Chess Room Newsletter #963

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April 2021 TNM Begins April 13th!

The April 2021 Tuesday Night Marathon begins on the 13th and registration is open! We had 76 players in our last marathon and even had some brand new players light up the leaderboard and deliver some exciting games, as IM Brian Escalante defeated FM Max Gedajlovic in the final round in the game of the tourney to tie for 1st place with GM Gadir Guseinov with 7/8. Click here to see the results from the March TNM: https://www.milibrary.org/chess-tournaments/march-2021-tuesday-night-marathon-online.

This months TNM will be 6 rounds, 2 rounds per evening with round times 6:30pm PT and 8:00pm PT. Time control is G/35+2 and is USCF rated, with games paired manually on Chess.com. Dr. Judit Sztaray is the Chief TD. We will stream the event live with commentary from 3-time US Champion GM Nick de Firmian, FM Paul Whitehead and Mechanics' Institute Chess Director Abel Talamantez on our Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/mechanicschess.

To register, please follow this link: https://mechanics-institute.jumbula.com/2021OnlineTournaments/Apr2021TNMOnline

Full tournament information is here: https://www.milibrary.org/chess-tournaments/april-2021-tuesday-night-marathon-online

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 Thursday Night Marathon

Two rounds are completed in the Thursday Night Marathon, and 9 players remain perfect with 2/2 and quite a few strong players at 1.5/2. There are three rounds left, here are the current standings.

SwissSys Standings. Open (Standings (no tiebrk))

#	Name	Handle	ID	Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Total
1	GM Gadir Guseinov	gguseinov	17343590	2700	W25	W19				2.0
2	IM Elliott Winslow	ecwinslow	10363365	2278	W27	W20				2.0
3	NM Michael Walder	flightsoffancy	10345120	2135	W40	W21				2.0
4	Cailen Melville	mangonel	14006141	1940	W29	W22				2.0
5	Adam Mercado	a-boy415	16571026	1831	W31	W23				2.0
6	Aaron Nicoski	kingsmasher35	12797931	1822	W41	W30				2.0
7	Kagan Uz	uzkuzk	16434922	1809	W42	W33				2.0
8	Jeff Andersen	zenwabi	11296106	1643	W46	X16				2.0
9	Justin Brunet	night_breeze	30055583	unr.	W24	W18				2.0
10	FM Kyron Griffith	kyrongriffith	12860484	2490	W26	H---				1.5
11	NM Richard Koepcke	rkoepcke	10493269	2200	H---	W35				1.5
12	Kristian Clemens	kclemens	13901075	1997	D38	W36				1.5
13	NM Thomas Maser	talenuf	10490936	1900	H---	W37				1.5
14	Zachi Baharav	fastzachi	13464604	1813	H---	W38				1.5
15	Jason Ochoa	barok44	12440572	1759	H---	W39				1.5
16	Pranav Sairam	chesspilot01	15424820	2084	W28	F8				1.0
17	Robert Smith	maturner	12463327	1853	L30	W41				1.0
18	Alexander Huberts	cccalboy	16419664	1794	W43	L9				1.0
19	Bryan Lynch	nycsheep	15493651	1769	W44	L1				1.0
20	Leo Wang	mu3tang	16061785	1765	W45	L2				1.0
21	Callaghan McCarty-Snead	doctorbanner	14948275	1700	W32	L3				1.0
22	Joel Carron	bigchampionofchess	16600505	1610	W47	L4				1.0
23	Bryan Hood	fiddleleaf	12839763	1574	W48	L5				1.0
24	Marina Xiao	programmingmax	16380642	1512	L9	W42				1.0
25	Akshaj Pulijala	loltheawesomedude	16497860	1455	L1	W43				1.0
26	Kevin Sun	kevin_mx_sun	16898540	1443	L10	W44				1.0
27	Michael Xiao	swimgrass	16380636	1363	L2	W45				1.0
28	Bruce Hedman	bruce_hedman	17344551	1035	L16	W46				1.0
29	Jerry Li	figsnoring	16551291	999	L4	W47				1.0
30	Charvi Atreya	charvii	16816706	984	W17	L6				1.0
31	Katherine Sunny Lu	2nf31-0	16425316	978	L5	W48				1.0
32	Pratyush Bhingarkar	greenninja2019	30015889	unr.	L21	W40				1.0
33	Jaryd Saevitzon	thejuicerisloose	30144616	unr.	B---	L7				1.0
34	Vedant Talwalkar	serverbusy	16408266	1644	H---	U---				0.5
35	Jacob Wang	jacobchess857	17083655	1623	H---	L11				0.5
36	Nursultan Uzakbaev	rimus11	17137317	1513	D39	L12				0.5
37	Nick Reed	nxbex	16154827	1433	H---	L13				0.5
38	Adam Stafford	aanval22	14257838	1014	D12	L14				0.5
39	Joshua Lu	probablyjosh	30127073	unr.	D36	L15	H---			0.5
40	Darren Yin	dareonion	12846430	1323	L3	L32				0.0
41	Jake Chi Hang Li	jakech1123	17144246	946	L6	L17				0.0
42	Danny Cao	caodanny	16939797	887	L7	L24				0.0
43	Andrejs Gulbis	andrejsg	16741331	826	L18	L25				0.0
44	Cleveland Lee	vincitore51745	12814843	619	L19	L26				0.0
45	Ivan Zong	ivanzong	30131397	unr.	L20	L27				0.0
46	Sean Liu	seanyliu	30149285	unr.	L8	L28				0.0
47	Jeff Rosengarden	jrosengarden	30105422	unr.	L22	L29				0.0
48	Kaori Nguyen	sillybunnyy	30156281	unr.	L23	L31				0.0

