Ziping Wins at Westfield

Two years ago, when he began taking chess lessons from me, Ziping Liu had a USCF rating of 632. After Ziping won his game/45 quad at Westfield on Sunday with a score of 2-0-1, his rating stands at 1564! In the first round, Ziping claimed a draw in a winning position because of time shortage.

Round One: King's Indian Defense, Saemisch Variation

Rodrigo Vinluan (USCF 1808) - Ziping Liu (USCF 1488), Westfield NJ 6/1/2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 O-O 5.f3 d6 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 a5 8.a4 Na6 9.Bd3 Nb4 10.Qd2 Bd7 11.Nge2 Nh5 12.h4 Nf6


This knight maneuver is an unnecessary waste of tempos. Better is 12...f5.

13.Bg5 h6 14.Be3 Kh7 15.g4 h5 16.Bg5 hxg4 17.h5 gxh5 18.Rxh5 Kg6


I might have given up the queen by 18...Nxh5 19.Bxd8 Raxd8 20.fxg4 Bxg4 with equivalent material and a positional advantage for Black.

19.Ng3 Rh8 20.Rxh8 Qxh8 21.f4 Qh3 22.Nce2 Nh5 23.Nxh5 Nxd3+ 24.Kd1 Qf1+ 25.Kc2 Nb4+ 26.Kb3 Qxa1 27.f5+ Kh7 28.Nc3, draw.


In the final position, Black wins after 28...Bxa4+ 29.Nxa4 Qa2+ 30.Kc3 Qxa4 31.Nxg7 Qc2+ 32.Qxc2 Nxc2.