Trevor Noah to Produce Film on Adewumi

Trevor Noah is developing a film about Tanitoluwa Adewumi [pictured].

Marshall CC Championship Starts Today

Today begins the 103rd Edward Lasker Memorial/Marshall Chess Club Championship.

The illustrious title of Marshall champion has been held by greats such as Reuben Fine, Andy Soltis, and Frank Marshall himself, just to name a few.

You can find the full list here: https://www.marshallchessclub.org/club/champions.

This year, to ensure that the competition is contested by the absolute strongest members of the club, the Board approved a plan to hold the event as a closed round robin.

The field that was ultimately selected includes six grandmasters and four international masters, including former club champions GM Mark Paragua and GM Leonid Yudasin, seven-time U.S. women's champion GM Irina Krush, and top scholastic player IM Hans Niemann.

Your favorite chess websites will be displaying the event!

So you can follow along in real time on the Marshall homepage, as well as on:

Chess.com (in the live game arena)

Chess24 - 103rd MCC

Chessbomb - 2019 Marshall

ChessBase Live

Follow Chess.

Sunday Game/50, Round 2, 11/10/2019

On Sunday, I played this game in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Two: Caro-Kann Defense, Exchange Variation

Wesley Hellner (USCF 1857) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 11/10/2019

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Nf3 O-O 5.Nbd2 c5 6.c3 cxd4 7.exd4 d5 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.h3 a5 10.O-O Bf5 11.Bxf5 gxf5 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Nd7 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Qh5 e6 16.f4 Kh8 17.Nf3 Qf6 

18.Ne5 Nxe5 19.fxe5 Qg6 20.Qh4 Rg8 21.Rf2 Qg5 22.Qxg5 Rxg5 23.Re1 b5 24.Rc1 Rgg8 25.a3 Rgc8 26.Rfc2 Rab8 27.b3 Rc7 28.Kf2 Rbc8 29.Ke3 a4 30.b4 Rg8 31.Kf3 Rcc8 32.Rg1 Rg6 33.g3 Rcg8 34.Rcg2 h5

35.g4 fxg4+ 36.hxg4 Rxg4 37.Rxg4 hxg4+ 38.Rxg4 Rc8 39.Rh4+ Kg7 40.Rg4+ Kf8 41.Kf4 Rxc3 42.Rh4 Rxa3 43.Rh8+ Kg7 44.Rb8 Rd3 45.Rxb5 Rxd4+ 46.Kg5 a3 47.Ra5 Rxb4 48.Rxa3 Re4 49.Rg3 d4

50.Rg1 d3 51.Kh5+ Kf8 52.Ra1 Rxe5+ 53.Kg4 d2 54.Rd1 Rd5 55.Kf3 Ke7 56.Ke2 f5 57.Ke3 Kf6 58.Kf3 e5 59.Ke3 f4+ 60.Ke4 Rd4+ 61.Kf3 Kf5 62.Ke2 e4 63.Kf2 e3+ 64.Kf3 Rd8 65.Ke2 Ke4 66.Kf1 f3, White resigns.

Sunday Game/50, Round 1, 11/10/2019

On Sunday, I won this game in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round One: Sicilian Defense

Jim West (USCF 2200) - John Walton (USCF 1600), Marshall Chess Club 11/10/2019

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8 8.Be3 Nd7 9.Bc4 Ke8 10.O-O e6 11.a4 Bc5 12.Bxc5 Nxc5 13.a5 Ke7 14.Rfd1 Re8 15.b4 Nd7 16.Na4 Rb8

17.c3 b5 18.axb6 Nxb6 19.Nxb6 Rxb6 20.Ra5 Rd8 21.Rxd8 Kxd8 22.f4 Ke7 23.Kf2 f6 24.Ke3 g6 25.Kd4 Kd6 26.e5+ fxe5+ 27.fxe5+ Kc7 28.Kc5 Rb8 29.Ra2 Bb7 30.Rf2 Rd8 31.Rf7+ Rd7 32.Rxd7+ Kxd7

33.Kb6 Bc8 34.Bxa6 Bxa6 35.Kxa6 Kc7 36.c4 h6 37.h4 g5 38.hxg5 hxg5 39.g4 c5 40.b5, Black resigns.

GM Rowson on Pursuit of Happiness

Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson explains the difference between happiness and joy.

