where organized chess in america began - nysca
TRANSCRIPT
Where Organized Chess in America Began
EMPIRE CHESS
Spring 2015 Volume XXXVIII, No. 1 $5.00
Chess Flight of Six in Lockport.
Empire Chess
P.O. Box 340969
Brooklyn, NY 11234
2
NEW YORK STATE CHESS ASSOCIATION, INC. www.nysca.net
The New York State Chess Association, Inc., America‘s oldest chess organization, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting chess in New York State at all levels. As the State Affiliate of the United States Chess Federation, its Directors also serve as USCF Voting Members and Delegates.
President Bill Goichberg PO Box 249
Salisbury Mills, NY 12577
Vice President Polly Wright 57 Joyce Road Eastchester, NY 10709
Treasurer Karl Heck 5426 Wright Street, CR 67
East Durham, NY 12423
Membership Secretary
Phyllis Benjamin P.O. Box 340511
Brooklyn, NY 11234-0511
Board of Directors
Upstate Downstate William Townsend Phyllis Benjamin Bill Goichberg Dr. Frank Brady
Shelby Lohrman Mark Kurtzman Karl Heck Lenny Chipkin Ron Lohrman Ed Frumkin
Polly Wright Steve Immitt Gata Kamsky
Sophia Rohde Harold Stenzel Carol Jarecki
Tournament Clearinghouses
Zip Codes under 12000 (downstate) Bill Goichberg
NYS Zip Codes over 11999 (upstate) Karl Heck
Deadlines December 15 for the Winter Issue
March 15 for the Spring Issue June 15 for the Summer Issue September 15 for the Fall Issue
Advertising Manager Contact the Editor.
Records: Made to be broken. From its founding as the first state scholastic chess tournament in the
country, the New York State Scholastics have long been about being cutting-edge and record-setting.
This year’s 920-player event in Saratoga Springs continued that long tradition. On behalf of NYSCSA, thank you for the support of all of the
players, coaches and parents who came to the Spa City to contest our
Scholastic Championship.
The 48th annual tournament set an Upstate record for attendance, and was
the second-highest attended tournament ever. A few years ago, the USCF
National Office had largely written off chess in New York. Empire Chess players are showing the country, and the USCF, where the best and most
dedicated scholastic players in the country live.
This year’s tournament also had one feature not previously known in our
history: two venues. Despite the recent expansion of the Saratoga Springs
City Center, the venue still wasn’t big enough for our tournament. A neighboring hotel had to be rented at the last minute to handle the High
School tournament and the Parents/Friends event. Hopefully the officials
in Saratoga Springs to find some more room to make the City Center even
larger.
The New York State Scholastic has become a celebration of the Empire
State’s scholastic players. Three of them qualified for the summer Scholastic Invitationals: SM Joshua Colas, our New York State Scholastic
Champion, will be representing us in the Denker Tournament of High
School Champions. NM Marcus Mikasaya won the Junior High
Championship and will represent New York in the Barber K-8 Championship. Ella Papanek was the top girl player in the High School
section and won the right to represent us in the National Girls Invitational
Tournament.
Congratulations to all of these champions. All three invitations will occur
during the US Open in August in Phoenix.
In two years, the New York State Scholastic will celebrate its 50th
anniversary. It has become a event that is not only a great tradition in New
York, but throughout the entire country. It is a tradition we can all be proud of establishing and growing.
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EMPIRE CHESSWhere organized chess began in America
Volume XXXVIII, Number 1 – Spring 2015
Cover: Mayor Anne McCaffrey, has invited the Golden Knights of Lockport to the Lockport City Council meeting tonight at 6pm to
give special recognition certificates to the six players who participated in the 48th annual New York State Scholastic Chess Championships. Pictured is 2015 New York State Scholastic undefeated Champion - Ashton A. William and USCF Head Coach
Michael A. Mc Duffie. L-R (front) are Jonathan Carmina, Ashton William, JonLuke Pencille and Ryan Carmina. (Back) are Drew Podgorny, Andrew Pencille, USCF Head Coach Michael A. Mc Duffie and Mayor Anne McCaffrey. (photo Michael McDuffie).
From the Editor. 2
Table of Contents 3
State Scholastics by Bill Townsend 4
New York’s Scholastic Invitational Representatives 11
You Don’t Need to be Perfect by Neil Bellon 12
Brooklyn Represents! Spinnell Wins Top Section of Greater NY Scholastics 14
2014-15 MHSCL Season Summary by Larry King 16
Marchand Madness Warms Up Rochester’s Winter by Karl Heck 18
News from the Marshall by Frank Romano. 19
Postional Compensation by Zachary Calderon 21
Queens CC Winter Summary by Ed Frumkin 23
Watertown Chess News byy Don Klug 24
Wilkes-Barre/Traxler by Richard Moody 25
Capital Region News from staff reports 26
New York Tournaments 29
Editor: Karl Heck, [email protected].
Webmaster: Daniel Heck, www.nysca.net.
Empire Chess, the official publication of the New York State Chess Association, Inc., is published quarterly. No liability is
assumed with respect to the use of any information contained herein, or for any advertised products. Opinions
expressed are solely those of the contributors, and not necessarily those of NYSCA. Empire Chess is COPYRIGHTED,
2015.
Empire Chess accepts articles, games, tournament reports, art work and photos. No responsibility is assumed for
unsolicited material. All material submitted for publication becomes the property of Empire Chess, and will not be
returned unless accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Letters received by Empire Chess are accepted &
subject to editing. Please send to: Karl Heck, [email protected].
Membership in the NYSCA: $20/year with four printed Empire Chess; $12/year with online Empire Chess (two printed).
To join, write to: Phyllis Benjamin, P.O. Box 340969, Brooklyn, NY 11234.
NYSCA membership now gets you discounts at Continental Chess Association events in New York State and all New York State Championship tournaments.
Please send articles and advertisements in camera-ready format for publication. (TIF file, Adobe Photoshop, 100 lines per inch). Chess games should be in ChessBase, with boards and positions in final form. Articles should be sent via e-mail, in Microsoft Word, Times New Roman font, size 11. Deadline for the Summer issue is June 15, 2015, although earlier submissions are appreciated, and will more easily guarantee a space in the next magazine.
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48th
NY State
Scholastics in
Saratoga Smashes
Attendance Record
Yet Again Joshua Colas wins his second High
School title; Marcus Miyasaka
clear winner of Junior High
section
by Bill TownsendThe 48th Annual New York State Scholastic Championships took place February 28 and March 1
in Saratoga Springs. The total of 927 players in nine
sections again smashed the record for most players in an upstate scholastic, leapfrogging over last year’s
total of 775. There was some debate about last year’s
being the biggest tournament ever held in Upstate
New York, but this is clearly a new high water mark. It is, however, not the biggest turnout at a New York
State Scholastic – while four-digit turnouts have been
claimed the biggest I could find was 990 at the 2000 event, held in Pleasantville in Westchester County.
There were 984 in 2002 in Brooklyn.
Will this record fall at next year’s event? It is a possibility, but there are problems running an event
this size. Last year the tournament expanded into the
Saratoga City Center attached to the playing site, and this year it expanded further: the High School and
High School Reserve sections were held at the
Marriott down the road from the Saratoga Hilton. While the two sites were only a third of a mile apart,
it was not a fun walk: the sidewalks were icy and the
weather was very cold. There would be room for the
whole tournament at the City Center, but alas there is another group that regularly holds an event that
weekend there, and they don’t seem likely to give it
up. What to do?
Anyway, on to the results. The 79-player High
School Championship section was won by its highest0-rated player, Joshua Colas of White Plains,
who also won it in 2013. He was the only player
with 5½-½, but the fight was very close until the very
end. Colas drew with Olivier Chiku-Ratte in round five, and in the final round beat former New York
State Champion Nicolas Checa, the only perfect 5-0
remaining.
The other 4½, Chiku-Ratte, could only draw against
expert Lev Paciorkowski leaving Colas all alone on
top. Besides the trophy, Colas gets free entry to the State Championship proper in September and also is
the New York State representative at the Denker
Tournament of High School Champions. Second thru seventh with 5-1 were: Olivier Chiku-
Ratte, Nicolas Checa, Isaac Barayev, Alisher
Podavonov, Lev Paciorkowski and Patrick Chi.
Eighth through tenth with 4½-1½ were: Shawn Swindell, Ethan Li and Mubassar Uddin. There were
nine players with 4-2, but only the top 15 players are
awarded trophies. Eleventh through fifteenth were: Andrew Meyer, James Black, Zachary Martin, Brian
Arthur and Empire Chess columnist Zachary
Calderon. Joe Fratianni was top player rated under 1500 with 2½ and Theodore Chapman was top player
under 1300 with 2.
Ella Papenak scored 3 1/2, and won the right to represent New York State in the National Girls’
Invitational Tournament during the US Open on
tiebreaks over Martha Samadashvili.
Top team here was Nest-M School with 17½ points
while Brooklyn’s Edward M. Murrow High School
was second with 16½. Brighton High School from the Rochester area was third with 15, Brooklyn Tech
was fourth with 14 and Joseph C. Wilson Magnet
High School of Rochester was fifth with 12½ points.
The 98-player High School Reserve section finished
with three players at the top with 5½ with their final places decided by tiebreaks. First through third were:
Weston White, Austin Kossow, and Alexander
Ordonez. Fourth through eighth with 5-1 were:
Abdoulaye Diallo, Rohit Mehandru, Danny Diaz, Masai Williams, and Rocco Franklyn. Ninth through
twelfth with 4½ were: Trevhon Cox, Uriel Calixto,
Shadman Khan, and Devyn Jimenez. Thirteenth through fifteenth with 4-2 were Praharsha Gurram,
Bennett Boakye and Isaac Rodriguez. Andres Flores
was top player under 900, also with 4-2. Jerry Fruit-Whitfield was top unrated player with 3½, Luke
Villani was first under 700 with 3-3 and Zachary
Belfance was second unrated with 1-5.
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The battle for top team in this section was
particularly intense with three schools finishing with 15½ points and their placement determined by
tiebreaks. First through third were: Avenues: The
World School, Success Academy PS523, and Promise
Academy II. Just a half-point behind in fourth and fifth places were Harlem Central Success Academy
and Pioneer High School.
There was an additional team prize, for best “Mixed
Doubles” team, for the best male-female pair playing
in the two High School sections. Top team consisted of two Capital District players, Martha Samadashvili
and Zachary Calderon who scored 7½ points. Second
were Yvonne Scorcia and Alisher Podavonov with a
total of seven points. In third were Kassi McTague and Rhamel Bynum with five points.
The 96-player Junior High section had a clear winner in Marcus Miyasaka, the only player to finish with
5½. Miyasaka will be representing New York in the
K-8 Barber National Championships during the US Open in Phoenix.
Second through sixth with 5-1 were: Jacob Chen,
Nathaniel Shuman, Ananda Saha, Vicki Yang and Arjun Rai. Seventh through tenth with 4½ were:
Maury Ahram, Akira Nakada, Warren Wang and
Gabriel Rivera. Eleventh through fifteenth with 4-2 were: Malcolm Galpern, Steven Xue, Justin
Dalhouse, Maxwell Beem and Justin Chen. Top
player under 1200 with 2-4 was Shane Alston while
Justin-Crestito Regner was top under 1000 with 1-5.
Top team here was Brooklyn’s IS 318 with 18½.
Manhattan’s Dalton School was second with 16½. Third and fourth with 13½ were Nest+M and NYC
Lab Middle School for Collaborative Studies while
Browning School was fifth with 10½.
The 144-player Middle School Reserve was one of
the biggest of the nine sections and it finished with
two perfect 6-0 scores, with both players going from three-digit ratings to four-digit ones with the result.
First on tiebreaks was William Tsay with Che Dixon
in second place. In clear third with 5½ was Aliyah Baugh.
In fourth through twelfth place with 5-1 were: Noah Brauner, Kenneth Thompson, Allan Elson, Bally
Sissoko, Fatou Mbaye, Pippa Millstone, Ian Chen,
Christian Chin, and Alexis Schlaak. Thirteenth
through fifteenth with 4½ were: Josh Kloepfer, Ryan
Dieterle and Eliana Asiedu. Joseph Fletcher was top
unrated player with 4-2 and Yosef Yomtobian was top player under 700, also with 4-2. Jonathan Clark was
second unrated with 3-3 while top player under 500
was Lila Espinoza with 3-3. Third unrated was Stelin
Poola with 2-4.
Brooklyn’s Park Slope PS282 was top team in this
section with 17½. Second was Success Academy Charter School Harlem East with 16½ while Success
Academy Charter School Bronx 1 PS493 was third,
also with 16½. Fourth with 16 points was Success Academy Charter School Harlem North West and
fifth with 15 was Harlem Central Success Academy
Charter School.
The 124-player Elementary Championship section
ended with two 5½ scores at the top, their places
determined by tiebreaks. First was Wesley Wang and second was Brandon Wang, no relation apparently.
Third through seventh with 5-1 were: Nico Chasin,
Akash Kumar, Daniel Levkov, Aidan Ahram and Eric Chan. Eighth through fifteenth with 4½ were: Shawn
Rodrigue-Lemieux, Ethan Gu, Hamilton Shillingford,
Tyler Roonprapunt, Hudson Beaudoin, Francis
Durette, Djuna Mauceri and Zachary Yan. Larisa Breskin was top player under 1000 with 2-4.
Dalton School was top team in this section with 18 points while Nest+M School was second with 17½.
Greenwich Village PS41 was third with 16 ½, School
of Discovery and Exploration PS503 was fourth with
14½ and Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School was fifth, also with 14½.
The 150-player Elementary Reserve was the largest of the nine sections and it also finished with two
perfect 6-0 scores. First was Megha Kumar with
Ashton William second on tiebreaks. Donovan Lamonte-Stewart, the only player with 5½, was clear
third after a third-round draw.
Fourth through tenth with 5-1 were: Justin Lin, Quinn Balber, Joey Zhang, Raghav Karthikeyan, Estelle
Morden, David Youngwood, and Zachary Frean.
Eleventh through fifteenth with 4½ were: Vincenzo Montanti, Oscar Turner, Angel Chavarria, Charlie
Silver and Nico Wagstaff. Top player under 500 was
Benjamin Gordon with 4-2. Amanda Li was top unrated with 3½ while Jonathan Carmina was 2
nd
unrated with 3. Top player under 300 was Jia Tang
with 3 while Papa Ndiaye was 3rd unrated with 2½.
