MISHRA’S TRAVELS CHESS18 DING LASSO CORR CHESS

AUGUST 2023 USChess.org

THE SPRING
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 August

20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Ding Lasso
The unlikely kinship between
the new World Champion and
everyone’s favorite football
coach
BY FM MIKE KLEIN WITH WFM
KING POLAK

24 EVENTS Chess18
Streamers descend on a giant
log cabin to try their hands at
an interesting variant.
BY GM LARRY KAUFMAN

27 EVENTS Correspondence
Champions
Team USA wins Olympiad
Bronze; plus, results from the
Golden Knights and Absolute.
BY ICCF-GM JON EDWARDS AND
JOHN HARTMANN

32 COVER STORY
GOING
NATIONAL
What it means to win
and lose at the National
Scholastics.
BY IM SANDEEP SETHURAMAN

42 EVENTS Back in School

The world’s youngest
Grandmaster passes key tests
in his personal and professional
life.
BY GM ABHIMANYU MISHRA

MISHRA’S TRAVELS CHESS18 DING LASSO CORR CHESS

AUGUST 2023 USChess.org

Three national scholastic champi-

onships. More than 5,000 players,
accompaniedy by many more par-
ents and friends. How to tell that
story on just one cover? With the
PHOTO: CAROLINE KING

famous chery blossoms of Washing-

ton, D.C., the fabled Round Rock of
Round Rock, Texas, and a Baltimore
Oriole, we did our best.
THE SPRING
ART BY ROSIE WOODS SCHOLASTICS
CL_08-2023_Cover_r01_JH.indd
CL_08-2023 Cover r01 JH indd 1

7/17/2023 10:27:32 AM

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 1

2 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG
 CONTRIBUTORS

August
IM SANDEEP
S ET H U R A MAN
(Cover Story) is a
rising senior at BA-

COLUMNS
SIS Chandler High
School in Chandler,
14 CHESS TO ENJOY Arizona, and the
25th rated Amer-
ENTERTAINMENT ican junior as of
Equal but Superior
BY GM ANDY SOLTIS
20 the June 2023 US
Chess rating list.
The founder of The Chess Effect, a chess
16 INSTRUCTION teaching non-profit, he is the current 11th
GETTING TO WORK Grade National Champion. He became an
Now for the Endgame 27 IM in late April of this year.
BY WGM TATEV ABRAHAMYAN
F M M I K E K L EI N
19 PUZZLES (Ding Lasso) is an
award-winning player,
MAKE YOUR MOVE! coach, and journalist.
BY FM CARSTEN HANSEN He is also the voice of

50 SOLITAIRE CHESS ChessKid.com and its Chief Chess Officer.

This is why he is now much better known
INSTRUCTION as “FunMaster Mike.” A three-time Chess
Individual Dominance Journalist of the Year winner, his chess
BY BRUCE PANDOLFINI writing and other travels have taken him
to more than 90 countries.
52 ENDGAME SCHOOL
INSTRUCTION I CC F - G M J O N
ED W A R D S
Step by Step (Correspondence Cham-
BY GM JOEL BENJAMIN pions) is the 32nd World
PHOTOS: COURTESY MIKE KLEIN (DING / RAPPORT); SIGEMAN / LLADA (MISHRA); WIKIMEDIA AND FREEPIK (DESK)

54 BOOKS AND BEYOND Correspondence Chess

Champion. After learning chess from
SHOULD I BUY IT? his uncle, Dr. Joseph Platz, he took up
Streamers on the King’s correspondence chess in 1986, seeing
Pawn, Part II immediate success. After his retirement
BY IM JOHN WATSON from Princeton University in 2010, he
took on the challenge of playing for a
DEPARTMENTS correspondence world championship.

42 5 COUNTERPLAY
He is the author of more than 40 chess
books, and is a columnist for American
READERS RESPOND Chess Magazine.

6 FIRST MOVES GM ABHIMANYU

CHESS NEWS FROM M I SH R A
AROUND THE U.S. (Back to School) is the
youngest grandmas-
8 US CHESS AFFAIRS ter in the world, a title
NEWS FOR OUR MEMBERS he earned at the age of 12 years, four
months, and 25 days in June 2021. This
10 IN THE NEWS accomplishment came after breaking re-
57 TOURNAMENT LIFE cords for youngest US Chess rated expert
and master along with youngest inter-
62 CLASSIFIEDS national master. Recent achievements
include winning the 2023 Spring Classic B
63 SOLUTIONS Group (see our June issue for more) and
placing second (as discussed in his artcle)
64 MY BEST MOVE at the 2023 TePe Sigeman tournament.
PERSONALITIES He is the author of an autobiography with
GM DARIUSZ SWIERCZ New in Chess.

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 3

 CHAMPIONS SHOWDOWN: CHESS 9LX

WATCH ONLINE !
SEPTEMBER 7 - SEPTEMBER 10
USCHESSCHAMPS.COM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH

D T C \

@ STLCHESSCLUB #STLCHESSCLUB #CHAMPIONSSHOWDOWN #CHESS9LX

 COUNTERPLAY

John
J Hartmann responds:
Kaufman offers an updated
K
vversion of his piece values in
Kaufman’s New Repertoire for
K
Black and White, while those
B
interested in the original text can
in
find it in the US Chess Digital
fi
E D I TO R I A L Archives, where older issues of
A
C H E S S L I F E / C L K E D I TO R John Hartmann (john.hartmann@uschess.org) Chess Life and Chess Life Kids
C
A R T D I R E C TO R Natasha Roberts are available for anyone to down-
a
M A N A G I N G E D I TO R Melinda Matthews load, completely free of charge.
lo
G R A P H I CS A S S I STA N T Nicole Esaltare
T E C H N I C A L E D I TO R IM Ron Burnett
S E N I O R D I R E C TO R O F ST R AT E G I C CO M M U N I C AT I O N Dan Lucas
More!
M
M
More articles like the two-part
EXECUTIVE BOARD
account (May and June, 2023) of
a
P R E S I D E N T Randy Bauer (president@uschess.org)
Kaufman! Isaac Lipnitsky and his chess ca-
V I C E P R E S I D E N T Kevin Pryor (vp@uschess.org)
I have just rediscovered GM reer, please! I quite enjoy reading
V I C E P R E S I D E N T O F F I N A N C E Chuck Unruh (vpfinance@uschess.org)
Larry Kaufman’s remarkable fresh stories about chess history.
S E C R E TA R Y Fun Fong (secretary@uschess.org)
article “The Evaluation of Ma- David G. Arganian
M E M B E R AT L A R G E David Day (DavidChessDay@gmail.com) terial Imbalances” from the Via email
M E M B E R AT L A R G E John Fernandez (john.fernandez@gmail.com) March 1999 issue of Chess Life.
M E M B E R AT L A R G E David Hater (dhater1@aol.com) Kaufman analyzed a data-
M E M B E R AT L A R G E Mike Hoffpauir (mhoffpauir@aol.com) base of 300,000 master-level
E X E C U T I V E D I R E C TO R Carol Meyer (cmeyer@uschess.org) games to investigate the relative In Memoriam
value of pieces. He reported Thanks to IM Anthony Saidy for
Contact membership@uschess.org or call 1-800-903-8723 for assistance and see some surprising findings, such the lovely obituary (June 2023)
uschess.org for the full staff listing. as the relative value of knight for FM Orest Popovych, and
CHESS LIFE IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE US CHESS FEDERATION
and bishop varying with the for suggesting the Volodymir
number of pawns on the board Foundation for humanitarian
(knights prefer to have more donations to Ukraine. I made

US CHESS TRUST pawns). A queen and pawn are

equal to two rooks when no
minor pieces are on the board,
a small contribution.
Every nation is entitled to
independence and self-deter-
PROVIDES FREE SETS, BOARDS AND US CHESS
while with two or more minors, mination. No country is truly
MEMBERSHIPS TO AT-RISK SCHOOLKIDS!
a queen equals two rooks. This free until all countries are free.
only touches on the richness No individual is truly free until
GM Wesley So of his analysis and discussion. all individuals are free.
I have been reading Chess Mike Maloney
2016 US Chess Trust Life for over 40 years, and this Via email
Samford Fellow article has been far and away
the most outstanding. It was
published over 20 years ago,
2021 US Chess so there must be many mem-
Champion bers who have never read it or
could read it again. I think it
2022 Global Chess well worth reprinting, perhaps
Champion with an update and commentary
by Kaufman. Perhaps some-
one might test his conclusions
against subsequent data avail-
able since 1999. In any event,
I strongly urge readers in the
interim to look at this article.
For more information on the good work of the Ernest B. Hook
US Chess Trust, Via email
please go to www.uschesstrust.org.
Or contact us at info@uschesstrust.org.
Send your letters to letterss @@uschess.org.
schess org Letters are
The Trust is a separate 501(c)(3) organization
operating independently of US Chess.
subject to editing for style, length, and content.

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 5

 The FIGHT
OF HIS LIFE
Facing huge health
challenges, New York
legend Juan Sena
carries on.
BY“RHSCOOTER” AND
BRUCE PANDOLFINI

always liked the say- where the brain gradually stops controlling
ing by Maya Angelou, muscles starting from the neck down. While
Editor’s note: We received an email

I
from an eight-year-old New Yorker “Nothing can dim the the person keeps a clear mind, he cannot
who wanted to honor his coach. That, light which shines move or lift his arms or legs, and currently,
in itself, is interesting, especially when from within,” but I there is no cure. In less than three years,
you take into account how lucid this think I began to un- Juan, a physically powerful, energetic man,
young person’s words are. derstand its meaning went from an active lifestyle to nearly com-
when I met Juan. There are unique traits plete immobility in a nursing home.
But when we realized that he was talking
and characteristics within each of us that I met Juan about two years ago when he
about Juan Sena, we knew we wanted
to publish this as soon as possible. cannot be taken away as long as we stay true was already very sick, but he never told me,
to ourselves. Juan is a true example of this. and I never felt it through our online lessons.
Juan Sena is one of the unsung heroes Born on Feb 17, 1961, in Santo Domingo, It was a strong, positive, and confident man
of New York chess. A beloved chess Dominican Republic, Juan was the youngest who met me online; his only concern was
teacher, a stalwart of the city’s chess of seven children. He was a passionate stu- how to improve my chess and share the
scene, and a strong player in his own
dent of the world but struggled in school. importance of the right values.
right, Sena has been living with ALS —
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or “Lou Instead, he taught himself English using I felt really compassionate when I learned
Gehrig’s disease” — since 2019. He has library books, and at 16, he fell in love with about his disease. Juan couldn’t move by
carried on to the best of his abilities, chess. Juan joined the Dominican chess that time, but we never stopped our lessons
despite the progression of his disease, team and earned his national master’s title. because his mind was crystal clear, and his PHOTOS: COURTESY GREG KEENER AND KEN KUBO
including continuing to coach some of In his 20s, Juan moved to New York in character hadn’t changed. In no way did
New York’s future champions.
search of better opportunities. He took Juan ever show me the physical pain and
“RHScooter” (not his real name) is one any odd jobs he could, gradually getting suffering that he endured constantly. He
of Sena’s current pupils. What follows is into the chess community and settling in a never let the severe mental pressures of
his way of honoring his mentor, followed chess-teaching job. From an unprivileged why it happened to him affect our sessions.
by some comments by Bruce Pandolfini, background, Juan always tried to support I keep having lessons with Juan twice
who has known Sena for years. talented children with limited financial a week, and every time before I push the
capabilities by teaching them for free. Even- Zoom button, I think how much I admire
There is a GoFundMe page set up to
tually, he met his future wife, Ketty, through the strength, soul, and spirit of this man
help Juan and his family deal with the
costs associated with his illness. To training one of the chess prodigies. — a regular man with a light that shines
contribute, visit www.gofundme.com/f/ An overnight tragedy changed everything. from within.
juan-sena-medical-support-fund. Juan was diagnosed with an incurable dis- At the most important test of his life, Juan
ease called ALS. It is a degenerative disease shows enormous dignity, humbleness, and

6 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 Chess news from around the U.S. FIRST MOVES

humanity, being in a league of his own. Of from 2004 won by Juan Sena with the Black Bxe4 Nxe4 32. Rf4 Re2 33. Kg1 g5 34. Rf3
all the lessons he has taught me, this is the pieces against fellow Marshallites. In the Nd2 35. Ra3 g4, White resigned.
most valuable. first encounter, Sena defeats Nick Conticel-
lo in a New York Futurity. Conticello sacs
BRUCE PANDOLFINI WRITES: a pawn early, but crisp countermoves and ENGLISH OPENING (A25)
What an incredible letter written by an prudent trades put Sena’s dominant rook IM Jay Bonin (2432)
eight-year-old student about his extraordi- and knight on top of his opponent’s rook Juan Sena (2206)
nary chess teacher. The youngster is obvi- and bishop. Marshall CC Ch (1), New York,
ously gifted, with a writing style mature be- In the second encounter, played in the 12.11.2004
yond his years. His concern for his teacher’s 88th Marshall Chess Club Championship
well-being is commendable. against IM Jay Bonin, Sena defends admi- 1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 e5 5.
Still, Juan Sena is no ordinary chess rably until White’s discombobulated pieces d3 h6 6. Rb1 a5 7. a3 Nf6 8. e3 0-0 9. Nge2
teacher. Colleagues, me included, have become too difficult to rescue. In the final d6 10. b4 axb4 11. axb4 Ne7 12. b5 d5 13.
always admired his teaching magic. Wheth- position, Bonin must save his bishop and cxd5 Nexd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. 0-0 Bg4 16.
er lecturing to spellbound students in a still cope with the possible loss of his rook f3 Be6 17. Bd2 Ra3 18. Qc2 Qa8 19. Nc1
classroom, giving a one-on-one lesson, or after 43. ... Kf7. Qa7 20. Re1 Rc8 21. Kh1 c6 22. b6 Nxb6
holding court analyzing at a tournament, 23. Bb4 Ra1 24. Rxa1 Qxa1 25. Ne2 Qa4
Juan’s stellar advice can be mesmerizing. 26. Qb1 Qb3 27. Ba5 Qxb1 28. Rxb1 Nd7
Sometimes he’ll embed a surprising princi- ENGLISH OPENING (A12) 29. Rxb7 Nc5 30. Ra7 Nxd3 31. Nc3 Ne1
ple within a charming story or instill focus Nick Conticello (2134) 32. Ne4 Nxg2 33. Kxg2 Rb8 34. Bc3 Rb3
with a colorful maxim. Juan Sena (2200) 35. Kf2 Bd5 36. Ba1 Bxe4 37. fxe4 h5 38.
Case in point: to describe connecting 15th Marshall Fall Futurity (4), New Ra5 Rb5 39. Ra8+ Bf8 40. Re8 f6 41. Re6
the rooks, he’ll say “rooks need to look at York, 11.14.2004 Ra5 42. Bc3 Rc5, White resigned.
each other.” Even common words take on
energy when Juan says them. “Develop,” 1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 Bg4 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 e6 5. Juan is an exceptional teacher, one who
for example, becomes “DEE Velop!” There Nf3 Nbd7 6. c4 c6 7. 0-0 h6 8. d3 Bf5 9. loves the beauty of chess, and who knows
are dozens of other verbal tricks that infuse Nbd2 Qb6 10. a3 a5 11. Qc2 Bc5 12. b4 how to impart it. As a master player, he also
his teaching with life. axb4 13. axb4 Rxa1 14. Rxa1 Bxf2+ 15. knows how to fight. But now he’s involved
Here are two nicely conducted games Kh1 0-0 16. e4 Bh7 17. Rf1 Be3 18. Qc3 d4 in a different kind of fight, one against the
19. Nxd4 Bxd4 20. Qxd4 Qxb4 21. Bc3 Qb6 greatest opponent he’s ever faced, a chronic,
Left and below: Juan Sena playing chess and 22. Qxb6 Nxb6 23. Nb3 Nfd7 24. Na5 Na4 usually fatal illness. As RHScooter earnestly
teaching children at his beloved Marshall 25. Ba1 Ndc5 26. d4 Ra8 27. Nxc6 bxc6 tells us, this remarkable, deserving educator
Chess Club. 28. dxc5 Nxc5 29. e5 Be4 30. Bd4 Ra2 31. needs our help.

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 7

US CHESS AFFAIRS News for our Members

NATIONAL
CHESS DAY
T HIS YEAR’S NATIONAL CHESS
Day falls on Saturday, October
14. For any event that includes
“National Chess Day” in the
Day is by making a gift to US Chess! What
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Please feel free to send your best photos
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Another way to celebrate National Chess

MEMBERS SANCTIONED BY US CHESS NOW PUBLIC INFORMATION

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, US CHESS IS Sanctions lished a list of suspended members and
publishing the names of US Chess members The Executive Board votes to publish Tournament Directors who were sanc-
who have been sanctioned by our organiza- the names of US Chess members who have tioned. This practice ended some time ago
tion. This decision by the Executive Board been sanctioned by the organization for (more than 10 years) and in the interest
LINE ART: SHUTTERSTOCK

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Minors will not be named, but their sanc- Safe Play policies, Tournament Director again publish a list that will be regularly
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adult members only. ernance Hub under the heading “Sanctioned
Publish Snapshot of US Chess Member Rationale: US Chess previously pub- Members.”

8 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 2023 US Chess Awards

Harold Stenzel Mark Ishee Ed Formanek Christopher Yoo Martha Underwood

Jay Stallings Jon Edwards Larry Paxton Jeff Aldrich “Begim” Tokhirjonova

The US Chess Federation is pleased to announce the 2023 Annual Award recipients. Congratulations to all of these indi-
viduals and organizations who are advancing our mission to “empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities
through chess.”

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE Dr. Neil McKelvie (NY) CHESS COLLEGE OF THE YEAR
NTD Harold Stenzel (NY) FM Dr. Orest Popovych (NJ) Webster University
FM Tibor Weinberger (CA)
OUTSTANDING CAREER ACHIEVEMENT ACCESSIBILITY AND SPECIAL CIRCUM-
Mark Ishee (TN) OUTSTANDING TEAM ACHIEVEMENT STANCES PERSON OF THE YEAR
2022 U.S. Women’s Olympiad Team NTD Martha Underwood (AZ)
PHOTOS: COURTESY SUBJECT EXCEPT TOKHIRJONOVA (COURTESY SLCC / A. FULLER)

MERITORIOUS SERVICES 2022 U.S. NATO Military Team

Kevin Fite (MI) TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR NTD Jordan Langland (CA-N)
SPECIAL SERVICES GM Christopher Yoo (CA-N)
Jacques Nick Pope (MI) TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR LIFETIME
Jim Marfia (MI) CHESS CITY OF THE YEAR ACHIEVEMENT
Seattle, Washington NTD Larry Paxton (OH)
FRANK J. MARSHALL
IM Ed Formanek (NV) KOLTANOWSKI GOLD SENIOR TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR
Dr. Jeanne & Rex Sinquefield (MO) Jeff Aldrich (MI)
ORGANIZERS OF THE YEAR
Renaissance Knights (IL) KOLTANOWSKI SILVER SCHOLASTIC SERVICE (INDIVIDUAL)
John D. Rockefeller V (MD) “Coach” Jay Stallings (CA-S)
GRANDMASTER OF THE YEAR Lin & Robert Johnson (NC)
ICCF-GM Jon Edwards (NJ) David & Maureen Grimaud (SC) SCHOLASTIC SERVICE (ORGANIZATION)
Detroit City Chess Club (MI)
WOMAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR COMMITTEE OF THE YEAR
WGM Gulrukhbegim “Begim” Tokhirjonova Tournament Director Certification DAN HEISMAN AWARD FOR EXCEL-
(MO) Committee LENCE IN CHESS INSTRUCTION
Todd Bardwick (CO)
OUTSTANDING PLAYER ACHIVEMENT CHESS CLUB OF THE YEAR
George Kramer (NJ) Grand Rapids Chess Center (MI)

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 9

 BY JOHN HARTMANN

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5.

Bg2 c5 6. 0-0 Nc6 7. Qa4 Bd7 8. Qxc4 cxd4
9. Nxd4 Rc8 10. Nc3 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Bc5
12. Qh4 h6 13. Bxb7 Rb8 14. Bg2

Previously seen in Sevian’s games were 14.

Bf3, played by Maghsoodloo, and 14. Ne4,
which was tried by Svane. Here White tries
to prove that the pawn is worth more than
Black’s activity.

14. ... Rb4 15. e4 Bd4 16. a3 Rc4 17. Bd2

0-0 18. Kh1 Bc6 19. f3 Qb8 20. Rab1 Nd7
21. Ne2 Bf6 22. Qf4 Rc2

23. Rfc1
Now White miscalculates and allows a blis-
tering attack. Black emerges from the melee
a clean pawn up.

Super Sam Sevian undefeated 6/9, taking first place by a full

point ahead of four grandmasters.
23. ... Rxb2 24. Rxb2 Qxb2 25. Rxc6? Ne5!
26. Rc1 Rd8 27. Bc3 Qxe2 28. Bf1 Qxf3+
GM Sam Sevian, 22, has long been one of Here are two games from that event, Stronger was 28. ... Qf2 and then ... Ne5xf3.
PHOTO: COURETSY SLCC / B. ADAMS

America’s top young talents, and with his showcasing Sevian’s preparation and skill.
recent results, we may be witnessing the 29. Qxf3 Nxf3 30. Bxf6 gxf6 31. Be2 Nd4
next step in his chess evolution. 32. Bh5 Rd7 33. Rd1 e5 34. Rc1 Kg7 35. h4
After tying for first in the 2023 Spring CATALAN OPENING (E04) Rb7 36. Rc5 Nb5 37. a4 Nd6 38. Bf3 Kg6
Classic (see our June issue for the details), GM Andrey Esipenko (2679) 39. Rd5 Nc4 40. Rd8 Rb4 41. Rg8+ Kh7 42.
Sevian’s next tournament was the Stepan GM Samuel Sevian (2684) Rd8 Rxa4 43. Bh5 Ra1+ 44. Kh2 Ra2+ 45.
Avagyan Memorial, held May 3-11 in Jer- Stepan Avagyan Mem (2), Jermuk, Kh3 Rd2 46. Rc8 Nb6 47. Rc6 Kg7 48. Bg4
muk, Armenia. Scoring three wins in the 05.04.2023 Rd4 49. Rc7 Nc4 50. Be6 Nd6 51. Rd7 h5
first five rounds, Sevian then coasted to an 52. Kg2 a5 53. Kf3 a4, White resigned.

10 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 WATER FROM A STONE GM Anatoly Karpov
GM Samuel Sevian (2684)
IM Artur Davtyan (2506)
Stepan Avagyan Mem (5), Jermuk,
05.07.2023

Sevian (R) at the

Stepan Memorial

47. ... Qh4 48. Qc5! Qf4+ 49. Kg1 and the 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5.
WHITE TO MOVE white queen covers c1 and e3. Now comes Be2 0-0 6. Be3 Nc6 7. d5 Ne5 8. f4 Neg4
Nb7-d6 and the b-pawn starts to move. 9. Bd2 Nh6 10. Nf3 c6 11. a4 e6 12. dxe6
The engines say this position is dead equal, Bxe6 13. 0-0 Nd7 14. Ng5 a5 15. g4 Nb6
but White’s better pawn structure and the mi- 47. ... Bd7! 48. b7?! 16. b3 d5 17. cxd5 cxd5 18. e5 d4 19. Nb5
nor-piece imbalance are enough to play on. A better alternative was trying to hold the Bd7 20. Bf3 f6 21. exf6 Qxf6 22. Rc1 Rac8
pawn with 48. Nc4 Bc6 (48. ... Qxc4? 49. b7) 23. Rxc8 Nxc8 24. Bxa5 Ne7 25. Bc7 Nf7
31. h3 Qd8 32. Qe5 Bg6 33. b4 Kh7 34. 49. Qc7 Qb5 but now there’s no way to make 26. Nxf7 Qxf7 27. Be5 Bxb5 28. axb5 Rd8
Kh2 Qd2 35. f3 f6 36. Qc7 Bf5 37. Nb7 progress, and trying to force things with 50. 29. Be2 Kh8 30. Bc4 Qf8 31. Qd3 Nc8 32.
Sevian continues to maneuver, keeping the Na5 Qxa5 51. Qxc6 leads to an immediate Qe4 Qe7 33. Rd1 Bxe5 34. Qxe5+ Qxe5 35.
dark squares guarded and avoiding an im- draw with 51. ... Qe5+. fxe5 Kg7 36. Kf2 Nb6 37. Ke2 Re8 38. e6
mediate draw with something like 37. Qxc6 Nxc4 39. bxc4 Rxe6+ 40. Kd3 Kf6 41. c5
Qf4+ 38. Kg1 Qe3+ etc. 48. ... g5? Kg5 42. Kc4 Kxg4 43. Rxd4+ Kh3 44. Rd7
Missing White’s next move due to time h5 45. Rxb7 Kxh2 46. c6 g5 47. Rh7, Black
37. ... Qe3 38. a4 Qd4 39. Qd6 Qb6? pressure. After the correct 48. ... Bc6 Black resigned.
A key error, right before time control. picks up the pawn without difficulty, and
I’m not sure why Black passed up the can even dream about grinding out a win In a sign of the times, Sevian’s attention
queen trade. With pawns on both sides with his extra pawn. was divided while in Sharjah, as he was also
of the board the bishop makes up for the playing in the online ChessKid Cup from
weak queenside pawns. For example: 39. ... 49. Nb5!, Black resigned. his hotel room!
Qxd6+ 40. Nxd6 Bc2 41. a5 (41. Kg3 allows A nice way to end the game, as the knight can-
41. ... Bxa4 but the b4-pawn holds the black not be taken by the pawn, queen, or bishop!
pawns back) 41. ... Bd3 42. Nc8 a6 43. Ne7
Bb5 44. Kg3 g6 and as soon as the black king A week later Sevian was in Sharjah, UAE,
That’s IM Alice Lee
gets into the fray, the draw is fairly clear. to participate in the 6th Sharjah Masters. Congratulations to Alice Lee, who earned
(See Abhi Mishra’s travelogue beginning on her third and final IM norm on June 11th
PHOTO: COURTESY STEPAN MEMORIAL ORGANIZERS VIA FACEBOOK

40. Nd8! Qa6 41. Qxc6 page 42 of this issue for more on that event.) at the Canadian Transnational Open in
Without counterplay against the enemy Ranked 11th entering play, Sevian finished Montreal, Canada.
king, Black is lost. at an undefeated +3 (6/9) to grab a piece of We profiled Lee in the April issue of Chess
the seven-way tie for second place behind Life Kids, and noted that she was working to
41. ... Qd3 42. Qc7! a6 43. Nb7 Qd4 44. b5 winner GM Arjun Erigaisi. become an international master. Playing
Qxa4 45. b6 Qh4 Speaking to ChessBase India after the against eight grandmasters and one inter-
Threatening to steal a pawn with 46. ... Bxh3, event, Sevian mentioned his round four win national master, she scored 4½/9 to notch
as 47. gxh3 Qf2+ would be a draw. over Yakubboev as his favorite game from her final norm. Here’s one of her two wins
the tournament. from that event.
46. Qg3 Qb4
Now White must decide how to make prog- KING’S INDIAN, SEMI-AVER- QUEEN’S GAMBIT DECLINED
ress without allowing Black checks on the BAKH VARIATION (E73) (D37)
dark squares. GM Samuel Sevian (2684) WIM Alice Lee (2390)
GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2630) GM Bator Sambuev (2448)
47. Nd6?! Sharjah Masters (4), Sharjah, Transnational Classic (6), Montreal,
Too early, and nearly costing Sevian the 05.20.2023 06.10.2023
victory. Perhaps best is 47. Qd6 (or 47. Qc7)

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 11

IN THE NEWS Current Events

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5.

cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. Bd3 Alice Lee at the 2023
h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nh5 11. Be5 Ng7 12. Transnational Classic
e4 dxe4 13. Bxe4 g4 14. Bxg7 Bxg7 15. d5
Nc5 16. dxe6 Qxd1+ 17. Rxd1 Nxe4 18.
Nxe4 gxf3 19. Rd7 Be5 20. Rxf7 Rf8 21.
Rxf3 Rxf3 22. gxf3 Ke7 23. b3 Rg8 24. Ke2
b6 25. Ke3 Rf8 26. Ng3 Kxe6 27. Ne2 Rd8
28. f4 Bf6 29. Rc1 c5 30. Rc2 Rd1 31. Rd2
Rxd2 32. Kxd2

32. ... Kf5?!

