| Games versus GMs |
Welcome to my chess page. This is mostly random thoughts and analysis in the form of a chess diary with other sections of the site slowly developing. A lot of the content will come from my own experience. There are two reasons for this. One, so I can use this site as a self-improvement tool. Two, so you the readers will have content that is not found on other chess sites. Follow the link to the left to reach my annotated games against grandmasters. Send me comments and ideas Pete |
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I had a great result last weekend, posting a clean 5-0 in one of the master/expert sections of the 4th Billy Colias Memorial. I also played 3 tournaments at the end of May and beginning of June. I tied with Ron Burnett and Jerry Spinrad in the Rutherford County Open. I followed that up with a solid tie for 3rd in a strong Kentucky Open. Unfortunately, the third weekend was a disaster when I withdrew after 2 rounds of miserable conditions at the Castlechess Grand Prix. I'm expecting the games from the Colias event to arrive soon, I'm going to give my usual full coverage of that one. I don't know if I'll have time to write up the others with the USCL season right around the corner.
The FIDE rating list for July once again created controversy. Vishy Anand (2798) kept the top spot, but the loss of a few points in the Bundesliga dropped him below 2800. It looked like #6 Magnus Carlsen (2775) would be moving into the second spot after his big win at the Aerosvit tournament in Foros. However, this time FIDE decided to follow its rules and wait to rate this tournament until the next period. You'll recall last year that FIDE rated Linares early, in conflict with its rules, when Anand moved to the top of the list for the first time. Alexander Morozevich (2788) reached both his highest rating and his highest position in the list with a big win in Sarajevo. Vladimir Kramnik (2788) was inactive, so falls in behind Morozevich based on number of games played. Vassily Ivanchuk (2781) was superb in Sofia winnning the M-Tel Masters, and also scored +4 in the Russian team championship. #5 Veselin Topalov (2777) couldn't keep pace with Ivanchuk in Sofia, but still picked up 10 points. That completes the current club 2750, but the rest of the top 10 #7 Radjabov (2744), #8 Mamedyarov (2742), #9 Shirov (2741) and #10 Leko (2741) are all just outside the gates.
Most of the US players were quite active in this period, but 3 of the top 4, did not participate in the US Championship. Gata Kamsky (2723) keeps the top spot, while Hikaru Nakamura (2697) continues to chip away. Alexander Onischuk (2670) was runner up in the US Championship and stay comfortably in third. Yasser Seirawan (2634) played a couple of Dutch League games to stay active and just inside the world top 100. The big gainer for the US was the new US Champion Yuri Shulman (2623). The newest member of the Tennessee Tempo, GM Jaan Ehlvest (2603) is 9th.
My own rating was unchanged at 2314 with no games in the rating period. Standing still cost me 9 positions to #122 on the US list. The rest of the 2008 Tempo lineup check in as follows: #84 Burnett (2369), #120 Andrews (2315), #227 McCarthy (2234), #246 Bick (2225), #401 Wheeler (2137), and #406 Larson (2135)
The schedule for the 4th season of the US Chess League was released in late May. The season kicks off with Monday Night Chess on August 25th with the now traditional matchup of the two new expansion teams. This year the Chicago Blaze and Arizona Scorpions join the Tempo in the Western Division, while the itinerant Carolina Cobra move back to the East after their second 1-year stint in the West.
I'm hoping I can play more for the Tempo this season. We open with the rest of the league on August 29th against the Cobras. Some of the season highlights are: back to back meetings with the expansion teams in weeks 3 and 4; a return to Monday night chess against the Miami Sharks on September 22; a week 6 meeting with the League Champion Dallas Destiny; and the regular season conclusion on October 29th against the Baltimore Kingfishers.
A couple of weeks after Land of the Sky, Cajun Chess organized their first tournament in Nashville. I really enjoyed this tournament despite not having a great result. One thing in particular that I liked was that there was plenty of spacing between the rounds. Even though the time control was G/2, the organizers provided 5.5-6 hours between rounds, which allowed everyone to get decent meals and rest instead of potentially 8-12 hours of constant playing.
I elected to play the Friday night round and got White against Varadaraj, Srikar I thought I had a nice edge with my space advantage after 22...Rad8
I had a decision on how to step up pressure on f7. I chose 23. Qb3 hitting b7 and allowing the queen to swing to the kingside along the third rank. The other possibility was 23. Qc4, which would prevent his next move. 23... Nxd4!? I didn’t think this was possible at all. 24. Nxd4 Rxd4 25. Rxf7 Qe6 26. Qg3 After 30 minutes of thought the best I could come up with was to try the double rook ending. When playing Qb3 I had counted on the variation 26. Rf8+ Kh7 27. Qg8+!!? Kg6 28. Rxe8 which of course is not possible. The engine likes 26. Qxb7 Qxf7 27. Rxf7 Kxf7 28. Qxc7+ Re7 29. Qb6 which was difficult to assess over the board. On general principles I didn’t like giving up two rooks for the queen, but here Black’s king is a bit exposed and White may pick up the a6 pawn or retain his passed e-pawn. 26... Qe5 27. Qxe5 27. Qg6 Rxe4 didn't seem to lead to anything. 27. Rxc7 Qxg3 28. hxg3 Rexe4 29. Rxb7 is another possibility, but Black should still hold with accurate play. 27... Rxe5 28. Rxc7 Rdxe4?! 28... Rexe4 29. Rff7 Rg4 30. h3 Rg5 31. Rxb7 Rd2 32. Rf2 transposes into the game, but Black should just ignore the e-pawn for the time being. 28... Rd2 29. Rff7 Rg5 30. g3 Rxb2 31. Rxb7 Ra2 is equal. 29. Rxb7 Re2 30. h3 Rg5 31. Rf2 Re1+ 32. Kh2 and I ground out the win with the extra pawn.