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Top team here was Success Academy Charter School
Bronx 1 PS493 with 18½ points out of a possible 24. Second with 16½ was Success Academy Charter
School Cobble Hill PS129. Browning School was
third with 15½. Brooklyn’s PS139 was fourth, also
with 15½. Another Brooklyn school, School of Discovery and Exploration PS503, was fifth with
14½.
The 71-player Primary Championship section, for
players in grades three and below, was won by its
highest rated player (1770!), second grader Adi Murgescu with a perfect 6-0 score. Murgsecu got to
1797 after this event,
Second through fifth with 5-1 were: Charles Hua, Davis Zong, Jordan Leung and Wyatt Pak. Sixth
through eighth with 4½ were: David Katsman, Robert
Ulmer and Henry Burton. Ninth through fifteenth with 4-2 were: Ryan Peterson, James Oh, Veda
Safranek, Nikhil Pande, Jesse Roonprapunt, Amy Sun
and Luis-Joshua Casenas.
Nest+M School was top team here with 19 points.
Dalton School was second with 16, Greenwich
Village PS41 was third with 15, Collegiate School was fourth with 12 and William T. Harris PS11 was
fifth, also with 12 points.
There was another perfect score atop the 115-player
Primary Reserve section as Sannah Kumar won all
six games, beating fellow 5-0 player Michael
Rubinvo in the last round, who drew in the last round with Emani Babb with a share of first place at stake.
In clear second with 5½ was Emma Hoi-an Adams.
Third through tenth with 5-1 were: Emani Babb,
Michael Rubinov, Sean Hallinan, Otto Braun, Sam
Weinick, Amelia Hamilton, Bryce Martey and Ron Mena. Eleventh through fourteenth with 4½ were:
Raunak Tej Sondhi, Jonluke Pencille, Ethan Rafferty
and Sami Uyanik. Eleanor Hamilton was fifteenth
with 4-2. Griffin Alterio was first under 200 with 3½. Tanmay Goel and Justin Maung were first and second
unrated with 3-3. Ryan Carmina was third unrated
with 2½.
Park Slope PS282 from Brooklyn was top school in
this section with 18 points. Right behind them with 17½ points was Mary Lindley Murray School PS116.
Third with 17 points was another New York school,
Lower Lab School PS77. William T. Harris PS11 was
fourth with 16½ while Alexine A. Fenty PS139 was
fifth with 15½ points.
The 59-player K-1 Championship section was won by Quebec player Kevin Zhong with a perfect 6-0
score. Zhong received a provisional 2024 rating from
USCF from his effort.
Second through sixth with 5-1 were: Thomas Fini,
Daniel Luo, William Safranek, Dylan Ma and Gary
Felsher. Seventh and eighth with 4½ were Grant Carlson and Shane Saber. Ninth through fifteenth
with 4-2 were: Jonathan Weinberg, Ethan Lencz,
Spencer Kojima, Maya Nozaki, Cade Rutkoske, Gabriel Rhodes and Edmund Daucher. Top player
rated under 200 was Cameron Anderson with 1½.
Top unrated, also with 1½ was Carter Kojima. James
Chen and Liam Alexis were second and third unrated with 1 point.
Competition for top team here was very close - only 1½ points separated the top five schools. First with
16½ was Dalton School. Second with 16 was
Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School which beat out Speyer Legacy School on tiebreaks.
Collegiate School was fourth with 15½ and Nest+M
School was fifth with 15.
On Sunday there was a “Parents and Friends”
tournament for players not competing in the state
scholastics, and this was won by Bryan Carlson with a 3-1 score. David Gordon was second, also with 3.
Jim Carter was third with 2-2. Kevin Dufford was
top player under 1200, also with 2-2.
On Saturday Night 22 two-player teams competed in
the Bughouse tournament, proving that too much
chess is never enough. Top team with 4½-½ was “The $1000 Bills” which consisted of Malcolm
Galpern and Li Heng Wang. Second through fourth
with 4-1 were: I.S. 318, (Nasir Rasheed & Edwin Lucero), Sempai (Calvin Yang & Arjun Rai), and The
Ultimate Trickshotters (PJ Sheils & Nick Breskin).
Fifth with 3½ was Cheetos (Anthony Asseviro &
Jacob Carranza) with sixth was Chess 4 Life (Anthony Saquisili & Gabriel Davis).
Chief Director for this massive event was Steve Immitt for the New York State Chess Association.
Assistant tournament directors were David Hater,
Brother John McManus, Alan LeCours, Bill Townsend, Harold Stenzel, Andrew Rea, Jabari
McGreen, Sreemivas Alampalli, Maya McGreen,
Kofi McGreen, Hector Rodriguez III, Mariah
McGreen, NYSCA Vice-President Poly Wright
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among others.
Ah, the games, the games. I consider them the most
important part of any tournament report. Sure the
writer can describe the drama of the event, but the
games can actually show you, take you right there to the battleground.
As I’ve said before it’s always difficult to get games from this event – most of the players are writing
down their moves in hardcover books so they can’t
share their scoresheets, and the fast time control (game in 60 minutes with a 10 second per move
delay) meant that many games ended in time
scrambles with nobody writing down the moves. By
the beginning of Round Four on Sunday I had gotten only one (!) scoresheet so it was plain I had to take
matters into my own hands and copy down the games
from the top boards myself. I wound up with only 14 games from this entire event, most of them recorded
by me.
For all that there are some high-quality games in the
mix. For example, here is the game that decided first
place in the High School section between the event’s
highest rated player and the only player with a perfect 5-0 score. Colas played this game very patiently – he
seemed to be better for most of the game, and while
he took no crazy chances he calmly exploited his opportunities when they presented themselves.
SM Joshua Colas (2429) – SM Nicolas Checa
(2404) [D12] QGD-Slav
NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 6, March 1, 2015
1.d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nbd2 e6 6.
Be2 Nbd7 7. Nh4 Be4 8.Nxe4 Nxe4 9. Nf3 Bb4+ 10.
Kf1 Why not simply 10. Nd2 ?
10... O-O 11. g3 Ndf6 12. Kg2 Qe7 13. c5 Ba5 14.
Qb3 Rfb8 15. Qc2 Nd7 16. a3 e5 17. b4 Bc7 18.Bb2
exd4 19. Nxd4 Be5 20. Bd3 Nef6 21. Rhe1 g6 22.
Bc3?! A sharper way to refute Black's somewhat passive play is with 22. e4! Nxe4 23. Bxe4 dxe4 24.Rxe4 Qf8
25. Ne6 fxe6 26. Bxe5 Nxe5 27. Rxe5.
22... Qf8?! 23. f4! Bc7 24.Qb2 Qe7 25. h3 Ne4 26.
Bxe4 Qxe4+ 27. Nf3 Bd8?! After 27... f5 the game is just about even.
28. Rad1 Qe6 29. Kh2 Bf6?
Black's last chance to lock up the center with 29... f5.
30. e4!
With this White grabs control of the center, and Black is in trouble.
30…Bxc3 31. Qxc3 dxe4 32. Ng5 Qf6 33. Qb3 Nf8
34. Nxe4 Qg7 35. Nd6 Qf6 36. Re2 Rd8 37. Nxb7
Rxd1 38. Qxd1 Ne6 39. Nd6 a5 40. Ne4 Qd4 41.
Qxd4 Nxd4 42. Rb2 axb4 43. axb4 Ra3 44. Kg2
Re3 45. Nd6 Rd3 46. Nc4 Nf5?! This allows White to draw a bead on Black's c-pawn. the only thing holding back White's queenside pawns.
Better was 46... Rc3.
47. Ne5 Rxg3+ 48. Kh2 Rc3 49. Nxc6 Kf8 50.
Na5?! Time was getting short, otherwise White would have
seen he could dash for the goal line with 50. b5! Rxc5
51. b6.
50...Nd4 51. Kg2 Ke8 52. Rd2 Ne6 53. Rf2 Nd4 54.
Rd2 Ne6 55. Re2 f5 56. Rf2 Kd7 57.Rf3 Rc2+ 58.
Kg3 Rb2 59. Rd3+ Kc7 60. Rd6 Nd8 61. Rb6 Rc2
62. Ra6 Rb2 63. Ra7+ Kc8 64. Rxh7 Rxb4?
Of course Black wants to get rid of these dangerous
passed pawns, but this winds up costing him a Knight. Instead after 64...Ne6 65. Nc6 Rb3+ 66. Kh4
Nxf4 Black is still in a bad way, but he is still
fighting.
65. Rh8 Rb5There is no saving the piece: 65... Kc7 66. Rxd8 Kxd8
67. Nc6+, etc.
66. Nc6 Rxc5 67. Nxd8 Kd7 68. Nf7 Ke7 69. Ng5
Rc1 70. Rh7+ Kf8 71. Rb7 Black's position is all but resignable, but time is short
for both players so he plays on hoping for a miracle.
For example, better for White here is: 71. Ne6+ Ke8 72. Rg7 and the g-pawn falls.
71... Kg8 72. Rb6 Kg7 73. Ne6+ Kf7 74. Kh4 Rc3
75. Ng5+ Kg7 76. Rb7+ Kg8 77. Ne6 Re3 78. Re7
Kh8 79. Nf8 Rf3 80. Nxg6+ Kg8 81. Ne5 Rxf4+ 82.
Kg5 Rf1 83. Kf6 White has a mate in three with 83. Kh6 Kf8 84. Ng6+ Kg8 85. Rg7# but the players were down to bare
seconds and moving very fast.
83... Rh1 84. Rg7+ Kf8 85. Ng6+ Ke8 86.Re7+ Kd8 The players were now moving too quickly for me to follow, but White won in just a few more moves.1-0
Here is the other important last round game featuring the only player capable of catching Colas, Canadian
player Olivier Chiku-Ratte, the rare foreign player
who has played in the New York State Scholastics four consecutive years. Outrated by over 300 points
Paciorkowski seemed content to draw, and did not
play the opening in a very challenging way,
eventually sliding into an inferior position. However
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under pressure he defended like a champion, and
when a perhaps-winning opportunity presented itself in the ending, Black missed it.
Lev Paciorkowski (2099) –
SM Olivier Chiku-Ratte (2403)
[A47] Torre Attack
NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 6, March 1, 2015
1.d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. c3 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 b6 6.
Bd3 The Torre Attack, not a terribly challenging opening
system
6…Bb7 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Qe2 Nbd7 10.
e4 Re8 11. Rfd1 Nf8 12. Rac1 Is this where White missed his big chance? My computer recommends: 12.e5! and after 12…Nd5 13.
Bxe7 Qxe7 14. g3 cxd4 15. cxd4 dxe5 16. dxe5 Red8
17. Nc4 White has a stronger position than in the
game, but not outrageously so.
12... Ng6 13. Ba6 Shows a lack of ambition. Again 13. e5 suggests
itself.
13... Qc8 14. Bxb7 Qxb7 15. h3 Rad8 16. Re1 h6
17. Bxf6 Bxf6
White has dissipated whatever advantage he had, but there doesn't look to be a lot of play in the position.
18. g3 d5 19. e5 Be7 20. h4 Nh8 21. h5 f6 22. exf6
Bxf6 23. Ne5 Nf7 24. f4 Nxe5 25. fxe5 Bg5 26.
Rcd1 cxd4 27. cxd4 Rc8 28. Nf3 Qe7 29. Qd3 Qf7
30. Nxg5 hxg5 31. Kg2 g4 32. Rd2
32. Rh1 was the only way to hold on to the h-pawn.
32... Qxh5 33. Rh1 Qf5 34. Rf1 My computer queries this move, but clearly worse for
White is 34. Qxf5 exf5 35. Kf2 Kf7 36. Ke3 Re7 37.
Rf2 Kg6 38. Rhf1 Rf7 39. Kf4 Rc4, etc.
34...Qxd3 35. Rxd3 Rc4 36. Rd2 Rec8 37. Kf2 Rc1
38. Rxc1 Rxc1 39. Ke2 Ra1 40. a3 Rh1 41. Kf2
Rh2+ Of course sitting here with my analysis engine and unlimited thinking time I can figure out that trading
Rooks is a bad idea here, but in a tournament hall
with the clock ticking it's not so simple. This seems to be a better path for the second player: 41... Kf7 42.
Kg2 Rc1 43. Rf2+ Kg6 44. Rf4 Rc2+ 45. Rf2 Rc7 46.
Rf4 Kg5 and now White has the unenviable choice
between allowing the Black Rook to roam around inside his position or letting the Black King in at e4.
42. Ke3 Rxd2 43. Kxd2 Kf7 44. Ke3 g5 45. Kd3
Kg6 46. Ke3 Kf7 After this my computer says the game is dead even,
but in plain fact White can keep the Black King out
forever so the game is drawn. For example: 46... b5 47. b4 Kf5 48. Kd3 a6 49. Ke3 Kg6 with an obvious
draw, even though the computer still thinks Black is
better.
47. Kd3 Ke7 48. a4 Kd7 49. Kc3 ½-½Here is the aforementioned draw between Colas and
Chiku-Ratte, a very tense affair that it appears that
Colas should have won.
SM Olivier Chiku-Ratte (2403) –
SM Joshua Colas (2429) [E24] Nimzo-Indian
NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 5, March 1, 2015
1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+
6. bxc3 d5 7. e3 c5 8. Bd3 Nc6 9. Ne2 e5 10. cxd5
Nxd5 11. e4 Nf4 12. Bxf4 My computer suggests 12. d5 but 12…Nxd3+ 13. Qxd3 f5 doesn't look that good for White.
12... exf4 13. d5 Qh4+ 14. g3 fxg3 15. Nxg3 Ne5 16.
O-O Qf4 17. Qe2 Bh3 18. Rf2 Rad8 19. Rd1 Rd6 This opening has clearly not been a success for White
- Black has him under a lot of pressure.
20. Kh1 g6 21. Qd2 Rf6 22. Qxf4 Rxf4 23. Be2 f5?
Even to me, trying to keep track of three games at once, 23... Ng4! looked very strong for Black. I
assumed he didn't play it because of some tactical
subtlety I failed to see, but he winds up playing it under less favorable conditions a move later.
24. exf5 Ng4 25. fxg4 Rxf2 26. d6 Rf4?!
26... Rd8 is a much better idea.
