chess landscaping · 2020-02-16 · the . colorado state chess association, incorporated, is a...

Volume 47, Number 1 January 2020 COLORADO STATE CHESS ASSOCIATION

COLORADO CHESS INFORMANT

Chess Landscaping

®

The Colorado State Chess Association, Incorporated, is a

Section 501(C)(3) tax exempt, non-profit educational corpora-

tion formed to promote chess in Colorado. Contributions are

tax deductible.

Dues are $15 a year. Youth (under 20) and Senior (65 or older)

memberships are $10. Family memberships are available to

additional family members for $3 off the regular dues. Scholas-

tic tournament membership is available for $3.

● Send address changes to Ann Davies.

● Send pay renewals & memberships to Dean Brown.

● See back cover for EZ renewal form.

The Colorado Chess Informant (CCI) is the official publication

of the CSCA, published four times a year in January, April,

July and October.

Articles in the CCI do not necessarily reflect the views of the

CSCA Board of Directors or its membership.

In This Issue

3. The 2019 Class Championship Report

4. Letter to CSCA Members

CSCA President Paul Covington

6. 2nd CSCA Board Meeting

8. Pawn Garden - Chess Landscaping for the Yard

NM Todd Bardwick

14. The Life of Senior Master Imre Barlay

DuWayne Langseth, et al.

18. Winter Springs Open

Richard “Buck” Buchanan

22. Denver Chess Club Fall Classic

J.C. MacNeil

24. Watson - Carlson 1975

Curtis Carlson

34. 2019 London Chess Classic Report

John Brezina

36. Games From the 2019 Colorado Open (Part II)


41. Colorado Chess Club Directory

42. The Chess Detective

NM Todd Bardwick

44. Tactics Time!

Tim Brennan

46. Upcoming Colorado Tournaments

From the Editor

With the New Year comes new ideas and resolutions from the

Board. The first few pages of this issue lists all the recent hap-

penings - so be sure to give them at least, an interested glance.

Among the many fine articles you will find is NM Todd Bard-

wick’s rather unique way of landscaping his property - the time

and effort he put into such an endeavor is amazing.

Sadly, 2019 saw the passing of Colorado’s own Imre Barlay. His

was an interesting life and the story is told by DuWayne

Langseth and others. He will be sorely missed.

Many other fine stories inside, so don’t hesitate - jump right in!

May Caissa be with you.

Fred Eric Spell

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Colorado Chess Informant

January 2020

Informant Article Submission Deadlines:

January issue - December 21 / April issue - March 21

July issue - June 21 / October issue - September 21

(Email articles to [email protected])

© 2020 Colorado State Chess Association

CSCA Board of Directors

President:

Paul Covington [email protected]

Vice President:

Kevin McConnell

[email protected]

Secretary:

Ann Davies

[email protected]

Treasurer:

Dean Brown [email protected]

Junior Representative:

Griffin McConnell

[email protected]

Members at Large:

Lior Lapid

[email protected]

Gracie Salazar

[email protected]

CSCA Appointees

USCF Delegates:


[email protected]

Paul Covington [email protected]

CCI Editor:

Fred Eric Spell

[email protected]

Correspondence Chess:

Klaus Johnson

[email protected]

Scholastic Chess:

Lior Lapid

[email protected]

Webmaster & Tournament

Clearinghouse:

Dean Clow

[email protected]

CSCA Historian:

Todd Bardwick

[email protected]

Volume 47, Number 1

On the cover:

NM Todd Bardwick’s

Pawn Garden

www.ColoradoChess.com


Colorado Chess Informant Volume 47, Number 1 January 2020

The 2019 Class Championship Report

42 players registered and 31 fought through the snow storm and bitter cold weather to the

finish. Overall, a quality event. Prize winners and prize fund listed below.

Thank you to all who attended.

We collected $1,750 in entries: The prize fund was $1,225 (70% of the entries).

The tournament costs were:

Site cost $416, TD fee $0, Rating fee $18.50, Two packs of scoresheets: ~$16.00.

Other related items:

Ent Federal Credit Union donated ink pens.

Ann Davies bought me a hamburger on Saturday.

I donated the usual TD fees and hotel / food costs to the CSCA as a gift in kind.

I think what about wraps it up.

2019 Class Championships were a success. The main distractor was the weather! Snow and

cold (Colorado staples) resulted in some withdrawals and unusual pairings.

Congrats to all the winners (all those who played)

and to the Champions (those who finished in 1st place!):

Master/Expert: 1st Daniel Herman - $130.00

Master/Expert: 2nd Rhett Langseth - $70.00

Class A/Unrated: 1st Brad Lundstrom & Joshua Samuel - $92.50 each.

Class B: 1st Wesley Woo - $170.00

Class B: 2nd Luke Namesnik - $85.00

Class C: 1st Nicholas Miller - $130.00

Class C: 2nd Norbert Martinez - $65.00

Class D: 1st Charles Zhang - $130.00

Class D: 2nd Kenneth Scott & Nathan Woo - $32.50 each.

Class E/Unrated: 1st Daniel Smith - $130.00

Class E/Unrated: 2nd Randy Richter & Shirley Herman - $32.50 each.

The next CSCA event is the Senior Championship and the under 50 tournament at the same

location: The Ranch in Loveland, March 14 & 15, 2020. See you there!

Paul Covington

Chief Tournament Director

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Letter to CSCA Members

CSCA President Paul Covington

What does the CSCA Board do? Here is an update since the Membership meeting in September.

First, a giant thank you to all members for your support of our board. As board members, we have a responsibility to

provide a quality chess experience to our members. We take that responsibility seriously.

After a rocky start, we really came together in our first board meeting. A time of sharing produced a number of ideas of

things the board could do to promote Colorado chess. Everyone got involved with discussing what we could do and how

we could make those ideas happen.

One thing we decided right away was to conduct the 2019 Class Championships which had been canceled during the

summer. Forty-two players entered in spite of a snow storm and cold weather.

Ann Davies, Kevin McConnell and Dean Brown put in stellar efforts to increase the CSCA memberships and update the

membership records. Members support is vital if we are to make Colorado chess better.

We have all the “regular” events scheduled and are preparing for a great chess season: Scholastic State Championships

will be a festive event-Feb 14, 15 & 16; Senior and Under 50 Championship in Loveland-Mar 14 & 15; All Girls

Scholastic tournament-Mar 28; Colorado Closed Championships in Denver Apr 3, 4 & 5; Colorado Class

Championships in Manitou Springs Art Center-May 16 & 17; CSCA Quick & Blitz Warmup-Jun 13 and Championship

Jul 18; AND then the Colorado State Championship Open Festival-Sep 4, 5 & 6. Details for this events are on the

ColoradoChess.com website.

We are supporting the Denver Open by bringing in GMs/IMs to enrich the CSCA members’ chess experience. Our

agreement with DCC includes the FIDE section WILL have space for members to see the games this year.

The board has committed to raising funds to meet the $2,500 pledge for the DO-2020 event. Our first Facebook

Fundraiser brought in $520. Shirley Herman organized that fundraiser and pledged to match the funds. An additional $25

was pledged. I am thrilled to report that I received the check from those pledges. $545 will be put into the account to

support the CSCA pledge.

Ann was inspired but wasn’t on Facebook and wrote a check to CSCA for $100 to support the Board’s commitment to

the Denver Open. Everyone on the Board has donated in some form: Time, Treasure, and Talent. That is how things get

done!

Ann attended a seminar on Grant Writing, then wrote the first CSCA Grant request. Kevin assisted, checking details,

supporting her effort. We are hoping for an approval. She gifted the seminar fees to the CSCA as a “gift in kind” ($113)

which does not show up in our financial reports.

We are assisting in bringing the 4th Annual FIDE World Youth Chess Championship for the Disabled to Denver. The

teams and staff will be in town around June 28 through July 7. This will be an opportunity to see young chess players

from all over the world. I have been told some of the organizations wear very colorful uniforms!

CSCA has a special fund set aside from donations to support our youth who are officially invited to represent the United

States in overseas chess tournaments. Griffin McConnell was the only US representative on Team Americas which

played in Turkey in early December. We supported him with $500 from that fund. Special thanks to Lior Lapid for

accompanying him on the trip and served as the Team Americas’ coach.

We have reinstituted the Colorado Chess Hall of Fame. Randy Canney has agreed to lead the committee that will make

the selections.

Volume 47, Number 1 January 2020



We have ordered four DGT Bluetooth chess boards and sets to replace the aging ones we presently use. This was a big

decision which should support Colorado chess for years.

We reorganized the Scholastic Chess program. The CSCA Treasurer has responsibility for all accounts. He works

closely with the Scholastic Chess Director regarding financial matters. The Scholastic Director is still appointed by the

Board and manages the Scholastic program.

The Denver Scholastic Chess League is being brought back under the Board (It was started by a previous Scholastic

Director years ago) starting with the 2020 school year. Our Non-Profit status is important to helping spread this program

statewide. We are looking for a volunteer to manage this program.

We started two new programs. Ann Davies headed up two All Girls chess programs in Title 1 schools and purchased

chess sets for those programs. She is actively working to expand these All Girl programs. She also established “The

Templeton Fund”, in honor of her parents, designated to purchasing chess sets for Title 1 girls chess programs. Her

starter donation of $300 will supply chess sets for these children. The second program, Griffin McConnell is teaching

chess at two schools for the disabled. Both have volunteered their time for these activities.

Another startup, CWCWC (Colorado Women’s Chess and Wine Club) is operated by Gracie Salazar, our new Member

at Large. We hope this program will expand to other cities and the ladies will become tournament chess players.

Additionally, Gracie has taken on the task of assisting in CSCA communications via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Your Board has spent countless hours working together to make this “chess year” a great one for all CSCA members.

Some Boards say things were very smooth with minimal time required. This hasn’t been the case with our board. To date

over 470 emails have filled my CSCA email box with many others coming into my Paul email account. To all of our

dedicated board members, I give a shout out: Your hard work, donations, and support have made this a great year to be

President and I thank you!

Colorado Chess Hall of Fame

This will be the second induction class to the Colorado Chess Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be held on September

4th at 5:30 PM. Send supporting information such as games, articles, photos, stories, etc. to help the committee with

their selection process. Send your nominations to Randy Canney. His email is: [email protected].

The cutoff for nominations this year is March 31.

Request for Donations

CSCA requests donations from its membership and friends to support ongoing initiatives in Title 1 and other schools.

These are schools which can’t fund after school chess programs. They are on federal assistance programs for lunches -

more clearly stated: these are poor neighborhoods whose children could benefit from the training that chess programs

provide.

Your donations will be applied to activities that you choose. The donations qualify for tax deductions (verify with your

tax accountant) because the CSCA is a 501(c)3 Charitable organization.

The CSCA Board is pushing to fulfill our charter with the State of Colorado. Your support and donations will help

achieve those goals. As you already know, all Board members are volunteers.

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2nd

CSCA Board Meeting

September 29, 2019

We held our meeting in the Castle Rock Food Court.

After “roll call” we established there was a quorum.

At 12:00 noon the meeting was called to order.

Attendance:

Paul Covington (President), Kevin McConnell (Vice President), Dean Brown (Treasurer), Ann Davies

(Secretary), Griffin McConnell (Junior Representative), Lior Lapid (Member at Large / Scholastic Director),

Gracie Salazar (Member at Large)

Guests: Shirley Herman arrived shortly after beginning of meeting.

Board approved the following motions (at various times during the meeting):

Acceptance of 1st meeting’s minutes.

Agreed to post US Chess document, Safe Play Guidelines, at our tournaments and have the members vote

on implementing for CSCA.

Authorized Kevin McConnell to collect CSCA dues and deposit them at US Bank.

Eliminating length of tournament memberships except for Scholastic events (this will greatly simplify

bookkeeping).

Authorized researching Credit Card acceptance at tournaments.

Authorized ordering scoresheets and membership forms as needed.

Pledged $2,500 for bringing five Titled Players to Denver Open 2020.

Dean and Ann will determine if refunds are due for any who should have only paid the family membership

rate.

Authorized $540.00 to start the Colorado Women’s Chess and Wine Club.

Established the selection criteria for the Colorado Closed invitational championships.

Finances:

Dean Brown gave a full accounting of all the finances. He plans to produce an actual CSCA budget once the

contracts for tournament sites are signed. All CSCA accounts are consolidated at US Bank. Three accounts:

Primary/Main (the general account) $12,273.36; Invitational (set-a-side for invitational events-primarily

overseas) $978.19; and the Scholastic (reserved for Scholastic events and expenses) $20,468.41.

STRIPE – There are no standard operating procedures regarding STRIPE. He noted two additions to the

account for $14.28 (two $15 memberships). He does not know how STRIPE memberships get inputted.

Routine Expenses are non-tournament related $648 (stamps, secretary of state payment, US Chess affiliation,

insurance, Chess Journalists of America entry fees, domain name). He will budget $750 to cover these routine

yearly expenses.

Line Item Budget Expenses will vary year by year and administration by administration. These are primarily

site costs. Currently, we only have three tournaments that have site costs associated with them unless we have

a tournament in another part of the state. (Colorado Open, Class 2019, Senior/Under 50).

There are five checks still outstanding which have not been cashed. Sheridan check for blitz night has not been

cashed.

Outstanding debt - the only outstanding debt is the second half of Loveland for 2019 Class and 2020 Senior/

Under 50.




Standard Operating Procedures:

Paul wants to develop a book for Standard Operating Procedures so future boards will have guidelines of

things that need to be done. These include -

Operating Expenses: insurance, affiliate fees, domain name fees, State of Colorado fees, and variable expenses

(printing costs for membership forms, renaissance festival flyers, awards, bank fees, check fees, credit card/

STRIPE fees).

Tournament Expenses: TD fees, stipends for travel, meals, reasonable expenses for those working

tournaments, TLAs, paper for printing standings and prize fund listings, site costs, rating fees, STRIPES usage

fees, score sheets and others I may have missed.

Tournaments:

Scheduling and contracts in progress. Follow up and details in next meeting minutes. Hotel prices have

increased and will affect future entry fees.

CSCA - DCC Committee report:

Kevin and Ann met with DCC representatives to discuss whether or not the CSCA would have a part in the

Denver Open 2020. After discussion, the CSCA decided to support the Denver Open. We pledged $2,500.00 to

support bringing titled players (5 x $500) to the DO2020. Board members will raise funds to support this

effort.

(Added note: Shirley Herman has conducted a fund raiser to support this effort: $1,020 to date has been

pledged. Thank you Shirley!).

Ann is volunteer teaching an All Girls program at two Title 1 schools. Griffin is also volunteer teaching at a

school which only works children with autism, dyslexia and ADHD. We hope to raise funds to support these

schools next semester.

Colorado Women’s Chess and Wine Club:

Is an effort to bring women into chess through chess classes with a social flavor. We did allocate funds to

support this effort. (Attendees will purchase their own wine.)

DGT equipment:

Lior will expand this research and report his finding.

Colorado Closed Championships:

Set the selection criteria as -

Top six rated players that apply to play.

US Chess registration must be listed as CO (Colorado).

February Rating Supplement will be used for player’s ratings.

(This applies to the Colorado Championship and the Colorado Scholastic Championship.)

The entry fees will be $40.00. First place prize is $150. Second place prize is $90.

Other initiatives:

We are looking into forming Scholastic leagues throughout Colorado schools, restarting the school chess

teams’ championship program, and developing a way to serve the underserved areas in Colorado.

Meeting was adjourned at 3:00pm.

k




Pawn Garden - Chess Landscaping for the Yard

by NM and Civil Structural Engineer, Todd Bardwick

Have you ever thought about chess landscaping for your yard? Here is a couple of ideas...

When planning a garden for the back yard, I decided on a raised garden (with the idea that it would keep the critters out - it really

didn’t work - squirrels and rabbits are good jumpers and pretty determined to get the food they want to eat!), but didn’t want to build

a boring rectangular one... so why not go with a chess theme?

Sounds simple enough, but being a structural engineer by trade, I knew that proper engineering would need to be incorporated into

the design. Here is the step by step process on how to build one.

Think of the planning stage as the opening, the building stage as the middlegame, and enjoying the fruits of your labor as the

endgame.

First of all, you need to decide what materials to use. I decided to go with concrete stacking pavestone blocks that can be bought at a

home improvement or landscape store. Concrete blocks will last much longer than treated wood, which discolors and deteriorates

over time.

I chose the 23.75# blocks. Larger sizes are available, but would be more difficult to work with because of the weight.

Originally, my garden was going to be a king. After laying out the blocks to outline the shape, I went upstairs to take a look from

above. The cross on the king’s head was much too small. I measured the height of the king’s cross from a couple different chess sets

and discovered it to be about to be about 1/7 the height of piece. By increasing the size of the cross to scale, the length of the garden

(height of the king) would increase significantly.

The invisible part of the planning process is determining where the sprinkler lines run underground... you don’t want to build the

structure on a sprinkler line in case it leaked and needed repair sometime in the future. In my yard, the sprinkler lines run a few feet

below the right-hand base of the pawn and just above its head, off to the right. To make a king with the proper dimensions and avoid

the sprinkler line buried below the surface, the king would have to shrink quite a bit in height. The cross would be wasted planting

space. Considering these challenges, my king idea turned into a pawn.




Outline of Base

Long pieces of wood (like 2x4s) are good measuring tools when laying out the blocks for straightness and symmetry from the center

line of the pawn. The circular head of the pawn can be done accurately by hammering a stake at the center and tying a piece of string

that can be used to measure an exact radius.

Make sure to check the general shape and dimensions by looking out an upstairs window to get a birds-eye view before starting

construction. (In carpenter terms - measure twice, cut once. In chess terms - apply Blumenfeld’s Rule to check for blunders before

making your move.)

You will need to calculate the number of blocks to buy as well the volume of the dirt to order. hπr2 gives the volume of the dirt

required in the head of the pawn with h = height or depth of the dirt and r = inner radius of the pawn’s head. Calculating the

approximate building material required for the rest of the structure is a bit less exact.

Dig Out Base Outline

Dig out the dirt from under the outline where the base layer of blocks will be placed. Add crushed granite for a foundation. The

crushed granite allows water to drain from the structure after watering in the summer and for snow melt in the winter.

Besides allowing water drainage, the crushed granite is used to level the bottom layer of blocks. After laying out the correct shape,

each block needs to be carefully leveled on the crushed granite. Tap the blocks with a rubber mallet until each block is level in both

directions. Some of the blocks fell almost perfectly into level in my first attempt, while others required over half an hour of tapping,

checking the level, and adding or subtracting crushed granite below the block. It took hours to level all 89 blocks in the base layer.




Shovel crushed granite under the dugout base to replace the dirt and provide a solid foundation.

Level the bottom layer of blocks both directions with a rubber mallet.

The fun part is building up the higher block layers... which is much quicker than leveling the base and makes the structure look like a

giant cookie cutter. I built the pawn six layers of blocks high. If you go much higher, your upper layers may become unstable and

more advanced engineering similar to that for building retaining walls is needed for the structure and may be required by the city.

Each block has a lip on the back side that helps line up the blocks.

As long as the bottom layer is level, the upper layers should also be level.

Build up higher layers.

Add crushed granite three layers high about six inches wide inside the block structure. This will give the water an easy path to the

crushed granite below for drainage so the walls won’t swell and push the blocks out.

In the bottom three layers, add 6” crushed granite inside the blocks for drainage.

Next, I dug out a couple feet around the pawn and put down metal edging as a barrier between the pawn and the grass line. This

makes mowing easy without having to use an edger.




Dig out the dirt around outer edge a couple feet and put in edging.

Place weed fabric between the edging and the structure. I chose red breeze to cover the weed fabric.

Once raked level, lightly water the breeze and tamp down hard with a hand tamper.

Weed fabric with red breeze on top of it.

Fill in the garden with a good planter’s mix of dirt to grow vegetables in.

Top off with planter’s mix dirt for vegetables to grow in.

Just like in a real chess game, if you play the opening and middlegame well, the endgame will be enjoyable!

Finished garden with kids visiting for a chess tournament and growing vegetables.

Note the pawn garden is on a slight hill, with the right-hand side of the pawn on higher ground. The bottom layer of blocks on this

side is underground. The bottom layer must be perfectly level all the way around, if you hope for the garden to last over time and not

tip over. (Plan for the endgame!)




Like the Great Pyramid of Giza and Great Wall of China,

the Pawn Garden can be seen on Google Earth!

View from Google Earth

Specifications and Dimensions:

Height – 26 feet

Outside diameter of the head – 9.5 feet

Base width – 13.5 feet

Total number of 23.75# blocks – 506 – weighing about 12,000 pounds

Two foot pathway around the pawn – 4,000 pounds of red breeze

Dirt – 15,000 pounds

Crushed granite for base and drainage – 9,000 pounds

Flagstone on top of dirt – 600 pounds

Total weight – Just over 40,000 pounds, or 20 tons!




Tree Stump Rook

Normally when a tree dies and has to be taken out, you have to hire a company to grind the stump…which can run around $300.

Searching the internet for other ideas (originally I was thinking of making it a base for a chess table), I discovered tree stump houses

are a popular choice. Search “tree stump house” online and you find pictures of some incredible tree stump house designs peop le

have done. After looking at the tree stump houses, I came up with the idea of turning my stump into a chess piece.

A rook seemed the most logical choice. (If you are a really good at woodworking, perhaps you could carve the tree trunk into a

knight!?)

I built the Tree Stump Rook for about $125. I purchased two 18” and two 24” diameter rounds from Home Depot and Lowes (one

size had to be special ordered). Also required is a waterproof wood stain, part of a 4x4 for the top of the rook (battlement) , screws,

waterproof wood glue, wood filler, and clear caulking.

Level and sand off the top of the tree stump. Cut the 4x4 pieces to size and stain them and the wood rounds…it is best to use a

couple coats of stain to insure longevity.

Glue and/or screw the 4x4 blocks of the battlement into the top-layer round. Be careful if using screws not to split the rounds. Glue

and screw the bottom round onto the top of the tree stump. Glue (or screw) the upper rounds on top of the base round. If gluing,

clamp the layers together or place something heavy the highest layer as you go to apply pressure while the glue sets.

Fill in the spaces between the bottom layer and tree stump with wood filler. Wood filler is thick, sticky and potentially toxic if you

touch it…it is nasty stuff and a pain to apply.

After it dries, stain the wood filler and seal all the gaps throughout with clear caulking to prevent water and bugs from getting in.

k




IMRE BARLAY

1929 - 2019



The Life of Senior Master

Imre Barlay

August 8, 1929 - October 13, 2019

by DuWayne Langseth, with contributions from Claire Silveri,

Peter Barlay, Earle Wikle, and Paul Covington

One of the most familiar faces at Colorado Springs chess

tournaments in the last twenty years was that of Imre Barlay. He

played a strong game even in his advanced years, but few of his

opponents knew they were sitting across from one of the most

accomplished and interesting chess players in Colorado history.

