alfredo Ong (1534)Alfredo Ong (1534)Travis W Hatley (1442)Travis W Hatley (1442)Travis W Hatley (1442)

26 Rocks (1936.8)Rocks (1936.8)Rocks (1936.8) 2½David A Zimbeck (2268)David A Zimbeck (2268)David A Zimbeck (2268)Craig Clawitter (2176)Craig Clawitter (2176)Craig Clawitter (2176)Armando Martinez (1671)Armando Martinez (1671)Armando Martinez (1671)Bret R Strunk (1632)Bret R Strunk (1632)Bret R Strunk (1632)

27 The Wireless Deep Blue Tooth Team (1675.0)(1675.0)(1675.0) 2½

Patrick Bollig (1718)Patrick Bollig (1718)Patrick Bollig (1718)Mark D Witte (1701)Mark D Witte (1701)Mark D Witte (1701)Jerry B Yee (1697)Jerry B Yee (1697)Jerry B Yee (1697)Jabbar M Hicklin (1584)Jabbar M Hicklin (1584)Jabbar M Hicklin (1584)

28 Orange County Scholastic Chess Club (1548.5)(1548.5)(1548.5) 2½

Jason Al Garfi eld (1789)Jason Al Garfi eld (1789)Jason Al Garfi eld (1789)Miguel R Cayetano (1580)Miguel R Cayetano (1580)Miguel R Cayetano (1580)Alexander Kaliannan (1441)Alexander Kaliannan (1441)Alexander Kaliannan (1441)Grant P Yosenick (1384)Grant P Yosenick (1384)Grant P Yosenick (1384)

29 LASC Chess Team (1756.0)LASC Chess Team (1756.0)LASC Chess Team (1756.0) 2½Lonnie Neal (1956)Lonnie Neal (1956)Lonnie Neal (1956)Alicia Y Narducci (1720)Alicia Y Narducci (1720)Alicia Y Narducci (1720)Stewart H Yanez (1679)Stewart H Yanez (1679)Stewart H Yanez (1679)Carl E Bolm (1669)Carl E Bolm (1669)Carl E Bolm (1669)

30 CP: Anand Plays 2nd Board For Chess Pala (1738.5)Pala (1738.5)Pala (1738.5) 2½

Randall D Hough (2011)Randall D Hough (2011)Randall D Hough (2011)Anand Kesavaraju (1803)Anand Kesavaraju (1803)Anand Kesavaraju (1803)Henry Yan (1710)Henry Yan (1710)Henry Yan (1710)Daniel W Gong (1430)Daniel W Gong (1430)Daniel W Gong (1430)Aaron Ong (1406)Aaron Ong (1406)Aaron Ong (1406)

31 e2 Brute? (1583.5)2 Brute? (1583.5)2 Brute? (1583.5) 2½Daniel Gertmenian (1652)Daniel Gertmenian (1652)Daniel Gertmenian (1652)Aezed S Raza (1623)Aezed S Raza (1623)Aezed S Raza (1623)Stanley C Chao (1559)Stanley C Chao (1559)Stanley C Chao (1559)Carey Fan (1500)Carey Fan (1500)Carey Fan (1500)

32 We Are Not Marshall! (1561.8)We Are Not Marshall! (1561.8)We Are Not Marshall! (1561.8) 2½Jay S Stallings (2027)Jay S Stallings (2027)Jay S Stallings (2027)Cheston Gunawan (1686)Cheston Gunawan (1686)Cheston Gunawan (1686)Michael P Siereze (1313)Michael P Siereze (1313)Michael P Siereze (1313)Tymothy Belanger (1221)Tymothy Belanger (1221)Tymothy Belanger (1221)

33 +1st M8 L8R (1834.0)+1st M8 L8R (1834.0)+1st M8 L8R (1834.0) 2½Jerry Maxwell (1839)Jerry Maxwell (1839)Jerry Maxwell (1839)Joshua Freeland (1879)Joshua Freeland (1879)Joshua Freeland (1879)Stephen A Boak (1868)Stephen A Boak (1868)Stephen A Boak (1868)Al R Pena Jr (1750)Al R Pena Jr (1750)Al R Pena Jr (1750)

34 Northrop Grumman Advantage In Space (1847.5)Space (1847.5)Space (1847.5) 2½

Philip S Jacobson (1970)Philip S Jacobson (1970)Philip S Jacobson (1970)Robert L Potts (1939)Robert L Potts (1939)Robert L Potts (1939)Sepehr A Ebrahimi (1774)Sepehr A Ebrahimi (1774)Sepehr A Ebrahimi (1774)David Anthopoulos (1707)David Anthopoulos (1707)David Anthopoulos (1707)Michael J Lowe (1356)Michael J Lowe (1356)Michael J Lowe (1356)

35 Zim’s Invaders (1689.5)Zim’s Invaders (1689.5)Zim’s Invaders (1689.5) 2Leonel P Campoy (1709)Leonel P Campoy (1709)Leonel P Campoy (1709)Liz Taylor (1738)Liz Taylor (1738)Liz Taylor (1738)Bill Conrad (1673)Bill Conrad (1673)Bill Conrad (1673)Jeff A Yee (1638)Jeff A Yee (1638)Jeff A Yee (1638)

36 San Diego B (Aeria) (1680.7)San Diego B (Aeria) (1680.7)San Diego B (Aeria) (1680.7) 2William Wijaya (1748)William Wijaya (1748)William Wijaya (1748)Daniel R Bagliazo (1536)Daniel R Bagliazo (1536)Daniel R Bagliazo (1536)Jamieson Pryor (Unr.)Jamieson Pryor (Unr.)Jamieson Pryor (Unr.)Charles H Ensey (1758)Charles H Ensey (1758)Charles H Ensey (1758)


Prize Winners1st: Orange County Chess Club, 5-12nd: Knights of the Republic, 5-13rd: Hoo’s the Next American Idol?, 5-1

U2100: No Patrick No Problem 4½-1½U2000: The Arcadians 4-2U1800: CP: Check Please 4-2U1600: Orange County Scholastic Chess Club 2½-3½U1400: CP: Yu Will Fall to the Gs 2-4Industrial: Northrop Grumman Advantage in Space 2½-3½Junior: Yung Gunz 4½-1½College: We Have Reggie On Speaker Phone (USC) 4½-1½

Board prizes:1st: IM Enrico Sevillano2nd: Craig Clawitter3rd: Takashi Iwamoto4th: Sandy HeAlternate: Randy Higa

Team Name1st: e2 Brute?2nd: CP: Anand Plays Second Board for Chess Palace

Scholastic1st: Troy High 1 4-02nd: CP: C Plus 3½-½3rd: Talladega Knights: The Ballad of Rooky Bobby 3½-½

37 CP: Yu Will Fall To The G’s (1326.0)CP: Yu Will Fall To The G’s (1326.0)CP: Yu Will Fall To The G’s (1326.0) 2William H Warren (1564)William H Warren (1564)William H Warren (1564)Brett M Gonzales (1527)Brett M Gonzales (1527)Brett M Gonzales (1527)Joseph R Gonzales (1384)Joseph R Gonzales (1384)Joseph R Gonzales (1384)Jimmy Yu (829)Jimmy Yu (829)Jimmy Yu (829)

38 Vera Menchik BrigadeVera Menchik BrigadeVera Menchik Brigade (1275.3) (1275.3) (1275.3) 2Debra R Rothman (504)Debra R Rothman (504)Debra R Rothman (504)Cleofas Rojas (1391)Cleofas Rojas (1391)Cleofas Rojas (1391)Colette Mc Gruder (1827)Colette Mc Gruder (1827)Colette Mc Gruder (1827)Andrew Danielson (1379)Andrew Danielson (1379)Andrew Danielson (1379)

39 We’ll Take A Bye (1653.8)We’ll Take A Bye (1653.8)We’ll Take A Bye (1653.8) 1½B Higinio Garcia (1509)B Higinio Garcia (1509)B Higinio Garcia (1509)Rudy M Delacruz (1300)Rudy M Delacruz (1300)Rudy M Delacruz (1300)Joseph Calderon (682)Joseph Calderon (682)Joseph Calderon (682)Antonio C Martin (2106)Antonio C Martin (2106)Antonio C Martin (2106)Jose Gomez (1700)Jose Gomez (1700)Jose Gomez (1700)

40 We’re Not Snobs We’re Just Better Than You (1787.0)Than You (1787.0)Than You (1787.0) 1½

Danyul Lawrence (2043)Danyul Lawrence (2043)Danyul Lawrence (2043)Martin Diekhoff (1102)Martin Diekhoff (1102)Martin Diekhoff (1102)David Wiss (996)David Wiss (996)David Wiss (996)Antonio Lucero (1757)Antonio Lucero (1757)Antonio Lucero (1757)Riddhi Shah (1684)Riddhi Shah (1684)Riddhi Shah (1684)Leland T Farrar (1664)Leland T Farrar (1664)Leland T Farrar (1664)Hendrik Makaliwe (1538)Hendrik Makaliwe (1538)Hendrik Makaliwe (1538)Mayur Gondhalekar (Unr.)Mayur Gondhalekar (Unr.)Mayur Gondhalekar (Unr.)

41 CP: Can The Child Ring The Old Bell? (1394.5)(1394.5)(1394.5) 1½

Kurt F Oldenburg (1686)Kurt F Oldenburg (1686)Kurt F Oldenburg (1686)Carmen Childress (1378)Carmen Childress (1378)Carmen Childress (1378)Joseph Bellinger (1316)Joseph Bellinger (1316)Joseph Bellinger (1316)Richard P Cantor (1198)Richard P Cantor (1198)Richard P Cantor (1198)

42 Coach Kramnik Said No Bath Room Breaks (1287.3)Breaks (1287.3)Breaks (1287.3) 1

Brendyn Estolas (1634)Brendyn Estolas (1634)Brendyn Estolas (1634)David Karapetyan (1391)David Karapetyan (1391)David Karapetyan (1391)Omar Wiseman (1267)Omar Wiseman (1267)Omar Wiseman (1267)Anna Karapetyan (857)Anna Karapetyan (857)Anna Karapetyan (857)

43 Matadors (1279.0)Matadors (1279.0)Matadors (1279.0) 1Victoria Westra (Unr.)Victoria Westra (Unr.)Victoria Westra (Unr.)Gerald R Ruiz (1475)Gerald R Ruiz (1475)Gerald R Ruiz (1475)Robert Zuchini (1388)Robert Zuchini (1388)Robert Zuchini (1388)Jesse Moya (974)Jesse Moya (974)Jesse Moya (974)Salvador Calderon (Unr.)Salvador Calderon (Unr.)Salvador Calderon (Unr.)

