Gens Una Sumus!
Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club News #625
April 24, 2013
The Master said, “Hard is it to deal with who will stuff himself with food the whole day, without applying his mind to anything good! Are there not gamesters and chess players? To be one of these would still be better than doing nothing at all.”
—Confucious, The Analects.
The Mechanics’ Institute will be hosting the Walter Lovegrove Memorial Senior Open this weekend. The two-day, four-round event, is open to all players 50 and older.
1) Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club News
Oleg Shaknazarov remains in the lead after six rounds of the Spring Tuesday Night Marathon, but he needed some resourceful play and a bit of luck to escape from a lost rook ending against NM Romy Fuentes. Shaknazarov, with 5.5 from 6, leads the 90-player field, but right behind him with five points are IM Elliott Winslow, FM Andy Lee, NM Fuentes and surprising Mike Anderson. Ranked number 26 at the start of the tournament at 1953, Anderson has knocked off two masters and looks ready to regain his Expert title.
Here is the battle on board one last night.
Sicilian Dragon B77
Romulo Fuentes (2220)–Oleg Shakhnazarov (2184)
Mechanics’ Spring TNM (6) 2013
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 Nxd4 9.Bxd4 0–0 10.Bc4 Be6 11.Bb3 Qa5
This variation is not very popular and deservedly so.
12.0–0–0 Bxb3 13.cxb3 b5
13...Rfc8 is more commonly seen here while 13...Rfd8, planning to follow with ...e6, is an alternative.
14.Kb1 Qa6?!
This T.N. is motivated by Black’s desire to sidestep Bxf6 followed by Nd5, but stopping this comes at a high price. Instead, 14...Rfc8 would allow the second player to meet 15.Bxf6?! with 15…Bxf6 16.Nd5 Qxd2 17.Nxf6+ Kg7, when 18.Nh5+ gxh5 19.Rxd2 Rc5 is roughly equal.
15.h4
15.Bxf6 is actually good here, as the queen on a6 allows forks on c7. After 15… Bxf6 16.Nd5 Rad8 17.Nxf6+ exf6 18.h4 White has play against the weakness on d6 and Black’s king.
15...e5?! 16.Be3 b4 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.Qxd5 Qe2
Black tries to mix things up before White sits on him.
19.Qd2 Qb5 20.h5 a5
Playing for ...a4 is Oleg’s chance for counterplay.
21.hxg6 fxg6 22.Qxd6
22.Qd5+ Qxd5 23.Rxd5 a4 was Black’s idea.
22...Rf7 23.Qd5 Qe8 24.Bb6
24.Rd3 Kh8 25.Rc1 was the positional approach, but Romy wants material. There are many ways to win this position.
24...a4 25.bxa4 Qxa4 26.Qxa8+!
This leads to what should be an easily-winning ending.
26...Qxa8 27.Rd8+ Qxd8 28.Bxd8 Rd7 29.Bg5 Bf8 30.Kc2 Bc5 31.Rd1 Bd4
This is as good as anything for Black, but it should fall short.
32.Kb3 Kf7 33.Be3 Kf6 34.f4
This makes a lot of sense as it denies Black ...Ke5-f4-g3.
34...Ke6 35.Bxd4 exd4 36.Kxb4 g5 37.g3 h5 38.Kc4 h4 39.gxh4
39.fxg5 hxg3 40.Kd3 Ke5 41.Rg1 Kf4 42.a4 Kf3 43.b4 Kf2 44.Ra1 g2 45.a5 g1Q 46.Rxg1 Kxg1 47.b5, winning, is how White should handle this position. Once the queenside pawns get rolling it’s all over.
39...gxf4 40.Rxd4 Rf7 41.Rd2?
41.Rd1 was much simpler. 41...Ke5 42.b4 f3 43.a4 f2 44.Rf1 Kxe4 45.a5 Ke3 46.a6 and the queenside pawns again decide.
