Valley Chess Championship

The Valley Chess Championship ended yesterday. The tournament was a ten-round Swiss, held over five weeks. Time control was G/30.

Final Standings
1 Joel Johnson 10-0
2-3 Pete Karagianis, Randy Ho 6-4
4-5 James Beauregard, Richard Smouse 5.5-4.5
Total 18 Players

Official Crosstable

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In Round 1, I was White against Andrew Kelly. I think that I misplayed the opening just a little.



White is pinned all over the place. I got lucky, because Black blundered with 13...Nd4? which allowed 14. Nxe5. I think that if Black had played f6 first to protect that pawn, then Nd4 would have been very crushing. After that blunder, my position freed itself up and I eventually won.

In Round 2, I was Black against Joel Johnson.



For the last 15-20 moves, I felt uncomfortable pressure. If I ever want to be good at chess, I need to learn to defend these types of positions. The patzer inside me revealed itself when I lashed out irrationally with 37...Bxe5?? 38. fxe5 Qxe5, and White won quickly.

In Rounds 3 and 4, I took Half-Point Byes, because Ben was visiting Phoenix that weekend.

In Round 5, I was White against Alexis McKenzie.



In this position, I won material with 18. Na5, and I eventually won.

In Round 6, I played Joel Johnson again, this time with White.



I played the interesting move 31. g4!? Jenny would approve. But I did not follow through properly. Joel played 31...Bg5. Now I should have played 32. gxf5 here, instead I played 32. Bxg5 and I eventually lost on time. Pete was very interested in this position. After the game, he was trying to find a win for White.

In Round 7, I was Black against Dan Marsalone. I played a Sicilian Dragon against him.



The game continued 25...f3 26. Bxf3 Bxf3 27. gxf3 and White lost on time. I think that I would have played 27...Qg5+ winning the Rook on d2.

In Round 8, I was Black against Pete Karagianis.



I was getting squeezed, but this time I tried not to do anything rash, like I did in Round 2. In this position, I saw a glimmer of hope and played 27...Nxd5 winning a Pawn. The game continued 28. exd5 Bxd3. But then I made a few inaccurate moves and soon found myself in ZugZwang and lost. 29. Qd7 Bb5 30. Qg4 Notice how White's Rook and Queen prevent Black's Rook and Queen from activating.

I showed up four minutes late to Round 9, and Tournament Director Joel had already made the pairings. He decided to give me a Full Point Bye instead of redoing the pairings.

In Round 10, I was Black against Josh Zhu. I found myself in slight difficulties after move 16.



My d-Pawn is about to fall. What can Black do? I felt that 16...d5 was my only chance, so that's what I played, without calculating everything till the end. That move turned out well for me, because I soon got the type of position that I am comfortable in. Eleven moves later, I had the following position.



I think that Black wins material here. The game continued 28. Rxd8 Qxe3+ 29. Kh1 Nxd8, Black has won a piece. Then a weird thing happened after I was trying to checkmate him with a Queen and Bishop. It was the second time in my USCF career that I moved my Queen to a square where it could be taken for free. Fortunately, I was still winning after I hung my Queen, so I won.

Ben Finegold Visit Day 2

In the semi-finals of the blindfold knockout tournament, Ben was Black against Sonny Kamberi. Unfortunately for Sonny, Sonny hung a Bishop in the middlegame and resigned. Sonny forgot that Ben had a Queen on b6.

Then, in the finals, Ben had White against GM Jaan Ehlvest.



As you can tell from the picture, the opening was a King's Indian. Also notice that the game was being played outdoors and the kids were wearing T-shirts. Wow, it is nice and warm in Arizona in November.

Ben was doing very well, but then............



In this position, all Ben had to do was play Qxf3 and he would have been two pawns up with no compensation for Black, an easy win for someone of Ben's caliber........

