Where Organized Chess in America Began

EMPIRE CHESS Summer 2017 Volume XL, No.2 $5.00

Boys from Syracuse Roll in North Country Empire Chess P.O. Box 340969 Brooklyn, NY 11234

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NEW YORK STATE CHESS ASSOCIATION, INC. www.nysca.net

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

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Board of Directors Upstate Downstate William Townsend Phyllis Benjamin Bill Goichberg Dr. Frank Brady Shelby Lohrman Margarita Lanides Karl Heck Lenny Chipkin Ron Lohrman Ed Frumkin Brenda Goichberg Polly Wright

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Chess Rising in NY and US

It wasn’t that many years ago that the rise of computer chess was seen as the death knell for the Royal Game. Why would humans play and study a game only to fall short against electronics? Deep Blue beat World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. New York State Chess Hall of Famer Grandmaster Joel Benjamin was a key member of the project team for the Deep Blue victory. That win was a major publicity success for IBM, the largest computer company in the world at the time. Twenty years later, NYSCA hosted the largest New York State Scholastic Championship ever held with over 1,000 players, and US Chess hosted the largest scholastic chess tournament ever held in the United States with almost 6,000 players. The US Supernationals may outgrow the largest convention hotel in the United States. Not one of those players was born at the time of the Deep Blue victory over Kasparov. All of them chose to study and invest in chess anyway. Why? I am sure there are many and varied reasons. Chess helps develop your mind. Chess is an interesting and ever-rich intellectual game for the masses that is not “solved,” despite the brute-force nature of computers. The advent and expansion of scholastic and college teams have made chess more of a school activity like sports teams. People still ultimately care about the brilliance of humans in a human activity, though. Baseball could replace increasingly frail pitchers with a pitching machine on the mound that could deliver a strike every time. Do the fans want to see that happen? Of course not. The competition is between two human teams, and mistakes are part of the human game. The same is true in chess. All chess players strive to be as good as they can be, and “play the perfect game.” It rarely happens, but the goal is a worthy one that players have strived to achieve for hundreds of years. More books have been written on chess than all other games combined, and there is no “answer” to the game yet. In recent years, the 500-year-old Giuoco Piano opening has gained in popularity as new ideas are discovered. You play an amazing game. One that won’t be exhausted in our lifetimes. Go out and enjoy!

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EMPIRE CHESS Where organized chess began in America

Volume XL, Number 2 Summer 2017

Cover: Syracuse’s Roger Weiskopff considers a move against Watertown’s Steve Dunn in the 2017 Watertown Open. Wesikopff was one of the “Boys of Syracuse” that swept the North Country event. Photo by Don Klug.

From the Editor 2 Table of Contents 3 Samadashvili wins NY Open Battle of Lake George by Bill Townsend 4 The Boys from Syracuse Win Watertown Open by Don Klug 9 Second Kreitner Tournament by Neal Bellon 11 Breaking Opening Stereotypes by Zachary Calderon 13 Notes from the Marshall from staff reports 15 Open Lines by Karl Heck 18 Rochester News (including Marchand Open) by Karl Heck 21 Three-Way Tie at 17th Queens Team by Ed Frumkin 24 Evans Gambit: Normal Position by Richard Moody 26 Updated New York State Chess Club Directory 28 New York Tournaments 30

Editor: Karl Heck, karlpanorama@gmail.com. Webmaster: Daniel Heck, www.nysca.net.

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The battle of Lake George WFM Martha Samadashvili wins the 25th New York State Open by Bill Townsend The 25rd Annual New York State Open took place May 19 to 21 in Lake George Village, a summer resort community in the southern Adirondacks, about an hour north of New York’s Capital District. Overall about 88 players competed in the four sections, which was down sharply from last year’s record turnout of 105. Nevertheless, this is still the event’s second highest player count since it moved upstate in 2005. However, the downturn is still a puzzle – this event has a lot of appeal. Lake George Village is a summer vacation destination and is usually packed in July and August. The week before Memorial Day many of the attractions are open but free from the stifling summer crowds. The weather was good most of the weekend – sunny and in the high 60s until rain finally moved in late Sunday. Nowhere was the turnout more puzzling than in the Open section. Last year the winner was former U.S. Champion Joel Benjamin, who was not the first GM to win here. This year the winner was WFM Martha Samadashvili, who at 2183 was the event’s highest rated player. In fact there were only four players rated over 2000 present. Where was everyone? Anyway, Martha won her first four games, and then gave up a draw against David Finnerman in the final round to end up as the only player with 4½. Michael W. Mockler was clear second with an undefeated 4-2. Third through fifth with 3½ were David Finnerman, Michael Ny Cheng and Peter Craig. Sixth through tenth with 3-2 were: Immad Sadiq, Brian Furtado, Spencer Martin, David Khaitov and Luis-Jaime Casenas. The last named player won the Under-1810 prize. Luis-Joshua Casenas won the Under-1610 prize with 2½ points. Here is the last round money game from the Open section, which so happens to be the only game I have from tournament winner Samadashvili. I think that Black is somewhat better out of the opening, but he doesn’t exploit his small plus vigorously, so the game drifts into a draw.

WFM Martha Samadashvili (2183) David Finnerman (2006) [A25] English 25th New York State Open, Round 5 Lake George Village, NY, May 21, 2017 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 d6 6.0–0 Nge7 After 6...Nf6?! 7.d4! looks strong for White. 7.e3 0–0 8.d4 exd4 9.exd4 Bg4 After this awkward pin, I would say the game is roughly equal. 10.Ne2 Nf5 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Nfxd4 Since this doesn't, in fact, win a pawn, continuing to build the pressure with 12...Re8 looks better for Black. 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Bxb7 Rb8 15.Bg2 Re8 16.Be3 c5 16...Nf5 17.Bxa7 Rxb2 seems like an improvement for Black. 17.Rb1 Nf5 18.Bc1 Bd4 19.Kh2 Qf6 20.b3 Be5 21.Qf3 Nd4 22.Qd5 Qe6 23.Bb2 Qxd5 24.Bxd5 Now that the Queens are off the game is starting to look drawish. 24...Re7 25.Bxd4 Bxd4 26.Bf3 The opposite-colored Bishops and only one open file for the Rooks make a draw even more likely, but the players try to resist the inevitable for a while. 26...Re6 27.Bg4 Re7 28.Bf3 Re6 29.Kg2 Kf8 30.Rfd1 Be5 31.Bg4 f5 32.Bf3 a5 33.Bd5 Re7 34.Bc6 Rc8 35.Bb5 Bd4 36.Re1 Rcc7 37.Kf1 Rxe1+ 38.Rxe1 Re7 39.Rxe7 ½–½ Here White offered a draw which Black accepted. Once the last pair of Rooks is gone, nobody is winning this opposite-colored Bishop ending.) Here’s a more lively game, an upset from the first round with A-player Daniel Khaitov upending veteran expert Dale Sharp. There are a lot of complex tactics here, but Khaitov wends his way through them like a pro. Daniel Khaitov (1817) – Dale Sharp (2119) [C77] Ruy Lopez 25th New York State Open, Round 1 Lake George Village, NY, May 19, 2017 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 b5

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6.Bb3 Bc5 7.Nc3 h6 8.0–0 d6 9.Be3 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Nd5 Nd4 12.Bxd4 exd4 13.Nf4 Qd7? This seems like a harmless developing move, but it is a complicated tactical mistake, which both players miss. 14.Nxh5?! Instead White had 14.e5! taking advantage of the fact that Black hasn't castled yet. It's complex, but White seems close to winning in most variations: 14...Qf5 14...dxe5? 15.Nxh5 Nxh5 16.Nxe5 Qf5 17.Bxf7+.15.Nxh5 Nxh5 16.g4 Qc8 17.exd6 (Still winning, but not quite as good is: 17.gxh5 Qxh3 18.Nh2) 17...Nf4 18.d7+! Kxd7 (Better than 18...Qxd7 19.Re1+ Kf8 20.Ne5) 19.Ne5+ Kd6 20.Nxf7+ with a winning game for White. 14...Nxh5 15.c3 Even stronger seems to be 15.Ne5!?dxe5 16.Qxh5 Bd6 17.f4. 15...dxc3 16.bxc3 0–0 17.d4 Bb6 18.Re1 Nf4 19.Qd2 g5 20.e5 d5? Considering how porous his Kingside appears, Black doesn't want to open up the game, but that seems to be best for him here: 20...c5 21.Re4 cxd4 22.cxd4 Rac8 23.exd6 Qxd6 24.h4 with a small advantage to White, but better for Black than the game. 21.Nh2! White repositions his Knight to put his finger on the weak spot in Black's position. 21...c5 22.Ng4 Kg7 23.Nf6 Qd8?! 23...Qf5 was the best in a bad position. 24.g3 Nxh3+ 25.Kg2 cxd4 After 25...g4 26.Bxd5 Black is lost too. 26.Kxh3 Qc8+ 27.Kg2 Qxc3 28.Qxc3 28.Qe2! was better, but all roads lead to Rome. 28...dxc3 29.Nd7 Ba5 30.Nxf8 Rd8?! 31.e6 1-0 Black has nothing to look forward to after 31.e6 Rxf8 32.Bxd5 fxe6 33.Rxe6 so he gives up. I tried to get a game from second-place finisher Walter Mockler, but he demurred and said that none of his games were worthy of publication: they were all decided by players committing “chess suicide” as he put it. This game, which I copied down as it was being played, seems to bear this out: White makes an opening mistake, which causes black to sacrifice a piece. White tries to hold onto the extra material, and this proves to be his undoing. Martin Spencer (1843) – Walter Mockler (1982) [C77] French Defense 25th New York State Open, Round 5 Lake George Village, NY, May 21, 2017

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 One of the major variations of the Advanced French. 6...Nge7 7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Be3? This is a known mistake, but apparently not known to White. The usual move is 9.Bb2. 9...Bd7 10.Nc3 Nxe3 11.fxe3 Nxb4! Yes, Black can get away with this. 12.axb4? Best is 12.Rb1, but that would require White knowing that Black's sacrifice was sound, and if he had known that he wouldn’t have played 9.Be3. 12...Bxb4 13.Qd3?! Best for White is meekly yielding up the Knight with 13.Rc1 Qa5 14.Kf2 but Black is clearly better here too. 13...Rc8 14.Rc1 Qa5 15.Kd2?! 0–0 16.Ng1? This Knight will not make it back to the action in time. White's game now falls apart quickly. 16...Rxc3 17.Rxc3 Qa2+ 18.Kd1 Qa1+ 19.Kd2 Qb2+ 20.Qc2 Bxc3+ 0–1 One of the things that sets this tournament apart is its Senior/Under-1910 section, in some years nearly as popular as the Open section. This section was won by Scott Boyce and Thomas Chromczak with undefeated 4-1 records. In clear third with 3½ was Marvin Moss, who was the only player with 3½ going into the final round, but lost his last game to Chromczak. Fourth through seventh with 3-2 were: Edward Kotski, John Lawless, Harold Stenger and Eric Sonn, who won the Under 1710 prize. Shown below: Setting up for the last round at the New York State Open in Lake George

Here is one of the money games from the Senior section, a tactical slugfest between two Capital