 

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Reciprocity Partnership With Marshall Chess Club

The Mechanics' Institute and the Marshall Chess Club entered into a partnership last year in which we agreed to recognize each organization's members so that our players can enjoy the benefits our respective clubs. Now that there are so many course offerings and USCF online-rated events, we wanted to let our chess community know again that if you are a member of the Mechanics' Institute (meaning you have a membership card and paid the annual fee), you may enjoy playing at Marshall or taking one of their courses at the Marshall member rate. Marshall has also promoted this reciprocity agreement with Mechanics' Institute in their newsletter the Marshall Spectator. To subscribe to their newsletter, please follow this link: https://marshallchessclub.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8d1c41bb7086f1137fd9939ba&id=3a3fc8e77f. 

To see their list of events, click this link:  https://www.marshallchessclub.org/tournaments/upcoming

If you are a member and wish to be added to the list of members to participate in Marshall events, please send an email to [email protected] and list your USCF number. We will verify membership and place you on the list.

We look forward to this partnership between our two historic clubs in an effort to continue bringing communities together through chess!

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The GM Nick de Firmian / FM Paul Whitehead Arena Live on Twitch

The GM Nick de Firmian/FM Paul Whitehead Arena every Tuesday at 5pm PT (right before the start of our TNM) has become a great way for our Mechanics' staff to play casual games with our members. Entry is free, and lasts 60 minutes with a time control of G/5+2. In this arena format, players register and participate in openly paired club games online. When a game ends, players are paired with the next available person ready to play, regardless of rating or past results. With Nick and Paul in the arena, anyone registered will have a shot at playing a 3-time US Champion, or the legendary FM Paul Whitehead. Our arena has also attracted other popular players, such as Michael "fpawn" Aigner, IM Josiah Stearman, and even FM Kyron Griffith has played. These games make it so that any player, regardless of strength, may have an opportunity to play some strong players. More importantly, the arenas become a very fun and engaging atmosphere for our Mechanics' club players, as Nick and Paul banter on camera about their games with a lively interaction in the Twitch chat. 

Here are two games from the arena, annotated by GM Nick de Firmian.

(1) GM Nick de Firmian (NicholasDeFirmian) (2455) - Callaghan McCarty-Snead (DoctorBanner) (2039) [E73]
Live Chess Chess.com, 07.04.2021
[de Firmian]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 The Hulk plays a fighting King's Indian Defense 5.Be2 0-0 6.Be3 Nbd7 7.g4 It is a little unusual for White to expand on the kingside like this. Probably White won't castle kingside after this but at least it gains space. 7...e5 8.g5 Ne8 [8...Nh5!? 9.Bxh5 gxh5 10.d5 f5 is a messy alternative that may be worth a try] 9.Nf3 f5 10.gxf6 Bxf6 This is a little passive and gives White the opening edge. Interesting was [10...Nexf6 11.dxe5 Ng4 12.Bg5 Qe8 13.exd6 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Qxe4 with a wild open game] 11.d5 a5 12.h4 Ng7 13.Ng5 Nb6?! This is a passive square for the knight and allows the White initiative to grow. Preferable was [13...Be7 14.Qd2 Nf6 Though White still holds an edge.] 14.Qd2 h5 15.0-0-0 Bxg5?! White will have an easy game to play with the dark-squared bishop unopposed. [15...Bd7 16.c5 Na4 at least tries to confuse matters] 16.Bxg5 Qe8 17.f3 Bd7 18.Rhg1