27. d7 Rd8 28. Bb5 gxf5 29. Re1 fxg4 30. Re8+ Rf8
31. Re7 h5
In spite of the uneven material, my computer regards
this position as dead even.
32. Bd3 Rf3 33. Bg6?
A terrible mistake which should lose. Best was
forcing a repeat of the position with 33. Re8+.
33... Rxc3? Black misses his chance. After 33... h4! 34. Re8+ Rf8
35. Rxd8 Rxd8 36. Ne4 b6 37. Bf5 Kf7 38. Nd6+ Ke7
39. Nc8+ Kf6 40. Nd6 Rf8 41. c4 Ke5 42. Nf7+ Kxf543. d8=Q Rxd8 44. Nxd8 Bf1 it’s a pretty
straightforward win for him.
34. Ne2?Another mistake. White is still holding the balance
after 34. Kg1.
34... Rxd7? In an uncertain position Black goes for a very likely
draw when in fact he has a win: 34... Rf3! 35. Ng3 h4
and White must lose material.
35. Rxd7 Rxa3 36. Rxb7 Ra1+ 37. Ng1 h4 38. Be4
9
g3 39.hxg3 hxg3 40. Rb3 Be6 41. Rxg3+ Kf7 42.
Kg2 Ra2+ 43. Kf3 Ra3+ 44. Kf4 Rxg3 45.Kxg3 Now that the rooks are off only Black with his pawns
still has winning chances, but White's pieces should
be able to stop the Queenside pawns.
45…a5 46. Ne2 a4 47. Kf4 Kf6 48. Nc3 Bb3 49.
Bd5 Bxd5 50. Nxd5+ Ke6 51. Nc3 a3 52. Ke3 Kd6
½-½
Here is another tense last round battle, won by former
State Elementary champion Patrick Chi. I felt that
Black was better for most of the game, but my chess computer begged to differ. With the all-seeing
perfect vision of a chess computer the game was
perhaps even, but the plain fact was that White’s
position was much harder to play in practice.
Andrew Meyer (2012) –
NM Patrick Chi (2280)
[B13] Caro-Kann
NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 6, March 1, 2015
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Bf4 Nc6
6.c3 g6 7.Nd2 Bf5 8.Bxf5 gxf5 9.Ne2 e6 10.Ng3 Be7
11.0–0 h5 12.Bg5
12.h4 was probably a better idea.
12...h4 13.Ne2 Qc7 14.Bf4 Bd6 15.Bxd6 Qxd6
16.b4 Ne4
Somewhat stronger seems to be 16...Ng4 17.Nf3 h3.
17.Nxe4 fxe4 18.f3 f5 19.a4 0–0–0 20.a5 Rdg8
21.Qd2 e5?!This costs Black the majority of his advantage.
Instead after 21...a6 22.fxe4 dxe4 23.Rad1 Ne7 he
still has the initiative.
22.b5 Ne7 23.dxe5 Qxe5 24.b6 a6 25.Qf4 Ng6
26.Qxe5 Nxe5 27.fxe4 fxe4 28.Rad1 h3 29.g3 Nf3+
To me it looks like Black is better, but my computer is not impressed - it says the position is dead even.
30.Kh1 Rd8 31.Nd4 Ne5 32.Ne6 Rd6 33.Ng5 Rd7
34.Ne6?!
This Knight should stay where it is for now. Instead 34.Kg1 suggests itself.
34...Nc4 35.Rfe1 Nb2
Why not 35...Nxa5?
36.Rd2 Nd3 37.Rf1 Re7 38.Nf4 Nxf4 39.Rxf4 Re5
40.Re2 Kd7 41.Kg1 Kc6
At this point the players were moving too fast for me to keep up with them. Later, looking at the moves I
had I couldn't understand what happened next. I
knew that Black won in just a couple more moves, but
in my computer's opinion Black's advantage was tiny.
What happened? Thankfully I was able to get the
remaining moves from Patrick Chi later. In fact the computer's sanguine opinion of White's chances was
based on him seeing a rather unlikely move, which
was just about impossible considering that there was
practically no time left.
42.Rf7 e3 43.Kf1 Kb5 44.Rxb7 Rf8+ 45.Ke1 Kc4
46.Rc7+?
Here is where it all falls apart for white. The only move for White to hold the balance is 46.g4! a move I
defy anybody to find at ten seconds a move. The
point is to keep a Rook off of f5. The game might have continued: 46...Kd3 47.Rg7 d4 48.Rd7 Kxc3 49.Ra2
Re4 50.Rc7+ Kb3 and white is still struggling, but
isn't dead yet.
46...Kd3 47.Kd1 It's now too late for 47.g4 Rf4 48.Rg7 d4 49.b7 Rxa5
and Black wins.
47...Rf1+ 48.Re1 e2+ Here White resigned, since he's losing the rook on
e1.0–1
Here is new champion Colas’ fourth round win over
Isaac Barayev. This game is an object lesson in the
power of the pin: Colas uses a couple of pins to
hogtie black, and then another one eventually undoes him.
SM Joshua Colas (2429) – Isaac Barayev
(2177) [D12] QGD/Slav NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 4, March 1, 2015
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nbd2 e6 6.Be2
Nbd7 7.Nh4 Bg6 8.Nxg6 hxg6 9.Nf3 Bd6 10.h3 0–0
11.0–0 Qc7 12.b3 e5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.cxd5 Nxd5
15.Bb2 Qe7?!It looks like a small thing, but this allows a rather
awkward pin. Notice that White's next move doesn't
work after 15...Rfe8 16.Qd4 Nxf3+ 17.Bxf3 Bh2+ 18.Kh1 Be5.
16.Qd4 Nxf3+ 17.Bxf3 Nf6 18.Rad1 Rfd8 19.Qc3
Bc7 20.a4 a5 21.Rfe1 Bd6 22.Qc4 Bb4 23.Rf1 Nd7
24.Qd4 Nf6 25.Qc4 Nd7I'm sure Black had fond hopes of a draw here, but
White is not going to let that happen.
26.Qc2 Nc5 27.Bc3 Ne6 28.Ba1 Rac8 29.Qb2 b5?!Once again Black misses another annoying pin.
Better was 29...Rd6.
30.Rxd8+ Qxd8 31.Bg4 f5 32.Be2 Qd7 33.Rd1 Qb7
34.Qe5
A decisive invasion. Black is lost.
32
34...Kf7 35.axb5 cxb5 36.Bxb5 Rc5? An obvious shot, but it loses instantly. To be fair Black only had a minute and half left while White had
12 minutes.
37.Be8+! Ke7 38.Qd6+ Kxe8 39.Qxe6+ Qe7
40.Qg8+White wins Black's Queen after 40.Qg8+ Qf8
41.Rd8+, so Black resigns.1–0
Here is a game with a lot of middlegame twists and
turns, but in fact is decided in the ending. Yes, that
even happens at Game in 60 minutes.
NM James Black (2279) – SM Nicolas Checa
(2404) [D10] QGD/Slav NYS Scholastic Championships
High School section
Round 4, March 1, 2015
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Qc2 g6 6.Bd3
Bg7 7.Nge2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 0–0 9.0–0 Nbd7 10.Rd1
b5 11.Bb3 Qb6 12.e4 c5 13.dxc5 Better was 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 Bb7 15.Bxb7 Qxb7
16.dxc5.
13...Qxc5 14.Be3 Qc7 15.Rac1 Ng4 16.Bf4 Qa7
17.Bg3 e6 18.h3 Nge5 19.Bf4 Nb6 20.Be3 Qb7
21.Nb1?!
Too slow, as it turns out. Better for White was 21.Bc5.
21...Nec4 22.Bxc4 Nxc4 23.Bd4 Bh6!? 24.b3 Nd6
25.Bc5 Nxe4 26.Bxf8 Bxc1 27.Bb4?Here White zigs when he should have zagged. He
emerges on top after 27.Nbc3! but that requires him
seeing who's better after this tactical sequence:
27...Nxf2 28.Kxf2 Be3+ 29.Kxe3 Qb6+ 30.Nd4 Kxf8 31.Kf2 Bb7 (31...e5? loses to 32.Nd5) 32.Qe2 Rc8
33.Qe3 and White is a piece up for two pawns.
27...Bg5 28.Rd4? Better was 28.Nbc3 but Black is still better.
28...f5 29.Qd3? Qb6? Black misses winning material with 29...Bf6!
30.Nbc3 Bb7 31.Nxe4 Bxe4 32.Qg3 Bh6
In spite of all the tussling, the position is just about
even.
33.Rd6 Qc7 34.Qe5 Re8 35.Bc3 Bg7 36.Qxg7+
Qxg7 37.Bxg7 Kxg7 38.Rxa6
Material is even, but Black has a Bishop while White
has a Knight. Balancing things up for White is the fact that his Rook is better placed.
38...e5 39.Nc3 Bd3 40.Ra7+ Kh6 41.Nd5 Re6 42.h4
Rd6 43.Ne7 Kh5 44.Ng8? The game would still be even after 44.Nc8.
44...Kxh4 45.Rxh7+ Kg5 46.Ra7 e4 47.Ne7?! f4
48.a4?
White finally gets his queenside majority in motion, but after this the e-pawn can't be stopped.
48...e3! 49.fxe3 fxe3 50.Rc7 e2 51.Rc1 Re6 52.Re1
Rxe7 53.axb5 Rf7 54.b6 Rf1+ 55.Kh2 Rxe1 56.b7
Rh1+ 0–1
The 2016 State Scholastics, the 48th in the series of
the longest-running state scholastic chess tournament in the country, will return to Saratoga Springs next
year for the ninth consecutive time.
While Saratoga has become the place in the State
where New York State Scholastic Champions are
made, it hasn’t always been that way. The tournament has been held in Binghamton several
times, and spent most of the 1980’s in Syracuse.
Rochester, Brooklyn, Albany, Ithaca, Westchester and
Long Island have also hosted the event in its long and successful history.
Champions in the tournament have included GM Alex Lenderman (2004 and 2005), GM Irina Krush
(2000 and 2001), Rocgester’s Ben Dean-Kawamura
(1998) and Schenectady’s Deepak Aaron (2010 and
2012).
As always, the winner of the K-12 Champion is the
New York State Scholastic Champion, though sections have been added over the years to include
Junior High, Elementary, then Primary, then K-1.
Reserve sections were also added to accommodate continued growth as the tournament has almost
reached 1,000 players three times in its history, and
continues to grow in stature, quality and size.
Could 2016 be the year that over 1,000 players
participate in the main tournament? We will all see
together. Save the dates. You know the place.
Saratoga: the February Place to be! Watch for 2016 State Scholastic Details
on www.nysca.net or on Facebook!
11
New York’s 2015 Scholastic Invitational Representatives
Ella Papanek National Girls Invitational Tournament
Ella is thrilled to be representing New York in
National Girls Invitational. She is a sophomore at The Brearley School and has been playing chess
since she was nine years old. In her free time she
likes creating art, eating steak, and petting dogs. She lives in Manhattan with her parents, her brother, and
her stuffed animals. Ella is in the Top 40 in her age
bracket among girls.
FM Joshua Colas Denker Tournament of HS Champions
Joshua has had many accomplishments in chess. A
junior in high school, he has been on the All-
American Chess Team five years in a row and will be
representing New York at the Denker Tournament of
High School Champions for the third consecutive year. Joshua was New York State Champion in
2013, and was the youngest black chess master in
history. Joshua aspires to become a Grandmaster and
to study accounting in college. Currently, Joshua is sixth in his age bracket in the country, and recently
met the qualifications for the FIDE Master title.
More detailed information about Joshua’s career is available at the website www.joshuacolas.com.
The son of Haitian immigrants, he lives in White Plains with his parents and two siblings.
NM Marcus Miyasaka Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions
Marcus Miyasaka is a sixth grader and is a National
Master. He has participated in nine National Elementary/K-12 Championships and has placed first
or second in the last seven of them. He has
represented the United States at the World Youth Chess Championships in 2012, 2013, and 2014. He
has a 50% score playing in simultaneous exhibitions
against Super GM’s, losing to Hikaru Nakamura, drawing versus Magnus Carlsen, and winning against
Viswanathan Anand. Currently Marcus is fifth in the
country in his age bracket.
Marcus lives in New York City and has an older
brother and a younger sister who are also chess players. Marcus’s other interests include tennis,
squash, and piano.
12
No Need to be Perfect by Neal Bellon ([email protected])
Many chess books and instructors talk about finding
the “best” move. We’ve all heard the adages and
maxims. IM Jeremy Silman says we should ask,”What wonderful thing does this move do for my
position?” Former World Champion Emanuel Lasker
famously said that when we see a good move we
should look for a better one. These are all well and good, but it is my belief that when two amateurs sit
down to play, straining to always find the “best” or
“perfect” move is hardly necessary, and can even be hurtful.
The reason is simple: Over-thinking or over-
analyzing often causes more problems than it attempts to solve. In addition, consistently finding
the objectively best move is not required to win at the
amateur level.
Let’s begin with three positions from games I won by
playing adequate moves, rather than perfect ones.
Bellon - Chinkel 2014
Above, I was White and on the move and played Rxa7. Although Ne5! is best, a move I gave a
cursory look but dismissed, it didn’t matter and I
went on to win. Regarding the played Rxa7:
White is still better
It’s still a good, playable move
It wins material, dealing a psychological
blow to the opponent
Skla
r - Bellon 2014
Here, as Black, I played ...c5, missing the tactical
...Nxe4!, which wins a pawn.
1...c5 is not best, but is perfectly fine. It’s a thematic
pawn lever and gets the job done, as Black is still
winning and maintaining pressure on his opponent.
Bell
13
on - Roche 2014
In the last position above, I was on the move as
White and played 1. a3!, although the theoretical best
(computer) move is Rac1. I list a3! with an
exclamation point because it’s very solid and effective. It maintains White’s advantage without
forcing things and keeps Black’s pieces off b4, a so
called tidying-up move.
To be clear, I am not by any means advocating that as
amateur players it’s okay to be lazy and cavalier and only look for passable moves. Of course we should
try to understand the position and find the best move
we can - but within reason. My contention is simply
that we shouldn’t obsess over finding the perfect
move each time it’s our turn to play.
This perfectionist approach:
Leads to time pressure and clock
management issues Expends unnecessary mental energy that
should be saved for truly critical positions
Causes us to miss simple moves due to over
analysis. Is not necessary against another amateur
(non-titled) player.