The United States Chess Federation awarded Imre the title of

Senior Master (rated at least 2400) in 1981 when he resided in

California, and his FIDE rating reached a high of 2285 then as

well. Seventeen years later, he moved to Colorado Springs with

his son, Peter. Imre’s rating remained over 2200 until 2003, and

was above 2000 as late as 2014. He won the first annual

California Intercollegiate title in 1959, with a perfect 5-0 score,

and at the time was well-known in Southern California chess. As

a youth, he was a friend and college chess teammate of

Grandmaster Pal Benko in their homeland of Hungary.

In Imre’s latter years, I was his most frequent and last opponent,

playing eleven four-game chess matches with him from 2015 to

2018 at G/90; +30. During that point in his life, we were similar

in ability, good competition for each other, and developed a

close friendship. He also played matches with Sam Bridle, Brian

Rountree, Larry Wutt, Aleksandr Bozhenov, and Alex Freeman

around the same time frame.

Biography

Imre Braun was born in Budapest, Hungary the youngest of four

children, to Ferdinand and Anna (Szekely) Braun. During the

Russian occupation of World War II, he changed his last name

to Barlai to avoid being mistaken as Jewish, since it was a

particularly hostile environment for Jews. He thought his new

name was safer.

When Imre was sixteen years old, his father died, a casualty of

the war. Imre told the story of his own escape to Austria after

being detained near the border by unfriendly Russians. They

released him when by chance a press vehicle drove up. He

immigrated to the United States in 1956 and was granted

citizenship in 1962, when he Americanized his name to Barlay.

Some of his games and results can be found online under the

previous spelling.

Imre graduated from San Diego State College in 1961 with a

bachelors degree in mathematics, and in 1982 he earned a

masters degree in psychology from Pepperdine University. He

told of being accepted to the Harvard psychology masters

program but he decided against it for family reasons. Imre spoke

five languages including English, Hungarian, Spanish, German

and French, which explains his credentials to work as a court

and diplomatic interpreter. He also had a career as a therapist

and counselor, giving sessions in stress management, relaxation,

self-esteem, family issues, and drug/alcohol dependence. In

addition to Imre’s love of chess, he played tennis, and enjoyed

listening to a variety of music including jazz, classical, and early

R & B. He told me that he may have been better at tennis than

chess.

A tournament was held at Club Chess!! in 2017 celebrating

Imre’s 88th birthday (August 8th). He leaves behind five

children: Claire, Monica, Stephen, Gregory, and Peter, as well as

seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He will be

missed and remembered dearly by his family and the Colorado

chess community.

Imre Barlay (1800)

DuWayne Langseth (1906)

Match 9, Game 1

January 20, 2018 / Imre’s Apartment

1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 Qd6




(I devised this response to the Trompowsky Attack and beat

Brian Wall with it. I wonder if Imre had studied that, as the

result is much different here. He sometimes prepared for our

games.) 3.Qd2 Nf6 4.Nc3 Ne4 5.Nxe4 dxe4 6.e3 e6 7.Ne2 Nd7

8.Nc3 Qb6 9.Be2 Bb4 10.Bf4 O-O 11.a3 Bxc3 12.Qxc3 c6

13.b4 a6 14.O-O Nf6 15.Qb3 Bd7 16.c4

(White’s pawn storm is somewhat overwhelming. I feel like the

Imre of old was playing on this day.) 16...Rfc8 17.f3 a5

18.Rab1 a4 19.Qc2 exf3 20.Bxf3 Qd8 21.Bg5 Qf8 22.Be2 Ne8

23.e4 Qd6 24.Rbd1 f6 25.e5!

(Black is tossed around like a rag doll with no control of the

position.) 25...Qe7 26.Bh4 Qf7 27.Bd3? (Finally I get some

room to breathe. After 27.exf6 the Black king would have been

wide open.) 27...f5 28.Kh1 b5 29.c5 Qh5 30.Bf2 Nc7 31.Be2

Qg5 32.Bf3 Be8 33.Qe2 Rd8 34.Be3 Qh4 35.Qd2 h6 36.g3

Qe7 37.Rg1 Nd5 38.g4 Nxe3 39.Qxe3 Kh8 40.g5 hxg5

41.Rxg5 g6 42.Qf4 (Both 42.Rdg1! and 42.Bh5! were crushing.)

42...Rac8 43.Rg3 Rd7 44.Rh3+ Kg8 45.Rg1 Qg7 46.Qe3 Kf8

47.Rh4 Qg8 48.Rg3 Rh7 49.Rgh3 Rxh4 50.Rxh4 Rc7 51.Qg5

Rg7 52.Qf6+ Qf7 53.Qd8 Qd7 54.Rh8+ Rg8 55.Qxd7? (I feel

like Imre was being kind here. Maybe he was tired by now. On

55.Qf6+ Qf7 56.Rh7 Qxf6 57.exf6 Black can safely resign. He

completely pummeled me all game and then mercifully let me

keep half a point. I breathed a sigh of relief.) 55...Bxd7

56.Rxg8+ Kxg8 57. h4 Kg7 58.Kg2 g5 59.hxg5 Kg6 60.Kg3

Kxg5 61.Be2 ½-½

Imre Barlay (1876)


Match 1, Game 1

November 8, 2015 / Earle Wikle’s Apartment

1.d4 f5 2.e3 Nf6 3.Nf3 g6 4.Be2 Bg7 5.O-O O-O 6.b3 d6

7.Bb2 c6 8.c4 Re8 9.Qc2 Qc7 10.Nc3 Be6 11.Ng5 Bd7 12.e4

fxe4 13.Ncxe4 Na6 14.a3 Rad8 15.f4 Qc8 16.Bd3 Ng4

17.Nxh7!

(I knew I would be sacking the exchange, but my pieces are

aimed toward the vulnerable Black king.) 17...Ne3 (If 17...Kxh7

18.Ng5+ Kh8 19.Bxg6 and White has a very nice attack.)

18.Qf2 Nxf1 19.Qh4 Bf5 20.Nhg5 d5 21.Qh7+ Kf8 22.Rxf1

Rd6 (Imre wisely gives back the exchange to relieve the

pressure on his king. If 22...dxe4? then 23.d5!!) 23.Nxd6 exd6

24.Bxf5 Qxf5 25.Qh3?

(I could no longer see an attack and decided I better exchange

queens, but I underestimated the mess his rook would make on

my queenside. 25.cxd5 or 25.Nf3 would have been fine for

White.) 25...Qxh3 26.Nxh3 Re2 27.Bc3 Rc2 28.Rf3? (28.Ba1

was necessary.) 28...Rxc3! 29.Ng5 Rxf3 30.Nxf3 Bf6 31.cxd5

cxd5 32.Kf2 Nc7 33.a4 Ne6 34.Ke3 Nd8 35.g4 Nc6 36.Kd3

Bd8 37.h4 Ba5 38.Ng5 Ke7 39.Nf3 Kf6 40.Ng5 Nd8 41.Nf3

Ne6 42.Ke3 Bc3 43.Kd3 Bb2 44.h5 gxh5 0-1




Imre Barlay (2285)

GM Pal Benko (2540)

New Hampshire Tournament

1968

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bxa6 7.g3

d6 8.Bg2 Bg7 9.Qa4+ Nbd7 10.Qh4 h6 11.f4 Rb8 12.e3 Qa5

13.Nge2 Bd3 14.Kf2 g5 15.fxg5 hxg5 16.Qa4 Qxa4 17.Nxa4

Ng4+ 18.Ke1 Nxh2 19.Nac3 Ne5 20.Kd1 Nc4 21.a4 Nxb2+

22.Bxb2 Rxb2 23.Be4 Bxe2+ 24.Nxe2 Ng4 25.Rxh8+ Bxh8

26.Rb1 Nf2+ 27.Kc1 Rxe2 28.Rb8+ Kd7 29.Bf5+ e6 30.dxe6+

fxe6 31.Bxe6+ Kxe6 32.Rxh8 Nd3+ 0-1

Imre Barlay (1800)

Brian Rountree (1856)

8888 Birthday Celebration Tournament / Round 4

August 6, 2017

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Bb7

7.c3 Be7 8.Re1 O-O 9.d4 d6 10.Nbd2 h6 11.Nf1 Re8 12.Ng3

Bf8 13.h3 Na5 14.Bc2 c5 15.d5 Bc8 16.Nh2 g5 17.Nh5 Nc4

18.Qf3 Bg7 19.a4 Nxh5 20.Qxh5 Bd7 21.b3 Nb6 22.h4 f6

23.Ng4 Bxg4 24.Qxg4 Qd7 25.Qg3 c4 26.bxc4 bxa4 27.c5

dxc5 28.Bd1 Bf8 29.Bg4 Qc7 30.Be6+ Kh8 31.Qg4 Qd6

32.Re3 Nc4 33.Rh3 Rxe6 34.dxe6 Kg8 35.Be3 Bg7 36.Rd1

Nxe3 37.Rxe3 Qb6 38.e7 Qc6 39.Red3 Re8 40.Rd6 Qb5

41.Qe6+ Kh7 42.Rd8 a3 43.Rxe8 Qxe8 44.Qd7 Qxd7 45.Rxd7

a2 46.Rd1 c4 47.e8Q g4 48.h5 a1Q 49.Rxa1 g3 50.Rd1 a5

51.Qg6+ 1-0

Imre Barlay (1874)


Match 3, Game 1

December 17, 2016

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.e3 O-O

7.Bd3 b6 8.Nge2 Bb7 9.Ng3 Ne4 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Qc2 f5

12.O-O-O Nd7 13.Rde1 c5 14.f3 cxd4 15.Bxe4 dxc3 16.Bxf5

cxb2+ 17.Kb1 Ne5 18.Bxh7+ Kh8 19.Bd3 Qa3 20.Rd1 Rfc8

21.Qxb2 Rc3 22.Qxa3 Rxa3 23.Bc2 Rxe3 24.Rhe1 Nc4

25.Rxe3 Nxe3 26.Rd2 Nc4 27.Re2 Ba6 28.Re7 Na3+ 29.Kb2

Nxc2 30.Kxc2 Bc4 31.a3 a5 32.Nf5 Rc8 33.Nd6 Rc6 34.Re8+

Kh7 35.Nxc4 dxc4 36.a4 c3 37.Re4 Rg6 38.g3 Rh6? 39.Rh4!

Rxh4 40.gxh4 Kg6 41.Kxc3 Kh5 42.Kc4 Kxh4 43.Kb5 ... 1-0

k


Imre with his son Peter.



Winter Springs

Open

by Richard “Buck” Buchanan

Chief Tournament Director

The 2019 Winter Springs Open came to

pass on a sunny December weekend in

Manitou Springs. Forty players

participated in the three sections. Some

were tourney regulars, including

Colorado’s two highest rated active

players; some were youngsters

sharpening their weapons; some were old

friends who I haven’t seen for quite a

while. Among this last group were Randy

Canney, former state champion, and Ed

Sedillo from New Mexico, who I knew

long ago when I lived down there. Both

these players did well and won prizes,

though Randy generously donated his

share to the other players who had tied

with him. Be sure to play over Ed’s game

with Mirza Peljto - it’s a cliffhanger, the

most exciting game in the tournament.

The Open (June) section was by far the

most crowded, and featured Josh Bloomer

and Gunnar Andersen in the top two

spots. Gunnar, however, tripped over

Rhett Langseth in the second round, and

so once again Josh played his students,

Daniel and Sara Herman, in the last

rounds. Josh took first alone with 4-0 (not

surprising for a 2412), and was followed

a point behind by Gunnar, Randy, Neil

Bhavikatti, Sami Al-Adsani, and the

Herman siblings. Other prize winners

were Ed Sedillo and Andrew Eskenazi.

Jeff Baffo dominated the U1800 (July)

section until he had to leave before the

last round. Ted Doykos and Robert

Carlson shared the top prize with him.

The U1500 prize was split between

William Wolf and Sravyasri Lankipalle,

and Shirley Herman won the U1400

prize. Sravyasri, 13 years old, was a top

scorer in the Girls Tournament at the

Denver Open last spring, and she scored a

hard fought draw against me in a Club

Chess!! tournament a week before our

event.

The U1400 (August) section had only 7

players, of whom we lost 2 in the course

of the tournament. Victor Papa-Simil took

first with 3.5 points, followed by unrated

Austin Cook with 2.5. One delightful

player was 7-year-old Iris Li, who I am

informed by a reliable source (Dean

Brown) is the second most active

tournament player in Colorado, exceeded

only by Mr. Brown himself.

During the Saturday afternoon round I

had to leave the tournament to perform

with other members of the Colorado

Springs Chorale in Cripple Creek (alert

players noted my tux shirt with studs and

cufflinks, and suspected something was

going on). They have an annual

December event there (usually not this

early) as a fundraiser for the Aspen Mine

Center. We sang in a church west of

downtown, more than 100 years old and

with acoustics that make it a joy to

perform there. The locals are always glad

to see us, and provide a warm welcome

with goodies and meal passes to the

various casinos! I very much appreciated

Earle Wikle and Dean Brown serving as

Tournament Directors during my

absence. Thanks so much guys, I couldn’t

have done it without you.

Mirza Peljto (1912)

Randy Canney (2222)

Round 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5

5.e4 Nb6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2

Nc6 9.0-0-0 Na5 10.Bf2 Nac4 11.Bxc4

Nxc4 12.Qd3 Nd6 13.Nge2 b5 14.Kb1 a5

15.h4 a4 16.h5 b4 17.Nd5 Ba6 18.Qd2

Nc4 19.Qe1 b3 20.a3 Qd6 21.Nb4 Rfd8

22.hxg6 hxg6 23.Rc1 c5 24.Bg3 Qf6

25.Nd5 Rxd5 26.exd5 Qf5+ 27.Ka1 Nxa3

28.Be5 Qb1+!! 0-1

Eric Billaux (2102)

Charles Alexander (1800)

Round 1

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.exd6 exd6

5.c4 Nf6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0

9.Qb3 Qc8 10.Re1 Nc6 11.Be3 Na5

12.Qc3 b6 13.Nbd2 d5 14.c5 Nb7 15.Ne5

Bxe2 16.Rxe2 bxc5 17.Nc6 Re8 18.dxc5

Bxc5 19.Rae1 Bxe3 20.Rxe3 Rxe3

21.Rxe3 Qg4 22.Ne7+ Kh8 23.Qxc7 Nd8

24.Nf3 d4 25.Re1 d3 26.Ne5 d2

27.Qxd8+! 1-0

Grayson Harris (1646)

Earle Wikle (2043)

Round 1

1.d4 e6 2.Bf4 f5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Be2 Be7

5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 d6 7.0-0 Qe8 8.Bc4 Kh8

9.Ng5 Bd8 10.c3 h6 11.Nf3 g5 12.Bh2

Nc6 13.Bb5 g4 14.hxg4 Nxg4 15.d5 a6

16.Bxc6 bxc6 17.dxe6 Bxe6 18.Bf4 Qg6

19.Na3 Rg8 20.Bg3 Bf6 21.Nc2 Bc4

22.Nh4 Qh5 23.Re1 Bd5 24.Nf3 Nxf2!

25.Kxf2 Qg4 26.Rg1 Qxg3+ 27.Ke2

Bc4+ 28.Kd2 Qf2+ 29.Kc1 Rxg2

30.Rxg2 Qxg2 31.Qg1 Qxf3 32.Qg6 Bg5

0-1

Sara Herman (2018)

Andrew Eskenazi (1712)

Round 1

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6

5.Qe2 Nxe4 6.Qxe4 Nd7 7.Bc4 g6 8.Ng5

e6 9.Nxf7 Nf6 10.Nxd8 Nxe4 11.Nxe6

Bxe6 12.Bxe6 Bc5 13.f3 Ng5 14.Bb3 h5

15.d4 Be7 16.h4 Nh7 17.Bf4 Rf8 18.Bg3

Kd7 19.0-0-0 Rad8 20.d5 Rf6 21.Rhe1

Bd6 22.dxc6+ Kxc6 23.Be5 Rff8

24.Ba4+ 1-0

Scott Williams (1216)

Max Higa (1490)

Round 1

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.e4 d6

5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.0-0 Ng4

9.Bg5 f6 10.Bc1 f5 11.d5 Ne7 12.exf5

gxf5 13.h3 Nf6 14.Bg5 f4 15.Bxf6 Rxf6

16.Ne4 Rg6 17.Bd3 Bxh3 18.Neg5 Bf5

19.Ne6 Qd7 20.Bxf5 Nxf5 21.Nfg5 h6

22.Nf3 Qf7 23.Kh2 Rg4 24.Rh1 Qg6

25.Ne1 Nh4 26.g3 Rxg3 27.Rg1 Rxg1

0-1

Isaac Langer (Unrated)

Jonathan Reinhard (998)

Round 1

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 e6

5.0-0 Nf6 6.d3 a6 7.a4 d5 8.exd5 exd5

9.Bb3 Be6 10.d4 Ng4 11.h3 h5 12.Bg5

Be7 13.Qd2 cxd4 14.Ne2 Nce5 15.hxg4

Nxf3+ 16.gxf3 Bxg5 17.Qxd4 hxg4

18.Qxg7 Bf6 19.Qxh8+ Bxh8 20.Rfd1

gxf3 21.Nf4 Qg5+ 22.Kf1 Qxf4 23.a5

0-0-0 24.Rac1 Qh2 25.Ke1 Rg8 26.c4

Rg1+ 27.Kd2 Qf4+ 28.Kc2 Bf5+ 29.Rd3

Qxc1# 0-1




Rhett Langseth (2122)

Gunnar Andersen (2303)

Round 2

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6

5.Bg5 f6 6.Bh4 Ne7 7.Bd3 Bf5 8.0-0 0-0

9.Re1 Qd7 10.Nc3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Nbc6

12.Bg3 Bb4 13.a3 Bxc3 14.Qxc3 Nf5

15.Bf4 Rae8 16.Qd3 g5 17.Bg3 g4

18.Nh4 Nfxd4 19.c3 Nb3 20.Rad1 Nc5

21.Qd2 d4 22.f3 gxf3 23.Nxf3 Rxe1+

24.Bxe1 Rd8 25.Qf4 Qd6 26.Qg4+ Kh8

27.Nxd4 Ne5 28.Qf5 Ncd7 29.Rd2 Rg8

30.Kh1 Qf8 31.Ne6 Qh6 32.Nxc7 Ng4

33.h3 Qe3 34.Rd1 Nge5 35.Bh4 Rg6

36.Nd5 Qe2 37.Rg1 Kg7 38.Nf4 Qxb2

39.Nxg6 hxg6 40.Bxf6+ Kf7 41.Qf4 Nd3

42.Qc4+ Kxf6 43.Qxd3 Nf8 44.Qd6+

Kg7 45.Qe7+ Kg8 46.Rf1 Nh7 47.Qf7+

Kh8 48.Re1 1-0

Randy Canney (2222)

Elliott Woo (2086)

Round 2

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 Bg4

5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 g6 8.Bc4

e6 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Bg7 11.Ba3 Nd7

12.0-0 Qc7 13.e5 Nb6 14.Bd6 Qd7

15.Bd3 Bf8 16.Bxf8 Rxf8 17.Be4 0-0-0

18.a4 f5 19.exf6 Nd5 20.a5 Rxf6 21.Qg3

a6 22.Rfe1 Rdf8 23.Ra2 Qf7 24.c4 Nc7

25.Rb2 Rf4 26.Ree2 Ne8 27.Qb3 Qc7

28.d5 Nd6 29.Bd3 exd5 30.cxd5 c5

31.Rec2 Qxa5 32.g3 Rf3 33.Rxc5+ Qxc5

34.Rc2 Qxc2 35.Qxc2+ Kd7 36.Qe2

R8f6 37.g4 Rxf2 38.Bf5+ R2xf5 39.gxf5

Nxf5 40.Qb2 Rd6 41.Qxb7+ Ke8

42.Qxh7 Kd8 43.Qa7 Ne7 44.Kf2 Nxd5

45.Kf3 Ne7 46.Kf4 Ke8 47.Qb8+ Kd7

48.Qb7+ Ke8 49.Ke5 Rc6 50.Kf4 Kf7

51.Qb3+ Kg7 52.Qb2+ Kg8 53.Qb3+

Kg7 54.Qb2+ ½-½

Charles Alexander (1800)


Round 2

1.g3 d5 2.Bg2 e6 3.b3 Nf6 4.Bb2 Be7

5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 b6 7.c4 Bb7 8.cxd5 Nxd5

9.Nc3 Nxc3 10.Bxc3 c5 11.Rc1 Nd7

12.Rc2 Nf6 13.Qa1 g6 14.d3 Nd5 15.Bg7

Bf6 16.Bxf6 Qxf6 17.Ne5 Nb4 18.Rc4

Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Rfd8 20.Rf4 Qh8 21.Nxf7

Qxa1 22.Rxa1 Rd5 23.Nh6+ Kg7 24.Ng4

a5 25.Ne3 Re5 26.a3 Nd5 27.Nxd5 exd5

28.Kf1 g5 29.Rf3 d4 30.e4 b5 31.g4 a4

32.bxa4 Rxa4 33.Rb1 c4 34.dxc4 Rxc4

35.Rf5 Rxf5 36.exf5 d3 37.Rxb5? Rc1+

38.Kg2 d2 39.Rd5 d1Q 40.Rxd1 Rxd1

41.Kg3 Rd3+ 42.f3 Rxa3 0-1

Edward Sedillo (1712)

Mirza Peljto (1912)

Round 2

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4

5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nc3 Nxb5 7.Nxe5 Nxe5

8.Rxe5+ Be7 9.Nd5 Kf8 10.Nxe7 d6

11.Re1 Be6 12.a4 Nd4 13.c3 Qxe7

14.cxd4 Qf6 15.Qc2 c6 16.b3 Bd5

17.Qd3 h5 18.Ba3 Rd8 19.Re3 g6

20.Rae1 Rd7 21.Re8+ Kg7 22.Qe3 Rxe8

23.Qxe8 Be6 24.Bb2 Rd8 25.Qxd8 Qxd8

26.d5+ Kg8 27.dxe6 Qe7 28.Bf6!! Qe8

29.e7 Kh7 30.f4 g5 31.f5 Kh6 32.Kf2 a6

33.Re3 d5 34.Rg3 g4 35.h3 Qd7 36.hxg4

hxg4 37.e8Q!! Qxf5+ 38.Ke2 Kg6

39.Qe5 1-0

Max Higa (1490)

Jeffrey Baffo (1754)

Round 2

1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5 3.d5 Nce7 4.Nf3 Ng6

5.c4 Bc5 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.h3 0-0 8.a3 d6

9.Nc3 c6 10.b4 Bb6 11.0-0 cxd5 12.cxd5

Bd7 13.Qe2 Rc8 14.Bd2 Nh5 15.Rac1

Nhf4 16.Bxf4 Nxf4 17.Qd2 Qf6 18.Ne2

Nxh3+ 19.gxh3 Qxf3 20.Rxc8 Rxc8

21.Nc1 Qg3+ 22.Kh1 Qxh3+ 23.Kg1

Qg3+ 24.Kh1 Qf3+ 25.Kh2 Bg4 26.Be2

Qh3+ 27.Kg1 Qg3+ 28.Kh1 Bf3+

29.Bxf3 Qxf3+ 30.Kh2 Qxe4 31.Rg1

Bxf2 32.Qxf2 Rc2 0-1

Earle Wikle (2043)

Randy Canney (2222)