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District players. Both combatants miss a lot, but there was a lot going on here and plenty of mistakes waiting to be made. Scott Boyce (1697) – Joshua Kuperman (1814) (2624) [A16] English 25th New York State Open, Senior section, Round 5 Lake George Village, NY, May 21, 2017 1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0–0 5.e3 e6 6.Nge2 d5 7.b3 Nbd7 8.Rb1 c6 9.0–0 This was White's last chance to play 9.d4. 9...dxc4 10.bxc4 Ne5 11.Qb3 Nd3?! This isn't as strong as it appears. 11...Qd3 would have served Black better. 12.Ba3 Re8 13.h3 An unfocused move. Instead White could have dominated the center with 13.Ne4! Nxe4 14.Bxe4 Ne5 15.d4. 13...e5 14.Ne4 Bf5? Black forgets how weak his d6 square is. He had to play 14...Nxe4.1 5.Nd6 e4 If Black tries to save the exchange he loses a whole piece: 15...Rf8 16.e4. 16.Nxe8 Qxe8 17.Qxb7 Ne5 18.Rfc1 With Black's next move in mind 18.Nd4 was a better idea. 18...Nf3+ 19.Bxf3 exf3 20.Nd4 Bxb1 21.Rxb1 Ne4 22.Nxf3 Things are looking somewhat better for Black, but White is still two pawns up. 22...Rd8 23.d4 Nc3 Here is a cute tactic: 23...Nxg3! and if White recaptures he's just lost: 24.fxg3? 24...Qxe3+ 25.Kg2 Qe2+. However after 24.Qe7 Black is still on top. 24.Rb2 Nd1 25.Rb1 The Knight is trapped after 25.Rb3! 25...Nc3 26.Re1 Qe4 27.Ng5 Qf5 28.Qe7 Rf8?! 29.Kg2?! 29.g4! would make life very awkward for Black. 29...h6 30.e4 Qxg5 31.Qxg5 hxg5 32.Bxf8 Bxf8 A Knight and a Bishop are better than a Rook, but it's White's two extra pawns that will decide matters. 33.Kf3 Nxa2 34.Ra1 Nb4 35.Rxa7 Nc2 36.d5 cxd5 37.cxd5 Nb4 38.Ra8 Kg7 39.Rd8 Nd3 40.Ke3 Nb4 41.Kd4 Nc2+ 42.Kc4 Be7 43.Rd7 Bf6 44.Rb7 Be5 45.Kb5 Nd4+ 46.Kc5 Kf8 47.f4 The plain fact is a Knight and a Bishop can be quite awkward together, and that is the case here. Black is lost. 47...gxf4 48.gxf4 Bg7 49.e5 Nf3 50.d6 Ke8 51.Kc6

While watching the game I preferred 51.e6, but the text works nearly as well. 51...Nd4+ 52.Kc7 Ne6+ 53.Kc8 g5 54.Re7+ Kf8 55.Rxe6 1-0 Black can't stop the d-pawn from queening so he gives up. The tournament’s only perfect score was in the Under-1610 sections where Joshua Taht won all his games to take clear first place. Brian Clark was all alone in second place with 4-1. Kevin Brown and Nitin Obla were third and fourth with 3½ points. Fifth through eighth with 3-2 were: Blaise Loya, Timothy Kraft, Ansgarius Alyward, and Karthik Narayan. These last two players split the prize for best player under 1410. Killian Whyte was the winner of the Under-1210 section, the biggest group in the tournament, with 4½ points. Second through fourth with 4-1 were: Jonathan Bradley, Aryan Mishra and Charles Bryant. Fifth through eighth with 3½ were: Kuipi Lam, John Femia, David Komar, and Kevon Durgee, Lam won the prize for best player under 1000. Ninth through fourteenth with 3-2 were: Philip Thibault, Koiip Lam, Katie Duong, Rijul Shah, Rohan Akkaya and Sicheng Yu. Sha won the prize for top player under 800. Sheetanshu Kandlakunta was top player under 600 with a 2-3 score. The assignment of some of the rating prizes was quite fraught because the tiebreaks were so close. Within the main tournament there was a Mixed Doubles prize, open for the highest-scoring male/female team. Edging out the competition was the team of tournament winner Martha Samadashvili and Philip Ferguson with six points. Immediately behind them with 5½ were Erica Li and Michael Cheng. Katie Duong and Kevin Duong were third with five points. On Saturday night there was a four-round double round blitz tournament that was won in convincing fashion by Andrew Jeselson with a perfect 8-0 score. Originally ranked sixth in the twelve-player field, Jeselson won every single game. Second and third with 5½ were Brian Furtado and Erica Li. Joshua Kuperman was clear fourth with 4½. The site, as usual, was the Tiki Hotel, a delightfully campy relic of the Polynesian craze of the late 1950s. Frowny Tiki idols abound!

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Since this was the 25th New York State Open, this year it became a U.S. Chess Heritage event. NTD Steve Immitt was chief tournament director for the New York State Chess Association and the Continental Chess Association. Shown below: David Finnerman and WFM Martha Samadashvili battle at the New York State Open in Lake George.

While I was walking around during the final round, Walter Mockler recommended that I check out the interesting play of Joshua Taht, who wound up winning the Under-1610 section. When I complimented Taht on his play and asked for a game. He laughed and rather modestly said the only thing his games showed was how badly 1600s play. All of you can judge the accuracy of this statement for yourselves: here is the game that won the section for him. Nitin Obla (1331) – Joshua Taht (1559) [C55] 25th New York State Open, Under 1610 section Round 5 Ruy Lopez Lake George Village, NY, May 21, 2017

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bc4 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ This seems like a no-brainer: instead of meekly submitting to the fork trick with Nxe4 - White takes away Black's ability to castle. However this is good for Black: his strong center more than offsets his misplaced King. 5...Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Ng3 Be7 Even better is 7...e4 and White has nothing better than 8.Ng1. 8.h3 Rf8 9.0–0 Kg8 10.d3 h6 11.Qe2 Qd6 12.Re1 Qf6 13.Be3? For better or worse, White has to enter the complications after 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Nh5! (This is essential. White is lost after 14.Qxe5? Qxf2+ 15.Kh2 Bd6) 14...Qf7 15.Qxe5 Qxf2+ 16.Kh1 Rf7 with a small advantage to Black. 13...Bxh3! Very tactically alert. Black just swipes a pawn. 14.Nxe5 14.gxh3 Qxf3 15.Qxf3 Rxf3 doesn't have much to recommend it. 14...Nxe5 15.Bd4 Nf3+ Even better was 15...Bd6. 16.Qxf3 Qxd4 17.Qe2?! Best for White is 17.c3 but he's still at a severe disadvantage. 17...Bc5 18.Rf1 Qg4? I think that Black realized at the board that 18...Qf4 was a better move. 19.d4 Bxd4 20.Qd3 Bb6 21.gxh3 Qxh3 22.Qxd5+ Kh8 23.Qd3? This is the end. Best was chasing the queen away with 23.Qg2 and trying to survive with a bad position, a pawn down. 23...Rf4! Now White can't stop a catastrophe on the h-file. 24.Qc3 Rh4 0–1 Killian Whyte, the winner of the Under 1210 section, turned in all his games, God bless him. Not too surprisingly, most of these games were decided by elementary tactical errors. Strangely the most interesting of them was the one game he didn’t win, against Yashna Hasija. For a good portion of the game, Black seems lost, but he manages to fight his way back to equality. At the end of the gamem Black was actually better, but he was probably relieved to draw, considering his earlier adventures. Yashna Hasija (734) – Killian Whyte (1020) [C10] 25th New York State Open, Under 1610 section Round 5 French Lake George Village, NY, May 21, 2017

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 d5?! This transposes the game from a Sicilian to a French Defense, but it’s actually a mistake, and can give White an advantage if he plays his cards right. 4.exd5 exd5 5.d4 White has a significant development advantage after 5.Bb5+ Nc6 6.0–0. 5...c4 6.a3 Nf6 7.h3 Recently I have been noticing, as I have been putting in the games of lower-rated players, they seem especially fond of moving their rook pawns one square forward, be it a3 and h3, or ...a6 and ...h6. While inoffensive moves like that are seldom blunders, they often don't accomplish much of anything and don't advance the player's position at all. I'm not sure why these moves are so frequent, whether it is intellectual laziness or an outsize fear of getting their Knights pinned. Here these two moves only have the effect of dissipating White's advantage. 7...Nc6 8.Be2 g6 9.0–0 Bg7 10.Re1 0–0 11.Bg5 Qb6? A simple tactical oversight, which White immediately takes advantage of. 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Nxd5 Qd8 14.Nxf6+ Qxf6 15.Bxc4 White is now comfortably ahead by two center pawns. Ordinarily this would be an uncomplicated win for the first player, but at this level things are not so straightforward.

15...Rd8 16.c3 Bd7 17.Qd2 Na5 18.b3?! Bc6 19.Ng5 Bd5 20.Bxd5 Rxd5 21.Ne4 Qb6 22.Rab1 Rb5 23.b4 Nc4 24.Qh6? White could hold onto the a-pawn with 24.Qd3 because after 24...Nxa3? 25.Ra1 and the knight is trapped. 24...Rh5 25.Qf4 Rf5 26.Qh4 Nxa3 27.Rbc1 Nb5?! 28.Rcd1?! White misses a tactical subtlety: after 28.g4! Rf4 29.Qh6 the rook is trapped. 28...Rc8 29.g4? Now this doesn't work. White still has a sizable advantage after a move like 29.Rd3. 29...Rf4 30.Qh6 Rxe4 31.Rxe4 Nxc3 Oops! Now this variation ends in a Knight fork. The net effect is that Black has evened up the pawns again. 32.Rc1 Qc6 33.Re3 Ne2+ 34.Rxe2 Qxc1+ 35.Qxc1 Rxc1+ 36.Kg2 Rc4 37.Re8+ The best way to continue would be 37.b5 Rxd4 38.Re7 b6 39.Rxa7 Rb4 and white can probably defend this. 37...Kg7 38.d5 ½–½ Here the players agreed to a draw. Clearly Black is better after 38...Rxb4 39.Kf3 Rd4 40.Rd8. Could a Grandmaster win this? Maybe, but the technical problems of winning a Rook and pawn ending would tax most players' abilities. Perhaps a draw is a just result here.

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The ‘Boys from Syracuse’ Sweep Watertown Open by Don Klug

Pictured: Viktor Levine and Ramon Madrid fought to a bishops of opposite color draw in round three. Syracuse-area expert chess player Viktor Levine and a contingent of Syracuse players swept the 2017 Watertown Open Chess Tournament by finishing first through third, held May 6th at the American Red Cross in Watertown, NY. It was no surprise that first place went to Mr. Levine, rated 2161, who scored +3-0=1. Nor was it wasn’t surprising when Mr. Levine was held to a Bishops of opposite color draw by fellow Syracuse traveling player Ramon Madrid (1894) in Round 3. Nor was it surprising that Mr. Madrid missed his shot at a first-place tie when held to a fourth-round draw by local player Don Klug. Fourth rounds can be taxing! The real surprise and hidden story of this annual North Country tournament was the tied for second-place finish by unrated Syracuse area player Roger Weiskopff, with his score of 3-1. Mr. Weiskopff, recovered nicely from a first round loss to Bob Kratzat with wins over fellow Syracuse player Jason Pauldine and local player Steve Wood. His third-round win came with just 15 seconds left on his clock. Still, this wasn’t the story of the day. The hidden story came in round four. Fourth round games in one-day tournaments are always a testament to a player’s stamina and determination. Mr. Weiskopff’s ‘gritty’ performance rating of USCF 1794 was fueled by his upset win over local defending 2016 Open Champion Adolfo Prieto. The game follows. Prieto, Adolfo (1906) - Weiskopff, Roger (Unrated) [A65] 2017 Watertown Open (4), May 6.2017 Modern Benoni (by transposition)

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.e4 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Nge2 Nh5 9.Be3 Bd7 10.g4 Nf6 11.Ng3 Qa5 12.Qd2 12.Qb3 ...is more active. 12...Na6 13.h4 h5 14.g5 Ng8 15.Rc1 15.Bf4, White could attack the backward 'd' pawn. Attacking with 15.Nb5 would work well too. 15...Ne7 16.Nb5 Qxd2+ 17.Bxd2 Nc8 18.Bc3 0–0 19.a3 Re8 20.Kf2 Re7 21.Rg1 This seems a waste of time. The Bishop invasion 21.Bf6 would restrict Black greatly. 21...Bxb5 22.Bxb5 Nc7 23.Be2 b5 24.f4 Bxc3 25.Rxc3 Nb6 26.Bf3 Rae8 27.f5? Fritz suggests 27.Rd1 Rd8 28.e5 and Black cannot afford to take the 'e' pawn. 27...Na4 This position is made for Knights to invade. 28.Rc2 c4 29.f6 Rd7 30.Ne2 Na6 31.Nd4 Rb7 32.Nc6 N6c5 33.Ne7+ 33.Ke3 33...Kh7 34.Ke3 Nd3

35.b3?? Blundering under the pressure of the invading Knights. The alternative 35.Rb1 Nac5 36.Be2 Ne5 37. Kf4 a5, and White holds on. 35...cxb3 36.Rc6 Ne5 37.Rc8?? 37.Bd1 b2 38.Bc2 ...stopping the pawn, but White is still lost. 37...Rbxe7 And the unrated Mr. Weiskopff finishes his first tournament at +3–1=0 with a USCF rating of 1794.0–1 The Watertown Chess Club is the North Country’s leader for US Chess rated activity, and has been in operation for almost two decades. The Club has weekly meetings and conducts several rated tournaments a year in different locations in Watertown.