For more on the perils of constantly aiming for the
perfect move, I highly recommend Jonathan
Rowson’s The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, a book I mentioned in a previous column. Chapter Six is
actually titled “Perfectionism,” and this section alone
is worth the price of the book. Rowson also mentions
what GM Jonathan Speelman calls “plus/equals (+/=) mode,” an intriguing psychological method where
you play for only a slight advantage over your
opponent (+/= as White or =/+ as Black) as that can be awkward and unsettling for him over the course of
the game.
Perhaps the most fascinating statement regarding
perfectionism comes from Simon Webb in his classic
Chess for Tigers: “The best move for a Grandmaster
is not necessarily the best move for you or me. If you want to win your won games you should allow for
your own limitations by playing moves which you
know are good rather than moves which you think ought to be tremendous.” Though Webb is referring
to positions where one is already better, I feel this
applies to the game in general. Many times I “know” a certain move is best, but I refrain from playing it
because the ensuing position is one I’m not
comfortable with and I fear - usually correctly - that
I’ll stumble somehow because of the unnecessary pressure I put on myself, when instead I could have
played a reasonable alternative, resulting in a position
I’m comfortable with.
The Mount Academy Two Team receives their awards as the winners of the 2014-15 season of the
Mid-Hudson Scholastic Chess League/ (photo courtesy Larry King).
14
Brooklyn Represents! Spinnell Wins at Greater NY Scholastics
It’s a January tradition. About a thousand chess
players from all five boroughs of New York City and beyond swarm in one location for two intensive days
of chess in the oldest continuously-un scholastic
chess tournament in history: The Greater New York Scholastics.
Since the tournament has moved from Manhattan to hipster Brooklyn, it has become a six-round, two-day
tournament in the style of the State Scholastics. A
total of 981 players from 199 schools played in 14
sections in the 49th running of this American Classic.
The 39-player High School Varsity section was won
by Alexander Spinnell, an Expert who is aveteran of many scholastic wars. Spinnell finished with 5 ½
points, drawing in the second round against Quan
Ince and therefore not playing the top two rated
players in the section: FM Justus Williams and NM James Black.
Spinnell defeated former New York Barber and National Girl’s Invitational representative Lilla Poteat
in the last round with both players having 4 ½ points.
Williams was second with an undefeated five points, drawing with Poteat in Round Five and Expert Hal
Rives in Round 3. Kyle Moon and Poteat tied for
third with 4 ½ points, while Ethan Li, Black, Shawn
Swindell, Mubassar Uddin and Jack Wen tied for fifth with four points.
49th
Greater New York Scholastics, January 2015
White: Alexander Spinnell
Black: Lilla Poteat
High School Varsity, Round 6
Nimzo-Indian Defense
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6
6.Bd2 O-O 7.a3 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 Qe7 9.e4 e5 10.d5
Nd4 11.Bxd4 exd4 11.Bxd4 exd4 12.Bd3 Nxe4
13.O-O f5 14.Nxd4 Qe5 15.Nf3 Qf4 16.Rae1 Ng5
17.Nxg5 Qxg5 18.Re2 Rf7 19.Rfc1 Rf8 20.c5 dxc5
21.Qxc5 f4 22.f3 c6 23.Bc4 Kh8 24.Re5 Rf5
25.bxc6 bxc6 26.Qa7 Rf8 27.Qe5 Qg4 28.Qe7 Qxe7
29.Rxe7 Re8 30. R1e4 Bc8 31.b4 Rf5 32.Rc7 Rf8
33.Rce7 Qg6 34. Bg3 Ra3 35.Rxc6 Bf3 36.Bf1h6
37.Rc7 Rd8 38.Kf2 Rd2 39. Kc1 1-0
49th
Greater New York Scholastics, January 2015
White: NM Alisher Podavanov
Black: FM Justus Williams
High School Varsity, Round 6
Nimzo-Indian Defense
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6
6.Bd2 O-O 7.a3 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 Qe7 9.e4 e5 10.d5
Nd4 11.Bxd4 exd4 12.Bd3 Ne4 13.O-O f5 14.Nd4
Qe5 15.Nf3 Qf4 16.Rae1 Nf5 17.Nxf5 Qxf5 18. Re3
Bd7 19.Rfe1 Re7 20.c5 dxc5 21.Qxc5 f4 22.f3 e6
23. Bc4 Kh8 24. Re3 and Black eventually won
The 24-player High School Under 1900 section was
won by Class A player Florizelle Sonoco with 4 ½
points. His only blemish was a draw against 1540-rated Travis Alverio in Round 2. Colin Kneucker and
Angelo Nardo tied for second with 4-1 scores, and
Daniel Giammanco was clear fourth with 3 ½ points.
In the 69-player High School Under 1400 section,
Siraat Mustafa won with a perfect 5-0 score, winning
by half a point. Samuel Zuber and Nileidy Bello tied for second with 4 ½ points, working back through the
field after early draws. Five players tied for fourth
with 4-1 scores: Dylan Schwartz, Vicente Gomez, William Yu, Ariel Rivera and Paris Prestia.
Justin Chen won the 46-player Junio High Varsity with a perfect 6-0 score, besting the field by a full
point. Spencer Ha and Omar Cunningham tied for
second with 5-1 scores. Ha lost to Chen in Round 5,
while Cunningham lost to Tyrone Davis in Round 3.
Pictured below (center) is the guru of the Greater
New York Scholastics: Hall of Fame director and
organizer extraordinaire Steve Immitt.
Nancy Wang and Justin Dalhouse tied for fourth in
15
the section with 4 ½ points. They drew each other in
the last round. Chen’s victory over sixth-place finisher Max Li is shown below:
49th
Greater New York Scholastics, January 2015
White: Max Li
Black: Justin Chen
Junior High Varsity, Round Six
QGD/Slav
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7
6.Bd2 Be7 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.Bd3 O-O 9. h4 c5 10.Ne2
cxd4 11.exd4 Ne4 12.Bxe4 dxe4 13.Ng5 Nf6 14.Ng3
Qxd4 15.Bc3 Qxd1+ 16.Kxd1 Ng4 17.Ke2 f5 18.f3
exf3+19.gxf3 Nf6 20.f4 b6 21.Rhe1 h6 22.Nf3 Ba6+
23.Kf2 Bc5+ 24.Kg2 Nd5 25.Be5 Bb7 26.Rad1
Ne3+ 27.Rxe3 Bxe3 28.Rd7 Rf7 29.Rxf7 Kxf7 30.
Nxf5 Bc5 31.Kg3 Rd8 32.Nfd4 Bxd4 33.Nxd4 a6
34.Nf5 Bd5 35.a3 Be6 36.Nd4 Rc8 37.Kf3 Rc1
38.Nxe6 Rxe6 39. Bxg7 h5 40>bd4 b5 41.Ke4 Rh1
42.f5+ Kf7 0-1
The Junior High Under 1300 section drew 24 players
and was won by James Adams and Chun Liu with 4 ½ points. The co-champions drew in the first round,
which is extremely unusual in an event of this
magniture. Both won their last four games.
Sakura Laporte was clear third with four points,
losing to Adams in the final round. Hercules Sotos
and Alexander Liptak tied for fourth with 3 ½ points.
The 21-player Junior High Under 700 section had a
5-0 sweep by Pennsylvania player Oleksandr
Goncharov Jr. Timothy Longo and Troy Fischer tied for second with 4-1 scores, though neither played the
winner.
The 111-player Elementary Varsity was the third-
largest section in the tournament, and Winston Ni
was the outright winner with 5 ½ points. Ni drew Eric Chan in the fifth round, but beat Ethan Joo in the
last round to win the section. James Lee, William
Hahn, Chan, Jamie Nicolas, Theo Kogan and Avery
Hood all tied for second with five points. Lee, Hahn, Chan and Nicolas were all undefeated.
David Zhurbinsky, Joo, Aasa Dommalapati and Athony Wong tied for eighth with 4 ½ points.
The Elementary Under 1200 section, at 132 players, was thesecond- largest of the tournament and had two
perfect 5-0 score: Joshua Dong and Eric Wu. Both
players, along with several others at the top,
“graduated” from the section with new ratings over
1200.
Zachary Gelman and Lukas Erlichson-Deliz tied for
third with 4 ½ points, with both yielding early draws
and working back through the field. There was a 15-
player logjam tied for fifth with four points with Neil Liu (undefeated), Elizabeth Bugavey, Lucas Rendina,
Andy Zhong, Ryan Chen, Vincent Tsay, Jacob
Markman (undefeated), Nelson Tung, Maxwell Friedland, Ryan Segalman, Nicholas Samowitz, Milo
Bucalo-Carrer, Natan Tresser, Justin Macey and
Miguel Hernandez (undefeated).
The 155-player Elementary Under 700 section had
three perfect 5-0 scores: Ethan Striff-Cave,
Alexander Joy and Benjamin Botnik. John Chandler, Kyle Yang, Victor Louie and Heath Winter all tied for
fourth with 4 ½ points. Chandler and Ynag drew in
the last round to drop out of the first-place tie.
Nico Chasin won the 79-player Primary Varsity with
5 ½ points, drawing in Round 4 against Charles Hua. Five players tied for second with 5-1 scores: Davis
Zong, Jr., Robert Shibata, James Oh, Henry Burton,
and Ryan Peterson. Hua, New York State Primary
Champion Adi Murgescu, Eric Tang, and Jack Levine tied for seventh with 4 ½ points.
The 85-player Primary Under 1000 section was won by Dhurv Jhmab with the section’s only perfect 5-0
score. Zhog Long and Meghana Kancharla tied for
second with 4 ½ points. Long drew in the first round,
while Kancharla yielded a draw in the last round to miss tying for first. Lucas Max, Edison Yuan, Aidan
Bart, Alexander Vidra, Own Katz, Jack and Joe
Doyle, Alexander Powers and Nathan Burtman all tied for fourth with 4-1 scores.
Alexandra Jablonski and Pearce Marinis won the 86-player Primary Under 400 section with perfect 5-0
scores. Daniel Postelnik was clear third with 4 ½
points, drawing in the second round
William Safranek won the 30=player K-1 Varsity
section with a perfect 6-0 score. Alexander Mash and
Dylan Ma tied for second with five points, with Mash losing to Safranek in the fifth round. Gary Felsher
and Daniel Luo tied for fourth with 4 ½ points.
Shane Saber and Albert Zhu tied for first in the 79-
player K-1 Under 500 section with perfect 5-0 svores.
Connor Smyth and Milan Goodlin tied for third with
4 ½ points.(continued on page 22)
16
2014-15 MHSCL Season In Review by Larry King
The Mount Academy Team Two won the 2014-15 Mid-Hudson Scholastic Chess League (MHSCL) championship by compiling a record of 5-0 during the match portion of the season, and defeating Rondout Valley High School and
Monroe-Woodbury in post-season play. The other team from The Mount Academy, The Mount Academy Team
One, also went 5-0 in matches before losing to Monroe-Woodbury in the semi-finals. It was the first time in which two teams from the same school finished in first place with perfect scores in the history of the MHSCL. Here is a
summary of the 13th
MHSCL season.
Kickoff Swiss Tournament
The Mount Academy started the season on the good note by scoring 16 1/2 points to win the Team Championship in
the 34-player Kickoff tournament that was held on October 25. Cornwall Central High School finished in second-place on tie-breaks over Kingston High School after each school finished with 12 points. Rondout Valley High
School finished in fourth place with 11 ½ points. The top four scores from the individuals attending the same school
counted for that school’s team score.
Titus Decker of The Mount Academy finished in first individualy with a 5-0 record. Lucas Donnellan (Cornwall
Central), Rudi Meier (The Mount Academy), and Stephen Decker (The Mount Academy) finished in second-
through-fourth place, each scoring four points. Seven of the top ten players were from The Mount Academy.
Match Play
The Mount Academy players continued to perform well, as both teams won their five matches. In the first round,
The Mount Academy Team One rallied from a 3-0 set-one deficit to defeat Rondout Valley, 5-4. Rondout Valley
High School clinched a playoff spot after defeating Kingston 7-2 in the fourth round.
Cornwall Central High School Team One and Monroe-Woodbury battled for the fourth playoff spot. Led by Kostya
Shetekauri’s three wins, Monoroe-Woodbury clinched the playoff spot, defeating the five-time defending champs, 6
½- 2 1/2. It was the first time since 2003-2004 season that Monroe-Woodbury participated in post-season play.
2014-15 Final Standings
Fischer Conference
Team Abbr Matches
Played Matches
Won Matches
Drawn Matches
Lost Match
Points The Mount Academy Team Two MA2 5.0 5.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 Monroe-Woodbury HS MWH 5.0 4.0 0.0 1.0 4.0 Middletown HS MHS 5.0 3.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 Cornwall Central HS Team One CC1 5.0 2.0 0.0 3.0 2.0 James O'Neill HS JON 5.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 0.0
Kasparov Conference
Team Abbr Matches Played
Matches Won
Matches Drawn
Matches Lost
Match Points
The Mount Academy Team One MA1 5.0 5.0 0.0 0.0 5.0
17
Rondout Valley HS RVH 5.0 3.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 Kingston HS KHS 5.0 2.0 0.0 3.0 2.0 Cornwall Central HS Team Two CC2 5.0 1.0 0.0 4.0 1.0 Highland Falls Middle School HFM 5.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 0.0
Individual Points: Kostya Shetekuri leads all individuals with 15 points in 15 games. Kyle Pacia of Middletown
High School finished in second with 14 points, Aman Patel of Kingston High School and Meteo Wareham of The
Mount Academy Team One each had 11 points, Ella Collins of Cornwall Cenrtral High School Team One had 9 1/2 points.
Playoffs
Semi-Finals
Monroe-Woodbury High School vs The Mount Academy Team One: Kostya Shetekuri’s three wins and Jordan
Glass’s two wins led Monroe-Woodbury to a 7-2 win over The Mount Academy Team One.
The Mount Academy Team Two vs Rondout Valley Hish School: Rondout Valley only had only two players. One would think the match would be an easy win for The Mount Academy since it would get three forfeit wins and
needed only two wins out of six games to advance to the finals. . Also, in the fifth round, Rondout Valley lost, 9-0
to The Mount Academy Team Two. This was not the case. The match was tied 3-3 after two sets. Aiden Cullo had two wins and Brian Wiebke won one game. In the third set, Titus Decker and Judah Ben-Eliezer won their games
(plus the forfeit win), clinching the match for The Mount Academy Team Two, 6-3.