The first step down a wrong-headed path.
It seems that Sambuev wanted to channel Nf3 d6 6. 0-0 0-0 7. Nc3 c6 8. d5 e5 9. dxe6 Once her title is approved, Lee will be the
Rubinstein and his famous king march here, e.p. Bxe6 10. b3 Re8 11. Bb2 Na6 12. Ng5 youngest American female to become an IM,
but he forgot that in that game, there were Nc5 13. b4 Ncd7 14. Nxe6 Rxe6 15. Qb3 and at time of writing she is the sixth-rated
no minor pieces! Better still is 15. b5! Ne5 16. Qb3. girl in the world according to FIDE.
Correct was 32. ... Kd5 33. Kd3 b5 and
White’s extra pawn is meaningless. 15. ... Kh8 16. Rad1 Qe7 17. e3 Ne4?

33. Ke3 Kg4 34. Ke4 h5?

New Titles
Simply too slow. Even now Black could save Congratulations to these new American FIDE
himself with 34. ... b5, generating counter- titleholders, awarded between March 7 and
play on the queenside. June 16, 2023.

■ IM: Nico Chasin, Ryo Chen, Mark Hei-

35. f5! b5 36. Nf4! c4 37. bxc4 bxc4 38.
mann, Sandeep Sethuraman, Jason
Nd5
Wang
The king cannot stop the f-pawn, leaving
the bishop to do the dirty work. ■ WIM: Omya Vidyarthi

■ FM: Andrew Guo, Harshid Kunka,

38. ... Bh8 39. f6 h4 40. f7 Bg7 41. Nf4 c3
Pranav Sathish, Zoey Tang, Brian Xie
42. h3+ Kg5 43. Ne6+ Kg6 44. f8=Q Bxf8
45. Nxf8+ Kf7 46. Nd7, Black resigned. A rare mistake from the current world num- ■ CM: Rohan Rajaram, Joseph Wan,
ber two, one which Lee does not fail to take Stephen Willy, Gordon Xu
Lee has been on quite a roll in recent advantage of.
■ WCM: Cristal Jiuzhou Gu, Iris Li, Eliz-
months. She was the runner-up at the Amer-
abeth Wiley, Julia Wiley
ican Cup this April in St. Louis, and in May, 18. Nxe4 fxe4 19. Bh3!
she drew against GM Hikaru Nakamura in White wins material as the e6-rook lacks ■ IA: Andre Harding
a rapid game for the PRO Chess League. safe squares.
■ IA D to IA C: David Hater, Peter Gi-
annatos, Michael Kummer
PHOTO: COURTESY SALIM BELCADI

19. ... Bxb2 20. Bxe6 Qxe6 21. Qxb2+ Ne5

DUTCH DEFENSE, LENIN- 22. Qd4 ■ FA: Karl T. Heck, James Hodina, Bryan
GRAD VARIATION (A88) With weak light squares, Lee lets Nakamura Tillis.
WIM Alice Lee (2391) off the hook. But she could have pushed for
GM Hikaru Nakamura (2775) the win with 22. f4! exf3 e.p. 23. Rxf3 Kg8 24. For up-to-date chess news and
PRO Chess League, Chess.com, Rf2 Nxc4 25. Qd4. analysis, check out Chess Life
05.12.2023 Online at uschess.org/clo on a
22. ... Qf5 23. Kg2 Qf3+ 24. Kg1 Qf5 25. regular basis.
1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Kg2 Qf3+ 26. Kg1 Qf5, draw.

12 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

BACK TO SCHOOL WITH THE SAINT LOUIS CHESS CLUB
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CHESS TO ENJOY Entertainment

Equal but Superior

What do you call a position that is half-full?
BY GM ANDY SOLTIS

G RANDMASTERS OFTEN USE

simple words in ways that baf-
fle amateurs. But one common
term has become mysterious
a little more careful.” He would be worse
after 16. ... Rb7? 17. Ne5 or 16. ... Ne8?
17. e4, for instance.
described it in the 1700s. In the next centu-
ry, some annotators used an equal sign to
mean neither side had a forced win, while
others used it to mean neither player had a
even to masters. It is describing a position 16. ... Rb5! 17. Qc7 Ne8 18. Qxd6 Nxd6 material advantage.
as “equal.” Carlsen thought he would get the advantage World Champion Emanuel Lasker may
Of course, you know the dictionary defi- with 19. Rc7. But now he saw that Black’s have been the first to explain a balanced
nition: Equal means White and Black have knight would protect his rook after 19. ... position as an equilibrium with off-setting
equivalent winning chances. No more, no Rb7!. Instead, he tried: assets. “If the advantages held by my oppo-
less. nent are compensated by my advantages,
So, you are bound to be confused when 19. Ne5 the position is balanced,” he wrote in his
Magnus Carlsen says some positions are “a But then came: Manual of Chess. In today’s grandmaster
little more equal for White” than for Black. jargon this is “dynamic equality.”
Or when another elite grandmaster, Anish 19. ... Be8 20. Nd3 a5 21. f3 Rb7 22. Ra2 It is a highly useful concept but rarely
Giri, speaks of being “on the good side of Rba7 23. Kf2 a4! used outside chess. You won’t hear a sports-
equality.” Let’s see what they mean. caster say, for example, “The Yankees trail
by one run but they have the based loaded
and no one out. Chances are equal.”
QUEEN’S PAWN GAME (D02) Today we have computers that routine-
GM Magnus Carlsen ly evaluate a position with “0.00,” plus or
GM Ding Liren minus some small numbers, even when
Tata Steel Masters (3), 01.16.2023 one of the players is on defensive. The en-
gines assume he will find the best moves
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 e6 5. c3 as play continues.
Bd6 6. Bb5+ Nc6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8. Bxd6 For humans, this “computer equality”
Qxd6 9. Qa4 O-O 10. O-O cxd4 11. cxd4 c5 can mean practical inferiority, as in the
12. Rc1 c4 13. b3 Bd7 14. Qa5 cxb3 next diagram.
15. axb3 Rfb8 16. Nbd2
This is what grandmasters call “fully equal.”
Black no longer needs to find the best move PETROFF DEFENSE (C42)
to avoid disadvantage. He would have the GM Anish Giri
upper hand after 24. b4? a3. Instead, a draw GM Jeffrey Xiong
was agreed soon after an exchange of the FTX Road to Miami Prelims, 07.10.2022
queenside pawns.
This talk of equal but favorable positions 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4
sounds like the language parodied in Ani- 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Bf5 8. Re1 O-O
mal Farm. In that classic book, the animals 9. Nbd2 Nd6 10. Nf1 Bg6 11. Ne5 Bxd3
pledge their brotherhood, overthrow their 12. Nxd3 Re8 13. Ng3 Nd7 14. c3 Nf8
farmer and declare, “All animals are equal.” 15. Qb3 c6 16. Bf4 b6 17. Qa4 Nb5 18. Ne5
But eventually the pigs take control of the Qc8 19. c4 dxc4 20. Qxc4 Qe6
farm, saying “All animals are equal but some
After the game Carlsen said positions like are more equal than others.” (see diagram top of next column)
this are “sort of equal” but “more equal In chess, we’ve struggled with the concept
for White.” The reason is Black “has to be of equal chances since Domenico Ponziani Modern engines all call this position equal.

14 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 QUIZ FOR PROBLEM 1 PROBLEM 2 PROBLEM 3
AUGUST GM Javokhir Sindarov
WGM Ramesh Vaishali
GM Luis Supi
GM Baskaran Adhiban
GM Baskaran Adhiban
IM Eline Roebers
THIS HAS BEEN A YEAR
when future international
stars sparkled from the very
start. In January a cast of young
hopefuls, including two women,
gathered in Wijk aan Zee, the
Netherlands for the traditional
Tata Steel Challengers section.
GM Alexander Donchenko, 24,
took first prize. In each of the six
WHITE TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE
diagrams from the tournament
you are asked to find the fastest
winning line of play. This will PROBLEM 4 PROBLEM 5 PROBLEM 6
GM Baskaran Adhiban GM M. Amin Tabatabaei GM Max Warmerdam
usually mean the forced win of
GM Jergus Pechac GM Mustafa Yilmaz GM Jergus Pechac
a decisive amount of material,
such as a rook or minor pieces.
But keep an eye out for forced
mates. Solutions on Page 63.

BLACK TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE

which White is a rook down but can deliver a

somewhat difficult-to-find perpetual check.
Stockfish, for example, will evaluate the
position as 0.00, he said. But Monte Carlo
engines factor in the difficulty in finding
the perpetual and may say Black has a slight
edge.
In any case, there are always going to
be optimistic players. They see a glass as
half full: An equal position means their
chances of winning are just as good as their
opponents’.
They don’t agree on why. Some prefer 21. Computers still see the position as equal. But But to the “glass is half empty” people,
d5 when 21. ... Qxd5 22. Qxd5 cxd5 23. Giri said, “I didn’t quite see how exactly to it means equal chances to lose. That may
Nc6 leads to a drawish endgame. Others fully equalize.” His problems mounted after: have been what Geoffrey Chaucer had in
see a meaningless edge for Black after mind when he introduced a new term, “le-
21. Qa4 Qd5 followed by 22. Rad1 Ng6 23. 29. Ne4 Nf5 30. Rc4 Nxe3+ upardyes.”
Nxg6 hxg6. If 31. Rxe3 Rd4 32. Rec3? Rd1+ 33. Ke2 f5!. Chaucer helped mold the modern English
What a human might conclude is there Giri lost in 59 moves. language in the 14th century. He tweaked
are more scenarios in which Black gets a a French chess term, “jeu parti,” which
winning advantage. Or, as Giri said, “He’s Matters are moving so quickly that “com- meant a divided game, or what we would
on the good side of equality.” puter equality” is becoming out-of-date. call “double-edged.”
In the game, the position was transformed Some engines use a Monte Carlo type of Chaucer was a chess player and he used
by trades: tree search and appreciate that even a po- “leupardyes” to mean both sides have los-
sition that seems like a certain draw is still ing chances.
21. Qxe6 Nxe6 22. Nxc6 Nbxd4 23. Nxe7+ favorable to one side. Today, we spell the words differently and
Rxe7 24. Rac1 Rd7 25. Be3 Rad8 26. Kf1 f6 GM Larry Kaufman, a computer chess nobody recognizes it as a chess term. It is
27. b4 Kf7 28. a4 Rd5 authority, gives the example of a position in “jeopardy.”

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 15

GETTING TO WORK Improvement

Now for the

Endgame
What to know, and why, in king and pawn RULE OF THE SQUARE

endings. from the two ends of the diagonal. If the

king can enter the square, then the king
BY WGM TATEV ABRAHAMYAN can catch the pawn.

E NDGAMES ARE THE FOUN-

dation of chess. If you are seri-
ous about chess improvement,
you must know key endgame
players. It’s important to study material that
is appropriate for your level to maximize
comprehension and recall.
Another great tool is the various drills on
positions and concepts, and you must know Chess.com, where you can practice endgames
them cold. by playing them out against the computer.
This is especially important in this era of There are two relevant drills for these pur-
ever-faster time controls. By the time you poses: “Endgame Fundamentals,” which THE OPPOSITION
reach the last phase of the game, you will offer theoretical knowledge, and “Endgame
likely be tired and low on the clock. You will Practice,” which allows you to put this knowl- The opposition occurs when two kings oppose
need to rely on your endgame knowledge in edge to use. The direct link is www.chess.com/ each other with an odd number of squares
order to play well. In this column, we will practice/drills. Lichess also has an endgame between them. Whoever is on turn must give
sketch a few key concepts in king and pawn puzzle database broken down to categories, way, allowing the other king to pass. Generally
endgames, while the focus of the next one such as rook and pawn endgames. Visit that you want the opposition, and not to lose it.
will be on rook endgames. at lichess.org/training/themes.
My favorite book for basic endgames is There are several theoretical positions —
GM Yuri Averbakh’s Chess Endings: Essential positions where you know the correct evalu-
Knowledge. It breaks down endgames into ation just by looking at them — that you need
logically ordered chapters, and it discusses to know by heart. I can’t emphasize enough
practical endgames that every chess player the importance of practicing these endgames
must know. and executing them with accuracy each time.
GM Jesus de la Villa’s 100 Endgames You You want to get to the point where you con-
Must Know is another comprehensive book vert the winning positions, and defend the
for all types of endgames. However, this book drawn ones, 100% of the time.
goes into quite complex endgames that may Among the most fundamental of these po-
not yet be useful for the reader; for instance, sitions are king and pawn endings. Invest time
knowing how to perfectly defend with a rook in studying them. King and pawn endgame SPARE TEMPO
against a rook and a bishop should not be puzzles are also great for working on calcu-
your top priority when studying endgames lation. Due to the limited number of moves, The “spare tempo” is a situation where the
just yet. I would recommend studying the we can calculate them out to their final result. side on turn can “pass the move” to the
first 4-5 endgames of each chapter as those Here are some key concepts of king and opponent by moving a pawn that does not
endgames are practical and useful. You can pawn endgames. change the nature of the position. This puts
always come back to the more complex the opponent in zugzwang.
endgames as you become stronger. This is (see diagram top of next column)
an excellent book to have as a reference. (see diagram top of next column)
While they are rightfully popular, I would The rule of the square is a fundamental
recommend staying away from Dvoretsky, concept in king and pawn endings. Draw If the white king is on the 6th rank in front of
Nunn, and Aagaard for now, as their books a diagonal line from the pawn to the end its pawn, the position is winning regardless
(while excellent) are written for very strong of the board, creating an imaginary square of whose turn it is and where the pawn is.

16 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 Here we must combine knowledge of the
opposition and the importance of the 6th
rank to find the right answer.

1. e5!
After 1. Kc2 Kd4 2. Kd2 White can try to
hold the opposition. However, after 2. ...
Kxe4 3. Ke2 Kd4 4. Kd2 Black has a spare
tempo with 4. ... d5. This forces White to
give up the opposition after 5. Ke2 Kc3 6.
Kd1 Kd3 7. Kc1 Ke2 and now Black will
promote.
KING ON THE 6th (OR 3rd) WHITE TO MOVE What about 2. e5? White can try giving
up the pawn now, but after the correct 2.
The same rule applies when the black king The winning idea is to get the king to b6 ... Kxe5 (not 2. ... dxe5? 3. Kd2 Ke4 4. Ke2
is on the 3rd rank. Note that the rule does and capture the a6-pawn. The corresponding when White will get the opposition and
not apply to a- or h-pawns. squares are (a) c5 and c7, and (b) d6 and d8. hold the draw) Black holds the opposition.
This means that when the white king goes Every move makes a difference in this sim-
to c5, Black must be able to play ... Kc7 to ple endgame!
hold a draw, and when the white king goes
to d6, Black must be able to meet this move 1. ... dxe5 2. Kc1
with ... Kd8. The key to this position is to hold the distant
(kings facing off at five or seven squares
1. Kc4 instead of three) opposition. If 2. Kc2? Kc4
White is going to lose a move by triangula- 3. Kd2 Kd4 4. Ke2 Ke4 Black gets the oppo-
tion, passing the move to Black. After 1. Kc5 sition and wins.
Kc7 White can’t make progress, i.e., 2. Kd5
Kc8 3. Kd6 Kd8 4. c7+ Kc8 5. Kc6. 2. ... Kd4 3. Kd2 Ke4 4. Ke2
White holds the opposition and saves the
OUTSIDE PASSED PAWN 1. ... Kd8 2. Kd4 game.
Steady on. Black must not play ... Kd8-c7,
An outside passed pawn is separated from and instead has to wait on the back-rank. 4. ... Kd4 5. Kd2 e4 6. Ke2 e3 7. Ke1 Kd3 8.
the rest of the pawn islands by several files Kd1 e2+ 9. Ke1 Ke3, stalemate.
It can be hard for a king to catch in a race. 2. ... Kc8
Of course 2. ... Kc7 will lose immediately You may wonder how often these basic ideas
to 3. Kc5 as in this position Black cannot become relevant at the board. My answer?
prevent entry on the b6-square. More often than you’d think!
Here’s an example of what I mean.
3. Kd5!
We reached the same position where we
started, but it is Black to move! TRANSITIONS
GM Magesh Panchanathan (2466)
3. ... Kc7 Eshaan Hebbar (2057)
Or 3. ... Kd8 4. Kd6 Kc8 5. c7 Kb7 6. Kd7 2023 Carolinas Classic (4), 06.10.2023
and wins.

CORRESPONDING SQUARES 4. Kc5 Kc8 5. Kb6

Winning the second pawn and the game.
Corresponding squares are squares of mu-
tual zugzwang. If one player moves to a
square, then the opponent must be able to
move to the corresponding square to force
a zugzwang. This is a very complex topic.

Let’s see how some of these ideas work in

practice with a few examples.

(see diagram top of next column) BLACK TO MOVE

Triangulation is a technique designed to lose I recently played in the 2023 Carolinas Clas-
a move and put the opponent in zugzwang. WHITE TO MOVE sic when the game at the adjoining board

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 17

GETTING TO WORK Improvement

caught my attention. It’s a perfect example moves to capture both h- and f- pawns and depth of White’s calculation to correctly
of how experienced grandmasters defeat then promote. Remember to always begin force a queen trade and enter this king and
young up-and-comers in endgames where with candidates when calculating! pawn endgame.
the young opponent runs out of patience The natural 48. Kf5 leads to an easy draw
and tries to force matters. by force as all the pawns will come off the 57. Qg4+ Kf1 58. Kc4 f5
board: 48. ... Kxh4 49. Kxf6 Kg4 50. Kxf7
45. ... Qf5+?? Kf3 51. Ke6 Kxf2 52. Kd5 Ke3 53. Kc5 Kd3
This normal looking check costs Black the 54. Kxb5 Kxc3.
game! One takeaway: do not enter king and
pawn endgames unless you are absolutely 48. ... Kxh4 49. Kd4 Kg4 50. Kc5 Kf3 51.
sure of the result. Kxb5 Kxf2 52. c4 f5 53. c5 f4 54. c6 f3
55. c7 Kg2 56. c8=Q f2
46. Qf4+! Qxf4+ 47. Kxf4 Kh5

59. Qf3
Of course not 59. Qxf5?? Kg2 60. Qg4+ Kh2
61. Qf3 Kg1 62. Qg3+ Kh1.

59. ... Ke1 60. Qe3+ Kf1 61. Kd3, Black

resigned.

This queen against bishop pawn endgame

48. Ke4! would be a draw were it not for the extra For up-to-date chess news
This must have been the move that Black f-pawn! Having it removes Black’s hopes of and information, check out
overlooked. White goes for the b-pawn, stalemate through giving up the f2-pawn, Chess Life Online at uschess.
as capturing the pawn and promoting will because the second pawn can move, burn- org/clo on a regular basis.
take nine moves, while Black will need 10 ing a tempo. We can really appreciate the

The world’s largest chess community

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Titled Players get Free Diamond Membership &

$2500 Titled Tuesday Tournaments

18 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 August 2023 PUZZLES

BY FM CARSTEN HANSEN Try first to solve the puzzle before reading the text at the bottom
of the page. If unsuccessful, play through the solution, but return to
THIS MONTH’S PUZZLES ARE TAKEN FROM VARIOUS ONLINE the puzzle in one or two weeks to see if you can now solve it. That way
and over-the-board events in June 2023. you gradually expand your tactical vision, and it will be more likely
The puzzles start from easy and gradually move toward being that you will spot tactics as they occur in your own games. Whatever
difficult. It is worth noting that “easy” is a relative term. If you are you do, do not use an engine to solve the puzzles. You will only cheat
new to the game, the easy ones can also represent a challenge. yourself out of improving your game. Solutions are on page 63.

TACTIC 1. TACTIC 2. TACTIC 3.

WHITE TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE

TACTIC 4. TACTIC 5. TACTIC 6.

WHITE TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE

TACTIC 7. TACTIC 8. TACTIC 9.

BLACK TO MOVE BLACK TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE

Position 1: PINS AND NEEDLES Position 4: ADD FUEL Position 7: KASPAROV’S CHESS CULTURE
Position 2: DISCOVER FRESH THREATS Position 5: CREATE SOME THREATS Position 8: FORCING SEQUENCE
Position 3: CANNONS ARE ALREADY AIMED Position 6: CLEAR THE PATH Position 9: THIS IS SPARTA!

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 19

20
AUGUST 2023
BY

USCHESS.ORG
FM MIKE KLEIN WITH WFM KINGA POLAK
The unlikely kinship between the new
World Champion and everyone’s favorite football coach
PHOTOS, THIS PAGE
E AND
AN D FACING:
FACIN
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((DING),
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TEED
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DING LASSO
 OMPARED TO THE I was on-site for the match, doing live Ted: “If I were to get fired from my job where

C
past decade’s match- reporting for Chess.com and ChessKid.com, I’m puttin’ cleats in the trunk of my car?”
es, a large swath of and as a globetrotter with an Apple+ sub- Coach Beard: “You got the boot from put-
fans went into this scription, some of my evenings were spent tin’ boots in the boot.”
world championship in search of new entertainment. (Not to
feeling tepid interest. say anything bad about the nightlife in As- But the television show serves as a much
The match was not in tana, of course.) Some friends suggested I deeper allegory to what we saw unfold in
a major world city, and many regarded it as check out “Ted Lasso,” whose third and final Astana. The reason audiences engage with
a battle for the world’s second-best player. season had premiered a few weeks before Ted is the same reason we feel an affinity
That slowly changed over the course of Nepomniachtchi’s e-pawn made its first with Ding. It’s not the results, but the pro-
April. At first, the flurry of decisive results venture forward. cess, the struggle, and the willingness of the
piqued interest. Then, slowly, the candor Suddenly I found myself confusing the protagonists to be open about everything
of the eventual winner won over fans both soon-to-be world-champion with the epon- they are experiencing. Ted uses intuition
on-line and in-person. When we see the ymous “football” coach from Kansas. and emotional intelligence to make his de-
current champion, we now see ourselves. What the world saw in those emotional cisions, and so too does Ding, his real-life
Ding Liren was much more forthcoming games and plainspoken press conferences counterpart.
and candid than any other world champi- was certainly Ding Liren, but to me, plowing Witness some of the overlap between
onship player in our lifetime. Gone was through episodes on sometimes-question- Ted Lasso and Ding Liren, as seen in quotes
the mercurial Magnus; in his place was the able wifi, it was also Ted Lasso castling and from the show and the post-match press
thoughtful, quiet Ding, a player that few had charming the room. conferences:
heard speak in depth before this match. And The surface-level similarities are plain.
what we heard, we liked. (Don’t worry — we will minimize serious Ted: “You know what the happiest animal
Ding’s traits were our traits. For the first spoilies for those who haven’t seen every- on earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why?
time in a long time, chess amateurs could thing yet.) Both become known to the world Got a ten-second memory. Be a goldfish.”
actually relate to a 2800 — the fear, the un- after a romantic breakup — Ding split with Ding: Not only did he recover immediately
certainty, the disappointment, and ultimate- his girlfriend before the match, while Ted from losses and multiple match deficits to
ly, the triumph. (Now, of course, it occurs slogs through an emotional divorce. Both are continuously get back to even in the match,
to me that if Ding had lost the tiebreaker, also trying their best in press conferences but he also said, “I thought... at one point I
that might have produced an even more apt using a version of English that sometimes feel it’s totally silent in the playing hall and
mirror of ourselves, depending on current bewilders them. For example, recall this ... I didn’t feel anybody watching the games.
feelings about one’s own life and chess trans-Atlantic linguistic mashup from the It seems to be a very important game but I
abilities.) second episode: didn’t feel it at all.”

I guess the You know

reason is maybe what the
we are not that happiest
professional animal on
than Magnus.” earth is?
It’s a
goldfish.”
TO: TKTK
PHOTO:
PHO
PH
P TK
TK T K CT
C SHIFT
SH
RL + S
CTRL H IFT KT
CLL ICK
FT CLICK O UNLOCK
TO LOC
OC
U N LLO
UN O BOX
C K BO
B OX

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 21

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Ding Lasso

Ted: “You just listen to your gut, OK? And on

your way down to your gut, check in with
your heart. Between those two things, they’ll
let you know what’s what.”
Belief doesn’t Ding chose a large number of openings
just happen while at the board, which is almost unheard
of at the world championship level. He even
‘cause you hang spent time on move number one in several
something up on games; for example, he only decided to play
the French after the clock started and 1. e4
a wall. All was on the board.
right? It comes
from in here.” Ted: “Belief doesn’t just happen ‘cause you
hang something up on a wall. All right? It
-Ted Lasso comes from in here. You know? And up
here. Down here. Only problem is, we all
... got so much junk floating through us, a lot
of time we end up getting in our own way.
That he cared so You know, crap like envy or fear, shame.”
Moments after winning the title, Ding
much made us had to let go of all he had been bottling up
care, too. inside: “I cannot control my emotions at
that point. And I know myself, just before
the tournament I have told somebody: ‘If I
win, I will cry.’” Indeed, Ding did cry at the

PHOTOS, THIS PAGE AND FACING: COURTESY FIDE / BONHAGE (DING AND RAPPORT), MIKE KLEIN (DING CANDIDS), APPLE TV (TED LASSO)
Ted: “Hey, here’s a little trick of the trade. comfortable while you’re doing it, you’re board. Chess audiences have almost never
Just make fun of yourself right off the bat, probably doing it wrong.”) Ultimately, both seen that from a professional. That he cared
a little joke. Folks will love that.” learned coping mechanisms, and how to so much made us care, too.
Ding, explaining why there were so many face their fears head-on. Not only did Ding
more decisive games than in recent world camp out at the board much more in the Ted: “Just going from position to position
championships: “I guess the reason is maybe remaining rounds, but after leaving the site until positions don’t really, um, even exist
we are not that professional than Magnus.” hotel after round one, Ding returned to the anymore. It’s fast, fluid, free.”
St. Regis Astana, despite knowing he was Ding: “Before the tournament I said to
Ted: “I want you to be grateful that you’re greatly outnumbered there by Team Nepo. Richard, ‘I’d like to play something new and
going through this sad moment with all these the good things will happen then I’m right at
other folks. Because I promise you, there is that point.’ I played something new, and in
something worse out there than being sad, But what about getting professional help? the end, the good things really happened ...
and that is being alone and being sad.” Ted, when initially asked for his thoughts I wanted to play something but I don’t have
Ding, who was visibly unfocused during on therapy: “General apprehension and a this kind of creativity so that’s why I saw
his pitiful round two loss: “Yeah, I would like modest Midwestern skepticism.” Rapport is a very good player to work with
to say to my friends, they helped me to deal Ding: “[My friends] talked to me and even because he has such interesting ideas over
with my ... emotional problems. Now I feel suggested if I need a doctor, but maybe it’s the openings ... He has this kind of artist’s
more comfortable ... One of my friends said not that serious.” character, not like me.”
to think about the things from the positive
side. I think that’s the best advice for me
during this tournament.” What about the “leaked” openings, where This brings us to Richard Rapport, Ding’s
internet sleuths found games on Chess.com second with strengths and weaknesses that
and Lichess.org remarkably similar to some perfectly augment those of his boss.
Anxiety is a major theme in “Ted Lasso,” of Ding’s world championship efforts? The Think of him as a beardless Coach Beard.
and both Ted and Ding originally dealt eventual world champion was not fazed Coach Beard’s season three idea to open
with their anxieties in similar ways: by by the discovery at all, downplaying their up the pitch by playing “Total Football”
running from the source in the middle of importance. Ted also has nothing to hide, yields success in the same way that Rapport’s
the competition. For Ted, this meant leav- asking some unhappy fans, “Why don’t you unique style does. As Beard explained, “Play-
ing the playing field. Ditto for Ding, who come watch training tomorrow? See for ers are no longer in set positions. Defenders
played much of the first two rounds from yourselves. We ain’t running a chocolate are free to attack. Attackers are trusted to
the player’s rest area. factory or Deutsche Bank. We got nothing defend. It’s about taking risks and support-
In fact, Ding looked about as uncomfort- to hide from y’all.” ing each other’s choices.” Sounds a lot like
able in the first two rounds as you will ever how Rapport plays chess.
see a world-class player. (Here I recalled And for those that thought it weird that
Ted on challenges: “Taking on a challenge Both use decision making that is much at Ding’s former rival in the Candidates’ Tour-
is a lot like riding a horse, isn’t it? If you’re least as intuitive as analytical. nament suddenly became his partner, Coach

22 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 Beard has an answer for that, too.
“You know, we used to believe that
trees competed with each other for
light ... We now realize that the forest
is a socialist community. Trees work
in harmony to share the sunlight.”
Chess fans suddenly had three daily
events to follow — the game itself,
the post-match press conference,
and the daily Ding-Rapport embrace.
This was more than just a second. This trying to beat. So too
was a quirky but heartfelt fraternity of two. did Nepomniachtchi:
Ruff ruff — Ding had found his Diamond Dog. following round five,
There’s much more to the friendships than Ian admitted about Ding,
work talk, of course. Ding/Rapport and Ted/ “After the rest day, I al-
Coach Beard also share a fondness for classic
bands when talking to each other. Musical
references fly fast and furious on Ted Lasso,
and just like Rapport’s daily fashion state- Chess fans
ments, Trent Crimm’s t-shirts were the stuff
of Reddit legend. (Unassociated: do I have
suddenly had
to forever announce myself as “Mike Klein, three daily events
Chess.com” now?) Similarly, Ding and Richard to follow — the
share a fondness for “80s music;” Ding also
specifically mentioned “Blowin’ in the Wind”
game itself, the
by Bob Dylan as a Team Ding favorite. post-match press
Could Nepomniachtchi be included in conference, and
this Lasso-look-alike analogy? Although in
some hair styles he looks a little like Zava, the daily Ding-
perhaps he is more closely aligned with Rapport embrace.
ace.
Nate, at least in one way. While Ted’s fellow
Premiership manager tries to out-duel him ready missed him.” When
on the field, away from the stadium Nate have you ever heard that
shows clear fondness for the man he is at a world championship?
BOX
BOOX

So where are we now? The world no longer

O UNLOCK
LOC
OCCK B

has Magnus, perhaps the greatest player of

UNN LLO
O

all time, as the title holder. Many thought

TO U

we’d inherit a paper champion, but Magnus’

T CLICK CK
ICKKT

departure actually helped pave the way for

C L IIC
CL C

an even more relatable king. A king who

SHIFT FFT
IFT
H IIF

bucked all the world championship norms,

SH
RLL + S

like secrecy and insularity. A king who reads

CTRL
TR

Michel Foucault and channels Albert Camus

CT
TK C

in times of distress. A king who admits his

O TKTK
K TK
TK

weaknesses, a king who fails, a king who needs

PHOTO:
TO:
TO

encouragement, a king who needs his friends.