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Long Island Chess Club: 2nd Annual Ilan Kreitner Memorial

by Neal Bellon info@lichessclub.com The Long Island Chess Club (LICC) held its Second Annual Ilan Kreitner Memorial, the club’s flagship event, with a $2000 guaranteed prize fund. Ilan was an institution in Long Island Chess right up until his passing in the fall of 2015. He was a true gentleman and a worthy opponent who was respected by all. Twenty-six players of various strengths competed in this six-round event with a G/90;d5 time control. The extremely talented up-and-coming high schooler Noah Flaum won the event with 51/2 points. Matthew Kubelle took second place with 4 1.2 points. Class prize winners were as follows: Top Under 2000: Frank Paciulli and Jareb Gleckel with four points each, Top Under 1750 Jamie McCarthy with 3 ½ points, Top Under 1500 Justin Greenwald with three points, Top Under 1250: William Sullivan. The event was directed by club founder Neal Bellon with assistance from Tim Mirabile. Below is a sampling of games from the event. K. Grasser (1968)- NM A. Renna (2342) Sicilian Defense This wild miniature was the most interesting upset of the event. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Nbd7 8. 0-0 Nc5 9. Qe2 Be7 10. Bc4 0-0 11. a3 Qc7 12. b4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Bd3 Nf6 15. Rfe1 Re8 16. Bg5 h6 17. h4 Bd7 18. Qe3 Nc5 19. Qe4 f5 20. Nxf5 hxg5 21. Nh6+ Kf8 22. Qg6 gxh6 23. Qxh6+ 1-0 M. Kubelle (1806)- Frank Paciulli (1856) King’s Indian Defense 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. g4 c5 7. d5 e6 8. g5 Ne8 9. f4 f5 10. exf5 exf5 11. h4 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Ng7 13. h5 Nxh5 14. Bxh5 gxh5 15. Qxh5 Qe8+ 16. Kd2 Qg6 17. Qf3 Qg7 18. Rh6 Nd7 19. Rxd6 19. Ne2 Nb6 20. Ng3 Nxc4+ 21. Kd3 b5 22. Nh5 Qd7 23. Nf6+ Rxf6 24. gxf6 19... Nf6 19... Nb6 20. Kd3 Qe7 21. Rf6 Re8 22. Be3 Qe4+ 23. Qxe4 fxe4+ 24. Kc2 Nxc4 25. Bxc5 20. gxf6 Qxg1 21. Bb2 Qg6 22. Qf2 Kh8 23. Rg1 Qh6 24. Qg3 Re8 25. f7 1-0

Shown below: Players in the Long Island Chess Club contesting the Ian Kreitner Memorial.

M. Kubelle (1806) - J. Gleckel (1769) King’s Indian Attack notes by M. Kubelle 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d6 5. O-O O-O 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bf4 Nbd7 8. c3 c6 9. Na3 Nd5 10. Bd2 e5 11. e4 11. Qc1 Kh7 11... N5b6 12. Be3 12. Qc1 Kh7 13. Qc2 12... Qe7 13. Nd2 Nf6 14. f3 Nh5 15. Nc2 Be6 16. Qe2 Na4 17. Rfb f5 18. Qd3 f4 19. Bf2 fxg3 20. hxg3 Qf7 20... Qg5 Both Nf1 and Kh2 are approximately equal in defending the King.. Approximate equality. 21. b3 Nb6 22. c4 Dubious because the move’s timing could be improved and forces White to play accurately to get equality. The move is also interesting since it tempts Black in different variations with material at the detriment to its position 22... exd4 23. Nxd4 c5 24. Nxe6 Qxe6 25. e5 25. Nf1 Bxa1 26. Rxa1 Rad8 27. Rd1 25... Bxe5 25... Qxe5 26. Qxg6 Qg5 27. Qe6+ Kh7 28. Ne4 Qg6 29. Qxg6+ Kxg6 30. Nxd6 Be5 31. Nxb7 Nxg3 32. Bxg3 Bxg3 33. Rf1 Rac8 34. Rad1 (25... Rad8 26. Re1 dxe5 27. Qc2 ) (25... dxe5 26. Ne4 Nd7 27. Rd1 Rad8 28. Qd6 Qxd6 29. Rxd6). 26. Re1 Qf5 27. Qxf5 gxf5 28. Rad1 Nxg3 28... Bxg3 29. Bxg3 Nxg3 30. Nf1 Nxf1 31. Kxf1 Rad8 32. f4 Kf7 33. Bxb7 Rfe8 34. Rxe8 Kxe8 35. Kf2 Kf7 36. Re1 Rd7 37. Bc6 Rd8 38. Bf3 Kf6 39. Rd1 Nc.

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29. Rxe5 dxe5 30. Bxg3 f4 31. Bf2 31. Bh4 Rac8 32. Ne4 Rc6 33. Bh3 Nc8 34. Rd5 Rg6+ 35. Kf2 31... Rfd8 32. Bxc5 Rd3 33.Bf1 Rd7 34. Bh3 Rd3 35. Bf5 Rdd8 36. Kf2 Kf7 37. Ke2 Nd7 38. Bd6 Nf8 39. Ne4 Ne6 40. Bxe6+ Kxe6 41. Rd5 Rg8 42. Rxe5+ Kd7 43. Re7+ Kc6 44. Bxf4 h5 45. Rc7+ Kb6 46. b4 a5 47. b5 a4 1-0

The battle joined in the Ian Kreitner Memorial. Anthony Renna (l) and tournament champion Noah Flaum ®. N. Bellon (1868) - E. Wang (1805) Queen’s Pawn Game1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. Bxd6 Qxd6 6. c3 c5 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1 b6 10. Nbd2 Bb7 11. Rc1 e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 14. Nf3 Qe7 15. Qc2 Ne4 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. Nd2 Rfe8 18. Red1 Rad8 19. Nb3 Qg5 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21. Rd1 Ba6 22. Rxd8+ Qxd8 23. Qd2 Bd3 24. Nc1 c4 25. Ne2 Qg5 26. Nd4 Qa5 27. a3 Qc5 28. Qd1 b5 29. Qg4 g6 30. h3 a6 31. Qd7 h6 32. Qe8+ Kg7 33. Qd7 Kg8 34.Nc6 Qh5 35. Ne7+ Kg7 36. Qd4+ Kh7 37. Qf6 g5 38. Qf5+ Kg7 39. Qe5+ Kh7 40. Nf5 Qg6 41. Ne7 Qh5 42. Qb8 1-0 N. Flaum (1949)- J. Felber (2028) Caro-Kann Defense 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ gxf6 6. c3 Bf5 7. Nf3 e6 8.g3 Bd6 9. Bg2 Nd7 10. Nh4 Bg6 11. O-O Qc7 12. a4 O-O-O 13. b4 e5 14. b5 c5 15.Be3 f5 16. f4 Be7 17. Nxg6 hxg6 18. fxe5 Nxe5 19. Bf4 f6 20. Qb1 cxd4 21. cxd4 Rxd4 22. Qb3 Rc4 23. Rfc1 Bc5+ 24. Kf1 Rxf4+ 25. gxf4 Ng4 26. Qe6+ Kb8 27.Ke2 Qxf4 28. Rf1 Qxh2 29. Qd5 Re8+ 30. Kd2 Qc7 31. Kc1 Bb4+ 32. Kb1 Ne3

33. Qb3 Nxf1 34. Qxb4 Ne3 35. Ra2 Nxg2 36. Rxg2 Qd7 37. Rd2 Qe7 38. Qa5 Qc7 39. Qb4 Re1+ 40. Ka2 Qe7 41. Qc4 Qe8 42. a5 Re4 43. Rd4 Rxd4 44. Qxd4 Qe2+ 45. Ka3 Qe7+ 46. Ka2 Qc7 47. b6 axb6 48. axb6 Qe7 49. Qc4 Qd8 50. Qc5 f4 51. Qa5 Qg8+ 52. Kb2 Qe6 53. Qa7+ Kc8 54. Qa8+ Kd7 55. Qxb7+ Kd6 56. Qc7+ Kd5 57. b7 Qe2+ 58.Kb1 ½ - ½ J. Soto (1794)- A. Nardo (1924) Sicilian Defense 1.e4 c5 2.f4 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.O-O e6 6.Nc3 Nge7 7.d3 O-O 8.Qe1 d5 9.Bb3 a6 10.Qh4 b5 11.f5 exf5 12.Nxd5 fxe4 13.Ng5 h6 14.Nxf7 Rxf7 15.Nxe7+ Nxe7 16.Bxf7+ Kh7 17.Bxh6 1-0

Setting up for another round in Long Island.

Be sure to return your NYSCA ballot to the

Secretary to vote in the election!

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Breaking Opening Stereotypes by Zachary Calderon

Often times in chess, we think of certain first moves as positional, and other first moves as aggressive. I want to show you today that this is not always the case! Most of us associate 1.e4 with extremely tactical play, and 1.d4 with slower, positional play. However, there are several openings that defy this stereotype, and I would like to demonstrate some openings here. I'm not talking about dubious sacrifices early on such as the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, I am talking about lines that stem from traditionally positional openings. Let’s start with a twist on a line known to be a positional powerhouse in the Queen’s Gambit Declined. 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 c6 7. Qc2 Nbd7 8. Bd3 0-0 9. Nf3 Re8

Play in this line usually goes 10. 0-0 Nf8 11. Rb1. While Black tries to start an attack on the Kingside, White aims to go b4-b5, and gain an edge on the Queenside. This plan would give Black significant weaknesses. However, many players do not like the prospect of having to defend their Kingside. So what about the move 10. 0-0-0!? With this move, White shifts the nature of the game dramatically. Toss out the positional masterpieces of Karpov, White intends to go for mate himself. Even here, it is possible for Black to go wrong. For example, if he plays 10...a5 11. Kb1 a necessary move in this line 11...b5?, White can already win a pawn. He plays the move 12. Ne5! If Black plays 12...Nxe5 13. dxe5

Nd7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Bxh7+ wins the pawn. If Black decides to try to hold onto the c6 pawn by defending it with 12...Bb7, a similar series of exchanges follows. 13. Nxd7 Qxd7 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Bxh7+. Regardless of Black's play, White's plan is fairly simple. He will tuck his King away with Kb1, play Ne5, f4, and storm the Kingside. Black, on the other hand, must always be wary of pushing pawns on the Queenside too quickly. Even if he prepares the move …b5 properly, c6 would become a backwards pawn and could become a significant weakness. This is all well and good for White, but what about Black? Can Black ruffle up any attacking chances in d4 lines? Enter the Von Hennig-Schara gambit. 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 cxd4!? 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxd4 exd5 7. Qxd5 Nc6 8. Nf3 Nf6 9. Qd1 Bc5

Black makes it perfectly clear that he will not sit around idly and allow White to dictate the pace of the game. At the cost of a pawn, Black has extremely rapid development of all of his pieces to very active squares, with four pieces already in play compared to two for White. Indeed, this is a system that I have even used myself from time to time, even in standard time controls. White normally continues 10. e3 simply blunting the Bishop. 10...Qe7 11. Be2 0-0-0 Lining up the Rook on the same file as the Queen. Already, 12...Bh3 is a threat. 12. 0-0 g5!?

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Odds are this is not the kind of position White had in mind when playing the Queen’s Gambit! All of Black's pieces are active, and he is looking to mate White on the spot.

The g-pawn is taboo: 13. Nxg5 Rhg8 Once the Knight moves, Bh3 hits both g2 and the Queen on d1. In fact, White's best move here is 13. b4!?, offering a similar gambit of his own. Black is best advised to take that pawn, after which chaos ensues, and the player most booked up will take home the full point. Next time, we will be able to take a look at positional lines coming from e4, as transpositions from type occur in the King’s Pawn openings as well. I hope this demonstrates that we should look beyond the first or second move before we begin judging what kind of player our opponent is.

NYSCA is looking for volunteers to serve as US Chess

delegates and to be on our Board of Directors. No experience necessary. If you are interested, please contact the Editor at karlpanorama@gmail.com.

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Notes from the Marshall from staff reports The Marshall Chess Club, one of the oldest and most active chess clubs in the United States, held an exciting spring tournament schedule filled with a wide variety of tournament formats and players.

