Pix from Thursday Night Action 12/29/2016

These pictures were taken by me during Thursday's tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Thursday Night Action 12/29/2016

On Thursday, I finished with a score of 2-2-0 in the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round One: Sicilian Defense, Delayed Alapin

Nazzareno Bertini (USCF 1722) - Jim West (USCF 2208), Marshall Chess Club 12/29/2016

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 Nc6 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Nc3 e6 9.O-O Be7 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.Bf4 O-O 

12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Bf6 14.f4 Bxe5 15.fxe5 Be6 16.Rc1 Qd7 17.Qb3 Rfc8 18.Rc3 Rxc3 19.bxc3 Rc8 20.Rb1 b6 21.Qb4 h6 22.Rb3 Rc7 23.Bb5 Qc8 24.Qa3 Bd7 25.Ba6 Qf8 26.Qb2 Qe7 27.Qe2 Qg5

28.Qd1 Ba4 29.c4 dxc4 30.Qf3 cxb3 31.h4 Rc1+ 32.Bf1 Qxh4 33.axb3 Bb5 34.d5 Rxf1+, White resigns.

Austrian Attack in Pirc Defense with 5...c5

After the opening moves 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5, the following line of analysis was shown by a grandmaster to a player at the Marshall Chess Club.

According to the player, the GM claims that it refutes the 5...c5 variation.

6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4 8.e6 fxe6 9.Ng5 Bxb5 10.Nxb5 Qa5+ 11.c3 Qxb5 12.Nxe6 Qc4 13.Qxg4 cxd4 14.Nxg7+ Kf7 15.f5 Kxg7 16.Be3 Nc6 17.O-O-O.

The grandmaster's analysis ends here.  Now the player gives the possible continuation 17...Qxa2 18.Bxd4+ Nxd4 19.Qxd4+ Kg8 20.Rde1 when Black is in dire straits.

Instead Shredder prefers 17...b5 18.Bxd4+ Nxd4 19.Qxd4+ Qxd4 20.Rxd4 gxf5 21.Rd5 a6 22.Re1 Kf6 23.Rf1 Raf8 24.Rfxf5+ Kd6 25.g4 Rhg8 26.h3 Kd7 with approximate equality.

Correspondence Game: Hagerty vs. Sochi

In a Chess.com correspondence game, West Orange Chess Club president John Hagerty wins with a rook sacrifice.

Kasparov Interview in "Slate"

Garry Kasparov explains why dictators hate chess.

Ten Years After

Ten years ago today, I wrote my inaugural blog post!

Eye Gaze and Emotion in Chess

Does chess expertise derive from eye gaze and emotion?

Pix from Thursday Night Action 12/22/2016

On Thursday, I photographed the players during the tournament at the Marshall Chess Club.

Thursday Night Action 12/22/2016

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

Round Three: Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation

Eric Yuhan Li (USCF 2033) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 12/22/2016

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.f3 Be6 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.O-O-O O-O 11.g4 b5 12.h4 Nb6 13.g5 Nh5 14.Na5 Qc7

15.Bh3 b4 16.Ne2 Nc4 17.Nxc4 Bxc4 18.Bg4 Bxe2 19.Qxe2 Ng3 20.Qg2 Nxh1 21.Rxh1 d5 22.exd5 Bc5 23.Bd2 Qd6 24.g6 hxg6 25.h5 f5 26.f4 fxg4 27.fxe5 Qxe5 28.hxg6 Rf2 29.Qxg4 Qxd5

30.Rh8+ Kxh8 31.Qh4+ Kg8 32.Qh7+ Kf8 33.Qh8+ Qg8 34.Qh1 Rd8 35.Bg5 Rxc2+ 36.Kb1 Bd4 37.Qf3+ Bf6 38.Bxf6 gxf6 39.Qxf6+ Ke8 40.Qe5+ Kd7 41.Qd4+ Kc8 42.Qg4+ Rd7 43.Kxc2 Qd5

44.Qxb4 Qd1+ 45.Kc3 Qd3#.

Fall Session Ends at Wyoming School

On Tuesday, the last class of the fall 2016 session took place at Wyoming School in the after school enrichment program on chess, run by AlphaBEST Explorations and taught by me.

Although no tournament was held, two of the ten students deserve honorable mention for their excellence.

Paul Li distinguished himself as the toughest player in the casual games near the end of each class, while Chloe She was best at answering questions during the chess lessons.

From Westfield Quads with Lev

Candidate master Lev Zilbermintz [pictured] won this game in Sunday's quads at Westfield.

Round Two: Philidor Counter Gambit

Eric Yuhan Li (USCF 2067) - Lev Zilbermintz (USCF 1955), Westfield NJ 12/18/2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 Nf6 6.Nxf6+ gxf6 7.Bd3 Be6 8.O-O Nc6 9.Bb5 Bd7 10.d5 Ne7 11.Bc4 Ng6 12.Be3 Qe7 13.Qe2 Bg7 14.a4 O-O

15.Qd2 f5 16.Bg5 Qf7 17.Bh6 e4 18.Nd4 f4 19.Bxg7 Qxg7 20.Ne6 Bxe6 21.dxe6 Kh8 22.Kh1 Nh4 23.Rg1 Qe5 24.Qd5 Ng6 25.Rad1 c6 26.Qxe5 Nxe5 27.Rd4 Rae8 28.Bb3 Ng4 29.Rf1 d5 30.Rd2 Rf6 31.h3 Nh6 32.Rfd1 Re7

33.c4 f3 34.gxf3 Rxf3 35.Kg2 Rxb3, and Black wins in ? moves.