H T
PHO

In short, a king like Ding.

P

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 23

EVENTS Timber Moose Chess18

Chess18
Streamers descend on a
giant log cabin to try
their hands at an
interesting variant.
BY GM LARRY KAUFMAN

R ECENTLY I HAD THE OPPORTU-

nity to participate, at least for a bit,
in a fun chess event at the Timber
Moose Lodge in Timber Lakes, Utah,
along with some of the most popular chess streamers
around.
It wasn’t a world championship, but it was the first
master-level Chess18 tournament, and it was watched by
chess fans around the globe.
Chess18 is a subset of Chess960, or as it more popularly
known, “Fischer Random” chess. It uses the 18 positions
of Chess960 where the kings and rooks begin on their
normal squares — the upshot is that no special castling
rules are needed.
This is a variant with a history. “Shuffle chess” was played
more than two centuries ago. The pieces on the back rank
were shuffled randomly, although certain variants specified
White/Black symmetry, no bishops of opposite colors, and
castling being allowed when legal. The idea was to force
players to think for themselves from the first move — no
memorizing openings.
As computers started becoming strong enough to in-
fluence opening theory, this became a greater concern.
In 1996, Bobby Fischer announced his “Fischer Random”
chess, which was basically shuffle chess, except Fischer
added two stipulations. First, the kings always started be-
tween the rooks. Second, castling was still allowed, and
with the kings and rooks ending up on g1/f1 or c1/d1 as
they would in standard chess.
ALL PHOTOS: COURTESY ORGANIZERS

Chess960 nearly eliminates the need for opening memo-

rization, avoids computer opening preparation, and forces
the players to think for themselves almost from move one.
It also reduces the draw percentage in grandmaster play,
since the players must find many more moves in a game
without computer preparation; hence, they have many
more chances to make mistakes.
Chess960 is the also only chess variant recognized by
FIDE, with two official world championships now played.
GM Wesley So won the first edition in 2019, while GM

24 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

Hikaru Nakamura took the crown The first Chess18 tour-
in the 2022 event. In 2010 I won the nament for FIDE-titled
U.S. Open Chess960 championship. players was held March
p
Since another one hasn’t been held 20-22, 2023, at the Timber
2
since, I suppose I’m still technically Moose Lodge in Utah. Lodge
M
the current U.S. Open 960 champion! co-owner Matt Evans was the
co
That’s not to say that this variant is principal sponsor, with chess
pri
perfect. Perhaps the biggest issue is streaming channel “Chess-
stre
that castling often feels weird under Dawgs” providing additional
Daw
these rules. For example, a king can support. I served as a technical
supp
move from b1 to g1 to castle! Even advisor.
advis
the world’s top players may some- We originally talked about just
times forget about castling or get inviting grandmasters and per-
invitin
confused about the rules. haps str
strong IMs to make for a com-
Others complain that some positions petitive event, but Evans was con-
just look or feel bizarre, that games vinced by “ChessDawgs” streamer
may be lost in just a few moves even Matt Crossette to invite prominent streamers
by grandmasters, and that in some po- “since the objective was to expose Chess18
sitions White’s advantage is relatively to a broad audience.”
large. And some players prefer having A bout with COVID-19 kept me from trav-
opening knowledge play some role in the eling to Utah, but I did feel well enough
game, as long as this doesn’t mean mem-- at the start to participate online on
orizing thousands of long computer lines. s. Chess.com. However, during my final
Chess18 aims to address these issues. s. pairing of the day — against FM James
p
It is true chess — only the initial position
on Canty — I got violently ill. After some-
C
is changed, not the rules — with normal how managing to get half a point out
ho
castling. The positions feel much more like of the two games, I was then promptly
normal chess than do most 960 positions. hospitalized for a few days, but made a
ho
There are no positions with a significant ant full recovery soon after my release. I very
advantage for White, and the chance much regretted having to withdraw after
muc
of early blunders is much reduced the first day, but fortunately GM Kayden
since bishops are unable to attack Troff of ChessDawgs took my place, switch-
an undefended pawn on move one. ing from
fr commentator to participant!
Opening knowledge will play a role — One consequence of the decision to switch
a master should be able to remember from playing strength to streaming popu-
a few short lines from each of the 18 larityyaas the primary invitation criteria was
positions — but it is unlikely that any- thatt the
th th event became a more informal event
one will remember enough about each that introduced Chess18 to the world, rather
position for this to have a decisive role than a true competition. Although all the
in practical play. players were FIDE titled, the range in playing
I have long liked the concept of Chess18,
8, strength was enormous, so it
so in 2020 I organized a four-game Chess18 18 was decided that some sort of
Rapid match between the Komodo handicapping was needed to
han
chess engine and 2018 Reykjavik k avoid a runaway. The basic
av
Open Chess960 champ GM Alex time limit was G/12+5, but
tim
Lenderman, with Komodo giving when the players were a class
wh
knight odds. The idea was that while apart, time odds were sup-
ap
knight odds in Rapid are too much posed to be given. Some of
po
of a handicap to give to a strong the stronger players decided
th
GM in standard chess, it might be not to accept the time odds
n
fair in 960 since he’d have to think from GM Daniel Naroditsky,
fr
for himself from the first move — with the expected result
w
but at least he wouldn’t have to occurring. (They lost.) In
o
think about the castling rules. It ffour games played at knight
proved to be quite competitive odds, he still scored 3½ out
o
and interesting. of 4!! Quite a performance
f
from Danya!
Regarding results, I managed
This page and facing: scenes from the inau-
gural Timber Moose Chess18 event in Timber an even score in my six games
a
Lakes, Utah. Was this the most stream- before falling ill against Canty —
be
er-dense event in chess history? not too bad, given that most of the
no

USCHESS.ORG
USC AUGUST 2023 25
EVENTS Timber Moose Chess18

players probably have grandparents my age. Since this “King’s Gambit” is not really a think it’s great. I run a small casual club in
Kayden got three wins and three draws in his gambit with the queen on f1, Black should the suburbs of Salt Lake that’s completely
six games, so he filled in for me admirably. decline with 2. ... d6. free, and I love seeing people play. Part of
Final standings, excluding these games the reason I love chess is that every position
and using “football” scoring (3 for a win, 1 3. Qxf4 Qc5?! 4. Nf3 Nf6? is basically an analytical puzzle — what’s the
for a draw), were: Naroditsky (30 points), FM Here 4. ... Nc6 is needed to prevent 5. d4. best move here? And I see almost everything
Gauri Shankar (26), WGM Nemo Zhou (17), that way, as an endless stream of problems
IM Eric Rosen (16), IM Kostya Kavutskiy (14), 5. d4 Qe7 6. Nc3 d6 7. 0–0 0–0 8. Be2 Nc6 and challenges for us to analyze and figure
FM James Canty (9), and WFM Anna Cramling 9. a3?! out how to make things better.
(8). Both Canty and Shankar were treated as I think 9. Bd2! planning Ra1-e1 was better. “One of the problems with chess is that
IMs for the handicapping system, meaning it’s easy to blitz out the early moves without
that Canty’s result was better than it appears, 9. ... d5? 10. e5 Nh5 11. Qe3 Be6 12. Qf2?! thinking, out of habit, and get into the same
and Shankar clearly exceeded expectations. White is winning after 12. Ne1 g6 13. Bxh5. patterns over and over again. Games are
Here’s one of my games played before more fun when they’re novel and unique. The
I was forced to withdraw. It demonstrates 12. ... f6 13. Qh4? problem is most acute at the elite level, with
how easy it is to get a lost game in just a Better was 13. Ne1 Qe8 14. Nd3. players regularly in their preparation through
few moves in Chess18 without the benefit move 15 or 20 or 25. All games — not just
of memorized opening theory. 13. ... fxe5?? chess — are more interesting when they’re
Black had to sac a piece, but this was the a battle from the beginning, not just the
wrong way. Instead 13. ... Qe8! 14. g4 fxe5 second half.
FRC POSITION 533 15. Qxh5 exd4 gives enough compensation “[I enjoy Fischer Random for the reasons
GM Larry Kaufman for the knight. above, but] I’m sympathetic to the criticism
WFM Anna Cramling of Fischer Random that some of the positions
Timber Moose Chess18, 03.20.2023 14. Qxh5 Rf5? are too different from [“traditional” chess],
This looks good, because after 15. Qh3 Nxd4 and some of the castling patterns are gim-
Black has decent compensation. micky... So I came to believe that the 18 po-
sitions from Fischer Random with the rooks
15. Bg5! Rxg5 16. Nxg5 g6 in the corners and the kings on the e-file are
Probably Black didn’t notice on move 13 or 14 the best form of chess. The castling patterns
that now 16. ... Qxg5? would allow mate on e8. are preserved, the resulting positions after a
handful of moves are novel, but they still feel
17. Qh6 Nxd4 18. Rf8+ Qxf8 19. Qxh7, familiar. ... After years of wishing for an event
mate. focused on this format, which I call Chess18,
I decided to organize an event myself to start
To conclude, some may be wondering exact- the conversation.”
ly how this event came together, so I asked
Matt why he decided to organize it, and I’ll Left: IM Kostya Kavutskiy makes friends
give him the final words: everywhere he goes. Right: A murderer’s row
1. e4 e5 2. f4! exf4?! “I’ve played chess my whole life, and I of streamers and chess personalities!

26 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 Correspondence Chess EVENTS

veryone is talking about blitz and rapid chess, but what about slower versions
of our game? Perhaps you’d like to try tournaments that stretch on for years? FIND OUT MORE
Correspondence chess is alive and well in 2023, and US Chess offers For more on the 2022 Absolute

E tournaments for players of all ages and strengths. Visit new.uschess.org/cor-

respondence-chess to learn more, and check out the ad for correspondence
play on page 62 of this issue.
In what follows, meet 11 American correspondence champions, and
learn a little bit more about what elite correspondence chess looks like. ~ed.
Championship, visit www.iccf.com/
event?id=96982. The Golden Knights
champions are listed at new.uschess.
org/correspondence-chess/golden-
knights.

GOLDEN
KNIGHTS
Buss, Adams, and Johnson add
to their trophy cabinets.
BY JOHN HARTMANN
The 2014, 2015, and 2016 Golden Knights have
concluded. Congratulations to Michael Buss
of Indianapolis, Indiana, who won the 2014
MICHAEL BUSS RICK JOHNSON Golden Knights — his third clear victory in the
2014 GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2016 GOLDEN KNIGHTS Golden Knights, and fourth victory overall.
CHAMPION CHAMPION Second place in the 2014 Knights went to
PHOTOS: COURTESY SUBJECTS

GARY ADAMS TIM CORKUM JOHN WALTON

2015 GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2022 ABSOLUTE CO- 2022 ABSOLUTE CO-
CHAMPION CHAMPION CHAMPION

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 27

EVENTS Correspondence Chess

Gary Adams, and this minor disappointment dence equivalent of the U.S. Open, the Ab- — ICCF-GMs Stephen Ham, Dan Fleetwood,
apparently was enough to drive him forward solute Championship is its version of the Tim Murray, Jon Ostriker, Jason Bokar, and
to victory in the 2015 Golden Knights! Adams, Closed. The best American correspondence Jon Edwards, along with team captain Tom
from Mesa, Arizona, is now a two-time winner. players are invited to participate in an elite Biedermann — take home the bronze.
As we go to press, Rick Johnson has just round-robin with their peers. In the 70+ years of the Correspondence
been announced as the winner of the 2016 The 2022 US Chess Absolute Correspon- Chess Olympiad, which started in 1949, we
Golden Knights. Hailing from Fremont, Cal- dence Championship has also concluded, are just the second American team to win
ifornia, this is Johnson’s first Golden Knights with CCMs Tim Corkum (Wisconsin) and a medal, and this is just the third time ever
Championship. Ferdinand Burmeister finished John Walton (Washington) as deserving that a non-European team has medaled
second, while Gary Adams had to content co-champions. Both finished with 7½/12; in this ICCF event. Our achievement also
himself with third. while there are four games still ongoing automatically seeds us into the 22nd Olym-
The Golden Knights, along with its email- at time of writing, their scores cannot be piad final, which means we get to do it all
based cousin, the Electronic Knights, is open caught. over again!
to all US Chess members who live in the The Absolute Championship is played Perhaps the most interesting result is
contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, on the International Correspondence how far back the teams from Russia and
or have an APO/FPO postal address. Players Chess Federation (ICCF) server, and it Belarus finished, and it is worth speculating
move through three rounds of pool play is unique among US Chess rated corre- as to why this is the case. Economists often
and 18 games. Because it follows US Chess spondence events in that it allows engine tell us that embargoes and economic sanc-
correspondence rules, no chess engine consultation. tions rarely work, but I suspect that corre-
use is allowed in the Knights, and books spondence chess players in these countries
and periodicals may be consulted, but not are having a very hard time acquiring the
other humans.
STRIKING powerful workstations required to compete
effectively at this level.
BRONZE Many readers believe that correspon-

ABSOLUTE Team USA third in 21st

dence chess is dead, dying, or at least in
hospice, but the following two games from
CHAMPIONSHIP Correspondence Chess Olympiad this event tell a very different story. Humans
armed with high performance set-ups were
Corkum and Walton tie for BY ICCF-GM JON EDWARDS able, in these two games and in many others,
The 21st ICCF Correspondence Chess Olym- to overcome the recommendations of the
first place. piad has ended after nearly a decade of play, machines alone.
BY JOHN HARTMANN and after thousands of moves and hours upon In the past computer chess experts recog-
If the Golden Knights are the correspon- hours of analysis, the members of Team USA nized that engines sometimes experienced a

2022 Absolute Championship

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1 CCM Tim Corkum 2323 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 7½/12
2 CCM John C. Walton 2373 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 7½/12
3 IM Keith A. Rodriguez 2362 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 7/12
4 John Millett 2392 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 7/12
5 Johnny Owens 2105 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 7/12
6 CCM David Sogin 2326 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 6½/12
7 CCE Timothy Harris 2165 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 6/11
8 SIM Harry Ingersol 2426 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 6/11
9 CCM Gordon Magat 2334 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 5½/11
10 CCM Ferdinand Burmeister 2315 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 5/11
11 Gregory W. Cross 2101 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ * 1 4/10
12 Joel Levine 2157 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 3½/10
13 CCE Patrick J. Ryan 2198 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ * 1½/12

28 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

horizon effect. While rarer, these situations 12. ... Kh8 13. h3 c6 14. Nd2 cxd5 15. exd5 ing to find even slightly better squares, while
still occur today — engines see ever more Bd7 16. Bb2 Rc8 17. Nf3 Nh5 18. Qd2 Nf4 19. Black remains cramped. SF12 evaluates the
deeply, but little or nothing beyond the Bf1 Bh6 20. Qd1 Bg7 21. g3 Nh5 22. c5 e4 23. position as around +1.3 for White.
limits of their vision. Humans can exploit cxd6 Rxc3 24. dxe7 Qxe7 25. d6 Qd8 26. Bxc3
the limitations of the machines by entering Bxc3 27. Rc1 Bxe1 28. Nxe1 Qf6 29. Rc7 Rd8 24. ... Qc7 25. Rd1 Be7 26. Qc3 Rf7 27. Bc1
into fixed structures that involve long-term 30. Ng2 f4 31. Nxf4 Nxf4 32. gxf4 g5 33. Bg2 Bd7 28. Rb2
maneuvering. Both of the following games gxf4 34. Bxe4 f3 35. Kh1 Qe5 36. Rc5 Qf6 37. Small incremental, positional improvements
from this event illustrate the point. Rh5, Black resigned. (Corkum – Levine, while I wait to push my position.
Absolute Corr Ch-USA, 2022)
28. ... Rbf8 29. Ng3 Rg7 30. Bd2 Qb8 31. Qc1
KING’S INDIAN DEFENSE, 13. Nd2 Kh7 14. Bf1 c6 15. Ra2 Here, I listened to my own inner chess muse,
BAYONET VARIATION (E97) and prepared the c4-c5 advance, while the
GM Tim Murray (USA, 2562) engines preferred Qc3-d3.
SIM Dmitrijus Chocenka (LIT, 2475)
21st ICCF Olympiad, 01.13.2020 31. ... Rff7
Annotations by Tim Murray

I am an old school CC player. I began playing

back in the 1990s when it was called “postal”
chess and we were mailing postcards around
the world. As a carryover from those days,
I often exchange text messages with all my
opponents while transmitting my moves.
During my pre-tournament research
and preparation, I wanted to avoid drawish I also considered 15. Qb3. My general idea
variations. I knew that wins would be at an was to keep maneuvering and repositioning
extreme premium in the Olympiad because my pieces. My theory at the time was that
95% of high-level international games end most chess engines do not excel in very
in a draw. With White, I therefore tailored a closed and highly positional games. There- 32. c5
mixture of 1. d4, 1. e4, and 1. Nf3 openings fore, I wanted a very positional battle with This is a position where the advances in
to my specific opponents. Like all the other few exchanges, hoping to reduce the tactical engine evaluation with the NNUE networks
Olympiad competitors, I used Stockfish 11 impact of chess engines, and also because become stark. Both SF11 and 12 think White
and 12 (released September 20, 2020) during Black will have less space. One other note as is better, but 11 shuffles the pieces around
this three-year event. we proceed: it is well-known that Stockfish in its variations, while 12 likes this break
hates the King’s Indian Defense for Black. immensely! At the time, however, I found
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. So, I had to guard against being lulled into 11’s suggestions to be of no help, and I was
d4 0-0 6. Be2 e5 7. 0-0 Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 a false sense of security owing to SF’s con- also concerned that Dima might be using
Nh5 10. Re1 f5 11. a4 stantly rosy evaluation of White’s position. Leela Chess Zero, which at the time had a
In master-level CC games before 2020, 11. superior positional sense.
Ng5 was played 80+% of the time and 11. a4 15. ... Rb8 16. h3 a6 17. Rc2 Bd7 18. Ba3
only 9%. With this move I was embarking Be8 19. dxc6 32. ... d5 33. Bxa6 Bf6 34. Bf1 e4 35. Rb3
on a “road less travelled” strategy. The first capture. As much as I was loath At this point, I was notified that one of my
to initiate any captures, I could not find other Olympiad competitors, SIM Vlad
11. ... Nf6 anything better. Dubko of Belarus, had passed away due to
Prior to this game, 11. ... Nf6 was the more COVID. Because this is a team event, his
popular, but today the most popular response 19. ... bxc6 20. Qc1 fxe4 21. Ncxe4 Nf5 22. game would be finished by SIM Shablinsky.
in correspondence play is 11. ... a5 12. bxa5 Nxf6+ Bxf6 23. Ne4 Bh4 24. Ra2 This was the very grim reality of day-to-day
Rxa5 13. exf5 Nxf5 14. Bg5 Nf6 15. Bd3 Nh6 life in 2021.
16. Ne4 Nf7 and now either 17. Bd2 or 17. Bh4.
35. ... Be5 36. Nxf5
12. a5 The engines of the day thought that 36.
There’s a bit of psychology behind this move. a6 was also strong, but today’s monsters
Influenced by Stockfish 11, the main move confirm that the game move was needed
in 2019 was 12. ... Nxe4, but White was doing to press the advantage.
well against that line. I thought “Dima”
might try the game continuation, which GM 36. ... gxf5 37. f4 Bf6 38. b5
Borstnik had just used to draw two games. After another four-day computer run — not
atypical for elite correspondence play —
12. ... h6 SF12 has White at +2.41. This evaluation
As mentioned, 12. ... Nxe4 is a move in seems stretched, but it confirmed my own
this position. A more recent game went My positional maneuvering continues. Try- chess instinct and analysis.

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 29

EVENTS Correspondence Chess

38. ... cxb5 39. c6! Qa7+ 40. Kh1 Be8 54. Qa7 Qc7 55. Kg1 Kg6 56. Qd4, Black Novak, ICCF 2020) should have been played
I expected 40. ... Bc8 41. Rxb5 d4 42. Qc4 resigned. earlier. The pawns are moving forward per
d3 43. Rb6 Rf8 44. Rc1 Bd8 45. Qc5 Re8 46. our plan.
Bc3 Rf7 47. Qc4 Qe7 with a great position In over-the-board play, one might be
for White. worried about the rook getting trapped, but
this is where correspondence chess has its
41. Rxb5 advantages. We can see that White will give
Stockfish 12 now evaluates the position as up his rook for the knight and keep domi-
+3.65, while 11 thinks White is only slightly nance over the dark squares.
better. Meanwhile, the just-released Stock-
fish 16 takes the middle road, evaluating 14. ... Bc2 15. Rxa6 bxa6 16. Kd2 Bb3 17.
this at about +2. The point: specific eval- Ra1 Bc4 18. b3 Bb5 19. Nxb5 axb5
uations can change with updated engines
in a family, so users need to leaven them
with their own insights.
Resignation at this point might seem pre-
41. ... Rc7 42. Rb6 Bd4 43. Be3 Bxe3 mature to over-the-board players, but with
We both needed to examine the very inter- engines humming away, it is a fait accompli.
esting queen sacrifice after 43. ... Rxc6 44. The sum of Black’s weak, isolated pawns
Qxc6! Bxc6 45. Bxd4 Ba4 46. Rdb1 Qxa5 47. and exposed king, White’s three connected
Ra6 Qc7 48. Rxa4 Re7 49. Ra8 Kg6 50. Rbb8 pawns, and same-colored bishops all to-
and lights out. gether secure the win. My notes from 2021
reflect that one sample line I was expecting
44. Qxe3 Qxa5 45. Ra6 Qb4 46. Rxd5 Bxc6 was 56. ... Qc6 57. Kf2 Qc7 58. g3 Qc2+ 59.
47. Rxf5 Bb7 48. Re6 Be2 Bc8 60. Qd5 Kf6 61. g4 Be6 62. Qe5+ Kf7
63. f5 Ba2 64. h4 Bb3 65. Qd6 with White The position is clarified. White controls the
making slow but unstoppable progress. dark squares, but is an Exchange down with
Today’s engines also agree that White has a a doubled pawn to boot. Black, for his part,
winning position after 56. Qd4, and I think has many weak pawns. Given the material
it’s a reasonably good training position for imbalance, engines struggle to evaluate the
students to play out. position correctly. For what it’s worth, the
latest Stockfish gives White a tiny advantage
of +0.25, an assessment with which Leela
SLAV DEFENSE (D11) basically agrees.
GM Jason Bokar (USA, 2526)
CCM Francisco Manuel Fe Castro (POR, 20. Ra6 Rc8 21. e3 Kf7 22. Bf1 g5 23. Bh2
2382) h5 24. Bd3 hxg4 25. hxg4 Rhd8 26. Kc3
21st ICCF Olympiad, 01.13.2020
Here, despite being double vaxxed, I Annotations by Jason Bokar
caught a very bad case of COVID, and
was on the brink of being hospitalized. As 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3
this was a team event, I notified our Team My opponent’s history showed that he often
Captain Tom Biedermann to be ready to played the Slav, and so I moved the game in
substitute someone should I become hos- a direction that suited me.
pitalized. I did not want to risk a time for-
feit that would ruin Team USA’s chances 3. ... c6 4. Bg2 Bf5 5. c4 e6 6. Nc3 h6
of a medal. 7. Qb3 Qb6 8. c5 Qxb3 9. axb3
So White has doubled pawns, but the rook
48. ... Qc3 49. Qe2 now has a half-open file and can put pres-
I also considered 49. Qb6 while I finished sure on the a7-pawn. One should also be
this game in bed, where I remained for near- thinking about using the doubled pawns to Stockfish 12 evaluates this at +2.5 or so,
ly four months struggling with the effects weaken the queen side more via b3-b4-b5x6 while the latest development versions of
of long COVID. and then b2-b4 etc. SF are more sanguine, thinking that White
has an advantage of around +1.3. This is
49. ... Rc6 50. Re8 Rf6 51. Rxf6 9. ... Be7 10. h3 Na6 11. g4 a hint that it may not be easy to White to
In between marathon sleep sessions, I wrote Claiming space on the kingside too. Black’s break through.
myself notes to be sure to avoid any of Di- pieces will be pushed back, and Nf3-e5 is It’s important to have a plan in closed
ma’s attempts to land in a drawn bishop and always a possibility now! positions; here, I have the bishops and
h-pawn ending. space, and the bishops gain in power with
11. ... Bh7 12. Bf4 Nd7 13. Ra4 f6 14. b4 more space. So my plan is to push e3-e4 and
51. ... Qxf6 52. Qe3 Re7 53. Rxe7+ Qxe7 Now it’s clear that 11. ... Nb4 (as in Bokar – target the c6-pawn.