White has control and an easy game to play. Black needs to get angry here to have a chance. 18...Kh7 19.Rg3 Na4 20.Rdg1 Nxc3 21.Qxc3 Qc8 22.Kb1 Be8 23.c5 b6? quietly caving in to the pressure and giving away a key pawn [23...Qd7 would maintain material equality in a difficult position] 24.cxd6 cxd6 25.Qxc8 Rxc8 26.Be7 Rf4! The best fighting chance in this bad endgame. Black loses the center pawns but gets a passed h-pawn. 27.Bxd6 Rxh4 28.Bxe5 Bf7 29.Bd4 Rb8 30.Rc1 Rb7 [30...Nf5!? 31.Be5 Re8 32.exf5 Rxe5 33.Bd3 is also tough for Black] 31.Rc8 Bxd5!? 32.Rg5? [32.Bxg7! Bxe4+ 33.fxe4 Rxg7 34.Bd3 wins a piece] 32...Bf7?! [The clock is running down and the errors come. Black is worse but even material after 32...Rh1+ 33.Rg1 Rxg1+ 34.Bxg1 Be6] 33.b3?! [33.Rg1 Rh2 34.Bb5] 33...Rh1+ 34.Kc2?! [34.Rg1] 34...Rh2 35.Kd3 35...Ne6?? A blunder with the clock running out. The Hulk had gotten right back in the game and would have even chances after [35...Rd7! 36.Re5 h4] 36.Rh8# NicholasDeFirmian won by checkmate. A lucky turn of events for me just as the game was getting messy again. 1-0

(2) FM Paul Whitehead (chessmonster666) (2270) - NM Sriram Krishnakumar (2008king) (2176) [C77]
Live Chess Chess.com, 07.04.2021
[de Firmian]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 [One still occasionally sees 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 when Black has played everything under the sun. It's surprising that the most natural looking move in general, 5...Nf6?? , is here a blunder! 6.Nxe5 and White is up a solid pawn. It's worth a moment to see how so many of those other moves stop White from getting away with that!] 4...Nf6 [The fairly old 4...d6 still lives,; as does the modern attempt to get out first: 4...Bc5; and 4...Nge7 is the only move with a plus score here, over couple thousand instances.] 5.Bxc6 [White could wait a move and maybe get a slightly better version of exchange variation: 5.0-0 "Commital" (just joking, maybe) 5...Be7 a) There are various modern lines, popular at the highest level (i.e. Carlsen & Others): 5...Bc5; b) or 5...b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 (or 6...Bb7) ; c) and the Open Variation, 5...Nxe4 , remains an enigma to Ruy Lopez players looking for some theoretical advantage.; 6.Bxc6 (6.Re1 is of course the massively analyzed and played Main Line.; 6.d3 is the big thing lately but has a long way to go to replace 6.Re1 as most played)) 6...dxc6 7.d3 So now White's knight *and* bishop are on suboptimal squares, and may require repositioning. In short, the time lost to White's Bb5-a4xc6 is recovered.] 5...dxc6 6.d3 Bd6 (in one move) 7.Nbd2 Favored by Naka and Ding. 7...Be6 8.h3 [Relevant: 8.0-0 0-0 (8...Nd7 9.b3 Qe7 10.Nc4 f6 11.Bd2 0-0 12.Nh4 g6 13.g3 b5 14.Ne3 f5 Black got in the f-file pawn break before White, but it just led to some weaknesses. 15.exf5 gxf5 16.Qh5 Qf7 17.Qxf7+ Rxf7 18.Nf3 h6 19.Ng2 Kh7 20.Rfe1 Bd5 21.Nfh4 c5 22.c4 Bc6 23.f4 e4 24.Ne3 Raf8 25.Nexf5 1-0 (37), Nakamura,H (2736) -Abdusattorov,N (2627) Chess.com INT 2021) 9.b3 Nd7 10.Bb2 b5 11.d4 The other pawn break at White's disposal, but the highest rated player of all time held the line. 11...f6 12.h3 c5 13.d5 Bf7 14.a4 Nb6 15.c4 c6 16.Nh4 Re8 17.Nf5 Bf8 18.Qg4 Kh8 19.f4 exf4 20.Qxf4 bxc4 21.bxc4 cxd5 22.cxd5 Qb8 23.Qh4 (23.d6!? Be6 24.Nxg7! Bxg7 25.Bxf6 is difficult for Black) 23...Nxd5 24.Rab1 Qb4 25.Bc1 Qxa4 26.exd5 Qxh4 27.Nxh4 Bxd5 1/2-1/2 (59) Nakamura,H (2708)-Carlsen,M (2810) Wijk aan Zee 2010] 8...Qe7 Keeping an eye on castling queenside

