Jim West On Chess: Alan Gu - Michael O'Connor

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Alan Gu - Michael O'Connor

This PCG, which took place at the U.S. Amateur East 2012, features queenside castling by both players.

Round Five: Philidor Counter Gambit

Alan Gu (USCF 1791) - Michael O'Connor (USCF 1864), U.S. Amateur East 5/28/2012

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Ng3 e4 7.Ne5 Nf6 8.Bg5 Nbd7 9.c3 Bd6 10.Nxd7 Bxd7 11.Nh5 Qe7 12.Be2 O-O-O 13.Qb3 Qf7 14.Ng3 Rdf8 15.O-O-O Ng4

16.Bxg4 Bxg4 17.Rdf1 Bf4+ 18.Bxf4 Qxf4+ 19.Kb1 Qf7 20.h3 Bf5 21.Ka1 Bg6 22.f3 Qf4 23.Ne2 Qe3 24.Ng3 exf3 25.Qxd5 fxg2 26.Qxg2, and drawn in ? moves.

"My study of chess was accompanied by a strong attraction to music, and it was probably thanks to this that from childhood I became accustomed to thinking of chess as an art, and have never regarded it as anything else, for all the science and sport involved in it. And, moreover, an art which in some ways is closer to music than it is customary to think. Perhaps chess and music are drawn together by laws of harmony and beauty which are difficult to formulate and difficult to grasp, or perhaps by something else." - Vasily Smyslov