Masters. Marshall Masters. The Marshall June Masters was held at the world-famous club on June 20, and the 33-player tournament was won by three players with 3 ½ points: GM Aleksandr Lenderman, IM and New York State Scholastic Champion Nicolas Checa, and GM Michael Rohde. Lenderman and Checa drew in the last round, while Rohde climbed back through the field after a first-round draw to NM Tyrell Marriott. IM Joshua Colas, New York State Hall of Famer IM Jay Bonin and NM Richard Shtivelband tied for fourth with 3-1 scores. Colas and Bonin were undefeated, whiel Shtivelband lost in the last round to Lenderman. Gregory Keener directed the tournament for the Marshall. Eighteen players contested the May edition of the Marshall Masters, and the event was won by IM Joshua Colas with 3 ½ points. The former New York State Scholastic Champion yielded a draw in the last round to IM Yaacov Norowitz, but still was able to clearly win the tournament. Norowitz and GM Michael Rohde tied for second with 3-1 scores. Both were undefeated in the closely-contested tournament. Canadian IM Raja Panjwani, SM Robert Perez, IM Jay Bonin, NM Brandon Jacobson and FM Ilye Figler tied for fourth with 2 ½ points. Gregory Keener directed for the Marshall. The April Marshall Masters drew 13 players and was won outright by GM Robert Hess with a perfect 4-0 score. SM Raven Sturt was clear second with three points, and a half-point bye and draw in the first two rounds meant he did not play Hess in the event. NM Brandon Jacobson and FM Boris Privman tying for third with 2 ½ points. Privman combined an upset win over GM Aleksandr Lenderman with three draws against Masters to raise his rating back over 2300 in an excellent one-night performance. Eric Balck directed for the Marshall.

New York International

The annual New York International tournament is conducted in two parts at the Marshall, with the Under 2200 tournament conducted over four days from June 8-11, and the New York International Open section conducted over five days from June 21-25. The Championship section of the New York International was contested with nine rounds over five days, and drew 58 players, including five Grandmasters. Tow of the GM’s tied for first place with 7-2 scores: Paraguayan GM Alex Bachmann and seven-time U.S. Women’s Champion Irina Krush. Both GM’s scored 7-2, with Krush going undefeated with five wins and four draws. Krush beat Bachmann in their individual game in Round Eight to tie up the tournament, and both won in the final round to maintain the tie at the top. Bulgarian im Andrey Gorovets, Canadian IM Raja Panjwani and American GM Yarosla Zherebuk tied for third with 6 ½ points. Panjwani was undefeated, and his three straight draws to end the tournament left him half-a-point short of top honors. Zherebuk started the tournament extremely hot, with 4 ½ points in his first five games. He faded with 1 ½ points in the final four games, including a last-round loss to Krush that locked him out of the top honors. Gorovets joined the tie with a last-round win over FM Kyron Wa Griffith. Two young FM’s from New York, college student Justus Williams and scholastic star David Brodky, led a group of three at 6-3 for the tournament, and claiming the Top Under 2400 prizes. Williams played fighting chess with no draws in the event, losing the Bachmann, GM Gil Popilski and fellow six-point player Chinese NM Qibiao Wang. Brodsky only has one loss, to Bachmann in Round Seven. Wang also had a +4-1+4 result, with his loss occurring in Round 3 to Gorovets. A group of seven tied for ninth with 5 ½ points. They were Israeli GM Gil Popilski, New York GM Michael Rohde, Danish IM Silas Essen Lund, former New York State Scholastic Champions Joshua Colas, FM Rayan Taghizadeh, FM Kyron Wa Griffith, and Mexican IM Alfonso Almeda. Justin Chen won the

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Top Under 2200 prize with an impressive 5-4 score that included draws to Gorovets, Rohde and Almeda. Despite being further down the standings, Colas and Griffith sat on the top two boards in the last round of the tournament, and wins in those games would have flipped the standings upside down. The 52-player Under 2200 section was won by three players with 5 ½- 1 ½ scores: Matheu Jefferson, Anthony Levin and Samuel Bellows all tied at the top after Jefferson followed wins in the first four rounds with three straight draws to end the event, allowing the other two players to obtain wins to make up the difference. Somewhat surprisingly given the tournament was a seven-round Swiss, none of the top players played each other or made National Master with their results. Four players tied for fourth with five points. Experts Bora Yagiz, Davis Zong, Jr., Elias Stern-Rodriguez, and class-A player Ciprian Solomon. Yagiz followed a slow 1-2 start with four straight wins, and Stern-Rodriguez held top-ranked Jefferson to a draw in the last round to be part of this tie. The Under 2200 tournament was directed by Gregory Keener and assistance from Bryan Quick. The New York International Championship section was directed by most of the Marshall staff.

Action at the Marshall! The Marshall regularly runs Action Chess tournaments, and Action Chess has been a Thursday night fixture in New York City since NTD Steve Immitt started the hugely popular “Four Rated Games Tonight” that ran in New York City for two decades. The 21-player June 15 Marshall Action was won outright by NM Dan Lapan with 3 ½ points. Lapan yielded a second-round draw to class-A player William Yen in the second round, and beat IM Jay Bonin in the last round to win the tournament. IM Justin Sarkar, IM Jay Bonin, FM Boris Privman and NM Richard Shtivelband tied for second with 3-1 scores. Sarkar was undefeated, and Shtivelband also lost to Lapan. Ron Anderson directed. The Marshall also holds Morning Action tournaments to go along with its most famous evening series. It’s always time for chess at the Marshall!

The 13-player tournament was won by California NM Nicholas Karas with a perfect 4-0 score. Three players tied for second with 2 ½ points: Benjamin Medina, Gerald Towns and Willis Ng. Jarret Petrillo directed for the Marshall. The 19-player June 1 Marshall “$15 Special” Action was won by GM Aleksandr Lenderman and SM Raven Sturt with 3 ½ points. Lenderman, a top3-0 US player, drew Sturt in the last round after both top players won their first three games. IM Jay Bonin, FM Boris Privman and NM Richard Shtivelband tied for third with three points. Bonin lost to Shtivelband in the second round. Privman lost to Lenderman in the second round and Shtivelband lost to Sturt in the third round. Class-A player Anthony Kozikowski was clear sixth with 2 ½ points. Aaron Jacobson directed with assistance from Ron Anderson. The May 25th edition of the Marshall Action was won by IM Jay Bonin and NM Brandon Jacbson, both with 3 ½ points. The two top players drew in the last round while leading the point by a full point. NM Juan Sena and Cameron Hall tied for third with 2 ½ points. Ron Anderson directed. SM Robert Perez won the 17-player May 18th edition of the Marshall Action with a perfect 4-0 score, besting the field by a full point. NM Oliver Chernin was clear second with a 3-1 score. IM Jay Bonin, FM Boris Privman, Chester Bean and Anthony Kozikowski tied for third with 2 ½ points. Ron Anderson directed.

FIDE Play at the Marshall The Marshall runs a variety of FIDE-rated events. Given the flexibility of having its own full-tie venue and the large number of FIDE-rated and international players that live or visit New York City, The June FIDE Weekend form June 2-4 at the Marshall drew 33 players. The events provide an opportunity for players to obtain FIDE ratings and play under FIDE conditions. The event was won by Washngton State WIM Megan Lee with 4 ½ points, which was enough to win outright. Lee drew IM Jay Bonin in the third round. Two rising juniors tied for second with 4-1 scores: NM Maximillian Lu and WFM Martha Samadashvili.

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The Capital Region girl crossed the National Master rating of 2200 for the second time with her result, as she gained 27 points in the tournament with an undefeated performance. Lu lost to Lee in the final round with the title on the line. IM Jay Bonin, NM Richard Shtivelband, and NM Majur Juac tied for third with 3 ½ points. Bonin was undefeated, and Shtivelband and Juac both lost to Lu. Oscar Garcia directed for the Marshall. The May 26th Friday night FIDE Blitz drew 32 players and was wonby rising junior IM Nicolas Checa with an impressive 9-0 sweep that allowed him to clear the field by two full points. NM Shawn Martinez was clear second with seven points, losing only to Chca and Expert Han Schut in back-to-back rounds. IM Jay Bonin was clear third with 6 ½ points, losing to the to ptwo and drawing Andrey Krasnov in the eighth round. FM Igor Shneider was clear fourth with six points. Eric Balck directed the tournament for the Marshall. A total of 41 players contested the May FIDE Weekend from May 5-7. The event was won outright by IM Jay Bonin with 4 ½ points, as Bonin was only nicked by NM and rising junior Nico Werner Chasin in second round. NM Justin Chen and NM Julian Proleiko tied for second with 4-1 scores. Proleiko lost to Bonin in the last round, while Chen lot to Proleiko in round three. NM Akira Wood Nakada, NM Sarathi Ray and NM Nico Werner Chasin all tied for fourth with 3 ½ points. Oscar Garcia directed for the Marshall. The FIFE April Weekend on April 8-9 was won by WFM Ekaterina Bogdan with 4 ½ points, which was enough to win the 61-player tournament outright. SM Raven Sturt, NM Justin Chen, FM Marcus Ming Miyasaka and NM Sarathi Ray tied for second with four points. Ray and Sturt took two half-point byes and won all the games they played, while Chen and Miyasaka both lost in the second round. GM Michael Rohde let a group of six at 3 ½ points that also included NM Brandon Jacobson, NM Aaron Jacobson, Dennis Li, Anthony Levin and William Yen. Oscar Garcia directed for the Marshall.

Other Events at the Marshall

The Marshall, unlike most chess clubs, is open every day and is hosting a rated chess event of some kind almost every day during the year. A few of those events are highlighted below. The May 28th Marshall Sunday Scholastic drew 24 players to the world-famous club, and two players tied for first with perfect 3-0 scores: Ethan Kozower and Aidan James Kuo. Wang Chen and Maimo Joo Young Kim tied for third with undefeated 2 ½-1/2 scores, drawing each other in the last round. Jarrett Petrillo directed for the Marshall. Concurrent with the May 28 sScholastic was the 54-player Marhsll Sunday 45 tournament. The four-round tournament was won by Ricardo Perez-Billinghurst with the event’s only perfect 4-0 score. Regular Marshall tournament director Eric Balck and Nancy Wang tied for second with 3 ½ points. Both players went 3-0 with half-point byes, Balck in the first round and Wang in the last round. IM Jay Bonin led a group of five players with 3-1 scores, that also included Edward Kopiecki, Sammuel de Jesus, Jose de Villa, and James Youngji Oh. Bonin, the tournament’s highest-rated player, was upset in the third round by Wang. Jarret Petrillo also directed this event for the Marshall. April 27 brought 57 players to the Marshall for its Under 2300 tournament. In a rarity for this type of event, an internationally-titled player, FM Asa Hoffmann, led a group of six players in first place with 4-1 scores. Hoffmann won the first four games before losing in the last round to George Bergm, one of the other tied players. NM Majur Juac, Edward Kopiecki, David Zong, Jr. and Katrina Wong Juac and Wang had last-round half-point byes while the other player won it the last round to force the six-way tie at the top. NM and fast-rising junior Nico Werner Chasin and Liran Zhou tied for seventh with 3 ½ points. Chasin took two half-point byes to start the tournament and scored 2 ½ in his three played games, while Zhou went 3-0, with a half-point bye to start the tournament and an unplayed game to finish the event. Jarret Petrillo directed for the Marshall.

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Open Lines…tidbits from the chess world by Karl Heck

• Several New Yorkers were among the winners of the US Chess Annual Awards, which were awarded by the US Chess Executive Board at their meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 3-4. The honorees will be acknowledged formally at the US Chess Annual Meeting in Norfolk, Virginia on August 5th. Silver Koltanowski Award to Two Sigma of New York City. Scholastic Service Award: David MacEnulty, long-time chess coach in New York City. Frank J. Marshall Award: IM Walter Shipman and IM Danny Kopec. Outstanding Player Achievement Award: IM Jay Bonin (NYS Chess Hall of Famer) Congratulations to all of these great stewards of the Royal Game in New York, and the United States.

• The 2017 edition of the SuperNationals was the largest rated chess tournament in history, with 5,577

players crammed into the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville. As usual, New York had the largest contingent of players, eclipsing Texas and the home state of Tennessee.

