Kasparov Loses FIDE Election

[photo by Rune Stoltz Bertinussen]

On Monday, Garry Kasparov lost the election for the presidency of FIDE by a wide margin.

Marshall Sunday Game/45 8/10/2014

On Sunday, I finished with a score of 1-0-3 in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Two: Philidor Counter Gambit

Alan Bokiev (USCF 1839) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 8/10/2014

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.exf5 e4 5.Ng5 Nf6 6.Bc4 d5 7.Bb3 h6 8.Ne6 Bxe6 9.fxe6 Qd6 10.O-O Qxe6 11.f3 Be7 12.Bf4 Qb6 13.fxe4 dxe4 14.Kh1 Nbd7 15.c4 O-O-O 16.d5 Bd6 17.Bxd6 Qxd6 18.Nc3 a6

19.Bc2 Rde8 20.h3 h5 21.Qd4 Ng4 22.Qg1 Ndf6 23.c5 Qe5 24.Rae1 e3 25.g3 Nf2+ 26.Kg2 h4 27.Qh2 hxg3 28.Qxg3 Qxg3+ 29.Kxg3 Rxh3+ 30.Kg2 Rh5 31.Kf3 N2g4 32.Kg2 Nh6 33.Kf3 Nxd5 34.Bg6 Rf8+ 35.Ke2 Nxc3+ 36.bxc3 Rxf1 37.Rxf1 Rxc5 38.Kxe3 Rxc3+ 39.Kd4 Rg3

40.Be4 c6 41.Kc5 Kc7 42.Bb1 b6+ 43.Kc4 b5+ 44.Kc5 Rg5+ 45.Kd4 c5+ 46.Kd3 Kd6 47.Rf8 Rg3+ 48.Kd2 c4 49.Ra8 Kc5 50.Rxa6 b4 51.Be4 Kd4 52.Ba8 c3+ 53.Kc2 Nf5 54.Ra5 Ne3+ 55.Kb3 c2, White forfeits.

Marshall Saturday Game/60 8/9/2014

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

Round Two: Budapest Gambit, Fajarowicz Variation

Nicholas Cardenas (USCF 1799) - Jim West (USCF 2202), Marshall Chess Club 8/9/2014

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Nbd2 Nc6 6.a3 Bxd2+ 7.Bxd2 Nxd2 8.Qxd2 Qe7 9.Qc3 O-O 10.e3 Re8 11.Bd3 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Qxe5 13.Qxe5 Rxe5 14.O-O d6 15.b4 b6 16.e4 Bb7 17.f3 a5

18.b5 f6 19.a4 h6 20.g4 g5 21.Rab1 Kg7 22.Kg2 h5 23.h3 Rh8 24.Rh1 Bc8 25.Kg3 Be6 26.Rbc1 Rc5 27.Rh2 h4+ 28.Kf2 d5 29.exd5 Bxd5 30.Rhh1 Bf7 31.Rhe1 Rd8 32.Bf1 f5 33.gxf5 Rxf5 34.Re4 Rc5

35.Ke3 Bg6 36.Rg4 Re5+, White resigns.

          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Round Three: King's Indian Attack

Jim West (USCF 2202) - Henry Qi (USCF 2074), Marshall Chess Club 8/9/2014

1.e4 d6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O e5 7.Nbd2 c6 8.a4 Re8 9.c3 d5 10.Qc2 Nbd7 11.Re1 Qc7 12.Nf1 b6 13.Bd2 Ba6

14.b4 Bb7 15.a5 bxa5 16.Rxa5 c5 17.Qb1 dxe4 18.dxe4 Re6 19.Ng5 Rc6 20.Qa2 Nb6 21.bxc5 Nc8 22.Ne3 h6 23.Nd5 Nxd5 24.exd5 Rxc5 25.Rxc5 Qxc5 26.Nxf7 Kxf7 27.d6+ Kf8 28.Bxb7 Rxb8 29.Bxc8 Qxc8 30.Qxa7 Rb7 31.Qa6 Qb8

32.Be3 Rb1 33.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 34.Qf1 Qb7 35.Qd1 Ke8 36.c4 Qc6 37.c5 e4 38.Qg4 Qd5 39.Qxg6+ Kd8 40.h4 Bd4 41.Qxh6, Black resigns.