However, Ben hallucinated. He saw a quicker win and went for it. He played Qe8+ Kh7 and now, Rc7?? supposedly pinning and winning the Queen. Apparently, Ben thought that his Queen was on d8, not e8, and realized his mistake right after he moved. The game continued Qxc7 Bc6 Qa7+ Resigns.

Ben Finegold Visiting

Ben is in Phoenix this weekend for some chess-related stuff. Today was a busy day.



Here is a picture of Ben (left in the yellow shirt) playing blindfolded against Atoufi. Ben won.



In the evening, they held a 16-player, 4-round swiss blitz tournament. Here is Round 3, where Ben was playing Grandmaster Sergey Kudrin. The game ended in a draw, when Kudrin accidentally stalemated Ben.



In Round 4, Ben was on board 1 against Grandmaster Jaan Ehlvest. Ben was lost on the board (K+R+N+P vs. K+R) but Ehlvest offered a draw while low on time and Ben accepted. Behind them are Jeremy Silman (International Master) and Kudrin. Ehlvest and Kudrin both ended up with 3.5, whereas Ben had 3. But to Ben's credit, he had the most difficult pairings (e.g. he had to play both Ehlvest and Kudrin, whereas Ehlvest and Kudrin did not play each other).



After the blitz tournament, Ben held a simul. Out of 35 games, Ben officially had 34 wins and 1 draw. But the 1 draw has an interesting story to it. Ben was lost against an 800-rated player (in the picture, Ben is at that player's board). At one point, the guy had two Queens on the board and a pawn about to promote. But Ben used his magic and tricked the guy and conjured up a winning position! But he felt very bad for the kid, so he sacked his Queen for a Pawn for an instant draw.



Here is a picture of the final position of another one of the simul games. The final move was: f8=N Double-Check Mate!

Ann Arbor Chess Club

Tonight, for the first time in my life, I came in first place in the Ann Arbor chess club blitz tournament. Five people showed up: me, Jennifer Skidmore, Atulya Shetty, Larry Foti, and Chris Schmidt.

Jenny and I went to a new Thai restaurant beforehand, called "No Thai". It is located on South University and Forest. I liked the food. For those of you who like spicy food, they have five levels of spiciness. I chose the second highest (Yoga Flame). It wasn't too bad. The highest one was called Death -- I was too afraid to try that one.

The blitz tournament was a double round-robin, and I scored 7/8. I lost to Chris Schmidt in the first round, but won my final seven games. This was a tremendous improvement over my previous showing two weeks ago at the city club, where I scored a lackluster 2.5/9.

1 Ho 7-1
2 Shetty 5.5-2.5
3 Skidmore 4.5-3.5
4 Schmidt 3-5
5 Foti 0-8

Round 1: Ho-Schmidt was a Sicilian Dragon by transposition. White lost on time in a nice position.

Round 2: Bye

Round 3: Shetty-Ho was a King's Indian Classical Variation. White accidentally hung a knight (touch move) and did not recover after that.

Round 4: Ho-Foti. White won a rook early on. Black lost on time.

Round 5: Skidmore-Ho was an Alekhine's Defense. White lost on time.

Round 6: Schmidt-Ho was a Danish Gambit.

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 d5 6. Bxd5 Nf6 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 8. Qxd8 Bb4+ 9. Qd2 Bxd2+ 10. Nxd2 Nc6 11. Ngf3 Rf8 12. e5 Ng4 13. Nc4 Be6??



I saw White's 14th move, but missed his 15th move. Oops...

14. Ng5+ Ke7 15. Ba3+ Ke8 16. Bxf8 Bxc4 17. Bxg7 Nd4 18. Rc1 Ba6 19.Nxh7 Kf7 20. Nf6 Nxf6 21. Bxf6 c6. I got lucky this game. Later in the game, Black had a perpetual, but White avoided the perpetual and instead got checkmated.