[8...Nd7 is the orthodox sort of move.] 9.Ng5N [Only one other game: 9.Qe2 Nd7 10.Nc4 f6 11.Bd2 0-0-0 12.a4 g5 13.Nh2 Bc5 14.Ne3 Nf8 15.Nhf1 Ng6 16.g3 Qd7 17.Qf3 Rhf8 18.Nf5 Bd4 and White probably wished he had castled somewhere (he never did): 0-1 (38), Pranav,V (2315)-Pranesh,M (2333) Visakhapatnam 2019] 9...Bd7 10.Nc4 Bc5?! Stay! [10...b5 keeps the balance.] 11.Nf3 Bd6 A redfaced return. 12.Qe2 White also decided to head West with his king. 12...0-0-0 13.Be3 13...Ng8?! Black is confused and runs toward his own goal. [13...h6] 14.0-0-0!? [Engines like 14.0-0] 14...f6 15.Nxd6+! A clearheaded assessment of the chances. Superficially this helps Black, but Whitehead sees that now there are attacking avenues. Note the opposite colored bishops ("favor the attacker"). 15...cxd6 [15...Qxd6 16.d4] 16.d4?! [16.Bb6 Re8 17.Nd2 Be6 18.Qe3 does bring the wood around to the queenside, but there isn't necessarily a way in.] 16...Kc7? [16...exd4 17.Bxd4 c5 18.Bc3 Bb5 puts out the fire and activates his pieces, when it's starting to be White's that look a bit off.] 17.dxe5?! [17.Qc4!+- exd4 18.Nxd4 when of course the pawn is poisoned to a discovered attack.] 17...dxe5?! giving White a free hand on the queenside dark squares. [17...fxe5! , followed by ...c5 on most moves, patches things up pretty well, although White still holds a solid edge.] 18.Qd2 [18.Qc4 is a better way in: 18...Be6 19.Qc3 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 b6 21.b4 intending a4-a5, and the dark squares crumble.; 18.Ba7!? followed by Qe3 is another way to proceed.] 18...g5?? Black folds. [18...b6 The a-pawn isn't hanging like that other line 19.a4 (19.b4 Nh6) 19...a5 probably won't hold either, but puts up a better fight.] 19.Qa5+! Kc8 20.Bc5 Qf7 21.Bd6 ouch. The dark squares are hurting. 21...Be6 22.Bxe5! Ne7?! Losing immediately, but it was hard to find a move with mate threatened on d8. 23.Qc7# Very forceful finish by Paul. 1-0

(3) Nathan Fong (nathanf314) (2211) - Shaashwath Sivakumar (Dontmesswithme_2) (2297) [B90]
Live Chess Chess.com, 06.04.2021
[de Firmian]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 What to call this? Commonly known as the Byrne Variation after Robert Byrne, it was played earlier by Lombardy and even Fischer, but also decades before by the creative if offbeat Weaver Adams. Still the modern interpretation is light-years away from those beginnings. 6...e5 These days people play the Boleslavsky pawn advance against almost everything, except 6.Bg5 and 6.Bc4. 7.Nde2 h5

