#224 Grand Prix Games

I have annotated my games from the Labate Grand Prix where I scored 2.0/5, upset expert Maurico Camejo (who, at 2093, is the strongest player I've ever beaten in a USCF OTB tourney) & had a 2010 performance despite...

• blowing an easy win in time-trouble against NM V. Shen
• missing an Exchange sac at move 27 vs. FM Volovich that would've given me equal chances
• overlooking a mate-in-1 swindle with 2 seconds left against expert Vladimir Polyakin

Here they are in Java-replay & zipped PGN.

Moldovan-Camejo
after 14...h5??

White to win

#223 Better Late Than Never

I've finally gotten around to annotating my Kenilworth G/30 loss to FM Steve Stoyko (it was promised in post #208!) & adding it to the tourney's replay page & zipped PGN file.

To see who gained & lost rating points in the event, check out the official USCF crosstable.

#222 Kernighan Miniature

Two Sundays ago, at the Westfield Quads, NM Mark Kernighan won a 15-move miniature against Tim Hall's Nimzo-Indian Defense. The variation? ...his favorite 4.Bd2, which some (not me!) have criticized.

Kernighan-Hall
after 12...Na6

White to win

Here's the full game, with annotations, in java-replay & PGN.

#221 GM Kudrin wins Labate Grand Prix

GM Sergey Kudrin won the Ernesto Labate Grand Prix yesterday in Westfield, with 4.5-0.5 score. Tying for 2nd (at 4.0) were FM Mikhail Belorusov, NM Evan Ju & IM Bryan Smith. There was a 5-way knot for 5th place (3.5) between FM Tom Bartell, IM Guillermo Estevez, NM Peter Radomskyj, NM Victor Shen & FM Anatoly Volovich.

Class prizes went to Andrew Ng (U2200, 3.5), Kevin Dresher (U2000, 3.0), Paul Shepel & Eve Zhurbinskiy (U1800, both 2.5), Mark Powell & Kelvin Yao (U1500, both 1.5)

Jennie Liu received the best game prize.

The event drew 12 titled players and a total of 38 entries.

Fellow blogger Jim West, who finished at 3-2, has already posted his best effort as Black. My games, which you'll laugh & shake your head at, will follow ASAP.

#220 More Players Needed For Labate Grand Prix

The Westfield Chess Club is honoring long-time member Ernesto Labate by holding a Grand Prix tournament on November 4th (details below) but I've been told that there have been just 6 entries so far.

There is a guaranteed $2000 prize fund & the event cannot be cancelled. So, the hosts are going to be in the red if 2 dozen additional players don't sign up. Please consider doing so.


Nov. 4 Ernesto Labate Grand Prix GPP: 30 New Jersey 5 Round Swiss Game/40 Westfield Y, 220 Clark Street, Westfield N.J. $2000 Gtd: $650-$350-$250-$150-$100 U2200: $200 U2000 $150 U1800: $100 Best game prize $50 (Judge Ernesto Labate) EF: $75, $60 by October 28th Reg: 9:30-11:30 a.m. Rds: 12:00,1:35,3:10,4:45,6:20 p.m. early EF: Todd Lunna, 36 Maple Drive, Colts Neck, New Jersey 07722. Make checks payable to Westfield Chess Club please bring identification to enter the building. www.westfieldchessclub.com Todd Lunna 732-946-7379.

#219 Kernighan Wins Checkmate Fall Swiss

NM Mark Kernighan beat Bob Sherry last night to win the Checkmate Fall Swiss. Bob & Don Carrelli tied for 2nd.

Kernighan-Sherry
after 18...Bb7

White to win

Here are the event's full standings, replay page & zipped PGN file.

#218 Checkmate Swiss - Round 2 annotations

I have annotated & uploaded my Sunday loss to Bob Sherry as well as Don Carrelli's win over Ted Mann. Minkov 0-1 Kernighan is also included but, as you'll see from the replay, the game wasn't up to the players' usual high standards. The updated PGN file with 6 of the 8 games played thus far is here.

In all 3 games, the winner had a lost position by move 21.

#217 French Defense Lecture - Part 1

Being a long-time French Defense practitioner (26 years) & knowing that the illustrated games would be in The Kenilworthian archives or my database, I probably took fewer notes than others who attended FM Steve Stoyko's October 4th lecture but I hope the following synopsis suffices for those who missed it.