Consolation Match: Rondout Valley vs The Mount Academy Team One. The match was tied, 3-3, after the second set. Jeff Baird won the third-set game and the forfeit win resulted in The Mount Academy Team One
winning the match, 5-4. Brian Wiebke won three games for Rondout Valley.
Rondout Valley’s Brian Wiebke and Aiden Cullo battled their opponents in the playoffs despite odds stacked against
them.
Championship Match: The Mount Academy Team Two vs Monroe-Woodbury: Rudi Meier’s two wins and Titus
Decker, Stephen Decker, and Judah Ben-Eliezer winning one game each helped The Mount Academy win its first
championship, 5-4. Kostya Shetekuri won three games and Jordan Glass one game for Monroe-Woodbury.
While the playoff matches were held in Cornwall High School’s library, the End-Of-Season Swiss tournament took
place in the school’s cafeteria. Ella Collins of Cornwall High School finished first the event, wining four games and
drawing one. Second-through-four-place finishers, with 3 1/2 points each and in tie-breaking order, were Carl Tyce of James O’Neill High School, Jensine Orcullo of Cornwall Central High School, and Rourke Bywater of Cornwall
Central High School.
The End-Of-Season Swiss event was also a combination of individual and team tournament. Cornwall Central HS
won the team trophy with 14 1/2 points. Kingston High School, with 11 points, held on to win second place, After
a slow start, James O’Neill High School finished in third with 10 points.
Please view the league’s website, mhscl.lktechnodude.com, for additional information on the 2014-15 season and
the league. Attention Mid-Hudson Valley, New York, High, Junior, and Elementary Schools - If your school is
interested in participating in the MHSCL league next year, please email [email protected]
18
Marchand Madness Warms Up Rochester’s Winter by Karl Heck
For the 37th consecutive year, chess players gathered
in Rochester to support an event honoring one of the true chess greats in Upstate New York history, former
New York State Champion Dr. Erich Marchand, who
requested that his “friends play chess in his memory.” At the time of his death, Dr. Marchand had played
more USCF-rated games than anyone alive.
One hundred forty players participated in four
sections on the weekend of March 13-15 at the
Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. Not only is the
Good Doctor a member of the New York State Chess Hall of Fame, but chess itself is one of the newest
members of the National Toy Hall of Fame housed at
the Museum. Perfect place for a chess tournament.
The closely-contested Open section drew 53 players
and ended up in a six-way tie for first place in one of the strongest top sections in tournament history. The
players with 4-1 scores were U.S. and New York
Champion Gata Kamsky (below, right)
GM Sergey Kudrin, GM Bryan Smith, SM Deepak
Aaron, FM Igor Nikolayev and Erik Lubas.
Kamsky was the 2014 co-champion of the event, while Smith was co-champion of the 2013 Marchand
Open. Aaron, Nikolayev and Kudrin tied for first in a
seven-player cluster in 2012. Like the tournament remembering the history of a famous player, the
results of this year’s Marchand Open also remember
past tournaments.
Kudrin was the only one in the score group to make it
to 3-0, and he drew Kamsky and Smith in the final
two rounds. Smith and Kamsky drew in Round 3.
Aaron, Nikolayev and Lubas all took one half-point
bye: Aaron in Round 1, and Nikolayev and Lubas in Round 3. Aaron drew WFM Anna Levina in Round 4.
Nikolayev drew Nick Bessey in Round 2, and Lubas
started the tournament with a draw before winning three straight to get into the top group.
Levina and local players Lev Paciorkowski, Joshua Rofrano and Kevin Roulhac tied for seventh with 3 ½
points. Levina was undefeated with two wins, a half-
point bye and two draws to end the tournament. Her
draw with Jacob Chen in the last round kept her out of the top group.
The 39-player Under 1800 section was won by Canadian player Joey Orozco and Buffalo-area
organizer Thomas Warner, both with 4 ½ points.
Both players drew Fort Drum player Andrew Colwell in successive rounds on Sunday, and did not face
each other in the event. Colwell and John Westwig of
Ithaca tied for third with 4-1 scores. Westwig lost to
Orozco in Round 3.
Sam Cherin, Patrick Robinson and Ruizhong Wang
tied for fifth with 3 ½ points.
The 22-player Under 1400 section was won outright
by Eric Coltrain with 4 ½ points. Coltrain was held
to a draw in Round 4 by Alexander Pacun, who had a strong 3 ½ point performance in his second rated
tournament. Justin King was clear second with four
points, fighting back through the field after a first-round loss to Theodore Chapman in the first round.
Pacun, Daniel Pike, Calvin Houlton and Steve Baer tied for third with 3 ½ points.
Guy Fuhrman was the top guy in the Under 1000
section, winning it outright with 4 ½ points, yielding only a fourth-round draw to Arjun Patel in the fourth
round. Stephen Carey, Anirudh Ramesh and Michael
Niu tied for second with four points. Fuhrman beat Carey in the last round against draw odds to wrap up
the top prize.
As has been the case for over 20 years, the Rochester
Chess Center was the organizer of the Marchand
Open. The directing staff was the expert team of Ron
Lohrman, Ken McBride and Michael Lionti.
19
Notes from the Marshall by Frank Romano
The Marshall Chess Club Championship is not just a club tournament. It is an international tournament to
rival many major FIDE Swisses. Four Grandmasters
participated in the event, including U.S. Champion
Gata Kamsky. Kamsky and fellow GM Mark Paragua tied for first with 7-2 scores, with each
player winning $1,500. GM’s Zviad Izoria and
Sergey Kudrin tied for third with 6 ½ points.
Within the 55-player Swiss, the four GM’s had a
round robin with all of the games drawn. Outside of the “Big Four,” GM Kamsky drew NM Kapil
Chandran in round three, GM Paragua drew David
Brodsky in round one, GM Izoria had two half-point
byes to start the tournament, and GM Kudrin drew NM Matthew Herman and FM Alisa Melekhina in
the last round. Melekhina’s effort put her in the prize
fund and denied Kudrin a share of first place.
NM Qibiao Wang was clear fifth with six points,
overcoming a first-round loss to A-player Brandon Jacobson in the first round.
Six players tied for sixth with 5 ½ points: IM Justin
Sarkar, New York State Chess Hall of Famer IM Jay Bonin, FM Leif Pressman, IM Timothy Tayloe, FM
Alisa Melekhina and Aaron Jacobson.
GM Aleksandr Lenderman and Michael Rohde won
the Marshall Championship the past two years.
Gregory Kenner directed with assistance from Oscar
Garcia.
March Madness came to the Marshall on St. Patrick’s
Day when the Luck of the Irish crossed with the Marshall Masters. The event was a triumph for US
and New York State Champion GM Gata Kamsky,
who won the 23-player tournament with 3 ½ points.
Kamsky conceded a draw in the third round to GM
Zvian Izoria, and defeated GM Alexander Stripunsky
in the last round to clinch first prize, conceding draw odds. GM Aleksnadr Lenderman, Stripumsky, Izoria,
GM Tamaz Gelashvili, NM Dan Lapan and NM
Aaron Jacobson all tied for second with three points in the star-studded field. Gelashvili and Jacobson
were undefeated.
Bryan Quick directed the tournament for the
Marshall.
February 12 through March 12 was the five-round FIDE Monday tournament at the Marshall, which
brought 28 players to the world-famous club for an
opportunity to obtain or improve their FIDE ratings.
The event was won by FM Nathan Resika with 4 ½
points. Resika won all four games he played, taking
a half-point bye in the second round. George Berg was clear second with an undefeated 4-1 score,
conceding draws in the first and third rounds before
winning out. NM Vencat Iyer and Edward Scher tied for third with 3 ½ points, with Scher earning over
100 USCF rating points to become an Expert for the
first time.
Gregory Kenner directed the tournament for the
Marshall.
The Marshall’s annual Fischer Memorial Blitz
tournament was held on Tuesday, March 10 and drew
68 players to the world-famous club. Eight Grandmasters played in the tournament.
Two Grandmasters: former New York State
Champion Aleksandr Lenderman and New York State Hall of Famer Joel Benjamin, tied for first with 7 ½-
1 ½ scores. They drew in the ninth and final round
with first place on the line. Lenderman was undefeated, conceding draws in round three to GM
Giorgi Kacheishvili and GM Irina Krush in the fifth
round. Benjamin los to IM Mark Ginsburg in round
three.
GM Maxim Dlugy, GM Robert Hungaski and
Ginsburg tied for third with 7-2 scores. Ginsburg lost to the other two third-place finishers, and Hungaski
also beat Dlugy in their mini round robin. GM Giorgi Kacheishvili was clear sixth with 6 ½ points.
Six players tied for seventh with six points: GM
Leonid Yudasin, GM Irina Krush, FM Carlos Mena, IM Jay Bonin, SM Nasyr Akylbekov and FM Leif
Pressman.
The tournament was directed by Bryan Quick for the
Marshall.
The first day of March at the Marshall was the last
day of the club’s FIDE Grand Prix, which ran from
20
February 27 to March 1.
GM Mark Paragua swept the 45-player field with a
perfect 5-0 score, winning the event by a full point.
NM’s David Brodsky and Pravenn Balakrishman tied for second with 4-1 scores. Both players were
undefeated, with Brodsky taking two half-point byes,
and Balakrishman drawing Experts Aaron Jacobson in the fourth round and Edward Kopiecki in the first
round.
FM Rostislav Taborsky and NM Sahil Sinha tied for
fourth with 3 ½ points.
Jermaine Reid directed the tournament for the Marshall.
GM’s Zviad Izoria and Maxim Dlugy won the 20-player February Marshall Masters with 3 ½ points on
February 17. The two GM’s did not play each other.
GM Dlugy drew NM Hans Niemann in the first round and fought back through the field, while Izoria
drew GM Aleksandr Lenderman in the third round.
FM Leif Pressman and NM Juan Sena tied for third with 3-1 scores. Sena lost to former New York State
Champion Nicolas de T Checa in the first round and
won three straight, and Pressman took a first-round, half-point bye and drew Texas GM Hedinn
Steingrimsson in the second round before winning
two straight in what was a very difficult event.
Former New York State Champion Lenderman was
clear fifth with 2 ½ points in the Bryan Quick
directed tournament.
A total of 48 players contested the Marshall February
Grand Prix held from January 30th to February 1
st at
the Marshall.
Four players tied for first with 4-1 scores: GM
Michael Rohde, IM Jay Bonin, FM Awonder Liany and NM David Brodsky.. GM Rohde took two half-
point byes and won his other three games. Bonin and
Liang were also undefeated, drawing each other in round four. Bonin drew Brodksy in round five, and
Liang drew with current New York State Junior High
Champion NM Marcus Ming Miyasaka in round three.
Four players tied for fifth with 3 ½ points: IM Justin
Sarkar, FM Rostislave Taborsky, NM Miyasaka, and
Aravind Kumar.
Gregory Keener and Oscar Garcia directed for the
Marshall.
GM Maxim Dlugy had a perfect 9-0 sweep in the Marshall’s January FIDE Blitz tournament held on
January 30, winning the 21-player tournament by 2 ½
points.
NM Anton Osinenko and SM Nicolas De T Checa
tied for second with 6 ½ points. GM Robert Hungaski, one of three GM’s in the field, was clear
fourth with six points. Gregory Keener directed the
tournament for the Marshall.
January 20th brought 21 players to the Marshall for
the January edition of the Marshall Masters, the first
Marshall Masters of 2015.
GM Aleksandr Lenderman won the tournament with
3 ½ points. Lenderman drew newly-crowned New York State Scholastic Champion Joshua Colas in the
first round, and then won three straight to win the
tournament, defeating GM Zviad Izoria in the last
round.
GM’s Maxim Dlugy and Irina Krush tied for second
with undefeated 3-1 scores. Izoria, Colas and NM Dan Lapan tied for fourth with 2 ½ points.
Gregory Keener directed the tournament for the
Marshall.
What turned out to be the last tournament of the
Marshall Chess Club in 2014 was the December Marshall Grand Prix, held from December 26-28 to a
strong holiday audience at the club.
The 32-player event was won by IM Yury Lapshun,
who won the event with 4 ½ points. His only draw
was in the last round, when he drew SM Nicolas De
T Checa.
FM Rostislav Taborsky and NM Karan Bhatty tied
for second with 4-1 scores. Taborsky lost to Lapshun in the fourth round. Bhatty was undefeated, drawing
NM Nathan Resika in the second round and Edward
Kopiecki in the third round.
SM Checa and Kopiecki tied for fourth with 3 ½
points in the Jermaine Reid directed tournament.
21
Positional Compensation: The Scholastic Column
By Zachary Calderon
When we think of the term "Compensation" in chess,
we think in terms of material. White is down a pawn,
Black is up an exchange, up a piece, down two pawns, etc. The side with less material will hopefully
be able to compensate for this material deficit
somehow, by initiative, space, pawn structure,
dynamic piece play/mobility/ or an attack. However, when thinking about different aspects of a chess
game, material only plays a small role.
Often times, one can "sacrifice" something, like pawn
structure, piece activity, king safety, or a number of
other things, in return for something else. Let’s take a look at one of the most crystal clear examples that
arises from the ever-popular Nimzo-Indian Defense.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4
The Nimzo-Indian is famed for its dynamic piece placements and solid positions. Black has every
opportunity to play for the full point in this opening.
White has several moves at his disposal from move four. 4. Qc2 leads to the Classical Variation, or the
Capablanca Variation. The idea is to avoid the
doubled pawns, after …Bxc3, while also "threatening" to go ahead with e4.
4. e3 is the Rubinstein Variation, The Rubinstein is
very solid and direct, aiming for simple development and an easy, quiet game. 4. Bg5 and 4. Nf3 are the
Leningrad and Kasparov Variations, respectively.
They are both quite similar in nature, neither particularly threatening, but still containing more
than a drop of poison if Black is unprepared.
4. f3 has been known as the Kmoch or Shirov
Variation, but is more commonly known as simply 4. f3. Much like the c3 Sicilian, White shows very little
respect to Black's attempts at trying to restrain
White's center, and proceeds as if nothing had
happened. 4. f3 can lead to very sharp play by both sides. And finally, 4. a3, the Saemisch Variation,
shows the most amount of contempt towards Black's
opening strategy. He brazenly dares Black to take on c3, which is what Black intended on doing anyways.