30 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 TEAM USA

26. ... Nf8 27. e4 Rd7 28. Ne1 Rb7 29. Kd2 49. ... Be7
Ng6 30. exd5 exd5 31. Bf5 Rcc7 32. Ng2 GM STEPHEN HAM
Bf8 33. Bd6 Ne7 34. Bxc7 Rxc7 Stephen began play-
Material balance has been restored. How ing correspondence
to make progress? The engine claims that chess by mail at age 15
all moves are equivalent, and this is a sign (1969), and switched to
that despite the positive evaluation, it may ICCF play in the 1980s.
be tough to push an advantage. Much greater detail, plus two annotated
games, can be found in Chess Life’s August
35. Ne3 Bg7 36. Ra1 Rb7 37. Rh1 Bf8 2011 coverage of his ICCF GM title.

GM DAN
F L EET W O O D
Dan began playing cor-
Now the computer expects to move the respondence chess in
rook around, but it still can’t go anywhere. 1975 and won the USCF
Black can keep it back. The computer also Absolute Championship
suggests moving the knight around, but it in 1993. He received his GM title in 2008
still can’t go anywhere effectively. But the as a result of his performances on board
one move that breaks Black’s position is three in the Olympiad 14 Final and board
removing the g-pawn. one in the Olympiad 15 Final. He is now
Here’s where the human still has a role competing in the 33rd World Final.
to play in correspondence chess: even with
The computer hasn’t changed its evaluation Stockfish 16 at high depths, the right move GM TIM MURRAY
in several moves, and it does seem that isn’t listed in the top six engine choices! Tim is a retired Boston
White is shifting around without progress. police captain and
Is everything protected? 50. f4 gxf4 51. Kf3 Bf8 52. Kxf4 Bg7 53. cold case homicide
Let’s try to take stock: the a7- and c6- Kg3 Bh8 54. Kh4 Kg8 55. Kh5 Kh7 56. Ra1 investigator. He was
pawns are weak and need at least the rook Re7 57. Nh2 Re3 58. Rxa7+ the 11th United States
to protect both. The f6-pawn is also weak, Correspondence co-champion in 1998 and
and the white rook can try to target it. has twic competed in the World Finals,
Which piece in White’s army isn’t doing finishing eighth and 12th. For 20 years
much? The knight! We need to get it to h5, he has been ranked in the top five on the
d6, or f5. My opponent must have thought American correspondence rating list.
he was safe despite the computer eval-
uation, and it does seem like White will GM JON OSTRIKER
struggle to make progress. Jon finished fourth in
the ICCF World Cham-
38. Nf1 Nxf5 39. gxf5 Re7 40. Ng3 Bg7 41. pionship 23rd Final
Kd3 Bf8 42. Ra1 Bh6 43. Ra6 Rc7 and qualified to play
The computer’s evaluation still hasn’t in the ongoing 33rd
changed, but my plan is now becoming World Final.
clear. I have to get the king over to the king- The first weak pawn falls. Black can take
side to prevent his g-pawn from moving, my doubled b-pawn, but I will get to the GM JASON BOKAR
while not allowing his rook to penetrate c6-pawn first, and then walk in my c-pawn. Jason gained his GM ti-
into the position. Once I can get rid of his tle in 2007 and has been
g-pawn, my rook will simply swing over 58. ... Bg7 59. Kh4 Re4+ 60. Ng4 Rxd4 61. active in ICCF-US ad-
to the kingside to hit f6 and c6, and all his Rc7 Rf4 62. Rxc6 Rxf5 63. Kg3 d4 64. Kg2 ministration since 2002.
pawns will fall. Easier said than done, of d3 65. Rd6 Rg5 66. Kf3 f5 67. Nf6+ Bxf6 He currently volunteers
course! 68. Rxf6 Kg7 69. Rd6 Rg4 70. c6 as the ICCF-US National Director.
The c-pawn springs free and the game
44. f3 is practically over! White can stop all of GM JON EDWARDS
Keeping the g-pawn fixed! Black’s pawns, while there is no stopping Jon started playing cor-
PHOTOS: COURTESY SUBJECTS

the c-pawn. respondence chess with

44. ... Ke7 45. Ke3 Kf7 46. Kf2 Ke7 47. Nf1 the USCF in the late
Bf8 48. Nh2 Kf7 49. Ng4 70. ... Rg1 71. Kf4 Rc1 72. Kxf5 d2 73. 1960s, and thereafter in
The knight is targeting the f6-pawn and now Rxd2 Rxc6, White wins. the APCT before switch-
the king will move up and help exchange off With seven units on the board, the tablebas- ing to the ICCF in 1995. Jon won the U.S.
the g-pawn. We just need to make sure that es show this as a win for White, and it was Correspondence Championship in 1997
it can’t move forward. Finally, the computer recorded as such. Many humans would also and the ICCF World Championship in 2022,
sees something changing! easily net the full point here. gaining his GM title in the process.

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 31

COVER STORY Spring Nationals

What it means to win and lose at the National Scholastics.

BY IM SANDEEP SETHURAMAN

VERY SPRING THE HIGH with at most 30 players to a national event the following year because I’d still had fun
school, middle school, and filled with thousands of other kids across playing those games. Plus, watching the

E
elementary school nationals the country is truly eye-opening. kids on the top boards playing to become
attract the top scholastic tal- My history with the spring nationals champion inspired me to start working
ents from around the nation, began when I was eight years old and rated on my game by doing tactics and maybe
creating some of the biggest just above 400. At the time, the elementary learning an opening or two. The thought of
scholastic chess tournaments school national was by far the largest event being on the other side of that curtain and
across the globe. The 2023 Elementary (K-6), I had ever participated in. I’ve since played having my game broadcast live — maybe
Middle School (K-8), and High School (K-12) in these tournaments for eight years and even having a grandmaster talk about it on
Championships saw more than 5,000 play- have gained 2000 rating points! the commentary — motivated me to work
ers compete for individual and team glory. Some say they don’t want to attend a harder and keep coming back.
But how does it really feel to be in a room national scholastic because they don’t feel However, just having inspiration doesn’t
with hundreds — or even thousands — of like they can win, but from my experience, change your skill level overnight; you still
scholastic chess players from across the just being surrounded by other kids who are have to put in the work and the progress
United States? there because they love playing as much as will come gradually. I played in the national
While everyone who plays in a national you do makes the trip worthwhile. Before I elementary two more times after that first
scholastic event has a unique experience, went to my first nationals, I was a bit ner- event, and while I was still nowhere near
it’s safe to say that simply being in this at- vous because I feared that the tournament that curtain, I was beginning to move from
mosphere is awe-inspiring — especially the was only meant for the top kids and that the far end of the tournament hall. As I
feeling of watching hundreds of players pour I wouldn’t win any games. Even though I inched closer and closer to the middle, my
in through the doors and fill up the huge did end up losing almost all of my games rating was increasing as well. I was not alone
hall. Going from playing local tournaments in that first event, I went back to nationals in my journey; some of the first friends I

32 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 made in the chess world were also moving ture hundreds of vastly underrated players.
up these boards. The key is to not get dis- At the 2023 High School Championship, I
couraged because of slow improvement; was held to a draw in round three with the
instead, use the top players as inspirations white pieces by Vincent Qin, rated just above
rather than as comparisons. 2000. One of the eventual co-champions, FM
Once I graduated to the middle school (and now IM) Jason Wang, survived a scare
nationals, I found myself getting closer to in the first round against Pranav Shankar,
the top boards. I was now playing against rated just above 1900. Maybe the biggest
competitors who would go on to fight for example of this was Toshinori Underwood’s
medals and trophies, but there was still impressive streak in the 10th grade section
something separating me from those top at the 2022 National K-12 Grade Champi-
players on the DGT boards. That “some- onships. It just goes to show that in these
thing” was confidence, and the only way tournaments nobody is guaranteed anything,
to gain this was through the experience and it’s a great chance for underrated players
that comes naturally with playing in these to show their talent.
scholastic events. I eventually learned that I Now we get to the most intense part of
could sometimes hold my own against these the experience at nationals: playing for that
players — and maybe even win. coveted first place trophy. In the last calendar
By the time I got to the high school nation- year, I’ve had a couple of experiences doing
als, I had become one of those top players this: once with success and once without. I
PHOTOS: CAROLINE KING

and it was my turn to play on the DGT boards can say without hesitation (having won the
on the stage. It was then that I realized that 11th grade title at the 2022 K-12s) that there’s
playing in a national scholastic event has nothing quite like winning a national event.
an enormous effect on the highest-rated While I don’t know what it must feel like to
players as well. Scholastic events, especially win a national high school championship, I do The author at the 2022
K-12 Championships
nationals, are different from norm events know that those games, along with your norm
or even most Swiss events because they fea- games, are among the ones you will never

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 33

COVER STORY Spring Nationals

forget. Even when you lose, you still never this game and this was my first time playing 17. ... Nxc5 18. e5 Qe7
forget those games. Surprisingly, most of the it. SS: I’d never seen this before, although I
memories are GOOD ones, though that’s not probably should have!
to say that there are no bad memories or em-
barrassing moments! You’ll see quite a few in 12. Nb3
this game that I lost against 2023 co-champion SD: Funnily enough, I didn’t bother to look
FM Sharvesh Deviprasath in the final round. at this move. I was expecting Ra1-b1 and
I have included both of our annotations with already I’m out of prep. SS: This is one of
some anecdotes about the games. the few moves in this game that I am proud
of, because it got him out of his prep into a
position that seemed fairly comfortable for
KING’S INDIAN DEFENSE, FI- me. But then again, maybe it contributed to
ANCHETTO VARIATION (E68) my false sense of security.
FM Sandeep Sethuraman (2466)
FM Sharvesh Deviprasath (2408) 12. ... Nfd7?! 19. exd6?
National HS Ch (7), 04.01.2023 SD: A step in the wrong direction, as I can SD: I think Sandeep was too eager to win the
Annotations by Deviprasath and Sethu- never play ... b7-b6. It is going to be very pawn back, but this gives room for my pieces
raman hard for me to complete development. SS: and allows me back in the game. SS: I have
Sharvesh was critical of this move, but it to agree with Sharvesh. I thought opening
SD: This was a funny pairing for a crucial looks fine to me. The knight is ready to re- the h8–a1 diagonal would be beneficial for
final round. Sandeep and I are good friends capture on c5 and the path for the bishop my dark-squared bishop, but this liberated
and have played each other many times be- is opened. a lot of his pieces. SD: After 19. Nxc5 dxc5
fore, but I had yet to win against him. After 20. Qf2! Na4 21. g4 my position is absolutely
prepping a line against his pet Fianchetto 13. Be3 Ne6 14. f4 Nb6 15. Qe2 Bxc3!? miserable. White has the bishop pair, more
variations, I showed up 10 minutes late. SD: The engine hates this move, but I felt space, and a dominating position.
SS: Sharvesh is always late, so this wasn’t I had to create some sort of imbalance as
entirely a surprise, and I was ready for him my position felt miserable and passive. By 19. ... cxd6 20. Nxc5 dxc5 21. Qf2
to have something prepared. Before this we’d giving up my monster dark-squared bishop, SS: This was what I had seen. I win the pawn
played three times, with two draws and a I can play against the doubled pawns. SS: back and I am significantly better here, but
win for me, so I figured he would show up I was very happy when I saw this; after all, I still have to convert — which, as you will
to the board with revenge in mind. he could have done this three moves ago see, I accomplished the opposite of.
and been up a few tempi over the game. My
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 0-0 5. overconfidence was growing here.
Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. 0-0 e5 8. e4 exd4 9. Below: Meyer, Dommalapati, Lu, Yoo, Wang,
Nxd4 Nc5 10. h3 Re8 11. Re1 h6 16. bxc3 Qf6 17. c5! Guo, and Marinello at the awarding of the
SD: A relatively new line. I prepped it for SS: A good idea to take control of the center. 2023 Scholar Chess Player awards.

34 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 NHS (K-12) WINNERS
It was a tie at the top of the National High
School (K-12) Championship, with FM
Jason Wang and FM Sharvesh Devipra-
sath finishing at 6½/7 to share first place
in the Championship section. Both are
11th graders, so they may have to break
the tie at the 2024 High Schoolhool Champi-
onship next year in Baltimore!
more!
The team championship p went to The
Dalton School from New York, New
York. Congrats to team members
FM Gus Huston, Max Mottola, ola, Iris
Mou, Johji Nakada, Ryan Peter-
son, William Safranek, and nd
Nathaniel Shuman.
Congratulations also to
the winners of the Schol-
ar Chess Player Awards,
which were handed out on n
Sunday. These awards, jointly ointly
funded by the U.S. Chess Trust and
the National Scholastic Chess ess Foun-
dation (NSCF) and administered istered by
US Chess, went to IM Arthur thur Guo,
Aditya Gupta, IM Maximillian millian Lu,
FM Jason Wang, and Eugene Yoo. The
inaugural Chess Ambassador Award
went to Gaayathri Binoj. All winners
receive a $1,500 scholarship to the insti-
tute of higher learning of their choice!

21. ... Be6 22. Bxc5 Qc7 23. a4 Rac8 24.

Bd4 Red8
SD: Finally here I breathed a sigh of relief,
as my rooks are centralized and active, but
I was still a little nervous due to White’s bish-
op pair and uncontested dark square bishop.
SS: I’m definitely better, but one of Shar-
vesh’s best (and most annoying!) qualities
as a chess-player is his defensive resilience, 2023 NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
which I didn’t give enough credit to here.
( K - 1 2 ) C H A M P I O N S H I P AT A G L A N C E
25. Be5 Qe7 26. a5 Nd7 27. Bd4 WASHINGTON, D.C. | MARCH 31 – APRIL 2, 2023
SS: Already this sequence was pretty weird,
PHOTOS, THIS PAGE AND FACING: CAROLINE KING

INDIVIDUAL WINNERS:
and I don’t know how I decided to play this K-12 CHAMPIONSHIP: FM Jason Wang, FM Sharvesh Deviprasath, 6½/7. K-12 U1900:
move after spending only five of my almost Chance Nguyen, Harper Wallace, 6/7. K-12 U1600: Manuel E. Alvare, Simon Kravitz,
60 minutes. 6½/7. K-12 U1200: Zachary Nowel, 7/7. K-12 U800: Andrew Warmenhoven, 7/7. K-12
UNRATED: Mohit Anirudh Pra Maringanti, 7/7. K-12 BLITZ: Aarush Vinod, FM Nico
27. ... Nc5 28. Rad1 Nb3 29. g4!? Chasin, 9½/10. BUGHOUSE: Kitana Olson and Leo Jiang, 10/10.
SS: I don’t regret this move. While it is what
eventually cost me the game, I played it TEAM WINNERS:
because I wanted to complicate and try to K-12 CHAMPIONSHIP: Dalton (New York, NY), 22. K-12 U1900: Thomas Jefferson HS
win. I can’t get mad at the results now. After (Alexandria, VA), 20. K-12 U1600: Gulliver Prep (Miami, FL), 20½. K-12 U1200: Abing-
29. Bxa7 Rxd1 30. Rxd1 Nxa5 SD: I thought ton HS (Abington, PA), 23. K-12 U800: Renaissance HS (Detroit, MI), Northwest HS
this would be a draw. SS: Sharvesh said he (Germantown, ND), 19½. K-12 UNRATED: New Oxford (New Oxford, PA), 21½.
thought this should be a draw, but I think
For complete results, visit www.uschess.org/results/2023/hs/.
I am the one pushing here and I shouldn’t
be in danger of losing.

USCHESS.ORG
RG AUGUST 2023
AUG 35
COVER STORY
CO Spring
ring Nationals
N als

NMS (K-8) WINNERS

Seventh-grader Eric Liu is the individ-
ual Middle School (K-8) champion after
going a perfect 7/7! Eric is from Frisco,
Texas, so he may not have had a “home
field advantage” at the tournament three
hours away y in Round Rock, Texas, but he
still did his h
home state proud!
The team champions had a much
longer journey.
journ Millburn Middle School
brought a national
n title home to Mill-
burn, New Jersey. Congratulations to
team members
m Bobby Qian, Tim-
othy Xie, David Zhang, Florina
Zhu, and Ryan Zhu.
Zhu

29. ... Nxd4

SD: I offered a draw here
knowing Sandeep wouldn’t
accept it. Board one had al-
ready drawn, and we both
knew whoever won was
going to become a national
champion. I felt like this po-
sition was objectively equal,
but by Sandeep instantly re-
jecting it, he was forced to
play for a win and thereby
overpushed. SS: Sharvesh
has offered me a draw every
game we have played and I
never accept, so at this point
it’s more of an inside joke than
anything. I’m sure if I offered
him a draw as Black in this posi-
tion, he wouldn’t accept either!
He’s definitely right that my lack
of judgment caused me to overpush and
eventually lose.

2023 NATIONAL MIDDLE SCHOOL

30. cxd4 Qc7 31. d5 Bd7 32. Qxa7 Qxf4

C H A M P I O N S H I P AT A G L A N C E
ROUND ROCK, TEXAS | APRIL 21-23, 2023
INDIVIDUAL WINNERS:
K-8 CHAMPIONSHIP: Eric Liu, 7/7. K-8 U1700: Ian Landon Helfing, Srihas Maddipati,
6/7. K-8 U1400: Anirudh Kumar, 6½/7. K-8 U1100: Raf Goldman, Mateux X. Hendran-
to, 6½/7. K-8 U900: Rohan Nihal Mahesh, 7/7. K-8 U700: Larry Calle Labou, Eser Ren
Kilic, 7/7. K-8 UNRATED: Chukwuemeka Daniel Agu, Saahas Sreejit, William James
Kemp IV, Abhik Rudra, 6/7. K-8 BLITZ: FM Brewington Hardaway, 11½/12. BUG-
HOUSE: R. Wilson and J. Colville, 9/10.
PHOTOS: RANDY ANDERSON

TEAM WINNERS:
K-8 CHAMPIONSHIP: Millburn MS (Millburn, NJ), 19. K-8 U1700: Success Academy 33. Qxb7?
Midtown West (New York, NY), 17. K-8 U1400: P.S. 180 (Brooklyn, NY), 19. K-8 U1100: SD: Objectively this move might be fine,
I.S. 318 (Brooklyn, NY), 23. K-8 U900: I.S. 318 (Brooklyn, NY), 21½. K-8 U700: I.S. 318 but at the board, I thought it was way too
(Brooklyn, NY), 24. risky, and his king was a little bit exposed.
For complete results, visit www.uschess.org/results/2023/ms/. SS: I agree with Sharvesh that this is a
bad move, at least the way I played it. The

36 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 engine doesn’t budge, but I completely Black was already better after 11. Bf4?! Bd7 12. ... axb5 13. Ndxb5 Qb8?
missed his response. 12. f3?! b5 13. Qe1 Rc8 in Daggupati – Wang, This is the start of a series of unfortu-
while White’s strongest option is 11. Be2! Be7 nate miscalculations on my part. After
33. ... Rc2 34. Kh1 12. Bg5 with the idea of f2–f4, although Black the correct 13. ... Qc6 14. Bf4 Nfd7 White
SD: I think the right way was 34. Rf1 Qe3+ has won both games in this line in MegaBase. has very few tricks to compensate for his
(SS: I missed the simple 34. ... Qg3 35. d6 material deficit.
Bc6 36. Qxf7+. During his commentary, my 11. ... b5
coach, GM Mesgen Amanov, theorized that 14. Bf4 Bd7?
I didn’t want to go for the draw, but I just Continuing down the wrong path. Black is
missed it!) 35. Kh1 Rxg2 36. Kxg2 Qe2+ 37. slightly better after 14. ... Nfd7, and if 14. ...
Kh1 Qe4+ 38. Kg1 Qe3+ with a perpetual. Ra5 15. Nxd6+ Bxd6 16. Qxg7 Rh7 17. Qxf6
Be7 18. Bxe5 Qxe5 19. Qxe5 Rxe5 White has
34. ... Qg3! 35. Rg1 Rb8!! four pawns for the piece, but with two bish-
SS: Sharvesh only gave this one exclam, but ops and active pieces, Black is clearly ahead.
I’ll give it two because of what he calculated.
Credit where credit’s due: I didn’t see half 15. Nxd6+ Bxd6 16. Rxd6!
of what he did. For some reason I had only considered 16.
Qxg7? Rg8 17. Qxf6 Nc4 when Black wins.
36. Qa6 Rb3
SD: Initiating an unstoppable mating attack. 16. ... Qxd6 17. Bxe5
SS: I’m fine after 36. ... Rbb2? 37. Qd3. 12. Bxb5+!? An excellent position to pause and evaluate.
An interesting idea. While it is a quite com- At first glance Black is up a rook and White
37. Qf1 Bb5 38. Rd3 Bxd3 39. Qe1 mon theme in such positions. I had hardly
SD: Allowing me to play a pretty mate. SS: considered this move. Fortunately for me Top: the key Sethuraman (R) versus Devip-
I figure he deserved to be able to end the it is not entirely correct! 12. a3 is more rasath (L) battle. Below: Donald Johnson (R)
game off like this. I think I offered a draw controlled. takes on FM Jason Wang (L).
somewhere here, mostly as a joke.

39. ... Qxh3+ 40. Bxh3 Be4+ 41. Rg2

Rxh3+ 42. Kg1 Rxg2+ 43. Kf1 Rh1, mate.
SD: With this win I was able to tie with
FM Jason Wang, becoming a national high
school co-champion. SS: I don’t think I’ll
ever hear the end of this game, but congrat-
ulations anyway to Sharvesh and Jason for
becoming co-champions.

Here are a few more games by some of the

winners of this year’s Elementary, Middle
School, and High School Nationals, including
one that didn’t make it to the DGT boards.

SICILIAN DEFENSE, TAIMAN-

OV VARIATION (B48)
Donald Johnson (2254)
FM Jason Wang (2526)
National HS Ch (5), 04.01.2023
Annotations by Jason Wang

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6

5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qf3 Ne5
This line has worked quite well for me re-
cently; for instance, I used it against GM
PHOTOS: CAROLINE KING

Balaji Daggupati at the Southwest Class

successfully.

8. Qg3 h5 9. h4 Nf6 10. 0-0-0 d6 11. Kb1?!

Although this prophylactic move is a typical
idea in such positions, White should play
with more dynamic intent here.

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 37

COVER STORY Spring Nationals

has no direct attack, but I quickly realized game. After 17. ... Qf8 18. Bd6 Qg8 my queen 20. ... Qxf6 21. Be5?!
that my position was dire. position is unenviable. Now if 19. Bb4 Kd8 White aims to either regain the pawn or
20. Rd1 I am utterly stuck. trade into an endgame where Black’s pawn
17. ... Qe7 structure is damaged. This move is still
Trying to at least include the queen in the 18. Bd6! winning for White, but 21. Qe3, bringing
White continues to play excellently and the queen to the queenside, is stronger.
uncompromisingly. The black king will be stuck in the center
Less strong is 18. Qxg7 Rg8 19. Qxf6 of the board, and Black’s extra Exchange is
Qxf6 20. Bxf6 Rxg2 when, despite the three hardly felt.
passed pawns, Black has achieved some
activity. 21. ... Qg6!? 22. Qxg6 fxg6 23. f3 Kf7 24.
Rd1?!
18. ... Qd8 19. e5 As we’ll see, White’s rook was doing import-
Black is helpless because of his terrible ant work on h1. Preferable was 24. b4 when
pieces. There’s no way to save the knight. it’s hard to find tricks for Black.

19. ... Bc6 24. ... Ra5

Also interesting was 24. ... g5 25. hxg5 h4!?
immediately.

25. f4?
I was hoping that White would play this
seemingly logical move, but Black has a
hidden idea. Instead 25. Re1 should win.

25. ... g5!

Or 19. ... Ng4 20. f3.

20. exf6
This also is winning, but White missed the
astonishing 20. Qxg7! Rg8 21. exf6!! Rxg7
22. fxg7 Kd7 23. Bf8!. After the game one of
the other players showed us this line — we
could not believe it!

Here’s the trick! The idea is to create a

Left: Eric Liu studies the board. Below: passed pawn to generate counterplay.
Millburn Middle School took home top team
honors in Round Rock. 26. hxg5
Things are unclear after 26. g3!? gxh4 27.
gxh4 Rxe5 28. fxe5 g5!.

26. ... Rxe5!

Not 26. ... Bxg2 27. Rd7+ Ke8 28. Rc7 Rh7 29.
Bxg7 and g5–g6 next.

27. fxe5 Bxg2

White is two pawns up, but the h-pawn is
difficult to contain.
PHOTOS: RANDY ANDERSON

28. g6+ Ke7 29. Rd2 Bc6 30. Ne2?!

Donald told me after the game that he had
miscalculated here. White should immedi-
ately push the queenside pawns with 30. b4
h4 31. a4 h3 32. Rh2 Be8 33. b5 Bxg6 and the
position is unclear, especially in the face of
time pressure. The computer says it is equal,

38 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 NES (K-6) WINNERS
There are four sections in the Elemen-
tary, with players competing in K-6, K-5,
K-3, and K-1 groups. Among them we
have eight national champions!
Top seed Nathan Yan won the K-6
Championship with 6½/7. That was the
same score earned by K-1 champion
Asher Kirschbaum.
The K-5 Championship saw a four-
way tie at the top of the crosstable,
with Anson Leong, Sharath Rad-
hakrishnan, Krishna K. Rallabandi,
and Andrew Wu all finishing with six
points from seven games. And there
are two co-champions in the K-3, with
Lev Shangin and Ted Wang sharing the
top spot with 6½ points.
Team champions include The An-
derson School in the K-6 Championship
nship
(Aidan Erik Amin, Lucas J. Chen, Alice
Chovanec, Jesse Han, Braylon Munoz),
noz),
Tag Young Scholars in the K-5 (Suvan
Suvan
Baranwal, Leqi Han, Aadit Krishna Joshi,
Leo Xiaohang Shen), and The Speyerpeyer
Legacy School in both the K-3 (Ryan
Hao, Raza Mikal Patel, Lev Shangin,gin,
Lucas Yang) and the K-1 (Alexanderer
Eli Okon, Ian Avery Singh, Winnie
Tsuchida-Tomashevsky, Robert
Fanjun Wei, Abigail Zhou). Fun
fact — all four schools are from
New York, New York!
2023 NATIONAL ELEMENTARY
but the term hardly has meaning here — it C H A M P I O N S H I P AT A G L A N C E
is intensely complicated. B A LT I M O R E , M A R Y L A N D | M A Y 1 2 - 1 4 , 2 0 2 3

30. ... h4 31. Nf4? INDIVIDUAL WINNERS:

The losing move for White. After 31. Nd4 Be4 K-6 CHAMPIONSHIP: Nathan Yan, 6½/7. K-6 U1400: Colin Hu, 6½/7. K-6 U1000:
Black wins the pawn under more favorable Wailea Schroffner, 6½/7. K-6 UNRATED: Aarin Sahota, 6½/7. K-5 CHAMPIONSHIP:
conditions. Sharath Radhakrishnan, Krishna K. Rallabandi, Anson Leong, Andrew Wu, 6/7. K-5
U1200: Elias Chu, 7/7. K-5 U900: Jonah Finkelstein, 7/7. K-3 CHAMPIONSHIP: Ted
31. ... h3 32. Rh2 Rf8! Wang, Lev Shangin, 6½/7. K-3 U1000: Liam Kim, Emmett Bates-Callaghan, 6½/7.
This was the move Donald missed. Now K-3 U700: Grace Levri, 7/7. K-3 UNRATED: Avery Bear Van Arman, Daniel Li, Dalton
White loses his piece under unfortunate Sheehan-Bowen, 6/7. K-1 CHAMPIONSHIP: Asher Kirschbaum, 6½/7. K-1 U500 AND
circumstances, and his queenside pawns UNRATED: Elias Crowder, Calvin Teitler, 7/7. K-6 BLITZ: Vihaan Jammalamadaka,
have yet to advance! 11/12. K-3 BLITZ: Linxi Zhu, 10½/12. BUGHOUSE: B. Lin and T. Yue, 8/10.