Black cuts across one of the main points of 6.h3, to advance the g-pawn two squares in one move.But the move comes with a price of course. 8.Bg5 A very popular positional approach, playing to conquer square d5. 8...Be6 9.Bxf6 Before Black can get ...Nbd7 in, to recapture with the knight. But it is funny how Black couldn't play ...h6 if he wanted to challenge the bishop -- and White exchanges anyway! 9...Qxf6 10.Nd5 Qd8 11.Nec3 [The finesse 11.Qd3!? (from Anand's home preparation) with 0-0-0 quickly available is more of a problem according to D.Vigorito's recent Najdorf book, although it appears he keeps Black afloat.] 11...g6 Black delays bringing out his knight, and takes advantage of the knight on d5 blocking the d-file to head elsewhere with the dark squared bishop, plus guarding h5 for now and supporting a later ...f5; exf5 gxf5. But there's another reason... 12.Qf3!? extremely rare, but sensible -- f6 after all has been weakened. But maybe Black shouldn't be bothered by that. [12.Bc4 is almost always played, when 12...Bh6!? is the big choice as well. 13.0-0 0-0 14.Bb3 and even here, where to put that knight isn't clear; Vigorito heads for d7, although 14...Nc6 seems to be winning out in late ballots.] 12...Bg7 [The only other games saw Black unconcerned about the f6 square (perhaps more concerned about White castling): 12...Bh6!? is probably the move an MVL or Giri would play. 13.Bc4 0-0 14.Rd1 Nc6 15.Bb3 Nd4 16.Qd3 Rc8 17.0-0 Kh7 18.Ne3 Qh4 19.Ncd5 f5 and the higher rated player only drew: ½-½ (61) Munoz,L (1953)-Oliynyk,V (2345) ICCF email 2017; 12...Nd7 first is plausible, but allows White to castle: 13.Be2 (13.0-0-0! as per the above discussion.) 13...Bh6 14.g4?! h4!=/+ 15.Rg1?! Bg5-/+ Black is doing fine, but as so often, the rating system proved its predictive value again. 16.Rd1 Rc8 17.Ne3? Rc6 (17...Qb6!-+) 18.Bf1?! Qb6 19.Ncd5 Qxb2 20.Nc4 Qxa2 21.Qc3 Qa4 (21...b5! 22.Nb4 Rxc4 23.Nxa2 Rxc3 24.Nxc3 Ke7-+) 22.Ra1 Rxc4 23.Bxc4 Qc6 24.Qd3 Nc5 25.Qe2 b5?? Black was still winning but now, 26.Rxa6!+- and White didn't stumble: 1-0 (36) Brandt,C (2066)-Moenster,M (1730) Germany 2018] 13.0-0-0 The engines are completely uninterested in castling queenside and even put Black having some advantage. 13...Nc6 14.Kb1 Nd4 An empty gesture -- in a few moves the knight would prefer to be aiming at e5. [14...b5!?] 15.Qg3 Rc8 [15...h4!] 16.Bd3 b5 17.f4 exf4 18.Nxf4 18...Rxc3?! We must remember this is a 5m2s game, but still, both players know their opening and had barely spent any time (White less than a minute, Black just over half a minute). [18...Be5! first, *then* you can get clever and give up the exchange if you must: 19.Qf2 (19.Qe3 Qg5 20.Rhf1 0-0 leans in Black's favor, what with the dark squares so under control) 19...Rxc3! A completely different story! 20.bxc3 Nc6! The game seems to be equal, similar to early Yugoslav Dragons where both sides launch their attacks, and one or the other sets up a perpetual. 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Rdf1 Qa5!? 23.Qf7+ Kd8 24.Kc1 Qxc3 25.Kd1 Every move is "0.00", so there doesn't seem to be much more for it.] 19.bxc3 19...Nc6? Black must have been more concerned with not using any time than with what was about to happen. This just loses. [He had the fascinating 19...Bxa2+! 20.Kxa2 (forced) 20...Qa5+ 21.Kb1 (21.Kb2?? b4! is a disaster for White.) 21...Nf5! when White gets a lot for the queen after 22.exf5 Bxc3 23.Qe1+! Kd8 24.Qxc3 Qxc3 25.Nd5! with a fair chance of still coming out on top] 20.Nxe6 fxe6 There were no tricks now 21.Qxg6+ Kf8 22.Rhf1+ Kg8 23.Qf7+ Kh7 24.Qxh5+ all the pawns go 24...Kg8 25.Qf7+ Kh7 26.e5+! As always, it's dangerous waters in the Najdorf, and this game was an example of the latest species of poisionous jellyfish. A wild battle! 1-0

Watch an Arena by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW1qAuoY6dw

Read below to join next week's arena!

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