Two State Champions Achieve Goal in Century City Tourney

Nov. 9, 2001

Position No. 5663: Black to play and win. From the game Bacrot--Anand, Corsica 2001.

Solution to Position No. 5662: White wins material with 1 Ng5! fxg5 2 Bxg5.

ROWELL INVITATIONAL

Varuzhan Akobian won the John Rowell Invitational in convincing fashion last weekend in Century City. Akobian, already an International Master at age 18, led the tournament throughout despite a fifth-round loss to Joe Hanley. He secured first place by drawing his final game on Sunday against his closest pursuer, state champion Levon Altounian.

John Rowell and Altounian organized the tournament to give local masters a chance to achieve norms toward the title of International Master. Altounian (who finished in second place at 6-3) and former state champion Armen Ambartsoumian (who tied for third place with IM Melikset Khachian at 51/2-31/2) both achieved IM norms. Usually a player needs three norms to earn the IM title.

Other scores: IM Rashid Ziatdinov, 5-4; Michael Casella and former state champion Cyrus Lakdawala, 4-5; Eduardo Ortiz, 31/2-51/2; Hanley, 3-6; and Stephen Jones, 2-7.

A booklet containing photos, all 45 games and annotations by the players will be published soon. For a copy, send $8 to John Rowell, 3511 Country Club Drive, Glendale, CA 91208. All proceeds will go to the second Rowell Invitational, tentatively scheduled for February.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The 10th annual Ladies versus Veterans match ended Saturday in Amsterdam. A few decades ago, few women could hold their own against male grandmasters. Since Dutch philanthropist Joop van Oosterom began this series, though, there have been plenty of young, impressive women capable of defeating much more experienced opponents.

This year, the Veterans’ powerful lineup of former world champion Vassily Smyslov and four former world championship contenders proved sufficient to notch a 26-24 victory. The Veterans now lead the series with five match wins, four losses and one tie.

Individual results: 65-year-old Lajos Portisch of Hungary, 61/2-31/2; 70-year-old Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland, 51/2-41/2; 57-year-old Vlastimil Hort of Germany, 51/2-41/2; 80-year-old Smyslov of Russia, 5-5; and 75-year-old Mark Taimanov of Russia, 31/2-61/2.

The women’s team lacked Judit Polgar, the greatest female player ever. Scores: Zhu Chen of China, 6-4; women’s world champion Xie Jun of China, 51/2-41/2; Nana Ioseliani of the Republic of Georgia, 5-5; Alisa Galliamova of Ukraine, 4-6; and Sofia Polgar of Hungary, 31/2-61/2.

LOCAL NEWS

Eduardo Ortiz scored 41/2-1/2 to win the 37-player Istvanyi Memorial, which finished Monday at the Arcadia Chess Club. Esmaeil Almasi, Donald Danlag and Randy Hough (who held Ortiz to a draw) shared second place at 4-1. Class prizes went to James Sutton (best Class A), 4-1; Thurlo Mishler (best B), 31/2-11/2; Mel Clark and Issa Razzaghi (tied for best C), 3-2; and Steven Williamson (best D-E-unrated), 21/2-21/2.

The Arcadia Chess Club meets at 6 p.m. Mondays in the Senior Citizens building, 405 S. Santa Anita Ave., Arcadia. The club will start the six-round Arcadia Winter Open on Monday. Call Fred Brock at (626) 331-1638 for details.

The Exposition Park Chess Club hosted another successful free tournament last Sunday. Rene Aventura, Ilya Malinskiy, Eugene Ivanov, Sridhan Ramanujan and Leroy Norriss won their sections. The club meets at 1 p.m. Sundays in the public library, 3665 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles. For more information, call the library at (323) 732-0169.