It is with this variation that we'll start our exploration
of positional imbalances.
4. a3 Bxc3 5. bxc3 b6 6. f3
As you can probably imagine, the f3 Nimzo and the
Saemisch King’s Indian often transpose. If you're
serious about your chess, take a look at the following diagram and treat it as an exercise.
Black just played 5...b6, seemingly just ignoring White's massive center. White's plan is pretty
straightforward - play e4 and steamroll the Black
position. Your challenge is this; what is Black's plan? What should his next move be? What are White's
weaknesses?
If you found the c4 pawn without already being accustomed to Nimzo-Indian positions, then kudos to
you. While the c3 pawn is close to home and can
easily be defended by the dark-squared Bishop (Note the absence of Black's own dark-squared Bishop) The
22
c4 pawn however, is a lot weaker. It's more advanced
and exposed to Black's pieces both in front and from behind. Black has no intentions (or should have no
intentions) of trying to actively jockey for the center,
but rather focus all his firepower on the poor c4
pawn. With that in mind, we can now see that 5...b6 was not at all intended to fianchetto the Bishop and
try to fight for the middle, but to play Ba6 and open
fire on c4.
6...Ba6 7. e4 Nc6
We can start to feel the pressure mounting. Now the
Knight joins the assault.
8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 Na5 10. Qa4
The other move, 10. e5, leads to tremendous
complications after 10...g5, along the lines of the
MacCutcheon French.
10. Qa4 is the main move, trying to hang on to c4. In
lines where White neglects to place his Queen on a4,
Black can often play d6-Qd7-Qa4 himself. We've
been following the game Geller-Smyslov, which eventually ended up in a draw. Black can often play
d6 and c5 to lock the c4 pawn in place, as well as
sometimes Ne8-d6 to continue to apply pressure to
the c4 pawn.
In this game, Smyslov chose the continuation with
Qc8-b7-c6 to add pressure to the position. Either way, the plusses of both sides are crystal clear. White has a
massive space advantage, but will inevitably lose the
c4 pawn.
I hope this has given you a better idea of what
positional compensation and sacrifice looks like.
Remember, there is a lot more to chess than just material. Keep that in mind next time you're playing.
Rather than cringing at the idea of doubled pawns,
think about the compact structure you'll get, or the open files that come with doubled pawns by nature.
When your opponent is conducting a pawn storm,
look for ways to slip behind his defenses. Every move leaves something undefended. Every move
creates a weakness in the person’s position. Find it,
and exploit it. Always look for the square left behind.
Andrew Colwell wins Watertown Chess Club
Blitz Championship Andrew Colwell, a recent new player to the
Watertown Chess Club won the 2015 Blitz Championship on March 10, 2015. He scored five
straight wins to clinch the 6 game round robin event
with a record of +5-1=0. Previous champion Robert
Kratzat finished second at 4 ½ points.
Greater New York Scholastics (from page 15)
A tournament of this magnitude could not be held without a host of staff and volunteers. Along with
Steve Immitt, the other main tournament directors
were David Hater, International Arbiters Carol Jarecki and Sophia Rohde, along with Brother John
McManus, Jabari McGreen, Hal Sprechman, Jim
Mullanaphy, Harold Stenzel, Andrew Rea, Aaron Kiedes, NYSCA Vice-President Polly Wright, Oscar
Garcia, Anand Dommalapati, Mariah McGreen and
Maya McGreen, Along with the directors, there were
hundreds of parents, coaches and spectators assisting to make this tournament the annual success that it is.
2016 will be the 50th anniversary of the Greater New
York Scholastics, a tournament that has been
successful since the beginning. The original 1966 tournament drew 614 players when the previous
USCF record for turnout was 265, and it has been
onward and upward ever since.
Back then, most organizers thought elementary
school players were too young for organized chess. Now, over half the players in most state and national
championships are in the elementary and primary
sections.
Queens Chess Club Winter Summary by Ed Frumkin
Bonin and Guevara Tie for Firstat January Open
(January 2-23) The Club drew 18 players for this event, headed by
IM Jay Bonin, 2014 club champion Payam Parhami
(2118) and Rob Guevara (2165) with four more of the
usual suspects between 2000 and 2100, Bill Arluck, New York State Chess Hall of Famers Ed Frumkin
and Joe Felber, and Ed Kopiecki. Felber was held to
a first-round draw by Guevara’s protégé Alex Roti (1581) but the major upsets began in Round 2.
Parhami lost to Kopiecki (reversing their club
championship result) and Mulazim Muwwakkil
(1878) beat Bill Arluck (2096). Bonin and Guevara defeated Kopiecki and Muwwakkil in Round 3 and
drew in Round 4 to split the top prizes of $200 and
$100 ($150 each). Parhami lost again in Round 3 to Jay Kleinman (1903). Guy Rawlins was Top Under
1800 with 2½-1½ to win $60. Ed Frumkin and Joe
Felber directed, although Joe missed Rounds 2 and 3 with car trouble.
Zilbermintz and Kopiecki Tie for First at Winter
G/45 (January 30-February 6) Thanks to our terrible winter weather, only 12 hardy
souls turned up for our two-week event. There were
no surprises in Round 1, but in Round 2 there were two strange draws. On Board 1, Rob Guevara (2131)
was winning easily against Joe Felber (2010) but was
in his usual time trouble when he started dropping pawns with check, but Joe let him off with a draw
when Rob was down to a couple of seconds (too nice
a guy!!) Eddie Kopiecki (2004) was up a Queen on
former Empire Chess columnist Lev Zilbermintz (2060) on Board 2 when the former ran out of time
(get a delay clock!!). Ed Frumkin (2028) beat Jay
Kleinman (1903) to be the only perfect score going into week 2. Ed beat Rob on time to reach 3-0 while
Lev beat Joe and Eddie beat Ken Cruz (1741), the top
1-1 when Kleinman couldn’t play week 2.
Zilbermintz than beat Frumkin while Kopiecki beat
top 2-1 Clayton Glad (1718). Lev and Eddie split the top prizes of $90 and $60 ($75 each), while Ken
Cruz, Clay Glad and Guy Rawlins (1606) split the
$50 Under 1800 prize with 2-2 scores ($17 each). Ed
Frumkin and Joe Felber directed.
Bonin Plays but Doesn’t Finish First! : Bill Arluck
Does The Winter Open (February 20-March 13) drew 15
players as our rough winter continued. Joe Felber
had to start the event himself as Ed Frumkin had to
skip the first week after a medical problem surfaced at the US Amateur Team. Joe was happy to draw in
Round 1 with Guy Rawlins (1689). In Round 2
Bonin beat Brian Lawson (2044) and Bill Arluck (2111) beat Ed Kopiecki (1998). The last 1-0, Ken
Sasmor (1873) had the better of it when Ed Frumkin
bailed out with a draw offer while Joe beat Ira Cohen (1832). Bonin was up a pawn in a Knight ending
with Arluck in Round 3 but couldn’t win it. Joe
missed Round 3 when his clutch died, so Sasmor
played Lawson instead and lost.
This result led to the last round pairings of Bonin-
Frumkin, Lawson-Arluck, Kopiecki-Felber and Kleinman-Muwwakkil, with Bonin and Arluck with
2½, Kleinman as top 1½ and the other with 2.
Frumkin managed to hold, while Arluck came back from an inferior position to win, while Kopiecki beat
Felber and Kleinman demolished Muwwakkil in a
miniature. Bonin collected his “Brooklyn Bridge
scenario (“The Worst That Could Happen”)“ $50 before he left and that turned out to be all he would
win. Bill won the $200 first prize and Eddie split the
$100 2nd
prize with Jay. Ken Cruz won the Top Under 1800 prize of $50 with a 2-2 score. At 72, Bill
might be the oldest player ever to win a QCC event
free and clear. Ed Frumkin and Joe Felber directed.
www.nysca.net 23
24
Kistler Wins Fifth Watertown Chess Club Title
by Don Klug
Dr. David Kistler, a professor at SUNY Potsdam,
won his fifth straight Watertown Chess Club Title by defeating Adolfo Prieto 2-0 in the 2014
Championship Match. Dr. Kistler has enjoyed a
marvelous 2014 USCF tournament season by
compiling a USCF Tournament record of +40-7=10, and raising his rating by nearly 40 points to 2124.
His performance at the club was even better; five
tournament wins in six events and a score of +26-1= 6, in the nine tournament season that stretches from
March till November. The top four club members in
the standings qualify for the club championship matches held in December.
Dr. Kistler finished the chess club season tied for
total points in the final standings even though he played only 33 of the 43 scheduled games. He was
the number one seed in the championship tournament
based on his seasons’ undefeated record of +3-0=3 against #2 seed Adolfo Prieto. He defeated #4 seed
Robert Kratzat in a semi-final match 1-0 and then
escaped a championship first-round certain loss to
Mr. Prieto. His second round win was a perfect strategy of sitting and waiting for his opponent to err
during Mr. Prieto’s continuing time pressure issues.
1.d4 c5 2. d5 e5 3. e4 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. Bb5 Nd7 6. a4
Bg7 7. Nge2 Ne7 8. Ng3 OO9. OO f5 10. ef5 gf5 11
. Bg5 Nf6 12. Nh5 a6 13. Ng7 ab5 14. Nh5 Nh5 15.
Qh5 b416. Qh4 Rf7 17. Nb5 Qd7 18. Rfd1 Ra6 19.
c3 Ng6 20. Qh6 bc3 21. Nc3 Qe8 22. h4e4 23. h5
White needs to redirect the Black pieces away from
the Kingside. [23. Nb5The Knight on b5 attacks the
backward "d" pawn. 23... Qf8 24. Qf8 Kf8 25. h5 Ne526. Bf4 Re7]
23... Ne5...and now the momentum turns to the
Black
side. 24. Bf6 Ng425. Qg5 Kf8 26. Bd8 Qe5 27. Qh4
Bd7
27... f4 A better alternative, 28. Rf1 Bf529. h6 to
keep the Black "h" pawn at bay.
28. a5 Ra8
28... f4 is still better.
29. Bg5 h630. Bc1 Kg7 31. Ne2 e3Dr. Kistler’s final round game move 31…e3 forced
Mr. Prieto, now down to less than five minutes on his
time clock, into some quick and rash decisions.
There followed 32. fxe3 Nxe3 33. Bxe3 Qxe3+ 34.
Qf2 and now the ominous 34… f4 created quite a
few problems for White. Mr. Prieto suffered what we
all dread in time pressure, a blunder that ended the game immediately, 35.Ra4?? Bxa4.
Wilkes/Barre-Traxler (from page 24) 40.Nfxe5 Bxc4 41. Nxc4 Qxe4 42. Qb2 Re6 43. Rd1
Re7 44. Rd4 Qf5 45. Rd2 Qe4 46. g4 Kg6 47. Rd4
Qe6 48. Qc2+ Kg7 49. Qg2 Ne4 50. Qf3 Re8 51.
Qd1 Nf6 52. Qf1 Nd5 53.Qd3 Nf6 54. Qe2 h5 55.
Qh2 Re7 56. gxh5 Kh6 57. Rd8 Kxh5 58. Qg2 Ne4
59. h4 Qf5 60. hxg5 Kg6 61. Rd1 Rf7 62. Ra1 Qd5
63. Rf1 Rxf1+ 64. Qxf1 b5 65. cxb6 cxb6 66. Nxb6
Qd6 67. Qg2 Qd1+ 68. Qf1 Qg4+ * 1/2-1/2
The final variation that White can try, a
recommendation of Stephen Bucher, a famous theoretician, is 5.d4 d5 6.Bxd5 Nxd4 7.Bxf7+
(against Nxf7 I was able to defeat Houdini 3) Ke7
8.Bc4 b5 9.Bd3 h6 10.Nf3 Ng4 11.Be3 Rf8 12.Bxd4!
Bxd4 13.O-O, Black doesn't even win the exchange with Bxb2 choosing instead 13...Bxf2+ 14.Rxf2 Nxf2
15.Kxf2 and White has a clear plus.
However, Black can improve: 5.d4 d5 6. Bxd5
Nxd5! 7. dxc5 Ndb4! 8.a3 Qxd1+ 9. Kxd1 Na6 10.
Be3 Nd4 11. b4 b6 12. c3 Nb3 13. Ra2 bxc5 14. Nf3
f6 15. Rb2 Be6 16. Nbd2 Nxd2 17. Nxd2 c4 18. b5
Nb8 19. Kc2 O-O 20. Ra1 Nd7 21.Rb4 a6 22. bxa6
Rxa6 23. Nxc4 Rfa8 24. Nd2 Rxa3 =.
In summary the Wilkes-Barre/Traxler can be wildly
tactical or rather quiet positionally, depending on
how play evolves. 5.Nxf7 is extremely complicated even in correspondence chess, the 5.Bxf7+ variation
gives White less advantage than many players
realize; with 5.d4 Black can steer for tactics and just
be much worse or play quietly and equalize.
25
The Wilkes-Barre/Traxler by Richard Moody Jr.
In the Winter 2015 issue of Empire Ches, I presented analysis and games played in the main line of the
4.Ng5 variation of the Two Knights' Defense. In thisissue I will address the wildest opening in all of
chess, the Wilkes-Barre/Traxler variation. I had GM
Roman Dzindzichashvili, who used Komodo 6 and Houdini 3 running on advanced hardware, analyze
the key positions. Following his analysis, I had Deep
Fritz 14 play both sides of the position at tournament level to test his evaluation (see below).
Before I start his analysis, the reader may wonder what is wrong with 5.Nxf7?. The answer is 5...Bxf2+
and it doesn't matter whether White plays Kxf2, Kf1
or Ke2, Black has at least equality.
The classic game is Reinisch-Traxler, Prague, 1896:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7
Bxf2+ 6.Ke2 Nd4+ 7.Kd3 b5! 8.Bb3 Nxe4!! 9.Nxd8
Nc5+ 10.Kc3 Ne2+! 11.Qxe2 Bd4+ 12.Kb4 a5+
13.Kxb5 Ba6+ 14.Kxa5 Bd3+ 15.Kb4 Na6+ 16.Ka4
Nb4+ 17.Kxb4 c5#
Members online have analyzed all the key variations out to a depth of 28 and concluded that Black has at
least equality in the critical 5.Bxf2+ variations. However, when I scrolled through the the ChessBase
2013 data base by lower rated players, White scored
much better than Black after 5.Nxf7.