NM Wesley Wang was the co-champion of the K-9 section, and his school, Long Island’s Jericho Middle School, won the Top Team trophy with 17 ½ points(Wesley Wang, 6, Evelyn Zhu, 4 ½, Andrew Chen 3 ½, Joshua Dong 3 ½), followed by Collegiate School of Manhattan with 17 points (brandon Nydick 5 ½, Marcello Berger 4 ½, Divij Jain 3 ½, Ankit Raparrthi 3 1/2) and Dalton in third with 15 ½ points (Tyler Roonprapunt 4, Jacob Ehrenkranz 4, Atticus Young-Chang Lee 4, Hudson Beaudoin 3 1/2).. In the K-8 Championship, New York’s Speyer Legacy Middle School was the team champioin. NM Maximillian Lu, the New York State Champion, won national Gold in the K-6 Championship, grinding out a maturely-played last-round win to grab the gold. The game is shown below, courtesy of Chess Life Online.

Narayanan, Samru 2098 NM Lu, Maximillian 2279

Supernationals, Round Seven, Nashville, TN, May 14, 2017 Sicilian Defense

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.d4 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.O-ONf6 8.Be3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bxe2 10.Qxe2 Be7 11.Nd2 OO 12.h3 Nc6 13.Nxc6 Qxc6 14.Nf3 Rfd8 15.Rfd1 h6 16.Bd4 b5 17.Ne5 Qc7 18.Qe3 Nd5 19.Qf3 Bf6 20.Qe4 Rac8 21.Nf3 Bxd4 22.Rxd4 Nf6 23.Qe2 Rxd4 24.Nxd4 Rd8 25.Rd1 Qd6 26.Rd2 Qb6 27.Nc2 Rd5 28.Ne3 Rd6 29.Qd1 Ne4 30.Rxd6 Qxd6 31.Qxd6 Nxd6 32.Kf1 f5 33.b3 Kf7 34.Ke2 Ne4 35.Nd1 e5 36.Ke3 Ke6 37.g4 g6 38.f3 Nd6 39.gxf5+ gxf5 40.Nf2 Nb7 41.Nd3 f4+ 42.Ke2 a5 43.Nf2 Nc5 44.Ne4 Nxe4 45.fxe4 Kd6 46.Kd2 Kc6 47.a3 Kd6 48.Ke2 Ke6 49.Kf3 Kd6 50.Ke2 Kc7 51.b4 axb4 52.cxb4 Kd6 53.Kf2 Ke6 54.Kf3 Kf6 55.h4 Kf7 56.h5 Kg7 57.Kg4 Kf6 58.Kh4 f3 59.Kg3 Kg5 60.Kxf3 Kxh5 61.Ke3 Kg4 62.a4 bxa4 63.Kd3 h5 64.b5 a3 65.Kc3 h4 66.b6 h3 67.b7 h2 68.b8= Qh1=Q 69.Qc8+ Kg3 70.Qg8+ Kf2 71.Qf7+ Qf3+ 72.Qxf3+ Kxf3 73.Kb3 Kxe4 74.Kxa3 Kd3 75.Kb2 Kd2 0–1

Gus Huston and Samit Dhar joined the tie at the top with 6-1 scores. As students of the Dalton School in Manhattan, they lead their team to a landslide victory that was especially sweet in Tennessee, the home of US Chess. Dalton scored 21 ½ points: Gus Huston 6, Sumit Dhar 6, Veda Rose Safranker 5, Nathaniel Lande Shuman 4 ½, Maxwell Silvers 4 ½. Hunter College was second with 18 points: Connor Armin Dong 5, Henry Burton 4 ½, Marcus Stig Mellody 4 1.2, Dylan Kazuo Slowik 4, Joshua Ethan Chong 4. In the K-5 Championship, New York’s NM Nico Werner Chasin won the individual title on tiebreak with 6 ½ points, drawing co-champion Luke Ye of Missouri in the fourth round. PS 41, Nico’s school, won the

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Top Team Trophy on tiebreak with 19 ½ points (Nico Werner Chasin 6 ½, Jack Levine 5 ½, Austin Hom 4, Aeneas Merchant 3 ½). Speyer Legacy School of Manhattan was third with 18 points: Ryan Harada Peterson 5, John Kian O’Neill 5, James Youngji Oh 4, Nathan Brown 4, Kiren Vivek Nasta 4). The two co-champions are pictured below, with Nico on the left.

In the K-3 Championship, Liam Putnam finished second on tiebreak with both players having 6 ½ points. Dalton School also won the Top Team trophy in this section with 20 points: William Safranek 5 ½, Alexander Rubenstein Nash 5, Bowe Harper Siegelson 5, Jonathan Nallengara 4 1.2. The Speyer Legacy School was second with 18 points, with Johji David Navade scoring 5, Alexander Morris Berman and Iris Zhaoying Mou scoring 4 ½, and Ripley Golden scoring 4. Dalton School was third in the K-1 Championship with 18 points. Tristan Brien scored five, as did Reese Rutkoske. Sephanie Weinberg and Vedant Kotahwala scored four for Dalton.

In the Blitz tournaments, IS 318 won the K-9 Blitz title with 34 points. The K-6 Blitz was a New York sweep with Dalton wining with 38 ½ points, followed by Speyer Legacy School finishing second with 35 ½ points and Hunter College placing third with 33 points. Dalton also won the K-3 Blitz with 32 ½ points. Individual Blitz winners were IM Nicolas Checa in the K-12 section with 11 points in the 12-round tournament, placing first after a four-way tiebreak. Brandon Mingya Wang tied for third in the K-9 Blitz

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with 10 ½ points. Max Lu also won the K-6 Blitz with 11 points, followed by New Yorker Gus Huston in second with 10 ½ points.

In the last nine years, 14 National Scholastic tournaments have been held in Nashville, while 13 have been held in the rest of the United States. New York has been an extremely strong supporter of all of the National Scholastics, and the parents, coaches and players who travel and raise the money necessary in order to attend these events should be commended.

• Along with the rest of the country, New York mourns one of the true American chess greats on April 5

when Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier died at the age of 87. Bisguier, a native New Yorker, won the 1954 U.S. Championship, as well as the 1948 and 1949 U.S. Junior Champion and three-time U.S. Open Champion in 1950, 1956 and 1959. Bisguier was the US Chess Federation’s Grandmaster-in-Residence for many years, and was named the Dean of American Chess in 2005.

Bisguier `also won the US Senior Open three times. With his first victory in 1989, he became the only player to win a National Championship at every age level of chess available at the time. The Grandmaster won the US Senior Open twice more, in 1998 and 1999. Bisguier died in Framingham, MA, still a regular chess player. As a popularizer of the game and a regular tournament participant, GM Bisguier is sorely missed. Shown below isArthur Bisguier at the 1964 U.S. Open in Boston. (Robert Byrne seated behind. Photo: Beth Cassidy

Somewhat surprisingly, Bisguier never won the New York State Championship. He was inducted into the New York State Chess Hall of Fame in 2007. He played in the New York State Championship regularly until 2005.

• GM Hikaru Nakamura, a former New York Champion and New York State Scholastic Champion, keeps

racking up the international hardware, winning the Korchnoi Zurich Challenge for the third consecutive year. Nakamura also has won the strong Gilbratar Open three consecutive years, and is one of three Americans ranked in the World Top Ten according to the FIDE rating system.

The Zurich tournament featured play at three different time controls: a blitz tournament, a “new classical” time control of Game in 45 minutes with a 30-second delay, and a blitz finish. In a field that included former World Champions Vishwanathan Anand and Vladmiir Kramnik, Nakamura had the top score in all three events.

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Rochester/Buffalo News by Karl HeckThe Rochester Chess Center, as always, has had a very active spring chess season. Interscholastic Chess Leagues in Rochester

and Buffalo Draw Over 60 Schools One of the Chess Center’s major activities is their Interscholastic Chess League, which spans over 40 schools across Western New York and crowns champions in both Rochester and Buffalo. Rochester’s highly-competitive regular season ended with a playoff tournament held on April 29 at McQuaid Jesuit High School. Long-time champion at both the local and state level was Wilson Magnet High School “A: with a 4-0 score. Wilson beat Greece Arcadia 40-0 in the first round, beat World of Inquiry 40-0 in the second round, defeated Pittsford 35-5 in round three, and beat Brighton 30-10 in the last round to sweep the event. Five teams tied for second with 3-1 scores. School of the Arts “A” placed second on tiebreaks, with their only loss occurring to Pittsford in the second round, 28 ½-11 1/2. Geneva Middle School was third, losing to Brighton in the third round, 31-9. Brighton was fourth, losing only to the tournament champions in the last round. Pittsford was fifth, losing to Wilson “A” in the third round. Greece Arcadia was sixth, losing to Wilson to start the event. Four players had individual 4-0 scores: NM Lev Paciakowski for Brighton Board 1, Sam Cherin for Wilson Board 2, Richard Xu for Geneva Middle School Board 2, and Peter Carter for Wilson Board Three. Connor Wagner (Wilson Board One), Ethan Yung (Wilson Board 3) and Linder Burack (School of the Arts Board 2) has undefeated 3-0-1 scores. The Rochester champions, Wilson Magnet A, are pictured below:

Rochester also had an individual tournament the next

week, May 6, at the Rochester Chess Center. Webster Kehoe won the event for Wilson Magnet, with teammate Sam Cherin finishing second. The 2017 Buffalo Area Interscholastic Chess Playoffs were held on April 26 at Sweet Home High School in Amherst. Pioneer High School “A” won the playoff tournament with the only perfect 4-0 score. Pioneer defeated Park School 40-0 in round one, Bishop Timon in round two by the same 40-0 sweep, St. Francis in round three by a 26-14 score, and swept Nichols in the final money round 40-0. Buffalo champions Pioneer A is pictured below:

Seven schools tied for second with 3-1 scores. The host school Sweet Home “A” was placed second on tiebreaks. Their only loss was a 21-19 squeaker to St. Francis in round two. St. Francis was third, with their only loss occurring in round three to champion Pioneer A, 26-14. Niagara Falls A was fourth, with their only loss being to Nichols in the third round, 34-6. Canisius A was fifth on tiebreaks, losing to Nichols in round two, 22-18. Niagara Falls “B” was sixth, with their only loss was to Sweet Home “A” 34-6 in the last round. Nichols was seventh, losing to the champions 40-0 in the last round. Olmsted was eighth as the last 3-1 school, with their loss occurring to Christian Central “A” in the second round, 40-0. This is the third consecutive year that Wilson High School has won the Rochester region, and fourth overall since the competition began in 2003. Pioneer previously won the Buffalo region in 2011 2013, 2015,and 2016 and continued their odd-year dominance in 2017. In the regular season, two of the Rochester League’s heavyweights tied for first with 7-1 scores in the

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double-round robin competition. Brighton and Wilson Magnet tied for first, Wilson beat Brighton 34-6 in rotation three on December 12, while McQuaid beat Wilson in rotation four on January 30. League Two was won by School of the Arts with a 10-2 score, beating Rush-Henrietta by two points. School of the Arts was 9-0 before losing two meaningless matches to end the schedule. Brockport swept League Three with a perfect 12-0 score, besting second-place Holley by two points. In League Four, which is a middle school league, Twelve Corners Middle School of Brighton won the league title on tiebreaks over Greece Arcadia Middle School after both schools ended with 6-2 scores. Twelve Corners beat Greece Arcadia 39-38 in the last rotation to force the tie and win the title. Geneva Middle School swept League Five with a 7-0 record against four high-school teams. League Six was won by Webster Spry Middle School with a 6 ½- 1 ½ score, beating East Rochester Middle School by two points. Clyde-Savannah swept League Seven with a 10-0 score, and Pittsford did the same in League Eight with a 12-0 score. Pittsford swept through the league with an impressive four-point margin. The final Rochester League, League Nine, was won by Greece Christian School with a 7-1 score, with the only loss being in the last rotation to World of Inquiry. A total of 47 schools competed in the Rochester League during the 2016-17 season. Buffalo had three leagues with 17 schools competing. Sweet Home won League 1 with a 11-1 score, highlighted by 11 wins after starting the season with a 70-56 loss to second-place finisher Nichols. Cardinal O’Hara won League Two with a 9-3 score, besting Christian Central by one point. League Playoff champion Pioneer won League Three sweeping the competition with a 12-0 score. GM Lenderman Wins Marchand Open

