CHESS

Feb. 25, 2001

Position #5626: White to play and win. From the game Pena - Lara, USAT West, Los Angeles 2001.

Solution to Position #5625: White forces mate by 1 Nf6+! gxf6 2 Bxh7+! Kxh7 (also 2 . . . Kh8 3 Qh5 leads to mate) 3 Qh5+ Kg8 4 Qg4+ Kh7 5 Nf5 Rg8 6 Qh5 mate. If 1 . . . Kh8, White wins with 2 Qh5 h6 3 Qg6! fxg6 4 Nxg6 mate.

U.S. AMATEUR TEAM

The U.S. Amateur Team Championship, often the largest tournament in the country, took place last weekend at four locations. As usual, the Eastern regional, held near the tournament’s 1971 birthplace in New Jersey, attracted a huge crowd of 215 teams. The regional winner, with a perfect match score of 6-0, was “Zen and the Art of Bisguier” (IM Ron Burnett, GM Art Bisguier, Sergio Almeida and Noah Belcher).

For the first time since 1996, attendance climbed at the USAT West in Los Angeles. The turnout of 48 teams and 202 players does not approach the record of 83 teams, but it represents a modest improvement over last year’s dismal attendance of only 46 teams.

“The Chess Survivors” (masters Stephen Jones, Ron Hermansen and Tim Hanks and Class A player Rory Valle) finished first on tiebreak over “AAA Kings” (IM Andranik Matikozian, IM Varuzhan Akobian and scholastic stars Minas Nordanyan and Harut Keshishian). The teams tied their fifth-round encounter and won their other five matches.

“Hugo’s Heroes Part III” (Hugo Villanueva, Andre Felix, Hermogenes Ramirez, Sam Cea and Aldrin Vidal) took third place at 5-1.

Individual honors went to Matikozian, 6-0 on Board 1; Akobian on tiebreak over Alen Melikadamian, each 5 1/2- 1/2 on Board 2; Andrew Krasnov on tiebreak over Takashi Iwamoto, Bill Ruden and Mark Saylor, each 5-1 on Board 3; Mike Maloney, 5 1/2- 1/2 on Board 4; and Franklin Carroll, top alternate at 3 1/2-2 1/2.

The tournament lacked the goofy costumes of previous years, yet team spirit and silly team names contributed to a congenial atmosphere. In a close vote, “Shake Your Pawn-Pawn” won the prize for best team name.

“The Orange County Lions” (Darius Faizi, Francis Chen, Nima Khosab and Julian Beach) took first prize in the accompanying Scholastic Amateur Team Championship. Next in the 17-team competition were Team “M.A.R.K.” (Mark Flores, Andrew Nishida, Kevin Roberts and Rudy Sather) and “AAA Power” (David Arabyan, Sarkis Toneryan, Chris Teringalian and Arman Keshishian).

Alfredo Base won the blitz tournament with 8 1/2-1 1/2, just ahead of state champion Levon Altounian at 8-2.

“Rats Take the Cheese” (Todd Andrews, John Langreck, Jim Dean and Aaron Dean) scored 5 1/2- 1/2 to win the Midwest regional in Arlington Heights, Illinois. There were 32 teams.

“Five Dollar Haircut” (Matthew Noble, Robin Cunningham, Greg Samsa and Alan Patrick) won the South regional in Gainesville, Florida.

The four regional winners will compete in an Internet playoff, tentatively scheduled March 24-25, for the title of 2001 U.S. Amateur Team champions.

LOCAL NEWS

Dan Wong scored 6-1 to win the 2001 Championship of the West Valley Chess Club. Fereidon Geula and top Class A Rusty Krutik scored 5 1/2-1 1/2 in the 48-player tournament.

The West Valley Chess Club runs tournaments continuously on Thursday evenings in the Jewish Community Center, 22622 Vanowen St. in West Hills. The six-round Ides of March begins Thursday. For information: John Price at (818) 363-1379 or Duane Cooper at (818) 999-0837.

One hundred players competed in the 11th annual SPA Winter Classic, held Feb. 17 at St. Paul the Apostle School in Westwood. Aleksandr Kavutskiy swept the Open section with a perfect 4-0 score. William Conner excelled with a perfect 5-0 in the Junior Varsity (grades K-6) section. Leading scores of 4-1 in the Novice (grades K-3) section were achieved by, in tiebreak order, Gregory Comanor, Kevin Hsu, Dominique Maldague, Brian Coffee and Hero Delano.

The Santa Monica Bay Chess Club will begin its eight-round club championship Monday. The club meets at 7 p.m. Mondays in Joslyn Park, 633 Kensington Rd. in Santa Monica. For details, call Pete Savino at (310) 827-2789.

