Chess Room Newsletter #779

Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club Newsletter #779
March 17, 2017

I am still a victim of chess It has all the beauty of art—and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.

—Marcel Duchamp

The 17th Annual Max Wilkerson Memorial will be held this Saturday, March 18, at Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club.
The event is a 6-round Swiss with a time control of G/30.

1) Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club News

International Master Elliott Winslow and National Master Tenzing Shaw are the top-rated competitors in the 96-player Spring Tuesday Night Marathon, which started last Tuesday night. It’s possible to enter the eight-round, FIDE- and USCF-rated, event with a half-point bye for the first round.

White to move (Tsodikova–Dupree after 11...Ba5)	Black to move (Casares–Wong after 9 Qxd3)
White to move (Liang–Sevall after 57...Rb8)	White to move (Krasnov–Giridharan after 16...Nxd7)
White to move (Turner–Robertson after 28...Rc7)	White to move (Newey–Badgett after 5...Ne7)
White to move (Rakonitz–Holderness after 36...Bc4)	For the solutions, see the game scores for round 1.

Walnut Creek Grandmaster Sam Shankland is in the middle of the pack with 3 out of 6 in the 10-player St. Louis Winter Chess Classic. English Grandmaster David Howell leads the event with 4 points.

Here is the last-round win by Elliott Winslow that earned him second place in the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon. Abridged annotations are by the veteran International Master. For his full notes go to the games archive.

Igor Traub (2163)–Elliott Winslow (2312)
Mechanics’ Winter TNM (8) 2017

1.d4

Not at all expected.

1...Nf6 2.c4

Nor this!

2...g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.h3

Nor this.

6...e5 7.dxe5

Had he noticed that Derek O’Connor played this against me in round 4? Was I going to see something new? Had I inadvertently tricked him into playing this by not doing a better job of researching the opening for my bulletin write-up?

7...dxe5 8.Bg5

8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bg5 c6!? O’Connor–Winslow, Winter TNM 2017, round 4.

8...Na6!?

I am unable to explain how I overlooked that 8...Nbd7 makes excellent sense with the queens still on.

9.Qxd8 Rxd8!? 10.Nd5 Rd6 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.b4!?

Confession: the only lines I’ve actually put on a board before are Kotronias’ “last line” 12.Rc1 b6!? (in his Grandmaster Repertoire book on the Classical KID) 13.b4 Bd8!.

12.Nxf6+ Rxf6 looks like it’s heading for a draw? Hah! Black scored 8 wins and 2 draws from 10 games in Mega2015 - 10 wins and 5 draws in the online database.

12...b6!?

Only played once before, but it could be the new wave.

13.c5??

I must have the curse on Igor: he has now twice uncharacteristically blundered material early in both our games.

13...Rxd5

A surprisingly frequent shot.

14.exd5 e4 15.Bxa6 Bxa6 16.Rb1 exf3 17.b5 fxg2 18.Rg1 Re8+ 19.Kd2 Bc8 20.cxb6 axb6 21.Rxg2 Rd8 22.Rg3 Rxd5+ 23.Ke1 Bf5 24.Rbb3 Be5 25.Rge3 Bc2 26.Rb4 Bd6 27.Rc4 Bd3 0–1

Expert Arthur Ismakov took top honors in the 17th Annual A.J. Fink Amateur held March 4–5, scoring 5 from 6. Sharing second at 4½ in the 27 player event, open to players rated under 2200 USCF, were Jacob Seval and newcomer Saikhanchimeg Tsogtsaikhan , yet another strong Mongolian female player following in the steps of Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, Uyanga Byambaa and more recently Tsegmed Munkhchuluun.

Renate Otterbach, who won the prize for top player under 1400, is on a roll of late, gaining 48 points in the Winter Tuesday Night Marathon and a whopping 184 points in the Fink to bring her rating to an all-time high of 1266. Tzahi Sirak, Ting Liang, Nicholas Reed and Daniel Lin won book prizes for scoring the largest upsets.