41...Ke5 42.Kd3 Rg7 43.Ke2?
White mistakenly tries to stop Black’s pawn instead of promoting his own, and in doing so throws away the win. 43.b4 would still have done the job.
43...Kxe4 44.Kf1 Ke3 45.Rc2
No better is 45.Re2+ Kf3 46.Rf2+ Ke3 47.a4 f3 The contrast in activity between White and Black’s pieces is striking, and this advantage, plus the advanced passed pawn fully compensates for the two-pawn deficit.
45...f3 46.Rc3+ Kf4 47.Rc5 Rd7 48.b4 Rd1+ 49.Kf2 Rd2+ 50.Kf1 Rxa2 51.Rc8 Ra1+ ½–½
Hello everyone,
The annual Schutt Memorial Blitz tournament is scheduled for Sunday May 5. Entries accepted between 1 pm and 1:45 pm. Entry $10. Five-round double Swiss. Free to GMs and IMs. Prizes $300-$200-$100-$75-$50-$25. Light refreshments will be served at the event.
Every Wednesday evening is the time for the weekly round robin blitz tournament at Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club. As always, the last entry is accepted at 6:40 pm, with sign-up beginning at 6:20 pm, and games starting soon after. Entry is $7 with clock; $8 without clock. Non-member entry is $9 with clock; $10 without clock. Prizes are 50%, 30%, 20% of base entry fees ($7 per player) collected. Time control preferably is 3 minute, increment 2 seconds; otherwise 5 minutes, no increment.
Last week we had 9 players in the Blitz. The winners were:
1st/2nd – IM Ray Kaufman and Carlos D’Avila
3rd - Jules Jelinek
Jules Jelinek
Weekly Wednesday Night Blitz Coordinator
2) Grandmaster Walter Browne annotates
Six-time US Champion Walter Browne kindly annotates one of his games from the recent Larry Evans Memorial, where he tied for first place event. Walter will be playing in the Ray Schutt Blitz on May 5 at the Mechanics’ and will have copies of his memoir The Stress of Chess: My Life, Career and 101 Best Games for sale.
If you miss Walter at the MI you can catch him at the National Open this June, where he will be playing in the G/10 Championship and book signing.
Sicilian Rossolimo B31
Walter Browne (2517)–Uyanga Byambaa (2113)
Larry Evans Memorial (2) 2013
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0–0 Bg7 5.Bxc6 bxc6 6.Re1 Nf6 7.e5 Nd5 8.c4 Nc7 9.d4 cxd4 10.Qxd4 0–0 11.Qh4 Ne6
Or 11...Rb8 12.Nc3 Ne6 13.b3 d5 14.Bh6 Bxh6 15.Qxh6 Bb7 (15...Qa5 16.Ne2! dxc4 17.Ned4 Qc5 18.Re4 winning) 16.Re3 with a strong attack.
12.Nc3 d6 13.Bh6 dxe5 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Nxe5± Qc7 16.Re3
Even better is 16.Qe4! Nd8 17.Nf3 Re8 18.Rad1 Bf5 19.Qh4 f6 20.Nd4 Bd7 21.f4, with a sizeable advantage.
16...f6
16...Rb8 17.b3 f6 18.Nd3 leaves White with a small pull.
17.Nd3 Nd8 18.Rae1 Rf7 19.g4! a5
I was concerned by 19...Qd7!?, but 20.h3 Qd6 21.c5 Qc7 22.g5 fxg5 23.Qxg5 leaves me with the advantage.
20.g5!
A paradoxical move giving the f5 square, yet the combined threats of capture on e7 and Qh6 overwhelm Black’s defenses.
20...h5
20...fxg5 21.Qxg5 Ra7 22.Qh4 and I’d take control of the dark squares with an excellent outpost on e5 and a target on e7. Nevertheless this was better than played.