Youth Tournament at Millburn Library

On Saturday, 24 children participated in a chess tournament at the Millburn Public Library.

Westfield Quads 12/18/2016

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

Round Two: Petroff Defense

Jim West (USCF 2200) - Mark Kernighan (USCF 2239), Westfield NJ 12/18/2016

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 Be7 6.Bd3 d5 7.O-O O-O 8.c4 Nf6 9.Nc3 c6 10.h3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Nbd7 12.Re1 Nb6 13.Bd3 Re8 14.Bf4 Be6 15.Be5 Qd7 16.Qc2 h6 17.Rad1 Nbd5 18.a3 Rad8

19.Ne4 Nxe4 20.Bxe4 Nf6 21.Bd3 Qd5 22.Nd2 Qd7 23.Ne4 Nxe4 24.Bxe4 Bd6 25.b4 Bb8 26.Bd3 Qe7 27.Re3 Qh4 28.Re4 Qh5 29.Bxb8 Rxb8 30.Re5 Qh4 31.Bf5 Bd5 32.Rde1 Rxe5 33.dxe5 Qd4 34.e6 fxe6 35.Bxe6+ Bxe6 36.Rxe6 Rf8

37.Qe2 Qf4 38.Re4 Qc1+ 39.Kh2 Qxa3 40.Qc4+ Kh8 41.Qc5 Rg8 42.Re7 Qa6 43.Qe5 Qb6 44.Qc7 Qxf2 45.Qxb7 Qf4+ 46.Kh1 Rd8 47.Re1 Qd2 48.Rg1 Rd6 49.Qxa7 Qxb4 50.Qe7 Rd4 51.Qe8+ Kh7 52.Qxc6, draw.

Book Review of Bobby Fischer's "Checkmate"

From late 1966 through early 1970, Bobby Fischer wrote Checkmate, a monthly chess column for Boys' Life magazine.  These columns have been gathered together in Checkmate: Bobby Fischer's Boys' Life Columns [Russell Enterprises Inc., 2016, 128 pages] with a foreword by GM Andy Soltis.

If you own a copy of My 60 Memorable Games, you will probably want to add Checkmate to your book collection because there are a couple of Fischer's games with analysis by him not to be found elsewhere.

The games are Fischer-Myagmarsuren from the 1967 interzonal and Nikolic-Fischer from Vinkovci in 1968.  Both games feature piece sacrifices by Fischer from King's Indian formations.  Apparently Fischer's novelty 13.a3 against Myagmarsuren was found at the board because he spent 15 minutes on it!

I also learned from Soltis's foreword that GM Larry Evans claimed he was entitled to 40% of the royalties from My 60 Memorable Games, hinting that his contribution to the book was considerable.

Dentist of Reshevsky and Horowitz

Sink your teeth into this story about the chess playing dentist of Samuel Reshevsky and Al Horowitz!

Pix from Hamilton Quads 12/10/2016

On Saturday, I snapped these photos at the quads in Hamilton.

"Washington Post": Chess and Democracy

Jason Stanley compares the recent presidential election to a game of chess. 

 

Looks like player A = Hillary Clinton and player B = Donald Trump!

Garry Kasparov on Russian Hacking

Take a look at Garry Kasparov as he discusses Russian hacking on the Fox Business Network.

Westfield Club Championship 12/11/2016

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

Round Four: Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation

Merric Hu (USCF 1860) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Westfield NJ 12/11/2016

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Be3 Be6 9.O-O Nbd7 10.Qd2 Rc8 11.Rfd1 O-O 12.f3 Qc7 13.Rac1 Rfd8

14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 Bf5 16.c4 b6 17.Bd3 Bxd3 18.Qxd3 a5 19.a3 Rf8 20.Nd2 a4 21.f4 exf4 22.Bxf4 Nc5 23.Qg3 Rfe8 24.Re1 Bf8 25.Qf3 Qd7 26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Rc3 g6 28.g4 Bg7 29.Rc2 Qe7 30.Bg3 Be5 31.Bf2 Qf6

32.Qxf6 Bxf6 33.Kg2 Nd3 34.b4 Re2 35.Kf3 Rxf2+ 36.Ke3 Ne1 37.Rc1 Bg5+ 38.Kxf2 Nd3+ 39.Kf3 Nxc1 40.Ne4 Be7 41.Nc3 Nd3 42.Nxa4 Ne5+ 43.Ke4 Nxc4 44.Kd4 b5, White resigns.

Hamilton Quads 12/10/2016

On Saturday, this game was played in the quads at Hamilton.

Round One: Alekhine Defense

Jim West (USCF 2206) - Dragan Milovanovic (USCF 2226), Hamilton NJ 12/10/2016

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Bd3 Bg7 8.Nge2 O-O 9.O-O Nc6 10.Be3 Bg4 11.f3 Bf5 12.b3 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 d5 14.c5 Nc8 15.Rac1 e6 16.Qd2 N8e7

17.Bh6 b6 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Na4 bxc5 20.Nxc5 Qa5 21.Qxa5 Nxa5 22.g4 Rfc8 23.Kf2 Nac6 24.Nd3 a5 25.Ke3 Nb4 26.Nc3 Nxd3 27.Kxd3 Nc6 28.Rfd1 Rab8 29.Ke3 e5

30.Ne2 exd4+ 31.Nxd4 Re8+ 32.Kf2 Ne5 33.Nc6 Nxc6 34.Rxc6 a4 35.Rc3 axb3 36.axb3 Rb5 37.Rcd3 Reb8, draw.