May 2-23 2011 It's Not Just a Cheese Swiss

May 2-23 2011 It's Not Just a Cheese Swiss
Hackettstown Community Cntr., 293 Main St. (Rte. 46), Hackettstown, NJ 07840.
4-SS. 40/90, SD/60.
EF: $12.
Prizes (b/16): $60/30/20, $20 each U1800, U1500.
Reg.: 7 pm, 5/2.
Rds.: 7:30 pm, each Monday.
INFO: ericmark4@gmail.com.

1st Place DOCA Swiss Grand Prix

I faced Life Master Vladimir Polyakin in round 3 after a 2-0 start at the DOCA Grand Prix

Vladimir Polyakin

                                                             
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Polyakin, Vladimir, (2128) - Joseph, Paul, (1881)
Doca Swiss Grand Prix, Flemington, NJ March 27, 2011

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. O-O a6 10. e4 c5 11. e5 Nd5 12. Ne4 cxd4 13. Bg5 Qb6 14. Rc1 h6 15. Bh4 g5  16. Bg3 Bg7!? 

I decided to  pressure his center indirectly and delayed g4 to keep things under control.

 17. Nd6+  Ke7 18. Qd2 

                                                                      Polyakin, Vladimir

Joseph, Paul

This is not the kind of position I was looking to play against a Master when I opted for the Queens Gambit. From here and out I had to play very actively to extricate my pieces.

18 ...  g4  I have to go for it.

19. Nxd4 Nxe5 20. Nxb7 Nxd3 21. Bh4+ Kf8 22. Qxd3 Bxd4

22 ... Qxd4 but I prefered to keep contact with the Knight on b7

22 ... Qxd4 23. Bd8 Qa7

                                                                     Polyakin, Vladimir

Joseph, Paul

(23 ... Rxd8 24. Nxd8 Kg7 25. Rc6 )

24. Na5! Bxb2  25. Rc2 Qd4 26. Qg3 Qe5

(26. ... Rxd8 27. Nc6)

27. Qb3 Bc3 28. Nc6  Qg7 29. Rd1 b4 30. Qc4 Qg6  31. Re2  Kg7 32. Bh4  Rhc8
33. Qc5 Qh5 34. Bg3 Qg5 35. Qd6 Bf6!

I finally complete my development. White is quickly running out of tricks and is behind on time.

36. Rc2  Nc3 37. Re1 h5 38. h4  gxh3 39. gxh3 Qf5 40. Rd2 Ne4 41. Rxe4 Qxe4 42. Be5 Bxe5
43. Nxe5 Rc1+ 44. Kh2

White's flag fell as he is facing mate after Rh1+  and h4 mate.
0-1


Joseph,Paul (1881) - Chi,Patrick (2041)
DOCA Grand Prix, Round 4




Joseph, Paul


I only needed a draw to guarantee clear 1st  place but I had to first shake ghosts of tournaments past.

Joseph,  Paul

After 24 ... Qc7

 25.Rhd4 Rxd4 26.Rxd4 Rd8 27.Rxd8+ Qxd8 28.g4 Qd6 29.f3 Kc7 30.Kc2 Nd7 31.Nd2 Ne5 32.Qe4 Nc6 33.a3 Qd4 34.Qxd4 Nxd4+ 35.Kd3 e5 36.Ke4 Kd6 37.f4 Nc6 38.Nf3 exf4 39.Kxf4 Kc5
40.b3 Nd4  41.Nd2 a5 42.Ne4+ Kc6 43.b4 axb4 44.axb4 b6 45.b5+ Kd7 46.Ke3 Ne6 47.Nc3 Kd6 48.Na4 Kc7 49.Ke4 Ng5+ 50.Kd5 Nf3 51.c5 bxc5 52.b6+ Kb7 53.Kxc5 Ne5 54.Kb5 Nxg4

55.Nc5+ [55.Ka5 Ne5 56.Nc5+ Kc6 57.Na4 (57.b7 Kxc5 58.b8Q Nc6+ 59.Ka6 Nxb8+) 57...Nd7 58.Ka6 f5 59.b7 f4 60.Nb2 Nc5+ 61.Ka7 Nxb7 62.Nd3 Nc5 63.Nxf4 Ne4] 55...Kb8 56.Kc6 Ne5+ 57.Kd5 f6 58.Ne6 Kb7 59.Nxg7 Kxb6 60.Nf5 Ng4 61.Ke4 Kc6 62.Kf4 Ne5 63.Nxh6 Kd6 64.Kf5 Ke7 65.Ng8+ Kf8 66.Nxf6 Nf7 67.Kg6 Ne5+ 68.Kf5 Nf7 69.Kg6 Ne5+ 70.Kf5 ½–½

Mission accomplished!

Apr 25, 2011 One Night of Quick Chess

Apr 25, 2011 Tower of Power G/10 (QC)
Hackettstown, NJ
5 or 6-SS, depending on entries. G/10.
Hackettstown Community Cntr., 293 Main St. (Rte. 46), Hackettstown, NJ 07840.
EF: $8. Prizes (b/16): $40/25/15/10, $10 each U1800, U1500.
Reg.: 7 pm 4/25. Rds.: 7:30 pm, then ASAP.
INFO: ericmark4@gmail.com.