"The Kenilworthian" Wins CJA Award Again

Congratulations to Michael Goeller [pictured] of The Kenilworthian for winning yet another "Best Chess Blog" award from the Chess Journalists of America!

His blog also won in 2008 and 2010.

Of all the chess blogs, The Kenilworthian is the most scholarly.

Kasparov in "NY Times" Sunday Magazine

[photo by Charlie Shoemaker]

Sunday's edition of The New York Times will feature a magazine article on Garry Kasparov.

Chess in Washington Square Park

In Washington Square Park, chess can be a contact sport.

Kasparov on How to Play Putin

[photo by Peter Nicholas]

Garry Kasparov has advice for world leaders on playing Vladimir Putin.

Westfield Quads 8/3/2014

On Sunday, I finished with a score of 1-0-2 in the quads at Westfield.

Round Two: Budapest Gambit, Fajarowicz Variation

Jeremy Glassman (USCF 1996) - Jim West (USCF 2203), Westfield NJ 8/3/2014

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Nxd2 6.Nbxd2 Nc6 7.e3 Qe7 8.a3 Bxd2+ 9.Qxd2 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 Qxe5 11.Be2 O-O 12.O-O d6 13.Bf3 a5

14.Qd4 Re8 15.b4 Qxd4 16.exd4 axb4 17.axb4 Be6 18.c5 dxc5 19.d5 Bf5 20.bxc5 Kf8 21.g3 f6 22.Rxa8 Rxa8 23.d6 cxd6 24.Bxb7 Rb8 25.c6 Bc8 26.Rb1 Bxb7 27.Rxb7 Rc8 28.Rb6 Kf7 29.Kg2 Ke6 30.Rb7 g6 31.Rxh7 Rxc6

32.Kf3 d5 33.Rh8 Ke5 34.Ke3 d4+ 35.Kd2 Ke4 36.Rh4+ Ke5 37.Rg4 f5 38.Rh4 Ra6 39.f3 Ra2+ 40.Kd3 Ra3+ 41.Ke2 Re3+ 42.Kf2 Ra3 43.Ke2 Ra2+ 44.Kd3 Ra3+ 45.Ke2, draw.

Marshall August Grand Prix 8/2/2014

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

Round Two: Sicilian Defense, King's Indian Attack

Jim West (FIDE 2054) - Arthur Shen (FIDE 2324), Marshall Chess Club 8/2/2014

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.g3 Nf6 4.d3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nbd2 Nc6 8.a4 b6 9.Re1 Bb7 10.Nc4 d5 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Rb1 Qc7 13.Bd2 Rfe8 14.h4 Nd4

15.Nxd4 cxd4 16.h5 a6 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.b4 b5 19.axb5 axb5 20.Na5 Nc3 21.Bxc3 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 Qxc3 23.Re2 e6 24.Rb3 Qc7 25.Qh1 Bf6 26.Kg1 Rec8 27.Qe4 Qd7 28.Kg2 Bd8 29.Qb7 Qe8 30.Qe4 Bxa5 31.bxa5 Rd8 32.Rb4 Qd7

33.Qe5 Rxa5 34.c4 dxc3 35.Qxc3 Qd5+ 36.Kh2 Qxd3 37.Qf6 Ra4 38.Rxb5 Qxe2 39.Qxd8+ Kg7 40.Qb6 Ra2 41.Qd4+ Kh7 42.Qh4+ Kg7 43.Qd4+ e5 44.Qxe5+ Qxe5 45.Rxe5 Rxf2+ 46.Kh3 f5 47.Ra5 Kh6

