Pix from Sunday Game/60 3/2/2014

On Sunday, I photographed the players in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Pix from Rahway Quads 3/1/2014

These pictures were taken by me on Saturday during the quads at Chess Mates.

Roxbury Wins Junior High Championship

The Roxbury Scholastic Chess Club of Eisenhower Middle School has won the 2014 New Jersey junior high school championship.

ICA Thursday Night Tournaments

International Chess Academy is proud to announce the new every Thursday night chess tournament, starting March 6, 2014, at 185 Court Street in Teaneck NJ.

Entry fee: $25.  3 SS, G/30, d0.  Prizes (based on 10 entries): 1st place $75, 2nd place $50.  Registration: 6pm to 7:10pm.  Rounds: 7:15pm, 8:30pm, 9:45pm.  Entry information: Diana Tulman, phone number 201-797-0330; e-mail chessdirector@icanj.net; www.icanj.net.

As a special introductory incentive, there will be a grandmaster lecture from 6:15pm to 7pm.  The lecture is free to all players.  For non-players in the event, the lecture fee is $25.

The first grandmaster lecture will be given by Joel Benjamin, with the topic of discussion being “Unorthodox Openings: the Black Knights Tango (i.e. the Mexican Defense or the Chebanenko Experiment)."

Upcoming Thursday night tournament guests include GM Alex Stripunsky, GM Boris Gulko, GM Alex Fishbein, GM Sergey Kudrin, GM Tamaz Gelashvili, and IM Albert Kapengut.

Joel Benjamin is a 3-time United States chess champion (1987, 1997, and 2000).  At the age of 13, Joel broke Bobby Fischer's record by becoming the youngest ever U.S. master.  In the 1997 rematch, he helped the Deep Blue IBM computer team defeat Garry Kasparov, as the official grandmaster consultant.  (Deep Blue lost to Kasparov in 1996.)  Joel trained the computer to think more positionally, augmenting its awesome calculation skills.

Marshall Sunday Game/60 3/2/2014

On Sunday, I finished with a score of 1-1-2 in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round One: Philidor Counter Gambit

Connor Dong (USCF 1562) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 3/2/2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nxe5 dxe4 7.Bc4 Qd6 8.Bf4 Nf6 9.Bf7+ Ke7 10.Ng6+ hxg6 11.Bxd6+ cxd6

12.Bxg6 Rh6 13.Bxe4 Nxe4 14.Qe2 Re6 15.Qc4 d5 16.Qc7+ Nd7 17.O-O Ke8 18.Qa5 Nef6 19.Rfe1 Rxe1+ 20.Rxe1+ Kf7 21.Qb5 Bd6 22.c4 a6 23.Qa4 Nb6 24.Qb3 Nxc4 25.Rd1 b5 26.f3 Bd7 27.Kf2 Re8 28.g3 Bf5

29.h4 Re3 30.Qxe3 Nxe3 31.Kxe3 Bxg3 32.f4 Bxh4 33.Rh1 Ng4+ 34.Kf3 Be4+ 35.Nxg4 Bxh1 36.Kxh4 Be4 37.Kg5 g6 38.a3 a5 39.b3 Bc2 40.b4 axb4 41.axb4 Bf5 42.Kh4 Kf6 43.Kg3 Bc2 44.Kg4 Bd1+ 45.Kg3 Kf5

46.Kg2 Kxf4 47.Kh3 Ke4 48.Kh4 Kxd4 49.Kg3 Kc4 50.Kf4 Kxb4 51.Ke5 Kc4 52.Kf6 Bh5 53.Ke5 b4 54.Kf6 b3 55.Ke5 b2 56.Kf4 b1=Q 57.Kg5 Qf5+ 58.Kh6 Qf4+, White forfeits.

Rahway Quads 3/1/2014

Yesterday I drew a couple of games in the quads at Chess Mates.