Here is a quick draw I got with White against Houdini 3. 5. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6. Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7. Kg1
Qh4 8. g3 Nxg3 9. hxg3 Qxg3+ 10. Kf1 d5 11.
Bxd5 Bh3+ 12. Rxh3 Qxh3+ 13. Kg1 Qg3+ 14.
Kh1 * 1/2-1/2
It also bears emphasis that Beliavsky drew Karpov and defeated Anand in the 5.Bxf7+ Wilkes-
Barre/Traxler, so clearly the opening is a good
practical choice. In the latter game Anand-Beliavsky, Linares, 1991, White was better in the opening 6.Bd5
Qe8 7.d3 d6 8.Bxc6! bxc6 9.Be3 Qg6 10.Nf3 Bxe3
11.fxe3 Qxg2? 12.Rg1 Qh3 13.Rxg7+ Kd8 14.Rg3
Qh6 15.Qe2 Ng4? 16.h3 Nf6 17.Nbd2 Ba6 18.O-O-O +/- but Anand hung a piece at the end of the
game Inside Chess, v.4 Issue 7 p.8-9.Here are
Roman's comments:
“...5. Bxf7+ Ke7 5…Bc4 and Bd5 are ok also, but this is the most
accurate move.
6. Bb3 Rf8Qg6 9. Be3 Bg4 10. Nbd2 {Black has no shadow of
compensation for a pawn... 6... Qe8 7. d3 d6 8. Nf3
Qg6 9. Be3 Bxe3 10. fxe3 Rf8 11. Qd2 +-; Black can improve marginally with 6...Qe8 7.d3 d6 8.Nf3 Qg6
9.Be3 Bg4 10.Nbd2 Nd4 11.c3 Nxb3 12.axb3 Bxe3
13.fxe3 Test+-) (6... d6 7. d3 {Even the engines like
Houdini on powerful hardware prefer accurate and safe way to play to secure the winning edge} Qe8 8.
Nf3 white is technically winning}) (6... Nd4 7.c3
Nxb3 8. Qxb3 Qg8 {the best, but also quite bad for black} (8... Qf8 9. Nf3 d6 10. d4 Bb6 11. dxe5 Nxe4
12. O-O +-) 9. Qc2 {In the middlegame, white's
advantage is a lot greater} d6 10. Nf3 Bg4 11. d4 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Bb6 13. Rg1 g6 14. Be3 Qe6 15. Nd2
{And again...White is a pawn up with the great
position})
7. d3 d6 8. Nf3 Qe8 9. Be3 +- Qg6 10. Nbd2 Bxe311. fxe3 Qh6 12. Qe2 +- {it's very hard to get greater
advantage in any other normal opening}” *Test
Deep Fritz 14 was able to restrain d4 for most of the game but missed a key resource by White that leads
to a pawn up ending with no counterplay for Black.
This is a typical computer mistake---play for the big
plus and overlooking a long-term plus that is slightly smaller. By the time that Fritz got in d4 in the game it
was too late to prevent Black from equalizing.
5. Bxf7+ Ke7 6. Bb3 Qe8 7. d3 d6 8.Nf3 Bg4 9. Be3
Nd4 10. Nbd2 Qg6 11. c3 Nxb3 12. axb3 Bxe3 13.
fxe3 Rhf8 14. O-O Kf7 15. Qe1?! White probably should play d4 here and go into a
Rook and pawn ending a pawn up: 15.d4! Kg8
[exd4? 16.e5! +-] 16.dxe5 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 Qxe4
18.Qd4 Bxf3 19.Rxf3 Qxd4 20.exd4 dxe5 21.dxe5+/=) Be6!! (This is the critical move in this variation
of the game. Black does not want to play Bxf5 when
the Knight gets to f5.
16. Nh4 Qh5 17. h3 Kg8 18. b4 a6 19. c4 Rad8 20.
Nf5 Rd7 21.Rf3 Qe8 22. Qc1 g6 23. Nh4 Rdf7 24.
Rf1 Qe7 25. Qe1 Kg7 26. Ra5 Bd7 27. b3 Nh5 28.
Rxf7+ Rxf7 29. Nhf3 h6 30. Qa1 Kh7 31. Qb2 Rf8
32. Qc2 Kg7 33. c5 Be8 34.Ra1 Bb5 35. Rc1 g5 36.
Nc4 Nf6 37. Rf1 Rd8 38. d4 Re8 39. dxe5 dxe5
(continued on page 24).
26
Capital Region News from staff reports
Here are the results and final standings from the Schenectady and Saratoga Chess Club
Championships for 2014-15 based on email
correspondence from the club presidents.
For the Schenectady Club, they played a single round
robin with 8 players (7 rounds), and finished on
February 12, 2015. The tournament was run by Carl Ademac.
This year’s winner for the club was Empire Chess columnist Zachary Calderon, a high school senior,
who also played in the annual Albany-Schenectady
Club Match in October 2014. Congratulations to
Zachary.
Here are the final standings for the Schenectady
Club:
Standings:
1. Zachary T. Calderon 6 1.22. Philip Sells 6
3. John Phillips 5
4. Carlos A. Varela 4
5.Richard C Chu 3 6. Joel R. Miranti 2
7. Matthew Clough 1 1/2
8.Balaji Mahadecan 0
As for the Saratoga Club, they ran a double-round
robin with six participants (originally seven, but Alan
Lecours had to drop out after three games). After the 10 rounds (not including Alan’s three games), this
year’s winner is Peter Michelman. Congratulations
to Peter.
Here are the final standings for the Saratoga Club:
Standings:
1. Peter Michelman 7 1/2
2. Gary Farrell 7
3. Glen Gausewitz 5 4. Jonathan Feinberg 4 1/2
5. Joshua Kuperman 3 1/2
6. David Connors 2 ½
Thus for the three major clubs in the area (Albany,
Schenectady, and Saratoga), by mid-February of 2015 we have had the club championships finished,
and the champions crowned (Albany: Jeremy
Berman, Schenectady: Zachary Calderon, Saratoga: Peter Michelman).
On Wednesday, February 4, the Albany Area Chess Club (AACC) Championship for the 2014-2015
season was decided: Jeremy Berman defeated
Gordon Magat to reclaim the AACC Championship.
Unlike last year, the AACC Champion was decided
from a two-game match between the winners of two
approximately-balanced sections. This year those two section winners were Gordon Magat and Jeremy
Berman. The first game of the Championship match
had Berman as White and Magat as Black, and was played on Wednesday, January 28th 2015. That game
ended in mutually agreed draw.
As for the second game of the match, colors were
reversed. In a thrilling King’s Indian Defense, we
went for complications in the middle-game: Black
gave up a Rook and two pawns in exchange for two of White’s minor pieces. However, the imbalance had
a unique caveat: White had a pawn securely planted
on g6 that would sustain mate threats against Berman’s King. As for compensation, I had two
terrific Knights – one planted firmly on the outpost of
the d5 square, and one defending it on f6. Eventually the game trickled down to mutual time pressure, and
Gordon timed out before making his move.Thus for
the second year in a row, Jeremy Berman has won the
Albany Area Chess Club Championship.
Here are the final results, from the regular season and
the Championship (excluding the Under 1800 Championship, between Tom Clark and Cory
Northrup, which still is TBD):
Regular Season Standings (with point total/games played to the right):
Round Robin #1: 1 = Jeremy Berman 7
2 = Dean Howard 5
3 = Peter Henner 4 1/2 4 = Thomas Clark 4
5 = Arthur Alowitz 4
6 = Scott Boyce 2 1/2
7 = Paul Axel-Lute 1 8 = Charles Eson 0
27
Round Robin #2:
1 = Gordon Magat 6 2 = Tim Wright 5 1/2
3 = Peter Michelman 5
4 = John Lack 4 1/2
5 = Cory Northrup 3 1/2 6 = Paul Moore 1 1/2
7 = Ryan Rogers 1
8 = Stephen Kullas 1
The Championship Match Result:
Jeremy Berman and Gordon Magat
Game 1: Draw
Game 2: Berman defeats Magat
Score: 1. Berman (1.5/2)
2. Magat (0.5/2)
The March 7 Make the Right Move tournament at the
Albany at the Albany Community Charter School
drew 105 players in various sections.
The closely-contested Open section was won by
Philip Sells and Empire Chess columnist Zachary
Calderon with 3 ½ points. They drew in the third round, and then proceeded to defeat the rest of the
field in the 10-player section. WFM Mathra
Samadashvili was clear third with an undefeated three points, drawing in the first round and taking a
half-point bye in the last one.
Shane Thorkildsen won the rated 800-1400 Queen.King section with the section’s only 4-0 score.
Six players tied for second with three points: Shreyas
Raman, Joseph Schneider, Danny Diaz, Kenneht Etwaru, Harun Gopel and Killian Whyte.
Stellin Poola won the 29-player rated under 600 section with its only perfect 4-0 score in his first
tournament. Xavier McCarthy was clear second with
3 ½ points, winning its last three games after a
:”Swiss Gambit” first-round draw against John Lamont.
Six players tied for third with three points: Serigne Sow, Luke Murphy, Andrew Cref, Connor Willis,
Ashutosh Yaligar and Atharv Agashe.
The AWE (All Welcome) section drew nine players
and was won by Jared Federman and Bill Matters
with three points. Federman Beat Matters in the last
round to force the tie.
The 14-player unrated Grades 6-12 section was won
by Adam Aleksic and Spencer Moon, both with perfect 4-0 scores. Jordan Simmons was clear third
with three points, losing to Aleksic in the first round.
Gabriel Rodriguez won the Grades 3-5 section with a perfect four points. Jaden Cusprinie was clear second
with three points, going undefeated with two draws
and not facing Rodriguez.
Damon Banks won the K-2 section with 3 ½ points,
conceding a second-round draw to Harmann Sidhu in the first round.
The tournament was directed by Sreenivas and
Sandeep Alampalli and organized by Borhter John McManus.
Almost 100 players made it to the Miller School in Kingston on February 21 during the President’s Week
break for their annual event. There were rated and
unrated sections for scholastic players.
Seamus Gould won the 25-player Under 800 rated
section with a perfect 5-0 score. Daniel Brucker and
Gavin Spide Perri tied for second with 4-1 scores. Perri beat Brucker in their individual game in the
third round, but Perri then lost in the fourth round to
Balaji Mahadevan.
The AWE section (All Welcome) drew 10 players and
was very competitive. Bennie Blough. Matt Cref and
Steve Brucker tied for first in the highly-competitive section with 2 ½ points out of four. Blough and Cref
drew each other in the last round to force the three-
way tie.
Gideon Shirky won the Grades 7-12 section with 4 ½
points, besting the nine-player field by a full point. He drew second-place finisher Jared Tesone in the
third round, and swept his other rounds. Tesone was
clear secone with 3 ½ points.
In the 18-player Grades 4-6 competition, Lucas
Dentico was the champion with a perfect 5-0 score.
Ike Blough and Fredric Winham tied for second. Dentico beat Blough in Round 4, and Bough beat
Winham in Round 3.
Another Dentico, Nico, won the 35-player K-3
section with five points as well. Evan Dong and
Adam Lane tied for second with four points, both
losing to Dentico. Chace Snyder and Sebastian Stote
28
tied for fourth with 3 ½ points.
The Rockin’Rooks of Rhinebeck won the team
competition, followed by the St. Joseph Mighty
Pawns of Kingston in second, and the Robert Graves
School, also of Kingston, in third. The tournament was organized by the Miller School Chess Club and
directed by Brother John McManus.
Below: St. Joseph’s Mighty Pawns do battle at the
State Scholastics in Saratoga
Springs.
One annual Albany event is the city-wide Police
Athletic League chess tournament, which drew 44 players and was held on February 17 at Albany High
School. The top Captain section was won by Danny
Diaz and Zachary Benson, both with 3 ½ points.
They drew in the third round, and bested the rest of the field.
In the 16-player Lieutenant section, Xavier McCarthy swept the field in what was very close to a “perfect
Swiss.” Four players tied for second with three
points: Gloria Kleinberg, Gavin Perri, Andrew Cref and Miguel Cruz.
The 19-player Sargeant section was won by Balajhi
Mahadewan with a perfect 4-0 score. Four players tied for second: Kevin Deng, John Lamond, Tanmay
Goel and Eleanor Cref.
The tournament was organized by Make the Rgith
Move for the Police Athletic League and directed by
Brother John McManus.
One hundred and three players came to the Albany
High School on February 7th for the TRM 91 chess
tournament, the second consecutive Make the Right
Move event at Albany High.
Carlos Varela won the Open section with 3 ½ points,
winning the first three rounds before taking a half-
point bye in the last round. Make the Right Move
president Sandeep Alampalli was clear second with three points, battling back from a first-round loss to
Karl Heck and winning three straight.
Derin Gumustop, Joseph Scheider and Danny Diaz
tied for first with 3-1 scores in the King section.
Gumustop was undefeated. Oliver Pflaum won the 28-player Queen section with a perfect 4-0 score,
besting the field by a full point. Devon Guzy was
clear second with 3 ½ points, yielding a second-
round draw. Five players tied for third with three points: Blaze Guzy, Stephen Dong, Cooper Guzy,
Harun Gopal, and Antonio Lacy.
The 26-player Rook section (under 600) was won by
Erica Li with its only perfect 4-0 score. Xavier
McCarthy, Luke Villani, Nathaniel Mitzel, Eleanor Cerf, Giovanny Vicento and Ethan Rafferty tied for
second with three points.
Nitin Obla won the AWE (all welcome) section with 3 ½ points, yielding a third-round draw to Ken Evans
of Kingston. Matthew Samue and Shane Thorkildsen
tied for second, both losing the Obla. Adam Aleksic won the Grades 6-12 unrated section with 3 ½ points,
yielding a draw in the last round while a full point
ahead of the 11-player field. Lisa Kemp was clear
second with three points. John Lamont won the unrated K-5 section with a perfect 4-0
score,.
The tournament was organized by the Albany High
School Chess Club, and directed by Sreenivas
Alampalli and Brother John McManus.
29
Upcoming NYSCA-Sponsored and Major Tournaments
APR. 4, 11,18, 25 MAY 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27 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.