The next morning I was really surprised at my pairing, White on Board 1 versus Todd Andrews. It seemed way too early in the tournament for us to be playing, but an extraordinary number of players had taken half-point byes for round 2. I got a slight initiative out of the opening, but he played accurately to neutralize it and we reached an approximately equal position after 18...fxg6
from which I completely self-destructed. 19. Ne6? A couple of weeks later, I talked with Todd on ICC and he suggested 19. Nf7 as equal. I think 19. Ne4 is a simpler way of implementing that idea. 20. Bd4? Re8 21. Nxg7? on either of the last two moves, I could have retreated the knight surrendering the h-pawn with a lost position, but I was too disgusted with Ne6 to try and grovel. 21...Rxe1 22. Kxe1 Ng8 and I resigned shortly as he collected the trapped knight.
In the evening round, I had a complicated fight with Black versus James McLaughlin. After 29...N6h5
He thought for a while, but couldn't find a defense to Nxg2 and resigned [0:1]. I didn’t see a defense at the time, but of course the engine suggests the slippery 30. Ra1 making a flight square at e1 Now, 30... Nxg2 31. Kxg2 Nf4+ 32. Kf1 and it isn’t clear how Black pursues the attack (although how White can consolidate his extra piece isn’t clear either. ,Instead, 30... Ne2+ 31. Bxe2 Rxe2 maintains pressure.
The next morning I got another tough pairing, Black against Miles Ardaman. We reached a very unusual looking position after 24. Ng4
24...Qe7 Black could try to take advantage of the odd configuration of White pieces on the queenside with 24... Nd4!? 25. exd4 exd4 26. Kf1 Qe7 27. Qd1 Qxg5 with two pawns and pressure for the piece. Instead, the game ended in a nervous repetition after 25. Kd2 Bc8 26. Bf3 Bb7 27. Be2 Bc8 28. Bf3 Bb7 29. Be2 [½:½]
Miles withdrew after that round, which ended up giving me another tough opponent in the last round, Carl Boor. I got a great position out of the opening, which forced him to try to complicate by giving up two pieces for a rook. I totally butchered the ending, but still had chances late after 47...b5
48. Bxb5? Instead, 48. Kg4 b4 49. Kh5 maintaining a pawn would still give White some winning chances. 48... Rxh7 49. Bc4 Ke7 50. Kg4 Trying to draw immediately with 50. Ng5 runs into 50...Rxh6! (50...fxg5 51. Kg5 is a draw) 51. Nxe6 Rh4+ winning 50...Rxh6 51. Nd4 Rg6+ 52. Kf3 e5 53. Nf5+ blockading the pawns. While he thought this ending should be winning for Black, he didn't manage to come up with a plan and I was able to sacrifice a piece for 2 pawns as soon as they advanced. I didn't find any practical examples of this type of position. I found several with the right material, but done with the pawns blockaded. Check out game 13 of the Zukertort-Steinitz world championship match for an example of the winning method without the pawns blockaded.
With his victory in this year's Morelia/Linares supertournament, Vishy Anand (2803) once again crossed the 2800 barrier and took over the top spot on the FIDE rating list. Meanwhile, former co-#1 Vladimir Kramnik (2788) struggled at Wijk aan Zee, but kept the #2 position. Alexander Morozevich (2774) scored an outstanding 8/11 to win the Russian Championship and move into 3rd. Veselin Topalov (2767) also had a poor Wijk aan Zee despite winning a brilliant game over Kramnik. He didn't recover any points in Linares and slips to 4th. The Norwegian wonderboy Magnus Carlsen (2765) was the big gainer, equal first at Wijk aan Zee and just half a point off Anand's pace in Linares. The other co-winner at Wijk aan Zee, Levon Aronian (2763) is hot on his heels at #6, while the two Azerbaijanis, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2752) and Teimour Radjabov (2751) complete this period's Club 2750. There are now 24 players above 2700 with #22 Bu (2708) and #24 Ni (2703) becoming the first Chinese players to cross that mark.
The US list continues to see the idle Gata Kamsky (2726) leading the way. Hikaru Nakamura (2686) tied with Bu in Gibraltar and also shared first in the North American Open to inch closer to 2700. The rest of the US list is relatively unchanged, more movement should be seen next period when the US Championship is rated. The rest of the top 10 are the usual names: Onischuk, Shabalov, Seirawan, Shulman, Ehlvest, Akobian, Ibragimov, and Kaidanov.
I stayed about even at Land of the Sky, but dropped 6 at the Nashville Open, to 2314. Unexpectedly, I moved up a bunch of spots to #113 on the US list. That was certainly a surprise, but I checked it a couple of times. Possibly a large number of US players became inactive on this list? Further investigation is needed.
The week after the North Tennessee Winter Open, I played the annual Land of the Sky tournament in Asheville, NC. Attendance was way up this year, cracking the 200 mark.
On Friday night, I faced Ryan Moon with the White pieces. I got a good position out of the opening, but had a decision to make after 16... Qd7
17. Bxf6 After considerable thought, I decided to win material, but keeping a positional advantage with 17. e5 may be stronger. 17... Bxf6 18. exd5 exd5 19. Nf4 Ne6 20. Ncxd5 Nxf4 21. Nxf4 b5 22. d5 Afterwards, he suggested 22. Kh1 to avoid the check in the next note, but Black has full compensation after 22..Rac8. White's pawn majority on the kingside is not significant, the d-pawn needs constant attention, Black's queenside majority is mobile, and the Black bishop is superior to the White knight. 22... Re5 23. Kh1 My intention had been to plant the knight on e6, but this fails after 23. Ne6 Rxd5 24. Rxd5 Qxd5 25. Nc7 Qc5+ 23... Rc8 24. d6 Rc6 25. Nd5 Qxd6 26. Nxf6+ Qxf6 regaining the pawn with a completely equal position. We eventually drew after a few time pressure adventures.