Round 3

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6

5.e5 d5 6.Bb5 Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.Bxc6

bxc6 9.0-0 Bc5 10.f3 Ng5 11.f4 Ne4

12.Be3 Bb6 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Qe7

15.Qf3 0-0 16.Rae1 Rfe8 17.Qf2 c5

18.Nb3 Bb5 19.Bxc5 Bxc5 20.Nxc5 Bxf1

21.Kxf1 Rab8 22.Nd3 Rb6 23.f5 Qg5

24.Re3 Rb1+ 25.Ne1 c5 26.h3 h5 27.Rg3

Rxe1+ 0-1

Neil Bhavikatti (2102)

Elliott Woo (2086)

Round 3

1.e4 d5 2.Nc3 d4 3.Nce2 e5 4.d3 Bg4

5.h3 Bh5 6.g4 Bg6 7.Ng3 Nc6 8.Bd2 Bd6

9.Bg2 Qd7 10.Nf3 0-0-0 11.h4 f6 12.Nf5

Kb8 13.Bh3 Be8 14.Qe2 Qf7 15.a3 Bf8

16.g5 g6 17.Ng3 Bd6 18.h5 h6 19.hxg6

Qxg6 20.Nh4 Qf7 21.g6 Qf8 22.Ngf5

Rd7 23.Rg1 Rg7 24.Nxg7 Qxg7 25.Nf5

Qd7 26.Qf3 Bf8 27.g7 Bxg7 28.Nxg7

Qf7 29.Nxe8 Qxe8 30.0-0-0 Qf7 31.Kb1

Nge7 32.Qg4 Rg8 33.Qe6 Qf8 34.Rxg8

Nxg8 35.Rg1 Nge7 36.Bb4 Nxb4 37.axb4

a6 38.Rg3 Ka7 39.Qc4 Qd8 40.Rg7 Nc6

41.Qc5+ Kb8 42.Qd5 Qxd5 43.exd5

Nxb4 1-0


Henry Poston (1839)

Round 3

1.b3 Nc6 2.Bb2 d5 3.Nf3 f6 4.d4 g5 5.c4

e6 6.e3 Bb4+ 7.Nfd2 Nge7 8.Qh5+ Ng6

9.a3 Bxd2+ 10.Nxd2 f5 11.h3 Bd7

12.Nf3 g4 13.hxg4 Qf6 14.cxd5 exd5

15.Ne5 0-0-0 16.Nxd7 Kxd7 17.Qxf5+

Qxf5 18.gxf5 Nge7 19.g4 Rdg8 20.Rh5

Nd8 21.f6 Ng6 22.Rxd5+ Ke6 23.Rf5 1-0

Eric Billaux (2102)

Edward Sedillo (1712)

Round 3

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3 dxe4 4.Bxe4 Nf6

5.Bf3 Nbd7 6.Nc3 c6 7.Bf4 Nd5 8.Bg3

Nxc3 9.bxc3 Nf6 10.Ne2 Bd6 11.0-0 0-0

12.Re1 Re8 13.Nc1 Bxg3 14.hxg3 Qc7

15.Nd3 b6 16.g4 Bb7 17.g5 Nd7 18.Be4

f5 19.gxf6 Nxf6 20.Ne5 Nxe4 21.Rxe4 c5

22.Rh4 g6 23.Qg4 Qg7 24.Rd1 Rad8

25.Rd3 Re7 26.Rdh3 Qf6 27.Nf3 Qf5

28.Qxf5 exf5 29.Ne5 Rd6 30.Re3 Be4

31.Nd3 cxd4 32.cxd4 Rc7 33.Ne1 Bd5

34.a3 g5 35.Rh5 h6 36.Re8+ Kg7 37.Rh3

Re6 38.Rxe6 Bxe6 39.Re3 Kf6 40.Kf1

Bc4+ 41.Kg1 Re7 42.Rxe7 Kxe7 43.f3

Kd6 44.Kf2 Kd5 45.c3 b5 46.g3 h5

47.Nc2 f4 48.gxf4 gxf4 49.Ne1 Ke6

50.Kg2 Kf6 51.Nc2 a5 52.Ne1 Be2

53.Kf2 Bc4 54.Kg2 ½-½






Round 3

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nd2 f5 4.Ngf3 c6 5.g3

Bd6 6.Bg2 Nd7 7.Qc2 Qf6 8.Nb3 Ne7

9.Bf4 Bxf4 10.gxf4 Ng6 11.e3 0-0

12.0-0-0 Nh4 13.Rhg1 Nxf3 14.Bxf3 b6

15.Rg5 Ba6 16.c5 Bc4 17.Nd2 Bb5

18.Nb3 Ba4 19.Rdg1 Rf7 20.h4 bxc5

21.dxc5 Rb8 22.Bh5 Re7 23.f3 Rb5

24.Qd2 Bxb3 25.axb3 Nxc5 26.Kd1 Rxb3

27.Qa5 Nb7 28.Qxa7 Rxb2 29.Qb8+ Qf8

30.Qe5 Rb1+ 31.Ke2 Rxg1 32.Rxg1 Nd8

33.e4 Ra7 34.Kf2 Qc5+ 35.Kg2 Ra2+

36.Kh1 Qe7 37.Rg5 h6 0-1

Robert Carlson (1552)

Ayush Vispute (1415)

Round 3

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.c3 e6 4.Bf4 Be7 5.e3

0-0 6.Bd3 d5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.0-0 Nbd7

9.Nbd2 Re8 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.Bxe5 Nd7

12.Nf3 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 f6 14.Nf3 e5

15.Bb5 Rf8 16.Qb3 Kh8 17.Rad1 Be6

18.Qc2 Qb6 19.Ba4 Rac8 20.Bb3 Rfd8

21.h3 d4 22.Bxe6 Qxe6 23.exd4 exd4

24.Qb3 Qxb3 25.axb3 d3 26.Rd2 Rc7

27.Rfd1 Rcd7 28.Ne1 a5 29.Rxd3 Rxd3

30.Rxd3 Rxd3 31.Nxd3 Bd6 32.Kf1 Kg8

33.Ke2 Kf7 34.f3 Ke6 35.Ke3 Kd5

36.c4+ Kc6 37.Kd4 g6 38.Kc3 Be5+

39.Nxe5+ fxe5 40.b4 a4 41.Kd3 b5 42.c5

Kd5 43.h4 h6 44.g4 g5 45.h5 1-0

Sara Herman (2018)

Josh Bloomer (2412)

Round 4

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.c3 Ngf6

5.Qe2 a6 6.Ba4 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.d4 b5

9.Bc2 Bb7 10.a4 0-0 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.Na3

b4 13.Nb1 cxd4 14.Nxd4 d5 15.exd5

Nxd5 16.Rd3 N7f6 17.Rh3 Rfd8 18.Bg5

Rac8 19.Bxf6 Bxf6 20.Bxh7+ Kf8

21.Nxe6+ fxe6 22.Bf5 Nf4 0-1



Round 4

1.d4 e6 2.e3 c5 3.f4 Nf6 4.Bd3 b6 5.Nf3

Ba6 6.Bxa6 Nxa6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Qe2 Nb8

9.e4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 0-0 11.Nc3 Nc6

12.Nxc6 dxc6 13.Be3 Qc7 14.Rad1 e5

15.fxe5 Qxe5 16.Bd4 Bc5 17.Qf2 Bxd4

18.Qxd4 Rfe8 19.Qxe5 Rxe5 20.Rd6 Rc8

21.Rfd1 Kf8 22.Rd8+ Re8 23.Rxc8 Rxc8

24.e5 Ng4 25.Rd7 a5 26.a4 Rb8 27.e6

fxe6 28.Rd6 b5 29.Rxc6 b4 30.Ne4 Rd8

31.Kf1 Ne3+ 32.Kf2 Nd1+ 33.Ke2 Nxb2

34.Nc5 Kf7 35.Nxe6 Re8 36.Rc7+ Kxe6

37.Rxg7 Kf6+ 0-1

Daniel Herman (2124)


Round 4

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nge2 Nbd7

5.g3 c6 6.Bg2 b5 7.0-0 Bb7 8.h3 a5

9.Be3 b4 10.Nb1 c5 11.d5 h5 12.Nd2 Ba6

13.c4 bxc3 14.bxc3 a4 15.c4 Qa5 16.Qc2

a3 17.Nc1 Rb8 18.Nd3 g6 19.f4 Bg7

20.fxe5 Nxe5 21.Nxe5 dxe5 22.Nb3 Qa4

23.Qf2 Bxc4 24.Nxc5 Qa5 25.Rab1 0-0

26.Rfc1 Rb5 27.Rxb5 Qxb5 28.Qc2 Be2

29.Rb1 Qc4 30.Qd2 Bh6 31.Bxh6 Qxc5+

32.Kh2 Qf2 33.Bxf8 Kxf8 34.Re1 Nxe4

35.Qxe2 Qxg3+ 36.Kg1 Ng5 37.Qe3 Qh4

38.Qxe5 Kg8 39.Rb1 f6 40.Qe8+ Kg7

41.Rb7+ Nf7 42.Rxf7+ Kh6 43.Qh8+

Kg5 44.Qxf6+ 1-0

Elliott Woo (2086)

Eric Billaux (2102)

Round 4

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bg5 Nbd7 4.e3 g6

5.c4 Bg7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Nc3 e5

9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Qc2 Qc7 11.e4 Nc5

12.Be2 Bg4 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Ne6

15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne2 Nd4 17.Nxd4 exd4

18.Qd3 c5 19.Rab1 a5 20.a3 a4 21.b3

axb3 22.Rxb3 Ra6 23.Rfb1 b6 24.g3 Bd8

25.Bg2 Qa7 26.Bf3 Re8 27.Kg2 Ra4

28.Bg4 Qe7 29.Bf3 Qg5 30.Ra1 Bc7

31.h4 Qe5 32.Rab1 Kg7 33.Ra1 Re7

34.Rab1 h6 35.R3b2 Qe6 36.Rc1 g5

37.hxg5 hxg5 38.Ra2 g4 39.Bd1 Ra8

40.Bc2 Rh8 41.Rh1 Rxh1 42.Kxh1 Qh6+

43.Kg2 Re8 44.Bd1 Qh3+ 45.Kg1 Rh8

46.Bf3 gxf3 47.Qxf3 Qh2+ 48.Kf1 Qh1+

49.Qxh1 Rxh1+ 50.Ke2 Rc1 51.Kd3

Rc3+ 52.Ke2 Rxc4 53.f4 Rc3 54.Kf2 f6

55.a4 Re3 56.Rb2 Ra3 0-1

Sravyasri Lankipalle (1371)

Ted Doykos (1791)

Round 4

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 e6 4.Nbd2 Be7

5.e3 0-0 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.c3 b6 8.Nf1 c5

9.Ng3 a5 10.Qe2 Bb7 11.Ne5 Ne4

12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Bb5 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bd6

15.Bxd6 Qxd6 16.dxc5 Qxc5 17.Rd1

Rfd8 18.0-0 g6 19.h3 Kg7 20.Rfe1 h5

21.a3 Bd5 22.c4 Bc6 23.Bxc6 Qxc6

24.b3 a4 25.b4 Rac8 26.Qb2+ f6 27.Rxd8

Rxd8 28.Rc1 Rd3 29.c5 Rb3 30.Qd2 Rd3

½-½

William Wolf (1455)


Round 4

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3

5.Qxf3 e6 6.b3 c6 7.Bb2 Nbd7 8.g4 Qa5

9.a3 0-0-0 10.b4 Qb6 11.Nc3 e5 12.Na4

Qc7 13.fxe5 Nxe5 14.Qf5+ Ned7

15.0-0-0 g6 16.Qxf6 Nxf6 17.Bxf6 Be7

18.Bxh8 Rxh8 19.Bd3 Qe5 20.Kb1 d4

21.exd4 Qxd4 22.Rhe1 Bf6 23.Nc3 Kd7

24.Re4 Qf2 25.Rf1 Qh4 26.Ref4 Bxc3

27.Rxf7+ Kc8 28.dxc3 Re8 29.R1f3 Re7

30.Rf8+ Kc7 31.a4 Qg5 32.R8f7 Kd7

33.Bc4 Qe5 34.Rxe7+ Kxe7 35.Rf7+ Ke8

36.Kb2 b5 37.axb5 cxb5 38.Bb3 h5

39.gxh5 Qxh5 40.Rxa7 Kf8 41.Rf7+

Ke8 ... ½-½

Austin Cook (Unrated)

Isaac Langer (Unrated)

Round 4

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bg5 Bb4

5.e4 d5 6.e5 h6 7.Be3 Ne4 8.Nge2 0-0

9.Rc1 dxc4 10.Ng3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Be7

12.Bxc4 Bg5 13.Qg4 f5 14.exf6 gxf6

15.Bxe6+ Bxe6 16.Qxe6+ Kg7 17.Nh5+

Kg6 18.Qe4+ Kxh5 19.g4+ Kh4 20.f4

Kxg4 21.f5+ Kh5 22.Qf3+ Kh4 23.Bf2#

1-0

k




JUNE (Open) RTG PTS RD1 RD2 RD3 RD4 1 JOSH BLOOMER 2412 4.0 W10 W8 W4 W6 2 GUNNAR ANDERSEN 2303 3.0 W7 L9 W15 W10 3 RANDY CANNEY 2222 3.0 W11 D13 W12 D5 4 DANIEL HERMAN 2124 3.0 W21 W20 L1 W9 5 NEIL BHAVIKATTI 2102 3.0 W15 D12 W13 D3 6 SARA HERMAN 2018 3.0 W17 W14 W9 L1 7 SAMI AL-ADSANI 1891 3.0 L2 W21 W20 W16 8 ERIC BILLAUX 2102 2.5 W18 L1 D16 W13 9 RHETT LANGSETH 2122 2.0 X W2 L6 L4 10 DuWAYNE LANGSETH 1941 2.0 L1 W18 W17 L2 11 MIRZA PELJTO 1912 2.0 L3 L16 W14 W19 12 EARLE WIKLE 2043 1.5 W19 D5 L3 U 13 ELLIOTT WOO 2086 1.5 W16 D3 L5 L8 14 BRIAN ROUNTREE 1946 1.5 D22 L6 L11 W20 15 HENRY POSTON 1839 1.5 L5 W19 L2 D17 16 EDWARD SEDILLO 1712 1.5 L13 W11 D8 L7 17 ANDREW ESKENAZI 1656 1.5 L6 B L10 D15 18 CHARLES ALEXANDER 1800 1.0 L8 L10 W22 U 19 GRAYSON HARRIS 1646 1.0 L12 L15 B L11 20 VEDANT MARGALE 1484 1.0 B L4 L7 L14 21 VEDANTH SAMPATH 1809 0.5 L4 L7 H U 22 VIBI VARGHESE 1608 0.5 D14 U L18 U

JULY (U1800) RTG PTS RD1 RD2 RD3 RD4 1 TED DOYKOS 1791 3.0 W4 D3 W6 D5 2 JEFFREY BAFFO 1754 3.0 W7 W6 W5 U 3 ROBERT CARLSON 1552 3.0 W10 D1 W7 D4 4 WILLIAM WOLF 1455 2.5 L1 W10 W8 D3 5 SRAVYASRI LANKIPALLE 1371 2.5 W8 W12 L2 D1 6 MAX HIGA 1490 2.0 W11 L2 L1 W10 7 AYUSH VISPUTE 1415 2.0 L2 W9 L3 W11 8 SHIRLEY HERMAN 1019 2.0 L5 W11 L4 W12 9 DEAN BROWN 1476 1.5 D12 L7 L10 B 10 NICHOLAS TORRES 1281 1.0 L3 L4 W9 L6 11 SCOTT WILLIAMS 1216 1.0 L6 L8 W12 L7 12 DR COLIN McALLISTER Unrated 0.5 D9 L5 L11 L8

AUGUST (U1400) RTG PTS RD1 RD2 RD3 RD4 1 VICTOR POPA-SIMIL 1364 3.5 W4 W5 W3 D2 2 JONATHAN REINHARD 998 3.0 W7 D3 W4 D1 3 AUSTIN COOK Unrated 2.5 W6 D2 L1 W7 4 IRIS LI 995 2.0 L1 B L2 X 5 BETTY BAFFO 673 2.0 B L1 W7 U 6 DONALD HILLMAN 1151 1.0 L3 L7 B F 7 ISAAC LANGER Unrated 1.0 L2 W6 L5 L3

Winter Springs Open

CHIEF TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR - RICHARD “BUCK” BUCHANAN

http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblPlr.php?201909013572-001-14011512

http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlMain.php?14011512
























Denver Chess Club Fall Classic

by J.C. MacNeil

(Reprinted with permission of the Denver Chess Club)

This year’s attendance was down slightly, but a 53 player

turnout was certainly not bad. To the credit of Meint Olthof, the

DCC Treasurer, he chose to pay out the entire as advertised

based on 60 players prize fund of $1400. In addition, the prize

money was divided equally between the 3 sections, which is

something I have always advocated. Weighing the prize money

slightly to the Open section is fine, but not by more than a few

percentage points. An equal share for each section is even better

in my opinion.

As might be expected in the Open section, Gunnar Andersen

was at the top of the standings after round 5 with 4 points. He

was joined there by Sullivan McConnell. Everybody knows

Sullivan is going have a permanent over 2200 rating before long.

Mr. Andersen was upset by Jesse Hester in round 2, and Jesse

ended up on board 1 against Sullivan for the last round. A win

would have meant clear 1st place for Mr. Hester, but alas it was

not to be. At one point Ben Gurka and I both thought he had

good chances; down the exchange but with a strong passed

pawn. The youngest McConnell brother prevailed and he and

Gunnar won $186 each. Mr. Hester ended up sharing the 3rd

place prize of $94 with Brian Wall, both finishing with 3.5

points.

Ted Doykos was the highest-rated player in the U1800 section

and he appropriately finished with 4 points, but only after being

upset by Meint Olthof in the 1st round. Also ending up with 4

points was Michael Igoe and Phil Brown. Like Ted, Mr. Igoe

started out with a loss then won four straight. Ending with a nice

last round upset win over Steve Kovach, a real strong

player... when he doesn’t leave a rook hanging. Mr. Brown was

just the opposite; winning four straight to start - which included

a sweet round 2 upset win over Roberto Popa - only to lose his

last round game against Mr. Doykos. Thus they all share the

combined 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes, with each winning

$156.

The youngster, Owen Vonne - who is like 8 years old - just

keeps winning money. He tied for 1st place in the U1400 section

with Daniel Smith. Again the top prize winners only lost one

game to end up with a final score of 4 points and win $186 each.

Owen’s only loss was to Mr. Smith and he in turn only lost to

the 3rd place winner, Jeff Manuel. Mr. Manuel won $94 for his

well earned 3.5 points.

It’s good for me to see that pretty near all the prize winners in

this tournament are regular DCC Tuesday night players. DCC

tournament prize money may not make a house payment, but

any 1st or 2nd place prize will generally cover USCF and CSCA

memberships, the entry fee, and leave plenty of money for

lunch. Of course, the next time you win a prize, after the entry

fee, it’s all lunch money.

Thanks to all the players that made the DCC Fall Classic a great

tournament!


Gunnar Andersen awaiting Brian Wall’s

opening move.

Jesse Hester came so close to clear 1st place

but alas...

Meint Olthof with the Black pieces against

Phillip Brown.

Denver Chess Club www.DenverChess.com



Brian Wall (2200)

Jeffrey Baffo (1801)

Round 1

1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 e6 3.d4 Bd6 4.c4 c6 5.Nc3 Ne7 6.e4 dxe4 7.Bxe4

Nd7 8.h4 e5 9.Nf3 exd4 10.Qxd4 Nf6 11.c5 Bc7 12.Qxd8+

Bxd8 13.g5 Nxe4 14.Nxe4 0–0 15.Nd6 Nf5 16.Bf4 Nxd6

17.cxd6 Be6 18.Nd4 Bb6 19.Nxe6 Rfe8 20.0–0 Rxe6 21.Rfe1

Rae8 22.Rxe6 fxe6 23.Kg2 Bd4 24.Be3 Bxe3 25.fxe3 Rd8

26.Rd1 Kf7 27.Kf3 e5 28.Ke4 Ke6 29.d7 g6 30.b4 Rxd7

31.Rxd7 Kxd7 32.Kxe5 Ke7 33.a3 b6 34.a4 a6 35.a5 b5 36.Kd4

Kd6 37.e4 c5+ 38.bxc5+ Kc6 39.e5 Kd7 40.Kd5 Kc7 41.e6 Kc8

42.c6 Kd8 43.Kd6 1-0

Coleman Hoyt (1469)

Owen Christ (1109)

Round 1

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qc7 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nf5 Nge7

7.Nb5 Qa5+ 8.Bd2 Qb6 9.Nfd6+ Kd8 10.Nxf7+ Ke8 11.Nbd6#

1-0

Robert Cernich (1486

J.C. MacNeil (1690)

Round 2

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.e4 Nf6 5.e5 Nd5 6.Nc3 e6

7.Nf3 Bb4 8.Bd2 c5 9.Nxd5 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 Qxd5 11.dxc5

Qe4+ 12.Be2 Nc6 13.0–0 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Qxe5 15.Bb5+ Kf8

16.Qd8# 1-0

Phillip Brown (1550)

Meint Olthof (1441)

Round 4

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Bc5 4.e3 d6 5.Nc3 c6 6.Nge2 Nbd7 7.a3

Bb6 8.0–0 0–0 9.b4 Qe7 10.Qc2 Re8 11.d3 Nf8 12.Ne4 Bf5

13.Nxf6+ Qxf6 14.e4 Bg6 15.Be3 Rad8 16.a4 Bxe3 17.fxe3 Qe7

18.Nc3 Qc7 19.b5 Ne6 20.a5 cxb5 21.Nxb5 Qc5 22.Qf2 a6

23.Nc3 Qc6 24.Rfb1 Nc5 25.Qc2 Nd7 26.Nd5 Rb8 27.Bh3 f6

28.Bxd7 Qxd7 29.Qa4 Qc8 30.Rb6 Bf7 31.Rab1 Bxd5 32.exd5

Rd8 33.Qb4 Qc7 34.Rxb7 Rxb7 35.Qxb7 Qxa5 36.Qb6 Qxb6

37.Rxb6 a5 38.Ra6 Kf8 39.Rxa5 Ke7 40.Ra7+ Rd7 41.Rxd7+

Kxd7 42.Kf2 Kc7 43.Kf3 Kb6 44.d4 exd4 45.exd4 Kc7 46.Kf4

g6 47.h3 Kd7 48.g4 Ke7 49.h4 h6 50.h5 gxh5 51.gxh5 Kf8

52.Kf5 Kf7 53.c5 1-0


Vendant Margale (1439)

Round 5

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0–0 6.Bg5 Na6 7.Qd2

e5 8.Nge2 Qe8 9.Bh6 c6 10.Bxg7 Kxg7 11.0–0–0 b5 12.dxe5

dxe5 13.Ng3 b4 14.Na4 Rb8 15.b3 Qe7 16.h4 h5 17.Qg5 Ng8

18.Nxh5+ Kh7 19.Qxe7 Nxe7 20.Nf6+ Kg7 21.Nd7 Bxd7

22.Rxd7 Rbe8 23.c5 Nb8 24.Rxa7 Nc8 25.Rb7 Ne7 26.Rxb4

Nd7 27.Be2 Nf6 28.g4 Rh8 29.Rb7 Rh7 30.Nb6 Nc8 31.Bc4

Ne7 32.a4 Rhh8 33.a5 Rb8 34.Rxe7 Rhf8 35.a6 Rbe8 36.Rc7

Ng8 37.a7 Re7 38.Rxe7 Nxe7 39.a8R Rxa8 40.Nxa8 Ng8

41.Rd1 Nf6 42.Rd6 Nh7 43.Rd7 Kh6 44.Rxf7 g5 45.Rxh7+

Kxh7 46.h5 Kh6 47.b4 Kg7 48.b5 cxb5 49.c6 bxc4 50.c7 c3

51.c8Q c2 52.Qf5 Kg8 53.Qd7 Kh8 54.h6 Kg8 55.Qg7# 1-0

Coleman Hoyt (1469)

William O’Neil (1658)

Round 5

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4

Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0–0–0 Nc6 10.g4 Nxd4 11.Rxd4 e5 12.Rc4

Qd8 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Nd5 0–0 15.g5 Be7 16.Rc7 Re8 17.h4 b5

18.f5 f6 19.gxf6 Bxf6 20.Qh5 Rf8 21.Rg1 Rb8 22.Qh6 Rf7

23.Rxf7 Kxf7 24.Qxh7 Bb7 25.Nxf6 Qxf6 26.Rg6 Bxe4

27.Rxf6+ Kxf6 28.Qg6+ Ke7 29.Qe6+ Kd8 30.Qxd6+ Kc8

31.Qe6+ Kb7 32.Qxe5 Bc6 33.Qxg7+ Ka8 34.f6 Bd5 35.Bg2

Bxg2 36.Qxg2+ Ka7 37.Qf2+ Kb7 38.Qf3+ Ka7 39.Qe3+ Kb7

40.Qe7+ Ka8 41.f7 a5 42.f8Q Rxf8 43.Qxf8+ Kb7 44.Qc5 b4

45.c4 1-0

J.C. MacNeil (1690)

George Peschke (1559)

Round 5

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.Bc4 Bg7 5.Be3 Bg4 6.c3 Nf6

7.Nbd2 0–0 8.Qc2 b6 9.0–0–0 Na5 10.Bd3 c5 11.h3 Be6 12.Ng5

c4 13.Be2 Bd7 14.Nxc4 Nxc4 15.Bxc4 b5 16.Bd3 a5 17.e5 Nd5

18.exd6 Rc8 19.Kb1 Nb4 20.dxe7 Qxe7 21.Qd2 Nxd3 22.Qxd3

Bf5 23.Qxf5 gxf5 ... 0-1

k

The Final Standings for the Denver Chess Club

Fall Classic can be found here:

https://tinyurl.com/yevfl2xq

And pics of the event by John Brezina can be found here:

https://tinyurl.com/yfldrh4c


Owen Vonne in full focus mode.