Round 7: Bye

Round 8: Ho-Shetty was a Sicilian. 1. e4 c5 2. f4 d6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bd7 5. d3 e6 6. O-O a6 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8.c4 Nf6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. Ne2 O-O 11. Ng3 b5 12. b3 bxc4 13. bxc4 d5 14. e5 Ne8 15. Qe2 dxc4 16. dxc4



In this position, Atulya played 16...Bxf3, I guess because now Qd4+ picks up the rook. I missed this move, but fortunately for me, I found 17.Qxf3 Qd4+ 18.Be3, which blocks the check and now the rook on a1 is protected. There followed 18...Qxc4? 19. Qxa8, and White was up a whole rook. White went on to win the game.

Round 9: Foti-Ho was a Philidor. The game was close, but Black won a pawn and then shortly after that, White lost on time.

Round 10: Ho-Skidmore was some sort of Slav. We got down to a Queen+Knight endgame. Then after queens got traded, my Knight ran rampant throughout the board and wreaked havoc.

Wiener-Rubenstein Memorial Day 2

Today, I went 1-1 and ended up with 3 points. I tied for first place Expert and won a $18.75 prize.

In Round 4, I was Black against ten-year-old Atulya Shetty. We followed a line in the King's Indian that we played against each other a week ago in our training game. Atulya revealed his home preparation by deviating with 14. Rc2! A few moves later, I miscalculated.



In this position, I thought that 15...Ncxe4 would win a pawn outright, since the Knight is pinned to the Rook, so that's what I played. However, White played 16. Nxe4! Rxc2 17. Bg5! and now, Black must lose a piece for the Exchange that he just won. My miscalculation was not fatal though. The material count remained the same (Black got a rook and a pawn for two pieces).

Later in the game, I was about to take control of the center with my pawns.



However, White played 28. Bf5! winning the Exchange. I did not put up much resistance after this, probably because I was in time pressure. I resigned on move 36. 1-0

In Round 5, I was White against John Robertson. I played the Keres Attack against his Scheveningen. The game was going along okay, nothing extraordinary.



In this position, White is up a pawn, but Black played 29...Ba5! A tough move to meet in time trouble. I played 30. Nc3 d4 31. Re4. During the game, I was wondering if 30...Rab8 was any good, but now I see 31.Rc1 saving everything. Anyway, I remained a pawn up and won on time in a favorable Rook endgame. 1-0

Wiener-Rubenstein Memorial Day 1

This weekend, I am playing in the Wiener-Rubenstein Memorial at All The King's Men. The tournament is five rounds of G/75. After the first day, I am 2-1. My brain felt tired all day, and I found myself in ridiculous time trouble all three games. I predict that the same will happen in both of tomorrow's games. I would like to thank Ben and Kelly for giving me a ride today, and thank the Shetties for giving me a ride tomorrow.

In Round 1, I was Black against Jason Dobry. The opening was a c3-Sicilian by transposition. The game was going along fine, but White started to find himself in trouble after 18. Nc5.



The game continued 18...Bg6 (threatening Bxc5 followed by Nd3+) 19. O-O, and now Black won material with 19...Ra8 20. Bb6 Nc4. The game concluded 21. N5a4 Nxb6 22. Nb5 (22. Nxb6 Bc5+) Rxa4 0-1

In Round 2, I was White against Kelly Finegold. The opening was an Alekhine's Defense that transposed into a Scandinavian Defense. After 15 moves, I found myself with a position that I liked.



The temptation was too great -- I played 16. Nfxg5. But then Kelly surprised me with 16...Nd5. Oops, it's tough when I can't see one move ahead. I tried to complicate the position with 17. Bxd5 exd5 18. Nf3. The idea was to get three pawns and an attack for the Knight (18...dxe4 19. dxe4 Queen moves 20. Qxh6). Black declined the piece with 18...Kh7 and remained a pawn down. I won a Knight vs. Bishop endgame in a time scramble. 1-0

In Round 3, I was White against John Brooks. The opening was an f4-Sicilian. I was able to liquidate into a favorable rook ending.



