Orange County is best in west

Position No. 6095: Black to play and win. From the game Mark Lyell-Deysi Cori, Gibraltar 2010.

Solution to Position No. 6094: Black wins the Queen by 1 . . . Bd1! 2 Nxd1 (not 2 Qa1 because of 2 . . . Qf1+ 3 Rg1 Bf3 mate) Rxd1+ 3 Rxd1 Rxb2.

Two Orange County teams stood out in the U.S. Amateur Team West last weekend in Woodland Hills. Each scored 5 1/2 - 1/2 , winning five matches. They tied their fifth-round meeting. On tiebreak, Team OC (Alexandre Kretchetov, Takashi Iwamoto, Ilia Serpik and Leo Kamgar) edged ACA 64 Square Modern Warfare (Vadim Kudryavstev, Christian Tanaka, Jared Tan and Eric Zhang) to win the tournament. Team OC will represent the West in an Internet playoff against winners of three other regionals.

Fourclosers (Ron Hermansen, Alessandro Steinfl, Tim Hanks and Jeffrey Cohen) took third place with a match score of 5-1 and also earned the prize for best team name.

There were too many winners to mention in the 48-team, 207-player event. Full results are posted at westernchess.com.

Individual honors went to state champion IM Enrico Sevillano, 5-1 on first board; IM Andranik Matikozyan, 5 1/2 - 1/2 on second board; Ilia Serpik, 5-1 on third board; Eric Zhang, 6-0 on fourth board; and Ezekiel Liu, 4-0 as best alternate.

The 40-team Scholastic Amateur Team Championship took place Monday. Adrian Chang, Kumann Liu, Harrison Chen and Trevor Jung, competing as We are BEYOND Just Beating You, took first. They were one of five teams representing Beyond Chess, the youth group run by former state champion IM Kongliang Deng.

Richard Henderson, Ray Wong and Christopher Kao won their sections in the Hexes, which attracted 19 more players.

International news

The great tournament in Linares, Spain, continues through Thursday. Favorite Veselin Topalov of Bulgariais trying to regain the top spot in the world rankings.

Local news

The 36th annual Morrison Scholastic will be held Saturday at Orangethorpe Elementary School, 1400 S. Brookhurst in Fullerton. It’s a free tournament for any student in grades K-12. Entrants are encouraged to register in advance by writing to organizer Dewain Barber at Amchesseq@aol.com.

Matt Hayes scored 5-1 to win the 37-player Winter Open at the Arcadia Chess Club. Tianyi He and Randy Hough tied for second at 4 1/2 -1 1/2 .

The club begins its six-round championship at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Senior Citizens building, 405 S. Santa Anita Ave. in Arcadia. For more information, see the club’s impressive new website at arcadiachessclub.com.

Today’s games

GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland)-GM Michael Bezold (Germany), Munich 2010: 1 d4 e6 2 Nf3 b6 3 e4 Bb7 This fianchetto, sometimes called Owen’s Defense, should not equalize. However, it has surprise value and avoids prepared analysis. 4 Bd3 g6 Relatively untested, but inferior to 4 . . . Nf6 and 4 . . . c5. 5 Bg5 f6 6 Be3 Nh6 7 Qd2! Not fearing 7 . . . Ng4, as 8 Bf4 g5 9 Bg3 keeps command. Nf7 8 c4 White wants to bury Black’s Bishop with d4-d5. Also strong is 8 Nc3 Nc6 9 0-0-0. f5 9 Nc3 Bb4 Black could fight for the center by 9 . . . fxe4 10 Bxe4 d5, but his position remains miserable after 11 cxd5 exd5 12 Bd3, as h2-h4-h5 will shatter his Kingside. 10 exf5 gxf5 11 d5! Qf6 If 11 . . . Na6, simply 12 a3 Bd6 13 b4 strands the Knight. 12 Bd4! A well-calculated sequence turns White’s strategic superiority into a direct attack. e5 13 Nxe5 Nxe5 14 Qe2! The imprecise 14 Qe3? lets Black escape by 14 . . . d6 15 f4 c5! 16 fxe5? Qh4+. d6 15 f4 Qh4+ 16 g3 Qg4 17 fxe5! Again, 17 Qe3? 0-0! 18 fxe5 c5 would squander the advantage. Qxd4 18 exd6+ Kf7 19 0-0-0 Also 19 Qe7+ Kg8 20 Bxf5 wins. If 20 . . . Bxc3+ 21 bxc3 Qxc3+, White evades checks by 22 Kf2 Qd4+ 23 Kg2 Bxd5+ 24 cxd5 Qxd5+ 25 Be4 Qd2+ 26 Kh3 Qh6+ 27 Qh4, inviting 27 . . . Qxh4+ 28 gxh4! c6 29 Raf1 and 30 Rhg1 mate. Qf6 20 Rhf1 Qg5+ 21 Kb1 Bc8 22 h4 Another way is 22 Ne4 Qg6 23 dxc7 Na6 24 g4. Black’s undeveloped pieces cannot rescue his King. Qf6 23 Ne4! As 23 . . . fxe4 24 Qh5+! Kg7 25 Rxf6 quickly mates. Re8 24 Qc2 Qg6 25 Ng5+ Kg8 26 Rxf5! Bxf5 27 Bxf5 Qh6 Against 27 . . . Qg7, both 28 Qa4 and 28 Be6+ clinch victory. 28 Qa4! Qf8 29 Bxh7+ Kg7 30 dxc7 Five pawns, and threats, for the Rook. Re5 31 Qxb4 Seeing 31 . . . Qxb4 32 c8Q. Na6 32 Qc3 Qf6 33 d6, Black Resigns.

GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (Venezuela)-IM Vasily Papin (Russia), Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2010: 1 c4 e6 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 d4 d5 4 e3 Capablanca used this form of the Queen’s Gambit a century ago. Much more common is 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bg5. a6 5 b3 c5 The approved counter, but Black does not fully equalize. 6 Nbd2 Nc6 7 Bb2 cxd4 Also 7 . . . b6 and 7 . . . Be7 are reasonable. 8 exd4 b6 9 Bd3 Bb7 10 0-0 Be7 11 Qe2 0-0 12 Rac1 Re8 The sharper 12 . . . dxc4 13 bxc4 b5!? probably favors White after 14 Rfd1 bxc4 15 Nxc4. 13 Rfd1 Qb8?! Black should continue solidly with 13 . . . Bf8 14 Qe3 g6 15 Ne5 Rc8. 14 Ne5 Welcoming 14 . . . Nxe5 15 dxe5 Nd7 16 cxd5 Bxd5, as 17 Be4 lets White operate on the c- and d-files. However, this was a safer course for Black than the game. dxc4 15 Ndxc4! White gets nothing from 15 bxc4?! Nxe5 16 dxe5 Nd7. Qa7? Losing. Black must try 15 . . . Nxe5 16 dxe5 Nd5 or the computer’s suggestion 15 . . . Qd8 16 Nxf7!? Kxf7 17 Ne5+ Nxe5 18 dxe5 Qd5! 19 f3 Nh5 20 Be4 Qb5, with chances to survive. 16 Nxf7! Kxf7 17 Ne5+ White will recover the piece or roust Black’s King from its fortress. Nxe5 18 dxe5 Nd5 No better is 18 . . . Ng8 19 Qh5+ Kf8 20 Rc4! Nh6 21 Bxh7, followed by 22 Rf4+. The attempt to return material by 18 . . . g6 19 exf6 Bxf6 loses instantly to 20 Rc7+ Re7 21 Bc4! Rxc7 22 Qxe6+. 19 Qh5+ Kf8 20 Qxh7 Bc5 The prettiest refutation of 20 . . . Bg5 is 21 Rc7! Nxc7 22 Ba3+ Be7 23 Bg6, preparing 24 Qh8 mate. 21 Bg6 Rec8 22 Qh8+ Ke7 23 Qxg7+ Kd8 24 Rxc5! Removing the guard so White can use f8 and d6. Rxc5 25 Qf8+ Kc7 26 Qd6+ Kc8 27 Bf7 Bc6 Black would be completely helpless after 27 . . . Rc7 28 Bxe6+ Kb8 29 Rc1. 28 Bxe6+ Kb7 29 Rxd5 Qb8 30 Rxc5 Qxd6 31 exd6 bxc5 32 Bf6 Re8 33 Be7, Black Resigns. Next the f-pawn advances.