Maybe channeling the player on his shirt?



Watson - Carlson 1975

by Curtis Carlson

“Chess is a form of intellectual productiveness, therein lies its

peculiar charm.” - GM Jonathan Rowson

“Most of the missteps made by professional economists in the

past century have been movements away from the analysis of

individual action and toward the analysis of aggregates and

averages.” - Robert Higgs

“I probably became a Libertarian through exposure to tough-

minded professors who encouraged me to think with my brain

instead of my heart.” - Walter E. Williams

“Never trust anything a fiction writer says about himself.” -

Stephen King

“...the modern player derives his perspective and intuition from

the detailed analysis of great numbers of positions.” -

IM John L. Watson

“The world is rich and complicated, and a civil society allows

for countless paths to human flourishing.” - Sarah Skwire

From 1972-76 I played IM John Watson twelve tournament

games. I won three, drew three, and lost six. Our 1972 games are

at http://www.coloradochess.com/informant/January_2019.pdf.

John has authored fine books on the French Defense, the English

Opening, and strategic play (among many others). He has yet to

write one about me, but I’m hopeful that will change sometime

soon.

“...Grandmasters tend to have a very deep knowledge of chess

that encompasses all sorts of different openings and positions.

It’s not sufficient anymore to be a one trick pony - you must be

universal.” - GM Danny Gormally

After we broke even in four 1972 games John and I had a

‘vacation’ from each other in 1973 when he was in Europe, but

met again in the 1974 Appreciation Open (May 27), and the

1975 Loveland Open (February 22). He won both easily, so my

lifetime even record against him was brief. The first thing he

asked after not seeing me for a year and a half was what my

current rating was. He seemed surprised when I said it was

something like 2100 (not much higher than before); evidently,

his expectations for my metoric rating rise were misplaced. I

finally made 2200 in 1976, but it was largely undeserved.

“Magic is everywhere if you don’t understand science.” -

Anonymous

“...the things that you do well and understand best have a

lasting value. Keep faith in them!” - GM Keith Arkell

Four of our 1975 games are examined here. I only managed two

draws, but could have done better in other two. We had a hard

fought 60 move draw in the 7th Las Cruces Open on March 22;

after making a 600 mile trip from Denver (with with Brian Wall,

Paul Nikitovich, and Alan Sebeckis) we got paired! My fourth

round game with Brian was a memorable miniature (see below).

It felt like another Colorado tournament, playing my friends.

John and I both won our other four games to tie for first with 4.5

-.5, although I was fortunate to win a bad position in the final

round. This was my last tournament before my 21st birthday on

April 13. I couldn’t believe I was actually 21, but now that I’m

on Social Security it no longer seems so old.

“In a broad sense, the ability to perform well in extremely

adverse situations is a mark of true greatness.” -

GM Alex Yermolinsky

John and I managed not to cross swords at the US Open in

Lincoln, Nebraska (August 10-22) where we each scored 8.5-3.5

(see crosstable at https://www.chessgames.com/perl/

chesscollection?cid=1019621). Our third 1975 game was in the

fifth round of the Colorado Open on September 1, where I

blundered a pawn in the opening, managed to equalize, then

blundered again and lost! Forty-five years later I still kick

myself. See my last article at http://coloradochess.com/

informant/October_2019.pdf, page 29 for more painful

memories.

A complex position can hardly be solved by the application of

just one positional principle. Unfortunately, that’s what people

are taught to do.” - GM Alex Yermolinsky

Our fourth 1975 game was a quick draw in the Mile High Open

on November 12, where we again tied for first by winning all

our other games. Our last was at the Showboat Open in Las

Vegas on December 8. Once again, after taking a long trip

together, we got paired! I was losing but missed a draw when he

played inaccurately. Oh how I wish I could change some of my

moves! Stewie Griffin won’t loan me his time machine so I have

to make peace with myself some other way.

“The solution to the problem only becomes apparent when you

understand the problem.” - Randall Carlson (No known

relation to me. His YouTube natural history videos are

excellent.)

My last two rated games with John were in 1976: I won the first

in the Appreciation Open (May 30), and drew the second in the

Colorado Open (September 6). Overall I only only managed half

a point (out of four) with White, but got four (out of in eight)

with Black. It’s too bad (for me) I didn’t have Black every time,

since our lifetime record might then be 6-6 instead of 7.5-4.5.

“I think that’s what they meant when they talked about

Botvinnik’s ‘iron logic’: a very disciplined approach to solving

the problem on the board, and not just basing a plan on your

natural instincts.” - GM Matthew Sadler

Annotations are mine with help from Houdini Chess engine 6.02

with four CPUs (HCE), whatever engines are online while I

analyze, and ChessBase 14. It’s not always easy to bare my soul

to a cold blooded silicon monster that mercilessly refutes my

mistakes, but hopefully it helps me improve. I try to learn

something from every game, but usually learn how badly I




played.

“A human who strains every fiber to beat an unbeatable

computer is as smart as a human who tries to out-run a sports

car.” - Ronald Wieck

“In my opinion, any discoveries, even “intuitive” ones, are

founded on knowledge, on the basis of what has been

assimilated. But knowledge requires study, and study requires

time.” - GM Efim Geller

“I am not young enough to know everything.” - Oscar Wilde

7th Las Cruces Open / Round 2

March 22, 1975

John Watson (2251, age 24)

Curtis Carlson (2083, age 21)

A04: https://denverchess.com/games/view/19007

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 d5 (This is HCE’s first choice,

but Black can also play the less commital 4...Be7 and 5...O-O

first. 5.d4 d5 6.cd ed 7.O-O O-O 8.b3 Nc6 = is Tal-Korchnoi

1984) 5.O-O Be7 6.cxd5 Nxd5 (This is OK but 6...ed keeping

knights on the board is probably stronger since Black’s f6 knight

seems better than White’s c3 knight) 7.Nc3 O-O 8.Nxd5 (HCE

seems to think White shouldn’t capture on d5 before Black

captures on d4, and prefers 8.d4 cd 9.Nd5 ed 10.Nd4 +=, or

8...Nc6 9.e4 Nc3 10.bc +=) 8...exd5 = (Also playable is 8...Qd5

9.d4 cd 10.Nd4 Qc4 +=) 9.d4 Nc6 (Now Black doesn’t have to

take on d4) 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.b3 (Many moves have been tried

here. 11.Bg5 has been played by Tomashevsky, Anand,

Topalov, Korchnoi, Kramnik, and Polugaevsky {among others}.

11.Qc2 has been tried by Portisch, Huebner, Miles, and Smyslov

{among others}. Petrosian and Portisch have played 11.a3.

11.b3 emulates Ribli, Uhlmann, and Najdorf) 11...Bg4 (Most

popular and probably best is 11...Bf5 {Gurevich-Alburt 1983},

which intends ...Be4 since White no longer has a knight aiming

at e4. 11...Qf6 = is Najdorf-Karpov 1980. Also reasonable are

11...Re8 and 11...Be6. 11...Bg4 is rare but was played

successfully by Israeli GM Alon Greenfeld in 2012) 12.Bb2 d4

13.h3 Bh5 (13...Bf3 and 13...Bf5 were just as good) 14.a3 Bb6 =

(This is HCE’s and Komodo 9’s first choice, although I can’t

find it in ChessBase. There are three games with 14...a5 when

White has played 15.Qd3 and 15.b4, both with approximate

equality. 14...Rc8, 14...Qe7, and 14...Qd6 are also about even)

15.Rc1 Qd7 (It’s probably better to get the queen off the d file

with 15...Qe7 {15...Re8 is also strong}. If then 16.g4 {16.Nd4?

Nd4 17.Bd4 Rad8-+} 16...Bg6 17.Nd4 Rad8 18.e3 Nd4 19.Bd4

Qa3 = {also 19...f5 =} HCE) 16.Ne1?! (White wants his knight

on d3, but this is risky since Black’s h5 bishop now hits e2. HCE

gives 16.Rc2 Rad8 17.Rd2 =)

“It is not enough for something to be interesting and innovative.

Against strong opposition, it also has to be good and accurate.”

- IM Colin Crouch

16...Rad8 = (This perfunctory move continues the plan to

overprotect d4, but 16...Rfe8! is more consistant with 11...Bg4

and makes White regret his last. Black does well to intensify

pressure on e2 before White plays Nd3 so Nf4 isn’t possible.

16...Rfe8 17.Rc2 Qe6! {Aiming at two pawns} 18.g4 Bg6

19.Rd2 h5 is almost -+. If 19.Nd3 Qb3 -/+) 17.Nd3 = Rfe8

18.Rc2 (HCE prefers 18.Nf4 Bg6 19.Ng6 hg 20.b4 =, but John

was reluctant to trade his strong knight) 18...Bg6 =+ 19.Rd2 Be4

(11...Bf5 looks more reasonable now) 20.b4 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 a6 =

(More passive play. With light squared bishops gone 21...h5 =+

is logical, hoping to further weaken White’s castled position

with 22...h4. Also good was 21...Qd5 22.Kh2 h5 23.h4 Re4 =+.

My position was better than I realized) 22.Qb3 Qd5+ (Since

Black has a space advantage trading queens only helps White.

HCE suggests 22...Re4 or 22...Re6 planning to double rooks on

the e file, which gives White more to think about. HCE’s second

choice is 22...Qf5 23.Ne1 h5 =) 23.Qxd5 Rxd5 = 24.Rc1 f6

25.Nf4 Rdd8 (more consistent was 25...Rde5 =) 26.Rcd1 Kf7

27.Kf1 Ne5 (Black only wants a draw and aims for

simplification. 27...g5 28.Nd3 h5 was more dynamic and looks

like something Magnus Carlsen would play) 28.Bxd4 Nc4

29.Rd3 Bxd4 30.Rxd4 Rxd4 31.Rxd4 Nxa3 32.Rd7+ Re7

33.Rd8 Re8 34.Rd7+ Re7 35.Rd6 (It’s dead even but after I

collapsed in our last game John understandably plays on. We

were both moving quickly in time pressure.

“Fighting spirit trumphs over reason.” - David Bronstein

35...Nb5 36.Rb6 Nc3 37.Nd3 Nd5 (HCE prefers 37...Ke8

heading to the queenside, which I didn’t even consider. If

37...Ne2 38.Nc5 Nc3 39.Nb7 Nd5 40.Nd6 Ke6 41.Ra6 Nb4 =)

38.Rd6 Nc3 39.e3 Re6 40.Rd4 Nb5 41.Rd8 Rd6 42.Rxd6 Nxd6

43.Nc5 Ke7 44.Ke2 b6 45.Nxa6 Kd7 46.Kd3 Kc6 47.Kd4 Kb7

48.Kd5 Nb5 49.Nc5+ bxc5 50.bxc5 (The situation has cleared,

and now we chase pawns.) 50...Nc3+ 51.Ke6 Kc6 52.Kf7 Ne4

53.Kxg7 Nxf2 54.h4 Ne4 55.g4 Nf2 56.Kxh7 Nxg4 57.Kg6

Kxc5 58.h5 Kd5 59.Kf5 Nxe3+ 60.Kf4 Ke6 DRAW John finally

gave up the ghost. This was our seventh tournament game and

our first draw. It was adjourned around move 50, resumed at

7:00am the next day, and finished just before the fourth round

started. Brian Wall was my next opponent.

Question: “Who is your opponent tonight?”

Answer: “Tonight I am playing against the Black pieces!”

Akiba Rubinstein





March 23, 1975


Brian Wall (2036, age 20)

C41: https://denverchess.com/games/view/19013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 (In 1974 Brian and I had a bunch of Sicilians

so he tries something different) 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7

6.O-O O-O 7.h3 c6 8.a4 Nxe4 9.Nxe4 d5 10.Bb3 dxe4 11.Nxe5

Bd6 += (Three years later John Peters played 11...Nf6 against

me in the 1978 US Open in Phoenix - see the July 2019 CCI for

the complete game. 11...Bd6 is OK, but probably best is

11...Ne5 12.de Bc5 =, which is first choice of HCE and Komodo

13.02, while Stockfish 8 prefers 12...Be6 = and Deep Fritz 14

likes 12...Qb6 =. Black could also consider 11...c5 += and

11...a6 +=) 12.f4 (I played this quickly, but HCE also likes the

more solid 12.Re1. A cute trap is 12...Ne5 13.de Be5? 14.Bf7

Kf7 15.Qh5 Kg8 16.Qe5 +=, which of course I didn’t even

consider) 12...exf3? (It’s dangerous to open the f file. HCE likes

12...Qe7, 12...c5, or 12...Qc7 which are all +=)

“Chess is a deep creative process and will not tolerate

superficial positional judgement and normally punishes such

superficiality very harshly.” - GM Efim Geller

“...the reason we love chess so much is the beauty that lies in its

complexity and that the human mind cannot master the

game...we will never have a perfect calculating brain, mistakes

and oversights will always be made, but in a competitive sense,

it is only important to see more than your opponent, who is after

all faced with the same problems of complexity himself!” -

GM Danny Gormally

13.Nxf3? (White is already winning after 13.Nf7! Rf7 14.Qf3

Nf6 15.Bg5 Be7 16.Rae1 Bd7 17.Bf7 Kf7 18.Qe4 +-, where

Black’s minor pieces can hardly move.

“Timing is everything in chess.” - IM Cyrus Lakdawala

13...Qa5? (This is suicide. Development can’t always be

everything, or the only thing! Black has to meet the deadly

threat 14.Ng5 with 13...Be7, 13...h6, or 13...Nf6 14.Ng5 h6

which are all +=, according to HCE. Now with an extra tempo

the game is over since White’s pieces harmonize beautifully in a

crushing attack.) 14.Ng5 +- Nf6 15.Qd3! h6 16.Nxf7 Rxf7

17.Qg6 (HCE prefers 17.Rf6 Qe1 18.Rf1 but this was good

enough to force resignation) 1-0. Brian was my Tal and I was his

Korchnoi! He once said there’s no one he’d rather not face in an

important game than me, which is exactly how I felt about Paul

Nikitovich (who beat me like a beginner numerous times). I

almost felt guilty about winning so brutally, but it couldn’t

happen to a nicer guy than Brian! If we ever play again he’ll

likely try his Fishing Pole.

“Speak only of things you understand. If you are ignorant...

every opinion you express on this matter is groundless and

silly.” - Kozma Prutkov

“Hey Curt, sometimes pieces hang with check!” - Brian Wall

(After I lost to Bob Fordon in the 1981 Boulder Open, which

was my last Colorado tournament.)

Between games with Brian and John I had an unforgettable third

round...


March 22, 1975


Zigmund Mayer (1802, age about 30)

B80: https://denverchess.com/games/view/19019

1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 d6 6.Bg5 Be7

7.f4 h6 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.Qd2 a6 10.O-O-O Qc7 11.Kb1 O-O 12.g4

Rd8? (12...Nc6 +=) 13.h4 +/- Bxd4 14.Qxd4 Nc6 15.Qd2 b5

16.g5 b4 17.Ne2 h5 18.g6 (I didn’t want to allow 18...g6, but

18.Ng3 g6 19.Bh3 +/- was OK) 18...Rb8? (18...fg 19.Rg1 Ne7

+/- was a better try) 19.Rg1 a5 20.Bh3 a4 21.gxf7+ Qxf7 22.Rg5

b3 23.cxb3 axb3 24.a3 Ne7 25.Rdg1 e5 26.f5 d5 27.Qc3 (More

forcing was 27.Rg7 Qg7 28.Rg7 Kg7 29.Qg5 Kf7 30.Qh5 Kg7

31.Qg5 Kf7 32.Bg4, but the text wins easily) 27...Qf6 28.Rxg7+

Kf8 29.Qc7 (29.Nf4! was better) 29...Ba6

30.Rxe7 (I didn’t even consider HCE’s first choice of 30.R7g6,

which is devastating after 30...Ng6 31.Rg6 Qf7 32.Qc5 Ke8

33.Re6 Qe6 34.fe) 30...Bxe2 (30...Qe7 31.Rg8 Kg8 32.Qe7 is

also hopeless) 31.Rgg7 dxe4 32.Ref7+ 1-0

Not a great game, but it was enjoyable to get a horizontal

version of Alekhine’s Gun.

“The sole purpose of chess is thinking about chess.” -

David Bronstein




After Las Cruces John and I had a six month ‘vacation’ from

each other, but finally played again in the fifth round of the

Colorado Open. On move 16 I blundered a pawn and nearly

resigned in disgust, but carried on. After the game John said it

was hard for him because I kept making good moves! I don’t

know if he was right, but at least he had to work for the full

point.

“When the weaker side assumes the role of aggressor, massive

retaliation is the inevitable consequence. If it’s not possible to

reconstruct a happy past, then the next step should be to insure a

tolerable present to avoid a misery filled future.” -

IM Cyrus Lakdawala

Colorado Open / Round 5

September 1, 1975



C06: https://denverchess.com/games/view/19020

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 (In the ‘90s I

successfully played 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6 8.g3 in postal

games, but this older line isn’t bad) 5...c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 Qb6

8.Nf3 cxd4 9.cxd4 f6 (This is most common, but 9...Bb4,

9...Be7, and 9...Qb4 have also been tried) 10.exf6 Nxf6

11.O-O += Bd6 12.Re1 (12.Nc3 12.b3, 12.a3, 12.Bd2, 12.Ng3,

12.Nf4, and almost everything else has been played here. HCE

and Stockfish 10 prefer 12.Bf4 Bf4 13.Nf4 O-O {13...Qb2

14.Re1 O-O 15.g3+= HCE, Komodo 13.01, Stockfish 10, Deep

Fritz 13} 14.Re1 g6 15.Bc2 Qb2 16.g3 += HCE. I probably

passed on this because I didn’t want to lose my b pawn)

12...O-O 13.Nc3 Bd7 14.Bg5 (14.a3, 14.Be3, and 14.h3 are also

played here. My primordial self was more worried about blind

development than positional needs) 14...Ng4 (14...Kh8 and

14...Rae8 are most common) 15.Bh4 += (White has a cheap

threat to take on h7. 15...Kh8 16.Bh7 += is Geller - Ulibin 1989)

15...Nh6 16.Qb3? (A ridiculous mistake. 16.Bg3 Be7 17.Na4

Qa5 18.a3 Rf3 19.gf Nd4 20.Nc3 Bf6 21.Kh1 {22.Kg2 =}

21...Qb6 22.b4 Be8 23.f4 a5 DRAW is Keres-Bronstein 1956,

although Black is better after 23...Qc6 or 23...Qd6. 17.Na4

seems too optimistic since the exchange sac gives Black at least

equality. HCE prefers guarding b2 indirectly with 17.a3 += or

17.Rc1 +=. During the game I had no idea Keres once had the

same position! But instead of playing his move I blundered after

thinking 20 minutes.)

“Success in chess depends not so much on knowledge as on

skills and the ability to make confident decisions in all sorts of

situations.” - IM Mark Dvoretsky

16...Nxd4 17.Qxb6 (I nearly resigned here) 17...Nxf3+ 18.gxf3

axb6 -/+ 19.Kg2 Nf5 20.Bg3 Bc5 21.a3 Rf6 22.Rad1 Rc8 (HCE

likes 22...Nd4 but this is also good) 23.Bb1 Nxg3?! (It’s hard to

understand why John made this exchange which reduced his

advantage. 23...Rcf8-/+ was obvious) 24.hxg3 =+ Rcf8!? =

(HCE now dislikes this natural move and says it’s now equal.

Better was 24...Rf7 25.f4 g6=+ when Black is a solid pawn up.)

25.f4 g5!? (John never lacked optimism! 25...Rh6 and 25...R6f7

were also equal. Now the game gets mixed up in mutual time

pressure. Time control was 40/2.)

“...a half dozen moves, in chess, can be a lifetime.” -

Bobby Fischer

26.Ne4 (My dream move! Bad was 26.f5? Bc6 -/+, but also

playable was 26.b4 Be7 27.f5 {27.Ne4? R6f7 -+ doesn’t work

with Black’s g pawn protected} 27...Bd6 {27...Bc6 is now bad

because of 28.b5, which was the point of 26.b4} 28.fe Rf2

29.Kg1 R2f3 =. This was hard to see with little time on the

clock ) 26...gxf4 (John always preferred ‘forward’ moves, even

if it meant losing material.)

