Jim West On Chess: Rock and Roll

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Rock and Roll

Yesterday afternoon, Michael O'Connor [pictured] and his band Mikell's Plot rocked the house during Bandfest 2K12 at Roxy & Dukes Roadhouse in Dunellen, where I snapped these photos.

On Wednesday evening, Michael rolled his higher rated opponent with sharp tactics at Chess Mates.

Round One: Smith-Morra Gambit

Michael O'Connor (USCF 1780) - Art Macaspac (USCF 2135), Rahway NJ 9/5/2012

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bc4 a6 7.O-O Nge7 8.Bg5 f6 9.Be3 b5 10.Bb3 Ng6 11.Nd5 Rb8 12.Rc1 Be7 13.Nxe7 Ngxe7 14.Qd6 O-O

15.Rfd1 Ra8 16.Nd4 Nxd4 17.Rxd4 Qe8 18.Rc7 Nc6 19.Rd1 Rf7 20.Bc5 Na5 21.Bxe6 dxe6 22.Rxf7 Kxf7 23.Qc7+ Kg6 24.Rd3 Qg8 25.Rg3+ Kh6 26.Qf4+, Black resigns.

"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