China Defeats U.S. in Team Match

March 23, 2001

Position No. 5630: Black to play and win. From the game Zhu Chen-Christiansen No. 4, Seattle 2001.

Solution to Position No. 5629: White wins with 1 Qd8! Kg8 2 Rxg7+! Kxg7 3 Rg1+ Kh6 4 Qxf8+ Kh5 5 Qxf7+. Neither 1 . . . Qc5 2 Rg5! nor 1 . . . Rg8 2 Qxg8+! saves Black.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The four-round U.S. versus China Summit Match ended Sunday in a 21-19 victory for the Chinese team. The Seattle match was the latest proof that China has become a chess superpower.

The U.S. men, who competed on the top six boards, won their portion of the match, 13 1/2-10 1/2. On the two women’s boards, where China had a great superiority in rating, the U.S. women scored a very respectable 3 1/2-4 1/2. However, the Chinese dominated the two junior boards, scoring 6-2. Ominously, a Chinese spokesman predicted that a new crop of juniors would be ready for the rematch in China next year.

Chess ranks well below Go in popularity in China, although the Chinese Chess Assn. insists that 3 million people now play. When chess authorities recognize talented youngsters, they provide them with intense training. Obviously, the method works.

Gregory Kaidanov (3-1 on third board) and Larry Christiansen (3-1 on sixth board) posted the best individual results for the Americans. The Chinese standouts were Zhang Zhong (3-1 on fourth board) and 17-year-old Ni Hua (3 1/2- 1/2 on tenth board).

The Seattle Chess Foundation organized the match.

The 10th annual Amber tournament is underway in Monte Carlo. A dozen grandmasters are competing in the unique event, which combines 25-minute games with blindfold play. After eight of 22 rounds, Viswanathan Anand (India), world champion Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Peter Leko (Hungary) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) lead with scores of 5 1/2-2 1/2. Defending champion Alexey Shirov (Spain), who lost both games to Kramnik, has only 3 1/2-4 1/2.

The tournament continues to March 29. For daily Internet coverage, see chess.lostcity.nl/amber.

Former world champion Garry Kasparov heads a stellar field in the World Cup of Rapid Chess, a conflicting tournament of 25-minute games that finishes Sunday in Cannes. Live coverage is available at www.canalweb.net.

LOCAL NEWS

Minas Nordanyan, a 10th grader from Van Nuys, won the Southern California State High School Championship last weekend at Monroe High School in North Hills. Nordanyan scored 5 1/2- 1/2 in the 121-player event. Casey McCracken of La Jolla took second prize at 5-1, and Monroe earned team honors.

James Goerky led the under-1400 section with 4 1/2- 1/2. Robert Bray and Michael Ambartsoumian (a fourth grader!) achieved perfect 5-0 scores in the under-1000 section.

Randy Hough directed the tournament for the sponsoring Southern California Chess Federation.

Jerry Weikel, the Reno organizer of the 1999 U.S. Open and the annual Far West tournaments, will run his first Southern California events March 30 to April 1 at Quails Inn Hotel in Lake San Marcos. The Good Knight Open, a five-rounder on three days, begins Friday evening. A four-round tournament of 50-minute games will be held on April 1 only. For details, call (775) 747-1405 or send a message to wackyykl@aol.com.

The Wilshire Chess Society will conduct its monthly tournament March 25 in Community Room C of the Westside Pavilion, Pico at Westwood in Los Angeles. The three-round tournament of 45-minute games begins at 11 a.m. Register at the site at 10:30 a.m., or call Michael Jeffreys at (310) 473-6291 for more information.

Varuzhan Akobian scored 4 1/2- 1/2 to win the Super Sunday tournament last Sunday at Chess Palace in Los Alamitos. Viktor Kuperman finished second at 4-1. Dean Arvidson and Arthur Macaspac shared the expert prize, Marina Asami and Justin Li split Class B honors, and Nick Whallon took the under-1600 prize.

For information about Chess Palace events, call (562) 598-5099. Chess Palace posts a tournament calendar and photos of all winners at its entertaining Web site, www.chesspalace.com.

The latest tournament at Chess Academy, 1335 N. La Brea Ave. in Hollywood, was won by Grigoriy Burtayev, ahead of Nathan Hala. On Sunday, the club will host another tournament (at 11 a.m.) and a simultaneous exhibition (at 3 p.m.) by Eduard Gufeld, Southern California’s only grandmaster. Call (323) 883-0164 or (323) 512-4564 for details.