Rochester chess in the spring means the Marchand Open, which has been a tradition in the Flower City for almost four decades. Dr. Erich Marchand is a founding member of the New York State Chess Hall of Fame in 1993, and a former New York State Chess Champion, having won the title in 1960, 1967, 1969 and 1970. Dr. Marchand asked people to play chess in his memory, and the Marchand has grown into one

of the largest tournaments on the Upstate New York chess calendar. Four Grandmasters participated in the 151-player event, and they were the four players with perfect scores after the first day of the tournament. They were former New York Champion GM Aleksandr Lenderman, UT-Dallas GM Holden Hernandez, GM Eugene Perelshteyn of Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania GM Bryan Smith. Shown below: The four Grandmaster at the Marchand Open playing on Boards One and Two in Round Four

In the semi-elimination last two rounds, Lenderman defeated Hernandez in the fourth round, and Smith in the last round, to claim outright first prize with a 5-0 score. Despite the title, Lenderman out-rated the other GM’s by close to 100 points, and the difference in quality showed in the final round. Hernandez, Perelshteyn and Smith all tied for sedond with 4-1 scores. The rest of the 45-player Open section was very closely contested, with a relatively large number of draws among the Masters, Experts and A-players that made up the bulk of the tournament. Five players tied for fifth with 3 ½ points: FM Ben Dean-Kawamura, Daniel Johnston, Erik Lubas, Owen Shriver and Top Under 2000 player Joseph Lentini. Shriver was undefeated. Dmitry Agron won the Under 1800 section with a perfect 5-0 score. In an unusual occurrence for that section, the winner did not cross the 1800 barrier. Entering the tournament with a 1568 rating, Agron gained over 200 rating points to end the event at 1762. Since the Marchand, Agron has further raised his rating to 1777, confirming the bounce as genuine. Seven players tied for second with four points in the 52-player section. They were long-time Buffalo

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tournament organizer Thomas Warner, Tomasz Bazani in his second USCF-rated tournament, Joseph Bello, Sr., Justin King, Matthew Truong, Jeff Hrebenach, and Timothy Rivers. The first five (!) players were undefeated with three wins and two draws, while Rivers lost in the last round to Agron to decide first place. Shown below: GM Alex Lenderman (center) accepting the first-place check at the Marchand Open from Head Tournament Director Ron Lohrman (l) and Tournament Director Ken McBride.

In the Under 1400 section, Hunter Johnston was clear first in his first rated tournament with 4 ½ points. Johnston drew Christopher Gargen in the third round, and won his remaining games to clinch outright first place. Michael Cavanaugh and John Rutecki tied for second in the 32-player section with 4-1 scores. Cavanaugh lost to Rutecki in the second round, while Rutecki yielded third and fourth-round draws before winning in round five. Four players tied for fourth in the section: Dionel Jaime, also in his first rated tournament, Calvin Moulton, Benjamin Chernjavsky and Peter Killinger. The 24-player Under 1000 section ended with a four-way logjam at the top with 4-1 scores among Matthew O’Heron, Kevin Wang, Mike Hoffman,and Andrei Kavalchuk. Kavalchuk beat Wang and Hoffman, but lost to O’Heron in the last round to join the third-place tie. O’Heron lost in round two to sixth-place finisher Grant Glor in the second round. Thomas Weaver was clear fifth with 3 ½ points. The Marchand Open was directed by Ron Lohrman, with assistance from Ken McBride, Mike Lionti and several volunteers.

Rochester’s Weekly Tournaments As has been the tradition for the Rochester Chess Center for over two decades, regular Saturday tournaments have been held. The June 17 edition drew 12 players in two sections, and was by Theodore Bogin with a perfect 3-0 score. Randolph McKenzie and Pranav Kumar tied for second with 2-1 scores. Ron Lohrman and Ken McBride directed the tournament. On June 10, NM Lev Paciorkowski won the 17-player event with a perfect 3-0 score. Ethan Yung was clear second with 2 ½ points, getting two wins sandwiched by a half-point bye. NM Daniel Johnston, Richard Motroni and Arjun Ganesh tied for third with 2-1 scores. Christopher Gargen won the Youth section at the Ron Lohrman directed event. Twenty-three players contested the June 3 Saturday tournament, and NM Jacob Chen and NM Daniel Johnston tied for first with perfect 3-0 scores. That did not play in the main event. Pranav Kumar was clear third with 2 ½ points, drawing in the first round against 1310-rated Dala Janevic, with a rating difference of over 550 points. NM Lev Paciorkowski, the tournament’s highest-rated player, tied for fourth with a 2-1 score along with John Manning, Andrew Jeselson, Jr. and Richard Motroni. Paciorkowski lost to Chen in the last round with the title on the line. Thomas Weaver and Gabriel Levin won the Youth section with 2-1 scores. Ron Lohrman and Ken McBride directed. Memorial Day weekend brought 16 players to the Chess Center to contest the weekly Saturday tournament. The event was won by NM Lev Paciorkowski with a perfect 3-0 score. Pranav Kumar was clear second with 2 ½ points, sandwiching a draw to Randoph McKenzie around two wins. Richard Motroni was clear third with a 2-1 score, losing to the champion in the second round. Tanush Kumar won the Youth section with two points in the Ron Lohrman directed event. NM Daniel Johnston won the 21-player May 20 tournament with a perfect 3-0 score, followed by followed by Ethan Yung with an undefeated 2/12.

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Three-Way Tie at 17th Queens Team Championship By Ed Frumkin

The Queens Chess Club held its annual four-round Team Championship from May 5 to 26 at the club. This year we had 12 paid teams of two players with ratings averaging under 2000, raising the projected prize fund by 20% over the initial projection. The top six rated teams averaged over 1900, creating many tense matches. The top-rated team was the Double Checks of Bill Arluck (2039) and Ira Cohen (1897) averaging 1968, bringing back their shirts of yesteryear after not being a rating fit in 2016. The Benighted Knights (1943.5) of Ed Kopiecki (2039) and Ken Sasmor (1848), co-champions two years ago were seeded fifth. Dorothy Teasley (2053) and Steve Mitlitzky (1866) returned after a few years’ hiatus to be ranked second at 1959.5. Club vice-president Joe Felber (2000)’s co-championship teammate from 2016, club secretary Jay Kleinman, was unavailable due to Little League coaching conflicts, so Joe recruited Al Casanova (1889) to come in at 1944.5 as fourth seed. Club president Ed Frumkin (2015) lost last year’s partner Ira back to Bill, so he recruited former JFK coworker and occasional tournament roommate Dave Spigel (1900 – 1957.5 for third seed) and the former G-men became Club Fed after a palm tree tee-shirt Ed purchased in 1990 at the government training center in Georgia. Guy Rawlins (1584) and Jim Sirotnik (1624 – 1604 average) returned as the Unstoppable Knights and defending Under 1700 champs but switched boards after Jim’s 3-1 result in 2016. M to the 4th (Mulazim (Doc) Muwwakkil (1854) and Mikhail Mordukhay (1514)) came in at 1684 this time to challenge the second team of Knights for the Under 1700. Edgar Cimafranca (1936) and George Dippel (1877 – average 1906.5) teamed up after partnering with different players in 2016. Charles Hua (1907) partnered with younger brother Oliver (1113 – average 1510) and Philip Mathew (1300) brought back son Benjamin Philip (1823) after a five-year hiatus as Ben’s Gambit. If you are confused by the names, Christians from India often use their father’s first name as their surname and those names are often those of biblical figures. Club webmaster Brian Lawson (2077) teamed with Clayton Glad (1619 – average 1848) to head the bottom half of the draw. A team of newcomers (David Granik (1882) and Paul Munson (1632 –average 1759) texted the club from two blocks away 15 minutes before the start time to become the twelfth team (Tarrasch Compactors). Frank (1500) and Paul Drazil (897) were available as the house team. Teasley-Mitlitzky locked in a team bye for Round 3 while Philip-Mathew did the same for Round 4, indicating that the house team would probably get to play twice. As a result of somehow adding ratings incorrectly and omitting the Unstoppable Knights from the first pairing sheet and then inserting them above M to the 4th instead of below them, the first round pairings were Lawson-Glad (7) vs. Arluck-Cohen (1), Teasley-Mitlitzky (2) vs. Granik-Munson (8), Sirotnik-Rawlins (10) vs. Frumkin-Spigel (3), Kopiecki-Sasmor (5) vs. Hua-Hua (12), Philip-Mathew (11) vs. Felber-Casanova (4) and Cimafranca-Dippel (6) vs. Muwwakkil-Mordukhay (9). In each case the team mentioned first had White on Board 1 and Black on Board 2. The pecking order was corrected the following week. The first four matches above ended in sweeps while Mordukhay drew Dippel and Cimafranca beat Muwwakkil for a 1½-½ match win while Ben Philip beat Felber in his first rated game in five years to draw the match while Al Casanova beat Ben’s dad. Round 2 pairings were Arluck-Cohen vs. Kopiecki-Sasmor, Frumkin-Spigel vs. Teasley-Mitlitzky, Felber-Casanova vs. Cimafranca-Dippel, Granik-Munson vs. Philip-Mathew, Hua-Hua vs. Lawson-Glad and Muwwakkil-Mordukhay vs. Sirotnik-Rawlins. Arluck and Sasmor won their games on Table One for a drawn match. Frumkin beat Teasley while Mitlitzky and Spigel drew to put Club Fed at 2-0. Felber drew with Cimafranca while Casanova beat Dippel to lift Casanova’s Kings to 1½ while Ben Philip won a second time while his dad lost for yet another drawn match. The Lawson-Glad and Muwwakkil-Mordukhay teams each swept their matches, leaving Frumkin-Spigel at 2-0, Arluck-Cohen, Felber-Casanova and Kopiecki-Sasmor at 1½-½, Teasley-Mitlitzky, Cimafranca-Dippel, Lawson-Glad, Muwwakkil-Mordukhay, and Philip-Mathew at 1-1, Granik-Munson at ½-1½, and Sirotnik-Rawlins and Hua-Hua both at 0-2 with the Drazils ready to jump in while Teasley-Mitlitzky took their bye. Round Three ended the Frumkin-Spigel dream of a perfect match record as they were bageled by Arluck-Cohen. Arluck now led on Board 1 with 3-0. Kopiecki-Sasmor vs. Felber-Casanova was yet another drawn match as

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Kopiecki and Casanova both won, making Casanova 3-0 on Board 2. Cimafranca-Dippel vs. Philip-Mathew ended Ben Philip’s winning streak while dad Philip Mathew drew with Dippel. Lawson-Glad swept Muwwakkil-Mordukhay and Granik-Munson swept Sirotnik-Rawlins. The Hua brothers swept the father and son Drazil team (Czechmates). Going into the final round the leaderboard showed Arluck-Cohen at 2½, Frumkin-Spigel, Felber-Casanova, Kopiecki-Sasmor, Cimafranca-Dippel and Lawson-Glad at 2-1, Teasley- Mitlitzky and Granik-Munson at 1½-1½. Having met in Round One, both teams would be paired to 1-2 teams, Muwwakkil-Mordukhay, Philip-Mathew (Round 4 bye, in case you forgot) and Hua-Hua at 1-2, with Sirotnik-Rawlins at 0-3 and the Drazils at 0-1. The day before Round Four, Paul Munson informed me that he wouldn’t be able to make it but after two attempts to find a sub, I had to drop their team out as the logical sub, Long Hua, would have been inappropriate as his opponent would have been son Oliver, whose team was in a three way fight for the Under 1700 team prize. Round Four pairings were Felber-Casanova vs. Arluck-Cohen, Frumkin-Spigel vs. Cimafranca- Dippel, Kopiecki-Sasmor vs. Lawson-Glad. Teams toss for Board One colors since the team score and color sequences were identical. Other pairings were Muwwakkil-Mordukhay vs. Teasley-Mitlitzky, and Hua-Hua vs. Sirotnik-Rawlins. Felber drew with Arluck while Casanova beat Cohen, Frumkin beat Cimafranca while Dippel and Spigel drew, Kopiecki beat Lawson while Glad and Sasmor drew, Teasley and Mitlitzky swept and Sirotnik drew Charles Hua while Rawlins beat Oliver. Due to these results, the Frumkin-Spigel, Felber-Casanova and Kopiecki-Sasmor teams split the $120 and $60 prizes for the top two teams with 3-1 match scores to give each team $60 while the Philip-Mathew team won the Under 1700 prize of $72 while they sat out while their competition lost their matches. Bill Arluck was top scoring Board One with 3½-½, playing every other expert but one, while Al Casanova went 4-0 on Board Two. Strangely enough, Joe Felber’s teammate from last year, Jay Kleinman, also went 4-0 (coincidence?). Ed Frumkin directed for the Queens Chess Club.