44 North Hills Vikings (1018.0)North Hills Vikings (1018.0)North Hills Vikings (1018.0) ½Julio Zuchini (1042)Julio Zuchini (1042)Julio Zuchini (1042)Marcos Perez (994)Marcos Perez (994)Marcos Perez (994)Hugo Garcia (Unr.)Hugo Garcia (Unr.)Hugo Garcia (Unr.)Irvin Salinas (Unr.)Irvin Salinas (Unr.)Irvin Salinas (Unr.)

11. h3 Qh4 12. Qb1 Rb8 13. Ng3 Bd7 14. Be2 0–0 15. c4 Rfe8 16. a4

XIIIIIIIIY

9-tr-+r+k+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9-tr-+r+k+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9zppzpl+pzpp0

9-tr-+r+k+0

9zppzpl+pzpp0

9-tr-+r+k+0

9-+n+-sn-+0

9zppzpl+pzpp0

9-+n+-sn-+0

9zppzpl+pzpp0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-+n+-sn-+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-+n+-sn-+0

9P+PzPp+-wq0

9+-+-+-+-0

9P+PzPp+-wq0

9+-+-+-+-0

9+-+-zP-sNP0

9P+PzPp+-wq0

9+-+-zP-sNP0

9P+PzPp+-wq0

9-+-vLLzPP+0

9+-+-zP-sNP0

9-+-vLLzPP+0

9+-+-zP-sNP0

9tRQ+-mK-+R0

9-+-vLLzPP+0

9tRQ+-mK-+R0

9-+-vLLzPP+0

xiiiiiiiiy

9tRQ+-mK-+R0

xiiiiiiiiy

9tRQ+-mK-+R0

16. ... Nxd4 17. exd4 e3 18. Bxe3 Rxe3 19. fxe3 Qxg3+ 20. Kd2 Re8 21. Qg1 Ne4+ 22. Kc2 Nf2 23. Rf1 Bxa4+ 24. Kb2 Qxe3 25. Qxf2 Qb3+ 26. Ka1 Qc3+ 27. Ka2 Bb3+ 28. Ka3 Bxc4+ 29. Ka4 Qb3+ 0–1


JERRY HANKEN STRONGLY SUPPORTS JIM BERRY OF OKLAHOMA FOR ELECTION TO THE

EXECUTIVE BOARD OF USCF THIS JUNE! IF YOU NEVER VOTED BEFORE, THIS IS THE ELECTION

TO START WITH!

Why does my opinion on this election have credibility?.Over a period of 18 years (1978 through 1994) I was on

the USCF Board for ten years in four separate terms I served with 27 different Board members.. It is safe to say that I know something about what makes a good Board member. (And what makes a bad one!)

JIM BERRY MEETS ALL THE QUALIFICATIONS AND QUALITIES TO MAKE A MORE THAN GOOD

BOARD MEMBER.

First, Jim loves the game of chess and plays frequently and well. (Watch for the May issue of Chess Life where you will see a great game of his in the Winter Classic which Jim also organized.) Jim Berry carries a FIDE rating of 2107.

Second and augmenting the fi rst, Jim is a banker and quite wealthy. We have had few people on the Board who have had Jim’s’ fi nancial resources and NONE who were as willing to spend real money on chess as he is! .Jim and his brother Frank have just saved the US Championship with a huge donation. The Championship will be in the fastest growing little boom town in Oklahoma, Stillwater, where they live. (Y’all come down and meet Jim and Frank in May. The hotel is a gem and only $60 a night!) Jim is also helping to run the U.S. Women’s championship this summer as a separate high class event. But the truth is that Jim never runs any tournament which is not high class!

The fact that Jim’s wealth comes from the banking industry is a pretty good indication that this man knows money, its uses and its pitfalls, and its very nature, which will help make him into a great Board Member. (I like his slogan “Keep to the Budget Berry”!) We have never had a Board member before who was a banker. We need a couple more like Jim who combine the pure love of the game with wealth and a hard nosed banking background!

Jim Berry is the salt of the earth. His origins are the Southwest middle prairie where the values of home and family come fi rst. He has been married to the lovely Ann for 38 years and they have three successful sons, one of whom just presented Jim with triplet grandkids in January! And isn’t it about time we had a Board member from the Southwest? I can’t think of any except the Liebermans and that’s more than eight years ago. I can’t think of any from Oklahoma since the legendary Jerry Spann.

Jim Berry is warm, generous to a fault, a great lover and supporter of sports. (His Oklahoma Cowboys of Oklahoma State University whose home is Stillwater, who alternately lift his spirits and break his heart, are his favorite sports team.)

Aside from all that, Jim Berry has a great sense of humor and is a joy to hang out with. One more important thing, Jim is a strong supporter of Women chessplayers. In his recent Oklahoma Winter Futurity, he

subsidized FIDE rated women. The turnout was a record for Oklahoma, and there were 20%(!!) women, which is unprecedented.

There are lots of other good reasons to vote for Jim Berry but I don’t have any more space. Suffi ce to say that the Board will be enriched in many ways with Jim Berry being elected.

There are two full page adds in this Rank and File for three other candidates for the Executive Board. By sheer coincidence these are the three others who will get my votes this June. I will have more to say about them as the race heats up. For now, all three are well qualifi ed to serve on the Board. Oh yes, in Jim’s campaign, I am VERY strictly a volunteer as I am in doing work for the FKB US Championship. I am extremely fond of Jim Berry and I feel he will make a genuine positive contribution on the Executive Board of our USCF.

Cheers for great Chess, Jerry Hanken JERRY HANKEN

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JIM BERRY AND THREE FUTURE CHESS PLAYERS


Tacticsby NM Tim HanksImproving your chess aware-

ness is a key factor in improving your chess playing skills. Being your chess playing skills. Being aware involves staying focused at all times. The dynamic nature of chess can be looked at like the sur-vival of the fittest. Your opponent is only interested in one thing: beat-ing you as quickly as possible. The more crushing the better, too. This is war, and most players are not in-terested in taking any prisoners, so you must stay alert.

How many times have you made a poor move or blunder owing to not sustaining your full attention dur-ing the game? It happens to every-one and can change a totally win-ning position to a lost one in just one move. To play well you must sustain sharply focused concentra-tion so that no matter what may be going on around you -- even off the board -- it will not impair your ability to think clearly during your game.

Some of the most startling tacti-cal sacrifices occur when a move is made that catches you off guard as a result of forgetting to do your safe-ty check. One of the most important (and often startling) sacrifices of this type is when the Knight invades on the 5th rank – sometimes right into a pit of squares that appear to be adequately defended. This kind of sacrifice is always critical and quite popular in some Sicilian De-fense lines, especially with forma-tions that include a Black pawn at e6 and White pawns on e4 and c4. The Knight sacrifice, whether ac-cepted or not usually, results with a positional advantage and many times a material gain. Take the following example. How would you proceed?

Position No. 1. White to move. XIIIIIIIIY

9-+r+-trk+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9-+r+-trk+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9+lwq-vlpzpp0

9-+r+-trk+0

9+lwq-vlpzpp0

9-+r+-trk+0

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9+lwq-vlpzpp0

9pzpnzppsn-+0

9+lwq-vlpzpp0

9+-+-+-+-0

9pzpnzppsn-+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9pzpnzppsn-+0

9-+PsNPzP-+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-+PsNPzP-+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9+PsN-+-zPP0

9-+PsNPzP-+0

9+PsN-+-zPP0

9-+PsNPzP-+0

9PvL-+-+L+0

9+PsN-+-zPP0

9PvL-+-+L+0

9+PsN-+-zPP0

9+-tRQtR-mK-0

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9+-tRQtR-mK-0

9PvL-+-+L+0

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9+-tRQtR-mK-0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+-tRQtR-mK-0

For the experienced player mov-ing 1. Nd5! in this position is what I would call thematic and may not even require much deep calcula-tion. Not recognizing the power of this tactical motif and strategic principle at crucial junctures of the middlegame could almost be considered as a blunder. It’s like passing up a checkmate only to say you’re still winning. The following line exemplifies the power of the Nd5 sacrifice when accepted. 1. … exd5?! 2. cxd5 Qd7 (the Black Queen must move out of the pin) 3. dxc6 (regaining the piece) Bxc6 4. Nxc6 Rxc6 5. Rxc6 Qxc6 6. e5,

winning material since 6. … Qc5+ is met by 7. Bd4 and White wins. Accepting the sacrifice was bad for Accepting the sacrifice was bad for Black in this example: however, if instead Black had played 1. … Qd8, then 2.Nxe7+ would allow White to gain the Bishop pair with mounting pressure on the dark squares and the d6 Pawn.

The most important Knight sac-rifices that involve Nd5 are typical-ly played with long-term compensa-tion and a positional advantage in mind. This is especially true when the Black King has not castled and White has pressure along an opened e-file that can be infiltrated. Take a look at the next example for this demonstration. White’s Knight is attacked on c3. How would you proceed?