APR. 10, 17, 24, MAY 1 15th Queens Team Championship 4-SS, G/115 d5. All Saints Lutheran Church, 164-02 Goethals Ave., Jamaica, NY 11432. Open to two player teams
with April ratings averaging under 2000. $$100-50 to top 2 teams, $60 to top U1700 team, $60 each to top Board 1
and Board 2 scorers/10 teams (prizes raised or lowered proportionally). One 1/2 point team bye permitted, which
must be requested at entry. If one player on team is unavailable, replacement player must be rated lower and occupy board of player replaced, regardless of rating. EF: $35 per player, $25 QCC members. REG.: 7-7:30. Rds.:7:45
each Friday. ENT: Ed Frumkin, 445 East 14th St., #10D, New York, NY 10009 (212-677-3224 – do not call on
Thursday or Friday). More detailed contact information at www.queens-chess.com. Mail entry by April 4.
APR 19, MAY 14: 60th
AND 61st Binghamton Open
4-SS, G/65 d5. Prizes: $300 b/26. Open-$100-$60-$30; Reserve-$50-$40-$20 (U1700). Trophies: 1-3 Reserve section. Advance Entry: EF's Reduced! Open-$20 Reserve-$15 (U1700) $5 more on site-cash only on
site. Schedule: Registration on site 8:45–9:15 AM. Rounds: 9:30-12Noon-2:30-4:45. Free chess set & board to all
new players under 18 years of age. Mail Entry: checks payable to: "Cordisco's Corner Store", 308 Chenango St.,
Binghamton, NY 13901 (607) 772-8782, [email protected].
MAR. 30, APR. 6, 13, 20 102nd Nassau Grand Prix
4-SS, 40/80 d0. 1st Presbyterian Church, 1st & Main Sts., Mineola. 2 sections. Open: EF: $36 by 3/27. $$ (630 b/20, top 2 G) 180-120, U2100, 1900, 1700/UR each 110. Booster: open to U1500/UR. EF: $19 by 3/27. $$ (210
b/14) 90, U1300, 1100/UR each 60. Both: 2 byes 1-4 (Last rd bye must be req before rd. 3 and is irrevocable). $10
more for non-memb. EF $7 more at site. Reg ends 7:15 PM. Rds.: 7:15 each Mon. April ratings used. Info only:
[email protected]. Ent: Harold Stenzel, 80 Amy Dr., Sayville, NY 11782.
Third Tuesday of each month. Marshall Masters at the Marshall Chess Club. 4-SS, G/30. 23 W. 10th St.,
NYC. 212-477-3716. Open to players rated over 2100 (plus all players scoring 2 ½ or more from CCNY at the Marshall's Thursday Night Action) EF: $40, members $30, GMs $10 (returned on completion of tournament). Top
three prizes guaranteed. $$Guaranteed 250-150-100. Top Under 2400 and Top Under 2300 prizes. Special prize for
biggest upset. Reg.: 6:15-6:45. Rounds.: 7-8:15-9:30-10:45 p.m. One bye available, rounds 1 or 4 only.
APR. 18 16th Annual Bruce Bowyer Memorial
4SS, G/45 d5. **NEW LOCATION!** Hotel Pennsylvania (401 7th Ave.) Across the street from Penn Station,
between 32nd and 33rd Streets. Tel: 212.736.5000. **Note: Saturday Grand Prix and Sunday Scholastic • Info: [email protected] or (Pat Bowyer) 516.641.4521.EF: $20. $$G: $250-$175-$125, U2200 $100, U2000 $75,
U1800 $60. Reg.: 11:15-11:45. Rds.: 12-1:45-3:45-5:30pm. Ent: Cks or MO payable to Pat Bowyer (be sure to
specify "Grand Prix, Saturday"), c/o PAR Group, Inc., 119 N. Park Avenue, Suite 303, Rockville Centre, NY 11570 • Limit 70 players & NO door ents. Saturday, APR 18, evening: Possible Bughouse team tourney, starting
time: 8pm. 5 minute Swiss or roundrobin depending on # of entries. 2 players per team. EF: $5/player. Cash to top
team. You MUST bring clocks and sets, none will be provided $$$ Payment & entries must be received by Monday, April 13th at the latest.
APR. 18, 25 MAY 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 Super Saturday Night Action in Brooklyn! Near Barclays Center!
4-SS, G/25 d5. ($325 b/15): 100-75 U1600-75 mixed doubles 75 (mixed doubles pair must be announced at entry with combined average rating U2200.) EF: $30. Rds.: 7-8:15-9:30-10:45 Max one bye, request at entry. EF
deducted from prize for IM's and GM's. Brooklyn Chess Club: New York Chess and Game Shop located across the
street from Barclay's Center, 20 minutes from Manhattan: Near All Trains: Take N, Q, R, B. D, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic
30
Ave. - Barclays Center. Walk 2 blocks South to 192 Flatbush Avenue. www.nycchesstournaments.com/, phone
718-398-3727. Register in advance by email, phone, on-site registration up until the beginning of round 1.
APR. 19 16th Annual Bruce Bowyer Memorial SCHOLASTIC Tournament
5SS, G/30 d5. Open to all students thru grade 12. EF: $10. NEW LOCATION! Hotel Pennsylvania (401 7th Ave)
Across the street from Penn Station, between 32nd and 33rd Streets. Tel: 212.736.5000. Note: Saturday Grand Prix and Sunday Scholastic. Info:[email protected] or (Pat Bowyer) 516.641.4521. $$G: $200-$125-$75, U1800
$50, U1600 $40, U1400 $30, U1200 $25. Trophy to winner, speed playoff for 5-0. Reg.: 10:15-10:45. Rds.: 11am-
12:30-2:30-4pm-5:30. Entries MUST be received by APR 13th! Ck/MO payable to Pat Bowyer (be sure to specify Scholastic) c/o PAR Group Inc.,119 N. Park Avenue, Suite 303, Rockville Centre, NY 11570. Note: limited to first
70 players, no door entriess. Provide name,school, USCF rating, ID#, & exp date. Note: You MUST bring clocks
and sets, none will be provided.
APR. 27, MAY 4, 11, 18 29th Nassau Amateur Team
4-SS, 40/80 d0. 1st Presbyterian Church, 1st & Main Sts., Mineola. Open to teams of 3 (+ optional alternate). Ave
rating must be U1800. May ratings used. Teams play in rating order. EF: $54/team by 4/24, $75 at site, $10 more per non-memb. $$ (504 b/12 teams) 252, U1600, 1400/UR each 126. Team byes 1-4 (Last rd. bye must be req
before rd. 3 and is irrevocable). Teams seeking players call 631 218-4440 or [email protected]. Players
looking for teams $18 by 4/24, $25 at site, $10 more for non-memb. Reg ends 7:15 PM. Rds.: 7:15 each Mon.Ent: Harold Stenzel, 80 Amy Dr., Sayville, NY 11782.
MAY 2 2015 Watertown Open Chess Tournament 4 rounds-Swiss System Pairings, G/75+delay 5 seconds, Half pt. bye rds. 1-3 available with advance notice.
Sponsored by the Watertown Chess Club, see our website at: www/watertownchessclub.com. Location: American
Red Cross, 2d flr. Conference Rm., 203 N. Hamilton St., Watertown, NY 13601. A United States Chess Federation
Sponsored Event, USCF membership required. Prizes: $125 Prize fund b/10 total paid entries. First $75, 2nd $30, & class $20. Registration: 8:30-9:20 AM, Rds. 9:30 AM, 12:15, 3 and 5:30 PM. EF: $25, ($22 for WCC
members), send to Don Klug, 518 Sherman St., Watertown, NY 13601. D. Klug 315-785-8800.
MAY 15-17 OR 16-17 23rd annual New York State Open
TROPHIES PLUS GRAND PRIX POINTS: 15 (ENHANCED)
5-SS, 40/110, SD/30 d10 (2-day option, rds. 1-2 G/60 d10). Tiki Resort, 2 Canada St., Lake George, NY 12845.
$$G 3000. In 4 sections. Open:$$ 400-200-100, top Under 2010/Unr $210-110, top Under 1810 $200-100. Senior, open to under 1910 or unrated born before 5/19/65. $$ 300-150-70, top Under 1710 $140-70. Under
1610: $$ 240-120-60, Under 1410 $120-60, unrated limit $150. Under 1210: $100-50, trophies to top 3, 1st
U1000, U800, U600, Unr. Mixed doubles bonus prizes: best male/female 2-player “team” combined score among all sections: $200. Team average must be under 2200; teammates may play in different sections; teams must
register (no extra fee) before both players begin round 2. Top 3 sections EF: $79 online at chessaction.com by
5/13, $85 phoned to 406-896-2038 by 5/11 (entry only, no questions), 3-day $83, 2-day $82 mailed by 5/6, $90 online until 2 hours before game or at site. Under 1210 Section EF: all $40 less than top 3 sections
EF. All:Advance or online entry $7 less to NYSCA members (NYSCA dues $12/year with 2 issues Empire Chess,
$20/year with 4 issues, may be paid with entry fee). No checks at site, credit cards OK. Special 1 year USCF
dues with magazine if paid with entry- online at chesstour.com, Adult $30, Young Adult $20, Scholastic $15. Mailed, phoned or paid at site, Adult $40, Young Adult $30, Scholastic $20. Re-entry $40, not available in Open
Section. GMs, IMs & WGMs free, $60 deducted from prize. 3-day schedule: Reg ends Fri 6 pm, rds. Fri 7, Sat 11
& 5, Sun 10 & 3:30. 2-day schedule: Reg ends Sat 10 am, rds. Sat 11, 2 &, 5, Sun 10 & 3:30. Half point byes OK all, must commit before rd. 2; limit 2 byes (limit 1 bye if under 1810/unr in Open). HR: $80-80, call 518-668-5744
Mon-Fri 9 am-5pm, reserve by 5/1 or rate may increase. Car rental: Avis, 800-331-1600, use AWD #D657633, or
reserve car online through chesstour.com. Unofficial uschess.org ratings usually used if otherwise unrated. Ent: chessaction.com or Continental Chess, Box 8482, Pelham, NY 10803.
Questions: www.chesstour.com, DirectorAtChess.us, 347-201-2269. $15 service charge for refunds. Advance
entries posted at chessaction.com (online entries posted instantly). Blitz tournament Saturday 9:30 pm, enter by
9:15 pm.
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JUNE 13-14 2015 Can-An International Chess Tournament 5-SS, G/100 d5. Venue: Wick Student Center, Daemen College, 4380 Main St., Buffalo, NY 14226. $10,000
guaranteed. Open: $1300 – 1000 – 750; U2000: $1000 – 725 – 525; U1800: $850 – 600 – 400; U1500: $650 – 450
– 300; U1200 & unr. $500 – 300 – 150. EF: $65, [Canadians $10 less], $80 after June 7. Unrated restricted to $500
winnings. Registration: 8:30-9:30 am June 13. Late entries must take ½ point bye first round.Rounds: Sat. 10:00, 2:30, 7:00; Sun. 10:00, 2:30. 1/2 point byes available for rounds 1-4 if requested at registration. Online registration
atwww.wnychess.org; inquiries at [email protected]; or Brian Sayers – 716-570-3966. Mail check, name,
USCF#, rating and section to WNY Chess, 4746 Shisler Rd., Clarence, NY 14031.
Labor Day Weekend: the 137th
New York State Chess Championship. Albany Marriott, Wolf Road, Colonie,
NY. America's Labor Day Tradition. See the Summer issue for full information.
www.nysca.net -- your source for New
York State Chess Information. Now on
Twitter at #nystatechess
The Golden Knights of Lockport and the Buffalo Urban Thinkers Chess Teams are the 2015 Onondaga County Scholastic K-4 and K-12 Chess Team Champions! The tournament was held in Syracuse on March 22
nd.
Golden Knights taking Individual Top Honors were led by K-4 undefeated Champion, JonLuke Pencille, Charles
Upson Elementary, K-4 Third Place - Jonathan Carmina, George Southard, and K-12 Third Place - Andrew
Pencille(Lockport High School). Photo Contributed by The Archangel 8 Chess Academy
Students L-R (front) William Oh, Jonathan Carmina, Ryan Carmina, JonLuke Pencille, Dov Ber Young
and USCF Chess Coach Michael A. Mc Duffie.
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NYSCA's Discount Program – A New Direction for Membership
The NYSCA annual meeting approved a new way for affiliates and organizers of the New York State Championship
and New York State Open to support NYSCA events. Organizers that offer a significant entry fee discount for the NYSCA events as well as other tournaments that the organizer holds. The State Scholastic Championship, which is
the largest funder of NYSCA, is unchanged by this change in membership criteria. It is worth noting that the
traditional membership-required model remains in effect, and may be used by any organizer, as has been the case throughout NYSCA's history.
There are two goals with the change. One is to make the State Championship a profitable tournament. The long-
time organizer of the tournament has reported that the tournament, NYSCA's flagship event, has lost money since membership costs were absorbed into the entry fee. There has been a slow decline in the entries at the State
Championship even with the current entry fee structure, so an increase may well lead to a further decline in entries.
The pool of potential sites to hold the State Championship is not particularly large on Labor Day weekend, and by and large, the membership is satisfied with the Albany Marriott and the Capital Region location for the tournament.
Therefore this new direction is being tried.
In 2014, membership at the State Championship and State Open will not be required, but members will be offered a $7 discount on their entry fee to the event. Continental Chess Association (CCA) is also offering a $5 discount at
its other tournaments in New York, including the Long Island Open andManhattan Open. It should be noted that
CCA revived the New York State Open in May in Lake George, and the event has been a success for NYSCA. NYSCA is willing to work with any other organizer on other NYSCA events.
NYSCA wants to work with organizers to expand the discounts. Organizers that offer the discounts will have their events advertised in Empire Chess, posted on the NYSCA web site and advertised through NYSCA's facebook and
twitter feeds. By accessing NYSCA's group of committed tournament chess players, the discounts in entry fee will
more than pay for itself with increased entries and the ability to obtain entries from further away. NYSCA is also
working on internet options for membership verification and purchase.
Help us make NYSCA the best chess organization it can be in the best chess state in the country. It will make us
better, and your events better as well.
NEW YORK STATE CHESS ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP FORM
Name:_____________________________________________________________
Address:___________________________________________________________
City:__________________________State:_________Zip:___________________
E-Mail:____________________________________________________________
USCF ID:__________________________________________________________
$20 for four printed issues $12 for two printed issues (Winter and Summer)
Mail to: Phyllis Benjamin, Secretary, NYSCA, PO Box 340969, Brooklyn, NY 11234.
(please note new address)