Jules Jelinek, Wednesday Night Blitz Coordinator, reports on the last two events. Blitz sign-up starts around 6:30 pm, with round 1 starting at 6:45 pm.

February 22
1st – Carlos D’Avila – 11 pts (out of 12)
2nd – Jacob Sevall – 9½ pts
3rd – Jules Jelinek – 7½ pts

March 1
16 players
1st – IM Elliott Winslow 10½ pts (12)
2nd – Vincent Guitierrez Garcia 8 pts
3rd to 6th – Jacob Sevall, Jeff Sinick, Felix Rudiyak and Jules Jelinek 7 pts

The Mechanics’ entry in the Pro Chess League won its last-round match with Portland to finish 3–4. The other Bay Area entry in the US Chess League, the San Jose Hackers (4–3), made it to the playoffs, where they defeated the Dallas Destiny before being eliminated by the Webster Windmills. The next Newsletter will take a closer look at how the two teams performed.

Longtime Bay Area player Ed Rosenthal (email) writes:

I am teaching chess in the North Bay for Chess Wizards, and they need a few more chess teachers for classes. Chess teachers will need a car, and time in the afternoons.

The Chess Wizards pay well and also cover mileage. If you can post a note to that effect, they can contact me and I will get them in touch with the company.

Walnut Creek Grandmaster Sam Shankland turned in an outstanding performance to win the third Chinggis GM International outright with 7/9. The event was held in late February in Burlingame, and the result brought his FIDE rating to 2677.

Other top finishers (all +2600 FIDE): 2–3 Shimanov and Izoria 6½, 4–5 Xiong and Zhou 6.

Here is one of Sam’s wins.

Grunfeld D80
Sam Shankland–Timur Gareev
3rd Chinggis Invitational (5) 2017

1. d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.cxd5 c6 7.e4 0–0 8.e5 Bg7 9.Bc4 cxd5 10.Bxd5 Nc6 11.Nge2 Bg4 12.f3 Bf5 13.Qd2 Na5 14.b3 Rc8 15.Rc1 e6 16.Be4 Bxe4 17.Nxe4 Rxc1+ 18.Qxc1 Nc6 19.Qc5 Qh4+ 20.g3 Qh6 21.Kf2 Rd8 22.h4 Bf8 23.Qc3 Be7 24.Qe3 Qxe3+ 25.Kxe3 Nb4 26.Rc1 Nd5+ 27.Kf2 h5 28.f4 Kf8 29.Kf3 a5 30.a4 Rb8 31.N4c3 Nb4 32.Nb5 Nc6 33.Rc4 Rd8 34.Nec3 f6 35.Ne4 fxe5 36.fxe5 Kg7 37.Nbd6 Rf8+ 38.Ke2 Rb8 1–0

Sam is playing in another strong round robin in St. Louis. Results and games can be found here.

2) Nikolay Minev (1931–2017) and Walter Shipman (1929–2017)

The chess world recently suffered two great losses with the deaths of International Masters Walter Shipman (February 28) of San Francisco and Nikolay Minev (March 10) of Seattle. The Newsletter will have tributes to both men in future issues.

3) March FIDE Ratings

Top 20
1. Carlsen NOR 2838
2. So USA 2822
3. Caruana USA 2817
4. Kramnik RUS 2811
5. Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2803
6. Nakamura USA 2793
7. Anand IND 2786
8. Karjakin RUS 2783
9. Aronian ARM 2774
10. Mamedyarov AZE 2772
11. Giri NED 2769
12. Adams ENG 2761
13. Ding Liren CHN 2759
14. Harikrishna IND 2758
15. Eljanov UKR 2751
16. Nepomniachtchi RUS 2751
17. Grischuk RUS 2750
18. Yu Yangyi CHN 2750
19. Wojtaszek POL 2745
20. Svidler RUS 2741

Other American players in the top 100 rated players in the world and rated over 2660 FIDE are Jeffrey Xiong, Sam Shankland, Ray Robson, Alex Onischuk and Gata Kamsky. Daniel Naroditsky and Varuzhan Akobian are rated in the top 120 at 2646 and 2645 FIDE respectively.