Position No. 2: White to moveXIIIIIIIIY

9r+l+kvl-tr0

XIIIIIIIIY

9r+l+kvl-tr0

XIIIIIIIIY

9+-wq-+pzpp0

9r+l+kvl-tr0

9+-wq-+pzpp0

9r+l+kvl-tr0

9p+-zpp+-+0

9+-wq-+pzpp0

9p+-zpp+-+0

9+-wq-+pzpp0

9sn-sn-+-zP-0

9p+-zpp+-+0

9sn-sn-+-zP-0

9p+-zpp+-+0

9-zp-sNP+-+0

9sn-sn-+-zP-0

9-zp-sNP+-+0

9sn-sn-+-zP-0

9+LsN-vL-+P0

9-zp-sNP+-+0

9+LsN-vL-+P0

9-zp-sNP+-+0

9PzPP+QzP-+0

9+LsN-vL-+P0

9PzPP+QzP-+0

9+LsN-vL-+P0

9+-mKRtR-+-0

9PzPP+QzP-+0

9+-mKRtR-+-0

9PzPP+QzP-+0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+-mKRtR-+-0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+-mKRtR-+-0

1. Nd5 Naxb3+!? (Perhaps 1. … Ncxb3+ improves) 2. axb3 exd5 3. exd5 Be7 4. Bf4 (For the sac-rificed Knight White has enormous pressure on the e-file and looks to use the c6 square to intensify the attack. Black must return mate-rial.) 4. … Ra7 5. Nc6 Ne6 6. Qe3 Nxf4 7. Qxf4 Qb6 8. Rd4 a5 9. Nxa7 Qxa7 10. Re4 Be6 11. dxe6


0-0 12. Qg4, with a completely winning position for White. Notice the entire sequence begins with the forcing Nd5 move – and from there on out it’s like a nail-biting roller coaster ride, in which it is almost always more fun to the person hav-ing played Nd5. Pay attention and don’t become a victim to this motif if at all possible.

Another example where play against the uncastled King can be set up with the Nd5 sacrifice is shown in Position No. 3. The Black King is in the center in what ap-pears to be a very nicely protected barrier consisting of pieces and pawns. White has developed heavy artillery (i.e. both Rooks) towards the center and is ready to strike. Timing is important since any delay will allow Black to fortify the posi-tion and mount a counter-attack.

Position No. 3: White to moveXIIIIIIIIY

9-trl+k+-tr0

XIIIIIIIIY

9-trl+k+-tr0

XIIIIIIIIY

9+-wqnvlp+-0

9-trl+k+-tr0

9+-wqnvlp+-0

9-trl+k+-tr0

9p+-zppzp-zp0

9+-wqnvlp+-0

9p+-zppzp-zp0

9+-wqnvlp+-0

9+p+-+-+-%

9p+-zppzp-zp0

9+p+-+-+-%

9p+-zppzp-zp0

9-+-sNPzPP+0

9+p+-+-+-%

9-+-sNPzPP+0

9+p+-+-+-%

9+-sN-+Q+-0

9-+-sNPzPP+0

9+-sN-+Q+-0

9-+-sNPzPP+0

9PzPP+-+LzP0

9+-sN-+Q+-0

9PzPP+-+LzP0

9+-sN-+Q+-0

9+-mKRtR-+-0

9PzPP+-+LzP0

9+-mKRtR-+-0

9PzPP+-+LzP0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+-mKRtR-+-0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+-mKRtR-+-0

White plays 1. Nd5! (You should be getting the hang of this by now!) exd5 2. exd5 Kf8 3. Nf5 Bd8 4. Qe4 (White is constantly mounting pressure on Black’s position) 4. … Ne5!? (4. … Kg8 may improve, but White still mounts a strong attack starting with 5. Rd3) 5. fxe5 fxe5 6. Kb1 Bg5 7. Rd3 Bxf5 8. Qxf5 Qe7 9. Rf1 Bf4 10. Ra3 Rb6 11. Rxa6 Rxa6 12. Qc8+, with the better endgame.

In the next and final example on this theme White uses the Nd5 tac-tical motif to take what appears to be a very even-looking position and

turns it into a crushing attack.

Position No. 4. White to moveXIIIIIIIIY

9-+rtr-+k+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9-+rtr-+k+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9+p+-+pzpp0

9-+rtr-+k+0

9+p+-+pzpp0

9-+rtr-+k+0

9p+qzppvl-+0

9+p+-+pzpp0

9p+qzppvl-+0

9+p+-+pzpp0

9+-sn-+-+-0

9p+qzppvl-+0

9+-sn-+-+-0

9p+qzppvl-+0

9P+P+P+-+0

9+-sn-+-+-0

9P+P+P+-+0

9+-sn-+-+-0

9+PsN-tR-+-0

9P+P+P+-+0

9+PsN-tR-+-0

9P+P+P+-+0

9-vLQ+-zPPzP0

9+PsN-tR-+-0

9-vLQ+-zPPzP0

9+PsN-tR-+-0

9+-+R+-mK-0

9-vLQ+-zPPzP0

9+-+R+-mK-0

9-vLQ+-zPPzP0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+-+R+-mK-0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+-+R+-mK-0

There’s no time to waste. White wins with 1. Nd5 exd5 (If 1. … Bxb2? then Ne7+) 2. exd5 Qd7 3. Bxf6 gxf6? (This sets up a quick finish. Perhaps 3. … Re8 improves, but after 4. Rg3 g6 5. Ba1! White has a winning advantage.) 4. Rg3+ Kh8 (4. … Kf8 is still bad. In any event now comes a shot from the dark.) 5. Qxh7+! Kxh7 6. Rd4 (So simple and yet so deadly, as mate will follow soon.)

Improving your ability to cal-culate and visualize tactical com-binations takes practice. Tactical problem solving will help in this development. Avoid moving the pieces when solving problems so as to strengthen your over-the-board play. Be alert, play sharp and al-ways remember to do your safety check. Good luck and happy solv-ing! Solutions on page 20.

Position No. 1. Black to move XIIIIIIIIY

9r+l+-trk+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9r+l+-trk+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9zpp+n+pvlp0

9r+l+-trk+0

9zpp+n+pvlp0

9r+l+-trk+0

9-wqp+-+p+0

9zpp+n+pvlp0

9-wqp+-+p+0

9zpp+n+pvlp0

9+-+-zp-+-0

9-wqp+-+p+0

9+-+-zp-+-0

9-wqp+-+p+0

9-+P+P+n+0

9+-+-zp-+-0

9-+P+P+n+0

9+-+-zp-+-0

9+PsNP+N+-0

9-+P+P+n+0

9+PsNP+N+-0

9-+P+P+n+0

9PvL-wQL+PzP0

9+PsNP+N+-0

9PvL-wQL+PzP0

9+PsNP+N+-0

9tR-+-+R+K0

9PvL-wQL+PzP0

9tR-+-+R+K0

9PvL-wQL+PzP0

xiiiiiiiiy

9tR-+-+R+K0

xiiiiiiiiy

9tR-+-+R+K0

a) 1. … Nf2+ is correct and Black is winning.

b) 1. … Nf2+ is incorrect.Prove your answer with analysis

and a variation.

Problem No. 2. White to moveXIIIIIIIIY

9-tr-snr+-mk0

XIIIIIIIIY

9-tr-snr+-mk0

XIIIIIIIIY

9zppwqlsn-vlp0

9-tr-snr+-mk0

9zppwqlsn-vlp0

9-tr-snr+-mk0

9-+-zp-+p+0

9zppwqlsn-vlp0

9-+-zp-+p+0

9zppwqlsn-vlp0

9+-zp-+psN-0

9-+-zp-+p+0

9+-zp-+psN-0

9-+-zp-+p+0

9-+-+-zP-+0

9+-zp-+psN-0

9-+-+-zP-+0

9+-zp-+psN-0

9+QzPP+-zP-0

9-+-+-zP-+0

9+QzPP+-zP-0

9-+-+-zP-+0

9PzP-sN-+LzP0

9+QzPP+-zP-0

9PzP-sN-+LzP0

9+QzPP+-zP-0

9tR-vL-tR-+K0

9PzP-sN-+LzP0

9tR-vL-tR-+K0

9PzP-sN-+LzP0

xiiiiiiiiy

9tR-vL-tR-+K0

xiiiiiiiiy

9tR-vL-tR-+K0

a) 1. Nf7+ is incorrectb) 1. Nf7+ is correctValidate your choice with analy-

sis.

advertisement


Problem No. 3. Black is in check. What’s your assessment of the

position? XIIIIIIIIY

9-mk-+-+-+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9-mk-+-+-+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9+-+-+q+r0

9-mk-+-+-+0

9+-+-+q+r0

9-mk-+-+-+0

9-zP-+-+-+0

9+-+-+q+r0

9-zP-+-+-+0

9+-+-+q+r0

9+-+-zP-+-0

9-zP-+-+-+0

9+-+-zP-+-0

9-zP-+-+-+0

9-+-+-+-+0

9+-+-zP-+-0

9-+-+-+-+0

9+-+-zP-+-0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-+-+-+-+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-+-+-+-+0

9-+-+-+Q+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-+-+-+Q+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9+-+-+K+L0

9-+-+-+Q+0

9+-+-+K+L0

9-+-+-+Q+0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+-+-+K+L0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+-+-+K+L0

a) White is winning.b) The game is a drawc) Black is winning.Prove your answer with a varia-

tion.

Problem No. 4. White to move. Black is threatening Bxc4. How

would you respond?XIIIIIIIIY

9rsnq+-trk+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9rsnq+-trk+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9zpp+-zppvlp0

9rsnq+-trk+0

9zpp+-zppvlp0

9rsnq+-trk+0

9-+-zplsnp+0

9zpp+-zppvlp0

9-+-zplsnp+0

9zpp+-zppvlp0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-+-zplsnp+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-+-zplsnp+0

9-zPP+P+-+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-zPP+P+-+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9+-sN-vLN+P0

9-zPP+P+-+0

9+-sN-vLN+P0

9-zPP+P+-+0

9P+-+LzPP+0

9+-sN-vLN+P0

9P+-+LzPP+0

9+-sN-vLN+P0

9tR-+QmK-+R0

9P+-+LzPP+0

9tR-+QmK-+R0

9P+-+LzPP+0

xiiiiiiiiy

9tR-+QmK-+R0

xiiiiiiiiy

9tR-+QmK-+R0

a) 1. Nd5 is correct.b) 1. Nd5 is incorrect.Prove your answer with a varia-

tion.

2007 Lina Grumette

Memorial Day Classic

Prize Fund$10,000

Based on 200 players,

Memorial Day Based on 200 players,

Memorial Day 60% of 60% of 60% o

each prize guaranteed

In 5 sections(Unrated must play in Unrated or

Open)

Open: $$ $$T+1800-750-400-300-200, U2400 400, U2200 700-300-200.

Premier (Under 2000):$$750-300-200-100.