Stoyko French Defense Lecture
Part 1 of 4

Exchange & Advance Variations

General Comments

• Steve has a slight bias for Black in the Exchange & Advance Variations... has never played them as White!
• Although recognized as an opening authority, Steve doesn’t memorize theory. Instead, he comprehends positions by playing over key Grandmaster games – going over them slowly to understand the ideas behind the pawn structures. Thus, his games often follow book for 15-20 moves.
• Anytime Black surrenders the center with ...dxe4, White gets a slight advantage because a pawn on the 4th rank (d4) is worth more than one on the 3rd (e6).

Exchange Variation (2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5)

• If White plays exd5, he’s usually looking for a draw.
• The onus is on Black to create winning chances though White can play c2-c4, as Kasparov did once... only once.
• We can say that White is better because he has an extra move in the symmetrical position but the person who goes 1st is possibly at a disadvantage because he commits himself.
• The Bc1 is a theoretically bad B & Black can sometimes win a Knight vs. dark-squared B ending.
• Games presented were : West-Stoyko (in part), where White made mechanical development & soon ran out of good moves; Melekhina-Stoyko : USATE 2006 (0-1, 32), where the game was basically over after 11.h3; & Kovacs-Kortschnoi : Sarajevo 1969 (0-1, 25), which the Melekhina game paralleled.
• Also mentioned was M. Gurevich-Short : Manila Interzonal 1990 where Short created a piece imbalance, rather than a pawn imbalance (...c5) & won the aforementioned N vs. B (+ rooks) ending.

Advance Variation (2.d4 d5 3.e5)

• After 3...c5 4.c3, Steve advocates the Wade Variation (4...Qb6 5.Nf3 Bd7 idea 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Bb5, trading off Black's bad Bishop) to avoid the Milner-Barry Gambit (4...Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7 8.0-0 Nxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.Nc3), which he says is tricky.
• Due to time constraints, only Grasso-Stoyko : NJ Open 2006 (0-1, 23) where Black dominated the light squares, was demonstrated.
  
• Ivanovic-Beliavsky : Igalo 1994, mentioned as a model Wade Variation game, was included in Steve’s printed handout.

The zipped PGN file for part 1 has Stoyko's annotations to the Advance games & Michael Goeller's notes to the Melekhina & Grasso games.

Part 2 of the series is tomorrow, Thursday, October 25th at 8:00 p.m., & will cover

• the King’s Indian Attack
• 3.Bd3
  
• Rubinstein’s Variation (3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7)
• the Fort Knox Variation (3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7).

Admission is $5.00.

#216 Checkmate Fall Swiss - Round 2

Mark Kernighan & Bob Sherry won last night & will face-off for 1st place next week. Mark defeated Ari Minkov on the Black side of an English while Bob beat me with a King's Indian, though I was ahead (according to Fritz) until erring on move 33.

Moldovan-Sherry
after 22....h6

White to win

You can view the above on the tourney's replay page or download the PGN. Notes & the Minkov-Kernighan score should follow toward the weekend.

The pairings for next Sunday's (10/28) finale are :

1. Kernighan (2.0) - Sherry (2.0)
2. Moldovan (1.0) - Minkov (1.0)
3. Shiffman (1.0) - Carrelli (1.0)
4. Mann (0.0) - Azzarello (0.0)

#215 Kenilworth G/30 Wrap-Up

I've uploaded Mark Kenighan's last-round win over Steve Stoyko & amended the event replay-page & PGN file

#214 Lunna & Jon Cohen Westfield Co-Champs

Todd Lunna & Jonathan Cohen tied for 1st place in the Westfield Championship, which finished yesterday. Each scored 3.5 from 4. Peter Radomskyj was 3rd, a half-point back. U2050-winner Lev Zilbermintz & U1850-victor Jack Yang, were = 4th-5th with 2.5. Full standings here

I've added 6 unannotated games to the event's java-replay page & zipped PGN file, including the title-deciding Jo. Cohen 1/2 Radomskyj & Rose 0-1 Lunna.

#213 Kernighan wins Kenilworth G/30

NM Mark Kernighan beat FM Steve Stoyko in the final round to win the USCF-rated Kenilworth G/30 last night. Steve, Ari Minkov & I tied for 2nd.

The only available 3rd & 4th-round games, at the moment, are my wins over Greg Tomkovich & Dmitri Yampolskiy. Here they are with notes; in java-replays & zipped PGN, along with the standings