33. Rxh3 Rxf4 TEAM WINNERS:

Although I still had to be careful about K-6 CHAMPIONSHIP: Anderson School (New York, NY), 17½. K-6 U1400: P.S. 77 Lower
White’s queenside pawns, I converted the Lab (New York, NY), 19. K-6 U1000: Avondale Gate Magnet School (Rochester Hills,
position reasonably cleanly. MI), 20. K-5 CHAMPIONSHIP: Tag Young Scholars (New York, NY), 18. K-5 U1200:
Success Academy Union Square (New York, NY), 19½. K-5 U900: P.S. 130 The Parkside
School (Brooklyn, NY), 23½. K-3 CHAMPIONSHIP: The Speyer Legacy School (New
PHOTOS: CAROLINE KING

34. b3 Rg4 35. c4 Rxg6 36. b4 Rg2 37. Rc3

Be4+ 38. Ka1 g5 39. a4 Rc2 40. Rg3 Rxc4 York, NY), 21. K-3 U1000: P.S. 77 Lower Lab (New York, NY), 18½. K-3 U700: P.S. 130
41. Rxg5 Rxb4 42. Rg7+ Kd8 43. Ra7 Bb7 The Parkside School (Brooklyn, NY), 21½. K-1 CHAMPIONSHIP: The Speyer Legacy
44. Ka2 Kc8 45. Ka3 Re4 46. Ra5 Bd5 47. School (New York, NY), 20. K-1 U500 AND UNRATED: Dalton (New York, NY), Idlewild
Rb5 Bc6 48. Rc5 Rxa4+ 49. Kb3 Ra6 50. Elementary School (Memphis, TN), 20½.
Kc3 Kd7 51. Kd4 Ra4+ 52. Kd3 Rb4 53. Ra5 For complete results, visit www.uschess.org/results/2023/elem/.
Ra4 54. Rc5 Rb4 55. Ra5 Rb5 56. Ra7+ Bb7

USCHESS.ORG
HES AUGUST 2023 39
COVER STORY Spring Nationals

57. Kc4 Kc6 58. Kd4 Rd5+ 59. Kc4 Rxe5 8. e3 c6 9. Nf3 Kc7 10. Be2 Bb4 15. ... Bf8
60. Ra1 Re4+ 61. Kd3 Rh4 62. Ke3 Kd6 63. Threatening to double the pawns by taking Worse is 15. ... Be7 16. Nf5 when the bishop
Ra5 e5 64. Rb5 Bc6 65. Rb4 Rxb4, White on c3. is attacked with tempo.
resigned.
A rollercoaster of a game indeed! 11. Bxf6 16. Nf5 Nxc4 17. Bxc4 Bxc4 18. Nxf6
White usually shouldn’t give this bishop
away, as the dark squares will be weaker,
OLD INDIAN DEFENSE (A54) but other options didn’t look that good for
Lucius Melillo (2096) White either. For example, after 11. Kc2 Bxc3
Eric Liu (2310) 12. Kxc3? Ne4+ I win material.
National MS Ch (5), 04.22.2023
Annotations by Eric Liu 11. ... gxf6
The doubled pawns aren’t bad because they
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 e5 4. dxe5 help control the center, and they can’t be
With this it seems like White wants to head easily attacked. Here 11. ... Nxf6 is a decent
for an endgame, but he doesn’t have any option too.
advantage there. Instead 4. Nf3 is better,
keeping all the pieces on the board. 12. Ne4 a5
I think this is inaccurate. Probably better Material is equal, but Black might be slightly
4. ... dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bg5 Be6 7. was 12. ... Be7, because now his idea of Nf3- favored because of the bishop pair.
0-0-0+ Nbd7 h4 is met with ... f6-f5 and he loses a piece.
Both sides are developing their pieces. Black’s 18. ... Be6 19. Rd2
king may look misplaced, but after ... .c7-c6 13. Nh4 Inaccurate, as it allowed my next move.
and ... Kd8-c7, it will be perfectly fine. His plan is to play g2-g4 and jump his knight Something normal like 19. e4 was better.
to f5, which will be annoying for Black.
19. ... h5 20. f3
13. ... a4 If the d2-rook was on d1, he could play 20.
Gaining space on the queenside for lack of h3 because the h1-rook would be defended,
better options. but as it stands, this is impossible.

14. g4 Nb6 20. ... hxg4 21. fxg4 Bc5 22. Rc2 b6 23. e4
Leaving the f6-pawn hanging, but his c4- Rh3 24. Rg2 Rah8
pawn is also attacked. Doubling rooks on the h-file to pressure
the pawn.
15. a3
After 15. Nxf6 Be7 was my idea, pinning 25. g5
his knight on f6. Things are good for Black Losing a pawn. I think 25. Nh5, closing up
after 16. g5 h6. the h-file, was better.

Left: Sharath Radhakrishnan in his round 25. ... Bxf5 26. exf5 Rf3 27. g6 fxg6 28.
five game at the K-5. Below: GM Ben Finego- Rxg6
ld played a lot of blitz at the Elementary. Perhaps White was planning to play

PHOTOS: CAROLINE KIN G

40 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 28. fxg6 in his move 25 calculations, but the I don’t think this was needed, as Black was
f6-knight is hanging. going to capture the pawn and ruin his pawn
structure anyway.
28. ... Be3+ 29. Kb1 Rxf5 30. Re1 Bd4 After 26. Rd2 bxc5 27. Bc3 Rxd2 28. Bxd2
the extra pawn is doubled for now.

26. ... Qxc6 27. Re2

If 27. Qc3 Qg6 and with ... c7-c5 being threat-
ened the game is all but over.

27. ... Qxc4 28. Red2 c5!

Simplifying into a winning endgame.
way to do it. There will be an isolated
e-pawn, but the d3-pawn is also weak 29. Be5??
Making things easier for Black. 29. Bc3 was
14. exf5 Bxf5 15. Ne4 Nf6 16. Nxf6+? necessary, but after 29. ... Rd3 30. Rxd3 exd3
I think this is a mistake. Trading is usually a White is dead lost.
I’m up a pawn, and my bishop is very strong good idea when your opponent has an isolated
on d4. pawn, but here the d3-pawn is even weaker, 29. ... Rxd2 30. Rxd2 Qc1+ 31. Kh2 Qxd2,
and the knight was an indirect defender of it. White resigned.
31. Re2 Rf1+ 32. Kc2 Rh1 33. Ng4 Rh3
Preparing to swing the rook to b3. 16. ... Qxf6 17. d4!
Trying to trade the weak pawn before it falls.
34. Rg7+ Kc8 35. Rg2 Rb3 36. Nf6 Rxb2+
37. Kd3 Rb3+ 38. Ke4 Rf1 17. ... e4!
With two mate threats, the game is over. Now Black gets strong initiative on the king-
side.
39. Rg8+ Kb7 40. R2g7+ Ka6 41. Ra8+ Kb5
42. Ng4 Rf4, mate. 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Qxe5
Black is up a pawn and clearly better. What’s
the next step?
RUY LOPEZ, DELAYED
EXCHANGE (C77) 20. Bd4 Qe6 21. Qe3 Qg6 22. b4 b6 23.
Eden You (1717) Rad1 Rd7
Sharath Radhakrishnan (2099) Both sides have been shuffling for a few
National Elem K-5 Ch (4), 05.13.2023 moves. It seems that for now White has sta-
bilized, but the next move changes things.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5.
Bxc6!? 24. c4?
The delayed Exchange Variation of the Ruy
Lopez. White argues that despite the extra
tempo spent on Bb5-a4xc6, Black’s knight
is misplaced on f6.

5. ... dxc6 6. d3 Bd6

The “Fishing Pole” is a popular idea, but here
it doesn’t work: 6. ... Bg4 7. 0-0 Bd6 8. h3 h5
and now the f6-knight impedes the queen.

7. h3 h6 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Re1 Be6 10. Be3 Nd7

11. Nbd2

(see diagram top of next column) This weakens the bishop’s d4-outpost with-
out reason. The pawn should have stayed at
So far both sides have been developing nor- home. White is almost equal after 24. Be5.
PHOTO: CAROLINE KING

mally and the game is about equal. White has

better pawns, but Black has the bishop pair. 24. ... c5 25. bxc5 Rfd8!?
Interesting, but it did not require the pawn
11. ... Qe7 12. c3 Rad8 13. Qe2 f5! sac on the previous move.
Black has to open up the position to make
use of his bishop pair, and this is the best 26. c6?

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 41

 BACK IN
SCHOOL
The world’s youngest
Grandmaster passes key
tests in his personal and
professional life.
BY GM ABHIMANYU MISHRA

you forward can come at any time, edged, and I was happy to prevail in the
and you must be prepared for it. complications.
My “jolt” came in the form of an After a fourth-round draw with GM
invitation from the organizers of TePe Nils Grandelius, it was exciting to play
Sigeman; for that, I will be forever against two of the top rated Indian players,
grateful. Gukesh D and GM Arjun Erigaisi. In both
Sweden is a beautiful country with cases I held solid draws with Black; against
abundant natural beauty. Even though Gukesh, I was even slightly better at one

Y
I was not able to explore the country point, but did not know how to convert.
due to my tight schedule, what I saw in my Such experiences help us grow, and next
journey was breathtaking. I would certainly time I encounter a similar position, I will
ou love to go back and visit it again. know how to play it.
won’t This event — my first “super-tournament” This left me tied for first place after six
find this — was held in Malmo, one of the largest rounds, with a final round pairing against
in a dictionary, but I have cities in Sweden, and the organization was Gelfand ahead. This was a game that will
learned that “life” and “challeng- impeccable. The eight-player round-robin haunt me for a long time.
es” are synonyms. featured a good mix of veterans like GMs The opening didn’t go as planned, and
My chess life has been a challenge Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler alongside after a long struggle, we entered a queen and
for the past year or so. I had been steadi- some of the top young players in the world pawn endgame. I had studied lots of these
ly working hard to improve, but without like GMs Gukesh D and Vincent Keymer. As kinds of endgames, and I was confident
the rating points to show my growth. I the lowest seed by over 100 rating points, that I would get a draw out of that position.
would perform well in some tournaments, this was a chance to prove to myself that But after six hours, and a long fight of 125
reaching a performance rating of 2700, but I could shake my doldrums and play good moves, I lost the game and ended in a tie for
there were other tournaments where my chess. second place behind the deserving winner,
performance was way below my standards. In my first round, I played Svidler with Peter Svidler.
The rating points I gained were washed Black and held him to a solid draw. I thought Playing against Gelfand, a former world
away — easy come, easy go. this was a good start to the event. championship challenger, was an honor,
When the flicker of doubt seeps in, I In the second and third round, I was up and once again, I was reminded that what
believe you must muster all your strength against GM van Foreest and GM Keymer I know about chess is a drop as compared
and work harder to ward off all the negative respectively where I prevailed in both to the ocean of all knowledge. Overall, I had
energy. The decisive event that catapults cases. The games were wild and double an amazing experience playing in my first

42 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

super tournament, and will cherish it for The engine shows that this trade is not ad- On first glance the position after 23. ... Kf7
years to come. visable. Instead I should retreat to d3 as the 24. b5 axb5 25. axb5 cxb5 26. cxd5 e5 27.
knight covers f4: 16. Nd3 Qg5 (16. ... f5? 17. dxe5 Qxe5 is similar to the one after 22.
b4! Nf6 18. b5! Bd7 19. Ne5! with advantage ... h3!. The difference is that here White is
QUEEN’S GAMBIT, CLOSED to White) 17. b4 h4 looks scary for White, fine because the g2-square is under control,
CATALAN (E11) but the engine gives 18. Qc1 with b4-b5 to and the f1-knight is securely guarded by the
GM Abhimanyu Mishra (2550) follow, leading to a better position. bishop on g2. For example, 28. Ra7 Rc7 29.
GM Jorden van Foreest (2689) Rxb5 Bxb5 30. Qxb5 Rb8 31. Nd2 Rc1+ and
TePe Sigeman & Co (2), Malmo, 16. ... Bxd7 17. Nf1 White has Bg2-f1. With ... h4-h3 and Bg2-h1
05.05.2023 The e3-knight was clumsy, blocking the included, the knight would have to retreat.
e-pawn.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. 24. e4!?
Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 Nbd7 7. 0-0 c6 8. Qc2 Ne4 17. ... f5 Not happy with the game thus far, I decided
to change direction. 24. Qxc4 e5 25. dxe5
Bxe5 26. Ra3 also looked quite interesting.

24. ... Be7 25. Ne3 b5?

A mistake. Now my initiative becomes too
strong. The engine recommends 25. ... c3!?
with a wild game ahead.

26. axb5 axb5 27. exf5 exf5 28. Ra7 Rd8

Dodging 28. ... Qxd4? 29. Nxf5!.

29. d5 c5

A rare move in a well-known position. In the 18. b4

short term, Black is going to play ... f7-f5 to Creating counterplay.
fortify the knight on e5. The reason that he
played it before castling is that Black will 18. ... a6
now have more attacking ideas involving ... Here 18. ... Bxb4 19. Qb3 Bd6 (worse is 19.
g7-g5 and perhaps even ... h7-h5. ... a5 20. c5! when the bishop is in trouble)
Modern theory goes along the lines of 8. 20. Qxb7 doesn’t look like an improvement
... 0-0 9. Rd1 b6 10. Bf4 Bb7 11. Ne5 Nh5 etc. for Black.

9. Bf4 g5 10. Be3 19. Rdb1

Perhaps inaccurate, as the bishop can be The alternative 19. a4 Bxb4 20. Qb3 fails to
caught after Black’s knights hop around. 20. ... a5, leaving Black well ahead.
30. d6!
10. ... Nd6 11. Nbd2 19. ... Qf6 20. e3 h4 21. a4 Rc8 22. Qe2 hxg3 A good move, clearing the d5-square for
The engine suggests the wild 11. Na3 Nf5 12. Natural but mistaken. Black should have the knight.
Bd2 g4 13. Ne1 Nxd4 14. Qd3 Nf5 15. cxd5 made the g2-bishop as useless as possible
cxd5 16. e4 with an unclear mess. with 22. ... h3! 23. Bh1 Kf7 and Black is better 30. ... Qxd6 31. Nd5 Rh6
here, although it still will take great effort to After 31. ... cxb4 32. Ra6 Qc5 33. Re1 it is
11. ... h5 convert this into a win. Now 24. b5? is met time to resign.
The “human” move. Also possible was 11. with 24. ... axb5 25. axb5 cxb5 26. cxd5 e5
... Nf5!? directly as Nd2-f1 is not legal here! 27. dxe5 Qxe5 when Black is in full control. 32. Rd1
The engine laughs at my idea of 12. g4 Nxe3 Threatening a nasty check on c7.
13. fxe3 and claims that Black is better after 23. hxg3 dxc4
13. ... h5 14. h3 hxg4 15. hxg4 Bd6! 16. e4 32. ... Re6
Bf4! 17. Qc3 f5! which is, of course, not at This removes the pin but loses the rook.
all easy to see in advance. After 32. ... Kf8 33. Nf4! the black queen has
nowhere to go.
12. Rfd1 Nf5 13. Nf1 g4 14. Ne5 Nxe3
Avoiding 14. ... Nxe5?! 15. dxe5 Nxe3 16. Nxe3 33. Qc2 Qe5 34. Nc7+ Kf8 35. Nxe6+ Qxe6
which is good for White after 16. ... Bd7 (16. 36. Qc3
... Qc7? fails to 17. cxd5 exd5 18. Bxd5 Qxe5 Here 36. Qd2? fails to 36. ... cxb4 37. Rxd7
19. Bxc6+) 17. Rd3 with the idea of Ra1-d1 Rxd7 38. Qxd7 Qxd7 39. Rxd7 b3 and the
and a potential sacrifice on d5. black pawns are a match for the rook!

15. Nxe3 Bd6 16. Nxd7?! 36. ... Bf6 37. Qd2 Bd4

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 43

EVENTS Working Hard

White wins quickly after 37. ... cxb4 38. Qh6+ ... Qb7 17. d5 exd5 18. cxd5 Rfe8 is fine for 25. ... Bxf3 26. Rd6 Qg1+ 27. Rd1 Qb6
Ke7 39. Qh7+ Kf8 40. Bd5. Black, with ideas of ... Ra8-d8 and ... Be7-f8.

38. bxc5 Be8 39. Qg5 Rd7 15. Bc2?

Worse is 39. ... Bxf2+ 40. Kxf2 Rxd1 41. Qg7 What follows is better for White, but here an
mate. opportunity was missed: 15. Bxb7! Qxb7 16.
d5 exd5 17. Rhe1! (I missed this intermediate
40. Rxd7 Qxd7 41. Re1 Bf7 42. Qh6+ Bg7 move; 17. cxd5 Nxd5 18. Rxd5 Qxd5 19. Qxe7
43. Qf4, Black resigned. Rae8 is fine for Black with ... Re8-e2 coming
The c-pawn and the constant mating threats next) 17. ... Bd8 18. cxd5 and Black’s position
convinced Jorden that it was time to throw is in shambles due to lack of coordination.
in the towel.
15. ... cxd4 16. Nxd4 Rad8 17. f3 a6 18. g4
The bishops on c2 and b2 exert enormous
QUEEN’S GAMBIT pressure on Black’s kingside. Here 27. ... Qa7 is the engine suggestion,
DECLINED (D30) although it still claims White is winning
GM Vincent Keymer (2700) 18. ... Bc5 19. Rd3 after 28. gxf6 Bxd1 29. Bxd1 g6 30. a3! and
GM Abhimanyu Mishra (2550) hiding the king on a2.
TePe Sigeman & Co (3), Malmo,
05.06.2023 28. Rd3?
After 28. gxf6 Bxd1 29. Bxd1 Rd8 White is for
1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. d4 e6 5. choice, but I thought that things could get
Nbd2 Be7 6. b3 0-0 7. Bb2 Nbd7 8. Bd3 b6 messy with my idea of ... Qb6-g1+.
9. e4 The cleanest winning move was 28. Rf1!.
While this central thrust is common in this After 28. ... Be2 (28. ... Bg2 was my idea
line, it is a novelty in the current position. during the game, but I missed 29. Rf2! when
White wins a piece) 29. Re1 Bxc4 30. gxf6 g6
9. ... dxe4 10. Nxe4 Bb7 11. Qe2 c5 White has all the chances, but his weak king
means that the game isn’t completely over.

The alternative 19. g5 Nh5 is okay for Black. 28. ... Qg1+
The ending after 28. ... Be4 29. c5 Qxb2+ 30.
19. ... b5 Qxb2 Rxb2+ 31. Kxb2 Bxd3 32. Bxd3 seemed
Interesting, but not the best. Correct is 19. lost for Black.
... Nxg4! 20. Nxe6 Rde8! (this is the move I
missed at the board!), although it turns out 29. Bd1?
that after 20. ... fxe6 21. Rxd8 Qxd8! (and not Repeating the position with 29. Rd1! lets
21. ... Rxd8? 22. Qxe6+ Qf7 23. Bxh7+! when White return to the winning path.
White wins) 22. Qxe6+ Rf7 Black has enough
counterplay to hang on. 29. ... Rc8!
Now Black is back in the game!

PHOTO,PREVIOUS PAGES AND FACING: COURTESY ORGANIZERS / DAVID LLADA

The typical reaction to e3-e4. Black frees 20. Rhd1 bxc4 21. bxc4 Bxd4?!
his position and opens the diagonal for the The counter-intuitive 21. ... h6! is best here. 30. Qc7?
b7-bishop, but at the cost of also opening Usually you should not push pawns in front The last mistake; after this, I wrapped things
lines for the b2-bishop. of your king, but in this case, after 22. h4 up smoothly. The engine claims that 30. Kc1!
Bxd4 23. Rxd4 Rxd4 24. Rxd4 Black has the Bxd1 31. Rxd1 Qg4 32. gxf6 Qxc4+ 33. Kd2
12. 0-0-0!? nice 24. ... Qg3! with equality. is equal, but it takes nerves of steel to play
Ambitious, showing that Keymer is ready this with 30 seconds on the clock.
for a double-edged game. White’s plan is 22. Rxd4 Rxd4 23. Rxd4
to attack on the kingside, while I prepare Now White is in the driver’s seat once more, so 30. ... Re8 31. Rd2 Bxd1 32. gxf6 Bh5+
queenside operations. I made the decision to play for complications. 33. Bc1 Bg6+ 34. Kb2 gxf6 35. h4 Kg7 36.
c5 Qg4 37. Qb7 Qf4 38. Ka3 Qc4 39. Bb2
12. ... Qc7 23. ... Rb8!? Qxc5+ 40. Qb4 Rc8 41. Rd6 a5 42. Qxc5
Vacating the d-file. If Black does nothing, he will lose. As an Rxc5 43. Bd4 Rc4 44. Kb3 Bd3 45. h5 a4+
example: 23. ... e5 24. Rd1 Re8 25. g5 Nh5 46. Ka3 Be2 47. h6+ Kxh6 48. Bxf6 Kg6 49.
13. Kb1 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Nf6? 26. Qd3 g6 27. Qd6 Qxd6 28. Rxd6 and White Be7 h5 50. Rd8 Kg7 51. Bf8+ Kh7 52. Be7
Conceptually and tactically incorrect. I is winning. h4 53. Bf6 Kg6 54. Be7 h3 55. Rh8 Bg4,
should have traded the bishop at first sight. White resigned.
During the game I analyzed 14. ... Bxe4+ 15. 24. g5 Qb6 25. Qe5!
Qxe4 Nf6 and 16. Qe5 was what I was slightly Now 25. gxf6 fails to 25. ... Qxd4 26. Bxd4? Our journey continued on from Malmo, with
worried about, but the engine says that 16. Bxf3+. travel to Sharjah and Dubai to play in the

44 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

Sharjah Masters and Dubai Open respec- stint in Europe when I was chasing my GM at 0/3, I saw myself as beginning a new,
tively. Naturally I was hungry to continue norms. If I could do it then, I told myself, I six-round event, and I was determined to
playing after such a solid result, but there could do it now. show my mettle.
was another reason for this itinerary — I The Sharjah Masters started on a bad With two wins and four draws, I played
had to take my exams for the British Council note when I lost my first two games, par- well, gaining six rating points in the process.
IGCSE at the Dubai World Trade Center. It tially due to time pressure (there was no I consider it a satisfactory result. I was able
was a case, as they say, of killing two birds second time control) and partially due to to come back after initial struggles, stop
with one stone. the rigors of my studies, which culminated the bleeding of rating points, and as for my
Some might wonder about the wisdom in a third-round, zero-point bye to sit for exam, it was a success! Congratulations to
of playing so much high-level chess while my examination. This left me at 0/3, last in the winner, Arjun Erigaisi, and also to the
also working on my schooling. But I was an all-GM field. But with my exam behind three Americans — GMs Hans Niemann,
determined, drawing upon my experienc- me, I decided that I had to step up and take Grigoriy Oparin, and Sam Sevian — who
es of back-to-back-to-back events from my control of the situation. Instead of being finished tied for second place.

You won’t find this in a

dictionary, but I have
learned that “life”
and “challenges”
are synonyms.

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 45

EVENTS Working Hard

the position looks like a clear pawn up for

MODERN DEFENSE (B06) White, but it’s hard to start a kingside attack
GM Abhimanyu Mishra (2550) with the knight on g4. Now 13. f3? fails to
GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (2596) 13. ... Nxe3 14. Qxe3 e5! when Black opens
Sharjah Masters (7), Sharjah, the long diagonal as 15. d5? is met with 15.
05.23.2023 ... Bh6! and ... f7-f6, winning a piece.

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nc3 a6 4. Be3 b5 5. Qd2 9. ... Nf6 10. f3

The point of this setup is to play 0-0-0, Preventing the knight from landing on g4.
h2-h4-h5, Be3-h6 in most cases, trade the
g7-bishop, and try to attack Black imme- 10. ... Bxh3
diately. And Black prevents the knight from land-
ing on g5! 17. e5?!
5. ... d6 6. 0-0-0 Nd7 7. h4 Premature. Instead 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Bxc5
Proceeding with my plan. 11. Rxh3 Nfd7 Qxc5 19. Rf3 with the idea of f4-f5 was to
Prophylaxis against e4-e5, and preparing be preferred.
7. ... h5 8. Nh3 Nb6 ... c7-c5
17. ... Nb6?
12. Ne2 This is inaccurate. Black had to strike while
With the idea of solidifying the center next the iron was hot with 17. ... cxd4!.
with c2-c3. Compare this with the capture on the next
An alternative way to play this position move; here, White does not have the option
was 12. f4!?, trying to limit the g7-bishop. to capture on d4 with the bishop as he would
Play continues 12. ... c5 13. dxc5 Nxc5 (not lose a pawn. So after 18. cxd4 Nb6 19. Nc3 d5
13. ... dxc5? 14. e5 with a great position) Black can play ... e7-e6 and start attacking the
14. Be2 0-0 15. f5 with a very complicated white king along the b-file. It’s not simple to
game ahead. find counterplay for White. The best the en-
gine can do is the ridiculous looking 20. f5!?
12. ... c5 13. c3 Rb8 Qxf5+ 21. Ka1 to try to generate any activity.
Potentially preparing for ... b5-b4 ideas.
9. Bd3 18. Qc2
The point of this move is that ... b5-b4 will 14. Kb1 Qc8 Naturally 18. exd6? Na4 is simply winning
now be met with Nc3-e2 and I don’t have to Here 14. ... Nc4 15. Bxc4 bxc4 16. dxc5 would for Black as there is no defense to ... Rb8xb2.
worry about ... Nb6-c4 anymore. ruin Black’s structure.
Another path was 9. Ng5 b4!? and now (a) 18. ... 0-0
10. Ne2 10. ... Nc4 11. Qxb4 Nxe3 12. fxe3 15. f4 Now 18. ... cxd4 is much weaker. After 19.
Nh6 doesn’t look so clear, as Black sticks the Gaining space on the kingside at the cost of Bxd4 dxe5 20. Bxe5 Bxe5 21. fxe5 0-0 White
knight on g4 and has the two bishops. (b) the light squares and flexibility. plays 22. Ka1, calmly stepping off the b-file.
10. Nb1 Nf6!? is another interesting pawn This is still quite complicated, but I believe
sacrifice. After 11. Qxb4 Ng4 12. Qe1 0-0 15. ... Nc4 16. Bxc4 bxc4 White should be a bit better. For example,
the natural 22. ... Rd8? is already a huge mis-
take after 23. Nd4 Qg4 24. Rf1 when Rh3-f3,
Nd4-c6, and even e5-e6 are threats.

19. dxc5
Taking my chance to ruin his structure.

19. ... dxc5 20. Qe4

The idea behind this move was to prevent
PHOTO: COURTESY ORGANIZERS / DAVID LLADA

the black queen from reaching c6, but there

is a hidden resource lurking that eluded
both players.
In this position the computer recom-
mends 20. Bc1! to defend the b2-pawn. This
move would not be simple to decide upon
at the board, but the idea is 20. ... Qc6 21.
g4! hxg4 22. Rh2 with h4-h5 and a huge at-
tack coming.

20. ... f5
Good idea, but played too early. The right

46 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 way is 20. ... Re8! 21. Ka1 and only now 21. Open was held at the Dubai Chess and Cul-
... f5! when Black is taking over. If 22. exf6?! ture Club. The club itself features some
e.p. exf6 23. Qxg6? Qg4! 24. Qxg4 hxg4 25. captivating architecture. The building is
Rg3 f5 and the rook is trapped on g3! shaped in the form of a rook, and has a
checkered floor pattern. It also houses a
21. exf6 e.p. Rxf6 22. Rg3 fine library and cafeteria, making it a first-
Here 22. Bc1!? is also interesting, with the class place to play.
idea to slide the rook to e3. I played relatively well in Dubai, bar-
ring early one game that I lost. With draws
22. ... Qe6 23. Qxe6+?! against strong 2660+ players like GMs Saleh
The engine points out that 23. Qc2 Qf5 24. Salem and M.Amin Tabatabaei, and an inter-
Qxf5 is a better way of doing things as after esting win against 2618-rated GM Aleksandar
24. ... Rxf5 25. Kc2 the rook is much worse Indjic, I was generally happy with my per-
placed on f5 than it would be on e6. formance, and I gained 17 rating points. At
six points from nine games, I finished in a
23. ... Rxe6 24. Kc2 Re4?! huge tie for second place. Congratulations to
Too direct. Better was a simple move like GMs Chithambaram Vr. Aravindh, Javokhir
24. ... Kf7! 25. Rf3 Bf6 26. g3 Na4 27. b3 Nb6 Sindarov, Arjun Erigaisi, and Maxim Matla-
with an interesting endgame ahead. kov, who shared top honors at 6½/9.