21.Rxe7 Qd6 22.gxf6+
22.c5 Qxd3 23.gxf6+ Kh6 24.Ne4 (24.Rd1 Qh3 [24...Qf3 25.Rxd8 Bh3 26.Qg3 Qxg3+ 27.hxg3 was what I saw during the game, which wins. Due to having under ten minutes I opted for the text.] 25.Qxh3 Bxh3 26.Rxd8 Rxd8 27.Rxf7 Rd4 28.f3± was possible.) 24...Qd5 25.Qg3 h4 26.Qxh4+ Qh5 27.Qf4+ g5 28.Qd6 seemed overly complex, though winning.
22...Qxf6 23.Qxf6+ Kxf6 24.Re8+- Bf5 25.Ne5 Rc7 26.Rd1
26.Ne4+ Bxe4 27.Rxe4 g5 28.Re3 g4 29.f3 was a bit smoother!
26...Re7 27.Rxe7 Kxe7 28.f4 Rc8 29.Kf2 Ne6
29...Nf7 30.Nxf7 Kxf7 31.Rd6 Ke7 32.c5 Rd8 was more tenacious, but the final result would be the same.
30.Ke3 c5
30...Rc7 31.Ne4 c5 32.Rg1 is decisive.
31.Rd7+ Ke8 32.Nd5 Nd4
If 32...Nd8 then 33.Rh7 Kf8 34.Ne7 Rb8 35.b3 winning.
33.Nf6+ 1–0
3) 7th Ray Schutt Memorial Blitz Tournament – May 5th
A chance to remember and pay tribute to an old friend
When: Sunday, May 5th from 1 to 5 pm. The blitz tournament will be held from 2 to 4 pm. There will be a chance to reminiscence about Ray over light refreshments both before and after the event.
Where: Mechanics’ Institute, 57 Post St, San Francisco (Montgomery BART)
Format: Five Double-Round Swiss. Game in 4 minutes with 2 second increment.
Prizes:
1st $300
2nd $200
3rd $100
4th $75
5th $50
6th $25
There will be book prizes for all participants, including several copies of new books by 6-time US Champion Walter Browne and 17-year-old IM (2 GM norms) Daniel Naroditsky, donated by Bill Schutt.
Entry Fee: $10; free to IMs and GMs.
Enter at tournament from 1 pm to 1:45. Please take note: Entries close at 1:45 pm. No phone entries.
Come honor Ray’s memory and help make this the largest and strongest blitz tournament in the history of Northern California chess.
Past Winners of the Ray Schutt Blitz and number of participants:
2007 GM Walter Browne (34)
2008 GM Melik Khachian (34)
2009 IM Ricardo DeGuzman (28)
2010 FM Andy Lee ahead of 2 GMs and 5 IMs (46)
2011 GM Walter Browne and IM Daniel Naroditsky (50)
2012 IM Daniel Naroditsky (43)
GM Walter Browne and IM Daniel Naroditsky, the only two-time winners of the Ray Schutt Blitz, will both be playing.
4) Here and There
Magnus Carlsen was named by TIME (4/29) as one of the world’s 100 most influential people and included in Cosmopolitan magazine’s list of “sexiest men of 2013”, placing number 5.
Jude Acers, aka The Man In The Red Beret, has been promoting chess in the United States for over 40 years and given countless exhibitions in malls, prisons, schools and chess clubs. You can learn more about him at his website: http://judeacers.com.
Felix Rudyak, a long-time frequenter of the Mechanics’ Chess Club, and currently rated 1968 USCF, writes:
I am back into studying and working very hard to improve my chess skills and rating. As part of the training, I would love to play a rated 6- or 8-game match with someone rated 2000+. To add an incentive, I could pay an extra $100 for the prize fund. The goal really is to get some material to work on. Ideally I could play either on a weekend (morning?) or Thursdays around 6. We could possibly make up a 4-person double round-robin, FIDE-rated, if there is more than one person interested.
Interested parties can contact Felix at [email protected].
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