Young and Old Strive to Master the Intricacies of Ancient Game

Aug. 10, 2001

Position No. 5650: White to play and win. From the game Pixton-Geist, U.S. Cadet Championship, West Point 2001.

Solution to Position No. 5649: White wins with 1 Rxg6 Rg8 2 Rxh6+! Kxh6 3 Bc1+ Kh7 4 Qh5+.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The U.S. Chess Federation conducted two national championships last week for teenage masters and experts. Hikaru Nakamura of New York won the 2001 U.S. Junior Championship, a round robin of the country’s 10 best players under age 20. Nakamura, who recently fulfilled the requirements for the IM title, won his last six games en route to an impressive 7 1/2-1 1/2 score in the event, which finished Sunday in Tulsa, Okla.

At age 13 years, 7 months, Nakamura is the youngest winner since Bobby Fischer captured the 1956 U.S. Junior Championship at age 13 years, 4 months. Such accomplishments are routine for the prodigy. He already holds American records for the youngest master and youngest IM.

David Pruess of Berkeley and Dmitry Schneider of New York tied for second place at 6 1/2-2 1/2. Vinay Bhat of San Jose took fourth prize at 5 1/2-3 1/2. Bhat, 16, will receive the IM title this fall.

Nakamura, now participating in the U.S. Open in Massachusetts, will represent the U.S. in the World Junior Championship, which begins Thursday in Athens. He also earns an invitation to the 2002 U.S. Championship.

Eight of the best players under age 16 competed in the 2001 U.S. Cadet Championship in West Point, N.Y. Aaron Pixton of New York won with 5 1/2-1 1/2, a half-point ahead of Daniel Fernandez of Florida. Minas Nordanyan of Van Nuys tied for fifth place at 3-4.

If you fear that chess has become a game for the young, take heart from the latest performance of 70-year-old Victor Korchnoi of Switzerland. He won the grandmaster section of the annual chess festival in Biel, Switzerland, ahead of four stars ranked among the world’s top 30.

Korchnoi has been called the strongest senior citizen in chess history. He refuses to compete in the World Senior Championship, preferring to battle opponents a third his age. When he wins, he jokes that “something is wrong with modern chess.” In Biel, though, his 6-4 score led a very powerful field of much younger grandmasters. He won four games while none of his rivals managed more than two wins. Former Russian champion Peter Svidler finished second at 5 1/2-4 1/2, followed by Boris Gelfand (Israel) at 5-5 and 17-year-old Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Joel Lautier (France) and Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland) at 4 1/2-5 1/2.

LOCAL NEWS

The San Luis Obispo County Championship will be held Aug. 24-25 at Nazarene Church, 3396 Johnson St., San Luis Obispo. Entrants in the Open and Under-1700 sections play one 90-minute game at 7:15 p.m. on Friday and three more Saturday. The Under-1200 section will be a one-day event, with four 45-minute games Saturday. The top two finishers in the Open section earn invitations to the qualifying tournament for the 2002 state championship. For details, call Barbara McCaleb at (805) 544-0717.

Jay Stallings, director of the California Youth Chess League, will host a four-round tournament of 45-minute games Saturday at the CYCL center, 25864 Tournament Road, Valencia. Adults and children may participate. Register at the site before 10 a.m., or send a message to coachjay@cycl.org.

Registration for the proposed Los Angeles Chess League will close Thursday. Any four players may form a team and register online at https://www-scf.usc.edu/~lprewitt/chessleagueform.html. For help joining a team, send a message to william_morriss@hotmail.com.

The Exposition Park Chess Club, which meets Sunday afternoons in the public library, 3665 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, held its largest tournament yet last Sunday. Nathan Hala, Max Landaw, Balint Nagy, Juan Chavez, Bertram Buggs and Ben Chang swept their sections with perfect scores. In addition, Derrick Blakey and Luenin Barrios shared first place in their section, while Thomas Landry and Brad Jaggi tied for first in another section.

The club offers chess instruction, occasional simultaneous exhibitions and free tournaments on the first Sunday of every month. For details, call the library at (323) 732-0169.

Gregg Fritchle, Leigh Hunt, Daniel Krawiec and Richard Oberlin shared first prize in a 27-player tournament, which ended last Friday at the La Palma Chess Club. Ernesto Soto, Mark Adams, Lisa Edmondson and Peter Raissi earned class prizes. The club runs tournaments continuously on Friday evenings in Central Park, 7821 Walker St., La Palma. For more information, call Brian Scanlon at (714) 523-2550.