48.Rb5 Rd2 49.Ra5 Re2 50.Rb5 g5 51.Rb6+ Kh5 52.g4+ fxg4+ 53.Kg3 Re3+ 54.Kg2 Ra3 55.Rb8 Ra2+ 56.Kg3 Ra3+ 57.Kg2 g3 58.Rb4 Re3 59.Ra4 Rb3 60.Rc4 Kg6 61.Rg4 Kf5 62.Rxg3 Rb2+ 63.Kg1 Kf4 64.Ra3 g4

65.Rc3 Kg5 66.Ra3 Kh4 67.Rc3 Rb5 68.Kg2 Rd5 69.Ra3 Rd4 70.Rb3 g3 71.Rb8 Rd2+ 72.Kg1 Rd1+ 73.Kg2 Rd2+ 74.Kg1 Rd1+ 75.Kg2 Rd2+, draw.

          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Round Three: Sicilian Defense, King's Indian Attack

Jim West (FIDE 2054) - Matan Prilleltensky (FIDE 2157), Marshall Chess Club 8/2/2014

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.Nbd2 Nf6 6.Bg2 g6 7.O-O Bg7 8.Re1 O-O 9.a4 b6 10.c3 Ba6 11.Bf1 dxe4 12.dxe4 Bxf1 13.Kxf1 Qd3+ 14.Qe2 Rfd8 15.Qxd3 Rxd3 16.Kg2 Rad8 

17.Nc4 Rd1 18.Bg5 Rxa1 19.Rxa1 h6 20.Bxf6 Bxf6 21.Re1 Kf8 22.Kf1 Ke7 23.Ke2 Bg7 24.g4 Rd7 25.Rg1 Rb7 26.Rd1 a6 27.Rd6 Rc7 28.Rd2 b5 29.axb5 axb5 30.Nd6 b4 31.cxb4 Nd4+ 32.Nxd4 cxd4 33.Nb5 Rc4

34.Na7 Kd6 35.b5 Kc5 36.f4 Kb6 37.Kd3 Rc1 38.Nc6 Rf1 39.f5 gxf5 40.gxf5 exf5 41.exf5 Rxf5 42.Nxd4 Bxd4 43.Kxd4 Kxb5 44.Ke4 Rf1 45.Rd5+ Kc4 46.Rf5 Re1+ 47.Kf4 Re2 48.Kg3 Rxb2 49.Rxf7 Kd5 50.Rf6 Ke5 51.Rxh6 Kf5, draw.

Starting Position a Forced Win for Black?

At least, it could be a forced win for Black, according to a candidate master at the Marshall Chess Club who voiced his opinion to me, in between rounds of a weekend tournament.  His thinking goes like this.

                                     Whoever moves loses?

You have seen those perfectly symmetrical positions diagrammed in chess books with the caption: "Whoever moves loses."  Well, the starting position in a game of chess is a perfectly symmetrical position, which could be a double Zugzwang.  And since White has the "unpleasant obligation" of making the first move, White must disturb the equilibrium disadvantageously so that Black wins by force, although the lengthy variations are beyond the learning curve of humans.  But the supercomputers of the future will solve everything.

I can imagine the newspaper headline: "Man Bites Dog: Chess a Forced Win ... for Black!"

"Brooklyn Castle" Nominated for Emmy

Brooklyn Castle has been nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award.

POV 
PBS 
Brooklyn Castle 
Director/Producer Katie Dellamaggiore 
Executive Producers Simon Kilmurry, Geoff Gibson, Robert McLellan, Julie Parker Benello, Wendy Ettinger, Judith Helfand 
Co-Executive Producers Cynthia Lopez, Neal Flaherty, John Forté, Christophe Charlier, Brian Satz 
Vice President Production and Programming Chris White 
Series Producer Andrew Catauro 
Producers Nelson Dellamaggiore, Brian Schulz

Benjamin & Fedorowicz to Play in NJ Open

Grandmasters Joel Benjamin and John Fedorowicz will play in the 2014 New Jersey Open on Labor Day weekend.