“One of the basic principles of good defense is the willingness to

give back any material gained.” - GM Max Euwe

27.Nxf6+ (HCE gives the crazy 27.b4 R6f7 28.Ng5 f3 29.Kf1

Bb5 30.Bd3 Bd3 31.Rd3 Rf5 32.Ne6 Rh5 33.Kg1 Bf2 34.Kf2

Rh2 35.Kf1 Rh1 36.Kf2 Rh2 =, which even Tal would have

missed.) 27...Rxf6 28.gxf4!? =+ (Too submissive. Best was

28.Rd3 = HCE to answer 28...gf with 29.Rg3) 28...Rxf4 29.f3

(More passitivity! HCE gives 29.b4 Bf2 30.Rf1 Be3 31.Rf4 Bf4

32.Rf1 Bg5 33.Bh7 =+, which was hard for a blind materialist to

consider.) 29...Rf7 30.Rh1 Rg7+ 31.Kf1 Bb5!? (After this Black

has no advantage. John said he missed my response, which was

made instantly. 31...Be3 or 32...h6 give Black a small edge. John

briefly seemed unhappy but quickly regained his optimism.)

32.Bd3 Bd7 = (It’s amazing I could equalize after my 16th,

although I still thought I was lost.) 33.Rd2 Be3 34.Rg2 (It was

hard not to make a cheap threat on h7 in our time scramble. He

took about two seconds to respond. 34.Re2 = or 34.Rc2 = were

better.) 34...h6 35.Rxg7+ Kxg7 36.Ke2 Bf4 37.Rg1+ (This is

OK but White’s rook was probably better on h1. White should

try to trade light squared bishops with 37.b3, a4, and Bb5.)

37...Kf6 38.Rg6 (38.Rg8 and 38.Rg4 are also equal.) 38...Ke7

39.Rg7+ Kd6 40.b3 Bc6 41.Bg6 (Here I came up with the idea

to trade light squared bishops with Rg8 and Be8, which was

easier with 41.a4 and 42.Bb5. 41.Rf7 e5 42.Bf5 = was also

possible.) 41...Ke5 42.Kd3 Kf6 43.Rg8 (43.Rf7 Kg5 44.Rg7 Kf6

= was easier) 43...Bb5+ 44.Kc2 (44.Kd4 was slightly better.)

44...Be2

“Do you realize, Fischer almost never had any bad pieces. He

exchanges them, and the bad pieces remain with his opponents.”

- GM Yuri Balashov




45.Bh5? =+ (45.Rf8 Ke5 46.Bf5! Bf3 47.Be6 = HCE) 45...d4

46.Rd8? (A blunder. In two moves I adroitly turned a draw into

a loss! Correct was 46.Rf8+ Ke5 {46...Kg5 47.Bg6 Bf3 48.Kd3

=+ should hold} 47.Rd8 so Black can’t move his dark squared

bishop without allowing f4+.)

“If the answer you select is not correct, examine its opposite.” -

The LaCascia Corollary

46...e5 -+ (The game is over. 46...Be3 is also decisive.) 47.Bg4

Kg5 48.a4 h5 49.Rg8+ Kh4 50.Bf5 Bxf3 51.Kd3 Bd5 52.Rg7

Bxb3 53.Rxb7 Bxa4 54.Rxb6 Bd1 55.Rg6 Bg4 56.Be4 Kg3

57.Rg8 Kf2 58.Kc2 Ke3 59.Bh7 e4 60.Re8 d3+ 0-1

I should have resigned after 46...e5. This game shows how fast

‘natural’ moves (my 45th and 46th) can ruin a position. This was

played exactly six years after I lost the unforgettable rook

ending to Steve Yamamoto (see my previous article). I may have

to erase September 1 games from my memory.

“Respect your opponent if he’s a strong player...but not too

much.” - GM Matthew Sadler

John won the last round and became the new state champion. I

finished a full point behind him. I wasn’t destined to be

Colorado champion in 1975, but 1976 was right around the

corner.

“It can be very hard to keep things together when you’re just

looking at weaknesses in your position all the time, even if you

have a slight material advantage.” - GM Matthew Sadler

Our fourth game was a quick draw...

3rd Mile High Open / Round 5

November 9, 1975




1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.g3 d6 7.Bg2

Bd7 8.O-O Nf6 9.b3 Qc7 10.Bb2 Rc8 11.Rc1 h5 (John was

always an optimist, but this is HCE’s first choice.) 12.Nce2 h4

13.c4 hxg3 14.hxg3 Qa5 15.Nxc6 Qh5 16.f3 Bxc6 17.Kf2 +=

(17.Qd2 is also +=) 17...Qg5 18.Bd4 Be7 19.Be3 (HCE gives

19.Qc2 Nd7 20.Rh1 += where White tries to use the h file Black

has conveniently opened.) 19...Qa5 20.Qd2 Qxd2 21.Bxd2 Bd8

DRAWN on Black’s offer. Evidently John wasn’t interested in

seeing what improvement I might have had against his French

Defense, and returned to the trusty Taimanov Sicilian he used

successfully many times. This was our only game I didn’t lose

with White. I have happy memories of the Mile High Open,

since I won or tied for first from 1973-76. I missed it in 1977

(when in California), and was knocked out of contention by Paul

Nikitovich (my nemesis) in 1978, but at least there are the first

four! I have an abundance of chess memories, and they’re not all

bad, even if some include Brian Wall.

“Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad

memory.” - Franklin Pierce Adams

Curt Carlson and John Watson in Lone Pine, California

(March 1977). I’m the handsome one on the left.

My fifth and last 1975 game with John was also memorable.

This was the second time we traveled out of state to a

tournament together and got paired! It was also the third time in

a row I had White, and the third time he played a different

opening...

Showboat Open

Las Vegas, Nevada / Round 5

December 11, 1975




1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5 (John played this

against me in blitz games so I should have been better prepared.)

6.Nf3 Nh6 7.Bd3 Bf5 8.Be3 Qb6 9.Qd2 e6 10.O-O Bf8 11.a3 a5

12.Na4 Qa7 13.h3 Nd7 14.b4?! (White does better to improve

his position gradually 14.b3 and c4. Also good was 14.Be2 +=

avoiding unfavorable trades. The text leads to a complicated

exchange of queen for two rooks.) 14...axb4 15.axb4 b5 = (HCE

wants to trade light squared bishops before making this push so

White can’t block a back rank check with Bf1, and gives

15...Bd3 16.Qd3 b5 17.Nc5 Qa1 18.Ra1 Ra1 =+) 16.Nc5 Qxa1

17.Rxa1 Rxa1+ 18.Kh2? (This is bad since in some lines Black

can play ...Ng4 with check. 18.Kf2 =+ was better, and best was

18.Bf1 = when HCE gives 18...Ra2 19.Qc3, and if 19...Rc2?

20.Qa3 is actually winning. White should avoid trading minor

pieces, especially light squared bishops.) 18...Ra7 (I don’t know

why John played this, maybe he disliked 19.Nb7 and 20.Nd6.

HCE gives 18...Ra2 19.Bf2 Bd3 20.Qd3 Nf5 -/+) 19.Bf2 Be7 =+

(Again, HCE gives 19...Bd3 20.Qd3 Nf5 -/+) 20.Bh4 (Also good




was 20.Nb3 Bd3 21.cd! {not leaving a hole on c4} 21...Nf5

22.Na5 Nb8 23.g3 = when the a file is blocked and makes Black

regret 18...Ra7.) 20...Nxc5 21.dxc5? (According to HCE 21.Be7

Ke7 22.dc is equal, since White’s knight finds a good square on

d4.) 21...Bxd3? (HCE also dislikes this, and prefers 21...Bh4

22.Nh4 Ra2 22.Nf3 Bd3 23.Qd3 Nf5 -/+.) 22.Bxe7! Kxe7

23.Nd4! Kd7 24.Qxd3 = Rb8 25.Nb3? (A weak move which

allows Black’s next. White should have stirred things up on the

kingside with 25.Qg3 {25.Qe2 and 25.Qf3 are also equal

according to HCE.}, with ideas of Qg5 and / or a f4-f5

sacrifice.}

“When the old order changeth, make sure you’re the bugger

who changeth it.” - Anonymous English proverb

“The Queen is the most powerful piece, able to go in all

directions. It is not surprising that many quiet moves with

terrible force are Queen moves.” - IM Mark Dvoretsky

Black has to play carefully: after 25.Qg3 Ra4? 26.Qg5 White is

better! HCE likes the bizarre 25...Raa8 26.Qg5 Rh8 27.Qf6 Rh7

=+, or 26.Kg1 Nf5 27.Nf5 gf 28.Qg7 Rf8 29.Kf2 =. Also good

was 25.Qf3 Ra4 26.f5 Nf5 27.Nf5 gf 28.Qh5 Rf8 =, or 26...gf

27.Qh5 Rb4 28.Qh6 Rd4 =, but not 26...ef? 27.e6+ and 28.Qf4 +

-. These pawn sacrfices didn’t occur to me during the game, but

if I had been more familiar with Pillsbury - Lasker Nuremberg

1896 they might have;

see https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1109111.

My passive idea to block the a file and wait was met by a

powerful exchange sacrifice.) 25...Nf5 -/+ (Black is doing well

but HCE prefers 25...Ra4 or 25...Ra3 before White can play

26.Na5. The rest of the game was played quickly while we were

both low on time. Time control was 50/2.5) 26.Na5 h4 27.Qf3

Rh8 28.Qd1 Ne3 29.Qd4 Nf1+ 30.Kg1 Ng3 31.Kf2 Rha8

32.Kf3? (32.Qd1 better prepares for the sacrifice: 32...Ra5 33.ba

Ra5 34.Qg4 but it’s still bad for White.) 32...Rxa5! (This

surprised me, but shouldn’t have.

“Experienced players know that, in a cramped position, the

main trouble often happens to be the poorer activity of the

Rooks.” - Tigran Petrosian

I think Tigran would have liked Black’s active rook.) 33.bxa5

Rxa5 -+ 34.Kg4 Nf5 35.Qd2 Ra3 36.c3

36...b4? = (This is a serious mistake, since White can now

penetrate to the 7th rank via the b file. White must resign after

36...d4) 37.Kg5? -+ (37.Qb2 Rc3 38.Kg5 Ke7 39.g4 transposes

into the next move’s note.) 37...Ke7? = (After 37...bc 38.Qc1

Ra2 39.Qb1 Rb2 40.Qa1 Ng7! 41.Kf6 Ne8 42.Kf7 Nc7 -+ the

7th rank is blocked and White can resign.)

38.g4?? (The move that haunts me. HCE says it’s dead equal

after 38.Qb2 Rc3 39.g4 hg 40.Qb4 g2 41.Qb7 when White has a

perpetual.) 38...hxg3 39.Kg4 (39.Qb2 is now too slow since

38...Rc3 isn’t mandatory, and 38...g2 39.Qb4 g1 promotes with

check.) 39...g2 0-1 Defeat from the jaws of equality! It’s

important to be ever alert for opportunities provided by the

opponent’s inaccuracies. I shouldn’t have missed the obvious

38.Qb2, but of course John shouldn’t have missed the obvious

36...d4. This was poorly played by both of us, but justice

ultimately prevailed since he was better most of the game.

Nonetheless, I will forever kick myself for 38.g4 (and 25.Nb3).

“...behind each victory or defeat is invariably concealed a

history of searchings, findings, and disappointments.” -

GM Efim Geller

This was my last rated loss to John. I won our next game in the

fifth round of the 1976 Appreciation Open (after another six

month ‘vacation’), then we drew in the sixth round of the 1976

Colorado Open. It was finally my turn to be state champion! It

was the third time in two years we tied for first in a tournament

by drawing each other and winning the rest. If I remember

correctly John moved to Berkeley in early 1977 and played

actively there many years. He received his IM title in 1982,

which was (IMHO) several years too late. John lives in San

Diego with his wife Maura and still plays actively.

Friendly rivals! On January 2, 2019 GM Jim Tarjan and IM

John Watson played their second game at the San Francisco

International, 38 years after their first at the 1981 Lone Pine

Masters tournament; both were drawn.

JT beat me badly the one time we played in 1983.




My other loss in LV was also interesting. My opponent was one

of California’s top players for many years and received his FM

title in 1983.

Showboat Open / Round 2

Las Vegas, Nevada

December 8, 1975

Tibor Weinberger (2368, age 43)


E45: https://denverchess.com/games/view/19025

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Ba6 6.a3 Bxc3+

7.Nxc3 d5 8.Qf3 (8.b3 is most common, but the text has been

played by Mamedyarov, Aronian, and Hort.) 8...O-O 9.b4 (9.g4

Bb7 10.g5 Ne4 11.Ne4 de 12.Qg3 = Mamedyarov-Istratescu

2004, also Aronian-Istratescu 2004. First choice of HCE,

Stockfish, and Komodo 9.02 is 9...c6, and after 10.b3 dc 11.bc

e5! = HCE. Also reasonable is the optimistic 9...c5 =) 9...Qd7

(The queen isn’t well placed here and makes d7 unavailable for

a knight. It’s not mentioned in ChessBase 14 but HCE says it’s

equal. I must have been thinking of Portisch-Fischer Santa

Moncia 1966 {Game 53 in MSMG}. HCE, Stockfish 5, and

Deep Fritz 14 all prefer 9...c5 = hoping to advantageously open

the c file. 9...Bb7, 9...Re8, and 9...c6 are also good. 9...Nbd7

10.g5 Ne4 11.Ne4 de 12.Qe4 Qg5 += is slightly better for

White. Black’s slight lead in development compensates for

White’s bishop pair.) 10.g4!? (Perhaps too optimistic. 10.Bb2 c6

= HCE) 10...c5 = (More consistent is 10...Bc4 =+, where

11.Bc4? Qc6 is bad for White. 11.g5 is well answered by

11...Ne4 12.Bc4 Nc3 13.Bd3 c5 14.dc Nc6 =+. Also on 10...dc

not 11.Qa8? Nc6-+, but 11.Bg2 =.) 11.g5 Ne4 12.Nxe4 dxe4

13.Qd1 =

13...cxd4 +/-? (This could almost be called the losing move.

During the game I was puzzled, since I’m castled and have two

pieces developed, while he has no development and has

weakened himself on both sides of the board; shouldn’t I open

up the game? But according to HCE, it’s equal! What would

Fred Reinfeld have said? White lost time securing a queenside

pawn majority and the bishop pair; to offset these advantages

Black should should keep developing {and aim at pawns} with

13...Rd8 14.Bb2 Qe7 = HCE.) 14.Qxd4 Qxd4 15.exd4 += Nc6?

(Another weak move. Black does better to restrain the c pawn

with 15...Rc8 16.b5 {If 16.c5 Bf1 17.Kf1 Nc6 18.Be3 Rd8

Black has a light squared blockade} 16...Bb7 17.a4 a6, although

White still stands well. It’s harder to play c4-c5 without a pawn

on b4) 16.Be3 +/- (Black could resign after 16.b5 Nd4 17.ba

Nc2 18.Kd2 Na1 19.Kc3, which is close to +-HCE.) 16...Ne7

17.Be2 e5!? (Too optimistic. Black’s position is bad but 17...Nf5

18.Kd2 Rfd8 offered more resistance when Black has some hope

of eliminating White’s bishop pair.) 18.dxe5 (Stronger was

18.d5) 18...Ng6 19.c5 (HCE prefers 19.b5 Bb7 20.a4+-, or

19...Bc8 20.c5 bxc5 21.Rc1! Ne5 22.Rc5 Nf3 23.Bf3 ef 24.Kd2

+/-. 19.e6 was also good) 19...Bxe2 20.Kxe2 bxc5 21.bxc5 Nxe5

22.Rhb1 Rfc8 23.Rb4 Nd3 24.Rc4 Rab8 25.Ra2 (HCE thinks

it’s best to simplify with 25.Re4 Nc5 26.Rb4 when White’s

superior minor piece is very difficult for Black.) 25...f5 (As

good as anything. This is HCE’s first choice.) 26.gxf6 gxf6

27.Rxe4 Nxc5 28.Re7 a5? (This pawn is now hard to defend.

Much stronger was 28...a6 +/- when a future ...Rc6 protects it.

We had less than half an hour each remaining. Time control was

50/2.5) 29.Ra1 (Better was 29.Rd2 Rc6 30.Rd5 and 31.Rh5 +-.)

29...Rb7 30.Rg1+ Kh8 (Better was 30...Kf8) 31.Rgg7 Rxe7

32.Rxe7 Kg8 33.Bh6 Rc6? (33...Nb3+/-, 33...Ra8+/-, and

33...a4+/- were all better tries. By now we each had less than

five minutes remaining.) 34.Rg7+ Kh8 35.Ra7 (35.Rf7! Rc8

36.Rf6 was overwhelming.) 35...Kg8 36.Rxa5 (Oh how I wish I

had played 28...a6!) 36...Kf7 37.Be3 Nd7 38.Ra7 Ke6 39.a4 h5?

(Another weak move. I wanted to move my knight without

losing my h7 pawn, but 39...Ne5 40.Rh7 Rc2 41.Kf1 Ra2

42.Rh4 f5 was much harder for White to win. Sometimes piece

activity is more important than material!)

“The most important feature of the chess position is the activity

of the pieces. This is absolutely fundamental in all phases of the

game: opening, middlegame, and especially endgame. The

primary constraint on a piece’s activity is the pawn structure.” -

GM Michael Stean

40.a5 Nc5 (This loses quickly, but 40...Rc2 41.Kf1 Rc8

{preventing 42.Ra8} 42.Rb7 was also hopeless.) 41.Rh7 Rc8

42.Rxh5 f5 43.a6 Ke5 44.a7 Ne6 45.Rh7 f4 46.Bb6 Rc2+

47.Kd1 Ra2 48.Rh8 Ra6 49.a8Q Rxb6 50.Re8 1-0

White’s flag nearly fell, but he made time control so I finally

resigned (in the old days we used analog clocks).

I would have jumped at the chance to claim a win, but now that

I’m older and wiser I would have shook his hand no later than

move 42: winning a hopeless position by forfeit would feel like

theft. Resigning at the right time is, more than anything else, a

matter of courtesy and respect for you opponent (and yourself).

In my youth I didn’t always show good manners and very much

regret it now. Life, like chess, is one long regret. As David

McRaney said, “If you think you’re the same person now that

you were earlier in life, you are not so smart!” Hopefully this

applies favorably to me.

“How you make others feel says a lot about who you are.” -

A. A. Milne

“True Power is sitting back and observing things with logic.

True power is restraint.” - Warren Buffett

At the Showboat I won my other four and finished 4-2; at least it

took 2300 strength players to beat me! John also scored 4-2,

losing only to GM Larry Christiansen and tournament winner




John Grefe. Another memory making tournament was history.

“...I encourage you to play the most complicated opening set-

ups, but on one condition: you should play them not for

fashion’s sake and not because somebody told you to, but

because of the resulting middlegame positions.” -

GM Alex Yermolinsky

While these losses were disheartening, 1975 was a good year for

me overall: I tied for first in two tournaments with John, I tied

for first in the Denver Open with Don Sutherland, I won an

experts’ prize at the US Open, I won a couple of minor

tournaments in Wyoming, I won the Denver Chess Club’s

Invitational, and in December I played for the team that won the

Pan Am (see below). I didn’t do so well in the Loveland Open,

the Al Wallace Memorial, the North American Open, and the

Colorado Open but you can’t win them all. 1976 was worse, so I

wish now I’d called it a chess career after the Pan Am so I could

have gone out with a bang. There’s a lot of hindsight in chess,

both on and off the board.

“...the combination is the summit of creative chess and that it

appeals equally to the intellect and the heart of man.” -

GM Yuri Averbakh

“Effort inequality reinforces rating inequality.” - Anonymous

In Memoriam:

Mike Chess (1954-2019)

I was saddened to hear my longtime friend Mike Chess from

Omaha, Nebraska, died in January 2019. At the 1975 Pan Am

(in Columbus, Ohio) we were teammates with his brother Rich

and Loren Schmidt. Our team (Nebraska) tied for first with

Harvard. In the ‘70s Mike, Rich, and I (and many others) played

in several North American Opens in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and

accumulated lots of memories. Mike was colorful fellow who

played practical jokes and intimided TV cameramen. At the

1977 US Open (also in Columbus) IM Bill Martz (1945-1983)

said Mike was the world’s most notorious simultaneous

exhibition kibitzer! He will be missed.

This is from the March 1976 Chess Life (page 133).

My mother said we looked like a bunch of hippies!

The Pan Am was one of the best times of my life.

December 1975: Mike Chess is happy after going

7-1 on board four in the Pan Am.

Martin Thomas Deschner (1950-2018)

I was also saddened to learn my longtime friend Martin ‘Tuna’

Deschner passed away in early 2018. I met him at a 30-30

tournament in May 1969, and we were friends nearly 50 years.

He was a solid expert most of his playing career and was always

a dangerous opponent. He sat on the stage for some of the 1971

Fischer-Larsen games, and one time while Larsen was thinking

Bobby whispered something in his ear. Unfortunately, when

asked about it shortly before his death, he forgot what it was!

We can only wonder. Martin scored 4-2 in the reserve section of

the Showboat Open and played in many national tournaments.

RIP Martin.

“Chess is a tragedy of a single tempo.” - Anonymous

Corrections:

In my last article I mistakenly said IM Mark Dvoretsky (1947-

2016) was a Grandmaster.

“During the 1970s, Mark was widely regarded by the strongest

IM in the world, due to a number of excellent results: he was

Moscow Champion in 1973, finished equal fifth in a strong

Soviet Championship in 1974, won the Wijk aan Zee Masters

tournament of 1975 by a clear point and a half, and a creditable

finish at the USSR Championship of 1975.” - Chessgames.com.

More than 40 years ago I read the RHM book on the 1974 USSR

championship and was impressed by his play and analysis. It

was very easy to think he was a GM, since there is no doubt he

was at GM strength. My thanks to IM Elliott Winslow for

alerting me to this error.

“...theory is necessary, but it is important to understand that it is

only an instrument for understanding, and certainly not a set of

absolute truths operative under any circumstances.” -

IM Mark Dvoretsky

Dvoretsky has a very nice win over the always dangerous GM

Oleg Romanishin at https://www.chessgames.com/perl/

chessgame?gid=1117938. It makes you want to play 4.Bc6

against the Ruy Lopez (which is also a way to avoid the

Marshall Gambit).




“Studying abstract truths, both in chess and in life, enriches our

intuition.” - IM Mark Dvoretsky

On page 303 of For Friends & Colleagues Volume 1 Dvoretsky

analyses this position:

Yusupov - Dolmatov / 8th Match Game 1991

White to play

The game continued 39.Qb6 b2? +- (39...e3 = HCE) 40.Qb2 e3?

(40...Kh7 was tougher but still losing.) 41.Rcf6! Qc7 42.Qa2

Kh8 43.Rf5! Kh7 44.Re6 1-0, since 44...Re6 45.Qe6 is hopeless.

Back to the diagram: White has an unexpected win with 39.Rg7!