25. Rf3 e5 26. Rd2

SICILIAN DEFENSE,
ROSSOLIMO VARIATION (B30)
GM Abhimanyu Mishra (2550)
GM Masoud Mosadeghpour (2479)
23rd Dubai Open | A (7), Dubai,
06.02.2023

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. 0-0 Nge7

5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Qb6 7. Nxc6 dxc6 8.
Bc4 Ng6 9. Kh1 e5
I don’t want to delve too deeply into the
opening theory, but this is an interesting
move aimed at preventing f2-f4.
Now I’m threatening Be3xc5, and it’s not
easy to make a move for Black. 10. Qf3 Qc7 11. Rd1
The alternative 26. Ng3 lets Black off the Threatening 12. Bxf7 Qxf7 13. Rd8+.
hook after 26. ... Rxe3 27. Rxe3 exf4 28. Re6
fxg3 with equality. 11. ... Nf4 12. Bxf4 exf4

26. ... Na4?

A blunder. Instead 26. ... exf4 27. Bxf4 Rbe8
28. Ng3 was to be preferred, but Black still
faces issues due to his bad pawn structure.

27. b3 cxb3+ 28. axb3 exf4

Perhaps 28. ... Nb6 29. Kd3 is what he missed
in his calculations.
PHOTOS: COURTESY ORGANIZERS / DAVID LLADA

29. Bxf4
Winning material by force.

29. ... Rbe8 30. Ng3 Rxf4 31. Rxf4 Nxc3 13. e5!
32. Rd7! This pawn sacrifice is critical, as it opens
Cleanest. I activate my rooks and bring home lines against the king.
the full point.
13. ... Qxe5 14. Qb3 Bc5?
32. ... Nb5 33. Re4 Rb8 34. Ne2, Black Unfortunately, this fails tactically. Instead
resigned. 14. ... Be7 15. Bxf7+ Kf8 was the right way
to go, although I still believe White’s play is
Next we headed to Dubai, where the Dubai easier after 16. Nc3 Qf6 17. Bh5.

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 47

EVENTS Working Hard

25. f4 Qf5

18. Qxg8 f3
26. Ng5+
Here I had calculated till the ending and
decided it was winning. But I had missed
something much simpler! Just 26. Rd8! and
Black has to resign.

26. ... Kf8 27. Re1

The engine claims that 27. Rd2 is easier, but
by this point, it does not matter.

27. ... Qd5+ 28. Qg2 Qxg2+ 29. Kxg2 h6

30. Ne6+ Bxe6 31. Rxe6 Bxf4 32. Rd1 Re8
33. Rxe8+ Kxe8 34. h3
19. Qd8+? The ending is a clear win.
Missing a chance to end the game imme-
diately. 34. ... Ke7 35. Kf3 Bc7 36. Ke4 Ke6 37. Rd3
While 19. gxf3?? Bg4 is disastrous, the g5 38. Rb3 b6 39. Rc3 c5 40. Ra3 a5 41.
winning 19. g4!! had completely escaped my Rf3 Bf4 42. c4 Bd6 43. a4 Be7 44. Rf5 Bf6
Top: Mishra does battle with Gelfand and
stares down the photographer. Above: In attention. Black cannot develop any coun- 45. Rd5 h5 46. b3 Be7 47. Re5+ Kf6 48.
conversation with Jorden van Foreest. terplay and is hopelessly lost: 19. ... Bxg4 Kd5 Bd8 49. Re8 Bc7 50. Rf8+ Kg6 51. Kc6
(or 19. ... Bc5 20. Re1 Be3 21. Nd1 and wins) Be5 52. Kxb6 g4 53. hxg4 hxg4 54. Kxa5
20. Qxa8 Bh3 21. Qxb7+ and White wins. g3 55. Rf1 Bd4 56. Kb6, Black resigned.
15. Bxf7+ Ke7 16. Nc3
This does win, but things get complicated 19. ... Kf7 20. gxf3 Qf4 21. Qd3 Bb6 22. With the final games of my journey out of the PHOTOS: COURTESY ORGANIZERS / DAVID LLADA

against best defense. Qe4! way, the work was not yet done as I still had
A stronger version of the same idea is Forcing the queen back to f6, after which two more exams to sit for. But soon enough I
16. Nd2! as after 16. ... Bxf2 17. Bg8 as 17. Nc3-e4 comes with tempo. was boarding the plane to return home, and
... Kf6 is now impossible due to (while 17. my travels were coming to an end.
... Qf5 fails to 18. Ne4! Be3 19. Nd6 and Black 22. ... Qf6 Looking out over the ocean, I could not
is busted.) 18. Qf7+ Kg5 19. Nf3+ and mates. If 22. ... Qh6 23. Qe5! followed by Nc3-e4 help but feel some pride and accomplish-
is killing. ment, as I had performed to the best of my
16. ... Bxf2 17. Bg8 Rxg8 capabilities. The player who left New Jersey
An interesting practical try. I overlooked 23. Qe2! Bc7 24. Ne4 Qe5 rated 2550 FIDE was coming back with a 2591
the more resilient 17. ... Kf6! when 18. Rf1! The alternative 24. ... Qh6 25. Rg1 Bf5 26. rating, and a number of important exams
is the only winning move. The line goes 18. Ng5+ Kf8 27. Rae1 should also be technically out of the way as well. Now I’m looking to
... Bg4 19. Qf7+ Kg5 20. Ne4+ Qxe4 21. Qxg7+ winning as Black lacks time to coordinate build on what I learned in those games, and
Qg6 22. Qxh8 when White is up an Exchange. his pieces. to my next tournaments as well.

48 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

SOLITAIRE CHESS Instruction

7. Par Score 5 c5
Botvinnik chooses a sharp, double-edged
variation, playing for attack. You may accept

Individual
full credit for 7. ... g5, 7. ... 0-0, or 7. ... Nc6.

8. 0-0-0
In turn, Keres plays too generally. With the d5-
pawn being potentially weak, and Black uncas-

Dominance tled, 8. dxc5 was a more natural continuation.**

8. Par Score 6 Bxc3

On the surface, a tough move to play, surren-
How Botvinnik put the whammy on dering a bishop for a knight. But Botvinnik
has a whole scheme of attack worked out.
Paul Keres. Accept full credit for 8. ... g5.

BY BRUCE PANDOLFINI 9. Qxc3

Keres opts to keep his connected queenside
pawns together, taking back with the queen.
Nonetheless, White’s queen and king are
soon assailable.**

S OME GREAT PLAYERS HAVE

trouble with certain other
great players. Over a 10-year
period (1938-48), featuring
Now ensure that the position above is set up
on your chessboard. As you play through the
remaining moves in this game, use a piece
of paper to cover the article, exposing Black’s
9. Par Score 5 g5
The plan continues, beginning with break-
ing the pin. Less good would have been 9.
... cxd4 10. Bxf6.
twelve games, Paul Keres had an abysmal next move only after trying to guess it. If
score against Mikhail Botvinnik, losing six you guess correctly, give yourself the par 10. Bg3**
and drawing six. He finally won their 13th score. Sometimes points are also awarded
encounter, but never quite caught up. Here for second-best moves, and there may even 10. Par Score 5 cxd4
is Botvinnik’s (Black’s) initial 1941 victory be bonus points — or deductions — for other The c-file is opened. You may accept full
over Keres during the Absolute Champion- moves and variations. Note that ** means credit for 10. ... Ne4, but the text is more con-
ship of the Soviet Union. There’s nothing that Black’s move is on the next line.** sistent, keeping the d5-pawn secure for now.
spectacular about it, just a feeling of an
unstoppable force juggernauting to victory. 4. Par Score 5 d5 11. Qxd4
It is hard to find another such total bashing This advance stops 5. e4. You may accept The queen comes off the vulnerable c-file,
of an elite player. The contest began, inno- full credit for 4. ... 0-0, 4. ... c5, or 4. ... Nc6. but no better was 11. Rxd4, which would
cently enough, as a classical Nimzo-Indian still wind up losing time.**
Defense. 5. cxd5
White plays to fix the center. Both 5. Nf3 11. Par Score 5 Nc6
and 5. Bg5 were also worthy.** Black develops at White’s expense. The
NIMZO-INDIAN DEFENSE, White queen must move again.
CLASSICAL VARIATION (E34) 5. Par Score 5 exd5
Paul Keres Black takes back, clearing the c8-h3 diago- 12. Qa4
Mikhail Botvinnik nal, with an equal position. Taking with the This saves the queen and pins the knight. Given
USSR Absolute Championship (3), queen is fine as well, and earns full credit. the time, White will safeguard his king and
Leningrad/Moscow, 1941 try to proceed against the isolated d-pawn.**
6. Bg5
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 After this move, White can play e2-e3, with- 12. Par Score 6 Bf5
out locking the dark-squared bishop inside Keres was hoping to play 13. Kb1, but this
the pawn chain. Moreover, queenside cas- strong developing move stops it.
tling is now possible.**
13. e3
6. Par Score 5 h6 White has to get more pieces out. His lack
Botvinnik puts the question to the bishop. of kingside development is already entailing
Are you going to take the f6-knight or main- problems.**
tain the pin by retreating to h4? Accept full
credit for 6. ... 0-0 or 6. ... Nc6. 13. Par Score 5 Rc8
Another strong placement, with a potential to
7. Bh4 discover against the white king. Fortunately for
The pin is maintained.** Keres, the c6-knight remains pinned — for now.

50 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 ABCS OF CHESS PROBLEM 1
Mating net
PROBLEM 2
Mating net
PROBLEM 3
Mating net
THESE PROBLEMS ARE ALL
related to key positions in
this month’s game. In each case,
White is to move. The answers
can be found in Solutions on
page 63.

AUGUST EXERCISE:
Let’s say you’re thinking of
reading an instructional chess
book and can’t decide whether
it might work for you. Consider PROBLEM 4 PROBLEM 5 PROBLEM 6
the following. Spend 10 minutes Mating net Mating net Mating net
or so reading the descriptive
comments, without reviewing
the analysis. If writers are any
good, they will likely spell out
their thinking in nice paragraphs
and explanatory sections. The
analysis will just confirm their
ideas. But if the verbal parts are
not clear, the book might not be
as helpful as you’d like.

14. Bd3 The first material gain. Black is up a pawn, Keres tries to obstruct the vulnerable b1-h7
Keres develops the king-bishop and tempo- still with an overwhelming game. diagonal.**
rarily closes the b1-h7 diagonal. He aims to
play 14. Kb1, or as soon as he can.** 18. Ka1 21. Par Score 5 Nc2+
The threat was 18. ... Nxg3, unvailing an
14. Par Score 5 Qd7 attack to the pinned d3-rook. Keres must 22. Kb1**
Another relevant developing move. It de- have realized his king was yet in danger.
fends the f5-bishop and enables the c6- Note he’s playing with two kingside pieces 22. Par Score 5 Nb4
knight to move with discovery. remaining on the home rank.** Crush!! Either White’s queen goes or it’s
mate. Sheer mastery over a chess giant.
15. Kb1 18. Par Score 5 0-0
Finally, Keres extricates his king from the Move 18 and Botvinnik finally castles! He has 23. White resigned.
c-file. But this doesn’t save the day.** some structural weaknesses, but they are ir-
relevant. He’s now ready to cash in big time.
15. Par Score 5 Bxd3+
Everything with tempo. Another forced 19. Rd1
response for White. Keres saves his rook and tries to secure the TOTAL YOUR SCORE
home rank.** TO DETERMINE
16. Rxd3** YOUR APPROXIMATE
19. Par Score 6 b5 RATING BELOW:
16. Par Score 6 Qf5 An unexpected resource. Botvinnik’s bril- Total Score Approx. Rating
A very troubling pin for White. Black’s piec- liant strategy has led to a tactical resolution.
es are really menacing, and all this without
95+ 2400+
having yet castled! The position is already 20. Qxb5 81-90 2200-2399
winning for Black. This is as good as any of the other “safe” 66-80 2000-2199
queen moves. Black’s harmonious forces
17. e4 now bring home the point.** 51-65 1800-1999
Keres abandons a pawn, just to survive. 36-50 1600-1799
Award yourself 1 bonus point if you planned 20. Par Score 6 Nd4
21-35 1400-1599
to answer either 17. Qa3 or 17. Qb3 by 17. The knight can’t be taken because of the
... Nb4.** back rank mate. 06-20 1200-1399
0-05 under 1200
17. Par Score 5 Nxe4 21. Qd3

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 51

ENDGAME SCHOOL Instruction

This is the key to White’s combination; it is

the superior rook placement that clinches
White’s victory. As the pawn advances —
and it will get at least two squares forward

Step by Step — the Black rook is diminished while the

White rook gains mobility. Without this
move the extra pawn might not be enough
to win.
The following line show the foolishness
The Patriarch shows the way in this of trying to force a queen by trickery: 34.
h3 Rb2 35. Re8+ Kf7 36. Rb8 h5 37. b5 Kg6
common rook endgame. (notice how Black creates counterplay on
the kingside by advancing his king there,
BY GM JOEL BENJAMIN knowing the rook will take care of the passed
pawn) 38. b6 Rb1+ 39. Kh2 Rb3 40. Kg1
Rb2 41. b7 Kg5 and Black, not duped into
exposing his king to a killing check, is in
no danger.

I CAN’ T STRESS ENOUGH

how important endgame fun-
damentals are for amateur
players. One of my favorite
34. ... Kf7 35. b5 Ke6
Sometimes the defense is improved by
blocking the pawn farther back. After 35.
... Rc7 36. b6 Rb7 37. Kg1 Ke6 38. Kf2 Black
has a choice of how to play his king:
technical rook endings was won many years Going after the pawn is too slow: 38. ...
ago by one of the all-time greats, Mikhail Kd5 39. Kg3 Kc6 40. Kg4 Rxb6 (40. ... Rf7 41.
Botvinnik. As we break down this endgame b7! forces a winning pawn ending) 41. Rxb6+
piece by piece, we can see that Botvinnik Kxb6 42. Kf5 Kc7 43. Ke6 and the king feasts
hardly broke a sweat to win; his endgame on Black’s pawns.
education took him all the way through. Waiting doesn’t help either: 38. ... Kd5
39. Kg3 Ke6 40. Kf4 Kf6 41. Ke4 (White can
also play directly on the kingside like the
FRENCH DEFENSE, TAR- 29. ... fxe5 game) 41. ... Ke6 42. Kd4 Kd6 43. Kc4 Kc6
RASCH VARIATION (C09) After 29. ... Rxc6 30. Nf7+ Kg8 31. Nxd8 (not 44. h4 Kd7 (eventually the king will have to
Mikhail Botvinnik 31. Rxe8+? Qxe8 32. Rxe8+ Kxf7 33. Re2 Rc4 give ground) 45. Kb5 Kc8 46. Ka6 Rf7 47. Re1
Isaak Boleslavsky with equality) 31. ... Rxd8 32. c4 White keeps and the b-pawn decides the game.
USSR Absolute Championship (11), two queenside passers. Finally, 38. ... Kd7 39. Kg3 Kc8 is similar
Leningrad/Moscow, 04.11.1941 to the game, though Black’s rook is better
30. Qxe8+! Qxe8 31. Rxe5 Qg8! placed.
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Boleslavsky stays in the game, forcing White
Bb5+ Nc6 6. Ngf3 Bd6 7. 0-0 Nge7 8. dxc5 to part with the c-pawn. 36. b6 Rc8
Bxc5 9. Nb3 Bb6 10. Be3 Bxe3 11. Bxc6+
bxc6 12. fxe3 0-0 13. Qd2 Qb6 14. Qc3 Rb8 32. Re8 Rxc2 33. Rxg8+ Kxg8
15. Rab1 Re8 16. Rfe1 Ng6 17. Nc5 Bg4
18. Nd4 Ne5 19. b4 Rbd8 20. e4 dxe4 21.
Rxe4 a5 22. a3 axb4 23. axb4 f6 24. Rbe1
Kh8 25. Kh1 Bd7 26. Nxd7 Rxd7 27. Qxc6
Qd8 28. Nf3 Rc7

STEP 1: SIMPLIFY
(see diagram top of next column)

29. Nxe5!
There is no question that White is winning
after the simple retreat 29. Qa4, either here STEP 3: MAKE SURE THE
or on the next move. However, there is al- PAWN ENDING WILL WIN
ways a chance for a mistake with a lot of STEP 2: ROOK BEHIND THE
pieces on the board. When you see a chance PAWN 37. h3!
to simplify into a position you can be certain Passed pawns must be pushed, but not
of winning, go for it. 34. Rb1! without proper consideration. White has to

52 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 ENDGAME PROBLEM 1 PROBLEM 2
HOMEWORK How does White break through? Time to build a bridge.

IT WOULDN’T BE ENDGAME
School without a bit of
homework. Test your mettle
on these “all the way” liqui-
dations.
Try your hand at these two
problems, which are based
on analysis from the game
in this month’s column. An-
WHITE TO MOVE WHITE TO MOVE
swers appear on page 63.

make sure that his b-pawn will do its job of

providing entry for his king. After the hasty
37. b7? Rb8 38. Kg1 Kd6 39. Kf2 Kc7 40. Ke3
Rxb7 41. Rxb7+ Kxb7 42. Kd4 Kc6 43. Ke5
Kd7 Black holds.

37. ... Rb8 38. Kh2 Kd5 39. Kg3 Kc6

STEP 5: USE THE KING AND STEP 6: KEEP THE KING CUT
ROOK TO MAKE A USEFUL OFF AND EXECUTE THE
PASSED PAWN LUCENA METHOD
44. h4 57. Rf7
With one more piece working in that sector, Cutting the king off by files is the most fa-
White should have no problem winning a miliar pattern, but White can also win by
kingside pawn. Note that White would pre- cutting the king by ranks: 57. Ra7 Ke6 58. g7
STEP 4: KEEP THE BLACK fer to retain the g-pawn, as rook pawns are Rh1+ 59. Kg6 Rg1+ 60. Kh7 Rh1+ (60. ... Kf6
ROOK CONTAINED much harder to promote in many endings, 61. Ra6+ Kf7 62. g8=Q+ Rxg8 63. Ra7+ picks
including rook and pawn versus rook. up the rook) 61. Kg8 Rb1 62. Ra6+ Ke7 63.
40. Kg4! Kh7 Rh1+ 64. Rh6 and wins.
The alternative 40. Kf4 Rf8+ 41. Ke5 Kb7 44. ... Ka6 45. h5 Kb7 46. g4 Ka6 47. Kh4
gives Black some hope that his rook can Kb7 57. ... Ke6
function, although White should still win Black can eliminate the g-pawn, but the It was 1941. Perhaps the Lucena wasn’t
with best play. h-pawn will go too fast: 47. ... h6 48. Rg6 Kb7 quite as routine as it is now. Black plays on
49. g5 hxg5+ 50. Kg4 Rf8 (otherwise 51. h6) too long for a grandmaster, but we see the
40. ... Kb7 41. Re1! 51. Rxg7+ Kxb6 52. h6 Rf1 53. Rxg5 and the winning plan play out.
The rook has reaped the benefits of sitting pawn soon promotes.
behind the passed pawn, and now looks to 58. Rf2 Ra1 59. g7 Rh1+ 60. Kg6 Rg1+ 61.
attack Black’s pawns. The sloppy 41. Kf5? 48. h6 gxh6 49. Rxh6 Rg7 50. Kh5 Ka6 Kh7 Rh1+ 62. Kg8 Ke7 63. Re2+ Kd7
Rf8+ 42. Ke6 Rf2 stumbles headfirst to a The h7-pawn cannot be held: 50. ... Re7 51. Here 63. ... Kf6 64. Kf8 wins on the spot, so
draw. g5 Rd7 52. Re6 Rf7 53. Kh6 Rd7 54. Re8 Kxb6 more distance is created.
55. Rh8 wins as in the game.
41. ... Rg8 64. Re4 Rh2 65. Kf7 Rf2+ 66. Kg6 Rg2+ 67.
Now 41. ... Kxb6 42. Rb1+ produces a sneaky 51. Rc6! Kf6 Rf2+
liquidation. This nice finesse reminds Black that he can If Black waits with 67. ... Rg1, perfecting
never enter the pawn ending. the bridge with 68. Re5 is the simplest path
42. Re6 Ka6 43. Kg5 Kb7 to victory.
The rook can hardly escape, e.g., 43. ... Rd8 51. ... Re7 52. Rc7 Re5+ 53. g5 Kxb6 54.
44. b7+ Ka7 45. Re7. Rxh7 Kc6 55. Kh6 Kd6 56. g6 Re1 68. Kg5 Rg2+ 69. Rg4, Black resigned.

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 53

BOOKS AND BEYOND Should I Buy It?

Streamers on the
King’s Pawn, Part II
Kraai and Rozman on 1. e4 c5
BY IM JOHN WATSON

L AST MONTH WE LOOKED AT

some Chessable repertoires
with 1. e4 by Levy Rozman
is surprisingly safe. Against slow moves,
the pawn advances g2-g4 and h2-h4-h5 are
dangerous. Rozman is in his element in such
and Jesse Kraai, in particular lines, showing many fancy tactical nuances.
their solutions to 1. e4 e5. We saw that, due
to their open and often forcing nature, it 7. f4 Nf6
was a real challenge to find double e-pawn Here 7. ... e5 8. Nb5! Bxf4 9. Qxd6 works
lines that were both interesting and not ex- out nicely for White, and 7. ... f5 8. Bb2 Nf6
cessively theoretical. Tackling the Sicilian 9. Bd3 is an important line which Rozman
Defense, 1 e4 c5, is not easy either, but White covers in great detail.
does have the choice of entering positions
that are both less thoroughly worked out 8. Bb2 e5
and provide playable options throughout. This is a system made popular by Magnus The alternative 8. ... 0-0 hasn’t been as suc-
Since the theory of the Open Sicilian, 1. e4 Carlsen. It is currently fashionable, but cessful, but even if 9. 0-0-0 a5! 10. a4 Nb4
c5 2. Nf3 and 3. d4, is absurdly extensive and still relatively fresh and full of possibilities. 11. Kb1 Qb6 12. Nf3 Bg4 has scored well for
difficult, many anti-Sicilian repertoires use White, Black’s queenside pressure looks real
an all-purpose move like 2. c3 (the Alapin), 5. ... g6 to me, and Rozman’s main line ( just one
or 2. Nf3 with a positional intent, for exam- The fianchetto is played more than twice of numerous possibilities) leads to a draw
ple, 2. ... Nc6 3. Bb5 (the Rossolimo, which as often as 5. ... Nf6, when after 6. b3 e6 7. by perpetual check. Plenty to think about.
appears in seven Chessable repertoires), 2. Bb2, the move 7. ... Be7 is normal, leading
... d6 3. Bb5+ (or 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4), or 2. ... to double-edged play after 8. 0-0-0 0-0 9. f4. 9. g3 0-0 10. 0-0-0 Re8
e6 3. c3 (or 3. b3 or 3. g3). Over the decades, Here Rozman shows some deep analysis Rozman covers many typical mistakes that
we’ve regularly seen such repertoires rec- after 9. ... a6 10. g4!? Nxg4 11. Nf3 intending Black plays in these positions. Things get
ommended in books and articles. Rh1-g1 with a pretty attack. If I were pre- tactical at this point no matter what Black
Refreshingly, both Rozman and Kraai paring this line, I’d look at 9. ... Qa5 10. Kb1 plays, e.g., 10. ... exf4 11. gxf4 Nh5 12. Nd5
choose 2. Nc3, following unique variations Rd8, intending ... d6-d5. And going back, an or 10. ... Nd4 11. Nge2 Bg4 12. Nxd4! Bxd1
which have been only rarely played until obvious try is 7. ... d5 8. exd5 exd5 9. 0-0-0 13. Qxd1 exd4 14. Qxd4 with great play for
the past few years. These lines have the Be6 with unbalanced but dynamically equal the Exchange.
advantage of flexibility, although in return isolated queen’s pawn play.
White cannot expect more than equality 11. Kb1 Nd4!? 12. Nge2 Bg4 13. Nxd4!?
versus natural play. 6. b3 Bh6 Another try is 13. Bg2, hoping for 13. ... Rc8?
Let’s start with 2. ... d6, a move many Because of Carlsen’s use of this system, a 14. Nxd4! Bxd1 15. Rxd1 exd4 16. Qxd4 Bg7
Najdorf and Dragon players will play so that great number of games have been played 17. Nb5! Nh5 18. Qxa7! with a winning game.
after 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4, they will with it in just the past two years. Here the
be in familiar territory. Rozman meets 2. natural 6. ... Bg7 7. Bb2 Nf6 8. 0-0-0 0-0 9. f3 13. ... exd4
... d6 with 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Qd2. has scored very well for White, whose king Also unclear is 13. ... Bxd1 14. Nxd1 exd4

54 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

15. Qxd4.

14. Qxd4 Bg7 15. Rc1!? Nxe4 16. Qxg7+!

Kxg7 17. Nxe4+ Kf8 18. Nf6 h5 19. Nh7+
A very courageous player might try 19.
Nxg4!? hxg4 20. h3 Re3 21. hxg4 Ke7 22. g5
with some dangerous threats.

19. ... Kg8 20. Nf6+

With a draw by repetition.

