Thousand Points and Counting

When I started giving chess lessons to Ziping Liu in June 2006, his USCF rating was only 631. After his performance at the ICA Fall 2008 Open, Ziping's rating stands at 1655, more than a thousand points higher! His two best games on Sunday were played as Black.

Round Two: Pirc Defense

Joel Pruzansky (USCF 1870) - Ziping Liu (USCF 1624), ICA Fall 2008 Open 10/12/2008

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6 8.e5 dxe5 9.dxe5 Nd5 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.Qxd5 cxd5

12.Bb5+ Nc6 13.Be3 O-O 14.Bc5 Rfe8 15.O-O-O e6 16.c4 Red8 17.cxd5 exd5 18.Bd6 a6 19.Ba4 b5 20.Bb3 d4 21.Kb1 Bf8 22.Bd5 Rac8 23.Bxc6 Rxc6 24.Rxd4 Bxd6 25.Rhd1 Kf8 26.exd6 f5 27.b3 Kf7 28.Kb2 Rd7 29.g4 Ke6


30.Re1+ Kf6 31.g5+ Kf7 32.Red1 Ke6 33.Ka3 Rcxd6 34.Rxd6+ Rxd6 35.Rxd6+ Kxd6 36.Kb4 Kd5 37.a4 bxa4 38.bxa4 Ke4 39.Ka5 Kxf4 40.Kxa6 Kxg5 41.a5 f4 42.Kb6 f3 43.a6 f2 44.a7 f1=Q 45.a8=Q Qf2+ 46.Kc7 Qc5+ 47.Kd7 Qf5+ 48.Kd6 Qxh3


49.Qa5+ Qf5 50.Qa2 h5 51.Qg2+ Kf6 52.Qb2+ Kg5 53.Qg2+ Kh6 54.Qd2+ Qg5 55.Qf2 Qf5 56.Qe3+ g5, and drawn in ? moves.




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Round Three: Pirc Defense

Eve Zhurbinskiy (USCF 1770) - Ziping Liu (USCF 1624), ICA Fall 2008 Open 10/12/2008

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Nge2 e5 7.dxe5 Nxe5 8.f4 Nc6 9.O-O Bg4 10.Be3 Qd7 11.Qd2 Bh3 12.Rad1 Bxg2 13.Kxg2 O-O-O


14.a3 h5 15.h4 Rhe8 16.Qd3 Qe7 17.Nd4 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Bh8 19.Rfe1 a6 20.Bxf6 Bxf6 21.Nd5 Qe6 22.Nxf6 Qxf6 23.Qd4 Qxd4 24.Rxd4 Rd7 25.Kf3 Rde7 26.Re3 f5 27.Rc4 c5


28.e5 b5 29.Rcc3 Kb7 30.b3 dxe5 31.Rxc5 e4+ 32.Ke2 Rc8 33.Rec3 Rec7 34.b4 Rxc5 35.bxc5 Kc6 36.Ke3 Kd5 37.c6 Rxc6 38.Rxc6 Kxc6 39.Kd4 a5 40.c3 Kd6


41.c4 b4 42.axb4 axb4 43.c5+ Kc6 44.Kc4 e3 45.Kd3 b3, White resigns.