Qg7 (If 39...Kg7 40.Qd4 Kg8 41.Rh6 +-) 40.Qb3 Qf7 (40...Kf8

41.Qd5 +-; 40...Kh7 41.Qd1! Qf7 42.Qd6 +-) 41.Rg6 Kf8

42.Qa3 Re7 43.Rg5! and the threat of 44.Qc3 is crushing. It’s

surprising the attack is so deadly when Black’s queen and rook

are near their king. Black could hold if the weak h5 pawn was

back on h7 (where it should be), since White couldn’t threaten it

with Qd1, or threaten Rh6-h8 since h7 isn’t vacant. 39.Rg7!

looks like vintage Tal.

“The only thing chess players have in common is chess.” -

Lodewijk Prins

A fascinating Ivanchuk - Yusupov game is at https://

www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1060180 . Even

HCE has a hard time with this one.

“What is the best approaching to finding balance...to creating

an awesome life? Adaptability!” - Shimi Kang

On page 28 of the October 2019 CCI the remark about the 1969

Colorado Open picture should have said Richard Misare (not

Ron Hosler) was a math professor at Metro State College. In

1976 I took two linear algebra classes from RM, who quickly

saw I cared little about academics. Chess is a great game, but

overrating its importance when I should have focused on my

education was a bad mistake.

“Chess is my life, but not all of my life is chess.” -

GM Anatoly Karpov

“Anatoly Karpov is a scary player. Why? His intuition is

flawless. Strategically he is so gifted... I thought this guy would

remain the world champion for 40 years!” -

GM Yasser Seirawan

“I cannot imagine Karpov beating Fischer. Hort thinks he can.

In a match to ten wins Fischer should win 10, lose 2, and draw

30.” - GM Bent Larsen (1974)

“Fear is a poor counselor.” - GM Max Euwe

250 interesting Alexander Zhukov endings are at https://

tinyurl.com/s2xykp2. Don’t look at this site unless you have

several hours to spare.

“I have always liked evaluation exercises, because we frequently

learn that we overemphasized certain factors in the position and

overlooked the importance of other, more relevant ones.” -

IM Erik Kislik

There are also 20 interesting interactive studies by Siyavush

Viliyev at https://tinyurl.com/vyfedme. The copious learning

resources online now could only be dreamed of 50 years ago.

“Not even the world’s biggest guns and armies can stop the

forces of supply and demand.” - Jeffrey Tucker

“Exerting effort for the sake of exerting effort, with no regard to

the results of that effort, is and ought to be a source, not of

dignity, but at best of embarrassment.” - Donald J. Boudreaux

Comments, corrections, and suggestions are appreciated.

[email protected]

k


January 18 & 19, 2020

5 Round Swiss

3 Sections: Open, U1800, U1400

Time Control:

G/90; d/05 (Rds 1-3) G/90; +30 (Rds 4-5)

Embassy Suite DTC

10250 E Costilla Ave Centennial, CO 80112

Denver Chess Club Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chess Tournament



2019 London Chess Classic

Report

by John Brezina / Parker Chess Club

The 2019 Grand Chess Tour wrapped up an exciting year in

London with the top four players of the tour. The number one

qualifier was the return of the World Champion Magnus Carlsen

to the tour with a commanding 67 GCT points. Joining him

would be Ding Liren, Levon Aronian, and finally Maxime

Vachier-Lagrave who would qualify by a slim 0.3 point margin

over Sergey Karjakin. These four players would not only be

playing for the London Chess Classic title but a share of

$350,000.

During the tournament many other side events took place

including the British Knockout Championship and the London

Chess Classic FIDE Open. Chess in Schools and Communities

has been organizing the London Chess Classic since 2009 led by

Malcolm Pein. Magnus Carlsen has won the event an amazing

four times.

The Classic returns again to the Olympia London building in

West Kensington. A great venue that can accommodate multiple

big events. Upon entering the third floor is an open area with a

large chess board and tables for casual chess. In the middle is a

cafe open during the tournament along with a side room with a

live feed from St. Louis for live commentary during the games.

The same room had Maurice Ashley interviewing the players

after each round. A great chance for fans to get near their

favorite player and a photo or autograph. A separate room for

VIP only had their own commentary team including Lawrence

Trent.

I arrived early before the second round and was able to catch

part of the Junior chess tournament that had local schools from

the London area compete. There were some serious players and

it was fun watching teams being photographed with their

trophies. Afterwards many of the kids played some casual chess

on the big board in the hallway. Some of the top kid players

were invited to make opening moves for the top boards at the

London Classic.

I was able to make it to the second classical game of the semi-

finals which paired Carlsen vs Vachier-Lagrave, and Aronian vs

Liren. They would play two classical games followed by two

rapid and four blitz games on the third day. Both classical games

were drawn by each and set up an exciting following day of

chess. First to score in the Rapids in game one was Ding Liren.

Levon Aronian was not playing up to his usual standards and it

showed as he also lost game two which would require winning

all four blitz games just to tie. And after drawing game one of

their blitz match Ding Liren secured a spot in the finals.

There was much talk and speculation of a Ding Liren and

Magnus Carlsen final as a possible prelude to next years World

Championship match. But the French number one Maxime

Vachier-Lagrave had something else in store. Their first two

rapid games ended in hard fought draws setting up an epic blitz

finale between two of the greatest blitz players. Game one ended

in a quiet draw but game two shocked the crowd as Magnus

Carlsen lost with the White pieces as he could not stop a pawn

from promoting. Game three seemed to be heading for a draw

when Maxime blundered and allowed Magnus to skewer his

knight and rook, surprising and pleasing the World Champion.

Back to a tie and game four would draw as no chances were

taken.

On to the two tie breaks which would then lead to an

armageddon game if still undecided. The chief arbiter had the

players draw colors and Magnus would start with White. It was

becoming late into the evening at this point and it was

announced to the audience that game one would start at 9:00pm.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave appeared at the board and the crowd

anxiously awaited the World Champion. As we all waited and

watched the clock tick past 9:00pm, an uneasy feeling came over

the arbiters and audience. After about five minutes even Maxime

appeared a bit concerned and it looked as though they may have

to start Magnus’ clock. After much scrambling and nervous

arbiters, it was discovered that the original agreed upon schedule

had the tie break games commencing at 9:30pm which team

Magnus obviously were quite aware of. So a twenty minute

break was announced, whew! Finally the time arrived.


Magnus Carlsen & Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Levon Aronian & Ding Liren



As like clock work, Magnus appears and moves quickly to the

board and shakes hands. It is quite something to be near him

onstage as his presence is quite commanding as he enters and

captures everyone's attention. After aggressive play by Magnus

and preventing Maxime from castling, it appeared to favor the

World Champion. But Maxime fought back and defended well

and went into an ending with a knight and pawn which became

unstoppable. After 82 moves Magnus would resign as his lone

knight could not stop a queen from reappearing. Game two was

a must win for Magnus. But Maxime was playing incredible

chess and holding his own with the World Champion. While all

three decided games thus far were with the Black pieces, this

one would not. Maxime played solid chess and after 44 moves

Magnus, knowing the inevitable, graciously resigned with a

smile and congratulated his opponent.

Thus setting up a final between Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier

-Lagrave for first and second place while Magnus Carlsen and

Levon Aronian played for third and fourth place. Ding Liren

who has had an incredible year won first place while Magnus

won his finals match for third place. A great end to the Grand

Chess Tour of 2019.

During all these games I would occasionally go over to the FIDE

Open hall to watch some of the other games. This is where the

British Knockout Championship was taking place with regulars

Michael Adams, Luke McShane, David Howell, and Gawain

Jones. Mickey and David would play in the finals after

dispatching their opponents.

David Howell has been having a great year but the veteran

Adams would take the top spot this year. Many of the other

players along with some surprise guests would kibitz their

games from time to time including the English GM John Nunn.

In the FIDE Open there were many new players that I have not

photographed before and my favorite was the fourteen year old

Indian prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.

Very professional and extremely confident at the board for being

so young. His round seven victory over a top French

Grandmaster and friend of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jules

Moussard, was quite exciting. GM Praggnanandhaa would go on

and tie for first place. Fellow Indian player GM Chithambaram

Aravindh was also a pleasure to photograph and finished tied for

third. Many great games to watch but I was disappointed to see

no American players this year.

There was something going on for any type of chess fan

including the annual simul by English GM Jon Speelman. While

he dispatched most players quite easily, one young man gave

him some trouble. As the last board standing he garnered quite

the attention including the mother of Indian GM

Praggnanandhaa.

And the nearly empty wine glass of Mr. Speelman would

indicate the struggle that ended in a draw. Meeting new people

at these events is something I enjoy most including Dylan Mize.

He is an American student at Slade School of Fine Art in

London, doing a Masters in painting.

He could be seen in the front row of each game doing color

sketches in soft pastel he calls “chess portraiture”. He kindly

allowed me to photograph him at work and was kind to share

some hi-res photos of his work. He hopes to perhaps sell these

and the originals someday. It was a short visit here for me this

year but quite enjoyable. The games started late in the afternoon

which allowed much sightseeing during the day. Thanks to the

organizers who do such a great job with this tournament and the

entire Grand Chess Tour. I cannot wait to see next years

locations and lineup of players. Another great year of chess

coming to a close. I will continue and try to grow the Parker

Chess Club tournaments next year with the next one on Sunday,

January 26, 2020. Until then, play on and share our wonderful

game and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

k

You can find John Brezina’s pics of the

London Chess Clasic here:

https://tinyurl.com/yk5pqqmh

And of the London Classic FIDE Open

& British Knockout here:

https://tinyurl.com/yhctym9j


Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa at the board.

Dylan Mize, an American artist

at work at the London Chess Classic.



Games From the

2019 Colorado

Open (Part II)

by Chief Tournament Director


(You can find the first part of games here:

https://tinyurl.com/udqx6xb

& the Final Standings here:

https://tinyurl.com/vb53wqa)

Ryan Baten (1887)

Mitch Fishbein (2218)

Round 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0

5.Qc2 c5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 d5 8.Bg5 h6

9.Bh4 cxd4 10.cxd4 Nc6 11.e3 Bd7

12.cxd5 exd5 13.Bd3 Rc8 14.Qb2 Qa5+

15.Qd2 Ne4 16.Qxa5 Nxa5 17.0-0 f6

18.Rfc1 Nb3 19.Rxc8 Rxc8 20.Rb1 Rc3

21.Bxe4 dxe4 22.Ne1 Bc6 23.Bg3 Bd5

24.Bd6 a5 25.h4 h5 26.Kh2 Kf7 27.Kg3

Ke6 28.Bf8 Rc8 29.Bc5 Nxc5 30.dxc5

Rxc5 31.Kf4 g5+ 32.hxg5 fxg5+ 33.Kg3

b5 34.f4 Kf5 35.fxg5 Kxg5 36.Kf2 h4

37.Rb2 Bc4 38.Nc2 Rf5+ 39.Ke1 Rf1+

40.Kd2 Rf2+ 41.Kc3 Rxg2 42.Rb1 0-1

Alexander Freeman (1765)


Round 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.e4 e5

5.d5 Be7 6.Be3 0-0 7.Bd3 Ne8 8.Qh5 g6

9.Qe2 Ng7 10.Nf3 f5 11.Bh6 Nf6

12.0-0-0 c6 13.Kb1 Qb6 14.h3 Bd7

15.exf5 gxf5 16.g4 e4 17.gxf5 cxd5

18.cxd5 exd3 19.Qxe7 Rf7 20.Qe1 Bxf5

21.Qd2 Rc8 22.Rhg1 Ne4 23.Nxe4 Rc2

24.Bxg7 Rxg7 25.Rxg7+ Kh8 26.Rg8+

Kxg8 27.Qg5+ Bg6 28.Qf6 Bxe4

29.Rg1+ Bg6 30.Nh4 Rxf2 31.Qc3

Rxb2+ 32.Qxb2 Qxg1+ 33.Qc1 d2+ 0-1

Wesley Woo (1758)

Alaa-Addin Moussa (2123)

Round 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6

5.Qc2 d5 6.Bg2 Bxc4 7.Ne5 Ba6 8.Bg5

Bb4+ 9.Nc3 0-0 10.0-0 c5 11.dxc5 Bxc5

12.Rfd1 h6 13.Bf4 Nbd7 14.e4 Nxe5

15.Bxe5 d4 16.Qa4 Qc8 17.Bxd4 Bb7

18.Bxc5 Qxc5 19.Rac1 Ng4 20.Rc2 Rfc8

21.Rdc1 Qh5 22.h3 Ne5 23.Nb5 Rxc2

24.Rxc2 Rd8 25.Rc7 Rd1+ 26.Bf1 Qe2

27.Qxd1 Nf3+ 28.Kg2 Qxd1 29.Rxb7

Nd2 0-1

Vedanth Sampath (1681)

Neil Bhavikatti (2115)

Round 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+

5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 b6 8.Nc3 Bb7

9.Ne5 Nbd7 10.Qc2 c5 11.e3 Qc8

12.cxd5 exd5 13.Qa4 Rd8 14.Rac1 Nxe5

15.dxe5 Ne8 16.e4 dxe4 17.Be3 Bc6

18.Qc2 Nc7 19.Bxe4 Bxe4 20.Qxe4 f5

21.Qc4+ Qe6 22.Qxe6+ Nxe6 23.Rfd1

Kf7 24.Nb5 a6 25.Nd6+ Bxd6 26.exd6 a5

27.a3 a4 28.Rb1 Rd7 29.b4 axb3 30.Rxb3

Ra6 31.Kg2 Nd8 32.Bf4 h6 33.h4 Kf6

34.h5 Ne6 35.Be3 Ke5 0-1

Dean Clow (2050)

Richard Pugh III (1606)

Round 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Nf3 e6 4.c4 Be7

5.e3 0-0 6.Nc3 c6 7.c5 Nbd7 8.b4 Ne4

9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Nd2 e5

12.Nxe4 exd4 13.Qxd4 Ne5 14.Qd6 Re8

15.Rd1 Bg4 16.Be2 Rad8 17.Qxe7

Rxd1+ 18.Bxd1 Rxe7 19.Bxg4 Nxg4

20.Nd6 g6 21.h3 Ne5 22.Ke2 Kg7

23.Rd1 f6 24.f4 Nf7 25.Kf3 h6 26.e4 Kf8

27.Nxf7 Kxf7 28.g4 Kg7 29.h4 Kf7 30.a4

Kg7 31.Rd6 Kf7 32.Ke3 Kg7 33.Kd4 Kf7

34.b5 cxb5 35.axb5 Kg7 36.Kd5 Kf7

37.e5 fxe5 38.fxe5 Kg7 39.h5 gxh5

40.gxh5 Kh7 41.c6 bxc6+ 42.bxc6 a5

43.Rd7 1-0

Luke Namesnik (1546)

Mirza Peljto (1799)

Round 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 d5 4.f3 Nf6

5.Nc3 c6 6.e4 e6 7.Qd3 Bb4 8.Nge2 b6

9.0-0-0 Ba6 10.Qe3 Nbd7 11.e5 Ng8

12.Bg5 Be7 13.f4 Qc7 14.Ng3 Qb7 15.f5

0-0-0 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.Nh5 g6 18.Ng7

Nf8 19.Bxa6 Qxa6 20.Rhf1 h6 21.Bxe7

Nxe7 22.Rf7 Rd7 23.Qf3 Nf5 24.Nxf5

gxf5 25.Qh5 Qb7 26.Rf6 Re7 27.Rxh6

Rxh6 28.Qxh6 Nd7 29.h4 b5 30.Kb1 b4

31.Ne2 c5 32.Nf4 Qc6 33.h5 c4 34.Qg5

Re8 35.h6 c3 36.h7 Kb7 37.Qg7 Qc8

38.Rh1 Rh8 39.Ng6 cxb2 40.Nxh8 1-0

William Wolf (1314)

Ryan Snodgrass (1726)

Round 1

1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 dxe4 4.Nc3 Nf6

5.Qe2 Bb4 6.0-0-0 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 0-0 8.g4

b6 9.d3 Nd5 10.Bb2 exd3 11.Rxd3 Nf4

12.Qe5 Nxd3+ 13.Bxd3 Qf6 14.Qe4

Qh6+ 15.Kb1 c6 16.g5 Qg6 17.Qh4 f5

18.gxf6 Qh6 19.Qg3 Rxf6 20.Bxf6 Qxf6

21.Nf3 Nd7 22.Rg1 Nc5 23.Bxh7+ Kxh7

24.Qh3+ Qh6 25.Ng5+ Kg8 26.Qf3 Qf6

27.Qh5 Bb7 28.Nh7 Qf5 29.Ng5 Ne4 0-1

Joseph Morrison (1010)

Ilan Sebba (975)

Round 1

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7

5.Nc3 d6 6.0-0 Na5 7.Bb3 Nxb3 8.axb3

0-0 9.Be3 b6 10.d4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Bb7

12.f3 Qd7 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bh4 Nh7

15.Bxe7 Qxe7 16.Nd5 Bxd5 17.exd5

Rfe8 18.Re1 Qf6 19.Rxe8+ Rxe8

20.Rxa7 Re5 21.Nc6 Re8 22.Rxc7 Qxb2

23.Rb7 Nf6 24.Rxb6 Qc3 25.Rb8 Rxb8

26.Nxb8 Nxd5 27.h3 Qe5 28.Nc6 Qe6

29.Qxd5 Qxd5 30.Ne7+ Kf8 31.Nxd5 f5

32.b4 1-0

Ben Gurka (1915)

Wesley Woo (1758)

Round 2

(A young player springs an old trap, then

scores after tough resistance.) 1.d4 d5

2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.cxd5

exd5 6.Nxd5 Nxd5 7.Bxd8 Bb4+ 8.Qd2

Bxd2+ 9.Kxd2 Kxd8 10.e4 N5f6 11.Bd3

Re8 12.f3 c6 13.Ne2 Nb6 14.a4 a5

15.Rhb1 Be6 16.b4 axb4 17.Rxb4 Nfd7

18.f4 g6 19.Nc3 f5 20.e5 Kc7 21.Rc1

Kb8 22.Ke3 Nd5+ 23.Nxd5 Bxd5

24.Rcb1 Ra7 25.g3 Kc7 26.a5 Rb8

27.Ra1 Rba8 28.Rab1 Nf8 29.Kd2 Ne6

30.Kc3 Nd8 31.Bc4 Rxa5 32.Bxd5 Rxd5

33.Re1 Ne6 34.Reb1 Ra3+ 35.Kb2 Raa5

36.Kc3 Rab5 37.Rxb5 Rxb5 38.Ra1 Kb8

39.h3 h5 40.g4 Nxf4 41.gxf5 gxf5 42.Rf1

Nd5+ 43.Kd2 f4 44.Rg1 Rb3 45.Rg5

Rxh3 46.Rf5 h4 47.Rf8+ Kc7 48.Rf7+




Kb6 49.Rf5 Rg3 50.Rh5 h3 51.Ke2 Kb5

52.e6 Kc4 53.Kf2 b5 54.Re5 Re3

55.Rxe3 fxe3+ 0-1

Rithvik Ijju (1490)

Jose Llacza (1752)

Round 2

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Bc4 Na5

5.Be2 Nf6 6.0-0 Be7 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4

0-0 9.Be3 Nc6 10.a3 d5 11.exd5 Nxd5

12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Qd2 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 Be6

15.f4 Qc8 16.b4 a5 17.Rab1 axb4

18.axb4 Ra2 19.Rb2 Ra8 20.Bd3 Bf5

21.Rb3 Bxd3 22.Rxd3 Ra2 23.Rg3 g6

24.f5 Qxc2 25.Qh6 f6 26.fxg6 hxg6

27.Rxg6+ Kf7 28.Rgxf6+ Ke8 29.Rxf8+

Kd7 30.Qh3+ Kd6 31.Bc5+ Kc6 32.Rc8+

Kb5 33.Qd7+ 1-0

Mark Brown (1463)

Andrew Roerty (1726)

Round 2

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 c5

5.Nbd2 Nc6 6.c3 Be7 7.h3 0-0 8.Bd3 b6

9.Ne5 Bb7 10.Qe2 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd7

12.Qh5 g6 13.Qg4 Re8 14.h4 h5 15.Qg3

Kg7 16.Nf3 c4 17.Bc2 b5 18.Nd4 b4

19.Nxe6+! 1-0

Cory Foster (1793)

Gregory Bain (1013)

Round 2

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.d4 Bb6

5.Bxf4 Nc6 6.c3 d6 7.Bc4 Bg4 8.0-0 Nf6

9.Nbd2 Ne5 10.Bxe5 dxe5 11.Bxf7+ Kf8

12.Qb3 Qe7 13.Nxe5 Qxe5 14.Kh1 Qg5

15.Nf3 Bxf3 16.Rxf3 h5 17.e5 1-0

Phillip Brown (1556)

William Wolf (1314)

Round 2

1.c4 b5?! 2.cxb5 Nf6 3.Nc3 a6 4.e3 g6

5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 axb5 8.Bxb5

c5 9.d4 cxd4 10.exd4 d6 11.Bg5 Ba6

12.Qd2 Bxb5 13.Nxb5 Ne4 14.Qe3 Nxg5

15.Qxg5 Qb6 16.a4 Nc6 17.Qd2 Na5

18.Qd3 e5 19.dxe5 dxe5 20.Qd6 Qxd6

21.Nxd6 e4 22.Nxe4 Bxb2 23.Ra2 Rfb8

24.Rd1 Nc4 25.g3 Rb4 26.Nc5 Ra5

27.Nd3 Rbxa4 28.Rxb2 Nxb2 29.Nxb2

Ra2 30.Nc4 Rf5 31.Kg2 Re2 ½-½

Amitai Sebba (1349)

Tyler Thieszen (1444)

Round 2

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5

5.Nf3 e6 6.cxd4 Nc6 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Be2 d5

9.Nc3 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.a3 f5 12.exf6

Bxf6 13.Be3 Na5 14.Rc1 Nac4 15.Qc2 e5

16.dxe5 Bxe5 17.Bxb6 axb6 18.Bxc4

Bxc3 19.Qxc3 dxc4 20.Qxc4+ Kh8

21.Rfd1 Qf6 22.Qb4 b5 23.Qd6 Be6

24.Re1 Ra6 25.Qe5 Bg4 26.Qxf6 Raxf6

27.Ne5 Be6 28.Rf1 Rf5 29.Nf3 Bc4

30.Rfe1 Bd5 31.Rc5 h6 32.Rxb5 Bxf3

33.Rxf5 Rxf5 34.gxf3 Rxf3 35.Re3 Rf5

36.b4 Kg8 37.Kg2 Kf7 38.Kg3 Kf6 39.f4

Rh5 40.h4 g5 41.hxg5+ hxg5 42.fxg5+

Rxg5+ 43.Kf2 b5 44.Rf3+ Ke5 45.Ke3

½-½

Brad Lundstrom (1974)