Top 10 Women
1. Hou Yifan CHN 2649
2. Ju Wenjun CHN 2604
3. A. Muzychuk UKR 2569
4. Koneru IND 2557
5. Kosteniuk RUS 2555
6. M. Muzychuk UKR 2546
7. Lagno RUS 2543
8. Harika IND 2539
9. Cmilyte LTU 2538
10. Stefanova BUL 2533

Top Americans are Anna Zatonskih (#28 at 2451), Irina Krush (#33 at 2444) and Nazi Paikadze (#98 at 2369).

Top 10 Juniors
1. Wei Yi CHN 2725
2. Duda POL 2684
3. Xiong USA 2674
4. Artemiev RUS 2667
5. Bluebaum GER 2632
6. Oparin RUS 2605
7. Vavulin RUS 2604
8. Tari NOR 2596
9. Gledura HUN 2588
10. Alekseenko RUS 2588

Other US players in the top twenty are Samuel Sevian (#12 at 2587) and Ruifeng Li (#19 at 2577).

4) This is the end

Try this study.

White to move

Show solution

1 Bf5+☐

This move is necessary; otherwise, White loses. For example, 1 Bc8? Ra2!



White to move (analysis, after 1 ... Ra2)

(not 1 ... a5? 2 Bf5+ Ka1 3 Bc2=) 2 b4 Kb2 3 Be6 Ra4–+



White to move (analysis, after 3 ... Ra4)

Or 1 Be6? Rh2



White to move (analysis, after 1 ... Rh2)

2 b4 Kb2 3 Bc4 Rh6–+



White to move (analysis, after 3 ... Rh6)

Or 1 Ba4? Ka2 2 Kc1 Ka3–+



White to move (analysis, after 2 ... Ka3)

3 Kd1 Kb4 4 Kc1 Kc3 5 Kd1 Rb1+, and after White moves, Black can take on b3 and win with the a-pawn, as Black will play Kb2 to hold off the white king.

1 ... Ka1

The alternative 1 ... Ka2 2 Bd3 a5 3 Bc2 leads to the same position as after 6 Kd1 in the main line below, and 1 ... Rc2? is a mistake: 2 Bxc2+ Kb2 3 Kd2.

2 Bd3☐



Black to move

Why is this White’s only move? Because 2 Bc2? Ra2 3 Kd2 Kb2 4 b4 Ra1



White to move (analysis, after 4 ... Ra1)

5 Be4 (5 Bd1 Rc1 6 Ba4 Rc4 winning)



White to move (analysis, after 6 ... Rc4)

so 5 ... Kb3 and the pawn is lost. Another try is 2 Be6 Rh2 3 Kc1 a5 4 Bc4 Rh8 5 Be6 Re8 6 Bc4



Black to move (analysis, after 6 Bc4)

6 ... Ka2 Isn’t this a mistake? 7 b4+ Ka3 8 bxa5



Black to move (analysis, after 8 bxa5)

8 ... Rc8. Now the bishop is lost, but the pawn survives. 9 a6 Rxc4+ 10 Kd2 Ra4



White to move (analysis, after 10 ... Ra4)

The pawn is stopped with a move to spare.

2 ... Ra2

It looks tempting to move the rook away, but 2 ... Rh2 3 Bxa6 Rb2 4 Bc4=



Black to move (analysis, after 4 Bc4)

Also, after 2 ... Ka2 3 Bxa6 Kxb3



White to move (analysis, after 3 ... Kxb3)

White will draw the rook vs bishop endgame.

And if 2 ... a5 3 Bc2☐ Ka2



White to move (analysis, after 3 ... Ka2)

4 Kd2 (4 Kc1 loses to 4 ... Ka3 5 Bd1)



Black to move (analysis, after 5 Bd1)

5 ... Rg2 (5 ... Rxb3?? 6 Bxb3 Kxb3 7 Kb1 is a book draw) 6 Bc2 Rg5 7 Bd1 Ka2



White to move (analysis, after 7 ... Ka2)

8 Bc2 Rc5 9 Kd2 Kb2



White to move (analysis, after 9 ... Kb2)

10 Bd1 Rb5 11 Bc2 Rd5+



White to move (analysis, after 11 ... Rd5+)

White loses the bishop if the king moves, and the pawn if Bd3.

