Archive for February 17th, 2009

In round 3, I struggled against a 1437-rated youngster, missing 2 wins after being worse, but was able to clinch the match with a draw :

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Nf6 6. c4 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Bf4 Qc8 (N) 9. d5! Nh5 10. Qd2 Nxf4 11. Qxf4 Bd6 12. Qd4 Re8 13. e4 e5 14. Qd3 f4 15. Nb5 += fxg3 16. fxg3 Bc5+ 17. Kh1 a6 18. Nc3 = Qd8? 19. Na4! += Bf8? 20. Qe2? (Qb3! +/-) d6?! 21. Qf2?! Nd7 = 22. h4 Nf6 23. Nc3 Bc8 24. h5? =+ Be7 25. Nh4? Rf8 $17 26. Qe2 Bg4 27. Bf3??

27… Bh3?? (27…Nxh5!! idea 28.Bxg4 Nxg3+ -+) 28. Bg2 = Qd7 29. Nf5 Bg4 $15 30. Nxe7+? Qxe7 -/+ 31. Bf3? Bd7?? (Again, Nxh5! -+) 32. Nd1 = h6 33. Ne3 Nh7 34. Bg4? Bxg4 35. Qxg4 Nf6? (Qg5 -/+) 36. Qg6? (Qh4 =) Qf7 =+ 1/2-1/2

Round 4 featured my best game of the event. I outplayed a former U.S. Women’s Championship competitor :

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Nge2 b6 6. a3 Ba5 7. Bd2 Bb7 8. f3 (N) d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Nf4 O-O 11. Be2 Bxc3 12. bxc3 c4 13. O-O Re8 14. Qc2 Nc6 15. e4? dxe4 16. fxe4

16…Nxd4! 17. cxd4 Qxd4+ 18. Kh1 Bxe4? (Nxe4 -/+) 19. Qc3 Qxc3 20. Bxc3 Nd5 21. Nxd5 Bxd5 += 22. Bf3 Bxf3 23. Rxf3 f6 = 24. Kg1 Re4 25. Re1 Rae8 26. Rxe4 Rxe4 27. Kf2 Kf7 28. Re3 Re6 29. Rxe6 Kxe6 30. Ke3 Kd5 31. Bb4 f5 32. Bf8 g6 33. Bg7

33…Kc5! 34. h4 Kb5! 35. Kf4? Ka4 36. Kg5?? Kxa3 37. Kh6 b5 (the move she missed) 38. Kxh7 b4 39. Kxg6 c3 40. h5 c2 41. Bh6 b3 -+ 1/2-1/2

Black was winning but, with the match already lost (0.5-2.5), I agreed to a draw to return a favor. Just after the match started, one of my teammates had a family emergency & his opponent waited for 30 minutes, instead of starting the clock.

Yesterday, in rounds 5 & 6, I had bad openings against weaker opponents but won both games to end up +1 & stay >1800 :

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. Qd3 b6 6. a3 Ba6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O (N) d5 = 9. Ne5 Ne4 10. Nxe4 fxe4 += 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 = 12. Qf4 Qf6? += 13. Qxf6? gxf6 = 14. Ng4 h5! 15. Ne3 c5 16. c3 Nc6 17. Nc2 Rg8 18. g3 Ke7 19. f4 =+ exf3 20. exf3 Bxf1 21. Rhxf1 = Rad8 22. Rfe1 Kf7 23. Re2 Rd6 24. b4 cxb4 25. cxb4 Rc8 26. Kb2 b5 27. f4 a5 28. bxa5 Nxa5 29. Ne3 Nc4+ 0-1

My opponent touched his N & attempted to play 30.Kb3 =/+. When TD Carol Jarecki told him to move the N (presumably 30.Nxc4+ -/+) he abruptly resigned.

1. Nf3 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Bf4 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Nbd2 e6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bb5 O-O 8. h3 (N) Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 = 10. Ne5 Bxe5 11. dxe5 Nd7 =+ 12. Nf3?! Be4 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. O-O f6 15. exf6 Qxf6 16. Ne1 Qg6? 17. f3 e5 18. Bg3 Bf5 19. Kh2 Be6 $11 20. f4 Qh6 21. Kg2

21…exf4 22. exf4 = Nf6?! 23. f5 Bd7? (Bc8 +=) 24. Bf4 Qh4?? (g5 +/- was forced) 25. Nf3 +- (Black’s Q is trapped.) Qxg4+ 26. hxg4 Nxg4 27. Qd2 Bxf5 28. Rae1 Be4 29. c4 Rad8 30. Bxc7 Rd7 31. Rxe4 dxe4 32. Qxd7 exf3+ 33. Rxf3 Nf6 34. Qe6+ Rf7 35. Bd6 a5 36. Qc8+ Rf8 37. Qxf8# 1-0

Keresmatic Combo split their 6 matches, +3-3=0. Two of the losses were against the 5th & 11th seeds.

Individually, Ari Minkov had 2.0/4… Arunus Simonaitis was 2.5/6… Ziggy Bliznikas had 2.5/5… Including a forfeit win, I was 4-2… Don Varnekas had 0.5/3.

replays
PGN

The Jackal Attack

We finished out the US Amateur Team East with two drawn matches and 4.5 points out of 6 (half a point behind the best New Jersey Team).

The most interesting game that I got to see was in Round 5, when French aficionado FM Steve Stoyko faced “The Jackal Attack” (1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.d4 c5 6.Bg5). I have posted Meredith-Stoyko, USATE 2009 along with some additional analysis I have done on the Jackal.

As a player of the Two Knights French myself, I have looked at the Jackal Attack and read Skelton’s first edition (he has since issued an update). Anyone interested in learning more about this line can find a lot of analysis on the web, starting with Skelton’s own website on “The Jackal Attack” (where you can purchase a copy of his self-published book) and several reviews: “Play of the Jackal,” “The Jackal Attack and Other Stories,” and “French Defense: Jackal Attack” (with java replay here). Perhaps the most incisive commentary, however, is to be found in Glenn Flear’s review from New in Chess Yearbook #72 (btw: Skelton’s original analysis appeared in NIC Yearbook #61) titled “The Way of the Jackal” (in PDF).

In the game, Steve walked into an Exchange sacrifice that started to look like a mammoth trap.

Mammoth Trap?
Black to play after 12.Bb5

However, as with all mammoth traps (see here and here for examples), it’s hard to contain the beast. And Steve saw that he could escape the trap fairly easily by battering open the a-file with 12…a5! Instead, he played too quickly 12…O-O?! when White is able to force a draw after 13.O-O followed by Nc3 and (after the forced Qxb2) Rb1-b3-b1-b3 with perpetual threat on the Queen.