Round 3

1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.Bc4 e5

5.Nf3 Be7 6.Ng5 0-0 7.Bxf7+ Rxf7

8.Ne6 Qe8 9.Nxc7 Qd8 10.Nxa8 b5

11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.0-0 Bb7 13.Nxb5 Bxa8

14.Bf4 Qb6 15.a4 a6 16.Be3 Qc6 17.Nc3

Nxe4 18.f3 Nxc3 19.bxc3 Qxc3 20.Bd4

Qc4 21.a5 Bxf3 22.gxf3 Nxf3+ 23.Rxf3

Rxf3 24.Rb1 Rf4 25.Bf2 Rg4+ 26.Bg3 h5

27.Rb8+ Kh7 28.Qf3 Qxc2 29.Qf7 Qc5+

30.Kg2 Qe5 31.Re8 Qe2+ 32.Kg1 Qe1+

33.Kg2 Qe4+ 34.Kg1 Qe1+ 35.Kg2 Qe2+

½-½

Ben Gurka (1915)

Davin Yin (1818)

Round 3

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4

0-0 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.0-0 Bxf3

9.Rxf3 e5 10.d5 exf4 11.Bxf4 Re8

12.Qc2 Nc5 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bxf6 Bxf6

15.Raf1 Bd4+ 16.Kh1 Re7 17.Qd2 Bg7

18.b4 Nd7 19.Nb5 a6 20.Nd4 Ne5

21.Rg3 Nd7 22.Nf5 Rxe4 23.Nxh6+

Bxh6 24.Qxh6 Qh4 25.Qd2 Qh7 26.Bd3

Rh4 27.h3 Ne5 28.Qe2 Qh5 29.Qf2 Qh7

30.Be2 Nxc4 31.Rc1 Nd2 32.Bd3 Ne4

33.Bxe4 Rxe4 34.Rxc7 Rxb4 35.Qf6 Qg7

36.Qxd6 Rb1+ 37.Kh2 Re8 38.Rf3 Qa1

39.Rcxf7 Rh1+ 40.Kg3 Qe1+ 41.Kg4

Re4+ 42.R7f4 Rxf4+ 43.Qxf4 Qe7 44.d6

Qd7+ 45.Kg3 Qg7 46.d7 Rd1 47.Qb8+

Kh7 48.d8Q Rxd8 49.Qxd8 Qe5+ 50.Kf2

Qc5+ 51.Kf1 Qc1+ 52.Ke2 Qc2+ 53.Qd2

Qc4+ 54.Kf2 Qc5+ 55.Kf1 Qb5+ 56.Kg1

Qc5+ 57.Rf2 Qc7 58.Qf4 Qc5 59.Qf7+

Kh6 60.Qf8+ 1-0


Francisco Baltier Jr (1730)

Round 3

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.Nf3 Bf5 4.e3 e6

5.Bd3 Bg6 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.c4 dxc4 8.Bxc4

Nb6 9.Bb3 Bd6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Nc3 0-0

12.Rc1 c6 13.Bc2 Bh5 14.Ne4 Nbd5

15.Nxf6+ Bxf6 16.Bxf6 Qxf6 17.Qd3

Bg6 18.Qd2 Bh5 19.Qd3 Bg6 20.Qd2

Nb6 21.Bxg6 hxg6 22.Ne5 Rfd8 23.Qe2

Nd7 24.Nxd7 Rxd7 25.Rc3 Rad8 26.Qf3

Qe7 27.g3 e5 28.dxe5 Qxe5 29.Qf4 Qd5

30.Qc4 Qd6 31.Rfc1 Qf6 32.R3c2 Rd5

33.Qc3 Qf3 34.h4 g5 35.e4 Rd3 36.Qe5

Rd1+ 37.Kh2 Rxc1 38.Rxc1 Qxf2+

39.Kh3 gxh4 40.Kxh4 Qd4 41.Qe7 Rd7

42.Qe8+ Kh7 43.Rh1 Kg6 44.Kg4 Qd6

45.e5 Qb4+ 46.Kh3 Re7 47.Qb8 Qe4

48.Rd1 Qf5+ 49.Kg2 0-1

Kary Fang (1282)

Jack Nauman (1461)

Round 3

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5

5.Nc3 d6 6.h3 a6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.Re1

0-0 9.d3 h6 10.b3 Bb4 11.Bb2 Nd7 12.a3

Ba5 13.b4 Bb6 14.Ne2 c5 15.Ng3 a5

16.bxc5 Nxc5 17.c4 f5 18.d4 Nxe4

19.Nxe4 fxe4 20.dxe5 Bxh3 21.Qd5+

Kh8 22.Qxe4 Bf5 23.Qd5 dxe5 24.Qxe5

Rf7 25.Rad1 Qf6 26.Qd5 c6 27.Qd2 Qd8




28.Ne5 Re7 29.Qc3 Qc7 30.Nxc6 Rf7

31.Ne5 Rf6 32.Rd5 Be6 33.Rd4 Bxd4

34.Qxd4 Raf8 35.c5 Rd8 36.Qe3 Rd5

37.Ng4 Bxg4 38.Bxf6 Rh5 39.Qe8+ Kh7

40.Qe4+ Bf5 41.Qe5 Qf7 42.Bd8 Bg4

43.Qe4+ Bf5 44.Qe7 Qg6 45.Bxa5 Rg5

46.Qb7 Bh3 47.g3 Rxg3+ 48.fxg3 Qxg3+

49.Kh1 Qxa3 50.Qb1+ Kg8 51.Qg6 Qf3+

52.Kg1 Bd7 ½-½

Donald Hillman (1263)

David Grover (1502)

Round 3

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.exd5 Nxd5

5.Bg2 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c6 7.d3 Be7 8.Bd2

0-0 9.h3 Be6 10.Nf3 e4 11.dxe4 Bc4

12.Ne5 Ba6 13.Qf3 f6 14.Nd3 Nd7

15.0-0 Ne5 16.Qe3 Nxd3 17.cxd3 Qxd3

18.Qf4 Bd6 19.Qg4 Qxd2 20.Rfd1 Qxc3

21.Qe6+ Kh8 22.Qxd6 Qe5 23.Qa3 Rad8

24.Kh2 h6 25.f4 Qe8 26.Bf1 Rxd1

27.Rxd1 Bxf1 28.Rxf1 Rf7 29.Qxa7

Qxe4 30.Qg1 Re7 31.f5 Qc2+ 32.Rf2

Re2 33.Rxe2 Qxe2+ 34.Qg2 Qxg2+

35.Kxg2 Kg8 36.Kf3 Kf8 37.Ke4 Ke7

38.Kd4 Kd6 39.a4 b6 40.Kc4 Ke5 41.g4

Kf4 0-1

Griffin McConnell (1999)

Brad Lundstrom (1974)

Round 4

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 exd4

5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.Bd2

0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Re1 Rb8 11.Rb1 Bc5

12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 g5 14.Bg3 dxe4

15.Bc4 Qxd1 16.Nxd1 Bd6 17.Re3 Bg4

18.Nc3 Bf4 19.Bxf4 gxf4 20.Ree1 Rbd8

21.Be2 Rd4 22.Bxg4 Nxg4 23.f3 Nf6

24.fxe4 Rd2 ½-½

Richard Shtivelband (2273)

Alexander Freeman (1765)

Round 4

1.e4 d5 2.d4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bf5

5.d5 g6 6.Bxf6 exf6 7.Qd4 Bh6 8.Bb5+

c6 9.Bc4 0-0 10.d6 Re8 11.Nge2 e3

12.0-0-0 exf2+ 13.Kb1 Nd7 14.Qxf2 Ne5

15.Bb3 Kg7 16.h3 b5 17.Nd4 Bd7

18.Rhf1 a5 19.a3 a4 20.Ba2 Rb8 21.Ka1

c5 22.Nf3 b4 23.Nxe5 Rxe5 24.Nd5 f5

25.Qxc5 Be6 26.Qc7 bxa3 27.Qc3 f6

28.Ne3 axb2+ 29.Kb1 Bc8 30.Nc4 Re4

31.Rd4 Rb5 32.Rxe4 fxe4 ½-½

Ryan Baten (1887)

Davin Yin (1818)

Round 4

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6

5.Be2 Nbd7 6.Be3 e5 7.Qd2 0-0 8.d5 b6

9.Bg5 a5 10.Nf3 Nc5 11.Qc2 h6 12.Be3

Bd7 13.0-0 Ng4 14.Bxc5 bxc5 15.h3 Nf6

16.a4 Nh5 17.Rfd1 Nf4 18.Bf1 f5 19.Nd2

Qg5 20.Kh2 Nh5 21.Nb5 Rac8 22.Ra3 f4

23.Be2 Qh4 24.Bxh5 Qxh5 25.f3 g5

26.Qc3 g4 27.fxg4 Bxg4 28.Rf1 Bf6

29.Nf3 Bh4 30.hxg4 Bg3+ 31.Kg1 Qxg4

32.Qxa5 Kh8 33.Qd2 h5 34.Rf2 Rg8

35.Nh2 Qg6 36.Nc3 Rg7 37.Nf3 Rcg8

38.Re2 h4 39.Kf1 h3 40.gxh3 Qh5 41.Rf2

Qxh3+ 42.Ke2 Bxf2 43.Nd1 Be3

44.Nxe3 fxe3 45.Qxe3 Rg2+ 46.Kd1

Rxb2 47.Ne1 Qxe3 48.Rxe3 Ra2

49.Rh3+ Kg7 50.Nc2 Kf7 51.Rh7+ Rg7

52.Rxg7+ Kxg7 53.Kd2 Rxa4 54.Kd3

Kf6 55.Ne3 Ra3+ 56.Ke2 Rxe3+!

57.Kxe3 Kg5 58.Kf3 Kh4 59.Kf2 Kg4

60.Ke3 Kg3 0-1

Ted Doykos (1749)

Vedant Margale (1472)

Round 4

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Bd3 0-0

5.0-0 d5 6.Nbd2 c5 7.c3 Nbd7 8.Re1 c4

9.Bc2 b5 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 Bb7

12.Nxf6+ Nxf6 13.h3 Re8 14.Bf4 Rc8

15.Bh2 e6 16.Qe2 Nd5 17.Ne5 Qg5

18.Be4 a6 19.Nd7 Qe7 20.Nc5 Red8

21.a4 Rxc5 22.dxc5 Qxc5 23.Bf3 b4

24.cxb4 Qxb4 25.Be5 c3 26.Bxg7 Kxg7

27.Qe5+ Kg8 28.bxc3 Qe7 29.a5 Ba8

30.c4 Nb4 31.Bxa8 Rxa8 32.Red1 Nc6

33.Qd6 Qe8 34.Rdb1 Rd8 35.Qc5 Qd7

36.Rb6 Nb8 37.Rab1 Qa7 38.Qb4 Nd7

39.Qe7 Qc7 40.Rd6 h5 41.Rbd1 h4

42.Rxd7 Rxd7 43.Rxd7 Qf4 44.Qd8+

Kg7 45.Rd4 Qc1+ 46.Kh2 Qh6

47.Rxh4 ... 1-0

John Krue (1566)

Gregory Bain (1013)

Round 4

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 d6 4.g3 Bg7

5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 Bf5 8.Re1

Ne4 9.e3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Be4 11.Nd2

Bxg2 12.Kxg2 e5 13.Bb2 Qd7 14.d5 Na5

15.e4 b5 16.cxb5 Qxb5 17.Rb1 Rab8

18.Ba1 Qa6 19.Qa4 Rb6 20.Rxb6 axb6

21.Bb2 b5 22.Qb4 Nc4 23.Nxc4 bxc4

24.Ra1 f5 25.f3 fxe4 26.fxe4 Qa7 27.Rf1

Qxa2 28.Ra1 Qb3 29.Qxb3 cxb3 30.Ra7

Rc8 31.Rb7 Bf8 32.Rxb3 c6 33.c4 c5

34.Bc1 Ra8 35.h3 Kg7 36.Rb7+ Kg8

½-½

David Grover (1502)

Kary Fang (1282)

Round 4

1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.Nf3 c5 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nc3

Nc6 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4

Nxd4 9.exd4 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Be3 a6

12.Bb3 b5 13.Bc2 Bb7 14.Qd3 h6 15.h4

b4 16.Bg5 hxg5 17.hxg5 bxc3 18.gxf6 g6

19.fxe7 Qxe7 20.bxc3 Kg7 21.f3 Qh4

22.Qe2 Qg3 23.c4 Rac8 24.Bb3 Qh4

25.Qe5+ f6 26.Qe3 Rh8 27.c5 Rce8

28.Rad1 a5 29.Bc4 Qg3 30.Bb5 Rh2

31.Qf2 Rh1+! 32.Kxh1 Rh8+ 0-1

Alexander Zhang (1325)

Alayne Wilinsky (1278)

Round 4

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5

5.cxd4 e6 6.a3 Be7 7.Nf3 d6 8.Be3 Nxe3

9.fxe3 dxe5 10.Nxe5 Nd7 11.Nxd7 Bxd7

12.Nc3 a6 13.Bd3 0-0 14.0-0 Rc8 15.Rc1

Bc6 16.Be4 Bxe4 17.Nxe4 Qd5 18.Nc3

Qg5 19.Qf3 b5 20.Qf4 Qxf4 21.Rxf4 Bg5

22.Rf3 a5 23.Rb1 b4 24.axb4 axb4

25.Ne4 Bh6 26.Nc5 g6 27.Rbf1 Rfd8

28.Kf2 Bg7 29.Rc1 e5 30.Nb3 Rxc1

31.Nxc1 exd4 32.Nd3 dxe3+ 33.Kxe3 b3

34.Ke4 Rd4+ 35.Ke3 Rc4 36.Rf1 Rc2

37.Rf2 Bh6+ 38.Kd4 Rxf2 39.Nxf2 Bg7+

40.Kc4 Bxb2 41.Kxb3 Be5 42.h3 Bf4 ...




½-½

Charles Zhang (1196)

Murlin Varner Jr (1500)

Round 4

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.c4 Bb4+

5.Bd2 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Nf6 7.Nc3 0-0

8.Nf3 Re8+ 9.Be2 dxc4 10.0-0 b5 11.a4

b4 12.Na2 a5 13.Bxc4 Ba6 14.Bxa6 Rxa6

15.Nc1 Ne4 16.Qd3 c5 17.Re1 Rae6

18.d5 c4 19.Qxc4 Nd2 20.dxe6 Nxc4

21.e7 Rxe7 22.Nd3 Rxe1+ 23.Rxe1 g6

24.Nde5 Nxe5 25.Nxe5 Qd2 26.Nf3

Qxb2 27.g4 Nc6 28.Ng5 Qd2 29.Re8+

Kg7 30.Ne4 Qd1+ 31.Kg2 Qxg4+ ... 0-1

George Lombardi (1299)

Michael McNamara (1181)

Round 4

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6

5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 h5

9.h4 b5 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Nd5 Bxd5

12.exd5 Be7 13.Qd2 Rc8 14.Rc1 Qc7

15.0-0 Nh7 16.Bxe7 Kxe7 17.Qa5 g5

18.Qxc7 Rxc7 19.hxg5 Nxg5 20.Kh2 h4

21.Rh1 f5 22.Kg1 f4 23.Bd3 Nc5

24.Nxc5 Rxc5 25.Be4 Rcc8 26.Kf2

Nxe4+ 27.fxe4 Rcg8 28.Rh3 Rg3

29.Rch1 Rhg8 30.R3h2 R8g4 31.Rd1 Kf6

32.Rd3 Rxd3 33.cxd3 Kg5 34.Kf3 Rg3+

35.Ke2 Kg4 36.Kd2 f3 37.gxf3+ Rxf3

38.Ke2 h3 39.Rf2 Rf4 40.Kf1 Kg3

41.Rxf4 exf4 0-1

Aleksandr Bozhenov (1990)

Brian Wall (2200)

Round 5

1.e4 Nh6 2.d4 Na6 (Yep, it's a Brian Wall

game.) 3.Nf3 g6 4.Bc4 c6 5.0-0 d5 6.exd5

cxd5 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Bxd7+ Qxd7 9.Ne5

Qd8 10.c4 Bg7 11.Qa4+ Kf8 12.cxd5

Qxd5 13.Nc3 Qd8 14.Bxh6 Bxh6 15.Qb3

Qe8 16.Qxb7 Qc8 17.Qd5 Qe8 18.Qc4

Nb8 19.Qd5 Na6 20.Qc4 Nb8 21.Qd5

Na6 22.Qc4 ½-½

Adam Markos (2282)

Sami Al-Adsani (1830)

Round 5

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c5

5.cxd5 exd5 6.d4 Nc6 7.Be2 c4 8.Ne5

Be6 9.f4 Nxe5 10.fxe5 Nd7 11.0-0 Bb4

12.e4 Qa5 13.exd5 Bxd5 14.Nxd5 Qxd5

15.Bf3 Qb5 16.Qe2 0-0 17.Qe4 Qb6

18.Kh1 c3 19.bxc3 Bxc3 20.Rb1 Qa6

21.Be2 Qg6 22.Qxg6 hxg6 23.Rxb7 Rad8

24.Bc4 Bxd4 25.Ba3 Nxe5 26.Bxf8 Nxc4

27.Be7 Re8 28.Rf4 Nd6 29.Rd7 Nf5

30.g4 Be3 31.Re4 Rxe7 32.Rdxe7 Nxe7

33.Rxe3 Nc6 34.Ra3 a5 35.Rc3 Nb4

36.a3 Na6 37.Rc6 Nb8 38.Rc8+ 1-0

Wesley Woo (1758)

Aiden Sirotkine (1572)

Round 5

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 f5 4.Bf4 c6 5.Nf3

Nf6 6.e3 Bd6 7.Ne5 0-0 8.Be2 Bc7

9.cxd5 exd5 10.b4 Nbd7 11.Nxd7 Bxd7

12.Bxc7 Qxc7 13.Rc1 Qb6 14.Qb3 Ne4

15.Bf3 Rae8 16.Bxe4 fxe4 17.0-0 Rf6

18.Na4 Qd8 19.Nc5 Rh6 20.Nxb7 Qh4

21.f4 exf3 22.Rxf3 Qxh2+ 23.Kf2 Qh4+

24.Ke2 Bg4 25.Rxc6 Bxf3+ 26.gxf3

Qxd4 27.Rxh6 gxh6 28.Nd6 Re6 29.Ne4

Qc4+ 30.Qxc4 dxc4 31.Kd2 Rxe4

32.fxe4 h5 0-1

Craig Moffitt (1790)

Mirza Peljto (1799)

Round 5

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nc6

5.exd5 exd5 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.Nb3 Bd6

8.Be2 Nge7 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 a6 11.Nfd4

Be5 12.c3 Nf5 13.Nxf5 Bxf5 14.Be3 Re8

15.Bg4 Bg6 16.Qd2 f5 17.Bf3 Bf7

18.Bd4 Nxd4 19.Nxd4 Qf6 20.Rfd1 Rad8

21.Qc2 g6 22.a4 Re7 23.Qb3 g5 24.g3 h5

25.Qc2 Bg6 26.Qd2 g4 27.Bg2 f4 28.b4

Kh7 29.Bf1 fxg3 30.fxg3 Bxg3 31.Qg2

Bf4 32.Bd3 Be3+ 33.Kh1 Re4 34.Rf1

Qe5 35.hxg4 hxg4 36.Qh2+ Kg7

37.Qxe5+ Rxe5 38.Bxg6 Kxg6 39.Ra2 g3

40.Kg2 Bf2 41.Ne2 Re3 42.Rd2 Kg5

43.Rfd1 Re5 44.Nxg3 Be1 45.Rd3 Kf6

46.b5 Ke6 47.c4 Rg8 48.cxd5+ Kd6

49.Rc1 Ba5 50.bxa6 bxa6 51.Rc6+ Kd7

52.Rxa6 Be1 53.d6 Reg5 54.Ra7+ Kc6

55.Rc7+ Kb6 56.Rb3+ Ka6 57.d7 Bxg3

58.Rc8 Bb8+ 59.Kf1 Rg1+ 60.Ke2

R8g2+ 61.Kd3 Rd1+ 62.Ke4 Rxd7

63.Rcxb8 Rg4+ 64.Kf3 Rgg7 65.Ra8+

Ra7 66.Rxa7+ Rxa7 67.Ke4 Rd7 68.Rb5

Rd1 69.Ke3 Ra1 70.Rb4 Ka5 ½-½

Jose Llacza (1752)

Roberto Bolivar (1709)

Round 5

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6

5.a4 Nc6 6.h3 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.d4 cxd4

9.Nxd4 e5 10.Nf3 h6 11.Be3 Be6

12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.Qd2 d5 14.exd5 exd5

15.Qc1 d4 16.Rd1 Qc7 17.Nxd4 exd4

18.Bxd4 Nxd4 19.Rxd4 0-0 20.Qd1 Rad8

21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.Qe2 Qc6 23.Qxe7 Rd2

24.Rc1 Nd5 25.Qe1 Nf4 26.Qf1 b5

27.axb5 axb5 28.g3 Rxf2 29.Kxf2 Qc5+

30.Ke1 Qe3+ 31.Ne2 Nxe2 32.Qxe2

Qxc1+ 33.Kf2 Qxb2 34.Qe6+ Kf8

35.Qc8+ Kf7 36.Qf5+ Qf6 37.Qxf6+

Kxf6 38.Ke3 Ke5 39.Kd3 Kd5 40.Kc3

Kc5 41.Kd3 b4 42.g4 g5 43.Kd2 Kd4

44.Ke2 Kc3 45.Kd1 Kd4 46.Ke2 Ke4

47.Kf2 Kf4 48.Ke2 Kg3 49.Kd3 Kxh3

50.Kc4 Kxg4 51.Kxb4 h5 52.c4 h4 53.c5

h3 54.c6 h2 55.c7 h1Q 56.c8Q+ Kg3

57.Qc7+ Kg2 58.Qc2+ Kg3 59.Qc7+ Kg4

60.Qc8+ Kf4 61.Qc7+ Kf5 62.Qc8+ Kf6

63.Qf8+ Ke6 ... ½-½

Rithvik Ijju (1490)

Ted Doykos (1749)

Round 5

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.c4

Nd7 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Nc3 Ne7 8.Bg5 f6

9.Nb5 Nc6 10.Be3 Bb4+ 11.Bd2 Bxd2+

12.Qxd2 0-0 13.exf6 Nxf6 14.Bd3 Ne4

15.Bxe4 Bxe4 16.Qe3 Nb4 17.Na3 Nd3+

18.Ke2 Nxb2 19.Ng5 Bd3+ 20.Ke1 Qa5+

21.Qd2 Qxa3 22.f3 Nc4 23.Qd1 Ne3 0-1




Robert Cernich II (1483)

Ryan Snodgrass (1726)

Round 5

1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.Nf3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5