In round 2, I had Black against Gary Newsom. He declined an early pawn sacrifice, but had already landed in a difficult position after 17. N2g3
17...Nxe4 17... Bxe4 was probably cleaner, when it looks like White must try for 18. Nxe4 Qg6 19. Be7 Qxe4 20. Bxf8 Rxf8 and Black is winning 18. Nxf5 18. Nxe4 completely fails to 18...Qg6 19. Be7 Bxe4 18... Rxf5 18... Nxg5 19. Rhg1 Rxf5 20. Qxf5 h6 21. h4 Qf7 is also good for Black, but a bit more unbalanced. 19. Be3 White regains the piece because of the pin, but he had no compensation for the pawn after the desperado 19... Nxf2
I had dinner before the evening round with Miles Ardaman and Klaus Pohl. When it became known that Klaus and I had the same number of points, I predicted we would play since it seems that happens whenever I eat with someone I'm not traveling with. Sure enough, the round 3 pairing was Pohl-Bereolos. I finally prevailed in a difficult struggle. A search of my database shows that this is the first double knight ending I've ever played. After 46. Ke4
White seemed close to holding despite his material deficit, but I found a winning idea with a pawn sacrifice 46...d3 47. Nxd3 47. h4 Nc5+ 48. Kd4 b6 doesn't appear to help. 47... Nxd3 48. Kxd3 Ng5 49. Nd4 Nxh3 50. Nxb5 Ke6 51. Kd4 Ng5 52. Nc7+ Kf5 53. Nb5 Kg4 54. Nc3 Kf3! It was not too late to throw everything away with the hasty 54... Kxg3?? 55. Ne4+ Kf4 56. Nxg5 Kxg5 57. Kd5 h5 58. e6 Kf6 59. Kd6 and White wins 55. Kd5 h5 56. e6 Nxe6 57. Kxe6 Kxg3 and White is helpless against the Black pawns. 58. Ke5 h4 59. Ne2+ Kf3 60. Nf4 g5 61. Ne6 g4 62. Nd4+ Kg2 63. Kf4 h3 64. Nf5 h2 65. Ng3 b5 [0:1]
Before Round 4, organizer Wilder Wadford spoke on the recent passing of Bobby Fischer. I think a lot of players, myself included, echoed his view that we have to be able to separate the genius of his game and contributions to chess in America from his political views and antics.
In Round 4, I got a rematch with GM Alexander Ivanov, who defeated me on Board 1 in the final round last year. We were on Board 2 this year, but it was a similar disappointing result as he again outplayed me in an ending. I had a very promising position after 21...Nf6
I decided to improve my worst piece with 22. Bh4 but I should have gone for the thematic 22. e5 dxe5 23. fxe5 Nh5 24. e6 Nxg3 25. Kxg3 and White has a comfortable advantage 22... Nxe4 23. Bxe4 fxe4 This surprised me, I thought he would go 23... Bxc3 24. bxc3 fxe4 25. Rxe4 Rxe4 26. Rxe4= 24. Nxe4 Bd7 25. a5 This isn't a bad move, but may not be necessary. I was nervous about his bishop pair in a line like 25. Nxd6 Rxe2 26. Rxe2 Bxa4, but this is probably still equal. Perhaps the most accurate way to equalize is 25. b3 Rf8 26. g3 Rf5 27. Nxd6 Rxd5 Ne8 and Black will have to surrender one of his bishops. 25... bxa5 26. Nf6+?! more accurate is 26. Nxd6 Rxe2 27. Rxe2 after the text, Black has a slight advantage in the ending after 26... Bxf6 27. Bxf6 Rxe2 28. Rxe2 Kf7 29. Re7+ Kxf6 30. Rxd7 Kf5 31. Rxd6 Ke4 which he eventually converted into a win.
In the final round, I had White against Rusty Potter. There was a bit of color controversy on this pairing. Originally, I had Black, but before we started, TD Alan Kantor approached us and said that he had manually changed the computer pairing, which had me as White. Then, he had consulted the rule book and had now concluded that the computer pairing was correct. This turned out to be the same pairing rule that came up in my game with John Bick in last year's Space City Open. My colors had gone WBBW, while Potter had BWBW. The way the rule reads in this situation is that you go back to the latest round where we did not have the same color (Round 2) and then give the players their alternating color. Since I had Black in Round 2, while he had White, now I got White and he got Black. He wasn't too upset about this as now he could insist that we play on his wooden set instead of my plastic one. I built up a very nice position after 26...Ra2
Black should be close to lost here, since his queenside is completely paralyzed and his king without pawn cover, but I let him off the hook with 27. Bxd7? I saw the winning 27. Qg4+ but thought he could defend with 27...Qg7 missing the simple 28. Be6+ Kh8 29. Rxc6. The computer's suggestion of 27. Rf1 Kg7 (27...Rxe2 28. Qg4+) 28. Rbe1 also looks pretty overwhelming. Black is stuck with no counterplay whatsoever. 27... Bxd7 28. Rb8+ Kf7 29. Rb7 The pin along the 7th doesn't cause Black any problems, and he found the tactical shot 29...Qxf4 30. Nxf4 Raxh2 31. Nd3?! I saw the correct equalizer right after I moved, but he quickly returned the favor. 31... Ke7?! 31... Rh1+ 32. Kf2 Rxc1 still gives Black some chances, although the bad bishop and minimal # of pawns should give White good chances to hold. 32. Rxc6 What I should have played on the previous move, now Black has nothing better than perpetual check 32... Rh1+ 33. Kg2 R1h2+ 34. Kg1 Rh1+ 35. Kg2 R1h2+ [½:½]
I played 3 tournaments in January and February, so I need to catch up on my reporting. I started the year in Clarksville, TN with the North Tennessee Winter Open over the MLK holiday weekend. I managed the same equal first as last year, but had a chance to do better. In the first round I was black against Tempo teammate James Wu. I was making some progress in the knight versus bishop ending after 40...Ne5, but it was only his next move that caused his defeat
41. Bxc5? better was 41. b3 intending 42. c4 to fix the c5 pawn on a dark square and meeting 41...c4 with 42. dxc4+ bxc4 43. b4 with a level ending 41... Kxc5 avoiding 41... Nxf3+? 42. gxf3 Kxc5 43. b4+ Kd5 44. d4+- when the White king stops the h-pawn and Black is powerless against the protected passed d-pawn. 42. d4+ Kd5 43. dxe5 Kxe5 44. b4 He wants to prevent a5, but I thought this made things easy. Also straightforward was 44. Ke3 a5 45. Kd2 Kf4 a bit trickier is 44. Kd3 when 44... Kd5 45. b4; 44... a5 45. c4; and 44...Kf4 45. Kd4 all give White some counterplay, but it seems that Black still wins with 44...h5. 44... Kf4 45. Ke2 Kg3 46. Kf1 f4 47. Kg1 h5 48. Kf1 h4 49. Kg1 h3 50. gxh3 Kxh3 51. Kf2 Kh2 52. Ke2 Kg2 53. Kd3 Kxf3 54. c4 bxc4+ 55. Kxc4 Ke4 56. Kc5 f3 [0:1]
In round 2, I had White against my Knoxville clubmate Matthew Marsh. I missed a chance to put this game away early after 14...Qb4? instead of 14...Qb6-a5
15. a3 I was so eager to push my e-pawn, that I missed the retreat 15. Bd2 which puts his queen in hot water 15...Qe4 16. Nc3 Qf5 (16... Qb4 17. Nb5) 17. Ng5 Qxe5 18. Bxg4 winning a piece. 15... Qa5 16. e6 fxe6 17. dxe6 reaching the position we should have gotten to, but with me having the extra move a3. I went on to win, but this was a real blemish on the game.