Amateur (Under 1800):$$750-300-200-100.

Reserve (Under 1600):$$750-300-200-100.

Booster (Under 1400):$$T+400-200-100, U1200 T+100, Unr T+100. (Unrated may win Unrated prizes only in this section)

Best Game Prize $25, all sections eligible.

May 26-28, 2007LAX Hilton

5711 W. Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045

6-SS, 40/2, SD/1 (2-day schedule rds. 1-3 G/60)

An American Classic!See p. 21 for full details

Solutions to Chess Quiz

(See page 24)Mohring – Fiensch, Germa-

ny, 1961: White wins with a varia-tion on the double-Bishop sacrifice: 1. Bxh7+ Kxh7 (1. ... Kh8 2. Qh5 Rfc8 3. Bf5+ Kg8 4. Qh7+ Kf8 5. Qh8#) 2. Bf6 gxf6 3. Qh4+ Kg8 (3. ... Kg7 4. Qxf6+ Kh7 5. Re4) 4. Qg3+ Kh7 5. Re4 1–0

Vinagre – Durao, Ribeira, 1956: Black’s passed pawn proves decsisive. What passed pawn? Why, the one that appears after 1. ... Rxh2! 2. Kxh2 Rh8+ 3. Bh3 g4 4. Be1 Rxh3+ 5. Kg1 Rh1+ 6. Kf2 Rh2+ (In the game, Black re-signed after 6. ... g3+ 7. Ke2 g2) 7. Kg1 g3, and mate is unavoidable.

Curdo – Parker, Greater Bos-ton Open, 1995: Black’s pawn for-tress crumbles after 1. Rxf5! (Also 1. Qxh7+ Kf8 2. Qh8+ Ke7 3. Qf6+ Kd7 4. Rc3 wins, but more slowly) 1. ... Nf8 2. e6 f6 3. Rxf6 Re7 4. Rxf8+ Rxf8 5. Qxg6+! 1–0

... continued from page 4

no prevailed and met in the cham-pionship match, which Khachiyan won. Jerome Weikel organized and directed the 185-player event.

Khachiyan – LangerFar West Open, Reno 2007B51 SICILIAN DEFENSE, Irregular

Dragon Variation1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4.

c4 Ngf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bg7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Bxd7 Bxd7 10. b3 Rc8 11. Bg5 Re8 12. Qd2 a6 13. Rfe1 b5 14. cxb5 Qa5 15. Rac1 axb5 16. Ncxb5 Qxd2 17. Bxd2 e5 18. Nxd6 exd4 19. Rxc8 Rxc8 20. Nxc8 Bxc8 21. a4 Bd7 22. f3 Kf8 23. Rc1 Ke8 24. a5 Bb5 25. Rc5 Bd3 26. Rc6 Kd7 27. Rb6 Ne8 28. a6 1-0


Super State Scholastics

March 2-4Combining the SCCF High

School Junior High and Elemen-tary Championships, this event at-tracted 262 players to Monroe High School in North Hills. John Daniel Bryant won the state high school championship with 6-0, earning an invitation to the Denker Tour-nament of High School Champions. Experts Francis Chen and Jeremy Stein shared second place at 5-1.

In the Junior High, Austin Hughes and Kelly Zhang tied with 5 ½ - 1 ½ . Other prize winners in-cluded Ky-ron Griffith (6-1 in K-6), Peter Kan V e e r m a n (6½-½ in K-6 Under 850), Simone Liao (6½-½ in K-3), Titan Burl, Austin Chang, Alex Householder, Linus Jen and David Shaw (all 5-2 in K-3 Under 550), and Aaron Householder (5-0 in K-1). Non-rated sections were won by Ar-mon Nejati, Rachel Plummer, David Chen, Adrian Lee and Jimmy Liu. James Bullock directed for orga-nizer Joe Hanley of chess4children.com.

Ventura County Chess Club

For the eighth consecutive year, Tony Miller is the Ventura County Chess Club champion, defeating Alan Bishop by a score of 7-5. Af-

ter reaching a 2-2 tie, the players contested pairs of games at faster time limits until Miller won the fi-nal two games with a five-minute time limit.

Tony Miller again took first place in the 16-player “Bella Vista Bonanza” March 25 with 3½-½. Other prize winners were Alan Bishop, Warren Williamson, Karl Importante, Bruce Campbell and Dick Matthews. In the 18-player

“Icebreaker” section for new play-ers, Michael Neymit and Joel Gold-enberg topped the field. Luciano Huapaya and Eugenie Shuere also won prizes. Jack Cashman and Jim-my Sweet directed for the Ventura County Chess Club.

The Ventura County Chess Club meets on the first Tuesday, the sec-ond Monday, and the later Tues-days each month in the Church of the Foothills, 6279 Foothill Rd. For information, call Jimmy Sweet at (805) 659-0356 or Chuck Smith at (805) 654-8472. Web site: www.vcchess.com

Arcadia Chess ClubWinners of the 51-player Arca-

dia Chess Club Championship were Ike Miller and Jeremy Stein, with scored 5 ½ ½. Class prizes went to

Gordon Brooks, Gregg Fritchle and Dave Matson (A), Roger Aramayo (B), Kelly Zhang (C), and Anthony Hung and Steven Qian ( D-E-un-rated).

The Arcadia Chess Club meets at 6:30 p.m. Mondays in the Senior Citizens building, 405 S. Santa Ani-ta Ave. For information, call Fred Brock at (626) 331-1638 or Mel Clark at (626) 447-9355. Web site: www.geocities.com/arcadiachess-club.

Exposition Park Chess Club

On March 4, Marc Conde, Jose Quiroz and Chris Habu topped sec-tions in the monthly free tourna-ment at the Exposition Park Chess Club. Winners in the April 1 event were Gem Malinao, Walter Roble-to, Marc Conde, Chris Habu, Tony Grauso and Aram Maramian-Sire-gam. For photos of the club, see chess.expoparkla.com. The club meets every Sunday afternoon in the public library, 3665 S. Vermont Ave. in Los Angeles. Fourteen play-ers competed.

Pasadena Chess ClubThe Pasadena Club Champion-

ship drew 35 participants, the best turnout in several years. Eighth-seeded Dave Matson took first place with 5.5 of 6, downing top-ranked Ike Miller and third-ranked Ron Jabali along the way. Miller was sec-ond with 5. Class winners included Gregg Fritchle (A), Johnny Carrido and Anand Kesavaraju (B), Jared Ogassian (C), Guanyang Yu (D), and Saul Maldonado (Unrated).

The April Quick tournament,

JOHN BRYANT


with 16 players, was won by Ike Miller with 9-1/2 of 10. Randy Hough was second, well behind with 7-1/2. Class winners included Dave Matson (Under 2000), and Ro-berto Zuchini and Jaime Luna (tied for Under 1800 and Under 1600).

The club meets Friday nights at Throop Church, 300 S. Los Robles. The club will be closed May 18 and 25. The Mount Wilson Open, a six-round swiss tournament, begins June 1. For details, call Randy Hough, (626) 282-7412 or e-mail [email protected]. – Ran-dy Hough

Dave Matson – Ike MillerPasadena Club Championship

2007B26 SICILIAN DEFENSE, Closed

Variation1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4.

Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Be3 e5 7. Qd2 Nge7 8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Qxh6 Nd4 10. Rc1 Be6 11. Nf3 Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Qd7 13. 0–0 0–0–0 14. Nd5 Bxd5 15. exd5 Kb8 16. Qd2 f5 17. b4 Nc8 18. bxc5 dxc5 19. Rb1 Nd6 20. Rb3 Rc8 21. Rfb1 c4 22. dxc4 Rxc4 23. Be2 Rd4 24. Qa5 Ra4 25. Qc3 Rd4 26. Bb5 Qc7 27. Bc6 b6 28. Qa5 Nc4 29. Qa6 Rd8 30. Rb4 Qc8

XIIIIIIIIY

9-mkqtr-+-+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9-mkqtr-+-+0

XIIIIIIIIY

9zp-+-+-+p0

9-mkqtr-+-+0

9zp-+-+-+p0

9-mkqtr-+-+0

9QzpL+-+p+0

9zp-+-+-+p0

9QzpL+-+p+0

9zp-+-+-+p0

9+-+Pzpp+-0

9QzpL+-+p+0

9+-+Pzpp+-0

9QzpL+-+p+0

9-tRntr-+-+0

9+-+Pzpp+-0

9-tRntr-+-+0

9+-+Pzpp+-0

9+-+-+-zP-0

9-tRntr-+-+0

9+-+-+-zP-0

9-tRntr-+-+0

9P+P+-zP-zP0

9+-+-+-zP-0

9P+P+-zP-zP0

9+-+-+-zP-0

9+R+-+-mK-0

9P+P+-zP-zP0

9+R+-+-mK-0

9P+P+-zP-zP0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+R+-+-mK-0

xiiiiiiiiy

9+R+-+-mK-0

31. Rxb6+ axb6 32. Rxb6+ Kc7 33. Rb7+ Qxb7 34. Qxb7+ Kd6 35. Qb4+ Kc7 36. Qe7+ 1–0

Los Angeles Chess Club

GM Melikset Khachiyan and IM Enrico Sevillano tied for first with

5-1 in the Igor Ivanov Memorial, a tournament of 60-minute games held March 10 and 11. Sedric Prude finished third with 4½-½. Class prize winners included Show Kita-gami, Michael Yee and Martin Cohe. In the U1800 section, Cheston Gu-nawan, Pirouz Hendi and Michael Taylor tied for first, with Stephan Bosch, Ryan Polsky and Narayan De Vera winning class prizes. On April 14-15, IM Tim Taylor took first place in the LACC April Open with 5½-½, followed by Ilia Serpik (5-1) and Show Kitagami (4½-1½).

The Los Angeles Chess Club meets on the second floor of 11514 Santa Monica Blvd., above Javan restaurant. For informa-tion, call Mick Bighamian at (310) 795-5710 or send a message to [email protected]. Web site: www.lachessclub.com.

Costa Mesa OctosRandy Hough took first prize

in the March 17 Octos. Michael W. Brown and Kurt Oldenburg shared first place in the second section of the 16-player event On April 21, Ryan Yeung and Robert Khacha-tryan topped their sections in the 17-player event. For information about future Octos, March 17, see members.cox.net/octochess.