5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bg5 c6 7.e3 Be7 8.Bd3 0-0

9.0-0 Ne4 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Ne5 Nd7

12.Nxd7 Bxd7 13.Qe2 Rf6 14.f3 Nd6

15.Rae1 Re8 16.Qc2 Re6 17.Nd1 Qh4

18.Qf2 Qg5 19.Re2 R6e7 20.Rfe1 Be6

21.b3 Bf7 22.Kh1 Bg6 23.Qg3 Qf6 24.f4

Bh5 25.Rd2 Qxd4 26.h3 Qb4 27.Qf2 Ne4

28.Bxe4 Rxe4 29.a3 Qe7 30.Nc3 Rxe3

31.Rxe3 Qxe3 32.Qxe3 Rxe3 33.Rc2 d4

34.Na4 d3 35.Rd2 Re1+ 36.Kh2 Rd1

37.Rb2 Rc1 38.Rd2 Be2 39.Nb2 Rc2

40.Rxd3 Rxb2 41.Rd8+ Kf7 42.Rd7+

Kf6 43.Rxb7 Bf3 44.Kg3 Bd5 45.b4

Rxg2+ 46.Kh4 h6 47.Rd7 Bf7 48.Rxf7+

Kxf7 49.a4 Rb2 50.b5 cxb5 51.axb5

Rxb5 52.Kh5 g6+ 53.Kxh6 Kf6 54.h4

Rb8 55.Kh7 a5 56.h5 gxh5 57.Kh6 Rh8#

0-1

Gregory Bain (1013)

George Peschke (1554)

Round 5

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.c3 Nf6

5.d3 0-0 6.Be3 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Qe2

Re8 9.0-0 Bf6 10.Nbd2 Na5 11.Bb3 Nf4

12.Bxf4 exf4 13.Ne4 Kf8 14.Rfd1 Bg4

15.h3 Bh5 16.Ba4 c6 17.Qd2 Bxf3

18.gxf3 Be5 19.d4 Bc7 20.b4 b5 21.Bb3

Nc4 22.Bxc4 bxc4 23.a4 Qh4 24.Kh2

Re6 25.Rg1 Rh6 0-1

Coleman Hoyt (1511)

Ayush Vispute (1414)

Round 5

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6

5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3 0-0 8.f3 Qc7

9.Qd2 a6 10.0-0-0 Rd8 11.g4 e6 12.h4 d5

13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.e5! Ne8 15.f4 Bb7

16.c5 f6 17.Bd4 fxe5 18.fxe5 Bxe5

19.Qe2 Bf4+ 20.Kb1 e5 21.Be3 Bxe3

22.Qxe3 d4 23.Bc4+ Kh8 24.Qf3 Qe7

25.Ne4 Ng7 26.Ng5 Rf8 27.Nf7+ Rxf7

28.Qxf7 Qxf7 29.Bxf7 Rf8 30.Rhf1 Bc8

31.Bxg6 Rxf1 32.Rxf1 Ne6 33.Bf5 Kg7

34.b4 h6 35.a4 Bd7 36.a5 Kf7 37.Bd3+

Nf4 38.Bxa6 Bxg4 39.Bc4+ Ke7 40.a6

Bc8 41.a7 Bb7 ... 1-0

Alayne Wilinsky (1278)

Murlin Varner Jr (1500)

Round 5

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0

5.Bg2 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e4 Nb6 8.0-0

Bg4 9.e5 Nc6 10.Be3 Nc4 11.Qb3 Nxe3

12.fxe3 Rb8 13.Ng5 e6 14.h3 Qxg5

15.hxg4 Qxg4 16.Rf3 Ne7 17.Qa3 Nf5

18.Kf2 Bh6 19.Nd2 a6 20.Qd3 Rbd8

21.Ne4 Bg7 22.Rf4 Qh5 23.Rh1 Qxh1

24.Bxh1 Bxe5 25.Rf3 c5 26.Nxc5 Nxe3

27.Nxb7 Ng4+ 28.Ke2 Rxd4 29.Qxa6

Rc8 30.Rc3 Rb8 31.Rd3 Rb4 32.b3 Bf6

33.a3 Rd4 34.Rxd4 Bxd4 35.Qc4 e5

36.Nd6 Rf8 37.a4 Ne3 38.Qb5 Rd8

39.Nc4 Nf5 40.g4 Ng3+ 41.Kf3 Nxh1

42.Kg2 Nf2 43.Nxe5 Nd1 44.Nc6 Nc3

45.Qc4 Nd1 46.Qb4 Bc3 47.Qb7 Rd2+

48.Kf3 Rf2+ 49.Ke4 Re2+ 50.Kd5 Rd2+

51.Kc5 Ne3 52.Kb6 Rb2 53.Qc8+ Kg7

54.Kc7 Rxb3 55.a5 Nd5+ 56.Kd6 Nb4

57.a6 Nxc6 58.Kxc6 Bd4 59.Kd5 Bg1

60.Qc4 Ra3 61.g5 Ra5+ 62.Ke4 Rxg5

63.Qc3+ f6 64.Qc7+ Kh6 65.a7 Bxa7

66.Qxa7 Re5+ 67.Kf4 g5+ 68.Kg3 Kg6

69.Qd4 h5 70.Qd3+ Rf5 71.Kh3 h4 1-0

Charles Zhang (1196)

Cayden Hetzel (1192)

Round 5

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.Nf3

Nc6 5.Bc4 Na5 6.Bd5 Nf6 7.Bb3 c5 8.a3

Nxb3 9.cxb3 Be6 10.0-0 Qb6 11.Na4

Qxb3 12.Qxb3 Bxb3 13.Nxc5 Bd5

14.Nd4 e5 15.Re1 Bxc5 16.Rxe5+ Be7

17.Nf5 Be6 18.Nxg7+ Kd7 19.Nxe6 fxe6

20.d4 Bd6 21.Rg5 Rhg8 22.Rxg8 Rxg8

23.b4 Ng4 24.h3 Nf6 25.Be3 Nd5 26.Rc1

Bf4 27.Re1 Nxe3 28.fxe3 Bg3 29.Rf1

Kd6 30.Rf7 Kd5 31.Rxb7 Ke4 32.Rxa7

Kxe3 33.Re7 Bf2+ 34.Kf1 Rg6 35.d5 Rf6

36.Rxe6+ Rxe6 37.dxe6 Bh4 38.g3 Be7

39.Kg2 Ke4 40.h4 Ke5 41.Kf3 Kxe6

42.Kg4 Kf7 43.Kf5 Bd6 44.g4 Bg3 45.h5

Be1 46.b5 Ba5 47.Kg5 Kg7 48.Kf5 Kh6

49.Kf6 Bc3+ 50.Kf5 Ba5 51.Kf6 Bc3+

52.Kf7 Kg5 53.Kg8 h6 54.Kh7 Bd2 55.b6

Bf4 56.b7 Bb8 57.a4 Ba7 58.a5 Bb8

59.a6 Ba7 ... 1-0

Joseph Morrison (1010)

Keith Glass (930)

Round 5

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bg5 0-0

5.e4 d5 6.e5 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 h6 8.Bh4 g5

9.Nxg5 Ne4 10.Nxe4 Qxh4 11.Nf6+ Kh8

12.g3 Qg5 13.h4 Qg7 14.Qg4 Qxg4

15.Nxg4 Nd7 16.Nf6 Nxf6 17.exf6 Rg8

18.Bd3 Bd7 19.Rb1 b6 20.Ke2 Rge8

21.Rhg1 e5 22.dxe5 Rxe5+ 23.Kd2 Re6

24.Bf5 Rd6 25.Bxd7 Rxd7 26.g4 Kh7

27.g5 h5 28.f4 Kg6 29.Rbf1 Kf5 30.Kd3

c5 31.Re1 c4+ 32.Kd4 Kxf4 33.Re7 Rxe7

34.fxe7 Re8 35.Re1 Kg4 36.Kxd5 Kxh4

37.Kd6 Kxg5 38.Kd7 Rxe7+ 39.Kxe7 f5

40.Rg1+ Kf4 41.Ke6 h4 42.Rf1+ Kg3

43.Kxf5 Kg2 44.Re1 h3 45.Ke4 b5

46.Kd5 h2 47.Kc5 a6 48.Kb6 h1Q

49.Rxh1 Kxh1 50.Kxa6 Kg1 51.Kxb5

Kf1 52.a4 Ke2 53.a5 Kd2 54.a6 Kxc2

55.Kxc4 1-0

Michael Schmidt (Unrated)

Daniel Smith (1238)

Round 5

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 Ne4

5.Bd2 Nxd2 6.Nxd2 d5 7.e4 Bxc3 8.bxc3

dxe4 9.Nxe4 Nd7 10.Bd3 Nf6 11.Nc5 b6

12.Qa4+ Nd7 13.Be4 bxc5 14.Bxa8 Qf6

15.Bc6 cxd4 16.0-0 dxc3 17.Rac1 a6

18.Rfd1 Qe7 19.Rxc3 f6 20.Rcd3 Kf7

21.Bxd7 Bb7 22.Bc6 Bxc6 23.Qxc6 Qb4

24.Qxc7+ Kg6 25.Rd8 Qa4 26.R1d2 Qb4

27.h3 e5 28.R2d7 Qe1+ 29.Kh2 Rxd8

30.Qxd8 Qxf2 31.Qg8 Qf4+ 32.Kg1

Qe3+ 33.Kf1 Qc1+ 34.Ke2 Qc2+ 35.Rd2

Qe4+ 36.Kd1 Qb1+ 37.Ke2 Qe4+ 38.Kf1

Qf4+ 39.Ke1 Qe4+ 40.Kd1 Qb1+ 41.Ke2

Qe4+ 42.Kf1 Qf4+ ½-½

k



COLORADO CHESS CLUB DIRECTORY

Boulder Chess Club: Meets Wednesdays at the University

Memorial Center (First Floor) on the CU Boulder campus, 6:30-

9:30pm. 1669 Euclid Avenue, 80309. www.BoulderChess.com.

Carbondale Chess Club: Meets every Tuesday from 6:00pm

until the wee hours at Kahhak Fine Arts & School, 411 Main

Street, Carbondale, 81623. All levels and ages are welcome and

chess coaching is available. Please contact Majid Kahhak at

(970) 704-0622 or email: [email protected].

Castle Rock Chess Club: Meets every Monday from 6:00-

9:00pm at the Philip S. Miller Library, 100 South Wilcox Street,

Castle Rock, 80104.

Chess Knights: (Highlands Ranch) Meets on the 2nd & 4th

Wednesday evenings from 7:00-9:00pm. Highlands Ranch Li-

brary, 9292 Ridgeline Boulevard, 80129.

Information is also available on the Chess Knights' Web site at

HighlandsRanchLibraryChess.org.

Contact: Frank Atwood (720) 260-1493 or by email:

[email protected].

Chessmates Chess Club: (Fort Collins) 4825 South Lemay

Avenue, 80525. Mondays & Thursdays 5:00-6:30pm for Ad-

vanced players, Tuesdays for Beginners from 5:15-6:15pm. In-

structed by Zachary Bekkedahl. For more information contact

Zachary Bekkedahl by email at [email protected] or go to

www.chessmatesfc.com.

Colorado Springs Chess Club: Meets Tuesday evenings,

7:00-10:00pm, in the ballroom of the Acacia Apartments build-

ing, 104 East Platte Avenue. Scheduled activities every meeting

at 8:00pm (must show up by 8:00pm or you might be locked

out). For information see our website at www.SpringsChess.org

or email Richard “Buck” Buchanan at [email protected] or

call (719) 685-1984.

Craig Chess Club: Call Rick or Mary Nelson, (970) 824-

4780 to schedule play.

Denver Chess Club: Meets on Tuesdays, 6:00-10:00pm at the

Third Christian Reformed Church, 2400 South Ash Street, Den-

ver. (303) 733-8940. www.DenverChess.com.

Denver Chess / Meetup.com: This group is run through the

social site Meetup.com, and our page is www.Meetup.com/

Learn-to-Play-Chess/. Players must join in order to receive in-

formation and sign up for events. Contact: David Costantino at

[email protected] or through the group's Meetup.com page.

Durango Chess Club: Meets on Wednesdays from 6:00-

9:00pm at Durango Joe’s Coffee Shop, 732 East College Drive.

Fort Collins Chess Club: Currently meets Tuesdays,

7:00pm, in the food court of the Lory Student Center (2nd level),

Colorado State University. You can email Randy Reynolds at

[email protected].

On the web - groups.yahoo.com/group/fort_collins_chess.

Fort Lewis College Chess Club: Meets Thursday nights in

the X-treme room which is located the College Union Building,

the club is sponsored by the school and is a USCF affiliate club.

For more info, contact Andrea Browne at (970) 247-6239.

Grand Junction Chess Club: Meets Mondays at 6:30pm in

the Safeway at Starbucks, 2901 Patterson Road. Call Rick Lova-

to at (970) 243-1073.

Grand Junction Junior Chess Club: Meets every 3rd Sat-

urday of the month at the Knights of Columbus Building, 2853

North Avenue. Call Rand Dodd at (970) 245-4015.

Greeley Chess Club: Meets Wednesdays, 6:00-9:00pm at

Your Place Coffee, 2308 West 17th Street, Greeley. Contact

Brad Lundstrom at [email protected]. Or call him at

(970) 415-3855.

Lafayette Chess Club: Meets Mondays, from 6:00-9:00pm at

the Mojo Coffeehouse, 211 North Public Road in Lafayette. For

more information send an email to [email protected] or

contact Victor Creazzi at (303) 332-7039.

Longmont Chess Club: Meets Wednesdays from 6:30-

9:00pm. Check www.LongmontChess.com for current meeting

location. Email Todd Burge at [email protected] or

call (720) 220-5240.

North Jeffco Chess Club: Meets Thursdays from 7:00-

10:00pm at the Grandview Tavern & Grill, 7427 Grandview

Avenue in Arvada. Email [email protected] for more information.

Northeast Denver Chess Club: Meets Mondays and Thurs-

days from 4:00-8:00pm at 2575 Vine Street, Denver. Call (303)

320-6716 for more info.

Pagosa Springs Chess Club: Meets on Tuesdays (6:00-

9:00pm) and on Saturday mornings (9:00-Noon) at Nello’s Res-

taurant, 135 Country Center Drive, #A. For more information

contact Anthony Steventon by email at [email protected]

or at (970) 731-3029.

Parker Chess Club: Meets every Thursday from 7:00-

9:00pm at the new Parker library in Parker, CO. All levels and

ages welcome. Contact John Brezina at [email protected].

Pueblo Chess Club: Meets at the Hanging Tree Café, 209

South Union, 81003 on Tuesdays and Thursdays after 6:30pm.

For more info contact Liz Nickovich at [email protected] or

by phone at (719) 696-8389.

Rifle Chess Club: Meets Thursdays, 6:30-9:00pm, at City

Hall. For information email Dane Lyons at [email protected].

Stonebridge Games Chess Club: (Longmont) Meets Tues-

days at 5:00pm. 449 Main Street, Longmont. Call (303) 776-

3796 for more info.

k

Volume 47, Number 1


January 2020

http://www.meetup.com/Learn-to-Play-Chess/

http://www.meetup.com/Learn-to-Play-Chess/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

k

®

Temporary Sacrifices by NM Todd Bardwick

(Reprinted with permission of the Author, the United States Chess Federation & Chess Life magazine.)

A sacrifice is when a player intentionally gives up material with the expectation of gaining some type of advantage in the future.

Types of advantages gained by sacrificing a piece can be to seize the initiative, win back more material than what was originally

sacrificed, force a mating attack on the king, open up lines of attack, ruin the opponent's pawn structure, or clear the path for a pawn

to promote, to name a few.

Remember when analyzing sacrifices, be thorough and look carefully at all the variations where your opponent accepts the sacrifice

and the also the ones where he declines it; you want to make sure in the end that you justify why the sacrifice is good.

Keep in mind that most sacrifices don't work, the ones that do are the ones that make it into chess books.

We will focus on temporary sacrifices where the player sacrifices material in a situation where he clearly sees how to recover the

material later.

Temporary sacrifices are sometimes referred to as sham-sacrifices, or more simply, a combination.



The Chess Detective

This position is from the 1998 Colorado Closed.

Mikhail Ponomarev (2282)

Jerry Kearns (2335)

Position after 30...Be7

White to move

In this position, material is even. White has more active pieces

and a safer king. But how can he convert this to a victory?

White's best move is the surprising sacrifice, 31.Rf6! forking the

queen and the e-pawn. 31..Bxf6 If Black moves his queen, either

32.Rxe6 or 32.Qxe6 may be pleasant choices for White.

32.Qxe6+ Kf8 32...Kd8 33.Bxf6+ Kc7 34.Be5+ wins the queen.

33.Qxc8+ Kf7 34.Qxc6 Resigns White's temporary rook

sacrifice has netted him two pawns.

By planning ahead, you can set up sacrifices in a combination

that win material.

This position is from the 1995 Colorado Closed.

Todd Bardwick (2239)

Michael Mulyar (2450)

Position after 40.Qd2

Black to move

With less than a minute to make time control, Black played,

40...Rdg8 Preparing the sacrifice of the g7 rook on g3. 41.Bc5

Rxg3+! 42.hxg3 Rxg3+ 43.Kf2 Rg2+ Skewering the king and

queen and after capturing the queen, Black is ahead in material

with a winning endgame.

NM Todd Bardwick is the author of ‘Chess Strategy Workbook’,

‘Chess Tactics & Combinations Workbook’ & ‘Attacking the Chess King Workbook for Rated Players’.

He can be reached at www.ColoradoMasterChess.com



NM Todd Bardwick’s books can be purchased at Amazon.com here:

https://tinyurl.com/y4dk56ky


1. Brian Rountree - Clint Eads

CSCC March Swiss / 2019

White to move

2. Dean Brown - Scott Williams


Black to move

3. J.C. MacNeil - Coleman Hoyt

DCC April / 2019

White to move

One of the best ways to improve your game is to study tactics, such as the following,

from games played by Colorado players. Answers are on the next page.

6. Sheena Zeng - Tatev Abrahamyan

Denver Open / 2019

Black to move

4. Rob Cernich - Aditya Krishna

DCC April / 2019

White to move

5. Alexandr Bozhenov - Jesse Williams


White to move

8. Neil Bhavikatti - Sara Herman

Denver Open / 2019

Black to move

9. Akshat Jain - Dean Ippolito

Denver Open / 2019

Black to move

Tactics Time! by Tim Brennan

Volume 47, Number 1


January 2020

7. Ed Yasutake - Zydrunas Gimbutas

Denver Open / 2019

Black to move




Tactics Time Answers:

1. 29.Rxh5! And Black cannot recapture because of 29...gxh5 30.Qxh7#.

2. 10...c4 Traps the White bishop.

3. J.C. was worried about the discovered check and played 41.Kd1 missing 41.Qd8+ Rg8 42.R

(or Q)xg8#. Luckily he got another shot on the next move and found the mate in two.

4. 26.Rxg7+!! Kxg7 27.Qh7#.

5. 11.Nxf7! Wins a pawn, and keeps the Black king from castling. 11...Kxf7 12.Qxf5 The e6

pawn is pinned.

6. 42...Rxc5! 43.Rxc5 Bd4+ Forks the king and rook.

7. 36...Qg4+ 37.Qg3 Qxd4 Wins a piece.

8. 18...Rxa4 Wins a piece. The b-pawn is pinned, and this move protects the queen which was

under attack.

9. 39...Qc8 Attacks the rook on a6 and threatens 40...Qc5+ forking the king and knight. White

cannot meet both threats.

k


Club Chess!! / Strong Swiss January

January 1 - 29

4 Round / Swiss

G/90; inc/30

Colorado Springs

Club Chess!! / Classical Wednesdays

January 1 - 29

5 Round / Swiss

G/90; inc/30

Colorado Springs

Club Chess!! / Winter Blizzard Blitz

January 9

5 Round / Double Swiss

G/5

Colorado Springs

Club Chess!! / Friday Night Quick

January 10

4 Round / Swiss

G/24; inc/05

Colorado Springs

Donor Cloner Closer

January 11

4 Round / Swiss

G/60; inc/30

Denver


January 16


G/5

Colorado Springs


January 17

4 Round / Swiss

G/24; inc/05

Colorado Springs

Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

January 18 - 19

5 Round / Swiss

G/90; d/05 & G/90; inc/30

Centennial


January 23


G/5

Colorado Springs


January 24

4 Round / Swiss

G/24; inc/05

Colorado Springs

ChessLeeChess New Year of

Ratings Relief

January 26

4 Round / Swiss

G/30; d/05

Colorado Springs

IHOP Quick Chess January

January 26

4 Round / Swiss

G/24; inc/05

Colorado Springs


January 30


G/5

Colorado Springs


January 31

4 Round / Swiss

G/24; inc/05

Colorado Springs

3rd Annual Chess & Chocolates

Valentine’s Day Open

February 15

4 Round / Swiss

G/70; inc/30 - Unrated G/30; d/05

Colorado Springs

IHOP Quick Chess February

February 16

4 Round / Swiss

G/24; inc/05

Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs Open

February 29 - March 1

5 Round / Swiss

G/90; d/05 & G/90; inc/30

UPCOMING COLORADO TOURNAMENTS

Volume 47, Number 1


January 2020



Colorado Springs

IHOP Quick Chess March

March 8

4 Round / Swiss

G/24; inc/05

Colorado Springs

Colorado State Senior Championship

& Under 50 Chess Tournament

March 14 - 15

4 Round / Swiss

G/90; inc/30

Loveland

ChessLeeChess March of Ratings Relief

March 15

4 Round / Swiss

G/30; d/05

Colorado Springs

3rd Annual Shamrock Showdown

March 21

4 Round / Swiss

G/70; inc/30 / Unrated G/30; d/05

Colorado Springs

For more detailed information on these upcoming

Colorado events, please visit the CSCA website at

http://www.coloradochess.com/newtourn.shtml

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Denver Scholastic Chess Series #5

January 11

5 Round / Swiss

Denver

Summit School of Chess

Tournament Series #5

January 25

5 Round / Swiss

G/30; d/00

Denver

PALS 2020 Chesstravaganza!

January 25

5 Round / Swiss

Denver

ChessLeeChess New Year Scholastic

January 26

4 Round / Swiss

Colorado Springs


February 1

5 Round / Swiss

Denver



February 8

5 Round / Swiss

G/30; d/00

Denver

Colorado Scholastic State Championship

February 15 - 16

6 Round / Swiss

G/60; d/05 & G/90; d/05

Aurora

PALS Winter Chesstravaganza!

February 22

5 Round / Swiss

Littleton



March 7

5 Round / Swiss

G/30; d/00

Denver

(continued on back cover)

UPCOMING COLORADO SCHOLASTIC TOURNAMENTS

UPCOMING COLORADO TOURNAMENTS

Name:

Address:

City: State: Zip:

Phone # Email:

Dean Brown

4225 Hedge Lane

Colorado Springs, CO 80917

Renew your CSCA membership today! If your membership has or is about to expire, it is time to act!

□ Junior (under 20) ($10)

□ Adult (20-64) ($15)

□ Senior (over 64) ($10)

Make checks payable to the CSCA.

Send payment & this completed form to:

UPCOMING COLORADO SCHOLASTIC TOURNAMENTS


March 14

5 Round / Swiss

Denver

ChessLeeChess New Year Scholastic

March 15

4 Round / Swiss

Colorado Springs

PALS Spring Chesstravaganza!

March 21

5 Round / Swiss

Littleton

All-Girls Scholastic Championship

March 28

4 Round / Swiss

Lakewood

For more detailed information on these upcoming

Colorado events, please visit the CSCA website at

http://www.coloradochess.com/tournament/scholastic

k

chess landscaping · 2020-02-16 · the . colorado state chess association, incorporated, is a...

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