At last week's Viking quads in Somerset, Ziping Liu increased his USCF rating to 1688 by winning quad three with a perfect 3-0 score. In round one, Ziping as White was lucky to defeat Maryia Oreshko [pictured above] from a lost position.
After the game, Atlantic Chess News editor Steve Ferrero asked me, "Did you teach him that?"
I replied, "I taught him not to give up!"
Fortunately, Ziping played better in his next two games. Here he wins with the Pirc Defense, borrowing an idea from the double fianchetto defense against the Saemisch attack in the King's Indian.
Round Two: Pirc Defense
Michael McCaffery (USCF 1462) - Ziping Liu (USCF 1594), Somerset NJ 10/25/2008
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f3 Bg7 5.Be3 b6 6.Bc4 Bb7 7.Bb3 c5 8.Ba4+ Nbd7 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.Nge2 O-O 11.g4 h5 12.gxh5 Nxh5 13.dxc5 bxc5
14.Bxc5 Qh3 15.Bd4 Qxf3 16.Rf1 Qg4 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Qd4+ Kh7 19.O-O-O Ba6 20.Rg1 Qe6 21.Qd5 Bc4 22.Qxe6 Bxe6 23.Nd5 Bxd5 24.exd5 Nf6 25.c4 Rfc8 26.b3 a5
27.Nd4 Nxd5 28.Nf5 Nb4 29.Nxe7 Re8 30.Rge1 Ra7 31.a3 Raxe7 32.Rxe7 Rxe7 33.axb4 axb4 34.Rxd6 Re3 35.Kc2 Rc3 36.Kb2 f5 37.Rd4 Kh6 38.c5 Rxc5 39.Rxb4 Re5 40.Rc4 Kh5 41.b4 g5 42.Rc5 Re2+ 43.Rc2 Re4
44.Kb3 f4 45.b5 f3 46.b6 Re6 47.b7 Rb6+ 48.Kc3 Rxb7 49.Kd2 Re7 50.Rc3 g4 51.h3 f2 52.Rc5+ Kg6 53.Rc6+ Kg7 54.Rc1 g3 55.Rf1 Kh6, White resigns.