SPA Spring ScholasticMarch 3

The 16th SPA Spring Scholas-tic, at St. Paul the Apostle School in Westwood, attracted 31 play-ers. Adam Zucker, Erick Sun, Jack Aronzon, Cole Hronek, Connor Brown and William Newhart won sections. Ivona Jezierska directed.

Diversity Winter Scholastics

Donovan Zhao, Adrian Chang, David Yang (in a playoff over Aaron Householder), Austin Chang and Nicholas Hall led their sections in the Spring Quads at Diversity Educational Center in Arcadia on

March 25. For the club’s schedule and more, go to diversityeducation-alcenter.com.

National Junior High School Championship

The 2007 National Jr. High Chess Championship was held March 31-April 1 in Sacramento. The 7 round swiss event had over 1000 players from across the U.S. competing for various titles. In the two main events, the K-9 C h a mpion s h ip section and the K-8 Championship, there were sever-al experts, 1900’s, and 1800’s and one player that was over 2300. The competition was very strong as there were a few early upsets. But in the end, there was a 6 way tie for 1st place in the K-9 Championship. Two of the co-champions were Southern Califor-nia experts, 13 year old Christian Tanaka and 12 year old Michael Yee, both with a 6.0 score. Chris-tian’s crucial final round win over New York’s Alec Getz, the section’s only player with a perfect score thru the first 6 rounds, led to the 6 way tie for the national title. Anoth-er local young expert, 13 year old Tianyi He, finished in 2nd place in the K-8 Championship section with a 6.0 score. His only loss was to the champion, Marc Tyler Arnold, a 2300 rated player who also is from New York. The outstanding perfor-mances of Christian, Michael, and Tianyi (nicknamed Sandy) this past weekend made a strong statement about chess in Southern California.

Here is Michael Yee’s 6th round win against Virginia’s An-drew Freix, an underrated 1800 player. Andrew had already de-feated 2 experts earlier in the tournament, including 11 year old star Daniel Naroditsky (2145) from San Francisco. – Jerry Yee

MICHAEL YEE AND JERRY YEE


Michael Yee (2042) – Andrew Freix (1800

National JHS Championship, Sacramento 2007

E85 KING’S INDIAN DEFENSE, Sämisch Variation1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6

5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Nge2 e5 8. Qd2Ne8 9. d5 Ne7 10. O-O-O c5 11. g4 a6 12. h4 b5 13. h5 Qa5 14. Bh6 b4 15. Nb1Qxa2 16. Bxg7 Nxg7 17. Qh6 Bd7 18. Ng3 Ba4 19. Rd2 Bb3 20. Rg2 Bxc4 21. Nf5!Nexf5 22. gxf5 Bxf1 23. f6! Ne8 24. hxg6(also effective was Qxh7+!) Nxf6 25. gxh7+ Kh8 26. Qxf6# 1-0

AAA Scholastic Championship

April 7This scholastic event, held at the

First Lutheran Church in Glendale, had a good turnout of 115. Aram Kavoukjian scored 5-0 in the top section, followed at 4-1 by Maxwell Chou and Anderson Ju. In the K-8 U1000 section, Minas Badikyan topped the field with 4½-½, ahead of Hovsep Miribyan, Sipan Zograbi-an, and Gevork Ayrapetian, all at 4-1. First in the K-5 U650 was Benja-min Kozmanian with 5-1, followed by Mousseri Daniel (4½-½) and Clay Wang (4-1). Harut Keshishian and Harry Akopyan directed.

Riverside GambitThe Riverside Gambit was held

at North High School in Riverside, on March 17th. The scholastic tour-nament hosted 44 youthful partici-pants this year. The event was con-ducted as a four round swiss, G/30, in three sections. In the high school section, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place win-ners were Austin Cambon 4-0, Eric Bourgain-Chang 3-0, and Michael Kokosenski 3-0. In the middle school section, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners were, Ryan Marse, Abigail Schlenk, and Eric Abma. The Elementary K-5 winners were Jay Williams 4-0, Jonathan Marilao,

Alexander Bonen, and Briann Pina. Tyrone Liddell TD, assisted by Steve Morford. – Tyrone Liddell

Chess UnionThe “Chess Union Spring Open,”

ending on March 31st, drew 13 players. The 3-round swiss held the time controls at game in 75 and was a grand prix event. Tying for first with 2½ points were Leo Raterman, Donald Cotton, and Steven Dahl. All 3 first place prize winners were over 60 years old, and that’s very rare these days when the under 40 crowd seems to win most events. The Chess Union’s next event is Sat. May 12th. Visit www.TheChes-sUnion.com or call (951) 990-7990 for more details. – Tyrone Liddell

La Palma Chess ClubCraig Allen Faber dominated

the 23-player Galactic Section of LPCC’s Milky Way Championships with a fine undefeated score of 5½. The six round Swiss was held at La Palma’s Central Park and end-ed April 6th. Other prize winners were Chris Roberts, Mike Henebry, and Tim Galima with scores of 4. Eren Karakayi won the Best U1700 prize. With a score of 4.½, Dale Malec won the 9-player Earth Sec-tion on tiebreaks over Mike Brady. Earth Section winners were Ron Duff, Andre Munoz, and Joe Tishy.

The LPCC held the Quick Fix on April 20, an eight round Swiss of games where each side gets only 10 minutes. With a score of 5 game points, newcomer Austin Hughes won the 24-player event based on the biggest rating gain of 119 points. Craig Allen Faber had the highest game score with an undefeated 7½. Complete standings are available at http://www.uschess.org/msatestlm/XtblMain.php?200704136231, and a complete schedule of LPCC up-coming events and results of oth-er events at http://www.lapalm-achess.741.com/. – Chris Roberts

San Diego Chess Club Seventy-two players competed in

the 2007 Club Championship and Lasker Open, a four section event with 7 rounds. The new Club Co-Champions are John Funderburg and Marc Duesterwald, who both scored 5½ points in the top section of 16 players. John won the coveted trophy on tie breaks over Marc, who recently arrived from Germany and is rated about 2400; a first round bye probably hurt his chances. John is now probably just a few points shy of obtaining a master rating of 2200. People have been predicting a mas-ter level for this solid player ever since he started coming on strong last year. Third Place was won by NM Todd Smith with 4½. The top section had 4 Masters, 7 Experts, 4 Class A and 1 B, Fausto Robles – the first Class B player ever to qualify for the Championship. Fausto got in thanks to a great performance in the Markowski Open, plus the fact that 3 masters, David Hart, Rich-ard Russell and Bob Richard, who qualified in the 7 round Markowski, were unable commit to the grueling schedule of 7 more rounds to deter-mine the Champion. Also 2005 Club Champion Adam Corper probably could have qualified but decided to take some time off to get married, I guess that’s a good excuse, but I don’t know about the other masters! Also missing was Expert Maksim Gusev, who was seeded in the event, but declined to play. So even though the field was somewhat diluted this year, there was still lots of exciting and hard fought chess. Buddy Mor-ris did well as a Class A, scoring 3½ points. The Reserve Champion-ship (U1800) was won by Vincent Broman, with a very convincing 6 ½ points, all in a 16 player section. Richard Jensen took Second Place with 5 points, while Caley Ander-son and Marty Lower tied for Third Place with 4½. In the Lasker Open, Manuel Herrera scored 5½ for First Place, while James Malowney and Tom Fries had to settle for a Sec-ond/Third Place tie with 4½ each. Finally, in the Lasker Reserve, Eric


Castro won First with 6, followed closely by Robert Henderson and Fred Borges, with 5½ each. Fred is well over 80 years old, but still puts up a darn good fight, besides being a well know ping pong tournament player. BU1400 was won by Monica Ness with a solid 4 points, followed by Morgan Fox and Mark Lawless with 3, while James Aranda took BU1200 with 2½. See our web site at http://Groups.msn.com/sandie-gochess for more details, games and photos – Chuck Ensey

Gambito Open NewsThe March Super Gambito Open

(#311) featured 29 players, includ-ing 5 Masters and 5 Experts, a strong field which is very typical for us lately. It ended in a tie between IM Cyrus Lakdawala and Expert Leonard Sussman. Cyrus often wins these events with a 4-0 score, but his time he was held to a draw in the last round by Rick Aeria, who won the BU2200 prize. Lenny won all his games after his customary first round bye, including a third round win over NM Romeo Ignacio. Carey Milton and Ryan Richardson tied for 2nd U2200. Ed Baluran tied for BU2000 with Mark Attree, who was visiting all the way from Lon-don. Mark donated his $50 prize to the club with instructions that it be used to help benefit junior play-ers. Thank you, Mark! It seems the internet brings us new players every week, some of them travel-ing from far away lands, but chess

players are always looking for a good game. In the Reserve Section, William Wijaya won BU1800; Pouyan Azarshahri, Shaun Sweitzer and Art Taylor were 2nd U1800. Tom Kuhn tied with Jeffrey Ledbetter for BU1600.

The April Super Gambito was one of our special 5 round events (usually we just have 4 rounds of G/45), but twice a year we double the entry fee, add an extra game and start a

little earlier. That way we can pay out a nice prize fund and draw an even bigger crowd than normal. This time 35 players attended, a little short of the hoped for 40, but still enough to pay out $1,440, very close to the projected prize fund of $1,600. Cyrus Lakdawala won all 5 of his games to take clear first ($290). Dimitry Kishinevsky placed Second and Bruce Baker “showed” at Third. Adam Corper and Carey Milton split the BU2200 prize while Ed Baluran and Esteban Escobedo tied for BU2000. In the Reserve Section, William Delaney won clear First ($190) with 4 points despite being unable to play his last round game! I don’t think that has ever happened in the long history of the Gambito Open. Chuck Ensey and Jesse Orlowski tied for 2nd/3rd with 3 ½ points. Chuck and Jesse both won their fifth round games, knocking out both of the players (Pejman Sagart and Daniel Cook) who could have tied the lucky Mr. Delaney if they had won. Daniel Cook still tied for BU1600 with Tom Kuhn. – Chuck Ensey

Bruce Baker (2211) – Richard Jensen (1874)

Gambito #316, San Diego 2007B00 NIMZOVICH DEFENSE

(Notes by IM Cyrus Lakdawala)(Notes by IM Cyrus Lakdawala)(1. e4 Nc6 The slippery Nimzovitch De-

fense is a favorite of Rich Jensen. 2. Nf3 d6. 3. d4 Bg4 4. d5 Ne5

5. Nxe5! White gets good compensation

for the Queen in this line.