Round Two: King's Indian Attack

Jim West (USCF 2200) - Boris Privman (USCF 2337), Rahway NJ 3/1/2014

1.Nf3 d6 2.g3 e5 3.d3 f5 4.Nbd2 Nf6 5.e4 g6 6.Bg2 Bg7 7.c3 c6 8.O-O O-O 9.a4 Kh8 10.Re1 Be6 11.Qc2 Nh5

12.exf5 gxf5 13.Nf1 Nd7 14.Qe2 Qe8 15.Bd2 Bg8 16.a5 d5 17.Nh4 Nc5 18.Bf3 Bf7 19.Nxf5 Bg6 20.Bxh5 Bxh5 21.Nxg7 Kxg7 22.Qxe5+ Qxe5 23.Rxe5 Bg6 24.Be3 Nxd3 25.Re7+ Rf7 26.Bd4+ Kf8 27.Rxf7+ Kxf7 28.b4 a6

29.Ne3 Ke6 30.Ng2 Rf8 31.Ne1 Ne5 32.f4 Nd7 33.Nf3 Nf6 34.Re1+ Ne4 35.Ng5+ Kf5 36.Nxe4 dxe4 37.Kf2, draw.

          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Round Three: Philidor Counter Gambit

Aaron Jacobson (USCF 2147) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Rahway NJ 3/1/2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Qxd8+ Nxd8 8.Nxe5 fxe4 9.Bb3 Bd6, draw.

Pix from February Grand Prix 2/23/2014

On Sunday, I snapped these photos during the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Garry Kasparov in "Smithsonian Magazine"

Garry Kasparov is interviewed by Ron Rosenbaum in Smithsonian Magazine.

February Grand Prix 2/23/2014

On Sunday, I finished with a score of 1-1-2 and a zero point bye in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Five: Philidor Counter Gambit

Bryan Quick (USCF 1686) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 2/23/2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.dxe5 fxe4 5.Ng5 d5 6.c4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 d4 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 e3 10.Nf3 exf2+ 11.Kxf2 dxc3 12.Qxd8+ Kxd8 13.Bg5+ Ke8 14.Nd4 Ne7 15.Bd3 Na6 16.Ke3 c6

17.Rhf1 Nc5 18.Bc2 h6 19.Bh4 Be6 20.Nxe6 Nxe6 21.Rab1 b6 22.Be1 Rf8 23.Bxc3 Rxf1 24.Rxf1 Kd7 25.Rf7 Rf8 26.Bg6 Rxf7 27.Bxf7 g6 28.Bxe6+ Kxe6 29.g4 a6 30.h4 b5 31.Kd4 h5 32.gxh5 gxh5 33.cxb5 axb5

34.Kc5 Nf5 35.Kxc6 Nxh4 36.Be1 Nf3 37.Bg3 Nd4+ 38.Kc5 Nc2 39.Kxb5 Nxa3+ 40.Kc5 Nc2 41.Kc4 Ne3+ 42.Kd3 Nf5 43.Bh2 Kd5 44.Ke2 Ne7 45.Kf3 Ng6 46.Bg3 Nxe5+ 47.Bxe5 Kxe5 48.Kg3 Kf5 49.Kh4 Kg6, draw.

February Grand Prix 2/22/2014

On Saturday, these games were played in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round One: Philidor Counter Gambit 

Jose De Villa (USCF 2005) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 2/22/2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Nf3 f5 4.d4 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nc3 e4 7.Ne5 Nf6 8.Be2 Bb4 9.Bd2 Bxc3 10.Bxc3 O-O 11.O-O Be6 12.Bb4 Re8 13.c4 c6 14.Rc1 Nbd7

15.Bd6 Nb6 16.Ba3 Nxc4 17.Nxc4 dxc4 18.Bxc4 Bxc4 19.Rxc4 Kh8 20.b3 Qd7 21.h3 Rad8 22.Qd2 h6 23.Bb2 a6 24.Rd1 Nd5 25.Re1 Qf5 26.a3 Qf4 27.Qxf4 Nxf4 28.Ba1 Kh7 29.Kh2 g5 30.Re3 Nd5 31.Re1 e3 32.fxe3 Rxe3 33.Rxe3 Nxe3