TODAY’S GAMES

S. Jones-Altounian, Rowell Invitational, Century City 2001: 1 Nf3 g6 2 g3 Bg7 3 d4 Nf6 4 Bg2 d5 5 0-0 0-0 6 Nbd2 A nameless alternative to the Neo-Gruenfeld, 6 c4. c6 7 Re1 Bf5 8 Nh4 Be6 9 c3 Nbd7 10 Ndf3 Against the more consistent 10 e4, Black equalizes effortlessly with 10 ... dxe4 11 Nxe4 Bd5. Ne4 11 Ng5 Nxg5 12 Bxg5 h6 13 Bc1 g5 14 Nf3 f5 Ruling out e2-e4 and possibly contemplating ... f5-f4. 15 h4 g4 16 Ne5 Leading to a dull, drawish position. However, neither 16 Nd2 nor 16 Nh2 promises much more. Nxe5 17 dxe5 Qc7 18 f4 Qb6+ 19 e3 Bf7 20 Qc2 e6 21 Bf1 Rfd8 22 c4 Else Black proceeds with a general Queenside advance. Bf8 The only Bishop with life! 23 Bd2 a5 24 Rac1 Be8 25 c5?! A draw seems inevitable after 25 cxd5 cxd5 26 Qb3 Qxb3 27 axb3 Bc6 28 Bc3. Qa7 26 a3 b6 27 b4? White must resort to 27 cxb6 Qxb6 28 Bc3 c5 29 Kh2, although Black will maneuver to make ... d5-d4 a threat. axb4 28 axb4 bxc5 29 bxc5 Rdb8 White cannot challenge Black’s control of the open files without dropping his c-pawn. 30 Qc3 Qa3 31 Qxa3 Rxa3 32 Rc2 Rbb3 33 Rec1 Bd7 The obvious plan is to exchange light-square Bishops at a6, but Altounian finds a better idea. 34 Kg2 Kf7 35 Be2 Be7 36 Kf2 Kg6 37 Kg2 Bc8 The immediate 37 ... d4?? fails, to 38 Bc4 dxe3 39 Bxb3 exd2 40 Rxd2 Rxb3 41 Rxd7. 38 Kf2 d4! 39 exd4 Rxg3 40 Bb4 The counterattack 40 Rb1 Bxh4 41 Kf1 Rh3 42 Rb8 loses to 42 ... Rh1+ 43 Kg2 Rah3 44 Rxc8 R3h2 mate. And 40 Rb2 Bxh4 41 Kf1 Rh3 42 Rb8 permits 42 ... Ra2! 43 Be1 Ba6!, winning a Bishop. Rab3 41 Rh1 Kh5 42 Be1 Bxh4 Welcoming 43 Kf1 Rc1. 43 Rc1 Setting the trap 43 ... Rb2?? 44 Kf1. Rh3+ 44 Kg2 Rxh1 45 Kxh1 Re3 46 Bxh4 Kxh4 47 Bf1 Kg3 48 Ra1 h5!, White Resigns. Black ignores the threat to his Bishop, as 49 Ra8 h4 50 Rxc8 loses to 50 ... Re1 51 Kg1 h3 52 Rh8 h2+ 53 Rxh2 Rxf1+ 54 Kxf1 Kxh2 55 d5 g3.

IM Akobian-Ambartsoumian, Rowell Invitational, Century City 2001: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 cxd5 The Exchange variation of the Queen’s Gambit. exd5 5 Bg5 Be7 6 e3 0-0 7 Bd3 Nbd7 8 Nge2 More interesting than the usual 8 Nf3. Re8 9 Qc2 Nf8 10 0-0 c6 11 f3 White plans to take over the center by e3-e4. Be6 12 Rad1 Rc8 13 Kh1 Ng6 14 Nf4 Nxf4 15 Bxf4 g6 16 e4! Nh5 Not 16 ... dxe4 17 fxe4 Qxd4 because of the discovered attack 18 e5 Nd5 19 Bxg6. 17 Be3 Ng7 18 Qd2 Trying to lessen the impact of ... c6-c5, Black’s natural counterthrust. a6 19 Be2 Rf8 20 Qc2 To meet 20 ... dxe4 21 fxe4 f5 by 22 d5! cxd5 23 exd5 Bf7 (worse is 23 ... Bxd5? 24 Bf3) 24 d6, when 24 ... Bxd6 loses material to 25 Bf4 Ne8 26 Rxd6 Nxd6 27 Rd1. b5 21 Qd2 Qd7 22 Bg5 f6 23 Bh4 dxe4 24 fxe4 b4 25 Na4 Qa7 26 Bf2 Rfd8 After 26 ... Bxa2 27 d5, both 27 ... c5 28 Qxb4 and 27 ... Qb8 28 d6 Rfd8 29 Bc5 Bb3 30 Nb6 Bxd1 31 Rxd1 leave White in command. 27 Qc2 Qb7 28 b3 f5 29 Nc5 Bxc5 30 dxc5 fxe4 31 Qxe4 Black has destroyed White’s pawn center, but he cannot cope with White’s dark-square Bishop. Rxd1 32 Rxd1 Bd5 33 Bc4 Rd8 If 33 ... Bxc4 34 Qxc4+ Kh8 35 Bd4, White threatens Rd1-f1-f7. After 35 ... Rf8 36 Qe6, Black can barely move. 34 Bh4! Rd7 35 Bf6 a5 36 h3 Qa8 37 Qe5 Nf5 Also hopeless is 37 ... Ne8 38 Bxd5+ cxd5 39 Qe6+ Rf7 40 Be5, as the c-pawn will advance. 38 Bxd5+ cxd5 39 Qe6+ Rf7 40 Rxd5 Ng7 41 Bxg7 Kxg7 42 Qe5+ Kh6 Black cannot stop the passer by 42 ... Kg8 43 Rd6 Rf5 44 Qd4 Rf1+ 45 Kh2 Qb8 46 c6 Rc1, as 47 Qe5! Qf8 48 Qd5+ Kg7 49 Rd7+ Kh6 50 Qd2+ picks up Black’s Rook. 43 Rd4 Rf1+ 44 Kh2 Rf5 45 Rh4+ Kg5 Or 45 ... Rh5 46 Rxh5+ gxh5 47 Qf6 mate. 46 Qe7+ Rf6 47 Rg4+?! Quickest is 47 Qe3+! Kf5 (or 47 ... Kxh4 48 Qh6 mate) 48 g4 mate. Kf5 48 Rf4+ Kxf4 49 Qxf4+ Ke3, and Black Resigns. After 50 Qf3+ Qxf3 51 gxf3, White will get a new Queen.