The Exposition Park Chess Club plans a free three-round tournament on March 4. Register at the site (the public library at 3665 S. Vermont Ave. in Los Angeles) at 1 p.m., or call the library at (323) 732-0169.

TODAY’S GAMES

Hill - Hough, USAT West, Los Angeles 2001: 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 Bg5 The Torre Attack. c5 4 e3 Qb6 Theory approves of this risky pawn grab. However, results favor White. 5 Nbd2 Qxb2 6 Bxf6 gxf6 7 Bd3 Nc6 Alternatives include 7 . . . d5 and 7 . . . cxd4 8 exd4 Qc3. 8 0-0 d5 9 Rb1 Or 9 c4. Qc3 10 Rb3 Qa5 11 c4 Nb4?! Shockingly greedy, although Black almost survives. With 11 . . . Qc7 or 11 . . . dxc4 12 Nxc4 Qc7, Black maintains a solid position. 12 Bb1 Nxa2 13 Rb5 Qa6 14 Qb3 Nb4 15 dxc5 Nc6 The Knight’s escapade has cost time and marooned the Queen. 16 Bd3 Na5 Probably best. White threatened 17 Qb2 Be7 18 Ra1, trapping the Queen. 17 Qb2 Nxc4 18 Nxc4 dxc4 19 Bxc4 Not convincing is 19 Be4?! c3. Qc6 Another idea is 19 . . . Be7 20 Nd4 b6. Then 21 Ra1 Qb7 22 cxb6 axb6 23 Rxa8 Qxa8 24 Rxb6 0-0 gets the King to safety. 20 Nd4?! Flashy. More effective is 20 Qxf6 Rg8 21 Ng5! Rg7 22 Rb2!, anticipating an easy endgame win after 22 . . . a6 23 Rd1 Bd7 24 Rbd2 Rd8 25 Be2 Qxc5 26 Bh5 Qf5 (as 26 . . . Qxg5 27 Bxf7+ Rxf7 28 Qxg5 costs the Queen) 27 Bxf7+ Rxf7 28 Qxf7+ Qxf7 29 Nxf7 Kxf7 30 Rxd7+. Qc7 21 Rd1 a6 22 Nf5?! White relies on 22 . . . axb5? 23 Bxb5+ and 22 . . . exf5? 23 Qxf6 Be6 (worse is 23 . . . Rg8? 24 Rd8+!) 24 Bxe6 fxe6 25 Rb6, but Black need not capture. Qe5 23 Qd2 Be7 24 c6 axb5?? Incredibly, 24 . . . Qc7 keeps Black alive. 25 cxb7, Black Resigns. If 25 . . . Bxb7, then 26 Qd7+ Kf8 27 Qxe7+ Kg8 28 Rd8+ mates.

IM Peters - Ed Cohen, USAT West, Los Angeles 2001: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Nb8 Breyer’s Defense to the Ruy Lopez. 10 d4 Nbd7 11 c4 Instead of the customary 11 Nbd2 Bb7 12 Bc2. c5 Clarifying the center. Also 11 . . . c6 and 11 . . . Bb7 make sense. 12 dxe5 Nxe5 13 Nxe5 dxe5 14 Nc3 Bd7 15 Qe2 Qb6 Simply 15 . . . b4 16 Nd5 Nxd5 17 cxd5 Bb5 minimizes White’s advantage. 16 f4! Bd6 17 f5 Grabbing space. The rest of the game revolves around White’s attempts to enforce the lever g2-g4-g5. Bc6 18 g4 b4 19 Nd5 Nxd5 20 exd5 Bd7 21 Bc2 f6 22 Be4 a5 Black should consider 22 . . . Kf7 23 g5 Ke7, removing his King from the danger zone. 23 Rf1 Qd8 24 Be3 Qe7 25 Kh1 Bc8 26 Rg1 Qe8 27 Rg2 Ra7 28 Rag1 Kh8 29 Qf2 Rc7 30 Qh4 Be7 31 Rd2?! I wanted to play 31 d6? Bxd6 32 g5 fxg5 33 Rxg5 (threatening 34 Rh5) but could not crack 33 . . . Qe7. Correct, though, is 31 g5!, as in the game. Bb7 32 Kh2 Rd7 33 g5! Second chance! fxg5 Forced, as 33 . . . Bd8 loses routinely to 34 g6 h6 35 Bxh6 gxh6 36 Qxh6+ Kg8 37 g7. 34 f6! gxh4 Toughest is 34 . . . g6 35 Bxg5 Bd8, but 36 Rf2 Qf7 37 Rgf1 Rd6 38 Bh6 wins anyway. 35 fxg7+ Kg8 36 gxf8Q+ Kxf8 37 Bh6+ Forcing mate. Kf7 38 Rf2+ Bf6 39 Rg7+ Kf8 40 Rxf6+, Black Resigns.