5. ... Bxd1 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 Qa5+ 8. Nc3 0–0–0 9. cxb7+?! 9. ... Kxb7 10. Nc6 Qc7 11. Nxd8+ Qxd8 12. Nxd1

So white has a Rook, Bishop and pawn for the Queen and also a development lead. The position is unclear but given a choice I would take White.

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12. ... Nf6 13. Nc3 d5?! Breaking the principle stating:

don’t open the game when behind in development. A better try was 13. ... e6 14. 0–0 Be7 15. Rd1 Qc7 16. Bf4, with a slight advantage for White.

14. exd5 Nxd5 15. 0–0! Offering to open lines. 15. ... Nxc3?! Also15. ... e6 16. Rd1 Bd6 17. Be2!

Kb8 favors White16. bxc3 Qa5 17. Rb1 Kc8 18.

Rd1The White army is out in force

and Black still has to deal with the buried Bishop and Rook.

18. ... e6? 18. ... e5!, preventing Bf4, is

black’s best shot at survival. For example: 19. Be3 Be7 20. Bc4 (20. Bd7+ Kc7 21. Rb5 Qxa2 22. Rxe5 Bd6 23. Red5 Kxd7 24. Rxd6+ Kc8 25. Rd7 Qxc2 26. Bf4 a5 27. Rc7+ Kb8 28. Ra1 a4 29. Rxf7+ Ka8 30. Rxg7 Rd8 31. h3 Rd1+ 32. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 33. Kh2 a3 34. Be5 a2 35. c4 a1Q 36. Bxa1 Qxa1 37. Rxh7 Qe5+ 38. g3 Qf5 39. Rh8+ Kb7 40. Kg1=) 20. ... Rd8 21. Rxd8+ Kxd8 22. Bxf7 Qxc3 23. Rd1+ Kc7 24. Bxa7 Qxc2 25. Bb3, with White only slightly better.

19. Bf4 Bc5

JOHN FUNDERBURG


19. ... Kb7 doesn’t save black ei-ther after 20. Be2+ Kc6 21. Bf3+ Kc5 22. Be3+ Kc4 23. Be2+ Kxc3 24. Bd4+ Kxc2 25. Bd3#.

20. Ba6+! 1–0

Mark Duesterwald (2427) – IM Cyrus Lakdawala (2494)

Gambito #316, San Diego 2007D15 SLAV DEFENSE, Tolush-Geller

Gambit1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4.

Nc3 dxc4 5. e4!? b5 6. e5 Nd5 7. Ng5 Bf5!? 8. Qf3 e6 9. g4 Bg6 10. h4? Nb4!

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11. Be2?! Nc2+ 12. Kf1 Nxd4 13. Qf4 h6–+ 14. Nge4 Nxe2 15. Kxe2 Qd3+ 16. Ke1 17. h5 Bh7 18. Nf6+ gxf6 19. Qxf6 bxc3! 20. Qxh8 Qe4+. 21. Be3 Qxh1+ 22. Ke2 Bd3# 0–1

SCCF Senior/Junior Open

Dr. Carl Wagner wins SCCF Senior Title on tiebreaks

Held at the San Diego Chess Club April 21-22, the total attendance of 44 was less than the hoped for 60, but still decent. The Seniors held up their end of the bargain, supplying 26 players, but the Juniors came up light with only 18 players. This is the first year we included a Junior Section, so possibly the news hadn’t sunk in yet to all the population of chess players out there.

The first 3 games on Saturday were G/90, while the two longer games on Sunday were G/120, a new time control we thought would

be fun to try. All games had a TEN second time delay instead of the nor-mal 5. We’d like to play 40/60, SD/1, but these 6 hour games just aren’t feasible if you want to squeeze in 5 rounds. The surprise this year was very few people took byes in the third round, just Balares, Ig-nacio and Sussman among the top players. Carl played tough compe-tition in all 5 rounds, an 1889 in round 1, and then four Experts in a row ( #6, #7, #5 and #3 rated, in that order: Milton, Crisologo, Suss-man and Balares).

After two rounds, Raoul Crisolo-go was on a roll, winning his first two games, including a big win over NM Bruce Baker, so he was tied for first with Leonard Suss-man and Carl. Lenny took a bye on Saturday night in round 3, while Raoul lost to Carl. The tough loss to Carl appeared to take the wind out of Raoul’s sails, as he lost his next game on Sunday morning to Bob Defore and then drew with Bob Draper.

Carl opted to take a quick draw in the last round because he wasn’t feeling all that sharp, having had major heart surgery just a few weeks ago. As it turned out, he had the better tiebreaks anyway, and so he won the Title of SCCF Senior Champion.

Prizes in Senior Section (over 50 years old)

First Place/Second Place/Third Place (tie): Carl Warner (4), Rick Aeria (4), Carey Milton (4) $166 each

Best Under 2200 (tie): Jorge

Balares (3 1/2), Leonard Sussman (3 1/2), John Rinaldo (3 1/2 & Best over 60), $100 each

BU 2000: Ben Barquin (3 1/2) $150 2nd U2000: Robert Defore (3), Rick Dyberg (3) $25 each

BU 1800: (tie): Morgan Fox (2 1/2) , Robert Draper (2 1/2), An-thony Harbone (2 1/2 & Best over 70) $100 each

BU 1600: Gene Arnaiz (2) $150, 2nd U1600 Reno Tyrell (1) $50

Ron Bruno Sweeps The “Junior” Field With A Perfect 5-0 Score

Ron beat a Class B player in round 1, then a strong A player in round 2. Then came his biggest test, against Mark Duesterwald, rated 2369, nearly 100 points high-er than Ron, but he was up to the challenge and prevailed in a see-saw game. On Sunday he still had to face the #3 and #4 rated play-ers, Romeo Ignacio and Dimitry Kishinevky, but he passed that test too. Ron’s rating is now 2292, just a mere 8 points from 2300.

Prizes in Junior Section (un-der 50 years old):

First Place: Ron Bruno (5) $200 Second Place: John Bad-ger (4) $100

Third Place: Mark Duester-wald (3 1/2) $50

BU2200: Esteban Escobedo (3 1/2) $100, 2nd U2200: Dimitry Kishinevsky (3) $50

BU2000 (tie): Varun Krishnan (3), Peter Hodges (3) $75 each

BU1800: Jason Qu (2) $1002nd U1800 tie: Jamieson Pryor

(1 1/2), Chris Wonnell (1 1/2) $25 each

BU 1600: Tom Kuhn (1) $100The biggest gain was turned in

by Morgan Fox with +118 points (1356>1474). – San Diego Chess Club

CARL WAGNER


Silman’s Complete End-’s Complete End-’game Course: From Begin-ner to Master, by Jeremy Sil-man. Los Angeles: Siles Press, 2007, 530 pages. $24.95.

(Review by Randy Hough)Los Angeles IM Jeremy Silman

has added to his string of useful instructional books. Complete End-game Course includes eight rating class-based chapters which build on one another. Thus, the opposition is introduced in “Endgames for Class E,” distant opposition is covered under Class D, and further finesses are discussed in the C chapter. The latter chapter also presents the Lucena and Philidor positions in rook endings. Many other concepts are displayed in similar building blocks.

In his introduction, Silman points out that “Jumping from book to book is a fast track to nowhere,” certainly true of endgames. Queen endings, except for fortresses and queen vs. pawn on the seventh, are pretty much ignored. And Silman explicitly declines to present the bishop and knight mate because of its paucity in practical play. (Ah, but like many veterans, I went for 40 years without one – and then had three within a year!) A selective rec-ommended reading list of ten books invites the student to go further.

The final chapter, “Endgames for Pure Pleasure,” is less didactic and can be profitably read by the majority of readers, including those who don’t achieve the master level in endings or other phases of the game! It includes examples from endgame virtuosos Lasker, Rubin-stein, Capablanca, Smyslov, and Fischer.

Each chapter (through Experts)

concludes with Tests and Solutions, the diagrams appearing twice for easy reference. Two very minor quibbles: a bit of the material ap-pears in Silman’s other work, and he has a problem with homophones (e.g., “Chicken coup,” his term for the situation where the stronger side’s king, the fox, rushes to the other side and feasts on the chick-ens while the opposing king is stuck tending to an outside passed pawn). But on the whole, this is an excel-lent work and should be the first endgame book for both players and teachers. Highly recommended.

Chess and Education: Se-lected Essays from the Koltanowski Conference,Tim Redman, ed. The Chess Program at the University of Texas at Dallas, 2006. 230 pages. $25.

(Review by Randy Hough)The Koltanowski Memorial Con-

ference on Chess and Education, held in 2001, was one of many wor-thy tributes to its namesake. With some additions, this compendium presents the academic papers from that conference, for a total of 17 es-says.

In his introduction, Redman points out that the focus is on chess as a vehicle for the improvement of academic skills, as opposed to sim-ply developing good players. Sec-tion headings include Chess Pro-gram Values, Educational Practice, Training and Teaching, Theory, and Problems. Appendices include Rob-ert Ferguson’s extensive annotated bibliography on chess and learning, and resources for teachers, com-piled by Tom Brownscombe.

Contributions range from the highly theoretical (“What is Known about What Occurs in the Brain When People Play Chess? An In-troduction to the Neuroscientific Basis of Chess Playing”) to the extremely practical (“Chess Cry-ing: Children’s Preparation and Tournament Structure”). David MacEnulty, the model for Ted Dan-son’s character in Knights of the South Bronx (though this fact goes unmentioned) has useful essays on developing a successful program and “Tips and Tricks for Teaching Total Beginners: Six Big Ideas and a Lot of Little Things to Do.”