I was up to top board in Round 3, with Black against Tempo #1 Ron Burnett. I played the middle game pretty miserably and had to shed a pawn and hope to draw an ending with not many pawns left after 27...Bc6
28. Rg4?! It is logical to try to restrict the Black king, but there is a tactical hole. Instead, 28. Re2 Kg7 (28... Rf8 29. Bc4) 29. Bc4 still gives White some winning chances. 28... Rf8 with a draw offer. He thought a long time and found one last idea. 29. Bc4 Rf2+ 30. Ke3 Rxg2 incidently preventing Rg8#, he probably had overlooked this when playing Rg4. 31. Rxg2 Bxg2 32. Kd4 b6 Black seems to fall a tempo short in the pawn ending after 32... Kg7 33. Bd5 Bxd5 34. Kxd5 Kf6 35. Kd6 33. Bd5 Bh3 34. Ke5 Kg7 35. b4 designed to keep the Black king from going to c5, but now I am able to hold up his queenside pawns with my bishop. 35... h6 36. Be4 Bf1 37. Bc6 Bc4 38. a3 Bb3 39. Kd6 Kf6 40. Bd7 Bc2 41. Kc7 Ke7 42. Bh3 Bd3 43. Bd7 Bc2 44. b5 Ba4 45. h4 Bd1 46. Bc8 Ba4 47. Kc6 Bb3 48. Kb7 Kd8 49. Bf5 Ba4 50. Kc6 Ke7 51. Bd3 Bb3 52. Be2 Ke6 53. Bg4+ Ke7 54. Bh3 Ba4 55. Kb7 Kd8 56. Kc6 [½:½]
The next morning I had White against Joshua Suich, who had nicked Burnett for a draw in Round 2. I calculated some long tactics after 16...Ne5
17. f4 Nfg4 17... Nc6 18. Ncxb5 Ng4 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. Bxg4 Bxg5 (20... axb5 21. e4) 21. Nd4 and 17... Neg4 18. f5 are both really good for White 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 I thought 18... fxe6 was a better try when Black is OK after 19. Bxg4 Bxg5 20. fxg5 Rxf1+ 21. Kxf1 b4, but White has 19. Bxe7 Nxe3 20. Qd4 Nxf1 21. Bxf8 winning. 19. Bxg4 Nxg4 20. f5 I think a lot of players would just throw in the towel here. Instead, he went into the tank for 45 minutes before giving up his queen with 20...Bxg5 21. fxe6 and White won on time a few moves later.
That gave me a chance to take clear first if I could beat another Tempo teammate, Gerald Larson, with White in the final round. We played a very entertaining game. Things heated up after 18... Raf8
19. Re1 The queenside pawns were both immune because of 19...Bxh3 threatening mate on both f1 and g2. 19... Bxh3!? anyway 20. Qxh3 Rf5 21. Rxc6 21. Nxe4 Rh5 22. Qxh5 Qxh5 23. Nxd6 Qd5 and the White knight is well out of play after 24. Nb7. Afterwards we thought 21. Nxb5 might be an improvement overlooking the simple 21... Rxb5 21... Rh5 22. Qxh5 Qxh5 23. Rxd6 Qf5?! It looks like he could have won here with the subtle 23... Qh4 provoking the weakening 24. g3 since 24. Rf1 is refuted by the beautiful 24... Rxf1+ 25. Kxf1 e3 26. g3 Qh2 27. Nd1 Qh1+ 28. Ng1 Qxg1+ 29. Kxg1 e2; 24. Nd1 e3 25. c4 I was eager to get the queenside pawns rolling, but White should be slightly better with 25. Rc6 intending Rc3xe3 25...b4 26. Rc5 25... Qd3 26. Nec3 b4 27. Rxe6 bxc3 28. bxc3 Qc2 29. R6xe3 I wanted to play 29. b4 but was put off by 29...Rf2 although the computer still finds some resources for White after 30. Nxe3 Qd2 31. Ra1 29... Qxb3 30. c5 a5 31. c6 Rc8?! with his clock starting to get low, he allows a draw I thought I'd be OK after 31... Qc4 32. Re5, but was more worried about 31... a4 32. c7 Qb6 33. Re7 a3 34. Ne3 a2 35. Nc2 when Black is still better. 32. Re8+ Rxe8 33. Rxe8+ Kf7 34. c7 Qxd1+ 35. Kh2 Qh5+ 36. Kg1 Qd1+ [½:½]
FIDE has released the year end rating list. All of the top players saw significant action during this quarter and there was a considerable shake-up. Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand, both at 2799 occupy the top spot with Kramnik getting the nod with more games played. The chess world should see a tremendous battle when these two duel for the world title in Germany later this year. This is the second time Kramnik has occupied the #1 spot, but never by himself. On the previous occasion he was tied with Kasparov. Kramnik made a big gain with a dominating performance in the Tal Memorial, while Vishy dropped a couple of points from draws in the European Club Cup. Veselin Topalov(2780) moved up to number 3 on the strength of his victory in xxx. #4 Alexander Morozevich (2765), and #6 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2760) both posted slight gains. Larger gains were seen by the two players who crossed 2750, #5 Peter Svidler (2763) and the most active player in the period, #7 Alexei Shirov (2755), who was runner-up in the World Cup. Both #8 Peter Leko (2753) and #9 Vassily Ivanchuk (2751) posted losses, but stayed above 2750, making it a record 9 players above that mark.