Thursday Action, Round 3, 11/7/2019

On Thursday, I played this game in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Three: French Defense, Exchange Variation

Jim West (USCF 2200) - Mark De Dona (USCF 2028), Marshall Chess Club 11/7/2019

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 Ne4 8.Qd3 Nxc3 9.Qxc3 O-O 10.Bd3 b6 11.O-O Ba6 12.Rfe1 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 Nd7 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.Rxe5 Qd6 16.Rd1 Rad8

17.Rh5 h6 18.Rh3 c5 19.dxc5 Qxc5 20.Qxd8 Rxd8 21.Rxd8+ Kh7 22.c3 Qc4 23.Rd2 Qe4 24.Kf1 Qb1+ 25.Ke2 Qxa2 26.Rhd3 Qc4 27.f3 e5 28.Kf2 Qh4+ 29.Kf1 Qxh2 30.Rd7 Qf4 31.Re2 a5 32.Rd5 f6 33.Rb5 Kg6 34.Rxb6 Kg5

35.Re4 Qc1+ 36.Re1 Qd2 37.Re2 Qd3 38.Kf2 a4 39.Rb4 a3 40.bxa3 Qxc3 41.Rg4+ Kf5 42.Rxg7 Qxa3 43.g4+ Ke6 44.Rc7 Qb4 45.Rec2 Qd4+ 46.Kg2, and drawn in ? moves.

                                      Final Position

Thursday Action, Round 2, 11/7/2019

On Thursday, I drew this game in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Two: Pirc Defense

Joel Fagliano (USCF 2023) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 11/7/2019

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bf4 O-O 6.Qd2 Nc6 7.Bh6 e5 8.Bxg7 Kxg7 9.O-O-O Bg4 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Qe3 Qe7 12.Bc4 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Qb4 14.Bb3 Nd4

15.Nd5 Nxb3+ 16.axb3 Nxd5 17.Rxd5 Qe7 18.f4 exf4 19.Qxf4 Rad8 20.Rhd1 Rxd5 21.Rxd5 Rd8 22.Rxd8 Qxd8 23.h4 h5, draw.

Thursday Action, Round 1, 11/7/2019

On Thursday, I won this game in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round One: Petroff Defense

Jim West (USCF 2200) - Prec Syku (USCF 2004), Marshall Chess Club 11/7/2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Qe7 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qe2 Nc6 6.d3 Nf6 7.Bg5 Qxe2+ 8.Bxe2 Bc5 9.Nc3 Ng4 10.O-O O-O 11.Nd5 Bd6 12.h3 Nge5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Be7 Bxe7 15.Nxe7+ Kh8 16.f4 Ng6

17.Nxc8 Raxc8 18.d4 Rfe8 19.Bd3 Ne7 20.Rae1 Nd5 21.Rxe8+ Rxe8 22.Bc4 Ne3 23.Re1 Re7 24.Kf2 Nf5 25.Rxe7 Nxe7 26.Bxf7 g6 27.Bb3 Kg7 28.g4 b6 29.Ke3 d5 30.c4 c6 31.cxd5 cxd5 32.a3 Kf6

33.Bc2 Ke6 34.h4 Kf6 35.b4 Ke6 36.g5 Kd6 37.h5 Ke6 38.h6 Kf7 39.Kf3 Ke6 40.Kg4 Kf7 41.b5 Ke6 42.a4 Kf7 43.f5 Nc8 44.fxg6+ hxg6 45.h7 Kg7 46.Bxg6 Nd6 47.Bd3 Kh8 48.g6 Kg7 49.Kf4 Ne8 50.Ke5 Nc7 51.Kd6, Black resigns.

Garry Kasparov: "Checkmate Tyranny"

Michael Judge interviews Garry Kasparov.

Westfield Quads 11/3/2019

On Sunday, I drew this game at the quads in Westfield.

Round One: King's Indian Attack

Jim West (USCF 2200) - Peter Radomskyj (USCF 2218), Westfield NJ 11/3/2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d3 d6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.O-O Nge7 7.Nbd2 O-O 8.a4 h6 9.c3 Be6 10.Qc2 f5 11.exf5 Nxf5 12.Re1 Qd7 13.Nc4 Qf7 14.b3 Bd5 15.Ncd2 g5 16.h3 a5 17.Rb1 Rae8

18.Ne4 Nb8 19.Nexg5 Qd7 20.Ne4 c5 21.g4 Ne7 22.Be3, draw.

GM Shankland Lecture Tonight at Marshall CC

Tonight at 7pm, join us as 2018 U.S. champion, grandmaster Sam Shankland, will be at the Marshall Chess Club to lecture from his new book Small Steps 2 Success: Mastering Passed Pawn Play.

It's all about passed pawns!

Signed copies will be available for purchase.

Wesley So: Fischer Random World Champion

[photo by Lennart Ootes]

Grandmaster Wesley So [pictured] is the first Fischer Random world champion.