Obviously 2 ... Rxb3 3 Bxa6 is a draw.

3 Kc1☐

Other moves lose. For example, 3 Bc2? Kb2 4 Kd2 a5 5 Bd1 Ra1 6 Bc2 Rh1 7 Bd1



Black to move (analysis, after 7 Bd1)

and after 7 ... Rh3 White loses the pawn, since following 8 Bc2? Rh2+.

If 3 b4? Kb2 and White cannot protect the b-pawn.

3 ... a5



White to move

Other possibilities for Black are 3 ... Rb2?? 4 Bxa6=; 3 ... Rh2 4 Bxa6=; 3 ... Ra5 4 b4 Ra4 5 Kc2=



Black to move (analysis, after 5 Kc2)

In this position, if Black trades pawns, rook vs bishop is a book draw, or the white king will shadow the black king to the third rank, maintaining the opposition.

3 ... Ra3 4 Kc2 a5 5 Kc3 Ka2



White to move (analysis, after 5 ... Ka2)

(5 ... a4 6 Bc4 Ka2 7 Kb4 axb3 8 Kc3=; 5 ... Ra2 6 Bc2=) 6 Kc2 Rxb3 7 Bc4 a4



White to move (analysis, after 7 ... a4)

8 Be6 (8 Bxb3+?? axb3+ and wins) 8 ... Ka3 9 Bd5



Black to move (analysis, after 9 Bd5)

It’s a draw because the white king will not allow the black king to get off the a-file.

4 Bc2☐

Again, White has only one move to avoid losing. 4 Bc4?! Rh2 5 Bd3 Ka2 6 Bc4 Rh8 7 Kc2 Rc8



White to move (analysis, after 7 ... Rc8)

8 Kd3 Kb2 9 Bf7 Rf8 10 Bc4 Rd8+



White to move (analysis, after 10 ... Rd8+)

11 Ke3 Kc3 12 Bf7 Rb8 13 Bd5



Black to move (analysis, after 13 Bd5)

13 ... Rxb3 14 Bxb3 Kxb3 15 Kd2 Kb2 and Black promotes.

4 ... Rb2
5 Kd2

5 Bd1? is a mistake, because 5 ... Rb1+ 6 Kc2 Ka2 7 Bg4 Rb2+



White to move (analysis, after 7 ... Rb2+)

(7 ... Rxb3?? 8 Be6=) 8 Kc3 (8 Kc1 Kxb3) 8 ... Rxb3+.

5 ... Ka2
6 Kd1



Black to move

On 6 Kc1? Ka3! 7 Kd2 (7 Bd1 Rh2) 7 ... Kb4.

6 ... Ka3
7 Kc1 Ra2
8 Kb1 Rb2+



White to move

9 Kc1 Ka2
10 Kd1 Ka1



White to move

No better is 10 ... Rxb3 11 Bxb3+ Kxb3 12 Kc1 draw: either the black king is trapped on the a-file, or the white king is stalemated in the corner. 12 ... a4 13 Kb1 a3 (13 ... Ka3 14 Ka1 Kb3 15 Kb1 Kc3 16 Ka2 Kb4 17 Kb2 a3+ 18 Ka2 Ka4 19 Kb1 Kb3 20 Ka1 a2) 14 Ka1 a2.

11 Kd2 Ra2
12 Kc1 Ra3



White to move

13 Bd1 Ka2
14 Bc2 Ka1
15 Bd1 Ka2
16 Bc2

Black to move

The author’s comment: “Drawn due to a position of reciprocal zugzwang. The black rook has no path to freedom.”

This is a study by Genrikh Kasparyan (1910–1995), a prolific Georgian composer, published in 1955.