Gata Kamsky (2726) continues to lead the US list. He was the winner of the World Cup and will play a match with Topalov to determine the next Challenger to the World Championship as there finally seems to be the semblance of a cycle for the world title. Hikaru Nakamura (2670) passed Alexander Onischuk (2664) to take the second spot. Yasser Seirawan (2628) makes it 4 Americans in the top 100. Another 5 players are over 2600, but that isn't good enough for the top 100 anymore: Shabalov (2622), Shulman ( 2614), Ibargimov (2605), Kaidanov(2604) and Ehlvest (2601). Varuzhan Akopian (2599) is just short of making it 10 US 2600 players.
I dropped 8 points at Kings Island. My win over Allsbrook was not counted because he didn't have a FIDE rating. I dropped one place for each point to #138 on the US list.
I had Black in the final round against Matthew Marsh. I had figured that he would be my main competition this year, but his upset loss in the first round against Bejnood gave me draw odds for this game. Still, I knew it would be a tough battle as he was in good form, having taken clear first in the U2100 section at Kings Island the weekend before this game was played. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 He's played the Saemisch the past few years, so we haven't continued our debate in the 4 Pawns Attack 5... O-O 6. Be3 c5 7. Nge2 Qa5 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. d5 Ne5 10. Ng3 10. Nc1 is more common, but the text scores about the same in the database 10... a6 11. Be2 Bd7 12. a4 b5!? An ambitious move. The Benko formation should be fine for Black with the knight a bit offside on g3, but White does get to plug the b-file with a piece on b4. A more solid move was 12... Qb4, which is the typical move versus 10. Nc1. Here, it is probably even stronger since White doesn't have b3 available, it looks like he has to play 13. Nd1, which shouldn't trouble Black.
13. cxb5 axb5 14. Nxb5 Rfb8 15. O-O Ne8 16. Ra3 I thought 16. Qxa5 Rxa5 17. Bd2 Raa8 18. Bc3 was a better formation for the White pieces as was played in Gordon-Hebden, England 2004 16... Qxd2 17. Bxd2 c4 18. Rb1 Bxb5 I was wary of giving White 2 passed pawns after 18... Nd3 19. Bxd3 cxd3 but the engine thinks Black is fine after 20. Nc3 (20. Kf2) 20... Bd4+ 21. Kf1 Bc5 19. axb5 Nc7 20. Rxa8 Nxa8 21. b3 Afterwards he preferred the immediate 21. b4; White doesn't get anywhere with 21. Ra1 Nc7 22. Ra7 Nxb5 23. Rxe7 Kf8 ( or 23... Nd3) 21... Rxb5 22. b4 e6 Thematic, but 22... Nb6 23. Rc1 Nd3 24. Bxd3 (24. Rxc4 Nxc4 25. Bxd3 Nxd2 26. Bxb5 Bd4+ 27. Kh1 Bc3=) 24... cxd3 25. Kf2 f5 was a reasonable alternative 23. dxe6 fxe6 24. f4 Nd3 25. Bxd3 cxd3 26. Rb3 Nc7 27. Rxd3 d5 28. exd5
28... Nxd5 This causes me to have to take a bit of care. Instead, I should have kept Ng3 restrained by 28... exd5 I didn't play this because I was concerned about 29. Ne2 Na6 30. Nd4 missing that I could answer this with 30...Nxb4 29. Ne4 Bf8 29... Nxb4 30. Rd8+ Bf8 31. Ng5 is unnecessarily dangerous 30. Ng5 Bxb4 31. Nxe6 Bxd2 32. Rxd2 Rb6 33. Rxd5 There really isn't much for White in the rook ending. He should have tried to also keep knights on, although Black is still holding after 33. Re2 Kf7 34. Ng5+ Kf6 35. Nxh7+ Kg7 36. Ng5 Nxf4 or 35. g3 h6 36. Ne4+ Kf5 37. Kg2 In the latter line, Black must still take some care, for example 37...g5?! 38. fxg5 hxg5 39. Nxg5 33... Rxe6 34.Kf2 I expected 34.Rd8+ Kg7 35.Rd7+ Kg8 as a better try gaining a tempo on the game 34... h5 35.Rd7 Re4 36.Kf3 Ra4 37.Kg3 Rb4 38.Kf3 1/2-1/2
I had White in Round 4 against Alborz Bejnood. He was the big surprise in this year's Championship. He was the first player to qualify this year, by winning the January tournament, and started the Championship with 3 wins including an upset of Matthew Marsh. He achieved difficult positions in all of his games, but as the present game demonstrates, he showed a considerable amount of resilience under fire. 1. d4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 exd5 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd6 6. g3 Qe7 A very unusual move, I decided to grab the 2 bishops and gain a lot of time developing 7. Nb5 Na6 8. Bg2 Nc7 9. Nxd6+ Qxd6 10. Bf4 Qb6 11. d6 Ne6 12. Be5 Ng4 13. Bc3 f6 14. Nf3 Nh6 15. Qd2 Nf7 16. Rd1 a5 17. Bh3 Ned8 18. Qe3+ Ne6 19. Qd3 Nf8 20. Nh4 Ra6 21. Nf5 Ne6 22. Ne7?!
