Fischer's Books Auctioned

On Wednesday, Bobby Fischer's chess books were sold at auction.

January-March 2009 "ACN"

My article on endgame analysis can be found on page 18, in the January-March 2009 issue of Atlantic Chess News.

USCF Lawsuits Update

Here is an article on the many lawsuits involving the United States Chess Federation.

Lincoln-Hubbard School Wins in Summit

The chess team from Lincoln-Hubbard School was the winner at the sixth annual Summit Elementary School tournament.

Double Bishop Sac @ Chess.com

At my Jim West Talks Chess blog, I have posted my double bishop sacrifice against NM Mark Kernighan, from last month's Hamilton quads.

Marshall Chess Club Swiss 6/7/2009

Playing in the one day schedule, I finished with a score of 2-1-1 today, in a Swiss tournament at the Marshall Chess Club. Here is the draw.

Round One: Philidor Counter Gambit

Frank Paciulli (USCF 1926) - Jim West (USCF 2210), Marshall Chess Club 6/7/2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nxe5 dxe4 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6 Nf6 9.Qe5+ Kf7 10.Bc4+ Kg7 11.Bh6+ Kxh6 12.Nxh8 Bb4+ 13.c3 Qxh8 14.cxb4 Qf8 15.O-O Nbd7

16.Qg3 Qd6 17.Qe3+ Kg7 18.f3 Kh8 19.Rad1 b6 20.fxe4 Qxh2+ 21.Kxh2 Ng4+ 22.Kg3 Nxe3 23.Bd5 Nxf1+ 24.Rxf1 Ba6 25.Rc1 Rc8 26.Be6 Bb5 27.b3 Re8 28.Bxd7 Bxd7 29.Rxc7 Bb5 30.e5 Rd8 31.a4 Bd3 32.e6 Bg6


33.e7 Rxd4 34.Rc8+ Kg7 35.e8=Q Bxe8 36.Rxe8 Rxb4 37.Re7+ Kg6 38.Rxa7 Rxb3+ 39.Kh2 h5 40.a5 bxa5 41.Rxa5, draw.

Bierkens to Lecture at Marshall CC

On June 9th, Pieter Bierkens will lecture at the Marshall Chess Club, in the club's series of free Tuesday chess classes for adult players.

Bierkens is a national master and former member of Holland's youth chess team. He has competed in USCF tournaments for more than a decade.

The series is based on The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games.

The two games being analyzed are Rotlewi-Rubinstein, Lodz 1907/8 and Rubinstein-Emanuel Lasker, St. Petersburg 1909.

The lesson begins at 7:30pm.

Kasparov Protests Khodorkovsky Trial

Garry Kasparov is among the protesters at the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Moscow.

Another PCG Victory Against IM

NM Rohan Agarwal has been victorious against two international masters with the Philidor Counter Gambit. Besides winning against IM Emory Tate at the North American Open in December 2008, Agarwal also defeated IM Ricardo De Guzman at the Mechanics Masters in September 2007.

Improvement for Black in Till - West

At Contre Gambit Philidor, Frederic Fournier translates into French an article by Bruce Till on Till's game against me at the New Jersey Open in 1996. Below is the position following my opponent's 22.Bd5.

Instead of my 22...Nxd5 23.Qxd5 Ba6 24.Rfxf3 winning for White, I might have tried 22...Ba6 23.Bxa8 (23.Rfxf3 Re8) Bxf1 24.Kxf1 fxg2+ 25.Ke2 Qe8+ 26.Kd3 Nh5 27.Bxg2 Nxg3 28.hxg3 a5 with a playable game.

Pix from Westfield Quads 5/31/2009

Among the participants, captured on camera by me, in Sunday's quads at Westfield were NM Boris Privman, NM Pete Radomskyj [wallet in hand], Atlantic Chess News editor Steve Ferrero, candidate master Sam Barsky, and my chess student Ziping Liu. As a former resident of Indiana, Ziping is a fan of the Purdue Boilermakers.

Westfield Quads 5/31/2009

Yesterday I won this game at the Westfield quads.

Round Two: Pirc Defense

Jim West (USCF 2202) - Pete Radomskyj (USCF 2246), Westfield NJ 5/31/2009

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.e5 Nd7 8.Be3 Nb6 9.O-O Nb4 10.Be2 Bf5 11.Rc1 dxe5 12.fxe5 N6d5

13.Nxd5 Qxd5 14.a3 Qe4 15.Bf2 Nxc2 16.Nd2 Ne3 17.Nxe4 Nxd1 18.Rfxd1 Bxe4 19.Rxc7 e6 20.Bf3 Bxf3 21.gxf3 Rfd8 22.Rdc1 Bh6 23.R1c2 b6 24.Kg2 Bf4 25.R2c4 g5 26.h4 h6 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.Rb7 Rdc8 29.Rcc7 Rxc7 30.Rxc7 f6


31.Bg3 fxe5 32.dxe5 Rd8 33.Bxf4 gxf4 34.Rxa7 Rd2+ 35.Kh3 Rxb2 36.Kg4 b5 37.Kxf4 Ra2 38.Re7 Rxa3 39.Rxe6 Kf7 40.Rb6 Rb3 41.Kg4 Rb1 42.Kf5 b4 43.Rb7+ Ke8 44.Ke6 Kd8 45.f4 Kc8 46.Rb5 Kc7 47.f5 Kc6 48.Rb8 Kc7 49.Rh8 b3


50.Rh2 Ra1 51.Rb2 Ra6+ 52.Ke7 Ra5 53.Kf6 Rb5 54.e6 Kd8 55.Rd2+ Ke8 56.Rh2 Kd8 57.e7+, Black resigns.