April Showers Swiss Results

Rich Buschgans stopped the runaway Clay Crawford express to win first prize. Paul Joseph won a topsy turvy of a game against Angelo Depalma to earn 2nd place. Clayton Crawford won the U1800 prize to cap his great return to tournament play. Ken Toms took the U1500 prize.
You can see the complete tournament crosstable here.

Two Games from the World Amateur Team

I posted below two games annotated by my team mates Eric Marc and Al Walters from the recent World Amateur team. Eric drew national master Jim West in a very exciting thematic Sicilian sacrifice on b5 and Al Walters started the tournament with a first round upset of Expert Frederick Kurrasch.

2011.02.21"]
[Round "5"]
Eric Mark (1969) - Jim West (2215)
US Amateur East 2011
[Annotator "Mark,Eric"]


Jim West and I played once before at the USATE, the year his team won the event. That game was a long hard draw; I thought he might remember my name or face, but it seemed not so, as I staggered into the Hilton ballroom a few minutes after 9 a.m. on a snowy bleak morning, for round five.


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7
 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. Bd3 b5 11. Rhe1 Bb7 12. Qg3 O-O-O

Spassky played 13. Bxf6 against Fischer in game 15 of the 1972 match. The game was drawn, after White (and later possibly Black) missed chances.


Two years later, wild-eyed GM Velimirovic unveiled a new idea 13. Bxb5. The first time I played 13. Bxb5, in 1989, was against Tom Ostrosky in Hackettstown---long before many players in this year's USATE were born.


13. Bxb5 axb5 14. Ndxb5 Qb6 15. e5 Nc5


Jim's 15...Nc5 is likely the best move; Here I recalled a trick from Jim's analysis that I glanced at years ago: White must beware Qf2, lest he drop the Queen to Nb3+.
(15...dxe5 16. fxe5...Nd5?!  (Nh5 is better) 17. Bxe7 Nxe7 18. Nd6+ followed by Nxf7 and White is close to winning.)


16. exf6 (16. Qh4!?) gxf6 17. Bh4 Rhg8 18. Qe3 Rxg2 19. Bg3 f5 20. Nd4 Bf6 21. Nf3 Be4! 22. Nd2?

22. ...Bd4?

(22 ... d5! wins a piece. The threat is simply ...d4, forking and winning a piece. White cannot stop it without allowing something worse; his pieces are tied to varied defensive duties. But WHY JIm overlooked that might be interesting. Remember the idea from his old analysis about winning a White Qf2 with discovered check? Perhaps that theme rolling around in his memory helped him find the scary-looking but unclear 22...Bd4?! .  Black "wins" White's queen for three minor pieces and some pressure. (23. Qxd4...Nd3+; discovered attack.) Objectively it's unclear but a bit better for Black;

23. Qxd4 Nd3+ 24. cxd3 Qxd4 25. dxe4 Qd3 26. Rg1 Rxg1 27. Rxg1 fxe4 28. Ncxe4 Rd7
29. Rf1 Rc7+ 30. Nc3 f5  31. Rf3 Qa6 32. Kb1 d5 33. Nb3 Qc4 34. Nd2 Qd4 35. Nb3 Qg1+
36. Kc2 Rg7

(36 ... d4 37. Bf2 Qg2 38. Nd4 Rc4! seems winning for Black. Black wins a piece, since all White's pieces are pinned or tied to defending one another. Same theme as Black's missed chance on move 22....Queen should win against Bishop, Knight and (maybe) pawn, of course. White can play on, but it's likely hopeless.)

37. Ne2 Qg2  38. Re3 Rc7+ 39. Kd2 Kd7 40. Nbd4 1/2-1/2

Walters, Al  (1739) - Kurrach (2080)
US Amateur East 2011


1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.0–0 Nf6 7.Nc3 g6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Be2 0–0 11.Rb1 c5?! 12.Qd2 Rb8 13.Bh6 Qa5 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Rfd1 Bc6 16.Bf3 Nd7 17.a3 Rb7 18.Nd5?

I lose the thread on move 18 and stumble for the next 4 moves or so.  Turns out I hit the wrong attack plan, as I was determined to loosen his e & d pawns.  This gave black counterplay.  He starts out correctly, but quickly stumbles as well, with incorrect follow up.  A real curiosity, as black never brings his K rook into play on the Queen side ( even after preparing it with a QR lift?!)  even his artificial move on 24 called for an obvious Re8 (as he pointed out post game), but used his King to defend instead.

Qxd2 19.Rxd2 Bxd5 20.exd5 Nb6 21.Be2 Na4 22.b3 a5?! 23.Re1 Nc3 24.Bc4 Kf6? 25.a4 Rb4 26.Rd3

Nxa4 27.c3 Rxc4 28.bxc4 Nb2 29.Rf3+ Kg7 30.Rxe7 a4 31.Ra7 g5 32.g4 Kg6 33.Re3 Nxc4 34.Re4 Nb2 35.Re2 Rb8 36.Ree7 Rf8 37.Reb7 Nd1 38.c4 Nc3 39.Rd7 Re8 40.Rxd6+ f6? 41.Rdd7 Rg8 42.Re7 h5 43.h3 1-0

Global Warming Swiss Results

Rich Bushgans won the Global Warming Swiss. Steve Ferrero came in 2nd place.
The April Shower Swiss is currently under way. You can access our upcoming tournaments page here.