I thought this was a clincher , but there is a tactical hole. Better was either 22. Qf3 or 22. O-O leaving Black struggling to unwind 22... Qxd6 guarding the bishop loses 22... Qd8 23. Nxc8 Qxc8 24. Bxe6; 22... Ra8 23. Nxc8 Rxc8 24. Bxe6; or 22... Kd8 23. Bxe6 dxe6 24. d7 Kxe7 25. dxc8=N+ Rxc8 26. Qd7+ 23. Nxc8 Qc6 Even if White was castled here, the knight still can't get out from c8 24. Bg2 Qxc8 25. Qb5?! A silly move that drops a couple of tempi 25. O-O and the 2 bishops give compensation for the pawn. 25... Nd6 26. Qd3 O-O I thought 26... b5 mobilizing the queenside was better. 27. a4 Re8 28. O-O Ng5 29. Bd5+ Kh8 30. f3 c4 31. Qc2 Qc5+ 32. Kg2 Ne6 33. e4 b5 34. axb5 Nxb5 35. Be1
35...Nbd4? The knight on d6 had been holding Black's position together, and it should have returned there. 36. Qxc4 Qxc4 37. Bxc4 Rc6 38. Bxe6 Rc2+ 39. Rf2 Rxf2+ 40. Bxf2 Nxe6 41. Rxd7 Ra8 42. Re7 Nf8 43. Ra7 Rxa7 44. Bxa7 Nd7 45. f4 Kg8 46. Kf3 Kf7 47. Ke3 Ke6 48. Kd4 Kd6 49. Kc4 Kc6 50. Bd4 Nb6+ 51. Bxb6 Kxb6 52. Kd5 Kc7 53. Ke6 Kc6 54. e5 Kc5 55. Kf7 fxe5 56. fxe5 [1:0]
I had Black again in Round 3, against the other alternate player, Robert Hydzik. He did better in the Championship this year, but his attempt to 3-peat as Knoxville Amateur Champion fell short. 1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 Nf6 Deviating from 3... e5, which I played against him in last year's Championship. 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. d4 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. e4 c6 13. Ne3 Qb6 14. Qc2 Nc5
15. b3 A game between noted players had gotten this far. 15. Rad1 was played by future FIDE president Florencio Campomanes against the famous grandmaster Miguel Najdorf in the 1960 Olympiad 15... Ne6 16. Rad1 a5 More consistent was 16... Nd4 17. Rd2 a4 18. Rb1 axb3 19. axb3 Qb4 20. Qb2 Nc5 21. Nc2 Qb6 22. Nfe1 f5 23. b4 23. exf5 opens the position for Black's bishops, so he decided to give up a pawn and set up a blockade on e3. 23... Nxe4 24. Bxe4 fxe4 25. Ne3 Bh3 introducing tactics based on Qxe3 26. N1c2 I thought his best chance for counterplay was to get a knight to d6, so he should probably play c5 at some point 26... Rad8 27. Rbd1 Rd3 My original intention was 27....Rxd2 28. Rxd2 Rd8 trading all the rooks, but I thought the text was stronger, occupying the d-file. However, I missed a small tactical idea.
28. Qa2 He also missed 28. Rxd3 exd3 29. Qb3 regaining the pawn, but with 2 bishops against 2 knights, this should still be very good for Black 28... Qd8 29. Ne1 Rd4 30. Qb3? a bad blunder in a difficult position 30... Rxd2 [0:1]
In round 2, I had Black against Kipp Bynum. Last year, he was a big surprise in the Championship and came out as the rating winner. He got in as an alternate this year when Leonard Dickerson and Boris Fine were unable to play, but had a rough time of it in this year's stronger edition, failing to score. 1. e4 e5 2. c4 Nc6 3. g3 g6 Putting the bishop on the a7-g1 diagonal with 3... Bc5 is also fine, but I decided to play a familiar formation 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Ne2 d6 6. O-O Be6 7. d3 Qd7 8. Nbc3 Bh3 9. Bd2 9. Be3 is a more normal square for the bishop 9... h5 10. Kh1 h4 11. Ng1 Bg4 12. Qc1 Nd4 with the idea of h3 13. Re1 13. h3 or 13. f3 both lose to 13...hxg3 13... Ne7 14. Bg5 hxg3 15. fxg3 f6 16. Bd2 again 16. Be3 is a better square 16... O-O-O 17. Nd1 Rxh2+
18. Kxh2 Rh8+ 19. Nh3 Bxh3 20. Nf2 Bg4+ 21. Kg1 Ne2+ 22. Kf1?? A horrible blunder, which I thought would mean a quick end to the game 22. Rxe2 Bxe2 is also winning for Black, but it would then be reasonable to play on. After the text, he could comfortably resign at any point, but drags it all the way out to mate. I guess he wanted to get his money's worth after our short game last year. 22... Nxc1 23. Raxc1 Nc6 24. b4 Nd4 25. Re3 Bh6 26. a3 Bxe3 27. Bxe3 Be2+ 28. Ke1 Rh2 29. Bf1
29... Bg4 I spent a little time on the spectacular looking 29... Qg4 but missed that 30. Kd2 (30. Bxd4 Qxg3) could be met by 30... Bxf1 and White is pinned along the 7th rank. 30. b5 Nf3+ 31. Kd1 Ng1+ 32. Kd2 Bh3 33. Be2 Nxe2 34. Kxe2 Qg4+ 35. Kd2 Qxg3 36. Rc2 Rxf2+ 37. Bxf2 Qxf2+ 38. Kc3 Qxc2+ 39. Kxc2 f5 40. exf5 Bxf5 41. Kd2 g5 42. Ke2 g4 43. Kf2 Bxd3 44. c5 dxc5 45. Kg3 c4 46. Kxg4 c3 47. Kf3 c2 48. Ke3 c1=Q+ 49. Kxd3 Qf4 50. Ke2 e4 51. Ke1 Qh2 52. Kf1 e3 53. Ke1 Qf2+ 54. Kd1 Qd2# [0:1]
In the first round, I had White against Corry Marsh, the younger brother of Matthew Marsh, who has played in the Championship several times. Corry's plan for this year was to try to qualify for the Championship by getting the wild card spot for the most points scored in the qualifying events without qualifying from won. He was on the way to this when he upset Boris Fine in the final round of the July qualifier to gain his spot in the Championship.