Kraai has a more flexible approach, using

2. Nc3 d6 3. f4.

The general idea is Ng1-f3, Bf1-b5, and

d2-d3, exchanging off the light-squared
bishop and putting the central pawns on There is plenty of play in such positions.
light squares. This can lead to a positional
struggle, but Kraai likes to attack when 7. 0-0-0
possible, as in the line 3. ... Nf6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Another path is 7. exd5 Nb4 (7. ... Nxd5 8.
Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bxd7+ Qxd7 (he says that 6. ... Nxd5 exd5 9. 0-0-0 Be6 10. Kb1 Bd6 is equal)
Nbxd7 is weaker than 6. ... Qxd7, but after 8. Qe2 Nbxd5 9. 0-0-0 Qa5 with equality.
his main continuation 7. d3 Bg7 8. 0-0 0-0
9. Qe1, the move 9. ... e6 has done well and 7. ... d4 8. Nb5 e5 9. Bxe5! Nxe5 10. Qg3
should be fine) 7. d3 Bg7 8. 0-0 Nc6 9. Qe1 Nfd7 11. Nf3! a6! 12. Nxe5 axb5 13. Bxb5
0-0 10. Qh4 Nd4 and now the speculative Rxa2 14. c4 Ra5
11. f5!? Nxc2 12. Rb1 Nb4 (these are not Or 14. ... Qf6, e.g., 15. Nxd7 Bxd7 16. Qb8+
the only moves, of course) 13. Bh6 Nxd3 Ke7 17. Bxd7 Kxd7 18. Qxb7+ Kd8 with an-
14. Ng5. While this terribly complicated other equal position. He does a good job of providing solid lines
position is unclear after 14. ... Nh5, White for White with ample explanations of strat-
certainly has attacking chances. 15. Rxd4 Rxb5 16. cxb5 Qc7+! 17. Kb1 egy, one exciting line going 5. ... a6 6. Nxc6
It’s hard to find an original yet effective Nxe5 bxc6 (6. ... dxc6 7. Qxd8+ Kxd8 8. Bf4) 7. Bd3
solution to 2. ... e6. The traditional 3. g3 d5 Rozman gives 17. ... Bd6 18. Rc1 Qxc1+ 19. d5 8. 0-0 Qc7 9. Re1 Bb7 10. Qf3 Bd6 11. e5!
and 3. f4 d5 4. Nf3 dxe4 are well worked out Kxc1 Bxe5 20. Qe3 Bxd4 21. Qxd4 and stops Bxe5 (11. ... Bf8!?) 12. Qh5 Bd6 13. Rxe6+
and not particularly inspiring, so it’s not sur- here. Black’s position is okay, e.g., 21. ... with attack. Here 13. ... Kf8 is not so bad, but
prising that both authors look for something 0-0 22. f4 Re8 23. b3 Nf6 24. e5 Nd7 25. Kb2 White has the practical attacking chances.
a bit more exciting. Rozman recommends Nf8 26. Qd3 g6. Of course the Open Sicilian is theo-
3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4, a rather new idea he ry-heavy, and Kraai sometimes neglects to
calls the “Tari Sicilian.” White loses a whole 18. Rc1 Qb8 19. Rxc8+ Qxc8 20. Qxe5+ give enough guidance. In the Four Knights
tempo after 4. ... Nc6 5. Qd3, but intends to Be7 21. Qxg7 Rf8 Variation 5. ... Nf6, for example, he gives 6.
castle queenside and attack later. And again the play is level after 22. f3, while Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8. Ne4, says there’s a
One main line goes: other draws are possible, including 22. Rd5!? lot of theory and “it can get really intense,”
Qc4!? 23. Qe5 Qf1+ 24. Ka2 Qc4+. but he thinks it’s just “a nice position for
5. ... Nf6 6. Bf4 d5 White.” Considering that there have been
Other moves seem okay here: (a) 6. ... Bb4 Against 2. ... e6 , Kraai suggests 3. Nf3 , many articles and books recommending
7. Nge2 0-0 8. 0-0-0 Qa5!, or here 7. ... e5 8 usually switching to an Open Sicilian next, the Four Knights for Black, along with thou-
Bg5 h6 9 Bh4 g5 10 Bg3 d5 with equality. e.g., 3. ... Nc6 4. d4 (4. Bb5 might go well sands of games (including plenty with su-
Another idea is (b) 6. ... Bc5 7. 0-0-0 0-0 8. with the rest of the repertoire) 4. ... cxd4 per-GMs playing Black), Kraai really should
Bd6 Bxd6 9. Qxd6 a6 10. Nf3 b5 11. e5 b4!. 5. Nxd4. have added considerable analysis here and

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 55

BOOKS AND BEYOND Should I Buy It?

shown a way for White to play in these high- 4. ... Nxb5 Nb4 9. Re1+ Ne7 10. d6 Nxd3 11. cxd3 favors
ly tactical lines. The authors take somewhat different ap- White) 8. Nxg5 (8. Ne3 h5 is double-edged)
Incidentally, against 2. ... a6, Rozman proaches against the alternatives, a good 8. ... exd5! 9. Qh5 Qe7 10. exd5 Nf6! (10. ...
suggests 3. d4 again, with similar ideas to indication that this system offers flexible Nb4 11. d6 Qf6 12. b4!) 11. Qd1 Ne5, which
2. ... e6 3. d4. This time 3. ... cxd4 4. Qxd4 play. For example, 4. ... a6 5. Bd3 g6 6. 0-0 is very messy. Rozman gives 12. f4!? Nxd3
Nc6 is answered by 5. Qe3, hoping in some (Rozman gives 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. Ne2 as a sec- 13. cxd3 Qd6 14. Re1+ Be7 15. b3, when I
cases for Bc1-d2, 0-0-0, Nc3-d5 and Bd2- ond option, when 7. ... d5 should be con- think 15. ... Nxd5 16. Bb2 Rg8 is fine, but
c3. Kraai recommends 2. ... a6 3. g3 b5 4. sidered) 6. ... Bg7 7. Re1 can go in several you can see there are all kinds of options
Bg2 Bb7 5. d3, when one pretty line goes directions. Kraai analyzes 7. ... e6 (7. ... d6 is in this variation.
5. ... e6 6. f4 d5 (6. ... Nf6 is fine) 7. f5! d4! safer) 8. Rb1 Ne7 9. b4! cxb4 10. Nxd4 Bxd4
8. fxe6 dxc3 9. exf7+ Kxf7 10. Nf3, saying 11. Rxb4 Bg7 (11. ... Nc6? 12 Rxd4!) 12. e5 5. Nxb5 d6
that “Black is either lost or close to lost.” Nc6 13. Rbe4 with a rich middlegame ahead. Black has tried many moves here, from 5. ...
This is fun stuff. Another logical defense here is 6. ... e6, a6 to 5. ... g6 and even 5. ... d5!?. Generally
The two repertoires overlap in what is which is a position you can get to via 4. ... White has scored well.
arguably the most natural variation: 2. e6 5. 0-0 a6 6. Bd3 Nc6:
Nc3 Nc6, when both authors recommend 6. d4 Nf6 7. Nc3
3. Bb5. Then White intends to play as in a Rozman prefers 7. Qd3 a6 8. Nc3 cxd4 9.
Rossolimo Sicilian with the extra option of Nxd4 with one rather complex line going
f2-f4, e.g., 3. ... g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 (4. ... bxc6 9. ... e5 — he analyses the alternatives deeply
5 d3 Bg7 6 f4) 5. d3 Bg7 and 6. f4 (Kraai) or — 10. Nf5 Bxf5 11. exf5.
6. Be3 b6 7. Qd2 (Rozman). The main line
is 3. ... Nd4 4. Nf3. 7. ... cxd4 8. Qxd4 e5
If 8. ... g6 9. e5 dxe5 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Nxe5
Ke8 12. Be3 with chances for both sides.

9. Qd3 h6
Kraai gives 7. Be2 Qc7 8. d4, which is a main Avoiding 9. ... Be7 10. Bg5 0-0 11. Bxf6 Bxf6
line Taimanov by transposition after 9. ... 12. 0-0 Be6 13. Nd5.
Nf6. And Carlsen chose the simpler 7. b3 in
a game against Praggnanandhaa. 10. Nd2 Be6 11. Nc4 Rc8 12. Ne3 Qc7
True to his tactical leanings, Rozman Indirectly hitting the c2-pawn. Kraai gives
suggests 7. Nd5!?. The knight leap has ac- 13. 0-0 Be7 14. Rd1 0-0 15. Bd2 and thinks
tually been played quite a bit, and Black that White stands better. Perhaps not, but
has several valid responses, including the it’s at any rate a complex and interesting
bizarre-looking 7…g5!? (7. ... exd5 8. exd5 middlegame.

Overall, I think both authors do a good job

with the Sicilian. A limitation of their 1. e4 e5
coverage (analyzed in last month’s column)
is that, however creative and exciting, the
lines they recommend were often forcing
and thus vulnerable to deep preparation by
Black. In the case of 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3, Rozman
and Kraai have given the reader variations
which are flexible enough to be used for
some time, even if a particular line proves
awkward or inferior, because White has so
many ways to vary and make a game of it.
Next month I’ll look at some other de-
fenses to 1. e4 and discuss the merits and
limitations of this format.

Kraai, Jesse. ChessDojo’s 1. e4 Repertoire

for White. 24,167 words, 250 variations. 9:02
paid video, 1:07 free video. Available from
Chessable.com.

Rozman, Levy. The GothamChess 1. e4 Rep-

ertoire. 175,812 words. 1085 trainable varia-
tions. 17:12 paid video, 2:03 free video. Avail-
able from Chessable.com.

56 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 The Executive Board authorizes a temporary change in the US Chess Grand Prix (GP) rules for the period March 4, 2020 through August 31, 2023 out of concern for the unforeseeable impacts
the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) could have on participation in GP events. The change allows organizers with guaranteed prize funds to change the status of their prize fund without first seeking US
Chess permission to make the change. More specifically, organizers who have announced “$XXX in Guaranteed prizes” (or similar words) for their GP events shall be allowed to re-state their
prize funds in their publicity as “$XXX in Projected prizes based on ### players,” where ### represents the number of players in last year’s event rounded to the nearest five players. For new GP
events lacking historical attendance data, the organizer shall specify a “based on” number of players as part of the Projected Prize Fund language in their publicity. This decision includes all GP
tournaments that already have been advertised in Chess Life. For any GP events being publicly advertised (whether by TLA, another website, flyers, emails, social media, etc.), organizers shall take
all necessary steps to ensure their revised pre-tournament announcements call attention to this change in prize fund status and provide the appropriate “Projected based on XXX players” in the
language of their updated publicity. US Chess asks that the chess community support this temporary change in the spirit that it is intended. The Executive Board shall revisit this matter as necessary.

NATIONAL EVENTS & BIDS NOW ON USCHESS.ORG Effective with the November 2020 Chess Life, we have removed the National Events and Bids page that has traditionally been
part of our TLA section. This information continues to be available here: new.uschess.org/national-events-calendar

icap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Orga- info@masschess.org Phone: 603-891-2484 Website:

For complete details on individual events, please visit nizer: Continental Chess Association Email: direc- http://www.masschess.org TLA ID: 38725
tor@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Website:
new.uschess.org/node/[TLA ID]. You will find the event’s unique http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 37675 HERITAGE EVENT • GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED
five-digit TLA ID at the end of each TLA. GRAND PRIX • STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
2023 New Jersey Open
2023 Las Vegas Open SEPTEMBER 2-4, 2023, NEW JERSEY

Grand Prix
The Grand Prix point totals reflect all rated event infor-
ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
2023 DFW FIDE 6
AUGUST 11-13, 2023, TEXAS
Event site: Doubletree by Hilton DFW Airport North
AUGUST 25-27, 2023, NEVADA
Event site: Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino Ad-
dress: 3555 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas NV 89109
Overall prize fund: $20,000 GP Points: 120 FIDE
Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency re-
Event site: Cherry Hill Double Tree By Hilton Address:
2349 Marlton Pike West Cherry Hill, NJ 08002 Overall
prize fund: $8,650 GP Points: 80 FIDE Rated: N Hand-
icap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Organiz-
er: Aaron Kiedes Email: akiedes@gmail.com Phone:
mation as of December 31, 2022 for the 2022 Grand Prix. Address: 4441 W. John Carpenter Fwy, Irving, TX 75063 striction: N Organizer: Vegas Chess Festivals Email: n/a Website: http://www.njscf.org TLA ID: 37757
Overall prize fund: $760 GP Points: 20 FIDE Rated: vegaschess@gmail.com Phone: 7029309550 Web-
FINAL 2022 GRAND PRIX Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N site: https://vegaschessfestival.com TLA ID: 38780
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • STATE
STANDINGS
Organizer: Luis Salinas Email: infofordcc@Gmail.
com Phone: 214-632-9000 Website: http://www.dal- CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
GRAND PRIX
Congratulations to the 2022 Grand Prix Champion laschess.com/ TLA ID: 38866 9th annual New York State Blitz
68th Iowa Open Championship Championship
IM JASON LIANG GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX AUGUST 26-27, 2023, IOWA SEPTEMBER 3, 2023, NEW YORK
Event site: Holiday Inn Address: 6111 Fleur Drive, Event site: Albany Marriott Address: 189 Wolf
Columbia Tunnelvision XI Des Moines, IA 50321 Overall prize fund: see TLA Road, Albany, NY 12205 Overall prize fund: $800 GP
Name State/Ctry Pts AUGUST 19, 2023, SOUTH CAROLINA GP Points: 6 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible:
Points: 10 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y
1. IM JASON LIANG NY 222.68 Event site: First Church of the Nazarene Address: N Residency restriction: N Organizer: Bill Broich
Residency restriction: N Organizer: Continental
2. GM BRANDON JACOBSON NJ 177.20 901 St Andrews Rd, Columbia, SC 29210 Overall Email: broich01@yahoo.com Phone: 515-205-8062
Chess Association Email: director@chess.us Phone:
prize fund: $1,000 gtd GP Points: 10 FIDE Rated: Website: n/a TLA ID: 38746
3. IM JOHN BRYANT CA 166.43 director@chess.us Website: http://www.chessev-
N Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: ents.us TLA ID: 38918
4. IM SEMEN KHANIN RUS 152.35
N Organizer: Columbia Chess Club Email: info@ GRAND PRIX • STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
5. GM FIDEL CORRALES JIMENEZ MA 137.17 columbiachess.org Phone: 8035690938 Website:
6. IM MYKOLA BORTNYK UKR 127.25 2023 CalChess Open & Class STATE GRAND PRIX • STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
https://columbiatunnelvision.com TLA ID: 38150
7. FM DANILA POLIANNIKOV MA 124.26
Championship 2023 Peter P. Lahde Tennessee Open
8. GM MARK PARAGUA PHI 121.20 SEPTEMBER 1-4, 2023 SEPTEMBER 15-17, 2023, TENNESSEE
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX •
Event site: Sonesta Silicon Valley Event Center Event site: UTK Student Union Address: 1502 Cum-
9. GM ALEXANDER FISHBEIN TN 103.43 JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
(South Milpitas) Address: 1800 Barber Ln., Milpitas, berland Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37996 Overall prize
10. GM ANDREW TANG MD 103.28 18th annual Indianapolis Open CA 95035 Overall prize fund: $20,000 b/243 GP fund: $4,000 GP Points: 15 FIDE Rated: N Handicap
AUGUST 25-27, 2023, INDIANA Points: 30 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Organizer:
Event site: Hilton Garden Inn Indianapolis Airport Residency restriction: N Organizer: BayAreaChess Danny Mullinax Email: dcmullinax@gmail.com Phone:
2022 Awards Address: 8910 Hatfield Drive, Indianapolis IN 42641
Overall prize fund: $15,000 GP Points: 100 FIDE
Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency restric-
E m a i l : eve n t s @ b a y a re a c h e s s .co m P h o n e :
408.409.6596 (voicemail/text only) Website: http://
bayareachess.com/calchessopen TLA ID: 38870
8652929701 Website: https://tnchess.us TLA ID: 38862

GRAND PRIX • STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT

$12,500 in cash prizes tion: N Organizer: Continental Chess Association
First Prize $5,000 Email: director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us HERITAGE EVENT • GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED 2023 PA State Game/60 Championship
Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 37676 GRAND PRIX • STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT SEPTEMBER 15-17, 2023, PENNSYLVANIA
2nd: $2,500 3rd: $1,000 Event site: William Pitt Union, Univ. of Pittsburgh
4th: $900 5th: $800 145th annual New York State Address: 5th Ave. & Bigelow Blvd., Pittsburgh PA
HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • GRAND Championship
6th: $700 7th: $600 PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR 15213 Overall prize fund: $695 GP Points: 6 FIDE
SEPTEMBER 1-4, 2023, NEW YORK Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Residency
8th: $500 9th: $300 GRAND PRIX Event site: Albany Marriott Address: 189 Wolf Road, Al- restriction: N Organizer: Tom Martinak Email:
10th: $200 55th annual Atlantic Open bany, NY 12205 Overall prize fund: $18,000 GP Points: martinak_tom_m@hotmail.com Phone: 412-908-
AUGUST 25-27, 2023, VIRGINIA 150 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency 0286 Website: http://www.pscfchess.org/clearing-
Event site: Sheraton Reston Hotel Address: 11810 restriction: N Organizer: Continental Chess Associa- house/ TLA ID: 38401
The Grand Prix continues in 2023. For information vis- Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston VA 20191 Overall prize tion Email: director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.
it new.uschess.org/us-chess-grand-prix-program fund: $30,000 GP Points: 150 FIDE Rated: Y Hand- us Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 38164
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX
GRAND PRIX Columbia Tunnelvision XII
89th Annual Southwest Open SEPTEMBER 16, 2023, SOUTH CAROLINA
Event site: First Church of the Nazarene Address:
PLEASE NOTE SEPTEMBER 1-4, 2023, TEXAS
Event site: Sheraton North Houston at George Bush 901 St Andrews Rd, Columbia, SC 29210 Overall
Intercontinental Address: 15700 John F. Kennedy prize fund: $1,000 gtd GP Points: 10 FIDE Rated:
N Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction:
DEADLINE FOR PRINT TLA SUBMISSIONS Blvd, Houston, TX 77032 Overall prize fund: See TLA
GP Points: 60 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible: N Organizer: Columbia Chess Club Email: info@
Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: Kwunnie Ng columbiachess.org Phone: 8035690938 Website:
Email: southwestopen@gmail.com Phone: n/a Web- https://columbiatunnelvision.com TLA ID: 38151
TLAs appearing in Chess Life must be uploaded online site: https://www.kingregistration.com/event/89SWO
GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX •
TLA ID: 38873
on the 10th, two months prior to the issue cover date JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
HERITAGE EVENT • GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED 9th annual Central New York Open
in which the ad is to appear. (For example, October GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX SEPTEMBER 22-24, 2023, NEW YORK
TLAs must be uploaded no later than August 10th.) TLAs 82nd New England Open Event site: Quality Inn & Suites Fairgrounds Ad-
SEPTEMBER 2-4, 2023, MASSACHUSETTS dress: 100 Farrell Road, Syracuse, NY 13209 Overall
uploaded past this deadline cannot be published without Event site: Westford Regency Inn & Conference Center prize fund: $5,000 GP Points: 30 FIDE Rated: Y
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N
Address: 219 Littleton Road, Westford, MA 01886 Over-
special approval by US Chess. all prize fund: $4,300 GP Points: 80 FIDE Rated: Y Organizer: Continental Chess Association Email:
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Web-
Organizer: Massachusetts Chess Association Email: site: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 38561

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 57

TOURNAMENT LIFE See Previous Issue for TLAs appearing August 1-14

GRAND PRIX Email: director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us NOVEMBER 3-5, 2023, CALIFORNIA, Chess Association Email: director@chess.us Phone:
Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 38522 SOUTHERN director@chess.us Website: http://www.chessevents.
CFCC 2023 Autumn Open & Scholastic Event site: Hilton Orange County Airport Address: us TLA ID: 38941
SEPTEMBER 29-OCTOBER 1, 2023, FLORIDA GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • 18800 Macarthur Blvd, Irvine CA 92612 Overall
Event site: Holiday Inn at Lake Buena Vista Address: JUNIOR GRAND PRIX prize fund: $20,000 GP Points: 120 FIDE Rated: HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • GRAND
13351 State Road 535 Orlando, FL 32821 Overall Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency restric- PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
prize fund: $9,000 GP Points: 50 FIDE Rated: Y 12th annual Hartford Open GRAND PRIX
tion: N Organizer: Continental Chess Associa-
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: OCTOBER 6-8, 2023, CONNECTICUT tion Email: director@chess.us Phone: director@
Event site: Sheraton Hartford Hotel at Bradley Air- 33rd annual North American Open
N Organizer: Larry Storch Email: larrystorch88@ chess.us Website: http://www.chessevents.us
gmail.com Phone: 407-312-6237 Website: https:// port Address: 1 Bradley Airport (visible at airport en- DECEMBER 26-30, 2023, NEVADA
TLA ID: 38547 Event site: Horseshoe Casino Resort (formerly Bally’s)
www.centralflchess.org TLA ID: 38641 trance), Windsor Locks CT 06096 Overall prize fund:
$10,000 GP Points: 60 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap Address: 3645 Las Vegas Blvd. S, Las Vegas, NV 89103
accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Organiz- HERITAGE EVENT • GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED Overall prize fund: $130,000 GP Points: 300 FIDE
GRAND PRIX GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency restric-
er: Continental Chess Association Email: director@
5th Annual LVCA Ruben Shocron chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Website: http:// 32nd annual Kings Island Open tion: N Organizer: Continental Chess Association
Memorial $1050 Gtd. (2 Sections) www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 38519 Email: director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us
NOVEMBER 10-12, 2023, OHIO Website: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 38602
SEPTEMBER 30, 2023, PENNSYLVANIA Event site: Embassy Suites Cincinnati NE Ad-
Event site: College Hill Moravian Church Address: GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • dress: 4554 Lake Forest Dr, Blue Ash OH 45242
72 W. Laurel St, Bethlehem, PA 18018 Overall prize JUNIOR GRAND PRIX GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX
Overall prize fund: $25,000 GP Points: 150 FIDE
fund: $1,050 GP Points: 15 FIDE Rated: N Handicap 13th annual Washington Chess Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency re- 2023 World Chess Festival
accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: Congress striction: N Organizer: Continental Chess Associ- DECEMBER 28-31, 2023, HAWAII
Bruce R Davis Sr Email: bdavis@lehighvalleychess- ation Email: director@chess.us Phone: director@ Event site: Neal Blaisdell Center Address: 777 Ward
club.org Phone: 4848663045 Website: http://www.
OCTOBER 20-22, 2023, VIRGINIA
chess.us Website: http://www.chessevents.us Avenue, Honolulu, HI 90630 Overall prize fund: $5,000
Event site: Sheraton Reston Hotel Address: 11810
lehighvalleychessclub.org/ TLA ID: 38850 TLA ID: 38563 GP Points: 30 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible:
Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston VA 20191 Overall prize
Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: Joe Hanley
fund: $20,000 GP Points: 120 FIDE Rated: Y Hand- Email: hanleychessacademy@gmail.com Phone:
HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • GRAND icap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Orga- HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • GRAND
PRIX PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX 714 925 3195 Website: http://hanleychessacademy.
nizer: Continental Chess Association Email: direc- com/2023WCF.html TLA ID: 38682
40th Annual Reno Western States Open tor@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Website: 58th American Open
OCTOBER 6-8, 2023, NEVADA http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 38550 NOVEMBER 21-26, 2023, CALIFORNIA, S.
Event site: Circus Circus Reno Hotel Casino Address:
500 N. Sierra Street, Reno, NV 89503 Overall prize fund:
$27,500 GP Points: 150 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap acces-
sible: Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: Jerome V.
HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • GRAND
PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
GRAND PRIX
Event site: Hyatt Regency Orange County Address:
11999 Harbor Boulevard, Garden Grove, CA 92840 Over-
all prize fund: See TLA GP Points: 150 FIDE Rated: Y
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Or-
Regional A
Weikel Email: wackyykl@aol.com Phone: 775-747-1405 27th annual Eastern Chess Congress ganizer: ChessPalace Email: play@americanopen.org
Website: http://www.renochess.org TLA ID: 38535 OCTOBER 27-29, 2023, NEW JERSEY Phone: 714-643-8828 Website: https://americanopen. ARIZONA
Event site: Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village Ad- org/ TLA ID: 38900 NOVEMBER 3-5, 2023
HERITAGE EVENT • GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED dress: 201 Village Blvd, Princeton, NJ 08540 Overall 18th annual Los Angeles Open (CA-S)
GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR GRAND PRIX prize fund: $25,000 GP Points: 150 FIDE Rated: Y HERITAGE EVENT • AMERICAN CLASSIC • GRAND See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
31st annual Midwest Class Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • JUNIOR
Championships Organizer: Continental Chess Association Email: GRAND PRIX NOVEMBER 21-26, 2023
director@chess.us Phone: director@chess.us Web- 54th annual National Chess Congress 58th American Open (CA-S)
OCTOBER 6-8, 2023, ILLINOIS
site: http://www.chessevents.us TLA ID: 38532 See Grand Prix.
Event site: Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel Ad- NOVEMBER 24-26, 2023, PHILADELPHIA
dress: 601 North Milwaukee Ave., Wheeling, IL 60090 Event site: Loews Hotel Address: 1200 Market St,
Overall prize fund: $20,000 GP Points: 120 FIDE GRAND PRIX • ENHANCED GRAND PRIX • Philadelphia PA 19107 Overall prize fund: $45,000 DECEMBER 26-30, 2023
JUNIOR GRAND PRIX GP Points: 200 FIDE Rated: Y Handicap accessible:
Rated: Y Handicap accessible: Y Residency restric- 33rd annual North American Open (NV)
tion: N Organizer: Continental Chess Association 18th annual Los Angeles Open Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: Continental See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.

Continental Chess OTB Tournament Schedule

See www.chessevents.us for details, possible changes, other events
ATLANTIC OPEN, Aug 25-27, WASHINGTON CHESS
Sheraton Reston Hotel, near Washington, CONGRESS, Oct 20-22, Sheraton
DC. $30,000 guaranteed prizes. Reston Hotel, near Washington, DC.
$20,000 guaranteed prizes.
INDIANAPOLIS OPEN, Aug 25-27,
Hilton Garden Inn Indianapolis Airport. EASTERN CHESS CONGRESS,
$15,000 guaranteed prizes. Oct 27-29, Westin at Forrestal
Village, Princeton, NJ. $25,000
NEW YORK STATE CHAMPIONSHIP, guaranteed prizes.
Sept 1-4 at Albany Marriott. 6 rounds,
$18,000 guaranteed prizes. LOS ANGELES OPEN, Nov 3-5,
Hilton Orange County Airport, Irvine.
CENTRAL NEW YORK OPEN, Sept $20,000 guaranteed prizes.
22-24, Syracuse. $5,000 guaranteed
prizes. KINGS ISLAND OPEN, Nov 10-
12, Embassy Suites Cincinnati
MIDWEST CLASS, Oct 6-8, Westin Northeast, Blue Ash, Ohio. $25,000
Chicago North Shore Hotel. $20,000 guaranteed prizes.
guaranteed prizes.
NATIONAL CHESS CONGRESS,
HARTFORD OPEN, Oct 6-8, Sheraton Nov 24-26, Loews Hotel Philadelphia.
Hartford Hotel at Bradley Airport. 6 rounds, $45,000 guaranteed prizes
$10,000 guaranteed prizes. plus plaques & free entries.