Save the dates!

2018 New York State Scholastic Championship Saratoga Springs

March 10-11, 2018

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Mieses Variation: Evans Gambit by Richard Moody Jr. These are the starting moves leading to the Mieses Variation of the Evans Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O Nge7 8.Ng5.

This variation was the subject of three online articles by IM Jeremy Silman. I took the Black side of the position against Fritz 15 and worked out the complications before playing this game. The position is over 150 years old, and still is being tested over the board by players looking for a dynamic fight on the White side. 8...d5 9. exd5 Ne5 10. Qxd4 10.Bb3 O-O 11.Nxh7 Kxh7 12.Qh5+ Kg8 13.Qxe5 Nf5 14.Bd2 Re8 and Black is for choice. 10…N7g6 11. Re1 O-O! 11…f6 is an idea of Levenfish but weakens the Kingside; also, White has the idea of 12.d6 Qxd6 13.Bf7+ Kd8 14.Qa4 Bd7 15.Qxa5 fxg5 16.Bxg6 Nxg6 17.Bxg5+ Kc8 18.Nd2 b6 19.Qa6+ Kb8 20.Nf3 and White will complete his development but the Rook on a8 is a long-term bystander. 12. Rxe5 b5! This is a key idea of Fritz 15. A major alternative is 12...Nxe5. In this variation Black can pick up a pawn and enter an endgame of Rook and pawn for two Knights. However this variation is not forced, and I cannot find clear evidence that White is losing a pawn. The position does show the richness of Capt. Evans’Gambit, in that despite over 150 years of analysis, the dynamics of the position have not been solved for either side.

Here is the critical line 12...Nxe5 13.Qxe5 Re8 14.Qf4 Qf6 15.Qd2? White can stand worse with this move. After 15...Bb6 16.Bf1 To discourage the Rook from getting to e1 where it hamstrings White 16...Bg4 17.h3 Be2 18.Qf4 Rad8 -/+. Fritz prefers 15.Bf1 Qxf4 16.Bxf4 Re1 17.Nf3 Rd1 18.Nd4 Bd7 19.Nb3 Bb5 20.Na3 Rxh1 21.Nxh1 Bxf1 22.Kxf1=) 13. Nxh7 Bb6 This is an in-between move; from here onward it is clear that the position is equal. 14. Qe4 Nxe5 15. Nxf8 Qxf8 16. Qxe5 bxc4 17. Ba3 Qd8 18. Nd2 Bb7 19. Nxc4 Qxd5 20. Qxd5 Bxd5 21. Nxb6 What did White see here? It is losing a pawn without compensation. 21…axb6 22. Bc1 Rxa2 23. Rxa2 Bxa2 24. Bf4 c6 25. Be3 b5 = 1/2-1/2:165 8...d5 9.exd5 Ne5 10.Qxd4 Neg6 11.Re1 f6 This move probably leads to equality; this is from an online source. IM Jeremy Silman and GM Larry Christiansen spent a lot of time looking at the Mieses variation. 12.d6! Bb6 13.Qd5 Qd7 14.Ba3? 14.Nf7! c6 15.Nxe5 cxd5 16.Nxd7+ Kxd7 17.Bxd5 Kxd6 18.Rd1 Kc7 19.Na3 a6 20.Nc4 Bc5 21.Be3 Bxe3 22.Nxe3 Rd8 23.g3 Ne5 24.Rd4 Nc6 25.Re4 & White has a minute plus. 14…. c6! 15.Qf7+ Kd8 and in the words of the author, “strange stuff—a complete mess.” (diagram over)

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White can try other ways to increase the pressure: 8...d5 9.exd5 Ne5 10.Qxd4 Nge7 11.Re1 f6 12.d6 Bb6 13.Qd5 Qd7 14.Nf7! c6 15.Nxe5 cxd5 16.Nxd7 Kxd7 17.Bxd5 Kxd6 18.Bf3 I think that White has a clear plus. 8...d5 9.exd5 Ne5 10.Qxd4 Nge7 11.Re1 f6 12.d6 Bb6 13.Qd5 Qd7 14.Nf7 Qf5! Black's best defense. 15.Re2! c6 16.d7+ Qxd7 17.Qxd7+ Bxd7 18.Nxh8 Nxh8 Black has good play for the exchange.

19.Be3 Bxe3 20.Rxe3 O-O-O 21.Na3 Nhg6 22.g3 Bf5 Looks like an exceptionally difficult technical task. 14...Qf5 15.Be3 c6 16.d7+ Bxd7 17.Nd6+ Kf8! 18.Qd1 Qg4! Black seems okay. 14...Qf5 15.Re2 c6 16.d7+ Bxd7 17.Qd1 Qg4 18.Ba3 Nf4 19.Rxe5 fxe5 20.Nd6+ Kd8 21.Nf7+ Ke8 22.Qxg4 Bxg4 23.Nxh8 Nxh8 24.Rd8 Black has great compensation for the exchange. Here are some additional ideas in the base position: 8...d5 9.exd5 Ne5 10.Qxd4 N7g6 11.Re1 f6 12.d6 Bb6 13.Qd5 Qd7 14.Bf4 c6 is good for at least equality. A second try is 8...d5 9.exd5 Ne5 10.Qxd4 N7g6 11.Re1 f6 12.d6 Bb6 13.Qd5 Qd7 14.Nf7 Qf5! 15.Re2 c6 16.Qd1 Rf8 17.Bd3 Qe6 18.Nxe5 Nxe5 19.Bxh7 Rh8 20.Qc2= The Mieses Variation is one of those complex variations of the Evans Gambit that offers good play for both players. I recommend the variation for both players.

Play the Ultimate Chess Classic! 139th NYS Chess Championship.

Albany Marriott, Colonie.

September 1, 2, 3, 4

Be part of the country’s longest-running chess event!

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Updated New York State Chess Club Directory Western New York Rochester Chess Center 221 Norris Drive Rochester, NY 14610 Ron Lohrman, 585-442-2430 Monday and Wednesday: 7:30-10 p.m. Saturday: 10 a.m-10 p.m. www.nychess.org Niagara Falls Chess Club Wegmans, Military Road, NFNY (food court) Wednesday, 6:30-10:30 p.m. Harish Srinivasan harish.srinivasan@gmail.com Urban Queens and Knights Chess Club Frank E Merriweather Jr branch Library, East Utica and Jefferson, Buffalo Wednesday, 6-7:30 p.m. Michael MacDuffie Knightsof64@yahoo.com University of Buffalo CC North Campus, 106 Talbott Hall Tuesday & Thursday, 6:30 p.m. Scott Zdunczyk Lakeshore Chess Club Lake Shore Library Route 5, Hamburg Thursday, 6-11 p.m. Don Hoak 716-627-2643 Stars of India CC Audubon Library Amherst, NY Thursday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Michael MacDuffie Kinghtsof64@yahoo.com Jamestown Chess Club Chautauqua Chess Assoc.

111 W. 2nd St., Suite 210, Jamestown Mark Clark, 716-763-6825 Mclark85@stny.rr.com Thu., 6-9 p.m,. Sat. 10:30-3. Westfield Chess Club CJ’s Pizza, 77 E. Main Street, Westfield Wednesday, 5-8 p.m. cferraro@roadrunner.com buffalo chess.blogspot.com for additional information. Southern Tier Hornell Chess Club Hornell Intermediate School Park Street, Hornell (Summer: Arkport Community Room) Fred Harris, 607-295- 9858 Fharris3@stny.rr.com Thursday, 6:30 p.m. Binghamton Chess Club Cyber Café West, 176 Main St., Binghamton Monday/Tuesday, 7 p.m. 607-732-3456 Central New York Seymour Library Chess Club Seymour Public Library 176 West Genesee Street, Auburn Second Saturday of the Month, 1-4 p.m. Tom McKellop 315-252-3789 tom_mckellop@hotmail.com KA Chess Club Dunham Library, 76 Main Street, Whitesboro 6 p.m. Wednesday

Thomas Chromczak, 315-732-6939. Watertown Chess Club HSBC Building 120 Washington Street Watertown Tuesdays, 7-11 p.m. Don Klug 315-408-1850 www.watertownchessclub.com Sullivan Chess Club 707 Legion Drive, Chittenango Mondays, 6:00 p.m. John Wolf, 315-687-3356 Capital Region For Capital Region and Hudson Valley clubs, go to: www.enyca.org Albany Area Chess Club Hamilton Unio Presbyterian Church 2291 Western Avenue, Guilderland Jeremy Berman Wednesday, 7:30 pm. East Greenbush Chess Community Sunshine Day Care, across from Greenbush Reformed Church, East Greenbush 14 Hayes Road Wednesdays 6:30-10 p.m. Bill Matters, 518-477-2820 www.eastgreenbushchessclub.org Greenwich Chess Club Greenwich Free Library, Greenwich Thursday, 6:30 p.m. John Hartnett Truhart2@verizon.net

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Saratoga Staunton Chess Club Saratoga Springs United Methodist Church 175 Fifth Avenue, Saratoga Springs Sunday, 7:00 p.m. Alan LeCours, 518-583-0400 Alecours1@hotmail.com Schenectady Chess Club Niskayuna Community Center 2682 Aqueduct Rd., Niskayuna Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Richard Chu, President schenectadychessclub@nycap.rr.com Adirondack Chess Club Crandall Public Library. Glens Falls Wed. & Sat. 12-3 p.m. Matt Collins, 518-798-8109 Hudson Valley King’s Knight CC Rosendale Café 435 Main St., Rosendale Ken Evans, 845-331-8186 Wednesday, 7 p.m. Evanschess@aol.com Middletown Chess Club Walkill Comm. Center Route 211, E. Middletown Lonnie Kwartler, 845-469-4451 Wednesday, 8:00 p.m. GreenLaserKey@aol.com Vassar-Chadwick CC Vassar College, Poughkeepsie Monday 7 pm Chris Brooks, President chess@vassar-chadwick.com www.vassar-chadwick.com New York City/Westchester The Bob Peretz Chess Club (Formerly The Bronx-Yonkers Chess Club) The Center @ 862 862 Scarsdale Avenue, Scarsdale www.bobperetz.cc Mondays 7:45PM – Midnight Westchester Chess Club

Trinity Lutheran Church 25 Crane Road, Scarsdale Thursday, 7:30-10:50 p.m. Polly Wright, President pollychess@hotmail.com www.weschesterchessclub.com Brooklyn Chess Club Seaview Building, 1585 E. 98th St., Brooklyn 11236 Saturday, 1-9 p.m. 718-444-2222 Marshall Chess Club 23 W 10 St, NYC Bryan Quick, Exec. Dir. 212-477-3716 Weekdays, 1:00-12:00 pm Weekends, noon – midnight td@marshallchessclub.org Northern Westchester CC Panera Bread, 3083 Main St., Mohegan Lake Thursday, 7 p.m. Sal Catalfamo. Queens Chess Club All Saints Lutheran Church 164-02 Goethals Avenue, Jamaica (w) Friday, 7:30 pm to Sat 12:30 am; events start at 8:15 p.m. Ed Frumkin, 212-677-3224 Edwardfrumkin@gmail.com www.queens-chess.com Long Island Neal Bellon Long Island Chess Club United Methodist Church 470 East Meadow Ave. East Meadow, NY 11554 Thursdays, 6:45 – 10:30 PM www.lichessclub.com Long Island Chess Center 543 Broadway, Massapequa Nassau Chess Club 1st Presbyterian Church of Mineola

Main & First Sts. Mineola Harold Stenzel, 631-218-4440 captnhal@optonline.net Monday, 7 – 11:30 p.m. Syosset Chess Mates Walt Whitman Elem. School Woodbury, NY 11797 Randi Gertler / Marc Berger (516) 381-1755 Gertler@aol.com Chess Clubs are the lifeblood of chess activity in New York. Support your local club. Supporting your local chess club allows chess activities in your community to flourish in ways that Internet chess will never be able to replace. Be part of your chess community, and make your chess club part of your community! Check www.nysca.net for updated chess club information.