TODAY’S GAMES

V. West -Michael Smith, Continental Open, Las Vegas 2001: 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 0-0-0 A reliable attacking system against the Najdorf Sicilian. Nbd7 10 Bd3 b5 11 a3 Not bad, although White usually continues 11 Rhe1 Bb7 12 Qg3. Bb7 12 Rhe1 Rc8 13 Kb1 h6 14 Bh4 Nxe4?? Disastrous. Either 14 ... g5 15 fxg5 Ne5 16 Qe2 Nfg4 or 14 ... b4!? 15 axb4 Qb6 16 Bf2 Qxb4 fights back sensibly. 15 Bxe4 Bxe4 16 Rxe4 Bxh4 17 f5! Most aggressive. White could obtain a winning endgame by 17 Qh5! Nf6 (fatal is 17 ... Bf6 18 Nxe6 Qc6 19 Ng5+) 18 Nxe6 Nxh5 19 Nxc7+ Kd7 20 Nxa6. Bf6?! Losing, but White mauls the improvement 17 ... Ne5 18 Qh5 Bf6 by 19 Nxe6 Qb7 20 Nd5. 18 Nd5 Qc5 If 18 ... Qb7 19 fxe6 fxe6, White wins with 20 Qh5+ Kf8 21 Nxe6+ Kg8 22 Nxg7! Bxg7 23 Ne7+ Kf8 24 Rf1+ Nf6 25 Qg6. Or, if 18 ... Qd8 19 fxe6 Ne5, White blasts through by 20 Rxe5! dxe5 21 Nc6! Rxc6 22 Nxf6+ Qxf6 23 Qxc6+ Kf8 24 Qc8+, forcing mate. 19 fxe6 Ne5 As 19 ... fxe6 costs the Queen, to 20 Qh5+ Kf8 21 Nxe6+. 20 Nxf6+ Ke7 After 20 ... gxf6 21 Qxf6 Rf8 22 Nf5! Qxc2+ 23 Ka2, Black cannot parry all three threats of mate. 21 Rxe5! dxe5 Or 21 ... Qxe5 22 Ng8+! Kd8 23 Qxf7, mating. 22 Ng8+!, Black Resigns. One finish is 22 Ng8+! Kd6 23 Nxb5+ Kxe6 24 Qg4+ f5 25 Qg6 mate.

GM Shulman (Belarus) -IM Ginsburg (U.S.A.), Continental Open, Las Vegas 2001: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be2 e5 7 Be3 Gligorich’s system against the King’s Indian Defense. Nbd7 8 0-0 Qe7 9 Qc2 c6 10 Rfe1 Ng4 Trying for the thematic thrust, ... f7-f5. 11 Bg5 f6 12 Bh4 h5 13 h3 Nh6 14 Rad1 Dissuading Black from the thematic 14 ... g5 15 Bg3 f5?! because 16 dxe5 dxe5 17 exf5 Nxf5 18 Ne4 opens lines for White. Nf7 15 Bg3 Kh7 16 Nh4 Bh6 Preventing f2-f4. 17 f4!? Anyway! exf4 18 e5 f5?! Underestimating White’s attack. The ugly 18 ... Nh8 (inviting 19 Bxh5 f5) tests White’s brainstorm. 19 Nxg6! Kxg6 20 Qxf5+! Shulman undoubtedly foresaw this spectacular shot at move 17. If 20 ... Kxf5, White forces mate with 21 Bd3+ Kg5 22 Bxf4+! Kxf4 23 Re4+ Kg5 (or 23 ... Kf5 24 Rg4+! Ke6 25 d5+ cxd5 26 cxd5+ Kxe5 27 Re1+ Kf6 28 Rg6 mate) 24 h4+ Kf5 (avoiding 24 ... Kg6 25 Rg4 mate) 25 Rf1+ Bf4 26 Rexf4+ Ke6 27 d5+ cxd5 28 cxd5+ Kxe5 29 Re4 mate. Kg7 21 Bd3 Rh8 22 Qg6+ Kf8 23 e6 Rg8?! Toughest is 23 ... fxg3, hoping for 24 Rf1?? Be3+ 25 Kh1 Bf2. Nevertheless, White should win with 24 exf7 Qxf7 25 Qxd6+ Kg8 26 Qxg3+ Qg7 27 Qd6, as his Rooks and Knight are poised to invade. 24 Bh4! Rxg6 Black lasts longer with 24 ... Bg5 25 Qxf7+ Qxf7 26 exf7 Kxf7 27 Bxg5 Rxg5, but White clinches victory by 28 Ne4 Rg6 29 Rf1, picking up a pawn. 25 Bxe7+ Kxe7 26 exd7+ Re6 27 dxc8Q, Black Resigns. As 27 ... Rxc8 28 Bf5 costs material.