I was happy with my position here, but somehow I lost the game 0-1. I will need to conduct a thorough investigation and make sure it never happens again :)

Universal Winter Swiss - Day 2

I went 1-1 today, and ended up with 3 points. I tied for 2nd Place Expert and won a prize of $25. The good news is that I did not have any draws in this tournament.

In Round 4, I had a tough game against Tom Manion. I was White in a Petroff Defense. He decided to defend the threat of checkmate in a very provocative way.



Black has just played 17...Re5. I responded with 18. f4, figuring that if the rook moves away, I will play Qxg7 checkmate. Then he surprised me with 18...c5! Oops, it's bad when you don't see anything. Now in damage control mode, I decided to spice up the position by sacrificing my Queen for a Rook and Knight with 19. Qc4 Nd6 20. Bf2 Qe7 21. fxe5 Nxc4 22. Bxc4, but that did not turn out well. I eventually got checkmated with no time on my clock, and 30 seconds on his clock. 0-1

In Round 5, I had the White pieces against Daniel Libby. The opening was an Accelerated Dragon. (Yes, I played the Open Sicilian)



We got into a Queen ending, where I had an extra pawn, but it was doubled. My guess is that with best play, it is a draw. Black has just gotten out of check by playing 32...Qf6. After thinking for some time, I evaluated the resulting King and Pawn ending to be a win for White, so the game continued 33. Qxf6+ Kxf6 34. Kd5 Kf5 35. c5 bxc5 36. Kxc5 Kf4 37. Kd5 Kg3 38. c4 Kxg2 39. c5 Kxh3 40. c6 g5 41. c7 g4 42. c8=Q h5 43. Ke4 Kg3 44. Qc3+ Kh2 45. Kf4 Kh1 46. Qe1+ 1-0

Perhaps 32...Kf7 would have held the draw?

Universal Winter Swiss - Day 1

This weekend, I decided to play in a chess tournament at All The Kings Men after a nine-month break from tournament chess. The tournament is called Universal Winter Swiss, and it is five rounds of G/90. After the first day, I am 2-1. My brain felt tired all day, so I played mainly intuitively, calculating very little. We'll see if this strategy will hold up tomorrow :)

In Round 1, I was paired against Forrest Reddick. I was Black in a Closed Sicilian. After thirty moves, the following position was reached.



Material is even, but Black has some advantages, such as control of the center, control of the e-file, and maybe a safer king. White now played 31. c3, threatening to win the Exchange by Bc2. Black responded with 31...Ng5 with a threat to h3. The game concluded 32. Rh1 Qf3+ 33. Kg1 Re1+ 34. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 35. Kh2 Rxh1# 0-1

Round 2 was a total disaster. I was White against International Master Ben Finegold, and I elected to play the f4-Sicilian against him. I chose a faulty plan of winning the dark-squared bishop for a knight (losing several tempi in the process), and then shortly thereafter, I found myself stuck with a Jenny Bishop.



In a difficult position, White has just blundered with 17. Be3. (17. Nf3 was better) Black now won material with 17...f6 18. Ng4 h5 19. Nf2 Nxe3 20. Qxe3 Nd2. I played on and on and on, and yet, Ben said after the game that I resigned too early :) 0-1

Round 3 was a game that I felt bad winning. I was Black against Glenn Smith. The opening was kind of like a Sicilian Dragon Yugoslav Attack. After White's furious attack died down, I found myself with the following position.



In my opinion, White has an edge, due to the advanced kingside pawns and more space. (If this was Bughouse, White would be totally winning...) Black has just played 35...Rb4, attacking both the Knight and Pawn. I was expecting 36. Nc3, but my opponent surprised me with 36. Rc3!? I automatically assumed that I could not take the Knight because of back-rank mate. What a clever move, I thought. After thinking for a while, it occurred to me that there is no back-rank mate! (Rc8+ Kh7!) So I took the Knight 36...Rxa4 and won five moves later. 0-1

Chess Problem That I Made Up

White to Play and Win

Here is a chess problem that I composed all by myself, as a homework exercise.