34.Rc3 Nf5 35.Rf3 Kg6 36.Rd3 Rd5 37.g4 Nd6 38.Re3 Kf7 39.a4 Ne8 40.Kg3 Ng7 41.h4 Ne6 42.Re4 b5 43.hxg5 hxg5 44.Re5 Rxe5 45.dxe5 bxa4 46.bxa4 Nc5 47.a5 Ke6 48.Kf3 Kd5 49.Bc3 Nd7 50.e6 Kxe6

51.Ke4 Nc5+ 52.Kd4 Nb7 53.Bd2 Kf6 54.Kc4 Nd6+ 55.Kd4 Nb7 56.Kc4 Nd6+ 57.Kd4, draw.

          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Round Two: Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation

Jim West (FIDE 2047) - Jason Margiotta (FIDE 1973), Marshall Chess Club 2/22/2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O Bg4 6.h3 h5 7.d3 Qf6 8.Nbd2 Ne7 9.Nc4 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Qxf3 11.gxf3 Ng6 12.Be3 O-O-O 13.Kh1 Bd6 14.Rg1 Rde8

15.a4 Re6 16.a5 Rf6 17.Bg5 Re6 18.c3 Rg8 19.Rad1 Ree8 20.b4 Re6 21.Rg3 Nf4 22.Bxf4 exf4 23.Rg5 g6 24.d4 Be7 25.Re5 Rxe5 26.Nxe5 f6 27.Nd3 g5 28.Rg1 Re8 29.h4 Kd8 30.e5 fxe5 31.dxe5 g4 32.fxg4 Bxh4 33.gxh5 Rh8 34.Nxf4 Bxf2 35.Rg7 Be1

36.Ne6+ Kc8 37.Rxc7+ Kb8 38.Rg7 Bxc3 39.Nc5 Rxh5+ 40.Kg2 Bxe5 41.Rxb7+ Kc8 42.Rb6 Kc7 43.Nxa6+ Kc8 44.Rxc6+ Kb7 45.b5 Bd6 46.Rb6+ Ka7 47.Kf3 Re5 48.Kg4 Rd5 49.Kf3 Re5 50.Kg2 Rf5

51.Kg1 Bc5+ 52.Nxc5 Rxc5 53.Kf2 Rc2+ 54.Ke3 Ra2 55.Ra6+ Kb7 56.Kd4 Rc2 57.Rh6 Ra2 58.Rh7+ Kb8 59.Kc5 Rg2 60.b6 Rc2+ 61.Kb5 Rb2+ 62.Ka6, Black resigns.

Marshall Masters 2/18/2014

Last Tuesday evening, I played this game at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Two: Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation

Jim West (FIDE Rapid 2094) - Zachary Tanenbaum (FIDE 1963), Marshall Chess Club 2/18/2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O Qd6 6.a4 f6 7.Na3 Be6 8.Qe2 O-O-O 9.Nc4 Qd7 10.d3 h5 11.b3 h4 12.Ba3 h3 13.g3 Bxa3 14.Rxa3 Bg4 15.Qe3 Kb8 16.Nfd2 Ne7

17.f3 Be6 18.Rb1 Qd4 19.Qxd4 Rxd4 20.b4 b6 21.a5 b5 22.Ne3 g5 23.Nd1 Rd7 24.Nb3 Bxb3 25.Raxb3 Rhd8 26.Nf2 Rh8 27.Ng4 Rf8 28.Rc3 Rd6 29.Rc5 Re6 30.Ne3 f5 31.exf5 Nxf5 32.Nxf5 Rxf5 33.Rf1 Ref6

34.g4 Rxf3 35.Rxf3 Rxf3 36.Rxe5 Rf4 37.Re4 Rf6 38.Re5 Rf4 39.Re4 Rf6, draw.

Pix from USATE 2/17/2014

On Presidents Day, these pictures were taken by me at the USATE 2014.