58 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 Chess.com Phone: 770.744.8595 Website: https:// ed annually. UMBC is a perennial top-10 contender for site: Switlik Park Pavilion Address: Fischer Place/Joe
CALIFORNIA mythinkchess.com/ TLA ID: 37216 the collegiate national chess championship. Dimaggio Drive, Hamilton, NJ 08610 Overall prize
SEPTEMBER 19, 2021-ONGOING fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap
PCC LBX Hangar Sunday Action OCTOBER 20-22, 2023 accessible: N Residency restriction: N Organizer:
Event site: LBX Hangar Building (inside and out) Ad- ILLINOIS 13th annual Washington Chess Edward Sytnik Email: edmendou@aol.com Phone:
dress: 4150 McGowen St, Long Beach CA 90808 Over- AUGUST 12-18, 2023 Congress (VA) 609-758-2326 Website: https://sites.google.com/
all prize fund: 80% of total entry fee GP Points: n/a See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. site/hamiltonchessclub/ TLA ID: 35704
XXXIII Pan-American Youth Chess Festival
FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Residency Event site: Hyatt Regency McCormick Place Ad-
restriction: N Organizer: John Tan Email: para- OCTOBER 27-29, 2023 AUGUST 25-27, 2023
dress: 2233 South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.,
mountchessclub@gmail.com Phone: 3107356871 Chicago, IL 60616 Overall prize fund: Direct FIDE 27th annual Eastern Chess Congress (NJ) 55th annual Atlantic Open (VA)
Website: n/a TLA ID: 31701 titles and norms GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: Y See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N
NOVEMBER 3-5, 2023 Organizer: David Heiser Email: david.heiser@re- NOVEMBER 24-26, 2023 HERITAGE EVENT • STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
18th annual Los Angeles Open (CA-S) naissanceknights.org Phone: n/a Website: https:// 54th annual National Chess Congress EVENT
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. panamyouth2023.com/ TLA ID: 36757 (PA) SEPTEMBER 3, 2023
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
NOVEMBER 21-26, 2023 AUGUST 25-27, 2023 2023 NJ Open Scholastic
Event site: Cherry Hill Double Tree By Hilton Address:
58th American Open (CA-S) 16th annual Indianapolis Open (IN)
See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. MASSACHUSETTS 2349 Marlton Pike West Cherry Hill, NJ 08002 Overall
prize fund: n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Hand-
AUGUST 25-27, 2023 icap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N Organiz-
OCTOBER 6-8, 2023 55th annual Atlantic Open (VA) er: Aaron Kiedes Email: akiedes@gmail.com Phone:
COLORADO 31st annual Midwest Class See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. n/a Website: http://www.njscf.org TLA ID: 38476
DECEMBER 26-30, 2023 Championships (IL)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. SEPTEMBER 2-4, 2023 OCTOBER 6-8, 2023
33rd annual North American Open (NV)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. 82nd New England Open (MA) 12th annual Hartford Open (CT)
NOVEMBER 10-12, 2023 See Grand Prix. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
32nd annual Kings Island Open (OH)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. OCTOBER 6-8, 2023
CONNECTICUT OCTOBER 20-22, 2023
12th annual Hartford Open (CT) 13th annual Washington Chess
OCTOBER 6-8, 2023 DECEMBER 26-30, 2023 See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
12th annual Hartford Open (CT) 33rd annual North American Open (NV) Congress (VA)
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
REGIONALS
OCTOBER 21, 2023 OCTOBER 27-29, 2023
DIST. OF COLUMBIA INDIANA 1st Pioneer Valley Autumn Class 27th annual Eastern Chess Congress (NJ)
Event site: St. John’s Lutheran Church Address: See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
AUGUST 27, 2023 AUGUST 25-27, 2023 60 Broad Street, Westfield, MA 01085 Overall prize
2023 United States Founding Fathers 16th annual Indianapolis Open (IN) fund: $1,000 prizes based on 30 entries GP Points: NOVEMBER 19, 2023
Scholastic Chess Quads See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Residen-
Event site: Rayburn House Office Building Address: cy restriction: N Organizer: Western Massachusetts 2023 New Jersey Grade School
45 Independence Ave SW, Room 2168 Gold Room, OCTOBER 6-8, 2023 Chess Association Email: dgbompastore@gmail. Championship
Washington, DC 20515 Overall prize fund: $110 GP com Phone: 4133560303 Website: http://www. Event site: Brookdale Community College Address:
31st annual Midwest Class wmass-chess.us/ TLA ID: 38674 Lot #7, Arena Dr., Lincroft, NJ 07738 Overall prize fund:
Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Championships (IL)
Residency restriction: N Organizer: Malik F. John- n/a GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessi-
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
son Email: iconchess@aol.com Phone: 2025578266 ble: Y Residency restriction: N Organizer: Alessan-
Website: https://caissachess.net/online-registra- NOVEMBER 10-12, 2023 MICHIGAN dro De Marchi-Blumstein Email: tournaments.njscf@
tion/index/2643 TLA ID: 38852 gmail.com Phone: n/a Website: http://www.njscf.org
32nd annual Kings Island Open (OH) NOVEMBER 10-12, 2023
TLA ID: 38879
See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. 32nd annual Kings Island Open (OH)
AUGUST 27, 2023 See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. NOVEMBER 24-26, 2023
2023 United States Founding Fathers
54th annual National Chess Congress
Chess Quads IOWA (PA)
Event site: Rayburn House Office Building Address:
AUGUST 26, 2023, IOWA MONTANA See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
45 Independence Ave SW, Room 2168 Gold Room,
68th Iowa Reserve Championship SEPTEMBER 16-17, 2023
Washington, DC 20515 Overall prize fund: $114 GP
Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Y Event site: Holiday Inn Address: 6111 Fleur Drive, Big Sky Country Open
Residency restriction: N Organizer: Malik F. John- Des Moines, IA 50321 Overall prize fund: see TLA GP Event site: Red Lion Hotel Address: 20 North Main NEW YORK
son Email: iconchess@aol.com Phone: 2025578266 Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: Street, Kalispell, MT 59901 Overall prize fund: Cash
N Residency restriction: N Organizer: Bill Broich prizes based on entries GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: AUGUST 25-27, 2023
Website: https://caissachess.net/online-registra-
tion/index/2774 TLA ID: 38618 Email: broich01@yahoo.com Phone: 515-205-8062 N Handicap accessible: Y Residency restriction: N 55th annual Atlantic Open (VA)
Website: n/a TLA ID: 38747 Organizer: Montana Chess Association Email: gl.sol- See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2023 omon@yahoo.com Phone: 406-253-3883 Website:
www.montanachess.org TLA ID: 38919 SEPTEMBER 1-4, 2023
2023 Emory Tate Prize for American KENTUCKY
Scholastic Chess 145th annual New York State
NOVEMVBER 11-12, 2023
Event site: The Willard Office Building Address: AUGUST 25-27, 2023 Championship (NY)
41st Missoula Turkey Open See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
1455 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 1125, Washing- 16th annual Indianapolis Open (IN) Event site: Holiday Inn Missoula Downtown Ad-
ton, DC 20004 Overall prize fund: $900 GP Points: See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. dress: 200 S Pattee St, Missoula, MT 59802 Overall SEPTEMBER 3, 2023
n/a FIDE Rated: N Handicap accessible: N Resi- prize fund: $2,000 GP Points: n/a FIDE Rated: N
dency restriction: N Organizer: Malik F. Johnson NOVEMBER 10-12, 2023 Handicap accessible: N Residency restriction: N 9th annual New York State Blitz
Email: iconchess@aol.com Phone: 2025578266 32nd annual Kings Island Open (OH) Organizer: Eric Walthall Email: eric.m.walthall@ Championship (NY)
Website: https://caissachess.net/online-registra- See Grand Prix or chessevents.us. gmail.com Phone: 4068309524 Website: https:// See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
tion/index/2858 TLA ID: 38864 missoulachess.com/ TLA ID: 38320
SEPTEMBER 22-24, 2023
SEPTEMBER 9, 2023 LOUISIANA 9th annual Central New York Open (NY)
2023 Emory Tate World Series of Blitz SEPTEMBER 1-4, 2023, TEXAS NEVADA See Grand Prix or chessevents.us.
Skills Challenge NOVEMBER 3-5, 2023
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 August 2023 SOLUTIONS

h6 22. Qg6 mate. 15. Bxg7! The game continuation was Any 2. Qg8 mate. PROBLEM 2. Mating net: White
Solutions 15. Rfd1 Qc6 16. Qg4 g6 17. Rh3 f5 18. Qf4 g5 19. Rg3 mates in two: 1. Nd7+ Ka8 2. Nc7 mate. PROBLEM 3.
PAGE 9 CHESS TO ENJOY Bg6 20. Rxg5 Bxg5 21. Qxg5 Rf7 22. Rd6 Qe4 23. Rd8+ Mating net: White smothers a mate in two moves: 1.
PROBLEM 1. Fastest is 1. g4! so that 1. ... hxg4 2. h5 Rxd8 24. Qxd8+ Rf8 25. Bxe6+ Bf7 26. Qg5 mate in Vai- Qb8+ Rxb8 2. Nc7 mate. PROBLEM 4. Mating net: It’s
and 3. Rh7+ Kg8 4. Rcg7+ Kf8 5. h6 and Rh7-h8 mate. bhav – Jain, AimChess Rapid Play-In, 2023. 15. ... Kxg7 16. over in one move: 1. Nd6 mate. PROBLEM 5. Mating
PROBLEM 2. 1. ... h5! prompted resignation because Qg4+ Kh8 17. Rg3 Bf6 18. Bd3 when Black does not have net: White forces mate in two: 1. Qg8+ Qxg8 2. Ng6
the h-pawn keeps advancing. PROBLEM 3. Both 1. Qf6+ a good answer to the threat of Qg4-h5. TACTIC 5. 15. e5! mate. PROBLEM 6. Mating net: It’s mate in two with
and 1. Ng5+ win eventually but 1. Nd6+! forces mate, Nd5 16. Ng5! A mate threat on h7 forces Black’s reply. 16. 1. Qf8+ Kxf8 2. Rh8 mate.
e.g. 1. ... Kf8 2. Qf6+ or 1. ... Kg6 2. Qg5+ (also 2. Qf5+) 2. ... g6 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Bxd5 exd5 19. e6! Now Black’s
... Kh7 3. Qh5+ Kg7 4. Qf7+ Kh6 5. Nf5. PROBLEM 4. 1. defenses fall apart. 19. ... Nf6 20. exf7+ Kh8 21. Ne6 and PAGE 53 ENDGAME SCHOOL
... Rxg3! 2. fxg3 Qxg3 threatens 3. ... Qxg2 mate. White Black resigned. (Meier – Tomashevsky, AimChess Rapid PROBLEM 1. 67. g5! hxg5 68. Rd7+ Kf8 69. Rf7+
resigned after 3. Re2 Rg6 in view of 4. Qxh5 Bxe3+ 5. Kh1 Play-In, 2023) TACTIC 6. 21. Bxf5! The game continued Kg8 70. Kg6 g4 71. h6! gxh6 Or 71. ... Ra8 72. hxg7
Bf4, for example. PROBLEM 5. 1. ... e2! 2. Kxe2 Qe4+ in a rather tragic fashion: 21. Rbb1?? Bd7?? (21. ... Qg3!) g3 73. e7 g2 74. Rf8+ and wins. 72. e7 Ra8 73. Rf6,
3. Kf1 Qh1+ 4. Ke2 Qxh2+ 5. Kf3 Qf2+ 6. Ke4 Qd4+ 7. Kf3 22. Rbd1?? (22. Bxf5! still wins) 22. ... Bc6! 23. Bg5 Qg3 Black resigned. If 73. ... g3 74. Rd6 Re8 75. Rd8 White
Qd1+! trades queens and remains a rook up. PROBLEM 24. Bxf5?? Qxg2 mate in Golubev – Gharibyan, AimChess wins. (Botvinnik – Najdorf, Alekhine Memorial 1956
6. 1. Re7! Qxh5 2. Rxg7+ Kh8 3. Rxd7+ wins, e.g., 3. ... Rapid Play-In, 2023. Alternatively, White could also have PROBLEM 2. 1. Rb8+ Ke7 2. Rg8 Rg2 3. Kh7 Rh2+
Kg8 4. Rg7+ Kh8 5. Rg5+ Kh7 6. Rxh5+ or 3. Rxd7+ Rf6 played 21. Be2! Bd7 22. Rb6 Qg3 23. Qf3 Qxf3 24. Bxf3 Bc7 Or 3. ... Kf7 4. g6+ Ke7 5. Ra8 Rh2+ 6. Kg8 Kf6 7. g7 Ke7
4. Bxf6+ Kg8 5. Rg7+ Kf8 6. Ng5. 25. Rb7 Rc8 26. Rd1 and Black is completely busted. 21. etc. 4. Kg7 Rg2 5. g6 Rg1 6. Ra8 Rg2 7. Ra7+ Ke8 8.
... exf5 If 21. ... Qg3, then 22. Be4 wins for White. 22. c4! Ra1, Black resigned. White has reached the Lucena
PAGE 19 MAKE YOUR MOVE Threatening Re2 with devastating effect. 22. ... Be6 23. position in (by transposition) Carslen – Mamedov,
TACTIC 1. 16. Bxg5, Black resigned. The problem for Re2 and Black will be forced to give up the queen. TAC- Chess.com 2003.
Black is that after 16. Bxg5 either recapture loses promptly: TIC 7. 13. ... Rxc3! A standard Exchange sacrifice, which
16. ... hxg5 (or 16. ... Qxg5 17. Qxf7+ Kh8 18. Qg8 mate) 17. is what former world champion Garry Kasparov called
Ng6 Qxg6 18. Qxg6, exploiting the pin of the f-pawn pro- chess culture. 14. bxc3 Qc7! So wants White to put the Do you LOVE getting a print copy of
vided by the bishop on c4. (Hakobyan – Gareyev, AimChess king on b2 before he captures the e4-pawn. Black is not CHESS LIFE each month? Want to
Rapid Play-In, 2023) TACTIC 2. 21. ... Bb5! In the game, in a hurry as White’s dynamic potential is gone. But 14. ... avoid any service disruptions?
Black missed this simple tactic and instead lost after 21. Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Bxe4 would also have been clearly better
... Qxb2?? 22. Qf6, exploiting the pin the e5-rook to set- for Black. 15. Kb2 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Bxe4 17. f3 Bh7!? Black Be sure to renew your US Chess
up a lethal threat against f7. Black resigned in Bachmann has a clear advantage. Or 17. ... Bg6! 18. h4 0-0 with a clear membership at least one month
– Dragnev, AimChess Rapid Play-In, 2023. 22. Qxb6 After advantage for Black. 18. f4 0-0! The game continued less before your expiration date to
22. Qc3 Rxd5 23. Rxe8+ Bxe8, Black has an extra bishop. accurately: 18. ... exf4? 19. Bxf4 Nb6? (19. ... Ne5 would ensure continued delivery of your
22. ... Rxe1+ and Black wins material. TACTIC 3. 20. Nd5! have kept the balance) 20. Rde1?? (White should have magazine. And don’t forget to pur-
A standard sacrifice in the Sicilian of this type, but here, played 20. Rge1! Na4+ 21. Kc1 Nxc3 22. Qd2 and thanks chase the print add-on as part of
Black’s dark-squared bishop is unusually poorly placed to the threat of Bxd6, White is clearly better) 20. ... Na4+ your membership renewal!
on c7, allowing for some extra tricks. 20. ... exd5 If 20. ... (Now, Black is winning) 21. Kc1 Nxc3 22. Qf3 0-0 23. Rxe7
Ncd7, then White has some extra options, one of which is Na2+ 24. Kb2 Qxc2+ 25. Ka1 Nc3 and White resigned
21. Nc6 Bxc6 22. Ne7+ Kf8 23. Nxc6, winning the Exchange, in Vallejo Pons – So, AimChess Rapid Play-In, 2023. 19. f5
CHESS LIFE USPS # 102-840 (ISSN 0197-260X). Volume 79
but the best continuation would have been 21. Nxf6+ Nxf6 Rc8 20. Rd3 a5 and Black has a clear advantage. TACTIC
No. 08. PRINTED IN THE USA. Chess Life, formerly Chess Life
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The opinions expressed are strictly those of the contribu-
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PAGE 51 ABCS OF CHESS LONDON BRC, ONTARIO, CANADA N6C 6A8
PROBLEM 1. Mating net: White mates in two: 1. Nf6+

USCHESS.ORG AUGUST 2023 63

 DARIUSZ SWIERCZ
AUTHOR, COACH,
GRANDMASTER

M Y CHESS JOURNEY BEGAN AT

age three when my grandpa,
Ryszard, took out an old chess
set and introduced me to the
game. Having grasped the basic rules, I I never thought
was happy to capture his queen, and cried becoming
when I lost mine. a titled player
After a while, I began playing in junior
competitions and quickly progressed. The of any kind
key moment in my chess career happened in was possible...”
2000 when I met my first coach, Alexander
Kachur. Thanks to our training my playing
strength grew. In 2004 I shared first place
(third on tiebreaks) in the European U10
Championship in Urgup, Turkey, which
granted me the FM title at the age of 10.
I began working together with GM Artur
Jakubiec in 2005. With his guidance and
training, I managed to gain 350+ FIDE rat-
ing points and, at the age of 14, became the
youngest Polish GM in 2009. My opening
repertoire expanded, my knowledge of Now for the most important move of the
various structures and most importantly, game, and MY BEST MOVE.
I developed the skill and interest to work
individually on chess. 47. Bg2!!
GM Oleksandr Sulypa helped me with The ONLY winning move! A study-like idea —
self-confidence and further expanded my the queen is out of play on h2 and lacks any
opening knowledge, and I received further checks, while Black’s exposed king will run
coaching by GM Mikhail Gurevich, with into various mating nets while the passed
whom I focused on advanced chess strategy, f-pawn marches on. The rest is easy.
calculation, dynamics and chess endgames.
With all of our efforts, I broke through the 47. ... Qh4 48. f6 Qe1 49. Qf8+ Kd7 50.
2600 barrier in a couple of years; looking Bh3+ Kc6 51. Qc8+, Black resigned.
back, I sense the work of all of my coaches WHITE TO MOVE
in in the following game. After moving to St. Louis on a chess schol-
43. Qe6! arship, today I am a chess professional,
This is the best move in the position. Here working as an author, a coach, and an ac-
SNEAKY BISHOP I am activating the queen and threatening tive player. I began to focus on teaching in
GM Dariusz Swiercz (2627) Qe6-g8+. 2020, and I enjoy sharing my experience
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2713) and knowledge with my students, both
Gibraltar Masters (4), Caleta, 43. ... Qb2+ 44. Kd3 Qxh2 individually and in group settings. I have
01.25.2013 MVL grabs the h2-pawn, looking for activity served as the GM-in-residence at the Saint
while also simplifying the position. Here Louis Chess Club, written print and digital
(see diagram top of next column) 44. ... Qd2+ fails to 45. Kc4 as 45. ... Qa2+ opening books, and most recently, I have
loses the c3-pawn and the king escapes become the coach of the Saint Louis Uni-
Up a piece against a fierce defender, there the checks. versity chess team! Still, playing is my first
was still lots of work to do to convert my love, and I hope to have many successes at
advantage. 45. Qg8+ Kc7 46. Qxg7+ Kd6 the board in the future.

64 AUGUST 2023 USCHESS.ORG

 The United States’ Largest
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dĂůĞƐŽĨĂLJŐŽŶĞŚĞƐƐƌĂ dƌŝďƵƚĞƚŽƚŚĞ&ŝŌŚtŽƌůĚŚĂŵƉŝŽŶ
'ĞŶŶĂ^ŽƐŽŶŬŽ :ĂŶdŝŵŵĂŶ
͚ĂĐŚŶĞǁƐƚŽƌLJŽĨ'ĞŶŶĂ^ŽƐŽŶŬŽŝƐƚŚĞƉƌĞƐĞƌǀĂƟŽŶ dŚĞĮƌƐƚŽƵƚƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐĐŽůůĞĐƟŽŶŽĨŐĂŵĞƐŽĨƚŚŝƐ
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writer can tell you more about legends such as Tal, tŝůůŝĂŵEĂƉŝĞƌŽŶĐĞĐĂůůĞĚƵǁĞ͕tŽƌůĚŚĂŵƉŝŽŶ
<ŽƌĐŚŶŽŝŽƌƌŽŶƐƚĞŝŶĂŶĚƉĞƌƐŽŶĂůŝƟĞƐƐƵĐŚĂƐ ĨƌŽŵϭϵϯϱƵŶƟůϭϵϯϳ͘/ƚŽīĞƌƐĞŝŐŚƚLJŽĨŚŝƐŐĂŵĞƐ
ŚĞƉƵŬĂŝƟƐŽƌEŝŬŽůĂĞǀ͘dŚŝƐϴϰϬͲƉĂŐĞŚĂƌĚĐŽǀĞƌ ĂŶŶŽƚĂƚĞĚďLJ:ĂŶdŝŵŵĂŶ͕ǁŚŽŬŶĞǁƵǁĞǀĞƌLJ
ĞĚŝƟŽŶŝƐĂĐŽůůĞĐƟŽŶŽĨƚŚĞƉŽƌƚƌĂŝƚƐ^ŽƐŽŶŬŽǁƌŽƚĞ ǁĞůů͘dŝŵŵĂŶŵĂĚĞŵĂŶLJĚŝƐĐŽǀĞƌŝĞƐŝŶƵǁĞ͛Ɛ
ĨŽƌEĞǁ/ŶŚĞƐƐ͕ƉůƵƐϭϬϬƉĂŐĞƐŽĨƐƚŽƌŝĞƐƉƵďůŝƐŚĞĚ most famous games but has also unearthed several
Et͊ ĞůƐĞǁŚĞƌĞ͘ŵƵƐƚͲŚĂǀĞĨŽƌĞǀĞƌLJĐŚĞƐƐĂĮĐŝŽŶĂĚŽ͘ lesser-known brilliancies. Et͊
dŚĞ'ŝǀĞĂŶĚdĂŬĞŽĨŚĞƐƐdĂĐƟĐƐ New Insights in Classic Games
:ŽĞůĞŶũĂŵŝŶ DĂƩŚĞǁ^ĂĚůĞƌΘ^ƚĞǀĞ'ŝĚĚŝŶƐ
ĐŚĞƐƐƚĂĐƟĐƐŵĂŶƵĂůǁŝƚŚĂƚǁŝƐƚ͘hƐƵĂůůLJ͕ƚĂĐƟĐƐ DĂƩŚĞǁ^ĂĚůĞƌĂŶĚ^ƚĞǀĞ'ŝĚĚŝŶƐƵƐĞĚƚŚĞ
ƚƌĂŝŶŝŶŐŝŶǀŽůǀĞƐƉƵnjnjůĞƐǁŝƚŚĂĐůĞĂƌƐŽůƵƟŽŶ͘tŚŝƚĞ ĐŽůůĞĐƟǀĞƉŽǁĞƌŽĨ>ĞĞůĂ͕<ŽŵŽĚŽ͕ĂŶĚ^ƚŽĐŬĮƐŚ
wins brilliantly, or Black wins. But in real life, chess is to re-engineer classic games of fan favorites such
ŵĞƐƐLJ͘^ŽŵĞƟŵĞƐƚĂĐƟĐƐǁŽƌŬ͕ĂŶĚƐŽŵĞƟŵĞƐƚŚĞLJ ĂƐ&ŝƐĐŚĞƌ͕^ƉĂƐƐŬLJ͕>ĂƌƐĞŶ͕ĂŶĚĂƉĂďůĂŶĐĂ͘tŝƚŚ
ĚŽŶ͛ƚ͘dŚĂƚ͛ƐǁŚLJĨŽƌŵĞƌh^ŚĂŵƉŝŽŶ:ŽĞůĞŶũĂŵŝŶ these modern engines, the authors have generated
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ĐŽƵŶƚĞƌĂƩĂĐŬ͊ that will help every club player and expert to
improve their game.

tŚŝƚĞZĞƉĞƌƚŽŝƌĞǀƐƚŚĞKƉĞŶ^ŝĐŝůŝĂŶ ^ƉĂƐƐŬLJ͛ƐĞƐƚ'ĂŵĞƐʹŚĞƐƐŝŽŐƌĂƉŚLJ
/ǀĂŶ^ĂƌŝĐ ůĞdžĞLJĞnjŐŽĚŽǀΘŵŝƚƌLJKůĞŝŶŝŬŽǀ
dŚĞKƉĞŶ^ŝĐŝůŝĂŶ is not a phonebook crammed with tŽƌůĚŚĂŵƉŝŽŶŽƌŝƐ^ƉĂƐƐŬLJǁĂƐĂĐŚĞƐƐŐĞŶŝƵƐ
computer lines, but a textbook full of 21st-century ĂŶĚĂƉĞƌĨĞĐƚŐĞŶƚůĞŵĂŶ͘,ĞǁĂƐ͕ĨŽƌĞdžĂŵƉůĞ͕
ĐŚĞƐƐǁŝƐĚŽŵ͘'D/ǀĂŶ^ĂƌŝĐĐŽǀĞƌƐƚŚĞĞŶƟƌĞƌĂŶŐĞ ŐƌĂĐŝŽƵƐŝŶĚĞĨĞĂƚĂŌĞƌŚĞůŽƐƚŚŝƐƟƚůĞƚŽƚŚĞ
ŽĨ^ŝĐŝůŝĂŶƐ͕ĨƌŽŵŽďƐĐƵƌĞƐŝĚĞůŝŶĞƐƚŽƚŚĞŵĂŝŶůŝŶĞƐ͗ ŵĞƌŝĐĂŶŽďďLJ&ŝƐĐŚĞƌŝŶϭϵϳϮ͘
ƚŚĞEĂũĚŽƌĨ͕ƚŚĞdĂŝŵĂŶŽǀ͕ƚŚĞZĂƵnjĞƌ͕ƚŚĞ<ĂŶ͕ƚŚĞ This wonderful new biography includes more than
^ǀĞƐŚŶŝŬŽǀĂŶĚƚŚĞƌĂŐŽŶƐ͘,ŝƐĂƉƉƌŽĂĐŚŝƐǀĞƌLJ sixty of his best games and a biographical sketch of
ĂŵďŝƟŽƵƐ͕ĂŶĚŚĞƐƵƉƉŽƌƚƐŚŝƐĐůĂŝŵƐǁŝƚŚĚĞĞƉ more than a hundred pages.
ĂŶĂůLJƐŝƐĂŶĚŝůůƵŵŝŶĂƟŶŐǀĞƌďĂůĞdžƉůĂŶĂƟŽŶ͘

Chess.com 2022 Book of the Year &ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůdĂĐƟĐƐĂŶĚŚĞĐŬŵĂƚĞƐĨŽƌ/ŵƉƌŽǀĞƌƐ

Ramesh RB WĞƚĞƌ'ŝĂŶŶĂƚŽƐ
Coach Ramesh has won the 2022 Chess.com Book of dŚĞƉĞƌĨĞĐƚĮƌƐƚĐŚĞƐƐǁŽƌŬŬĨŽƌĂĚƵůƚŝŵƉƌŽǀĞƌƐ
the Year Award, in a vote with thousands of chess ĂŶĚŽƚŚĞƌďĞŐŝŶŶĞƌƐ͘ŽĂĐŚĞƐŵŝŐŚƚĮŶĚƚŚĞŬ͕ǁŝƚŚ
players. It is well deserved. But beware! It is a tough ϳϯϴĞdžĞƌĐŝƐĞƐ͕ǀĞƌLJƵƐĞĨƵůĂƐǁĞůů͘/ƚĨĞĂƚƵƌĞƐĂĐŽŵƉůĞƚĞ
ŬƚŚĂƚǁŝůůƌĞƋƵŝƌĞƐŽŵĞƌĞĂůĞīŽƌƚ͘ƌĞLJŽƵƵƉĨŽƌ ƐĞƚŽĨĨƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƚĂĐƟĐƐĂŶĚĐŚĞĐŬŵĂƚĞƉĂƩĞƌŶƐ͘
the challenge? ͚ĞĂƵƟĨƵůůLJĨŽƌŵĂƩĞĚǁŝƚŚϯĚŝĂŐƌĂŵƐƉĞƌƉĂŐĞĂŶĚ
ƚƌĞŵĞŶĚŽƵƐĞdžĂŵƉůĞƐ͛͘
͞ŶĂďƐŽůƵƚĞĚŝǀŝŶĞŵĂƐƚĞƌƉŝĞĐĞ͟ʹAndras Toth. &ƌĞĚtŝůƐŽŶ͕dŚĞDĂƌƐŚĂůů^ƉĞĐƚĂƚŽƌ

džĐŝƟŶŐKƉĞŶŝŶŐdĂĐƟĐƐ dŚĞƵŶďĞĂƚĞŶŐƌĂŶĚŵĂƐƚĞƌ
ĞĂŶ/ƉƉŽůŝƚŽ ^ĞƌŐĞŝdŝǀŝĂŬŽǀ
dŚŝƐŬŝŶƚƌŽĚƵĐĞƐLJŽƵƚŽĞdžĐŝƟŶŐǁĞĂƉŽŶƐƐƵĐŚ ^ĞƌŐĞŝdŝǀŝĂŬŽǀǁĂƐƵŶďĞĂƚĞŶĨŽƌĂĐŽŶƐĞĐƵƟǀĞϭϭϬ
as the &ƌŝĞĚ>ŝǀĞƌƩĂĐŬ and the ĞŶƚĞƌ&ŽƌŬdƌŝĐŬ. ƉƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶĂůĐŚĞƐƐŐĂŵĞƐĂƐĂŐƌĂŶĚŵĂƐƚĞƌ͘tŚŽ
džƉĞƌŝĞŶĐĞĚŵĞƌŝĐĂŶĐŚĞƐƐĐŽĂĐŚĞĂŶ/ƉƉŽůŝƚŽ ďĞƩĞƌƚŽƚĞĂĐŚLJŽƵƌŽĐŬͲƐŽůŝĚĐŚĞƐƐƐƚƌĂƚĞŐLJƚŚĂŶ
knows how adult improvers should play the opening, dŝǀŝĂŬŽǀ͍/ŶŚŝƐĮƌƐƚŬ͕ŚĞĞdžƉůĂŝŶƐĞǀĞƌLJƚŚŝŶŐŚĞ
and what they can expect from your opponent. The knows about the fundamentals of chess strategy:
ƚĂĐƟĐĂůĮƌĞǁŽƌŬƐǁŝůůĂůƐŽŚĞůƉLJŽƵƚŽĚĞǀĞůŽƉLJŽƵƌ pawn structures.
general understanding of the opening.

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