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Upcoming NYSCA-Sponsored and Major Tournaments

JUL. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 AUG. 5, 12, 19, 26 SEP. 9, 16, 23, 30 Rochester Chess Center Saturday Tournaments 3-SS, G/60 d5. Rochester CC, 221 Norris Dr., Rochester, NY 14610. 585-442-2430. Prizes based on entries. EF: $15, RCC members $13. $2 less for HS and Pre-HS. Reg.: 1-1:45 pm. Rds.: 2-4-6. One bye available, request at entry. www.nychess.org. Also, Youth tournament, G/30 d5, every Saturday morning 10am-1pm, trophies and prizes. EF: $5. JUL 18, AUG 15, SEP 19 Marshall Masters TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 10 3- SS, G/25 d5. Open to 2000+ players. FIDE Rapid rated. $750 GTD: 250-150-100. Top U2400 125, Top U2300 100, Biggest upset $25. EF:$40, MCC Mbrs $30. GMs Free. Reg.: 6:15-6:45pm. Rds.: 7-8:15-9:30-10:45pm. Max one bye, for round 1 or 4 only. Request at entry. 23 W. 10th St., NYC. 212-477-3716. www.marshallchessclub.org.

JUL 20, 27 AUG 17, 24,31 SEP 14, 21, 28 Marshall Thursday Action= 4-SS, G/25 d5. ($375 b/25): $150-100, U2200: $75, U1900: $50. EF: $40, MCC Mbrs $25. GMs Free. Reg.: 6:15-6:45pm. Rds.: 7-8:15-9:30-10:45pm. Max one bye, for round 1 or 4 only. Request at entry. 23 W. 10th St., NYC. 212-477-3716. www.marshallchessclub.org. JUL 28, AUG 25, SEP 29 Marshall $500 FIDE Blitz (BLZ) US Chess Grand Prix Points: 6 9-SS, G/3 +2. FIDE Blitz rated. $500: $200-100, top U2400/unr, U2200, U2000, U1800: $50. USCF regular rating used for pairings & prizes. EF: $30, MCC Mbrs $20. GMs Free. Reg.: 6:15-6:45. Rds.: 7-7:30-7:50-8:10-8:40-9-9:20-9:40-10pm. Max three byes. Request at entry. 23 W. 10th St., NYC. 212-477-3716, www.marshallchessclub.org. US Chess Junior Grand Prix! JUL 28-30 or 29-30 Peter Henner Memorial US Chess Grand Prix Points: 30 (Enhanced) 5SS, 40/100, SD/30 d10 (2-day option, rds. 1-2 G/60 d10), Best Western Sovereign Hotel, 1228 Western Ave., Albany 12203. Free parking, free airport shuttle, many restaurants within easy walk. $4000 guaranteed prize fund. In 4 sections. Premier: Open to 1800/above. $600-400-200, top U2210 $300-150. Under 2000: $400-200-100, top Under 1800 (no unr) $240-120. Under 1600: $300-150-80, top U1400 (no unr) $140-70. Under 1200: $140-70-40, plaques to 1st, top U1000, U800, U600, Unr. Unrated may not win over $60 in U1200 or $120 in U1600. Mixed doubles: $200-100 to best male/female “team” combined score among all sections. Team must average under 2200; may play in different sections; register (no extra fee) by 2 pm 7/29. Top 3 sections EF: $68 online at chessaction.com by 7/26, 3-day $73, 2-day $72 mailed by 7/19, $80 at site or online until 2 hours before round 1. Online entry $5 less to NYSCA members (may join with entry). U1200 Section EF: all $30 less than above. No checks at site, credit cards OK. GMs, IMs & WGMs free, $60 deducted from prize. All: Re-entry $40; not available in Premier. Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated. Special 1 year USCF with magazine if paid with entry. Online at chessaction.com, Adult $35, Young Adult $22, Scholastic $15. Mailed, phoned or paid at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $25, Scholastic $17. 3-day reg. ends Sat 6 pm, rds. Fri 7, Sat 11 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:15. 2-day reg. ends Sat 10 am, rds Sat 11, 2 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:15. Bye: all, limit 2; must commit before rd. 2. HR: $95-95, includes full breakfast, reserve by 7/14, use link at chesstour.com or call 518-489-2981. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803. $15 service charge for refunds. Questions: www.chesstour.com, DirectorAtChess.US, 347-201-2269. Entries posted at chessaction.com (online entries posted instantly). Blitz tournament. Sat 9:30 pm, reg. ends 9:15 pm. US Chess Junior Grand Prix!

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AUG. 18-20 or 19-20 16th annual Manhattan Open US Chess Grand Prix Points: 120 (Enhanced) 5SS, 40/100, SD/30 d10 (2-day option, rds. 1-2 G/60 d10). Hotel Pennsylvania, 401 7th Ave. (32-33 St., across from Penn Station), New York 10001. $20,000 guaranteed prizes. 8 sections. Open: Open to all; U1800/Unr EF $100 more. $2000-1000-600-400, clear/tiebreak win $100 bonus, top Under 2400/Unr $600-300. FIDE. Under 2200: $1300-700-400-200. Under 2000: $1300-700-400-200. Under 1800: $1300-700-400-200. Under 1600: $1000-500-300-200. Under 1400: $1000-500-300-200. Under 1200: $500-250-150-100. Under 1000: $500-250-150-100. Mixed doubles: best male/female 2-player “team” combined score among all sections: $600-400-200. Must average under 2200; may play in different sections; register (no extra fee) by 2 pm 8/19. Unrated may enter any section, with prize limit U1800 $600, U1600 $400, U1400 $300, U1200 $200, U1000 $100; balance goes to next player(s) in line. Top 6 sections EF: $128 at chessaction.com by 8/16, 3-day $133, 2-day $132 if check mailed by 8/9, all $150 (no checks, credit cards OK) at site, or online until 2 hours before rd 1. GMs free; $100 from prize. Under 1000 or U1200 Section EF: all $50 less than top 6 sections EF. Online entry $5 less to NYSCA members ($12/yr with 2 issues Empire Chess, $20/yr 4 issues, may join with entry). Re-entry $60, not available in Open. No checks at site, credit cards OK. Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated. Special 1 year USCF dues with magazine if paid with entry. Online at chessaction.com, Adult $35, Young Adult $22, Scholastic $15. Mailed, phoned or at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $25, Scholastic $17. 3-Day Schedule: Reg. ends Fri 6 pm. Rds. Fri 7, Sat 11 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:15. 2-Day Schedule: Reg. ends Sat 10 am. Rds. Sat 11, 2 & 5, Sun 10 & 3:15. Half point byes available all rounds, limit 2 byes, Open must commit before rd. 2, others before rd. 3. HR (note change): $159-159-169 plus required $20/night facility fee, however facility fee is waived if you reserve through online link at chesstour.com. Includes free wireless, unlimited calling, use of Bally's Total Fitness next door. Reserve by 7/27 or rate may increase. Phone reservations: 1-800-223-8585. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803. $15 service charge for refunds. Questions: chesstour.com, chesstour.info, DirectorAtChess.US, 347-201-2269. Advance entries posted at chessaction.com (online entries posted instantly). Blitz tournament Sat 9:30 pm, enter by 9:15 pm. US Chess Junior Grand Prix! AUG. 27 75th Binghamton Open NEW ENTRY FEE - $10.00. 4SS, G/65 d5. Cordisco's Chess Center, 308 Chenango St., Binghamton, NY 13901, (607) 772-8782. EF: $10. Two sections: Open & U1700. PRIZES: Winner of each section will receive a free entry into a future tournament! REFRESHMENTS AVAILABLE. Schedule: Reg. on site 8:45-9:15AM. Rounds: 9:30-12Noon-2:30-4:45. Please bring clocks, none supplied. US Chess Junior Grand Prix! OCT. 21-22 4th annual Central New York Open US Chess Grand Prix Points: 30 (Enhanced) 5SS, rounds 1-2 G/90 d10, rds 3-5 40/100, SD/30 d10. Hall of Languages, Syracuse University, S. Crouse Ave., Syracuse 13210. $2500 guaranteed prizes. In 3 sections. Open: $500-300-200, top U2100/Unr $210. Under 1900: $300-150-70, top U1700 (no unr) $160. Under 1500: $200-100-50, top U1300 (no unr) $110. Unrated may not win over $140 in U1500. Mixed doubles: $150 bonus to best male/female combined score among all sections. Team must average under 2200; may enter different sections; must register by 2 pm 10/21. College team prizes: Plaques to first 3 teams based on top 3 scorers from school among all sections. Top 2 sections EF: $68 online at chessaction.com by 10/18, $72 mailed by 10/12, $80 at site, or online until 8 am 10/21. Online entry $5 less to NYSCA members (may join with entry). U1500 Section EF: all $20 less. No checks at site, credit cards OK. GMs, IMs & WGMs: $60 from prize. Re-entry (no Open Section) $40. Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated. Special 1 year USCF with magazine if paid with entry. Online at chessaction.com, Adult $35, Young Adult $22, Scholastic $15. Mailed or at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $25, Scholastic $17. Schedule: Reg ends Sat 9 am, rds. Sat 10, 2 & 6, Sun 10 & 3:15. Bye: all, limit 2; must commit before rd. 2. HR: See travel websites. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803. $15 service charge for refunds. Questions: www.chesstour.com, DirectorAtChess.US, 347-201-2269. Entries posted at chessaction.com (online entries posted instantly).

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A Heritage Event! US Chess Junior Grand Prix! A State Championship Event!

SEPTEMBER 1-4, 2-4 or 3-4 139th annual NY State Championship

US Chess Grand Prix Points: 100 (Enhanced) Out of state welcome. 6SS, 40/100, SD/30 d10 (2-day option in Under 2100 & below, rounds. 1-3 G/40 d10). Albany Marriott, 189 Wolf Rd., Albany 12205 (Thruway Exit 24, I-87 north to Wolf Rd., Exit 4). Free parking, free airport shuttle, indoor/outdoor pool, fitness center, many restaurants nearby. $13,000 guaranteed prizes. In 5 sections. Championship, open to 1800/above. $1500-700-500-300, top Under 2300/Unr $800-400. State title & $100 bonus to top NYS resident (both decided on tiebreak if tied). Under 2100: $1000-500-300-200, top Under 1900 $400-200. Under 1800: $1000-500-300-200, top Under 1600 $400-200. Under 1500: $700-400-200-100, top Under 1300 $300-150. Under 1200: $400-200-100-50, plaque to first 3, top Under 1000, Under 800, Under 600, Unrated. Mixed doubles bonus prizes: best male/female 2-player “team” combined score among all sections: $600-300. Must average under 2200; may play in different sections; register (no extra fee) before both players begin round 2. Unrated may not win over $150 in U1200, $300 U1500 or $500 U1800. Top 3 sections EF: $99 online at chessaction.com by 8/30, 4-day $109, 3-day $108, 2-day $107 if check mailed by 8/23, all $120 at site, or online until 2 hours before round 1. GMs $90 from prize. Under 1500 Section EF: All $20 less than top 3 sections. Under 1200 Section EF: All $40 less than top 3 sections. All: Online entry $7 less to NYSCA members (dues $12/yr with 2 issues Empire Chess or $20/yr with 4 issues; join/renew with entry.) Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated. Special 1 year USCF with magazine if paid with entry. Online at chessaction.com, Adult $35, Young Adult $22, Scholastic $15. Mailed or at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $25, Scholastic $17. Re-entry $60, all but Championship. No checks at site, credit cards OK. 3-day schedule: Reg. ends Sat 11 am, rounds. Sat 12 & 6, Sun 12 & 6, Mon 10 & 3:15. 4-day schedule: Reg. ends Fri 6 pm, rounds. Fri 7 pm, merges with 3-day Sat 6 pm 2-day schedule: Reg. ends Sun. 10 am, rds. Sun 11, 1:30, 3:30, 6, Mon 10 & 3:15, no 2-day Championship. Bye: all, limit 2, Championship must commit before rd. 2, others before rd. 4. HR: $102-102, 800-443-8952, 518-458-8444, reserve by 8/25 or rate may increase. NYSCA meeting 9 am Sun. Car rental: 800-331-1600, use AWD D657633, or reserve car online through chesstour.com. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803. Questions: www.chesstour.com, DirectorAtChess.US, 347-201-2269. Entries posted at chessaction.com (online entries posted instantly). $15 service charge for refunds. NYS Blitz Championship Sun 10 pm, enter by 9:45 p.m.