To cite at random one paper I found interesting, Michael Potts discusses “The Peripatetic Caissa: Chess as a Supplement to Teaching Aristotle’s Ethics.” With all the re-cent focus on chess’s value in, e.g., teaching math skills, it’s refreshing to see a discussion of value ethics. Potts concludes, albeit with caveats, that knowledge of chess can help one “see” more in a moral situa-tion, appreciate that correct moral decisions can be uncertain without being relativistic, and, through its social component, assist in charac-ter development.

Of course, not all the essays in such a varied collection will be of interest to everyone. But there’s much of value in Chess and Educa-tion to parents, chess teachers and coaches, and anyone who would like to help get chess into school curri-cula – there’s plenty of intellectual ammunition here when that op-portunity arises. A book very much worth owning and dipping into.

Reviews


July 1-4 Pacific Southwest Open Michael Casella Julian Landaw

July 8-16 State Championship Jack Peters Cyrus Lakdawala Eugene Yanayt Christian Tanaka Francis Chen

July 20-23 Pacific Coast Open Tim Taylor Elliot Liu September 2-4 Southern California Open Varuzhan Akobian Joel Banawa Melikset Khachiyan Sept. 30-Oct. 1 San Luis Obispo Cty Champ. James Humphrey Vadim Kudryavtsev Chris RobertsOctober 6-8 Los Angeles Open Ilya Sterin Mikhail Ginzburg Takashi Kurosaki Craig Clawitter Sargis Hakobyan Marian Nick Nita Francisco Alonso Bobby HallNov. 18-19 SCCF November Open Derek Tan Roger Dellaca Nov. 23-26 American Open Reynaldo del Pilar Ron Hermansen Ilia Serpik

Elliot Liu September 2-4 Southern California Open Varuzhan Akobian Joel Banawa Melikset Khachiyan Sept. 30-Oct. 1 San Luis Obispo Cty Champ. Vadim Kudryavtsev Chris Roberts

Mikhail Ginzburg Takashi Kurosaki Craig Clawitter Sargis Hakobyan Marian Nick Nita Francisco Alonso Bobby Hall

Roger Dellaca

Ron Hermansen Ilia Serpik

Dec. 10-11 Joseph Ileto Memorial Ike Miller Show Kitagami Mike Zaloznyy Leo Raterman January 12-15 Western Class Championships Matthew Beelby Jerome HankenJanuary 27-28 SCCF January Open John Daniel Bryant John Funderburg Leonard Sussman Dimitry Kishinevsky March 3-4 SCCF HS Champ Jeremy Stein April 21-22 SCCF Senior Open Carl Wagner

Upcoming April 28-29 Los Angeles Cty Open Monterey Park May 19-20 Chess4Children May Open Huntington Beach May 28-30 Memorial Day Classic LAX

Each event qualifies two players (highest scoring South-ern California residents not previously qualified) except that 1) In the event of a tie, all tied players will advance; 2) A score of 60% is required to qualify; 3) The SCCF Amateur, SCCF High School and any one-day event will each have one qualifying spot; and 4) All one-day tourna-ments shall require a 75% score and only one player shall qualify on tiebreak.

Show Kitagami Mike Zal Leo R January 12-15 Championshi Jerome Hanken

John Funderburg Leonard Sussman Dimitry Kishinevsky March 3-4 SCCF HS Champ April 21-22 SCCF Senior Open Carl Wagner

April 28-29 Los Angeles Cty Open Monterey Park May 19-20 Chess4Children May Open Huntington Beach May 28-30 Memorial Day Classic LAX

2006-2007 State Championship

Seeded into the Championship are the 2006 co-champions Enrico Sevillano and Andranik Matikozyan, two players selected on the basis of rating, and four from the 2007 Candidates Tournament.

Solutions to Tactics by Hanks

(See page 12)Problem no. 1: b. 1. … Nxf2+ is

incorrect. (From the game M. Lowe -- A. Onikul, USATW, San Pedro, CA 2007) 1. … Nf2+ is incorrect. The main line leads to an advantage for White as shown in the following varia-tion 1. … Nf2+? (1. … Bh6 improves) 2. Rxf2 Qxf2 3. d4! (White missed this continuation in the actual game. The threat of Nd1 trapping the Black Queen is hard to meet.) 3. … Nc5 (best defense) 4. dxc5 (not 5. Nd1 Nxe4! or 5. Rf1 exd4! and Black gets compensa-tion) 4. … Qxc5 5. Rd1 Be6 (not 5. … Bg4? 6. Nxe5) 6. Nb1, and White has a clear advantage owing to the more ac-tive pieces, threats of further material gain and a lasting initiative.

Problem no. 2: a. 1. Nf7+ is in-

correct. (From the game Manukyan -- Jacobson, USATW, San Pedro, CA 2007) 1. Ng7+ is a mistake as proven by the following main line. 1. Nf7+?(1. Ndf3 improves) Nxf7 2. Qxf7 Nc6! (Black missed this winning line and played instead 2. … Bc6!?, losing the game in over 70 moves) 3. Rxe8+(White has very few choices owing to the precarious position of his Queen.) 3. … Rxe8 4. Qb3 (the threat was Re6 and Nd8 trapping the White Queen) 4. … Re1+ 5. Nf1 Nb4! (White’s back rank is hard to defend) 6. cxb4 Bc6 7. Bd5 (there are very few defensive moves) 7. … Qe7 8. Be3 (what else?) 8. … Qxe3 winning, as the mating threats are unstoppable.

Problem no. 3: c. Black is win-ning. I like this problem because it teaches you the importance of com-puter mode thinking to solve complex positions. White has several replies to

the check and no matter what’s chosen Black wins. I know this seems hard to believe so consider the following:

If 1. Kg1 Rg7 and Black winsIf 1. Ke2 Rh2! (ouch) 2. Qxh2 Qa2+

3. Kf1 Qxh2 and Black winsIf 1. Ke1 Qa2!! (Chess tactics at its

best) 2. Qxa2 Rxh1+ 3. K-any Rh2+ 4. K-any Rxa2 and Black will win the remaining White Pawns and the end-game.

If 1. Qf3 Rxh1+ and Black wins.Problem no. 4: d. 1. Nd5 is in-

correct. The main line goes if 1. Nd5?This is a mistake. Better is 1. Rc1 as this indirectly defends the Pawn on c4. For example 1. Rc1 Bxc4? 2. Nd5 Bxe2 3. Qxe2 (best) Qd8 4. Nc7 and White will win the Exchange with a good game. 1. … Nxd5! 2. exd5 Bxd5! 3. cxd5?! Qc3+ 4. Nd2 Qxa1 and Black is winning.


Upcoming Events

May 5-62007 GOLDEN GOOSE OPEN. 6-SS, G/60. (No time delay.) LA Chess Club, 11514 Santa Monica Blvd - Second Floor. (4 blocks West of 405 Fwy. Free Parking across street or in the building basement $5) Sponsor: Dr. Harold Valery (Car-dinal Medical Group - Long Beach)$$1000 Guaranteed. In 2 Sections Open: $300-200-100-Fritz 10. Re-serve (U1800): U1800: $100-chess computer-Fritz 10, U1600: $100-Fritz 10, U1400: $100-Fritz 10, U1200/Unrated: Talking chess com-puter-Fritz 10. Reg: 11:00 - 11:45 a.m. Rds: 12, 2, 4 each day. EF: $40, $20 LACC members; Juniors/Se-niors $30, $15 LACC members. Inf: www.LaChessClub.com, (310) 795-5710.

May 12CHESS UNION RIVERSIDE SWISS. 3-SS, G/75. Back to the Grind Cafe (lower level), 3575 University Ave Riverside, CA. Top 2 $$150-$75 Gtd., U1800 & U1600 prizes b/20.Reg: 9:00-10:10 a.m. Rds: 10:15-1:00-4:00. EF: $24 online/mail re-ceived by May 5, $30 at door. Ent: Mail checks to “Chess Union,” PO Box 1313, Bloomington, CA 92316. Info: Call (951) 990-7990. No checks or credit card entries at door. Web site: www.TheChessUnion.com. NS, NC.

May 19COSTA MESA OCTOS. 3-SS, 30/75, SD/30. (Digital Clocks with de-lay 30/70 SD/30). 8 player sections by rating. Odd Fellows/Rebekah Hall, 2476 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA. EF: $27 advance, $32 at site, $2 disc. to all Southern Ca-lif. Chess Federation members. $$

prizes per entries. Reg. 9:30-10:15 a.m. Rds. 10:30-2:30-6:30. (New times.) Rounds may start earlier if your opponent is present and ready. Info/Ent: Takashi Iwamoto ([email protected]), 24275 Tama Lane, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677. Home: (949) 643-2981 Cell: (949) 689-3511. Web site: http://members.cox.net/octochess/. NS, NC.

May 19-20CHESS4CHILDREN MAY OPEN. 5-SS. USCF Rated. Hebrew Academy, 14401 Willow Lane, Huntington Beach, CA. Time Controls: Satur-day G/90; Sunday 40/2, SD/1 Prize Fund: $500 Guaranteed. (Prizes will go up with more than 20 play-ers). Distribution: 1st-35%, 2nd-15%, Top X/A/B, and C-10% Each, Top D and E/UNR-5% each. April Supple-ment used. EF: $40 before 5/18/07. After: $50. IM’s play free with en-try fee deducted from prize. Rds: Saturday 10-1:30-5 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Reg: Online at www.chess4children.com, click on Tour-nament and Class Registrations 2007, and click on Chess4Children May Open. You can also register by printing out the flyer and mailing it in. Info: SCCF membership re-quired of So. Californians: $14, $9 jrs. Advance entries will be listed at the same page as registration. Questions: Joe Hanley 714-925-3195 NC, NS. State Champion-ship Qualifier.