Unfortunately, he got off to a rough start in the tournament as I got a full point without having to do any work when he repeated a bad line I had previously beaten a couple of times. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 I played 7. Nf3 c5 8. Rb1 in the May qualifier, but he seemed pretty well prepared there, so I decided to throw a different variation at him this time 7... c5 8. Qd2 Qa5 9. Rb1 cxd4 10. cxd4 Qxd2+ 11. Kxd2 b6 About 10 days later he played the normal 11... O-O against me in our game at Webb School. 12. Bd3 Bb7 13. Nf3 O-O 14. Rhc1 Nc6 15. d5 Ne5 Black has played sensible looking moves so far, but after the text he loses material. However, the alternative 15... Na5 16. Rc7 is nice for White too. 16. Rc7 Nxd3 17. Rxb7
Instead of recapturing the knight, White takes the bishop hitting e7 and leaving Nd3 without a good place to go. Remarkably, this was the 3rd time I had reached this position. 17...Ne5 17... Nc5 18. Bxc5 bxc5 19. Rxe7 Rfe8 20. Rbb7 Rxe7 21. Rxe7 a5 22. Rc7 Bf8 23. Kc2 Re8 24. e5 h6 25. d6 Kg7 26. Rxc5 a4 27. d7 Rd8 28. Rc7 Be7 29. Nd4 Kf8 30. Nc6 1-0 was Bereolos-Murray in the 2000 Knoxville Championship Qualifier 18. Nxe5 Bxe5 19. Rxe7 Rfe8 20. Rxe8+ Rxe8 21. f4 Bg7
The first new move. 21... Bb8 22. Rc1 Kf8 23. Kd3 Ke7 24. e5 Kd7 25. Ke4 f6 26. Bd4 fxe5 27. fxe5 Re7 28. e6+ 1-0 was Bereolos -Sherwood 2000 US Open 22. Kd3 Rc8 23. Rc1 Rxc1 24. Bxc1 Kf8 25. Kc4 a6 26. Be3 Bh6 27. g3 Ke7 28. Bxb6 g5 29. Be3 gxf4 30. Bxf4 Kd7? 31. Bxh6 [1:0]
The annual Kings Island Open was held in the middle of last month. Attendance still seemed down, but the open section was pretty strong with GMs Kaidanov, Sadvakasov, and Goldin at the top of the wall chart. I drove up Friday and played the evening round even though I didn't arrive as early as I should have. In the first round I had Black in a very complex game versus Garrett Smith. My king had floated in the center for most of the game and even a queen exchange didn't give me full relief after 27...Ne6
28. Bd7 Black wriggles out after 28. Nd7 Bxf2+ 29. Kxf2 Rb2+ 30. Kf1 Rxc6 28... Rxc3 29. Nc6+ Kxd7 30. Nxb8+ Kc8 31. Na6 Nf4 I didn't want to allow a rook exchange, but 31... Rc2 32. Rec1 Rxc1+ 33. Rxc1+ Kb7 may be an improvement 32. Ra2 This was accompanied by a draw offer. I had less than 5 minutes to reach move 40, and accepted it. It was probably better to activate the rook and not be concerned with the attack on f2 32. Re7 Rc2 33. Rxf7 Rxf2 (33... Nd3 34. Rxg7 Nxf2 35. Kf1) 34. Kh1 looks better for White. After the text, things are more complicated. We spent a long time in postmortem trying to figure out what was going on, but didn't reach any definite conclusions. After the obvious 32... Nd3 we mainly focused on 33. Rf1 Kb7 34. g3 Nc1 (34... Nxf2!? is interesting 35. Rfxf2 Rf3 36. Nb4 a5 37. Nd5 Rxf2 38. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 39. Kxf2 Kc6 40. Nc3 Kc5 and despite his piece deficit, Black appears to be doing fine as the a-pawn will tie down the White king and knight while Black can create another passer on the kingside, so White probably has to go 35. Kg2 instead) when the game could end in repetition after 35. Ra1 Nd3. Instead, the engine likes 33. Rb1 Kb7 34. h4 with small advantage to White.
I was on the other side of an exchange up position in Round 2 with White versus Kasun Waidyaratne. In this case it was probably better to play more defensively, but I went for active play for my rooks and he had full compensation after 25...Rxb2
26. Re1? 26. Nxf7 Nh3 27. Nh6+ Kf8 28. Rf7+ Ke8 29. Re1+ Kd8 is about equal 26... Nh3! I only expected 26...Nd3 27.Re8+ Kg7 28.Rxf7+ Kh6 29.Ne4 and all the key squares are covered. It took me awhile to appreciate the difference 27. Re8+ Kg7 28. Rxf7+ Kh6 29. Rb7 The vicious point is 29. Ne4 Bg1 and White is helpless to defend against mate on h2 29...Rxa2 30. Nf7+ Kh5 31. Rb1 Nf2+ 32. Kg2 Ne4+ 33. Kh3 Nd2 34. Rd1 Nxf3 35. Kg3 Ng5 36. Nd6 h6 37. Rd3? Ra6? Black could have finished things off with the same 37... Bg1 move that was the key earlier. After the text, I managed to grovel my way to an eventual draw.