TODAY’S GAMES

Ni Hua (China)-H. Nakamura (USA) No. 4, Summit Match, Seattle 2001: 1 e4 c5 2 c3 Alapin’s move, a popular way to sidestep the complications of the Sicilian Defense. Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 d4 cxd4 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 Bc4 Nb6 7 Bb3 d5 No one risks 7 . . . dxc3 8 Nxc3 e6 because 9 Ne4 hinders Black’s development. 8 exd6 Qxd6 9 Na3!? More ambitious than 9 cxd4 e6 or theory’s battleground, 9 0-0 Be6. a6 Critical is 9 . . . dxc3, when both 10 Qxd6 exd6 11 Nb5 Rb8 and 10 Nb5 Qxd1+ 11 Kxd1 Rb8 12 Bf4 cxb2 13 Rb1 Bf5 give White barely enough compensation. Also 9 . . . Be6 10 Nb5 Qd7 11 Bxe6 Qxe6+ 12 Be3! Qd7 13 Nbxd4 e6 14 0-0 Nc4 15 Qe2 Nxe3 16 fxe3 Be7, as in a 1999 Ni Hua game, maintains equality. 10 0-0 Be6?! Weak, as Black lags in development. Either the solid 10 . . . e6 or the greedy 10 . . . dxc3 improves. 11 Bxe6 Qxe6 12 Nxd4 Nxd4 13 Qxd4 Rd8 14 Qh4 Qc6 Also 14 . . . Nd5 15 Nc2 Qg6 16 Nd4 e6 17 Bg5 favors White. 15 Nc2 e6 16 Nd4 Qc7 17 Bg5 Be7? With 17 . . . Rd5 18 Rfe1 Bc5, Black does not allow a breakthrough. 18 Nf5! exf5? Only the desperate 18 . . . Bxg5 19 Nxg7+ Kd7 20 Qxg5 Rhg8 offers a little hope. Black gets counterplay from 21 Qf6 Kc8 or 21 Qh6 Qe5 22 Nh5 Rg6 23 Qxh7 Ke7 24 Rae1 Qg5 25 Ng3 Rd2. 19 Bxe7 Rd7 Avoiding 19 . . . Qxe7 20 Rfe1 and 19 . . . Rd5 20 Rfe1 Kd7 21 Bf8. 20 Bf6! gxf6 Forced, as 20 . . . 0-0? 21 Qg5 mates. 21 Rae1+ Re7 22 Qxf6 Rg8 23 Rxe7+ Qxe7 24 Qxb6 Qe4 25 f3 Qe2 Slightly tougher is 25 . . . Qd5 26 Re1+ Kd7, although White still obtains a winning endgame by 27 Qb3. 26 Qf2 Qxf2+ 27 Kxf2 Ke7 28 Rd1 Rc8 29 Ke3 h6 30 Rd4 Rc6 31 Kf4 Kf6 32 g3 Ke6 33 Rd8 Rc4+ 34 Ke3 Rc6 35 Rh8 Ke5 Worse is 35 . . . Ke7 36 Kf4. 36 f4+ Kd5 37 Re8! Rf6 If 37 . . . Re6+ 38 Rxe6 fxe6, then 39 Kd3 b5 40 b3 wins routinely. 38 Re5+ Kc6 39 c4 With Black tied to the defense of the weakling at f5, White can create a Queenside passer. b6 40 b4 Kd7 41 Kd4 Kd8 42 a4 Kd7 43 a5 bxa5 44 Rxa5 Ke7 45 Re5+ Kd7 46 b5 axb5 47 cxb5, Black Resigns. After 47 . . . Kc7 48 Rd5 Kb6 49 Ke5 or 47 . . . Kd6 48 Rc5 Kd7 49 Ke5, Black drops a second pawn.

Van Buskirk-Merwin, National Open, Las Vegas 2001: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6 Chigorin’s Defense. 3 Nc3 dxc4 4 Nf3 Bg4 5 d5 Bxf3 6 exf3 Ne5 7 Bf4 Ng6 8 Bxc4! Inviting 8 . . . Nxf4? 9 Bb5+ c6 10 dxc6. Nf6 9 Bg3 a6 Nor does 9 . . . c6 10 0-0 cxd5 11 Nxd5 solve Black’s problems. 10 0-0 Black cannot develop his Kingside. Qd7 11 Qe2 Squelching . . . e7-e6. Nh5 12 Rfe1 Ngf4 13 Qe3 g5 14 Rad1 f5? Horrible. Black must have realized that 14 . . . Bg7 loses to 15 Ne4 h6 16 Nc5. 15 Bxf4 Nxf4 16 d6! cxd6 17 Qd4! Ng6 Useless is 17 . . . e5 18 Rxe5+. 18 Be6 Qc6 19 Nd5 Intending 20 Rc1. Rc8 20 Bxc8 Qxc8 21 Rc1 Qd8 22 Qf6, Black Resigns. A massacre by former California champion Charles Van Buskirk.