May 26-282007 LINA GRUMETTE MEMORIAL DAY CLASSIC. 6-SS, 40/2, SD/1 (2-day schedule rds 1-3 G/60, then merges). LAX Hilton, 5711 W Cen-tury Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045.

$$10,000 b/200, 60% of each prize guaranteed. In five sections: Open: $$T+1800-750-400-300-200, U2400 400, U2200 700-300-200. Premier(under 2000): $$750-300-200-100. Amateur (Under 1800): $$750-300-Amateur (Under 1800): $$750-300-Amateur200-100. Reserve (Under 1600): $$750-300-200-100. Booster (Un-der 1400/unrated): $$T+400-200-100, U1200 T+100, Unr T+100. (Un-rated may win Unrated prizes only.) Best game prize $25, all sections eli-gible. All: half-point byes available, limit 2, rds 5-6 must be requested with entry & cannot be revoked. SCCF membership req. ($14, jr. $9), OSA. No checks or credit cards at door Reg: 3-day 9-10 a.m. 5-26, 2-day 8:30-9:30 a.m. 5-27. Rds: 3-day: 10:30-5 Sat-Sun, 10-4:30 Mon. 2-day: 10-12:15-2:30 Sun., then merg-es. EF: Open, Premier, Amateur, Reserve $83 if received by 5-24, $95 door, Booster $67 by 5-24, $80 door. On-line entry: www.westernchess.com. Ent: SCCF, c/o John Hillery, 835 N. Wilton Pl. #1, Los Angeles CA 90038. HR: $95 (310) 410-4000, mention chess. Parking $8/day. Inf: [email protected]. NS, W, F. GP: 40. State Championship Qualifier

May 27MDC SCHOLASTICS. 5-SS, SD/45. LAX Hilton, 5711 W Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045. Open to gr. 12-below. In two sections: Open: Trophies to top 5, top 3 U1200, top 2 Unrated. Grade 6/below U1000:Trophies to top 5, top 3 U700, top 2 Unrated. Reg: 8:30-9:15. Rds 9:30-11-1:00-2:30-4. EF: $16 if re-ceived by 5-24, $20 door. Inf: John Hillery, [email protected]. On-line ent: www.westernchess.com. Ent: SCCF, c/o John Hillery, 835 N. Wilton Pl. #1, Los Angeles


CA 90038.

May 28MDC HEXES, 3-SS, G/90. LAX Hilton, 5711 W Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045. Six-player sec-tions by rating. EF: $20 if received by 5-24, $25 door. $$ 40-20-10 each section. Reg: 9:30-10:30 a.m. Rds 10:45-2-5. Ent: SCCF, c/o John Hillery, 835 N. Wilton Pl. #1, Los Angeles CA 90038, online at www.westernchess.com

May 28MEMORIAL DAY ACTION SWISS. 5-SS, G/30. LAX Hilton, 5711 W Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045. $$500 b/40, else proportional: $150-70-40, U2100/Unr $80, U1800 $80, Under 1500 $80. EF: $20 if received by 5-24, $25 at door. Reg: 9-10 a.m. Rds 10:15-11:30-12:45-2:30-3:45. Ent: SCCF, c/o John Hillery, 835 N. Wil-ton Pl. #1, Los Angeles CA 90038, online at www.westernchess.com.

June 2Joshua Tree Summer Open.

5-SS, G/45. Faith Lutheran Church, 6336 Hallee Rd., Joshua Tree, CA 92252. $$1000 Gtd. Open: $250-150-100. U2000: $150, $100,$60, $35, U1600: $75,$50, $30, UNR: trophy. EF: $40. Reg: 8-9:15. Rds: 9:30-11:30-2:00-3:45-5:30. Ent: Mark Muller, PO Box 502, Twen-tynine Palms, CA 92277. (760) 367-2311. [email protected]. W. No time delay allowed. GP: 15.

June 16COSTA MESA OCTOS. 3-SS, 30/75, SD/30. (Digital Clocks with de-lay 30/70 SD/30). 8 player sections by rating. Odd Fellows/Rebekah Hall, 2476 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA. EF: $27 advance, $32 at site, $2 disc. to all Southern Ca-lif. Chess Federation members. $$ prizes per entries. Reg. 9:30-10:15 a.m. Rds. 10:30-2:30-6:30. (New times.) Rounds may start earlier if your opponent is present and ready. Info/Ent: Takashi Iwamoto ([email protected]), 24275 Tama Lane, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677.

Home: (949) 643-2981 Cell: (949) 689-3511. Web site: http://members.cox.net/octochess/. NS, NC.

June 29-July 147TH ANNUAL PACIFIC SOUTHWEST OPEN. 5-SS, 3-day 40/2, SD/1, 2-day rds. 1-2 G/75 then merges. Burbank Airport Marriott, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank CA (adjacent to Bur-bank Airport). $$8,000 b/240, half of all prize guaranteed. Choice of 2 schedules: 3 day schedule plays all rounds at 40/2, SD/1. 2 day sched-ule plays first 2 rds at G/75, oth-ers at 40/2, SD/1. 2 sections: Open,$$1400-700-400-300-200, U2200 $600-300-150, U2000 $600-300-150. Amateur, open to U1800/Unr, $$600-300-150, U1600 500-250-150, U1400 400-250, U1200 150, Unr. 150. Unr. may win Unrated prize only. All, EF $69 if rec’d by 6/28, $79 at site. SCCF memb. req’d of So. Californians ($14, jrs. U18 $9, in-cludes Rank & File magazine). Reg: 5:30-6:30 p.m. 6-29, 8:30-10 a.m. 6-30. Rds: 3-day 7 p.m., 11-5:30, 10-4:30. 2-day: 10:30-1:30 (G/75), then merges. HR: $119, 800-736-9712 or 800-840-6450. Reserve by June 15 or rates will go up. Be sure to men-tion Western Chess. Parking $10/day. Inf: [email protected]. On-line ent: www.westernchess.com. Ent: SCCF, c/o John Hillery, 835 N. Wilton Pl. #1, Los Angeles CA 90038. NS. NC. F. GP: 30. State Championship Qualifier.

July 1PSW SCHOLASTICS. 5-SS, SD/45. Burbank Airport Marriott, 2500

Hollywood Way, Burbank CA (adja-cent to Burbank Airport).Open to gr. 12-below. In two sections: Open:Trophies to top 5, top 3 U1200, top 2 Unrated. Grade 6/below U1000:Trophies to top 5, top 3 U700, top 2 Unrated. Reg: 8:30-9:15. Rds: 9:30-11-1:00-2:30-4. EF: $16 if re-ceived by 6/28, $20 door. On-line ent: www.westernchess.com. Info: [email protected]. Ent: SCCF, c/o John Hillery, 835 N. Wil-ton Pl. #1, Los Angeles CA 90038.

July 1PSW HEXES. 3-SS, G/90 Burbank Airport Marriott, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank CA (adjacent to Bur-bank Airport). 6-player sections by rating. $$40-20-10 each section. EF: $20 if received by 6/28, $25 door. Reg: 9:30-10:15 a.m. Rds: 10:30-1:30-4:30. Ent: SCCF, c/o John Hil-lery, 835 N. Wilton Pl. #1, Los An-geles CA 90038. On-line ent: www.westernchess.com.

July 7CHESS UNION SUMMER QUADS III. 3-RR, G/75. Back to the Grind Cafe (lower level), 3575 University Ave. Riverside, CA. 4-player sections by rating. $$60 1st each section. Reg: 9:00-10:10 a.m. Rds: 10:15-1:00-4:00. EF: $24 online/mail received by June 30, $30 at door. Ent: Mail checks to the “Chess Union,” PO Box 1313, Bloomington, CA 92316. Info: Call (951) 990-7990. No checks or credit card entries at door. NS. NC. Web site: www.TheChes-sUnion.com


Dear USCF Voting Member:

Here is what I bring to the table:

A Goal for Success: The USCF must excel in every activity it engages, listen to its members, adapt to new environments and represent the USA to the world chess community with dignity, understanding and compassion.

Experience: 40 years of volunteer experience covering the entire spectrum of USCF activities.

Openness: I was the catalyst that opened up the BINFOS (non-confi dential Board correspondence) to interested members. I will insist that confi dentiality is reserved for personnel, legal and in-process business negotiations.

Newsstand Sales: Will encourage initiatives of the Executive Director and editors to expand newsstand sales of Chess Life and Chess Life for Kids.

Independence: No you scratch my back, I scratch yours; no team commitments; no chess income; I have full independence to act solely in the best interests of the USCF, the organization I love.

Micro-managing: Power of the Executive Director position has been eroding. It’s time to reverse the trend and end Board micro-management.

Scholastic and Youth Chess: I’ve given simuls at schools, organized Junior tournaments, and ran a chess school for children. In 1998 I received an award from the North Broward School in recognition of my contributions to scholastic chess. Take a look at page 34 of the January 2007 issue of Chess Life; you will see a picture of our World Youth Team sporting USA jackets. The jackets were due to my initiative.

Internet: USCF is behind, short on investment capital, the way to establish leadership is non–exclusive partnerships.

Recognition: I started: the Volunteer of the Month” program, the “Gallery of Distinguished Chess Journalists” and the “Cramer Awards for Excellence in Chess Journalism.” I will continue to fi nd ways to honor deserving chess volunteers and professionals.

Professional Players Health Fund: I support the new committee chair Fred Gruenberg in efforts to greatly improve everything about this little known service.

Affi liates: We need to work closer with them in developing and implementing mutually benefi cial projects.

Amateur Team: In 1993, I obtained sponsorship for a single-location Amateur Team playoff among regional champions. My goal is to obtain long-term single-location sponsorship for future years.

TV Serial: I am helping develop a TV show for chess. Commitments from various celebrities to participate are there. Industry interest is there. The impact of a successful weekly chess show will be huge!

Innovator: At the 1996 NY Chess-in-the-Schools Invitational, in order to discourage the “Grandmaster Draw,” I split the prize fund, 50-50 between order of fi nish and games won. It worked: The number of drawn games was reduced and each game was fought to an exciting conclusion.

Motherhood: You won’t see me wasting your time and mine with statements favoring motherhood positions. I will confront the controversial, listen to both sides, decide what to do and announce to you my constituency what I will do and why?

Yes, the best is yet to come! Together, we will make it so,

Don Schultzadvertisement

SCCFPO BOX 205MONTEREY PARK CA 9754

MOHRING - FIENSCH

GERMANY, 1961WHITE TO MOVE

Curdo - ParkerGreater Boston Open, 1995

WHITE TO MOVE

VINAGRE - DURAO

RIBEIRA, 1956BLACK TO MOVEBLACK TO MOVEBLACK

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