After two complex draws, I reached a more dry position in Round 3 as White against Fred Allsbrook after 20. Re2
With the symmetrical pawn structure without queens, one might think that not much is going on. However, White has some annoying pressure. White is planning to double on the e-file, Black would like to neutralize this with a rook exchange, but 20... Bd7 21. Rxe8+ either a7 or f5 drops or 20... Bf8 21. Rde1 Red8 22. Rxe6 Rxd4 23. Bxf5 when 23...Rxc4 24. Re8 is very strong for White. He decided to block the attack on a7 then guard f5, but this left a weakness on b5. 20...c5 21. Bf2 g6 21... Bd7 22. Rxe8+ Rxe8 23. Nb5 Bxb5 24. cxb5 g6 25. Bc4 is comfortable for White. 22. Nb5 Bd7 23. Nxd6 Nxd6 24. Bxc5 and I converted the extra pawn.
The next morning I forgot my opening preparation as Black against Christopher Nienhart and fell into a very passive ending. After 25...Re8 he went in for a forcing continuation to try to finish the game
26. Nc5 Instead, I was much more afraid of 26. c5 Be6 27. Nd6 Re7 while in the postmortem he suggested just continuing the king march he had started a few moves earlier with 26. Kc3 Re7 27. Kb4 Bf5 28. Rxe7 Nxe7 29. Kc5 Kc7 30. b4 26... Re7 27. Rxd7+ Rxd7 28. Nxd7 Kxd7 29. Bf5+ Black should also be able to hold the bishop versus knight ending after 29. b4 Ne7 29... Kc7 30. Bxc8 Kxc8 31. Kd3 I thought 31. g4 g6 32. h4 might be a try, but Black can still continue with 32...f5 since the attempt at breakthrough doesn't work 33. h5 gxh5 34. gxf5 h4 35. Ke3 c5 and Black wins 31... f5 32. b4 Kb7 33. h4 h5 34. Kc3 Kb6 35. Kb3 c5 36. b5 White has a protected passed pawn, but no entry into the Black fortress [½:½]
It is very unusual for me to go a whole tournament and not play someone I had played before. In the final round, I was finally paired with a familiar opponent, my Tempo teammate Jerry Wheeler. There was an unusual situation right at the start of our game. After I had played my first move, the TD (for the first time in my experience, Bill Goichberg was not on had to run a CCA tournament) came rushing into the playing area to stop the games on Boards 5-10 since Dimitry Berkovich who had taken a half-point bye in the previous round had been paired as if he had gotten a zero-point bye. Most of the games stopped after only a few moves had been played, but boards 7 and 8 were in a different row from the others and continued on for quite a few moves while things were being sorted out. I thought this might cause some problems if they got too far along (indeed the game just below the affected boards agreed to a draw before everything got fixed), but finally everything got worked out. I still ended up with White against Jerry, but on one board further down. We reached a position known to theory after 11...e5 but it was apparent that he wasn't familiar with it, since he had taken 55 minutes to get here.
For a player who doesn't know the position, my next move probably was a bit of a shock 12. Rxb7 and this sent him into the tank for a further 40 minutes, but in the end he produced an interesting move 12... Bh3!? The main line is thought to be a bit better for White after 12... exd4 13. Rb3 Be6 14. Bxa8 Na6 15. Bf3 Bxb3 16. Qxb3 as in Kasparov-Anand 1999 Wijk aan Zee blitz tournament. Now it was my turn for a long think as White has quite a few candidate moves such as 13. Nc6 and 13. Bf3, but I eventually found a convincing refutation 13. Bxh3! Qd5 14. O-O I think this is the first time in my practice that I have castled with my rook under attack 14... Qxb7 15. Bg2 e4 16. Qc2 f5 17. Nxf5 Nc6 I had spent a lot of time at move 13 trying to calculate 17... Rxf5 18. Bxe4 which should be good for White, but I eventually found the simpler 18. Qxe4 which wins easily for White. After the text, he keeps his extra exchange for the moment, but I have 3 pawns and he still has problems with the pin on the long diagonal to go with a lack of time. 18. Qxe4 Rac8 19. Nd4 Bc5 20. Qd5+ [1:0]
I was reasonably happy with this performance, which was good enough for a 4th place tie. I held draws in the difficulty positions, but just reached too many of them!
The week after the Space City Open, I played in a one-day, G/60 event in Knoxville at Webb School. I haven't played a G/60 event in a while, but I wanted to support what was the first weekend tournament in Knoxville since the 2002 Tennessee Open. I was pretty happy with my play, except for one horrendous move, which relegated me to second place.
After winning round 1, I had a nice finish as White against David Presley in Round 2 after 14...Qe7
15. Qb7 hitting a6, a7, and d7 15...Nc7 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Rad1 Rfd8 18. Rxd7 even stronger than 18. Nxd7 18... Rxd7 19. Qxc8+ and he resigned rather than facing 19... Rd8 20. Nc6! and White will emerge with a full extra rook [1:0]
I was cruising along in Round 3 with Black against Peter Suich, the younger brother of Joshua Suich, who I've played several times. After 27. Qd4 in addition to being a pawn up, I can launch a direct attack on his king
27...f4 clearing a path for the bishop to enter the game 28. Rd8 28. gxf4 Bh3+ leads to mate 28... f3+ 29. Kf2 Rxc3 30. Rxe8+ Qxe8 31. Rd2 Re3?? A complete blackout, of course Black is winning easily with his extra piece after 31...Rc1. I guess because the rook was safe on e3 previously I didn't even consider 32. Qxe3 and White won without difficulty.
In the final round, I had White against Corry Marsh, while trying to convert my extra pawn in the ending after 30...Ra2+ I had to sidestep a geometrical motif
31. Kg1 While I wasn't really seriously considering playing 31. Rb2? because the double bishop ending would likely be drawn, White wouldn't even get half a point if Black then spots 31... Bb6! winning a piece. After this, he went wrong with 31... Bd2?! 31...Bc7 covering b8 was more tenacious 32. Bd5 Because of the weak back rank, Black must accept another weakness on e6 32...Rc2 33. Bxe6 fxe6 and now the extra pawn, the weakness on e6 and the ability to cut off the Black king along the back rank were quite sufficient for me to win.